John Gill and his Exposition of the Whole Bible

John Gill was an English Particular Baptist pastor, theologian, and author. He was born November 23, 1697 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, to Edward and Elizabeth Gill. His father was a deacon in the local Baptist church. There in Kettering he attended grammar school. He also helped his father in the wool trade. He was a ready scholar, mastering the Latin classics and Greek by age 11 or 12. As a dissenter, he was excluded from the bigger and better higher learning institutions of England (such as Oxford & Cambridge). He continued on his own studies of everything from logic to Hebrew, becoming a well-known well-respected Hebraist.

After relating his experience to the Baptist Church at Kettering, John Gill was baptized in November 1716. In March of 1720, he was ordained and became the pastor of the Goat Yard Church (Southwark, London). He served that church for about 51 years. Gill would be followed by John Rippon, and after a series of moves of location, Charles Haddon Spurgeon would become the pastor.[i] John Gill died October 14, 1771 and was buried at the dissenter’s burial ground, Bunhill Fields. He married Elizabeth Negus in 1718, and she preceded him in death in 1764.

Gill was an outstanding Bible scholar and doctrinal polemicist. He wrote not only in quality, but in quantity, earning the nickname “Dr. Voluminous.” He was a decided and vocal proponent of the five points commonly called Calvinism, but he has been somewhat misrepresented as a “hyper-Calvinist.” In By His Grace and For His Glory, chapter 2, Tom Nettles successfully refutes that charge.[ii]

Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible was produced over a period of almost 20 years, 1746-1763. When I was young, I heard that John Gill is the only man who ever wrote a commentary on every verse of the Bible.[iii] I know there are other “whole Bible” commentaries. Matthew Henry’s work would seem to compete with Gill’s claim to fame – except that Henry died having only gotten through the book of Acts; his commentary was finished by others. Matthew Poole’s Annotations is somewhat the same, finished by others. Some “whole Bible” commentaries cover all the books of the Bible, but unlike Gill’s, do not have comments on every verse. Some commentary sets may cover every verse, while not done by one person. Just a few years ago, Chip Thornton wrote:

“Gill is the only man who ever lived (to my knowledge) who commented on every single verse in the Bible (by age 66) and wrote a systematic theology (by age 72). Given his training in logic, the order is noteworthy: exposition, first; systematic theology, second.”

Ian Hugh Clary describes Gill as “the first person to complete a verse-by-verse commentary on the whole of Scripture in English.” I wonder whether John Gill still holds the “record” of being the only man to produce a commentary on every verse of the Bible.

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[i] I have read that it was John Gill who recommended Morgan Edwards to the Baptist church in Philadelphia.
[ii] Gill believed, for example, “The ministry of the word is for the conversion of sinners; without which churches would not be increased nor supported, and must in course fail, and come to nothing; but the hand of the Lord being with his ministers, many in every age believe and turn to the Lord, and are added to the churches; by which means they are kept up and preserved: and hence it is necessary in the ministers of the word, to set forth the lost and miserable estate and condition of men by nature, the danger they are in, the necessity of regeneration and repentance, and of a better righteousness than their own, and of faith in Christ; which things are blessed for the turning of men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” (Nettles, p. 106)
[iii] I must give the caveat that, though one who regularly checks the comments of Gill, I have not personally looked up every verse in the Bible exposition by Gill, so it might be possible he skipped over some verses. I have not had such an experience of finding nothing on any verse I have checked.

The Church that John the Baptist Prepared

The Church that John the Baptist Prepared: A Study of the Life, Ministry, and Theology of the Messiah’s Forerunner (2nd Edition, Revised) Joel R. Grassi, Cromwell, CT: Bible Baptist Theological Press, 2021.

The author, Joel R. Grassi, is pastor of Commonwealth Community Baptist Church in Bronx, New York. The book The Church that John the Baptist Prepared is a revised edition of Joel Grassi’s doctoral thesis at Emmanuel Baptist Theological Seminary in Newington, Connecticut.

In the “Foreword,” Thomas Strouse explains “The organization of the book follows the words of Mt. 3:1-2a made into Four Sections: I. ‘In Those Days;’ II. ‘Came John the Baptist;’ III. ‘Preaching in the Wilderness of Judaea;’ and IV. ‘And Saying.’ Within these Four Sections are twenty-three chapters with 841 pages and 1542 footnotes” (p. 12). In addition to the meat of the work, the book includes a Foreword, Preface, Overview, and Bibliography. No index is provided.

Grassi’s work accepts the high esteem that Jesus Christ places on John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11). This accepted, the author mines the Scriptures to develop the proper view of John’s baptism and theology in relation to New Testament theology and ecclesiology. “Christ’s church did not fall out of heaven to Him. Rather, the disciples of Christ were passed to Him via the hands of John the Baptist, who preached the Lamb of God unto them and immersed them upon seeing the fruits of their repentance” (p. 19). He is rightly convinced that the “Biblical record must be the final authority for assessing the significance of John the Baptist” (ibid).

I am uncertain whether there is any other in-depth development of the theology of John the Baptist as what is found in this work. Grassi looks at John’s bibliology, theology proper, Christology, pneumatology, soteriology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Most readers – even Baptists – will likely be forced to consider John in detail far beyond what they have previously considered.

A detailed review of a book this large would take more time than I have, and more words than my readers might read. Suffice it to say, for students interested in Bible study, ecclesiology, and Baptists, this will be an instructional and beneficial read that I recommend to you.

