The Mission 
 
 of 
 
 Baptist Churches 
 
 in 
 
 European Lands 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS S. BARBOUR, 
 
 Foreign Secretary 
 
 [Reprinted from ’ The Baptist Mis s io n aryl Mag a z in e.~\ 
 
 AMERICAN 
 
 BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSION! SOCIETY 
 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
The following pages were prepared at the 
 close of a journey made a few years since 
 to countries of Europe in which the American 
 Baptist Foreign Mission Society has given 
 some measure of co-operation in the work of 
 Baptist Churches. Since that time, changes 
 of great moment have occurred in certain 
 lands of Continental Europe, notably in 
 France, Russia, Norway, Portugal and Spain. 
 These changes testify to the certain trend in 
 the life of the world toward recognition of the 
 principles of religious freedom. To this devel¬ 
 opment Baptist Churches must be recognized 
 as having made direct and influential contribu¬ 
 tion, for wherever found, if true to their 
 profession, they have disseminated ideas which 
 are at the heart of all free institutions. The 
 powerful appeal for practical sympathy and 
 co-operation presented in existing conditions 
 will be apparent to all. 
 
THE MISSION OF BAPTIST 
 CHURCHES IN EUROPEAN 
 LANDS. 
 
 By Thomas S. Barbour, Foreign Secretary of 
 the American Baptist Foreign 
 Mission Society. 
 
 T one of the annual meetings of the 
 American Baptist Missionary Union 
 held in the city of Detroit, Dr. 
 Lemuel Moss, in referring to the 
 claims upon American Baptists of work in 
 European mission fields, used the following 
 illustration: 
 
 A young singer was meeting an engagement 
 at a public concert. The experience was new 
 to her, and her voice trembled and threatened 
 to break. It chanced that an older singer was 
 present to whom the song was familiar. Ob¬ 
 serving the embarrassment of her young sister, 
 she looked toward her, smiling encouragement, 
 and began to sing softly with her the first 
 strains of the music. Courage returned to the 
 young artist; her voice grew firm, and soon 
 the hall was filled by the rich volume of her 
 song. It is the privilege of our churches to 
 render a like gracious and fraternal service to 
 the little companies who, scattered through 
 European lands, are attempting a song not 
 unfamiliar .to American Baptists. A visit 
 made to six of the eight fields in which our 
 work in Europe is carried on has given the 
 writer a keen realization both of the difficulties 
 and the vast importance of the service ren¬ 
 dered by these little churches of Europe. 
 
 A Work Both Common and Unique 
 
 It is apparent that the task set before these 
 Christian disciples is peculiarly involved. 
 
 A 
 
 H6 
 
4 
 
 Essentially, it is the same with that of Chris¬ 
 tian effort in all lands, to win men to accept¬ 
 ance of Christ and to full experience of His 
 indwelling grace. The song these disciples 
 would raise is the full choral of the gospel. 
 But the task of Christian workers, while the 
 same in all lands, varies with the environment 
 in which their work is wrought. A distinctive 
 work set before the dissenting churches of 
 Europe is that of service in behalf of liberty 
 for the soul. This task, obviously, involves 
 more than securing release from restrictions 
 imposed upon these churches by the civil 
 power. This, in itself, would be but a small 
 good. They must seek to secure a genuine ac¬ 
 ceptance for the principles of religious free¬ 
 dom. It is evident, too, that their work will 
 not end with this. They will desire to secure 
 general acceptance for those allied teachings 
 of Christianity, widely forgotten in the great 
 representative churches of Europe, which un¬ 
 derlie genuine acceptance of the principles of 
 religious freedom. It is these features of the 
 task, resulting from peculiar conditions in 
 Europe, which give distinctive interest to a 
 study of Christian work in European 
 countries. It is by success in these efforts 
 Christian disciples are to be set free for full 
 accomplishment of the common aim of Chris¬ 
 tian effort. 
 
 Notable Gains for Religious Freedom 
 
 It is evident that in v the countries of Europe 
 much advance has been made upon former 
 times in the removal of restrictions and the 
 relief of oppressions from which Baptist 
 churches, in common with other dissenting 
 bodies in the several countries of Europe, 
 have suffered. The story of former days— 
 the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition; the 
 slaughter of the Huguenots; the fires of 
 Smithfield, kindled now for the Protestant 
 and now for the Romanist: the drowning at 
 Zurich of Felix Manz, the lieutenant of 
 
