GOSPEL MESSENGER 

Williamston, N.C., February 1901 

I write this editorial December 25, 1900. No human being on earth knows whether today is the anniversary of the birth of Christ or not; but, if it were certain that it is, I feel that I could not, although feeble with fever, better spend its bright yours than in laboring for the building up of the body of Christ in love (Eph. iv. 1-16).

The passage of God's Holy Word that I read in regular course this mourning in my daily private devotions was the 133d Psalm: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of His garments; as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." "Brethren" are children of the same father, members of the same family; and it is both beneficial and delightful for them to live together in love and peace and oneness. And, while this is true of a natural family, it is still more true of the spiritual family, the children of whom God is the Father, his Son Jesus Christ the Elder Brother, and heaven the happy and eternal home. During the first seven years of David's reign the tribes of Israel were divided and warred with each other, the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin espousing the cause of David, and the other ten tribes espousing the cause of the house of Saul; but, during the last thirty-three years of his reign all the tribes were united, having, according to the will of God, met at Hebron and crowned David king of all Israel. Thus David knew, from experience, how injurious and unpleasant the division and strife of brethren were, and how beneficial and delightful were their union and peace. And he compares this loving oneness of the people of God to the holy anointing oil, of Divine composition and appointment (Exod. xxx. 22-33), that was used to consecrate Aaron, the high-priest of Israel, and to the dew of Mount Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion, where the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. Mount Hermon, in the north of Canaan, rising from a plain at about the level of the sea to a height of ten thousand feet, occupied the same position physically to the land of Palestine as Aaron occupied ceremonially to all the other priests of Israel, who were his sons. Both the oil and the dew came <+">from above<-">, and descended, the oil to the lowest parts of Aaron's body, and the dew to the lowest parts of the promised land. And both the oil and the dew represent the gracious Spirit of God--the oil signifying His soft, gentle, sweet, fragrant, enlightening, warming, healing, purifying, soothing, and attractive influences; and the dew signifying His silent, mild, refreshing, beautifying, and fertilizing influences. And the Spirit of love is the Spirit of life, of eternal life, the Spirit of Divine blessing, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of God; and from this Spirit alone come spiritual peace, spiritual fruitfulness, spiritual prosperity, and spiritual happiness.

During the last fifty years, and especially during the last twenty or thirty years, there have been many carnal, human (1 Cor. iii.), distressing, and ruinous strifes and divisions among Primitive Baptists, and for the last two or three years the fleshly biting and devouring of one another (Gal. v. 15) have become worse than ever, so that it almost seems, in some parts of the United States, as though the Lord had forsaken some of our people, as He did the mutually hating and warring factions of the Jews in Jerusalem during the last siege of that doomed city, the whole Roman world thundering at its gates, and the Jews fighting and killing each other inside the walls, both above ground and in the subterranean passage below the city. But, to my mind, there seems to be some gleam of light in the Spirit that pervaded the General Meeting at Fulton, Ky., November 14-18, 1900. From all accounts, both private and public, that I have seen of that meeting, the Spirit of heavenly wisdom and truth and humility and love and gentleness and forbearance seemed to rest upon all who were present. It was unanimously agreed that the Old and New Testament Scriptures are the only infallible standard of faith and practice; and that the London Baptist Confession of Faith (of 1689) is the best expression of what they understand the Scriptures to teach; and that the Digest of that Confession, published as "the Principles of THE GOSPEL MESSENGER" in THE MESSENGER of July, 1896, is a fair condensation of the teachings of the London Confession: and it was agreed to publish, in one small volume, the London Confession, with Foot-Notes explaining obscure passages, and the Digest, and also an Address to all true Primitive Baptists, solemnly and prayerfully urging them to gospel fellowship and unity upon the basis of these fundamental truths, and not to declare non-fellowship with each other on any minor points, such as the exact day or hour when members should be received into the church, and when the Lord's Supper should be administered, or the particular Hymn-Books to be used, so long as the sentiments are sound, or the use or non-use of formal letter correspondence or general handshaking, providing everything is done in decency and order, or the belonging or not belonging to organized Associations, when used to worship God and to hear from the different churches and to cultivate a spirit of love and fellowship and Christian forbearance, it being admitted that only churches can receive, exclude, or discipline their members; and it was agreed to beg brethren earnestly never to go to law over church-property, but to take what would be paid out in a law-suit and expend it in building or buying another house, and to aid and encourage pastors and evangelists in the important services to which the Lord has called them; and to recommend to evangelists not to spend their time in visiting large and well organized churches, but to labor with the feeble and destitute churches and in places where there is no Primitive Baptist church; and it was agreed that it is the special duty of deacons to attend to the financial interests of the church, to receive and record and report to the church the donations of the members, and to use the contributions, as directed by the church, to serve the table of the Lord, the table of the poor, and the table of the elders who labor for them.

The London Confession of Faith (published in my Church History, pages 663 to 695) was adopted by 37 ministers and the messengers of more than a hundred Baptist churches in England and Wales; and the Fulton Confession, Digest, and Address were adopted by 50 ministers from eleven different States, North and South, East and West, setting forth the faith and practice of 335 churches containing 14,000 members, and in direct correspondence with more than 100,000 Primitive Baptists, that is, two thirds of all the Primitive Baptists in the United States; and I believe that the action of this meeting reflects the sentiments of nine-tenths of all our people.

To the best of my knowledge and belief the principles adopted at Fulton are scriptural and Divine and eternal; and only upon the basis of these principles can Primitive Baptists enjoy peace, union, and prosperity.

Elder Sylvester Hassell