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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.
EDGAR ESTES FOLK, JR.
BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
LETTERS TO MY SON
COPYRIGHTED BY
SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION.
eCLA251A'J1
DEDICATION
hope that as he reads its pages he may be led not only to become a
— THE AUTHOR.
(3)
A WORD WITH THE PUBLIC
(4)
. .
2. Individualism 24
3. Religious Liberty , 36
4. Separation of Church and State 57
5. A Spiritual Religion 71
6. Regeneration 86
7. Regeneration Before Church Membership 117
INTRODUCTION
8 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
INTRODUCTION *
10 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
hone jr. Then went out unto him Jerusalem, and all
Judea, and all the region round about the Jordan.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan unto
John, to be baptized of him. But John would have
hindered him, saying, I have need to be baptized of
thee, and comest thou to me? But Jesus answering
said unto him, Suffer it now; for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight-
way from the water: and lo, the heavens were opened
unto him and he saw the Spirit ofGod descending as a
dove and coming upon him; and lo, a voice out of the
heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased." (Matthew 3' h 2, 4, 5, 13-17.)
Listen again
"John came, who baptized in the wilderness and
preached the baptism of repentance unto remission of
:
INTRODUCTION 11
sins. And there went out unto him all the country of
Judea, and all they of Jerusalem; and they were bap-
tized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
And John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a
leathern girdle about his loins, and did eat locusts and
wild honey. And
he preached, saying, There cometh
after me he that
is mightier than I, the latchet of
4-n.)
And again:
"Now it pass, when all the people were
came to
praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit
descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and
a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son;
in thee I am well pleased.'* (Luke 3: 21, 22.)
LETTER NO. 1
16 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
20 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
Every time that you read it, you'll learn something new
Of Jesus who died on the cross to save you.
To the Lord, to yourself, and to heaven be true,
And cling to the Bible, my boy.
INDIVIDUALISM.
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:
INDIVIDUALISM 25
28 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
MyDear Son —
It follows logically and nat-
:
40 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 41
42 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 45
"XLVIII. —
A civil magistracy is an ordinance of
God. set up by him for the punishment of evildoers,
and for the praise of them that do well and that in ;
plications and prayers for kings, and all that are in au-
thority, that under them we may live a quiet and peace-
able life in all godliness and honesty.
"The supreme magistracy of this kingdom we ac-
knowledge to be King and Parliament. And . . .
48 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
Again he wrote
"Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war; new foes arise,
Threat'ning to bind our souls with secular chains;
Help us to save free conscience from the paw
Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw."
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 49
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 53
following resolution
54 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
60 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
(Heb. 13 7).
tate their faith" :
God with all thy heart and all thy soul, and all
LETTER NO. 5
A SPIRITUAL RELIGION.
My Dear Son :
—We have seen that Baptists
believe in being loyal to the Bible as their only
rule of faith and practice; in the rights and re-
sponsibilities of the individual ; in the freedom of
each person to worship God according to the dic-
tates of his own conscience; in the separation of
Church and State. Now, what kind of religion
do they believe in and practice ? Let us see
There is one verse in the Bible which I believe
comes nearer being the Baptist text than any
—
other one the text on which we may hang all
of our denominational principles. It is this
"God is a Spirit ; and they that worship him must
worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). This
is the heart of the Bible, the root of religion, the
soul of the gospel, the essence of Christianity.
It was a new principle which Christ enun-
ciated to the woman at the well, a new religion
which through her he proclaimed to the world.
The world was accustomed to a religion of forms
and ceremonies. That was true with the heathen
nations. Their religion, if such it could be called,
was cold, formal, external, consisting of the ob-
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72 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
A SPIRITUAL RELIGION 81
A SPIRITUAL RELIGION 83
REGENERATION.
My Dear Son : —The atonement is what God
through Christ has done for man. Regeneration
is what God through Christ does in man. It is
90 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
REGENERATION 91
changed. Or
by any possible chance he could
if
REGENERATION 113
not only for a day, but for life, not only for time,
but for eternity. Not only is it true that "he that
hath the Son hath life," but it is also true that
"he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life." He now, here in this world, as soon
has it
When
the forerunner of Jesus, John the Bap-
tist,began his ministry, the first public words
which fell from his lips were "Repent ye; for
the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2).
