THE BAPTIST SPIRIT, page 1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE BAPTIST SPIRIT
CHAPTER I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. The Baptist Spirit Loyalty to Christ The Bible Our Authoritative Rule An Intelligent Faith A Spiritual Religion Personal Obligation in Religion Respect for the Religious Life of Others The Desire to Have Others Believe A Desire to See the Truth Prevail The Baptist Spirit in a Baptist Church The Baptist Spirit and Denominational Loyalty The Baptist Spirit and Denominations The Baptist Spirit and the Social Order PAGE 1 14 23 33 43 51 60 75 84 98 113 124 138

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THE BAPTIST SPIRIT

_______________ CHAPTER I.

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THE BAPTIST SPIRIT.

The purpose of this book is to give a study of our Baptist life at its best. It is an effort to interpret that which has characterized the best Baptist life of the past and to set forth that which should characteristics it in the present. The book is not written in the spirit of controversy, nor does it propose to antagonize any other body of Christian people. We are to consider ourselves and what we ought to be. It is of supreme consequence to us in the present time that as Baptists we should develop the very highest type of life to which our principles lead us [page 1].

PRINCIPLES---SPIRIT--PURPOSES.
As we read the story of the past, the historic Baptist life has consisted in three things: (1) a belief in New Testament principles; (2) a desire for the New Testament spirit, and (3) a proper zeal for the great purposes to which this spirit naturally and surely leads. As a denomination we have tried to reproduce a New Testament Christianity. That, at least, has been our purpose, whether we have realized it or not. Historically, therefore, we have had our Baptist principles, and for these principles our forefathers dared to die. We have also had our Baptist spirit, for these principles, held as great convictions of the soul, have developed in all ages a certain temper of mind. Historically, however, there has also been manifested, in greater or lesser degree, that which we may term out great Baptist purposes, the things which instinctively and naturally a people holding New Testament principles and catching the New Testament spirit must seek to realize. [page 1]. And all three things are essential. Our principles without the resulting spirit and purposes without the resulting spirit and purposes make simply a cold creed without life. An attempt to deny the principles while imitating the spirit is like trying to make a stalk grow and keep alive without roots. Our
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great Baptist purposes depend upon our principles develop in the soul of any man to whom they are living and real. Some men are zealous for the principles, but have neither the spirit not the purposes. They are lacking. Some would saying I do not care for your principles, but I like the spirit which you display. Others are attracted by our great purposes, but have little or not use for anything else. The man who holds to one without the other, whichever one he holds, is into a well-rounded New Testament Christian [pages 1-2].

OUR PRINCIPLES.
It may be well for us to study briefly our distinctive Baptist principles. These will be referred to over and over again in the course of this book. We shall build upon them and come back to them. It will be well for us to get them clearly in our minds [page 3]. Let us always remember when we talk of our distinctive principles that these are the truths which make us distinctive and separate as a denomination. But it will be a mistake to discuss or advocate them as if they stood alone, for these principles are all related to other great scriptural doctrines. Such doctrines as the deity of Christ, the atonement, the personal work of the Holy Spirit, and so on, are as truly the great essentials of our faith. All of our distinctive principles imply this greater body of truth, wherein for the most part we find many other denominations agreeing with us. As a rule, however, we share these beliefs with those who hold the doctrines of electing grace, and the full divine work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the atonement. All of the distinctive principles we have set forth are related to, or are necessary to, the maintenance of this general body of doctrine [pages 3-4]. 1. The Bible is the sufficient and final rule of faith and practice, and it is an open book for each believer to read and interpret for himself. We are New Testament Christians in our own day and generation because we try to hold the New Testament principles in their simplicity and to catch the New Testament spirit. We believe that the Bible is Gods revealed message to men and has final authority for us in all matters of religious faith and practice. In particular it reveals to us the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of god, as the one whom we are to love, serve and implicitly obey [page 4]. 2. Religion is personal and spiritual. It is brought to our souls through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. We must have personal faith to have religion, and in the continued exercise of faith as the bond which binds us to the unseen God, religion from the human side completes itself. There can be neither infant church membership, nor formal family or unconverted Christianity, for the Christian faith is not inherited, but is a personal and voluntary thing. No form or ceremony of religion can confer it, or is essential to it ; it is set up in the soul through faith in Jesus as the Savior [page 4]. 3. [Water] Baptism, which has held, and still holds, a large place in the practice of all Christian people, is a symbolic ordinance and a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior. As a symbolic ordinance it sets forth the death and resurrection of Jesus, the death of the believer to sin and that the has risen in newness of life through the power of Christ. It is by immersion, as was the baptism of Jesus, and as is commanded in the New Testament, and immersion is necessary to the symbolism. As a profession of faith, it is the act of a believer who is alone able to make such a profession, and is the publicly appointed way which Jesus commanded for all who believe in Him to at one time publicly confess Him before men. This public profession in baptism is necessary to church membership [page 4-5]. 4. The Lords Supper, which is regularly observed by Christian people because Jesus commanded it, was left to us as a simple symbol of Jesus atoning death, of His resurrection[,] and second coming, and of the tie of faith which binds the believer to Christ the Savior. It is to be participated in by those who are in full fellowship with the church, and so by those only who have publicly confessed their faith in baptism, for baptism comes before the Lords Supper [page 5]. 5. The churches which Jesus commanded His disciples to organize are local, congregational and independent bodies. These churches are full and complete, each one in itself, which all the authority, all the responsibility, and all the promises of help which Jesus gave to His church on earth. Each church governs its own affairs, is the guardian of Gods revealed Truth, and Gods agency for the spread of His kingdom. Only those who have been converted and come to have a personal faith in Jesus as the Savior, and who have openly confessed this faith in baptism should be members of a church. Though churches may cooperate they do not in such cooperation give up any of their duties, privileges, or rights as an
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independent body [pages 5-6]. 6. All believers in Christ are equal in a church. The ministry is not a priestly class, but the minister is one of the officers of the church who is set apart to the work of teaching and pastoral oversight. As a teacher and leader, the minister is to be listened to and followed, but he is not a priest and has no authority over the church. The only privilege in the church is the privilege of service, and the church officers in the New Testament are those who minister to others [page 6]. 7. The church and the state are separate. Each must take notice of the other and each serves the other, but they work in independent spheres. Every individual soul ahs a right to liberty in matters of religion. The state protects the church, and guarantees to each man the right to serve God after the dictates of his own conscience. The church is interested in the state, and seeks to make good men who will stand for all righteous and noble things as citizens. Neither could control nor exercise authority over the other [pages 6-7].

THE BAPTIST SPIRIT.

