William Huntington on Means

William Huntington (1745– 1813)

Huntington wrote the following in

"Every Divine Law in the Heart of Christ and His Spiritual Seed - BUT THE UNBELIEVING DISOBEDIENT TO THE FAITH AND WITHOUT LAW." (see here - emphasis mine):

"The gospel is the power of God displayed in saving mankind. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek," Rom. i. 16. This power removes the guilt and filth of sin; it subdues the reigning and destroying power of sin; it makes us free from the drudgery and slavery of it, and saves us from the bondage and curse of a broken law, and from the destructive tyranny of Satan."

That was what Old Baptist believed in the time of Huntington and it is not akin to Hardshellism.

He also wrote (see here):

"There can be no true holiness, either in heart or life, till the soul-reviving doctrines of the gospel are applied to the heart by the Holy Ghost; nor can the superstructure go up on our most holy faith till faith mix with the word, and love unite the living stone to the glorious foundation."

Don't Hardshells today teach that "life" exists in hearts that have not received the gospel?

Huntington continued:

"But these are not the means which God hath appointed to obtain the glorious end: grace begins the work at first, and makes them meet to be partakers of the inheritance at last. I send thee, Paul, says the Saviour, "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified, by faith that is in me." Here we have deliverance from blindness of mind, and from the devil himself; forgiveness of all our sins, the glorious inheritance, and sanctification, or a meetness for it, also; and all this by faith that is in Christ."

"All this by faith"! What is "by faith" according to Huntington? Does it not include the things mentioned in Acts 26: 18, the passage Huntington alludes to? And, was not Paul the means used by God to bring "all this" to the elect?

He wrote:

"Thus, my dear brother, comes the arm of the Lord working faith. Salvation from sin, and justification from all things, attend believing. Such souls have taken their trial; their judgment is over; their cause is decided, and the decision is in their favour; they are pronounced just; and, of course, are passed from death to life, and shall not come into condemnation, John v. 24." ("The Works of the Reverend William Huntington," pg. 311 - see here)

"Attend believing"! That is my view. I am "Old Baptist." More importantly, I am in line with Scripture.

Again he writes:

"Upon believing we are to to be sealed; “Seal the law among my disciples.” This law is the law of faith; the seal of God never attends the preaching of any other law, “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Again, “He therefore that ministereth the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, doth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Gal. iii. 2, 5. Not by the law, for that worketh wrath, and all ministers of the law are dead men; we are not ministers of the letter, but of the Spirit; “For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.”"

This "sealing" Huntington sees as essential to that experience of being regenerated, born again, or converted, and he sees it correctly as being that which follows or attends belief of the gospel.

Huntington continued:

"But, at the first resurrection, they must be all collected together; all whose names are written in heaven, the whole church of the firstborn. And this will be the grand convocation, or the general assembly, Heb. xii. 23. Now the apostle tells us that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit unto this day of redemption; which shews that none but sealed persons will rise in the resurrection of the just. None but those that are of faith, and who, upon thus believing, are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, can rise in the first resurrection; for they, and only they, are blessed and holy persons. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power,” Rev. xx. 6. Being of faith, they are blessed with faithful Abraham; and being sealed with the Holy Spirit, they are holy. Hence this sealing us to the day of redemption is to assure us of a part and lot in this first resurrection; it is a pledge and an earnest of it. It is the Holy Spirit sanctifying and sealing of us that makes us meet to partake of it. And this is a truth, that the Holy Ghost never will quicken and change any one mortal body, and fashion it like unto the glorious body of Christ, unless he dwell in it, and make it his temple in this life." (pg. 331)

Only sealed persons will rise in the resurrection of the just! Can't be "sealed" without faith in Christ and the gospel. That is Old Baptist belief! Where were the Hardshells in Huntington's time that took issue with him on these things?

J. C. Philpot On Means

With this posting I will begin a short series on the "Strict" or "Gospel Standard" Baptists of England with the purpose of showing that, though the above "Particular Baptists" denied gospel "offers" of salvation to the unregenerate, and are in this respect like their Hardshell brethren of the same period (1830s till end of the 19th century), they are not like those Hardshells who began (in that time period) to deny that the elect must be called to faith by the gospel in order to be finally saved in Heaven.

We will also see how the "Strict Baptists" did not go into error in denying the bible doctrine of the certain perseverance of all the elect as did the Hardshells in the latter half of the 19th century.

Three men from among the Gospel Standard Baptists were J.C. Philpot, William Huntington, and John Warburton, and these three men have had a large readership among the Hardshells, even to this day. Therefore, these citations should prove interesting to them. Many Hardshells love Spurgeon and Gill and this in spite of the fact that they were not in league with them on means and on perseverance.

J. C. Philpot (1802 – 1869)

In "The Authority and Power of the Word upon the Heart" J. C. Philpot wrote (emphasis mine - see here):

"God’s witness by his works, then, being insufficient, and failing, so to speak, through the depravity of man’s heart, he has revealed himself by and in his word—in those precious Scriptures which we hold in our hands, and the power of which some of us have felt in our hearts. It is, then, of this power of the written word that we have now to speak. But when we speak of the power of the word of God we do not mean thereby to convey the idea that it possesses any power of its own ("word alone" view - SG), any actual, original, innate force, which acts of itself on the heart and conscience. The word of God is but the instrument of a higher and distinct power, even the power of that Holy and eternal Spirit, the revealer and testifier of Jesus, by whose express and immediate inspiration it was written."

