Chapter XXXV: Introduction (18)

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“The existence of our Churches in England, during this century, is attested by several books which were published by their ministers. One in 1615, to prove that every man has a right to judge for himself in matters of religion, and show the invalidity of the commonly received baptism; and for their opinions on several points of doctrine they refer to their Confession of Faith, published in 1611. They published another book defending Baptist sentiments, in 1618, and many from that time on. But they have not only given this testimony concerning themselves, but we can trace them in the _laws_ enacted for their destruction, in their _petitions_ and _complaints_, in the records of the _courts_ and the _prisons_ in which they were condemned and confined; and one of them, at least, was _burned at the stake_. It was about the middle of this century, moreover, that Cromwell made religion free, and thousands of Baptists came forth into the light, who before had been obliged to hide from the sword of persecution. ‘Persons of this persuasion,’ says Russell, ‘filled the army with preaching, and praying, and valiant men.’ When Cromwell afterward, under the influence of Presbyterians, determined to repress the Baptists, they sent him a memorial or remonstrance, in which they ask ‘if Baptists have not filled his towns, cities, provinces, islands, castles, navies, tents, armies, and court.’ But under Charles the Second, they were again subject to persecution, but still continued to protest against the Hierarchy, and the other corruptions of Christianity. A.D. 1500 to 1600. “Now let us go back another century. We have found Baptists in great numbers from 1600 to 1700. How is it from 1500 to 1600?

“The Baptists in the early part of this century were for the most part called _Lollards_ in England, and Anabaptists and _Mennonites_ upon the Continent. But they were _Baptists_ in fact, though known by other names. They were in England many of them foreigners who had been led to expect, from the rupture between King Henry the Eighth and the Pope, that they might there be free to enjoy their religion; a mistake of which King Henry hastened to cure them, as soon as he became the _Head_ of the Church.

“Styrpe, the historian of those times, says, ‘The Baptists pestered the Church, and would openly dispute their principles in public places.’ In 1539, a general pardon was granted to all religious offenders, but the _Baptists_ were specially exempted. So numerous were they, and so rigorously persecuted, that the records show that _over seventy thousand_ of them were, in King Henry’s time, punished by fines, by imprisonment, by banishment, or by burning.

“On the Continent, their existence is shown by the persecutions which they suffered from the Lutherans, as we have already seen.

“Then let us go back another hundred years. A.D. 1400 to 1500. How was it from 1400 to 1500? We have now, you see, gone back of the times of the _Reformation_, which occupied the early part of the century we have just past. We are now where we can find no Church of England, no Lutheran, no Presbyterian Churches. The Protestants had at this time not yet protested, and were quietly resting in the polluted arms of their mother of Rome.

“Now if we still find the Baptists outside of Rome, refusing to recognize her as a Christian Church, denouncing her as the very Antichrist foretold in the Word, and by her denounced and _persecuted_, we will have proved, at least, this much, that the Baptist Churches are older _than Protestantism_ in any of its sects or creeds, and that they did not, as charged by Dr. Featly, and reiterated by almost every Pedobaptist writer since his day, begin with the madmen of Munster.”

“Why do you not go back at once to Peter Bruis and his co-laborer Henry?” asked the Rev. Mr. Stiptain. “Dr. Wall, you know, admits that _they_ were Baptists, and expressly says, ‘they were the _first_ preachers that ever set up a Church or society holding that infant baptism was a nullity, and rebaptizing such as had been baptized in infancy.’”

“I thank you for your suggestion, sir, though this will take us back at one step for over two hundred and fifty years. But in all those two hundred and fifty years the followers of Peter and Henry can be traced as _Baptists_, and their societies as _Baptist Churches_. It was some years before 1150 that they appeared. We learn their doctrines from their A.D. 1150 to 1500. enemies. One who wrote against them, the Catholic Abbot of Clugny, says that they taught that ‘infants are not baptized or saved by the faith of another, but ought to be baptized and saved by their own faith; or that baptism without their own faith does not save, and that those that are baptized in infancy, when grown up should be baptized again, nor are they then rebaptized, but rather rightly baptized.’ (Magdeburg Centuriators, Cent. xii. c. 5, p. 332. _Ivimey_, vol. i., p. 22.) The Lateran Council, under Pope Innocent the Second, in 1139, according to Dr. Wall, did condemn Peter Bruis and his follower Arnold of Bresica, for rejecting infant baptism. The followers of these men were called Petrobrussians, Henricans, and Arnoldists, and a portion of them, at a later day, _Lollards_, from one Lollardo, who brought their doctrine into England. They and those who held the same doctrines, namely, the Paternines and Puritans, or Cathari, from the Province of Bulgaria, spread over the south of Europe, and, notwithstanding all the terrific persecutions to which they were subjected, maintained their separate societies even in parts of Italy. They owned the Scriptures for their only rule of faith and practice, administered baptism only to professed believers, and that by one immersion. See Orchard’s _History of Foreign Baptists_, p. 160.