Zwingli; and the burnings in Germany and 
 in Holland of those who, like Manz, “had been 
 rebaptized and persevered in” their baptism— 
 reads likea fable. Everywhere a gain appears 
 in less ligorous laws. Even in Spain and 
 other countries of Europe, where Roman 
 Catholicism holds unbroken control, there is 
 a measure of religious toleration, and extreme 
 forms of persecution are rarely known. In 
 Piotestant Europe, the penalties of imprison¬ 
 ment and banishment from which earlier rep¬ 
 resentatives of Baptist churches suffered, as 
 a rule, are no longer imposed. Members of 
 dissenting churches in many parts of the 
 German Empire, in Denmark, Sweden, Nor- 
 way, and Finland, as in England, practically 
 are free as their neighbors of the established 
 churches. Meetings for worship may be held 
 freely and little restraint is put upon public 
 preaching. Among continental countries Nor¬ 
 way has an advanced position as respects lib¬ 
 eration fiom the old thraldom. Here, so earlv 
 as the year 1845, what is known as the “dis¬ 
 senting law” was'adopted, securing to all bod¬ 
 ies “confessing the Christian faith” large free¬ 
 dom in worship. In Hungary laws are lib¬ 
 eral, a contrast being shown in this respect 
 with its twin country, Austria. In Finland' 
 also, where the unique situation is presented 
 of an old established church representing a re¬ 
 ligious faith differing from that of the gov¬ 
 erning powei, a similar degree of freedom 
 from restraint prevails. 
 
 Sentiment in Advance of Law. 
 
 A most interesting and significant feature 
 of the situation in Europe in general is shown 
 in the fact that public sentiment in its favor 
 toward liberality is notably in advance of law. 
 A marked illustration of this is to be seen in 
 Sweden, where the lazvs are scarcely more 
 tolerant than in the days of open persecution. 
 The priest of the established Lutheran 
 Church theoretically may secure the punish- 
 
6 
 
 ment of any dissenting preacher, not definitely 
 licensed by the government, who attempts 
 work in his parish. Parliament still refuses 
 to modify the law. The recommendation of 
 the king in favor of adoption of the dissenting 
 law of Norway was defeated. But in recent 
 years, all attempts at prosecution of dissent¬ 
 ing pastors under the laws have failed. Such 
 cases are certain upon some pretext to be dis¬ 
 missed by the higher courts. Members of dis¬ 
 senting churches in Sweden are wont to say 
 that if the laws of the country would but con¬ 
 form to actual practice, they could desire little 
 more. 
 
 As a further illustration of this relatively 
 advanced state of public sentiment, it js note¬ 
 worthy that churches in Norway and in Den¬ 
 mark which have not accepted the recognition 
 proffered by the government, practically suffer 
 less restriction in their work than is involved 
 in acceptance of recognition. . Evidently, 
 persecution because of opinion is becoming 
 unpopular. There can be little doubt that it 
 is to the power of this more liberal world- 
 sentiment that such immunity as Protestant 
 churches enjoy in Roman Catholic lands is to 
 be attributed. Persecution, because of re¬ 
 ligious conviction or practices, is frowned 
 upon by the common sentiment of the Western 
 world. 
 
 In France, a situation exceptional and of 
 surpassing interest recently has developed. 
 The contest for the release of the schools from 
 the control of ecclesiastical orders has 
 strengthened a movement, long growing, for 
 the complete separation of State and Church.* 
 The forces promoting this movement are not 
 exclusively or primarily Christian, yet the 
 change, if realized, scarcely can fail to give 
 strong impetus to the work of dissenting 
 churches. On a Sunday afternoon of last 
 summer the writer, having attended a service 
 at our Rue Meslay Chapel in Paris, on leav¬ 
 ing the locality in company with the pastor, 
 
 * The full result was reached in 1905. 
 
7 
 
 Mr. Saillens, passed near the two noble arches 
 now forming the Porte St. Martin and the 
 Porte St. Denis, which constituted the gate¬ 
 ways of the Paris of two hundred years ago. 
 These structures were raised in commemora¬ 
 tion of victories achieved by King Louis XIV 
 over Protestant Holland and Germany. 
 Scarcely ten years after their erection, the 
 king, stimulated to a crowning effort as De¬ 
 fender of the Faith, signed the act in revoca¬ 
 tion of the Edict of Nantes, and the storm of 
 persecution broke forth upon the French 
 Huguenots. Conspicuous upon one of these 
 arches is the figure of the king, standing with 
 his foot upon a prostrate form symbolic of 
 Protestantism, while an angel crowns his head 
 with a wreath of laurel. We had scarcely left 
 the ancient arch when a carriage passed us, 
 within which we caught sight of the red hat of 
 a cardinal. The occupant, there is little doubt, 
 was the papal nuncio , who on that afternoon 
 withdrew from Paris on his return to Rome, 
 as a result of the strained relations between 
 the French Government and the Vatican. 
 
