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 the Librarian in charge. 
 
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IflSTORY OF THE |)aPTISTS: 
 
 TKACEIJ HV TllKIR 
 
 VITAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES, 
 
 FROM 
 
 TiiK mil;: oviww \m\) and saviour jesiis christ 
 
 TO THE YEAR ISSG. 
 
 BY THOMAS_ ARM ITAGE, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Pastor of ihc I'ifth Avenue Baptist Clunxli. New York. 
 
 Willi AX IXTROOrCTION 
 Y J. L. M. CURRY, D.D., LL.D,, 
 
 American Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Sp.tin. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 173 ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 757 Broadway. 
 
 1887. 
 
EDITION DE LUXE. 
 
 This edition, printed on the finest coated linen plate paper, is strictly 
 limited to one thousand numbered and registered copies, each signed by 
 the author. 
 
 This is copy No. 
 
 .". jA^/X^AaA£:^a^. 
 
 Copyright 1887, by THOMAS ARMITAGE, New York. 
 ALL KIGU JS KESEKrED. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE EDITION DE LUXE. 
 
 PRINTING, Avhich the enlightened taste of Guttenberg had in its 
 very infancy raised almost to the dignity of a Fine Art, was still 
 furthei' exalted l.y tlie (ireat Masters that followed him: by Aldo Pio 
 ]\binu7,io, and Ca.xtdn, and the Elzevirs, by Baskerville, Bodoni, the 
 Didots and l*il■k(■l■iu^■; true artists every one, whose exquisite Morkman- 
 shi]) is to this day admired by all men of learning, and sought for l)y 
 all A\ho love the Beautiful. The height to which the earliest of these 
 masters elevated the new-found art stands brightly marked by the Maz- 
 arin Bible, 'the most important and the most distinguished work in the 
 Annals of Typography,' and by the 'Psalmorum Codex' and the 'Cath- 
 olicon,' l)oth of which, like it, were almost contemporaneous with the in- 
 vention of Printing, and are still among the noblest monuments of the 
 Art ; and, later, by the famous ' Nuremberg Chronicle,' which fully ushered 
 in the era of Illustrated Books. Nor could artist have higher ambition 
 than that which inspired these masters, and still inspires their disciples, 
 to enshrine in enduring beauty the thoughts that govern and the fancies 
 that delight mankind, tlie hiAvs of the universe, and the Word of God. 
 
 Like the Architects of Greece, these old Printers had the -wit to 
 discover the universal and immutable laws of proportion, and through 
 their wise observance to fashion a page the exquisite relation of 
 whose type and printed matter and margin to each other, and to the 
 page Avhich embraces them all, makes it a model of symmetry and 
 elegance. Though the exigencies of the trade rarely ^lermit tlie Pub- 
 lisher of our .lay to obs.Tvc these lau's, it is his delight to do so wlieii- 
 ever a book of surpassing excellence gives liim an opportunity to appeal 
 
 oop.^oi 
 
pi;hf.\('K to Till-: huitkix he i.rxR. 
 
 Mii-..iiu-li ail Ivlition (1,- LiLNc t.. the artistir sense ^f tl.at lortuiiate class 
 wliich not onlv loves 1m,u1<s, Init lov.'s to see tlieiii printed in -Taceful 
 cliaraeters on (jraiid pupij r rillii dii tiutrdi'S, and enfolded in covei'S that 
 would have deli-hted .'veii (u'olier himself. 
 
 A \vid(^ inarLiin is nut only a tliiiiL;- of Iteauty, it lias besides a chai-ni 
 tiiat tourlies the heart of every student; a charm which Charles Laml> 
 savors and (juaintly isoilrays when he tells how Coleridp- embellished 
 tiie i)a,o-es of the InH.ks which he borroued by peiicilin- notes on 
 their iiivitin- borders: ' Keader, if, liaiily, tliou ai't blessed with a 
 modei-at<- cojleetion, be shy of sliowiii,-' it; or, if thy heart overtlow 
 
 to lend them, lend thy 1 ks, but let it be to such a one as Coleridge; 
 
 he will ivtiirn them — generally aiiticijiatiiiL;- the time a])iiointed — 
 with usury, enriched with annotations trijilin-- their value.' On the 
 margin of one of these books Colei'idge wrote, 'I shall ilie soon, my 
 dear Charles Lamb, and then you will not be vexed that I have be- 
 scribbled your liook.' Another contains Coleri<lge's marginal notes 
 with Lamb's comments u])on them. Thi'ice hajijiy the liibliojihile who 
 owns such a treasure! ^lelanchtlion, Lo(d<e, (iray, IJeckford, Buckle and 
 l)e(^)uincey gave much to the world through their marginalia. 
 
 To the book lover, familiar with these things, it need only be said 
 that the stoi'y which is told in these pages deserves the distinction of 
 this su])erb edition. It is the story of one of the most im])ortant phases 
 of the great struggle for liberty of conscience whicdi has been in prog- 
 ress since the birth of Christ — tlie story of the eminent and honorable 
 part borne in that contest liy the exponents of Baptist thought and 
 ]iractice in the Old AN'orld and in the New, always, at all times and in 
 all counti-ies, on the side of freedom. It is told by one whom love of 
 truth, catholic sympathies, philosophic tem])eranient and forceful genius 
 have endowed with supreme (pialitications for the task. Free from 
 ecclesiastical sway, and without ail^^ectation, the author discloses a Palini])- 
 sest of history, with the fearless sincerity and ])erfect candor that will 
 give this book a foremost ])lace among the great works of our time. 
 
 L. M. LAWSON. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 EATJLY in the snimiH>r of A. 1). 1S82 the publishers of this work called upon 
 tUv uiithur to conl'tT on the desirableness of issuing a Baptist history. He 
 laid before them the histories extant by onr writers, commending their merits. 
 They said that, after examination of these, whilst each filled a peculiar niche in 
 Baptist history, they were satisfied that a larger and more comprehensive work was 
 demanded by the present public want, and requested him to undertake the task of 
 preparing one. 
 
 This request was declined on account of its iniierent ditlieulty and the pressure 
 of a large New York pastorate, lie suljmitted two or three weighty names of 
 those who, in his jndgmcnt, were in every way better qualified for tlie work, among 
 them the late Dr. William It. AV'illiams, and wrote letters of introduction to these 
 several gentlemen. In a few weeks tin y returned, stating that they had consulted 
 not only those referred to, i)ut otiier well-known Baptist writers, each of whom 
 suggested that, as the author had devoted years to the examination of the subject, 
 he owed it to his denomination to write and publish thereon. 
 
 After fuller consideration he consented to make the attempt, with the distinct 
 understanding that he should be entirel}' unfettered in regard to the principle on 
 which the work should be written. He saw at a glance that as Baptists are in no 
 way the authors or offspring of an ecclesiastical system, that, therefore, their history 
 cannot be written on the current methods of ecclesiastical history. The attempt 
 to show that any religious body has come down from the Apostles an unchanged 
 people is of itself an assumption of infallibility, and contradicts the facts of history. 
 
 Truth only is changeless, and only as any people have held to the truth in its 
 purity and primitive simplicity has the world had an unchanging religion. The 
 truth has been held by individual men and scattered companies, but never in un- 
 broken continuity by any sect as such. Sect after sect has appeared and held it for 
 a time, then has destroyed itself by mixing error with the trath ; again, the truth 
 has evinced its divinity by rising afresh in the hands of a newly organized people, 
 to perpetuate its diffusion in the earth. 
 
 It is enough to show that what Christ's churches were in the days of the Apos- 
 tles, that the Baptist churches of to-day find themselves. The truths held by them 
 have never died since Christ gave tlieni, and in the exact proportion that any people 
 have maintained these truths they have been the true Baptists of the world. The 
 
w 
 
 i-itcr, tluM-cf 
 
 lire, V 
 
 cfusiMl t,, Ik 
 
 ■ hoiin. 
 
 d in his in\'( 
 
 ■sti 
 
 ,i;-ati. 
 
 mis hy an ii-on ohlii^atioii to 
 
 si, 
 
 (i\V 11 sllCi-rs; 
 
 -U>]\ ( 
 
 <( |HU,,1,. wl 
 
 ,o hav, 
 
 • held all the 
 
 ■ 1" 
 
 ■iliei 
 
 pies, great and small, of any 
 
 t^c 
 
 <-f now (■\i> 
 
 tin,-- 
 
 -11 HV al 
 
 kI no 1 
 
 es>. 
 
 
 
 
 tl, 
 
 wiu-ii i; 
 
 cv lind n.it 
 
 "-'■'; 
 
 Williams 1, 
 
 •ft his 
 
 lul lowers tl 
 
 ley 
 
 111 fl 
 
 re in great trepidation lest 
 ■om the A])ostles, as if any 
 
 1m 
 
 ,<ly rise lia.j. 
 
 . Tl 
 
 iry h.^anl, h 
 
 oweve 
 
 r, that the Q 
 
 net 
 
 ■11 oi 
 
 f Hungary had a list of reg- 
 
 u\ 
 
 ai'ly baptize 
 
 Ml ,1,.: 
 
 -roiHlants tl 
 
 ■ni,l tl 
 
 le Apo.tles, 
 
 alK 
 
 1 w. 
 
 ■IV half persuaded to send 
 
 th 
 
 cir hn,tlRT, 
 
 Th.,1 
 
 lias Oliicy, t 
 
 n ohta 
 
 ill it at her 
 
 ha 
 
 nds. 
 
 Still, on the second sober 
 
 til 
 
 OUo-llt, tlll'V 
 
 conh 
 
 1 nut swalh, 
 
 w this 
 
 close of the 
 
 es. 
 
 seiici 
 
 -■ of popery, and concluded 
 
 IK 
 
 ,t \n niako 
 
 then 
 
 isolvc's ridi, 
 
 ■llh.lls. 
 
 Whereiiji. 
 
 III 
 
 I!ae 
 
 kus solemnly says, that at 
 
 ](_• 
 
 iigtli they ' 
 
 CUIIC'I 
 
 iidrd such 
 
 a eoui 
 
 ■se was not > 
 
 L'Xl 
 
 .eili. 
 
 ■nt. but believing tli;if now 
 
 th 
 
 ry were :j,(i 
 
 it illt( 
 
 . the ri,-ht 
 
 w.iy, 
 
 determined t 
 
 o 
 
 per>( 
 
 jveie therein.' Thu>. once 
 
 111 
 
 ore, wisdom 
 
 1 was 
 
 jlistitied ii 
 
 1 her 
 
 children, uiu 
 
 leu- 
 
 the 
 
 application of the radical 
 
 ail 
 
 tti-lioinish ] 
 
 ,)riiii-i 
 
 pie that th 
 
 e Nev 
 
 r Testament 
 
 is 
 
 the 
 
 only tonch- stone of Cliris- 
 
 ti; 
 
 in liistorv. 
 
 'tIh' 
 
 men who o 
 
 hev it 
 
 in all thin-s 
 
 to 
 
 -dnv, 
 
 . the men who have obevod 
 
 it since it was written, and the men who wrote it. are of one thick, under the one 
 Shepherd, wh.ise holy body ,Iohu buried beneath the waters of the Jordan. 
 
 The author has aimed, so far as in him lay, to command accuracy of statement 
 with a style ada]iti'd to tlu' i-ommon reader in our churches, thus especially reaching 
 and interesting the young and making tlu' work a reliable reference for all. 
 
 ]ii-inci])les as liajitists. This book is written for the purpose of putting within the 
 reach of all .such facts as shall iiiforin them of their religious history and what it 
 cost the fathers of our faith to defend the same. 
 
 Wliile cumbrous notes have been dispensed with, yet, for the benefit of those 
 who honestly desire to inform themselves, I'eferences upon important points to au- 
 thorities, mostly Pedobajitists, are given at the close of tlie volume. For the same 
 reason the work is a defense and an exjiosition of our distinctive principles, as well as 
 a history. Biography is here combined \\ith history proper, and numerous j.iortraits 
 are given, chiefly of those not now living. 
 
 Tlie engravings of the volume, with the exception of the steel-plate of the 
 author, have been executed by the e\perieii<-e(l hand of .John D. Felter, E.sq., whose 
 ability and artistic skill are wiilely recognized. The letter-press and mechanical finish 
 of the book are all that can be desired, even in this age of elegant printing, and be- 
 speak the public favor for the gentlemanly publishers, who. by their enlarged 
 business generosity, have secured to tlie reading jJublic this volume in the best style 
 of the printing art. 
 
 Whilst the author has noticed at length the rise and progress of the Baptists in 
 the several States of the Union, he has not been able to present, with but few ex- 
 ceptions, the history of local churches and associations. To have attempted this 
 would have extended the work far beyond the prescribed limit, and, owing to the 
 
great nuinbei- of Baptist c•lnll•clle^^, tlie rt'sult must necessarily liuvc been meager and 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 The author has clone his woi'k in all candor, with a sincere regard to the pur- 
 pose of history and the maintenance of truth, lie send.s it forth witli the prayer 
 that it may fulfil its mission and afford profit to all who peruse its pages. Despite 
 the utmost care to avoid mistakes, it is very likely tiiat some have crept into the 
 text, but on discovery they will be promptly corrected hereafter. 
 
 It was desirable to seek the aid of several young scholars, specialists in their 
 departments, who have rmdiiiil \ahi:ili!c service by the examination of scarce books 
 and documents, and sulmiitlci] their nun suggestions for consideration. Of these it 
 is specially pleasant to nu'iition : 
 
 Ilev. W. W. Everts, Jr., of Pliihulfli)liia, who has devoted a large portion of his 
 life to the study of ecclesiastical history, and has had rare (ippiirtunities, as a student 
 in German}', to make himself acquainted with the leecmls of the Ctnitinental Bap- 
 tists. He has made his investigations with great care and enthusiasm : 
 
 Henry C. Yedder, Esq., a junior editor of the 'Examiner,' and an editor of the 
 ' Baptist Quarterly.' lie is especially at home in all that relates to the Baptists in 
 the time of the English Coinnionwealth. and has shown su]K'rior al)ility in exaiuining 
 that period : 
 
 llvv. (ieorge E. Wuvv. .Ti-., of Charlestown, Mass., who is thoroughly acquainted 
 with rhe American period of our history, and in his researches has made free use of 
 the libraries at Cambridge and Boston, turning them to most profitable account. 
 
 The first two of these gentlemen have also read the proofs of the respective 
 departments to which they have thus contril)ute(l. 
 
 Rev. J. Spinther James, of Wales, was rcconnnended by Rev. Hugh Jones, 
 late president of the Llangollen College, as quite conijietent to make investigations 
 in the history of the Welsh Baptists. These he has made and submitted, liaving 
 had special facilities for information in the library of that institution. 
 
 Hon. Horatio Gates Jones, of Philadelphia, consented to prepare a full Baptist 
 bibliography, but a press of legal business has prevented the accomplishment of his 
 work, after devoting much time to the subject. 
 
 The portraits of these gentlemen are grouped, and preface the American de- 
 partment. It is but honorable to add, that none of these scholars are to be held re- 
 sponsible for any statement of fact or for an\- sentiment found in the book ; that is 
 entirely assuuuMl by tlie author. 
 
 Hearty and >in('i-re thanks are hereby rendered to Frederick Saunders, Esq., 
 librarian of the Astor Library, for many attentions, especially for the use of Garruci, 
 in photographing ten of the illustrations found in the chapter on Baptismal Pictures ; 
 to Dr. George H. IMoore, of the Lenox Library, for the use of the great Bunyan 
 collection there ; and to Henry E. Lincoln, Esq., of Philadelphia, and Rev. Daniel 
 C. Potter, D.D., of New York, for photographs u.sed. 
 
vi rilEFACE. 
 
 The ;iutli(.r (iwes :i debt of gratitude also t(, T. J. ('..iiaiit, D.D., LL.D., for his 
 kindness in i-eadiiig tlic proof -slieets of tlie cliajitn's on tlie J;a|)tisinof Jesus and the 
 A])Ostolic Cinirclics a,-; Mudels; to Heman Lini/dhi, 1).])., I'l-dfessor of Ecclesiastical 
 History at tlie Newton Theological Scniiiiai'v. wIki exaniiiicd the proofs on the 
 Second and Third (k-ntnries; to Allicrt II. .Newman, D.D., LL.D., Professor of 
 Church History in the Toronto Theological Seminary, who read all the chapters on 
 the Continental Baptists from that on the Waldensians to that on the Netherlands ; 
 to Rev. D. McLane Reeves, D.D., of Johnstown, N. Y., who read the chapter on 
 the Waldensians ; to Rev. Owen Griffith, editor of the ' Y Wawr,' Utica, N. Y., who 
 read the proof of the chapter on the Welsli Baptists; to Henry S. Burrage, D.D., 
 editor of -Zion's Advocate,' wlio examined the two eliapteiv on the Swiss Baptists ; 
 to S. F. Smith, J).I)., of i\[ass.. who has aided largely in the chapter on Missions ; 
 to Reuben A. Guild, LL.D., ]>ibrarian of Brown LTiiiversity, who read most of the 
 proofs of the cha])ters on the American Baptists; to J. E. Wells. M.A., of Toronto, 
 who furnished luucli material lor the eliapter (ju the Baptists in British America; 
 and to Rev. J. Wolfenden. of ('liieag<i, 111., for many facts concerning the Austra- 
 lian Baptists. Each of these scholars made invaluable suggestions, laying both the 
 author and the reader under great obligations. 
 
 Acknowledgments of debt are also made to Rev. William Xorton, A.M., of 
 Chulmleigh, England, and to Rev. Joseph Angus, D.D., LL.D., Principal of Regents' 
 Park College, London, for the examination of works not easily found in this coun- 
 tiy. Also to William Cathcart, D.D., of Philadelphia; Henry G. Weston, D.D., of 
 Crozer Theological Seminary ; to Howard Osgood, D.D., of the Rochester Theolog- 
 ical Seminary; to Ebenezer Dodge, D.D.. LL.D., president of Madison University; 
 to Rev. Frederic Denison, of Providence, R. L ; to Hon. William H. Potter, to Hon. 
 L. M. Lawson, Roger H. Lyon, Esq., and Dr. S. Ayers, of New York ; and to D. 
 Henry Miller, D.D., of Connecticut. The General Index has been prepared by Mr. 
 Henry F. Rcddall, of New York. Many other friends have kindly assisted the 
 author in various ways in the preparation of the work, who will please accept his 
 devout thanks ; and last, but not least, those members of the press who have volun- 
 tarily spoken so kindly of the work on the inspection of portions of the manuscript 
 personally or by their correspondents. 
 
 THOMAS ARMITAGE. 
 Parsonage, No. 2 West 46th St., New York, 
 January 1, 1887. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 A HISTORY of the Baptists should be understood in its objects and aims; 
 and cleared, in the beginning, of misapprehension and perversion. It is 
 not the history of a nationality, a race, an organization, but of a people, ' traced 
 by their vital principles and gospel practices.' The unity to be exhibited and 
 demonstrated was not brought about by force, by coercion of pains and penalties, 
 by repressive and punitive Acts of Conformity ; but by the recognition and 
 adoption of a common authoritative and completed divine standard. 
 
 Tiie error of many previous attempts has consisted in tlie assumption that a 
 Church and Christianity were identical. We have had numerous and voluminous 
 histories of Churches and creeds; and untold abuses have resulted from confounding 
 them with Christ's people, with New Testament doctrines and practices. This 
 petitdo princijnl has been the source of niucli evil. Its hurtful influence lias been 
 seen and felt in the arrogant pretensions of tiiese ' Churches,' their alliance with 
 and use of civil authority, tlie abuses wliieh have come from unrestrained and 
 irresponsible power ; and in the revulsiua and extreme rebound of persons and 
 communities, when reason and conscience and science and patriotism have exposed 
 the deceptiveness of claims, and the hungering soul has had no satisfying response to 
 its clamors for the bread of life. Many infidels have taken refuge in deism, atheism, 
 agnosticism, because they in their ignorance supposed the ' Church,' as they saw it, 
 to be the embodiment of Cliristianity, the authorized exponent of Jesus Clirist. 
 Much of the ridicule of priestcraft and denial of the inspiration of the Scriptures 
 is directly traceable to the corruption of the clergy, to autos-da-fe to the churclily 
 opposition to science and support of political tyranny and kingly wrongs. The 
 genesis of tlie painful skepticism, so abundant in France, Spain and Italy, one need 
 not search far to find. 'Ze Clericalisme, voila Vennemi'' is the belief of many. 
 
 Bossuet advised Catholics, in their controversies with Protestants, to begin 
 with the Church. A Clmrch, in its idea, attributes, organization, membership, 
 ofiicers, ordinances, has been the battle-ground of ecclesiastical and religious dispute; 
 and literature, thought, public opinion, government, manners, worship, have been so 
 much affected and controlled by these disputes, that it is not easy now to bring back 
 a discussion, or confine it, to the real, primal, essential question. 
 
 Tlie idea of a New Testament Church is more subjective than objective. A 
 Church is not an a priori organization, as innate ideas are a priori. 
 
INTUODVCriOK. 
 
 It is IK it ail aiitucL" 
 
 dent a 
 
 o-eii 
 
 cy 
 
 or in- 
 
 -tninient; 
 
 ility for 
 
 th 
 
 
 
 ■sion (jf men. 
 
 Men aiv not n.unlKTs 1, 
 rite, r.ulirvfi'saii' not n 
 (hvrll in Cliri.^t aii.l Clii 
 
 :,adesll 
 ■i.-^t du 
 
 ral 
 leh 
 vlh 
 
 hy 
 
 rth, l.y 
 
 the.y, 
 11 thei 
 
 inlieritai 
 n by the 
 
 ///,/ of < 
 
 Ic-i 
 •Im 
 ii.-iK 
 
 >lati\ 
 ivho 
 
 !■>.- Oi 
 
 rdin 
 
 ■t. bv prie.tly 
 ace iiiijxirted. 
 
 Tlicv caiiif toiirtluTint( 
 
 .thep, 
 
 ■inii 
 
 ti^ 
 
 ,e Ciin 
 
 rche. hy 
 
 an elert 
 
 i\e 
 
 afiin 
 
 ity. 
 
 an inwrought 
 
 h-liiiitnal ajititiiilr and ( 
 
 •apaeit, 
 
 v; 
 
 al 
 
 id con 
 
 .titiiled a 
 
 1 lil-othe 
 
 
 o,i O 
 
 f tl 
 
 ic baptized, a 
 
 In.ly fellowship of the 
 
 ivdeei. 
 
 iied 
 
 
 L Collll 
 
 nullity o 
 
 f re -en 
 
 era 
 
 ted 1 
 
 lien 
 
 and women, 
 
 linitL'd to oii(j uiiothur 
 
 by the 
 
 sal. 
 
 lie 
 
 aiiiiiK 
 
 itini;' spi 
 
 rit. A 
 
 x. 
 
 ■w T: 
 
 r>ta 
 
 iiieiit T'liiirch, 
 
 the apostolic model, was a result, 
 
 a] 
 
 [U'oduc 
 
 t, an evo 
 
 lutioii f 
 
 
 1 anti 
 
 M-ed 
 
 cut facts and 
 
 principles. The Christ 
 
 did n 
 
 ot 
 
 eo 
 
 n>titut 
 
 e a Clair 
 
 ch in a 
 
 .Iva 
 
 lice : 
 
 of. 
 
 ii'eaching and 
 
 salvation and liaptisni, a: 
 
 n,l en.l 
 
 OW 
 
 it 
 
 with 1 
 
 lowers ai 
 
 id funct 
 
 ion 
 
 s to 
 
 exei 
 
 :-Ute the -reat 
 
 commission. As the 
 
 apostl( 
 
 's a 
 
 llK 
 
 1 disci 
 
 pies p.v. 
 
 arhed. ' 
 
 
 1 am 
 
 ,1 V 
 
 ■■onicn heard, 
 
 beli.'ve.l, and were hap 
 
 ti/.ed. 
 
 Tl 
 
 le 
 
 buliev 
 
 ers, com 
 
 in- to-, 
 
 ■tlu 
 
 ■1- in 
 
 loc 
 
 al a»einblies, 
 
 wei'e einjiowereil to j)ei-l 
 
 orm ei 
 
 •rta 
 
 in 
 
 acts fo 
 
 >r edificat 
 
 ion and 
 
 UM 
 
 ■fuliu 
 
 •>s. 
 
 These simple 
 
 organizations were in th 
 
 e earl^ 
 
 •da, 
 
 \'S 
 
 of Ch: 
 
 ristianily 
 
 the div 
 
 in el 
 
 v W. 
 
 pro\ 
 
 ."cil Churches. 
 
 A Cliurcli is no more a. 
 
 l.re-or, 
 
 laii 
 
 
 1 a-eiH 
 
 •y. an e.\t 
 
 erior ai 
 
 lte( 
 
 
 t ii 
 
 i,~trinnentalitj 
 
 for saving men and woi 
 its kind. Eotli aii' evol 
 
 men tl 
 ntioiis 
 
 lan 
 
 tl 
 1 1 
 
 le fnn 
 icces^it 
 
 t is a pr( 
 ies in till 
 
 •-e\i>till. 
 
 
 „1 p, 
 
 V fo 
 
 r propagating 
 ileuce of God. 
 
 From certain elemental 
 
 prinei 
 
 pies 
 
 .- 
 
 4i,e lo; 
 
 -i<-al and 
 
 spiritiK 
 
 ll c 
 
 on~e. 
 
 iuei 
 
 ices of rcgen- 
 
 eration, faith, love and obedience — Churches, w ith tlieir meinhei^hip, oi'ganizations, 
 officers and ordinances, are evolved. 
 
 The evolution is none the less such because scriptural preee]its can be produced ; 
 for in the sense in which the word is used, these commands are evolutions of the 
 wisdom and grace of God. It is readily seen how too much importance can be 
 attached to forms and organizations and ofhcers. Christ taught truth, promulgated 
 ideas, sowed seed. Character, life, organism, union, fcillowed. Philosophy, politics, 
 science, religion, are valuable not as the outcome of a jn-e-ordained scheme, but 
 as the product and growth of correlated tliought, ideas actualized, principles, 
 abstractions, put into concrete, vitalizid I'onns. Moral and spiritual should precede 
 and dominate the physical as ideas precede form and organism. Wiiatever is 
 durable, immortal ; whatever conduces to man's well-being, to the development of 
 humanity which had its genesis in divine thought, must in its ultimate analysis be 
 traceable to fundamental principles, to eternal verities. Civilization, government, 
 religion, must be imperfect, ephemeral, and fail of their noblest end if not based 
 on an intelligent and cordial adoption of the right, the true, the imperishable. Just 
 in so far as mere expediency controls tliere will be superficiality, impci'fectncss, 
 failure. A Christian Church must come from the divine thought and seek the divine 
 end. A Church in the true New Testament iilea, so originated and wrought out, 
 presents a perfect ideal, ever stimulating, beckoning onward and upward, never pier- 
 fectly attained. It exalts God's word, magnifies Ciirist's wmk. relies on the Spirit's 
 presence and ])Ower, individualizes and honors man, teaches his personal I'esponsi- 
 
iNTiionucTioy. ix 
 
 hility and pi-ivilo^i's, ami necessitates his coinpletest moral and mental develojiment. 
 Indi\ idiialisiu runs tlinnigh New Testament Christianity. Eight of private jndg- 
 nicnt in religious matters, the requirement of personal faith and obedience, leads 
 inevitalily to civil freedom. Individuality in relation to God and Christ and salva- 
 tion, the Scriptures and judgment and eternity, conducts by an irresistible sequence 
 to freedom of thought atid speech and i)ress to popular government, to unfettered 
 scicntitic investigation, to universal education. Son! liliurty cannt)t be dissevered 
 from civil freedom. All nioiK-rn reforms in government, broadening from the few 
 to the many, can be traced to the recognition more or less complete of man's 
 personal relations to God, and to the rejection of sponsors, priests and mediators, in 
 faith and obedience and study. Intense religious activity quickens enterpri.se in all 
 proper directions. Free thought on grand religious problems awakens thought on 
 other topics. Communion with the Iving of kings, free and constant and invited 
 access to him, makes one feel that the artificial distinctions of earth are transitory, 
 and that a joint heir with the Christ is superior in freedom and nobleness and 
 possibilities to auy sovereign on the throne of the Caesars. 
 
 New Testament Chtirches in their idea and ends have been ])erverted. From 
 various causes they have degenerated into human organizations, ami lia\e lieeii so 
 assimilated to States and Nations as to i)c scarcely distinguishable IVom the king- 
 doms of this world. The tests or marks of a State would not l.e iiiapplieaMe to 
 •TheClunvh' asit has aete.i. ..r clainied to act. It has been bunnd into a bo.ly 
 politic, has exercised through tiie medium of a common government independ- 
 ent sovereignty and control over all persons and things within its bouiularies, 
 has entered into international relations with other political eomnumities, 
 has represented itself by embassadors and legates, has partitioned continents and 
 oceans, has interfered in successions, has acquired territory, has been known 
 by all the indicia of temporal authority. Becoming a secular ]>ower, it has 
 claimed ecjual authority over many distinct kingdoms, exacted from their 
 citizens an allegiance njion oath ai>ove that which the municipal law of their 
 own country could imjxise, clainieil Empires as fiefs, exacted oaths of vassal- 
 age and collected feudal revenues, absolved sovereigns and subjects from their 
 oaths; claimed for the persons and the property of the officers it employed and the 
 law by which they were to be governed a status wholly distinct from that of the 
 subjects of the country where such officers were ; stirred up crusades against refrac- 
 tory kings and republics, against schismatical princes, against pagans, against 
 heretics; through the Inquisition ' secured to the ecclesiastical authority the arm of 
 the secular power without any right of inquiry or intervention as a condition of its 
 use, ' and put infidelity to the Church on the same footing as rebellion against the 
 throne. All along through twelve centuries Churches have claimed the right to 
 entei- into alliances with civil governments, to direct executive, legislative and 
 judicial action, and to use the power of the State for the execution of their decrees. 
 
It INTllODVi'TIOX 
 
 Tlie claim of a Church to iiiiiversul dominion is, like thu chiim of Spain and 
 Portugal, hascd on \yA\y.y\ i;rant>, to the cxeliiMvu navigation, cnnimerco and fish- 
 eries of the Atlantic and I'acilic Oci'ans. It is, however, jnst as reasunahle 
 as the pretense that a parisii can be set oil ijy metes and bounds, or that a terri- 
 torial area can be assigned to a particular minister to exercise therein exclusive 
 ecclesiastical and spiritual functions. The assertion of a Church, or of a man, to 
 supremacy over human conscience and judgments, is less defensible than a claim to 
 ripecial occupancy of land and water. Some nations have been driven to renounce, 
 as against another, a riglit to jiarts of the ocean; but a, man, in the image of the 
 Creatoi', cannot surrender his inalienable libei'ty of ^^•^^^hip <ir right of free thought. 
 
 The continuity of a Church is not like that of a State. Tliere is little analogy 
 between the two. One cannot by natural birth, l)y inheritance, by purchase, by 
 the will of the tlesh, become a mend)er of thu kingdom .,f Christ. A State may 
 change its form of civil constitution fi-oin a monarchy, an ai-i>toc>i'acy. to a re|)nlilic, 
 to any imaginable shape; but it does not lose its personality, nor forfeit its rights, 
 nor become discharged from its obligations. France under President Grevy is the 
 France of Napoleon or Louis Fourteenth. It retains its identity through all muta- 
 tions. The corporate body succeeds to the rights and obligations of its predecessor. 
 ^ Idem eidm est ^opulus Romanus, suh regihis, coiisulibus, ■impcratoriljus.'' It 
 would rec|uire a vast stretch of credulity or ignorance to imagine the hierarchies 
 of the present day to be the same as the Churches to wliieh Paul wn.ite his letters. 
 Conditions of citizenship, descent or alienation of j)i-o|ierty, distribution of estates, 
 maybe changed by human governments; but the conditions t)f membership in a 
 New Testament Church are unalterable because they are spiritual and God- 
 prescribed. 
 
 Our books contain treaties in reference to intervention by one nation in the 
 internal affairs of another upon the ground of religion, and learned discussions as 
 to the right of law-making departments of govermnent to prescribe, modifj^ or 
 interpret articles of religious faith. It seems that in England even there is one and 
 the same identical law-giver for Church and State. The Parliament, in the Act of 
 Uniformity of Elizabeth, instituted the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and put 
 together a Book of Common Prayer. The atrocious cruelties of the religious per- 
 secutions, 'the execrable violations of the rights of mankind,'' to use the strong 
 denunciation of Sir James "Nraekinto^h. have grown out of the claims of government 
 and Churches to couti-ol and imnLsh men's opinions. An Establishment is neces- 
 sarily and always a usui-pation and a wrong. A New Testament Church cannot, by 
 possibility, be in alliance with a State and retain its scripturalness, its conformity 
 with apostolical precept. Capability of such a imion is the demonstration of a 
 departure from a primitive model. 
 
 A tree is known by its fruits. An Establishment, ex vi fennini, implies dis- 
 crimination, irregularity, injustice, an arrogant claim to make Cffisar determine 
 
INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 what beloi\<;s to God. Tliiiifjs will follow tendencies. Those permanently sup- 
 ported by the government sustain the government and resist concessions of popular 
 liberty. In the time of Henry VIII. marriages in Enghmd were regulated by tlie 
 canon law of Rome, 'grounded often on no higher principle than that of papal 
 caprice ; ' and when the king's conscience and conduct demanded it, the Church 
 found a semblance of excuse for liis lust and tyranny. When Elizabeth was on the 
 throne the Archbishop of ( 'antcrbury, to quiet some doubts as to her legitimacy, was 
 ordered to draw up a 'Table of Degrees' which would place her succession on 
 scriptural grounds. The disingenuous adulation of the dedication to King James 
 in the ' Authorized Version ' of the Bible is disgraceful to those who signed it. 
 
 The ecclesiastical Peers in the House of Lords uniformly and almost as a unit 
 have, to quote from Joseph Hume, ' been the aiders and abettors of every tyranny 
 and oppression which the people have been compelled to endure.' Bills for remov- 
 ing Homan Catholic disabilities, Jewish disabilities. University tests, and to open 
 church-yards to Xon-conformist buri;il services, etc., etc., have found in them steadfast 
 opponents. 
 
 Joseph Chamberlain, in ISSf), in a public address, put this pertinent inquiry: 
 ' Is it not a singular thing that of all the great movements which have abated the 
 claims of privileges or destroyed the power of tyrants, which have freed the nation 
 or classes from servitude and oppi'ession, or raised the condition of the great mass 
 of the people, there is scarcely one which has owed any thing to the initiative or 
 sncouragement of the great ecclesiastical organization which lays claim to exclusive 
 national authority and support 'i ' 
 
 This hostility to popular rights and the removal of abuses is the natural con- 
 sequence of the system of union of Church and State. Since the Reformation 
 there has been much progress in securing the free exercise and enjoyment of 
 religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference. Our Federal 
 and State Constitutions, following the lustrous precedent of Rhode Island, have 
 embodied religious liberty in American organic law ; and our example and the 
 undisputed success of voluntaryism are teaching lessons of freedom to the crushed 
 millions of earth. In all civilized countries toleration is practiced. Wearily and 
 painfully the work goes on. Privileges are wrested from reluctant hands, always 
 after stubborn resistance, never once through gracious concession. Even when laws 
 are repealed the social stigma is vigorously applied. ' Have any of the Pharisees 
 believed on Him?' is constantly rung in our ears. Truth will prevail. Sire 
 bequeaths to son freedom's Hag, and establishments and endowments must yield to 
 religious equality before the law. It is a delusion to imagine that the final victory 
 has been won. Prerogative and privilege, sanctioned by antiquity and buttressed 
 by wealth and power, will contest every inch. The demands of the pope for the 
 restoration of Jiis temporalities, and his lamentations over his voluntary imprison- 
 ment in the Vatican, show that Cardinal Manning spoke ex cathedra when he 
 
t in E 
 
 InglaiHl and Sc 
 
 ntlan. 
 
 1 holds on 
 
 >« "P 
 
 to this tinif 
 
 in i( 
 
 iilinu; the 
 
 musa.K 
 
 1 years is still t( 
 
 , 1,,. 1 
 
 )i-olongcd. 
 
 !Cii TNTRODUCTION. 
 
 alHi-nied tliat the Unam .Kmrtam Dc^vtal and the Syllabus contain the doctrines 
 of Ultramontanisin and Chri^tianiry. J'iiis IX., in a leftrr. An-ust 7. isT.'^, to 
 William, King of Trnssia, chiimrd that every one who had heen baptized belonged 
 in someway or other to tlie ]io]ie. In July, 1SS4, a (.'uban an-libishop declared 
 in the Spanish f'ortes that ' The I'iglits <,f the Koniaii pontilb inehiding the riglits 
 of temporal power over the States, ^\•ere inalienalile and cainiot be restricted; and 
 were before and superior to the siiealled new rights of cosmopolitan resolution and 
 the barbarous law of force.' 
 
 The tenacity with which tlie Kstablishineni 
 to its ]iower and perquisites, and the siieee 
 Liberationi^ts, are proofs that the battle of a tli 
 
 The "History of the Baptists' shows tlie victories of tlie ]ia.-.t and the true 
 principles of the I'oiitest if ]jernianent success is to be attained. Justification by 
 personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ lays the axe at the root of all sacranieiitalism, 
 sacerdotalism, alliance of Church with State and interfei'enee -with siiul liberty. 
 The entire sufficiency and authority (.if tin- insjiii'ed woril of (biil, the i-ight of 
 private judgment, the individuality of all religious duties, a converted church- 
 membership and the absolute headshiii of the ( 'hrist, will give success to efforts for 
 a pure Christianity. 
 
 Dr. Amiitage has exccjitional tjualifications for writing a liistory of the 
 Baptists. His birth, education, religious exj)erience, connection with England and 
 the United States, habits of investigation, scholarly tastes and attainments and 
 mental independence, fit him peculiarly for ascertaining hidden facts and pushing 
 pi-inciples to their logical conclusion. 
 
 J. L. M. CURKY. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 Introduction by I)h. ( luiiY vn 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 Uave we a Visible Successiou of liaptisl Churclus down I'r.iin the- Apo^tk-s ? 1 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT PERIOD. 
 
 CII.VPTEK I. 
 John the Baptist 13 
 
 ClIAl'TEH II. 
 The Baptism of Jesus 25 
 
 l'II.\PTEI{ III. 
 The Baptist's Witness to Christ 3(5 
 
 CIIAPTEH IV. 
 Christ's Witness to the Bajitist 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The King in Zion— Laws for the Xew Kin^nloni 57 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Pentecost anil Saul 71 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Saul and (ienlile Missions 88 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 Nero and I'aul. Pct.-r and John 01) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Apostolic Chinches the Only Model for all Churches 114 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Officers and Ordinances of the Apostolic Church 129 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Baptist Copy of the Apostolic Churches 148 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 POST-APOSTOLIC TIMES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. lA-E 
 
 The Second Century 155 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 The Third Century 173 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 Tlie Third Century -Continual Is-J 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Fourth Century I'.i-l 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Fifth C:eutury 211 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Sixth, Seventli, Eightli, and Ninth Centuries 22G 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Baptism and Baptisteries in the Middle Ages 243 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Ancient Baptismal Pictures 25(i 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Twelfth Century 2Ti; 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Waldeusians 2'J4 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Bohemian Brethren aud the Lollards 81:J 
 
 THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Swiss Baptists 327 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Swiss Baptists— Co//? i«»c(7 340 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Reformation— Zwickau and Luther 354 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Reformation— Peasants' War— Miihlhausen and Miinster 362 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Refoiniatiou--The Germ;m Baptists 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER VI. r^<>y 
 
 'I'liL' Reformation— German hnpthts—Cvutiiuud Hil.") 
 
 CIIAI'TER VII. 
 
 The Reformalion— Baptists in the NctlR-rlands 407 
 
 BAPTISTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Imnuision in England. 
 
 42.J 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Immersion in Eng\:un\ — did iitual — Persecution . . 437 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Hritish Baptists-.Iohn Smytli— Coiiimonw.altli 4.-);i 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Uiitish Baptists— .lolui liunyan 474 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Britisli Baptists— Jolin \ixwy.m—C'oi<tiHii.ei/ 4'j:i 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Britisli Baptists— Bnnyan's Relations to the Baptists 511 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Britisli Bajjtists— Biuiyan's Principles ")'i8 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 British Baptists— Commonwealth ami the Restoration 540 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 British Baptists— Liberty of Conseienec— Associations— The Stennetts— Irish Baptists 555 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Scotch and En;j;lish l?aptists— Missions- Men of Note 572 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 British Baptists— The Welsh Baptists 598 
 
 THE AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Colonial Period- Piljrrims and Puritans 610 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Bani.shment of Ro<;er Williams 627 
 
xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 CIIAPTEll III. PAGE 
 
 Scttlcincnt ,if RlirMr Ishind G41 
 
 CIIAPTEU IV. 
 Tlir I'lnviilcnrr aii.l Ncwp(,rt ( !liuirlirs 6.W 
 
 ClI.XPTEll V. 
 Chiuiiici'V— Kiiull ys-Milfs and the S\v;mse;i Cliuich 074 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Boston Baptists (>«(> 
 
 CTIAPTER Vn. 
 
 New (.'enters of ISaptist Intlueiiec-Soulli Ctirolin;.— Maine— Peniis_vlv:miu~New Jersey 704 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Tlie Baptists of Vir^tinia 724 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Baptists of Conneeticut and New York 7a0 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Baptists of North Carolina, ^laryland. New Hampshire, Vermont and (;e..rgia -;:>' 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Baptists and the Revolntionary War 77() 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 The ;Vmeriean Baptists and Constitutional Liherty 7iM) 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Foreign Missions -Asia and Europe yi4 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Other Baptist :\Iissions-^Foreign and Home am 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Preachers — Educators— Authors 8o2 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Theological Seminaries — Literature — Revivals 872 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Bible Translation and Bil)Ie Societies 8'J3 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Baiitists in Biitisli America and Australia i'lO 
 
 T.VBLE OP St.\tistics 943 
 
 Repekences to AuTiioniTiES Quoted 044 
 
 Appendix. -CoNPEssioN op Sciileitheim 949 
 
 Genek.vl Index 953 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Abraliam's Pool at Hebrou 
 
 Ampulla, The 
 
 Ancient Baptistery at Aiiuilcia 
 
 Ancient Church Edifice in Cornwall 
 
 Ancient Font at St. Martin's, Canterbury. . . 
 
 Ancient lloman Bath, Vatican Sluseum 
 
 Ancient Ship 
 
 Ancient Stone Font in Cornwall 
 
 Hainham, James, at St. Paul's 
 
 Baptism of Jesus facing 
 
 Baptism at Rheinsbero; 
 
 Baptism in the Thirteenth Century 
 
 Baptistery at Florence 
 
 Baptistery at Pi.f^a 
 
 Baptistery in Catacombs of St. Ponziano 
 facing 
 
 Baptistery of Bishop Paulinus 
 
 Baptistery of St. John Lateran 
 
 Baptizing in the River Ebbw facing 
 
 Uaratla River — Damascus in the Distance . . 
 
 liarnabas Iiitroilucing Paul to Peter 
 
 IJasle on the Rhine 
 
 Beheading Block, The 
 
 Brescia 
 
 Bunyan's Cottage and Forge at Elstow 
 
 Bunyan's Monument 
 
 Bunyan's Tomb 
 
 Burning of Anne Askew and Others at 
 
 Smithfield facing 
 
 Burning of Mrs. Elizabeth Gaunt .... facing 
 
 Castelluzo, Cave of 
 
 ( hristians given to the Lions in the Roman 
 
 Amphitheater 
 
 Church, The, as a Ship, on Christ the Fish . 
 
 ( loven Tongues as of Fire 
 
 ( '(mstantine the Great 
 
 ( inversion and Ba])tism 
 
 Cup of Alba 
 
 Fanatical Monk Preaching, A 
 
 Fifth Mile nf the Via Appia, Restored 
 
 Forbidden Book, The facing 
 
 Fords of Jordan 
 
 Interior of Baptistery of Florence 
 
 Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives 
 
 Jesus Baptized in the Jordan 
 
 Jesus Blessing a Child 
 
 Judson's Translation of the Scriptures Fin- 
 ished 
 
 Keach's Chapel 
 
 Keach in the Pillory 
 
 Mars' Hill 
 
 Martyrdom of John Bad ley 
 
 Monumcnto ad Arnaldo da Brescia. . .facing 
 
 Moot House at Elstow 
 
 Mosaic, Arian Baptistery, Ravenna 
 
 Mosaic from Baptistery of St. John, Ravenna. 
 
 Mosaic of the Seventh Century 
 
 Miinster 
 
 Ninth Century Fresco, Basilica of St. Clem- 
 ent. — Cyril Immersing a Convert 
 
 Old Baptismal Font, St. John on the Pedestal 
 
 Pass in the Wilderness of Judcu 
 
 Paul Preaching 
 
 Pool for Ablution — Baba-atel Temple 
 
 Pool for Religious Ablution — Golden Tem- 
 ])le, India 
 
 Pool of Hezekiah 
 
 Pool of Siloam 
 
 Prison on Bedford Bridge, The 
 
 Pulpil, Baptistery, and Table at Pisa 
 
 Re|nited Spot of Christ's Baptism . . 
 
 Roger Williams and the Indians 
 
 Ruins of ^lellifont Baptistery 
 
 Schailhausen 
 
 Solomon's Pools 
 
 St. Paul's Bay, from the south 
 
 Successful Gospel Preaching 
 
 Supposed Immersion of Jesus. ,\ 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Symbol ( 
 Symbolic 
 Tarsus . 
 
 Tll.Mt.T 
 
 Upn.r F 
 
 Waldensian Symbols W't 
 
 Waklshut oil the Rhine 327 
 
 Wliippiiio- of John FIo.r. iK-'f 324 
 
 Zoar Slivct Chaprl, Southuark 47!) 
 
 Zwirka\i 3o4 
 
 PORTRAITS. 
 
 Anderson, Martin B .SOS 
 
 Angus, Joseph ."iS'.) 
 
 Armitagp, Tlionias (steel ]ilate) frontispiece 
 
 Arnold of Brescia 2'jl 
 
 Backus, Isaac 7 7!i 
 
 Baldwin, Thomas 852 
 
 Bede, the Venerable 420 
 
 Bennett, Alfred 850 
 
 Booth, Abraham 50!) 
 
 Boyce, J. P facing- S72 
 
 Broadiis, John A 809 
 
 Brown, Hugh Stowell 5!)2 
 
 Brown, Joseph E 773 
 
 Bunyan, John 474 
 
 Carey, William 57!) 
 
 Castle, John H 034 
 
 Cathcart, William 870 
 
 Colgate, William !)13 
 
 Conaut, T. J facing 8!)3 
 
 Cone, S]ieneer II 904 
 
 Cramp, J. JI 920 
 
 Curry, Rev. J. L. JI 783 
 
 Dodge, E facing 872 
 
 Ellis, Robert 610 
 
 Evans, Chri.stmas ; GIO 
 
 Everts, W. W., Jr f.aeing 619 
 
 Foster, John 590 
 
 Fuller, Andrew 584 
 
 Fuller, Ricliard 700 
 
 Gano, Stephen 854 
 
 Guild, Reuben A 860 
 
 Hackett, H. B facing 893 
 
 Haldane, James Alexander 575 
 
 Hall, Robert 593 
 
 Harris, Joseph facing 607 
 
 Havelock, Henry 591 
 
 Horr, G. E., Jr facing 619 
 
 Hovey, A facing 872 
 
 Howard, John 505 
 
 Ilubmeyer, Balthazar 
 Hutchinson, ]\Irs. Lue 
 Ivimev. Joseph 
 
 Jesscy, Henry 
 
 Jones, Hon. H. G facing 
 
 Jones, Hugh 
 
 Judson. Ann Ilasselfine 
 
 Ken.liiek, A. C facing 
 
 Kitlin, William 
 
 Knollys. Hanserd 
 
 Leland, John 
 
 Maclann, Alexand<-r 
 
 MacViear, :\lalenlin 
 
 Manning, James 
 
 Menno Simon 
 
 :\Iilton. John 
 
 Morgan, Wiiliam 
 
 Newman, Albert H 
 
 Northrup, G. W facing 
 
 Oldcastle, John 
 
 Onckeu, J. G 
 
 Osgood, Howard facing 
 
 Rippon, John 
 
 Sharp, Daniel 
 
 Smith, Samtiel F 
 
 Spurgeon, Charles H 
 
 Stillman, Samuel 
 
 Strong, A. H facing 
 
 Thomas, Joshua facing 
 
 Thomas, M facing 
 
 Thomas, Timothy 
 
 Vedder, H. C facing 
 
 Watkins, Joshua 
 
 Weston, H. G facing 
 
 Williams, John facing 
 
 Williams, William R 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 HAVE WE A VISIBLE SUCCESSION OF BAPTIST CHURCHES DOWN 
 FROM THE APOSTLES? 
 
 ON tlic western coast of India, near Goa, and also in tlie Mediterranean, springs 
 of fresli water, whicli do not rise to the surface but are run otf by the under- 
 current, rusli out of the strata at tlie bottom of tlie sea. But in tlie Gulf of Xagn, on 
 the southern coast of Cuba, a wonderful fountain of fresh water gurgles up in the 
 open sea ; forcing aside its salt waters, it passes off in the surface-current and is lost 
 in the ocean. From this spring navigators often draw their supplies of pure water 
 in the midst of the briny waste. Here nature lends us a forceful type of the fact 
 that there may be a flow of visible succession without purity, and that there may be 
 a continuous purity without a flow of visible succession. 
 
 Is an unbroken, visible, and historical succession of independent Gospel Churches 
 down from the apostles, essential to the valid existence of Baptist Cliurches to-day, 
 as apostolic in every sense of the word ? This question suggests another, namely, 
 Of what value could any lineal succession be, as compared with present adherence to 
 apostolic truth ? From these two questions a third arises : Whether true lineage 
 from the Apostolic Churches does not rest in present conformity to the apostolic pat- 
 tern, even though the local church of to-day be self-organized, from material that 
 never came out of any church, provided, that it stands on the apostolicity of the New 
 Testament alone. The simple truth is, that the unity of Christ's kingdom on earth 
 is not foimd in its visibility, any more than the unity of the solar system is found in 
 that direction, for its largest domain never falls under the inspection of any being 
 but God. So, likewise, the unity of Christianity is not found by any visible tracing 
 tlirough one set of people. It has been enwi-apped in all who have followed purely 
 apostolic principles through the ages ; and thus the purity of Baptist life is found 
 in the essence of their doctrines and practices by whomsoever enforced. Little 
 perception is required to discover the fallacy of a visible apostolical succession in 
 the ministry, but visible Church succession is precisely as fallacious, and for exactly 
 the same reasons. The Catholic is right in his theory that these two must stand or 
 fall together ; hence he assumes, ipso facto, that all who are not in this double suc- 
 cession are excluded from the true apostolic line. And many who are not Catholics 
 think that if they fail to unroll a continuous succession of regularly organized 
 churches, they lose their genealogy by a break in the chain, and so fail to prove 
 that they are legitimate A])ostolic Churches. Such evidence cannot be traced by 
 
2 yiHIBLK SUCCKSSION A SNAHK. 
 
 aiiv Cliiircli oil I'artli, aiKl woul.l W utterly w<irtlilrss if it (-(hiM, Ix-caiiHu tlic 
 ival k-itiniacv of ( 'liristiaiiity nnist !,.■ fouinl in the .Wnv TestaiiRMit, and nowhere 
 else. 
 
 The ver}' attempt to trace an unbi-okeii line ol' ])ersons duly baj^ti^ied upon their 
 personal trust in Christ, or of ministers onhiineil \,\ lineal descent from the apostles, 
 or of cliurehes orf;-anized iipon these princii)le>, and adhering to the Kew Testament 
 in all thin_i;-s, is in itself an attempt to eivet a lailwurk of error. Oid.v God ean 
 make a new creature; and the ell'ort to trace Christian liistorv from regenerate 
 man to regeiici'ate man, implies that man can impart some power to keej) up a suc- 
 cession of individual Christians. Apply the same thought to grouj.s of churches 
 running down through sixty generations, and \vc have iirecisely the same result. 
 The idea is the very life of Catholicism. ( )iir only reliable ground in opposition to 
 this system is: That if no trace of contininity to the New Testament could be found 
 in any Church since the end of the first cenniry. a Church established to-day upon 
 the New Testament life and order, would be as truly a historical Church from 
 Christ, as the Cliurch planted by Paul at Ephesus. Robert Robinson has well said : 
 ' Uninterrupted succession is a specious lure, a snare set by sophistry, into which all 
 parties have fallen. And it has hapiieiieil to spiritual genealogists as it has to others 
 who have traced natural descents, both ]ia\e woven together twigs of every kind to 
 fill lip rem.ite cliasms. The .loctrine is necessary only to siK'h Churches as regulate 
 their faith and practice by tradition, and for their use it was first invented. .. Trotest- 
 ants, by the most substantial arguments, have blasted the doctrine of pajial succession, 
 and yet these very Protestants have undertaken i,i make proof of an unbroken series 
 of persons, of their own sentiments, following one another in due ordei' from the 
 apostles to themselves.' ' 
 
 Sanctity is the highest title to legitimacy in the kingdom of God, because 
 holiness, meekness, and self-consecration to Christ are the soul of real Church life ; 
 and without this pedigree, antiquity cannot make Church existence even reverent. 
 This sanctity is evinced by the rejection of error and the choice of truth, in all 
 matters which the New Testament has enjoined, either by precept or example. In 
 things of light import, demanding a roliust common sense, the noble and courteous 
 sjiirit of Jesus must be maintained, for personal holiness is the highest test of 
 Christianity in all its historical relations. J!ut this matter of visible Church suc- 
 cession is organically connected with the idea of Church infalliliility, rather than of 
 likeness to Christ. The twin doctrines were born of the same parentage, and the 
 one implies the other, for a visible succession must be pure in all its parts, that is, 
 infallible ; if it is corrupt in some things, no logical showing can nuike it perfect. 
 Truth calls us back to the radical view, that any Cliurch which bears the real 
 apostolic stamp is in direct historical descent from the apostles, without relation to 
 any other Church past or present. In defense of this position the following consid- 
 erations are submitted to all candid minds : 
 
!■• MM 
 
 KAL ki:(;k.\- 
 
 i:i; 1) 
 
 K A. NOT I IKK, 
 
 IlK 
 
 I.K(;niMATK 
 
 rur r 
 
 ni'th simply 
 
 I- clil 
 
 irclics witli- 
 
 (• of 
 
 rhesu nu-n 
 
 iM.ni 
 
 ui (;,m1 in 
 
 KO • }fn TlIKIi • nil 7.' ( 'IIES. 
 I. That Ciiinst nkvkk kstaislisiiki) a law of Cukistiax i-k 
 
 WHICH Uli ENUOWEU LOCAL CIUKCHES WITH THK KXCI.U.-^IVK I'oWKK ()| 
 EKATIOX, MAKING IT NKCESSAKY FOE ONE CHUKCH TO lii; THi: MoTIII 
 IN ItEGCLAK SUCCESSION, AND WITHOIT WHICH THEY CiUl.li Mil 
 
 CHURCHES. Those who organized tlu' chiirchrs in apostolic tinus wi 
 with the lines of doctrine and ordui- in tlicii- hands, and fonnt'd ni\\ 
 out tlie anthorit}' or even the kmiwlcdge of otlier cluii-chcs. Souk 
 were neither ai^ostles nor pastois, Jjut private Christians. Mi>n arc 
 regeneration and not of the Chui-cli. Thoy have no anc-o.stry in n'j;ciicration. nnich 
 less are they the offsprinj^ of an ori;anic ancestry. The men who composed the true 
 Clnirches at Antioch and Rome were ' born from above,' making the Gospel and 
 not the Church the agency by which men are ' begotten of God.' This Church suc- 
 cession figment shifts the primary question of Chiistian life from the apostolic 
 ground of trutii, faith and obedience, to the Romanistie doctrine of persons, and 
 rendei-s an historic series of such persons necessary to administer the ordinances and 
 impart valid Cliurch life. How does inspiration govern this matter i ' Whoso 
 abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God ; lie that abidetli in the 
 teaching, the same hath both tlie Father and rhe Son. If any man couieth to 
 you and bringeth not this teaching receive him not.' Pure doctrine, as it is found 
 uncorrupted in the word of God, is the only unljiokeii line of succession which can 
 be traced in Christianity. God never confided his truth to the jjcrsonal succession 
 of any body of men; man was not to be trusted with the custody of this i)ie- 
 cious charge, but the King of tlie truth has kept the keys of the truth in his own 
 band. The true Church of Christ has ever been that which has stood upon his 
 person and work. 
 
 Whitaker, treating of this blunder of the hierarchy, says, 'Faith, therefore, is, 
 as it were, the soul of tlie succession ; wiiich, being wanting, a naked succession of 
 persons is a dead body.' 2 Tertullian says, 'If any of the lieretics dare to connect 
 themselves with the Apostolic Age, that tiiey may seem to be derived from tlie Apos- 
 tles, as existing under them, we may say : Let them, therefoi'e, declare tlie origin of 
 their Churches, let them exhibit the series of their bishops, as coming down by a 
 continued succession from the beginning, as to show their first bisliop to have been 
 some apostle or apostolic man as his predecessor or ordainer, and who continued in 
 the same faith w^ith the Apostles. For this is the way in which the Apostolical 
 Churches calculate the series of their bishops.' ^ Ambrose takes the same ground, 
 thus : ' They have not the inheritance, are not the successors of Peter who have not 
 the faith of Peter.' Gregory (Xazianzen), in defending the right of Athanasius, 
 to the chair of Alexandria, against his opponent, uses these words : ' This succession 
 of piety ought to be esteemed the true succession, for lie who maintains the same 
 doctrine of faith is partner in the same chair; but he wdio defends the contrary 
 doctrine, ought, though in the chair of St. Mark, to be esteemed an adversary to it 
 
4 TliVril THE TKST. 
 
 This man, indeed, may have a mmiiiial succussioii, hut the (itlier has tlic very thing 
 itself, the succession in deed and in truth.' 
 
 Calvin's view is in hai'mony with this testimony ; he says : ' I deny the suc- 
 cession scheme as a thing entirely without foundation. . . . This question of being 
 successors of the Apostles must be decided by an examination of the doctrines main- 
 tained.' Zanchius gives the same view : ' When jiersonal succession, alone, is boasted 
 of, the jiurity of true Christian doctrine having departed, there is no legitimate min- 
 istry, seeing that both the Church and the ministry of the Church are bound not to 
 persons, but to the word of God.'' Bradford, the ujartyr, truly said of the Church, 
 that she is 'Not tied to succession, but to the word of God.' And Stillingfleet 
 says, with spirit : ' Let succession know its place, and learn to vaile bonnet to the 
 Scriptures. The succession so much pleaded by the writers of the primitive Church 
 was not a succession of persons in apostolic power, but a succession of apostolic doc- 
 trine.'' * On this ground it follows, that those who hold to a tangible succession of 
 Baptist Churches down from the Apostolic Age, must prove from the Scriptures 
 that something besides holiness and truth is an essential sign of the Church of God. 
 The whole pseudo-apostolic scheme, from its foundation, was a creation of the hier- 
 archy for the purposes of tyraimy. The question of veracity is of vastly more 
 moment in Ba]jtist history than that of antiquity. Veracity accepts all ti-utli with- 
 out regard to time; gathering it up, and putting it on record exactly as it has been 
 known through the centuries. Historic truth has many parts in harmony with each 
 other, but the hard and fast lines of visible succession are those of a mere system and 
 not those of true history. The Bible is the deep in which the ocean of Gospel truth 
 lies, and all its streams must liarnionize with their source, and not with a dreamy, 
 sentimental origin. As it is not a Gospel truth that Christ has lodged the power of 
 spiritual procreation in his Churches, so it is not true that all who come not of any 
 given line of Church stock are alien and illegitimate. 
 
 II. OuE LOED NEVER PEOmSED AN OEGANIC TISIBir.n'Y TO HIS ChuECH IN PEEPE- 
 
 TuiTY, AMONGST ANY PEOPLE OE IN ANY AGE. He cudowed liis Churcli witli immortal 
 life when he said : ' The gates of hell (Hades) shall not prevail against it.' But this 
 has nothing to do with the question of a traceable or hidden existence. He gives 
 his pledge that his Church shall not perish, and he has secured to her this stability. 
 The forces of death have proudly dashed themselves against her a thousand times, 
 but despite their rage, she stands firmly built on a ' Rock.' She has been driven 
 into the wilderness again and again, as a helpless woman, to find a home as best 
 she could. Its fastnesses, wastes, dens and caves, have invited her to their secrecy 
 and shelter ; but though her members have been driven like chaff before the wind, 
 she has never been destroyed. An army is not overthrown when withdrawn from 
 the field, it is retired only to make it indestructible. A grain of wheat enswathed 
 and hidden in a pyramid for thousands of years grows as fresh as ever when brought 
 back to light and moisture. So Christ signally evinces his watch-care over his 
 
riSimUTT NEVER PIIOMISKI). g 
 
 Cliurcli wlu'ii lir liriiigs lier into a secret retreat for safety, or as Jolin expresses it, 
 into "her plaee i)reparcd by God,' tliat she may be 'nourislied for a time,' to come 
 forth stronger than ever. Men liave often thought the Church dead, first amongst 
 this people and then that, wlien she was more alive than ever for her occasional invis- 
 ibility. At such times her organization has been broken, lier ordinances suspended, 
 her officers slain, her members ground to powder; but she has come forth again, not 
 in a new array of the same persons, but in the revival of old truths amongst a new 
 people, to reproduce new and illustrious examples of faithful men. Christianity has 
 been one web through which the golden band of truth has been visible from edge 
 to edge at times, then a mere thread has been seen, then it has been fully covered by 
 the warp. But anon, it has re-appeared as bright as ever, from its long invisibility. 
 
 III. ClIKIST NEVER PROMISED TO HIS CHURCHES THEIR ABSOLDTE PRESERVATION 
 
 FROM ERROR. He promised his Spirit to lead his Apostles into all truth, and kept 
 his word faithfully when they wrote and spoke as the Spirit moved them. But 
 when he had finished the inspired rule for their guidance, he did not vouchsafe 
 to keep them pure, nolens volens. They might mix error and false doctrine with 
 his truth, and disgrace themselves by corrupting admixtures ; but the loss and respon- 
 sibility were tlieii-s. To have pledged them unmixed purity for all time despite 
 their own self-will was to endow them with infallibility, which is precisely the doc- 
 trine of Eome, and a contradiction of all reliable history. Even in the first century 
 there was great defection from the truth, as the Epistles show. Some of them were 
 written, indeed, for the express purposes of correcting error, especially the latter 
 writings of Paul and John. From the second to the fourth century, we find a rapid 
 departure from inspired truth, with many sects, and no churches exactly after the 
 Apostolic order. Some few men, original thinkers who followed no man's teach- 
 ings, broke loose from the leadership of all. They went independently to the text 
 of Scripture, but stood single-handed, and took with them some error fi'om which 
 they could not free themselves, so that they fell below their own ideal ; and the 
 original model was not restored for some length of time. Nay, more than this even 
 is true. Those organic bodies of men who were drawn together into reformed 
 chiirches, were moved by mixed motives, and in attempting a new order of things, 
 few of them came up to the New Testament standard in all respects. And the fail- 
 ure to reach that standard in all churches has been so marked as to render it vain 
 to look for a visible line of succession, which constitutes the only true Church 
 descent from Apostolic times to ours. Some churches have been faithful to one 
 divine truth and some to another, but none have embodied all the truth, and few 
 individual men now known to us have kept all the requisitions of the Gospel. 
 
 This principle of infallibility and Church succession is the central corruption of 
 Eome, and has so polluted her faith that she scarcely holds any truth purely, both 
 in the abstract and the concrete. She believes in the proper Deity of Jesus Christ 
 and of the Holy Spirit, — in the Unity and Trinity of the Godhead, — in the authea- 
 
6 REGENKRATEl) MANHOOD. 
 
 ticity and iii.-iiinitioii nf tlic Sci-iptiii'cs,- in tlir ddetriiics of incarnation and atone- 
 ment,- and in rtci-nal 'Anvy an-l ivti'iliutioii. lint wliicli of tlicsr iias she not mod- 
 ified and jHTvi'i'tfd, nmlor tlie pretense tluit she is endowed with Catholicity and 
 perpetual vi,-il)ility, as \\\v rightful Chureh Apostolic, ail her delilenient to the con- 
 trary? and now she makes her errors her real life. AVhat is true of the hierarchy is 
 equally true, in this respect, of most of tlje hodics wliich have protested against 
 and shaken off her chief heresies. They clung to some truths which she trod 
 under foot, Imt they hugged some of lier errors as closely as she hugged them, 
 defen(le<l tlieni as stoutly, and often persecuted unto death those who dififered with 
 them, even in minor matters. 
 
 IV. ThK WolJl.li IS VASTLY MORE INDEBTED TO A LINE OF INDIVIDUAL MEN WHO 
 HAVE CONTENDED FOK THE TKUTH, EACH BY HIMSELF, THAN To ANY ORGANIC CHURCHES, 
 WHICH CAN BE TRACED liV VISIBLE SUCCESSION FROM THE ApoSTLES, UNDER ANY NAME 
 
 WHATEVER. In religion, as in other departments of life, gi-eat movements liave 
 almost always centered in oni' or two isolated individuals, who have become im- 
 mensely inliuential, by first turning their eyes upon the needs of their own souls, 
 without human aid, and generally in opposition to all organizations. External influ- 
 ences had little to do in shaping their powers. They were molded above and in 
 advance of their age, and created a new life for all about them, often far outside of 
 their native sphere. First of all they were obliged to escape from and master them- 
 selves, then they led their times into a higher and purer godliness. God wrought 
 some grand consummation by them without tlie aid of any local church, under those 
 uniform laws of truth by which Christ's kingdom has ever been governed. These 
 powerful examples, scattered through the centuries, show that not organic associa- 
 tion, but regenerated manliood makes true history, as we might expect from the fact, 
 that the foundation of Gospel obedience is laid in the deep soul-convictions of indi- 
 vidual men. 
 
 The most marked discoveries and advancements of history have l)een made, not 
 on the plans of concerted bodies, but by individual minds. Galileo seized the idea 
 of the telescope from a casual glance at a boy holding a tube to his eye ; and New- 
 ton found the law that binds the universe in a falling apple. So, the few who have 
 been impregnated with holy purposes, saturated through and through with fidelity 
 to Christ, have arisen in imperial strength to vindicate his truth ; these are the 
 Alpine peaks that mark the centuries. Their love to Christ held their action respon- 
 sible to him, and made its final results safe. Eeligious systems arose out of their per 
 sonal exertions, but when did a religious system create a new life, after the first 
 century? Baptists are greater debtors to such a train of men than to any train of 
 churches that can be named. This great law of individuality has not escaped the 
 notice of skeptics. Matthew Arnold says, in his Introduction to Literature and 
 Dogma: 'Jesus Christ, as he api)ears in the (xospels. and for the very reason that 
 he is manifestly above tlie heads of his reporters there, is, iu the jargon of modern 
 
JESUS STOOD ALOXR. 7 
 
 philosophy, an absohitc ; we <-;nniot explain him, cannot get luliind him, and above 
 him, cannot command iiini. lie is, therefore, the perfection of (Uir ideal, and it is 
 as an ideal that the divine has its best worth and realit}'. The unerring and con- 
 summate felicity of Jesus, his prepossessingness, his grace and truth, are moreover at 
 the same time the law for right performance on all great men's lines of endeavor, 
 although the Bible deals with the line of conduct only.' Goethe speaks of the 
 person of Christ in the same strain : 'The life of that divine man, whom you allude 
 to. stands in no connection with the general history of the world in his time. It 
 was a private life ; his teaching was for individuals. What has publicly befallen 
 vast masses of people, and the minor parts which compose them, belongs to the 
 general history of the world, the religion we have named the first. What inwardly 
 befalls individuals, belongs to the second religion, the philosophical : such a religion 
 was it that Christ taught and practiced so long as he went about on earth.' 
 
 This tribute to Christ from such sources may be applied largely to those who 
 have pre-eminently imbibed his spirit, were made what they were by closely follow- 
 ing him, and who lived singly to his glory. The distinctive religious life wliicli they 
 introduced into their times was in advance of their day, as his life was in advaiu'e 
 of his day. Their progress was slow, like his, because they set up a high mark 
 and sxilfered for it ; their patience and growth di-ew men to theij- side, and when 
 they retired, perhaps as martyrs, their aim was reached by the world, so that that 
 which others first scouted became necessary at last to their bliss. Some few 
 such men drew the historic boundary lines, as a few headlands mark the entire 
 sweep of a dim sea-coast. Tlie truths which they insisted upon were changeless, 
 though they were neglected under the reign of ignorance, or the sway of violence. 
 But the king-men were not to blame for the dwarlishness of others. They gave 
 unity to the centuries by keeping the struggle alive for the purity of eternal 
 principles, the idea for which they suffered has interpreted its priceless value by 
 their sufferings. Because the masses of the people were ignorant they were fero- 
 cious, for in the Middle Ages men did not seek high principle in troops ; as great 
 souls only can prefer a pure religion to one that is corrupt, one that is simple to 
 one that is complicated, one from heaven and unstamped by earthly and grotesque 
 intermixtures. The natural creed of the masses lodges in ceremony, mummery 
 and external sanctity, and simple purity is too great to enlist admiration, when inen 
 prefer sophistication. Of course, where such religion is ])rulV'rrL'd there can \)v few 
 men of gigantic stature. 
 
 Then, it often happens that men of high excellence rise in character far above 
 their creed, for in historic religion creed and character do not always harmonize. 
 When a few men rise above the character of a whole people they rise above the 
 level of their age, and in that case they must pay a large price in suffei-ing for the 
 purpose of blessing their race, a price that but few are able to pay. A great mind 
 of. our dav avows, ' That in the whole period from the sixth to the tenth century, 
 
8 ANTiqUITY IN TIUITIf. 
 
 there were not in all Europe more than three or four men who dared to think for 
 themselves;' and even tliey wei"e not classed with the creators of their age. They 
 were neither rulers nor statesmen, but quiet and unoljserved suggesters, who discov- 
 ered abuses and pointed out remedies which future times were pi'oud to apply. 
 Chiefly through this order of mind we are to ti-ace the record of Baptist sentiments, 
 but the nanae ' Baptist' must not mislead us to enlist into our ranks men who would 
 be unworthy of that name to-day, simply because they held some things in common 
 with ourselves. Kather, we must embrace only those who cherished in full, the con- 
 ception which both the New Testament Baptists and those of the nineteenth century 
 set forth as underlying the entire kingdom of Christ. It is in the embodiment of 
 these principles, whether in individuals or churches, that we are to look for true 
 Baptist history. Because they are imbedded in the Bible we bow to their holy 
 teachings, the antiquity of principles being quite another thing from the antiquity 
 of organizations. As doctrines and practices originated in after times are late and 
 new, we must i-everenee that antiquity alone which God uttered in the beginning. 
 A system running through ages is an empty boast unless it reproduces the vital, 
 spiritual coj^y of the flrst age. 
 
 For seventy years the Jews lost the line of the Passover, when Jerusalem lay 
 in heaps and Israel was enslaved in Babylon, but when Hezekiah brought them back 
 and restored the feast, the seventy missing links of festivity came with them. Two 
 generations of their people had died and certain of their tribes were never heard of 
 again, yet their true history as Jews was not broken nor the significancy of the Pass- 
 over impaired, ' although they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it is 
 written.' The moment that the Temple was rebuilt, its doors opened, and its lamps 
 relit, the old authority of the institution revived. No Jewish household now living 
 can trace its descent to any given tribe which existed at the fall of Jerusalem, A. D. 
 70. All have been so scattered and intermixed amongst themselves and the Gen- 
 tiles, that tribal lines are entirely obliterated ; yet none will deny that they are the 
 direct descendants of Abraham. The principles above set forth are not those 
 which have been generally adopted in Baptist history. But the writer is persuaded 
 that they are the only true channel through which it can be traced, and by which 
 Baptists can be made a unit with Apostolic Churches, while visible descent and the 
 unbroken succession of churches are not and cannot be a proper test in the matter. 
 "We enjoy the right of self-government in the United States by a regular descent of 
 democracy from the Roman Bepnblic, but it is impossible to trace its course by a line 
 of democracies to which our own is the successor. But the two, separated so widely 
 in point of time, are essentially the same in their liberties. Individuals have asserted 
 the rights of man in every country, and bands have struggled to embodj' them in 
 every government, but who will say that these have not been the true patriots of 
 the world, because a perpetual and visible line of organized republics has not come 
 down to us, side by side with a similar line of despotic governments ? 
 
FIRST PURE. 9 
 
 Historical truth applies the same processes to the several streams of natural 
 science. Certain families and tribes are found in vegetable and animal life ; that is 
 to say, a given type !nultiplies itself into groups, sequence being our guide ; yet no 
 scientist discards faith in the existence of a type, because he cannot trace its visible 
 sequence, while again and again he finds its outward course strangely resumed. 
 So we speak of a people known as ' Baptists,' who have been substantially 
 of one order of religions faith and practice, and have been made so by one order of 
 religious principle. If crushed at one time, or entirely driven out of sight, others 
 bearing the same Apostolic stamp and force have come forth to fill tlieir places, under 
 other names. A sunbeam is a sunbeam, no matter upon what putrescence it may fall, 
 or with what pollution it may mingle ; and by a ray of this character we thread our 
 way from Christ down in ecclesiastical life. But the pretense tiiat any one com- 
 munion now on earth can trace its way down from the Apostles, in one line of 
 fidelity and purity to New Testament teachings, is to contradict all reliable history. 
 Dr. Abel Stevens says : ' Obscure communities, as the Cathari of the Novatians, the 
 Paulicians, the Albigenses, and the Waldenses, maintained the ancient faith in com- 
 parative purity from the beginning of the fourth century down to the Refonnation.' 
 These and other sects held one or more distinctive Baptist principles, but none of 
 them were thorough Baptists, through and through. A Baptist church is a con- 
 gregation, and not a denomination of congregations, and find it in what nook we 
 may, if it can trace its doctrines to the Apostles it is an Apostolic Cliurch. ' A 
 church,' says Dr. Ripley, ' that came into existence yesterday, in strict conformity to 
 the New Testament principles of membership, far away from any long-existing 
 church or company of churches, and therefore unable to trace an outward lineal 
 descent, is a true Church of Christ. . . . While a church so-called, not standing on 
 the Apostolic principles of faith and practice, and yet able to look back through a 
 long line up to time immemorial, may have never belonged to that body of which 
 Christ is the Head.' 
 
 The reader of religious history must be as honest as its writer, for the one is as 
 much exposed to bias as the other. Yet, the exact facts which are found by the 
 truthful historian are often condemned unweighed, because they are unpalatalile ; 
 and true chronicles are often buried under the abuse which they heap upon their 
 subject. For some reason much of this unfairness crops out, with many, whenever 
 the truths of the New Testament are under consideration. Hence a man only 
 honors himself and the vital teachings of the Holy Spirit when he separates himself 
 from all that is superficial in his own methods of examination. Above all people. 
 Baptists should be content to separate their history from all questionable material, 
 and to write and read it in the form in which facts have cast it, its complete touch- 
 stone being conformity to the Gospel. Those only have been Baptists who have 
 conformed to this rule, from age to age, without addition or subtraction. Error 
 must eternally remain error, and no antiquity can sanctify it into truth. For all the 
 
lO NO THADITION. 
 
 ends of truth merely venerable custom is weak ; yet, if a supreme love of tnith does 
 not force it back, it will dominate tlif miml through the senses, which are captivated 
 by the hoary. As the dykes of Holland repel the approaches of the sea, so Baptists 
 can only reserve the fairest provinces of truth by resisting ancient custom, simply 
 because it is ancient. Ecclesiastical eustoui is as mutable as its maker, and yet, 
 when an old practice conflicts with the New Testament, many make that practice 
 the true interjiretation of God's word without questioning its authority. Although 
 not one jot has been added to the truth since the death of the Apostle John, the bare 
 antiquity of a tradition enshrines it in the faith of many, especially if it came down 
 from one of the so-called ' Fathers.' A late able scholar of Dr. Wayland's illustrated 
 the feeling of many on this subject. He asked whether, if the doctor had lived near 
 the time of Paul, his word would not have been weightier than tliat of other men. 
 The great tutor rei^lied, 'Yes, provided Paul had said in his writings, "I leave 
 Francis Wayland my interpreter." ' And if not, how could he have interjireted an 
 apostle better than any one else, without special inspiration from God ? Tlie noblest 
 minds are often crippled by this straining after uninspired antiquity, under the 
 notion that it must touch the divine, without reaching after Christ's infallible ideal, 
 when it stands openly before their eyes. 
 
 Baptist historians have always written against great odds. Commonly those 
 who rejected our principles in past ages were filled with bitterness, and destroyed 
 the best sources of exact data in the shape of treatise, narrative and record. The 
 hated party was weak, and the dominant sought its destruction. Often these help- 
 less victims of tyranny were obliged to destroy their own documents, lest discovery 
 shoidd overwhelm them in calamity. We shall see also that while many of the old 
 sects were more or less imbued with Baptist principles, each had its own class of 
 deductions, convictions and practices. In consequence, what was a cherished faith 
 with one was held in contempt by another, and these states of mind became a part 
 of the men themselves. Their different stages of faith were different stages of con- 
 sciousness ; and it came to pass, that to oppose each other fiercely was to attain high 
 fidelity. In the dreary weakness of human nature each man held his own sect 
 virtuous and the other vicious, all the time forgetting that as relative bodies they 
 modified each other, and were largely responsible for each other's conduct. Tlien, 
 as the Baptists had control of no national government, they could not preserve their 
 recoi-ds as did others. They managed no legislation or system of civil jurisprudence, 
 and could keep no archives, having no legal ofiicers whose special business it was to 
 store up and keep facts. Necessarily, therefore, what few records they have left 
 are fragmentary, without due continuity of register, and almost barren of \ital 
 events. The hand which carried the sword to smite tliis people, carried also the 
 torch to burn up their books, and their authors were reduced to ashes by the flames of 
 their own literature. The material for building up their chronicles is both crude 
 and scanty. Tlie governing life of a people, and not circumstances alone, gives 
 
NEW TKSTA.VKXT srCCESSION. 11 
 
 value to their claim, and so we are thrown back on jn-inciple and hard general- 
 ization. 
 
 If Baptist history be peculiar, it is only because they have been a peculiar people. 
 Their enemies have always accounted them as ' heretics,' whose prime value was to 
 keep a cold world warui by their use as fuel for the stake. Men lunc mvcr Ixcn 
 willing to understand them, because they never would accept them on tlu'ir own 
 showing, but have insisted on measuring them by other standards than their own. 
 With a great price they obtained their freedom, and their radical individualism 
 made them appear to other men as disturbing and even violent. In turn, almost 
 every man's hand has been against them, and as a people of but one book, they have 
 taken a fixed and sturdy character, which has made them look as if their hand was 
 against every man. What Burke said of Americans, in another line, is true of them 
 in their devotion to the Bible, namely : ' In no country, perhaps, in the world, is the 
 law so general a study.' 
 
 We see, then, that Eobinson, Crosby, Irving, Orchard, Jones, Backus, Benedict, 
 Cramp, and other Baptist historians, have written under every possible disadvantage. 
 Still, their work shows an instinctive love of the truth for the truth's sake, worthy 
 of such veterans. Their spirituality is elevated, their piety without guile, their 
 devotion to the Gospel ardent, and their historical acumen quite equal to that of 
 other Church historians. In the main, their leading facts and findings have not been 
 proven untrustworthy, and no one has attempted to show that their general con- 
 clusions are untenable. Possibly, their chief mistake has lodged in the attempt to 
 find the stray and casual links of a certain order of churches which may, by accom- 
 modation, be called Baptist. The design of this work will be, to follow certain 
 truths through the ages, on that radical Protestant principle which ])rofesses to 
 discard the Romish claim of catholicity and succession, and so to follow certain 
 truths down to their chief conservators of this time, the Baptists. By this 
 method we can best understand their battles with error and power, their defeats 
 and victories. In general history no writer will be content to seek a succession of 
 kings and courts, of warriors and bloody fields, but he will find truth in the social 
 and civil life of a people, in the march of constitutional freedom, and the jihenoniena 
 of human elevation. 
 
 The best service that can be rendered to the Baptists is, to trace the noiseless 
 energy and native imnioi'tality of the doctrines which they hold, after all their con- 
 flicts, to the glory of Christ, for it is exactly here that we see their excellency as a 
 people. If it can be shown that their churches are the most like the Apostolic that 
 now exist, and that the elements which make them so have passed successfully 
 through the long struggle, succession from the times of their blessed Lord gives 
 them the noblest history that any people can crave. To procure a servile imita- 
 tion of merely primitive things has never been the mission of Baptists. Their 
 work has been to promote the living reproduction of Kew Testament Christians, 
 
12 cnnrsT our life. 
 
 and so to make the Christlike old, the ever delightfully new. Their perpetually 
 fresh appeal to the Scriptures as the only warrant for their existence at all must not 
 be cut off, in a foolish attempt to turn the weapons of the hierarchy against itself. 
 The sword of the Spirit must still be their only arm of service, offensive and 
 defensive. An appeal to false credentials now would not only cut them off from 
 their old roll of honor, but it would sever them from the use of all that now 
 remains undiscovered and unapplied in the word of God. Tlie distinctive attribute 
 in the kingdom of Christ is life ; not an historic life, but a life supernatural, flow- 
 ing eternally from Christ alone by his living truth. 
 
 Such existence does not claim the right of long possession in this soil or that, or 
 through this or that course of time ; nor is this the best title by which Baptists can 
 prove their heirship to their fair inheritance. So far from their right to live inher- 
 ing in organic ancestry by ancient descent, their right to be, in the nineteenth cent- 
 ury, comes by their oneness with the truth given by Christ in the first century. 
 Their present possession of that truth, is the testimony to their unity with an endless 
 life, is their only authority for existence at any time, with or without human records, 
 and shuts out ail other considerations. The life of all Gospel churches must center 
 in the truth which has come down unscathed from Jesus Christ ; we must find it 
 here or nowhere, and there can be no course, extreme or via media, which applies 
 the true test of Church life but this. A human figment may serve the ends of 
 Catholicism, l:)ut as Baptists are not Komanists, only Christ and Apostolicity as they 
 are found in the Divine Writings can suffice for them. The spirit and outcome of 
 these in their normal forni afford the staple for genuine Baptist History. 
 
NEW TESTAMENT PERIOD, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 
 WHEX Malachi finished tlio promissory books. B. C. 397, his vision shot the 
 great gulf between the Old and New Revelations. He had just stated that 
 on the other side ' The Sun of Righteousness should arise with healing in his wings,' 
 and looking 400 years iu advance he saw Christ's • messenger,' his own successor, 
 in a young Judean prophet, and heard hiiii uplift the cry 'Behold your God.' 
 Nearly 4,000 years before Malachi, a four-headed river had fiowed from Eden ' to 
 water all the ends of the earth,' and his faith now descried on the banks of the anti- 
 typical Jordan, the Master with the messenger, two Godlike forms, each first-born, 
 and cousins' sons. Whom Malachi saw in vision, Matthew met in real flesh and 
 blood, the Baptist ' herald ' and the Lord from heaven. The voice, ' Make straight 
 his paths,' is the first sentence in Baptist history. No moral night had been so dark 
 as that athwart which this prophet cast his eye to see the coming ' Day-star.' Only 
 remnants of the old Jewish faith were left, and the national life was fast going for- 
 ever, with that public patriotism, free thought and outspoken manliness, which had 
 already perished. 
 
 At first God gave the Jews the most popular government of all the nations; 
 it treated the personal man with honor and dignity. Though they had no 
 human king or hereditary ruler from time to time, he gave them such a political 
 head as war or peace required, with prerogatives which met present necessity. In 
 time the theocracy gave witness to the unity of God, and its liberties were linked 
 to this vital truth. This theistic doctrine made Jehovah their common Father, they 
 were uncrippled by doubtful negations, untainted with atheism, and the ideal in each 
 man's soul clothed his fellow with the rights of a brother. The radical teaching 
 from wliich all abiding liberty flows is this : ' Love God with all thy heart, and thy 
 neighbor as thyself.' 
 
 During the period between the last prophet and the first evangelist the 
 Assyrian, Persian, and Macedonian empires, with their endless divisions and subdi- 
 visions, had culminated in the Roman Empire. This power absorbed into itself the 
 sentiment, humanity, political economies, and religious philosophies of thousands of 
 
14 PALESTINE. 
 
 years, covoriiii;- tlic histories of :ill tlio great races, Semitic and Iiido-Eunipeaii, 
 luiving welded the wlidie into :i lioiiiogeneous mass. It had sprung fruiu an 
 obscuro city more tlian seven centuries ]'>. ('., and now embraced the civilized world. 
 The great repuljlic had waged its renowned coniiiet Ijetween plebeians and patricians 
 for constitutional government. The democratic spirit had passed away with its 
 stanchest defender, the regal and republican forms of government ha\ing been 
 swallowed up in the imperial under Augustus. 
 
 Palestine was but a hundred and eighty ujiles long, by about half that width. 
 Yet, when Jolin and Jesus cauie the otlicers of Home were evei-y-where, with no 
 jurisprudence left ; oidy ni)i)eal to a heathen emperor, under privilege. Three native 
 kings, indeed, divided tlie old Hebrew patrimony: Antipas, in Galilee; Philip, 
 in Ituria; an<l Lysanius, in Abilene. Still, over these was Pihite, tlie sixth 
 procurator in twenty-three years, with the Governor of Syria o\ei' him, witli Tibe- 
 rius above all, and each ready to enforce his mandate by the arms of the empire. 
 These tyrants quarreled alternately witli each other, in turn issued conflicting 
 commands, fleeced each other in particular, and the Jews universally. One Jewish 
 party flattered and copied the nati\e rulers, another the foreigners, and all were 
 proud to serve as minor otHcei's, if they might wring a crust out of official rapacity. 
 A third party hated and defied the intruders, plotting revolt and sedition, which 
 kept the nation in a seething excitement and its blood ever flowing. Yet, a few 
 men of God never yielded heart or hope. However dark the hour of adversity 
 their lamp was always burning. They waited for the Deliverer to break every yoke. 
 Their fellows, worn-out, grounded arms and died, their eyes glazed with desj)air. 
 But the love of Jehovah and liberty never forsook these. Xo matter if the red- 
 lianded family of the age held Jacob by the throat, the holy few felt the shadow of 
 the King at the gate. If the iron had entered their soul it was not rusted by lieart- 
 tears. The time had come for a new nianlK)od ; a new revelation of truth ajid 
 holiness was needed, fresh in righteousness and true holiness. An age of moral 
 suasion was dawning to work a new character in the personal man. Then, from 
 renewed individuals should come 'the kingdom of heaven' in a regenerate society. 
 Zacharias and Elisabeth, Simeon and Anna, felt their old hearts revive, because 
 another Elijah was at the portal to open the golden age. Groans and strife, tears and 
 blood, had tracked the horrid length of 400 years. At length there came a ' little 
 child ' to lead them, with a ' voice ' to prepare his way ; and when their withered 
 arms pressed the reforming Baptist and his redeeming Lord to cneir bosoms, the 
 first chapter in Baptist History was begun. 
 
 Edward Irving truly says, ' John was the beginning of a new race.' But the 
 words of Jesus better fix his proper place in history : 'Amen, I say unto you, among 
 them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist.' 
 These words alone make him the most remarkable character on the sacred page, 
 save only He who spoke them. Zacharias, his father, was a priest in Israel, Elisar 
 
TifH nrriTii of .101 ix i'Iiomised. 18 
 
 1.1'tli, his iiiotluT, wii.s a (laiiirlitcr .if Aai-oii. Not onlv had tli.-ir priestly ancestry 
 stretched ilo'.vn tit'teeii centuries, hut tliey were 'tilled with the Holy Spirit.' This 
 is said of no other fatlier and niotlier of our race. They feared tliat their honorable 
 lineage would soon be blotted out, for they were old and childless. The words, 
 'Tliy prayer is heard," imply that their ciniity Ikuiic had brcii the .-ubject of petition 
 at God's throne. He had promised them a s,,n. and when lie w<,nld fulfill his word, 
 it fell to the lot of John's father to pass through the golden gate into the holy place 
 to burn incense: a high and holy privilege whicii never was repeated by the same 
 priest, as it brought him so neai- to .lehovah. Already the live coals had been 
 carried in a fire-pan from the altar of hurnt-oifering, the sweet spices sprinkled 
 thereon, and the fioating perfume was on its way to the clouds, when lo ! a 
 mysterious form glided into the hallowed place. Gabriel stood by the altar, bright 
 in native benignity, at its ' right side,' too, the side of good omen, and in tlie 
 attitude of Oriental service. In a moment the temple heard the new revelation, that 
 a son should be born in the home of the man of God. 
 
 Gabriel and Michael are the only angels called by name in the Bible. Michael 
 is the judicial messenger, the destroyer, valiant for the Lord of Hosts in terrible 
 warfare. The mission of Gabriel is peace, especially Messianic peace. At the 
 'evening ol)lation,' the same hour of incense, he told Daniel that the Prince, 
 Messiah, should come. He brought the same news to Mary, and to the father of 
 John ; the three cases ascribe to him the ofiice of Messianic angel. No person but 
 the priest could stand by the altar and live, and fear fell upon Zacharias when he 
 saw that the celestial visitant did not fall dead. Then Gabriel broke the silence of 
 four centuries, and opened the Baptist Age, saying: 'Fear not, thy wife shall bear' 
 a son, and his name shall be called John.' The venerable priest staggered through 
 unbelief, and asked for a sign. Gabriel gave it in the very dumbness of the tongue 
 that asked it until the child should be born. He then went forth to the people 
 mute, beckoning, perhaps in an excited mannei', but he could not pronounce the 
 usual blessing, and they perceived that some strange thing had happened. He 
 retired to his home at Hebron, or Juttah, near to Hebron, and remained si)eech- 
 less ioY three fourths of a year. 
 
 The 'city Juda,' the Levitical city of Juttah, as shown by Kehmd and Robinson, 
 is about si.x miles south of Hebron, in tlu^ hill country, seventeen miles south 
 of Jerusalem. Jerusalem stood 2,400 feet above tiie sea, and Hebron was 200 
 feet above that. Hebron was the ancient home of Abraham, where his pool still 
 exists, the oldest now known in the world. This city had been given to the children 
 of Aaron, ' with the suburbs thereof round about it,' and was a fitting birthplace 
 of the Baptist, the greatest descendant of Aaron's house. Here David received 
 his crown, and here were the sepulchers of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, 
 Jacob and Leah. Rabbinical tradition says of this spot, that the morning sacrifice 
 was never offered at the temple till the watchman on its tower saw these uplands 
 
THE CHILD NAMED. 
 
 POOL AT UEBRON. 
 
 ablaze with the newly-breaking morning sun. Zacliarias saw this glory despite his 
 speechless state, meanwhile Gabriel's words rang through his soul concerning the 
 
 coming child. The pledge : ' He 
 shall be great before the Lord,' 
 did not refer to his native wis- 
 dom, fidelity or influence, but 
 royally set forth his great office ; 
 the great era wliich he should ush. 
 er in, the great truths which he 
 .should proclaim — and, above all, 
 the new stamp of numhood to be 
 brought in his own pei-son, as a 
 specimen of those whom the new 
 era was to produce. Without 
 rank, or wealth, or power, he was 
 to loom up above tlie old classes 
 of good men, mighty before God. Consecrated to a greater work tlum any other 
 man, and opening a greater future than any had foreseen, he was to take a higher 
 type of moral character tlian any had yet borne. Of a priestly house, he was to oiier 
 no sacrifice, but was to preach the first Sacrifice from a princely house. Priesthood 
 needed not the fullness of tlie Spirit, and seldom possessed it, but in order to establish 
 the new office of preacher, to lead men to salvation, he needed the indwelling Spirit. 
 Nor was the first prophet in foui- centuries to work a miracle, but simply to pro- 
 claim the Christ. 
 
 When the cry of the new-born babe had brought nmsic to the quiet home, a 
 dispute arose among the neighbors about his name, some calling him Zacharias. 
 This could not be. No one was named after his own father in the Old Testament. 
 ' Nay,' said his mother, ' he shall be called John,' meaning : ' Bestowed of the Lord.' 
 The neighbors remonstrated, none of his family were known by that name, and 
 they made signs to his father to decide the question, who wrote upon a tablet : ' His 
 name is John ! ' The child was to begin the world's new sermon, and as it was 
 meet that the Gospel theme which had been pent in his father's soul so long should 
 break forth, the tongue of the dumb was unloosed. Witli his first gust of voice he 
 cried : ' O, child ! thou shalt be called prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go 
 before the face of the Lord, in order to give knowledge of salvation to his people, 
 in the remission of their sins.' It were worth the dead silence of a life-time to 
 speak these words. Their meaning was so broad, and their music so sweet, that the 
 old priest repeated the word 'salvation' three times before he could stop. 'A horn 
 of salvation,' — ' salvation for our enemies,' — ' salvation in the remission of sins,' was 
 the astonishing threefold theme on which he practiced his new-found tongue, in the 
 new-found language of truth. Gabriel put a key into his hand to open this mystery, 
 
JOILWS YOUTH. 17 
 
 sayino;: 'Fear not, Ziicliarius, HKiny i>r tlic sons „f Fsraol sliall lie turn to tlie L..nl 
 tlieir Goil;' in the converts wlioni John slionld make. Nay, he said, that 'tiie 
 mouth of the holy prophets of old' had spoken of this 'redemption' as if the 
 mystic fingers of dead ]\Ialachi were sweejnng his old heart that day, till its chords 
 vibrated as those of a harp. That child had brought the missing link between the 
 two dispensations, had become the veritable bridge-builder, the true ('hristian 
 pontiff, who spanned the arch from the last oiitskirt of Judaism to the frontier line 
 of the Gospel. What manner of child was this first Baptist? 
 
 The (iospcls are silent on John's youth and early manhood, saying: 'That the 
 hand of tlie Lord was with him," that he '(Iitw and Iiei-ame strong in spirit, and 
 was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.' God marked him by 
 special tokens for his great task. While his body grew his soul became mentally 
 and morally mighty till he was ready for his public work. The inspired limner 
 gives simply this bold outline which makes 'the hand of the Lord,' the power of 
 God, the emblem of his force. Gabriel throws light upon his discipline when he 
 imposes the Nazarite's vow, to 'drink neither wine nor strong drink.' Nothing 
 inflaming was to pass his lips or affect his brain. The vow also exempted him from 
 attendance at the feasts, and kept him separate until liis 'showing unto Israel.' 
 Samson, Samuel, and John were all Nazarites from birth, severe consecration and de- 
 nial of luxury being specially needful in the forerunner of him who was separate from 
 sinners. Ilis father's priestly house furnished him with Hebrew Biblical knowl- 
 edge, and lu^ld there under the holy influence of Elisabeth, like Moses in Midian 
 and Elijah in the desert, no rabbin could pervert him, till he was ready to stir the 
 life of Judea to its center, by the Gospel. He is the only man in Scripture, except 
 his Master, of whom no act of sin is recorded. Samson and Samuel were ' sanctified,' 
 set apart to the Lord from their birth, but neither of them was filled with the Holy 
 Spirit, as was the Baptist; one of the train of wonders in his character and mission. 
 
 It seems most likely that he left his home and plunged into the wilderness of 
 Judea when he had passed his twentieth year, the time at which young priests were 
 inspected by the Sanhedrin for their office. The 'deserts' which he entered are 
 supposed to be that weary region that stretches over Western Judea, bordering on 
 the Dead Sea, including its desolate basin. It includes Engedi, extending from 
 the Kedron twelve miles south of Jerusalem to the south-western end of the Sea 
 of Death, and in width, from thence to the mountains of Judea. It is not called a 
 ' wilderness ' for barrenness of vegetation, like the African sand-wastes. On the 
 contrary, it is a perfect tangle of growth. Lonely and wild, the broom-brush, the 
 stunted cedar, the osher, the rush and the Apple of Sodom, all flourish there, and 
 nomads pasture their cattle with great profit. It is watered by the Kedron and 
 other streams, their course lying dark and deep, in ravines and chasms, where all is 
 grim and ribbed with rock, sometimes to the dejtth of 1,000 feet below the brow of 
 the cliff. 
 .3 
 
tree- 
 elits 
 
 18 JO//\-s DKSKirr llOMK. 
 
 This iv-i,m alM,iin,ls i,i -oi-vs, rrcvicr. aii-l caverns. It is torn U 
 ipiees fnMh tlie lieavin- (,f earth, |iiak,-s. h'avin- the Hint, ehalk and Mnie; 
 in eviTj wrii'il aspect. Kills, if \vat,'i' -nsh Inrth. twistin-- their \\\\\ lieiv an<l tliere, 
 er falling in eas,'a(les ,)ver era-s an, I shelves, in hast,' t,i sweeten the a,-ri,l plain and 
 sullen Sea of Salt. Theiv. the ja,'kal. the wolf, the f,ix. the i)anthei-. the iM.ar, 1in,l 
 their lairs and dens. l'V,)in ridi;',- to rid-e, the hoai'se s,Teani of tli,' vulture, tjie 
 raven and eaij,-le, ech,ies inin-K'd with the pensive s,in-- of the thrush, ami the drone 
 of the bee, waiulerin-' fi-,,in wil,l llower t,i wil,l tl,_,wer, yelh.w ami hliie, crimson 
 and white. In all its iiran,li>in-, this h,,wlin-- wilderness was the eho~eii home of the 
 lirst liaptist. Its s,,l,-mH des,,lati,.n an, I wihl elements prea,di,Ml t,, him ..f (iod, 
 inured his body to haixlship, and turned his s,_ml inward up,)ii itself. 'I'he jjarch- 
 
 incnt will, h w irmeil in his 
 
 bin,] 
 
 -tiiiLil him t,. coin- 
 ,in with the Iiisjiirino- 
 t wlio lii,l invested 
 iittii, , - w ith immortal- 
 
 its 
 
 t,. his 
 
 
 1 ASS I\ IHL WW DLhNtbb OF JUDtA 
 
 dnin, I \ th,ii 
 h, lit litL had ...ursed 
 tl lon^li the skin on wliicli 
 th, text o lowed before the 
 1 mti of slmohter liayed it: 
 
 111,1 11 .w tla h ,1\- ,////,////.<?, 
 wliiih tin 1, ie,l penman 
 h 1,1 iiitu-(,l iiit,p its texture, 
 w iiniul hi^ ^( 111 with the 
 btatm^sof m nnmortal life. 
 Thcic ht list, lied to the 
 
 111 II, Use in,l loiitelitiiin, till 
 
 still, simll voice, IS did Elijah in su K ,1 II, ], 1. ,« iv 1i m iHii^e i 
 his spiiit waxed stiong in God \\\A m tla p,i\\u < t hi nn^hr 
 
 In Ins lusteiity, this holy lecbise wou the cou^tst ot ninient The rough 
 cunel's Inn doth, Ijound to his loins bj a Innd of undussed leitliLi covered his 
 limbs. Young and fnll of fire, he stood, the living image of courage, in the garb of 
 the elder prophets. His Nazarite vow had kept his hair undipped from birth, his 
 diet w^as locusts, dried, ground, and eaten with wild honey which dripped from the 
 rock, and he cooled his thirst at the spring wherever lie roamed in the freedom of the 
 desert. His removal from the uplands of Hebron into this somber desolation was 
 not a mere incident. He imist be eipiipjied for his iron mission, as far as Iiardship 
 could fit him to cope with moral evil. For years, he had been wrestling with the slow" 
 openings of his fore-felt work. Self-recognition hail come i;liin]ise by glimpse, till 
 new insight had brought him into new sympathy with the Holy One who had sent 
 
HIS F.i}rc.\ri<).\ iiehe. 19 
 
 liiiu. Stniggle after struegle li;ul wroiiiilit in liim an ardent spirituality, wliich 
 rrKiiki'> >iii with tlie quietest autlidrity. i'leadiiig wiili (iod day and uiglit, tin; dc- 
 |)i'avity of his bretlireu, and tlie luillowness of tiieir ritual were eehoed to liis soul 
 from the hollow rocks by his own fout-falls. 
 
 Did he pass his time amongst these grots and caverns without studying the 
 word of God % Without the Sacred Parcliments brought from his father's house, 
 the gold had become dim and the fine gold changed, he had not been a true Bap- 
 tist if ignorant of these, to win his countrymen back to Jehovah. We can scarcely 
 doubt, that in the desert these treasures showed him how the rod of Aaron, his great 
 ancestor, should bloom again and liis empty pot of manna be refilled, llow the 
 Nazarene, then sweating at the carpenters bencth should suddenly come to his Tem- 
 ple, to rekindle the Shekinali in new glory over the mercy -si'at. The Law, the 
 Prophets and the Psalm.s in his retn'at. made his heart burn with prophetic tire, for 
 he heard tlie voices of old I'rophets quivering in the air. As night gives brilliancy 
 to the gem, so did his desert gloom bring out lustrous truth from the inspired lore 
 of ages, every line that he unrolled telling a divine story ; for every-where he found 
 his Redeeming kinsman of the tribe of Judah, of whose 'Salvation' his father had 
 sung. God would not entrust the education of his greatest prophet to the skill of 
 mortals. In visions of the night when deep sleep fell upon his father's house, fear 
 came upon him and trembling, which made all his bones shake. An image stood 
 before his eyes, spirits passed before his face and he heard a voice. When the 
 breathing Parchment crackled in his hand, the pulsations of a deathless life stirred 
 him, and the Holy Oracle was alive with living images. The flaming sword of Eden 
 waved before him, and the ascending fire of Abel. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, 
 told him that Jesus opened the gate of heaven, when he rose to his home without 
 tasting death. Noah told the Baptist that the ark, wherein eight souls ' were saved 
 through water,' M-as a tyi)e of his coming Captain. That when it rocked over an 
 immersed world in the darkness of its grave, Jesus was the lamp wdiich hung in its 
 window above the gloomy deep. Nay, it was he who gave hues to the first rainbow 
 that spanned the new world, when the eight elect antediluvians pitched their tents 
 again on dry ground, and offered sacrifice under its radiant arch. 
 
 John, also, saw Abraham's day in the desert and was glad, when the great fore- 
 father assured him that he had seen the coming King, as he looked out fi-om 
 the steeps of Hebron. Isaac avouched to him that he had seen his Star, wdien he 
 went into the fields at eventide to meditate ; and Jacob declared, that at Bethel he 
 saw Jesus standing at the top of the mystic ladder, and on his pillow of stone 
 dreamed in the night watches about the glory of the latter day. David, the son 
 of Jesse, showed the Baptist that his great Son guided his fingers over the Messianic 
 harp, when his throne trembled in raptures, and living anthems flew like angels 
 from the strings. Moses told him of the Rock that followed Israel, which ' Rock 
 was Christ ; ' and Isaiah, that Jesus was the ' Stem ' that blossomed by the house of 
 
THE KT Aim. IXC 
 
 Jesse, nil t]i( 
 
 " li ill-side of Betli 
 
 of all livin- 
 
 , U> those of Mary 
 
 Seed was ti-^i 
 
 iced in the.leM'rt'l 
 
 his diii-y re 
 
 treat, the iiicai-nate 
 
 an<l lai.l in : 
 
 L nian;;-er. 
 
 All thi^ 
 
 . titteil him for the 
 
 . In a wi.i<l. IVoin the days of Eve. the mother 
 nH.ther <if .leMis, the history of the Promised 
 >nn ut Klizaheth. And. yet. a few miles from 
 had already been wrapped in ^waddlini;• bands 
 
 jffiee to whieh he was b,,rn, armed him with a fidelity 
 which nothing could daunt to grapple with his adulterous generation. AVitliout 
 this strength defeat only awaited him. Being fully clad in celestial panoply, tlie word 
 of the Lord said to him : ' Go,' and he arose to begin his true Baptist work. He 
 emerged from tlie desert of the North, and came first ui^on the well-watered plain of 
 the Jordan. His sandals then pressed the soil of Lot, on wliich the eye of Moses 
 rested, when he died on Nebo. There the name of John became eternally united with 
 the name of Jesus, the Christ. Whenever an Oriental monarch ])asscd through his 
 realms, a herald went before him, ]ir(Mdaimed his coming, and re(|uired his subjects to 
 make the neglected i-oads passable for their ,■^overeign, by removing all hinderances to 
 his progress. When Semiramis, the Queen of Babylon, marched into Persia, 
 she crossed the Zarcean mountain, but not till its pi-eeipices were digged down and 
 its hollows filled up to make her way smooth. We liave similar records of Xerxes, 
 Caligula, and Titus, and when Jesus entered upon his kingly course, John, his her- 
 ald, demanded that all obstructions be removed before him in his march. He 
 cried, 'Prepare the way of the Lord,' that all iiesli may see Jiis glory. His prog- 
 ress was not to be that of pomp and pageantry, but that of a nation's repentance. 
 Rugged and wretched as were the moral wastes, he was to make the desolation 
 ring with the demand for ' repentaiice,' summoning all to surrender to the coining 
 Prince. The valleys must be filled. All debasing affections must be elevated, the 
 downtrodden and the despairing must be lifted uj). Mountains must be brought 
 low. The proud and haughty were to be leveled, abased in the dust. The crooked 
 should be made straight. All tortuous policies, w^inding deceits, and lying frauds 
 of the self-righteous, should be exchanged for simplicity and transparency. The 
 rugged ways must be made smootli. Coarse severity, rough tempers, bitter asperity, 
 hot fanaticism, and stoical hardness must be cast aside, for gentleness and ehilddike 
 affections. Then, all flesh should see the salvation of God. No lofty shadow was 
 to fling its length before the face of God's Anointed. The 'Voice' cried : 'Prepare 
 the way of the Lord.' 
 
 When John left the howding of beasts in the desert, it was to electrify the land 
 by the startling cry ' Repent,' and thenceforth, he fi-owned on all brutal passion. 
 The whole nation started to its feet and flocked to him, as its center of hope. City, 
 village, and hamlet, poured forth their hardened multitudes to see and hear the new 
 Baptist preacher. The prophecy of Malachi had said : ' Behold, I will send you 
 Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord;' 
 and, as the universal expectation of the Messiah was cherished by the Jews at this 
 
A NEW ELIJAH. 21 
 
 time, they looked for the literal accoinplishinent of tliis prediction in the return of 
 tlie Tishbite, as his precursor. The news, therefore, flew through the land that this 
 faithful servant of God who ascended to heaven in the reign of Jehorani, had been 
 borne back to the earth, to break the Eoniau Scepter, and hurl liiniself like a thun- 
 der-bolt against all tyrants, that he miglit restore the glory to Israel by enthroning 
 her new king. Every eye longed to see this somber old giant of Carmel and Iloreb, 
 and every ear listened for his strange voice ; hence, all flocked to the banks of the 
 Jordan whence he ascended, for, said they, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen 
 thereof, had landed him on the very spot wliere he laid down his mantle and burden 
 900 years before. 
 
 But instead of launching forth denunciation against Roman strangers, John 
 opened an accusative ministry upon his own people. He made not his voice soft 
 and smooth in his ' cry.' He presented a new and striking flgure to them, enthu- 
 siastic, yet self-poised. Yilled with deep conviction of the truth, inspii-ed of God 
 and consecrated to the truth. lie had evidently come on no dubious errand, and his 
 aim was worthy of his great work. Under the pressure of a divine influence, he 
 set his face like flint, in downright fearlessness. The scorn of every form of cunning 
 filled his voice, holy indignation at sin flew in every syllable from his lips. His 
 body was free from sanctimonious vestments, and his soul inflamed with zeal ; he 
 lifted up the truth, a lambent torch, for liis word made dread exposures, and searched 
 men to the core of their being. Without the tears of Jeremiah, the sublimity of 
 Isaiah, or the mystery of Ezekiel, he bravely struck home by rebuke and e.xhorta 
 tion and heart-piercing censure. He dealt in no arts of insinuation, no apologies, 
 no indulgence ; but upbraided the hollow and pretentious, and shivered their pious 
 self-conceit to atoms, while they gnashed their teeth at him. He was a living man, 
 just sent from the living God, dealing with cardinal verities, in an original and 
 emphatic vigor that stung the cold-hearted, and held the malignant conscience by a 
 remorseless grip. Wicked men saw the majestic flow of holiness in his eye, they 
 felt its nervous vibrations in his abrupt anatomy of character, and were borne down 
 before his impassioned demands for self-loathing. The slothful were startled in 
 their dreams ; he held up the self-blinded for their own inspection, in their true 
 colors ; he rudely tore off the masks of the false. The hard-hearted saw their guilt 
 staring them in the face, and the reckless were haunted by the ghosts of their mur- 
 dered mercies from the God of Abraham. Yet, he wielded no weapons of earthly 
 chastisement ; he mingled not the blood of sinTicrs with the waters of the Jordan, 
 but he pointed to the uplifted ax, as it gleamed in the terrors of the Lord, about 
 to strike a blow and fell the withered tree. 
 
 Strangely enough, instead of repelling the multitude, his fidelity fascinated 
 them. The Spirit of God gave power to his prochimation. This, of itself, made 
 his holy serenity soft and saving. Consciences were aroused, hearts were broken, 
 and the sorrows of the people for sin, re-awakened the ancient sobbings, wlien their 
 
IlL'il- 
 
 liuriL-(l IjodifS, and 
 
 •in. 
 
 The alaniiini;; crv 
 
 Thi^ 
 
 . .Icnian.l laid bare 
 
 liiin. 
 
 The word itself 
 
 not 
 
 (inly required deep 
 
 22 TtEPEXTANCE HIS THEME. 
 
 fatliers wept, on the death of Moses. A rude and arro^'aiit mind, having so 
 dilHeult a work to du, would have lieeii harsh in its rel.uke>. only exeitiny anjrer 
 and resentment. Dut dohirs words .-ut to the quirk l)eeau>e his alfectiouate holi- 
 ness, gravity, sincerity, and good-will made them >hai-p. He had lieen s(j niueh in 
 retirement with God that he was indiued with his love and r..mp;i>sioii. lie carried 
 not the mien of an ill-mannered, bold, and self-appointed ceii-or <A sin. 
 
 True, the great Baptist had brought a fire-brand out of the wilderness which 
 set all the dry stubble in the land ablaze. But with this came confession of sin in 
 lowly simplicity, and sincere reformation of life, which sought expression in the 
 new faith and baptism. Instead of meeting Elijah, descending in the regal state of 
 flame to smite the waters of their great national liver ami divide them, the yiumg 
 representative of Elijah's God stood tliere demandiug that 
 not his rod, should divide the waters in token of death tu 
 'Repent ye' rang up and down the valley of the Jordan. 
 God's extreme holiness, and their |iersoiial guilt against 
 (me/a^ma) means a change of uiiml or purjiose; so that ht 
 sorrow, oi' contrition for their wickedness, but such an inward moral disposition as 
 sliould thereafter obey the will of God. Then they were to bring forth fruits 
 worthy of repentance, so that the outward expression of tliat disposition should 
 prove the inward change to be radical. He made their immersion in water the 
 exterior method of 'confessing' the reality of an honest, lieart-felt reform. Here, 
 then, he re(]uired a spiritual revolution, a baptism for the 'remission' or forgiveness 
 of sins, and the imj>lanting of a new principle of life in keei)ing with the kingdom 
 of heaven at hand. 
 
 These requirements, urged with the courteous fidelity of holy conviction and 
 the sacred simplicity of an overawing holiness, led a multitude of wounded and 
 stricken hearts to fly from all legal rites and ceremonial performances, for j)uriti- 
 cation of heart and life, after the evangelical order of Isaiah : 
 
 'Wash you, make you clean; 
 Put away the evil of youi- doings 
 From before mine eyes.' 
 
 At a stroke of the pen Matthew draws another vivid picture. Priests, Levites, 
 and doctors in the holy city had donned their robes and bound on their phylacteries 
 and other ecclesiastical trappings for a visit to the great river, that they might pass 
 upon John's commission. Sweeping with pomp and dignity through the gates, 
 they mix with the throng on the slopes of the Jordan, tirst with a conceited 
 curiosity, aud then with a bigoted scowl. But John's keen eye read their character, 
 and he began to ply them with solemn invective. In the desert he had seen the 
 slimy viper gliding through the moss ; crafty, malicious, with a powerful spring and 
 a hollow tooth through which it ejected deadly poison. He had seen the brawny 
 forester swing the ax to cut the tap-root of a tree and fell it for burning. And 
 
SIX REBUKED. 23 
 
 converting these into lihuit figures nf speecli, lie allied his visitors witli false 
 teaeliers from the 'old serpent" who could not be trusted for a moment. Like the 
 Hat-headed, ash-colored reptile, they had stung the sons of God ; and with bitter 
 irony he compares them to the twisting young, ejected from their dam, to hiss, and 
 fight her venomous battles. Scathiiig them with cold sarcasm, he demands, 
 • Uruod of vipers! have ye come to my baptism '^ What sent ydii ^ The i-ibbun 
 on your robes is beautifully blue, the ])liy]act(Ties on your bmw arc n^iriiraridusly 
 pious, but they cloak comiiilioii. Delude n..t ycuii'si'lvcs with llic th. night that ye 
 are Abraham's sons. His blood may warm ynur veins, but ye deny his (iod. for 
 3'our souls are dead to his faith, lieliuld the stmies at your feet, and know that 
 from theni God is able to raise up sons to Abraham. One word from his mouth 
 will bring from the adamant, truer Jewish hearts and softer than those that beat in 
 you.' lie then demanded that if they were sincere they should prove this by 
 bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance. Nor did he change his tone with his 
 simile ; for when he dropped the lash of scorpions, he took the edge of the wood- 
 man's ax. lie could not away with their sanctimonious hair-splittings and religious 
 tauipcrings, but would hew them down to be cast into the fire. 
 
 But other and better classes of the peii|ik' hailed his ministry with awe, as 
 from God. So powerfully did divine truth mii\ f them, that they actually reasoned 
 in their hearts concerning John, whether he liim^elf were not the Clu'ist. How 
 beautifully our Lord Jesus speaks of these, when he would know of the rulers 
 whether John's baptism were from heaven or of men. ' Verily, I say unto you, that 
 the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came 
 to you in the way of righteousness, and ye did not believe him ; and ye, when ye 
 had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye nn'ght believe him.' These Rabbis 
 were in the habit of saying ; ' That if the nation would repent but one day, the 
 Messiah would come,' yet, when he came, they themselves were obdm-ate. And, 
 when publicans, soldiers and others, who were openly sunk in sin, came to the Baj)- 
 tist, convicted of their iniijuity, it was with the saving inquiry ujiou their lips, 
 ' Teacher, what shall we do T They seemed to look upon their own case as ho]ie- 
 less, but he fortified every man with encouragement at his weak jioint. He tiild 
 the publicans, to 'Exact no more than that which is appointed you.' The tax- 
 gatherers, to whom the Romans farmed out the taxation, were extortionate and 
 cruel, for they paid so much to the govermnent and then levied their own rates. 
 He did not blame them for filling the political office, but he charged them to stop 
 all rapacity, so that a new miracle would be foimd, when men should see au honest 
 pul)lican. His reply was of great breadth, forbidding them to confiscate property 
 by unjust exaction. To the soldiers he replied : ' Do violence to no one, neither 
 accuse any falsely ; and be content with your wages.' Josephus shows, that at this 
 very time, Herod Antipas was sending an army against his father-in-law, Aretas, 
 King of Arabia Petrsea, who bad declared war in consequence of Herod's bad 
 
24 PRE AC TUNG TO WAIUirOIiS. 
 
 treatment of his (l;iu<;;litcr. Tliis being true, their ruute woukl lie directly tlirouirh 
 the region wliei-e -Idhn was preaching and immersing. This historian's full 
 description of .lohn is in perfect accord with the spirit <.if the above statement. 
 Tliese hearers of the Baptist were men of the bow, the arrow, the sword and the 
 shield ; their trade was war. He stood l)efore them the living image of discipline 
 and self-denial, and demanded of them, that they keep the insolent licentiousness 
 and brutality of war in check, and disi-egard the lying doctrine that might makes 
 right. In prosecuting their hard craft, godless pillage must cease. What lessons 
 of love were these, enbinx'd iipoii rough, heathen legions by which an unarmed 
 yomig Baptist preacher tamed the iicrceness of military tigers, and I'emanded des- 
 perate warriors back to the camp and iii'ld, made by thoir new faith as harmless as 
 doves. Last of all, he threw the bridle over their licence of riot and plunder, to 
 curl) them with a douhle bit. They must commit no robbery ujion the conquei'ed, 
 indulge no selfishness, raise no mutiny against their officers to get more pay, but 
 take tlieir three oholoi a day ; and be content. 
 
 Such a scene had never been witnessed on earth, and the most remarkable thing 
 about it was, that so sweeping a ministry provoked no ])liysical resistance. Jewish 
 priests had shed streams of sacrificial blood at the altar for hundreds of years, 
 whenever the nation groaned beneath the heel of its foes. They sighed for the 
 tender mercy of God to rescue them from tlie hand of their enemy, and guide 
 their feet anew into the way of peace. But now, while they felt the rankling 
 humiliation of abated race, and their lieai-ts sank as they looked at tlie broken scep- 
 ter of their nation, a stern pivaeher of their own race stings them with rebuke, and 
 demands not sacrifice but repentance. The Ark of the Covenant was no longer 
 there with its Tables of Stone. Urim and Thunnnim were gone. The glory of 
 Bright Presence had departed forever from the most Holy place. The Golden Can- 
 dlestick gave no light. Their ensigns were torn, their minstrelsy hushed, their roy- 
 alty beggared, and their covenant with God broken. Was not this enough ? Their 
 hearts sank within them when they remembered the past, in which they were never 
 again to take lot or part, and the hatred of their hearts toward their foes filled them 
 to the brim. Yet, without one word of sympathy for all this, they were warned to 
 flee from coming wrath, to Innuble themselves under the mighty hand of God, to 
 bury all their old sins with thoir bodies under the waves of Jordan, and to rise into 
 the New Kingdom ; and without a nuirmur it was done ! 
 
D-Ui'l»il Ul' JlibL'S. 
 
 _J 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 
 
 THE Evangelist says that Jesus caiiie fioin (ialilee to tlie Jordan to Joliii, to l)e 
 immersed by him, 'But John sought to hinder liim, saying: I liave need to be 
 inmiersed of thee, and dost thou come to me ? And Jesus answering said to him : 
 buffer it now ; for thus it becomes lis to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered 
 him.' In approaching this august event, the foreiiiic words of Godet attract our 
 attention. He says : ' 
 
 'John and Jesus resemble two stars following each other at a short distance, and 
 both passing through a series of similar cii-cumstaucus. The amiounceuient of the 
 appearing of the one follows close upon tiiat of the appearing of the other. It is 
 the same with their twin births. This relation repeats itself in the commencement 
 of their respective ministries, and lastly in the catastrophies which terminate their 
 lives. And j'et, in the whole course of the career of these two men, there was but 
 one personal meeting — at the baptism of Jesus. After this moment, when one of 
 the.se stars rapidly crossed the orbit of the other, they separated, each to follow the 
 path that was mai'ked out for him. It is this moment of their actual contact that 
 the Evangelist is about to describe.' 
 
 The meeting was worthy of both, but pre-eminently worthy of tlic Father who 
 directed their steps. The star of the morning was herald to the rising Sun, and then 
 faded away in the fullness of his beams. For thirty years Jesus was secluded in Naz- 
 areth, calmly awaiting the ripe day for his public work. Eagerly he watched the shade 
 on the dial, to indicate that his hour had come for release from that holy restraint 
 which held back his consuming zeal. Often he knelt in prayer on the mountain- 
 tops which overlook the plain of Esdraelon, till the sentinel stars took their stations 
 ill the sky ; and then returned home, silent and pensive, to wait for the dawn of his 
 ministry. When slumber fell upon the carpenter's household, Mary often reh.earsed 
 to him the ponderings of her own heart, the mysterious secrets of his birth, and the 
 dealings of God with her cousin in Hebron. The story fell upon the soul of 
 mother and Son as a radiance from heaven, full of sad beauty and divine love ; for 
 the dim foreshadings of separation moved their pure hearts to the parental embrace 
 and the good-night kiss, as in other sweet human homes. At last, the moment 
 came when a sacred attraction drew him from the little ui)land town and dwelling 
 forever; save on one brief visit to the plain old sanctuary, where his young heart 
 had been warmed by the words of the Law. 
 
 His journey from Galilee to the Jordan, after the touch of parting with his 
 
26 JRSUS aOES TO THE JOItDAN. 
 
 loved ones, stirred heaven with a dcepei- interest tlian the footsteps of man had ever 
 excited, for then he recorded tlie liallowed resolution : ' Lo, I eonie lu il^ rhv will. 
 O God.' Many a hard-fonii'lit l)attle hail soaked the plain whieh he crossed, with 
 blood; but that day he went Ini'th sin^le-linnileil ti) the hardest war that had ever 
 been waged upon this globe. After he had swept the foot of Tabor, at every step 
 lie trod on holy ground. And when he reached the western slope of the Jordan, 
 like Jarob, his great ancestor, he crossed the ford that he might lead many pilgrim 
 bands ii\er a darker stream 'to gloi'y.' ' All tbe ptuple bad been baptized,' and he 
 ])resente(l himself as the last arrival of that day, becau>e be was not one of the com- 
 mon repenting throng. He had dune iid sin, neither was guile found in bis mouth ; 
 hence, remorse never broke his heart. Yet, be numbered himself with the trans- 
 gressors. At the close of his ministry he was to sleep in a sepulcher wherein never 
 man had laid ; and it was meet that in opening his ministry he should be buried in 
 the liquid grave alone, and separate from sinners. Baptism was the door by which 
 he entered upon his work of saving mediation. The Baptist says, that u]) to this 
 time he 'knew him not,' as if he had not met him liefore, and yet, he also says, ' I 
 have need to be baptized of thee,' as if he knew him well. This apparent discrep- 
 ancy lias led to large discussion, with this general result ; that while John knew him 
 in person as Jesus, he did not know him in Messiahship until Jehovah who sent him 
 to baptize in water said to liim, before the baptism of .lesus: 'Upon whom tliou 
 shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding on him, the same is be who baptizes in 
 the Holy Sj^irit.' But do .lolnfs words necessarily imply that he was ignorant,, 
 either of the person or Messiahship of Jesus, before his bajitism '. ( )ne great pre- 
 rogative of the Christ was, that he should baptize men in the Holy Spirit. This 
 fact had not come to John's knowledge till Jehovah gave him the special I'evelation 
 that One should come to him for baptism, on whom he should see the Spirit 
 'descending and abiding,' and that he should be the pre-eminent Baptizer, who 
 should baptize in the Holy Spirit. This thought seems to have struck John with 
 deep awe, for he carefully draws a contrast between his own baptism which M-as ' in 
 water ' only, and that of Christ which should be ' in the Holy Spirit ' himself. If John 
 did not know him, in the sense of the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit till Jehovah had 
 announced to him the impending token and its signification, then we can well un- 
 derstand why he said : ' I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to 
 me ?' The revelation that Jesus should be the Baptizer in the Spirit was special to 
 John : ' He M'ho sent me to baptize in water said this to me.' And, it was said 
 before the Baptism of Jesus, for the visible sign of the descending Spirit crowned 
 the act of his baptism. H' this be the sense of John's words, the Fourth Gospel, 
 written A. U. 07 or 9S, throws a strong light upon the First, written about 
 A. D. 00. 
 
 It would harmonize exactly with the known methods of Divine Providence to 
 suppose that the hand of God had kept them apart till that moment. Jesus had 
 
PnFJSEXTfi HIMSELF FOR HAPriSM. 27 
 
 lived in tho north and Jolm in the south of the land, and we know of no high 
 purpose which demanded a meeting previously, whilst their separation must silence 
 all sus])icion of combination or collusion between the servant and his Lord. 
 (ialirifl had i>ut ,Iulin under the Nazarite's vow from his birth, which t'.\cm[(ted 
 him from attendance at the triple annual feasts, so that they had imt met in the 
 metropolis. Nor had John gone abroad in search of him. This was not his work. 
 He must wait till God brought them lovingly together. That time of manifestation 
 to Israel would come of itself. John went to the Jordan when he was sent, saying: 
 'That he might be made manifest to Israel, lor this 1 c-ame baptizing in water.' 
 Like a man 'sent of God,' he was waiting for his Master to show himself fully and 
 proniptly, and Jehovah honored his faith by the foretoken agreed upon in the 
 visible descent of the Spirit. Hence, when the solitary stranger joined the throng 
 on the approach of evening, the eagle-eyed Baptist kenned him, and the vision 
 made his whole being cjuiver with expectation. When David came to the throne in 
 the garb of a young shepherd, the Lord said to Samuel : ' Arise, anoint him, this is 
 he !' And, why should not the Holy Spirit, who had ' prepared ' the body of Jesus, 
 and tilled the soul of Jolm, say this of David's Son ? 
 
 With godlike serenity and dignity the Prince of Peace presented himself for 
 baptism. The words of his mouth, the repose of his body, the purity of his face, 
 tiie soul of his eye, overpowered John with a sense of reverend princeliness. 
 When the stern herald stood face to face with the Son of the Highest his soul was 
 submerged under a rare humility, which extorted the cry: 'I have need to be 
 baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ? ' Captivated by the dignity of the 
 Candidate, and abashed by his own inferiority, he was helpless as a child before this 
 incarnate God — this shrine of the Holy Spirit. He who had walked rough-shod 
 over all pride, and had leveled all distinctions of human glory, was seized with the 
 conviction of a worthless menial, and as a holy man, was thoroughly daunted when 
 the Lord sought a favor of his own servant. The reasons are apparent. He found 
 the Promised of all pi-omises, the Antitype of all types, the Expected of all ages, 
 standing bufure him in tiesh and blood, and he was startled at the thought of 
 inducting him into the new faith by the new ordinance; for his baptism was 
 administered to the penitent, but the Nazarene was guiltless. ' Suffer it now, for 
 thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness.' He defers to John's scruple, and 
 asks for the new baptism, not of right, but on sufferance. What did Jesus mean by 
 these words? 
 
 Viewed in any light it seems strange that Christ should have sought baptism as 
 a high privilege which he could not forego, for what could it confer upon him % 
 Augustine beautifully replies, ' To any one who asks this question : Was it needful 
 for the Lord to be born ? Was it needful for the Lord to be crucified ? Was it 
 needful for the Lord to die ? Was it needful for the Lord to be buried ? If he 
 undertook for us so great humiliatinn, might he not also receive baptism '. And 
 
VI I, I' 
 
 { I.I 
 
 28 WHY HE SO roil T JIAPT/S.U. 
 
 \vli;it profit was there tlmt he received tlie hajitisiii of a servants Tliat thdii 
 mi-litest iK.t disdain to I'eceive tlie baptism of tlie Lord, (iive heed. Iieloved 
 bretlnvn.-- Jle elearl.v intended to render ohe.lienre to .onie law of his Father. 
 What law^ He had lionoivd i>verv re(|nisition of the Old Covenant l.v elreuincis- 
 ion, obedience to parents, hallowing the iSabbath, temple worship, observance of the 
 feasts, all except in bringing the sin-offerings. For a full generation he had submitted 
 to every claim of Jeliovali's law upon him, in every institution and ordinance. But 
 now hisFatlier had established tlie la>t test of obedience in the baptism of John, and 
 Jesus, born under ( iod's hiw. nm.-t honor the new divine precept. Jesus himself gave 
 this i-eason when he accused the l^harisees and lawyeiv with ivjecting 'The .■ouusel 
 of (iod toward themselves' in not having been baptize.l by John.^ The will of (.od 
 was his oidy reason for ..beying any law; he hehl it an act of obedience to keep all 
 the Divine appointments. Although not a sinner himself, he impleaded to be 
 treateil as a siniiei- ; therefore he humbled himself to receive a sinner's baptism, as 
 well as to submit to a sinner's death. This dee]i mark of mediatorial sympathy and 
 mystery must have cJitered largely into his plea, 'Suffer it now.' "With great 
 clearness Geikie puts this point: 'J'.aptisnj was an ordinance of God recpiired by 
 his prophet as the introduction of the new dispensation. It was a jiart of 
 "righteousness," that is, it was a part of (iod's commandments which Jesus came 
 into the world to show us the example of fullilling, both in the letter and in the 
 spirit.''' Ilis baptism was the channel through which the Divine attestation could 
 best be given to his Messianic dignity; aiul wlu'u we consider that lie had reached 
 the full maturity of all his human powers of mind and body, this numner of 
 entering upon his public work gave a mutual and jiublic sanction to the nnssion 
 both of John and Jesus. 
 
 Yet, with vuv Lord's interpretation of his own words befoi-e their eyes, men 
 will insist upon it that he was initiated into his sacrificial work by baptism, in 
 imitation of the mere ceremonial ablutions of the Aaronical priesthood. Jesiis was 
 not even of Aaron's line as was John, much less of his office, but sprang of the tribe 
 of .ludah, of which tribe 'Moses spake notliing concerning priesthood.' Did Jesus 
 receive the vestments, the consecrating oil, or any other priestly insignia ? Even 
 when he made his sin-offering, and assumed the Christian High.-priesthood. three 
 years after his baptism, lie neither assumed the vesture nor breastplate, the censer 
 nor miter of Aaron. Because he was not matle n IIigh-]iricst after the order of 
 Aaron, but after the order of jMelchizedee, who knew nothing of sacred oils, 
 ablutions, or vestments. How much better is it than a solemn caricature to set 
 forth the baptism of Jesus as an idle, emjjty, ritualistic pageant? lie came to 
 abolish and cast aside forever the Aaronical priesthood with the economy that it 
 served, and how could he do this by submission to any ceremonial act which they 
 observed ? John felt the binding force of Christ's words, when lie appealed to the 
 obligations of spotless holiness, and he threw aside his objections in a moment. 
 
JESUS IMMERSED. 
 
 29 
 
 .-^'^ 
 
 With gratitude and grace he yiehled and obeyed. He found tliut his Master was 
 under the same law of obedience as liiniself, and witli lioly pi-oniptitude lie honored 
 the sacred trust which God had put into his own hands, but which no other man had 
 ever yet held. 'Then he suffered him.' O! sublime grandeur — awful honor! 
 And wlien the great Baptist bowed tlie innnaculate soul and body of Jesus beneath 
 the jjarting wave, all the useless ceremonies of past ages sank together like lead, to 
 find a grave in the opening waters of the Jordan, and no place has since been found 
 for tlicui. 
 
 Tills traditional spot is fixed in hiinian memory as are points on the Tiber, the 
 Thames, and the Delaware, where great armies have crossed. It is a little east of 
 Jericho, near by the conquest of 
 Joshua, also where David crossed 
 in his flight. Christian pilgrims 
 and scholars have visited it for 
 centuries, Origen in the third, 
 Eusebius in the fourth, Jerome 
 in the fifth, and millions of oth- 
 ers down to our day. Its thick 
 willow groves are used as robing 
 rooms, whence Copts and Syrians, 
 Armenians and Greeks, go down 
 into the Jordan and immerse 
 themselves three times in the 
 name of the Trinity. The place 
 so fascinates and subdues the 
 spirit that the visitors of every 
 land and creed, reverently descend into the stream once a year. ' Having been 
 baptized, Jesus went up immediately out of the water ; and lo. the heavens were 
 opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending, as a dove, and coming 
 upon him. And lo. a voice out of heaven, saying : This is my beloved Son, in whom 
 I am well pleased.' To this account taken from Matthew, Luke adds: That the 
 heavens were opened while Jesus was ^praying,^ that the Spirit took ' the hxlihi 
 shape' of a dove, and the Baptist says, that he saw the Spirit ^ahiding on him." 
 
 The time of our Lord's baptism may here be examined with profit. Luke 
 says : ' Tiiat in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Ctesar, the word of God 
 came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness;' at which time he entered 
 on his public ministry. And, again, that Jesus began his ministry when he was 
 about thirty years of age.^ This last statement has the value of a date in a letter. 
 The fifteenth year of Tiberius dates from the time that he commenced his joint reign 
 with Augu.stus. 'Reckoning thus, the year 70.5, from Januai-y to January, as the 
 first of Tiberius, the fifteenth is the year 779, from the founding of Rome. Some 
 
 . ...-^ 
 
 REPUTED SPOT OF ( 
 
rnosELYTh: haptism. 
 
 tiini', tlicli, in 771>, is the lic:;iiniiii<;- cf .lulm"; 
 
 < niini>try to 1)0 jilaced. Alltnvini^ 
 
 tliat his lahui-s IkmI ciiitiniKMl six iiK.iitlis hi'inn 
 
 L' tlic Lord was baptized, we reaoh 
 
 in tliis way, al...,tlic niuntli of .lannarv. Tsn. ' 
 
 riiere is good I'eason to believe tliat 
 
 in Drcfinhcr ..r .lanuary. -lesns was l,a|.ti/.c(] 
 
 , yet the day of the montli is very 
 
 nncci'tain."'' As J ol in and Jesiis were linrn wii 
 
 thin six months of each otliei', in the 
 
 year 74'.», ( 'iirist's baptism must have occurivd S' 
 
 uniewhere near the above date, as lie 
 
 was then 'about thirty years of age.' 
 
 AVhat act pertornied by John is called bajitism:' John was his proper name, 
 and the terni •lJai)tist" added by the inspired writers, is a title of otHee, as IJloom- 
 field thinks, 'To distinguish him from John the Evangelist.' By this name lie was 
 known jire-etninently as the administrator of the religious rite called baptism. That 
 is, according to Lidded and Sc(.tt, "one that di|)s;" oi- Doiiegan, 'one who immerses 
 or submerges.' Dean ^Stanley says: 'On philological grounds, it is (piitc correct 
 to translate John the Baptist, by John the Imincrser.' (X:i,.t,,„th ('mfurii) 
 Baptism is a fundamental jiractice in Christianity, which has run through all 
 its ages. Of baptism, in association with John, Kdwar<l Irving says: ''J'liis is 
 the first liaptismal service upon record. The new riti' of l)a]itisni, unknown 
 under the Mosaic dispensation.' ' Much has been said on the suiiject of Proselyte 
 Baptism, whereby lieatlien converts were inducted into the Jewisli faith, and so, 
 many have depreciated John's baptism as a mere imitation of an existing rite. 
 But modern scholarsliip has shown conclusively that the reverse of this is true, and 
 that Proselyte Baptism is, in fact, an imitation of the Christian rite, incorporated 
 into Judaism after the Destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70. It is true, that tlie 
 Jews from early times used various symbolical lustrations as well as the Gentiles, 
 but these were always purely ceremonial, and were ne\-er used as a rite liy which 
 others were inducted into their faith. Josephus says, that many of these washings 
 amongst tlie Jews were purely of their own wid, without direction from the Lord,' 
 and Von Eohden denies that they were ']iei-foi-iiied by innnersion.' He also points 
 out these fundamental differences: 'The w-ashings enjoined by the Law had for 
 their object purification from ceremonial defilement ; but the baptism of John did 
 not: the one rite was performed by the candidates themselves upon tlieir own 
 persons : the other was administered to its recipient by the Baptist himself, or by 
 one of his disciples properly authorized : the former was I'epeated upon every occa- 
 sion of renewed defilement; the latter was performed U]ion the candidate only 
 once for all. The two ceremonies, therefore, were essentially different in their 
 nature and object.'^ The first witness in favor of Proselyte Baptism is found in 
 the Coiunieiitary of the Talmud, which was composed in the fifth century after 
 Christ, and it represents the rite as existing in the first century.'" But this 
 Commentary is not valid history, it is mere tradition at the most, and does not 
 carry the ceremony back so far as John ; nor could it have been known at that time, 
 for had it been, the Jews would have scouted John's baptism, instead of submitting 
 
DID THE JEWS IMMEIISE? SI 
 
 to it, because it would have placed them on a level with the Iieathen as converts 
 to the new faith. Proselytes to Judaism were divided into proseUites of the gate, 
 and proscbjtcs of righteoumess. The tirst class had renounced idolatry, and bound 
 tiiemselves to keep the seven Noachic precepts, against idolatry, profanity, incest, 
 murder, theft, eating blood and tilings strangled, and permitting a murderer to 
 live. The second class not only renounced heathenism, but became Israelites in 
 every respect excepting birth. Males were admitted into Judaism by circumcision, 
 females liy a IVct'-will dlTcring: after Christ, the Jews added baptism for both sexes 
 admitted into their I'aitli. 
 
 Dr. Lightfoot thus describes this baptism, as tlie Jews practiced it in after 
 Christian times: 'As soon as he grew whole of the wound of circumcision, the}' 
 bring him to baptism, and being placed in the water, they again instruct him in 
 some weightiei- and in s(jme lighter conunands of the law' — then, 'he plunges him- 
 self, and comes up, and behold, he is an Israelite in all things. The women place a 
 woman in the waters up to the neck, and two disciples of the wise men standing 
 without, instruct her about some lighter precepts of the law, and some weightier, 
 while she, in the meantime, stands in the waters. And then she plungeth, and they, 
 turning away their faces, go out while she comes up out of the water.' '^ Mai- 
 nionides gives this circumstantial account also: 'Every person baptized (or dipped, 
 whether he were washed from pollution, or baptized into proselytism) must dip his 
 whole liddy, now stripped and made naked, at one dipping. And wheresoever in 
 till' Law. washing of the body or garments is mentioned, it means nothing else than 
 the washing of the whole body. For if any wasli liinisclf all over except the very tip 
 of his little finger, he is still in his uncleanness." '• ( )n the same sul^ject, Geikie 
 well says : ' Bathing in Jordan had been a sacred symbol, at least, since the days of 
 Naaman, but immersion by one like John, with strict and humbling confession of 
 sin, sacred vows of amendment, and hope of forgiveness, if they proved lasting, 
 and all this in preparation for the Messiah, was something wholly new in Israel.''^ 
 In this case, circumcision availed nothing, nor did uncircumcision, but a new creature. 
 Jew and heathen must alike be immersed into the new faith, or they could not be 
 numbered amongst its votaries. This view is presented also by Godet. He says : 
 'The rite of baptism, which consisted in the plunging of the body more or less 
 completely into water, was not at this period in use among the Jews, neither for the 
 Jews themselves, for whom the law only prescribed lustrations, nor for proselytes 
 from paganism, to whom, according to the testimony of history, baptism was not 
 applied until after the fall of Jerusalem. The very title, Baptht, given to John, 
 sufficiently proves that it was he who introduced this rite. This follows, also, from 
 John i, 25, where the deputation from the Sanhedrin asks him by what right he 
 baptizes, if he is neither the Messiah nor one of the jn-opliets, which implies that 
 this rite was introduced by him ; and further, from John iii, 2*1, where the disci- 
 ples of John make it a ciiarge against Jesus, that he adopted a ceremony of which 
 
32 
 
 LIXDSAY ON .IE WISH r.M'TIsM. 
 
 till' institution, and consequently, acconling to tlieni,tlie monopoly, belonged to their 
 master; '^^ 
 
 It is cleai' enough, that .Inlin did not pick up and use an old, effete institution, 
 and adopt it as the door into tlie New x\ge of the great salvation, but that his 'baptism 
 was from heaven,' as directly fmni ( u»\ as iiis commission to pi-eacli. The preaching, 
 tlie baptism, and the man, were all newly sent from God to ushei' in the Gospel Day. 
 
 Prof. Lindsay, of Glasgow, says : ' The connection between the baptism of John 
 and the Jewish baptism of proselytes, of which a great deal has been made, is also 
 founded on assumptions which cannot be proved. This very plausible theory fii'st 
 assumes that proselytes were baptized from the early time of the Jewish Chui'ch, 
 although the Old Testament tells us nothing about it, and then supposes that Jt)hn 
 simply made use of this ordinary rite for the purpose of declaring syndiolically that 
 the whole Jewish nation were disfranchised, and had to be readmitted into the s])ir- 
 itual Israel, by means of the same ceremony \\hich gave entrance to members of 
 heathen nations. I'ut the subject ot the baptism uf proselytes is one of the most 
 hopelessh obscure m the \\hole lound ot Jewish aiitiipiitu s. and can never be safely 
 assiuned m an\ alignment, an<l tin i;( neial K suits ot in\ csti:;ation seem to prove that 
 
 the bapti 
 
 JcWJsll , 
 
 dl( suits 
 
 proseljtes was 
 not one of the 
 Jewish ceremo- 
 nies until long 
 atter the coming 
 of Christ, while 
 there is much 
 to suggest that 
 this tft^wish I'ite 
 owes its origin 
 to Ciiristian 
 baptisu].''" And 
 __^^ Ilerzog w 1 ites 
 ~ Z^ ' The later ori- 
 gin of ]irosel_\te 
 Tin FOhiis OF joii.vN baptism is to be 
 
 accepted."'' 
 The place where he administered tlie ordinance de- 
 mands our attention, namely : the great river of Palestine, 
 the Jordan. Some of the most interesting associations of 
 sacred story cluster around this stream. Israel first knew 
 it when they crossed its channel dry-shod, in their flight 
 from bondage. From that moment it was the silver 
 thread on which the historic memories of the nation were strung, as pearls on a 
 necklace; John and Jesus being the brightest gems that ever shone in the line. It 
 takes its source in about 33° 25' of north latitude in a fountain near Hasbeiya, west 
 of Mount Hermon. although Josephus locates its rise in the larger fountains near 
 Cfesarea-Philippi ; and then it passes through the lake, or what is called in Josh. xi. 
 .">-7, ' the waters of Merom.' Emerging thence, it flows rapidly through a narrow 
 and rocky ravine, till it empties into the lake of Galilee, and from the southern end 
 
THE SACRED IlIVi:!!. S3 
 
 thereof it flows through the valley down to the Dead Sea, into which it empties, in 
 lat. 31° 46'. The distance from the lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea is about 56 
 geographical miles, but the many windings of the channel make about 150 miles 
 between these points. Its width will average, according to Schaff, 'from 60 to 100 
 feet, and its depth from 5 to 12 feet.' The valley of the Jordan- runs from five to 
 six miles in width, and is inclosed by mountains; in many places it is remarkable for 
 its luxuriant fertility. The exact spot where John first used this Divine baptistry 
 cannot now be positively identified. Anciently, it was known as 'Bethabara,' sup- 
 posed to be about three miles from Jericho, and his second baptismal scene was 
 farther north, being known as 'Eiion, near Salem.' Each eminent writer and trav- 
 eler now lixcs upon some picturesque locality, often selected largely on j^oetical 
 taste; but all conjecture fails to point it out definitely. Some pitch on a lino 
 between Gilgal and Jericho, and some still farther north, at the ford where (Jideou 
 threw up fortifications against his foes. But as the whole valley was filled with 
 crowds of candidates, from the Salt Sea to the head-waters, it is most likely that he 
 used various places, especially as John, x, 49, speaks of the ])lace where he ^ first 
 baptized.' Frequently, reckless writers rush into random statements, and assert 
 that its depth would not allow of immersion, utterly regardless of all topographical 
 exploration, such as that made by Lieutenant Lynch, of the United States Navy. 
 Yet, Jehovah found it necessary to divide the waters for Israel and Elijah, while 
 Pococke and other explorers estimate its daily discharges into the Dead Sea, to be 
 about 6,000,000 tons of water, i' 
 
 Dr. SchafE ('Through Bible Lands, 1S78) speaks thus : 'At the bathing place 
 of the Pilgrims, the traditional site of Christ's baptism, the river is 80 feet broad 
 
 and 9 feet'^deep \fr.T the salt batli In tlic lak.' of .leatli it wa> like a bath of 
 
 regeneration. I ininii'ivr.l iii\>.'ll' /, // time-, and I'cir >n (■(.mt'oitalili'. that I almost 
 imagined I wasmiraculou-ly ilclivrriMl iVum rliciiiiiati-in. I ha\'r |iliiiii:cil into many 
 a river and many a lake, and into the waters of tlie ocean, but of all the baths, that 
 in the Jordan will linger longest in my memory.' 
 
 Was John's baptism a burial in water or not ? Candid minds can scarcely 
 doubt what this action was, when they weigh the meaning of the Greek word 
 haptizo, the places where he administered it, and all its attendant circumstances. 
 John, as well as all other sacred speakers used words in their commonly accepted 
 sense, of their times, and this is as true of this word as of any other. Its sense is 
 easily found. Conant, the great philologist and translator, gives a complete mono- 
 graph of the root word, in his '■ Baptizein^ taken from the best known Greek 
 authors, running from B. C. 500 to the eleventh century A. D. ; and, in 168 exam- 
 ples fi-om the Greek literature, covers both the literal or physical, and the tropical 
 or figurative, sense of the word. Their whole scope shows that the ground meaning 
 of the word is : 'To immerse, immerge, submerge, to dip, to plunge, to imbathe, to 
 whelm.' A few of these examples, taken from objects already in water, will clearly 
 illustrate its sense : 
 
34 MEANING OK liAl'TTZO. 
 
 Pindar, horn B. C. 522 years, in likening liiuiBclf to a cork floating on the top 
 of a net, says : ' When the rest of the tackle is t'jiiing deep in the sea, I, as a cork- 
 above the ilet, am niihaptizcd (inidii)]ic.l) in the hnne';!*" Aristotle, burn B. C. 384, 
 speaking of discovri'ics iii:idr licvdiid tlic i'ilhirs of Hercules, says, that the Plie- 
 iiician colonists of (indiiM. •(■.■imc (.. cri-tnin dc~ii-r jilacesfuU of rushes and sea-weed ; 
 which, when it is ebb-tide, ai'u not hnjitr., ,1 (ovcrllowed), but when it is flood-tide are 
 overflowed.'-" Polybius, born l!. C. I'n:,. speaking of the sea-battle between Philip 
 and Attains, tells of one vessel as • jiiei-eed, and being baptized (iinmergeil) by a 
 hostile ship.^' Again, in his account of tlie naval engagement between the Konians 
 and ("aithaginians, he accords the greater skill to the latter. 'Kow sailing round 
 and now attacking in flank the more advanced of the pursuers, while turning and 
 eiiibarnissed on account of the weight of the shi|>s and the iinskillfulncss of the 
 erews, tliey made continued assaults and •• A./y-//,:- (/" (>uid<) niaiiv nf the ships. '-- 
 Sti-abo, iH.'rn B. C. 60, says that abuut Agrigeiituni, in Sieily, tlicTe'are ' Marsh-lakes, 
 having the taste indeed of sea- water, iiut of a dillerent nature ; for even those who 
 cannot swim are not hnjiti-id (^innnerscd), floating like pieces of wood.'-^ In the 
 same work he speaks of Alexander's army marching on a narrow, flooded beach 
 of the Pamphilian Sea, in these words: 'Alexander hajipening to be there at the 
 stormy season, and, accustomed to trust for the nu:)st i)art to fortune, set forward 
 before the swell subsided ; and they marched the whole day in water ; hupthed 
 (iiuinei-sed) IIS far as to the waist.'^i 'Diodorus, who «-rote about B. C. 60-30, reports 
 tlu' ( 'aitliauiiiian aiiiiy defeated on the bank of the river Crimissus ; and that many 
 of them perislied lieeause the stream was swollen : 'The river rushing down with 
 the eui-rent inereasetl in violence, baptized (submerged) many, and destroj'ed them 
 attempting to swim through with their armor.' ^ "He also describes the annual 
 overflow of the Nile thus : 'Most of the wild land animals are surrounded by the 
 stream and perish, being huptiziil (sulimerged) ; but some, escaping to the high 
 grounds, are saved.' -^ 
 
 These examples bring us down to John's dav and ftdlv sustain the learned 
 Devlin-ius. when he savs of him: 'He received th'e name f,,'n fluptisi.,,,, fn.ni the 
 otKee of solemn ablution and inuuersion, in whi<-h he otlielaled l,v a (li\ iiie .-ommaud. 
 For the word hn^ifl-rst/uii, in the usage of (ireek authoi>. .-i-liitie-- immersion and 
 demersion.'"' Josephus, born A. D. 37, frequemlN ii>r~ thi- w.rd, and always in 
 the same sense. The following are noteworthy examples : Ari>tobulus was drowned 
 by his companions in a swimming bath, and in relating the murder he says: 'Con- 
 tinually pressing down and hiiptizlmj (innnersing) him while swimming, as if in 
 sport, they did not desist till they had entirely suifocated him.'-* He also describes 
 the contest, in his 'Jewish War,' between the Ivomans and the Jews, on the Sea of 
 Galilee, and says of the Jews : ' They suffered harm before they could inflict any, 
 and were haptizc-d (submerged) along with their vessels. . . . And those of tlie 
 baptized who raised their heads, either a missile reached, or a vessel overtook.' 
 Again, in desci'ibing his own shipwreck, he says : ' Our vessel having been baptized 
 (sunk) in the midst of the Adriatic, being about six hundred in number, we swam 
 through the whole night.' Lucian, born about A. D. 135, in a satire on the love of 
 the marvelous, tells of men that he saw running on the sea. The}' were like him- 
 self except that they had cork-feet. He says : ' We wondered, therefore, when we 
 saw them not baptized, (immersed) but standing above the waves and traveling on 
 without fear.'^s Dion Cassins, born 155 A. D., says of the defeated forces at t'tica 
 who rushed to their ships and overloaded them, that : some of them were ' thrown 
 down by the jostling, in getting on board the vessels, and others baptized (sub- 
 merged) in the vessels themselves, by their own weight.'^" In the same work he 
 gives an account of the sea-fight between Marc Antony and Augustus, at Actium, 
 when, near the close of the battle, men esca]icd from the burning ships. He says: 
 ' others leaping into the sea were drowned, or struck by the enemy were bap>tized, 
 (submerged).' ^"^ 
 
TESTIMONY OF SCIIOl.AIiS. 35 
 
 These citations from classic Greek writers, covering about 700 years, includiiio; 
 the Apostolic Age, unite in describing things on which water was poured, or wliicli 
 were partially innnersed, as n}il>aj)tlzecl ,• while others, which were dipped or plunged 
 in water and overwhelmed, they declare to have been baptized ; showing, that when 
 the sacred peuuien use the same word to describe the act of John in the Jonluii. 
 they use it in the same sense as otlior Greek uuthors, namely : to express tlic art 
 of dipping or immersion. 
 
 This cumulative evidence fully justifies Calvin in saj'ing : 'Baptism was admin- 
 istered by John and Clirist, by the submersion of the whole body." ^- Tertullian, 
 the great Latin fatluT. A. T). l'0(I, als.. siys : ' Xur is tlinv any matiTial difference 
 between those wlioin .loliii dipped in the Jordan, and tlio.-e wIkhii i'eter dipped in 
 the Tiber.' ^ So Lightfoot : ' That the baptisu) of .lolni was by the inunersion of 
 the body, seems evident from those things which are related concerning it; namely, 
 that he baptized in the .]or<lan, and in Enon, because there was much water, and 
 that Christ being bapti/til went np i>nt of the water."* MacKnight says the same 
 thing: 'Christ submitted to be l)aptized, that is, to be buried under the water by 
 John, and to be raised out of it again.' ^ Olshausen agrees with these interpreters, 
 for he says: 'John, also, was baptizing in the neighborhood, because the water there 
 being deep, afforded conveniences for submersion.'^ De AVette bears the same 
 testimou}- : ' They were baptized, immersed, submerged. This is the proper mean- 
 ing of the frequentative form of haj)to, to immerse.' ^' And Alford, on Matt, iii, (5, 
 says : ' The baptism was administered in the day-time by immersion of the whole 
 person.' 
 
 Tliese authorities al)undantly show that our Lord, in recpiiring the first act of 
 obedience on the pait of his new disciple, employed a Greek word in common use 
 for expressing tlie most familiar acts of every-day life. And the testimony of the 
 Septuagint, the Greek version of tlie Gld Testament, completed B. C. 285, harmonizes 
 exactly with this use. When ipioting tlie Hebrew Scriptures, Jesus and his apostles 
 generally used this version. Here the Greek word ' elaptisato^ is used to translate 
 the Hebrew word 'tavaV (2 Kings v, 1-i), where the English version also renders it 
 by the word 'dipped,' to express the act of Naaman in the river Jordan. The word 
 '■tavaV is used fifteen times in the Old Testament, and is rendered in our common 
 English version fourteen times by 'dip,' and once (Job ix, 31) by 'plunge.' In 
 Gen. xxxvii, 31, the Jewish scholars who made the Septuagint version rendered 
 'inohino^ to stain, the effect of dipping, as in dyeing, this being the chief thought 
 whicli the translator would express. It is also worthy of note that the preposition 
 '<n' is rendered 'mi' before Jordan in all the eoinnioiily received versions of the 
 English New Testament (Matt, iii, 6), namely: in that of Wiclif, 1380: Tyndal, 
 1534; Cranmer, 1539; Geneva, 1557; Rheims, 1582; and King James, Kill. In 
 the last named '?/'///*' was afterward substituted for '//;,' but it is restored by the 
 late Anglo-American revisers. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BAPTIST'S WITNESS TO CHRIST. 
 
 JOHN gave a tlircefold testinioiiy to Clirist. As a pi-npliet, lie piMclaimed tlie 
 kingdom of (iod, through the Messiah; as a preadier, lie led the pe(ii)le to 
 preparation for the Messiah; and as a witness, lie pointed out Christ in person 
 as tlie Messiali. The people believed that the j;a])tist was (he veritable Elijah. The 
 Sanliedrin was bound ti.> prevent any false prophet fi^.nn misleading the people, and 
 in order to subject Jolm to a rigid examination, they sent a deputation of officials 
 from Jerusalem to question him. Tliey asked him : ' Who art thou i The Christ I 
 Elijali? The Prophet?' He answered: 'No.' But his ministry so stirred the 
 people that they found a pledge therein of deliverance from Eoman rule, and 
 ' I'easoned in their hearts whether he were not the Christ.' The dejratation was of 
 the Pharisees, who, stinging under his rebukes, sought to pay him back by 
 entangling him in political difficulties, craftily supposing that they could bring him 
 to account if they could throw his fiery ministry into a false position. Their 
 cunning only succeeded in bringing out the humility and modesty of his character. 
 Bold as a lion before men, he was a timid lamb in the shadow of his Lord, and 
 nonplussed them by saying : ' I am not tlie Christ, nor Elijah, but simply the voice 
 of a crier.' Unable and nnwilling to lead the eager throngs to a contest with their 
 oppressors, he lifted up his voice and proclaimed: 'There stands one in the midst 
 of you, whom ye know not, the latchet of whoso sandal I am not worthy to loose.' 
 
 Beautiful message-bearer of (Jiir (io(l and Saviour. Pure truth, gentle 
 modesty, blushing humility, marked few of his contemporaries ; l)ut, while he would 
 not play the role of a false Messiah, he longed for the honor of stooping, with 
 suppressed bi'eath and trenuilous hands, to do the work of a slave for the true 
 Christ. His glory was to throw himself into the background, to tie the sandals of 
 Jesus when he went abroad, and loose the dusty leathern thong when he returned. 
 His reply rebuked the pride and scoi-ncd the vanity of the whole viper-brood. 
 Their haughtiness is censured, and their fawning repelled by the servant of the Son 
 of the Highest prostrate in the dust at his feet. This holy chivalry makes a true 
 man a broken reed in the presence of Jesus, while it tempers his sinews with steel 
 in dealing with men. ' I am not your Messiah — I go before him — he stands among 
 you — he is mightier than I — I am a stranger to his prerogatives — I immerse your 
 bodies in water to symbolize your soul's purification, but he shall overwhelm your 
 souls in the Holy Spirit.' This sharp distinction brought out for the first time the 
 
THE LAMB OF OOD. 37 
 
 fullness of Christ's Gospel, or as Mark expresses it, here was ' The beginning of the 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ.' This said, and tlie Baptist delivered from the snare of the 
 fowler, he reasserts himself in new strength. The rulers tlattered themselves that 
 they would be the golden grain of Jlessiah's husbandry, the elite wheat that should 
 fill his garner. John mocks that expectation, casts it to the winds, and tells thuni 
 that Jesus will treat them as the Palestine farmer treats his harvest, when it is cut 
 down, trampled under the hoofs of oxen, torn ' by instruments with teeth,' till the 
 kernel is severed from the 'chaff' and then winnowed that it may be Imrnud. 
 They could never be gathered as the pure grain of the kingdom. Another liajjtisni 
 awaited them, that of repentance in the Jordan, when the Messiah should toss wheat 
 and chaff into the empty air, that the grain might fall back free of refuse, while the 
 wind would take the chaff into quenchless fire. These terrible words express John's 
 cardinal idea of Christ's nature and prerogatives. They attribute to him the scrutiny 
 of motives, the purification of character, and the condemnation of the impenitent ; 
 in a word, the prerogatives of God. But this was not all. 
 
 The ' next day,' the Baptist saw Jesus and cried : ' Behold the Lamb of God, 
 that takes away the sin of the world ! This is he of whom I said : After me conies 
 one who is preferred before me ; because he was before me.' ^ ' I have seen and 
 have l)orne witness that this is the Son of God. I saw the Spirit descending as a 
 dove out of heaven, and it abode upon him.' Here he affirms Christ's pre-existence. 
 John was born six months before Jesus, yet he says ' He was before me.' The 
 Greek terms here, l)oth translated ' before,' express not only pre-eminence in rank 
 and dignity, but priority of time. This enigma was to the startled Jews the first 
 hint given by any New Testament speaker of Christ's personal pre-existence, and 
 unveils him in the Bosom of the Father, before he became flesh. Then follow 
 Christ's attestation by the Holy Spirit, — his mediatorial character and his divine 
 Sonship. And he gave grandeur to his testimony in that he ' cried,^ with vehe- 
 mence in tluir avowal. He tells us that the Holy Spirit justified these claims as he 
 set them forth. Indeed, the most remarkable thing in the Baptist's ministry is the 
 prominence which he gives to the doctrine of the Spirit, in its new form. 
 
 He introduced the second Person in the Trinity to the world, and held relations 
 to the Third which no man before him had filled. Next to the coming of Christ, 
 his ministry held a place and formed an epoch of the highest possible importance in 
 the history of redemption. It was, in the Gospel sense, the beginning of the 
 Spirit's administration in the personal salvation of men, as it first brings out his 
 separate personality with great clearness. The Dove came from the Father, and on 
 the banks of the Jordan remained upon the Son, making him thenceforth the sole 
 Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, the one source through whom he has since acted in 
 administering salvation to men. All this was directly opposite to the history and 
 tendencies of Judaism, liut it identifies John with the very soul of the Gospel a;; 
 nothing else could. It was not the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan which anointed 
 
38 JEsrs puA r.s for the spirit. 
 
 liiiii tVii' liis work, for, says Peter : ' God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy 
 S[iiritaii(l jiower.' This prodigy of the descending Dove and Christ's inscrutable 
 unction enabled John to say : 'I saw, and bear record that this is the Sou of God.' 
 Tlie Spirit made him a witness to the Messiah, when the Lord's anointed was sol- 
 oinnlj invested with his divine office. Through the Spirit, the Father dwelt in the 
 Stin and the Sun in him. Luke gives the splendid piece of information, that when 
 -lesus was ' praying ' at his baptism, the heavens were opened. Through the cleft 
 vault his eyes were fixed upon his Father's throne. lie penetrated into the fullness 
 of divine light and life, and uttered the first sigh of humanity for that ])erfect in- 
 dwelling of God whicli aceuniplislied redemption. This pledge of his final triumph 
 was given when his lindy was dripping with the waters of baptism. A\"lien he was 
 setting aside all empty institutions his liand knocked at lieaven's gate, and by the 
 will of the Father it was opened ; for he was well pleased with the obedience of 
 his beloved Son. 
 
 How sweetly insi)iring is the thought, that the first breatli which passed his 
 newly baptized lips asked for tlie Holy Spirit ; who at once was given to him. And 
 not in measure, but without degree ; in him ' dwelt the fullness of the Godhead 
 bodily.' To him tlie Spirit was not given as to the Apostles, through the emblem 
 of unconscious flame in divided sheets, but tlu'ough the oi'ganic and sensitive symbol 
 of life in a hovering dove. From the blue vault, from infinite leagues of ethereal 
 space, came forth a delicate, tiumrous nature and lit upon the only pure sprit on 
 this earth, the Sacred Head, while his locks were yet wet from the tremulous 
 wave. When the guilty earth was baptized in the deluge, a dove flew over the 
 waste of waters and brought the hope of a new world to Xoah, in a frail olive- 
 branch rescued from the flood. But the New Testament Dove winged his way to 
 the New Testament Ark, the type of a life-giving energy, which said : ' Behold, I 
 make all things new,' when Jesus came up out of the stream and stood upon the 
 dry land. Here is the seven-fold symbol of chaste purity, peace and hope, for the 
 gentle emblem seems invested with the infinite powers of new birth. The expres- 
 sion : ' The Spirit lighted and abode upon him,' conveys that idea of a hovering 
 motion implied in the Hebrew word b}' which Moses describes the mode of crea- 
 tion ; ' The Spirit was hroodinc/ over the face of the waters,' as a bird over her 
 young in incubation, imparting vivifying warmth in each shudder passing from the 
 pulse of one animated being to another. The white-winged messenger in corporeal 
 form, from the bosom of the Father, came not on his celestial mission to make 
 Jesus holy, nor to invest him with grace and beauty, but with infinite enei-gy as the 
 Plead of an endless race : ' He shall see his seed.' 
 
 Prediction had said : ' The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him ; the Spirit 
 of wisdom and might, and shall make him of quick nnderstanding.' The body of 
 Jesus was his offspring, and his soul-powers were developed by the same Spirit ; 
 then, from the moment of his baptism, the Holy Spirit dii-ected his life, his words, 
 
77/a; TIUXTTY UEVEALED. 39 
 
 and his woik. Ue hiinself (Icchircil : • TIic Spirit of tlie I.nrd is upon me ; l)ecause 
 lie anoiiitoii iiic to preach good tidings to the poor ; to proclaim the acceptable j'ear 
 of tlie I, on!.' Nor is tills all. Fi-om the moment of his baptism 'he began to 
 l)reac]i tlu- good news of the kingdom ;' to 'heal the sick ;' to 'cast out demons by 
 the Spirit of God.' lie also warned men against "the blasphemy of the Spirit;" 
 promised that ' the Spirit should teach them what to say ' in persecution, and 
 breathed upon his disciples, saying : ' Receive ye the Holy Spirit,' and they re- 
 ceived him. But, above all, at Pentecost he sent the Spirit to fill his own place on 
 earth. Nor may we suppose that either John or Jesus were not filled with the Spirit 
 in the largest sense simply because John (vii, 39) says: 'The Holy Spirit was not 
 yet [(/{ven\ because Jesus was not yet glorified.' The word' given' is not in the 
 Greek text, which simply reads 'was not yet,' the word 'given ' is supjilied to com- 
 plete the sense. Luther says on the passage : ' One must not fall into such sense- 
 less thoughts, as to sujipose that the Holy Spirit was only created after Christ's 
 resurrection from the dead ; what is written is, " The Holy Spirit was not yet,'' that 
 is, was not in his office.' Stillingfleet says the Spii-it was not yet found in the 
 extraordinary gift of tongues and other miracles. But Jesus tells his disciples that 
 they ' knew him,' that ' he abides with you,' and that his Father would ' give the 
 Holy Spirit to those who ask him.' The Spirit had qualified Old Testament men 
 for extraordinar}' work, but he was to be poured out on ' all flesh'' in Gospel times. 
 The sovereignty, therefoi-e, of the Spirit dwelt in Jesus, by which he raised all men 
 to a high level in the Gospel. This doctrine the Baptist preached. 
 
 Hence, with the sight of the descending Spirit he heard the attesting voice of 
 divine Fatherhood and Sonship : ' This is my Son.' That august voice which rent 
 the empty heavens above the Jordan told John of God's complacency in his Son : 
 ' In him I am well pleased.' This voice sank into the inner being of the Baptist, 
 and thi-ills the hearts of his brethren to-day in all the dialects of the earth. Jehovah 
 has honored no other great institute as he has Christ's baptism, when he used the 
 new rite to mark his inauguration as Head of the Gospel Church. The anointing of 
 his Only Begotten Son by his Holy Spirit, sanctified the new-born ordinance. 
 Therein the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were revealed, and from that day to this, 
 whenever true Christians visit Christ's baptism, they sing : ' God, even thy God, 
 has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' There we have the 
 first distinct revelation of the Godhead. There the whole Trinity united in laying 
 the fonndatioii of the (iospel Church, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Spii-it. All true Baptists may point to Christ's Baptism, and say with 
 Augustine to Marcion : ' Go to Jordan ami thou shalt see the Trinity." 
 
 The next great cognate truth which John was the first to i)nlilish. was Christ's 
 vicarious sacrifice. This he comprehended from the first, although his own Apostles 
 never understood it till after his resurrection. From the beginning, the Baptist 
 proclaimed him as the Sin bearer. He cried : ' Behold the Lamb of (iod tliat 
 
40 THE LAMB TO BE SLAIN. 
 
 tnkctli uway tlir pin of tlie world I"- Tliuse sacrilicial words liave been descanted 
 uiMiii. pi-oli:ililv iiioiv tliaii :iiiv lomid in the New Testament, and they seein to have 
 niovud all .loliirs Ijuiii-'. lie liad previously given testimony to the abiding of the 
 Sjiirit with the Son, and now tliat great tratli gave birth to tliis. The more he saw 
 of Josus, the more the deep spring of truth welled up within him. His theologic 
 eye was ..pciuMl at tin- -Tunlaii, and lie so,,ii saw wonderful things in his Master. At 
 tii'st, the Dove, syniboliral among birds for tiie purpi.ises of thank-offering and cere- 
 monial purification, was the extent of liis discovery. IS'ow, he proclaims him as the 
 Lanil>, of {{ud's choosing, from his own liork, the image of spotlessness and 
 cleansing merit. The Dove spoke of the heavens whence he came, the Lamb spoke 
 of the altar wiiere he takes away the sin <if the world. This sublime picture 
 revealed Isaiali's Lamb on his way to slaughter, llis language neither expresses an 
 act of the past, nor one of the future, but one which forever continues. Tlie 
 mediatoi-ial work had begun, the morning sacrifice liad been offered. In his baptism 
 (lod had inspected him, had pronounced him well pleasing, had accepted him as his 
 own Sill-victim, and now the sacrificial work was in process : ' Taketh away the 
 sill" abstractly and concretely, 'of the world.' The Apostles have since elaborated 
 the saving ijoctrine, with exquisite clearness and power, but they caught their key- 
 note from .lolin, who first announced the astounding revelation. The Evangelist 
 John placed his throbbing temples on the bosom of the Lamb, but not till the Bap- 
 tist John had told him twice, how piu'c, and soft, and warm it was. This doctrine 
 won tlie Evangelist in a moment. When the Baptist told him this lie was one of 
 John's disciples, but the moment that John told him of God's Lamb to expiate liis 
 sin, lie became a follower of Jesus. Since that day the son of Zebedee lias been 
 crying -with one breath : ' I love him because lie first loved me ! ' and with the next : 
 ' Behold the Lamb ! Behold the Lamb ! ' 
 
 If possible, the Baptist's next testimony to Christ, brought him into greater 
 Gospel fullness still, for he gave it under tlie severest trial. Two years had passed 
 since he opened his ministry, when his disciples were thrown into a controversy 
 ' with a Jew about purifying.' Then, his disciples said to him : 'Babbi, he who was 
 with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold he baptizes, 
 and all come to him.' This dispute was neither amongst his disciples themselves, 
 nor between the disciples of John and Jesus, about the merits of their baptisms, as 
 some pretend, nor did it concern baptism at all. ' A Jew,' who belonged to neither 
 set of disciples, tried to draw John's disciples into a debate on the question of legal 
 ablutions, for the traditionists were bewitched to torture every body with their petty 
 quibbles, and so this ' Jew ' baited John's disciples to set them at variance with the 
 elders, as the Pharisees attacked Christ's disciples for not washing their hands 
 before eating, afttn- the tradition of the elders. Irving forcibly covers this case 
 thus: 'It was not a dispute concerning their relative baptisms I judge from this, 
 that the word is " pui'ifying," not baj^tism. The word for purifying is never applied 
 
JOHN'S DISCIPLES PERPLEXED. 41 
 
 cither to tlie baptism of Joliu or of Christ's disciples, or of the Holy Ghost, or any 
 other baptism. The word " baptism " is in one place applied to jjurifying, as tlie 
 baptism of cups, pots, and tables ; and once in the Hebrews, where it is rendered 
 "the doctrine of baptisms," I think it nnich l)rtter to translate the baptism of doc- 
 trine, or the purifying influences of ductrinc. i>ut the word " purifying" is never, 
 on the one hand, used for baptism, and on that account cannot be so taken in this 
 place, without violence to every rule of interpretation.'' 
 
 Although this artful attempt failed, John's disciples allowed a sj^irit of rivalry 
 to enter their bosoms, because Christ's disciples baptized more persons than Jolin. 
 This drew from him new and clearer testimony for Christ. ' Kabbi,' they said, ' lie 
 who was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold he 
 immerses, and all come to him.' This clause, ' borne witness,' carries the thouglit, 
 that John's testimony to Jesus had given dignity to him, and made him John's 
 debtor. The words, ' he was with thee,' imply that they considered Jesus a follower 
 of John, like themselves, and ' he baptizeth ' suggests, that they thought he was 
 usurping John's work and high calling. What appeared worse than all to them, he 
 was using the distinction which John luul given him to draw John's following to 
 bis own standard, and so building up his own name on John's decaying cause ; ' all 
 men come to him.' That is, they charge Jesus with building up a rival P>a])tist 
 sect. It was a keen trial to ,Iohn to see this distrust and envy of Christ in his 
 own family. His soul was stirred when he saw that his own testimony to 
 the Redeemer's character and work was misunderstood, and with a minute, 
 verbal clearness which lie had not used before, he proceeded to silence forever this 
 misleading suspicion in his followers. To this end he gave this noblest reply 
 which ever fell from the lips of mortal ; and with these words turned both 
 them and his own work over into the hands of Jesus forever, as his divinely 
 appointed superior. 
 
 'John answcrcil mikI said : A man can receive nothing, except it be given him, 
 from heaven. Ye yourselves l)ear me witness, that I said, I am not the Ciirist, but 
 I am sent before iiim. He that has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend 
 of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bride- 
 groom's voice. This my joy therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must 
 decrease. He that comes' from above is above all ; he that is from the earth is of 
 the earth, and speaks of the eartli ; he that comes from heaven is above all. And 
 what lie has seen and heard, that he testifies ; and his testimony no one receives. 
 He that received his testimony has set his seal. That God is true. For he whom 
 God sent speaks forth the words of God ; for he gives not the Spirit by measure. 
 Tlie Father loves the Son, and has givex .\i,l things into his hand. He that 
 believes on the Son has everlasting life, and he that believes not the Son shall not 
 see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.''* 
 
 Here John not only points his discij)les and all subsequent believers to 
 Christ for "everlasting life," ijut he shows his own exact relation to ' the Son,' as 
 being that of the groomsman to the Bridegroom. As the ' friend of the Bride- 
 
42 SATA-ATION BY FAITH. 
 
 grooin' he had jirepared fur the nian-iagc of (iod's Son, and as his work was now 
 finished, his 'joy was full,' and In.' ivtiii'd, leaving the liriilo in the care of the 
 Eridegroom. ' He must increase, but 1 must decrease,' is iiis ])ro|ihetic forecast. 
 ' God loves him ; and has given all things into his hand.' Then and there, drop- 
 ping his special commission as a herald, he became the first New Testament 
 preacher of a present trust in Christ for salvation, or of salvation by faith, declaring 
 that lie who ' believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides 
 on him.' AVe have .-^een, that not only was .Tolin tlie first to preach the pre- 
 cxistence and divinity of Christ as one who had eonie 'from al)0ve,' and was now 
 'above all ;' to preavh .lesus as Cod's saerili.-ial victim for sin, his 'Lamb' bearing 
 away the 'sin of the w.rld ;'— but on the banks of the same Jordan where he had 
 bajitized him, he declares him the Saviour, to whom his (.jwn disciples and all other 
 men must now look for salvation from • the wrath of Cod.' 
 
 No passage in the New Testament more clearly points out the glorious truth 
 that men are saved only by trust in Christ than John's words : ' He that believes 
 on the Son has everlasting life.' And none more powerfully shows that the des- 
 tiny of man is left in the hand of Christ, than the fearful \v( irds : ' He that believes 
 not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God aljides on him.' There is no 
 possiltility of misconstruing John's doctrine of eternal retribution here. Human 
 ingenuity and gloss have tried to explain away all Christ's words on this subject, but 
 the tei'rible decision of the Baptist's words defy all the attempts of sophistry. 
 From the first, he held that the obdurate rejector of Christ must endure a baptism 
 in ' unquenchable fire.' John spoke of a baptism in the Spirit for the good, but 
 Christ's fire-baptism is always spoken of as destructive, as ' chaff ' is consumed by 
 fire. Neauder says : ' The Messiah will immerse the souls of believers in the Holy 
 Spirit,' but ' those who refused to be penetrated by the Spirit of the divine life 
 should be destroyed by the fire of the divine judgments.'^ Yon Rohden so under- 
 stands .1 dim's preaching: 'The baptism of fire, then, refers to the desti-uction of 
 those, who, under the Messianic government, should refuse to receive the baptism 
 of tlie Holy Spirit, those who shoiild oppose themselves to the reign of the Mes- 
 siah.' « When Luke speaks of the ' promise of the Father ' (Acts i, 5), he omits 
 John's words, ' and with fire,' for they couched a threat, not a promise. Even the 
 symbolical tongues which rested upon the Apostles at Pentecost, were not of fire, but 
 oidy ' like as of fire.' Hence, in John's last testimony to Christ, he presents not 
 simply the ' Lamb ' in his saving aspects, but also in his Leonine administration, and 
 vindicates his honor against the sin of rejecting him. 
 
 Throughout, John's testiniony to Christ presents his character in a glorious 
 light, by showing, that he is thankful to be distanced in the race, if the glory of 
 Christ be advanced. Bright as a star himself, he is content that his own light 
 should be lost in the noontide glory of the firmament. The prospect of extinction 
 awakened triumph in his breast, that he might be nothing and Jesus all things. 
 
JOHN DECREASING. 43 
 
 His only grief was, that meu ruceived not his testimony. What a wonderful suni- 
 niar}- of Christian doctrine and consecration he gives. What are the struggles of a 
 patriot for his country, compared with his eager devotion to lay down his life for liis 
 Friend, and to see his own glory die in the splendor of his Master ? His meridian 
 was past, and his sun was setting, and now when the shadows of night fell upon 
 him, his ecstasy was this: ' He that cometh from heaven is above all.' Beautiful 
 Baptist ! The first great New Testament tlieologian. For thousands of years all 
 study amongst Jews and Gentiles liad failed to unveil the doctrines which lie 
 brought to light, and all after study has failed to exhaust them. ' More than 
 a prophet,' none have discoursed so grandly on his Iledeemer's person, office and 
 love : and what new doctrine lias any inspired writer revealed since ? 
 
 The imprisonment and martyrdom of the Baptist must now be noticed. The 
 faithful son of Zaeharias was hated for his fidelity. Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of 
 Galilee, was a son of Herod the Great, and had married a daughter of Aretas, King 
 of Arabia-Petrtea, who was to him a faithful wife. Antipas had a half-brother, 
 Herod Philip, not by the same mother, who had married Herodias, the daughter 
 of Aristobulus, still another brother. Herodias, therefore, was granddaughter to 
 Herod the Great and niece to Anti})as. But Antipas fell in love with her, per- 
 suaded her to abandon her husband, divorced his own wife, and then married her. 
 This woman took her young daughter, Salome, Philip's child, with her ; and as tlie 
 adulterous queen of Antipas, came to the Galilean tetrarchy and shared with him 
 his vice-regal palace, where she reveled in guilty splendor. When the Baptist 
 lieard of this disgusting crime it stirred his indignation, and he bluntly rebuked the 
 incestuous paramour in terms as stern as his upbraidings of the scornful Pharisees. 
 As God's messenger he thundered in the ears of Antipas : ' It is not lawful for thee 
 to have thy brother's wife ! ' Luke adds that he reproved him : ' For all the evils 
 wliich Herod did ;' a long and black list of crimes. For this cause he seized John 
 and threw him into the dismal fortress of IMachaerus, the ' Black Castle,' east of the 
 Dead Sea, an outrage instigated by Herodias ; for she w-as angry with him, and 
 fastened on him like some ferocioii>; animal clinging to its prey. She desired, says 
 Mark, to put him to death but could iiut, tor llerod feared John, knowing that he 
 was a just and Imly man. The imperiousness of truth which lifted John above the 
 fear of rank and of death, made his person so sacred, that the stony heart of the 
 adulterer was overawed. One glance of pui-ity made the adulterous tyrant writhe 
 in dread fetters. John was unarmed and alone. Herod was compassed by royal 
 guards. Yet John hurled subtile arrows from an invisible quiver, wliich, piercing 
 the armor of steel, made the king's heart faint. 
 
 ' It is not lawful for thee to have her,' was the metal-point which made John's 
 barb so keen. The .Icwish laws had thrown a colos-al rainpart around tlie sanctity 
 of marriage, a holiiu^s which tin- wliok- llcnHJian iainily had set at naught, in one 
 way or another. In the person of Antipas, the Baptist brought that whole house- 
 
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 ;. xviii, 
 
 JOHN'S APPEAL ro rilE BIBLE. 
 
 i-utiny i.if the Bible standard. His tci-rihlc n]ipeal^ were made to 
 Ik' tiirew tiie whole question hack, nut (Ui jmhlic scandal or tlie 
 ilif feehn-;-, but on tlu' supronuu-y nf (idd'swonl. There he planted 
 tlie eliMjuence of lanientatiuu, pinte^t, and demand. Unwilling to 
 to varnish, lie put one finger on the ulcer, and with tlie other resting 
 10, he demanded obe<lience to Divine authority. Whatever the 
 enactments of men miglit say in the case, the Law of God was the first and last 
 source of his ajipeal. The craven Saiihediin Icucw as well as .John that Ilerod was 
 trampling the law of God luider-foot and defying Jehovairs mandate, but all its 
 members sealed tlieir lips to the barefaced di>gi-ace. .lohii frowned upon tlie triple 
 crime through a ' thus saith the Lord ;' and his daring iidelity to Kcvelation, as tiie 
 only rule of life, wrote his name at the head of a long roll of JJaptist martyrs, wlio 
 have sealed the Truth w ith their lilood. 
 
 At length Herod's birthday dawned, that day in the calendar around which he 
 should have suninioned all the years of his life for a sweet song, that Jehovah had 
 sent him into the world an innocent babe. But instead, its celebration wrote this 
 dark entry on his I'ccord : • It were better for him that he had never been born!' 
 Well might he have prayed with Job : ' That day, let not God from above seek for 
 it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year, nor come into the number of the 
 months, neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning I ' But with his birthday 
 came the revelry of a court festival. Instead of sackcloth and ashes for his sins, 
 and the turning over of a new leaf with the merciful anniversary, he gathered his 
 generals and peers around liini, took uiion him his most hilarious mood, gave reins 
 to his vanity and o.stcntatiini, spread his feast and lavished his wine, drowned his 
 fear in the fumes of the cu]> and the strains of music, and wlien his brain began to 
 I'eel under the adulation of nobles and the wassail-bowl, then a revengeful woman 
 turned the day of birth into the night of death. 
 
 Wild abandon, wanton voluptuousness, and hot carousal, now ruled the royal 
 banquet, and the call was issued for the pantomimic dance. Ilerod winced under 
 John's rebukes, yet could bear them. Herodias could not. Her pride would not 
 brook them, and revenge rankled in her heart. Her crafty soul knew that the 
 ballet dancer's would be asked for when the guests were well flushed with madness, 
 and her dainty foresight had prepared for theni a special treat. Vengeance had 
 drawn its bow to the double strain and set its fiery arrow to a true wing, its blis- 
 tering eye had spied the vulnerable point in the harness and laid its hand to 
 launch the bolt. And, in ic}' hatred she sent lier beautiful young daughter, the 
 future mother of kings, to dance for the company ; her rage reminding us of 
 science freezing water in a red-hot capsule. The grace and condescension of Great 
 Herod's granddaughter so charmed the high-bred revelers of Galilee, that the 
 drunken king swore to give her aught she asked, to ' the half of his kingdom.' 
 The courtly throng were all ear for her request. One thought that she would 
 
THE FrnsT nAPrrsr MARTrn. 46 
 
 ask for gems to furtlicr iulurii her luiiidsoiue person, another knew tliat she 
 would demand the finest estate in tlie reahn, and a third was sure that she wouhl 
 covet a marriage dower worthy of a princess. Delight intoxicated her, and she 
 rushed to her mother's chamber for instructions. The royal dancer returned with 
 the irony of fate upon her pale lips. Guilty plot and vengeful blood-thirst threw 
 tragedy into the feast; the delicate girl craved the Jiead of John tlic liiiptist on 
 
 a dish! But she proved her true Ilerudian M 1, when she hetraycd haste to 
 
 stain the escutcheon of her forefathers witli a new blot, l>y tlie iin])erative behest 
 that the boon should be delivered then and there. ' I will, tliat immediately thou 
 give nie on a plate, the head of John ! ' She would carry the ghastly gift to 
 her mother in her own hands, lest the head of a slave be palmed off upon her for 
 John's, and so, her maternal soul should shudder and faint for the shedding of 
 innocent blootl. 
 
 The thought that John's pulse .should cease to beat on the day that his own 
 caught the throb of life from the heart of his mother, sobered the drunken sovereign 
 and brought him to his senses. But for his oath's sake he ended the struggle in his 
 own breast, consented to the horrible demand ; the executioner was commissioned. A 
 shrill cry made the dismal dungeon ring, and the gory head of the great preacher 
 lay gasping in the hall of the festal carouse, silenced forever. The sacred pen has 
 left a veil over John's last feeling, his last word, his last act. Was he excited or 
 serene? Did he ]iray for his murderers or depart in silence? Only this we know, 
 the sword left his trunk bleeding in the prison, and sent his head to the feast. 
 The celestial dreamer would have written : ' I saw a chariot and a couple of horses 
 waiting for Faithful ; who, as soon as his adversaries had dispatched him, was taken 
 up into it, and straightway was carried up through the clouds, with soi;nd of trumpet, 
 the nearest way to the Celestial Gate.' Whether the viper uncoiled and stung 
 the bosom of the murderess we have no record. Tradition says, that when the 
 head of the martyr was brought to her and its glazed eyes pierced her, she ti-ans- 
 fixed the tongue with a bodkin in revenge for its rebukes. 
 
 Her shameful deeds, and those of her husband, drove them into obscurity and 
 exile. Not, however, is the veil of revelation entirely drawn over Herod at this 
 point, for Mark tells us, that in beheading John he slew his own peace. When the 
 news reached him that Jesus was working every sort of good and benevolent work 
 amongst the people, the specter of the murdered man stalked through his con- 
 science, and he exclaimed : ' John, whom I beheaded, is risen from the dead.' Go 
 where he would, or do what he might, in slumber or revelry, the stain of the Bap- 
 tist's blood would not out, and the startling eye-balls of his image haunted him ; 
 those eyes through which holy love had gleamed, and heaven's fire had shot. All 
 that was sensitive in him had long been seared as with a hot iron, yet twinges of 
 pain crept through the festering canker in every apjwrition of this heartless tragedy. 
 This son of him who restored the Temjile to beauty and strength, found the sanct 
 
46 A II AUNT En SOiri. 
 
 iiai-y of his own soul in ruins, and heard every-where the echoes of a still sniali 
 voice, mucking the criminal who had broken its pillars and jailed uj) its ruins. His 
 spirit was in mutiny with itself ; it wandered in chill, and damp, and dark places, 
 where the shriek of nnirdt'r made his ears tingle at every turn. His sire had heard 
 the slirill scream nf tlie l)alics in Bethlehem, and thirsted for the blood of the re- 
 dccuiini;- Infant, wlieii Kaehel aroused from her slumbers in her sepulcher, groaned 
 and wept, and refused to Ije comforted, because the unrelenting butcher soaked the 
 turf above her in the gore of her offspring. Nor did she resume her sleeii of death 
 till the echo of their piercing cry died away in her tomb, and instead thereof, her cold 
 ear caught the songs of her little ones, who had soared from Bethlehem to the skies, 
 singing hosannas to the new-born King; a chant from the first infant martyrs to the 
 child born and the Son give?;. Then was she quiet; for Jehovah soothed her to rest, 
 saying : ' Kcfraiii tli\- \(iicc fi'oiii weeping, and thine eyes from tears : for thy work 
 shall be rewarded, and thy children shall come again from the land of the enemy.' 
 All ! lint there was no such soothing for godless Antipas. The blighted monarch 
 saw nothing but the open door in the world of spirits, through which the headless 
 Baptist had come back to turment him before his time. 
 
 This was the sole reward for his heartlessness, his indulgence of a woman more 
 abandoned than himself. His caprice had made him a slave to his paramour's rage, 
 and left him as helpless in her hands as the head of the Baptist on the cruel 
 trencher. ITerod's folly had entrapped him so completely, that while his conscience 
 stickled in mock honor to break a rash and forceless oath, he could deliberately per- 
 petrate the blackest crime known to mortals. His example of false shame is the 
 most contemptible in history. Bather than brook the implication that he really was 
 capable of a moral scruple, he went the full length of crime. What a choice ; 
 rather than allow a set of drunken men to shoot the lip at an empty, broken word, 
 he would carry the blood of holy innocence in his skirts through life. Did a min- 
 ister of his court ever look in his face again, without reading his specti-al fear of the 
 slain prophet? Clearly enough, after this, the ministry of Jesus himself was to 
 him the 'savor of death unto death.' His heavenly words and Godlike acts were 
 never reported, but Herod saw the dead man clothe himself afresh in all the sancti- 
 ties of his being ; he was ' John risen from the dead ! ' How could the tormented 
 monarch know any interpreter of benevolence but the contortions of a trunkless 
 head? 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHRIST'S WITNESS TO THE BAPTIST. 
 
 WHEN Jdlm knew tluit liis departiire was at IkukI. lie loviii-lv sent two ofliis 
 disfiples to ask whether Je.sus were tlie Mes^iali, or should they look ioi' 
 another. This act touched the heart of Jesus tenderly. John was not angry with 
 Herod for his imprisonment, nor did he distrust his own mission or that of Christ ; 
 but for the sake of his disciples he sent them, that liis own testimony might be 
 confirmed, that their convictions might be established, and that now tliey might 
 cling to Jesus only. Our Lord re-assured them by an appeal to their sense of sight 
 and hearing. ' Go tell John the things that ye see, — the Ijlind, tlie lame, tlic deaf 
 are restored, and the dead are raised. Tell him the things that you hear, to the 
 poor the glad tidings are preached.' If he cannot believe the first he must accept 
 this last evidence, for no teacher but one from heaven would begin with the poor. 
 This testimony confirmed their faith, aiid their Master's witness. "When they were 
 gone, Jesus said to the multitude : ' What went ye out into the wilderness to see ? 
 A reed shaken with the wind ? ' He wished them to know, that the rough proj^het 
 who dwelt amongst savage beasts, did not quail now that he was in the grasp of the 
 tyrant. Though confined within a dungeon of solid masonry, he was no more like 
 a lithe reed, tossed by every gust, than when he thundered against the sins of the 
 nation. This errand of inquiry, so far from indicating that John quailed, confirmed 
 his integrity, and showed him to be the same self-conscious athlete as ever, just as 
 resolute and firm. ' AVent ye out to see a man clothed in soft raiment? They that 
 wear soft clothing aie in king's houses.' John was decreasing, but Jesus testified 
 that he was no self-indulgent, easy-going preacher at the coui't of (talilee, seeking 
 luxury, and fiiwning to pomp, because he was without that moral fiber, which men 
 call steel. No, this son of the hoary desert was still hardy. Delicate living and 
 gorgeous clothing were in the palace of Antipas, while the fortress of Machaerus 
 was happy in the old austerities. Then Jesus gave his cliina.x : 'Went ye out to see 
 a prophet ? Yea, and more than a prophet. Verily I say to you. Among those 
 born of woman there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist. But he who is 
 least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.' 
 
 A greater than all the prophets is not easily terrified, and Jesus pronoimced 
 John greater. No one prophet had prophesied concerning another ; but other 
 prophets had foretold John, as ' the messenger who should prepare the way of the 
 Lord.' His cliai'acter and office had both been predicted. Nay, he had foretold the 
 
48 cniiTST's EULoarrM ox .loiix 
 
 iflurj of Clirist, — li:id seen liiiii in Lis lioiuity, — IkhI lived contemporary witli liim, — 
 was liis blood -relative, — and liad iiiiliictcd iiiin into his Messianic office. Did Jesus 
 exaggerate when he pronounced .idhn i^i-eater than all those born of woman, and 
 more than a prophet ? Is this the panegyric of an nngnarded enthusiast ? Need 
 we say tliat Jesus weighed his words ; and enstaniped John's character forever in 
 sentences of end)nin>'.ed truth '. He inade the Baptist a very gem of divine reality, 
 sent from his Katlier's crown-jewel r.>um. Jehovah had hlled him with light in the 
 mine, and Herod was Ijringing it out in the cutting. 
 
 How reverentially the Evangelist tells us, that when John looked no longer 
 through his prison bars, ' His disciples came, took up his corpse, and laid it in a 
 tomb ;' but lie adds significantly, that tliey ' went and told Jesus.' After their 
 master's body was buried, they found no grave for their griefs but in the warm 
 heart of his master ; and from that moment they transferred their discipleship to his 
 ranks. Then Jesus not only pronounced this holy eulogy : ' He has borne witness 
 to the truth, he was a burning and a shining light ;' but he prophesied that posterity 
 .should do him justice, 'wisdom must be justified on the part of her children.' 
 Truly, John's character and claims have been justified in his posterity, as history 
 has defended those of no other man. Yet says Jesus : ' He that is least in the king- 
 dom of heaven is greater than he.' These words cannot have reference to John's 
 moral and spiritual character ; for none of our Lord's disciples have outstripped 
 him in spirituality 'who was filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his birth.' 
 Clearly, Jesus speaks of his official position, as John's prophetic character is the 
 only point of which he is treating. As crying 'prophets' the lowliest fishermen 
 amongst the disciples formed a great contrast with John. The Bajjtist's own fol- 
 lowers, Andrew and John the Evangelist, outstripped their old master in all his 
 proclaiming privileges. He preached a Saviour who had come to do his -work, they 
 preached him crucified, buried, and risen from the dead. Filled as he was with the 
 Spirit, he wrought no mighty works ; but the fishermen did the same works that 
 were done by their Master. Stirring as was John's ministry, it was shut up to the 
 narrow home of the Jews, while the Apostles were sent to the ends of the earth. 
 In these respects the least of them was greater than he. 
 
 Jesus enlarged his witness to John, at this point, by settling the mooted ques- 
 tion of his relation to Elijah : ' If ye are willing to receive it, he is the Elijah that 
 should come.' Some think that John's imprisonment made him sad and impatient, 
 and so, that he desired Jesus to come and liberate him by miracle. If this be cor- 
 rect, then the true magnaninuty of Christ is seen in rising above John's waning 
 popularity in the nation, to make his dungeon an eternal Teinple of Fame. Like 
 as the star of Bethlehem hung a witness to himself over his stable-cradle, so he 
 hung this lamp over gloomy Machaerus in the darkest hour of John's life : ' This is 
 the Elijah that was to come ! ' Gabriel had said that John shoxild come, ' In the 
 spirit and power of Elijah.' The nation supposed, that when Messiah came the 
 
FA. U All HAS COME. 49 
 
 |nu])lirt tif Cartnel wuiild (Icscfiiil in tlic awful niaiiiicr of his ascent. Uiit tliu 
 luuMiis hail iKir rc-iiiii.'iii<l, imr tliu wiiirlwind rei^atlicred, nor the chariots flashed 
 down alila/.i', to tiiuoiui;ical .I('ri<'h(). Nu retinne of angels had brought back the 
 rcvurend ]iru))la't, to ti'll with bated breath that he could not remain in mansions 
 above, whik' his brethren were crushed to the earth. They expected to sec him 
 wrap his old mantle about him once more, and with a double portion of his own 
 roval spiiit. jiroclaim tlie coming Lord God of Elijah. Here, they were sadly mis- 
 taken ; (Tod's true Elijah was in prison, not in Paradise. 
 
 John was not the venerable seer of lloreb, but was like him in spirit and 
 power and character. He is named Elijah for the same reason that Jesus is called 
 ' David," not to point out that monarch personally, but to declare his kingship. 
 Tliei'e was a unity of purpose between Elijah and John, betokening the same com- 
 mission in both. Each bent his energies to the same sacred work of reformation. 
 IJoth walked \vith God in the desert, in abstinence and solitude, bound the same 
 rough garment around their sturdy frames, and suddenly broke on the nation asleep 
 in its sins, when its crimes were crying aloud for vengeance. They both reproved 
 the incorrigible, rebuked kings, and warned the land of coming wrath. They 
 silenced religious wranglings, tore men's delusive sophistries to shreds, and de- 
 manded new holiness of heart and life. Yet, Jesus pronoxmced John : ' More than 
 a prophet,' among all that had been born. The Baptist was greater than Elijah. 
 Elijah fled from persecution, John met it face to face. Jezebel terrified Elijali, and 
 hiding in the desert under a clump of broom-sedge, he prayed God to take his life, 
 .lolm bearded power in a palace, and quailed not before brutal Ilerodias, though the 
 (pieen demanded his head. And John was greater than Elijah in that he went to 
 heaven, a martyr's wreath upon his brow flecked with his own blood, while Elijah 
 rose to the skies in a chariot of ease. 
 
 Our Lord's witness to John was weighty in words, but if possible, his deeds 
 were weightier still. He ratified John's baptism as divine, by submitting to it himself 
 and never seeking any other; then, he adopted it as a part of the Gospel system, 
 unaltered and \inalterable with his consent, to the end of time. The Evangelist tells 
 us the mind of Jesus in this matter when he says: 'There was a nian sent from 
 (iod whose name was John. The same came for witness, to bear witness of the 
 light, that through him all might believe.' John says that God, ' Sent me to bap- 
 tize, in water.' So marked was his authority from the Fatiier to do this, that an 
 inspired Evangelist found it needful to disavow that he was 'The Light' himself, 
 lest men should be confused as to which of them was the Christ. Because John 
 was so directly from God, Jesus not only took his own baptism from his hands, but 
 received John's disciples into his own Apostleship, without administering any other 
 baptism to them.' The identity and validity of thi'ir lia|)tism ln' put .side by side 
 with his own, not only marking it as from heaven, but pi-ononncing it, 'The Coun- 
 sel of (iod.' lie charges i;uilt uiion the Pharisees and lawyers in rejeetinif that 
 
so nnspEj, n APT ISM cnnisrrAN. 
 
 counsel, by refusing baptism at JdIim's bands.- Tlie very purpose for wbich tbe 
 Baptist was sent into the world was, 'That tlimuyh bini all might believe' on 
 CliristJ Paul declares that John said to the people, 'That they should believe 
 on Jesus." In person, Jesus then stood amongst them; in office, he was 'to come 
 after him,' and accept his work. The phrase 'to come' cannot relate to Christ's 
 bii'tli, for he had already baptized him as a man of thirty, but must relate to his 
 future Messianic reign. John lived, preached and ba|)tized after Christ had 
 entered on his Messianic work, just as much as any of Christ's Apostles did. The 
 Baptist preached repentance in the presence of Jesus, and l)aptized converts to him 
 for about two years after he had baptized him; for his martyrdom took place but a 
 few months before Ciirist's crucifixion. John saw his glory, noted his miracles, 
 ' rejoiced in his light,' proclaimed the atonement that he was about to make as God's 
 ' Lamb,' and demanded that all penitents should ' believe on him ' who then stood 
 amongst them. Saving that Gospel ministers now preach Christ's redeeming acts 
 as finished, John preached all that we now preach or can preach, the agency of the 
 Holy Spirit in the Gospel Church included. 
 
 With these facts on the very face of the four gospels, the question whether 
 John's baptism were Christian or not, is retluced to a disjnite about words, wliich 
 only easts discredit upon Christ's own baptism, as if it had no binding force upon 
 his own churches. Those who reject Christ's puisonal baptism and that of his 
 Apostles by John, as wanting in some vital Christian element, do so because it was 
 administered before Pentecost. Of course, this not only implies that Christ's bap- 
 tism and theirs were defective, but that all the baptisms administered by the Apostles 
 before Pentecost were defective, as Christian baptisms ! What was the inexplicable 
 mishap in these baptisms, a deficiency which Christ himself did neither detect 
 nor rectify ? The Evangelist says, That Jesus ' made,' or discipled the converts 
 whom his disciples baptized."* Also he says, That they were baptized in Christ's 
 presence: 'He tarried with them and l)aptized.'^ Then what had Pentecost to do 
 anyhow with the ratification of the baptisms which he had authorized, as Christian? 
 Under credentials from God, the baptism practiced by John and Jesus was identical 
 at any rate. But neither the Father, the Son, nor the Spirit, added one injunction 
 on baptism after Pentecost. Christ administered both baptism and the Supper 
 before his death, and his Apostles practiced baptism under his own eye. Was this 
 a distinct institute from that which his Father had ordained for John ? and from 
 that which followed Pentecost too ? In that ease, we have three sorts of baptism in 
 the New Testament, one for John, one for Jesus and his Apostles, and still another 
 for all the ages after Pentecost! To say that either of these acts were not Christian 
 in the fullest sense of the word, is to throw endless perjjlexity about the right obe- 
 dience of the New Testament converts. 
 
 Clearly, there was no vital difference between the manner, the obligation, the 
 object, or the value of baptism, before Pentecost and after. The difference be- 
 
JOHN'S DISPENSATIOy CHRIS T\S. SI 
 
 tween the first and later baptisms by Christ's Apostles related only to their enlarged 
 field. At first Christ sent tlieni to ' the lost sheep of Israel,' but his post-resurrec- 
 tion commission enlarged their sphei-e to ' all nations.' Either his Apostles baptized 
 none before his resurrection ; which canimt he, for, "They baptized more disciples 
 than John ; ' or they baptized without his autiiority at that time ; or else he gave 
 tiiem two separate commissions to ba[)tize, one liefun' his ri'.-urrectinu ami une 
 after, and so their first baptisms were defective as (•(unpared with their last. If 
 any of their first baptisms were defective, wliidi '. and in wliat respect? The post- 
 resurrection commission of Jesus gave tiieni im iiulicatidu that tlie rite was new, 
 nor that it was a re-establishment of the old rite. Both its wording and spirit 
 imply that it was the simple continuance of a rite with which they were familiar, 
 already existing by divine appointment, and now, by the same appointment made 
 outreaching to 'all the world.' He then gave permanent type to the formula, 
 adding the name of the Spirit to his own and to that of the Father, for very obvious 
 I'easons. On the authority of tlie Father, the Christian age and institutions began 
 with the baptism of the Son, its first and primary design being to manifest him to 
 the world. It was adopted and sanctioned by the Son all through his ministry, and 
 enforced on others through his Apostles. The Holy Spirit had ratified it by his 
 descent upon the Son in his baptism, and when the Spirit should fill Christ's place 
 on earth after his ascension, it was but meet that it should thencefortli be admin- 
 istered in the Triune Name. 
 
 Can absurdity be more al)surd than that which supposes John to have stood in 
 a nondescript dispensation of his own wiien he baptized Jesus ; while Jesus, when 
 lie received his baptism, stood in still another dispensation. John's ministry had 
 nothing in conunon with the economy of Moses, for Jesus himself says that the 
 'Law was until John,' from which time the 'good news of the kingdom is 
 preached, and every man presses into it ; ' the same kingdom tliat both John and 
 Jesus preached. And what other kingdom is preached to-day ? Christ was never 
 baptized in water but once; and will men say that his baptism was not in the 
 Christian dispensation, simply because he was baptized before he ascended to 
 heaven ? For the same reason they may read the Lord's Supper out of tiie Chris- 
 tian dispensation, for ' the Spirit had not come ' on the night of its first celebration. 
 John and Jesus both preached the same ' kingdom of heaven ' at the same time, 
 and to the same people, either in the Christian age or out of it, certainly ; so that if 
 John's preaching and baptism were neither Mosaic nor Christian, neither could 
 those of Jesus be; .as authoi'ized by God to introduce the Gospel, they stand or fall 
 together. 
 
 The cases of Apollos and the twelve Ephesians are directly in point here, 
 although out of their chronological onli r. ApdUos (Acts xviii, 2-1-28) ' knew only 
 the baptism of John;' meaning that he liad been baptized by John or one of his 
 followers. The narrative shows that Apollos had found that repentance, faith in 
 
S2 APOLLOS AND Kl'lIKSIANS. 
 
 Christ, and personal holiness iinder John's teaching, which led him to speak and 
 teach 'correctly the things concerning Jesus.' On these he had received baptism, 
 as ap]K';n-s, without knowing every thing concerning Christ historically, for Priscilla 
 and A(|uila 'taught iiim the way of the Lord more j^erfectly.' Among other 
 tilings, however, they did not teach him to repudiate his baptism fi'om John, on the 
 ground tliat tlicrt' wi're two sorts of baptism and two sorts of baptizers, and so, 
 tliat iiis baptism \\-(,uld not admit iiim into a i)ost-Pentecost Gosjjel Church, for 
 before lie .-ould lie ivccivcd there, he must seek a new liaptism. They simply gave 
 him fuller light 'on tlie way of the Lord,' as the Apostles had received new light 
 from time to time, and as do all devout souls. 
 
 Dr. llrown, Professor of Theology at Aberdeen, treats this case happily, tiius : 
 
 ' He comes to Ephesus already instructed in the way of the Lord, fervent in 
 the spirit, and mighty in the Scriptures, though yet only on the Joannean plat- 
 form ; and what Priscilla and Aquila did for him seems to have been simply to 
 impart to him those facts of the new economy, with which he was unacquainted. 
 And just as those disciples who passed from the ranks of the Baptist to those of 
 Christ needed and received no new baptism, so tliis already distinguislied Christian 
 teacher, having merely received a riper view of those great evangelical truths wjiich 
 he already believed and taught, neither needed nor received rebaptization.' 
 
 On his faith and baptism he passed from John's discipleship into the Apo^olic 
 Churcli at Ephesus, was commended to them as a (Christian teacher, and became a 
 champion of the faith, 'watering ' where Paul ' jdaiitcd.' Instead of the Church 
 setting aside his baptism from John as defective, in any I'espect, it was adopted as 
 thoroughly satisfactory in every respect, and that without <piestion. Here we tind 
 a full justification for the strong words of Calvin, when he says: 
 
 ' It is very certain that the ministry of Jolm was precisely the same as that 
 which was afterward committed to the Apostles. For their baptism was not dif- 
 ferent, though it was administered by different hands; but the sameness of their 
 doctrine shows their baptism to have been the same. John and the Apostles agreed 
 in the same doctrine. Both baptized to repentance, both to remission of sins; both 
 baptized in the name of Christ, from whom repentance and remission of sins 
 proceed. John said of Christ : " Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the 
 sin of the woi-ld ;" thus acknowledging and declaring him to be the sacrifice accept- 
 able to the Father, the procurer of righteousness, and the author of salvation. 
 What could the Apostles add to this confession ? AVherefore, let no one be 
 disturbed by the attempts of the ancient writers to distinguish and separate one 
 baptism from the other ; for their authority ought not to have weight enough to 
 shake our confidence in the Scripture. . . . But, if any difference be sought for in 
 the Word of God, the only difference that will be found is, that John baptized in 
 the name of him who was to come, the Apostles in the name of him who had 
 already manifested himself.' 
 
 Touching the case of the twelve believers whom Paul found at Ephesus (Acts 
 xix, 1-7), we need to bring great candor and docility to its examination ; for its 
 interpretation is more difficult, and it has been the subject of much controversy. 
 High sacramentarians have always disparaged John's baptism, in order to exalt their 
 
THE TWELVE EPIfESTAXS. S3 
 
 own as tlio only Christian -sacranRMit.' With this in view, tlic Council of Trent 
 decreed: ' If any one shall say that the liaptism of .lohii had the same efficacy as 
 the baptism of Christ, let hiui be anathema.''' On the other hand, Protestants 
 generally, at the Reformation, held that they were essentially the same, for the 
 Apostle does not raise the question concerning the baptism of these 'twelve' with 
 reference to their admission into Christianity ; like Apollos, they were Christians 
 already. Paul addresses them as having 'believed,' and Luke calls them 'dis- 
 ciples ; ' nor were they seeking fellowship with Christians when the Apostle met 
 them ; they were already numbered amongst Christians. Liddon says: ' They must 
 have acknowledged a certain relation to Jesus Christ as their Master, or the name 
 "disciple" would not have been given them. .lesus was in some sense their 
 Master; they were his disciples.' Paul's question related to their reception of the 
 miraculous gifts of the Spirit when they exercised faith on Christ, and they limited 
 their answer accordingly : ' We did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit 
 was.' Not that they were ignorant of the Spirit's existence. This cannot be the 
 meaning, since the personality and office of the Holy Spirit, in connection with 
 Christ, formed an essential subject of the Baptist's teachings. Literally : ' We did 
 not even hear whether the Holy Spirit was' [given], that is, at the time of their 
 baptism. Calvin says : 
 
 'It is not probable that Jews, though they had never been l)aptlzed at all, 
 would have been destitute of all knowledge of the Holy Spirit, who is celebrated in 
 so many testimonies of Scripture. ... I grant that the bajitisni they had received 
 was the true baptism of John, and the very same with the baptism of Christ, but I 
 deny that they were baptized again. ... If ignorance vitiate a first baptism, so 
 that it requires to be corrected by a second, the first persons who ought to have 
 been rebaptized were the Apostles themselves, who, for three years after their bap- 
 tism, had scarcely any knowledge of the least particle of pure doctrine ; and among 
 us, what views would be sufficient for the repetition of ablutions as numerous as the 
 errors which are daily corrected in us by the mercy of the Lord.' ' 
 
 This great divine presses his point more strongly still in his Commentary on 
 Acts xix : 
 
 'Paul doth not speak in this place of the Spirit of regeneration, l)ut of 
 the special gifts which God gave to others at the beginning of the Gospel. . . . 
 Because the men of old had conceived an opinion that the baptism of John and of 
 Christ were diverse, it was no inconvenient thing for them to be baptized again, 
 who were only prepared with the baptism of John. But that diversity was falsely 
 and wickedly believed, it appeareth by this, in that it was a pledge and token of 
 the same adoption, and of the same newness of life which we have at this day in 
 our baptism, and therefore we do not read that Christ did baptize those again who 
 came from John unto him. Moreover, Christ received baptism in his own flesh, 
 that he might couple himself with ns, by that visible sign (Matt, iii, 15). But if 
 that feigned diversity be admitted, this singular benefit shall fall away and perish, 
 that baptism is common to the Son of God and to us, or that we have all one bap- 
 tism with him. But this opinion needetli !io long confutation ; because to the end 
 they may parade that these two baptisms be diverse, they must needs show first 
 wherein the one dilleretli from the other; but the most excellent likelihood answer- 
 
54 MATTHIAS CHOSEN. 
 
 etli to brith parts, and also the agreement and conforniity of tlie parts, wliich 
 causeth ns to confess tliat it is all one baptism. . . . Now the <pu'>tioii i-, whether 
 it were lawful to repeat the same, and furious men in this our \yj:y tni-tin^ to this 
 testimony, went about to bring in baptizing again. I deny that thi: bajitisni of 
 water was repeated, because the words of Luke import no such thing, save only that 
 they were baptized with the Spirit. . . . And whereas it followeth immediately 
 that when he had laid his hands upon them, the Spirit came, I take it to be added 
 by way of interpretation.' 
 
 Then, as in all other cases where baptism in the Spirit occurred, ' they spoke 
 with tongues,' a ' sign ' which few believers received ; it does not appear that even 
 Apollos possessed this distinction. The same free Spirit which had converted and 
 kept them now bestowed miraculous gifts upon them. 
 
 In this transaction Paul did not raise the question of the validity of John's 
 baptism ; why should he, more than with his fellow- Apostles themselves ? With 
 him the vital point covered only the endowment of the Ephesian believers with 
 miraculous gifts. The question of conversion to Christ is not raised in the narra- 
 tive ; but as these gifts sometimes preceded baptism and sometimes followed it, 
 Paul simply asked whether or not they received them when they ' believed.' Dr. 
 Bi'own sums up the cases of Apollos and these twelve thus : ' There is no evidence 
 to show that our Lord caused those disciples of John, who came over to him, to be 
 rebaptized ; and from John iv, 1, 2, we naturally conclude that they were not. 
 Indeed, had those who first followed Jesus from among the Baptist's disciples re- 
 quired to be rebaptized, the Saviour must have performed the ceremony himself, and 
 such a thing could not fail to be recorded ; whereas the reverse is intimated in the 
 passage just quoted.' Hence, it follows that these Ephesians needed not a new water 
 baptism any more than the twelve Apostles. And it is remarkable that in Peter's 
 statement of qualifications needed in the candidate who should fill the place of 
 Judas, was this, namely, that he should have corapanied with them from the time 
 of John's baptism to Christ's ascension. His intimacy with John and Jesus from 
 the ' beginning ' made him eligible. They then made prayer to Jesus the great 
 Heart-Knower to determine who it should be, and he appointed Matthias. But not 
 a word is said about his need of rebaptism either before or after Pentecost, in order 
 to a valid filling of the Apostleship with the eleven. Matthias, Apollos, and the 
 twelve at Ephesus, seem to have held much the same relation both to John and 
 Christ. It seems impossible to determine whether these ' twelve ' were rebaptized 
 or not. Calvin best expresses the writei''s idea, but such high Baptist authority as 
 Drs. Hackett and Hovey take the opposite view. If they were rebaptized, the reason 
 is not found in any defect in John's baptism as Christian, but in their personal want 
 of the full qualifications for receiving baptism. Dr. Hackett puts this view of the 
 case in these strong words: 'Their prompt reception of the truth would tend to 
 show that the defect in their formei' baptism i-elated not so much to their positive 
 error as to their ignorance in regard to the proper object of faith.' Such igno- 
 
JOHN rilK TYPICAL BAPTIST. 53 
 
 ranee, however, did not obtain in tlie cases of tlie Apostles clioseii by Christ, of 
 Matthias (Acts i, 22), nor of Apollos, who received baptism from the same source, 
 and were not rcbaptized, their examples showing that baptism before and after Pen- 
 tecost differs only as noon differs from morning. 
 
 In this sketch of John, harl)inger, preaelier, thcolot;i;in ;in(l martyr, next ti) bis 
 Master, we find the great typical Baptist of all ages. It is more than a blundei- to 
 place him on the banks of the Jordan, with his face toward Sinai and Egypt, as a 
 perfect pei-sonification of the Mosaic age. His face was turned toward Tabor, 
 Calvary, Olivet, and the New Jerusalem, as, next to his Master, the embodiment of 
 the New Testament. John and Jesus looked only forward, eye to eye. His min- 
 istry glided into that of Christ, as a mountain tarn soon loses itself in the deep sea. 
 Frederick Robertson, with his usual scope and beauty, says : 
 
 ' He left behind him no sect to which he had given his name, but his disciples 
 passed into the service of Christ, and were absorbed in the Christian Clnii-ch. 
 Words from John had made impressions, and men forgot in after years where the 
 impression first came from ; but the day of judgment will not forget. John laid 
 the foundations of a temple and others I)uilt upon it. He laid it in a struggle, in 
 martyrdom. It was covered up with the rough masonry below ground ; but when 
 we look round on the vast Christian Church, we are looking at the superstructure 
 of John's toil." " 
 
 That is narrow and pitiable cant which makes him the mere incarnation of his 
 age. "Was he such an embodiment of surface life ? The New Testament says that 
 he resisted his age, reformed his age, and overturned its old things that all things 
 might become new. Could the worst age of Judaism produce the holiest man in 
 the Gospels ? Yes, as much as the densest darkness can create a quenchless light. 
 The later Judaism produced scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, but John the Baptist 
 never. He was sent of God to his age, and gave it much, but borrowed nothing. 
 He interpreted it, and tried to save it, and it slaughtered bini in recompense. No 
 man in the Bible brought so many new truths from God, truths virgin to the soul 
 of man, and which still stir the best spirits on earth with their freshness. The sure 
 and certain sound which echoes through all lands to-day, as loudly as ever, was his 
 first trumpet-call. His personal piety opens to us his inner life. Tertullian thinks 
 that he brought in a new method of prayer, which led the Apostles to say : ' Lord, 
 teach us to pray, as also John taught his disciples.' Whence came that model 
 prayer: ' Our Father,' etc. Far from being the nondescript which narrow modern 
 interpretation makes him, he was the leader in the great moral upheaval which first 
 demanded personal loyalty to Christ. Pointing out salvation, not by hereditary in- 
 stitutions, or by birds and beasts, he demanded a radical revolution, by the estab- 
 lishment of a new kingdom : ' Not of birth, or of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
 nor of the will of man, but of God.' 
 
 The Baptist was not a book, but a voice ; not a functionary of the old age, noi 
 yet a representative of the Law and the Prophets. They represented themselves. 
 
56 'A nunmNff and siuNmn lamp: 
 
 As :i viiicc, he wns livini;-, .strnnir, clear ; ;ui<l 'Jesus ' was the ' Word " that lie spoke 
 with all liis iiiii^ht. S<. well did he preach Jesus, that his Lord's lips pronounced 
 luMi 'A Imrniii-- and shiniiii;- lamp.' words which he uttered of none other. So 
 huninously did he lUTacli Christ, that, like a lauijt, he threw lii;ht on liis theme. So 
 fervently did he pnach him that his nuuistry l.urnt with the ].unj;-ency of a flame. 
 ' KejK'Ut, ohey the living- King-,' he crit'd, and when (iod :;ave his hearers repent- 
 ance unto life, he immersed their lioilics in the Jordan. He focused sin as it 
 appears in the New Testament, in all its odiou.sness ; and in this respect, Jesus had 
 closer alHnity with him than with a)iy of his Apostles. And that emba.ssador of 
 Christ in our times, who has the most of Jolin's courage, love for Christ and zeal 
 in pushing the great truths whicli he preached, does the best service in his Master's 
 work. Such a man is a ' scribe, well instructed in the kingdom of God,' a true 
 antitype of Christ's greatest witness. 
 
 Like John, Baptists have found through long centuries, that when they have 
 dared to enforce the wliole truth as it is in Jesus, they have commonly sealed 
 their own death-warrants. The first Baptist of his race is not the only man of 
 that race whose fidelity has invoked murder in cold blood. More heads of that 
 household than his have gasped on a lordly dish, things of beauty for crowned 
 heads and delicate princesses to gloat their eyes upon. Standing at the head of the 
 noble army of Baptist martyr.s, his tragic fidelity to God has been the standing sign 
 of their own end. No story in history is so sad as his, and none so paints criminal 
 splendor and sacred bravery in their true colors. John sets fortli the sterling mis- 
 sion of true Baptists in sterling ideal. He was Jehovah's royal minister and man's 
 hated culprit. Needed not the world a ' kind of first-fruits ' in God's messengers 
 for its ferocity, and who could meet the need so well as John? In ante-Gospel 
 times the Lord enrolled a long array of brilliant names in his book of remembrance, 
 and these wei'e his jewels. But in the Lamb's book of life, John heads his list of 
 martyr names. Did the Lamb himself refer to this record, and coujile these names 
 with his own slaughter, when he said of John : ' They knew him not, but did to 
 him whatever they would. So also is the Son of Man about to suffer.' John's sun 
 has long since set in Palestine, but his glory lays upon the world from its Dan to its 
 Beersheba. The people could not forget him when his frame moldered under the 
 turf, Jesus could not forget him, his Apostles could not forget him ; he lived in 
 their thoughts, a palpable entity. Jesus asked the twelve : ' Whom do men say that 
 I am ? ' They answered : ' John the Baptist.' No apostle of Christ ever met with a 
 eulogy like that. So Christlike was he as to be taken for the Son of God himself, 
 by the very people who knew them lioth. And all this was when the God-man 
 addressed them daily, and the heailless body of the Baptist rested in the soil which 
 they trod. ' Such honor have not all his saints.' 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE KING IN ZION.— LAWS OF THE NEW KINGDOM. 
 
 GENEVA, like Jernsiilom, is eiiciirluil with mountains, Alp rising on Alp. 
 There is the stretch of the nii,<rhty Jura, and towering above all, 
 solemn Mont Blanc. lie looks down from azure heights in a purity of awe 
 which breathes the spirit of eternity on all below. Yet his summits and battle- 
 ments of alabaster are so dwarfed by distance, that several princes of his court are 
 easily mistaken for the king himself. Still the practiced eye cannot be misled. 
 When once the sun kisses his brow and steals down his visage, a pink tint warms 
 him into the radiance of life ; then, like an archangel asleep, a smile plays on his 
 face, and each courtier around his chair of state catches the glow of his beatitude. 
 So, when we look back to the blue sky on which the Rock of Ages outlined him- 
 self, encompassed with Evangelists and Apostles, we may readily rob Jesus of his 
 majesty and put the Baptist, or Peter, or Paul on the monarch's throne. But when 
 the sunlight of God's glory floods the Sacred Head, at once the man of Tabor looms 
 up, the Sovereign of the group. Then, once more, Joseph's ' eleven ' sheaves and 
 ' thirteen ' celestial orbs arise and bow to him who is King of kings. 
 
 The Baptist put the diadem on tlie rightful brow, for when the people saw 
 Christ's glory they said : ' All things that John spake of this man were true.' His 
 career glided into the ])ublic ministry of Jesus, not making the one the fortuitous 
 after-execution of the other, but as a part of one grand design — a far-sighted method 
 of God's eternal love, for a strange unity covers their history. Their ministries are 
 two voices attuned to one strain, and their key-note is ' the kingdom of God.' Jesus 
 took up the theme where John dropped it, and in a more joyful key. He gave the 
 exact burden of John to his Apostles in their Judean mission : ' As ye go preach, 
 saying. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Here is a progressive and Godlike 
 unfolding of the same doctrine, the good news of Christ's reign upon the earth. 
 Kingship here is not a celestial institution, but a moral sovereignty over all earthly 
 institutions, the establishment of a spiritual empire on the earth. Bengel forcibly 
 groups the events from Christ's Baptism to his Ascension, in his treatment of the 
 favorite word Gospel in Mark : ' The heglnnlng of the Gospel is in the Baptist, the 
 Gospel in the whole book,' to the Great Commission. The Apostles passed the 
 mutilated body of John stretclied on the threshold of Christianity, when sent on 
 their errand of struggle and victory ; and they wei-e inspired to endurance by the 
 fall of the strong, pure, young martyr. Jesus lifted up the standard of Jehovah 
 
58 A NEW REALM. 
 
 wliuii it fell from John's liands, and it has iievcr fallen since. lie took up the very 
 words of .loliii and i,''ave them eternal meaning, ])y becoming his own herald at the 
 head of the new kingdom. The unity of the New Testament in all its truths and 
 principles sliows but one mind ; its forecasting and fulhiess are all of a piece. 
 Hence, wliat John preached and practiced has never been superseded, or even sus- 
 pended, to this day. Because it included the substance of Christian truth, it is still 
 moving on in its progressive completeness. There was no rent in John's garment, 
 and our Lord put into it no new piece of cloth, but only enlarged the same divine 
 web. 
 
 Pilate asked Jesus: 'Art thou a king then?' and he honestly told the jiolitic 
 Roman that he was the King of the Truth. ' Thou sayest it because I am a King. 
 To this end I came into the world, that I may ])ear witness to the truth.' Yet he 
 disavowed that his kingdom was of this world : ' If my kingdom wei-e of this world 
 then would my servants iight. But my kingdom is not of this world.' His coun- 
 trymen looked for a king in pomp and circumstance, who should come literally in 
 the clouds of heaven. But the kingship of Jesus was to sway its power over the 
 souls of men. Look at his answer to the political question, on the lawfulness of 
 paying the poll-tax to the Romans. He took the coin in which it was paid, bearing 
 the image and inscription of Csesar Augustus, in such a year, after the conquest of 
 Judea. This proving their subjection, he said : ' Give CiEsar that which belongs to 
 him, and render unto God that which is his.' He made a part of their duty lie in 
 loyalty to their protecting government, and having done this, they must obey God 
 in all things. Here he laid down the great law of his own kingdom, duty to God 
 above all human policy, and a sacred regard for all wholesome human law. 
 
 He would form a community for other purposes than those of national exist- 
 ence, but would not interfere with human governments. He would select its sub- 
 jects, make its officers, enact and enforce its laws, and go\-ern it uader the will of 
 God. With the founding of such an empire in view, he needed no assistance from 
 human sources, as other men. His servants would neither fight for supremacy nor 
 ask political Powers to fight for them. His kingdom should conquer by choice and 
 not by force — it should be taken from every stock and race, and held together by 
 love. It should grant no special privileges to any class, or blood, or nation ; but, on 
 the contrary, races hostile to each other, speaking different tongues and following 
 different interests, should be compacted into a harmonious whole. No man's courage 
 had dared to take principles as deep and broad as human nature itself, for the 
 corner-stone of human conduct. Self-will, defiance, war and blood-ties had been 
 built upon, but disinterested love never. This was to take men out of one world 
 into another, while they remained in the same. It was to create in man a new 
 feeling, interest and pursuit, a new spirit, principle and end. Here sight was to 
 give place to faith, the visible to the unseen, the selfish to the benevolent, and the 
 circumstantial to the rightful. Citizens in his Commonwealth were to be elevated 
 
PIIYSrCAL FORCE HERE IMMORAL. S9 
 
 above the animal ; they were to move in a new moral imiverse, because they loved 
 with a pure heart fervently. They were to make each other strong and good, and 
 were to stimulate all about them to the bravery of blessing. The weak were to be 
 borne up, as the oak bears the ivy that it may become stronger ; and tlie stout were 
 to stand firmly alone with the stout, as the fir and elm stand alone, but keep com- 
 pany with each other. 
 
 Jesus distinctly renounced all temporal power. Legal coercion is powerless to 
 command the assent of a soul to his doctrines, or the obedience of a life to his laws. 
 lie was the King of souls, to reign over intellect, affection, conscience ; and his 
 conquests were to be moral, not physical. His throne must be set up in the willing 
 soul, for here is his palace. The question of tribute was intended to place him 
 between two fires. Either he must declare for Csesar against tlie turbulent Jews, 
 or against Cajsar, and so meet the charge of sedition. He refused to be made a 
 king, or to touch civil authority. In the modern sense of the word, there was no 
 Church or State in the Jewish Theocracy. They were one and the same institution, 
 and, therefore, there was no such alliance as we are acquainted with. It knew no 
 distinction between the religious and the political, for Jehovah was its only Deity 
 and Magistrate. Jesus prohibited all civil penalties in his Gospel kingdom, as at 
 variance with its first principles. No man can persecute another on religious ques- 
 tions from a sense of duty to Christ, but only on his own arrogant inclinations. 
 When Peter drew his sword in defense of his persecuted Master, Jesus deprecated 
 his act, and commanded him to put it back into its sheath. Duty to God cannot be 
 an offense against society ; therefore, to persecute men for the discharge of that 
 duty, uiuler the directions of moral conviction, is to violate the law of natural 
 morality. And, if under the guise of religion men violate secular authority, they 
 must be punished, not as religionists, but as abettors of civil crime. Offenses 
 against God which are not offenses against man cannot be noticed by a secular 
 tribunal, without trenching on those prerogatives of God which he has delegated to 
 no power on earth. Nor can the kingdom of Christ, by his authority, coerce any 
 temporal power, or interfere in its jurisdiction. The State is the natural channel 
 for reaching all ends contemplated by the State. The very idea of alliance between 
 the Church and the State implies their distinct character primarily, and their 
 native independence of each other. They may form a compact for each other's 
 moral sujiport, but Christ has proliibited the interchange of their original rights as 
 unlawful. Consent or dissent, as before the civil power, are not to be named nor 
 thought of, much less the establishment of religion, or even its toleration. The 
 power to tolerate is the essence of intolerance. It implies disapproval tempered 
 with charitable restraint, to punish independent thought and practice, as if these were 
 wrong in themselves ; and that then tolerance were an act of very gracious kindness. 
 But if independence be wrong, then not to punish it is to declare it no offense, and 
 to declare it right is' to recognize Christ as the only King in the Gospel kingdom. 
 
All this shuws that Jesus d 
 
 id what 
 
 ; no 1 
 
 jecting, namely, the fnuinliiii;- of ; 
 
 I kino-d 
 
 Olll ol 
 
 and not on the iiiatei-ini ; mi iiiwa 
 
 rd life. 
 
 and 
 
 to say, he gave man power over 1 
 
 limself. 
 
 so th 
 
 passions and jxiwers under the 1 
 
 aw of ; 
 
 L saiH. 
 
 not know that they were sons of 
 
 (iod. 
 
 ,.r th; 
 
 they know tliat they eouhl all he 
 
 kin-s ; 
 
 imoiii 
 
 lators he made not the letter of 
 
 the h 
 
 iw hi^ 
 
 person, which covered hoth its let 
 
 ter and 
 
 spiri 
 
 tive of Christ in character. He 
 
 loved ; 
 
 dl m 
 
 60 CHMlArTRn THE TKST OF rilUTsTIANTTY. 
 
 an"s originality had thought of pro- 
 character: on the mental and moral, 
 it on exterior organization. That is 
 t his self-control should hring all his 
 ified nuudiood. Until tin's, men did 
 : they were lirothers ; mncli less did 
 X men. Differing fn mi other legis- 
 staiidai'd of ohedienee, bnt iiis own 
 A Christian is to he a representa- 
 II and nations, and in jn-oportion as 
 they should become true copies iif himself, sliould they heconie nohler men. lie 
 laid his law of citizenship on the plane of selection. .Men of high character, judged 
 by this standard, were to be winnowed out from men of low character. lie would 
 organize them into communities, having made them worthy of the kingdom of God. 
 Then, under this new code, right character was to be created by new exactions 
 enforced upon the individual man. Truth should be aiijilied under their individual 
 search for truth, without regard to old levels. Ilis law was not traced by the finger 
 of a child on the saiiil of the sea, but was graven deep on the tablets of his own 
 inner life. Every element in his followers must be substance, as in himself, justice, 
 mercy, purity, self-sacrifice. They must be real men and not images; and the 
 higher their spiritual tone the nearer would they approach to the reality of God's 
 Son. He had come to unveil true character by revealing God to man, full-orbed. 
 He came to show the Father in the express likeness of his person, and to recover 
 man to his paternal government. 
 
 Also, he spoke with authority and certainty, because he found these profound 
 laws embodied in himself. The genuine pearl in his hand had been brought up 
 from the dejitlis of his own nature. The fruit was good because the tree was good. 
 Men read the one by the other. The iimer recesses of his soul, its secret motives 
 and genuine life, are photographed in his Sermon on the Mount. Ilis sphere of 
 government being the soul, he governs the outer life through its thinking and will- 
 ing, and through the truth which molds the motives and controls the entire exist- 
 ence. This method of ruling clothes his word with power. When he laid bare a 
 depth of life to which men were strangers, they found it impossible to resist the 
 hidden majesty with which he spoke. His plain forms of expression were the 
 more mysterious in their force, from the fact, that he used no means to captivate 
 men but the invitation, ' Come unto me,' words which spi'ang from the deei:)est 
 fountain of his tenderness. His subject-matter is truth from above; but he uses 
 human words to tell of heavenly things, and they sink into the soul. As the great 
 Master of thought and language, he brought Divine volitions from the hush of his 
 Father's guest-chamber, that he might enshrine them first in the temple of his own 
 manhood, and then in the life of his disciples. The signet-ring of God had set his 
 
CHRIST TUE MODEL. 61 
 
 seal to tlio fact tliat Jesus was true ; for lie cnihodied all that he required in otiier 
 men, and as their perfi'ct jiattei-n. deiiiaiided. that each man should seek a close con- 
 formity to himself. lie would recoustruct in each a iii'W humanity, and so, man by 
 man, the whole race should hecome new. This moral and spiritual renewal must 
 amount to a new creation. 
 
 Christ diiiei'ed from Moses, the great lawgiver, in that he penned no law. The 
 law of life was in himself. This makes all his exactions weighty and imperious 
 upon tlie citizens of the new kingdom. The King himself leads his subjects in the 
 thick of the contest, making himself the text-book of service, and liis infectious 
 leadership in danger, the word of connnand to the front. Character and deeds 
 form tlie body of laws for the new commonwealth ; for his life exposes all dark 
 snares — silences all lurking passions — quickens all health — adoi-ns all beauty — recon- 
 ciles all contradiction. To each faint disciple his character is a rock of strength ; 
 he is the Brother in adversity, the torch of truth, and the incarnation of nobility. 
 He is the ideal God, and yet, in his march, he draws men after him as in the foot- 
 steps of an ideal man. To be like him is to be a Christian. This is the profound 
 philosophy which led him to brush aside all theories of life, to live, which threw 
 him into the mid^t of moral chaos, in order to commit the new life, not to writing, 
 but t(( the law of actual guardianship. When other men asked, 'What is truth,' he 
 answered : ' [ am the Truth.' Any theory that lie might have written, even as the 
 King in Zion, could and would have been misrepresented. But when he made his 
 own character, example, and obedience the standard of his law for others, his 
 authority was simply beyond mistake, and living beyond doubt. The law of Moses 
 made no man perfect, because it gave no perfect nmdel of its teachings; but that 
 of Jesus did, because in the true God-philosophy he said : ' Learn of me.' 
 
 Yet, he did not destroy the old law, or even set it aside, as if it were a failure, 
 but he proved its success for its own purposes, by fulfilling its demands. Had men 
 chosen to keep it, it had brought them to God. But when Jesus kept it, he showed 
 it to be holy, and just, and good, and then gave himself to be tlie new law of con- 
 formity, and so was made the end of the law by bringing in his own joyful life. 
 By perfect obedience he could calmly, confidently, and jjerpetually say : ' Thus, and 
 thus it is written,' in a sense far beyond the ordinary ken. It is not a little remark- 
 able that he so often refers to the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, as illustrated 
 by his acts, his person and spirit, until the Written Word of the Old Testament is 
 enshrined in the Living Word of the New. The Jews honored the letter of their 
 holy books when they counted their words, and so invested them with sacredness. 
 But, how infinitely more he honored them, when he translated their spirit into 
 the oracle of his Living Self, to become the vital Epistle of Moses and David, 
 Isaiah and the Prophets. 
 
 Never was the Old Testament understood till the Lamb took the roll and broke 
 its seals. Since then, it is an o))en book which the wayfaring man may read while 
 
62 ins LIFE TlIK LAW. 
 
 he runs. His whole life was prewritten in the volume of the Book, and was then 
 tianscriliiMl into him so clearly, that his first biographer caught the picture perfectly, 
 an(| ma<le his Gospel literally the Gospel of fulfilled prophecy. He traces these 
 predictions in the virgin mother, the place and time of his birth, and in his name, 
 ' Immanuel.' He even listened to Rachel's sobs around the manger, when they 
 gave new anguish to the sad dirge of Jeremiah. And, when the Magi returned to 
 the East, they left a brighter dawn than had ever flushed on the Syrian sky, in the 
 vision of Israel. 
 
 What fullness dwells in the words : ' I came down from heaven not to do my 
 own will, but the will of him that sent me.' In this sense, as well as in a higher 
 sense, he lived out of himself in the Father, and the Father lived in him. The law 
 of Jehovah which had been revealed from the beginning in deathless principle and 
 written statute, he reproduced in flesh and blood, and made eternally binding in all 
 its integrity. His soul was radiant with its simple clearness and glowing warmth, 
 and it dominated the whole sweep of his legislation and teachings. Hence, his in- 
 flexible reverence for the mind of God, and his august loathing of the nullifying 
 traditions of man. He threw every type of men's antique dictation to the four 
 winds, with a deliberate contempt which brought rank and culture, assumption and 
 pride of lording to a dead stand-still, before the inexorable bar of him who says : 
 ' Thus it is written.' Quietly, he tore up by the roots that conceit of autocrats who 
 deem themselves the licensed law-mongers of humanity, with full power to hawk 
 their venal wares in the market-place against the enstamped commands of God, and 
 to push his Word aside. 
 
 Then, Jesus followed that holy veneration which never questioned one jot of 
 inspired truth, with a sacriiicial submission which would not gloss a line or 
 haggle with a principle thereof in disobedience. His all-pervading spirituality led 
 him with cheerfulness into death itself, if moral obligation issued the mandate. 
 When his steadfast eye laid bare tlie path, his willing feet trod therein. His obe- 
 dience wound its way through type and shadow, the longings of hope and the pene- 
 trations of promise, and ended in the Valley of Death. But with mental self- 
 possession and divine calmness, he paid the cost of obedience in pain and hardship. 
 Ti-ue, in the presence of death itself he became weak as a smitten lamb, and great 
 drops of blood stained his brow, so that, an immaculate angel who had never broken 
 a precept of heaven's law, or felt the faintness of death, appeared to strengthen him. 
 But, when the palm of this soft hand wiped our Lord's temples, the holy touch but 
 changed each clot into a passion-flower of Paradise, and each fleck of gore into a 
 ruby. Then, under the dark olives of Gethseraane, the first Son of man who 
 had ever kept Jehovah's law, wore his own diadem of obedience, which all the 
 cursed thorns of the next day failed to blacken or disgrace. 
 
 Having kept the law himself as the Holy of God, his gentleness imposed the 
 same dutiful yoke upon all his fellows, that they might share the satisfactions of his 
 
HIS I. A \V r(>s)r<il>()l.irAN. 63 
 
 own life ami love. Lovu hail drawn liiai fruni hid Father's throne for them, and 
 now it would lift them up to God, for oneness, and fellowship, and friendship. 
 This pure purpose drew him, at times, into those rythmic bursts of joy which cele- 
 brated tlic iviurn of prodigals, and the adoption of l)al)rs into Ills Fathers house. 
 The refrain of tliis anthem sounded up and down Jiis entire life : ' It is meet that 
 we should be mei-ry and glad, for this our brother was dead and is alive again, was 
 lost and is found.' And, this love he extended to all men, Gentiles as well as Jews. 
 The sweep of his net drew fish of every kind, and the sheep of his flock were 
 housed from every fold. Here again, God's Viceroy is instinct with Jehovah's 
 high benevolence. All power was given into his hands, without the display of 
 thunders and lightnings, and the voice of trumpets, but in the conscious conviction 
 that he represented all that dwelt in the bosom whence he came. With him eternal 
 principles were not only axioms of the Divine mind, but jiractical ideas. Because they 
 were vitalized with the immortality of God, his invitations were Jehovah's decrees. 
 Purity and love made his whole spiritual code sternly absolute. It is this which 
 makes his influence so visibly distinct, so definitely potent. He never opens his lips 
 but fresh truth distills from them, in apt, keen, loving words. Fichte-, w^ho argued 
 that character is simj)le self-development, thinks, that by the mere purity and eleva- 
 tion of Christ's character, he was carried into that region of eternal morality which 
 men seldom reach. Carlyle, who doubted the Divine in Christ, calls his life a ' per- 
 fect ideal Poem,' and says : ' The greatest of all heroes is One whom we do not name 
 here. Let sacred silence meditate that sacred matter.' Renan, who colors the fiicts 
 of Gospel history by fancy, calls him : ' The incomparable being to whom the uni- 
 versal conscience has decreed the title of The Son of God.' But Bayne. true to the 
 manhood of Christ, w-ith greater boldness still, asks of his miracles : ' Whether from 
 the moral character of Christ, it would, or would not, have been a greater miracle 
 than these, that in asserting himself to wield creative power, he lied.'' 
 
 And, why not? He himself demands : "Which of you convicts me of sin?' 
 A challenge which is spirit and life. But no man charges home the miracle of 
 falsehood on Jesus Christ — no man throws the name of one vice into his face. The 
 thought that he could lie freezes the blood in all men's veins, as, in itself, a greater 
 miracle than to grind the stars into diamond-dust between two millstones. 
 Serenely, without excitement, and apparently without preparation, he lays his 
 truths before men, in secluded places or public walks, and the more men look at 
 them the more they wonder at their native depth. When mankind first heard them, 
 the haughty became humble, the grasping benevolent, the crafty honest, and the 
 narrow large hearted. Like himself, his laws were cosmopolitan, lifting the truth 
 indifferently above all national distinctions, and drawing followers to his great soul 
 simply as men, in the free garb of all their social habits. The tones of his call were 
 holy, demanding separation from all unholy society, social and civil ; and yet, men's 
 only isolation the one from the utiier, was to be by a liiu' of holiness. His was to 
 
64 CONVICTION NOT VKHSECUTION. 
 
 he :i Clmrcli witlidut liludd-ivhitioii.ship, hulJ togetliur by love, coniinoii aims and 
 coiiiiiion li(ij)es ; tlic Diily two (jualities necessary for admission being, humanity of 
 birth and divinity of rcn(iv;ition. The two great pillars in his Palace of Truth are 
 1,.VL- to (nxl and lovi' t(. man. These he hewed out and polished after a heavenly 
 similitude, for no man lia<l .'-een them before. They were foundation doctrines, not 
 dogmas. Dogmas ai'e iailiiile interpretations of infallible truths, and his infallibility 
 excluded dngnia alii<e fnim his utterances and acts. But while inflexibly absolute, 
 he was the life of all f(irbeaiariee. lie persecuted no man, and allowed not his dis- 
 ci ph's t(i iiei-seeute. Even when they would resent affronts by force, he rebuked 
 them as ignorant of their own sj)irit ; fur that, the Son of Man came not to destroy 
 men's lives, but to save them, lie made seltishness, malignity and revenge out of 
 place amongst his devotees. 
 
 Persecution runs in the blood of nature. Not only do the wolf and tiger per- 
 secute, but all living things, small and great. The sweetest lark that sings in the 
 sky will dive down upon his l)i'otlier songster and tear him, and the least minnow 
 in the brook will toi'inent his fellow. But Jesus strengthened the last tilier that 
 held the reed together, and revived the last spark in the smoking wick. Yea, and 
 his purpose was to give this gentle pre-eminence to all his redeemed peoj^le. True 
 men of God cannot persecute until their heavenly tempers are subdued by their 
 carnal passions. Jesus never raved, but often wept over the erring, for oidy the 
 Good Shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep, while the hireling steals and 
 kills. Reared amongst bigots his triumph was : 'Whom the Son makes free he is 
 free indeed ;' and his Gospel Republic is the lirst government from Adam wliich 
 could accord entire independence of thought and act, even in morals. Jesus 
 appeals directly to the convictions of men and allows no man to interfere with those 
 convictions. He rebukes prejudice in liis followers, and proposes to draw all men to 
 himself by the exercise of conscience and reason ; an exercise as free as the breath of 
 the winds around the Alpine flowers, or as the rays of the morning sun which fly to 
 kiss them in mid-heaven. 
 
 When Jesus put the leaven into three measures of meal, the fourth quarter of 
 the globe was undiscovered, and of Asia, Africa, and Europe, he chose Asia, the 
 largest division of the earth then known, as the spot where it was to begin its 
 assimilating process. Palestine lay on the extreme western edge of that huge con- 
 tinent, closely adjacent to Europe and Africa, and almost in the center of the world 
 as it was to be and is now. Asia contains a greater variety of climates than either 
 of the other divisions of the Eastern Pleniisphere, united with great advantages, 
 especially in its countless littoral islands, its vast rivers, and endless kinds of prod- 
 ucts, from its temperate and tropical zones. Its majestic mountain chains and 
 table-lands, the wealth of its soil and its streams emptying into the sea, open it to 
 agriculture, arts, trade and commerce in every direction ; and its easy division into 
 large emjiires fitted it pre-eminently for the spread of dominion liy the Great King. 
 
THE FIELD IS THE KOIU.D. 6S 
 
 Africa lies almost entirely in the torrid zone, has \wn ^l•(•;lt ri\i'i-s. ilic Niger 
 and the Nile, with a desert of sand stretcliiiii;- from the Ited Sea to the Atlantic, 
 and covering one fifth of the continent. Only its northern part was known to 
 the ancients, and figures in their history. l»ut the liomau Empire, which at that 
 time ruled Europe, civilized and barbarian, liad also conquered the greater part of 
 civilized Asia and Africa, holding sway over the world west of the Euphrates. 
 The Jews, whose civilization was most in hariuony with Cliristianity, were scattered 
 almost every-where through the empire, and were very powerful. Egypt was full 
 of them, as well as Rome itself, while in Antioch they formed more than a third of 
 the population. Our Lord intended to take each individual man, however rude or 
 polished, to change his character and habits, to lift him out of vice into purity ; 
 and by spiritual forces to bring him under his royal law, until his perfection was 
 marked by a translation out of moral degradation, into the full, free and pure citi- 
 zenship of his kingdom. All his parables show the smallness of his beginnings, and 
 the secret growth of his reign. A blade of wheat, out of which an endless harvest 
 shall spring, — a grain of mustard-seed, from which outspreading trees shall grow, 
 and five other parables, were employed by him to show the noiseless, gradual, but 
 resistless advance of his Empire. It was to be broad and many-sided, severe in its 
 power and calm in its elevation. Tiny in its beginning, it was to outgrow all rivals, 
 until out of the hidden, its visibility was to be world-wide, because it inclosed the 
 germs of all true life ; and its aim was to be a jjractical universality. 
 
 He, himself, was a veritable man, born of a woman. A babe is the weakest 
 thing in nature, yet it is endowed with all the potentialities that man can know. 
 And, contrary to all received religious philosophy, woman's gentle nature and voice 
 were brought under the mysteries of revelation, and her spirit was knit into incom- 
 prehensible converse with God to accomplish his holy purpose. Christ appealed to 
 her strongest interests, enforced her noblest duties, and led her by enchanting prom- 
 ises into the great moral revolution, through the surpassing marvel of an incarnate 
 God. By a select imagery, which none but God could invoke, immensity was con- 
 tracted to a span, and eternity inclosed in an hour ; divine power was enwrapped 
 in the softest weakness, and deathless love was hidden in the new-born Babe of an 
 honored woman. This made it meet that man should be intrusted with the spread 
 of his kingdom. Six couples of plain, honest, receptive men were sent forth. 
 They wei-e of various habits and affinities of temperament, called from the lowest 
 strata of society, where the strongest foundations of humanity are laid. He threw 
 them in all the dependence of their lowly origin upon the sympathy and justice of 
 their fellow-men for their daily bread, in return for their toils, and made their only 
 protection the spoken truth. 
 
 They were Galilean fishermen too, taken from the only region of Palestine 
 which had not been corrupted by the Rabbis, for these lield Galilee accursed and let 
 it alone. Hence they were unsojihisticated, simple, and spiritual, but positive and 
 
66 MATTER OF-FACT AI'OSTI.KS. 
 
 firm, confronting the world in tlie istrengtli of conviction. Tiiis coiiinicndud tliem 
 to their brother men. They were the select band of students to wliom -Ic-us had 
 minutely expounded his doctrines, and now, their life-work was to c\|ioiiiid them 
 on the house-tops. The radical truths wliidi liail pervaded his own mind, were to 
 be saving in their results on others to wliom they were sent. The perceptions, con- 
 stitutional peculiarities, and personal dependence of these cjioice minds fitted them 
 to influence others, and to reproduce in them what they were themselves. Tlie 
 same laws of condensation whicli el(.»tlK>. steam, frost and electricity with power, 
 obtain more distinctly in mind, and so, lie compressed the mightiest elements of 
 spiritual effectiveness in these few, instead of broad-casting his truths at once before 
 the incohesive multitude. Judged by human standards, they were unfit for their 
 work. But, he saw more than human fitness in sending a handful of rustics from 
 an inland lake, who were willing to die for the truth. Any learneil man of that 
 age, priest or layman, if chosen as an Ajxistle, would have mixed up current 
 notions with the Gospel, in spite of himself, and would Ikinc thwarted its design, by 
 corrupting its simplicity. Christ's sensitive nature ^vas often brought into painful 
 contact with the brusqueness of his Apostles, and their coarse jaiiglings jarred upon 
 his lofty fellowships ; j-et, he could trust their blunt and unfaltering fidelity, 
 unmixed as it was with the vagaries of the times. Firmness of honor was what he 
 wanted, and not polish of mannei's, in a small, compact band of eye-witnesses. As 
 professionals, their testimony on any ]ioint of law, art, or tradition would liave been 
 trivial, but as provincials, it was full of plainness and mother-sense; qualities which 
 were helps instead of drawbacks, in declaring matters of fact. 
 
 Yet, Jesus appears to have pushed aside all calculating precautions in their 
 choice. There were amongst them three jDairs of brothers, two relatives of his own 
 family ; and half of them were taken from one town. Men would call this a nar- 
 row selection, and an insidious designer would have taken another course. Con- 
 scious imposition would have made a great show of candor, by choosing men out of 
 all districts in Palestine, representing all social ranks, that their witness might 
 appear enlarged and impartial; but the sober honesty of the King in Zion rose 
 infinitely above all such coverts for fraud. Having trained their judgment, proved 
 their consciences, and formed their character, he confidently sent them forth. In tem- 
 perament, the Gospels generally group them in this order : Peter for his hardness, 
 and Andrew his brother for shy and childlike simplicity ; then James and John, the 
 sons of Zebedee, for their choleric disposition, being known as ' Sons of Thunder.' 
 The second group is head(!d by Philip, for his earnest teachableness; Bartholomew, 
 called Nathanael, for his utter want of guile; Thomas for his phlegmatic delibera- 
 tion, and Matthew for his practical perception and gravity. The third class com- 
 prises James, the son of Alpheus, who was marked for his modesty ; liebbseus, whose 
 surname was Thaddeus, for his hearty boldness; Simon Zelotes for his fiery impulse, 
 and Judas the traitor for his frozen heart. They soon showed their peculiarities 
 
nil-: .\i:\v niirnr. 67 
 
 toned up to their highest plane, for all their powers were consecrated to their work. 
 Their virtues, weaknesses, and gifts fitted them to cope with liunian nature in each 
 phase, for they represented every possible conihination of toini)er in mankind. Their 
 charactei-s exhibit the bias and bent which mark dtf all the individualities and rela- 
 tions of life, while in purity, Jesus required them tn he cNcry tliiiii;- that he was. 
 
 JIappily, when the great Lawgiver laid down the vital prim-iiilcs nf his govern- 
 ment, he proceeded carefully to specify the terms on which men >hould he admitted 
 into the new kingdom. Nicodemus was a teacher well versed in all that Judaism 
 demanded, but Jesus showed him that each subject under the Messiah's reign must 
 be thoroughly renovated in the inner man. No one could be eligible till spiritually 
 born again, created anew after the image of Christ himself. As was his wont 
 when he gave great energy to his words, he opens this momentous subject with the 
 double asseveration : ' Verily, verily I say to thee, Except a man be born again, he 
 cannot see the kingdom of God.' The venerable Hebrew understood him to speak 
 of a second physical birtli, but Jesus brought him back to the fundamental thought 
 of a birth from above. Its source was to be the Spirit; its nature a transformation 
 of tlie whole spiritual being. A person born of the iiesh is flesh, and will follow 
 all fleshly necessities; but one born of the Spirit is spirit, and is fllled with the 
 principles and dispositions which the Holy Spirit only can generate. When Jesus 
 has pressed this trutli home to the conviction of Nicodemus, he reiterates : 
 ' Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom 
 of God.' 
 
 Many think that our Lord couches baptism under the term '■vmter'' here, and 
 in proportion as they lay stress upon baptism, as an eflicacious oi'dinance in salvation, 
 they press this point. It is questionable, however, whether he refers to baptism 
 at all, or simply to a concomitant element in natural birth, to show that he intended 
 to enforce a thorough renewal, equivalent to a veritable ' new birth,' which nmst 
 be of God. This would put ' water ' to a purely flgurative use as a material ele- 
 ment, adding new force to his twofold insistance on an entirely spiritual renovation. 
 He certainly does not speak of two births, one of water and one of the Spirit, but 
 only of one : that of water and the Spirit iu conjunction. Campbell says : ' Though 
 our Lord in this account of regeneration, joins water and spirit together, he does not, 
 in contrasting it with natural generation (John iii, 6), mention the water at all, but 
 opposes the Spirit to the flesh.' Nicodenms had full knowledge of John's baptism, 
 for he was a member of the Sanhedrin that questioned John, and but for the special 
 emphasis laid by Jesus upon the birth of the Spirit, he might have fallen into the 
 idea, that without baptism no man can be eternally saved. But Christ's demand 
 for a work of renewal by the Spirit, excludes the fatal error which would 
 save Simon Magus because he was baptized, and reject the repentant thief on the 
 cross because he was not. Rather does Whitby express our Lord's thought : 
 'Except a man be renewed in his mind, will, and aft'cctions liy the operations 
 
68 DISCIPLE AND BAPTIZE. 
 
 of tlic Iliily Spirit, ami so hccniius a new crrafiirr . . . lie cMiiiiot see, that is, 
 t'lijuy, tliu lilc>,-iiias (if till' kiii-d.iiii (if (idd.' ()]•. a> aiKithtT expresses himself: 
 ' He eaniiut diseern either tiie .si-us of the Messiali, or the nature of his gov- 
 eriuiient." ' 
 
 Our lieileenier was ecjually explieit in puintiui;- nut the several steps which a 
 reuewed man iinist take toi' full eurnllnieiit and inductiun into his kingdom. As 
 ]ireaeliei's, his Apostles were to he 'witnesses' to his death and resurrection, and 
 they were to ' I'reach re])entance and remission of sins unto all nations.' ' I'reacii 
 the (tospel t(_i eveiT creature.' ' Disci]3le all the nations, haptizing them in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Sijirit, teaching them to 
 oliserve all things whatsoever I cominanded you.' Here he makes preaching, repent- 
 ance, faith and haptism, of perpetual ohligation. JJy preaching repentance and the 
 remission of sins, they were to attempt the ' discipling' or conversion of every creat- 
 ui'e. Then, those who believed on the Saviour wore to be baptized into his king- 
 d(jm, and after that, they were to he instructed in all that related to the Christian 
 life. 
 
 The Apostles were not instructed to baptize the nations en. masse, simjily because 
 each person was an integral part of the whole ; for, as it has been said with great 
 tVirce : ' It is one thing to make disciples in all nations, and another thing to make 
 all iiatloiiK dis(-iples.' They were to baptize those, and those only, who had the 
 above-named qualifications for baptism. Countless millions in the "nations' would 
 remain unbelievers, blasphemers, atheists, idolaters and debauchees, after every 
 attempt had been made to save them. These were to ' be conilemned.' Neither 
 were babes to be baptized simply because they were a part of the nations, till they 
 could be ' discipled.' The word ' disciple ' carries with it the idea of instruction, and 
 therefore, here, of gaining converts to Christ, by bringing them over to certain 
 fixed principles and practices. Babes are no more capable of obedience iu baptism, 
 than they are of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, or of exercising faith ou 
 Christ for salvation. And, what is more and better, they need none of these, so 
 long as they are free from voluntary and personal transgression ; for Jesus lias pro- 
 cured their salvation without these. When once they reach responsibility and 
 become actual sinners, then they may avail themselves of all these, if they M'ill 
 become believers in Jesus. Mark calls the subjects ,,f baptism 'believers,' and 
 ^latthew, 'disciples,' plainly meaning the same persons. Our Lord here excluded 
 infant baptism of design, and the commission cannot be tortured into the support of 
 this injurious practice ; thus, we cannot wonder that no case of such baptism is men- 
 tioned in the New Testament. On the contrary, such conditions are every-where 
 imposed on tliose who are baptized, as to unavoidably exclude all who either cannot 
 or do not voluntarily obey Christ's commands. So Jerome interprets this commis- 
 sion : ' They first teach all the nations ; then, when they are taught they baptize 
 them in water; for it cannot be that the body should receive the sacrament of bap- 
 
JESUS SAVES BABES. 
 
 tism, unless tlie soul have before received the true faith.' And again he adds: 
 'T)ie order here observed is excellent; he commands the Apostles, iirst to teach all 
 nations; and after that to dip them mth the sacrament of faith; and then to show 
 them how they must behave themselves after their faith and baptism.' 
 
 Then, did Jesus make no provision for children in his kingdom of grace and 
 glory ? Yes ; and the amplest that infinite love could make. He is the only great 
 Teacher who cvit pressed them to his bosom, as the subjects of saving care. The 
 Jewish religion protected and accounted them precious. Yet, it subjected its males 
 to a severe and bloody rite, for the purposes of national identity and privilege, with- 
 out vouchsafing any special revelation as to their future state, when dying in infancy. 
 Eonian grossness regarded children as a misfortune, and freely practiced infanticide. 
 The Carthaginians oifered them in sacrifice to Saturn. Diodorus Siculus mentions 
 the sacrifice of two hundred of their noblest babes at a time. ^ Molecli, the ferocious 
 god of Amnion, did not stand alone, for all the Syrian and Arab tribes had their 
 tire-gods, before whom their little ones were jjresented as burnt-offerings. But 
 Jesus looked upon tliese iielpless ones as the most fragrant flowers of eartii — he 
 longed to silence the wail of their sufferings in these cruel rites, and to jiurfect praise 
 out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. 
 
 To this end, he vouchsafed salvation for all children, before he tasted death on 
 their behalf, enwrapping them in a free redemption, without conditions of any sort. 
 They could bear no yoke, and he put none upon their necks. Parents coveted his 
 love for their offspring and brought their little ones for his 
 'blessing.' In keeping with the spirit of those times, his dis- 
 ciples would drive them away ; a fact, which in itself, shows 
 that they knew nothing about infant baptism. Their par- 
 ents did not bring them to be baptized, but that he would 'lay 
 his hands ujwn them and bless them,' as Jacob had blessed the 
 sons of Josej)!!. As Jacob ' blessed ' his grandsons witliout 
 baptizing them, so these infants were brought to Jesus unljap- 
 tized, and were taken away unbaptized, but not for that reason 
 unblessed. He rebuked his disciples, wishing them to under- 
 stand that he came from heaven to save the i)abes as well as 
 the parents. Then, he took them in his arms and ' prayed for 
 them ' and gave them his blessing, declaring as his words import, that ' to such 
 belongs the kingdom of heaven,' simply through his benediction and love, without 
 conditions of any sort such as try the loyalty of willful and i-esponsible sinners. As 
 their Elder Ih-other, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh, he then and there, 
 hung a bright lamp over an infant's head, pledging him salvation while in infancy, 
 without repentance, faith, baptism, the Supper, or any other observance. With this 
 display of Christ's love to little children, it is simply heathenish ancT horrible to sup- 
 pose that deceased babes miss heaven, umler any circumstances. More than half of 
 
70 .'^AVJiS THEM BY IITS SACnTFirK. 
 
 iiiir rape, especially in lauds where iufaiitieide is practiced, die in infancy ; aud every 
 true iiiiiii will rejoice in the Redeemer's plan of saving these precious ones uncon- 
 ditionally. Millions of them pass into the presence of the Great Shepherd whose 
 pai-ents arc j)agaiis or inlidels, and spurn baptism or never heard of its existence ; 
 and it Ixirdcrs on the fiendish to say, that the Ciirist-loving parent jeopards the 
 salvation of his redeemed halie, heeause he leaves his salvation to tlie atoning death 
 and sacrificial love of Jcsns, lef using to submit him to a rite which the adorable 
 Landi of <Tod nevei- imposed upon the unconscious one. In the pre-existence of our 
 Lord, fi'om the death of the tii'st child of Adam's race to the moment of his own 
 birtli in liethlehem, he had been with ransomed children in beaveu. When on 
 earth he missed their society, and, to fill their places he drew our little ones to him, 
 foi- they tenderly reminded him of the Father's house which he had left ; hence, in 
 his words and acts he treated them as of ' the kingdom of heaven.' Bishop Taylor 
 beautifully says : ' Why should he be an infant but that infants should receive the 
 crown of their age, the purification of their stained natures, the sanctification of 
 their persons, and the saving of their souls by their infant Lord and Elder Brother.' 
 The kingdom belongs to them by Christ's purchase and gift, without those tests 
 of obedience which try the fidelity of responsible offenders. They had not sinned 
 ' after the similitude of Adam's transgi-ession,' and he gave them his full blessing 
 without conditions, despite their original taint. Then, he warns willful offenders 
 that if they receive not the kingdom of God as little children, they shall not enter 
 tlierein. While the phrase 'of such' includes others besides those 'brought' to liim, 
 it also includes all who are clothed with the child-like spirit. With the love of 
 Clirist thus displayed to children, it is simply horrible to suppose that a deceased 
 babe misses of heaven because he was not chi-istened on earth, and because here no 
 one had promised that if he had lived he would have repented and believed for him- 
 self. Can any thing so rob our atoning Lord of his glory, in part or in whole, as to 
 su]ipose that this act affects the child's salvation in the slightest degree? As in 
 Adam he died unconditionally, so in Christ is he unconditionally made alive. 
 
 These are some of the great princi|iles and pi-actices laid down by the infal- 
 lible Lawgiver, for the establishment and government of his kingdom in the earth. 
 God gives us in John the Baptist, the specimen man of holiness. Then comes the 
 King in Zion, revealing the Father in his own person, and making Divine provisions 
 for the regeneration of such men to the end of time. After Jesus had cast this 
 Gospel hope athwart the destinies of our race, he took his seat as Mediator at the 
 right hand of God. There, he has proved the acceptance of his sacrifice and the 
 efficacy of his intercession by sending the Holy Spirit to fill his place on the earth. 
 The Spirit now administers his kingdom under these laws, and gathers pure Churches 
 out of all nations, of men created anew by his energies, in Christ Jesus, and kej^t 
 in his name, unto life eternal. 
 

 
 SS:«^ri^;llji^'*'*' -^ 
 
 Jtl LSVLLM H ]\1 II 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PENTECOST AND SAUL. 
 
 THE ablest clironologists vary tlie date of our Lord's ascension from A. D. 29 
 to 3C ; possibly the year 33 may be taken as the most satisfactory. Before 
 his death, our Lord had founded his Church, by selecting the Twelve, the Seventy-, 
 and many other disciples, by teaching tliem his doctrines, authorizing them to preach 
 and baptize, and by establishing the Supper. This organic body known as ' the 
 kingdom of God ' he also called, ' My Church ' — his infant Church truly, but no less 
 his Church, as he was the Christ as much when a Babe in the stable, and a Youth in 
 the Temple, as when a Man on Calvary. His Cliurch was to be endowed with 
 special and plenary powers to increase its constituency, extend its influence and 
 establish new assemblies. Hence, the Church at Jerusalem kept its divine organiza- 
 tion perfect by a popular election to fill the place of Judas in the Apostolate, and 
 then waited for the promised reign of tiie Holy Spirit, to fill the Redeemer's place 
 in the Gospel Church. Ton days after Christ's enthronement at God's riglit hand, 
 he scut the Spirit to administer the earthly aifair.s of hi.-; Church, to vindicate the 
 
72 PENTFAmsr. 
 
 iiiissioii wliicli lie hiul tini.sliud, to sustain liis claims ag;iiiist all foes, and in every 
 way to compensate for liis own absence. The Spirit manifested himself on the 
 second Jewish feast, Pentecost, which celebrated the ingatiiering of the wheat liar- 
 vest and the giving of the Law. 
 
 The first work in the ministry of the Spii'it, as in that of the Son, was to attest 
 his own mission by miraculous evidences. These, in keeping with his entirely im- 
 material character, were to be wrought, not alone on the Inuuan fi-ame (ir on sea 
 and tirmament, but on mind ; on the mental constitution of man and his powers of 
 speech. At once, therefore, he honored himself and 'glorified' Christ, by qualify- 
 ing his Apostles to obey his commission in preaching the Gospel to all nations. 
 The babble of tongues was the most stubborn obstruction to the universal spread of 
 the Gospel, and Jesus seemed to have made no provision for the removal of tliis 
 cnormoi;s difficulty, but had committed its preaching to the most unlearned of men. 
 They knew their mother tongue so imperfectly that their uncouth provincialisms 
 were betrayed in the accents of their chief orator as a ' Galilean.' AVith their 
 scanty education they could not have mastered the cosmopolitan grammar of the 
 Pentecostal throng in a life-time. If, then, a linguistic miracle were not wrought by 
 the Spirit, their attempt to preach had been a failure, for there was no visible 
 method by which they could reach the world with the new religion. At that 
 moment there were men in Jerusalem from the remotest i-egions of the civilized world; 
 who, if they could be made to understand the truth, could take it to the ends of the 
 earth. The wide, geogi'aphical circuit including the homes of these men, swept 
 from north-east to south-east, and far north, covering seventeen different languages 
 and dialects. Parthia lay north-west of Persia, a powerful kingdom about si.\ hundred 
 miles long. The Medes had come from a westerly point of the compass, and were 
 of a harsh and rude race. The Elamites had come from an ancient Shemite district, 
 east of Persia Proper. Those from Mesopotamia represented the region between 
 the Tigris and the Euphrates. Idumea, the rugged old tei-ritory of Edom, follows the 
 geographical order of Luke, but he breaks from his circle to mention Judea and his 
 own home language. Cappadocia was a stretch of high table-land in the eastern 
 part of Asia Minor. Continuing north, he comes to Pontus, north-east of the Black 
 Sea. Asia, Poman or Proconsular, was washed by the yEgean Sea, on its western 
 shore. Phrygia was in the center of Asia Minor, and Pamphylia, farther south, 
 was touched on the north by the Mediterranean. Egypt was in the north-east of 
 Africa ; and the parts of Libya, lay oti the African coast, west of Egypt. Luke 
 then ascends from these southern lands, to Rome, in Italy ; and last of all mentions 
 the Arabians from the East, and the islanders from Crete, now called Candia. 
 
 A very linn'ted unity of tongue had been wrought by the conquests of Alexan- 
 der, in the free use of the Greek, which had been adopted as the language of traffic 
 and of the Roman court; while in the liasin of the Mediterranean it was universally 
 spoken. Jews born in Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, or Cyrene, spoke it tiuently and 
 
PETER'S SEIiMON. 73 
 
 read their Scriptures therein ; and ia the great cities of tin; enipire their syiia<:oi;iie 
 services were conducted in tlie (Jreek. Tlie 'Twelve' appear, liowi'ver, to liavi' 
 known little of Greek, and were (pialiticd to prcaeii oidv in Palestine. In tliis condi- 
 tion of things, while the youug Church waited for auracuious endowment from tlie 
 Spirit, Peter began to preach Jesus and the resurrection to the nu.ved tlirong of 
 Jews and proselytes who had to come to the feast. His sermon was full of vigor 
 and simplicity, of bold directness and reasoning, and, as if by instinct, his concise and 
 clear mind flew from facts within his own knowledge to the Sacred Oracles ; where 
 he grasped firmly the prophecies of Joel and David, concerning tlie Messiah. 
 Finding these in exact accord with his own personal knowledge, he centered his 
 appeal upon the reason and conscience of his hearers, and charged the Jewish rulers 
 with the judicial murder of Jesus, as ' lawless ones.' Some of them had joined the 
 motley crowd who had clamored for his blood, and as he proved the guilt of the 
 nation alarm seized them. They saw that their rulers had duped them into one of 
 the worst crimes in their annals, and the echoes of their execrating prayer in Pilate's 
 palace were re-awakened in their ears, ' His blood be on us and on our children.' 
 >Vhen they cried in sorrow, 'What must we do?' Peter offered them salvation 
 through the blood of Jesus for the sin of shedding it, and urged them to leave the 
 wicked hierarchy, and enter the new kingdom by faitli and baptism. 
 
 While Peter was preaching, an infinite energy overwhelmed him and his breth- 
 ren, subduing every faculty and power of their being. Their imagination, tlieir 
 understanding, their conscience, tlieir memory, their \vill and affections were all 
 submerged in the Holy Spirit, as a pearl is buried in the sea. Or as EUicott 
 expresses it, 'The baptism with the Holy Spirit would iniply that the souls thus 
 baptized would he jylimyed, as it were, in that creative and informing Spirit which 
 was the source of life and holiness and wisdom.'' And immediately there sat 
 upon the heads of these elder sons of Zion a coronation flame, pointed like 
 the human tongue, but divided and forked likewise, not only to indicate vitality 
 and fluency, but also as a fitting emblem of the varied languages which they should 
 speak, as if they were natives of every country, instead of fishermen from an inland 
 lake. This fiaming appearance was not fire, as loose interpretation says, but ' like as 
 of fire.' Its appearance was attended by a loud sound, not of wind, but ' like a 
 rushing mighty wind,' indicating that the influences of the Spirit kept pace with 
 the holy storm which was sweeping away every linguistic oljstruction to the 
 triumph of the Gospel. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and i)egan to 
 speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance, and every man heard 
 the Gospel in his mother-tongue. The preachers spoke grammatically, for had they 
 expressed themselves improperly, their hearers would have suspected fraud. In- 
 stead of this, when they lieard their own living languages spoken accurately by 
 unlettered Galileans, they were amazed and demanded what it meant. Tliose from 
 Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia spoke Greek in various idioms. Tiie Parthians, 
 
74 THE PTtOMISR FUI. FILLED. 
 
 Medes, Elamites, and Persians used it in proviucial f(irms. Tlie native Jew heard 
 the local dialects of Palestine, wliich wei'e all Aramaic, though thej difEered from 
 each other, and the foreign pilgrims the languages of their several nationalities. 
 Many of these languages held affinity to each other, as frnm a (■DHimnn parent, liut 
 others were marked by those great diversities wliich come <it' a varied origin. None 
 could account for the phenomenon, and tlie vulgar refusing to believe in the reign 
 of the Spirit, chai'ged it to the use of new wine ; a charge which Peter easily 
 repelled, because it was unlawful for a Jew to break his fast befoi'e ' the third hour 
 of the day.' What adds to the interest of the miracle is, that those who could only 
 use the Galilean dialect before Pentecost, as Peter, John, James, and Jude, after- 
 ward wrote books of the New Testament in terse and even lucid (Treek, as if a fork 
 of the fire-like tongue followed every stroke of their pen. 
 
 It is worthy of note that as Jesus entered his office by baptism in water, so the 
 Spirit commenced his administration by baptizing Christ's Apostles into liimself. 
 On tlie head of the inaugurated Lurd he descended like a dove to indicate meekness 
 and purity; but he sat as fire upon the heads of the Apostles. Jesus had foretold 
 their intense sufferings by the tropical use of the word bajDtize, ' Ye shall undergo 
 the baptism that I must undergo,' when he was plunged into deep sorrow. And 
 now, in like mannei- he fills them with power for their ministry, as he had said, ' Ye 
 shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence ; ' in both cases using the 
 ]-]ietorical figure, according to the solid structure of language, by stating the literal 
 truth in the trope. As Jesus was overwhelmed when he was ' filled with sorrow,' 
 so were his Apostles overwhelmed when they were ' filled with the Spirit.' Every 
 attribute of their nature sank into the Spirit, till his billows passed over them, as 
 Jesus sank when the dark waters of sorrow passed over his soul. Tliey were bap- 
 tized in the Spirit. Thus the Holy Spirit attested his mission to them, and proved 
 theirs to be from heaven, accrediting their Gospel to the nations. That day, in the 
 midst of the stir, enthusiasm, and triumph of the vindicated fisliermen, they so 
 handled the keys of the kingdom, that three thousand men were added to the 
 earlier believers, and the first abundant harvest was reaped in the great Jewish 
 field. 
 
 These tliree thousand were immersed that day, as converts to the faith of 
 Christ. Because the Sacred Record does not give the exact locality where this took 
 place in Jerusalem, nor the number of administrators, some affect to doubt that 
 immersion was administered. With characteristic candor Dean Plumptre sa^-s (Acts 
 ii, 41) : ' The largeness of the number has been urged as rendering it probable that 
 the baptism was by affusion, not immersion. On the other [hand] (1) immersion had 
 clearly been practiced by John, and was involved in the original meaning of the 
 word, and it is not likely that the rite should have been curtailed of its full propor- 
 tions at the vei-y outset ; (2) the symbolic meaning of the act required immersion in 
 order that it miglit be clearly manifested, and Rom. vi, 4, and 1 Pet. iii, 21, seem 
 
JERUSALEM WATERS. 73 
 
 almost of necessity to imply the more complete mode. The pools of Bethcsda and 
 Siloam (see John v, 7 ; ix, 7), or the so-called Fountain of the Virgin, near the tem- 
 ple inclo.sure, or the bathing jilaces within the Tower of Anthony (Jos., ' Wars,' v. 
 5, § 8), may well have helped to make the process easy.' 
 
 Dr. Bollinger thinks that the baptisms did not take place the same day, but 
 says that it was an ' Immersion of the whole person ; which is the only meaning of 
 the New Testament won], a mere pouring or sprinkling was never thought of.' 
 All historians, in tivmin- -I' Jrru-:i1. 'i,, .' ■■ *'' *li.' ihiiiiImt mul v;ilii,' of its 
 
 public baths, and its immense storage of water for jDublic nse. In all its calamities 
 by famine and siege, we have no account that it suifered for want of M-ater. Like 
 other cities of antiquity its natural water springs had much to do with the selec- 
 tion of its location. These abounded on the spot and in its vicinity, so that its 
 water-wealth was great when gathered into wells, pools, and reservoirs. As the 
 Jewish capital, it was visited yearly by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, at the 
 three feasts, so that its religious washings, purifications and ablutions rendered a 
 large supply indispensable, for religious as well as domestic purposes. Josephus 
 tells us that at the Passover alone two hundred head of beasts were sacrificed. All 
 these must be watered and washed as sacrificial victims. He also says, that the sect 
 of the Essenes was numerous there, and that they immersed themselves daily. The 
 
76 
 
 THE VAlUors POdLf 
 
 Pools of Jenisaleiii, :uk1 those south of IJuthk-hi'in, wliich siipj>lifd tlie city, were 
 mimerous, large, and adapted to iuimersioii, all being accessible for that use. The 
 following were their names and dimensions : 
 
 Pool of P)ethesda, north of the Temple . 
 
 Pool of Hezekiah, north of Mount Zicm 
 
 The King's Pool, now Pool of the Virgin, E. 
 
 Pool of Siloam, S.-E. of Jerusalem 
 
 Upper Gihon, N.-W. " . . , 
 
 Lower Gihon, W. 
 
 Solomon's Pools — Lower Pool 
 
 Middle Pool . 
 " Ujjper Pool 
 
 .f Jer. 
 
 U4 
 
 (■> 
 18 
 200 
 245 to 275 
 148 to 207 
 160 to 250 
 229 to 236 
 
 Feet. 
 
 75 
 
 3 to 4 
 
 Not gi-eat. 
 
 lit 
 
 18 
 
 35 to 42 
 
 East end 50 
 
 39 
 
 25 
 
 Some of these were excavated out of th( 
 by hidden springs ; to others water was con 
 waters being brtnight from the mountains. 
 
 nirth or limestone rock, and supplied 
 'yed by hewn subterranean passages, 
 Hezekiah built a conduit (2 Kings 
 
 
 XX, 20), and Solomon built the three enormous pools, five and a half miles from 
 Jerusalem, which brought their waters to the city by an aqueduct, their springs 
 near Bethlehem being enlarged and arched over. The Lower Gihon was formed by 
 two dams (2 Chron. xxxii, 30), and was intact even in the eleventh century. It 
 was used by the Crusaders, and their Norman chronicler calls it a ' lake,' where ' the 
 horses of the city are watered.' Besides these, the brook Nachal-Kidron held a 
 dififerent relation to the Holy City in ancient times to what it holds now. Then, it 
 was a natural water-conrse (2 Chron. xxxii, 3, 4), and Hezekiah summoned the forces 
 of Israel to seal its fountains, B. C. 713, as a defensive war measure. Sennacherib 
 was besieging Jerusalem, and his army could not subsist without watei-. ' So they 
 stopped all the fountains and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, 
 
TUE BROOK KIDRON. 77 
 
 sayiiij^ : Wliy slioulil tlio l\in^- of Assyria come and fiiul much water '. ' This upper 
 spring-liead, wliicli burst out in the wady north of the city, being closed, rendered 
 the vicinity desolate and embari'assed the besiegers. The wonderful fertility which 
 marked those sul)url)s in aftiT times, iiulicates that these fountains were re-opened. 
 Dr. Bonar (' Lam! oi' I'miiiisc,' p. lii'.M nbserves, that this running stream carried off 
 the refuse of the city. Tlie Ki(huii rises aluHit half a mile from the north-west 
 corner of the city, and its j)resent bed wiiuls round its nortli and east sides, half 
 inclosing it, and receives the brook Gihon at the nortli east corner, after which it 
 passes off by a precipitous ravine to the Dead Sea. 
 
 Much of the year it is entii-ely dry, a fact which Dr. (.>lin and Dean Stanley 
 attribute to the entire absence of wooded lands and forests, but in the rainy season 
 it still swells to a torrent of great impetuosity. This makes the well-known bridge 
 necessary, for at those times the stream cannot be forded ; which bridge is seventeen 
 feet above the channel. Modern research renders it probable that the Kidron now 
 flows beneath the ground, and Dr. Barclay thought that he had discovered its course 
 by the noise of hidden running waters. Lieutenant AVarren believes that he has 
 discovered a flight of steps, which anciently connected with this curi-ent. Be this as 
 it may, all modern exploration justifles Wilson, Tristram, Stanley, and others in the 
 ojMnion, that Kidron was a large and more constant stream in the days of our Lord 
 than now. Indeed, the officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund say : ' The enor- 
 mous mass of rubbish now lying in the valley has displaced the old bed of the 
 stream, shifting it ninety feet to the east, and lifting it forty feet higher than its 
 former position.' ^ These facts render it highly probable that the Kidron was avail- 
 able for the purposes of immersion in Apostolic times. Thompson says : ' No other 
 city in this part of the world ' had such profuse supplies of water. ' Jerusalem was 
 so abundantly supplied with water, that no inconvenience from this source was 
 experienced, even during the many and long sieges which the city sustained." It 
 is simply absurd to pretend that while a whole nation could flnd water enough to 
 keep the Jewish feasts three times a j^ear, a little band of three thousand converts 
 could flnd no water for an act of obedience in following the example and connnand 
 of Jesus but once in all the ages. 
 
 Herod had put all the water-works of Jerusalem in repair, and in our Lord's 
 time they were in full use. Tiii^ Pools were open to the free use of the public, some 
 of them for public bathing purposes, as is evident from John v, 2-9; ix, 7; Christ's 
 disciples having as free access to them as others. The Jewish priests used to wash 
 the sacrificial animals in Bethesda, and hence it wiis commonly known as the ' Sheep- 
 pool.' Dr. Carpenter doubts whether the priests themselves washed them there, 
 but says that they were washed there before being delivered for sacriflce.'' It cov- 
 ered more than an acre of ground, and 30,000 people could bathe in it at once. 
 John speaks of a 'multitude' waiting to bathe there, none questioning their right. 
 The Lower Gihon was alike ample and accessible for the same purpose. Tiiompson 
 
78 
 
 POOLS rsh:i) Foi; nATinxo. 
 
 speaks m1s„ „1- tlir I'uul uf llr: 
 water sulli.-icnt Inr lialfuf the 
 that tlic watri' was iimmI ,-lii,'lh 
 
 as -An mnncu.e reservoir, eapal.le of Loldini; 
 My,-niilc .•alle.l it llnrkrl ilui.iinaii, and slid 
 itl,,-.-"' Tlir de>e,,nt (,f >tr|,> and the ^helvili- 
 
 hdtt.iiii ..f iii..^t (.r the.M' TnoU, a.la])ted them for easy de>rciit into the watej' at any 
 desired .U'lith. Antoninns, the martyr, who liN.-d in tlie >ixth c-entnry, says, tliat 
 tlie i)eo].i(_- cHistantly hatlied in Si!,, am. a:, we liave .seen tliat tii.-y did in I'.ethesda. 
 Ilurne, in his ' Jntroduetiun," says : ' It was one of the laws of tlie Ildirews, that tlie 
 bath shonhl be used. Lev. xiv, 8, 9. We may, therefore, consider it as probable 
 
 
 .r 
 
 
 M. 
 
 THE POOL OP HEZEKIAH. 
 
 that public baths, soon after the enactment of this law, were erected in Palestine, of 
 a construction similar to that of those which are so frequently seen at the present 
 day in the East.' These are very numerous, especially in India. Butler, in his 
 ' Land of the Veda ' (pp. 27. 28), gives a full account of the ablutions of the devotee 
 in these pools, and tells us that after his ceremonies and prayers, ' He plunges 
 thrice into the water, each time repeating the prescribed expiatory texts.' There 
 were many of them, also at Eome, wonderful structures. Agrippa built about 
 a hundred and sixty of them at Rome, and Caracalla supplied marble seats 
 in one bath for sixteen hundred persons, for eighteen hundred coidd bathe 
 at one time. Diocletian kept l-iO.DiK) men for years in building his baths for 
 
rill-: ADMiyisruA tor: 
 
 the public."' The cun»t;iiit iiilliix uf struiiyurs at Jcnisulem rendered similar 
 ai-rangemeiits necessary, even to ordinary liealth and cleanliness. Dean Stanley 
 thus disposes of the question : ' In that age the scene of the transaction was either 
 some deep way-side spring or well, as for the Ethiopian ; or some rushing river, as 
 the Jordan, or some vast reservoir, as at Jericho or Jerusalem ; whither, as in the 
 Baths of Caracalla at Rome, the whole population resorted for swimmiiii,' or 
 Wiishing.' 
 
 if administrators, the case is quite as clear, 
 made eighty-two administrators of Christ's 
 
 tune 
 
 • Seventv. 
 
 As to the 
 The 'Twelve,' and the 
 own selection, who were 
 ready to administer the 
 holy rite, out of the one 
 hundred and twenty disci- 
 ples present. In baptizing, 
 two minutes for each can- 
 didate allows the greatest 
 deliberation in the im- 
 mersion, and this slow- 
 ness at Pentecost would 
 have allowed the baptism 
 of three thousand witli 
 great ease. In the ti-i 
 umphs of Christianit\, 
 this number of bapti'-m- 
 in a day is by no mean'- 
 exceptional. In Ireland. 
 Patrick immersed seven 
 kings and 11,000 of their 
 subjects in a day, according 
 to Farrell's Life of him ; 
 Austin immersed 10,000 in 
 the Swale, April 20, A. D. 
 598; Remigius immersed Clovis I. and .''.,000 of his warriors in a day; and at Vel- 
 umpilly, in the Madras Presidency, in July, A. D. 1S7S, 2,222 persons were 
 immersed on the faith in Christ, in about six hours, the ordinance being admin- 
 istered with great solemnity by six administrators. 
 
 Luke tells ns, that after the 3,000 had been added t.^ the original body of 
 believers they 'remained steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in 
 breaking of bread and in prayers.' Here he defines every true element in the 
 Apostolic Church, or that can be necessary to any C4ospel Church to the end of 
 time. Luke's definition is the best that has ever been given, and in every 2)articular. 
 
 POOL FOR ABLUTION — liABA-ATEL TEMPLE. 
 
STEPIIEX. 
 
 They were 
 
 ';i.1(1.m| 
 
 • wli 
 
 tlRMl tlirv 
 
 ivccivc.l 
 
 I".:,| 
 
 Wurslii|.. 
 
 In tiv.it 
 
 
 tOSJIfuk nl 
 
 ■ til.. v\v. 
 
 (■ti..li 
 
 riiilii 
 
 > and St. 
 
 •plu: 
 
 sak'in, now 
 
 ■ l...>in n 
 
 
 lIKll'kud I.v 
 
 i;ivat (• 
 
 ndoN 
 
 1 i;i\eii pi-uuf of IiciJuntanee ami Trust in Cliri.st; 
 ,i_il liy Fellowship, the Lord's Suppei', and Public 
 -titution of a Gospel Chui'ch, it will be necessary 
 at .[eriisaJL 
 
 1 an.l of 
 
 other thino-s. 
 
 
 ■hosen t. 
 
 II serve the Churcli at 
 
 J. 
 
 influence 
 1 .-piriti 
 ition, ai 
 
 _■; tSteiiheii. especially, 
 lal. At this time, tin 
 id was a i^Teater educa 
 
 be 
 toi 
 
 ires wer 
 
 e read tlieiv on the Sa 
 
 ,1.1 
 
 of 
 the Jews than the Temple itself; as the Sci-iptures were read tlieiv on the Sabbath 
 and several other days of the week, e.\]iositions were given also, and free disputation 
 liad, — practices which kept the public uiind awake in search of religious knowledge. 
 The Rabbins mention the extravagant number of 4S0 synagogues in the holy city. 
 
 To these, the inliabitants 
 
 constantly resorted, and 
 the foreign Jews had es- 
 tablislied their own there, 
 foi tlie use of tlieir eoun- 
 ti)men. Classed with 
 the Asiatic synagogues 
 w e find the strangers from 
 ( diiia, to wliich body it 
 is niiKt likely that Saul 
 of T.irsus was attaclied. 
 Vets vi, 9. The natural 
 supposition is, that Ste- 
 phen and Saul first met there in warm dispute, for Stephen defended the Gospel 
 against the frequenters of these synagogues, and being unable to answer him, false wit- 
 nesses charged him with defaming the Temple and the law. On this plea he was 
 dragged before the Sanhedrin, where he delivered his matchless defense, equaled only 
 in grasp, eloquence, and logic by the after addresses of the young Cilician himself. 
 But its efEect was to enrage the council and the people; and against all forms of law 
 he was dragged out of the city and stoned. AVhile sufiEerhig without the gate he 
 offered the very prayer presented by Jesus with his last breath : ' Lord, lay not 
 this sin to their charge ; ' and there stood by a young man named Saul, who was 
 consenting to his death. Heaven only knows the quiverings which this plea stirred 
 in that young breast, quiverings wliicli were never quieted till Jesus gave him rest. 
 Two quenchless flames burst foi'th at that moment, a great persecution which scat- 
 tered the Church at Jerusalem, and an intense missionary enthusiasm. Stubborn 
 prejudice against the Gentiles had restrained the Jewish Christians from taking the 
 Gospel to the ends of the earth, until Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand 
 of God, his first revelation since he entered the heavens years ago, and the ecstatic 
 
SArr.-S WRATIT. 81 
 
 vision inspired his people to obedience. Jesus looked down and saw Steplieu suffer- 
 ing where he had suffered, for tiie same soil was drinking up the blood of liis servant, 
 and when he lieard the cry : ' Lord Jesus, i-eceivc my spirit,' Jesus remembered the 
 softness of his Father's bosoni when he sent forth the same plea. Then he arose 
 from his throne, for as the Head he felt Stejihen's pain, and eagerly sheltered him 
 on his breast, safe fi'om the stony shower. The martyr's jiale cheek glowed with 
 life and love, when his Master's arms welcomed the tirst liaptist Deacon safely 
 across the Vale of Death. This is tlu' only time tliat we read of Jesus 'standing' 
 at the right hand of God, touched in innmirtal I'riindship, by the first horrors of 
 martyrdom. 
 
 But as Jesus welcomed Stephen's spirit through the heavenly gate, his eye 
 fell upon the young Tarsian standing by the garments of his murderers, and from 
 that hour Saul was made, as he expressed it himself, the ' slave of Jesus Christ.' 
 On the soil which was dyed purple with the blood of the murdered officer of 
 Christ's Church, there sprang up the first blade in the harvest of Chi-istian missions. 
 Saul became furious for a time, but Stephen's prayer had lodged in his blood- 
 thirsty soul like a barbed arrow, and electing love in heaven had ordained him the 
 Apostle to the Gentiles. Four-and-twenty years afterward, when a similar mob 
 sought to kill him in this same Jerusalem, the old scene rose before him in all its 
 freshness, and extorted from him the touching cry : ' When the blood of thy witness, 
 Stephen, was shed, I myself was standing by, and consenting and keejaing the gar- 
 ments of those who slew him.' Acts xxii, 20. 
 
 The picture which Liike draws of the infuriated Saul is frightful : ' He made 
 havoc of the Church, and breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the dis- 
 ciples.' Maddened fii'st by the barbs in his heart, and more enraged with the blood 
 which he had already tasted, his hot breath became slaughter, like that of the pant- 
 ing tiger. And yet, Stephen's triumphant fortitude and faith had recalled him to 
 his better self. But this neither staggered nor softened his obstinate hatred of the 
 Nazarene. He says that he was ' so exceeding mad ' that he gave ' his voice,' or 
 vote, against the saints and persecuted them unto death. Misgiving made his bru- 
 tality more ferocious at the first, but the horrors of remorse came afterward. It 
 were impossible for a man of his sensitive nature to remain unmoved by the manly 
 reasonings and sublime love of young Stephen. They not only haunted him as a 
 saintly specter, but so long as he resented them they goaded him. So long as he 
 writhed in a hot frenzy, the blood from Stephen's temples only flecked the foam 
 of his own mouth, so that he sought relief in new outrages. He hunted the 
 harmless flock of Christ from city to city, staining his sword with their innocent 
 blood. In reality, however, he had long been at school under a combination of 
 such teachers as infinite wisdom only could command. In preparing for the new 
 brotherhood, he was to be qualified for a work many-sided and greater than had yet 
 fallen to the lot of any "lan, ami it called for an education which none other had 
 
82 N. I 1 7;.s' PA IlENTA E. 
 
 ruccivctl. Why did .h^siis need a tliii-twiitli Apo^tlu^ or why liad 1il' not chosuti 
 tliat muuber at tlic liivf '. The new (•inLTgeiicy called for a new man. The Twelve 
 had been faithful to the -lews, hut they had neglected the Gentiles, so that when 
 the new crisis arose there was no missionary ready to enter the i;reat centers uf 
 Greek and llonnm life fur ( 'hrist. 
 
 Jattle is known of Said's |):irents, except that they were Jews, of the tribe of 
 Uenjaniin and of tiie Pliarisaic sect, ills father, however, was a Koinan citizen, as 
 his son was ' fivt^-horn,' a fact giving higher raidc to the family than the Jews gen- 
 erally held. They evinced some decision in naming their son after the heroic king 
 of tlteir own tribe, whose pride and suicidal death had dislnjiiored his fame for ages. 
 Saul was born at Tar.sns, the capital of Gilicia, in Asia Minor, ])r(.iliably al)out seven 
 
 years after the birth of Christ. This was no mean city in p<ipidatioii, intliience, or 
 history. It was founded, I!. ( '. S^U ; was captured by the youn-er Cyrus, 401 ; again 
 by Alexander the Great, 333, and stood loyal to Cajsar against Pompey, B. C. 47. Its 
 schools abounded in number and superiority, so that it was a seat of great learning. 
 In rhetoric, philosophy, philology and science, it disputed pre-eminence with Alex- 
 andria and Athens, and many of its scholars were famous. It was, also, a free city, 
 situated on the navigable river Cydnus, which emptied into the Mediterranean, then 
 the central sea of the world. It had large commercial dealings with Europe, espe- 
 cially Italy, which gave it considerable political strength. The forests of Tarsus 
 made it a great timber market, and it manufactured large quantities of coarse, black 
 hair-clotli, clipped from the countless goats of the forests. This was woven for the 
 covering of tents and other rough uses. Saul was a maker of this fabric, a trade 
 which called for little skill, and gave but a scant reward, leaving him free to think 
 of the wandering races whom his cloth would cover. But Tarsus was a thoroughly 
 
ms EAniY LIFE. 83 
 
 pagan city, as bud, iiionilly, as it wull coulcl \>v. Its populatiuii was cliii'tly of the 
 Greek and Aramaic races, and its language a dialect of PhaMiicia. In this seething 
 mass of superstition, dishonesty and immorality, Saul spent his ehiMliddi,! and early 
 youth, when his senses were the most quick, and his soul the most iinpressii)ie ; and 
 bis after life reveals the deep impression which his observations left upon him. So 
 powerfully were his convictions moulded touching the abominations of a city given 
 to idolatry, that the drift of his feeling differed from that of his compeers of Gal- 
 ilee. His native city showed him next to nothing of the landscape and the imagery 
 of nature, but as he elbowed his way through throngs in its narrow streets, he studied 
 pagau man as man. This early study ran in the lines of passion, law, self-discipline 
 and self-degradation, as he saw them Ih'Tdit his eyes. This gave liim a widely dif- 
 ferent knowledge of the masses of iiuinauity 1mm that of the Twelve, ami made 
 him a profounder student of pagan philosophy and its practical results, than he 
 could have been had he spent his life in studying its theory, though versed in its 
 minutest axioms. It even affected his methods of speech, for as a rule, his metaphors 
 and symbols were borrowed from metropolitan life ; — architecture, military garrisons, 
 movements of troops in fortified cities, and the games which drew excited crowds 
 from their gates. 
 
 This was the school for the examination of idolatry, and in the lives of the 
 gods, and their devotees. Saul read these lessons there. His knowledge of the 
 tongue, customs, manners, spirit and practices of the pagans, qualified him to 
 approach and understand the enormous majority of our race, as few Jews then 
 living understood them. It is thought that he never mastered the Greek ele- 
 mentally, as his style is not after the classic models, his rhetoric being defective and 
 his figures harsh and mixed. Possibly, any tutor of Tarsus would have ridiculed 
 his Syriac peculiarities and Hebraisms, and Aristotle might have scouted his logic. 
 But was it needful for an Apostle to be a finished Grecian in order to beard godless 
 Greek wickedness ? He had to handle its moral side rather than its metaphysics 
 and mj'steries. He must be able to unsheath the sword of the Spirit, and strike 
 home in easy and natural strokes, without first mastering foreign tactics. His first 
 necessity was a perfect freedom from pi-ejudice against the Gentiles, and a tender 
 love for them, with ability to address them fluently and forcefully. Perhaps it was 
 impossible for a native Palestinian to overcome entirely the national antijjathy 
 against the Gentiles which imbued his whole people. Saving sympathy with the 
 Gentile masses nnist come by feeling the power of their mental acuteness, as well 
 as the foulness of their depravity. The Twelve knew little of this by actual con- 
 tact, and Saul did imt ciMiie tn understand it in a day. He was allied to tiie heathen 
 by first breathing life in tiieir midst. l)y loving them as natives of his mother-land, 
 and by tenderness for them as his own countrymen. Having met them first in the 
 gates of death, he could throw open to them the gates of life, with a free and firm 
 hand. Personal knowledge of the immunities and realities of Roman citizenship, 
 
84 UTS SCTWOL-DATS. 
 
 of the charms of Greek iutelleet and its religious biiglit ; and at the same time, an 
 intimacy with the deepest tone of Hebrew reverence and legalism were indispensa- 
 ble in an Apostle to the Gentiles. Natural affection under the compelling love of 
 (iod, must hind him to lionian, (ireek and Jew, without a perpetual fight with his 
 pri'judices, in order to save them all. These met in .Saul, as in no other man of 
 whom we have knowledge. Even the feet of Jesus had never trodden Greek soil, 
 iior was he a Eoman citizen, hut the vassal of a captured province, under Koman 
 law, or he could not have been the Man <>{ Calvary. 
 
 Saul also needed a thorough Jlelirew training, wliicli should subject all his 
 other knowledge to his religious convictions. For this purpose he went to Jerusa- 
 lem, possibly when about thirteen years of age, to i>e educated by Gamaliel, the 
 great Hebrew preceptor. Jewish custom kept him at home until he was five years 
 old, where as a child-student he was taught only the Scriptures as a ' Son of the 
 law,' nntil he was sent to school at si.x. At ten, he took up the study of the oral 
 law, and if he was to be a Ilalil)i, he entei'ed the school of some great master at 
 thirteen, as a ' Son of the Connnandment,' that is, a student of the traditions of the 
 fathers. While Jesus, therefore, under less than a score of years was sweating at 
 the carpenter's bench, without the privilege of ' letters ; ' Saul, a youth of thirteen, 
 was in hard training for liis service in a school of the highest ordei', and less than 
 seventy-five English miles from him. Day by day the Carpenter bent to his work, 
 and pensively read his sacrificial end in the very fiber of the M'ood which his edge- 
 tools laid bare ; but the young tent-cloth maker was in the lecture-room at Jerusa- 
 lem, poring over the hero-Messiah in the Hebrew Parchments, certain that he was 
 near at hand, not to build thrones as a mechanic, but to sit upon them as a 
 monarch. 
 
 The Jews liad but seven great educators, to whom they gave the title of Eabban. 
 Saul's tutor was of the most liberal order, in broad contrast with Shammai, of the 
 hard and liarsh school. No Eabbi then living was so well qualified to form Saul's 
 character; for Gamaliel was liumane, tolerant, high-minded, and for a Pharisee 
 broad, so large that he permitted tlie use of pagan literature to his pupils. In this 
 great school all Hebrew scholarship was interwoven into Saul's life. His manhood 
 tells us, that as a boy he was impetuous and unselfish, with a strong will, a vigorous 
 intellect, and of deep emotion. From these would spring felicity of manners, lofty 
 aspirations, rigid simplicity of habit and firmness of opinion ; the very qualities 
 which make the best and worst of men, according to the motives which control them. 
 He was devoted to pure ethics and religious ideals, but the Kabbinical process of 
 interpretation surfeited his spirit with an ulti-a scrupulosity for the letter of Script- 
 ure, in fact, made him a thorough Talmudist. No man could walk easily in the web 
 which those teachings spread for his feet. They split up the commands and pro- 
 hibitions of Moses into 613 separate enactments ; putting casuistry for conscience, 
 and a petty, hair-siilitting piety for honest obedience to God. They made men do 
 
PHARISAIC SCRUPLES. SS 
 
 iiiuro tli;ui God reijuired, l»y turning a short corner on the enactment, althoujrli tliey 
 cheated it by failing tn do half of what it demanded. In all acts of microscopic 
 piety the sieve was so line that the tiniest gnat on the wing was caught and held 
 lirmly ; init in j^ravcr mattei-s, like mercy, justice and truth, its meshes passed a 
 camel without toucliini;- hump or hoof. Tallies, plates, pots, cups and ceremonial 
 vessels of all sorts, were rinsed, scoured and scrubbed to thinness. When a Sad- 
 ducee saw a Pharisee in a heavy sweat while rubbing the golden lamp-stand in the 
 Temple, he solemnly suggested that the sun might bear a scouring now and then. 
 When a few widows' houses were to be devoured, pious greed filled its maw with 
 serene composure ; but if an unfortunate hen laid an egg on the Sabbath, that raised 
 the serious gastroiioniic ijnc>tioii whether oi- not it could be eaten, on which point 
 Ilillel an<l Shammai came to lieavy Pickwickian blows. Whether Partlet had 
 broken the Sablmth was a dispute which could not so easily be settled; but the 
 demand that a man let his light shine was easily met ; for a serio-comic Pharisee 
 would at once don his robes, carefully ai'range its fringes and tassels, and make a 
 long prayer at the street-corner, and so one street was all ablaze with piety at any 
 rate, if the rest of the city were left in midnight gloom. 
 
 It was needful that Saul should be thoroughly vei-scd in all the ti-itiing ques- 
 tions of this sort, that he might perfectly nnderstand the Jewish piety of his day, 
 and how to deal with its empty claims ; his summary disposal of them afterward 
 indicates his early training therein, and his power in enforcing their opposites. 
 Hard study of this traditional literature exposed to him its whole inner life and 
 legal hardness. Free from the sensual, for a time he was stubbornly wedded to a 
 narrow formalism, which made him a daring zealot for every jot of Pharisaic pre- 
 cision, even to intolerance. After he left the school of Gamaliel, we first meet him, 
 a ' young man ' possibly of thirty, standing relentlessly over the mangled body of 
 Stephen. His keen, far-reaching eye saw that unless the Nazarene heresy were 
 crushed at once, it must be fatal to the ancient faith, and his zeal to crush it kept 
 pace with his quick intellectual caliber. He determined to lead in this crusade, a 
 fanatic as to the tradition of liis fathers, and obtained letters of authority from The- 
 ophilus, the High-Priest, and chief of the Sanhedrin ; search-warrants legalizing his 
 frosty exasperation to leave no home safe against his sharp inquisition. Hearing 
 that Christ's disciples had gathered a flock in Damascus, he caught new fire and 
 flew to their slaughter. That city was 1-iO miles north-east of Jerusalem, a five-or- 
 six-days' journey, but he determined to drag men and women that weary distance to 
 punish them. Had his power equaled his hate, his hot breath had flashed like 
 lightning to slay every Christian in the great Syrian city. But to reach this cage 
 of unclean birds, he must speed his way across the Jordan, over the hills of Bashan, 
 through the burning lands of Itursea, and past the brow of Ilermon. He seems 
 never to have met Jesus in his Jerusalem ministry, yet he had often trodden in his 
 foot-prints, in walking its streets, climbing the Temple hill, or passing its gates. 
 
aOTNd TO VAMASCrS. 
 
 wli 
 
 .Ic'sns liail tal<eii wlieii lie came from Naz- 
 rricliu. aiHl .111 to r.etlialara, wliciv Jnlui baptized. 
 p til Mile (ialilee, where Jesus trod the wave, opened 
 stnppi-il deaf ears, as adder-like as Saul's. 
 
 Now, he swept tlie same 
 areth, passing IJethel to 
 Theneo lie forced his wa,; 
 tlie eyes of the lilind, and 
 
 Onward he pressed, league after league, over ground which the sandals of our 
 Lord had iiiailc holy. On his right Gilead loomed up in majesty, on his left Tabor 
 and llerinoii, but lie saw no glory of Transfiguration. He saw not a foot-mark of 
 the Land I of (o.jd in the way, and heard no lingering echoes of his voice amongst 
 the cedars and spurs of Lebanon. As he crossed the limped Pharpar and readied 
 those plains of Paradise watered by many tViiintaiMs and the golden Abaiia, a world 
 of beauty and bloom thirty miles long, oli\e-yards and \ineyards, lacli fields and fig- 
 
 oichaids stietehcd btfoie him Evei} hue of byiun sunshine was reflected from 
 then gloss} foliige md fiuit The gnpe hung in festoons, the apricot bent the 
 tree, the peach and pomegranate, the prune and walnut adorned every rod. They 
 rose and fell in turn over plain and declivity, but neither to tempt his appetite nor 
 to quench his thirst. He heard nothing but the rautterings of death in the leaves 
 of the trees, and thirsted only for a stronger cup, the wine of which was red, drawn 
 from the veins of saints, till its fumes should make him drunk and reel. And what 
 was it to him that the distant domes and towers spoke of the ancient city and its 
 founder, the grandson of Slieni ; what that it was a way-mark to Abraham on the 
 road to Canaan, 1,900 years bade ; or that Elisha broke into tears before its walls for 
 the woes brought upon Israel by Hazael, in slaying men and women in cold blood 
 there, as Saul himself would do? AVhat cared he that David had captured Damas- 
 cus for Judea 1,000 years ago i lie was not seeking the relics of antiquity, but the 
 
:MITIE.\ Tt 
 
 THE 
 
 ;noixn. 
 
 87 
 
 divii; 
 int;- .• 
 liigli. 
 eneii 
 
 KiltL" 
 
 piilsr rhatli, 
 
 _V (Juivi'lTll ' 
 ,■...„, just Wh, 
 
 jiHt l)C"i:-uii to hu:it ill the iu'\v-li(irii Syrian Clnireli. Tlie glar- 
 tii iiioltfii licat ; but liis liery spirit made it hotter. It was 
 iiis victims wore at midday prayers, imploring mercy on tlieir 
 d zealot liad i^^w far enoiiH-Ji. A word from Christ threw tlie 
 , and the sun in tlie tirinanicnt turned pale. The Friend of 
 Stephen had j)atieiitly watched the splendid fanatic, and stepped from his throne to 
 forbid his trampling one saint under foot in that Gentile city. Jerusalem had 
 stained its hoary old ashes with the blood of the Man of Sorrows and his servant 
 Stephen, and not one drop should stain the streets of Daniiiseus that day, to rot) 
 the Holy City of its gory notoriety. 
 
 Wiien the shower of stones fell upon Stephen, Jesus felt the pangs, and now 
 the voice of doulile tenderness demanded : 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?' 
 Stephen's Saviour told Saul that he was 'apprehended,' made a prisoner of love, 
 and that it was tlu," pni't of an infuriated ox to resist and drive the goads deeper 
 into his own tiesh. Thus fettered and stricken blind, Saul fell to the ground, pray- 
 ing : ■ Lord, what wilt thou have me to do T For the lirst time the guilt of his old 
 life burst upon him, and he saw 
 himself the ' chief of sinners.' 
 Blind t,. outsid,. life, he looked 
 within now, wheiX' an unseen 
 world burst upon his ('(Jiiseious- 
 ness. When the Kisen One 
 stood before him in the path of 
 vision, and called himself ' Je- 
 sus,' a holy fear crept over his 
 flesh and spirit, a touch of new 
 life changed the universe to 
 him. He asked not wliat his 
 comi)anions in crime woulil say, 
 — whether the authorities at 
 Jerusalem would wreak their 
 vengeance upon him for his 
 breach of faith as an apostate, — but only what the hated Xazarcne wished him to 
 do ! In a moment, his violence is softened into inquiry, his fanaticism into sub- 
 mission, his tyranny into manliness. In the twinkling of an eye he becomes a 
 prodigy of saving grace ; a brother of all mankind emerges from the ringleader of 
 persecutors, a thirteenth Apostle comes to the birth: ' Born out of due time.' 
 
 POOL FOR RELIGIOUS ABLUTION — GOLDEN TEMP 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAUL AND GENTILE MISSIONS. 
 
 SAUL'S cavalcade is dispersed and lie is k'd stricken and helpless, that his 
 head may weep in a dark place while his eyes are sealed. Did ever man 
 question his crest-fallen soul like this man, in the home of Ananias? The talk 
 that he hears is all new, and the strange hymns which float nnder its roof awaken 
 hidden thoughts in the secret chambers of his spirit. The iliseii>]es who waited 
 for his prisons and chains, hear that he is the Mind suljject of Christian lios- 
 pitality. Yesterday he fell before the gate a ruined sinner, but rose a consecrated 
 saint — fell a butcher of the saints, rose a champion Apostle. Yesterday morning he 
 was a vulture sailing over the prey on which he gloated ; to-day, he is a gentle dove 
 covered with silver, and feathers of yellow gold. Outside the gate, he was a prowl- 
 ing wolf ; in the home of Ananias, a trembling lamb ; for the slayer of women came 
 out of the baptistery with his heart breaking for all human woe. 
 
 After three days, news ran through the city that he was at the synagogue. 
 Why was he there ? Let us see. It is thronged, and crowds gather at its doors. 
 Floods of eloquent truth flow from a strange voice, and sound out a strange Name 
 in the holy oratory of the synagogue. This reasoning is not after the dialectics of 
 Gamaliel, it is like Stephen's, as clear, as warm, as conclusive. The old apology of 
 that martyr haunts him ; Saul is wielding Stephen's old logic with mighty power. 
 He dares to say, that the Crucified is the Son of God ! Perhaps his mind's eye 
 sees the face of the martyr shining like the face of an angel in the heaven of 
 heavens. Or does the ghost of the murdered man make his penitence eloquent ? 
 No matter. The synagogue rocks with excitement. In the first stupor of suqjrise, 
 the Jews ask : ' Is not this he who destroyed the Galileans ? This is not the fierce 
 man of Tarsus. He could not fi'ame such thoughts, would not talk so wildly.' Yet, 
 he grows warmer, bolder, broader. He cites the Sacred Rolls from Genesis to Mal- 
 achi to prove that Jesus is the Christ. Blank astonishment seizes the Jews ; they 
 gather in knots to consult, and are half-pai'alyzed. Their surprise gives place to in- 
 dignation. Why do they not drag him forth, cast him out, put him to death ? But 
 he moves on and on like a torrent, clearer and stronger than ever ; until he comes 
 to tell of his own rescue from perdition. As he gives his story, new and holy 
 fire makes him tremble from head to foot in the realities of one who is saved, 
 when he cries to the surging crowd : ' I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and 
 overbearing; l)Ut I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth 
 
ms ARABIAN SECLUSION. 89 
 
 iill loiiy-suffcriiiir. tor :i p:itttTii to them who shall hereafter helieve on him to life 
 everliisting.' 
 
 The aceouiit which iie writes of his early Christian Hfe, in his Epistle to the 
 Galatians, shows that he now spent three years in Arabia ; which, by Jewish reckon- 
 ing, might mean one whole year with a part of two others. A veil is thrown over 
 this Arabian visit. Whether the name designates the peninsula of Sinai, bounded 
 by Egy])t and the upper part of the Ked Sea, or the desert north of thi.s, or the 
 desert of Petraea or all these togethei', is not known. Most likely the word ' Arabia ' 
 has a somewhat local meaning, which covers Sinai and the regions adjacent. Ara- 
 bian Jews had heard the C4ospeI from Peter at Pentecost, and, possibly, having been 
 converted, had returned to their own country. The original inhabitants of these 
 wild districts were descendants of Ishmael, whose religion degenerated into a sort 
 of fetich idolatry, and amongst these Arabs, Saul was to outgrow his cold bigotry 
 and narrow traditions into a broad messenger of grace to all orders of Gentiles. 
 He tells us, that in going there he neither consulted his own inclin;itions nor the 
 wishes of others, but cheerfully took the burden laid upon him by Christ. This 
 was the great crisis of his life, and he must be severed from all controlling human 
 influences until he passed it safely. At the birthplace of the Old Covenant, whicli 
 burned with fire, he must study the ministry of death, that he might better preach 
 the life of the New Covenant. Up to this point in his history, his great strength 
 lay in the fact, that he owned himself without reserve, for in his intense hate his 
 imperious will had been the regnant center of his being. In Arabia he must put 
 himself entirely under the will of another. As a strong man, he held the new truth 
 without wavering, free from those petty suspicions which torment the weak. For 
 him to take liberties with the truth would be disloyalty, but thorough exploration 
 of all its parts would give its whole em]>ii'e a unity, which must correct his distor- 
 tions of the moral law, and tutor him for the invincible preaching of the Gospel. 
 In this way he could perfect his character, and prepare for action on a large scale ; 
 being first a debtor to the Jew and the Greek, the polished and the barbarian. But 
 in order to repay the whole race, he must go first to Arabia. 
 
 Had he gone back to Jerusalem to consult with the elder Apostles, their pi'c jndices 
 against taking the Gospel to the Gentiles might have chilled him, or it might appear 
 that he had received authority from them. But Jesus kept him apart b}' sending 
 him to those solitary granite mountains where Moses, the head of the law, and Elijah, 
 the head of the prophets, were educated for their work, and where isolation brought 
 him under the absolute dictation of his Lord. For three years Christ had instructed 
 the Twelve personally, and Saul, the new Apostle, must go for the same length of 
 time, to these crags, cliffs and wastes, for schooling around the frowning mount, 
 under Christ's exclusive teaching. He hail now rejected his former interpretation 
 of Moses, iind so at Sinai he must learn :inew what the Lawgiver meant, as quoted by 
 Stephen : 'A Prophet will God raise uj) to you, him shall ye hear.' He could better 
 
no HACK yo 7).\.]fAsrus. 
 
 Ifuni this oil the liolv -niiiiid which Ii.'kI .|iki1cc(1 in hliirkness and tempest. Saul 
 should study tlm (id.^j.cl whci-c the Law wa^ ^ivrn, and ohtain full knowledge of the 
 blood of s])l•inkiill^■ whciT (idd liad drdaincil that there can l)e no remission of sin 
 witJiont hI,.ud-.-hc(ldin-. Wlicn I'ahnr.l, in>trnctcd, and strengthened under the 
 sliadc (if Sinai, he would he ready to ascend Calvary. The trumpet resounding 
 an.nnd tlic Ic-ai iiK.nnt, .sh.MiId teach liini Im.w to press another tniniiiet to his lips 
 and ],n,<-hiini the vuice ..f other w..nl>, with a self-c,mscions joy whi<-li sliould e.xidt 
 ill the cry: 'Thanks he to ({od wlio makes us to ti'innipli in every place; 
 
 At the end of his Arabian life he returned to Damascus, wheiv he was assailed 
 by his foes, who were maddened against him; and he lied for safety to Jerusalem. 
 His preaching forced the Jews to re-examine their own faitli. and they plotted 
 his assassination at the opening of his Apostolic career. His C'liristian brethren 
 kept him secret until night, and when the streets and walls of the city were tinder 
 close guard, they let him down in a net, or rope-basket, from a window in the wall, 
 opening into a house inside the city. Stealing from the eyes vf men whom he fain 
 would bless, for the first time the world's Apostle fled for liis life. "When lowered 
 into the outer darkness, as into a well, he grasped the n^ie, but lie coidd hear his 
 own heart beat; and what thoughts trooped through his soul at that sad moment! 
 lie came to that city to lash by the wrists Christ's disciples in gangs, and now tied to 
 a rope for his own deliverance, that he might preach that Christ to all. Then, he 
 would cage all the saints in jirison, to kill them ; but now, how gladly he cramps liim- 
 
 jH-esents him to us as 'a wild bull caught in a net' at last; and, possilily, the hands 
 that drop him to the ground are those which he intended to enchain. He groped his 
 way through the dark, with only a star here and there to shed a ray on his path, as if 
 poetic justice reminded him by contrast of his noon-tide persecution. He trod upon 
 liis own dark plots at every step, and no chapter in his history would so stir our hearts 
 as the record of his thoughts when he repassed the spot where Christ smote him to 
 the earth. Did he look into the heavens now to see them re-open ? O ! what 
 would he have given then for one more glimpse of the Son of maul And how 
 wakeful was the car of his heart, to catch one whisper of his voice. He tells us 
 himself (Gal. i, 18) that he desired to see Peter. For what!' He has concealed 
 his heart musings. But for once, he wanted to look the honest boatman in the 
 face; to catch the wondrous story of redemption from a fresh memory anil a full 
 lieart. His soul-musings must have been wonderful as he made his way bac]< 
 through Palestine. On reaching 'The Place of Stoning,' hard by the Damascus 
 gate of Jerusalem, where he first breathed out threatening and slaughter, wliat were 
 his thoughts ? Did he pick up a stone there, to see if it still bore the stain of 
 Stephen's blood? Did he bury his face in his 'cloak' and sob, where he had 
 watched tlie clothes of those who stoned Stephen ? That had been Paul-like. 
 
 Saul came liack to the Holy City another man. He longed to nestle in the 
 
\n yrrsaivixG: 
 
 w;iriii love of tlio.se wlioin he luul hated, and sought to joui them. Three years had 
 proved his conversion thorough, and he made not for the home of his old tutor, nor 
 did lie seek for Onkelos, the coming author of the Targum, who had sat at his side 
 in the great school as Gamaliel's pupil. Ihit he went directly U> the disciples of 
 The Jews had once reposed contiiU'iice in Idni and iironiised him a l)rilliant 
 
 !!- 
 
 
 .^ ^ s 
 
 >%.. 
 
 A 
 
 future, now they had tunu'd their liacks u])iin him. and he met a cold reception 
 amongst the Christians. Tliey susjjeeted him. j.,uke says : ' All were afraid of 
 him, not helieving that he was a disciple.' lie had been so furious against them that 
 his name was odious, and they feared to be entrapped in some horrible plot. In this 
 atmosphere of distrust, the delicate love and heroic courage of that choice spirit, 
 Barnabas, took him by the hand, led iiim to the Apostles, and told them all the 
 particulars of his conversion. They saw tliat his vision was no creation of his brain. 
 
92 TIIK FinST GKNTTLE riWUril. 
 
 and tliat the words of .Icsns tu liim were no note of bis iiaagiiiatinu, l)ut tliat in truth 
 he had become a follower of .lc.-.u>. llarnnhus silenced the feai's of the bretijren, and 
 Saul was welcomed by Tetur and Janie^, our Lord's brother, whom he now met for 
 the first time. The new Apostle began at once to build u)i the faith where he had 
 sought its destruction, until the Grecian Jews threateneil his life This latter fact 
 sImiws 1i,,\v thoroughly his three years' study uf Christian truth had subonjinated his 
 -lewish attaimnents to the serviee of Christ. Saul had never met the S,,n of Mary 
 in the metropolis, but their eyes had looked upon the same men, and now their feet 
 had passed the same streets on the same errand of love, and tlii-ir hearts had become 
 the treasury of the same truths. 
 
 Saul remained in Jerusalem only fifteen days (Gal. i, 19) ; and then his l)i'cthren 
 saved his life a second time, by sending him to Tarsus, where, most likely, he estab- 
 lished the churches in Cilicia. Meanwhile, persecution had driven certain disciples 
 to Antioch, which was now to become a great center for the spread of the Gospel, 
 to which work the Apostle should devote the best thirty years of his life. For 
 this work Christ had educated this great workman. Eighty years were spent by 
 Moses in his education, tbrty in the academies of Egypt, and forty in the desert of 
 Horeb, for a third forty years' work, in making a nation from a mob of slaves. 
 Jesus spent thirty years in preparing for the work of three, and it was meet that 
 his greatest Apostle should spend the same length of time in preparing to lead 
 the Gentile world to the foot of his cross. Some of the disciples who first visited 
 Antioch were fi-om the Island of Cyprus, the very hot-bed of worship offered to 
 Venus ; others were of Cyrene, a Greek city on the African coast between Carthage 
 and Egypt. These first preached to the Jews in Antioch, then turned to the 
 Gentiles and a great number believed. Acts xi, 21. Here the first battle for 
 Christ with unmixed paganism was waged, and the first purely Gentile Church was 
 formed entirely outside of all Judaizing influences. This event shaped the future of 
 Christianity, proving that ' The field is the world.' It is remarkable that this Church 
 was founded without the aid of an Apostle, by converted Hellenist Jews, who had 
 not heard the parable of the sower ; for Barnabas and another Cypriot convert had 
 built up this first Gentile Church in the great Syrian capital. These very irregular 
 and disorderly proceedings amongst the primitive Baptists have greatly shocked 
 certain prelatical parties. But they must bear up under the affliction in some way, 
 for at last it will certainly appear that a simple, immersed Evangelist, confirmed the 
 first Church ever called ' Christian.' Nay, so great was the ingathering that Bar- 
 nabas was compelled to go from Antioch to Tarsus, in search of Saul to help him in 
 the great harvest-field. Antioch was all inquiry ; and the broad nature of Barnabas 
 saw that the issue must be met by a man of wide conceptions, earnest convictions, and 
 liberal sympathies ; a man with full knowledge of human nature, cool, courageous, 
 cosmopolitan ; dead, as far as possible, to crude and timid preferences for race and 
 nationalit}- ; who, in earnest and \\itliout doubt, could clearly and sharply define the 
 
93 
 
 new faith 
 
 IlenceJiepasKMl 
 ill briniriii::' the r;i 
 
 ill the 
 il vuui 
 
 Ta 
 
 '■ "^'1' 
 tu be 
 
 the Lord's Gen- 
 
 tile 
 
 A I 
 
 och had a population of about 500,o0(l, being inferior only to Rome and 
 Alexandria. lUit, as the third city in the empire it vied with these in magnificence, 
 state, luxury, wealth, art and brilliant culture, being called the ' Queen of the East.' 
 Yet, it was the home of every thing vile. Kenan, the skeptic, names it, ' The cap- 
 ital of all lies, and the sink of every description of infamy.' It knew nothing of 
 truth or purity, it was unbridled in its debaucheries, atheistic in its philosophy, and 
 vulgar in its pleasures and worship. Tts wit was sharp and its squibs scurrilous, 
 which accounts for the derisive nickname coined there, "fMiristians ;' and the sights 
 
 perpetrated at its shrines were ribald, nay, shocking beyond degree. This was the 
 battle-field chosen by Jesus for the first real clash of arms between Ids Gospel and 
 the Gentile gods, and Saul was hio chosen missionary. However small the com- 
 pany of disciples within its walls at this time, M-ith this Apostle as their leader, 
 Antioch soon planted all the Asiatic churches, and became the world's pulpit for 
 the cross. ' Even then it gave promise of the day when Ignatius was to pass its 
 gates to seal the truth with his blood, in the Eoman amphitheater. Chrysostom 
 was to be born there, to tell the story of the risen King in Constantinople ; and there 
 100,000 men were to bind the sacred name of derision to their hearts ; and above 
 all, there Bible theology and Gospel songs were to be framed for the inspiration of 
 our race. From the day that Saul entered Antioch, the faith of Christ cut every 
 leading-string which bound it to Mosaism, and this city became the birth-home of a 
 pure Christian nobility, into which all bloods and races were fused, in the name of 
 Jesus. That was a strange crv which this embassador raised in Antioch, when he 
 
iVVvMr raXQl-KSTS. 
 
 called lier sati fists and \ 
 
 necromancers, her liulF 
 
 tinned in this full fdi- -a \ 
 ...•(•urred iii.lini.a in tin- 
 AiitiMchaiid (.thei 
 saleni. These •■nntriliutiuii 
 this was tlie A|M,stle's sec 
 returned to Aniiuch ; IVoii: 
 Ajiostle's Fir^t (ircat .Mis^ 
 WliL-n ('nhinihus left 
 moral re>ults Imn- in the 
 8aul left all that was dea 
 the sea-port of Antioch, U 
 the liver Orontes. to take 
 head, the ark n[ the w. 
 l.ec.,nie the highway of ei' 
 they sailed ahont a hnndre- 
 Christ wroniilitsi-ns and \ 
 
 le chun 
 
 UllS Wl'l 
 
 lies f,, 
 L' srlit 
 
 I- -irlN to 
 nd a '.-rL 
 .f {.'landii 
 1- the relie: 
 l,y the ha, 
 
 <1 military men, her (juaeks and 
 r.rhold the Land,; IJllt he eon- 
 t multitude belies ed." A famine 
 , and collections were taken up in 
 (d' the Jewish Christians at Jeru- 
 Is.d' I!ai-liahasand Saul, A. D. 45 ; 
 ici'sioii, and in the same year he 
 ml John Mark, went forth on the 
 
 alan,-e as those whie 
 ,. them in Antiocli. 
 teen miles west, and 
 ip for the Island of 
 ,1 must he launrliL-d 
 /ation, ideas and em 
 uilcs, wlum they land 
 idrrs l.y the (io^prl. 
 Mown theivafter .mly 
 snmrd t.. r,,nciliate ( 
 le fn,m eliildho,,,!, «■ 
 
 s with 
 hieh in 
 h. Th 
 
 Th 
 
 Ics norlh ,if tlie nnmtli of 
 
 , for from that blaek-saud 
 
 Mediterranean liad now 
 
 IS WL'U as of commerce; and 
 
 Salamis. ,m the inland where 
 
 _■, the great ApostU- dropped 
 
 ml or Paulus. Some think 
 
 ■ prejudice, hut more likely 
 
 m.,n-st the Hebrews he had 
 
 the sacivd stoi-y chan-es. Paul taking higher 
 
 abas, as at Antioeli, but he takes pi-eeedence, 
 
 that the Koinan name was ; 
 
 this had been his Koman name fmn 
 
 been known as Saul. From that tii 
 
 rank. He is no longer second to H; 
 
 and now we read of 'Paul and Barnabas,' not oidy the order of names being 
 
 reversed, but Barnabas falls into the l)ackground aiul Paul becomes the great tigure 
 
 on the glowing canvas, by land and sea. 
 
 No story could be more enchanting or instructi\-e than that of following Paul 
 through his three great missionary tours, but this our limit> forbid. Nothing in 
 history is so enriched, excepting the life of Jesus. 
 It is an inspired panorama. The account covers 
 so many lands, tongues, climates and civilizations 
 that it o])ens the ancient world to us. His various 
 methods of tra\el, his many companions, tlie end- 
 less phases in which he met every possible develop- 
 ment of Judaism and paganism, his devious styles 
 of preaching, his orders of controversy, the unfold- 
 ings of old truths and the revelation of new, his 
 nameless sufferings and successes, are themes preg- 
 nant with importance, and everj' temptation presses to their full treatment. But 
 self-denial imposes silence here, as well as upoTi his numerous Church organizations, 
 especially those to whom he addressed his wonderful Epistles, as the Galatians, the 
 
 ANCIENT SHIP. 
 
MALTA. 
 
 riiilippi^uis, till' Tlii't^saloiiians, (lie Curintliiaus, tlie Ephcsiiui.s and others; together 
 with their eunteiiis and the eirruni.Manees wliieh called them int.. exi.-teiice. All 
 this, with niiieh mure, must he iimitted, until we meet him on a eold, nuirky 
 Noveniher morning, at tlie close of his great voyage and shipwreck. His wonderful 
 life's work was substantially done when he stood shivering with that wretched 
 group of two hundred and seventy-six souls, on that tongue of land m.w known as 
 St. Paul's Bay, on Malta. Bruised, shelterless and haggard, they stood near the 
 headland where ' two seas met,' in a more significant sense than is indicated by cur- 
 rents and shoals on a dangerous sea-coast. There, while huddled together in a 
 pelting rain, and drenched in sea-water, Paul and his jrirty. Imnuiy mid luMuunbed 
 
 
 with cold, gathered a heap of l>rnsh and made a fire. But a chilled \ ipei li ul been 
 unwittingly thrown with the sticks into the blaze. Blistered with heat, the rejitile 
 darted out in anger and fastened its poisonous fangs on Paul's liand. He coolly 
 shook it off again into the fire and remained unhurt : a fit type of the victory which 
 awaited him at Rome, where God would shoi-tly beat down Satan under his feet. 
 On reaching Puteoli, in Italy, the news of his arrival quickly flew to Rome, a dis- 
 tance of a hundred and forty miles which he must travel in chains over the innnortal 
 Appian Way. And yet, no conqueror in triumph, no Emperor in purple, had ever 
 passed over this pavement, on whom such tremendous results hung in Roman des- 
 tiny. "When forty miles from Rome they came to Appii Forum, at the end of tlie 
 canal whieli i-an tlirough the Pontine Marshes. There they were met and wel- 
 comed by a eiimi)any of disciples fi-om the Eternal City. A few miles fartlier on, 
 a second group of Itumau brethren met and greeted them, at the Three Tavt'rns, 
 
96 ROME. 
 
 wlicrc tlic road from Aetiuin came into the main road, and wliere iiuiltitudes of 
 travelers met. 
 
 When the AjH.stle siw that he had a home in the hearts of so many whom lie 
 had never hefore seen in tiie tlesli, lie ' thanke.l (iod and to,,k conra-e.' Tiie 
 thoii-ht that he must enter Rome, a mass of two iniliions of ]ico],lr from all lands, 
 
 • •oiiipanionahle soul with a sense of that miutterahle loneliness whieh is never so 
 deeply felt as in a crowd. But when the great city l)nrst upon his sight from tlie 
 Alban Hills, and he foimd a hand of faithful, redeemed souls ,,n his right and on 
 
 his left, the old JliusiIliu Plulippian Ejihesian tire glowed anew in his brave spirit, 
 and m i moment he \\as stiong to preach the Gospel at Eome also. Thus, in tiie 
 month of Marcli, in the seventh year of Nero's reign, and the sixty-second of that 
 Christ, whose he was and whom he served, the immortal tent-maker passed tlirough 
 the Carpenian Gate, to save the Eternal City. 
 
 That day Julius delivered his precious charge to Burrus Afranius, the Prefect 
 of tlie Praetorian Guard, a humane and lionest officer, who made his report to the 
 imperial court. The illustrious prisoner, however, was permitted to dwell by 
 himself in his own hired house, within the limits of the Prsetorian quarter, still 
 linked to his guard by his humiliating chain. He had been in Eome but three days 
 when he sought a conference with the principal officers of the seven synagogues 
 
TWO ncsy vhWRS. in 
 
 tlierc, l)eforc wliuiu lie tlesirctl tu I;i_y his case fur coiisultatiuii. Tliey assured linn 
 that they had received no communication concerniug him from Jerusalem, althougli 
 they knew that his sect was in bad repute every where. Yet, they assembled on an 
 appointed day to hear him expound its doctrines in his uwn lodgings : a practice which 
 he continued for two whole years, for the beiietir of ail who wished to hear him. 
 It is clear also, from his Epistles of the Imprisonment, that he met with much suc- 
 cess in preaching the Gospel in Rome ; some of his converts being found in Cassar's 
 household. It is not now easy to determine the exact district to which his person was 
 limited, as the Praetorian camp was outside the walls, at some distance short of the 
 Fourth Mile-stoue. The Praetorium was the head-quarters of the Roman military 
 governor, and the camp so called at Rome, was created by Tiberius, before whose 
 time the troops were lodged in different parts of the city. 
 
 The direct Scripture narrative concerning Paul's career closes with his arrival 
 at Rome, and the statement that he remained there 'two years.' TJiit tiie various 
 allusions and references made in his Epistles of the Imprisonment indicate that he 
 was released A. D. tJ3-G-i, and that after this he traveled through Asia Minor, Crete, 
 Macedonia, Greece; and many think that he visited Spain, and some, tliat he plaiited 
 Christianity in Britain. The fair inference is, that he returned to Roiiu^ voluntarily, 
 as we have no hint of the time and place of his arrest, nor of any charge against 
 him. That he finally endured martyrdom there is clear; some think as early as 
 A. D. Gi, while others put the date as late as A. D. 68. "When a prisoner, he was 
 comforted by the presence of Luke, Timothy, Aristarchus of Thessalonica, and 
 Epaphras, a Colossian ; also by Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, and Tychicus, of Asia. 
 It is difficult to account for the long delay of his first hearing before the Emperor. 
 But these two years were not lost ; as he expresses it, they turned out ' for the 
 furtherance of the Gospel.' The charges sent by Festus were, most likely, lost in 
 the shipwreck ; and if so, much time would be consumed in waiting for a duplicate 
 copy from Cfesarea. The slowness of his accusers to appear against him, because of 
 the known weakness of their case, was disheartening to him, as well as the long 
 delays in the course of Roman law at its fastest pace; meanwhile, false brethren 
 were studiously adding affliction to his bonds, by persecuting his converts, and he 
 was betrayed by some of his friends. 
 
 We may as well dismiss the legend of horrors in tlie Mamcrtine Prison, as 
 one of those fictions which will not bear the liglit of history. His sufferings sank 
 deeper than the shudderings of the body in a dark and wet dungeon, whose walls 
 were great blocks of tufa anchored together by clamps of iron, and where every 
 limb was chilled for want of his ' cloak.' We know that he was sick in person, and 
 that he was ill-treated by Tigellinus, the wretch who followed Burrus, as Chief 
 Praetorian Prefect. How many sighs he heaved in secret before God we never 
 can know, till we read the stains on the immortal |)age which Jehovah keeps. But 
 no voice in history brings down to us tuch a touch of iiielanelioly as we hear in the 
 8 " " 
 
•l.a.npiMU 
 
 u' gives us gliii 
 (.f the truth. 
 
 iipses of 
 Fetters 
 
 t^ ^llu:ltl, 
 
 , gk'niiis before 1 
 
 liiin, and 
 
 llis |)t_'II 
 
 liii>y tor Christ. 
 
 In an 
 
 oud. tliu 
 
 u when iu full 
 
 lilx-rtv. 
 
 98 wiiiT/.ra riiK sAcni-:i) hooks. 
 
 cry: ' At iny first auswei' no man stood witli me, Imt all men forsook me.' Some 
 think that while a prisoner he had influenced such men as Linus, wlio was to be the 
 pastor at Eonie, Prudens, the son of a senator, and Claudia, a British senator. One 
 almost wislies that tliis npinion may not be correct, as uo citizen of Home had the 
 courage to stand l)j him. In his Eoman captivity he looked back upon the past, 
 and, at least, found himself Christ-like in this, that just as all the Apostles fled from 
 Jesus in his peril, so his chief Apostle was left to provide for his own safety. They 
 abandoned an old ami grey-headed man to captivity and martyrdom, in an ungener- 
 ous and dastardly maimer, instead of defending him as eager and staunch friends, 
 ytill, we ai-e scarcely surj)riseil at tlieir i'eai-, when exile and sword threatened them, 
 for the Roman Christians ^uilered ruthless jiersecution. Yet, I'au! piMved his largest 
 liberty by his cliains. Tlie wurld had been riveted in breatldess attenti^.n, while he 
 crossed its mountains and seas, crying with the hlaj.tist : • T-eliold the Land, of (4ud ! ' 
 Even in his captivity all was aiiimatinn. 
 his fortitude, heroism, and true leadei-sliip 
 weigh him down, and tlie sword, lialf-drawii 
 with a rude soldier diained to liis arm, he 
 impoi'tant sense he did im.ire for Christ whei 
 Luther was a prisoner at tlie Wartburg, till he could give Germany a popular Bible ; 
 Bunyan passed twelve years in his 'den ' at Bedford, till he could set all ages dream- 
 ing of heaven ; and it was meet tliat Paul should illuminate and conflrm the faith of 
 churches to be formed in all lands while time lasts. LTnable to go from land to 
 land, his jjen gave the world the Epistles of the Imprisonment, the Letters to the 
 Philippians and the Colossians, with his queen Epistle to the Ephesians ; also, those 
 to Philemon, to Timothy, and to Titus. It is scarcely too much to say, that while 
 a prisoner he did more for the uidMirn centuries, than all the rest of his life did for 
 that in which he lived ; for under his Master, he erected a new world of moral 
 thought, language and life for the human race. 
 
 These peerless letters have hourly instructed the ignorant, strengthened the 
 weak, and consoled the comfortless for eighteen hundred years. They are so few 
 in number, and so small in bulk, that a child can handle them, yet so simple in 
 structure tliat a ]ieasant can make them his own. They ha\e created a world-wide 
 literature, which ])uts the scholarship of the woi'ld under ti-ibute, for they still pro- 
 duce the ])rofoundest thought ever known to man. For beauty and fragrance, they 
 are so many 'beds of spices;' for fullness and wealth, so many exhaustless mines. 
 Mankind stands a debtor at the door of Paul's prison-house, whence he gave out 
 these holy sheets, and will never be able to pay its debt to their high culture and 
 mighty inspiration. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 NERO AND PAUL, PETER AND JOHN. 
 
 THE perscpntidiis nt' the Primitive Christians did iii)t spring t'nna pure hatred 
 or tyranny on the part of tlie lionian authorities. "When we attribute them 
 to mere blood-tliirst we miss the real contest between Christ and Paganism, and his 
 great conquest over its noblest forms. Contrary to the old Greek and Oriental 
 faiths, Eome blended its religious with its political existence, as one of its institu- 
 tions, for the rulers held, that the oath could not be binding, that there could be no 
 public credit, and no administration of justice, without reverence for the deities. 
 Hence, the laws were generally enforced in the coolest manner, and without passion, 
 in defense of the national life. Plutarch made religion the necessary basis of civil 
 government, and Polybius extolled Eoman piety for the security that it gave to the 
 State. Even the Greeks had held the rejecter of all gods as a bad citizen, Plato made 
 him a criminal, Draco punished him with death, and Aristotle would have but one 
 established worship. Tully thought that the gods inspired Eoman wisdom whea it 
 relegated religion to the control of the rulers, so that it became a science in civil 
 jurisprudence, and a prop to the public safety. On this ground, Augustus required 
 each senator to worship some god before he took his seat in the Senate. Hence, 
 also, the rulei's endowed the priesthood, and lavished gifts upon the gods, as on the 
 accession of Caligula, which was celebrated by offering 100,000 sacrifices. 
 
 Still, religious tolerance was the steady policy of Eome from time immemorial. 
 Niebuhr says, that ' the whole life of the constitution depended on it.' ' It was 
 allowed, however, only on respect for some god, rejection of all of them being treason 
 to the Empire. Universal conquest had allied it with the whole family of deities 
 who had presided over its arms, and had consolidated its law and religion into a 
 unit. Each city and country had its divinity, of whose honor it was jealous, and 
 its devotees had hot controversies about their favorite gods. The capital invited all 
 deities, and those of the provinces had been freely translated thither, which made 
 Eome a huge pantheon for the idols of the world. War had destroyed many tem- 
 ples, which were rebuilt in great splendor, and every onicle of country and town 
 was crowded with worshipers. As Christians worshiped none of them, they were a 
 disquieting element in the government, and were treated as atheists; therefore, Chris- 
 tianity was contrary to law. A man's conscience belonged to the State as much as 
 his limbs, and the crime of the Christians was, that they would think for themselves. 
 Celsus said : ' Knowledge is an evil ; it causes men to lose their soundness of mind ; 
 
lOO 'ooDs many: 
 
 they perish tlirougli wisdom.' Moreover, pagan influence was sustained by tlm 
 military service, and as Ciiristians would not enlist, their faith was not national, and 
 tliey were accounted enemies of the State, rebellious, obstinate, for which Statecraft 
 put them to the sword. They would not drink in honor of the Emperor's birth- 
 day, which pri)ved them unsocial and haters of society, — they treated the gods with 
 ciintcuipt, whicli pniVLMJ their ignorance, — they publicly adored an invisible God, 
 which ]>rovcd tlicni guilty of sedition. — and when adoration of Christ was forbidden 
 they worshiped him ]irivatcly, which proved them secret plotters against the gov- 
 ernment. Their i-easoiiiiig couhl not l)e answered, hut tlie3'c<.iuld be hated. Whatever 
 they did was legally wrcuig, the law demanded their condemnation, and the calmest 
 othcer was the most cruel in exacting absolute obedience. As guilds, clubs, or 
 associations, they could select a patron divinity, but he must take some visible form, 
 or tliey must be treated as godless. 
 
 Paganism was stronger under the Empire than ever before, and the number of 
 gods was increased rather than diminished. N"o place was without its deity. The 
 e.\change, the home, the work-shop, the palace, the wood and the wheat-tield had its 
 divinity, its humiliation and its festival. A woman in social life was not respected 
 who did not bring gifts to some sacred image, or fane, or faun. At her betrothal, 
 her marriage, the birth of her childi'en, the death of any in her household, she was 
 equally devout. Uhlliorn says : ' There was the goddess Lucina, who watched over 
 the birth of a child ; Candelifera, in whose honor at such a time camlles are lighted; 
 Rumina, who attended its nursing; Nundina, who was invoked on the ninth day 
 when the name was given ; Potina and Educa, who accustomed it to food and driidv. 
 The day when the child first stepped upon the ground was consecrated to Statina ; 
 Al)eona taught it to walk ; Farinus to lisp ; Locutinus t<> talk : ( 'unina averted from 
 it the evil enchantments lying in the cradle.' Then thei'e was the god of the soil, 
 the door, the stable, the ship, the prison and even of the brothel. Every thing in 
 turn had its sacred side. Hill and dale, day and night, seed-time and harvest, summer 
 and winter, equally demanded a sacrifice from prince and peasant, so that in some 
 places there were more gods than men. 
 
 This politico-religious trend accounts for the craze which frenzied the popular 
 mind in the deification of the Emperors. At Athens, the philosophic spirit of tlie 
 (Treok still animated a subjugated people, but at Ephesus, the center of Asiatic 
 (ireek cultui-e and Eoman imperial rule, we see paganism in its true light as an 
 adjunct to the government. Thus, the sphere of divinity could be reached with 
 ease from the Oriental eultus, where the deeds of the heroic and illustrious won the 
 popular assent to deification. We contemn the thought that any man can rest a 
 vital faith in his fellow, as God. But when the Senate decreed Caesar a divinity, 
 and erected temples to his honor during his life-time, the wish of the people gave 
 validity to the decree, because they looked upon him as the author of all their temporal 
 power, political peace, and unbroken sway over the nations. The soldier worshiped 
 
THE KMPKItOIt DFJFIKD. lOl 
 
 tlie Eiiiperdi' from niotivi's of j)arri(irisiii, the frecdinan because lie liad coiifen-ed 
 lilicrty ujHiii his class, the statesman as tlie source of liis promotion, and the provin- 
 cial as tlie i^uardian of his security. Caesar-worship took deep root in the soil of 
 self-interest and gratitude, while the deified Emperor bestowed fresh privileges 
 upon his adoring subjects, centralizing the public interests, and binding all closer to 
 his person and prerogatives. He, therefore, gave general unity to the common 
 faith, for the whole Empire found in him the center of its universal bliss, the Em- 
 peror-god being its veritable Pontifex Maximus. The necessary result was, that a 
 crime against this deity was a crime against the State, which could not long be 
 brooked, but put the life of each dissenter in peril. The essence of paganism was 
 rite, and not faith, so that the priest presided at the ceremony which the magistrate 
 enforced. This made the struggle sharp between the princes of this world and the 
 Lord of souls. The Gospel claimed divine origin, it branded paganism as human or 
 infernal, to be cast aside, while it was enthroned in the heart; there could, there- 
 fore, bi' no end to such a struggle until the stronger overthrew the weaker. 
 
 Still another thing. There Wiis an awakening of new ideas, a strong under- 
 current of skepticism mixed with all this pagan cult, for its traditions were derided 
 as well as doubted. Amongst the intellectual classes, its legends were mocked, its 
 gods sneered at, and its fables ridiculed. Menandcr sacrificed to the gods, but said 
 that they did not ' care for him.' Others derided their pretensions, made sport of 
 their prongless tridents, and either laughed at the whiz of their thunder-bolts, or 
 defied them as myths, without existence per se. Yet those who treated them with 
 contempt were made obedient by fanatical fear, superstition working in them 
 slavish hypocrisy. In the Senate itself CaBsar boldly proclaimed himself an unbe- 
 liever ; but he never felt safe in his chariot without repeating a magical talismanic 
 word. Augustus rejected the gods, yet all the day long he was afraid, if he put his 
 shoe on the wrong foot in the morning ; and Pliny, a practical atheist, pinned his 
 faith to absurd charms. Indeed, when general confidence in paganism failed, it was 
 carefully fostered for State purposes. This consideration made its poets sing, its 
 politicians plan, its priests minister, and its Emperoi-s chant its liturgies on their 
 knees. No goddess could find her vestals amongst virgins of high bii-th, but took 
 these venerated persons from the freed women, chiefly of the lower raidcs, and the 
 Emperor increased their rights, to make their office the more attractive. Of course, 
 the aristocracy clung to the old faith for State purposes. It was the law of the 
 land, its ceremonies were easily complied with, and it was sternly enforced by im- 
 perial example and authority. The consequence was, that when this policy was 
 adopted by the Julian line, it was made stronger than ever, as the Gospel begun 
 its attacks upon the systena ; that the new faith should not stand in the wisdom of 
 men, l)ut in the power of God. 
 
 With these facts in view we easily understand the animus of persecution on the 
 part of those Emperors, who sincerely and conscientiously served the gods themselves, 
 
102 AanirprxA and nkiio. 
 
 and it is quite as cleai', liuw tliu ambitious, tliu cruel, and the laalignaut sought every 
 occasion to gratify their caprice under the show of patriotism, even when it was 
 purely wanton. The first noted example of this sort meets us in Nero. Seneca, 
 his tutor in philosophy, says : That he was u clement sovereign when he ascended 
 the throne; others regarded him as the best prince since Augustus ; and Trajan 
 speaks of his reign as dignified during his first live years, but bad during the last 
 eight. He was the last of the Julian family, born A. D. 37, and the CiiBsars died in 
 him, A. D. CS. His father, Domitius, was thoroughly evil, and his mother, Agrip- 
 pina, has no eipud in history for plot and infamy. That language could scarcely be 
 unmeasured which wrote her down a Jezebel, a Cleopatra, and a Lucrezia Boi'gia, 
 all in one. First, she was the niece of the Emperor Claudius, then his fourth wife, 
 then she poisoned him. He had adopted Nero, her own sou and his step-son, into 
 the imperial family, and immediately she began to plot against his own son, Bri- 
 tanuicus, the rightful heir to the throne. By a series of bold and nnscrupulous 
 intrigues, she finally stole the purple for Nero, and then attempted to murder him, 
 because she could not control his reign. 
 
 When young, he was extremely beautiful in person, early displaying a taste for 
 art, in painting and sculpture, as well as for poetry, music, and the drama. At sev- 
 enteen he became Emperor, and died at thirty. Monstrous as was his mother, he 
 soon became his own masterpiece, and rose to be the prime monster of the world. 
 He never developed the first attribute of a statesman, nor showed the slightest sign 
 of humanity, nor blessed his empire by one noble deed ; but lived only to display a 
 frenzy of passion and a guilty splendor. His ill-regulated mind was the slave of his 
 selfish whims, and daily incubated brood after brood of groundless suspicions and jeal- 
 ousies. He married Octavia, the daughter of Claudius, then divorced and murdered 
 her. After this he poisoned Britannicus, whom he had robbed of the jjurple, and 
 failing to drown his own mother, had her assassinated with a dagger. Having begun a 
 career of blood, he killed his first two wives, and slew noble after noble, without end. 
 A man naust be j^olluted with crime through and through to become an adroit 
 ' inventor of evil things,' yet this was his pre-eminence. When Po]3pea, a beautiful 
 but worthless Jewess, became his wife, and was about to become a mother, he kicked 
 her to death. In order to attract him by her fair appearance, she bathed daily in 
 milk taken from five hundred she asses, and these beasts she shod with gold and sil- 
 ver shoes. With her husband, she paraded her vices in the most public and shame- 
 less maunei'. 
 
 This was the man to whom the holy Paul was obliged to appeal, from the fury of 
 ' God's High-priest,' when he sought to worship Christ in peace. No record is left of 
 the time or place of his trial before Nero, but as the Emperors never relinquished the 
 power of life and death in such cases, it is every way likely that he stood before 
 him as a prisoner. Paul gives a mere hint of such a meeting when he notes 
 his ' first answer ; ' and says, that Jesus ' stood at his side,' when all men abandoned 
 
KEIW AXD PAUL. 103 
 
 liiin. He exults, also, that lie ' was .IcliviTcd out of the mouth of the liou,' as if he 
 I'eferred to Nero's ferocity, whik' he [iraises Christ for his freedom. 
 
 Beliold the two men I They had not one thing in common, either in person, 
 character, or relation. Paul was so advanced in years that he calls himself 'the 
 aged;' diminutive in IhkIv, 'weak in presence,' defective in sight, 'contemptible 
 in speech,' and prematurely worn-out by labors, hardships, and sufferings. The 
 blood of a simple Jewish artisan ran in his veins; his hands were horny with hon- 
 est work, and fettered in ii-ons ; his body disfigured with scars, his head loaded with 
 curses, and his life hunted, penniless and friendless. Nero was a young man, not 
 more than six-and-twenty. The blood of the last Csesar tingled in his veins, the 
 adulation of the world lay at his feet, and the sovereignty of the globe stood behind 
 him. Legion after legion, half a million of men in arms, waited to do his bidding. 
 Six millions of people thronged his capital, and twenty-five millions formed his 
 empire, ready to lavish upon him all that treasure and power could demand. His 
 jeweled hand grasped such a scepter as the world had never seen before, and which 
 had been held in the palm of Augustus and Tiberius, of Caligula and Claudius. 
 But his young face, furrowed deep by the keenness of human passion, was unable 
 to blush, for his heart took hue from a bottomless pit of depravity, whose smoke 
 ascended for ever and ever. 
 
 The chain which cut into Paul's wrist that day, has long since fretted itself into 
 fine dust ; but he held the truth in righteousness, and by its power he wielded that 
 pen which still stirs the heart of the world, and makes the pulse beat strongly in 
 millions of unmanacled arms. But canker had seized Nero's heart. Like a honey- 
 combed petrifaction, it was eaten through and through. His brow was wreathed 
 in a diadem, or adorned in laurel ; but his soul beneath was a dark vault, where 
 demons had jostled out each relic of manhood, and then clenched the gate against 
 its return, with steel bolts and bars which no charm could draw. He threw the 
 saints to lions, tigers, and hyenas, till hoof and jaw were satiated; then, dripping 
 red with the blood of God's elect, they haiiuted iiim while he slept. Paul's heart 
 had broken, when the tears of elders fell upon his neck. But Nero's soul was a sea 
 of ice, in which a spark of love could not live. Paul stood, a ripened and mellowed 
 spirit ready to be borne home on angels' bosoms ; Nero sat, a juvenile, nondescript 
 compound of vulgarity and hate; who had not felt a new sensation of devilish- 
 ness for years. 
 
 There they stood, Paul and Nero ; the foulest and the purest of men. The one a 
 deity of paganism, the other a disciple of the Good Shepherd; each represented 
 his own universe ; each embodied the elements of his own system, as if the struggle 
 between them was reduced to a personal combat, and symbolized in the two men. 
 A temple of the Holy Spirit without a spot of impurity from pavement to top- 
 stone would image forth Paul, but Nero must throw Konie into flames to find the 
 true image of himself. Miles of embers and aslies, more black and ill-.shapen than the 
 
104 nOMK BURNED. 
 
 statues, temples, and palaces of liis ealciniMl c:i|iital might picture liiin, every arch 
 broken, every pillar fallen, every altar crunililed. Koine was swept by its calamitous 
 fire, July 19, A. D. 64. It began in the eastci-n ])art of the city, and burned on 
 before an east wind for six days, then died out for want of fuel, when a second fire 
 broke out in the western part, and a west wind took what the first had not reached. 
 Six districts out of fourteen were entirely destroj'ed, and four were seriously dam- 
 aged, leaving but four intact. The most memorable monuments of antiquity were 
 swept away. The city was tin-own into a panic, when the belief seized it that Nero 
 was the incendiary, that ruffians had applied the torch at his command, and that he 
 had simiily amused himself on the tower of his palace by enacting the 'Destruction 
 of Troy.' in the light of the coiifiagration. Then, wild rage threatened not only his 
 throne but his life. History has made it clear that he was at Actium, between thirty 
 and forty miles from Kome, when the tire began, but suggests that absence was a 
 cover for his jjlot, for the pagan writers, generally, lay the crime at his door. He 
 hastened to the city, and distributed money in the smoking streets, to allay the 
 excitement. The Christians interpreted the fire as a divine judgment on the city, 
 and Tacitus accuses tliem of lighting the tlame. lUit he also chai-ged them with 
 being so fanatical a sect, that they 'hated the human race,' and so must be sup- 
 pressed at all i-isk. We can dejjend but little on his authority in this matter. Nero 
 pretended to deal with them as incendiaries, to ti'ansfer the odium from himself; 
 but the people believed him guilty of using them as a screen to hide his face from 
 the fire. At times the Jews had been turbulent, and the government had sup- 
 pressed them ; and now he foun<l in their fellow-sect a convenient scape-goat, on tlie 
 charge that they sought the overthrow of the national faith and existence, by burn- 
 ing the capital. 
 
 He issued edicts against them, condemning them to death, but still the peo- 
 ple held him guilty of the crime. Many were seized as victims, were enwrapped in 
 oil or pitch ; Rome was invited to the imperial gardens, and crowds gloated their 
 eyes on the poor wretches who were burnt, while Nero jilayed the clown as a chari- 
 oteer in a horse-race. Others were crucified, possibly in contempt of Christ's death, 
 were wrapped in the skins of beasts and torn to pieces by dogs, or impaled, death 
 being let loose upon them in every form. The fury of the people was drawn from 
 himself and allayed for a time, but reacting pity soon demanded that the brutal 
 slaughter should stop. To replenish his coffers and rebuild Eome he confiscated the 
 estates of many nobles, which led to a consjairacy against him ; but he plunged 
 deeper and deeper into depravity and buffoonery, till all classes became disgusted, 
 especially the provincial armies and the Greeks. To appease them he rebuilt Rome 
 in a new stj'le of architecture, leaving the image of voluptuous Greece upon its 
 face, by thousands of ornaments and statues stolen from that country. He built for 
 himself his Golden House, covering a large part of the burnt district, appropriating 
 enormous inclosures for gardens, galleries, baths, bridges, and fish-ponds; until he 
 
XEHO SLAIN. 
 
 105 
 
 convinced liome that he liad burned tlie city to make room for this world of man- 
 sions. Gloom settled upon the popular temper and revolt followed. Tlii.s made 
 him desperate, and in his mad efforts to retain his grasp of power he swung from 
 the flatteries of hoj)e to the remoi-se of despair, exposing the nakedness of his char- 
 acter, until he drew upon him the contempt of the Enipii-e. liike a lunatic he wont 
 to Greece to conciliate it by becoming a petty actor, in a ci'acked voice publicly 
 rehearsing .doggerel, accompanied by clownish contortions. This he I'epeated in the 
 theater, circus, and games of Rome ; at one time, before 200,000 of the rabble, in 
 the Circus Maximus. Then he boasted that at last he was ' lodged as a man,' and 
 not as a beast, in his new Golden House, until tiie mob surged against its gates : 
 when rending his vestments and tearing his hair he cried: ' I have neither friend 
 nor foe left.' After this he played the craven, and would have taken poison, had 
 not the casket in which he kept it been stolen. 
 
 Pale with fear and rage, he took horse by night and tied four miles witlniut the 
 walls, hiding himself in the honse of one of his freedmen. Here liis spirit was 
 shattered, he gratefully accepted a cup of water 
 and a ci-ust, and a few hours brought his death- 
 warrant ; for the Senate decreed him an enemy 
 to the State, and sentenced him to death ' in 
 the ancient way.' He asked what this phrase 
 meant, and when told that he must be stripped 
 bare, his neck fastened in the forked limb of 
 a tree, and his body beaten with rods, a horrible 
 terror seized him. He then took a pair of dag- 
 gers from his bosom, and finding that their edge 
 was keen, he could not force himself to pierce 
 his marble heart. Soon he heard the tramp of 
 horses, but before the avenger clutched him, ho 
 bade his slave force the blade home. The Ko- 
 man guard caught his eye, and another mo- 
 ment had put him in their power; but the 
 imperial monster was dead. His body mms 
 burnt on the spot and his ashes left with his lulniuus, .i 
 curse of his mother, who fell before her luurdei'er cr) i 
 bore a monster.' 
 
 The great Apostle had passed away before Nero, but how differently from 
 this mass of royal leprosy. As his head was laid on the block, he saw a glittering 
 crown awaiting him. Nero pitied the world that could not prize him and wished 
 to kill himself, yet dared not do the world that one act of justice ; but Paul went 
 singing, ' 1 am \w\v ready to be offered.' Nero took his wreath of thorns, Paul 
 bowed his head to receive his crown of glory from the ' liighteous Judge.' And 
 
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 lli 
 
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 rethren 
 
 rnE SfATTERED JEWS. 
 
 heap uf smoldering ashes without a 
 s tuund in the regenerated and hap- 
 an<l. and all time. 
 
 uf the other Apostles, especially uf 
 ictiees which they laid down. At 
 f the Twelve Apostles, in a series 
 lie represents Andrew with a cro.ss, 
 ,vith keys, and Paul with a sword, 
 the mei'it of this artistic legend 
 that he might please Ilinr who bad 
 ilsu fnltilled their mission boldly 
 and faithfidly. According to the best authority at command, Peter, James, and 
 John lahoi-ed principally amongst the Jews, scattered abroad in all nations. From 
 the first, these unwittingly became the protectors of the Christians, whom they 
 persecuted. We have seen that Palestine stood in the center of the then known world. 
 The highways wdiicli held Asia and Africa together touched the Holy Land, and 
 commerce found its course fluwing through Philistia and PlKcnicia. On the south, 
 Arabia led to tlie (4ulf uf Elath, the east opened to the Euphrates, the Persian Gulf, 
 and all Southern Asia. For centuries the Jews had dispersed themselves over all 
 these lands. In the time of Christ they numbered 80,000 in Kome, in Egypt they 
 formed an eighth of the population, and they had penetrated west not only to Ger- 
 many and Spain, but to Britain. They partook of the new life around them, but 
 retained their individuality. Yet, they became somewhat weaned from their old 
 Temple ritual, their synagogues infused a democratic spirit into their religion, and 
 they came to depend less upon sacerdotalism, and more upon the study and inter- 
 pretation of their Sacred Books. True, they still paid the Temple tax, sent sac- 
 rifices to its altars, and occasionally visited Jerusalem; but their synagogues and 
 Scriptures were herald missionaries of the Gospel amongst all pagan peoples. 
 
 Besides this, they became the great money dealers and wheat factors of the 
 woi'ld. In fiscal transactions they so far outwitted the Eoman knights, the bankers 
 of the day, that complaints were made to the Emperor that they drained Asia 
 Minor of its money ; and in Egypt they nearly held a monopoly in breadstufls. 
 Juvenal said, ' The Jews sell evei-y thing ; ' and Strabo, ' It is not easy to find a 
 place in the habitable world which has not received this race, and is not possessed 
 by it.' Eoman law specially exempted them from military duty and certain taxes, 
 and left them free to enjoy their religion. They traveled without hinderance, were 
 wealthy, and formed communities of great influence in universal society ; although 
 hated every-wliere for their exclusive faith, they were every-where felt and feared. 
 For purity of morals their lives were unique, and in great contrast with the pagans ; 
 for what was sacred to the one, the other detested. They looked upon the Gentiles 
 as 'dogs,' and the dogs held them in contempt. As a chosen race, they thought 
 
THE APOSTLE PETER. 107 
 
 themselves superior, and because they looked for universal dominion hy their Mes- 
 siah, the Romans scouted them as ridiculous dreamers. In A. 1). 19, public indig- 
 nation compelled Tiberius to recruit his army from the Jews in Rome; yet, Seneca, 
 who was then living, says, that 'The vanquished have given l;i\vs to the victors;' 
 not an unusual thing. Of course, their synagogues were so many meeting places 
 for inquiry amongst those who were weary of the gods, influential people in every 
 city embraced Judaism, and many women of tlie highest Roman families became 
 proselytes. One step more led them to the Oospel. 
 
 For a long time the Romans looked upon the Christians as a mere sect of the 
 Jews, and gave them the same privileges. Hence, Judaism, like a gnarled and 
 sturdy oak, while it shaded the young sprout at its foot and refused it the sun, 
 shielded it from storms until it could stand defiantly alone. A well-known bird 
 lays its eggs in the nest of another, and its offspring is raised with the strange brood, 
 and thus the Gospel was nourished under the wing of Judaism ; which in tliis man- 
 ner prepared the way of the Apostles. In their great missionary circuits they were 
 much like the planets, making their course singly, with occasional conjunctions, 
 but very infrequent. Peter, for example, is not mentioned in the Acts after 
 the fifteenth chapter, leaving the impression that when he had used ' The Keys' at 
 Pentecost, and in the house of Cornelius, his special work was done. "We know but 
 little of his missionary life, excepting through his Epistles and an occasional refer- 
 ence to him in those of Paul ; so that, when tradition undertakes to complete his biog- 
 raphy, we must take its statements with great caution. The Scripture outline of 
 him is extremely Oriental, and no incident is more thoroughly so than that given by 
 Luke in describing his visit to the house of Mary, after his release from prison. In 
 true Eastern style he knocks two or three times and then waits to listen, when one 
 from within asks ' Who ? ' without opening the door. Standing outside he answers, 
 ' I — open.' Then his name is demanded, which he gives, but continues knocking, 
 according to usage, till the servant-maid, Rhoda, ran to her mistress and reported, 
 leaving the door unopened still. She knew his voice, ' and told how Peter stood 
 before the gate.' This, and other peculiarities, marked him in his entire ministry. 
 He had been specially fitted for an Apostle to the circumcision, for having lived on 
 the Jewish side of the middle wall of partition, he knew only that side of the 
 world. He was warm, courageous, practical ; but was not naturally endowed with 
 that genius, reflective faculty, and profound sagacity, which of the twain made Paul 
 a ' new man.' He was confined to a narrower sphere, and showed greater reluctance 
 to abandon Jewish ordinances, although he triumphed over this at last, and did a 
 great work for Christ amongst the Twelve Tribes. 
 
 But his personal intimacy with Jesus is sweetly visible all through his life, for 
 he speaks of him with great vividness as an 'eye-witness' of his ministry. His 
 great A]iostolic heart seems to throb in its full integrity when he says ; ' We did eat 
 and drink with him;' 'Whom liavini;- nut seen ve love;' a 'Witness of the suffer- 
 
lOS rKTETl TX nA/lYLOX 
 
 iiigs of Clirist.' Tlicn, liis qiieneliles.s love fur liis imtidii is visil)le in his perpetual 
 refereiirc to lirr iiislitntidiis and symbols, wliirli lie IVitIv liorrows to set forth the 
 Christian Church. Shu is ' the cliosen o'cncratidU, tliu royal i)riestlioo(l, the peculiar 
 people.' With tliis feeling in his hcai't lie long remained in .ludi'n and about the 
 western coast of Palestine; but love fm- them drow him faithn- East, tu the 'scat- 
 tered sti'angers' in Asia. 'The Church that is in llabylon salutes you,' which word 
 we take in its literal sense, as we accept the names of other cities fnuu which Epis- 
 tles were sent. Eor centuries ['.abyloii had been a givat Eastern center for Jews, and 
 under ['arthiau tolerance IV'tcr could labor there with impunity. The Churches in 
 that region date back to a very early period, which leaves little doubt tliat he was 
 their founder. This accounts for the presence of Mark and Sylvanus with him in 
 that capital. After Paul's Second Missionary Journey we hear no more of Syl- 
 vanus, but when Paul was first imprisoned in Rome, he tells the Colossians that 
 Mark was about to visit them (Col. iv, 10), and afterward he speaks of him as with 
 Timothy at Ephesus (2 Tim. iv, 11); this being the period when Peter wrote his 
 first Epistle, and accounts for Mark's presence with him in Babylon. 
 
 At the best, Peter's closing years are lost in gloomy traditiiuis and floating 
 romance, created to endow him with a supremacy above his brethren, which he 
 never claimed, which Christ never bestowed, and which never belonged to him. 
 Probably Lidce suddenly quenched his historical lamp, as a protection to him when 
 State persecution arose, to leave his whereal^outs and doings in darkness. For 
 when Christian records and correspondence intended for Christian eyes, only came to 
 public liglit under 'informers,' the most innocent matter compromised the best of 
 men. Even the writers of the first three Gospels observe a marked reticence of 
 Peter's name in recording that 'a disciple' cut off the ear of Malchus, in Geth- 
 semane. Only John tells us that it was Peter, and not he till the impetuous Apostle 
 was safe in heaven, and the High-priest's palace empty of the man who owned the 
 ear as well as of his master. Had Lnke put on record where each Apostle was, and 
 what he was doing, he would only have discovered them to the malignity of their 
 foes, when one unguarded word would lia\e drawn more brutal cruelties upon their 
 heads. Their lives, therefore, float on the wings of fiction, and we do injustice to 
 ourselves and to them when we rely on this or that legend to set forth their labors 
 and death ; an imposition upon our credulity for an unworthy end. 
 
 All fables to the contrary, it is more than questionable whether Peter ever saw 
 Pome. The claim that he introduced the Gospel there, labored for some time in 
 comjjany with Paul, and suffered martyrdom in that city with him, cannot be sus- 
 tained by one word from the New Testament, or any thing like reliable history. 
 At Pentecost, 'strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes' heard Peter preach. 
 These were native-born Jews, converts from the pagans to the Jewish faith, and 
 visitors at the feast ; so that there is no great stretch of probability in supposing 
 that they took Christianity back with them to Rome, and won their families and 
 
PETKI! NOT [N RO}fE. 109 
 
 frigids to Clirist on tlK;ir return. Every religion of the East was found in the 
 capital, and it is likely, in the nature of things, that Christianity made its way there 
 earlier than to many of the provinces. It is not known who introduced tlie Gospel 
 into Rome. As at Antiocli, some simple disciple, not an Apostle, seems to have 
 secured this lionor. I'mbaljly it was there as early as A. D. 51, for a well-estab- 
 lished Churcli is found by Paul at Puteoli, the jwrt of Home, A. D. fiO-(J2. 
 Paul addressed ids Epistle to tlie Church in Uonie A. I)., 58, in wliich many 
 passages show, that it had been cnmstitutrd of both Jews and Gentiles, especially 
 of Greeks, whose names are given in the sahitations as persons well-known in 
 that Church. In this Epistle Paul makes no allusion to Peter, a negative which 
 could scarcely have occurred if he had either established or fostered that Church. 
 Even if Hippolytus had not shown, that loug after Peter's death it retained its 
 democratic character and simplicity, there is notiiiug in this Epistle which hints 
 that Peter was ever the pastor of Rome,'mucli less that his supremacy dignified it 
 in any way. Eusebius states the tradition that he went there A. D. 42, and 
 remained twenty -five years ; but this is in direct contradiction of Luke, who shows 
 that he li\ed in Jerusalem A. D. -f-t (Acts xii), and labored in C.esarea and 
 Antioch A. D. -iS-oO. Acts x. Peter himself punctured the bubble on which 
 tliis figment of supremacy rests, when he gave express testimony to Christ as the 
 Corner-stone, saying : ' Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
 Christ Jesds.' Too well did Peter remember that he was cursing, swearing, and 
 falsifying his Lord on the day that Jesus gave himself for his Church, to convince 
 himself that he was the fit material upon which to build a stable and spotless Church. 
 Nor does the Council at Jerusalem yield this picture any support. Peter spoke in 
 that assembly, but he neither called it together, nor presided over its deliberations, 
 nor took its voice, nor gave its decision, nor assumed superiority over his brethren 
 in any respect. 
 
 When Peter asked our Lord at the Supper Table, ' Whither goest thou ?' Jesus 
 answered, ' Whither I go thou canst not follow me 7ioio, but thou shalt follow me 
 afterward ;' evidently alluding to his own crucifixion and Peter's. Again Jesus 
 prophesied Peter's crucifixion in the words : ' Wlien thou shalt be old, thou shalt 
 stretch forth thy hands, and anothei- shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou 
 wouldest not. This he spoke signifying by what manner of death he should glorify 
 God ; ' and it settles the mode of Peter's death, but the time and place are not 
 alhided to in the New Testament. Fable fixes them at Rome, under Nero, and 
 many great names have subscribed to it, as well as to the notion, that at his own 
 request he was executed with his head downward, as a sign of his humiliation for 
 denying Christ. This part of the story probably arises from the fact, that Roman 
 soldiers nailed their victims to the cross in any attitude which derision inspired. 
 The object of all these fictions is apparent ; they are created to exalt the see of 
 Rome above all other Churches. 
 
no THE A POST LI-: .lolIN. 
 
 The New Testament gives us l)ut few facts concerning the Apostle John and 
 his missioniiry toils, after the third chapter of the Acts. In the immediate morning 
 of Christianity he stands forth with great prominence; and when all the other 
 Apostles had finished their work his sun bursts forth anew, after an obscurity of 
 about forty years, to gild the setting century with a peculiar splendor. While 
 Peter was doing his great work in the beginning, and Paul his, in the middle of 
 this pei'iod, God did strangely hide the venerable John, and only brought him to 
 light again after the fall of Jerusalem. Jesus had foretold John's long life in the 
 word : ' If I will that he tarry till 1 come, what is that to thee ? ' Not alluding to 
 
 his ( iiig at thu t-iid of time, as the silly legend of the 'Wandering Jew' iuter- 
 
 jirets his woi'ds, but to his visitation in the overthrow of the Jewish capital and 
 nation, A. 1). 7n. Paul speaks of .loliu as 'a pillar' in the Church at Jerusalem, 
 when himseir and I'.ai'nabas held their interview there with the Apostles. Tradition 
 loeates John's laliurs chieily in Parthia and Ephesus, and his Epistles indicate that 
 his mind was engrossed in the study of those Gnostic errors which began to infest 
 the Churches on the foundation doctrines of the Gospel. His writings suggest 
 many reasons why these years were spent in re\-erent thought and less activity than 
 those of his brethren, a serenity which educated and mellowed him for a special 
 calling when theirs was fultilled. When our Lord hung upon the cross he confided 
 his mother, as a special trust, to the keeping of John, and fidelity to this trust may 
 have confined his early labors to Palestine and tlie Hebrews. John xix, 26, 27. 
 Still, the Apocalypse clearly connects him with missionary toil in Asia Minor. Ilis 
 long experience, ripe age, and close walk with God, ipialilied him to gather up and 
 more fully organize what the zeal of Peter and Paul had produced, and to give a 
 calm solidity to the kingdom of Christ. He was compelled to combat errorists in 
 the Churches after Paul's death, but although they treated him malignantly, he well 
 filled Paul's place in defending the truth. The extraordinary gifts appear to have 
 passed away, and we are left to infer what new light the Spirit threw upon the 
 organization of the Churches through John. 
 
 Jesus breathed his personal life into the tirst movements of the Gospel ; and, 
 for his great resemblance to Christ, John was reserved as the last of the Apostles, to 
 bring out perfectly Christ's deepest teachings. In their first love, the Churches 
 were not ripe for this calm result, and John was to close the august age as the other 
 Apostles could not have done. The methods of each were necessary to the full 
 establishment of the truth, but even John needed a new vision from God, in order 
 to (jualify it for its sublime destinies. Hence, he soars and sings of Christ's 
 triumphs in the Apocalypse, of his perfect humanity in his Epistles, and of his 
 glorious deity in the Fourth Gospel. John is called ' the divine,' however, not with 
 the modern idea of a theologian, but as a true Theologus, who gives unclouded and 
 sublime testimony to Christ as the ' Word of God.' His writings imply that perse- 
 cution drove him from Ephesus to Patmos, some think under Domitian, liut more 
 
THE ISLE CALLED PAT.VOS. Ill 
 
 likely under Nero. The place indicates his arrest in Asia, as Patmos is one of 
 the group of scattered islands in the south-east part of the Ji]geau Sea. This prison 
 of the illustrious e.xile was about thirty miles in circumference, and very sterile. It 
 was rough, overhung with cliffs, full of fissures and caverns, and here and there 
 dotted with a scrubby olive, cypress or palm ; a fitting scene for the revelation 
 which he received. When the shij) wliidi Icfr liim in this awful solitude had sunk 
 below the horizon, the sad silence in his soul was lin»ken by the cry of liis perishing 
 brethren who were being put to death, and he looked for every new billow to bring 
 some brotiier Apostle safely to this dreai-y rock. Night and day, the splash of the 
 waves, the screinn of the eagle, tiie howl of the winds, were the only sounds which 
 he heard, save the eelm of his own rnut-fall and the throb of his own heart, as he 
 rested in some den which the sea had scooped out for his home. Did he dream of 
 Jesus there ? Did the hard rock remind him by contrast of Christ's soft bosom ? 
 "Was he wakened in his ease by the blast of trumpets ; alone, yet not alone ? Pos- 
 sibly, the 'seven golden lamps' flamed in his prison, a Man in shining garments 
 stood before him, girt not with a 'towel,' but with 'a golden girdle ;' and his coun- 
 tenance 'as the sun shining in his strength.' John 'fell at his feet as dead.' lie 
 had seen that face before, when purple with blows and stained with blood, and when 
 he bade him go and ^sj>eah the words of tliis life' Ho had also known Tabor, and 
 so, when Jesus 'laid his right hand upon' Jiini, and bid him take the^CTi, he was 
 endued with new power to 'write' his glory. 
 
 That touch clothed the Apostle with new energy, a new literature flooded his 
 mind, a new dialect moved his hand,.and on the withered palm, or plaintain, his 
 stylus traced a new story. Had the sea emptied its abyss and thrown all its gems 
 on the shore, had the heavens hung all their lights over the black isle, had all 
 history thrown its allegory before him, these had formed one mass of dazzling 
 poverty when likened to the wondrous things written in the prophecy of this Book. 
 What new veracities swell his sentences, what new realities enlarge his soul. He 
 introduces the era of martyrdom, and builds the stage for the drama of redemption, 
 and Eome, the first figure that reels over it, drunk with the blood of the saints. 
 Then come thunders, and lightnings, and wrath. Mad prophets follow, and corrupt 
 sorcerers, and hoirid blasphemers. A .scroll of registered woes is unrolled. 
 Then a hallowetl urn empties its fire, when whirlwinds r»ar through the orifice of 
 heaven, and the bottomless pit is emptied. After this the rattling of chains is heard 
 in his grot, and Satan is bound. Figures, dark and dreadful, fly before a volley of 
 curses, for a cluster of falling stars lights them to their native hell. The most 
 solenm imagery flits in cavalcade before the eye of the holy seer. A black horse 
 and a balance,— a red horse and a sword, — a pale horse and a specter, — a white 
 horse, — ' and he who sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he 
 wcn» iortli conquering and to conquer.' Above all, the black cloud of iini)erial 
 persecution is spanned with a rainbow, on which light fi'oni the cross began to 
 
(iiiriii 
 
 lii;- o 
 
 l.'d h 
 
 y til. 
 
 tlicre 
 
 I.n.ls 
 
 lasliin 
 
 i^- it 
 
 ami li 
 
 is CI 
 
 'i 
 
 :iiis 
 
 ./O/AV FIN[SIIL\<I ]irs WfiUK. 
 
 C'diKincnir rndr imst a liInoiMicspi-inklcil altar, and a procession of 
 •aim., turtli, in whilr ruh,.,., M-itli palms in tl.dr lian.l^. These were 
 ithful martvi- Antipas.' and Patmos wa- .■ns],rincd i„ olory. Then 
 ■th a.-huru,. all annind the rihhed island, likr the snnn.l uf the ^gean 
 I stdi-ni, savin--: 'The kini;duni of this world is beeume onr Lord's, 
 
 utiun of Christ's glory to John was meet. AVhen young, lie was the 
 only Apostle who clung to his Master's cross on Calvary, and because lie was willing 
 to lose liis life ho saved it. He was the only one of the Twelve who died a natural 
 death, liathed in gloi-y while jmtting many eruwns on that Saviour's head on whose 
 liosom he had rented his own, more than half a century hefori'. It was meet that 
 this disciple of tlu' liapti^t, who tir.-t met Jesus hy the liapti>mal waters in the 
 valley of the .Ionian, should be the last Apo>tle of the Land, to proclaim him on his 
 throne in the New Jeiaisaleni. He had no clearer perceptions at the first that Jesus 
 was pre-existent, having come from the bosom of the Father, than had his brethi-en. 
 But when error attacked Christ's person, botli in his flesh and deity, the beautiful 
 old saint came to his Master's defense, not as Petei', with a sword in dark Geth- 
 semane, but with his more powerful pen, in his living Epistles and Gospel. The 
 fullest revelation was given when the Church needed it the most. Probably he was 
 the youngest of all the Apostles at the time of his conversion, and as he outlived 
 them all by a ipiarter of a century, he had seen the Gos|X'l in all its phases. Xow, 
 his tremulous hands were the only ones left to 'handle the Word of Life.' When 
 young, he was a son of thunder, full of fire and narrow prejudices; but now he bad 
 become meek as his Master, and bi-oad as his Gospel. 
 
 Amongst the many traditions concerning him, this is in such harmony with his 
 character as to seem probable. It is reported, that when extreme age and infirmity- 
 rendered him unable to preach or even to stand, he still retained all his powers of 
 love. So, he was frequently brought to the' Church at Ephesus, when he would 
 spread out his hands in its gatherings and .say : ' Little children, love one another. 
 Keep yourselves from idols.' The time and cii'cumstauces of his death are 
 unknown, but the date is conjectured at from A. D. OS to 100. During his life the 
 Gospel had extended over large portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa ; but the mis- 
 sionary spirit was hindered, for Christianity was compelled to don its armor for a 
 conflict with the errors which arose in its own bosom, for which the Apostles pre- 
 pared many antidotes before they fell asleep. 
 
 John wrote his three Epistles after he had seen Christianity in all its struggles 
 and stages of development. Through the first century the Churches had been reaj;>- 
 ing the great harvest of revealed truth. As the disciple of the Baptist, he wai» 
 among the first to put in the sickle, and now he was spared to bind up its last sheaf. 
 The winsome trait of his old age is seen in one of the last acts in life, when simple, 
 gracious love j)rompted him to send an inspired Epistle to an Elect Lady ; for now it 
 
L\ ACE AM) FEEDLEXESS EXTREMK. 113 
 
 was needt'iil tliat the woiauu wlio fillcil the baptized Churches should be recognized 
 ' in the truth,' for ' the trntii's sake.' Paul had sent four sacred books to individual 
 men, but from Moses down no sacred writer had addressed one to a woman. In 
 youth the natural velK'iiicnce nf lulin had earned fur him the appellation, Son of 
 Thunder. The niilovel.v heat of his spirit had prompted him to ask his Master 
 whether he .-hould not call for tire from heaven to consume a Samaritan village 
 which had rejected liis message, when the rebuke of Jesus told him that he was 
 ignorant of his own spirit. Possibly he inherited this fiery ambition from Salome, 
 his honored mother, who wished her two sons to sit as prime ministers at the right 
 and left of the Messiah, on a political throne. But John had learned more heavenly 
 
 AUL AND JOHN 
 
 on Jesus' bosom, at his cross and tomb. Then, he had sheltered Mary, the 
 revered mother of Jesus, under his own roof, and had been as a 'nursing father' to 
 the Ephesian Church. All these, umlei' the influence of the Holy S^iirit, had mel- 
 lowed him and qualiiied him to write in hallowed strains to an Elect Lady for her 
 conlirnuition in the New Commandment, ' which we heard from the beginning.' 
 
 Tradition assigns the labors of Matthew (Levi) to Ethiopia, and different parts 
 of Asia ; Philip to Phrygia, in Asia Minor ; Thomas to Parthia ; Andrew to Syria, 
 Thrace, and Acliaia ; Thaddeus to Persia or Arabia ; Bartholomew (Nathanael) is 
 said to have labored in India ; Simon (Zelotes) in Egypt and Lydia ; and Matthias in 
 Ethiopia. But of this there is not reliable evidence ; the record of their life and 
 death, aside from the New Testament account, numbers the band of glorious wor- 
 thies with the hidden ones of our Lord. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC CHURCHES THE ONLY MODEL FOR ALL 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 WE now come to the task of setting forth the great principles on which the 
 Christian Churches stood at the close of the Apostolic Age; for these 
 are to be copied as the exact model to the end of time. Our chief work is to find 
 what this model was ; as the inner and divine life of those Churches molded their 
 entire organization. When we have determined this standard, we may easily see 
 how far it has been followed or abandoned by succeeding Churches. Many miscon- 
 ceptions arise in Church history from the failure to stop at this point, and to 
 thoroughly weigh tlie divine history of the Churches before proceeding to consider 
 the human. It is lamentable to witness the haste and light treatment with which 
 this age is passed over, as if the New Testament history were but the starting-point 
 in the great story, to be disposed of as casually as possible ; whereas, it is the end of 
 all controversy in the matter of Church life. 
 
 In this way the course of Church history is inverted, and the human record is 
 made to falsify and cover up the divine. The true historian must fix his eye stead- 
 fastly at the beginning of his work, upon the New Testament pattern, and never 
 remove it ; because it is the only guide to truth in every age, and the only authority 
 of ultimate appeal. An exact likeness, therefore, of the Apostolic Churches should 
 be sought at the outset, as the test to which every position and fact in the whole 
 investigation must be brought back and tried. We never can be wrong in 
 following the pattern found in the Constitution of the Apostolic Churches; 
 for here we find an imperious shield for the true ecclesiastical rights of all 
 Christian men. If we make the Apostolic Churches the mere stepping-stone to 
 the investigation, instead of finding in them the standard of all true fact, how 
 can we measure our way through the centuries, or exhibit their wide differences, 
 without confounding all their real distinctions? Hatch goes to the root of 
 this matter when he says : ' The virtue of a canonist is the vice of a historian. 
 Historical science, like all science, is the making of distinctions; and its primary dis- 
 tinctions are those of time and space. . . . The history of Christianity covers more 
 than three fourths of the whole period of the recorded history of the Western 
 World. It goes back, year by year, decade by decade, century by century, for more 
 than fifty generations. If we compare what we are and what we believe, the insti- 
 tutions under whicli we live, the literature which we prize, the ideas for which we 
 
'/•///•; IXFM.I.IliLE GUIDE. 116 
 
 contend in this present year, with tlie beliefs, the institutions, the literature, the 
 prevalent ideas of a Inuich-eil years ago, we shall begin to realize the difference 
 between one century- and another of these eighteen centuries of Christian history. 
 The special difficulty of studying any such period of history arises from the fact that 
 the centuries which are remote from our own, seem, in the long perspective, to be 
 almost indistinguishable. . . . Ectwcen the third century and the fourth, for exam- 
 ple, or between the fourth and the fifth, there seems to all but scholars who have 
 trod the ground, to be a hardly appreciable difference. If a writer quotes in the 
 same breath Eusebius and Sozomen, or St. Hilary of Poitiers and St. Leo the Great, 
 lie seems to many persons to be quoting coeval or nearly coeval authorities. And 
 yet, in fact, between each of these authorities there is an interval of a hundred years 
 of life and movement, of great religious controversies, of important ecclesiastical 
 changes. The point is not mei-ely one of accuracy of date ; it is rather that usages 
 and events have at one time as compared with another a widely varying significance. 
 For different centuries have been marked in ecclesiastical as in social history by 
 great differences in the drift and tendency of ideas.' ' 
 
 For these reasons, if for none other, we must bring every event in whatever 
 century, every drift, teiidency and change, of whatever character, back to tiie law 
 and the testimony of the New Testament, and must measure it by tlie life and letter 
 of the Apostolic Churches, or we shall run the risk of substituting the vile for the 
 precious and the spurious for the genuine, in Christian history. The foundation 
 principles then, that we find in these divine organizations, are these, namely : 
 
 I. That the Word of God w.vs tiieik only Rule of Faith and Practice. 
 During the last half of the first century, this rule was perfected by the com- 
 pletion of the New Testament. From A. D. 52 to the close of the century, each 
 Epistle was received as authority by the Church or person to whom it was sent ; 
 and copies were used by interchange amongst the Churches, until their contents 
 became generally known, and took rank with the Old Testament. Of necessity, the 
 remoter Churches did not possess all the hooks, and some might not have reached 
 them until they were collected in one ciinoii. All their doctrine and practice were 
 gained either from the Old Testament, from the direct influences of the Holy Spirit 
 orally, or by these new books. The first century presents Christianity in its fullness 
 and freshness, its variety and unity ; and all its revelations ceased with the death of 
 the Apostle John. After the order of nature, the New Testament gave the Apos- 
 tolic Churches no systematic formula of doctrine, but left a happy liberty in its 
 expression which reached the truth in other ways. It was centuries afterward before 
 any thing was known of scientific theology ; so that millions of souls came to the 
 full truth as it is in Jesus without this. A systematic theology has been helpful to 
 many thinkers, while others have been hindered thereby in reaching Christ person- 
 ally, because they could see only so much of him as was discernible through the 
 system, which was largely a net-work <if iiunuui propositions. Perhaps, this '\f- 
 
116 NO JIUMAN SUHSTITUTK. 
 
 unavoidable, aslmiiian intci'piTtati.ms (•(.iistantlv (■liaiii;-c; hut tlic Ajiostolie Clmrehcs 
 were foundea on in-imarv trutli, as it is Iniind, and ever will he fuuiul, in the 
 Inspired Text. 
 