“It is stated by the learned Magdeburg Centuriators, and by Wall, that the followers of Peter Bruis, and of Henry, were about eight hundred thousand strong when Waldo, of Lyons, appeared and joined them, a few years after their condemnation by the Roman Catholic Council. He became a great leader among them, and thence, some say, they were called Waldenses, or Lyonists. Before the close of this century they had become a mighty host, and embraced among them persons of rank and power. In France, where they were strongest, they were called Albigenses. The ordinary means for the extirpation of the heresy not availing for their destruction, Pope Innocent the Third determined to bring to bear upon them all the military power of his dominions. He raised an army of from three to five hundred thousand men, and sent for their destruction. Two hundred thousand fell in one short campaign in the year 1209. An other army was sent the coming year: cities and towns were burned, the country desolated, and every man, woman, and child that could be found, destroyed or banished. This was repeated year by year until the death of Innocent in 1216, and the same sanguinary course was followed up by his successor until about 1229, when the heretics had been so completely crushed that scarcely any could be found to glut the Roman thirst for blood. A great multitude had, however, escaped to other lands and carried the true gospel with them. They gathered in Switzerland and Germany, and among the valleys of the Pyrenees; and after all the wicked waste of life for the quarter of a century, it is conceded that there still remained at least _eight hundred thousand_ of these persecuted people, concealed in various countries of Europe. (_Perin_.)”

“But is it certain,” asked Theodosia, “that these Albigenses were Baptists?”

“It was for denying infant baptism and the sacraments of the Roman Catholic hierarchy,” replied Mr. Courtney, “that they were condemned. Their own confessions of faith, the accusations of their enemies, and the concurrent testimony of historians, all unite in showing that they were Baptist Churches. See Orchard’s _History of the Foreign Baptists_ pp. 226–229.

“The same people in England were called Lollards, from the eminent Walter Lollardo, who left his native land to preach this gospel to the British; but the doctrines had gone there before him Archbishop Lanfranc wrote a book against them shortly after the doctrine was condemned by the Lateran Council in 1139. About this time Lingard says a colony of people came into England belonging to the fanatics who invested the north of Italy, Gaul, and Germany, and who were called Puritans. Usher calls them Waldenses. They said they were Christians, and followed the doctrines of the apostles; they denied purgatory, prayers for the dead, and invocations to the saints. It was from these people that Wyckliffe first, and Tyndale afterwards, were indoctrinated in the truth. History records the death of thousands of them up to the very time of the Reformation, as it is called, under Henry the Eighth, though by that time their name had been changed to Anabaptists.

“We might trace the same people in Bohemia, in Poland, in Moravia, and elsewhere; but it is not needful for our purpose. We have seen that, according to the testimony of Dr. Wall, there were Baptist Churches from 1139 or before, when Peter Bruis and Henry set them up. Wall says they were the _first_, but I will show you now that Wall was mistaken. These men laid no claim to the _originating_ of a system. They but embraced and preached doctrines already known, and united with a people who were already in being, and _had long been persecuted_ for the maintaining of the _very same doctrines and practices_. If we will go back to the A.D. 750 to 1150. time of Pope Stephen the Second, about 750, we will find in history numerous accounts of a people called _Paternines_, who denounced infant baptism, and maintained that a Church should consist only of Christian people, and must not persecute, and who baptized by immersion, as indeed _all_ parties did at that time. (See Robinson’s _History of Baptists_, pp. 428–430.) They were called Paternines from the patience with which they suffered for the cause of Christ. In 1040 they had become very numerous. Their principal city was Milan. They had no connection with the _Church_ of Rome. They rejected the authority of the _Fathers_. They said the sign of the cross was _the mark of the Beast_. Their Churches were numerous all over Europe, their meetings being held during times of persecution in the residences of the brethren, and it was to these people that Peter Bruis, and Henry, and Arnold of Bresica joined themselves, and gave their learning and their eloquence to advance their cause. They, indeed, became so conspicuous among them that portions of their communities were called by their names; but though they were the means of giving them _new names_, they did not give them _new doctrines_. They _left_ the Church of Rome, and joined these people who were _never in the Church_.

“But the Paternines were no _new sect_. They had simply been _new named_, for they belonged to the people who were A.D. 650 to 750. before called _Paulicians_, or Publicans, and who began about the year 650, and who are well known to the history of those times. Robinson says they _rebaptized_ those who came to them by _immersion_. Mosheim says they _rejected the baptism of infants_, and Dr. Allix calls them _Anabaptists_. Because they had no rulers and condemned the hierarchy, they were sometimes called the _Acephali_, from a Greek word signifying _the Headless_. So numerous were these people, that even after portions of them had come to be called Paternines and by other names, _one hundred thousand martyrs_ of them died in nine years by the most horrid tortures, during the reign of that female devil incarnate, the Empress Theodora.”

“I am glad,” said Mrs. Percy, “that her name was not Theodosia.”