 The Contest Not Yet Ended. 
 
 But while these gains give occasion for gen¬ 
 uine satisfaction, it is apparent that victory in 
 the contest in which the Baptist churches of 
 Europe are engaged in still far from a full 
 realization. Even the task of securing re¬ 
 lease from oppressive disabilities is not yet 
 accomplished. Where Roman Catholicism still 
 controls, these disabilities are as serious as 
 the government dare make them in deference 
 to the growing world-sentiment. In Spain, 
 while the law nominally accords freedom of 
 worship, all “public manifestation” of any 
 other than the state religion is disallowed.* 
 Street preaching, the affixing of a sign upon 
 a place of worship, even the erection of a house 
 of worship in a form suggestive of a church 
 edifice, is forbidden. Social persecution is 
 
 * The laws have recently been materially modified. 
 
8 
 
 severe, and certainly is not frowned upon by 
 the average governmental official. In some 
 parts of the German Empire, for example in 
 Saxony, conditions are scarcely less hostile. 
 Public services are prohibited, and the holding 
 of private meetings, except as these are spe¬ 
 cifically licensed. The police are free to at¬ 
 tend all meetings of dissenting bodies, and 
 may dissolve them at their pleasure. It is in 
 the power of unfriendly officials to cause 
 much annoyance to the worshipers. Through¬ 
 out Germany and in Scandinavian countries 
 the public cemeteries are claimed as the prop¬ 
 erty of the established church, and often an¬ 
 noying restrictions are placed upon services 
 connected with the burial of the dead. As a 
 rule, members of a dissenting body are not 
 permitted to teach in a public school, as re¬ 
 ligious instruction in the schools must accord 
 with the established faith. In Russia, while 
 dissenting worship is permitted among for¬ 
 eign peoples, native Russians are claimed as 
 members of the national Greek Church at 
 birth, and are allowed no exit from its fold.* 
 Dissenting churches are prohibited from in¬ 
 fluencing adherents of the Greek Church 
 under threat of severe penalties. 
 
 ' In all countries of Europe a church estab¬ 
 lishment is maintained,f and in the continental 
 countries the establishment is supported by 
 public taxation.]; Where recognition's of¬ 
 fered to dissenting churches, as in the Scandi¬ 
 navian countries, such recognition involves 
 subjection of the church to the civil power, as, 
 
 * The recent edict of religious toleration has relieved 
 these conditions in theory and modified them in practice. 
 
 f To this France is now an exception, and Portugal 
 is rapidly advancing to disestablishment. In Germany three 
 churches, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed, receive 
 support from the government—in Scandinavian countries the 
 Lutheran only. 
 
 % In parts of Germany exemption from the tax is allowed 
 those giving notice to the government of formal separation 
 from the established church, and in Sweden and Denmark 
 certain minor taxes, e. g., that for the service of pastors of 
 the established church in burial of the dead and in the cele¬ 
 bration of marriage, are remitted in the case of members of 
 “recognized churches.’’ 
 
9 
 
 for example, in requirement of official ap¬ 
 proval of the choice of pastors, and in a prac¬ 
 tical prohibition of the discipline of its mem¬ 
 bers by exclusion from its fellowship. 
 
 The Nature of True Liberty 
 Unrecognized. 
 
 It is plain that facts like these indicate not 
 only that the contest for religious freedom 
 is not fully won, but that, even in .the freer 
 states of Europe, there is little appreciation 
 of the nature of genuine liberty. So far as 
 the position of civil governments is concerned, 
 it is apparent that the highest attainment 
 thus far reached is that of tolerance of teach¬ 
 ing conflicting with that endorsed by the State. 
 The right of State control is not denied; 
 rather it is affirmed, explicitly or implicitly. 
 Coercion on the part of the State is not con¬ 
 demned as illegitimate; it is only disused. 
 Apparently both the employment and the ex¬ 
 tent of the use of coercion are regarded solely 
 as matters of expediency. Even resort to 
 force in repression of opinions is regarded 
 as unbecoming rather than morally reprehen¬ 
 sible. This conviction will hardly be escaped 
 by those considering thoughtfully the attitude 
 of the civil authorities in European countries 
 toward dissenting religious faiths. There 
 could be no more striking proof of the fact 
 that in the concessions made to liberality in 
 European lands the civil power reserves to 
 itself the right to coercion, than is afforded 
 in the action of the British Government in 
 the educational regulations now enforced 
 against the indignant protest of dissenting 
 bodies. Plainly, the citadel of religious des¬ 
 potism is not yet carried in Europe. 
 