 Words without I'.ihk' kuowlc.lgc iiavc s(. often .lai-keurd New Testament ciuu- 
 sels, tliat it is wonderful that men have discovered Christ at all as a living Saviour, 
 by the teaching of many modern Churches. But often, a true heart takes men 
 farther Christ-ward than even a true head ; and so Bible truth is ever proving 
 its diviinty hy doing this giTut saving work. But still, wherever a human staiKhird 
 is set up in place of tin' Scriptui-cs, it is always more jealously jireserved than the 
 teachings of revelation. A lanatic who corrupts the word of Cod is more heartily 
 feliowshiped by many modern Churches, than he who ojiposes human decrees and 
 inventions against the Scriptut'e ; while he who insists upon obedience to their 
 authority, excites the greatest possiMe oihum, because, to do this wounds the pride 
 of man. Men pay a great price for saying, that the right to legislate for Christian 
 Churches belongs to Chri.st alone. Yet, he has given his law in the Bible, and every 
 form of Church life that is not in accordance with that law, directly sets it aside. 
 So then, in a very important sense, it partakes of disloyalty to say that Christ has 
 not made sufficient provision for his Churches in the Scriptures, in every thing that 
 atfects their well-being. 
 
 We have seen that tlie only appeal made to authority by the founders of the 
 Apostolic Churches was, to the truth as it is found in tlie ( )ld Totanicut, the 
 teachings and acts of Christ, and the direct inspirations of the Holy Spirit. In the 
 Ei)istle to the Hebrews alone, there are thirty-four quotations from the Old Testa- 
 ment, wdiile in that to the liomans there are forty-eight. Christ and his Apostles 
 always appeal directly to the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, and to their co-rela- 
 tive sentiments, facts and pi-ecedents, where they are applicable ; and where they 
 are not applicable, a new revelation was granted. They always cite the Old 
 Testament as the direct word of God, or of the Holy Spirit, by such forms of 
 speech as these: 'It is written,' 'God says,' or 'Isaiah,' or 'Moses saith.' The 
 Apostolic Churches were never allowed to fall into the dangerous jiopular 
 iU)tions of modern times, namely : That all I'eligious teacliing is simply an 
 opinion, which haj.pens to be lield diiferently by certain Iwdies of men. Such 
 an assumption makes mere (.'liurch doctrine a [lowerful weapon, and gives life to 
 all that falls under the sacramental system ; which itself is based upon human 
 dogma and patristic belief. This makes the Church and not the Bihle the standard 
 of faith and obedience; and men come to be satisfied with the substitution after 
 this form : ' We believe the whole revealed dogma as taught by the Apostles — as 
 connnitted by them to the Church — and as declared by the Church to us.' And, 
 it follows, of course, that the Scriptures were intended to prove doctrine, but not 
 to teach it, for that the Church is to teach it through its creeds and formulas. This 
 doctrine shifts the whole standard of authority from the Bible to antiquity, makes 
 
NO SUPPLEMENT TO TUK IllliLE. I 1 7 
 
 ;uiti(|uity the true exponent of Cliristiaiiity, ;niil t'orliid.s ;ill u])pe;il from its traditions 
 to divine authority. Thiis, tradition nullities the law of Christ, by making it a 
 dream, a sentiment and finally a niocker\-. 
 
 Till' \ery reverse of this was the law in the Apostolic Churches. In tlie hands 
 of this human, mystical and sacramental princi])le, sacraments become tlie 
 expression of great truths in human language ; and the doctrine is fostered that 
 material phenomena become the instrument of communicating unseen things, to 
 whicli the mind of man is unequal ; as if water could 2)urge away the pollutions of 
 sin, or bread and wine could give eternal life, and so nature becomes a parable, and 
 revelation an allegory. The inevitable consequence is, a Church armed with 
 awfully mysterious sacraments and rites as channels of saving grace, and with a 
 narrow religious teaching founded on the will of the Church, as she chooses to define 
 it from time to time. After that, of course, the Eule of Faith is found in the Cath- 
 olic teaching of the early centuries — in the decrees of councils — -and in sanctioned 
 usages. At this point, the right of private judgment is entirely cut oft", because a 
 new power has been created on earth which is competent to push aside the indi- 
 vidual right to reason and judge about the demands of Divine Trutli, as its facts 
 and exactions assert themselves. Tiiat right once yielded, the Church claims to 
 judge infallibly for all men on all religious questions ; and it must be obeyed with- 
 out a word. Independency of mind being thus destroyed, paralysis of the mtellect 
 follows, the courage of the soul dies with its liberty, discussion becomes dangerous ; 
 and so, all must submit and be silent, as it is safe to yield to absolute authority 
 where one dare not dissent. The final consequence is, that it becomes a crime to 
 claim the personal right to obey that truth whicli rests on the sole authority of the 
 Inspired Word. 
 
 Yet, this fact is perfectly clear, namely : That the New Testament contains all 
 that entered into the faith and practice of the Apostolic Churches. "Whether it 
 cotitains little <ir much, it covers all that they had, and all that we have, which has 
 any claim un the Churches of Christ. It is the only revealed record of Christian 
 truth. It is stamped with the divine character, and it utterly excludes every species 
 of authority from uninspired sources. Its authority stands out alone, and will 
 allow of no parallel or supplementary authority whatever, however venerable. The 
 most revered antiquity stands on purely human ground, without any thing in com- 
 mon with the New Testament, when that antiquity is not in the Holy Book. The 
 age of a custom is one thing, its nature is another. The question of time merely 
 has nothing to do with authority. When the line is drawn between the close of 
 insjiiration and all after-time, what follows stands upon another and a lower level, 
 and can be no authority whatever. Even the Roman Catholic body admits this, in 
 the claim that inspiration is still needful and is continued in her deliberations and 
 decisions ; hence, that they arc of equal value with the New Testament. The 
 purest and bust of the ancient fathers, being outside of the finality of I'ible inspira- 
 
1 1 8 THE CHURCH. 
 
 tion, are outside forever; ami. foi- llic |iiii-p(iscs of antliority are no nearer to the 
 fountain of truth tli;iii .•irc tlic iii\c>ti^af(ii^ ul' (Jiir day. As witnesses to tiie facts 
 which occurred in thuir (jwii tinirs, tliry aiv to lie prized, as trutliful men wlio de- 
 posed to facts, but nothing' -e ; loi- then as now the denuvnd was inexorable, 'To 
 
 the law and to the testimony.' Wlieivver tlie fathers deiiect from tlii.s standard, 
 their testimony is of no more nor less value than that of other uninspired men. 
 
 II. In tue Apostolic Aoe. tiik ('iukcu was a lolai, jjouv ; a.\d E.\rii 
 Chubch was entikely independent of every otuek Cuukcu. The simple tei'm 
 ''Ecclesia'' designates one congregation, or organized assembly, and no more, this 
 being its literal and primal meaning. Our Lord himself designated such a society 
 by the Aramaic word (jJih'iUo, meaning a congregation; answering to the Greek 
 ^Ecclexia,^ whicii is translated ijy it in the Aranuiic version of the Old and j*Vew 
 Testaments. These words are exactly equivalent in meaning.- The Septuagint 
 renders the Hebrew word for congregation by the word ^Ecclesia,' where it desig- 
 nates three specific bodies : 1. A whole people collectively. Ezra ii, 64, 'The whole 
 congreyat'ion together was forty-two thousand three hundred and three-score.' 2. A 
 general assembly of the people. ' A very great congregation.' Neh. v, 7. ' In the 
 day of the assembly.' Deut. ix, 10. 3. A company of persons associated for religious 
 purposes. 1 Sam. xix, 20. ' Company of the prophets.' Psa. Ixviii, 26. ' In com- 
 panies they bless God.' Joel ii, 16. ' Sanctify the congregation ;' ' Solemn assem- 
 bly.' Lev. xxiii, 36, and elsewhere, is the translation of a different word. This 
 w^ord '■Ecclesia'' was borrowed from the Greek translation and naturalized into 
 Christianity. Jesus and his Apostles used it with the strictest regard to its etymol- 
 ogy, and if we would catch their meaning in its use, we must interpret it by its 
 primitive sense. Its contemporary use in common secular life answered exactly to its 
 sacred use. When Jesus first used it to characterize an association of Christian 
 believers, all sorts of voluntary societies were common throughout the Eoman 
 Empire, in the form of clubs and guilds, for trade, sports, finance, literature and 
 mutual help ; all of which were known as the 'Ecclesia' of those times. Whether 
 secular bodies existed in Palestine in our Lord's day, under this name, is not known, 
 but the synagogues were known by this title. Amongst the Greco-Romans, liow- 
 ever, the large number and importance of secular bodies called '■Ecclesia^ demanded 
 special governmental legislation, defining their powers and limits, as a guard to the 
 public weal. After a time the Roman authorities came so to understand the 
 primary constitution of the Christian congregations, as to l)ring them under the 
 general law wliich regulated all other voluntary associations.' 
 
 When our Lord appropriated this secular word to a sacred body, he threw no 
 sacred meaning into the term itself, but retained it in its common application. The 
 popular '■Ecclesia^ in a free Greek city, was formed of those who were selected or 
 called out, under the law^s of citizenship for the transaction of public business. 
 These qualified voters were convoked by the common criers, and formed the legal 
 
CIIVRCn INDEPENDENCY. 119 
 
 assembly for deliljci'ation and decision in civic affairs, and their solemn decisions 
 were binding. Of all the Greek terms which designate a calm and deliberative con- 
 vocation, this was the most appropriate to characterize a body of Christians, charged 
 by their Master with concerns of vast nioiiaiit. Other words wonld have carried 
 with them the idea of a crowd, of a show, or of a [jurely governmental assembly, 
 such as the Senate ; having other elements than that merely of a properly organized 
 assembly. Certain passages of the New Testament have been wrested by the neces- 
 sity of a hierarchy, to mean that all separate Christian congregations are grouped as 
 an aggregate under the sense of this word. Christ is said to have founded liis 
 "■Ecelcsia ' upon a rock, to be its Head, and to give it pastors and teachers ; but this 
 interpretation is foreign to the scope of the word, and loses sight entirely of the 
 purely tropical sense couched in such passages. The trope must be expressed in 
 exact accord with the literal sense from wliich it is boi'rowed. When Stephen 
 speaks of the ^Ecclesia'' in the wilderness, the term evidently means the whole 
 people assembled at the Tabernacle, as the commonwealth was not many assemblies, 
 but only one gathered in the male population. So, when the New Testament 
 speaks of the entire Christian community as one ' Ecclesia,' it simply uses a common 
 synecdoche, by which the whole is put for a part or a part for the whole, as the 
 case may be ; the genus is put here for many individuals. 
 
 Consequently, when Jesus is called the Founder, tiie Head, the Redeemer of 
 his '■Ecclesia^ it is clearly meant, that what he is to one Christian congregation he is 
 to all such congregations, the same severally and collectively. Exactly the same 
 collective figure is used of a single Christian assembly, which is made up of many 
 individuals. It 'is one body,' putting the one for the many, because eacii congrega- 
 tion is ' the flock,' the ' family,' the ' household ' of Christ, and what is true of each 
 such assembly is equally true of all. It follows, then, that the New Testament 
 nowhere speaks of the ' Universal,' ' Catholic,' or ' Invisible Church,' as indicating a 
 merely ideal existence, separate from a real and local body. There can be no dis- 
 tinction between the Church and the members who constitute the Church. Such a 
 generalization is a mere ideality, incapable of organization under laws, doctrines, 
 ordinances, and discipline. No man can be a member of such a body, because it can 
 assume no responsibility either to God or man ; it can have no representation, and 
 no man can be a member of an assembly which it is impossible to represent. Every- 
 where, the Scripture '■Ecclesia ' is a tangible body, numbering so many by count, 
 properly local and organized, and each congregation is as absolutely a Church as if 
 there were not another on earth. But as there are more than one, and each is his 
 ' body,' his ' flock ; ' his ' Church ' is made up of every congregation, because he is 
 equally the ' Head' and ' Shepherd ' in each. The same thought which impels Paul 
 to say, that believers 'are members of each other,' leads him to say of himself, per- 
 sonally, the same thing that he says of every Christian congregation : ' He loved 
 »/«', and gave himself for me' So, he says to the several Hebrew Christian congre- 
 
120 CIIJ'UCIl GOVKHyMENT. 
 
 gations : 'Ye arc come to a full as>ciiilily. to tlic A'vA,v/V« of tlie lirst-horn whose 
 names are cnrollcil in licavcn/ It is dilKciilr to divc^st tlie iiiiii.l (>f the merely 
 Inimaii an<l mnderu tliought, tliat aggrcuatccl ecu- ivgations only form the body 
 of wliicli Jcsii> is the Head; but when this i- dime successfully, inmicdiately the 
 |>rimitive idea of one congregation attaches to tlie term Church. A local organ- 
 ization fully expresses the meaning of the word Ei'r/i. •<!((, wherever it is found in 
 Holy Writ. 
 
 In haniioiiy with this thought, as Jesus and his Apostles expressed it, the Apos- 
 tolic congregations ai'c always s[)oken of in the New Testament as so many separate 
 Churclies; and groups of sncli coiigivgati..ns are designated as, tlie Churches in 
 Asia, Achaia, or ^Macedonia, in tlie phiral numlier. Our Engli^li word Church is 
 from tlic Saxon /■//■//■, changing tlie -■ hard to ,■// ,• and this woi'd. as the Scotch use 
 it, is from the (ireek ////•/<'*/ ,///v«, -house <,f the Lord.' Even the word Church, 
 then, uncorrupted, is not a term which expresses a sensibility or a figment, but a 
 material substance ; that is, an assembly of rational beings among whom God 
 dwells. 
 
 As to government, no man can pro|ierly say that Christ laid down no definite 
 laws for the government of his Churches, simply because he did not give those laws 
 a prescriptive form. Oneness of faith and practice worked out the same results in 
 all those Churches, and these are recorded in the New Testament as matters of fact. 
 In conserving true Christian principles they needed no more than this in attaining 
 their status, and what more do we need in reaching ours? Christ's positive law was 
 written in these facts, just as the law of redemption is written in the facts of his 
 birth, life, death and resurrection. In liotli cases, the facts embody his law for 
 every age. In their vital regeneration as believing souls, and in their uniform 
 organization, he gave the law of their constitution, to be kept, as changeless in the 
 united body as the saving life was to be preserved in the individual member. He 
 established his doctrines on divine principles, without the formula of a creed, and in 
 like manner, the Holy Spirit instituted the order and discipline of the Churches on 
 divine principles, without a code of formal precepts. In the framing of doctrines, 
 the converting of members and the constitution of Churches, he followed the same 
 order. Tlie model of the New Testament Church i> found in what he made it, in 
 every portion of the total. A skilled naturalist takt's the separate limbs and joints 
 of a fossil, and by these, will give us its entire structure and functions, until we 
 have an outline of the perfect organism. So, by carefully following the unfoldiugs 
 of the New Testament, any man may trace the entire order of the New Testament 
 Churches, as they reached completion from the hand of their .Vutlior and Finisher. 
 They were the work of Christ, wrought througli the Apostles, and not the product 
 of Apostolic plans. Thus, as disconnected stars hanging over a dark sea show the 
 doubting mariner his course, so the books of the New Testament, liy their conjoint 
 rays, give us a unity of truth as our guide in the matter of Church governnieut. 
 
cnxanEnArioxAL Rfcinrs. 121 
 
 Tho i-iglit of the Churches in tlic Apot^tulic Age to luunagc all their internal 
 aifairs, arose primarily from the fact tiiat each eongi-egatioii was perfect in itself for 
 all the purposes of its own Church life. Whatever fraternal sympathy and fellow- 
 shij) it might crave, it was in itself the visible Church of Christ, and complete for 
 all the ends of a visible Church. Of course, this Apostolic idea is at variance with 
 all the popidar notions of Church life as it exists to-day ; but it is no less Apostolic 
 on that account. Well does Dr. Carson remark, ' As to a visible Universal Church, 
 it exists nowhere but in the ideas of polemical writers and the absurd distinctions of 
 scholastic divinity.'^ An invisible Church is a purely indefinite and mythical idea. 
 How can we 'hear' the voice of an impalpable body of men ? The New Testament 
 never S2)eaks of all Christians in all localities, as if they belonged to one outward 
 and visible Church, which forms one corporate body. This is a pure myth existing 
 only in the imagination. But the Apostolic Churches were local bodies that could 
 be found and known and governed ; and the wording of the New Testament is 
 very minute on this point. Hence, these local Churches are never designated as 
 the Church of God of this or that district, province or nation, but the Church 'in,' 
 or ' at ' such and such a place. Moreover, the Churches in all localities were organ- 
 ized after the same order ; and there is no recorded instance of any one of them 
 which was denied the right to regulate all its affairs. 
 
 Not only was Ecclesia a word in common use, as has been shown, to express a 
 civil assembl}', or association, as these were formed in all cities and circles, but it 
 expressed a special cult, and often took a religious cast amongst the pagans. Ulhorn 
 says : ' The burial clubs, the guilds of artisans, merchants, working men of various 
 sorts, all of which gained increasing importance to society during the Empire, bore 
 at the same time a religious tone. Each had some god or other as a patron, and 
 was instituted in part for his worship. His image and altar stood in their place of 
 assembly, and every meeting began with a sacrifice.'' We clearly see, then, that when 
 the divine Founder of the Apostolic Churches incorporated this word Ecclesia into 
 Christianity, he intended the usual sense of the word to limit its application in its 
 new sphere to a local body of men. The only invisible Church that exists is em- 
 bodied in the visible, local, and self-governing Church. 
 
 The Eomish figment of an impersonal and invisible Church never existed until 
 the fourth century, when it was created in order to bring the local Churches under 
 the yoke of an irresponsible and arbitrary power, at the utter sacrifice of those 
 divine rights, with which Christ, the rightful Head, had endowed the local Churches. 
 The local Church was the only Church known to the Apostles themselves, the only 
 body which they ever addressed, and which they knew collectively as the ' Churches 
 sciittered abroad.' The Church at lionie was made up of those who lived there, 
 who were ' beloved of God, called to be saints ' — that at Corinth of ' them that are 
 sanctified in Christ Jesus' — and the Churcii at Ephesus 'of the faithful in Christ 
 Jesus,' who lived there. Even those who attended worship with those Churches, 
 
122 LOCAL CIWIICII DIHCJPUyE. 
 
 but were not numbered with the believers, had nothing to do with their govern- 
 ment. Oidy those who were born of God, and met in any one phice for all the pur- 
 ])os('s of a Church under obedience to Christ's law, were the Christian Church in 
 tliat place. There may have been more than one Church in a given city ; but there 
 is not hi 11-- ill the x^ew Testament to show, that one central body in that city gov- 
 erned all its Clmivlies, if there was in., re tlian one. 
 
 The power of discipline beiii- lodged in the local Church, all its members took 
 part in its enforcement. The ( 'orintliian case of incest is markedly in point here. 
 1 (!or. V, 4, recpiires the whole Churcli to meet and put the offender away, 'when 
 ye arc gathered together,' under the unseen headsliip of Jesus Christ. And when 
 the offender repented and was readmitted to fellowship, the same sovereign 
 tribunal which pronounced his sentence, pardoned and restored him. 2 Cor. ii, 6. 
 The words which express the rights of these Churches, harmonize with the princi- 
 ples on which they were formed. The Epistles are not addressed to their officers, 
 but to the Churches themselves, and none of these letters either deny the i-ight of 
 self-government to the Churches, or instruct another class or body to regard itself as 
 higher than the Churches ; but every thing was to be done by their will. The 
 Churches held the supreme place in all things, each being expected to rectify its 
 own evils ; and no outside power is appealed to, to do this, nor is the local Church 
 itself referred to others for their supervision. There was nothing that partook in 
 the slightest degree of an Apostolic liierarchy, and no one Church ranked al)Ove 
 another in control. Each Church was a society, a family, a republic in itself, form- 
 ing a perfect sovereignty for the ends of self-government. Every foundation prin- 
 ciple was kid down indeed by the precepts or example of Christ and the Holy 
 Spirit, or by the Apostles, and nothing could be enforced without this sanction. So 
 then, no legislative power was given to them, but only the power of administration. 
 In minor and secondary matters, such judgment and prudence might be followed 
 as were in harmony with the principles of Christ's law, but these were not to be 
 enforced as obligatory, binding, or indispensable. They settled every question 
 affecting their own welfare by an appeal to the truth, and without appeal to any 
 other authority. It could not be that these powers were left anywhere but inviola- 
 bly in the local Church, in which, by reason of its purely local character, no sacer- 
 dotal element could exist. There was no external bond of central unity between 
 the Churches, which made them dependent in the slightest degree upon each other. 
 They nevei- met in a general association, synod, or assembly of any sort up to the 
 close of the first century, though they might have consulted with each other if they 
 had chosen to do so ; exactly as the Church at Antiocli consulted with the Church 
 at Jerusalem, purely for fraternal purposes. But, on the contrary, they each fol- 
 lowed the law of perfect liberty, holding one another in sisterly reverence, having a 
 common faith, cherishing a common love, and knowing no other constraint than to 
 keep the law of Clirist, each amongst themselves. 
 
PASTORS CnOSEN BY TUE CnUIiCIIES. 1 2& 
 
 III. Each ok tiik Apostolic Chukches elected its own i'astoks imhkcilv, 
 IN THE EXERCISE OF TiiEiK FKEE SUFFRAGE. Tliis thcy (lid bj stretcliiug forth tlieir 
 liaiuls as the sign by which they cast their vote, as many deliberative bodies now 
 east their vote by tiu' uplifted hand. This was tin; power of ordination, which 
 was lodged in the local Church, which ordination consi.'-ted in their election. In 
 the Apostolic Churches ordination did in no way consist in the laying on of hands ; 
 for the appointment of a man to the pastoral office w'as his ordination, with or with- 
 out this. The laying on of hands was often connected with the setting of any 
 one apart for ofHce, or for a special service, but not always, in either of these 
 cases. Our Lord 'ordained' his Apostles, but not by the laying on of hands. 
 He observed this form when he healed the sick and blessed little children, be- 
 cause both these acts couched a special benediction. For the same reason it accom- 
 panied the bestowment of supernatural gifts, as when I'ctcr and .I<iliii laid tlicir 
 hands on the Samaritan believers, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts viii, 17), 
 and as when Timothy received the same 'gift given tlii'ough i)rophcsy, with 
 the laying on of the hands of the eldership.' 1 Tim. iv, 14. So Paul, who had 
 long been an Apostle, and had preached the (iospel abundantly, received the 
 laying on of hands at Antioch, not to induct him into the (iospel ministry, 
 but into a special missionary work on a sj)ecial missionary journey. Acts xiii, 
 2, 3. Dr. Hacket says on this passage : ' Paul was already, a minister and an 
 Apostle (see Gal. i, 1, seq.), and by this service he and Barnabas were now merely 
 set apart for the accomplishment of a specific work. They were summoned to 
 a renewed and more systematic prosecution of the enterprise of converting the 
 heathen.' 
 
 Again, sometimes the laying on of hands was attended by prayer, and some- 
 times it was not. But in time it became subject to abuses in common with other 
 apostolic practices, some of which have continued unto this day. It became, in 
 post-apostolic times, an efficacious accompaniment of baptism, of the Supper, of the 
 restoration of the excommunicated, and of the ordained to the work of the ministry. 
 In fact, it was perverted — made a superstitious and sacei'dotal act ; and Cyprian 
 did not scruple to say of the baptized what the hierarchy now says of ordination : 
 'Receive the Holy Ghost through our prayer, and the laying on of our hands.' 
 When hands were laid on deacons and elders, or on men set aj)art for any sjiecial 
 work, it was the siz/n of their appointment only. 
 
 In the election of a pastor, the whole Churcli united in prayer for the blessing 
 of God upon the man wliom they had chosen to serve them ; and the laying on of 
 hands by the presbytery of the local Church publicly attested their suffrages. The 
 elders or bishops of another local Church had no right to interfere in the matter.* 
 The man selected was a member of the Church in which he was to exercise over- 
 eight. But so far from the laying on of hands imlicating that the work to which 
 the Ch\irch had called him was perpetual and changeles.s, he might cease to be the 
 
124 MF/rilOl) OF TllhUll Kl.FA'TlON. 
 
 pastor of that Church at any time, and liis eU'ction and the act of the Clnirch in liis 
 case left liini where tliey found him. 
 
 The fullest, clearest and m..st reliahle areount known to tlie writer, setting 
 forth this whole matter, is from the pen of tiie learned Dr. (iill, an<l may he protit- 
 ahly quoted here : 
 
 ' Ejiapliras, a faithful minister of Chi-ist fni- the Chui-eli at Colosse, is said to be 
 one of yiiu. a member of that Ciiurch, (\A. i, 7, and iv, li'; one that is not a mem- 
 ber of a Chui-ch cannot be a pastor of it. ... As every civil society ha,- a i i^lit 
 to choose, appoint and ordain their own officers, as all cities and tu\\ii> cor|N.i'ate 
 their mayors or provosts, aldermen, burgesses, etc., so Churches, wiiich ai-e religii.ius 
 societies, have a right to choose and oi-dain their own otlicers, and which ai'e 
 ordained, avToiq,for them, and for them "///// ,• that is, tm- each particular Ciiurch, 
 and not another.' Acts xiv, 23. The election and call of tlieni, with their accept- 
 ance, is ordination. The essence of ordination lies in the voluntary choice and call 
 of the people, and in the voluntary acceptance of that call by the person chosen and 
 called ; for this affair must be by mutual consent and argument, which joins them 
 together as pastor and people. And this is done among themselves ; and iiul)Iic 
 ordination, so called, is no other than a declaration of that. Election and ordination 
 are spoken of as the same ; the latter is expressed by the former. . . . Paul and 
 Barnabas are said to ordain elders in everij c'dij ( Acts xiv, 23), or to choose them ; 
 that is, they gave orders and directions to every Church, as to the choice of elders 
 over them ; for ))ersons sometimes are said to do that whicli they give oi'ders and 
 directions for doing, as Moses and Solomon with respect to building the tabernacle 
 and temple, though done by others; and Moses pai-ticularly is said to choose the 
 judges. Exod. xviii, 25. The choice being made under his direction and guidance.' ' 
 
 Gill further says of elections in tlie Apostolic Churches : 
 
 ' This choice and ordination in primitive times was made two ways : by casting 
 lots and by giving votes, signified by stretching out of hands. . . . Ordinary officers, 
 as elders and pastors of Churches, were chosen and ordained by the votes of the 
 people, expressed by stretching out tlieir hands ; thus it is said of the Apostles, 
 Acts xiv, 23. When they had ordained them elders in every Church, x^tpo-ovelv. 
 by taking the suffrages and votes of the members of the Churches, shown by tlie 
 stretching out of tlieir hands, as the word signifies, and which they directed them 
 to, and upon it declared the elders duly elected and ordained.' 
 
 But he explicitly denies that there was any imposition of hands used at the 
 ordination of elders or pastors in apostolic times, in tliese w^ords : 
 
 'No instance can be given of hands being laid on any ordinary minister, pastor 
 or elder at his ordination ; nor, indeed, of hands being laid on any, ujion whatso- 
 ever account, but by extraordinary persons; nor by them upon any ministers, but 
 extraordinary ones; and even then not at and for the ordination of them.' " 
 
 He also claims that whatever 'gift' was bestowed ujjon Timothy, no 'office' 
 was bestowed upon him either by the laying on of the hands of Paul or of tlie pres- 
 bytery, but that the whole proceeding was extraordinary. He further deprecates 
 the practice as ' needless ' at the present day, and as a ' weakness.' This, however, 
 he gives as a mere opinion, in view of the abuses to which tlie imposition of hands 
 has been subjected, and not as an authoritative utterance based on the requirements 
 
ji Scri 
 
 ptuiv. 
 
 In kc 
 
 never 
 
 l.el.l r, 
 
 luncils, 
 
 nation 
 
 of men 
 
 r.i tlie 
 
 Cliurdi 
 
 I wliicli 
 
 calls a 
 
 CllVnCII FHEK FU().\f Tllh: STATK. 128 
 
 :)ing witli tlifsu views, huwevei', the Eiiii-lisli Baptists have 
 nor, as a custom, used the imposition of hands for tlie ordi- 
 uinistry, l)Ut have left the whole matter in the hands of tlie 
 nan to this work; a prerogative which Christ lodged in that 
 Cluirch, and which all the Churches on earth cannot remove. The ordinary Church 
 may invite sister Churches to advise her, and assist her in the matter, or she may 
 dispense with tliis as she pleases. 15ut when once her sister Cliurches avow that 
 there is something defective in the ordination if they and their elders or presbyters 
 are not called in to assist, on the pretense that men are ordained for a ' denomi- 
 nation,' and not for an individual Church ; they introduce a new element into the 
 Gospel system, and deliberately rob a Gospel Church of her inalienable rights. If 
 hands must be laid upon a pastor when he is first chosen to serve a Church, it is in- 
 finitely bettor to repeat that act every time that he changes his pastorate, than that 
 outside Churches should interfere with the Gospel rights of a sister Church under the 
 pretense of fraternity. Once violate this principle in the genius of the Gospel, as 
 neighboring pastors and Churches, and we depart therefrom, as much as any priest, 
 primate, or pope whatever, and become partakers of their sin. According, then, 
 to the New Testament, the right to ordain pastors is given by Christ to the indi- 
 vidual Church which calls them severally, with or without a council as she pleases ; 
 and to resist her right in this matter is to rc^-ist a divine ordinance; to arrogate a 
 prerogative which would disgrace any honest pope, while it honored his disgraceful 
 office. Leave Christ's Churches where he left them ; to their own Master they stand 
 or fall. It were better that we never hold another council while the world stands, 
 than that such a body should tyrannize over a sister Church by pretending that it can 
 set any man apart to the work of the Gospel ministry, even if a Church should 
 pretend to delegate its power to such a body; a thing which it cannot tlo l)y any 
 permission or example of the New Testament. 
 
 IV. The Apostolic CnrKcnES were actively independent of the State. 
 We have seen that Jesus laid the corner-stone of religious freedom in liberty of 
 conscience, so that in the voluntary service of God his followers should not be vas- 
 sals to human dominion. That he alone should be obeyed in all matters of faith 
 and practice, is the spring from which all their other lilxTties How. In this law 
 ho set forth his great doctrine of the majesty of the soul, \\iicii left to the sway of 
 intelligence and responsibility. He treated a man as a man, aiul all men stood be- 
 fore him on a common level ; hence, he addressed each man personally, inviting him 
 to voluntary discipleship, through his own reason and conscience, making himself 
 the absolute King of willing subjects. Then, his inspired Apostles carefully guarded 
 this holy principle of soul-liberty by requiring implicit obedience to him, and en- 
 forcing among his followers all the relations of brotherly democracy. All intrusion 
 between these they condemned as foreign and oppressive. They, therefore, neither 
 asked permission of human governments to preach and form Churches, nor would 
 
126 FllKKDOM OF CONSCIKNCE. 
 
 they desist from doing so at tlieir command. Cliri.-t huiiig- tlieir only religious Sov- 
 ereign, they neither sought favor nor feared hlaiuc froiu the State; every man 
 must be fully persuaded in his own mind, and give his account to God. M. 
 Guizot clearly expresses the Apostolic idea wlien he sa^'s : 
 
 'We can conceive that a man can al^anduu to an external authority the di- 
 rection of his material interests am] his tciii|i(iial destiny. But M'hen it extends 
 to the conscience, the thuu^ht, and the iiitei-iial existence, to the abdication of 
 self-government, to the delivering one's self rn a foreign power, it is truly a mora! 
 suicide, a servitude, a hundred-fold worse than that of the body, or than that of 
 the soil.* 
 
 Neandei-, in a]iiilying this pi'inciple laid down l)y the great civilian, lodges the 
 right to suul-liljei'ty in -the peculiar natui'e of the higher life that belongs to all 
 true Christians.' This is Ijut Christ's doctrine: 'Ye must be born again,' words 
 which demanil that the whole mental and moral nature, with the passions, be conse- 
 crated to him. Here, our Lord lifts the religion of the individual soul above all 
 organization, whether in Church or State ; the existence of the Church itself being 
 dependent upon the vital, spiritual life of the indiviilual Christian. As Head of the 
 Church, therefore, Jesus retained all judicial power in his hands and is its only 
 Lawgiver, taking no account of the pains and penalties of civil law; for the civil 
 power in religious matter ends where the law of conscience begins. As Jesus him- 
 self was all that he required his followers to be, both toward God and man, so he 
 made duty to God throw light on duty toward man. With him, personal convic- 
 tion said, ' Render to God the things that are God's ;' and after that, ' Render to 
 Cwsar the things that are Ciesar's.' That is, obedience to his Father was the lirst 
 obligation, and having perfectly met that, Rome, by her highest local authority, 
 pronounced him spotless : ' I find no fault in this inan.' His disciples were to 
 make duty to God their calm, staying power, without any civil or ex-cathedra utter- 
 ances ; and then obedience to the State would cheerfully follow, for in the nature 
 of things the most God-fearing man is the truest citizen. 
 
 We have already seen that in matters of faith, all forms of paganism led the 
 State to tramjjle upon the rights of conscience at will ; so that at the coming of 
 Christ the whole world was educated in this false theory of civil government. Such 
 Statecraft cared nothing for the individual, but only for the State, in its arbitrary 
 and conventional claims. Cicero maintained those claims when he said : ' Xo man 
 has a right to have particular gods, not recognized by the law of the State.' But 
 Christ threw himself into direct opposition to all such tyranny, by uplifting the 
 natural rights of man God- ward; and the Apostles sustained this teaching when 
 they introduced a new issue with the law, in the fiice of the current civilization. 
 They demanded the right to worship without molestation, and if need be, contrary 
 to the mandates of the law ; nay, and to invite all men to do so. Somehow the State 
 has always been troulded with what it had no concern. Free religious inquiry has 
 always disturbed its eijuanimity, and on that subject it has far transcended its real 
 
FHEEhOil OF CONSCIENCE. 127 
 
 functions. Josus never invoked its aid to enforce his religion, and never liinted 
 tliat it had the power to decree opinions, or to frame and propagate creeds. He 
 left it to attend to its own material and political atfairs, to keep its hands oflE his 
 religion altogether; but on tiie orlicr luuul, he enjoined obedience to its rightful 
 powers, and interfered in nu way witli its pi-uper governmental rights. Both he 
 and his Apostles recognized the K.unaii iMiipiro, in all that related to the funda- 
 mental idea of civil government. Tlirv Mihmitted to it, and supported it in all tliat 
 concerned its civil well-being. All that they asked, was a free and open iield for 
 the proclamation of Christian doctrine in every civilization, and that it might adjust 
 itself every where to its natural surroundings. But that the Churches should be 
 put under its control, was not left an open question. Because the pagan faith had 
 made itself an engine of the State to coerce men by State forces, and in its turn 
 built up all sorts of State policy he said : ' My kingdom is not of this world.' 
 
 Why should kings, rulers, and magistrates hold in their hands the government 
 of the Church of Christ? Are not they to obey the Gospel personally, and to he 
 subject to its saving influences, the same as all other sinners? and when they are 
 converted to him, are they not to stand on a parity with all other converted men ? 
 But as to having a voice in the control of (Jhrist's (,'liureh when they are not holy 
 men, or above other holy men when they become regenerate, the idea is prepos- 
 terous in the extreme. Civil rulers have generally sought to obtain ascendency in 
 liis Church as a tool in their secular aims ; and where they could not so use it, they 
 have commonly looked upon it with jealousy. The potentates of the earth, with 
 few exceptions, have not recognized such a thing as a soul, a conscience, a man ; but 
 only a body and a sword, which placed society under abject domination. Hence, it 
 never did matter what the civilization of the State might be, the moment it inter- 
 fered with Christianity it became narrow and bigoted, and held in contempt all who 
 dissented from its dictates. In the nature of things every form of govermneiitui 
 religion is intolerant and persecuting, and disgraces itself when it prescribes any 
 form of faith for its citizens. In Europe and Asia, both before Christ and since. 
 State religions have always cursed all lands with mobs, and massacres, and wars of 
 the most bloody character. Paganism knew the kingdoms of this world and none 
 other. The fact that Christ gave birth to a perfect individuality in each man, and 
 to a personal responsibility for its use, forever separated pagan oneness of religion 
 and legislation. A man is born into the State without choice ; but if he worships 
 sincerely he worships voluntarily ; to bind the Church to the State is to destroy the 
 true nature of both. The first act of Christian martyrdom drew a line beyond 
 which despotism could not pass. It slew the enslaved body, but left the native 
 freedom of the soul untouched. 
 
 Neander says of the Church : ' The form of a State cannot be thought of in 
 connection with this kingdom. It is a community whose whole principle of life is 
 love. Outward law, forms of judicature, administration of justice, all essential to 
 
the 
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 77//'; STATE FRKE FI!().\T 'THE fllL'ltcif. 
 
 ■ in tiie jjerfect kingduni of Clirist.' 
 calls the Church, to tlie State, as an 
 nullities into monstrosities, for each is 
 
 rknii tcinpural power, pomp and glory 
 ( ■hri.^t and his Apostles did not ; and 
 alliance with the State, the nnioii has 
 11 the (;inirclies themselves. Always, 
 1 to its own level, or tlie Chnrcli has 
 He Ages. This struggle for freedom 
 between Christ's kingdom and tlie civil power lias gone on through eighteen cent- 
 uries. Ecason, cndnrance and truth require the contest to continue, till the ideal 
 of Clirist ill n'oxenimeiit is \vn night out, and the double usurjiatioii is banished from 
 the earth, namely : The interference nf the Cliurcli in temporals, and of the State in 
 spirituals. The State has introduced sacerdotalism into the Church as a political 
 policy, and the Church has introduced ritualistic sacrameiitarlanism into the State 
 for tlie ends of temporal aggrandizement, in the place of saving grace and holy 
 living. Thus, out of a Christian democracy this union exuhes first an aristocracy, 
 anil then a hierarcliy, for the enforcement of a sacramental salvation by the secular 
 power. The true (-;os]iel has always flourished the must where men have been the 
 freest ; where no artificial lines have been drawn between man and man, class and 
 class ; and where no fetter of party. State, ov race has been applied, but where all 
 have stood on a religious equality. 
 
 ISTow, Jesus left his simiile-licartcd Churches in that purely organic state which 
 his Apostles had given them. Tlieir faith was to center in him and his beiievoleut 
 purposes, without reliance on national revenues or political weapons. Eloquence 
 and art, philosophy and legislation, were in battle array against them ; yet they 
 must plant his banner in all lands by invading their cherished interests and destroy- 
 ing their established practices, their only wt-apon being Lo\e. This was to make 
 arid deserts blossom like the rose. No tear, thereafter, should fall unseen by the 
 eye of love, and no sigh expire but on its ear. An ideal cross, borrowed from the 
 sign of felony, was to be their insignia, a meritorious doctrinal cross, ontliued .against 
 the blackness of darkness itself. By this sign they were to conquer obstinacy and 
 unbelief, as it would supersede all old modes of thought, bring in a new morality, 
 create new intellect and goodness, and revolutionize society. The cross was to be 
 the new scepter over human spirits, and the Crucified should say: 'Behold, I make 
 all things new !' 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE OFFICERS AND ORDINANCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CHU RGH. 
 
 THE tirst ufficc tu 1)0 considered is tliat of the dkacon. This word is the English 
 of the Greek ch'nconos, and means a servant ; literally, to pursue after, to 
 hasten by speed in service. The cardinals are regarded as the servants, or deacons 
 of the Pope, a fact which accounts for their strange costume, worn in imitation of 
 tlie ancient errand-man. His hat lias a broad brim to shade the eyes from the sun, 
 with long strings to tie under the chin in windy weather ; and the end of his cloak 
 is tucked under his girdle so that tlie limbs may be free for speed. The outside 
 pressure of persecution at Jerusalem, and the burden of deep poverty, called for 
 great sagacity and fidelity in the Christian leaders. Both Christ and his Apostles 
 were poor, so that his servants had been trained to mutual dependence, and the use 
 of a common treasury during his ministry had thrown a new light upon poverty, 
 and given a new religion to the poor. Thus, vvhen thousands of the same class 
 came into the infant Church, their dependence seemed crippling. At this time the 
 whole empire was poor, and the endurance of Christianity was thoroughly tried. 
 The financial world had become exhausted, by disruption and wai', luxury and 
 waste, and society was demoralized by the neglect of agriculture in large tracts of 
 country. A few were wealthy, but taxation was oppressive and the poor were very 
 poor. All great cities were deeply in debt, having borrowed large sums of money to 
 build those massive structures whose ruins are now the wonder of the world. On 
 these loans they paid exorbitant interest, which left them bankrupt and filled the 
 land with paupers. Rome itself had 44,000 wretched lodging-houses and other 
 apartments where squalor abounded, to 1,780 decent habitations ; and Cicero, who 
 died B. C. 43, reports that city in his time as having only 2,000 proprietors out 
 of 1,200,000 inhabitants.' 
 
 But no province of the Empire was so impoverished as Palestine. It had 
 always been an agricultural country, without manufactures or commerce. Now, 
 its most enterprising people were scattered over the world for the purposes of 
 trade, it had passed through a long succession of wars and reverses, and the extor- 
 tionate tribute which Eome had wrung out of its fibers had reduced it to abject 
 poverty. The site of its capital was chosen for its strong natural fortifications, but 
 when it proved vulnerable it was left as the central sanctuary and seat of theology, 
 without wealtli to give it attraction, for more than once it was helped by outside 
 charity. Still, to all foreign Jews it was the monument of holy memories, and the 
 "lO 
 
ISO .JKIU'SM.KM POOH. 
 
 object of life-liniu; liopo. The vi.-its df the wealthy at the feasts furnished it with 
 some supplies, Imt all .lews retiu-iicij to its holy places and privileges for the solace 
 of their souls, when deep poverty overtook them, especially widows and orphans 
 who had laid the bones of their dead in strange soil. The 'chief joy' of these was 
 to gather together what little they had, and hasten to die within the shadow of its 
 hallowed walls, even if they slept in ■ tlu- place \n Imi-y .-tranne-rs in." Yet these 
 classes were not always welcome; even the docti.i-s of the law, who treated all 
 women lightly, refused religious teaching to \voiiien. This state of things ac- 
 counts for the great poverty which Christianity founil in Jerusalem, and gives 
 new weight to Christ's saying: 'The poor ye liave always witli you.' Sometimes 
 pagan rulers and corporations wei'e moved with pity to the extix.aiiely p(.)or : but here 
 is a new thing in the earth, in tht' form of a new n'ligiou whieh made benevolence 
 its ideal. Its lM)Uiider had been Ixirn in a stable, had ^peiit his life in deep poverty, 
 had been buried in another man's tomb; and miw he had made men members one 
 of another, had created a new virtue in the lieart towai'd the weak, and had 
 elevated men to thrift by sympathy. The poor, therefore, emliraeed the Go.sjiel as 
 a fresh source of strength ; it made them rich in bread as well as in faith, and 
 consumed the partition-walls between the poor and rich in the flames of brotherly 
 love. Instead of demanding hecatombs of beasts at the hands of widow and 
 or])lian, it tendered them ' one sacriflce for sin," offered forever, ami made tlie 
 outcast and famishing its altar of sacriflce. Sue)] love led those who had worldly 
 goods to give to the poor, and bound the members of the new faith in a oneness 
 which made all things common. Yet they neither abandoned the rights of owner- 
 ship in private property, as Peter's questions to Ananias show, nor adopted a 
 communist life, such as would paujierizc tlie members of the Church. 
 
 A mere glance reveals the diflieulty of the twelve in dealing with this state 
 of affaii-s ; they spread a free table daily for such as needed the bounty of the 
 Church, for as yet they had no division of labor with others, and out of this 
 common meal served to the multitude the deacon's office arose. The Church at 
 Jerusalem was composed entirely of Jews and proselytes from paganism to the 
 Jewish faith, some natives, some foreign born. Those Ijorn in Palestine spoke the 
 Aramaic and read the Scriptures in the Hebrew; hence they were called Hebrews. 
 Those boi'u in other lands read and spoke the Greek or Hellenic (from Hellas, in 
 Thessaly, the cradle of the Greeks), and were called Hellenists. These were held 
 in disrepute by the native Jews, and were treated as inferiors because they mixed 
 with the Gentiles. They had seen more of the world than the Hebrews, were less 
 hampered by the rigid and official orthodox}^ of Jerusalem, and were more cosmo- 
 politan and less aristocratic in their feelings toward others. These phases of human 
 nature brought jealousies into the fraternity, and as the Hellenist widows were the 
 most numerous, they necessarily called for a larger share of the bounty. So the 
 more strict brethren took it into their heads that their poor were 'overlooked,' 
 
DEACOyS: rilKIll QUALiricATIOSS. 18 1 
 
 and with tlie true iii.stinct of iiiodurn IJaptist ynimblcrs, they began to lill the 
 Cliurch witli coinphiints that the distribution of bread was not even and fair. 
 The adjustment of tliis business so diverted tlie attention of the Apostles and 
 consumed their rime, tliat they asked the Church to select seven men from th( imwu 
 ranks, who should ' lieli)," ' wait ' and 'serve,' at the provision-tablo, and thi-y would 
 contirm the popular choice. Tlicy also laid down clearly the (iu;diti<-alioiis for the 
 work. They mu.st be 'of ij'ood ivport, full of the Holy Spirit and wi.MJom ;" discreet, 
 having the confidence of the people; being marked for consecration, integrity, sound 
 judgment, and impart!, dity ; all this, although their duties were purely material, or, 
 as Jerome expresses it. they were ' attendants on tables and widows.' ' Tiie seven ' 
 were selected, but we are not to infer that they were all Hellenists because they 
 bore Greek names, as the Jews commoidy took such names, whicli renders it likely 
 that impartiality ruled, and that they wei'e taken ecpially from both factions, with 
 one 'proselyte' to keep the balance even. I'oor human nature always tells the 
 same story. 
 
 Yet those chosen to this service are not called ' (UaconH^ but simply the 
 'seven,' to distinguish them from the 'twelve.' We meet this word first in the 
 New Testament in the Epistle to the Philippians, and some think that the ofUce 
 was borrowed from the almoners of the synagogue. Dr. Lightfoot, the present 
 Bishop of Durham, pi-onounees it 'a baseless thougli a sox^ common assumption, 
 that the Christian diaconate was copied from the arrangenients of the synagogue.' 
 The duties of the Levite in the temple, and the office of the Chusan in the syna- 
 gogue, were of an entirely different character from those of the deacon. The Levite 
 took care of the temple sacrifices, removed the blood, offal and ashes of the altar, 
 served as door-keeper at the gates, and aided in the chorus of the psalmody. The 
 duties of the Chusan were of the same order, so far as care for the synagogue 
 went, and aid in the services allowed. But the only work of the deacon was 
 to serve at the table in the daily meal and relieve the poor, a labor which called 
 for another class of qualifications from those of these Jewish officers. In that dis- 
 honest and licentious age such a delicate trust as that held by the deacon requii'ed 
 rare spirituality and spotless character, keen insight of human nature, large paticTice 
 and sin-idar tact in dealing with the suffering, as well as a broad and intelligent 
 sympathy. In a word, his sacred duties called for the 'Holy Spirit and wisdom,' 
 special graces which neither Levite nor Chusan needed for their work. 
 
 The fact is most marked that those officers at a heathen feast, whose duty it 
 was to serve the portions of food which were eaten, were called the ' deaconts." One 
 officer slew the victims ; another offered them in sacrifice or cooked them ; then 
 this third officer served the flesh to tlie devotees.^ This fact is very suggestive, as 
 .showing the unpretentiousness of the office and title, and may account for the sacer- 
 dotal air wliich superstition has thrown around the diaconate in some communions. 
 This election created a new otlice in the Church, but not a new order in tht 
 
1S2 DEACONS NOT MlNrsTKIiS. 
 
 ministry, as that term is now technically used. Alford warns his readers (on 
 Acts vi) ' Not to imagine that we have here the institution of an ecclesiastical order 
 so named ' — deacons, in modern parlance they were ' laymen ' before their election, 
 and they remained so after. The reason given for the creation of their office was, 
 that the Apostles might be relieved from those duties which interfered with their 
 full ' ministry of the Word.' One set of ministers was not created to help another 
 (o do the same work, but duties that wei-e not ministerial or pustoral were separated 
 from those that were, and yivuii into i.ither hands. So that the deaeonship was not 
 probationary to the cldLTshi|), iiur ha\'u \vc any evidence that in tlic tirst century any 
 deacon became an elder. >«'eitlier did their tiffiee i)re\-ent their doing other Christian 
 work, for we find riiilij) the tirst witnes.s for C'hrist in yaniaria. Ihit he did not 
 publish the good news by virtue of liis otfice as a deacon, any more than Stejjhen 
 was martyred as a deacon. Bishop Tayhir lias abundantly shown, in his 'Liberty 
 of Prophesying,' that in the Apostolic Churches each believer of the brotherhood 
 had the right to proclaim the Gospel as well as the pastors. The work of spreading 
 it by jjreaching was left to each one as a question of cajjacity and not of office. 
 Even the private M'orshipers amongst the Jews had the right of public speaking 
 in the s^'nagogue, as we see by the freedom of our Lord and his Apostles there, for 
 they were not officers in that assembly. So it was in the Christian congregations ; 
 and, of course, the office of a deacon did not deprive him of the right to teach in 
 common with his brethren. Luke tells us that the jiei'secution at Jerusalem 
 scattered the Church there ' except the Apostles," and that the ' scattered,' the whole 
 lay membership of that Church, preached the Word. So the deaeonship did not shut 
 up a deacon to the service of tables only ; he might do missionary work, by right of 
 his personal regeneration, and attend to his office, also. Did the Apostle Paul act 
 improperly when he carried the collection of the Grecian Churches to Jerusalem, 
 because he was not officially a deacon ? Thus a deacon might engage in other re- 
 ligious labor besides that imposed by his office. 
 
 The instructions given to the deacon in the Epistles, show the functions of 
 his office to have been the same in the latter period of the Apostolic Age that 
 they were when the office was created ; and it nowhere appears that they exer- 
 cised the pastoral or ministerial office. Even in matters relating to the relief of the 
 poor they were not supreme. When Paul and Barnabas brought relief to the poor 
 saints at Jerusalem, they delivered the gift to the 'elders' and not to the deacons: 
 and no deacons assisted in the call, deliberations, or decisions of the advisory Council 
 at Jerusalem. Paul's associations there were all with the elders and not the deacons 
 of the Church, showing that the deacons held no rank in the pastoral office. 
 Thirty years after their office was formed, he instructs them, and enjoins precisely 
 those qualifications for filling it, -wdiich were needed in one whose business it was to 
 go from house to house dispensing alms, and none other. Li his Epistle to the 
 Corinthians, A. D. 57, he calls them 'helps;' in that to the Romans, 'the minis- 
 
TIIK DEACONESS. 133 
 
 tratioii ; ' and iu his letter to Timothy, he lays special stress upon their liolding 
 ' the faith in a good conscience,' as men free from vices, especially the sins of greed 
 and gossiping, not even mentioning that they should be ' apt to teach ; ' which would 
 be a strange omission if ti'acliin;^- were a special part of their office, as a subordinate 
 order in the pastoral ministry. In liis Epistle to Titus, about A. D. QQ, he does not 
 mention the deacons at all, although he says much to 'elders,' of their appointment, 
 work and qualifications ; showing again that he did not rank deacons in the pastoral 
 office, nor were they so ranked in that age. In the third century, when there were 
 forty-six elders in the congregation at Eome, there were only seven deacons ; and the 
 Council of JSTeo-Cffisarea, A. D. 314-325, decreed that no Church should have above 
 seven. Origen says, that ' The deacons dispense the Church's money to the poor ; ' and 
 in non-Episcopal Churches this office remains substantially uncorrujited to our times. 
 TuE DEACONESS, in the Apostolic Churches did much the same work as the 
 deacon. Grotius says : ' In Judea the deacons could administer freely to the 
 females,' but amongst the Greeks and farther East, the enforced seclusion of 
 women deprived them largely of the public administrations of men ; this was the 
 case, to a certain extent, amongst the Eomans also. But all through the Oriental 
 nations men were excluded from the apartments of females, contrary to that social 
 freedom which marks western civilization. In all the spheres of life, woman suf- 
 fered a degradation to which we are strangers, and Christianity purposing to lift 
 her up, provided for her the deaconess, to bless her own sex in her own peculiar 
 way, publicly and privately. Phoebe is the first known to us who filled that honor- 
 able office, and Paul passes a high encomium upon her, 'she succored many.' 
 There was abundant room for these valuable helpers as the Churches were then con- 
 stituted, amongst the rich and poor, women of reputation and the debased slave- 
 women. The deaconess possessed high qualifications, being ' grave, sober, faithful, 
 and not slanderous.' Her sacred duties demanded devotion, approved character 
 and ability, requiring her to be kind, intelligent, courteous, and to follow ' every 
 good work.' Eight years after Paul had spoken so gratefully of Phoebe, he gives 
 full instruction as to these qualifications. These honorable women were chosen 
 from matrons or widows well advanced in life, and many of our best interpreters 
 think that Paul describes them in 1 Tim. v, 9, 10: 'Let not one be enrolled as a 
 widow under threescore years old, having been the wife of one husband ; well 
 reported of for good works; if she brought up children, if she lodged strangers, if 
 she washed the feet of the saints [in hospitality], if she relieved the afflicted, if she 
 diligently followed every good work.' We have reason to believe that many 
 of these ' elect ' ladies brought great honor to the faith, for Pliny, in his famous let- 
 ter to the Emperor Trajan, A. D. 110-111, says, that he had just examined 'two 
 women-servants who are called ministers,' deaconesses; by which, he means that he 
 had tortured them, as was common when Ciiristian women suffered persecution for 
 Christ. 
 
..f 
 
 wuiiiiin : 
 
 ; thui 
 
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 down now upon this, 
 
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 Christ.' So long as 
 
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 u deaconess waited upon 
 
 K. 
 
 jiirick : ' 
 
 This 
 
 class of females having 
 
 The order of deaconess continued in the Lathi Chiin-li (hiwii to about the sixth 
 century, and in the Greek to the twelfth ; and w'as disconiiniu'd, iiriiicipaliy because 
 the (liaconatc became a priestly office which women could imt till; nuns tlien took 
 tlic jilace of deaconesses. Anciently they ■were ordaiiK-il liy funu as well a> by 
 vote, and the work known as the ' Ajjostolic, CJoiistitutions,' written about A 1>. -■inii, 
 contains this beautiful prayer used at thrii- oriliiiati(_in : 'Eternal God, Fatliei of (.)iir 
 Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of man and 
 ISplrit, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and 
 wimian the birth of tliy only begotten 
 handmaid, and best.,w (.11 lier the Holy h 
 work permitted toiler to thy honor, and 
 inlnler^ioll of adult females remained in 
 them ill baptism; but, says Archbishop 
 ceased, from a variety of causes, it became expedient to abstain from the immersion 
 of females;' and he adds the reason, 'it is certain that the applicant entered the 
 font in a state of entire nudity.'^ According to ' Hanbury's Memorials,' the Con- 
 gi'egationalists of England and Holland restored the office to some extent, in the 
 seventeenth century, and the Moravians continue it to this time. Also the Broad- 
 mead Tlaptist Church, at Bristol, England, two centuries ago, adopted the full 
 Apostolic model, by selecting a plurality of elders, with deacons and deaconesses, 
 making the duties of the latter, the care of the sick and tlie poor. 
 
 The shepherds or pastors of the Apostolic Churches were known as Pkesby 
 TEES, or Elders, fi'om pfeshutemi ; and as Bishops, or o\'erseers, from ejn.dvjjoi. 
 This fact should stand in its own order of New Testament time ; for if we take it 
 out of its historical surroundings and throw it backward or forward into another 
 century, it will lose its distinctive value. Dean Alford says, with clear chronolog- 
 ical truth : ' In those days titles sprung out of realities and were not merely hier- 
 archical classifications.' In such a question as this, chronology is the stoutest logic. 
 We must, therefore, consider and restrict these titles to their primitive sense, as best 
 defining the office which they represent. They are entirely synonymous in the Kew 
 Testament, and the nature of the office which they represent, is to be di-awn from 
 their acknowledged meaning. 
 
 Pastors appeared in all these Churches very early after their organization, and 
 the Hebrew Christians called them presbyters (elders) while the Gentile Churches 
 called them bishops (overseers), the terms being interchangeable. The leaders or 
 rulers of the synagogue were called presbyters, but they were not prototypes of the 
 Christian presbyters, for there was next to nothing in common between the two. 
 The synagogue could in no sense become the pattern of the Christian congregation, 
 which was constituted for a different purpose, and demanded that freer and more 
 independent form, which was in harmony with the genius of Christ's more generous 
 teaching. 
 
PASTOliS ARE JUS HOPS. 
 
 Neandcr says : 
 
 ' It may be disputed whether the Apostles designed from the first, that believers 
 should form a society exactly on the model of tiie syinii^ogue. The social element 
 of both iiad something of similarity, enough to warrant tlie use of the current word 
 presbyter in the ancient sense of leadership ; this being the sense in which both 
 civil and sacred rulers had long been known in Israel, and by which the members of 
 the Sanhedrin were then known.' * 
 
 80, then, every one knew what parties were referred to in the Christian con- 
 gregation w'hcn its ' elders ' were spoken of. But the Gentiles, who were not 
 familiar with the peculiarity of Jewish titles and institutions, could not so well 
 come to a knowledge of this spiritual office by the use of the word, when standing 
 alone and unexplained. To them, the term elder expressed age, but little of fitness 
 or i-ank. Another term was in use amongst the Greeks which exactly expressed the 
 duties of the Christian presbyter, namely, the word episkopoi, overseer. With 
 them, this was purely a civil and secular name, which was used in private associa- 
 tions, or in municipal and magisterial bodies. The superintendents of finance, of 
 workmen, the inspectors of bread and produce, and the overseers of public iiffairs 
 generally, were designated by this term. In fact, all persons w\\q had oversight of 
 affairs, either public or private, were known as bishops. For this reason the same 
 class of men who were known as elders in the Jewish-Christian Churches, were called 
 bishops, or overseers, in the Gentile Churches. 
 
 Thus Bishop Lightfoot, after speaking of the presbyters, asks : 
 
 ' What must be said of the term bishop ? It has been shown that in the Apos- 
 tolic writings the two are merely different designations of the same office. How and 
 where was this second name originated ? To the officers of Gentile Churches is the 
 term applied, as a synonym for presbyter. At Philippi, in Asia Minor, in Crete, 
 the presbyter is so called. In the next generation the title is employed in a letter 
 written by the Greek Church of Rome to the Greek Church at Corinth. Thus the 
 word would seem to be especially Hellenic. Beyond this we are left to conjecture. 
 But if we may assume that the directors of reliiiious and social clubs amongst the 
 heathen are commonly so called, it would naturally ncciii', if not to the (ientile 
 Christians themselves, at all events to their heathen assuciates, as a fit designation 
 for the presiding members of the new society. The infant Church of Christ which 
 appeared to the Jew as a synagogue, would be regarded by the heathen as a confra- 
 ternity.' * 
 
 The duties of the bishop-elders were, to feed and rule the flock of Christ as 
 she})herds, by guidance, instruction, and watch-care. Paul first uses the word 
 bishop at Miletus, when he chai-ges the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus to take 
 heed to the flock over wdiich the Holy Spirit had made them bishops. Here lie 
 two names are used interchangeably as descriptive of the same thing. On this point 
 Neander remarks : 
 
 ' That the name also of episcopus was altogether synonymous with that of 
 presbyter, is clearly collected from the passages of Scripture where both appellations 
 arc interchanged (Acts xx ; compare versu 17 with verse 2S ; Titus i, 5-7), as well 
 
136 PLURALITY OF ELDERS. 
 
 as from tliose where t.lie mention nf tlie ofBee of deacon follows immediately after 
 that of '■'■L'jjlucojwi,''' so that a tliii-d clu^s of (jfticers could not lie between the two. 
 Phil, i, 1 ; 1 Tim. iii, 1-8. This inti /■r/nnnjc of the two appellations is a proof of 
 their entire cohwidence' " 
 
 As to the kind of I'lde which these liishops exercised, it was executive onh', and 
 for the jinrpose of moral np-l)uildinf;-, in submission to the truth which they taught, 
 and not for the exercise of loi'dship. So far from its being an exercise of per-sonal 
 power, they were held responsible to the local Church wliich they served for their 
 conduct as stewards. Neander says again : ' They were not destined to be unlim- 
 ited monarchs, but rulers and guides in an ecclesiastical repiiMic, and to conduct 
 every thing in conjunctitjn with the ('hui'ch assembled together, as the servants and 
 not the masters of which they were to act." ' The congregation having first taken 
 them from the common ranks by their own democratic action, as Athens invested 
 its officers with governing powers in olden times, they were responsible to the body 
 whicli created them for the exercise of their powers. 
 
 All sorts of false pretentions have been hung upon the word ' liishop,' as used 
 by the writers of the New Testament. But Pliil. i, 1 ; Acts xx, 17 ; and James 
 V, 14, set forth the fact that there were several bislK)ps in the same congregation, an 
 idea whicli will not harmonize with the assumption that a bishop ranks above an 
 elder, or even a body of elders. Then, 1 Peter v, 1, 2, solemnly charges the ' elder ' 
 to use well his episcopal functions. Even as late as Jerome A. D. .3.31-370, this 
 oneness of office was generally admitted in the Cluirches, for he says : ' The elder is 
 identical with the bishop, and before pai'ties had so multiplied under diabolical 
 influence, the Churches were governed (meaning each Church) by a council of 
 elders.' 
 
 Nor were the so-called ' powers ' of Timothy and Titus in any sense those of 
 the modern prelate. They were merely the functions of missionary evangelists. 
 These holy men were sent to establish feeble Churches already planted, and to 
 organize new ones, as the same class of men to-day who labor without prelatieal 
 authority. Neither did James assume authority at Jerusalem after the foi-m of a 
 modern diocesan. He simply attained greater influence than other pastors by his 
 all-absorbing consecration to God, and to the feeding of his flock, as a holy pastor 
 over that single congregation. In association with his fellow-elders in that body, he 
 sacredly guarded its interests as a brotherhood. Persecution was perpetually breaking 
 up this and other Churches, and was one of the things which made this plurality 
 of elders in the same congregation necessary. The first blow was generally aimed 
 at the elders, as the official heads of these communities. Some of them were cut 
 down, others were obliged to flee for their lives, and at the best the Chui'ches were 
 broken into groups, especially in large cities, so that they must be ministered to, 
 when, where, and as they could. When the elders did meet together for con- 
 sultation, either in time of peace or in persecution, some one nmst preside over 
 
C'AnSOX, CAMPBELL, DAVIDSON. 137 
 
 their conferences ; and lie wlio did so, acted simply as the peer of his Ijretlircn, 
 without aiithority over them ; for while he was a bishop each one of his Iji'ethren was 
 the same. This, James did at Jerusalem, no more and no less. 
 
 Again, what was known as the presbytery in the Apostolic Churches was not 
 made up of a body of elders, or pastors from the various local Churches, for 'Script- 
 ure presbytery,' as Dr. Carson says, 'is the eldership, or plurality of elders in a par- 
 ticular congregation.' ' There is absolutely nothing in the New Testament which 
 gives those who rule in one Church any authority in another ; and more, no Church 
 is mentioned as having but one bishop or elder. These had no power out of their 
 own congregation, and no such distinction exists even there as pastoral elders and 
 ruling elders. 
 
 Both Dr. Geo. Campbell and Xeander have clearly shown that the elders in 
 one Church were all rulers, for the liberty, edification, and usefulness of the body, 
 and that no class or distinction existed amongst them. Had there been two classes, 
 their qualifications had differed with their duties, and so they would have been des 
 ignated by different names. No elders are spoken of who do not rule, who are not 
 pastors, but all pastors are known as elders. "We read of ' all the elders at Jerusalem,' 
 of 'elders for each Church' (not an elder), as at Derby, Lystra, Antioch, and other 
 places. At Lystra Paul met with Timothy, and most likely it was there that ' The 
 hands of the presbytery' were laid upon him. Not the hands of presbyters from 
 various local Churches ; but, in the language of Dr. Samuel Davidson : 
 
 ' The elders set over a single Congregational Church.' ^ The phrase, ' The pres- 
 bytery,' as the phrase, 'the lawyer,' 'the statesman,' in the classification of men, 
 means every presbytery, in the classification of the body of elders in the sevei'al 
 Churches. Carson says, that the word denotes : ' A certain kind of plurality of 
 elders. It represents stated association. The accidental or occasional meeting of 
 the elders of a number of Churches, would be a meeting of the elders, not of the 
 presbytery. The word denotes both the plurality and the union. The senate is not 
 even a plurality of senators. ... It is taken for granted in this kind of expression, 
 that it i~ a (1( liiiitr, wril-kiiuwn body of men acting in association. As there is no 
 such a-MH-iatiuii aiiiKii^- ilic elders of different Churches, it must be theeldersof one 
 Cliurcii.'" -Neundcr corruborates this view, thus: 'It is certain that every Church 
 was governed by a union of the elders, or overseers, chosen from among them- 
 selves, and we find among them no individual distinguished above the rest, who pre- 
 sided as ap)'inius inter pares, first among equals.' 
 
 But, above all absurd positions, is that which makes tiie bishop of modern times 
 the successor of the Apostles. When they died they appointed none to fill their 
 places, for their office was peculiar and connected only with the planting of Chris- 
 tianity, by upholding Christ's teachings and requirements ; their mission being con- 
 firmed by the special gifts of the Holy Spirit. All this was indispensable until the 
 standard of faith and practice was settled in the inspired Books ; they themselves, for 
 the time being, tilling the place of those writings, as the chosen organ of the Spirit. 
 Then, they were the only authoritative guides for the Gospel Churches, by whom the 
 
138 NO DTOCESAN EPISCOPACY. 
 
 will of Cliii-t was conunuiiieated. Tlirniii;]i tlieir tongue and pen tlie Spirit gave 
 his tliivcti.iiis aii.l ilcciM.^.ns, and tliuv aiv now exactly what the Churches of their 
 ;iMV iTcoi;iii/.c(l tli(_-ni ; the New Testament sn|)]ilied their place as tlie channel through 
 which the Spii-it now speaks to the ( 'hurchcs. 
 
 Those who would tV>ist diocesan ei)iM-opac,v upon the New Testament Churches, 
 tliinh that thcv lin.l their stnm-hold in the phrase 'angel of the Church' (<ni,j,lvs), 
 which is simply a mosenger. In Matt, xi, l(», .Tehovah himself calls John tlie 
 l^aptist, 'my angel' (messengei-), and in tui-n, John calls his own messengers to 
 Christ, 'angels/ Luke xviii, 18-24. I!ut wert" these j)rototypes of modern prelates? 
 Even Paul's thorn in the flesh is called hy him^elt an 'angel,' ' a messenger of Satan.' 
 L' Cor. xii, 7. So, the seven letters to the ( huivho. Kev. ii, iii. imply that the angel 
 of the Churches was some person sent fidm eai-h (d' them on a temporary mission, 
 and chosen by the Church itself for that nns^ion. Eu(;li of the Churches had its 
 separate messenger; there was not one angel oidy for the seven, after the order of 
 modern episcopacy. A cause mn^t lie hard pi'es^ed, to lay violent hands upon this 
 part of the Apocalypse in support of such an innovation. 
 
 Patmos, where the Apostle John wi-ote this hook, was not far from the seven 
 Churches of Asia, and it was natural that the holy pia^oiier should recpiest each one 
 of them to send some faithful messenger who should receive from him, personally, 
 what message he had from Christ to send to them severally. The Apostle Paul sent 
 his Epistles to the Churches in the same \\ ay, fui- each messenger who carried them, 
 was then capable of proving that they were not forgeries. And, now, this \vas the 
 only means left at the command of John for sending Christ's revelations to the 
 Churches, by trustworthy hands. Is it surprising, then, that Jesus should instruct his 
 imprisoned servant, to write this and that message to this and that Church, aud to 
 entrust the message to these individual messengers? The trust which the Saviour 
 liimself conflded to them, entitled them to be called 'seven stars,' each bearing new 
 light to one of the seven Churches (d' which they themselves were the 'seven lamp 
 stands' set for the illumination of all around them. These Churches were not to be 
 deprived of necessary light because John was a prisoner; but Jesus would prove 
 to them by these seven epistles, that he still hehl them as stars in his right hand, 
 and had not turned over their keeping to a sevenfold episcopacy, but maintained for 
 each of them a separate message, to be bi'ouglit to them by seven faithful messen- 
 gers, as seven separate congregations, wdio, despite their faults, were still dear to 
 their Sovereign Lord. 
 
 Baptism was the first ordinance of the Apostolic Churches. Our Lord stamped 
 this institution with a marked and reverend dignity, putting higher honor upon it 
 than on any act in Christianity, by making it the oidy institution to be enforced in 
 the august names of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Xeither the preaching of the 
 Gospel, the administration of the Siipjier, n..r any other transaction has this high 
 sanction from his lips, because none of them hold the same solemn relation to the 
 
THE COMMO.X ABl'SK OF n.lPTfS.Af. 139 
 
 Trinity wiiicli tliis liol.js. lie did m.nv tliau iiKTcly (•<.iiuuan(i i)ai)tism to be ad- 
 miuistered In- tiie autluirity of tiic Trinity; as Dr. Dwight puts the formula, 'Not 
 m but into tlie name ' of the Trinity. Of course, not into the essence of the 
 Godhead, but tlie baptized are publicly introduced into the family of God, and are 
 entitled in a special manner to the name of God ; or, as Dr. TroUope better expresses 
 the sense : ' By this solemn act we are devoted to the faith, worship, and obedience 
 of these three, as Creator, Eedeemer, and Sanctilier.' The conception of divine 
 dignity whicli Christ threw into baptism, led the Apostolic Churches to see the 
 proper place which it holds in the Gospel system, and to shape their polity accord- 
 ingly. Their conduct contrasts strikingly with that modern fanaticism which 
 pushes it out of the place given to it by Christ, either by making it the source of 
 moral regeneration, or by depreciating it as an optional rite or form. Our only safety 
 is in brushing away the fog which this abuse has thrown about it, and in going 
 boldly back to examine and practice it, as we find it in the New Testament. 
 
 Jesus declared it to be from heaven ; he doubly honored its appointment 
 by his Father, by obediently submitting to it on the opening of his own min- 
 istry, and by enjoining it on others to the end of time. It was the first institu- 
 tion in his mind when he himself began to preach ; and the last that he pressed 
 upon those whom he left to preach, w-hen he charged them on the ' mountain 
 in Galilee,' as he spoke his last command in his resurrection body. As John 
 Henry Newman says: 'Friends do not ask for literal connnands, but from their 
 knowledge of the speaker they understand his half-words, and from love to him 
 they anticipate his wishes.' Here is not even the reverend ' half-word,' it is his 
 last command that all believing men should be baptized upon their faith. As the 
 Captain of salvation he gave this military mandate, 'Follow me!' and made the 
 law doubly positive by his own example. It was this simple, heart-felt sincerity in 
 obeying hira which led a noted saint to say : ' Wherever I have seen the print of his 
 shoe on earth, there I have coveted to set my foot, too.' The Apostolic Churches 
 associated those primal exercises of the heart — repentance, forgiveness of sin, and 
 regeneration of soul — with baptism ; these were the preparation for baptism, which 
 exhibited the new religious state into which their members were brought. Hence, 
 says Dr. Jacob : ' It was evident from the first that Christian baptism, though in its 
 outward form one single act, represented no single, isolated state of feeling — but a 
 spiritual transaction carried on in the spirit and conscience, and then declaring itself 
 externally. . . . Consequently, the fact that persons liad been baptized is in the 
 New Testament often referred to, both as indicating their privileged position, and 
 as reminding them of their serious obligation to live in a manner not unworthy of 
 it."> This exactly accords with the inspired teaching. ' Through grace ye are all 
 the children of God, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ, put on Christ.' 
 Gal. iii, 27. 'Buried with him in your baptism in which ye were also raised up 
 with him, through faith in tiie operation of God.' Col. ii, 12. ileu who pro- 
 
140 THE PLACE FILLED BY BAPTISM. 
 
 fessed i'Mitli ami wciv baptized were regarded l)y tliose Cliurelies as true believers, 
 until tlieir cuiKluct jimved the contrary. Peter teaches the same doctrine when he 
 says that ' ba|itisin is nut the putting away of the tilth of tlie flesh,' the mere 
 cleansing u[ the budy ; it goes deeper and signifies the inward state of the baptized, 
 which must cori-cspiind with the outward appearance; by 'the answer of a good 
 conscience toward God.' What a tei'i'ible rt'luike is this to the ignorant notion that 
 if your own conscience approves oi' yuui- liaptism, you have all the baptism that 
 you need. No, the Apostle insists that the purity of your conscience as a saved man 
 must correspond to the profession wliich you make when you are buried with 
 Christ in baptism. Thus, Jerome understood the New Testament, and says : ' First 
 tliey taught all nations, then immei-se those that are taught, in water ; for it cannot 
 be that the body should receive the sacrament of baptism unless the soul has before 
 received the truth of faith.' '- 
 
 In the last edition of Ilerzog's ' Encyclopsedia ' {Art. Tanfe) these words are 
 used: ' Every-where in the New Testament the presupposition is, that only those 
 who believe are to be baptized. That in the New Testament no direct trace of 
 infant l>aptisni is found may be regarded as settled. Eiforts to prove its presence 
 suffer from tlie lack of presupposing what is to l)e pn^ived.' 
 
 Although Liddon makes baptism the instrument of i-egeneration, perhaps no 
 modern writer so lucidly sets forth its relation to regeneration as he, and his force- 
 ful clearness will justify the following long (]uotation : 
 
 'Regeneration thus implies a double process, one destructive, the other con- 
 structive ; by it the old life is killed, and the new life forthwith bursts into 
 existence. This double process is effected by the sacramental incorporation of the 
 baptized, first with Christ crucified and dead, and then with Christ rising from the 
 dead to life; although the language of the Apostle distinctly intimates that a 
 continued share in the resurrection-life depends upon the co-operation of the will of 
 the Christian. But the moral realities of the Christian life, to which the grace of 
 baptism originally introduces the Christian, cori-espond with, and are effects of, 
 Christ's death and resurrection. Regarded historically, these events belong to the 
 irrevocable past. But for us Christians the crucifixion and the rosnrroftion are not 
 mere past events of history ; they are energizing facts from whicli no lapse uf centu- 
 ries can sever us; they are perpetuated to the end of time within ihe Kingdom of 
 the Redemption. The Christian is, to the end of time, crucilied with Christ; he 
 dies with Christ ; he is buried with Christ ; he rises with Christ ; he lives with 
 Christ. He is not merely made to sit together in heavenly places as being in Christ 
 Jesus, he is a member of his Body, as out of his Flesh aild out of his Bones. And 
 of this profound incorporation baptism is the original instrument. The very form 
 of the sacrament of regeneration, as it was administered to the adult multitudes 
 who in the earh davs (if the Church pressed for admittance into her communion, 
 harmonizes \\\\\\ ilu' spiritual results which it effects. As the neophyte is plunged 
 beneath the waters, so the old nature is slain and buried with Christ. As Christ, 
 crucified and entondied, rises with resistless might from the grave which can no 
 longer hold him, so, to the eye of faith, tlic ('hiistian is raised from the bath of 
 regeneration radiant with a new and supei'iiatural life. His gaze is to be fixed 
 henceforth on Christ, who, being raised from the dead, dieth no more.' '^ 
 
SCHOLARS ON BAPTISM. ] 4 1 
 
 Tliis high (li)pti-iiial significance of baptism was constantlj kept in mind in \\w 
 Apostolic Ciiurdies, when they buried the bodies of believers in the waters of seas, 
 rivei-s, and other convenient places, and it could not be set forth in any other way. 
 It would be wearisome to quote critics, liistorians, theologians, and the highest 
 authorities in exposition to sustain this position, still a few may not be amiss. 
 
 Dr. Cave says of ancient immersion : 
 
 'By the persons being put into water was lively represented tlic ])iittiHg off of 
 the sins of the flesh, and being washed from the flltli and pollution of them ; by his 
 abode under it, which was a kind of burial into water, bis entering into a state of 
 death and mortiflcation, like as Christ remained for some time under the state or 
 power of death . . . and then by his emersion, or rising up out of the water, was 
 signified bis entry upon a new course of life, differing from that which he lived 
 before.' " 
 
 Dean Goulburn voices the higher scholarship on this subject in these words : 
 
 'There can be no doubt that l>a|>ri-^ni, when adinini^tcred in the pristine and 
 most correct form, is a divinely (•()ii>tiiiii'il ciiililnii nf Inidily resurrection. . . . 
 Animation having been for one instant mi-^i ikK il licinath the water, a type this of 
 the interruption of man's energies by death, tlie ixjdy is lifted up again into the air 
 by way of expressing emblematically, the new birth of resuri'ection.' '^ 
 
 The entire Greek Church, which at present numbers about 70,000,000 of com- 
 municants, and whose custom it has always been to immerse, thus strongly expresses 
 itself in its great standard, the 'Pedalion,' a folio of 4S4 pages, and sent forth 
 under the authority of the Patriarch and Holy Synod, on pp. 20-33 : 
 
 'The distinctive character of the institution of baptism, tln'ii, is ininnTsion (hop- 
 tisma), which camiot be omitted without destroying the iii\ -iniMii- iiMMiiin- (,f the 
 sacrament, and without contradicting, at the same time, the ctynHiid-ic:!! .-i-iiilic-aii(in 
 of the W(ji-d wliich serves t(j (le.-i--uate it. The Western (Koiuan) Church, tlierefore, 
 ha.~ x'liaraiiMl iVdiii the imitation of Jesus Christ : she has caused all the sublimity 
 of ilie external .-i-n to ili^apiieaf ; in sliort, she is guilty of an abuse of words, and 
 of ideas in practicing l)aptisiii by aspersion, the mere announcement of which is a 
 laughable contradiction.' 
 
 With equal decision, but in inilder terms, the Dean of Norwich complains that 
 the substitution of sprinkling for immersion has utterly obscured 'the emblematical 
 significance of the rite, and renders unintelligible to all but the educated, the Apostle's 
 association of burial and resurrection, with the ordinance.' Those who are not Bap- 
 tists find fault on this subject more bitterly than they do. A treatise authorized 
 by the patriarchs of Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Alexandria, declares in Chapter 
 vii, that the attempt to prove that the ancients sprinkled, is merely an attempt 
 to palm off ' lies.' Chapter xix attempts to show ' that sprinkling being satanical, is 
 opposed to Divine Baptism ; ' and Chapter xxxiv decides, ' That sprinkling is a Heret- 
 ical Dogma.' Moses Stuart, the great scholar of our own country, says : ' I cannot 
 see how it is possible for any candid man who examines the subject to deny this,' 
 namely : that A]50stolic Baptism was immersion. But Dr. Paine, Professor of Eccle- 
 
142 
 
 
 
 .1 rriroiiiTiKs cnxrixrKn. 
 
 
 
 
 si:istical Ilistc 
 
 iry ii 
 
 1 till 
 
 ■ Thcoln-ical Sriniiiarv at l!an-.>r, wlici 
 
 1 oliar-cMl In 
 
 ■ some 
 
 of 
 
 liis hivtlin-ii V 
 
 vith 
 
 i;a|., 
 
 Ust scntiliicllts iKTailM' lie tea. -lies that il 
 
 muRTsiou pn 
 
 L'vailed 
 
 ill 
 
 allCIiiuvhus 
 
 t'roiii 
 
 tl,f 
 
 A]in.stl(_'s (IdWii, ivplics witli Liavat .-pirit 
 
 
 
 
 'As to tlie question of fact, the testinicaiy i^ ample ami ileeisive. No 
 matter of Chnrcii history is clearer. The evidence is all mie way, ami all ClmiX'h 
 historians of any repute agree in acceptiiii;' it. AVe cuiinot claim even orig- 
 inality in teaching it in a Congregational seminary ; and we really feel guilty of a 
 kind of anaclironism in writing an article to illsi^t upon it. It is a point on which 
 ancient, medi:eval and iihhIci-ii historian^ alike, ('atholic.^ and Protestants, Lutherans 
 and Calvinists, ha\e ni> emiti-nvei-.-y ; and the simple i-ca-(,n for this uniformity is, 
 that the statements of the eai-ly Fathers are so clear, and the light shed upon these 
 statements from the early customs of the Church is so conclusive, that no historian 
 who cares for his reputation would dare to deny it, and no historian who is worthy 
 of the name would wish to. There are some liistorioal questions concerning the 
 early Church on which the most learned writers disagree .... but on this one of 
 the early practice of immersion, the most distinguished antiquarians, — such as Bing- 
 ham, Augusti, Coleman, Smith, and historians such as Mosheim, Giesler, Hase, 
 Neander, Millman, Scliaff and Alzog (Catholic) hold a common language. . . . Any 
 scholar who denies that immersion was the baptism of the Christian Church for 
 thirteen centuries, betrays utter ignorance or sectarian blindness.'^'' 
 
 Ilerzog says : ' Baptism was always performed by immersion in flowing water.' " 
 
 So the learned Scliafl:', on Kom. vi. 3 : ' The meaning of haptiso in this passage 
 is undoubtedly iiinnrrsf, and the whole force and beaiUy of the illustration lies in 
 this very allusion to the act of immersion and emersion." '* 
 
 The following extract from Coleman's ' Antiquities ' very accurately expresses 
 
 what all agree to : 
 
 ' In tlie ]irimitivo Church, immersion was undeniably the common mode of 
 baptism. The iitiii(»t that can be said of sprinkling at that early period is that it was 
 in case of necessity piTinitted as an exception to a general rule. This fact is so well 
 established that it is needless to adduce authorities in proof of it. 
 
 The Sub.iects of Bai-tism in the Apostolic Churches, were those who repented 
 of sin, and confessed their faith in Christ for salvation ; none else were admitted, 
 hence, infant baptism was unknown amongst them, either by precept or example, 
 nor have we any definition of the relation of infants to the Church, or any provision 
 for their discipline. In itself baptism was the confession of reliance on Christ, 
 having no reference to parental faith, or federal relationship. The infinite dif- 
 ference between the Theocracy and the Christian Church, measured the wide 
 stretch between circumcision and baptism. Admission into the first was by birth- 
 right without choice, the subject being 'born of blood and of the will of man.' 
 Men entered the see tnd, by bowing the heart and will to Christ, by the personal 
 abandonment of sin for his sake, and by personal choice of him as tlieir Saviour. 
 Christ was a member of the Jewish nation, but when he reached manhood, he was 
 haptized on his own volition as an obedient Son. No question of federal holiness 
 
NO IIACI-: IN CHRIST JESUS. 143 
 
 w;is inviihi'd \\vw. Marv had takrii liiiri to the Temple to be circumcised, but she 
 never brougiit liim to .l(jhii ti. be baptized. IbiT wbv not, if infant bajitism takes 
 the place of cii'cnmcision i aiui wliy did lie carefully avoid making infant baptism an 
 institute in his kingdom, when one sentence fi\im his lips would liave established it 
 forever i 
 
 Singularly enough the liaptism of believers is practiced by all Christians, who 
 l)ractice baptism at all, because Jesus positively commanded that it should be ; 
 yet some who practice infant baptism do so because Christ did not connnand it, but 
 was silent on the subject. One of onr tirst scholars and historians says : 
 
 ' True, the New Testament contains no express connnand to bajjtize infants ; 
 such a comnumd would not agree with the free spirit of the Gospel. Nor was 
 there aiiy compulsory or general infant baptism before the tmioii of Church and 
 State. Constantino, the first Christian emperor, delayed his baptism till his 
 death-bed (as many now delay tiieir repentance) ; and even after Constantine 
 there were examples of eminent teachers, as Gregoi-y Nazianzen, Augustin, 
 CliryMistoni, who were not baptized in early manhood, although they had Christian 
 mothers. But still less does the New Testament/b/'iiVZ infant baptism, as it might 
 1)0 expected to do in view of the universal custom of the Jews to admit their 
 children by circumcision on the eighth day after birth, into the fellowship of the 
 old covenant.' " 
 
 A guileh'ss investigator of historic truth will naturally ask here, 1. If 'the 
 free spirit of tiie Gospel' would not have agreed with an express command from 
 Christ to baptize infants, how does their baptism loithout his commands agree 
 with that ' free spirit ? ' 2. Gospel baptism was for ' all nations,' ' all the world,' 
 without regard to Jew or Gentile as such, what then, had natural ' birth ' to do witli 
 the question, in any way? Jews and Gentiles were admitted to baptism on the 
 same terms, and millions of Gentiles were baptized. l)ut oidy a few thousand Jews. 
 In fact, the baptized Churches refused to know men either as Jew or Gentile, 
 becan.se in Christ Jesus there is no race. The Gentiles had nothing to do with cir- 
 cumcision, as the ordinance of a covenant in which they had never had and never 
 were to have a part. "Was baptism substituted for circumcision to accommodate 
 them, when they had no naturdl interest in either ? The Jews needed no such 
 change. Any one of them, old or young, male or female, could accept the 
 liedeemer on choice, by passing out of the Old Covenant into the New with him 
 through baptism, by simply asking the privilege. Infant baptism could not be 
 a substitute for circumcision with the Gentiles, and the Jews could have both if 
 they wished, as in the cases of Paul and Timothy. Then what had circumcision 
 to do with the question anyway, when baptism affected only 'a new creature?' 
 3. As to New Testament silence on the subject of infant bap*^-sm : Did the Apos- 
 tolic Christians understand that whatever Jesus did not forbid they were in duty 
 bound to incorporate into the Christian system ? Then, any rite, fervice or prac- 
 tice, superstition or dogma whatever, might have been introduced, uidess expressly 
 
144 DOES SILENCE ENJOIN IXn'V? 
 
 forbiddon. Tliis casts all tlio bulwarks of purity to the four winds, aud is the 
 essence of Komanisni. Where does the New Testament 'forlid' infant com- 
 munion, the elevation and adoration of the cup, the limit of its use to the clergy, 
 the use of holy watei-, tlie ]iriestly miter and dress, the sign of the cross, and the 
 conduct of worship in Latin ; the use of salt, oil, honey and saliva in baptism, the 
 baptiMu of l)ells, a college of cardinals, archbishoijs, auricular confession, the pope's 
 infallibility, nay, the pope himself, with a thousand other nuimmeries ad nau- 
 seam f 
 
 If it is a canon in Christianity that silence gives consent, and consent imposes 
 duty, then it is not only our duty to baptize our children, whether the ' Christian 
 motlicrs' of Chrysostom and Augustine baptized theirs or not, but to do many other 
 things which ' his holiness ' curses us for not doing. Luther honestly said : ' It can- 
 not be proved by the Sacred Scriptures that infant baptism was instituted by Christ, 
 or begun by the first Christians after the Apostles.' So, when Carlstadt asked him : 
 ' Where has Christ commanded us to elevate the host ? ' he answered, ' Where has 
 he forhidden it ? ' As if this absurd answer rendered his act a whit the less a 
 trifling with Christ's will in either case. The Constitution of the United States 
 contains no express connnand to establish a monarchy and elect a king, ' still less ' 
 does it ^forhid^ this; therefore any faction is at liberty to establish a kingdom 
 and elect a sovereign ! Such work would probably be deemed 'treason' under our 
 positive political institutions, but somehow the same silence affecting an institution 
 of Christ is used to impel to superserviceable loyalty. 
 
 Our Lord instructed his Apostles whom to baptize, and on what conditions, and 
 they went no further. God commanded Abraham to circumcise ' his seed,' but he 
 did not practice the rite upon other men's children, because he was not forbidden to 
 do so. Baptism is met with in the New Testament, only in association with a cer- 
 tain set of persons, sentiments and virtues. The baptized are characterized 
 as ' elect,' ' saints,' ' disciples,' ' believers,' and their state of mind as that of ' faith,' 
 ' obedience,' ' remission of sin,' ' following after holiness,' and ' enduring hardness as 
 good soldiers of Jesus Christ ;' names which cannot be given to, aud things which 
 cannot be said of, infants. 
 
 Besides, the universal testimony of Church history says that they were not 
 infants, but refers the whole question of infant baptism to empty inferential usage. 
 Bunsen writes : ' It was utterly iinknown in the early Church, not only down to 
 the end of the second, but indeed to the middle of the third, centurj'.' -" Hahn of 
 Breslau testifies, that ' Neither in the Scriptures, nor during the first hundred and 
 fifty years, is a sure example of infant baptism to be foxmd ; and we must concede 
 that the numerous opposers of it cannot be contradicted on Gospel ground.'^' 
 Curcellaeus declares that, ' The baptism of infants, in the first centuries after Christ, 
 was altogether unknown ; but in the third and fourth was allowed by some few. 
 In the fifth and following ages it was generally received. The custom of baptizing 
 
snior.Mis ox inf.wt baptism. i4s 
 
 infants did not begin licfure tlie third age after Ciirist was born. In the former 
 ages no traces of it appear, and it was introduced witliout tlie command of Christ.'"^ 
 These testimonies might be ninltiplied at length, but only a few of great weight 
 may be added. Dr. Jacob says : 
 
 'Notwithstanding all that has been written by learned men upon this subject, 
 it remains indisputable that infant baptism is not mentioned in the New Testament. 
 No instance of it is recorded there ; no allusion is made to its eifects ; no directions 
 are given for its administration. However reasonably we may be convinced that 
 we find in the Cliristian Scriptures " the fundamental idea from which infant bap- 
 tism was afterwai'd develo])ed," and by which it may now be justified, it ought to 
 be distinctly acknowledged that it is not an Apostolic ordinance. Like modern 
 Episcopacy, it is an ecclesiastical institution legitimately deduced by C'liurch author- 
 ity from Apostolic principles ; but not Apostolic in its actual existence.' ^ 
 
 The Bishop of Salisbury, recently deceased, says : 
 
 'I most candidly and broadly state my conviction that there is not one 
 ]>assai:e niir one word in Scripture which directly proves it — not one word, the 
 undeniable and lo-irai |)()wer of which can be adduced to prove, in any way of fact, 
 that in tiie Scri])ture age intants were baptized, or of tlie doctrine that they ought 
 to be baptized. Nor, 1 believe, is there any such direct statement to be found in any 
 writings of the Fathers of the Church before the latter end of the second century.' 
 
 Beck has well summed up the constituency of an Apostolic Church thus : 
 
 ' They are baptized on the strength of personal faith, and pass from the old 
 union witli the world into the new associations. It is not baptism in itself, there- 
 fore, which niakr- the ( Inuch, it is faitii which qualifies both for faith and for the 
 Church. This faith throu-h which a man, of his own free-will, unites Iiimself with 
 (hi.IV Milvatiuii in Christ leads to baptism; in which (.d.l unites hiia.-clf \n men fur 
 their MiKatiun, for the forgiveness of tlieirsins and tlic -iff of ilic S|iirif. And siu-li 
 baptized persons form the Church which is, tlieiTrdrc, styled "Tlie niiiltitudc of 
 them that believed." ' ^ 
 
 Because, then, there is no authority for its practice from Christ or his Apostles, 
 it falls to the ground. Of what weight is it that it be a tenet of ' deduction,' ' infer- 
 ence,' 'Church authority ' or any other authority ; no matter what the pretense may 
 l)e 'i In that case it is of purely human origin, manufactured for some end which 
 the oracles of God did not contemplate, and is an act of empty will-worship, 
 for which a man can give no solid account to Ciirist. The late Archbishop Hughes 
 saw this point clearly, and said, in his ' Doctrinal Catechism : ' ' It does not ap])ear 
 from Scripture that even one infant was ever baptized ; therefore, Protestants 
 should reject, on their own principle, infant baj^tism as an unscriptural usage.' But 
 Professor Lange, of Jena, a weightier authority still, says : ' Would the Protestant 
 Chureh fulfill and attain to its final destiny, the baptism of infants must of neces- 
 sity be abolished. It has sunk down to a mere formality, without any religious 
 meaning for the child ; and stands in direct contradiction to the fundamental doc- 
 trines of the Reformers, on the advantage and use of the sacraments. It cannot 
 fmm any point of view be justified liy the Iluly Scriptures.'^ 
 
146 riiK /.o/;/)'s srr/'h'/i'. 
 
 Tliere are tliree eases of lujiLseliuld baptism lueiitiuiied in tlic New Testament, 
 but tlie language of each record strongly sustains the above testimony. In the 
 household of Lydia (Acts xvi, 40), those who were baptized with her are called 
 'brethren,' and are 'exhorted' by Paul. In the jailer's household (Acts xvi, 
 31-34), Paul 'spoke the word of the Lord to <ill that were in his house," and they 
 all 'believed in (4od and rejoiced.' And (if the househohl of Stephanas (1 Cor. 
 xvi, 15), which Paul bajitized, he says that tiiey 'addicted themselves to the ministry 
 of the saints.' These are things which no infant can do, and prove tliat in each case 
 they first heard the Gospel, and then were baptized \\\kiu their pcr-oiial faith in the 
 Lord Jesus. The second ordinance of the New Testament Chui-ches was : 
 
 The Loed's Suppek. Its design was purely commemorative of Christ's death. 
 Onr Lord instituted it on the night before he was offered. He gave broken bread 
 to his disciples, to represent his body as it should be mangled the next day by cruci- 
 fixion ; then they each drank of the cup, wliich represented the shedding of his blood 
 for the remission of sins. All his disciples prcst-nt ]iartook of these, and he made 
 the commemoration perpetual, saying, 'Tliis do in remembrance of me.' Here is 
 the simple and beautiful ordinance about wliicii his folkiwers have wrangled for 
 centuries in the most shameful manner. Human manipulations have made it an 
 ' awful mystery,' a ' dreadful sacrament,' or oath, and even a base idolatry, put in 
 the place of Christ himself. With many who reject the Eomish teaching of the 
 Supper, an accretion of ideas and applications are associated with it, which amount 
 to bald superstitions. We hear devout and eidightened Protestants calling it ' the food 
 of the soul,' a ' banquet of flesh and blood,' an ' eating of Christ's flesh and blood,' 
 and the like nonsense. Some even pervert such passages as this by applying them 
 to the Supper : 'If ye eat not my flesh and drink not my blood ye have not eternal 
 life,' whereas Jesus spoke these words a year and a half before the Supper was estab- 
 lished ; and if they bear upon it at all, they imply that eternal life itself can be had 
 by taking bread and wine at the table. Others, in some way. wliich nobody knows 
 any thing about, find a real presence of Christ at the Table, as they lind him in no 
 other religious observance, and so they insist upon it that the saints have fellowship 
 with him and with each other there, such as they can have nowhere else, and in 
 no other way. Hence, without intending it, contempt is brought upon the Bible 
 teaching that Christ himself and not bread is the food of the soul, that the atone- 
 ment brings salvation and not the act which commemorates it, in the use of bread 
 and wine. Christ is the only bond of vital union, and the only test of fellowship 
 amongst saints, and not a material ordinance. If fellowship amongst Christians is 
 purchased by sitting with each other at the same table, their love is bought at a very 
 light cost. Oneness with Christ himself, the brotherhood of regeneration by the 
 Holy Spirit, mutual burden-bearing and mutual watch-care, formed the visible bond 
 of fellowship in the Apostolic Churches. This sort of unity cost them something, it 
 was not a vaporing sentiment, and was worth all that it cost. There is not a case in 
 
JESUS 0M,y IS Tin-: box/) of r.xioy. 147 
 
 ecclesiasticiil history where thu yii])i)er lias held any siiiijle coiig-regatioii togetlier for 
 a day. Churches of all names who celebrate it constantly, live in open contention year 
 by year. The love of Judas for John was cramped iiito a close corner when they sat 
 at the same table, and ate the sop from the same dish. If Christians arc not ruie 
 on a much higher plane than that of eating and drinking the Sui)[)er with each 
 other, their true unity is a hopeless business. In fact, as if to prove the perfect 
 emptiness of this pretension, in some Protestant communions, the Supper itself has 
 been the subject of hot dispute, the chief bone of contention from century to cent- 
 ury. The greatest bitterness has been indulged, ami anathemas have been bandied 
 iihont, pro and con, with afreedom which has marked no other form of discussion, 
 and by men, too, who regularly meet at the same table. 
 
 About a quarter of a century after Christ's death, the Corinthian Church had 
 corrupted the Supper by the introduction of startling abuses. 1 (!or. xi. They 
 a.ssociated the love-feast therewith, and indulged in gluttony and drunkenness. 
 Christ corrected these abuses by a new revelation through Paul, and gave a second 
 definition of the design of the Supper, in exposition of the first. ' As often as ye 
 eat this bread and drink this cup, yer proclaim the Lord's death till he come.' Paul 
 'received of the Lord,' that he intended the Supper as a memorial, preaching 
 institution, whereby the redeemed Church, known as the ' Ye ' meeting in ' one 
 place,' preached Christ's death. The Primitive Churches, then, threw no super- 
 stitious mystery about it, ascribed to it no semi-saving efficacy, accompanied it with 
 no popish mortification, self-humiliations, super-solemnities, distempered enchant- 
 ments, or pious legerdemain. To them it was a 'feast' of artless thanksgiving, 
 kept with the ' leaven of sincerity and truth,' for the preaching of a sacrificial 
 Redeemer. The bread and wine were common, like any other bread and wine, and 
 Christ was present with them by his Spirit as in prayer, praise, and other acts of 
 worship, no more sacredly and no less. The converts who had been baptized met 
 together on ' the first day of the week,' and Justin Martyr, A. D. 150, says: 'It is 
 not lawful for any to partake, but such as believe the things that are taught by us 
 to be true, and have been baptized.' There were no such things as ' different deuom- 
 inatiiins' amongst them. Some congregations had factions amongst them, which are 
 called • sects,' but no sect of Churches was distinguished from other sects of Churches 
 by a different order of faith and practice. In this respect they walked under the 
 same rule, were all immersed believers, and were in perfect accord in their Gospel 
 practice. Whdn men are willing to return to the Gospel order of regeneration and 
 baptism, their own obedience to Christ Jesus will remove all controversy on these 
 subjects by restoring things to the Gospel siati/s ; and then tliere must of necessity 
 be again: 'One Lord, one faith, one baptism,' and one Table. But until then there 
 never can be ; and what is more, there never ought to be, except on this Apostolic 
 Church principle. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE BAPTIST COPY OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCHES. 
 
 FIIOM tlic tall of .Tei'u.sik'iii, A. I). 70, to the end of the century, great 
 changes occurred in the Roman Empire, some of wliich seriously aifected 
 the Christian Churches. Domitian occupied the throne from M to 96, and like all 
 tyrants, he was weak, cruel, despotic. He exhausted the tiiumces of the empire by 
 lavish expenditures, and laid a heavy tax iijjon the Jews. He also banished literary 
 men and philosophers from Rome, and persecuted the Christians as 'Atheists,' 
 because they worshiped an unseen God, without visible representation, figure, 
 symbol, image or altar. Besides this, the emperor claimed divine worship for 
 himself, as much as had Caligula before him. He every-where ])olluted the 
 temples with his statues, and we are told that endless sacrifices were ofliered at his 
 altars. His decrees began M'itli the words: ^ Domimis et Dcus noster'' (our Lord 
 and God) commands this and that, and whoever spoke of him otherwise was sub- 
 ject to the charge of treason. Some Jews, to evade the tax, denied their nationality, 
 and as the Christians were classed with Jews, strict examination was made of their 
 persons and rites. Because they refused to pay him the profane worship which he 
 demanded, he was inflamed with rage. The doctrine of the second advent of Christ 
 was confused with the Jewish belief in a coming Messiah, and this kept him on the 
 alert with suspicion, lest a political rival should make him trouble. Hence, great 
 numbers of Christians suffered the confiscation of their goods, others were put to 
 death or exiled, and the ' gloomy atheists ' who escaped, were treated by society as 
 impious persons. Happily, his wrath was launched against them late in his reign, or 
 the persecution would have reached a level of severity with that of Nero. His 
 successor, Nerva, A. D. 96-98, was more just and humane, revoked the edict of 
 Domitian, recalled the banished from the mines and the Islands of the Mediter- 
 ranean, and in fact, forbade the further persecution of Jews or Christians. Then, 
 Christianity came near to the Csesars and even reached the royal family. Flavins 
 Clement was cousin to Domitian, high in office and in the regard of the people ; 
 and there seems to be good evidence that he and his wife, Domatelli, became Chris 
 tians, with others in the highest ranks of society. 
 
 At the close of the First Century, Christianity stands in its ideal lieauty, fresh 
 from Christ, full of new life given by the Holy Spirit, and in the pure mold wliicb 
 inspired Apostles had formed, without one defect from the touch of human govern- 
 ments. It looked like a frail craft tossed on a stormy sea, though freighted witli all 
 
IS TUE MODEL LOST? 149 
 
 tlio wealtli (if heaven. It was the first beam from the ]\[oriiiiig Star, making its 
 way out of infinite solitudes as fleetly and softly as the Dove of Jordan. Jesus had 
 come in the Augustan Age, had uttered every word which man needed to hear, and 
 finished every deed needed for his salvation. Yet, his new scepter, swayed over 
 tlie human spirit, was never to be broken, lie came t(j make life higlier, poetry 
 broader, history brighter, and religion snblimer; an art, which should lift the vulgar 
 into the ideal, and perfect praise out uf low human passions. When the heavens 
 closed on our ixscended Lord, his Apostles went forth to the great uplifting movement 
 amongst slaves, and the poorest of the common people. By a natural but sure 
 process the}' laid its foundations in their confidence, toil and blood, and built from 
 this basis to the top-stone of society. The century opened with the cries of the 
 liethleliem Baljc, and closed with the Man of Sorrows on his throne, in the heaven 
 of heavens. To the far East he had become the Day-sjjring, to the far "West the 
 Kising Sun. Warlike people and pastoral, polite and barbarian, had begun to feel 
 his power, from Rome to the far-off shores of the Empire, which were washed by 
 every sea. Those Apostles who had stood with him on the mountain in Galilee, had 
 done their work, and were now enthroned with hira. Their names, yet unrecorded 
 in the annals of the Empire, were written in the Lamb's Book of Life forever. 
 
 Plaving thus found the model of the New Testament Church, the question is 
 forced upon us : Whether or not this pattern is retained in any of the Churches 
 of the present day ? Without casting iingeneroiis reflections upon any Christian 
 I)<)dy whatever, it may ue said that as to substance and form, the most accurate 
 resemblance to this picture of the Apostolic Churches, is now found in the Baptist 
 ( 'hurches of Europe and America. Dr. Duncan reports : ' That when Gesenius, the 
 great German Hebraist and Bil)lical critic, first learned what Baptist Churches were, 
 he exclaimed : ' How exactly like the Primitive Churches ! " So Ypeig, late Pro- 
 fessor of Theology in the University of Groningen, and Dermout, Chaplain to the 
 King of Holland, who, together, prepared a History of the Netherland's Reformed 
 Cinircli for that government, have the same principles in view when they say : 
 
 ' We have now seen that the Baj^tists who in former times were called Ana- 
 baptists, and at a later period Mennonites, were originally Waldenses, who, in the 
 historv of tlic (^hurch, even from the most ancient times, have received such a well- 
 (liM IV, .1 !h.iii:i-e. On this account the Baptists may be considered, as of old, the 
 oiilv iili^ioiis community which has continued from the times of the Apostles; as a 
 Ciiii^tiiui Society which has kept pure through all ages the evangelical doctrines of 
 religion. The uncorrupted inward and outward condition of the Baptist community 
 affords proof of the truth contested by the Romish Church, of the great necessity 
 of a reformation of religion such as that which took place in the sixteenth century, 
 and also a refutation of the erroneous notion of tlie lioinan Catholics that their 
 ilenomination is the most ancient.' ^ 
 
 The late Dr. Oncken assured the writer that in forming a new Church at 
 Hamburg, A. D. 1S34, the constituent members first resolved that they would shut 
 tliemselves up entirely to the Apostolic model, as found in the New Testament. 
 
180 FOUNDATION DOamiNEH t^TATKT). 
 
 They, therefoi'e, devoted themselves for some time to prayer and the exclusive study 
 of that Book as an inspired Church Manual ; and on comparing the result, to their 
 surprise, they found themselves compelled to form a Church in accord with the 
 Baptist Churches in England and America. Yet, there is nothing strange in this ; 
 the New Testament is ever the same, and it is lint natural that when the devout 
 miiid is left free from all standards Imt this, with tlie determination to follow 
 it in the most simple-hearted manner, it should i>roduce the same stamp of New 
 Testament Churches every-where and always. 
 
 In what, then, do the Baptist Churches of to-day differ from other ecclesiastical 
 bodies? Oidy in retaining certain peculiarities of the New Testament Churches 
 which others have laid aside. And in what do Baptist peculiarities consist? The 
 fundamental difference between them and others lies much deeper than the question 
 of Baptism, either as regards the act itself or its subjects. The distinction is much 
 broader, deeper and more radical. There was no need for serious protest against 
 the Komish hierarchy, for example, on the subject of immersion, down to the thir- 
 teenth century, for that was her settled custom to that time; while it is still 
 the custom of the Greek Church. The living and underlying principles of 
 Baptist Churches, relate to the sovereign and absolute headship of Christ in his 
 Churches; to the exclusive authority of the Scriptures, as containing his law for their 
 direction in all things ; to the supernatural regeneration of each Christian forming 
 the Churches ; and to the liberty and responsibility to God, of each individual con- 
 science. Here we find the great staple of Baptist life and history, and all other 
 questions are subordinate, growing out of these. Aside from these peculiarities, 
 Baptists stand side by side with many denomiiuitions of Christians in the present age, 
 and heartily hail the present state of divinity, as set forth in the clear and vigorous 
 teachings of tlie Reformed Churches. These are our precious treasure, in common 
 with the holy inheritance of other God-fearing men, and we cling to them with 
 gratitude, as in the main, the embodiment of New Testament truth. 
 
 It must ever be kept in mind, that the whole body of Baptists have never put 
 forth an authorized expression of their principles and practices in the form of a 
 creed. Some few of their Churches have never made a formal declaration of their 
 faith aside from the Bible; while in the main, eacli separate Church expresses what 
 it thinks the Scriptures require of it as a ( Inirch, in a ' Declaration of Faith.' There 
 is a substantial agreement in the entire fraternity of our Churches, which it is not 
 difficult to set forth. In common with other orthodox Christians, so called, we believe 
 the doctrines of the Divine Unity and Trinity ; of Christ's incarnation and proper 
 Deity ; of man's fall and helplessness, and his redemption by the vicarious sacrifice 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ ; of the Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit, and his 
 plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures ; of free justification by Christ's mediato- 
 rial work; of sanctification by the inwrought agenc_y of the Holy Spirit; of holy 
 living on earth after God's couimaudmunts ; of a future resurrection of the body, 
 
IfO M'THORITATIVE CREEDS. 181 
 
 and tlie clay of jiulgmont ; ami of a state of eternal rewards and punisliiuents in 
 another world. Of course, as in all other bodies of Christians, controversies exist 
 amongst ourselves touching the variuu.s modifications of these doctrines; enough, at 
 least, to show that there is and must be diversity of view, where the divine right of 
 interpretation is exercised amongst thoughtful men. The distinguishing principles 
 of Baptists, then, may be stated thus : 
 
 I. That the Inspired Soriptukes contain the full and supreme authority 
 OF Christ in all that relates to Christian faith and practice, whether in 
 
 DOCTRINE, ORDINANCE, THE ORDERING OF A HOLY LIFE, OR IN THE ADMINISTERING 
 
 OF Church government. These alone must be followed ; and all legislation, canon, 
 creed or decree, springing from tradition, ecclesiastical authority, or usage of 
 antiquity, not enjoined in the Scriptures, is to be resisted and rejected, from what- 
 ever source it may spring, either inside the local Church or outside, as intolerable in 
 the faith and practice of the Churches. We find a wide difference between a 
 simple confession or declaration of what tlie Bible teaches, and an authoritative 
 creed. A creed is an imperative test which must be enforced in the interests of 
 absolute uniformity ; and this is the exact position of Rome. She reasons thus : 
 ' Divine truth is one ; therefore, true believers cannot differ in their subscription to 
 the truth. But they do differ; therefore, in difference there is heresy. Now, 
 heresy must be kept out of the Church ; therefore, make a creed to keep it out. 
 Who, then, has the sole right to make a creed ? Of course, only the Church.' 
 Thus, the Bible is interpreted by creed-making, and its teachings to the individual 
 man are vetoed, because he is compelled to accept tlie interpretation in the creed. 
 Creeds tell men what they shall find in tiie Bible if they consult it, and if they find 
 not that, they shall find nothing. For the time being, what the majority condemns 
 is heresy, and the heretical minority must be punished until they become the 
 majority. Yet, no creed can be made a full and perfect unity ; nothing can be that 
 unity but the Divine Testimony, and tiiat must be personally consulted, man by 
 man. llu must be bold, indeed, wlio tiii's to unify God's word by drawing up a 
 creed, either to supplement it or push it aside. God crystallized his own Oracles as 
 a perfect and changeless creed forever ; and when man takes it into his head that he 
 can improve its formulation, he betrays his conceit by perpetually giving us new 
 creeds, in which he appeals to the Bible for their support, provided, that we will 
 read the Sacred Text through his colored glass. But because the Bible has never 
 beeu_ outgrown as the one standard, and cannot be creed iiied in brief; the Baptist 
 holds the substitution of any authoritative creed as the first step in apostasy. 
 Another distinctive principle with Baptists is : 
 
 II. That a Christian Church must be made up only of persons who are 
 
 MORALLY regenerated; AND TIIAT IT IS No I A SIMPLE VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION, BUT 
 A BODY OK MEN CALLED OUT OF TME WuKI.I) ABOUT THEM, BY ChRISt's SPECIAL 
 
 AUTHORITY, Ttj BE A I'Kiii'LK PECULIAR i(j uiMsKLF. The re^jreneration of each man 
 
152 RKCKNEUATION BY THE irOLY SPn?TT. 
 
 in Christ's Clmrcli must be wrought by the Holy Spirit, lie must bo baptized upon 
 his own choice, and covenant to maintain the order of the Gospel in its purity. 
 We hold that the fundamental decession from Apostolic teaching, which has 
 created scandal, shame, and division amongst Christians, lodges in that ritualistic 
 grace which has scorned a soul-renovation wrought by the Sjiirit of God, as a piece 
 of fanaticism, and has put this fal)le in the place of the Spirit's saving work. This 
 legerdemain has been foisted in under that shadowy figment called catholicity, and 
 outward ordinances liave been made the channel of saving efiBcacy in place of ' a 
 new creature in Christ Jesus.' With us spiritual regeneration is the moot-point 
 against all heresies, for on this all 'cognate points have turned in every cent- 
 ury. Jorg says of Dr. Lange, that he declared publicly in 1854 : ' It was not 
 opposition to infant baptism, biit Church order and fellowship that is the culmi- 
 nating essence of all Baptists, in the past and present.' ^ Sacramental salvation has 
 been the seed from which every distortion of Apostolic Christianity has sprung. 
 Baptists have stood, and still stand, in stout and holy protest against the abominable 
 doctrine that baptism and the LiiriTs Su])per are saving institutions; and they 
 demand that before any man shall put his hand to eitlier of these, he shall be reno- 
 vated by the Spirit of God, through faith in his Son, and then he shall be entitled 
 to them because he is regenerate, his regeneration having made this both his duty 
 and privilege. 
 
 This radical principle compels them to reject infant baptism, because in the 
 nature of the case the infant cannot be a witness to Christ, as the salt of the earth 
 and the light of the world. Baptism puts the infant into a most questionable posi- 
 tion. It cannot bring him into any covenanted relation to Christ which did not 
 exist befoi'e. Unbaptized, he was not a member of Christ's Church at all, and his 
 baptism does not so make him a member thereof, as to put him under its responsi- 
 bilities, or call him to its duties, or make him answerable to its discipline, or require 
 him to honor its brotherhood. Though baptized, he is not allowed to come to the 
 Lord's Table, because he cannot 'discern the Lord's body;' but he was compelled to 
 be baptized, whether he could discern the Lord's baptism or not. If he had died 
 unbaptized, he would have been numbered amongst the saints in heaven without 
 repentance, faith or any other religious act ; but if he grows up to manhood after 
 his baptism, he must be converted before he is fitted even for the Church on earth. 
 What, then, has his baptism done for him either in this world or that which is to 
 come ? No satisfactory and logical answer can be given to this question but that 
 given by the pope, namely : That his baptism is his regeneration de facto. It 
 admits him into the Church on earth with all its privileges so long as he lives ; and 
 it delivers him from a horrible limbus infantum, if he dies in infancy, and secures 
 salvation for him, die when he may. The rejection of infant baptism by Baptists is 
 not a mere whim or narrow prejudice, but in their judgment this institution vitiates 
 the purity of Christ's Church, as is seen in all the State Churches of Europe, where 
 
cnrnrn nKspoxsTmr.TTi/cs. ibs 
 
 the law makes the wliole population iiieiiilwrs of tlie C'liurcli tliroiia:li tliis rite. It 
 attaches an importance to baptism wliicli does jiot belong to it, and so perverts the 
 design of the Gospel ordinance, by exalting it entirely above its proper place ; and 
 it places the innocent child in a nondescript position to which he is a stranger in the 
 Gospel ; thus tliere can be no natural place for it in the Churcli of Cln-ist. The 
 very object of a Gospel Church is the promotion of mutual growth in truth, purity, 
 and love ; the advancement of Christ's cause on earth, and the salvation of the 
 Christless ; to none of which ends a babe can contribute. Then, as Baptist 
 Churches are pure democracies, they cannot deprive a child of the right to choose 
 Christ for himself, for in them all are equal ; each memljcr having his own vote in 
 all that concerns their well-being, a responsibility M'hich a child cannot assume. 
 Thus we consider that a Church made up of unregenerate members takes the second 
 step in apostasy. One more distinctive principle of Baptists is : 
 
 III. TuAT THEY MAINTAIN BaPTISM AND THE LoEd's SurPKK AFTKK THE 
 
 Apostolic appointment both as it kegards theik kelations to themselves as 
 OKDiNANCES, AND TO OTHER GREAT GosPEL TEACHINGS. We usc neither of them 
 as a charm, or spiritual amulet to serve the ends of superstition in the suj)po- 
 sition that the iirst can wash away sin, or that the other exerts any moral efficacy 
 on the soul. All the waters of the sea cannot wash away a moral stain from man, 
 nor can all the bread and wine brought from the harvest-fields and vineyards of 
 earth strengthen his innnortal soul. We think that the Suppei- should only be cele- 
 brated when and where the purpose of its celebration can be properly served. Hence, 
 we take the elements only when the local Church is met ' in one place ' as a body, 
 and shun the popish custom of carrying them to the room of the sick, as if they 
 contained salvation, or some magical influence. Christ personally is the healing 
 medicine of the afflicted Christian, and not bread and wine. We, therefore, hold 
 that every idea of sacramental grace is a piece of superstition, to be sacredly dis- 
 carded. Sacramentarianism is the third step in apostasy. The last distinctive prin- 
 ciple of Baptists is : 
 
 lY. That they earnestly oppose all connection of the Church with the 
 Static, and all distinctions made by the State amongst its citizens, on the 
 GROUND OF religion. They protest that the State has nothing to do with the con- 
 trol of religion ; but that it nuist give unresti-icted religious freedom to all, as their 
 sacred and natural right in the exercise of a free conscience. All true soul-liberty 
 arises in that purity of conscience, which, unbound itself, leaves all other con- 
 sciences free. Our idea is, that as the untrammeled conscience is the inalienable 
 right of man, he can be made accountable only to God for its exercise. Hence, 
 when any human power proscribes or persecutes man, by j)utting him under pains 
 or penalties for following his convictions of duty in obeying God, such inter- 
 ference is an usurpation. When a man follows these convictions, he is entitled to 
 the honest respect and love of ail ; and lie is bound to extend the same rights to 
 
f34 PEIiSEruriON FOR RELIGION, WICKED. 
 
 Others which he claims for himself. Nay, fidelity to manhood and to God requires 
 us to contend, and if need be to suffer, for this, as the right of others, and to 
 treat those who differ from us in religions opinion and practice, with the respect and 
 love which sacredly honors our own immunities. This holy principle lays the ax 
 at the root of all legal pi'oscription and persecution. Tlie persecution of one Christian 
 I)y another is the coolest wickedness that can be perpetrated, because it hides under 
 the color of law ; and when so-called Christian States inflict martyrdom, they simply 
 inflict cold-blooded nnirder. Men who kill others against law, generally do so 
 under the impulses of irregular passion. But those who legally put men to death 
 because they cannot conform to their religion, lift up red hands as their only right- 
 ful claim to Christian discipleship ; for they have methodized homicide under the 
 pretense of a holy regularity. They make piety toward God preside with prayers 
 at the blood-shedding of redeemed men. This State-murder has been steadily dealt 
 out to Baptists by every dominant sect of religion, with scarcely an exception, after 
 allying itself with the State ; while our people have insisted on their right to the 
 free exercise of their own faith, and to the freedom of all other men to serve God 
 on their own volition, without dictation from any man. 
 
 According to the estimate of Sharon Turner there were at the close of the first 
 century already about 500,000 Christians in the woi'ld, and the iScripturcs sliow 
 that they cherished the sacred principles here set forth. These doctrines are still 
 as fresh as ever, and are as soundly reproduced in the Baptists of the nineteenth 
 century as in those of the first. It will now be our business to show how and where 
 they have lived in the intervening centuries, when not an Apostle was left to 
 expound or defend theui, l)ut only the Word of God in which they abide, and must 
 live forever. Yet, the question is constantly arising why all Christians do not 
 earnestly strive to go back to the pattern of the Apostolic Churches i Beck force- 
 fully answers this inquiry thus : 
 
 ' It is quietly assumed that the original arrangements of the Church were only 
 possible at that time, and that in later ages they have become impracticable and 
 unsuitable. People have got into the habit of regarding this Scriptural pattern as 
 an ideal that cannot be carried out in practice. But why can we not realize it ? Is 
 the cause to be found in the fanatical character of the first period of Christianity, or 
 does it lie in the fact, that the latter progress has proved untrue to the ideal to 
 which the First Age remained true? The latter is the case. The Scriptural 
 Church constitution takes for granted, a society which grows and develops from 
 within by the free faith of those who compose it, and which separates itself from 
 the rest of the conmiunity. If doctrine and sacrament must be founded on the 
 divine word, in order to represent and promote true Christianity, this is no less 
 essential also for the constitution and discipline of the Church. The two things 
 cannot be separated, as the history of the great Churches shows, without entailing 
 increasing evil and injury on the Church. "The union between doctrine and consti- 
 tution must take place in accordance with what the divine word represents to have 
 been the rule and the practice from the beginning. This is the only right way to 
 improvement.' ■* 
 
POST-APOSTOLIC TIMES 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SECOND CENTURY. 
 
 IT is estimated that at tlie opening of this century, from two to thi'ee hundred 
 Churclies had been gathered, some of them thousands of miles apart. When the 
 Apostles died, tlieir authority died with them and they lived only in their writings. 
 Their office did not allow of perpetuation, for tliey were the chosen witnesses of 
 Christ's life and work, and could not bequeath their oral testimony to others. When 
 these orphaned flocks were left alone in all their humanness, their only directory was 
 the Book by which the Apostles had transmitted their witness and revelations, under 
 the infallible inspiration of the Holy Spirit. No miraculous agency was needed to 
 supplement their writings, and the Awful Volume finished, their twelve thrones 
 were left vacant. Woe to him who makes the Bible a foot-stool to climb into their 
 empty seats. For the first time man was left on common ground, with the choice of 
 making the unmixed authority of tliat book his guide to Christ, or of committing his 
 sou! to the lead of uninspired men. This fact alone put the Gospel to its severest 
 test, and made the second century a most solemn period, as Christians had no alter- 
 native but to follow the New Book. How, then, did they l)ear themselves toward 
 the Sacred Oracles ( 
 
 Eusebius says, that they ' Vied with each other in the preaching of Christ, and in 
 the distribution of the Scriptures.' The Epistle to the Thessalonians was written 
 about twenty years after the crucifixion, and the last of the New Covenant books 
 witiiin fifty years thereafter. Probably Paul's Epistles were first collected into one 
 volume; but within lialf a century after the death of John, the four Gospels were 
 publicly read in the Churches of Syria, Asia Minor, Italy and Gaul, and all the New 
 Testament books were collected by about A. D. 150. The first translation appears 
 to have been tlie Syriac, called Peshito (litei'al), for its fidelity, rendered most faith- 
 fully into the common language of the Holy Land. Some think that our Lord's 
 exact language is better preserved in this version than in the Greek manuscripts 
 themselves. J. Winchelaus, who devoted much research to its history, says that it 
 preserves the letter of sacred Scripture truly, and Michaelis jironounces it ' The very 
 best translation of the New Testament that I have ever read.' It throws a strong 
 light upon the act of baptism in that age. The won! which expresses tiiat act is 
 
156 EMILY TUANSLATIOXS. 
 
 aiiuul, whicli the Sjri;ic lexicons dutiiiu bj ' inimcrsu.' Bernstein uses these words: 
 ' He was dipped, immersed : he dipped or phinged liimself into sometliing.' 
 Michaelis deehires, that this is the Sjriac word wliicli Jesus would use for ba])tism, 
 in the vcriuicnhir lan-na-e wlii.-li he sp,,ke. This version was read in tlie Christian 
 assemblies, witli tlie ori-inals, and where they eonld nut be understood by the 
 peoj)le, interpreters rendered them into their mother tongue on the sjiot. In 
 this age a Latin version was also made, whieh eaine into general use immedi- 
 ately. Woide ascribes the translation of the SaJuJic, the dialect of Upper Egypt, 
 aud the Coptic, that of Lower Egypt, to this i>eriod. In the Latin, the word l)aptizo 
 was rendered by the word tinxjo, to dip, or immerse ; in the Sahidic it was transferred, 
 evidently, because as a Greek term it was well understood in Upper Egypt ; aud iu 
 the Coptic it was translated by the word omas, to immerse or plunge. Latin ver- 
 sions were soou multiplied. Augustine says : ' Those who have translated the Bible 
 into Greek can be numbered, but not so the Latin versions ; for in the first ages of 
 the Church, whoever got hold of a Greek Codex, ventured to translate it into Latin.' 
 He also decides that the ancient Italic is the most literal of the Latin versions. 
 Irenanis, too, speaks of many barliarous tribes who had 'salvatioTi in their hearts 
 without ink or paper;' alluding to the fact that tlie unlearned heard the Scriptures 
 read in their own tongue in the public assemblies. Tliese early Baptists decided all 
 questions of doctrine by an ap]>eal to their Sacred Books ; being very jealous of 
 forged books, which abounded very early. Tertullian tells us where some of the 
 inspired autographs could be found at that time. "The very images,' he says, 'of 
 their voice and person are now recited and exhibited. Do j-ou live in Acliaia ? There 
 is Corinth. Are you not far from Macedonia ? You have Philippi and Thessalonica. 
 Are you nigh unto Asia? There is Ephesus. Or, if you border upon Italy, there 
 is Eome.' ' And as late as the fourth century, Peter of Alexandria said, that : The 
 Gospel of John, written with his own hand, was still preserved and venerated in 
 the Church at Ephesus. Before Christ, spurious Jewish writings purporting to be 
 genuine, appeared ; and an attempt was made to incorporate some of these man- 
 ufactures with certain apochryphal gospels, into the Christian Scriptures, in order to 
 incorporate Jewish notions and pagan philosophy into Christianity. These false lights 
 misled many of the primitive Christians, and have had a shameful influence in shap- 
 ing current Christian history. 
 
 Then, a pernicious tradition began to inject itself into the teaching of the 
 Churches. By tradition is meant, from traditio, that which is delivered orally, and 
 is left unwritten, passing by word of mouth from one to another. Of these, Euse- 
 bius first, and Jortin in modern times, call Papias 'the father.' He died A. D. 163, 
 leaving a collection of random, hearsay discourses and sayings of Jesus and his Apos- 
 tles, called ' Oracles of the Lord.' He tells us that this was made up of first-hand 
 evidence only, and that he preferred oral testimony to written ; hence, he details 
 many ridiculous things, showing that he was fond of gathering up floating stories. 
 
RAriD SPREAD OF CHRISTIAXirT. 157 
 
 lie says tliat he made iiujuiry of tlie Elders, 'What did Andrew or Peter, Tlioiiias 
 or Philip, or James, say "i ' Yet, it is doubtful whether he had seen any of them. 
 lie had a great dislike for Paul, wliicli Jortin excuses, on the ground that he was ' a 
 simpleton,' and wliich reconciles us to the loss of his writings, beyond a few frag- 
 ments. But tliis turbid stream of tradition widened and deepened, notwithstanding 
 Irenajus says, that the Christians came to salvation : ' By the will of God delivered 
 to us in writing, to be the foundation and pilfer of our faith.' 
 
 These Churches were full of missionary energy. The iron republic had first 
 given place to the pen of the lettered empire, and that in turn had opened the way 
 for the conquering cross ; for by A. D. 180 the Gospel had reached all its provinces 
 from Britain to the Tigris, and from the Danube to the Libyan Desert, in many 
 cases including the learned and rich. Justin Martyr wrote that there was no race, 
 Greek or barbarian, that either wandered in wagons or dwelt in tents, which did 
 not offer praise to the Crucified. And Tertullian said, in his Apology to the Em- 
 peror : 'We are but of yesterday, yet we have filled your empire, your cities, your 
 islands, your castles, your corporate towns, your assemblies, your very camps, your 
 tribes, your companies, your palace, your senate, your forum ; your temples alone 
 are left to you. So great are our numbers, that we might successfully contend with 
 you in open warfare ; but were we only to withdraw ourselves from you, and to 
 remove by common consent to some remote corner of the globe, our mere secession 
 would be suflicient to accomplish your destruction, and to avenge our cause. You 
 would be left without subjects to govern, and would tremble at the solitude and 
 silence around you, — at the awful stillness of a dead world.' AVhen Pliny governed 
 Bythnia under Trajan, in the beginning of this period, he complained that ' The 
 sacrifices of the gods were neglected and the temples deserted,' so enthusiastic were 
 the Christians. Their risen Saviour awakened every power of their nature, and 
 they caught his sublime benevolence .and self-sacrificing spirit, each regenerated man 
 toiling for him. Their individual names have almost all faded from the pages of 
 history. Of all who lived contemporary with the Apostles and used the pen in 
 the service of Christ we have but si.x, half the number of their noble chiefs. These 
 are called the Apostolic Fathers, namely : Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Hcrmas, 
 Ignatius, Polycarp and Papias, of whom the last is doubtful. It would be most 
 interesting to trace the biography of this grouj) of old Baptists, but space will not 
 allow. 
 
 A word only may be indulged concerning several of them. Clement was 
 pastor at Rome A. D. 91-100. He was a man of great administrative ability, and 
 his Epistle to the Corinthians has come down to us. For a long time this was read 
 aloud in the Churches. The Church at Corinth, being divided and in trouble, 
 sought advice of her sister Church at Rome, which answered through its pastor, 
 without command, authority, or fatherly curse. The Church at Rome places her- 
 self on a perfect equality with the Church at Corinth, thus : ' Tiie Church of God 
 
158 'APOSTOLIC fathers: 
 
 which sojourns at Roiiiu, to tlie Chuivh of God which sojourns at Corinth.' Even 
 thus early the Corintliian Baptist Church liad learned how to abuse its own chosen 
 pastors, and this liriii-lnuided old elder says : ' It is, beloved, exceedingly disgraceful 
 that siU'li a thiiij;- slionlil be heanl of, as that tlie most steadfast and ancient Church 
 of the Corintliians should, on account of one oi' two persons, engage in sedition 
 ai;airist its |iresl)yters.' The letter exh<.irts tliciii to 'do as it is written,' saying: 
 ' \v knew full well the Iloly Scriptuties, ami have thoroughly searched the Oracles 
 of (lod.' IIekmas wrote the ' Shepherd,' and Moberiy ranks him with the laymen 
 of his time. His book is disfigured with snatches of fantastic poetry and is full of 
 visions, parables and commands. Being very popular in its day and full of simili- 
 tudes, it has been called the ' Pilgrim's Progress ' of the second century, not much 
 to the honor of either of the Bapti.st dreamers. Jerome calls it 'childish,' and Ter- 
 tullian ' apocryphal ;' to say the least, it is a singular production. Ignatius was a 
 brave and noble character, but his name has been shamefully abused, in the attempt 
 to palm u])on him a series of deliberately forged epistles, to make him the repre- 
 sentative of an episcopal hierarchy. Trajan demanded that he should sacrifice to 
 the gods, when the venerable pastor of Ajitioch replied, that he carried God with 
 him, for he carried Christ within his breast. The emperor demanded : ' Dost thou 
 not think we have the gods within us T lie replied, that there was but one'God, 
 Jesus Christ. Trajan asked if he meant the Grucitied One, when he answered that 
 he did. He was put in chains, sentenced to be devoured by beasts, and sent, under 
 a guard of ten soldiers, to Rome, where he was torn to pieces in the Flavian 
 amphitheater, amid the shouts of 80,000 spectators. 
 
 PoLYCARP is supposed to have been the pastor at Smyrna in the days of the 
 Apostle John, and was the veriest Christian patriarch. But in his Epistle to the 
 Philippians, which was long read in the Churches of Asia, he draws a great distinc- 
 tion between himself and the Apostles, and apologizes for writing to a Church which 
 had received an Epistle from Paul. A great plague ravaged the East in the reign 
 of Marcus Aurelius, and popular clamor demanded Polycarp as an atoning victim to 
 the gods ; at the age of ninety years he suffered martyrdom, A. D. 166, 167. He had 
 retired to the country, but one of his servants betrayed him. When he approached 
 the city the chief magistrate took him into his chariot, asking him : ' What harm is 
 there in saying Lord Cfesar, and sacrificing ?' This, he said, he could not do, when 
 he was cast violently from the chariot, and lamed one foot in the fall. He 
 limped into the stadium, where the crowd cried for his blood ; and he believed that 
 he heard a voice commanding, ' Polycarp, play the man ! ' He was ordered to 
 swear by the fortunes of Csesar, and cry, ' Away with the Atheists,' the proconsul 
 offering him liberty if he would revile Christ. The answer of the simple-hearted 
 old Baptist was : ' Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never did me 
 any wrong ; how, then, can I blaspheme my King and Saviour ? ' The proconsul 
 cried : ' I have wild beasts at hand, to them I will cast thee, except thou repent.' 
 
A[.I, ZKAI.Ors Foil ClIlllST. 159 
 
 • Call tliuiii,' answered tlie holy mail. ' Thou dcspisct-t the wild beasts; I will have 
 thee coiisuinud by fire.' Again lie replied, ' Why dost thou tarry? I)ring fortli what 
 thou wilt.' The Iierald was commanded to cry three times, ' Polycarp has confessed 
 himself a Christian !' At once the multitude gave a shout of fury, and called for a 
 lion to be let loose ; but the magistrate said : ' Let him be burned ! ' A pile of 
 fagots was brought, the elder loosed his girdle, laid aside his outer garments, and 
 when about to be nailed to the stake begged : ' Leave me, I pray, unfastened. He 
 who gives me strength to bear the fire, will hold mo to the pile.' They simply tied 
 him with cords ; when looking up to heaven, he said : ' O, Lord God Almighty ! I 
 give thee thanks that thou hast counted me worthy, this day and this hour, to have 
 a i)art in tlie number of thy martyrs, in the cup of thy Chi-ist.' The flames were 
 kindled, but they arched over him and would not touch him ; seeing which an exe- 
 cutioner plunged a dagger into his body, and he ascended to his Lord. 
 
 At this time, the whole body of laymen were as much alive to Christ as their 
 jiastors, and Bingham tells us of two joung men who were taken captive into India, 
 and estal)lif;]ied Churches there; also of a Christian young woman who broiight the 
 king and queen of the Iberians to Christ, and through them the nation. Christians 
 gave their money for Christ as well as their toil. Marcion brought his whole fortune, 
 between $7,000 and $8,000, in our currency, and gave it to the common fund, when 
 he united with the congregation at Kome. Lucian, the cynic philosopher, says con- 
 temptuously : ' These poor creatures are firmly persuaded they shall one day enjoy 
 eternal life. . . . They despise, therefore, all earthly possessions, and look upon 
 them as common.' The most lowly in the Churches took an active part in the post- 
 Apostolic synods in Palestine, Pontius, Gaul, and Kome, of which Eusebius gives 
 an account, and exerted great influence in these bodies. And all the Churches 
 maintained their independency, after the original model. Neander says, that every 
 Church was governed by a union of elders, ' chosen from among themselves.' The 
 Churches w'ere so many loving families of spiritual disciples, maintaining their 
 liberty against all ambitious pretensions from without. Mosheim shows, that they 
 were not ' joined together by association, confederacy, or any other bonds but those 
 of charity. Each Christian assembly was a little state governed by its own laws, 
 which were either enacted, or at least approved, by the society.' Sometimes, when 
 they sought advice of each other, they met for consultation, but these assemblies 
 were simply advisory. Theophilus, pastor at Antioch, A. D. 180, compares the 
 Churches to so many islands, as a strong figure of their independence. But toward 
 the close of the century those of Greece and Asia began to meet in the capital of 
 the province, in the spring and autumn, and to frame canons for general observance, 
 till by degrees these ecclesiastical islands formed one confederated continent. Not 
 intending to create a new governing power, they lost their equality and independ- 
 ency through their own fault. TertuUian held, that ' three pei-sons ' might compose 
 a Church ; and that if necessity arose any Christian might administer the ordi- 
 
mPEItSTITION CREEPS IN. 
 
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 east in prayer was horroweil from tl 
 Ciirist. They also stretched their liands in prayer, in imitation of Clirist's out- 
 stretched arms on the cross ; and they came to ahnse the Apostolic kiss after prayer, 
 by ostentation. Clement of Alexandria rebuked this, thus : ' Love is not tested by a 
 kiss, but by friendly feeling; there are tho.se wlio make the Church re-echo with 
 their kiss, but there is no love underneath.' Several useless ceremonies were added 
 to baptism, amongst them the use of tlie sign of the cross, intended as a simple 
 emblem of the Christian faith, but which, by A. D. I'nu, luid become an idle habit in 
 general use. Tertiillian says : ' On getting iq. or going to bed, or putting on their 
 clothes or their shoes, or walking out or sitting down, at table or at the batli ; in 
 short, in every act or movement, they made the sign of the cross upon the fore- 
 head.'- They also began to confine baptism to the festivals of Easter and Pente- 
 cost, — to anoint the candidate with oil after immersing him in water, — and to give 
 him milk and honey after his baptism, to symbolize, that n(.iw he nmst live on the 
 ' milk of the Word.' 
 
 But the most destructive error which crejit in, was that of making liajitism the 
 chaunel of regeneration. Before this, it was generally spoken of as ' regeneration,' 
 meaning, as the Scriptures teach, that the regenei-ated man, by baptism, put himself 
 visibly under the new obligations which regeneration imposed. Now, they began 
 to make it a 'seal,' which bound the man to Christ with the effect of an oath ; and 
 they called it an ' illumination,' confounding it with the light of the truth which it 
 followed, and which sprang only from the Holy Spirit. This germ grew, and in 
 time came to overshade the work of the Spirit on the heart, and threw the doctrine 
 of a superhuman regeneration of the soul into the background. As to the act of 
 baptism itself, there was no change in this age. All ecclesiastical writers agree with 
 Venema that : ' "Without controversy baptism, in the primitive Church, was admin- 
 istered by immersion into water, and not by sprinkling. . . . Concerning immersion, 
 the words and phrases that are used sufficiently testify, and that it was performed 
 in a river, a pool or a fountain.' The literature of that period compels this testi- 
 mony. Barnabas, A. D. 119 : ' Happy are they, who, trusting in the cross, go down 
 into the water full of sins and pollutions, but come up again bringing forth fruit, 
 having in the Spirit hope in Jesus.' Justin Martyr, A. D. 139, describes the baptized 
 as those ' who receive the bath in the water.' Hernias, about A. D. 150, says, that 
 
FIRST BOOK ON BAPTISM. 161 
 
 tlii'j go down into tlio water devoted to deatli, and come up assigned to life ; and 
 that the Apostles ' went down into the water with them, and came up again.' ^ 
 
 Tertullian, A. D. 160-240, wrote the first work on haptisni in the Christian era 
 {De Baptismo), and opens liis treatise witii this enthusiastic exclamation: 'O! fort- 
 unate sacrament of our water." He wi'ote in Latin, using the terms ' tingo^ ' mer(jo^ 
 ' immerqo^ and ' mergito,' with their connecting words, about fifty times, making 
 the sense ' to immerse,' in each case. He compares the baptized to the earth emerg- 
 ing from the flood of Noah, ' to one emerging from the bath after the old sins, the 
 dove of the Holy Spirit bringing the peace of God, flies, sent from heaven, where 
 the Church is a figurative ark.' Of Christ's commission he says: ' The law of dip- 
 ping was imposed, and tlie form prescribed, " teach the nations, immersing them 
 into the name of the Father, and of tlie Son, and of the Holy Spirit. . . . and so, 
 after that, all believing were immersed." ' Somler has proved that he quoted from 
 a Latin version and not from the (4 reek. In his ardor he lectured those who denied 
 the need of water baptism, thus : • Vou act naturally, for you are sei'pents, and 
 serpents love deserts and avoid water; but we, like fishes, are born in the water, 
 and are safe in continuing in it, that is, in the practice of immersion.' In Jn's 
 work, De Corona (e. iii), he takes pains to (K^crihe a baptism as it was ])racticed 
 in his day: 'A little before we enter the water, in the presence of the congrega- 
 tion, and under the hand of the president, we make a solemn profession that we 
 renounce the devil, his pomp, and his angels. Upon this, we are thrice immersed, 
 making a somewhat ampler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the Gospel. 
 When we come up out of the water, there is given to us a mixture of milk and 
 honey, and we refrain from the daily bath for a week.' The ' ampler pledge,' i-efers 
 to trine immersions instead of the one dipping ; and abstinence from the common 
 'bath for a week.' arose from tiie superstition that they might wash oil the bap- 
 tismal water and oil. 
 
 After closely scanning all tiie e\ idence, Coleman concludes: 'In the second 
 century it had become customary to immerse three times, at the mention of the sev- 
 eral names of the Godhead.' ^ Guericke, Neander, Reuss, Kurtz, Weiss, Schaff, DiJl- 
 linger, Pressense, Farrar, Carr, Conj'beare and Ilowson, Stanley, and many other 
 historians, not ISaptists, unite in like testimony. Stanley sums u]) the evidence in 
 these words : 
 
 ' There can be no question that the original form of baptism — the very mean- 
 ing of the word — was complete immersion in the deep baptismal waters; and that, 
 for the first four centuries, any other form was either uid<nown, or regai'ded, unless 
 in the case of dangerous illness, as an exceptional, almost a monstrous, ca.«c. To this 
 form the Eastern Chnrcii still rigidly adheres; and the most illustrious and vener- 
 able portion of it, that of the Byzantine Emjiire, absolutely repudiates and ignores 
 any other mode of administration as essentially invalid. The Latin Church, on the 
 other hand, doubtless in deference to tiie rec[uirements of a northern climate, to the 
 changes of manners, to the convenience of custom, has wholly altered the mode, 
 preferring, as it would fairlv sav, mercy to sacrifice; and (with the two exceptions of 
 13^ 
 
162 INFANT BAPTISM UNKNOWN. 
 
 tlic (';itlH'dr;il of Milan, atul the sect u{ the Baptists) a few dnijjs of water are now 
 tlie Westi'i-n sahstltute for the three-fold plunge into the rushing rivers, or the wide 
 baptisteries of tlie East.' ^^ 
 
 Tliere was no baptism of liabes in tliis century. Barlow, Bishop of Lmcoln, 
 (piite startled the world when he said, in his letter to Tonibes, that he believed there 
 was not ' any just evidence for it, for about two hundred years after Christ.' Men- 
 zell calls it 'an abuse, and a departui'e tVuiu the original form of the sacrament.' 
 Laiige, ill his 'History of Protestantism,' alleges that : 'The baptism of new-born 
 infants was altogether unknown to primitive Christianity.' The writers of the second 
 age imply the san)e thing when they speak of the baptized. Justin Martyr says, 
 tliev are ' convinced,' • believe the (iospel to be true,' pray and ' fast for their former 
 sins;' llermas, that they 'trust in the cross;' Iren;\!us, that they are 'cleansed of 
 their old transgressions;' and Tertullian declares, 'We are not washed in order that 
 we may cease from sinning, but because we have ceased, because we have already 
 been washed in heart. . . . The divine grace, that is, the forgiveness of sins, remains 
 unimpaired for those who are to be baptized ; but then they must perforin their part, 
 so as to become capable of receiving it.' 
 
 After Neander had gone over the whole ground, he says, that baptism was not 
 admissible at that time : 
 
 'Without the conscious particijiaiioii of the jierson Itaptized, and his i)wn indi- 
 vidual faith. . . . We have every reason for holding infant baptism to be no xipos- 
 tolic institution, and that it was something foreign at that first stage of Christian 
 development. At first, baptism necessarily marked a distinct era in life, when a 
 person passed over from a different religious stand-point, to Christianity ; when the 
 regeneration, sealed by baptism, presented itself as a principle of moral transforma- 
 tion, in opposition to the earlier development."* In meeting the pretense that infant 
 baptism sprang fi'om Apostolic tradition, he answers: 'That such a tradition should 
 first be recognized in the third century is evidence rather against, than for, its Apos- 
 tolic origin, lor it was an age when' a strong inclination prevailed to derive from 
 the Apostles every ordinance which was considered of sjsecial importance, and when, 
 moieovci-, so many walls had been thrown up between it and Apostolic times, hin- 
 dering the freedom of prospect.' ' 
 
 But although Christians knew nothing of infant ba])tism. the compassion of 
 Jesus for children had greatly ameliorated their condition amongst the heathen. 
 Uhlhorn says : 
 
 ' To children, also, the Gospel first gave their rights. They, too, in antiquity 
 were beyond the pale of laws. A father could dispose of his children at will. If 
 he did not wish to rear them, lie could abandon or kill them. The law of the 
 Twelve Tables expressly awarded to him this right. Plato and Aristotle approved 
 of parents abandoning weak and sickly children,\vhoni they were unal)le to support, 
 or who could not be of use to the State. Whoever picked up a child that had been 
 deserted could dispose of it, and treat it as a slave. The father's power over his 
 children was limitless ; life and death were at his disposal. Christianity, on the 
 contrary, taught parents that tlieir children were a gift from God, a pledge 
 intrusted to them, for which they were responsible to him. . . . The exposition of 
 
IXFA-yfOi'S CIIAROKS REPELLED. 163 
 
 children was lookrd upuii by Cliiistians as plainly uiilawt'ul, and was regarded and 
 treated as murder.' " 
 
 The same learned author <jui)tes from Ctecilius, a Roman jui-i.st, who lluurished 
 about A. D. 161, the liorrid shiuder which charged them with eating children and 
 drinking their blood. ' An infant covered over with meal, that it may deceive the 
 unwary, is placed before the neophytes. This infant is slain by the young pupil, 
 with dark and secret wounds, he being urged on as if to harmless blows on the sur- 
 face of the meal. Thirstily, — () horror! — -they lick up its blood; eagerly they 
 divide its limbs ; by this victim tluy are ))ledged togethci'; with this consciousness 
 of wickedness they are covenanted by mutual violence.' 
 
 This savage accusation of the Christians became universal amongst the pagans, 
 and the Christian fathers earnestly repelled it in their Apologies. Justin Martyr 
 sent his noble defense to the Senate, A. D. 140-150, and eloquently protests against 
 this infamous falsehood. ' If we w-ere to kill one another,' said he, ' we should be 
 the causes, as far as in us lay, that no more persons should be brought into the 
 world, and taught or instructed in the (christian religion and of putting an end to 
 human kind.' Tertullian demands, with great spirit, that this terrible charge be 
 made good. Biblias, a godly woman, was tortured by the authorities, to extort from 
 her a confession that Christians ate their children, but exclaimed at the door of 
 deatli : ' How can we eat infants ? We, to whom it is not lawful to eat the blood 
 of beasts ! ' Had infant baptism been known amongst the Christians, they would 
 naturally have cited the fact in proof, that so far from slaughtering their children, 
 they were baptized and stood on a level with themselves in their churches, and so, 
 that they could not feed upon their fellow-memhers. Instead of this, they take the 
 higher ground, that their Redeemer, whom they \vere T)ound to ohey, loved their 
 children most tenderly, ami had provided for their salvation without reference to 
 any conditions on their part. 
 
 Gloved by this high conception of Christ's compassion, the gentle Irenajus 
 brings out their view in bold contrast with the brutality of the pagans about them, 
 when he says of Christ : 
 
 ■ iJeing thirty years old when lie came to be ba])tized, and then possessing the 
 full age of a Master, he came to Jerusalem so that he might be properly acknowl- 
 edged by all as a Master. For he did not seem otic thing while he was another, as 
 those affirm who describe him as being man only in appearance ; but what he was, 
 that he also ap]ieared to be. Being a Master, therefore, lie possessed the age of a 
 Master, )int il,sj,!.s!,iij or evading (iiiii r,,„ii:tl,i„ nf Itnindiiitij, not setting aside as to 
 himself that law which he had appointed I'oi- ihe human race; but sanctifying every 
 age, by that period corresponding to it which belonged to himself. For he came to 
 mcf (ill through means of himself — all I say who, through him, are born again to 
 God — infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men. He, therefoi'o, passed 
 
 through every a^c. br( ling an infant for infants, thus sanctifying infants ; a child 
 
 for children, tlni- ^-anciilv ini; ihi»c who are of this age, being at the same time made 
 to them an exaiii|iu' o| piety, righteousness and submission; a youth for youths, 
 becoming an examj)le to youths, and thus sanctifying them for the Lord. So like- 
 
This pli'. 
 
 ;i, that -Icsiis as a 
 
 tlic stMg-es ol 
 
 ■ Hie himself, \vn> 
 
 Il-finiMls side 
 
 hy side with .histi 
 
 pa-aiis, liy sli 
 
 owing, as A^eiiema 
 
 all the ages ,1 
 
 .f mail, iiiteiiiled t.> 
 
 164 TEliTVIJJAN'S PROTEST. 
 
 wise he wa.s an old iiiaii for old men, that he might be a perfect Master for all, not 
 merely as respects the setting forth of the truth, but also as regards age, sanctifying 
 at the same time the aged also, and becoming an example to tlieni likewise.'' 
 
 Master," by authority, and by passing through all 
 iglit nut the sal\ation of "the human race,' i-anks 
 I and Tertullian, in rebutting the slanders of the 
 -ays (in this pa.-sage : ' That Christ, passing through 
 signify by his (iwn example, that In' came to save 
 
 Pedobaptism cannot be certainly proved to have been practiced before the time of 
 Tertullian.' '" In the writings of Tertullian we have the first recorded thought on 
 the subject of infant baptism, and that, in the firm of resistance to a proposed 
 innovation, lie stnnd in a trying pusitidii. Tliose wIki were resisting tlie encroach- 
 ments of ritualism upon the original spirit of baptism, had taken in substance the 
 ground held by the 'Friends' of to-day, namely: that only the Spirit and not 
 water was needed. Quintilla preached this doctrine at Carthage, and with her stood 
 several small liodies, according to Backhouse and Tylor, the Aseodrutae, the Seleu- 
 cians, ami lb rmians. Others began to insist that no person who had reached in- 
 telligen<'e ediild be saved without baptism, die at what age he might. These 
 demanded that minors be allowed baptism, on ennilition that they -iixl-' it, and 
 produce sjionsorx, who will be responsible for their conduct while they remain 
 minors. '1 Tertullian resisteil both these doctrines; and the last named, on the two- 
 fold consideration, that it would be a rasli measure, because an innovation upon an 
 established Christian ordinance ; and because it would be contrary to Roman law in 
 the province of Carthage. On the scriptural ground of objection, he cites the cases 
 of the eunuch and Paul, who were believers, and knew themselves to be vessels of 
 mercy, and so knew what they asked for before they were baptized. He con- 
 tends, therefore, that it is: 'Most expedient to defer baptism, and to regulate the 
 a<lniiiiistration of it according to the condition, the disposition and the age of the 
 person to be baptized, and especially in the case of little ones,' whom he calls 
 ' parvulos.'' 
 
 He also objects to sponsors, demanding : ' What necessity is there to expose 
 sponsors to danger ;' since they caimot guarantee that the little one i.s, or will be, 
 spiritually minded. ' Let them come,' says he, ' while they are growing up, let 
 them come and h'ar?i, and let them be instructed when they come, and when they 
 understand Christianity, let them confess themselves Christians. Wliy should that 
 innocent age hasten to the remission of sins ?' This leads him, as an astute lawyer, 
 to the legal question of suretyship. He says : ' People act more cautiously in secu- 
 lar affairs ; they do not commit the care of divine things to such as are not intrusted 
 with temporal things.' The empire knew of no such suretyship in the religion of 
 the gods, the faith of the realm, although it did in secular affairs ; and what right 
 
i?o.l/.l.V LAW ON MLXOIIS. 163 
 
 had Christians to add to tiifir hurdL'iis hy nicddliiii,' with a (jiicstioii tliat iniiilit 
 bring them into direct cunHict witli an cstahlished legal relation i The Uuniau law 
 made tlie fatlier the guardian of the child ; l)nt when the parent was dead, it 
 permitted the cliild two guardians during his minority. A tutor cared for his 
 person and education, which included his i-eligion, and a curator managed his 
 estate, liut the Chri.stian Churches, being prohibited in the empire, could not be 
 known in law as corporate bodies ; and so, the baptism into them of minors {infan- 
 tuli)y under sponsorsliip, would create an illegal guardian ; which act would, of 
 course, bring new and needless trouble upon the Cluirclies. He says: ' Death may 
 incapacitate them for fulfilling their engagements.' lint if not, with two sets of 
 guardians, one over the morals and the other over the person of the legal minor, the 
 sponsor would be in perpetual danger, hence he asks: 'What necessity is there to 
 expose sponsors to danger ''. ' 
 
 Afterward, these minors became members of the Church at Carthage, for 
 Victor states, that when Eugenius was i)astor of that Church, A. D. -ISO, its infant 
 readers, whom w-e should call choir-boys, ' rejoiced in the Lord, and suffered persecu- 
 tion with the rest of their lircthren.' That Tertullian uses the word parmdus, 'a 
 little one,' to mean a minor at law, is iii(li>pntable. if, then, the immersion of babes 
 was the custom of his time, why did this able father raise all this objection and di.s- 
 cussiou ? 'Such as understand the importance of baptism,' he ui-ge.s, 'are more 
 afraid of presumption than procrastination ; and faith alone secures salvation.' A 
 minoi- wlio :i.-kcd foi- bai)tism must ask for it on his own responsibility, and 
 so the Churcli would be as disei'eet in this matter as the State was in secular things. 
 The value of these facts, as evidence, is : 1. That about the end of the second 
 century we find the first recorded instance of a proposition to admit legal infants, 
 not babes, into the Christian Churches by baptism. 2. That such infants were to 
 'ask for baptism.' 3. That the proposal was sternly resisted as an innovation on 
 established Gospel custom, and on legal grounds. 4. That there is no assumption 
 hci'e, of a right to the ordinance, even by one who was able to ' ask ' for it and also 
 produce sponsors for his conduct ; but that the request was pressed as such and 
 opposed. 5. That such evidence is fatal to the presumption that babes were bap- 
 tized in the Christian Churches at that time. 
 
 It is clear enough that Tertullian never abandoned this position, because after- 
 ward, he united with those falsely charged with being averse to baptism in water. The 
 Christians of this century had not yet come to the horrible dogma, that unbaptized 
 babes are damned after death. They were anxious to bring all mankind to Christ 
 as soon as possible, but were not yet ready to force their Master upon irresponsible 
 ones, who knew not who he was, nor what he taught. They arc truly repi-esented by 
 Schleiermacher, who says : ' The Roman Apostolical practice thoroughly agrees in 
 demanding beforehand a beginning of faith and repentance, as all traces of infant 
 baptism that men have wished to find in the New Testament, must first be put into 
 
166 THE SUPPER CORPUPTED. 
 
 it; it is, ill view of tlic luck nf (Icfinitc iiif(ii-iii:itii,n, difliciilt to exjilaiii liow tin's 
 ilfpnrturc froni tlic ori-iiial iiistitiiti.m, r,,ul.l liavr ..ri-iiiutcd an<l f.-t;ii,lislaMl itself 
 so widely."'- Tlii> is in rx.-ict ai-conj with .lustiii Martyr's acconiit of baptism in liis 
 Srcoiiil A|ioloi;y, ]>■ '•'•'' : ' Wi' wvw lioi'ii \vifli<Jiit our will, Imt we are not to remain 
 cliildrm of necessity and ignorance, but in iia|itisin are to have clioicc, kno\vlcdi!;e, 
 etc. . . . This we learned from the Apostles.' The biographer of Justin well said, 
 '()f infant baptism lie knows nothing.' 
 
 As to the Lord's Supper, the writers of this century use ambiguous language, 
 invent new terms, and set forth new ideas concerning it, not found in the New 
 Testament. They still call the elements bread and wine after consecration as well 
 as before; and signs of Christ, ' re]iresenting his body and blood,' his 'image,' and 
 ' figure.' Yet, they s[ieak of the Supper as an ' otfei'ing,' a 'sacrifice,' of tlie Table 
 as an ' altar,' and of the administrator as a ' priest.' They also nse many other 
 florid words, which have led to corrupt uses in sanctioning the figments of real 
 presence, consubstantiation, and transubstantiation. As yet, they had not fallen 
 into the doctrine that the elements were Chi-ist's literal flesh and blood ; but they did 
 hold that these were mystically in the bread and wine. Great efforts have been made 
 to explain away their words, which opened a streamlet of error that has deluged 
 nearly all Christendom, with the notion that the Supper is something more than 
 what the New Testament makes it, a simple memoriah Concerning this ordinance, 
 they introduced a vain system of allegory, between which scheme and transubstantia- 
 tion there was no logical stopping place, and, in consecpience of which, various super- 
 stitions were introduced. Even Tertullian feared, lest a crumb of the bread or a drop 
 of the wine shoulil fall to the ground. The custom arose of sending a morsel of the 
 consecrated bread to the absent, lest they lose the blessings which it might impart. 
 It was also used as a protecting charm, and taken to sea in ships for their protection, 
 as if it were no longer common bread ; it must be eaten fasting, which, Neander 
 thinks, gave rise finally to the taking of one element in the Supper. Justin Martyr 
 speaks of the wine being mixed with water, partly because the Passover wine was so 
 mixed, partly to symbolize the water and the blood which flowed from the side of 
 Christ on the cross, and partly in token of their union with him. As at the Pass- 
 over, any one might preside at the table, although the presbyter generally presided. 
 And Justin says, that it was not lawful for any one to partake : ' But such as believe 
 the things that arc taught by us to be true, and that have bathed in the bath for the 
 remission of sins.' " 
 
 A great crisis in the history of soul liberty was brought on in this century. 
 As the purity of Christian life was more and more felt, paganism became more 
 violent, fierce and fanatical. Gospel contrast with the gross and sensual soon made 
 it evident, that the new religion must force its own way or die. The new issue 
 which it had raised in the world was primary, relating to the rights of conscience in 
 matters of faith. 
 
IMPERIAL SEVEUTTY. 167 
 
 Most of tlie Cliristiiiiis were poor, and niaiiy were slaves wlio eoultl not com- 
 mand their time, so they denied themselves of sleep, and met at cacli other's houses 
 in the nii^jit. In using the pure but iigurative language of their faith, they spoke 
 of 'passing from death to life,' of being 'one in Christ,' of Christ being 'formed in 
 them the hope of glory,' and of ' eating his flesh and drinking his blood ' by faith; 
 forms of speech which were seized upon and distorted in the most diabolical manner, 
 exposing them to popular hate. They were pure, meek, loyal men; but all relig- 
 ions were tolerated except that of love, a religion best fitted for torture, wild beasts 
 and flame. Nor could it be otherwise, when Eome herself was a goddess, with the 
 Emperor for high-priest. Sometimes the most odious of the emperors in morals 
 persecuted the Christians the least, as they cared little for the gods or religion. Mos- 
 heim pronounces Heliogabalus, 'The most infamous of all princes, and, perhaps, the 
 most odious of all mortals,' yet, he says, ' he showed no marks of bitterness or aver- 
 sion to the disciples of Christ.' Nero and Domitian were moved by caprice and 
 cruelty largely, but as a rule, those most severe in their morals and devout in their 
 sjjirit, were the sternest persecutors, because they were purely conscientious. Dean 
 Milman ranks Marcus Aurelius as the rival of ' Christians, in his contem))t of the 
 follies of life;' Gibbon calls him a model Emperor, and Guizot couples him with 
 Louis IX. of France, for sincerity and violence. The opposite of the selfish, sensual 
 and reckless emperors, ho was ultra-conscientious, even to blood-thirst. Called the 
 ' Philosopher,' he made blood flow freely throughout his bitter reign ; but when 
 Commodns, his son, took the purple, he staunched every Christian artery which his 
 father had opened. To this purer class of emperors Christ was unknown and must, 
 in the nature of things, overturn the old politico-religious government, if he should 
 prevail, and they believed that they were best discharging their duty to the State by 
 protecting the pagan faith. 
 
 Yet, the Christians did not intend to overthrow the empire, nor did they com- 
 plain of their political condition. Some of the great jurists of the age held noble 
 sentiments on the primal rights of man. Under the Antonines, the greatest of them 
 all, Ulpian, said : ' According to natural law, all men are born free ; in civil law, it 
 is true, slaves are treated as having no rights ; not so, however, by natural law, for 
 by this all men are equal.' All that the Christians demanded was, the right to wor- 
 ship God under the laws of natui'e. When the Proconsul reasoned with Achatius, 
 that he who lives under the Roman laws should love the princes. Fie answered, 'By 
 whom is the Emperor more loved than by Christians?' ' Good,' rejoined the gov- 
 ernor, 'prove your obedience by sacrificing to his honor.' 'Nay,' said the martyr, 
 ' I pray for my Emperor. But a sacrifice, neither he should require nor me pay. 
 Who can offer divine honor to a man ? ' For this he died, being unwilling to serve 
 the gods by command of the State, the monnrcli ranking as its chief deity. Tiic 
 Ciiristians never revolted ; they obeyed all otlicr laws, they paid for the suppoi-t of 
 government, and ])ro\e(l their political allegiance at evei-y point : while the laws on 
 
1 68 CnnJ^TIAN nRROTSM. 
 
 religion were enforced against tlicni hy s]ieci:il iiiij)onal acts and under military 
 power. The younger Pliny shows, tluit the KdHKin authorities suspected their love- 
 feasts of being secret unions for imlitical iiii>cliic'r, ami they were denounced as such 
 in the edicts. When he was l'r.,roii,Mii <.f iJitliynia, under Trajan, A. I). l(i<;, Ki", 
 he tells Oivsar, that he put the .pivstioii t.icach .Misjiected j^.rson, 'Are yoii a Chris- 
 tian T Jf thev would cast a, Ijit <if incense (Hi an altar they were discharged; if not, 
 he executed rheni. This, Trajan api>io\ cil, under the laws against 'illegal supersti- 
 tion,' and issued his edict against the guilds and clulis, which included the ('liris- 
 tians, under the head of secret societies ; but after a bloody persecntion, an impiiry 
 was made into the real conduct of Christians, and a i)road distinction was discovered 
 between their civil and religious coiKhn-t. I'liny reports that, though they wor- 
 shiped Christ, 'they bound tlieniselves Ky an oath against crime,' and he saw a clear 
 line between tlieii- jmlitieal ivvcrence foi- the Emperor and their refusal to adore 
 him as god. This ended the persecution, till it was renewed under Hadrian, A. 1). 
 117-13S. 
 
 It is not necessary to follow tlie course of the several jiersecutious, nor to 
 detail the terrible barbarities wliich were inlli<-ted niM.n the Christians in the many 
 provinces of the enii.ire ; let it sutiice t,, say, that n,, such blo.Mlshed had ever been 
 known. The h.mies of Christians in the east and west were iiluiidered ; they were 
 driven from the baths and streets to the lists, were di-agged from dens and crypts; 
 slavt's were bii'ced to charge their niastei's with cannibalism, incest and every kind 
 (d' ci'ime: and chililren were torturei] to extort a ci-iminating word against their 
 Christian pai-ents. Wherever a handlnl of them met for worship, brother atti'r 
 brotlier was taken from his home to death, and tlie few wdio escaped looked at 
 the vacant jilaces which were left. Then they drew a little nearer to each other, not 
 knowini;- who would ascend in the fiery chariot before the little Church should meet 
 again. They were burned with hot irons, tossed in nets by wild bulls, thrown to 
 ravenous beasts in the arena, and their bones denied Iiurial. Delicate and weak 
 women passed through tortures unheard of, without com[>laint. An iron chair was 
 devised, made red hot, and the martyrs fastened in it for the delight of the amphi- 
 theater. Tlu' public a]i])ctite was sharpened to all sorts of horrors, and yet these 
 children of (iod met their fate with a holy heroism that was not only enthusiastic 
 but ecstatic. The inspiring case of Justin, and many others, must be passed, that a 
 few words may be indulged concerning the remakable case of Blandina, who was 
 martyred at Lyons, A. D. 177. 
 
 Slic was a poor slave-girl, fifteen years of age, who was put to every torture, tliat 
 her Christian mistress might be implicated. Slie was kept in a loathsome dungeon, 
 and brought into the amphitheater every day to see the agonies of her companions as 
 they were roasted in the iron chair, or torn to pieces by lions. Her spirit was clotlnd 
 with superhuman endurance, for although racked from morning till night, so that 
 her tormentors were obliged to relieve each other for I'ost, her constancy vancpiished 
 
their p;itionce, lier only uiiswur l)cing: 'I :iin a Cliristian, no wickedness is done 
 by us.' Then tliey took her into the circus and suspended her on a cross, witliin rcaeli 
 of the wild beasts, to frighten her fellow-coufessors. The multitude howled for 
 her life and a lion was let loose upon the poor child, but not a quiver jiassed over 
 
 her frame. She looked into its month and .<niiled like a queen, and the monster did 
 not touch her. ( )nly m century before this, the first slave-girl was converted to 
 Christ, at I'liiliiipi, and now her ennobled sister cast holy defiance at the empire, and 
 serenely looked luirope in the face. Iler calm soul told this great Power, that at last 
 the weak were endowed with the omnipotence of the Gospel. Her intrepid spirit 
 showeil, fur the first time, how Jesus could lift a worm info the empire of a human 
 
170 HEU MAarvrwoM. 
 
 conscience; and couM i'<'linkc ci-uclty in (lie iniitc cldqncnce ',f love. The brightest 
 page in tiie liistory of Ki.iiie \v;is wi'irtcn that, day, in the huaiiis of tliat child's 
 hope. Taken (hnvn iVdin tlie cross she was i-ciii(i\cd to her dungeon, but finally 
 brought back into the aieiia for execution, lln slender frame was a rare victim 
 for the savage populace, and tliey gloated on her. Hut slie flinched not, more than 
 the angel in ( iethsenKine before the swor<ls and sta\es of the Passover mol). She 
 stepped a.s lightly as if she were going to a. ban(pu't. She was first scourged, then 
 scorclied in the hot eliair. and at last east before a furious bull, which tossed her 
 madly. Even then a shai'p blade was needful to take tlie lingering throb of life; 
 and wlien her Ixidy was hurnt to ashes it was cast into the lihone. From that day, 
 tliis harmless ehild-slavu has been with her redeeming Master in Paradise. 
 
 It is clear that this new d(jcti-i]ie of soul-libertj now possessed the whole body 
 of Christians. Before Christ, the oidy right of the governed was to obey authority 
 backed by force; now his disciples not only comprehended the new right, but 
 resolved to die for its maintenance, if needful. Tlie religious institutions of 
 the Jews were left to them undisturbed by the Konians ; yet, they resented Roman 
 intolerance on the question of national independence. Few of the Christians being 
 of Jewish origin, their birth, as pagan citizens, had invested them with the civil 
 rights of their fellows, their contests, therefore, wei-e narrowed down to religious 
 issues. Justin Martyr, who was educated a pagan philosoi:)her, said, in his first 
 Apology to the rulei's : 'We worship God alone, but, with this exception, we joy- 
 fully obey you ; we acknowledge you as our princes and governors, and we ask of 
 you that to the sovereign power with which you are invested, may lie added the 
 wisdom to make a right use of it.'" Here, was no unreason of fanaticism, nor claim 
 of religious obstinacy, as the emperors supposed, but simply the recognition of a 
 natural and inalienable right in humanity. Nor did Justin make this demand on 
 the first Antonine without effect. Marcus admitted that Pius, his predecessor, had 
 decreed that Christians : ' Should not be subject to any harm, unless they were 
 found to have committed acts injurious to the welfare of the Roman Empire.' But 
 for himself he held this as the law governing religion, namely : ' The eiul of reason- 
 able beings is to conform to whatever is imposed by the reason and law of the most 
 ancient and honorable city and government.' '^ Here he seemed to defer to ' reason ' 
 as well as law, but Athenagoras, in his Apology, openly charged him with partiality 
 and inconsistency in applying law. He urges u])on the Emperor's attention these 
 considerations : 
 
 ' The subjects of your vast empire, most noble sovereign, differ in cus- 
 toms and laws. No imperial decree, no menace held foi'th by you, prevents them 
 from freely following the usages of their ancestors, even though those usages 
 be )-idiculous. The Egyptians may adore cats, crocodiles, serpents and dogs. 1 on 
 and the laws pronounce the man impious who acknowledges no god, and yon admit 
 that every man ought to worshi]) the god of his choice, in order that he may be 
 deterivd from evil by the fear of the divinity. Why, then, make exception in the 
 
THE CniilSTIANS DEMAND LIBERTY. MX 
 
 sole case of the Cliristiuns? Why are tliey exchided from that universal ])cace, 
 wliich the world enjoys under your rule ? "^ 
 
 Tiie Roman laws allowed all conquered nations to retain tiieir uwm relii;ii)n. l)ut 
 as the Christians bad never been a nation, they felt themselves, at lea^t, entitled to 
 the sacred rights yielded to cajitives. If a pagan had the abstract right to dispose 
 of his own soul in harmony with his own convictions, though not a citizen, how 
 much more those who were free born ? They, therefore, held persecution immoral, — 
 treason against free souls. They refused to be stripped of their humanit}', because 
 to rob themselves of peace with God and with their honest convictions, was treason 
 against God, — to which they would not yield for a moment. Under this solemn per- 
 suasion, the Christian Apologies warned the emperors, again and again, that God would 
 punish them for their daring oppressions, which despised the life that God had given 
 man, and rit!u<l liim of his grandest attribute. Justin boldly says to the Emperor : 
 
 ' Von, who are every M'liere proclaimed the pious, — the guardian of justice, — 
 the friend of truth, — your acts shall show whether you merit these titles. My design 
 is neither to flatter you by this letter, nor to obtain any favor. . . . Your duty, as 
 dictated by reason, is to investigate our cause, and to act as good judges. You will 
 then be inexcusable before God, if you act not justly when you have once known 
 the truth. . . . Aftei- all, princes who prefer an idle opinion to the truth, use a 
 power only like that of robbers in lonely places. ... If this doctrine appears to you 
 true, and founded on reason, pay heed to it. If contrariwise, treat it as a thing of 
 no value ; but do not treat as enemies, nor condemn to death, men who have done 
 you no wrong ; for we declare to you that you will not escape the judgment of 
 God if you persist in injustice.' 
 
 lie even goes the length of expressing the belief, that the moral triumphs of 
 the Gospel may render the State itself unnecessary, and rates impei-ial intolerance as 
 more worthy of the hangman than of virtuous princes. In a word, he demands 
 i-eligious liberty in the name of eternal justice, urging the Emperor to lay the 
 matter before the people, saying : ' Is there need to appeal to any other judge than 
 conscience ? ' And TertuUian was just as bold. ' Religion,' he affirms, ' forbids to 
 constrain any to be religious ; she would have consent and not constraint. Man has 
 the natural right to worship what he thinks best. . . . Let one worship God, 
 another Jupiter ; let one raise his suppliant hands to heaven, another to the altar of 
 Fides. See to it whether this does not deserve the name of irreligion, to wish to 
 take away the freedom of religion, and to forbid a choice of gods, so that I may 
 not worship whom I will, but be compelled to worship whom I do not will. No 
 one, not even a human being, will desire to be worshiped by one against his will.' " 
 In citing Christ's words on duty to CiBsar, he asks : ' What, then, is due to Ci\isar ? 
 . . . CiEsar's image is on the money, therefore, the money may be fairly claimed by 
 him ; God's image is upon man, and he has an equal claim upon his own. Give, 
 therefore, your money to Caesar, and yourselves to God. If all is Caesar's, what will 
 remain for God ? ' •' Thus, the post- Apostolic Baptists stuTcd the second century 
 with the strife for soul-liberty. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE THIRD CENTURY. 
 
 IN tliis period, tlic EmpLTor.s were iiioi-u leniuiit toward the f'liristiaiis, from 
 various motives, sometimes i)ecaiise they paid a heavy tax for peace. Tertnliiaii 
 denounced this practice as a bribe. Alexander Severus, 222-235, was tolerant, i)er- 
 hajis thronf;-h the influence of Julia, his mother, a friend of Origen. He put busts 
 of Chiist :iih1 iVlii-aham in his private chapel, with the words engraved on the wall: 
 'As ye woiilil tliat mi'u sliould do to you, do ye also to them.' He was the lirst 
 Emperor who ciitiM-rainiMl < 'hri.-rian pastors at court, and the first places of Chris- 
 tian worship u.T,> built in liis rri-n; yet, down to this time no Christian bodies had 
 been legalized, exrept as l)urial societies. lie would iiavc eiirolkMl Cliri^t :iiii.iiigst 
 the gods and built him a temple, but the so,,tlisiyers prophesied, that all men would 
 becJme Christians, and the other temples would he close.! if he <li<l this, biider 
 his favor to the Christians, many pliable philosophers united with them, some 
 pastors took civil ofHce. The law.s against Christians were unrepealed, and Ulpian 
 collected them into a Digest, ready for use, in his book on the duties of a Procon- 
 sul. As Christianity relapsed into security, it began to mix with paganism and 
 weakened. Maximus, the Thracian, resented the leniency of his predecessor and 
 burned the church buildings ; but Philip, 238-244, favored Christianity so much, 
 that he was denounced as a Christian. Decins, however, 249-251, determined to 
 restore tlie old faith, and began a general pei-secution of the sternest charactei-. 
 
 He aimed at the full, legal suppression of Christianity, and the govermnent 
 put forth its wliole strength accordingly. The terror of this persecution had scarcely 
 been e(pialcd before. Liml)orch fully indorses the alarming picture drawn iiy Dr. 
 Chandler, in his 'History of Persecutions,' when he says of those who wouM not 
 blaspheme Christ and offer incense to the gods, that : 'They were publicly whipped, 
 drawn by the heels through the streets of cities, racked till every bone of tlieir body 
 was disjointed, had their teeth beat out; their noses, hands and ears cut off; sharp- 
 pointed spears run under their nails, were tortured with melted lead thrown on their 
 naked bodies, had their eyes dug out, their limbs cut off, were condemned to the 
 mines, gi-ound between stones, stoned to death, burnt alive, thrown headlong from 
 the high buildings, beheaded, smothered in burning lime-kilns, run through the body 
 with sharp spears; destroyed with hunger, thirst and cold; thrown to the wild 
 beasts, broiled on gridirons with slow lires, cast l.y licai>s into the sea, crucified, 
 scraped to deatii with sharp shells, torn to pieces by tlie boughs of trees, and, in a 
 
DEFECTTOX AND PERSECUTION. I 73 
 
 woi-d, (lustniytMl liy all iIk- \arioii.s iiiL'tiiods that the most dialmlical subtlety and 
 malice coidd devise.' 
 
 Pride, ease and anihition jjad entered the Churches, disci|)line was rehipsed, 
 and terror seized tlieni when the sword awoke, and many apostatized. These were, 
 called traditorfi, meaning those who revealed hidden copies of Scripture to be col- 
 lected and burnt. Dccius threw the whole strength of the Empire into the perse- 
 cution, which was terrible beyond description, and such immense numbers 'lapsed,' 
 that tiery controversies rent the Churches when they returned, on the question of 
 their restoration. Cyprian bewailed this state of things as a punishment ' for our 
 sins,' saying: 'Our principal study is to get money and estates; we follow after 
 pride; we are at leisure with nothing but emulation and quarreling, and have neg- 
 lected the simplicity of faith. AVe have renounced this world in w'ords only, and 
 not in deed. Every one studies to please himself and to displea.se others.' Eusebius 
 draws a darker picture still, and writes : 
 
 'Through too niucli liberty, they grew negligent and slothful, envying and 
 reproaching one aniitliei- ; waging, as it were, civil war among themselves, bishops 
 quarreling with bishops, and the people divided into factions. Ilypocrisy and deceit 
 were grown to the highest pitch of wickedness. They were become so insensible 
 as not so much as to think of appeasing the Divine anger; but like Atheists they 
 thought the world destitute of any providential government and care, and thus 
 added one crime to another. The bisliops themselves had thrown off all concern 
 about religion; were perpetually contending with one another; and did nothing 
 but quarrel with and threaten and envy and hate one another; they were full of 
 ambition, and tyrannically used their power.' ^ 
 
 Decius, as a reforming statesman, intended to turn this state of things to his 
 interests, declaring, that he would rather liave a second Emperor at his side than a 
 priest at Rome, a remark which shows the trend of Christian feeling at that time. 
 
 But extremes meet here, as elsewliere. "While so many abjured Christ, thou- 
 sands presented themselves to the civil power, ahnost with fanaticism, demanding 
 the martyr's crown. The persecution continued under Gallus and Valerian, A. D. 
 251-260, until Gallienus proclaimed the first edicts of toleration in the Empire, 
 i-eealled the exiles, and made Christianity an acknowledged religion in 261. This 
 peace continued under Claudius; but his successor, Aurelian, hated the Christians 
 and issued another edict against them. He was assassinated, however, before it was 
 executed ; Tacitus, his successor, revoked it, and the Churches had rest, until the last 
 general persecution under Diocletian, A. D. 303. Then Christianity revived, illus- 
 trating the words of Tertullian, uttered long before : ' Our nmnber increases the 
 more you destroy us. The blood of the Christians is their seed.' Amongst the 
 many illustrative cases which exhibit the fortitude of the martyrs is that of Lau- 
 rentius, a deacon, of whom the magistrate demanded the money of the Chureli, tor 
 the poor. This iron-nerved old Baptist said, most cheerfully, that the Church had 
 valuable treasures, asking the court to send horses and wagons for them, and give 
 
174 TKllTULl.lAN. 
 
 liiiii tlirco days to produce them. His rciiucst was granted, and when tlie day 
 iin-iwd, lie Iirouglit loads of widows ami tlic poor, saying : ' These are the treasures 
 (if tliu Clnn-ch.' Fortius, they roasted hiiii alive on a gridiron; l)ut so resohitely 
 did W hear his sutierinns, that he told the executioner: 'This side of my body is 
 roasted enough, now turn it and roast the other; and then, if thou wilt, devour it.' 
 Persecution ceased in the West, A. i). :!<i7. 
 
 A brief sketch of TicktulliaiN may aid in throwing light u])on the Montanists, 
 who held some peculiarities in conunon with moileni IJaptists. He was the greatest 
 of the Latin fathers, except Augustine, being pre-eminently the father of his day 
 and class, A. D. lfi0-2-l:0. He was born at (.'arthagc, North Afi'ica, where his father 
 was a Ronum Proconsul, and carefully educated his son to be a lawyer. Little is 
 known of TertuUian's conversion, which is generally supposed to have dated about 
 ItHi. lie possessed a powerful mind, was an original but violent thinker, earnest in 
 his coin ictions, intense in his enthusiasm, and destitute of fear; his tire and inde- 
 jiendeiiee uuide him worthy of his Punic blood and Roman training. As forceful 
 with the pen as Tacitus, he was too brief, warm and vigorous to be his equal, either 
 in lucidity or elegance ; but lie was the most, eloi^uent advocate of the early Churches. 
 He was strong and acute, witli a jiowerfnl imagination, a quick and vivacious mind; 
 his style was learned but not I'lietorical, iioi- was it always harnioulous; yet, his severe, 
 angidar fruitfulness presented the truth in a, new dress, and made him fascinating, 
 because he was austere in his piety and spotless in his purity. Eai'ly in his Chris- 
 tian career, he Ijeeame deeply moved at the indilTerenee which had fallen on the 
 Churches; and the fear that they were relni)sing into paganism, stirred his sanctified 
 genius to a keen and dexterous activity. When he became pastor of the Church in 
 his native city, he threw all his might into the battle with paganism, Judaism, and 
 heretical Christianity. As he exceeded all his contemporaries in intelligence, vigor 
 and sturdy character, his opponents soon looked upon him as stern and censorious. 
 Believing that the Churches had drifted from their primitive state, his puritanical 
 zeal dealt tremendous blows in every direction. Ilis opponents feared liim, for he 
 exposed all the baseness of heathenism, and pi-otested against all looseness in Chris- 
 tianity. In his Apology to the rulers, his stirring letter to Scapula, the Prefect of 
 Africa, and his more popular appeal to the people, he heaped scorn and contempt on 
 the ancient gods in a style peculiar to himself; and few did more to oviTthrow the 
 godless system of Polytheism. 
 
 Abovat A. D. 200, he became a Moiitanist, amongst which sect he ranked as 
 the leader, and at Carthage first launched his famous woi-k on Baptism against 
 Quintilla, who held that faith saves without baptism. He insisted that Christ 'im- 
 posed the law of immersion,' and that Paul submitted to it, 'as the only thing ' then 
 wanting in him ; and as a dispute had arisen in his day about the need of going to 
 the Jordan for baptism, he gave this decision : 'There is no difference whether one 
 is washed in the sea or in a pool, in a river or in a fountain, in a lake or in a canal ; 
 
MONTAXIsyr. 1 75 
 
 iioi' is there any (liU'ereiice between tliu.se whom Jolm di]i|)e(l in tiie .J(ir(l;iM, iind 
 those wlioni Peter dipped in the Tiber.' 
 
 The MoNTANiSTS, with wlioni he ideiititied iumself, sitrang from Montanus, a 
 native of I'hrvf^ia. lie was orthodox in Ids views, except on the doctrine of the 'Holy 
 Catholic Church,' as it began to be held at that time. Some, however, attribute to 
 liiin a tinge of the doctrine of Sabellius, which affected his later followers. He 
 taught a gradual unfolding of revelation, and looked for further communications of 
 the Spirit than those given in the New Testament ; yet. Cardinal Newman thinks 
 that: ' The very foundation of Montanism is development, not in doctrine, but in 
 discipline and conduct.' Certainly, he introduced no new docti'ine, but held to the 
 continued inspiration of the Spirit until the coming of Christ, which he thought near 
 at hand. He labored hard to rekindle the love of many who had waxed cold, and 
 to restore the spirituality of the Churches ; but was so extremely I'igid in the nuitter of 
 fasting and other acts of self-denial, that he caught the ascetic side of religion in its 
 demands for a pure life. In his aim to restore Christians to their normal Gospel 
 condition, he associated their decline with the lack of special revelations given to 
 individuals, which should supplement the New Testament, and thought himself 
 commissioned of God to bring them back to this high standard of perfection. This 
 dangerous doctrine led him into ecstasies, which he mistook for new revelations, ami 
 which have been unjustly ascribed to deception. Hence, the Montanists called tlum- 
 selves 'spirituals,' to mark themselves from lax Christians, whom they denominated 
 ' carnal ; ' not only because they demanded a pure life, but also because they sought 
 a thoroughly spiritual religion, unmixed with the perversions of philosophy. Mon- 
 tamis taught that men should not flee from persecution, and insisted on the rebap- 
 tism of the 'lapsed;' not because they had been improperly bajitized in the first 
 place, but because they had denied Christ, and on re-professing him, ought to be 
 baptized afresh. For this cause only, were they called ' Anabaptists.' 
 
 The one prime-idea held by the Montanists in common with Baptists, and in dis- 
 tinction to the Churches of the third century was, that mend)ership in the Churches 
 should be confined to purely regenerate persons; and that a spiritual life and dis- 
 cipline should be maintained without any affiliation with the authority of the State. 
 Exterior Church organization and the efficacy of ordinances did not meet their ideal 
 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 himself ; which was simply a slander. His mistake 
 lay in pushing the doctrine of the indwelling Spirit so far, as to claim that men and 
 women are as directly iinder the special inspiration of the Spirit as were the Apos- 
 tles themselves. For this reason, also, he claimed exact equality amongst them in 
 all respects, and women as well as men were pastors in the Montanist Churches. 
 Woman was held in light esteem both in Church and State in his time, and so, this 
 doctrine was specially odious. History has not yet relieved the Montanists of the 
 
r ITRTTY. 
 
 
 
 scnclnirs .,f 
 
 Clirist; w 
 
 liilc, in fact, 
 
 , lalM.ivd to 
 
 ivstnre th; 
 
 It (;iirist-like- 
 
 irU.I. Km, 
 
 Kin i.leas „ 
 
 f aiz-icraiiilize- 
 
 riv.tly variiM 
 
 1 from tliu 
 
 iiK.del wliich 
 
 iritiiality s.m 
 
 ,11 k-d tlu'iu 
 
 tn exalt nm- 
 
 the i;ruvL>>t 
 
 iiiii"irtaiict' 
 
 , and to LTfC't 
 
 scci'atioli tu 
 
 (io,l, tla-y 
 
 hueaiiie tlioi'- 
 
 176 HONEST EF Fours A 
 
 distortion and ol,lo,jiiy wliir], l,,n- Lrld tlicni a 
 tlK-y lioiK^llv, hut in >onu.' ivs|H.,-t. rrroiu',,usly 
 no's t,. the CI, uivhr. wliich had m, lai-cly dcp, 
 nicnt liail corrupted their ideal, and now they i 
 Clirist had left. 
 
 Like many reformers, their aim at lii-li sp 
 tine observances in little things, into matters (d' 
 new standards of conduct. Seekiiif^ i.;rcat con 
 onghly legal. They excluded themselves from society, were harsh in their treat- 
 ment of weak and erriiii;- Christians; instead of cherishing the forgiving spirit of 
 Christ toward the 'lapsed,' they were hitter against them, with that hitterness which 
 is often the chief sin of high sanctity. Sin after liaptism was regarded liy them as 
 almost unpardoiialile, second marria-vs were wicked in the extreme, matter it.self was 
 an unmixed evil ; and the world, being as bail as it well could be, was ripe for destruc- 
 tion. In con.seqrience, they were decided I're-Milleiiarians. They believed in the 
 literal reign of Christ upon the earth, ami longed for his coming, that he might hold 
 
 iw of sin and sinners, and then In's saints 
 They regarded every new jiersecutoi- on 
 
 the AiM.calypse; and made so much of that 
 
 Monlanist forgery. - They hoped by preaching 
 
 ithout biiindinL;' a new sect, and for a time, 
 
 his people sep. 
 
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 book, that the 
 
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 fy the. 
 
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 lies. 
 
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 11. 
 
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 ; a jinrely sijiri 
 
 tiial mem 
 
 ber.-hip. 
 
 'Vica anil (Taul, 
 
 and even 1 
 
 he Church 
 
 )iit hesitated. 
 
 The set ( 
 
 if the tide 
 
 at Komc was more than inclined to adopt thci 
 toward worldly conformity and aggrandizement was too strong, however, for this re- 
 action, and the reform largely failed ; yet that Church was slow to condemn this hon- 
 est attempt of the reformers. About A. D. 192, her pastor branded thein, but the 
 Council of Nicaia did not put them under the ban. The local Council of Laodicea 
 did, however; and the General Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381, required con- 
 verts from Montanisin to be immersed an, 'W, a n<l treatcl in all respects as converts 
 from paganism, before their re-admissiou into the Catholic f'hurch. 
 
 They had no controversy with the Catli,,lics on the subject of trine im- 
 mersion, fi.ir it was not in dispute, but was ]n-acticeil by both parties. As to the 
 iminersi,, 11 of unconscious babes, we have nothing which distinctly sets forth their 
 views, because it was not yet jiraeticed by any part}'. It was just beginning to 
 apjiear in this centurv, as a necessary measure of salvation from original sin by sacra- 
 mental grace. 'As a matter of history, it must be admitted by candid students, 
 that a false conception of the Church and the sacraments was the direct cause of a 
 change in the Apostolic order, and of the admission of infants to baptism and the 
 Supper, designed only for adults. The same cause induced both changes, and for 
 
centuries infant coinnuinion co-existed witii inf;int baptism.''' Eutii the ujipositiun 
 of Tertullian, and the open denial of tlic Montanists that baptism is the channel of 
 grace, renders it unlikely that they adopted this practice. They insisted so radically 
 on the efficacy of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, that to have immersed uncon- 
 scious babes would have nuliilied their basic doctrine of tiic direct agency of the 
 Spirit, and have thwarted their attempts at reform, in the most jjractical manner. 
 As to the independency of their Churches, the facts, that tiicy maintained a separate 
 Church life, and that women tilled the pastorate in some of their congregations, 
 under the direction, as they thought, of the Holy Spirit, indicate that they believed 
 this direction was given through the local body when choosing pastors ; and also, that 
 their 'superintendents' were but the 'presidents' of Justin Martyr, and the 'elders' 
 of the New Testament. 
 
