Confessions and the Local Church

S. G. Hillyer (1809-1900) was a prominent Georgia Baptist pastor and professor at Mercer University in the
nineteenth century. In the book Reminiscences of Georgia Baptists (1902), Hillyer described the relationship of confessions to the Bible in the life of local churches. He said, “The Baptists of Georgia, from the very beginning of their development in this state, acknowledged no authority in matters of ‘faith and practice,’” except the Scriptures. It is true, each church had what was called its abstract of principles or its confession of faith. But this abstract, or confession, was adopted by each church, as an independent body, for itself, and it was held to be valid only so far as its subscribers believed it to be in harmony with the Bible. In controversies with their opponents, Baptists never appeal to the confessions found in their church records, but directly and exclusively to the inspired Word. And so did our fathers of the long ago. They were loyal to the Scriptures as they understood them.

from The Baptist Studies Bulletin, March 2002

April 2002