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THE 
 
 PATHWAY OF FIRE, 
 
 OR 
 
 Baptist Principles Traced By the Efforts to Ex- 
 terminate Them. 
 
 *£ 
 
 By H. P. FITCH. 
 
 Author of "Through Shadow to Sunshine/* "Saved By 
 His Wife/* "At the Temple Gate," Etc, 
 
 
 
 "I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and 
 poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the 
 Lord." 
 
 Copyrighted 189''5. 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, 
 
 -V 
 
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 [THE LIBRARY] 
 
 or cohg***»! 
 
REV. H. P. FITCH. 
 
 Pv^<U 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 Finding the Path. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Correcting Mistakes. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Place of Starting. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 A Chapter of Testimony. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Contending For the Faith 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Wilderness Way. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Witnessing in Sack-Cloth. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Cast Down But Not Destroyed. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Out of Great Tribulation. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 What of the Night? 
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 An Army With Banners. 
 
 isdLL 
 
To the 
 memory of 
 Rev. R. A. Fyfe, D. D. 
 At whose feet I first learned 
 to love the study of that "Pathway of Fire," 
 so long trodden by the feet of our 
 fathers, this little volume is af- 
 fectionately dedicated by 
 the author. 
 
NEW TESTAMENT 
 CHURCHES 
 
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 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
The Pathway of Fire* 
 
 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 Most of the writers who have written on the 
 subject of "Baptist History, have gone to one or 
 the other of two extremes. One class are those 
 who insist on the necessity and possibility of 
 tracing an unbroken succession of Baptist 
 churches, from the days of the Apostles; one 
 church, through its regularly constituted ad- 
 ministrator, transmitting its apostolic baptism 
 to another church following it. 
 
 This is as unnecessary as it is impossible. It 
 is never wise for any religious denomination to 
 claim more than they can substantiate; and this 
 is especially unwise, when such claims are en- 
 tirely unnecessary. Wherever possible, bap- 
 tism should be administered by a regularly con- 
 stituted administrator, as it tends, the better, 
 to preserve the "order of the Lord's house;'' but 
 genuine apostolic succession consists in '"keep- 
 ing the ordinances as they were delivered" rath- 
 er than in the simple act of transmitting bap- 
 tism from one to another. Wherever you find 
 an assembly of converted men and women, who, 
 as such, have been immersed on the profession 
 of their faith in Christ, as a personal Savior, 
 and have united themselves together in the fel- 
 
u THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 lowship of the Gospel, to maintain the worship 
 and ordinances of Christ, there you have true 
 apostolic succession. 
 
 Had this truth always been kept in 
 mind, it would have spared much useless labor, 
 in efforts to substantiate what neither Scripture 
 nor reason requires. 
 
 The class who go to the other extreme, are 
 those who deny the possibility of tracing an un- 
 broken line of Baptist principles from the days 
 of the apostles until now. This is equally a 
 mistake with the other. A succession of Bap- 
 tist churches we do not claim because it is not 
 necessary; a succession of Baptist principles we 
 do claim, and that claim can be made good. 
 From the days of Christ until now, there has 
 never been a period in which we cannot trace 
 a people, holding the principles and doctrines, 
 and following the practices that essentially 
 characterize the Baptists of the present clay. 
 
 The author of this little book wishes it under- 
 stood, therefore, that it is not his intention to 
 write a history of the Baptist denomination. 
 He believes the middle ground between the two 
 extremes, above mentioned, to be the correct 
 one. He firmly believes that there can be traced 
 an unbroken chain of Baptist principles, 
 down through the ages, from the first to the 
 nineteenth century. He will not attempt to 
 cover all the ground, even, in this field of study. 
 That would make the book too large for his pur- 
 pose. He wishes it for the masses, and will 
 
PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 7 
 
 condense the matter as much as is consistent 
 with a clear narrative. 
 
 One or two further facts should also 
 be stated, however, before proceeding- with 
 our narrative. One is that not all of those 
 who protested against the corruptions of the 
 Roman Catholics, the Greek church, or other 
 state churches through all those ages, were 
 Baptists. Here, I think, is where some writers 
 of Baptist history have made a mistake. For 
 instance, they have claimed that all who went 
 by the name of "Anabaptists," were, in both 
 principles and practice, our own people. This 
 has not only rendered them subject to criti- 
 cism, but has furnished those who essentially 
 differ from the Baptists with strong argu- 
 ments against their claim to antiquity. They 
 have been able to prove that some, at least, 
 of those who have been claimed as Baptists, 
 were, in some of their practices, quite different 
 from our people of modern times, and they have 
 argued that if some of those whom the Baptists 
 claim are proven to be otherwise than genu- 
 ine Baptists, it is reasonable to conclude that 
 they were all alike different, and the claim to 
 Baptist antiquity therefore falls to the ground. 
 
 The truth is that there can be found, as we 
 pass down the ages, people in all stages of sep- 
 aration, from the great hierarchies that have 
 stood out so prominently on the pages of his- 
 tory, for their power and persecuting spirit. 
 Even the term "Anabaptist" does not, in all 
 cases, indicate a people, in doctrine and prac- 
 
8 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 tice, in all particulars, similar to our own. For 
 instance, after the apostolic practice of believ- 
 ers' immersion had, to a great extent, been 
 superseded by the immersion of infants, and 
 later, by the sprinkling of infants, there were 
 some so-called Anabaptists who, while they re- 
 fused to recognize any but believers as scrip- 
 tural subjects of baptism, were content to adopt 
 the new custon of sprinkling and pouring. 
 This, of course, refers only to the period from 
 the beginning of the fifteenth to about the mid- 
 dle of the sixteenth centuries. Up to the for- 
 mer period, immersion was the almost universal 
 custom, and, therefore, wherever we find be- 
 lievers' baptism, we find believers' immersion. 
 After that date, for at least a hundred and fifty 
 years, we need to be very careful lest we claim 
 as Baptists, many who materially differed 
 from us, in one of the essential characteristics 
 of a Baptist church, namely, the act of immer- 
 sion as positively essential to New Testament 
 baptism. Baptists there were, and they ad- 
 hered tenaciously to this New Testament prac- 
 tice, while mianv others of the same name, ac- 
 cented, and followed the teachings of men, 
 rather than the commandments of Christ. 
 While this was partly, no doubt, from choice, 
 there ran be no question, in many instances, 
 that it was the result of the hand of persecu- 
 tion laid so heavily rmon them, com r» ell mf 
 them to hide their principles, and worship God 
 in secret. 
 
 Another fact to be borne in mind is, that, as 
 
PRELIMINARY CHARTER. 
 
 we may readily understand, all those people 
 of whom we write, were influenced, more or less, 
 by the manners and customs of the people and 
 age in which they lived. It would be unreason- 
 able for us to exxDect to find in the early centu- 
 ries the refinement of civilization, as we under- 
 stand it, we have in the present age. The fact 
 that they were influenced by the manners and 
 customs, the learning and philosophy of their 
 age, does not, in the least, prove them to be 
 unbaiptistic or any the less New Testament 
 Christians. This is an important consideration, 
 and should not be lost sight of as we follow 
 their pathway through the ages. In writing 
 this I am not forgetful of the fact that the pen 
 of persecution has attacked their memory, even 
 as the sword of persecution attacked their 
 person. It is, however, enough for us to know 
 that he who has provided a place for their 
 "souls under the altar," and furnished them 
 with "white robes, bidding them to be patient," 
 will, in his own good time, reveal to men, as 
 he has already revealed to angels, the grand- 
 eur of their principles and the heroism of their 
 lives. 
 
 With this brief preliminary statement, let 
 us away to our task of tracing the footsteps of 
 our fathers along their fiery pathway through 
 the ages. 
 
10 THE PATHWAY OF TIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FINDING THE PATH. 
 
 '•Ask for the old paths; where is the good way '? " 
 
 To one who delights in the truth, and 
 loves to folloAv its footsteps, there can be no 
 more interesting and profitable study, than 
 to trace the history of pure Christianity, in its 
 devious windings down through the ages of the 
 past. To follow it, as starting from its Divine 
 fountain head, it flows, like a clear pellucid 
 stream, now through some rugged mountain 
 defile, where the great towering rocks frown 
 down upon him — now through some dark forest 
 glen, where the thorns and briars of the world's 
 petty hatred scratch and annoy him — then 
 through some pleasant meadow vale, where on 
 either side, stretch the green fields and fragrant 
 flowers of religious thought and freedom — now 
 almost lost to sight beneath the overhanging 
 arches and matted brambles of superstition and 
 error; until, at last, it flows out in the clear, 
 broad unruffled stream of pure gospel truth — 
 ever growing deeper and broader, as its crystal 
 waters flow onward, distributing their life-giv- 
 ing influences to the nations of the earth. 
 Such, in a word, is the history of Baptist prin- 
 ciples, from the days of the apostles, until now. 
 
FINDING THE PATH. 11 
 
 And yet, let me assure the reader, there are 
 but few studies that he will pursue with more 
 mingled feelings of pleasure and pain; or in 
 which he will need to exercise greater caution, 
 if he would arrive at the exact truth. Not be- 
 cause God has failed to keep alive the lamp of 
 Divine Christianity, during- rill those dav« of 
 the church's tribulation, "when the Man of Sin 
 sat upon his seven hills, and from his throne of 
 darkness ruled the world." Not because 
 Clmst's altar-fires were left to languish and ex- 
 pire, and leave the world in darkness. Ah no! 
 for as God, in the days of Elijah, had reserved 
 to himself seven thousand men, who had never 
 bowed the knee to Baal or to his image, so, 
 never since the gospel lieht first shone o'er 
 .Tudea's plains, has he allowed it to become 
 extinguished. 
 
 There are several things, however, that com- 
 bine to render the studv an exceedingly diffi- 
 cult one. In the first place special care is nec- 
 essary to separate the true from the false; and 
 to distinguish between that which, like pure 
 gold will stand the test of the hot fires of perse- 
 cution, and the dross, which the fire onlv con- 
 sumes, and which fails to measure up to the 
 infallible Bible standard. 
 
 Then, a Grain, the careless student is in great 
 danger of being caught bv the glare and slit- 
 ter, the pomp and pageantry, and gorgeous rit- 
 ualism of corrupt state organizations. Here is 
 where so many of our so-called church histories 
 
12 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 fail. They are almost exclusively histories of 
 churchianity, instead of Christianity. There 
 is ample history of the former, that is, of the 
 great religious hierarchy, the church of Home — 
 indeed, of all those proud haughty state organ- 
 izations, but if we would look for the foot-prints 
 of pure gospel Christianity, we must follow 
 some humbler and more obscure path than 
 that taken by those churches that joined in an 
 unholy alliance with worldly state power. 
 
 Still another thing that combines to make 
 this a difficult study, is the scarcity of reliable 
 data from which to arrive at the exact truth. 
 It must be borne in mind, as Dean Waddington 
 so tersely puts it, that all the information we 
 get of those early religious bodies, whom we, as 
 Baptists, are wont to regard as our fathers in 
 tribulation, is derived from their enemies. It 
 will not do to put too much reliance on the tes- 
 timony of a witness, when we know the witness 
 is an implacable enemy. I am sorry to see 
 that even some Baptist writers have fallen 
 somewhat into this error. When we remember 
 that for centuries it was the policy of Rome to 
 misrepresent, to persecute, to deny every civil 
 and religious right, and to falsely brand as her> 
 etics — to destroy and kill by sword and stake, 
 and faggot and fire, those despised followers of 
 Jesus, whose only crime was allegiance to 
 Christ and his word, the wonder is that there is 
 left to us of the nineteenth century, any testr 
 mony whatever of the Scripturalness of their 
 doctrines or the purity of their lives. Their 
 
FINDING THE PATH. 13 
 
 books were burned, their records destroyed, 
 their members butchered aud their property 
 confiscated. 
 
 And yet, in spite of all, God has himself kept 
 the records, and in these last days he is gather- 
 ing them up, and with trumpet tongue, the; are 
 witnessing to the grandeur of that heroism and 
 devotion to truth which prompted those mar- 
 tyred saints to choose death in its most horrid 
 forms rather than to surrender their fidelity to 
 Christ, or worship at the shrine of a corrupt 
 *tate church. From the musty, mouldering 
 piles of their old court records, from the long 
 hidden decrees of kings and councils, and vati- 
 cans, from the bitter curses and anathemas 
 hurled like bolts of thunder at those true wor- 
 shipers. 
 
 " Who kept the truth so pure of old," 
 
 from the admissions and contradictions of their 
 enemies — from all these God is bringing out 
 and flinging to the world the truth concerning 
 those ancient martyrs of Jesus. "It is the 
 Lord's doings and marvellous in our eyes." 
 
 Let us assure the reader that it is through no 
 pleasant, flowery vale that much of his path- 
 way will lie as he traces the footprints of pure 
 Christianity down through those twelve 
 hundred and sixty years, in which her true fol- 
 lowers witnessed in sack-cloth, and held aloft 
 the lamp of divine truth, amid the dense spir- 
 itual darkness, that the world might know that 
 Christ still had a church upon the earth. He 
 
14 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 will trace it by the cruel edicts that were passed 
 for its extermination. He will follow it by the 
 light of the fires that were kindled to consume 
 its faithful witnesses who could die but could 
 not prove false to the faith they had received. 
 He will trace it by the groans and cries that 
 come from darkened prisons and loathsome 
 dungeons where the victims of the inquisition 
 languished and prayed and died and are forgot- 
 ten. By the blood-dyed streams of Europe — 
 by the flashing signal fire where it gleams from 
 some rocky height to warn the fleeing, perse- 
 cuted fugitive where he might find an asylum 
 and a hiding place from the fury of his murder- 
 ers. From Africa's sands and Armenia's 
 snows — from Alpine summits and Piedmont's 
 vales — from the scattered ashes where Smith- 
 field's fires formed a chariot in which God's 
 redeemed ones rode to glory and to God — by the 
 voices that come to him from the "souls that 
 were under the altar" as thy cry "How long 
 oh Lord?" — yea, by all these he can trace that 
 "Pathway of Fire" so long trodden by our fath- 
 ers that we, their descendents, with the rest 
 of mankind, may enjoy the blessing of an open 
 Bible and a pure Christianity. 
 
CORRECTING MISTAKES. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CORRECTING MISTAKES. 
 " He will tea.ch us His ways and we will walk in His paths." 
 
 Before beginning our search for "the true 
 origin of that sect/' now known as Baptists, I 
 desire to pause and correct one or two errors in 
 regard thereto, which, without so intending, 
 doubtless, by those who propagate them, never- 
 theless do our Baptist people an injustice. I 
 refer first to the determined effort made by so 
 many modern writers and speakers to show 
 that American Baptists owe their origin to and 
 descent from Roger Williams; and second, that 
 other statement that "the Baptist denomina- 
 tion are sprung from the 'Mad Men of Mun- 
 ster'," that city in Westphalia where, in 1534, 
 occurred a semi-political, semi-religious upris- 
 ing of the people who attempted to establish 
 an ideal government of their own; and led on 
 by ambitious and fanatical leaders, committed 
 excesses from which the Baptists of their times 
 would have turned away with loathing. 
 
 Concerning the first mistake — that which 
 makes the American Baptists descend from 
 RogerWilliams — it is not my intention to enter 
 into the controversy that has grown out of the 
 very strange statement of Rev. Dr. Whitsitt, in 
 Cyclopedia, to the effect that the 
 
16 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 "baptism of Roger Williams was most likely by 
 sprinkling." Hoav it was possible, with all the 
 tacts and. evidences existing, for Dr. Whitsitt, 
 to make such a statement I am at a loss to deter- 
 mine, for if any historical fact has been clearly 
 and satisfactorily settled, it is that in 1639, at 
 the newly planted, colony at what is now the 
 city of Providence, Rhode Island, Roger Will- 
 iams, Ezekiel Hollman and a number of others 
 decided to organize themselves into a Bautist 
 church. That they appointed Hollman to im- 
 merse Williams, wbo in turn immersed Holl- 
 man and the rest and thus completed their or- 
 ganization. 
 
 For this baptism of Williams and his associ- 
 ates, the Baptists have no apology to make. 
 New r Testament baptism derives its authority, 
 not from history, but from the New Testament. 
 Under the circumstances, that band of believers 
 was Scripturally justified in refusing anything 
 but New Testament baptism, in act, with the 
 best possible administrator at hand. When, as 
 an assembly of believers, acting on their belief, 
 in New Testament teachings, they appointed 
 one of their number to carry out Christ's com- 
 mandment, they came under the Divine rule 
 laid down in Second Corinthians, 8:12. 
 
 All this, how T ever, in justice to that church, 
 and as a Scriptural truth. So far from the 
 church thus organized by Roger Williams, 
 being the parent of American Baptist churches, 
 it has not, and never had, any place in American 
 x. aptist history, as I will presently show. 
 
CORRECTING MISTAKES. 17 
 
 Baptists do not honor Roger Williams as 
 their founder in America, but as the lirst man 
 to plant on American soil, the Hag of soul lib- 
 erty. As a matter of fact, there ay as no genu- 
 ine liberty of conscience in America, till Roger 
 Williams learned it, loved it, and suffered for 
 it. Unfortunately that pernicious error — the 
 rjght of the State to control in matters of relig- 
 ion, after kindling the tires of Smithiield, and 
 covering Europe with the graves of martyred 
 dead, embarked with the Puritans in the May- 
 flower, and landed oh the shores of the new 
 world. 
 
 Roger Williams was the first man in America 
 possessing the courage, the heroic faith, to put 
 his foot on the head of the monster, and crush 
 out its life. For this act, not because he is the 
 "Father of American Baptists," he is justly 
 entitled to be honorably remembered, not only 
 by every Baptist, but every American citizen 
 who cherishes freedom or loves soul liberty. 
 
 Here, also, comes in the Scriptural beauty of 
 Baptist church independence. Had that 
 church remained, it would have simply formed 
 one of the many thousands of Baptist churches 
 with which America has been covered. It 
 might even have contended for the honor of 
 being the oldest Baptist church in America, but 
 that is all. Each church in all the great Bap- 
 tist family derives its authority to exist from 
 the living Word, and not from any other Bap- 
 tist church. All this, however, has nothing to 
 do with American Baptist history. As a his- 
 
18 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 toxical fact, the church formed by Williams and 
 his associates continued only during the space 
 of four months. From some cause Williams 
 withdrew and allowed the church to become 
 scattered and the members to seek a home as 
 opportunity offered, elsewhere. We have no 
 doubt whatever that there was an overruling 
 Providence in this, so directing, that while the 
 hero of soul-liberty should plant deep in the soil 
 of the New World that God-given principle of 
 freedom for which Baptists have contended for 
 nineteen centuries, so far as their history is con- 
 cerned, the position of American Baptists 
 might remain forever unassailable. 
 
 At the proper place in this narrative I will 
 give the facts, touching the early history of the 
 baptists of this country; at present this is all 
 that is necessary to say on the subject. 
 
 The other error is that which refers the origin 
 of the Baptists to the "Mad Men of Munster." 
 On this point, to those who are willing to accept 
 a xjlain, truthful statement of facts, proven be- 
 yond a shadow of doubt by facts and dates that 
 are indisputable, it is unnecessary to dwell at 
 great length. I can understand how this nris- 
 take came to be, at first made, and have no 
 harsh words to write of those, who, by their con- 
 stant reiteration of this statement, as to their 
 origin, have done the Baptists this great injus- 
 tice. I presume the mistake grew out of the 
 similarity of the names, Munzer and Munster. 
 Though these names are of familiar sound, 
 
CORRECTING MISTAKES. 19 
 
 there is no more relation between them, than 
 there is between the light of the Sun at noon- 
 day and that of a flaming torch at midnight. 
 Munzer is the name of that heroic Baptist mar- 
 tyr, who died at the hand of his persecutors in 
 1525, by being cruelly beheaded. Munster was 
 the city in Westphalia where the revolt, known 
 as that of the "Mad Men of Munster," occurred 
 in 1534, nine years after Thomas Munzer had 
 heroically sealed his allegiance to Christ with 
 his blood and had gone up along "The fiery 
 pathway" to wear the martyr's crown and rest 
 forever with angels and with God. 
 
 It is true that those men of Munster commit- 
 ted excesses, and indulged in practices — albeit 
 they practiced immersion, even, as the Bap- 
 tists have always done — for which no Baptist 
 will apologize; but it must not be forgotten that 
 they were men who had been driven to despera- 
 tion by the conduct of their oppressors. Crushed 
 beneath the iron heel of a despotism, as re- 
 lentless and cruel as the world has ever known, 
 it is scarcely to be wondered that those ignorant 
 peasants would mistake lawlessness for liberty. 
 
 The facts concerning that outbreak are, that 
 the Baptists had nothing, whatever, to do with 
 it; nor was there any act, save that they im- 
 mersed those who joined them, that could 
 afford the slightest ground for styling them 
 Baptists, or even Anabaptists. Their principal 
 leader was a Lutheran named "Rothman; and it 
 is as unjust to refer the crimes and indecencies 
 of Bothman and his followers to the Baptists 
 
20 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 of those clays as it would be to blame the hand- 
 ful of peaceable Baptists now seeking to do their 
 Master's work in Cuba, for all the horrors and 
 calamities that are now rending that unhappy 
 island. Nor have I the least doubt but that 
 if there were no source of information concern- 
 ing the heroic efforts which those Cuban 
 patriots are making for their freedom from the 
 galling yoke of Spanish tyranny, save that which 
 we would get through Spanish representa- 
 tion, they would appear in a scarcely more fa- 
 vorable light, than do those "Mad Men" who 
 fought and bled and died at Munster. And 
 who knows but that, when in the time to come> 
 the search-light of truth, pure and simple, may 
 be turned on that Munster affair, those same 
 mad men may present as much the appearance 
 of heroes as they do now of demons. 
 
 No, kind reader. If you would find "the true 
 origin of that sect called the Baptists" you must 
 go back beyond the clays of Roger Williams, 
 though we honor him for his devotion to soul 
 liberty; back beyond the "Mad Men of Mun- 
 ster," though I doubt if even they were as black 
 as their enemies have painted them; back be- 
 yond the days of Luther and Calvin and Knox, 
 though the world should do honor to their 
 name and memory for the noble stand they took 
 and the mighty blows they struck in favor of an 
 open Bible and a purer church; back beyond the 
 blood-dyed valleys of Piedmont and Wale3,back 
 beyond the millions who died a martyr's death 
 and in chariots of literal fire went u^ to Glory 
 
CORRECTING MISTAKES. 21 
 
 and to God — back beyond the decrees of kings, 
 the bulls of Popes, the decisions of councils, 
 and the thunderings of the Vatican — back, 
 back along the pathway lighted by the altar 
 fires of consecrated allegiance to Christ and his 
 truth, as well as the glaring red torch from the 
 martyr fires of persecution, nor stop till von 
 reach that little upper room in the far away city 
 of Jerusalem nineteen centuries ago, if yon 
 would find the origin of that body of christians, 
 now known to the whole world as the Baptist 
 denomination. 
 
 I cannot more appropriately close this chap- 
 ter than by quoting the testimony of that prince 
 of church historians, Dr. Mosheim, himself a 
 Lutheran and professor of church history in 
 the University of Gottingen, Germany. 
 
 He says: "The true origin of that sect 
 that derived the name Anabaptist from their 
 administering anew the rite of baptism to such 
 as came to them from the Roman Catholic 
 church, is hidden in the remotest depths of an- 
 tiquity; and is therefore, very difficult to deter- 
 mine. Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, 
 there lay concealed in nearly all the countries 
 of Europe, particularly in Bohemia, Moravia, 
 Switzerland and Germany an innumerable com- 
 pany of persons who adhered tenaciously to the 
 doctrines of the Dutch Baptists. They believed 
 that the kingdom of Christ, or visible church 
 which he established on the earth was an as- 
 sembly of the true and real saints; and .ughty 
 therefore, to be inaccessible to the wicked and 
 
22 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 unrighteous and also exempt from all those 
 institutions which human prudence suggests 
 to oppose the progress of iniquity or to cor- 
 rect and reform transgressors. McLean s, ±*. 
 490. 
 
 For this frank and truthful testimony of 
 Mosheim to the ancient origin of the Baptists, 
 he is entitled to the thanks of all lovers of truth- 
 ful representation. At the same time we may 
 find "the true origin of the Baptists" if we look 
 for it in the right direction. To a study of that 
 origin, I now invite the attention of the reader. 
 
THE PLACE OF STARTING. 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE PLACE OF STARTING. 
 
 " Out of Zion shall go forth the law and the Word of 
 the Lord from Jerusalem." 
 
 "Repentance and remission of sins shall be preached in 
 my name, beginning at Jerusalem." 
 
