The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail: Lesson 4 – A Short History of the Anabaptists

 

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail: Lesson 4 – A Short History of the Anabaptists

Review: The Major lines of Descent

Paulicians: Sheltered in Armenian, then spread to Western Europe.

Albigensians:  From the region of Albi in France.  Sheltered in Southern France and Northern Italy.

Waldenses: Hidden in the valleys of the Alps and Piedmont Valleys.

Anabaptist: A single name given to all the branches of the true church due to their practice of insisting on Biblical baptism to all those who became believers and joined their churches.

As we have seen the name Anabaptist was, at first, a generic name given in derision to any group which rebaptized those who had improper baptism.  Just before and especially at the Reformation the name became specialized to those groups which were the successors of the Paulician, Albigensian and Waldenses line. 

At the time of the reformation, they are seen in almost every country, city and village.  They and their leaders predate the reformation by decades and centuries.

C. H. Spurgeon on Baptist perpetuity

"We believe that the Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the reformation, we were reformers before Luther or Calvin were born; we never came from the Church of Rome, for we were never in it, but we have an unbroken line up to the apostles themselves. We have always existed from the very days of Christ, and our principles, sometimes veiled and forgotten, like a river which may travel underground for a little season, have always had honest and holy adherents. Persecuted alike by Romanists and Protestants of almost every sect, yet there has never existed a Government holding Baptist principles which persecuted others; nor I believe any body of Baptists ever held it to be right to put the consciences of others under the control of man. We have ever been ready to suffer, as our martyrologies will prove, but we are not ready to accept any help from the State, to prostitute the purity of the Bride of Christ to any alliance with the government, and we will never make the Church, although the Queen, the despot over the consciences of men". (From The New Park Street Pulpit, Vol.VII, Page 225).

Marks of the New Testament Church from “The Trail of Blood” by JM Carroll

1. Its Head and Founder--CHRIST. He is the law-giver; the Church is only the executive. (Matt. 16:18; Col. 1:18)

2. Its only rule of faith and practice--THE BIBLE. (II Tim. 3:15-17)

3. Its name--"CHURCH," "CHURCHES." (Matt. 16:18; Rev. 22:16)

4. Its polity--CONGREGATIONAL--all members equal. (Matt. 20:24-28; Matt. 23:5-12)

5. Its members--only saved people. (Eph. 2:21; I Peter 2:5)

6. Its ordinances--BELIEVERS' BAPTISM, FOLLOWED BY THE LORD'S SUPPER. (Matt. 28:19-20)

7. Its officers--PASTORS AND DEACONS. (I Tim. 3:1-16)

8. Its work--getting folks saved, baptizing them (with a baptism that meets all the requirements of God's Word), teaching them ("to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you"). (Matt. 28:16-20)

9. Its financial plan--"Even so (TITHES and OFFERINGS) hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel," (I Cor. 9:14)

10. Its weapons of warfare--spiritual, not carnal. (II Cor. 10:4; Eph. 6:10-20)

11. Its independence--separation of Church and State. (Matt. 22:21)

I want now to call your attention to some of the landmarks, or ear-marks of this religion--the Christian Religion. If you and I are to trace it down through 20 long centuries, and especially down through 1,200 years of midnight darkness, darkened by rivers and seas of martyr blood, then we will need to know well these marks. They will be many times terribly disfigured. But there will always be some indelible mark. But let us carefully and prayerfully beware. We will encounter many shams and make-believes. If possible, the very elect will be betrayed and deceived. We want, if possible, to trace it down through credible history, but more especially through the unerring, infallible, words and marks of Divine truth. - J. M. Carroll, “The Trail Of Blood.”

Anabaptists

Origin of name: The name Anabaptist was given to the believers by the enemies of the true church, for the practice of rebaptizing those who did not have proper baptism. Ana is Latin for again.

Beliefs: The Anabaptist were marked by the belief in the Baptist distinctives, we know today. They also claimed an apostolic origin, believed in religious freedom and the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice,

Issues: Things that brought them to the attention of the Catholic and later Anglican, Presbyterian and Lutheran leaders were religious freedom, opposition to infant baptism, and opposition to "state churches."

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail: Anabaptist Leaders and Lands

Baptists In Switzerland

Leaders: Conrad Grebel, Elberle Polt, Felix Manz

Prosecutors: Zwingli, founder of Presbyterianism in Switzerland

Baptist In Moravia

Leaders: Hans Denck,  pastored a church with 1000 members

Melchoir Hofmann,  Believed himself a prophet at least according to his enemies.