Continued Philpot:

"The power of an instrument is the power of him who uses it. This is true literally. The strength of the sword is in the hand of him who wields it. A child may take up a warrior’s sword, but can he use it as a warrior? If, then, the word of God is “quick (or living, as the word means) and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,” it is because he wields it of whom it..."

This is a truth not understood nor accepted by our Hardshell brothers of today.

Continued Philpot:

"Thus we ascribe no power to the word itself, but to the power of him who speaks it. The Apostle therefore says of his speech and preaching that it was “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power;” (1 Cor. 2:4;) and of his gospel, that is, the gospel which he knew, felt, and preached, that it came unto the Thessalonians “not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance.” (1 Thess. 1:5.)"

God gives the increase to the word spoken by his servants! His power goes forth with the word preached and makes it effectual.

Continued Philpot:

"But now let us consider the exercise and display of this power in its first movements upon the heart. Man being dead in sin, needs an almighty power to make him alive unto God; for what communion can there be between a dead soul and a living God? This, then, is the first display of the power of the word of God in the hands of the eternal Spirit. “You has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” (Eph. 2:1.) And how? By the word. “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (Jas. 1:18.) So testifies Peter—”Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever.” (1 Pet. 1:23.) What James calls “begetting” Peter terms “being born again;” and this corresponds with what the Lord himself declared to Nicodemus—”Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3.) Almost similar is the language of John himself as taken, doubtless, from his divine Master—”Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man—but of God.” (John 1:13.) So in his first epistle—”Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loves him that begat loves him also that is begotten of him.” (1 John 5:1.)" 

When Philpot wrote these words in the mid 19th century, many "Primitive Baptists" still agreed with what Philpot here wrote. But, after the Civil War, things began to change and the PBs forsook the former beliefs of their founders and began to deny means and perseverance, and to deny the predestination of all things.

Continued Philpot:

"We need not therefore enter into the controversy about the difference between begetting and being born again, as if the new birth exactly corresponded with the old, and as if the analogy could be precisely carried out between natural and spiritual generation. Figures (and this is a figure) must not be pressed home to all their logical consequences, or made to fit and correspond in all their parts and particulars. It is sufficient for us to know that the mighty change whereby a sinner passes from death unto life, (1 John 3:14,) is “delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of his dear Son,” (Col. 1:13,) is by the power of the word of God upon his soul."

The belief that the spiritual "birth" of which the scriptures speak is precisely like physical birth, where there is a process and stages, beginning with "conception" (or 'implanting' of the 'seed'), followed by growth and development in the "womb of darkness," and finally to the "birth" proper, often called the time of "delivery" or "deliverance," is an old view among the Baptists.

It seems that Samuel Richardson, a signatory of the first London Confession (1644) and leader of the first Particular Baptist churches, held to this view. John Gill, though not accepting this view (as most Baptists did not), refers to it in his commentary on Isaiah. This view, as I have shown from extensive citations from the first leaders of the "Primitive" or "Old School" Baptists, was the common view. This view however lost many of its adherents as the 19th century neared its end. The later A.W. Pink also held to this view.

This view makes "regeneration" to correspond to that experience that brings conviction of sin, to the time when sinners are "awakened," and makes that period of conviction to correspond to that experience in the womb, and finally makes the emergence from the womb to correspond to "conversion," or sometimes to "second regeneration" or "complete regeneration."

Philpot is clear in the use of means in being born again. It occurs "by the power of the word of God upon his soul." This is what is taught in both the 1644 and the 1689 London Confessions.

"Light Precedes Life"

Wrote Philpot:

"Nor shall we, as we wish to avoid controversial topics, enter at any length into the question whether light or life first enters into the heart—”The entrance of your words gives light.” (Psalm 119:130.) There it would seem that light came first. And so the passage—”To open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light.” (Acts 26:18.) So Saul at Damascus’ gate saw and was struck down by the light before the quickening words came—”Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4.) In grace, if not in nature, it would seem evident that we see before we feel; and thus the disciples “beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father,” before they received the Son of God into their hearts and believed on his name. It will be seen from these hints that without entering into the controversy, or pronouncing any dogmatical opinion, our own view inclines to the point held by Mr. Huntington, that light precedes life. And yet, when we look back on our own experience, how difficult it is to determine whether we saw light before we felt life, or whether the same ray which brought light into the mind did not bring at the same moment life into the heart. At any rate we saw what we felt, and we felt what we saw. “In your light do we see light.” To see this light is to be “enlightened with the light of the living.” (Job 33:30.) And this our blessed Lord calls “the light of life.” “Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12.)"

Today's Hardshells do not believe that "regeneration" or the new birth involves these things!

Wrote Philpot:

"So we will not put asunder what God has joined together—light and life. We know, however, the effect better than the cause; and need we wonder that we can neither understand nor explain the mystery of regeneration? Does not the Lord himself say—”The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell whence it comes and where it goes; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8.) It is our mercy if we have seen light in God’s light and felt the Spirit’s quickening breath, if we cannot understand whence it came or where it goes, except to believe that it came from God and leads to God—it began in grace and will end in glory."