 In these two Scriptures we have clearly a 
 prophesy and its fulfillment. The divine plan 
 and purpose regarding the work of salvation 
 is here unfolded. Seven hundred years before 
 the angel's song announced to the Shepherds 
 of Galilee the advent of the Son of God, Isaiah 
 foretold that Jerusalem should be the place 
 whence should go forth the Divine proclamation 
 of Salvation. In the fullness of time, this 
 prophesy was fulfilled. Christ came, and by 
 his vicarious death made possible the Salva- 
 tion of all the people. Then, as showing the 
 oneness of the Divine purpose in the fulfillment 
 of prophesy, he commanded his disciples to 
 "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to 
 every creature, beginning at Jerusalem." 
 
 In the furtherence of this Divine purpose, 
 and as a human means for carrying it out, 
 Christ organized what he termed the church. 
 To that church he gave certain doctrines, or- 
 dinances and commands with positive instruc- 
 tions that they were to be retained, practiced 
 and obeyed, even until the end of time. Fur- 
 
24 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 ther, that these doctrines and duties might be 
 fully known and understood, he chose twelve 
 men w T hom he kept under his direct teaching 
 for three and a half years. And further still, 
 that they might be rendered incapable of mis- 
 take, he commanded them to tarry at Jerusalem 
 till they should be endued with wisdom from on 
 high. For ten days they did nothing but pray 
 and wait for this Divine enduement. At the 
 end of that time the Holy Spirit came down 
 upon them in such wondrous power that they 
 became completely under his Divine influence 
 and control. 
 
 Why was all this? The answer is plain. It 
 was necessary to render them incapable of mis- 
 take. In their methods, their teachings, their 
 organizations, their doctrines and practices* 
 those disciples were to stand as models for all 
 coming time. What the} 7 were to preach was 
 to form the theme of Gospel preaching, so long- 
 as the world should stand. The plans and 
 methods which they should adopt, were to be 
 the plans and methods of the church so long as 
 time should last. In the material of which 
 their churches were composed, in the ordi- 
 nances Christ had given, and the doctrines they 
 should teach their churches, until the end of the 
 dispensation were to constitute the Divinely 
 given models by which all church work should 
 be done. 
 
 I desire to emphasize this important truth. 
 It Ls too often overlooked and the idea allowed 
 to prevail that certain latitude was given to the 
 
THE PLACE OF STARTING. 25 
 
 church to change what Christ and his apostles 
 commanded and practiced. This is a grievous 
 error. Never, till "the end of the world" was 
 the church to depart one iota from the plain in- 
 structions given by Christ, or the doctrines and 
 ordinances taught and practiced by the Apos- 
 tles. In every respect, their churches were to 
 represent the churches of Christ, until he should 
 "come the second time, without sin unto Salva- 
 tion." 
 
 From that Divinely constructed model noth- 
 ing was to be taken, to it nothing was to be 
 added. 
 
 All that is necessary, therefore, for us is to 
 study those Divinely given models and "to make 
 all things according to the pattern." And if 
 Ave wish to know how far our work today is cor- 
 rect or incorrect, we have only to compare it 
 with the Divine model, and the matter is at once 
 settled. 
 
 Before we start on our journev into "the re- 
 motest depths of antiquitv" in search of "the 
 true origin of that sect, failed the Baptists," let 
 ns take a photograph of the Baptist church os 
 of todav, that we may the more easilv identify 
 those of our brethren wherever we shall meet 
 them in the a^es of long aoro. In other words, 
 W us stndv brieflv the characteristics of the 
 Bantist churches of to-dav, in their doctrines 
 and orr!inanco«. compare them with those of the 
 Apostolic churches and then see if we can trace 
 the same characteristic principles and practi- 
 ces, down through the intervening ages. 
 
26 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 First — The Baptist churches are composed 
 only of those who have repented of their sins, 
 confessed Christ as a personal Savior and been 
 immersed on the profession of their faith. 
 
 Second. — The Baptists are in no sense a hier- 
 archy. Each church is an independent local 
 assembly of baptised believers. It is independ- 
 ent of all other churches, democratic in its form 
 of government, acknowledging no head but 
 Christ, and no law but his word.* 
 
 Third. — The Baptists accept nothing but the 
 Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, and 
 the sole arbiter in matters of religion. 
 
 Fourth. — The Baptists practice as ordinances 
 only the two positive commands of Christ; bap 
 tism and the Lord's supper. The former con- 
 sists of the immersion of a believer in water, in 
 the name of the Trinity; the latter in partaking 
 of simple bread and wine in token of the broken 
 body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 To these may be added the fact that the Bap- 
 tists do not trace their history to, nor have they, 
 in any way, been connected with the church of 
 Rome. They are not Protestants, in the sense 
 of having come out of, or dating their origin 
 from the Roman Catholic church. I have noth- 
 ing but words of commendation for those illus- 
 trious men who dared to defy the power of 
 Rome and contend for an open Bible and a purer 
 
 *It is an historical fact of which the Baptists may well he proud, that 
 the Constitution of the United States, was framed after the model, found 
 in a local Baptist church in the State of Virginia. 
 
$HE PLACE OF S^TARTlN(2. 27 
 
 church Let the names of Luther and Cal- 
 vin and Knox and Foster and Brown and Wes- 
 ley and a host of others be enshrined in the most 
 sacred archives of their church's history. It 
 was not their fault that they were born and 
 reared within the influence of a corrupt state 
 church. Not their fault that their spiritual 
 mother became so corrupt that they could no 
 longer repose under the old roof-tree where they 
 had been born and where they had been reared. 
 But it is to their great honor on earth and wilt 
 be to their glory in Heaven that they had the 
 moral courage to break the chain with which 
 they were bound, and step out into the clearer 
 light of the gospel and to grasp the grand 
 truth of Salvation by faith. 
 
 But in this narrative I am dealing, not with 
 sentiment, but with historical fact. If, then, 
 God has been pleased to give the Baptists a still 
 grander heritage, to him be all the glory. And 
 that grander heritage he has given us. If it be 
 honorable in the sight of God and men to pro- 
 test against the corruption of a proud, perse- 
 cuting,religious hierarchy, then,indeed may the 
 Baptists claim the greater honor; for certain it 
 is they have protested longer and protested 
 louder than any of their brethren — yea, pro- 
 tested, even to the death, for spiritual religion 
 and a gospel church. The difference, however, 
 is this. Their protests have all been made out- 
 side of the church of Rome. Running parallel 
 with her down the ages, there has been no age 
 in which Rome has not met a protesting spirit 
 
28 THE PATHWAY OE FIRE. 
 
 in those witnesses for the truth which the Bap^ 
 tists of to-day claim as their fathers. 
 
 How far and in what respect do the churches 
 of the -New Testament compare in doctrine and 
 practice with the Baptist churches of today? 
 A careful examination will reveal the fact that, 
 in all essential characteristics, the Apostolic 
 churches were precisely the same as our mod- 
 ern Baptist churches. 
 
 First. — It is evident that among the Apostolic 
 churches none were received into fellowship, 
 except such as had professed faith in Christ as 
 a personal Savior and gave evidence of genuine 
 repentance from sin. This is so plain that it 
 seems unnecessary to discuss it. On the day of 
 Penticost when the Holy Spirit had convicted 
 the multitude of sin, and they asked what they 
 should do, Peter struck the keynote of the Gos- 
 pel. "Repent and be baptised every one of 
 you." "Then they that gladly received the 
 word were baptised." When "Philip went 
 down to the City of Samaria and preached 
 Christ unto them," we are told that "When they 
 believed Philip's preaching * * * * they were 
 baptised, both men and women." When the 
 Ethiopian Eunich asked baptism at the hands 
 of this same evangelist, the answer was: "If 
 thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest." 
 
 The same rule was observed all through the 
 apostolic age. Wherever they preached, wher- 
 ever they organized a church, the theme of their 
 preaching was repentance from sin and 
 faith in Christ; to be followed immediately by 
 
THE PLACE OF STARTING. 29 
 
 immersion and membership in the church. In 
 support of this, the reader is referred to the tes- 
 timony of Neander, Mosheim, and all other 
 church historians, who have written of that 
 early age. All testify to the fact, so plainly self- 
 evident, that the apostolic churches were com- 
 posed only of those who had been baptised on 
 the profession of their faith. 
 
 Nor is it less plain that, in the second char- 
 acteristic, the New Testament churches were 
 similar to modern Baptist churches. Each 
 church was an independent, local assembly of 
 baptised believers. 
 
 It has become customary to speak of each re- 
 ligious denomination as a church. As for in- 
 stance, the Baptist church, the Methodist 
 church, etc. While this is allowable, it must 
 be remembered that it is only the modern, not 
 the New Testament signification of the term; 
 and it was not so used or understood in the 
 apostolic churches. 
 
 Those churches were the farthest possible re^ 
 moved from anything like a religious hierarchy. 
 Each church was independent of all other 
 churches. Hence, when the inspired writer 
 would speak of the whole body of christians, he 
 would use the plural form, "churches;" as for 
 instance, "Hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
 churches," "The seven churches of Asia," "Then 
 had the churches rest, and, walking in the fear 
 of the Lord, were edified." 
 
 When writing to or of the brethren in a cer- 
 tain locality, the singular is used, as the church 
 
30 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 at Corinth, the church at Philippi, the church at 
 Rome, the church at Ephesus — just as the Bap- 
 tists of to-day have the church at Cleveland, 
 the church at Knoxville; the local church of any 
 other single locality — or the Baptist churches 
 of Tennessee or of the United States. As the 
 historian, Dean Waddington, so tersely puts it, 
 "Every church was essentially independent of 
 every other." They acknowledged no head but 
 Christ, and no law but his word. 
 
 Third. — Allegiance to Christ and his law, was 
 another grand characteristic of the New Testa- 
 ment, as it is, and has been of the Baptist 
 churches. When Peter uttered that brief com- 
 pendium of New Testament church faith, 
 "Whether it be right to obey God, rather than 
 .iianjudgeyejfor we cannot but speak the things 
 that we have heard and seen," he laid down the 
 fundamental principal of law, by which the true 
 churches of Jesus Christ have been governed 
 in all ages, from the first church at Jerusalem, 
 till the present day. 
 
 Fourth. — In their officers the New Testament 
 churches w T ere also similar to our modern Bap- 
 tists. Their officers were simply Pastors, or 
 bishops and deacons. A single reference to 
 Acts 20th will show that the office of elder and 
 that of bishop were one and the same. We read 
 there that "Paul sent to Ephesus and called the 
 elders of the church." When they arrived he 
 addressed them as "overseers." These words 
 in the original are the same words we have 
 translated elders and bishops. Mosheim, in his 
 
THE PLACE OF STARTING. 31 
 
 church history,is very careful to warn us against 
 confounding the bishops of the present day 
 with the simple pastors of the churches in the 
 apostolic days. The former, he says, was only 
 the pastor of a single church in which he acted 
 more the part of a servant than that of the mas- 
 ter. 
 
 Fifth. — In their ordinances the churches of 
 the New Testament were precisely similar to 
 our modern Baptist churches. They were the 
 same in their subjects. They were such as pro- 
 fessed faith in Christ. They were the same in 
 the act of baptism. It was the immersion of a 
 believer in water. They were the same in their 
 observance of the Lord's supper. This was, to 
 ouote Mosheim, "The communion of the faith- 
 ful." Simply partaking of bread and wine, in 
 commemoration of Christ. 
 
 Nothing could be more simple than the obser- 
 vance of Christ's ordinances by the New Testa- 
 ment churches. In the simplest manner pos- 
 sible, they carried out their dear Lord's commis- 
 sion to "Go teach nil nations, baptising them in 
 the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, 
 teaching them to observe all things, what- 
 soever I have comanded yon." 
 
 As this is the point a round which centers the 
 greatest controversy, I will pause here to intro- 
 duce a chapter of testimony, in proof of the po* 
 sitions I have taken, as to the characteristics of 
 the New Testament churches. 
 
32 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A CHAPTEK OF TESTIMONY. 
 "Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord." 
 
 In the last chapter we considered the various 
 charact eristics 1 of the New Testament churches 
 and their perfect resemblance to those of mod- 
 ern Baptists. In this chapter we shall present 
 a mass of testimony in proof of our position as 
 to those characteristics. 
 
 These points of resemblance refer to 
 their membership, their church polity 
 and government, t . h e i r allegiance to 
 Christ and his word, their officers and their or- 
 dinances. Without taking the trouble to group 
 each separate testimony under its respective 
 head, I will present the whole mass of evidence 
 that the reader can see how strongly our posi 
 tion is fortified. This testimonv, to any fair 
 minded reader, cannot fail to be convincing. 
 Indeed, to anyone honestly, and carefully ex- 
 amining the New Testament, this testimony 
 will be superflous; but as many people look for 
 human testimony to affirm Divine records, I 
 give it. The authorities can be consulted by 
 the reader if he so desires. 
 
 Let us first introduce the testimony of c Lurch 
 historians on these points of similarity between 
 the present Baptist and apostolic churches. 
 
A CHAPTER OF TESTIMONY. 33 
 
 Neander, on the subject of baptism says: 
 "Baptism was administered, at first, only to 
 adults as men were accustomed to conceive bap- 
 tism and faith as strictly connected.'' As to 
 the mode, he says, "Baptism was originally ad- 
 ministered by immersion; and many of the com- 
 parisons of St. Paul allude to this form of ad- 
 ministration. Immersion is a symbol of being 
 buried with Christ and coming forth from the 
 water, a symbol of resurrection with Christ." 
 
 Bishop Taylor: — "There is no pretense of tra- 
 dition that the church in all ages baptised in- 
 fants." 
 
 Salmacius Suicerus: — "In the first two 
 centuries no one was baptised except being in- 
 structed in the faith and acquainted with the 
 doctrines of Christ, he was able to profess him- 
 self a believer." 
 
 M. De. La. Boque: — "The primitive church 
 did not baptise infants." 
 
 Mosheim. First century — "The sacrament 
 of baptism was administered in this century 
 without the public assembly, in rdaces 
 appointed and prepared for the purpose and 
 was performed by the immersion of the whole 
 body in the baptismal font." 
 
 Second century. — "The sacrament of bap- 
 tism was administered publicly twice a year, at 
 Easter and Whitsuntide. The persons that 
 were to be baptised, after they had repeated the 
 creed, confessed and renounced their sins, and 
 particularly the devil and his pompous allure- 
 ments were immersed under water and received 
 
oi THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 into Christ's Kingdom by a solemn invocation 
 of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, according to 
 the express command of our blessed Lord." 
 
 Dean Waddington. — "The ceremony of im- 
 mersion, the oldest form of baptism, Avas per- 
 formed in the name of the three persons of the 
 Trinity/' 
 
 Cave. — "The party to be baptised was wholly 
 immerged or put under water, which was the 
 almost constant and universal custom of those 
 times." 
 
 Bishop Taylor. — "The custom of the ancient 
 church w^as not sprinkling but immersion; in 
 pursuance of the sense of the word (baptise) 
 and the commandment and example of our bles- 
 sed Savior." 
 
 Bossuet. — "We read not in the Scriptures 
 that baptism was otherwise (than by immer- 
 sion) administered; and we are able to 
 make it appear by the acts of councils, and by 
 the ancient rituals, that, for thirteen hundred 
 years, baptism was thus udministered, through- 
 out the whole church as far as possible." 
 
 Dr. Wall. — "Their (the primitive christian's) 
 general and ordinary way Avas to baptise by im- 
 mersion. This is so plain and clear, by an infi- 
 nite number of passages, that as we cannot 
 but pity the weak endeavors of such Pedobap- 
 tists, as would maintain the negative of it, so 
 also we ought to disown and show a dislike for 
 the profane scoffs of the English Antipedobap- 
 tists, merely for their use of dipping. It was 
 in all probability, the way in which our blessed 
 
A CHAPTER OF TESTIMONY. 35 
 
 Savior, and for certain was the most usual and 
 ordinary way by which the ancient christians 
 did receive their baptism. As for sprinkling, 
 I say, as Mr. Blake, at its first coming up in 
 England, let them defend it who use it." 
 
 Dr. Philip Schaff. — As to the mode of bap- 
 tism says: "It is unquestionably the fact, that 
 the mode of baptism in the apostles' days was 
 by immersion." 
 
 Of the government and officers of the primi- 
 tive churches, these historians give the follow- 
 ing testimony: 
 
 Waddington. — "In the earliest government 
 of the first christian society, that of Jerusalem, 
 not the elders only, but the whole church were 
 associated with the apostles; and it is even cer- 
 tain that the terms bishop and elder, or presby- 
 ter, were in the first instance, and for a short 
 period, sometimes used synonimously, and in- 
 discriminately applied to the same order in the 
 ministry." — History, Page 41. 
 
 Again — the same author — "The churches 
 thus constituted and regulated, formed a sort 
 of federative body of independent religious com- 
 munities, dispersed through the greater part of 
 the empire, in continual communication and 
 constant harmony with each other." 
 
 Mosheiin. — "The churches of those early 
 times were entirely independent of one another, 
 none of them being subject to any foreign juris- 
 diction, but each governed by its own rules and 
 its own laws; for though the churches founded 
 by the apostles had this particular deference 
 
36 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 shown them, that they were consulted in diffi- 
 cult and doubtful cases, yet they hr.d no judi- 
 cial authority, no sort of supremacy over others,, 
 nor the least right to make laws for them. 
 Nothing on the contrary, is more evident than 
 the perfect equality of those primitive 
 churches." 
 
 On the officers of the church the same author 
 says: "Let no man confound the bishops of 
 this primitive and golden period of the church 
 with those of whom we read in the following 
 ages; for though they were both distinguished 
 by the same name, yet they differed in many 
 respects. A bishop during the first and second 
 centuries was the person who had the care of 
 one christian assembly, which, at that time, 
 was, generally speaking, small enough to be 
 contained in a private house. In this assem- 
 bly he acted, not so much with the authority 
 of master as with the zeal and diligence of a 
 faithful servant." 
 
 Similar is the testimony of Gibbon.: — 
 "Such was the mild and equable consti- 
 tution by which the christians were governed 
 for more than a hundred years after the death 
 of the apostles. Every society formed within 
 itself a separate and independent republic ; and 
 although the most distant of those little states 
 maintained a mutual as well as friendly inter- 
 course of letters and deputations, the christian 
 world was not yet connected by any supreme 
 authority or legislative assembly." 
 
 Similar testimony is borne by Coleman, Ne- 
 
A CHAPTER OF TESTIMONY. 37 
 
 ander and Archbishop Whately. Who can fail 
 to see in these descriptions a perfect photo- 
 graph of the Baptist churches of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 Of eminent commentators and other Pedo- 
 baptist scholars and writers, we have the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 Doctor Bunson. — a Pedobaptism in the more 
 modern sense, meaning thereby the baptism of 
 infants with the vicarious promises of parents 
 and ot'her sponsors, was utterly unknown to 
 the early church, not only down to the end of 
 the second but even to the middle of the third 
 centurv." 
 
 North British Beview. — "Scripture knows 
 nothing of the baptism of infants. There is 
 absolutely not a single trace of it to be found in 
 the New Testament/' 
 
 Prof. Jacobie. — University of Berlin. — "In- 
 fant baptism was established neither by Christ 
 nor his apostles." 
 
 Prof. Moses Stewart, Andover. — "There are 
 no commands or plain and certain examples 
 in the New Test amen for the baptism of 
 infants." 
 
 Bev. Dr. Woods. — "We have no express pre- 
 cept or example for infant baptism in 
 all the holy writings." 
 
 Dr. August i, of immersion says: — "I know 
 of no usage of ancient times which seems to be 
 more clearly and certainly made out. I cannot 
 see how it is possible for any candid man, who 
 examines the subject to deny this." 
 
38 THE PATHWAY OF FIKE. 
 
 Beza. — "Christ commanded us to be baptised,, 
 by which word it is certain immersion is signi- 
 fied. To be baptised in water signifies no other 
 than to be immersed in water." 
 
 Whitfield, on Romans 6:4. — "It is certain 
 that in the words of our text, there is 
 allusion to the ancient manner of baptism 
 which w r as by immersion." 
 
 Calvin, on John 3:23 and Acts 8:28.— "From 
 these words it may be inferred that baptism 
 was administered by John and Christ by plung- 
 ing the body under water." 
 
 J. G. Vossius. — "That the Apostles immersed 
 whom they baptised, there is no doubt ;and that 
 the ancient church followed this custom is 
 clearly evinced by innumerable testimonies of 
 the fathers." 
 
 Dr. Moses Stewart. — "Bapto, baptiso mean 
 tu dip, to immerse. All lexicographers and 
 critics of any note are agreed on this." 
 
 Martin Luther. — "Baptism is a Greek w r ord 
 and may be translated immersion as when we 
 immerse something in water that it nay be 
 completely covered." 
 
 Dr. Robert Newton. — "Baptism was origi- 
 nally performed. by immersion or dipping the 
 whole body under water to represent the death, 
 burial and resurrection of Christ, and to signify 
 the person's own dying to sin and his resurrec- 
 tion to a new life." 
 
 Rev. Dr. Whitby. — "It being so expressly de- 
 clared here," Romans 6:4, "that we are buried 
 w T ith Christ in Baptism by being buried under 
 
A CHAPTER OF TESTIMONY. 30 
 
 water and the argument to oblige us to a con- 
 formity to Ms death being taken hence, and this 
 immersion being religiously observed by all 
 christians for thirteen centuries, it were to be 
 wished that this custom might be again of gen- 
 eral use. 1 ' 
 
 Connybare and Howson, on Romans 6:4. — 
 "This passage cannot be understood unless it be 
 borne in mind that the primitive baptism was 
 by immersion." 
 
 Dr. Philij) Doddridge, on same. — "It seems 
 the part of candor to confess that here is an 
 allusion to the ancient manner of baptising by 
 immersion." 
 
 John Wesley, same.— "Alluding to the ancient 
 manner of baptising by immersion." In 
 the old editions of Wesley's journal may be 
 found this entry under date of February 21, 
 173(3. "Mary Welsh, aged eleven, was baptised 
 according to the custom of the first church and 
 the rule of the Church of England by immer- 
 sion." 
 
 Dr. Chalmers. — "The original meaning of the 
 word baptism is immersion; and though we re- 
 gard it as a matter of indifference whether the 
 ordinance so named be so administered or by 
 sprinkling, we doubt not the prevalent style of 
 administration in the apostles' days was by 
 the actual submerging of the w^hole body under 
 water." 
 
 The late Dr. Charles Anthon, Professor in 
 Columbia eollege,Xew York,had the reputation 
 of being the best Greek scholar in America. 
 
40 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 On one occasion Eev. Dr. Spring made the state- 
 ment in public that "baptiso" — the Greek word 
 transferred to our King James' version — signi- 
 fies to sprinkle and pour. A hearer who heard 
 the statement wrote to Dr. Anthon asking if the 
 statement were true. The following is Dr. An- 
 thon's answer. — "There is no authority what- 
 ever for the singular remark of the Kev. Dr. 
 Spring relative to the force of baptiso. The 
 primary meaning of the w r ord is to dip, to im- 
 merse; and its secondary meaning, if ever it had 
 any, all refer in some way or another to the 
 same leading idea. Sprinkling and pouring 
 are entirely out of the question." 
 
 Of the early Fathers, we have Justin Martyr, 
 Tertullian, Gregory Nazianzen, Cryal of Jerusa- 
 lem and the "Golden-mouthed Crysostom;" all 
 bearing testimony to the same facts concerning 
 the New Testament churches. 
 
 Then there is another class of witnesses who 
 have testified on this question. Where shall 
 we look for the true meaning of words, if 
 not to the lexicons of the language to which the 
 word belongs? For the meaning of a French 
 word we go to a French lexicon. If it be an 
 English, Spanish, or German word, to an 
 English, Spanish or German lexicon. Baptiso 
 is a Greek word, not translated, but simply 
 transferred in our English Testament, and 
 spelled in English letters. On its meaning I 
 have personally consulted Liddell and 
 Scott, Grove, Robinson, Bass, Picker- 
 ir.g, Greenfield and Britschneider. These are 
 
A CHAPTER OF TESTIMONY. 41 
 
 all standard lexicons and all give the meaning 
 of Baptise, to dip, to plunge, to submerge, to 
 overwhelm. Dr. Stewart said truly: "All 
 lexicographers and critics of any note are 
 agreed on this/ 7 that the ancient baptism was 
 by immersion. 
 
 Now, if we except Tertullian, whom some 
 Baptist writers claim, with good show of rea- 
 son, as a Baptist in his belief and practice, none 
 of the above mass of testimony is from Baptist 
 sources. It is from beginning to end, the testi- 
 mony of learned Pedobaptists who valued their 
 scholarship too highly to misrepresent the 
 truth. I have deemed it best to leave out of 
 this history purely Baptist testimony and con- 
 fine myself to that furnished by Pedobaptists. 
 Those authors here quoted are among the 
 brightest lights to be found in the Episcopal, 
 Presbyterian, Lutheran, Congregational, and 
 Methodist churches. I mean, of course, aside 
 from the Fathers and those who lived and wrote 
 long before the dawn of the reformation. 
 