What kind of people will these principles make? If a man honestly and conscientiously believes in these distinctive principles, connected as they are with the other great truths of religion, and they become real to him, what spirit will he show? He will take on a certain temper of mind, and reproduce the New Testament spirit [page 7]. 1. Such a man will be loyal to Christ, recognizing from the Scriptures that his salvation comes through the blood of Jesus and that he is dependent upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Such a man will strive to be loyal to Christ in all things. His Spirit will not be to seek the approval of men except as such approval is in accord with the approval of Christ. He will, above all things, seek to be loyal to Jesus [page 7]. 2. Such a man will love the Bible, which he believes to be the sufficient and final rule in all matters of faith and practice, and the revelation of God to men. He must know, and to know he must go to the Bible. He will wish to obey the Bible, for he believers its principles come from God. He will seek to know this great charter of his religious life [page 7]. 3. The man who holds the above principles will want to be intelligent in his faith. Such a man cannot be content to be ignorant. If he is not to have a priest, but is to be on an equality with other believers ; if his religion is to be personal and spiritual ; if the Bible is his sure guide, then he is bound to seek an intelligent understanding of what it means to be a Christian [pages 7-8]. 4. Such a man will have an intense desire for spiritual religion. He will not be content with forms and ceremonies, but must wish that the tie which binds him to God through faith shall be strengthened. Ordinances will be to him commanded symbolic forms to teach the truth of God. He will be concerned as to form that he may preserve the spiritual truth [page 8]. 5. The man who holds such principles will be intensely concerned as to his own personal obligations in all matters, both religious and secular. Believing religion to be a personal matter, that ordinances can give to him only what he through faith brings to them, and that church membership is a cooperation on his part with other Christians, and that he is responsible individually to Christ, with an open Bible, such a man must be concerned as to his own personal obligations in all matters of religion and private and public duty [page 8]. 6. A man holding these principles will have and will always look with respect on the religious opinions of other people. He will not try to be a pope, nor will he try to claim superiority. He will be one of the many humble followers of Jesus, and will always look with respect on the religious life of his fellowmen as they seek to work out for themselves their obligation to God [pages 8-9]. 7. Such a man believing that he has been saved by the grace of God and that he has been led to see the truth in such a way as to set his soul free, will be very anxious that other men shall have the same faith and see the same truth. But he will persuade in the spirit of love, and by the power of intelligence, and not by authority or compulsion [page 9].

OUR PURPOSES.
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He who holds these principles in such a way that they develop in him the right kind of spirit will instinctively set himself to certain great purposes [page 9]. 1. He will be evangelistic. That is, he will want to spread the news of salvation so that other men may find what he has found in Jesus Christ as Lord. Believing the New Testament, he will believe that there is but one salvation, and that through the name of Jesus, and he will not rest until the news of this salvation has been carried by him or those whom he can send to all men everywhere [page 9]. 2. He will be a preacher of the truth. If he is honest and conscientious, with an open mind, the truth which he holds will seem to him to be the truth which God wishes all men to know. He will not be arrogant, as if he monopolized the Spirit of God, but he will be zealous that the truth of the New Testament, which in all honesty he believes is clearly revealed, shall be made known to men and shall be kept alive in the world [page 9-10]. 3. He will have the spirit of the educator. Recognizing that his own faith must be an intelligent one, he will recognize that the New Testament faith cannot thrive in ignorance. Ignorant people may believe in the same message of salvation , but they cannot long stay ignorant if they are told to hold the New Testament faith. They ignorant become intelligent as they follow Jesus the Savior, and realize that they are brought by faith into a personal relationship with God. Truly converted people are on t he way to the education of grace. A man who holds the truth of the New Testament faith must be an advocate of the education which spreads intelligence in matters of religion [page 10].

MAKING THE SPIRIT REAL.

We have some of us contended ourselves with holding the principles, and thought that was all that was required of us. If so , we have had a creed without life. We are as much under obligation to catch the true Baptist spirit as we are to hold the Baptist principles. We are to show in our life, by the way we act, the way we think, and the way we do, that our principles are real to us. Much trouble has come into the world by men who are content to hold a formal creed in words, and so to satisfy themselves. No creed worth holding is worth anything if it is not practiced. What we want is the spirit which comes with conviction. Intensity of conviction without intelligence may make us narrow and cause a perverted Baptist spirit. What we want is the broad, comprehensive spirit, growing out of intense conviction, but intelligent conviction. When we have the right spirit we need have little fear about having the right purposes. To believe in the right way will be to face our duty, and our duty will make itself known if we are the kind of men we ought to be [pages 10-11]. We live in a period when there is particular need that we shall have the right spirit and shall consider what kind of men we ought to be. Our age does not listen much to doctrines which are purely formal, and not related to life. Our age is just as willing as any other to listen to doctrine or to the teaching of great truths in religion, provided theses truths are related to life. There is everywhere a demand that what we teach shall be able to find expression in character and deeds. The Test of literature in our day is as to how it reproduces life and what it does for life, not the cold culture of an aesthetic, secluded class. The tests of the doctrines of political economy are not the tests of the professor who lives in seclusion, and hands out a theory of society which is purely ideal. All political economy is put to the test of what it will do to better the conditions of men. The pride of the socialist with his creed for an ideal society is that this creed becomes a spiritual something to him, which he makes a substitute for religion [pages 11-12].

THE TEST OF LIFE.

As Baptist people, we cannot put ourselves out of this atmosphere. In common with other Christian denominations, we must relate all the doctrines which Jesus taught to life. So all our distinctive principles will be tested by their relation to the lives of men and to the interests of society, as well as by their abstract truth. We should welcome this test. The Baptist spirit comes from the translation of Baptist principles into life, for these principles are as necessary to the religious life of today as to the different life of the past [page 12].
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It is this which we have in view in the lessons which are to follow. We want to speak of those things which, coming into the heart of each single Baptist man, should make him a different man in character and in life. This spirit should make him a different man in characters and in life. This spirit should make him a different man in his church ; this spirit should make him a different man as a citizen. If this Baptist spirit is intelligently formed, it will make a broad-minded, aggressive, godly and effective Christian man. It will make a man who will stand out in the world in his day and generation as a force for the truth. Many such men in our churches will make our churches and our denomination what these ought to be [pages 12-13].

CHAPTER II.
LOYALTY TO CHRIST.
There have been many efforts to put the Baptist principles in one single sentence. Some would put obedience to Christ as this all-inclusive principle. This is not far wrong if we understand at the same time there are certain Baptist interpretations which are as distinct and positive as the Baptist principles, and that these, if they are true interpretations, are of great importance. Obedience to Christ means that we obey every command of his, therefore, and that we obey it in the way in which he would have it obeyed. It is this principle which forces us to practice believers baptism, and to practice it according to the New Testament form and symbolism, and it is this same principle of obedience which makes us regard the Lords Supper as we do. Of the church because of this same principle of obedience [page 14].

THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST.

Another way of putting much the same truth is to make the fundamental Baptist principle the Lordship of Jesus. This is even a more far-reaching principle. It proclaims Jesus as the Divine King, and that He has a right to be Sovereign over us. He is the Lord, and as the Lord, He has the right to direct. We are strict in our observances of New Testament teaching and ordinances because He is the only King, and in the New Testament we have His teachings recorded for us. Church organizations and ecclesiastical bodies have no right to interfere or make rules for the individual soul. Each soul has the right of access to the King for himself, and each is responsible to the King and not to an organization representing Him. So no one and no body has a right to interfere or to change the command of Jesus [pages 14-15]. Christianity, therefore, is not an ecclesiasticism. Christianity is not monopolized by organizations. Organizations are agencies through which individual Christian people express themselves. Christianity is the response of the single soul to the claim of Jesus as the Lord and King. The kingdom of God upon earth is composed of many millions of sovereign states or communities. Each sovereign state or community is represented by an individual soul, and that soul is subject by its own choice to Jesus as King [page 15].