“From Italy,” continued Mr. Courtney, “the _Paulicians_ sent colonies, according to the testimony of Mosheim, and Gibbon, and others, into almost every nation of Europe, and formed a number of religious assemblies, who adhered to their doctrine, and who suffered every conceivable indignity from the Church of Rome. In Italy they were called Paternines, or Puritans; (‘_Paterni_,’ or ‘_Cathari_,’ from a Greek word signifying the pure;) in France _Bulgarians_, because they came from Bulgaria, and sometimes Publicans and _Boni-Homines_, or the Good Men; but they were mainly known as the _Albigenses_, from _Alby_, the name of a chief town in the region where they dwelt.

“But though the Paulicians were _called_ a new sect, and did have in one sense an independent origin, from one Constantine, who was afterwards called Sylvanus, and who was converted to Christ by reading the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul, which were brought to him out of Syria by a deacon of a Christian Church, and after his conversion became a noted preacher of the truth, until he was, at the instigation of the Greek Church, stoned to death; yet his doctrine was not new, and _before his day and after it_, there were thousands who, like him, rejected infant baptism and the authority of the hierarchy, and were in all essential particulars Baptist Churches of Christ.

“For if we now go back to the year 300, we A.D. 300 to 650. will find _all_ the Churches to be Baptist Churches in regard to _baptism_, except a few in Africa, though many of them had become apostate in regard to the _episcopacy_.

“The accession of Constantine to the imperial throne in 306 has commonly been regarded as a blessing to Christianity. It was, in fact, so far as human wisdom can discover, its greatest curse. It degraded and polluted the Church by combining it with the state, and it made that thing which people have ever since called _the Church_, the murderer and persecutor of the followers of Christ. It was a matter of policy in Constantine to profess the Christian faith. He did it to cement his worldly power. He was no friend to Jesus. He had never learned of him how to be meek and lowly. He knew nothing of the humble and forgiving and long-suffering spirit of the true disciples of Jesus. Like Henry the Eighth of England, his ambition was to become the _HEAD of the Church_; and as its head, so soon as his ecclesiastical power was firmly established, he adjusted his creed and issued his edicts of conformity. His clergy were notoriously corrupt, and the people who would not submit to their rule were most grievously oppressed; yet they continued to ask, ‘_What has the Emperor to do with our religion?_’ The councils of prelates by imperial authority strove in vain to bring into subjection the _Cathari_, the Novatianists, and the Ærians, (not _Arians_,) who opposed their doctrines and rejected their authority, and continued to baptize anew all who came from their apostate communion. For they regarded the so-called Catholic Church, now claiming all the power of Christ’s kingdom, but as a _worldly_ community, while _Christ’s_ Church must, they said, consist only of the _converted_. There was not at the beginning of this period in the Eastern Churches any question concerning _baptism_, for all parties _immersed_, and we have no record of the baptism of a _child_ until 370, when the _son of the Emperor Valens_ was thought to be dying, and was baptized by command of the emperor. Nor is there any official requisition for the baptism of children until the decree of the Council of Carthage in 401. But we have nothing to do with _this establishment_, world-wide as it was, which recognized the emperor for its head. By that one act, if in no other way, it had _apostatized_ from Christ. We must look for the Baptist Churches among those who would not even on pain of death yield to its usurped authority, who would not obey its decrees, and who held on to the liberty with which Christ had made them free. We have nothing to do with the so called Arian heresy, or its Trinitarian opponents. The apostate Church of the _emperor_ may fight its own battles—they do not concern the Churches of Christ. These _never came into the ecclesiastical establishment called the Church_ by those who write Church history. _That establishment_ was mostly made up of those who had apostatized before Constantine entered it and was elevated to its headship. They had already recognized the authority of bishops and councils to make laws for them. They had already become worldly and corrupt, and there were those who had long refused communion with them on this account. They said to any who came to join them, ‘If you be a virtuous believer, and will concede to our confederacy against sin, you may be admitted among us by baptism, or, if any Catholic has baptized you before, by rebaptism.’ It was on this account that they were at a later day called _Ana-Baptists_, or rebaptizers. They soon obtained the name of _Cathari_, or Puritans, because they thus insisted on maintaining the _purity_ of their communion. There is mention made of these people in France fifty years before the time of Constantine. Their Churches were scattered all over the Roman empire when Constantine came to the throne. Constantine sought to unite them with the Catholics, but they obstinately refused to pollute their communion even at the command of the emperor, who then professed to be their friend. He therefore turned against them, destroyed their books, drove them out of their Churches and, by his oppressive measures, _scattered_ them as precious seed among those countries in the west of Europe where they afterwards produced those trees of righteousness, the Paternines, Albigenses, Waldenses, and others of the same faith and order, though called by various names. Claudius Seysell, the _popish_ archbishop, _traces the rise of the WALDENSIAN HERESY to a pastor named Leo leaving Rome at this early period,_ and taking up his abode in the valleys.

“The succeeding emperors continued the persecution which Constantine began. In 375, the Puritan ministers were banished by Valens; but Theodosius, a few years after, restored their liberties, and showed them so much favor, that at the close of this century they had several Churches in Constantinople itself, under the very eye of his imperial majesty.