Belthasar Hubmaier

Points of interest

Often baptized in houses using tubs in order to hide from persecution.

Baptist in Netherlands

Leaders

Simon Menno, former priest, became a powerful Baptist preacher.

Friends: William III, Prince of Orange, Grandson of James I, He and Queen Mary II, withstood Spain and Spanish Inquisition. They founded the Dutch Republic with religious freedom and later were made King and Queen of Great Britain.

Baptist in Poland and Transylvania

Leaders: Peter Gunesius, Gregory Paulus, Faustus Socinus

Notable Achievement: Built a Seminary in Crocow. Converted the Lord of Crocow, James Sienno

 

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail: Peasant Wars and the Kingdom of Munster

The Peasant War was a political war and had little to do with religion or the Bible.

The first leaders of the rebellion were Bernhard Rothmann, a Lutheran pastor, who hated Catholics, Jan Matthys, a baker from Haarlem, and Jan Bockelson, a tailor from Leiden (John of Leiden)

At first they appealed for human liberty, a freedom from vassal service but they were willing to fight for their liberty.

Soon the “anabaptists” were using violence to drive out the Catholic and any who opposed them. The stripped and destroyed the catholic churches, elected a new mayor and city council, drove the Bishop out of town. As they grew more powerful, they grew more radical forcing everyone in town to be “rebaptized” and setting up a socialist utopian where all private property, even clothes were gathered into warehouses and given out as needed by the leaders of the rebellion.

When the former Bishop besieged the city, Matthys believed that he called by God to be a new Gideon and rode out with only 12 men to attack the besieging army of 1000s. He did not succeed.

After his death John of Leiden believed that God gave him a vision to be the King of New Zion, the successor of King David and to institute polygamy. He chose 15 wives, including the widow of Matthys.

On May 15, 1525, after almost a year siege,  the Munster rebellion was put down. Over 5000 peasants lost their lives in the massacre that followed. Martin Luther wrote the nobles, who led the slaughter, that it was not a sin if the peasants were exterminated. Three leaders of the rebellion were captured and tortured for several hours by the Bishop and after they were killed their bodies were displayed in 3 iron cages from the steeple of the Catholic church. There the bones stayed for over 50 years. The cages are still hanging on the steeple to this day.

As can easily be seen, the Munster rebellion was not an Anabaptist movement. It was a political movement that was overtaken by radical charismatic leaders and turned into a socialist cult.

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail: Baptists in England

Earliest Baptist Churches

There are traditions of the gospel in Britain going back to the Apostolic Age.

The legend is that Paul the apostle made it to Wales after leaving Spain.

As early as 180 a Pagan King named Lucius was baptized and there is clear records of believers being persecuted in Britain in 300 under Roman Emperor Diocletian.

St Patrick, a British missionary went to the Irish around 390. 

Patrick  was not a Roman Catholic. Patrick was born into a second-generation Christian home around 373 AD. His father was a “deacon” in the Christian church. Patrick was taken captive by Irish pirates and spent six years as a slave in Ireland tending flocks. During this time Patrick began to reflect on what he had been taught as a boy and trusted  Christ as his Lord and Savior.

“I was taken captive before I knew what I should desire and what I should shun. […] before I was humbled, I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and He that is mighty came and, in His mercy, raised me up and, indeed, lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall. And from there I ought to shout out in gratitude to the Lord for His great favours in this world and forever, that the mind of man cannot measure.”

It is clear from his testimony Patrick did not trust in a works-based salvation. It was God who showed him favor, gave him faith, and freed him from sin.

After roughly six years of slave service Patrick escaped and made the challenging journey home.

His Doctrine and Evangelism

Patrick believed in salvation by grace alone. He understood the depravity of man. The first words of his testimony read “I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many…

“I am greatly God’s debtor, because he granted me so much grace, that through me many people would be reborn in God, and soon after confirmed, that clergy would be ordained everywhere for them, and the masses lately come to belief, whom the Lord drew from the ends of the earth.”