 If any further proof is needed, it is found in 
 the remains of ancient baptisteries still stand- 
 ing, thu paintings and bas-reliefs, which as 
 though kept by Divine power for that purpose, 
 still stand, as ever-enduring witnesses to the 
 methods and practices of Christ's ancient 
 churches. 
 
 Here, then, I claim, we have found "the true 
 origin of that sect," which in the fullness of 
 time became known as the Baptist denomina- 
 tion. I ask the reader to take these statements 
 
42 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 a:il testimonies, and compare them with the 
 inspired records of those early New Testament 
 churches and he will not only be convinced that 
 the testimonies are true but he will admit that 
 every feature in the photograph of the nine- 
 teenth century Baptists is clearly brought out 
 and reproduced in the churches of the New Tes- 
 tament times. 
 
 From those churches, then, as a starting point 
 I ask him to follow me along that "Pathway of 
 Fire," as we trace the history of the people 
 holding the same principles, believing the same 
 doctrines, and keeping the ordinances as they 
 were delivered, from the days of the apostles. 
 down to the present. 
 
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 4& 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 CONTENDING FOE THE FAITH. 
 
 "It was needful for me to write you, and exhort you, that you should 
 contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." 
 
 In the present chapter we shall endeavor to 
 explain the causes that led up to the final sepa- 
 ration of the early christians into two great 
 bodies, the one going off farther and farther 
 from the truth, until it finally resulted in the 
 great apostasy and the development of the 
 "man of sin," so clearly foretold by Paul; the 
 other pursuing the straight, gospel course 
 though it proved to them a "Pathway of Fire," 
 leading to persecution, to suffering and martyr- 
 dom; but which resulted in giving to the gener- 
 ations following that priceless treasure, for 
 which there is no standard of value, freedom to 
 worship God. 
 
 Just here arises a most important question. 
 A question which the student must answer be- 
 fore he can rightly appreciate the narrative 
 which will here follow. It is this: In that 
 great separation which gave to the world two 
 such opposite religious bodies, which was right 
 and which was wrong? To this question I 
 shall give no specific answer, but shall leave 
 the reader to render his own answer from a. 
 
44 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 careful study of the facts as I shall give them. 
 I have no doubt, whatever, of the decision of 
 every unprejudiced reader, satisfied not only 
 that he will acquit those early Baptists of all 
 wrong doing, but that he w T ill thank God for 
 that patience and courage which led them to go 
 to their death rather than surrender their God- 
 given right to worship God according to the 
 dictates of his word. 
 
 If the reader will glance at the Scripture text 
 with which, this chapter is headed, he will see 
 that even in Jude's time, he saw the cloud rising 
 and found it necessary to exhort the brethren 
 ■"to contend earnest!^ for the faith." If now 
 he will turn to Paul's Epistles to the Romans, 
 Galaftians and Thessalonians he will see how 
 anxious Paul was as he scanned the religious 
 sky and marked the indications of the approach- 
 ing storm. Standing between Judaism on the 
 one hand and Paganism on the other, and draw- 
 ing its members from both of these great sys- 
 tems, what wor.der if at a very early period, the 
 church should find herself confronted with 
 those errors and abuses so directly opposed to 
 the simplicity of the gospel of Christ. Their 
 fears were well grounded, for scarcely had the 
 apostles closed their life work and sealed their 
 testimony with a martyr's death when those 
 errors and corruptions which they so clearly 
 foresaw began to manifest themselves. 
 
 Those errors and corruptions were princi- 
 pally, from three sources. First. — The introduc- 
 tion into their worship of forms and ceremonies 
 
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 45. 
 
 not authorized by Christ and his apostles. Ju- 
 daism sought to combine with the simple meth- 
 ods of the gospel, the forms and ceremonies 
 of the old Mosaic ritual. See Acts 15th. Pa- 
 ganism sought to largely replace the simple act 
 of repentance and faith as a means of salvation 
 with the vain show, the gorgeous ritualism, and 
 sensous practices of Pagan worship, and add 
 to the simple doctrines of the cross, the mysti- 
 cism and crude generalities of their heathen 
 philosophy. 
 
 Second. — The laxity of their discipline and 
 the carelessness of many receiving unconverted 
 and unworthy members into the church. At 
 the first none were admitted but such as gave 
 clear and unmistakable evidence of a genuine 
 change of heart. Then the religion of Christ 
 was unpopular. To be a christian at the first 
 was to deny one's self and take up his cross 
 and follow his Savior, largely through evil re- 
 port. But when the opposition had subsided 
 and Christianity had come to either bask in the 
 smiles or rest under the toleration of worldly 
 power, it became popular to profess to be a 
 christian; and many unconverted people from 
 unworthy motives sought admission into the 
 church. To such members the gorgeous wor- 
 ship and vain philosophy would be more ac- 
 ceptable than the simple faith and forms of the 
 gospel, and resulted still more in narrowing the 
 once clearly defined line between the church 
 and the world. 
 
 Third. — The tendency to centralization of 
 
46 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 power by which the churches and pastors of 
 the larger cities, especially Kome, Byzantium 
 and Carthage, arrogated to themselves, power 
 and control that was never intended by Christ, 
 and w T hich formed no place in the early consti- 
 tution of the churches. This increased more 
 and more; the other churches and bishops yield- 
 ing to the power and control of Eome until in 
 606 the prediction of Paul was fulfilled in the 
 impious act of making Eome the head of the 
 church universal, and her bishop the universal 
 bishop, or the Pope, and declaring him to be 
 Christ's vice-gerent on earth with power to 
 control in Christ's room and stead. 
 
 It was these innovations and corruptions 
 which the more spiritual part of the churches, 
 remembering the admonitions and warnings of 
 the apostles, so strongly opposed. They 
 sought earnestly to stem the tide that they 
 clearly saw, if allowed to flow, would ere long 
 sweep away the simplicity and purity and spir- 
 itual poAver of the religion of the cross. And 
 it was these causes — this determination of the 
 one party to maintain and perpetuate these 
 innovations, and that of the other to maintain 
 the purity, discipline and spirituality of the 
 church that resulted in the final separation and 
 perpetuating through the ages two great parties 
 of religionists — the one with its power and 
 wealth, its prejudices and persecutions, its 
 gorgeous ritualism, and unholy practices, and 
 the other with its simplicity and its weakness, 
 its faithfullness and its sufferings, and its final 
 
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 47 
 
 triumph in preserving to the world a pure and 
 simple gospel Christianity, just as it came from 
 the hands of Christ and his apostles. With 
 this simple statement of facts before him, I ask 
 every intelligent reader: "Which was right and 
 which was wrong?" 
 
 It will be readily understood, however, that 
 these innovations and corruptions did not come 
 into the churches all at once;nor did they affect 
 all churches in all sections equally at the same 
 time. All this was of slow growth. The inhe- 
 rent simplicity and purity of the early churches 
 combined with the earnest efforts of that class 
 who opposed those corruptions formed a resist- 
 ing influence which long stemmed the tide of 
 corruption and made its progress slow. By the 
 year 150 their influence had become such as to 
 awaken the apprehension of many and cause 
 them to sound the alarm. About this period 
 there arose one, Montanus, who by his elo- 
 quence and virtue, the simplicity of his doc- 
 trines and the purity of his life wielded a 
 mighty influence stemming the tide of corrup- 
 tion in the churches. Montanus had a large 
 following of members, but so far as I can learn, 
 there was no actual separation at this early pe- 
 riod. Several writers claim Montanus and 
 his followers as Baptists. The truth is, I think, 
 that they were Baptists in the same sense in 
 which all the churches of the first and part of 
 the second centuries were Baptists. Provi- 
 dence had not yet indicated the point 
 of separation; and Montanus and his foi- 
 
48 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 lowers may be said to represent, not a separate 
 denomination, bnt the better and more evangel- 
 ical part of the professed christians, who had 
 not yet so far progressed in corrupting Chris- 
 tianity as to make an actual separation neces- 
 sary. 
 
 Still Montanus clearly saw the drift of events 
 and put forth heroic efforts to stem the tide 
 of corruption. Such was his influence and pop- 
 ularity and so numerous were his followers that 
 though imperial decrees were passed against 
 him, they could not be executed. 
 
 A hundred years later, however, the point 
 of separation had been reached, and Providence 
 clearly marked out the way. This leads us to 
 consider the direct or immediate cause of the 
 final separation. It is claimed by several 
 church historians that the cause of separation 
 was the election of a bishop. This is only half 
 the truth. The destruction of a ship load of 
 tea in Boston harbor is said to have caused the 
 American revolution. True; but what led up 
 to the destruction of the tea? We must go 
 back of that act, and answer this question, if we 
 get at the real cause of the great struggle for 
 American independence. So, we must go 
 back of that election in Rome in 254 if we would 
 find the real cause of the separation referred to. 
 It will be found in the growing corruption in 
 the latter part of the second and during the 
 third centuries. As God undoubtedly raised 
 up Washington and others to lead the oppressed 
 colonists of America to national freedom, so he 
 
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 49 
 
 raised up men and qualified and called them to 
 the work of maintaining and perpetuating the 
 pure doctrines and practices of the apostolic 
 churches. 
 
 In the early part of the third century there 
 was converted at Koine, a pagan philosopher 
 named Novatian. A man of such extensive 
 learning and erudition that Neander classes 
 him among the foremost writers of his age. 
 Was JSovatian a christian? I answer — if a 
 deep and pungent conviction of sin, a clear ap- 
 prehension and acceptance of Christ as a perso- 
 nal Savior, a life of self-sacrifice and consecra- 
 ted service and a faith and devotion that will 
 lead a man to endure martyrdom rather than 
 surrender his allegiance to his Savior, are evi- 
 dences of the genuineness of a person's Chris- 
 tianity, then Novatian was a christian. 
 
 Novatian saw the advancing tide of corrup- 
 tion that was destroying the spiritual life of the 
 churches,and led by the spirit of God,heresolved 
 to stem it at all hazards. In this he was sup- 
 ported by thousands who had long seen and 
 mourned over this sad condition of Christ's 
 kingdom. Meantime the reception of uncon- 
 verted members, the laxity of discipline, and the 
 constant relapses of apostates back to Pagan- 
 ism, in time of persecution, with their return to 
 the church as soon as the storm blew over, con- 
 tinued. 
 
 I quote from Gibbon: "In every persecution 
 there were great numbers of unworthy Chris- 
 tians who publicly renounced their faith, and 
 
50 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 who confirmed the sincerity of their abjuration 
 by the legal act of offering sacrifice to the 
 Pagan deities. As soon as the severity of the 
 storm was abated, the doors of the churches 
 were assailed by the returning multitude, who 
 solicited with equal ardor, but with varying 
 success, their re-admission into the the Society 
 of Christians." 
 
 Add to this the growing centralization of 
 power, the multiplication of sensual forms 
 and ceremonies, and we have the real cause 
 which, about the year 254, resulted in that final 
 separation between those who maintained the 
 simple apostolic doctrines and practices, on the 
 one hand, and those who proposed to follow in 
 the path of corruption, with its vain ceremonies, 
 its unworthy and unconverted members, and its 
 gorgeous ritualism and worldly grandeur on the 
 other. And when that portion of the churches 
 put forward one Cornelius as the representa- 
 tive of their principles, and elected him bishop 
 of Koine — those devoted Christians who fol- 
 lowed the lead of Novatian said in substance: 
 "You may do this, and thus persist in your apos- 
 tasy, but for us we stand on, and by the simple 
 doctrines and practices of the Gospel, as given 
 to us by Christ and his apostles." Those world- 
 ly minded members persisted. Cornelius was 
 elected, and thus was taken another step in the 
 development of the great apostasy, which in 
 later years became "The Scarlet Woman" of Kev- 
 elation, who became "Drunk with the blood of 
 Saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." 
 
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 51 
 
 Once more I ask, which was right and which 
 was wrong? 
 
 One of the first acts of the Novatian churches 
 was to renounce all intercourse with those 
 churches that they claimed to be apostate, and 
 to refuse to recognize their baptism. They 
 adopted terms of admission into their churches, 
 one of which was as follows : "If you be a vir- 
 tuous believer and will accede to our confederacy 
 against sin, you may be admitted among us 
 by baptism; or, if a Catholic has baptized you, 
 by re-baptism." For this reason they were 
 called "Anabaptists, or re-baptisers," a name 
 which clung to them and their descendents un- 
 til 1576 on the Continent, and 1690 in Great 
 Britain, following them, indeed , to America. 
 
 "For sixty years those Novatian churches 
 prospered under a Pagan government," so that 
 when Constantine came to the throne in 306, he 
 found churches of that faith and order all over 
 Italy and other parts of his dominions. One 
 of the first acts of this emperor was to try to 
 unite theNovatians and Catholics into one great 
 state church; but those Baptists, true in their 
 allegiance to Christ and his gospel, refused to 
 join in any such unholy alliance. Finding 
 these efforts in vain, Constantine changed his 
 attitude towards them, and inaugurated a most 
 bitter and bloody persecution. Their places of 
 worship were destroyed and their writings 
 burned. Their pastors were imprisoned and 
 some of them put to death. The result was, 
 that, like the persecution at Jerusalem, they 
 
52 THE PATHWAY OP PIKE. 
 
 became scattered abroad. Some took refuge in 
 France, and carried the gospel with them. 
 Others settled in the valleys of the Piedmont 
 where they afterwards became known as the 
 Yoidois or dwellers of the valleys. Still others 
 remained in Italy, hiding from persecution till 
 the storm blew over, so that they may be traced 
 in that country till about 575 when they are 
 lost to sight under the name of the Novatians, 
 only to re-appear' later on under other names 
 but still contending for the same doctrines and 
 principles and maintaining the same relations 
 to the churches of the New Testament. 
 
 Were those Novatian churches Baptist 
 churches? I answer if the photograph which I 
 have already presented represents the Baptists 
 of to-day, then, in all essential characteristics 
 the Novatians were Baptists; for having due 
 reference to the age in which they lived and 
 to the manner and customs of the people, the 
 world has come to give them credit for bearing 
 a clear cut likeness to the churches of the apos- 
 tolic age. 
 
 Among the many testimonies which I have 
 at hand concerning those Novatian christians 
 I present but one. It is that of Dean Wadding- 
 ton who, in his church history, says of them, 
 "They were stigmatized at the time, both as 
 scismatics and heretics, but they may, perhaps, 
 be more properly considered as the earliest 
 body of ecclesiastical reformers. They arose 
 about the year 250 and subsisted until the fifth 
 century throughout every part of Christendom." 
 
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 53 
 
 From the disruption of the churches in Italy, 
 let us turn to that of the churches in Africa. 
 In consequence of being further removed from 
 Rome and the influences there, it took longer 
 for the abomination to work among the Afri- 
 cans, than among the Italians. It was not until 
 about the beginning of the fourth century, that 
 the final disruption took place in Africa. Here, 
 too, opposing writers have sought to make it 
 appear that the whole cause of controversy, 
 was the election of the Bishop of Carthage, 
 without consulting the Suanidian churches. 
 This does the Donatist Christians great injus- 
 tice. It was not the election, but the man and 
 the practices, against which they protested. 
 
 Cecilian was not only an apostate, but a 
 traitor. When Diocletian demanded that all 
 the scriptures and church records should be giv- 
 en up for destruction, Cecilian, who had them 
 in charge at Carthage, surrendered them to be 
 burned. Against this act an immense number 
 of Christians in Numidia protested; not so 
 much, indeed, against the single act, as against 
 the fearful corruptions of which that act was 
 the representative. They refused all inter- 
 course with those churches that had become so 
 corrupt, and, in Africa, the separation was also 
 complete. 
 
 Here, also, we see the hand of God, in raising 
 up men to work out His divine purpose. 
 . When the necessity arose, God had a man 
 for the place. A man of deep learning, of great 
 purity of life, of burning zeal and firey elo- 
 
54 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 quence, and a man mighty in the Scriptures. 
 Such was the man whom his followers called 
 "Donatus the Great." Like some mighty rock 
 he stood in defiance of the advancing wave of 
 corruption, and when it swept on, it left him 
 and his mighty host of followers, standing still 
 firm and true to the principles, doctrines and 
 practices of the churches of the New Testament. 
 
 Such was the influence of this Baptist and his 
 followers, that, in spite of the opposition of the 
 corrupt party, and the ban of emperors, in a 
 few years, the Donatists had churches all over 
 Africa, until Augustine complained that the 
 Catholic churches were deserted, and no candi- 
 dates for their pulpits could be found. On one 
 occasion they held a conference of pastors, in 
 which 270, and on another 410 Donatist pas- 
 tors assembled together. It was largely their 
 influence and numbers that induced Constan- 
 tine, when he took the throne, to make the ef- 
 fort to unite them and the Novatians, with the 
 Catholics, into one great state church. But 
 those true-hearted Christians, like their breth- 
 ren in Italy, refused to enter into any such alli- 
 ance. To all the overtures of Constantine, they 
 only answered, "What has the Emperor to do 
 with religion; what have Christians to do at 
 court?" 
 
 Like the Novatians, they refused to recog- 
 nize the baptism of the Catholics, for which 
 they, also, were made to bear the reproachful 
 name of Anabaptists, or rebaptisers. 
 
 Like the Novatians, the Donatists were made 
 
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 55 
 
 to bear the heavy rod of Constantine's persecu- 
 tion. They were scattered — driven from their 
 homes — forced into exile. Their church prop- 
 erty was destroyed; their pastors banished, im- 
 prisoned, or put to death, and their names cast 
 out as evil. But their torch never went out. 
 Lighted at the altar fires of a pure gospel faith, 
 neither the scorn of an apostate hierarchy, the 
 smiles of emperors, nor the flames of martyr- 
 dom could extinguish it. Wherever driven to 
 find a refuge, they carried thence the pure doc- 
 trines of the cross — and ere long, its beacon 
 fires were seen shining amid the surrounding 
 darkness, so that long ere their pure pospel 
 light had become extinguished in Africa, in 750 
 its bright beams had arisen in many of the dark- 
 ened places of Europe and Asia. It was then 
 that was enacted that scene so graphically de- 
 scribed in Eevelation, where "The woman fled 
 into the wilderness, to a place prepared for her 
 of God," to which, with other passages referring 
 to the same period, and the same people, I shall 
 ask the attention of the reader in the next 
 chapter. 
 
56 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE WILDEENESS WAY. 
 
 "And the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared 
 for her of God." 
 
 In the last chapter we brought the history of 
 our principles down to 575 in Italy, and 750 in 
 Africa. Under the name of Novatians we 
 traced them in the former, and under that of 
 Donatists in the latter country. We saw them 
 persecuted, banished and scattered, but still 
 firm in their allegiance to Christ, and a pure 
 Gospel, taking their wilderness way, with a for- 
 titude and heroism, such as the world seldom 
 witnesses. 
 
 It was during this persecution, or about 316, 
 that one Leo, a Christian pastor, took refuge 
 in the valley of Piedmont, when driven from 
 Rome, and it is to him that Archbishop Seysell 
 attributes the rise of the Waldenses. If we 
 accept this as true, we can, at one step, come 
 down the pathway a thousand years, and find 
 our people, but we prefer to follow a longer 
 path, and have a surer road. 
 
 The book of Revelation is a wonderful book. 
 There is much of it that I do not understand, 
 and to learn which I will gladly sit at the feet of 
 any who can teach me. 
 
 There is some of it, however, that refers so 
 
THE WILDERNESS WAY. 57 
 
 plainly to the history that we are now r tracing, 
 that it is impossible for the careful student to 
 fail to recognize it. Let us study some of these 
 passages. 
 
 Turn to Revelation, eleventh chapter, and 
 read the first four verses. Here we have "The 
 Temple, and altar, and them that worship 
 therein; that is the true church, with its 
 members, and its worship, measured or tested, 
 to see if they come up to the standard, and can 
 be relied on when the time of trial comes. "But 
 the court, which is without the Temple" — that 
 is the false professors, those who are Christians 
 in name only, it is useless to measure, for when 
 the testing time comes they will fail. Nothing 
 short of a Christian in deed and in truth, will 
 stand, during those forty and two months, in 
 which the holy city — the true Christians — are 
 to be persecuted and trodden under foot. Forty 
 and two months, of thirty days each, gives us 
 twelve hundred and sixty days, during which 
 this treading is to continue. Turn now to Eze- 
 kiel 46, and to Numbers 14:34, and you will 
 find that a symbolic day means a literal year; 
 giving 1260 years as the literal period in which 
 the true church is to be trodden under foot and 
 persecuted. 
 
 "And I will give power unto my two wit- 
 nesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two 
 hundred and three score days, clothed in sack 
 cloth/* The true church will be persecuted and 
 troddea under foot for twelve hundred and sixty 
 years, but her voice shall not be silenced, nor 
 
58 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 her light hidden. The word here rendered,, 
 "witnesses/' is the plural form of the Greek 
 w^ord "Marturos," wmich is only our English 
 word martyr, spelled in Greek characters. "I 
 will give power unto my tw r o martyrs;" and as 
 no tw r o martyrs, even if one should succeed the 
 oiher, can continue 1260 years, it can only 
 mean that there shall be two lines of martyrs,, 
 which, for this space of time shall continue to 
 prophesy, under circumstances of deepest sor- 
 row. 
 
 "These are the two olive trees and the two* 
 candle sticks" — lamp stands, in the original — 
 "standing before the God of the earth.'- What 
 is this, but that these two lines of martyrs, these 
 sorrowing, prophesying ones, shall, for 1260 
 years, be the medium through w T hich the spir- 
 itual light of divine truth shall shine upon the 
 earth. The two olive trees standing near indi- 
 cate that they draw their supplies of light giv- 
 ing power, directly from Christ the fountain 
 head. 
 
 Turn now T to the 12th chapter and 6th verse. 
 Here w T e have the woman "fleeing to the wilder- 
 ness, wmere she hath a place prepared of God, 
 that they should feed he there a "thousand 
 two-hundred and three score days." That is 
 tw T elve hundred and sixty years in w^hich she is 
 to remain in the wilderness, wmere, though 
 trodden under foot and persecuted, she shall 
 still be preserved. 
 
 Turn once more to the 14th verse of the same 
 chapter. Here we have the same woman, the 
 
THE WILDERNESS WAY. 59 
 
 true church, "Nourished for a time, times and a 
 half a time." Allowing 360 years as a "time," 
 and multiplying it by three and a half, that is, 
 one time, and two times, and a half a time, and 
 we have 1260 years again, as the period during 
 which God should preserve His true church, 
 even though she should be trodden under foot 
 and persecuted. Her voice should still be 
 heard. Her light should continue to burn. She 
 might prophesy in sackcloth. She might be 
 trodden under foot, but the voice would be 
 heard, and the light continue to gleam, even in 
 the midnight darkness; for 
 
 "Truth crushed to earth will rise again, 
 The eternal years of God are hers ; 
 
 While error vanquished, writhes in pain, 
 And dies amid her worshipers/' 
 
 Now, all this cannot be fortuitous. It was but 
 the hand of God, writing history in advance. 
 
 It was but the pencil of God, in the hand of 
 Revelation, drawing the outlines of that pic- 
 ture, whose background would be the darkness 
 of the world's spiritual night, and whose lines 
 and tracings were to be made with the blood of 
 the martyrs of Jesus. Oh, how much is crowded 
 into that brief outline! Twelve hundred and 
 sixty years of sorrow and suffering — of toiling 
 and testimony — of banishment and burning — 
 of faggot and flames — of martyrdom of myriads 
 — of torments and torture, all for the testimony 
 of Jesus, and that there might be preserved to- 
 
60 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 the generations to come after them, an open 
 Bible and freedom to worship God. 
 
 All hail ye martyred saints! Nearest to the 
 throne of God, your ransomed souls shall rest. 
 Through martyr fires ye went to glory and to 
 God. Up from the flames ye ascended. From 
 the dark waters, where went out your life — 
 from the deep cold dungeon, wmere ye suffered 
 and pined and died — from the rack, and the se- 
 cret the place of torture,your souls mounted tri- 
 umphantly, and angels waited at the gates of 
 glory, to escort you to the seat of honor nearest 
 to the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
 
 But is there no connection between this pic- 
 ture and the history of our people? Ah, yes! 
 It is one and the same history. It is twelve hun- 
 dred and sixty years travel along that "Path- 
 way of Fire," trodden by our fathers, from the 
 days when they were first scattered by persecu- 
 tion's cruel hand, till the day when God's own 
 hand brought them forth from the wilderness 
 that they might lift up their voice like a trum- 
 pet. While this scripture lives, let no man say 
 that Baptist principles became extinct, or that 
 the light of pure Christianity went out amid the 
 darkness of the world's spiritual night. 
 