“In 412, however, their Churches were closed again, and by a decree of the Lateran council, in 413, they were banished as heretics, and the emperor doomed all who should _rebaptize_ or _be rebaptized, to death_. Under this law, so like to that of the Lutheran senate, in 1522, many were slain, and others driven into the valleys of Piedmont, where they were after wards called Waldenses. Another council, at Mela, in 416, held them _accursed_, as denying that infant baptism conferred forgiveness and salvation, and two years after, the curse was repeated by a council at Carthage. These persecutions drove them into retirement, and from the patience with which they endured it, caused them to be called Paternines, and under this name we have already traced them. The accounts given of them by Eusebius and by Socrates, the historians of the early Churches, enables us easily to identify them, even after their name was changed. A.D. 30 to 300. “Now, to complete our chain, we have only to go back to the time when Jesus began to be about thirty years old, and bring down our history to the year 300. John at that time had prepared or was preparing a people made ready for the Lord. He rejected all who did not give evidence of true repentance, and profess their faith in him who was to come. After Jesus had been baptized by him, he, by his disciples, continued to baptize. Out of these a Church was formed, as the model for others. The apostles formed many like it in various places. We have already examined them, and found that they were Baptist Churches, with every single mark included in our tablet. Such Churches as these would, of course, succeed them for a time. We have already ascertained that neither infant baptism nor the rule of prelatical bishops was recognized among them for many years; and that when they were sought to be introduced, there were some at least, whose history we have traced, who would accept of neither. All the so-called Christian Churches, for the _most part_, were separate and independent organizations for the first three hundred years; the exceptions being, as we have seen in our examination of episcopacy, in the cities where the hierarchy first began by the recognized supremacy of the pastor of the first or principal Church. Infant baptism, we have seen, was not so much as mentioned till the time of Tertullian, and then promptly rejected; nor have we any record of the baptism of any infant till after Church and State were joined. In those early days _all_ baptized by _immersion_, as all historians concede; so that we have no possible room to doubt that from Christ to the separation of the Puritans or Novatianists, the great multitude of the Churches were independent local societies, consisting of professed believers who had been baptized by immersion upon a profession of their faith, and of course had voluntarily united with them; and that almost all these societies rejected the authority, in matters of religion, of all lawgivers but Christ, and were, in fact, just such communities as the Baptist Churches are now.”

“Your succession is very ingeniously made out,” said the Reverend Mr. Stiptain, “and it seems a pity to sever such a beautiful chain, and let all fall that hangs upon it; but the truth of history requires it; and much as I regret the ruin in which it must involve your whole scheme, I must call your attention to _one very important fact_, which you, undesignedly no doubt, forgot to mention.”

“And what is that, pray?”

“It is, simply, that _the Waldenses were not Baptists_, but, like the Methodists and Presbyterians, baptized their infant children.”

“That would not, even if it were true,” said Mr. Courtney, “sever the chain of our succession; for I have shown that the _first_ Churches, for two hundred and fifty years, did not baptize infants, and were in other things like Baptist Churches. Then I have shown that similar Churches, disowning the hierarchies and denying all baptisms but that administered by themselves to professed believers, called Novatianists and Cathari at first, and Paternines afterwards, continued to exist down to the time of Peter, and Henry, and Arnold, and that they afterwards became so numerous under the name of _Albigenses_ as to require immense armies, year after year, for near a quarter of a century, to extirpate them in France alone. These Albigenses, I have shown, were Baptists; and it was by one of these that their doctrines were brought into England. The Lollards were descendants of these people, and the Lollards continued to be drowned and burnt in England for denying infant baptism and the hierarchy, up to the time of the Reformation, and were in all respects similar to these ancient Baptist Churches. If those upon the continent ever apostatized, and fell into the baptism of infants, it was _not till after they had sent believers’ baptism into England_, and any defection _afterwards_ would not affect our cause.

“Let it be true that some of the people called Waldenses by others, or even by themselves, did baptize infants; it is enough for us that there were others of them who, as Dr. Wall says of the Petrobrussians, whom he counts as a sect of the Waldenses, ‘did reckon infant baptism as one of the corruptions of the Church of Rome, and accordingly renounced it, and preached only adult baptism.’ (Hist. Inf. Bap., part ii., chap. 7, §§ 5, 6, 7.) Mosheim says of Peter Bruis, that ‘it is certain that one of his tenets was, that no persons whatever were to be baptized before they were come to the full use of reason.’

“Brandt, in his History of the Reformation, says that ‘_some_ of the Waldenses rejected infant baptism;’ and this is certain from the testimony of those who _killed them because they did deny infant baptism_. Now if there were _some_ of them who were Baptists, and Lollardo was of these, as he must have been, since those whom he instructed in England were afterwards killed for entertaining Baptist sentiments, it does not matter if many others of them were degenerate.

“But besides this, we have traced the Baptists of England only through this _one_ channel: we could trace them with equal ease through the Mennonites, and these we can trace back to this times of the apostles by a channel which has no suspicion of infant baptism. Then we have not yet examined the history of the _original_ baptism which is said to have been brought into England by Paul himself, and which certainly was introduced at a very early day, and before the corruptions which made the Eastern Churches apostate.

