Jarrel - Baptist Church Perpetuity - Landmark Baptist

Spirit were to be dispensed to Christians of every condition and sex, without
distinction … They were thus led to give prominence once mare to the idea of
the dignity of the universal Christian calling, of the priestly dignity of all
Christians, which had been in a measure suppressed.” f121
Tertullian defines the ecstatic condition thus:
“In spiritu homo constitutus, praesertim cum gloriam Dei conspicit, vel cum
per ipsum Deus loquitor, necesse est excidat sensu, obumbratus scilicit virtute
divina”
— probably meaning only what David meant, when he said: “my cup runneth
over;” or, as the poet, in describing the ecstacy of the young convert — “on the
wings of a dove I was carried above.”
Admiting the Montanists did run to the extreme as to visions and prophecies
does not affect the validity of their churches, for Neander, describing the
visions of one of their prophets, says:
“The matter of her visions corresponded to what she had just heard read out
of the Holy Scriptures, what was said in the Psalms that had been sung, the
prayers that had been offered;”
there are things, in our best churches, more harmful than that extreme. f120
Gieseler admits that “the Montanists had not an uninterrupted series of
prophets.” f122 Thus, whatever was this extreme, it was not permanent or
continuous.
Armitage:
“The one prime idea held by the Montanists in common with Baptists, and in
distinction to the churches of the third century was, that the membership of
the churches should be confined to purely regenerate persons; and that a
spiritual life and discipline should be maintained without any affiliation with
the authority of the State. Exterior church organization and the efficacy of the
ordinances did not meet their idea of Gospel church existence without the
indwelling Spirit of Christ, not in the bishops alone, but in all Christians. For
this reason Montanus was charged with assuming to be the Holy Spirit, which
was simply a slander.” f123
Yet, from superficial examination, Armitage gives too much importance to the
charge of “visions” and “revelations” against them.
The sum of these answers I give in the words of one of the highest authorities
in church history:
Says Wm. R. Williams, D.D.: