A Pet Peeve

"Each individual, it was believed, by the Holy Spirit, was free to follow their own "private interpretations" of the Bible, each having their own promise of "inspiration" and of the "direct speaking" of the Lord and Holy Spirit." (here)

I wrote this a few years ago. Can you spot my grammatical error in it? It is one that I am generally careful to avoid (though others are not). The error is in the pronoun "their" in both "their own private" and in "their own promise." Since the subject was "each" (singular), therefore the pronoun must be singular rather than plural and should read "each having his (or her) own promise." Or I could have made the pronouns to agree by saying "all (plural) have their (plural) own." 

Sometimes in reading old writings of mine I find these oversights and some I have corrected. But, it is a chore correcting old entries in the new blogger dashboard. Grrr.

My wife and I are grammarians. We have corrected each other's English grammar for years. Most of the time it is a slip up and we laugh at it. We also laugh at educated people on television using so much incorrect grammar! They think they are so smart and yet show their ignorance by such incorrect grammar. Still, it takes practice and care to write and speak correctly. But, I do get upset with myself when I find uncorrected grammatical errors in my writings. That is why the best writings come not from first drafts.

Thesis Review

"GALVANIZED BY THE GOSPEL: NINETEENTH-CENTURY BAPTIST MISSIONS AND THE ANTI-MISSION RESPONSE" is a "master's thesis" submitted by Anna B. Holdorf for Boise State University in 2012 (here). I read through this thesis and copied these few notes. Let me share them along with some observations thereupon. 

Holdorf wrote:

"While antimissionists tended to be premillennialists like their Puritan forebears, it was postmillennialism that particularly thrived in the early 1800s." (pg. 40)

Is that so? Today's "Primitive Baptists" (the "antimissionists") are supposedly 90% Amillennial. Was that true with the first generation of PBs (1830s-1860s)? According to Holdorf, the antis "tended to be premillennialists." If that is true (she does not prove her statement), then here is another marked difference between today's Hardshells and their founding fathers. I know that Elder and Historian Sylvester Hassell was a strong Premillennialist. From my reading of the founders of Hardshellism I think she is probably right.

Holdorf wrote:

"Anti-mission Baptists, who esteemed the Bible as the sole religious authority on earth, found it difficult to understand why it was necessary for teachers and theologians to instruct others how to interpret the Bible. After all, they pointed out, Jesus himself had “commenced his ministry…without education.”167 Daniel Parker boasted, as did many other anti-missionists, that he was uneducated. He wrote that he had “no knowledge of the English grammar, only as my bible has taught me.” Parker further noted that the doctrinal “errors” that marked the beliefs of pro-mission Baptists “nearly all originated amongst the wise and learned.”168 Catholicism, he claimed, first gave education “a seat in religion,” and he warned Baptists against assuming characteristics of the “Popish dominion” for themselves.169" (pg. 59)

This is true and the effects of such a philosophy are still evident today among "Primitive Baptists." 

Holdorf wrote:

"Anti-mission Baptists also attacked theological education in the form of Sunday schools as a way “to bend the youthful mind to answer the mission purposes” and “a plan to release parents from their obligations to govern their families on the Lord’s day, when they have no right to transfer that duty to another person” according to scriptural guidelines.170 While the Bible “enjoin[ed] upon parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” the same scriptures “forb[ade] the idea of parents intrusting [sic] the religious education of their children to giddy, unregenerated young persons.”171 Those who sent their children to Sunday schools defied biblical standards for parenting, and were deceived by the incorrect doctrine of the missionaries. As Sunday schools were “the product of the mission principle” and “composed of auxiliary societies”—and, therefore, “without authority in the word of God”—faithful Baptists should reject them, Parker argued.172" (59-60)

Agreed. Observe the ridiculousness of the argument against Sunday schools! Parents cannot delegate authority for others to teach their children! Yet, they want them to sit with adults and be taught by the preacher! Consistency thou art a jewel.

Holdorf wrote:

"It is important to note that, at least at the commencement of the mission movement, promission Baptists still held to Calvinist doctrine despite anti-missionists’ arguments otherwise. To missionaries and their supporters, evangelism did not necessarily conflict with beliefs in predestination and God’s sovereignty." (pg. 67)

Many Hardshells have told the falsehood that the 1832 division was over Calvinism or the Doctrines of Grace. But, that is a falsehood as Haldorf shows. Many of the supporters of missions were five point Calvinists and even founders of the Southern Baptist Convention.