“I, alone, can do nothing unless He Himself vouchsafes it to me. But let Him search my heart and [my] nature, for I crave enough for it, even too much, and I am ready for Him to grant me that I drink of His chalice, as He has granted to others who love him. Therefore, may it never befall me to be separated by my God from His people whom He has won in this most remote land. I pray God that He gives me perseverance, and that He will deign (condescend to give or grant) that I should be a faithful witness for His sake right up to the time of my passing.”

It is clear through the gospel message he preached, his ecclesiastical consistency with Scripture, his strict separation from the Catholic Church, his utter dependence upon the Word and the Spirit of God, and his evangelistic zeal and passion, Patrick was an ancestor of the Baptists, not in name but certainly in practice. At this point in history there were but two kinds of church; the true church, a local, visible called out assembly of born again, baptized believers and then false Catholic Church, which was the universal and visible, made up of mostly lost men, women, and children baptized or sprinkled into a works based religion. Patrick was clearly Christian and by today’s standards, Baptist.

As a result of his submission to Christ, the Lord used Patrick to evangelize the whole of Ireland and leave an impression on the island that will forever be remembered. During his evangelistic endeavors Patrick wrote of “baptizing many thousands of believers after they had professed faith.”

“Over the course of 60 years, Patrick went the length and breadth of Ireland preaching the Gospel ordaining elders and establishing churches. It is thought that at the end of his life there were over 300 churches across the island.

The monasteries set up by Patrick, were not like the monasteries that were established by the Church of Rome. These monasteries were more like seminaries and schools where men came for training in God’s word. These were not forsaking the world but preparing to be able to evangelize others with the Gospel.

The work of the Gospel  preached by Patrick and those who worked with him went on through the missionaries and churches. Such as Columba and his companions went to Scotland in 563. Then there was Columbanus with his companions that went to France and Germany in 612. Kilian and the brothers that accompanied him went as missionaries to Franconia and Wurzburg in 680. Forannan and twelve brothers with him set out to bring the Gospel to the Belgian frontier in 970.

“For more than six hundred years, Irish missionaries carried the Gospel with the same truthfulness as Patrick’s to Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and beyond.”

History of Baptists In England

In 597 Gregory the Great sent Austin to convert the Saxons who had invaded from Germany and who had driven many of the native Celtic Britons to Wales and Scotland.

Austin baptized the Saxons but allowed them to retain their former pagan practices. He tried to incorporate the existing British Christians into the Catholic Church but was they refused to be assimilated into the Catholic Church. After his failure the Pope and Catholic church declared war on the original British Christians.

Around 1000 AD the Paulicians began to appear in England.

The Lollards

Walther Lollard, a Waldensian Dutchman, had great success in England. His followers were called Lollards.

Walter Lollard came to England during sometime after 1350. He was an eloquent and persuasive speaker. One Roman Catholic historian said that more than half of the people of England became Lollards in a few years. The term Lollard was used for anyone who opposed the Catholic Church but those Lollards who were Baptistic believed that faith ought to precede baptism and denied infant baptism.

Erasmus, the linguist, philosopher and original translator of the Greek texts that became the Textus Receptus, in 1519 gave this description of the Lollards.  “they own no other authority than the scripture of the Old and New Testament, they believe or own little or nothing of the sacraments of the church, such as come out to their sect must everyone be baptized anew in mere water.

Noted leaders; John Burdon of Bristol 1442 was accused of heresies teaching it was not necessarily the child of Christians to be baptized. John Dance a Carpenter of Roode, denied that children need to be baptized. James Willis was burned at the stake in 1462. Thomas Taylor, a clothes washer, of Newberry arrested in 1491 was charged with denying that baptism was necessary for children. The 23 Lollards who were condemned in Hampshire in 1440, denied the need of baptism for the children of Christian parents, holding the infant baptism was retained because of priestly greed, and held that a man in mortal sin need not confess to a priest.

John Wycliffe, 1330-1384 "The Morning Star of the Reformation"

It is believed that Wycliffe, was influenced by the Lollards who he encountered. He was a Catholic priest but held Anabaptist beliefs. He was a pre-reformation reformer, who preached against infant baptism, the pope and feudalism. He was also the first to dare to translate the scriptures into English.

William Tyndale, 1484-1536

Had every appearance of being a Baptist. He held to a local conception of the church. Believed in immersion. Dreamed that "every ploughboy might read the New Testament in English."

He translated New Testament at Wittenburg, then smuggled it into England. He later translated the Old Testament in Antwerp. He was betrayed in Antwerp and condemned to death in 1535. His translation set the tone and stage for the KJV 1611 with as much as 80% of the KJV New Testament being the work of Tyndale.