 After Constantine had exhausted all his ef- 
 forts to induce the Novatians and Donatists to 
 unite with the more corrupt party, and form 
 one great state church, as stated before, he let 
 loose the dogs of persecution against them. In 
 many instances nothing was left but exile or 
 death. They then became scattered in nearly 
 
 
THE WILDERNESS WAY. 61 
 
 all the countries of Europe and Asia. They 
 were soon found in France, Bohemia, Moravia, 
 Bulgaria, Germany, and in the valleys of the 
 Piedmont. Here, under different names, in dif- 
 ferent localities, they carried on their mission- 
 ary operations. Patiently toiled and suffered 
 and perished for more than twelve hundred 
 years. 
 
 Were these people Baptist? Well they were 
 called "Anabaptists;" and it was for maintain- 
 ing, in all essential charactristics, the same Bi- 
 ble principles for which Baptists contend now, 
 that they were persecuted, trodden under foot, 
 drowned, beheaded, imprisoned, banished and 
 burned. Yes, in principle, they were Baptists. 
 
 This first great scattering under Constantine 
 took place about from 316 to 320. From this 
 point let us look along the "Fiery Pathway" 
 and see if we can find any historical event,which 
 will correspond with our Bible record, and mark 
 the ending of the 1260 years. It should be borne 
 in mind here, that in Bible records, it is only ap- 
 proximate, rather than specific dates that are 
 aimed at. 
 
 For many years prior to 1566 the power of 
 the Pope had been weakened in Holland and 
 the Netherlands. Such had been the influence 
 of the Anabaptists that he found it difficult to 
 maintain his standing, and so, in 1566, he re- 
 solved on a determined effort to establish the 
 Inquisition in that country. For this work he 
 selected Phillip II of Spain. Phillip entered 
 the Netherlands with a large army, and was met 
 
62 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 bv William, the Silent, the then Prince of Or- 
 ange, who espoused the cause of the protest- 
 ants. A long and bloody war followed, w T hich 
 resulted, in about 1579, in the complete defeat 
 of the Spaniards, the entire overthrow of the 
 Inquisition, and severely crippling the power 
 of Rome in all the continent of Europe, and the 
 establishment of the Dutch republic, with Wil- 
 liam at its head, and freedom to worship God 
 as one of the bassic principles of its government. 
 For these suffering, persecuted Baptists, the 1260 
 years of prophesying were ended, and, hence- 
 forth, in Holland and other parts of Europe, the 
 Anabaptists could find a home where they could 
 worship God according to the dictates of His 
 word. This is largely the explanation of the 
 action of those brethren in England, in sending 
 to Holland, in 1633, where they were certain of 
 finding the "ancient immersion." 
 
 Here then, we have one line of martyrs, with 
 the 1260 years clearly defined. Where shall w^e 
 look for the other line? We will find it across 
 the channel in Britain and Wales. I will not 
 stop definitely to trace it now, as I will take it 
 up later. All I desire to do now is to indicate 
 the two lines of martyrs, so clearly pointed out 
 in the book of Revelation. 
 
 Leaving, therefore, the earlier Christians in 
 Britain for further notice, let us, for the present, 
 take-up the history at about 430. Up to this 
 period they had been comparatively free from 
 persecution, and had remained comparatively 
 pure. It was about this period, however, that 
 
THE WILDERNESS WAY. 63 
 
 the Picts and Scots invaded Britain and began 
 a fierce and bitter persecution. "As a last re- 
 sort, for relief from their oppressors, they sent 
 to Deems thrice consul, the groans of the Bri- 
 tains, but obtained no relief." Hoping for aid, 
 they applied to the Anglo-Saxons, only to find 
 them more bitter persecutors and inhuman ty- 
 rants than the Picts and Scots. At last, wea- 
 ried out with their persecutions,some purchased 
 peace with the barbarians, while others, who re- 
 fused to surrender their allegiance to Christ, 
 sought an asylum in the mountains in Cornwall, 
 and especially in the mountain fastnesses of 
 Wales, where a succession of them can be traced 
 till the Reformation. Here, also, the women 
 found a home in the wilderness. 
 
 Adding now to this date — 430, the 1260 years 
 referred to in Revelation, and w r here does it 
 bring us? To 1690. What great event, bear- 
 ing on this question, occurred then? It is true 
 that, previous to that, the so-called refor- 
 mation in England had been established; but it 
 brought no liberty of conscience to the despised 
 Anabaptists. The fires of Smithfield burned 
 and the prison doors still swung to admit them. 
 But in 1690 William and Mary w 7 ere crowned 
 king and queen of England. One of their first 
 acts was to secure toleration in all matters of 
 religion — an act that, to this day, is known as 
 "England's Magna Charta." This was followed 
 by the battle of the Boyne, by which the perse- 
 cuting power of Rome was forever broken. The 
 
64 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 1260 years for the other line of martyrs was 
 ended. 
 
 Here then we have the two distinct lines of 
 martyrs, who, according to the prediction of the 
 Apocalyptic seer, kept alive the lamp of Divine 
 trnth, through suffering and persecution for 
 1260 years, while the scarlet clothed women was 
 "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with 
 the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." To trace 
 more closely those martyred saints, along their 
 "Pathway of Fire," will form the subject of fu- 
 ture chapters. 
 
WITNESSING IN SACK-CLOTH. 65 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WITNESSING IN SACKCLOTH. 
 
 "Here is the patience of the Saints. Here are they that 
 keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 
 
 The thirteenth verse of the fourteenth chap- 
 ter of Revelation, has always been to me, a very 
 instructive and comforting portion of Scripture. 
 Like other ministers, I have regarded it as 
 teaching the blessedness of the righteous, after 
 death, and it has been a favorite text for fun- 
 eral sermons, of those who died in Christ. I 
 have no doubt now but it teaches this blessed 
 truth. Lately, however, I have come to regard 
 it as having specific reference to those who, ac- 
 cording to the verse preceding it, placed at the 
 head of this chapter, had "kept the command- 
 ments of God, and the faith of Jesus," during 
 those dark and trying periods, when the earth 
 was made to drink of the blood of the saints. 
 
 It is a fact, as important as true, that "the 
 occasion develops the man," whether the occa- 
 sion be political or religious. This is only an- 
 other way of saying, that when God wants a 
 man for a specific purpose, he knows where to 
 find him. This was true of Paul, of Luther, and 
 of Washington ; and it was equally true of those 
 whom God raised up, through all those dark 
 
6(5 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 and gloomy ages, as waymarks in the wilder- 
 ness — or as kindling wood to keep the altar fires 
 still burning. 
 
 About the year 653 — a hundred years before 
 the Donatists became extinct, there was con- 
 verted in Armenia, one of those men, undoubt- 
 edly chosen of God, for his own great purpose. 
 His name was Oonstantine; and his conversion 
 illustrates most clearly the fact above stated. 
 A Baptist deacon, who it is said, had been a 
 prisoner among the Saracens, was traveling 
 through Armenia, and was entertained at Con- 
 stantine's home — some authorities say, through 
 a fit of illness. In return for his kindness, he 
 presented Constantine with two manuscript 
 rolls, containing the epistles of Paul. Constan- 
 tine read them and was converted. He at once 
 threw away his Manichaean books and became 
 a flaming herald of the simple Gospel of Jesus. 
 So closely did he and his converts follow the 
 teachings of Paul, that they became known as 
 Paulicians. 
 
 It was in Armenia that the Novatians and 
 Donatists had done much of their missionary 
 work; and at the time of Oonsitan tine's conver- 
 sion they had become very numerous under the 
 local name of "Bogomiles," or "Men of Prayer." 
 
 Constantine drew his theology directly from 
 the word; but when he came to compare his 
 views with those of the "Bogomiles he found 
 them to agree with his own. — Bible truth is al- 
 ways consistent with itself — and so, in a short 
 
WITNESSING IN SACK-CLOTH. fff 
 
 time, he became a very prominent leader among 
 them, knowing no creed but that of Christ and 
 Paul. This fact accounts for the immense num- 
 bers of Paulicians. They were not all converts 
 of Constantine and his successors, but the Paul- 
 icans and Bogomiles, were in principle, one and 
 the same people. So numerous were they that, 
 when that fiend incarnate, the Empress Theo- 
 dora, had cruelly martyred one hundred thous- 
 and of them, they were still " like the leaves of 
 the forest." 
 
 The Paulicians were truly missionary in spirit 
 and effort. They carried out the great commis- 
 sion to preach the gospel to every creature. 
 They sent out their missionaries, two by two, 
 "everywhere preaching the word." The result 
 was that, in spite of the edicts of the kings, the 
 fiery opposition of the Greek and Eoman 
 churches, and the martyrdom of many, in a 
 hundred years they were numbered by hundreds 
 of thousands, not only in Armenia, but in "the 
 regions beyond." 
 
 In 741 Emperor Constantine V banished very 
 many of them to Thrace, wiience they carried 
 the gospel into Bulgaria, resulting in the con- 
 version of many thousand Bulgarians. 
 
 From 775 to 815 the Paulicians were almost 
 constantly the subjects of severe persecution; 
 but from the latter date till about 830 foreign 
 w r ars attracted the attention of the Emperors, 
 and they had rest. This was only the prelude 
 to still greater suffering. Theophilus died, 
 leaving the crown to his son Michael, only five 
 
68 THE PATHWAY OP FIRE. 
 
 years of age. Theodora became regent, and,, 
 filled with hatred of the Paulicians, resolved on 
 nothing short of their extermination. Her first 
 act was to issue a decree, requiring all her sub- 
 jects to conform to the worship of the Greek 
 church. This the Paulicians refused, when she 
 sent an immense army with instructions to put 
 to death all, both high and low, who refused to 
 obey her decree. The scene of carnage and 
 death went on till between one and two hun- 
 dred thousands of those Paulician Baptists had 
 sealed their allegiance to Christ with their 
 blood. 
 
 Just here permit me to state a fact that has 
 forcibly impressed me. I have recently been 
 investigating, somewhat, the Armenian mas- 
 sacres in the same land, where dwelt,a thousand 
 years ago, those Paulician and Bogoniile chris- 
 tians, and w r here fell those more than a hundred 
 thousand martyrs. I have been impressed with 
 the testimony of even their enemies,to the purity 
 of life — the humbleness of walk, the simplicity 
 of manners, and nearness to Bible teachings, of 
 those Armenian christians. They have no con- 
 nection with either the Greek or Roman church, 
 or the Mohammedans. They are a body of chris- 
 tians by themselves. They do not worship 
 saints. They believe in the independence of 
 the churches. They have no priests, but simple 
 pastors. They believe in spiritual Christianity 
 and baptize only by immersion. When we re- 
 member all the changes through w^hich they 
 have passed, the influence brought to bear and 
 
WITNESSING IN SACK-CLOTH G9 
 
 the persecutions endured,aniidall of which they 
 have remained true to the simpler doctrines and 
 practices of the early christians, it would seem 
 as though those early Paulician Baptists had 
 left an impress, that all the ages have been 
 unable to obliterate. Here is a subject worthy 
 of the most careful study of our Baptist 
 historians. 
 
 Beturning to our history. The converts to 
 the Paulician faith in Bulgaria were known as 
 Bulgarians, from the place whence they came, 
 and they can be traced to the fifteenth century. 
 
 As those Paulicians form one of the most 
 numerous and interesting sects of all of those 
 early Baptists, and as they form a sort of con- 
 necting link between those who preceded them 
 and those who come after,it will be well to pause 
 at this point in our pathway, and convince our- 
 selves still further of their Baptistic sentiments. 
 
 From a careful study of their doctrines, as 
 given by Mosheim and others, it is appa- 
 rent that the following will about cover the 
 ground of their doctrinal belief: 
 
 1. They believed in the personal piety of all 
 ohurch members. None but converted people 
 should be allowed to join the church. 
 
 2. They rejected all sacraments as a means 
 of salvation — accepting them only as symbols 
 of religion and commands of Christ. 
 
 3. They totally rejected infant baptism. 
 
 4. They refused to worship images, or to ac- 
 cept the teachings of the Greek or Catholic 
 churches concerning them. 
 
70 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 5. They refused the Roman idea of the priest- 
 hood, and abhored the confessional. 
 
 6. They denied the doctrine and duty of pen- 
 ance, and bitterly denounced the idea of pur- 
 gatory. 
 
 7. Their only baptism was the immersion of 
 a believer in water, on his profession of faith 
 in Christ. 
 
 "The Paulicians sincerely condemned the 
 memory and opinions of the Manichaean sect, 
 and complained of the injustice of impressing 
 that invidious name on the simple followers of 
 Paul and of Christ. The objects which had 
 been transformed, by the magic of superstition, 
 appeared to the eyes of the Paulicians in their 
 genuine and naked colors. They attached them- 
 selves with peculiar devotion to the writings 
 and character of Paul, in whom they gloried. 
 In the gospels and epistles of Paul, Constantine 
 investigated the creed of the primitive chris- 
 tians, . . . and the words of the gospel were, in 
 their judgment, the baptism and communion of • 
 the faithful — Gibbon. 
 
 Dr. Allix, who made a careful study of them, 
 says — "They, with the Manichaeans" — mark, he 
 does not say that they were Manichaeans — 
 "were Anabaptists, or rejectors of infant bap- 
 tism. 
 
 Dr. Milner says of them — "They were simply 
 scriptural in the use of the sacraments; they 
 were orthodox in the doctrine of the Trinity; 
 they knew of no other mediator than the Lord 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
WITNESSING IN SACK-CLOTH. 71 
 
 • 
 
 Dean Waddington, after carefully investigat- 
 ing all the charges brought against them by 
 their enemies, gives this testimony: "They" — 
 the charges — "evince their freedom from some 
 of thepopular superstitions of the Greeks — ador- 
 ation of the virgin,and reverence for the fancied 
 relics of the cross; and this again had been 
 crime sufficient to arm against them, in the 
 eighth and ninth centuries the intemperate 
 zealots of the Oriental church. Add to this 
 that they held images of the saints in no rever- 
 ance, and recommended to every class of peo- 
 ple the assiduous study of the Sacred Word; not 
 suppressing their indignation against the 
 Greeks, who closed the sources of divine knowl- 
 edge to all except the priests, and we shall not 
 wonder that the Paulicians became the victims 
 of the most disgraceful persecution that ever 
 disgraced the Eastern church/' 
 
 With such testimony as the above, I am sur- 
 prised to note that Dr. Tedder in his "Short His- 
 tory of the Baptists,'' classes the Paulicians 
 with the Manichaeans. The truth is — with due 
 reference to the times and age , the manners 
 and customs of the people among whom they 
 lived, they may be reasonably counted among 
 the Baptist descendants from the apostolic 
 churches. 
 
 We have thus traced the history of Xew Tes- 
 tament church principles along the pathway of 
 time, from that little church at Jerusalem. We 
 have followed the principles, and found them 
 prominent among the Xovatians of Italy, the 
 
72 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 Donatists of Africa, and the Paulicians of Arme- 
 nia. Here we have reached the middle of the 
 eleventh centnry. The whole pathway has been, 
 more or less, a pathway of fire and persecution, 
 through which hundreds of thousands have 
 gone up to glory and to God, in chariots of lit- 
 eral flame. Still, the voice has not been 
 silenced, the lamp has not been extinguished. 
 
 Ere we leave them, to take our journey fur- 
 ther along this "Fiery Pathway," let us take one 
 sw r ift glance at the field of their labors, and gain 
 strength and inspiration to follow them amid 
 still darker persecutions, and by the light of 
 still fiercer fires, through which our patlrway 
 must lead. The place is Armenia, amid the 
 graves of the hundreds of thousands of our 
 brethren. The time is the middle of the elev- 
 enth century. "We stand on that sublime 
 height of Ararat, from which Noah looked 
 down on the receding waters of the deluge as 
 they drew back from hill and dale, and once 
 more the earth appeared in view." Alas! an- 
 other deluge covers the earth. It is the dark- 
 ness of spiritual night. It is the beginning of 
 the darkest period of the Christian dispensa- 
 tion. Around us, and to the north, the beast 
 of the sea, the Greek hierarchy is pouring out 
 his floods of persecution to destroy the saints. 
 To the south, where rise the tall minerets of 
 the "Seven Hilled City" sits on her throne of 
 state, the Scarlet woman, the Roman hierarchy, 
 already becoming "drunken with the blood of 
 
WITNESSING IN SACK-CLOTH. 73 
 
 the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of 
 Jesus." 
 
 But look! Another scene appears, as if to 
 tell us that the imperishable truth of God still 
 lives, and that the blessed light of ages still 
 shines, here and there, in the midst of this al- 
 most impenetrable darkness. The torch 
 lighted at the fire of Christ's own altar, is not 
 jet extinguished. By its beams we can take a 
 retrospect of the past, and, peering out into the 
 darkness, see and read "the waymarks in the 
 wilderness," pointing out our pathway in the 
 future. Just below us lies the sacred land, long 
 ago trodden by the feet of the Son of God. 
 There, in "the vale of Kedron," with Olivet 
 guarding her, like a faithful sentinel, reposes 
 the "City of Zion," whence first beamed forth 
 the effulgent light of the Gospel truth. Away 
 to the west, under the very shadows of the Vati- 
 can, is seen the glimmering light, which, like 
 the burning bush on Horeb's plain, burns but 
 is not consumed. Yonder, beyond the blue wa- 
 ters of the Mediterranean, lies Africa, whose 
 soil has been made sacred by the blood of the 
 martyred Donatists. Still yonder, where rise 
 the towering summits of the lofty Alps, is seen 
 another light, where the fleeing woman has 
 found a "home in the wilderness, prepared for 
 her of God." At their base sleeps the beautiful 
 valley of the Piedmont, and there, also, have 
 the children of the King found a refuge 
 from their oppressors, and there "the 
 
74 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 green foliage of the tree of life" is send- 
 ing forth its budding leaves for the heal- 
 ing of the nations. Beyond it still, where tower 
 those lofty summits of the Pyrenees, the scat- 
 tered Baptists of Italy and Africa, still bearing 
 the reproachful name of "Anabaptist," and still 
 firm in their allegiance to Christ and his truth, 
 calmly wait for the bursting of that storm, the 
 mutterings of whose distant thunders we can 
 hear as we look down from the summit of Ar- 
 arat. Still further to the west, beyond the 
 dancing billows of the English channel, w T here 
 rise those chalky cliffs of that "Seagirt Isle," 
 in the fastnesses of those mountains of Wales, 
 "we can see the light shining above the hills," 
 and we know the altar fires of a living faith are 
 burning there also. Surely w T e need not despair 
 however intense the darkness, when around us> 
 on every hand, "the lights along the shore" are 
 still so brightly burning. 
 
 But we have lingered long, as from our lofty 
 summit we have taken this survey of the situa- 
 tion, let us down and away once more as we 
 look along the Fiery Pathway for the footprints 
 of our fathers. 
 
CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED. 
 
 u And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the 
 saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." 
 
 The introduction of Christianity was the sig- 
 nal for persecution. Scarce had the Son of God 
 made his advent to earth when the devil mar- 
 shalled his hosts against him. His infant life 
 was only preserved by miraculous interposition 
 and his manhood was one long scene of suffer- 
 ing and reproach which finally closed on a cruel 
 Roman cross. His disciples one after another 
 sealed their testimony with martyrdom. The 
 heroic Paul after leaving the sorrowful record 
 in the eleventh of the Second Corinthians went 
 to Rome and died a martyr's death. Thus was 
 Christianity launched amidst the billows of the 
 world's hatred and from that time till now have 
 clouds and storms been round about her. 
 Other things being equal the nearer the follow- 
 ers of Jesus have kept to his commandments,, 
 the wilder the storms have raged. 
 
 Thus far, as we have seen, the altar files, kin- 
 dled by Christ and fanned by the Holy Spirit 
 have remained unextinguished. We have seen 
 their light shining all along the pathway down 
 to the middle of the eleventh centurv. From 
 
76 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 hence, though they shone none the less clearly, 
 we shall find the efforts to extinguish them re- 
 doubled. 
 
 One fact is encouraging. We have reached 
 a point where the light of history shines more 
 clearly. Facts are more fully attested. The 
 records are more extensive. Perhaps, were 
 all the history written, from the first 
 to about the eleventh century, it would 
 be found that the martyrs for Jesus were 
 as numerous in those centuries as in these that 
 followed. Indeed, the half has never been writ- 
 ten in any age and the present generation w^ill 
 never know, till they learn it in the other world, 
 all that it has cost in human suffering and mar- 
 tyrdom to secure to them w 7 hat they now enjoy 
 in freedom to worship God. 
 
 But where shall we next look for the foot- 
 prints of our fathers? We w r ill let Gibbon, the 
 historian answer. 
 
 "It was in the country of the Albegeois in 
 the Southern Province of France that 
 the doctrines of the Paulicans were 
 most deeply implanted. In the prac- 
 tice, or at least in the theory of the sacra- 
 ments, the Paulicians were inclined to abolish 
 all visible objects of worship and the words of 
 the gospel were, in their judgment, the baptism 
 and communion of the faithful." 
 
 Again. — "They conversed freely with stran- 
 gers and natives and their opinions were 
 silently propagated in Rome and the kingdoms 
 
CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED. 7T 
 
 beyond the Alps. It was soon discovered that 
 many thousands of Catholics of every rank and 
 either sex had embraced their heresy." 
 
 Still further. — "In the busy age of the Cru- 
 sades some sparks of curiosity and reason were 
 kindled in the western world. The heresy 
 of Bulgaria, the Paulician sect, was successively 
 transplanted in Italy and France." 
 
 From the above statements of Gibbon it can 
 be seen how easily we can trace the principles 
 we are following from Armenia and Bulgaria to 
 France and Italy, even if there were no other 
 footprints save those that were made by the 
 Paulician Baptists. But let us precede them 
 and look among the inhabitants of Italy and 
 France and in the mountains and valleys that 
 make up the country of the Alps, the Appen- 
 nines and the Pyrenees and see if there were no 
 Baptists there to greet them before the Crusa- 
 ders took up their march towards, not the tomb 
 of Jesus, but of Joseph of Arimathaea. 
 
 Gibbon says the Paulicians were most deeply 
 implanted in the connirv of the Albegeois. 
 This was the home to which the early christian 
 principles had already been carried. 
 
 The light kindled by the Novatians in Italy 
 had never been totally extinguished. In secret 
 places those early Baptists have worshipped 
 God, and kept the fire burning. Hidden away 
 were kept some "live coals from off the altar," 
 ready to be fanned into a flame, whenever 
 God's own time would come. So when the 
 
?, THE PATHWAY OF: FIRE. 
 
 Paulicians carried their doctrines into Italy 
 and France and Spain, they found the soil 
 prepared, the leaven already working. 
 
 How did that gospel get there? For answer 
 go back to the early part of the fourth century, 
 when the floodgates of persecution were opened 
 on the defenseless Novatians and Donatists. 
 "The woman fled to the wilderness," to this very 
 place "prepared for her of God." It was those 
 persecuted Anabaptists that God had in his 
 mind, when he created those mountain fast- 
 nesses and those secluded valleys. It was to 
 these they fled and it was they who planted 
 the first seeds of the gospel there, and they 
 found a fertile soil. In a comparatively short 
 time, such was their piety and zeal, they were 
 numbered by hundreds of thousands. The 
 valley of Piedmont and other portions of 
 France and Spain was their natural home. 
 From there they sent missionaries to Holland, 
 Switzerland, Bohemia, and Germany. So great 
 was their success, that, by the beginning of 
 the twelfth century, one of their number could 
 travel over a large part of Europe and be 
 entertained at the home of one of their brethren 
 every night. 
 
 During the crusades of the eleventh and 
 twelfth centuries, the attention of Popes and 
 Kings was turned toward the "Holy Sepul- 
 chre;" and, like the early apostolic christians, 
 it can be said: "Then had the churches rest, 
 and walking in the fear of the Lord were 
 multiplied." 
 
CAST D0WX BUT NOT DESTROYED. 79 
 
 In the beginning of the thirteenth century, 
 the storm broke in all its fury. The crusades 
 had ended, and had largely proved a failure. 
 Pope Innocent III now turned all his attention 
 to the extermination of the defenseless Ana- 
 baptists. A general crusade was proclaimed, 
 the field of battle offering better prospect of 
 success. Indulgencies were sold to raise money 
 to carry on the war of extermination. Then 
 began a scene that presents the blackest page 
 in all the book of history. Those inoffensive 
 and defenseless people became the victims of 
 Rome's bitterest vengence, and an indiscrimi- 
 nate slaughter was begun. Vast armies were 
 sent out with instructions only to destroy and 
 exterminate. 
 