CHRIST BEFORE THE CHURCH.

It follows, therefore, that the supreme concern of every individual follower of Jesus Christ is to be true to his master. The church has no right to come between the one soul and God ; the churchs mission is to be the helper of that one soul ; it is not to take upon itself the priestly function. The individual is in the church that he may, through its fellowship, express to the world the great truths of the gospel, that he may in its fellowship find a truly personal life with Jesus for himself, and that he may in the fellowship help others to find the same individual life. The church has the highest mission among human agencies, and it has this mission because it stands as helping all to the throne of the Master. The most valuable work a church can perform is to so minister to individual Christian lives that they shall enter into the presence of God for themselves and have a faith that will outlast and outlive all external helps [pages 1516]. Loyalty to Christ, however, will lead any true follower of his to make use of the agencies which
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he has appointed. In a spiritual religion the ordinances and the work of the church have a twofold meaning ; they are a testimony to the world, and they are a help to Christian people. They are to be maintained as a testimony, but they are a testimony to the true life which is in Christ. As agencies they are to minister to the spiritual faith. They are never to come between us and the Lord, but they are to be used because Jesus has commanded their use. As Baptist people we are free from ecclesiasticism, and we deny any view of the ordinances which makes them a thing in themselves [pages 16-17]. This does not mean, however, that as Baptists we do not highly esteem the church and the ordinances. The more truly we conceive of religion as spiritual and set above everything else our personal relationship to Jesus, the more truly will we wish to observe t eh ordinances just as he commanded, so that we may proclaim the truths which he wished proclaimed. In the same way we esteem the church as an institution because it is his ordained agency for helping men to maintain the spiritual connection with the Lord Himself, and to proclaim the truths of religion. The Lordship of Jesus, therefore, does not lead us to disparage but to magnify the church and the ordinances, and to magnify them because they are high and holy agencies in helping the soul to cultivate its spiritual life [page 17].

THE BIBLE OUR AUTHORITATIVE RULE.

The Lordship of Christ also implies in us an unworldly and consecrated Christianity. It means not only that we are to argue for baptism on the basis of implicit obedience to Christ, but we are to argue for a consecrated and single-minded life on the basis of the same obedience. We are to obey Jesus, not only in matters of faith and practice, but in our conduct in the world. Such obedience to Christ means open profession before the world and the service that counts, because we give all we have openly in allegiance to our King. The Baptist principle should make for consecrated living and a truly unworldly church membership [pages 17-18]. Loyalty to Christ means that we ask, What would Jesus do? Some years ago a book with this title started the Christian world. As the men in the community represented began to practice this principle, they found their lives revolutionized. As the book was coldly and soberly analyzed, it was discovered that a truer expression would have been, What would Jesus have me to do? As the same time, the situations were startling and striking as men tried to practice implicitly the spirit of obedience to Jesus in their daily lives. The Baptist sprit would be akin to this. It would be not only to hold the principle of obedience as a theory in order to establish our doctrinal positions and as a general principle of living, but it would also have the same great principle applied to our daily life. The Baptist spirit would truly say, What would Jesus have me to do? Believing that Jesus is Lord today as much as He was Lord in the past, we should not only seek to follow implicitly to follow that we believe to be the leadings of the Holy Spirit [page 18].

THE PURPOSES OF JESUS.

Loyalty to Christ means something even more than the application of this principle to our conduct day by day ; it means that we shall catch a conception of the great purposes of Jesus, and that we shall try to make these actual and living. A good servant of an earthly king lives not only an honorable life in conformity with the laws of his king, but he should also help the king in achieving the great purposes which he was in the world. An earthly king with great ambition to build up His nation and make it stronger than the kingdoms round about, not only desires on the part of His subjects that they shall live law-abiding lives, but also that they shall catch the same ambitions, and as good citizens work to have these an accomplished fact. So our heavenly King asks of those of us who have caught this principle of obedience to Him, not only to live daily lives in harmony with His laws and teachings, but to catch a conception of His great purposes in the world, and strive with Him to see these purposes brought to pass. He who is truly loyal to Christ, therefore, will know that his Master wishes to be King over all the world and that He wishes to reign in righteousness and Truth wherever His name is known [page 19].

DIRECTLY TO HIM.

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We have set forth the great truth that neither church, ordinance nor priest can stand between us and Jesus as the Lord. All the agencies of religion are to take us to Him. Once of the great axioms of religion is, as has been we expressed, The competence of the soul under God in all matters of religion. Very helpful to us are the human influences which lead us to God, but they help to an end, and that end is to have personal fellowship with God through Christ. Our doctrine of the Lordship of Jesus, however helpful it may be in keeping our theology well balanced, yet needs to be an article of living faith, and so a matter of the spirit or temper of our mind. It is one thing to know that no one has the right to stand between us and God ; it is another thing to learn to go directly to Him through faith and prayer. The best Christian is not the one who knows he can go directly to Christ, and that he is responsible to no one else, but the one who does go directly to Christ, and who makes the living, personal Christ a reality in his daily living [pages 21-22].

CHAPTER III.
THE BIBLE OUR AUTHORITATIVE RULE.
One of our great fundamental principles is that the Bible is the sufficient and authoritative rule of faith and practice. We do not put the Bible above Christ, but it is through the Bible that we learn of Him and know of His teachings. The great principle of obedience to Christ is linked inseparably with this principle of authority of the Bible, through which God reveals Himself to men as the Sufficient rule of our faith and practice. This must always give the Bible a high place among Baptist people. There have been those who would make the appeal to the world without stressing the great doctrine of Bible inspiration, but this has never been the historic Baptist faith, and can hardly be counted a mark of progress [page 23]. In our day various critical theories of the Bible have greatly changed the viewpoint of the masses of mankind. In holding this principle we were formerly opposed only to those who believed that church authority had a right to modify biblical teaching or to improve upon it. In our day, however, we must hold this principle also, as over against those who would make the Bible instructive and useful, but would not recognize it as the final and sufficient authority [pages 23-24]. In our view of the Bible we hold three things as established : (1) That it is sufficient in its revelations to give us all that we need to help us to salvation and for the conduct of Gods work in the world. (2) We believe it to be certain in its teachings. It is a clear record of unmistakable things, and can be believed and accepted as it stands. (3) It has authority for us. This authority speaks through its own pages, and is the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through it. The Bible has justified itself by the work it has done, and by the way it came into existence. Its testimony to the Truth of God has been verified to the world of man by practical experience in following its doctrines. We, therefore, believe that it is sufficient, that its teachings are certain, and that it has authority for us [page 24]. As compared with other Christian people, we hold this principle in common with many of them. This does not mean that we agree with them in all of our interpretation of Scripture. Many Christian bodies would maintain as loyally as ourselves this fact that the Bible is the sole and sufficient rule of faith and practice, yet in many things differ from us in practice, because we differ in our interpretation of the Scripture. In any consideration of the Baptist fundamentals, we must recognize that in addition to differing in principle, we do thus differ in certain interpretations. Some of our interpretations, however, have been accepted by other denominations, but all of them have not been as willing to apply the principle and make this teaching the rule of their faith and practice [page 24-25]. It is of great importance to us in our times to hold clear convictions as to the place of the Bible as the voice of authority in religion. The supreme authority is Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, who has revealed God to us. But the revelation which Jesus made comes to us through the Bible, and particularly in the New Testament. There are great religious movements for the reconstruction of Christian theology and the organization of the churches, based on our right to go beyond the New Testament teaching, or, rather, to set it aside at our pleasure. Some of those who are the foremost advocates of the reunion of all Christian bodies in one great organization, would let go a strict faith in the authority of the Scriptures. We shall have to decide, intelligently and clearly, therefore, whether we are to stand in spirit and purpose for this great fact of the authority of the Scriptures [page 25].
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WE MUST HAVE A BIBLE CONSTITUENCY.