 With the other perversions of the faith, there came the Gnostic heresy, sub- 
 stituting knowledge for faith. The term Gnostic (inan of knowledge) fii'st denoted 
 the initiated into a secret science unknown to the vulgar. It revolved around the 
 origin of all things, and Tertullian denounced it vehemently. Moutanism was look- 
 ing for the end of all things, and he cried : ' Away with all attempts to produce a 
 motley Christianity, compounded of Stoicism, Platonism, and dialectics.' Gnosticism 
 produced two extreme classes of men, fantastical visionaries, noted for formal ascet- 
 icism, and those who fell into indulgence and licentiousness. Moutanism meant to 
 protest against both, specially resisting pagan worldliness. Many Christians traded 
 with the temples as workmen in constructing them, carving their statues, selling 
 them frankincense and sacrifices. ' Nay,' says Tertullian, ' idol makers are chosen 
 into the ecclesiastical order.' Others served as officers or private soldiers under the 
 heathen standard, all of which the Montanists resisted, so that Harnaek calls them 
 ' The old lielievers, the elder legitimate party, that demanded the preservation of the 
 original Christianity, and the return to Apostolical simplicity and purity.' 
 
 About A. D. 281, the Novatians arose. They differed with the Montanists 
 concerning the Spirit's inspiration, while they held much in common. They were 
 charged by the Catholics rather with schism than heresy, as rigid discipline separated 
 them, not doctrine. The case of Novatian is the tirst recorded instance of departure 
 from immersion in baptism, and the tirst instance of clinic baptism ; that is, baptism 
 of those who were believed to be dying. When a cateclumien, he was supposed to 
 lie at the point of death, and asked baptism in order to save his soul, but could not 
 be three times immersed, as was the practice. Yet, something must be done, and 
 that in a hurry ; so, while stretched on his bed, water was poured all around his 
 person, in an outline inclosing his whole body ; then, it was poured all over him till he 
 was drenched, making perfusion as near an immersion as possible. If he died, this 
 was to stand for baptism, saving him by a narrow escape; but if he lived, his bap- 
 tism was to be considered defective. Cornelius, the Bishop of Rome at that time, 
 was an oljstinate immersionist, and wrote to Fabius, the Bishop of Antioch, con- 
 
178 CIJNTC nAPTlSM. 
 
 cerniiig Novatiun, tlnis : ' Tu'lieved by exorcists, ho fell into an obstinate disease, and 
 being supposed nlmut to dio, lie having been poured around, on the bed where he 
 lay, received [sa.\ing gracej ; if, indeed, it be proper to say [it].' Eusebius does not 
 express tlie object of the verb, but Cruse translates the rest of the passage thus : 
 ' If, indeed, it be proper to say that one like him did receive baptism.' * Vales states, 
 that clinics who recovei'ed, wn-e ir(jnired by the rule to go to the bishop, 'to sup- 
 ply what was wanting in that iiaptism.' But failing to do this, Novatiaii insisted on 
 entering the ministry, which persistence shook the nerves uf Cornelius beyond 
 endurance ; yet, as Novatian was a remarkably talented man, he was made a pres- 
 byter without trine iinnuT.sJDii. 
 
 Cave excuses this in the kindest manner, calling Novatian's ' A less solemn 
 and perfect kind of lia])tisin, partly because it was done not by immersion. . . . Per- 
 sons are supposed at such a time to desire it chiefly out of a fear of death, and many 
 times when not thoroughly masters of their understandings. For which reasons, 
 persons so baptized (if they recovered) are by the fathers of the Neo-CsBsarean Council 
 rendered oi-dinarily incapable of being admitted to the degree of presbyters in the 
 Clnuch. . . . They reckoned that no man could be saved without being baptized, 
 and cared not much in cases of necessity, so they had it, how they came by it.'^ His 
 reference is to Canon xii, which decrees, that no person Iiapti/.cd in time id' sickness 
 should l)e ordained a presbyter, 'because his faith was not voluntary." Cornelius 
 would not let them pass muster, even if they 'were masters (if their understand- 
 ings;' but Chrysostoni was a mort' notional imiuer.^ioiiist still, and gave his reasons 
 at length for doubting the salvation of such men at all I In general, the fathers 
 sneered at these sick-bed baptisms, and named such professors, 'Clinics,' and not 
 Christians, a levity which Cyprian solemnly rebuked, as implying their conversion in 
 a fright. He says that it is a 'nickname which some have thought tit to tix upon 
 those who have thus ' been perfused upon their beds. ^ 
 
 The NovATiANs demanded pure Churches which enforced strict discipline, and so 
 were called Puritans. They refused to receive the ' lapsed ' back into the Churches, 
 and because they held the Catholics corrupt in receiving them, they re-immersed 
 all who came to them from the Catholics. For this reason alone they were called 
 ' Anabaptists,' although they denied tliat this was rebaptism, holding the first im- 
 mersion null and void, because it had been received from corrupt Churches. Alartyi-s 
 were held in such high honor at this time, that this dignity was sought with a furor. 
 Merit was ascribed to them, in virtue of wliieli they went so far as to give to other 
 Christians, papers, in token of pardoned sin, a practice which it was necessary to 
 prohibit, because it became so dangerous. The Novatians soon became a very pow- 
 erful body, spread through the Empire, as Kurtz shows ; and their Churches flourished 
 for centuries, exerting a purif^ying and healthful influence. Adam Clarke states that 
 one grave charge against them was : ' That they did not pay due reverence to the 
 martyrs, nor allow that there was any virtue in their relics ; " which he pronounces 
 
CENTRALIZA TION. 1 79 
 
 a decisive mark oi' tlicir 'good sense and genninc piety,' in i<t_Hiiing witli tlieir 
 lives, which ' wei-e in general simple and holy.' Lardner tiiinks : ' It is impossiiiie 
 to calculate the benefits of their services to mankiyid." 
 
 We have no reliable data on which to state their views on the baptism of 
 babes, beypnd the fact, that as infant baptism had not become a general custom 
 when they arose, tliei-e was no need to form a sect in 0]3 position thereto. Then, 
 these several facts indicate that they had no sympathy with the few who began to 
 favor this innovation, namely: That Novatian, their fonnder, was an adult at the 
 time of his illness and so-called baptism ; that the difficulty of obtaining pardon of 
 sin after bajitism made men defer it as long as possible in this age ; and further, 
 that we have no record of one martyr, confessor, writer or member, in any 
 Church being liaptized as a babe, for the first two hundred and fifty years of Chris- 
 tianity. On tlie contrary, it is recorded that the two Clements, Justin, Athanagoras, 
 Theophilus, Tertullian, Cyprian and a nameless host were baptized after reaching 
 full manhood, and on their faith in Chiist. "When iN'ovatian wa.s a presl)yter at 
 Kome, infant baptism had not found its way there. More than a century after his 
 day, Boniface, the Bishop of that Church, is found addressing Augustine on the 
 question, asking his counsel, and expressing grave doubts on the subject, inasmuch 
 as a child could not believe in Christ, and no one could warrant that he would l)clieve 
 thereafter. ' Socrates says, that Novatian was martyred A. D. 253-2tin. 
 
 This century was marked by the introduction of a centralized Church govern- 
 ment, largely to the destruction of Congregationalism ; and by a crystallization of 
 the ideas and pretensions of Episcopacy. As to the first of these, Neander clearly 
 shows, how a crude notion arose concerning the inward unity of a universal but 
 unseen Church, and the outward unity of a Church dependent on outward forms. 
 Out of this speculative idea came the purpose to form one great organic body, which 
 should take the place of the Church-family idea, as Christ founded it on the social 
 nature of man. The first step was to depress the individuality of the Church in 
 this or that home locality, supplanting it with the Church of the district ; then, of 
 course, would follow that of the nation and of the world. Cyprian carried this 
 thought to its sound, logical conclusion, in his remarkable book on the ' Unity of the 
 Church ' {De Unitate Ecdesia), written about the middle of this period, amid the 
 confusion with which this innovation had to contend. The term ' Catholic Church ' 
 is first found in the Epistle of the Church at Smyrna, in which Polycarp prays for 
 the godly throughout the world under that name, and Tertullian uses it for the same 
 purpose. But the organic Catholic Church itself arose out of the ambitions scheme 
 to sap the foundations of Congregational liberty, and to crush heretics. We read 
 such folly as this from the pen of Cyprian : ' That man cannot have God for his 
 Father, who has not the Church for his mother. . . . Where there is no Church, 
 sins cannot be put away.' He is also the father of that far-fetched and thread-bare 
 'coat' argument, in which so many complacently wrap themselves, till they split it 
 
ISO JlKin I'llEUOilAriVES CLAIMICD. 
 
 bctwuuii tlic shoulders. He says of our Lord's ' seamless vest,' ' This coat 
 a unity which caine down from the top, that is, from heaven, and which was not to 
 be rent. lie vvlio parts and divides the Church cannot have Christ's garment.' As 
 if Christ's Church is Christ's coat in any sense, and as if his woolen raiment, woven 
 on some family loom in Palestine, and raffled for by soldiers at the foot of the cross, 
 could be forced to do duty as the symbol of his ransomed body, the Church. There 
 is not the slightest hint in the Biltle that the bodily dress of Christ was the embod- 
 iuiLMit of any thing but its own threads, much less that it was made by him a holy 
 synd)()l (if his redeemed people. Vet, those who are shaking in their shoes all the 
 time al)out some figment which they call the ' sin of schism,' but which they are 
 careful never to define, are perpetually quoting Cyprian's nonsense, as if it were 
 unanswerable Bible truth. 
 
 Again, Cyprian says : 'There is no salvation to any except in the Church;' 
 which to him was true, by the dimensi(His of the Church as he measured it, which 
 measurement, happily, differs several culiit.> from the enlarged fullness in which 
 Jesus comprehends all who love and obey him, • in sincerity and truth.' Cy]inan 
 also held that there was no true baptism outside of the Catholic ranks, and so, he 
 rebajitized all heretics and schismatics who came to him, while Stephen contended 
 that if the due forms had been observed in baptizing them, they should be re-ad- 
 mitted simply by the laying on of hands. 
 
 As to the prerogatives of Episcopacy, the hicrarrhy was not established at 
 once. Like all other perversions of great principles :ind institutions, the decadence 
 was gradual, almost imperceptible, until the change became thorough and radical. 
 When the ' priest' had taken the place of the teacher, and the 'Church' the place 
 of the diffused congregations, then the ' Church ' alone could confer salvation by its 
 priesthood, ordinances and discipline ; for the whole power of the ' Church ' was 
 merged into the clergy. New forms produced new laws and new ofHces. Division 
 in the Churches had opened the way for one pagan practice after another in govern- 
 ment, as well as doctrine, until the spirit of old Roman imperialism gradually formed 
 a priestly hierarchy. What Westcott calls ' the local and dogmatic ideas of Cath- 
 olicity' remained in germ, and were latent till new circumstances broke the force of 
 public opinion. One emergency followed another in breaking up the system of 
 separate Church action, and compelling the Churches to conform to one regime. 
 Tlien the ecclesiastical form of the sin of schism was cautiously created as a bugbear, 
 its seeds being planted in the restriction of free thought. Imperialism became the 
 bulwark of Episcopacy, which, at first, operated gently ; for after disti-ict prelacy was 
 established, each district being independent for a time of all others, managed its own 
 aii'airs by its provincial synod. The public mind had been educated to this form of 
 government in civil affairs. This policy had failed in the Greek republic, and had 
 been lost in her wider dominion ; but when Rome conquered all States, its ideal 
 of government was centered in one irresponsible will, and sought its golden age 
 
THE CHURCHES IMPERIALIZED. 181 
 
 thfre. In like manner, these simple Christian communities p;issed step by step into 
 the hands of their ambitious brethren, who sougiit to imperialize the Churches. 
 The bent of the Koman Church was to adopt the policy of the Koman State, and 
 to swallow up all these artless families into itself. The necessary result was, that 
 the primitive sense of personal union with Christ was sunk into incorporation with 
 the general Church, to be coimected with which was salvation. After this, every 
 thing savored of episcopal prerogative. 
 
 Nothing of this was known in the Apostolic Churches, for there no particular 
 man was distinguished as a priest, much less as a high-priest of priests. Bishop 
 Lightfoot says, in his ' Christian Ministry : ' ' The sacerdotal title is never once con- 
 ferred upon them. The only priests under the Gospel, designated as such in the New 
 Testament, are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood. As individuals, 
 all Christians are alike. . . . The highest gift of the Spirit conveyed no sacerdotal 
 right which was not enjoyed by the humblest member of the Christian commuuitv.' 
 Yet, the men of the third century reasoned, that as paganism had found strength in 
 a centralized government, Christianity could not cope with it without using the same 
 forces. Hence, in substance, if not in form, the rule of the Galilean Peasant was 
 thrown aside, and the image of the Emperor put in his place by an Episcopacy, first 
 to charm and then to govern. After that, a technical sense was attached to the term 
 ' bishop ' which never fell from Apostolic lips, the corruption of the term springing 
 from the corruption of the office. The first grade of departure is found in the mutual 
 consultation of the elders, as equals, concerning the welfare of a few Churches in 
 their vicinity. Then, one of them began to exercise lordship over the other, till, in 
 the opening of this age, the city elders assumed rank and authoiity over their suburban 
 brethren, wiio were but common country folk. Because Rome was the mighty cap- 
 ital and the Church there strong, this Church early betrayed thnt feeling. Besides, the 
 smaller Churches were often quite dependent upon those out of which they came, 
 cherishing great love for them, and so were led by their influence. Roman society 
 daily familiarized men with all grades and successions of power, and it required con- 
 stant resistance to keep the Churches in their Christ-like simplicity of government. 
 
 The credulity of Cyprian, as to the almost miraculous effects of the ordinances, 
 and the divine authority' of Episcopacy, strengthened these tendencies in Africa, 
 where he acted in a childish manner. In a letter to Pupianus he says : ' The bishop 
 is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop ; and if any one be not with the bishop, 
 he is not in the Church.' Neander thus expresses himself most freely : ' A candid 
 consideration cannot fail to see in Cyprian, a man animated with true love to the 
 Redeemer and to his Church. It is undeniable that he was honestly devoted as a faith- 
 ful shepherd to his tiock, and that it was his desire to use his episcopal authority for 
 the maintenance of order and discipline. But it is also certain that ... he was not 
 watchful enough against self-will and pride. The very point he contended for, the 
 supremacy of the episcopate, proved the rock whereon at times ho made shi])wreck.' 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE THIRD CENTU RY.—Coatinueil 
 
 THE i'cmr men who tii^'ured most largely in this century were Tertnlhan, wlio 
 hibored for tlie purity of the Cluirclies ; Origeu, wlin Meiideil pliiiosophy 
 witli revehition ; C!_yj)rian, who struggled for episcoi^al authority; ami llippoljtus, 
 who as stoutly resisted clerical wickedness. We may speak more fully of the last. 
 
 HiPPOLYTUs, A. D. 198-239, was Bishop, probably of the Church at Portus, at 
 the mouth of the Tiber, and spent the most of his life in and about Kome. lie was 
 one of the greatest men of his age, 'a name,' says Cardinal Newman, 'which a 
 breath of ecclesiastical censure has never even dimmed. ... A man without any 
 slur npon his character or conduct, and who stands, in point of orthodoxy, range of 
 subject and ability, in the very front rank of theologians, in the ante-Nicene times.' ' 
 Chrysostom culls him : ' A most holy doctor, and a man of sweetness and charity.' 
 For twenty years lie was active in the affairs of the Church at Eome, Ijut was 
 in no way under its authority, being elected bishop by his own flock, without 
 episcopal consecration. He openly and boldly opposed the bishops of the capital in 
 all their pretensions, exposing their gross iniquities. lie refused all communion 
 with the Church at Eome, calling it a ' school,' not a church, and laid bare the im- 
 moralities and crimes of its pastors, in what had been a scurrilous manner, had it not 
 been true. A. D. 199-218, Zephyriuus was its pastor, whom he denounces as igno- 
 rant, corrupt and bribed to connive at the error of Noetus, namely, that Christ was 
 the Father, and so that the Father was crucified, denying the proper personality of 
 the Son. When Hippolytus exposed his error, he confessed his sin. 
 
 Callixtus was pastor at Rome from 219 to 223. He was originally a slave, 
 nurtured in cunning, falsehood and vice. Having stolen money, he was sentenced 
 first to the treadmill, and then to the mines in Sardinia, on the following proceed- 
 ings : His master, a devout Christian of Ctesar's household, trusted him with large 
 amounts of money for banking purposes. This business Callixtus followed in the 
 Piscina, a public fish-market, one of the quarters of Eome, celebrated for its large 
 financial transactions. His master's influence was so great that many Christians, 
 widows and others, intrusted their deposits with the slave as with the master him- 
 self. But he soon nuide away with these, and fied for the sea. Being pursued and 
 captured in the harbor of Portus, after an attempt at suicide by drowning, he was 
 brought back to Eome and sent to the treadmill. He claimed that various persons 
 held money to his credit ; many kind-hearted Christians pleaded with his master to 
 
.4 WICKED BISHOP. 183 
 
 release him, ami lie yielded to their entreaties. The knave, knowing that he euuld 
 not escape, invited death by disturbing n Jewish synagogue while at worship ; but 
 instead of killing hiui outright, they dragged him before the Prefect of the city. 
 The Jews charged him with disturbing their worship, contrary to Roman law. 
 Then his master appeared and charged him with theft and an attempt to provoke 
 death, denying that he was a Christian. This led to his banishment to the pesti- 
 lential mines, in Sardinia. By fraudulent means he obtained his release and returned 
 to Eome. Then Zephyrinus procured him the appointment over the cemetery in the 
 Via Appia. While filling this place he flattered his patron, b}' duplicity and artifice 
 secured his influence for promotion after his own death, and at the death of Zephyr- 
 inus he actually became the Bishop of Rome ! Even without the Sardicean decree, 
 this act would justify Dollinger in saying of the papacy that it was ' a forgery in its 
 very outset, and based upon an audacious falsification of history.' '^ 
 
 Once seated ui the episcopal chair, he began the prosecution of every evil work. 
 Hippolytus states that, ' He was the first to invent the device of conniving at sen- 
 sual indulgences, saying, " That all had their sins forgiven by himself. . . . This 
 man promulgated as a dogma that if a bishop should conmiit any sin, even if it were 
 a sin unto death, he ought not to be deposed." ' He also admitted immoral persons 
 to the Supper, quoting from the Parable of the Tares : ' Let both grow together 
 till the harvest ; ' justifying himself from the fact that clean and unclean beasts were 
 quietly housed together in Noah's ark. Of course, under his fostering care the most 
 atrocious crime and iniquity grew rapidly, and profligacy ran riot in the Church at 
 Rome. But when he came to sanction the union of any Chi'istian maiden of good 
 family with a pagan husband of rank, even without the form of marriage, Hippolytus, 
 astounded at such licentiousness, exclaims, in disgust : ' Behold into how great in- 
 iquity that lawless wretch has proceeded ! . . . And yet, after all these enormities, 
 these men are lost to all sense of shame, and presume to call themselves a Catholic 
 Church I . . . These things the most admirable Callixtus contrived, not making 
 any di.^tinction, as to with whom it is tit to communicate, but offering communion 
 indiscriminately to all.' He also adds that ' During the pontificate of this Callixtus, 
 for the first time, second baptism was presumptuously attempted by them.' With 
 all this profligacy Callixtus was very zealous to promote true orthodoxy. And in 
 proof of this, he exconununicated the Sabellians as heterodox. But Hippolytus 
 says: 'He acted thus from apprehension of me, and imagined that he could in this 
 manner obliterate the charge against him among the Churches, as if he did not 
 entertain strange opinions. He was then an impostor and knave, and in process of 
 time hurried many away with him.' For elsewhere he charges that Callixtus was a 
 ' fellow-champion of these wicked tenets ' with Zephyrinus, and that the two made 
 many converts; he tells us, too, that he had sternly confuted and opposed them, but 
 that, after a time, they would 'wallow again in the same mire.' In this way he 
 molded his predecessor, an • illiterate,' 'uninformed and corru))t man,' and seduced 
 
184 niS WICKEDNESS liESTSTED. 
 
 hiiu I)j illicit demands to du whatever he wished, then used him to create disturl)- 
 anee in the Churches; but was careful to kcej) the good-will of all factions liimself, 
 duping them into the belief that he held the same doctrines tliat tliey did. 
 
 Hippolytus says : 'And wc, becdiiiin-- aware of his sentiments, did not give 
 phice to him, and witlistood him for the truth's sake.' The plural 'we' shows 
 that he held himself to be an equal of Callixtus in the Churches, and was independ- 
 ent of his government, considering himself more a successor of the Apostles than 
 the Koman liishop, who not only made a schism amongst the Churches about 
 Home, lint establislied a heretical school of his own. Hippolytus despised the 
 episcojial assumptions at Eome, not only denying the supremacy of that bishop, but 
 exposing his heresy and scandalous life, and i-esisting him at every step. lie looked 
 u])on priestly assumption as an innovation and a source of scandalous immorality, 
 and plainly shows that an elder in the Church of God was not an autocrat, or a sacri- 
 ficial mediator in the eyes of this great and good man, who had been ' elected ' a 
 bishop by his own congregation. The history of the tiiird century never could have 
 been read or written, if his Philosophoiimcna had not been discovered in the eon- 
 vent of Mount Athos in 1842. But by its light we come to understand how this 
 courageous and uncompromising fi'iend of moral purity and fervent piety came to 
 possess the undying honor which he has won; ami which made ' liis name and 
 person,' as Cardinal Newman says, 'so warmly clierisliLMl by p.ipcs of tlie fourth, 
 fifth and sixth centuries.' It is snjjposed that he suifered martyrdom by drowning 
 in the Tiber, A. D. 235-230. 
 
 One of the most remarkable things about this century is, that it originated the 
 great baptismal controversy, which, in one form or another, has been kept alive 
 in the great Christian bodies ever since, and is as rife to day as ever. At that time 
 it related to those who had ' lapsed ' from the faith, and there wei-e three parties to 
 this controversy. One, would not restore them on any condition ; a second, would 
 take them back without much restriction ; and a third, led by Cyprian, would re- 
 admit them after due repentance. Then, about the middle of the century, the im- 
 mersion of babes began to creep into the Churches, under the new sacerdotal order 
 of things. Toward the close of the second century, Celsus had charged the Chris- 
 tians with initiating the ' mere child ' into their Churches, while the pagans initiated 
 only 'intelligent' persons. The qualifying word 'mere,' indicates that he wished 
 to throw the reflection upon them, that children who were little more than babes 
 were taken into their fellowship. This insinuation Origen repelled, in his Contra 
 Celsum, as a false accusation and a calumny. His words are : ' In reply to these 
 accusations, we say, . . . We exhort sinners to come to the instruction that teaches 
 them not to sin, and the unintelligent to come to that which produces in them under- 
 standing, and the little children to rise in elevation of thought to the man. . . . 
 When those of the exhorted that make progress show that they have been cleansed 
 by the Word, and, as much as possible, have lived a better life, then we invite them 
 
ORIOEN. 1 85 
 
 to be initiated amongst us.' However young, tlieu, the 'mere child' migiit be, 
 Origen says that they did not admit him until he had been ' exhorted,' ' cleansed by 
 the Word,' had begun to live ' a better life,' and then he was initiated only on invita- 
 tion — 'wc invite them.' All these conditions might be found in ' little cliiklren,' as 
 in tlie case of Jonathan Edwards, who believed that he was converted at four years 
 of age ; but they could not refer to unconscious babes. 
 
 Origen seems but to have related his own experience here, as there is no evidence 
 that his holy father, Leonides, had him immersed when a babe, more than that Monica, 
 the consecrated mother of Augustine, had her babe immersed. But like an honest 
 and God-fearing Baptist, Origen's father thoroughly educated his son in the Holy 
 Scriptures, leading him to commit many passages to memory. The child's mind 
 was deep, quiet and inquisitive. He often asked questions about the inner meaning 
 of texts, and God greatly honored his training. His father loved him most ten- 
 derly, and constantly consecrated him to God in prayer, that the little one might 
 be led to Jesus, a willing sacrifice. Prayer was answered ; his boy early gave him- 
 self to Christ; and when the lad was asleep, his father would uncover liis bos(jm and 
 devoutly kiss it as the temple of the Holy S])irit. In the persecution under Sev- 
 erns, when this beautiful youth was but seventeen, his father was thrown into prison 
 for being a Christian, was stripped of his property and left penniless. Then his 
 son honored his hallowed love. The father's head fell under the ax for Christ, 
 and Origen resolved tha.t he would die with his father. But one martyr's crown for 
 that home was enough for that day, and the father stooped to receive it alone. His 
 godly motlier found entreaty and remonsti-ance vain to keep her son back from the 
 joint-sacrifice, and thwarted his purpose by hiding his clothes. Then, cleaving to 
 her and her six other children, in abject poverty, be sent this letter to his father at 
 the point of martyrdom : ' See thou dost not change thy mind for our sake ! ' 
 and the head of Leonides fell at the block with these grand words of his child ring- 
 ing in his ears and thrilling his heart. Origen was well able to repel the falsehood 
 of Celsus, by showing that only children who believed in Jesus and loved him with 
 all their soul were baptized. And, it is more than probable, that he drew liis inspira- 
 tion from the memory of his early childhood, when his father 'exhorted' him, 
 brought him to the ' "Word to be cleansed,' and ' invited him to be initiated amongst 
 us.' Thus, when Leonides was with his Saviour, his son was answering his own de- 
 scription of a godly child rising ' in elevation of thought to the man,' in Christ Jesus. 
 
 This order of things accords exactly with the statement of Baron Bunsen, the 
 translator of the manuscript of Hippolytus, found in 1S42. He says: ' Pedo 
 baptism, in the modern sense, meaning thereby the baptism of new-born infants, 
 with the vicarious promises of parents, or other sponsors, was utterly unknown to 
 the early Church, not onl}' down to the end of the second century, but, indeed, to 
 the middle of the third.' This, he derives from Hippolytus himself, in these words : 
 'We, in our days, never defended the baptism of children, which in my da\ Iiad 
 
186 CTPHIAN AND FID VS. 
 
 not befi;un to bu jmicticed in some regions, unless it were as an exception and 
 innovation. The ba])tism of infants we d" not ]<n(j\v.' He was born in the last 
 lialf of tlie second centiirv, and died in aliout A. I ». L'4o ; this gives the period 
 nie:int by ' niy day.' The ' some ivyions' wliere int'nnt baptism liad not begun to be 
 practiced e\ce])t as an 'innovation,' nnist have included Rome and adjacent parts of 
 Italy ; for tliere lie spent the greater part of his life, and it must be of that locality 
 that he speaks, saying : ' vx' never defended the baptism of children,' ' the baptism of 
 infants toe do not know.' His words imply, however, that in ' some ' other ' regions ' 
 it had begun to be practiced. Its twin doctrine, that all who died unbaptized must 
 be eternally lost, had, however, begun to take root quite generally, and from that 
 time became more and more prevalent; until Gregoi-y of Nazianzus, Ambrose and 
 Augustine, came to contend stoutly that all infants who died unbaptized were eter- 
 nally lost. This horrible libel on the Lamb of (xod was chosen, by these builders, 
 as the chief stone in the corner for infant baptism. 
 
 We must now look at the other "regions' where the baptism of babes began 
 to be pi-acticed, and muntioii some things in association with the incoming ' innova- 
 tion.' [n Africa, helpless infants were inhumanly sacrificed to the hideous gods, at 
 this time. Fidus, a generous- hearted country pastor, who labored in this dark prov- 
 ince, wrote to Cyprian, at Carthage, to know whether new-born babes might be bap- 
 tized. If they could, of course, this would save them, whether they died or not. 
 and would be an act of divine grace of sjjecial efiicacy, where the cruel heathen 
 stole them to offer in sacrifice. Cyprian's heart was as tender as that of his 
 country brother, and he wanted all the children's souls saved, of course. But the 
 proposition staggered him, and he dared not venture to trust his own judgment 
 in so new and serious a case. It happened that a council of sixty-six pastors was in 
 session at Carthage at the time, A. D. 252, called to consider various Church mat- 
 ters, but especially the subject of rebaptiziug those who had received heretical bap- 
 tism. In his perplexity he submitted the question of Fidus to these brethren ; a 
 thing which he need not have done, had it been customary to baptize babes from 
 the Apostles down. Tertullian had been pastor of the Church of which Cyprian 
 was now pastor, twenty years before this, and had baptized legal minors into its fel- 
 lowship, but not babes. Cyprian's course and the decision of the council show that 
 it was a new question to them all, for it decided tliat they might be baptized when 
 eight days old, but was careful not to insi.st that they must be ; further showing 
 that this was a different sort of children's bajjtism from that wliicli the Church 
 had previously practiced under the pastorate of Tertullian. 
 
 It is to the transactions of this provincial synod in North Africa that Grotius 
 refers, when he says of infant baptism : ' You will not find in any of the councils 
 a more ancient mention of this custom than in the Council of Carthage.' So, 
 Bunsen, also (iii, p. 204), says : ' In consequence of this alteration and complete 
 subversion of its main featui'es, brought about principally by the Africans of the 
 
PA GAN L USTRA TION. 1 8 7 
 
 tliird century, and completed by Augustine, these natural elements have been, in the 
 course of nearly tiftceu centuries, most tragically decomposed, and nothing is now re- 
 maining elsewhere but ruins. In the East, people adhere to immersion, although this 
 symbol of man voluntarily and consciously making a vow of the sacrifice of self, lost 
 all meaning in the immersion of a new-born babe.' The 'natural elements,' the 
 abandonment of which lie is deploring in this passage, he calls: 'Instruction, exam- 
 ination, the vow and initiation,' as the four great Christian elements in beginning 
 the life of a disciple. Neander gives the .same account of the matter: 'The error 
 became more firmly established, that without external baptism no one could be deliv- 
 ered from inherent guilt, could be saved from the everlasting punishment that threat- 
 ened him, or raised to eternal life ; and as the notion of a magical influence, or 
 charm, connected with the sacraments, continually gained ground, the theory was 
 finally evolved in the unconditional necessity of infant baptism. About the middle 
 of the third century this theory was already generally admitted in the North Afri- 
 can Church. The only question that remained was whether the child ought to be 
 baptized immediately after its birth, or not till eight days after, as in the case of 
 the rite of circumcision.' (Ch. Hist., I, p. 313.) 
 
 This was not a learned body, for that part of the Christian Church was the 
 least critical in its knowledge of the Scriptures ; but it was much too wise to inti-o- 
 duce this innovation on the silence of the New Testament. Therefore, as that said 
 nothing on the question, they shrewdly passed over it to the Old, and introduced 
 the new rite under the shield of circumcision. The pagans also had something in 
 sympathy with this, though hardly borrowed from the same source. Planti and 
 other ancient writers state that in Greece babes were purified by lustral waters and 
 sacrifices long before infant baptism was established. This occurred on the fifth 
 day after birth, and on the seventh they were named. Amongst the Eoraans, for 
 female babes, the eighth day was chosen for the same ceremony, and the ninth for 
 males. "When this had been done at their own homes, the babe was taken to the 
 temple and initiated into paganism in the presence of the gods.' Thus infant bap- 
 tism made the door into the Church of Christ as wide as that of the Jewish and 
 pagan faiths together. The African council could not comfortably inti'oduce cir- 
 cumcision into Christianity, nor could they lustrate children by water and animal 
 sacrifices ; but they could conciliate the prejudices of Jews by making circumcision 
 a precedent, and those of the heathen by lustrating babes by water without animal 
 offerings. Their chief trouble was to keep those unreasonable Christians quiet who 
 could find no authority from Christ for this superstitious innovation. For these 
 they invented the doctrine of Apostolic tradition, which they lugged in through the 
 ' holy kiss.' Even tender-hearted Fidus squirmed a trifle there. He could not give 
 the usual brotherly kiss to the new-born infant, as it was unclean for some time after 
 its birth. Cyprian, who, despite all his high-church air and strut, had as sisterly and 
 soft a heart in his bosom as ever beat, easily settled that question for him by saying: 
 
188 BAPTTfiMAL ftUPERSTrrrONS. 
 
 ' Every tliiiii;- tlmt lies in oiir power must Ke done tliat no sou! may be lost. . . . 
 As to wliiit voii say, that tlie c-liiM in its lii-.-t days of it> l.irtli is not dean to the 
 touch, and that each of us wouhl shrink iVoiii ki>siii-- >ui'h an object, even t! lis, in 
 our opinion, on-ht to present no obstacles to the bestowment uf heavenly grace ; for 
 it is written, " To tlie pure all things are pure," and none of us ought to revolt at 
 that which (ioil lias condescended to create. Although the child is but just born, 
 yet it is no such object that any one ought to demur at kissing it, to impart the di- 
 
 Some tliink this letter of Cyprian's spurious, and possibly his reputation would 
 
 not sulTer if it wei-e. Fidus disappears from thi n fury, and all direct records of 
 
 iid'aiit ba]itism with him, for the innovation made poor headway, and babes were not 
 genei-allv bapti/.eil until the fifth century. And when it was adopted, public opin- 
 ion, formed on the practice of baptizing believers only, compelled it to take faith 
 with it from some quarter ; and so it ])orrowed that from the sponsor, making him 
 believe for the babe by proxy, a direct tribute to the common sense of those who 
 resisted the invention. Spons.n-s liad long existed in law for civil purposes, in pro- 
 tecting youth during their legal minority. I>ut now they were jjnt to sacred uses, 
 believing for the child when lie could not believe for himself, and standing ready to 
 help him to believe afterward. Taking this scheme tiiroughout, for making Chris- 
 tians of dear little folks who knew nothing about it, it was quite an able achieve- 
 ment. P>ut wliat it did for the Churcli in after centiii'ies, must be told, to its shame 
 and sorrow, thanks, not to the lands where Jesus and his Apostles had preached, 
 but to Proconsular Africa ; for with this canie in a legion of other superstitions, not 
 the least of which was the power on the part of the priesthood to consecrate holy 
 oil, the 'mystic ointment' for the exorcism of the devil from the water, and from 
 the candidate who was immersed therein. This brought regenerating efKcacy to 
 both, and the laying on of the priest's hands brought the Holy Spirit after baptism. 
 Once wrenched from its native bearings, the simple and unpretentious New Testa- 
 ment baptism was first made a saving institution, and then the stalking-horse for the 
 whole pack of vain novelties. For example, the angels were supposed to exercise a 
 special ministry in baptism, and so, to represent them, a ' Baptismal Angel ' was ap- 
 pointed to preside at every bajitism.* He was known as Angelus Baptisini Arbiter, 
 was regarded as the harbinger of the Spirit — what the Baptist was to Christ — his 
 office being to prepare the soul of the candidate for the spirit of baptism." The 
 idea was bori'owed from the angel who troubled the waters of Bethesda. With this 
 came in exorcism, by breathing in the face of the candidate, for the expelling of the 
 evil spirit and the inbreathing of the good. Tertullian tells us that the consecrated 
 oil, which w-as poured upon the water in the form of the cross, before it became the 
 baptismal grave, drove the devil out of that element. At this time the Gnostic 
 idea, that the material world was largely under the dominion of evil spirits, had 
 mixed itself with the Christian faith. Demons I'uled the flight of birds, presided 
 over the winds and waves, and it was necessary to drive them out of the waters by 
 
TRAysELEMESTA TION. 1 89 
 
 soiiio sort of cluirin or ;umik't. l)efore the s^aitits witc iiiiiiifi-.-cd in tlicm. Tliev 
 liauiited these waters as sprites and nymphs. Imt tlicy tied wlifii tlic .sacivd oil was 
 poured thereon in the sliape of a cross. ^\'^■ .~liall iiuct this :ii;aiii when we cdine to 
 look at the pictures of the Catacombs. 
 
 Tlie simple and unwelcome fact is, that the pagans threw an air of jjreat luystcrv 
 and sacred grandeur around their rites, which tilled the wondeiing spectators with 
 awe, and the Christians were weak enougli to catch the infection, until they became 
 tilled with tlie fatal delusion that the holy oil acted as a cabalistic talisman on the waters, 
 for it wrought a change in the element as such. In his sermon on the ' Passione ' 
 (p. 62), Pope Leo (440-461) gives this doctrine in full bloom, for he tells us : ' That 
 baptism makes a change not only in the water, but in t\w. man that rccei\cs it; 
 thereby he receives Christ and Christ receives him; he is not the same after baptism 
 as before, but the budy of him that is regenerated is made tlie llesh of him that is 
 crucified.' And why nor. when Gregory of Nyssa contends that the oil thrown on 
 the water not only changes its nature, but actually transmutes it into a divine and in- 
 effable power, which Cyril of Alexandria calls ' transelementation.' But Cyprian 
 follows with this stronger statement still: ' The water must be sanctified l)y the 
 priest, that he may have powei- by baptism to wash away the sins of men."'' l!ap- 
 tism was made a sacerdotal act, and unction was necessary before it could be per- 
 formed at all, for this made it the organ of the Holy Spirit ! The whole Council of 
 Carthage followed Cyprian's declaration : ' The water is sanctified by the prayer of 
 the priest to wash away sin.' This superstition spread with amazing rapidity, until 
 men discovered the most marvelous lights and other visions on the baptismal watei-, 
 as if, indeed, it had become the crystal sea of the New Jerusalem itself. 
 
 It is not easy to determine when trine immersion was introduced, but at this time 
 it appears to have been the universal custom. Baptism itself had become a ' mystery,' 
 a name worthy of the semi-heathen institution which men had made it ; and after 
 baptism the candidate wore a white linen robe for eight days, as an emblem of the 
 pure life which he was to live thereafter. Down to this time it had been the right 
 of laymen to baptize, as Tertullian says: 'Even laymen have the right, for what is 
 ecpially received can be equally given.' But now confirmation became necessary to 
 perfect the act, and imder the notion of the exclusive spirituality of the bishops, 
 legislation confined it to the priesthood, so called. 
 
 Not only were the waters of baptism invested with this mystic air, but also the 
 elements of the Supper. About this time the first thought appears that any change 
 took place in the bread and mne by their consecration. They were common things 
 and of little value before the priestly benediction worked the wonder of changing 
 them into the very nature of God. This pretense stood ou an exact level with pa- 
 ganism, in sacrifical importance. The heathen believed that the very substance of 
 their deities was insinuated into the sacrificial victim, and became one with tlie 
 person who ate thereof.' Their idea was that this assimilated them to the gods; 
 
1 90 IMPOSITIONS. 
 
 liuiiee, the siicritieu \v;i.s a great 'mystery.' Paganized Cliristianity adojited tlie same 
 tlioiiglit, and so tliey modified tlie original ordinances of Christ, until it was hard to 
 find a vestige of liis simple teacliings in eitlier of them. Tiiis new system of 
 Elciisiniiiiiisiii wrapiKMl up tht' })lain truth in wild vagai'ics, whieli have perverted 
 most of ChristeiHlniu t<i this day. Many see the hhit, hut cannot efface it because 
 of its auti(|uity. It insults man's senses, hut his reverence for the hoary cares not 
 to \vi])e it iiut; and yet, true anticjiiity goes hack beyond the youth of the third 
 eenlui-y to the age of Jesus and his Apostles, at whose feet Cyprian and the fathers 
 should l'al], on a level with all other poor and uninspired sinners, instead of being 
 allowed to send Christianity down the centuries on masquerade. 
 
 Hipjwlytus tells us of one Marcus, who played all sorts of tricks both with Bap- 
 tism and the Supper, under this religious jugglery. He pretended to give the 
 peojile a mixture of purple, or Ijlood-red color, which bestowed ineffable grace from 
 God ; and taught th.at men who received this cup were beyond the reach of danger 
 if they sinned, becaust' it had made them ]ii'rfect. To these he administered a 
 second baptism, called redemjition, attended by the laying on of hands and the whis- 
 pering of some knavish gibberish into their ears, a process which admitted them into 
 the higher mysteries.* These fanatics ranked with Elxai, who taught his followers 
 to set a high value on water as a divinity, and to swear by it, as well as by salt, and 
 the wind.'' lie laid great stress on baptism, to which he attributes, exopere operato. 
 the forgiveness of sins ; and it must be frequently repeated, as marked sins are com- 
 mitted. He not only exhorts such sinners to be baptized afresh, ' together with 
 your garments;' but Hippolytus gives us one of his rubrics, in which he entreats a 
 person bitten by a mad dog to cure hydrophobia by this specific. He must ' Eun 
 with all his garments on into a river or running l)rook, where is a deep place, to call 
 u]ion God and make vows as in baptism, and washing there, he will be delivered.' 
 
 However, to the honor of these third century Christians, they held fast to the 
 logical consistency which would not allow Baptism to be severed from the Supper. 
 Hence, when the babe liad been immersed they administered to him the elements 
 of bread and wine to render his salvation doubly sure. Bingham speaks of the 
 known practice and custom in the ancient Church, of giving the eucharist to infants, 
 which, he says, continued in the Chui-ch for several ages. It is frequently men- 
 tioned by Cyprian, Austin, Innocentins, and Gennadius, writers, from the third to 
 the fifth century. Maldonat confesses it was in the Church for six hundred years. 
 And some of the authorities just now alleged, prove it to have continued two or 
 three ages more, and to have been the common practice beyond the time of Charles 
 the Great. Again he says : ' It is evident, that the communion itself was given to 
 infants, and that immediately from the time of their baptism.' '" Herzog fullj^ cor- 
 roborates these facts. In his account of ' dispensing the elements to actual babes,' 
 he says : ' The first trace of this custom is found in C3'prian (third century), who, 
 in his treatise On flie Lapsed, represents infants as saying on the day of judgment, 
 
TXFAXT rO}rMVXTON. 191 
 
 "'We luive not forsaken the Lonl's l)rc:iil ami cup." {De /ajj.sis, c. ix.) And in tlie 
 same book lie tells a striking story, Imw an infant refused the cup, and, when the 
 deacon forced some of the wine down lur throat, she was seized with voniitino^. 
 The explanation was, that the child, unkudwn to her ]iarcnts, had [trcvidusly. while 
 under the care of her nurse, eaten bread soaked in wine, whieh had been pouR'd out 
 at an idolatrous cerenionj'. {De lapsis, c. xxv.) 
 
 Bingham further testifies that: 'The Greek Church to-day, and also the Kos- 
 torians, Jacobites. Armenians and Maronites, persist in the practice, using, generally, 
 only tlie wine, and giving it either by the spoon or by the linger.' " This practice 
 was born, and very properly, in the same K'ortli Africa which created the trine 
 immersion of babes. Dean Stanley, also, says : ' The Oriental Churches, in con- 
 formity with ancient usage, still administer the eucharist to infants. In the Coptic 
 Church it may even happen that an infant is the only recipient.' And he gives 
 this reason for the practice : ' which, as far as antiquity is concerned, might insist 
 on imconditional retention," namely : ' A literal application to the eucharist of the 
 text representing the bread of life, in the sixth chapter of St. John, naturally fol- 
 lowed on a literal application to baptism of the text respecting the second birth in 
 the third chapter; and the actual participation in the elements of both sacraments 
 came to be I'egarded as equally necessary for the salvation of every human being.' '^ 
 
 The literal interpretation of the third chapter calls for the literal interpretation 
 of the sixth to-day, for the one is no more necessary to the salvation of the babe than 
 the other. If baptism is to be forced upon him in order to save him, so also should 
 the Supper be ; but if it is a mockery of the design of the ordinances to give 
 him the one, it is a greater mockery to withhold the other, and to deny him the rights 
 of membership in the Church, after initiating him into its fellowship. If there is 
 divine authority for one there is for the other, and both should be observed. But 
 if there is not divine authority for either, botli should be laid aside. 
 
 A stout contest began in the third century between tradition and the supreme 
 authority of Scripture. Some bowed to the absolute mandates of the Bible, allow- 
 ing no compromise ; while others reduced it to a book of divination, by introducing 
 bibliomancy, or the 'sacred lots.' They casually opened the book, and by the first 
 passage that came to hand predicted the future. Tertullian refused to disjMite with 
 the heretics out of the Scriptures, because they rejected their authority in part. 
 Yet, when they sustain his position, he quotes them ; but when they do not serve 
 him, he appeals to custom and tradition, as in his Corona (p. 337) : ' If thou requirest 
 a law in the Scripture for it, thou shalt find none. Tradition must be pleaded as 
 originating it, custom as confirming it, and faith in observing it.' On the contrary, 
 Hippolytus condemns all errors opposed to the Scriptures, and binds every article 
 of his faith to their teaching. Speaking of Carpocrates and other heretics, he 
 says, that they brand their disciples ' in the posterior parts of the lobe of the right 
 ear,' a practice at which he was rather apt hinibclf, figuratively. 
 
1 92 CONrENTIOys. 
 
 Eai'ly ill tlio coutiiry Oriii,-cii liad ]iniciirr(l a faitlifiil ('(lition of the Soptuagiiit, 
 Lucieii a second, and llesychiiis a thiid. ('(ipirs of all tliu Scriptures so abounded 
 tliat, A. D. 29-1, raniphiius had luiuided wliat may be called the first Bible Cir- 
 culating Library, and made numerous copies with his own hands to give away. In 
 their writings at this time, the fathers quote tiie Scriptures copiously ; Origen, alone, 
 making 5,765 quotations from the New Testament. Libraries were founded at Alexan- 
 dria, Ciesarea and other places, and the Sacred Books were put in the church edifices, 
 for all wild could to read in their own tniii;-uu ; !)esides which there were readers 
 and interpreters in all the coni;regations. ' ■ The Churclies jjiMVfd themselves less 
 and less worthy of this heritage. They quarreled with each other like tei'magants, 
 spent their energies in pious hair-splitting, and wei-e reckless in the extreme. 
 Things were fast setting into a hierarchy, and the Churches were soon brought 
 under tinall to aspiring officers. But, for a long time, powerful voices were raised 
 to arouse the people against this. Even at Rome there was a struggle for Church 
 independency ; as Ilippolytus says, that wlien Noetus, the pastor there, was tried for 
 blasphemous utterances, it was ' hefore the ( 'hnrch ; ' but where the spirit of indepeti- 
 dence went, its form soon followed, and blind submission or 'schism' was the only 
 alternative. Origen wrote a letter to riiilip and Severa, urging the freedom of 
 religious opinion ; the dominant ' Catholic ' ]xirty began to tyrannize over others, 
 in the interests of uniforndty. The empire of Zenobia, (Jueen of Palmyra, which 
 tolerated all religions, arose in 2<i7 ; but Paul, the pastor (_)f Aiitioeh, who held civil 
 office under this remarkable woman, ]>ut torth doctrines which other i)astors con- 
 demned, and when Zenobia succundjcd before the hosts <if Aurelian, those pastors 
 made a, iVirmal appeal to the conqueror to expel Paul from his pastorate. This is 
 the first case on record, where Christians threw aside the dignity of their manhood 
 to seek the aid of the civil power in settling their squabbles, in enforcing Christian 
 doctrine. The emperor, with more regard to decency in the case, left it to the 
 decision of an assembly of pastors at Eome. Victor was the first bishop of Rome 
 who carried all measures with a high hand, in behalf of the claims of that Church. 
 He was a busy, hot-headed mischief-maker, who stirred up discord on every trivial 
 nuitter to carry a point ; and before long a strong government was developed in the 
 politics of Christianity. The Clementine and Ignatian forgeries followed, to sustain 
 prelatical authority, in which some scoundrel puts the following into the mouth of 
 Ignatius : ' We ought to look unto the bishop as unto the Lord himself. . . . Let 
 all reverence the deacons as the command of Jesus Christ, and the bishop as Jesus 
 Christ, being the Son of the Father; and the presbyters as the sanhedrin of God, 
 and college of the Apostles. "Without these it is not called a Church.' '^ • What 
 the bishop approves of, that is also well-pleasing to God, that whatever is done may 
 be infallible and sure.' 'The Spirit proclaimed, saying thus : Do nothing without 
 the Ijishop.' ' He who honors the bishop is honored by God, he who does any thing 
 without the privity of the bishop, worships the devil." '^ Cave attributes the Recog- 
 
driftim; from rnvrir. 193 
 
 nitioiis t(j Bardusouus, hut Justin dot's not think th;it ' hu cduhl liave been tlie author 
 of so niauy shameless lies/ '" 
 
 Thus, by the close of the third century we have the absurdity of baptism 
 regenerating the soul, and the Supper feeding it, an episcopacy with which is lodged 
 eternal life, a ' Catholic Church,' outside of which all are heretics, and no salvation 
 out of the Church. For this, Cyprian, a converted pagan, rhetorician and bishop 
 of Carthage, is more to blame than any other man. Pupianus, like a simpleton, took 
 it into his head to ' inquire carefully into our character,' says Cyprian. But in his 
 reply to that callow brother, the gentle bishop reads him this sweet lecture : ' What 
 presumption ! What arrogance ! What pride it is, to call the prelates and priests 
 to account ! The bees have their cpieeu ; the armies have their generals ; and they 
 preserve their loyalty ; the robbei-s obey their captains with humble obsequiousness ! 
 How much more upright, and how much better are the uni'easonable and dumb 
 animals, and the bloody robbers, and swords and weapons, than you are. There the 
 ruler is acknowledged and feared, whom not a divine mandate has set up, but whom 
 the reprobate rout have appointed of themselves.' He then warns him that as one 
 who calls his brother ' Fool ' is in danger of hell fire, he is in greater peril who inveighs 
 against ' priests." " 
 
 Well may Isaac Taylor say in his Primitive Christianity : ' The first three 
 (ceuinries) of the Christian history, comprise a sample of every form and variety of 
 intellectual or moral observation of which human nature is at all susceptible, under 
 the inflnenee of religious excitement. No great ingenuity, therefore, can be needed 
 in watching any modern form of error or extravagance, with its like, to be produced 
 from the museum of antique specimens.' And he deprecates the abject slavery of 
 so prostrating 'our understandings before the pliantom, venerable antiquity, as to 
 be inflamed with the desire of inducing the Christian world to imitate what really 
 asks for apology and extenuation.' '* 
 14 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FOURTH CENTURY. 
 
 NEAR Gciiova the Rhone flows in swift lint calm majesty at the foot of those 
 Al])s, which are more majestie than itself. There its waters are a dark 
 hlne and beautifully crystal, as they How from a cool azure lake far up in the region 
 of alternate snow and sunshine. Tlie river Avre comes rushing down from those 
 horrid valleys where the glaciers grow and grind, striking the Rhone at almost right 
 angles. It is a little, furious, brawling, muddy stream worthy of its fountain ; it 
 scowls like the brow of a dark villain rushing from his den, and launches its dirty 
 current into the sheet of light. The Rhone, as the daughter of purity, shrinks 
 from its defilement and glides on in disdain, refusing all amalgamation. Long they 
 move on side by side in the same channel, parted by a deep-drawn line between 
 them, iiut without one spot on the mountain maiden. Thus repelled, the Avre 
 sinks to (juiet, softened into decency by the sun-lit side of the Rhone, which melts, 
 first into pity then into compassion. And why ? At every rock the impudent in- 
 truder breaks into foam and then lulls into murmurs, as if it were pleading for 
 tolerance, till quietly the larger stream consents to absorb the less, eddy by 
 eddy, and so at last it is overcome by importunity and embraces what it fii-st 
 spurned. From that hour the glory of the Rhone is gone, a few leagues below the 
 two are one, and in their turbid dishonor they rush down together as one polluted 
 stream. This is but a faint image of the River of Life, mingled with the tide of 
 pagan philosophy, which have come down to us confluent from the opening of the 
 fourth century. 
 
 It would require a volume to trace the corruption of Christianity with Pla- 
 tonism, for we have this heresy in germ in the Apostolic Churches long before the 
 Gnostics injected it into the truth at Alexandria, as the exalters and defenders of 
 knowledge against faith. Paul found it creeping in at Crete, Colosse and Ephesus. 
 The ideas of Pythagorus had prepared its way in Crete, Ephesus was the center of 
 all pretentious philosophy, and Colosse was full of Phrygian pantheism entwined 
 with the mysteries of Pan, Cybele and Bacchus. All these were dexterously in- 
 terwoven into Christianity by Simon Magus, the real father of Christianized 
 Gnosticism ; others fostered it, and Manes led it to full manhood by the end of the 
 third century. Paul saw its drift and warned Timothy against the opposition of 
 ' knowledge falsely so called.' At flrst it was simple, without system or great 
 power, never arraying itself openly against the truth ; hence, its danger lay not in 
 
CUmSTIAN DOCTRISE COHRl'l'TED. 198 
 
 the violence of its attacks, but in its secret aggressions. Ilippoljtus calls it a 
 ' h;)'dra,' which had been pushing its way in the dark for many years ; but no error 
 matched it in efficiency. In his time it had corrupted between thirty and forty 
 sects and subsects, who differed amongst themselves, all holding principles contrary 
 to the simple faith of Christ and putting it under the control of Oriental paganism. 
 The Gnosis of Alexandria is not easily defined ; for it was a compound of mon- 
 otheism, materialism, pantheism and spiritualism, taken from the heart of Platonism 
 and the reasoning of Aristotle, with an admixture of native Egyptian thought. It 
 professed to be the essence of intelligence, and so won the learned by its 
 liberal speculations, the rationalist by its mastery of all logic, the superstitious 
 by its many mysteries and the ignorant by its pretense, that it explaii}ed 
 every thing. The Greek philosophy was too narrow for its tastes, and the 
 teachings of Jesus too practical for its uses, so it made sad havoc of Homer's 
 pure literature and Christ's plain revelations. It refused to take any thing in the 
 ])roper and natural meaning of its words, and its allegory distorted every thing by 
 the attempt to transfigure its simplicity. Hi])polytus says that the whole system 
 reminded him of Thales, who, 'Looking toward heaven, alleging that he was 
 carefully examining supernal objects, fell into a well ; and a certain maid, Thratta, 
 remarked of him derisively that while intent on beholding things in heaven, he 
 did not know what was at his feet.' 
 
 At the opening of the fourth century none of the Churches were entirely fi'ce 
 from this corrupt leaven. It affected their doctrine and practice, had created an 
 aristocracy in their ministry, pushed aside the letter of Scripture in sublimating its 
 interpretation in relation to the person of God, of Christ, good and evil, incarna- 
 tion and atonement; and had left but little in the Gospel unchanged, either in theory 
 or experience. Almost all the African fathers had gone after it, and it had pro- 
 duced swarms of monastic orders in Greece, Gaul and Italy. Worse than this, it 
 had destroyed the common bond of brotherhood between the rich and pour ; and 
 because of its pomp, ceremony, symbol, mystery and liturgical worship, it had 
 fouTid that favor with the nobles which exalted Christ's religion into an awful 
 sacredness, and well nigh made the Church a secret society, which now cared little 
 toup-liftthe slave, the poor and the downtrodden. This explains why Cliristianity 
 took the shape that it did in its final struggle with paganism. Having corrupted 
 itself and become weak, the steps were easy to popular influence, and the unity of 
 the temporal with the spiritual power. For forty years the law of Gallienus had 
 recognized the Christians as a legal community. They had become numerous and 
 influential. In the great cities they had large and costly temples furnished with 
 vessels of gold and silver ; their faith was much the rising fashion ; the army, the 
 civil service, the court, were filled with Christians, and the old Christ-likeness had 
 nearly gone. A century had passed since the Antonincs ; the Empire was fast 
 breaking up of its own heterogeneous elements ; and one more attempt was made 
 
196 niBLK nUllNING. 
 
 to recast it on the old faitli and a more absolute model, if possible, by two Emper- 
 ors after the Oriental fashion. Now we have the last bitter persecution, for the 
 modified Christian faith was supplanting heathenism faster than had the simple 
 Gospel. This persecution burst forth Feb. 23, 303, at Nicomedia, where the Im- 
 perial Palace was then located. Because the Sci'iptures were regarded as the source 
 of all Christian aggression, the aim of the persecutors was to destroy every copy, 
 and the ciy passed up and down the empire : ' Burn their Testaments ! ' This Bible 
 burning was firmly resisted, and at Carthage, Mensni-ius the l)ishop removed all 
 copies from the sanctuary, putting worthless MSS. in their jilace. Afterward he 
 was accused of betraying the Bible, a charge never sustained. Many gave up the 
 sacred book willingly to be burnt in the market-places, and were expelled from the 
 Churches, while others preferred death to this treachery. An African magistrate 
 demanded that Felix should give up his Bible for burning, when he answered that 
 he would rather be burnt himself. He was loaded with chains, sent to Italy and 
 beheaded. lu Sicily Euplius was seized with the Gospels in his hand and put 
 on the rack. When asked, ' Why do you keep the Scriptures forbidden by the 
 Emperor?' he answered: 'Because I am a Christian. Life eternal is in them ; he 
 that gives them up loses life eternal.' The Gospels were hung about his neck 
 when led to execution and he was beheaded. At ^Elia, in Palestine, Valens, an 
 aged deacon, proved his love for the Scriptures by committing large portions of 
 them to memory, and repeating them with accuracy. John, a blind EgyjDtian, did 
 the same with such perfection that he could repeat the whole of the books of 
 Moses, the Prophets and the Apostles. ' Hot irons were thrust into the sockets of 
 his eyes. 
 
 This persecution lasted ten years, and was severer than all that had gone be- 
 fore. But it acted like fire on incense, in drawing out the finest and richest essences 
 in Christian character. One day, when it was beginning to abate, the Emperor's 
 bed-chamber was found in flames. Diocletian was stricken with terror, and sus- 
 pecting his Christian servants, he put them to torture and stood by to extort their 
 confessions. Two weeks later a second fire occurred in the same room. He was 
 more enraged than ever, and made closer inquisition for blood in the palace. Sev- 
 eral servants were put to death, and the Empress and his daughter, who were 
 Christians, were compelled to sacrifice to the gods. No language can describe the 
 brutality of this persecution under Diocletian, Galerius and Maximian, whom Lac- 
 tantius calls ' three ravenous wild beasts.' It is estimated that 17,000 suffered death 
 in one month, that 144,000 were martyred iu Egypt alone ; and of the baiiished, 
 and those condemned to the public works, no less than 700,000 died. In some 
 provinces scarcely a Christian was left. So great was the triumph against Chris- 
 tianity that it was commemorated by striking off a gold coin. On one side was the 
 head of Diocletian, crowned with laurel, and on the reverse, Jupiter, brandishing a 
 thunder-bolt, and trampling upon the genius of Christianity — a human figure with 
 
CONS TANTINE. 1 9 7 
 
 foot of serpents. Tliis Diiiice of Death was revived, liowcvcr, under one Emperor 
 after another, until Constantine conquered Rome, A. D. 31'i. At that time he 
 reigned over the Western Empire only, but in 323, after the battle of Chalcedon, 
 he became sole Emperor of tlie Roman world. Tie jJuMislied an edict concerning 
 Christians in 312, at Rome, but this doeiinient is lost. In 313 another, issued at 
 Milan, gave toleration to all religions, and restored the confiscated property of 
 ( 'hristians ; he also gave large sums of money to rebuild their places of worship. 
 But in 324 he inflicted a blow upon the Christian system from which it has not yet 
 recovered, by making it the religion of the State. Between 315 and 323 he had 
 sent forth five edicts admitting Christians to offices of state, civil and military; had 
 taken measures to emancipate Christian slaves ; had exempted the clergy from mu- 
 nicipal burdens, and had made Sunday a legal day of rest from public work. But 
 in 325 he attempted to settle the disputes in the Church by presiding at the first 
 (ieneral Council which ever was held, that of Niciisa, in which Arianism was con- 
 demned, the unity of the Catholic party proclaimed, and the last step taken to 
 establish the union between Church and State. 
 
 This great historical chai-acter has been the suliject of malignant depreciation 
 
 or extravagant laudation, 
 f ' '"' Z- according to the point of 
 
 view from which he has 
 ^^jj - .^ V been seen. Like all other 
 
 .^-'^-M'V^ -^ 
 
 t- great men, he took type from 
 
 ^ \ the character of his times, 
 
 '^f^' A ' ~ ^ and the truth will make him 
 
 ^ y't-T ' S J ^i^ ~^_^ ^ ^ human, without magnify- 
 
 ^^—'- ''■^-'%3^^ ^ '^^ ^t ing his virtues or blacken- 
 
 ^^ """ ' ing his weaknesses. He 
 
 niXSTAXTINE THE GliKAT. , j, /-ll • j.' 
 
 was born of a Christian 
 mother, who must have been troubled with Baptist notions, for she never had him 
 christened. His disposition was naturally mild and tolerant ; and his father, who was 
 not a Christian, being moved by clemency toward Christians, had probably influ- 
 enced him in the same direction, as well as the counsel and example of his mother. 
 In his early manhood he worshiped at the shrine of the gods, but after the removal 
 of the government to Constantinople he forbade pagan worship in that city, and 
 leveled its temples throughout the Empire. Having renounced that religion him- 
 self, he persecuted the unconverted pagan for his constancy therein. He is said to 
 have seen the cross in the sky, but possibl}' his Christianity had l)orne a higher 
 character had he discovered love for the true cross of Christ in his soul; crosses in 
 tiic timiament are of rather light moral worth. Unfortunately, it was years after 
 this traditional vision that his nominal Christianity allowed him to kill his son, 
 lii.-^ >c<_'ond wife and others of his faniilv. Full of ambition and iKissionate resent- 
 
198 TTIK LEGEND OF THE rnoss. 
 
 iiieiit, it would reipiire coiisidenihly more to-dav tliiui ;i sl<y miracle, a sword in the 
 liand, and a coiiqueriiii^ army at the Malviaii iirid:.'!' tu -i\c liini membership) 'in 
 j;'ood standing' in tlu! Baptist Clinrch recently t'stahli.-licd at Home. It is said 
 that the ci'oss in tlie heavens was attended with flic inscrijitidU : 'By this 
 sii;n conquer ! ' What, and whom? Ilis own sin ^ His own soul ? It seems not. 
 ihit ratlicr Maxcntius and Bome and a throne. At the licginning Jesus had made 
 himselt king in Zion, to disallow all inipei'ialism thcrt> ; and did he now rise from 
 his throne to hang his ci'oss of ])eace an ensign of lilood in the firmament, and to 
 indicate that he turned over his universal lordshiji to an unregenerated heathen ? 
 This cross story needs thorough revision. 
 
 Connnon sense and the after life of Constantine rather say, that he kemied this 
 cross in the clouds witli the eye of a politician and statesman. The 'eagle" soared 
 high tliat day, Init he saw the beam of the cross soaring above the head of the 
 Boman bird. Clear-headed and far-sighted, he read the meaning of that noiseless 
 agency, which had quietly struggled for tlu-ee hundred years to open a new history 
 in the world. Other eyes besides his were turned in the saine direction. The men 
 clothed in purple had blindly sacrificed nameless thousands of their purest, wisest 
 and most patriotic subjects to dumb idols. The gods had kept the Empire in a 
 perpetual broil, and had often murdered his predecessors, before the crown had 
 made a dint upon their brows. Constantine was not so blind to the real cross that 
 he needed a miraculous phantom in the skies to intei'pret for him the signs of the 
 times. He was cool, ambitions, practical ; and knew what the principles of patient 
 integrity must do in anew government, which, through the cross, had well nigh over- 
 thrown all the powers of the old government. The new idea of Calvary had 
 awakened a new enthusiasm in man, had ci'eated a new order of patriotism, and he 
 saw that the Via Dolorosa had become the Roman highway to unity, elevation, 
 solidity. Long after this he came to embrace Jesus in person ; for as age came and 
 life was about to close, he sought and received baptism at the hands of Eusebius, 
 the Bishop of Nicomedia, in the baptistery of the church known as Martyrium 
 Christi. He expressed the hope ' To have been made partaker of the salutary grace 
 in the river Jordan ; ' but his violent illness cat off that hope, and left him unable 
 to take the long journey to the sacred river. He died on the 23d of May, A. D. 337, 
 in great peace, at the age of sixty-four, about one month after his immersion. He 
 had delayed this act of obedience to Christ under the absurd notion of his times, 
 that baptism would cleanse away the sins of a life-time at once. Before his immer- 
 sion he laid aside his purple robes and never donned them again ; but from that 
 day wore the white garment of newly immersed believers, until he exchanged it for 
 the shroud in death. ^ 
 
 Spain, in the Western Empire, felt little of the Diocletian persecution which 
 convulsed the eastern division, and how did the Spanish Christians use their exemp- 
 tion from suffering? Chiefly in the attempt to consolidate the new system of 
 
THE SYNOD OF ELVIRA. 199 
 
 corporate unity, in place of tlie isolation of Apostolic Cluirch indepciiclency. With 
 this end in view, we find nineteen bishops, twenty-six presbyters and many deacons, 
 holding the C'ouncil of Elvira (Eleberis) in the retired district of Eiutica, under 
 the lead of llosius, tlie great Bishop of Cordova. He was a man of genius and 
 power, born to rule. At Nicaea he took the second seat, Constantine filling the 
 first, but at Elvira, A. D. 305-306, he was the guiding spirit. His prime idea was 
 to put Cliristianity on a surer footing, by first consolidating it into a catholic body, 
 and then uniting it closer to the national life. This synod was professedly called 
 to restoi'C order in the Churches of Spain, by deciding what to do with those who 
 had ' lapsed ' from the faith, and to settle other questions of morality and discipline. 
 Its tone and temper were supposed to be in sympathy with Novatian ; but llosius 
 adroitly turned it, not to reconcile the Churches one to another, but to unite the 
 (;hurch with the State. Afterward he was very influential in the private councils 
 of Constantine, and served as his diplomatic agent on many occasions. 
 
 Under the frame-work of tlie new policy, this Spanish Convention of indepen- 
 dent assemblies was to issue a general code of decrees which should bind them by 
 concert of action, as if they were one congregation. In this way an organic union 
 could reach the 'heretics' and 'rural' pastors, could bring them under subjection 
 to the bishops of large cities ; and so at one stroke they could keep the Church pure 
 and strong. This was Spanish Catholicity in its infancy. Then, if one nation 
 might have a Church, why not each nation, and if each, why could not all nations 
 form one general Church ? This proposed purification of the Church suited the 
 Novatians exactly, but they did not dream that they were weaving meshes for their 
 own feet in this Synod. "With all the simplicity of their hearts they united in the 
 XXIVth decree, which demanded that a man who had been baptized in one province 
 should not enter the ministry in another, a long step toward a diocesan system. 
 Heresy was put also on the same basis with deadly sin, and wrong in the laity was 
 to be condoned with a leniency which did not apply to pastors. This claimed pre- 
 eminent sanctity for the clergy, and conciliated the people to the innovation. The 
 special privileges to the people, however, were attended with larger distinctions of 
 rank amongst the clergy, and the bishop began to assume new functions over his 
 brethren. Others might baptize, but in every case the convert must be brought 
 to the bishop to bo confirmed. The XLIId article enjoined two years of probation 
 before a catechumen could be baptized. Non-communion at the Lord's Table be- 
 came a retributive act, making exclusion therefrom penal, and men were excom- 
 municated for a given time, from one to ten years. Christ intended liis ordinances 
 as a trowel to build up the Churches, they used them as a sword to cut them down 
 in arbitrary retribution. First they made baptism a magical rite to save from sin, 
 then they withheld it as' a penance for sins committed, as in the case of Constantine, 
 who had long been a catechumen. The Supper had been the first festival of joy to 
 the convert on entei-ing the Church ; now its refusal to him was to shut the gate of 
 
200 THEOLOGTCAL STRIFE. 
 
 heaven in his face forever, even in some cases when lie was penitent. This Synod 
 decreed that any one who, after faitli in the baptism of salvation, shall fall into 
 idolatry, or falsely accuse a bishop, priest or deacon, ' shall not receive communion 
 even to death.' This is \vhat is meant by the Church 'arming itself with .sacra- 
 ments!' And so the Lord's ordinance of thanksgiving and commemoration of the 
 sacrifice of Jesus, ' armed ' the Church to punish any one who was absent from the 
 Church for three Sundays with the penalty of denial to the Supper itself. 
 
 The whole trend of the Synod was to make the ministry an aristocracy, by 
 building up sacerdotalism ; and to this end it was considerate of the dead, while it 
 was harsh toward the living. The XXXIVth article provided that, ' Tapers shall 
 not be lighted in the cemetery during the day, for the spirits of the saints must not 
 be disquieted.' Great homage was paid to the martyrs. One good thing was done, 
 however. Baptism had been attended with gifts and offerings from the candidate, a 
 practice which had grown into a regular tax exacted of all who were immersed. 
 The XLVIIIth article forbade this tax, also the custom of washing his feet after the 
 anointing with oil. 
 
 During the reign of Constantine the Empire was rocked by theological contest, 
 his Christian subjects being divided by bitter animosity ; the Arian division raged 
 in the East, the Donatist in the West. He saw that this must be healed, for polit- 
 ical reasons, if for no other. The Donatist agitation arose in North Africa, A. D. 
 311, in what are now known as the Barbary States; but it centered in Carthage, 
 Numidia and the Mauritanias. Its field covered nearly seven degrees of north 
 latitude, immense centers of commerce and influence, soils and climates; marking a 
 stri'tch of land nearly 2,000 miles long by about 300 wide, reaching from Egypt to 
 the Atlantic, and fringing the Atlas mountains, the Mediterranean and the desei't. 
 The Punic wars had raged there under Hannibal and Africanus, and the contest- 
 ants inherited all that was brave and fiery in Phoenicia, Carthage and Utica. Still 
 warm with this enterprising blood, such a people were not likely to surrender their 
 Church independency, and take the yoke of the Councils of the Catholic Church 
 without a struggle. Constantine's hands wei'e full. Besides, a deep sigh had long 
 filled the Christian atmosphere for a retui-n to Gospel simplicity, and the late per- 
 secution opened the way for its free expression. In this region the inner independ- 
 ency of the Churches had been more firmly maintained than in many other jjlaces, 
 and the late encroachments upon it had aroused the Churches to a determined 
 defense. Merivale says of the Donatists: 'They represented the broad i^rinciple of 
 the Montanists and the Novatians, that the true Church of Christ is the assembly of 
 really pious persons only, and admits of no merely nominal membership.' They 
 dreaded any form of un-Christian mcmber.?hip which eats out the .spiritual fellow- 
 ship of a Gospel Church. 
 
 This is more strictly true of their later history, after they had entirely shaken oif 
 the Catholic notion that unity is of more consequence than purity, and so that a 
 
AN APPEAL TO r.KSAR. 201 
 
 spiritual regeneration was the prime qnalilication for nieiiiherjliip in the Churclies 
 of Christ. They had come to charge the Catliolic with being a fallen Churcii, 
 because it had become lax in its morals, tolerating open and notorious sin, and re- 
 garding visible unity as a higher attribute of Church-life than personal purity. Yet 
 notwithstanding this, Parmenian, one of their greatest writers, preached baptismal 
 regeneration as strongly as any of the men of his times. 
 
 Jerome, Augustine and others class the Donatists with the Novatians, as to 
 general aim and purpose, and Augustine sneers at them as ' spotless saints.' Kurtz 
 represents them as holding that Church and State should stand apart, and W;ilsh 
 asserts that Constantino had condemned them in his decrees, before they ai)peale(i 
 to liimfor the trial of their case.' But still the fact stands, that in their controversy 
 with the Catholics they sought his decision. There has been much dispute al)out 
 their views of infant baptism, and many affirm that they were anti-pedobaptists, 
 notably amongst these Guy de Bres, who said : 'That they demanded that baptized 
 infants ought to be baptized again as adults. ■* Although this controversy was not 
 general at this time, yet as it was somewhat rife in Africa, it is quite likely that they 
 took this position, as they took their rise there; and Augustine's letters against 
 them imply the same. They certainly rebaptized those who came to them from 
 other comnninions, but Dr. Owen thinks only because the impurity of other 
 Churches rendered their baptism null ; while Long says that they refused to baptize 
 infants.* It is commonly conceded that Augustine wrote a separate work against 
 them on infant baptism, which has not come down to us. If he did, the fair infer- 
 ence would be that they rejected that doctrine. 
 
 Still, as is usual with all true reformers, they were reluctant to break u|) old 
 ties, and a petty, party strife must needs bring on a collision between them and 
 their opponents. Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage, manfully opposed the mania 
 which led thousands to court martyrdom in order to take the martyr's crown ; be- 
 cause he thought it savored more of suicide than of enforced sacrifice for Christ. 
 But he died in 311, and Caecilianus, who was of the same opinion, was elected to 
 fill his place, with which election a majority were dissatisfied. Others were dis- 
 pleased because he had l>een ordained by Felix, who was charged with giving up 
 the Bible to be burnt, and a division took place in the Church. The retiring party 
 first elected Majorinus their bishop, who soon died, and after him Donatus of 
 CasJE Nigrje (that is, of the Black Huts). This party increased greatly, and was 
 read out of the Catholic body, Constantino taking sides against them. At this 
 point they fell into the great and strange blunder of appealing to the Emperor to 
 redress their grievances. Nothing could have been more stupid or inconsistent. 
 They were struggling for a pure Church against the laxness of the Catholic party, 
 the head of which party was himself unbaptized and a serai-heathen ; asking him 
 to make the Church at Carthage and elsewhere pure by the exercise of his political 
 power! Tiie proposition itself put the knife to the throat uf their own principles, 
 
202 C^f^SAIt ACCEPTH THE APPEAL. 
 
 by tendering an alliance of tiie Chnrcli witii the State, in disregard of its Gospel 
 constitution. Nor can this folly be extenuated ; they knew enough to seek a 
 pure Church for Christ, and should have sought that blessing according to his 
 knuwii will. Nominally they held tn the cntiiv scparutidu uf tlie Church from the 
 St;itc, and that persecution for religious npininii was an diipression of a free con- 
 science ; yet, when they fell into disputes with their o]iponents they were the first to 
 a]>pi'al to the civil authority to settle them. 
 
 Here, then, with all the goodness, zeal and manliness of tlie Donatists, they had 
 the fully tci inv(ik-(^ the secular power to settle a purely religious dispute between 
 Christians. Yet it is but just to say that, so far as is known, this is an isolated act 
 in their history, and not one of a number in the same line. Bitterly they repented 
 of their folly. Their ' appeal to Caesar ' was sent in a sealed package of papers, 
 in a leather bag, inscribed : ' Statement of the Catholic Church, presented l>y those 
 in communion with Majorinus, in proof of the crimes of Csecilian.' Tlieir petition 
 closed with the words : 
 
 ' We address ourselves to yon, most excellent Prince, because you are of a 
 righteous parentage, and the son of a father who did not persecute us, as did his 
 colleagues the other Emperors. Since, therefore, the regions of Caul have not 
 fallen into the sin of surrendering the Scriptures, and, since there arc disputes be- 
 tween us and other prelates of Africa, we supplicate your Piety, that our cause may 
 be submitted to judges chosen from Gaul.' ^ 
 
 Under tlie old faith, as Pontifex ]\Iaximus, the Emperor was the judge in all 
 ]-eligious affairs, and so his ' Piety ' was now ready to oblige them, and he called a 
 Council at Rome, October, A. D. 313, of over thirty bishops, who decided against 
 the Donatists. They asked him for a second hearing, and he called the Council of 
 Aries, 314, composed of more than two hundred bishops from Gaul, Brittany, Ger- 
 many, Spain and Africa. In his letter to this body he says that they should not 
 have called on him to judge in such difficulties, and charged them with ' Acting 
 like the heathen in calling upon him to settle their religious disputes.' When 
 writing of the same Council to Celsus, Vicar of Africa, he says that he felt strictly 
 bound to fulfill ' the duties of a prince, and extirpate all the errors which the rash- 
 ness of man has introduced, and to establish union and concord amongst the faithful.' 
 But in his letter to the Prefect Ablavius he puts his duty in a stronger light, thus : 
 ' I do not believe that it is permitted us to tolerate these divisions and disputes, 
 which may draw down the wrath of God, not only upon the Commonwealth, but 
 also upon myself, whom his divine will has charged with the care and management 
 of all things upon earth.' 
 
 The Council of Aries decided against the Dojiatists, when they suddenly awoke 
 to their mistake in staining one of the cardinal truths in Church liberty ; for the 
 Emperor enforced the decision M'ith the secular arm. Accounting the Donatists 
 enemies of the State, he deprived thena of their churches, confiscated their property, 
 
Tim rouxcTL of nictja. 203 
 
 and banished their hisliops or pastors, of whom Moshciin says that tliey had four 
 hundred in North Africa, wliich number prechides the idea that tliey were either 
 of the metropolitan or diocesan order. The Donatists defied liis autliority, but with 
 ill consistency, and he sent an armed force to Africa to subdue them. This was 
 the first Christian blood ever shed in a disgraceful contest amongst themselves; 
 yet Constantino piously tells Celsus that he was laboring tliat ' the true religion 
 may be embraced by all the world.'' Afterward he undertook to settle tiic Arian 
 controversy, which Jortin describes, as ' the occasion of innumerable lies, slanders, 
 forgeries, pretended miracles, banishments and murders,' and ' of many false and 
 partial histories.' In order to end this contest, Constantino assembled the Council 
 of Nicfea, a city of Bithynia, near Constantinople, May 20, A. D. 325. The num- 
 ber of bishops present is put down at from 250 to 320 ; and Dean Stanley says that 
 each bishop was allowed two presbyters and three slaves as his retinue. The 
 Emperor, who was fond of prodigality and display, brought them together and 
 maintained them in state at his own expense. Great interest was excited, from the 
 fact that he was the first Roman prince who had publicly consorted with the Chris- 
 tians, and so scholars, philosophers and men of rank flocked in from all directions. 
 Christianity had but just emerged from the blood and wreck of persecution, and 
 such a body of veteran confessors had never met together before. They came from 
 all parts of Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Phoenicia and Arabia, one coming from 
 Persia, and one even from Gothia. They presented a stirring appearance when 
 assembled in the imperial palace, most of them bearing some mark of suffering for 
 Christ. They had been tortured, maimed, scarified, and some of them were blind. 
 Hot irons had plowed furrows upon some of them, some had an arm cut off; one 
 of the Asian bishops had lost the use of botli his hands by burning, and another from 
 Upper Egypt had his right eye dug out. As Christian warriors they needed but the 
 entry of the Captain of their salvation, with the wounds of the spines, the spikes and 
 the spear, to make their sacramental congress perfect. Then had they cast themselves 
 at his feet to kiss the sacred prints, each in holy love exclaiming : ' My Lord and 
 my God ! ' and he had breathed upon them his holier salaam : ' Peace be unto you ! ' 
 Alas for them, with all their fortitude, the simplicity of the Upper Room, the 
 ' piece of broiled fish and the honey-comb,' had given place to royal apparel, princely 
 fare and 'king's houses ;' but there was no Son of Man returning fresh from Edom. 
 They sat waiting in solemn silence; but a new Head of the Church came in, and 
 they rose to do him reverence. He was of majestic height and bearing, wrapped 
 in royal purple, with a golden fillet on his head and without a thorn-scar on his 
 temples. He had not redeemed the Church with his blood, he had not stained his 
 raiment in the sacrificial wine-press. His flushed face and downcast eyes were re- 
 flected back in the gems of his vesture ; the sword of nations and the shepherd's 
 crook lay at his side; but where was the Good Shepherd who laid down his life 
 for the shee]>? This is Caesar, and not 'another King, one Jesus! When seated 
 
204 rONI^TANTTNE AND THE ARIANS. 
 
 in tlio golduii cliaii- jilaccd fur liiin in their midst, lie gave a sign, and eacli bisliop, 
 according to his rank, sat ddwn in his presence. How are the mighty fallen! Their 
 lawful sovereign and good friend was iiailed as tlieir Head, and they waited for his 
 image and ' superscription ' to attest their orthodoxy ; for the first time the old 
 Baptist Churches of the world are found crouching at a monarch's feet ! Farewell, 
 soul-liberty, hie thee to the wilderness for a time ! This liody sat until the 25th of July, 
 and the Emperor presided over its Councils most of the time, aided now and then 
 by Hosius. Constantino addressed it graciously, listened to and took part in its de- 
 bates, led it to its decisions, and confirmed its decrees. He closed tlie sessions with 
 a great banquet on his birthilay, and loaded its members with imperial gifts. He 
 even embraced I'aphnutius, kissing the empty socket from which his eye had been 
 torn, and exhorted all the bishops to pi'uyers for himself, his family and the 
 Empire ; then he bade them farewell ! 
 
 After the Council, Constantine became bitter toward the Arians, although he 
 finally became an Arian himself. He banished Arius and ordered his works to be 
 bni'nt, threatening with death all who kept them, and all who rejected the findings 
 of the Council (Mine under its anathema, the civil power enforcing uniformity 
 where it could not be commanded by reason. The Einjieror issued an edict against 
 all dissenters, saying : ' Know ye, Moravians, Valentinians, Mareionites, Paulians 
 and Cataphrygians (that is, various Gnostic and Montanist sects), that your doctrine 
 is but vain and false. O ye enemies of truth, authors and counselors of deatli, ye 
 siiread abroad lies, oppress the innocent, and hide from the faithful the light of 
 truth.' Then he forbids their meetings in private or public, orders their places of 
 worship pulled down, and their property confiscated to the 'Catholic Church.' 
 Eusebius, of Cnesarea, was delighted with this edict, and berated the lieretics as 
 ' hypocrites, caterpillars and locusts.' The Arians and others suffered friglitfully, 
 and the pagans stood astonished ; for while they had various sects amongst them- 
 selves, they never persecuted each other to enforce uniformity. After A. D. 330 
 Rome and Constantinople became the highest sacerdotal seats, with boundaries an- 
 swering to those of the Empire, and the will of the court held the scales of orthodoxy 
 and heterodoxy ; all who differed with the dictates of the Emperor and his party 
 were guilty of 'heresy and schism.' 
 
 The condition of things at that moment is well set forth by Niebuhr in tlie 
 following words: 'The religion which he had in his head inu.st have been a strange 
 compound indeed. The man who had on his coins the inscription, "Sol invictus," 
 who worshiped pagan deities, consulted the auspices (diviners), and indulged in a 
 number of pagan superstitions, and interfered in the Council of Nice, must have 
 been a repulsive phenomenon, and was certainly not a Christian. He was a super- 
 stitious man, and mixed up his Christian religion with all kinds of absurd superstitions 
 and opinions ; when, therefore, certain Oriental writers call him equal to an Apostle, 
 they know not what they are saying ; and to speak of him as a saint is a profa- 
 
PAGAN ADMIXTURES. 203 
 
 iiatinii iif till! word.'' Thus that fantastic niixtiiro of ,Iii(liiisiii, heathenism and 
 Christianity, tlien called the 'Catholic Church,' became one compact Roman system, 
 held together by bonds within and pressure without, exalted into a tremendous 
 mysteiT of rite and pomp — a vci'y trampling tyranny. The Carpenter of Nazareth 
 was to be no longer strong in his own weakness, but was to be made mighty by the 
 paralysis inflicted through an imperial, half-pagan autocrat ! 
 
 It is scarcely necessary here to state how soon every sort of su]>erstition and 
 heathen ceremony was mixed with this State Christianity. The bones of Stephen 
 were found by a revelation from Gamaliel, Paul's teacher, after they had rested for 
 three centuries. IVIany made pilgrimages to his shrine at Jerusalem and were won- 
 derfully healed, while others made wonderful sums of money out of the exhibition 
 of these relics. The bodies of Luke and Andrew were discovered, and removed to a 
 great temple which the Emperor had built in Constantinople. The remains of 
 Joseph of Arimathea were recovered, and large portions of stone and earth removed 
 from his tomb for nn'raculous uses. Most wonderful of all, Helena, Constantine's 
 mother, found the real cross of Christ, not that which her son saw in the sky, but 
 that on which Jesus sniTcred ; and although it had been bui'ied for three centuries, 
 the wood was as sound as the heart of oak I This proved an immense treasure. 
 It not only wrought miracles, but although countless pieces were taken all ovei- the 
 world, it grew no less ; at any rate that is what Tillemont says. It was a sad ovei-- 
 sight that Constantine did not build a war-ship out of its wood for blowing heretics 
 to atoms. Besides all this, it is estimated that by the end of the fourth century 
 27,000 monks and nuns were found in Egypt alone, most of whom were piously 
 austere, ignorant and lazy. 
 
 These, and many other things are stated by numerous M'riters of the hierarchj', 
 with pride and even with triumph, and we cannot but honor their frankness. So 
 far from attempting to disguise these things by pious lying, it is their delight to make 
 them known, with others just as disgraceful. Take, for example. Cardinal Baronius, 
 who says with delicious openness : ' It is allowable for the Church to transfer to pious 
 uses those ceremonies which the pagans emploj'ed impiously to superstitious wor- 
 ship, after they have been purified by consecration ; for the devil is the more mortified 
 to see those things turned to the service of Jesus Christ, wliich were instituted for 
 his own.' Polidore Virgil says : ' The Church has borrowed several customs from 
 the religion of the Romans and other heathens ; but that they have improved them 
 and put them to a better use.' ^ And Guillaume du Choul suras up the whole case 
 in these words : ' If we examine narrowly we shall discover that several institutions 
 of our religion have been transferred frona the Egyptian and other Gentile cere- 
 monies. Such as the tunics and surplices, the crowns or tonsures, of our priests, 
 bowing round the altar ; the sacrificial pomp, church-music, adorations, prayers, sup- 
 plications, processions, litanies and several other things which our priests use in their 
 mysteries; offering up to our only God, Jesus Christ, what the ignorance of the 
 
206 PEUVKU.SIO.SS UEtilHTED. 
 
 Gentiles, with their false religion and foolish presumption, offered to their false 
 deities and to mortal men of their own deifying.' '" Even Eusebins, in the life-time 
 of Constantine, reports that : ' This Emperor, to make the Christian religion more 
 plausible to the Gentiles, adopted into it the exterior cjrnament.s which they used 
 in their religion.' 
 
 These corrujjtions were lamented and resisted by brave and earnest men, l)nt 
 with slight success ; partly because they themselves held some paljiable error, and 
 because they were assailed with calumny and I'eseiitmeiit. Amongst these was 
 Aerius, a presbyter, A. D. 355, who maintained that the JVew Testament makes a 
 ]>resbyter a bishop, condemned prayers for the dead, rejected all fasts ordained 
 by the Church and attemi^ted to restore Apostolic discipline. Ke had many fol- 
 hiwers. ' For some time his Jjarty, the Aerians,' says Ilerzog, ' assembled in the 
 open fields, in forests and among the iiiuuntains; but, persecuted from all sides, it 
 soon melted away.' " The bitterness of the writers of those times shows that these 
 bare-faced pervei'sions were met by formidable resistance; but ingenuity circum- 
 vented these struggles, cursed and branded the men and crushed out their measures. 
 A remarkable case of this soit is found in the manner in which Jerome trampled 
 upon Jovinian and Yigilantus. His injustice comes to the face of his own reports, 
 through exaggerated noise and vulgar abuse. Jovinian was one of the best-known 
 heretics in the last half of this period. He was thoroughly versed in the Script- 
 ures, and wrote stoutly against voluntary martyrdom, fasting and monkery. He 
 also contended that all baptized believers have morally the same calling, dignity, 
 grace and blessedness. So great was his influence, that a Synod was held at Rome, 
 A. I). oOO, at which he was condemned, and a second followed at Milan. 305. He 
 held the vital principle of regeneration by the Spirit of God, the perseverance of 
 the saints, and denied the perpetual vii-ginity of Mary. It is believed that he was 
 scourged at Home, aiul banished for holding conventicles. So far as we can judge 
 from his writings quoted by Jerome, he held, in substance, the same views as those 
 of Luther. 
 
 Vigilantus was born in Gaul, and ordained a presbyter A. D. 395. He went 
 to Palestine, thinking that he would find things tliei-e, iu the cradle of Christianity, 
 much after the Apostolic order. Instead of this he was disgusted, as Luther was 
 afterward at Eonie, and returned. Then, he and Jerome fell into controversy. He 
 attacked the worship of the martyrs and of relics as a lapse into paganism ; mak- 
 ing an attack, also, upon the claim of sujjerior sanctity in clergymen, monasteries, 
 celibacy and the vows of poverty. To these two we may add a most noble advo- 
 cate of liberty of conscience in Lactantius. He was the tutor of Crispus, the son 
 of Constantine, as well as the historian of the Diocletian persecution, and, according 
 to Milman, the adviser of the Emperor in questions of legislation. From full con- 
 viction, he became a Christian in early life, and stoutly defended religious freedom. 
 He says: 
 
JEROME'S ILL TEMPER. 207 
 
 ' To defend religion by bloodslied, torture and crime, is not to defend, but to ])ol- 
 lute and profane it. For notliiui;- is so nnicli a matter of fi-ee-\viil as religion, in 
 which if the mind of tlie worshi]>ei- is disinclined, religion is at once taken awaj' and 
 ceases to exist. The right way to defend religion is by patient endurance unto 
 death, tiirough which the keeping of tiie faith is pleasing to God, and adds noth- 
 ing to the truth.' '^ 
 
 Besides these, we have llelvidius, who lived at Rome in the latter part of the 
 century. He and Jovinian were the first who dared to attack the doctrine of Mary's 
 perpetual virginity ; and he also assailed nunnery and other evils. After Jerome 
 had written bitterly against Vigilautus in his sixty-first letter, he attempted to answer 
 llelvidius, under great excitement. He did them great injustice by that most cow- 
 ardly thing which a man can do, namely : to misrepresent his opponent, and so cut 
 oflE his appeal to an unbiased posterity. The pen of Jerome was rendered very 
 offensive by his grinding tyranny and crabbed temper. No matter how wrong he 
 was, he could not brook contradiction. In these cases, it were simply mild to call 
 his composition venom; for no man can read his replies to the simple and inoffensive 
 words which he quotes from Vigilantus without disgust. He pretends to call it 
 'sacrilege,' either to hear or repeat what his opponent says. He then calls him a 
 'Jew,' a 'Samaritan' and a 'madman, disgorging a filthy surfeit.' Pie said that 
 his tongue was only fit to be cut out — he had a ' fetid mouth, fraught -with a putrid 
 stench, against the relics and ashes of the martyrs.' He denounces him as a ' dog,' a 
 'maniac,' a 'monster,' an 'ass,' a 'fool,' a 'glutton,' a 'servant of the devil,' and a 
 'useless vessel which shall be shivered by the iron rod of Apostolic authority,' with 
 a few other names quite as gentle and saintly. Jovinian received the same treat- 
 ment from this delectable doctor. This reformer had said that there was no differ- 
 ence of merit between the married and the unmarried. This made Jerome's pious 
 indignation boil over, and he calls the statement a 'savage howling of ferocious 
 wolves, scaring the flock ; ' with other characteristic sayings of a slightly acid sort. 
 Possibly, an interpretation of this animus is given in the ' Eetractationes ' of 
 Augustine when he laments the Jovinian heresy, which had so far prevailed at 
 Rome, that several nuns, whose honor was spotless, had been led away into the error 
 of matrimony. 
 
 One marked feature which relieves the tendencies of this age is the vigor with 
 which the Scriptures were multiplied. Few had ever possessed complete copies of 
 them, and these were now rare, the late Bible-burnings having made a famine of the 
 word of God ; it was, therefore, in great demand, and great efforts were made to 
 meet that demand. Diligent search was made for copies that had escaped destruc- 
 tion, and transcripts of them were multiplied. Constantine instructed Eusebius to 
 have fifty copies of the Sacred Writings beautifully engrossed on parchment ' by 
 artificial transcribers of books, most skilful in the art of accurate and fair writing, 
 which (copies) must be very legible and easily portable, in order to their being used.' 
 He also dispatclied letters to his civil officers in various provinces, to see that 
 
208 THE SVItll'TCUES ClUCULATEJ). 
 
 (jvery thing iieeessai-y was provided fur this wurk, and .supplied two j'ublic- camages 
 to convey thcni to him at Coustantiin iple, at his expense. Tiiis order was immediately 
 executed, and the fifty copies were ^eut tu him ' in volumes magniticently adorned."'^ 
 Pie also established a library in the imperial city, into wliidi he gathered nearly seven 
 thousand volumes, chiefly of Christian books. Tliis grew to a Imndred thousand in 
 the days of the younger Theodosius, most of which were destroyed by the Emperor 
 Len III. Tisehendorf conjectures that the Sinaitic MS., whicli he discoveivd in the 
 l\[onastery of St. Katharine, on Mount Sinai, A. D. 1854-59, miglit have formed 
 ' (Jne of tlie fifty copies of the Bible which, in the year 331, the Emperor Constan- 
 tino ordered to be executed for Constantinople.' '^ 
 
 The people had no power to resist the decisions of Councils, now enforced by 
 the Emperor; and tlieir free use of the Scriptures may have greatly paciiied them 
 to bear more patiently the many innovations which had crept into the CInirch. 
 Possibly with this in view, the Council of Nicnea ordained that ' No Christian should 
 be without tlie Scriptures,' — that of Antioch, A. D. 341, that those who stayed at 
 ))ublic worship only to hear the Scriptures read, without partaking of the eucharist, 
 should he excommunicated ; and that of Laodicea, A. D. 343-381, ' That the Gos- 
 pels, with the other Scriptures, ought to be read on the Sabbath day.' The monks 
 of those days were diligent students of the Sci-iptures ; for Chrysostom not only 
 exhorts ' the servant, the rustic and the widow,' to read them, but he asks, ' Are 
 the Scriptures to be read only by monks?' And the common people used them 
 freely, even the women and children hanging the Gospels about their necks, a fact 
 proving that something more is needful to a pure Christianity than free access to 
 the Bible. A Bible possessed but neglected, or used and distorted, leads to the same 
 result in substance ; on the principle understood and adopted by Julian the Apostate, 
 when he forbade Christian educators to teach Gentile learning : ' Lest, being furnished 
 with our armor, they make war upon us with our own weapons.' 
 
 This century was likewise very active in the revision and circulation of the 
 Scriptures in several languages. Jerome, the crabbed monk of whom we have already 
 spoken, devoted his life chiefly to the revision of the already existing Latin versions, 
 known as the Ante-Hieronymian, that is, those made before his time, as the word 
 denotes. This most learned of all the Latin fathers, A. D. 331-420, undertook his 
 woi'k at the request of Damasus, the Bishop of Rome. Much of the Old Testa- 
 ment he translated from the original Hebrew, but his revision of the New was based 
 upon the old Latin version known as the Itala, compared with the Greek text. 
 His work is now known as the Vulgate, or current Latin text of the Bible, and 
 is declared by the Papal Constitution to be ' authentic, and unquestioned, in all 
 private discussion, reading, preaching and explanation.' By ' authentic,' here, is 
 meant authoritative, and Sixtus V. threatened to excommunicate all who should vary 
 from that text. Yet, the Vulgate as we have it to-day is not the unchanged text 
 chat Jerome left, for some of its renderings have been corrupted and made to tit 
 
JEROME'S VERSION. 209 
 
 into certain dogmas, as Fulkc lias siiown in countless instances in his ' Confutation 
 of the liheniish Testament.' Whether these were made by Pope Sixtus, or by Clement 
 VIII., it is not easy to decide, as both of them changed Jerome's version. Clement 
 charged that the edition of Sixtus swarmed with error.s, and made two thousand 
 changes therefrom. But Jerome himself introduced, or at least sanctioned the 
 system of Latinizing Greek words by introducing them into the Latin Bible; the 
 obvious effect of which was to render his version obscure, or, as the historian. 
 Fuller, says, liis translation 'needed to be translated over again.' And of the Vul- 
 gate as rendered in the Rhemish New Testament, the same writer (juaintly .says : 
 'Tliey could no longer Mindt'oUl the laity from the Scriptures, resolved to tit them 
 with false spectacles." '^ 
 
 Ihit Jerome said of his own version, that he had ' Corrected only those eri'ors 
 which seemed to change the sense, and had pnniittcd tiie rest to remain ;' and that 
 lie had used for the purpose 'Greek copies which did not much differ from the usual 
 Latin reading.' Amongst many Greek words which he transferred instead of trans- 
 lating them, was the family of words relating to baptism, making them clu.ster around 
 the verb 'laptizo ; ' so that, those who knew the Latin only, could not possibly tell 
 wiiat tiiose words meant. Tliis new coined method of keeping back the meaning of 
 (ukI's coiiiniands has debauched the consciences of translators, and perverted many 
 vcnsioiis from Jerome's time to our own, by copying his pernicious example, 
 and refusing to translate the exact sense of these words into the mother-tongues of 
 tiiose for whom their translations have been made. And what has rendered this 
 jiractice the more blameworthy has been, the common pretense, either that these 
 \\-ords wei-e too holy to be translated, that their meaning was immaterial, that it was 
 indetinite, or tiiat they were incapable of translation, for want of proper ecpiiva- 
 lents ill the t(>ni;ues in which these versions were made. The soul of a translator 
 who attempts to pull that sort of wool over the eyes of honest folk, would suffer no 
 injury by a very literal rendering from the Greek, of Eev. xxi, 8, especially if he 
 made it when alone on his knees before God. Possibly, Cartwright and Fulke had 
 some such thought in mind when they said of the Rhemish Testament : ' That, com- 
 pared with the authentical Greek text, it is, in many places, ridiculous, insincere, 
 untrue ; and, consecpiently, of no authority.' This conduct of Jerome in forming 
 the Vulgate, justly brought upon him the censure of Baillet, when he says : ' It is 
 agreed that Jerome may be the greatest saint ..f all translators, but that he is not 
 the most exact. He hath taken liberties which the laws of translation will not 
 admit, and his adversary, Rufinus, fails not to charge him with it.' '* 
 
 But this was not the character of all the versions made in the fourth century. 
 For example, the ' Gothic,' by Ulphilas, is pronounced by scholars to be very faith- 
 ful and accurate. This able and devout bishop of the Goths had induced his coun- 
 trymen to become Christians, and they reposed boundless confidence in him, saying 
 that whatever he did was well done. He was of Cappadocian ancestry, but was a 
 15 
 
iia 
 
 tivf (idtli ; 
 
 slill, as 
 
 his 
 
 sti 
 
 •net a laii,-i 
 
 la-r l(.r ' 
 
 tllCI 
 
 til. 
 
 L-(iiv..k. 1. 
 
 ;itili and 
 
 i;i 
 
 ti-, 
 
 iiislatidii ul 
 
 f (Ik; Oil 
 
 1 a 
 
 CI 
 
 in.inclcs; ; 
 
 1.1(1 tra.li 
 
 tioi 
 
 licrcc passion 
 
 s of Lis 
 
 l>v, 
 
 an 
 
 longst the 
 
 most val 
 
 iial 
 
 fr: 
 
 ijiiiifiits cover the 1 
 
 arg 
 
 e f,,iin<l it iir. 
 
 ■ess:: 
 
 )f tllU (iuthil- 1 
 
 L.rk. Into thi 
 
 is ll 
 
 I /;//>rs Til A NSLA TIONS 
 
 ll .Xcw Testaments, excepting tlie Books of Kings and 
 says, that tln-s(' were omitted lest they sliould increase the 
 )le fdi- war. The relies which are left of his version are 
 e of aiitiijuity, as it was made fnaii the (4reek text. These 
 r ])art of the JVew Testament, and he translates the verb 
 Ixijitirjd liy the word ^ daujijiai' which means to dip. Tregelles thinks this to have 
 Keen the vernacular IJihle of a great part of Europe in the fifth and sixth cent- 
 uries, riphilas lived A. D. nil-;isi, and after the ninth century his translation 
 was lost until the sixteenth, when the Gospels were recovered ; in tlie nineteenth, 
 his Epistles of Paul were found. German scholars find tlie Gotliic of this ver.sion 
 superior to the German language, of which it is the parent, in richness and dignity 
 of expressiiin, as well as harmony and purity of tone. 
 
 The Ethiiipie version, nieiitinned by Chrysostom in his second homily on .Tuhn's 
 (tosjicI, was made in the ancient and vernacular tongue of Ahyssinia. hut by whom 
 is IK it known. It is commonly referred to Frumentius, who first ].)reaelied Chris- 
 tianity in thtit eouiitry ; lint at the best tliis is niily tradition. It is generally ascribed 
 to this eeiitury. and is regarded as the ohlest nioniinient of Ethiopic literature. 
 Dillman declares it to Ije ' very faithful ; lieing for the most part a verbal rendering 
 of the Greek, and yet readable and fluent, and in the Old Testament often hitting the 
 ideas and words of the Hebrew in a surprising manner." It also renders the 
 word which defines the a(;t of baptism by • taninlii' to dip. 
 
 A number of different creeds are found in this century, but they did not liy any 
 means push the Bible aside. Basil is a fair example of his brethren in his love for 
 scriptural truth who, when Valens, the Emperor, promised him jiromiition if he 
 would embrace Arianism, replied : 'That sueh fail- promises were ht .iuly to entice 
 children, but that he was taught and nourished by the Holy Seri|)tures. and was 
 ready rather to suffer a thousand deaths, than to suffer one syllable or iota of the 
 Scriptures to be altered.' Then the Emperor fell into a rage, and threatened him 
 with death ; to which Basil answered, that ' If he [nit him to death, it was only to 
 set him at liberty.'' The prince then sat down to write an edict for his banishment, 
 but at last tore up the paper and cast it from him ; the groat divine was left to labor 
 and die in peace. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 DUEING this pcrioil tlic iniit.v n{ thr i;uiiian K.upiiv wa. hn.kcn. and it was 
 dividud into the Eusteru and Western Knipiivs; after wliieh followed the 
 migration of the barbarous Northern peoples. Then tlu' Western Empire fell to 
 pieces, and new nations sprang up out of the hailiarian forests. The Chureli also 
 was rent by controversies of every kind, chietly those concerning the person 
 and work of our Lord. This age is marked by tlie total eclipse of true justifying 
 faith and the simple method of Gospel salvation. A dramatic salvation pushed it 
 entirely aside, and our Lord's beautiful ordinance of baj^tism was used to push him 
 aside, to take his jjlace as the great remedy for sin. The absurd doctrine of bap- 
 tismal regeneration had long been growing; but from this time it not only 
 changed the whole current of ( 'hristianity for centuries, but corrupted its foun- 
 dation truths. 
 
 True, a few individuals still held saving faith in Christ as a precedent to bap- 
 tism. Athanasius declared, A. D. 360, that ' Our Lord did not slightly command 
 to baptize, for first of all he said, " teach, and then baptize ; " that true faith might 
 come by teaching, and baptism be perfected by faitli.' So Jerome of Dalmatia, 
 378 : 'It cannot be that the body shall receive the sacrament of baptism unless the 
 soul liave before received the true faith.' In the same year Basil urges : ' One must 
 first believe and then be sealed with baptism. Faith must needs precede and go 
 before. None are to be baptized but the catechumens and those who are duly in- 
 structed in the faith.' Several others taught the same thing, but for a long time 
 there had been a strange admixture of error with this doctrine. In the last half of 
 the second century even clear-headed Hippolytus had said of the baptized man, 
 that he ' Goes down with faith into the bath of regeneration, . . . conies up from 
 baptism bright as the sun, flashing with the I'ays of righteousness; but greatest of 
 all, he comes up a son of God.' The Council of Nicsea had actually decreed that 
 he who goes down into the waters of baptism is ' obnoxious to sins ; ' but he ascends 
 free from their slavery, ' a son of God, an heir, yea co-heir with Christ.' And the 
 Christian writers of the fifth century generally speak of baptism as intrinsically 
 holy, 'ineffable' and 'astounding' in its results. Chrysostom preaches this danger- 
 ous heresy on the subject: "Although a man should be foul with every vice, the 
 blackest that can be named; yet should he fall into the baptismal pool, he ascends 
 from the divine waters purer than the beams of noon. ... As a spark thrown 
 
212 BAPTISMAL MIRACLES. 
 
 into the occnn is instantly extinguished, so is sin, lie it wliat it may, extitisuished 
 wlien the man is thi'(i\vii into the laver of regeneratiun." Then lie solemnly exhorts 
 those wlio are deferi-ing hajUism to make haste and be thus regenerated, as they 
 were liable, in his judgment, to eternal torment ; fur he calls trine innnersion -The 
 pool of regenei'ation and justification.' ' 
 
 Ihit some of the writers uf that age went even beyond this extreme, insisting 
 that inunersicin in baptism wrought miracles on the body as well as grace in the 
 soul. Soerates, the Christian historian, tells of a Jew, at Constantinople, who had 
 l)een bedridden for years with the palsy; after trying all sorts of physicians he re- 
 solved to receive baptism, was brought to Atticus the bishop, on a lied, and when 
 dipped in the water was perfectly cured. ^ This was even woise tliaii paganism. 
 Ovid, the old Eoman poet, had ridiculed the idea that lustrations in water washed 
 
 away sin : 
 
 'O, easy fools, to think that a whole Hood 
 Of water e'er can purge the stain of blood ! ' 
 
 Yet CHiristians clung to this heathen thought, and inceii'pt 
 r.londus tells us that at Rome, .Mercury's Well purifiei] 
 J'.ut Ovid laughed at Peleiis, who had murdered his liru 
 himself absolved because Acastus had lustrated him 
 thought was perfected by the Christians of the tiftli pei 
 mitted after baptism was iinpai-donaMe, without the 
 baptism was delayed as near to the hour of death as jiossilile. Gratus was so 
 troubled by this question that he asked the Council of Carthage, A. D. 34:8, whether 
 a man so sinning did not need a second baptism. This notion wrought such mis- 
 chief that as few as possible came to baptism ; and many sought to bring this state 
 of things to an end. For this reason even Chrysostom pressed that men should 
 follow this duty for duty's sake — as sudden death might cut off the opportunity for 
 baptism; then its negleeters would be lost, and those who were baptized at tlie last 
 would only shine in heaven as stars, whereas, had this duty been done earlier they 
 would have been like suns. Gibbon says on tliis subject : 
 
 'The sacrament of baptism was supposed to contain a full and absolute expi- 
 ation of sin ; and the soul was instantly restored to its original purity and entitled 
 to the promise of eternal salvation. Among the proselytes to Christianity there 
 were many who judged it imprudent to pi-ecipitate a salutary rite which could not 
 be repeated; to "throw away an inestimable privilege which could never be re- 
 covered. By the delay of their baptism they could venture freely to indulge their 
 passions in the enjoyment of the world, while they still retained in their hands the 
 means of a sure and easy absolution.' 
 
 He attributes the conduct of Constantine to this presumption in pursuing his 
 ambition ' through the dark and bloody paths of war and policy ; ' and charges that : 
 
 'As he gradually advanced in the knowledge of trutli, he proportionably 
 declined in tli^e practice of virtue, and the same year of his reign in which he eon- 
 
 ited it into Christia 
 
 nit, 
 
 from pei-jury and 1^ 
 
 vin 
 
 ler PlKieus, and tlm 
 
 lUgl 
 
 1 ri\'er water. A 
 
 tw 
 
 id, namely, that sin 
 
 col 
 
 everest penance ; 1 
 
 leni 
 
UNiFOR.urry Ky forced. 213 
 
 veiieil tlu' Council of Nice wiis jiollutt'd with tlic execution, or nitlier murder, of 
 his eldest son. . . . The insliops. whom lie summoned to his last illness in the 
 palace of Nicomedia, were edilied by the fervor with which ho rcc^ucsted and re- 
 ceived the sacrament of baptism, by tlie solemn protestation that the remainder of 
 iiis life sliould be worthy of a disciple of Christ, and by his humble refusal to 
 wear the iinperial purple after he had been clotlied in the white garment of a 
 neophyte. The example and reputation of Constantine seemed to countenance the 
 delay of baptism. Further tyrants were encouraged to believe that the innocent 
 blood which they might shed in a long reign would instantly be washed away in 
 the waters of regeneration, and the abuse of religion dangerously undermined the 
 foundations of moral virtue.' ^ 
 
 This 'abuse' of the Gospel mocked at the need of a holy life, made an ordi- 
 nance a mere party watch-word at heaven's gate, and crushed out the spirit of Christ 
 in a candidate for baptism. It became a mere talisman around wliich men could 
 rally, and in the name of which Christians could persecute their brethren with 
 iiihnmaiiity ; plots, counterplots, broils, murders, ambitions and bi'iberies, all rev- 
 eled in a baptized barbarism ; while gentleness, justice, purity and brotherly love 
 well-nigh disappeared. The century opened with an Intolerant bitterness on the 
 part of the orthodox toward all who differed with them, not only in opinion, but 
 in forms of expression. All dissent must seal its lips or bite the dust. At the close 
 of the fourth, ' heresy ' became a capital offense, punishable with death in some 
 cases, under Theodosius, A. D. 379-395. His edict enforced uniformity of belief 
 against all who differed with ' Catholics.' Tlieir places of worship were confiscated 
 for the use of ' Catholics,' they could neither bequeath nor inherit property, they 
 were forbidden to dispute on religion, some of tlieir ordained ministers were fined 
 ten pounds weight of gold, others were banished, and the 'elect' of the Manichcans 
 were sentenced to death as enemies of the State. The civil arm etiforced the acts 
 of Church discipline, orthodoxy was made the form of all public acts and offices, and 
 when the balance trembled on any religious topic in controversy, the Emperor threw 
 in the sword for settlement. The last toleration of religious differences was enjoyed 
 under Julian the apostate, A. D. 362, if we except the brief eight mouths of Jovian 
 in 363 ; but in 415 Honorius issued an edict forbidding the Donatists to assemble, 
 on pain of death. This was the result of a great debate held at Carthage, 411, be- 
 tween 279 Donatist and 280 Catholic bishops. This edict was not executed to 
 the extreme, but it silenced every opposing tongue. Gibbon tells us that 300 of the 
 Donatist bishops and thousands of their ministers were stripped of their proiierty, 
 banished to tlie islands, or obliged to hide themselves in the wilds of Africa. Many 
 persons of rank in schismatic assemblies paid ruinous fines, and obstinacy was un- 
 pardonable. Of course there was much earnest remonstrance and resistance, and 
 the more far-seeing Catholics were seized with alarm, for if the religion of the 
 majority or that of the Emperor changed, their free action was at an end. 
 
 Moved by these fears, the Council of Antioch, A. D. 371, forbade appeals to 
 Emperors in matters of purely e(!clesiastical authority, without the consent of the 
 
214 PEIifiECUTIOy BY C'lIRISTIANS. 
 
 liisliop. Aii,i;-iistiiic Icil in tlic (lcl.;itr ;i-;iiii>t t!ic 1 ).iiiatists at Carthage, and after- 
 wanl advocated luiviMc lll(■:,Il^ fur iTchiiiiiiii- tliciii, uii.h'i- cover of Christ's words, 
 ' Coinjjel tliem to conic in." I'.ut in earlier life wlicii he was a Manichean himself, 
 lie thought it wrony to punisli lierctics. Petilian, hi.- Doiiatist opponent, urged 
 strongly that there should be no ci.inpnlsidii, or interference of the civil power in 
 matters of religion. Violence however triuin).lied as nsnal, and Tlieodosius II. 
 commanded all books which did not cunforni to the Council of Nicaja to be de- 
 stroyed, and those who concealed them to be put to death. Still, persecution not only 
 followed all dissenting Christians, hut the pagans were slain for their paganism. 
 True, the Emperors were yet as much the head of the pagan faith as of the Chris- 
 tian ; liut they issued decree after decree ])roliibiting sacrifices to the gods under 
 extreme penalties. The des[)otisni of Theodnsins treated his heathen subjects and 
 Christian opponents alike. < )n the gi'oundtif a moral regeneration Christ demanded 
 love for all men; l)ut when this heathenish system of baptismal regeneration sup- 
 planted the niH'd of purity of heart, Christians indicted the same tragedy of 
 liorrors upon the defenseless pagans whom they were sent to convert, tliat the 
 unconverted heathen had inflicted on them. Thus a heathenized baptism belied 
 the gentleness of Jesus in the most atrocious way ; and its ravenous thirst for blood 
 pawned his royal crown to deck the brow of hate. When the persecuting demon 
 took possession, Christ's rebuke, ' Ye know not what spirit ye are of,' was forgotten. 
 At this time tlie assumptions of the Enaperors and the ambitions of the clergy 
 liad sunk the rights of the people in the dust, both in State and Church. The con- 
 gregations had no longer tlie right to select their own pastors, much less to govern 
 their internal affairs. By canons xii, xiii, of the Council of Laodicea, A. D. 360, the 
 appointment of bishops in vilhii^-es and other country places was forbidden, and the 
 'multitude' deprived of all \-oice in the election of the clergy, all power being now 
 centered in the metropolitan Inshop. Jerome was compelled to draw the contrast 
 M'ith former times. He says, in his ' Commentary on Titus,' i, 1 : ' Among the 
 ancients, presbyters and bishops were the very same ; but by little and little, in order 
 that the plants of dissension might be plucked up, the whole management was 
 intrusted to one individual. As the presbyters, therefore, know that they are sub- 
 jected to him who was their president by the custom of their Church ; so the bish- 
 ops know that they are greater than their presbyters, more by custom tlian by the 
 principle of any appointment of Christ.' Cardinal Manning gives us the fully 
 developed doctrine which has grown out of that ' custom,' in the claim of present 
 infallibility for the clergy. lie says : 
 
 ' The pastoral authority, or the episcopate, together with the pi'iesthood and 
 the other orders, constitute an organized body divinely ordained to guard the deposit 
 of the faith. Tlie voice of that body, not so many individuals, but as a body, is the 
 voice of the Holy Ghost. The ]iastoral ministry" as a body cannot err, because the 
 Holy Spirit, who'is indissoliibly united to the mystical body, is eminently and above 
 all united to the hierarchy and body of its pastors. The episcopate iinited to its 
 
punnATonr. 215 
 
 center is, in all ages, divinely sustained and divinely assisted to jierpetuate and tu 
 enunciate the original revelation.' * 
 
 These high prerogatives on the i)art of the l)islii)j)s made tlicni worse and worse, 
 till they took leave, not only of simple manners and pure doctrine, but of good sense. 
 They gave themselves up to dissipation and volu])tuousne8s, vied with princes in 
 sj)l('nd(>r and allerted the raidc of courts. Martin, of Tours, claimed superior dig- 
 nity to the Knipeior, the liisluij) i-A' licme supremacy over all Church dignitaries, 
 and tlie Bishop of Constantinople cui'sed him for claiming his right. Then the 
 Bishop of Jerusalem entered the held, claiming that as his Church was founded first 
 and by the Apostles themselves, he was the most venerable and his authority unques- 
 tionable. But the Emperor Valentinian III., A. U. 445, made Leo I. of Home the 
 rightful ruler of the whole Western Church. The Emperors, however, impiously 
 claimed high honor. They were addressed as the 'Supreme Master,' 'Everlasting 
 King,' your 'Eternity' and your ' Godship.' Many of the bishops were grossly 
 ignorant, for several of those who attended the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, 
 in this century, were unable to write, and attested the decrees in this form : ' I, such 
 
 a one, have subscribed by the hand of ; oi- such a bishop having said that he 
 
 could not write, I, whose name is undcrwiittcn have subsciibed for him.' This 
 ignorance excited andjition for the speedy enlai'gement of the Church by infamous 
 means. Gibbon says: ' The salvation of the coninion people was purchased at an 
 easy rate, if it be true that in one year twelve thousand men were baptized at 
 Eome, besides a proportionable number of women and children ; and that a white 
 garment, with twenty pieces of gold, had been promised by the Emperor to every 
 convert.' ° He cites many grave authorities for the truth of this statement. But 
 that process was both too slow and expensive, and Augustine set the fires of 
 purgatory in full blaze, to awaken the people from their apathy. Clement, of Alex- 
 andria, first broached the doctrine of purgatory, in the third century. Cyjirian had 
 great trouble about those who had become martyrs before baptism, but concluded that 
 as they were immersed in overwhelming suflferings they might be saved. But 
 Augustine thought that the dead must be saved either by water in this world, m-tire 
 in the next. The case of the thief on the cross perplexed him suruly. lie could 
 not have gone to purgatory, for Jesus said that he would take him to Paradise ; and 
 as he suffered for his ci'imes, suffering could not save him. But as there is no record 
 of his baptism before his crucifixion, Augustine found some relief in the thought, 
 that no one knew that he had not been baptized beforehand ! Hare bitterly laments 
 Augustine's ' morbid tendency ' to ' twist and warp the simplest facts, to wrench and 
 distort the plainest declarations of Scripture, and to hatch and scrape together the 
 most sophistical arguments and the most fantastical hy])otheses, rather than to sub- 
 mit to what makes against some favorite notion or fancy. Yet, Augustine knew the 
 truth here ; he had known it thirty years before, when he wrote his earlier work.' " 
 Still iis these twistings found fur iiim a wAy to save men who sinned after baj)tisni. 
 
u 
 
 "/'" 
 
 d'nnn 
 
 of ll 
 
 il 
 
 :' th. 
 
 ■,y .11, 
 
 1 lint 
 
 1, 
 
 upti 
 
 sill. 
 
 At til 
 
 t( 
 
 . l,;l 
 
 hes w 
 
 ould . 
 
 11 
 
 ml I 
 
 )irtli, 
 
 Mild 1 
 
 216 INFANT BAPTrSM ICXFOnCED. 
 
 by taking them through purgatory proper; so bahes could now be baptized, and yet 
 be saved if they fell into after sin. 
 
 This discovery made Augustine bold to take an advanced step for infant bap- 
 tism. He held (Serni. 29-ij that unbaptized infants were consigned to eternal fire, 
 tliijiigh their damnation would be ' the lightest of all ; ' and began to terrify the world 
 with this horrible dogma. The word ' ^m&i<.s,' or ' fringe,' was used by him to 
 indicate the outskirts of hell ; but he held that dead babes unbaptized were pun- 
 ished liy exclusion from heaven, and by positive pain in this new found I /'//thus 
 In that case, infant liaptism met a prime necessity for the imbes 
 ■, anil purgatory another at the close of life, if they sinned after 
 point another motive came in. (Jrthodo.x ba^Jtism administered 
 cue them from Arianisni and fill the ranks of the Church by nat- 
 the seiitiiiieiital sujjerstition was established. The most eloquent 
 preachers of this day vainly exhorted adults to seek baptism so long as they thought 
 that severe jJenanee could atone for sin after baptism ; but a future purgation by iire 
 gave a new phase to the question and rendered the baptism of babes absolutely neces- 
 saiy. Out of this new departure of infant salvation by liaptism some fresh and 
 perplexing questions arose. For example: the Council of Neo-Ca?sarea, 314—325, 
 answered the curious question. Whether a mother being immersed shortly before the 
 birth of lier babe, secured thereby the baptism of her unborn little one? They 
 gravely decided that in this case the mother 'communicates nothing to the child, 
 because in the profession, every one's own resolution is declared.' In treating of 
 this decision, Grotius cites two great commentators ujaon the canon : Balsamon, who 
 thinks that the child could not be baptized because it was neither ' enlightened,' nor 
 had ' any choice of the divine bajJtism ; ' and Zonaras, who decides that the babe had 
 ■ no need of baptism' until it was born. Grotius himself concludes that the Council 
 could not think the infant baptized with its mother, as 'A child was not wont to be 
 baptized, but upon its own will and profession.' 
 
 In the fourth century, the baptism of a babe outside of xifrica was much 
 more common than before ; but in order to silence all opposition, the Council of 
 Carthage, A. D. 397, decreed (can. ii) 'an anathema against such as deny that chil- 
 dren ought to be baptized as soon as they are born.' ' Then, according to Bishop 
 Taylor, the Council of Milevium, 416, decreed : ' Whoever denies that new-born 
 infants are to be baptized, to the taking away of original sin — let him be anathema.'^ 
 The first injunction of infant baptism by Church authority was at Carthage, in 397 ; 
 the second at Milevium, 416; and this last African decree, being confirmed by Inno- 
 cent I., was the first indorsement of the innovation by authority at Koine. But 
 the great fight which Augustine made on the subject, marks it as an Afi-ican move- 
 ment from the first, and shows that it provoked resistance at every step, until his 
 brave contest enforced it on the fifth century. Winer, the learned German, sums up 
 the whole case thus in his Lectures : ' Originally, only adults were baptized ; but at 
 
FniWJiS OF AUaUSTTyE. 217 
 
 the end of the second century in Africa, and in the third, generally, infant l3a])tisni 
 was introduced ; and in tlie fourth century it was theologically maintained by Augus- 
 tine.' This great critic thus explains the fact that Augustine, A. D. 353— i30, was 
 tlic first theologian wlio niaintiuned a place for it in Christian theology, and attempted 
 to indicate its theological bearings on the whole Christian system. He presided at 
 the Council of Mileviuin, and w:is IhhiihI to defend the ground which its ninety-two 
 members had taken. Having collected his ])rethren and pronounced a curse upon 
 those who denied that immersed babes were washed from moral pollution thereby, he 
 was forced to defend the error. And so tliis great mind went from one error into 
 anotiier, until he Ijecame the cjiampion of ecclesiasticism, sacerdotalism and sacra- 
 mentarianism, all distorted into monstrous proportions. 
 
 Augustine was beset, on the other hand, by Pelagianism, which denied original 
 sin; and hence, to him, the need of baptizing babes. Pelagius contended that they 
 were as pure as the light, and the wide prevalence of this faith terribly aroused 
 Augustine. The companion of Pelagius, Caalestus, an Irish layman, assigned new- 
 born babes to Adam's moral condition before his fall ; and the two went together first 
 to Rome and then to Africa. At Carthage, Aurelius the bishop sunnuoned the Irish 
 brother before a synod as a heretic, on the charge that he denied original sin, in that 
 babes had need of remission ; and so their baptism was unnecessary because it 
 implied tlieir sanctification in Christ. He was condemned, went under censure to 
 Sicily, A. D. 412, and was condemned again by Zosinms the Roman bishop. lie 
 then repaired to Constantinople, 420, but returning to Rome was finally expelled. 
 Augustine thought infant baptism a great bulwark against Pelagianism and an evi- 
 dence of depravity. 
 
 We find another remarkable fact. Down to this time there was no provision 
 for tiie baptism of babes in the liturgies, but now it began to appear. From an 
 early pei'iod (juestions had been put to those who voluntarily assumed baptism. 
 Ambrose, A. D. 340-397, put these : ' " Dost thou believe in God, the Father 
 Almighty?" Thou hast said, " I believe." And you have been immersed. Secondly, 
 you were asked, " Dost thou believe in Jesus Christ our Lord ? " and you said, " I 
 believe," and you were immersed. Thirdly, thou wast asked, "Dost thou believe 
 in the Holy Ghost ? " and thou said, " I believe." Then you were immersed the 
 third time.' Right here Augustine met another grave difliculty. This formula 
 must now I)e forced into use for babes in some way, as he wished the immersed babe 
 to stand in Christianity exactly where the adult stood. Because the child could not 
 answer for himself, the sponsor must answer for him. Or, as Dr. Jacob better 
 expresses it , 'As the adult by his own mouth professed the faith which he had, the 
 infant was, by the mouth of another, to express the faith which lie had not.' This 
 the doctor calls ' an ecclesiastical fiction, to exhibit an identity which did not exist.' 
 Sponsors had existed for some time for every young person who made a vohiiitary 
 confession of faith. But Augustine is the first to assume that the spunsi>i's of l>abes took 
 
218 TnoUBLE ABOUT SPONSORS. 
 
 ujion tlicmsclves tlic cliildV ('lii'istian responsibilities, by answering tlie baptismal 
 questions ill place of tlie lialie ; ami so that in case of tlie babe's death before 
 reacliiug responsibility, God would receive their answers ;is tlie confession of the 
 ehild. Therefore, in Augustine's day, tiie questions were tirst put to the sponsors: 
 ' Does this child believe in God ? Does he turn to God ; " etc. They replied, ' He 
 <I'iesI" l')Ut Boniface I. asked Augustine directly : ' Ibiw can it be said with truth 
 that an infant believes and repents and so forth, when it has no thought or sense 
 about such things?' Augustine replied : ' The infant is said to believe because he 
 receives the saeranicnt of faith and conversion. As the sacrament of the body of 
 Ghrist is in a certain manner calle.l liis IkmIv, s,, tlie sacrament of faith is called 
 faith; and he who has this sa.'rameiit, therefore, has tliifli: and consequently an 
 infant coming to be baptized may be said to ha\e faith or to believe, because 
 these questions and answers are a ]>art of the celebration of the sacrament of the 
 celebration of faith.'" This answer, if it was iiitt'iided to mean any thing, must 
 mean that the infant believes because he is baptized, and therefore he was baptized. 
 This constructive faith of proxy made sad li:i\'oc of justitication by faith ; and 
 yet it exhibits Augustine's eonctqjtioii that without faith baptism is invalid, and 
 for that i-eason that the baptism of baljcs was a troublesome thing to manage. 
 Faith of some sort must be had : and as the child had none of any order, somebody 
 must believe for the two, although the babe had no hand in the arrangement. In- 
 nocent had approved infant ba]itism at Rome, but it grew very slowly there, for 
 lloniface and others would keep on asking these inconvenient questions about the 
 I)ractice; so that it was not till A. I). (iU4 that Gregory, tlie Roman bishop, formed 
 a liturgy for its celebration. It says : 
 
 'The font being blessed, and he holding the infant bv whom it is to be taken 
 up, let the priest incpiire thus : *• What is thy name i " [Answer.) " Dost thou be- 
 lieve in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?" {Answer) "I 
 believe." " And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was born and suf- 
 fered?" {Ansiver) "I believe." " Dost thou also believe in the Holy Spirit, the 
 holy Catholic Church, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the body?" 
 {Answer) " I believe." Then let the priest baptize with a trine immersion, once 
 only invoking the holy Trinity, saying: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father 
 {<nnJ Jet h'nii immerse once), and of the Son {and let him immerse a second thne), 
 and of the Holy Spirit" {and let him irmnerse a third time).^ 
 
 Rut the law of the State soon made it compulsory on parents to bring their 
 children to baptism ; resist it as they might, the legal demand left them no choice 
 in the matter. Dr. Schaff says that compulsory infant baptism was ' unknown in 
 the ante-Nicene age,' and pronounces it ' a profanation of the sacred event, and one 
 of the evils of the union of Chui'ch and State, against which Baptists have a right 
 to protest.' '" 
 
 A notable fact to be observed here is that, after all this stir, Augustine himself 
 was not immersed until he came to manhood. We have noticed elsewhere that 
 
CHRIS TTAy MOTUERS OPPOSE INFANT BAPTISM. 219 
 
 Monica, liis niotlicr, was one of the lioliest women in f'in-istian history. Slie 
 trained his mind, having entered Iiim as a catechnmcn wliin lie was an infant, but 
 earefnlly abstained from presenting him for baptism until lie ciioso himself to be a 
 disciple of the Lord. When yonng he fell dangerously ill, and earnestly desired 
 baptism, bnt it was ' deferred, lest he should incur the deeper guilt of after sin.' " 
 His early life had been very wicked, as his ' Confessions' show. Then, after all his 
 maternal training, Ix'fure his l)aiitisni \\v s|)ent si.\ months near Milan in receiving 
 rhristinn insti-uction ; and, sti-aiigt'ly enough, was baptized with his own son, who 
 was burn of a cunculiine, and who had now reached the age of fourteen years. 
 Ambrose did not immerse Augustine until he had reached the age of two and 
 thirty years. And he was not alone amongst the fathers in this respect. Ephrem, 
 of Edessa, the greatest hymnist of his age, is supposed to have been born of parents 
 who were martyred for Christ ; he was educated by Bishop Jacob at Nisibis, but 
 was not baptized until eighteen years of age. Bishop Liberius did not immerse 
 Jerome till about his twentieth year, although his father was a Christian. The 
 father of Gi'egory Nazianzen was a bishop, and Norma, his mother, was a saintly 
 woman. She devoted her child to God by prayer, as all true Baptist mothers do ; 
 but he was not baptized until he gave his own heart to Christ, when he was thirty 
 years old. Ilis own brother, Csesarius, physician to the Emperor at Constan- 
 tinople and a devout Christian, was not bajjtized till near his death. The ancestors 
 of Basil, of Cappadocia, had been followers of Christ for generations, and Emraelia, 
 his mother, was eminent for godliness ; yet he was not baptized till after his con- 
 version when he had reached his twenty-seventh year. Chrysostom had Christian 
 parents, too ; and Anthusa, his mother, was so noted for her talents and consecration 
 to Christ, that Libanius, the pagan scholar, said of her: 'Ah! what women there 
 are amongst the Christians!' Still her eloquent son did not receive baptism until 
 he had become a distinguished teacher of rhetoric. Then ho studied for three years 
 under Bishop Meletius, at Antioeh, and was baptized upon his confession of Christ 
 at the age of thirty. 
 
 If our blessed Lord instituted the baptism of infants when he prayed for them 
 and blessed them, it is passing strange that with one consent the holy parents of 
 these great nun willfully neglected the baptism of their children, in open disregard 
 of his love and law. The godly parents of these great lights in Christianity delib- 
 erately deprived their sons of their rights in the kingdom of God, if Christ required 
 them to bring their offspring to baptism as babes. No women outside of New Tes- 
 tament times rank side by side in sanctity with three of these mothers ; and how 
 much better is it than a base slander on them to say that they were remiss in the 
 first duty of Christian motherhood if Jesus required not the baptism of their babes 
 at their hands? No writerof their day has left a rebuke uf thcirsad negligence. Yet 
 thousands of otherwi.se well-inftirmcd Christians in dur day almost shudder in holy 
 horror because 15aptist fathers and mothers will persist in giving their olfspring to 
 
220 TRINE IMMERfiTOX 
 
 Christ by prayer, by godly example and by Bible instnictidii, lint will Tiot rob tlicni 
 of the right to put on Christ by their own pcr^mial (ihi.MJicni'c— the liuly right ot 
 making their own good confession of their Redeemei' Iwfore many witnesses. Tiiat 
 is to say, they affect to be scandalized because Bajjtist fathers and mothers treat 
 tlieir children now exactly as the parents of Ephrem, Jerome, Gregory, Cte- 
 sarius, Basil, Chrysostom and Augustine treated their suns. The simple fact is, that 
 the illustrious godliness of these parents knew nothing about the immersion of 
 babes as a Bible duty, and could not tritlc with an oi-diuanee of their (iml and King 
 by so perverting Gospel bajitism as to force it on their children. And if these 
 most Christ-like of all Christ's disciples abstained from the baptism of babes on 
 principle, until the Church began to teach the superstition that infants who die un- 
 baptized are damned, what likelihood is there that the unnamed and now unknown 
 thousands of less godly people practiced this pretended apostolic rite, which Augus- 
 tine so thoroughly clouded by its admixture with the doctrine of salvation tlu-ough 
 the faith of proxy ? 
 
 The act of baptism remained the same as it had been, the immersion of the 
 body three times in water, and this amongst the orthodox and heterodox alike ; 
 excepting the sect known as Eunomians, of whom Theodoret and Epiphanius had 
 complained in the previous century, because they immersed only the upper part of 
 the body with the head downward. ' These,' says Catheart, ' were the only men 
 among all the heretics of the ancient Church, that rejected this way of baptizing, 
 by a total immersion in ordinary eases.' '^ This Arian sect used but an immersion 
 of the upper part of the body, as far as the breast. But Cyril, of Jerusalem, says 
 of the orthodox : ' Ye were led by the hand to the sacred font of the divine baptism, 
 as Christ from the cross to the prepared tomb. And each was asked, if he believes 
 in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And ye pro- 
 fessed the sacred profession, and sank down thrice into the water and came up again.' 
 Basil asks : ' Where the tradition is taken from to immerse a man tlii-ee times, and 
 answers, that it is not a private oi- secret one, but of the Apostles. Jerome said : 
 'We are thrice dipped in the water, that the mystery of the Trinity may appear but 
 one.' Augustine states that this way of baj^tizing opened a twofold mystery. 
 Trine immersion was not only a symbol of the Trinity, but a ' type ' of our Lord's 
 resurrection on the third day. He says, also : ' Three times did we submerge your 
 heads in the sacred fountain.' And Chrysostom tells us that ' three immersions 
 give but one baptism.' Dupin, writes : ' They plunged those three times whom they 
 baptized.' Maitland adds: 'The immersion was recpiired to be threefold, or trine;' 
 and so Bingham, with many others. 
 
 Yet, this well-attested historical practice of three immersions has no support 
 in the Scriptures, but, as Dr. Conant says : ' Is clearly contrary to the words of the 
 conunand. Had trine immersion been intended, the words would have l^een in the 
 names of the Futliei', etc., or in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, 
 
DEAN STANLEY. 221 
 
 and so forth." .Tcrome classes it with ' many other tilings which are by tradition 
 observed in the ( liurcii, and which liave no authority of Scripture for theiu, but the 
 consent of the whole world.' which, he thought, gave the force of a jirecopt, ' as in 
 the font of baptism to plunge the head thrice under water.' 
 
 Further, this innovation now linked to it the repulsive custom of immersing 
 the candidates in a state of entire nudity. Dr. "Wall expresses his belief that they 
 thought this better I'epresented the putting off of the old man, also the nakedness 
 of Christ on the ci'oss ; but in addition to this, they came to regard baptism as a 
 purifying of the body from all moral taint, so that if the water did not pass over 
 every part of the body, leprous spots might be left. But whatever the motive for 
 this misguided zeal, as Cave says : ' They were brought to the font and were first 
 6trii)ped of their garments, intimating their putting off the old man which is corrupt, 
 with his deceitful lusts.' " Dean Stanley gives this exact account of the observance : 
 
 ' There was but one hour for the ceremony ; it was midnight. The torches flared 
 through the dai'k hall as the troops of converts flocked in. The baptistery consisted 
 of an inner and an outer chamber. In the outer chamber stood the candidates for 
 baptism, stripped to their shirts ; and turning to the west, as the region of sunset, 
 they stretched forth their hands through the dimly-lit chamber, as in a defiant 
 attitude toward the Evil Spirit of Darkness, and speaking to him by name, said, "I 
 i-enouncc thee, Satan, and all thy works, and all thy pomp, and all thy service." 
 Then they turned, like a regiment, facing right around to the east, and repeated in 
 a form more or less long, tlio bilicF in the Father, the Son and the Spirit, whicli 
 has grown up into the so-cullr. I A]iM>tlL's' Creed of the West, and the so-called Nicene 
 Creed of the East. Tlicy then advanced into the inner chamber. Before them 
 yawned the deep pool, or reservoir, and standing by, the deacon or deaconess, as the 
 case might be, to arrange that all should be done with decency. The whole troop 
 undressed completely, as if for a bath, and stood up naked before the bi.shop, who 
 put to each the cpu^stions, to which the answer was returned in a loud and distinct 
 voice, as of those who knew what they had undertaken. They then plunged into 
 the water. Both before and after the immersion, their bare limbs were rubbed with 
 oil from head to foot; then were they clothed in white ^osvus, and niii\r(l. as token 
 of the kindly feeling of their new brotherhood, the kiss of peacr aihl a taste of 
 honey and milk ; and they expressed their new faith bv using for tlic liist time the 
 Lord's Prayer.' >•' ' 
 
 This picture of pious savagery drawn by the delicate hand of her Majesty's late 
 chaplain at Westminster, will greatly edify those who recoil froiu the shocking inde- 
 cency of modern Baptists, who modestly immerse believers in full apparel, because 
 the portrait is that of those canonized saints whom the foes of the Baptists so much 
 admire. Then, it smacks so zestfully of the delectable doings of the Men of Mun- 
 ster, the apt and docile scholars of these fathers, as to deprive decent Baptists of 
 sainthood entirely. But for the re-assurance of all parties, good Brenner, the great 
 Catholic, says : ' If all this at present seems improper, the noble simplicity and inno- 
 cence of the early Christians took no offense at it. They had but one thought about 
 the matter, which was the importance and sacredness of the " mysteries." They 
 looked at everv thing of the natural order in the same sacred light.'''" And even 
 
, aduiinililu tliiny 
 
 ! Xakt 
 
 ■d yuti liavf heen 
 
 vuursrlf; 
 
 
 
 (s iiiiiiicrscMl at'tiM 
 
 •this ta 
 
 shiun. I)c..,.ndiLT 
 
 f KliuiiMs. in tlR' 
 
 carhodr; 
 
 ;il ha].fi>trry of t: 
 
 V -AU,] calls tur n; 
 
 irraticm. 
 
 , TIk- t'ontl'dc.-: 
 
 le was a rival n{ 
 
 the Fi' 
 
 ank I'onfedLTary 
 
 >scii as the wliili 
 
 landur-ii 
 
 i-chicf to i\'|i<d 1 
 
 hold, l.ravu and 
 
 desiU'i'al 
 
 :v warrior. Uv ii 
 
 222 CLOris, KINC OF THE FRANKS. 
 
 St. (.»tho, liislH-ii.if nand.er- tulls us most s,,l,.niiiK- that ' Nothiii- indrcrnt. nothinir 
 .slianudul; in short, iiothin.;- at all that rouM U- dislike! hy any one.- t.M,k |>iace, and 
 tliat 'no honest |M-rsoiis al)stractiMl theiii.sulvus from haptism in .■onsciiicnce of sliamc' 
 In<lcc(k why sJHMdd they, when tiiis was the lii-iiest fashion ..f the times ^ for Sim- 
 eon Metaphrastos states tliut the Emperor Constantine was entirely nude when 
 immersed ; and so was Jobia, daughter of Sapor, the King of Persia. Besides, 
 Angiisline enforces the i^ractice with this religious consideration: ' Xaked wc were 
 boi'n, naked we go to the wasliing, and naked we go to the gate id' hea\en ;' while 
 Cyril addresses the newly imniensed tlins: ' As soon as you approached, you took otf 
 youi' clothing and so were naked. ' 
 the sight of all and you did not sham 
 
 Clovis, the King of the Franks, 
 A. 1). 4'.tt;, by Uemigins, the F.ishop 
 city. His case is a, most inteivsting ( 
 of'the Alenianni on the Middle \l\ 
 
 the Lower Rhine, and Clovis was ch,>sen as the commander-in-chief to repel the 
 invasion ..f their territory. He 
 the foe in lierce encounter at Ziilpich, about twenty niiles south-west of Cologne, 
 and the battle tlireatened to go against him. He, therefore, called upon his gods for 
 help, but in vain. His wife, Clotilda, a Burgundian princess who was a Christian, 
 had made t'very effort to coiivei't liim ; but while lie permitted his two sons to be 
 liajitized, hi' doubted the power of Christ unless he interpwsed specially in his behalf. 
 Yet, he joined her in prayer to Christ, and vowed to become a Christian if he 
 won a \ictory. (Tix'gory, of Tours, gives the folliiwiug as his prayer: 
 
 'The army of Clovis began to rush to sure destruction; but he seeing this, 
 pained at tlie heart, moved to tears and with eyes lifted u[) to the lieavens. said : 
 "O, Jesus Christ, whom Clotilda ileelares to be the Son of the living God, thou who 
 art said to give help to the stiuuiiliiig and victory to those hoping in thee; devoted 
 to thee, I entreat the glory ol thy a>-istance; and if thou wilt indulge me with vic- 
 tory over these enemies, and I shall have full experience of that valor whicli the 
 people dedicated to thy name proclaim that they have put to the proof, I shall believe 
 upon thee, and 1 sliall be baptized in thy name. For I have called upon my gods, 
 and they have been far from helping ine; from whicli consideration 1 believe that 
 the gods who do not come to those obeying them are invested with, no power. Now, 
 I call upon thee, and I desire to believe upon thee, only let me not be overtlirown 
 by my adversaries." And when he said these things, the Alenianni began to seek 
 flight; and when they perceived that their king was killed, they put themselves under 
 the authority of Clovis, saying, "We enti-eat that no more people may be killed ; we 
 are thine." ' 
 
 Gregory adds that the queen then sent for the bishop to show him the way of 
 salvation, and the king raised the difficulty that his people would not permit him to 
 forsake his gods. On consulting them, however, they sliouted, ' We are prepared 
 to follow tlie immortal God.' Then, Kemigius ordered the baptistery prepared, and 
 the whole city flocked to the cathedral, or more properly to the ' temple of baptism ' 
 
IMMEUSiny OF CI. oris. 223 
 
 au joining. The king walked tlirougii the streets nnder painted canvas, a(h>iiie(l 
 witii white curtains, and tlie baptismal building was lighted by wax tapers, and tilled 
 with what he claims to have been a celestial perfume, an odor of Paradise. As 
 the monarch entered this splendor, and the sweetest music floated to his ear, he 
 asked the bishop if this was the kingdom of heaven of which he had heard, and 
 was answered, ' No! but it is the beginning of the way thither.' Tiie baptistery in 
 which Clovis was immersed was a large tank, or pool, which tradition has removed 
 to Paris, where it is n.iw found in tlir r.iMinthcMpiL- Rationale. It is seven feet 
 long, two and a half leet deej), about the same in width, and is of polished por- 
 phyry. Alcuin gives substantially the same account, representing the eagerness of 
 the king to lie 'Washed in the living fountain of Catholic baptism, for the remis- 
 sion of sins and for the hope of eternal life. He led the eager king to the fountain 
 of life, and when he came he washed him in the fountain of eternal salvation. 8ii, 
 tiie king was baptized with his nobles and people, who rejoiced to receive the sacra- 
 ment of the healing bath, divine grace having been previously given them.' Before 
 the bishop immersed him he said : 'Meekly bow thy neck, Sicambrian ; worship that 
 which thou hast burnt, burn that which thou hast worshiped.' Three thousand of 
 his warriors and large numbers of his subjects were i)aptized with him, amongst 
 them his two sisters. Hincinar says that the throng which pressed to baptism 
 was so great, that the priest could not press through witli the; consecrated oil, ' hence, 
 in a wonderful manner another oil appeared.'' Avitus, P.isiiop of Vienne, wrote 
 him a letter, saluting him 'as one liorn out of the water;' immersed in what 
 Gregory calls 'afresh fountain.' Thus, the founder of the French nation made 
 confession of the orthodox faith, and was thrice immersed. At that time Ik; was 
 the only orthodox nnmarch in Europe, the others being Arians, for which reason 
 he was called the ' Eldest Son of the Church.' His subsecpient moral inconsistencies 
 show more martial enthusiasm in his conversion than sacrificial cross-bearing ; an 
 epitome of his wliole life being condensed into his exclamation when he first heard 
 of Christ's crucifixion : ' Had I been there with my brave Fi-anks, I would have 
 avenged his wrongs.' 
 
 This century is marked by many ti'anslations of the Seriptm-es. Theodoret. a 
 Syrian bishop, says: 'The Hebrew Scriptures are not only translated into the lan- 
 guage of the Grecians, but also of the Romans, the Indians, Persians, Armenians, 
 Scythians, Sarmatians, Egyptians ; and, in a woi'd, into all the languages that are 
 used by any nation.' Mesrobe, a devout Christian Minister of State to the King 
 of Armenia, translated them into the Ai'menian at this time. He formed an alpha- 
 bet of thirty-six letters in order to do his work ; and made his version first from the 
 Syriac, and then from a Greek manuscript which was sent to hitn from the Council 
 of Ephesus, A. D. 431. On account of its exact and elegant simplicity, it is called 
 the ' Queen of Versions." He uses the word ' rnogredil ' to express baptifem, a word 
 which signifies immerse. 
 
224 TRADITION KNb'OUCKD. 
 
 This age crcntccl tliosc wuiHlcTful, illuminatiMl hihlicul iiKinuseripts, written, in 
 many cases, un reil, violet or dark purple pareliineiit, often in letters of gold ui 
 silver, with illu>trated l.orders and eapitals. Many of tlieni were brilliant beyond 
 description, bound in i\ory and studded with genj.s. The Eiu]ieror Theodosins 
 devote.l hiinsL'lf to the study of the Bible, and with his own hand jirodueed a coi)y 
 of the (iospels ill letter^ of -old, formed by a eheniieal solution ...f that metal. It 
 was also in this century that Patrick instructed the Irish in the use of the lionian 
 letters. 
 
 ( 'lenient, of Alexandria, had warned Christians against the authority of antiquity 
 and tradition, and saw no cure, therefore, but the "written wi.ird.' llii said that 
 he alone was right: 'Who pursuing this course from year to year, in converse with 
 and conformity to the Scriptures, keeps to the rule of the Ajjostolic and ecclesiastical 
 jiuiity, arcording to the Gospel and those established truths which, as giveu by the 
 Lord, by the law and the prophets, whoever seeks shall find.' Instead of following 
 this counsel, however, tradition came in like a flood. Even Chrysostom taught : ' It is 
 clear that they (the Apostles) did not deliver all things by their epistles, but com- 
 municated many things without writing; and these, too, demand our assent of faith; 
 it is fiadition, make no further inquiry.' ^'^ E])iphanius, of Salamis, declares as 
 roundly: 'Tradition is necessary; all things cannot be learned from the Scriptures. 
 The Apostles left some things in writing, others by tradition.' " On this ground, 
 every absurd practice was justified. Basil puts such questions as these : ' We sign 
 with the sign of the cross. Who has taught this in Scripture? We consecrate the 
 water of baptism and the oil of unction, as well as him who receives baptism. From 
 what Scripture ? Is it not from private and secret tradition ? Moreover, the anoint- 
 ing with oil, what passage of Scripture teaches this? Kow a man is thriee immersed. 
 From whence is it derived or delivered ? Also the rest of what is done in bajitism : 
 as to renounce Satan and his angels. From what Scripture have we it i Is not 
 this from private and secret tradition i ' '- 
 
 Chrj'sostom talks similar inane nonsense of the Supper. He tells us of ' The 
 dreadful and mystic Table.' ' The Lamb for thee is slaughtered, the priest foi- thee 
 contends, the spiritual fire from the sacred table ascends, the cherubim holding 
 their stations round about, while the seraphim hovering around, and the six-winged 
 veiling their faces, while for thee the incorporeal orders along with the priest inter- 
 cede.' . . . 'iN'ot as bread shouldst thou look at that, neither esteem that as wine, for 
 not like other aliment do these descend into the draught.' . . . 'Think not that ye 
 receive the divine body, as from the hand of man ; but rather as was the fire from 
 the tongs of the very seraphim given to Isaiah.' '^ 
 
 Think of cherubim veiling their faces, lest they catch a glimpse of bread and 
 wine ! No wonder that Tully, when ridiculing the heathen notion of the times, asks, 
 ' Was any man ever so mad as to take that which he feeds upon, for a god ? ' ^ We 
 can suppose that the angels shudder when men say that they eat the body, soul and 
 divinity of Jesus Christ, and when they say that bread and wine, if dropped into 
 
MIRACLES OF TIIH SlPPh'/!. 22S 
 
 the mouth of the dying and the dead works a miracle, as the Christians did at tiiis 
 time. Gregory Nazianzen, declares that when his sister Gorgonia was suffering 
 from a severe malady she Iknv to the ' altar,' and holding it fast obtained an instant 
 cure, by rubbing her buily witli a few crumbs and drops of the elements. Evagrius 
 reports that it was the custom at Constantinople, for the school-boys to eat what 
 remained of the consecrated bread after the Su2)per. The son of a Jewisli glass- 
 blower, in wrath threw another boy into a glowing furnace, but a woman in a pur- 
 ple robe was with him in the Hames, pouring water on the coals, and his motlicr pulled 
 him out unhurt. The fourth canou of the Church of Hippo decreed that : ' The 
 eucharist should not be put into the mouth of the dead. For it was said by our 
 Lord, " Take ye and eat." But corpses cannot receive or eat.' Ferrandus, a 
 deacon of Carthage, was sorely tried because a black slave was taken with a vio- 
 lent fever and baptized before death, while unconscious. The deacon wrote to 
 Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe, to know whether he was saved without the Supper. 
 He thought that possibly he might be. In this he differed from Gelasius I., Bishop 
 of Rome, who said : ' Jesus Christ, with his heavenly voice, pronounces, " Except 
 ye eat my flesh and drink ray blood, ye have no life in you." We see no excejition 
 made, nor has any one dared to say, that an infant without this sacrament of salva- 
 tion can be brought into eternal life. But without this life he will no doubt be in 
 everlasting death.' In a word, the Supper had long been the subject of sad abuses. 
 The third Council of Carthage, A. D. 397, was obliged to check these, and forbid 
 the custom of giving the bread and wine to the dead, or of burying them with the 
 dead, as was often practiced. By the close of the sixth century, there was no end 
 to the ridiculous virtues claimed for these elements, many fanatics declaring that they 
 had raised the dead.^' John Moschus, of Jerusalem, has the effrontery to tell this 
 ' lying wonder ' of a certain pillar-saint, namely : ' That he threw these elements into 
 a boiling hot caldron, when lo ! immediately it was cold, while the bread and wine 
 remained dry and safe ! ' 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SIXTH, SEVENTH, EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES. 
 
 THE period Htretcliing fn.iii tlio tiftli tu the tifteentli ceiitiirv is nitvn spoken 
 of as tlie Middle Ages, and the liivt half of that time as the Dark Ages; 
 because of feudal and papal violence, the univei-sal reign of injiistiee and the torpor 
 of the intellect. Innocent and Leo had long struggled to bring Christendom under 
 the supremacy of the Eoman See. This, Gregory the Great succeeded in doing. At 
 
 -% 
 
 
 .RCH EDIFRE 
 
 the close of the seventh age, .Mexandria and Antioch were captured by the Saracens, 
 with great suffering to the Churehes, ^\•llile the Eastern Empire was fast declining 
 and the Koman pontiffs were left without i-ivals. 
 
 As yet, we have said nothing of the introduction of the Gospel into the Brit- 
 ish Isles, and as the sixth century marks their Christian history ycry strongly, it will 
 be proper to advert to the subject here. These islands were scarcely known to 
 Rome, when her heavy hand was laid upon them under Julius C;vsar. The classic 
 nations and all the seats of ancient government lay to the far East; but these 
 were at the extreme of the wild and barbarous West. When Plantius landed his 
 four legions on the coast of Kent and took firm possession of them, Claudius, his 
 
BlUTAIN CONVERTED. 
 
 227 
 
 th 
 
 statements of Clem 
 of tlie Gospel i^oim 
 
 master, followed, as if to enlarge the emi>irr, Imt really to promote the spread of 
 the Gospel, which was to redeem those dark lauds iVdiii cruel sii])erstition. By A. 1). 
 180, Christianity appears to have reached every province of this colossal realm, from 
 the Danube to Ethiopia and the Libyan Desert, and from the Tigris to Britain. It is not 
 certain when the Gospel reached Britain however ; although Bishops Bull, Burgess 
 and Xewton contend that it was introduced by one of the Apostles. Gildas thinks 
 that it was before the defeat of the British forces under Boadicea, in 61 ; Bull and 
 Newton, that a Church existed there before one was formed in Rome. Pagitt unites 
 in this opinion, calling the Church at Rome not only a sister of the British, but 'a 
 younger sister, too.' Mattlnw i'aris fixes the date at aliout ItlT; Moslieim, in the 
 reign of Marcus Aunliu.s JtW-lsO, being disposed to think that its missionaries 
 took refuge there from Fi-ance when persecution raged at Lyons and Vienna, 177; 
 and Neander, at the close of the second century, and not from Rome but from the 
 East. 
 
 Several of these writers place too uuicli di-pcnd 
 cut Romanus, L-emvus and Eusebius, who speik wit! 
 to ' the end of the West ' at that eai-ly date. (>di 
 bon contributes to this idea by saying, that the high 
 ways 'opened an easy passage to the raissionaiies 
 as well as the legions from Italy to the e\tiennt\ 
 of Spain and Britain.' But Tertullian boasts ot 
 Christ's reign in his day: 'Among people whom 
 the Roman arms have never yet sul)dind In 
 
 the farthest extremities in Spain and (t lul and 
 Britain;' and he iKinios one or more of tliL Jiiitisli 
 converts. St'vei-al writers of the second ccntun 
 make the same statement to persons high m tla 
 State ; which, if they were exaggerated, w ould h i% t 
 defeated their purpose, by provoking otficial conti \ 
 diction. But whatever the date of its intioduction 
 
 may have been, we have many evidences that it has never been entirely rooted out 
 since, although the Anglo-Saxons by the middle of the fifth century invaded 
 Britain, destroyed the Christian places of assembly, slew their pastors, burned the 
 Scriptures, and drove the few ancient British Christians who were left into Corn- 
 wall, Wales and Cumberland, where in part they still retained a footing. About 
 fifty years ago Mr. Mitchell, the antiquarian, disentombed a church building at St. 
 Pieran, on the sand near Truro, Cornwall, which is supposed to have been built before 
 Austin visited Britain, and to have disappeared in the twelfth century, when several 
 parishes on the north-west coast were buried in the sand. The preceding cuts represent 
 this building and tlie stone font found there. Of course, idolatry was re-established 
 wherever Christianity was driven out. Two salient points rise out of this early history, 
 
228 EAULV VIirjsTIA.Ws /.V WALEti. 
 
 iKuiiuly : Were these British Christians aU.>-c'tlicT iincnn-iiptccl fmni tliu .-iiiiplieity of 
 tlie (iospcl hef ore Pope Gregory sent Austin to llritaiii. A. 1 ).:.'.:«; and. Is there 
 any fonnilatidii tnr the oft-repeated assertion that tlie Wel.-h penjile, especially, have 
 never howecl the knee to Rome? It seems iinjiussiMe to detei-iniiie the first of these 
 questions, as the general conviction amongst ixdialile aiithniaties is, that the tnie 
 Church history of this people and time has never lieeii written, and cannot be with 
 the material now at command. What doctrines they held, what ordinances they 
 practiced, and what was the fui'ni of their Church govermuent, are all undeter- 
 mined questions. But it is at least reasonable to suppose, that owing to their polit- 
 ical affinities with Eonie during the fii'st four centuries, Christianity took much the 
 same general character in Britain that it did in other w^estern parts of the empire. 
 We know this as a well-established fact, that when the civil and ecclesiastical powers 
 blended at Rome, the corrupt leaven permeated Christianity elsewhere; and in all 
 likelihood this is true of Britain. 
 
 I'nder the tlieory of uninterrupted Ai)o.stolical succession, the Church of En- 
 gland claims to be a continiiation of this ancient Dritish Ciiiirch. This is clearly a 
 modern invention, to serve her cleigy as a bridge user which tlii'y may trace their 
 line back into the immediate post-Apostolic ('luircli, witln.iut drag-ing the cumbrous 
 chain through all the quagmires of the Church of Rome. The scheme is indeed 
 ingenious, and it is claimed that the Bishops of London and York were both alive, 
 yet in exile, when Austin came to Britain ; but the whole plan lacks the evidence 
 of truth, and wears the air of fancy. The swarm of monks which he found at Ban- 
 gor, Isycoed, Flintshire, N. Wales ; also at Bangor on Carrickfergus Bay, Ii-eland, 
 founded A. D. 530, and in lona, an island of the Hebrides, shows that these Chris- 
 tians who are said never to have bowed the knee to Rome had fallen into the same 
 errors of faith and practice, in some things at least, with others. When we bring 
 the baptism of King Lucius, St. German and Lupus, with their mission and miracles, 
 together with the lives of the Cambro-British saints, such as David, Beuno, Wine- 
 frede and others, into the 'Ancient Christian History of Britain,' we move in 
 the fog of legend and point to Rome as their true source, as surely as the needle 
 points to the pole. 
 
 Gregory sent Austin and his forty monks to Britain to restore what the Saxons 
 had destroyed. Of course, he expected to find some remnants of the old Christianity ; 
 but his chief design was to convert the idolatrous Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who 
 had wrought the havoc. There were few better or wiser men in his day than 
 Gregory, although as a bigot he was very overbearing. And was he ignorant of 
 the fact, that Columba, the Irish nol)leman. known as the ' A])ostle of the Highlands,' 
 had established his great monastery in Scotland, and called his followers the 'Servants 
 oi GoA,^ Keldees? It is of this great school that Dr. -Johnson says, it was the 
 'Luminary of the Caledonian regions, where savage clans ami roving liarbarians 
 derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of rehgiou.' Then, there were 
 
O HE GORY AND AUSTIN. 229 
 
 many other monks, as at Derry and Durrow, making in all at least from five to seven 
 tliousarid, and so the conversion of the Saxons was promising. Pi-obably both these 
 considerations excited the zeal of the pojje, despite that pleasant story of the Angle 
 youths whom he met in the market-place at Rome. For Bertha, daughter of the 
 King of Paris, had become queen to Ethelbert, King of Kent, one of the seven 
 Anglo-Saxon kings of Britain. She had almost persuaded her husband to embrace 
 Christianity. Thus, Gregory sent Austin, a Eoman monk, on this mission of con- 
 verting the king and, if possible, all Britain, and of placing it under the sway of Kunie. 
 He began his work on the island of Thanet, where the king welcomed him, and 
 he then prucccded to C;mterl)ury. Tiie king was baptized A. D. 597, after 
 wiiich he made Austin archbishop of that See, at which place he built his cathe- 
 dral, 602. 
 
 But, in the looseness of the times, Austin had been instructed to adapt the 
 ceremonies of Christianity to the usages of the idolaters, that they might not be 
 shocked by too great a change. And this was done. Bede tells us, that there was 
 often an altar for the sacrifices of paganism and one for Christianity in the same 
 temple ; and Procopius his contemporary adds, that some who had embraced Chris- 
 tianity continued to offer human sacrifices. The old British Christians, however, 
 sternly opposed the pretensions of Austin, who assumed great pomp and arrogance ; 
 spending more of his time in reducing them to conformity to what he called ' the 
 unity of the Catholic Church,' than in converting the heathen. Tp to that time, 
 the Christians of what are now England, Ireland and Scotland had Ijuen free from 
 the direct jurisdiction of Rome, and had maintained their ancient rites and customs. 
 Thus, Austin charged them, saying : ' You act in many particulars contrary to our 
 custom, or rather the custom of the universal Church ; and yet, if you will comply 
 witli nie in these three points, namely : to keep Easter at the due time ; to administer 
 baptism, by which we are again born to God, according to the custom of the holy 
 Roman Apostolic Church ; and jointly with us preach the word of God to the English 
 nation, we will readily tolerate all the other things you do, though contrary to our 
 customs.' This proposition was made at a conference held with the leaders of the 
 British Christians at Chester. But Leland says that they disputed with him with 
 great ability, and refused either to accept him as their archbishop, or the pope as 
 their master, or to change their customs. On the contrary, Dinoth of Bangor said : 
 That they owed love and charity to all Christians, the Bishop of Rome with 
 the rest, ' But other obedience to the pope we know not.' He then censured the 
 pope for usurpation, and asked Austin to restore his unjust and tyrannical ])ower 
 into the hands whence it came. Whereupon Austin threatened them with war and 
 death, for he was filled with indignation. 
 
 They refused to observe Easter at the same time with the Uomish connnunioii, 
 because they did not believe that the ]K)1ic cclclirated it at tiu; pmper time. Tiiey 
 refused to preach U> the Saxons, because they had driven tiiem frum their homes, 
 
well .1.1(1 fully cstaM 
 
 i^hrd, su that i.ial 
 
 terized tliciii a^ ' Soi 
 
 mil ill the faith, a 
 
 of Christ, as it was 
 
 .IcIivcTcd to tJK 
 
 stateiiK'iit, however, 
 
 diK's not tlii'ow S( 
 
 230 AVST/iWS niSl'UTE WITH BRITISH CIimsTIANS. 
 
 had persecuted them cruel Ij, and imw suut^lit to make thcni vassals; and they saw 
 no fitness in cx]iosing theinsclves anew to their wi-atli, on the itare request of a 
 stranger who was pi-eaehing to them himself. As to the sec(.)nd jiarticular, regard- 
 ing bajitism acconling to the custom of RiJine, it is not easy to determine exactly 
 wliat he demanileil. Some tliiiik tliat he rec|nired them to adopt all the ceremonies 
 wliieh the ( 'atliolies had added to tiiat ordinance; and others, that he exacted of 
 them tiie practice of infant baptism. While, perhaps, this point cannot now be fully 
 determined, several things seem to imply that he covered both considerations, and 
 especially the latter. We have no record showing that infant baptism was practiced 
 in Britain at that time, while there are hints that it was ; but in view of the great 
 simplicity of these British Christians, it is at least fair to suppose that it was not 
 ly still doubted its ]ii'opriety. Geoffry charac- 
 nd pure in the worship, order and discipline, 
 ■m from the Apostles and evangelists.' This 
 i much light on the subject as the following 
 facts, namely : 
 
 1. That in 597, aeeording to Bede, Austin 'desired the solution of some doubts 
 that occurred to him,' and sent a letter to Pope Gregory by the hands of Laurentius 
 and Peter the monk, asking for their solution. His eighth question, in part, was 
 this : ' Also, after liow many days the infant born may be baptized, lest lie be pre- 
 vented by death T To whieli tlie [lojie answers : that the child may be baptized, 
 'The very hour it is born, is no way /ifu/i/'/j/'/n? ; because, as the grace of the holy 
 mystery is to be with much discretion pro\ iiled for the living and understanding, so 
 it is to be without any delay offered to tlie<lying; lest, while a further time is souglit 
 to confer the mystery of redemption, a small delay intervening, the per.son to be 
 redeemed is dead and gone.' This was in harmony with what he had decreed 
 not long before Austin put his qiiestion : ' Let all young children be baptized as they 
 ought to be, according to the tradition of the fathers.' 2. But the conference with 
 the British Christians, at which he demanded that tliey should ' administer baptism 
 according to the custom of Rome,' was not held till A. D. 602, about five years 
 after he had asked Gregory to solve his doubts on this question. 3. If Austin him- 
 self, even when he had been ordained ' Archbishop of the English nation,' had 
 doubts on the question as to how many days old a babe should be before he could 
 receive baptism, the pope's answer throws light upon his meaning in the phrase, ' by 
 which we are again born to God,' and more than hints that the Britons neither 
 believed this nor acted accordingly. 5. Disinterested writers, some of them ancient, 
 understand this to have been the subject in dispute. Thierry, in his account of the 
 matter, says of these British Christians, that they refused to believe in the ' dam- 
 nation of infants dying without baptism,' which is the very point that the pope 
 argues. ^ Fabian represents Austin as demanding, ' That ye give Christendom to 
 children,' that is, that they admit children into Christianity, according to the custom 
 
THE sr.Al'GIITEn OF THE MONKS. 231 
 
 of tlio IloiiKiii Cliurcli. G. And as if to show tlio resistance wliicli infant Ijaptism 
 met with, Liiigard tells lis, that as early as the days of the grandson of Ethelbert 
 of Kent : ' Persuaded of the necessity of baptism by the instructions of his teachers, 
 the legislators of Wessex placed all new-born infants under the protection of tlie 
 law, and hij the fear of pwu'shment st\mu\a.ted the diligence of the parents. Tlie 
 delay of a month sul)ject('d tlicni to the penalty of thirty shillings; and if, after 
 tiiat period, tlie child died witliuut having received the sacred rite, nothing less than 
 the forfeiture of their property could expiate the offense.' ^ All this marks the hard 
 struggle which ensued in enforcing infant baptism even upon the converts whom 
 Austin made from the Saxons, and bears strongly upon the second ])oint in his three 
 requisitions. 
 
 Austin told the British Christians that if they would yield these three points, 
 he ' would readily tolerate all the other things' which they did 'contrar}' to our cus- 
 toms.' ' What these were does not appear. But they treated his toleration with 
 contempt, for Geoffrey of Monmouth says that they 'reckoned their faith and 
 religion as nothing, and would no more communicate with the Angles than with 
 dogs.' He then says, that when the King of Kent saw ' That the Britons disdained 
 subjection to Austin, and despised his preaching,' he stirred up Ethelfrid, the King 
 of Nortlmmbria ; a great army was raised, they marched against Bangor, A. D. (il8, 
 and slew these patriots who stood for religious freedom in their own country. Some 
 writers place the number of the monks and priests who were slain as low as two 
 Inmdred, while others put them as high as twelve hundred. And one sucii con- 
 test followed another until, before the end of the eighth century, all tlie Churches 
 of Wales had submitted to the pope's authority. The ' Liber Landavensis ' and other 
 trustworthy documents bear abundant proof of their rapid and thorough fall. But 
 that consumnuition was not reached until the sword, the purse and the pen, of the 
 Saxon, the Dane and the Norman, had all been devoted to the task with untiring 
 energy. 
 
 This period is made immortal by that .stupendous mental and moral revolution 
 which was effected by Mohammed, a native of Arabia, A. D. 509-632. But a degen- 
 erate Christianity had carefully prepared his way, so that every thing was ready for 
 the introduction and spread of his new system. It is difficult to find one body of 
 Christians who, at this time, had not departed in a large measure from the primitive 
 simplicity of Christianity. Metaphysical jargon had taken the place of its doctrines 
 and almost buried its truths. Its holy spirituality had nearly expired in tierce con- 
 tentions, either about matters of no vital consequence or those which never can be 
 settled. The original beauty of its institutions had been frightfully remodeled, and 
 an intolerable weight of ceremonies had ridiculed its pure and unpretending rites out 
 of existence. With obscui-e exceptions, Christians had become a by-word and a hiss- 
 ing in Arabia, and in the East generally. They had given themselves up to legend,*, 
 to the adoration of relics, of images, saints and angels, of Mary-worshi]i, and other 
 
232 MOHAMMED. 
 
 ridiculous and extravagant things. These, together with salvation by baptism, the 
 seeking of soul-food by eating the Sujiper, the forcing of babes into the communion 
 of the Church and their participancy in the Supper, purgatory, ecclesiastical pomp 
 and corruption finished the work ; so that Gregory the Great himself likened the 
 Church to a ship, rotten and leaky, hourly looking for wreck. Slie had become 
 thoroughly indolent, contentious and faithless to her trust, and was ready to be led 
 away with any new doctrine. 
 
 Learning was nearly extinct, or was shut up in the cells of monks. Many of 
 those bishops of whose lordliness we hear so much could neither read nor write, 
 and their lives were given to the most odious forms of iniquity. The Church was 
 full of spurious Gospels and other writings; and stood out before the world in bit- 
 ter strifes and absurd distractions, parading an empty pride which proved to men 
 the need of a new faith and threatened her entire overthrow east of the Bosphorus. 
 The condition of Arabia, social, political, religious, threw powerful influences in 
 favor of a new i-eligion. The Arabians were pre-eminently ignorant, and no one 
 faith prevailed strongly over anotlier, so that no great bond held them together. 
 They were not even united under one civil government, but under several which 
 were at enmity with each other — a condition exactly adapted to combine them under 
 one rapturous book and one bloody sword. Mecca, the birthplace of Mohammed, 
 was also a singular center of religious sects, Jewish, Christian and Pagan ; and he 
 saw the weakening effect of their hostilities, especially in the divisions and hatreds 
 of those who professed the same creeds. In the times of Roman persecution the 
 Jews had flocked there for security, and all sorts of Christians had tied for the 
 same protection, where they could cherish and broach their own views without fear. 
 Of course, in this promiscuous interblending, all kinds of errors mixed themselves 
 with truth, until there came a general decay of first principles. The epoch was 
 specially turbulent. New kingdoms were springing up out of the vast wrecks of 
 the Empire and in their seething jealousies Arabia, which was rising into impor- 
 tance, only required a leader to make her formidable. In a word, he would be a 
 great artist, whose pen could draw a picture so black as to exaggerate the fearful 
 state of things in this age of usurpation, fraud and error, which inflicted its due pen- 
 alty in a dark and endless variety of evils. 
 
 Mohammed was highly gifted by nature. lie was graceful in person and 
 manners, rising superior to many of his country-men in his genius, and highly en- 
 thusiastic. In very early life his powerful mind grasped the great influence of 
 religion over mankind, an idea which drew him into deej) religious contemplation, 
 and rendered him affable to the weak and deferential to the powerful. What his 
 original notions were in framing a new religion, whether enthusiasm or hypocrisy 
 predominated, is a secret left with God. But for years he affected an almost total 
 exclusion from the world, and was ready to burst ujion it with his new revelations 
 just after the Emperor Phocas had conferred upon Gregory the Great the title of 
 
THE KORAX. 233 
 
 Universal Pastor. Phocas had nnirclered his predecessor, Maurice, in order to take 
 the crown, and he desired to j)ro2) up his throne by the support of the Churcli. 
 Gregory had passed through a long, fiery contest for this supremacy in the Chni'ch, 
 and so he sanctioned the usurper and received his reward. But dying at that junct- 
 ure, Boniface took the title, A. D. 606, while the Arabian prophet really opened 
 his public mission in 609 — a remarkable coincidence. The many sects of his own 
 home opened to him a wide field for his joint-political and religious experiment. 
 The first idea which seized his mind was that the doctrine of the Unity of God was 
 in danger of being lost. This one great truth was common to Jews, Christians and 
 Arabs. But pagan polytheists amongst them contradicted this doctrine ; and by 
 gratuitous assertion he accused the Jews of holding a plurality of gods by believing 
 in Ezra as the son of God ; and accused the Christians of the same in the doctrine 
 of the Trinity. By this artiliee he made himself the apostle of the tenet of the 
 Divine Unity, and used it to prove his own legation from God. 
 
 In that gloomy cave at Mount Kara, near Mecca, he made this fundamental 
 article of the Old and New Testament the corner-stone of his new system, lie was 
 shut up to the alternative of framing an entirely new religion, or of grafting new 
 notions of his own into the credibility of those already existing. In this laboratory, 
 therefore, he tampered with Christianity and Judaism, mixing certain elements of 
 these weighty and ancient faiths with a curious compound of pagan superstitions. 
 The admixture under his weird alchemy came forth an eclectic faith from genuine, 
 spurious and apocryphal writings, the Bible, the pagan traditions and the reveries 
 of the Talmud. What did not suit his purpose he threw aside, and studiously accom- 
 modated his teachings to the preconceptions of all sects, yet directly imitating none. 
 For the Jew he recognized the divine authority of Moses; for the Christian the 
 divine mission of Jesus ; and for the pagan he tolerated all his imposing ceremonies. 
 He opened his mission with tact and sagacity, showing that he read the popular 
 mind. He appealed directly to the prejudices and prepossessions of his countrymen ; 
 declaring himself a delegate from God to supplement what Moses and Christ had left 
 unfinished, by improving their work, supplying their deficiencies, closing forever 
 the book of prophecy and thus clothing the new revelation with an air of progress. 
 His sagacious penetration employed all these in the best way to promote his ambition. 
 His largest elements, therefore, were taken from Moses and Christ, as he depended 
 on them for his vivifying principle to be cast into the dull and inert mass, and to 
 give it plausibility and consistency. This was his passport both to Jewish and 
 Christian confidence, and shows his superior skill to use the most powerful auxili- 
 aries in his politic cause. Then he bent the sword around the motley mass to bind 
 it together. This laid bare his design on the State, while the Koran interpreted 
 his purpose on the Church. This singular piece of com])osition, the Koran, is 
 thrown together in the most desultory manner, after the general order of Eastern 
 writing. Yet it possesses great copiousness; it is full of natural, vivid imagery, is 
 
234 THE PAl'LICIANS. 
 
 elcf^iuit ill cadeiiee, and wcaltliy in i-liytlini. Indeed, the Mussulman is prond of 
 wliiit lie calls its ininiitable siihliiiiit v, ami a\'n\vs that for tlii.s reason it cannot be 
 translated out of the Arabic into any other tonnne. 
 
 The Aral)ians were also proud of their descent frum Tshinael, and tlie anti(iiiitv 
 of their temple, which, Moliammed told them, angels liad built fur Abraham, after 
 the pattern i>( that Jinilt for Adam in Paradise, and that Ishmael and Abraham both 
 wdi'shipiMl tliei-e. Hence, he was sent to save his countrvnieu from that idolatry 
 which ad.uvd the stars which lloat.-d ,,ver its venerable walls. But he appealed 
 only to their i)ri(le, tlieir blind prejudices and (jueiicliles. passi,,ns. He gave them 
 a political religion on a level with tlieir sensual lives. There was no mystery in it 
 for their reason U> grapple with or for their faith to fathom, no discipline to keep 
 their depraved appetites in check, no pride to be mortitied and no sacritices imposed 
 for the blessing of others. Then he threw into it the martial element. There were 
 new laurels to conquer, new lields of slaughter for fierceness and rapine to flood and 
 new provinces to possess. In oi'der to fire their zeal lie declared the divine patience 
 exhausted, and tliat every monument of idolatry must be destroyed by the sword. 
 Thus all things favored his plan, and the Church was to reap the terrible harvest 
 which she had sown. Yet there was not light enough left to penetrate the bosom 
 of his odious system ; not piety enough to exhibit a Christian superiority to the im- 
 position. In fact, he urged it upon his countrymen as a better practical religion 
 than any that then existed, and there was little in the spirit or conscience of the 
 so-called Christian Church to contradict him. 
 
 Paulioian history has come to us mainly through the persecutors of the Pauli- 
 cians, and it scarcely has its parallel for calumny in the annals of the centuries. 
 They liave always been coupled with the Manichfeans, and nothing has been too 
 base to say of them. Bossuet and Bowers have distinguished themselves in this 
 calumny, but Bowers has been effectually answered by the learned Lardner. Witli 
 his characteristic narrowness of all whom he dislikes, Bossuet says of them : ' This 
 so hidden a sect, so abominable, so full of seduction, of superstition and hypocrisy, 
 notwithstanding imperial laws which condemned its followers to death, yet main- 
 tained and dift'used itself.' * This is his usual style of treating the sober facts of 
 history, hence so collected a pen as Buckle's charges him with an 'audacious 
 attempt to degrade history,' as ' a painful exhibition of a great genius cramped,' 
 who could ' willingly submit to a prostration of judgment, and could display a lilind 
 credulity, of which in our day even the feeblest minds would be ashamed.' Fene- 
 lon was a lovely spirit and almost adored Bossuet, meeting in return little but 
 taunt and scorn. In his noble book defending Madame Guyoii, he liad ventured 
 to differ in opinion with him on a single point, whereupon Bossuet arrogantly sent 
 a charge of heresy to Rome in 1697 against his gentle fellow-bishop. True, Louis 
 XIV. had trusted him with great responsibilities, bnt the good man was compelled to 
 sign a recantation on pain of death — an act which Bishop Burnet treats with con- 
 
PHOTirS AND SICULU8. 238 
 
 tempt. ' Mosheim esteems him as liglitly as Buckle as a historian, saying : ' This 
 writer certainly did not go to the sources, and being influenced by party zeal, lie 
 was willing to make mistakes.' " Xeither Joi-tin nor Fleury trust him where points 
 of orthodo.xy or Church authority are concerned. 
 
 The older writers cherished a singular inveteracy against the ^lanicha^ans as 
 if they were fiends incarnate. Eusebius denounces Manes as a ' barbarian,' a ' mad- 
 man,' 'diabolical and furious,' and otherwise speaks so unguardedly that the discreet 
 Lardner says of the great historian in this case, he 'appears out of humor and 
 scarce mi\stcr of himself.' Without doubt, the system of Manes was abstruse, intri- 
 cate and subtile, therefore it must be examined with the more care. It was a piece 
 of mystic theology and cold-blooded reasoning which brought the theories of the 
 Gnostic to a point of logical extravagance, and mingled the doctrines of the Magi 
 with those of Christ. It allied with it little superstition, but aiming at the pro- 
 foniidest philosophy, it was as cold as ice ; this alone put it beyond the grasp of a 
 fiery spirit like Bossuet, and he confounded the Paulicians with the ManichsBans, 
 principally because he implicitly trusted their two enemies, Photius and Siculus, the 
 authors who have sent their names down from the nintli century on a tide of acrid 
 invective. Arnold of Germany, Beausobre and Lardner have honored themselves 
 and the subject with sedate investigation and judicial candor, and have set ri<;ht 
 many of the inconsistencies and contradictions of Photius and Siculus. Let us ex- 
 amine the competency of these two witnesses. Who were they and to what did 
 they testify ? 
 
 Photius possessed great ability, Ijut he was an interested party in his own 
 evidence, and we may fairly question how far he is entitled to absolute credence. 
 As Patriarch of Constantinople, no one was more interested than he in crushing the 
 Paulicians. He was a layman, a great diplomat, and headed one of the most 
 scandalous dissensions of his times. In five days he hurried himself through the 
 five necessary orders, to become Patriarch on the sixth day, thrusting himself 
 into the place of Ignatius, son of Michael I., a man of blameless character, who 
 was deposed because he refused tlie put the Empress out of the way of plotting 
 Bardas by forcing her into a nuntiery. But Pope Nicolas I., by the advice of a 
 synod held at Rome, dej^osed Photius as an usurper, A. D. 862. In turn, Photius 
 excominunicated the pope, but Gass says that another synod deposed Photius in 
 867 as 'a liar, adulterer, parricide and heretic' He was restored to the patriarchate 
 on the death of Ignatius, but was degraded and banished by the Emperor Leo in 
 886 for political intrigue and embezzlement of the public money. This is the 
 chief witness on whose word the Paulicians are condemned. 
 
 Peter Siculus is not so well-known ; but he was a nobleman under Basil when 
 that emperor drifted into a war with the Paulicians. He was sent to Fabrica, a 
 Paulician town, to negotiate an exchange of prisoners, remaining there from seven 
 to nine months under restraint, within an enemy's lines by suiferance. After this, 
 
236 THE PAULICIANS t^LANDERED. 
 
 lie piY'ti'iids til wi'ite tlieir liistoi'v iis ;i sect. Uiit tliry wci-i' s|ilit up into several 
 sects, !Ui(l lii.w could lie Icarii the lii^torv of tlinii all in that place ami time; Tlie.y 
 were scattered, accordiuii' to (Wlilioii, 'through all the regions of Pontus and Cappa- 
 docia,' and made up i.f 'tlie remnant of the Gnostic sects,' with many converted 
 Catholics, and ' tiiose of the religion of Zoroaster.' This was the training he received 
 for writing a liistory of the Paulicians, under the absurd notion that they were fol- 
 lowei-s of Manes. Gass remarks that Photius wrote his book before A.D. 867, and 
 Siculiis wi-olc Ills after 8G8, the latter having a 'curious resemblance' to the former, 
 from which Sicidiis 'borrowed.' Gibbon charges him with 'much prejudice and pas- 
 sion' in defining 'the six capital errors of the Paulicians.' Xow, on common legal 
 principles, what iy the value of these two witnesses? Had they full knowledge of 
 thcsuhject to which they dejiosed ? Were they disinterested and vmbiased ? And 
 did their testimony harmonized On tlie iirst of these questions we have scant 
 knowledge. As to the second, no more partial witnesses could be chosen, one being 
 patriarch of that religion which the Paulicians o^jposed, the other embassador to 
 a jii-ince who was seeking their lives. And as to the third, their testimony conflicts 
 in many iioiiits, and bears the marks of ill-will. They op.enly take the place of 
 accusers rather than of witnesses, and treat them as enemies whom they would 
 destroy. Photius makes no attempt to disguise his hatred, but bluntly titles his 
 book ' against ' them. Then, Siculus is so violent in his denunciation that he spends 
 his strength and space in scorning what they denied, rather than in stating what 
 they held, his deepest grievance being, that they rejected so much that he avowed. 
 The whole aniinns of their design and drift is seen in their uidjlushing effort to 
 stigmatize them as j\Linicli;eans. 
 
 The Paulicians themselves certainly shoidd have known what they were, and 
 both these witnesses explicitly state that they repelled this cliarge with great spirit. 
 Rut what difference did that make with these maligners? So long as they could be- 
 fo\d their fame by that odious brand, they pinned the charge to them as if it were 
 true, (iibbon states that the Paulicians disclaimed 'the theology of Manes, and 
 the autlioi-s of the kindred heresies, and the thirty generations, or aeons, which 
 had been created by the fruitful fancy of Valentine. The Paulicians sincerely 
 condemned the niemury and the ojiinions of the Manichaean sect, and complained 
 (if the injustice which impresse<l tliat invi<lious name on the simple votaries of 
 St. Paul and of Christ.'' All through, these witnesses judged them by a false 
 standard of their own raising, while the Paulicians are allowed no counter evidence 
 nor cross-examination, nothing but denial and protest. Photius pretended fair play 
 when he took up his pen to write ' Contra Manichaeos ' in one book, without telling 
 what they did believe ; and then, on a false assumption, followed that by three 
 others to confute them as though they were disciples of Manes. Mosheira protests 
 against such a bare-faced abuse when he says of the Paulicians: 'They declared 
 their abhorrence of Manes and his docti'ine, and it is certain that they were not gen- 
 
BEARING FALSE WITNESS. 237 
 
 uine Maniehaeans, altliough tliej might liuld soine doctrines hearing a re8enii)hiMcc> 
 to those of that sect. ' 
 
 There were different chisses of Maniciiaeans as well as Pauiicians, but Piiotius 
 and Siciilns hiinp tlicin en masse and convict themselves again and again of mis- 
 representation in matters of public notoriety. They were much like Augustine, 
 who for nine years had been a zealous ManicluBan, and whose loudest complaint 
 against them aftei"ward was that they laughed at Catholic credulity and mocked at 
 its authority, setting up reason against these, as well they might. Photius and 
 Siculus weaken themselves by that silence which shows that they did not tell the 
 wliole truth, as well as renders it doulirful wliether tliry told nothing but the 
 truth. Wc liod such contradictions as these in their testimony. They admit that 
 Constantino, the leader of the Pauiicians, received the New Testament as his 
 inspired guide, and cited it to prove his tenets, and then charge him with claiming to 
 speak by the Holy Spirit. They fail to charge him with teaching any new doctrine, 
 but allege that he pretended to speak by the Holy Spirit, and then charge him with 
 borrowing his doctrines from the Scythian, Pythagoras, and other pagan teachers ! 
 They contemn him for professing to be the very power of God, but fail to show that 
 he ever attempted miracles ! They ridicule the Pauiicians as an aristocratic organiza- 
 tion, then sneer at them because they gave the Scriptures to every bod}', because 
 they had no priests, and because, instead of listening to the ravings of their inspired 
 leader, they read tlie Scriptures jjublicly ! They charge them with dissolute lives, 
 with gluttony and obscenity at their festivals ; and in the same breath tell us that 
 they studiously married, drank no wine and ate no flesh ! TJiey taught that they 
 might eat fruit, herbs, bread, but neither eggs nor iish. In other things they 
 discredit their whole testimony under the ordinary rules which govern evidence. 
 
 So far as we know the true history of the Pauiicians is this. They first 
 appeared about A.D. 660, and on this wise. Constantine, a young Armenian and 
 a Mauichaean, sheltered a Ciiristian deacon who was flying from Mohammedan 
 captivity in Syria. Grateful for his hospitality, the deacon gave him a copy of 
 the Four Gospels and Paul's Epistles. These the youth prized as a new treasure 
 from God. Gibbon says: 
 
 ' These books became the measure of his studies and the rule of his faith ; and 
 the Catholics, who dispute his interpretation, acknowledge that his text was genuine 
 and sincere. But he attached himself with peculiar devotion to the writings and 
 character of St. Paul. The name of the Pauiicians is derived by their enemies from 
 some unknown and domestic teacher ; but I am confident that they gloried in their 
 
 aftinity to the Apostle to the Gentiles In the Gospels and the Epistles of 
 
 St. Paul, his faithful follower investigated the creed of primitive Christianity ; and, 
 whatever may be the success, a Protestant reader will applaud the spirit of the 
 inquiry.' 
 
 He then aflirms that the Pauiicians respected the Old Testament, the Epistles of 
 Peter and the teachings of Manes. 
 
238 PAULIOIAJVS AND THE OltDINANCES. 
 
 It is lianl t(, ul.tain tlicir full cived. Siculiis lilc-sscs -flic divine :ind orthodox 
 Einperors," Ikm-iiiisi' tln'V (•(HuinittLMl their li.i.iks to tlic llaiiR-s. -and it' any person be 
 found to have secreted tiiem, lie was to lie put to death, and his goods coiiiiscated.' 
 Beausobre states that tliev a-reed but little with the Manichaeans, gave the Scriptures 
 to all, even women, and treated the w<irsliip of crosses, images, rehcs and Mary with 
 ctinteuipt. hike the Friends, they had no urder of clergy or pastors, but held their 
 assemblies as a universal priesthood, having no councils, synods or association ; or, 
 as Gibbon expresses it, their ' teacliers were distinguished only by their scriptural 
 names, by the modest title of fellow-pilgrims, by the austerity of their lives, their 
 zeal or knowledge, and the credit of some extraordinary gifts uf the Ilnly Spirit. 
 But they were incapable of desiring, or at least obtaining, the wealth and honors of 
 the Catholic prelacy ; such anti-Christian pride they bitterly censured, and even the 
 rank of elder or presbyter was condemned.' They rejected the perpetual virginity 
 of Mary, but lielie\ed that she gave birth to the budy of Jesus precisely as its form 
 came fi-tmi heaven. lH)r these reasons they eould nnt live in the Greek Church, nor 
 could they be Maniclueans, believing and practicing as they did, neither were they 
 Baptists. 
 
 In regard to iKijitism and the Supper, Neandei' says that they rejected 'The 
 outward celebration of the sacraments;' and Gibbon, that ' In the practice, or at least 
 in the theory of the sacraments, the Paulicians were inclined to abolish all visible 
 objects of worship, and the words of the Gospel were, in their judgment, the bap- 
 tism and communion of the faithful.' By which is clearly meant, that they neither 
 used the elements of water in ba]itisiii, nor of bread and wine in the Suiqier. They 
 believed in a baptism known as the Consolamentum or baptism of the Spirit, which 
 they administered by laying a copy of the Gospels on the head of the candidate, 
 accomjianied with prayer. As to the Supper, they fed on Christ only by faith in the 
 heart, regarding this as the S]iirit of the institution. In a word, on the ordinances 
 they were in substance Quakers. In this, again, they differed from the Manichgeans, 
 who both administered water baptism and the Supper, in the use of the projier ele- 
 ments, as is seen in the dispute of Felix with Augustine, and the accusations against 
 them of Leo the Great ; though Beausobre surmises that they used water instead of 
 wine at the Supper, because of their known abstinence from wine. The simple fact 
 appears to be, that they became so thoroughly disgusted with all the ceremonies and 
 nonsense which the Catholics threw about baptism, making it regeneration de facto, 
 and with the ridiculous abomination of transubstautiation, that they rejected both, 
 by swinging to the other extreme. And no wonder. Clearly enough, they were 
 Reformed Manichseans, who were disgusted with the rubbishly teachings of the times 
 all around, and were groping their way back to primitive truth as best they could, 
 with the little light that they possessed. They were terribly troubled with Gnos- 
 ticism and Oriental Magisra, as were most of the Christians of their day, and were 
 filled with all sorts of speculations as to the nature of God, the origin of matter, its 
 
TUEin Sl'lIlirCAI.ITV. 239 
 
 relations to moral and physical c\ il : ami so wure poor specimens of Christians any 
 way, wlien measured after the lull unler uf the Gospel. But the Christian world 
 at that time alforded nothing better. Dr. Semler accords them more correct ideas 
 of godliness, worship and Church government than the Catholics of that time, and 
 these virtues drew upon them more persecution froui the hierarchy than their doc- 
 trinal views. Besides, as we shall see hereafter, the germ of a great movement in 
 the right direction was lodged in them, which, finally, led to the most gratifying 
 results. 
 
 As best tliey could, they were trying to get at the Bible and to follow its 
 light. Wolff, the Editor of ' Photius,' speaks of them as mightily affecting Apos- 
 tolical things, because they changed their surnames to scriptural names, as Timothy, 
 Titus and Sylvanus, and called themselves ' Christians,' as if Catholics were Koinan 
 and heathen ; they also designated their Churches by New Testament titles, as 
 Ephesians, Colossians, and the like. All this was of little account, but the future 
 showed that this love of the Bible grew with them, for Siculus tells ns of the luaii- 
 ner in which Sergius one of their most successful defenders was converted to their 
 views, about 810. A Paulician woman asked him : ' Why do you not read the holy 
 Gospels i ' He replied, ' It is not lawful for us laymen, but only for the priests.' She 
 pressed him to the privilege, declaring that God desired all to be saved, and showed 
 him his right to the Scriptures, as a good Quakeress or Baptist woman might ; and 
 being converted, he stirred Western Asia for more than a generation and brought 
 nameless thousands to Christ. 
 
 It may be well to say, in closing, that some think the conversion of yoiuiii Con- 
 stantine a mere revival of this sect. Mosheim finds its origin in two bidthers, I'aul 
 and John, natives of Samasoto, and Photius in another Paid, who lived under the reign 
 of Justinian II. Several state that this sect had been trtateil with great rigor in a 
 ninnbcr of imperial edicts, and had almost disappeared when Constantine revived it, 
 only to be treated with greater barbarities. Be this as it may, he preached his doc- 
 trines with all his might for seven-and-twenty years, and they spread wide and fast, 
 shaking the whole of Asia Minor, reaching to the Euphrates. Such vast numbers 
 of Catholics were converted, that the Emperor sent Simeon, one of his officers, witli 
 a military force to Cibossa, to bring the guilty preacher to justice. Gibbon touch- 
 ingly describes the scene, when he says : ' By a refinement of cruelty, they placed 
 the unfortunate man before a line of his disciples, who were commanded, as the price 
 of their pardon and the proof of their repentance, to massacre their spiritual father. 
 They turned aside from the impious office ; the stones dropped from their filial 
 hands, and of the whole number, only one executioner could be found, a new David, 
 as he is styled by the Catholics, who boldly overthi-ew the giant of heresy. This 
 apostate, Justus by name, again deceived and betrayed his unsuspecting breth- 
 ren, and a new conformity to the acts of St. Paul may be found in the conversion 
 of Simeon ; like the Apostle, he embraced the doctrine which he had been sent to 
 
1,(1 u-n,\v „„ 
 
 n^^■ ami iiKU'e, and so 
 
 F the EustLT 
 
 n Cliun-li it.-^L'lf tiiat 
 
 7'J(i, pruLili 
 
 litiiii;- tiie woi'shi]) of 
 
 tliiVL- huiidi 
 
 i-cil and thii'ty-eiglit 
 
 t tliuir use. 
 
