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A Question
Curtis R. Dowdy
Did the church of Christ come out of the Baptist Church? This question was asked by a truth seeker, recently, only after the statement had been made by a Baptist preacher. First, consider the fact that Jesus said, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16:18.) Note, he said nothing about a Baptist Church.
Second, after the resurrection of Jesus we read of the church being in existence, "Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." (Acts 2:47.) Third, to the seven churches in Asia John wrote letters (Rev. 2; 3), what were these churches? Surely no one believes that they were Baptist Churches! They were local churches covered by Paul's statement in Romans 16:16, "Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you."
But the Baptist preacher knew that, what then did he have in mind? It must have been the fact that at the turn of the nineteenth century men who wore the Baptist name gave up their creed and returned to the Bible. Among these were Abner Jones and Elias Smith. Mr. Jones was a preacher of the Regular Baptist Church in Hartland, Vermont. It was said of him, "He had a peculiar travail of mind in regard to sectarian names and human creeds." Thus, he began to organize churches from 1800 that refused creeds and sectarian names but were founded on the Bible alone. Mr. Smith, a Baptist preacher in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, adopted the views of Jones on the subject of creeds and denominational names and so did the church where he preached. Several other preachers from the Regular Baptists and the Free Baptists soon came to see the value of rejecting that which came not from the Bible.
The aforementioned Baptist preacher could have had in mind John Mulkey and the Mill Creek Baptist Church. On a cold, snowy morning in 1809 John Mulkey stood in the pulpit and announced that he was no longer a Baptist, no longer a Calvinist, but he believed all ought to follow the New Testament pattern of first century Christianity. He then asked the two-hundred-member church to decide if they would follow this stand. Those who would stand with him were to follow him out the west door while those who would stand against him were to go out the east door. When the count was completed, one hundred fifty stood with Mulkey and the "restoration principles."
James O Kelley, a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church in North Carolina, around 1792 started a movement back to the Bible. Those who were with him at first took the name "Republican Methodist." However, they soon gave that name up for the Biblical term "Christian." At this time they declared that they would recognize no headship but the Christ and no book as authority but the Bible.
Now that we have the Baptists and Methodists involved, what about the Presbyterians? In another part of the country, unknown to the others above, the "Springfield Presbytery" was willed to die on June 28, 1804. Barton W. Stone of Kentucky, along with other Presbyterian preachers, left behind Presbyterianism and took the name "Christian," as the only family name, with the Bible as the only creed.
Please take note that the above took place prior to the coming of Thomas and Alexander Campbell to these shores, Thomas in 1807 and Alexander in 1809. Thomas was a Presbyterian preacher of Scotch-Irish background, and Alexander had finished his studies at the University of Glasgow just prior to coming to America. Both had independently come to the views already mentioned, namely, we must get back to the Bible and to it alone for what we do. The result was a document written by Thomas Campbell called the "Declaration and Address." In the autumn of 1809 Alexander Campbell read the proof-sheets of that document. He remarked to its author, "Then, sir, you must abandon and give up infant baptism and some other practices for which, it seems to me, you cannot produce an express precept or an express example in any book of the Christian Scriptures." Thomas Campbell's reply was, "To the law and to the testimony we make our appeal. If not found therein we must, of course, abandon it."
And abandon it they did! They saw that the Scripture authorized the immersion of believers and this they preached and practiced in the Bush Run Church. Because of their stand on baptism, many invitations came from Baptist churches for Alexander Campbell "to visit their churches, and, though not a member, to preach for them." This he did often.
The Bush Run Church, where Thomas and Alexander preached, was invited to become a member of the Redstone Association of Baptist Churches. In the fall of 1813 the matter was brought before the church, and the decision was made to write out certain conditions prior to their association with the Baptists. One condition was, "We should be allowed to teach and preach whatever we learned from the Holy Scriptures regardless of any creed or formula in Christendom." Now not all Baptists favored the Campbells being allowed free access to their pulpits.
This is understandable when we look at the results. At Franklin, Tennessee, in 1853 Campbell spoke in the Baptist Church house and of the four hundred members only two remained with the Baptist movement. Great success came from preaching a "restoration of the ancient order." No new sect was established, just Christians following the practices of the New Testament church. Walter Scott, Jacob Creath, John Smith, John T. Johnson, Barton W. Stone, the Campbells, Tolbert Fanning, David Lipscomb, etc., lived to see preachers and whole congregations of Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians turning away from denominationalism to the true principles of Christ.
But back to the original question: Did the church of Christ come out of the Baptist Church? Not anymore than it came out of the Methodist or Presbyterian! It came out of heaven (Rev. 21:2); first to the city of Jerusalem (as predicated in Isaiah 2:2, 3 and fulfilled in Acts 2), and since then all who believe and obey the gospel are by the Lord added to the church (Acts 2:47).
We might ask this question: Did the church at Corinth come out of heathenism? No! but the heathens rejected heathenism and accepted the principles of Christ. So it is that many have rejected denominationalism and accepted the principles of Christ. Today, as in the past, men who preach, as well as those in the pew, are leaving Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic churches, etc., to unite upon the Scriptures. May God receive his glory.