“But merely for your satisfaction, I will show you that you have been imposed upon when you were taught to believe that the main body of the so-called Waldensian Christians baptized their infants, or were in any thing other than true Baptist Churches according to our tablet.”

“I do not know,” replied the Presiding Elder, “how that can be, when we have their own express declaration in their official Confession of Faith.”

“In a body of people so numerous as the Waldenses,” said Mr. Courtney, “comprising not only many separate communities, but extending over different countries, and speaking various different languages, we may well suppose some diversity of faith and practice; and if some _one_ of these communities should for themselves have stated that they believed and practiced infant baptism, it would not follow that all the Waldenses did so. But I doubt if you can show any such concession.”

“Most certainly I can, sir. It is in the confession entitled ‘A Confession of Faith of the Waldensian Brethren,’ and is addressed to King Uladislaus, in Hungary, presented in 1508; and which has been so often quoted and referred to, that I wonder how a gentleman of your intelligence upon these subjects could be ignorant of it.”

“I am not ignorant of the existence of the document you refer to; but I do not believe that it was ever made by _Waldenses_. It was made, probably, by some of the followers of Huss, commonly called Calixtines.”

“But why do you not believe they were Waldenses?”

“Simply because, in the first place, _the document itself declares that they WERE NOT._ It begins by informing the king that ‘they _were not_ Waldenses, though by their enemies they were _called_ Waldenses, and persecuted as such.’ Now, the _real_ Waldenses were not very likely to be _ashamed of their name_, nor to deny it, even to shun persecution and death. In the second place, there is a real Waldensian confession, of a later date, which is in direct opposition to this. In this which you refer to, and which is _called_ theirs, they are made to say that ‘children, by an apostolic canon, as Dionysius writes, ought to be baptized;’ but in the later, and real one, say, ‘By this ordinance we are received into the holy congregation of God’s people, _previously professing our faith and change of life;_’ and not a word is there about the infants. (Jones’s _Ch. Hist._ vol. ii., pp. 59, 60. Orchard’s _Hist. F. B._, p. 278.) But even allowing it to have been made by true Waldenses, it is evident they must have changed their sentiments and practice; as nothing can be more certain than that _at one time_ they were destroyed as pestilent _Anabaptists_.”

“But did they not readily unite with Luther and Calvin, and become incorporated into their Churches?”

“It is certain,” replied the schoolmaster, “that many of _them_ did. They were not _all_ prepared to suffer death for their religion, either at the hands of Luther or the pope; and large bodies of them came over to Luther, and more still to Calvin; yet so many remained faithful, that Mosheim says ‘prodigious numbers of them were devoted to death in its most dreadful forms.’ ‘In almost all the countries of Europe _an unspeakable number of Baptists_ preferred death in its worst forms to a retraction of their sentiments.’ ‘They suffered death,’ says the same author, ‘not on account of their being considered rebellious subjects, but merely because _they were judged to be incurable heretics_; for, in this century, [the sixteenth,] the error or limiting the administration of baptism to adult persons only, and the practice of rebaptizing such as had received the sacrament in infancy, were looked upon as the most flagitious and intolerable of heresies. Those who had no other marks of peculiarity than their administering baptism to the adult, and their excluding the unrighteous from the external communion of the Church, ought to have met with milder treatment.’

“But now let us suppose, for a moment, that all the Waldenses had from the first been Pedobaptists; then it would follow of necessity that there were some other people who had existed and been persecuted all the time as Anabaptists; for Cardinal Hosius, the Roman Catholic president of the Council of Trent, expressly recognizes the existence of some such people, and his authority in the matter is unquestionable: ‘If the truth of religion were to be judged of by the readiness and cheerfulness which a man of any sect shows in suffering, then the opinions and persuasions of no sect can be truer or surer than those of the Anabaptists; since there have been none, for these twelve hundred years past, that have been more grievously punished.’ This was in 1570, and twelve hundred years back carries us to the _very year_ in which the _first infant baptism_ is recorded. And Mosheim: says, ‘that when the Mennonites for Dutch Baptists assert that they are the descendants of the Waldenses, Petrobrussians, and other ancient sects, who are usually considered the _witnesses of the truth_ in the times of universal darkness, they are not entirely mistaken; for, before Luther and Calvin, there lay concealed in almost all the countries of Europe many persons who adhered tenaciously to the doctrines of the Dutch Baptists.’ Some of the followers of Menno, who had collected and reorganized the ancient Waldensian Baptists, settled in Holland. After the Reformation in England, some who embraced Baptist sentiments, but had among them no one whom they considered as authorized to baptize, sent to Holland one of their number to be baptized and qualified; and thus true baptism came into England again from _these Mennonite Churches_. And it was from _these Churches_, and not directly from England, that the first Baptists came to this country and formed the Churches at Swanzey and Boston, as we have seen.

DIAGRAM OF CHURCH HISTORY.

EXPLANATION OF THE DIAGRAM.

THE period which has elapsed since his Church was organized by the Lord Jesus shortly after A. D. 30 down to the present time, we have divided into _FIVE great historical periods_, as indicated by the braces (⏞) in the left-hand column, which represent the succession of the Baptist Churches.