Amen to that! This is a theme that we have emphasized here on this web site many times.

Wrote Philpot:

"If, then, this knowledge is communicated by the Holy Spirit to the heart through the written word, two things follow, and we believe that the experience of every child of God will bear testimony to what we now advance concerning them—

1. That the word of God comes into the heart and conscience in and by regeneration, with a new and hitherto unfelt power. How carelessly, how ignorantly, how formally, if we read it at all, did we read the word of God in the days of our unregeneracy. What little heed we paid to the word preached, if we heard it at all. What thorough darkness and death wrapped us up, so that nothing of a spiritual, eternal nature touched, moved, or stirred us either with hope or fear. But at a certain, never-to-be-forgotten time, a power, we could not tell how or why, was put into the word and it fell upon our hearts, as a sound from heaven—as the very voice of God to our conscience. The word of God laid hold of us as the word of God; it was no longer the word of man, a dry, uninteresting, almost if not wholly hated book; but it got, we could not explain how, so into the very inside of us—armed with authority and power as a message from God."

This is the view of the Strict Baptists, and the first Hardshells were in total agreement with Philpot and the Strict Baptists on these things. But, they have departed from the faith and have today become a cult.

Exhorting Sinners Is Heretical Practice?

It is shocking news! Many Christians inclined to disbelieve the report! Are there really Christians and Bible believers who think it a great evil to preach to sinners, and to exhort them to believe and repent? Yes, there are really such Christians! Those who call themselves "Primitive Baptists" exclude people for the practice of exhorting sinners.

Elder C. H. Cayce is a household name among Hardshells. He was their leading debater, and the editor of one of their leading papers throughout the 20th century. In his "Editorials" for October 10, 1905, under the title "OUR WORK ENDORSED," Cayce wrote:

"The Forked Deer Association met with the church at Flowers Chapel, near Rutherford, Gibson county, Tenn., on Friday before the second Sunday in September, 1905. Elder John Grist, of Friendship, Tenn., was moderator, and L. J. Law, Trenton, Tenn., was clerk. The following appears in their minutes as the third and fourth items of their business on Saturday:

By motion and second, agreed that we adopt as the sense of this association the action of five of our churches as expressed in their letters, that we declare non-fellowship for the idea of a federal form of government, that the commission was given to the church and not to the apostles or ministry, that it is the duty of the ministry to admonish the alien sinner to repent and believe the gospel, and against affiliation in and with secret institutions."

Notice that! The Hardshells "declare non-fellowship" against those who believe that it is "the duty of the ministry to admonish the alien sinner to repent and believe the gospel."

This makes them a cult.

It also shows how evil is their stance against gospel preaching to the lost. Their declaration would also exclude every prophet, every apostle, every evangelist in the new testament, as well as Christ himself! Did Paul not say that all are commanded to believe and to repent?

The first Hardshells (or "Primitive" or "Old School" Baptists) did not believe it was an evil to preach to lost sinners. So, not only is the Hardshell declaration an exclusion of the prophets, apostles, evangelists, and of Christ himself, but of their own founding fathers! How is that for hypocrisy?

Spilsbury, Knollys, Keach on Ordo Salutis

Hanserd Knollys (1599-1691) wrote:

"Thus being by the Spirit and Faith united with Christ, we are made a new creature, or creation, have a new heart, and walk in newnesse of life." 

Clearly Knollys did not put faith after regeneration. Union with Christ, by faith, preceded all other blessings of salvation.

He also wrote:

"Our union by Faith, the Pardon of sin, our Reconciliation with God, the sanctification of our hearts and lives, our peace of conscience, and the Salvation of our Souls, are the Benefits of our Redemption by Christ, I Cor. 1: 30. These are as a Cluster of Camphire, full of divine virture, and spiritual sweetness unto believers, when they can apply these benefits unto themselves by Faith." (Song of Solomon) (SEE HERE)

John Spilsbury (1593-1668) was also, like Knollys, a major leader of the English Particular Baptists and signer of the first London Baptist Confession of Faith. He wrote:

"I believe that God of his grace, in his own time, effectually calls such as shall be saved to the knowledge of the truth, who is said, of his own will to beget us by the word of truth: in which work of grace, nature is as passive, as a child in the parents begetting of it; and so God by His Spirit works faith in the hearts of all such to believe in Christ, and his righteousness, only for justification. And thus they are made righteous before God in Christ, and so conformable to the will of God the Father through the Son; and also made holy through the work of regeneration, and the holy Spirit of grace dwelling in them; yet all such have still, as long as they live here in the flesh, remaining in them, an old man, that original corruption, the flesh that wars against the spirit, which hinders them in their obedience both to God and to man, and many times draws them to that which is evil, and contrary to their intentions; yet all of them shall through Christ overcome, and safely be brought to glory at last." (emphasis mine) (SEE HERE)

Wrote Benjamin Keach (1640-1704):

"1. Gospel grace is glorious, because, when received in truth, it delivers the soul from bondage, it breaks the bonds. For the soul is not set at liberty by the mere shedding of Christ's blood, without the application of it by the Spirit or infusion of grace into the heart.

2. The Gospel through the grace of it when received in truth, opens blind eyes, it makes them see, that never saw, in a spiritual sense, before; it opens their eyes that were born blind; how blind was Saul till the Gospel grace shone upon him, or rather in him?

