(A sermon delivered at the One Hundredth annual meeting of the Salem association of Primitive Baptists, held with Goshen church, Boone CO, Mo., September 2,3 and 4, l927 ) .

    As we have learned from the historical sketch which has been read, the Salem Association of Primitive Baptists has been in existence one hundred years. What wonderful changes have come about during that time! Many things with which we are familiar today were unknown at the time of its organization. The people and the country were primitive indeed. There were few railroads, no telephones, and thought of radio broadcasting, if it had been mentioned, would have been thought to be a vain dream.

The simple life of those who gathered in the assemblies of the pioneers was in strong contrast to the customs and habits of today. The automobile could not have made its way over the roads that the pious members followed regularly to their meeting places. Planting, cultivating and reaping had none of the improved helps of today.

But the faith and forms of Baptists worshippers were more primitive than the customs which surround them--they reached back to the days of Jesus and his apostles. They preached the same truths, and followed the same simple forms, and strange as it may seem to the modern world, the Salem Association still holds to the same doctrines and mode of worship. They have the same kind of preaching, the same character of hymns, the same articles of faith, and the preachers still emphasize the same truths.

The religious world has changed much. Within the observation and memory of many of us who are now living there has been a marked change. The sermons are different, the topics often being only current events instead of Bible themes. The means of attracting congregations is different, and the manner of adding members to churches has undergone a great change. But one hundred years has brought no change to the Salem Association in its faith or service. The members keep up with the progress of the world in daily affairs. They use the improved machinery, their children stand in the front ranks in the schools, and they are represented in the scientific professions, but in religion they follow nothing that is new.

This "no change" course is not only true of the Salem Association, but it has been true of the organization now represented by Primitive Baptists, reaching back to the Apostles, adhering strictly to the fundamental truths upon which the first churches were formed. Why do they not "improve" as others do? Because there can be no improvement, in the sense of making change, in what God does. No better lighting and heating system for the earth can be devised than that which was made in the beginning. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." He has not had to change it in all the ages past, for it is perfect. No suggestions of change be made that would be an improvement.

Primitive Baptists have ever declared that changes in church fundamentals are not improvements, nor can improvements be made. Why not? Because the Bible, and the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, has to do with the saving of sinners by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The standing of man before God has not changed since the first man sinned, and in whom all men came under the condemnation of God. By one man came sin and death, and sin and death have passed upon all, for all have sinned. There is no reason for thinking there will be a change in the plan for the redemption of man, seeing it is God's own plan, and to be carried out by means which he himself devised. Jesus Christ is the only Savior, and there is no name given under heaven or among men by which sinners can be saved. "Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever." All who have been saved from the beginning of the world to the present time have been saved by the efficacy of the atonement of Jesus; none cane be saved today, nor ever will be saved, but in the same way. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. What Jesus is, what he has done, and is doing, is the only foundation of a good hope of salvation. It all hangs upon him.

The church was gathered by preaching Jesus. The Apostle Paul, the most influential of the apostles, said that he was determined to know nothing but Jesus and him crucified. The church has been identified through all ages by what it thought of Jesus and his work. What an organization thinks of Jesus and the result of his work, decides whether it is the church of Christ. Jesus put this important matter before the Pharisees in this question: "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" Those who differ from the Primitive Baptists hold different doctrines in regard to Christ, and this difference in doctrine brings about differences in practice. Primitive Baptists believe it to be so important to think rightly of Christ that they separate from all who depart from the teaching of the Bible in regard to Christ. This is the foundation principle upon which Primitive Baptists are determined to stand, though all the world were against them.

Jesus put the question, Whose son is he?" The divinity of Christ has ever been an essential doctrine of the church, which includes the manner of his birth. If his conception was the same as that of other men, then he only has a life like other men, for every one has the life of his father. Isaiah prophesied, "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." --Isaiah vii. 14. The angel of the Lord told Joseph (Matt. i. 20,) "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." The virgin birth of Jesus is a fundamental tenet with the church, for the sacrifice which he came to offer must be without sin. The church believes the testimony of the angel of God who said to Mary: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."--Luke i. 35. When John baptized Jesus a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."-- Matt. iii. 17. Jesus confessed before the high priest that he was the Son of God and showed by wondrous miracles that the power of God was with him. He could not have been the anti-type of the sacrifices in the typical age had he been born in sin. He was the Son of God, having in him the very life of God. The articles of faith of the Primitive church agrees with John who said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, * * * and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."--John i. 14. Being God manifest in the flesh he will not fail in his work.

