THE CHURCH,
THE FALLING AWAY,
AND
THE RESTORATION
BY
J. W. SHEPHERD
Editor of
“Handbook on Baptism,” “Queries and Answers,” “Salvation of Sin,” “What is the New Testament Church?”
GOSPEL ADVOCATE COMPANY
Nashville, Tenn.
1961
Copyright
1929
By F. L. Rowe
Gospel Advocate Co., Owner
Nashville, Tenn.
CONTENTS
[Preface] 3 PART ONE The Church [What Should the Church of the Present Be?] 5 [The Church and the Temple] 9 [Infant Baptism] 16 [Conditions of Membership] 25 [Conditions of Admission] 25 [Agencies] 28 [Conditions] 28 [Conditions of Continued Membership] 29 [The Worship] 32 [The Apostles’ Teaching] 36 [The Fellowship] 38 [Breaking Bread] 39 [Prayers] 40 [Singing] 40 [Polity] 42 [The Word of God] 42 [Names] 43 [Congregational Independence] 44 [Elders] 45 [Deacons] 47 [Evangelists] 47 PART TWO The Falling Away [The Falling Away Predicted] 49 [The Falling Away] 54 [The Confessional] 63 [Indulgences] 67 [John Tetzel] 69 PART THREE The Reformation In Europe [John Wyckliffe] 74 [Translates the Bible Into English] 75 [William Tyndale] 79 [Erasmus Arrives in England] 80 [Tyndale Translates the Bible Into English] 82 [Goes to Hamburg] 84 [Bishop of London Supplies Money] 86 [Betrayed and Murdered] 88 [Martin Luther] 89 [A Friend Indeed] 90 [Becomes a Monk] 91 [Makes a Pilgrimage to Rome] 94 [Professor of Theology at Wittenburg] 96 [The Ninety-five Theses] 97 [Debates With John Eck and Burns the Papal Bull] 100 [Before the Diet of Worms] 103 [Under Imperial Ban] 110 [A Change Comes Over Luther] 112 [Retains What Is Not Forbidden] 115 [Origin of Protestantism] 116 [The Reformation in Switzerland] 122 [The Reformation in England] 126 [Changes Made by Edward VI] 129 [“Bloody Mary”] 131 [Elizabeth, the Protestant Queen] 133 [The Reformation in Scotland] 138 [The Independents] 138 [Haldane and Aikman] 141 [The Scotch Baptists] 142 [The Separatists] 144 PART FOUR The Restoration Movement In America [Spiritual Unrest in Many Places] 148 [Barton W. Stone] 153 [Confronted by Many Difficulties] 153 [Ordained to the Ministry] 157 [Remarkable Meeting at Cane Ridge] 160 [“A Time of Distress”] 163 [Last Will and Testament] 166 [The Witnesses’ Address] 167 [Practices Modified in Many Particulars] 169 [“Shakerism”] 170 [The Work Prospers] 171 [Thomas Campbell] 175 [Conflict With the Seceders] 175 [The Declaration and Address] 180 [Alexander Campbell] 188 [Subject and Act of Baptism Settled] 188 [The Redstone Association] 195 [A Wider Field] 199 [The Campbell-McCalla Discussion] 203 [Visits the Kentucky Baptists] 207 [John Smith] 209 [Soul Struggles] 210 [Desires to Preach] 213 [Terrible Calamity] 215 [Preaches at Crab Orchard] 215 [The Christian Baptist] 217 [Fetters Cast Off] 218 [Resolves to Preach the Simple Gospel] 220 [“Ancient Order”—Baptists in Kentucky] 224 [Walter Scott] 231-236 [A Sincere Truth Seeker] 232 [Turning Point in His Life] 235 [Reformers in Other States—John Wright] 246 [Herman Christian Dasher] 249 [The Christians and Reformers Unite] 251
PREFACE
An effort is made in the following pages to set forth what the New Testament church was when it came into the world through the preaching of inspired men; how it was led into apostasy; and an account of some of the many attempts to restore it to its original purity and simplicity.