ELD. RAY AND THE AMERICAN BAPTIST FLAG.
By J. G. Wood
While I was at Windsor, Mo., with the tent last October, Eld. Ray, editor of the American Baptist Flag, was sent for. He preached four discourses against our views. I reviewed him in one. His strong point was brow-beating and base misrepresentations. So ungentlemanly was his course that several leading men of Windsor, of whom Mr. J. C. Beedy, president of the bank, was one, felt free to denounce it in a written article which accompanies this, and will speak for itself. In his paper of October 8, to which they refer, he says: “The Advents attempt to sustain their Jewish Sabbath from the law of Moses. They, like the Judaizers of old, contend that unless we keep the law of Moses we cannot be saved.” This is a base statement. Thousands of witnesses, if necessary, will testify that we always draw a distinction between the law of God and the law of Moses. One was written by God himself, with his own fingers, on tables of stone (Ex. 31:18; 32:16), and put into the ark. Deut. 10:4, 5; 1 Kings 8:9. This is God’s law, and it contains the fundamental principles of all “morality and religion.” This law says, “The seventh-day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God” (not the “Jewish Sabbath”). So we believe, and so we teach. The other was the law of ordinances and ceremonies, written by Moses in a book, and put in the side of the ark. Deut. 31:24-26. This law was imposed on them for a limited time; viz., till the reformation. Heb. 9:10. Again, he picked up a tract published at Battle Creek, Mich., called “One Hundred Bible Facts upon the Sabbath Question.” On p. 9 of the old edition it is said: “If the law has not been abolished, then the Sabbath has not been done away, for it is a part of that law. Jesus then emphatically declares that every jot and tittle of that law will stand till Heaven and earth have passed away; yea, even till all things are fulfilled. ‘For verily I say unto you, Till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.’ Matt. 5:18. Heaven and earth have not passed away yet, hence every jot and tittle of the law is in force still. All must admit that the Sabbath is a part of that law, much more than a jot or tittle certainly.” Eld. R. says, “This extract from an Advent document contains the gist of their argument for the Jewish Sabbath.” We know of no Jewish Sabbath. The Bible calls it “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” We believe it is embraced in the moral law, and we hold up both hands in its defense. We try to do and teach this law, and the condemnation of Jesus rests upon those that break, or teach others to break, one of the least of these commandments. Matt. 5:19. The following is the statement from some of the leading citizens of Windsor, above referred to:— The undersigned have read an article under the above heading in the American Baptist Flag of Oct. 8, 1879, edited by Eld. D. B. Ray, in which Eld. Wood is represented as an “oily-tongued hypocrite and deceiver.” Again, as we understand Eld. Wood, he is misrepresented in some points of doctrine. Eld. Wood is charged with a “cowardly back-down.” A number of persons were present, and heard what passed between Elds. Ray and Wood at the Baptist church, and those of us who heard it do not consider that Eld. Wood “backed down” from a single proposition of his faith; but, on the contrary, in a Christian-like spirit, and with more meekness than most men possess, he proposed to discuss the points in dispute,—each to affirm the doctrine he teaches, and he (Wood) would bear half the expense of a reporter; and the discussion should be published in their respective denominational papers; these propositions Eld. Ray would not accept. And further, both in words and actions he treated Eld. Wood with indignities that we conceive to be unbecoming in one who professes to be a follower of the meek and lowly Saviour. Eld. Wood has been preaching at this place some seven weeks, and his Christian deportment has been such as to command the respect of the good citizens who have attended his meetings. J. C. Beedy, President of Bank. Jas. P. Allen, Atty. at Law. Geo. J. Shelton, Lumberman, Bank Director. J. R. Chappel, Bank Director.