Another mark of the true church is to contend that Jesus made an atonement, and that this atonement was accepted of God, and is effectual. From the offering by Able, and on through the offerings under the Levitical dispensation, it was shown that only by a sacrifice could man's sin be atoned for, and the sentence of death be set aside. Especially was this shown in the offering by the high priest. He went into the holy of holies with the blood. He bore the names on his bosom for whom he made atonement. His robe typified the righteousness of Jesus. He made the atonement over the mercy seat which is God's grace. There was no one with him. Christ alone bore our sins in his own body on the cross, and put them away by the offering of himself, nailing them to the cross.

The church has ever held that the only way of reconciliation between God and men is the atonement made by Jesus. This satisfied divine justice, and released those for whom it was made from the sentence of the law which condemned them. The atonement was a matter of covenant between the Father and the Son, whereby Jesus stood in the place sinners, and freed them by his suffering and death so that they are thereby reconciled They receive the benefit of the atonement in the pardon of sins. "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life.--Rom. v. 10.

Those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world "have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace."
All that are chosen in Christ are redeemed, and all who are redeemed are forgiven and saved by his life. This is all of the grace of God and the work of Jesus, and is entirely unconditional as to the act of the sinner. This has always been true, is true now, and will always be true, for "Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever." The receiving of the atonement, or reconciliation, is in regeneration, or being born of God. Jesus said, "Ye must be born again." This is the work of Jesus, sending the Holy Spirit to those for whom he died. Jesus said, "I give unto them eternal life." This is his work, and "he shall never fail," (Isaiah xlii. 4.)

Particular attention is called to the work of the regeneration, for without it all the other work would fail. This is the work of Jesus, and it is not transferred to others, or entrusted to their hands. Without this work no one can ever enter heaven. It is the giving of the life that transforms the sinner, fitting him for heaven.

Primitive Baptists have full confidence in the words of Jesus as recorded by John (xvii. 2), "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee; as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." As certain as the statement of Paul in the Ephesians letter has foundation in fact, that there is an election before the foundation of the world, (Eph. i. 4,) and that Jesus has made an atonement, so sure the same subjects shall be regenerated. Here is the stand of the church since the days of the apostles, and the stand of the Primitive Baptists today. It is upon this point that there have been so many departures from the church, and is the reason principally that the Primitive Baptists stand separated from nearly all the organizations called churches in the world today.

The final work of the great salvation of a sinner is the resurrection of the body. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, and Jesus must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. The Apostle Paul endured a great fight of affliction for contending for the resurrection of the dead. The Primitive Baptists are still preaching it, believing that Jesus was raised from death. If there be no resurrection, certainly then is Jesus not risen. But his apostles aver that he did rise. If they testified falsely on this point then they are not true witnesses. If it is impossible to resurrect the body, the lack of power is on the part of God. If he had power to create, without question he has power to resurrect. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to demonstrate that there is power to raise the dead body.

What has separated the Primitive Baptists from other people is because others have taken positions inconsistent with the Bible teaching of how Jesus saves sinners. As Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever we cannot believe that there has been, or ever will, be any change in the cause or manner of saving the lost. The main thread of the whole Bible is showing why and how Jesus saves, and Primitive Baptists cannot accept any theory as being the truth which differs from the Bible record on either of these points--the why and the how or in what manner. We cannot concede the idea that sinners need less done for them now than in former years, nor that Jesus is doing his work differently. A glance over past history will show that the tendency of man is to offer different explanations as to why God saves and how the work is accomplished.

Many have been very much surprised when we have told them about the beginning of the Primitive Baptist church. They have thought we, like other denominations, or many of them, had our origin in recent years, or at most only a few hundred years in the past. As before stated, the church is to be known by its doctrine and practice, and not by the name that it may bear, which may change with the surrounding conditions. We do not hesitate to take the position that the doctrines as set forth in regard to the divinity of Jesus, the atonement that he made, the necessity of regeneration, and the certainty that all atoned for will be saved, are the principal marks of the church. We claim that there has been through all the centuries an organization holding these things just as we do now, and so our origin is the apostolic church. The organization of the Salem Association was one hundred years ago; but the church holding the fundamentals upon which it was organized, has been in the world since the days of Christ. Able set the first line when he by faith offered a lamb and looked forward to the Lamb of Calvary as a foundation for his hope. We are now clinging to that same hope of heaven.