3. The Gospel through the grace of it, when received in truth, raises the dead soul to life. It is hereby we come to be quickened, the flesh profiteth nothing, it is the Spirit that quickeneth; that is, the human nature without the divine cannot accomplish salvation for us; nor shall any soul receive any saving benefit by the flesh, or death of Christ, unless he be quickened by the Spirit.

4. The Gospel in the grace of it, when received in truth, casts out that cursed enmity that is in the heart against God, and thereby reconciles the sinner to the blessed Majesty of heaven.

5. The grace of the Gospel works regeneration, makes the sinner another man, a new man. It forms the new creature in the soul.

The Gospel is glorious in respect of the tenders and offers made therein to the sons of men." (SEE HERE)

Thus, Garrett's ordo salutis is the same as these great old Baptists.

(Note: the above is a posting I made in the Baptist Gadfly blog a few years ago - see here)

Redemption (xiv)

The Philippian Jailer 

"And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." (Acts 16: 19-34)

The irony in this story is seen in the fact that the real or superlative prison was not the one in which Paul and Silas were then confined, within the city of Philippi, but is rather the spiritual prison into which all men are held, including the "jailor" or "keeper of the prison." Though the bodies of Paul and Silas were bound, their souls were not. On the other hand, the jailor (or jailer) was (ironically) the one who was in prison in his soul or spirit. It was this realization that brought the jailer to seek deliverance from his own spiritual bondage.

The earthquake was divinely caused and for the purpose (at least) of bringing the imprisoned soul of the jailer to freedom and making him into a slave or prisoner of Christ. The purpose behind the earthquake was not to liberate Paul and Silas and the other prisoners from their bodily confinement, which did not happen, but was rather to liberate the jailer by freeing his heart and soul from bondage to moral depravity. The shaking of the earth was in order that the jailer, or prison keeper, might have his depraved heart shaken, that his spirit might be set free from the powers of darkness. It is at this time that the jailer, a slave to sin, was "called to faith in the Lord." Wrote Paul:

"Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave." (I Cor. 7: 21-22)

Before the earthquake, the jailer was a "free person," not a prisoner in prison; And, not only was he not himself a prisoner, but he was the one who made sure the prisoners remained imprisoned! But, looking at the state of the soul of the jailer, prior to his earth shaking experience, he was not free, but was in a state of bondage to his depravity. He fit the description of "one who was free when called," being no slave or prisoner; Yet, when brought to faith in Christ he became "Christ's slave." It is when men are "called to faith in the Lord" that they become the slaves of Christ.

Wrote John Gill on this verse:

"is the Lord's freeman; he is free from sin, not from the being, but from the servitude, guilt, and damning power of it: he is free from Satan, not from his temptations and insults, but from his dominion and captivity; he is ransomed from him, by the redemption of Christ, and is turned from his power in conversion..." (Commentary)

This is what has been stressed in the several chapters on conversion. Conversion is actual redemption, the time when slaves and prisoners experience release and liberation from their confinement.

Wrote another commentator:

"Christ’s service is perfect freedom, and the Christian’s freedom is the service of Christ. But here the Apostle takes, in each case, one member of this double antithesis from the outer world, one from the spiritual. The (actual) slave is (spiritually) free: the (actually) free is a (spiritual) slave. So that the two are so mingled, in the Lord, that the slave need not trouble himself about his slavery, nor seek for this world’s freedom, seeing he has a more glorious freedom in Christ, and seeing also that his brethren who seem to be free in this world are in fact Christ’s servants, as he is a servant." (Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary)

Wrote Dr. Charles Hodge:

"The connection is with the first, not with the last clause of 1 Corinthians 7:21. ‘Care not for your bondage, for,' etc. He that is called in the Lord; or, as the words stand, ‘The slave called in the Lord.' That is, the converted slave. Is the Lord's freeman, i.e. is one whom the Lord has redeemed. The possession of that liberty with which Christ makes his people free, is so great a blessing, that all other things, even the condition of slavery, are comparatively of no account. Paul, in Romans 8:18-23 says that the afflictions of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glorious liberty of the sons of God, towards which the whole creation, now subject to vanity, looks with longing expectation. A man need care little about his external condition in this world, who is freed from the bondage of Satan, the curse of the law, the dominion of sin, and who is made a child and heir of God; that is, who is conformed to the image of his Son, and made a partaker of his exaltation and kingdom. Likewise also he that is called, being free, is the Lord's servant (i.e. slave, הןץ ͂ כןע). The distinction between master and slave is obliterated. To be the Lord's freeman, and to be the Lord's slave, are the same thing. The Lord's freeman is one whom the Lord has redeemed from Satan, and made his own; and the Lord's slave is also one whom Christ has purchased for himself. So that master and slave stand on the same level before Christ." (Comp. Ephesians 6:9)

Prior to being saved, the jailer was shackled and chained, metaphorically speaking. His heart and mind were chained by his depravity, and the chief yoke was that of unbelief.

The Chain Of Unbelief

In the previous chapter we cited from Spurgeon and his reference to the shackles and chains that bind the souls of men in their lost depraved state. The chiefest of these chains, these "icy chains," is that of "unbelief." Notice these scriptures on the sin of unbelief.

