In view of all the circumstances, this was a very difficult and perplexing question with which to grapple. He was aware of the fact that Mr. Campbell had spoken of baptism in his debate with McCalla as a pledge of pardon, but in this point of view it was, as yet, contemplated only theoretically. However, his knowledge of the Scriptures led him to think that baptism was in some way intimately connected with the personal enjoyment of the blessings of the gospel, but as yet he was unable to perceive just what position it occupied in relation to other requirements.
After a more diligent and prayerful study of the Word of God, and many conferences with other pious and godly men, it became clear to Scott that the Gospel contained facts to be believed, commands to be obeyed, and promises to be enjoyed. But in its specific application it was five-fold: (1) Faith to change the heart; (2) Repentance to change the life; (3) Baptism to change the state; (4) Remission of sins to cleanse from guilt; (5) The gift of the Holy Spirit to help in the Christian life and make one a partaker of the divine nature. This arrangement of these items was so manifestly in harmony with the Scriptures that he was transported with the discovery. The key of knowledge was now in his possession. The things that before were dark and perplexing were now clear and he resolved to preach the same Gospel preached by inspired men, and to preach it in the same way. From his present viewpoint the Word of God was for the salvation of the world, and the inspired teachers made no mistake in their method of preaching it. This was a bold and novel thing to do, but he believed it to be right, and he had the courage of his convictions, and proceeded to do it.
Fearing that he might give cause of offense to the churches which had employed him, he sent an appointment outside the limits of the Association, and with some misgivings, but in an earnest and interesting manner, laid before the audience his analysis of the Gospel, and at the close he gave a formal invitation to any one so disposed to come forward, confess his faith in Christ and be baptized for the remission of sins; but no one came. To his audience this was like the proclamation of a new religion, so different did it seem from the orthodoxy of the day. They regarded him as an amiable but deluded enthusiast, and looked upon him with wonder, pity, and even scorn. This result was not unexpected, for the whole community was filled with the idea that something supernatural had to occur before any one could become a fit subject for baptism. Instead of giving way to this traditional prejudice, he said to himself “This way is of God, and ought to succeed, and with his help it shall.” He was right, and God gave him success, as he gives to all such men. He accordingly announced that he would deliver a series of discourses on the Ancient Gospel at New Lisbon, Ohio, the place at which he had been selected as evangelist by the Association a few months before. Here he was to witness the removal of the barriers and the triumph of the cause that was so near his heart.
When he arrived on Sunday to begin the series of meetings every seat in the building was literally packed, soon even standing room was at a premium, and the doorway was blocked up by the eager throng. Scott was just the man to be moved to the highest point by such an occasion. The following is a vivid description of the events of that day:
His theme was the confession of Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), and the promise which grew out of it, that he should have entrusted to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The declaration of Peter was a theme upon which he had thought for years; it was a fact which he regarded the four gospels was written to establish; to which type and prophecy had pointed in all the ages gone by; which the Eternal Father had announced from heaven when out of the waters of Jordan and the Spirit descended and abode upon him, and which was repeated again amid the awful grandeur and solemnity of the transfiguration scene. He then proceeded to show that the foundation truth of Christianity was the divine nature of the Lord Jesus—the central truth around which all others revolved, and from which they derived their efficacy and importance—and that the belief of it was calculated to produce such love in the heart of him who believed as would lead him to true obedience to the object of his faith and love. To show how that love and faith were to be manifested, he quoted the language of the great commission (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15,16), and called attention to the fact that Jesus had taught his apostles “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). He then led his hearers to Jerusalem on the memorable Pentecost and bade them listen to an authoritative announcement of the law of Christ, now to be made known for the first time by Peter to whom Christ had promised to give the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:16), which he represented as meaning the conditions upon which the guilty might find pardon at the hands of the risen, ascended, and glorified Son of God, and enter his kingdom.
After a rapid yet graphic review of Peter’s discourse, he pointed out its effect on those that heard him, and bade them mark the inquiry which a deep conviction of the truth they had heard forced from the lips of the heart-pierced multitudes, who, in their agony at the discovery that they had put to death the Son of God, their own long-expected Messiah, “said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?” and then with flashing eyes and impassioned manner, as if he fully realized that he was but re-echoing the words of one who spake as the Spirit gave him utterance, he gave the reply, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” He then, with great force and power, made his application; he insisted that the conditions were unchanged, that the Word of God meant what it said, and that to receive and obey it was to obey God and to imitate the example of those who, under the preaching of the apostles, gladly accepted the gospel message. His discourse was long, but his hearers marked not the flight of time. The Baptists forgot, in admiration of its scriptural beauty and simplicity, that it was contrary to much of their own teaching and practice; some of them who had been, in a measure, enlightened before, rejoiced in the truth the moment they perceived it; to others, who had long been perplexed by the difficulties and contradictions of the discordant views of the day, it was light like light to weary travelers long benighted and lost.
