John Dagg on The Duty of Baptists
In his highly influential Manual of Theology, John Dagg concludes with a small portion entitled “The Duty of Baptists.” I want to provide an excerpt from his final point, which was:
“It is our duty to promote the spiritual unity of the universal church, by the exercise of brotherly love to all who bear the image of Christ.”
Dagg explains:
“We yield everything which is not required by the word of God; but in what this word requires, we have no compromise to make. We rejoice to see, in many who do not take our views of divine truth, bright evidence of love to Christ and his cause. We love them for Christ’s sake; and we expect to unite with them in his praise through eternal ages. We are one with them in spirit, though we cannot conform to their usages in any particular in which they deviate from the Bible. The more abundantly we love them, the more carefully we strive to walk before them in strict obedience to the commands of our common Lord. And if they sometimes misunderstand our motives, and misjudge our actions, it is our consolation that our divine Master approves; and that they also will approve, when we shall hereafter meet them in his presence.”
- John J. Dagg, Manual of Church Order (Harrisonburg, VA: Gano Books, 1990; originally published 1858), 303-04.
Tags: Duty of Baptists, John Dagg, SBC
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February 26, 2009 at 7:01 am
Good quote. That volume has been very useful to me in the past couple of years.
February 26, 2009 at 8:34 am
Critics might say something like this:
“See, that silly Founder’s movement republished that book just so that they can prove their flawed view of Baptist history. Everyone knows that ‘true’ Baptists have nothing to do with those outsiders.”
Right.
I have greatly appreciated Dagg’s work, and thank all those who made it’s re-introduction to Baptist life possible.
February 26, 2009 at 9:36 am
What a contrast between Dagg’s view and the view of one prominent spokesman who sees himself as a defender of Baptist identity, who wonders how we can even know if Presbyterians are converted, since they haven’t been baptized! May Dagg’s vision of Baptist life prevail in our day.
February 26, 2009 at 9:44 am
1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, on Fellowship of the Saints:
By their profession of faith, saints are committed to the maintenance of a holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God and in the performance of such other special services as promote their mutual well-being. They are also bound to relieve one another in their temporal concerns according to their various needs and abilities. According to the rule of the gospel, this type of fellowship, while it particularly applies to the family and church relationships of saints, is to be extended, as God gives opportunity, to the whole household of faith, that is to say, to all who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.
February 26, 2009 at 9:59 am
The BFM2K under XIV. Cooperation.
Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries for the extension of Christ’s Kingdom. Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of Christ’s people. Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.
Some might quibble and use the point of one’s “conscience” as a way out, but that cuts both ways.
Mark
February 26, 2009 at 10:10 pm
You guys. Don’t you know that these things are not to be discussed in polite society! Don’t ask, don’t tell, that’s been the policy and it has always worked. We were doing just fine, now you’ve gone and openned the history books. What next, a regenerate membership?
That 1689 is a biased text, and the BFM… well we’ll fix that oversight.
February 28, 2009 at 4:41 am
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