Other works by Grassi include

• A Critical Analysis of the English Standard Version of 2001

For more information, see also:

• New Bible Baptist Church Books
• Second Edition of John the Baptist Book is Now Available
• The Church that John the Baptist Prepared

Baptismal Anthem, by B. F. White

First published in The Sacred Harp, 1844

George Elliott Jones: Author, Debater, Preacher

When I wrote about “Bible numerics,” I mentioned the book That Ye May Marvel, Or, The Significance of Bible Numbers (Jonesboro, AR: Sammons, 1953), written by George Elliott Jones (1889-1966). Jones was a prolific author and well-respected Baptist preacher in Arkansas.

I found The Teachings of Elder G. E. Jones on issuu, a site that turns PDFs into Flipbooks. Shayne Moses of Johnson City, Tennessee created the project. I am unsure of his connection to G. E. Jones. Concerning Brother Jones, Moses wrote:

George Elliott Jones was born July 12, 1889, in Morrilton, Arkansas, but spent most of his boyhood in Plumerville, Arkansas, and graduated from high school in that town. In 1914 he graduated from Ouachita Baptist College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He was ordained to the ministry in 1912. He pastored various churches in Arkansas and Missouri. He was engaged in over 400 revival meetings and Bible schools in 16 different states. For two years he was Bible teacher for young preachers in Missouri and for four years, he served in the same capacity in Arkansas. He was the author of 29 books and booklets. For 12 years he was writer of Sunday School lessons for Associational Baptists. For over 30 years he contributed articles for various Baptist papers.

The Bend Bulletin, Wednesday, June 29, 1949, page 4

G. E. Jones was the son of Dr. William Allen Jones and Mary Etta Adams. He married Loleta Faye Crotchett (1900–1999) in 1919, and they had at least 6 children (one of whom may still be living). G. E. and Faye are buried at the Elmwood Cemetery in Morrilton, Conway County, Arkansas.

Jefferson County Republican, Thursday, June 7, 1940, page 1

Books and Booklets by G. E. Jones, in alphabetical order:

The Kellar Library of the Baptist Missionary Association of America Seminary has 29 titles of George Elliott Jones. One is a posthumous reprint of an earlier book, with a revised title. In addition, I have a copy of A Written Scriptural Discussion between Eld. G. E. Jones and Eld. P. D. Ballard (published by Paul Dempsey Ballard, no date, but circa 1961).

• A Verse-By-Verse Commentary on Revelation, Little Rock, AR: Capitol Off-Set Printing, 1963
• Apostasy and Security, Morrilton, AR: G. E. Jones, n.d.
• Christ Revealed in the Tabernacle, Jonesboro, AR: Sammons Publishing, n.d.
• Freedom from the Law and Spiritual Growth, Morrilton, AR: Poindexter Printing, 1964
• God’s Election of Grace, Jonesboro, AR: Sammons Publishing, 1950
• God’s Everlasting Salvation Brings Everlasting Consolation, Morrilton, AR: Poindexter Printing, 1966
• Identified with Christ: a Book of Sermons, Morrilton, AR: Poindexter Printing, 1965
• Is There a Difference in the Churches? n.p., n.d.
• Jones-Wilhite Discussion on the Design of Baptism, Morrilton, AR: G. E. Jones, 1940
• Light on Revelation, Texarkana, TX/AR: Helms Printing, 1934
• Once for All: Sixteen Lessons, Morrilton, AR: G. E. Jones, 1957 (2nd edition)
• Seeing the Glory of God, n.p., n.d.
• Seven Links in the Chain of God’s Purpose, Morrilton, AR: Poindexter Printing, 1961
• That Ye May Marvel: or The Significance of Bible Numbers, Jonesboro, AR: Sammons Publishing, 1953
• The 1000 Years Reign of Christ: or, The Earth’s Great Jubilee, Little Rock, AR: Capitol Off-Set Printing, 1957
• The Earth’s Great Jubilee, Morrilton, AR: G. E. Jones, n.d.
• The First Resurrection, Morrilton, AR: G. E. Jones, n.d.
• The Gospel in Ruth, Morrilton, AR: Morrilton Democrat, n.d.
• The Millennial Issue, Texarkana, AR: Baptist Sunday School Committee, n.d.
• The Miracle of Divine Inspiration, Jonesboro, AR: Sammons Publishing, n.d.
• The Pattern, the Tabernacle, the Christ, Little Rock, AR: Baptist Publications, 1962 (Revision and Enlargement of Christ Revealed in the Tabernacle)
• The Pillar of Cloud and Fire, Morrilton, AR: G. E. Jones, n.d.
• The Tribe of Ishmael, Texarkana, TX/AR: Baptist Sunday School Committee, n.d.
• The Truth vs. Non-millennial Tradition, Morrilton, AR: G. E. Jones, n.d.
• The World System and the Social Gospel, Morrilton, AR: G. E. Jones, n.d.
• Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass, Texarkana, TX/AR: Baptist Sunday School Committee, n.d.
• Twenty-six Doctrinal Lessons from the New Testament (A Study Course), Texarkana, TX/AR: Baptist Sunday School Committee, n.d.
• Twenty-six Doctrinal Lessons from the Old Testament (A Study Course), Texarkana, TX/AR: Baptist Sunday School Committee, n.d.
• Twenty-six New Testament Lessons, Little Rock, AR: Baptist Publishing House, 1977