The man of all others, however, in that community who would most have delighted in and gladly accepted those views, so old and yet so new, was not there, although almost in hearing of the preacher, who, with such eloquence and power, was setting forth the primitive gospel. This was William Amend, a pious, God-fearing man, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and regarded by his neighbors as an “Israelite indeed.” He had for some time entertained the same views as those Mr. Scott was then preaching in that place for the first time, but was not aware of the fact that any one agreed with him. He was under the impression that all the churches—his own among the number—had departed from the plain teachings of the Word of God. He had discovered, some time before, that infant baptism was not taught in the Bible, and, consequently, that he was not a baptized man; the act of baptism seemed also to him to have been changed, and he sought his pastor, and asked to be immersed. His pastor endeavored to convince him that he was wrong, but finding that he could not be turned from his purpose, he proposed to immerse him privately, lest others of his flock might be unsettled in their minds by his so doing, and closed by saying that baptism was not essential to salvation. Mr. Amend regarded everything that Christ had ordained as being essential, and replied that he should not immerse him at all; that he would wait until he found a man who believed the gospel, and who could, without any scruple, administer the ordinance as he conceived it to be taught in the New Testament.
He was invited a day or two before to hear Mr. Scott, but knowing nothing of his views, he supposed that he preached much as others did, but agreed to go and hear him. It was near the close of the services when he reached the Baptist Church and joined the crowd at the door, who were unable to get into the house. The first sentence he heard aroused and excited him; it sounded like the gospel which he had read with such interest at home, but never had heard from the pulpit before. He now felt a great anxiety to see the man who was speaking so much like the oracles of God, and pressed through the throng into the house.
Mr. Dibble, the clerk of the church, saw him enter, and knowing that he had been seeking and longing to find a man who would preach as the Word of God read, thought within himself, “Had Mr. Amend been here during all this discourse I feel sure that he would have found what he has so long sought in vain. I wish the preacher would repeat what he said before he came in.” Greatly to his surprise Mr. Scott did give a brief review of the various points of his discourse, insisting that the Word of God meant what it said, and urging his hearers to trust that Word implicitly. He rehearsed again the Jerusalem scene, called attention to the earnest, anxious cry of the multitude, and the comforting reply of the apostle, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” He invited any one present who believed with all his heart to yield to the terms proposed in the words of the apostle, and show by a willing obedience his trust in the Lord of life and glory. Mr. Amend pressed his way through the crowd to the preacher and made known his purpose; made a public confession of his faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God and expressed his desire to obey him, at once, and on the same day, in a beautiful, clear stream which flows on the southern border of the town, in the presence of a great multitude, he was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. (Life of Walter Scott, pages 104-108.)
From that day the meeting continued with increasing interest. Seventeen persons, “hearing, believed, and were baptized.” The whole community was aroused and began to search the scriptures, some in the same spirit of the Bereans of old to see whether these things were so; others with no higher purpose than to file objections to that which was so boldly proclaimed, and many of these were forced to admit that if the teaching were false the Bible could not be true, for the preacher could read everything that was demanded from the Word of God.
It was a fortunate thing that a man with such an unsullied character and reputation as that of Mr. Amend should be the first to render obedience to the apostolic teaching at New Lisbon. He was a man with more than ordinary intelligence, and his scriptural knowledge was far beyond that of most men in his station in life. His action was not the result of an impulse produced by Mr. Scott’s discourse, for that he had not heard; but from a careful study of the Word of God. He was not aware of the fact that there was another person in the world who held similar views to his own.
Although Mr. Scott was pleased with the initial success, it was still a mystery to him why his first discourse had failed to convince any one, and that at the close of the second, Mr. Amend, who had heard neither of them, should come forward so intelligently; hence he wrote a letter requesting him to state the facts which induced him to respond to the invitation so promptly, to which he replied:
Now, my brother, I will answer your questions. I was baptized November 18, 1827, and I will relate to you a circumstance which occurred a few days before that date. I had read the second chapter of Acts when I expressed myself to my wife as follows: “Oh, this is the gospel—this is the thing we wish—remission of our sins! Oh, that I could hear the gospel in these same words—as Peter preached it! I hope I shall some day hear it; and the first man I meet who will preach the gospel thus, with him will I go.” So, my brother, on the day you saw me come into the meeting-house, my heart was open to receive the Word of God, and when you cried, “The scriptures no longer shall be a sealed book. God means what he says. Is there any man who will take God at his word, and be baptized for the remission of sins?” at that moment my feelings were such that I could have cried out, “Glory to God! I have found the man for whom I have long sought.” So I entered the kingdom where I readily laid hold of the hope set before me. (Life of Walter Scott, page 113.)
Within three weeks after the close of the meeting at New Lisbon, Mr. Scott returned and found the interest there greater than when he left, and seven others were baptized. Soon after this he visited there again, and baptized more than thirty others. The members of the Baptist Church gladly accepted the truth, and resolved that thenceforth the Bible should be their only rule of faith and practice.