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” (Hebrews 3:12 NKJV)

“So we see that they could not enter in (rest) because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:19 NKJV)

“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness of himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.” (1 John 5:10 NKJV)

The reason why sinners will be condemned in the day of judgment is because "when I called you refused." Wrote Solomon about the call of Wisdom:

"Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you." (Proverbs 1: 23-27 kjv)

The Lord said that the Holy Spirit would "reprove the world of sin." This he does in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and thereby says to men "turn you (repent) at my reproof." The promise to the one who obeys and "turns" to the Lord in repentance in faith, as a result of being "called," is that they will have God's own "spirit" to be poured out upon them and will be made to know the words of the Lord. On the other hand, those who "refuse" the call, who do not "turn" at the reproof, who "set at naught" the gospel message, will suffer a mocking calamity, an everlasting destruction.

In the Apocalypse we are told that "all unbelievers" will "have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone." (Rev. 21: 8) Jesus said "he that does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16: 16)

In "The Great World Prison and the Liberator," C.H. Spurgeon said (emphasis mine):

"When I was preaching in Dover, England, the mayor of the town let us rent the old town hall for our service. As I was walking by the building, I noticed a large number of windows on the lower level with metal bars on them. These windows belonged to the prison cells where the prisoners were confined. It struck me as an unusual combination, that we would be preaching the gospel of liberty on one level of the building while there were prisoners of the law beneath us. Perhaps the prisoners heard us when we sang praises to God, but the words of freedom above did not give them liberty, nor did the words of the song free them from their bonds. What an accurate picture this is of many people. We preach liberty to captives and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, but how many remain year after year in the bondage of Satan, slaves to sin?

This little circumstance fixed itself in my mind and impressed itself upon me in my private meditations. I daydreamed that some angelic warden was leading me along the corridors of this great world prison. He asked me to look into the various cells where the prisoners were confined, and he kept reminding me, as I looked sorrowful, that it is God who sets the prisoners free. He who does justice unto the oppressed; who gives bread to the hungry. The LORD looses the prisoners (Psalm 146:7)."

Spurgeon also said:

"The first cell is called the common prison – the ward of sin. All people have been prisoners here. Those who today live in perfect liberty once wore the heavy chains and were confined within the dark walls....nothing but that iron door of unbelief that the prisoners persisted in shutting securely made it a prison at all....It was unbelief that shut the prisoners in..."

Unbelief is the damning sin.

Spurgeon said:

"I passed that cell and stopped at another. This one also had an iron gate of unbelief, as heavy and as huge as the one before.

For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from the heavens the LORD beheld the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death (Psalm 102:19-20).

I saw some of them trying to file their chains with rusty nails. Others endeavored to melt away the iron by dropping tears of remorse on it, but these poor men made little progress at their work. The warden told me that this was the chain of habit, and the ball that dragged behind was the old propensity to lust and sin. I asked him why they had not been able to get their chains knocked off. He said they had been trying a long time to get rid of them, but they could never do it the way they were trying, since the proper way to get rid of the chain of habit was, first of all, to get out of prison. The door of unbelief must be opened, and they must trust in the one great Deliverer, the Lord Jesus, whose pierced hands could open all prison doors. After that, their bonds could be broken off upon the anvil of grace, with the hammer of love."

Beautiful thought! - "bonds could be broken off upon the anvil of grace, with the hammer of love"! This hammering first occurs in conversion but it continues throughout the life of the newborn soul. God's word is a "hammer that breaks the rocks into pieces." (Jer. 23: 29) It breaks the hard heart and beats away the imperfections in the believer continuously in sanctification.

Spurgeon said:

"I mourned that there were so many who still loved this house of bondage and would not escape..."

Do we who have experienced liberation in Christ not weep for our lost loved ones who are still imprisoned in their sins?

Who would ever choose to be entangled with a “yoke of bondage” again? In the next chapter we will address that question. We will also begin to focus on how the believer is daily being redeemed in his sanctification and growth in Christ.

Redemption (xiii)

In the immediate preceding chapters we have been presenting the biblical description of the state of bondage that sinners know. They are slaves of their own depraved natures, serving "various lusts and pleasures" (Titus 3:3), "fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (Eph. 2:3), "whose god is their belly" (Phil. 3:19), etc. They are also prisoners in shackles, as Paul said - "But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin's power" (Romans 11:32). As previously cited, Meyer's commentary said, sin has "brought all into ward under sin...sin has them, as it were, under lock and key." Sinful man is shackled and possessed by a wicked spirit, just like the Gadarene demoniac that was referred to earlier.

Wrote the great John Gill in his "Of Redemption by Christ" (Body of Doctrinal Divinity):

"...redemption stands in the first place and is a principal and most important blessing and doctrine of grace..." (see here)

I trust that those who have followed me in this series can give a hearty amen to this affirmation of the great doctor of theology.

Emancipation Of Sin's Prisoners

"I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." (Isa. 42: 6-7)

"Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places." (Isa. 49: 8-9)

Remember that this deliverance from prison is a case of redemption. This fact in seen in the popular movie "Shawshank Redemption," involving several elements of "redemption" as it involves prisoners.