Some Debates in which G. E. Jones Participated, in chronological order:

Debate opponent, Denomination, Date, Subject, Place, Source

• Henry Franklin Cates, Church of Christ, February 1922 (kingdom and apostasy) Bee Branch, Van Buren County, Arkansas, Christian Worker, March 9, 1922
• Albert Page Anderson, Church of God, July 1940 (miraculous gifts & eternal security) De Soto, Missouri, Jefferson County Republican, June 27, 1940
• Ernest Rosenthal Harper, Church of Christ, 1940, (apostasy, baptism, church) Chickalah, Arkansas, The Encyclopedia of Religious Debates, Volume 3, Thomas N. Thrasher, 2020; The Daily Ardmoreite, March 19, 1954
• Anderson Quincy Bridwell, Church of God, November 1941 (reign of Christ) Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Daily American Republic, October 17, 1941
• John Porter Wilhite, Church of Christ, 1945 (baptism, apostasy) Turley, Oklahoma, The Encyclopedia of Religious Debates, Volume 3, Thomas N. Thrasher, 2020
• Emory Lon Whitaker, Christian Church, circa 1945, written debate (apostasy, eternal security), The Encyclopedia of Religious Debates, Volume 3, Thomas N. Thrasher, 2020; Once For All by G. E. Jones; A Once-for-All Answer to “Once for All”, by E. L. Whitaker
• John Porter Wilhite, Church of Christ, May 1948, Turley, Oklahoma, The Encyclopedia of Religious Debates, Volume 3, Thomas N. Thrasher, 2020
• Paul Dempsey Ballard, Missionary Baptist, circa 1961, written debate (general judgment, millennium) 

The Little Baptist: Postcript

I am posting here a little more detail about my reasoning and how I came to the conclusion that the novel The Little Baptist by James M. Martin was written sometime between May 22, 1869 and May 27, 1871. I have interpreted the information that I have in light of the sequence of events that M. P. Lowrey lays out in The Baptist on March 18, 1876. He starts in the present, then moves backwards, relating prior events. The events surrounding J. M. Martin writing The Little Baptist unfold in the following chronological order.

References from The Baptist periodical[i]

1869, May

J. R. Graves: “Glancing over the book that lay upon the center table in the parlor of Bro. S., one small nicely bound one attracted our eye. We looked at the title page. ‘The Little Episcopalian’…There should be a prize of $100 offered for the best book written under this title: ‘The Little Baptist.’ Is there not a brother, or a church that will do it?” “Editorial Hurrygraphs,” The Baptist, Saturday, May 22, 1869, page 4.

1869, June

J. R. Graves: “Sunday-school Books wanted on the following subjects… ‘The Little Baptist’—(Engaged)…Now, who will write and give one of these books to the Board, as a contribution to the Sunday-school cause?...And the Board will offer a prize of $200 for the best MSS. on ‘The Little Baptist,’ we are confident. If it will not, we will ourself. Who will write?” “Items,” The Baptist, Saturday, June 19, 1869, page 5.[ii]

1869, July

J. R. Graves: “Miss Mary Lane, Tenn.—It will be for the S. S. Board to decide on the MSS. offered for ‘Little Baptist.’ 100 pages MS. will be quite enough matter. Let all who feel like it try, and forward MS. to S. C. Rogers, Dep. Agent.” “Letter Box,” The Baptist, Saturday, July 24, 1869, page 5

1871, May

T. C. Teasdale: “Sunday School Report…In the Publications Department considerable advance had been made over any previous year…Several books designed for Sunday-school libraries had been stereotyped and others were ready. Among those ready for the publication rooms were…’The Little Baptist,’ by Eld. J. M. Martin, of Rienzi, Miss…” “Annual Session of the Southern Baptist Convention,” The Baptist, Saturday, May 27, 1871, page 4. [This is probably a summary of the report rather than the exact words written in the report.]

1876, March

M. P. Lowrey: “Years ago Bro. Graves, in his travels, saw a little book entitled ‘The Little Episcopalian.’ He was impressed with the ingenuity and simplicity of the book, and made a call at once for some one to write a book to be entitled ‘The Little Baptist.’” “More About Our Recent Visit To Memphis,” in “Mississippi Department,” The Baptist, March 18, 1876, page 264.

1876, April

M. P. Lowrey: “Our readers will be interested in extracts from a letter just received from an able minister and valued friend of our youthful days: … “Am glad to hear that Bro. Martin’s ‘Little Baptist’ will be published. Hope he will write something else as good. God bless him. (This brother has read a part of the manuscript of Bro. Martin’s book.) “Notes,” in “Mississippi Department,” The Baptist, April 22, 1876, page 344.

1876, June

W. D. Mayfield: “’The Apostolic Church’… ‘History of Sunday Schools’ … And these splendid works will be followed by ‘Little Baptist,’ a charming story by Bro. Martin and Dr. Lowrey.” “Great Debate,” The Baptist, Saturday, June 3, 1876, page 436.

1876, June

W. D. Mayfield: “We want all agents to canvass also for ‘History of Sunday-schools,’ ‘Apostolic Church,’ and ‘Little Baptist.’ These books are all going into type now. They will have a large sale.” “The Great Debate and Other Books,” The Baptist, Saturday, June 10, 1876, page 453. [iii]

1877, April

Southern Baptist Publication Society: “Little Baptist, by J. M. Martin. Revised and corrected by M. P. Lowrey, D.D., price in cloth 1.00 Morocco 2.00.” “Condensed List of Our New and Popular Publications,” The Baptist, Saturday, April 7, 1877, page 287.