A Mind To Work

"So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work." (Neh. 4: 6 KJV)

If we are going to be "workaholics," let us be so in the work of God! So said Jesus:

"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." (John 6: 27 NIV) 

Work, and work hard, to obtain that spiritual food which benefits the soul both now and forever! Work for food that does not spoil! Labor industriously for the food of the soul and spirit, of the heart and mind, rather than of the body. 

Today, as a result of God's judgment on sin, there is "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD." (Amos 8: 11 KJV) 

Most people work and toil hard for food, and the reason for this is sin, as Genesis 3: 19 says. God said to Adam and Eve in their sentencing - "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground." 

Men work hard for their food, laboring to stay alive thereby. But, what of the food that does not spoil? We cannot be lazy or slothful in working for our "daily bread," or else we will starve and die. So too for the soul's bread, or "soul food." So the apostle exhorted:

"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." (Rom. 12:11-12 KJV)

"That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Heb. 6: 12 KJV)

Paul was not afraid to work hard for his food!

"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me...Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (I Cor. 15: 10, 58 KJV)

We must work for that food that is comparable to the heavenly manna, or "angel's food." (Psa. 78: 25)

People often warn saying "you are what you eat." This is true and worth heeding. It is true as regards feeding the mind and soul as well as the body.

As regards eating spiritual food, or feasting upon God's word, let us all be "nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine." (I Tim. 4: 6)

You cannot be harmed by overeating spiritually! 

Which do you work harder for, earthly food or spiritual food?

Many are fat and well fed in their physical bodies but they are "skin and bones" in their hearts and minds! Many are feasting on the finest foods, for the body, but are suffering famine in their souls. How is it with you? Have you lost your spiritual appetite?

Areas Of Hardshell History Needing Further Study

1. Two Seedism and its influence in the PB church

2. The Division over means in the latter end of the 19th century. Obtaining the writings of the means side, such as elders E.H. Burnam, W.T. Pence, et als. 

3. A full reading of the leading periodicals of the PBs from 1830-1900, especially those that are rare and hard to find.

I have been studying these things for years and hunting for these periodicals. I had to drive to Duke University to do research there. I really need to go to Nashville now to do research at sbhl. But, that does not seem to be something that will happen any time soon. It is amazing that the only places to find old PB literature, books, periodicals, association records, etc., are to be found in the archives of the Missionary Baptists! Ironic too.

A Condition Of Salvation

"The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." (Psa. 34: 18)

What soul cheering words are these! When I sometimes think that the Lord is far away from me, such words set me right in my thinking; for with a contrite spirit I am no stranger. I am often filled with remorse at my carnal condition, for evil thoughts and lusts, for moral failings, for foolishness and bad decisions, for falling short. I therefore know what it means to sigh and to regret, to know disappointment, to suffer failure, defeat, disillusionment, to have hopes and dreams dashed, to know a "broken heart." So, my thinking that the Lord is far away is corrected and I know that he is near, even when I cannot sense it keenly.

Also, if I doubt having experienced God's salvation, I should find renewed faith in the thought that God has promised to save those who have a "contrite spirit." From one perspective, that seems like an easy condition for salvation! On the other hand, it is impossible apart from God's grace and Spirit.  

Wrote Spurgeon:

"Broken hearts think God far away, when he is really most near them; their eyes are holden so that they see not their best friend. Indeed, he is with them, and in them, but they know it not. They run hither and thither, seeking peace in their own works, or in experiences, or in proposals and resolutions, whereas the Lord is nigh them, and the simple act of faith will reveal him. And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. What a blessed token for good is a repentant, mourning heart! Just when the sinner condemns himself, the Lord graciously absolves him. If we chasten our own spirits the Lord will spare us. He never breaks with the rod of judgment those who are already sore with the rod of conviction. Salvation is linked with contrition." (Treasury of David - highlighting mine)

Amen! Spurgeon also said:

"The Lord is nigh unto them, etc. Consider the ADVANTAGES of this broken heart; as 

 

1. A broken heart is acceptable and well pleasing to God, "A broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise." Psalms 51:17. 

2. It makes up many defects in your service and duties, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." Psalms 51:17. 

3. It makes the soul a fit receptacle for God to dwell in, "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57:15. 

4. It brings God near to men, "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Psalms 34:18. 

5. And It lays you open to Christ's sweet healing, "I will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick." Ezekiel 34:16  And, oh, who would not be broken that they might find Christ's soft hand healing them, and find the proof of that sweet word, "For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord." Jeremiah 30:17. Yea, 

6. It puts you in the right road to heaven, where all your wounds and bruises will be cured; for there is a tree (Revelation 22:2) the leaves whereof are for the healing of the nations; there is no complaining there of wounds or bruises, but all are perfectly healed. John Spalding, in "Synaxis Sacra, or a Collection of Sermons," etc., 1703."