 Count Raymond of Toulouse sought to shield 
 such as were in his dominions, but all in vain. 
 Before that mighty wave of cruelty, every 
 barrier gave way and the valleys and streams, 
 the hills and streets ran red with martyr blood. 
 "The woman was drunken with the blood of 
 the Saints and with the blood of the martyrs 
 of Jesus." It was this scene that drew from 
 the poet Milton those touching lines: 
 
 "Avenge, O Lord thy slaughtered saints of old, 
 Whose bones lie bleaching on the Alpine mountains cold 
 Even those who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
 Forget not. In thy book let all their names be written." 
 
 Says the British Encyclopedia: — "The bloody 
 war of extermination which followed has 
 
80 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 scarcely a parallel in history. As town after 
 town was taken, the inhabitants were put to 
 the sword without distinction of age or sex; the 
 ecclesiastics who were in the army being 
 especially blood thirsty." "Slay all, God will 
 know his own," was the battle cry, and, like 
 demons, did the fanatical religionist soldiers 
 respond to it. No man can estimate the great 
 number slain, but their names are all preserved 
 and their martyr crowns will point them out 
 in that day. (See Kev. 6:9.)" 
 
 But were they exterminated? No. Although 
 this war had been carried on for twenty-five 
 years, at its close, "the blood of the martyrs 
 had so become the seed of the church" that 
 fully 800,000 of those Baptists still remained 
 in various parts of Europe. 
 
 History has established one fact, viz: The 
 scattering method is the poorest method for 
 exterminating Baptist principles. Sixteen cen- 
 turies of experience has proven this fact beyond 
 a doubt and the twenty-five years of effort to 
 scatter and exterminate those Albigenses, and 
 other sects professing the same principles was 
 no exception to the rule. It only sowed the 
 seed more broad cast; and we trace it to Swit- 
 zerland, to Holland, to Germany, and every- 
 where, like fire in the forest, each enkindling 
 grew until the light of all blended into one 
 great flame. 
 
 We must now, for a few moments, turn our 
 attention to denominations, called by other 
 names, but holding the same principles. Of 
 
CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED. 81 
 
 these we shall have time only to speak of their 
 great leaders and give a passing glance at their 
 history. The first of these is 
 
 PETEO DE BKUIS, 
 
 wmose followers w r ere called Petrobrussians. 
 The name and memory of this heroic man will 
 live while there are people on the earth, w^ho 
 love an open Bible, a pure church and a living 
 faith. "A burning and a shining light," he 
 carried the torch of truth, until it fell from his 
 nerveless grasp amid the martyr fires in which 
 his heroic soul mounted up to the throne of God 
 and the Lamb. He fell at his post, being 
 burned at the stake in 1126. His followers 
 became numerous and may be traced in various 
 parts of Europe, till the year 1300. 
 
 Another name that stands out, like a bright 
 beacon light, in the darkness, is 
 
 HENRY OF LAUSAUNE. 
 
 In the old city of Toulouse Henry first lifted 
 up his voice like a trumpet to show the people 
 their sins; but he was onlv permitted to live 
 long enough to set in motion a reform that 
 would still live after its promoter had gone to 
 take the martyr's crown. Driven from Tou- 
 louse, he fled to the mountains, but was hunted 
 like a fox, brought back and thrown into a 
 loathsome dungeon, where he was left to 
 languish and die. No voice comes to us from 
 that lone dungeon, no records are kept of his 
 
82 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 anguish, while pining slowly to death for Jesus' 
 sake, but among the immortals up yonder, 
 Henry of Lausanne appears wearing a martyr's 
 crown. 
 
 "Henry was a Baptist, believing in the 
 Spirituality of Christs' kingdom, the supreme 
 authority of Christ as King, and the immersion 
 of true believers." — Ford. 
 
 His followers were called Henricians and 
 may be traced for several years. 
 
 Still another name that is imperishable, and 
 that will shine with ever increasing lustre, as 
 the ages roll on, is 
 
 ARNOLD OF BRESCEA. 
 
 His followers were known as Arnoldists and 
 had their origin about 1137. As a distinct 
 body, they can be traced but a few years after 
 the death of their intrepid leader, when they 
 no doubt, became incorporated into other 
 bodies, holding the same principles. When he 
 was being pursued, he went boldly to Rome 
 and in defiance of the entire Papacy, dared to 
 proclaim the simple gospel story, four hundred 
 years before Luther nailed his thesis to the 
 doors of his church. 
 
 "He was a Baptist and for holding just what 
 Baptists now hold, he was arrested, condemned, 
 crucified, and then burned and his ashes 
 thrown into the Tyber." Ford. 
 
 If the act of Luther, in defying the council 
 at Wirms, has rendered his name immortal, 
 what honor should be Mven to that intrepid 
 
CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED. 83 
 
 reformer, "Arnold of Brescia," for his mighty 
 courage, his lofty purpose, and his sublime 
 faith, in leaving his place of sheltered security, 
 and in defiance of the whole power of the 
 Vatican, lifting up his voice even in the "seven 
 hilled city," and 
 
 "Like a gate of steel, 
 
 Fronting the sun, receives and renders back 
 
 His figure and bis beat." 
 
 Ah! It was because such heroic reformers 
 had preceded Luther and Calvin and Knox 
 that they were able to make the reformation a 
 success. All honor to their memory for their 
 heroism and courage, and the faith that 
 sustained them in that mighty conflict by which 
 the chains were broken and the Bible made 
 free. Not one leaf would we pluck from the 
 laurel crown their memory wears. But shall 
 we not have some recognition for the same act, 
 under much more adverse circumstances? The 
 world, aye, and the church too, while they are 
 loud in their praise of Luther, are slow to speak 
 of those God honored Baptists who purchased 
 soul liberty with their lives. But the world is 
 beginning to recognize their conflicts and their 
 triumphs; and in after years the world's justi- 
 fication and the church's gratitude will form 
 a monument to their memory and heroic deeds 
 that will speak their praise, 
 
 "When gems and monuments and crowns 
 Shall 'blend in common dust." 
 
84 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 It will be well at this point, that the reader 
 may follow us more intelligently, to give a 
 short description of the geographical location 
 of some of the religious bodies to which I am 
 now to refer. 
 
 The Pyrenees mountains form the boundary 
 line between France and Spain; extending from 
 near the Bay of Biscay on the west to the 
 Mediterranean sea. The Albigenses w^ere 
 mostly settled on the North, or French side of 
 the mountains and the Waldenses on the South, 
 or Spanish side. In their principles and 
 doctrines at the time here referred to they were 
 practically the same; their names indicating 
 local rather than doctrinal differences. Indeed, 
 the same people would sometimes be called by 
 one name and sometimes by another. It was 
 not uncommon for the Albigenses, when perse- 
 cutions would become unbearable, to cross the 
 mountains and find a refuge with their brethren 
 in Spain till the storm would subside. When 
 Spain would come down with persecution, the 
 Waldenses would take refuge in France. The 
 reader must remember that "history travels 
 slowly;" and that of those people cover several 
 hundred years. It is true, that in later years, 
 some of the Waldenses inclined somewhat to 
 Pedobaptism; but so far as the history of the 
 Albigenses can be traced, this w T as not the 
 case with them. The Albigenses retained their 
 distinctive Baptist sentiments; and it is from 
 these through the Lollards that we trace the 
 line of our principles to England where they 
 
CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED. 85 
 
 continued to suffer persecution till the act of 
 toleration relieved them. 
 
 The Alps is a range of mountains, dividing 
 the Southeastern part of France from Italy 
 and the Appenines lie between Italy on the 
 South and France and Switzerland on the 
 north. Lying at their base, and sheltered by 
 them on the north and west is the beautiful 
 valley of the Piedmont, and the Province of 
 Lombardy. This is an immense table-land, 
 terminating in wide valleys extending far up 
 in the mountains, forming a thousand nooks 
 and shelters, and sequestered spots, where 
 fertile vales, crystal waters, the richest soil and 
 healthiest climate combine to constitute one 
 of the most delightful spots on earth. When 
 God created the world he looked along down 
 the ages, and knowing the future as the 
 present, here he prepared the place to which 
 his persecuted church could flee when the storm 
 of persecution should break on her defenseless 
 head. No spot could be found under the broad 
 sky, more evidently designed, as a place of 
 refuge where, unmolested, his people could 
 pursue their peaceful avocations and at the 
 same time preserve to the world the priceless 
 treasure of a pure gospel. So, when the storm 
 broke and the tempest of persecution raged 
 against his pure church, he placed a guide- 
 board pointing to a the place prepared for her 
 of God," and with a firm faith those Novatian 
 and Donatist Baptists turned their steps 
 towards this sheltered land. Leo and his com- 
 
86 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 panions, — how many we will never know^ — 
 came and planted the seeds of truth and here 
 they lived and toiled, and "kept the faith." 
 Known simply as "Voidois, or dwellers in the 
 valley," their innocent ways, pure lives, and 
 simple gospel commended them to all. From 
 here they sent forth their pastors, or bards, self- 
 sacrificing missionaries of the cross with their 
 pack of merchandise on their shoulders and 
 the Gospel of Jesus in their hearts. Out on 
 Italy's broad field they planted it, and erelong 
 we have a host of "Paterines,"so named because 
 of their patient endurance of persecution. 
 Across the Alps, in the sunny soil of Southern 
 France, and lo, the Albigenses, from Albi, their 
 principle seat, are numbered by the thousands. 
 Farther still and the sunny slopes of Spain, at 
 the base of the Pyrenees, are made a moral 
 garden where the flowers of a pure Christianity 
 bud and bloom. Still on, climbing "the 
 steeps of Appennines," and Switzerland and 
 Germany receive the blessed results of their 
 missionary work. On, still on, and Holland 
 and the Netherlands re-echo back the glad 
 accents of Salvation. Menno Simon catches 
 the inspiration of a true faith, and, "like a 
 mighty force let loose," he goes forth, lifting 
 high the banner of the cross, and soon the name 
 of "Mennonite" or Dutch Baptist becomes a 
 household word. And so, we have the Voidois 
 of the valleys, the Paterines of Italy, the 
 Waldenses of Spain, the Mennonites of Hol- 
 land, the Anabaptists of Switzerland and the 
 
CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED. 87 
 
 German Baptists of Germany all bearing 
 different names, locally, but all alike in every 
 essential characteristic, and all bearing the 
 closest resemblance to the Paulicians of 
 Armenia, the Donatists of Africa, the Nova- 
 tians of Italy, the gospel churches of Jerusalem 
 and Palestine, and the Baptists of the United 
 States. It is not the name, but the doctrines 
 of the New Testament that constitute one 
 common chain that binds them together 
 through all the ages. Principles, not names, 
 has ever been the Baptist watchword. 
 
 But how shall we account for this close 
 resemblance of principles betwen all those 
 numerous bodies here named and the early 
 Donatists, and Novatians? Two facts will 
 furnish the answer and the only satisfactory 
 answer that can be given. First. — the former 
 were the literal descendants of the latter; and 
 second, they all alike drew their oil from the 
 same source — the "Spirit and the Word," rep- 
 resented by "the two olive trees" in Revelation. 
 The Bible teaches the same truth to all. 
 
 In Switzerland and Germany the Baptists 
 continued till the reformation; and when first 
 its light dawned on the latter, thousands of 
 the German and Swiss Baptists came forth to 
 offer their sympathy and aid to Luther in his 
 great work. Indeed from all over Europe, they 
 rose, like Ezekiel's dry bones in the valley, 
 believing that the day of their deliverance had 
 come; thus fully substantiating the statement 
 of Mosheim, that "Before the rise of Luther and 
 
88 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 Calvin, they lay concealed in almost all the 
 countries of Europe." 
 
 Let us now turn to Holland. It was inl492 
 the year made memorable by the discovery of 
 the New World, that an event occurred of 
 scarcely less importance, viz: the birth in 
 Friesland of Menno Simon. He was educated 
 in the church of Eome and became a Roman 
 priest. While studying the sacred word, he 
 became convicted of sin, and savingly convert- 
 ed. About this time he read of the martyrdom 
 of one Snijder, "who was beheaded, his body 
 tern on the wheel and his bodiless head set on 
 a stake, as a warning to all others not to be 
 guilty of his crime." And what heinous crime, 
 reader, think you that it was? The court 
 record says, it was "For being rebaptised, and 
 persevering in that baptism." This settled the 
 question with Menno. From that moment he 
 became a zealous preacher of the same faith, 
 and continued, his field being all Europe, till 
 his death in 1559. Twenty years after his 
 death Holland became a free government, with 
 liberty of conscience, in matters of religion. 
 The very close relation between the Baptists 
 of Holland, and the later Baptists of England I 
 will show further on. I will close this chapter 
 with the testimony of Cardinal Hosius, himself 
 a Roman Catholic, and president of the Council 
 of Trent. He says: "If the truth of religion 
 were to be judged of by the readiness and 
 cheerfulness which a man of any sect shows in 
 suffering, then the opinions and persuasions of 
 
CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED. 89 
 
 no sect can be truer or surer, than those of the 
 Anabaptists; since there have been none for 
 these twelve hundred years past that have been 
 more previously punished." When was this 
 statement made? In 1570. Deduct 1260 
 years, and we are carried back to the 
 days of the Novatians and Donatists. Surely 
 God must have forced this, testimony, to help 
 explain the vision of the seer, where he saw the 
 woman fleeing to the wilderness. It is well to 
 bear in mind that the flight of the woman does 
 not refer to a single specific date, as much as to 
 an act; and, indicates simply that pure Chris- 
 tianity would be trodden under foot, and its 
 professors w^ould be compelled to flee to their 
 hidden places, and seek a refuge where they 
 could worship God in secret. Put this state- 
 ment of Vossius with that of Mosheim, the 
 "True of origin of the Baptists is hidden in the 
 remotest depths of antiquity" — and that "Be- 
 fore the rise of Luther and Calvin they lay con- 
 cealed in nearly all the countries of Europe," 
 and we are led to ask, what more evidence can 
 be demanded, to convince the christian world 
 of the ancient origin of the Baptists? 
 
90 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION. 
 "These are they that have come out of great tribulation." 
 
 Having now traced the one line of martyrs, 
 the Baptists on the continent, down to the 
 reformation, let us leave them, while we go 
 back and trace the other line in Great Britain 
 and Wales. This we shall be compelled to do 
 very briefly, to keep our little book within the 
 prescribed limits. 
 
 Just when, or how, Christianity, was first 
 planted in Britain we do not know. The native 
 Britains were Druids; but, at a very earlv 
 period, certainly in the first century, the gospel 
 was carried there, and many of the natives 
 were converted. The groves, where once had 
 been offered the bloody .worship of the Druids, 
 were made to re-echo the praises of the once 
 Crucified Christ. 
 
 For the first three centuries, the churches of 
 Britain seem to have remained comparatively 
 pure. The distance from the contentions and 
 influences which affected the change in Italy 
 and Africa was in their favor; so that at the 
 beginning of the fourth century, no special 
 fault could be found with the doctrines and 
 practices of the churches of that country. 
 
 In the very early part of the fifth century,, 
 the Picts and Scots invaded Britain, overran 
 the country and began a course of severe perse- 
 
OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION. 91 
 
 cution. Deems was appealed to, but found it 
 impossible to afford the Britains relief. The 
 Anglo-Saxons, were then appealed to, who 
 responded so fully that they drove back the 
 Picts and Scots, overran the country and took 
 possession of it themselves. 
 
 They soon became more tyrannical and cruel 
 in their persecution than the others. At length 
 worn out with constant persecution, and rend- 
 ered defenseless by their enemies, some of the 
 christians renounced their religion and made 
 peace with the barbarians. Others, and there 
 were many of them, refused to surrender their 
 religion and lied to the mountains, especially 
 the mountain fastnesses of Wales, and the 
 country in and around Cornwall, where they 
 might worship God in peace according to the 
 dictates of His word. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxons, having gained full control 
 of the country, they erelong became an object 
 of great interest to the Roman Catholics and 
 they resolved to undertake their conversion to 
 the Catholic faith. A monk named Austin 
 was persuaded to undertake the mission and 
 he and his co-workers reached England in 
 the latter part of the fifth century. 
 
 Their instruction was, not to preach Christ 
 and him crucified as the way of salvation, but 
 to adapt his religion, so far as possible to the 
 customs of the barbarians, and thus win them 
 by craft. He presented letters of introduction 
 to the Saxon King, who was pleased with the 
 manners and address of the crafty monk and 
 
92 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 was finally persuaded to be baptised in the 
 Catholic faith. This paved the way for 
 Austin's success, and, erelong there were thous- 
 ands of Catholic converts, and the rivers 
 became the scenes of baptism of multitudes. 
 The only mode of course w^as immersion. 
 
 Having thoroughly established the Roman 
 Catholic religion among the Anglo-Saxons, 
 Austin next turned his attention to the conver- 
 sion of the Welsh christians. Here, however, 
 he found different material. He found a peo- 
 ple already rooted and grounded in the truth. 
 A people who knew the difference between a 
 vain ceremony and a living faith. They refused 
 either to receive his doctrine or to obey his 
 mandate. They were ready to accept and to 
 obey as far as their duty to do so was shown 
 them from God's word. 
 
 A conference was finally arranged between 
 Austin and some of the Welsh pastors. 
 These latter explained that they could do 
 nothing without consulting their churches — 
 the strongest evidence that, at least, they 
 possessed one of the most prominent of Baptist 
 doctrines, the perfect equality of pastor and 
 people. It was finally agreed to call a council 
 and give Austin an opportunity to submit his 
 propositions. The council assembled in a grove 
 of oaks. In glowing terms Austin set forth the 
 advantages they would derive from embracing 
 the Catholic faith and then submitted his prop- 
 ositions. These were .found to be so at 
 variance with their ideas of the Bible that the 
 
OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION. 93 
 
 Welsh christians at once refused even to con- 
 sider them. The wily monk then began to 
 yield one demand after another, until, at last, 
 he insisted on only three propositions. These 
 were: 
 
 First. — That they should acknowledge the 
 authority of the pope. 
 
 Second. — That they should keep easter like 
 Catholics. 
 
 Third. — That they should baptise their child- 
 ren. 
 
 To all these propositions those Welsh 
 Baptists gave a most positively negative 
 answer. 
 
 At last the patience of the poor monk was 
 exhausted; and "changing his countenance 
 toward them," he cried in great anger: "Well 
 since ye will not have peace and quietness, ye 
 shall have woe and wretchedness." 
 
 And truly, indeed, did Austin carry out his 
 threats. The Saxon barbarians, recently con- 
 verted to Catholicism, without religious intelli- 
 gence, change of heart or grace, were only a 
 set of religious fanatics and ready to do the 
 bidding of the lords of their conscience. With 
 a zeal, worthy of a nobler course, they began 
 the work of destruction. The college at Ban- 
 gor, a noble seat of learning, was destroyed, 
 the preachers were put to death, and over two 
 thousand martyrs sealed their testimony with 
 their lives. The residue fled to the mountains, 
 where they gathered up their scattered breth- 
 
!94 THE PATHWAY OE FIRE. 
 
 ren and again laid the foundation of their work 
 for Christ and His churches. 
 
 Though cast down they were not destroyed. 
 In spite of all the fiery opposition, these Welsh 
 Baptists kept the lamp of truth burning, 
 through all the ages of darkness and when the 
 bright beams shone from the hill tops of France 
 and Spain and Italy and Germany, they were 
 answered back from the chalky cliffs beyond 
 the blue waters that separate Britain from the 
 rest of Europe. It was indeed a place prepared 
 of God, where the light of a pure Christianity 
 might shine, while so much of the world was 
 enveloped in spiritual darkness. 
 
 All the evidence at command goes to prove 
 that these Welsh christians, in all essential 
 characteristics were Baptists. An old Welsh 
 chronicle says: — 
 
 "And thus they dwelt here 
 
 An hundred and fifty year, 
 
 So that never christening 
 
 Came here to be known in the land, 
 
 Nor bell ringing nor church hallowed 
 
 Nor child was there baptised." 
 
 Following down the fiery pathway of those 
 Welsh Baptists, we come to some of the most 
 illustrious names to be found in the annals 
 of the country. We might mention William 
 Tyndale, who gave England the Bible in her 
 own language, and had already got the four 
 books of Moses into Welsh before exchanging 
 
OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION. 95 
 
 the cross for a crown. Lewellyn Tindale, 
 Hesekiah Tindale, Howell Yaugn, who stood 
 with towers of truth on the Rock of Ages, while 
 like billows of persecution and error broke 
 around them. Of Walter Brute, that staunch 
 Baptist, who when arrested and brought before 
 the ecclesiastics, and required to give a written 
 answer, wrote these sublime words: — 
 
 "In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 
 I, Walter Brute, sinner, layman, husbandman, 
 and christian, having been accused to the 
 bishop, that I did err in matters of christ- 
 ian faith, do answer, if any man, of any sect, 
 will show that I err, by the authority of the 
 sacred scriptures, I will gladly receive his 
 information." 
 
 When the reformation dawned in England, 
 the Welch Baptists came out of there "Pied- 
 mont of Wales," from the vale of Carleon, from 
 the valleys and recesses of those Welch Alps, 
 Merthyn and Tydfyl, where all the long centu- 
 ries they had cherished the faith received from 
 their fathers. They were joined by many re- 
 formers from England, who, no doubt, brought 
 with them some of the lesser errors of their cast 
 off church, notably mixed communion; but the 
 Welsh Baptists had never imbibed this error. 
 Even to the present day, there are to be found 
 no truer Baptists than are to be found in Wales. 
 
 LOLLARD AND WICKLIFFE. 
 
 To write any kind of a history of Baptist 
 principles in England and not mention Lollard 
 
96 THE PATHWAY uF FIRE. 
 
 and Wickliffe, would be to write Hamlet and 
 leave Hamlet out. 
 
 It was about 1320 that the Albegensian 
 faith was successfully transplanted into Eng- 
 land. Walter Reynard, called Lollard, by 
 way of reproach, as claimed by some, was the 
 instrument chosen of God, for that grand mis- 
 sionary enterprise. We can only account for 
 the result in one of two ways. Either there 
 were thousands of people of the same faith who 
 stood ready to greet and join Lollard in his 
 work, or he must have had special enduement 
 of the Holv Spirit. Possibly it may have been 
 both combined. So numerous did they become 
 that Newberry, in his history of England, 
 declares them to be "As numerous as the sands 
 of the sea." 
 
 Did I wish to write a large volume, I could 
 find ample material, in the persecutions of the 
 Lollards and Wickliffites, but I must pass them, 
 with the briefest reference. Lollard himself 
 was burned and his followers cruellv persecu- 
 ted for holding the same views the Baptists 
 do today. Let the "Lollards' Tower," standing 
 there on the banks of the Thames, remain, a 
 silent and glooms witness to the tortures and 
 persecutions of the Lollards, and of the final 
 triumph of truth. What was their crime? 
 It w r as that they refused to exchange the com- 
 mandments of the Bible for the bulls of Popes, 
 or the traditions of Rome. For this William 
 Somter was arrested and cruelly martyred. 
 For this, one hundred worshippers were taken, 
 
OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION. 97 
 
 at St. Giles, in the very act of worship, 
 arid all of them put to cruel death. 
 For this, Sir John Oldcastle, than whom 
 a grander hero England never knew, 
 was arrested, condemned, his property 
 confiscated, his family made paupers, and him- 
 self, amid reproaches and insults, dragged to 
 the Tyburn, where he was hung over a slow 
 fire till he died. Still this hero never wavered. 
 When the last spark of life was expiring, he 
 warned the people to cling to the Bible, and 
 with the words, "I die in triumph," his soul 
 went to glory, leaving his dying words an ever 
 enduring monument. "He was an Anabaptist, 
 and deserved to die as a traitor," was the plas- 
 ter which they put on the sore, the crime of his 
 death made on their conscience. Still fearing, 
 however, "lest these cursed Anabaptists" 
 should continue to spread their heretical opin- 
 ions, Parliament was induced to pass, among 
 other measures for the suppression of heresy, 
 the following: — "Whosoever shall read the 
 Scriptures in English shall forfeit lands, chat- 
 tels, goods and life, and be condemned as heret- 
 ics. They shall be hanged for treason against 
 the king, and then burned for heresy against 
 God." Ah, me! it seems strange to us, who 
 live under the stars and stripes of this glori- 
 ous land, that such things could be; but we 
 must remember, that was half a thousand 
 years ago. 
 
 JOHN WICKLIFfFlE. 
 
 This Baptist reformer was born at Yorkshire 
 
98 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 in 1324. He was educated at Oxford Univer- 
 sity and took clerical orders. Brought under 
 the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, he 
 struggled through the darkness and came into 
 the light of God's pardoning love. Going 
 direct to the Bible, he studied out a system of 
 theology, which made him, in doctrine and 
 practice, a Baptist. He believed the Bible to 
 be the only law in matters of religion. He 
 believed the church to be a company of con- 
 verted men and women. He believed that the 
 state has no power, inherent, to control man's 
 religious belief. He believed that baptism was 
 an outward sign of inward grace, and should 
 be administered to none, except such as pro- 
 fess faith in Christ. All this goes to prove 
 John Wickliffe a Baptist. 
 