 Tiic result was that 
 
 240 TJ/J'J J'A ULICJAA'.S PKlH^KailTKI). 
 
 jHTscciilr, ivnouncing his honm-.- and lortuiie,-, and acM^uii'cd amongst the P 
 the I'anic of a missionary and a martyi-.' 
 
 Jlut, as is usual in such cases, the word of 
 pi'evaik'il. Such a. change came over the spiiit 
 Leo Isaui'icus tiie i']iiiiieror issued an edict, A. 1 
 images; and in T.H his son called a council < 
 hisiiops, who condemned not oidy their worship 1 
 the Churches were cleared of images, and pictures of tlie crucifixion only were left, 
 the images being publicly burned. The Roman Pontiff resented this, and civil war 
 followed, with all sorts of complications between the rulers, both of Church and State. 
 Under the Emperor Nicephorus their religious liberty and privileges had been 
 restored. P.nt persecution broke out afresh under Michael Caropalatus and Leo 
 the Arnieniai). Tlien their endurance failed. They rebelled, slew the tyrannical 
 Bishop of Neo-Cesartea, with the Emperor, magistrates and judges, and took refuge 
 with the Saracens. But one persecution followed another until tlie Panlicians allied 
 themselves with the Mussulmans to save their people from total extermination. The 
 Empress Theodora issued a fresh edict against them, and between A. D. .s:32 
 and 846 one hundred thousand of them were put to death in the most barbarous 
 manner. Infuriated with their persecutors, they took up arms in self-defense, and 
 the contest continued in one shape or another until, in 973, large numbers of them 
 were transported to Philippopolis, south of the Balkan mountains, in what is now 
 called Bulgaria. For more than a century the Paulicians stood with unshaken for 
 titude, which the sword was unable to suppress. Like men, they defended their 
 rights to home, religion and liberty under the holy sanctions of rebellion against 
 intolerable tyranny. And now they were accorded full religious freedom in their 
 transportation, on condition that they would guard the borders against the pagans. 
 But the conflict between them and the Greeks continued till the twelfth century. 
 Alexius Comnenus put forth some kind efforts to reclaim them, but failed, and they 
 finally took refuge in Europe, where we shall meet them again amongst the Albi- 
 genses. Anna Comnena tells the sad story in her great historical work. ^ God 
 wrought mighty things through the Paulicians. 
 
 In the sixth century, the Philoxemian (Syraic) version of the New Testa- 
 ment M'as produced by the Bishop of Hierapolis, who was a thorough opponent 
 of image worship. He was denounced as a Manichsean, and the Emperor Justin 
 banished him into Thrace, where his enemies murdered him. In translating the word 
 haptizo he used the word ' amad,' immerse, as it was used in the Peshito. Mar Abba 
 translated the Old Testament into Syriac about the same time. The Arabic version 
 was made in the seventh century, and employs two words for this purpose, '■amada,'' 
 and 'tsalaffha,' both of which give the sense of immerse and are used inter- 
 changeably in the version. It may be noted here, that this period originated the 
 practice of obliterating the manuscript text of Scripture from the face of vellum or 
 
VAJi'/ors vKRsross. 
 
 241 
 
 ENT CYIUL IMilEUSING 
 
 parchment by some chemical process, by boiling, or the use of quick-lime. As this 
 was done for gain in sale, the Council of Trullo, in canon Ixviii, forbade the practice 
 on pain of excommunication. 
 
 In the gloom of the eiglitii cuiitury tiie 
 word of God shone here and there as in a dark 
 place. The Persic Version, as now known, came 
 into existence, rendering the words relating to 
 baptism by the terms s/tustcm, shuyidan, or wash. 
 But in its influence upon modern Christianity, we 
 have the much more important translation of 
 the four Gospels into the Anglo-Saxon. The 
 Saxons from Northern Germany and the Angles 
 from Denmark, who emigrated to Britain A. D. 
 449, spoke dialects of the same language, which 
 in process of time blended and became known 
 as the Aiiglo-Saxon in England ; for the Angles 
 gave their own name to their new home, En- 
 gle-land. This work was executed by that gi-eat 
 Saxon, the Venerable Bede, who almost with 
 his last breath dictated to his amanuensis the closing words of John's Gos- 
 pel. Lewis mentions a very ancient version of the four Gospels in the old 
 Saxon, said to be made by one Alfred a priest as early as the year 080, but it is 
 lost. Two days before Bede's death he was taken suddenly ill ; he breathed witii 
 great difficulty and his feet began to swell. He undei'stood what this meant, and 
 dictated all the day long, saying : ' Make haste, I know not how long I shall hold 
 out ; my Maker may take me away very soon.' His scribe remarked, ' There is 
 but one chapter more.' The man of God replied, ' It is easy ; take your pen, dip it 
 in ink and write as fast as you can." He did so, and coming to the end of 
 the chapter, said : ' Master, but one sentence is wanting.' ' Write it quickly,' said 
 the dj'ing translator. 'It is done,' cried the amanuensis.' 'Thuu hast well 
 said the truth,' rejoined the gasping bishop, ' it is finished. Hold my head 
 with thy hands ; let me sit on the holy spot where I have so often prayed, and I 
 will invoke my Father.' When placed on the pavement of his cell, he sung ' Glory 
 be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.' And as the word ' Spirit ' 
 dropped from his lips he breathed his soul into the bosom of Jesus before the ink 
 on the last chapter of John was fairly dry. 
 
 He rendered his work faithfully. The words used by him to express the Chris- 
 tian ordinance of baptism were dyppan, fidlian ; that is, dip, cleanse. There are 
 three MSS. copies of the Saxon Gospels, and in cases which relate to this rite, depan, 
 dyppan and fidlian are used, the last word meaning to whiten ; probably having 
 reference to the idea of regeneration, as the effect of the dipping. There is no 
 17 
 
242 ALFRED THE (IUHJAT. 
 
 Hussiliility of mistaking,' wliat liu means wlicii lir uso ' ili/jijnm'' as the translation of 
 hiijithd in ftfatt. iii, 1 1. and xxviii, ]'.»; I'm-, in di'.vrialjiii::- ilir rite as Jesus receivea 
 it in the depths of .lunlaii, he says, of that s]iot in the ei-lith centurv : ' In the 
 plaee wliere onr ].(.rd was haptized stands a \V(iu(k-n eruss as hi-h as :i man's neck, 
 and sometimes covered by tiie water. From it to tiie farther, that is, tiie eastern, 
 bank, is a sling's cast ; and on the neai'er Ijank is a large monastery of St. John the 
 Baptist, standing on a rising ground, and famous for a very handsDine eluireli. from 
 which they descend to the cross by a bridge supported on arclies, to dlTer wy their 
 prayers. In the farther part of the river is a «[uadrangular cljureli. supported on 
 four stone arches, covered with burnt tiles, where our Lord's clothes are said to iiave 
 been kept while he was baptized.' '" 
 
 The ninth century gave Alfred to England, a prince who ranked with Charle- 
 magne in ability, but was much his superior in gentleness and godliness.. Under 
 the influence of Alcuin his instructor, tlie great Empenir unwittingly prei)ared the 
 Sa.xons whom he had conquered, and thus maile (ieianany — the fruitful sciil in which 
 Baptist principles afterward flourished. Alfred, stimulated by the affection of 
 Judith his step-mother, first acquired a thirst for knowledge and then a love for 
 Christ. He gave the English the right of trial by jury, and said of them: ' It is 
 just that they should ever remain free as their own thoughts.' But his great love 
 for them is seen in his Christ-like design to give them the Bible in their mother 
 tongue. The old Chronicle of Ely says that he succeeded in doing this, but this is 
 doubted ; it is more likely that William of Malmesbury gives the exact fact when 
 he tells us that Alfred began a translatiim of the Psalms with his own hands, but 
 left it unfinished, for he died at fifty-two. Still. l]oston of Bury states that 'he 
 translated the whole of the Testament into the English tongue.' Spelnian flunks 
 the same, and that he had commenced the Psalms when death stopped his work. 
 It is clear, however, that he did one or both these forms of work, and was the first 
 layman who made such an attempt. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BAPTISM AND BAPTISTERIES IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 st riu-ht of coiiM-ii'iiw in tlie iiKittcr of 
 iking it a special suljject of civil legis- 
 II baptized parents to present themselves 
 ) III. issued another edict, A. D. 723, 
 and Moiitanists. Toward the close of 
 
 d t.. gii 
 
 in the 
 
 if fees paid 
 
 THE Emperor. I u^tincnislR.d.mt tlie 1: 
 baptism in tiie sixtii ceiitiirv. liv n 
 lation. He issiietl an edict eommaiuling all i 
 and their children for baptism at once. Le 
 demanding the forcible baptism of the Jews 
 the sixth century the baptism of infants was 
 for its administration ; but the charges 
 soon became so enormous that the poor 
 could not pay them, yet, lest their chil- 
 dren should die unsaved, the frightened 
 parents strained every nerve to get them 
 baptized. A few, and but a few, op- 
 posed these outrages. Stokes mentions 
 Adrianus, a pastor at Corintli, who not 
 only refused to baptize infants, but cast 
 his influence against the practice; for 
 which Gregory accused him to John of 
 Larissa of the crime of turning young 
 children away from baptism and suffer- 
 ing them to be lost.' 
 
 As showing the religious greed of 
 the times, it may be said here in pass- 
 ing, that both in France and Spain the 
 sale of bishoprics became common in 
 these centuries. The refinement and 
 hospitality of the elci'gy may be in- 
 ferred from the fact tliat A. D. 585 the Council of Macon decreed that bishops 
 should not keep mastiffs to worry beggai-s. Many of these bishops, whose haughti- 
 ness was unendurable, could neither read nor write and their lives were given up 
 to the most odious forms of iniquity. In 653 the Council of Toledo forbade the 
 ordination of those who could not read the psalms and hymns used in the public 
 service, with the ritual in baptism. In Britain the canon of Edgar required the 
 priests 'To take care of their clnirches, and apply exclusively to their sacred duties; 
 
 THE BAPTISTERY AT 
 
244 GliKdOUY ON INFANT BAPTISM. 
 
 and not to indulge in idle sjucili, or idle ducds, oi' excessive drinking; nor to let 
 dogs come within their chiiri'h iiicld^iirc. iioi- more swine than a man might govern.' 
 Besides this, the grave Coiun.-il of Prague ecnsureil those of the higher clergy who 
 whipped the inferior ministei's, oj- eumiielled them to cari'y the hishup upon their 
 shoulders. And as if these barbarities were not enougii, in the seventh century the 
 wine of the Supper was nii.xed with ink and the pen dipped therein, when a contract 
 or covenant was signed. Such signatures were peculiarly holy, especially when 
 made in the sign of the cross. When bishops wished to throw uncommon venom 
 and gall into their curses and excommunications, they called for the consecrated cup, 
 which was intended to commemorate the love of Christ, and dipped tlie pen in this 
 fluid to strike the superstitious with double horror. Such absurdities readily prepare 
 our minds for the many perversions to which bai)tism was subjected during the 
 same period. 
 
 Infant baptism had about as severe a struggle to foi-ce itself upon the faith of 
 men as had transubstantiation. In the fourth centui'v we find Gregory of Con- 
 stantinople obliged to defend it and pul)liely eensuriiig parents wIki delayed it for 
 their children. In his fortieth oration and in tlie pulpit of liis eatliedral, when 
 preaching to many who did n(_)t Ijclieve in the alisui'dity. he saiil : 
 
 'But, say some, what is your opinion of infants who are not eapaiile of judging 
 either of the grace of bajitism, or of the damage sustained by the want of it: sluill 
 we baptize them, too ''. By all means, if there be any apparent danger. For it were 
 better they be sanctified without their knowing it, than that "they should die 
 without being scaled and initiated. As for others, I give my opinion that when 
 they are three years of age, or thereabouts (for then they are able to hear and an- 
 swer some of the mystical words, and although they do not fully understand, they 
 may receive impressions), they may be sanctified both soul and body by the great 
 mystery of initiation.' 
 
 He gives this as ' my opinion ;' and the value of his opinion is seen in its entire 
 absence of reference to Bible authority, and in the fact that he was trying hard to 
 drive Baptist notions out of 'some ' of his hearers, who raised troublesome cpiestions 
 on the subject. His embarrassment can best be understood when we take into account 
 that this pi'imate of all Greece was born when his father was a bishop, and yet was 
 not baptized himself at ' three,' but only at thirty years of age. Nay, his own Em- 
 peror, Theodosius, who was very likely one of his hearers, had just been baptized at 
 the age of thirty-four oi- five years. Nectarius, -who succeeded him as bishop in 
 the same diocese aiul pulpit, was not baptized at all until after his election to fill 
 Gregory's place. All his surroundings made it a most interesting occasion for a 
 controversial sermon on infant bajjtism from this great pedobaptist oracle. 
 
 Yet the Penny Cyclopedia says that some of the fathers of the fifth century 
 did ' not scruple, in spite of edicts and decrees, to condemn the practice of baptizing 
 infants, as a deviation from Scripture and the early custom of the Church.' In 
 S58-882 infant baptism had become almost universal, to the exclusion of believer's 
 
POLITICAL BAPTISMS. 248 
 
 baptism, excepting in mission fields where new ])eo]>les were converted. Indeed, 
 to deny infant baptism was considered, botli l)y the ignorant and the learned, 
 as the denial of infant salvation, and all dissidents were hated accordingly. 
 Possibly it was on this ground that a synod of British prelates, held near Clouesho 
 in 747, decreed that the clergy should take no money for baptizing infants. Char- 
 lemagne made baptism a political institution, and connselled the conquered Saxons 
 to be baptized under pain of death. After this, political baptism and political 
 Christianity soon became nearly universal. In 826 his son Lewis was iisked to restore 
 Harald, a petty king of Jutland, to his throne; he consented on condition that he 
 would be baptized, and so Ilarald and his brother were baptized at Mentz. After 
 that two priests accompanied him to his own country and baptized his subjects. 
 Hence Christ's simple institution was converted into a piece of political craft, a 
 machine of State. Even good Alfred made it a condition of peace that the con- 
 quered Danes should be baptized ; and Hume tells ns that ' Guthrun and his army 
 had no aversion to the proposal ; and without much instruction, or argument, or 
 conference, they were all admitted to baptism. The king answering for Guthrun 
 at the font, gave him the name of Athelstan, and received him as his adopted son.' 
 Thierry adds that the Dane promised Alfred that if he would desist from pursuing 
 him, he and his army would be baptized and retire to East Auglia in peace ; and 
 Alfred, A. D. 879, not being strong enough to carry on the war, accepted the 
 proposal. So this historian says that ' Guthrun and the other pagan cajjtains 
 swoi'e by a bracelet consecrated to their own gods to receive baptism faithfully.' 
 It may bo wi41 to remember that this beautiful arrangement was not made by Jesus 
 and John at tlie -lurdan, but by an English king and a pagan Dane, in the ninth 
 century. Kidpath, speaking of this enforced treaty-baptism, says that to the Danes 
 it ' was no more than a plunge in the water. Sweyn himself had already received 
 the rite at the hand of the zealous priests, anxious for the welfare of his barbaric 
 soul. One of the other leaders made a boast that he had heen toashed twenty times? ' 
 We have another case quite as interesting, in connection with Norway and 
 Iceland, wliich is detailed in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Art. ' Infant baptism,' 
 by T. M. Lindsay, D.D., Professor of Divinity and Church History in the Free 
 Church College, Glasgow. He shows that infant baptism, as a pagan civil rite, ex- 
 isted for civil purposes in these two countries long before the introduction of 
 Christianity. It was connected with the savage custom of exposing infants who 
 were not to be brought up ; much after the order of things in Africa. The Doctor 
 says : 
 
 ' The newly-born infant was presented to tlie father, who was to decide whether 
 the child was to be reared or not ; if he decitled to rear it, then water was poured 
 over the child and the father gave it a name ; if it was to be exposed, then the 
 ceremony was not gone through. If the child was exposed by any one after the 
 ceremony had been gone through, it was a case of murder; whereas it was not 
 thought a crime if the child was made away with before water had been poured 
 
FINES OR ClIRISTENINO. 
 
 ClVf 
 
 1- it :i 
 
 n.l it 1 
 
 had 1km,. 
 
 1 named. The s; 
 
 ,n>e|H.o,,le.a 
 
 tiiii; 
 
 lit.v, i 
 
 unir,l 
 
 tlii> ill 
 
 to a Clii-i.-tiaii riti 
 
 . rall,Mi .sL,rn 
 
 tlial 
 and 
 
 t, tlu. a 
 
 lit ram- 
 
 f into ri 
 
 n the two ' lies in 
 \'il life throni;-li t 
 
 tl,eu^eof w 
 he rite.' 
 
 tlie introduction of Cbris- 
 
 riien tli(, Doctor remarks 
 
 f water, the he.stowai of the name, 
 
 This thorough and frank scholar nii-ht also have added the diiierence in the 
 form of using tlie water hetween the ancient pagan rite and the so-called Christian 
 i-ite of these centuries; for Christianity was introduced into Norway in the tenth 
 and eleventh centuries, and its baptism was very different from tliat of the Apostolic 
 age. However, if the ancient Norwegians and Icelanders had immersed their babes 
 it woukl liavo made no diifei'ence, as Ilerzog says that • the people remained pagan 
 at heart long after they had officially become Christians.' ^ Well did Baronius speak 
 of this as a 'nionstnms age" fi«r many other reasons; hut wliat could be more 
 
 •n strolls' than the eiiactineiit of Charlemagne, that all infants should be baptized 
 
 before tliev were a year old, a nobleman being tilled for neglect 120 shillings, a gen- 
 tleman (it), and others oO. In those days a sheep, was bought for a shilling; so that 
 a poor man must sacrifice a flock of 30 sheep and a nobleman li'K. if he neglected 
 to bring his babe to this Christian State-f<ild. ^ The Nortliumbrian law, A. I). U.5(i^ 
 was in substance tlie same : 'Let every infant be baptized within nine days, uj^on 
 pain of six ows/ and if the infant die a pagan within nine days, let his parents 
 make satisfaction to God without any earthly mulct ; if after he is nine days old, 
 let thein pay twelve ores to the priest besides.' Whether the fine paid to the priest 
 would rescue the deceased little pagan from its Ibnhus infant'ium does not appear. 
 It is difficult to determine, at this distance of time, what the basis of ' satisfaction 
 to God ' might be, as between a babe of seven, nine and ten days ; but there must 
 have been some difference, as ^Ifric understood the matter, when he addressed the 
 priesthood about A. D. 759, saying : ' Ye should give the Eucharist to children 
 when they are baptized, and let them l^e brought to mass that they may receive it, 
 all the seven days that they are unwashed.' Evidently these teachers were not 
 troubled at all about the question of consciousness on the part of the child in either 
 of the ordinances; for about 960 Pope John XIII. baptized a bell in the Lateran, 
 and named it John the Baptist ; still the bell understood t!ie matter quite as well as 
 the babe. 
 
 The very enactment of these penalties, proves the existence of dissent from 
 the custom of infant baptism in all the ranks of society, and in all places where they 
 were imposed. Labbe and Cossart tell us that in 102-2 ten priests at Orleans, France, 
 were found who rejected the doctrine that lia|itisin washes away sin, and that the 
 real body and blood of Christ exist in the bread and wine. The king and queen 
 and many bishops flew to the spot in alarm, accused, tried and burnt these holy 
 men at once ; the gentle queen keeping guard at the door of the cathedral where 
 the proceedings were held, and in a most lady-like manner knocking out the eye of 
 her own confessor, who was amongst those consigned to the flames. = There was uo 
 
TRIXE IMMERSION. 247 
 
 necessity for protest against the nictiiod of baptism even in these dark centuries 
 for Cardinal Pullns, in tlie twelfth century, describes it thus : ' Whilst the candidate 
 for baptism in water is immersed, the death of Clirist is suggested ; wliilst immersed 
 and covered with water, tlie burial of Christ is shown forth ; whilst he is raised from 
 the waters, tlie resurrection of Christ is proclaimed.' ^ But infant baptism was 
 opposed at every step. Dr. .VUi.x sj)ealvs of a people in Turin and Milan who vehe- 
 mently condemned it as an eri'or, and tiie IJishop of Vercelli sorely complained of 
 them ill iU.'>. Diipin (juotes Dacliery as authority for saying that the canons of the 
 cathedral in Orleans, mentioned above, suffered for their views of infant baptism. 
 ' They maintained that baptism did not remove original sin,' which was the plea com- 
 monly used in its favor, in behalf of infants. Milner and Hawies tell us of Gun- 
 dulphus, the leader of a people who were brought to trouble for the same views. 
 ' They particularly objected to the baptism of infants, because they were altogether 
 incapable of understanding or confessing the truth.' ' When Gerard, the Bishop of 
 Cambray and Arras, cited Gundulphus to appear before a synod in St. Mary's, at 
 Arras, A. D. 1025, he seems to have become nearly wild on the subject. The same 
 charge of heresy was brought against Berengarius by the Bishop of Leige, and also 
 by the Bishop of Aversa; and Archbisliop Usher thinks that 'Several of the 
 Berengarian sect had spread his doctrine in several of the Belgic countries, who 
 npon examination did say that baptism did not profit children to salvation.' 
 
 A very warm controversy arose in the sixth century on the subjectof trinebaptism. 
 Pope Pelagius complains of the Euuomians : ' That they baptize in the name of 
 Christ alone and by a single immersion.' He avows that Christ requires baptism 
 ' by trine immersion,' and in the name of the Trinity. Pope Gregory, too, enforces 
 this order in his ' Sacramentary : ' 'Let the priest baptize with a triple immersion, 
 with only one invocation of the Holy Trinity.' When the Spanish bishops explained 
 to him that they had begun to practice single immersion because the Arians, who 
 also immersed three times, taught that a second in the name of the Son, and a third 
 in the name of the Spirit, indicated their inferior condition to the Father ; he mod- 
 ified his order, under the idea tliat (nie immersion best expressed the equality of 
 each person in the Trinity. Leaiider, Bishop of Seville, sought the pope's counsel 
 in the matter, who, in a letter, replies : ' Concerning tlie three immersions in bap- 
 tism, you have judged very truly already, that different customs do not prejudice 
 the holy Church whilst the unity of the faith remains entire.' So he assents to 
 the use of one immersion, lest the ' heretics ' intei'pret the three immersions ' as a 
 division of the Godhead ; ' at any rate so far as Spain was concerned. ' Yet this 
 judgment of Pope Gregory did not satisfy all men in the Spanish Church ; for 
 many still kept to the old way of baptizing by three immersions, notwithstanding 
 this fear of symbolizing with the Arians. Therefore, some time after, about 633, 
 tiie fourth Council of Toledo which was a general council of all Spain, was forced 
 to make another decree to determine tiiis matter and settle the peace of the Church. 
 
248 
 
 ANCIENT BAPTISTERIES. 
 
 ,-ith 
 tlic .•oiiteiidii 
 baptized in a 
 sided M'itli 
 
 Cfesar cl.; 
 
 ll-cd 
 
 of Eoiiial 
 
 liist 
 
 rial, l)iit i 
 
 1 its 
 
 uth 
 
 AVliilc sdiiie priests baptized \vitli tliive iininerMoiis, and tlie otliers with but one, 
 usc'liisni was raisc^d endan.-erin- tlie unitv of tlu' faith: fur 
 carrie.i the mattei- >(> lii,-h a,- to pretend that they who were 
 trary to theii- own were not bapti/eil at all" ' Tiie council 
 yet it was a loUii' time before trine iuiniei'siou was abandoned. 
 
 Baptisteijies. — As these centuries were peculiarly distinguished for their great 
 baptisteries, we shall consider these striking examples of Baptisinal Archffiology in 
 this ]>la<-e. The valuable remains of anti.|uity are found not only in books, Init in 
 ruins, coins, vases, scul])ture and other woi'ks of art. The fa.-t that Augustus 
 lloiiie from biaek to marble throws great light upon the tiaie sources 
 iry ; as it show.- the trend of the Uoman mind not only in the niate- 
 iieasurement, shape, eo>t and use. lnserij>tions also are found witli 
 the natural rock>. on tombs, metal plates, tablets of fine clay, pillars 
 of temples and palaces. Some of these have continued for thousands of years, and 
 are readers to us of ancient history, especially that of Egypt, Assyria, Persia. Greece 
 and Rome. This is especially true when tlicy are intended as monuments of human 
 transactions and events. In this way the iiajitistery is the niomiment of Christian 
 baptism. 
 
 To Jesus and his Apostles, the foundations of the Temple, its towers and 
 fortresses, were relics of the stone age of Israel. As our Lord habitually walked 
 to and fro in its porches and cloisters, these 
 relics filled him with sacred thought ; and 
 his unlettered disciples asking for the import 
 of this sacred Archeology, exclaimed : ' Mas- 
 ter, see what manner of stones and what 
 buildings are here ? ' In like niannei-, these 
 ancient baptisteries call us back to the true 
 liaptismal age, its literature and primitive 
 teaching, as these were understood by their 
 builders. These antiquarian remains chal- 
 lenge our reverence for Christian truth, and 
 
 "■^^ |> ^ , -«» every lover thereof will take pleasure in these 
 
 historic stones, will walk about them to tell 
 their number and honor their dust. His 
 love of the truth endows them with a voice ; they cease to be dead architecture and 
 become living teachers. Such sacred remains calmly rectify the mistakes of the 
 present ; for in that case, the simplicity of the child corrects the sophistication of 
 the man. They teach us that present truth-lovers do not stand alone in their gen- 
 eration, but that the years of ancient times call us back, to our profit. Old cent- 
 uries as by magic draw us back, and old generations rehearse the truth as it lives 
 in venerable art and antiquity. These throw the inward spirit of the past into the 
 
 
THE ROMAN BATHS. 
 
 249 
 
 hath 
 
 ill tilt 
 
 (irdi 
 
 larv SL'i 
 
 8e of 
 
 tlic word 
 
 ('(Hm 
 
 1 .littV 
 
 rent f 
 
 •HI 11 the 
 
 ordina 
 
 rv one of 
 
 present outward form and heconie the fraino-work for now thoiiglit ; and througli 
 their imagery tlie living past and the living present are brought into the etiuipoise 
 of a sublime truth. They lielj) us to put new meaning into old words and acts; so 
 that instead of casting the old away, it is continued, found to be eternal and 
 exactly liarmonious. 
 
 The baptisterium amongst the ancient Romans was simply a place of bathing, 
 whicli Rugler calls the ' swimming-tank of the ancients ; ' and its construction is 
 well illustrated by the discoveries at Pompeii, especially in one of the lesser baths of 
 white marble, which Gell describes as of a circular form eighteen feet six inches in 
 diameter. With them, as witl 
 was the immersion of the Imdy 
 atmospheric air, which mediiiiu 
 was usually common water in 
 some form. The Romans prac;- 
 ticed warm more than cold bath- 
 ing, and wherever they found hot 
 springs they converted them into 
 baths. The ' warm ' water spoken 
 of in the recently discovered 
 'Teaching of the Apostles,' leaves 
 tlie implication that the public 
 baths were used for baptism. 
 Tlie baths of Caracalla contained 
 1,600 marble seats around the 
 inner sides, for the use of bath- 
 ers; and those of Diocletian, 
 3,200; these building's beinsopen 
 
 ' ' n n r ANCIENT ROMAN HATH. VVTICAN MLSKl'M. 
 
 to the public, and the price fur 
 
 bathing being only about half a cent of our money. Of course, primarily, these 
 baths were constructed without regard to the Christian rite, but in all probability 
 they suggested the form of Christian baptisteries. AVallcott says in his ' Sacred 
 Archfeology : ' 'The early Christians were baptized in water by the road-side (Acts 
 viii, 36-38) ; or in a river (Acts xvi, 13-15) ; or in a prison (Acts xvi, 33) ; or in a 
 spring, or at sea ; or in private houses (Acts ix, 18 ; x, 47, 48) ; or in any place.' At 
 Rome there was an early baptistery in the house of Cyriacus, in the Pontificate of 
 Marcellus, A. D. 308-310, according to the same authority. Down to the middle of 
 tlie second century no place was specially set apart for the rite, for at tliat time the 
 Christians had no places of worship. But by the end of the third century they had 
 not only sanctuaries of their own, but also special buildings devoted to the uses of 
 baptism, as those spoken of by Eusebius, at Tyre. Haydn's ' Dictionary of Dates' 
 says : That in the ' reign of Constantine, 319, baptisteries were built, and baptism 
 
11(1 
 
 am 
 
 1 ( 
 
 .ut 
 
 ys tlmt 
 'of the 
 
 the 
 clnii 
 
 eai'] 
 i-cli ( 
 
 y Chris- 
 edifice) ; 
 
 ix.s 
 
 
 Lif 
 
 liaptism, 
 
 , as 
 
 lime 
 
 h as for 
 
 280 ITALIAN BAPTISTERIES. 
 
 was performed by dipping tlie pcismi all o 
 tiaiis "Always practiced haptism hy iinuu' 
 consequently they wanted a Uuildiiig Jur tl 
 that of worship." ■' 
 
 The earliest Christian baptistery known is in the Catacomb of Calixtus at 
 Rome, and was used in the times of the pagan persecutions. Parker says that this 
 catacomb wasaburying-place as early as the first century, although its earliest inscrip- 
 tion is A. D. 2GS-279. This secret, subterranean relic is a small chamber, containing 
 a cistern, or as it is called, 'a well,' a fountain ; and is about four feet deep, supplied 
 by a small stream on the left side, with steps down into it, as Parker says, 'for 
 baptism by immersion.' When the first Christian sanctuaries were reared, baptis- 
 teries were also erected as distinct bnildiii-s; but dfteii the ba])tistery preceded the 
 Church edifice itself and was the point aliunt which the place of general assembly 
 arose. In such cases the baptistery was Imilt on a large scale for receiving a great 
 number of peoi)le, and it stood near to the church building to which it belonged. 
 Generally the form of the baptistery was hexagonal, but some were circular and all 
 had a Vdx& piscina, or reservoir, in the middle. They were also called ' iUnminatoria^ 
 because there the converts were instructed or illuminated before baptism. The bap- 
 tistery was not introduced into the church edifice until the sixth century, and then 
 only into the porch or entrance, to indicate that immersion was the door into the 
 Church itself ; but this practice did not become coiiiniun until the ninth century. 
 Yet Clevis was immersed in a church edifice in the latter part (jf the fifth century. 
 
 We have distinct accounts of about sixty of these structures in Italy alone; in 
 the generality of Italian cities one large baptistery sufiiced fur all the churches of 
 that city. These commonly adjoined the cathedral, as at Pisa and Florence, but in 
 Rome itself most of the churches were supplied with baptisteries ; for mention is 
 made of the building or repairing of five different baptisteries in that city, between 
 A. D. 772-816. Pope Leo III. rebuilt that of the A]iostle Andrew, a circular 
 building and enlarged its ' fons,' because the jjlace was too small for the people 
 wdio came for baptism. In distinction from all others this building became known 
 as ' The Baptistery ; ' and as its size increased it grew into a meeting-place for re- 
 ligious assemblies, even for ecclesiastical councils. In each baptistery there was a 
 table for the Supper as well as a reservoir for the immersions ; and Martene tells 
 us that until about the eleventh century the Supper was administered there to all 
 who were immei'sed. Immersion was the necessity which called these structures 
 into existence. Rahn says that their ' origin ' was ' dependent ' on the old custom 
 of having a great baptismal occasion, and of the rite of immersion ; otherwise a 
 bowl in the hand would have met every purpose, as now, in all cases where immer- 
 sion is not practiced. The ' Encyclopagdia Bi'itanniea' truly says, Art. ' Baptistery : ' 
 ' Christianity made such progress that infant baptism became the rule, and as soon 
 as immersion gave place to sprinkling, the ancient baptisteries were no longer 
 
FONTS OF LATERAN AXD FLOIiEXCE. 
 
 is eck 
 
 ,1 NV„rk 
 
 pushed 
 litecture 
 
 IS t(l I 
 
 lark.^l 
 lillcd 
 
 Mdiiiiiiisti'ivil In' inimer- 
 IV tliu ceiiieterv of St. 
 itli watfi', and liollowcd 
 
 BAPTISTERY Or ST. JOHN (L.ITF.R.4N). 
 
 necessary.' Then tho size of tlie font w 
 aside tiie bowl sutlieed. (iailliaiiand 
 covers this point : 
 
 ' At the oriii'in of the new religion liaptisn 
 sion. We desire to esjiecially note a localit\ 
 Pontianno. Tliere one sees a kind of large bat 
 out of the soil at a depth quite convenient to 
 receive (juite a number of neophites.' But 
 when the Church in most of Europe ceaseii 
 to 'recognize the inop^jortuneness of immer- 
 sion and replaced it by pouring, — ever since 
 tliat time it has established, in place of the reser- 
 voir made below the soil and tilled with water 
 for immersing tlie neophites, the font of stone. 
 This marks in the history of religion and of the 
 liturgy a very noticeable change in the admin- 
 istration of baptism.' '" 
 
 In the nineteenth century, where Christian- 
 liave turned their backs upon the old ordinance 
 and substituted another, they build no such edi- 
 fices at an enormous cost ; but the primitive 
 Christians looked upon burial in water as obedi- 
 ence to Christ, and their antiquated baptisteries stand as solemn witnesses against 
 the popish innovation. Prior to the tenth century, Easter, Pentecost and the 
 
 Epiphany were the ordinary times 
 employed for baptism, when great 
 numbers of the candidates and their 
 friends assembled ; rendering it need- 
 ful that the baptisteries be spacious 
 and separate from the church build- 
 ings, which were always crowded by 
 the general worshipers. 
 
 The most celel)rated of the bap- 
 tisteries now remaining are found 
 ut Kome, Florence and Pisa; the 
 most ancient being that of St. John 
 of LiUeran, at Home, fourth century. 
 This building is octagonal, being 
 about 75 feet in diameter and is ex- 
 tremely splendid. The piscina, or 
 bath, is octangular, of green ba.salt, 
 about 25 feet in diameter and from 3 to -i feet deep. It was constructed by Sixtus III., 
 who died A. D. -i-in ; and, according to De Bussiere, 'has served as a model for all 
 
 3Al'TISTEnY AT FLORENCE. 
 
nil-: SIIAPI-: of iiaptisteiue.^ 
 
 t NmI.Iuii, um 
 ^>n^ll i Mill IK 
 
 \U.K1, V Hill,. 
 
 I'. ' 
 
 ■ ccilin- uf one of its cliajx'ls is 
 n po.Mlih ,,t tliL hfth c-L-iitiiry. 
 It w-- iiul jui^aiis as accept the 
 till -lupe ol these baptistei'ies 
 io)iu\ ot Aichitecture:' 'For 
 1 11 uloptc il 111 jiiefereiice to the 
 LUtk It was the one which 
 ])icscnted the k ist difficulty 
 of constiuctioii, especially 
 wIrii thL (h-ic entablature 
 \\ is itt lined , it was also 
 tioiii Aei\ tail> times held 
 IS tilt emblem of regenera- 
 tion The ^(^u ire, from the 
 oiuiiul l.ki ot the eartirs 
 shape, w IS aceepted as the 
 emblem ot the world ; the 
 0( t i^on -w is idopted l)y the 
 ( Ini-tiin^ is tint of perfec- 
 tion, eoiiseipieiit upon the 
 ( oiifession of the faith, and 
 the new biitli in liaptism ; 
 md the cutk as the emblem 
 of cteinit\ 01 everlasting 
 
 ''^-^ ^^, 11r most magnificent 
 
 liipti^ten now in existence 
 is tint of 1 lounee. It has 
 a diameter of about 100 feet, 
 its gallery is supported by 1(1 granite columns, and its vault is decorated by the 
 richest mosaics. Its bronze doors are marvels of beauty in bass-relief, and fifty 
 years were spent in preparing them. This structure was originally the cathedral 
 of the city, built about the middle of the seventh century. The old font stood in 
 the center; Imt when Philip de Medici was immersed in it his father to the great 
 disgust of Hm-eiice, had it destroyed, for the same reason that Peter I., of Eussia, 
 liroke the drinking-cup of Luther after drinking from it himself, namely, that it 
 should never be used again. The locality of the font is still seen, however, as that 
 part of the floor is plainly paved, while the rest is laid in beautiful patterns of black 
 and white marble. The present font was erected A. D. 1(!5S, to supjily th.e 
 place of that which was destroyed A. I), I.'>77. 
 
 The baptistery of Pisa is known to the entire worhl for its splendor. It has a 
 
 vi.lf^' 
 
 INTERIOR OF BAPTIS 
 
BAPTISTERT OF PISA. 
 
 diaiiictei- of llfi fci't, and its pear-shaped dome tnwc 
 by most costly columns and arches. It was com 
 cost was so great that it long remained untinished. 
 
 itil tl 
 
 lii-r liigli, supported 
 A. I). 1153, and its 
 citizens levied a rate 
 
 tllCI 
 
 ■(ir its ccimpleti 
 
 .n. Its w 
 
 1 an attic stor\ 
 
 . The U 
 
 uit liaptism.' 
 
 riie l>uil( 
 
 isccutc'd until 
 
 I'Ts, ■ 
 
 are eight feet thick, it lias a base 
 is described by Webb as an octag- 
 
 : was begun l)y Diotisalvi. but tlie 
 ipleted till abinit the (.i)ening of the 
 
 onal bath • 
 work was i 
 
 fourteenth century. Credu- 
 lous people of the nineteenth 
 century would have us be- 
 lieve that all this taste, toil 
 and cost was had for the pur- 
 pose of pouring a handful 
 of water upon the head ! 
 The accompanying cut of 
 the interior as it stands to- 
 day gives the ancient ideal 
 of Go.spel order: 1. The 
 linlpit, tViini which the can- 
 didate bu- l)a|)tisni is ex- 
 horted to faith on Christ. 
 2. The basin or font in which 
 he is immersed. It is octag- 
 onal, being 1-i feet in diam- 
 eter and -1 feet deep, and is 
 supplied with water by a tube. 
 after his immersion. 
 
 The largest baptistery ever built was that of St. Sophia at Constantinople. At 
 one time it served as the residence of the Emperor Basiliscus, and a great ecclesi- 
 astical council was held within its walls. Three thousand people once assembled in 
 the baptistery at Antioch at one time, to be baptized ; but the baptistery of St. 
 Sophia was greater even than that at Antioch. 
 
 Mention may be made of the great baptistery at Aix, which was constructed A. 1). 
 1101 ; of that of Verona, A. D. 1116 ; and of that of Parma, with its three matchless 
 gates, said to have been pronounced by Angelo as worthy of being the gates of Paradise. 
 The same praise is claimed for those of Florence, and yet it is questionable wliether he 
 said this of either of them. The Parma baptistery was-begun A.D. 1196, and completed 
 1281. Its great marble font, 8 feet wide and 4 feet deep, is cut out of one yellowish-red 
 block and stands in the middle of the floor, bearing date A. D. 1299. The records 
 of the Church at Parma contain an oflicial report of its uses, sent to the pope and bear- 
 ing date November 21, 1578, saying that this sacred font was consecrated to baptism 
 
 VI IISTDRY AND lABLE \T PISA 
 
 3. The Lord's Table, where he too 
 
 Suj)per 
 
^Yitl 
 
 fe«- 
 . tlic 
 
 1 the two 
 di-o]is of 
 • rushing 
 
 u'ic 1 
 
 .aptistery 
 
 c^eri 
 
 ntidii : 
 
 254 OTHER liAPTISTFAUE!^. 
 
 ' per imnicrsionciii.' '- Tlie haptistery at VLTuiia cuiitiiiiis a basin of marble 28 feet 
 in circumference, licwii (Hit of a single block of porpliyry, and is four and one half 
 feet deep. The bajjlistcry of Pistoia is especially interesting, and differs from most 
 of tliose described. It was built A. D. 1-337. The font is of white marble and is 
 square. Standing near to the western entrance is a beautiful black and white marble 
 ]Hiliut, from which >ciaiiuns were prcaclicd. tu sliow tliat tlic people must hear and 
 believe before they could ])ass into its waters. Its ,-,,piare pool is 1(1 feet in di- 
 ameter and -1 feet deej>. The baptistery at Milan is peculiai'. and differs from all 
 others. As if to convey the Scriptural idea of bui'ial, it is in the shape of the 
 ancient sarcophagus. Its material is porphyry, being (J fs^et S inches long and 24 
 inches deep. Dean Stanley refers to this baptistery in the words : ' 
 exceptions of the cathedral of Milan and the sect of the Pjajjtists. a 
 water are now the AVesteru substitute for the threefold plunge int( 
 rivers or the wide baptisteries of the East.' '^ 
 
 Great Britain furnishes a beautiful exanijile of a, natural but hist( 
 which must l.)e noted here. Dr. Cathcart presents it in this graphic d 
 
 'Aliout eleven miles from the Cheviot Hills, which separate England from 
 Scotland, and about the same distance from Alnwick Castle — the well-known resi- 
 dence of the Dukes of Northumberland — and two miles from the village of Har- 
 bottle, there is a remarkable fountain. It issues forth from the top of a slight ele- 
 vation, or little hill. It has at present as its basin a cavity about 34 feet long, 
 20 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. By placing a board over a small opening at 
 one end its depth can be considerably increased. A stream flows from it, which 
 forms a little creek. . . . The spring is a place of public resort for the population 
 for many miles aidund, and for numerous strangers, on account of its early baptis- 
 mal associations. . . . An ancient statue, as large as life, lay prostrate in the 
 fountain for ages, probably from the period when the monasteries were destroyed, 
 in the time of Henry VIII. This statue, when the writer saw it, was leaning 
 against a tree at the fountain. It was, mo,st likely, the statue of Paulinus. It was 
 called " the bishop." Its drajicry, t!ic action of the atmosphere upon the stone of 
 which it is made, and its gennal apprai-auce, show that it was set up at a very re- 
 mote period, perhaps two or thicc centuries after Paulinus baptized the Northum- 
 brian multitude in the fountain." " 
 
 This fountain is commonly known as ' Our Lady's Well,' after the Virgin, and 
 is one of the natural baptisteries vvhei-i' Paulinus administered Christian immersion. 
 The Vicar of Harbottle has caused a ciucitix to be erected in the center, with the 
 following inscription: 'In this place Paulinus the bishop baptized three thousand 
 Northumbrians, Easter, 627.' This accords exactly with the statement of Camden, 
 who describes Harbottle as ' on the Coquet River, near to which is Holystone, where 
 it is said that Paulinus, when the Church of the Englisli was first i^lanted, baptized 
 many thousands of men.' A convent lies in ruins at Holystone, close by, which was 
 probably raised as a monument to the holy spot and its waters. Camden lived in 
 the last half of the sixteenth century, when the tradition was all aglow ; and the 
 clerical son of Oxford reared this cross as late as 1869. 
 
rnE BAPTISTEHY OF PAULINU8. 
 
 283 
 
 As to tlie Slipper, tlie doi-triiie of transubstantiation crystallizcil in those 
 centuries, and apparently in an incidental way. In 7S7 the Council of Nice alleo;ed 
 that the bread and wine of the Su])per were not images of Christ, but his very body 
 and blood. This brought the gi-eat controversy to a head, and giants on both sides 
 drew their swords. Amongst these Ratram wrote a powerful treatise against tran- 
 substantiation, S03, which centuries aftiT\v:inl c.mviiiciMl TJidlcv of his error on 
 
 *PTISTKRY OF BISHOP PAULI 
 
 the subject; then Ridley lent it to Cramner, in whom it \vn_)uglit a similar change. 
 John Scotus, the Roger Bacon of his day, wrote a stronger work, 875, which lived 
 for about two centuries. Many Councils denounced, and that of Rome, 1059, con- 
 demned it to be burnt. Berengarius, 998-1088, followed with heavy blows. Bigotry 
 wrecked itself upon these men in every shape, but their doctrines spread through 
 Germany, Italy, France and Britain ; for as fires never burn out controversies, more 
 than winds blow out stars, the dispute Aveut on to the Reformation and is as firm 
 and fresh to-day as ever. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ANCIENT BAPTISMAL PICTURES. 
 
 TIIKSE Ikivc cunie iluwn to ii.s cliieilj in frescoes, mosaics and bass-reliefs. 
 1 opt ism itself symbolizes thought as it lies in the divine mind, so that the 
 hnn]:in eye catches the truth of which it is the symlxil. Art in these pictures marks 
 the ordinance as it existed in the life-time of the artist, and only to this extent are 
 they of historical value. The co-existing literature of his times, however, must show 
 the purpose of his treatment, and interpret its forms in his absence. In fact we are 
 so dependent (in tliis literature, that where a separate history of the picture is uot 
 preserved, only the contemporary writings of its day can give us its age. The pict- 
 ures, therefore, even in the rudest state of the art are in no case purely realistic, 
 but symbolical also. Dean Staidey ]irononnces those of the Catacombs, 'mis-shapen, 
 rude and stiff,' which is seen at a glance. Most of them have been restored several 
 times and also altered ; so that, as Parker remarks, to this extent they have lost 
 their historic value, especially by changes of shape and color, though the general 
 design is unchanged. He says : ' A work which has been restored becomes the work 
 of the hands that restore it.' Their age and damp situation has rendered their 
 restoration necessary, and in the case of the Callixtine frescoes he ascribes this 
 work to Leo III., 795 ; and that of Ponziano to Nicholas I., 858-807. Even the 
 great fresco of the Supper by Da Vinci, at Milan, though upon a perfectly dry 
 wall and scarcely four hundred years old, is fast fading out. Parker states that the 
 St. Ponziano has not been restored ' over ca.refully,' and that ' The rather rash out- 
 line of the Baptist's right arm and shoulder are drawn over a far more careful and 
 correct figure.' Also : ' The stiffness of the i-estoi'ation, white eyes and heavy, incor- 
 rect outline, point to a late date.' 
 
 Early Christian art at the best was deficient in all respects, and its broad, 
 symbolic ideal must ever be remembered in seeking its historic bearings. The earlier 
 companion pictures on the Supper made by the same hands in the same places 
 strongly attest this. The table is spread, a company is gathered around it, but with 
 one exception no wine is on the table. There is a small supply of bread in some 
 cases, in others abundance, but in all there is much fisli ! A fresco in the Crypt 
 of St. Cornelius presents a mysterious fish swimming in water, with a basket on 
 its back containing the bread and wine of the Supper. Yet this strange conceit is 
 in keeping with the ancient play upon the Greek letters of our Lord's technical 
 name 1X6X2, that is, ' The Fish.' This is a very ancient anagram amongst Chris- 
 
SYMBOLIC PICTURES. 257 
 
 tians. Almost all the fathers, Greek and Latin, call him ' The Fish,' the ' Heavenly 
 Ichthus ; ' and so they made the fish an emblem of both Baptism and the Supper, to set 
 fortli tlie truths which these express. This figure was early engraved upon the rings 
 of Christians by the advice of Clement of Alexandria, 194, possibly because the 
 heathen could not detect its meaning. He says : ' Let the dove and the fish . . . l)e 
 
 THE SYSlbOLlC SUPPER. 
 
 signs unto you ;' and Augustine calls Christ the Fish, ' Because he descended alive 
 into the depths of this mortal life as into the abyss of waters.' An inscription of 
 tlie fourth or iifth century found at Autun, France, exhorts the baptized to ' Eat, 
 drink, holding Ichthus in thy hand. Faith brought to us and set before us food, a 
 Fish from a divine font, great and pure, which she took in her hands and gave to 
 her friends, that they should always eat tliereof, 
 holding goodly wine, giving with bread a mingled 
 drink.' Yet the ancient Christians never celebrated 
 the Supper b}' the use of fish. Here, then, while 
 we have the realistic table, we have the mystic sym- 
 bol of fish thereon — possibly intended by the painter 
 to keep before the mind Christ's presence with his 
 disciples, when he broke bread and ate fish with 
 them on the evening after his resurrection. A more 
 singular use of a fish is found in the Catacombs, 
 
 where a ship is carried on its back through the water — evidently intended to repre- 
 sent the Church being carried through the stormy sea of life by firmly resting on 
 Christ, ' The Fish.' The helmsman also is Christ, the Dove on the poop is the 
 18 
 
Holy Spirit, ami tin- Dove mi tlic nia^t rcjiR'SL'iits tiic heavenly ])eace wliidi Jesus 
 is giving both to JVter and the sliip. 
 
 Ilippoiytus glows wlien speaking <>( the (Mnirrh as a >hi|i, tossed by storms 
 but never wrecked, because Christ is with lier. He makes {\[v cniss her mast, his 
 word lier rudder, his precepts her anchoi', the sea iiei- la\er of regeneration. The 
 Spirit breathes into her sails to waft Ikt tu lier heaxenly ]iort, and he gives her an 
 abundant entrance into her desired haven. In tlie ali(i\u rude gem from the Cata- 
 combs two Apostles are rowing, and a tliird. i'etei'. is stretching lii> hand to Christ 
 in prayei- as he meets Jesus on the vva\e, to save him ivmn sinking. Hut in the 
 following we have the idea of J]i|)])olytus, where tlie storm-fiend is endeavoring to 
 wreck the (!hui-eh by persecution. In tiie distance is a man swept away by the 
 same waves which dash over the vessel, to rej^resent the cliihlivn of this world being 
 drowned in the billows of perdition. But with Christ on the dei'k and the Almighty 
 hand reached forth from above, theeruss-riblied flag rises high in the 1)0W above the 
 threatening sea. Although the rud<ler is swept away, the outstretched hands of 
 Jesus direct her course in the gale. 
 
 These piirely syndjolical pictures from the Catacondis nuiy help ns to under- 
 stand their Baptismal Pictures, where we have a large admixture of the real and the 
 symbolic. No. 4 is from the Crypt of St. Lucina at Rome, and is described by 
 Father Garrucci. Its date is in dispute, but it is the oldest painting of Christ's bap- 
 tism known. Many high authorities assign it to the close of the second or the open- 
 ing of the third century, amongst them De Rossi. The Saviour is leaving the Jor- 
 dan after his imn:ersion, and John takes him by the hand to welcome him to the 
 bank. Neither the head of John nor that of Christ is adorned by the nimbus, which 
 was not adopted into Christian art from pagan art to indicate sanctity and authority 
 till the fifth century. But the leaf in the mouth of the dove, which denotes the 
 Holy Spirit, indicates that he brings a message of peace from heaven in honor of 
 Christ's baptism. A passage from Tertullian throws light upon this figure : ' As 
 after the waters of the deluge, in which the old iniquity w'as purged away, as after 
 that baptism (so to call it) of the old world, a dove sent out of the ark and returning 
 with the olive-leaf was the herald to announce to the earth peace and the cessation 
 of the wrath of heaven ; so, by a similar disposition with reference to matters 
 spiritual, the Dove of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven files to the earth, to our 
 
BAPTISMAL PICTURES. 259 
 
 flesh, as it comes out of the bath of rcguneration after its old sins, and bi-in<^s to us 
 the peace of God.' (De. Bap., c. vii.) 
 
 ^» 
 
 
 -''H 
 
 NO. 4.— JESUS BAPTIZED IN THE JORDAN. 
 
 No. 5 presents a youth ankle-deep in water, the administrator holding a roll in 
 one hand, and resting the other on the candidate's head to plunge him in the water. 
 The roll in his left hand indicates his authority or commission to baptize, as one ' sent 
 
 from God ;' niid also shows that the painter liad John in his 'mind's eye,' even if 
 he fell into a double anachronism first as to the extreme youth of Christ, and then 
 in substituting the Roman toga for the Jewish tunic ; showing both liis Roman taste 
 
260 VIUUSTIAN WONOdllAPJfY. 
 
 and tlie poverty of his artistic genius by copying the (hnpri y of liis every-day life. 
 The Ursian Mosaic at Eavenna clotlies John in a robe of f-ijuilar fullness in which 
 the folds hang differently, the toga being capable of endless adjustments as seen in 
 classic statuary. But is this painting from ' the Chamber of the Sacraments,' in the 
 Catacomb of Callixtus, a baptism of Christ? The Arian Mosaic of St. Maria, in 
 Cosmedin, is intended for Christ without doubt, in which he looks almost boyish, as 
 also in this fresco. The ablest writers call attention to this fact, as according with the 
 general methods which treat of him in all departments of early Christian art. 
 Didron, in his great work on ' Christian Iconography,' treats at large Tipou the 
 juvenility of Christ's figure in all early Christian art, but especially of this curious 
 feature in the earliest Catacomb pictures, which constantly i-epresent him as a youth 
 from twelve to fifteen. He remarks: 'That the figui-e of Clirist, wliii-h had at first 
 been youthful, becomes older from century to century, in pro] nut ion as tlie age of 
 Christianity itself progresses. That of the Virgin, on the contrai-y, becomes nioi'e 
 youthful with every succeeding century.' P. 249. This method came neither from 
 mistake nor ignorance ; but was chosen as the best mode known to express the meek, 
 lowly and teachable in Jesus. Lord Lindsay says : ' He is represented as an 
 abstraction ; as the genius, so to speak, of Christianity ; a beardless youth, to signify 
 the everlasting prime of eternity.' The nude figure stands in the water only slightly 
 above the ankles ; but his undress, as well as the expanse of the water, are in them- 
 selves symbols of his immersion without regard to the depth of the sheet ; for why 
 should the artist place him in water at all, especially unclothed, in order to ])our 
 water on his head'^ The youth is standing at his full height, and Garrucci writes 
 of this picture : ' The candidate has only his feet in the water. The water, then, in 
 which one must be immersed, is not, in fact, literally represented, but indicated by 
 sign.' (VI, v, p. 95.) 
 
 Nos. 6 and 7 from the Catacomb of Callixtus relate to the same subject ; 6 
 being taken fi-om Garrucci, and 7 from De Rossi. They are symbolical and strik- 
 ingly illustrate the painter's conception of baptism. These frescoes are on separate 
 walls of the same ci-ypt, and Prof. Mommsen treating tliem as one continuous picture, 
 says with great clearness : 
 
 ' We see on the first wall a man striking the rock with his staff ; from the 
 spring thus opened a fisherman catches a fish on a hook. Farther on the same 
 spring serves as a baptismal font, out of which tiie man baptizes the boy standing 
 before him, laying his hand on his head. AVithout doubt, Christ is here conceived 
 of as the rock, as in the Epistle to the Corinthians : " They drank of that spiritual 
 rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ ; " and the man who strikes the 
 rock is more likely Petei-, who is often designated the new Moses, than Moses him- 
 self. It is not necessary to speak of the fisherman, Peter, who was called to be a 
 fisher of men.' Here we have that f.ivorite symbol of the fathers, which applies tlie 
 figure of the fish to Christians as well as to Clirist, as TertuUiau : ' We smaller fiohes. 
 
ALLRGORTCAL PICTURES. 261 
 
 after tlic example of our Fisli, are born in the waters;' and of Melito, sceoiul eeiit- 
 ury, ' fishes are tlic holy ones of God.' Hilary, Augustine and Optatus in the fourth 
 century do the same, the latter calling the baptismal waters '■piscina,^ a fish-pond. 
 By introducing the angler into the picture, the idea is conveyed that another con- 
 version has taken place, and so the newly-immersed candidate is another fish caught, 
 a disciple of Christ drawn out of the waters of baptism which flow from Christ 
 the smitten rock ; a purely allegorical idea in exact keeping with the religious lit- 
 erature of the times in which the painter lived. 
 
 NO. 0. — SUCCESSFUL GOSPEL PREACHING. 
 
 
 «^ 
 
 \XJ\Pa\. 
 
 Mm 
 
 -CONVERSION .INI) BAPTISM. 
 
 Here are clearly three distinct and purely allegorical ideas: a wide expanse of 
 baptismal water issuing from a rock and shown to be ' living ' water from the fact 
 that it contains large fish ; a Gospel minister represented by the fisherman with his 
 hook and line, first acting as a ' fisher of men ' and then baptizing the disciple 
 drawn to Christ ; after that comes the perfected baptism in the ' laying on of the 
 hand ' when the process of conversion is finished and attested. What, then, arc we 
 to understand by the profuse, fire-like jets which fall around the candidate as he 
 stands in the water nearly np to the knees? With a singular infatuation this 
 fresco has been eagerly seized upon as the one drawing of antiquity proving the 
 
262 NO AFFUSION UERE. 
 
 modern doctrine of afEusion witli water as baptism, either added to immersion or sub- 
 stituted for it ; but used cliiefly to justify this substitution, directly in the face of all 
 Church history and literature, for the first thousand years after Christ. Clearly his 
 body has just been raised from the water, and this spray shoots above the head of 
 the candidate to the height of about one-fourth of his person, then falls on one side 
 to a line with his thigh and on the other down to the water. It is the only picture 
 of an ancient baptism in which such a spray is found ; and the question to be de- 
 termined is, whether the artist intcndetl it as a syuil)ol or a realism, while much 
 else in the scene is allegory. It cannot he mistaken for a nimbus nor yet for 
 an aureole, although it compasses the whole person excepting a part of one leg. 
 Certainly the law of gravitation determines that it cannot be intended for water 
 dripping from the body after immersion, for it flies upward more than the length 
 of the head and neck together above the head. Nor can it be water or oil, or any 
 other liquid whatever falling from the baptizer's hand or from a vessel, as his hand 
 rests flatly and firmly on the youth's head. Aft'usion or aspersion of water are en- 
 tirely out of the question here, because the spi-ay has no natural or apparent source. 
 Neither the sense of sight nor a stretch of the imagination can call it water without 
 showing where it comes from. Let any man try a thousand times to produce such 
 a fillet of water around any one without the use of the uplifted hand, or of some 
 vessel from which it is poured, and he must fail as often as he tries. More than 
 this, the curves have not the appearance of water. The lines start up from the middle 
 of the head in an arched, forked, wing-like form, which cannot be produced with 
 water excepting when dashed upward in a body and with great force. The 
 strokes of the pointed lines above the head, the flamboyant curve as of flame and its 
 arching over the shoulders at so great a distance from them, do not harmonize with 
 the specific gravity of falling water. But they look more like jets of flame projected 
 upward and outward by the natural force of fire, and they convey the conception 
 which the ancient artists expressed of 'cloven tongues, like as of fire.' No. 8, 
 taken from the Catacombs and photographed from Garrucci (vol. iii. pi. 140, No. 1), 
 expresses the same symbolical idea in association with the resting of cleft flames 
 upon the heads of the Apostles at Pentecost. 
 
 The artist has introduced the Virgin Mary in the center of the Apostolic group, 
 possibly because she is mentioned with the 'Twelve,' Acts i, 14 ; and also to express 
 his idea of her superiority to them, by taking the place of her Son at their head, a 
 notion in keeping with the errors of his day. The ' cloven ' or divided appearance 
 of the fire, as well as its fiashing form, indicates the same idea in these two ]iainters 
 of different dates. The blaze-like curve in No. 7 suggests that the author intended 
 that fresco to express his idea of the figurative and supernatural baptism of fire in 
 union with baptism in water — a thought in perfect harmony with the religious lit- 
 erature of his times. We have innumerable instances in which the Fathers speak of 
 such a baptism in association with the baptism of water. Tertullian tells us that 
 
TnADITTONAT. BAPTlSyr OF FIRE. 
 
 263 
 
 tlie Valcntiiii;ui.s adck-d tliit; tire l>ai)tir^iii to tlieir water baptism. Smith's ' Dictionary 
 of Aiiti(|iiities ' not only treats of a sect who maiiitaine<l tiio true baptism to be that 
 of tlie Spirit ami tire, but speaks of a treatise in wliich ' we read of some who, by 
 wiiat means is not known, {)roduced an appearance of fire on the baptismal water, 
 in order to complete what they thought necessary for Christian baptism." A tra- 
 dition existed on this subject from Justin Martyr downward. In his dialogue with 
 Tryplio the Jew, he says that ' When Jesus descended into the water, a fire was also 
 
 \S OF FIRE. 
 
 kindled in Jordan." The Ebionite Gospel reports that after Christ's baptism : 
 ' Immediately a great light shone around upon the place.' In commenting upon 
 these passages, Dr. Lardner remarks : ' This account, therefore, of the fii-e in the 
 river Jordan seems to be only a story which Justin had received by tradition.' Drs. 
 Cave and Grabe, as well as Lardner, think this tradition an inference drawn from 
 the evangelical account of the opening heavens. ^ Add to this the avowal of John 
 concerning the baptism of fire not many days hence, and it is easy to see how the 
 traditional fiery baptism associated itself with the primitive water baptism in many 
 
264 VIEWS OF CyitlL. 
 
 minds. Ephrein, the great hjiimist of tlio Syrian ( 'liiirdi, fdurth century, speaking 
 of Christ's baptism says: 'Beliold the fire mid the Spirit, in the i-iver in wliich thou 
 wast baptized.' Is it any more strange tliat an ancient jxunter sliould embody this 
 emblematic idea in a picture, tlian that so grave a Father as Justin should incorpo- 
 rate it into his controversy with the noted Jew ? Surely, there was more common 
 sense in doing either, tliaii in the late attempt to force this fresco into the service of 
 aspersion by making it an annex and interpreter of 'The Teaching of the Twelve 
 Apostles.' 
 
 That work requires men to be baptized in ' running water. But if thou hast «ot 
 running water, baptize in other water; and if thou canst not in cold, then in loarm. 
 But if tliou hast neither, pour water upoii the liead.' Here, however, tlie admin- 
 istrator has both running water and an abundance of it; and, therefore, to ponr 
 water upon the head wuuld 1)e in direct opposition to the above injunction. A 
 wide stream of ' living water ' is presented, big enough to produce a fish, in length 
 one third of the candidate's full stature ; and so the baptizer is supposed to be 
 following the instruction in the exceptional case by pouring water on the head, and 
 that miraculously too, without the aid of any vessel or the use of either of his 
 hands ! Here is a pedobaptist miracle in resurrection from the Catacombs for en- 
 lightening the nineteenth century. Even Smith's ' Dictionary ' forces this Callixtine 
 fresco to bear testimony to affusion in baptism as an ancient practice, and cites as 
 a parallel case, that ' one common mode of bathing among the ancients was the 
 pouring of water from vessels over the body, as we may see in ancient vase paint- 
 ings.' That water w.as so used in the ordinary spray or showei"-bath is clear 
 enough ; but what has that to do with this picture ? Here is not the representation 
 of the usual bath, but of a Christian baptism. Besides, when the ' vase paintings ' 
 picture affusion in the common bath, they show the vessel from which the falling 
 water flows, which is the very thing that this painting does not show. It cannot 
 be enlisted into this modern service without the greatest violence to the literature 
 of the earlier ages. Chrysostom understood the baptism of fire metaphoi-ically, for 
 the gifts and graces of the Spirit ; while Cyril of Jerusalem understood it real- 
 istically, as seen in the form of cloven tongues at Pentecost. ^ The resemblance to 
 fiery horns rising above the head of the baptized in No. 7, and the forked flames 
 above the heads of the Twelve in No. 8, are clearly intended to represent the same 
 symbolical ideal, by similar arching, cleft and aspiring curves. But the affusion 
 of water is inadmissible until it can be shown where it comes from, and how it 
 ascends far above the head in this cleft and arching Avay without visible agency or 
 projecting force. 
 
 No. 9 is a more important painting, found over the baptistery in the Catacomb 
 of St. Ponziano, which is ascribed by Boldetti to the fifth or sixth century, but by 
 Parker to the ninth. It is over an arched recess, at the bottom of which is a well 
 or fountain, said to have been used for baptism by the early Christians in the times 
 
NO. 9, — BAPTISTEKY IX CATACOMB OF ST. FOXZIA 
 
nAPTrsTEnr.—sT. PONzrAxo. 268 
 
 of persecution. In tlie upper p;ut C'lirist is represented as standing up to the waist 
 in the Jordan. Tlic IIolv Dove witli rays from his beak is over his head, fish 
 are swinmiing in the water, and a hart or stag is looking intently into the stream. 
 John is standing on the bank reaching forward with his hand on Christ's head. 
 Another figure stands on the opposite side in a white garment ; the three figures 
 have the nimbus. The lower part of tlie representation is under the arch; on tlie 
 wall is a jeweled cross with the A and il lianging from its arms to indicate that 
 Christ is the Beginning and the Ending of faith, and the two candlesticks standing 
 upon them are designed to set forth the Divine and human nature of our Lord. 
 The symbolism here is on a large scale, for the artist evidently intended not only to 
 give us an ideal baptismal scene in the immersion of Jesus, but to associate with it 
 such a body of divinity as would show the great doctrines on which baptism rests, 
 and its necessary outcome from them ; so that the emblematic and the realistic 
 are copiously blended. The jeweled cross is very significant, being set witli gems, 
 leaves and flowers. This the ancients called The Cross of Glory, while they called 
 the plain wood The Cross of Shame, to mark the degradation to which the Bap- 
 tized Crucified submitted for our sins. The two flames from the candlesticks on 
 the transverse beam are designed to show the wealth and fullness of illumination 
 which the atonement throws upon baptism, and the light needed by those who are 
 buried beneath its waters. Then, the cross itself descends into the water to exhibit 
 the connection of the atonement by Christ's death with the ordinance. The clear 
 and still fountain beneath is the believer's liquid grave, where he is to be buried 
 'into the likeness of Christ's death.' 
 
 Portions of the upper picture arc purely imaginative, as the angel on the riglit 
 shore from Christ resting on a cloud and holding our Lord's robe. Then, the hart 
 looking earnestly into the water symbolizes the thirst of the believing soul for the 
 waters of baptism. This idea is probably borrowed from Jerome's comment on the 
 first verse of Psalm xlii : 'As the hart pants after the water-brooks, so does my 
 soul pant for thee, O God.' Tlie nimbus thrown around the head of John, Jesus 
 and tlie angel, and the luminous irradiancy around the Holy Dove, distinguish them 
 as sacred personages. Thus, in this remarkable picture, the immersion of Jesus 
 and the deep baptistery provided for those who cling to his cross are but membei-s 
 of a great system of truth which the artist intended to preach ; his primary purpose 
 being to show forth Christ's redeeming work and the results flowing from it by 
 faith and obedience, as seen in baptismal burial and resurrection with him. The 
 baptistery is supplied by a natural spring, and is, according to Ricci, from four to 
 five feet deep ; Canon Venable says, with a descent of ten steps. Since writing the 
 above. Dr. Dodge calls attention to Bellermann's description of a baptistery in the 
 Catacombs at Naples : ' There is a niche in the wall under the middle door, eight 
 feet high, five and a half feet broad, in which one still sees a cross with four equal 
 arms painted red, and a Greek inscription, wliieh means "Jesus Christ conquers." 
 
266 
 
 MOSAIC AT RAVENNA. 
 
 According to a tradition, tlicn- 
 deeply embedded in the c:ntli, 
 of a subterranean Cliurcli." J' 
 b'ke that which we see in tJie 
 Eev. St. John Tyrwhitt in his: 
 
 )iice before this niche a great baptismal basin, 
 t une could look on this place as the baptistery 
 it i>cems that the cross was a baptismal one, 
 in ( 'cinutery. The inscription is remarkable. 
 
 on • Christian Art and Symbolism ' says: 'Tlie 
 
 earliest crosses, as that called the Lateran, are l)aptismal crosses. . . . The cross is in 
 its first use the symbol of baptism into the Lord's death, or death with him.' P. 124. 
 No. 10 presents the same svihIk'Hc >tyle. It is the noted Ursian Mosaic, taken 
 from the Baptistery of St. John at lia\eniia, supposed to have been built by Ursus, 
 A. D. 3y0-39(.l, but the mosaic which adorns its high dome is referred to 450. Its three 
 
 most striking symbols ai-e 
 the lettering at the left 
 of Christ's shoulder; the 
 anointing of Jesus by John 
 with oil or myrrh from a 
 vessel ; and the river-god. 
 Our Lord stands up to the 
 waist in the waters of the 
 .lui'dan, with the nimbus and 
 Holy Dove over his head. 
 John's right hand holds the 
 'ampulla,' or anointing cup, 
 over Christ's head,but his left 
 hand grasps a jeweled cross. 
 His left knee is bent forward 
 and sustains what looks like a 
 cruet or flask, in shape much 
 like the Oriental bottle made 
 of skin. This object partly 
 obscuring John's knee, the 
 cross and Christ's right arm, suggest the source from whence he has drawn the oil for 
 the anointing. This however, only provided it is not a defect in the mosaic, which 
 is possible. Garruci names no blemish here in his description of the picture, while 
 he speaks of one in the lettering ' loi'd,' which was originally ' lordann.' This medall- 
 ion realistically confines the subject to tlie immersion of Jesus in the sacred river; 
 but the artist adds the symbols in harmony with the practice of baptism in his 
 own times. Lundy's comment is, that John ' applies the unction with a small 
 shell.' " 
 
 At what time the custom of anointing the bajitized with oil originated is not 
 known. Jortin thinks that it was unknown to Justin Martyr, A. D. 103-lOS. as he 
 does not hint at it in describing the rite of baptism. But Justin refers to it in 
 
 IC, FROM BAPTISTERY OF ST. JOHN, RAVENN 
 
ANOINTING IN BAPTISM. 267 
 
 another place, saying : ' If ^fary anointed the Lord witli inyrrli before his burial, 
 and we celebrate the s^'nibols of his sulTci-iiiiis and rcsui'ri'cti.ni in baptism, how is 
 it that we first, indeed, anoint with oil, and tht'ii cdi biatini;- the aforesaid symbols 
 in the pool, afterward anoint with myrrh ?"" Tlie geiu'ral custom of anointing in 
 baptism probably came in a little later, when the wealthy began to embrace Chris- 
 tianity, for Tertullian says mucli of this unction. We may see the reason for its 
 adoption, for every-wliere in the Koman Empire the free use of oil was deemed 
 necessary to the completion of a common bath. Tlie Christians found many fan- 
 ciful reasons for the introduction of this practice in baptism. God anointed Jesus 
 with the Holy Spirit at his baptism — the very name 'Christ' signifies tlie anointed ; 
 Mary anointed his body before his burial, with much more in that line ; and so 
 accoi'ding to the best authorities they gave many reasons for this ' chrism,' as they 
 called it, both before and after baptism. Anointing betokened prosperity and hap- 
 piness, and so they likened the Spirit to oil and his grace to unction ; and after 
 baptism they poured olive oil upon the head, thus, as they said, anointing their con- 
 verts with the ' oil of gladness above their fellows,' in token of their consecration 
 to a holy life. Tertullian writes : 
 
 'We are, acccording to ancient custom, thorongldy anointed with a blessed 
 unction, as the priests were wont to be anointed with oil from a horn. And the 
 xmction running down our flesh profits us spiritually in the same way as the act of 
 baptism, itself carnal, because we are plunged in water, has a spiritual effect in 
 delivering us from our sins. Then the hand is laid on us, inviting the Holy Spirit, 
 through the words of benediction, and over our cleansed and blessed bodies, freely 
 descends from the Father that most Holy Spirit."' 
 
 They found many other reasons for this practice. In the Grecian games, the 
 wrestlers and runners anointed themselves plentifully before they began their con- 
 tests. When their frame and joints were pervaded with oil, it was supposed 
 to give them a quick agility of action and an easy grace of movement, and 
 so added to their chances of success. As Paul referred to the laws of these con- 
 tests, 'so run I, so fight I,' they borrowed a figure from the same, and applied it to 
 the Christian athlete, when beginning his race and combat in baptism. Ambrose, 
 of Caliors, the supposed author of ' De Sacramentis,' says to the immersed : ' Thou 
 didst enter. . . . Thou was anointed as the athlete of Christ.' " Dr. Cave, (pioting 
 Cyril, remarks : 
 
 ' They were cut off from the wild olive and were engrafted into Christ, the true 
 olive-tree, and made partakers of his fruits and benefits, or else to show that now 
 they were become champions for Christ and had entered upon a state of conflict, 
 wherein they must strive and contend with all the snares of the world, as the athlete 
 of old were anointed aijainst their soltMiui iiaincs, that thcv might be more expedite, 
 and that their ant;i-,,i,i'sts ,,,iMl,r fak,. |,.-> ii,,l,l upun tlicin, ( )r rntluT, jm-lMMy, to 
 denote their li.-in- a.lmilf.l r.. tlir -ivat i.ri\ il.-f> of ( 'hri>tianit v. n (-h.-^ni -viici'a- 
 tion, a royal prirMhoMcl, a holy iiatinu (as tin- \\*'<>\\v styh-s Cliri.^tiaiiM, otlicr. of 
 which anointing was an ancient symbol, both of being designated to them and inter- 
 
268 ANOmriNO IN BAPTTS.W. 
 
 ested in them ; and this acemint Tcrtiilliaii favors, lie tells lis 'tis derived from the 
 ancient, that is, Jewish discijiliiie, where the priests wei"e wont to be anointed for 
 the jiriesthood : for some such purpose they thonirlit it fit that a Christian should be 
 aiioiiitt'd asa spii-itiial kiiiiz; and priest, anil iliat no time was irK.re i)roper for it than 
 at his haptism. when flie name of Christ was euiifessed npuii him.' « 
 
 This unction figured largely in the ecclesiastical controversies and legislation of 
 after eentnries; and as early as the fourth, a contest arose whether it should pre- 
 cede or follow baptism. Tertullian's statements show that it followed baptism, and 
 most of the Fathers contended lustily for the same order, Augustine being amongst 
 the most earnest. Bunsen says that ' The unction followed immediately after the 
 immersion.' This question fanned the love for anointing into a mania, until Rabanus, 
 Archbishop of Mentz, A. D. 788-856, actually exalted it into a separate 'sacra- 
 ment.' He did this by doubling each ordinance ; and so he called the bread and wine 
 two, and the 'chrisma ' another, apart from the immersion ; four in all. " Dr. Cave, 
 citing Cyril again, says (p. 324) that the ]X'rson baptized: 
 
 ' " Was anointed the second time, as S. Cyril tells us ; and, indeed, whatever be- 
 comes of the unction that was before, 'tis certain that that which Tertullian speaks 
 of as a part of the ancient discipline, was after the person was bajjtized." The 
 anointing took place both before and after the immersion ; and the whole service 
 was finished by binding a white linen cloth, called the " chrismale," around the head 
 of the immersed, to retain the oil upon the bead for a week afterward.' " 
 
 The author of the Ursian Mosaic evidently wished to portray the anointing of 
 Jesus in connection with his baptism ; but unable to depict the invisible unction of 
 the Holy Spirit, he meets the necessity by putting the ordinary baptismal unction into 
 the hand of John. It entered not his mind to emit a stream from the beak of a dove, so 
 the best agent that his art could supply was the anointing cup in John's hand. Hence 
 he is pouring on the oil above the nimbus and beneath the head of the Dove, to indicate 
 his authority from God to place his hand between the second and the third persons 
 in the Trinity, to the honor of God's anointed Son. This act directly connects the 
 artist's conception of the river-god with the effect of the anointing. When he did 
 this work the universal teaching was that great virtue lodged in the baptismal oil, 
 in fact, that it was miracle-working in its effects. Cyril, of Jerusalem, tells us that 
 the holy oil in baptism destroyed all traces of sin and drove out the evil one ; and 
 Pacian insists that ' the baptismal water washes away sin, the chrism gives the Holy 
 Spirit, and so the regeneration is complete.' " Not the least of these effects is seen 
 in expelling all demons and evil spirits from the water by the oil. In conformity 
 with this idea, the artist has introduced the emblematic figure of the river-god, 
 according to the ancient form. He has ascended from the stream, with a leafy 
 calamus or reed in his hand and a wreath on his brow, in token of dominion over 
 that river. He is alarmed, is looking away from the holy anointing and bends for- 
 ward, as if making for the shore to depart from a scene of such sanctity. No. 11 
 gives us an ancient Roman bath, as is seen by the elegant heathen bass-relief upon 
 
nAPT/STE/n' OF CONt>TANT[\K. 
 
 it, wliic'h liad bcuii coiisfcruteil to Cliristian use bj placing upon the oil podestal 
 an image of John the Baptist, who is invoked to serve as its patron saint. 
 
 ling the Cliurcli of St. 
 this service of unction. 
 
 -OLD BIPIISM \ 
 
 IL I EDESTAL. 
 
 In the baptistery known as that of Constantine, ad 
 John of Lateral!, at Rome, special provision was made t'l 
 The circular basin of this build- 
 ing is three feet deep and twen- 
 ty-five in diameter. Both Anas- 
 tasius and Daraasus, in tlieir 
 lives of Sylvester, say that in 
 their time it was lined within 
 and without by 3,008 pounds 
 weight of silver ; and ' in the 
 middle of the basin stood a col- 
 umn of porphyry, bearing on its 
 top a golden phial full of oint- 
 ment,' to be poured upon the 
 heads of the newly-immersed 
 ones. Hence the mosaic under consideration steps forth to confirm the literature of 
 many centuries, which in its turn reflects light back upon Christian archaeology. 
 The attempt, then, to force this picture into the service of modern affusion does the 
 greatest possible violence to all the circumstances of the case, and to the unbroken 
 testimony of the ages. In the absence of color in a piece of sculpture or painting 
 where liquid is poured foi'th, the circumstances and positive testimony taken to- 
 gether must determine what that liquid is. And in all these cases these pictures 
 unite in showing it to be oil and not water. Common sense alone suggests, nay, 
 even common decency, that no one would take another to a stream of water, strip 
 him naked and lead him down into it up to the waist, for the purpose of pouring 
 water on the head from the hand or a shell or a vessel, either before or after the 
 honest iiumersion of that head in the same element, much less without such im- 
 mersion at all. At any rate, those who pour water on the head now and call it 
 baptism are extremely careful not to go through such a series of useless acts to reach 
 that end. If the primitive Christians did, they were not so wise as the moderns. 
 But when they tell us that oil was poured upon the head in baptism, ' as the priests 
 were wont to be anointed with oil from a horn,' as Tertullian expresses it, we can- 
 not only see the reason for all these steps, but for their full expression in ancient 
 Christian art. 
 
 This absurd claim renders itself simply ridiculous, in the attempt to show that 
 because clinics or sick persons in bed had water poured upon them, which act 
 passed for baptism, any example of this can establish a universal rule. Jesus was 
 not a clinic at any time, much less when John baptized him ; nor were clinics taken 
 to tliu Jordan and placed in its waters up to the waist, that a cup of water might 
 
270 
 
 AlilAN BAPTlSTKIiV AT IIAVKNNA. 
 
 be poured upon their lieads. This pietui'u ti-uats uf the baptism of Jesus ; and it 
 was just as natural that the painter should inv(jke the use of oil, tiie universal cus- 
 tom of his day amongst Christians in baptism, to represent the anointing of the 
 Holy Spirit, as that he should use the cross, the flask and the river-god. But what 
 sane artist would think of making John lead our Kedeemer nude into the Jordan 
 to pour a cup of water on his head ? He would be deemed as flt for tlie lunatic 
 asylum as the coming painter who shall represent a current infant baptism in this year 
 of grace 1886 by drawing John in the Jordan with a naked babe in his arms, dropping 
 a particle of water on its brow from a cup, with a flask of water on his shoulder. 
 
 No. 12 is found in the dome of the Arian baptistery at Eavenna, and is known as St. 
 Maria in Cosmedin. It is given by Father Garrucci and bears date a century later than 
 
 figure 10, namely, A. D. 553. 
 Here again, our Kedeemer is 
 presented above the loins in 
 the waters of the Jordan; 
 which river is made a winding 
 trench, with a typical resem- 
 blance to the actual course of 
 that sacred stream, as if the 
 artist had visited the spot. 
 The Holy Dove has descended 
 directly above the head of 
 Christ and hovers there, emit- 
 ting a stream of unction from 
 his beak which actually unites 
 him with the person of our 
 Lord. The Baptist is clothed in 
 a camel's skin, holding a bent 
 reed in his left hand, while his 
 right rests ujjon Christ's head. 
 At the right of Jesus is the river-god again, a seated figure with long hair and horns ; 
 instead of the wreath on his head we have the leafy calamus in his hand to indicate 
 his royalty ; his lower limbs are wrapped in an ample robe and an urn stands at his 
 side. Abbe Crossnier points to the horns and urn as emblems of his deity ; and his left 
 hand raised in astonishment seems to express wonder and alarm for the holiness of 
 the scene, but especially has the heavenly unction startled him. Here we see what 
 a century had done for the mosaic art. By this time the later artist had devised a 
 better method of symbolical representation, so that he disposes entirely of John's 
 intervening cup between the Spirit and the Son, to express the anointing; and 
 brings the Dove and the Lord into immediate union by a realistic flood from the 
 mouth of the Dove, to set forth the divine unction. This is in exact accord with what 
 
 NO. 13. — MOS.MC, 
 
 lEUY, R.WENNA. 
 
THE HOLY I)OVK 271 
 
 Smith says of another ancient practice. In article ' Dove' he observes : ' A golden 
 or silver dove was often suspended above the font in early times. These sometimes 
 contained the anointing oil used in baptism.' . . . ' Doves of the precious metals, 
 emblematic of the Holy Spirit, were also sus^^ended above the font in early churches.' 
 , . . ' One of the charges brouglit against Severus by the clergy of Autioch at the 
 Council of Constantinople, A. D. 536, vpas that he removed and appropriated to his 
 own use the gold and silver doves hanging over the sacred fonts.' '^ But the am- 
 pulla was more frequently in other shapes than that of the dove. 
 
 With all these fiicts staring us in the face, men have the temerity to tell us 
 that in one of these mosaics John is pouring out water on the head of tiesus, and in 
 the other tiie Holy Dove is pouring out — well, they do not exactly know what, but 
 something that teaches the doctrine of affusion in Christian baptism ! What do 
 they mean by this? Do they mean any thing, soberly and definitely? Can they 
 mean that the artists in these mosaics intended to teach that the water baptism of 
 John administered to Jesus was incomplete, until the Baptist in the first case and 
 the Spirit in the second superadded a water affusion likewise ? Will they give us 
 one example, in the Bible or out of it, in which it has ever entered the mind of man 
 that the Holy Dove has poured water upon any man to complete his water bap- 
 tism or to supersede his immersion ? Certainly not. But this artist clearly did in- 
 tend, by a too literal and realistic manner, to attempt the reduction of an invisible 
 anointing of Jesus of Nazareth to the physical eye, and hence this stream from the 
 mouth of the dove. The design in both cases is unmistakable. In the Ursian 
 Mosaic the oil descends from John's vessel to depict an anointing of the Spirit by 
 the use of oil without a stream from the Dove, and in the Arian Mosaic the Dove 
 gives forth his own anointing essence; consequently the literal oil is dispensed with, 
 showing that in both cases unction is set forth and not water. If the reader will 
 examine No. 8, he will see that the artist of the Pentecostal scene, intended 
 to ])resent Mary as receiving the Spirit's anointing in the same way precisely. The 
 divided flame rests upon her head as upon each of the Apostles, but in addition the 
 Dove emits a stream from his beak, exactly like that iq the Arian Mosaic. Did 
 the artist intend to convey the thought that the Spirit was aspersing Mary with 
 water in baptism ? And yet there is the same reason for saying this, that there is 
 for saying that the Arian artist intended the mosaic to carry the idea that the Holy 
 Spirit emitted a stream of water upon her Son in baptism. No, we say with Lundy, 
 in his ' Monumental Christianity : ' ' The Dove is pouring down the Divine afflatus 
 from his beak on the head of our Lord.' 
 
 No. 13 is a fragment of glass from a broken cup found in the Esquiline, and 
 known by the name on its face. It depicts a newly baptized girl. Those who have 
 examined it say that when held to the light its tran.sparency reveals her figure, with 
 her knee raised and bent and her right arm extended, as if preparing to leave the 
 baptistery. A priest with a halo around his head stands at her side, in a priestly 
 
THE CUP 
 
 . Di 
 
 uusly f 
 
 a1.. 
 
 IS tli. 
 
 A 
 
 te(l u;Inl)iil;ir \-rss('l, niiiversally known in 
 It is huiiy ill a ^arlainl and a li(|uid tiows 
 This vessel takes tliis name, says ' Sniitli's 
 Dictionary of Christian An- 
 tiquities ' (Art. ' Ampulla ')j 
 ' probably from its swelling 
 out in every direction ' . . . . 
 ' A globular vessel for hold- 
 ing liquid ; ' in fact, the very 
 vessel used in the old Roman 
 bath and at the ancient bap- 
 tistery for the ]>urpose of 
 anointing. A hand rests upon 
 the girl's head, and a dove 
 hovers above her bearing a 
 branch of seven stems, to in- 
 dicate the seven graces of 
 tlie Spirit which are now 
 hers ; the dove itself being a 
 messenger of peace, as in the 
 Saviour's baptism (see No. 
 •1). Evei-y item in this frag- 
 ment is full of symbol. The white clothing indicates the girl's future purity, chas- 
 tity and faith ; the amjnilla is hung in a garland to denote that the occasion of the 
 baptism is festive ; it hangs near the bright, opening heavens without visible support ; 
 the dove is descending to show that she is a favorite, ' beloved ' of God ; and she stands 
 in the deep water to denote her immersion. We are chiefly concerned, 
 however, with the inverted ampulla, its contents and their use in an- 
 cient baptism. The accompanying cut, No. 14, is taken from the article 
 ' Bath ' (' Encyc. Britannica '), and is the same vessel found in the cup of 
 Alba. It was in common use amongst the ancient Christians at the 
 altar, for it contained the wine as well as the oil. When John III. 
 ordered the Lateran Church at Rome to supply altar-plate for the Oratory of the 
 Martyrs, with other pieces, he required the ampulla. Yet as 'Smith's Dictionary' 
 says: 
 
 ' More commonly the word denotes a vessel used for holding consecrated oil or 
 chrism. Optatus Milevitanus tells us that an " ampulla chrismatis," thrown from a 
 window by the Donatists, i-emained unbroken. ... By far the most renowned am- 
 pulla of this kind is that which is said to have been brought by a dove from heaven 
 at the baptism of Clovis, and which was used at the coronation of the Frank kings. 
 Hincmar, in the service which he drew up for Chai-les the Bold (840), speaks of this 
 heaven-descended chrism whence that which he himself used was derived, as if of a 
 
 THE AMPULLA. 
 
THE LESSONS OF THIS CUP. 273 
 
 thing well-known. Fiodoarcl (10th century) tells us that at the baptism of Clovis, 
 the clerk wlio bore the chrism was prevented by the crowd from reaching his proper 
 station ; and tiiat when the moment for unction arrived, St. Remi raised his eyes to 
 heaven and prayed, when a white dove suddenly Hew upon the rostrum, bearing an 
 ampulla filled with chrism from heaven.' '^ 
 
 This vessel was often of gold, silver or other metal, and was hung over the 
 font as well as the altar, as in this Cup of Alba. The knowledge of these facts sets 
 aside the unnatural and forced notion, that the ancient Christians took candidates 
 into deep water for the purpose of pouring a little on their heads in lieu of immer- 
 sion ; and that against their own testimony to the contrary for thirteen hundred 
 years. With this glass fragment before his eyes, a man's common sense should tell 
 him that no necessity could call for hanging an inverted vase in this style over the 
 head of a baptized person in order to pour from it a little water on the head, while 
 she stands in very deep water, and the baptizing priest stands at her side empty- 
 handed. His dress and nimbus show him to be a sacred person, while his attitude 
 and outstretched hand express reverence at this falling unction. We have, indeed, 
 records of Church theatricals in the Dark Ages, but few are so ridiculous as this 
 perfusion would be. Such a play would not be good pantomime, but the most sense- 
 less of dumb shows, and witlial very full of machinery. While unction was no 
 part of baptism as Christ ordained it, but was, as Bingham says, ' an appendage to 
 baptism,' yet it came to be regarded as an essential part of baptism ; and the author 
 of the ' Constitutions' insists that the anointing must be had with oil, or ointment, in 
 order to participation in the Holy Spirit, on the part of the immersed. 
 
 A word must be added, as to the laying on of the hand in all these pictures. 
 The imposition of the hand is as old as the race, its signitlcance resting on the pur- 
 pose—that of healing, mediation, investiture in office or blessing. Here it relates 
 to immersion, and of this one act it is symbolic. Generally these pictures present 
 their finished subject, without the order in which one act consecutively followed 
 another in making up the whole. The several parts are to be taken in their natural 
 succession, as the painter has given us his finished ideal. In no other way could he 
 give his subject in repose. He cannot well give it at an unfinished stage of the 
 baptism, as at the moment of burial or when buried or when rising. Therefore, 
 the hand is laid on the head either before the candidate is bowed forward for 
 immersion or when it is raised afterward. In these pictures we have both. Ter- 
 tullian's remark clears up the whole matter. He says : ' A man having been let down 
 in water and dipped between a few words rises again. . . . Then the hand is laid on 
 us, invoking and inviting the Holy Spirit through the Benediction.' " 
 
 The accompanying cuts give additional force to this fact. That from St. Mark's, 
 No. 15, is unmistakable, and is evidently intended to give the whole significance of 
 our baptism as well as the facts of our Lord's baptism. We have John's ax laid 
 at the root of the trees, and the generation of Christ's immersed followers repre- 
 
274 
 
 THE HAND ON TlIK HEAD. 
 
 sented by the fisli and tlie iu'w-bi.i-ii i-onvci-t with liiin in tlie waters; both symbol- 
 ical of the newly b(ii-a to God, whatcvn- their actual age. A man of eighty just 
 brought to Christ is what Paul calls a • new-boi-n babe ;' and in the person of a eon- 
 vert in the water, at tlie foot of the angel who is about to cover him with a rol)e, 
 we have precisely the idea of Tertullian : ' We snuUler fishes, after the example of 
 our Fish, are horn in the waters.' No. 16 is found on the northern gate of the Bap- 
 tistery of Parma, a bass-relief sculpture intended to represent the baptism of 
 Christ, as is seen by the nimbus around the head of the immersed. The waters of 
 the Jordan are thrown up into a heap, after the style of art in the Middle Ages, 
 this picture being attributed to the thirteenth century. 
 
 ^hl9&MJ"Pj5lHV 
 
 
 71>Tt 
 
 
 W-- 
 
 M^ 
 
 
 
 pi 
 
 -^^ -7^-^ 
 
 ' ^ 
 
 MARKS ROME 
 
 In seven out of the eight pictures used here, where the baptized are standing 
 in the water, the hand of the baptizer is laid upon the head ; the only exception 
 being that of St. John, Ravenna, where John is anointing our Lord. Even in the 
 Arian Mosaic, where the Dove is anointing Christ, John's hand is laid on his head 
 to indicate the finished immersion. But the highest authorities on these w^orks of 
 Christian art tell us, that the hand on the head of the person in the water is the 
 sign of immersion. Beltrasni, of Eavenna, says of John's hand on Christ's head in 
 the Arian Mosaic : ' The priest placed his hand fully upon the head of the candidate 
 while in the water ; and thus by three immersions and rapid emersions the baptism 
 was complete." " Bottari states that ' The hand is placed on the head to indicate 
 immersion.' "= The 'Apostolic Constitutions' require 'The priest to lay his hand 
 upon the head of the candidate, dipping him three times.' Garrucci in his history 
 of ' Christian Art ' says : ' That the laying on of the hand was customary and of 
 special moment in immersion.' " Cardinal Colonna writes : ' The Catechumens, 
 without clothing, descended into the water of the baptistery, and were there immersed 
 three times ; the priest accompanying the act w-ith his hand, and invoking at each 
 immersion the name of one of the persons of the Holy Trinity.' '* And De Eossi 
 warns us that ' We ought not to confound the imposition of the right hand with 
 which the ministrant accompanies the immersion of the candidate with wliat the 
 
THE CONCLUSION. 275 
 
 bishop does in tlie case of the neopliyto, as he emerges from the water, and is clotlicd 
 in white at the confirmation.' " Thus, tliese and other adepts, not one of tliem Bap- 
 tists, bring daylight from tlie Catacombs, bearing vohintary and unbiased witness 
 against tlieir own practice as aspersionists. 
 
 There are many more early pictures of baptism besides these, amongst them a 
 notable one of a king and queen in a baptistery, each wearing a royal crown, sup- 
 posed to represent their majesties of Lombardy, immersed about A. D. 590. All, 
 however, bear the same line of interpretation, and all the reliable authorities declare 
 that their interpretation is found in immersion. Then these two things are quite 
 as remarkable in confirmation of its correctness, namely : 1. That in none of the 
 Catacomb pictures is John found pouring any thing on Christ's head, as his anoint- 
 ing was ascribed to God directly. We have the earliest instance of this in the Raven- 
 nian Mosaic of A. D. 450, when oil was universally used ujion the baptized. 2. AVe 
 have no case in the Catacombs of any one dipping a babe in water, or of one hold- 
 ing a babe in the arms, pouring or sprinkling water upon him. All are adults, and 
 all are standing their full height in the water ; while we have many inscriptions to 
 deceased infants and some pictures of children, amongst them that of Jesus bless- 
 ing children, given in this work. But in no case is there the least sign of water in 
 connection with them suggesting baptism. Even where our Lord blesses the child, 
 they both stand on dry land, the little one at his side. This silence, under all the 
 circumstances, is suggestive without the weight of historical testimony ; and as a 
 negative, it hints broadly in confirmation of its opposite positive. 
 
 It is believed that while the foregoing suggestions are not intended to be inter- 
 pretations of the pictures given, they are in harmony with the teaching and practice 
 of the earlier centuries, as their literature shows abundantly. That this teaching 
 and practice varied from New Testament injunction and example is not to the point. 
 The crude and even ridiculous notions embodied in these pictures were seriously 
 entertained by those who executed them, and they all go to show that the practice 
 of those ages was in harmony with that of the Baptists of our own times, in so far 
 as that the radical idea of baptism was that of the burial of the body in water. 
 None of the archseologists, historians or interpreters here cited are Baptists, but 
 chiefly they are Catholics and antiquarians of great note, who have given the result 
 of their researches simply as antiquarians and not as biblical critics or theologians. 
 Their testimony bears every mark of candor and is entitled to great weight. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE T-WELFTH CENTURY. 
 
 THIS was tlie iron i\>j^L\ in whiuli tliu Cliurcli sk'})t her iron sleep. Yet it was 
 a cardinal era, as when the first spike of light darts across an arctic skj to 
 break the night and herald the revolutionary day. Stagnation awoke the soul of 
 the age by its very oppression, and it half resolved to be free. The Crusades had 
 opened the sluices of vice, ecclesiasticism sat drunk on the throne of night, and the 
 Archbishop of Narbonne said that ' St. Peter's boat was sinking.' At this moment 
 Abelard caught the breaking dawn. He represented the free thought which the 
 Crusaders had brought back with them, and helped to loosen the bands of tradition 
 by pointing out the contradictions of the Fathers ; ridiculing the current notion that 
 Christ's death was a ransom paid to the devil, and warmly rebuking immorality in 
 peasant, priest, prelate and prince. Admiring youth thronged the presence of 
 this brilliant philosopher, whether in the wilderness of Troyes or the University 
 of Paris. His severity and originality stirred the opposition of the dull, the narrow- 
 minded and the vile, and Bernard accused him of heresy. Bernard himself 
 bewailed the depravity of the priests, but still was a captive to the superstitions of 
 the age. Some of the popes honestly sought to reform the Catholic Church, while 
 Gregory VII. abolished the sale of holy offices and checked concubinage in the clergy. 
 Another new idea of the times was to encourage the rise of great cities. They 
 became indejjendent friends of light and supported better government. Those of 
 Xorthern Italv and Southern France di'cw to them various Oi'iental sects, many of 
 
THE CATHAIil. 277 
 
 tlieiii • iniiv ' men, ('()in]iare(l witli tliosc gunei-Mlly seen ; j)r()iiiineiit ainoiij^st these 
 were Ciitliarists from Bulgaria and 'i'liraee. These strangers brought with them 
 many false doctrines, but they rejected popular vices, the authority of pope and 
 bishop, and studied the New Testament. The fairest civilization of the Middle 
 Ages arose where they flourished. In a certain and important sense Abelard, Ber- 
 nard and Gregory, with the Crusaders and Cathari, all worked together. And 
 contrary to popular supposition, Tanchelyn was helping them by preaching in the 
 streets of Antwerp and Utrecht, while Peter of Bruis was drawing men to Christ 
 between the Rhone and the Alps. These two were as heartily hated by the priests as 
 they were beloved by the i^eople, and such was the influence of the man of God 
 in Holland that for twelve years the mass had not been celebrated in many places 
 where he preached. Tanchelyn went to Rome with much the same result as Luther, 
 four centuries later. On his return he was imprisoned at Cologne by order of the 
 archbishop, but by the aid of a smith, a disciple, he escaped. Afterward he was 
 slain by a treacherous priest. He held that tlie P)ililL" is the only guide, Christ the 
 only head of the Church, with no mass and no infant baptism. These doctrines 
 survived him, were 2:)reached by his successor, Everwacher, and the after suscept- 
 ibility of the Netherlands to Baptist principles has some connection with his early 
 sowing. The several sects of the Cathari hold a close afiinity to our subject, and 
 we must now present a cursory view of this interesting people. 
 
 The Cathari ('the pure') have been the subjects of much confusion in ecclesi- 
 astical history, largely in consequence of classing many and widely difiEerent sects 
 under that general name, both amongst ancient and modern writers, whether 
 Catholic or Protestant. The latter have been too ready to hail all dissidents from 
 Rome by that name as welcome simply because they were dissenters, the Catholics 
 as cheerfulh' consigning all these to anathema for the same reason, witli l»ut little 
 distinction. In truth, with few exceptions, all have dealt in this wllok■^ale distri- 
 bution, instead of examining each sect and candidly assigning it to its true place in 
 the long list of sects, which have been so designated. For the purposes of general 
 description, Schmidt designates the Cathari as ' a dualistic sect which originated in 
 Eastern Europe, independently of the Manichasans aud Paulicians, but from the 
 same source — an intermingling of European and Asiatic ideas.' He thinks that 
 thej' originated in Bulgaria, from whence they spread into Thrace, where they were 
 known as Bogomiles, then into Dalmatia and Slavonia, till merchants brought the 
 heresy to Italy, and the Crusaders to France ; and so Flanders, Sicily and other 
 countries became thoroughly infected therewith. But the sects into which the 
 Cathari soon split became almost too numerous to mention here, each one of them 
 retaining more or less of the original leaven ; but some being popularly so known 
 while they had nothing whatever in common with the original system, which was 
 very pernicious. To call them all Cathari in that sense, therefore, is a simple 
 slander pinned n\n>\\ them \>\ theii- fues. 
 
278 BO GO MILKS. 
 
 The generally received opiniuns amongst them were far enough removed from 
 the Gospel, running all the way from absolute dualism, with its fantastic mythology 
 and its wild fancy, up to a semi-gosjiel standard of morality and even spirituality, if 
 intense asceticism can be so called. They were decidedly anticlerical, and yet their 
 organization was strictly aristocratic, having one order of teaching for the masses 
 and another for tlie privileged; all being known respectively as ' and /'tores,'' 
 ^ cndtntcv" and 'dceti'' Their views of Christ led them to deny his iucar- 
 iiatiou and resurrection ; they denied tlie necessity of baptism proper, substituting 
 for it the imjxisition of hands, wliicii they held to l)e the true spiritual baptism ; 
 they also refused to eat all kinds of procreated food, and discouraged, if they did not 
 disallow, marriage. But at the same time they considered relics, images, crosses 
 and even material sanctuaries as odious and the work of Satan, because men had 
 come to adore them. 
 
 The BoGOMiLES were a branch of the Cathari. Herzog thinks that they took 
 their name from a Bulgarian Bisliop of the tenth century, that they were an off- 
 shoot from the Paulicians, and says that they abounded in the Bulgarian city of 
 Philippopolis. They were condemned as heretics and suffered great persecution. 
 Basil, one of their leaders, was l)urnt in Constantinople in 1118, before the gates 
 of St. Sophia. The Paulicians of Bulgaria furnislied the Cathari of Southern 
 Fi'anee. Gibbon thinks that they found their way there eitlier by passing up the 
 Danube into Germany or through Venice in the channels of commerce, or through 
 the imperial garrisons sent by the Greek Emperor into Italy. But come as they 
 might, we find them at Orleans A. D. 1025, in tlie Netherlands 1035 and in Turin 
 1051. About lialf a century later banishment from their own country drove them 
 in great numbers to the west, and they appeared plentifully at Treves and Soissons, 
 in Champagne and Flanders. Their teachings soon attracted the attention of the 
 priests, the peasantry, and even the nobles. Their followers became so numerous 
 as to demand condemnation by the Council of Toulouse, 1119, and that of Tours, 
 1163. But despite excommunications and curses, they so grew that in 1167 they 
 held a council of their own and openly formulated their faith and ecclesiastical 
 order, which they stoutly held, against both the Roman hierarchy and the secular 
 power for almost a century. Another branch of the Cathari is found in 
 
 The Albigenses. They arose in Southern France early in the eleventh 
 century and were first known as Publicani ; but at last took their name from 
 the city of Albi, the center of the Albigeois district. They were first called Al- 
 bigenses hy Stephen Borbone, 1225. It is difficult to get at their exact tenets 
 and practices, but they were generally numbered with the Catliari, and had many 
 things in common with other sects so known. They rejected the Eomish Church, 
 and esteemed the New Testament above all its traditions and ceremonies. They 
 did not take oaths, nor believe in baptismal regeneration; but they were ascetic 
 and pure in their lives ; they also exalted celibacy. They increased so rapidly 
 
THEIR SLAV OUTER. 279 
 
 tliat tliov di'ove tlic Catliolic priests from tliuir churclies, of wliicli they took 
 j)ii.ssessioii, forming schools and congregations of their own. They made the Cath- 
 olic Chnrcli an object of contempt, the nobility heading the movement, and 
 tliey also formed their own synod ; four different Catholic Councils condemned 
 them, but all to no purpose. Bernard tried to reclaim them, and various dis- 
 putations were had with them ; but in 1180 Cardinal Henry commenced a crusade 
 against them with the sword. Much carnage followed. One crusade succeeded 
 another. Innocent III. offered the prelates and nobles all the blessings of the 
 Church for the use of their sword and the possessions of the heretics as an addi- 
 tional reward. Their own prince, Count Kaymond VI., was compelled to slaughter 
 his subjects, and the popr suinmuiicd tlu' King of Northern France with all his 
 nobles to the same bloody work. Half a million of men w-ere gathered, four Arch- 
 bishops joined the invaders with twelve Bishops and countless nobles. Towns were 
 sacked, seven castles surrendered to the pojjc, and five hundred villages, cities and 
 fortresses fell. 
 
 Barons, knights, counts and soldiery Hocked like eagles to the prey fi'om all 
 directions. Their superstition was fed by the promise of two years' remission of 
 penance, and all the indulgences granted to the invaders of the Holy Sepulcher; 
 and their cupidity was fired by the tender of the goods and lands of the heretics, as 
 well as the right to reduce them to Mohammedan slavery. They followed the lead 
 of Arnaud, the legate of the Holy See, bearing the cross and pilgrims' staves, from 
 the adjacent countries, French, German, Flemish, Norman. They first attacked 
 Beziers, which was strongly fortified and garrisoned ; but it was taken by storm 
 and thirty thousand were slain. Seven thousand had taken refuge iu the Church 
 of St. Magdalene, and the monk Peter tells us with the most ferocious coldness 
 that they ' killed women and children, old men, young men, priests, all without dis- 
 tinction.' There were many Catholics iu the town, and the ' Holy Legate ' was asked 
 how these should be spared, when he commanded : ' Kill them all, God will know his 
 own ! ' Lest a heretic should escape they piled all iu an indiscriminate heap, and the 
 Chronicle of St. Denis gives the whole number as sixty thousand. After Beziers 
 had fallen, July 22, 1209, Carcassone was invested. There Count Roger, the 
 nephew of Raymond, was inveigled under the pretense of safe-conduct and a treat- 
 ing for peace out of the city into the enemies' camp and by treachery was made a 
 prisoner as a heretic. When his men found their captain gone they retreated by a 
 private passage, the great city fell, and its captain died in a dungeon, as the pope 
 expresses it, ' miserably slain at tlie last.' The French barons agreed that any for- 
 tress which refused to sun-ender on demand, but resisted, should when captured 
 find every man put to the sword in cold blood by the cross-bearers, that horror might 
 appall every heart iu the land. Their own historian says : ' They could not have 
 dealt worse with them than they did ; they massacred them all, even those who had 
 taken refuge in the cathedral ; nothing could save them, nor cross, nor crucifix, nor 
 
280 BAPTIST.S AT COLOGNE. 
 
 altars. Tlio scoundruls killed the jjriests, the women, the infants, not one, I l>elieve, 
 escaped.' Eiglit hundred nobles were either hanged or hewn to pieces, and four 
 hundred heretics were burnt in one pile. 
 
 The story of this murdered people for about half a century is heart-sickening 
 in the extreme. They held many errors of the head, but no ])rince ever ruled over 
 grander subjects. They were far advanced in refinement, and were high-toned in 
 morality. Their record is the brightest, briefest and bloodiest in the annals of pious, 
 persecuting deviltry. It begins in the middle of the twelfth century, and was blot- 
 ted out before the middle of the thirteenth. It is a short, swift stream of gore 
 mingling with their mountain torrents, but more romantic than their Alps. If the 
 eternal snow and ice had not turned these eternally pale, the frozen steel of St. 
 Dominic had chilled them forever, when the pravity of his infernal machine made 
 them witnesses of a rushing destruction, without parallel in human villainy. 
 
 Amongst the Cathari, however, we find a Baptist body at Cologne and Bonn. 
 Whence they came we are not informed ; but they appeared in 1146, and Evervin 
 gives a full account of them in M-riting to J5ernard, of whom he seeks aid in their 
 su^jpression. He says that they had been recently discovered, and that two of them 
 had openly opposed the Catholic clergy and laity in their assembly ; the archbishop 
 and nobles being present. The ' lieretics ' asked for a day of disputation, when 
 re-enforced by certain of their number they would maintain their doctrines from 
 Christ and the Apostles ; and unless they were properly answered they would rather 
 die than give up their principles. Upon this they were seized and burnt to death. 
 Evervin expresses his astonishment that they endured the torment of the stake not 
 only with patience, hut with joy ; and asks how these members of Satan could suffer 
 with such constancy and courage as M'ere seldom found amongst the most godly. 
 He then describes their heresy. 
 
 They professed to be the true Church, because they followed Christ and pat- 
 terned after the Apostles ; they sought no secular gain or earthly property, but were 
 the poor in Christ, while the Eoman Church made itself rich. They accounted 
 themselves as sheep amongst wolves, fleeing from city to city, enduring persecution 
 with the ancient martyrs, although they were living laborious, holy and self-deny- 
 ing lives. They charged their persecutors with being false apostles, with adulterating 
 the word of God, with self-seeking, and the pope with corrupting the Apostle 
 Peter's chair. He says : ' They do not hold the baptism of infants, alleging that 
 passage of the Gospel, " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." ' They 
 rejected the intercession of saints, and they called all observances in the Church 
 which Christ had not established superstitions. They denied the doctrine of pur- 
 gatorial fire after death, and believed that when men die they go immediately to 
 heaven or to hell. He therefore beseeches the 'holy father' to direct his pen 
 against ' these wild beasts,' and to help him to ' resist these monsters.' He then says, 
 some of them ' Tell us that they had great numbers of their persuasion scattered 
 
TUEIR PKIiSECL'TIOXS. 281 
 
 almost every-wlu're, aiul tluit anunigst tlieiu wuru iiuuiy uf oiii- clergy and iiiouks. 
 And as for those who were burnt, they in the defense they made for themselves 
 told us that this heresy had been concealed from the time of the martyrs — and that 
 it had existed in Greece and other countries.' All this he evidently believed. But 
 Manichaeism had not been ' concealed from the time of the martyrs : ' for his pre- 
 decessors had openly contended with it every-where. This heresy M-as a discovery 
 of another sort to the provost of Steinfeld. 
 
 This letter aroused Bernard, who opened his batteries upon the ' wild beasts ' in 
 his ' Sermons on Solomon's Song.' He is especially bitter toward them because they 
 despised infant baptism ; is virulent because they refused to take oaths and observed 
 secrecy in their Christian rites ; and lays several serious things to their charge, 
 although he professes to know but little about them. And then his little knowledge 
 of them obliges him to bless whom he would fain curse ; for he says : ' If you ask 
 them of their faith, nothing can be more Christian ; if you observe their conversa- 
 tion, nothing can be more blameless ; and what they speak they prove by deeds. 
 You may see a man for the testimony of his faith frequent the church, honor the 
 elders, offer his gift, make his confession, receive the sacrament. What more like a 
 Christian? As to life and manners, he circumvents no man, over-reaches no man, 
 and does violence to no man. He fasts much and eats not the bread of idleness, but 
 works with his hands for his support. The whole body, indeed, are rustic and illit- 
 erate, and all whom I have known of this sect are very ignorant.' And so he ' mar- 
 veled,' as others in the Apostolic times had at the same things. 
 
 ' This sect,' says Herzog, ' lived on in the regions along the Rhine, especially in 
 Cologne and Bonn.' But it was terribly persecuted. ... In 1163 several of them 
 were burnt, after the Canon Echbert had tried in vain to convert them. This monk was 
 sent to preach to death all who had escaped the stake. His sermons survive to this 
 day, and in their dedication to Reginald Archbishop of Cologne he rehearses his 
 disputes with ' these monsters,' and tells many things which he had learned about 
 them, in part by torture and the threat of death. But his statements do not hold 
 together. He evinces confusion, if not bewilderment, in his attempt to understand 
 their tenets. Like most of the Catholic witnesses, he fell into the temptation of 
 tracing this particular heresy to some of the old and proscribed ' heretics,' which 
 carried disgrace with it, and so challenged the hatred of men and covered the new 
 ' heretics ' with obloquy. Hence, in his thirteen sermons, he labors hard to fasten 
 upon them the faith and practices of the Manichseans; for with most of his brethren, 
 he was afflicted with Manichaeism on the brain whenever he scented heresy. He 
 construes their observance of the Supper into a 'mere evasion,' and takes the word 
 of an apostate from them, who says that they denied the birth of Christ, his proper 
 human flesh and his real death and resurrection ; teaching that all these were but 
 a simulation. He would have us believe that they renounced water baptism alto- 
 gethei', substituting therefor the Consolamentum ; and then takes particulai' pains to 
 
UOXK/S/r PRKA CIUNO. 
 
 tell lis that tlifir principal ruasoii i'ui 
 incapacity to receive it, aud so, that 
 cise of faith. He adds, that they wt 
 all with Cathari, 'a sort of poo];ik'' ' 
 
 ilciu iiii;- liaptir^ni to infants, was found in tlii'ir 
 [ ^lluuld lie deferred till they came to the exer- 
 f divided into several sects, yet he classes them 
 lioni lie prdiii^unees "very pernicious to the 
 
 Catholic faith, which, like moths, thuy coi'ru|)t and destroy.' Gieseler shows that 
 they rejected infant baptism, because baptism should be administered only to believers.' 
 This zealous monk betrays the entire animus of his denunciation of these Cologne 
 Baptists, when he says of them that they sustained their positions by the authority 
 of Scripture. ' They are armed with the words of the Holy Scripture which in 
 any way serin t.. fin..)- tlieii^ ,-eiitiiiient>. nnd with tlin^e win. kno^\• how to defend 
 
 P"^' 
 
 
 their errors, and to oppose the Catholic truth ; though in reality they are wholly 
 ignorant of the true meaning couched in those words, and which cannot be discov- 
 ered without great judgment.' 
 
 In 1231 Konrad of Marburg, a fanatical Donuniean monk, led a terrible per- 
 secution against this sect, and little is heard of them in Germany afterwai-d. It is 
 very likely that the band of thirty martyrs, of wdioni Milner, Dr. Henry and 
 William of Newbury speak, were of this body. They tell us that in 1159 thirty 
 men and women who spoke German reached England, and for their religious prin- 
 ciples and practices were arraigned before a Council of clergy at O.xford. They 
 were found guilty of incorrigible heresy, and Henry II. ordered their foreheads 
 branded with a red-hot iron ; they were to be whip])ed through the streets of the 
 city, their clothes to be cut off at their girdles, and then to be turned into the 
 open fields, all persons being forbidilen to give them shelter or relief. This was 
 
THE PETROnRVsTANS. 283 
 
 111 tlic deptli of winter, and every one of tlieiii peri^lieil witli liuiiyer and cold. 
 Tliese appear to have been tlie first heretics deliberately murdered in England, for 
 wliat Newbury calls ' detesting lioly baptism ' as j^-acticed by Rome. The dates 
 and general facts suggest tliese as the victims of German persecution, for Echbert 
 says of the Cologne Baptists: 'They are increased in great multitudes throughout 
 all countries, to the great danger of tlie Church, for their words eat like a canker, 
 and, like a flying leprosy, run every way, infecting the precious nieiubers of Christ. 
 These in our Germany we call Cathari ; in Flanders they call them Pipiiles ; in 
 French, Tisserands, from the art of weaving, because numbers of them are of that 
 occupation.' 
 
 The term Cathari has also been applied to another thoroughly Baptist sect, 
 which arose in the very dawn of the century : the Petrobrusians. Their leader 
 was the great reformer, Peter of Bruis. In order to prevent confusion, it may be 
 well here to define what is meant by the term ' Baptist,' when used to characterize 
 one of these historical bodies. A Pedobaptist is one who baptizes babes. An Auti- 
 pedobaptist is one who rejects the baptism of babes. But this does not of neces- 
 sity make him a Baptist ; for the Paulicians, Cathari, Albigenses, and in fact the 
 modern Quakers, all cast infant baptism aside, but administered no baptism at all. 
 Hence all these have rejected the baptism of babes as a matter of course, but we 
 cannot, for that reason, number them with Baptists. An ' Anabaptist ' is one who 
 baptizes again for any reason. The Novatians and Donatists were ' Anabaptists,' 
 and reimmersed those who came to them from the Catholics. At the same time 
 the Catholics w-ere ' Anabaptists,' when they reimmersed those who came to them 
 from what they called the heretical bodies. They were therefore Pedobaptists 
 and ' Anabaptists ' at the same time. But a Baptist proper, in modern parlance, is 
 one who rejects the baptism of babes under all circumstances, and who immerses 
 none but those who personally confess Christ under any circumstances ; and those 
 W'ho are thus properly immersed upon their faith in Christ, we have a right to 
 claim in history as Baptists to that extent, but no further. 
 
 For this reason we cannot honestly claim several of the Cathari sects as Baptists, 
 simply because volumes might be filled with reliable evidence to show that they 
 hated infant baptism with downright hatred. They opposed it with all their might 
 and even ridiculed it as an unmeaning ceremony, which they classed with images, 
 prayer for the dead, purgatory and such other gear. Often, indeed, they were 
 obliged to have their babes immersed by the Roman priests, because the civil as 
 well as the ecclesiastical law of the land in which they lived laid them under griev- 
 ous penalties for refusing. But as a moral institution they treated it with con- 
 tempt, as thousands who are not Baptists now do. Yet what were their views of 
 the immersion of believers in water ? Many of them knew but little about it ; they 
 had never seen a believer immersed. The baptism of babes enforced by the civil 
 power had well-nigh driven it from nominal Cliristiau countries, made so by the 
 
stroll j^ clutch of 1 
 
 aw. Til 
 
 this was uiil;iwl'ii 
 
 ,1. !),■,, 
 
 thfiii into QiKik( 
 
 ■risin, in 
 
 tlM'v railed it, i 
 
 n tliu C 
 
 Bcrihc^ it tliiis: 
 
 
 A QUKER NOTION. 
 
 ■uiijil not be inmiersud if they would, us believers; for 
 d <il' this right, the civil and ecclesiastical law drove 
 ntiiij; tlie believer the subject of a higher baptism, as 
 olaiiieiituiii. And what was that ^ Erinengard de- 
 
 'When thcv wish to iin|)art the ( 'onsolaiuelitliin to any ni: r woman, he that 
 
 is called Greater and ordained, liaving waslied his hands and holding in his iiands 
 the book of the ( oispols, admonishes hiin or them who come to reeei\-e tiie ( 'iniMih 
 amentum that they place their entire faith in that Consolamentum. And so. olaeinu the 
 book on their iieads, they repeat the Lord's Prayer seven times, and tlieii the <..i~pel 
 of St. John, beginning with the words, " In tlie lieginniiii:'.'" and uuing a- fai- a- tlie 
 passage which reads, "Grace and truth throngli le,-iis Cliii^i." 'I'lin> i~ the ('i.n-ol- 
 amentum completed. Do you ask by what jiersoiis it is admini.-teied '. AVe answer, 
 by those among them who are called the ordained. But if none such be present, 
 there be those who among them are called the Consolatl (by them), it is admin- 
 istered, and if there be no men present, even women may administer it to the sick. 
 They believe that by it the remission of every sin and the cleansing of every stain 
 is accomplished, without any satisfactory penance whatever, if they die immediately 
 after. They say even that no one, save he who has received that Consolamentum 
 from the Consolati, can by any work, not even by martyrdom, nor if he keep him- 
 self as much as possible from all sins and faults, reach the heavenly kingdom. And 
 they believe this also, that if he who administers the Consolamentum should have 
 fallen into any of the sins they call criminal, as, for example, to eat an egg, or tish, 
 or cheese, or to slay a bird, or any animal save reptiles, or even into any of the sins 
 the Koinan Church calls criminal, then the Consolamentum docs the recipients no 
 good. Nay, they hold the recipient should again have it administered by another, 
 if he desires to be saved.' 
 
 This account is almndantly sustained by indisputable evidence. And this so- 
 called 'spiritual baptism ' was administered because they cast aside material water 
 as 'evil' or 'corrupt,' while the Romish Church immersed therein. How can we 
 count such people as Baptists, wliatever their views of infant baptism may have 
 been ? So far as the question of baptizing babes was concerned, they were Anti- 
 pedobaptists ; and so far as immersion in water was concerned, the liomanists were 
 bettei- Baptists than they. 
 
 In the Petrobrusians we find a sect of Baptists for which no apology is needed. 
 Peter of Bruis seized the entire Biblical presentation of baptism, and forced its 
 teaching home upon the conscience and the life, by rejecting the immersion of 
 babes and insisting on the immersion of all believers in Christ, without any admix- 
 ture of Catharistic nonsense. He was a converted priest, it is believed a pupil of 
 Abelard, brought to the Saviour's feet by reading the Bible. There he saw the 
 difference between the Christianity of his day and of that of the Apostles ; and he 
 resolved to devote his life to the restoration of Gospel Christianitj', and began his 
 work as early as A. D. 1104. He threw tradition to the winds with the double 
 sense of Scripture, and took its literal interpretation. With tiiis went the doctrine 
 of transubstantiation, holding the Supper as a merely historical and monumental 
 
VETKR OF nnUIS. 288 
 
 act. IK' held the Chiircli tube niado up of regenerated people only, counted the 
 bishops and priests as he knew them, mere frauds; and cast aside all the ceremo- 
 nial mummeries of the Romish hierarchy. He would not adore images, oflfer prayer 
 to or for the dead, nor do penance. He laughed at tlie stupidity which holds that a 
 child is regenerated when baptized, that he can be a member of Christ's flock when 
 he knows nothing of Christ as a Shepherd, and demanded that all who came to his 
 churches should be immersed in water on their own act of faitli. Pie had no con- 
 troversy on the subject of immersion with the Romish priests, for they practiced 
 nothing else as the custom of their Church in his day, nor for a century afterward ; 
 therefore no separate Baptist body was needed for that reason. His great offense 
 was tliat he reimmerscd those whom they had immersed as Ijubcs when they became 
 disciples iif Christ and were regenerated by the Spirit of God. 
 
 The chief testimony that we have of him is from Peter the Venerable, the 
 Abbot of Clugny, and a brief passage from Abelard. This Peter, his deadly 
 opponent, gives a full account of his doctrines and tried to crush him ; t)nt, 
 singularly enough, never breathed a syllable against his ])r;icticc of iiuniersing, 
 for that was Peter's own practice, only its subjects were babes. The venerable 
 monk, 'Maxima Biblioth.' (xxii, 1035), defines the views of the Petrobrusians 
 precisely as M-ould an able Baptist of to-day, and attempts to answer them with 
 the exact stock arguments of 1886. He says : ' The first article of the here- 
 tics denies that children below the age of reason can be saved by the baptism 
 of Christ ; and affirms that another's faith can do those no good who cannot yet 
 exercise faith of their own, since, according to them, it is not another's but one's 
 own faith which, together with baptism, saves, because the Lord said, " Whosoever 
 believeth and is baptized shall be saved." ' He makes them say in another place, 
 ' It is an idle and vain thing to plunge candidates in water at any age, when ye 
 can, indeed, after a human manner, wash the flesh from impurities, but can by no 
 means purify the soul from sins. But we await an age capable of faith, and after a 
 man is prepared to acknowledge God as his and believe in him, we do not, as you 
 slander us, rebajitizc, but baptize him ; for no one is to be called baptized who is not 
 washed with the baptism wherewith sins are washed away.' 
 
 The Abbot stood side by side with Bernard in his Biblical scholarship and 
 mental force. They were the leading defenders of the Catholic faith in France, 
 and threw themselves into the gap with all their might to defend her against these 
 simple Gospel Baptists. Instead of bowing to our Lord's words as an obedient 
 disciple, Peter indulged in this absurd reasoning : ' Has the whole world been so 
 blinded and hitherto involved in such darkness, that to open their eyes and break 
 up the long night it should, after so many fathers, martyrs, popes and heads of all 
 the Churches, have to wait so long for you, and choose Peter of Bruis and Henry, 
 his disciple, as exceedingly recent apostles, to correct the long error ? If this be 
 true, it is manifest how great an absurdity follows. For then all Gaul, Spain, Ger- 
 
286 PETUOnnUSIAN PRINCIPLES. 
 
 many, Italy, yea, all Europe, since fm- tln-cc- Iminlred years, yea for near five hundred 
 years, has had no one baptized save in inl'aiiry, has had no Christian. But if it 
 has had no Christian, then it has had iuj Cliui'cli. If no Church, then no Christ; 
 if no Christ, then assuredly they have all perished.' It seems never to have 
 entered his head that Christ was before and al>ove all the fathers, popes and 
 heads of the Churches; and that, therefore, tlicy must all obey him and take the 
 consequences of their own disobedience, be tiiey what they might, rather than 
 nullify his law. 
 
 The Petrobrnsians were a thoroughly antisacerdotal sect, whose hatred of 
 tyranny threw off the Roman yoke of the twelfth century; a democratic body, in 
 distinction from tlie aristocratic organizations both of the Catholics and the Albigenses. 
 It ap]3ears f i-om the assembly of the lattei- body, at Lbmbei-s, that they had a pope who 
 had come from far-off Bulgai-ia, and who carefully defined the bounds of their vari- 
 ous Catharist bishoprics. In that assembly also they had warm contests ; and the names 
 of those are given who were exalted to episcopal functions by the forms of the Cou- 
 solamentum. We have seen that their numbers were very great as a people, but the 
 members of the Electi were comparatively few. Iteiner, who had spent seventeen years 
 amongst them, tells us that 'the Credentes were innumerable,' but that the Electi 
 of both sexes did not exceed four thousand. This form of aristocracy well suited 
 the feudal cast of society in that day, and may explain, in part, why the rationalistic 
 nobles and the hierarchical priesthood so readily became Cathari. But the Petro- 
 brnsians were of the common people, who sought the Saviour by simple direct- 
 ness and not through any saving intervention. They demanded the words of Clirist 
 in the New Testament for every thing, and not the traditions of an inner and 
 favored few. With a quaint tinge of chagrin, something after the fox-and-grapes 
 order, Peter the venerable abbot hints that his brother, Peter of Bruis, refused to 
 immerse infants because he was too lazy to perform the rite ; as if it were easier to 
 dip overgrown peasants in the Khone than tiny babes in the fonts. He thought, 
 also, that his beloved Baptist brother burned the crosses because it was easier to do 
 that than to worship them ; and that he i-ejected masses because he was hardly paid 
 enough for saying them. 
 
 The Petrobrnsians were thoroughly and deeply anti-Catholic in all that con- 
 flicted with the Gospel. While they were Puritanical they were not ascetic. They 
 abolished all fasts and penances for sin because Christ only can forgive sin, and 
 this he does on a sinner's trust in his merits. They held marriage as a high and hon- 
 orable relation, not only for Christians generally, but for the priests. They denied 
 that the person of Christ could be made a sacrifice on the altar, that the chair of 
 the pope is the chair of Peter, and that one bishop had power to consecrate another. 
 They made void the priesthood of Eome, condemned its sacraments as superstitious, 
 and demanded that baptism be administered only to believers. With them a Church 
 did not mean an architectural structure, but a regenerated congregation, nor had con- 
 
rETEU OF niiUIS nUliST. 287- 
 
 secrated jjlaces any cliarni for them : for (iod could liear them as wfll in the market- 
 place as in the temple, and loved them as nuich in a barn as before an altar. Their 
 success filled the Komish communion with alarm. Peter of Bruis was little supe- 
 rior in learning to Peter of the Gos]iel ; but, like his great predecessor, he was sin- 
 cere, earnest and eloquent, and the Lord wrought mightily by his hand. Multitudes 
 flocked in all directions to hear him as a man specially sent of God to bring glad 
 tidings of great joy. Soon his word turned the dioceses of Aries, Embrun, Die 
 and Gap upside down. In their enthusiasm the people burned their images and 
 crucifixes, some Catholic places of worship were overturned, and many monks and 
 priests were handled very severely. On a certain Good Friday the crowd brought 
 all their wooden crosses and made a bonfire of them, at which they roasted and 
 ate meat. Their venerable adversary thus describes their work : 
 
 'The people are ;'<?-baptized. the churches profaned, the altars overthrown, the 
 crosses burned, flesh is eaten, even on the day of our Lord's passion, priests are 
 whipped, monks are imprisoned, and by terror and torture they are compelled to 
 marry wives.' If this were true, the whipping and imprisonment of these helpless 
 Romanists is very uii-Baptistic ; and as to the question of compulsory marriages, the 
 abbot probably drew slightly on his imagination, as none but the priests them- 
 selves had the legal power to celebrate marriage ; to say nothing of taking their 
 wives under the pressure of Baptist ringleaders whom they banished, and who 
 were obliged to fly to Xarbonne and Toulouse for their lives. In these places Peter 
 bravely preached for twenty years, and with great success. Besides, his doctrine 
 spread not oidy through Provence and Dauphine, but much farther to the east. At 
 last, however, in 1126, while he was preaching at St. Gilles, he was suddenly arrested 
 by a violent mob and burned at the stake, his eloquent tongue being silenced in the 
 midst of his triumphs. 
 
 But the death of Peter was not the end of his caiise. Labbe calls him ' the 
 parent of heretics,' for almost all who were thus branded after his day trod in his 
 steps; and especially all Baptist 'heretics.' Even the candid and celebrated Dr. 
 Wall says : ' I take this Peter Bruis (or Bruce, perhaps, his name was) and Henry 
 to be the first antipedobaptist preachers that evei' set up a Church or society of men 
 holding that opinion against infant baptism, and rebaptizing such as had been bap- 
 tized in infancy.' ^ When, like Elijah, God took Peter to heaven in a fiery chariot, 
 be had Elisha ready to catch his falling mantle, in the person of Henry of Lausanne ; 
 or, as Cluniacensis much prefers to put it, he was followed by Henry, ' the heir of 
 Bruis's wickedness.' This petulant author imagined that Peter's principles had died 
 with him, and like a simpleton writes : ' I should have thought that it had been 
 those craggy Alps, and rocks covered witli continual snow, that had bred that savage 
 temper in the inhabitants, and that your land, being unlike to all other lands, had 
 yielded a sort of people unlike to all others.' 
 
 But he soon perceived his mistake. Xo doubt the sublime aspects of the Alps. 
 
like all iiiountaiiious regions, were well ad;i])te(] to start free inquiry in the unfettered 
 mind, and to inspire those distinct tones of religion which stimulate it to advanced 
 thought. Their deep foundations excite to logical deduction, and their broad stretch 
 invites the reasoning [xiwei-s to tlii-(,)\\' oil all that hampri'^ and lidudwinks them by 
 vulgar submission to anti(juatLMl authority. Their very lines and curves, cut 
 gracefully against the blue sky, invite niaiili(Mid out of itself to talk with God in 
 strains of wonder, poetry and sul>liiiiity ; until a loving awe for hini steals over the 
 spirit, as his sunshine bathes the brow of the peak, and tlie soul is drawn under the 
 winning dominance of adoration and love. Tliere a man feels both his littleness and 
 his freedom, the pain of being hemmed in by ob-t ruction, the stinging smart of 
 dictation, and the terrible delight of rising npwaid if he can take no other direc- 
 tion. Like the eagle which sails above his hut, hi> .-oul dares to ri.se into grand and 
 dreadful sensations whei-e his spii-it feels the majesty of its own wing; his eye 
 scrutinizes the relations of the man in the valley to the mountains around him, and 
 to the God above him, and he resolves to soar into a freedom as wide and high as 
 the liberty of his own nature. Such a mountaineer is not easily tethered to bogs in 
 the Roman Campagna, nor to the vale of the sluggish Tiber; but he soars to the 
 sources of the dashing cascades, to read his greatness and that of his fellow-men in 
 the wide-open volume at the footstool of Jehovah's throne. 
 
 Such a bold soul had Christ been jireparing in Henry, the next brave Baptist 
 of the Swiss valleys. He had formerly been a monk of Clugny and had joined 
 himself to his master, Peter of Bruis, in the midst of his toils ; and thus had caught 
 his spirit and been imbued with his principles. Our venerable abbot kindly tells us 
 that Henry added some errors of his own to those of Peter, a noble tribute to his pro- 
 gressive mind ; but he fails to tell us what they were. Most likely he pushed the 
 attributes of a zealous Reformer a little further against current abuses. Already he 
 had reached the degree of deacon in the Catholic communion, when his fiery 
 eloquence in exposing the wickedness of the clergy cut him off from further liear- 
 ing amongst them. He then made common cause with Peter, as Melancthon did 
 with Luther and Whitefield with Wesley. The Abbot of Clugny denounces him 
 as an ' apostate, who had returned to the vomit of tlie flesh and the world, a black 
 monk was he.' He was a man of letters ; but his peculiar attraction lay in his con- 
 tempt for the applauded traditions of the Fathers and in his appeal to the neglected 
 Bible. In Neander's ' Life of Bernard ' he says of Henry : 
 
 ' He had all the attributes to deeply impress the jjeople, great dignity in per- 
 sonal appearance, a fiery eye, a thundering voice, a lively step, a speech that rushed 
 forth impetuously as it flowed from his heart, and Bible passages were always at 
 hand to support his addresses. Soon was spread abroad the report of his holy life 
 and his learning. Young and old, men and women, hastened to him to confess their 
 sins, and said they had never seen a man of such severity and friendliness whose 
 words conld move a heart of iron to repentance, whose life should be a model for 
 ail monks and priests.' ^ 
 
HKxnv piiK ACHES m ^^Ays. 289 
 
 Tic appeared in tlie _i;arli (if a penitent, iiis Innij; heai'd liaiif^inff u])on his breast, 
 his feet bare even in winter, a stall' in his iiand ; a very young John tlie Baptist, in 
 a living voice. In drawing liis picture, an enemy speaks of 'his face, througli the 
 quiclvucss of his eyes,' as ' like a perilous sea ; tall of body, quick of gait, gliding 
 in his walk, quick of speech, of a terrible voice, a youth in age, none more splendid 
 than he in dress.' 
 
 In 1116 this lithe, young Baptist apostle of the Alps drew near to the thriving 
 city of Mans, and sent two of his disciples within the gates tu obtain permission 
 of Hildebert the bishop to preach in his diocese. This prelate was a disciple of 
 Berengarius, and so looked with favor on Henry's efforts to purify the Church. 
 He was about to depart for Rome, but instructed his archdeacon to treat Henry 
 kindly and allow him to preach. The fame of liis piety had reached the city before 
 him, and the people believed that he possessed a prophetic gift. He entered Mans, 
 and while tlie bishop was visiting Rome the people received him with delight ; the 
 priests of the lower order sat at his feet, almost bathing them with teais, while 
 most of the higher clergy protested against him and stood aloof. A platform or 
 pulpit was specially erected for him, from which he might address the jjcople. 
 He made marriage a chief matter in his sermons. He would free it from unnatui-al 
 restrictions, would celebrate it in early life and make it indissoluble. He would 
 not accept the repentance of an unchaste woman until she had burned her hair 
 and her garments in public. He condemned extravagant attire and marriage for 
 money. ' Indeed,' says his enemy, ' he was marvelously eloquent,' a remark which 
 couches his matter as well as his manner. While the priests wept over his ex- 
 posure of their corruptions, the people were enraged at the priests. They refused 
 to sell any thing to them, threatened their servants with violence, and their safety 
 was secured only by the shield of public authority. The clergy came to dispute 
 with Henry, but the people handled them roughly and they fled for safety. Cha- 
 grined at their defeat, they united in a letter forbidding him to preach, but the 
 people protected him and he went on boldly. 
 
 When the bishop returned the people treated his religious acts with contempt 
 and said : ' We do not want your benedictions. You may bless the dirt. We have 
 a father and a priest who surpasses you in dignity, holy living and understanding. 
 Your clergy avoid him as if he were a blasphemer, because with the spirit of a 
 prophet he is uncovering their vices, and out of the Holy Scriptures is condemning 
 their errors and excesses.' The bishop had an interview with Henry, but dared 
 not tolerate the stanch reformer any longer. Henry, therefore, retired to Poitiers 
 and other southern provinces of France, where he continued to labor with great 
 success, in some cases whole congregations leaving the Catholics and joining his 
 standard. The people gave him a ready hearing, for the Catharists and Peter had 
 prepared his way. He had met Peter in the Diocese of N"arbonne and received 
 from him the direction of the rising sect. Ten years after the martyrdom of Peter 
 
290 TTU-: KFVKCT OF /ffs PIlKACnrNG. 
 
 liu labored in the I'ogions nl' <;a>coiiv. in the suiitli-west of France, and made a deep 
 impression. In 1134, howcviT, lie was iii'j-csfcd hv tlic Bisliop of Aries and brought 
 before the Council of Pisa, held by linniccnt 11.. and condemned to confinement 
 in the monastery of Clairvaux, of whicli I'.ci-nard, rlic cliief opposer of the Petro- 
 brusians, was abbot. He soon escaped, liuwuvcr. and was found preaching in 
 Toulouse and the mountain regions I'onnd aliniit under the protection of Ildephons, 
 a powerful noble who had Ijecome his dix/ipjc. Tlis ministry was so iniiuential 
 that Bernard, in his tour of visitation. fMund •chnrclics without congregations, the 
 people without priests, the jiricsts without due hoiKir, the mass and other sacra- 
 ments neglected, and the fast days unobserved.' lie comjjlains that 'the way of 
 the children of Christians is closed, the grace of baptism is i-efused them, and they 
 are hindered from coming to heaven; although the Savioui-. with fathei'ly love, 
 calls them, saying, "Suffer little children to come unto nic" " The venerable 
 abbot looked u])on their baptism as salvation, and to hini their exclusion from the 
 inunersion which he administered was exclusion from Pai-adise. The loving Lamb 
 of God had redeemed them; but because IJernard could not hear his voice calling 
 them through the baptistery of a, corrupt Chuivh. he was tormented with the 
 thought that surely they innst perish. To be sure, tliat ('hurcli was powerless to 
 admit them into heaven l)y its lilessing. or to shut them out liy its curse. So he, 
 with his brethren, put them to the sword, with their ])arents; and all the time, 
 while the Wood of innocents was following its keen edge, Jesus was rising 
 from his tin-one to receive their panting spirits to his bosom as fast as they were 
 slain. Bernard was fretting his soul with the thought that they were ' forltidden to 
 come ' because they were not brought through his appointed way, so he made their 
 shrill wail echo up and down the Alpine valleys, while they passed through the 
 darker vale of death to him who redeemed his little ones with his own precious 
 blood. 
 
 At the time when the land swarmed with Henry's followers. Pope Eugenius 
 III. determined to supj^ress him and his work, and for this purpose employed 
 Bernard, Cardinal Alberic and others. l!ui-nai-il held a phenomenal influence over 
 the masses on account of his pure life and rej)uted miracles ; and crowds flocked 
 to hear him preach as if he were an angel of God. He proposed at once to ]irove 
 the divinity of his mission by miracles. 'Let this be a proof,' said he, 'that our 
 doctrine is true and that of the heretics false, if your sick are healed by eating the 
 bread which I have blessed.' But he could not always hold the people. At Vivi- 
 defolium they left tlie church, and when he followed and addressed them in the 
 street they interrupted him with Scripture passages until his voice was drowned. 
 On his return he wrote a letter, in which he congi-atulated himself on gaining 
 something by his labors, but ui-ged the people to finish the M^ork of extermination 
 which he had begun. ' Follow and seize them, and determine not to rest until the 
 sects have been di-iven out of your territory, for it is not safe to sleep in the vicinity 
 
AliXOLD OP BRESCIA 
 
 of seriHMits.' Under such instructions the bishops succeeded in recapturing Henry, 
 when the Pope's legate cited him and his disciples to answer at his tribunal. His 
 followers fled, and in 1148 Henry was brought before the Council of Rheims, at 
 which Pope Eugenius III. presided. He was condemned as a heretic to perpetual 
 confinement and hard fare in a neighboring monastery, where he soon died. But 
 the work which Peter and he had done was so great that wlien tlicy were dead it 
 survived them. We have seen 
 that Tanchelyn had planted the 
 same seed in Cologne which they 
 had planted in France ; and we 
 are reaping the harvest to-day. 
 
 One of the great movements 
 of the century brings before us 
 the immortal Italian, Arnold. 
 He was born at Brescia, in the 
 North of Italy, about A. D. 1105, 
 and was an educated monk, a 
 disciple of Abelard ; having list- 
 ened to his lectures, with a crowd 
 of other young men, in his school 
 of the ' Paraclete ' and been indel- 
 ibly impressed thereby. God had 
 
 endowed him with rare gifts. , i 
 
 He possessed great fervor, purity *' H 
 
 and serenity, with a remarkable 
 
 flow of eloquence; these he aknom., ot uKthuv. 
 
 united to most graceful and attractive manners and charming convei-sational 
 powers. As a preacher, he filled Lombardy with resistance to the pride and pre- 
 tensions of the priesthood. He was the purest, most severe and bold personifica- 
 tion of republican democracy, both laical and ecclesiastical, of the century.^ At that 
 time Feudalism had wrought such desolation that there was a reaction in Italian 
 aspirations to resist empire and the papacy. These were the two grand Italian ideals of 
 his day, and he determined upon the resurrection of the Roman commonwealth and 
 the destruction of the temporal power of the pope. Under the stirring appeals of 
 his deep convictions and impassioned eloquence the popular cry was raised : ' The 
 people and liberty,' and he became as much its incarnation as Mazzini and Gari- 
 baldi in modem times. As the apostle of religious liberty, he contended for a full 
 dissolution of the union between Church and State, and fired the cities to seek 
 perfect freedom from both pope and empire by establishing a republic. As a 
 patriot, he looked upon these civil enemies only with contempt, and summoned 
 Italy to shake them off. As a Christian, he was an antisacramentarian, desiring to 
 
292 rUK nof'TIlINFS OF ARXOLf). 
 
 brinu' tlic Clnircli li:ick to tlic New Tcstainciit stamliinl ; <<i\ ii> (iihlioii expresses it, 
 lie iMililly threw llinl^elf iiih.h ihr ,l,.,-hiniti..n ,,f ( 'Ini^t. • M,v kiii-(l.,:ii i> iL.tof 
 tliis w.irld; He would not u.se the ^woi'd, Iml iiiaiiilainiMl liis cause by moral seiiti- 
 iiK'iit ; anil yet formed the dariiii;- jilan of jilantini;- tlir .-tamlanl of civil and religions 
 liberty ill the city of Rome itself, for flie ]iur|Hise of restoriiio- tlie old rights of the 
 Senate and the iieo|ile. liis pure moi'als and child-like sense of justice started the 
 whole land. 
 
 From about ll;;o lie preached with such j.ower that by IbiH the Lateraii 
 Council sentenced him to banislinient ; and to escaj.e death he iled to the Swiss 
 Canton of Zurich. Anioiiu.^r the nionntains of Switzerland he found shelter with 
 many Lombards who had lied from the hatred of their own countrymen. In 
 Zurich he Inildly maintained ■ that eveiw city ^liciild constitute an independent state, 
 in whose go\-eriiment no bi^lioji oUi;lit to liaxe the right to interfere, that the 
 Ohurcli should imt own any secular dominion, and that the priests should be satis- 
 tied til eiijiiy the tithes of nature, remaining excluded from every temporal 
 autlmrity." He was imt allowed, however, to remain quietly in his asylum, but W'as 
 drivi'u from ]>lace to jilace with a, ])rice niioii his head. At last, goaded principally 
 by liernard and the pope, he determined to attack Rome lioldly and openly ; and 
 did so with great effect. In the public, streets he ]iroclaimed to the multitude that 
 the sword and .scepter are intrusted to the civil ma-i-trate ; that abbots, bishops 
 and the popes must renounce their State or their .salvation ; and that all their tem- 
 poral honors are unlawful. The Komans rose in a body to assei't their inalienable 
 rights as citizens and Christians, to confine the pope to spiritual matters, to put 
 his ecclesiastics under the civil power, and to establish a laical government with 
 the Senate at its head. Rome was thrown into insurrection ; all Europe felt his 
 power, and the eyes of Christendom w-ere turned to the Eternal City. After a 
 desperate contest against three several popes, which cost Lucian his life, a new con- 
 stitution was framed and the sanction of Adrian IV. was demanded to its provisions. 
 The pope fled for his life, his temporal power was abolished and a new government 
 was established in ll-l;3, wliich maintaineil the struggle with varyhig .fortunes for 
 about ten years. The violence of the peojile, however, prevented final success. 
 They rose in insurrection, demolished the houses and seized the property of the 
 papal party, while Arnold was conservative and touched nothing. Nevertheless, 
 his holy apostolate planted the seeds of that ivpublicanism which controls the Italy, 
 Switzerland and France of to-day. 
 
 Bernard seems to have hated him with a singular intensity, and called him a 
 conspirator against Jesus Christ. Pope Eugenius III. put Rome under interdict 
 (1154), an act which deprived it of all its religious privileges ; the Emperor Barba- 
 rossa marched against it with a large army, and after a contest of about eleven 
 years this daring reformer was obliged to surrender. In 1155 he was hanged, his 
 body burned to ashes and his dust thrown into the Tiber, lest tlie people should 
 
ARNOLD'S MONUMENT. 293 
 
 collfct :uul venerate it as a precious relic. Thus perished tliis great patriot and 
 martyr tu tlie holy doctrine of soul-liberty. But Italy will ever hold his name in 
 hallowed remembrance. Down to A. 1). 1861 a simple slab commemorated his 
 noble deeds, then a modest statue took its place. But in 186i-G5 the Communal and 
 Provincial Councils of Brescia each voted a sum of 30,000 lire (Ital.) for a splendid 
 niominHMit to his honor. The city of Zurich made a large contribution, and 
 from other sources, the sum soon amounted to 150,000 lire (Ital.), about $30,000. 
 The ablest artists of Northern Italy competed for the prize model, which was 
 awarded to M. Tabacchi. The base is done after the design of the great architect, 
 Tagliaferri, who has succeeded admirably in reproducing the old Lombard style of 
 architecture of Arnold's time. It is of various colored marbles hewn from the rocks 
 of Brescia. The statue and the four bass-reliefs were cast in the ai'tistic foundery 
 of Nelli of Rome. The statue itself is of bronze and is four meters (13 feet 4 inches) 
 high. Arnold is represented in a preaching attitude; his gigantic figure being 
 that of a monk in a long rohe with most graceful folds. His long, nervous arms 
 extend from the wide sleeves, his wonderful face is serene, but inspired for 
 address ; and the simplicity of the whole conception is worthy of the greatness 
 of the man. The first alto-relievo represents him expounding his doctrines to the 
 Brescians, holding in his hand the Book of Truth; in the second he is on trial, de- 
 fending himself before his judges against the accusations of his foes ; in the third 
 he stands preaching in the Forum, surrounded by shields, broken columns and cap- 
 itals, among which is also the Arch of Titus ; the fourth presents him on the scaffold 
 with his hands tied behind liis back, the judge at his side about to read his sentence, 
 and a funeral pile ready for lighting behind him. The scene is terrible, but he 
 stands in calm majesty, his eyes steadily fixed before him. This beautiful work of 
 art was dedicated to him as the forerunner of Italian liberty in the nineteenth cent- 
 ury, and was officially unveiled at Brescia August 14, 1882. Most eloquent 
 orations were delivered, while redeemed Italy looked on, by the patriot Rosa and 
 Zanardelli, ' Minister of Grace and Justice ' for that year. 
 
 Although the great distinctive feature in which Arnold most sympathized with 
 Baptists relates to his unbending opposition to any union whatever of Church and 
 State, he appears to have symbolized with them in some other respects. Dr. WaXl 
 says that the Lateran Council of 1139 condemned him for rejecting infant bap- 
 tism, and he thinks that he was ' a follower of Bruis ' in this respect.'' If so, then . 
 the Council which condemned the Petrobrusians condemned him. Bernard accuses 
 him and his followers of deriding infant baptism. Evervine not only complains 
 of the same thing, but says that they administered baptism only to believers. 
 Gibbon also states that Arnold's 'ideas of baptism and the Eucharist were loosely 
 censured ; but a political heresy was the source of his fame and his niistbrtunes.' 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE WALDENSIANS. 
 
 THE cut on page 2\)5 einltodies the sevoj-al "Waldensian symbols, and portrays at a 
 glance their struggles and triumphs. The first is a candle lighted in the night, 
 with the motto : ' Light Shines in Darkness.' The flame is enkindled by one of the 
 seven stars, which is fed by light from above. The second is a burning bush uncon- 
 sumed, to show that their fiery persecutions left them undestroyed. The third is a lily 
 growing amongst thorns, yet iinchoked and rising above them — the sign of delicate 
 weakness calmly rejoicing over annoying difiiculties. The fourth is the anvil of 
 truth, beaten by the hammers of its foes ; Church and State, foi-eign and home 
 enemies try to split it, but break their own hammers. The fifth is the serene "Wal- 
 densian, standing bolt iipright ; he despises the bishop's miter, crook and crosier, 
 with the pope's tiara and ro.sary, and tramples them under foot. 
 
 "Walter Mapes, an Englishman of tlie twelfth century and a favorite of 
 Henry II., was sent on a mission to the papal court, and first met the "Waldensians 
 at the Lateran Council, A. I). 1179. He calls them ' Yaklesii, from theii- primate, 
 "Waldo,' Peter Waldo, whose name answers closely to the English name Wood. 
 There is fair ground for the belief that an Evangelical people lived in the isolated 
 Cottian Alps before the twelfth century, but the evidence is too scanty and frag- 
 mentary to be used with confidence for historical purposes. Some Waldensian writ- 
 ers think that they can trace their origin back to the days of Constantine and even 
 to the Apostles, but Dieckhoff and Herzog have shown that this claim will not 
 bear critical investigation. The ablest modern historians do not find them beyond 
 the great reformer Waldo, an ideal figure of whom, in merchant's dress, now stands 
 in the great Luther monument at Worms. 
 
 This man of God was born at Yaux, in Dauphine, on the Rhone, and became 
 a rich merchant at Lyons, where he lived in a street known for generations after his 
 banishment as ' Cursed Street.' The sudden death of a friend, who fell by his side 
 at a feast, led him to consecrate himself to Christ, A. I). 1160. While his heart 
 was touched by pondering upon the vanity of earthly things, he joined a crowd in 
 the street who were listening to the song of a troubadour, M'liose theme was the 
 blessed death of St. Alexis. He first took the singer home with him, and then 
 visited a learned divine to ask more about the way to heaven, who replied : ' There 
 are many roads to heaven.' But Peter asked him, ' Which is the surest? ' and was 
 answered, 'If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast and give to the poor.' 
 
A lUBLE Fftli THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Tliat (lav he made tlie (iuspel his only rule and literally obeyed the injunction. He 
 paid his creditors, gave his house, field and vineyard to his wife, provided for his 
 dau<>-hters, and tlien spent three days in the week relieving the wants of the poor 
 in the public square. Many thought him insauu, but he said: 'I am not mad, as 
 you suppose, I am aveng- 
 ing myself of my enemies 
 (his wealth), who have re- 
 duced me to such servitude 
 as made me more mindful 
 of them than of God.' 
 
 He also put his nmncy 
 to a use uncommon in 
 those days. lie employed 
 Stephen of Ansa and Ber- 
 nard Ydross to translati 
 the Gospels from the Latii 
 Vulgate of Jerome into tin 
 Romance dialect for the 
 common people, as well as 
 the most inspiring passages 
 from the Christian Fa 
 tlu'rs. Then, tilled with 
 the love of Christ, he 
 took preaching tonrs and 
 sent his converts on the 
 same errand. These thret 
 acts were proplietic of tliL, 
 whole Waldensian career 
 the volnntary poverty nt 
 its preachers ; the free nsi 
 of the Bible; the right 
 of laymen to preach tht 
 Gospel. No other layman 
 except AVilliam the Con 
 queror, Peter's contempo- 
 rary, had ventured on such 
 work, and no sect had yet 
 commenced its existence \\ 
 step which soon aroused oppo&itioi 
 Peter did not at first call 
 munion, nor did lie contenqjlate 
 
 populai ti ui-liti 
 
 tlic Xe\\ Testament , a bol 
 
 ucstion 
 
 anv 
 
 doctrine of the Ivn 
 
 nsh 
 
 com- 
 
 It ion fi 
 
 )m it 
 
 . his simple purpose 
 
 be 
 
 ng to 
 
296 WALDENSIANS NOT IIEIIETICS. 
 
 win men to a lioly lite. Hence, lie aiid liis tollowers were not treated as 'here- 
 tics ; ' but the Bishop of Lyons demanded why they jsreached and exjjounded the 
 Scriptures without Church authority^ Tl"'}' replied, according to Stephen of Bor- 
 bone : ' We ought to obey God rather than man. ('In-ist commanded his discijjles 
 to ]jreach.' They said but little at this time aliuut the .superstitions and corruptions 
 of the Catliolies. Tliis they left to the fidelity of those in that communion, who, 
 like themselves, wished to see the spiritual life of that body revived. Amongst 
 these, Peter Vidal said : ' The pope and his false doctors have put the Holy Church 
 in such distress, that God himself is incensed at it. Thanks to their sins and follies, 
 the heretics have arisen ; for when they give the example of iniquity, it is hard to find 
 any who will abstain.' And Pierre Cardinal exclaimed : ' The priests grasp on every 
 hand, and are reckless of the sorrow they cause. The whole world is theirs, they 
 make themselves its masters. Usur])ers toward some, generous toward otliers, they 
 employ indulgences and use deceit^ they give absolutions and they make good cheer. 
 Now they have recourse to prayers, and now pui'sue their ends by murders. Some 
 they seduce with God, the rest with the devil.' The crime of Waldo and his follow- 
 ers was that they were 'schismatics,' because they established a new apostolate, and 
 usurped the office of preaching without papal authority. The I'eal trouble was 
 that the common people would listen no Imiocr to the greedy, lazy and immoral 
 priests, who addressed them in an unknown tongue and ground them down with tithes. 
 These self-sacrificing, new teachers brought them the Gospel in their mother dialect, 
 claimed no authority over them, preached Bible truth without money or price, and 
 recommended the whole by godly lives. Whether they intended to undermine the 
 hierarchy or not, the priesthood saw the peril, took the alarm, and plied its eccle- 
 siastical authority to save its existence. 
 
 Unable to persuade and powerless to compel them to stop, the Bishop excom- 
 municated them A. D. 1176 for preaching without his authority. Instead of 
 accepting this excision, they appealed for redress to Pope Alexander III., and 
 because he wanted them to remain in the Church he laid the matter before the 
 Lateran Council at Rome in 1179. He praiseil Peter for his ^•ow of poverty, 
 embraced him, and would have permitted him to preach, provided that he main- 
 tained the faith of the Fathers Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory and Jerome. For 
 this forbearance Waldo was indebted to Cardinal Pulha ; and thus encouraged he 
 sent two of his disciples to the council to secure fuller recognition, as he was not 
 satisfied with the right of preaching himself. The pope turned these over to Walter 
 Mapes for examination, who says of them : ' There were brought to me the two 
 Waldenses, m'Iio seemed to be the chief of their sect, to dispute with me, and shut 
 my mouth as one who spoke evil. I confess I sat in fear lest in so great a Council 
 the privilege of speaking might be denied me, seeing that it was at the request of 
 sinners.' But he soon overcame his fear, with good zest began to make light of the 
 simple preachers, and even ridiculed them before the Council because they avowed 
 
LAY rnEACHrxa. 297 
 
 that ("lirist liad sent tlicin to preach and clotlied tlieiii with power by the Holy 
 Spirit. He, however, betrayed trepidation, for he said : ' If we let them in, we shall 
 be driven forth ourselves.' They were virtually condemned, for they were granted 
 permission to preach only on condition that the local priest requested it, a thing 
 that he was slow to ask. The reason given for this prohibition was : ' That the Roman 
 Church cannot endure your preaching.' Tliis enforced silence made them all the 
 bolder: 'Did not Christ send us?' said they, ' why should his Church hinder us ] ' 
 And they went every-where preaching the Word. 
 
 This, of course, could not be endured, and in lis:! s-t a special council was held 
 at Verona by Pope Lucius III., in the presence of the Emperor IJarbarossa, ' to 
 bind in the chain of perpetual anathenui those who presumed to preach, publicly 
 or privately, without the authority of the bishop.' Though excommum'cated, 
 tliev were held as less perverse than nther disowned ones, their sentence stating 
 that they presumed to preach witlimit any ' authoi-ity received either from the 
 Apostolic See or from the bishops v( their respective; dioceses.' This ban did not 
 class them with the Catharists, with whom tliey had no [)ai-t ; and often when the 
 priests had controversies with these, they appealed to the Waldeusians with tlieii' 
 ready store of Scriptural truth to help them. Even as late as 1190 the Arehliishoj) 
 of Narbonne held a colloquy with them to win them back. Their first great con- 
 test, then, concerned the right of lay preaching and not doctrine. Pope Innocent, 
 their great enemy, expressly says, long afterward, that they ' would usurp the office 
 of preaching' as an innovation. On the ground of doctrine, they were not ob- 
 noxious to Rome at that time. Yet when Lucius anathematized them they were 
 obliged to fly in every direction. Waldo, with one band of his disciples, fled to 
 the rugged fastnesses of the Cottian Alps, the dividing line between Dauphine in 
 Southern France and Piedmont in Northern Italy. These first settled in Dauphine, 
 on the French side, but soon crossed the border to the Italian. They labored, how- 
 ever, in both fields, and the great body of the people soon embraced their doctrines. 
 
 Piedmont had five valleys, but the mountain tract on the southern side had 
 only three. In these gorges, caverns, passes and dizzy peaks, their descendant! 
 still survive, after a period of seven hundred years. Their first real settlements 
 were in the thinly populated and half cultivated valleys of Angrogna and Saii 
 Martino, where the Romans erected an arch, calling it the 'Gate of Italy.' The 
 house of the Count Lucerna, the ruler of the land, had on its escutcheon the words : 
 ' The light shines in darkness,' which became the Waldensian motto. Their gi-eatest 
 ti'iumphs were in Italy, in the Duchy of Savoy, on the eastern slopes of the Cot- 
 tians; and their secondary were on the western, under the scepter of France. This 
 Count may have favored the new settlers, but the Benedictine monks, who had a 
 monastery and lands in Savoy, were greatly alarmed at the inroad of this flock of 
 emigrants. In time, however, the Dukes of Savoy assailed them, but the Kings 
 of France were too much engaged to trouble these godly mountaineers, and so they 
 
298 WALnf<:.\SIAN DISPERSION. 
 
 foiiiid refuge under one govcninicnt wlicn tlio other persecuted them, flight being 
 their only safeguard. For tliis iv;iM,n. in part, the liistory of the Italian Walden- 
 sians is far more complicated than that of tlie Fi-ench, and more full of adventure 
 by invasion, defense, defeat, suffering and triumph. For a time their very 
 obscurity protected them against the cur.ses of Eome. After a wliiJe. AValdo turned 
 to the North, Imt his fei'neious perseeuturs drnve him into l!oheinia, where it 
 seems likely that, as an ,,M man, he linished hi., work in jieaee and fell asleep 
 in Jesus. 
 
 The anathema of Lucian, A. D. 1183-84, was foll<.wed in ll'._i2 by a demand 
 from the Bishop of "I'lii'in that all who found a Waldeiisian should bring him to 
 his court bound with fitters to he piiiiisln'd, and his Micco^or followed in liis steps. 
 But constant persecution sharpened their appetite for the truth and they soon began 
 to fall into so-called 'heresy.' Gradually they claimed the right of private judg- 
 ment in the interpretation of the Scriptures, and came to oppose some doctrines 
 and practices of the ( 'hun-li of IiDme touching the ])(.iwer of the clergy, the sacra- 
 ments and ecclesiasti<'al authority. They resented the yoke of the pope and the 
 bishops; asserted the riglit (if laymen, and even of women, to preach; avowed 
 that the wickeilness of the priest neutralized the elfeet of the ordinances; declared 
 that confession might he made to a good layman, and tliat absolution from him was 
 effective. They, also, Hke tlie ( 'atliarists, denied tln' ol,lation of the ma,-s. all oaths, war, 
 begging and capital punishment ; while a few of theni went so far as to deny infant 
 baptism. It is of this class that Du Pin says, they regarded ' The washings of infants ' 
 as ' of no avail to them ; the sureties do not understand what they say to the priest.' 
 
 Persecution soon scattered small bodies of them in every direction. Individuals 
 wandered where they could, and little companies took refuge in various countries, 
 soon becoming the founders of small comtnunities — who, for convenience, we may 
 call the Waldensians of the Dispersion. Sometimes these bands merged into 
 other sects, or they grew up a sejaarate peojjle, constantly developing new views ; and 
 at last they became much more radical protestants against Home than the original 
 Romance Waldensians. Failure to make this distinction clear, and even sharp, will 
 lead us to confound one Waldensian sect with another, and to mix their doctrines 
 and practices in a medley of confusion ; for scarcely two sections of them believed 
 and practiced the same things throughout. Nor did any one class of Waldensians 
 hold the same doctrines and follow the same rites at all times. When we lose sight 
 of these changes and variations we fall both into confusion and contradiction con- 
 cerning this whole people. Those of the Dispersion had so increased to the West 
 as far as Spain, in 1192, that Alphonso, King of Aragon, issued a decree expelling 
 them from liis realm, and they were treated nowhere else with greater severity. 
 Edict after edict, the last gSnerally the worst, drove them out. The M^-ath of God 
 and the charge of treason were launched upon all who shielded a Waldensian, gave 
 him food, heai-d him ]ii-cacli, or ti-eatcd him kindly. The king commanded : ' Let 
 
FOUND IN SPAIN AND METX. 299 
 
 this our edict ho. read on tlie Sabljutii In- the clergy in all cities, forts and villages of 
 our kingdom, and be enforceil liy our vicars, bailiffs and judges. Any person, noble 
 or not, who shall tinil a Waldensian anywhere in our kingdom, after three days' 
 notice has been given to leave, may injure him in any way, that will not mutilate 
 his body or take his life, without fear of punishment, but rather with the assurance 
 of receiving our favor. We grant the AValdensians till All Saints' Uay to leave or 
 begin to leave the land, or expose thcniselvos to the risk of being plundered and 
 scourged.' In the face of this edict, which was renewed by Alphonso's son, Peter II., 
 the Waldensians continued to spread even as far as Seville. Peter's son, James I., 
 1227, at Pope Gregory's request, established an Inquisition which caused the flight 
 of many into Castile. They were tracked to its valleys, thrust into prison and 
 severely punished; but not one yielded, and the king himself carried wood to the 
 pile and set fire to the martyrs. Thereafter any one who heard the "Waldensians 
 preach, knelt with them in prayer, gave them a kiss or called them 'good men,' was 
 suspected and punished. ' 
 
 Another body of the Dispersed Waldensians was found at ifetz, in Northern 
 France, as early as 1199, when the bishop of that city informed Pope Ijmocent III. 
 of the trouble which they made him. He sought the pope's advice in the matter, 
 telling him that both in the city and diocese a large number of laymen and women 
 were reading the Bible in the Gallic tongue and preaching from place to place. 
 Some of them had come from Montpellier, bringing translations with tlicm which 
 they used in secret assemblies. When the parish priests undertook to correct these 
 things they spurned their interference, telling them plainly that the Bible was better 
 than any thing that they could give them. The pope's reply against the little flock 
 said, that ' Although the desire to understand the Scriptures and edify one another 
 out of them is not blamable, but rather commendable ; still, he could not favor the 
 secrecy of their meetings.' He warned them against Pharisaic pride, and threat- 
 ened them with discipline if they would not hear his fatherly exhortations. But 
 the ' heretics ' went on with their Bible teachings ; and a delegation of abbots came 
 from Rome, A. D. 1200, who dispersed the assemblies, burned the Bibles and, 
 according to the Chi'onicles of Albericus, ' extirpated the sect.' In order to stop 
 these Christ-like proceedings of the Waldensians, the fourth Lateran Council, A. D. 
 1215, and the Council of Toulouse, 1229, forbade laymen to read the Bible either 
 in the language of the people or in the Latin, and the Council of Tarragona, 1242, 
 bound the prohibition on the clergy also. 
 
 The Waldensians of the Dispersion became established in various cities, as 
 Geneva, Aquileia, with others in Switzerland and Italy ; and, in fact, they stretched 
 all the way from Aragou to Milan and Florence, and dotted Lower Germany. The 
 Bishop of Turin was greatly disturbed by some of them about 1209. He had been 
 a Benedictine Abbot, and took advantage of the passage of the Emperor Otto TV., 
 on his way to be crowned at Home, to secure the right of expelling the Walden- 
 
800 STRASBURG—' IIERErirs- DITCH: 
 
 sians who were 'sowing tares in liis diocese,' and of expurgating every thing that 
 contradicted the Catholic faith. But the Cnuiits of l.ucerna befriended tliem and 
 secured the free exercise of their rehgion, in the treaty made witli the Duke of 
 Savoy, in 1233. This protected them for many years. 
 
 In 1212 a congregation of five hundred Waldensians was discovered at Strasburg. 
 At first tlic bishop of that city sought to reason tlieni out of their position against the 
 Cathohc faith ; but such was tlieir ready use of Serij)ture that disputations always 
 inured to their advantage. Then he piuelalined that all of them who would not 
 forsake their errors should be i)ut t(i ile:itli by lire without delay. Many recanted, 
 surrendered their books, and reported to him that they had three chief centers and 
 three leaders — in ]\[ilan, in Bohemia, and on the ground in Strasburg. These lead- 
 ers, they said, were not clothed with authority like the pope, but owed their influ 
 enee to the personal confidence rejiosed in them by their bretln-en. One of theii 
 chief duties was to collect money for the poor. Eighty persons in all, amongst 
 whom were twenty-three women and twelve preachers, would not surrender their 
 faith. John, the Strasburg leader, answered in the name of all. His ajjpeal to 
 Scripture could not be overthrown, and when his persecutors would a]iply the test 
 of red-hot iron to see if he were sent of God, he replied: 'Thou shalt not tempt 
 the Lord thy God.' 'Ah, he does not want to burn his fingers,' scornfully cried the 
 monks. ' I have the word of God,' he answered, ' and for that I would not only 
 burn my fingers but my whole body.' All wlio stood with him were jnit to death, 
 Before their execution they were charged with all sorts of heresy, to which John 
 replied from the Serijitures, mo\ing the by-standers to tears. And when the final 
 demand was made : 'Will you maintain your belief?' he replied, ' Yes, we will.' 
 They were then led, amid the cries of kindred and friends, to the church-yard, where 
 a broad and deep ditch had been dug. Into this they were driven, wood was piled 
 around them and they perished in the flames. To this day men tremble when the 
 'Heretics' Ditch' is pointed out in Strasburg. ^ 
 
 We find another body of Dispersed Waldensians, A. D. 1231, in the provinces 
 of the Danube. They M-ere subjected to a terrible persecution for three years by 
 bloody Conrad of Marburg. An extended account of others is preserved in a ' Chron- 
 icle of 1260,' by an anonymous writer. They lived in the diocese of Passau, which 
 was embraced in the Duchy of Austria. He gives the names of forty- two towns and 
 villages in the diocese, some of them upon the Danube and others close to the borders 
 of Bohemia, where Waldensian congregations were found. The Jesuit Gretser, 
 in editing this report, omits the honest explanations which it gives for the spread of 
 the Dispersed Waldensians. The manuscript lays it to the impure life of the priests, 
 to the conversion of the sacraments into gain, to the multiplication of masses, to the 
 prurient use of the confessional and to pretended miracles ; such as, tears of blood flow- 
 ing from a picture, the lighting of a lam]i from heaven, the exaltation of false relics 
 as those of ani^els, the sweat of Christ, and i)assing off the bones of oxen as those 
 
FORBIDDEN liOOK. 
 
Till-: P UK CIO us PEARL. 301 
 
 of saints. Givat fault is mImi louiid witli the adoration of tlie pope as (iod upon 
 earth, greater than men ami cijual to angels, infallible and sinless. An additional 
 cause for public favor was found in the Waldensians themselves; for the author says 
 that they were content in poverty, avoided lying, profanity and theft, and were dil- 
 igent in business. They were shoemakers, weavers and other artisans; temperate 
 in eating and drinking, and they led godly lives. Their converts were nuide 
 by the Bible and religious books. They went as peddlei-s to a cottage or a noble- 
 man's castle, offering fabrics or jewelry for sale ; and when asked if they had any 
 thing else, they answered : ' Yes, great rarities ; I have one precious stone through 
 which you can sec God, and another that kindles love to him in the heart.' With 
 that these peddlers brought out the precious roll of Holy Writ. Whittier, our gentle 
 Quaker poet, has beautifully pictured these heavenly, traveling Waldensian mer- 
 chantmen with g(_iodIy pearls, thus : 
 
 ' O, huly fair, I have yet a gem, which a purer luster flings 
 Than the diamond flash of the jeweled crown on the lofty brow of kings; 
 A wonderful pearl of exceeding price, wliose virtue shall not decay, 
 Whose light shall be as a spell to thee and a blessing on thy way.' 
 The cloud went off from the pilgrim's brow as a small, meager book, 
 Unchased with gold or gem of cost, from his folding robe he took. 
 ' Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price, may it prove as much to tliee. 
 Nay, keep thy gold, I ask it not, for the word of God is free.' 
 
 Still another reason for their increase is found in that they were loyal to their 
 prince and country. About this time a violent contest between Pope Innocent IV. 
 and the Emperor Frederick II. compelled every Austrian to choose between his civil 
 and his ecclesiastical allegiance. As Bishop Rudiger took sides with the Emperor and 
 smote the papal legate with his fist, love for the pope was turned into hate in many 
 hearts. In these political convulsions, when the Inquisition and the pope were set 
 at naught, every papal interdict brought a Waldensian jubilee and the sect spread 
 rapidly. Frederick the Warlike, Duke of Austria, who died in 1246, unlike the 
 Emperor, had shown favor to the Catholics by laying violent hands on the Waldensians. 
 
 But no class of the Dispersed Waldensians call for more imjiortant notice than 
 those of Lombardy. Those %vho settled in and about Milan were known as the 
 ' Poor Italians,' and were a mixture with dissenters already on the ground. Our 
 interest in them is increased from the fact that many of the Waldensians of Lom- 
 bardy were* really the followers of Arnold of Brescia, of whom we have spoken. 
 For as the followers of Waldo were scattered abroad after his death, so the Arnold- 
 ists were driven every-where after the martyrdom of their leader. These, with the 
 ' Humble Men,' so called, of Lombardy, multiplied ' like fishes,' and grew in favor 
 with the magistrates of Milan, who gave them a piece of ground for a meeting- 
 house, and allowed them to rebuild it after the archbishop had destroyed their first 
 structure. Those who were merged into this body were numbered with the Wal- 
 
302 WALUENSIANS Oy ISAI'TISM. 
 
 densians of Lombardy. In 1S77 Pi-ciicr jiuMished at Mimieli wliat is possibh^ the 
 oldest Waldensian dix-muL'iit i-xtant. wliicli tlimws some liglit on tlietii. It gives a 
 colloquy between six delegatus of the original lioniance and as many of the Lombard 
 Waldensians. These lield a conference on their general affairs at Bergamo, May, 
 1218 ; and this account thereof was sent a few years afterward by the Lombardy 
 brethren to the party in Germany. 
 
 All classes of Waldensians held some things in common amongst themselves, 
 also with the Petrobrusians and with certain of the Catharists. Yet generally 
 they are confounded with each other, for they arc all supposed to have been alike; 
 and so we fail to rcacli their diffei'cnces. For example, the Council of Toulouse 
 and the second and third Lateran Councils launched decrees against those who rejected 
 infant baptism, Catharists and others, some sujjpose including the AValdensians. 
 But that of Toulouse, 1119, and the second Lateran, 1139, were held before the 
 "Waldensians existed ; as according to all modern history they originated with Peter 
 Waldo in IIGO. Again, the third Lateran, 1179, as well as tliese pi'eceding councils, 
 condemned the Cathari, but not the Waldensians. Dr. AVall thinks that the Bap- 
 tists of Cologne, 1092, came from Dauphine, where Peter of Bruis had preached ; 
 and if he is correct, then they were numbered with the Cathari and condemned by 
 the same councils. Mistakes have arisen touching the views of the Ri.imance Wal- 
 densians on infant baptism, from wrong translations and uses of the ' Antichrist,' 
 the 'Noble Lesson,' the ' Minor Catechism,' and the 'Twelfth Article' with the 
 forged date of 1120. If they opposed infant baptism it is unaccountable that their 
 literature, running through four centuries, gives no formal argument against it, 
 and no accompanying demand for the baptism of believers only. And further, 
 their enemy Pope Innocent in his letter No. 143 says, ' That the Waldenses err in 
 the iiiith, or depart from sound doctrine, thou hast not expressed to us.' Yet at 
 that moment no departure from the faith of the Catholics was more frightful than 
 the doctrine that infants would be saved if they died unbaptized ; and they enforced 
 this doctrine by the most terrible decrees of their councils, but not by name, against 
 the Waldensians. On the other side, too, this subject is full of perplexity. For if 
 the Komance Waldensians actually practiced infant baptism from the first, it is 
 very singular that they have left no argument for its authority, no trace of its de- 
 fense, and no ritual for its observance, in all their early literature, while they 
 positively rejected the Consolamentum. 
 
 When we attempt to supplement their own testimony by that of their con- 
 temporaries, we unfortunately find little to relieve this perplexity. Almost all 
 Koraan Catholic writers agree with Cardinal Hosius, who says : ' The Waldenses 
 rejected infant baptism.' Addis and Arnold declare of them : ' As to baptism, they 
 said that the washing of infants was of no avail to them.'^ This impression is 
 deepened by the fact that Farel, Q^Icolampadius and others, at the time of the 
 Reformation, made strenuous efforts to convince the Waldensians of Eastern 
 
THSTIMONY OP ENEMIES. 303 
 
 Daupliim'' and Savov df the rigliteousiK'ss of infant !)a]itisni ; as if the more 
 zealous of tliein still rejected that doctrine. Di-. Keller thinks that they com- 
 monly practiced adult baptism and allowed theii' eliildren to be baptized, saying: 
 'Since the Waldenses have always fundamentally (on fundamental principles) held 
 fast to baptism on faith, where they neglected it they did so under the pressure 
 of the constrained position in which they found themselves.'^ Certain it is that 
 tlieir enemies, to whom we are indebted for the earliest account of their faith 
 and practice, use strong language on this subject. But they fail to tell us clearly 
 of what Waldensian branch they speak, while sometimes the fair inference is that 
 they s]ieak of the Romance and at other times of the Dispersed bodies, as those of 
 the lUiine auil other parts of (ierniany. Take the foll.iwing examples: 
 
 I. Ermengard, about A. D. 1192, says: 'They pretend that this sacrament 
 cannot be conferred except upon those who demand it with their own lips ; hence 
 they infer the other error, that baptism does not profit infants who receive it.' ' 
 
 II. Alanus, who died A. D. 1203, appears to include the Waldensians amongst 
 those who reject infant baptism, and yet it is not positive that he does; although 
 he is writing against them. He represents those whom he denounces as saying 
 that ' baptism avails nothing before years of discretion are reached. Infants are not 
 profited by it, because they do not believe. Hence a candidate is usually asked 
 whether he believes in God, the Father Omnipotent. Baptism profits an unheliever 
 as little as it does an infant. Why should those be baptized who caimot be 
 instructed ? ' ® 
 
 III. Stephen of Borbone says, A. D. 1225 : ' One argument of their error is, 
 that baptism does not profit little children to their salvation, who have neither the 
 motive nor the act of faith, as it is said in the latter part of Mark, he who will not 
 believe will be condemned.' ' 
 
 lY. Pseudo Eeinerius, A. D. 1230-1250 : ' Concerning baptism, they say, the 
 Catechism is of no value. Again, that the washing that is given to infants is of no 
 value. Again, that the sponsors do not undeistamt what they answer to the priest. 
 They do not regard compaternity ' (/. c, the i-elati.in ,jf sponsors).' 
 
 V. Moneta, the Dominican, who winte lielnic A. D., 1240: 'They maintain 
 the nullity of the baptism of infants, and atfirm that no one can be saved before at- 
 taining the age of reason.'' Hahn. in quoting Moneta, makes him say: 'These 
 heretics charge that the Roman Catholic Church baptizes first and teaches after- 
 ward, while the Church of Christ taught at first before baptizing ; also, that Christ 
 and his Apostles never baptized awy one without faith and reason.' 
 
 VI. One of the Austrian Inquisitors, A. D. 1260: 'Concerning baptism, some 
 err in saying that little eliildien are not saved by baptism, for the Lord says, he that 
 believeth and is bajiti/ed AiA\ he saved. Now, a child does not yet believe, conse- 
 quently is not saved.' i lly lia})tisni, he must mean.) 'Some of them baptize over again, 
 others lay on hands without baptism.' '" 
 
 VII. David of Augsburg, A. D. 1256-1272 : ' They say that a man is then truly, 
 for the first time, baptized, when he is brought into their heresy. But some say 
 that baptism does not profit little children, because they are never able actually to 
 believe.' " 
 
 It may be that some of these writers did not intend these remarks to apply to 
 the Waldensians alone, or if so, to all of them without exception. Some of the early 
 members of the sect may have earnestly rejected infant baptism, while it is certain 
 
304 SOMI': WALDENSIAN IIAPTISTS. 
 
 that uiaiiy of the Dispersed did and ])racticed only tiio l«iptism of believers. Clearly 
 those of the Eomauce class, who united with the Eeformers in the sixteenth century, 
 held few Baptist sentiments which made either party hesitate at the union. The em- 
 bassy sent to Bucer and (Ecolampadius, in 1531, shows how these communities stood 
 with Eome on that subject. They really came to learn of the Eeformers what their 
 contest with Eome meant ; for they did not understand the full difference between 
 the contestants, and wished to be instructed. A great Council of the "Waldensians 
 was hell! at Angrogiia, in Savoy, 1532, to which the Swiss Protestants sent Farel 
 and ()li\etaii, ami then a new departure was taken. Henceforth the Piediuontese 
 "Waldensians were joined to the Swiss Protestant Pedobaptists ; although a minority 
 of the Council refused to be bound by its decision, though not on purely Baptist 
 grounds. One of the weaknesses of the Swiss Protestants has always been that they 
 have spent their strength in asserting that Pedobaptism is valid ; as if they had 
 derived the first practical benefit from it in their struggle with Eome ; and as if this 
 hugging of a limb of popei'y were really necessary to an efficient protest against 
 the other errors of that dark system. At the time that this union took place the 
 Eeformers were bitterly persecuting the so-called Anabaptists, even unto death, for 
 rejecting infant baptism. 
 
 There was, however, a remarkable association between the Waldensians of the 
 Dispersion and the Baptists in the sixteenth century, both in doctrine and practice. 
 Mosheini and Liniliorch mark this likeness, the latter saying : ' To speak candidly 
 what I think, vi' all the modern sects of Christians, the Dutch Baptists most resem- 
 ble both the Albigenses and Waldenses.' '^ Indeed, in some cases, the Baptists evi- 
 dently sprang from the Waldensians, and every-where in that century pushed resist- 
 ance of infant baptism to the front ; so that it was made the chief ground of their 
 martyrdom by both Protestants and Catholics. Goebel, in his ' History of Christian 
 Life in the Ehine Provinces,' says that wherever in Germany, before the Eeformation, 
 there were large bodies of Waldensians, there, during the Eeformation, large bodies 
 of ' Anabaptists ' sprang up. At that time this people alarmed all Europe. Every 
 Church and State stood in awe of their increase, and this panic united all their foes 
 in the ignoble bonds of bloody persecution. While some Protestants denied the 
 doctrine of baptismal regeneration, not believing that unbaptized children, dying, 
 perished ; yet they were as firmly resolved to burn all who cast infant baptism aside, 
 as were those who lodged the salvation of babes in their baptism. 
 
 On one point more the Waldensians of the Dispersion were one with the Anti- 
 pedobaptists. They insisted upon a regenerate Church membership marked by bap- 
 tism upon their personal faith ; while in later times, at least, most of the Eomance 
 Waldensians became Pedobaptists and semi-Eomanists upon that point. The Bap- 
 tists of to-day and the original Waldensians have much in common. They sought 
 the restoration of Apostolic Church life in a true Christian character and in a holy 
 Church membership ; they followed the literal interpretation of Scripture ; their 
 
77/AY/i' ciiritrii (lovHiiXMEyr. 303 
 
 ])ri(>stliood was that of believers aiul not of a liierairhy, tnen renewed in lieart and 
 life ; they rejected the error of regeneration by baptism ; the}' believed in and prac- 
 ticed immersion onl}', even if their babes were baptized ; and they made holiness 
 of heart and life the point on which every thing turned concerning the living ma- 
 terial of wiiich the Church of Christ must be composed. 
 
 As to the Church government of the Waldensians, it is necessary to speak with great 
 caution. The Frencli Waldensians held to the Episcopal form by three orders, bishops, 
 priests and deacons ; but Reinerius says of the sect in general : ' They say, the bishops, 
 clei'gy and other religious orders are no better than the scribes and Pharisees.' This re- 
 lates to character, however, but they did not despise a true Christian ministry ; for the 
 same writer, who was a resident of Lombardy, says that there they had ' elders.' Yet 
 there is nothing to show that they had any order of ministers amongst them as a uni- 
 versal thing; or even regularly located pastors, as we should deem them. They 
 liad ' barbs ' or preachers, but on the princijjle of the seventy disciples whom Jesus 
 sent forth two by two. These were not divided into orders, but into three moral 
 classes, from which the mistake has arisen concerning an Episcopal form of govern- 
 ment. Tlu-y had the preaching class of celibates, the contemplative class of celi- 
 bates, a sort of monks and nuns, and the preaching class of married men. Waldo 
 and his preachers committed large portions of the Bible to memory, and going into 
 the highways, hedges, streets and lanes of their cities and villages they repeated 
 these passages, explaining and enforcing them. Whether men and women were 
 learned or illiterate, they taught them the gospels by heart ami, in tui'ii, sent them 
 out to teach the same. These went from house to house teaching aiul i)reacliing 
 wherever they could find hearers. They have 'No fixed dwelling place, but go 
 about two by two, barefoot, clad in penitent's raiment, like the Apostles stripped 
 of all, following the Christ who was stripped of all.' '^ Preger says that all 'Ecclesi- 
 astical authority was vested in the congregation, so that there was no room for 
 bishops ; ' and, of course, it was their only court of discipline and appeal. ''' In this 
 fraternity of preachers, in the absence of orders distinction was made between them as 
 major and minor. This arose from the custom of sending them out in twos, a 
 young man and an older, that the younger might learn from the elder. Reinerius 
 represents them as holding that all men in Christ's Church stand on an exact parity, 
 no one being greater than another, and that the sacrament of orders is a nullity. 
 The account of the conference of the twelve delegates held at Bergamo shows as 
 much. The first questioTi which they were called to settle was occasioned by Waldo's 
 wish that no one should be put over all the societies. They agreed to a sort of 
 general superintendency as most conducive to peace and prosperity in all their 
 communities. The superintendents were to be chosen for a definite period, or it 
 might be for life. 
 
 It was further determined that cither new converts or tried friends might be 
 appointed as preachers. Waldo had prejudice against the co-oi)erative communities 
 21 
 
306 MhJTJIODS; Oh' I,AP,()I!. 
 
 tu wliicli tliu Loirilinrdy Iirrtliivn licluiii^vd. fcuriii;;- tlic innliie influence of prosperity 
 n|i<in Ihcni. Tlif .•(.nimiinitv M^lcin rlicy l;ii<l ;i>iilc, ami a iter tliat, juvat-liers and people 
 
 alike were allow cil fu I'aiai i cy. Tlicir sy.'^teui of jjreaching shaped itself after the 
 
 order of an itineivmcy, Evcivycai- thcii- Karbs or preachers mettoconferalwut the gen- 
 eral interests of their people, mnch a.- tiie Society of Friends do now, and to 'station 
 the preachers ' as the Methodist call .-innlar w oi-l^. This they denominated ' changing 
 the twos; ' for except the intii'ni and eld. tliey i-eniained from but one to three years 
 in a plaiM-. These ]3reachers weiv pour and iijade ]M_i\ci'ty a virtue biith uf necessity 
 and clieiec, and small sums uf UKUiey were i;i\en to tljcm for their supijort. But 
 tliey had nu i-ei^ular salai-y. and at their ann\ial meeting they divided money amongst 
 the pnur whip were not preaidieis and aiiioni;bt themselves, as each needed. If any 
 of these travelin-- missionaries had fallen into grievous sins through the year, they 
 were expelled. IF any had (.'oninntted lighter faults, they were admonished and for- 
 given. And when all had asked forgiveness of each other, they went out to do the 
 work of anotliei- year. 
 
 George Morel, one of their jireacliers, details all this and more to Bncer and 
 CEcolampadius, A. D. l.");'.o, in these words: 'So also we go forth once a year, to 
 visit ourj)eopli' in tliLir honic^, for they dwell in the mountains, in various hamlets 
 and villages, and we hear one after another in secret confession. . . . Our jjeople 
 for the most part are a simple peasantry, gaining their liveliiiood liy agriculture, 
 scattered by the frequent persecutions in many places, and separated from each 
 other by great spaces. For from one end to the other is eight hundred miles. 
 They are every-where suljjeet to the civil magistrates and the priests of the unbe- 
 lievers. Yet, by the grace of (lod, it never or rarely happens that a Waldensian 
 man or woman is arrested or punished by the said authorities, or that one visits 
 houses of ill fame." In this passage the word 'milh' (miles) has been mistaken for 
 7iiille (thousands), and some unknown writer has put the figures 8(30,000 into the 
 margin of the manuscript ; from which blunder all sorts of fabulous numbers have 
 been ascribed to the Romance Waldensians, while the valleys in which they lived 
 could not be made to sujjjjort 100,000 people at the most. When, therefoi'e, we 
 read in Reinerius and others of Waldensian 'churches,' we are obliged to take the 
 phrase in a modified sense ; for in truth they seem to have been less of a sect, in the 
 modern sense of the terra, than a disjointed series of congregations or societies of 
 religious men. According to the showing of Herzog, these congregations were 
 not all alike either amongst the Romance or the Dispersed. They appear to have had 
 no fixed ecclesiastical organization, for which they each claimed Gospel authority; 
 but they left their plans free to be nKxlitied l)y their trying circumstances to any re- 
 quired extent. It is tolerably evident that they were religious bodies without due 
 constitutional form, serving only the ends of a godly brotherhood in brotherly love, 
 rather than the purposes of strict supervision, watehcare and extension. All can 
 see from the circumstances of the case that it would have been extremelv difficult, 
 
riiKii; h'F.r.A rioxs ro home. so? 
 
 if not impossible, to keep uj) ro'^ulai- and visibio Cliurdi organizations with the 
 hiws of the State sternly against tlieni. They could maintain amongst themselves 
 an understood 8ei)aration from the Catholic hierarchy, but they had not the civil 
 right to avow an oprn niiituiv willi Imhuo, and to perfect an open organized 
 separation. 
 
 Indeed, it is questionable whether they did not consider themselves as a bodv of 
 lioly men still within the Church of Eome, rather than as sejmrate churches, in the 
 proper sense of the word, something after the Wesleyan order of societies within the 
 Established Church of England during the life of Wesley and long afterward. That 
 Churcli persecuted them bitterly, and yet Wesley and his immediate followers went to 
 it regularly for the ordinances. There is a singular confusion in the statement of Eein- 
 erius and others on this point. They charge the Waldensians with arrogance for as- 
 suming that they were the only Church of Christ, and in the same breath tliey charge 
 them with craft for remaining in the Catholic communion. For example, a Roman 
 Inquisitor who claims that ' he had exact knowledge of the Waldensians,' says : ' They 
 communicate and administer the sacraments in the vulgar tongue.' And again : ' They 
 celebrate the Eucharist in their household cujis and say that the corporal, or cloth 
 on whicii the host is laid, is no holier than the eloth of their breeches.' Then, 
 with marked inconsistency, Reinerius makes these two separate statements, namely : 
 ' They do not believe the body and blood of Christ to be the true sacrament, but 
 only blessed bread which, by a figure only, is called the body of Christ. . . . This sac- 
 rament they celebrate in their assemblies, repeating the words of the Gospel at their 
 table, and participating together, in imitation of Christ's Supper.' Yet after that 
 he adds, either truly or falsely : ' They frequent our churches, are present at divine 
 service, offer at the altar, confess to the priests, observe the Church fasts, celeln-ate 
 festivals, reverently bowing their heads, though in the meantime they scoff at all 
 these institutions of the Church, looking upon them as profane and hurtful.' Last 
 of all he makes this remarkable statement which seems to cover both the others, 
 namely : that they hold ' a great show of truth, for that they live righteously before 
 men, and believe all things well of God, and all the articles which are contained in 
 the creed, only they blaspheme and hate the Church of Rome.' 
 
 We must either throw his testimony aside as one tissue of falsehood, or believe 
 that some of the original Waldensians did accept such offices from the Romish 
 priests, possiblj^ from fear. But we cannot reject this evidence, for ]\lorel himself 
 states to the Reformers : 'We abominate the masses, but we attend tijeni, ami re- 
 ceive the host at the hands of the Roman priests.' This the priests would not object 
 to, for they did not look upon them as an ecclesiastical body, but as religious 
 guilds of weavers. Yet they cursed them again and again, for between A. D. 
 1307-1323 the In<juisition of France passed six hundred and seven sentences against 
 heretics, and ninety-two of them were against the Waldensians under one name or 
 another. Besides, David of Augsburg, A. D. 125(J-12T2, declares that in his day they 
 
SOS TUEIH LOVE OF scnil'TVIll':. 
 
 attended Miccniifcssioiis, fasts, feasts and sacraments ,,r the Callh.lie (Inircli. And at 
 tlie time uf the Kefurmati,,!!, (Ke,.lani|iadiiis lavs the snne ehar-e at their i\n,,v : ■ We 
 hear that you, thn.ui^h tea i- uf |jer,-.eenti(.n. have (h^nied and concealed yourfaitli to tliat 
 degree, tliat yon hohl eommunion with rhe unhelie\ ers, and go to those masses which 
 are only woi'tliy of ahhorrenet'." lie then tells them that they had better suffer 'in 
 the abyss of hell " than emlure against their eonseienees tlie blasphemies of the 
 godless. And, aeeoi-ilini;- to (niillies, theii- own lii>toi-ian, they only gave up all fel- 
 lowship with the (!atliolics when at the synod ,,f Angrogiia, A. D. 1532, the 
 Eeformers refused to unite with them on any othei' condition. But the Bohemian 
 Waldensians, as late as 1573, ,<;ave as the reasiin why they had never united with 
 some of their own "Waklensian jieople elsewhere, that 'for the sake of peace they 
 attended the papal mass, which they knew to be idolatrous.' It is more reasonable 
 to apply this evidence as showing the Waldensians to be a Christian body without 
 formal ('iiinch organization, than to regard them as hypocrites, as Reinerius did, or 
 as niemln^rs of two antagonist Churches at the same time for any reason whatever. 
 