First, there was deliverance, or an "escaping" (it hardly can be called a "release"); Although in this case the one redeemed effected his own deliverance or redemption by his own wit, will, and perseverance (unlike redemption by Christ). Second, there was "vindication" of the prisoner, a setting things right as regards justice, against a tyrannical warden. Third, there was "restoration" of lost fortunes via his deliverance and redemption. Thus, in these ways, Andy Dufresne, the escaped prisoner in the movie, experienced "redemption."

This deliverance from the bondage of sin or "bondage of corruption/depravity" to freedom in Christ occurs first in conversion, when a soul is "set free" from both the penalty of the law (justification) and from the tyrannical governing power of sin (transformation begun). Through the preaching of the gospel the Spirit brings sinners to faith and repentance and thus "breaks the power of canceled sin." In the gospel sinners imprisoned by their moral depravity are called to "go forth." Some who are called to this freedom reject the call, however, to their own loss.

As we have shown in previous postings, originally, "redemption" often denoted the payment of a price to secure the release of a prisoner of war. The word also came to be used of the release of a slave and sometimes of a person under sentence of death (Exod. 21:28-30). Redemption always means the payment of a price to secure release as well as the actual release of the prisoner or slave.

Commenting upon Isaiah 42:7, one of the passages cited at the head of this chapter, Dr. Gill wrote the following in his commentary:

To open the blind eyes - Of the idolatrous Gentiles, who were spiritually blind, and knew not the wretchedness of their case; the exceeding sinfulness of sin; their need of a Saviour, and who he was; as they did, when their eyes were opened by means of the Gospel sent among them, through the energy of the divine Spirit; for this is a work of almighty power and efficacious grace: to bring out the prisoners from the prison;

who were concluded in sin, shut up in unbelief, and under the law, the captives of Satan, and held fast prisoners by him and their own lusts, under the dominion of which they were: and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house: of sin, Satan, and the law; being under which, they were in a state of darkness and ignorance as to things divine and spiritual. The allusion is to prisons, which are commonly dark places.

Commenting upon Isaiah 49: 9 he wrote:

That thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth - God's covenant people, while unconverted, are prisoners; they are in the prison of sin, under the power and dominion of it, and under the guilt of it, and obligation to punishment for it; and they are in the prison of the law, they are transgressors of it, and are accused and convicted by it, and are condemned, and put in prison, and held there; and they are also Satan's prisoners, and are held and led captive by him at his will; and by virtue of the covenant, and the blood of it, these prisoners are set free; and Christ in the Gospel speaks unto them, and proclaims liberty to them; and by the knowledge of the truth they are made free, and are brought into the liberty of the children of God; and are bid to go forth, and they are brought forth from their prison houses; and bid to go to the house of God, and walk at liberty, enjoying all the privileges and ordinances of the Gospel: to them that are in darkness...in a state of nature and unregeneracy, which is a state of infidelity and ignorance; when men are in the dark, and know not themselves, nor their lost state and condition; nor the exceeding sinfulness of sin; nor Christ, and the way of salvation by him; nor the Spirit, and the operations of his grace; nor the Scriptures, and the doctrines of them..."

The experience of redemption occurs first in conversion and is continuously experienced in greater length as the believer is progressively transformed into the image of Christ in sanctification.

Debtor's Prisons

Wrote Gill:

"The buying again of an Israelite, waxen poor, and sold to another, by any near akin to him; is a lively representation of the purchase and redemption of the Lord's poor people, #Le 25:47-49 who, in a state of nature, are poor, and wretched, and miserable; even so as to be like beggars on the dunghill; when such was the grace of Christ, who, though rich, for their sakes became poor, that they, through his poverty might be made rich; and to such a degree, as to be raised from the dunghill and sit among princes, and inherit the throne of glory. Though some may not sell themselves to work wickedness, as Ahab did, yet all are sold under sin; for if this was the case of the apostle Paul, though regenerate, much more must it be the case of an unregenerate man; who, through sin, is brought into subjection to it, a servant of it, and a slave to it; as the poor Israelite, sold to a stranger, was a bondman to him: and such an one cannot redeem himself, being without strength, unable to fulfil the law, and to make atonement for sin; nor can any of his friends, though ever so rich, redeem him, or give to God a ransom for him; such may redeem a poor relation, or friend from a prison, by paying his pecuniary debts for him; but cannot redeem his soul from hell and destruction; may give a ransom price to man for one in slavery and bondage; but cannot give to God a ransom to deliver from wrath to come: only Christ, the near Kinsman of his people, can do this, and has done it; he that is their "Gaol", their near "Kinsman", partaker of the same flesh and blood with them, is their Redeemer, who has given himself a ransom for them."

Debtor's prisons were outlawed in this country in 1833 and for good reason. (Note: sadly, they are making a comeback in this country! But, that is another story) But, throughout the history of the world there has been many a person who spent much, if not all, of their lives in prison for not being able to pay a debt. This certainly was true in Jesus' day. (See for instance Matt. 18: 23-33)

When a sinner turns to the Lord in repentance and faith, his sins are immediately discharged or forgiven. This is what the apostles preached everywhere to every man. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3: 19 KJV).