He "came preaching the baptism of repentance
unto remission of sins" (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3).
Jesus when he began his ministry in Galilee took
up John's message and said, "The time is ful-
and the kingdom of God is at hand Repent
filled, :
that this idea came into the world with the first
man ever born into it. When Cain and Abel
offered sacrifices to the Lord, Abel brought a
lamb, and the shed blood of that lamb pointed
a way from Lamb of God which
himself to the
was to be slainon Calvary, and indicated that he
trusted, not in himself, not in any merits of his
own, not in any deeds which he had done or
could do, but in that blood, for his redemption
from sin and his salvation. But Cain brought
the fruit of the ground. That fruit represented
the labor of his own hands. He had cultivated
that fruit. He had worked hard to produce it.
He felt that the Lord ought to accept it as ex-
pressing his toil and as representing his personal
work, showing what he had done and what he
could do. But you remember that the Lord ac-
cepted the sacrifice of Abel and rejected that of
Cain.
9 (129)
130 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
swerving truthfulness.
4. Right purpose, or the choice of an upright pur-
8. Right meditation.
1. Right Doctrine.
2. Right Purpose.
3. Right Discourse.
4. Right Behavior.
5. Right Purity.
6. Right Thought.
7. Right Loneliness.
8. Right Rapture.
terrible.
—
from grace you have left off grace and have
gone to trying to save yourself by your own
obedience.
have frequently asked the question of those
I
LETTER NO. 1
MyDear Son —
But there are some who say
:
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FAITH AND WORKS 151
through fire."
According to the above passage, every one
who buildsupon the foundation of Jesus Christ
shall be saved. But upon that foundation he
rears a superstructure of character; and into
that superstructure he puts different material,
;
My Dear Son —
Let us see what the word
:
p. 20.
P 18.)
.
alive."
On Colossians 2: 12, Clarke says: "Allud-
ing to the immersion practiced in the case of
wherein the person appeared to be buried
adults,
under the water, as Christ was buried in the
heart of the earth."
Here are a few other testimonies:
Dr. Joseph Lange, old Catholic Professor in
Bonn, Germany, in a letter to Dr. Christian,
says: "1. The meaning of the word baptizein
is to dip under."
Dr. Adolph Harnack, the foremost Lutheran
scholar and church historian, said in a letter to
Dr. C. E. W. Dobbs: "Baptism undoubtedly
signifies immersion (eintauchen) ".
Dr. Alexander Maclaren, of England, in his
exposition of the Sunday School Lessons in the
Sunday School Times, said that Jesus was im-
:
LETTER NO. 14
cation.
Paul says also: "And if Christ be not risen.
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also
vain." (I Corinthians 15 14.) The resurrec-
:
"And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder-
must the Son of man be lifted up; that every
ness, so
one who believes in him may have eternal life. For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that every one who believes on him should not
perish, buthave eternal life. He that believes
. . .
,,
any one should boast. (Eph. 2: 8, 9.) "The blood
of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John
i:7.)
LETTER NO. 16
ye, buy, and eat yea, come, buy wine and milk
:
freely."
Those who understand the passage in the above
sense, understand the word for "and" as meaning
"even," as is frequently the case, so that the
passage would mean "born of water, even of the
Spirit," making the Spirit the instrument of
regeneration, and water simply the symbol cor-
responding with the term Spirit.
LETTER NO. 17
sin."
In Gal. 3 27, Paul says
5. : "For all ye who :
—
Moody was a Christian that he was the child of
God by faith, that he had been cleansed by the
blood and did not need the water to cleanse, and
that he is saved. That this is true scarcely needs
argument now. It is the almost universal con-
LETTER NO. 18
BELIEVER S BAPTISM.
My Dear Son :
—We have seen how a person
should be baptized, and why he should be bap-
tized. The question comes, Who should be bap-
tized?
The following passages of Scripture will tell
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THE LORD'S SUPPER 217
which begins :
"
'Open communion/ that is, the
inviting to the table of the Lord those who have
not been baptized on profession of faith, which
alone is a real baptism, is unscriptural, illogical,
and unhistorical." Dr. Vedder then proceeds to
verify the latter assertion by quotations from
Baptist confessions, "from the earliest times until
7
now/ These confessions, he says, "show plainly
what Baptists of all ages have believed the scrip-
tures to teach in the matter of Christ's ordinances/'
He closes the article with the following remark
"Open communion was never more than the tol-
LETTER NO. 20
CONGREGATIONALISM
—
My Dear Son We have seen the principles
:
CONGREGATIONALISM 241
working.