 A wonl may be needfid on their pre-eminent love of the Bible. Stephen of 
 Borbone tells us of "Waldo's eaie that it be translated into the peculiar Romance 
 dialect. No cluiraeteristic ^^■as more marked in the Waldensians than their love for 
 the sacred volume, and this lo\e eomjielled them to share the treasure with others 
 by translations into the l-'lemish, (ieianan and French. Neander says that their 
 two characteristics, ahove all others in Germany, wei'e their general distriljution of 
 the Scriptures and the common priesthood of believers.'' Ilerzog finds no sect 
 which was so zealous for the circulation of the Scriptures as they. Others built 
 Church systems and sought to make the Kible support them, thus rendering it a 
 secondary means ; but, says Ochsenbein, the Waldensians laid down the Bible as 
 the foundation and practically built upon its truths."^ A liomish Inquisitor, in 
 sjjeakiug of them, tells i;s : ' They can say a great part of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments by heart. They despise the decretals and the sayings and expositions of holy 
 men and cleave only to the te.xt of Scripture. . . . They contend that the doe- 
 trine of Christ and his Apostles is sufficient to salvation without any Church statutes 
 and ordinances, and affirm that the traditions of the Church are no better than the 
 traditions of the Pharisees, insisting, moreover, that greater stress is laid on the 
 observation of human tradition than on the keeping of the law of God.' Seisselius, 
 Archbi-shop of Turin, also states: 'They receive oidy what is written in tlie Old 
 and New Testaments.' Last of all, Reinerius reports that ' whatever is preached 
 that is not substantiated by the text of the Bible they esteem fables ; ' for which 
 reason Pope Pius II. complains of their holding that ' baptism ought to be admin- 
 istered without the addition of holy oil,' a fact which explains the further remark 
 of Reinerius : ' They hold that none of the ordinances of the Church which have 
 been introduced since Christ's ascension ought to be observed, as being of no 
 value.' 
 
riiE sri'i'iui. 309 
 
 It is not likely that the Cathulii-s were tir^^t impelled to forbid the Llilde to the 
 people by tlie inaligimiit purpose of shutting them up in darkness, but by that ultra 
 conservatism which dares not put it into the hands of the unlettered to-day without 
 an accompanying ert'ed. The public mind is csteeuied by many to be unbalanced, 
 and its bent must be .-Imped carefully or it will lie jierverted. The Waldensiaiis 
 cast all such rubbish to the wind believing that the IJibli; never corrupted any man. 
 while creeds have eori'upted millions. Hence we lind in one of their sermons on 
 the Sower the following tribute to the Holy Oracles : 'The word of (iod is the 
 salvation of the souls of the poor, the cordial of the languishing, the food of the 
 hungry, the consolation of the attticted, the excommunication of vice, the heir of 
 virtue, the shame of devils, the light of hearts, the way of the traveler.' 
 
 At the Conference of I'erganu), the Lord's Supper was a subject of wide dif- 
 feri'uce, but both .sides appear Id have interpreted the words: 'This is my body,' 
 literally, as Luther did. The Lombards would not admit, liow'cver, with their 
 Romance brethren, that any one could change the bread into the body of the Lord, 
 but confined that power to holy men. They quoted nuuiy te.xts of Scripture to prove 
 that the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. Yet in order to 
 provide for a faithful worshiper who was served by an unfaithful administrator, it 
 was asserted that (bid himself v.'ould change the elements in such a case without 
 the aid of man. The Loudniitls were further asked, 'Why they had given up their 
 former practice of confession ^ To which they replied: 'When I was a child I 
 spake as a child, but wdien I became a man, I put away childish things.' With con- 
 fession, the Dispersed Waldensians put away the childish practice of the mass, and 
 abandoned the dognui of the real presence in the Supper. The great theologian, 
 David, of Augsburg, who died A. D. 1272, declares unequivocally of the Bavarian 
 Waldensians : ' They do not believe that it is really the body and blood of Christ, 
 but oidy consecrated bread, which is called the body of (Jhrist, figuratively, as Christ 
 is also called the ' Hock.' Herzog gives the following description of the Supper as 
 certain of the Waldensians celebrated that ordinance : 
 
 ' Every year they met for the observance. The presiding officer called the assem- 
 bly to oixler. A goblet of unmi.xed wine and a cake of unleavened bread were 
 placed upon a cloth-covered table. The administrator exhorted the assembly to 
 pray for the forgiveness of their sins, and re|)eat the Lord's Prayer seven times, to 
 the honor of God and of the Holy Trinity, that he would himself prepare the sacra- 
 ment. Then all fell on their knees, and prayed the Lord's Prayer .seven times. 
 After they had ari.sen, the presiding officer made a sign over the bread and wine, 
 broke the bread, distributed it among them, all standing. Li the same manner he 
 served the cup.' " 
 
 Their views of Religious Liberty are easily gathered. So free did they hold them- 
 selves, that the}' contemned excommunication even from the true Church of Christ 
 simply for the holding of any particular religious opinions, and treated expulsion from 
 the Catholics with contempt. They silenced their ministers for iunnorality, but we 
 
SlO rjIEY CLAIM RELiaiOVH FREFAJOM. 
 
 know iK'xt to notliiiii;- of dtlicr |iiiiiisliiiiriits in tlieir lii-<itlierlioiML As to civil inter- 
 ference, Alaniis sa_vs that ' 'I'licv dciiicil tlie ri-lit tn ]ieiver\itr men for their relig- 
 ious views and practices.' In kee]iing with this statement, their ' C'antica' denounces 
 the 'clergy of the Church of the nialignants as evil hunters, who kill the hunted 
 after the manner of hungry hounds. Pretending to be spiritual hunters they are 
 become wicked foxes, that slay with evil teeth the poor chickens of Christ. Such 
 are the homicidal monks. . . . Verily, as in the days of Christ, Annas and Caiaphas 
 and the rest were Pharisees, so, now, Pope Innocent ; they would not go into the house 
 of Pilate lest they be detiled, they delivered up Christ to the secular arm, just as 
 tiiey do yet.' 
 
 Thus Gdd raised up this noble peojile in the deep gli.iom of the ages to shine as 
 a light in the dai'k ]>laces of the earth— a wliite lily in Alpine ^ii..ws. t<. l)luoni 
 amongst thoi-ns, thistles and weeds. They give this accnunt nf thenisel\-es in the 
 ' Noble Lesson : ' ' The Scripture says, and we can see it, that if there is a good man 
 who loves and fears Jesus Christ, who will not curse and swear and lie and com- 
 mit adultei-y, and kill and rob, and avenge himself on iiis enemy ; they say at once 
 he is a Waldensian and worthy of punishment.' One of tiieir smaller Catechisms 
 teaches six commandments of Jesus : 'Thou shalt not be angry with thy brother, 
 nor look upon a woman to lust after her, nor put away thy wife except for the 
 cause of adultciy, nor swear, nor resist evil, and thou shalt love thine enemy.' For 
 the maintainance of these things they were hated and abused for centuries. In the 
 Alps they were a simple and primitive community of shepherds and farmers, whose 
 country was naturally inaccessible and barren. They passed through thirty-six per- 
 secutions which spared neither age nor sex. 
 
 The crusade of Simon of Moutfort so utterly destroyed them that Sismondi 
 says : ' Simon stamj^ed out not only a people bnt a literature.' Dominic, the father 
 of the Inquisition, persecuted them with a high hand. From A. D. 1160-1500 their 
 fortunes varied from the greatest prosperity to the depths of misery; alternating 
 from an ardent zeal against the Romish Church to a cowering dread and a wretched 
 compromise on the part of many with the doctrines of Rome, very similar to the Old 
 Catholic movement of our times. The most dreadful of all their persecutions began 
 in 1560, when many of their villages were deserted. The old, the feeble, women 
 and children, fled to the forests, the rocks, the highest peaks of the mountains. 
 Unti-ained peasants were obliged to form themselves into small brigades. Tottering 
 old men and boys organized themselves into guards and sentinels, and accomplished 
 immortal exploits by their skill and fortitude against veteran invaders. Possibly 
 it had been better had they earlier invoked the spirit of men, wlio. in defense of 
 their holiest rights to serve God, must measure swords with the incarnate fiends and 
 craven bigots wlio dared to oppress them, on the ground that to thrash a coward is 
 to challenge his respect. The horrible Inquisition was formed for the express 
 purpose of planting an iron foot ujion thetliroat of the most hallowed rights of man. 
 
CRUELTIES. 
 
 It iicvur was suppressed till organized force cliastised it; 
 might have cowed its dcvilishness much sooner, butli to tlie 
 This tribunal of infernal origin clothed certain inttuks with 
 lire Waldensians and 
 lead thcni to execu- 
 tion without legal 
 forms or the rights 
 of trial. Aiul that 
 power was plied upon 
 these inolfensive peo- 
 ple in those extremes 
 which nothing can 
 intlanie hut sancti- 
 monious infernalism. 
 Many of them were 
 frozen to death, others 
 were cast from high 
 precipices and dashed 
 to pieces. Some were 
 driven into caverns, 
 and by tilling the 
 mouths of their caves 
 with fagots were 
 suffocated. Otlier.- 
 were hanged in cold 
 blood, ripped open 
 and disemboweled, 
 pierced with prongs, 
 drowned, racked limb 
 from linil) till death 
 relieved them : were 
 stab! led, worried l)y 
 dogs, burned, or cru- 
 cified with their heads 
 downward. Fox re- 
 lates one case in which 
 four hundred mothers 
 who had taken refuge 
 entered hy a projecting crag, were smothc 
 all the time that this gentle blocd was llo 
 noceiit III, drank it in like nef-rar of 1 
 
 and the same treatment 
 honor of (iod and man. 
 limitless iiower to tort- 
 
 ■V#^^ 
 
 the Cave of Castellnzzo, some 2,000 feet above the valley, 
 th their infants in their arms. And 
 that sani'titied beauty known as In- 
 c. (,)f the Waldensians and other 
 
312 MAUryilDOM OF SAOER. 
 
 niunlered .sheup of ('liri.^t, lie .siiil : 'Tiicv arc like Samson's foxes. Tliev ajipear 
 to be different, but tlieir tails are tied togetlicr.' The bluod-tliirst of the Dominicans 
 earned for them the sti<j;-ina of 'Domini Canes; or the 'Lord's Dogs.' Tlie very 
 sentences wliieli thev i)i-(.n(iiinced in iiKiekery uf trial and Justice were a Satanic 
 (•()iii|)uiind cd' formality and heartlessness. saiietimiiiiy and axarice, obseqniousness 
 and arrogance. At the conelnsi(jn id' a se.-->i(Ui of the Jininisilion, held in Switzer- 
 land, 1430, the following decree was ])idilis]ied : 
 
 ' In the name of God, Amen. We, Brother Ulricli of Torrente, of the Domini- 
 can order at Lausanne, and with full apostolic authority, Inquisitor of heretical iniq- 
 nity. in the diocese of Lausanne ; and John de Colunipnis, Licentiate and especially 
 ajipointed to this work by the venerable father in Christ, Lord William of Challant, 
 Bishop of Lausanne, have directed by the pure process of the Inquisition that you, 
 Peter Sagei-, boi'ii at Montrich, now sixty years old, thirty years and more ago 
 forswore the Waldcnsian heresy iu the city of Bern, but since then have returned to 
 that ]ierverse faith, as a dog to his vomit, and held and done many thing.s detestable 
 and vile against the most holy and venerable Roman Church. You have stubb<irnly 
 asserted tliat there is no purgatory, but only heaven and hell ; that ma>M>. iiirrn-r>- 
 sions and alms for the souls of the departed are of no avail; and theic -.nv many 
 other things proved against you in your trial, that show that you have fallen back 
 into heresy. O grief ! Therefore after consideration, and investigation, and ma- 
 ture consideration, and weighing of evidence ; and after consulting the statutes, both 
 of divine and human law, and arming ourselves with the revered sign of the Holy 
 Cross, we declare : In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Amen ; — 
 That our decision may proceed from the presence of God and our eyes behold jus- 
 tice, turning neither to "the right nor to the left, but fixed only on God and on the Holy 
 Scriptures, we make known as our fiiud sentence from this seat of judgment, that 
 you, Peter Sager, are and have been a heretic, treacherously recreant to your 
 oath of recantation. As a relapsed heretic, we commit you to the arm of the secu- 
 lar power. However, we entreat the secular authorities to execute the sentence of 
 death more mildly than the canonical statutes require, particularly as to the 
 mutilation of the members of the body. We further decree, that all and every 
 ju-oiK-rty that belongs to you, Peter, is confiscated, and after being divided into 
 three jiarts, the first part shall go to the government, the second to tlie officers of the 
 Inquisition, and the third to pay the expenses of the trial. 
 
 Some of the town expenses attending the execution of Peter are found in the 
 town records, as follows : ' Paid to Master Garnaneie for burning Peter Sager, 20 
 shillings ; for cords and stake, 10 shillings ; for the pains of the executioner, 28 shil- 
 lings ; special watchmen during the execution in the city, 17 shillings, 6 pfennigs; 
 in the citadel, 9 sols ; for the beadles, 14 shillings.' The fuel must have cost a large 
 amount, as twelve wagon loads were used. Side by side with this fiendish record 
 stand these two charges: 'Twenty-eight measures of wine for the dance at the 
 
 court-house, in honor of the Count of Zil. ■ ■ cauldron, in which Caspar Autoine, 
 
 of Milan, was boiled.' '* Have Waldensian blood and purity ever been avenged ? 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE BOHEMIAN BRETHREN AND THE LOLLARDS. 
 
 IJS tlie thirteenth century and onward, a few seers read the sii;-ns of the eoniing 
 Kefurniatiun. Men's suuls felt tlie need uf it, and iiupe lived on. They saw 
 that the cause of Clirist was not dead, its vitality was but suspended, and every-where 
 prophetic aspiration looked for the end of shameless pretension and scandalous 
 morals in the Church. Three classes are known as the Reformers before the Ref- 
 ormation : the Theologic school, chilled by farcical superstition ; the Mystical, 
 who groaned in .spirit after God; and the Biblical, whose faith in the word of (iod 
 never faltered. This last school longed to cast the Bible into the mass of torpid 
 profligacy, as the prophet thiew salt into the pot of death. John Tauler, A. I). 
 1290-1361, was the most noble and noted of the Mystics. He was the son of a 
 wealthy farmer of Strasbnrg. For eight years he sought some one to lead him 
 nearer to God, and at last found his tutor in a beggar at the gate of the cathedral. 
 He allied himself with those known as 'Friends of God,' at Strasburg and C'ologno, 
 and deserves to be ranked with Fenelon for learning, piety and eloquence. Of 
 his sermons Luther said to Spalatin : ' If you enjoy solid theology, just like the 
 ancient, get Tauler's sermons; fori have found no theology, whether in Latin or 
 in any other tongue, that is more sound and consonant with the Gospel.' Ho did 
 little, however, to reform his times ; he enjoyed inner fellowship with God and 
 trampled upon his own selfishness, but had no power to work on the dead level of 
 a reformer. 
 
 With the great revival of letters the learned began to appeal fi-om the decrees 
 of the Church to the text of the Fathers, from them to the Latin \'ulgate. and 
 then from that translation to the Greek parchments. But the Italian thinkers 
 rested iu the revived literature: cliietiy in philosophy, the charms of verse 
 and the golden measurement of prose. Some of them were kings amongst men ; 
 but the restored classic form, diction, elegance, imagination, were the scepter which 
 they waved, and its motions made no stir of dry bones in the open valley of vice. 
 Rome gloried iu the beauties of Hellas rather than in the beauties of holiness, in the 
 song and the drama rather than in the realities of saving truth. At times shame 
 aroused her humanist mood and she had fierce fits of morality, when she thun- 
 dered against licr own wickedness, being careful always not to strike herself with 
 lightning. She was like the acolyte, who all his life had been too close to the 
 altar to feel any reverence for its mysteries. Old Greek thought was welcome, but 
 
SI 4 .1 F.nrrxE of the word. 
 
 nut the Galilean. I'ut when licr lc:ii-iiiiin- went on pil^-i-iniage into the Ti"insal])ine 
 kingdoms and t(inchc(l flic less \ol;iiilc imd iikh-c robust races, it was felt at the 
 foundations of hunnuiity. Ciurniaii and Italian mind met at Constance and Basle; 
 the souls of Dante, Medici and Piccolomini (Pius II.) clashed with the controver- 
 sialists at Prague, Vienna, Cologne and Ileidellierg; and while this seething mass 
 was all alive, (iiittenhurg threw the lirst printed ilihle into the vast ferment, and it 
 has nevei- been i|uiet since. Fi-uiii that dav, 14.").">, the Refoi'mation began to set in 
 firmly. I'liat nci'v year Reuchlin, the father of Hebrew learning in Germany, 
 was burn, and twenty-two years later, Erasmus. These were called the 'Two eyes 
 of Germany.' The first was the great forerunner of Luther, and fought against 
 indulgences for a generation before that nioid< was boiii. lie dared to compare 
 the Vulgate with the Hebrew and to juiint out its errors. When rebuked for 
 doing so he said : 'I revere St. Jei-ome as an angel; I respect De Lyra as a master; 
 but I adore Truth as a God.' In that saying he uttered the great tliought of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 The first great master who had grasped it was the princely Yurksiiireman and 
 pure-hearted pastor of Lutterwoi'th. He was the father of the greatest idea of three 
 centuries, namely : The gift of the Bible to England in English, as the inheritance 
 of all, from the king and queen duwn tu the pluw-buy iind niilk-niaid. He read the 
 charter of Gud tu man traced on the ]iarehment, and while his own lieiirt burned 
 he quietly vowed that it was the native I'ight of every Englishman to warm his 
 bosom by its reading. Men call this lowly, daring farmer's son the ' Morning Star 
 of the Eeformation.' More gracefully may WicklffE wear the trope of Augustine, 
 when he compares some saints to the sun. He charmed by the luster of his rising, 
 he strengthened by the reign of his light, he filled the heavens with the glow of 
 his decline, and after five hundred years the moon and the stars of the Reformation 
 make to him their obeisance. The inflow of French had corrupted the old vei-nacular, 
 so that the Anglo-Saxon vei'sion had become obsolete. Besides, it had become a 
 crime for those who could read the Scriptures in their mother tongue to do so. The 
 clergy themsehes were grossly illiterate, many curates knew not the Ten Com- 
 mandments, nor euuld they understand one verse of the Psalter. Tiie pope sent 
 his bull to lieaumont for his consecration as Bishop of Du)'hani ; and Andrews, in 
 his ' History of Bi'itain,' tells us that he tried again and again to spell out its words 
 in jrablic, but was so puzzled that at last he cried out: ' By St. Louis! it could be 
 no gentleman who wrote this stuff.' Edward III. entered his protest against this 
 state of things, and Wickliff resolved to end it forever. At that time a manu- 
 script copy of one page of Scripture was of immense cost and printing was not 
 discovered. The annual allowance of a university scholar was but fifty shillings, 
 the wages of a laboring man three half-pence a day, and two arches of London 
 bridge only cost £25, in 1240; yet in 1274 the Abbot of Croxton paid for a fairly 
 written Bible in nine volumes the sum of £33 lis. 8d. 
 
WICKLTFF THE TOnhSnrRE.VAX 315 
 
 III Wickliir,s .lay IIr' contest l,..t\vec.i the ( ■l.uivh and tlic civil powiT was just 
 growing severe, and lie devoted his wliole life to a struggle with the papacy. Newman 
 well describes the conflict : ' Tiie State said to the Church, " I am the only power that 
 can reform you; you hold of me; your dignities and offices are in my gift." The 
 Church said to the State, " She who wields the power of smiting kings cannot be 
 a king's creature ; and if you attempt to reform lier you will be planting the root 
 of corruption by the same hand which cuts off its branches.' " Bull after bull was 
 thundered against Wickliff for one thing or another, five of them in one montli ; 
 but he quietly persevered, preparing his Bible for the common people. He took 
 the greatest pains to make it plain, casting aside all foreign terms and scholastic 
 words, using the uncouth language of the people, so that the most lowly and un- 
 lettered could understand what they read or heard. Knighton, Canon of Leicester, 
 his violent foe, saw his drift and said : 'Christ intrusted his Gospel to the clergy and 
 
 doctors of the Cliureli, t inister it to the laity and weaker sort. But this 
 
 Master Wickliff, by translating it, has made it vulgar, and laid it more open to the 
 laity, and even women who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the 
 clergy and those of the best understanding; and thus the gospel jewel, the evan- 
 gelical pearl, is thrown about and trod underfoot of swine.' 
 
 Wickliff finished his work in 1380 and died at Lutterworth, his body sleeping 
 there amongst his flock, in the chancel of the parish church. As his Bible aroused 
 the English conscience, the pope felt a chill ; he heard unearthly sounds rattle 
 through the empty caverns of his soul, and he mistook AVicklift's bones for his Bible. 
 The moldering skeleton of the sleeping translator polluted the consecrated ground 
 where it slept. The Council of Constance condemned his Bible and his bones to 
 be burnt together. The pope shivered all over, chilled to the marrow, and he 
 needed a tire to thaw him withal. So after the godly preacher had slept quietly for 
 over thirty years, Chicheley, Archbishop of Cantei'bury, went down in state to Lut- 
 terworth to give new life to the venerable rector and to set him preaching again. 
 A great body of solemn clergy went with him to enforce the grim sentence, and 
 somehow matiaged to keep sti'aight faces while they went through the pious farce of 
 dragging the ghastly Yorkshire frame from the tomb. The little sanctuary stood 
 on a hill, and when they had sated their ghostly ire at the charnel-house they drew 
 the skeleton to the tiny river Swift, consumed it with dry fagots and threw the 
 ashes into the generous stream. Every atom of his dust rested on a softer, purer 
 bosom that day than Chicheley had ever known. Such a treasure had never floated 
 on the laughing brook before, so it divided his holy ashes with the Severn and the 
 sea. Little Lutterworth was too small either fur his Bible or his I)ones, and now 
 they are welcomed by the wide world. 
 
 Froude finds a resemblance between some of Wickliff's views and those of the 
 Baptists, and others have claimed him as a Baptist. But it were more accurate to 
 say that many who carried his principles to their legitimate results became Baptists. 
 
SI 6 HIS THANSIATIOJV. 
 
 His iouiiihiti.iii i.i-iiiciples were: 'That all truth is cuiitainL-d in the .Scriptures, 
 ami that ( 'hristV law siitticeth by itsclt to nilu ( 'lirist's( 'liuri:li ; that we must receive 
 iKitliiiii;- hut what is iu the Scripturu ; that wiiate\er is added to it ur taken froui it 
 is hlasphcuKius; that no rite or cerciii.uiy ou-ht to be received into the Church but 
 that whii-h is plainly coutirnied by ( iod's word; that wise iiicii leave that as imper- 
 tinent which is not plainly expi'essed ; that we adnut no ccjnclusion that is not 
 proved by Scriptui'e testimony ; and that whoevei- holds the contrary opinions is not 
 a Christian, but tiatly the devil's champion." In his translation he uses the words 
 'wash,'' '■christen ' and 'baptise'' in rci^aid to the initiatory ordinance. His render- 
 ing of Matt, iii,.^ 6, is. ' Tlianne icrusalcni wi'utc <uit to liym and al indec, and al 
 thecuntre abonte Ionian : and thei wcnin waischcii .d' hym in Ionian and knowlcchidcn 
 her synnes.' Again, in verse 11: 'lwaischy<ui in watyr.' Also Mark i, 5 : ' and thei 
 weren baptisid ol hym in the tlum binlan.' ' lie always retains the preposition ' in^ 
 and nevei' ' idth" ' in water,' ' in .Ionian," even when he speaks of Christ's figurative 
 ba2:)tism, his o\erwhelminL;- in ^lacf he yives the same renderili'^, ilark x, .'j!l : 'Ye 
 schulen be waischnn with the bajitym, /"/( wliichc I am bajitisidc' The natural force 
 of the word iji is made doubly emphatic by tlie use of the word ' irn.'^/i.' wash in; 
 showing that he intended to convey the sense of dip; according to (ri-eenfield, 
 'It is evident, that to wash the body or ])erson. without specifying any par- 
 ticular jwrt of the body, must necessarily denote t" }>,tth,\ which clcai-ly imidies im- 
 mersion^ washing being tlie mere consequence of immersion. This sense of the 
 translator agrees exactly with his common pi'actice and that of his times. 
 
 Wickliff's translation was to kindle tlie truth afresh through all Germany, and 
 to light the way of Jolin Hnss and Jerome of Prague through the flames of Con- 
 stance. The Bohemians came of the Sclavonic race, and were originally known as 
 Czechs. They conquered Bohemia in the sixth century, and becoming Christians 
 under the labors of Methodius, a Greek j.i-icst, long remained members of the Greek 
 Church. They were bi-ought undt'i- pai)al supremacy in 968, when their ritual was 
 abolished, the Latin inqjosed n[)i_in them, and the cup taken from the laity. Their 
 king was elective, and while bent on preserving their constitutional freedom against 
 the pretensions of Austria, they were restive under the religious restrictions of the 
 pope. Huss was of this Czech blood, and intensely national in spirit, therefore 
 antipapal, as all Bohemian Catholics were. Insular England, also, had the ear of 
 Bohemia through Anne, the English queen, wife of Richard II., and sister to their 
 own king. She was the personal friend of WicklifE, who was one of her husband's 
 chaplains. IIuss made his writings his constant study, and wdien he not oul}' 
 defended them but demanded their free use amongst the Bohemians, tW'O hun- 
 dred volumes of them were publicly burnt at Prague. Some Waldensians in 1385 
 had brought WicklifE's works to Prague, and the Queen of Bohemia had helped Huss 
 to circulate them. Various scandals helped to awake Bohemia ; notably amongst 
 them tlie diseoverv in an old church at Wilsnak, of three connunnion wafers im- 
 
TiiK rAi:()i!iri:s ami /.iska. 317 
 
 pregiiated with wliat seeiiied to be hlood. Tliu jji-iests proclaimed tliat tliis was tlie 
 blood of Christ, and pilgrims came Hocking from all the adjacent countries, even as 
 far as Norway, to be healed, before the whole transaction was exposed as a fraud. 
 When TIuss and Jerome were burned all Bohemia was aroused, and in 1415, four 
 hutuhrd and fifty-two nobles not only subscribed to their doctrines, but bound them- 
 selves to protect the preaching of God's word on their estates. For a long time 
 these Eeformers maintained the Bible as the supreme authority in all matters of 
 doctrine and life, but when they came to its interpretation they were hampered by 
 the popish idea of uniformity ; for they could not tolerate each other's rights, and so 
 split into two parties. One body rejected all that was not expressly commanded in 
 Scripture, the other accepted all ecclesiastical practices which the Scriptures did not 
 expressly forbid ; which is in essence the position of the Baptists and Pedobaptists 
 down to this day. The radicals M-ere called Taborites, from the name of the 
 fortilied mount which tlu'v held ; the conservatives were known as Calixtines, 
 from calix (cup) which became their symbol, and the kingdom was thrown into 
 civil war. 
 
 The Taborites followed Ziska, a most intrepid leader. He was far in advance 
 of Huss in his doctrines, not only pushing aside the traditions of the Church and 
 leaving every man to interpret the Bible for himself, but, in 1420 his party published 
 fourteen articles, amongst which are these : That the faithful are not to receive the 
 views of the learned, unless they are found in the Bible ; that'no decree of the Fathers, 
 or ancient rite, or tradition of men is to be retained, but those whicli are found in 
 the New Testament ; that infants ought not to be baptized with exorcisms, and 
 that the use of sponsors should be discontinued.^ Some members of this body joined 
 the 'Brethren of the Law of Christ,' or the 'Bohemian Brethren.' 
 
 Before speaking of these, a word may not be unacceptable concerning that marked 
 character, Ziska. He was a Bohemian nobleman, and in 1410 lost an eye in the war 
 between the Prussians and Lithuanians. Afterward, he became cliamberlain to 
 King Wenceslaus. He was a most daring chief, whether of loyal or insurgent forces. 
 Sigismund laid claim to the Bohemian crown, but Ziska withstood him with despera- 
 tion. At Kuttenberg, a Catholic city, where his Catholic enemy burned, hanged and 
 beheaded sixteen hundred prisoners of war as heretics, he retaliated terribly upon 
 the monks and priests ; and tio wonder. He lost his remaining eye by an arrow- 
 shot in a great battle which defeated Sigismund, A. D. 1420. But this made no 
 difference with him as a chieftain. When entirely blind, his hot blood nuide him 
 the same intlomitable victor. He would take his stand on an elevation in the cen- 
 ter of the battle-field, with his best officers all around him. Then he borrowed their 
 eyes, as he turned his empty sockets this way and that. His staff reported to him the 
 progress of the fight, and he gave his imperious commands accordingly. Almost 
 without fail, panic seized the Germans, who were utterly routed again and again. 
 At last, the emperor finding that he could do nothing against him, offered him the 
 
3 1 H 77//-; lUtlFKMIAN niiKTIIREN. 
 
 goviM-iiiiicnt of Biiliomia, the njimimiKl of Ids own armies, and a yearly tribute, if 
 he would acknowledge liiiii as tlie King of Bohemia. He spurned the tender, and 
 at tliat point died of the |)lagiu^. He had been the perfect terror botli of the pope 
 and the enijicror when lie had but one eye, and wlien he lost the second their torment 
 inci'eased. This dauntless, blind, old semi-Baptist, must have been of the sturdy 
 type after which the iron-boned Roundhead and the steel-nerved Covenanter and 
 the adamantine i'mitan took cast. For, it is said that before he died, he pledged 
 his followers to tan his skin for a drum-head, that the very sound of his hardened 
 hide might strike teri-or into these bi-azen foes of God and man. This may be 
 legend, but it is as seriously said that they granted his request ; if so, to the honor of 
 liis religious posterity, lie that hath ears to hear, can catch the sound of that 'drum 
 ecclesiastic ' all round the globe in this nineteenth century. 
 
 The Boliemian Brethren became numerous, counting about one fourth of the 
 people. Even a century before IIuss, King Ottocar II. found so many heretics in 
 his realm that he ajipliiMl to the pope to extirpate them. Peregrinus, A. D. 1310, 
 attempted to convert or destroy tliem. But Jolm of Drasic released tlie prisoners 
 from patriotic motives and abolished the incpiisitor's coui't. The ^Yaldensians 
 abounded o\er the border in Austria, and kept \\y their union with those of Lom- 
 bardy. They so developed in Bohemia that they supplied numbers of preachers 
 for Northern Germany, for in the Acts of the Inquisition in Brandenburg and Pom- 
 erania, 1391, four hundred Waldensians are mentioned by name. In 1393-94 it 
 brought one thousand Waldensians under its power in Thuringia, Brandenburg, 
 Bohemia and Moravia. Endless numbers evaded the inquisitors, but in 1397 one 
 hundred of them were burnt in Steyer, Austria ; and in the opening of the fifteenth 
 century they liad great influence in Bohemia. Peter Cheleicky, named from tlie 
 village of Chelcic in Southern Bohemia, was the forerunner of the ' Brethren.' He 
 was an original and independent thinker, criticised John IIuss freely, and would 
 take sides with neither of the Hussite factions. lie first a])]ieai-s in ]iul)lic life in 
 the Bethlehem Chapel, Prague, 1420, in a dispute with Jacobellus, on the wrong 
 of appealing to arms in questions of religion, nor did lie believe in war at all, not 
 even in self-defense. He insisted on the new birth, and thought it better to baptize 
 believers only, who could show their faith by their works, but did not absolutely 
 forbid infant baptism ; still, he would confine it to the children of believing parents. 
 He says that Christ 'Speaks of faith first, then of baptism. And as we find this 
 doctrine in the Gospel we should keep it now. But the priests err in baptizing the 
 great multitude, and no one is found, neither old nor young, who knows God and 
 believes his Scriptures. Nevertheless, all without discrimination are baptized. But 
 we should hold firmly that baptism belongs to those who know God and believe in 
 his Scriptures.' He complains that the masters at Prague had made baptism as 
 common ' As a huckster who sits in the market-place and sells plums.' ' 
 
 Palacky ranks him next to Huss, as the greatest thinker of Bohemia in the 
 
lUiEriii;i:\ <>f ciihi.cic. 319 
 
 fiftet'iitli ci'iituiT, ;iik1 says tliat lie was familiar w illi 'Walilcnsiati viows as early as 
 1419. Goll believes that lie was one of their body wjieii lie came to Prague from 
 his home on the Austrian border; as, in his neighborhood great open-air meetings 
 were held, with lay preachers and baptizers. A council held at Bourgcs, A. D. 1-132 
 complains thus : ' In Daupliine there is a certain district included between the 
 mountains which adheres to the errors of the Bohemians, and has imposed and 
 sent tribute to them.' The Waldensian prisoners beftn-c ilic Iiuiiiisiiicni at Freiburg, 
 1430, acknowledged that some of their apostles came tidin Udlicinia ; and yEneas 
 Silvius, afterward Pius IL, wrote .Inly, I4.")l, that all Mcts liad migrated to Tabor, 
 the chief being Waldensians. * WIilii tliuy (^uganizt'd in the north-east corner of 
 Bohemia, tiiey so feared to take any liut Gospel steps that they sent delegates to 
 search for the true Church in any pai't of the earth, but met their ideal nowhere; 
 then they sent to Vienna, to confer witii Stephen for a formal union with the Wal- 
 densians, but it failed. ^ The followers of Peter became a separate society, known 
 as the ' Brethren of Chelcic,' but persecution and division nearly extinguished them 
 in about lifty years, when they revived under Lucas, a new leader, who was sent, with 
 another delegate, to visit Italy. On their way to Rome they passed through Florence, 
 and witnessed the burning of Savonarola, May 23, 1498. These brethren found a M-el- 
 come amongst the hidden Waldensians at Home and more openly in Piedmont, but it 
 was especially warm at the latter place, where they had much conference on points of 
 faith and practice. The two pai'ties could not agree in all things, but some of tliem 
 united in a famous protest against the Eomish Church, in which they say : ' Anti- 
 christ has, by cunning, taken away from the Lord Jesus the grace and trutii of true 
 hope by Christ's merits, and ascribes this truth to saints, clergy, sacraments, words, yes, 
 to hell-fire. Participation in the merit of Christ is gained by faith, poured in by 
 the Holy Spirit. The deception consists in this : Antichrist awakens the faith tliat, 
 if one is only baptized and receives the sacrament, he has received the sacrament 
 and the truth. Antichrist attributes the reformation effected by the Holy Spirit to 
 dead, external faith, and bajjtizes infants in that faith, and in the same gives its 
 orders and other sacraments.' AVhat Erasmus said of some of the Hussites, appears 
 to have been true of the Brethren : ' They admit none until they are dipped in 
 water.' So, Camerarius tells us that many who united with the Brethren renounced 
 the baptism of infants which they had received in the State Church, and were 
 baptized before they came into the new fellowship. 
 
 Herzog shows very fully that at the opening of the Reformation, the Waldensian 
 communities were numerous, not only on the Cottian Alps, but in Naples and 
 Provence, 'besides scattered congregations in Italy, Switzerland, France, and Ger- 
 many.' He also says: 'At various times they appear to have been numerous at 
 Bern, Strasburg and Passau. In the last-mentioned place they attracted attention 
 by refusing to pay tithes, and by rejecting monasticism, infant bajAism, exorcism, 
 and the sacrament of conlirmatioii. When the reformatory movement began in 
 
S20 MCIih'A.Sf'J OF TlIK lUlKTIIIlKN. 
 
 BoIiCiiii:!. tlicy were naturally Mtti-nctcd l)y it, and their conin'ctioii with the Bohe- 
 mian r.rethi'eii hcraiiic a tiii-iiiii.<;-|iniiit in their history.' « (ioil, in his ' History of 
 the Bolieiiiiaii l!i'ctlireii ■ (i, ji, l'.\\. .-ays that their Tract, ' lieasons fur Separation 
 from Koine,' ' rejects infant haptisni.' I'hcre is scarcely groimd for doubt that the 
 Brethren baptized all wlm cainc to them tVom the Romanists, they also rejected 
 infant baptism as smdi, and in its ])lace substituted this singular process, whicli they 
 called a ' iJaptismal Agreement.' When the child was christened, they exacted a 
 solemn promise of the sponsors to l)ring him up in the faith. But when the child 
 was gi'own np, and was able to ))rot'ess his own faith in Christ, he received a second 
 ba])tism, entering into the real baptismal covenant; of wliirh, Ilerzog says: 'Really, 
 as Flaccius protested to lioilenstein, the second act (lamnc(l tlie first." They would 
 not allow the baptism of a dying child, but would jiray fur him instead. ' Doubt as 
 to the value of infant baptism is a sjiecitic mark of the Brethren.'^ Lucas defended 
 the practice of repeating baptism, both in those who came from the Catholics and 
 those amongst themselves who had not i-eceived it upon their personal faith, down 
 to 1521; but after his death, under Luther's inlluenee, the second baptism was 
 dropped and conlirmation took its place. 
 
 Ab,,ut A. 1). 15n(l the • I'.rethren' of all se<-ts in Boliemia were s., numerous 
 in city and eounti-y, that Pope Alexander VI. sent Donjinican ni,.id<s to preach 
 amongst them and hold eolluipiies, tu win them back to his fold. I'.ut this failing, 
 King Ladislaus IL was jjersuaded, in 1503, to issue bloody edicts banishing their 
 laymen, who refused to recant, and committing their preachers to the flames. This 
 scattered them as the hoof of a beast separates the roots of a bed of camomiles, but 
 it did not crush them. On the contrary, they used the most active measures for 
 their own vindication and defense, especially through the press, and the growing 
 intelligence of Europe listened to their manly story. This ^persecution continued 
 long, its tortures, imprisonments, and burnings ending only with the king's death, 
 March 13, 1516. Bohemia has well been called the 'Cividlc of the Reformation.' 
 It is difficult to ascertain exactly when the Scrij)tures \\ere flrst rendered into its 
 native tongue, or by whom they were translated from the Latin vulgate. But por- 
 tions so translated were in circulation before Huss, and about the time that he be- 
 gan to preach these several jiarts were collected for the first time ; after his mar- 
 tyrdom copies were greatly multipled. The greater part of a Bohemian Bible was 
 extant at the close of the fourteen century, as it is well-known that Queen Aime of 
 England possessed a Bohemian Bible, ^neas Sylvius remarked that ' It was a 
 shame to the Italian priests that many of them had never read the New Testament, 
 while scarcely a woman could be found among the Bohemians (or Taborites) who 
 could not answer any questions respecting either the Old or New Testaments.' 
 From A. D. 1410 to 1-188, four different recensions of the entire Scriptures can be 
 traced, and many more of the New Testament, some being translated anew. It is 
 an interesting fact, that Guttenberg, the inventor uf cut metal types, used them in 
 
77/A7A' IJTHIIATUHE. 321 
 
 priiitiiijj; thf earliest edition of tiie Latin liibie (t1ie :\[azarino), A. D. \\U()^UU:> ; and 
 that tlie Boheniian Bible, publislied by the Brethren in 14SS, was one of the first in- 
 stances on record, wliere tiie newlj-invented art of printing was applied to the use of 
 tlie Bible in a living language. This was fifty years before England enjoyed 
 AVickliff's Bible in print, and four years before the discovery of America by Colum- 
 bus. The love of freedom and education went hand in hand in Bohemia, and were 
 conuiKiii to her whole people. Before A. D. 1519, six printing-presses were run- 
 ning, three of which were owned by the Brethren, whose authors issued si.xty pro- 
 ductions between A. D. 1500-1510, witnesses to their mental activity. They also pro- 
 duced those hymns which have made them immortal. While under fierce persecu- 
 tion, their families were compensated for the loss of sermons, by tracts, books of 
 devotion and inspiring liynins. 
 
 This godly literature went on increasing and preparing the world for the Eefor- 
 niation. When Bohemian nationality was lost in the Thirty Years' War (1()20), three 
 fourths of her population were Protestant, and the cultivated people of the nation 
 choosing to renounce their country rather than their religion, sought their homes 
 where they could, to the number of seventy thousand men, including artists, 
 clergy, nobility and scholars. Every Bohemian book was burnt on suspicion or 
 brand of heresy, and some individuals boasted that they had burnt sixty thousand 
 cojiies of this sacred literature. Such precious relics as escaped the flames were shut 
 up in various places, guarded by bolts, chains, iron doors and gates, and labeled 
 ' Hell.' 
 
 In all that related to love for the Bible and religious liberty, Savonarola, the 
 confessor of Florence, was in sympathy with the Brethren of Bohemia. He was a 
 Dominican monk, A. D. 1452-1498, earnest, devout, and so versed in the Scriptures 
 that he could almost repeat them from memory. He was a Christian patriot, wlio 
 vindicated the rights of the Florentine Republic, and a political leader in that cause. 
 He demanded the removal of the pope and the recognition of Christ as King. In 
 person he was small, aAvkward in his gestures, violent in his manner, and profuse 
 of imagery ; hence the vehemence of his preaching against the Medicean court and 
 the pope, whom he regarded as an atheist. Pope Alexander VI., of abominable 
 memory, tried to silence him by the offer to make him a cardinal. This offer he 
 spurned, with the remark that he wished no red hat but one dyed in his own blood, 
 'the hat given to the saints.' Long practice at public speaking and much study so 
 removed or overcame his natural defects that he became a consummate orator, 
 who swayed the people almost to fanaticism, so that they held regular burnings of 
 elegant but licentious books and works of art. He was excommunicated and finally 
 burnt, with two of his disciples. 
 
 The Lollards form an important link in this chain of events. The followers 
 of Wickliff were early known by this name ; but some trace their origin to Walter 
 Lollard, who was burnt at Cologne about A. D. 1322. The term was applied at 
 
II fur 111 
 
 iuistLTiiii;- to tlif sick— it is sup- 
 
 a low 1 
 
 niif, a,- at funerals, where they 
 
 Kill lll(M 
 
 nil- a term (if reproach, by an in- 
 
 1 h'lniii 
 
 1 (ilariiel), tares amongst wheat. 
 
 the Lnl 
 
 lanls, but whether his followers 
 
 tl.eii. i. 
 
 1 stiyma. is uncertain. Dui-inir 
 
 ■rs (if it 
 
 iiieraiit ]ireaehurs, wlio preaelied 
 
 heri'vcr 
 
 tliey could find hearers. Tliey 
 
 avud au 
 
 :aiiist theni in the most vulcrar 
 
 822 THE LOLLARDS. 
 
 Antwerp to a society furmeil there in i:i 
 posed from the Dutch hilLn tu siiii;- ii 
 soothed by slowly sung dii-ges. I!nt it : 
 genious twist, as if it were derived frc 
 Wickliff was regarded as the father o 
 assumed tliat name, or it was pinneii ti 
 his life-time Wickliff sent out great mini 
 in market-places, moors, cuinnions, and 
 increased so rapidly that I'njie Maitin 
 manner, and Archbishop Courtenay s])ent tive months in purging Oxford Univer- 
 sity of their presence. The underlying spirit of Lollardism sought the right of 
 unfettered thought, the free interpretation of the Bible as the rule of faith, and the 
 apostolic simplicity of the ordinances. During the reign of Richard II., the followers 
 of Wickliff sent Twelve Articles to Parliament seeking certain social and politico-re- 
 ligious reforms, for they shared in the political dissatisfaction which swept over the 
 continent in the fourteenth century. It had taken an exciting form in Italy, France 
 and Germany ; in England, it concerned ecclesiastical property and the right of the 
 State to confiscate it ; the Lollards taking the negative of that question, not believ- 
 ing in the union between the Church {iiid the State. 
 
 In seeking a thorough reformation of religion, it was necessarily involved in 
 political struggles, for religion was held at the capriee <;if jiolitieal tyranny. The 
 pontiffs made pretensions to all tenijioral as well as spii'ittial power, and kings were 
 sworn to obey them in all things. Innocent III. coolly instructed Joiin of En- 
 gland what to do in his kingdom, and when he disobeyed, deposed him, e.xpelled him 
 from the Church, put his kingdom under interdict, absolved his subjects from their 
 allegiance and forbade them to obey him. Thus crushed. May 15, 1213, John pub- 
 licly took his crown from his head and gave it to the pope's legate, who, by his 
 master's command, returned it in five days. The nation wrung its great Bill of 
 Rights, Magna Charta, from John A. D. 1215, but the pope had the impudence to 
 annul all its provisions. His bull reprobated it as a conspiracy against himself, as 
 dangerous to the cross of Christ and destructive to the regal rights of England. 
 He prohibited and annulled it in the name of the Trinity and of the Apostles Peter 
 and Paul, then laid ' the fetters of excomnmnication ' on the barons, placed ' their 
 possessions under the ecclesiastical interdict,' and recpiired the bishops to proclaim 
 his sentence with the ringing of bells and the burning of catidles. Things went on 
 from bad to worse, until, when Henry IV. was crowned, the pope bound him by 
 oath to obey him as sovereign lord in all things. This insufferable impertinence 
 kept England in a continual broil with Rome, and as true Englishmen the Lollards 
 could brook such outrages no longer. Their resistance made them objects of pon- 
 tifical hate. Walden and others charged Wickliff" with being one of the seven heads 
 from the bottomless pit, and the adherents of Rome generally indulged in the same 
 
/U/)/.)\ rilK lAtlJ.AUD MAHTYH. 
 
 323 
 
 black tirades; amongst tlieia Ariimlcl, Aivlibi^liop of ('auterbiiry, wliu cleuounccd 
 them as ' malignaiits,' ' putrid ' and ' rotten,' till lie f rotiied at the mouth. The result 
 was, that from the accession of Henry IV., 1399, their blood flowed in a stream for 
 nearly two centuries with slight respite, chiefly while York and Lancaster fought 
 the biotniy battle of the roses. Fuller tonchingly remarks: ' The very storm was 
 their shelter.' Capital punishment for matters of opinion la religion was introduced 
 into the laws of England, 1401, and William Sawtre was the first Lollard martyr under 
 that savage provision. 
 
 Fuller says that Henry was more cruel to the Lollards 'than his predecessors,' 
 and Fox states that he was the first English monarch who burnt heretics. But 
 Camden alludes to a case, it is thought the one recorded in the Chronicle of London, 
 of one of the Albigenses who was burnt in 1210 ; and Collier tells of a deacon who 
 became a Jew, was degraded by a council at O.xford, 1222, and burnt under Henry IIL 
 This inhuman torture had long existed on the Continent, and Burnet attributes its 
 late introduction into England to 
 the high temper of the people, who 
 would not submit to such severity. 
 But this consideration is not satis- 
 factory, while the fact stands that 
 Parliament deliberately enacted the 
 law for the burning of heretics, 
 making the nation responsible for 
 their murder, while in other lands 
 the will of the prince was suflicient 
 to burn heretics without stattite 
 law. The English sheriffs were 
 forced to take an oath to persecute 
 the Lollards, and the justices must 
 deliver a relapsed heretic to be 
 burned within ten days of his accu- 
 sation.' The fact is, that the pope 
 dictated English law at the shrine, and Archbishop Chicheley says openly, in his 
 Constitution, 1-116, that the taking of heretics ' ought to be our principal care.' 
 John Badly, a Lollard and a poor mechanic, was brought before Archbishop Arun- 
 del, March 1, 1409, on the charge of heresy touching ' The Sacrament.' He said that 
 he believed in the omnipotent God in Trinity, but if every wafer used in the sacra- 
 ment were Christ's veritable body, soul and divinit}', there would be 20,000 gods 
 in England. Being condemned to death March 16, he was bound with chains, put 
 into an empty barrel and burnt in Smithfield, in the presence of the Prince of 
 "Wales, afterward Henry Y., who at the stake offered him a yearly stipend from the 
 treasury if he would recant. Even where the accused recanted the punishment was 
 
 JOHN BADLY, 1-109. 
 
324 
 
 ijinn coi'.iiAM r.rnxF.i). 
 
 baibi.on. John 1 l.miKc 
 teiiccd to 1m wliipiiul loi tl 
 Catliuli il, and tui tliict tmm 
 
 1(1(1 Ills \Kws but Wdb sen 
 oiii^iti^ition 111 th(^ Noiwich 
 
 A\ (hiudi it i>lidtun, bcciiiiii^ 
 (1 <Jiil\ in ( inscife undcigai 
 
 IIILIL SLlfs t(J 
 
 iiRiits lli( 1 lulish Ind I 
 
 I idiL,i(.ns d,sp,,tiMn ulii.li bioiulit tlidn to 
 tliL (liun\ ot WKkLiliRss tint muidind it- b(_st 
 snli|(.(ts toi (liiniiii^ tliL -,(i,d npinnnity to 
 woisliip (rod is tlu \ would Eiiiihnd made 
 ((It 1111 shidc ot opinion in tlic Cliuidi 'Ingb 
 tu isoii to tla (lown ' sinipl\ coiistiuctive tiea 
 sun at tli(. must, loi su ( died heie'ij was made 
 disloyalty imdei the pieteiise that the ' King of 
 Gluiy was contemned undei the covei ut biead ' 
 In other words, the denial of the • Eeal Presence 
 ^^ __^^ _ ^^ in the sacrament of the altar' was made an 
 
 ^M^ - """^V-^^S^^^^i^ (ivert act against the iiionardi of the realm. 
 And so, the chief aim uf king and Parliament 
 was legally to grill to ashes the most patriotic 
 people of England. The .secular method of punishing treason was by hanging or be- 
 heading, but Bale says that at the Parliament at Leicester it was enacted (2 Henry 
 V.) tliat the Lollards sliould be lianged for treason against the kin 
 heresy against God. 
 
 It was in keeping with this double h iiidi d tM inn\ tint I id ( 
 Oldcastle) was put to dt itli Ik was i Wt^lslmi in ot <;u it ibiht\ n 
 Christ, who had been impi isoned m the Tow ci , but 
 had escaped and was recaptuied aftei being hunted 
 for four years, with a pi ice upon his head Bishui) 
 Bale says that: 'Upon the diy appointed, he w is 
 brought out of the Towci with his liihs boui 1 
 behind him, having a \ei A (h((itul ( >iiiit( inin ( 
 Then was he laid upon i hiii IK is tin u^h Ik. h 1 1 
 been a most heinfuis ti iitoi to tla (lown iiid s( 
 drawn forth into St. (Tiks\ hdd, whcic the) hid 
 set up a new pair of g illows As he w is come to 
 the place of execution, and was taken from the 
 hurdle, he fell down devoutly upon his knees, de- ^^^^ oldcastle. 
 
 siring Almighty God to forgive his enemies. 
 
 Then w'as he hanged up there by the middle in chains of iron, and so con- 
 sumed alive in the fire.' That is, he was hanged over the fire as a traitor, and 
 then burnt as a heretic, 141S. This state of things did not cease down to the time of 
 
 and burnt for 
 
 111 (Su Jdin 
 nspci ition to 
 
r.or.r.ARDs o.v tnfaxt iim'tisu. 32S 
 
 Ilniiv \'II]., when tyi-aiiuv oiiangt'il liaiids only from tlif iiopc to tliu inonareh. 
 When tlio lioiul of Aime Boleyn fell upon the scaffold, no man ilared to proclaim her 
 innocent, even on religions grounds, and the king used the j)o\ver which the law left 
 in his hands to persecute either Catholic or Protestant as he would. Indeed, for 
 three hundred years uo great soul arose in England who was able to arrest the des- 
 potism of pope and sovereign. Ucligions freedom or bondage el^bed or flowed 
 through the will of the uiouarch, and, in that matter, the nation (tuuuted foi- little as 
 against imbecile pope or royal despot. 
 
 When a heretic was condemned tlie cluirch hells tolled, the priest thundered 
 and the sentence of excommunication was pronounced. The priest seized a lighted 
 candle from the altar and critil : -Just as this candle is deprived of its light, so let 
 him be deprived of his soul in hell.' All the people were obliged to say ' So be it ; ' 
 then came fine, imprisonment and death. Tnder Henry VJIT. it was proposed to 
 consolidate all the penal laws against religion, when he said: ' Leave that to me.' 
 He and his bishops then framed the • Six Article Act,' which decreed that if a man 
 denied that the bread and wine in the Supper were the very Christ, he slioidd 
 suffer death by burning and forfeit all his possessions to the king, as in high 
 treason.*" No mercy was shown under any circumstances. 
 
 The views of the Lollards on infant baptism are not so easily stated, as their 
 teachings on the Real Presence and their resistance to Church power. Possibly 
 Dr. Williams states the case as carefully as any one. He says : ' There were also 
 among the Lollards, or early English followers of Wickliff, some who followed out 
 the results of Wickliff's principles, in the study of the vernacular Scriptures to the 
 conclusion that baptism went with faith, and that infants, not capable of exercising 
 the one, should not receive the other.' He also cites the fact which Eastell has 
 preserved in his Entrees : ' A Latin writ, sending over to the bishop for judgment 
 according to the canon law, three several groups of Lollards, who all reject infant 
 baptism.'" Waldcn dcnounrcd Wickliff 'for denying infant baptism, that heresy 
 of the Lollards, of whom he was so great a ring-leader;' but probably imjusth-. 
 Fox also complains that one error of the Lollards was that they denied that chil- 
 dren are lost who die before baptism. Wickliff practiced infant baptism, but 
 denied that babes were lost if they died unbaptized. Hence, when some of his 
 followers came to separate their salvation from their baptism, they naturally held 
 it in light esteem, after the order of John Frith, who said : ' Baptism bringeth not 
 grace, but doth testify unto the congregation that he which is baptized had such 
 grace given him before.' The testimony is too nearly unanimous to be contra- 
 dicted, that many, if not most, of the Lollards did not practice infant baptism, 
 while some did, amongst them Wickliff himself. Knighton informs us that in a 
 few years after Wickliff's death more than half the people of England became 
 Lollards, and sowed a free harvest for the liaptists, but their sufferings were intol- 
 erable. 
 
326 
 
 nMNITAM MMITYRED. 
 
 The most monstrous 
 and James I'.ninliam. T 
 daughter w;is r.miiu'll.Ml t 
 lionorrd tatl.cr, l'rn,-l;,n 
 
 .1 set 
 
 .Ir 
 
 .•hil. 
 
 om. if Willi; 
 
 .liam, i:,im;. 
 
 .. i.ik. whirl 
 
 ig that who 
 
 pardon. C 
 
 •ing them. 
 
 tvnh.m 
 
 wh. 
 
 onlj, but bj ^vatei uid t nth 
 He \^ab thtii fetnttiut 1 to w ill 
 thepieuhn hiim^ tliL stiinou 
 his hand Vtt( i \ i\iii^ i hut 
 lenouncnij) hi- il( mt iti n \Mtli 
 1532, and joined the noble arm}' 
 
 ■ver brought a 
 owds of igno- 
 After his mar- 
 that daughter, 
 with twenty-four oth- 
 ers bearing fagots on 
 their necks, were taken 
 to Ayle.sbury aiid other 
 towns as a sho\\-, after 
 which their cheeks 
 were branded with red 
 hot irons. 
 
 barrister of the Middle 
 Teinjile and the son of 
 a knight, was impris- 
 oned by Sir Thomas 
 More, who tied him to a 
 tree and whipped him 
 with his own hands. He 
 was sent to the Tower, 
 loaded with irons, and 
 condemned to death 
 by Bishop Stokesley 
 on chai-ges of heresy. 
 Amongst other things, 
 he said of baptism : 
 ' We belong to God by 
 adoption, not by water 
 IJis sufteiings overcame his flesh and he recanted. 
 l)tfoic 1 ciosft to St. Paul's barefoot, to stand before 
 \\ ith \ t i_,ot on his shoulder and a lighted taper in 
 et t\\Lnt\ pounds he was released; but on publicly 
 (kip soiio\\, he was burnt in Smithfield, April 30, 
 of martyrs gathered from the ranks of the Lollards. 
 
THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SWISS BAPTISTS. 
 
 A WORD here in;n' be necessary as to the proper name of this interesting 
 people ; were tliey Baptists or Anabaptists ? They are commonly charac- 
 terized as ' Anabaptists ' by friends and foes ; yet this name was especially offensive 
 to them, as it charged them with y-ebaptizing those whom they regarded as iin- 
 baptized and because it was intended as a stigma. By custom their most friendly 
 historians call them ' Anabaptists,' yet many of their candid opponents speak of 
 them as ' Baptists.' The Petrobrusians complained that Peter of Clugny ' slandered ' 
 thuiii by Ciilling theiu ' Anabaptists,' so did their Swiss and German brethren after 
 them. Tiiu Lundoii (Confession, 1646, protests that the English Baptists were 
 'commonly though unjustly called Anabaptists.' Knollys resented this name, call- 
 ing it ' scandalous ; ' and Haggar, 1653, rebukes Ba.xter for its use. * Yoii do very 
 wickedly to call them Anabaptists, thereby to cast odium upon us, . . . why, I 
 pray you, are you so wicked and malicious as to call them Anabaptists ? ' Black- 
 wood, 1645, complains of being ' nicknamed Anabaptists. We deny your title ; Ana- 
 baptism signifies baptism again ; our consciences are fully satisfied with one baptism, 
 provided it be such as we judge to be the baptism of Christ ; and if our consciences 
 
328 THE NAME BAPTLST. 
 
 jiiilgf tliat sjirinkling we liad in our infancy to be none of Clirist's baptism, I ask 
 you whether can we, in good conscience, rest satisfied therewith ? We are, if we 
 must needs be new named, Antipedobaptists, or Catapedobaptists, but no Anabaptists.' 
 Baptists now refuse to be called ' Anabaptists,' and for the same reasons. Respect 
 for ourselves and our ancestry demands tliat tlie utfensive title be thrown aside, 
 and it is not used in this work excepting in quotations. Neither we nor our fathers 
 can properly be named Anabaptists, and to use the term is simply to accept a 
 misleading ' nickname ' pinned upon us in contempt. Modern Baptists need the 
 admonition of Keller, who says : ' Whenever, at the present time, the name " Ana- 
 baptist" is mentioned, the majority think only of the fanatical sect which, under 
 the leadership of John of Leyden, established the kingdom of the New Jerusalem 
 at Miinster. . . . There were '•' Bajjtists " long before the Miinster rebellion, 
 aud in all the centuries that have followed, in spite of the severest persecutions, 
 there have been parties which, as Baptists or " Mennonites," have secured a perma- 
 nent position in many lands. The extent of the Baptist movement in the first 
 period of its growth, is at present very considerably undervalued in cultivated circles.' 
 He calls the Miinster doings a 'caricature' of Baptist ideas, and adds: 'With the 
 majority at the present time, those views are the ruling ones which three hundred 
 years ago were vanquished after a severe conflict. ... A more correct understand- 
 ing of the movements, which, at the beginning of the Keformation were thus in 
 collision, would be of the greatest value for an understanding of much of the 
 development of to-day ; and, any way, it is unjust that the nation (Germany) should 
 fail to recognize some of its most gifted men simply becax;se they are known as 
 Anabaptists. In the last decades, out of the ruins and rubbish left behind in the 
 desolation wrought by the religious war, already many an old work of art of that 
 day has again been brought to light.' ' Let us at least respect our ancestry enough 
 to join the latest and best continental writers in calling them Baptists. 
 
 Baptist Switzerland did not lie in the forest cantons, in the narrow valleys 
 sheltered by pinnacles which rend the clouds and are crowned with eternal snow. 
 It ran farther north through the belt of free cities on the Upper Rliineland, on both 
 sides of the river and the frontier. Ou the Swiss side it included Berne, Basel, 
 Zurich, St. Gall and Schaffhausen ; and on the German side Strasburg, Ulm, Augs- 
 burg, with other great centers of wealth and high culture. This republic of letters 
 contained the best schools and universities in the Republican Confederation. 
 Democratic ideas took root amongst patriots who had won their independence over 
 the body of Charles the Bold at the gate of Nantz. They first prized the political 
 principles on which their republics bravely stood, but fouiul religious bondage incom- 
 patible with free States. When neither bishop nor king linked them to Church life 
 politically, they concluded logically enough that religion was no longer a govern- 
 mental science. In mediaeval and aristocratic Saxony and other monarchies the 
 Church and State formed one body, and religious life was honey-combed by a legal 
 
KELLER'S RESEARCHES. 329 
 
 iiiembership in the Oliiircli of newhuni babes. Many asked, therefore, wliy repiibUc- 
 anisin could not properly let the coiiunonwealth of Israel alone { Hence, when 
 republics claimed the right to bind the consciences of their citizens and counted all 
 criminals who resisted their mandates, a dark shadow fell athwart the republican 
 escutcheon, for that class. As Baptists, they discovered that the conscience of 
 each man being free (iodward, nations who had (jonquered the right to take care 
 of themselves could never be cramped back into an enforced religious uni- 
 formity. 
 
 The great Baptist movement on the Continent originated with no particular 
 man nor in any one place. It seems to have s])rung up in many places at about the 
 same time, and its general growth was wonderful, between 1520 and 1570 — half a 
 century. Keller says : ' A contemporary, who was not a Baptist, has this testimony 
 concerning the beginning of the movement: "The Anabaptist movement was so 
 rapid, that the presence of Baptist views was speedily discoverable in all parts of the 
 land." ' He mentions Switzerland, Moravia, the South and North German States and 
 Holland, with many principalities, and writes : ' The more I examine the documents 
 of that time, at my command (as archivist of Miinster), the more I am astonished at 
 the e.xtent of the diffusion of Anabaptist views, an extent of which no other investi- 
 gator has had any knowledge.' He speaks of their churches in Cologne, Aachen, 
 Wesel and Essen, in East Friesland, the duchies of Bentheim, Linden, Oldenburg, 
 Lippe and the city of Minden.^ He cites Frederic of Saxony, the Duke of Liine- 
 burg and the Reformer Rhegius, to show that from 1530 to 1568, Saxony and 
 the Lutheran cities were filled with Baptists, also the Westphalian cities, Soest, Lipp- 
 Btadt, Lemgo, Unna, Blomberg, Osnabriick and others. He says : ' The number of 
 Baptists was especially great both in Thuringia and iik Hesse, as well as in the 
 "Evangelical cities," Bremen, Hamburg, Liibeck, Brunswick, Hanover, etc.;' and 
 that ' the coast cities of the North Sea and East Sea, from Flandei's to Danzig, were 
 filled with Anabaptist views.' Then he finds them every-where, from the duchy of 
 Cleve on the Lower Rhine, up that river to the Alps. The sixteenth century 
 opened with a general awakening throughout Europe to the need of religious reform, 
 and this was specially marked in Switzerland, before Luther. In ideal, the Swiss 
 reformers longed to get back to the Apostolic pattern, to a spiritual Church free 
 from the control of human policy, and their aims took a Baptist bearing. It is 
 sheer ignorance to represent the Swiss Baptists as merely urging reform in a de- 
 fective baptism. This is a monstrous bugbear to fi-ighten superstitious folk, who 
 count the refusal of a spurious baptism to what they call ' covenanted babes,' as an 
 affront to Christ, and all one with 'soul-killing.' They held infant baptism in dis- 
 credit, not only as a human institution, but as a flagrant impiety palming itself off 
 as an institution of God, and asking the State to enforce it on pain of death, while 
 the Church claimed to administer it by the authority of the Trinity! This double 
 claim rendered it an abominable thing wliiuh stepped in between them and their 
 
ZWrNGLT AND FAIIER. 
 
 cliil.lrcn, rnM,in- l,oi 
 
 th of their natural right 
 
 s. Looking upon it in this liglit, it 
 
 l)ccniiic ,111 nlaniiiiii;- ] 
 
 „.rvrrsion of the wjiole gr 
 
 iiiusof a spiritual ivlioion, and a pii'ce 
 
 of wiM laiiatirisn, wl 
 
 lich forestalled all right < 
 
 )f rli.Mce ill either parent or child, in 
 
 order to simigglo tlif 
 
 hahe into tlic Statc-Clil 
 
 ireh. To foH'e its baptism under tlie 
 
 magisterial doininati. 
 
 )n of pains and prnallic; 
 
 s was to bind the inbmt to a clerical 
 
 despotism, wliicli, il' 
 
 reiicatrd in Kngland or tl 
 
 le Lnited States to-day, would shiver 
 
 their g(i\ci'iiiiirnts t< 
 
 , atoms. Th.' sreni.- ear 
 
 icatui-es of these Swiss Baptists have 
 
 been asiiii|ilc iiicii.lac 
 
 itv answaa-ing the end of 
 
 an liistorical trick to nullify real facts 
 
 and rciidrr honest iiu 
 
 •n hateful. 
 
 
 When Zwin-li t 
 
 o<,k lead in the Swiss Ue 
 
 birmation, lie demanded obedience to 
 
 tlie word i>f (iod in 
 
 all Christian matters, ai 
 
 id resohed to reject what it did not 
 
 enjoin. 'When deliai 
 
 ting with J)i-. Faher, hefo 
 
 re six liundred ('atholic dignitaries at 
 
 Znricli, 1. •.-:!, lie lai.l 
 
 down tins foundation pri 
 
 nciple. Kalier demanded who slmuld 
 
 judge between them 
 
 on the mattei-s in dispute. 
 
 , and Zwingli pointed to the Hebrew. 
 
 Greek and Latin Sei 
 
 iptures, whieh lay before 
 
 ■ him. Instead, the d.i<-tor |.r.. posed 
 
 that the issue should be decided by the universities of Pai-is. (',,], ,giie and Freiburg. 
 Zwingli replied tliat the nu>n in that ro.,m could tell bettor what the Scriptures 
 taught than all the universities. 'Sh,,w me,' he demanded, 'the jilace in the 
 Scripture where it is written tliat we are to invoke the saints.' When Faber 
 defended that doctrine by the Councils, Zwingli showed that as these erred, nothing 
 was binding but the Bible, and said that lie would go to tlie universities if they 
 accepted the Bible as the only judge. Di'. lilancbe said: "You understand the 
 Scriptures in one way, and another in another. There must be judges in order to 
 decide who has given the right interpretation." lint Zwingli refused to give any 
 man a place above the Scriptures. Many of his heaivrs had strong Baptist tenden- 
 cies and took in this radical doctrine. Educated by s.i skillful a general, they 
 turned his own weapons upon him when they took issue with him em otlier subjects; 
 and lie was powerless, being obliged to apj)eal to the sword drawn from the 
 Catholic armory, lie was the most advanced of all the rebirmers l.iililically, but 
 the moment that he fell into controversy with his own Baptist diseijiles. he broke 
 with his fundamental principle and made the magistrates of Zurich the decisive 
 judges in the dispute. 
 
 The Baptists said: On all such (pie.stions the Bible is autocratic ; apply it 
 honestly, under the divine right of private judgment, without trammel, and we will 
 follow it ; but we refuse to take the interpretations of it which the magistrates give 
 us, for God has not made them our interpreters in such matters. This compelled 
 Zwingli to fall back squarely on the Romish ground, and in turn to comjiel tlu^ni to 
 follow the Council. Then came the iirst break between him and them, on infant 
 baptism. At that moment he was so nearly with them on that subject, that he was will- 
 ing to delay the baptism of infants ' until they arrived at years of discretion.'^ He said 
 in 152.5 : ' The error that it would be better to baptize children when they had come 
 
TIIK ZVRiril BAPTISTS. 331 
 
 to years of niuUT.--t;ui(linir. simzchI iiic tno a few years ago;' giving as liis reason that 
 'There is no clear utterance in the ^iew Testament tliat commands the baptism of 
 cliildren.' Keller attests that, 'Luther at the outset designated Zwingli and his fol- 
 lowers as the party associates of those who held views in reference to infant baptism, 
 that were diifereut from his own.''' "We can e;isily see,' says Hase, 'why the 
 Baptists were not satislied with the excuses nf the Swiss reformers;'^ and as easily 
 we can see why Zwingli complained : ' The Pai)ist8 call us heretics, and the 
 Anabaptists call us half-papists.' Sometimes he encouraged the practice, some- 
 times not, always denying tlie regenerating efficacy of baptism ; but finally he 
 concluded to continue infant baptism on the ground that if it ceased the people 
 would clamor for circumcision, as they must have a bond of visible union. CEco- 
 lampadius had said : ' We have never dared to teach infant baptism as a command, 
 but rather as an instinct of charity.'" Like him, Zwingli feared a division in the 
 Reformed ranks and resorted to these expedients to prevent this, until Fedobaptist 
 pressure forced him to turn over the question to the civil power. As Dr. Dorner 
 says : ' He saw that the setting aside of iiifiint baptism was the same as setting aside 
 the national Church, exchanging a hitherto national reformation of the Chui'ch for 
 one more or less Donatist. For, if infant baptism were given up, because faith 
 was not yet, there only remained as the right time for it the moment when living 
 faith and regeneration were certain. And then baptism would become the sign of 
 fcllinvship of the regenerate, the saints, who bind tliemselves together as atoms out 
 of the world.' ' 
 
 The Baptists of Zurich began to assail infant baptism in 1523, one of their 
 pastors calling it a useless thing. ' One might as well baptize a cow or a calf,' he 
 said. Then Grebel writes : ' Those who understand the teaching of the Scriptures 
 in reference to baptism refuse to allow their children to be baptized.' Eeublin 
 rejected the practice and held a public discussion with the pastors of Zurich, the 
 only result of which was, that the Council arrested two men of liis congregation 
 and three from the village of Zollikon near by for refusing to bring their children for 
 baptism, fining them each one silver mark and thrusting them into prison.' When 
 the Council demanded why they refused, they answered that Christ required them 
 to believe before they could be baptized; and they stood there firmly.^ Zwingli 
 had published a tract on the subject which fanned the excitement, and the Coun- 
 cil had appointed a public discussion. Grebel asked that the debate be in writing, 
 with the Bible as the only source of appeal, and Zwingli agreed to this, but 
 the Council refused. Yet when they met in the Council Hall, January 17, 1525, 
 and his disputants held him to this Bible restraint, he ungenerously charged them 
 with dictating that he should preach nothing but what suited them ; and he became 
 so excited as to draw forth the counter-charge of violently stopping their mouths 
 by interruption, screaming and long address.'" Zwingli presented the current 
 Fedobaptist arguments of his time, and the brave Council, as in duty bound. 
 
Z WING LPS RKSPONSIBILITT. 
 
 dr<-l;irfcl liiiii tlic victnr. With t-cjiial o-nivi 
 
 it\- they ( 
 
 lecreed 
 
 the 
 
 next da^ 
 
 ,• that all 
 
 sh.iuM have their childivii ha|.ti/.r.l witliiii a 
 
 week nv 1 
 
 l,e hani; 
 
 slied. 
 
 and tliat 
 
 a chris- 
 
 tcililli;- tout at ZnlHkoii. which ha.l hern dcM 
 
 nuli>hed. 
 
 >h.,ul. 
 
 1 lie 
 
 repaired. 
 
 , These 
 
 forceful arguments were repeated ahiiost di 
 
 dly, and 
 
 .HI .lai 
 
 iii:try 
 
 21 the 
 
 ('ouncil 
 
 came to New Testament example, after tlie 
 
 Jewish 
 
 unler. : 
 
 md ' 
 
 St rait ly 
 
 (charged ' 
 
 the Baptists to keep silent on this subject ; w^ 
 
 hieh was 
 
 ah.. lit ; 
 
 IS liard a thinj 
 
 i as they 
 
 could ever do. Of course this made ZwIul 
 
 di's trim 
 
 nj)h gi 
 
 jud, : 
 
 ind the 
 
 Baptist 
 
 preachers were ordered out of the country 
 
 within a 
 
 week, 
 
 as a 
 
 punishment for 
 
 allowing him to become victorious and for thi 
 
 • sMl n{ n 
 
 ■ndering themselves 1 
 
 larmless. 
 
 All left but Castelberger, who was ill and ; 
 
 illowed t( 
 
 J remain for ; 
 
 a month, but they 
 
 charged that he must not hold any meetings, and so put Zwingli to the needless trouble 
 of vanquishing him over again. The Baptist babes, however, were not brought to 
 baptism, and on February 1 the Council ordered tlie disobedient arrested and each 
 child baptized as soon as it was born. Mantz and Blaurock, with twenty-four parents 
 of Ziilliknii, were hrciught tu trial within a week. After sentence to pay the cost of 
 their imjirisonmeiit and a tine id' l.tnio gulden, all were released except two. 
 Mantz claimed the riglit to baptize all wlm came to him, but was threatened with 
 the Tower if he rejieated the crime, and Blaurock was to swear allegiance to the 
 authorities in this matter. The fair conclusion is that they both flouted the 
 magistrates; for suon after, at a great Baptist meeting at Znlljkon, Blaurock spent 
 the whole day in preaching and baptizing. When this sad news reached Zurich 
 the Council fined those who liad been baptized, and tln-eatened with banishment 
 all who should be thereafter. Some few recanted, but most of them refused to 
 submit. Zwingli was not dictator in Zurich, but he cannot be relieved of responsi- 
 bility in this matter. The Coimcil, consisting of two hundred, had entire eccle- 
 siastical power over the city and canton. He appealed to it again and again for 
 religions decisions, and approved its doings; in fact he was its guide. I'et it 
 organized itself into a Protestant Tnrpiisition, robbed Christ's disciples of their 
 freedom, tortured them, confiscated their property and put them to death, and he 
 approved its acts. lie believeil that the officers of State were responsible for the 
 religion of the people and lielped them to make Swiss Protestantism as intolerant 
 as Eomanism. Hess puts this point clearly: 'Zwingli said public order demanded 
 the severity he exercised, but his decrees were in the face of the proclamation which 
 the Eeformers had made of religious liberty.' " His theory was exactly that of 
 the Catholics, and he invoked the edge of the sword as effectually as the pope. His 
 dream was power, and under the pretext of removing what he called a canker of 
 heresy, he wielded physical violence.'^ In his sixty-seven theses against Rome he 
 said : ' No compulsion should be employed in the case of such as do not acknowl- 
 edge their error, unless by their seditious conduct tliey disturb the peace of others.' 
 But these Zurich Baptists were never in sedition. They simply worshiped Christ 
 in their own houses or in the forests and gorges, and the nearest they came to 
 
riiOTKsTAST ritVEl.TY I SKXrlSMil.E. S33 
 
 stHlitimi was to insist tiuit tiie iiiagistrates had no ri,:;iit fmiii (i(.(i to pcM'suciitc tlioiii 
 for doing so. 
 
 All sorts of lame and tliiusv jilcas liavc Ihhmi cn-atcd to covit these barbarities, 
 but their blood stains ' will not out/ These Protestant In(juisitors well knew that 
 when their own religious opinions subjeetcd tluni (o civil tribunals, they resented 
 such interference. Their enthusiasm had only been lired and their convictions 
 deepened by whippings, rackings and burnings. Yet they tried the same severity 
 upon the Baptists which the Catholics had tried on them. And that, too, under the 
 plea that while it was wicked for Catholics to torture them, it was but an act of 
 saving love i'or Protestants to drown Baptists in murderous waters. Zealous repub- 
 licans themselves, they comfortably forgot that th(>ir l>aptist fellow-countrymen 
 had a touch of William Tell and liberty about them ; and so they proved thcii' own 
 love of freedom by treating their fellow'-patriots as harshly as possible. The com- 
 mon hypocritical apology, that a charitable veil must be drawn over such murderous 
 proceedings because of the darkness of the age in which they lived, is little better 
 than a crime. They had the most thorough knowledge of the art of gentleness 
 toward themselves, dark as was the age, and the gentleness of those w'lioni they 
 legally murdered stood in incarnate rebuke before them ; hence it was but one step 
 to the Golden Rule of Jesus, had they not been better pleased to use tlie iron rod. 
 Common justice pushes this mendacious pretense aside, and finds a true verdict 
 against them as narrow, fanatical and wicked. True, the brutal laws of Frederick II. 
 were still in force, but they professed to be loving disciples of God's Lamb and 
 not Thugs under the emperor ; and no law of his could compel them to slaughter 
 their fellow-disciples for Jesus' sake. We may hoodwink ourselves as we please, 
 and gloss over their acts as we may, but this Reformed Inquisition has painted its 
 own portrait black and it cannot be bleached white. Its Draconian holiness throws 
 all honest forbearance into spasms. It is worthy of the Pharisaic and Saddueean 
 Sanhedrin, but is a disgrace to the light and sweetness of the Son of Man, whom 
 they slew. 
 
 In truth, Zwingli had his hands full. His opponents had as clear heads and 
 stout hearts as himself, their education was as broad, and they stood sei-enely 
 fortified by the word of God. When Ilubmeyer raised the issue of infant baptism 
 with him, l.")2n, he wavered, as we have seen ; and afterward when his Baptist 
 friend reminded him of this in his published work on baptism, and pressed him for 
 scriptural authority, he replied: 'The New Testament does not command tlie 
 baptism of infants, neither does it forbid it ; therefore we nnist look to the Old 
 Testament for an analogy which will clear up the matter.'" Dr. Rule, no lenient 
 apologist of Baptists, says : ' The Council of Zurich had been called on by Zwingli 
 to decide what the citizens should receive as true doctrine, and at once gave evi- 
 dence of their incompetence by expelling a devoted Christian, who, being an 
 unprotected outcast, was made the first martyr of the Reformation in these can 
 
334 r ON HAD auKnicL. 
 
 tciiis.'" As far :is appoarp. lie !i|i])n.vc(l all tlic cruelties of that tyraiiiiieaUKHlv 
 witlHMit a, \v(inl uf iviiioiistraiiee, altlMMi-li lie lii-(iii,i;lit every trivial siil>ject to tlieir 
 notice— throwing the Manie ii])()n the Ixiptists themselves after the usual .shift, ' they 
 deserved wliat they got.' Playing fast and loose with the New Te.stanieiit liiuiself, 
 and baptizing children in obedience to the 'silence' of the New Testament, still 
 he (lemanded ,.f tlie llaptists a positive injunction of (Christ for baptizing on a 
 .•(,iiressi,„i ,,r him tiiose wlio had been christened as babes. So he .■ould stand coolly 
 by and see the Baptists di-o\viied, but .surely n<it because the New Testament wa.s 
 .silent on the subject of di'owiiiiig Itaptists. If its silence gave consent to the ba])- 
 tism of infants, certainly it did not ivnder the legal murder of Baptists holy. Well 
 might he admit that ' nothing cost him so much sweat as his controversy with the 
 Baptists.' '5 
 
 Who were these Swiss Baptists, whom the Reformed Inquisition bandied 
 so savagely '\ One of them was Conkad Gkehel, who early in the lieforma- 
 tion was Zwingli's most adndred and admiring friend. Born about 1500, his 
 father was a noted member of the Zuricli Council. He educated Conrad in the 
 universities of Vienna and Paris. Like Augustine, liis son was ju-oud, moved 
 in high society and led a godless life when young. In 1521, Basel invited 
 him to high litei'ary work, and on returning to his native city Zwingli l)ecame 
 his iKistor, discovered his grt'at intellectual jiower and Ik came closely identi- 
 fied with him. In a letter to Myconiiis, August 26, 1522, he says of G rebel : 
 'He is a most candid and learned youth.' But the next year they began to draw 
 apart on the true character of a, (Jospel Church and broke completely.'*' He told 
 Zwingli: 'The Scriptures teach that all cbildi-cn, who have not arrived at the 
 knowledge of good and evil, are saved by the sufferings of Christ.' He held infant 
 baptism to be a sin, by attributing to itself what only belonged to the cross of Christ. 
 Again he said : That l)y faitli in the blood of Christ only can sin be waslied away, 
 ' So that the water does not confirm and increase the faith, as the Wittenberg 
 theologians say, nor does it save. . . . Let us form a community of true believers, 
 for it is to them alone that the promise belongs, and let us establish a Church with- 
 out sin ;' clearly meaiung not an immaculate body, but a congregation of regenerate 
 men, rejecting the practice wdiich made all in the State members of the Church by 
 infant baptism. This Zwingli did not want, but wanted a State-Church, and objected, 
 that it was not possible ' to make a heaven upon earth, for Christ taught us to let 
 the tares grow with the wheat till the harvest, when the angels would separate them.' 
 Grebel cared less about keeping the angels busy than he did for obedience to Christ, 
 but failed to bring Zwingli to his views. He had no political controversy with his 
 countrymen, excepting on the question of religious liberty, but devoted himself to 
 missionary work in the villages on Lake Zurich." The peasants there were in revolt and 
 the Pedobaptist pastors rose with them, but he kept aloof, preaching only the Gospel. 
 The great Baptist Church at Ilinwyl was estalilished by him, with many others. ^' 
 
I<'i:i.IX MANTZ. 335 
 
 Fklix Mantz \v:is a nohl.> Swiss baptist Ica.liT. a native ..f Ziiric'li. Ilis fatlier 
 was a canon of tiie eatiiedral and iravo liini a lihc'rai udncation. He was a tiiuroiigli 
 Hebrew scholar, was the tirin friend of Zwingli, and luid In-eii witii Iiini from tiie 
 tirst. He began to question tlie scri})tiiral cliaracter of a State-Church and infant 
 Iwptisni in 1522. In a scholarly manner lie endeavored to draw Zwingli to this Gos- 
 pel ground, but he broke at once with Mantz, who began to preach in the fields, 
 forests and his mother's house, translating his text from the Hebrew, and expound- 
 ing his translations. For this ' and the rebaptism of adults ' he was arrested at 
 Cliur and driven from the city, but returned under the threat of the autliorities to 
 take his life. As he was from Zurich, he was shortly after sent there for punish- 
 ment, and lay in prison for a long time. There he went through all sorts of dispu- 
 tations and sufferings, for he lived on bread and water. His release was offered if 
 he would stop baptizing, and finally he escaped with twenty others, hoping, as one 
 expressed it, ' That they could safely reach the Red Jews across the ocean,' — the Amer- 
 ican Indians, then recently discovered, expecting more humanity from them than 
 from the holy Swiss evangelicals. Mantz argued with Zwingli on baptism and 
 asked him to write a book on the subject, wliicli ho did with great severity, but 
 Mantz was not allowed to publish an answer. '^ 
 
 At last the Ileformed Inquisition accused him of obstinately refusing ' to recede 
 from his error and caprice,' for they said that he would ' Seek out those who wished 
 to accept Christ and follow his word, and unite with them by baptism, but let the 
 rest alone in their own \inbelief,' and many other things in the same line. They then 
 chose Jan. 5, 1527, as the black day for his judicial murder. His sentence gaveliim 
 over to the executioner, who put him into a boat, bound his hands over his 
 knees, put a block between his arms anil legs, threw him into the water to drown, 
 and then his property fell to the government. He denied before them that he 
 opposed civil government, spoke of the love of Christ very sweetly and left one 
 of the most pathetic letters, exhorting his brethren to a Christ-like spirit. He was 
 led on the day of his slaughter from the Wellenburg, the heretics' tower, tlircnigh 
 the fish-market and shambles to a boat, preaching to the people as he went. A Re- 
 formed pastor at his side sought to silence him, but his faithful brother and his old 
 mother brushed away their tears and exhorted him to suffer firndy for Jesus' sake. 
 The executioner put the black cap on his head, bound him to a hurdle and threw 
 him into Lake Zurich, as he cried, with Jesus, ' Into thy hands I commend my 
 spirit ! '-° 
 
 The effect of his execution was electric, and Ijaptists sprang up all over the 
 land. Capito wrote from Strasburg to Zwingli, Jan. 27, saying : 'It is reported here 
 that your Felix Mantz has suffered punishment and died gloriously, on which account 
 tlie cause of truth and piety, which you sustaiii, is greatly dejjressed.'' He wrote 
 again within a week to learn whether he died for ' violated public faith,' or on ac- 
 count of 'obstinacy' in religion, "and with what firmness he came to the end of 
 
336 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 lis death, 
 
 , after tlie iiiauiier of the i!ap- 
 to Augsburg that they slew him 'as 
 Mantz's fortitude thus: 'Malefactors 
 Tliis p(]or 'malefactor' demon- 
 Ihcsc words : ' The Gospel teaches 
 di\'iiie love, leads iis away from iiativil and envy to love. According to the nature 
 of his heavenly Father, ( !lirist sliowcd his love to all men. Love to God through 
 Christ alone can stand. Like our heavenly Father, we should be merciful to all. 
 Christ forces not one to his glory, but chooses the willing and prepared by faitli and 
 baptism.'^' And this was one of those frightful Baptist fanatics, whose very name 
 sends a chill through some Christian vein.s. 
 
 George Jacob Blaitrock was another Swiss Baptist worthy. He was a monk 
 who abandoned the monastery of Chur for the Gospel, a very simple-hearted man, 
 who became an intrepid and eloquent disciple of Christ. "When he reached Zurich 
 he went at once to Zwingli to be instructed in the way of salvation, with but little 
 satisfaction. He then sought the Baptists, and in great agony of soul obtained re- 
 mission of sins from God while amongst them. At once he saw that his infant 
 baptism w-as not oi' Christ, and begged to be baptized on a confession of his own 
 faith in his Saviour. Falling on his knees, Grebel poured water on his head. 
 Zwingli charged him with schism in becoming a Baptist. He replied that he had the 
 same right to separate from Zwingli that Zwingli had to leave the pope. Then he held 
 debates with the reformer, once in the cathedral, and BuUinger's account of them 
 shows that he M'as a full Tnatch for Zwingli. As he must be answered, the old farce 
 was repeated of chains, imprisonment, and finally death by drowning. On the day 
 of Mantz's murdei-, the hands of Blaurock were bound, his body stripped to the waist ; 
 and he was led through the sti-eets, where, by order of the Reformed Inquisition, he 
 was beaten till his flesh quivered and his blood flowed in his tracks.-^ On reaching the 
 gates of the city an oath was demanded of him, that if he was permitted to go free 
 he would not return. This he refused for a time and was sent back to prison, but 
 afterward he took it and left the city forever.^^ Then Zwingli was mean enough to 
 reproach the Baptists for not excluding him from their fellowship for having taken 
 an oath which, he said, was contraiy to their principles. He was pursued from place 
 to place until, accoi-ding to Cornelius, he was burnt at the stake at Claussen, in the 
 Tyrol, A. D. 1529, but not before he had moved the greater part of Northern 
 Switzerland by his hallowed eloquence. 
 
 Balthazar Hubmeyee was the noblest of the Swiss Baptists. He was born at 
 Friedburg, Bavaria, A. D. 1480, and studied philosophy and theology under Eck, 
 the great antagonist of Luther, graduating 1503. In 1512 he became preacher and 
 professor of theology at Ingolstadt, but was cathedral preacher at Eatisbon in 1519. 
 He embraced Luther's views in 1522, and leaving his preferments in the Catholic 
 Church he settled at Waldshut, being in full communication with Zwingli. His 
 
//nofEyKii. 
 
 387 
 
 jjuwcr aiiil eloquence niiivcd that city; lie assisted Zwiiij^li in the groat debate at 
 Ziirieli \\ itli the Catliolics, 1523, after wliich they becuiiie the closest and wannest 
 fi'ieiuls. His powerful ministry almost destroyed Komauisni in Waldshut, and Aus- 
 tria compelled him to seek refuge elsewhere. This ho found in Schaffliausen, but 
 soon discovered tluit the Reformation in Zurich had not gone back to the Apostolic 
 model. lie had laid his best thoughts before Zwingli and fficolatnpadius, wlio at Hrst 
 
 ions, 
 iioro 
 
 saw tlioir consistency, then rejected tlioiu. However, lie followed liis coiivi 
 left the IState-Oiuircii and was baptized by lleublin, at Waldshut in 152.5, will 
 than a hundred of his former congregation. He felt his way to Baptist princijiles 
 very gradually and on thorough conviction. At first when children were brought 
 to him as a Eeformed pastor for baptism, he preached on the little ones being 
 bi'ought to Christ and blessed by him without the use of water (Matt, xix) ; but if 
 their parents still demanded christening, he gratified them without yielding his own 
 views. After forming a Baptist church, he baptized more than three hundred of his 
 former heai-ers, and the jiopulation liecame largely Baptist. He proaclied in the 
 33 
 
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 h or recantation. ■=* Tlie 
 It, for he bad written sev- 
 aniongst tliem one 'Con- 
 cerning Heretics and those that burn them.' He siiowed that all Ijutcliery under the 
 pretense <d' zeal for Christ was a fraud, and an open denial of him who fame to 
 save men ami not to burn them. Another work of his on iJaptisin so aroused the 
 Keformers of Uerue, iiasel and Strasburg, that Zwingli was forced to reply, llaller 
 said: 'Many have been misled by Hubmeyer's book, but do not be alarmed too 
 much, the Council has hanislied cveri/ AnulMjitl.sf.' Zwingli's reply was so bitter 
 and vindictive, that Hosek says: ' He gaxc reins to his passions;' and Stei'ii writes 
 of Hubnieyer's production, that he ' Showed moderation, respect for bis opponents, 
 and force, not in coarse or violent language, but in tlniugbt.' Many of bis positions 
 were fresli and very forceful. In answer to the evasi\e and shallow pnvtensions of 
 Zwingli, that the silence of the New Testament permitted infant liaptism, he said that 
 the spirit of our Lord's command to baptize the believing forbade its use to babes, 
 thus : ' The command is to baptize those who believe. To baptize those who do not 
 believe, therefore, is forbidden. For example, Christ commanded his Apostles to 
 preacli the Gospel; in so doing, the doctrines of men were forbidden.' Was he correct 'i 
 Zwingli, Jud, Myconius and others visited him in prison, and by one means or 
 another wrung from him a recantation. Faber says that he was laid on the rack, 
 and Cunitz, that he was compelled to recant, April 6, 152G. His own words imply 
 the same. His appeal to the Council of Schaffhausen says: 
 
 'I pray you, for Cod's sake, and in view (if the last judgment, do not press and 
 force me or any other Christian teacher, but hear nie, summon my cahunniators to 
 appear against me, have tio respect for persons, great or small, but judge righteously, 
 for judgment is the Lord's and the judges are his servants. But should this, my 
 earnest and heart-felt request, not be heeded, though even the Turks would not refuse 
 it, and I should be compelled by prison, torture, sword, lire or water, or permitted 
 by the withdrawal of God's grace, to say or confess any thing different from the 
 opinion by the enlightemnent of God I now cherish ; then I do hereby protest that 
 nobody may be offended at my deed, whatever God may bring to ]>a-s, and testify 
 before God, my heavenly Father, and before all men, that I will sulfer and dii' as a 
 Christian. May God lend me a brave, unflinching, princely spii-it. that I may abide 
 on his Holy Word, and in a real Christian faith eoiniiiend my spirit into his hands." 
 
KXiuniTED IX rill-: c.wiiihihal. ss9 
 
 lie also tells us that lie olTered to discuss these and other issues with Zwiugli 
 in |)ul)lic, and if convicted of error they uii_i(lit put him to death; hut if Zwiiigli 
 were shown to be wrong, all that lie asked of him was to preach the truth. This 
 Evangelical Inquisition, however, thought the rack their most conclusive answer to 
 liis holy convictions, and in a moment of weakness the great confessor fell into the 
 relapse which met the noble Berengarius before him, and the learned Cranmer 
 after hira. And in the wail of a wounded and humiliated soul he exclaims: 'They 
 compelled, or sought to compel, me, a sick man, just risen from a bed of death ; 
 hunted, exiled, and having lost all that I had, to teach another faith.' A great 
 triumph, truly, for Christian men of their standing and pretensions ! 
 
 The people were summoned to the great cathedral, which was crowded, to 
 hear his recantation and the death-knell of the Baptists. Zwingli preached a great 
 sermon on 'Christian steadfastness,' save the mark, and loud and long he declaimed 
 against these heretics; then Hnbmeyer was to nioiuit the pulpit and renounce his 
 firm faith, to the delectable edification of the Holy Inquisition of Zurich. Kgli 
 saj's that Zwingli warned the magistrates not to trust Hubmeyer to speak in the 
 cathedral.^ lie had a lively memory of»what many weeks of labor luul failed to 
 do in shaking his faith, till the rack summed up the whole Gospel case. As the 
 inquisitors could not forego the show, all eyes now turned eagerly to the broken 
 frame of the meek Baptist as he climbed the pulpit. He began to read his recanta- 
 tion in a broken, weak and qnivei'ing voice, until his heart choked his utterance and 
 he broke down. He swayed to and fro before his audience like a bruised reed 
 shaken by the wind ; when suddenly the unseen hand of God was put forth to 
 l)iiid him up, and raising himself to his full height, he filled the sanctuary with 
 the shout, that ' Infant baptism is not of God, and men must be baptized by faith 
 in Christ ! ' The crowd surged like waves and burst into tumult. Some were seized 
 with horror and some shouted applause, till the roof of the Minster rang. Zwingli 
 screamed above the rest, the inquisitors were in a Pedobaptist panic, and the scene 
 closed by dragging Hubmeyer from the pulpit, hustling him through the multitude, and 
 thrusting him back into his dungeon. Once more in his cell, he rewrote his faith in 
 Christ, which writing he closed in these words : 
 
 'O, immortal God, this is my faith. I confess it with heart and mouth, and 
 have testified it publicly before the Church in baptisn:i. I faithfully pray thee 
 graciously keep me in it until my end, and should I be forced from it out of mortal 
 fear and timidit}', by tyranny, torture, sword, fire or water, I now appeal to thee. 
 O, my compassionate Father, raise me up again by the grace of thy H0I3' Spirit, and 
 suffer me not to depart without this faith. This, I pray thee from the bottom of 
 my heart, through Jesus Christ, thy most beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour. 
 Father, in thee do I put my trust, let me never be ashamed.' 
 
 After much more suffering he was permitted to leave the canton quietly, 
 whence he made his way first to Constance and then to Moravia, where we shall meet 
 with him again in his new home. 
 
I^K.^ 
 
 
 t 
 ■4^^ 
 
 V ,* 
 
 SlHiiHIilsCV 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SWISS BAPTISTS. 
 
 IT w;is (■ii.stoiiiai'y fvv tliu ancient Baptists to use private (leclarations of tiieir 
 principles drawn u]3 ])y sonic nieniljer of their coninnini(jn, as tliev liail no 
 official ruling body to issue such statements. Persecution obliged tlieir private use, 
 because documentary evidence of heresy was greatly desired by their enemies, in 
 proof of treason to the State religion. Sxich a Confession, the first now known, 
 existed in the form of ' Seven Articles,' drawn in the year lii'iT. Dn July 31st 
 Zwingli issued his Menchus Contra Catahajdistas, in which he says that he had 
 two copies of this Confession. He also says that scarcely one of the iJaptists was 
 without a concealed copy and upbraids them with failure to give their Articles to 
 the world. He professes to give a copy of tlieiii, translated into Latin, ad vcrlmm, 
 and publishes it for tlu' purpose of sustaining his charges that they were ' fanat- 
 ical, stolid, audacious and impious.' Vii'tually he charged the Baptists with failing 
 to stand up U> their Confession like men, pitting their manhood against their 
 patriotism and the fear of death. They must have felt this accusation keenly, as 
 they were ready to die for their principles. ScHLF.rrHEiM was a little village near 
 the foot of the lofty hill Am Eanden, seven miles north-west of Schaffhausen, at the 
 eastern termination of the Jura range. From this quiet retreat, away from their 
 foes, these venerable Baptists promulgated their Confession of Faith in the form of 
 a circular letter addressed without limit to the congregation of their brethren, thus : 
 'Letter of the Brotherly Union of certain believing, baptized children of God, who 
 
rilEIli COXFESSIOX OF VAITIL 341 
 
 have asseinblod at Sclileitliciiu Am Randeii, dated (jii ^fattluas' day (I'V-bniary ;i4th), 
 15^7. To tlie congregations of lu'licvinu-, liaptized Christians.' 
 
 This Confession is given in t'nil in tlio Appendix, in a translation from a 
 German copy now in the archives of the (Janton of Schaffhausen, made from tiie 
 original document for Dr. Osgood. It vi'as probably first printed by Beclc' Of 
 course, it is not accompanied by any statement as to wlio formed the assembly. Its 
 value and bearing are determined not only by internal evidence, but it accords 
 exactly with the copy of Zwingli, with such differences only as arise from his 
 Latinized form. Tlie number and order of its articles, with their subject-matter, 
 expression and diction, are identical, allowing for his Latin transposition. Signature 
 to it would only have courted death with Mantz, wlio bud been drowned by order 
 of tlie Council for the same sentiments, on the 5th of -lainuii y (if the same year. It 
 is a clear and powerful document, evidently tlie work of unc master-mind, as is 
 shown nut only by its unity but from tlie ;iccident;il ivtcntion of the i)ersonal 
 pronoun 'nie' ((mich) in the Prologue. Its autlior is Ijciii'ved to liave been Michael 
 Sattler, an e.\-monk, highly educated, quiet and amiable, wlio suffered martyrdom 
 May 21st, 1527, at Eothenburg on the jS'eckar. Its substance and Christ-liivc spirit 
 render it ' shocking,' as the ' Britannica ' exjjresses it, that its adherents should have 
 been treated with death.^ AVe siiall find this Confession a perfect defense against 
 the slanders of the sixteenth century Baptists, and an interpreter of their prineij)les 
 and conduct throughout. 
 
 A long list of Swiss Baptist worthies must be passed in silence for want of 
 space, as Ilottinger, Stumpf, Keublin, Castelberg, Ockenfuss and otliei's ; but 
 something must be said here of the life and ial)ors of 
 
 LuDWiG Hetzek. Where he was Ijorn and educated is not certainly known, 
 bnt he was a thorough scholar and distinguished himself at Zurich as an adept in 
 the learned languages. He acted as scribe and editor of the second discussion 
 there, the debate relating to the use of images ; on which subject he wrote a pop- 
 ular tract, in which he challenged the Catholics to show that images are good for 
 any thing but fuel. He adopted as his motto, ' God redeem the captives.' He 
 translated Bugenhagen's Commentary on Paul's Epistles, in the preface of which 
 he laments the timid interpretations of the Reformers and tlieir half-hearted work. 
 In Zurich he associated with the Baptists and was obliged to leave with their 
 leaders, January 21st, 1525. He made his way to Augsbui-g and fell in there with 
 the same class of brethren, but does not appear to have united with them. In 
 September of the same year (Ecolampadius employed him in literary work at 
 Basle. That great author had prepared a work on the Lord's Supper, which Iletzer 
 translated into the German and put to press in Zurich. In his preface to this 
 work he objected to infant baptism, because salvation was attached to the water, 
 also because unbaptized childi'en were believed to be lost and were buried in un- 
 consecrated i^round.' 
 
n 
 
 342 MAirrrUlKiM nl- UET'/.EH. 
 
 Af^iiin being- uoiupellcd to Iciivu Ziiricii liu went tu iStrabburg and became fully 
 identified witli the Bajjtists there. He remained with Denk, sometime at Strasburg 
 and then at Worms, eno-ag-ed in translating the Old Testament. Once more he was 
 b:iHlshed and made his way to Bishofszell and Cunstance, but was thrown into 
 l)rison for four months at the latter place. < )iie day a charge was framed against 
 him and the next day he was beheaded February, A. D. I."):i'.t. 
 
 The r(e<inls of Constance charge him with having two wives. There was no 
 witness before the court, and it has been said that he 
 confessed tliis immorality on his trial. He had 
 married the widow of Kegel, a high citizen of Augs- 
 burg, whii lo\ed Hetzer, and to whom Hetzer had 
 dedicated a book on the conversion of the Jews. At 
 Constance the falsehood was given out that he had 
 man-ied his wife's nuiid, but at Augsburg, where 
 ilet/A'r was better known than most public men, this 
 allegation was not made. Nor do Zwingli or CEco- 
 
 tlian the f;inatiral court at Constance, hint at such a 
 thing. Strasburg, Augsburg and Zurieli had taken pains to banish this accom- 
 plished scholar, some of them twice, and yet no man in (iermauy or Switzerland knew 
 of his two wives e.xeept his murdi^vi's at (^m.^tance, and this only came to their 
 knowledge on the day before his munlei-, and on liis own testimony at that, as they 
 say! Alas, master 1 Happily does Jveller resent this charge against Hetzer, as 'an 
 unproved and unprovable statement." ' llow wonld a self-convicted jjolygamist eon- 
 duct himself before magistrates to whom he had confessed his crime ? And 
 how did Hetzer behave % John Zwick, with Ambrose and Thomas Bla,nrer, say that 
 they were eye-witnesses. Thomas Elaurer says that when Hetzer was sentenced 
 to death he was tilled with joy, and a throng of clei-gymen. councilmen and citi- 
 zens of all ranks visited him all day long. Zwiek and Metzler were Reformed 
 pastors of Constance, and Zwick says that he 'conducted himself with great pro- 
 priety, God be praised in his behalf." His friends spent the night with him in 
 singing and prayer; he rejoiced that he had translated the Scriptures for the com- 
 mon f)eople, and was impatient to be with Christ. 
 
 Zwick says that he saw him on the morning of his e.\ecution. And what 
 did the adulterer say? 'He addressed ns all as his dear brethren. He constrained 
 us all to pray with him. The room was very full. He now prayed to God with a 
 seriousness such as I have never seen or heard.' Then what ? Did he confess his 
 guilt to those kind pastors ? O, no ; instead, says the same witness, ' He gave an 
 exhortation to ns preachers, and mingled it with a few words on infant baptism, 
 that we should not enforce it as if we must whether or no baptize the children, 
 but suffer it to l)e (piite free.' When led to execution, he called the names of 
 
others 
 
 who liail irec 
 
 ■ivCMl tlH 
 
 L' martyr's wreath, exliorted Con- 
 
 u-il ill 
 
 its life, and 
 
 otTciv,! 
 
 |>i-ayci' for all |)rusent, in whic:h 
 
 
 lla>t, iviinri 
 
 .. Ilial 
 
 wIk'm lir laid Ills liead upon tlie 
 
 If 1 1 
 
 lia\-e ollV'udLM 
 
 -1 any . 
 
 if you ill my life, forgive ine." 
 
 ins Th'/rVPHAXT UKATH. 
 
 ^[antz, Iliihiiicyi'r an 
 stance to show C!od"s 
 the people joined wit 
 block ho said to all : 
 Tlien aildrcssiiiij the throne of grace, he cried : ' If I have oifended thy majesty my 
 Clod, I thank thee tliat thou hast extended iny life, so that I can now, by my last con- 
 fession, rescue many, many souls! '^ After this manner ho beautifully confessed 
 Christ. Opening his Hebrew' Bible at the Twenty-fifth Psalm, he asked the people 
 to kneel with iiim and rea<l in a loud voice, at the 15th verse: 'He shall pluck my 
 feet out of the net," like Paul with ■these chains :" lie dropped his eyes on the cords 
 that bound him, and the people icpcateil the words after him, as well as they could 
 for sobbing. He then otfVivd the Lord's Prayer, adding at the amen, ' Through 
 Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, by his blood!' As the executioner ap- 
 proached with the ax he prayed that the Lord would not leave him, and a voice 
 from the multitude cried, ' God will not for.-^ake thee!' A slight flush tinged his 
 cheek, he calmly laid his iiead on the block, the stroke fell and the learned trans- 
 lator was gone. 
 
 The court at Constance a])|)(ars ncvi-r to have read the false charge planned 
 against Jesus for alleged blasphemy, and how the evidence destroyed itself by con- 
 tradiction. H it believed that this i:-,.od man was an adulterer, it should eitlu-r 
 have purified its records or put a padlock on the mouth of its city jia.-tors. John 
 Zw-ick, who knew the history of Constance and that lluss and Jerome were 
 martyred there, says of Hetzer : 'A nobler and more manly death was never seen 
 in Constance. Ho suffered with greater propriety than I had given him credit 
 for. They who knew not that he was a heretic and an Anabaiitist could have 
 observed nothing in him. . . . We wore all with him to his end, and may the 
 Almighty, the eternal God, grant to me and to the servants of his word, like mercy 
 in the day when he shall call us home.' So Thomas Blaurer, his fellow-pastor, 
 says : ' No one has, with so much charity, so courageously laid down his life for 
 Anabaptism as Hetzer. He was like one who spoke with God and died.' 
 
 After Hetzer's death, Zwingli said that ho had suppressed a book of Hetzer's 
 against the divinity of Christ. On this statement some have classed him with Anti- 
 trinitarians, but it strikes us as remarkable that this alleged evidence of his heresy 
 should have been destroyed by his accuser, and that not one line of this mysterious 
 book has been produced, especially as there is no confirmatory proof that he held 
 these views, excepting a passage violently forced into that service from one of his 
 hymns. On the contrary Keller, quoting from Dr. Beck's recent history of the 
 Austrian Baptists, affirms that the ' proof of this charge has not been found.' * 
 Hetzer wrote numy hymns, which were published in Zurich after his death and are 
 now standard in Germany as spiritual hymns. This particular one connnends itself 
 to Spener, Freylinghausen, and Franke, of Halle, leaders of the Pietists, yet the 
 
344 ST. GAIJ,. 
 
 sciitiineiit complained of is not Ilctzcr's, 1iut <jiic wliich lie puts into the mouth of 
 the world concerning (Jhrist. lie wi-ote a tiMct against 'Reveh-y and the Abuse of 
 tlie Tongue,' and dcdicatei! it to Aeliatin, a citizen of Constance. In writing to tliis 
 friend, lie says of Christ, he ' Made tlie world Ky his word, heeanie llesh and dwelt 
 amongst us, whoi' gl-ry shall he seen.' y\nd who ean helieve that he rejected tlie 
 vicarious atimeiiient (d' ( 'hi'ist, who cldM'd his last prayer with these word.s : 
 'Through .lesus ( 'lirist, who saved the woi'ld l>y his blood.' He was never suspected 
 of being an Antitriiutarian till after his death, nor do the soundest Orthodo.x theo- 
 logians so account him now. 
 
 There were many centers <d' i;a])tist iiitiuence in Switzeidand besides Zurich 
 and Waldshut, b.r in 1.>'JT, the year in which the Brotherly I'liion issned the 'Seven 
 Articles "at Schli'iiln'iiii to the' ( 'oiigregations of Believing, linprized ( 'liristians,' there 
 were assendilies of that eharactei- in thii'ty-eight places in the Canton (d' Zurich alone. 
 
 St. (Jai. I. became a stronghold of liaptist principles. Inl.")2o a large crucifix, 
 richly carved and oiaiamented, stood nea.i- the rii|)er (iatecd' Zuricdi. One night 
 it wa-S overturned and it was bmnd that one of the trespassers was a Bajitist, who, 
 for his fault, was banishe.l fi'om the city. lb' made his way directly to St. Gall his 
 native place, and one <lay when K'essler, the iiefonned pastor there, was publicly ex- 
 pounding lioni. vi, the iconoclast interrujjted him with the remark : ' I infer that 
 you think children may be baptized.' Kessler asked, ' Why not ? ' to which the 
 Baptist answered : ' He that belicveth aud is baptized, shall be saved.' Soon after 
 this, Wolfgang Ulimami, son (jf a distinguished citizen of St. Gall, returned to the 
 city, lie had been innnersed in the Eliine at Schaffhausen by Grebel, who met 
 him on the way. Grebel told him that a change had taken place in his own mind 
 on the method of baptism and he convinced Ulimann that he shouhl l>e immersed. 
 Kessler says that Ulimann ' liefnsed to be sprinkled (lut of a dish, and was drawn 
 under and covered over with the waters of the Rhine.' 
 
 Ilis return to St. Gall gave a great impulse to the new movement. Grebel soon 
 followed him, and on April 9th, 1525, this evangelist took a large number of converts 
 a distance of two or three miles and immersed them in the Sitter River. These 
 Baptists worshiped in fields and woods where multitudes heard them, and soon 
 their church numbered eight hundred. Ci'owds came in from the Canton of Appen- 
 zell to hear the new faith, some say as many as two thousand, wlio carried it back 
 and scattered it through their Alpine hamlets and valleys. Reformed pastors and 
 others of note embraced it, and Baj^tist congregations were gathered at Teiifen, 
 Herrisau and Brunuen. They went to rivers and streams as they could find them 
 for immersion. liesides, they used a great wooden vat in the Butchers Square, at 
 St. Gall, mitil a building known as the 'Baptizing House,' came to be regularly 
 iised as a baptistery.' Baptists became so numerous in Teufen that the parish 
 church dismissed its Reformed pastor and elected Hans Krnsi, a Baptist, in his 
 place. He was soon arrested by the Abbot of St. Gall, and would have suffered 
 
rADIAJV. 348 
 
 deiitli li;i(l not tlio people roseued liini. On liis second arrest lie was taken to Lu- 
 cerne and bound to the stake, when lie rushed out of the flames, and the Catholic 
 crowd would not allow the sheriff to lay hands on him." Twt) years later, ['liniann 
 and two others were burned at the stake at Constance. 
 
 Vadian, perhaps the leading citizen of St. Gall, became alarmed at this state of 
 things which threatened to destroy the State Church, admitted that infant baptism 
 had become a slianicful abuse and desired reform, but in a i^iadual nuiniier. So, as 
 a conservative measure, he asked the city Council to ply the old machiiu' and grind 
 this dissent to powder, (ireliel warned him not to dye his hands in innocent Mood, 
 but the Council imposed a heavy tine on all who should be baptized, ainl lorl)ade 
 the Baptists either to baptize or break bread, on pain of imprisonment or banishment. 
 A special police force of two hundred was sworn in to enforce the decree, and vio- 
 lence was let loose in the city. 
 
 The Baptist Church at St. (lall was noted for strict morality and deep ])iity. but 
 soon it was put to a severer trial than persecution. Goaded by the suppression of 
 all their religious rights, some of this flock became doubly zealous, and when their 
 shepherds were driven away one man found liis head so turned that he ran into wild 
 fanaticism. Like many monks, friars and canonized saints, he went into visions, 
 ecstasies and rapts, in which he said God commanded hira to slay his own brother, 
 as a test of his faith, lie committed the terrible fratricide, and inflicted a stag- 
 gering blow on the Church. The most honorable bodies of Christians have been 
 disgraced b}' similar events in times of religious commotion. The Baptists of St. Gall 
 were shocked at the horrible deed of this infatuated crank and jiromptly discarded 
 the crazy murderer, as did also a general Council of their brethren, held the next 
 3'ear. '•' It is no small disgrace to many writers that they have taken special pains to 
 lay the crime of this madman at the door of the Baptists of St. Gall, because they 
 could blackeu them in no other way. 
 
 Would that such writers knew more of the spirit of Chalmers when he says : 
 
 ' A sect may be thrown into discredit by a few of its individual specimens, and tiie 
 same association may b(> thmwn upon all its members. ... A system may be thrown 
 into discredit by the l'aii;ifi(i>iu and folly of some of its advocates, and it may be 
 long before it enuii:i> limu the contempt of a precipitate and unthinking public, 
 ever ready to foll.iw the iiii|iulses of her former recollections : it maybe long before 
 it is rerliiiiiieil tVoiii ul i-.cuiity liv the eloquence of future defeinlii- : ami tliei'e may 
 be the .-truu-le and ]ie]--e\ erance of nuuiy years before the e\i>iiiii; a^^ciation, with 
 all its train of ol)lo^juie^, and disgusts, and prejudices shall be overcome.' 
 
 No reasonable man will brand all the Ajiostolate with the falsehood of Peter 
 or the suicide of Judas, nor all the Presbyterians with the burning of Servetus, nor 
 all the Swiss Reformers with the cruelties of Zurich; any more than a man with a 
 fairly decent conscience can lay this man's sin at the door of all the Baptists of St. Gall. 
 
 Probably the simplest and most reliable account is given by the enemy of the 
 Baptists, Vadian, a burgomaster and judge of that city, first published in 1S77. He 
 
346 
 
 STATEMENT OE THE MAGISTHATK. 
 
 says tluit Thotiias Sclmcker liail taken t.M, mucli wine, m- in some otlier way liad 
 become unbalanced, and toward day-bivak mi llic stii Feb. C F.jnlisl] Tliursday,' as it 
 is called), he went and cut ()ft' lii^ biMthci'V la/ad. 
 
 ' Then without coat or shoes, in shirt and stockings, he came runnino; to my 
 house, and said he had drank vinegar and gali, but not a word about his deed. I 
 saw he was not right, and had him locked up, and at tlie trial it was plain that 
 Thomas was non comjpos mentis. Every body felt sun-y tur liini, for Thomas's 
 friends were a devout and honest set of people." 
 
 Surely that fratricide cannot easily be niisrepi-esented more to the injui-y of his 
 Church th'an of bis familv. 
 
 J>ASLF was anothei centci of Ijipti^t influence It hil ( lu^ht i hbi i d spirit 
 from Erasmus, the genius of its TTnueisits uid fioin (J ( 1 niipi Ini \\\\ > w i luueli 
 gentler than his compccis geuLi dh 
 
 Not onl} was he a fueiid to Denk nid IIubniL^ti but it om timt his own 
 doubts of infant baptism were so grave that he was half ranked with the Baptists 
 His early bearing toward them as a people was worthy of high manhood, and in 
 public and private he labored with them in a Christian and reasonable manner to win 
 them to his views, at least for some years ; after which he finally denied his humane 
 impulses and followed Zwingli in the attempt to convert them behind prison bars. 
 As early as June 2, 1526, they were banished from the city, but they filled tho 
 country districts, wdiere Mantz preached with great success. In April, 1527, Q^lco- 
 lampadius became alarmed at the weakness of the cruel decree, and eoni])lained that 
 
PERSECUTION AT BASLE. 347 
 
 the goverinnent was too lenient; and in May, 1528, the law was sharpened in vain, 
 for the persecuted returned to their homes despite hate, insult and scourge, and 
 were thrust into prison to be rid of them. They were required to stop preaching 
 iu the fields and forests and to attend the State Churches; but all tn no purpose, for 
 the city and country swarmed with tiiem. In 1529 nine of tluir nund;er were 
 arrested and brought before the Senate, fficolampadius expounded to them the 
 Athanasian and Apostles' Creed, and tried, in his blandest manner, to win tlieiii, but 
 this was all one with threats to the end of recantation. A simple-hearted miller 
 replied to him: 'Since I heard the word of God, renounced my irregular life, and 
 was baptized on confession of sins, I have been persecuted by every body, while 
 before, when I was plunging into all manner of vice, nobody chastened me or put 
 me in prision. I am eontined in the Tower like a murderer, and what is my crime I 
 "What evil have I done I Kone. God be praised, in your conscience 1 kimw ynu 
 are convinced of my innocence.' A wood-worker then took the laboring oar and 
 said : ' Turn over the Old Testament and the New, and see if you can find you have 
 a right to di'aw a pension. You have more time than I, for I must get bread by 
 the toil of my hands, so as not to be a charge to any one.' This piece of nobility 
 wa.s more than the august Senate could stand, and it burst into laughter. (Ecolain- 
 padius, ever mauly, rebuked the court, saying : ' Gentlemen, this is no time to laugh. 
 Rather pray for the glory of God, that the Lord would soften their hard hearts and 
 give them enlightenment.' Another of the nine cried out : ' Why do you so blacken 
 our doctrine of baptism ? I pray you by the love of Jesus Christ, do not persecute 
 good people.' And still another said: 'They can do nothing to ns without the will 
 of the Father, who counts the very hairs of our heads. Do not fear, God cares foi- 
 you.' Tlii-ee of them recanted and were released, and six were exiled with the 
 threat of death if they returned.'" Officers were sent to warn others to dc'part. but 
 they refused to go. One simple rustic said : ' You are not lords of the earth to order 
 us so haughtily to leave it. I am willing to obey the command of (iod. IJut he >ays 
 in the Psalms, ''inhabit the earth," and I will inhabit that part of it where I was 
 Ijorn and educated, and no one shall expel me by any prescript or mauilafc, while 1 
 live.' ( )n another occasion Blaurock took the same groimd, saying : ' 1 would i-athn- 
 die than forswear the earth, the earth is the Lord's;' and Baumgartner said: 'God 
 made the earth as much for me as for the magistrates.' 
 
 The only result of this and other measures was that G^colampadius advised the 
 Couiu'il to treat the obstinate with greater severity still ; and on April 1st, 1529, it 
 issued an edict to imprison all Baptists, and keep them there on bread and water 
 till they publicly retracted ; then, if they apostatized they should be put to death 
 by the sword. Two prominent Baptists were scourged through the city, and as the 
 blows fell they admonished the crowd that ' Our principles would not appear so 
 odious if you left off your sins. We suffer these stripes cheerfully for the sake of 
 Christ and his baptism, for that is the oidy charge they bring against us."" A great 
 
S48 BAUnAlUTTES INFLTC'TED. 
 
 number of peasants wei'c iH-oii^lit \uU> tlic citv in clinins, for traitors and informers 
 were abundant. When n^kcd wliat tlicy IkmI dour, tlirv :iiis\vcivd : • Xotbin^;- against 
 Christ or liis word, tliouyli jieTliajjs against certain old cuistunis and rites.' Then in 
 turn tliey asked : ' WJiy can we not liave a chnrch of our own in whicii we can sow 
 the true doctrine of ('hrist, confer baptism on ])enitents, celebrate the Lord's Supper, 
 and |)i-acticc (•M-oiiiiuiiuicatioii ^ Why do you, CEcolampadius, forever attack us, 
 and attempt to dc-tidv us and annihilate our doctrine wliich is of God, and wliich 
 in your consciiMicc yiju a]>[>ro\-e ^ Were you i'\er injured by ns in the lc:ist '.' Some- 
 times thcv weiv lirandtMl in tlif f..|-rlic:id, iiad their tiiii;-ers niutilateil oi' the tonsjue 
 
 cut out.'* 
 
 In 
 
 l.MK 
 
 K iiv 
 
 e of thi-i 
 
 iL were 
 
 drowncl in the 
 
 ■ Khi, 
 
 le wi 
 
 thout a murmur, 
 
 wliile tiie 
 
 witn^ 
 
 cssii 
 
 ig n 
 
 lultitude ' 
 
 ,vept, pr 
 
 aiseil thi-ii- |)Ui-r 
 
 \\\v>. 
 
 their 
 
 ' simple manners 
 
 and tlieir 
 
 brav, 
 
 
 n dy 
 
 ing; au<l 
 
 many ii 
 
 iipiiivd if theirs 
 
 was II 
 
 otth. 
 
 (■ true doctrine.'^ 
 
 (iasti 
 
 ius tel 
 
 Is o 
 
 r oiu 
 
 ■ liero \vl, 
 
 o was pi 
 
 lit njion the I'acl. 
 
 ; to f. 
 
 .rcc 1 
 
 liiu to betray bis 
 
 brethren, 
 
 (■spec 
 
 inllN 
 
 •the 
 
 man who 
 
 had bai 
 
 itized him. Init 1 
 
 le \\'oi 
 
 lid ni 
 
 it i-eveal a word 
 
 After Ion 
 
 - an<l 
 
 full 
 
 1 tori 
 
 ture he CI- 
 
 icd at le 
 
 ngth: 
 
 
 
 
 ' I am a citizen of the earth, my conntry is every-wliere, and my liurial-place 
 anywliere. Why do you not kill nie? I will not betray my l)rethren even if you 
 tear me to pieces. My l)ody is yours, burn it, scatlie it, lacerate, destroy it if you 
 please. Inci'ease your cruelty, you will gain uotliing. Thus far my soul is free 
 from torture but full of jo^^ from the consolations whicli God pours into my heart. 
 I have received the true baptism. The testimony of sacred Scrijiture persuaded me 
 to do it. I liave left a life of sin, and put on the likeness of Christ. I have plotted 
 no evil that I .should receive such cruel treatment.' In response to the promise of 
 liberation from the rack if he would betray his brethren, he spat in the face of his 
 tormentor, saying: 'Get thee behind me, Satan, thou savorest not the things that 
 be of God.' All that the man had done was to be baptized on his faith. They 
 finally let him go. 
 
 There is scarcely an end to this record of barbarities, and this suffering was en- 
 dui'ed with a resignation of the most striking character. ' Nothing could exceed,' 
 says Starck, ' the steadfastness with which they endured all this. They declared 
 publicly that their sufferings had come upon them for the sake of the people, and 
 on this account they were willingly endured.' 
 
 Schaffhausen shared largely in Baptist blessing, as well as Ilallau, where a 
 Church was formed by Brodli, who, together with Tleublin, baptized the entire 
 Eeformed congregation — a fact which greatly disturbed the Zurich ]n(|uisition, but 
 it was powerless in the matter. In 1526 there was a good interest in Berne, but 
 all Baptists were banished from the city and canton. As early as 1526 they were 
 very strong in the Griiningen District, upon wdiich the Council of Zurich turned 
 all its power to crush them. In 1525, Blaurock was arrested by the bailiff of the 
 district while preaching at Hinwyl. The officer demanded help from the people, 
 and when they refused, he forced the preacher on a hoi'se and took him away. In 
 order to eidighten his understanding, they removed him to Zurich, had a great discus- 
 sion on baptism, and then put him in irons and kept him on bread and water in 
 
.1 VIOT.ENT VHOri.AyiATION. 349 
 
 prison till their logic took ellect. They tried to prove to him that the eliildrea of 
 Christians are not less God's children than those of Jews, and that those who are 
 i-ebaptized crucify Christ afresh. But poor Blaurock was slow to see how these 
 baptized children of God demonstrated their sonsliip in his case; while he readily 
 saw how his rebaptisni was crucifying him with Christ quite surely. So, in order to 
 prove their sonship, the Council, by public proclamation on St. Andrew's day, 1525, 
 prohiliited 'rebaptism,' by punishment without further forgiveness. In this man- 
 date they frankly say to the inhabitants of the district, that its wicked 'Anabaptists' 
 have proclaimed their doctrines without the permission and consent of the Church, 
 declaring : 
 
 'That infant baptism is nut of (rod, but has sprung from the devil, and, there- 
 fore, ought not to be practiced. They have, also, invented a rcbai)tism, and many, 
 even nnlcarned in the Holy Scripture.^, taken with their vain talk and so far per- 
 suaded, have received this rebaptism, esteeming themselves better than other peo- 
 ple. . . . Therefore, have we imprisoned, and punished for their good, some of the 
 authors of Anabaptism and their disciples, and have twice, at tlieir desire, ordained 
 conferences, or discussions, on infant bajjtism and rebaptism. And lujtwithstanding 
 that they were in all cases overcome, and some of them have been let go unpun- 
 ished, because they promised to abstain from rebaptisni; and others have been ban- 
 ished from our jurisdiction and bounds ; yet have they, disregarding their promise, 
 come again among you, and have sown their false doctrine against infant baptism 
 among the simple people. Whence has arisen a new sect of Anabaptists. There- 
 fore we have imj)risoned these Baptists, and punished their followers for their own 
 good.' 
 
 It is noteworthy that neither the Council of Zurich nor any other court in 
 Switzerland brings the slightest charge of sedition or disloyalty to the State against 
 the Baptists. Occasionally, some question of that sort crops out on the examination 
 of an individual prisoner, and in every case he repels the charge and avows his civil 
 loyalty. But in this liistorical document, the only antecedent of their ' Therefore,' 
 relates to the subject of baptism and the ecclesiastical divisions which had grown 
 out of this issue ; the penalty enjoined clearly shows that they so understood the 
 whole question. It is in these words, 'Therefore, we ordain, and it is our earnest 
 purpose that henceforth all men, women, boys, and girls, abstain from Anabaptism, 
 and practice it no longer, but baptize the young children. For whoever shall act 
 contrary to this order, shall, as often as he disobeys, be punished by a fine of a sil- 
 ver mark ; and if he shall prove disobedient, we shall deal with him further and 
 punish him according to his deserts without further forgiveness. Let each one act 
 accordingly.' The Baptists of the district appealed to the people, explained at length 
 their Bible views of baptism, and said, most reasonably, that they could not depart 
 from their convictions, citing many passages from the New Testament to justify 
 their faith and practice. Then they concluded with these words : ' If now the 
 members of the Zurich Council designate the baptism of Christ as Anabaptism, the 
 common people will be convinced that the reverse is the fact, and that infant bajitism 
 
350 BAPTISTS PUNISHED BY DHOWMXG. 
 
 is rcallv Aualiaiitlsni. ]\'uw, wr desire that you will leave us alone with the truth; 
 if, luiwever, tins may imr lie, we are I'eady, for the sake of tlie truth, to suffer througli 
 the ii:ra('e and powei' of God.' Ijut they could not let them alone. Falk and Rie- 
 nian, two Baptist preachers, had been put in prison by the Griiningen magistrates; 
 S(^ the Inquisition was thirsting for their blood and trying to get them into its own 
 hands. These authorities would neither execute them nor turn them over to the 
 liKpiisitors, and Zurich appealed to Berne for help. The question of jurisdiction 
 being settled, they were deli\ered to the Incpiisitioii and after long imprisonment) 
 on August 11th, 152S, they weiv examined ; when they refused to betray their breth- 
 ren, or t<i refi'ain fi-nm baptizing on their faith in Jesus all who came to them. 
 They were (Miiidenined to death, Sej-tember 5th, and were taken tu the middle of tlie 
 river Limat and drowned. '^ 
 
 At first, Zwingli and the Cuuncil were content with the fine and impiisonment 
 of their victims, but when this failed to cure them they were loaded with chains. 
 Gn tlie 7th of March, I.'.l'C, the Council of Zurich (K'creed that those who baptized 
 any pei'son who had been pre\iou.-ly christened, should, if condemned, be drowned 
 without mercy. On this oi'dinance Fiisslin makes these remarks : ' If any one asks with 
 what kind of justice this was done, the Papists would have an answer. They would 
 say, according to papal law hei'etics must die. There is no need to inquire further. 
 The maxim is applicable here. What the ]iaj)acy condemns is condenuied. But 
 those who hold to evangelical faith I'enounce the pope and papal authority, and the 
 question now arises, with what propriety do they comjjel people to renounce their 
 views or religion, and in case of their refusal infiictupon them capital punishment?' 
 Upon the plea that Zwingli tried to induce the Council to be less severe, the attempt 
 has been made to relieve him entirely of odium ; and happy would it be for his 
 memory if his name could be purged of this blot. He had opportunity enough to 
 have sent his protest down to posterit}' had he desired to do so. But this is all he 
 seems to have said on the subject, and without dissent : ' The most noble Senate 
 determined to immerse in water, whoever shall have immersed in baptism, one who 
 had previously emerged.' Hence, it soon passed into a sneering proverb : ' He that 
 baptizes will be baptized himself.' '' H Zwingli opposed this barbarity, we have 
 scant means of explaining the fact that on November 19th, 1526, the Council con- 
 firmed this edict and afterward carried it into execution. Besides, the same infamy 
 was practiced in other cantons ; showing that it did not meet with the condemnation 
 of the leading Swiss Reformers. In the Canton of Berne, a decree was passed 
 requiring the Baptists to attend the regular State Churches, especially at the quarterly 
 communion. If they refused, they were to be banished ; on returning the first time 
 they were to be ducked in water, the second time drowned without mercy ; and all 
 who had been baptized were to be fined ten pounds apiece.'^ In 1530 (January 20th), 
 Conrad Winkler was drowned at Zurich, as the fourth of its murdered Baptists ; 
 and Weesen, who lived at Zurich at the time, says that he was martyred ' For hav- 
 
FOKS DHXOIXCH Tills BMinMUTV. 331 
 
 iiig ruhuptizod, a_i;;uii^t express ciimiiiaud, so luaiiy [jcoplu tliat lie did not know the 
 number. He leaped up, struck Ids hands together, as if he rejoiced at liis death ; 
 and immediately before lie was thrust under, he saiiij witli a clear voice one or two 
 verses of a hymn.' The name of Ajipenzcl! sliould be lidd in special honor, for, 
 when ill 1532 her seven sister cantons ordered ilu^ di<j\\ niiii;- of l>aptists,she declined 
 to sign the decree and for a generation left them uiidisturbeti. " Now and then, also, 
 there was an individual protest against the general l)arbarity. There is an a])peal in 
 the Munich Library from a UcfornnMl preachci-, who, wiiile he looks upon the Bap- 
 tists as erratic, not only (k'liounccs ilicir inipri.-oniiicnt and slaughter but invokes 
 God's wrath on their persecutors, and gives as his reason that, ' They do not deserve 
 punishment but need instruction.' '* 
 
 Even at Basel, where all .sorts of cruelties had been intlicted upon the brethren 
 sliort of the death penalty, November 13, 1530, its Council decreed that all ban- 
 ished Anabaptists who returned should be dipped in water and sent away again ; and 
 should they return the second time they were to be drowned. '^ As if divine Prov- 
 idence had thrown a special shield over the heads of these poor harmless sheep of 
 Christ, against the vile accusation that they were reckless seditionists and suffered as 
 sucli in Switzerland, we not only have the voluntary testimony of their foes as to 
 their purity, but we have evidence that some of the best of their enemies resented 
 these monstrosities as unjustifiable. Ilaller writes to Bullinger that the ' Anabaptists 
 avoid vices, are bound closely together, and impose on the simple by tlieir strict be- 
 havior. Their pertinacious constancy in facing death has led so many into their 
 ranks, that some of the Senate (Berne) are averse to any more e.xecutions and favor 
 perpetual confinement. The question has come up. Whether the sword ought to be 
 used on those guilty of no ci'itne ? "We have sent to Strasburg to know what method 
 they pursue.' ^ The result of these deliberations was a new edict in 1533, urging 
 pastors to labor witli the Baptists, who were not to be touched if they stopped their 
 baptismal agitation ; but if they continued preaching and baptizing they should be 
 confined for life on bread and water, and not drowned. Whoever heard that the legal 
 penalty in any land for sedition was drowning; and who can give an instance of a 
 man in Switzerland being drowned for disloyalty to the government? Drowning 
 was chosen to spite their faith as well as to kill their bodies ; but within a month 
 this relaxation of the law was interpreted to mean liberty. Nevertheless, the Senate 
 breathed easier when they were no longer obliged by their own law to murder their 
 fellow-religionists. If Zwingli was opposed to this terrible death penalty, why did 
 Berne send to Strasburg for light and not to Zurich ? But, on the contrary, Zurich 
 now sought advice of Berne about killing Baptists, and in answer that city sent back 
 its amended decree.^' Toward the close of August, 1534r, however, Ilaller wrote that 
 they were increasing again rapidly, and that ' The Senate extorted from us our 
 opinion as to the best way to get rid of them, hoping we would favor their slaugliter. 
 On the contrarv, we showed the Senate that the cause of this disease and heresv was 
 
352 IIAKSII ni'J'llKES AGAIN. 
 
 tlii^ vices and vnriuus scandal.- |iiv\;ilcnl in the Cliurdi, and llicn wj made known 
 our j.niject. iNov. Stli, tlie Senate, the (J.Miiieils and tlie tldrtv-fivu bailiii's from 
 tlio coiiiitr_y met, read over the old deci-ee.-.. and then a-reed nu a new one. In this 
 they declare faith is a giftof (ioil, and we have uidy to do with external affairs. The 
 advice t;'iven was, for all to hear the miidstei-s. h;;ve their children baptized, go to 
 coininnniuii (ir ^ive an excuse, and liave their marriages celebrated in church.' Tlio 
 J'.aptists wlii> would neither leave the canton vuluutarily nor take the oath were 
 to Ite re|)orted to the Si'Uatc. 
 
 Four sliort months sufficed to tolerate this more humane edict. In March, 1535, 
 the Senate issued a declaration supplementary thereto, providing that those who would 
 not sid)nnt were to he imprisoned eightdays, then, if tliey persisted, they were to be ex- 
 iled, and the men who returned were to be put to death liy the feword and tlie women 
 drowned. Still the Baptists grew, and in ISoT they prepared for an ojjen Conference, 
 which, in March, 1538, was held in the capital, debating all the old points with their 
 persecutors. So thoroughly were the authorities confounded, that in the autumn of the 
 same year tliey decreed that every doctor, preacher and chief of the ' Anabaptists ' 
 was to be beheaded without mercy, even if he recanted. Before the execution he 
 was to be put upon the rack to find out ' what his intention was, and what the Ana- 
 baptists would do if they became more jiowerl'id tli;ni the authorities.' All others 
 of the sect who were arrestcil should first l)u labiired with, aiu.l if persistent put to 
 death, the men with torture added. 
 
 The Third Article adoi)ted at Schleitheim says of the Supper: 'All who would 
 break one bread for a memorial .>f the broken body of Christ, and all who would 
 drink one cup as a memorial of the poured-..ut blood of Christ, >hould beforehand 
 be nnited to the one hody of Ciirist, to wit, by baptism.' Eachard said, in 1645, that 
 the • Anabaptists would not connnunicate with others ... by strictness of order.' And 
 as to the act of baptism, the First Article says that all who believe in Christ are ' To be 
 buried with him in death, that with him they may rise.' At this time pouring and 
 aspersiou had become very common in most of the western countries, and the first 
 question which arose amongst the Swiss Baptists related to the purging out of infant 
 baptism rather than the restoration of immersion. When that question forced itself 
 upon them they returned to the New Testament order. Dr. liule, who speaks con- 
 temptuously of thein, says that they took their converts 'and plunged them into 
 the nearest streams ; ' which well accords with the First Article and M'itli Hubmeyer's 
 use of the word ' dipping " in his writings. He prepared a Catechism for those who 
 were to be ' baptized in water,' and expresses his belief ' that Christianity will never 
 truly prosper unless baptism is restored to its original purity.' 
 
 The fact that they built a baptistery at St. Gall, and that John Stumpf, a 
 Lutheran pastor, who lived near Zurich from 1522 to 1543, and wrote of them in 
 1548 from personal knowledge of their practices, says that they ' Rebaptized in 
 rivers and streams,' is good evidence that they immersed. As we have ah-eady seen, 
 
IMMERSION PRACTICED. 353 
 
 another Roman Catliolic historian, August Neaf, Secretary to tlie Council ol St. 
 Gall, in iiis liistory of that city, published at Zurich (1859-1863), says that in 1525 the 
 Baptists there ' Baptized those who believed with them, in rivers and lakes, and in 
 a great wooden vat on the Butcher's Square, before a great crowd.' Simler says 
 that 'Many came to St. Gall, incpiired for the Taufhaus (Baptistery), and were baj)- 
 tized.' {Collection, i, p. Wl.) 'Vlwn Sicher, a Roman Catholic, gives this accuiint nf 
 their baptisms at St. Gall : ■ The number of the converted increased so, that the 
 baptistery could not contain tlif ci-owcl, ami they were compelled to use the streams 
 and the Sitter River, to wliidi on Sundays those desirous of baptism went in so 
 groat numbers that they resembled a procession.' -^ At first Grcbel poured water on 
 the head of Blaurock, at Zurich, out of a ' dipper,' and called it baptism. Afterward, 
 when he changed his mind on the subject, he immersed Ulimann in the Rhine, and 
 Cornelius tells of the joyous procession which he led from St. Gall to be baptized in 
 the Sitter, a distance of nearly three miles. Surely one 'dipper,' at least, must have 
 been left in that city, Aj^ril Dth, 1525, to have rendered this service had it been needed 
 that day. Dr. Osgood tells us that he took the pains, in 1867, to walk from St. Gall 
 to the Sitter, to inspect the country and reach the reasons for their long journey. 
 He found that 'A mountain stream, sufEcient for all sprinkling purposes, ^oiw 
 through the cittj; but in no place is it deep enough for the immersion of a person, 
 while the Sitter River is between two and three miles away, and is gained by a dif- 
 ficult road. The only solution of this choice was, that Grebel sought the river, in 
 order to immerse candidates.'^ 
 
 All this shows us what CEcolampadius meant when he cried out : ' You are not 
 Baptists but Catabaptists, that is, "perverters of baptism."'^ Featley says: 'At 
 Vienna the Anabaptists are tied together witli ropes, and one draweth the other into 
 the river to be drowned, as it should seem, the wise magistrates of that place had an 
 eye to that old maxim of justice : let the punishment bear upon it the point of the 
 sin, for as these sectaries drew one another into their error, so also into the gulf ; 
 and as they drowned men spiritually by rebaptizing, and so profaning the holy 
 sacrament, so also they were drowned corporeally.' He clearly alludes to the 
 drowning of Hubmeyer's wife and others in martyrdom at Vienna. 
 34 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE REFORMATION— ZWICKAU AND LUTHER. 
 
 AM0NG8T the socallcd • Analiaiitlsts ' there were three views as to civil 
 goveriiuient. A very small party, thuse of Miiuster, heliexed in establish- 
 ing Christ's kingdom by the swoi'd at the cost of sedition and ivvolutiiin. We 
 have seen that the party represented chiefly by Ilnbmeyer, belie ve(l in government, 
 paid all taxes and obeyed all ordinances that did not interfer(;' with the free exer- 
 cise of religion. Bnt, as a magistrate nm^t bind ]iin]>elf by civil oaths and nse the 
 sword, they held that a Christian shonld not be a magistrate, because the Apostles 
 knew nothing of Church taxes imposed by the State, held no civil office and took no 
 part in war. They thought that civil go\'ernment was necessary for the wicked ; but 
 tlieir foes either could not or would not understand them. Their modern enemies 
 evince the same state of mind. Hence, in one breath they tell us that they were 
 perverse, enemies of civil govei-nment, and would not toiieli the sword either for 
 war or capital punishment. And, without blushing, in the next breath they tell us 
 as coolly that they di'ew the sword, established theocratic magistrates and deluged 
 Germany with blood. That is, they deliberately did what their first principles would 
 not allow them to do, and suffered njartyrdoni fur doing that which, in conscience, 
 they refused to do. 
 
 The Sixth Article in the Schleitheim Confession contains a clear and distinct 
 recognition of the divine sanction of civil government, its legitimate powers, duties, 
 and obligations. It as fully defines the absolute separation of Christian discijjline 
 and polity from the civil power — denouncing the use of the sword by Christian 
 people for any purpose. It enjoins abstention from lawsuits in M'orldly disputes, 
 and is so careful of the sphere of Christian action, as to advise exclusive devotion 
 
Ifni.Uh'VKR Oy GOVERNMENT. 3SS 
 
 to ( 'liristiaii (hity ami rcfiisiil to assiiiiie the responsibilities of civil office. "Whether 
 we approve their views or !iot, we cannot readily misunderstand what they 
 were. They had never known a irovernment which did not recpiire magistrates 
 to persecute otiiers for their religion; and it was but natural that they should 
 shrink from any civil .service which demanded such persecution as a duty to (iod 
 and mail. 
 
 Jlul.mcycr ivpivseiite.l a third class, who believed in all the usual forms of civil 
 government, in wliicli all citizens should participate in common, including the ]ini|)cr 
 use of the ^\vol•ll niiti-idc of persecution. These were called 'Swordsnun ' by 
 tlie other parties, and in 1528 two hundred dissidents withdrew from Hnbmeyer 
 at Nicolsburg, calling themselves 'Staffsmen,' to designate their non-resistant 
 principles, because they would not touch the sword either in revolt or warfare. 
 When, therefore, the Zwinglian and Catliolic peasants of Switzerland arose against 
 the authorities, the non-resistant Baptists i-efuscd to unite their fortunes with them, 
 and Grebel denied that he ever entertained a thought of subverting the govern- 
 ment.* Hnbmeyer complained that his enemies, of whom he said that he had as 
 many ' as the old Dragon had scales,' misrepresented him on this subject, and to put 
 himself right he dedicated a tract on ' The Sword ' to the Chancellor of Moravia, in 
 which he thus speaks of the passage, 'My kingdom is not of this world:' 'There 
 must be judges, or the Scriptures will fall to pieces which speak n[ their duties. 
 " The power of the keys ; " yes, that power belongs to the Church, but it is distinct 
 from civil tribunals. So long as men will not obey God tliei-e must be courts. Lot 
 us be thankful for a just government, though our sins deserve an unjust one. " An 
 eye for an eye;" yes, that was old-time revenge, but now courts execute penalty. 
 " Our weapons are not carnal ; " no, not the weapons of the Church, but tlie weapons 
 of tlie State are. The two swords should not be opposed to each other. A Chris- 
 tian judge will be most apt to be just. Satan, depart and no longer mislead simple 
 people. " Love your enemies ; " yes, that is for the individual, but the govermnent 
 does not punish from envy, from hatred, but from justice, and is not referred to in 
 the text.' No Reformer of the sixteenth century holds the balance so exactly as this, 
 in defining the relations of the State to its citizens and to the Church. He advo- 
 cated civil u:overnment and the freedom of the Church from the State as clearly as 
 any writer of our own day. Nor did Zwingli misunderstand the delicate distinc- 
 tion which this class of Baptists drew on that subject. Under the title of 'Who 
 gives occasion to disturbance ' he issued a challenge to them, in which he says : 
 'They want to have a Church, but no government is to protect the preaching of the 
 Gospel by any violent measures or interfere with the freedom even of heretical 
 preachers.' 
 
 Denk, whom Haller calls the ' Apollo of the Anabaptists,' held to the same 
 principles. He says : ' The Apostles treat earnestly that Christians must be subject 
 to government. But they do not teach that they may be governors, for Paul says, 
 
3S6 BAPTISTS SL.\I\ I'dl! TllKlll OPIXIONl^. 
 
 ■■ What liavc 1 to .lo to ju(l-r tliein that aiv witliuut '. " \h' woiil.l liave ('liristians 
 withdraw tn.ni politics, and leav unconverted men to wield the sword of tiie civil 
 iiiul military riilur as a thing entirely se])iii-ato from the Church. Denk took the 
 ground, that all government must be sustained as the Apostles snstaineil it, namely: 
 That in the Church Christ was King and held the spiritual sword for excom- 
 munication. That was the only spiritual sword which he knew; hut for the 
 pi'oper ends of civil government, the matei-ial swoi-d was in the hands of the State, 
 whose authority was from (tod. The other Reformers knew nothing about the dis- 
 tinction between civil and religious government on this broad and high plane. 
 Keller draws this sharp distinction : 'While Denk, with energy, defended the prop- 
 osition that it was not becoming in civil magistrates to proceed against their sub- 
 jects with t'oi'ce in matters of faith; both Luther ;ind Zwingli taught that it was 
 the duty of the civil magistrates to establish the true faith within their territorial 
 limits, and to maintain it with the severest ]ieualties.' That discreet historian, 
 Mosheim, recognizes these various classes of Baptists, and says: 'They are called 
 Anabaptists because they all denied that infants are pi-o})er subjects of baptism, and 
 solemnly baptized over again those who had been baptized in infancy ; yet, from the 
 very beginning, just as at the present day, they were split into various parties, which 
 disagreed and disputed about points of no small importance.' lie is too careful 
 to make 'Anabaptism' and sedition convertible words, but says, that these 
 Baptists 
 
 ' Did not all suffer on account of their crimes, but many of them merely for 
 the eridueous opinions which they maintained honestly, w-ithout fraud or crime. It 
 is. indi^ed. time that many Anabaptists were put to death, not as being bad citizens 
 or injurious members of civil society, but as being incurable heretics, who were con- 
 demned by the old canon laws, for the error concerning adult baptism. ... I could 
 wish there had been some discrimination made, and that all who believe that adults 
 only are to be baptized, and that the ungodly are to be expelled the Church, had 
 not been indiscriminately put to death.' ^ 
 
 But true history is bringing them its calm revenges of justification. 
 
 In the first quarter of the sixteenth century many Catholics were nnieh stirred 
 on the subject of Church reform, but the most earnest souls sought it mainly in the 
 rise and growth of monastic orders, in which Saxony abounded. Their idea was, 
 that withdrawal from the world was better than victory over it, that it were better 
 to avoid temptation than to combat it, and to be a monk than to be a man. Pressed 
 to this extreme, piety lapsed into senility on the one hand and into fanaticism on the 
 other. In this atmosphere the mystics had sprung up amongst the pre-Reformers 
 with much honor to Christianity. The forgotten doctrine of the Spirit, as an exper- 
 imental fact, appeared in one direction and a sterner ritualistic system in another. The 
 mystics threw aside the wild notion that baptism can cleanse the soul, and that the 
 soul is sustained by a morsel of bread and a drop of wine, instead of by the indwell- 
 ing Spii'it. Tauler cauglit this doctrine from Eekart, his master, and while Luther 
 
ZWICKAU AND STORCK. SS7 
 
 was a monk, lie embraced it from Tauler. But some mystics were (ielii<led into tliat 
 reflective method which associates the indwelling Spirit with direct revelations 
 from God, and which lifts the soul above religious speculation or mistake. 
 
 The flourishing cit}' of Zwickau was tlie liomc of many who lield this view. 
 It lay in Saxony near the borders of Bohemia. Silver mines were discovered there 
 in 1-191, the yield of which was so great tliat the ore could nut be coined and 
 fabulous fortunes were gathered. Many cloth-makers grew up untler this wealth 
 princely merchants, and in 1521, 300,000 pounds of wool were used and 10,000 
 pieces of cloth made. Amongst the well-to-do master-weavers was Nicholas Storck, 
 probably a native of the city. lie and his journeymen began to hold such meet- 
 ings for prayer and praise as the Bohemian Brethren held. 
 
 Thomas Miinzer was a friend of Luther's and pastor of the Lutheran Chui'ch 
 in Zwickau. At Easter he pronounced from the pulpit that Storck understood 
 the Bible better than the priests and was possessed of the Holy Spirit. Storck 
 soon set apart twelve apostles and seventy -two disciples, rejected infant baptism, 
 and baptized believers only. Miinzer stood by him, but not as stoutly as Cellarius 
 and Stiibner, two young scholars, friends of Melancthon, who came to the city 
 about that time. Dr. Sella, another Lutiieran, a member of Miinzer's congregation, 
 was at the head of the city authorities as burgomaster and identified himself with 
 the movement, which gained ground for about a year, without Interference from 
 the City Council. But he died April 10, 1521, and this opened a conflict. 
 
 On the 14th "Wildenauer, another Lutheran pastor, of haughty manners and 
 loose habits, being denounced by Storck, made a stir. On the KHli the Council 
 deprived Miinzer of his parish, as one of the jjarties to the quarrel, and he left for 
 Prague. Great excitement followed ; fifty-five weavers were imprisoned in the 
 Tower, and the magistrates called Storck to accoimt for many things, amongst others, 
 for teaching that children are not benefited by baptism. Keller quotes an old chron- 
 icle, which says tliat Storck was brought before the Council for teaching heretical 
 Bohemian sentiments.' In fact, he is chai'ged with introducing the Bohemian heresy 
 into Zwickau ; thus connecting the Bohemian Brethren with the German Baptists. 
 One, wlio met Storck soon after, says of his person : ' He was rather slim, wore a long 
 gray coat without folds and a bi-oad-brimmed hat. He conversed easily, pleasantly 
 and humbly, and replied to answers in a manner as devout and holy, as if he had 
 been an angel of God.' * Then he, with Stiibner and Cellarius, went to Witten- 
 berg to consult with Melancthon, while Luthei- was still at the Wartburg. Stiibner 
 spent six months with Melancthon, who said that Storck 'had the right under- 
 standing of the Bible.' He was charmed by their devout manner and spirit, for he 
 thought that their views were agreeable to reason and deserved examination, and 
 wrote to the Elector : ' I cannot tell how much I am moved by these men.' Tlie 
 Elector answered : ' We know not what God will accomplish through these plebeians ; 
 now and then he is wont to use obscure men in his service.' lUit he advised Melaiic- 
 
358 A STrn AT M'lTTENDEUO. 
 
 tliou nut to hold a disputation with tlicin mi Imptisiii. IIu liad better wait for 
 Luther, for tlicy quoted St. Augustine to \i\\>w thut notiiing could be brought 
 in favor of infant i)aj)tisni, except ecclesiar?tir;i[ i-ustoiii. Tji to this point all these 
 pai'tirs \xv\v Luthri'uii.s. 
 
 Carlhtailt, a man of ileep convictions, who sacrificed much for the truth, and 
 was a su[)c'i-ior.-chohir to Luther, espoused tlicir caiL-e at Wittenbcr-'. and, all to-ether, 
 they greally moved the city. \n the ensuing Aj)ril, however, i.uther returned, and 
 met them in sharp controversy, or, as he expresses it, began ■ to rap these visionaries on 
 the snout,' lb' ilciKjunced them in the catliedrul, and they went to preach elsewhere. 
 He also denounced Carlstadt as a ' fanatic ' because he rejected the doctrine of the 
 Real Presence and destroyed images. In September, 1522, Storck returned from a 
 preaching tour through Thuringia, and laboi'cd witli Luther to drop infant baptism 
 and make the Reformation thorougii. But whiK; tianslating the Bible, at the Wart- 
 burg, Luther had determined to retain whatever practices it did not forbid. At first 
 he had no light struggle on this subject of infant baptism. On other subjects he 
 had been foi'ced, against his will, step by step, to abandon the Fathers, the Councils 
 and Catholic tradition, being driven to the authority of the Scrijitures. But when 
 he found no Bible authority for infant baptism, he assumed a new attitude. At that 
 point he had a fiery contest with himself as to the true key of biblical interpre- 
 tation, and he deliberately chose the negative turn. Tliat is, he determined to abide 
 by what the Scriptures did not forbid, instead of by what they enjoined, as the law 
 of ordinances. He saw at a glance where his rule of interpretation on other subjects 
 must inevitably lead him on this point ; and he dared not ventm-e one step further 
 in free thought, for fear of invoking a complete moral revolution. To take one step 
 more was to let infant baptism go and the State Church with it, so that a regenerate 
 Church only would be left. But this was not the sort of Church that Luther wanted, 
 and he said : ' Where they want to go I am not disposed to follow. God save me 
 from a Church in which are ikjuc but the holy." '' Any man of discernment can see. 
 with Plank, that Luther simply triUcd with this truth. He says : ' Luther treated 
 the objections to infant baptism very superficially, and dismissed the whole matter 
 as a very inopportune question.' •> 
 
 His embarrassment on this subject is clearly seen. Bellarmine, the great Cath- 
 olic disputant, saw the utter insufficiency of Scripture to sustain infant baptism, and 
 the absolute necessity of sustaining it as an unwritten tradition, which cannot be 
 proved by Scripture.' Vilmar, also, reaches this conclusion: 'H baptism does not 
 regenerate, but is a mere symbol, then tlic symbol and regeneration must come 
 togethei". The Baptists are profoundly Uigical." - Calvin takes the same ground, 
 but goes a stej:) further. He says : 
 
 ' This principle must always be adhered to, That baptism is not conferred on 
 infants that they may be made children of God. But because now. in this place and 
 degree tliey are reckoned with God, the grace of adoption is sealed in tlieir flesh. 
 
r.UTllh'Ii-S DAXGEnOVS IXTJ=:nPRETAri(iX. 339 
 
 Otlicrwisc, the Aiiahaptists iiiii;-lit jii>tlv fxcludt- tlinii I'ruiii l.aptistii. For unless 
 tlic trutli of tliL' I'xtci-iial siLjii applies to tlieiii, it will Ijc mere prot'aiiatioii to call 
 tliein into partieii)ation of the sign itself.' " r>ut Luther stood with Augustine, and 
 could not see that children could be 'reckoned with God' while they were in a state 
 of original sin, and he christened theiu to wash it away, first baptizing theiu on tlie 
 faith of others, and recjuiring them to be justified by their own personal faith after- 
 ward ; and so, ^track's words are as true on this point as on others: 'Luther 
 retracted some of his concessions to the ]ieople, out of fear of the Anabaptists. '" And 
 the 'Westminster IJeview,' of 1S70, presents the e.xact truth when it says, that lie 
 was 'Terrified into inconsistency witli his ultimate ])rinciples' by the 'Anabaptists.' 
 Melancthon, also, was tlisturbed on this subject, and in order to remove his doubts, 
 Luther said : 
 
 ' What is not against the Scriptures is for the Scriptures, and the Scriptures 
 for it,' and demands in his own dogmatic way : ' How can you jirove that chib 
 dreu cannot believe '. L^nless we insist on the presence in them of the faith of the 
 Church, we cannot continue the fight, but must simply reject infant baj)tism. You 
 say, the examples of such faith are weak. I find nothing stronger. The Church 
 has power not to baptize children at all, because there is no place in Scripture that 
 compels us to believe that, as we do other articles.' " 
 
 Thus, he would do as a positive duty to God whatever the Scriptures did not 
 prohibit his doing ; a> in the Supper. Carlstadt asked: 'What Scripture have you 
 for elevating the cup '. ' to which Luther indignantly replied : ' What Scripture is 
 there against it i" By the same answer he might have justified the offering of 
 masses for the dead, auricular confession, imrgatory, the infallibility of the pope, 
 or any other absurdity which the Catholics practiced, but which the Scriptures 
 had not ])ositively forbiddi'ii by name. The mere mention of such a shallow 
 but dangerous position lays bare its fallacy, and its pi-actical bearings involved 
 Luther at last in shocking inconsistency, as his conduct in the bigamy of Philip of 
 Ilesse shows. 
 
 Christina, the daughter of George of Saxony, had been Pliilip's hiwful wife b.r 
 sixteen years, and was the mother of eight children. But her husband wished to 
 add Margaret von der Saale as a second wife, and as if he desired to act on fiUther's 
 principle of interpreting the Bible, he wrote to the Wittenberg theologians, remind- 
 ing them that the Scriptures did not foibid him to have two wives ! This practical 
 test of Luther's rule greatly troubled its authoi-, yet, nothing daunted, on Decem- 
 ber 10th, 1539, he and Melancthon united in an answer, in which they boldly took the 
 ground, that what Moses had allowed in regard to mari'iage the Gospel did not for- 
 bid : 'Therefore,' they say :' Your highness has not only our approbation in this 
 case of necessity, l)ut also our reflections upon it.' '- This liigamous marriage took 
 place at Rothenburg, March 4th, 154<i, without divorcing his first wife, and on the 
 next day the Landgrave wrote Luther, ■ with a cheerful conscience,' thanking him 
 for his counsel in the case. In Luther's reply of April 12tli, he says: ' I notice that 
 your highness is in glee about the advice given, which we like to be kept silent, 
 otherwise the rough peasants will follow your example, alleging still nmi-c gi-ievous 
 
■A of troiihle; "■ 
 
 And wliyslKmld not Luther, 
 
 : ihr IJihlc, IKTi, 
 
 lit piily^uiiiiiy ill tliu iiiarriiige 
 
 1 of (nu-istina's 
 
 childron in tlie name of the 
 
 )ii] citlicT ( Tlie 
 
 one position is as consistent 
 
 S60 ITS imVRIOUfi HKSULTS. 
 
 causes. Tliis woiilil create a y^rv 
 on his negative system of interjn 
 of Margaret as readily as the ha 
 Trinity, if tlie Seriptiin^s did noi 
 as tlieotiier. 
 
 Tiiis is the most vital point in connection with the Reformation, showing 
 where Luther l)rol<e with the principle of absolute obedience to God's word; and as 
 the ablest writers of modern times locate his weakness here, we must stop to look 
 calmly at his mistake. Goebel says : ' As Luther, since 1522, so did Zwingli, in 
 1525, forsake tlie positive principle of depending on the Scriptures, for the negative 
 stand-point, saying : " Infant baptism is nowhere forbidden in the Scriptures." ' " 
 The liomanists took advantage of his blunder at once. Fabri, their great doctor, 
 asks: 'How can yon <'(invince an Anabaptist nut of the .Scriptures that infants 
 should be baptized '. In what Gospel is it coiiimaiided '. The Douatists demanded 
 Scripture of Augustine for infant baptism, but he ivferred them to the tradition 
 of the Apostles.' lie then says, that if the Lutherans would convert tlie AntijK'do- 
 baptists 'from their error, you must ask help of the Catholic Church and her 
 apostolic tradition, for she says with Augustine, ' That must be observed which 
 the Church observes.' Mohler, another great Catholic authority, thinks that 
 ' Luther having connected the efficacy of the sacraments with faith only, it is not 
 possible to understand why infants should be baptized. From the Reformer's point 
 of view, there was the ntter want of an adequate ground for tliis ecclesiastical rite.' '° 
 And Bayle says, that the Reformers were obliged to refute the Antipedobaptists: 
 ' By the arguments of the Papists against themselves.' "^ Jorg fully agi-ees with all 
 this, saying : ' Infant baptism is the offspring and guide of an infallible Church. 
 The Baptists, alone, carried out the idea of the Reformation. . . . Having abolished 
 the authority of Rome, the Reformers proceeded to siibstitute for it their own.' " 
 Cardinal Wiseman also teaches that infant baptism cannot be without an infallible 
 Church to give it authority. 
 
 A few visionaries attempted to push Luther's partial Reformation to a one-sided 
 revolution by new revelations of the Spirit, and Luther swung to the other extreme 
 of rejecting the healthful results of Bible teaching. Hess shows that the Baptists 
 wished to strike the happy medium between these extremes. ' Unable to rise to a 
 higher stand-point, they wanted to restore the manner of life of the primitive 
 ( 'hurch.' '^ They demanded that each person should be baptized upon his own faith. 
 Luther built a Church on sacraments and enforced its tests of discipleship by State 
 legislation, just as the Catholics had done. He held the doctrines of a universal 
 priesthood of believers and of justification by faith alone, but he could not make 
 infant baptism harmonize with either of them. He denied that baptism could avail 
 any thing without faith, and so was obliged to ascribe to the infant ' the faith of 
 the Church,' whatever that might mean. Thus, he found in the faith of the sponsor 
 
DIHEcT IUIU.E PnECEPT. 361 
 
 a quasi inuiiical virtue, of which tlic liihlc kii.iws iidlhin,--; hut wliich, ratitifd ijy 
 the State law, made the bahe a nuMiihrr of the Churcii. 
 
 Beard, the able Oxford lecturer. y\\\> this ji.iiut tlui.s : 
 
 ' When this distinction is clearly seen, it helps to liberate the mind from tlie 
 influence of ecclesiastical usage, and to reveal the Scriptural justification of infant 
 baptism in its real weakness and insutiiciency.' 
 
 Of the Baptists he says : 
 
 'Theirs were the trutlis which the Reformation neglected and cast out, hut 
 which it must again reconcile with itself, if it is ever to complete its work.' 
 
 And still again he says, of a baptized believer: 
 
 'Here the conditions of a true sacrament arc fullilled ; the grace (jf God, the 
 outward sign, the operative faith, are all present. ... It was, therefore, no dog- 
 matic accident which made the mysticism of the lleformation assume the Anabap- 
 tist form. The word Anabaptist, as I have already pointed out, is used to cover 
 very various phases of religious belief. But this one i)eculiarity was cuniiuon to all 
 Anabaptists." '» 
 
 Luther could see the bearings of baptism on the justifying faith of a believer, 
 for justification by faith was a mystical doctrine ; but when he came to the faith of 
 sponsors for christened babes, he was at sea. The Bajitists pushed Luther's doctrine 
 of a universal priesthood of believers to a wholesome application, by denying all 
 Church authority to make, and all civil authority to say, without Bible direction, 
 who were or were not believers. Luther said : ' I am governed in this matter by 
 the silence of the New Testament ; ' the true Baptists rej^lied : ' The case must be 
 decided not by the silence of the N^ew Testament, but by its positive instructions.' 
 Here was the radical point of difference between them. Luther believed Scripture • 
 to be the word of God, but practically restricted its free interpretation by insisting 
 on the binding force of its silence ! Forsaking the direct instruction of Scripture 
 to follow its silence, he landed in politico-ritualism; other extremists added to its 
 positive instructions and landed in j)olitico-fanuticism ; the Baptists contented them- 
 selves with following its absolute requirements, and were branded by lioth the other 
 parties as 'heretics,' flt only to be put to death for their obedience to Christ. Thus 
 in the Reformation weak humanity swung from one extreme to another. The theo- 
 logical inconsistencies of Luther drove him to ultra-ritualistic ground ; and belief in 
 new revelations of the Spirit carried the Zwickau men into ultra-Quakerism on the 
 doctrine of the Spirit. The true Baptists anchored themselves to the positive re- 
 quirements of the word of God, and stood firmly there to their death. Dr. Keller, 
 in his new book ' Die Waldenser ' sums up the whole case thus : ' Two things 
 characterize the Baptists : '•■ The Lord has forbidden, and Christ meant what he 
 said." ' -" 
 
"jj) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE REFORMATION— PEASANTS' W AR— M U H LH AUSEN AND 
 MiJNSTER. 
 
 THE Peasants' War of A. D. 1525-20 shook Soutlicrn and Central Germany. 
 The age was in a fever of political excitement, and this war was not an affair 
 of religious doctrine but of political liberty and the natural rights of man. The 
 first German conqueror took possession and then gave lands in fee to his officers or 
 lords, and in turn these bound their dependants to servile occupancy. The citizens 
 took rank as nobles and ' villains,' and all others were serfs, the serfs going with the 
 soil on wliirh thi'v were born. Tliey cdiild not leave their master's domain nor 
 appeal imm Ins authority, nor couhl lie sell them. lie took to himself the common 
 pastures, tliu fish and game, exacting high rents or tithe 
 revolt, lie also forced his religion njion them and n 
 religious idea, their knowledge being nari'owed down tt 
 ject. For ages Germany had boasted that liberty was tl 
 boor and prince. Her }>rimitive Teutonic population were farmers and graziers, 
 who wandered without landmark or fixed habitation. Then, they formed them- 
 selves into little States under a kind of land ownership but with few conventional 
 restrictions or claims to the perpetual right of property. In time, however, estates 
 shaped themselves after the map of restricted society and j'evenue became hereditary. 
 Thus feudal tenures sprang up, defense became necessary and authority grew. As 
 wealth increased, military jjower and imperial rule followed, with all the exactions 
 of i)lind obedience. I'nder this yoke the peasant was uneasy for ages, periodically 
 
 and they must submit or 
 de them act through the 
 X few notions on that sub- 
 
 birthriglit of lier people. 
 
THE PEASANTS OPPRESSED. 363 
 
 wakiiii;- uj) Xo his lost liberties, with new attempts to break the bond of ' villanaye ' 
 and shake oft' his burdens. 
 
 As far back as A. D. 1073 the peasants of Thuringia and Saxony rebelled and 
 IKnrv i\'. si led torrents of their blood. In l-tT*! thei'C was a rebellion at Wiirz- 
 biui;-; in 14'.tl another in Swabia ; and in 1503 the peasants of Spire formed a con- 
 federacy, called the ' League-shoe,' from the device painted on their standard. The 
 Xing of France stirred up a peasant outbreak in Belgium, and a rustic army 30,000 
 strong, with a loaf and a cheese on its banners, went forth to reduce the nobility 
 to decency, but were themselves slain by Albert of Sa.xony. In 1514 ' Poor 
 Kuntze,' a farmer of Wiirtemberg, led a seditioiiary force which took several 
 cities, threatening destruction to the clergy and noliiliry because of their avarice 
 and tyranny ; but the emperor and princes were alarmed and made concessions 
 to avoid worse calamities. In Poland, Hungary and Transylvania there was 
 another peasant revolt in 1515 against the oppressions of their rulers. Laurence, 
 a Catholic presbyter, and Michael, a monk, were amongst their captains ; 400 nobles 
 perished, 13 bishops were impaled, only one escaping, and 70,000 people were 
 slaughtered. In fact, the liery waves of revolution seethed under the whole Ger- 
 man Empire, discontent was universal and every peasant was ready to grasp the 
 sword in revolt. But at this time, the people afterwai'd called 'Anabaptists' were 
 not known in Germany. 
 
 When rebellion burst forth in 1525-26, it was neither at Zwickau nor at Mun- 
 ster, but in the Black Forest. Church and State united to grind the faces of the 
 poor peasants under the pretense of fighting the Turks, and they resolved to wear 
 the iron collar no longer. John Miiller, their chief, wore a red cap and cloak and 
 carried the standard of revolt, a flag of black, white and red, through the forest 
 region. A''illage after village was aroused, enthusiasm spread like wild-lii-e, new 
 towns and cities threw open their gates and the people swelled the ranks from all 
 quarters. They marched triumphantly everywhere. Nor was this uprising a mere 
 blot upon the face of history, as is commonly represented. If it is right to rise in 
 arms at all against tyrannical princes, this war was as holy as any that ever was 
 waged. The peasants tell their story well in their immortal manifesto submitted 
 to the reason and justice of mankind. They held pulilic meetings everywhere, to 
 express their grievances and petition lor redress. Tliey prayed for the Gospel of 
 freedom, but no relief came, and at last they stated their case iu Twelve Articles, of 
 which instrument Yoltaire said that 'Lycurgus would have signed it.' Luther 
 declared to the princes that its several articles were ' So just and right, that all 
 feelings of consideration toward you, before God and the world, are removed.' 
 There has been much doubt as to the authorship of this noble State paper, but Prof. 
 Pifeiderer attributes it to Ilubineyei-. ' 
 
 So honorable and patriotic was this document in its demands and so temperately 
 worded that it is simply a ])icture of their exhausted long-tuffering. They asked 
 
364 TIIEY SEEK TlIKIIl IliailTS. 
 
 fill- tli(> ])iii-r word of Ciod and tlie riglit tu t-lioo.-o tlicir own pastors; foi' tlicMr 
 cxcinplidii IVoiii all tithes, except that of wheat, of which they woidd pav a tciitli 
 foi' the siippoi't of their ])astors and tlie ])oor ; for relief from boiidai;(.' and from 
 sui'holii'.liriicr to tln' iiiai;isti-at(_'s as it is not lawful for Christians tn render: for 
 justice administered fairly and fii'inly aec<irdiiig to ])lain, written laws; and for 
 ])crmissi(in to lish in the rivers and hunt in the forests. Tiiey back each article W'ith 
 a, I'oi-ccful passage of Scripture, because, in some way, they had come to believe that 
 Christ intt'uded men to ]iossess rights of conscience. They say: ' Christ bought 
 and redeemed us by his ]ii'eeious blood, the shepherd as well as the noblest, none 
 being excepted ; wherefoi-e, it accords with Scripture that we are and will be free.' 
 They close by pi'omising that if any of these demands be unjust they shall have no 
 force. These articles were read publicly in every jilace and adopted by the people. 
 They marched triumphantly into Wiirtzlnirg ; and before long, Spires, the Palatinate, 
 Alsace, Hesse and other great centers adopted the articles. Many of the ujjper 
 classes. Catholics and Eeformers, put themselves at the head of the peasants. The 
 general uprising took place by concert, January 1st, 1525; as a signal, the Convent 
 of Kem])toii was cajitured, and from that moment the country was in a blaze from 
 the liliine to the frontier of I'.ohemia. ]\lonasteries, castles and cities were 
 destroyed, and every kind of excess was committed by 3on,0(»i men in arms 
 maddened by intolerable opi)ressioii to the desjieratlon of despaii-. All this took 
 place ten years before the madness of Miinster, showing it to be but an incident in 
 the long German uj)roar. 
 
 We see here how religion entered the contests of the Peasants' War and by Avhom 
 it was inti-oduced. It is simply absurd to say that these peasants were 'Anabap- 
 tists.' Did they demand the riglit to choose their own pastors liecause their mas- 
 ters had foi'ced unwelcome 'Anabaptist' shepherds upmi them '. The peasants were 
 Catholics and Lutherans, and their enforced ministers were the same. Many of 
 their masters were liishdps and other clergy. The entire disturbance was simply 
 the abnormal German mind forcing its way back in a crude manner to its native 
 freedom, and the ' Anal)aj)tists ' cannot fcir any pui-jiose be made a stalking-horse, 
 in the face of historic tiaitli. to force a false issue to the fi'ont. The chief actors in 
 these scenes candidly lay beloiv us the real facts. When the princes desired the 
 Elector to aid them against the I'ebelliou, he said to his brother, John : 'Cause has 
 been given for tlie poor peo2)le to make this uproar. . . . They have been dealt 
 hardly with in many ways by us rulers, both spii-itual and temjioral.' The deputies 
 from Sa.xony and Hesse said in the Diet at Augsburg : 
 
 'The rising of the peasants was tlie effect of impolitic and harsh usage." At 
 first, Luther, being the son of a peasant, sym])athized w^itli his own race and said 
 to the bishops : ' It is your guilty oppression of the poor of the flock which has 
 driven the people to despair.' To the princes he said : ' My lords, it is not the 
 peasants Avho have risen against you, it is God himself who is opposing your mad- 
 ness. Think not that \'ou can escape the jiunishment reserved for you. For the 
 
/. I '■/■///■: fi's si:vh:itrTY. ses 
 
 love (if (i (1(1, calm voiir initatidii ; i;'rant rcasoiialjl(j tunas to tliescj i)oor puu]jle, 
 ap]>eas(_' iIr'sc coiiuiiotions by gentle iiietliods, lest tliey give birtli to a coiitiagration 
 which sliall set all Gennaiiy in a flame.' In his 'Secular Magistracy' he uses this 
 strong language : ' God Almighty has niadc our princes mad, so that they imagine 
 they can act and command their subjects as they please. God delivers the princes 
 to their reprobate senses. They wish even to govern souls, and thus they bring upon 
 themselves, (idd's and all people's hatred, and in this way they perish, with the 
 bi,<li(i|i-, pri( -i- and monks; one rascal with the other. The jjcople wearied of your 
 tyraiiiiv mid iiii(inity can no longer bear it.' He calls them 'Blockheads, who wish 
 t'olie .•'ailed Cliristiau Trinces.' 
 
 His work oil 'Christian Liberty' drew the ])easants to him as a leader, and then 
 many of them declared for the Reformation ; but up to 1525 possibly nine tenths of 
 theni were not allowed to hear the Reformation preached. For some reason, which 
 is not clear, he suddenly turned his back on them and in that year published his 
 infamous iwmphlet ' Against the Rapacious, Murderous Peasants.' They then 
 charged him with being a fawning sycophant to the nobles. 'From that day,' says 
 Beard, 'he became harder, more dogmatic, less spiritual, less universal. He is no 
 longer a leader of thought, but the builder up of a church, on conditions prescribed 
 by the existing political constitution of Germany.' After the war the rebels re- 
 turned almost as a body to the Catholics, and Luther did more to drive them back 
 than any other man. His bitterness and cruelty toward them were appalling. He 
 denounces them as 'faithless, treacherous, lying, disobedient, boobies and rascals, 
 who deserved the death of soul and body.' He declared them under the ban of the 
 God and Emperor, and ' he who strangles them first does right well.' He charged 
 them with ' three horrible crimes against God and man : rebellion against rulers, 
 robbery of castles and convents, and the pretense that they fight under the Gospel.' 
 Yet, in 1524, when Erasmus wrote him that he feared ' a bloody insurrection,' he 
 replied : ' A common destruction of all monasteries and convents would be the best 
 i-eformation, because they are useless.' Many of the peasants destroyed these and 
 he raved against them after this coarse fashion : 
 
 ' A wise man gives to his ass food, a pack-saddle and the whip ; to the peasant 
 oat straw. If they are not content, give the cudgel and the carbine, it is their due. 
 Let us pray that they may be obedient; if not, show them no mercy. Make the 
 musket wliistle against tlieni, or cIm! they will be a thousand times more wicked.'^ 
 He e\liorte(l the |irinee> to lnuit tlicm down like 'mad dogs.' 'Strike! slay front 
 and rear! ^'utliing is more jioisonous, pernicious, devilish than a rebel. ... So 
 wonderous are the times now, that a prince can win heaven with blood more easily 
 than others can by prayer. . . . Beat, strangle, hang, burn, behead and mutilate 
 them.' ^ 
 
 Certain writers never weary of attributing this bloody work to the ' Anabap- 
 tists.' But Bishop Jewel honestly lodges it where it belongs ; while he M-ould 
 screen Luther, he says that the partners of this ' conspiracy had for their watch-word 
 the name of Our Lady, and in honor of her were bound to say five Ave Marias 
 every day.' Great concessions were made to the peasants for a time ; during the 
 
lA'iiiEi! iiL.\Mi:\vnirnn 
 
 war innrli cliiircli pr.>|ic'i-t y was put t.i .'-rciilai- \i>v 
 
 s. many liii^li jirivileii'es and taxes 
 
 wriv alH,lislic(l, all |.|-ili.Ts hill, the Kiiiimt..!- Wi'i 
 
 •e lii-oimht down to the democratic 
 
 level of citi/.^'iis. In.,. <-uurt. wcv cMaMi.-lir.l. t 
 
 he clergy were restricted to their 
 
 individual clniivlics, and iiniloriiiity was -ivcii 1 
 
 o weiglits, measures and currency. 
 
 But tliesc were not srriiiv.l until tlir war had , 
 
 •.,st possihly 150,000 lives, and the 
 
 l)iirniii-' <if sfveral luimlrrd castles, (•(.iivcnt,-.. 
 
 handets ami towns. Sometimes 
 
 Lutlier atfrui|.t(Ml to wash his hands as iniioreiit 
 
 (if the whole alfair, and then again 
 
 he was willing to hear the whole respoiisihilit y 
 
 , hut others laid tlie hlame at his 
 
 door. Krasiiiiis saiii to him : ' Vou diselaini ai 
 
 iiy i-oniiecti<iii with the insurgents, 
 
 while they re-ard yoii as the author and I'xpoiin 
 
 der of tlieir jirinciples." ■* A con- 
 
 trovei'sial writer of LVJi'says: 'Luther lirst soi 
 
 inded the tocsin; he cannot clear 
 
 liimself from the rebellion, although he wrote tlm 
 
 it the coinnioii folks slioiild not use 
 
 force withont the magistracy. The (•oninion ]ie( 
 
 .[.le do not hear that, but they ob- 
 
 serve whatever part of Luther's sermons and writings they ])lease.' Usiander writes : 
 ' When Luther saw the peasants attacking not only the bishops and clergy, but also 
 liis teaching and the princes, he preached their slaughter like that of wild beasts ; ' ' 
 and the enemies of the peasants were as bitter toward him as the rebels themselves. 
 In 1525 Amerbach received a letter from Zasius, in which the latter says : ' Luther 
 this pest of peace, this most pernicious of all two-legged beings, has plunged the 
 whole of Germany into such a fury that one must regard it as a sort of security if 
 he be not killed at once.' " Sometimes, when looking round for a scape-goat, Luther 
 attempted to throw the responsibility on ' the prophets of murder,' as he called the 
 Zwickau men. 15ut at other times he arrogated prerogatives to himself, for which, 
 as Erasmus says, 'no parallel can be found, scarcely distinguishable from madness,' 
 and for which no apology can be made, such as this : ' I, Martin Luther, have slain all 
 the j^easants in the insurrection because I commanded them to be killed ; their blood 
 is upon my head. But I put it upon the Lord God, by whose command I spoke." ' 
 
 These and many other facts sufficiently show why Gieseler says that ' no traces 
 of Anabaptist fanaticism were seen' in the Peasants' War. Some individual 'Ana- 
 baptists' were drawn into the contest, as at Miihlhausen, under the lead of Miinzer, who 
 was not in any proper use of the term an 'Anabaptist' himself. On the contrary, 
 Keller, in his late work on the ' Keformation ' (p. 370), says that Cornelius has shown 
 that in the chief points Miinzer was opposed to the Baptists. It seemed an inevitable 
 result that religious fanaticism should be thrown into a contest in which politico- 
 religious questions formed the chief element, and especially where such a fiery 
 spirit was allowed to come to the front. Yet it is questionable justice, whether even 
 he ought to be blackened from head to foot. The true story of Thomas Miinzer 
 appears to be this. He was born in Stollberg, at the foot of the Hartz Moimtains, 
 A. D. 1490, and studied, some think at Wittenberg, others at Leipsic ; that he took 
 a degree as master of arts is clear, and that he had large knowledge of the Scriptures. 
 After teaching in several places, he became a chaplain and confessor to tlie nuns at 
 
Beiititz, near WeissontVls Tluic he roji't-ted tnuisubstantiation and united himself 
 with the Lutlienins. in tlir fnll.iwing year he became one of their pastors at 
 Zwickau. Hut soon lie i)roi<e with the Wittenberg reformers on account of what he 
 imIIciI l.uthciV -halfness;' for he demanded a pure Church on the mystic idea, yet, 
 in dircrt contradiction therewith, that it should first be established by force, and 
 then defended by divine and miraculous interposition. After leaving tiiat city \h: 
 fled fnmi place to place and settled at iflihlhau.sen near the close of 1 524-. There 
 he preaclied his i^(,spri of rlie swnnl and of divine revelations, actually caring little 
 about tile true character of the ^nspel ('iiurcli. His politics soon brought liim into 
 direct conflict with the city coiincil. which he entirely overthrew. Here he diverged 
 from the Baptists ami ihvw from tlieiu a severe rebuke, (ireliel, in the name of 
 tlie Zurich Baptists, September 5th, 152i, addressed him as follows: 
 
 Is it true, as we hear, that you have preached in favor of an attack on the 
 princes ; If you defend war or any thing else not found in the clear word of God, 
 I ailiiioiiisli you by our common salvation to abstain from these things now and 
 hereafter. . . . Unless every thing is to be altered after the cxani])le of the Apostles 
 it were better to alter nothing. If this radical and complete chaii-c cannot be made 
 at once, teach, at least, what ought to be, for it is far bett( i- thai a lew should be 
 rightly instructed by the word of God, than that manj^ slioiiM l>elie\e through de- 
 ception an adulterated doctrine."* 
 
 In his youth certain mystical writings had given a false direction to Mimzer's 
 piety, which bent cleaved to him both as a Catholic and a Lutheran, and following 
 only what he called the ' inner light ' he fell into all sorts of vagaries. He was 
 ambitious, eloquent, thirsted for fight and fame, and was ready to lead a faction 
 whenever opportunity offered. At Alsted he headed a mob, broke into a church 
 and destroyed its images ; at Miihlhausen he put himself at the head of the city 
 government, and when the Peasants' War commenced there he led its whole popula- 
 tion in revolt. After a fierce and fantastical captaincy on his part and the slaugh- 
 ter of his followers, he was captured May loth, 1525, was put to brutal torture and 
 then beheaded. Most of the later writers agree with the author of Johnson's 
 ' Cyclopaedia' in saying that ' He entertained peculiar ideas of infant baptism, similar 
 to those of the Anabaptists, with whom, however, he had no direct connection.' 
 This point of similarity consisted in that he rejected infant baptism in theory, on 
 the ground that the baptism of the Spirit, as he called it, was the only true liaptism 
 for any person, babe or adult. But, differing with the Baptists, he practiced infant 
 l)a])tiMii in form, twice a year christening all born in his congregation. In 1522 at 
 Alstedt he threw aside the Latin liturgy and prepared one in German, in which he 
 retained the formula for infant baptism. lie also wrote against Luther's view of 
 baptism, but not on Baptist grounds. The Swiss Baptist leaders, in the letter just 
 cited, express the hope that as he had spoken against infiint baptism he would go 
 further and take their ground, that ' believers only are to be baptized ' and that 
 •you decline to baptize infants,' a thing which he had not then done. He spent 
 
368 j'/:iM'/-:s AS J) i:.\jinM;irY. 
 
 eight weeks in Switzerhiiid in the luitiinin cil iri24, and liiul a conference with some 
 of these leaders at Kletl-Mii ; hut tlifv si'l-ih not to lia\c agreed either on this subject 
 or on the use of the sword, and lie ncsci- lircamc one of tlicni. On tliis jdiirney, 
 according to Ilerzog, he met CEcohuniiadins at IJasrl ami iittfrfii \iu\vs to him in 
 no wise Baptist; tliis was in harmony witli liis wliolr life. TIr- fact fliat lie was a 
 Roman Catholic ])riest and a LulluTan ]>a>tor >]io\vs tliat lie liad licun christened as 
 a babe; and there is nu evidence that lie wa.^ e\er bajitized \\\Mn his own faith or 
 that he baptized others on their faith who had been christened as infants. It is, 
 therefore, a singular perversity that so many writers should have attempted to palm 
 hini off as a Baptist and the father of them. Dr. Kule in his 'Spirit of the Refor- 
 mation ' says: 'He performed a ceremony on baptized persons which they mistook 
 for baptism, and with his followers received the designation of Anabaptist.'^ But 
 riilliorn says tliat ho ' did not practice rebaptism and did not form a congregation.' '" 
 
 The barbarities which accompanied the Peasants' War so enraged the Ger- 
 man princes that they f(»lIowed the revolt with the most sanguinary and remorse- 
 less measures. They simpl}' massacred their subjects with frigid callousness, as 
 butchers would kill sheep. The ati'ocity of the imperial party was a perfect match 
 for that of the peasants. These once crushed, the bishops and nobles found it their 
 turn to glut themselves in the coarsest manner upon the tears and blood of these 
 tillers of the soil. Their fury and brutal cruelties render it doubtful whether they 
 were not superior to the rustics in the acts of bitter revenge. They shed blood 
 wherever they cijuld find a vein, and in the chill temper of steel they hanged their 
 ])risoners by companies on the roadside. 
 
 But when the peasants were beaten the spirit of revolt was not broken ; they 
 were moi'e oppressed than ever and kept their rebellion smothered. The Catholic 
 princes charged the Lutheran princes with fostering sedition, and they retorted that 
 it was the result of Eomish persecution. They all saw that if this violence was 
 continued worse calamities must follow, and yet they dreamed that they could tear 
 patriotism from the hearts of their subjects by main force. They sought to cure 
 political i-evolution by religious strategy. But this drove the courage of the peas- 
 ants into religious madness, under the delusion that they could now achieve a spiritual 
 victory by the sword. Common sense would have prevented the sedition entirely, 
 and then the religion of the peasants would have taken healthy care of itself ; but 
 this was uot commanded. Catholic and Lutheran kept the outrages seething all 
 over the laud, and at last, ten years after Miinzer, came Miinster. 
 
 Few writers have treated this subject with greater care and clearness than 
 Ypeig and Dermout in their ' History of the Netherland Church.' They say of 
 the JMLiinster men that while they are known in history as ' Anabaptists,' they ought 
 by no means to be known as Baptists. ' Let the reader,' they request, ' keep this 
 distinction constantly in mind in the statement which we now make respecting 
 them. . . . Since the peculiar history of the Anabaptists and Baptists has exerted 
 so powerful an influence on the Reformation of the Church in this country, the 
 
MATUIESEX AND IJIS MADNESS. 369 
 
 nature of onr historical work requires tliat we present in its true light the whole 
 matter from its origin.' After speaking at great lengtli of tlie Miinster men and 
 their excesses, especially of their leaders, they say of Mathiesen : ' He laid as the 
 foundation of his new system of doctrine that teaching respecting the holy ordi- 
 nance of baptism which, in part, had long before been maintained by the Baptists. 
 He considered infant baptism not to be of the least advantage to the religious in- 
 terests of a Christian. In his opinion baptism should be delayed to years of 
 discretion and after a profession of faith on the part of the baptized. Therefore 
 every one who passed over to tlie Cdinmunitv of wliich he was the head must first 
 be baptized, erm if' h. h.nl h,. n Ini/^/r:. ,1 in '.nu.th. r s„ri, tii at .n, ,i,l,ilt aq,: Wlien 
 
 he renoinu-ed ills'. rr,~~i(,ii ,>l hiiili lie ;il>o ivii, mih. •(■([' ]ii> b.ipti>in. .'. . It can 
 
 now be easily uiult-rstcdd hnw the Idliowei-s of (ho Muiistor iradors received the 
 name of Anabaptists or re-laj)tisei'i<. So far as their views of baptism are concerned, 
 these could easily have been tolerated, and they need not have been hated by reason- 
 able persons on account of these. Eut besides these they taught doctrines fraught 
 with important errors, partly founded on old Pclagianism, partly on Unitarian i.sm, 
 partly on Mysticism and partly on other ini]jure principles. 
 
 Vet, even with these opinions they could have been suffered to exist had they 
 behaved themselves properly as members of society. But their peculiar notions of 
 Chi-istian freedom were extravagant in the highest degree, and with these were 
 united all sorts of foolish ideas derived from an incorrect interpretation of the 
 Apocalypse, ideas of a thousand years' kingdom at hand, in which the saints shall 
 reign with Christ and enjoy every kind of physical and spiritual pleasure. The 
 community imbibed these opinions from Mathiesen, and by these their sensual 
 feelings were so greatly excited that they united themselves to liim, for the pro- 
 motion of a happy life here upon earth, with impetuous ardor and sanguinary 
 violence to overthrow entirely the thrones of princes, if it were pussililc, and of tliis 
 they had no doubt. Mathiesen, like another Mohammed, suii-lit thiciiub fire and 
 sword to effect the downfall of all governments which were w uliiu ilu- ivach of his 
 foolhardy undertakings, and to found an everlasting kingdom, which, under his 
 royal administration, slionld spread itself over tlie whole earth. He should conquer 
 the world and ti-iumpli over all the enemies of the kingdom of God. Then Clirist 
 should appear in the clouds of heaven and eontirm him in his regal dignity, depose 
 the pope as Anticlirist, and solemnly jilace iiimself in the same situation as the 
 highest ruler over the Church. . . . Since the eiiHsting of the rebel Anabaptists 
 hapj)ened in this maiiiiiM-. it is suliiciontly ovidfiit that flic grrat majcirity cannot be 
 SUppu~c.l to have li.-cii l!apti>t^ in li.-art oV lirlirf. 'I'/i. '/ ic'r, i', njJ,' ur ,'r, ri/ r.i riety 
 ofr.rujinush.li./s. ,ni,l i,nn,ij ,>/ tl,. w of j,., rJiyio,, of all in h,„rt'. altlnnnjh they 
 aidtd III' l'nit,.-,t,fnt cause. 
 
 I'n nil the nature of the case the majority of the Eoraanists knew no difference 
 between the \aiious Protestant parties and sects, and would make no distinction. 
 Hence the abhorrence only deserved by s.imc of the .\naliaptists was bestowed upon 
 all Protestants. The honest Bai)ti-i.- siilTcird tlic ni.i.~i .-cverdy iVuni ibi.~ |)rejudice, 
 because they were considered by the people to he the same and were called by the 
 same name. The fact that they agreed in their opinions in res])ect to the holy 
 ordinance of baptism was the unfortunate occasion of this thing. On this account 
 the P>aptists in Flanders and in Friesland suffered the most terrible persecutions. 
 In till' ni'xt plaiT the anger of the Romanists was excited against the Zwinglians, 
 since tluv-e ai^recd iiio>t nearly with the Baptists in their simple religious rites, and 
 luul de\ iated mu.-^l widely from the ancient Church. Besides these, the Lutherans 
 also were compelled to undergo the most distressing ])ersecutions on account of the 
 indignation of the Itomish government and priestiiood at the wicked conduct of the 
 Anabaptists. It is to these disturbances caused at Munster that we must ascribe 
 the stringent measures against the I-utheransat Deventer in 1534-35. Lutheranism 
 was consiilered the fruitful source of all manner of corruption in Church and State.' 
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 ■ a.^ our authors call the 
 lid Protestants come to 
 Duteli historians go on 
 
 'The Baptists suffered tiie most, yet tlie entire mass of the Protestants were 
 more or less injured. This will a[>pear if attention be directed to the edicts which 
 since that time have been issued by tlic JMiipcror for the purpose of retarding the 
 work of the Reformation. In these all C'lnistians who separated from the liomish 
 Church were called Anabaptists. . . . The Emperor and all his statesmen knew that 
 the Baptists generally had, both by word and deed, testified that their peace-loving 
 hearts abhorred the seditious conduct of the Anabaptists. ... In this manner the 
 attempt was made to throw sand in the eyes of the superficial thinkers among the 
 Romanists. It was no very difficult task to do this. Since the government com- 
 prehended all the Protestants under the general name of Anabaptists, tlie short- 
 sighted Romanists confiding in its superior discernment, could easily be brought to the 
 same unfavorable point of view. . . . The Anabaptists seemed to them to be a law- 
 less people, consisting partly of Baptists, partly of Zwinglians, partly of Lutherans 
 — men who formerly adhered to the old Catholic faith, but who had now entirely 
 renounced religion. . . . They would not see that which they might have seen. 
 How evident it was that although the Baptists appeared to agree with the Ana- 
 baptists in respect to the baptismal question, the former entirely disapproved of the 
 course pursued by the latter. For it liad been, and continued to be, a doctrine of 
 the Baptists, that the bearing of arms was very unbecoming to a Christian. Did 
 not the Anabaptists pursue a course directly the opposite of this ? . . . Who 
 could have imagined that such a purpose prevailed among the Baptists, who were 
 the meekest of Christians 'i And yet the Romanists, without dissent, agree in 
 ascribing these things to all the Baptists. We have nowhere seen clearer evidences 
 of the injurious intluence of the prejudice, nowhere have we met with a more ob- 
 stinate unwillingness to be correctly informed, and a more evident disposition to 
 silence those who better understood the truth of the matter. Prejudice, when once 
 deeply imbibed, blinds the eye, perplexes the understanding, silences the instincts 
 of the heart and destroys tlie love of truth and rectitude. 
 