It is not sufficient for us as Baptists to simply have a Bible-teaching ministry ; we must have a Bible-loving people back of the ministry [page 25-26]. It used to be true in this country that the Constitution of the United States was known and discussed in every section of the country. The laws of the land were simple, and were easily understood by people interested in them. We have come on a different time. Men are absorbingly busy in their own particular tasks, and do not have the leisure they once had. They do not care for the fundamental things of government in the same way. When such men want to know the law and the interpretation of the Constitution, they go to a lawyer; they expect him to test his decisions by the decisions of the court, and to square his advice with the Constitution [page 26]. So it has come about that we expect our ministers to have Bible knowledge and to be Bible preachers, but most of us are so busy without our own affairs that we are no longer able to test their knowledge by our own knowledge. We should be disappointed if they should fail to be strictly biblical in their preaching, but we ourselves accept them as our teachers as we accept the lawyer, and do it in faith that they are giving us the true scriptural interpretation. Such a condition is not fruitful for Baptist progress. A Bible ministry without a Bible constituency in the pew will be weakness and not strength. It is therefore, essential for us that we shall maintain among all our people a knowledge of the Scriptures [pages 26-27]. We believe that each man is able to interpret the Scriptures for himself, and that it is his right and privilege to do so. We also maintain that it is his duty to do this. He owes it to himself and to the cause of Christ to be an intelligent Bible student. A Bible ministry can succeed only when it can speak to men and women who are acquainted with the Bible. We can be sure of having a Bible ministry only when we have a Bible-loving consistency in the pew [page 27].

THREE GREAT THINGS.

1. We must be a Bible-knowing people. The Bible is of no value unless it is understood. If it merely lies on the center-table in Baptist homes, and is looked at with reverence, but not with intelligence, it is helpful, but not what we ought to make it. The Bible is no book of superstition; it is written for Godly and pious men and women, who have minds to understand and can know. So it becomes us to give special attention to Bible study. We should be ashamed to confess the Baptist faith as to the place of the Bible and be ignorant ourselves of what the Bible contains. We ought to be able to read it intelligently and understandingly,. We should avail ourselves of every opportunity in the Sunday school, in private classes, in training schools and in the B. Y. P. U. to make ourselves acquainted with the Bible. Above everything else, we should become intelligent listeners to the preaching of the gospel. W[e] should understand that through preaching we are having the Bible interpreted for us, not only in single texts, but in its great, broad, sweeping purposes [page 27-28]. 2. We must be a Bible-loving people. To know the Bible and not to care for it, is to make it a mere object of intellectual interest. When we are interested in the Bible from a spiritual standpoint, we will love the Bible. If we will let the Bible have a place in our actual life, becoming the companion of our need, we will be taught to love it because of its helpfulness. It is true, when we go to the Bible with a spiritual purpose, that the better we know it the better shall we love it. We cannot love the Bible if we do not have an intelligent idea of its contents, but we must go to it with the sense of spiritual need if we are really to love it. A habit of daily reading is the surest way to keep the Bible in our lives, so that we may not only be interested in its contents, but may go to its pages with genuine affection [page 28]. 3. We must have a Bible-reverencing constituency. The great point in Bible study is to be willing to obey after we know. The Bible is interesting merely as history, or as a study in sociology, or to satisfy our interest in religion, but it speaks its secrets to no one until that one comes with the obeying spirit to its pages. When we believe it is Gods Word, and that God is speaking, then the Bible will not only have authority for us, but will appeal to our reverence. We will obey its teachings, and not simply
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because we are afraid to disobey, but we will obey its teachings because of love for the one who gave us the Book. It is this spirit of Bible-reverence that we need to keep in the world as Christians. It is peculiarly necessary if our Baptist faith is to perpetuate itself. We differ from other people at so many points, and it is so unfashionable to be unlike other folks, t hat we shall be willing to stand by the plain teaching of the Bible only when we have this spirit of reverence for it as Gods Word. We must never speak lightly of it, and we must try to lead others to this same spirit of reverence which will be the spirit of obedience [pages 28-29].

THE BIBLE TESTIFIES TO ITSELF.

The best argument for the Bible is to read it ; the best argument for Christian truth is to read what the Bible says about it. How shall we meet the arguments of the learned who make attacks on the Word of God? The best way is to keep on reading and studying and obeying the Bible. If our faith is shaken, we should submit our faith to the test of a renewed reading of the Bible as well as about it. Fortunately, few in our day so attack the Bible as to reject it. Its place as a great factor in the worlds thought is more clearly recognized than ever. The questions of our day are as to the way it came, the authority of its various books, and how far we have gone beyond its teaching. Some of these questions are interesting, but to busy men and women they are of little value. The greatest danger of these modern notions is that they keep us from actually reading the Bible. If we could put the theories out of our mind, as go to the Book we should be better off [page 29-30]. The best cure for doubt about the Bible, therefore, is in its use. There never has been a time when its study was made more interesting. We now know the history of which Jewish history was a part, and we have had the Jewish history made more plain to us. The many buried cities which have been recovered have given us records of Bible times, and new lights on the customs of the people. The Bible is more real and more readily understood than ever before. It has been reinstated among thinking men as literature worthy of any mans attention. All these things argue for an interest in the Bible that shall be more than a theory. The Bible unread and so unfamiliar may invite argument and theoretical discussion ; the Bible read and so familiar, like an old friend, is too well known to given adverse arguments or theoretical discussions a chance. He who most believes in the Bible will be the one who uses it most [page 30].

THE BIBLE IN THE DAILY LIFE.

It remains only for us to consider the Bible as the guide for our daily conduct. The historical study of the Bible tends to make the Bible to most of us, not a book of individual messages or a book of helpful texts, each one of which bears its own message, but a book whose message comes to us through the great things it teaches. It is a pity if we get to thinking of the Bible in this way. It still holds its places as the companion of the daily life [page 31]. We still have a right to think of its messages through texts and stories as being a personal message for us. It is still a book form which we can get individual comfort, and to which in trial we can go for guidance. This Spirit of God will teach us the message of the book, and the message of the book will tune our minds to practical living. Its rules of conduct are not ancient, but modern. Its precepts are for our day as well as for the days of the past. Its high standards are ours in our daily life. It is a practical book, and should have its place in our daily life [page 31]. Highly as we may think of the Bible as the book from which our doctrines and our church practices come, and strongly as we should hold to the doctrines and practices because they are taught in the Bible, we must also remember that to each of one of us the highest ministry of the Bible is in our personal life. We shall have the true Baptist view of the Bible when, in addition to making it the rule of our faith and practice, we shall make it the guide and companion of our daily life, and this is the legitimate outgrowth of our fundamental Baptist principles [page 31-32].