For twelve years Dr. (now Bishop) E. E. Hoss
was editor of the Christian Advocate, this city.
CONGREGATIONALISM 243
CONGREGATIONALISM 247
complete in itself.
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250 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
LETTER NO. 22
BAPTISTS IN HISTORY.
My Dear Son :
—We have seen the principles
held and taught by the people called Baptists.
Now let us see what influence these Baptists with
such principles have exerted on the world.
Baptists have had a noble history. We can
tell exactly where the Catholics, Episcopalians,
Methodists, Presbyterians, Disciples, all started.
We can put our finger upon the year of their
birth —the Catholics in 606, the Lutherans in
BAPTIST MARTYRS.
My Dear Son : — Not only have Baptists had a
history more or less distinct all down the ages.
That history has been a glorious one. It has been
glorious in the principles for which they have
stood, and which we have been considering the —
principles of Loyalty to God's Word, of Religious
Liberty, of Separation of Church and State, of
Individualism, of a Spiritual Religion, of Regen-
eration before Church Membership, of Immer-
sion, of Communion, of Congregationalism, of
Church Independence, and all the minor prin-
ciples dependent on these main principles.
Baptist history has been glorious also in the
way Baptists have stood for these principles, stood
for them through good and through evil report,
through days of prosperity and days of adversity,
through approbation and through condemnation,
through life and through death, through fame and
through flame, through flood and blood and fire
and sword.
Baptists have never persecuted others. They
have ever been persecuted. Their principles
forbid their persecuting others. These very prin-
ciples invite persecution by others. Of the va-
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264 BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
— —
Alzey that nine brethren and three sisters
were imprisoned, and when they refused to re-
nounce their faith, were put to death, the men by
the sword and the women by drowning. A sister
came to comfort the female prisoners while they
were yet in prison and exhorted them to be true
:
—
founded by a Baptist Roger Williams the Free ;
—
founded by a Baptist James P. Boyce the first ;
—
My Dear Son We have seen that Baptists
:
BAPTIST PRINCIPLES
beginning
"Resolving thus I entered in."
A. M. Poindexter, 1809-1872
'
'Tis the promise of God, full salvation to give."
" 'Whosoever heareth,' shout, shout the sound/'
"Ho! my comrades, see the signal."
"Free from the law, oh, happy condition."
"I am so glad that my Father in heaven."
"Have you on the Lord believed."
"The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin."
"Brightly beams our Father's mercy."
"Almost persuaded now to believe."
"Only an armor bearer, proudly I stand."
"Light in the darkness, sailor, day is at hand."
"More holiness give me."
"Repeat the story o'er and o'er."
"Standing by a purpose true."
"In Zion's Rock abiding."
"Tenderly the Shepherd."
"I will sing of my Redeemer."
"Sing them over again to me."
A. J. Rowland, 1840- . . . . :
C. C. Luther, 1847- •
LETTER NO. 26
BAPTIST GROWTH.
—
My Dear Son With such principles as I
:
1639 1
1707 _ 17
1740. 37
1770. 77
1784... 471 424 35, 101 1 to 94
1792. 1,000 1,264 70,017 1 to 62
1812 2,433 1,922 189, 345 1 to 42
1832__ 5,320 3,647 384,859 1 to 34
1852__ 9,552 7,393 770, 839 1 to 30
1876.. 22, 924 13,779 1,932,385 1 to 23 9 4,698,352.94
1890. 34,780 22, 703 3,164,227 1 to 21 11,215,579.70
1900.. 43,427 29, 473 4, lei, 686 1 to 18 12,348,327.90
1908. 47, 409 34,038 4,969,524 1 to 18 22,268,892.79
1909. 48, 302 34,132 5, 115, 177 1 to 16 22,813,864.28
—
or layman the decision of this question must be
left with you and God —
I want you to dedicate
FINAL WORD.
Amen.
mi
NOV 8
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