 

M. P. Lowery, “More About Our Recent Visit To Memphis,” in “Mississippi Department,” The Baptist, March 18, 1876, page 264.

Order of events

• 1. In his travels, J. R. Graves saw the book The Little Episcopalian and called at once for someone to write The Little Baptist. This is what Graves relates in The Baptist, May 22, 1869 concerning his travel to Georgia.
• 2. J. M. Martin went to work and soon offered the manuscript to the Sunday-school Board. This was done while T. C. Teasdale was Corresponding Secretary of the Board, which is September 1869-Sept 1871. The Little Baptist by Martin was “ready for the publication rooms” in May 1871.
• 3. According to Lowrey, a few copies of Martin’s material was published in The Baptist. I am not sure what to make of this – either what or when. Is it possible it was published separately as a sort of newspaper serial, and not in the regular issues of The Baptist? Or is Lowrey mistaken? Did he mean “by” rather than “in”? I have not found material from this novel published in The Baptist.[iv]
• 4. The Sunday School Board “went down” and the (rights to) the manuscript went back to J. M. Martin. Lowrey seems to imply the book was never published. According to J. M. Frost’s book, The Sunday School Board: Its History and Work (p. 8), the first Sunday School Board was discontinued by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1873.
• 5. M. P. Lowrey, acting for J. M. Martin, and sold the rights to the book to W. D. Mayfield on behalf of the Southern Baptist Publication Society.
• 6. After revision by Lowrey and Martin, the book is going to print by the Southern Baptist Publication Society in the Spring of 1876.
• 7. The book The Little Baptist is available for purchase from the Southern Baptist Publication Society at least by April 1877.

If M. P. Lowrey’s comments are accurate, and considering other information found in issues of The Baptist, then J. M. Martin wrote The Little Baptist after Graves called for it in May 1869, and before May 1871 when it is described as ready for the publication rooms.”

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[i] I have not had access to other Baptist periodicals of this time period.
[ii] It is not clear to me how to understand “(Engaged)” beside the titles in the June 19, 1869 article. Does that just mean that the Board has agreed I was confused by that as well, but thought the best possible interpretation might be that someone had already engaged in writing it.
[iii] Around this same time, 1876. the SBPS started or attempted to start a periodical called The Little Baptist. It should not be confused with the novel The Little Baptist.
[iv] However, M. P. Lowrey is closely associated with the publication of The Baptist in this period, so should be a reliable witness.

J. M. Martin and “The Little Baptist”

“and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:15

“Oh, Mamma! look here! This Bible that brother gave me, is a Baptist Bible.”

What is The Little Baptist?

The Little Baptist is a religious novel that critiques infant baptism and teaches Baptist distinctives. The primary audience is children, but it may be read with profit by adults. The story follows 10-year-old Mellie Brown. Though her family is Presbyterian, through reading a Bible given to her by her brother, she sees the mode of baptism is immersion. The novel is built around the discussions and interactions of Mellie, her parents, her friends, Dr. Farnsworth (a Presbyterian minister), Dr. Atwood (a Christian/Campbellite minister), and others. The blurb on the back of the Bogard Press printing explains:

The title is derived from the taunting nickname given a bright girl of ten years, because of her inquisitiveness in reading the Bible. Mellie Brown, child of a Presbyterian family, received a Bible as a gift and upon reading it came to the story of the baptism of Jesus. When she had finished this story, she protested to her mother that a mistake had been made and that a Baptist Bible had been given to her. This started conversations in the home, on the school grounds, and among Mellie’s friends on such subjects as baptism—form, subject, design; communion, as they called it; and a scriptural church. In easy language throughout Mellie supports her positions by the use of the text of the Bible; she cites no so-called authorities. A most convincing story.

The popularity of The Little Baptist can be seen in its being kept in print from the 19th century to the present by various publishers, such as Baptist Book Concern, Louisville, KY (1898);[i] Broadman Press, Nashville, TN (no date); Bogard Press, Texarkana, AR-TX (no date);[ii] and Parker Memorial Baptist Church, Lansing, MI (no date). Besides remaining in print, the public domain book is available online in assorted locations. 

About 1876, J. R. Graves’s paper The Baptist began to advertise a version edited by M. P. Lowrey, a Baptist preacher in Ripley, Mississippi. A statement by Lowrey in the “Mississippi Department” of The Baptist suggests this edition was printed by the Southern Baptist Publication Society. The 1898 Baptist Book Concern printing includes a “Preface to New Edition,” which indicates some minor editing by T. T. Eaton of Louisville, Kentucky. Also, an appendix on baptism from the periodical The Baptist Outlook was probably added at that same time (1898).[iii] At least one printing has the subtitle “A Young Girl’s Look at Plain Truth.”

Who wrote The Little Baptist?

J. M. Martin of Rienzi, Mississippi.

In his “Preface” to the book, Martin apprises his readers:

I have written a book; not for the student of classic lore, but for the young, to whom plain truths are of more value than polished style. Should it serve the cause of truth, I shall be content for critics to exercise their talents upon its imperfections. The object of the book is to give a plain, common sense view of the doctrines of the gospel, and to present, in a simple style, the peculiar features distinguishing Baptists from all other Christian denominations. I have no design against the Presbyterians, as such, but select them only as representatives of the great Pedo-baptist family. The expressions that Dr. Farnsworth is made to use, are generally the stereotyped sentences used by Methodist and Presbyterian controversialists with whom I am acquainted. The trial and expulsion of Mrs. Brown from the church, is introduced merely to form a basis from which to present the Communion question in its true light, and not with a view to show intolerance in the Presbyterian church.