CHAPTER IV.
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THE BIBLE IN THE DAILY LIFE.

Perhaps it would be well for us to get clearly in mind again certain of our fundamental principles [page 33]. 1 . That our faith is personal and spiritual. Ordinances, ecclesiastical organizations, and the ministry of Gods preachers are but the agencies which God has ordained to minister to a personal and spiritual faith in the heart of the individual. We do not believe that there is in any ordinance, or in any organization, or in any priesthood, the power to transmit grace to us. The grace of God is manifested to the individual soul through faith in Jesus Christ. It is this unseen spiritual bond by which the soul relies on faith upon God, that holds our hearts to the heart of God, and makes religion for us [page 33-34]. 2. That the Bible is the sole and sufficient rule of faith and practice. We are not bound by creeds formulated by others, or by church authorities ; even the articles of faith of the churches to which we belong base their appeal upon the fact they accurately represent the Scriptures. Any individual Christian had the right to question these articles of faith, and to argue from the Bible for or against them. If any individual Christian does not like the wording of the articles of faith prepared by anyone else, he can word it to suit himself, provided, he is true to the Bible teaching. The Bible, therefore, becomes the foundation of all that we believe, and all that we purpose [page 33-34]. 3. That religion as a personal and spiritual relationship, ministered directly to us by the Holy Spirit, implies personal obligation, and, personal responsibility to God. Each one of us must have our faith for ourselves, and all believers are equal. There are no priests, or bishops, with authority to lord it over Gods heritage. This fact implies that there is personal responsibility and personal obligation. We must not shift responsibility for our religious condition or our faithfulness to anyone else. We cannot shirk our obligation in Christs work because others shirk their obligation, or because someone dose not lead us [page 34]. 4. That each individual soul has the right to go to God immediately and directly. We have no priesthood to stand between us and our God. The sufficiency of the soul under God in all matters of religion is one of the axioms. We need no man and no agency to stand between us and the eternal God. God in His mercy has provided helpers in our faith, and He surrounds us with helpful agencies. These, however, are but to take us into Gods presence, they are not to stand between us and the throne [page 3435].

ALL THESE IMPLY INTELLIGENCE ON THE PART OF THE ONE BELIEVING.

He who holds such doctrines as these, and holds them so that they will influence his life, must, of necessity have an increasing degree of intelligence. By intelligence we do not necessarily mean learning, though knowledge is something the Christian must seek. The Holy Spirit leads the mind to intelligent conceptions in religion as truly as any school teacher, though the Holy Spirit uses the work of teachers and preachers who may be His agents to give us information. Let us see how these things imply that we should make ourselves intelligent and should hold our faith with a degree of knowledge [page 35]. 1. Personal and spiritual religion implies that we are not to live by superstitions or by mystical uncertainties. Our spiritual life becomes the communion between ourselves and the intelligent, personal Holy Spirit. True spiritual life is based upon certain things which God has revealed to us, and certain promises which He has given to us. Those who feed their souls upon forms and ceremonies, seeing only the pictures which some teacher tells them are to be found in these things, may do without cultivating intelligence in religion, but those who hold the simple Bible creed and cherish personal spiritual faith, must needs know that God is, that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and something of the kind of being which He has revealed Himself to be [page 35-36]. It has often been noted that men who live close to the Lord grow in their intellectual conceptions. This is not to be wondered at ; he who lives in constant communication with the great idea that the Maker of the universe is in daily fellowship with him, is bound to have his mind enlarged. It is the same way with prayer. Prayer as a mere form may do for the ignorant, and will put us to sleep. Prayer in reality, when the soul of man is in communion with the great God, trying to understand His will, and trying to put
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himself into correspondence with that will, is an intellectual effort. No man can pray regularly, as the New Testament teaches prayer, and not be broadened [page 36]. There is a story of the Westminster Assembly, when the famous Westminster Catechism was made, which his typical of Christian life generally. As these men tried to formulate a definition of God, they found themselves unable to do it. In their confusion of thought they called upon one of their number to lead in prayer. As he arose to pray he addressed God, and the words which fell from his lips in the natural language of prayer were found to be exactly the definition for which these men had been seeking. The effort was not the effort the scholar, but the effort of the child-like, believing heart. So as intelligence ministers to spirituality, spirituality in return ministers to intelligence. We need to grow in knowledge to grow in grace, and as we grow in grace we shall grow in knowledge [pages 36-37]. When once men have come to the Baptist view of things, we must desire that they should be intelligent. The impulse of Roman Catholicism is to blind the souls of men by the chains of ignorance ; the instinct of our Baptist faith is to throw off the shackles and to enlighten the mind [page 41].

CHAPTER VI.
PERSONAL RELIGION IMPLIES RESPONSIBILITY.
As we are thus all equal in the privileges of the gospel, and all have the same equal rights of access to God, so we also have personal obligation to do our part in the work of Gods kingdom, and to be true to our Master. For our personal obligation is two-fold: It is (1) to be true in conduct and life, regardless of what others may be and do, and (2) to be faithful to the duties of the church. Each one of us must answer to God for his private life and for his activities. We are to render an account to Him of the deeds done in the flesh, and this account is to be a personal one. That which a man must account for by himself he cannot evade the responsibility for doing by and of himself. The first question of responsibility is as to taking our part in the common work of all believers. There are certain common tasks which are done in the common name. Our churches are set for such common tasks. There is a common testimony to the truth of the gospel, a common effort to spread the gospel among men, a common effort to grow in grace to honor our Lord. As Christian believers, enjoying the privileges of Gods grace, we have our part in these great common things. No one else can do our part of the common work.

REGARDLESS OF OTHERS.
A question will quickly arise, however, in actual practice. Perhaps we will say that we might be wiling to dour part if everyone else would do theirs; but so many are unfaithful, and we are asked to do more than our share of the common work. If a great many do not do more than their share, so much of the work will be undone. How far are we, therefore, under obligation to consider the failure of other people in considering our personal obligation? The best way to answer this question is first of all to stop and realize whether God makes any such conditions when He deals with us. Does He not bestow His grace without limits? If we think of the privileges He has given to us, and out of which our obligations grow, shall we be inclined to consider how far we can exactly balance our duties with other people? Shall we not rather be glad to do everything in our power that is needed? The truth is, that Gods work is always carried on by those who realize their obligation and that this obligation is to do the work of God, and not of other men. In our giving, and in the expenditure of our time and energy, we are to consider the work which God must have done in a certain place, and then we must do everything in our power to see that it is done. We may wish that others might be led to be faithful to their obligations, and we may sometimes feel that the burden is heavier upon us than it should be, but our share in the common task will be the part we can take in it.

THE CALL TO PERSONAL SERVICE.