 I 
 
 The Deeper Work Far from Completion. 
 
 And, as recognition and exemplification of a 
 genuine spirit of religious liberty is a good 
 
10 
 
 still to be attained in the established churches 
 of Europe, so it must be recognized that the 
 deeper aim of securing in these organizations 
 recognition of the spiritual nature of genuine 
 religion is still remote from realization. A 
 cold formalism, lifeless ceremonialism and 
 spiritual lethargy, are characteristic of the 
 established churches. The influence of church 
 establishments is directly hostile to recogni¬ 
 tion of religion as spiritual; for these estab¬ 
 lishments normally are co-extensive with the 
 State. Entrance into church relationship is 
 by natural birth, or by a ceremony following 
 closely upon natural birth. Regeneration be¬ 
 comes an unknown term, or one to which a 
 merely ceremonial significance is attached. 
 Church ordinances, dismissed from their ap¬ 
 pointed service as an expression of a con¬ 
 scious, personal, spiritual experience, become 
 channels of sacramental grace. Pastors and 
 members alike are ignorant of personal ex¬ 
 perience of conversion. Pastors are appointed 
 to their work by the civil ruler or purchase 
 ecclesiastical positions with money. This is 
 church establishment, under whatever name. 
 Where individuals connected with these bodies 
 come to an apprehension of spiritual truth and 
 the enjoyment of spiritual experience, it is in 
 spite of, rather than because of, the influences 
 which a church establishment as such begets. 
 
 So large and so hallowed is the task to 
 which Christian believers of a spiritual faith 
 in European lands are called. This is their 
 greater mission, for which the mere annulling 
 of unrighteous laws and release from oppres¬ 
 sive exactions will but set them free. 
 
 It must not be thought that members of 
 Baptist churches are without allies in their 
 effort to secure this great good. It would be 
 quite superfluous to refer to the devoted char¬ 
 acter and strongly evangelical conviction of a 
 large body in the fellowship of the Church 
 of England. And like pure spirits are found 
 in other lands. One cannot escape the im- 
 
11 
 
 pression that it is significant that prevalence 
 of evangelical conviction and warmth of spir¬ 
 itual life in established churches in the sev¬ 
 eral countries of Europe are proportional to 
 the strength of evangelical dissenting bodies. 
 
 Evangelical Movements in State 
 Churches. 
 
 To confine our thought to those countries 
 in which our own mission work is prosecuted, 
 a feature of the existing situation deeply in¬ 
 teresting is the development within the estab¬ 
 lished churches of a strong movement repre¬ 
 senting evangelical conviction and evangelistic 
 methods. These are comparatively of recent 
 origin. Sunday-schools are organized and 
 young people’s societies. The building of 
 plain meeting houses for working classes is 
 significant of the ardor with which many, con¬ 
 scious of the defects of their church life, are 
 seeking* to remedy existing conditions. In all 
 countries of Europe bodies of devout Chris¬ 
 tians are found in the established churches, 
 and movements for the promotion of purity 
 in doctrine and an earnest spiritual life are 
 developing under many names. Very inter¬ 
 esting is one of these developments, promi¬ 
 nent, for example, in the Lutheran churches 
 in Norway, which is known as “The Inner 
 Mission”—a movement within and yet distinct 
 from the established church. Its supporters 
 rarely attend the regular worship of the 
 church; they maintain separate services and 
 separate houses of worship. Yet their work 
 receives support from the established chyrch, 
 which seeks to hold their allegiance; and they 
 refuse to have any part in the worship of 
 dissenting bodies. While recognizing the 
 church as given over to formalism, and dis¬ 
 satisfied with its doctrinal teaching, they are 
 as reluctant to part company with it as John 
 Wesley was to separate from the Church of 
 England. 
 
12 
 
 But it is apparent that the promoters of 
 these movements contend against difficulties 
 which make their attempt well-nigh hopeless. 
 For their effort, from the outset, is embar¬ 
 rassed almost fatally by the; teaching and 
 practice of the church with which they are 
 affiliated. Practically, they must concede that 
 all are Christians who are included in the fel¬ 
 lowship of the established church. Thus they 
 can invite men only to reformation and not 
 to a new beginning of spiritual life. The 
 evangelical preacher cannot say to his hear¬ 
 ers what Christ said to Nicodemus: “Ye 
 must be born again.” To give clear testimony 
 concerning the new birth, or to imply that 
 any in his congregation are in need of the 
 regenerating work of the Spirit, would be 
 to excite bitter opposition. Indeed, the pastor 
 has no right to do this while remaining within 
 the church. The Lord’s Supper, too, must 
 be administered to all, without discrimina¬ 
 tion against either immorality or ignorance 
 of vital Christian experience. Some pastors 
 have endeavored to exercise control as to this, 
 but the effort is deeply resented by their fel¬ 
 low-pastors and is inconsistent with their posi¬ 
 tion as teachers in the established church. 
 