With whatever imperfections this book may have, and with a just feeling of responsibility for the result of its teachings, I send it forth, attended by a fervent prayer that it may be instrumental in the accomplishment of much good.

J. M. MARTIN.

Rienzi, Miss.

Who was J. M. Martin?

From the book itself, we can determine J. M. Martin (1) lived in Rienzi, Mississippi, (2) was a Baptist.[iv] Beyond that he is not identified. However, the specification of Rienzi, Mississippi as his residence helps us narrow down and identify the author. He is sometimes misidentified. For example, Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967 has this entry for J. M. Martin.

MARTIN, JAMES M: ?-1900. James M. Martin was for many years a Baptist minister in Rienze, Mississippi. He was present at the founding of the Tishomingo Baptist Association in 1860 and served as its first secretary. In 1898 appeared Martin’s The Little Baptist, designed to present to children the doctrines of the Baptist Church. F; A Complete History of Mississippi Baptists by Zachary Taylor Leavell. 

The Little Baptist. Louisville: Baptist Book Concern, 1898.

Which Way, Sirs, the Better? A Story of Our Toilers. Boston: Arena Publishing Company, 1895.

- From Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967, James B. Lloyd, Editor. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1981, page 326.

This entry contains at least two errors (and maybe more). Assuming the book first appeared in 1898, the compilers apparently looked for a J. M. Martin who died after 1898, but a 1900 death date is wrong. The second book listed was written by J. M. Martin of New Castle, Pennsylvania, not J. M. Martin of Alcorn County, Mississippi. Thirdly, it is not certain that Martin was an ordained minister. Most likely he was not.

Statements about the book and its author by M. P. Lowrey in the “Mississippi Department” of The Baptist provide information to identify the author, as well as roughly when The Little Baptist was written. Lowrey explains:

Acting for Bro. J. M. Martin, lately of Rienzi, but now of Corinth, we sold to Bro. Mayfield, for the Publication Society, the manuscript of a little book, entitled ‘The Little Baptist.’ Years ago Bro. Graves, in his travels, saw a little book entitled ‘The Little Episcopalian.’ He was impressed with the ingenuity and simplicity of the book, and made a call at once for some one to write a book to be entitled ‘The Little Baptist.’ Bro. Martin’s ready mind and ready pen were soon at work, and the manuscript was soon offered to the Sunday-school Board. While Dr. Teasdale was Corresponding Secretary of the Board he examined the manuscript and was much pleased with it. A few copies of it were published in The Baptist, and, we think, met a general approval. The Sunday-school Board went down and the manuscript fell back to Bro. Martin. He put it in our hands for examination and revision. We returned it to him with some suggestions. He re wrote it, then returned it to us, we carefully examined and revised it again, and now it is gone to the Publication Society, and will soon go to the public, printed and bound in that handsome style so characteristic of our new Society. It will be an attractive book to children; but if our Pedobaptist people do not want their children to take a common sense view of Bible teaching on baptism and communion they would better keep that book out of their hands. We shall have more to say about it (D. V.) when it is published.

- “More About Our Recent Visit To Memphis,” M. P. Lowrey in “Mississippi Department,” The Baptist, March 18, 1876, page 264.

Lowrey provides a bit of extra information that is important.[v] J. M. Martin had lived in Rienzi, but had recently moved to Corinth, Mississippi. This movement is consistent with a particular J. M. (James M.) Martin who is found in Rienzi in the 1850-1870 censuses, but is living in Corinth in 1880. J. M. Martin was still living in Rienzi in March of 1875 when a tornado hit the town and destroyed his home.[vii]  By March of 1876 he had moved to Corinth. Censuses show his occupation as farmer, clerk of a dry goods store, and circuit clerk of Alcorn County. At the time of his death, he was apparently publisher of the Corinth Herald newspaper.[vii]

In 1860, this J. M. Martin was appointed secretary of a convention called at Burnsville for the purpose of organizing a new Baptist Association. He was later elected the first clerk of the Tishomingo Baptist Association. He attended as a delegate of the Baptist Church at Rienzi. M. P. Lowrey was his pastor. As clerk, Martin was given responsibility to superintend the printing of the minutes and their distribution. He was paid $10 for his services.[viii]  Other accessible minutes suggest he probably served as clerk until around 1874.[ix]  He was a very active member of the association, writing reports, participating in union meetings, etc. At the 1866 associational meeting, J. M. Martin was one among thirteen men assigned to write essays to be read at the union meeting of the first district of the association in July of 1867. His topic was “The Kingdom of Christ.”[x] He was elected treasurer of a Sunday School Convention organized at Corinth Church in 1871.[xi] M. P. Lowrey describes Martin as a “frequent correspondent” of The Baptist.[xii] However, despite sometimes being identified as “Rev.” or “Eld.” in various media, he apparently was a layman (or perhaps a deacon) rather than a preacher. That he is never included in Tishomingo Baptist Association list of either ordained or licensed ministers should be sufficient evidence of that. Oddly enough, he is listed as “Eld. J. M. Martin” in the 1894 Tishomingo Association minute book that includes his name in the deaths from Corinth Baptist Church.

