The Tri-lemma;
OR,
DEATH BY THREE HORNS
BY J. R. GRAVES
AUTHOR OF "GREAT IRON WHEEL," ETC., ETC., EDITOR OF
THE TENNESSEE BAPTIST, NASHVILLE, TENN.
NASHVILLE: SOUTH-WESTERN PUBLISHING HOUSE.
1861
THE PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
NOT ABLE TO DECIDE THIS QUESTION:
"IS BAPTISM IN THE ROMISH CHURCH VALID?"
AFFIRMATIVELY OR NEGATIVELY WITHOUT UNBAPTIZING
AND UNCHURCHING THE WHOLE PROTESTANT WORLD!
NO PROTESTANT CAN DECIDE IT, AND SAVE HIS
BIBLE AND HIS BAPTISM
Reprinted by THE BAPTIST STANDARD BEARER, INC. No. 1 Iron Oaks Drive Paris, Arkansas 72855 Electronic version scanned and prepared by LANDMARK INDEPENDENT BAPTIST CHURCH PO Box 847, Archer, FL 32618
PREFACE.
THE discussions, admissions, and conclusion of the N. S. Presbyterian General Assembly, were by that body evidently desired and attempted to be kept from the Presbyterian membership and the masses of the American people.
The desire and design of the author, or rather compiler of this little work, is to place the admissions and confessions made in that body in the hands of every American Christian and citizen--they belong to them. Will the reader aid in its general circulation?
"Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people."
INTRODUCTION.
TRI-LEMMA! Tri-lemma! It is not in the Dictionaries. Pray, what is a tri-lemma asks the Reader.
When one is pinned between two difficulties, we say he is in a Di-lemma.
When he is pinned between two difficulties, and pierced through by a third, may we not say he is in a TRI-LEMMA?
Read and decide if Protestantism is not in just such a situation.
J. R. G.
Nashville, Jan. 1, 1860.
CONTENTS
Chapter I, The Question Under Consideration
THE QUESTION DISCUSSED.
Its importance to all Protestant sects--The difficulties it presents--The attention given to it by the O. S. and N. S. Presbyterian Assemblies,
Chapter II, The Question Among Presbyterians
THE POSITION OF THE O. S. PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY.
Its answer fatal to the Ecclesiastical claims of Presbyterians and all Protestants,
Chapter III, Question in the New School Presby. Assy, 1854
POSITION OF THE N. S. PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY, 1854.
The question submitted to a Committee--A Majority and Minority Report--The Assembly divided--It is found that to decide Romish baptisms valid or invalid was equally fatal to the baptisms of all Protestants--Decided that it could not expediently be decided--The Tri-lemma,
Chapter 4 - Two Other Questions
TWO OTHER QUESTIONS. 1.
Can Protestants oppose the Papacy without being slain by the Papacy?--2. Can Baptists oppose the Papacy without destroying Protestantism?
Chapter V, The Claims of Baptists
THE ECCLESIASTICAL CLAIMS OF BAPTISTS.
Did Baptists originate in the bosom of the Papal Church, or receive their baptisms and ordinations from the Man of Sin?
Chapter VI, The Catholics Themselves in a Tri-lemma
Chapter VII, The Freewill Baptists
Chapter VIII, The Campbellites
They find themselves in a Tri-lemma--They are not agreed whether they ought to baptize excluded Baptists coming to them or not--in some states they do, in others they do not--they cannot tell whether the baptisms of Baptists are valid or not and save their own.
Chapter IX, The Anti-Missionary Baptists
They are not Primitive but Derivative Baptists--Historical Proof by Dr. T. H. Pritchard, N. C.--If the Baptisms of Missionary Baptists Are Not Valid, Then the Anti-Missionaries Are All Unbaptized and No Churches--A Tri-lemma for the Hard Shells.