Reading The Bible Will Make You A Baptist
To the Editor of the Baptist Reporter.
Dear Sir, — I am a young baptist, and have only seen your
Reporter for Jan., 1858. Having recently joined the body, I
inquired for one of the publications published by the baptists,
and a minister directed me to the Reporter, with which I am quite
delighted. It occurred to me that I would mention a few of the
objections to believers’ baptism which I met with whilst I
was among the Independents. I am a young man, and am occasionally
engaged in giving a word of exhortation to my neighbours; but I
am what is called a “self-educated man,” for I have had
to pick up what little knowledge I have obtained; and therefore I
trust you will excuse the imperfections which you may discover in
this communication.
When among the Independents, in conversations with my
fellow-members, the subject of baptism was at times introduced,
when one or another would say, “Well; I do think that the
baptists are right, and that their mode of administering the
ordinance is scriptural.” “Well,” was my reply,
“if you consider that the baptists are right, and that their
mode is scriptural, why not join them, and be right too, and
observe that which you say is scriptural?”
The reply they generally gave was, “Oh, it is so
inconvenient; and if we are baptized, we shall be expected to
join the baptist body, and then what will our minister and the
people say? I do not think it matters much.”
It appeared to me an odd thing for them so to acknowledge their
duty, and then give such feeble reasons for declining. I could
not but wonder what there could be in believers’ baptism
that made the ordinance so objectionable.
I talked with other friends on the matter, but was annoyed by
their ignorance. They knew not so much as he who was enquiring.
Some said, “Oh, these baptists think all wrong but
themselves. Have nothing to do with them.” Others said,
“Such a mode would suit a warm climate very well, where the
people are in the habit of constantly bathing, but not a cold
country like ours.” Others “thought that there was
something very indecent about it.”
I then spake to a more intelligent class, and they informed me
“that Christ only intended the ordinance to be observed by
his servants in heathen lands, where Christianity was unknown, so
that the converts to the gospel, by that ordinance, might
publicly disown and cast off all their old heathenish
practices.”
Others reminded me, “that if I was going to enquire into
such a subject, perhaps I would inform them why Christians do not
recline at the table and take the bread and break it into pieces,
instead of having it partly cut.”
Such were some of the helps I met with in the path of enquiry,
from persons who professed to make the New Testament their rule
of practice.
There are many in the Independent and other bodies who can say no
more than the above. Why? Because, like those I have already
mentioned, they have never thoroughly and impartially examined
the subject. Ask them whether they have looked through the New
Testament for instances of Infant Baptism; they reply,
“No”. Ask them whether they have for evidence of
believers’ baptism; they give the same reply.
Dissatisfied with such evasions, I resolved to search the New
Testament for myself, with prayer for Divine guidance, and the
result was that I became a Baptist.
(Taken from The Baptist Reporter, 1858)
Editor’s Note: An Independent was not a Baptist; it
was a split from the Presbyterians.