 On comparing his views with those of the 
 Lollards, Wickliffe found them to agree in all 
 essential particulars, and henceforward the 
 Lollards and the Wickliffites may be traced as 
 one people; traced, yea, even by the light of the 
 martyr fires that consumed them, till the day 
 when the act of toleration, "England's Magna 
 charta" gave them liberty to worship God. 
 
 Wickliffe Avas providentially preserved, and 
 permitted to die a natural death; but forty 
 vears later, his bones were taken from their 
 graA^e, and burned, and their ashes scattered 
 to the four winds. He fell, but as the banner 
 of truth fell from his nerveless grasp, it was 
 seized by that intrepid reformer, John Huss, 
 and carried into Bohemia, where it waved until 
 
OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION. 99 
 
 the dawn of reformation broke upon the dark- 
 ness of Europe. 
 
 Thus have we traced the footprints of Bap- 
 tist principles, from the time and place where 
 and whence they were first proclaimed to man, 
 in that city of Zion, by Christ and his Apostles, 
 in accordance with the Divine prediction given 
 by Isaiah. Guided, often by the light of mar- 
 tyr fires, we have traced them through the 
 Novatians in Italy, and the Donatists in Africa. 
 We have seen those early christians persecuted, 
 trodden under foot, and scattered, but carrying 
 the seed of the gospel, only to plant it, wherever 
 God should plant them. We have traced the 
 same principles through the Paulicians and 
 Bogomiles, into Armenia, where we found 
 more than a hundred thousand martyr graves, 
 containing the martyr dead of our brethren. 
 From there we followed them to Thrace, from 
 which we saw the light of a holy faith dawn 
 on the waiting inhabitants of Bulgaria. We 
 have traced them from there to Spain and 
 France, and the secluded valleys that "lie 
 peacefully at the base of the Alps, like an 
 infant sleeping at its mother's feet." We have 
 looked upon the red glare of the torch of death, 
 as it waved its signal of destruction, and have 
 seen the thousands of martyred slain, as they 
 fell before the enemies of Christ and his church. 
 We have turned from the bloody pathways of 
 France and Spain, and followed the same foot- 
 prints to Germany and Holland, the same 
 reproachful name still clinging to their pro- 
 
100 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 fessors. Then turning our steps to Britain, we 
 have seen the same altar fires lighted there, 
 and ere long, also, the red glare of the burning 
 faggots, piled to burn up heresy has shone out 
 from that sea-girt isle. We have followed 
 those faithful ones to the mountain fastnesses 
 of Wales, wmere, deep in those retreats of 
 safety, they kept the ordinances as Christ gave 
 them, until reformation's morning broke over 
 that fair island, w T hen, like those on the conti- 
 nent, they came forth to welcome the coming 
 morn, and hail the day star at its rising. We 
 have seen the same disappointment, as with 
 saddened hearts, they turned again to their 
 hiding places, to patiently wait until the Lord 
 himself should raise the means by wmich they 
 should obtain rest from their enemies round 
 about. 
 
 We have seen those people of one heart and 
 one mind, the same in doctrinal belief, crossing 
 and recrossing, mingling and intermingling, 
 always holding fast to the same Bible truths, 
 prophesying in sack cloth, "cast down but not 
 destroyed," until, in God's good time, the 1260 
 years was fulfilled, when alike to one and the 
 other, the days of their sack cloth were ended. 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 101 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 
 "Watchman, what of the night? " 
 
 We have now traced the footprints of Bap- 
 tist principles through two separate lines of 
 travel, from the days of the Apostles till the 
 reformation. With them both we have found 
 the beginning and the ending of the twelve hun- 
 dred and sixty years of their prophesying in 
 sack cloth. 
 
 We will now turn, once more, to the book of 
 Revelation, and read the first three verses 
 of the thirteenth chapter. Notice that this 
 follows immediately after the measuring of 
 the temple, the flight of the woman, and dur- 
 ing the twelve hundred and sixty years, the 
 witnesses were prophesying in sack cloth. 
 
 What is the interpretation? The beast 
 which John saw rising out of the sea was the 
 persecuting spirit. It developed among the 
 people, indicated by "the sea." The "seven 
 heads and ten horns, " indicates the time and 
 place of its first development. The seven- 
 hilled city, in the days of the Eoman Kings. 
 The dragon represents the temporal power, 
 from whom the persecuting power receives its 
 authority to persecute. "It had the feet of a 
 bear, and the mouth of a lion;" the former sym- 
 bolizing the Greek, and the latter the Roman 
 
102 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 hierarchies. "The beast received a deadly 
 wound, but the deadly wound was healed." 
 This was fulfilled in the days of Cromwell and 
 Charles II. Cromwell dissolved the long par- 
 liament with his sword, and largely secured 
 liberty of conscience, not only in England, 
 but in much of Europe besides. On the day 
 when the treaty of alliance was to be signed 
 between England and France, news came of a 
 terrific massacre in Piedmont. On learning 
 this, Cromwell refused to sign the treaty till 
 it contained a clause insuring religious liberty 
 to that people; declaring that he was not only 
 "protector of England, but of protestantism 
 in Europe." He w^rote to several of the kings, 
 pleading for religious liberty for their subjects, 
 and went so far as to intimate, that if not oth- 
 erwise granted, he would enforce it with the 
 sword. 
 
 "But the deadly wound was healed." When 
 about to see the realization of his hopes in se- 
 curing liberty of conscience in all Europe, 
 Cromwell "fell at the stroke of death." That 
 licentious renegade and Catholic Charles II,was 
 recalled to England and assumed the reins of 
 government, with what result the student of 
 history knows. The fires were rekindled, and 
 the persecuting spirit again prevailed. 
 
 Go back a hundred years. A star had risen 
 over Germany, a light had shown from Wit- 
 tenburg. Luther had nailed his ;hesis to the 
 door of his church, and thrown the gauntlet 
 at Kome's very feet. His voice had reached the 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 103 
 
 waiting thousands of God's suffering saints, 
 and they came pouring forth from their secret 
 places where they had worshipped God, in the 
 hope that Luther would accept their sympathy 
 and aid, and the reformation be made complete. 
 Had Luther and his co-reformers but gone one 
 step farther — had they but placed liberty of 
 conscience by the side of justification by faith, 
 the result would have been to lift the dark pall 
 of religious persecution from the whole of Europe 
 — Luther would have been a hundred times the 
 htro he was, the fires of Smithfield would 
 not have been relighted, and the world would 
 be an hundred fold better for it today. But 
 alas, for Luther! Great as he was, and grand 
 as was his work, he missed the golden opportu- 
 nity of the world's hi.tory. Alas, for those 
 suffering, persecuted Baptists! Luther soon 
 gave them to understand that justification by 
 faith was one thing, and liberty of conscience 
 was another. Saddened, disappointed, broken- 
 hearted, they returned to their homes in the 
 mountains and valleys, to await till the perse- 
 cuting monster should be slain. They had gone 
 to Erasmus with their sympathy, but he had 
 scorned them because their were Anabaptists. 
 Even the gentle spirited Melancthon gave 
 them neither sympathy nor hope. 
 
 Let this fact be stated, in such bold charac- 
 ters that he that runs may read it. The reform- 
 ation did not give, even in Germany, freedom 
 to worship God. It was not till the war in the 
 Netherlands, and the establishment of the 
 
104 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 Dutch Bepublic that the persecuting power of 
 Borne was broken on the continent, and not 
 till the crowning of William and Mary, and the 
 battle of the Boyne, that it was broken in Great 
 Britain; the latter more than a century after 
 the light of the reformation had first dawned 
 on Europe. 
 
 We now come to what, at present, especially 
 to southern Baptists, is the most important pe- 
 riod of our history. It is that covered by what 
 is known as the "Whitsitt controversy." TJiis 
 little book is not intended, either as a Baptist 
 history, or as an answer to Dr. Whitsitt; the 
 purpose being simply to trace a line of doctrin- 
 al principles. At the same time the reader 
 will, no doubt, expect some notice to be taken 
 of this question, and will feel a sense of disap- 
 pointment if it is ignored. This is mjy only 
 reason for trying to clear away, so far as I can, 
 the doubt and uncertainty that hangs over this 
 period. 
 
 I have not the pleasure of a personal ac- 
 quaintance of Dr. Whitsitt, but from all I 
 have learned, I conclude that the manliness of 
 his character, the sweetness of his christian 
 spirit, the fervor of his piety, the honesty of 
 his motive and purpose, in all his life work, 
 hitherto manifested, should preclude any 
 charge of dishonesty, or deliberate unfaithful- 
 ness to his high trust. I believe he has made 
 a mistake, but I am glad to believe it to be a 
 mistake of the head and not of the neart. * 
 
 I think th e mistake wa s two-f o ld. First— 
 
 * This was written before Bro. W. stated the same in the 
 Baptist Reflector. 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT V 105 
 
 lie is mistaken in the conclusion which he has 
 drawn from the facts stated. Second — In the 
 method he adopted of putting his conclusion 
 before the public, I think I can appreciate the 
 thought that prompted the action. He hon- 
 estly believed his conclusion to be correct, and, 
 believing this, he saw no reason why everybody 
 should not be made acquainted with it. He 
 overlooked, however, this fact. There is a 
 wide difference between a conclusion or infer- 
 ence drawn from a set of facts, and an estab- 
 but until it is plainly established, beyond the 
 lished truth. The inference may be correct; 
 power of denial, it is only an inference, and 
 not an established truth. In view of the fact 
 that his inference was in direct opposition to 
 the established belief of his denomination for 
 two hundred years, it was unfortunate that he 
 did not first make known his inference to the 
 denomination, of which he was a loved and 
 trusted member, and let it first become an es- 
 tablished truth, before giving it to the world. 
 The Baptists cannot be blamed for being sen- 
 sitive on any question involving their alle- 
 giance to Christ, or the stability of their ordi- 
 nances; and they are quick to challenge any 
 statement, from whatever sorce, that throws 
 any doubt on the Scriptural validity of their 
 baptism. For nearly nineteen centuries this 
 has been their attitude, and from it they have nev- 
 ej swerved, even though it has led hundreds of 
 thousands of them to prison and to death. 
 Surely, they cannot be expected to surrender it 
 
106 THE PATHWAY Uo FIRE. 
 
 now, without proof of their mistake, that will 
 not admit of a doubt. All this I write with 
 the most kindly feeling, as ready to accord to 
 Dr. Whitsitt honesty of intention, as I am firm 
 in my belief that he w T as mistaken. 
 
 The careful reader of these pages will, doubt- 
 less, have discovered, what it may be unnec- 
 essary to repeat, that it makes not the slight- 
 est difference with our ability to trace an un- 
 broken line of Baptist principles from the Apos- 
 tles dow T n, whether Dr. Whitsitt's inference be 
 correct, or incorrect. I have already shown 
 that by tw T o distinct lines, we are able to trace 
 our principles to England, viz: — Through the 
 Yoidois, Albigenses and Waldenses; and also 
 through the Dutch Baptists of Holland. 
 
 The fire carried to England, by Lollard, and 
 fanned into a mighty flame by his followers and 
 the Wickliffites never became fully extin- 
 guished. They were, without doubt, still in 
 England, when, in 1633, the brethren referred 
 to in the "Kiffin Manuscript" sent to Holland 
 and received baptism from the Dutch Mennon- 
 ite Baptists. It is, however, through these 
 latter that we trace our American Baptists, 
 in their line of descent. 
 
 Let us now study this period a little more 
 carefully, and see if the facts justify Dr. Whit- 
 sitt's conclusion, that immersion had become 
 extinct in England previous to 1641. Certain- 
 ly, if immersion had become extinct, Baptists 
 had also; for to talk of Baptists who do not 
 immerse, is the height of absurdity. I think 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 107 
 
 it can be shown that neither the one nor the 
 other had become extinct. 
 
 Had Dr. Whitsitt said that Pedo-Baptist 
 adult immersion had become extinct at that 
 date, he would have been correct; but had he 
 said that Pedobaptist immersion had become 
 extinct, even then he w T ould have been incor- 
 rect. If it be claimed that Dr. Whitsitt' & 
 statement disproves the fact of Scriptural im- 
 mersion, at least in England, at the period men- 
 tioned, I answer w r ith these two facts: First, 
 by the testimony of the most learned Pedo- 
 baptists, who have made the most careful in- 
 vestigation, it is proved that immersion w r as 
 the universal custom for fully thirteen centu- 
 ries; and, Second, that in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, so general was the practice of immer- 
 sion in England, that Elizabeth, first born 
 child of Henry VIII, and Anna Bolynn, was 
 publicly immersed, September 11th, 1533, or 
 just one hundred years before those brethren re- 
 ferred to by Dr. Whitsitt, sent to Holland for it. 
 Four years from the above date, Edward, the 
 royal son, was carried to their church, and there 
 publicly immersed also. If, then, immersion 
 had become so lost in England that Baptists 
 could not find it, how came it to be so popular, 
 that even Pedobaptist royalty must needs ob- 
 serve it publicly in the immersion of the king's 
 children? The truth is that, while in the En- 
 glish, as well as other reformed churches, 
 believers' baptism, had been almost univer- 
 sally replaced by infant baptism, immersion 
 
10S THE PATHWAY OF, FIRE. 
 
 was still the prevailing custom, in England; so 
 much so, that, by a decree of Queen Elizabeth, 
 fonts for the immersion of infants were put in 
 all the prominent buildings of the English 
 state church, and the priests were forbidden 
 by law to perform baptism in any other way. 
 
 Henry VIII seceded from Rome, and be- 
 came head of the church of England in 1534. 
 This led many of the Baptists on the continent 
 to hope for liberty of conscience in England, 
 and go to that country. In this they w r ere 
 mistaken. A proclamation was issued against 
 "Those strangers, born out of the land, who 
 are come into this realm, who, albeit, they 
 were baptised in infancy, they have, of their 
 own presumption, been rebaptised;" and so 
 numerous were these people that a creed was 
 drawn up for them to sign. This creed differs 
 in many particulars from the belief of the 
 Baptists, except that the mode of baptism is 
 not mentioned, a fact, proving conclusively, 
 that immersion had not yet come to be dis- 
 puted. 
 
 In 1539 milder measures were resorted to by 
 Henry, and as a result, great numbers of Bap- 
 tists, from various parts of the continent took 
 refuge in England, and at once began active 
 missionary operations. Of these people — 
 Fuller, the historian, declared, "They are but 
 the Donatists new dipped;" proving not only 
 that they immersed, but that they held to the 
 ancient Baptist faith. 
 
 In 1547 Henry died, leaving Edward VI, 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 109 
 
 then only nine years old at the head of the gov- 
 ernment. His advisors being more liberal in 
 their views, milder measures prevailed, "Per- 
 secution ceased, prison doors were thrown 
 open, and many refugees returned." Others 
 came from other parts, so that by 1554, the 
 Baptists had become so numerous, it was 
 found necessary to resort to severer measures 
 for their suppression. A commission was 
 therefore instituted, with instructions to hunt 
 out all Baptists, and if they refused to re- 
 nounce their Baptist faith, they were to be 
 given over to the secular power to be pun- 
 ished. It was admitted that they were good, 
 honest citizens, and pure christians, and that 
 there lives were without reproach, but their 
 crime was that of standing bv the teaching of 
 Christ, in spite of the requirement of the 
 king. 
 
 Edw^ard died July 6th, and on October 1st, 
 of the same year, Mary was crowned. Her 
 first act was to restore, so far as possible, the 
 power and authority of the Pope. Her second, 
 to institute a bitter and cruel persecution 
 against the Lollards. She appointed a royal 
 commission to hunt them out, destroy their 
 conventicles, burn their printing presses, and 
 do all possible to prevent the spread of their 
 doctrines. 
 
 Fortunately, she was only permitted to reign 
 five years, but in that period she wrote her 
 history in blood. No less than 277 martyrs 
 
110 THE PATHWAY OP FIRE. 
 
 were cruelly put to death by her orders, or 
 more than an average of one every week, for 
 her entire reign. 
 
 On the death of Mary, Elizabeth was 
 crowned, and many fancied that the reign of 
 persecution was over. She at once issued a 
 proclamation, inviting all who had been ban- 
 ished on account of religion to return. Very 
 many accepted the invitation, both Baptists 
 and other dissenters, who had fled to Geneva, 
 Switzerland, and had there learned the prac- 
 tice of sprinkling, which, by that time had 
 become quite common among the Swiss, 
 although it had not yet obtained a foothold in 
 England. On returning, they introduced it in 
 England, but these were not Baptists, but per- 
 sons who had imbibed the doctrines of Cal- 
 vin. So far from immersion being extinct 
 in England at that date, this is the first 
 authenticated mention of any other mode; and 
 it was at once forbidden by the queen and the 
 bishops, and a decree issued that nothing but 
 immersion would be practiced, unless in case 
 of extreme weakness, when it would suffice to 
 pour water on the child. 
 
 The truth is, the constant changes of atti- 
 tude on the part of the rulers towards the Bap- 
 tists — now tolerating them, now persecuting 
 them, only to return to toleration again, long 
 enough to inspire hone, then again enacting cru- 
 el and oppressive measures, so saddened and dis- 
 heartened the Baptists, as to preclude any very 
 active measures for the spread of their prin- 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT V 111 
 
 ciples. Add to this the fact, that Elizabeth, 
 during her reign, issued against them no less 
 than three decrees of banishment, and that 
 those repressive measures were vigorously en- 
 forced by Elizabeth's two successors, and it is 
 not to be wondered at, if Baptists and immer- 
 sion do not stand out very prominently during 
 this period of England's history. There were 
 plenty of Baptists, and plenty of immersion 
 there; but, as their bitter enemy, Dr. Featley 
 puts it, "By the diligence of the magistrates, 
 and the ecclesiastics, they were kept covered" 
 — that is, suppressed, so that they, of course, 
 do not prominently stand out during that 
 period. 
 
 Parliament had made Henry the head of the 
 church. Mary had made the pope head, when 
 Henry died, and Elizabeth made herself the 
 head, and all, like Saul the Pharisee, honestly 
 believed they were doing God's service, when 
 they were persecuting the Baptists. 
 
 "As a result of the tyranical spirit of Luth- 
 er, in Germany," says Mosheim, "schools of 
 German Baptists had passed into Holland and 
 the Netherlands, where they had propagated 
 their sentiments in various places." A great 
 many of these passed into England, and began 
 missionary operations there, with great suc- 
 cess. This was too much for the queen and 
 bishops, and a decree was issued requiring all 
 Baptists to leave the realm within twenty-one 
 days. This was in 1560; and in 1595 a still 
 
112 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 more severe decree was issued, commanding all 
 Anabaptists, and other heretics, whether for- 
 eigners or natives, to leave the realm under 
 severest penalties. By this time the war in 
 the Netherlands, had resulted in the establish- 
 ment of the Dutch republic, with Ilbert- of con- 
 science as one of its basic principles; and 
 many Baptists took refuge there, resulting in 
 opening a still wider channel of communica- 
 tion between the Baptists of the two countries. 
 No doubt many remained in England, prefer- 
 ring to worship God in secret than to suffer 
 banishment, hopin^ and waiting for God to 
 come to their deliverance in his ow x n good time. 
 But even then, Baptists were not, by any 
 means, extinct in England. This is proved by 
 the hosts of them that came out into the light, 
 when the ban was again lifted. 
 
 This was the condition of things at the open- 
 ing of the sixteenth century. In 1602 Eliza- 
 beth closed her reign, and was succeeded by 
 James the Second, and he by Charles the First. 
 The repressive measures of Elizabeth were not 
 quite so vigorously enforced by James the 
 Second, and still further lightened by his suc- 
 cessor. As a consequence Baptists not only 
 retained their hold in England, but soon began 
 to increase; so much so that ir&»1611 we find 
 the Baptists who had returned from Holland 
 publishing a confession of faith containing 
 twenty-seven articles, representing the views 
 of the General Baptists. It should be stated 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 113 
 
 here that by this time the Baptists of England 
 had become recognized as "General" and "Par- 
 ticular" Baptists; the former holding to the 
 doctrine of the general atonement, the latter to 
 the Calvanistic view, or particular atonement. 
 About this period Edward Wightman was con- 
 demned and burned for holding to the doctrine 
 of the Dutch Baptists. In 1615 the Baptists 
 published a small book condemning persecu- 
 tion, and subscribing themselves as "Christ's 
 unworthy witnesses, commonly but falsely 
 called Anabaptists." In 1620 they sent an ear- 
 nest petition to the king and parliament, in 
 which they refer to having "suffered imprison- 
 ment for many years in divers counties of Eng- 
 land." 
 
 This brings us down to 1633, the time when 
 the church referred to by Dr. Whitsett, sent to 
 Holland "to secure the ancient rite of immer- 
 sion." This church was composed of fifty-three 
 members who had, in a body, separated them- 
 selves from the Independents, or Brownists, 
 and decided to organize themselves into a Bap- 
 tist church . In order to be certain of securing 
 their immersion from the line of the "ancient 
 Baptists," as they termed them, they sent their 
 pastor to Holland to be immersed there; and 
 he, on his return, immersed the rest, thus se- 
 curing through the Holland Baptists their 
 immersion in a direct line from the Apostles. 
 
 Now, so far from condemning those breth- 
 ren for their action, I think it highly commend- 
 
114 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 able; but does it prove that either Baptists 
 or immersion had become extinct at that time? 
 Most certainly not. Neither the document re- 
 ferred to by Dr. Whitsitt — the "Kiffin manu- 
 script," nor the facts as they existed, warrants 
 any such conclusion. All the document states 
 is that "So far as these brethren knew there 
 were none whose immersion would be satis- 
 factory to them; not being certain wmether 
 they had retained the ancient rite or had be- 
 gun it again." Dr. Whitsitt's opinion that 
 "the reason for sending to Holland was be- 
 cause immersion had become extinct in Eng- 
 land," is not only unsupported but is at vari- 
 ance with the facts . 
 
 Holland had given liberty of conscience in 
 1679, or one hundred and eleven years before 
 it obtained in England. During all the time 
 from 1579 to 1640 there had been a constant 
 coming and going betw T een the Baptists of the 
 two countries; Holland being the refuge of the 
 English Baptists wmenever banished from their 
 own country. There were thus a thousand 
 chances for the Baptists of England to connect 
 themselves with the ancient baptism of the 
 Dutch, or Mennonite Baptists. Where then 
 was the difficulty? Simply here. Those breth- 
 ren, coining out, as they did, from the Brown- 
 ists, w r ere entirely unacquainted with the Bap- 
 tists of England. They knew of the decrees of 
 banishment against them. They knew of the 
 laws for their suppression. They knew how 
 they had been kept "covered," as their enemies 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 115 
 
 boasted, and their worship, their baptisms, a 
 their very names having to be kept secret. 
 There w r ere plenty of Baptists, and plenty of 
 immersion in England, only those brethren 
 did not have sufficient knowledge of them to be 
 certain whether they had retained the ancient 
 form or been compelled to begin it again after 
 the ban was lifted. The fact that they knew 
 so much about the Holland Baptists and their 
 immersion is explained by the other fact that 
 in Holland the Baptists had already had relig- 
 ious liberty for half a century. That is all 
 there is in the Kiffin manuscript, and the fact 
 therein related about which so much has been 
 said and written. 
 
 Tf well attested facts are any evidence mat 
 neither BajHists nor immersion was extinet in 
 England during the period referred to, it is as 
 fully proven, as that there are Baptists today 
 in Tennessee. This is proven by the follow- 
 ing facts, additional to those already given. 
 In 1536, complaint was made that certain per- 
 sons, who had been baptised in their infancy, 
 had renounced their former baptism, and been 
 rebaptized. In 1533, the Baptists "did very 
 much to pester the church, and openly dispute 
 in public places." In 1547, Henry VIII died, 
 hating put to death, by his orders or permis- 
 sion, 72,000 persons. These were not his own 
 people. Who were they? 
 
 In 1549, complaint was made that Baptists 
 were in many parts of England, one man report- 
 
116 THE PATHWAY 0E FIKE. 
 
 ing that he knew of five hundred in one town. 
 In 1573, a meeting being held by a church of 
 the Dutch Baptists ,at Aldergate, in London, 
 was broken up, and twenty-seven of the wor- 
 shipers were committed to prison, and, after- 
 wards, some of them were burned at Smith- 
 field. In 1583, a very large church of Dutch 
 Baptists was know^n to exist at Norwich. In 
 1618, there was published in England a little 
 book entitled "A Treatise on Baptism." It was 
 translated from the Dutch language. In 1620 
 the Baptists came out openly and made an ap- 
 peal, setting forth their reasons for leaving the 
 established church. In 1641 a meeting was 
 held in Southwark, in which eighty Baptists 
 passed a resolution that the magistrate was 
 only to be obeyed in civil matters. In 1641, 
 one Barber published a small book against in- 
 fant baptism,for which he was imprisoned for 11 
 months. In 1642 very bitter complaint was 
 made that the Baptists were dipping hundreds 
 of people over head and ears. By this time 
 there were seven Baptist churches in London, 
 and forty-seven in the country. It is surely 
 unnecessary to pursue the subect further, to 
 convince the reader that Dr. Whitsitt is mis- 
 taken in his conclusion that immersion was 
 extinct in England in 1641. 
 
 I have not had the opportunity of reading 
 the Doctor's article in Johnson's Encyclopedia, 
 nor the St. George pamphlets to which he 
 refers, and have therefore confined myself to 
 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 117 
 
 such statements as I have read from his own 
 pen. But, if on investigation, the St. George 
 pamphlets afford no more positive proof than 
 the Doctor in his position, than that which I 
 have so far seen, Baptists need not in the least 
 worry over the result. Indeed, I confidently 
 predict that in the end this matter will very 
 greatly result in benefit to our denomination. 
 We will next trace our principles across the 
 Atlantic, and see them planted in the New 
 World. 
 
 ^>^^^^&^f<^ 
 
118 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 "AN AEMY WITH BANNERS." 
 
 "In the name of our God we will set up our banners." 
 
 To trace the history of the rise and progress 
 of Baptist principles in America would require 
 many volumes. All I propose here is to give 
 an authentic statement of their first planting, 
 some account of their early trials, and close 
 with a few facts and figures, indicating their 
 present standing and influence as a denomina- 
 tion. 
 
 I have stated in a former chapter that the 
 Baptists of this country do not owe their origin 
 to Roger Williams. Neither he nor the church 
 he organized has any connection with American 
 Baptist history, except that it was organized, 
 existed four months, and then dissolved, with- 
 out leaving anything to perpetuate the work it 
 had done. We must look elsewhere for the 
 beginning of our people in this country. 
 
 When the Puritans embarked on board the 
 Mayflower, and turned her prow toward the 
 New World, "What sought they? Freedom to 
 worship God." But they overlooked — or, per- 
 haps it were better to say, they had not yet 
 come to apprehend one great fact. That is, 
 that liberty of conscience can never exist, in 
 common with the right of the state to control 
 •c\ man in his doctrine and worship. Establish 
 
AX ARMY WITH BANNERS. 119 
 
 either one and yon are bound to destroy the 
 other. This was the mistake of Luther; this 
 was the mistake of the Pilgrim Fathers. 
 
 It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, if we 
 find that the history of the early Baptists of 
 America follows that of their forefather* and 
 marks a pathway of fire. Baptists have known 
 what religious persecution was even in free 
 America . Fines and imprisonments were com- 
 mon in the early days as well as acts for the 
 suppression of the Anabaptists passed by the 
 Colonial Legislatures. One of the most sub- 
 lime scenes ever enacted on the American con- 
 tinent was enacted in Virginia at the trial of 
 Lewis Craig, Joseph Craig and Aaron Bledsoe 
 for the crime of preaching the gospel of the 
 Son of God. The Court had assembled. The 
 j> dge was in his seat; the prisoners at the bar 
 and the clerk reading the indictment, when 
 Patrick Henry entered, having ridden on horse- 
 back sixty miles to volunteer his services in 
 defense of the prisoners. After the King's 
 attorney had presented the case, Patrick Henry 
 arose, and taking the indictment, he said: 
 "May it please the court, I think I heard this 
 paper read by the prosecutor as I entered this 
 court. Did I hear it distinctly, or was it a mis- 
 take of my own? If I heard rightly, these men 
 are about to be tried for a crime. What is 
 that crime?" Pausing a moment, he repeated 
 it — slowly and in most solemn tones, "For 
 preaching the gospel of the Son of God." 
 
120 THE PATHWAY OP FIRE. 
 
 Pausing again, he waved the paper three times 
 around his head, and lifting his hands and eyes 
 toward heaven, he cried out, "Great God!" 
 Then in a speech that, for deep pathos, burn- 
 ing eloquence and convincing power has never 
 been excelled, he laid down the principles of 
 soul-freedom. The judge looked solemn, the 
 clerk looked pale, and the King's attorney 
 shook like an aspen, and the assembly was 
 being worked up to a point beyond self control, 
 when the judge ended the scene by shouting, 
 "Sheriff, discharge those men." This was in 
 Virginia, where a hundred years previous, a 
 law T had been passed, imposing a fine of tw^o 
 hundred pounds of tobacco upon any person 
 who should refuse to carry his child to the 
 parson for baptism. 
 
 In New England the Baptists fared no bet- 
 ter. The statutes enacted, and the testimony 
 of early writers prove conclusively that there 
 were Baptists in New England some time 
 before Roger Williams founded his Rhode 
 Island Colony. As early as 1643, or only 
 twenty-three years after the Puritans had 
 landed at Plymouth, we find a colonial enact- 
 ment for the suppression of "the Anabaptists." 
 This act recites that those Anabaptists had 
 appeared among them "Since their coming to 
 New England;" and Cotton Mather speaks of 
 some "Godly Anabaptists who had been with 
 them" — the Puritans — "from the beginning." 
 
 The first Baptist churches that I have been 
 
AN ARMY WITH BANNERS. 121 
 
 able to find, whose history can be traced, are 
 two; both organized in 1638. One by Hanserd 
 Knollys, and the other by John Clark, and in 
 1639 six men were arrested for organizing a 
 Baptist church atWeyniouth, fourteen miles 
 south of Boston. Knollys and Clark came to 
 America from England, the former remaining 
 but three years, so that but little is known of 
 the church which he founded. The church 
 founded by John Clark, it is claimed, has had an 
 unbroken existence from that period until now, 
 so that the old Baptist church at Newport can 
 proudly say, and with good reason, "I am the 
 mother of you all." 
 
 There is some question, however, whether 
 this church was organized in 1638 or 1639. 
 Two facts I think are sufficient to settle this 
 question. The first is, that in the minutes of 
 the Philadelphia Association, there is a record 
 still preserved, stating that John Callender, in 
 1738 preached the one hundredth anniversary 
 sermon of the organization of the First Bap- 
 tist Church of Rhode Island. The second is, 
 that the monument erected to the memory of 
 John Clark contains an inscription which 
 recites that Clark came to Newport in March, 
 1638, and that shortly after viz. the 24th of 
 the same month, obtained a deed of land from 
 the Indians, and shortly after that gathered a 
 church and became its pastor. From all the 
 evidences I have thus been able to consult, I 
 think it may be safelv affirmed that th? first 
 
122 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 Baptist church of America, whose history we 
 can now trace, was organized by John Clark 
 and his associates, at Newport, Khode Island, 
 in 1638. Other churches went out from this, 
 but the progress was slow for several years, 
 owing to the severe repressive measures, to 
 prevent the spread of Baptist principles. 
 Other Baptists in time came in, from both Hol- 
 land and England, so that the American Bap- 
 tists can rightly claim their descent from the 
 Baptists of England and Holland, and through 
 them trace an unbroken line of principles, back 
 through those ancient bodies, whose brief his- 
 tory I have here given, directly to the churches 
 founded by Christ and his Apostles. 
 
 A single reference to a few figures, showing 
 the growth of our denomination and its present 
 strength, and our task will be finished. 
 
 The Baptist year book for 1895, published by 
 the American Baptist Publication Society, 
 which by the way, is a most valuable book, and 
 should be in every Baptist family, gives us the 
 following figures, which should be studied with 
 deep interest, and call for devout gratitude. 
 
 In the United States we have the following: 
 
 Associations,l,551 ; ministers,27,771 ;churches 
 40,061; baptised last year, 176,058; total 
 membership, 3,720,235. Children in Sunday 
 schools, 1,779,886. Money raised for all 
 denominational purposes, |11,755,118. The 
 present membership of our Baptist churches is 
 about equal to the entire population of the col- 
 
AN ARMY WITH BANNERS. 1*23 
 
 onies at the declaration of independence. 
 
 In educational institutions, we have seven 
 theological seminaries, with sixty-seven in- 
 structors, 1002 pupils, 990 preparing for the 
 ministry. Value of their property is $3,774,- 
 850. These seminaries have endowments 
 amounting to $2,665,091. 
 
 In universities and colleges, w T e have — Insti- 
 tutions, 37; teachers, 807; endowment, 
 $13,238,519. Value of property, $22,722,163. 
 In female seminaries, 29 institutions; 370 pro- 
 fessors, 3,821 pupils; $1,218,885 endowment, 
 and property valued at $4,063,297. 
 
 Of other schools for both sexes, or males 
 cnly, we have: 64 institutions, 530 professors, 
 14,341 students; value of endowment $1,344,- 
 700. Value of property, $4,167,730. For the 
 education of negroes and Indians, we have: 
 institutions, 33; teachers, 293. Endowments, 
 $117,500. Value of property, $1,398,830. This 
 gives us a grand total of 169 institutions of 
 learning, with 2,067 professors; 36,016 stu- 
 dents. Value of endowment, $18,614, 695, and 
 value of school property, $36, 126, 870. 
 
 The Baptists of the world number: churches, 
 46,520, with a total membership of 4,447,074. 
 
 During the year 1895, the Baptists of the 
 United States raised for religious purposes $11,- 
 755,118, of which $1,172,909 was for missions. 
 
 Surely, the little one has become a thou- 
 sand, and the small one a strong nation. To 
 God be all the glory. 
 
124 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Much of the material incorporated in the 
 body of this little pamphlet has lain by me for 
 some years. Years ago I became an enthusi- 
 astic student of Baptist History, and have dil- 
 igently continued it, with such sources of in- 
 formation as I could, in my limited way, 
 secure. Besides such secular histories as 
 would aid nie,nota.bly,GibboiL , s, I have read the 
 church histories of Mosheim, Neander, Wad- 
 dington, Jones and Schaff. Of Baptist Histo- 
 ries, Benedict, Armitage, Cramp, W. R. Will- 
 iams, Orchard, "Foreign" and "Engiish"Bap- 
 tists, and most of the smaller works that have 
 come in my way. I have consulted and com- 
 pared the articles bearing on the subject in 
 most of the cyclopaedias, and, in fact, sought 
 such information, from any source possible, 
 as I thought would aid me, in arriving at tne 
 truth concerning the people whose history I 
 have so much delighted to study. 
 
 As I intended the book for popular reading, 
 in the hands of the masses, I have thought it 
 best to take the facts and ideas of the various 
 authors consulted, and clothe them in my own 
 language, rather than to give literal quota- 
 tions, with name and page of author. Where 
 literal quotations are given they are properly 
 
APrENDIX. 125 
 
 indicated. It has been, withal, my earnest 
 desire to have the facts stated historically cor- 
 rect. 
 
 Up to the time of what is now known as the 
 "Whitsitt Controversy," I had no doubt what- 
 ever of the perfect reliability of the various 
 authors I had studied, although, in some minor 
 particulars, they somewhat differed from one 
 another. 
 
 It was not until my pamphlet was in the 
 hands of my publishers, that I learned that our 
 esteemed brother, Kev. Dr. Whitsitt, was pre- 
 paring, and would soon publish, a book that 
 would, undoubtedly, throw much new light on 
 this whole subject. On learning this, I 
 resolved, at once, to hold my own book back 
 until I could secure his, and give it a most care- 
 ful reading; and if, after reading his book, it 
 should seem necessary, I would either re-write 
 mine, or cancel the order for publication, even 
 though I had paid for it mostly in advance. 
 However, after giving Brother Whitsitt' s book 
 two most careful readings, I can find in it no 
 reason why my own should not be given to the 
 public — more especially as it lavs no claim to 
 being more than a simple effort to trace Bap- 
 tist principles, rather than to give a history of 
 the Baptist denomination. 
 
 In this connection I want to add a few words 
 with reference to the reliabilty of those authors 
 I have studied; especially "Orchard's History 
 of the English Baptists." I believed those au- 
 thors to be fairly reliable, and I am glad to be 
 
126 THE PATHWAY OP FIRE. 
 
 able to write that, so far, I have found no cause 
 to change my opinion. While Dr. Whitsitt did 
 not intend to write of the early Baptists, his 
 brief references thereto do not, in any w T ay, 
 conflict with what has heretofore been written. 
 
 I am aware that some doubt has been sug- 
 gested as to the reliability of "Orchard's His- 
 tory." The author of that work has gone to 
 his reward, and is no longer here to answer 
 for himself. It seems meet, therefore, that I 
 should add a few words in his defense. 
 
 I have never read any suggestion of doubt as 
 to his honesty, either of motive or methods. 
 This fact admitted, what are the other facts? 
 Dr. Orchard was born, lived and died in the 
 very land where all these historical events oc- 
 curred. I refer now to the English Baptists. 
 If our American authors spent "several 
 months" studying historical data in England, 
 Dr. Orchard spent thirty years in the same 
 study. If they had ready access to the British 
 Museum, the Bodlein Library, and other valu- 
 able sources of information, Orchard not only 
 had the same, but he availed himself of it to 
 the fullest extent. There is no source of in- 
 formation open to them that was not open to 
 him; and none of which he did not, so far as I 
 can learn, avail himself, unless it was the tes- 
 timony furnished by Professor Scheffer, of 
 Amsterdam, and on which, truth compels me 
 to say, I do not place as much reliance as does 
 Brother Whitsitt, for reasons which I will 
 intimate further on. Indeed, after carefully 
 
APPENDIX. 127 
 
 comparing Orchard's book with that of Dr. 
 Whitsitt, I am more fully impressed than be- 
 fore with the reliability of the former. They 
 quote, largely, the same authorities, give the 
 same dates and state the same facts. The 
 greatest difference is in the conclusion which 
 they draw from the facts stated. 
 
 Now, as to Brother Whitsitt's book, I have 
 no intention of giving a review of it, or of doing 
 more than to give briefly the reasons why I 
 cannot agree with the author, in the position 
 he has taken, leaving to others of far greater 
 ability to review the book, as they may feel it 
 to be duty. 
 
 So far as I shall go, I shall try to write hon- 
 estly and fearlessly, seeking only to satisfy my 
 own judgment and conscience, regardless of 
 kow much others may agree with, or differ 
 from me. 
 
 As to the controversy that has grown out of 
 the "Whitsitt Matter," I am convinced that 
 Dr. Whitsitt has been seriously misunderstood, 
 and, as a result, without intending it, much 
 misrepresented. Indeed, "A Tempest in a Tea- 
 pot," on a large scale, will best express the idea 
 T have regarding this great controversy. So 
 far as the book is concerned, there is nothing in 
 i: to invalidate the Doctor's claim to being a 
 Sound Baptist. The whole issue is narrowed 
 down to this single question. Did, or did not 
 believer's immersion become extinct in Eng- 
 land, for a longer or shorter period prior to 
 1641? So far as affecting Baptist descent 
 
128 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 goes, what does it matter whether it did or did 
 not? It is admitted that Baptists existed else- 
 where, and that believers' immersion was prac- 
 ticed by John, commanded by Christ, and has 
 continued from the Apostolic age till now. 
 Here is the bold declaration of Dr. Whitsitt in 
 the very first paragraph of his introduction: 
 "Immersion, as a religious rite, was practiced 
 by John the Baptist about the year 30, of our 
 era, and w r as solemnly enjoined by our Saviour 
 on all His ministers till the end of time. No 
 other observance was in use for baptism in 
 New Testament times. The practice, though 
 scmetimes greatly perverted, has yet been con- 
 tinued from the Apostolic age down to our 
 own. As I understand the Scriptures, immer- 
 sion is essential to Christian baptism." 
 
 This settles the question as to the soundness 
 of Dr. Whitsitt's views on believers' baptism. 
 Hereafter, while the above declaration stands, 
 let no one quote Dr. Whitsitt as authoritv for 
 the statement that "Immersion as a Christian 
 ordinance was unknown prior to 1641." He has 
 made no such statement as that, and hereafter 
 to repeat it will be willful and wicked misrep- 
 resentation. 
 
 This being true, Baptists could admit all 
 that Dr. Whitsitt claims, without, in the least, 
 weakening their claim to Apostolic antiquity, 
 or losening a single stone in the solid founda- 
 tion on which their New Testament practice 
 rests. Suppose, if such a thing could be, that 
 a hundred years from now, some one, in writ- 
 
APPENDIX. 12<j 
 
 ir>g a history of American Baptists, should 
 make the discovery that, from 1750 to 1850, 
 there was not a Baptist, nor a believers' im- 
 mersion in the state of Tennessee — what differ- 
 ence would that make with our American Bap- 
 tist history, beyond the fact, that, while all the 
 rest of the United States had thousands of Bap- 
 tists, Tennessee was, for a hundred years, with- 
 out the blessing of the New Testament practice? 
 So in this case. The question is not whether 
 there still existed believers' baptism, in the 
 manner required by Scripture, but whether in 
 that little piece of territory called England it 
 existed during the short period referred to. 
 
 I am convincd that if Dr. Whitsitt's claim, 
 with proper explanation, had been admitted by 
 all, it would have done our denomination far 
 less injury than the unfortunate controversy 
 that has grown out of the matter. All this, 
 however, only in the interest of truth, without 
 in the least impugning the motives or action 
 of those brethren, who, lijie myself, as honestly 
 believe Dr. Whitsitt to be wrong, as he believes 
 himself to be right. 
 
 Concerning the Doctor's position, and the 
 evidence he has produced to establish it, I be- 
 lieve every unprejudiced reader will cheerfully 
 grant him this much: 
 
 1. That he honestly believes the position he 
 has taken to be correct; and that he is so con- 
 vinced by the testimony he has furnished. 
 
 2. That he honestly believes the testimony 
 sufficient to convince anvone else who is not 
 
130 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 wedded to a preconceived opinion to the con- 
 trary. That he honestly believes all this, no 
 man who reads his book without prejudice can 
 doubt. This much in justice to Brother Whit- 
 sitt. 
 
 And yet, as honestly desiring to have the 
 truth, as Brother Whitsitt possibly can be, I 
 am compelled to differ from him, and strongly 
 dissent from the conclusion he drawls from the 
 testimony he has furnished. So far from be- 
 ing convinced — and I was certainly not preju- 
 diced in my reading, for my sympathy w^as with 
 Brother Whitsitt — after giving his book two 
 most careful readings, studying it the last time, 
 paragraph by paragraph, I find myself differing 
 from him more strongly than before 
 
 I am conscious that this is a strong state- 
 ment — nay almost presumptions — to be made 
 by a humble preacher, touching the position of 
 one so learned, so w T ell read, and, in every w^ay 
 so much my superior as Dr. Whitsitt; but 1 
 have very much misread the kind disposition 
 and liberal spirit of our brother if he does not 
 cheerfully concede to the humblest of his breth- 
 ren the same privilege of free thought and free 
 speech that he asks for himself. 
 
 Having stated so frankly my disagreement 
 with Brother Whitsitt, I am in duty bound to 
 give, w r ith reasonable plainness, the reasons for 
 such disagreement. 
 
 It should be borne in mind here, that all men 
 are n®t impressed in the same way by the same 
 facts. It takes more to convince some men 
 
APPENDIX. 131 
 
 than it does others, of the truth of a given 
 statement. I have no doubt that some who have 
 withheld their decision till they have read 
 Brother TVhitsitt's book, are now fully con- 
 vinced that he has made out his case; while 
 others, equally honest, will, I doubt not, be as 
 fully convinced that he has failed to maintain 
 the claim he so confidently put forward. 
 
 It would be presumption on my part, and 
 prove me guilty of self-conceit, were I to pre- 
 tend to be as well posted in these historical mat- 
 ters as my brother is, and so, in giving my rea- 
 sons for differing from him, I shall confine my- 
 self exclusively to his book, entirely ignoring 
 all evidence elsewhere found. 
 
 The issue, as I understand it, is this: Dr. 
 Whitsitt affirms that prior to 1641, believers' 
 immersion had become utterly extinct in Eng- 
 land; and the purpose of his book is to give the 
 evidence to prove it. The question then is, 
 does the evidence he has given prove his state- 
 ment true, beyond a reasonable doubt? This 
 is what he is bound to do, to maintain the posi- 
 tion he has taken. 
 
 It is a universal rule in evidence, that a 
 thing or fact, once existing, is assumed to con- 
 tinue to exist, unless there is positive proof 
 that it has ceased to exist. In such a case, cir- 
 cumstantial evidence is not admissable. The 
 proof must be clear, positive and convincing, es- 
 tablishing the fact beyond the possibility of 
 a reasonable doubt. 
 
 In applying this rule to the issue under con- 
 
18 ] THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 sideration, let us, first, inquire whether immer- 
 sion did exist in England prior to 1641, and if 
 there is a reasonable probability of its having 
 continued; and second, notice the testimony on 
 which Dr. Whitsitt relies to establish the fact 
 of its extinction. 
 
 On page 23, we are told that "In earliest 
 times immersion prevailed in England as else- 
 where," and on page 33, it is shown that it was 
 continued longer in England than on the con- 
 tinent, or anywhere else. Here, then, we have 
 the fact of its existence clearly established; all 
 that is required now is to show a reasonable 
 probability that it continued to exist. 
 
 On page 29, we have the following quotation 
 from Dr. Wall: "The offices and litergies for 
 public baptism in the church of England did, all 
 along, so far as I can learn, enjoin dipping, 
 without any mention of sprinkling or pouring." 
 The Doctor adds, that the book of common 
 grayer for 1549 required trine immersion, but 
 allowed, if the child were weak, it would suffice 
 to pour water upon it. In 1552, a new prayer 
 book appeared enjoining a single immersion, 
 and making pouring optional in case of weak- 
 ness. On page 30, we are told that in 1571, 
 immersion was practiced by royal decree, and 
 church wardens were required to furnish facili- 
 ties for the purpose. This was still further de- 
 creed in 1584. 
 
 This, then, is the position and practice of the 
 Church of England, under royal requirement, 
 as late as 1584 — or only fifty-seven years be- 
 
APPENDIX. . i33 
 
 fore we find the Baptists of England openly 
 practicing the same form of baptism, while, so 
 far as we can learn, the only influence acting 
 against it, is that of the Presbyterian refugees 
 recently returned from Switzerland. Will any 
 reasonable man suppose that the persecutions 
 of those re-baptisinpf would be any more severe, 
 where it was done in the prescribed form, than 
 when done in violation of royal decree? Such 
 a conclusion is absurd. The persecution of the 
 Baptists in those days was not because of their 
 form of baptism, but because they refused to 
 recognize the authority of the state church. 
 When, therefore, they immersed, they per- 
 formed the act required by royal decree; 
 when they sprinkled or poured they not only 
 went against the state church, but violated 
 the royal decree as well. The argument from 
 persecution is, therefore, all in favor of immer- 
 sion instead of any other mode, up to at least 
 1584. 
 
 Let us now r go on to 1644, and, putting our 
 stakes down there, run our line back to a meet- 
 ing place. On pages 70 to 72 we have an effort, 
 on the part of the Doctor, to prove Dr. Armi- 
 tage mistaken, when he states, on the authori- 
 ty of Dr. Featley's "Dippers Dipt," that Bap- 
 tists had been practicing immersion for twenty 
 years previous to 1644. It is no wonder that 
 Dr. Whitsitt makes a strong effort to prove 
 Dr. Armitage mistaken, for if his statement is 
 allowed to stand, it upsets the Doctor's posi- 
 tion by seventeen years. I think, however, 
 
131 THE PATHWAY O/ FIRE. 
 
 that I will be able to convince every unpreju- 
 diced reader that it is Dr. Whitsitt, not Dr. 
 Armitage, that is laboring under the mistake. 
 
 Dr. Armitage made his statement under the 
 authority of Dr. Featley's book, entitled, "The 
 Dippers Dipt; or the Anabaptist Plunged 
 Head and Ears." 
 
 He gives the following quotation to show 
 the manner of their baptism: "They flock in 
 great multitudes to their Jordans and both 
 sexes enter into the livers and are dipt after 
 their manner. * * * * And as they defile our 
 rivers with their impure washings, and our pul- 
 pits with their false prophecies, and fanatical 
 enthusiasms, so the presses groan and sweat 
 uDder the load of their blasphemies." I pause 
 here to remark, by way of parenthesis — the 
 reader will notice that Dr. Featley uses the 
 term "washings," when he means immersion; 
 we will therefore be justified in understanding 
 the same term in the same sense, where we meet 
 it in other places. To proceed: Dr. Armitage 
 gives a second quotation from another page, as 
 follows: "This venomous serpent is the Ana- 
 Baptist, who in these later times, first showed 
 his shining head and speckled skin, and thrust 
 out his sting, near the place of my residence, 
 for more than twenty years ago." From these 
 two quotations, Dr. Armitage very justly con- 
 cludes that immersion was practiced near Dr. 
 Featley's residence for more than twenty years 
 previous to 1644, or seventeen years before Dr. 
 Whitsitt now claims that it was introduced into 
 
APPENDIX. 135 
 
 England. Dr. Whitsitt admits that both these 
 quotations refer to the same class of people, 
 but insists that they refer to different modes 
 cf baptizing at different times. To prove Dr. 
 A rmitage mistaken, and that it was sprinkling 
 those Anabaptists practiced, twenty years 
 before, he quotes the following, also from Dr. 
 Featley's book : "But of late, since the unhappy 
 distraction which our sins have brought upon 
 us, the temporal sword being otherwise em- 
 ployed, and the spiritual locked up fast in the 
 scabbord, this sect among others, hath so far 
 presumed upon the patience of the state, that 
 it hath held weekly conventicles, rebaptized 
 hundreds of men and women togetherin the twi- 
 light, in rivulets and some arms of the Thames 
 and elsewhere, dipping them over head and 
 ears." From this quotation, Dr. Whitsitt ar- 
 gues that the sect first sprang up twenty years 
 before, but that they had only recently begun 
 the practice of immersion. To this I answer: 
 Does Dr. Featley in the above quotation intend 
 to describe a new mode of baptism, or does he 
 emphasize the fact that, "since the sword has 
 been otherwise employed" those people have 
 become bolder and more open and frequent with 
 their baptism? Undoubtedly the latter. Un- 
 fortunately one part of Dr. Featley's state- 
 ment has been left out, which will make the 
 whole clear. It is as follows: "This fire, 
 which under the reigns of Queen Elizabeth, 
 and King James, and our gracious Sovereign 
 till now, was covered in England under the 
 
136 T HE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 ashes; or if it break out at any time, by the 
 care of the ecclesiastics and civil magistrates, 
 it was soon put out. But of late, since the un- 
 happy distractions which our sins have 
 brought upon us," etc., as quoted by Dr. Whit- 
 sitt. There is not a line nor a hint here as to 
 any new bax^tism, different from that which 
 they had always practiced. In these several 
 quotations Dr. Featley makes three distinct 
 statements: 
 
 1. That this sect existed during the reign 
 of Elizabeth and subsequent sovereigns, but 
 by the power of the civil magistrates thev 
 were kept "covered" — that is, subdued and 
 kept under. 
 
 2. That more than twenty years before, they 
 had appeared with their dipping near his resi- 
 dence. Doubtless, they were again put down 
 as usual. 
 
 3. That since the "unhappy distractions" re- 
 ferred to, they had become so bold that they 
 held weekly meetings, and practiced their im- 
 mersions wherever convenient, in the same 
 manner as they had done twenty years ago. 
 
 I notice another unfortunate omission made 
 by our brother which, when supplied, proves 
 beyond a possible doubt not only that Brother 
 Whitsitt, rather than Dr. Armitage is mista- 
 ken, but that Dr. Featley himself bears the 
 most undoubted testimony that immersion had 
 been practiced by some "ancient Anabaptists." 
 
 On page 73 the Doctor quotes from Dr. Feat- 
 ley's argument against the Baptist confession 
 
APPENDIX. 137 
 
 of faith, that prescribes — "dipping or plunging, 
 as the way and manner of administering the 
 ordinance of baptism.'' Touching that Brother 
 Whitsitt quotes Featley as follows. "This 
 article is wholly sowsed with the new leaven, 
 of Anabaptism. I say new leaven for it 
 cannot be proved that any of the ancient 
 Anabaptists maintained any such position * * * 
 It is not essential to baptism, neither do the 
 texts in the margin conclude any such thing." 
 It will be seen that Dr. Whitsitt has done 
 here just what he charges Dr. Armitage with 
 having done. He quotes Dr. Featley's state- 
 ment up to the word "position," leaves out the 
 qualifying phrase, and putting his own con- 
 struction on it, uses it as evidence that the 
 Anabaptists had not practiced immersion. 
 Had the whole quotation been given any reader 
 would have seen that Dr. Featley does 
 not claim that the ancient Anabaptists 
 did not practice immersion, but, on the 
 contrary bears the strongest testimony that 
 they did. Following is the whole quotation, 
 as given by Dr. Armitage. "It cannot be proved 
 that any of the ancient Anabaptists main- 
 tained any such position, there being three 
 ways of baptism; either by dipping, washing, 
 or sprinkling." It will be clearly seen that 
 the quotation complete conveys a very different 
 meaning from that which Brother Whitsitt 
 gives it. The "position" here referred to as 
 held by the Baptists and which Dr. Featley 
 was contending against was not that dipping 
 
138 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 was the only Scriptural baptism. He says that 
 among the Anabaptists there were three modes 
 practiced,— "dipping, washing and sprinkling." 
 
 This is what every w^ell informed Baptist ad- 
 mits; and what I had already stated in the body 
 of my book. 
 
 Dr. Featley could thus very truly declare 
 that Anabaptists and even "ancient Anabap- 
 tists/' as he understood the term, did practice 
 "washing and sprinkling" for it was true; 
 but if these combined statements of Dr. 
 Featley do not convey the idea that those 
 particular Anabaptists of whom he writes, did 
 immerse, and that they had continued that 
 practice from the days of Queen Elizabeth — al- 
 beit they had been, for the most part, kept 
 "covered" by the civil power, then it is use- 
 less to employ words to convey ideas. I 
 stand with Dr. Armitage. 
 
 But I will make this position still stronger. 
 One page 68, Dr. Whitsitt makes the following 
 quotation, referring to three varieties of Ana- 
 baptists, who had gone from England to Am- 
 sterdam, and who were there in 1611. Doubt- 
 less this was because of one of the many 
 decrees of banishment. Of these three varie- 
 ties of Anabaptists, it is asserted: "Master 
 Smyth, an Anabaptist* of one sort, and Master 
 Hilwise of another, and Master Busher of an- 
 other." Which sort does Master Busher rep- 
 resent? Let him speak for himself, as Dr. 
 Whitsitt quotes him on page 69. "And such 
 as shall willingly and gladly receive it (the 
 
APPENDIX. 13Q 
 
 word) be hath commanded to be baptised in 
 water, that is, dipped for dead in the water." 
 Dr. Whitsitt admits the genuineness of this 
 quotation, but seeks to break its force by assert- 
 ing that we do not know enough about II usher 
 to decide whether he practiced immersion or 
 net. That is, when a Christian author states 
 that Christ requires immersion, we do not 
 know whether he is an immersionist in prac- 
 tice. Admitting this, may not the English 
 Baptists of a hundred years from now, question 
 whether or not Dr. Whitsitt was an immersion- 
 ist in practice? Undoubtedly Busher repre- 
 sented the immersing variety of Anabaptists. 
 
 This is the sect that Dr. Featley says was 
 "kept covered" in England, until the unhappy 
 "distractions," when they came out boldly, and 
 openly practiced their immersions, very much 
 to the disgust of good Doctor Featley. 
 
 And this view is still further strengthened 
 by the declaration of Dr. Featle^ that there 
 were other sects that had also "presumed on the 
 patience of the state." He says: "This sect 
 among others." — that is other sects. What oth- 
 er sects? Why the other sects of Anabaptists 
 who also defied the state church, and went on 
 preaching believers' baptism only, but poured 
 their members instead of immersing them. 
 
 You see how this complaint of Dr. Featley 
 that "this sect among others" is in perfect ac- 
 cord with the testimony furnished by Dr. Whit- 
 sitt that "there were three varieties of Ana- 
 baptists." Dr. Featley does not say they all 
 
140 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 immersed, but lie does say that "This sect 
 among others hath so far presumed on the pa- 
 tience of the state that it hath held weekly 
 conventicles, baptised hundreds of men and 
 w T omen,"etc. Each sect "presumed on the pa- 
 tience of the state" to carry out its practices in 
 its own way. 
 
 I have thus, from Dr. Whitsitt's own book, 
 traced immersion back from where we planted 
 our stakes in 1644 to Queen Elizabeth in 1558, 
 or twenty-six years back of the time when im- 
 mersion was the prevailing custom in the En- 
 glish church, and maintained by royal author- 
 ity; that is, that believers' immersion overlaps 
 that required by royal decree, and practiced in 
 the English church, by twenty-six years. 
 
 It should be stated here, in justice to Brother 
 Whitsitt, that he does not dispute the exist- 
 ence of infant immersion up to or even after 
 1584. His contention refers only to believers' 
 immersion; but my argument is, that where 
 we can trace believers' immersion back twenty- 
 six years beyond where infant immersion is so 
 prevalent, it compels the belief, other facts so 
 strongly corroberating it, that believers' im- 
 mersion must have been practiced during the 
 same period, remembering, as we must, that 
 under far more adverse circumstances, it had 
 survived for fourteen centuries. 
 
 Before passing to other proofs of my posi- 
 tion found in the book, let me call attention to 
 another serious mistake I am certain the Doc- 
 tor has made, and one that must have a most 
 
APPENDIX. 141 
 
 important bearing on the whole question at 
 issue. I refer to his position in regard to Men- 
 no Simon, whom Baptists have always regard- 
 ed as Baptist in principle and practice, but 
 who Dr. Whitsitt tells us practiced sprinkling 
 instead of immersion. The authority on which 
 he asserts this is a so-called corrected transla- 
 tion of Menno's utterances on the subject, and 
 is given on page 46. 
 
 A scholar named Morgan Edwards, it ap- 
 pears made a translation of Menno's statement, 
 touching baptism as follows : "After we have 
 searched ever so diligently, we shall find no 
 other baptism besides dipping in water, which 
 is acceptable to God, and maintained in His 
 word." But now comes one Dr. Burrage and 
 says the passage from Simon is not correctly 
 translated, and gives the following as the cor- 
 rect one: "However diligently we seeii, night 
 and day, yet we find no more than one baptism 
 in water, that is pleasing to God, expressed 
 ard contained in His word — namely, this bap- 
 tism on faith." Forthwith, therefore, Brother 
 Whitsitt gives up the translation of Edwards, 
 adopts that of Burrage, and puts Menno 
 Simon out of the Baptist fold. 
 
 But now, who is Dr. Burrage? And in what 
 respect is he a more reliable witness than Ed- 
 wards? Here is a translation that has stood 
 for years as correct. Are we to give it up till 
 we know something about the man who gives us 
 the new? Is Dr. Burrage a disinterested wit- 
 ness? Is he a Baptist or a Pedobaptist? Is 
 
142 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 lie better able to give a correct translation 
 than Edwards? I mnst have information on 
 these points before I can consent to let go of 
 Menno Simon. I know of scores of professedly 
 learned men who contend that dipping or im- 
 mersion is not the correct translation of the 
 Greek word "Baptise" This we know to be 
 incorrect; is it not possible that this translation 
 of Dr. Burrage is also incorrect? 
 
 But now for argument's sake, I will admit the 
 Burrage translation to be the correct one. 
 What is the result? We have twice the testi- 
 mony to the Baptistic principles and practices 
 of Menno Simon than we had before. The Ed- 
 wards translation makes no reference to be- 
 lievers as being the only proper subjects of 
 Baptism. The Burrage translation proves 
 Menno to have been sound on this point, and 
 does not in the least weaken the testimony as 
 to the mode. Here are Burrage's own word-s: 
 "We shall find no more than one baptism in wa- 
 ter, that is pleasing to Ood." The baptism of 
 Menno Simon was therefore that of a believer 
 only in water. This makes him a Baptist. 
 You can't baptize a person in water by putting 
 a few T drops on his forehead. You can't bap- 
 tize a person in w/^ter by pouring a dipper full 
 over his head. If you can let us give up our 
 contention with the Pedobaptists and adopt 
 their mode of administration. But there is 
 only $me way in which you can baptize a per- 
 son in water. That is by dipping him in the 
 water. This fact is as clear as the sunlight 
 
APPENDIX. 143 
 
 and I must be excused if I refuse to follow the 
 example of Brother Whitsitt, and surrender 
 Menno Simon simply because Doctor Burrage 
 says Morgan Edwards made a mistake in the 
 translation. Menno Simon was undoubtedly 
 a Baptist, so far as baptism goes, if the transla- 
 tion of Dr. Burrage is correct. Let us now 
 test my position by the rule of logic. 
 
 A Baptist is one who baptises believers 
 only, and who baptises only in water. 
 
 Menno Simon baptised believers only and 
 baptised them only in water. 
 
 Therefore Menno Simon was a Baptist. 
 
 Menno Simon was a Baptist. 
 The Mennonites were followers of Menno 
 Simon. 
 
 Therefore the Mennonites were Baptists. 
 
 The baptism of Smyth and his party was 
 identical with that of the Mennonites (Whit- 
 sitt P. 59.) 
 
 The Baptism of the Mennonites was that of 
 a believer in water, which is the baptism of 
 the Baptists. 
 
 Therefore Smyth and his party were Bap- 
 tists. 
 
 When Brother Whitsitt shall have proved 
 this to be unsound logic, I will confess to hav- 
 ing studied Bishop Whately in vain. 
 
 Granted, that some, even many of the Men- 
 nonites afterwards adopted the practice of 
 sprinkling, which it is no doubt they did; they 
 were no longer followers of Menno Simon 
 
144 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 and no longer entitled to the name of Mennon- 
 ites. 
 
 "Menno's most definite expression," says 
 Bro. Whitsitt, (P. 47,) "touching the act of bap- 
 tism is found in the folio edition of his works, 
 where he says, "I certainly think that these 
 and similar commands, (to love one's enemies, 
 etc.) are more painful and burdensome to per- 
 verted flesh, which is everywhere so prone to 
 walk in its own way. than it is to receive a 
 handful of water." 
 
 To this statement of our brother I have two 
 answers. The first is, I think Brother Whit- 
 sitt again mistaken. This statement is 
 not, in my judgment, "Menno's most definite 
 expression." The most definite expression 
 quoted by our brother is that which declares 
 that "The only baptism that is acceptable to 
 God and maintained in His word, is that of a 
 believer in water." This is definite, clear cut,, 
 and leaves no doubt of his meaning. 
 
 My second answer is that this last statement 
 has no bearing on his own practice, as to the 
 mode of baptism. This statement is easily 
 enough understood. He was there writing 
 from the standpoint of his enemies. He 
 was referring in a controversial way, to 
 their practice, not his; and tells them that it is 
 no doubt harder for them to follow the pre- 
 cepts of true Christianity than it was to re- 
 ceive their little handful of water baptism. 
 This utterance, therefore, only strengthens, in- 
 stead of weakens the position that Menno was 
 
APPENDIX. 145 
 
 a believer in, and practiced believers' baptism 
 ir water. 
 
 What then is the result of this fact proven 
 beyond successful contradiction, that Menno 
 Simon and his followers were Baptists and 
 that Sinyth and his party joined the Mennon- 
 ites because their baptism was precisely alike? 
 Brother Whitsitt has based his entire argument 
 on the mistaken idea that Menno and his fol- 
 lowers practiced sprinkling; this proven to be 
 an error, and that they were Baptists, destroys 
 his whole foundation and his superstructure 
 falls. This fact I have proven beyond the shad- 
 ow of a doubt from his own witnesses. 
 
 Now, what further proof does Dr. Whitsitt 
 give us, in favor of reasonable probability that 
 immersion continued to be practiced in Eng- 
 land? On page 21, he tells us that Professor 
 Seheffer "claims that but very few Anabaptists 
 practiced immersion." Even, therefore, Prof. 
 Seheffer, himself a disbeliever in the practice, 
 is compelled to admit that some did practice 
 it. It would be interesting if Prof. Seheffer 
 had told us just what proportion he regarded 
 as very few. Others might differ from him 
 there. 
 
 Page 35: "In fact, few Anabaptists any- 
 where were iinmersionists." Some of them, 
 then, were. Page 37: "While the great body 
 of Anabaptist believers practiced pouring and 
 sprinkling, there were a few exceptions in favor 
 of immersion." Was it not possible that a 
 few of them were still in England, where, Dr. 
 
146 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 Whitsitt tells us, immersion continued longer 
 than anv where else? 
 
 Page 38: "The people of St. Gall, whom Gre- 
 bel baptised in the Sitter river on Palm Sun- 
 day, 1525, it is likely were immersed." 
 
 Page 39: "Clement Sender, an eye witness, 
 describes the act of baptism in the river Lech; 
 that it was immersion, except in times of per- 
 secution, when it was administered simpb- by 
 sprinkling the forehead in cellars and barn- 
 yards!" 
 
 Same Page: "No sufficient reason appears 
 for calling in question the authority of Sender. 
 If it be allowed to stand, then we must con- 
 clude that the Anabaptists of Augsberg, at 
 the most nourishing moment of their existence 
 when their church numbered 1,100 members, 
 practiced immersion as well as sprinkling." 
 
 Page 40: "There were immersing Anabap- 
 tists in Poland, Silesia, Luathania and Pomer- 
 ania." Quite a respectable array of immersion- 
 ists after all. 
 
 As a great majority of those immersions, at 
 least, were outside of England, they furnish, 
 of course, no positive proof that the same ex- 
 isted in England: but they do furnish strong 
 circumstantial evidence. If there be so 
 many exceptions to the rule elsewhere, it is rea- 
 sonable to suppose there would be in England 
 also. Add to this the facts that immersion 
 prevailed in England long after it went out of 
 general use elsewhere — that we can trace it 
 forward by royal decrees to 1584, and then 
 
APPENDIX. 147 
 
 back, as I have clearly shown to twenty-six 
 years beyond that point — that there is plain 
 reference to three kinds of Anabaptists in 
 England one of which the Doctor's own wit- 
 ness proves to have been inimersionists, that 
 in spite of faggot and fire and imprisonment, 
 and every species of persecution and torture, 
 there had continued a people who had main- 
 tained their allegiance to Christ, through so 
 many long centuries — though "kept covered 
 under the ashes;" in England, they were yet 
 there, and I appeal to every unprejudiced read- 
 er, if I have not proven a reasonable probabili- 
 ty, if it does not amount even , o a certainty — 
 that immersion still survived in England dur- 
 ing the period in which it is disputed. Kemein- 
 ber, its existence is admitted, and a reasonable 
 probability of its continuance, is all I am re- 
 quired to establish. 
 
 What now is necessary on the Doctor's part, 
 to overthrow this position and maintain his 
 case? He must prove absolutely beyond any 
 reasonable doubt, by positive indisputable evi- 
 dence, that there was not a single case of be- 
 lievers' immersion in England during the period 
 referred to; circumstantial evidence must be 
 ruled out, as insufficient to overthrow an es- 
 tablished fact. The fact that a man can count 
 a thousand oak trees in a piece of woods is no 
 proof that the pine trees that stood there are not 
 there now. Similarly the fact that Brother 
 Whitsitt has shown that thousands of persons 
 practiced sprinkling and pouring in England, 
 
148 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 during a certain period, is no proof that some- 
 body did not practice believers' immersion at 
 the same time. With such testimony, Brother 
 Whitsitt would fail to get a verdict in a case 
 involving one hundred dollars, before any 
 court in the United States. And yet this is 
 precisely the nature of his testimony, from be- 
 ginning to end. 
 
 He relies largely en witnesses. Are those 
 witnesses competent to testify — not merely 
 that they can count a thousand oak trees, but 
 that the pine trees are not there. Permit me 
 to rely on his kind of testimony, and I will prove 
 that there is not a Baptist today in the United 
 States. 
 
 I am fully aware of the relative distinction 
 between "legal evidence" and "moral evi- 
 dence," — "Legal certainty" and "Moral certain- 
 ty," and the argument that may be made there- 
 from; but this case comes under the domain of 
 the former, and nothing short of positive proof 
 can be accepted. We have a right to question 
 the witnesses. Do they know all the facts? 
 Have they gone into every nook and corner 
 where those persecuted people hid them- 
 selves, in the dark days when they were either 
 banished, or "kept covered under the ashes,"and 
 sought out every case of believers' baptism 
 that was administered? Have they made 
 themselves acquainted with the practice of 
 every preacher, and every church? Have they 
 visited every one of them in their midnight 
 conventicles, where they met to worship God in 
 
APPENDIX. 149 
 
 secret, that they might maniftst their allegiance 
 to Christ and his word, unseen by the keen eye 
 of their persecutors? This is what they must 
 have done to be competent witnesses in this 
 case. 
 
 I grant, for argument's sake, that Dr. Whit- 
 sitt has made a strong case — an incontroverti- 
 ble case — in all that he has attempted to do. 
 That, is to show that, during the period named, 
 there were thousands of Christians in England, 
 some of them called Anabaptists, who prac- 
 ticed sprinkling and pouring; but this is no 
 evidence that there may not have been others 
 who practiced something else. We can fur- 
 nish the testimony of ten millions of people to 
 prove the custom of sprinkling in 
 this country, but that is no evidence 
 that there may not be a few Baptists 
 here who practice immersion. Yet that is pre- 
 cisely the nature of Brother Whitsitt'S testi- 
 mony. He furnishes, also, numerous cases of 
 individual pouring, to prove that nothing else 
 existed. Similarly, we can fill fifty books of 
 five hundred pages each, with reports of indi- 
 vidual cases of sprinkling in this country, al- 
 though we have three million Baptists as well. 
 
 Let it be remembered that during 
 those dark days for the Baptists in England, 
 that, in addition to the difficulty of keeping 
 proper records, it was dangerous for them to 
 do so. A few of their records have survived; 
 but will any man imagine that those few 
 records found in the British Museum and the 
 
150 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 Bodlein Library, cover all the work clone for 
 Christ and his cause, during that period? Dr. 
 Whitsitt makes the positive statement that be- 
 lievers' immersion had ceased to exist — "was 
 a lost art" — in England, Drior to 1641. He has 
 only proven that a great many people, during 
 that period, practiced something else. 
 
 The small amount of reliance to be put on 
 the testimony furnished by the numerous quo- 
 tations, to prove that "immersion was some- 
 thing new in 1641," and afterwards, will be 
 readily understood, if we remember, first, that 
 at that time the temporal sword had ceased to 
 keep "the fire of their faith covered under the 
 ashes," and argument and ridicule w T ere the 
 only weapons left with which to fight the Bap- 
 tists, when they came out more openly with 
 their practice; and second, that this has always 
 been a favorable mode of warfare in the baptis- 
 mal controversy. We all know how frequently 
 we have heard the same epithets and insin- 
 uations of our recent origin, and the newness 
 of our practice, even in our own day and in our 
 own land, so that the argument from the^e is 
 of very little value in the controversy. 
 
 There is neither desire nor necessity on my 
 part to impeach any of Brother Whitsitt's wit- 
 nesses, but it should not be overlooked, that 
 those on whom he most strongly relies are ad- 
 verse witnesses; and it is always a rule in evi- 
 dence to take the testimony of an adverse wit- 
 ness with reasonable caution. While, there- 
 fore, their honesty is, no doubt, unquestionable, 
 
APPENDIX. 151 
 
 it is reasonable to suppose that their belief and 
 practice, will more or less influence the conclu- 
 sions which they form from their investiga- 
 tions. Still, giving due weight to every testi- 
 mony brought forward, it is my firm conviction 
 that Brother Whitsitt has not only failed to 
 prove the claim he set up, but has furnished 
 very strong presumptive evidence against him- 
 self. 
 
 Indeed I think there is needed no stronger 
 evidence than that which Dr. Whitsitt himself 
 furnishes to prove that believers' immersion 
 did not require to be reintroduced in England 
 in 1641. 
 
 I cannot close this brief sketch without ex- 
 pressing my high appreciation of the kind and 
 gentle spirit, and Christ-like disposition our 
 dear Brother Whitsitt has manifested through 
 all this unfortunate controversy. He has 
 shown us all an example of meekness, and 
 Christian charity that we will do well to imi- 
 tate. The fact that I think he is mistaken in 
 the conclusion he has drawn from the testi- 
 mony furnished, does not, in the least, shake 
 my confidence in him as a sound Baptist, or my 
 kind regard for him as a brother beloved. 
 Calm as a rock he has stood, while the thunders 
 of controversy have roared around him, and the 
 storms of adverse criticism have beat upon 
 him; and when this storm shall have all blown 
 over, and the unpleasant things connected with 
 il forgotten, the memory of that kind and gen- 
 tle spirit will remain with us, like a benedic- 
 
152 THE PATHWAY OF FIRE. 
 
 tion, and will anchor our brother more firmly 
 than ever in the loving heart of our great de- 
 nomination. Brother Whitsitt has kept his 
 word, and given us all the reasons for the posi- 
 tion he has taken. Let us each one study 
 them, carefully, honestly, and form such con- 
 clusion in the matter, as our judgment shall 
 dictate. Then let us all "shake hands across 
 the bloody chasm,' 7 lay the matter aside, as one 
 of the useful lessons we, as a denomination, 
 have learned, and rally as one man to the great 
 work our God has given us to do. 
 
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