Gill continued:

"The delivery of a debtor from prison, by paying his debts for him, is an emblem of deliverance and redemption by Christ: a man that is in debt, is liable to be arrested, and cast into prison, as is often the case; where he must lie till the debt his discharged, by himself or another: sins are debts; and a sinner owes more than ten thousand talents, and has nothing to pay; he cannot answer to the justice of God for one debt of a thousand; nor can he, by paying a debt of obedience he owes to God, pay off one debt of sin, or obligation to punishment; and so is liable to a prison, and is in one; is concluded under sin, under the guilt of it, which exposes him to punishment; and he is held with the cords and fetters of it; which he cannot loose himself from; and he is shut up under the law, in which he is held, until delivered and released by Christ; who, as he has engaged to pay the debts of his people, has paid them, cleared the whole score, and blotted out the hand writing that was against them; in consequence of which is proclaimed, in the gospel, liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; and in the effectual calling Christ says "to the prisoners", "Go forth", opening the prison doors for them; and to them that sit in darkness, in the gloomy cells of the prison, "show yourselves"; all which is done in virtue of the redemption price paid by Christ for his people."

Deliverance from debtor prison is a case of redemption.

Gill continued:

"...redemption by Christ is nothing more nor less than buying his people out of the hands of justice, in which they are held for sin; and that is with the price of his blood and in virtue of this they are delivered from the dominion of sin; for though this is done in the effectual calling, by the power of divine grace, it is in virtue of redemption by Christ, by whom sin is crucified, and the body of it destroyed; so that it shall not reign in them, or have dominion over them: one branch of redemption lies in being delivered from a vain conversation; and, ere long, the redeemed shall be delivered from the very being of sin; when their redemption, as to the application of it, will be complete; as it will be in the resurrection; when the soul will not only be among the spirits of just men made perfect; but the body will be clear of sin, mortality, and death; which is called redemption that draws near, the redemption of the body waited for, and the day of redemption, #Lu 21:28 Ro 8:23 Eph 1:14 4:30."

Notice that Gill says that deliverance from a vain conversation is "one branch of redemption." This is the very point I have been stressing in the past few chapters in this series.

Prisoners Of Hope

"As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man." (Zech. 9:11-13)

In preaching upon these verses the venerable C.H. Spurgeon said:

"Do all of you, dear friends, know anything about the pit wherein is no water? Were you ever conscious of being in it? Regarding it as a state of spiritual distress, do you understand what it means to be in such a comfortless condition? It was a common custom, in the past, to put prisoners into deep pits which had been dug in the earth. The sides were usually steep and perpendicular—and the prisoner who was dropped down into such a pit must remain there without any hope of escape. According to our text, there was no water there, and, apparently, no food of any kind. The objective of the captors was to leave the prisoner there to be forgotten as a dead man out of mind. Have you ever, in your experience, realized anything like that? There was a time, with some of us, when we suddenly woke up to find that all our fancied goodness had vanished, that all our hopes had perished, and that we, ourselves, were in the comfortless condition of men in a pit without even a single drop of water to mitigate our burning thirst!...If I sought after water in my comfortless condition, I only found myself to be more intensely eaten up with thirst! Do you know what all this means? You need to know it, for this is the condition into which God usually brings His children before He reveals Himself to them!"

Spurgeon continued:

"The condition of being shut up in a pit wherein is no water is not only comfortless, but it is also hopeless. How can such a prisoner escape? He looks up out of the pit, and sees, far above him, a little circle of light, but he knows that it is impossible for him to climb up there. Perhaps he attempts it, but, if so, he falls back and injures himself—and there must he lie, out of sight, and out of hearing, at the bottom of that deep pit—with none to help him, and quite unable to help himself. Such is the condition into which an awakened conscience brings a man. He sees himself to be lost through his sin, and he discovers that the law of God is so intensely severe—though not unduly so—and the justice of God is so stern, though not too stern—that he cannot possibly hope for any help from them in his efforts to escape out of the pit in which he lies fallen as a helpless, hopeless prisoner!"

Spurgeon, like his predecessor, believed that it is in being converted that a sinner experiences his coming out of the prison of sin. Spurgeon also said - "But concerning those who have believed in Jesus, our text is true, and God can say, “I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.”

Spurgeon said further:

"There is this further comfort that if He has set us free, we are free indeed. It is only God who can deliver a conscience in bondage—and when it is delivered by Him, it need not be afraid of being dragged back to prison anymore. If a criminal breaks out of his cell, and is found at any time by the officers of the law, he may be arrested, and taken back to prison. But if the sovereign of the realm has set him free, he is not afraid of all the policemen in the world! He walks about the streets as a man who has a right to his liberty because of the authority which has granted it to him. Now, believer, God has brought you up out of all your trouble because of your sin. He has delivered you from all sense of guilt concerning it, and as He has done it, you are not afraid that it has been done unjustly, and you are, therefore, not afraid that you will be re-committed to prison..."

In our next entry we will continue looking at present redemption via conversion and sanctification.

Elder Grigg Thompson & Neo Hardshellism

All Hardshells consider Elder Wilson Thompson to be one of the founding fathers of their denomination. This has always been surprising to me seeing he held some very strange views. He would not be accepted into their fellowship were he to appear today. However, Wilson's eldest son, Grigg, was also a first generation leader of the "Primitive" or "Old School" Baptists, preaching extensively among them in the important decades of the 1830s through the 1850s. He was the one generally called upon to defend the new Hardshell denomination in public debate on the issues involved in the separation. His published sermons and other writings are generally looked highly favorably upon by Hardshells since his day. I have cited from his writings many times over the years and have used them to show how far removed today's Pbs are from their original moorings.