Tyndale was tied to a stake, strangled and then burned. His last words were, "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes.”

Baptist Churches during the Reformation in England

England's reformation started in 1530 under Henry VIII. Henry desired an annulment from his marriage to Catherine of Spain in order to have a male heir. He broke with the Catholic church when his request was denied. His “reform” was only in replacing the People in Rome as the head of the church to himself.

Laws were on the books which made it illegal to be a member of any church except the Church of England, the Anglican Church.

The same practice was enforced through Edward the VI and Mary of Tudor (Bloody Mary) who as a Catholic sought revenge upon the Church of England.

Elizabeth, the next Queen, still persecuted Baptists but many flocked to England during her reign due to protection for refugees and a somewhat less degree of persecution than in the Netherlands and Spain.

During the reign of James I the Baptist petitioned for liberty of conscience to the House of Lords in 1610.  It was rejected. They petitioned the King directly in 1615 for freedom of conscience, again in 1620 and 1622. 

These petitions for religious freedom mark the Anabaptist movement as the first to seek such liberty for all men.

In 1614, Mark Leonard Busher, a Baptist, wrote a book which advocated liberty of conscience for all even including the Catholics, the first to do so.

The Particular and General Baptists

The General Baptists were free will in their view of salvation. The Particular Baptist were influenced by Calvin were sovereign grace in their view on salvation. The Particular Baptist wrote a Confession of Faith in 1643 the first of any such writing. The General Baptist organized into Associations first. The Particulars organized later and were more loosely formed into conventions.

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail: Notable English Baptists or Non-conformists

John Milton (1608 – 1674)

He is considered the greatest poet of the English language. The author of Paradise Lost (1667) the longest epic poem in the English language. He served under Cromwell's government after the English Civil War that overthrew the King of England. He wrote his greatest works after going blind and only by quoting it to his daughters.

    When I consider how my light is spent
    Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
    And that one talent which is death to hide
    Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
    To serve therewith my Maker, and present
    My true account, lest he returning chide;
    "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
    I fondly ask. But Patience to prevent
    That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
    Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
    Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
    Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
    And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
    They also serve who only stand and wait."

John Bunyan (1628 – 1688)

Bunyan was a Baptist preacher who refused to be licensed by the Church of England. After he was arrested by the Church of England, he spent 12 years in prison for his beliefs. He left behind his church, his wife, his daughters one of which was blind. In prison he wrote Pilgrims Progress, it was published 6 years after he was released in 1678.  It is the allegorical story of "Pilgrim” who became “Christian" and his journey and adventures to the Celestial City.

Pilgrims Progress by Bill Federer

John Bunyan was a poor, unskilled tinker by trade. In 1657, at age 29, Bunyan became a Baptist minister and was arrested for having an illegal religious meetings, preaching without a license from the government.

John Bunyan wrote in “A Relation of My Imprisonment”: “Upon the 12th of … November 1660 … the justice … issued out his warrant to take me … as if we that were to meet together … to do some fearful business, to the destruction of the country; when alas! the constable, when he came in, found us only with our Bibles in our hands, ready to speak and hear the word of God. … So I was taken and forced to depart. … But before I went away, I spake some few words of counsel and encouragement to the people, declaring to them … that they would not be discouraged, for it was a mercy to suffer upon so good account. … We suffer as Christians. … Better be the persecuted, than the persecutors.”

John Bunyan was imprisoned for 12 years, during which time he tried to support his family by making shoelaces.

While in prison, John Bunyan wrote “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” published Feb. 18, 1678. It was an allegory of a pilgrim, named Christian, who fled from the City of Destruction and was directed by Evangelist to follow the narrow path, overcoming “vanity fair” temptations, depressions, deceptions and persecutions till he reached the Celestial City of Zion.

“Pilgrim’s Progress” was translated into over 100 languages and, after the Bible, was the world’s best-seller for hundreds of years. It was found in nearly every colonial New England home, along with the Bible and Fox’s “Book of Martyrs.”

Benjamin Franklin wrote in his “Autobiography”: “My old favorite author, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress … has been translated into most of the languages of Europe, and suppose it has been more generally read than any other book, except perhaps the Bible.”