 We shall now proceed more at length to notice the defense of the worthy 
 Baptists. The Baptists are Protestant Christians entirely different from the Ana- 
 baptists in character. They were descendants from the Ancient \Valileij-.cs, whose 
 teaeliiiiiis were evangelical and tolerably pure, and who were >caniir.| by severe 
 jiei-.-eeiitioiis in various lands, and long before the time of the Keturiiiatioii of the 
 Church were existing in the Netherlands. In their tliglit they came thither in the 
 latter part of the twelfth century. In this country and in Flanders, in Holland 
 and Zealand they lived as cpiiet inhabitants, not intermeddling with the affairs of 
 Church and State, in the villages tilling the land, and in the cities working at some 
 trade or engaged in traffic, by which means each one was well supplied and in no 
 respect burdensome to society. Their manner of life was simple and exem)ilary. 
 No great crime was known among them. Their religious teaching was simple and 
 pure, and was exempliiied in their daily conduct." " 
 
 In 1524-25 Mijnster had risen and been subdued with the other cities of South- 
 ern and Central Germany, and things flowed once more in the old channel. Then, 
 in 1532, Rothmann, a very powerful Lutheran pastor of Miinster, stirred it so 
 effectually that six entire parishes fell into the hands of the Lutherans, and nothing 
 
OUTIiAdKS AT MCysTEli. 371 
 
 was left to the Catholics but the monastery and cathedral. The Lutherans took 
 possession of the city govennuent, drove away the Catholic bishop and clergy, and 
 equipped troops to protect the Luthei'an religion. The spirit of insurrection spread 
 and the two prevailing sects were drawn into the movement, when, in 1532, Koth- 
 niann, whose influence was sweeping all before him, suddenly avowed himself an 
 ■Anabaptist' and ran into every kind of wild vagary. He taught an illumination 
 of the Spirit which superseded the need of the written word of God, and afforded 
 new revelations by visions and dreams ; that rank and station should be abolished ; 
 a community of goods established ; that Christ was about to return to the earth ; 
 and that it must be conquered to him by force of arms;, that he might reign here a 
 thousand years. 
 
 Others flocked abuut liiiii, amongst them Bockhold and Mathiescn. These soon 
 outran Itothmann, and rach in turn became prophet and king. They called Munster 
 ' Mount Zion,' and proclaimed it the center of the world, for there Christ would 
 right the wrongs of all the peasants, and establish the millennial kingdom of God. 
 They proclaimed a theocratic government, put many to death and confiscated the 
 estates of the citizens. The population soon became a rabble of all religious sects 
 and none. Bockhold, the sham monarch, inaugurated a reign of terror, in which 
 every vile passion was let loose and every crime was committed without decency or 
 limit. The horrible violence which reigned for about a year threw common hu- 
 manity to the winds, so frantic and sanguinary was the madness ; and the cause of 
 virtue is best served by avoiding the monstrous recital in detail. Munster fell 
 completely under that general law of political, moral and fanatical epidemics which 
 always works out such results, where superstition first makes men cruel, and then 
 fiery passions sway their whole being. The town w-as taken June 2-tth 1535, and 
 in the following January the ringleaders were ])ut to death. Violence has ever 
 been the natural consequence of soulless oppression, and yet any attempt to excuse 
 the outrages of Munster is itself a crime. The wrongs of these people lived long 
 after the Feasants' "War, and could not die in their revengeful memories. Both the 
 oppressors and the oppressed acted more like demons than men, and the result was 
 seen in that desperation of all subject races when brought to bay after long 
 degradation. 
 
 That ignorance is inexcusable which attributes the rise of Baptists to ' The 
 period of the Munster kingdom ; much rather can it be proved that in the lands 
 mentioned Baptist Churches existed for many decades, and even centuries. '^ No 
 greater injustice can be done to any people than has been done to the German 
 Baptists, in the attempt to saddle them with the evils of the Peasants' "War and 
 the villainies of Munster. Not one of their old and acknowledged leaders was found 
 in the uproar either at Miihlhausen or Munster, and but few of their people were 
 mixed up with these proceedings. As to numbers, they were an insignificant sect 
 in Germany proper at that time, and as a body on principle, they stood aloof from 
 
372 CALU.vyy hkfuted. 
 
 filling the magistracy, from oaths aiifl fhc >\voril. In SwitzcrlaiKl, where the 
 Peasants' War raged as violently as in (Tcrniaiiy, they ]i(:i-itivcly n-t'nsiMl tu unite 
 their fortunes with the peasants, ami thcii- cinii-su tlicrc thn.ws lioht n]Miii tJieir con- 
 duct in Germany. Grebel and Siniuii Stnnipt, tu thrir honm-. sympiithi/.tMl with the 
 down-trodden people, but their principles would ni>r allow them to draw the sword. 
 Grebel branded the oppressors as 'The tyiants of our forefathers,' but he denied 
 that he liad ever thought of subv'erting government. '' When the Swiss peasantry 
 revolted in the Griiningen district, they attacked the cloisters of Bubikon and Ruti 
 with their Zwinglian pastors in their ranks. Their Baptist neighbors, meanwhile, 
 gave them their moral support, but left the sword sheathed for conscience' sake. 
 They relied upon the spirit and morals of the Gospel tu enlighten the souls of the 
 people, believing that this would work out their social lilicrtics too. Ilubmeyer 
 aided the peasants at Waldsliut much in the same way. Zimnicriuaii. the historian of 
 the Peasants' War, says: 'In Waldslnit and the Evangelical I'-rotherliood there 
 were heads capable of gi'asi)ing the l)old and great thought of uniting the forces 
 of the peasants, split up as they were among countless leaders, in one purpose 
 and aim: namely, the restoration of the old liberty of the empire, and the over- 
 throw of existing un-Christian oppression. To this end brotherhoods were formed 
 and armed throughout the entire German empire, and connnunication Ijy means of 
 correspondence and messengers was regularly sustained.' This ' Brotlierliood ' was 
 entered by 138 cities, and by counts, knights and bishops innumerable, but by 
 few Baptists. A branch was organized at Waldshut, which city Miiller entered 
 with 1,200 peasants; l)ut when the peiseeuted Baptists there were charged 
 with heresy and sedition, they uniformly denied the second charge, alth.ough they 
 delighted in the doctrinal heresy charged upon them. Jacob Gross, a disciple of 
 Hubmeyer, fled fi-om Waldshut rather than Ijear arms. AVhen Bruppacher was 
 examined on the rack at Zurich, he said that he had never heard his brethren 
 ' Teach that there should be no magistracy ; or that in case they should be success- 
 ful they would overthrow the State.' And they unif'orndy denied that they had 
 any thing to do with sedition, while doctrine and not sedition was the burden of their 
 oral discussions and litei-ature. 
 
 Happily, in modern times, the calunmy that the r>aptisfs were responsible for 
 the horrors of Miinster has lost its edge and the truth has found its way to the 
 surface. Brandt attributes them to some ' enthusiastical Anabaptists,' but is care- 
 ful to add : 
 
 ' Not to the well-meaning Baptists.' SchafE pronounces it ' The greatest 
 injustice to make the Anabaptists, as such, responsible for the extravagances that led 
 to the tragedy of Miinster.' " Uhlhorn says that ' Sedition, or a call to sedition, is 
 not chargeable against the Anabaptists of Southern Germany at this time ; I have 
 found no trace of any fellowship with the seditious peasants.' But their contem- 
 poraries, who knew them well, bear the same testimony. Capito, their stern opponent 
 at Strasburg, says that he must ' openly confess ' that most of them manifest ' godly 
 
LAW-ABIDING nAPTISTS. 373 
 
 fear and pure zeal. Before God I testify that I cuiiuot say that tlieir contempt for life 
 springs from blindness rather than from a divine impulse.' Wetzel, the Catholic, 
 declared that 'Whoever speaks of God and a Christian life, or earnestly strives 
 after personal improvement, passes as an arch Anabaptist.' And Frank, who wrote 
 in 1531, says of them : ' They teach love, faith and the cross. They are long-suf- 
 fering and heroic in affliction. . . . The world feared they would cause an uproar, 
 but they have proved innocent everywhere. If I were emperor, pope, or Turk, I 
 would not fear revolt less from any people than this. ^^ . . . All the Baptists oppose 
 those who would fight for the Gospel with the sword. Some object to war or any 
 use of the sword, hut the must favor self-defense and justifiable war.' '^ 
 
 Tlie truth is uut of joint soniewhei'e when men charge them with enmity to 
 civil government, with being revolutionary and the veriest butchers, because their 
 faith forbade them to draw the sword. Bayle tells us that Turenne remonstrated 
 with Van Benniiig for tolerating them, when he i-eplied : ' They are good people, 
 and the most commodious to a State in the world, because they do not aspire to places 
 of dignity. We fear no rebellion from a sect that makes it an article of their 
 faith never to bear arms. They edify the people by the simplicity of their manners, 
 and apply themselves to arts and business, without dissipating their substance in 
 luxury and debauchei-y.' Nay, Bayle himself says that their great enemy De Bros 
 ' Says nothing to insinuate that the Anabaptist martyrs suffered death for taking up 
 arms against the State, or for stirring up the subjects to rebel, but represents them as 
 a harmless sort of people. . . . 'Tis certain that many of them who suffered death for 
 their opinions had no thouglit of making any insurrection.' " A few madmen of 
 Miinster, with Rothmanu at their head, aroused their new converts to their views, 
 and so brought disgrace upon their name ; but if any of the acknowledged leaders 
 had to do with the vile conspiracy, who and where were they ? 
 
 Melancthon says that he made particular inquiry whether Storch was with 
 Miinzer in his uprising, but he found nothing to justify his suspicions. And Ilase 
 adds : 'No one can prove that Storch was guilty of direct political aims. He went 
 about seeking out the elect, who forsook home and their native land for the sake of 
 the truth.' '* Cornelius sums up the whole matter, covering the time from 1525 
 onward, when he says : ' Anabaptism and the Peasants' War had no conscious con- 
 nection. The two movements were generally distinct.' '' 
 
 So much has been said of these disgraceful transactions at Miinster, and said so 
 rashly, to the injury of Baptists, that one is tempted to add cumulative evidence on 
 the subject, even to prolixity. The mean-spirited charges were flung in their faces 
 by men who persecuted them at that time, and they repudiated them with deep feel- 
 ing, as cruelly adding insult to injury. This side of the case must be noticed. 
 Keller quotes an old chronicle to show that Greble and Mantz were called ' false 
 prophets ' by the fanatical libertines in Abbacell, whom they rejected and combated, 
 keeping clear of them in entangling alliance because they were libertines.^ The 
 Schleitheim Articles as well as many ]irivate writings throw a strong light upon this 
 subject. Nut only does tlie sixth aiticli', i.ii -Tlie .Swurd,' relieve them fn/m this 
 
374 TIIFAR HON OR VINDICATED. 
 
 odium, but they wash tlicir hands of tlie rcvokitiuiiary transartioiis at Zwickau and 
 Miihlhausen, the first in 1521, the last in \h'l\, under Miinzei-. Tliey say to the 
 Baptist congregations : 
 
 ' Scandal lias been Ijrougiit in amongst us by certain false brethren, so that some 
 have turned from the faith, imagining to use for themselves tlie freedom of the 
 Spirit and of Clirist. But such iia\c ei-n.d from the truth and have given tliem- 
 selves (to their condemnation) to the wantonno,-. and freedom of the flesh ; and have 
 thought faith and love may do and sutler all things, and nothing would injure or 
 condemn tliem because they believed.' They warn that ' faith ' does ' not thus 
 prove itself, does not bring forth and do sucli things, as these false brethren and 
 sisters do and teach. . . . Beware of such, for they serve not our Fatlier, but 
 their fatlier the devil. But ye are not so, for they who are in Christ liave crucified 
 tlie flesh, with all its lusts and longings.' After they have given the seven articles, 
 they say : ' These are the points which some brethren have imderstood wrongly and 
 not in accordance with tlie true meaning, and thereby have confused many weak 
 consciences, so that the name of God has been grossly blasphemed. For which 
 cause it was necessary that we should be united in the Lord, which, God be praised, 
 has taken place. . . . Mark all those who walk not according to the simplicity of 
 divine truth, which is contained in this letter, as it was apprehended by us in the 
 assembly, in order that each one among us be governed by the rule of discipline, 
 and henceforth the entrance among us of false brethren and sisters be guarded 
 against. Separate the evil from you.' 
 
 One of the Baptist martyrs, Dryzinger, in 153S, only three years after the craze, 
 was examined as to whether he and his brethren approved of these vile proceedings. 
 He answered that ' They would not be Christians if they did.' Hans, of Overdam, 
 another martyr, complained of these false accusations of violence. He said : ' We 
 are daily belied by those who say that we would defend our faith with the sword, 
 as they of Miinster did. The Almighty God defend xis from such abominations.' 
 Young Dosie, a beautiful character, who was a prisoner to the Governor of Friesland, 
 and endured cruel slaughter for his love to Christ, was asked by the governor's wife 
 if he and liis brethren were not of tliat disgraceful people who took up the sword 
 against the magistrates. With the sweet innocence of a child he replied : ' No, 
 madam, those persons greatly erred. We consider it a devilish doctrine to resist 
 the magistrates by the outward sword and violence. We would much i-ather suffer 
 persecution and death at their hands and whatever is appointed us to suffer.' 
 All this is no more than Erasmus said of them in 1529 : ' The Anabaptists have 
 seized no churches, have not conspired against the authorities, nor deprived any 
 man of his estate or goods.' -^ They bad no sturdier foe than Bullinger, yet he 
 renders this verdict : ' Say what we will of the Baptists, I see nothing in them but 
 earnestness, and I hear nothing of them except that they will not take an oath, will 
 not do any wrong and aim to treat every man justly. In this, it seems to me, there 
 is nothing out of the way.' ^^ 
 
 But Cornelius tells us plainly : ' All these excesses were condemned and opjxtsed 
 wherever a large assembly of the brethren afforded an opportunity to give expression 
 
TRUTH TOLD AT LAST. 37B 
 
 to the religious consciousness of the Baptist membcrsliip.'^ This was the case at 
 Augsburg, where a formal convention of their leaders discountenanced all political 
 measures. No one outside of their number has better described their advanced posi- 
 tion as a people in all respects than Fiisslin, in his preface; to vol. ii of Beitrilge : 
 
 ' Tlio Reformers ivjecteii tlie superstitions alinses attached to the sacraments ; the 
 Anali;i|iri>i- re-ioicd tlir ^Mciaintnt- ilieiiisel\(\- In memorials for believers. The 
 Eefonnei-s |nvacliii| a-aiii-i uiukht-sh'v Mh. Hlr-lud ; the Anabaptists denounced war 
 of evcrij kind. The lieluniier.s prulesleil ayaiusl (.'atholic tyranny; the Anabaptists 
 denied to any civil power authority in matters of religion. The Ileformers decried 
 
 fiublic vices ; the Anabaptists excluded the immoral from their fellowship. The 
 Reformers sought to limit usury and covetousness ; the Anabaptists made them 
 impossible by the practice of couHuunism. The Ileformers educated their preachers ; 
 the Anabaptists looked for the inner anointing. The Reformers condemned the 
 priests for simony ; the xinabaptists made every j)i'eacher depend on the labor of his 
 own hands and the free gifts of the people.' 
 
 The Baptists of our day are the first and the freest to wash their hands of all 
 the black deeds at Miinster, not only because they are black, but also because their 
 tiTie brethren of the sixteenth century renounced them as honestly and earnestly. 
 Several of the Munstei' men professed some things in common with the Baptists, 
 but more that the Baptists detested. Fiisslin, with characteristic impartiality, says : 
 ' There was a great difference between Anabaptists and Anabaptists. There were 
 those amongst them who held strange doctrines, but this cannot be said of the whole 
 sect. If we should attribute to every sect whatever senseless docti'ines two or thi-ee 
 fanciful fellows have taught, there is no one in the world to whom we could not 
 ascribe the most abominable errors.' He clearly alludes here to the Miinster teachers. 
 But, as clearly, he did not look upon them as the fathers of the Baptists in Germany. 
 Without doubt a handful of Baptists in that city ran into polygamy, the only 
 instance in all the centuries where a congregation of them has embraced that 
 abomination. But even there the shocking practice was condemned and resisted 
 at every step, (ioebel tells us (i, p. 189) that two hundred moral and moderate 
 Baptists in Munster heroically withstood the iniquity, and it was not established 
 until forty-eight of this number had been put to a bloody slaughter for their 
 resistance. So that in the struggle nearly fifty true Baptists fell martyrs to purity 
 in that German Sodom ; and at last, the ministers and most of the people yielded 
 to the clamor for polygamy under this reign of terror. 
 
 While this handful of madmen had not been educated in visions, violence and 
 indecency by the Baptist leaders of Switzerland and Germany, others had impreg- 
 nated them with these doctrines from their cradle. For centuries these teachings 
 and practices had tilled the air. The doctrine of wild visions, both of God and the 
 devil, was taught in the monastic institutions, and wonders of this sort were 
 blazoned abroad l)y bishops, cardinals and popes everywhere. The Catholic com- 
 munion believed then and still believes in new revelations from (iod. S;iints 
 
376 Arr TKAf'/rKh'S. 
 
 iniiuinurable ;nv iiieiitioned \\]\<> ln-ai'd voirc^ fnjiii lieiiveii. Lad visits from the 
 Virgin, tlie Father, Ihu Su„ :,,m1 th,. aiioM'ls - a> i-i,atiu>, A qiiiiias, Teresa, Felix 
 and Anthony. Francis was not only iiis|jii-iMl lo i-ca<l men'.-, minds and consciences 
 as well as their faces, but he received tlic nilc^ of lii> in'w ordci- of monks directly 
 from God. Like John of Leyden lie appoinliMl twehx- apo>t]L's. and one of them 
 hanged liimsulf to l)oot. He also ' iin,p]ie.-.ii.,r that he should become 'a great 
 prince' and be adoi'ed over the whole earth. IJridget, C'atharine and Rosa, with 
 endless nuns, wei'e ]>rophetesses. Teresa, took the crucitied Christ by the hand, was 
 espoused to him and went up to heaven in the shape of a white dove. The Miinster 
 men never had sueli di-eams, I'aptures, apjiaritions, phantasms and ecstasies as the 
 canonized saints of lionie. Xeitlier did Luther help the lunatics to sounder doc- 
 ti-ine when he saw the devil in the form of a " dog,' ' a whisp of straw,' a ' wild boar ' 
 and 'a star; " nor when he threw the inkstand at his head. As to violence : 
 
 Catholies and Protestants taught them that tradition, reason and Scripture 
 ma<le it the i>ious duty of saints to torture and burn men as heretics out of pure 
 lo\e for their holiness and salvation. Protestants told them that it was sacred duty 
 to slaughter those as schismatics, sectaries, malignants who corruiJted the Church 
 and would not live in peace with the Reformed. Who educated these fanatics in 
 Christian love and gentleness 'i The law of tlieir times was to repel force with force. 
 When the Miinster men came into jiower they applied the reasoning of their tutors in 
 atrocity, saying : ' Our bounden duty is now to rid the earth of Christ's enemies and 
 ours, as they would rid it of tis.' And who will say that all these murderers did not 
 stand on the same plane of outrage and barbarity in this respect ? As to immoralities : 
 
 Every pure mind shrinks from the abhorrent indecencies of Miinster. And 
 who had set them this exainjjle ? They practiced polygamy ; but ten long years 
 before this, 1524, Luther had written : ' The husband must be certified in his own 
 conscience and by the word of God that polj'gamy is permitted to him. As for 
 me, I avow that I cannot set myself in opposition to men marrying several wives, 
 or assert that such a course is repugnant to the Holy Scripture.' ^ About the same 
 time he preached his famous sermon on ' Marriage,' which chastity may well pass in 
 silence, beyond this one expression : ' Provided one has faith, adultery is no sin.' ^ 
 It was not the madmen of Miinster but Martin Luther who said : ' Whatever is 
 allowed in the law of Moses as to marriage is not forbidden by the Gospel.' Ilis 
 course in the shameful affair of Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, shows that although he 
 ' did not wish to see this practice (polygamy) introduced among Cliristians,' yet he 
 held to his old views. Hence, in 1539, four yeai's after the Miinster abomination, 
 Philip told him, with what Michelet calls ' a daring frankness,' that he must marry 
 another wife or continue his adulteries, saying : ' I have read with great attention 
 the Old and New Testaments, and I can discover no other resource save that of taking 
 another wife ; for I neither can nor will change my course of life ; I call God to 
 witness my words.' Yet with that uublushing brow before him, Luther, with Me- 
 
PROTESTANT AND PAPAL IMMORALITY. 377 
 
 laiictlioii, liiicer and four others, signed and sealed a document, attcnij)ting to 
 dissuade the Landgrave, but failing of that, closed by saying : ' If, however, your 
 liighuess is utterly determined upon niai-rying a second wife, we are of opinion that 
 it ought to be done secretly.' Antony Corvinus, the fourtli signer of this reply to 
 Philip, gives an account of the examination of John of Leyden, at which he was 
 present, in which John gave his seven articles of faith. He intrenched himself 
 behind Luther's position, saying that they followed ' the example of the patriarchs,' 
 declared marriage a ' political mstitution,' and then put in the same plea as Philip. 
 In Philip's letter to the Wittenberg divines he said : ' Ever since my marriage I 
 have lived constantly in a state of adultery and fornication, and as I will not forego 
 this course of life, I am interdicted from taking the holy communion : for St. Va\\\ 
 expressly says, "The adulterer shall not seethe kingdom of heaven.'"" .lolm of 
 Leyden adopted this plea, saying, in his seventh article : ' It is better to iiavc a 
 plurality of wives than a multitude of prostitutes. God be our judge.' Henry, 
 the Duke of Brunswick, berated Luther for his approval of Philip's bigamy ; when 
 Luther replied, with his usual mildness, in his famous article, ' Against the Buifoon : ' 
 ' The duke has daily swallowed devils, and he is chained in hell with the chains of 
 divine judgment.' He then exhorts the pastors to denounce the duke from the 
 pulpit as one who ' has been damned by divine judgment.' But when he revised his 
 pamphlet, he said to Melancthon that he had been altogether too moderate.^ 
 
 And what better examples had the Catholics set the Miinster men in the line 
 of purity ? From the ninth century down, as Bowden says, in his ' Life of Hilde- 
 brand : ' * The infamies i^revalent among the clergy are to be alluded to, not detailed.' 
 The open licentiousness of the popes was appalling. The popes of the tifteenth 
 century were profligate and debased beyond belief. Innocent VIII. publicly 
 boasted of the number of his illegitimate children. Alexander was a monster of 
 iniquity, who gave dispensations for crimes that cannot be written. Baronius says 
 that the vilest harlots domineered in the papal see, at their pleasure changed sees, 
 appointed bishops, and actually thrust into St. Peter's chair their own gallants, false 
 popes. Take simply the case of John XII. Bowden wrote : ' The Lateran 
 palace was disgraced by becoming a receptacle for courtezans ; and decent females 
 were terrified from pilgrimages to the threshold of the Apostles, by the reports 
 which were spread abroad of the lawless impurity and violence of the represent- 
 ative and successor ' of two others equally vile. -' But these were no woi'se 
 than Sixtus IV., who erected a house of ill-fame in Rome, the inmates of 
 which, according to Dr. Jortin, ' paid his holiness a weekly tax, which amounted 
 sometimes to 20,000 ducats a year. The purest spirits in the hierarchy blush 
 to tell the hard narrative of monastic life in the sixteenth century, although it 
 made pretension to spotless virtue. Archbishop Morton, 1490, accused the Abbot 
 of St. Albans with emptying the nunneries of Pray and Sapnell of modest women 
 and tilling tlicMu witli vile females. The clergy kept concubines openly from the 
 
378 TWIN FANATICISMS. 
 
 pope down. Ten priests addressed a letter to tlic Bisliop of Constaiiee, asking 
 permission to many, confessing tliat tlirir widveil mistresses had been tlieir 'scandal 
 and ruin.' He absolved tliem and ntlui^ mi the payment of five gulden; and 
 Hettinger writes that the revenue tVom this source was 7,000 gulden. This was a 
 full match for the obscenities of Miuister. Sucli transactions in sacred life led these 
 madmen to throw away all license in civil life. 
 
 A word as to the nude indecencies of Miiiister must tinisli this chapter. People 
 appeared naked at the baptistery and in public places. Where had they learned 
 these I'evolting practices 'i For centuries the fanaticism of Rome had immersed all 
 persons in a state of nudity. As far back as A. D. 347, the Eitual of Jerusalem 
 required the candidates for baptism • U> put ulf the garments wherewith they are 
 clothed.' Brenner, the great Catholic authority, says: 'For sixteen hundred years 
 tlie candidate for immersion was completely undressed.' The Synod of Cologne, in 
 1280, carried tliis fanaticism to such an extent, that they decreed that an infant 
 must have watei- piiurccl upon its head in the name of the Ti'inity to save it from 
 perdition, if dyin-; when liut lialf-liuni. How like Landjecius. who lilamed the 
 Danes and Swedes for deliiyini;' ba]>tisni through ' baslifulness and shame. . . . 
 Since, formerly men and women laying aside their baslifulness, their wliole bodies 
 being entirely nude, were baptized in the presence of all ; and that not by sprinkling, 
 indeed, but by imniei'sion or sinking them.' ^ These are the men who now shudder 
 at Miinster ! These are the inen who formerly put hundi-eds ai thousaTids upon the 
 rack, of every rank, age and sex, to be tortured.-' 
 
 Rome practiced the same indecencies in flagellation, borrowed from the heathen 
 feast of Lupercale, in which, according to Vergil and Plutarch, young noblemen 
 walked through the streets naked, cutting themselves with wiiips and rods, in au- 
 sterity, while sacrifices were burning to the gods. The same barliarity was practiced 
 by Christian women in France, Mezaray being authority. For two centuries this 
 flagellant madness ran through Bavaria, Austria, the Upper Rhine and Italy, nay, 
 through Saxony itself. These morbid fanatics practiced all stages of undress, formed 
 a brotherhood, swept in thousands through these lands, singing hymns, having rev- 
 elations from angels and the Virgin, and with a letter from Christ himself, which 
 they exhibited in their pilgrimages. Motley calls the Miinster men, 'Furious fanat- 
 ics, who deserved the mad-house rather than the scaffold : ' and how much better 
 were Catholics or Protestants, in practicing the same things? It is hardly worth 
 while sending the Minister fiends to perdition alone, nolens volens, for unbearable 
 beastliness. There was this difference between their Initchery and the legal mur- 
 ders of Protestant and Catholic, called martyrdoms, namely : that theirs were acts of 
 violence perpetrated in a religious craze or frenzy, M'hile the others were the result 
 of deliberate legislation, put on the statute-book, in that icy sublimity which dresses 
 itself in the guise of human and divine law. But history will mete out to all 
 these parties that tardy justice which will be honestly accepted by all in due time. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE REFORMA.TION-THE GERMAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 THE German and Swi.-^s Kuforniation preceded tlie Englisli in point of date, all 
 being due to the same causes, while each in a sense stood alone. When 
 "Wessel, the mystic, died Zwiiigli was a boy of five years, Luther of six, Erasmus 
 was a man of twenty-two, Eeuchlin of thirty-four and Melanethon was unborn. 
 Luther did not nail his theses to the cathedral door at Wittenberg till 1517, but 
 the Bohemian Reformers sent a delegation to Erasmus at Antwerp as early as 1511, 
 asking him to point out any errors in their Confession of Faith, but he found none. 
 Sebastian Frank, who published his history A. D. 1531, says: 'The Pieards in 
 Bohemia are divided into two, or as some say, into three parties, the large, small, 
 and very small, who hold in all things with the Anabaptists, have all things common, 
 baptize no children, and do not believe in the real presence.' So far from finding 
 the origin of the so-called ' Anabaptist ' movement in the lawless extravagance of 
 Miinster, 1534^35, it is seen that the Swiss history of the Baptists whicli has been 
 given, preceded that date, and a similar history marks their movements in Bohemia. 
 Addis and Arnold, in their Catholic Dictionai-y, say that various sects repudiated infant 
 baptism in the Middle Ages, and they trace not only a genetic but an historical con- 
 nection between these and the Baptists,— agreeing with the ' Encyclopedia Britannica,' 
 that ' The continuity of a sect is to be traced in its principles, and not in its adherents.' 
 MoKAViA. After Hubmej'er fled from Zurich in 1526, he made his way to 
 Nicholsburg in Moravia, where he established the Baptist cause. This became the 
 field of his labor and the churches multiplied rapidly, partly from the banished of 
 all lands and partly from new converts. They were no more welcome to the king 
 and emperor there than elsewhere, but the rulers stood in fear of the Turks at the 
 time ; the Hussites were passive, yet welcomed the Baptists to their estates, so that 
 they could preach and celebrate the ordinances, and they had peace. Ulimann had 
 also fled from Switzerland to Moravia, but in 1530, he returned to persuade his 
 Baptist brethren to leave their Alpine home and seek freedon) there too. Full of 
 hope, many gathered their little property and started on this long pilgrimage, but 
 were waylaid at Waldsee, and because they would not renounce their principles, 
 Ulimann and the men were beheaded, while the women were drowned. The ques- 
 tion concerning the use of the sword soon divided the Moravian Baptists, Ilubmeyer 
 believing in its civil use, but a party of non-resistants withdrew to Austerlitz in 
 152S. That party subdivided in 1531, when lleuhlin, another Swiss Baptist, took 
 
380 THE MOUAVIAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 ii company of one hundred ami fifty to Ansjutz, on the jjlea that they had not suffi- 
 cient freedom at Austerlitz in puMic .-pfaidni;-, tli:it their brethren intermarried 
 witli unbelievers and that they were not trcatiMJ with cM|uality. This party soon 
 fell into -vain jan,i;liii-s; and Krublin was ,_-\clu<lcd for withholding from the 
 co!ijnion funds.' Jacob llutcr, however, soon restored liarniony by nieaus of a 
 coninioii constitution, and his followers were known as the liuterites. 
 
 The l!u]itists increased to sixty congi-egations in twenty years, each numbering 
 several hundreds; besides, many settled in Hungary and Transylvania to a\oid per- 
 secution.^ By vote of the people, each congregation chose its pastor and deacons.^ 
 Their pastors were good Bible students, and their people wci'c fcmd of sacred song, 
 some of their hymns numbering forty-five verses each ; for they jiut an exhortation, 
 a Bible story or the liistory of a martyr into rhyme. They formed themselves into 
 a community under the direction of one head, and divided into households ; each 
 with ' ministers of the word ' and ' ministers of need,' and the whole fraternity 
 labored. They taught their children in a common school, and when old enough 
 put them to a trade. Marriage was restricted to their own sect, and their joint 
 earnings went into a connnon treasury, out of which all were supported. De 
 Schweinitz, a little later than tlie middle of the century, says of them : 
 
 'In Moravia there were many Anabaptists. . . . This sect, which numbered 
 seventy communities in Moravia, was divided into three factions; the communists, 
 who kept up a community of goods, tlie Gabrielites, and the Sabbatarians. It is 
 said of the Anabajjtists, that they were the best farmers, raised the best cattle, had 
 the best vineyards, brewed the best beer, owned the best flour mills, and engaged 
 on a large scale in almost every kind of trade known in their day.' He further says 
 that in spite of frequent persecutions they prospered. ' Their industrial pursuits, 
 for which tliey became celebrated, won the good-will of powerful families among 
 the nobility; and when Maximilian e\pi'(-->e<l his surprise that they had not been 
 extirpated in his father's time and (•a^ting his tolerance to the winds, proposed to 
 drive them out of the country, the Upper House of the Diet protested against such 
 a measure as destructive to the interests of the kingdom. Hence they were allowed 
 to remain, but loaded with taxes.' * Keller says : '"in Moravia, where the Baptists 
 for a long time found influential protectors, persecution begun in 1628. At Easter, 
 in Briinn", Thomas Waldhausen, witli two associates, was burned, and at Znaym and 
 Olmutz several of the leaders were put to death. Also at Bruck, in Steinmark, 
 nine men were beheaded and three women were drowned.'^ 
 
 Erhard tells of a curious Catholic, who visited them and evidently ' cast a wish- 
 ful eye' u})OU their full cheer.'' He complained : 
 
 ' They will not have any poor among them, the sisters dress like the nobility in 
 silk and satin, though they are only waiters' and porters' wives. They have no lack 
 of grain, but gather every year enough for seven. They have plenty of ducats and 
 gold crowns, so that they paid one bill of twenty -two hundred gulden. Their tables 
 are loaded with hare, fish, fowl, nor do they lack good Holland cheese. They ride 
 in beautiful wagons and on line horses. Their stalls arc filled with fat cattle, swine 
 and sheep. Tliey monopolize all the trades, and it looks as though they would soon 
 buy out the lords.' 
 
TiiHii! nnnrv and simi'i.icity. 38 1 
 
 Good for tlie • Aiialiaptists,' for once thuy cviiu-ud iiraiid coininon suiisc, and 
 none the less for keeping tliat liungry monk out, even if his eyes did water. Still, 
 they were kind, and when famine passed over the land they had enough and much 
 to spare for tiicir iuMghlmrs. Tliun tiieir aliundance made Moravia a sort of 
 ' Proinisetl Land" fur tiiuir pinclied lirftluvn who came flocking to them from other 
 countries, for ])read and iihcrty. Whc-n tlioc gaunt wretches arrived they said : 
 'Brother, it is ours i)y (iod's gift. In your pt)verty we will give you and your little 
 ones food and clothes, shelter and schools.' And they had many such calls, as in one 
 year sixteen hundred Baptist emigrants left Switzerland and Bavaria for Moravia. 
 Tlieir manner of life was very frugal, they used few words, were vehement in dis- 
 putation, and willing to die, but not to yield.' They called themselves 'Apostolical ; ' 
 and elected their general superintendent, who instructed thorn in the rules of faith 
 and life, and prayed with them every morning before they went to woik. A 
 quarter of an hour before eating they covered their faces with their hands in medi- 
 tation. Their dress was plain and dark, and they conversed much on (he future.' 
 Erliard, an eye-witness, wrote in Latin rhyme: 'Would that Diogenes might see 
 your baptism and make sport of your washings. Vou will .sometime be called 
 Trito-Baptists, when you arc inuncrsi-d in tlie Stygian lake.' This evidently alludes 
 to tlicir method of baptizing believers, for they denounced infant baiitism severely. 
 When Zeiler visited them long afterwards, 1618, he reported them as still living 
 after the same simple order, and says that they numbered .seventy thousand. His 
 account of their coninumioii is very interesting. 
 
 ' In summer, they would gather at some central point to " break bread," as they 
 called the communion. Long tables were arranged with seats for the company. 
 The day preceding, preparatory sermons were preached, with another early on the 
 day of the celebration. After reading the words of the institution and a prayer, a 
 slice of a large loaf of bread was handed to the presiding preacher, in this case one 
 of the nobility, he broke off a piece and passed the rest to his neighbor, and so on 
 from table to table. Slice after slice was broken until every one hacl taken a morsel. 
 In like manner the wine was poured out of large vessels into smaller ones and 
 passed around." 
 
 When we bear in mind the constantly recurring outbursts of persecution, their 
 steady increase seems remarkable. They were deprived of Hubmeyer, their great 
 leader, in 1528, seven years before the Miinster uproar. The Austrians imprisoned 
 him at Vienna, where Faber and Beck tried earnestly to lead him back into the fold 
 of Rome, but he would not yield a hair's-breadth and was burnt, March 10th. Three 
 days after, his wife was thrown from a bridge into the Danube with a heavy stone 
 around her neck, and drowned. He was a great character and a prolilic author of 
 large literary ability. His motto, ' Truth is immortal,' gives the key-note to his 
 high, bold and logical spirit. His full mind overflowed with original thought, 
 delighting in that keen insight which eagerly hails the truth of God without gloss 
 as supreme. His translations of the (iospcls, E])istles to the Romans and Corinth- 
 
382 lll'llMKrEll's AUdl'MKNT. 
 
 iiiiis, with his twenty-toiir wm-ks, ;iiv |ii-.,liil.itc(l in the Index ;it Rome, altliouirli lie 
 WMs ,.iic ,.[ th.- iii..>t puix- an.l ainiahlu iiirii ,,f hi^ a-v. llcr/o- in >|,eakiljg- of liis 
 great controversy witli CEeohunpailius, remarks : ' From what has come down to us 
 concerning the discussion, the claim (of victory) is not a matter of surprise. The 
 only direct consequence of the whole affair was to confirm the Anabaptists in their 
 position.'^" Here is a specimen of his aijility. shown in his collo(piy with the great 
 professor at Basel : 
 
 CEeolaniiiadius. ' It is ridiculous to say the Christian Church has hem in the 
 wrong so many centuries.' Hubmeyer. ' That is a loose argument, comni(.)nly used 
 by the godless. You must be hard pushed to brandish this sword of straw. If it 
 had been sharp it would have pierced you long ago, when handled by the papists.' 
 CE. ' It has been the custom of Mother Church to baptize infants.' H. ' Yes, of 
 the papal, but not of the Christian Mother Church. Not of the Father of the 
 Church, who is in heaven, or he would have his Son plant it.' CE. ' What need is 
 there of separation on account of water ? ' H. ' It is not a matter of water, but of 
 the high command and baptism of Christ. Water is not Iwptism ! ' (E. ' I will 
 23rove my statement out of Exodus.' H. Baptism is a ceremony of the New Tes- 
 tament. I demand a text witli which you support infant baptism out of the New 
 Testament.' Another asked, ' Whether Christ did not entitle those to baptism who 
 were of the kingdom of heaven.' Hubmeyer answered : ' Tell me, were the infants 
 our Lord loved, embraced, and l)lessed, preinously h^-^Wz^^ or not ? If yes; you 
 throw away your argument against those who keep them back from baptism. If 
 no; am I to understand that Clni^t calls, embraces and loves unbaptized children? 
 What need have they, then, of baptism ; " 
 
 He had met Zwingli much in the same way, when the Reformer said : ' The 
 child is born of Christian parents.' H. ' What is born of the flesh is flesh.' 
 Z. ' All Judea came to John to be baptized, surely there were infants in Judea.' 
 H. ' Then Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod came, too, 1 suppose.' Z. ' There 
 are many things besides infant baptism, not expressly mentioned in the Bible, not 
 against God.' H. 'Be still, Zwingli, or the Catholic, Faber, will hear you. That 
 is what he said to you, but you demanded a plain j^assage from him.' Z. 'Paul 
 says he baptized the household of Stephanus. Is it not credible that children M-ere 
 in that household ? ' H. ' That is credible which can be proved by the word of 
 God. Paul was glad that he had baptized no more than this household, lest they 
 should hoast. Now infants would not trouble the Apostle in that way.' Zwingli 
 might well 'be still.' 
 
 Ilubmeyer's death scattered his flock to the forests and mountains, and they 
 were scarcely settled again when a second storm burst upon them, in 1.535. But 
 Huter became a leader, and soon displayed great independence of mind, with 
 large resources. He did not believe in the use of the sword, but was very 
 forceful with the pen. His letter to the Governor of Moravia is a marvel of 
 intelligence, manliness and reason, indicating one of those strong minds which 
 rise above passion into the calm and broad penetration of right and honor. King 
 Ferdinand had slaughtered the Baptists without mercy, destroyed their prop- 
 erty and driven them into exile, and now the remnant were ordered to leave 
 the land. But so faithful, fearless, kind and statesmanlike was Huter's demand 
 for human rights that its scope and spirit ctmimanded the conscience of the 
 
A CA r/roLia .s/.ui'ih'roy. 383 
 
 persecutor, wlio revoked liis cruel decree to extirpate them, a tiling scarcely 
 known before in lii>t(>rv. The i-esult was that they returned to their homes 
 and had rest for twelve years; then for seven years Ferdinand hounded them again, 
 when their landlords were threatened with royal displeasure if one was found 
 on their estates, and after a time they were obliged to fly to Hungary. Soon, 
 however, the gallnws were erected before tlieir own doors; their new home to- 
 gether with Poland and Wallacliia rejected tliem. and they sought refuge again 
 in Moravia, but gave up the attempt to keep together and liid in woods and caves 
 till 1554. 
 
 When the ferocity of their foes abated they prospered again in Moravia for 
 nearly fifty years, and became very numerous, as we have seen. As early as 1528 
 two thousand had joined them from Silesia through the influence of Gabriel of 
 Scherding, and Hast says that by 152(5 infant baptisin was almost obsolete in 
 Silesia. " In 1530 there were about fifty Baptist churches, ranging from four to 
 six hundred attendants each and stretching from the Eifel to Moravia. '- After 
 half a century's quiet Rudolph II. made another savage attempt to extirpate them. 
 He was a descendant of Ferdinand, inherited his hatred of the Baptists, and flned 
 any one of his subjects five hundred ducats who fostered them. In 1622 nearly 
 forty congregations of them were driven out of Moravia into Hungary and Tran- 
 sylvania." For w^hati! In the height of their prosperity, 1589, Christopher 
 Erhard, a Catholic, had spent some time with them and published his observations 
 in a book. He says that the devil helped them to repeat long passages from the 
 Bible, quoting chapter and verse ; that they regarded baptism as the covenant of a 
 good conscience and the Supper as a memorial of Christ's death. He thought, 
 however, that they were armed, because some said that they shot rabbits and ducks, 
 and Kelner, of Austerlitz, had swords hanging over his bed. Then he tells this 
 story to prove their pugnacity : 
 
 'They say that they do not strike, hut let any one try and see. He will prove 
 by his own skin whether they smite or not. The lioly David wrote concerning them : 
 " He toucheth the hills and they smoke." One day I spoke to one of them, and called 
 him an Anabaptist. He resented the name, and when I proceeded to justify the 
 appellation, he proceeded suddenly to lay a stick five times, with all his might, upon 
 my back, and might have seriously harmed me. When I met another and told him 
 the insult I had received, he repeated the same thing. These are the men that never 
 use the stick.' ^* 
 
 If Sliakespear had called out this verdant gentleman in 'Mucli Ado about 
 Nothing,' he would probably have introduced him as he did Dogberry : ' () that he 
 were here to write me down an ass. But, masters, remember that I am an ass ; 
 though I be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass.' He was unwise to 
 call his Baptist brethren nicknames, when they carried sticks. 
 
 All kiiuls of evil reports concerning the Moravian Baptists were sent back to 
 Bavaria, but despite these a constant stream of enn'gration flowed thither ; and so 
 
absolute was tlie satisfaction ationied by thi; new faith that few were terrified into 
 recantation.'^ By great judiciousness the many companies of women and cliiklren 
 who crossed tlie borders completely eluded the officers of the law, traveling at night 
 in disguise and in the by-ways; thus they foiled their enemies. Prince William V. 
 offered a reward of forty gulden for every Bai)tist cajitured, with sixty extra for a 
 mis.si(iii;ir\-. "■' 'Die missionaries lived in ileiis and caves, as did David whoa he was 
 hunted by Snul, and the gatherings of the penplu were as secret as those of the 
 Covenanters ill tlie Highlands of Scotland. As early as 1547 the Iluterites had 
 published what tliey called u > Reckoning of their Faith,' fruiii the pen of Peter 
 Keidemann. The ,leMiits attempted to bint this Ixiok out of exisieiice. and nearly 
 succeeded. No copy is known to remain of tlie first edition, and but two of the 
 second ; one of which is in the Baptist Seminary at Morgan Park, Illinois. Their 
 enemies distributed the so-called ' Nicholsburg Articles ' through Europe as their 
 doctrinal standard, which charged various heresies upon them. But this ' Eeckon- 
 ing,' as well as the investigations of Cornelius, shows that these 'Articles' are a 
 forgery, most probably made u)) by an inquisitor. " Scultetus says that the Iluter- 
 ites were still in Moravia in ITl^^. 
 
 The pen was wielded against them as well as the sword, and in all its power. 
 In 152S Bislio]i Fabri published six serjiions ugainst them at Pi'ague. He stoops 
 to tantalize them with their forced wanderings, as evil spirits seeking rest and 
 finding none; places tlk'Hi in roiiiiKiny with Herod for shutting infants out of 
 heaven by refusing baptism to them, which he calls the luunler of the innocents. 
 As to confessing Christ before baptism, lie demanded with ^i^\v\nuh\ r.r cufhedra : 
 'What will you do with mutes? And where do the Sci-iptuivs say that a babe shall 
 confess? You say that preaching goes before ba|)tisni : well, we always preach 
 before we baptize an infant. If you are so literal yon have no right to baptize 
 any one until you have gone into all the world.' i)i'. Leopold Dick published a 
 tractate against them in 1531. He took ground that ' it is certain the Apostles 
 always baptized infants,' because ' it cannot be shown that they did not baptize 
 them,' — in substance Luther's argument. In the same way he could as easily have 
 proved that they gave them the Supper after they were circumcised. ' Wolves, 
 he says, 'ought to be killed, and the Anabaptists are wolves." iJnllinger, the suc- 
 cessor of Zwingli, launched a volume against them full of hard wonls and weak 
 arguments. He complains of them bitterly to this effect : They say such good and 
 pious things of God, that they must be bad — they praise God when they are mis- 
 treated, and joyfully die for their religion, and there must be something wrong 
 about such people, — the reason why they withdraw from others is that they will not 
 tolerate wicked folk in their fellowship, and, in fact, say that it is vain to demand 
 that people forsake sin and then draw no line between saint and sinner ; then 
 he insists that doctrine is more than baptism, although he confesses that baptism is 
 doctrine. He is grieved because their traveling preachers will go to people and 
 
STUASBUHO. 38S 
 
 read tlie New TcstiiTiient and keep up tliat practice, too, until they are baptized ; 
 that they always carry books with them, even when they labor at cutting spoons 
 and twisting baskets — nay, tlicy arm their converts with power to dispute out of 
 the New Testament with the regular clergy, and meet in barns and forests instead 
 of going where infant baptism is defended ; and what is quite as bad, they actually 
 refuse interest for loans of money, ;ind tliink slavery as bad as usury. After calling 
 them most of the harsh names wliich the liberal vocabulary of his day furnished, 
 he appeals to them affectionately to desist. The essence of his appeal is this : 
 Dearly beloved Anabaptist brethren, do not divide our State churches after this 
 fasliion. Let those remain Christians whom Clirist has not positively rejected. 
 You want to be called Christians, and are very devout Christians. Why do you 
 act so ? You ought to know better. And if you will not learn better, you deserve 
 to be burnt. Light the fagots for them, brethren. 
 
 Returning now to the Rhine, we find there, that, when the Baptists were driven 
 over the borders of Switzerland, they made their way into Baden, JJavaria and 
 Austria, where, as Uhlhorn expresses it, they propagated their tenets 'by itin- 
 erant missionaries,' and great success attended them at Strasburg, Nurnberg and 
 Augsburg. 
 
 Strasbueg. This free imperial city was the Wittenberg of the South and a 
 Ba|)tist stronghold. It was famous for its wealth, refinement and tolerance, so that 
 persecution filled it with fugitives from every quarter, for its magistrates leaned 
 toward liberty of conscience. Bucer, Zell and Capito were the three great Reformed 
 preachers there. Bucer wished to adopt vigorous measures against heretics, but his 
 coadjutors were reluctant, and for once suppression was the unpopular side. He 
 preached to small audiences, his books were little read, the people favored the Bap- 
 tists, and he demanded a disputation. Capito entertained them at his hospitable 
 home, and spoke of their godliness in the highest terms, so highly, indeed, that 
 Zwingli and CEcolampadius, in 1528, thought that he had become one of them.'* 
 He never rejected infant baptism, however, but in 1524 he wrote to Zwingli that 
 he was undecided on the subject. He utterly rejected the notion that baptism was 
 a channel of grace, for unless the condition of heart corresponded with the signif- 
 icance of the rite it becomes a false sign. He had published his ' ('onimuntary on 
 Ilosea,' in 1528, in which he said of the Bai)tists: 
 
 ' (treat good comes to all the Churches by their appearance. Tlie people are 
 more prudent, the preachers more watchful, all offices are better filled. Those 
 wlio, in tlie face of the hardest tyranny, defend Anabaptism in connection with 
 the confession of Christ, err, if they err, without bad intention, for they make use 
 of rcbaptism not as a means of dividing tlie Churches, but as a sign that they believe 
 the Word of the kingdom and are ready to lay down their lives for their Redeemer. 
 We should, however, pray that the Lord would fill with the knowledge of his name 
 these servants of (tikI, witnesses of Christ, and our dearest brothers; though I do 
 not think less of them if they are weak in this point.' 
 26 
 
386 ciiiKF ciTJ'/.Kys (•(L\vi':irri:i>. 
 
 AVlicn tlic Austriiin i:(,v(Tniii<-iit went to liiitrlicriiii;- tlic I!;ipt,ists at Rotliciibui-ir. 
 ill ir.L'T, Capih. plead tlicir caiiM' tliiis. witli his pen: 
 
 'In regard to l)aptisiii, iiKi-i-iiary. ;iiid oatlis, our dear brothers and Ijrave con- 
 fessors of the trutli may liax'e (Ti'eil swrncwhat ; but in other matters, they are glo- 
 rious witnesses of the truth and ve>SLls of honor, and this error does not affect tlieir 
 salvation, for God knows his own. Of the elect, surely are these prisoners, for 
 they have the fear of God, and their very zeal for his honor has led them to this 
 error. In chief matters of faith and essential points, they do not err. Do not, 
 therefore, punish them, but rather instruct them.' '" 
 
 The first so-called rebaptisni at Strasburg was administeivd l)y Jacob (4ross, a 
 disciple of Ilubmeyer, in 1520. lie had lied from Waldshut in C(ini]>any with 
 Reublin, the man who at Basel joined a Eomish procession following a ivlic and 
 holding up a Bible above his head, cried : ' This is the only true relic, the rest are 
 dead men's bones.' Many were converted at Strasburg, and not a few of the most 
 learned and distinguished citizens. Amongst them was Otto Bi-unfels, who was 
 first a monk, then a teacher and a physician. He was the publisher of the works 
 of Wickliff and IIuss, and Linnseus himself calls liim 'the father of botany.'-" 
 Lucas Hackfurt, the Superintendent of Charities ; Fridoliii Meyer, the Notary ; 
 John Schwebel, tlie teacher ; Jacob Vielfeldt, a noted seholai-, and Paul Volzius, to 
 whom Erasnms dedicated his ' Enchiridion ' and willed one hundred gulden, whose 
 piety equalled his learning. But the most marked of them all was Pilgi-am Mar- 
 beck, a noted civil engineer from the Tyrol. lie built aqueducts about the city and 
 constructed a M^ood-slide, by which timber was brought to market frons distant 
 mountains, which timber long bore the name of ' Pilgram-wood.' He had been 
 driven from the Catholic Tyrol for conscience' sake, to stand at the head of the 
 Baptists in a Protestant city, and he boldly attacked the errors of the Reformers. 
 He reached Strasburg in 1530, and in 1531 published two books advocating Baptist 
 views. The sale and reading of these books were immediately forbidden, and he 
 was summoned before the Council. Before that body, he said : ' This matter is sub- 
 ject to no human tribunal, though I gladly speak of it before all Christians.' He 
 begged the Council not to regard the person of any one for his religion, but to 
 judge imjjartially. He said : ' It is baptism, everywhere misused, that involves us 
 in hate. I have received it as the sign of an obedient faith, looking not at the 
 water but at God's command.' He charges the preachers witli ciying out against 
 the Baptists without warrant of Scripture, for there is not one letter there in favor 
 of infant baptism, and so, they sought to compel people thi'ough infant baptism to 
 enter the kingdom of heaven. He denied that the magistrates had the right to inter- 
 fere with the kingdom of God, for that in matters of faith there is no judge 
 invoked but Jehovah. Bucer showed how the aid of the magistrate had been 
 sought. Marbeck replied : ' He who will not be taught by the Word, let him go to 
 the magistrate.' But, December ISth, 1531, the Council banished him. He said : 
 ' I have always submitted to the ordinances of the magistrates, and will yield to this 
 
HELIGIOUS LIIiEHTY DKFEXDED. 387 
 
 decision, but if in future tlic Spirit nf (ioij sIk.uIi! lead nie back, I will make no 
 promises." lie tiicn asked for tluve or four days to get ready. He thanked the 
 magistrates that tliey had saved the city from tiic stain of liis blood, and exhorted 
 them not to oppress the consciences of those who had nowhere in the world to go 
 for protection, and had fled to them for shelter. After wandering all through Ger- 
 many, lie died at Augsl)urg. 
 
 iS'icholas Prugner, an able astronomer, was strongly suspected of being a Bap- 
 tist, yet he never fully identiiied himself with them. Eckard Trubel, a grand old 
 knight, sent out his ringing sentiments from his castle. To his brethren he said : 
 'Great is your reward if you are faithful, but all divine and human rights of 
 heathen and Christians forbid the execution of any one, be he Jew, Turk, heathen 
 or Christian, (ju account of his faith.' This sentiment is worthy of use as the te.xt to 
 tiie ' Bloody Tenet," and the; key-note to American lieligious Liberty. This he 
 backed by such advanced and statesmanlike utterances as these: 
 
 'He who has a good conscience, by the word of God, should not allow it to 
 be broken by human reason and opinion, but remain steadfast. It is better and 
 easier to go to prison oi- hang on a tree with a good conscience, than to liv^e with a 
 doubtful, restless conscience, even in the glory of King Solomon. Man's hands 
 make short work of it, but God gives eternity. The government has no power to 
 use force with consciences.' 
 
 Denk came to Strasburg in 1526, and rendered great service there. And in 
 1528, Jacob Kautz, who had been the chief Lutheran pastor at Worms, but had 
 become a leading Baptist, was banished thence and came to Strasburg. In 1529 he 
 was cast into prison for the bold advocacy of his principles and united with Reublin, 
 his fellow-prisoner, in calling the Reformers : ' Unskilled carpenters, who tear down 
 much, but are unable to put any thing together.' In the appeal of the sufferers from 
 their dark prison, they say : 
 
 ' We have told others of the way of salvation through Christ, and those who sur- 
 rendered themselves to God we have at their own request ba|ili/,eil, nut of ourselves, 
 but according to the strict command of Christ. Baptism i~, ihe irgistering of 
 believers in "the eternal Church of God. It must not lie refused to those who 
 have heard the word of repentance and yielded to it in their heart. Faith confessed 
 is wine, and baptism is the sign hung out to show that wine is within. What a thing 
 is this, to hang out a sign while the wine is still in the grape on the vine, where it may 
 be dried up.' They mean, as in the case of an infant baptized on another's faith 
 for the future, that it may fail, as the promised wine may blight while in the grape 
 on the vine. Then they say : ' Infant baptism is not according to the command 
 of Christ, for no one can tell by it who is Esau antl who is Jacob, a believer or 
 an unbeliever.' 
 
 In process of time they were taken from the Tower and banished, and in 1532 
 Kautz asked permission to return to Strasburg, but was refused. Reublin went to 
 Moravia. For a long time severity failed to dislodge the Baptists in Strasburg. 
 Bucer, in writing to Blaurer, 1531, said : 'They cause me infinite trouble.' In the 
 
388 A UOSnURG. 
 
 next year he velieniently congratulates liini upon liis bloody triumph over them at 
 Constance, and expresses the hope that necessity may comjael the Senate at Stras- 
 burg to move more heartily in this matter. And still, the following year, he com- 
 plains : ' We will lose our Church ami coiuinonwcalth, by preposterous and impious 
 clemency to the sectaries. They say, Strasburg will cease to be a free city if vio- 
 lence is done to conscience. But the sects are so increasing, necessity will change 
 the mind of the Senate. Meanwhile, popular hatred is concentrated on Pledio and 
 me.' Again, he calls this clemency 'the sin of the Senate,' until it finally yielded 
 to his entreaties and drove the Baptists from the city, after eight days' warning, in 
 1 534. In 1535 the magistrates ordered that, ' For the sake of Christian unity and 
 love,' nobody should thereafter shelter, feed or assist any ' Anabaptist,' but every 
 one, old and young, who hears of one anywhere shall at once report the same to the 
 authorities. Moreover, no child was to go more than six weeks without baptism, or 
 punishment should follow. Yet, this did not work a perfect cure, and in 1538 the 
 Senate said : 
 
 ' We have not desired to take tlie lives of these sectaries, as we were authorized 
 and commanded by imperial law to do ; l)ut hereafter, those who return after a sec- 
 ond banishment shall lose a linger, be branded in the cheek, or put in the neck-iron; 
 and if any return the third time, they shall be drowned. We do this, not to make men 
 believe as we do. It is not a matter of faith, but to prevent division in the Church.' 
 
 Yet, the axe, the lirandingiron, the river, did not daunt Bajitist consciences, 
 the heretics remained and increased in Strasburg, just as if they had not been 
 forbidden. 
 
 AuGBBUEG was the head-(|uarters of Baptists in Southern Germany. It was a 
 rich city with a large laboring class, whose chief comfort S])rang from the Gospel. 
 Dr. Osgood writes that in 1527 the Bajitist church there numbered 800 members.^' 
 When Hetzer was a young man he gathered the first company of Baptists there, 
 1524-. After him John Denk became their leader.^ Uhlhorn speaks of him as 
 intellectual, of elegant manners, classical culture and profound nature. He was 
 born in Bavaria, near the close of the fifteenth century, and studied at Basel. He 
 graduated a first-class Latin, Greek and Hebrew scholar. For a time he acted as 
 proof-reader to two publishers in Basel and attended the lectures of CEcolampadius, 
 who procured for him the position of principal in St. Sebald's school, Niirnberg, 
 the German center of printing if not of learning. Accoi-ding to Keller, when this 
 school was formed Melancthon was selected for its principal and he accepted, but 
 for some reason did not serve. The next best man for the place was Denk, who 
 was installed in 1523. His high and independent views of God's word and of the 
 Supper soon brought him into collision, however, with Osiander the Reformer, and 
 after eighteen months' service he was banished, January, 1525, and forbidden to come 
 within ten miles of this famous free city, on pain of death. Osiander was one of 
 those harsh and unlovely spirits who anticipated the narrow Lutheranism of the next 
 
DENK'S SUCCESS. 889 
 
 generation. Denk went to Augsburg and kept a private school. There lie met 
 Ilubmeyer, who baptized him before lie went to Moravia. 
 
 Wagenseil, in his ' History of Augsburg ' (1820-'22, ii, p. 67), says of the 
 Baptists of 1527, they held ' That baptism should be given to none who had not 
 reached years of disci'etion, and the candidates mast not be merely sprinkled with 
 water, but wholly submerged.' Clement Sender, a Catholic contemporary, from 
 1518 to 1533, in his ' Rise and Progress of Heresy in Germany,' Ingoldstadt, 1649, 
 p. 25, writes : ' In Augsburg, in three gardens attached to houses, there used to 
 assemble more than eleven hundred men and women, rich, mediocre and poor, all 
 of whom were rebaptized. The women, when they were rebaptized, put on trousers. 
 . . . In the houses where a baptistery was these trousers were always kept.' ^ 
 
 Denk soon drew many noted merchants to the Baptists, including two members 
 of tlie lower council and other citizens, to the number of eleven hundred in the city 
 alone, besides forming many churches in adjacent villages. Hans Hut was one of his 
 converts and became a strong leader. Denk's powerful pen was kept busy in defend- 
 ing his cause against attacks from Rome, Wittenberg and Zurich. Rhegius, the 
 Lutheran, soon persecuted him out of the city, and he found refuge in Strasburg, 
 where most sects were tolerated. Capito and Zell were the leading Reformed min- 
 isters there ; both opposed police interference with the Baptists, whose ranks were 
 full of public men and many lirst-class scholars. Denk stirred the whole city by a 
 tract, and met Bncer in public disputation, winning great honor by his dignity and 
 mental expertness. This was followed by violence, and he retired to Landau. 
 Here Baader, the Lutheran pastor, drew him into debate, the result being that he 
 and all his congregation abandoned the practice of infant baptism. We find Denk 
 at Worms with Hetzer in 1527, translating the Old Testament prophets. Osiander 
 had its sale prohibited at Niirnberg, but with little effect, as it soon passed through 
 tliirteen editions, and in all has numbered seventeen. 
 
 This was the first modern German translation of the prophets. Possibly Keller, 
 the present archivist of Miinster, has given this subject as full investigation as any 
 one now living. He says that from li66 to 1518 eighteen editions of the entire Ger- 
 man Bible had been issued, besides twenty-five editions of the New Testament. Dr. 
 Jostes and others claim Catholic origin for some of these, but he stoutly contends 
 that all editions published down to 1518 were the work of the Waldensians ; and 
 this is hkely, for the inquisitors at Strasburg found and destroyed German Bibles 
 in 1401:, and at Freiburg in 1430 ; and in 1468 the German primate, Berthold of 
 Mayence, prohibited the use of the German Bible. The Bible of 1483 puts a print 
 of the pope at the head of the host overthrown by the angels in the Apocalypse, 
 which proves its anti-catholic origin. Dr. Keller also puts Denk and Hetzer 
 amongst the standard translators of the German Bible ; and Metzger thinks that 
 the frequent agreement between the Zurich and Wittenberg versions is due to the 
 fact that both used the 'Worms' translation. The translation made by Baptists in 
 
390 HIS DEATH. 
 
 1527 leaned to the ancient Waldensian version, and for a century tlie Mennonites 
 preferred the AValdensian version to the Lntheran. 
 
 In August, 1527, there was a gathering of sixty Baptist leaders at Augsburg, 
 over which Denk presided, which, amongst other things, declared that Christians 
 should never take possession of government in an unlawful way. The result of 
 that meeting unified their faith and enkindled their raissionai-y zeal, so that the 
 empire felt the pulsations which it sent out. For a time he sought rest in Basel, but 
 just before his arrival Baptists had been forbidden there; to the honor of his old 
 friend, Qicolampadius, however, he was made an exception, and the gentle wan- 
 derer was protected. Worn out with labor and persecution while yet young, he 
 passed through a quiet illness, and died a natural death at Basel, in great peace of 
 soul, 1527. Almost his last work was a series of articles setting fui'tli his faith in 
 the sweetest and most apostolic spirit. Arnold was so struck with tliese features 
 that he remarks : ' From them it may be seen whether lie can be regarded as godless 
 and Ids followers as diabolical.' The following extract from Dr. Keller presents 
 this beautiful character in his true light : 
 
 'John Denk, according to the opinion of competent judges, belonged to the 
 most distinguished men of his time. Although liy liis position in reference to 
 the Church he di-ew upon himself the opposition of the ruling powers, and in all 
 places was surrounded by enemies, no one has been able to bring into doubt his masterly 
 gifts, or to discover even the smallest spot in his character. Unstinted praise is ac- 
 corded to him in the testimonies that have come down to us concerning him, a fact 
 which is all the more important since we have only the testimony of his opponents. 
 The well-known Strasbui-g reformer, Wolfgang Capito, praises Denk's most exem- 
 plary walk in life, his remarkable talent, and his outward bearing, qualities which, 
 as Capito says, drew the people to him and held them in a wonderful niannei-. 
 Vadian, the friend of Zwingli, made a bi'illiant sketch of the young man. " In 
 Denk, that distinguished young man," he says, " were all talents so extraordinarily 
 developed that he surpassed his years and appeared greater than himself." The 
 pastor of St. Gall, John Kessler, who had the opportunity of making Denk's 
 acquaintance, says concerning him : " This John Denk was exceedingly familiar 
 with the letter of the Holy Scriptures, and had a good knowledge of the three lead- 
 ing languages. In person he was tall, of most agreeable manners, irreproachable in 
 life, and highly indeed to be connnended, had he not defiled his mind and doctrine 
 with such fearful errors." ' ^ 
 
 Another contemporary said of him : ' The world will not heed the dear man. 
 Well, when the time of misfortune comes, it will have to say that it brought on 
 itself its evil days.' A late biographer says of him : ' The prophecy came true in a 
 more powerful manner than could have been anticipated. As long as Denk's 
 words, " In matters of faith every thing must be left free, willing and unforced," 
 were despised, an unlucky star ruled the destiny of Gei-many. Nearly three 
 centuries were necessary to make room for Denk's ideas. The injustice which has 
 been done the men of Denk's part^' cannot be made good by later times, but it is 
 the duty of the historian to see that the property right in the ideas for which they 
 
ma UIOII CHAKACTER. 391 
 
 suffered be not siiatclied frmn tliem, or ascribed to those who battled against their 
 principles, as may be pru\ tnl in the most decisive manner.' Beard says in his Oxford 
 Lectures : 
 
 'There is a great concurrence of testimony both to the depth of tln' iiiriuence 
 which he exerted, and the integrity and sweetness of the character wiiieh justified 
 it.' Franck calls him 'a quiet, retiring, pious man, the leader and bishop of the 
 Anabaptists. . . . He belonged to that age of Anabaptism when it was at once a 
 deeply religious and a truly ethical movement, before the relentless rage of stupid 
 liersccution had de])rived it of its mitural leaders, and handed it over to extravagance 
 and license. Men gathered eagerly about Denk, Imng upon his lips, adopted his 
 prinei])les, and were afterwards not afraid to suffer for their faith. He showed him- 
 self, in the three years within which all his activity was comprised, a great religious 
 leader, and he miglit, ])ossibly, had his life been prolonged, have developed into a 
 philosophical tlie<)l()gi;in too. In a quiet, singular way, ]h> united the qualities which 
 
 kindle reliiii'Mi- rntlni.-iasm in others with a >\ve(t iva- iMiiic", >uch as belongs to 
 
 hardly any .■ilni-thclngian, orthodox or heretical, in tlic a-c ..i ihc Kdui-uuition. . . . 
 In him, radical I'ruteotantisni lost a leader wliu^e place no S|iani>h or Italian ration- 
 alist can supply.' -^ 
 
 This 'Apollo of Anabaptism,' as Haller calls him, died nearly eight years 
 before the Miinsler outbreak. God enabled him to lay the foundations of Baptist 
 truths very solidly in Southei-n Germany, and no wonder. His heart was brimful 
 of child-like purity and simplicity, his thinking was elastic, forceful and ver- 
 satile, and his literary compositions were finished and winsome, for his discussions 
 laid open his entire heart. No man of his times commanded a litter cast of mind 
 or broader literary powers to lead men back to first principles and make himself the 
 center of a great movement. His body was frail, but his whole being delighted in 
 Christ's teachings, he had no suspicion of his own honesty and his heart never 
 failed him or the truth. 
 
 In the year that Ueidv died, Langenniantel, a nobleman, became the Baptist 
 pastor at Augsburg, and faithfully did his work in this powerful Church. ^ At first 
 he received the Baptists to his house and then defended them. October 15th, 1527, 
 he was arrested for complaining of the reformed preachers that they were avari- 
 cious, that they charged double fees for baptizing children, that they neither preached 
 nor lived according to God's word, but that they taught this doctrine : ' He who is 
 foreordained to sin must sin.' These he calls words of ' horrible blusphemy, the 
 voice of Satan, not of Christ, as God gives no cause for sin,' and he exhorted his 
 brethren to ' stand firm, for soon they will hang, burn and behead.' When brought 
 into court, he was told that he deserved to be beheaded, but because his noble relatives 
 pleaded for him, perpetual banishment should suffice. He wrote a hymn and four tracts, 
 which are e.xtant. One of the latter was on the ' Old and New Papists,' in which he 
 defended the Gospel Supper as a simple memorial, in reply to Luther's absurdity that 
 Christ is in the bread, as fire is in the red-hot iron. Another is a complete defense 
 of the Baptists from the Sci'ipturcs. He rejects the term ' Anabaptist,' which 
 means to baptize again, for he says : • We are Co-baptists, but you are Anti-liaptist.s. 
 
392 AUGSBURO MARTYRS. 
 
 . . . You do not keep the coiniiuuidments of Clinst, esjjecially tliat relating to bap- 
 tism. Is it riglit, when Christ speaks four or five words, for one to take the last 
 word and put it first and the first last? You tui'U it about and take the last word 
 first, according to your will. Where is it said to baptize without ])reaching the 
 Gospel and faith? Now, I demand testimony before the whole world, and give 
 tliem all the Scriptures to show wliere (bid has so commanded.' He was finally 
 put to death by the sword, although his family offered five thousand florins for his 
 release. 
 
 Several other leaders were imprisone<l and cinidemned at Augsburg, amongst 
 whom were Gross, Hut and Snyder. The ' Martyrology ' says, that many of the 
 Baptists there were branded and one had his tongue cut out. Hans Koch and 
 Leonard Meyster were put to death in 1524, and Leonard Snyder in 152Y. Hut 
 had refused to bring his babe to baptism in 1521. Early in his religious life he had 
 tendencies to sedition and was always a strong niillenarian. Hubmeyer contended 
 with him on these points, and in his preaching he said much of the end of the world. 
 The circular which called for his capture described him as 'a very learned man ;' 
 his conduct shows him to have been brave and even daring. In his prison he 
 kindled straw to burn the beam and loosen the chain which bound him, and was suf- 
 focated in the effort. His corpse was brought out amid the ringing of the city 
 bells and burnt on the public square, and his ashes thrown into the Wertacli. In 
 1527 the Dukes of Bavaria issued decrees for the arrest and imprisonment of all 
 Baptists. This document was posted in the market-places and read from all state 
 pulpits. Duke William was very zealous, and wrote a full description of one poor 
 offender to the Bishop of Passau : ' His name is Anthony, born at Salzburg, a last- 
 maker, a big, heavy ft;llow, thirty years old, lame in his right hand, wears a red cap, 
 left Augsburg without a coat, will stop with Heriiiann Kheil, a brother, on the fish- 
 market.' Soon the prisons were crowded with Baptists, many died in prison, others 
 were branded, burned or drowned in the Isar ; but few left the Falcon Tower 
 unpunished. At Augsburg it was made the duty of one of the city councilors 
 to be present at the opening and closing of the gates, so that no Baptist should 
 enter."' Sender, a monk of the city, kept an account of the daily outrages practiced 
 upon them : January 12th,- 1528, twelve were banished; 13th, thirty were impris- 
 oned ; ISth, ten perpetually exiled; 19th, twenty driven out of the city ; 22d, seven 
 scourged out of town ; 23d, three men and five women driven out ; 2J:th. one refus- 
 ing to take the oath was branded on the cheek. ^ The barbarous crusade ran on till 
 February, M'hen a general sweep was made. At Easter two hundred were surprised 
 at the house of Ducher, as they were holding a 'love-feast ; ' then Seebold preached 
 and his sermon cost him his life, for he was slaughtered April 25th, his congrega- 
 tion being driven in all directions ; a little later twelve were slain at Augsburg. 
 
 Rhegius, the reformed preacher, was at the bottom of this bloody work, and a 
 lady of the nobility, a prisoner, said to him : ' There is a great difference between 
 
ANOTHKn MARTYIi. 393 
 
 you and me. You sit on a soft cusliion beside tlie Burgomasters and declaim as 
 Apollo from his tripod, while I must speak here on the ground bound in chains.' 
 He said that if the ' Anabaptists would keep their errors to themselves they would 
 be let alone ; but if they proposed to gather a peculiar people to God and return 
 from banishment, then the government must use the sword.' ^ 
 
 In February, 1527, George "Wagner (Carpenter), was captured by dragoons and 
 cast into prison at Munich, and every means was used to make him recant, even the 
 duke visiting him to change his mind, Imt in vain. Tlie fourth charge against him 
 was, 'That he did not believe that the vei-y element of the water itself in baptism 
 doth give grace ' (regeneration). He was asked why he esteemed baptism lightly, 
 knowing that Christ was baptized in the Jordan. He then showed why Christ was 
 baptized, but that our salvation stands in his atonement and not in his baptism. 
 Then he opened the true use of baptism. Foxe, i, 402. When brought out for 
 execution, the procession halted at the steps of the City Hall to hear the charges of 
 heresy read, and a school-master asked him, ' George, are you not afraid to die, 
 would you not be glad to go back to your wife and children ? ' He replied, ' To 
 whom would I rather hasten ? ' ' Eecant and you can go.' On his way to the stake 
 his wife and children came, and kneeling before him, begged him to recant and 
 save his life. '" He said : ' My wife and children are so dear that the duke could 
 not pay me for them with the revenue of the State, but I part with them for my 
 inmost love to God.' ' Do you really believe in God as confidently as you say ? ' 
 ' It would be hard for me to face a death so terrible if I did not.' He offered prayer, 
 and a priest promised to say masses for his soul, when George said : ' Pray for me 
 now, that God will give me patience, humility and faith. I shall need no prayer 
 after death.' A brother asked him for a sign of perseverance in the flames, when 
 he promised to confess Christ as long as he could speak. As he fell in the fire he 
 cried, ' Jesus ! Jesus ! ' and was with him. 
 
 Two letters from prisoners fell into the iumds of Tlliegius, l.")2S, in which tliey 
 show most beautifully their reliance on the saving work of Christ. Amongst other 
 things this is set forth : 
 
 ' The only answer to give our enemies is faith and patience, for this is the 
 hour and power of darkness. ... If any one asks you why you were baptized, tell 
 him to go and ask Jesus, the Son of God. He will tell you why he gave the com- 
 mand. If you reply out of the Holy Si)irit you will not contradict the connnand of 
 Christ, for the Holy Spirit gave the command through Christ. Christ, our Brother, 
 was circumcised after the law when he was eight days old, but baptized to fulfill all 
 righteousness, accoi-ding to the New Testament, when he was thirty years old. 
 The truth says that teacliing is the principal and most needful thing, for the apostles 
 made disciples before they baptized them. He who baptizes children confesses that 
 baptism is more necessary than teaching.' 
 
 Another apostle amongst the Bavarian Baptists was Augustine Wurzelburger, a 
 school-teacher who did a great work amongst them, but the dukes demanded his exe- 
 
894 SHOCKING CRUELTIES. 
 
 cutioii. The ma<;isti-ates of Regensburij, liowever, iT'jtorted that they found so iniicli 
 'reason in liis vifws,' tliat they coinitr(| Iiim nut worthy of death, he had simply 
 been rebaptized Tho dukes frankly duclari'd this guilt enough, according to many 
 princes and prolatcs. On a second deinand he was iiromptly put to death. Also, 
 at Salzburg, many wvw slain. Seventeen uf them were discovered in the pastor's 
 house, and all wei'e burned, hut those wlm recanted had the privilege of being 
 beheaded beforehand. Many were hacked in their place oi worship and burned 
 therewith. Also a beautiful child of si.\teen was condemned to be burned, and the 
 whole town interceded for her life, lint siie remained steadfast, and as an act 
 of mercy the executioner carried her, like a landi, in his arms, held her under 
 water in a trough and drowned hei-. and then threw her body into the tlames.'" At 
 Vienna one day a large number wei'e di'owned iu the Danube, being bi.jund together 
 in such a manner that as one fell into the water he drew another after him. All 
 met their fate with joy.=*2 Martyrdoms took place also in many other cities, where 
 Baptists were treated like reptiles and wild beasts. This was es|iecially true at 
 Eothenburg on the Neckar, where Michael Sattler, who had been a monk and had 
 become a liaptist, was slaughtered. The tiendish sentence was carried out to the 
 letter in 15^*7. His tongue was cut out, twice his flesh was torn with red-hot 
 pincers, and tlien he was brought in a cart to the city gate, where his flesh was torn 
 five times more before he was burned to ashes. His wife and several other women 
 wei'e drowned, several men wei'e beheaded and about seventy more were murdered 
 in one wa)' oi- another. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE REFORMATION— GERMAN BAPTISTS— Con^in«cd 
 
 MOST iiitcrcBtiii;^; facts are connectud with the Baptists of tlic Tyrol. Fugi- 
 tives from other hiuds flocked to this Austrian province as early as 1525, 
 and Ferdinand began to persecute tlieni in 1527. Their places of worsliip were 
 torn down and their ministers made to suffer by water, fire and sword. Wlien 
 Bishop George issued his command for tlieir arrest, Uh-ich Miillcr was forthwith 
 burnt alive at Brixen, for tlie king had confiscated all Baptist property and ordered 
 the burning of ;ill their preachers. Sunday after Sunday his decrees were read 
 from the State pulpits, and priests failing to publish them were to be punished. 
 Despite all this activity, Baptists filled Innthal and the Brenner Pass. Schwatz, a 
 town of twelve hundred people, had eight hundred of the new faith. A prisoner 
 at Innsbriick, confessed that he had himself baptized four hundred. This sudden 
 growth was due in part to the coming of Blaurock from Switzerland, whose 
 eloquent enthusiasm ranked him, in the eyes of the people, as a second Paul. Many 
 fled from this persecution to Moravia, and, angered by their escape, the king issued a 
 a new' order in 1529, inflicting death on all, regardless of recantation. Baptists were 
 burnt in every village and city wherever found, and amongst them Blaurock, at 
 Claussen. The town records say that sixty-seven perished at Kitzbuhel, sixty-six 
 at Rattenburg, and twenty-two at Kuffstein. Down to 1531 one thousand had been 
 put to death in the Tyrol, or two hundred and fifty a year ; whereas only two hun- 
 dred and sixty-four persons were martyred in the reign of ' bloody Mary.' No 
 writer of the present day possesses such facilities for full and accurate statement 
 on this subject as Dr. Keller, of Miinster ; and, on what he pronounces ' reliable 
 statements,' the number of Baptists put to dratli was as follows: In 1531, 1,000 
 had been martyred in the Tyrol and Gortz, (iOO at Enzisheim, 73 at Linz, from 150 
 to 200 in the Palatinate. In 1527, 12 had suffered death in Switzerland and about 
 20 at Rottenburg. He cites Hase, a stout opponent of the Baptists, who says : ' The 
 energy, the capacity for suffering, the joy in believing, which characterized the 
 Christians of the flrst centuries of the Church, reappeared in the Anabaptists.' 
 
 Under the edict of 1530 all houses were searched, to discover who refrained 
 from mass, and what children had been held back from baptism; the houses of all 
 who sheltered Baptists were to be destroyed, informers were rewarded from twenty 
 to forty gulden and Baptist property was to meet the costs of the Iiupiisition. 
 The trials were private, and the purpose of Ferdinand was to annihilate these home- 
 
396 SPIES AND BETRAYAL. 
 
 less disciples. When tlie storm wiis at its height the l>upti.sts of Moravia heard 
 ' what a great work God was doing in the Tyrol,' and sent Jacob Hnter, their leadei', 
 to assist tlieni. He saved many of them fi'om the blood-thirst of Ferdinand by 
 sending them into Moravia; l)ut on his serund \isit he was arrested iind executed. 
 A gag was put in his moutli, he was led to Iniisl)ruek, where he was first thrown 
 into cold watci', tlu'n into hot, tlien his tlesii was torn with j)incers, tlie wounds filled 
 witii bi'aiidy anil set on lire. 
 
 Sigmnnd von Wolkenstine, a young m.iljle of seventeen, was another victim. 
 After a year's imprisonment he was set free for a little time, to choose between 
 recantation and new sufferings. He selected tiie lattei', but his powerful family 
 induced the king to permit him to enter the army. A price was put upon the head 
 of Griessteller, now the Baptist leader. Tlie otlicers of a dozen districts combined 
 and found him in the mountains, between Brnneck and Rodeneck. After a long 
 hunt, the king was delighted with his capture and he was speedily put to death at 
 Brixen. The ftxgots had been soaked in rain the night before and would not burn, 
 so the peo])le begged for the sword as tiie easier death, but dry fuel was brought and 
 lie was burnt alive. Spies were hired to be bajitizedjto gain the confidence and find 
 out the secrets of the sect, and after all other measures liad failed to crush them it 
 entered into somebody's head that possibly argument and exhortation might convert 
 them ! Hence, Cardinal Bernard ordered liis priests to preach the word of God, 
 according to the Scriptures — the best cure for ' Anabaptism ' ever devised. But, in 
 the eyes of Ferdinand, this made things woi'sc and worse and he went Ijaek to the 
 old weapons. Then he made his edicts cover all Austria and lier dependencies, and 
 thus, in 1545, Moravia became as perilous to the Baptists as the Tyrol. Yet, these 
 Tyrolese bi-ethren stood as firmly as their own mountains ; when the king became 
 emperor. State affairs so absorbed his attention that he forgot all about this liated 
 people. When he returned to his task, however, every valley and ravine was scoured, 
 and the old scenes were re-enacted. Baptists swarmed in Busterthal, and in An they 
 were tlie ruling power in society. 
 
 In 1585 four Tyrolese Baptists ventured from Moravia to labor in their own 
 country. Jacoli Panzer had left home when seventeen, but was now a man of forty, 
 simple-hearted, active and strong in the faith. Ruprecht Sier, thirty years of age, 
 Leonard Mareez, aged forty-two, and a fourth, whose name is not given, formed 
 the heroic band. Each of them was rooted in the faith, and would stretch upon the 
 rack rather than betray a brother. They met their friends in forests, by-ways and 
 crags, as best they could, but some of their relatives were in prison and could not 
 be reached. They were hunted at every point, two of them wavered and one fled, 
 but Panzer met martyrdom by the axe. Tiiese facts, M-ith many others of equal in- 
 terest, are found in Kripp's ' Contril)ution to the History of the Anabaptists in the 
 Tyrol:' Innsbriick, 1857. 
 
 The first effect of the Reformation in (4enuany was to drive away the old 
 
ruK DocrniNK of a hack abused. 397 
 
 Catholic priests, often in disgust and angry controvei'sy, long before Reformed 
 pastors could fill their places, and when they did come the community was con- 
 vulsed more than ever. At first the change was not for the better in the public 
 iiKirals. but the contrarv. The newly-preached doctrine of Justification by Faith 
 aldiu' without the merit of works was not understood, and many acted as badly 
 as they could, because good works could nut save them. People paid absolute 
 obedience to the old authority; but wiien tliat discipline was thrown aside the 
 new clergy had little power over tliem, and were oliiiged to depend upon the 
 secular arm to bring under mural restraint a multitude of nominal believers 
 without the bond of heart-love for the Gospel. Blaurer, the Keformer at Con- 
 stance, complained : ' Ourselves bear a great share of the blame. We want to hear 
 so little of real penitence that our doctrine itself is open to suspicion. My labor 
 and my life become distasteful to me when I regard the condition of many cities, 
 evangelical to such a snuiU degree that scarcely any trace of genuine conversion can 
 be shown in them at all. Out of Christian liberty they make, by a godless inter- 
 pretation, liberty to commit sin. It is agreeble to be justified, redeemed, saved for 
 nothing ; but there is not one who does not resist with hands and feet mortification 
 of the flesh, crosses and sufferings and Christian devotion.' 
 
 Luther said, in 1526 : ' Those who want to be Christians in earnest, and confess the 
 Gospel by hand and mouth, ought to enlist themselves by name and assemble apart 
 from all kimls (jf pecjple in a lidiise aluiie to |ii-ay, read, baptize, receive the sacra- 
 ment and [irac! !(■(,■ (itlicr ( 'lii-i-i iaii <liiii(>. in this manner we could know who were 
 
 not Christians, jiunisli, cunei-t, (AcIihIc and cm imunicate. Then we could expect 
 
 general thanksgiving, giving willingly and distributing among the poor. I cannot 
 yet found such a church, for 1 have not the people to do it witli, and do not see 
 many who are urgent for it.' 
 
 This frank utterance shows tliat at heart he sliared tlie high and pure inten- 
 tions of the Baptists for a thorough reform, and a return to a purely regenerated 
 church, after the Gospel pattern. But his hands were tied, for the condition even 
 of the German clergy was much like that of the Swiss, of whom Bullinger 
 honestly confesses that only three deans in Switzerland could read the Old Testa- 
 ment, some did not know of the Bible at all, and not all of them could read the New 
 Testament. After the general upbreaking, this was the material on which the 
 Eeformation was obliged to depend for its ministers in many places. Luther and 
 several other leaders were more than half Baptists at that time. Early in his ministry 
 he told certain Bohemian brethren that he did not like their views of infant baptism 
 because they used it in hope of future faith when they came to years of responsi- 
 bility. It either regenerated the children or it meant nothing. He said : ' If you 
 receive the sacraments without faith, you bring yourselves into a great difficulty, 
 for we oppose against your practice the saying of Christ : " He that believetli and 
 is baptized shall be saved." ' ' At tluit time he also taught the practice of immer- 
 sion. He said : 
 
898 
 
 
 
 'Tlic trrni 
 
 SdllU' 
 
 lliilii;- ill w; 
 
 now 
 
 iiIioHsImmI a 
 
 little 
 
 water, \-et 
 
 For 
 
 this the etvi 
 
 l>n,pti 
 
 sin i(tnf.\ i 
 
 tit til 
 
 at tlios'e wli 
 
 l.H.k 
 
 at what l.ai 
 
 UArrisr dix'thim-is \vii>e-si'i;eai). 
 
 sill is Kreek.aiid iiiav he iviidereil <li])](iiig, as when we dip 
 ,n that it is cex-eivirall over. And althougli the custoin is 
 >t iiiaiiv. lor the\- do not dip cdiildreii, hnt oiilv pour on a 
 ■ oii-ht' to 1m- wholly iinnierMMJ and iinmediaterv withdrawn. 
 -V of the term s.-enis to demand. An.l the (o-rman^ als,, call 
 ilepfh, which ill tlH'ir lan.-iia-e tliev eall i'nf,, heeaiise it is 
 ha]>ti/.e(l .'should he deeply immer-ed. And cePtaillly, if you 
 si^nilies. \(Mi will see lliat the same i> reipiired. For it signi- 
 tiesthis, that the old man and onr sinful nature, which coiiM^ts of flush and hlood, 
 are totally immersed by divine grace, which we will point out more fully. The 
 mode of baptizing, therefore, necessarily corresponded with the sinnitieiition of 
 baptism, that it might set forth a certain and full sign of it.' - 
 
 Keller shows that most of the leaders stood on semi-J5aptist ground at that time. 
 CEcolampadins writes, February 6th, 1525 : ' I have some letters to friends advocating 
 infiint baptism, but hardly any one will listen to me;' so general was the defection 
 on that subject. And in 1528, William Farel, Calvin's patron, defended the Bajjtists 
 against their foes. A year before, September 7th, 1527, he said: 'It is not under- 
 stood by many what it is to give one's name to Christ and light for Christ, to walk 
 and persevere in newness of life by the infusion of the Spirit with whom Christ 
 innnei'ses his own, who, in this mind and by this grace wish to be immersed in 
 water \iiitiii(ji <mjiih\ in the presence of the Christian congregation, that they may 
 ])ubliely protest wliat they believe in their hearts, that they may be dearer to tlie 
 brethren and closer bound to Christ by this solemn profession, which is only rightly 
 dispensed as that great John, and that greatest of all, Christ, commanded.' ^ 
 
 In this state of the public mind Baptist evangelists came preaching personal 
 repentance, faitli and a holy life, salvation finished, full and free through Christ's 
 atonement ; with a church sustained by pure love to him and not by the secular arm. 
 They taught that ' The water of baptism does not save by its natural force, for it is 
 no more than any other creature of God,' bnt that men are effectually saved frona 
 their sins by faith in Christ's sacrifice. ' But,' said they, ' if faith in Christ saves, 
 wherefore baptism? Faith is a root of a faithful heart. If you believe, you do 
 the works of a believer, as a good tree bears good fruit. Yet, these works do not 
 merit salvation. The word that teaches me to believe teaches me to be baptized, 
 for faith without works is dead.' This preaching thi-ew new light upon the 
 whole Gospel system, and so effectually turned men to holiness that a net of small 
 Baptist churches was formed in all the districts of Germany, from Alsace to 
 Breslau, from Hesse to Etschland.* In many places the commotions of the times 
 liad left the people without teachers, and these evangelists were plain men who 
 supported themselves, preached in barns, woods, gardens, private houses, the poeple 
 heard them and many were radically converted. These formed themselves into 
 simple churches, with the Bible as their only guide, each choosing its own pastor 
 and officers. They met for prayer (the prayer-meeting was commonly called ' the 
 Heretics' School '), for fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the exercise of brotherly 
 
iiisrniiY /roxo/,'/\(! fiArr/srs. 399 
 
 watch-care and discipline. Not lu'lievini^ in State supiwrt and receiving none, tliey 
 voluntarily divided the results of their daily industry, without seltishness, as did tlic 
 Siiiiits at Jerusalem under similar circumstances of persecution. They had ' all things 
 common,' not in the sense of renouncing tlie right of i)ru|)erty, hut in the sense of 
 sharing it freely one with another, in suffering. 
 
 It is needless to say that people living such lives have always been systematically 
 traduced, as tiiese men were in the heat of their adversaries ; but as the world has 
 had time to cool, every man now owes the naked justice to himself to read their 
 history with open eyes, throwing aside the old trick of defaming those whom it is 
 not convenient to understand. Historical aptitude should be quickened l)y the un- 
 veilings of three centuries to a sharper insight into this great movement, so that its 
 length and breadth can be taken in, with that round compactness which the Germans 
 themselves call comhinationsgahe. The branding of men with ink who cannot be 
 reached witli iron should cease. Day by day their entire trend is becoming clearer 
 and clearer, until the best investigators of passionless history accord to nineteen 
 twentieths of them the honest aim of restoring apostolic Christianity by molding 
 simple societies of godly men after the ideal of Christ. Their foundation idea was 
 to develop all goodness, not by bringing the State into the Church as a part thereof 
 but by taking each citizen into the Church on his individual consecration to Christ. 
 This, of course, destroyed sacerdotalism, uprooted all political bases in religion and 
 made the Bible, which embodies Christ's will, the toixch-stone of all Christian truth. 
 The State was to protect all its citizens as citizens, without regard to their religious 
 opinions, so that the civil magistrates could control no man's conscience. Zwingli 
 would have them do no injustice in exacting titlies, but the Baptists said that the 
 civil authorities should levy no such tithes at all. Catholic and Protestant alike 
 made it the duty of the magistrate to establish religion and enforce it by fine, 
 imprisonment and death ; but the Baptists said, ' No ; this is a remnant of heathen 
 usurpation, of which Christ's law knows nothing.' Few authorities have caught 
 the broad view of the Baptists better than the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' which 
 says : 
 
 ' The Anabaptists of Germany were historically noteworthy, not because they 
 insisted on rebaptism as a condition of admission into tlieir communion, but be- 
 cause the enthusiasm of the Reformation manifested itself to them in a form and 
 manner altogether peculiar. Their views as to the constitution of the Church and 
 its relations to the State, and the efforts they made to realize these views, furnish a 
 pi'oblem, partly theological, partly historical, of which the satisfactory solution is not 
 easy. Anabaptism, as a system, may be defined as the Reformation doctrine, carried 
 to its utmost limit ; the Anabaptists were the extreme left of the army of the 
 Reformation. It is true that they regarded each other as in different cam]3s ; but 
 their mutual denunciations cannot conceal the fact that even the most peculiar 
 doctrines of the Anabaptists were to them only corollaries illegitimately drawn, as 
 the more orthodox Reformers thought, from the fundamental principle common to 
 both, of the independence of the private judgment, and the supivnu' importance of 
 the subjective element, personal faith in religion. The connection of this principle 
 
witli tliis tlicoi 
 
 •V of til 
 
 the sacraiiR'iit- 
 
 -■ and ( 
 
 dwelt upon. '" 
 
 
 UKIIITS OF CON.^CIKNCE. 
 
 ],ol 
 
 ie( 
 
 •tioii witli the State, their doctrine of 
 
 isii 
 
 ig, is so obvious that it need not be 
 
 Practically, the cliiirches of the Reformation outside of the Baptist ranks were 
 strangei's to the hi_i;hcst doctrine in the scale of human rights, that of private 
 judgment; they alone expounded, maintained and extended it to all. All persons 
 were forced into the national churches by law. Kn matter how ])riifani' oi' skeptical 
 they miglit be, the law made all members of the Church, and compelled the 
 most licentious to go to the Lord's table, on pain of tine and toi'ture. As clear and 
 resolute thinkers, the Baptists saw that the Protest at Spire, in teaching personal 
 justification by faith, touched the very essence of church-building and exiiloded the 
 whole plan of National Church life. The Reformers saw the bearings of this fact, 
 at a glance, and in order to guard the nascent system they fortified it with the sign 
 which Rome had created, and practically threw the ' Protest' to the winds by pun- 
 ishing di.ssent with bloodshed throughout the continent. Out of that flow of blood 
 sprang the eternal rights of conscience, which the Reformers claimed as their own 
 right, and which they denied to those whose blood was shed. To them that right 
 was a primary truth, to others nuallowable. So, this was not a mere inconsistency 
 either in logic or conduct, but a radical difference of principle between them and 
 the Baptists. Let us examine this vital point closely. 
 
 In 1526 each German State had been left to manage its own religions affairs, 
 as they might answer severally ' to their own conscience.' But it was not intended 
 in this to recognize the right of the individual conscience in each man, but a State 
 conscience, a nonentity, was created as a part of the Reformed system, so far seced- 
 ing from a universal conscience located at Rome. Hence, at the second Diet 
 of Spire, 1529, certain members began to feel their way back further, to a personal 
 conscience, avowing that they could do nothing touching their salvation but M-hat 
 their own ' conscience directs and teaches.' They declared their willingness to 
 obey the Diet in ' all dutiful and possible things,' but they must obey God, as they 
 say, ' for our conscience' sake.' They stated that they could not ' hold and fulfill 
 the imperial edict in all points ' with a ' good conscience,' it was ' against our con- 
 science ' to ' force them nnder the edict in question ; ' they based their dissent on 
 the sanctity of Christian conscience, and the Diet was obliged to qualify its previous 
 decree, and to tolerate religious differences amongst the Lutherans tbemselves within 
 certain limits. Having admitted so much of the principle of soul liberty, right there 
 the Baptist and anti-Baptist battle of the Reformation took its sternest quarters. 
 Schenkel has caught the genius of the struggle, and says : ' The deepest source of 
 that protestation is, the newly awakened consciousness of the eternal rights of con- 
 science. . . . Protestantism is, therefore, a great deed of conscience. ... In what- 
 ever confession or church institution this freedom is not recognized, that is anti- 
 Protestant.' 
 
THE WOIW OXLY IXFAlJ.lIiI.E. 40 1 
 
 But tlie famous Protest of Spire was defective, in tliat it attempted to make 
 provision against what it considered the defects of conscience from ignorance and 
 a wrong hent. It assumed what is ti'ue, namely, that personal conscience is no 
 more infallible than the judgment or will; but it also assumed what is not true 
 namely, that the State conscience is more reliable, although its existence is a mere 
 myth. Yet, for the relief of some parties who composed the Diet, it said that it 
 would seek 'the honor of Almighty God, of his holy word, and the salvation of our 
 individual souls,' by the dictates of conscience. Had it taken one step more the 
 battle between it and the Baptists had been ended. It failed to lay down the 
 doctrine that every Christian should be allowed to govern his own conscience by 
 the absolute dictation of Scripture, under the divine rigiit of its private interpreta- 
 tion; that the Christian conscience could not otherwise be free, and that con- 
 science itself, as well as faith and life, should be left to the teaching of the 
 Scriptures. This was the firm Baptist ground : that God demands the vital sub- 
 mission of the conscience itself to his infallible word, and that every disciple should 
 be left free to follow that, as endowing him with a 'good conscience toward God.' 
 The Baptists located the responsibility of conscience, as well as the exercise of 
 intelligence, at the tribunal of inspired truth, as the last court of appeal in all soul 
 life. The Eeforiners could not be made to see that point at all, but drifted further 
 and further away from it, until as Hase says, 'The Protestant Church appears only 
 like u purified form of Catholicism. In various ways it practically represented 
 itself as infallible, and even expressly claimed that there was no salvation out of 
 itself.' « 
 
 This blunder concerning the radical rule of faith led the Ileformers into all 
 sorts of absurdities, as the attempt to embody a whole nation in a church, in disre- 
 gard of age or moral character, and it explains the principle on which they perse- 
 cuted all whose consciences differed from their own. Their plea was, that all hei'esy 
 is ruinous and must be crushed out, and that all consciences but ours are heretical. 
 Looking at the Eeformation from this point, Luther lamented that it was a failure. 
 He wrote : ' Our evangelicals are seven times worse than they were before. For 
 since we have learned the Gospel we steal, tell lies, deceive, gormandize, tipple and 
 commit all kinds of vice.' Of course, it followed that he must set this to rights at 
 the cost of any suffering to the wrong-doer, in 'all good conscience,' after the 
 example of Saul, and he mistook his own imperiousness as zeal for God, for he 
 confined not his interference to overt and immoral acts. This is his avowed claim : 
 ' Whoever teaches differently from what I have taught, or whoever condemns, he 
 condemns God and must remain a child of hell. ... I will not have my doctrine 
 judged hy any one, not even by angels.'' This Lange confirms when he avows: 
 ' Luther's imperious nature would allow no one else to have his own way.' He 
 seemed at first to take the ground that the Scriptures were imperial, but fell back 
 upon persecuting the consciences that yielded absolute submission to them. He 
 27 
 
402 EDICT OF CJIAIiLES V. 
 
 granted that conscience is tlie eye of the s..iiK and tliciv stn])ped ; but the Baptists 
 added, tlie Hihle gives it light, and the eoiiM-ience eaniiut he free unless guided by a 
 free Bible. A free conscience govei-ned by a free J>il)le forms the i-egnant, double 
 franchise of God's sons. 
 
 Cardinal Hosius said tniiy that Luther did not intend tn make all Christians as 
 free as himself ; thus, w^hen they rejected his autlmrity ii\ei' tlieii- consciences, he 
 treated them as the pope treated iiini ; so Luther became a persecutor by slow 
 degreer He wrote to Spalatin, in 1522, concerning the Baptists: 'I would not have 
 any who hold with us imprison them.'* Li 1528 he also said : 'lam very sorry 
 they treat the Anabaptists so cruelly, seeing it is only on account of belief, and not 
 because of the transgression of the laws. A man ought to be allowed to believe as 
 he pleases. We must ojipose them with the Scriptures. With fire little can be 
 accomplished.'' And still he sanctioned the decree of the Elector of Saxony, the 
 same year, forbidding any but the regular ministers to preach or baptize, under pen- 
 alty of imprisonment. '" Charles V- issued the terrible edict of Spire in 1529, com- 
 manding the whole empire to a crusttde against the Baptists. He ordered that : 
 ' All Anabaptists, male or female, of mature age, shall be put to death, by fire, or 
 sword, or otherwise, according to the person, without preceding trial. They who 
 recant may be pardoned, provided they do not leave the country. All who neglect 
 infant baptism will be treated as Anabaptists.' This was worse than any thing in 
 medifeval ]>ersecutiou, for at least the form of a trial had been observed ; but the 
 Protestant princes who assented to this edict left no way of escape, ' The design ' 
 being, as Keller says, ' to hun' the Baptists with no more feeling than would be 
 shown to wild beasts.'" The Peasants' War had only just closed when this ferocious 
 edict was issued, yet it gives no liint that the Baptists were charged with sedition. 
 The decree of 1529 was renewed in 1551, with this explanation: 'Although the 
 obstinate Anabaptists are thrown into prison and treated with severity, nevertheless 
 they persist in their damnable doctrine, from which they cannot be turned by any 
 amount of instruction.' '^ If the remedy lay in ' severity ' they ought to have been 
 cured effectually, for everywhere they were treated much after the manner of ser- 
 pents. A letter from a priest to his friend in Strasburg says: 'My gracious lord 
 went hunting last Sunday, and in the forest near Epsig he caught twenty-five wild 
 beasts. There were three hundred of them gathered together.' " 
 
 Wigandus breathes the same sjiirit when he asks : ' l)o you patiently protect 
 such terrible enemies of holy baptism ? Where is your zeal for the house of God ? 
 Where such people as Jews and Anabaptists are tolerated there is neither grace nor 
 blessing.' " Luther, Zwingli and Melancthon uttered the severest things possible 
 against them, without once stopping to show that their faith was contrary to the 
 teaching of Jesus. Leonard Kayser had been a learned and eminent Catholic priest 
 in Bavaria. He became a Lutheran, was intimate with Luther and the Wittenberg 
 doctors, but soon saw that the principles of the Reformation properly applied must 
 
LUTllKli A.\D yAVrXGIJ. 403 
 
 lead him into the Baptist ranks. In less than two years after following his con- 
 victions, he was committed to the flames near Passau. When taken to the fire in a 
 cart, he held up a flower, saying : ' My lord, if you can burn me and this flower I 
 am rightly condemned ; if not, reflect on what you have done and repent.' They 
 piled on more fagots than usual, to burn him quickly. When the wood was con- 
 sumed only his hair was burnt, and tlie flower was left unhurt in his hand. In giv- 
 ing an account of his martyrdom, Luther liimself says that a larger tire being made, 
 his head, hands and feet were burnt off, but the body was unconsumed. Braght tells 
 us that the body was cut to pieces and thrown into the river Inn. Luther described 
 the martyrdom of his old friend as wonderfully ecstatic and steadfast, yet he said 
 of other Baptists that it was ' all of the Devil,' with whose councils he seems to 
 have been uncoimiiniily intimate. ' Holy martyrs,' he said, 'such as our Leonard 
 Kayser, die with humility and meekness toward their enemies, but these go to 
 their death strengthening themselves in their obstinacy.' Cornelius informs us 
 that Kay.ser was an elder of the 'Anabaptist' Church in Scherding. 
 
 Zwingli shared Luther's views in the persecution of the Baptists. In his book 
 against them he denounces them as ' bitter,' ' full of anger,' ' hypocrisy and slander,' 
 and ' ought of all godly men to be suspected and hated.' He charges them with 
 crying out against ' witnesses in baptism ' (godfathers and godmothers), ' saying that 
 the Scripture doth nowhere appoint them.' Zwingli, said they not that truly ? do 
 the Scriptures anywhere appoint them ? Was he free from bitterness and anger 
 when he and the magistrates convulsed the whole land with fire and sword, to en- 
 force the senseless usage of godfathers and godmothers ? Or did he think a few 
 bundles of Swiss pine-knots threw the strongest possible light upon the words : 
 ' Love thy neighbor as thyself ? ' Few of the Eeformers possessed as many lovable 
 traits of character as the Swiss Eeforiner, yet he could allow himself to say of 
 these men who had never harmed him : ' Most of them find it easy to withold from 
 the joys of the world, for they belong to the di-egs of society. . . . But now out of 
 their baseness they make a nobility to suit themselves,' — an unintentional tribute to 
 their godly genius. Melancthon was, possibly, the most lamb-like spirit amongst 
 the Eeformers. Both Luther and Zwingli were excessively arbitrary and impe- 
 rious, failing of that higher manhood which can brook contradiction with inquiring 
 meekness. Their opinions differed on the Supper, and Zwingli said that ' Luther 
 was not possessed by one pure spirit, but by a legion of devils.' When attempts 
 were made to promote mutual good feeling between them, notwithstanding their 
 differences, Luther replied : ' No, no ; cursed be such alliance, which would endanger 
 the cause of God and men's souls. Begone ! You are possessed by another spirit 
 than ours. . . . The Zwinglians are a set of diabolical fanatics, they have a legion 
 of devils in their hearts, and are wholly in their power.' But who would expect 
 Melancthon to belch out such rage as this against any human being? Yet even 
 gentle Philip allowed himself to say : ' One Anabaptist is better than another, as 
 
404 
 
 Mi':LAN('rn()y. 
 
 iiiucli as one devil is hi'ttcr 
 
 tlian another." ''^ •] 
 
 calhmsto.lcath;'" In his 1 
 
 etters to Myeoniiis. 1 
 
 lic^iimiiii;- (if tliis iiKixeiiifiii 
 
 t lie was • r.M.li^lily 1 
 
 tlnMii as a (lialiolical ,-cct, not 
 
 to he lohTalech'" 
 
 •MildMi'lanctlKniMillV' 
 
 i-cm1 from olhel- lier.-eci 
 
 in wliicli lie defended the sla 
 
 U-hteror(;o,l'>,.|eet. 
 
 esv; he ealled it ' hlaspheniv. 
 
 ; hut tlie vietinis kiie' 
 
 t(i vipers. His mildne.-s of i 
 
 iiamiernia<h'the],ion 
 
 Jt is tlie .levil tliat makes them 
 l.-.;'.(i :;i. lie tell, him thai at the 
 mereifui; hut now he looked upon 
 
 UI01-. onl.v ill the .lelihei-ate manner 
 
 The Jiojie ealled their erime ' her- 
 
 w only death, dealt out to them as 
 
 IS hoinicide the moi-e ei-uel. and he 
 
 nuist have blushed when the three siniiilediearted IJaptists eonfi'onted him at .leiia. 
 
 He had fled thither tVom tlie pest, 1535, when a c imisM.m wa> examininii' certain 
 
 poor imprisoned llaj)tist peasants, and the CVmucil invited him to act with them. 
 The Miinster disgrace was at an end, and he asked the peasants whethei' they were 
 there. They replied that they had never been at Miinster. and that their consciences 
 could not approve of sedition. AVheli he examined them on the doctrine of the Ti'inity 
 they answered that, not lieini;- leai-lied. they could say little of that hi-h ai'ticle of 
 faith. He demanded. AVhy they preache.l in secret^ They replied : 'The divine 
 word is relentlessly ]iersecuted. we aiv not allowed to preach piihlicly, and now, we 
 are forbidden not only to be hearei-s, hut doers of the word.' As to the community 
 of goods, they thought it their duty to share their jiroperty with their poor brethren 
 who were suffering. They also denied the lawfulness of oaths and of infant baptism.'* 
 He reports, with a ila\or of disgust, in his own narrative, that they said: 
 
 ' Baptism of infants was not enjoined, and that all children are saved, 
 whether of Cliristians, heathens or Turks. God was not such a God as would 
 damn a little child for the sake of a drop of water, for all his creatiires were 
 good. And they denied original sin in children, for such have never covenanted 
 to it ; but when a man grows up and consents to sin, then, for the first time, original 
 sin has power.' 
 
 ites. They sai 
 
 (1 that they needed 
 
 •onilemn civil 
 
 goveiaiment for the 
 
 ill their faith 
 
 . they woidd eheer- 
 
 y were examii 
 
 led concerning the 
 
 (icid made of 
 
 liread.' Hase says 
 
 He asked them of obedience to civil magisti 
 none, they cleaved to God alone, but they did not 
 world. K the magistrates would let tlu'in alone 
 fully pay taxes and do as they were bidden. Th 
 Supper, and said they did ' not believe in a T.ord 
 that Melancthon found these unlettered peasants orthodox on the Trinity and the 
 incarnation, but a little unsound on original sin.'" Still, they denied infant baptism, 
 and that was enough ; so, on the 27th of January, 1536, they sealed their faith with 
 their blood. Melancthon wrote what he thought a full refutation of their doctrines 
 for John the Elector, but his real reply to the innocent peasants was the unanswer- 
 able anti-Baptist logic of ax and flame. Jobst ]\Ioller. the chief speaker of these 
 helpless villagers, was purely illiterate, and yet he held his own against Melancthon 
 with great strength. ' Since that time,' says Beard, ' the world has thrashed out 
 many of the questions which were in dispute between Jobst Moller and the first 
 
CONCURRENT TESTIMONY. 405 
 
 scholar of Germany ; autl tlio result is iu>t in ail i-uspects what the theoloj^ians of 
 Wittenberg would have expected.' ^ 
 
 In what bold contrast the immortal words of John Denk stand to all this: 
 
 ■ There are certain brethren who think they have coinplctely fathomed the 
 
 Gospel, and whoever does not assent to their dictii m-t be a heretic above all 
 
 heretics. If an account of faith is t^iven, they call ir -owiim mcIs of division and 
 dissension among the people. If reproaches are pa—rd bv unnoticed, they say it 
 shows fear of the light.' fn lii> treatise on the 'Law of God,' published in 1.52(i, a 
 year before his death, arc ilir>r words from this profoundly serene spirit: 'Love 
 forgets itself, and the possi--or of it minds no injury which lie receives for the sake 
 of the object of his love. Tiie less love is recognized, the more it is pained, and yet 
 it does not cease. Pure love sti-etches out to all, and seeks to be at one with all. 
 But even if men and all things are withdrawn from her, she is so deep and rich she 
 can get along without them, and would willingly |Kri^h herself if she could there- 
 by maki' others happy. This love is God, who \v.\< made all things, but cannot 
 make himself; who will break all things, but cannot break himself. Love cannot 
 be understood except in Christ.' 
 
 Casper Schwenkfeld was far from being a Baptist, but he knew and loved 
 Denk, and writes : ' The Anabaptists are all the dearer to me, that they care about 
 divine truth somewhat more than many of the learned ones.' Then he candidly 
 states what he understood the Baptists to believe, thus : ' The Old Covenant was a 
 slavery, in so far as God, on account of man's perversity, constrained them to serve 
 him. Hence, the sign of the covenant, circumcision, was put upon them before 
 they desired it. They received the sign whether they were willing or not. liut 
 baptism, the sign of the New Covenant, is given only to those who, being brought 
 by the power of God, through the knowledge of true love, desire it, and consent to 
 follow true love. Unless love forces them they should not be compelled.' Melanc- 
 thon fell into the mistake of all history, in compelling infant baptism. It was all 
 right with him that the Council of Nice ordered the rebaptisra of Novatians, whether 
 they desired it or not; but when the Baptists baptized a man on his own request, 
 because of his love to Christ, he became at once the worst of all men and must 
 welter in his own blood for his crime. 
 
 Voltaire, the atheist, had the common sense to say that the Baptists • laid open 
 that dangerous truth, which is implanted in every breast, that numkind arc all i)orn 
 equal.' ^' And Beard says that their sins can be easily counted : 'They did not 
 baptize their children ; they thought it sinful to take an oath ; they refused military 
 service.' The Anglican Gregory's sum of their tenets is this: 'Baptism ought to 
 be administered only to persons grown up to years of understanding, and should be 
 performed, not by sprinkling them with water, but by dipping them in it.' - Ilozek, 
 the Catholic, gives this summary : ' The Church was to be a perfect Christian people, 
 living without reproach, observing the Gospel faithfully, possessing and governed 
 by the Spirit of God.' Ilejjpe, the Calvinist, gives this analysis of their doctrines: 
 ' 1. Against all external churchism. 2. Against infant baptism. 3. Against any 
 
view of justification that does not involve .saiictification, by the direct and essential 
 indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the human hciii-t.' ^ Hast, tlie critic, who resided 
 at Miinster, says that : 
 
 ' To realize regeneration among men was the Anabaptist aim, and if they failed, 
 the noble and exalted thouglit that animated them, and for which they strove, must 
 not be deprecated. They have deserved in this particular the respect of an un- 
 prejudiced later age, before a thousand others; and they seem in the clioice of 
 niciins t<i attain this end, to have been generally equally worthy of respect. It is 
 mil XI inncli the advocacy of the doctrine of regeneration that is so noticeable and 
 cliararti'iistic of them, but the fact that they held on so hai'd for its I'ealization. 
 They stood in their consciousness much higher than the world about them, and, there- 
 fore, wore not compreliended by it.' •^ 
 
 Whatever follies a few oi them fell into, their high purpose and advanced 
 thought put them as a people in the van of genuine reformers, whose standard the 
 world is aiming to reach at the close of the nineteentli century.-" Hence, to-day, 
 we hear the impartial and philosophical Uhlhorn say of these German Baptists: 
 ' The general character of this whole movement was peaceful, in spite of the prevail- 
 ing excitement. Nobody thought of carrying out the new ideas by force. In 
 striking contrast to the Miinzer uproar, meekness and sufferings were here under- 
 stood as the most essential elements of the Cliristian ideal."-" Tims, it came to pass, 
 in the words of Ritschl, that ' The decision against the Anabaptists was effected by 
 the power of the magistrates.' ^ 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE REFORMATION— BAPTISTS IN THE NETHERLANDS. 
 
 RECENT investigators, and especially Keller, have clearly sliuwn that the 
 principles of the Waldensians spread very early in Bohemia and influenced 
 uhe Reformation under Huss, giving rise at last to the Bohemian Brethren. Tra- 
 dition says that Waldo himself went thither, and that his followers abounded in 
 Austria on the Bohemian border. It is equally clear that, as early as 1182, the 
 views of Waldo had fonnd their way into Holland, and when persecution raged 
 against the Waldensians in Southern Eurojie, many of tiiem found refuge in the 
 Netherlands, so that by 1233 Flanders was full of them. Many of these were 
 weavers (Tisserands), and the first Baptists found in Holland were of that trade. So 
 numerous were they that Ten Kate says, All the weaving was in the hands of ' Ana- 
 baptists.' A^an Braght records the martyrdom of hundreds of these refugees, who 
 were known by different nicknames, and were living quietly in the Netherlands, 
 long before Luther was born. Limborch describes them as ' men of simple life and 
 judgment,' and thinks that if ' their dogmas and institutions are examined without 
 prejudice, it must be said that of all Christian sects which exist to-day no one more 
 nearly agrees with them than that called the Mennouite.' Ypeig and Dermout are 
 of the same opinion. They say : ' The Waldensians scattered in the Netherlands 
 might be called their salt, so correct were their views and devout their lives. The 
 Mennonites sprang from them. It is indultitable that they rejected infant baptism, 
 and used only adult baptism.' ' 
 
 Further they say that their principal articles of faith were : The sole authority 
 of the Scriptures ; the headship of Christ ; the rejection of Church authority ; the 
 accounting of the pope as a layman ; confession to a priest as useless, as God alone 
 can pardon sin ; salvation only by Christ ; good works in obedience to God, and con- 
 firmation of faith; no adoration of saints; and the observance of Baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper. He declares that they cultivated religion of the heart, and regulated 
 their lives by our Saviour's teachings, that they condemned the bearing of arms and 
 self-defense against unrighteous power, and were known as the people who say ' Yea 
 and Nay.' This is added : 'From this histuriral account of the ancient Waldenses 
 of the Netherlands, as they were in the twrllth century, and of their doctrine as it 
 then was and continued to be in the succcciliiii;- centuries, it can be seen how, in 
 every iispLcr, tlic ;incitnt and modern Baptists of the Netherlands, whose condition 
 and (I'Mtriiic iiic -iin i;dly known, resembled them. Yet we must notice, as an ex- 
 ception U> this, the characteristic article of faith respecting baptism. In none of the 
 Confessions of Faith of the Waldenses, it is true, is the article found, and yet it 
 \s certain that the Netherlands Waldenses always rejected infant baptism, and ad- 
 
408 STItONG PEDOBAPTIST TESTIMONY. 
 
 iiiiiii.-trivd I lir ordinance ,,iilv r.iailnlt^. We may find tlii.s po-itivulv asserted respoct- 
 iii-tlu- Netherlands \Vali|eiiM> l,v 1 1 ier.Mi \ mils Verdiisseii, In' tlie A i.K. .t a( niigny,and 
 (it'lier Kumaiiist wrilei's. IliMiei' it is lliat tlicv arc; better kiiuwn in this country by 
 the name ..f Anabaptists i han by that ..t Wahl'eii.es. 
 
 natural it was that, when in tlie sixtecntli century seme Anabapti.-ts joined the 
 seditious rabble, this evil was laid ii[ien all Aiiaha|iii,-r>. and all who afterwards pre- 
 ferred to be called liaptisls ^\■ere hranded by their eiiemius with the .same hated 
 name. . . . They weiild. witliDiil duulit. ([iiiotly ha,\e dcmc mucli good liad tliey not 
 made their doctrine ii >]Mciin- the lia|iiiMn uf adults too prominent. In this respect 
 their religious zeal w a- iioi united \\\\\\ \\isdom. They did not hesitate 0]ienly to en- 
 tice many from the Koini^h Cliurcli to their community, and upon their initiation to 
 rcl)aptize them. This greatly ex.itid tliean^erof the people ami tlie disapj.robation 
 of tlie g.iveinment, which strictly b.rla.le tll.> practice. Ileb.iv th.' name ,,f I.uther 
 asa Judoi-mei- was known, it api>'e.iiv iliai the Anabaiitist^ in this land carrieil (.n the 
 M'ork of J Reformation originally undertaken by others, and drew many from the Church 
 of liome to them, and rebaptized them. ... In the sight of the authoi-ities they lived 
 as peaceful citizens, obedient and noted for tlieir nj)right honesty, conscientiousness, 
 temperance and godliness. The earlier Roman writers wlio are willing to pay a 
 proper respect to the truth admit this to have been the fact. From this naia-ation 
 it is not difficult to understand liow greatly tlie "Waldeiises of the .Netherlands, or .so- 
 called Anal;)aptists, were pleased when Luther and his followers so zealously com- 
 menced the lieforinatiou. They immediately made known their aiijn-obation, they 
 glorified God, who in their time had raised up brethren «ith whom they could so 
 well unite, at least in the main points. \^\ they adhered firmly to their own peculiar 
 views, especially respecting the baptism of adults.' 
 
 These writers then go on to slmw that there was amongst tliem a mystieal and 
 fanatical element, known as tlie ' i>< rp^i ;' then there were the • niq"rftct,' who 
 adorned their pure faith liy a jiraisewoithy mode of life. 
 
 'These were, indeed, ornaments of the Christian Church, who, as lights placed 
 upon a hill, sent forth a wide illumination in the midst of the surrounding darkness. 
 Persons of both classes were scattered through Germany, Switzerland, the .Netlier- 
 lands, etc. Was it indeed surprisiiii;- that the folly of many of the so-called pi rfect 
 .should, at the time of the Reformation, have allec'ttMl the wiiole 'i This will appear 
 the le.-> a>ionishing if it be remembereil thai among the Lutherans and the Zwin- 
 gliaiis might be found fanatical errorists win. weiv learned instructors of the people, 
 r . . By far the greater part of the Anabajitists of the tiist class, and absolutely all 
 of the second sort, were the most pious Christian^ rhar the Church ever had, and the 
 most valuable citizens of the State. These worthy ..Viiabajitist.-, or, as they may more 
 pi'operly be called. Baptists, were to be found in great numbers in the Netherlands, 
 in Friesland, Groningen and Flanders. In the provinces that we have not men- 
 tioned their ancestors, tlie Waldenses, were settled, as we have said, in the twelfth 
 century.' 
 
 After giving a full account of their extensive interiud influence upon all the 
 Protestant Christians in the Netherlands, these authors add : 
 
 'Although there were among the liaptists few 1 
 students of the doctrines of the ( 'Ini-iian i-eligion. 
 writings, but with greater eagerne.-s studying the 
 diligence in the umlerstanding of this precious voli 
 this must have had on the other I'rotestants, both ; 
 
 arnc 
 
 •d men. v< 
 
 et they -were zealous 
 
 ,illii 
 IJili 
 
 i-lv read 
 le and in 
 
 iiig moral, jiractical 
 ciring each other to 
 
 ne. 
 
 What a 
 
 beneficial intiuence 
 
 i ret; 
 
 :-ards a vii 
 
 rtuous course of life 
 
PAPrrSTS AXD WALDEXSfANS. 409 
 
 and an iiiqniry into the tnitli of the faith. Even among the Protestant teacliers, 
 wlio, in other respects, were wholly Lutheran, there were found many wiio openly 
 stated tiiat, on account of the above-mentioned facts, they hold the Baptists in tlie 
 highest estimation and loved them as brothers.' Amongst these they mention the 
 renowed Jolin Anastatius : A ' very sensible, sedate, noble, thinking, upright Luth- 
 eran, wiio considered the Baptist brethren to be in error in some doctrinal points, but 
 elevateil above the other Protestants on account of their peace-loving disposition, 
 strength of faith and godliness of life. This appears from a work wliicii he wrote at 
 Str;isburg in 1550, in the Lower Rhine dialect, or Gelder language, entitled ''The 
 Guide of the Laity." ' " 
 
 Here we see why the Haptists went by the name of 'Anabaptists' rather than 
 by tliat (if A\'aldensians. At the appearance of Luther they came out of their 
 obscurity and hiding-places, and undertook to scatter the light of a more certain 
 Gospel, and to break the power of Romish superstitions. Their zeal in i)usliing 
 their doctrine of adult b:ipii>m aroused the opposition of government, which issued 
 the sternest edicts against them. Nevertheless, they baptized many Catholics before 
 Luther was heard of. The first question of Inquisitors was : ' Have you been re- 
 baptized ? ' so wide-spread was this practice. 
 
 Li the Reformation, according to De Hoop Scheffer, quite as many of the 
 Waldensians in Holland identified themselves witli the Baptists as with the Luther- 
 ans or Zwiuglians, and those who fled from persecution in Germany proper and 
 Switzerland made many converts. In 1523 a book appeared in Holland, without 
 the name of the author, entitled ' The Sum of the Holy Scriptures.' It was soon 
 translated into English, French and Italian, and so many editions were sold that it 
 aided largely in spreading Bajitist views throughout Europe. It has recently been 
 reprinted. On baptism it says : 
 
 'So are we dipped under as a sign that we are, as it were, dead and buried, as 
 Paul writes, Rom. vi, and Col. ii. The life of man is a battle upon earth, and in 
 baptism we promise to strive like men. The pledge is given when we are plunged 
 under the water. It is the same to God whether you are eighty years old when you 
 are baptized, or twenty ; for God does not consider how old you are, but with what 
 purpose you receive baptism. He does not mind whether you are Jew or heathen, 
 man or woman, nobleman or citizen, bishop or layman, but only he who, with per- 
 fect faith and confidence, comes to God, and struggles for eternal life, attains it as 
 God has promised in the Gospel.' 
 
 One of the commonest errors classes the Baptists of Holland with the Minister 
 insurrection, cliieHy because John of Leyden and otliers from that country took 
 part in that outbreak. Keller corrects this error thus : ' Xo one who imjiartially 
 studies the history of Menno Simon and of John of Leyden can deny that the 
 doctrines and the spirit of the two men were infinitely unlike, and much more unlike 
 than, for e.xample, the doctrines and spirit of the Lutheran and Catholic Cliurches.' 
 The ' Encyclopedia Britannica ' says : ' That after the iliiuster insurrection the very 
 name " Anabaptist" was proscribed in Europe.' This of itself introduced confusion 
 in tracing their histor}', because the uauje ceased to identify any specific sect, and 
 
410 
 
 MENNO SIMON. 
 
 itli 
 
 the Miuistur uproar who were no more 
 ■ piipc; liiiiLsulf. lUit says this authority: 'It must be 
 and his fbllowei's expressly repudiated the distinctive 
 Anabaptists. . . . They never aimed at any social oi- 
 ive been as remarkal)le for sobriety of conduct as the 
 
 warned every man 
 
 ciasbilied inunensc nunil)e 
 connected with it than th 
 rcnicmljered tliat Meiino 
 doctrines of tiie Minister 
 political i-evi)hitinii, and h 
 Miinster sect was [uy its fanaticism.' Menno himself says: 'I 
 
 against the Miinster al linatiuns, in rei;ard to a king, to polygamy, to a worldly 
 
 kingdom, and to the use of tiie sword, most faithfully.' Ypeig and Dermout tell 
 us that the Netlierland Baptists were much scattered until l.j:iO. when they obtaine<l 
 the position of a rcguhii' conimiinity separated from the German and Dutch Protest- 
 ants ; but at that time tluy had n( it l)een formed into one body by any band of union. 
 This privilege was obtained U>v them by the sensible course of Menno Simon. 
 
 Menno Simon was burn in Friesiand, in 1492. He was thoroughly educated 
 and possessed large native powers, lie became a Catliolic priest, but in due time 
 
 went to Luther for counsel in seeking his 
 soul's salvation. He tells us little of the 
 result, but details fully the impression 
 which tlie martyrdom of Snyder made 
 upon his mind. Sicke Snyder, so called 
 because he was a tailor by trade, was 
 slaughtered at Leeuwarden in 1531, by the 
 sword, his body laid on the wheel and 
 his head set upon a stake, because he 
 had been rebaptized. Menno says: 'I 
 heard from some brethren that a God- 
 fearing man had been beheaded because 
 he had renewed his baptism. This sounded 
 wonderfully in my ears, that any one 
 should speak of another baptism. I 
 searched the Scriptures witli diligence, 
 and reflected earnestly upon them, but 
 could find no trace of infant baptism.' 
 He says that he consulted Luther's writings on that subject, who told him: 'We 
 must baptize them on their own faith, because they are holy ; ' but he could not see 
 that they were holy, or that they had any ' faith ' if they were. He went to Bucer, 
 who told him that : ' We should baptize them in order to bring them up in the 
 ways of the Lord.' He went to Bullinger, who said that we should baptize all our 
 children because the Jews circumcised their sons. Then, as none of them gave him 
 scriptural authority in the case, he went to the Bible as his only guide, and finding 
 it silent on the subject, he cast the doctrine aside as a human figment, united with 
 a Bai>tist ehui-ch and began to preach the Gospel. For a quarter of a century he 
 
MBxyo snroys la nous. 4ii 
 
 dill tlie work of an evangelist from country to fuuutry, enduring every sort of 
 suffering for Jesus' sake, and established churches in Friesland, Holland, Brabant, 
 Westphalia and the German provinces on the Baltic. One Eeynerts sheltered 
 Meniio in his liouse, but this was a crime, and while the preacher escaped, his heroic 
 host died a martyr rather than betray him. Blunt says that his followers became 
 ' notorious for their deference to the Scripture, and, instead of claiming an inspiration 
 superior to it, bowed down to the most literal interpretation of its precepts.' The 
 Lord of Fresenburg, from admiration of the purity of his disciples, invited them to 
 settle on his estate in Holstein and promised them protection. Many fled there, 
 who established churches, and there Menno died in peace, 1559. 
 
 The two Dutch historians quoted so largely already say of him that he ex- 
 cluded from the community 'some of the so-ciiiled perfect who had either taken 
 part in the riots or had not disapproved of them. He also excluded and gave over 
 to the contempt of the brethren all the rest, who could not be checked in their 
 wicked fanaticism by his sensible instructions. His abhorrence of these perverse 
 men was so strong that he was not only ashamed of them, but he counted it a sin to 
 eat and drink with them. As he also inspii-ed others with the same abhorrence of 
 their conduct, the whole community of Baptists was soon freed from the loathsome 
 leaven of the riotous " Anabaptists." Through his instructions also the tolerably 
 pure doctrines of some Baptists were made purer ; much more nearly allied to the 
 spirit of true Christianity. It was one of his fundamental principles that in the 
 search for religious doctrines nothing should be embraced that is not found in the 
 Holy Scriptures, and in the use and application of these mere human deductions 
 should be avoided.' ^ 
 
 Whether he was ever immersed is a matter in dispute. Scheffer thinks that he 
 was not, although he says that ' in Germany, until 1400, there was no other method 
 than immersion.' It is clear that after that date the method changed, and that the 
 Mennonites practiced pouring, at an advanced stage in their history. Menno's 
 great testimony lodged against infant baptism, for which he and his people, in com- 
 mon with all the so-called ' Anabaptists ' of the Netherlands, endured great persecu- 
 tion. The accounts given of their sufferings by such secular historians as Motley, 
 as well as by the martyrologists, are horrible in the extreme. Christians of various 
 sects were butchered in cold blood, so that, in fivc-and-twenty years, under Charles 
 v., 50,000 persons are said to have been hanged, beheaded and buried or burnt alive 
 in the Netherlands alone. A very large proportion of these were Baptists. June 
 10, 1535, a furious decree was fulminated at Brussels, calling for the death of tliis 
 entire people. Even if they recanted they were to die by the sword instead of fire, 
 the women were to be buried alive, and all persons were forbidden to petition for 
 any grace, favor or forgiveness for them. Before suffering death in any of its 
 sanguinary forms, these lielpless victims were generally put to the rack. Motley 
 thus describes this atrocity : 
 
412 
 
 
 
 mUlIAL AL 
 
 • Tlio rack wns t 
 
 he cc, 
 
 art u 
 
 f justicr: thr 
 
 t.idc. . . . The victi 
 
 ni, wli 
 
 el her 
 
 iii'aii, mati'uii 
 
 MII,1 stlVtclu-.! UpMI, 
 
 fhr w 
 
 
 1 hciicli. W; 
 
 :ij)|ianitiis ]<y wliicli 1 
 
 he >ill 
 
 cws (• 
 
 (lul.l hr sfniilH 
 
 without l)l-c:ilsin-', ;ii 
 
 I.I th. 
 
 ■ ImkI 
 
 ,V racked r\,| 
 
 was now put in i>\>rr. 
 
 ilii)ll. 
 
 'i'h(' 
 
 'cxrciiriuiicr. ( 
 
 foot, with lii> t_'\r> 
 
 
 \'j at 
 
 hi- viclini th 
 
 muffled iiis lace. |il-: 
 
 ICli(T( 
 
 \\urr 
 
 vsMvcIv all th 
 
 ingenuity of the uk 
 
 Hiks h 
 
 ;mI il 
 
 iv,'iil('(i. The 
 
 keep i)ace w ith tliesc 
 
 dread 
 
 Itul i-c 
 
 •alitics."^ 
 
 iirHiial's only advocate was liis forti- 
 
 iiiidrr \ii'::iii. was stripped naked 
 
 ■. wriiihts, pidlies, screws, all the 
 
 without ri'ackiuf,', the bones crusiied 
 
 itcly w ithout giving up the ghost, 
 
 (■lo|)i(l in a black robe from head to 
 
 hi-MiiL;h holes cut in the hood wliich 
 
 lis of torture whieli the devilish 
 
 illation sickens when striving to 
 
 It was niui-e coiiiui.iii to bury the wuiiini alive than tlie men. iiu.l it \v;is done 
 
 generally in this manner. A coliin was ma.le, so small that the [ r wivt.-h must be 
 
 squeezed into it without room to struggle, with holes for iron Ijai-s to keep 
 the body down. After laying it on a .M-albild and ton-ing the body into it, a cord 
 was rim through the boltoni of the coliiii, tied round the neck and violently drawn 
 
 tiglit. Tiieli earth was thrown up.Mi it, an<l th.' living bnri;il was ipleted. Dr. 
 
 Rule relates the case .jf a harmless w.miaii at L./eii war.leii. L."i4.s. in whose house a 
 
 Latin Testament was found. She was jiiit .m 
 
 ' e.\])ected to be saved by baptism '. ' She answer 
 
 cannot save me, n.ir anything else but that sal\ 
 
 commaiiiled me to love the L.ird my (io.l ab.i\e : 
 
 s.df.' A i>rinter at Liesvelt M-as behea.led be.-aus 
 
 the ]nanted Bibles: ' The salvation of mankin.l s| 
 
 154'.t, the Baptists were persecutcl with great vig 
 
 at Anister.lam, when all but live men and thive v 
 
 Jansen, a lame man, might have es.'ape.l but refus,..!, aii.l ..ii the I'nth of March he. 
 
 with seven others, was burnt, on the ciiarge ' that they had sulfered themselves to 
 
 be rebaptized and had wrong notions of the sacraments.' Rule mentions nine other 
 
 men at Amsterdam who, for being Baptists, were taken out of their beds and 
 
 removed to the Hague. There they were behe.i.le.l an. I their heads sent back to 
 
 Amsterdam in a herring-barrel, where they were set np.iii stakes. Hans of Over- 
 
 <lam was put to death at Ghent in l.">.^<>. lie was a talented man. of gentle but 
 
 indomitable spirit anil of great spirituality. In the touching account of his siitfer- 
 
 ings it is said that he thus addressed his brethren : 
 
 'Dearly beloved, it is not enough that we have received baptism on the confes- 
 sion of our faith and by that faith have been engrafted into Christ, unless we hold 
 fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. The Council began to 
 speak to us, why we were not satisfied with the faith of our parents and with our 
 baptism. We said: We know of no infant baptism, but of a ba])tism upon faith, 
 wliich God's word teachetli us.' 
 
 The account of liis arrest is most interesting. One Sunday morning himself 
 an.l a frien.l had met in the woods to worship God, with a company of their brethren. 
 Tliey sought other brethren in vain for near an hour, and were about to return, but 
 
 he i-ack 
 
 an.l 
 
 ask.'. 
 
 1 whether she 
 
 .1, -No: 
 
 all 
 
 the ^v■. 
 
 Iter in the sea 
 
 ti.iii win 
 
 ch i 
 
 s in ( 
 
 'hrist, who has 
 
 ,1 things. 
 
 an.l 
 
 my n. 
 
 eighb.n- as iiiy- 
 
 he ha.l 
 
 put 
 
 this 11. 
 
 ote int.i one of 
 
 ■iiigs fn, 
 
 
 hrist ; 
 
 done.' About 
 
 r. ^r\vei 
 
 tity . 
 
 ..F thei 
 
 n lay in jirisoii 
 
 alien m; 
 
 i.le t 
 
 heir e 
 
 s.-ape. Elbel-t 
 
DUTCH MARTY US. 413 
 
 began to sing softly, tliat if tlicir friends were at liand tiicy niigiitliear tiieni. Tiiey 
 lieard a rustling and stopped, when three armed men stood before them. Hans 
 said i)leasantly : ' Well, comrades, you have been seeking a hare and have not caught 
 it.' TJie three bid them surrender as prisoners; and immediately their eyes fell 
 upon a wagon loa<l of their l)ret]iren, who were guarded by three justices and their 
 otlicers. Hans and his friend were then l)ound together in irons and led to the 
 castle, about a mile distant. Here they were kept for three days and then taken to 
 Glient, where they met their betrayer. They were charged with holding 'assemblies 
 of this new doctrine,' contrary to the order of the emperor. Hans replied : ' It is 
 not given him of God to make such laws ; therein he exceeds the power granted him 
 of God. In this matter we know him not as a ruler, for the salvation of our souls 
 is dearer to us and we must give our obedience to God.' They went through various 
 examinations and disputations, but were finally condemned to death. The Procurer- 
 general said : ' The reason you are condemned as heretics is that various learned 
 persons have disputed with yon, and you have not suffered yourselves to be instructed.' 
 Motley, quoting at large from Brandt, records the noted case of Dirk Willem- 
 zoon, who was guilty of no crime but that of being a Baptist. Being sentenced to 
 death, he made his escape over a frozen lake, late in the winter, when the ice had be- 
 come \veak. Three officers pursued him, and one of them breaking through, he cried 
 for help, as he was drowning. The other two fled, but the tender-hearted Baptist left 
 the shore at the peril of his life, flew across the cracking ice to his rescue, and the 
 liero saved him. Having thus magnanimously rescued his enemy from death, he 
 was himself biirnt at the stake for his pains. * Time fails to enlarge upon these indi- 
 vidual cases of suffering for Christ's sake, for Baptists were tolerated nowhere. 
 Other dissenters fled to lands where they were safe, but no voice pleaded for them, 
 and no arm was raised for their defense ; hence Ten Kate says that in the Nether- 
 lands they furnished ten martyrs where other Reformed sects gave one. The fol- 
 lowing figures are appalling. The Dutch Martyrologies mention in Ghent, 103 ; in 
 the Province of Holland, 111 ; at Antwerp, 229 ; and this ratio was kept up every- 
 where, except in the province of Groningen. Nor did it matter if they fled to 
 other lands. The Martyrology relates the sufferings of 900 martyrs by name, and 
 makes reference to 1,000 others. Liliencron collected the martyr hymns of Luther 
 ans and Baptists. He found three Lutheran hymns, commemorating four martyrs, 
 but sixty-two Baptist hynms, extolling the steadfastness of three hundred brethren. 
 De Hoop Scheffer says : 
 
 'In 1635 the magistrates of Zurich undertook to compel the Memiunites by 
 force to enter the Reformed Church. They were thrown into prisoi\, and their 
 property was confiscated. Schaffhausen, Berne and Basel joined hands with Zurich, 
 and great cruelties were perpetrated. Berne sold a number of its Mennonites as 
 slaves to the king of Sardinia, who used them on his galleys. In the course of 
 about seventy years all Mennonites were expelled from Zurich, Schaffhausen and 
 St. Gall.' « 
 
4 1 4 FIKNDISII TonrVllKS. 
 
 The niiiinr foi-ms ol' ])ersecutii>ii \wvv iiuiiil)t'rlc-s.s. Baptists met where they 
 could to \\vdY t\\v ( iiispel, in darkness, in hain. and brake, and bush, through cold, and 
 snow, and hail. Dragoons hunted them by the light of moon and stars, to detect 
 their secret places of meeting, and tragedy commonly followed, in one form or 
 another. Their first crime was to worship God and administer baptism at midnight ; 
 then came separation from home, wife, child, parent and other kindred. Flight or 
 banishment followed ; arrest, imprisonment, inquisitors and torture were only the 
 beginning of the end. Said a simple-hearted pri.sjner : 
 
 ' The chief rea.son for torturing me is to make me tell how many preachers 
 there are, what their names and where they live, where I went to school, how 
 many I have baptized, where I was ordained, and by whom. They wanted me to 
 call the magistrates Christains, and say that infant baptism is right. Then I pressed 
 my lips together, left it all with God and suffered patiently while I thought of the Lord's 
 words: "No one has greater love than this, that a man should die for his friends.'" 
 
 Nothing was left undone to terrify them into recantation, but they were strang- 
 ers to fear. ' Let us not be frightened,' said they. ' though the bounds bay, and the 
 lions roar ; for God, who is with us, is a mighty God and will keep his own.' 
 Ursula Werdum, a noble lady at Overyssel, was taken from her castle to the stake. 
 Her mother and sister came from afar to change her mind, but their entreaties had 
 no effect. On the way to execution she joined hands with one 'Mary,' who had 
 been disowned by her family, and they sung the praises of God as they walked. 
 They gave each other the kiss of peace and prayed for their persecutors. Mary 
 begged the judges to shed no more innocent blood, but a priest drove Ursula from 
 her and the burning pile. Slie turned back, saying that she wanted to go to the 
 same glory, in the same way ; and, turning to the stake, said : ' Our Father, who art 
 in heaven.' ' Yes,' said the priest, ' that's where he is found.' She replied : ' Because 
 I look for him there, I can face death here.' "When she ascended the pile her foot 
 slipped, and the judge thought that she yielded. ' No,' said she, ' the wood slipped ; 
 I will remain steadfast to Christ,' and died. 
 
 Buckle quotes from the official report of the Venetian embassador to the court of 
 Charles V., made in 1546 : ' That in Holland and in Friesland more than 30,000 
 persons have suffered death at the hands of justice for Anabaptist errors.' ' Hist, of 
 Civilization,' i, p. 189. No chapter in history is more horrible than that which 
 records the persecutions of the Netherland Baptists under Charles V. He ordained 
 the amputation of a hand or the extraction of an eye on every author or printer of 
 their books. All the accused were to be examined as to the baptism of their babes, 
 midwives were sworn to baptize new-born children, mothers whose infants were 
 born away from home must bring baptismal certificates, and all pastors were com- 
 manded to keep baptismal registers, that the parents of the unchristened might be 
 brought to punishment. State baptismal records have figured largely in the persecu- 
 tion of Baptists. They appear to have been created for that purpose first by Zwingli : 
 
TIIK rillXCK OF OUANGE. 41 S 
 
 ' P.ecaiise tlie P.aptists liavc (.Iumi siid tliat tliey did iu>t know wlii'tliur tliey were 
 Ijajjiizcd 111- not ; ' he i-cquested tlie Council at Zuricli to record tlic names of each 
 cliiid, wit!) its fatiicr and godmother, 'as it will estabiisli wlio are baptized, and 
 Anabaptism will not be able to break in again overnight.' Hence, according to 
 IloHing (' Sacrament of Baptism,' 2,245), on May 24, lo2('), the keeping of registers 
 was decreed, because 'many people would not have their children baptized.' Hol- 
 land understood this way of entrapping Baptists as well as Switzerland. 
 
 The whole land was stricken with terror and the cries of the torturetl were heard 
 perpetually, gallows and trees on the highways were hung with dead bodies. Dr. 
 Rule says: 'The very air was polluted with the stench, and the knell of death 
 sounded lieavily from every belfry. Alva gloated over the carnage.' This fiend 
 invented many new methods of torture for the amusement of the soldiery, amongst 
 them the screwing of iron to the tongue and the burning of the end till it droj)ped 
 off, and when the sufferer screamed they mocked at his fine 'singing.' 
 
 Despite these persecutions they perpetually nniltiplie<l. Keller says that in 
 1530 there was scarcely a village or city in the NLtlR ilamls where Baptists were 
 not foimd. Bullinger complains that the whole province of Belgium was infested 
 with them ; and Micronius wrote, that Menno's kingdom not only extends through 
 Belgium, but from ' Flanders to Dantzic' In 1550 the leading reformed element, 
 according to Ten Kate, was Baptist, and in Friesland, in 15S0, one inhabitant in 
 every four was a Baptist. The magistrates of Deventer refused admission to the 
 inquisitors, saying : ' "We can make all the examination needful of the faith of our 
 burghers. You have nothing to do in this matter, and we order you to leave with- 
 out delay and never return on such an ei-rand.' Baptist industry and frugality 
 distinguished them in trade and commerce. Peter Lioren, one of them, introduced 
 the cat-boat and extended the herring and whale fisheries, to the enrichment of the 
 nation. Halbertsma asks : 
 
 ' How was it possible to find better citizens ? They brought into the treasury 
 their thousands every year, and never took out a penny as officials. They set fire to 
 no property, but dug wells to put out fires. They fired no musket, but they nursed 
 the wounded. They were not soldiers, but they furnished the sinews of war.' 
 
 When men were martyred publicly a straw hut was built around the stake 
 and the martyr consumed with it, so that he should neither be seen nor heard. 
 Verbeck, a Baptist pastor, suffered in this way in Antwerp, 1561. The people 
 could endure this diabolical work no longer, and the States of Holland declared 
 the Prince of Orange Viceroy, in their determination to shake off at once the 
 Spanish and Papal yoke. 
 
 William had been governor of Holland under the king of Spain from 1559. 
 In 1556, while still a Catholic himself, he wrote to his subordinates: 'I have 
 neither the will nor the means to help the Inquisition, or execute the placards. 
 If peace is to be preserved in this land, liberty of worship must be guaranteed 
 
4 If, TWO n.M'risr I'UKAciiFJts. 
 
 1,, cvciT iiilml.iliint. 1'lirrc iiin>t !„■ ;i li;ilt in |mtmm- 
 l,c iiiiHir t.. Ilic kill-; AVIirli he wa> rcijuiivil I,, 
 iiiiiii.l tiiMinviicIrr l,i> n\\\vr, aii.l tlicn to taki' up aim- ; 
 <li,l 11, ,t at niH-,- .•oiiiiHvlicii.l all tliaf liis in,, tin niraii 
 Lewis, inaivlir,! iiit,> ( ilU'liltTlaihl lii. new ii.itc \vas, "J. 
 
 idii until 
 
 1 an iippeul can 
 
 ,|,l-,.„t lu 
 
 •icsy lie duter- 
 
 aiii>t Ah 
 
 •a. Possibly he 
 
 hut wli 
 
 rll his hrntlRT. 
 
 irrly .jf 1 
 
 iati,in and cm- 
 
 wirli the 
 
 tires of pcrse- 
 
 ,.> a, licttu. 
 
 rilay. PiMtest- 
 
 It. an,l h. 
 
 ulli against the 
 
 „l Spi, 
 
 V, was the ,.nly 
 
 A. 1). I. -,7::: the .■,,ntinent was still ahlaze. h„\\ 
 cutiiMi, an, I liuniaii lH.,li,'s were li-htiu- nuMi everyw 
 ant rave,l a-ainst Catli.ilie and ('atli,.lie a-aiiist I'r 
 Jiajitists. I'hilip ,if Hesse, the l,,ne dissenter at tli: 
 prinee ,.f that ,la.v wh,. was unwillin- t,. dye liis sw,.r,l in inn,,.-ent hhM.d. He 
 wouM imprison liereties aii,l exile them to lands where tliey met with no mercy, but 
 lie w,iul,l nut slay them. An,l, p,)ssibly, ins])ireij by his example, God was raising 
 u]) a -reater than he, wh,, s]i,,ul,l ,lei'en,l every Christian aa'aiiist the blood-thirst of 
 his bnither Christian. N,, ,-,,untry was m,,re th,,r,,n-lily s,,ake,l with the blood of 
 the saints than Holland, tinder riiili], II. ,,f Spain. Duke Alva ami the Impiisition, 
 but its bitterest trial came in the ,,peniin;- ,,f l.",7i', in its ,',,ntest with the Sjianiard. 
 As far back as i:,:,;t, the Priinr ,,1' Oraii-e was in Paris, when Henry IL tohl liha 
 that he and ]'hilip ha,] nia,le a treaty t,_, ])ut all Xetherland Pi',.,testants to the sword. 
 At that time the y,,un-- pi'inee was but twenty-six, but he then and there mentally 
 resolved to thwart that bloody ]„,liey by arousini;- the Protestant population of the 
 Netherlands to throw off the Spanish y,,ke. In ,lue time he appealed to them and 
 to the courts of Northern Euiupe to aid him in rescuing Holland, but at first 
 largely in vain. After several victories had awakened poj)ular sympathy, his 
 appeals for aid to the wealth of HolhiTid were met with coldness and frowns. He 
 had thrown all his own possessions into the contest, had even sold his plate and 
 jewels and mortgaged his estates, to carry on the war against Spain, and was nearly 
 obliged to abandon the attempt, when a trivial circumstance gave him ne\v courage. 
 
 Early on an April morning, and oppressed with anxiety, he was walking near 
 his head-quarters at Dillenburg, when two simple strangers approached him and, 
 taking him to be one of the royal household, asked if they could have an audience 
 with the prinee. He led them into the castle and made himself known. On asking 
 who they were and their business, he found that they were Jacob Fredericks and 
 Dirk Jans Cortenboseh, two Holland Baptist preacliers. They had been visiting 
 their brethren on the Rhine, and on their return home came to see whether they 
 could serve the prince. They explained to him their principles, and he told them 
 his general purposes and needs, asked them to urge their friends to contribute 
 money to the advancement of the common Christian cause, and thaidced them 
 heartily when they promised to do so. On the 20th of the same month he issued 
 the following decree : ' Be it known to the magistrates and the officials in the 
 North, that you are by no means to allow any one who preaches and observes the 
 
MOTLEY'S STATEMENT. 417 
 
 true word of Gud, according to the Gospel, to be liindered, injured or disturbed, 
 or to Imve his conscience examined, or on tliat account to be i>ersecuted by inqui- 
 sition or placards.' A fortnight later, May 5tli, he sent his secretary with a letter 
 to his Baptist friends pleading : ' Let every one contribute. This is a time wlien 
 even with small sums more can be effected than at other times with ampler funds. 
 Ilis lordship will ever be ready to reward them for such good and faithful service 
 to the common cause and to their prince.' 
 
 With slight variations in minor things, J\Iotley also touchingly details these 
 circumstances. lie says: 
 
 'Theseappealshad, however, but little effect. Of tlinH^liundrcil tlinus;iud crowns, 
 promised on behalf of leading nobles and merchants nf the .Niilnihiiids by ^larcus 
 Perez, but ten or twelve thousand came to hand. Thi> appeals t" ilic gentlemen who 
 had signed the com]iromisf, anil to many others who had, in times past, been favor- 
 able to the liljeral party, were powerless. A poor Anabaptist preacher collected a 
 small sum from a refugee congregation on the outskirts of Holland, and brought it, 
 at the peril of his life, into the iniiice's camp. It came from peojile, lie .siid, whose 
 will was better than the gift. 'I'licy never wished to be repaid, he ^aiil. except by 
 kindness, when the cause of i-eforni ^lioulil l)e triumphant in the Xetliirlain!-. The 
 l)rince signed a receipt for the money, expressing himself tondieii by thi- >\ mpatliy 
 from these poor outcasts. In the course of time, other coiitribiitiun^ li-,.iii .-imilar 
 sources, principally collected by dissenting preachers, starving and per,-ecnt<Ml chui'ch- 
 connnunities, were received. The poverty-stricken exiles contributed far nnjre, in 
 proportion, for the establishment of civil and religious liberty, than the wealthy 
 merchants or the haughty nobles.'' The same author speaks of the ]iriiu-e, as con- 
 ceiving ' the thouglit of nligious toleration in an age of universal dugmatistn,' for 
 that 'he had long tliuughf 1 1 lat emperors, kings and" popes had taken ahogcfher too 
 much care of men's souls in times past, and had sent too many of them (neiuaturely 
 to their great account. He was equally indisposed to grant full powers for the same 
 purpose to Calvinists, Lutherans or Anabaptists.' ' 
 
 Immediately on giving their promise the Baptists made the collections, but, 
 owing to the loss of one of their collectors in the perilous undertaking and the pov- 
 erty of their churches, their returns were delayed. Fifty years of unrelenting per- 
 secution had left them but little besides their patriotism ; yet, on July 29th, they 
 brought their patriotic offering of a thousand florins to the prince at Eemund. The 
 prince had faithfully kept his word. At a meeting of the Estates of Holland, July 
 loth, he had been declared governor, in place of the Duke of Alva ; and had pro- 
 claimed that ' the freedom of religion shall be guarded, every body shall exercise it 
 freely in private or in public, in church or in chapel, without let or hinderance from 
 any one.' And eight days later, in camp, he made proclamation to protect Catholics. 
 ' No one, whether priest or layman, shall be wronged or injured in property or per- 
 son ; ' and offenders against this order were to be put to death, as malcontents and 
 disturbers of the general quiet and welfare. When the Baptists made their offering 
 to him out of the penury of their confiscation, burdened by hosts of widows and 
 orphans, left by thousands of their martyrs, he asked them : ' Do you make no 
 demand ? ' They answered, ' Kotliing but the friendship of your grace, if God 
 28 
 
MOTLEY'S TESTIMONY CONTINUED. 
 
 ^■nints to yim tlic ,<;:(ivc 
 
 riiiiiciit of o 
 
 i.r iXcthcTlands.' He 
 
 assii 
 
 red them 
 
 of hi.s Byn 
 
 Kitliv for tlicm :n.,l f 
 
 or all men. 
 
 All. I In. kq.t faith 
 
 wit 
 
 h them t 
 
 o tlie lette 
 
 iltlicu-h liis lidi'lity ii 
 
 ixdlvc'il him 
 
 in pLTjiutuul turmoil \ 
 
 vith 
 
 hi.s l,e^t f 
 
 riemk Mo 
 
 vy says that: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'Jli.s intimate eoniiselor, the accomplished vSaint Aldeironde,' was 'in despair 
 because, the prince refused to exclude the Anabaptists of Holland from the rights 
 of citizenshij). At the very moment when William was straining every nerve to 
 unite w-arrinii; sects, and to persuade men's hearts into a sy.stem by which their 
 coiiscic'iices were to be laid open to God alone, at the moment when it was most 
 iKMH'.-sai-y foi- the very existence of the fatherland that Catholic and Protestant 
 should miii,i;le their social and political relations, it was indeed a bitter disappoint- 
 ment for him to see wise statesmen of his own creed unable to rise to the idea of 
 toleration. " The affair of the Anabaptists," wrote Saint Aldegonde, " has been 
 renewed. The pi'ince objects to exclude them from citizenship. lie answered me 
 ^hai ply. that their yea was equal to onr oath, and that we should not press this 
 matter unless we were irillhig to confess that it toas just for the Pajt'tsts to compel 
 IIS t(_i a divine service which was against our conscience." It seems hardly credible 
 that this sentence, containing so sublime a tribute to the character of the pi'ince, 
 should have been indicted as a bitter censure, and that, too, by an enlightened and 
 accompli.slied Protestant. " In short," continued Saint Aldegonde, with increasing 
 \r.\ation, "I don't see how we can acci.inphVli our wish in this matter. The prince 
 \vd> uttered reproaches to me that our eleii^y are striving to obtain a mastery over 
 consciences. He praised lately the saying uf a monk wlio was not long ago here, 
 that our pot had not gone to the tire' as often as that of our antagonists, but that 
 when the time came it would be black enough. In short, the prince fears that after 
 a few centuries the cleri(;al tyranny on both sides will stand in this respect on the 
 same footing." ' ' 
 
 Nor did it matter that his most intimate friends were offended with liis broad 
 toleration. Motley further says : ' No man understood him. Not even his nearest 
 friends comprehended his views, nor saw that he strove to establish, not freedom for 
 Calvinism, but freedom for conscience. Saint Aldegonde complained that the prince 
 would not persecute the Anabaptists, Peter Dathenus denounced him as an atheist, 
 while even Count John, the only one left of his valiant and generous brothers, 
 opposed the religious peace — except where the advantage was on the side of the 
 new religion."" Again, he adds : ' Sincerely and deliberately himself a convert to 
 the Reformed Church, he was ready to extend freedom of worship to Catholics on 
 the one hand and to Anabaptists on the other, for no man ever felt more keenly than 
 he that the Reformer who becomes in liis turn a bigot is doubly odious.' " He 
 moreover relinked those who would interfere with his generous imjnilses and 
 principles, as another remarkable pas.sige from this distinguished writer will show: 
 
 ' The I'l-iiici' of ( )i-:niL:e was more than ever disposed to rebuke his own church 
 for praeti.-ini;- pii-.-ccutioii in her turn. Again he lifted his connnandiug voice in 
 behalf of the Analiapti>ts of Middleburg. ite reminded the magistrates of that city 
 that these peaceful bui-ahers were always jieiiVcrly willing to bear their part in all 
 the common burdens, thiit their word was a^ -oo.i a.- tlicir oifh, and that as to the 
 nuitter of military service, although their principles torhade them to bear arms, they 
 had ever been ready to provide and pay for substitutes. " We declare to you, there- 
 
rnixcE MAunicE. 419 
 
 fore," said lie, "tliat ymi liave iiu right to troiiMf yourselves witli any man's con- 
 science, so long as notiiing is done to cause private harm or pulilic scandal. We 
 therefore expressly ordain tiiat yon desist from molesting these Baptists, from offer- 
 ing liiiideranee to their handicraft and daily trade by which they can earn bread for 
 their wives and children, and that yon admit them henceforth to open their shops 
 and to do their work, according to the custom of former days. Beware, therefore, 
 of disobedience and of resistance to the ordinance which we now establisli." ' '^ 
 
 In William's letter to Mi(klleburg, 1577, he i)raises the Hai)tists, who had 
 brought their contributions at the peril of life, and had ' helped to win liberty.' lu 
 the previous year, when writing to induce Amsterdam to join the States, he had 
 said : ' I am determined to oppress no man's conscience, and to force no one to 
 adopt my religion.' When, therefore, in 1577, the Reformed preacliers, headed by 
 Vander Heiden and Jan PafHn, tried to persuade him to limit the liberty of the 
 Baptists, he replied that ' the time is past for the clergy to assume control over con- 
 sciences, and attempt to subject all men to their opinions.' 
 
 The result of tliis long, dark struggle of the Baptists was that through this 
 ' silent ' but sincere man their radical principle of soul liberty for Christians found 
 its way into the first compact of States since the foundation of Christianity. 
 While this instrument was not a constitution, but only a compact, yet Motley says 
 that it became ' the foundation-stone of the Netherland Republic' '^ And that re- 
 public, says IVIotley, ' became the refuge for the oppressed of all nations, whether 
 Jews or Gentiles ; Catholics, Calvinists, and Anabaptists prayed after their own 
 maimer to the same God and Father.' " In 1579, Article XIII of the Union of 
 Utrecht declared : ' Every one shall be free in the practice of his religious belief, 
 and that, in accordance with the peace of Ghent, no one shall be held or examined 
 on account of matters of religion.' '* 
 
 Many of the Reformed clergy were extremely restless under this provision, and 
 some of them sought to turn the prince against the ' Anabaptists ' in utter disre- 
 gard thereof. But his answer was that, ' To persecute them would justify the 
 Catholics in the persecution of the Protestants.' These transactions and especially 
 the testimony of the prince to the true character of tlie ' Anabaptists,' serves to put 
 them in their true light, despite all the conscienceless slanders of their enemies. 
 He speaks of them as ' Peaceful burghers, always perfectly willing to bear their 
 part in all the common burdens.' In governmental matters they held substantially 
 to the views of the Society of Friends in Great Britain and the United States, but 
 they were found amongst the most loyal and firm supporters of the government, in 
 all that left their religious rights untouched. The thousand florins which they 
 wrung from their poverty to speed the cause of civil and religious liberty are a 
 thousand flat contradictions of the slanders which liave been thrown in their faces, 
 and the testimony of their prince should make any man blush to the ears who has 
 the impudence to repeat them, and enter biiu on the list of false witnesses. 
 
 Prince Maurice, his son and successor, showed the same noble spirit. Zeeland 
 
420 RELTOIOVS LTnEUTY IMPAIRED. 
 
 went <in, still tivatiii-- the ' AnaltMptist.s ' with severity liy iiisistinj;- tliat tliey 
 i^ll(Ull(l tal<i'tlic(,atli, althou-li tliey Were as loyal to the guveriiiiu-iit withdiit tlienath 
 as others wliu swure. They were also refused permission to print a huuk or hold 
 a meeting, without the consent of their zealous and petty tyrants. Maurice came to 
 their rescue and demanded that they should be let alone ; nothing should be exacted 
 of them wliicli injured their consciences. Even after the victory for religious liberty 
 at Middlel)urg, and regardless of all honorable obligations which the authorities had 
 given to maintain it, in 1591, when a scurrilous edict was issued against the Baptists, 
 he wrote thus: 'Although the declai-ation of the Estates and of the prince, our 
 father, of glorious memory, suffices to regulate your conduct toward the Anabap- 
 tists, nevertheless we have judged it necessary to write you to observe the statutes 
 and to let the Anabaptists alone, until the Estates pass .some other order.' 
 
 The noble spirit of William lived after him ; fur in 1.^S2 the magistrates of 
 Leyden dared to use tliese words to the Estates of Holland: 'We will tolerate no 
 i-eligious oppression whatever, in great or in small, nor receive any statutes or 
 decrees that involve it. Our unanimous ojiinion is, not to trouble each other in 
 matters of woi-ship; and we will not be tui-ned from this position by any synod's 
 decree. We will, by (Jod's grace, maintain this position to the death, for liberty 
 ever consists in the freedom of every man to speak his opinion. We exhort the 
 estates, therefore, to join hands with us, to bear in love each party in its peculiar 
 beliefs, so far as they do not conflict with public security, and tluis have a good- 
 natured people united against the common enemy.' 
 
 Afterwards, the Articles of the Union of Utrecht were so interpreted and 
 amended as to permit their persecution, but the names of William the Silent and 
 his son will ever stand as the first amongst princes to advocate liberty of conscience. 
 And all honor to Holland, which ever after remained a land of comparative safety, 
 if not of comfort, for the men of all faiths. This was amongst the first of reasons 
 which led to her speedy rise to a front rank amongst the nations, in commerce, 
 wealth and learning, and opened her hai-biirs to the noblest fugitives from all lands. 
 For these blessings Baptists should give thanks to their simijle preachers and their 
 brethren, who cheered the grand prince in his darkest hoiu's, and for whose sake 
 he threw the shield of liberty over the heads of all hounded and hated men who 
 love God. In addition to the pen of Motley, the above facts may be found in 
 Doopsgezinde Bijdragen, J. G. De Hoop Scheffer, 1873; Ottii Annales, p. 158; 
 Brandt, Hist. Eeformation, i, p. 609 ; Schrock's Hist. Ch. on Anab. in Holland ; 
 and Hist, des Anabaptistes, pub. by Desbordes, 1599, p. 244. 
 
 The Baptists of the Netherlands fell into many divisions on church discipline, 
 about marriage, dress and social relations ; they laid great stress on managing the 
 members of their own congregations. Meuno lodged the true marks of a Christian 
 congregation in : The faithful preaching of God's word, and obedience thereto ; in 
 the confession of Christ's name by the observance of baptism and the Supper; in 
 
MENNONITE BAPTISM. 421 
 
 love toward men. a lioly life and the endurance of persecution, if need be, for Christ's 
 sake. The following are some of their acts of discipline. In 1538, at a conference 
 at Buchold, they separated from every seditious remnant of the Mfinster fanatics, 
 will) wiTo led l)y l!atteiiliur<j:. In 1554, at a conference held at Wismar, Menno's 
 h(itiu>, tiu'v recdiiiiiicnded tiic temporary exclusion of members who married outside 
 the congregation and their restoration if they maintained their faith. But some in- 
 sisted on the separation of husband and wife, in case of the exclusion of one of 
 them. On these and other questions, they split up into numerous sects, disfellow- 
 shiping one another; some of them even required rebaptisin of those coming to 
 them from the other factions, and they called each other all the unlovely names that 
 commonly disgrace quarreling Christians. Their divisions and subdivisions abounded 
 in petty questions, such as the treatment of bankrupts, whether or not they should 
 patronize the vessels of excluded members, and similar points, until, in the little 
 city of Hoorn there were thirteen sorts of Baptist Churches. Their contentions 
 became so perfectly disgraceful that Menno said: 'My sadness was as bitter as death, 
 and I knew not for grief what to do. Yes, if the gracious breath of the Almighty 
 had not preserved me, I should have lost my senses.' As to the question of immer- 
 sion a.nongst the Netherland Baptists : 
 
 There is not conclusive evidence that they immersed as a rule, until after the 
 middle of the sixteenth century. As sprinkling and pouring had commonly taken 
 its place amongst all sects, they adopted the prevailing method, though often prac- 
 ticing immersion, as was still done by the Catholics. Yet that many of them 
 clung to immersion is evinced by the fact that some of the followers of Menno 
 pleaded that they could not immerse in prisons, nor always in their own houses, and 
 so practiced pouring. Eobinson says of Menno, that ' he was dipped himself, and 
 he baptized others by dipping.' Dr. Angus, a critic in Mennonite lore, says that 
 he ' always laid great stress on immersion.' Menno's own words imply this : ' After 
 we have searched ever so diligently we shall find no otluM- baptism Iicsidcs dipping 
 in water, which is acceptable to God, and maintained in his wunl. . . . Let who 
 will oppose, this is the only mode of baptism that Jesus Christ instituted, and that 
 the Apostles taught and practiced.' '* 
 
 Most of the Church historians in Germany and the Netherlands accord to the 
 Baptists of those countries a high antiquity, which they are able to trace by lines 
 more or less distinct, but which the}' do not formulate into full and authentic record. 
 For example, Mosheim says of the Dutch Baptists that their true origin 'is hid 
 in the remote depths of antiquity, and is, consequently, extremely difficult to be 
 •ascertained.' Drs. Dermout and Ypeig, in reporting their historical investigations 
 to the King of Holland, say that : ' The Baptists, who were formerly called Ana- 
 baptists, and in latter times Mennonites, were the original Waldenses, and have long 
 in the liistor}' of the Church received the honor of that origin. On this account, 
 tiic I'ajifists m;iy be coiisidtred the only Christian commnnity whicli has stood since 
 
Dli. 
 
 KELLEU. 
 
 cicty 
 , l)'r 
 
 . wlii<-li li; 
 . Keller, ii 
 
 rv o\ 
 
 ■ tlie (ieri 
 
 tlie Apostles, and as a Cliristian sdeiety, whicli has invserved pure the doctrines of 
 tlie Gospel tlirongh all a_i;-es.' Sn Dr. .Keller, in liis i-eeent work, wliicii throws a 
 flood of light upon the early liistoi-y tif tlie (Teriiian I'.aptists, says, after describing 
 their great numbers: 'It w.mld he a great mistake if (Hie .-houM believe that all 
 these remarks have reference uiily tu the period of tlie Minister kingdom ; much 
 rather can it be iimved tliat in the lands mentioned ilaptist Churches existed for 
 many decades and even cent\ii-ies.' lie also adds: 'The more I examine the docu- 
 ments of that time at njy command, the more I am astonished at tlie extent of the 
 diffusion of Anabaptist views, mi .rfnit <,f n-Iurli m, ,,ilu r i),i; .■^flijitfui- Jms had any 
 Jcnowledge. Even Zwingli, wiio <lied in iri;;i. saiil : ''J'he institution of Anabaptism 
 is no novelt}', but for thirteen hundred years lias caii^ed givat distni'bance in the 
 Church.' Yet, in the main, these writers do not trace tlie line lieyond the state- 
 ment of the countries and cities where they existed, of Mdiicli Keller, who is possibly 
 the most learned investigator of the subject now living, gives a long list, but adds 
 that a perfect list of 'Baptist Churches cannot be enumerated, for the reason that 
 their existence was a profound secret.' 
 
 For the same reason it is difficult to trace the history of the ('..llegiants to tiieir 
 origin, but this, at least, is known, namely, that they ^\■el■e found in Holland as 
 early as 1619, and can be traced down for about two hundred years, under the name 
 of Collegiants, from their collegia, and rdieinsbergcrs, from the name of the village 
 near Leyden, where tliey held their great assenddies. They are suppc.ised to have 
 received immersion from certain Bapti.sts exiled from Poland. They laid out 
 grounds and put up buildings at Eheinsberg, wdiere they sunk a stone baptistry on 
 their own ]iremises and immersed their converts, the candidate kneeling in the 
 water, his head being bowed forward and buried. Their Confession made the Bible 
 their standard of faith and life, they required faith in Christ as the Son of God, 
 before the reception of baptism and the Supper, they demanded a holy life, exer- 
 cised the liberty of prophesying, defended the right of private judgment, and kept 
 their piety active by prayer and conference meetings, when these were unknown 
 elsewhere in Holland. They first organized into an Assembly, after the decree 
 of the Synod of Dort, ir,19, which removed two hiin.lreil Ai-minian pastors, for they 
 were Arminian in doctrine, and were opposed to war and oaths. Tlieir leaders were 
 the bi'others Van der Kodde, members of a devout family, which had suffered per- 
 secution for more than a hundred years, as Reformers. Their grandfather, "William 
 Jansoon, was a great Bible student, who kept the Scriptures hid for safety on his 
 farm. His seven grandsons were good Latin scholars and one of them taught 
 Hebrew in the high-school at Leyden. Prince Maurice said to D'Aubert, the 
 French embassador, one day as they rode througli the Collegiant lands: 'Our peas- 
 ants can read Latin.' He then summoned these brothers from their work in the 
 field, and, to the astonishment of the diplomat, talked with them in Latin and 
 French. 
 
THE rOI.LEarAXTS. 428 
 
 They establislied an orpliaii asylum, for wliicli tlic widow of the clerk of 
 Kotterdain gave tlieiii 10,(iOO gulden; they frequently raised 60,000 gulden a year 
 to take care of their own poor, and when the dykes burst, in 1740, they commenced 
 a subscription for repairs which reached 60,000 gulden. They had meetings in 
 eighteen different towns in 1740, but their meetings ceased at Rheinsberg in 1787. 
 At the beginning of the present century Tfcfele still tnu-od snnie remains of the 
 
 
 
 BAMISM AT 
 
 sect, but they divided into two parties, one of them running into Unitarian views. 
 They built two places of worship at Rheinsberg, and continued the contest for thirty 
 years ; but at present the sect is about extinct, some of them being absorbed into 
 the Mennonite and other bodies, from which originally they were entirely separate. 
 Dr. Angus kindly forwards the above picture of baptism as administered in 
 PJu'inslierg l)y the CoUegiants, and as representing the Mennonite baptism of 
 those times. 
 
424 MENNO'8 SAD WORDS. 
 
 Tlic liistory nf tlie Netlierland Baptists is a inost oxliilaratiiii,^ and sad 
 one. As a Ijody, they liave lar^fly faded away in tlirir original testimony. I'er- 
 liaps they did the g-rcat work wliidi called tlieni into existence and kept tlieni 
 alive so long, namely, the defense of i)enk"s izreat principle, ' Tiiat the civil magis- 
 trates should not use force in nnitters cd" faith." Fcn- this they suffered all tliat men 
 can suffer. In the language of Fronde : ' On them tiie laws of the country might 
 take their natural course, and no voice was raised to speak for them. For them no 
 European agitated, no courts were ordered into mourning, no royal hearts trembled 
 with indignation. At their deatli the world looked on complacently, indifferently, 
 or e.xuitingly. For them history has no word of praise.' Menno Simon said 
 tiiat wdiile their murderers were 'saluted by all around as doctors, masters, lords, we 
 are compelled to hear ourselves called Anabaptists ; ' and so are treated as the pests 
 of society. ' What nnsery and anxiety have I felt in the deadly perils of persecution 
 for my poor sick wife and little children ! "While others lie on soft beds and 
 cushions, we must often creep away into secret corners. Wliile otliers engage in fes- 
 tivities to the music of fife and trumpet, we must look armuid whenever a dog 
 barks, fearing tlie spies are on our track. Yet those wJio suffered with Jesus tlien 
 reign with him now.'' 
 
BAPTISTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IMMERSION IN ENGLAND. 
 
 iptifJin was : 
 ;il F<,nts,' ol 
 tins Clmrcli 
 
 intiiersioii. 
 wliicli lie 
 until the 
 
 "P^ROil tlie iiitrodiictioii of Cliri.- 
 
 X Simpson says, in tlie prefat-e 
 names 353 in England : ' As imm( 
 Reformation, and perhaps oc- 
 casionally later, as will aftei'- 
 wards appear, all fonts were np 
 to that period snfficiently large 
 for the pnrpose.' Grose also 
 says of the baptisteries in the 
 churches, that: 'The basins were 
 very large. There was an ante- 
 room where the ceremony of im- 
 mersion was performed.'' So 
 Lingard, in his * History of the 
 Early English Clnirch' tells us: 
 'WJKMi an adult solicited bap- 
 tism, lie was calkMl upon to 
 profess his faitii in the true 
 God, by the repetition of the 
 Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' 
 Creed, and to declare his inten- 
 tion of leading a life of piety. 
 ... He then descended into the 
 font, the priest depressed liis 
 head below the surface, saying, 
 I baptize thee,' etc. The candi- 
 date 'was plunged into the 
 water, the mysterious words were pronounced, and he emerged a member of the 
 Church.' The same author says again, that when infant baptism had been intro- 
 duced, 'The priest himself descende.l into the water, which reached to his knees. 
 
 ANCIENT PONT AT ST MARTIN'S, CANTERBURY 
 
TESTIMONIES GIVEN BY TSEDK. 
 
 (Iclivcrod midrosscl into liis linn.ls, .■iiid lie plini.-r,l it 
 (iiv-.Tv the (livat is tlir initli. ,ril v fur tlir staf.'inciit that 
 
 liiis>i,,iKmcs liajitizcl trn tl >ali.l in mi,, day, to wliicli 
 
 ^ add tliiit tliis liaptiMii was in tlir rivci- SwaU'. Tliis river 
 
 .■en the Js!e uf Sheppy and tlic main land, and is navigable 
 
 nrden. (ireun speaks of this seeiie, saying: 'The Kentish 
 
 in the i-iver Swale.'s And Gocelin calls it 'the river of 
 
 Vll entered the dangerous de]itli <d" the rivei', two and two 
 
 1 I s,,lid plain ; ami in the true faith, confessing the exaltcl 
 
 '( d one by the other in turns, tlie ajiostolic leailer blessing 
 
 . It I ]>rogeny for heaven boi'ii out of a deej) irhn-Ipn,,] .'" ^ 
 
 bk I'.ede has given an account of a lai-ge wooden li:ij)tistcry 
 
 liastily built at York, A. D. ii:.'7. for the baptism 
 
 of Edwin, king of Nortlaimlierlaml, lie describes 
 
 the baptism of Paulinus in the Yoi-kshire I'iver 
 
 'Swale, wliieh flows past tlie village of Cateract 
 
 (('arric); for as yet oi-atories or baptisteries, in the 
 
 v.Ty beginning of the infant Church there, could 
 
 not lie built." Aleuin. when sjieaking of the im- 
 
 mersi f the king and his nobles 'in tlie sa.Ted 
 
 fountain." says that York remained illustrious: 
 •J'.ecausi' in that sacred pLice King Edwin was 
 washed in thi' water.' Theodore. Archliishop of 
 Cantei-bury. (W.K enjoined triple inmiersion. Canon 
 Ladaius said: 'If any bishop or presbyter does not perform the one initiation with 
 three immersions, hut witli giving one immersion only, into the death of tlie Lord, 
 let him be deposed.' Ih'own's • TIisto)T of York Afinster" marks the position of the 
 wooden baptistei-y. ' inrlosing a sjiring. still remaiidng. which, according to Dr. Giles, 
 was discovered while making ri'pairs of the ]. resent cathedral." In gathering up 
 tliese and otlier cases, lii'de. who died A. D. T-"..'>. says: ' For he truly wdio is bap- 
 tized is seen to descend into thi' fountain, hi' is seen to be dijiped in the waters, lie 
 is seen to ascend from the waters." The Council of Caliehyth (Chelsea), held under 
 Kenw'olf, king of the ]\rei-cians. in sltl. ]iassed this canon: 'Let the presbytei-s know 
 when tliey administer sacred baptism, not to pour holy water upon the lieads of the 
 infants, but always to immerse tlietn in the laver, after the example given by the 
 Son of God himself to every believer, when he was three times immersed in the 
 waters of Jordan.' In tlie following century the baptism of Etlielred took place on 
 this wise, according to William of Malmesbury : 'When the little boy was immersed 
 in the font of liajjtism, the bishops standing around, the sacrament was marred by a 
 sad accident.' Such immersion is in keeping witli the ' Sarum Use' (Liturgy), 
 which existed from 1(IS7, and of which Dr. Wall remarks, tliat it did all along 
 
ornER AuriioniTiEs. 427 
 
 enjoin (li])pinii-, witlumt any nicntiDn of jiouriiig or sprinklini^. Cardinal Pulii?, a 
 lecturer at Oxford and I'aris, in a treatise jMiblislied about 1150, writes: 'Whilst 
 the candidate for baptism in water is immersed the death of Christ is suggested; 
 whilst immersed and covered with water the burial of Christ is shown forth ; whilst 
 he is raised from the winters the resurrection of Christ is proclaimed. Tlie inuner- 
 sion is repeated three times.' 
 
 In 1200, the Council of London enjoined immersion; tliat of Sarum in 1217, 
 and that of Oxford in 1222, did the same : while the Synod of Worcester, 12-10, 
 decreed that ' In every church where baptism is performed, there shall be a font of 
 stone of sufficient size and depth for the baptism of children. . . . And let the 
 candidate for baptism always be immersed.' Two Councils held at Perth, 1242, 
 1296, by canon instructed the minister what to do before immersion, and in the 
 days of Wallace and Bruce, a barbarous custom prevailed in the elanish feuds, 
 amongst the border countries, M'hich left the right hands of male children undipped 
 in baptism, in order that they might with this unsanctiiied hand deal the more 
 deadly blows upon their foes, as one of our great poets embodies the sentiment : 
 
 ' And at the sacred font the priest 
 
 Through ages left the master hand unblest, 
 
 To urge with keener aim the lilood-incnistod s])ear.' 
 
 Sir Walter Scott refers to this custom in his notes on the minsti-els}' of the border, 
 and says, that it existed in Ireland also. The Percy Society's poems of Wm. do 
 Shorham, vicar of Seven Oaks, gives an exposition of baptism about 1313, in which 
 he says, that men may dip in warm water 'in whaut' (winter) and in the 'salt sea.' 
 But he forbids dipping at baptism in wine, 'sither' (cyder), 'ne in pereye,' also in 
 ale and 'other liquor that changeth water's kind,' a ])ractico which prevailed to 
 some extent. Water only must be used, but he alli>wed ice to be melted, for the 
 purpose of procuring water. Pope Stephen allowed baptism in wine, if death 
 impended, atid water could not be had, and several cases are on record, in the Irish 
 Church, where children were immersed in milk. They had water enough at hand 
 anywhere for the purpose of aspersion, but immersion in some fluid was indispcMisa- 
 bly necessary in the absence of water, even if rarer and more expensive than water. 
 Before this time, however, as these man}' injunctions show, aspersion was made 
 an exceptional method of administering the rite, in consequence, no doubt, of the 
 permissive decree of the Council of Ravenna, 1311, before which it had no sanction. 
 But the exceptions were few for a long period. Arthur, the eldest brother of 
 Henry V^IIL, and Margaret his sister, were immersed in the years 14SC and 1502 
 with elaborate ceremonies. Leland describes at length the new font made for the 
 baptism of the prince at Winchester, lined with cloth to prevent the cold sides 
 touching the child, and saj-s, that ' the prince was put into the font.' The same 
 writer describes the baptism of Margaret, grandmother to Mary Queen of Scots, 
 at Westminster Abbey: ' As soon as she was put into the font all the torches were 
 
42S TTNDALE'S TESTIMONY. 
 
 liglitcd.' lie gives simihir accounts of the dipping of Edward VI. and Queen 
 Elizabeth, sliowing tliat tlie royal family was immersed as well as the conmion 
 people, according to tlie ecclesiastical requirements of the times. 
 
 It is clear enuiigh tliat dipping continued as the normal form of the rite all 
 through Edward's reign ( ir)47-r.2), but Walker says, • Sprinkling was sometimes 
 used.- Indeed, the lirst Cliurcli permission found in Engkind for any thing but 
 immei'siun is in tlie J'rayer-llook of \:A\t. whi.'h says, that ' If the child he weak, it 
 shall suffice to ixiur water upon it.' With this exceiitioii the ruliric demanded that 
 the priest shall 'take the child in his hands.' and -shall dip it in the water thrice. 
 First dip])ing the right side : second the left shle : the third time dipping the face.' 
 In l;")."):^ the word 'thrice' was dropjied from the liook, together with the directions 
 for the dipping to the right, left, etc., and the instruction was simjdy, 'shall dip it 
 in water.' But this gradual change met with great resistance. Tyndale, in his 
 Doctrinal Treatise, 1528. writes : 
 
 'Ask the people what they understand by their baptism or washing? And 
 thou shalt s(!e, that they believe, how that the very ]ilunging into the water savetli 
 them. . . . Behold how narrowly the people look on tlu: ceremony ! If aught be 
 left out, or if the child be not altogether dipped in the water, or if, because the child 
 is sick, the priest dare not plunge him into the water, but ponr Avater on his head, 
 how tremble they ! how quake they ! How say ye, "Sir John" [a common name 
 for a priest], say they : "Is this child christened enough, hath it full Christendom T' 
 They believe verily that the child is not christened.' Again he says: 'Tribulation 
 is our right bajitism, and is signified by plunging into the water.' So the people 
 were gradually rolibed of the only symbol which gave the right inqiort of their bap- 
 tism, which was made what ho quaintly calls : ' A turn-again lane unto them, which 
 they caimot go through, nor make three lines agree together. . . . The sentences of 
 the Scriptui'e are nothing but very riddles nnto them, at the which they guess as the 
 blind man doth at the crow ' and expound by guess, a hundred doctors by a hundi'ed 
 ways.' In his Obedience of a Christian Man he says, that ' The plunging into the 
 water signifieth that we die and are buried Mith Christ, and the pulling out again 
 sign-fieth that we rise again with Christ in a new life.' And in his Prologue to 
 John's I. Ep., he adds : ' Now, we be all baptized ; but, alas ! not one, from the high- 
 est to the lowest, ever taught the profession or meaning thereof. And, therefore, 
 we remain all blind generally, as well our great rabbins, for all their high learning 
 which they seem to have, as the lay people. Yea, and so much the more blind are 
 our great clerks (the learned), that where the lay people, for a great number of them 
 are taught nothing at all, they be all wrong taught, and the doctrine of their baptism 
 is all corrupt unto them with the leaven of false glosses, ere they come to read the 
 Scripture ; so that the light which they bring with them, to understand the Scripture 
 withal, is utter darkness, and as contrary nnto the Scrijiture as the devil unto Christ.' 
 
 It was with all this and much more in view that Watson, Bishop of London, 
 1558, wrote : ' Though the old and ancient tradition of the Churcli hath been from 
 the beginning to dip the child three times, etc., yet that is not of such necessity, 
 but that he is but once dipped in the water, it is sufficient, yea, and in time of 
 great peril and necessity, if the water be but poured on his head it will suffice.'' 
 So stern was the resistance, however, to this innovation, that ]\Iiddleton, Bishop of 
 
SPRINKLING BECOMES THE JIULE. 429 
 
 St. David's, issued an ' iiijiiiiction ' iti loS2, forbiddiiij;- ti-iiie iiniiiersioii in l)ai)tisiii. ^ 
 The second Prayer-Book of Edward VI., 1552, enjoins only a single immersion, and 
 that of Elizabetli, 1560, made no change in this rubric. This is still the law in the 
 English Clnuvh. I'.ut. so far as apjirars, the \V(,nl > sprinkle' lirst took rank in an 
 English ritual, in the ( 'atcchisni of l('in4. In an.-wiT to the question, '"What is the 
 outward visible sign or form of baptism ;" it ru]ilies, ' Water, wherein the person 
 baptized is dipped or sprinkled with it.' Thi,- was followed by tiie Westminster Di- 
 rector}-, IG-i-i, which decided, that ' It is not only lawful, but also sutticicnt and most 
 expedient, to be by pouring or sprinkling water on the face of the child.' Thus, in 
 less than a century, what had been the general rule was reversed, and what had been 
 the rare exception became the rule ; yet, in 16G0, dipping had not become entirely 
 extinct, as it was common in 1644. Lord Brooke, in his ' Treatise on Episcopacy,' 
 1641, charges, that the 'Anabaptists' refuse baptism to their children till they come 
 to years of discretion, 'but in other things they agree with the (Jhurch of England." 
 His subject is baptism, and his 'other things' must relate to this subject, for in 
 doctrine and government they were wide apart. Blake, of Tamworth, says, in 1644 : 
 ' I have been an eye-witness of many infants dipped, and T know it to have been the 
 constant practice of many ministers in their places I'or many years together. Those 
 that dip not infants do not yet nse to sprinkle them, there is a middle way between 
 these two. I have seen several dipped ; I never saw or heard of any sprinkled, or 
 (as some of you use to speak) rantizecl. Our way is not by aspersion, but perfusion ; 
 not sprinkling drop by drop, but pouring on at once all that the bowl contains.' 
 Dr. Wall attributes the change to the Puritan clerg}', whose deference to Calvin's 
 authority led them to adopt sprinkling in accordance with his own form, adopted 1545. 
 Walter Cradock, preacher at All Hallows, and one of the sweetest spirits of his 
 day, preached before the House of Commons, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, July 
 21, 1646, in which sermon he exhorts Parliament not to establish ' any outward ex- 
 ternal ' for a test of church-fellowship, as : 
 
 'Baj)tizing this way or that way, I mean by dipping or sprinkling, or by con- 
 junction of opinion on some controverted point. . . . Therefore, when I have com- 
 munion with a saint, I must not look so much whether he have taken the covenant, 
 or have been baptized once or twice or ten times.' And in a marginal note he adds : 
 ' I speak not this as if my opinion were for rebaptizing or against the baptizing of 
 infants of believers, the contrary appears hj my practice.'' ' 
 
 The value of his testimony is found in the fact that he gives no hint whatever 
 that innnersion was a new thing in England, but the implication runs all througli 
 his writings that it was very prevalent, and the public were as familiar with it as 
 with the ' covenant ' or an}' other ' controverted point ' of that period. Besides, if 
 innnersion had been introduced amongst the ' Anabaptists' in 1641, it would have 
 been simply preposterous for a learned clergyman to be exhorting Parliament, five 
 short years after, not to make ' baptizing this way or that way, by dipping or sprink- 
 
430 CHADOCK'S LIBERAL VTKWS 
 
 ling,' the foundation of cliurch-fullowsliip. Nothing could be more far-fetched, or 
 even impertinent, than such an appeal. Fortunately, he throws much light upon 
 the general subject two years later, ItUS, in his 'Gosi>el-libertie, its Extensions and 
 Limitations,' from which tiie tollowing pa.-sagcs arc taken : 
 
 Page 2.'J-i : ' Saitli Christ, Bai.itize all nations, that is, g(j and use water for 
 their washing, for whatever men find in the word, I speak not of now. ... If 
 Christ had tied men to go into Jordan, as in that country it was so hot, they 
 might go with a great deal of comfort ; but if Christ had made baptism such an or- 
 dinance as that in all climates and countries and regions they must go o\-er head and 
 ears in a river, we know in some climates it would have heen present death. As 
 with us in this climate, at some times of the year to be put over head and ears in 
 the Tluimes, it would be death, at others not.' 
 
 It is refreshing in the bitterness of the seventeenth century, side by side with 
 Featley, to find a man who had the candor to apply his own logic on this subject 
 and stand by it to its legitimate conclusions. Thus, on the Supper he says, p. 24 : 
 
 ' The Lord took bread and wine, and lilesscd, and broke and gave them; and 
 the drift of all the business is to show the breaking of his body, and the shedding of 
 his blood. Now, he hath bound us that we should break bread and drink wine, that 
 may represeut the thing ; but he hath not bound us to bread so properly called, or 
 to wine properly so called ; for there are some countries that have neither bread nor 
 wine, but only roots that they call bread, and they have water for their drink. 
 Now, if Christ had said it mnst be true bread, and true and real wine, that must 
 do the deed, these people could never have the Supper of the Lord.' 
 
 Like Baxter, he was very nervous aljout the healtli of the English nation, and 
 had little love for cold water to that end, but he never charges the Baptists with be- 
 ing the authors of a new style of homicide. He does think, however, that they laid 
 too much stress on dipping, and says on p. 26 : 
 
 ' Of dipping over head and ears, because the word hajyto signifies over head and 
 ears sninotinios. and because the preposition ein signifies to go into, from that they 
 liiihl ('// ///' s,i//i/s iiIJ the world over, to go into rivers, so that if a man be not 
 dij'j'-'K but (Jiily sitriid^led, because of the preposition em, that makes a nullity of 
 the Church, that it is no church, and so, consequently, there shall be no church at all.' 
 
 Still, with a charity far in advance of his age, he cannot bear to have the Bap- 
 tists abused, especially in nick-naming them, and several times he rebukes this 
 sharply, as on page 40, thus : 
 
 'I see the devil gets mucli ;idv;uit;iae by nick-names, by calling men Presbyte- 
 rians, and Antinomians, and Aimhifjitisis, and I know not what. Therefore, I be- 
 seech you, beware how you use tlmsc names, thongh I say not it is unlawful, yet 
 there be mistakes, let us call them as gently as we can, that are generally among us.' 
 