J. M. Martin was born February 26, 1827 in Alabama, apparently the son of John Martin and Elizabeth Norman. His middle name may have been “Monroe.”[xiii] Martin married Eliza (last name unknown) circa 1847, and they had at least seven children.[xiv] J. M. Martin died of the results of a stroke October 28, 1893, and was buried beside his wife in the Henry Cemetery at Corinth.

J. M. Martin died at Corinth last week, having suffered a stroke of paralysis. He was 66 years old, served the county in the capacity of circuit clerk for eight years.[xv] 

Available testimony concerning James M. Martin distinguishes him as an honorable member of the Baptist brotherhood and respectable citizen of Alcorn County, Mississippi. Though The Little Baptist has remained a popular book, it seems its author—at least as an author—has been largely forgotten. Though he wrote for the faith rather than fortune and fame, perhaps it is time to render honour to whom honour is due.

When was The Little Baptist written?

If you check on the internet, you will find claims that The Little Baptist was written in 1848. For example, “The Little Baptist has been out of print since 1848. It was written by J. M. Martin of Rienzi, Mississippi, and was published by the Baptist Book Concern well before the Civil War.” This statement is incorrect. There is a misprinting of the date in some Baptist Book Concern editions – 1848 rather than 1898.[xvi] 1898 is the correct date and is properly printed in other editions. That the 1848 date is incorrect may be seen in the following facts:

• The Baptist Book Concern of Louisville, Kentucky was formed about 1890 by W. P. Harvey and T. T. Eaton. It did not exist in 1848.[xvii] 
• The Little Baptist was written after The Little Episcopalian, which was published in 1854.[xviii] 
• The first printer of the book, Southern Baptist Publication Society, was not chartered until 1871.[xix] 
• The book first printed after March 1876, with the possible exception of some excerpts running in The Baptist.[xx] 

These facts demonstrate that the book could not have been written in 1848. Its time of writing may be narrowed by two points made by M. P. Lowery. The Little Baptist was written by James M. Martin (1827-1893) of Alcorn County, Mississippi between May 1869 and May 1871. In May 1869, J. R. Graves recounts seeing the book The Little Episcopalian, and asks, “Is there not a brother, or a church that will write” a book under the title The Little Baptist? T. C. Teasdale received a copy while he was corresponding secretary of the Sunday School Board. He served in that position in September 15, 1869 to September 15, 1871. On May 27, 1871 (The Baptist, page 4), The Little Baptist is described as being “ready for the publication rooms.” However, there are currently no extant advertisements of the book for sale by the Sunday School Board. The Little Baptist was evidently first printed and sold by the Southern Baptist Publication Society circa 1876-77. More information on the printing by SBPS is doubtless out there somewhere, but I have yet to find it.

The Southern Baptist Publication Society…Condensed List of Our New and Popular Publications

The Baptist, Saturday, April 14, 1877, page 303

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[i] In the “Preface to New Edition,” T. T. Eaton says that over 100,000 copies has been issued before the printing of this new edition in 1898.

[ii] The Bogard Press states they took up printing The Little Baptist because “the former publishers elected not to reprint it.” This probably most immediately was Broadman Press. They also have a note “No changes have been made in the present edition.”

[iii] I do not have first edition, circa 1876, and so cannot determine whether the “Appendix” was added in 1898 or was part of the first printing.

[iv] Though in his preface Martin does not specifically state that he is a Baptist, his book promoting and defending Baptist principles makes that conclusion obvious.

[v] Mark Perrin Lowrey labored with Martin in the Tishomingo Association, so was personally acquainted with him.

[vi] As well as other homes, and the church buildings of the Baptists and Presbyterians.

[vii] An obituary of Judson Martin, J. M.’s son, says his father established the Herald and that the son took over as publisher after the death of his father. Jackson Daily News, Saturday, August 14, 1909, p. 3.

[viii] A Complete History of Mississippi Baptists, Volume II, Zachary Taylor Leavell; Bailey, Thomas Jefferson Bailey; Jackson, MS: Mississippi Baptist Publishing Co., 1904, pp. 894-896. Minutes of the Convention Organizing the Tishomingo Baptist Association, November 9-10, 1860, pp. 1-3, 8.

[ix] A number of early minutes of the Tishomingo Baptist Association can be found at Archive.org. The association likely did not meet in some of the years during the War.

[x] Minutes of the Sixth Anniversary of the Tishomingo Baptist Association, September 1866, p. 4.

[xi] “S. S. Conventions. Corinth,” in “Mississippi Department,” The Baptist, Saturday, May 27, 1871, p. 3.

[xii] “Summary,” by M. P. Lowrey in “Mississippi Department,” The Baptist, Saturday, March 27, 1875, p. 3.

[xiii] His parents and middle name come from family tree information posted on Ancestry.com – some of which is unsourced. A newspaper obituary confirms that Thomas Norman Martin of Driftwood Springs, Hays County, Texas is his brother (The Weekly Corinthian, July 24, 1901, p. 3). There is no obvious kinship to well-known Mississippi Baptist preachers M. T. Martin and T. T. Martin.

[xiv] Found in censuses are: Nancy, Betty, Laura, Margaret, Catherine (Kitty), Martha, Judson, and Mary. Based on age, Margaret and Catherine may be the same person. There might be other children who died between censuses. As a Baptist father of many daughters, he was no doubt uniquely qualified to write the story of heroine Mellie Brown.