 Other Dissenting Bodies. 
 
 Our Baptist churches have allies also in 
 sister church organizations. Methodist 
 churches, and bodies having some affiliation 
 with Congregationalists, are most prominent 
 among these. As a rule, the membership of 
 these organizations is not large. Besides 
 these churches, there is a considerable com¬ 
 pany of Christian people who have so far 
 reacted against the rigid organization and 
 the sacerdotalism of church establishments as 
 to reject all formal organization. The Ply¬ 
 mouth Brethren, and others known distinct¬ 
 ively as followers of Darby, are relatively 
 strong in France, in Spain and in Protestant 
 
13 
 
 Europe. And other groups of people, having 
 scarcely so much as a name, by whom any¬ 
 thing suggestive of organization, even enroll¬ 
 ing of members, is repudiated, are found in 
 these countries. Besides these fellowships, 
 whose members in their sincere Christian aim 
 are allied with the work to which our Baptist 
 churches are committed, there is a company 
 indefinitely large, both without and within 
 the established churches, who repudiate all 
 religious profession and oppose all religious 
 teaching. These are hostile to a con¬ 
 tinuance of ecclesiastical authority, and 
 in so far are in alliance with the work 
 Christian bodies are attempting. For ex¬ 
 ample, the Socialist section of the House of 
 Deputies in France, which represents, in gen¬ 
 eral, hostility to all religious teaching, has 
 been strongly influential in the movement for 
 disestablishment. 
 
 But, while many are co-operating in this 
 movement, there are indications that in its 
 promotion those who share the convictions 
 represented by Baptist churches have certain 
 advantages over others. 
 
 Historical Prominence of Baptists in 
 Promoting Religious Freedom. 
 
 Historically, it is conceded, the influence of 
 Baptist churches has been foremost in secur¬ 
 ing recognition of the principles of religious 
 liberty. In the great movement which devel¬ 
 oped in Europe after the days of the Renais¬ 
 sance and the Reformation, and which, con¬ 
 fined and embarrassed upon the Eastern con¬ 
 tinent, reached its culmination in America, 
 Baptists confessedly were foremost. It would 
 be impossible for a Baptist to write more 
 confidently of this than others have written. 
 Thus, in the seventeenth century, John Locke, 
 the Unitarian, recorded his conviction that 
 Baptists were the first, and up to that time 
 had been the only promulgators of “abso- 
 
14 
 
 lute liberty, just and true liberty, equal and 
 impartial liberty.” So the historian Bancroft, 
 referring to Roger Williams as the first per¬ 
 son in modern Christendom to affirm the doc¬ 
 trine of the rights of conscience, adds : “Free¬ 
 dom of conscience was from the first a trophy 
 of the Baptists.” And Dr. Leonard Bacon, 
 widely honored as a leader in the Congrega- 
 tionalist body, writes: “It has been claimed 
 for Baptist churches that, from the age of 
 the Reformation onward, they have been al¬ 
 ways foremost and always consistent in main¬ 
 taining the doctrine of religious liberty. Let 
 me not be understood as calling in question 
 their right to so great an honor.” 
 
 It is not unnatural to believe that the little 
 Baptist churches found through European 
 lands, from the straits of Gibraltar to beyond 
 the Arctic Circle, are holding a similar promi¬ 
 nence in securing to the countries of Europe 
 the large good which all men of generous im¬ 
 pulse must covet for them. To say this is 
 not to claim personal superiority for those 
 connected with these churches. It is obvious 
 that whatever advantage they enjoy is trace¬ 
 able to their use of weapons mighty for the 
 pulling down of the strongholds of ecclesias- 
 ticism and formal worship. 
 
 Clear Avowal of Freedom of Conscience. 
 
