History: The Heritage of Our Baptist Faith

accepted them. Before we briefly outline what Baptists have done, we ought to be clear in our thinking as to what a Baptist is. So many times one is considered to be a Baptist if he believes in baptism by immersion. It will take only a superficial observation, however, to discover that there are many other denominations who practice immersion. A Baptist holds to other distinctive doctrines along with Baptism by immersion. He believes in the final authority of the Scriptures; the priesthood of all believers; the autonomy of the local church; the regeneration of church members 5 the Lord's Supper as a memorial and not a sacrament; the separation of church and state. State all of these doctrines together and you will have at least a brief description of a Baptist. Baptists have always sought to be: (1) Free from centralized ecclesiastical authority (2) True to the teaching of the New Testament They believe that the above-mentioned distinatives are found in the Word of God and therefore they have tenaciously held to them. In considering our Baptist heritage, we wish to emphasize several points which are characteristic of our Baptist people. We will seek to illustrate these points by presenting incidents from the lives of many of the Baptist worthies. It will be then, a message devoted almost entirely to history. The testimony of those who have lived before us will be sufficient to illustrate the principles which Baptists have held. We shall also discover that these doctrines have not been held without great sacrifice. Thomas Carlisle said, “The history of the world is but the biography of great men." We may para­ phrase this by stating “The history of the Baptists is but the biography of some great Christians." We shall discover that the Baptists are I. A BIBLICAL PEOPLE Baptists have always based their doctrines upon the precepts of scripture. Like the Thessalonian Christians they have “received the Word of God . . . not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe." (I Thessalonians 2:13) They have emphasized the authority of the Scriptures because they believe that "All scripture is