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There is still another aspect of this question which each one of us must consider. It is that God calls individuals to special service. He calls men to preach; He calls men to be missionaries; He calls men to work in establishing schools, and He calls men just as truly to positions of responsibility in the local church, or for tasks in His name in a community. When God calls a man to a work, that man must answer the call, regardless for other people. He may stand alone in his generation; he may be sent to be t6he only worker in a whole nation; he may be opposed by multitudes of men in the work he is trying to do; but when Gods call comes, he alone must stand and enter upon that task which God has given him. This is the history of the Bible times, and it is the history of Christianity in all the days since the apostles. When God comes with a special and definite call to some line of service, the obligation is upon the soul thus called to meet the demand and do the work as unto God.

THE QUESTION A PERSONAL ONE.

As our relation to God is, therefore, through faith in Jesus Christ, a spiritual and personal relationship, so is our obligation to Him a personal one. He saves me that I may be clean and pure, selfsacrificing and devout. Regardless of other people, I cannot escape my obligation to be like Christ, because they are careless of theirs. I confessed my own personal faith in baptism, and voluntarily proclaimed to the world that I was a follower of Jesus. I expect to render an account to Him at the last, and in the meantime I go to Him in prayer for myself. The obligation to live right and to do right is, therefore, also between me and God. The same thing is true in Christian work; Gods cause needs the help of His servant. It is sadly neglected, but whenever I realize my obligation to God for the privileges of His grace, I must realize my obligation to do my part in His work. It is not a question of what others do or do not do, it is a question of what I must do if I wish to be true to Him. It is my pastors privilege to fined work for me, and to point it out to me, but I am not relieved from obligation if he fails to do so; it is just as much my business to put myself to work and even to find work to do, as it is his, and it is my business to keep myself at my work, and to keep myself earnest in my life. We too many times think that if the pastor does not give us constant attention, and if the services become dull, therefore, someone else is to blame, and not ourselves, but this is all a mistake We are responsible for our own lives. This, then, is a great fundamental of the Baptist spirit. Personal and spiritual religion means personal obligation in all matters of religion. It means individual independence in right-doing, rightthinking, and right-living. When we have the Baptist spirit we lay our faults upon no one elses shoulders, and ask no one else to compel us to do what we ought to do; we gladly and joyfully do these things for ourselves.

THE LAW OF STEWARDSHIP.

Out of this great conception of our personal obligation in religion grows the more definite doctrine of Christian stewardship. We live in a commercial age when money has become the symbol of success in every line of work. Such an age ought to be peculiarly open to the persuasion that stewardship of money is a personal religious duty. The New Testament law, as well as the Old Testament law, of stewardship is beyond question. Whether it be one the basis of the tithe indicates that God desires at least that much, and that He considers the giving our of money as a religious obligation. What we are now emphasizing is that the obligation is upon each one. Gods commands for giving are directed to the single man. It is not a question of what someone else may fail to do , but of what you, considering your personal obligations to God, ought to do. The law of stewardship is ,therefore, one which each one of us must gladly consider, and consider for ourselves, and not for another. We must be ready to do and do gladly, regardless of the man next to us, or of the church, or the general willingness or unwillingness of Christians generally. Our time and talents, as well as our money, belong to God. We are His personal bond-servants, and not mere followers, in all matters of religion.

TAKING THE INITIATIVE IN PERSONAL SERVICE.

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There is also a temptation to give our money freely and systematically, but to obtain through it proxy service. Now, the paying of money does not in any degree release us from the responsibility to serve with our time and talents. We cannot buy substitutes in religion. Along the same line is the temptation to keep from doing Gods work on the plea that no one asked us to work, or led us to the task. Now it is a matter of great thankfulness that God gives us leaders. All great human tasks go forward by leadership. It should be our joy to follow the right leaders. But what is above all else needed today, is personal initiative in Christian work. No one asked David to go against Goliath. He saw the need, and out of his own initiative set himself to meet the need. He was as much responsible as anyone for Israels failure . By persona initiative, we mean both the responsibility for seeing what needs to be done, and the volunteering to do, even the assuming of the work whether one is wanted or not.

CHAPTER VII.
RESPECT FOR THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF OTHERS.
We must always keep in mind two great ideas which are necessary to the New Testament type of religion as Jesus taught it to us : (1) The heart of it all is belief in the grace of God. By this, we mean that God so loves us that when we deserved nothing at His hands, He gave us freely the fit of knowledge of Himself through the gift of His only Son. Our religion is all of grace. We do not earn it; we do not find it ; we do not deserve it. God gives it, and gives it because He loves us. Al His revelation of Himself is because of this free and full undeserved love. (2) The New Testament clearly teaches that God begins, continues and finishes the work in each believers heart. We do find Him, but long before we find Him, He seeks for us. And He never leaves us. Once we open our hearts to Him, He keeps His hold on us. The work of grace He begins in us, He finishes in us [page 60]. The Bible is not so much the story of what men discovered about God as it is the story of what God was trying to teach men, many of whom did not care to listen to Him, but out of His grace He compelled them. This is what we mean by the doctrine of election. God anticipates the needs of our souls ; He sends His Spirit to change our hearts, and to dwell in them, and He preserves and cares for our spiritual life. God is the first mover in everything in religion, and the work He begin s He carried to completion. We sometimes think that our strength is holding to Him, but all the time it is His strength holding us [pages 60-61]. These two great doctrines should be the foundation of our religious ideas. Without them we shall never have a right conception of Gods relation to us and our relation to Him. It is because of these two great things that we owe God our obligation, and at the same time have absolute assurance that we can fulfill that obligation. It is because of these two things that we know we are saved, and know that God will keep us to the end. All the comfort and the promises which God can give to us rest upon these two great themes. Every Christian ought to form a clear idea of these two great doctrines, then try to build his Christian life and Christian thinking upon them [page 61].

THE TRUTH IN LOVE.

(2) We must seek to impart the truth in love. If we believe a thing is true, and believe that the truth is necessary for our fellowman, we must make it known to them. We shall all agree in this, but the question is, in what spirit shall we make it known? We are arguing for a spirit of love, and not merely a spirit that would force others to come to our viewpoint. We speak the message because we love our fellowman. We must keep constantly before the world the views for which we stand and give the reasons we have for believing them. It is idle for us to go on cherishing a sacred doctrine, and judging men by it, when we do not proclaim it in such a way as to make them understand it. No one can object to a good, clear, kindly, comprehensive statement of any mans beliefs. We ought to be glad to have our fellowmen tell us honestly and candidly and openly the convictions of their souls. We ought to presuppose that brethren who differ from us feel the same way. In maintaining our standard of strictness of belief, we owe
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it to the world to let them know why we do so. We must let them understand that it is not to be contrary or singular, but because of our great fundamental principles We must let them see that at the foundation of all our religious conviction lie the great belief that the Bible is Gods authoritative revelation of His will, and that having Gods will thus made plain to us, we are under obligation to obey it implicitly. These fundamental principles, stated every time we set forth our distinctive doctrines, will not only help us as we state them, but will be of great help to those who listen and who may not sympathize with us in our beliefs [pages 72-73].

