AXIOMS
“1. That unummersed bodies of
Christians are not churches, nor are any privileged companies of them the
church, hence all Pedo-Baptists denominations are only religious societies.
“2. That Baptism and an official relation
to a church are prerequisites to a regular gospel minister—hence all ordinances
administered by an unbaptized and unordained although immersed minister, are
null and void.” (J. R. Graves, “A Statement of Landmark Principles,” 1857, in
H. Leon McBeth, A Sourcebook for Baptist Heritage [Nashville, Tenn.:
Broadman Press, 1990], 319)
