The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-16

| CenN Wines. But EnHlhn Anu AmeIlCAu baptl5N
have been from the first. with trihinR excep
tIons, ardent advocates Of independency, and
this principle has At times been 90 overempha
sized as TO interfere seriously with concerted
action OF any kind. II II only within the last
hundred years that Baptists have come 70 re
slizs the power there Is in associated effort
n.
f. Il possible TO trace the practice Of baptizina
by immersion only adult believers, which un-
doubtedly was followed in New Testament
times, through tho long interval which parted
the apostolic era from the latter and middle
sges7 Some Baptist writer's have sought to find
in the Montsnists, Novstisns, Donatists. Jovin-
isnists, vigilantians, PsulicIans, Bogomile., &C.,
who successfully revolted from thu dominant
type Of Christianity. and. in the ancient British
churches that long refused obedience TO the
pope. ndherents TO apostolic doctrine and prac-
tice, and links in the chain Of Baptist apostolic
succession. As to these claims of continuous
transmission DR.. Newman merely remarks that,
while some Of these parties were more and some
less evangelical than the Church they sntsg-
onized, no one Of them can be proved
to have held Baptist views 81 10
the nature and subject Of baptism. Not
until we reach the twelfth century do we
encounter types Of Christian life that can with
any confidence be recognized as Baptists. Among
the dissenting parties which iourished at that
time in the south OF France we meet with Peter
de Bruys and Henry Of Lausone, both Of whom
took an active part in the restoration of prim-
tive Christianity. The errors of these evan
gelists are summed up by an orthodox contem-
porary under Ave heads: Tho first article Of
the heretics denies that children who have not
reached the age Of intelligence can be saved by
baptism, or that another persons faith can
-. 49, - 10000 ,aA NhaiE npvn stnro
our Lord says: 'whosoever shall have believed
and shall have been baptized. shall be saved"
They are accused, furthermore, Of denying
the real presence in the Eucharist. The
rest Of the charges are in entire ac-
cord with the Baptist position. There are
accounts Of similar anti-pedobaptist move
ments in Brittany, tho Netherlands, and the
Rhine region during the first half of the twelfth
century. II Ia probable that Arnold Of Brescla,
the great Italian reformer Of the same period,
rejected infant baptism. According to the
statement Of his contemporary, Otto Of Pressing,
"he [Arnold1 10 said TO have been astray In ref
erence TO the sacrament of the altar and the
baptism of infants" Peter Chelcicky, the spir-
itual father of the Bohemian Brethren, and one
Of the ablest evangelical thinkers of the fifteenth
century, closely approached in his doctrinal
system the position reached by the anti-pedo-
baptists Of tho sixteenth century. Like the
later waldenses, he rejected the doctrines Of
the real presence and baptismal regeneration,
and sought to mako the New Testament the
standard Of his faith and practice. Any depart
ure from the apostolic model by way Of addition
or diminution he considered a~postasy. God'slaw
he held to be perfectly sufficient in every par
ticular. Any union of Church and State he re-
garded as fraught with evil. II the entire
population Of the State was Christian. there
would be no need OF civil government He con-
tended that all dominion and all class distlnc-
ton arc radically opposed to Christ's require
ment OF brotherly equality. No true Christian
can be . king or q civil officer. Christians
should avoid trade as involving deceit through
seeking advantages. Oaths and capital punish
ments he rejected with the utmost decision.
As regards baptism, after quoting tho great
commission. he proceeds, "Open and clear is the
word OF the Son of God. First He speaks Of
faith. then Of baptism. and. since we find this
doctrine In the Gospel. we should now
also hold II fast Baptism belongs to
those who know God and believe His
Scripture" The Bohemian Brethren (Unitas
Fratrum) practised rebaptism in receiving
members from the Roman Catholic and HUSTLE
churches until 1887, when they reluctantly
abandoned IL 10 escape the penalties to which
Anabaptists were by law amenable. There Is
no decisive evidence that any party in England
rejected Infant baptism bafore the Reformation
time. although q vigorous evangelical move
ment was carried forward there before and az
ter the time Of wiclif. The medieval evangeli-
cal movements in general arc regarded as of in
terest TO tho students OF Baptist history. not
simply on account Of the anti pedobaptist
features that appear In connection with the
most important of them, but still more because
of tho type Of life and teaching which was to
reappear in nearly all its features in the anti