The 1st of these periods, it will be seen, extends from the year 30 to 250, during which time almost _all_ the Churches had the marks required by our tablet. The figures after pp. refer to the pages of this work in which their history is briefly recorded.

The 2d period extends from 250 to 650. P. 466.

The 3d from 650 to 1150. P. 465.

The 4th from 1150 to 1500. P. 462.

The 5th from 1500 to the present time. P. 458.

In each of these periods we have distinctly, though very briefly, shown the existence of the genuine and true Christian Church, conforming in all things to the Scripture pattern, and called by the names indicated in the Diagram. If our space would permit, we could make their history much more complete. Our object is merely to prove their _existence_.

The GREAT APOSTASY, foretold in the Scripture as the Mystery of Iniquity, the Man of Sin and the Son of Perdition, and Antichrist, is represented by the lines that go off at right-angles from the year 250 to 400. This Apostasy was of gradual growth, and was mainly characterized by the substitution of the Hierarchy, or the rule of the bishops and councils, for the independence of the Churches, by the union of Church and State under Constantine, and the introduction of unauthorized members by the baptism of infants, or rather of _minors_. It claimed to be the Holy Catholic or _Universal_ Church, and from the first became a _bloody persecutor_ of those in the left-hand column.

A little after 1500 it gave off, during what was called the Reformation, the bodies which were organized respectively by Luther, Calvin, and King Henry VIII., since known as the Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, and the Church of England. These have each given off several others, only a few of which are indicated on the Diagram, with the dates of their organization.

“It does not follow that because some in England sent to these ancient Churches for their baptism, they might not have found it nearer home. There is, to say the least, a very _strong probability_ that the original, pure Christianity brought into England in the apostles’ days was never quite extinguished, but that true Churches have existed, at least in Wales, from the very first; and it is certain the Lollards found a lodging there. In this country we have had ministers from England and Wales, and from Germany and Holland, all bringing with them the baptism which came down from the ancient Churches.”

“I think,” said Mr. Percy, “I could make this matter plainer by means of a diagram, or chart, which will bring the prominent facts before the eye at one view. Thus, let the straight lines upon the left of the page show the succession of true Churches, and those on the right the several departures from them, while on the margin we may put the dates of each important change.”

(See Diagram of Church History, on page 476.)

“Now, if you, or any one else, should feel dissatisfied with this brief but comprehensive history of the Baptist Churches, let me commend to your reading, Jones’s Church History, Robinson’s History of Baptism, De Anvers’ History of the Baptists, Ivimey’s History of English Baptists, Crosby’s History of the English Baptists, and last, and best of all, because they contain the essence of their statements in a smaller compass, those monuments of historical industry, Orchard’s History of the Foreign Baptists, and Orchard’s History of the English Baptists. These works are the result of _thirty years_ of careful and earnest study by one who had opportunities which very few possess of learning all that can now be known concerning these so long despised and persecuted people; and it is hard to say whether he deserves more credit for what he has written than for what he has left out. For if he had recorded all, his work would have been too large for many to read, or any to remember; but, with most admirable judgment, he has selected what was of most importance, and has arranged it with so much skill, and authenticated every statement by such abundant references to the most unexceptionable authorities, that it will be difficult for any candid mind, after reading these two works, to doubt that there have been Baptists all the time, from the day that Jesus was baptized (_eis_) into the river of Jordan, as recorded by Mark, in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, down to the present time.

“Now, as the present Baptists hold the same doctrines, have the same organization, the same officers, and the same ordinances with the _first_ Churches, and as we have traced such all the way, independent of the great apostasy, we may give them the last mark also. And therefore Mr. Percy may now finish his diagram of the Baptist Churches.”

“I do not know so well about that,” said Theodosia, smiling. “I well remember when my husband, for a little time at least, had very serious doubts as to whether these were the Churches of Christ, upon a ground very different from any you have mentioned. He will recollect that one of his friends almost persuaded him that those could not be the Churches of Jesus Christ which starved his ministers, or, what is the same thing to the Churches, compelled them to forsake their sacred calling and engage in other labors for their subsistence.”

“Yes, indeed,” said Mr. Percy, “I do remember it; and though, for _my own part_, I have found nothing to complain of, yet, to this day, I cannot help feeling a sort of doubt as to any Church which I find pursuing this suicidal and ignoble policy. They way be right in doctrine, but they are surely very wrong in practice.”

DIAGRAM OF THE BAPTIST CHURCHES.

Signs or Marks of a True | | Marks of a Baptist Church.
Church. | |
--------------------------+--------------+----------------------------
1st. It consists only of | | It consists of those only
professed believers in | | who have publicly professed
Christ. | | their faith in Christ.