[xv] “Miscellaneous,” The Grenada Sentinel, Saturday, November 11, 1893, p. 2.

[xvi] “In some copies of the Baptist Book Concern’s printing of The Little Baptist, the publication date mistakenly is typed as 1848…” Email from Adam G. Winters (Archivist, James P. Boyce Centennial Library) 17 April 2023.

[xvii] “My understanding is that the Baptist Book Concern launched in January 1890, according to two editorials (January 9 and 30 of 1890) in the Western Recorder, led by the financial backing of W. P. Harvey and the publishing experience of T. T. Eaton.” Email from Adam G. Winters (Archivist, James P. Boyce Centennial Library) 17 April 2023.

[xviii]“More About Our Recent Visit To Memphis,” M. P. Lowrey in “Mississippi Department,” The Baptist, March 18, 1876, page 264. The Little Episcopalian: Or, the Child Taught by the Prayer Book, M. A. C. (Mary Ann Cruse). New York, NY: General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union, 1854.

[xix] Big Hatchie Association approved the idea of the Southern Baptist Publication Society at its fall session in 1870. The Society was chartered in 1871 and possibly did not publish any books until around 1874.

[xx] Lowrey writes, “. A few copies of it were published in The Baptist, and, we think, met a general approval.” I have not located anything in The Baptist.

Recent book finds

I recently happened across these at Archive.org.

• Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, by Sharyl Corrado; Toivo Pilli, editors. Czech Republic: International Baptist Theological Seminary of the European Baptist Federation, 2007
• Hebraisms in the Authorized Version of the Bible, by William Rosenau, Baltimore, MD: The Friedenwald Company, 1903
• Historical Vindications: a Discourse on the Province and Uses of Baptist History, by Sewall Sylvester Cutting. Boston, MA: Gould and Lincoln, 1859
• Indiana Baptist History, 1798-1908, by William Taylor Stott. Franklin, IN: W. T. Stott, 1908
• Lectures on Baptist History, by William R. Williams. Philadelphia, PA: American Baptist Publication Society, 1877
• Memory and Hope: Strands of Canadian Baptist History, by David T. Priestley, editor. Waterloo, Ontario: Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion, 1996
• R. C. Buckner’s Life of Faith and Works, Comprising the Story of the Career of the Preacher, Editor, Presiding Officer, Philanthropist, and Founder of Buckner Orphans Home, by James Britton Cranfill and James Lafayette Walker. Dallas, TX: Buckner Orphans Home, 1915
• The Baptist History of South Dakota, by Thomas Miles Shanafelt. Sioux Falls, SD: South Dakota Baptist Convention, 1899
• The Gospel Ship (Baptist Hymns & White Spirituals From The Southern Mountains), by New World Records (NW 294), 1977 (Samples)
• The New Testament of our Lord Iesus Christ: translated out of Greeke by Theod. Beza, by Beza, Joachim Camerarius, Pierre Loyseleur de Villiers, Laurence Tomson, and Franciscus Junius the Elder. London: Deputies of Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queenes most Excellent Majestie, 1599
• The Small Sects in America: an Authentic Study of Almost 300 Little-Known Religious Groups, by Elmer Talmage Clark. New York, NY: Abingdon Press, 1949
• Theodore Beza: the Counsellor of the French Reformation, 1519-1605, by Henry Martyn Baird, New York, NY: Burt Franklin, 1899/1970

The Trail of Blood

Just recently read a recommendation of J. M. Carroll’s The Trail of Blood. It reminded of some thoughts I have had on the booklet, which I see I have never included at “Seeking the Old Paths.”

James Milton Carroll (January 8, 1852 – January 10, 1931) was born in Monticello, Arkansas, the son of Benajah and Mary Eliza Carroll. His father was a Baptist preacher. So was his better-known older brother, Benajah Harvey (B. H.) Carroll.

J. M. Carroll was a Baptist pastor, author, and educator. He was an amateur ornithologist, and reputedly owned one of the largest collections of bird eggs in the state of Texas. Carroll founded the Education Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He was a founder and the first president of San Marcos Baptist Academy. He served as president of both Oklahoma Baptist University and Howard Payne University.

In addition to his well-known book The Trail of Blood,[i] he compiled several other books, including Texas Baptist Statistics (1896), A History of Texas Baptists, B. H. Carroll, The Colossus of Baptist History, The Eternal Safety and Security of all Blood Bought Believers, and Just Such a Time: Recollections of Childhood on the Texas Frontier, 1858-1867. Carroll died in Fort Worth, Texas, and is buried at the San Jose Burial Park in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas.

The Trail of Blood is neither “academic” nor comprehensive. It is a book for the Baptist people; a booklet to put iron in Baptist blood. The booklet is a compilation of notes of five lectures that J. M. Carroll gave on church history. J. W. Porter encouraged Carroll to prepare a manuscript for publication. He died before the book was produced, and Porter brought it out after his death. (However, letters between Carroll and the Baptist Sunday School Board indicate that he sought to have them print it several years prior to this. See, “The Dead End Trail,” Harrison, pp. 58-62.)

