Dorothy PageHatcher, Eldridge B. (Eldridge Burwell)
Religion
Dorothy Page
Hatcher, Eldridge B. (Eldridge Burwell)
Christian fiction
"Here is something about the Baptist soldiers in Oliver Cromwell's army:
'The men who made up the new army of Ironsides, which won the victories
of Naseby and Dunbar, the men who smiled only as they went into battle
and never counted the odds against them, were not Presbyterians, * * * *
they were Independents, the Baptists forming the largest element, men
who believed in self-government in the church as well as in the state'."
"Where do you find that?" asked Sterling with an interested expression.
"It is on pages 394 and 395 of Campbell's 'The Puritan in His Three
Homes, Holland, England and America'. And listen to this from the same
author: 'Thus it came about that the persecuted Anabaptists of Holland,
taking their doctrines from the early Christians, gave birth to the
powerful denomination of Baptists, which has played so important a part
in the history of England and America'."
"Miss Dorothy, you amaze me," said Sterling.
"I learn from my reading that the religious liberty which the Christian
world is enjoying today is largely due to the Baptists."
"Julius Caesar!" exclaimed the father. "What do you think of that,
Sterling?"
"Do you mean to say, Miss Dorothy," asked Sterling, "that you found in
your reading that the great blessings of religious liberty that are
enjoyed in this country, and to a certain extent in Europe, are due to
the Baptist denomination?"
"I find that fact positively stated in many places. Here is something
from the same book of Campbell, 'The Puritan in His Three Homes,
Holland, England and America', which I mentioned just now. It is on
pages 202 and 203: 'But no words of praise can be too strong for the
services which the English Baptists rendered to the cause of religious
liberty. They went down with Cromwell and suffered a relentless
persecution after the restoration of the Stuarts, but they have never
lost their influence as a leaven in the land. In purity of life and
substantial Christian work they have been surpassed by the members of no
other religious body. Having been the first British denomination of
Christians to proclaim the principle of religious liberty, they were
also the first to send out missionaries to the heathen.'"
"Just listen to that!" exclaimed Mr. Page.
Dorothy continued: "'In fact, if the Anabaptists had done nothing more
for the world than to beget such offspring they would have repaid a
thousand-fold the care shown for their liberties by the Prince of
Orange in his contest with some of the narrow-minded Calvinists among
his associates.'"
"Hold on there, you take my breath away," said the father.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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