RESPECT.
(3) We must always maintain toward others the attitude of respect. It is no compliment to our own belief to sneer at the belief of another man ; to sneer at our brothers convictions is to lead somebody to sneer at our convictions. If we believe truth to be sacred, and, therefore, to be sacredly obeyed, we must have the same respect for every other man in the world who is trying to live up to that which he believes. No spirit is more destructive than the spirit of censorious or belittling criticism. Even when we cannot comprehend how certain beliefs can hold sway over the hearts of men, we must needs respect those who hold these convictions. There may be times when we suspect selfishness and self-interest as impelling some of the teachers of truth. We must be slow to believe this, and when we do believe it we shall have to turn away in a spirit of sorrow. Even then we must not have the spirit of lightness and levity. Ridicule is a poor weapon on religious warfare. This respectful attitude to others grows out of our doctrine of soulliberty and our principle of personal and spiritual religion, and not from indifference toward the welfare of truth [page 73-74].

STRICTNESS.
We have put down obedience as the great underlying Baptist principle. We are to be obedient to Christ, who is our Lord, and we are to be obedient to His will as it has been expressed in the Scripture teaching. Whatever God has spoken, that we must obey. This principle of obedience is one of two great fundamental principles. The other principle which goes with it is that we have the full and complete revelation of God in the Bible. [page 78]. It follows, therefore, that implicit obedience must be our response as Christians. Strictness with ourselves will be necessary, for obedience must be strict obedience and can be nothing else. In religion, as in other matters, we are constantly being tempted along three lines : (1) To trifle with or to take liberties with the truth. Trifling comes from a vain effort to divide commandments into greater and lesser. When self-interest dictates, we are apt to define as of trifling value that which we do not care to do. (2) There is always the temptation to laxity. It is easy to persuade ourselves that the command of God is not as exacting was we have thought it is, and that we need not maintain such a high standard if it interferes with other relationships. (3) There is the temptation to casuistry. We are inclined to argue over questions, and split hairs in definitions, so as to give ourselves an opportunity to vary to some degree from strict obedience. These three temptations will come to us all, as they come to everybody in the world. The spirit of strictness in religion will be on the lookout against the spirit of trifling and of laxity and of casuistry. At any cost, we must keep conscious sense of obedience [pages 78-79].

TOLERATION.
The word toleration is one we must use with a great deal of care. It is a word which ministers easily to our self-conceit. At the same time, it is the word in common use, and properly understood, it expresses the idea we are seeking after. It can be understood as meaning that we simply allow certain things to exist, having no relationship with them and perhaps having a contempt for them, but because of the principle of liberty, we do not interfere. On the other hand, it may be construed as meaning that we yield in order not to seem singular, and so give place to that which we do not believe in order to cultivate t he spirit of friendliness. Half-way in between these two is the truth. As over against strictness, the principle of toleration is based upon the principle of individuality, and individual liberty in reading the
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Word of God. We stand for an open Bible and a free soul. We ask these privileges for ourselves, and, therefore, we must be willing to grant them to other people. We must provide for a world in which there shall be differences of opinion, and as long as men are honest in their convictions and earnest in their desire for truth, we must be willing to recognize their honesty and sincerity of purpose, though they may differ widely from us in their conclusions. We ought to be strict in our own living ,and we have a right to ask those who associate with us in the Baptist fellowship, to show much the same strictness, though the chief obligation rests upon each one of us by himself. We have no right, however, to be always quarreling, or to be bitter toward t hose who, in all honesty, cannot agree with us. We must give them the rights we claim for ourselves; we must give them the respect which we ask for ourselves; we must give them credit for good motives, as we have credit for good motives. In these days our Baptist people have come to places of power and influence and where they do not have to apologize for their existence in the world. We must not forget that there was a time when our people asked to have their right to religious liberty respected. There are countries even today where our Baptist people are asking for the simple right to be free in soul, and to interpret the Scriptures for themselves. This right is undoubted, and it should be given to them. The right which they have, however, is possessed by any body of people who may honestly and conscientiously believe that God teaches a certain way. They must obey God and they must be free to serve Him in their own way. We have here, therefore, one of the difficult places in the manifestation of the Baptist spirit; how to be strict with ourselves and yet tolerant of other people is a great and difficult task [pages 79-81].

TWO SPECIAL PRINCIPLES.

What we have said so far applies to all who believe in the Bible as the Word of God, and who consequently believe that the world is lost in sin, and needs the Savior, Jesus Christ, whom God has provided. We are glad to share this obligation with all men who believe these things. We have, however, two principles very dear to us, which give especial emphasis to this evangelistic opportunity [page 81]. 1. We believe in personal, individual religion. We do not believe that men can be saved in a mass ; we do not believe it is possible to teach a nation certain things about Christianity, and then call it Christian. St. Francis Xavier used to teach the commandments and the creed to a whole tribe, and then consider that he had converted the natives of the Pacific islands. That is not our conception. Men must believe one by one. For us, therefore, there is upon us a peculiar obligation to see that the gospel is actually brought where every man can her it for himself, and be persuaded as a man to accept of it [page 81]. 2. Believing as we do in personal religion, we believe that faith must be an intelligent and personal surrender. This can be brought about only by preaching ; they cannot hear unless one be sent to preach to them. We are committed, therefore, to a missionary program of proclamation and persuasion the world around. Though a nation should adopt Christian principles and endeavor to live by Christian ethics, our duty would not be discharged. When a nation is nominally Christian and yet at heart is not Christian, we are still under obligation. We must preach in papal fields as well as in pagan. Our principles have led us naturally to maintain missions in papal fields against the protests of some who share with us in the missionary enterprises in pagan fields. But we cannot surrender our obligation to these fields as well as to the others [pages 81-82].

A MISSIONARY PEOPLE.
If any success has been made in setting forth the effect of our Baptist principles upon our Baptist people, it has been made manifest that by every impulse we are a missionary people. To reproduce the New Testament spirit is of necessity to be missionary. To hold our Baptist principles is to be forced to believe in effective and world-wide missionary work. It was entirely in keeping with what we believe as a denomination that William Carey, a Baptist cobbler, should become the first in our modern day to revive the New Testament an Pauline idea of the deliberate purpose to win the world to Christ. The conversion to Baptist views of Adoniram Judson was the providential call of God to American Baptists to be true to their principles and to set about accomplishing the great purposes for which evangelical Christianity
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stands. The man who does not believe in an aggressive and effective missionary undertaking is untrue to the Baptist name [pages 82-83].