The thesis of The Trail of Blood is that there has been a continuation of biblical teachings and a succession of biblical churches from the time of Christ to the present. J. M. Carroll believes this succession was always Baptist in principle, if not in name.[ii] These churches stood outside of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches, refused to accept their legitimacy in either faith or practice, rejected infant baptism, and practiced believers’ baptism by immersion.[iii]

In modern times, The Trail of Blood has become something of a “whipping boy” for those who deny the premise that Baptists (or baptistic churches) existed in all ages from the time of the New Testament. James Edward McGoldrick produced a book titled Baptist Successionism, somewhat of a response to Carroll’s work. He writes:

Since The Trail of Blood appears to remain the most widely circulated expression of the successionist interpretation, this study will, with the exception of the Bogomils and the intriguing question about St. Patrick, be confined to those sects cited by Carroll. (pp. 3-4)

To date [1994] no one has produced a point-by-point reply to The Trail of Blood... (p. 149)

Since the time of McGoldrick’s work, there are a number of internet refutations of The Trail of Blood.[iv]

It is much easier to critique a little booklet of 50 or so pages than to take on critiquing Joseph Ivimey’s 4-volume A History of the English Baptists; the almost 600-page Baptist History: From the Foundations of the Christian Church to the Close of the Eighteenth Century, by John Mockett Cramp, President of Acadia College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia; the two-volume A History of the Baptists, by John Tyler Christian, Professor of Church History at the Baptist Bible Institute, New Orleans, Louisiana (later renamed the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary); or any of the large new works on Baptist perpetuity.

The Trail of Blood is a little booklet with which I have been familiar for as long as I can remember. At times in the past, I have included it in packets given to new church members. On the one hand, I believe Carroll errs in identifying some groups as Baptists or baptistic when they cannot be positively demonstrated as such. Some of this history is shrouded in too much mystery to determine at this late date whether all of these anabaptist anti-paedobaptist groups were most assuredly Baptist in faith and practice.[v] Curiously, however, those quickest to condemn Carroll for identifying heretical groups as Baptists are often those who will reject almost no modern Baptists as heretics (and therefore not Baptist), whatever freakish things they believe. I guess it is only heretics of the past who can’t be Baptists, and not those we know to be heretics in the present!

On the other hand, even if Carroll may have misidentified some, he got others right. While some may suffer in our eyes because of insufficient evidence, there is sufficient evidence to identify them as persecuted and despised. I believe there is merit in remembering that Christians who simply tried to follow the principles of the Bible (whether Baptist or not) often left a “trail of (a lot of) blood” let by their persecutors who held the power of state.[vi]

One final point and I close. J. M. Carroll was an ecclesiological “Landmarker.” Nevertheless, the position of Carroll on Baptist succession is not solely a Landmark view, as some modern anti-Landmarkers would attempt to pigeonhole it. It has been held by many Baptists, including non-Landmarker Charles Spurgeon and anti-Landmarker R. B. C. Howell. It was once the dominant Baptist historical view before the modern critical views of the late times. That in itself does not make it right, no more than the current dominant English Separtist view’s majority status makes it right. It does indicate, however, it is not merely a “Landmark” view of Baptist history.

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[i] The full title is The Trail of Blood, Following the Christians Down through the Centuries. The History of Baptist Churches from the Time of Christ, Their Founder, to the Present Day. Note this especially in reference to those who claim that Landmarkers believe John the Baptist started the church. Carroll calls Jesus Christ Their Founder.
[ii] I agree with the doctrine of church perpetuity, church successionism, or “Baptists in all ages.” I believe Jesus promised to build and be with his church and has kept that promise through the ages of time to the present. I love history, and I love the Lord’s churches. However, I think the “trail of faith,” often identified by the “trail of blood” those of that faith left, is not historically demonstrable at all times from the first century to today. Sometimes the stream flows underground, so to speak, moving forward and onward, while not visible to the human historians’ eyes. As a doctrine, church perpetuity stands or falls on the infallible word of God rather than the fallible record of human historians.
[iii] In his introduction to The Trail of Blood, Clarence Walker noted that Carroll’s research for the truth “led him into many places and enabled him to gather one of the greatest libraries on church history. This library was given at his death to the Southwestern Baptist Seminary, Ft. Worth, Texas.”
[iv] A Primer on Baptist History: The True Baptist Trail, by Chris Traffanstedt is apparently considered one of the primary online answers to The Trail of Blood. The Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius Baptist succession quote has been regularly dismissed as illegitimate. However, pastor historian Thomas Ross has discovered the source of this quote. He has written about it HERE and HERE. Even though The Trail of Blood is just a popular work, because of its great popularity as well as its voluminous critiques, there is need for an annotated edition; it could correct citations, add citations, and acknowledge where there are citations that cannot be substantiated.
[v] I just read a “refutation” of Carroll in which a Greek Orthodox “proves” that most of Carroll’s succession groups were Gnostics. Intriguingly, though, in doing so he admits the existence of one group (the Waldensians) that held views “like those of baptists today” and then acknowledges them back to the 4th century and up to the 16th century, when he mentions the rise of the Anabaptists, whose views are “similar to the baptist views now.” While he falls short of admitting these are direct predecessors of the Baptists, he nevertheless shows that a Baptist succession would not necessarily even need, at least after the 4th century forward, any of the groups that he identifies as Gnostics! (In mentioning that this writer views Montanists, Donatists, Paulicians, etc., as Gnostics, I am not admitting he is right. I have found this history too mixed up to sort it out, and do not agree that this writer has done so either.)
[vi] Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and van Braght’s Martyr’s Mirror demonstrate this point in great detail.