 For these churches possess the advantage 
 derived from a definite, consistent affirmation 
 of religious liberty. The clear teaching which 
 has been heard wherever Baptist churches, or 
 men of conviction identifying them with Bap¬ 
 tist churches, have appeared, which expressed 
 itself in England thirty-three years before the 
 Westminster Confession committed itself to 
 an opposite teaching is heard in the countries 
 of Europe: “The magistrate by virtue of his 
 office is net to meddle with religion or mat¬ 
 ters of conscience, nor to compel men to this 
 or that form of religion, but to leave the 
 
15 
 
 Christian religion to the free conscience of 
 any one.”* 
 
 And advocacy of religious freedom by Bap¬ 
 tist churches is not characteristically a plea 
 for themselves. It is a demand for recognition 
 of the rights of all, evangelical and unevan¬ 
 gelical, Christian and non-Christian. In the 
 state of Rhode Island, founded when the fol¬ 
 lowers of Roger Williams had complete con¬ 
 trol, notwithstanding the example set by 
 church establishments and the prevalence of 
 religious intolerance in neighboring states, a 
 constitution was adopted guaranteeing “abso¬ 
 lute liberty for all beliefs and practices not 
 conflicting with good order and good morals.” 
 A Baptist church would dishonor its name if 
 it should fail to contend for “just and true 
 liberty, equal and impartial liberty.” 
 
 But if we would recognize fully the advan¬ 
 tage belonging to Baptist churches in their 
 effort to promote ideal conditions in Europe, 
 we must look beneath their formal confession 
 of religious freedom. For it must be held 
 that devotion to religious liberty is itself a 
 resultant of deeper forces. The thoughtful 
 student of the history of Baptist churches can¬ 
 not fail to recognize that it is not by accident 
 that respect for the rights of conscience has 
 been found invariable among the tenets of 
 Baptists; this belief has appeared always in 
 conjunction with, and as the product of, more 
 elemental convictions. 
 
 Consistent Testimony to Religion as 
 
 Spiritual. 
 
 We recognize then among the forces pro¬ 
 moting the service of Baptist churches their 
 clear, consistent teaching regarding the spir¬ 
 ituality of true religion. This teaching is em¬ 
 phasized and made conspicuous by the fact 
 that, among Baptists, only those making con¬ 
 fession of an experience of divine renewal are 
 received into membership in the church or 
 
 * From the Confession of English Baptists in 1614. 
 
16 
 
 recognized in an ordinance of the church. 
 Recognition of the spirituality of religion may 
 justly be regarded as the central principle in 
 the conviction of Baptist churches. This was 
 the great discovery breaking upon those who, 
 in many ages and lands, separated themselves 
 from established ecclesiastical organizations— 
 Religion is a personal relationship between a 
 free soul and the personal God, and nothing 
 else is religion. . From this central position 
 obviously the well-known characteristic posi¬ 
 tions of Baptist churches result directly—the 
 worthlessness of forms as such, restriction of 
 religious ordinances to those participating in 
 them by personal choice, the authority of ac¬ 
 credited divine teaching, the right of every 
 individual to seek for himself, and to follow, 
 divine teaching and guidance, the criminality 
 of interference with the free discharge of this 
 personal right and accountability. All these 
 positions follow by necessity from the convic¬ 
 tion that religion is a voluntary personal rela¬ 
 tion with the personal God. 
 
 It is clear that this central teaching not only 
 represents a vast good in itself, but is the root 
 principle of religious freedom. State estab¬ 
 lishments became an impossibility, since a true 
 church membership must rest on a spiritual 
 basis. Coercion becomes an impossibility; if 
 used, its results would be worthless. It is told 
 of one Ternoot, who suffered at the stake in 
 England in 1575, that he died saying: “They 
 who have the true doctrine will not persecute.” 
 True religion belongs to another realm than 
 that in which the civil power rules. 
 
 Repudiation of Sacramental Grace 
 
 A further advantage of Baptist churches in 
 the mission to which they are committed is 
 found in their definite, consistent rejection of 
 the doctrine of sacramental grace. The belief 
 that saving grace is communicated through the 
 sacraments of the church is the bulwark of 
 
17 
 
 Church establishments. Historically, it has 
 been the bulwark of coercion. It has been 
 always the alleged justification, and often, 
 without doubt, the true cause, of the use of 
 force in dealing with heresy; the belief has 
 prevailed that these heretical persons must be 
 won back to the church or suffer hopeless loss. 
 
 This teaching of sacramental grace Baptist 
 Churches have repudiated, and that consist¬ 
 ently. All ceremonial is discarded except as 
 it represents personal confession of an inward 
 experience of divine grace. Where a church 
 ceremony is extended to infancy, declaration 
 of the worthlessness of ceremonies is obscured. 
 To retain pure ceremonialism in any form 
 apparently is to concede the principle of sacra¬ 
 mental grace; and protest against the work 
 of the deadly octopus which stifles the religious 
 life of European lands is weakened or de¬ 
 stroyed. Baptist churches, more consistently 
 than others, through abandonment of every 
 ordinance not expressive of conscious rela¬ 
 tionship to Christ, oppose the doctrine of sac¬ 
 ramental grace. 
 