CHAPTER IX.
A DESIRE TO SEE THE TRUTH PREVAIL.
We have proceeded throughout these studies upon the assumption that it is possible to ascertain the truth of Gods revelation and to know this with certainty. If everything we believe must be held with a question mark in our mind, and we can be positive about nothing, then, of course, our division into denominations represents nothing but sentiment. There are some who would hold that denominational differences are purely the result of difference in temperament and that men group themselves by their natural temper of mind. That certainly is not the conviction of most of those who belong to Baptist hosts. It has been, and is our conviction, that it is possible to know the truth and to accept it, regardless of our temperament. There is much of discussion nowadays as to the principle of authority in religion, and upon the answer to that question depends, in some measure, as to whether there is authoritative truth. There can be no question that when the truth is discovered, it has authority overt us. It matters not whether in religion, or in science, or in social structure, when once we are sure we know the truth about anything, uit has authority over our thinking. The man who would deliberately plan contrary to what he knew to be the truth, would be foolish. The mean who would build a bridge indirect opposition to the truths of mechanics, would never be entrusted with such a task. The question, then, is How can we find out the truth? The great answer to that is, from a religious standpoint, that Jesus our Lord is the great authoritative Teacher. What He says comes to us with all the authority of a King. We can trust His word and believe. But how do we know the truth which Jesus came to reveal? We know it only through the Bible. Jesus came to give sanction to the revelation which had preceded Him, and to give authority to the interpretation which His disciples should put upon His life and times. We know of His own life upon earth, but we know Him also in what preceded and what followed this brief term of life. We must, therefore, look to the Bible for the truth of revelation, and it comes to us with all the sanction and authority of Jesus Christ Himself. And the truth of God thus sanctioned, it demands the obedience of our souls. We do not make a superstitious fetish of the Bible; it is of value to us only as its truths a re understood by us. It is a mind from which we dig, but that which we get from this mine is pure gold. We, therefore, stand for the great fundamental fact that it is possible to know some things about God and about our souls and to know them with the authority of the truth. It is possible to discover these truths, regardless of temperament, if we will have an open mind and prayerful heart.

WHAT WE MEAN BY DOCTRINE.

When, as Baptists, we speak of our distinctive doctrines, we use the word doctrine in the sense of teaching. We have no place fro what is known as dogma. There are great bodies of Christians who put forth dogmatic statements of the truth as it is found in the Bible. These dogmatic statements are called creeds or confessions, and they are given the authority of ecclesiastical bodies. The very manner of statement in them is a part of the truth to be accepted. As over against t his we have articles of faith, and even these do not bind us except as they state for us what we believe to be the Bible teaching. Doctrine with us, therefore, is not a human statement of the truth, but it is what we regard to be the teaching of the Bible. Our fundamental principle is that the Bible is the rule of faith and practice, and our effort is to find out what the Bible teaches, and then to make that the basis of all our teaching. It is well to keep this distinction in mind in all discussions about doctrines and creeds and church union. Otherwise, we shall find ourselves talking about one thing, while the other denominations are talking about a different thing.

OUR DISTINCTIVE TRUTHS.

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Our distinctive doctrines are connected with the vital things of religion. It is one of our claims that we are not separated from the rest of the Christian world by any trivial and incidental points of disagreement. It is true that there may be differences of procedure between different Baptist bodies in this country. These differences, however, are not such as to make us different denominations No matter of principle is involved in most of them. We are separated and do our work differently for purely practical considerations. The distinctive matters, however, in which we differ from other denominations are nearly all of them connected with vital and essential things in the Christian faith. This is a very necessary thing to keep I mind whenever we consider the differences between different denominations No denomination has a right to separate itself upon matters of mere trivial importance. Our differences should be for the sake of making real great truths, and not merely fro the perpetuation of ecclesiastical machinery. It may well be urged upon us that not everything that it true is of equal importance. There are some matters which are not vital to salvation, and yet which are true. We have no right to deny any of these things, but they must not of necessity be emphasized with the same earnestness as those greater truths dealing with the vital matters of religion. It is our clam that the essential matters of our faith are necessary to the perpetuation of the great matters of gospel salvation.

OUR DISTINCTIVE VIEWS PROCLAIMED IN THE RIGHT SPIRIT.

We have set forth elsewhere in our studies that the Baptist spirit leads us to the desire to have the truth prevail, and that the truths which we hold are essential to the world. In the proclamation of these distinctive truths our churches must be the chief factor. Sometimes, however, a company of believers does not proclaim the truth in the proper spirit. There is a temptation in a church life to get the party spirit and to want to triumph for the good of the organization. There are dangers that the proclamation of our distinctive views may be for the purpose of advancing the material interests of the church, or of gaining some advantage over someone else. Our distinctive doctrines, however, should be proclaimed in the right spirit. That spirit is that they are essential to the world because they advance the religious life of the world. We stand by them because we think they are worth while for the souls of men. We believe the Bible teaches them, and because the Bible teaches them,, men cannot modify them without working harm to the religious life of the world. We preach our distinctive views because they are based upon what we conceive to be great doctrines, and are a part of these great doctrines. We preach these distinctive truths because they are related to the Christian life. The proper sprit, therefore, in which to proclaim t hem is the spirit of the humble believer, who urging the interests of personal and spiritual religion, respecting the religious life of others, and holding forth that which is deemed to be of the utmost importance, not to us as a matter of contention, but to the souls of men. The spirit which we have been trying to lay down through these studies carried into the churches life will make this high and holy distinction in all our proclamation of the truth.

EVANGELISTIC.
The church which has the New Testament spirit can but be anxious for the salvation of men. We may be interested in the work of missions, because of the need of Christian institutions the world over, and we may be interested in education at home and abroad. We may be proud of our great numbers, our wealth and our beautiful churches. All these, however, are worthless except as through them the simple truth that God saves men who trust in Jesus Christ is proclaimed. There are some who would make the church just a teaching agency for setting forth true morals, and for teaching right social principles. All this we must do, but the New Testament truth, founded upon the New Testament principles, having the New Testament spirit, will be intensely evangelistic. Its message through all its agencies will be that God saves men.

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CHAPTER X.
THE CHURCH AND THE BIBLE.
The church which embodies the proper New Testament spirit will be a church where the Bible is put to the forefront. It will be put there as the divine Word of God, and the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Lord of all. It has its proper place, where all can see, upon the pulpit. It is entirely proper that when men preach they should justify their words by its statements, and should either preach from it in exposition, or go back to it for proof texts. The Nest Testament church should have a Bible ministry. We have a right to insist that the man who preaches to us shall know his Bible, and shall preach that which his Bible teaches. However brilliant men may be, their ministry will never be equal to a ministry which interprets the Bible to the people constantly. The Baptist spirit wil be manifested in the Baptist church when the Bible is put to the forefront in ally our work , and loved and reverenced by all. Of course, if the Bible is to have an effective place in modern church life, it must be taught. The Sunday school will be the chief agency for teaching the Bible, though it ought not to be the only agency. There should be Bible classes , giving more time to broader bible study than is possible in the Sunday school. The vernal work of th Bible training, however, will be through the Sunday school. Preaching, which analyzed and enforces the Bible, needs to be supplemented by a definite and positive instruction of a kind to make the Bible a real book, to young and old. In our American life, the only institution thus teaching the Bible si the Sunday school. It is of supreme importance. We are unable to understand how any Baptist church, founded upon the Bible as its rule of faith and practice, is to be content to go on through the years without an effective Sunday school. With our fundamental principle that the Bible is the sufficient and final rule of faith and practice, and our declaration that it ought to be open to all men, we must be more zealous than other people to rear a Biblereading and Bible-loving constituency. It is idle for us to preach our distinctive doctrines to those who do not love the Bible. Our appeal can be only that men ought to obey that which is laid down in the Word of God. If they are going to do this, they will of necessity have to know the Bible, and they will have to reverence it. The best corrective for false doctrine is an open Bible, intelligently understood. We can trust the open Bible and know that any soul is better for it.

Authorized King James Version 1611

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