November 18, 1827, New Lisbon, Ohio
In a memoir of his life, minister Walter Scott renounced Calvinism and found success preaching using the words of Peter in Acts chapter two. Preaching on faith, repentance, and baptism had waned. Scott saw it as a perfect time to reintroduce what he called “The Old Jerusalem Gospel.” Scott proclaimed, man has free will and can come to faith through the preaching and study of the gospel. That faith demands a decision to follow Christ after having been baptized for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The rest of this article comes from the voice of Scott and the pen of a believer named William Amend. This is the first adult, believers, baptism known to have been the result of preaching in the early days of the Stone-Campbell Movement. His lessons ended at Acts 2:38 with this challenge, “Is there any man present who will take God at his word and be baptized for the remission of sins?”
[Editor’s note: This is one of about five documents from the 1800’s I reprint every once in a while. It helps to know where we come from as Christians and Americans finding our way through the age or reason.-Jason Sage]
We pick up with Scott discussing the conversion of William Amend from 1827.
“He (Amend-JS) had discovered, some time before, that infant baptism was not taught in the Bible, and, consequently, that he was not a baptised man; the mode of baptism seemed also to him to have been changed, and he sought his pastor, and asked to be immersed. He endeavored to convince him that it 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 doing so, 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.”-Life of Elder Walter Scott
“In order to show these things aright, I must go back a piece. I was at that time a member of that strait sect called Presbyterians, taught many curious things, as election, foreordination, etc.; that belief in these things was necessary; that this faith resulted from some secret impulse; and worse, that I could not believe; and finally, that I must hope and pray that God would have mercy upon me. In this wilderness I became wearied, turned about and came home to the book of God, took it up as if it had dropped from heaven, and read it for myself just one year.
“This inquiry lead me to see that God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believed on him might not perish, but have eternal life. I then inquired how I must believe. Paul said, ‘Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ Also, that faith was ‘the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ Peter spoke of election, saying, ‘Save yourselves.’ Paul said, ‘I must be dead to sin and buried, and raised with Christ Jesus to newness of life.’ The Saviour said, ‘I must be born again if I would enter the kingdom of God.’
These are the words of William Amend in a letter to Walter Scott for his memoirs.
We are in the midst of a four-week (every Sunday evening) study on baptism. I am taking the opportunity to use our bulletin for added teaching. My prayer is to add knowledge to our faith as we learn about God’s soul-saving ceremony of forgiveness. To God be the glory.
Baxter, William. “Life of Elder Water Scott: with Sketches of his Fellow Laborers.” Bosworth, 1874, Cincinnati, pp 106-113.
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