p. 656 | Antinomian Baptists by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 30, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 41.

Antinomian Baptists.

By Editor

RETURNS come in slowly to the Herald of Truth on the Sabbath question. Long time ago it announced that when its correspondents had given their opinions, then it would give its own views on the subject. Well, two prominent Doctors of Divinity published their articles, taking strong antinomian ground, boldly arguing that the law of ten commandments was of a “temporary and shadowy character”! The bare reading of the law should have convinced these Doctors that they were perverting the words of the Most High. But the load was too heavy; the camel’s back broke without the addition of a feather, and since that time both correspondents and editor have been ominously silent on the subject. We confidently stated that the Baptist denomination could not afford to sanction such views in their denominational paper. We were too long a member of that body not to know that such views as Doctors Anderson and Tombes set forth were directly opposed to the faith of the Baptist Church. And we knew that we were correct in our statements; the Herald and its correspondents did poor service to the Baptist cause by the publication of such rank antinomianism. The Baptists will never ignore the strong, forcible, and Scriptural utterances of Andrew Fuller and other authors on the subject of antinomianism; and the Doctors cannot refute the forcible arguments of Elder Jarrell on the morality and perpetuity of the law of the Old Testament.

But it is truth—a lamentable truth—that antinomianism is fast gaining power and popularity in the land. All “Perfectionists” or “Holiness Bands” are quite consistently antinomians. They not only deny the validity and authority of the law, but they are fast ignoring the Scriptures entirely, professing that God speaks to them directly, and that they are not dependent on any written revelation to learn the will of God! The Saviour promised that the Spirit of truth should guide his followers into all truth; and he said the word of his Father is truth. Now the Spirit gave the word, for “holy men of God spake as they were moved of the Holy Ghost,” and if the Spirit leads to a disregard of the Bible, then it leads to a contradiction of itself, which we cannot accept. To ignore the written revelation which God has given is to ignore the authority of God. Therefore we say that such Spiritualists as the “Holiness Bands” are consistently antinomians. We are happy to know by the spirit of silence which has now so long rested on the Herald of Truth that it and its correspondents have learned that they cannot afford to take rank with such company.

As the strong arguments for the seventh-day Sabbath become better known, many will strike hands with the antinomians as the only plausible way to evade the claims of the fourth commandment. It was this, and this only, which led Doctors Anderson and Tombes to take that position. But many will be led thereby to review their position, and accept the whole law, the Sabbath necessarily included. The conflict is before them and the issue cannot long be put off.