“If you will take the trouble to observe a little more carefully,” replied Mr. Courtney, “you will find that whenever and wherever a minister has had the _faith_ and courage to risk all and give himself _entirely_ to his proper work, he has been provided for. The Lord does not intend that his ministers shall _get rich_; and when they leave their work to engage in money-making, he often blasts all their hopes, in various ways of his providence. But he does intend and has plainly and repeatedly _promised_ that they _shall have enough_ for the supply of their necessities; and this they will have _in the ministry_, if they will _devote themselves entirely to it_. I am ready to assure to any young man whom the Lord has qualified and called to preach, a comfortable support, provided he will give up all his powers of body and mind to the one work of his calling. I can do so because the Master has promised, and I can do so because I have been watching for years, and have not found his promise fail to any one who kept himself within the order of God’s providence—that is, who was ready to go and labor wherever God by his providence seemed to call him. I could, for the encouragement of such, relate the personal history of several, the beginnings of whose ministerial life were most unpromising, but who had determined to know nothing but Christ, and do nothing but preach; and are now enjoying in a green old age as many comforts as their neighbors, who have made it the business of their lives to get rich. But while I say this, I know very well that our Churches are most shamefully negligent of their duty. They give nothing near what they should give for the support of the ministry; but for this there are two reasons besides the parsimony of the brethren. I grant that this is one; and if it is not repented of, God will shortly take our candlestick away and leave our Churches to die out, as some Baptist Churches are already doing, and many others have done in the last thirty years. But I do not believe _this is the principal_ reason. That is to be found in the _early history_ of our Churches, when we were _taxed_ to pay other preachers than our own, to preach another gospel which we did not believe. The people felt the injustice of such taxation; our ministers declaimed against it; and, to show that _they_ were of a different class, that _they_ did not care for the pay, so that they had their love and saved their souls, they took a pride in preaching without compensation, and Providence, as it _then_ might have been their duty, enabled them to do it, and yet not to suffer. The people came gradually to think that what was thus done for a particular purpose, under peculiar circumstances, was something _required by the gospel_, and that ministers were _bound_ to preach _without any regular provision_ for their support. The ministers had only done as Paul did—waived their rights for the time being, that their gospel might not be reproached. Paul labored for his own support and that of those who were with him. Sometimes he would not be chargeable to the Churches for his support, but he was careful to maintain all the time that he had _a right_ to it. He was careful to show that it was the express command of the Lord Jesus that ‘those who preached the gospel should live by the gospel;’ and that he and others might forbear working if they would. It is not unlikely our preachers might have been less careful in this particular, and so the people came to feel at length that preachers should have no regular support, and if any one claimed it they were disposed to class him with their oppressors, whom they counted but as wolves, seeking to devour their substance, or, at least, mere hirelings who labored _only_ for the pay.

“Such opinions and feelings, deeply infused into a great mass of minds, would be eradicated but slowly, even by the most sedulous efforts of succeeding ministers. But here is the third reason: _These efforts have been wanting._ I blame our _preachers_ more than our people for this state of things. They have pandered to this corruption in the Churches, instead of boldly reproving it as they should.”

“But, my dear sir, to have boldly reproved it would have lost them the confidence and the affections of the flock, and prevented them from doing good in any other way.”

“So perhaps it might if they had begun by complaints concerning _themselves_. I would not have a minister always grumbling about _his own support_. To do so _will leave_ the impression that it is for the gratification of _his_ selfishness that he seeks to cure others of being selfish. A wise man who understands human nature will adopt another and more successful plan. He will show the people that the _Lord_ requires them to _give_, not to him, the preacher, but to the cause of Christ. He will present _frequent_ opportunities to them for _giving_ to others than himself. He will plead the cause of the destitute, and of the heathen. He will present the claims of missions, and of Bible societies, of Sunday schools, and other objects of Christian benevolence, until they have acquired a _habit of giving_. He will explain the teachings of the Word concerning ministerial support, and thus preach the _whole_ gospel, but without making any application of it to _his own case_. Let him do this, and his people will spontaneously begin to feel that they have done too little for their own pastor. Let _all_ our ministers begin at once to preach thus _prudently_ and kindly the _whole_ gospel, and the Churches will soon show that the fault was less in them than in the preachers themselves that they have been apparently so parsimonious.”

“I have already seen enough in my own experience,” said Mr. Percy, “to convince me of the truth of what you say.”

“I wish,” said Dr. Thinkwell, “we could have finished this conversation last Saturday, so that I might have gone into the water with that young man who was yesterday baptized. My last lingering doubt is gone. I thank you all for the patience with which you have borne with my slowness of faith, and the readiness with which you have assisted my inquiries.”

“We are more than repaid,” said Mr. Percy, “by the happy result.”

“And I,” said the Reverend Mr. Stiptain, “am heartily glad that you have come to some conclusion. Of course I had rather you had determined to be a Methodist; but any branch of the Church is better than none. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, and be able to give a reason for the faith that is in him. I trust, sir, you will now enjoy that peace which arises only from a consciousness of doing your duty.”

“I wish, my dear friend, I could persuade you to unite with me, and _do your duty also_.”

“O, as to that, I have always enjoyed myself very well among the Methodists. You know I glory in the name, and among them I expect to live and die; but I acknowledge, after what I have learned of the Baptist Churches, I shall hereafter feel a _little_ more respect for them than I have.”