 The Affirmation of the Principle of 
 
 Loyalty 
 
 One other advantage possessed by Baptist 
 churches in their service for European lands 
 is found in their consistent advocacy of 
 loyalty to divine authority. This principle, 
 too, is the direct product of the central prin¬ 
 ciple in Baptist teaching, and is itself a root 
 principle from which the affirmation of re¬ 
 ligious liberty is a certain development. The 
 Confession of English Baptists in 1644 affirms, 
 “There is but one law-giver concerning the 
 worship of God, that is Jesus Christ; so, it is 
 the magistrate's duty to tender the liberty of 
 men’s consciences, without which all other lib¬ 
 erties will not be worth the having.” Indeed, 
 in the Christian Scriptures, the right of man 
 to freedom from human constraint is corollary 
 
18 
 
 to the supreme principle of loyalty to God. It 
 may be doubted if any passage of the New 
 Testament contains more significant teaching 
 regarding human liberty than is found in the 
 injunction of our Lord, “Call no man your 
 master upon earth, for one is your master in 
 heaven.” 
 
 This principle of loyalty to divine authority, 
 rightly viewed, will not be thought unattrac¬ 
 tive. Some, indeed, are misled at this point. 
 Emphasis upon the duty of loyalty seems to 
 .them to restrain and repel. The mistake is 
 illustrated in those bodies in Europe which 
 fancy that freedom from organization will 
 commend them to the favor of the people. The 
 tendency to abandon all requirement in connec¬ 
 tion with church membership, leaving action 
 in relation to church ordinances wholly to the 
 preference of the people, is marked in these 
 countries. It is perhaps natural that reaction 
 from the rigid organization of the established 
 churches, and the assertion, so popular in 
 France, of “liberty, equality and fraternity” 
 should dispose some to abandonment of rule 
 and order in the church. But thoughtful men 
 are not likely to be attracted by this. It is 
 not freedom from requirement—the oblitera¬ 
 tion of safe rules for human guidance—for 
 which nobler hearts are longing. It is rather 
 the substituting for standards representing 
 only fallible and arbitrary authority, a stand¬ 
 ard in which the soul may confide. The 
 thoughtful mind will be inclined to affirm that 
 it is by its revelation of trustworthy instruc¬ 
 tion and authority, quite as truly as by the 
 lesson of liberty, that Christian teaching com¬ 
 mends itself to the heart of mankind. 
 
 Unguarded Liberty Perilous 
 
 The affirmation of loyalty supplies a defect 
 which the serious mind cannot fail to recog¬ 
 nize, in advocacy of liberty, as illustrated by 
 many. For liberty in itself is not a supreme 
 good; it may end in catastrophe. It is not 
 
19 
 
 alone .the ignoble and bigoted in the national 
 churches of Europe who contend strongly for 
 the perpetuation of church establishments. 
 Many noble minds shrink with a great appre¬ 
 hension from the thought of a disestablish¬ 
 ment which to them is synonymous with blank 
 unbelief and lawlessness. It is not strange 
 that some believe that the adoption and main¬ 
 tenance of standards representing the judg¬ 
 ment and experience of the wisest in the land, 
 is to be preferred to the abandonment of man¬ 
 kind to no other guidance than the caprice of 
 individual impulse or the shiftings of popular 
 sentiment. To such souls some reassurance 
 must be given if the principles of liberty are 
 to triumph. Let the truth be received that all 
 men are called to direct relation to the Su¬ 
 preme Ruler; that it is their privilege to re¬ 
 ceive guidance from Him, and to yield personal 
 obedience to Him; then, restraint upon human 
 liberty becomes the extremest crime which can 
 be committed against the soul of man. The 
 State may not speak because God has spoken. 
 Man may not control because the soul may 
 hear for itself the voice of God. 
 
 Baptist teaching, if true to its history and 
 to its central formative principle, presents to 
 the world this thought of unswerving loyalty 
 to the authority of God. It stands for con¬ 
 fidence in the Christian Scriptures as pre¬ 
 senting divinely accredited instruction as to 
 truth and duty. Even its adherence to a pecu¬ 
 liar ceremony is significant of its conviction of 
 the sacredness of loyalty. 
 
 In the city of Copenhagen, the fine old court¬ 
 house bears upon its facade a motto copied 
 from the introduction to a code of laws of the 
 twelfth century: “With law shall we build 
 the land.” With law must the worthy life and 
 the prevailing Church and the enduring State 
 be builded. 
 
 It is for these reasons we must believe that 
 the service which Baptist churches in Europe 
 are quietly accomplishing will be found in the 
 
20 
 
 end both vastly influential and benignant. 
 These little church buildings, strewn through 
 European lands, represent a great good. 
 However few in number or humble in station 
 their worshipers may be, they are conserving 
 and scattering seed in which is the promise of 
 a harvest that one day shall make glad the 
 lands. 
 