President Franklin Roosevelt referred to John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” on Jan. 19, 1936: “When Theodore Roosevelt died, the Secretary of his class at Harvard, in sending classmates a notice of his passing, added this quotation from ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’: ‘My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who now will be my rewarder.’”

Once after being offered his freedom is he would just sign a paper stating he would not preach, he replied, I cannot do what you ask of me, M'lord. I cannot place my signature upon any document in which I promise henceforth unto to preach. My calling to preach the Gospel is from God, and He alone can make me discontinue what He has appointed me to do. As I have had no word from Him to that effect, I must continue to preach, and I shall continue to preach. - John Bunyan

William Kiffin (1606-1701)

Influential Baptist preacher in commerce and government. Used his wealth to promote the cause of Baptists and religious freedom. Was arrested for preaching and refused to pay bail and imprisoned in the notorious White Lion prison. He was hated by the Church of England and political foes and was arrested numerous times, often using forgeries and rumors of his plotting against the King Charles II. He wrote numerous pamphlets and petitions for religious freedom.

John Gill (1697- 1771)

A well know, very educated Bible scholar, and theologian, who strongly held to the Calvinistic view of salvation. He wrote a classic commentary on the Bible which is still widely used today. He pastored the Strict Baptist church for 51 years. Later this congregation became the Metropolitan Tabernacle pastored by Spurgeon.

William Carey (1761-1834)

Known as the father of modern missions. He was a renowned Baptist missionary to India and Burma. Before salvation he was an illiterate cobbler. He taught himself to read English and then Hebrew and Greek. By the end of his life he had translated the scriptures into 40 different languages. The first to put the Bible into all these native tongues. He founded the first universities in India.

Against great opposition, his books and sermons finally led to the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society. It was founded in October 1792, including Carey, Andrew Fuller, John Ryland, and John Sutcliff as charter members.

William Carey most famous quote was, “Expect great things from God; do great things for God.”

Pastors Thomas Charles & Joseph Hughes

They founded the British and Foreign Bible Society.

William Fox (1736-1826)

He was a deacon in the Prescott Street Baptist Church. He took Robert Raike's Sunday school for poor children and put it into the church. The Sunday School Society was formed in the Prescott St. Baptist Church and from it all modern Sunday Schools have grown.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Known then and now as “The Prince of Preachers.” He was much gifted and popular preacher who begin preaching at only 16. He pastored a Metropolitan Tabernacle for 38 years, with over 6000 members and 10,000 seating in 1860 and 70's. By his death in 1892, he had preached nearly 3,600 sermons and published 49 volumes of commentaries, sayings, anecdotes, illustrations and devotions.

“I have never preached to you that you may live in sin if you only believe in Jesus: I have never preached that you shall be saved without being purified in heart. No, the salvation which this pulpit has proclaimed is not salvation in sin but salvation from sin, not a license to evil but a deliverance from evil.” - Charles Spurgeon

Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910)

Pastored in Manchester England from 1858 to 1910. He was famous for expository sermons and Biblical interpretation and wrote a commentary of the entire Bible that is considered a classic.

Men come and go; leaders, teachers, thinkers speak and work for a season, and then fall silent and impotent. He abides. They die, but He lives. They are lights kindled, and, therefore, sooner or later quenched; but He is the true light from which they draw all their brightness, and He shines for evermore."  - Alexander MacLaren

Conclusion

"History has hitherto been written by our enemies, who never would have kept a single fact about us upon the record if they could have helped it, and yet it leaks out every now and then that certain poor people called Anabaptists were brought up for condemnation. From the days of Henry II to those of Elizabeth we hear of certain unhappy heretics who were hated of all men for the truth's sake which was in them. We read of poor men and women, with their garments cut short, turned out into the fields to perish in the cold, and anon of others who were burnt at Newington for the crime of Anabaptism. Long before your Protestants were known of, these horrible Anabaptists, as they were unjustly called, were protesting for the 'one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.' No sooner did the visible church begin to depart from the gospel than these men arose to keep fast by the good old way. The priests and monks wished for peace and slumber, but there was always a Baptist or a Lollard tickling men's ears with holy Scriptures and calling their attention to the errors of the times. They were a poor persecuted tribe. The halter was thought to be too good for them. At times ill-written history would have us think that they died out, so well had the wolf done his work on the sheep. Yet here we are, blessed and multiplied… - Charles Spurgeon, (From the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1881, Vol. 27, page 249.)