On their way back to the Doctor’s residence, Theodosia reminded him that as they had now finished the investigation of the question, What is the Church? he was under promise to relate to her the means, or rather the arguments by which he was recovered from his infidelity and atheism, and led to receive the Scriptures as the word of God.

But as this conversation has no connection with the subject treated of in the present volume, we must postpone it for the present,[12] and only inform the reader that Doctor Thinkwell was baptized into the little Church at their next regular meeting, much to the joy of all God’s people there; and that our travelling party pursued their way to the mountains, where Mr. Percy’s strength was soon so far restored that he felt that he must hasten back to his flock in the South, where he is still residing, preaching Jesus, beloved by his people, and admired by the world. Theodosia is indeed his helper in the Lord. Her influence is felt in every department of his work; nor does he preach less touchingly, or labor less hopefully, since the dear little boy came to amuse his hours of relaxation with its childish prattle. Mrs. Ernest and old Aunt Chloe are the assistants of Theodosia in her domestic labors, and all of them delight to show how much they love their Saviour and his Church.

FOOTNOTES

[1] If my reader desires to see the argument on this subject, he can find it in a delightful work styled “The Infidel’s Daughter.”

[2] Theodosia, vol. i.,

[3] See the argument in “The Infidel’s Daughter,” which may, in some sort, be regarded as a continuation of the present work, by the same author.

[4] The reader will find the best apology which Mr. Courtney knew how to make for the parsimony of the Baptist churches farther on. It must be admitted that there is a most deplorable amount of truth in the allegations of Dr. Woodruff; and Mr. Percy’s fears of what would probably be the treatment of the churches to himself and family were not only natural, but more than justified by the facts which must have stared him in the face had he been at all familiar with the relationship which very generally in this country exists between the pastors and their people. It is a mournful truth that the churches do not give their ministers a reasonable support. It is lamentable to see how many of the best and noblest minds are driven out of the pulpit into the schoolroom, or the workshop, or other place of secular business, by the apprehension of absolute want. It is sad to think how many who would probably be most useful and efficient ministers are prevented by such fears from ever entering the ministry.

Few have the utter self-consecration of Mr. Percy, and scarcely any such a comforter to speak words of hope and trust to their doubting hearts. There is a fearful, an awful weight of responsibility resting upon our churches in regard to this subject. Let them look to it that God does not require at their hands the price of souls. Are there not _some_ of them who have good reason to fear that by their parsimony they have forfeited the right to be regarded as the true churches of Him who has expressly provided that they who preach the gospel shall live of the gospel?

[5] During the lifetime of Christ the _kingdom_ was established, but _the Church_, as the _executive_ of the kingdom, was not needful, for the King himself was present, and acted as his _own_ executive. The apostles who were with him, receiving instructions, may be regarded as in some sort his _ekklesia_. They were _an assembly of his people_, and were engaged in the _preparatory_ business pertaining to the kingdom. We may, without impropriety, therefore, consider the meetings of the apostles to receive the ordinances and laws of the kingdom from the mouth of Christ, as meetings of his _ekklesia_. We may consider the apostles as constituting a Church when they, after the Passover, received the ordinance of the supper with instructions for its continuance; and so we may consider that as a Church meeting in which Thomas saw and believed; and that in which Peter was restored to favor and specially charged to feed Christ’s sheep. And so each of those assemblies which gathered around the Saviour during the forty days that he remained upon the earth to receive instruction in the things pertaining to the kingdom, may be regarded as a Church meeting. We may consider the Church as _organized_ from the time that Christ called the twelve to be with him; but it was not till he was about to ascend that it received _authority to transact the business_ of the kingdom, _as his judiciary and executive_.

[6] The reader is respectfully desired to turn back to page 159 of the first volume of Theodosia, and read again, in connection with the subject the chapter on the introduction of sprinkling.

[7] The reader is referred for additional information upon this subject to pages 319–340, vol. i.

[8] The following is a part of the act of Parliament referred to, and under authority of which the three American bishops, White, Madison, and Prevoost were permitted to be consecrated. After making it lawful for the English bishops to proceed with the consecration in a certain way, the act goes on to say, that “No person shall be consecrated bishop in the manner herein provided, until the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Archbishop of York, for the time being, shall have first applied for and obtained his _majesty’s license_, by warrant, under his royal signet and sign-manual, empowering him to proceed to such consecration.

“Provided also, and it is hereby declared, that NO PERSON or PERSONS, consecrated to the office of a bishop in the manner aforesaid, _nor any person or persons deriving their consecration from or under any bishop so consecrated_, nor any person or persons admitted to the order of a deacon or a priest, by any bishop or bishops so consecrated, SHALL BE THEREBY ENABLED TO EXERCISE HIS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICE WITHIN HIS MAJESTY’S DOMINIONS.”—(_Statutes of George III_)

[9] Can any Methodist answer it? Let each one try.

[10] The members of the society have the same right to control the discipline of their own body that a recent letter-writer says the people in France have _to vote_. He says, “_We have entire freedom to vote._ A ticket prepared for us by the government, and we may vote it if we please. But if we do not like the ticket, we can abstain from voting.”

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Theodosia ErnestChapter XXXV: Introduction (18)

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