 A Goodly Fellowship 
 
 To these characteristic principles our breth¬ 
 ren in continental Europe are standing true. 
 To meet with leaders and people is to be im¬ 
 pressed with the simplicity and strength of 
 the convictions controlling them. In all essen¬ 
 tials of belief and practice, many among them 
 seem mature and resolute as their brethren in 
 lands in which the position of Baptist churches 
 is strongly established. These men are true 
 successors of the faithful confessors of the 
 past, and true fellow-workers of all in our 
 own land who are devoted to liberty and the 
 upbuilding of spiritual life. To these workers 
 our warmest sympathy and our practical co¬ 
 operation should not fail to be extended. 
 They are still only a little company. While in 
 the United States Baptists number more than 
 one in twenty of the population, in Sweden 
 they are but one in 120; in Denmark, one in 
 500; in Norway, one in 800; in Finland, one 
 in 1,200; in Germany, one in 1,700; in Russia, 
 dominated by the Greek Church, one in 
 6,000*; in Roman Catholic France, one in 
 17,000; in priest-ridden Spain, one in 135,000. 
 It is their lot to fight in the common warfare 
 where the battle is hardest. They contend 
 against powerful social influences. Their 
 houses of worship are humble as compared 
 with the costly structures of wealthy church 
 organizations. Lethargy and indifference be¬ 
 gotten by the formalism of State churches 
 make their task difficult. The steady, unre- 
 
 * Now 1 in 1450 if a recent estimate of the total num¬ 
 ber of those virtually Baptists is accepted. 
 
21 
 
 mitting drain upon their membership, particu¬ 
 larly in Protestant Europe, through emigration 
 to America, saps their strength. To us this 
 tidal movement is a movement of incoming to 
 which these churches contribute the best ele¬ 
 ments of social and spiritual strength; with 
 them, it is a movement of outgoing, carrying 
 from them those least willingly spared. It 
 costs no little resolution and patriotic devo¬ 
 tion to hold young men in whom ambition is 
 strong to the task given to these churches in 
 the life of Europe. 
 
 But, though few, and contending against 
 great odds, the members of these churches 
 are waging their contest with a stout heart 
 and a buoyant hopefulness. And the issue of 
 the struggle cannot be doubted. John Adams 
 said to the two Baptist leaders, Isaac Backus 
 and President Manning of Brown University, 
 when, in the year 1774, they came to the Con¬ 
 tinental Congress to plead the great ideals of 
 religious liberty: “We might as well expect 
 to change the solar system as to expect that 
 the States will give up their establishments.” 
 But the States have given up their establish¬ 
 ments, and in the First Amendment to the 
 Constitution of the United States it is pro¬ 
 vided : “Congress shall make no laws re¬ 
 specting religion or prohibiting the free exer¬ 
 cise thereof.” 
 
 There is a noble musical composition, an 
 overture by the Russian artist, Tschaikovsky, 
 which finds its theme in the supreme struggle 
 of the army of Napoleon and the forces of 
 Russia. The national hymns of France and 
 Russia furnish the double motive of the music. 
 At first the stirring strains of the Marseillaise 
 are heard, clear, resounding, jubilant. But 
 the listener catches at length in a faint cad¬ 
 ence a strain of the national hymn of Russia. 
 For a moment it sounds, and then is lost to 
 the ear; but soon it recurs in a more protracted 
 movement. Gradually the French anthem 
 falters and breaks; its notes become less 
 
22 
 
 confident. So the rival songs struggle in the 
 supreme conflict. But the strains of the Rus¬ 
 sian hymn grow clearer and stronger, until at 
 length the Marseillaise, overwhelmed by the 
 rival music, is heard no more; and in an out¬ 
 burst of viols and drums and trumpets, bells 
 and organ, the national hymn of Russia exults 
 in victory. 
 
 Such is the contest in which these little 
 churches of Europe contend against a power, 
 haughty and strong. But the strains of their 
 song already are becoming familiar to an in¬ 
 creasing company outside their immediate fel¬ 
 lowship. Its melody, indeed, is but the inter¬ 
 pretation of music sounding faintly in every 
 human heart. And so surely as the future 
 holds victory for God and truth, one day the 
 Russian, the Frenchman, the German,. the 
 Spaniard, and men of every speech, regaining 
 their native utterance, shall, with united 
 voices, acclaim the triumph of the principles 
 to which these little companies of Christian 
 disciples have been so bravely true. 
 
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