The Baptist Bride!! What an awesome truth. The Bride of Christ is a Baptist Bride, chosen, prepared, arrayed, and made ready for this role, and fitted to this prescribed end and the consequent glory that shall be experienced.
     Surely, those who are Baptists should be aware of this great future, and they should be properly and submissively conducting themselves as befits the Bride that is soon to be wedded to God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Imagine the consummation of this stupendous event, when Christ shall take unto Himself His Bride, whom He has chosen, purchased, ransomed, and prepared. Could any other be found to be suitable to be married to Him, Who is the Perfection of all that is called God?
     In this brief work, Elder Mink has done a masterful job of presenting The Baptist Bride. With much humility, he has reached into the Scriptures and has literally plucked for our reading joy these many jewels of truth. His style is, as usual, an in depth searching of the numerous "thus said the Lord". His frequent use of these precious Scriptures has authenticated his writing, thus diminishing the ability of the many and varied gainsayers of the world to find legitimate fault with the thesis that is set forth. Scripturally, I see little room for fault finding, for who among men can stand against God and His Word?
     There is, to be sure, much controversy among professing Christendom concerning this subject. But I would ask those who hold opposing views to read this book with a willingness to measure every precept by the final authority, the Bible. When God has established a precept, He faithfully and consistently maintains that position, and in this matter, it is evident that God does not change, nor does He modify His plans. God is not a pragmatist. He operates on principle. Absolute principle.
     Clearly, those who may disagree with the position that Elder Mink holds on this subject do so because they are, generally speaking, not Baptists themselves. Many claim to be Baptists who, in reality, are simply Protestants in disguise. Thus, the exclusivity that God exercises in the choice of a Bride for His Son is not well received by non-Baptists. And this, humanly speaking, is understandable. To such, the idea of a Baptist Bride is not pleasant, for it excludes them from participation in the "Brideship". It leaves them out.
     A careful, prayerful, yearning for truth attitude should be exhibited by all who claim to be Christian. If this be the case, then one must either submit to the Bible and all that it teaches on this subject, or be found to be in rebellion against God. Again, a careful, prayerful yearning for truth will produce an attitude of acquiescence, and the truth will prevail.
     May God, in His abundant grace, be pleased to lead every reader of this work to study it carefully and prayerfully. To do so, we believe, will yield the peaceable fruit that manifests proper relationship and proper fellowship with God and with His Word.

            Wm. Doyal Thomas

       All four of the Gospels and the Apostle Paul agree that God chose and sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Israel's Messiah, Who would, by the sacrifice of Himself, prepare the way of the Gentiles (Isa. 42:6,7; Luke 2:32; Acts 13:24,25, 46-48; Heb. 9:26). John was a friend of the Messianic Bridegroom (John 3-29), and people from all regions round about came to hear John preach (Matt. 3:5). John preached repentance for the remission of sins, and he made repentance a prerequisite for baptism
(Matt. 3:7,8). Even though the ministry of John the Baptist was brief, it was in length of time sufficient to accomplish the purpose for which he was sent by the sovereign God of heaven and earth; and that express purpose was to baptize the penitent and make disciples for Christ.
     John was Israel's last prophet (Luke 16:16), and it was John who verbally introduced the gospel age (John 1:29,36). With the martyrdom of John and the crucifixion of Christ, the law of Moses reached its terminus, and Israel as a theocratic nation was set aside. However, God has not left Himself without a witness in the earth, for Christ took the disciples which John had made for Him, and with them established His church (John 1:35-49). John, speaking of the church which Jesus started, said: "He that hath (present tense) the Bride is the Bridegroom" (John 3:29). Just prior to Christ's departure from earth, and His ascension unto His heavenly Father, He gave His Bridal church the age long promise of His perpetuating power and comforting presence. (Matt. 28:18-20).
     God, the Creator of heaven and earth, has determined that His beloved and nail scarred Son have a supremely magnificent wedding, and heaven's marriage hall is gloriously decorated, and there is nothing lacking in this infinitely superb arrangement. But how about the Bride? Is she fully prepared for this awesome event? Affirmed. "... The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready". (Rev. 19:7).
     New Testament Baptist churches are not bibliolatrists; they do not worship the Bible, but they worship the infallible Author of the Bible, that is GOD.  And they honor His counsel with the utmost sincerity. Their blessed Head and Groom has admonished them, saying: "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good ... Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine ... Try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (I Thes. 5:21; Titus 2:1; I John 4:1).
     The Lord's Bridal church appreciates intellectual acumen, but New Testament Baptists know the natural intellect is restricted in its perception to carnal matters. Official Conventions, Associations, and Councils are not a stay against error, but are, in fact, promoters of compromises that are insidious and hurtful to the cause of God and truth. The primary purpose of the Lord's Bridal church in this world is to glorify her Groom, and in order to achieve this exalted end, her autonomy must NEVER be compromised. Therefore, the church must take the strictest heed to the Word of God, and be ready to give any and all men that asketh a reason of the hope that God has given it.
     The Romanists', Protestants', and Bapto-protestants' distortion of the facts of ecclesiastical history, wherein the origin and perpetuity of the Lord's Bridal church(es) are not merely obscured, but obliterated, has not made scriptural Baptists obdurate or deficient in love for depraved mankind. However, New Testament Baptists know it is not their incessant perpetuity, nor their countless martyrdoms, nor their evangelicalism, nor their commendable confessions and creeds that merits God's approbation. But it is their tenacious adherence to His infallible word, and the rejection of the ecclesiastical inventions of men, that has won for them the glorious "Well done" of their loving and faithful Groom.