 Again, amen!

Do I have a broken heart and contrite spirit as a result of seeing my sin and unworthiness? Then, let me take heart in the promise of Psalm 34: 18! He is near me! He promises to save me!

At War With The Flesh

“Abstain from the passions of the flesh (or 'fleshly lusts'), which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2: 11)

This is an admonition to people who are supposedly converted, saved, or born again. Yet, it may also be said towards lost people. They are, by the law, responsible for their not abstaining from pleasing and fulfilling the passions of the depraved flesh, or carnal nature. It is good advice for both saved and lost. Neither can obey the command, or follow fully the advice, without divine power and grace. 

"Fleshly lusts" certainly involves illicit sexual lusting and is therefore connected with the sins of adultery and fornication. But they involve many other kinds of lusts, various other desires for evil things. The word is plural (lusts, passions) as in Ephesians 2: 3: "we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (kjv). Notice the plural words "lusts" and "desires." 

Of these "fleshly lusts" Dr. Gill wrote: "these are enemies to the spiritual peace, comfort, and welfare of the soul" and "are the worst enemies he has." (Gill's Commentary)

The enemies of a man are chiefly the world, the flesh, and the devil (Satan), as has long been stated by Christian evangelists. To seek to live righteously and in a God pleasing manner requires that man fight well and hard in this war for the well being of the soul. Believers in Jesus the Messiah are the only ones who will obtain victory in this fatal conflict of life and death. The flesh and the spirit are at war. Wrote Paul:

"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." (Gal. 5: 17 kjv)

In order to fight and win this war, we must fight it as a "good soldier of Jesus Christ" (II Tim. 2: 3), fighting under his leadership and command, and must "put on the whole armor of God" (see Eph. 6: 10-18), often "enduring hardness" or "undergoing hardships." (II Tim. 2: 3) The Christian who seeks to live godly will suffer defeats in battle with the lusts of the flesh, but he keeps on fighting, winning many battles, and ultimately the war. We must fight to the death. We must not give up. Wrote one author:

"...what matters most is not sin’s persistence, but our resistance. Or as Owen puts it, “Your state is not at all to be measured by the opposition that sin makes to you, but by the opposition you make to it.” 

("Am I Really a Christian? Lessons from John Owen on Assurance" by Scott Hubbard - here)

Don't surrender to the sinful passions! Fight them in the strength of God and his word. Seek the Commander in Chief's guidance always. General Jesus will not forsake his soldiers but will lead them on to victory.

The Christian Seal

"Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples"

(Isaiah 8: 16)

"And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." (John 3: 32-33 kjv)

When these words came to my mind the other day, by the Holy Spirit I hope, I was able to rejoice in them. I was able to rejoice because I could identify with what the text says, that is, I knew that I had "received" or "welcomed" the "testimony" of the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledged it with my seal. 

Just as most seals have words on them (as the US seal has the words "e pluribus unum") so too does my Christian seal have the words "the testimony of Jesus Christ" across the top and "God is True" across the bottom, perhaps with scripture scrolls and a cross in the center of a circular seal (or signet). Further, as we will see, there is another line or two we could put on our signets.

My salvation began with a full conviction of the inspiration of the scriptures that gave the gospel. When I read or heard them, I knew they were the words of God. They spoke to me then as they still do. 

One Of The Few

When the writer/historian says "no man receives his testimony" he is certainly using hyperbole or common exaggeration. It is put in the form of a complaint. That was indeed the rule. None received his testimony. But, there are exceptions to the rule thank God. Wrote one commentator:

"No man receiveth his testimony - The words "no man" are here to be understood in the sense of "few." Though his doctrine is pure, plain, sublime, yet "few," comparatively, received it in faith. Though multitudes came to him, drawn by various motives John 6:26, yet "few" became his "real" disciples, Matthew 26:56; Matthew 7:22." (Barnes Notes)

This is the common and correct interpretation. 

I am so glad to be one of the exceptions! To be one of "the few" who have joyfully received "the testimony" of the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish everyone received it! Sadly they do not. Look at the world today and see how few are they who have received the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pity them. But, I also rejoice that I am one of the few who have received the testimony of the Son of God! Nothing else in this world matters. I identify with Paul who testified - "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Phil. 1: 21)

God Is True

Each of the few who have received the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ "hath set his seal to," or "subscribed his name to" it. Vincent's Word Studies says - "Hath set to his seal (ἐσφράγισεν). To set to, is to affix. To set to a seal is therefore to attest a document." That is certainly true, but it certainly carries the idea that our personal seals adopt the words "God is true" as a motto. 

Of course, "God is true" also means "God's word is true." The "testimony" of Christ is the word of God, for he is "God manifested in the flesh" (I Tim. 3: 16), and "God is true." This is the Christian motto. God is true, he confesses. He says "yea, let God be true but every man a liar." (Rom.  3: 4) 

The adjective word "true" is from the noun "truth," in the Greek "aletheia." It has both the meaning of being right and real. Many only think of the former when they think of what is true or truth. Truth is opposed to error and falsity. It stands for what is correct. But, it is also used to speak of what is real as opposed to what is not real. Truth is real. Error is not real. Notice these authorities:

"The literal meaning of the word ἀ–λήθεια is "the state of not being hidden; the state of being evident." It also means factuality or reality." (here)

"Aletheia is a Greek word typically translated as “truth,” or “reality.”" (here)

So, when we say "God is true," we mean he, and he alone, is not only right (and never wrong), but he is also real (never fake or fraud). To the believer in Jesus and his testimony God is both right and real.

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true (right and real), and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." (I John 5: 20 kjv)

"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." (Rev. 3: 14 kjv)

Count that as being my seal! That is the essence of my faith. It is the rudder of my vessel as I sail through this sea of life. It is also the anchor that holds it in the storms. The words of Jesus, given to us in the gospels and new testament, are the very "oracles of God."

Another Motto On The Seal

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (II Tim. 2: 19 kjv)

Here the apostle gives two sentences on the seal of the Christian faith: 1) "the Lord knows them that are his" and 2) "let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." Wrote Dr. Barnes:

"Having this seal - Or rather a seal with this inscription. The word "seal" is sometimes used to denote the instrument by which an impression is made, and sometimes the impression or inscription itself." (Barnes Notes)

This is what I was saying earlier about the Christian seal saying "the testimony of Jesus Christ" and "God is true." It might even say "In God we trust." It certainly says also "the Lord knows them that are his" and "let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

Closing Thoughts

"To be a true believer is something more than to hold a mere speculative belief of the truth." (Barnes)

"To be a believer is to "pledge ourselves" for the truth."  (Barnes)

"Every Christian is a witness for God, and it is his business to show by his life that he believes that God is true to his threatenings and to his promises." (Barnes)

Notice these references to "the testimony of Jesus Christ":

"Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 1: 2, 9)

"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Rev. 12: 17)

"I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19: 10)

Lives Of Quiet Desperation

 "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."* (Henry David Thoreau in "Economy")

This is so true! I will not try to describe what this statement may have meant to Thoreau or to others. Rather, I would use the words to describe the ordinary life of lost sinners. What do you think? Will that preach? Would that not make for a good sermon or bible lesson?

*The full citation is here: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things..” (Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays)

Desperation is defined generally as a "state of hopelessness." Synonyms are: despair, despond, despondence, despondency, forlornness, hopelessness.

Paul described the life of the sinner who is "without Christ," or lost, in these words:

"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." (Eph. 2: 12)

But, of believers, who have Christ abiding in them, the same apostle wrote:

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair." (II Cor. 4: 8)

The saved, having Christ, and being citizens of the "commonwealth" of the redeemed, and the special recipients of the promises of eternal blessedness, can never be left in the lurch, or in distress, or in despair.

Believers experience times of despondency. All come to what John Bunyan, in Pilgrim's Progress, called the "slough" or "swamp" of "Despond," which overtakes and leads some professing believers to turn back to their old life. But, the true believer is able by God's grace (or "Help" in Pilgrim's Progress) to persevere through that awful swamp.

Men learn early in life that they will one day die. That is when desperation of spirit begins to take hold and keeps the soul bound in fear and hopelessness. The "fear of death" is what causes fallen men to "all their lifetime" be "subject to bondage," which bondage surely must include the steady feeling of desperation and destitution. ("And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" - Heb. 2: 15)

The message is simple. Christ is the answer. He is "our hope," our only hope. A man who expects to be delivered will not despair. Faith is the ground of hope, called a "good hope through grace." (II Thess. 2: 16)

Instead of living lives of quiet desperation, we live, as Christians, lives of quiet expectation of deliverance.