The Hardshell Cover Up & Conspiracy

Elder Griffin says, reluctantly, on page 124 of his history, that "were we not bound by the truth of history to speak of these things [the missionary zeal of those early Baptists-S.G.] we would gladly hide them in oblivion."  Though Elder Griffin did not omit the evidence that showed that the early Baptists of Mississippi were missionary in practice, and believed that it was the duty of the church to fulfill the Great Commission, by supporting Bible classes and ministerial education, his followers have not been so honest.  I cited the above words of Griffin in Chapter Four of my ongoing book, "The Hardshell Baptist Cult," in the chapter titled "Hardshell History (primer)," and Elder Fralick has also written on how the Hardshells have generally done what Griffin refused to do, and that is "gladly hide in oblivion" the truth about what the Predestinarian or Particular Baptists believed in the centuries before the rise of the Hardshells and even the truth of what the first Hardshells really believed.  (See Fralick's post - "Selective Publishing") 

The Hardshell Ellipsis

One of the ways in which dishonest Hardshells hide the truth from their followers is to cite works by the use of ellipsis.  By definition an ellipsis is an omission.  Sometimes this is allowable, but sometimes it is used by dishonest writers for the purpose of hiding from the reader sections of a citation which is detrimental to the intention of the writer doing the citing.  In my years of reading Hardshell works, I have found that they have often used the ellipsis dishonestly, to cover up the true meaning of the work they are citing.  Elder Hanks did this often in his Hardshell history book titled "History of the Church of God," using the ellipsis to cut out those portions of the London Confession of Faith that he did not believe, those sections dealing with Gospel means and absolute predestination of all things.  Many Hardshells do the same in citing John Gill's remarks on "Regeneration" in his Body of Divinity.  It really is a conspiracy and just what one would expect from leaders of cults. Any time I see a Hardshell citation where they use the ellipsis I immediately become suspicious. I notice how the ellipsis was used extensively in the "Mt. Carmel Church Trial" book that the Hardshells have published. They not only edited the trial's testimony, but failed to include the evidence for the means position that was presented in the trial by those on the means side.