In talking about "regeneration" Grigg Thompson wrote (emphasis mine):

"It is not a mere change of conduct, but a change of state and condition, they that were once darkness are now light in the Lord; Eph., v, 8; they that were dead in sin are now quickened with Christ; Eph., ii, 5. The soul that was filled with despair and felt that he was under the wrath of God, and that his sins must forever separate him from his God, sees the thick cloud removed, the Sun of righteousness shines upon his soul, and God comforts him; Isa., xil, 1. You that have felt this change, will never forget "that day," that happy day, "when Jesus took your guilt away," and filled your soul with hope and love. It was the day of your espousal when the mutual pledges of love were given, and without a doubt or fear you could say, "My beloved is mine, and I am his;" Songs, ii, 16."

Can you not see, my Hardshell brothers, how this description of "regeneration" is far removed from how it is described by you all today? Isn't Thompson's description of regeneration more like conversion? It certainly is contrary to the view of Elder Sarrels and his "systematic theology" of Hardshell doctrine. To Sarrels, a person who is "regenerated" has learned nothing. It is all "below the level of consciousness." The truth is, the first generation of Hardshells did not believe a man was "born again," or made a new creature in Christ, until he was converted and made a conscious believer in Jesus.

Does regeneration make one sad or happy? It seems clear that Grigg believed that it made one happy. I have written on this previously. See Does Regeneration Make Sinners Happy? (here)

Thompson continued:

"Whatever have been the trials, afflictions, doubts, and fears, you have passed through since "that day," you still look back to and date your spiritual existence from that time. Paul never forgot the day when he traveled towards Damascus, and the light shone around him, and by the power of God's grace and Spirit, he was changed from a persecutor to a servant and friend of Jesus. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;" in regeneration the affections of his soul are changed so that he loves the things he once hated. His conscience was dead, seared as, with a hot iron, hard and without feeling, full of guilt and condemnation, but is now made alive, is purged, is tender, watchful, and full of peace; Heb.. ix, 14. His will was rebellious, inflexible, and opposed to God, but is now obedient to the will of the Lord; Ps., ex, 3. His desires were once carnal, sensual, and pursued the vanities of the world, but now delight in God; Isa., xxvi, 8. His love was fixed upon earthly objects, was carnal and fleshly, now it is swallowed up in the infinite excellencies of God and of Christ; Ps., cxix, 97. The joys and delights of the soul were once in the trifles and vanities of this world, now its rejoicing is in Christ Jesus; Phil., iii, 3. His cares and his fears were once about worldly things, now he loves, fears, and reverences God; Acts, ix, 31. Once sin was his delight, now it is the object of his dread; II-Cor., 7, 11. Once his expectations raised no higher than this world, and were of the world, but now from above; Heb. vi, 19. And look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not seen; II Cor., iv, 18. Once they yielded their members servants to uncleanness and iniquity, but now to righteousness and holiness; Rom. vi, 19. The change is a great one and those who have experienced it may well be called new creatures, created in Christ Jesus unto good works; Eph., ii, 10." (From "The Primitive Preacher," and section titled "A New Creature," by Elder Grigg Thompson)

Is that not clear?

Hardshell Mysticism & Esoteric Christianity

In previous postings I have contended that "The Primitive Baptist Church" of today has become a cult, a secret society, a kind of "mystery religion." In some of those postings I cited these words from Hardshell leaders of the past and present.

Elder Lasserre Bradley, Jr. wrote:

"Mysticism has had its influence among our people."

Elder Lemuel Potter (Hardshell leader at the end of the 19th century) wrote:

"About half a century ago metaphysics was introduced among the Old School Baptists..."

(See my posting here for these citations)

See Also These Postings

Hardshell Cults "Key"

Hardshellism & Masonry & The Irony

In an Internet article we find this heading:

Question: "What is Esoteric Christianity?" (here)

Here is the reply:

 Answer: Esoteric means “requiring special knowledge to understand; designed for only a select few.” Esoteric Christianity, then, would be a version of “Christianity” that can only be understood or practiced by those who have been properly initiated in secret knowledge. Esoteric Christianity teaches that Christianity is a mystery religion and that only a small minority of people ever achieve the enlightenment necessary to crack the arcane teachings of the Bible and truly know God.

Esoteric Christianity views “salvation” as a stepping stone to greater truths. The Christian should not be satisfied with just being “saved” but with being “enlightened” and reaching “spiritual liberation.” Esoteric Christianity promotes introspection with the goal of attaining the knowledge of Self. Repentance, to an Esoteric Christian, is the “turning in” of one’s thoughts toward oneself and away from the world.

For those of us who have been in this cult, we know how true this description is of "The Primitive Baptist Church" as we generally find it today.

Next, from his fine work Christianity Through The Centuries (CTTC) noted Church historian Dr. Earle Cairns tells us that:

"The Quakers appeared on the English religious scene during the chaotic period of the Civil War and the Commonwealth. They set aside the doctrines of an organized church and the Bible as the sole and final revelation of God’s will in favor of the doctrine of the Inner Light, by which they meant that the Holy Spirit can give immediate and direct knowledge of God apart from the Bible." (381)

Is this not what Hardshells also teach?