 Here is no 'Gangrsena' nor vulgar slang, but a Christian scholar, and more, a 
 Christian gentleman, who understands the times in which he lives, and knows how 
 to talk about decent people with whom he differs on serious questions. On 
 
 p. 100 he sa3's : 
 
Ills ARGUMENT FROM EXPEDIENCY. 431 
 
 ' TliL-rc is HOW among good people a great deal of .strife al)i>iit I)a)itisiii ; as for 
 divers things, so for the ))oiiit of dipping, thouuJi in smm j'lui; s i,, Kinil-tiid tin ij dip 
 alt<<(jether. Ilow shall we end the controvert wiih ih..-,- -.nlly ]ii-.,|,|c. a~ many of 
 them are. Look upon the Scriptures, and tlirre ynu >li;ill liml tliat //'/y/c (to bap- 
 tize), it is an ordinance of God, and the use of water in way of washing for a spirit- 
 ual end, to resemble some spiritual thing. It is an ordinance of God, but whether 
 dipping or sprinkling, that we must bring the party to a river, or draw the river to 
 him, or use water at home, whether he must be in head and foot, or be under the 
 water, or the water under him, it is not proved that God hath laid down an absolute 
 rule for it. Now, what shall we do ? conclude oa the absolute rule that (iod hath 
 laid down in Scripture, and judge of the rest according to expediency. . . . Let us 
 judge whether sprinkling or dipping be more expedient, and then there would be 
 no strife. For there is scarce a man in this place that if he were persuaded that 
 dipping were not an absolute rule, but it were to be judged according to expediency, 
 he would rather have in a modest way the use of water, than to have men and women, 
 and weak people, it may be in the wintertime, over head and ears into the river; 
 he Would rather make use of water in a more civil and safe and less dangerous way.' 
 
 lie neither charges upon the Laptists that their practice was unscriptural, new, 
 nor a change from their former practice. On the contrary, he asks: 'How we shall 
 baptize, whether by sprinkling or going into a river, because it is probable that 
 some of them did;' as to the English practice he says: 'In some places in Kngland 
 they dip altogether. How shall we end the controversy with those godly penplc, as 
 many of them are.' He then frankly intimates his honest opinion that the contru- 
 versy was as old as Christ's command to baptize, for he says, on p. Ifi, that wiien 
 Christ sent his disciples to baptize he gave the connnand. 'And there was an end. 
 They might ask a hundred cpiestions. Shall we do it in a v'wcx or in a brook '. to 
 3-oang or to old ? in winter or in summer? . . . But Christ lays down the sum of 
 the doctrine, and the end of it, In the name of the Father, aiui of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost, and there is no more of it.' The only new thing that he hints at 
 in this whole question of dipping, is his great concern for the life of the dipped. 
 For centuries those opposed to them had been devising every conceivable method 
 of getting rid of tlum. by fire and fagot, as in England and Holland, and by drown- 
 ing outright, as in Switzerland and Austria. But now, one tender-hearted opponent 
 springs up, who eaiuiut bear the thought even of having their feet w'et. Compassion 
 was a new thing in their case, they were sickly and 'weak,' and to think of taking 
 such 'feeble folk' into the 'Thames' and other rivers or brooks and wetting their 
 ' ears,' and that in winter too, was a moving thought for kind-hearted Walter 
 Cradock. Yet as the Baptists would not stop this old, uncivil, unsafe and 'dan- 
 gerous way,' he says, page 108 : 
 
 ' I speak not that you may persecute godly people, or that it is altogether 
 unlawful for the saints to meet in another place. ... Or thus, suppose in this 
 country or in a colder that people did go and baptize in rivers, whereas this is not 
 an absolute command. But only the using of water, lay down that, and by that 
 means divers subjects die, and lose their lives, suppose this were real, herein for 
 aught I know the magisti'ate may determine a course, and take another way, because 
 herein is prejudice to his subjects.' 
 
VRADOCK AND BAXTER. 
 
 
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 iiid while there 
 
 heard Mr. Wroth, the rector of JJanfaches, preach, and was converted. The next 
 news we have of liim is through Archbishop Laud, in 1()34, to whom the Bishop of 
 Landaii had reported that Walter was preaching as curate in St. Mary's in Cardiff; 
 but that ' being a bold, ignorant young fellow, he had suspended him, and taken 
 away his license.' Then Neal tells ns that in 1634-35 he was cited to London and 
 condemned as a schismatic, so that he was compelled to leave the Establishment and 
 preached all through Wales with great power. One of Laud's most serious charges 
 against him was that he said in the ]>ulpit, 'that God so loved the world, that for it 
 he sent his Son to live like a slave, and die like a beast.' Brooks tells us, that this 
 earnest Puritan formed an Independent Church at Llanfaches in 1639, and Orme, in 
 his Life of Baxter, writes that about 1635, Baxter and Cradock became acquainted in 
 Shrewsbury, when a strong alTeetion was formed between them. But the 'Broad- 
 mead Eecords' inform ns that in 1<;4:'. he and his church were obhged to fly from 
 Wales to Bristol before the king's army ; they took refuge in Bristol, which was 
 held by the ' Parliament's army.' Then Cradock was glad to find a home amongst 
 those who had been dipped head over ears in the river Frome, and as they had no 
 pastor he administered the Supper to them : ' First at y^ Dolphin, in y* greate 
 Eoome, then afterwards sometime at a Baker's house, upon James' Back, who was a 
 Member of y" Church.' AYlien the king's army captured Bristol, these Welsh 
 Independents and the Bristol Baptists fled together to London, and there ' Did 
 commonly meet at Greate AUhallows for y'^ most parte. Only those professors 
 
/i'A'.s7.s'77.\V/ rilh: CIIAXGh:. 433 
 
 tlnit wci'u r>a])tizecl bi;fore tliuy went up, tliuy did sitt dowiie with Jlr. Kilt'eii and 
 liis Cliui'cli in London, being likewise Baptized.'* In 1646 we have his great ser- 
 mon before Parliament, while preacher at All Hallows, and in 1048 his Gospel 
 Liberty, which Baxter uses to such poor account; and not least of ail his statement 
 that in some parts of England dipping was used altogether ; with his reipiest, in 1046, 
 tliat Parliament would not make this a test of Church fellowship. lie died about 1000. 
 Amongst the opponents of the new practice of sprinkling, some of the Baptists 
 were found in stout resistance; notal)ly, as early as 1014, Leonard Pusher, tlie author 
 of ' Religions Peace,' wrote thus : 
 
 ' It is well worthy consideration, that as in the time of the Old Testament the 
 Lord would not have his offerings by constraint, but of every man whose heart 
 gave it freely : so now, in the time of the Gospel, he will not have the people eon- 
 strained, but as many as receive the word gladly, they are to be addeil to the Church 
 l)y baptism. And therefore Christ commanded his disciples to teach all nations, 
 and baptize them ; that is, to preach the word of salvation to every creature of 
 all sorts of iiatiuii-. that arc worthy and willing to receive it. And such as siiall 
 willingly ami ^la.lly ri'iri\i> it, he hath commanded to be baptized in the water; 
 that is, dip^'"! /■<!■ >l<-i'l ni tlic water'^ 
 
 S. Fisher also, in his 'iiaby liaptism mere Babyism,' resists the innovation 
 bravely. On July 2'.*, 1041), he held a controversy at Ashford, with several clergy 
 men, and in 1053 published his book, in which he devotes 159 pages to show that 
 sprinkling cannot be called ba2)tism without perversion. He says : 
 
 ' Having raised the rotten basis of your Babyism, I come now to reckon with 
 your Rantism, and to examine whether our manner of baptizing, which is by dip- 
 pino;, is the baptism wlilrli was iustitutrd bv ("hi-i>t.' He doses [laue 404 as follows: 
 'Thus have I d..iir with l,..th |.,iri. ..f ihn' Hil.je.'t of nmiizin-, which partly at the 
 motion of your A>hforil (li>piit:iiit> 1 wa> I'li^aiicil in. ami partly by that mere demi- 
 reforniation that is made on this point on a party of men in Lincolnshire and else- 
 where (of whom I suppose there are several congregations), who having long since 
 discovered the true \vay of baptism as to the subjects, namely: That professing 
 believers only and nt)t any infants ;ire to be Ijaptized, but remaining ignorant of the 
 true way and form of administering the orditiaiice, are fallen into the frivolous way 
 of Kprhil-ruKj htiiii'irs ; which to do is as much no baptism at all as to dip infants 
 is no baptism of Christ's (Jiilainin--. Which people, for whose sakes as well as 
 others I write this, will In- iHir-iiiidcd, I hope, in time, to be as to the outward form, 
 not almost oidy, but altogether ( liiistians, and rest no longer in that mere midway, 
 mongrel Reformation.' 
 
 Baxter said in 1050: 'I may say, as i\rr. Blake, that I never saw a child 
 sprinkled, but all that I have seen baptized had water poured on them, and so were 
 washed.' From that time onward, sprinkling pushed pouring out of the way so 
 fast that Selden, who died in 1654, remarks sarcastically in his ' Table Talk : ' 
 
 * The baptizing of children with us does only prepare a child, against he comes to 
 l)e a man, what Christianity means. In the Church of Rome it has this effect, it frees 
 children from hell. ... In England, of late years, I ever thouglit tlic par-ai bap- 
 tized his own lingers, rather than the child.' This is substantially what I'eatley had 
 said in 1044: ' the minister dippeth his hand into the water, and phicketli it out 
 when he baptizeth the infant.' '° 
 
484 Sl'UL\KLL\il NEVKltTlIKLEHS PRKVMLS. 
 
 So fast (lid the f,\cf|iti(i)i l.ucdine the ruir, tliat in tlie o])ciiinir r)f tliu 
 ei-litrontli cuniury Dr. Wall tells us that liu lia.l hcanl of two i.crsons tlieu 
 livinj;' who liail hccii iliiiiKMi in the font; also uf one clergyman then living who 
 had so hapti/.ed infants, and that at tlie reciiiests of tlie parents he had himself 
 administered baptism in tlu> same way. lie further states that dnia'ng tlie reigns 
 of James and Charles J. all ehi-isteiied ehildren were carried to the font, whiell 
 act said : ' The minister is ready to dip the child if the parents will venture the 
 health of it.' Dean Comber, in his woi-k on the Common Prayer, 1688, said of 
 the baptismal rite : ' Because the way of immersion was the most ancient, our 
 Church doth first prescribe that, and only permits the other where it is certified 
 the child is weak, althougli custom has now prevailed to the laying of the first 
 wholly aside.' To this day, however, as Dean Staidey says: 'In tlie Church of 
 England immersion is still observed in theory. . . . The rubric in the public bap- 
 tism for infants enjoins that unless for special causes they are to be dipped, not 
 sprinkled, but in ])raetice it gave w'ay from the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century.' Occasionally it is used now, but according to the annals of that Cliurch 
 the last recorded instances of immersion before the Restoration were in dipping 
 three infant sons of Sir Robert Shirley, in the reign of Charles I. This agrees 
 with Gale's answer to Wall, that dipping continued till Queen Elizabeth's time, 
 ' and then fell into total disuse, within a little more than a hundred years, and 
 sprinkling, the most opposite, was introduced in its stead.' 
 
 We fall into a mistake, however, if we suppose that the Baptists were the only 
 people who resisted this change. Becon tells us that in the reign of Elizabeth 
 there was contention on the subject in the Established C'hurcli. Wall treats of this 
 at great length, and of the efforts made by many to restore dipping, not only, as 
 Rogers expresses it to D'Anvers, ' in order to the peace of the Church,' but also to 
 conciliate the Baptists, ' by your reunion with it, and the saving of your souls by 
 rescuing you from under the guilt of schism, I could wish the practice of it re- 
 trieved into use again.' Indeed, Daniel Rogers Ment so far as to say : ' I believe 
 the ministers of the nation would be heartily glad if the people would desire or 
 be but willing to have their infants dipped, after the ancient manner, both in this 
 and in other churches ; and bring them to baptism in such a condition as that they 
 might be totally dipped.' Walker, Towerson and other divines took the same 
 ground. Sir Norton Knatchbull, one of the most learned men of his day, was of 
 the opinion, ' That it would be more for the honor of the Church, and for the peace 
 and security of religion, if the old custom could conveniently be restored.' And Sir 
 John Floyer, whom Wall pronounces ' a learned physician,' wrote a ' History of 
 Cold Bathing, Ancient and Modern,' in which he showed its healthiness and bless- 
 ings, without regard to climate, adding, that he could not ' advise his countrymen to 
 any better method for preservation of health, than the cold regimen, to dip all their 
 children in baptism,' and • to wash them often afterwards, till three (piarters of a 
 
JlAXTHIi'S PASSIONATK WOItDS. 438 
 
 year old.' \\y 'wasli" here lie evidently means di).. He tlinn<,^lit, also, that 'the 
 approbation of physicians wcuiid liriui;- in the old nsi' of iiiiniersion in baptism.'" 
 The strange medley into wliich Uaxter fell on the sniijcet may throw light upon Sir 
 John Floyer's position. The Kidderminster di\ inc had become deeply concerned 
 (m this matter of immersion as affecting the nation;il health, and had said, in 1650, 
 that it was 'A plain breach of the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kilL"' 
 So far then from l.einnan ordinance of God, he denounced it 'as a most heinous siu,' 
 and thought that ' the magistrate ought to restrain it, to save the lives of his subjects.' 
 This seemed to afford amusement for the ablest jjhysieians of that period, but 
 in the nineteenth centur}', when the bath is accounted a constant necessity to health, 
 what an iijilieatinn ir nnist be to the bathers at Newport, Long Branch, and Cape 
 May to hear the pious author of 'The Saint's Everlasting Rest' declaim thus, in de- 
 picting the terrible calamities whieh follow immersion, lie says: 
 
 ' Apoplexies, letharu-ics. |);ilsii"s, and all other comatose diseases would be pro- 
 moted by it. So would rr|jli:il;il-iis, hemicranies, phthises, debility of the stomach, 
 crudities, and almost all tr\ii>. cly.^Liiteries, diarrhoeas, colics, iliac passions, convul- 
 sions, spasms, tremors, and so on. All hepatic, splenetic, and pulmonic persons, and 
 hypochondriacs, would soon have enough of it. In a word, it is good for nothing 
 but to dispatch men out of the world that are burdensome, and to ranken church- 
 yards. I conclude, if murder be a sin, then dipping ordinarily over head in England 
 is a sin ; and if those who would make it men's religion to murder themselves, and 
 urge it upon their consciences as their duty, are not to be suffered in a connnon- 
 wealtli, any more than highway munliTcrs; tlifii judge how thesi' .\iinliu|itists, that 
 teach the necessity of such dipping, arr t.. Kr -utVored. ... If the niini-fci- must go 
 into the water with the party, it will cci'tainly tend to his death, thdii^li they may es- 
 cape that go in but once. ... I am still more contirmed that a visible judgment of 
 God doth still follow anabaptizing wherever it comes.' ^ 
 
 Baptists of our day ought not to be more severe on Baxter than to quote his 
 own well-M-eighed words, for when he got over these occasional Anti-Baptist fits, 
 he contended earnestly that he ought to take the Lord's Supper with his Baptist 
 brethren, and then ' liichard was himself again.' We have room for gratitude that he 
 lived not in this age, or not a man of us conld have obtained a Life Insurance 
 Policy. Perhaps all the suffering that he deserved was meted out to him by Dr. 
 John Owen, in these words : 
 
 ' I verily believe that if a man who had nothing else to do should gather into a 
 heap all the expressions which, in his late books, confession and apologies, have a 
 lovely aspect towards himself, as to ability, diligence, sincerity, on the one hand, 
 with all those which are full of reproach and contempt toward others, on the other, 
 the view of them could not but a little startle a man of so great modesty, and of 
 such eminency in the mortification of pride, as Mr. Baxter is.' 
 
 With a change in the ordinance itself, there naturally came in a change of 
 the name by whieh it was known, namely, a ' washing.' From the most ancient 
 times, washing had been spoken of as the result or consecjuenee of dipping, as 
 in the case of Naaman, who washed in the Jordan seven times, having dipped 
 
436 A CHANGE OF NAME 
 
 liiinsclf that iiuiiihi'r of times. To \va^ll dor.- not iicce.ssarily lu.w iiiuaii to dip, yet, 
 as Ihu less is contaiiicil in llie -ivaler. s.. lie lliat is clipped i,-, washed. After his 
 seventh dijiiMii-, Naanian was ■ clean.' S,, Mever. <m Mai'k vii. 4: ■ Kx.-ept tliev 
 v',i.-<h is not to he nndeislood of wa.hin- the hands, hut ol imnier.-ion. whieli the 
 word in ela.ssie (.reel^ and in the New Te.-tanieiit everywhere n,ean>: here, aceurd- 
 ini;- to the euntext, t., fake a hath.' I'hnnptie, on th.' .snne j.a.-sa,-e, .sivs: • Tlie 
 (ireek verhtthat t., ,r.,..h) ,lilTers from that in the luvviuus verse, and implies the 
 
 the wliole ho.ly, a^ the f.irmer does ,,f a j.art." He/.a. .,n the >ame text. ,s,ys that 
 
 to imnier.ve." l.ii;hthM,t de.-erihes niielean per^oll^ amon-st the .lews a. • ,r,isln,l in 
 some eoidhience of waters, in which so much water oii-ht to he as mav serve to 
 wash the whole ho.ly at one dippin-.' For centuries tlie word wash was not 
 used a> a sviu.n.vm for haptiMu. hut, was connnouly n.-ed to exi>re.-> the eleansino; 
 elfeet ni haptism, as an immersion. Cypnan savs of <dinics. tliat they were • not 
 ,r,txh,,l hut iierlnsed \<y the saviny water;' evinciu- that in his jnd-ment j.er- 
 
 rouriu-aud sprinkling havin- taken the place of inmierM.ui in Kii-land. hap- 
 tism came to mean another thin- from its former self; the words wash and washing 
 naturally ehan-ed to adapt themselves to the new ordinance and to the theohjgy by 
 which it was iiiterpreteil. Hence, liaxter s]H'aks of liahes wlio had water poured 
 upon them, and so were washed. In keepin-' with the clianj;e of the ordinance, 
 ]'. de Wittc asks ; ■ Ou-lit we m.t ayain to hrin- in dippin- as the Mu.-covites and 
 others didr and answers: 'It is m.t iiece.-sary. hecause washi,)- is done with 
 sprinkling as well as hy dijiping.' Tntil the Puritan divines returned from 
 Geneva, they held tlie idea, that tropical washing was the con.sequence of being 
 overwhehiied, just as wetting is the consequence of immersion. Wickh'ti' had so 
 used the word in translating Mark x, 39: 'Ye shall be washed with tlic baptism in 
 which I ain baptized.' And it is specially interesting to note how reluctantly tlie 
 Englisli people received the new sense id' the word wash, in a.-sociation Mith spriid^- 
 ling in baptism. Xot being able to see how that act could express the thought of 
 cleansing without the ftdl dipping, some resorted to the absurd idea that rubbing 
 the water in would sujipl}' the place of immersion, in efKcaeious washing, and so 
 we have several accounts of the adoption of this practice. P. Barbour's 'Discourse,' 
 1642, records a striking example of this absurdity. He pronounces this sage opinion 
 on the efficacy of 'rubbing, p. 14: 'All do or may know that a thing dipped in 
 water is not, therefore, washed oy made clean, neither is washing always intended 
 in the dipping of a thing in water. Indeed, M'ashing to make clean is by the way 
 of dipping in many times, that by putting the thing into water and 7'uhhing of it or 
 the like it might be cleansed, wdiich I conceive it was the way of their washing in 
 those times and countries where Baptists first Ijcgan.' 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 IMMERSION IN ENGLAND i''o"^"»../) -PERSECUTION. 
 
 LET us now look at tlie practice of the people coiiuuoiilv known aniong.^t the 
 English as J3aptists, par excellence. In the absence of definite information 
 the inference would be warranted, that their administration of the rite corresponded 
 to that which they saw in the State Church ; for their chief controversy with their 
 brethren at that time did not relate to the ' mode,' but to the subject of baptism. 
 Their important word was not ' how,' but to ' whom ' should baptism be administered? 
 Their foes called them ' ^Iwabaptists,' those who baptize again. Their oilense, as a 
 general thing, was not that they administered this ordinance in a different way from 
 other Christians, but that they baptized on a confession of faith those who had been 
 'baptized' in infancy. There was no .sharp controversy in the earliest literature of 
 the 'Anabaptists' on the method of liaptism, alrlioui;-!! we have some clear definitions 
 of baptism and some cases of inuiiersimi. l!ur, as a rule, in the maintenance of 
 baptism on personal trust in Christ, they said little of immersion until they saw it 
 vanishing away before human authority, even in England, where it had maintained 
 itself so long. Step by step, the Eeformation in England was feeling its way first 
 to the naked and radical question : Who shall compose the Church of Christ? The 
 Roman yoke was broken, but in their efforts to rid the nation of superstition the 
 Protestants M-ere divided. The Puritans were still in the State Church, and many 
 of them wished to stay there ; but the Baptists took the ground that the pale of the 
 Gospel Church could never be measured by the boundaries of the nation. The 
 Church must be made up only of Christians, and tiie settlement of that question 
 must radically change the British Constitution. The consequence was that they 
 threw themselves first into the recovery of a purely spiritual Church, and then into 
 the restoration of apostolic immersion. That the struggle was hard and hot is 
 seen in the fact that about two hundred works, pro and con, were issued in the 
 seventeenth century on the questions of infant baptism and dipjnng. Many of 
 these are preserved amongst the ' King's pamphlets ' in the British Museum, and 
 others are lost. Public oral disputation on these subjects was rife also, in the 
 hands of noted champions. One platform dispute was held in Southwark, 1642, 
 between Dr. Featley and Mr. Kilfin ; another in London, 1643, in which Knollys, 
 Kiffin and Jessey took a part. T. Lamb and others held a third debate at Turling, 
 in Essex, 16-13 ; and a fourth was had in 16-17, at Newport Pagnall, by J. Gibbs 
 and U. Carpenter. S. Fisher and several clergymen held a fifth at Asht'ord, in 
 
438 THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY ON DIPPING. 
 
 164:9 ; and in the same year another took jjlace at Bewdley, between Richard Baxter 
 and John Tombes. Similar contests occurred between Dr. Cliamberhiin and Mr. 
 Eakewell, in London, 1650; H. Vaughan, J. Craig and J. Tomljes, at Abergavenny, 
 in 1653 ; and still another at Portsmouth, in 169S, between Dr. llusbell and Samuel 
 Chandler, ' with his majesty's license.' 
 
 At the very time of these public disputation,-- the Westminster Assembly met, 
 by order of Parliament, and was in session fr(jui l<i-i:i tu 1649, and its discussions 
 were sorely disturbed on this (juesti<in of 'dipping.' Yet, according to Neal, there 
 was not one Baptist in that body. Dr. Lightfoot,' one of its leading members, kept 
 a, journal of its proceedings, and bis entry for August 7, 16-4-1, tells us of ' a great 
 heat' in the debate of that day, when tiiey were framing the 'Directory' for baj)- 
 tism, as to whether dipping should be reserved or excluded, or whetlier 'it was 
 lawful and sufficient to besprinkle.' Coleman, called 'Ilabbi ('olenian " because of 
 his great Hebrew learning, contended with Lightfoot that (<nii-iljli, tlie Hebrew 
 word for dipping, demanded immersion 'over head ;' and Marshall, a famous pulpit 
 orator, stood firmly by him in the debate, both contending that dipping was essen- 
 tial 'in the first institution.' Lightfoot says that when they ranie to the vote, 'So 
 many were unwilling to have dipping excluded that the \'ote eauie to an ecpiality 
 within one, for the one side was tweiity-foui-, the otlicr twi'iity-1i\e ; the twenty-four 
 for the reserving of dipping, and the t\\enty-H\e against it.' ' The bii-iiiL'ss was ivcom- 
 mitted,' and the next day, after another warm dispute, it Avas \oted tliat ' ]inuring or 
 sprinkling water on the face ' was sufficient and most expedient. How did this 
 Presbyterian body, without a IJaptist in it, come to such 'a great heat' on dipping 
 if it were a novelty and an innovation amongst them in England '. 
 
 It is a significant tact also that S. Fisher, in his ' Anti-Rantism,' complains that 
 at Asliford and elsewhere the clergy would discuss only the ' subjects,' carefidly 
 avoiding all discussion of the method of baptism, a thing which they would have 
 been slow to do if they had known that the 'so-called' new baptism or inunersion 
 was, as such, an innovation in England. This they were careful never to charge. 
 Dr. Funk, Catholic professor at Tiibingen, dates the i-iso of sjirinkling and its first 
 prevalence thus : ' Throughout the fifteenth century, in decrees of synods, immer- 
 sion is referred to as the general and orderly form oi baptism.' Of sprinkling he 
 says : ' The first sure evidence of its practice is met with at the Synod of Florence, 
 when the Archbishop of Ephesus made it a subject of complaint against the \Yestern 
 Churcli ' (14:39). When it was introduced immersion long resisted it as a new form, 
 and this scholar says that wlieii water was poured upon the head the rest of tlie 
 body was still immersed. On the general subject, he quotes from the Synod of 
 Passau, 14:T0 ; of Wurzburg, 14^2 ; of Besancon, 1571 ; of Aix, 1585 ; and Caen, 1614. 
 
 These discussions liad produced such a growing distrust in the public mind on 
 the subject of infant baptism, as early as 1661, that for the first time a form of 
 service was introduced into tlie Prayer-Book for the public baptism of those of 
 
nrMEHSIOX yO new TIITXO. 489 
 
 ri])ci- years. Tlic ])i-ctace honestly states the reason : ' By the growtli of Anabaptism 
 tlirough tlie licentiousness of the Lite times, crept in amongst us, is now become 
 necessary, and may be always useful, for the baptizing of natives in otir plantations 
 and others, converted to the faith.' The Baptists were assailed for attempting to 
 restore the ancient state of things as if they liad committed an unheard-of crime, 
 and but for the Iiistory and literature of many centuries the clamor might lead to 
 the supposition that immersion had never been heard of until they sought to restore 
 the normal English baptism. They were called a 'New- washed coinijany,' were 
 charged with In-inging in a 'new dipping,' a ' novelty ' and an 'invention,' with 
 being 'led away of the devil,' with ' murdering tlie souls of babes,' and a few other 
 things of tlie same gracious sort. Bigotry and hate could not have raised a greater 
 howl if immersion had then been practiced on English soil for the tirst time. And 
 yet even Dr. Featley is compelled to say in his ' Clavis Mystrica,' 1G30 : ' Our font is 
 always open, or ready to be opened, and the minister attends to receive the children 
 of the faithful, and to dip them in the sacred laver.' Even in our day an attempt 
 has been made to leave the onus of invention upon the English Baptists, in the 
 matter of immersion, because simple-hearted Barbour. happened to say, in 1642, that 
 the Lord had raised him up to ^divulge the true doctrine of dipping.' Yet, his 
 entire treatise discusses the question, • What is the true ordinance of the dipping of 
 Clirist, and wherein does it differ from ciiildren's dipping ? ' lu the very sentence 
 which speaks of divulging the doctrine he says that it ' was received by the apostles 
 and primitive churches, and for a long time unavoidably kept and practiced by tiie 
 ministry of the Gospel in the planting of the first churelies.' The word 'divulge' 
 was not confined at that time to the sense of disclosing or discovering a thing, as 
 now, but it meant primarily to ' publish.' Henry Denne was immersed in 1643, 
 and preached the Gospel from that time onward ; and yet, in sending him forth on 
 a special mission, the Baptist Church at Fenstanton, October 28, 1663, says that, 
 ' On that day' he ' was chosen and ordained, by imposition of hands, a messenger to 
 divulge the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; ' ^ surely not to make it public, as a new thing. 
 Barbour speaks of the 'dipping of infants' more tliau a score of times, as a thing 
 witli whicli all were familiar, but he says : ' That dipping whereof we speak is 
 burying or plunging a heliever in water, he desiring of this ordinance.' 
 
 There is less clear and decisive evidence of the practice of immersion amongst 
 the English Baptists from 1600 to 1641 than might be desired, but the passage 
 cited from Leonard Busher, and other proofs, render it certain tliat they did not 
 first practice it in 1641. It is quite clear that some of them practiced affusion up to 
 that time, while some immersed, but after that date affusion seems to have ceased 
 amongst them and only immersion obtained. The case of John Smyth, who 
 baptized liimself in 1608, may be conceded to have been an affusion, and yet this 
 is by no means certain, neither has his immersion been proved. After all that Dr. 
 llooj) Sclieffer and others have said on the subject, passages fmin Smyth's three 
 
440 LEONAUD BUSUER'S CASE. 
 
 (Viiift'ssioiis of Fiiith ;ir(! h;tniii,<;cly in conflict witli tlic thought that he practiced 
 as|HTsion upon hinisclf iui- ha|)tisiii. Article XIV in his Latin Confession describes 
 baptism as • the t'\lci-nal symbol of ivmissioii (jf sin-, (if death and resurrection.' 
 Article XXX in his JMi-lish Confcssi.m says: >Tlio whoK. dealing in the outward 
 visible bajitism of water setteth b.'bire the eyes, witne.seth and signitieth, the 
 Lord .lesns dotli inwardly bajitize the repentant, faithful man in the laver of regen- 
 eration and renewing by the Holy (Ihost. washing the soul from all polluti..n and 
 sin, by the virtue and merit of his l)lood>hed.' The confession of Iiiinself and friends, 
 publbhe.l after hi.-, death. Article XXXVIILsays: 'That all men, in truth died, are 
 also with Christ burie.l by bajitism into death (Eom. vi, 4; CoL ii. 12), holding their 
 Sabbalh in flu- gi'ave with Chiast." And Article XL, 'That those who have been 
 planteil with Chi-ist together in the likeness of his death and burial shall be also in 
 the likeness ( d' his resurrection." Tlu'se utterances sa\dr more of immei'sion than 
 atfusion, and yet they were probably written after his Se-15aptism. so that its form 
 is left in doubt, with the pr.ibability that it was a <li|iiiing. 
 
 A feel)le but sti'ained attenijit has been nnide to show that none of the English 
 Baptists practiced immeision prior to ir,41. from the <l..cunient mentioned byCrosby 
 in 1738, of which he remarks, that it wa> • S,,;,! to be written by Mr. William Kittin." 
 Although this n:annscript is' signed by iifty-three persons, it is evident that its au- 
 thorship was only guessed at from the 1 legiuning, it may or may not have been 
 written by Kiffin. The church referred to was that of which Messrs. Jacob and 
 Lathrop had been pastors, but the fact that a part of this congregation did not know 
 that the immersion of believers had been practiced in England cannot be accepted 
 as decisive proof that all the Baptists were strangers to that jiractice, still less that 
 it had never been known in England before Ifill. It can scarcely be supposed that 
 Leonard Buslier should have written in Itlll that Christ ' c(]mnianded ' those who 
 'willingly and gladly' received ' the word of salvation to lie bapti/.eil in the water, 
 that is, dipped for dead in the water.' and that he neglected to obey that connnand 
 himself. He calls himself • a citizen of London,' and his style as an English writer, 
 though somewhat unpolished, was equal to the average of his times ; he appears to 
 have been acquainted with the Greek Text of the New Testament ; he addressed the 
 king (James) and ' the High Court of Parliament ' as a man who had the right to 
 address them as a ' citizen,' and with a full knowledge of English afEairs. He speaks 
 of himself and his brethren as: ' We that have most truth are most persecuted, and 
 therefore most poor,' and his work bears internal evidence that at some time he had 
 been exiled from his native land for his religion. The ' Address to the Presbyterian 
 Reader,' which forms the Introduction of his Treatise, is signed H. B., supposed to 
 be Henry Burton, and it says of Busher that he was ' an honest and godly man.' 
 What the Treatise itself says of Robinson and the Brownists, Avith these circumstances, 
 all point to the supposition that he was a member of the Baptist Church, formed in 
 London by Helwys in 1612-11-. But, in any case, the fair inference fi-om his own 
 
THE K IF FIN MS. 441 
 
 words iti, that he was an inniKTsed believer nearly thirty years before the MS. to 
 which Crosby refers was written. The following is the text of that paper: 
 
 1640. •">(] nio. The church became two by mutual consent, first half being 
 wtli. Mr. 1". l!;nvlMme and yc utiicr half wtli. Mr. II. Jessey. Mr. Eiclul. Blunt wth. 
 him beinij,-i'<.ii\ iiirrd >•[ i;a|iti-iii vt. al-.> it ought to bo by diping ye Uody into ye. 
 Water, rc.-rhiMing IJurial an. I riscing agaiii.'Col. ii : 12; Ttom. vi ; 4: had Sober 
 ('nnfi'i'cnrc aliiiut it in ye. Church, and then wtli. .-..mr ,,1' the tur.-iiained, who also 
 were ~u CMiix iiieed. And after Prayer and (■..iilnvnr,. al...iii ilhii-x, enjoying it, 
 none lia\iiig .-.i practiced in England to profe.^M'd lidicNcrs, and hearing that some 
 in the Netlier Lands had so practiced, they agreed and sent over Mr. llichd. Blunt 
 (who understood Dutch) wth. Letters of Commendation, who was kindly accepted 
 there, and Ileturned wth. Letters from them ; Jo. Batte a Teacher there ; and from 
 that Church to such as sent him. 1041. They proceed on therein, viz. : Those 
 persons yt. ware perswaded Baptism should ije by diping ye. Body, had mett in two 
 Compan'ics and did intend so to meet after this :' all these Agreed to proceed alike 
 together : And then Manifesting (not by any formal Words) a Covenant (wch. Word 
 was Scrupled by some of them)" but by mutual desires and agreement each testified : 
 These two Coiiipanyes did set apart one to Baptize the rest, so it was solemnly per- 
 formed by them. Mr. Blunt Baptized Mr. Blacklock, yt. was a Teacher amongst 
 them, and Mr. Blunt being Baptized, he and Mr. Blacklock Baptized ye. rest of 
 their friends yt. ware so ininded, and many being added to thcni they increased 
 nuich. 
 
 Dr. Featley, author of • The Dippers Dipt,' born 1JS2, died 1645, bears direct 
 testimony to the practice of believer's immersion amongst tlie Baptists at a much 
 earlier period than 1641. In that year he held a dispute witii four Baptists at South- 
 wark ; and, as he says, in his dedication to the reader, Jan. 10, 1644, ' I could hardly 
 dip my pen in any thing but gall,' we may not suspect him as stating facts within 
 his knowledge to their special advantage. Yet on this subject he says of them : 
 ' They flock in great multitudes to \\\q\v Jordans, and both sexes enter into the river, 
 and are dijit after their manner. And as they defile our rivers with their impure 
 washings, and our pulpits with their false prophecies and fanatical enthusiasms, so 
 the presses sweat and groan under the load of their blasphemies. . . . This venom- 
 ous serpent {vere Soltfuga) is the Anabaptist, who, in these latter times, first showed 
 his shining head, and speckled skin, and thrust out his sting near the place of my resi- 
 dence,/"(??- more than twenty years' He conveys the idea that they had defiled the 
 'rivers with their impure washings,' in being 'dipt after their ^nanner,'' quite as 
 long as they had defiled 'our pulpits' and 'presses,' and that near his own residence 
 ' for more than twenty years.' To his knowledge, then, they had ' dipt ' ' both 
 sexes,' in the English 'rivers' from before A. D. l<'i-24 ; his whole work treats of 
 them as 'Dippers,' who in baptism always ' dipt,' and had he known that they had 
 ever done any thing else, he would have been very happy to have charged them 
 with now throwing aside the right method and with taking up the wrong. 
 
 When P. Barbour speaks of the way of ' new baptizing,' he also speaks of bap- 
 tism having been 'in captivity in Babylon ;' which indicates, not that the Baptists 
 had now originated dijjpiiig in England, but that they had restored the historical 
 
///r/ t.i 
 
 ■ huil.l 1 
 
 of tl.e 
 
 Baptists 
 
 /«V-//,v, 
 
 7/ /r///,-/, 
 
 are lo,~ 
 
 ;t, fithcl- 
 
 442 BAXTER'S CONCESSIONS. 
 
 l)a|)tisiii wliic'li England liad ever known till that time. This lie calls 'God return- 
 is tahernacle.' Smyth himself, in reply to Clifton, calls the baptism 
 • m ii\ hut in what sense ; lie says : ' They set up a lu ic or (ijinftolif 
 AntJrhrJsf },,!</ or, rthro.rii. . . . AVIieii all Christ's visible ordinances 
 men mu,-t r.r,,r,r them a-ain, or nnist let them alone." The word 
 'new" was customarily applied to reforms in those days. Gov. Bradford calls 
 Suiyth's church at Amsterdam a ' new conununhm," a term which Bishop Hall ap- 
 plied to the Brownist churches, but neither of them meant that a church \\as a new 
 device in the earth. The Bishop complains that the Separatists classed the Church 
 of England with the old Churcli of Eonie, saying : ' The want of noting one poor 
 distinction breeds all this confusion of docti'ine and separation of men. For thei-e 
 is one case of a New Church to be called from heathenism to Christianity ; anot/ur, 
 of a former church to be reformed from errors to more sincere Christianity. . . . 
 This is our case. We did not make a New Church, but mended an old. Your 
 Clifton is di'iven to this old, by necessity of argument ; otherwise he sees there is no 
 ' avoiding of Anabaptism. . . . Neither is new baptism lawful (though some of you 
 beliki- of old were in hand with a rebaptizatioii ; which, not then speeding, succeed- 
 etli iiu\v to y(.iui- shauie), nor a, ncin, \dluntary. and particulai- confession of faith be- 
 sides that in baptism, though very ciunniendable, will evei- be proved simply neces- 
 sary to the being of a church.' « 
 
 Exi'U I!a\ter has been called to the stand for the pui'pose of saying that the 
 Baptists ' do introduce a M<?w so;'^ of Cliristianity " . . . and 'a new sort of bap- 
 tism, which the Church of Christ ne\er knew to this day. ... As if they were 
 raised in the end of the world to reform the baptism and Christianity of all ages, 
 and were not only wiser than the universal Church from Christ till now, but also at 
 last must make the Church another thing." When iiaxter explains Daxter, what- 
 ever else he may mean, he does not mean that dijiping was a new device either in 
 England or in Christianity. In defining baptism he wi'ites : 'The action of the 
 minister on God's part is to wash the body of the baptized with the water, which, 
 in hot countries, was by dipping them over head, and taking them up." ^ Again : ■ It 
 is commonly confessed by us to the Anabaptists, as our commentators declare, that 
 in the Apostles' time the baptized were dipped over head in the water. . . . We 
 have thought it lawful to disuse the manner of dipjiing, and to use less water.' ^ 
 Nor did he think that ' rebaptism," as he calls it, was a ' new sort of Christianity 
 and baptism,' for he declared that ' If any person discovered a minister who bap- 
 tized him to be no minister' he might be baptized again ; ' nor would I account it 
 mor'ully twice baptizing, but a physical repeating of that act which morally is hut 
 one. '^ Neither did he think that Baptist di]iping had made ' the Church another 
 thing ' in such sense as to cut them off from Christian fellowship. He says : ' For 
 the Anabaptists themselves, though I have written and said so much against them, 
 as I found that most of them were persons of zeal in religion, so many of ttiem weru 
 
IN WHAT SENSE A ^ NE]y' flAPTrs.V. 443 
 
 sober, godly ])oople, who differed from others but in tlie point of infant baptism, 
 or, at most, in the points of predestination, free-will and perseverance.' ' He asks : 
 ' May Anabaptists, tliat have no other error, be permitted in churcli communion? 
 Ans. Yes, and tolerated in tlieir practice also: For 1. They agree with us in all 
 points absolutely necessary to communion. 2. The ancient Christians had lib- 
 erty either to baptize, or let them stay till age, as they think best : and, there- 
 fore, Tertullian and Nazianzen speak against haste : and Augustine and many 
 Christian parents were baptized at age.'* After yielding the whole ground to 
 the Baptists in this way, it is hard to understand what he means by ' a new 
 sort of baptism, which the Church of Christ never knew to this day,' unless it be 
 the new line or succession of baptism which Suiytii liad introduced by baptizing 
 himself. 
 
 This is clear enough from P. Barbour's discourse. After attempting to prove 
 that tlic baptism of the Roman Catholic Church is valid, he speaks of Smyth's bap- 
 tism, protesting that if pure l)aptism 
 
 'Is nowhere else to be found remaining in the world, there is nn ground for 
 tliis practice of raisimj baptism : by persons baptizing themselves.' Instead, there 
 should be 'a seeking out of the Churcli where she were to be found, and there re- 
 ceiving the holy obedience of Christ's baptism as in a right line, and so be added to 
 the Cliurch, and from thence conveying the truth into these parts again where it 
 liad oitsi'd.^ He then tries to show at "great length that if baptism be 'lost and 
 fallen out of tlie world, and an idol and likeness were in the room of it,' no persons 
 have the riglit to attempt a ' new beginning,' or ' go about the raising, erectinoj, or 
 sefiinij up of it aijiiin, without a special commission from God.' He then complains 
 that tliose who reject Roman baptism insist on the practice of dipping ; ' and that 
 persons are to be dipped, all and every part to be under the water, for if all the 
 whole person is not under the water, then they hold that they are not baptized with 
 the baptism of Christ. . . . ' Truly they want a Dipper that hath authority from 
 heaven as had John. ... I hope when they have further considered this matter 
 they may abate of the fierceness of their opinions, so as to think that baptism under 
 or in the defection maybe God's ordinance, so as there shall be no need of tiiis new 
 dipping,' which he admits to have been but a revival of the old practice. 
 
 Denne put tlie (piestion of dipping in England in its true light in his public 
 disputation at St. Cleiueut Dane's church with Mr. (iunning in 105<). At p. 40 
 he says : 
 
 'Dipping of infants was not only comnKUKJed by the Church of England, but 
 also generally practiced in the Church of England till the year IKUU ; yea, in some 
 jilaces it was practiced until the year 16il, until the fashion altered. . . . I can show 
 aMr. Baxter an old man in London who has labored in the Lord's Pool many years ; 
 converted by his ministry more men and women than Mr. Baxter hath in his parish ; 
 yea, when lie hath labored a great part of the day in preaching and reasoning, his 
 reflection hath been (not a Sack-jtossit or a caudle\ but to go into the water and 
 baptize converts. ... I wonder that Mr. Baxter should forget that he hath read in 
 authors, which he deems authentic, who write that Ethclbert King of Kent, with 
 lU.dOO men and women, were baptizeil in Canterbury, upon the 25th of December, 
 in the vear 597.' 
 
444 ALLEGED INDECENT PRACTLCEH. 
 
 And tlif .same tunc is nuiintniucd by Mi. W.' in liis JJeelanitioii ai;-aiiist Ana- 
 baptists in answer to Cornwall ; ho says, I^ondon, 1C44, p. 1 : 
 
 'You argue thus, " That wliicli God hath jt»incd topx'thei-, no man ought to 
 separate, (But faith and baptism, or niore properly dipping.) (iod hath joined 
 together; therefore, faith and baptism (or dipping as the original ivnders it) no man 
 ouglit to separate." ' 
 
 The fact is. that it was not the dipi)ing of the Baptists whicli shocked their 
 opponents so uiuch as Sniyth's act \\ith some of its consequences. The Anti- 
 Baptists possesseil a certain I'liurcli and ministerial succession, and under this idea 
 they regarded his course as ju-ofanity. They considered Bajitists as inci'c inter- 
 lopers, having no right t(.i adniinistci- the ordinances in any way, as tliey had 
 renounced that succession. The Baptists were I'egarded us ' u[istai-ts," and their 
 'new dipping,' looked at in any light, was but an innovation. liackus caught 
 this distinction with great clearness, and says: 'Being hardly accused \\ith the 
 want of ';v///V <^^////;//;.s//v^/r-/'.v. njoved seven Uaptist cliinches, who met in London 
 in 1(U3 to declare it as their faith that by ( 'hri>t"s c..nnnunion every discij)le who 
 had a gift to preach the Gos}iel had a right to administer baptism, even before 
 he was ordained in any C'hureh;" much less that he should be reipiired hrst to prove 
 his regular descent by succession from the Apostles. (Backus, ii, p. 4.) Whoever 
 the Baptists immersed had, in the opini(in of tlieirfoes, been baptized as babes, and 
 so their after-dijjping was new and unauthorized, especially Avhen had in unconse- 
 crated places, as rivers and streams ; such as Old Ford Eiver, near Bromley, in 
 Middlesex, which Wilson, in his ' Dissenting Churches,' says ' was much frequented ' 
 for this purpose. Nay, their foes even professed themselves shocked with the 
 bodily exertion of such immersions. John Goodwin, in semi-comic style, says of 
 'the Baptist who dipjjeth' that he 'had need be a man of stout limbs, and of a 
 very able and active body ; otherwise the jierson to be Ijajitized, especially if in any 
 degree corpulent or unwieldly, runs a great hazard of meeting with Clirist's later 
 baptism instead of his former.' 
 
 Baxter aifectcd to be shocked, for it was reported to him that they l^ajitized 
 in the rivers, naked. Featley and others report the same, btit none of them pre- 
 tended to have been eye-witnesses of these reported indecencies. Cn the contrary, 
 Baxter adds : " I must confess I did not see the persons baptized naked, nor do I 
 take it to be lawful to defame any upon doubtful reports,' words which imply 
 honest doubt. But Ptichardsou resented this imputation, saying : ' We abhor it, 
 and deny that any of us ever did so;' then he challenged Featley 'to prove it 
 against us if he can.' This the Doctor was careful never to attempt. Ilaggar de- 
 clares that he had baptized and been at the baptizing of ' many hundreds if not 
 thousands, and never saw any baptized naked in his life, neither is it allowed nor 
 approved of amongst any that I know of.' Baxter lived near Tombes, his great 
 Baptist disjuitant, and yet followed ' common fame ' in this matter, instead of in- 
 
KMU.y /lAl'TlSTS TN ENGLAND. 443 
 
 qiiii-iiii;- of him, tliiis ;illi>\viiij;- aiioiiyiiious slanderers tu till liis oars. Ho said that 
 ho was willing to (■(miniuiu' with tho Baptists, but ho soonis nover to liavo taken 
 one step to learn the truth of this cliarge against his dear brethren. Even liad he 
 found the charge true, he should not have been too much shocked that they copied 
 tlie fanaticisms of the Fathers, whom he so much revered : Ciirysostoni, Augustine 
 and Cyril, who stickled zealously for mide baptism. Besides, in England the children 
 were baptized without clothing at that time. Dr. Wail says that ' the wealthy people 
 began to object to the stripping of their children naked, and the aifrighted screams 
 with wliich they received immersion.' Bacon conlirms this, saying that ' honesty 
 and shamefacedness forbiddeth to uncover the body, and also the (weak) state of 
 infants, for the most part, cannot away with dipping.' Wall coolly adds that the 
 Baptists need not to have made so great an outcry against Baxter's charge of inde- 
 cency, for that the primitive Christians baptized in entire undress. And for the same 
 reason Baxter need not to have cried out against the Baptists, even if he could have 
 proved that they followed this bad example of the primitive Christians ; which, 
 however, they seem to have avoided with all carefulness. Their confession of 
 1643 evinced their modesty, by requiring 'convenient garments, both upon the 
 administrator and subject, with all propriety, when they immersed.' 
 
 This chapter can scarcely be closed better than by showing that the so-called 
 ' Anabaptists ' of the realm had long practiced according to these views. There 
 are traditions of Baptist Churches in England from the fourteenth century, 
 but they are not well sustained by historical records. Collier speaks of many 
 infants who were left unbaptized in the middle of the twelfth century. Eobinson 
 says that there was a Baptist church at Chesterton in 1459; and others mention 
 'heretics' all over England, who refused baptism for infants in various reigns 
 down to Henry VIII. The law of the land demanded the baptism of all, but as 
 we have no reliable records of Baptist churches it is fair to infer that these ob- 
 jectors were either English Lollards or foreigners driven from the Continent. We 
 do not find the name ' Anabaptist ' applied to English ' heretics ' until the reign of 
 Henry, 1500, nearly a century after all trace of the Lollards is lost, their chief 
 relic then being the Lollard's Tower, that of St. Gregory's Church, contiguous to 
 St. Paul's Cathedral, which had been used as their prison. Fox records that in 
 1535, according to the registers of London, nineteen 'Anabaptists' were put to 
 death in various parts of the realm, and that fourteen Hollanders were burnt in 
 paii-s in England. A ' History of the " Anabaptists " of High and Low Germany ' 
 was written in 1642, and is now amongst the ' King's Pamphlets.' Its bitter 
 author writes (p. 55): 'All these are scions of that flock of Anabaptism that was 
 transplanted out of Holland in the year 1535, when two ships ladeu with Ana- 
 baptists fled into England ; . . . here it seemeth they have remained ever since ' 
 (p. 48). Barclay also reports that in 1536 ' Anabaptist ' societies in England sent a 
 delegation to a great gathering of their brethren in AVestphalia. ' It appears, 
 
',40 KXt,'/JS// M Mil)' It I XI. VS. 
 
 tlieruforu, that the origin of thu English iinpf i.-ts, :is a ili^tiiict sect, is to he found 
 amongst the Baptist refugees who were ili-i\cn fVom tliu Xotlici-hunls. 
 
 The Lolkirds had prepared the wa.y for the nipid spi^ad of tlie ])rinciiiles of 
 tliese Dutcli Cliristians, and since 1535 Baptist witnesses for tiie ti'utli liave stood 
 tirinly on British soil, cither as individuals or as organized cliurchcs. 15y 153*; tlieir 
 doctrines had so spread amongst Enghsh folic that a Church Convocati.ni de- 
 nounced theui liy name, reipiiring the people to repudiate their jii-inci])les and 
 practices, 'as detestable heresies and utterly to be condemned.' Dr. AVali, in 
 recording this proceeding, says : ' Some people in England began to speak very 
 irreverently and mockingly about some of the ceremonies of baptism then in use;' 
 and he gives a catalogue of 'profane sayings that began to be handed abunt among 
 some people,' as follows : ' That it is as lawful to christen a child in a tub of water 
 at home, or in a ditch by the way, as in a stone font in a church.' Custom then 
 immersed the child in the consecrated ' font,' not in unhallowed streams. Another 
 'profane saying' was: 'That the hallowed oil is no better than the Bishop of 
 Kome's grease or Ijutter.' Again : ' That the holy-water is more savory to make 
 sauce with than the other (water), because it is mixed with salt; which is also a 
 very good medicine for ahorse witli a galled back: yea, if there be jnit an onion 
 thereto, it is a good sauce for a giblet of mutton.' This kind-hearted divine 
 resented such unreverential reflections of the English Anti-pedobaptists, and so 
 did the king and Convocation. Still the good doctor thought that this threw no 
 dishonor on infant baptism, but Henry and the Convocation saw disdain for the 
 thing itself, in contempt for the ceremonies which attended it, and proceeded to 
 read the nation a lecture, in six particulars. They declared baptism necessary to 
 eternal life, that it belongs to infants, and makes them sons of God ; that, being 
 born in original sin, they cannot be saved but by the grace of baptism, etc. Then 
 they discover the real animus of their action with their alarm for the miscliief on 
 the subject which the Baptists had already wrought in the public mind. They say 
 to all Englishmen ' that they ought to refute and take all the Anabaptists' and Pe- 
 lagians' opinions in this behalf for detestable heresies.' Then Wall cites Fuller out 
 of Stow to prove that in 1538 six Dutch Anabaptists were punished in London, 
 ' four bearing fagots at Paul's Cross, and two being burnt in Smithfield.' Again 
 quoting from Fuller, he writes : ' This year the name of this sect first appears in 
 our English chronicles,' and from Fox, that ten Dutch ' Anabajjtists ' were put to 
 death in England in 1535, a year before these utterances of Convocation. The 
 sixth article condemns this heresy in ' other men,^ who were not of these prescribed 
 bodies, alluding to the English Baptist infection ; for the lower house complained 
 to the upper, in its ' catalogue of some errors that began to be handed about among 
 some people,' and which the united body sharply rebuked. The king published a 
 proclamation, 1538, condemning all Baptist books ; an Act of Grace was passed 
 the same year from the benefits of which the Baptists were excepted, and the 
 
roxTROVEnsiAL LrrKnATntK. 447 
 
 Bisli.ip'^ (if tlie Soiitlioru Provinw issiifil ;i (•(iiumissi(,ii to seek out utnl piniisli 
 them. Brand reports tliat in 1539 thirty-one "Anabaptists' Hed Ironi Kui^land and 
 were slau^litered at Delft, Holland; the men were beheaded and the women 
 drowned. 
 
 Froude mentions a numl)er who were? put to death fur • being faithful to their 
 conscience,' and Stow tells us of four being burnt in Smithfield. These facts indi- 
 cate, their growing strength at that time. In a royal proclamation, issued in 1540, 
 some of their so-called errors are thus enumerated, nainel}': 'That infants ought 
 not to be baptized, and that it is not lawful for a Christian man to bear office or 
 rule in the commonwealth.' But persecution only promoted their increase. Strype 
 tells ns that about 1548 ' Anabaptist' congregations had been gathered at Bocking 
 and Feversham, amongst whom are many English names. Sixty of their members 
 were arrested ; and Ilart, Middleton, Coal and Brodbridge, four of their ministers, 
 were made prisoners. Middleton w-as martyred in the reign of Edward, and when 
 Archbishop Cranmer threatened him with death he replied : ' Reverend sir, pass 
 what sentence you think tit upon us. But that you may not say that you were not 
 forewarned, I testify that your turn may be next ; ' and twenty years afterwards his 
 expectation M-as realized. Hooper wrote to his friend, Bullinger, 1549, that he was 
 lecturing twice a day to great crowds, but that the ' Anabaptists ' flocked to the 
 place and gave hiin much trouble, another indication that these hearers of his were 
 English born. And last of all, Latimer, in preaching before Edward VI., March 
 29, 1549, told the king that he had heard of many of them in the realm, of iive 
 hundred in one town, and that in many places they had been burnt, dying cheer- 
 fully for their faith, coolly adding : ' AVell, let them go.' 
 
 The literature of the times is in keeping with these statements. In 1548 
 John Vernon translated and published Bullinger's 'Holesoine Antidote Against 
 the Pestilent Sect of the Anabaptists.' William Turner, a physician, 1551, issued 
 a treatise called a ' Triacle ' {remedy) ' against the poyson lately stirred up agayn by 
 the furious Secte of the Anabaptists.' Philpots, in his sixth examination before 
 Lord Riche, 1555, told him that every heretic would have a church to himself, 
 ' as Joan of Kent and the Anabaptists.' The phrase ' lately stirred up agnyn,^ 
 in the title of Turner's book, must have reference in the past, to the Act of Con- 
 vocation and to the Commission of 1538, when Cramner and eight others were 
 appointed to persecute them with all severity. Henry had required every English 
 justice to enforce the laws against them, and thus to scour the whole realm. This 
 stringency was not needed to hunt out a few exiled foreigners in London, Essex 
 and Norfolk. Everywhere there was a growing neglect of infant baptism. One 
 of Bishop Ridley's warrants of search, in 1550, demanded, ' whether any speaketh 
 against baptism of infants.' Even Hooper was suspected on that question. Before 
 he was nominated for the bishopric he held : ' We may not doubt of the salvation of 
 the infants of Clu'istians that die before they be christened ; ' showing that such 
 
opinions wci-c 
 
 nu l,;ir 
 
 to piililic' 
 
 CUlllhl. 
 
 baptism, ami i 
 
 h i :.:>;; ,.r 
 
 dcivd that 
 
 all thr 
 
 tlie priest;' ai 
 
 1(1 in his 
 
 ' Dc.-lanitiu 
 
 n nf t 
 
 sucli supcrstiti 
 
 on as thi 
 
 s: -The 1,1 
 
 v:u\ i. 
 
 ImimIj of C:iirisi 
 
 t, as till. 
 
 watci- ill lia 
 
 ptislii 
 
 .l.s7i-;?Tt'. 
 
 ■un: Ihit, IM.llc.v had a. in.mia for infant 
 .•hildnMi in hi> di.MTM. -he rliri>tcnf.l hy 
 w l.unlV Slipper' we liiul him talking 
 diTil. .sicranientally, is elian-cd into the 
 s sacruiiieiitally clianged into the fountain 
 of rei;enei'ation, and yet tlie material Mili^taiu-e thereof remaiiietli all one. as was 
 before.' A eongreo'ation of I'.aptists was found in London in \:<7''. twenty-seven 
 of whom were iiiiiiriHUied, and two biiriit in Smithtield ; and the sei-t ran be 
 traced by their blood all thron-h the eentnry, aided by the li-ht <<i' Knriiet. Fnller 
 and Fox". 
 
 Tradition eonnects the name of Anne Askew with the liaptists. She was a 
 thorough rrote.-tant, a tiriii friend of Joan Boueher. and a helper to her in eircu- 
 lating the llihle and other religious books privately in the palaee. She wa.^ the 
 youngest daughter of Sir William Askew, was thoroughly educated, being as 
 delicate and gentle a spirit as e\-er ascended from Smithtield to paradise. She was 
 intimate with Queen Cathai-ine I'arr. and so fell a \ictim to Bishop Gardinei-'s craft, 
 he expecting to attaint her majesty of hei'esy through Anne, who was but foxir 
 and twenty years of age. Much of her time, day and night, was ^petit in jirayer; 
 she reveled in the freshness of the Gospel, and her fi'aiik, meek, uiiMispecting sim- 
 jilicity won the queen's heart. She was arrested and thrown into the Tower on 
 the charge that she rejected the mass. There she was jiiit to the rack, but her 
 clear and calm mind would neither criminate herself nor Catharine. Hence, when 
 Bishop Gardiner and Chancellor Wriothesley saw that their policy was to be 
 thwarted, the chancellor demanded that Sir Anthony Knevett should torment her 
 further. This the lieutenant of the Tower refused, wlien Wriothesley threw off 
 his gown, and drew the rack so severely that he almost tore her body to pieces. 
 She endured this with such firm trust in God and such lofty courage that she 
 seems like an angel of light amongst her tormentors. She had xarioiis hearings, in 
 which her hai-niless wit overpowered her foes. The lord mayor demanded of her : 
 ' Say est thou that the ])riests cannot make the body of Christ T She answered : 
 'I say so, my lord; for I have read that (bid made man. but that man can make 
 God I have never yet read.' Qu. 'What if a moii>e eat of the bread after the 
 consecration? What shall become of the mouse, thou bioli>h w<iinan;' Ans. 
 'What shall become of her say you, my lord ; ' lie replied: '1 say that that mouse 
 is damned!' She artlessly rejoined, to his lordship's chagrin: 'Alack, poor 
 mouse ! ' When condemned to be burnt, her torture forbade her to walk to the 
 stake, and she was carried in a chair. There a written pardon was offered to her 
 from the king if she would recant. She calmly turned her eyes awa\', and fell in 
 the flames a sacrifice to Jesus, 1546, before she was five and twenty. Shaxton, 
 the apostate, preached at her burning, and a disgusting scene followed. The chan- 
 cellor, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Bedford, the lord mayor, and other 
 
I 
 
 
 .) n 
 
 
 ^i I 
 
 ^# 
 
 X 
 
 
jo.\y nouciiEit. 449 
 
 dii^nitaries tVasted tlieir eyes oil lier and the throe who peri.slied with lier, seated 
 oil a heiieli under tlie shadow of St. Bartholomew's church. A rumor spread tliat 
 heuevoleiit hands had put gun-powder about the martyrs to shorten their niiserv. 
 These cravens were filled with terror for their own safety, lest the powder .';iioiii<l 
 east the fagots where they sat. Tliey could gloat upon the heroine, whose love for 
 Christ was reducing her to ashes, but sat trembling lest the brands should touch 
 tliein. Jesus, rising from his throne, welcomed her to a security which these 
 selfish cowards could never disturb again. 
 
 Four years afterwards, under Edward ^'I., we have tin; fearful martyrdom of 
 Joan Boucher, of Kent, probably of Eythorne, near Caiiterhiiry, where there was a 
 Baptist assembly. She was a lady of note, possessing large wealth, and was well 
 known at the palace in the days of Henry and Edward. With her friend Anne 
 Askew she was devoted to the study and circulation of Tyndale's translation, which 
 had been printed at Cologne, 1534. Strype says that she carried copies of this 
 prohibited book under her clothing on her visits to the court ; and very likely to 
 the prisons also, which she often visited, using her wealth to relieve those who 
 snifered for Jesus' sake. She was charged with various heresies, and was arrested, 
 May, 1549. Amongst other things, she denied that the Virgin Mary was sinless by 
 nature, insisting that like other women she needed to rejoice 'in God her Saviour,' 
 as she herself said. Joan neither denied the proper humanity of Jesus nor that he 
 was Mary's son. But she held, with many others of her day, that he became man 
 of her 'faith,' not of her flesh, lest he should inherit her sinful taint; yet, she 
 believed in Christ's miraculous incarnation, and in him as 'that holy thing' born 
 of Mary. Her idea was a mere speculation, or, as Vaughn expresses it, 'a subtle 
 fancy,' not in itself half so weak as the notion of Mary's own immaculate con- 
 ception, manufactured to meet the conclusion which Joan wished to avoid, namely, 
 the jieccability of Christ's humanity. On this frivolous quiddity was this noble 
 woman kept a year and a half under the hair-splitting batteries of Cranmer, Ridley, 
 Whitehead, Hutchinson, Cecil, Lord Chancellor Riche, and others of the Protestant 
 Liquisition ; more is the pity that they had no better business. She was examined 
 and cross-examined, entreated and threatened, all to no purpose. Neal, Burnet and 
 Philpot have affected to treat her as 'weak,' 'vain' and 'fanatic,' charges which 
 their manliness had better have applied to her learned tormentors ; for her recorded 
 examinations show more of these infirmities in them than in her. They did not 
 evince one thoroughly amiable trait in the whole transaction, while she displayed an 
 acute and powerful mind, moved by a warm and impulsive heart. 
 
 True, she rejected their notion of Mary's sinlessness and demanded Scripture 
 for their teaching, while they had none to give ; then, she gave none for her own 
 speculations, and that was about all of consequence between them, on this issue. 
 The whole farce was a small and mean business for men of their cast and cloth, and 
 if she were an empty-headed woman, as they pretended, they honored themselves 
 
4S0 JOAN nOUCIlKR BURNT. 
 
 hut littlr in s|)on<lino- cii^^litceii inoiitlis <if tlicii- tiiiir and lahoi' nn lier ii,ij;infnt, for 
 rilic wi'll lifld her .>\vii witli ihv. wlmlc Icanird and malignant cnAvd .d' tlieni. Lord 
 Puclie says, tliat lie kept litT at his (avii liousc lor 'a lurtni-iit; and liail Crannier 
 and Ridley visit and ivason with Iut daily. Kidlry hcnt all his elo(iUL>nee iipun her 
 mind, hut could not shako hci- cunNictions. Her judges called her every thing but 
 the lady which her pai'entage, jio^-ition and character demanded, and they felt 
 terribly grieved when her insulted ])atieiice told them the plain truth, in more 
 polite language than their own. 'Marry,' said she, 'it is a goodly matter to con- 
 sider your ignorance. It is not long ago since you burned Anne Askew for a piece 
 of bread, and yet you came yourselves soon after to believe and profess the same 
 doctrine for which you burned her. And now, foi-sooth, yon will burn me for a 
 piece of flesh, and in the end you will cdme to liclieve tiiis al^i.' Did Tliuinas 
 Cranmer and Nicholas Kidley reniend)er her true words in the ilanius, and did they 
 help to light them through the tire? Fox tried hard to save her, and to induce 
 John Rogers to help him. Rogers refused, thought that she ought to be burnt, and 
 spoke lightly of death by burning, but then he did not dream of being chained to the 
 stake himself. Fox, pitying lier, seized the Iiainl of his friend Rogers and replied: 
 'Well, it may so happen that you yourself will have your hands full of this mild 
 burning.' Whether he had or not, his poor wife proved the force of Fox's pro- 
 phetic apprehension when she stood Avith her eight children and saw^ her husband 
 consumed to ashes, five years later. 
 
 Joan Boucher suffered amongst the fagots, May 2, 1550, to the eternal disgrace 
 of all concerned. Common decency might have spared her the mockery of having 
 Bishop Scorey preach to her while at the stake and vilify her there, under pretense 
 of ^iious exhortation. Yet, possibly, her last act did him a service wliicli he much 
 needed, and which had never been done to him before. Her sermon to him is 
 immortal, while his to her has long since been forgotten. Listening to him just as 
 her soul ascended to heaven in the flame, she said in reply : ' You lie like a rogue. 
 Go read the Scriptures ! ' Much needless ink has been shed on an attempt to show 
 that Edward stained her death-warrant with tears when he signed it, because Cran- 
 mer clamored for her life. But Hallam long since said that this royal tear-scene 
 should be dropped from history, though detailed by Burnet. And the young 
 Tudor well sustains Hallam from his private journal, which is any thing but 
 tearful. With his own hand he wrote : ' Joan Boucher, otherwise called Joan of 
 Kent, was burnt for holding that Christ was not incarnate of the Virgin Mary, 
 being condemned the year previous, but kept in hope of conversion ; and the 30th 
 of April the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Ely were to persuade her, but 
 she withstood them and reviled the preacher that preached at her death.' So much 
 for his Journal, but there is no proof that Edward signed her death-warrant at all. 
 This was seldom done by the monarch, and in her case it was issued by the Council 
 to the Lord Chancellor. On the authority of Bruce, editor of the works of Hutch- 
 
UEXDIiICK TERWOOIiT. 4S 1 
 
 inson, Parker Society edition, tlie following is taken from a minute of tlio Council 
 itself, dated April 27, 1550. 'A warrant to the L. Chancellor to make out a writt 
 to tlie shirell of London for the execugon of Johan of Kent, condenipncd to be 
 burned for certein detestable opinions of heresie.' '" 
 
 IIendkick Tekwoort, a Fleming by birth, and of a line mind, another Baptist 
 martyr of note, was burned in Smithfield, June 22, 1575. He was but five and 
 twenty, had rejected infant baptism, and held that a Christian should not make oath 
 or bear arms. While in prison he wrote a Confession of Faith, in which he said : 
 ' We must abstain from willful sins if we would be saved, namely, from adultery, 
 foruicatiiin, witchcraft, sedition, bloodshed, cursing and stealing, . . . hatred and 
 envy. Tiiey who do such things shall not possess the kingdom of (iod.' lie also 
 set forth that the 'Anabaptists' 'believe and confess that magistrates are set and 
 ordained of God, to punish the evil and protect the good,' that they pray for them 
 and are subject to them in every good work, and that they revere the 'gracious 
 queen ' as a sovereign. He sent a copy to Elizabeth, but her heart was set against 
 him and his people, as hard as the nether millstone, and this young son of God 
 must die because he would not make his conscience her footstool. Bishops Laud 
 and Whitgift hated him and the Baptists, the latter dealing in this heartless slander: 
 ' They give honor and reverence to none in authority, they seek the overthrow of 
 commonwealths and states of government, they are full of pride and contempt, their 
 whole interest is schismatic and to be free from all laws, to live as they list ; they 
 feign an austerity of life and manners, and are great hypocrites.' When he comes 
 to the dangerous method of specification, he virtually admits his slander. He 
 berates them for complaining : ' That their mouths are stopped, not by God's word, 
 but by the authority of the magistrate. They assert that the civil magistrate has no 
 authority in ecclesiastical matters, and ought not to meddle in cases of religion and 
 faith, and that no man ought to be compelled to faith and religion ; aiul lastly, they 
 complain much of persecution, and brag that they defend their ('ause not witii 
 words only, but by the shedding of their blood.' " 
 
 Terwoort was not an English subject, but, persecuted in his own land for his 
 love to Christ, he tied and asked protection of a Protestant queen, the head of the 
 English Church, and she roasted him alive for his misplaced confidence. Nor was his 
 a singular case. Bishop Jewel complains of a ' large and unauspicious crop of Ana- 
 baptists ' in Elizabeth's reign, and she not only ordered them out of her kingdom, 
 but in good earnest kindled the fires to burn them. Sir James Mackintosh says 
 that no Catholic was martyred in Edward's reign, and happy had it been could he 
 have written that the virgin Queen also avoided a Baptist holocaust. Marsden 
 thinks that the Baptists were the most numerous dissenters from the Established 
 Church in her reign, and Camden afhrms that she insisted on their leaving the 
 kingdom on pain of imprisonment and confiscation of property. Yet even this did 
 not satisfy her implacable hate, as a real Tudor. She pursued them more and more, 
 
452 DROWNISTS. 
 
 until thcv wci-c driven in all .lircctions, Miniu lifin^^ put to dcatii ; Imt the larj^^e part 
 of tln'i.i lied t.) Jiolhuid, where at this time thev enjoyed mure toleration. Dr. 
 Se.me, liowcver, an English clergyman of note in his day. informs us that they had 
 several secret 'conventicles' in London, and that s(!veral of their ministers had been 
 educated at the universities. In 15^9, he wrote a treatise, attacking tlieni and their 
 faith. His charges against the Baptists were : That they insisted on maintaining all 
 mini.-teis of the Gospel hy the voluntary contributions of the i>eople ; that the civil 
 power ha^ no riizht to make and impose ecclesiastical laws; that the people have the 
 right to eh("ise their own pastors; that the High Commission Court was an anti- 
 Christian u,-ur|iatiMn ; that those who are (puililied to preach ought not to he hin- 
 dered hy the civil power; that though the Lord's Prayer is a rule and foundation of 
 petition, it is not to he used as a form, foi- no form of prayer should he bound on 
 the Church; that the baptism of the Church of Rome is invalid ; that a Gosi)cl con- 
 stitution and discipline are es.sentiai to a true Church; and that the worship of God 
 in the (.'hureh of Eiigland is, in many things, defective. For these views they were 
 accounted 'heretics,' and suffered so severely that from 1590 to 163U we find but 
 slight trace of Baptists in England. 
 
 About 15T9 Archbishop Sandys declared both of the Brownists and Baptists : 
 ' It is the property of froward sectaries, whose inventions cannot abide the light, to 
 make obscure conventicles,' and he would compel them to attend the Established 
 Church. He was the more disturbed because so many 'heretical' exiles from Hol- 
 land had sought refuge in England, for it is said that in 1571 there were nearly 
 4,000 Dutch and other foreigners in Norwich alone, many of them Dutch Baptists, 
 from whom Weingarten thinks that Brown borrowed his best ideas of a Gospel 
 Church. Robert Brown, chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk, and Robert Harrison, the 
 master of a grammar school, were Puritans, and went to Norwich in 1580. There 
 they mingled with these exiles, and formed an independent Church, but the bishops 
 had no rest till Brown was banished. He, with Harrison and about fifty others, in 
 1581, fled to Middleburg, in Zealand, and formed a Church, which became extinct 
 because of divisions, and Brown returned to the Church of England. Elizabeth 
 was especially set against the Separatists, and in 1597, Francis Johnson, pastor of 
 their Church in London, with some of his flock, escaped to Amstei'dam. On the 
 accession of James I., 1G03, the four sects of England were, the Roman Catholic, 
 the Church of England, divided into the Puritans, who conformed in some things, 
 and others who conformed in all, the Brownists, afterwards know-n as Separatists and 
 Independents, and a few Baptists, who were disowned of all. The Gospel seed 
 sown by Brown in his own counti'y took root, and notwithstanding his return to 
 the English Church, Sir Walter Raleigh said, in 1592, that there were 20,000 
 Brownists in England. John Robinson, a firmer and more steady mind, went to 
 Norwich, then to Scrooby, 1600-160-1, cast the Brownists in a healthier mold, and 
 they became known as Independents. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 BRITISH BAPTISTS-JOHN SM YTH-COMMON\A^EALTH. 
 
 REV. JOHN SMYTH, educated at Cambridge, became vicar of (iaiiisbon.ngli, 
 Lineolnsliire, and a determined foe of the Separatists. After examining 
 their sentiments for ' nine mouths,' however, lie renounced episcopacy as unscript- 
 ural and was cast into the Marshalsea Prison, Soutliwark, but Ix'iiii:- liberated, lie 
 became pastor of the Separatist Church at Gainsborough in It5<i2. AVilliaui IJrew- 
 ster was a Separatist at Gainsborough, but removed to Scrooby near Bawtry, where 
 Clifttiu became pastor, with Robinson as assistant. Both tliese Httie fiocks, how- 
 ever, were driven from tlieir homes, Smyth fleeing to Amsterdam, probably in 1606, 
 where he joined Jolinson. Clifton and Robinson followed in 1608, settling first at 
 Amsterdam, then at Leyden. In 1620 a jiortion of the Church at Leyden migrated 
 to Plymouth, New England, with P)rewster as elder, and formed the first Congre- 
 gational Church in America. On arriving in Amsterdam, Smyth at lirst united 
 with the 'ancient' English Separatist Church there, in charge of Jolmsun, with 
 Ainsworth as teacher. At that time the Separatists of Amsterdam were in warm 
 controversy on the true nature of a visible Church. Smyth published a work on the 
 fallen Church, entitled ' The Character of the Beast,' and a tractate of seventy-one 
 pages, against infant baptism and in favor of believer's baptism. For this he was 
 disfellowshiped by the first Church, his former friends charging him with open war 
 against God's covenant, and the murder of the souls of babes and sucklings, ])v 
 depriving them of the visible seal of salvation. 
 
 This led Smyth, Ilelwys, Morton and thirty-six others to form a new Church 
 which should practice believer's baptism and reject infant baptism. Finding 
 themselves unbaptized, they were in a strait. They were on good terms with 
 the Dutch Baptists, but would not receive their baptism, lest this should recognize 
 them as a true Church ; for they believed that the true Churches of Clirist had 
 perished. Besides, Smyth did not believe witli tln-m in the unlawfulness of a 
 Christian to serve as a magistrate, nor on the freeilom of tlu; will and the dis- 
 tinctive points of Calvinism, he being an Arminian, which points he considered 
 vital. He believed that the Apostolical Church model was lost, and determined on 
 its recovery. He renounced the figment of a historical, apostolic succession, in.?ist- 
 ing that where two or three; organize according to the teachings of the New 
 Testament, they form as true a Church of Christ as that of Jerusalem, though they 
 stand alone in the earth. With the design of restoring this pattern, he baptized 
 
4S4 THE FIRST ENGLISH GENERAL BAPTIST CHURCH. 
 
 himself on liisfaitli in Christ in KIOS, tlien lja])tizc'd Thdinas Ilelwys with about forty 
 others, and so formed a new Chnrch in Amsterdam. In most things this body was 
 Baptist, as that term is nnw nscd, witli some difference. This is established by 
 their four extant forms, of what is in substance, one confession of faith. Two of 
 these were written by Smyth and are signed by othei's, and the other two came 
 from the same coinpany, probably under \\w lead nf llelwys. Their theology is 
 Arminian, they claim that the Church is composed of baptized believers only, 
 that ' only the baptized are to taste of the Lord's Supper,' and that the magistrates 
 shall not, by virtue of their office, meddle with matters of conscience in religion. 
 
 Smyth and his congregation met in a large bakery for a time, but he soon saw 
 his mistake in his hasty Se-baptism, and offered to join the Dutch congregation of 
 Baptists known as ' Waterlanders,' under the pastoral charge of Lubberts Gerrits. 
 Part of his congregation, under the leadership of Helwys, would not unite with 
 Smyth in this movement, but excluded him from their fellowship and warned the 
 Dutch Church not to receive him. Soon after this Smyth died, August, 1012, and 
 the Dutch body recognized his company. Meanwhile the question had arisen with 
 Helwys and his followers whether they were doing right by remaining in Holland, 
 to avoid persecution in England, and at the peril of their lives they had returned to 
 London, in 1611, and formed the first general Baptist Church there, 1612-14. 
 Little is known of its history beyond the general statement that the Dutch Bap- 
 tists of London rallied around Helwys and John Morton, his successor, that it was 
 located in Newgate, and that in 1620 it numbered one hundred and fifty persons. 
 Helwys published a work defending their course in braving persecution, and 
 probably translated a Dutch treatise on baptism in 1618. No account is given of 
 his death, but Taylor dates it at ' about ' 1623. Masson says, in his ' Life of 
 Milton,' ' This obscure Baptist congregation seems to have become the depository 
 for all England of the absolute principle of liberty of conscience expressed in the 
 Amsterdam Confession as distinct from the more stinted principle advocated by the 
 general body of the Independents. Not only did Helwisse's folks differ from 
 the Independents generally on the subject of infant baptism axiA dl japing ; they 
 differed also on the power of the magistrate in matters of belief and conscience. 
 It was, in short, from this little dingy meeting-house, somewhere in Old London, 
 that there flashed out first in England the absolute doctrine of religious liberty.' 
 
 So far as is known, the Amsterdam Confession of the Baptists is the first 
 which laid down the full principle of religious freedom, after the Swiss Confession 
 of 1527. It is absolutely the first now known to take positive ground in favor of 
 the salvation of all infants who die in infancy, from the time that Augustine 
 taught the detestable doctrine that unbaptized infants who die are not ad- 
 mitted into heaven. Wicklift' held that they are saved without baptism, but his 
 doctrine was not formulated by a Christian body. Also, in defining the limits of 
 Church and State, they came down to those foundation principles which the Inde- 
 
LIBKRTY OF COXSCIENCE PROCLAIMED. 455 
 
 pendents had not reached. Ainsworth's Confession said : ' The government should 
 protect true believers, strengthen the proper administration of the true worship, 
 punish transgressors, and uproot false worship.' Ilelwys understood things better. 
 He sent a copy of his work on religious liberty with a letter to James I., in which 
 he boldly says : ' The king is a mortal man and not God, tlierefoi'e liath no power 
 over the immortal souls of his subjects, to make laws and ordinances for them, and 
 to set spiritual lords over them. If the king has authority to make spiritual lords 
 and laws, then he is an iniiiKirtal (iml, and not a mortal man.' No English king 
 had heard such words before. Tlu' liulcpcndents were far in advance of the Puri- 
 tans and the Presbyterians on this subject ; but even Johnson said : ' Princes may 
 and ought to abolish all false worsliip, and to establish the true worship and 
 ministry appninttMl hy (4(id in his word, coninianding and compelling tlieir sub- 
 jects to conic into and i)ractice nunc utliur than this.' The Amsterdam Baptist 
 Confession bi-aveiy said: 'The magistrate is not, by virtue of his office, to meddle 
 with religion or matters of conscience, to force and compel men to this or that 
 form of religion or doctrine, but to leave the Christian religion free to every man's 
 conscience, and to handle only civil transgressors, for Ciirist is the only King and 
 Lawgiver of the Church and conscience.' 
 
 When the Brownists left the English State Church, they objected to its hier- 
 archy, liturgy, constitution and government, as antichristian. Smyth, therefore, 
 broke with them on the issue that if that Church was apostate, as a daughter of 
 Rome, then its clergy were not qualified to administer Christ's ordinances. The 
 Brownists, however, considered them valid, and called the English (yhurch their 
 'mother,' while they denounced her as 'harlot' and 'Babylon;' but Smyth, 
 having been christened in her pale, concluded that he was yet unbaptized. Bishop 
 Hall cauglit this point keenly, and was severe on the Brownists when he opposed 
 Smyth. He wrote : 
 
 ' You that cannot abide a false Church, why do you content yourselves with 
 a false sacrament? especially since our Church, not being yet gathered to Christ, 
 is no Church, and therefore her baptism a imllity ! . . . He (Smyth) tells you 
 true ; your station is unsafe ; either you nmst forward to him, or back to us. . . . 
 You must go forward to Anabaptism, or come back to us. AH your rai)bins can- 
 not answer that charge of your rebaptized brother. ... If our baptism be good, 
 then is our constitution good. . . . What need you to surfeit of another man's 
 trencher? . . . Show you me where the Apostles baptized in aba^onf 
 
 Smyth liaving rejected infant baptism also on its merits as a human insti- 
 tution, Ainsworth said, in 1G09, that he had gone ' over to the abomination of the 
 Anabaptists.' Bishop Hall wrote the above words in 1610, calling him then ' your 
 rebaptized brother,' which indicates that he left tlie Brownists about 1608. Ilis 
 enemies have represented him as hair-brained, fickle and fond of novelty. But 
 Schafl-Herzog does him the justice to saj^ that: 'Seized by the time-spirit, he was 
 restless, fervid, earnest and thoroughgoing. . . . A man of incorruptible simplicity. 
 
456 SMYTH'S SE-BAPTISW. 
 
 beautiful Iminility, glowing charity, a fair si'lmlar and a good preacher.' His 
 writings show that he thirsted for the truth; and several times he shifted his 
 
 positions before he felt sure that he st I nn soliil ground, a fact creditable to his 
 
 convictions and moral courage. As to his St'-l>aj)tism the following things seem 
 clear, namely : 
 
 1. That lie dhl hipthc hlmaclf when he e,isf uxlde hh infant hapthm. He 
 believed that no man had a pure baptism or could administer the same, not only 
 because of tlie coimiition of baptism, as then practiced, but because of moral de- 
 fection in all the Churches. This was no new doctrine. The Donatists held that 
 the validity of baptism was affected by the bad life of the administrator; and 
 Cyprian asks : ' Who can consecrate water who is himself unholy, and has not the 
 Holy Spirit'^' I'.ut Smyth was feeling his way far back beyond this to the 
 Gospel ground, tliat the validity of baptism has no regard to the administrator, 
 as it is governed by the faith of the candidate. He denied the need of all visible 
 succession in the ministry and oixlinanees, and yet his sincere but impulsive mind 
 was held in secret thralldom to this snbtility. He denied that the faide of an- 
 tiquity is an attribute of a true Church, and yet he would found a new line of 
 baptizers, to give purity to the ordinance in the futni'e. He evidently reasoned and 
 decided thus: 'Let the fallen Churches stand alone. They have turned Christ's 
 ordinance out of doors and established their own, so I cut loose from them and 
 throw myself directly into the hands of God. I take the last method left of hon- 
 oring him, and he knows my singleness of heart. My infant baptism was 
 meaningless, a pious fraud practiced upon me, and its alleged blessings are mere 
 nursery pictures. They have thrown shame on the (Tospel, blunted my conviction 
 of truth, and juit my personal faith in Christ to a deep blush. Hence I will cut 
 the last thread that binds me to "the defection of Antichrist."' Logic took him 
 to that point, but love to Christ carried him further, and he resolved to offer him- 
 self to Christ in baptism, come wdiat might, and lie hiiptized himself, in obedience 
 to an imperative sense of duty. There is a legend of Thekla, the unbaptized 
 martyr, that when led out to the wild beasts, she threw herself into a trench full 
 of water, and shouted, with joy: 'In the name of Jesus Christ, I am baptized on 
 my last day!' Without her lot, Smyth possessed the same spirit. He denied the 
 arrogance that salvation is lodged in ordinances, that God has given them into the 
 keeping of any body of men to dispense, rejecting whom they please. Baptism 
 was to him a right and privilege from God, and because it had been forced upon 
 him as a child, the extreme view of the Church now forced him, as he 
 believed, to throw aside all human intervention in the matter. Yet in his Con- 
 fession he explicitly expresses his faith in an aci^redited ministry, a regenerate body, 
 but he could not trace it through one century, not to say sixteen. He concluded, 
 therefore, that it made no matter whether he, being unbaptized, baptized himself, 
 or another unbaptized man baptized him. This was his Puritan mode of cutting 
 
ms OliOUND OF ACTION. 437 
 
 himself adrift from the last tie of popery in Protestantism. The result was the 
 same, so far as baptismal succession was concerned, whether he baptized himself 
 or was baptized by an unbaj)tiz('d person. Ilis entire being was impelled by that 
 sentiment, and the (piicksilver iiu more ciianges the weather, than eccenti-icity led 
 him to Se-baptism. 
 
 However mistaken he was in his reasoning, he knew, as a matter of fact, that 
 nearly half the so-called countries of the world are un;il)ic to tell liy rt'conl wlicther 
 the Gospel was first preached to them by ministers or laymen, miich less can their 
 personal baptisms be traced. lie could not tell whether the man who lironght it to 
 the British Isles was himself baptized, or if so, who baptized him, where, when or 
 how. Smyth held his own consecration to Christ in baptism acceptable to Christ, 
 and he was better satisfied with it himself, than he had ever been with his infant 
 baptism, of which others had told him. These being his motives to Se-baptism, we 
 may now notice that : 
 
 2. Its proof is found in his own 7/nro>ifrif(//r/,i7 .siafi'ments and those of his 
 contemporaries. lie defended his act by claiming that when succession is broken 
 off, men are not bound to join fallen Churches : ' But may, being as yet unbaptized, 
 baptize themselves, as we dip, and proceed to build churches themselves.' When 
 Clifton asked him by what right he baptized himself, he replied: ' zVs yon, when 
 there was not a true Church in the world, took upon you to set up a true Cluireh. 
 . . . Seeing, when all Christ's visible ordinances are lost, then two men joining 
 together may make a Church, as you say, why may they not baptize, seeing K\w.\ 
 camiot enjoin unto Christ but by baptism? . . . Each of them unbaptized, hath 
 power to assume baptism each for himself with others in communion.' Barebone 
 charges against the Baptists, 1G42, that they baptized themselves by the ' Way of 
 new baptizing lately begun ; ' they iiave no warrant from heaven, he argues, ' As had 
 John the Baptist, to set up baptism themselves,' nor to baptize themselves and 
 others. In Clifton's 'Plea for Infants,' 1610, he calls upon Smyth to bring 'AVar- 
 rant from the Scripture, that you being unbaptized may baptize yourself. . . . 
 Resolve me, that you can baptize yourself into the Church, being out of it, yea, and 
 where there was no Church.' In the same year, 'J. H.' jniblished a book against 
 Smyth, in which he says: 'Tell mc one thing, Maister Smyth, by what rule bap- 
 tized you yourself? ... It was wonder you would not receive your baptism from 
 the Dutch Anabaptists, but you will be holier than all.' Ainsworth, Kobinson, 
 Bernard and othei-s, charge Smyth with being a Se-Baptist (self-Baptist), and he 
 took the greatest pains to defend his own act as absolutely necessary. 
 
 3. Whether he dipped himself is not so clear, hut all the circumstances, with a 
 few statements of that day, imply that he did. Those who wrote against the Baj)- 
 tists after IG-tO make no distinction on the matter of immersion between the 
 Baptists of that period and those who had contiimed down from IfilO. nor report 
 any change amongst them, from affusion or perfusion to ilipjiiiig. On the contrary, 
 
4S8 BIS BAPTISM PUOBADLT IMMERSION. 
 
 they speak of them as one stuck fi-oni Smvtli ili)\\n\v;iril. Sometimes they speak 
 of him as the father of English ' Anal)aptisni,' and uniformly, in contempt, they call 
 them ' Dippers.' Barebone says in his Discourse : 'They want a T)i]i|H'r, that had 
 authority from heaven as had John, whom they please to call a I>ipj)Lr.' liishoj) 
 Hall's remark, Kilo, when speaking uf Smyth as 'your rebaptized brother,' is very 
 signiticaiit. In scm-iiful sarcasm he demands (if the Brown ists, who used affusion : 
 ' Show me where the Apostles baptized in a huson ! ' ' What need you to surfeit of 
 another man's trencher?' The wry point of his thrust imj)]ies that Smyth had 
 dipped himself, contrary to their pi'actice, and that he had Apostolic authority for 
 dipping as baptism. It further implies that the meat on Smytli's ' trencher' had 
 nauseated them, because, like the Apostles, he had discarded the 'bason.' Featley, 
 in what Orme calls his 'ridiculous book,' 'The Dippers Dipt over Head and Ears,' 
 complains of the ' new leaven,' because they dipped, and says : ' It cannot be proved 
 that any of the ancient Anabaptists maintained any such laisitiun, there being three 
 ways of baptizing, either by dipping, or washing, or spi-inkling." ' But in this 
 decLaration he contradicts himself several times, as we shall see. He clearly states 
 their then current practice when he says, that the sick camiot, 'After the manner of 
 the Anabaptists, be carried to rivers or wells, and there be dipt and plunged in 
 them.' lie adds, that tliey held ' Weekly Conventicles, reba])tized hundreds of 
 men and women together in the twilight in rivulets, and some arms of the Thames 
 and elsewhere, dipping them over liead and ears.' He bitterly complains that they 
 'Flock in great multitudes to their Jordaiis, an<l both sexes enter the river, and are 
 dipped after their manner;'' and tliat they had followed these terrible practices 
 ' neere the place of my residence for more than twenty years.' He wrote this Jan. 
 10, 164-4, which would carry him back to 1024, at least. But lie never accuses the 
 English Baptists of substituting dipping for some other practice which they had 
 previously followed. He gives not one hint that in England they liad ever been 
 any thing else but ' Dipjiers,' an unaccountable silence, if they had practiced some- 
 thing else there within the previous fifty years. 
 
 Directly to the contrary, his whole book assumes that the Baptists of his day were 
 the veritable descendants of the Miinster men. He calls Storke ' The father of the 
 Anabaptists of oitr age' and a ' blockhead ' from win mi ' the chiefs flew into England,' 
 when he was hewn down in Germany; and makes Knipperdolling their 'Patriarch.' 
 He alleges that they 'stript themselves stark naked when they flock to their Jordans 
 to be dipt,' and is delighted to tell us, on the authority of Gastius, that at Vienna 
 ' Many Anabaptists were so tied together in chains, that they drew the other after 
 them into the river, wherein they were suffocated.' This, he thought, the proper 
 punishment for their sin, and bewails that their successors were treated more 
 leniently in England. His words are : ' They who drew others into the whirlpool 
 of error, by constraint drew one another into the river to lie drowned: and they who 
 profaned baptism by a second dippintj, rue it by a third immersion. But the jnin- 
 
WfLSOX, NEAL AND ^fASSON. 459 
 
 ishment of these Catalxiptists we leave to them wlio liavc the legislative power in 
 their hands ; who, tliongh by present connivance they may seem to give them line, 
 yet no doubt it is that they may more entangle themselves, and more easily be 
 caught.' He clearly intends us to understand that these Continental Baptists had 
 been immersed first as children, second on their faith, which 'profaned' the first, 
 and entitled them to drowning in a 'third imniersinii.' lie says that tlii.s 'Ana- 
 baptist' fire was subdued under the reigns of James and Elizabeth, but it liad 
 revived again from 'the ashes.' Amongst the 'six things' wliicii In; c])arges as 
 peculiar to the sect, the first is : ' That none are rightly baptized ' but tiiosc who are 
 dipped, or as he loves to express it, those who ' Go into the water, and there be 
 dipt over head and ears;' and he fails to hint that the English Baptists had ever 
 done otlierwise, when baptizing. Wilson's 'History of Dissenting Churches' 
 (i. p. 29, 30) says of Smytli : 
 
 ' He saw grounds to cdii^idiT iinincrsidn :is flic true and only meaniiiu- nf tlic word 
 baptism, and that it should ln' inliniiii-lciTil t" tlio~c alone who were (mimMt of |ii-.ifess- 
 ing their faitli in Christ. The :ili>ui-<lii y o| Sim\ iliV i-oiuluct appeared in noiliin^niore 
 conspicuously than in this: That not clhM.-iii^- i.. :i|i])ly to the (-termaii Haptists, and 
 wanting a proper administrator, lie l)a|iti/.iil liim-clf. wliich procured him to be called 
 a Se-baptist. Crosby, indeed, has taken ^i-eat pains to vindicate him from this charge, 
 tliongh it seems with little success. His ]jrinciples and conduct soon drew u])on him 
 an lio>t of opponents, the chief of whom were Johnson, Ainsworth, Robinson, Jcssop 
 and Clifton. The controversy begun in 1606, about the time Smyth settled in 
 Amsterdam. Soon afterward he removed with his followers to Leyden, where he 
 continued to publish various books in defense of his opinions.' 
 
 Neal says that he ' Settled with his disciples at Ley, where being at a loss for a 
 proper administrator of the ordinance of baptism, he plunged himself, and then ])er- 
 formed the ceremony upon others.'^ In Smyth's case, it is nothing to the purpose 
 whether the Mennonites, Waterlanders, or those 'Anabaptists' called ' Aspersi ' 
 used affusion or not, as he repudiated them all. There is not a particle of evidence 
 that he affused himself, and it is a cheap caricature to imagine that he disrobed him- 
 self, walked into a stream, then lifted handfuls of water, pouring then liberally upon 
 his own head, shoulders and chest. We have the same reason for believing that he 
 immersed Helwys, as that he dipped himself. Masson writes : ' Helwisse's folk 
 differed from the Independents generally on the subject of infant baptism and 
 dipi)iiig.' And as he thinks that Busher was a member of that 'congregation' in 
 lt;i4, the man who described a baptized person as one 'dipped for dead in the 
 water,' the fair inference is carried that the first General Baptist Church of London 
 was composed of immersed 'folk.' 
 
 Notwithstanding that Edward Wightman, a Baptist of Burton-on-Trent, had 
 been burnt at Lichfield, April 11th, 1611, and that persecution of his brethren con- 
 tinued without marty-rdom, they had so increased in 1G26 that they had eleven 
 General Baptist Churches in England : which, as Featley sourly say.s, had increased 
 to forty-seven of various sorts in 1644. Some claim that a Particular Baptist 
 
460 A PAllTICVLAR BAPTIST CHURCH ORGANIZED. 
 
 Church was fdniicd at Shrcwslnirv in ir,i>7, and another at Bickenhall, near Taunton, 
 in 1630: Imt it is inoru likely that the first of tliis order was establislied by Jolin 
 Spilsbiuy at Wapping in 1033. These terms originated in tlie fact that the Arniin- 
 ian Baptists held to a general and the Calvinistie Baptists to a particular atone- 
 ment ; hence they adopted these titles. 
 
 Spilsbnry's Church came into existence on tliis wise. In Kild tlie first congre- 
 gation of Independents had been gatliered in London, under tlie ])astoral care of 
 Henry Jacob, who was succeeded by John Latln-op. A number of this society 
 came to reject infant baptism and were permitted to form a distinct Clnirch, 
 September 12, 1633, with Spilsbury for their pastor ; and, according to Lord 
 Selborn, in the St. Mary's Chapel case, Norwich, for a number of years after its 
 formation it was a Strict Communion body, si) far as tlie Supjier was concerned. 
 Crosby says that 'most or all of these received a new baptism.' In 1638 William 
 Kiffin, Thomas Wilson and others, left Lathrop's Independent Church, then under 
 chai-ge of Mr. Jessey, and united with Spilsbury's Church. Wilson, iu his ' History 
 of Dissenting Churches,' says that some time after this, disputes arose in Spilsbury's 
 Church on the subject of ' mixed communion,' and Kiffin with others withdrew 
 to form a new Church, Devonsliire Square. At page 410 he explains what he 
 means by 'mixed connnunion;' it was not tlie reception of unbaptized persons 
 either to membership or tlie Supper, but ' mixed communion ' witli unimmersed min- 
 isters. His words are : ' In a ( (mii-sc of time a controversy arose in that Church on 
 tlie propriety of admitting persons to preach who had not been baptized by 
 immersion. Tliis produced an amicable separation, headed by Mr. Kiffin, who- 
 seems to have been averse to the plan of mixed communion, but the two societies 
 Icept lip a friendly correspondence.' Not only that, but they cooperated in resisting 
 the contumely of their enemies and in building up each other in the faith. By 
 1643 the Calvinistie Baptist Churches in and about London had increased to seven, 
 Avhile the non-Calvinistic Cliurches numbered thirty-nine, forty-six in all. The 
 English Calvinistie Churches, together with a French Church of the same faith, eight 
 in all, issued a Confession of Faith in 1643, of fifty articles ; not to erect a standard 
 of faitli, but to close the mouths of slanderers. Its preface says of their enemies: 
 
 ' They, finding us out of that common road-way themselves walk, have smote 
 ns and taken away our veil, that so we may by them lie odious in the eyes of all 
 tliat behold us, and in the hearts of all that think upon ns, which they have done 
 both in pulpit and print, charging us with holding free-will, falling away from 
 grace, denying original sin, disclaiming a magistracy, denying to as>ist tlieni either 
 in persons or purse in any of their lawful commands, doing act- iinxcinly in the 
 dispensing the ordinance of baptism, not to be named amon^ist ( lui-tiaiis. All 
 which charges M^e disclaim as notorionslv nntrne. tlioiiL'-li bv reason ot ilie.-e calumnies 
 east upon us, man}' that fear God ai'e (li^eoiii-a-cil and loi-e-talled in liarboring a good 
 thought, either of us or what we ju-oi'ess, and many that know not (t,m1 ui n ) encour- 
 aged, if they can find the place of our meeting, to get togetlier in clusters to stone us, 
 as looking iipon us as a people holding such things as that we are not worthy to live.' 
 
THE CONFUSION OF 1GJ^3. 461 
 
 This Confession was sigiiwi by sixteen ministers, two from each Ciiurch ; and 
 amongst them both John Spiisbury and William Kiffiii, a significant fact in its 
 bearings on the gronnd of their after separation. A second edition was published 
 in U)-4i, and a third in l(i40, the last with an appendix by Benjamin Coxe. Edward 
 Barber, tlic minister of the Ciiurch meeting in Bishopsgate Street, had published 
 a treatise in 16-il, to j)rove that 'our Lord Christ ordained dipping.' Now, in this 
 'Confession,' Art. XXXIII says, that a Church is ' a company of visible saints . . . 
 being baptized into the faith of the Gospel ; ' and Ai't. XXXIX, that baptism is ' to 
 be dispensed upon persons professing faith, or tliat are made disciples, who, upon 
 profession of faith, ought to be baptized, and after to partake of the Lord's 
 Supper.' Article XL deKnes the manner of baptizing 'to be dipping or j)lung- 
 ing the whole body under water.' These articles, signed by Spiisbury as the lifth 
 name and Kiffin as the eleventh, show that these two worthies were entirely agreed 
 as to the question of immersion on a confession of faith in Christ as a prerequisite 
 to the Supper, aTid that Wilson was right in stating that tlie disturbing element 
 between them related to 'mixed communion,' but not amongst members of the 
 same Church. They must all be 'dii)ped under water' on entering the 'company 
 of saints ' made ' visible ' by this expression of their faith as ' disciples,' and ' after ' 
 that ' partake of the Lord's Supper.' Spiisbury and KifRn being agreed here, as 
 their signatures show, the controversy between them was ' on the propi-iety of ad- 
 mitting persons io preach who had not been baptized by iuuner.sion.' AVil.-ou says 
 that Kiffin 'seemed averse' to mixed communion after that stamp, and left 
 amicably, so that their fellowship was not disturbed at all on the subject treated of 
 in the ' Confession,' namely, communion at the Lord's Supper. 
 
 A most interesting branch of this history connects the name of Henry Jessey 
 with this period. Henry Jacob continued to serve the Independent Church 
 which he founded in 1616, until 1624, when he removed to America, and was 
 succeeded as pastor by John Lathrop, who also went to America in 1634, and settled 
 first at Scituate and then at Barnstable, Mass. Then Jessey became its supply in 
 1635, and its pastor in 1637. At one time or another this Church was seriously dis- 
 turbed on the subject of baptism. Wilson tells us that under Mr. Lathrop's min- 
 istry ' some of the society entertained doubts as to the validity of baptism 
 performed by their own minister ; and one person who indulged these scruples 
 carried his child to be rebaptized in the parish church.' This giving offense to 
 several persons, the subject was discussed at a general meeting of the society ; 
 when the question was put it was carried in the negative, and resolved by the 
 majority not to make any declaration at present, ' whether or no parish Churches 
 were true Churches.'' This action led to the withdrawal of those ' who wei'C dissat- 
 isfied about the lawfulness of infant baptism,' and to the formation of the 
 Calvinistic Baptist Church of 1633, under Spilsbury's ministry. Under the 
 ministry of Jessey others left and united with the Baptists ; six persons in 1638, a 
 
462 Sl'ILHIiUIlY'S CIIURGII IMMERHIONIHT. 
 
 larger miinhtT in KUl, aiul a i;Teatcr miinlicr still in \M?,. These movements 
 created fiv.juciit duhatus in the IiKk'iirndi-iit Cliurcli. 'This; says Wilson, 'put 
 Mr. Jessey upon studying the controversy. Tin' loult was that he himself also 
 changed his sentiments. . . . His first convii'timi was ahout the mocfc of baptism; 
 and though he continued for two or three years to baptize children, he did it by 
 immersion. About the year KUi the controversy with respect to the subjects of 
 baptism was revived in his Chui'ch, when several gave up vnfant liajitism, and 
 among the rest Mr. Jessey. . . . 1045 he submitted to iiuuiursidu, which was 
 performed by Mr. Hanserd KnoUys.'' 
 
 It seems that Jessey's Church had I)ecome large by Ki+o, :uid by ' mutual cnn- 
 sent' had divided, 'just half being with Praise-God BarclMnie. and tlic .,tlier half 
 with Mr. Jessey.' They were in controversy on the subjects and nietlidd of 
 baptism, Blunt and Jessey being the leaders of those who had embraced Baptist 
 views, numbering fifty-three, and Barebone the leader of those who remained 
 Pedobaptists. The fact that the eight Churches formulated baptism as a ' dipping 
 or plunging of the whole body under water,' is sufficient to show that they them- 
 selves had been organized and had grown up in that order ; as m'cU as the 
 declaration in the preface, that they had been accused of ' unseemly acts in dispensing 
 the ordinance of baptism,' namely, by immersing nude persons. If they had not 
 innnersed from their origin, they were slandered in the statement that they im- 
 mersed at all, to say nothing of alleged indecencies, ' not to 1h- named liy < 'hristians,' 
 in connection with their immersions. To say that S])ilsbui-y"s (Jliurcli immersed 
 in 1043, but had not practiced dipping from 1033, is to charge that Church with 
 changing the form of its ordinance, and with repelling a slander to which it had 
 never been subjected ; for the accusation that it immersed naked persons carried 
 with it the charge of dipping, whether the alleged nudity were true or false. 
 Here, then, we have fifty-three persons, with Jessey at their head, seeking immer- 
 sion ; but they -will not go for it to Spilsbury's Church, though, clearly, he had 
 practiced it since 1033. And why ? According to the anonymous account 
 attributed to Kiffin, because none had then. May, 1010, ' so practiced in England 
 to professed believers ! ' and so they must send to Holland to import dipping ! 
 What do they mean by this? 
 
 We have already seen that the members of Jessey's Independent Church were 
 great sticklers for ministerial regularity, and lodged the validity of baptism very 
 largely in the administrator. Nay, some of his own congregation had refused to 
 acknowledge the authority of John Lathrop to baptize, and one member who be- 
 lieved in infant baptism, whose child Lathrop had bajitized, woidd not accept 
 it as properly done and took his babe to the parish Church to have it baptized over 
 again on the ground of this irregularity; and so sensitive were ' the majority ' on 
 the subject that they refused to say whether or not the parish Churches were true 
 Churches. Lathrop had been trained for the Church of England at Cambridge, 
 
CONTROVERSIES ABOUT A 'VALID BAPTISM: 463 
 
 had received Epitjcopal ordination, and served in that ministry in Kent; but no 
 matter, liaviug gone over to dissent, some of liis own peojile doubted whetiier his 
 baptisms were valid ! And tlicre are many reasons for believing that this is a 
 similar ciise, and that these iifty-three members of the same congregation declined 
 to accept immersion from what they considered an unauthorized administrator. 
 They intended to be immersed, but the English Baptists at that time were univers- 
 ally accused of self-baptism, some of them having received their baptism from John 
 Sniytli ; and while the Baptists denied this with spirit, none of them thought of insist- 
 ing on a baptismal succession, but argued that any unbaptized Christian could baptize 
 if needful. This point was in hot dispute at the time. The autiiur of ' Persecution 
 for Religion Judged and Condemned,' 1615, labors hard to show tliat it is not 
 necessary that he who baptizes should be a baptized person. Barclay and others 
 suppose that John Morton, who was with Smyth and Helwys in Amsterdam, was 
 the author of this book. Whether Smyth immersed them or not, it is quite clear 
 that they received no baptism after that which he administered to them. Some 
 time before Smyth's death he frankly retracted his error in baptizing himself and 
 them ; therefore Helwys charged him as guilty of ' the sin against the Holy Ghost.' 
 lu his ' last book ' he shows that Helwys still held that baptism to be valid, and 
 accuses him of unchristianizing all who did not walk to his ' line and level,' even 
 ' upon pain of damnation.' He says : ' If Master Helwys's position be true, that 
 every two or three that see the truth of baptism may begin to baptize, and need 
 not join to former true Churches, where they may have their baptism orderly from 
 ordained ministers, then the order of the primitive Church was order for them and 
 those times only, and this disorder will establish baptism of private persons.' But 
 although Smyth had repudiated this doctrine which he himself had introduced, 
 yet the English Baptists clearly held it at that time, and as clearly the fifty-three 
 refused baptism at their hands because they held them to be irregularly baptized. 
 Evidently Neal regarded the matter in this light. He pronounces Blunt's conduct 
 in going over to Holland to be immersed ' strange and unaccountable ; ' but suggests 
 this solution of the matter: 'Unless the Dutch Anabaptists could derive this 
 pedigree in an uninterrupted line from the Apostles, the first reviver of this 
 usage must have been unbaptized, and, consequently, not capable of communicating 
 the ordinance to others.'^ He understood immersion to have been revived in 
 England at that time, but as the 'reviver' was not in the immersionist succession, 
 Jessey's people thought his followers incapable of immersing them. Perkins and 
 others held that if a Turk should be converted, and led others to Christ, he might 
 baptize them, being unbaptized himself. John Robinson had charged that the 
 Baptists of England were unbaptized on the ground that they had not received 
 baptism from any authorized source, having rejected the Church of England as an 
 apostasy. Even the Confession of the Eight Churches seemed to aim at covering 
 the case by that article which says, the ' person designed by Christ to dispense bap- 
 
464 SEKKINO A BAPTLSMAL SUCCESSION. 
 
 ti.sm the Scripture liulds furth to be a iliscipk; ; it ijcing nowhere tied to a particular 
 office or person extraordinarily sent.' Ilnw n;itui-al it was, then, for these brethren 
 from an Independent (Jhureh to conclude that the immersion of the English Bap- 
 tists being irregular, they not being properly inaniersed, therefore, that they must 
 send to Holland for a pure baptism through a qualified administrator. 
 
 This charge was reiterated with great asperity. In 1691 Collins denies that 
 tiiey received their baptism from Jolm Smyth, pronouncing tlie allegation ' abso- 
 lutely untrue.' Yet, c\un later than that, John AVall pei'sisted in declaring tliat 
 their baptism was 'Abhorred of all Christians; for they received their l)ai)tisni frtun 
 one Mr. Smyth, who baptized himself; one who was cast out of a Cliurch." Edward 
 Hutchinson, however, 1676, referring to this very case says, that after this godly 
 band of men had resolved to lay aside infant baptism, ' Fears, tremblings and temp- 
 tations did attend them, lest they should be mistaken. . . . The great objection was 
 the want of an admin !.sti'<itirr ; which, as I have heard, was removed by sending 
 certain messengers to llullaiid, whence they were supplied.'^ The greater ])art of 
 the English Baptists looked upon this act as savoring of popery, it looked like 
 seeking a baptismal succession. And the fact, tliat it ignored tlieir baptism, may 
 account for the use of the above article in the Confession. It was lield that the 
 Coliegiants of Holland had received their immersion fi-om the Polish Baptists, and 
 when Batte, one of their teachers, Iiad innnersed Blunt there, he returned to 
 England in 1611, and immersed Blacklock, one of the fifty-three, and they tlie rest 
 of that company. But they never immersed the eight Churches ; they having been 
 dipped before the fifty-three became Baptists at all ; they and their descendants 
 have continued that practice ever since. 
 
 The rapid growth of the English Baptists at this time, in influence and numbers, 
 aroused sucli fiery but strong minds as Thomas Edwards and Dr. Featley amazingly. 
 In the Dedicatory Epistle to his ' Gangraena,' published 1616, he tells Parliament that 
 ' The sects have been growing upon ns, even from the first year of your sitting, and 
 have every year increased more and more, things have been bad a great while, but 
 this last year they have grown intolerable.' He speaks of an order of Februaiy 16tli, 
 1643, in which Parliament had ' hindered ' unordained ministers ' fi"om preaching 
 and dipping,' but says that they were ' bought off and released by some above.' On 
 p. 16 he combats the opinion that the 'army commanders and common soldiers' 
 were Independents. No ; ' there would not be found one in six of that way,' for 
 the array was ' made up and commanded of Anabaptism.' He says, on p. 58, that 
 the ' Anabaptists ' have ' stirred up the people to embody themselves, and to join 
 in church fellowship, setting up independent government, rebaptizing and dipping 
 many hundreds.' He denounces them on pp. 65, 66 because ' They send forth into 
 several counties in this kingdom, from their Churches in London, as church acts, 
 several emissaries members of their Churches, to preach and spread their errors, to 
 dip, to gather and settle Churches ; ' yea, ' some of them went into the North as far 
 
.V. I ./ II a h:.\i:i;. i /, //. i iiuis oy. 463 
 
 as York,' where some were rebaptized ' in the river Ouse,' and the water was so hot 
 as if it liad been in tlie middle of summer." On p. 95, part ii, he declares that 
 Independents in armies, county, city, (were) fallinj^ daily to Anabaptists.' On 
 p. 149 he says that they abounded at Hull, Beverley, York and Halifax. On p. l-iO, 
 he tells Parliament that Oats went into the country from town to town 'dipping 
 many in rivers,' the rich at ten shillings a head, and the poor at two shillings and six 
 pence. Part iii, p. 139, shows him cut to the heart, because the Baptists ' kill ten- 
 der young persons and ancient, with dipping them all over in rivers, in the depth 
 of winter.' His heart is comforted, however, on j). llt-J-, to be able to say that 
 ' We shall find no Church sounder for doctrine than the Church of Scotland, nor 
 greater enemies, not only against papacy and prelacy, but against Anabaptists.' 
 But as he could not help himself, he nobly proposes, on p. 108, to prove a certain 
 story which he has told, if his opponent will join the Presbyterians in a petition 
 to Parliament for the forbidding of all dipping and rebaptization, and exemplary 
 punishment of all such dippers as Brother Kifiin.' Yet he tells us frankly, on 
 p. 178, that he never saw Denne, Clarkson, Paul Hobson, Lamb, AYeb, Marshal 
 and many others : 'I know them nut so much as by face, having never so much to 
 my knowledge as seen them." 
 
 The Confession of the Eight Churches was issued in the midst of the revolution, 
 which, for the time, overthrew the Stuart monarchy. The issue between king and 
 Parliament was still doubtful, as Marston Moor and Naseby were not yet fought. 
 With great unanimity the Baptists enrolled themselves on the side of the people, 
 and fought bravely for liberty, civil and religious. It has been inferred that Bunyan 
 fought with the Cavaliers ; mainly, from his silence on the subject. But at this 
 time he was not a Baptist, and so there is no clear case that any Baptist drew his 
 sword for the king. Their choice is easily explained. They had suffered tyranny 
 too long and hated it too juuch to fight for a prince who was a tyrant on principle, 
 who had Laud, the bigot and persecutor, for his spiritual adviser. Their patriotism 
 soon won them high honor. Cromwell's son-in-law, Charles Fleetwood, Colonel and 
 Lord-Deputy of Ireland, was a Ba]3tist ; as well as Major-General Harrison, who held 
 the confidence of the Protector for so many years, and who owed his advancement 
 to real merit. Lord Clarendon speaks of him as having ' an understanding capable 
 of being trusted in any business,' a man who was ' looked upon as inferior to few after 
 Cromwell and Ireton in the councils of the officers and in the government of the 
 agitators: and there were few men with whom Cromwell more communicated, or 
 upon whom he more depended for the conduct of any thing committed to him.' 
 When the Protector dissolved the Long Parliament, an act which brought odium 
 upon him, above all others he intrusted Harrison with that delicate duty, because 
 of his prudence and integrity. Harrison was also appointed one of the judges to try 
 Charles I. for treason to his people, and he signed the death-warrant. At the time 
 of the trial he held Baptist views, but he and his wife were nut baptized until 1657. 
 
riip: iiuTcnrNsoNt 
 
 A conteinporarv 
 
 winter, but we k 
 
 IlaiTisKii be( 
 
 threw liini into 
 Fifth Mouarcliv. 
 
 tiicic' iiifonns us tliat his haii 
 Kit with wliat eongrei;ati()ii he 
 ..■sti-a,iii;-ed from CronnvL-11 in 1 
 Cromwell fearing his militai' 
 1 ; ami having embraced e 
 1 Christ was about to set u 
 
 the (U 
 
 po 
 
 regarded 
 nriuence 
 thiisiastic \iews (•(iiicfi'ning the 
 .in e;irth. he hist caste with the 
 more sober Baptists, although they sympathized with him lai-gely in his estimate of 
 the Protector. Under Charles II., Harrison was uxL-ciited at Charing Cross for the 
 part Lc had taken in the death of Charles I., but to the last he justified that act. 
 His execution was a piece of the most vulgar butchery. It occurred November 13th, 
 1660, and Pep\ s w i ites, that he went 'To see Major-General Harrison hanged, drawn 
 and cjuaittied which \\ is done, Ik looking as cliuerful as any man could be in that 
 
 condition. He was presently cut 
 down, and liis licad and heart 
 shown to the iieojjle ; ' and Lud- 
 low adds, that his liead was car- 
 ried on the front of the sled upon 
 which Chief-Justice Coke was 
 drawn tu execution. Harrison 
 told his judges that he had no 
 reason to be ashamed of the 
 cause in which he was engaged, 
 nor do his Baptist successors 
 under Victoria blush for him. 
 
 Another ]irominent officer 
 who cherished Baptist senti- 
 ments was Col.OXEL J o H N 
 
 Hi'Tt:iiiNsoN, M'ho must be reck- 
 oned amongst the choicest sjiiiuts 
 of his times. Lucy, his wife, 
 was in every way worthy of 
 him. She wrote a Memoir of 
 him, which is one of the most 
 charming biographies in English 
 literature, for in point of learn- 
 ing she had scarcely an equal amongst the women of England, and not a superior. 
 Her husband was born in 1616, was the son of a baronet and received his education 
 at Cambridge. He loved God, prayer, meditation and the study of tlie Scriptures, 
 and having ample property, settled in quiet retirement after his marriage. But 
 when the civil war broke out he threw himself into the cause of the people with 
 great patriotism, and after the death of Charles became famous as the governor of 
 
 MRS LUC\ HUTCHINSON. 
 
WILLIAM KfFF/X 
 
 Xiittiiigliuiu and its uu.stle. There lie exerted iiimieii.se influence fur Englisli liberty, 
 and became a great favorite with his countrymen. Ho and his wife were first Pres- 
 byterians, and she tells the interesting story of their conversion to Baptist principles. 
 Her own mind became deeply interested in the question of infant baptism, from the 
 fact that .she looked for the birth of a babe ; and having examined the Scriptures 
 with her husband, doubts amse in their minds on that subject. 
 
 After the birth uf their child they consulted a number of Presbytei-ian divines 
 at their home, but concluded that the wurtl of (iml <i-a\e no warrant for its baptism. 
 This laid them open to much caluinny and blame, but they stood lirnily in their 
 integrity. Lucy was the daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, governor of the Tower, 
 wliile her husband's mother was a Byron, of which family the great poet came ; and 
 their influence for patriotism, consecration to Christ and family virtue, was their 
 great shield against molestation. 
 
 Ae Colonel Hutchinson had been one of tli( iml ~ ^^ I . n.l..nin,.,l ( 'Inrl.-- o. 
 death, he was imprisoned first in the 
 Tower and then in Sandovvn Castle, 
 where he died in Christian triumph 
 in 1644. He was elorpieut, fearle^s 
 and powerful in the House of Com- 
 mons, and so lirni a defender of relig- 
 ious liberty, that Fox, the founder of 
 the Friends, found him his chief pro- 
 tector when a prisoner at Nottingham. 
 
 We have already seen that John 
 Spilsbury was a man of high repute 
 in the Baptist mini.stry in those days, 
 yet not much more than this lias 
 come down to us concerning him. 
 His name, however, is mentioned for 
 the last time as standing side by 
 side with that of Kiffin in the Decha- 
 ration against Venner's Eebellion, 
 1 662. His colleagues now best known 
 to us are Kitlin and Kiiollys. 
 
 WiLMAM K 11- KIN was born in 161 
 when but nine years old. William but just escaped death, having nine plague- 
 boils on his body. At thirteen he became an apprentice to John Lilburii, 
 the noted brewer, but at fifteen he left his master, and wandering about the 
 streets of London in a melancholy manner, he passed with the crowd into St. 
 Antholius's Church, where ^[r. Foxley preached on the Fifth Commandment. He 
 thought the preacher knew his case, so exactly did he describe his duty to his master. 
 
 it both his jiareiits in tlie Plague 
 
468 KJF FIX'S II UK AT ISFU'ENrE. 
 
 aiul \w qiiieUy n-tunied li..in,'. After tlial. I,.- U-.m\ X<,rt.m, tlir Piirif:in. pivarh 
 from 'There is ih, i.eacr to the wi.'kci; mid wa> dcrply stirrcl, hut ..n licariiiir 
 l)avcii|„M-t, in C.lcinan Strert, fn.n, -'Hk' hlu,,,! ,,f .l..-sus ( 'liri^t liis Sun ,dcaiiM'tl, 
 us frciii all sin; iiu sa vs : 'J huiiid iiiv frars t.. vauisli. and mv heart tilhMl with h,vo 
 to dcsus; Al'tfrthe niaiinurof Ihinvan hu ah, ■mate.! for nioutlis In'twcrn 1,o]m. and 
 fear, tvnii.tati.ni ;ind triiiinpli, until lie joinr.l tli.. Chiirrh of whi.-li Lathro,, was 
 pastor. After enduring uiucli peivseeutiou tor holding i-eligiuus meetings in S(jnth- 
 wark, antl heing ini]irisoiit'd, in 10-i;^, lie went to Holland for a time, and made a 
 considerable .sum of money in business before he returned. lie went to Holland 
 again in 1645, and returned worth several thousand ponnds, on which he entered the 
 shipping business, meanwhile preaching the Gospel witlioiit cliarge. 
 
 The government maile him an assessor of ta.\es for Middlesex, and he reached 
 great infiuenee in the eommnnity. although he had become a Baptist in 1638. 
 AVhen tlie eontroversv arose in S]iilsbinT"s C'liureli on the propriety of admitting 
 unimmei-sed persons to preach, lie cstalilished tlie Devonshire Square Church, HUd, 
 and became its jiastor. Soon after he was arrested and committed to prison. On a 
 Sunday afternoon between sixty and seventy Baptists were met for worship, when 
 six of tliem were arrested, brought before Parliament, admonished and discharged, 
 and on the next Sunday four peers attended their worship, one of them j^robably 
 being Lord Brooke, who favored dissenters. It is quite likely that this led Featley 
 to challenge them to a disputation before Sir John Lenthal, the justice who brought 
 them before the lords, and who called Featley's book, 'Kiffin's Coffin.' Featley 
 and Edwards, the author of ' Gangrsena,' assailed him bitterly. Kiffin's wealth 
 exposed him to wanton persecution, in which his foes expected fines or bribes. In 
 1655 he was brought before the lord mayor at (liiildhall, cliarged with preaching 
 'that the baptism of infants is unlawful," and ]\Ionk afterward annoyed him greatly, 
 by sending him to the guard at St. Paul's. His life was long, for he served the 
 Devonshire Square Church over half a century ; which spread through the reign of 
 five monarchs, James I., the two Charles, James II. and William III., besides the 
 Protectorate of the two Cromwells. And it M-as full of trouljlc, for he was charged 
 again and again with almost every conceivable plot against the government. Yet 
 notliing was ever proved against him ; and in 1701, he died at the age of 86, also 
 full of honors. In sagacity, manners, godliness, labors and wisdom, he ranked as the 
 leader of his denomination. Thurlow, Strype, Burnet and many others have 
 honored his name with a high place in history, and Macaulay says of him : ' Great 
 as was the authority of Bunyan with the Baptists, William Kiffin's was greater still.' 
 The same may be said to-day of his molding influence upon American Baptists 
 more than a century and two tliirds after his death. Kiffin was the great champion 
 of the Baptists in his day. Robert Pool, one of the sharpest Presbyterian contro- 
 versialists of that period, made a savage attack upon the Ba])tists, and Kiffin came 
 to their rescue in his reply, London, 1645. Pool demanded : 
 
KIFFiy AXD POOL. 469 
 
 By what Scripture warrant Baptists separated from congregations where the 
 Word and Sacraments were truly dispensed. Kiffin denied tliat they were so dis- 
 pensed in the congregations from wliicli tliey separated, otherwise tliey would be 
 guilty of schism ; then demanded : -What (iospel institution Iiave you for tiic bap- 
 tizing of children, which was a pure invention of men and not an institution of 
 Jesus Cln-ist ? When you have dispensed the word and power of Christ for the cut- 
 ting off all drunkards, fornicators, covetous, swearers, liars, and all abominable and 
 filthy persons, and stand together in the faith, a pure lump of believers, gathered and 
 united according to the institution of Christ; we, 1 hope, shall join with you in the 
 same congregation ami tVllowship, and nothing shall separate us but death.' Pool 
 asked on what Scripture authority they separated from other Reformers and framed 
 new congregations of their own ? Kiffin I'eplied : That Baptist churches existed 
 before episcopacy, but Pool had withdrawn from Eeformed Episcopacy. ' Where — 
 as you tell ns of a great work of reformation, we entreat you to show us wherein the 
 greatness of it doth consist, for as yet we see no greatness unless it be in the vast 
 expense of money and time. For what great thing is it to change Episcopacy into 
 Presbytery, and a Book of Common Prayer into a Uircctory, and to exalt men from 
 livings of £100 a year to places of £4(10 p^r annum!' Hut where have they yet 
 franuMJ tlu-ir State Cliurcli according to the i)attern of Christ and his Apostles? ' 
 And when Pool pressed his point : On what Scripture gr<j\ind the Baptists vindicated 
 themselves from the sin of schism in defection from the Reformed Churches? 
 Kiffin gave this home-thrust: The Presbyterians held that the baptism and ordina- 
 tion of Rome were valid, and that she was right in exacting tithes and state-pay, and 
 yet held themselves guiltless of schism in leaving Rome. But when they shall 
 i-eturu, 'as dutiful sons to their mother, we will return to you or hold ourselves 
 bound to show just grounds to the contrary.' 
 
 At this time the Baptists of England generally distinguished themselves from 
 the Pedobaptists as those of ' the haptized way^ because they held that sprinkled 
 folk were not baptized at all. But those of this ' way ' divided on the subject of 
 communion, part of them being open communion, led by Bunyan, Jes.sey and others, 
 while the great majority of them were strict in their communion. Kiffin led this 
 wing of ' the baptized way,' being followed by Denny, Thomas Paul, Henry 
 D'Anvers and others. The controversy was hot, and in his ' Right to Church Coni- 
 niunioii," Kitfin says in reply to Bnnyan : 
 
 ' If unbaptized persons may be admitted to all church privileges, does not such 
 a practice plainly suppose that it [baptism] is unnecessary ? For to what purpose is 
 it to be baptized, may one reason with himself, if he may enjoy all church privileges 
 without it? The Baptists, if once such a belief prevails, would be eiisily tempted to 
 lay aside that reproached practice, which envious men have unjustly derided and 
 aspersed, of being (Vipt, that is, baptized, and challenge their church comnnniion by 
 virtue of their faith only. And such as baptized infants would be satisfied to dis- 
 continue the practice wlien once tlicv are persuaded that theii- children niav be rcg- 
 
470 HANSEUD KXOLLYS. 
 
 iiliii- cliiircli ini'iiiljiT.s w itlidut it. 1(M- if it Ijc >ii])irliuous. discreet and thrifty people 
 woiilil williii-l.v lie I'id of tln' ti-(iiiMc nf .■lii-iM(iiinu;-fea8ts, as tliey call theiii, and all 
 the appurtenaiires tlieicto licliMiuiii--. So tli:if in a short time we slioidd liave 
 neither old noi- vduii^- li;i|iii/,(il. ;iii(l hv (■(m.-cipicnce, he in a like condition to lose 
 one of the sacrau'ient>, which wuiild easily make w;iy for the loss of the other, both 
 liaviiii;- an eepial sanction in 8cri])turc. And the ari;'iiinents that disarmed the one 
 would destroy the other, and conseipiently all ordinances, and modes of worship, and 
 lastly religion itself.' 
 
 No morsel of I'casoiiing in the En<;'lish language has ever disposed of the 
 essence of thi' ('(niMiniiiinn (jnestimi ^(l fully us this; anil if his proposition had been 
 intended as a pruphecy roiicei'ning IJuiiyaiTs Chiireli itself, it eould not have been 
 more strictly fidlillcd tu the lettei-, in that it now di.seards baptism entirely as 
 necessary to the right of church fellowship. 
 
 Hansekd Knollys was born in Linridiishii'e, 1598, was educated at Cambridge 
 and ordained in the Chuivli .d' England by the l!ish..p of Peterborough. He was a 
 thorough scliular. and published many \V(U-ks. amdugst whieli were gianunars of the 
 Greek, Latin ami Hebrew languages. After hdlding a li\iiig at liuiuberstone, in 
 Leicestershii-e, for tln-ee years, he resigned it en aeeount (d' ebjeetidiis affecting the 
 principles and jiractices uf tlie Established C'lnnvh. 
 
 In 1<!:!S he left England to eseape persei-utioii. and arrived in New England, 
 beconnng pastor of a Church in Dover, then known as Pi.scataqua, New Hampshire. 
 He returned to England in 1641, and became a very popular preacher in the various 
 Churches of London. But one day, preaching in Bow Church, Cheapside, he spoke 
 against infant baptism, which gave such offense that he was thrown into prison. On 
 his release he went into Suffolk, where he was mobbed as an ' Anabaptist,' and after 
 being stoned was sent to London on a warrant to answer to Parliament. Last of all 
 he established a Baptist Church, meeting in Great St. Helen's, London, where he 
 seldom preached to less than a thou.sand peojile. There, says Wilson, he gave great 
 offense to his Presbyterian brethren, ' and the landlord was prevailed upon to warn 
 liim out of the place.' After this he preached to large congregations in Finsbuiy 
 Fields, till he was ' summoned before a committee of divines in the Queen's Court, 
 Westminster.' He had written a letter on the intolerance of the Presbyterian 
 divines in London, to a, friend in Norwich, whicli found its way to London and 
 appeared against him. Again and again he was forbidden to preach, and as often 
 he disregarded the charge and was pursued or imprisoned. At times he fled to 
 Wales, Holland and Germany, to escape his foes. But his life was spared to the 
 ripe age of ninety-three, and he jjreached the word in all parts of the kingdom ; on 
 Sundays generally delivering three or four sermons, and as many during the week, 
 for a period of forty years. When iu prison he had to content himself with one a 
 day. Because of his great meekness atid learning he won many distinguished per- 
 sons to Baptist views. Amongst these was Dr. De Veil, a foreign divine, of the 
 Galilean Church, and professor of divinity iu the University of Anjou. On abjur- 
 
JOIIX TOMBES. 471 
 
 ing Roine he fled to Holland first and tlun to London, where he became intimate 
 with Bishops Stilliugfieet, Comptoii Lloyd, Tillotson, Sharp and Patrick. While 
 passing his Minor Prophets, Solomon's Song, j\Iatthew and Mark, through the press, 
 he found some Baptist writings in the library of Compton, the Bishop of London, 
 the examination of which led him to seek the counsel of Knollys, and he united 
 with the Baptists, to the great shock of the bishops, all except Tillotson, who had 
 been brought up a Baptist himself and knew how to value men of convictions. 
 Knollys also immersed that great Oriental scholar, Henry Jessey, who spent his life 
 upon a new translation of the Bible, a translation which, though not completed, was 
 of great value to other scholars. 
 
 Those mentioned above were all Calviuistic Baptists, who were in a minority 
 in and about London, but the General Baptists had men of etpial piety, learning, 
 and force of character amongst them. One of these was John Touibes, educated 
 at Oxford, where he became a lecturer at the age of twenty-one. Leaving the 
 university, he became famous as a Puritan preacher ; and being satisfied at Oxford 
 that infant baptism was an invention of men, his convictions were deepened at Bristol. 
 In 164-3 he went to London to consult the most famous of the Presbyterian divines 
 assembled there ; they rehearsed to him their stock arguments, and rejecting them 
 as hollow, he was baptized upon a confession of Christ and became a Baptist pastor 
 at Bewdly, near Kidderminster. He had severe controversies with Baxter and 
 others on Baptist positions, and was pronounced by Baxter ' the most learned 
 writer against infant baptism.' He wrote also more than a score of volumes on 
 other subjects. Although a Baptist, such was his scholarship and intellectual 
 power that in 1653 Parliament aj)pointed him one of the ' triers,' or commissioners, 
 to examine ami approve those who were to exercise the public ministry in the 
 national Chureli. After the Restoration he left the ministry and conformed to 
 the Church as a lay niciiiber. claiming the right to do so without altering his 
 opinions, and that atK'r liu had kept poor IJaxter's hands so full for many years. 
 
 Hexky Denne was educated at Cambridge, and became a minister in the 
 Established Church, about the year 1630. He was a stout Puritan, l)ut his con- 
 victions led him to unite with the Baptists, and he was immersed into the 
 fellowship of the Bell Alley Church, London, by Mr. Lamb, in 1643, and entered 
 the Baptist ministry at once. He attained great fame as a disputant and as a ' very 
 affectionate' preacher. He not only met Dr. Gunning in debate, but answered 
 Featley's ridiculous book. Persecution followed him everywhere, and he suffered 
 much for Christ, but planted many Churches, chiefly in the eastern counties. He 
 was heroic in following his convictions of duty wherever they led him, and withal 
 lie entered Cromweirs army in obedience to the demands of his patriotism. 
 There he served as a ' cornet.' or cavalry officer, meanwhile preaching to the 
 soldiers; but mutinied with the twelve regiments in Oxfordshire, who demanded 
 a free government, after the drath of Charles. Some of liis companions were 
 
472 
 
 HENIiT JESNET. 
 
 ,l,Mtll 
 
 will 
 
 fe was 
 li soon 
 
 siKiivd, and altLTwanl oa\c a liist.u-y of the whole t 
 followed the lle&toration and liis uiemory was greatly honored. 
 
 TIknry .Tkssey was a famous Baptist of those times. He was a York.sliircnian, 
 eihicated at Carabridfrc and ordained 
 
 
 1 
 
 tlie Established Church in It'.^T. 
 refused to conform to all the 
 iiifh notions which Land set up as 
 standard of clerical orthodoxy. 
 /"'-^ c^ lu 1037 he became pastor of the Inde- 
 
 pendent Church which Henry Jacolj 
 . S. li:id formed in 1G16. From time to 
 
 ^^Sti >k. time members of this Church adopted 
 
 jBg^B^ ^P|^ Baptist views and separated from it, as 
 
 j«P^By ^ M|^MMM^^^ ^M j k we have seen in the cases of Spilsbury 
 
 ^^^^^M^^^'^S^^^W^MIfr^l^B^^ and Kitlin. These events turned his at- 
 ^^^^ ^^^a ^l^^ mmi ^^H ^^"^''"^ t" ^^'-^ i^iihject of infant baptism. 
 JS^^^M ^^WW^^^^^SBMi^^^^ which, after consultation with many 
 l^^V;^^ ISf i i ^ m'I'^^^E^ii™! leading Pedobaptist diyines, he I'uu- 
 I eluded was unscriptural, and in KU.'i he 
 
 was immersed by Knollys. lie differed 
 with the Confessioii of the Eight Churches on the question of communion, and 
 published the first work known in England in favor of open communion. lie was 
 endowed with noble abilities and enriched with high Christian graces. After the 
 Restoration he endured great persecution with holy fortitude, and died in prison in 
 1663. A letter of his informs us that one of the London Churches, meeting in 
 Great Allhallows, received two hundred members by baptism l)etween tlie years 
 1650-53; a fact which illustrates the rapid increase of Baptists not only in London 
 and Kent, but also in tlie middle and northern counties. 
 
 The Fifth Monarchy men waxed bold and numerous during the latter years 
 of the Commonwealth. It was but natural that the somber and liery religious 
 spirit of those times should betray ill-balanced intellects into fanaticism. New 
 sects sprang up in a day and disappeard as quickly, and amongst them the Fifth 
 Monarchy men. They were Pi'emillenai'ians, with this modiiication of the chili- 
 astic views which have been held by some in various ages, namely : they believed 
 that Christ was about to come and begin his millennial reign at once, and that they 
 were divinely commissioned to set up his kingdom on earth. A few of them were 
 disposed to effect this revolution by the sword, but the greater part favored peace- 
 ful measures. A meeting was called in London for debate concerning ' the laws, 
 subjects, extent, rise, time, place, offices and officers of the Fifth Monarchy ; ' but 
 probably the authorities suppressed it as mischievous, for it does not appear that it 
 
riTE FIFTH ^^loyAUciir rnor-RLES. 473 
 
 was held. The proposal to make it 'public' and to hear 'debate' indicate the 
 pacific ideas of tlie leaders, and General Harrison was reported to be in sympathy 
 with the movement, with a few other Baptists. But the Calvinistic Baptists were 
 prompt to protest against the measure ; they, with their brethren, the General 
 Baptists, believing that the Prince of Peace will establish his kingdom without the 
 sword. Just as the Protector's life was drawing to a close these misguided men 
 chose Thomas Venner as their leader. He was a wine-cooper, and created an in- 
 surrection. He became nearly insane at the thought of monarchy restored in 
 Charles II., and determined to destroy royalty as opposed to Christ. He rallied 
 followers and ariiuMl tiuMu. adujitcd a lianiior .>ii wliidi was tlio linn (,f the tribe of 
 Judah, with the niottn, 'Who shall nmsc liiiu up;' and thru ]ii-uelaiiiiod Jesus as 
 King. The military were ealled out, ami in a light these men were slain or taken 
 pri-soners; Venner and fourteen others being hanged and quartered for treason. 
 The fact that Yenncr and fifty men issued out of the Baptist meeting-house in 
 Coleman Street has associated this mad proceeding with the General Baptists as a 
 people, but very unjustly. Venner was not a Baptist ; on the contrary, he threat- 
 ened them that if he succeeded he would show them whether infant baptism were 
 in the Bible, possibly as they had found it there so often, by the light of fagots. 
 Mr. Lamb, the pastor of the Coleman Street Church, at once united with the 
 London Baptists in issuing a strong appeal to the world, showing that they were 
 bound in conscience to render to Caesar his right, and had no sympathy with Yen- 
 ner's doings. This is clear enough from the fact that only fifty men issued out of 
 the meetinghouse with Venner, and yet Lamb's Church was 'by far the largest' 
 Baptist Church in London. The British public believed the disclaimer of the 
 Baptists, but not so the perfidious monarch ; urged by his minister, Edward Hyde, 
 Lord Clarendon, who hated the Baptists for their espousal of the Parliamentary 
 cause, he made this insignificant piece of rant the pretext for a series of abuses upon 
 the Independents, Quakers and Baptists, which will disgrace his name for ever. 
 "While some few Baptists believed in the doctrine of Christ's millennial reign, there 
 is no satisfactory evidence that one of the fifty men were of their number, or that a 
 single Baptist took part in the plot. Harrison was committed to the Tower foi- 
 supposed complicity with it, but Carlyle, who studied this period with great 
 thoroughness, gives it as his opinion that ' Harrison (was) hardly connected with the 
 thing except as a well-wisher.' Fronde sees the matter in much the same light, 
 for he says : ' With the Fifth Monarchy men abroad, every chapel, except those of 
 the Baptists, would iiave been a magazine of explosives. The Baptists and Quakers 
 might have been trusted to discourage violence, but it was impossible to dis- 
 tinjiuish anionir the various sects.' * 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BRITISH BAPTISTS.— JOHN BUNYAN. 
 
 WE inii.st now Iduk :it the IJaptists after the Kcstoratiuii, the most noted of 
 wlioni is ,l,,ii.x Jir.Nv.v.N. lie was h.,r.i at Elstow, near Bedford, in 1628. 
 tlic fauKins year in wliich Charles [. was foreed to yield tlie Petition of Eight. 
 
 His education was next to noth- 
 ing, yet he was favored above 
 the lidYs of liis vilhige, for he 
 attended the grammar scliooi 
 f(.iunded by Sii' William Harper 
 at liudfoi'd ; how long is not 
 known, l)ut at the best his edu- 
 I itioii d attainments were quite 
 --( ,int) Xature had given him 
 a warm, light, frolicsome heart, 
 which held him ready for any 
 soit ol glee and mischief, and 
 under le versed circumstances 
 subjected him not only to the 
 pensive, but the desponding. 
 He early feared God and longed 
 to love him, but his giddiness and 
 love of fun drew him into sin, 
 until lie became addicted to wi'ong-doing, principally lying and swearing. Because 
 his father and himself were tinkers, and Gipsies in England have been tinkers from 
 time immemorial, he was long supposed to be of this alien lilood. But the I'ecords 
 of his family are now traceable to about A. D. 1200, and the name itself, as then 
 known, Buignon, indicates that the family was of Norman origin. This great 
 descendant of that house was a man of intense feeling on all subjects. The religion 
 of his times was of the most earnest nature, eniotionai. deep, almost fanatical, and 
 when Bunyari's heart began to yearn after the Lord Jesus, hi.s whole nature was 
 inflamed. If we should take his own version of his case literally, he would compel us 
 to believe that he was a sad scamj) in youth and a desperate villain in early manhood. 
 He tells us, however, that he was never drunk nor unchaste, and eertainlv he was 
 
 never a thief nor 
 
 iwayman. 
 
 Ik 
 
 ith 
 
 d danci 
 
 ball 
 
ms roxvirrroys for sin. 475 
 
 playing, bell-ringing and rough sports generally, and for these, with lying and pro- 
 fanity, his passionate self-accusings threw hini into a deep and terrible sense of 
 guilt. His agonies and conflicts continued for months; he dreamed frightful 
 dreams and saw alarming day visions, heard warning voices and read his doom 
 written in letters of fire. Meanwhile, he was a soldier in the civil war, and at its 
 close married a poor, but godly, orphan girl. Froude says that his marriage speaks 
 much for his character, for ' had he been a dissolute, idle scamp, it is unlikely that 
 a respectable wdinun would have licfMiiio his wMv wlicn he was a mere boy.' At 
 any rate, his suiil-eontlicr noi only eontinued, hut dee|)i'iied, until his sufferings 
 became unbearable, and he concluded that he was too wicked to be saved and must 
 be lost. One day, when walking alone in the country, a flood of light broke upon 
 his mind with tliese words: ' He hath made peace through the blood of his cross;' 
 when, he s;iy>: • 1 ^;lw iluit the justice (if (iod and my sinful soul could embrace and 
 kiss each other. 1 was ready t(j swoon, not with grief and trouble, but with solid 
 joy and peace.' Soon after this, 1653, Mr. Giflord immersed him in the river 
 Ouse, when he Ix'eanu' a mend)er of the T^aptist Chnrch at Hedford, as we shall see 
 more fully in the next elKi]>ters ; and in ir;,")."") he entered the ministry of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Lord ilaeaiday speaks thus: • The history of Ihinyaii is the history of a most 
 excitable mind in an age of exeiiemeut." "While this eonsidei-ation does not throw 
 light upon the source and swi'ep uf J>unyan's genius, it maj' and does suggest a 
 weighty reason why it took the hue and channel that it selected for its expression, 
 both in his ]iersonal history and in the sixty works of his pen. The sixty years of 
 his natural life ran through a long list of the most reiuai-kable events in English 
 annals. In his d;iy the High ('onnnis>ion and the Star Chamber brought before his 
 mind the most vital question of human rights. Tliis Court was emjjowered on 
 mere susjncion to adnunister an oath, by which the prisoner was bound to reveal 
 his inward thoughts, opinions and convictions, and thus accuse himself on pain of 
 death. Every day filled Bunyan's ears with some new, romantic and blood-stirring 
 event. He held his breath and turned pale when he heard that Charles lost not 
 only his crown but his head as a traitor, when Cromwell drew the sword for British 
 liberties and progress, M'hen Cavaliers and Roundheads ilew in every dii-ection, 
 when the Commonwealth was nourished with the blood of his bicthren. and when 
 Naseby, Edgewood and Marston Moor decreed, that no iri'csponsible tyi-ant ^hould 
 ever mount the thi-one again. He was familiar with the mad ))lots of (Jates, 
 Dangerfield and ^'enner. with the Conventicle Act, the ejection of two thousand 
 men of God from their pulpits in a day, the faithlessness of the second Cliarles, the 
 hypocrisies of James, the butcheries of Claverhouse, the infamous mockery of jus- 
 tice in Jeffreys, and the fall of the perfidious Stuarts. The smoke of burning mar- 
 tyrs filled the air over his head, and he saw the blows for freedom which wei-c 
 struck liy Ihiinpden and Pym, Sidney and Ilussell. Howard, the great j)hilau- 
 
476 Ills IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 thropist, ;i liuiiilivil yc;irs aftcrwai-d, walked the same streets and country roads 
 that liniiyaii trod, and, it i> ^-aid, caiii^-ht his spirit of prison reform largely from the 
 ' Den ' in which Ihiiiyan had lain. Tlie great singers of his day were Her])ert and 
 Milton, Drydeii and Shakr>pi'are. And the mighty preachers were Howe and 
 Henry, Charnock and Owen, Tillotson and South, Sherlock and Stillingfleet. 
 BunyanV ()l)scr\atinii was keen and extensive; he lived in the veiw heart of 
 England, was an actor i]i smne nf its most exciting scenes, and it is impossible but 
 that the spirit of the times nidved him at every step. In his day, English literature 
 had become tl)oroughly imbued with all the elements of poetry and fiction; nay, 
 even of romance. These had come down through high Italian authorship. Not 
 only liad the collo(|uial English descended through Wyckliif, and its higher liter- 
 ature through Chaucer, but they had been largely blended in the Bible, with which 
 Bunyan was most familiar; so that simple, idiomatic Saxon English was prepared 
 to his hand; being full of image and awe, of wonder and grandeur, which lie COiild 
 express to the popular niiml in a very racy style, rnconscioiisly he felt the force of 
 his mother-tongue; it stimtdated liis genius, becanic the groundwork of his thought 
 and the model .>f his utterance; a <-hoice whicli j.laces him Mde by ^i.jc with Shakes- 
 peare and the English Bilde, as one of the great conservators of uiir powerful 
 language. 
 
 In a linrst of unreasoning loyalty the English people, in KiCO, ])laced Charles II. 
 on the throne, without exacting proper guarantees for that liliei-ty which they had 
 bought with their own blood, lie had given his word on honor to protect all his 
 subjects in their religious freedom ; and then, like a true Stuart, he sold that honor 
 to his lust of power. Hardly was he seated on the throne when Yenner's petty 
 insurrection furnished a pretext for vengeance upon all his opponents, and espe- 
 cially those in the dissenting sects, no matter how much tliey proved tlieir loyalty. 
 Amongst the first victims of his tyranny we find Bunyan, charged witli -devilishly' 
 and 'perniciously' abstaining from going to church, 'as a connnon ujiholder of 
 meetings contrary to the laws of the king,' and with ' teaching men to worship con- 
 ti-ary to law.' He was sentenced to Bedford jail for three months, and at the end 
 of that time to be transported if he refused to conform. But his judges kept him 
 in prison for six years : and when released he instantly began to preach again, 
 whereupon he was imprisoned for another six years. Being released still again, he 
 began to preach at once, and was arrested for the third time, but was detained only 
 a few months. His judges were harsh with him, but his real oppressors for these 
 twelve weary years were the king and Parliament, who made it a crime for any one 
 to preach but a priest of the Church of England. It was long sup]iosed that he was 
 imprisoned mostly in the town jail of Bedford, on the bridge over the ri\ er Ouse, 
 but it is now clear that his long imprisonment was in the county jail, where his 
 anonymous biographer of lYOO says, that he heard him preach to sixty dissenters 
 and three ministers. There is good ground for believing, however, that he passed 
 
a eonsidcralilc pcridd in tlii' j;iil mi tlic liiiili;r. and tli:it ho wrote his 'Pilgrim's 
 Progress' thnv. 
 
 Wliile we ore obliged to repreliend the base iiijiistiee wliich kept this grand 
 preaelier pining in a prison, liowever leniently treated, the fact is forced upon us, 
 that the wrath of man was made to praise God; for had not his zealous servant 
 been compelled to this solitude, we should not have had that masterpiece of 
 literature. His ' Holy War' and other productions would have brought down to us 
 a literary name for him of no mean order, but his 'Pilgrim' is a book for all people 
 and all time. Bunyan's great power is in allegory and this form of it is unique, 
 because its facts and dress are not fantastic l)ut are inherent in man's common sense 
 and moral nature. His 'Pilgrim' is full of truth — this he drew from the Bible; of 
 
 hisidrv. which he took from Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs;' of terse English, which he 
 learned from Spenser and Chaucer ; of human nature, which he borrowed from 
 himself and his circumstances; of hallowed conviction, which he caught from the 
 Holy Spirit ; and of uncrippled boldness, which was inspired by his love of soul- 
 liberty. In earlier times some treated this great book with sneer and scorn, but in 
 later days the first critics have vied with each other to exhaust upon it the language 
 of eulogy. Dr. Johnson, Coleridge, Arnold, Macaulay and Froude have pronounced 
 it equally fit for the plowman and the philosopher, the peer and the peasant ; and 
 the Queen of England thinks ' Christian,' its great character, a pattern for her 
 grandchildren to copy in the palace. The glorious truth wliich made the heart of 
 Bunyan beat quicker under the tinker's doublet has since given ' heart's-ease ' to 
 many a throbbing bosom which heaves under the purple. And the huniMer walks 
 
478 JTS WIDE lyVlA'ENCE. 
 
 livi^s. III nil sdiils it lias ci-catcd virion.-, iiiterin-cfcil divaiiis, and awakent'd ' tlie j<iy 
 that made iiic write/ The c'i<;lit i'diti(_iiis tluM.iiigli wliich it passed in thirty years 
 H-avc hut small |ii-(iiiiise of the |)|-oi;tcss of its pili;Tiiiiai;-e since. No book has been 
 rcndcivd intosu many la.i-na-cs, excrpt tiie w,.rd of (i,,,! itself. To many who 
 are now 'hii;li in Miss upon the liill> of (iod.' it first set 'the joy-bells ringing in the 
 city of Iiabitation.' The pauper and beggar of I,,,ndon have read it in thorough- 
 fares and s.piares. an<l threaded their way by its guidance through Vanity Fair. 
 The Italian has crouched beneath the .shade of the \'atican, and trembled to look i;p 
 lest he should see Giant Pope. The dusky Ihirman ha> taken it into the deep jun- 
 gle, to .show him stepping-stones through the Slough of Uespond. The darker 
 African has stolen with it into a by-path of the wild woods, and, under the pahn- 
 tree, has dreamed of the white man's heaven. The son of Abraham and the 
 daughter of Jerusalem have ivad its j)ages to the sigh of the wind amongst the 
 olives and the ripple of Kcdron ; and tlie Hindoo, with Ibinyan in his hand, lias 
 resolved on courage when he crossed the 'deep i-iver ;' for angels, such as do not 
 wait upon the banks of his sacred C-ranges, beckon him over. 
 
 No wonder that wlien Mr. Brown, the minister of llunyan's meeting, lately 
 visited Scotland, a worthy Highlander was startled when inti'oduced to him as 
 ' Bunyan's successor.' Starting back and measuring liim from head to foot, he ex- 
 claimed: 'Eh, mon! but ye'U ha hard work to till ///'v sJnuni!' Uean Stanley 
 says: 'When in early life I lighted on the passage where the I'ilgrim is taken into 
 the House Beautiful to see " the pedigree of the Ancient of Daj-s, and the varieties 
 and histories of that place, both ancient and modern," I determined that if ever 
 the time should arrive when I should become a jirofessor of ecclesiastical history, 
 these should become the opening words in which I would describe the treasures of 
 that magnificent store-house. Accordingly, wlien, many years after, it so fell out, I 
 could find no better mode of beginning my course at ( )xfoi'd than by redeeming 
 that early pledge; and when the cotirse came to an end. ami I wished to draw a 
 picture of the prospects still reserved for the future of ('lii'isteiidoni, I found again 
 that the best words I coidd supply were those in which, on leaving the Beautiful 
 House, Christian was shown in tlie distance the view of the Delectable Mountains, 
 " which they said, would add to his comfort because they were nearer to the desired 
 haven." ' This was a worthy and heart-felt tribute from Westminster to the dream- 
 ing tinker whose effigy now adorns the House of Commons, side by side with 
 those of orators, heroes and statesmen in honor of the man, who, though he 
 ' devilishl}' ' abstained from attending the church ' contrary to the laws of the king/ 
 has preached in all pulpits and palaces ever since. 
 
 After Bunyan's final release in 1G72, he became pastor of the Church at Bed- 
 ford, and so threw his life into Gospel labor, that his fame as a preacher increased 
 until he was, perhaps, the most famous minister of his day. The few sermons 
 
IJIXV. 
 
 riii-: 
 
 •IIL\G. 
 
 470 
 
 wliic'li liiive coiiu' down to us. show that lir .-poke as lie wrote. As in his Pilgrim 
 lie eiulioilies more of the liihle than docs Milton in his Paradise Lost, so in his 
 sermons we tind more true human nature than in Shakespeare. His sentences burn 
 with sacred touches of divine experience and move ns with sympathy, so that they 
 must have melted his hearers to tears. They also abound in personification and 
 figure, touched by a little quiet but keen satire, and are lieli in reality, tenderness 
 and life. So great was his success as <a preacher, that the largest buildings to 
 wliieh he had access in London would not contain the multitudes who flocked to 
 hear him. One of his early biographers says : ' I have seen about twelve hnndred 
 at a niornine lecture, by seven o'clock, on a workiiii^ tiav. in the dark winter time. 
 
 \R STUEET CUAl'KL, SUUTHWAKK. 
 
 I have computed about tln-ee thousand that came to hear him one Lord's-day at 
 tlie town's-end meeting-house, so that half were fain to go back again for want of 
 room, and then himself was fain, at a back door, to be pulled almost over people to 
 get up stairs to his pulpit.' John Owen heard him preach, probably at Zoar Chapel, 
 and when King Charles expressed wonder that a man of his learning could bear to 
 listen to the 'prate' of a tinker, he answered, that he would gladly give all his 
 learning for this tinker's power. In the doctrinal controversies of the times, lie gave 
 and took many a hard blow, but his writings leave slight traces of personal bitter- 
 ness toward his opponents. Indeed, hard feeling seems to have been a stranger 
 both in him and his house. His wife was gentle to a proverb. When he was in 
 prison she went to London to pray for his release, and induced a peer of the realm 
 to present a petition to tlie House of Lords in his behalf; so the judges were 
 directed to look into the matter afresli. She, therefore, appeared before Sir 
 
iiiililicity 
 
 i>f ii woman's love 
 
 v.> a iK.n 
 
 [■(■;iMe iH'i-sou; and 
 
 •liiMivn. . 
 
 :.lir of tl,,M,l blind, 
 
 . llulr I 
 
 rcatLMJ ln'i- kindly, 
 
 ,. ull pn 
 
 •acliiiio; if released. 
 
 . uir j„v., 
 
 i-hiiii;- so long as he 
 
 (:<iiii-t ill 
 
 ti-ai's, iK.t so nnich. 
 
 480 BUNYAN'S TE.y/JKh'JVKS 
 
 Mattli.'W Hale, Chester and Twisden. With all the 
 she told her artless story. 8he s.id that hei- liii,-.l)and 
 wished to snpport his family. They had f(_iur heljile^.- 
 and while he was in prison they mu^t lis-e on eliari 
 Twis.U.ii harshly, and demanded wliether lie woul.l Ic 
 in childdike honesty she replied, that • he dare not lea 
 conid speak.- Her request was .li'iiicd and she left tli 
 she said, ' hcM'ause they wei'e so liard-heartcd ayain^t mi- and my hil.-liaiiil, lint to 
 
 think what a sad aeeoiint such [ ■ creatures would have to give at tiie coining of 
 
 the J.ord.' .lesns wejit heean^e Jerusalem stoned the prophets, and Bunyan's wife 
 was much like him. Itnt, this giant in genius was just as tenderdiearted as his wife. 
 Where do we timl such ]>athos in any passage as this, winch he wrote in prison: 
 
 'The parting with my wife and poor children hath often been to me in this 
 place as the pulling otf my flesh from my bones; and that not only because I am 
 too, too fond of those great mercies, but also because I should have often brought 
 to my mind the hardships, miseries and wants my poor family was like to meet 
 with should I be taken from them ; especially my poor blind child, who lay nearer 
 my heart than all I had besides. Poor child, thought I, what sorrow art thou like 
 to have for thy portion in this world ! Thou must be beaten, suffer hunger, cold, 
 nakedness and a thousand calannties, though I cannot now endure the wind should 
 blow on thee. But yet, thought 1, I must venture all with God, though it goeth to 
 the quick to leave you. I was as a man who was pidling down his house upon the 
 head of his wife and children. Yet, thought I, I must do it, I must do it." 
 
 So loving was Bunyan's disposition, that he kept the heart of the jailer soft all 
 the time. He not only allowed him to visit his church frequently, unattended, and 
 to preach the Gospel, too ; but his blind Mary constantly visited him, with such 
 little gifts as she could gather for liis solace. She had great concern for him, lest 
 he sorrowed beyond all hope, and often when parting with him, would put her 
 delicate fingers to his eyes and cheeks, to feel if the tears flowed that slie might 
 kiss them away. His blind babe died and left him in prison; with ( ), how many 
 fatherly benedictions upon her sweet memory. It was niet't that little, blind Mary 
 Bunyan should enter the Celestial Gate before the hero of the 'den." a true 'shining 
 one' to watch and wait for his coming. Nor did she wait long. In 16SS he went 
 to London to reconcile an alienated father and son, and succeeded. But on the 
 journey a violent storm overtook him, and he contracted a fatal illness which after 
 ten days took him to Jesus, the King in his beauty, and to blind Marj^, when he 
 first saw her sweet eyes blaze with liglit. She raised not a hand to his elieek then, 
 as was her old wont in Bedford, for God had wiped away all tears from his eyes ; 
 and since then the old and young pilgrim have dwelt together in the golden city. 
 
 Bunyan died just as the day dawned on England \vhen the second great Revo- 
 lution was to make her a free nation, in wdiich Baptists could breathe freely. Mr. 
 Fronde couples him thus with them, in his biography of Bunyan : ' In the language 
 of the time, he became convinced of sin and joined the Baptists, the most thorough- 
 
BLN\ \N b lOMIl 
 
 KNGLAND llOyOIiS HIM. 481 
 
 going and consistent of all the Protestant sects. If the sacrainemt of baptism is not 
 a magical form, but is a personal act in wliich the baptized person devotes himself 
 to Christ's service, to baptize cliildren at any age when they cannot understand what 
 they are doing may seem irrational and even impious.' ' Banyan's ashes rest in 
 Bunhill Fields, marked by a neat tomb, 
 bearing simply his name. But in 1874 the 
 Duke of Bedford, a descendant of Loid 
 William Russell, the martyr to liberty, pic 
 sented a most costly and beautiful statue 
 to that city, in Bunyan's memory. The 
 10th of June in that year was one of 
 the greatest days that Bedford ever knew 
 The corporation, with many thousands of 
 distinguished persons from all parts of 
 the kingdom, assembled on St. Petei's 
 green, to unveil this work of art. This was done by Lady Augusta Stanley, 
 sister of the Earl of Elgin and wife of the Dean of Westminster. Although 
 Bunyan's back is still turned toward St. Peter's Church, the bells rang a merry peal, 
 and immense crowds assembled in the Corn Exchange and on the green, to listen to 
 addresses from the Mayor, Dean Stanley, Earl Cowper and many others of great 
 note ; and a banquet at the Swan Hotel crowned the day. As was fitting, 4,000 
 Sunday-school children of Bedford and Elstow consumed a ton and a quarter of cake 
 and six hundred gallons of tea, in honor of the occasion ; and with bands of music 
 made a pilgrimage to Elstow, the birthplace of their enchanting dreamer ; and the 
 press of the United Kingdom that day called Bunyan blessed. The statue is of 
 bronze, cast of cannon and bells brought from China, weighing two and a half tons. 
 The figure of Bunyan is taken from a painting by Sadler, and is ten feet high. The 
 idea which Boehm, the sculptor, has striven to give, is expressed in an inscription 
 on the pedestal, and is taken from the picture of 'a very grave person.' which 
 Bunyan saw hung" in the Interpreter's house : 
 
 ' It had eyes uplifted to heaven ; 
 The best of books in his hand ; 
 The law of truth was written 
 Upon his lips. . . . 
 It stood as if it pleaded 
 With men.' 
 
 A broken fetter at his feet represents his long imprisonment, and on a tablet 
 beneath is a facsimile of his autograph in his will, 'John Bunyan.' Three sides 
 of the pedestal contain scenes from ' Pilgrim's Progress,' in bold relief : Evangelist 
 pointing Christian to the wicket gate; Cliristian's fight with Apollyon; Pilgrim 
 released from liis load and the three shining onus ])ointing liim to tlie Celestial 
 
THE BEDFORD MONUMENT. 
 
 City. Tlie mom 
 
 iiieiit staiiil 
 
 . %\!k 
 
 faccb one \\.n an 
 
 1 Nfull .if) 
 
 (_'p( i^e 
 
 thfi.lt.ll nl tl 
 
 Ity .pint 
 ic right 
 itliout a 
 
 MisllCMl 
 
 its (..rigiiial, it (,nly 
 lality, wliieli claims 
 to loolv to heaven 
 icfiisL' from tlie es- 
 'Innvh. i;uiiyan-> 
 ms (kvcrilx'd: • lie 
 )f stature, .strong- 
 til sjiaikling eyes. 
 is upper 
 
 \\as tall 
 
 I (rowed, 
 
 wearing his hair oi 
 
 lip after the old IJritish fa^-h- 
 
 loii ; his hair reddish, but in liis 
 
 I itter days sprinkled with gray ; 
 Ins nose well cut, his mouth 
 moderately large, his forehead 
 something high, and his habit 
 
 I I ways plain and modest.' 
 
 That Bunyan was an open 
 
 (uimmininii i'aptist lias never 
 
 bi'fii seriously doubted until 
 
 IC recent pnblicati..n of his 
 
 l!r 
 
 le. by Uev. .loh 
 \.M., nnnister of the lUin- 
 \ m meeting at Bedford. This 
 w ork throws new light on many 
 ]ioints in his history and is 
 aljly written, but because of 
 ( I'rtain parish records which it 
 l)ublislies, and which seem to 
 imjily that Bunyan's children 
 were christened, after he had 
 united with the Bedford Church, 
 nine that subject candidly and carefully. Whether Mr. Brown 
 intended to convey this impression or not, his book is well adapted to place Bun- 
 yan's practice in direct contradiction with many of his own utterances, and to 
 render his conduct irreconcilable with the universal testimony of history as to his 
 union with the Baptists. Yet Mr. Brown carefully avoids saying that he was not 
 a Baptist. He quotes Bunyan's words : ' Do not have too much company with some 
 Anabaptists, though I go imdei' that name myself,'' and then adds : ' This is plain 
 enough. The only difficulty is how to reconcile his practice with his declaration ; 
 for he seems to have liad three of liis children baptized at church in their infancy, 
 as we gather from the register of the parishes of Elstow and St. Cuthbert's.' 
 
 it is needful 
 
Tin-: ELSTOW lih-nrSTER. 483 
 
 Tliese words cannot be inisundei'stood, and tlieir sense is re-affirmed tlius: 'There 
 can be little doubt, therefore, that the year after Jolin Bunyan joined the Bedford 
 brotlierhood his second daiij^hter, like his first, was baptized at Elstow Church. 
 The third case, that of his son Joseph, is the most remarkable of all, for this child, 
 according to the register, was baptized at St. Cuthbert's Church after Bunyan's 
 twelve years' imprisonment for conscience' sake, and during the time he was con- 
 ducting the controversy on open comtininion witJi D'Aiivcrs and Paul. The fact is 
 curious, and can only be accounted for on tlir suppnsiridii timt iijion the (inestion of 
 baptism he had no very strong feeling any way."^ 
 
 Oil this question and utlicrs grdwing (Hit uf it, tin: writiT opened a respect- 
 ful eorrespondence with Mr. lirown. to wliieli he responded in that nuuiner and 
 spirit which always pruiiipt the high-minded investigator. Under date of May 1st, 
 ]>iS<i, Mr. Brown writes eimeerniug Bunyan's own baptism: 'There is no evi- 
 dence that liiiiiyaii w:i,-. not iiniiicrsed. Lcjnkiiig at what he says of himself {vide 
 my • Lifi' of l!iiiiyan,' p. 2:!^, line f,), 1 should say he was immersed though there is 
 no record of the fact.' These quotations are sufficient to show that Mr. Brown is 
 not to be considered as saying that Bunyan was not a Baptist, but simply tluit he 
 could not reconcile his position as a Baptist with the christening of his children. 
 Before examining these records it may be a favor to the American reader, who is 
 not familiar with the vicinity of Bedford in England, to say, that Elstow, Bunyan's 
 birthplace, is a village about a mile and a half from Bedford, and that he continued 
 to reside there probal)ly till about A. D. lt!.55-5(i, when he removed to Bedford. 
 At that time this town niiinbered Ic^s than l'.im'O inhabitants, and for ecclesiastical 
 purposes, was then and is now dividt'd into four parishes, known i-espectively as 
 St. Jolm's, St. Peter',s, St. Paul's and St. Cuthbert's. The first record to he exam- 
 ined is that of Elstow, which reads thus: 
 
 Elstoir : 'Mary, the daughter of John Bonion, baptized July 20th, 1650.' As 
 Bunyan did not unite with Gifford's Cliurch till 1653, three years after this record 
 was made, it has no bearing on the question wliether lie was a Baptist or not. Wlien 
 Mary was christened, he was, as he tells us himself, leading a wicked life, having no 
 church connection aside from a nominal one in the Church of England. It nuiy, 
 therefore, be dismissed with the remark, tliat as it leaves nothing to ' reconcile ' in his 
 practice, it needs no further consideration. The second entry was made at Elstow, 
 tlie year after his union with Gififord's Church, and reads as follows : ' Elizabeth, the 
 daughter of John Bonyon, was borne 14th day of April, 1654.' Taking all things into 
 the account and in the order of theii' dates, with a full knowledge of the circum- 
 stances of tlie case, we shall find this record Bunyan's second public protest against 
 infant baptism, which he pronounced an infirmity of the weak. In his controversy 
 with his strict communion brethren, they charged him with indulging Baptists, in 
 disobedience to the requirements of truth, when he commniied with those who had 
 never been baptized upon their faith in Christ. To this he replied : ' Hut what 
 
484 BUNYAN\S PROTEST AGAINST CnRISTENINO. 
 
 acts of dieobedieHce do we indulge in; " In tlie nin of infant baptism T' We 
 indulge them nut, Itut being commanded to l)ear with the infirmities of the weak, 
 suffer it; it In i/nj in our eyes such, but in theirs, thcv say. a <luty, till God persuade 
 them.' ^ It matters not at this point whether, when Banyan went with Gifford into 
 the river Ouse, he was immersed or not, though Mr. Brown, judging by what Bun- 
 yan writes, ' though I go under that name myself ('Anabaptist'), says, 'I should say 
 he was immersed.' This much, however, is clear, that whatever was done to Bun- 
 yan in the Ouse, he did there publicly repudiate his own infant baptism. Mr. 
 Brown tells us (page 3G) that he finds John Bunyan's name 'in the list of nineteen 
 christenings at Elstow Church in the following form : " 1G28. John the sonne of 
 Thomas Bounionn, Junr. the 30th of Novemb." ' But as Banyan could not go 
 under the name of ' Anabaptist' on that christening, it follows that when he went 
 with Gifford into the river he deliberately repudiated the infant baptism which his 
 father had imposed upon him in 1628, in the discharge of what he regarded as his 
 parental ' duty,' as a member of the Chnreh of England. It remains to be seen 
 whether or not, a year after this repudiation, he fell into what he calls the weakness 
 of infant baptism, and which he said was such in his eyes, by taking his own daughter 
 to that same Church of England to christen her, in ' duty, till God persuaded ' him 
 otherwise. This, of course, would imply that he recalled his protest against his own 
 infant bajjtism made a year earlier, and in turn repudiated his believer's baptism, 
 after he had solemnly taken it upon himself as an 'Anabaptist.' Tiiis conduct 
 would show any thing but that he had no strong feeling on the question of baptism, 
 for with his very tender conscience he must have had terrible feelings on the sub- 
 ject, if he Ijacked and filled in that way. No ; this entry evinces the deepest feeling 
 on the question of infant baptism and is his second public protest against its 
 practice, the first being in himself by his own baptism as a believer, the second in 
 his beloved daughter and her simple birth record. 
 
 The difference between these two entries, the baptismal record of Mary and 
 the birth record of Elizabeth, shows that between the years 1650 and 1654 a well- 
 defined change had taken place in their father's mind on the subject of christening. 
 Had he chosen he could have had Elizabeth christened and her christening entered 
 in the same form as that of Mary, but he chose not to do that ; and limiting the 
 record to her birth, it simply says that Elizabeth was ^lorne^ on the 14tli day of 
 April, 1654. The following facts throw a flood of light upon this i-ecord, as they 
 prove, that in 1645 Parliament put the recording of births into the haiuls of the 
 clergy, that in 1653 this registration was taken out of their hands, and that under 
 "William and Mary it was restored to them again, and all this for the best of reasons. 
 
 1. In 1645 Parliament had banished the use of the Prayer-book in every place 
 of worship in England and Wales, and had substituted a form of worship called the 
 Directory. This law required all Prayer-books to be given up, and fined any who 
 used one in any place of worship, church or chapel, £5 for the first offense, £10 for 
 
It HI. I El' T<i (JCAKEUS AMI ISM'TISTS. 483 
 
 the second, ' and for tlic rliird oll'cnsf one wliole VL';ir's iniprisonment witliout bail 
 or mainprise.' It liad also enactted, that 
 
 ' There shall be provided at the charge of every parish or chapelry in the realm 
 of England and dominion of "Wales, a fair register book of velluni, to be kept by 
 the minider and otticci's of the church, and that the names of all children baptized, 
 and of their parents and of the time of their birth and haj)tizin(j, shall be written 
 and set down by the minister therein.' 
 
 This act provided for the registration of both births and baptisms, and was careful 
 not to confound the two as one.'' 
 
 2. Down to A. D. 1653, the year in which Bunyan united with Gifford's Church, 
 Quakers, Baptists and all who rejected infant bajjtism, were subjected to every sort 
 of annoyance for neglecting to go to the recording clergy as thus required, to liave 
 their children christened and a record of their birth and baptism made in the ' book 
 of vellum' at the parish church, the Church of England. The same was true also 
 of their marriages and burials. 
 
 3. Having in view their relief, not only in the matter of baptism, but also in 
 that of marriages and burials, Cromwell's short Parliament took this whole matter 
 out of the hands of the clergy, making marriage a purely secular act, stripping birth, 
 marriage and burial of subjection to all ecclesiastical usages, and put the entire 
 keeping of the parish records into secular hands for civil purposes alone. Of course. 
 Baptists, Quakers and all other such subjects loyal to the civil power were delighted 
 to be freed from ecclesiastical contempt in this way, and to comply with a mere civil 
 provision, which in noway conflicted with their convictions of right; and they 
 cheerfully complied with a law which simply required them to record the birth of 
 their children as in duty to the State. 
 
 4. It is of this Act that Cobbet speaks in his ' Parliamentary History,' under 
 date of August 25th, 1653. He writes : ' Great part of this month had been taken up 
 in canvassing a bill concerning marriages and the registering thereof, and also of 
 births and burials. This day it passed the house on this question, and was ordered 
 to be printed and published. This extraordinary Act entirely took marriages out of 
 the hands of the clergy, and put them into those of the Justices of the Peace.'' 
 
 The writer has carefully examined this Act and would copy it entire, but as it 
 covers many folios it is too long. It is found in the 
 
 ' Acts and Ordinances of Parliament, examined by the original record and 
 
 imnted by special order of Parliament, by Henry Plills and John Field, printers to 
 lis Highness the Lord Protector, 1658 ; by Henry Scobell, the clerk of Parliament.' 
 
 For some reason, the Acts of the Commonwealth are not printed with the con- 
 tinuous laws of the realm, but are put in this special collection by themselves, and 
 at the risk of a little tediousness, as this book is very scarce, a brief analysis of 
 the Act may here be given. It directs 'how marriages shall be solenmized and 
 registered, as also a register for births and b\irials,' but says nothing of baptisms. 
 
486 ItEGISTRT ACT OF 1G53. 
 
 It was extended \^^ Ireland 'tVum nml idler Decemljer 1st. Ku^?,." It specially pro- 
 vides for the election of a i;(■^;■i^trar Ijv jiupular suffrage in tlic parish thus : 
 
 I. 'The Inlialiitants aii.l lloiischoldci^ of everv J'ari^h cliar-eahk^ to tlie relief 
 of the i.oor, .ir the greater part of them jjreseiit. >hall on or before tiie L'2d day of 
 Septeiiihcr, I(;,'i3, make choice of some able and honest person (such as shall be 
 sworn :ind a|.pi-oved by one Justice of the Peace in that Parish, Division or County, 
 anil Ml ^ii:iiiliril under his hand in the said Register-book), to have the keeping of 
 said honk, who shall therein fully enter in writing all such Publications, Marriages, 
 Ilii-th.s uf rhilih'en and Burials of all sorts of persons, and the names of every of 
 them, and the days of the month and year of Publications, Marriages, Births and 
 Burials. And the Ilegister in each Parish shall attend the said Justice of the 
 Peace to subscribe the entry of each such ]\Iarriage; and the person so selected, 
 approved and sworn, sliall be called the Parish-liegister and shall continue three 
 years in such place of Register.' 
 
 n. This Act further provides, that 'All Ptegister-l)ooks for Marriages, Births 
 and Burials sliall be dcHvercd into the hands of the respective Registers appointed 
 by this Act to be kept as IJeeurds.' Thus the clergy were not only stripped of the 
 i-eeoriler's ofHee, but the old books of register made [irevious tii K!.-);', were taken 
 out of their custody and put into secular hands : ' Any law, statute, custom or usuage 
 to the contrary notwithstanding,' as the Act states. 
 
 III. The use of the Prayer-book and all religious services at marriages and l.iurials 
 M'as done away with, and as the Act knew nothing of christenings, of course, the regis- 
 tration of liirtlis called for no provision against such services. The parties to be 
 married were to choose whether the Register should publish their intended marriage 
 three Sundays in the church or chapel, or in the ' market-place next to the said church 
 or chapel, on three market-days in the tliree several weeks next following.' On 
 the day of marriage, in the presence of the Justice, the man was to take the woman 
 by the hand and distinctly pronounce the following words : ' I, A. B., do here in the 
 presence of God, the searcher of all hearts, take thee, C. D., for my wedded wife. 
 I do, also, in the presence of God and before these witnesses, promise to be unto thee 
 a loving and faithful husband.' When the woman had gone through the same form, 
 the Justice declared them husband and wife. The Act then strijw the clergy of all 
 power to marry in these sweeping words : 
 
 ' From and after such consent so expressed and such declaration made, the same, 
 as to llie form uf marria-v. shall be -uod and clTertual in law. .!//</ /m- othrr mar- 
 
 THU,. ,rli,lt.r.r irit/,;,, 'tin ( ) ,n,nn <,nr, „!/ /, < ,f hjii ih, i, ,1 . ,lft , r f],. t ir, „t ,/ -n i nth of 
 Sept, wtn:r, slmtl 1„ Inid nr „ nint.,1 ,, m<irn<u/, arronlni^j t,> tin hnrs ,./ h'lujhmd: 
 
 1\ . The Act made a number of curious minor provisions wliich may be named, 
 simply for the gratilication of tlie reader, such as these: 
 
 The ' fee for Publications and certificates thereof Is. ; for marriages Is.' ' Fi'oni 
 those who live upon alms nothing shall be taken.' The Justice ' in case of dumb 
 persons may dispense with pronouncing the words ; and with joining hands in case 
 of persons that have no hands.' ' After the 29th of Sep. 1653, the age of a man to 
 
ISlIiTIIS. yoT CniilSTKMXds, liKCOHJJlCI). 487 
 
 consent to marriage .sliall he sixteen years, and tlie age of tlie wciman fourteen years." 
 All disputes as to tlie lawfulness of marriage were I'efei'red to Justices at the 
 Quarter Sessions. 
 
 Under the well-settk^d ride in law, that tlie k'gislative intent can best be 
 readied by exainiiiing all Acts on the same subjectniatter and weighing tliem 
 together, these Acts have been liere presented, and so we cannot miss tiie intent 
 of this particular xVct of {>'<'<■'<. As the Art of lt'i4.") had expres.sly put registra- 
 tion of births and baptisms into the hands of the clergy, and the Act of 1);58 had 
 put the registration of birtiis into secular hands and said notliing about records 
 for baptism or christening, taking all public registration out of clerical hands, the 
 entry of baptisms was legally' dropped from the public records, under the i)rovisions 
 of the last Act. Tliat this was botii the intention and practice under that law is 
 more clearly seen in the further fact, that Acts VI and VII under William and 
 Mary restored registration to the clergy, and made special provision for the record 
 of christenings by those in Holy Orders.' Tiiis legislation was known us 
 
 'An Act for gi'anting his IMajesty certain rates and duties upon Marriages, 
 Births and Burials, and upon Batehelors and Widowers, for the term of five years, 
 for carrying on the war against France with vigor.' This Act once more made it 
 the duty of those in Holy Orders: ' Deans, Parsons, Deacons, Vicars, Curates,' to 
 keep ' a true and exact register in writing of all and every person or persons 
 married, buried, christened or born in their respective parishes or precincts.' 
 
 These Acts taken together show how thoroughly discriminating and seculariz- 
 ing the Act of August 25th, 1653, was intended to be, and what a radical change it 
 made both in the public practices and their records. Of course, it aroused the 
 wrath of the State clergy to the hottest indignation. They treated it with every 
 form of eontempt which they could devise. AYhen the Directory had pushed the 
 Trayer-book out of nse, many hundreds of them, some say thousands, either i-e- 
 signed their livings or were ejected for setting the law at defiance. It absolutely 
 forbade them to use the Prayer-book for the burial of the dead, as well as in 
 their churches. It enjoined that, 
 
 ' Wlicn any person departed this life, let the dead body njioii the day of burial 
 be deeeiiily attended from llie house to the ])laee app..iiiiri| for public burial, and 
 then iniiTi-rd n-;//,,,,// ,ii,i/ r, ,■> monij. . . . Fortliat |ii;i\ inu'. reading and singing, 
 both ill giiing to and at the gi-a\e, have been grossly alm-rd, and are no more bene- 
 ficial to the dead and have proved hurtful to the living; therefore, let all such things 
 be laid aside.' 
 
 Surely, this was all that the clerical flesh and blood of that day could bear. But 
 now, to follow up that revolution with another, which eight years later not only 
 took marriage entirely out of their hands, but denied them tlie right to record the 
 births which honored those secular marriages, was unendurable to them. If any 
 body wanted them to christen their infants, the law did not forbid their doing so, 
 in the exercise of their religious rights. But the law would not have their christen- 
 
488 /ILNVAX MAKES A CIVIL REVOIU). 
 
 ings entered (Hi tliL- i>nlilic iceords as acts of aiiv civil interest or concern. Tlien. 
 tlie way in wliich their fui-iiiei- prerogatives were tal^cii from them, was more exas])er- 
 ating still. The new Registrars were to be selerted liv the |»j|iiilar \ute i.if tlieii- own 
 parishioners, over whom they had so unconscional)ly dnniinccicd, ami that without re- 
 gard to the religion of either candidate or votei'. Besides, his record of the marriages 
 entered was to be purely secular and to be attested before a Justice of the Peace and 
 not by a priest. And. worse than all, in the eyes of the priest, this Act of August 25th, 
 1653, left all who rejected tlie superstition of christening at liberty to enjoy the full 
 rights of Englishmen by recording the ' birth ' of their children, and of securing to 
 them all the legal advantages wliich such a civil entry secured in jjroperty rights 
 and courts of justice, without compromising their principles by a forced submission 
 to infant baptism. Tlicii' children could now prdve their lineage and derive all the 
 jiolitical rights which such entry entitled them to while they lived, and when they 
 died they could be buried decently' in ground either ' consecrated' or unconsecrated 
 without anyhow consulting the whimsical dictations of an arrogant priesthood. 
 Such a state of things would suit Bunyan's ideas of liberty exactly. 
 
 Such a right had never been enjoyed by dissenting Englishmen before, and 
 Cobbet well characterizes the Act as 'extraordinary.' Its passage was stubbornly 
 resisted as a bold, innovation ; and he says that it held Parliament to discussion for 
 a great part of the entire month, which 'canvassing ' must have stirred the feeling 
 of the entire realm. Especially must all Baptists and Quakers have been interested, 
 as it took their marriages and burials out of the liands of an oppressive and offensive 
 clergy, and left them at liberty to record the ' hirth ' of their children and to stop 
 there, as far as christening was concerned ; so that they now stood before the law on an 
 equality with their neighbors, free from all ecclesiastical proscription because they 
 refused to have their children baptized. With this legal shield thrown over his 
 head, we can easily understand why honest John Bunyan, who spoke so freely in 
 his writings against infant baptism, as we shall see, felt it his duty as an English 
 freeman to obey the law by entering the hirth of his babe on the public records, 
 when English law at last stepped forth sacredly to guard the rights of his eon- 
 science while discharging his duty as a citizen. Thus the entry of his child's hirth 
 without any entry of her christening stands to the end of time on the Elstow 
 parish Register with the force of his public protest against the superstition of infant 
 baptism enforced by the State. Then was Elizabeth Bunyan christened as a 
 matter of fact ? Certainly not. Mr. Brown quotes the entry in the Elstow parish 
 Register and concedes that it certifies only to her birth. He also refers to the 
 law of 1653 in the following words : 
 
 ' It will be pointed out, perhaps, that the register notes that Elizabeth Bunyan was 
 hoi'n on the lith day of April, and says nothing about her baptism. But it must 
 be remembered that the previous year an Act of Parliament had been passed re- 
 quiring the date of birth to be inserted in the register instead of that of baptism.' 
 
THE Tll.\ysci!II'T XOT A COl'Y. 489 
 
 It is a matter of soiiio surprise tliat the learned biogra[)lier lias cited this Act in 
 support of his theory. Accoi-ding to his idea, the object of Parliament in passing 
 it was merely to change the form of words to be entered on the register. Upon 
 analysis it is apparent that his claim must be that, although the record says horn, 
 she was in reality chrutened on that day, and that the fact was misstated in order 
 that the law might be technically complied with. The improbability of this suppo- 
 sition is clear from its simple statement, and it, moreover, betrays an entire miscon- 
 ception of the purpose of the statute. It was not enacted simply to alter the 
 verbal formulary used in the records, but to entirely secularize the department of 
 vital statistics, and to allow marriages and births to be publicly recorded, though 
 the clergy had not solemnized the nuptials or christened the children or buried 
 the dead. 
 
 Mr. Brown in furtlieranec of his argument proceeds as follows: 
 
 ' To show further that this Act of 1653 sufficiently accounts for the form of 
 entry in 1(554, it may be mentioned that in the Transcript Register from Elstow 
 parish that year the name of Elizabeth Bunyaii occurs in a list of twenty-three 
 children, all returned under the head of " Christenings," and that the word " borne " 
 and not " baptized " is used in every case.' 
 
 Of course, the writer, on this side of the Atlantic, not being able to inspect and 
 compare these documents must rely on an inspection and comparison made by 
 others. Hence lie requested a gentleman of known accuracy in the employ of Her 
 Majesty's government to examine both the original and the transcript i-egisters. 
 He writes July 29th, 1886 : 
 
 'In the Parish Register at Elstow for April 14th, 1654, I find Elizabeth 
 Bunyan recorded as " home " without any mention of her christening. In all the 
 entries down to the year 1662 each child is so entered. After 1662 the word 
 " christened " is substituted and the word " borne " drops out. The Register is 
 without headings, only the year and day of the month are entered, then the entries 
 follow to the end of the year, when the same process is repeated. In the archives 
 of the Archdeanery at Bedford, I find the Transcript Registers, and they give Eliza- 
 beth Bunyan, daughter of John, as " christened " April 14th, 1654. This stands 
 along with 23 others, total 24. From that date the Avord " borne '" does not occur 
 again. Then as to the headings : as I said, the Elstow Register is without head- 
 ings, and this order is continued in the Transcripts, which for the whole ten years 
 are not only vnthout headings but vnthmd signahires. I had omitted to count the 
 number of entries at Elstow for 1653-54, and was obliged to write the vicar for the 
 information which he kindly supplied in the enclosed letter : 
 
 ' " Bedford, July 26th, 1886 : Dear Sir : You ask how many were entered on 
 the Register as " borne " during the years 1653 and 1654. In the former year only 
 six were entered as born and in the latter twenty-four. The discrepancy between 
 the original Register and the Transcript is curious. The Canons of 160*4 ordered 
 that copies of the Register should be sent annually to the Registry of the Diocese. 
 I suspect this was discontinued during the Commonwealth, and that copies were not 
 made again until after the time of the Restoration, when christenings were inserted 
 and not births. Yours faithfully. James Copner." ' 
 
490 TIIH K I. STOW UFA' OHO AlTIIOItlTY. 
 
 The di^erepMiicy referred to by Mr. ( 'n|iiicT (wIkisc nwii vuliKilile work on I'lni- 
 yan is elsewliere cited in these pages) is >iiii]ily tlmt iA the u.-e of " huriie " in the 
 original ami '* eliristeiied " in tlie ti'anscript. Otlierwi^e it appears that the doeii- 
 ineiits correspond. Tlie iiivestii;atioii rt'dnces itself to tiie iinjniry, which shall he 
 believed, the original register which says that Elizabeth was Ixu-n on April 14th, 1C54, 
 or the transcript which states that she was christened on that day '. It is to the last 
 degree improbable that she was both born and christened on the same day, and 
 therefore both rccoi-ds caiiniit be true, liorn in her father's ln.use on the 14th of 
 Ajiril, even if lie had wished her christened, she could not be taken to the parish 
 church on the day of her birth. But if she was christened on the 14th of April 
 and born at some other time, then the original entry is made a piece of confusion. 
 It was never the custom of the English, or even of the Romish Chnrch, to christen 
 children on the very day of their birth, unless it was feared that the child would 
 die innnediately after coming into the world, and so its body was sprinkled to save 
 its soul. Ein-thermore, it is not claimed that these transcript registers were inde- 
 pendent records of facts outside of those contained in the originals. The transcripts 
 were annual copies of the Parish Register sent uj) on parchment to the Archdeacon 
 by the vicar or rector of the parish in compliance with the canons of 1603. They 
 gave the names of all persons married, baptized, or buried the previous year copied 
 from the Register, and forwarded each Easter. This was to provide for the exist- 
 ence of a duplicate copy in case the parish register should be lost. The transcripts, 
 therefore, always purported to be exact copies of the originals and, in case of dis- 
 crepancy, the originals would of course govern. We are thus brought to the 
 question, which is entitled to credence : a public record kept and prepared under 
 direction of the law of the land, with prescribed formalities by a duly elected civil 
 officer, or the inconsistent statement contained in an extra-official document, without 
 date or signature, which purports to be a copy of the original and is not a true copy 
 thereof ? Here again the mere statement of the proposition makes only one answer 
 possible. It is a trite rule of the law that, for the purpose of evidence, a copy is not 
 allowable in the presence of the original, and it is not easy to see why Mr. Brown 
 should have brought in a professed copy with the original, especially as the original 
 says one thing and the so-called copy another. In a letter dated May 21st, 1S86, 
 he says : 
 
 'This Transcript for 1654 is at Bedford in the Archives of the Archdeanery 
 along with those from all the parishes of Bedfordshire. Tliose for the Common- 
 weatii Period were sent up for the whole ten years at once [1650-1660] after the 
 Restoration by the vicar, Christopher Hall, and are complete.' 
 
 It is difficult to imagine any motive for the continuation of the custom of send- 
 ing an annual transcript during the Commonwealth. The whole department of 
 public records was taken out of the hands of the clergy and made secular, and they 
 could have no reason for adding purely secular records to their canonical archives. 
 
ritll'J.S TL Y I LI. TKMl'EU. 40 1 
 
 ]'>iit with the Itostonition tlie Cluiirh was re-establislied, and the civil fiuictiuiis of tlie 
 priests as registrars restored. Then in the nature of tilings a new motive would arise 
 — the desire to obliterate as far as possible all traces of the interregnum, and to have 
 the ancient order of things go on apparently as if it had not been interrupted. Tliis 
 statement of Mr. Erown is fortified by the fact that these transcripts are not signed, 
 or in any other manner formally authenticated. All that seems to have been done 
 was to make copies of the Pai'ish Registers, carefully substituting, however, the woi"d 
 'christened ' for ' born ' in every case, and file them at the Archdeaiiery to fill the 
 hiatus in the ecclesiastical records. The ecclesiastical motive for this substitution is 
 apparent, but the civil record nmst stand unquestioned. 
 
 More than enough has been said to dismiss the entry in this transcript register 
 from further consideration, but fortunately Mr. Brown has furnished us with a 
 unique entry which throws additional light upon the general subject and the temper 
 of the clergy in regard to this Act. Nothing better illustrates the peevish resent- 
 ment of the priests to the Act of August, 1653, than the following note, taken from 
 the Register of Maid's Moreton Parish, in Buckinghamshire : 
 
 ' A. T). l(j.5;j. Now came in force a goodly Act made by the Usurper Cromwell's 
 little P.irliaiiient, who cinlered not the baj)tism, but the birth of children, to be 
 recoi-ilcd ill thi' l';ii'isli Kciji-ter. And though the liaptism of s(Jine be not expressed 
 here, vi-r tlir>c aiv n, crrtifv all whom it may concei-n. ami that on the word of a 
 pi'ii'>t, that tlicrf is im ]irr,-..ii hereafter mentioned by the then Register of the parish, 
 but was duly and orderly baptized ! ' 
 
 The anhims of the man who boldly foisted this extra-judicial note of interpre- 
 tation into this Register, is evinced on its face. The legally appointed Register did 
 not write it in 1653; it was smuggled in at a much later date, and for a purpose. 
 It speaks of him as ' the then ' Register of the parish, and of Cromwell as the 
 ' Usurper,' forms of expression which the lawful Registrar of 1653 could not have 
 used. The writer of this note understood the Act of 1653 to make a broad distinc- 
 tion between birth and baptism, and says that it 'ordered not the laptism, but the 
 lirth of children, to be recorded in the Parish Register,' and this distinction the 
 interpolator of the note did not relish. Hence the record at Maid's Moreton 
 expressed just what the Act honestly required : the record of the birth of the 
 children and not of their baptism. He says that the baptism of 'some' was not 
 expressed in the record. And why ? Siinply because the law did not allow the 
 word baptism in the Register. But as he dared not to alter the record itself, and yet 
 wanted to spite the memory of the ' Usurper,' he must needs bring outside testi- 
 mony to corrupt the sense of the document. However, be could find no one in 
 Maid's Moreton to serve as his witness but a priest, who was sadly disgruntled 
 because marriage, the registration in parish records, and the right to force christen- 
 ing on all babes, whether their parents wanted it or not, had been taken from liim. 
 So, without giving his name or permitting his cross-examination, he is called in to 
 
492 ' nUNYAN'S RECORD WILL STAXI>. 
 
 give his 'word.' Contrary to tlie letter and spii'it of tlie Act of 1653, a gloss must 
 be introduced into an official register, and the ' word of a jiriest ' must certify that 
 at Maid's Moreton the ' Usuriier ' had been cheated, and that, in exact harmony 
 with the priestly wishes of the witness, and to his great delectation these particular 
 children had been ' duly and oi'derly baptized,' law or no law. This absurd note 
 awakens the suspicion that it might possibly have been written by the ' priest ' him- 
 self. Yet it serves to show with what accuracy all the provisions of the Act had 
 been enforced, and that, for this reason, the ' priest ' wanted to take off the sharp 
 edge of the record itself. 
 
 In plain English, this ' priest ' was piqued by the provisions of the Act. and 
 intended to falsify the record, and so far as he could, in his lielplessness, to nullify 
 its effect. However, as this is not the i-ecord at Elstow, and that attempts no 
 such shameless perversion of the law, the exact truth stands with the Elstow entry, 
 as Bunyan intended it to stand, when it affirms that his daughter, Elizabeth, was 
 'borne' April lith, 1651. John Bunyan himself is responsible for this entry, and 
 not a ' priest.' Wjuoever foisted the word ' christened ' into the transcript at Bedford, 
 made at least six years afterward, might have strongly desired that she had been 
 christened, but her father had no hand in making the cop}', and, having good rea- 
 sons for not christening her, simply certifies to the birtii of his babe, in the form 
 provided by the then existing law. In view of this original entry at Elstow, Bun- 
 yan may consistently ask, ' What acts of disobedience do we indulge in ? " In the 
 sin of infant baptism?"' The record that he made leaves nothing in his conduct 
 to ' reconcile ' with his professions as a Baptist, nor can he be held responsible for 
 the substitution of a word in the professed copy which he never put into the original. 
 
 This record leaves the great writer where he jjut himself and where his brethren 
 have always put him. Douglas says of the English Baptists : 'As to the ordinances 
 of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, they confined these to persons who had made a 
 scriptural and credible profession of their faith in Christ ; and with reference to the 
 former, they regarded it as the great line of demarkation between the Church and 
 the world. Such were the views of Bunyan and the generality of the Baptists in 
 former days.' * 
 
(V 
 
 lllillillllllllll 
 
 003b5?(i::i 
 
 I) ^!!E!:§Pi?NOt 
 
 PHOTOCOPY 
 
 
■