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VOL. X*V. O
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Nonconformist. No. Vii. An Inquiry I...
this principle which gave rise to the Anabaptists in Germany ; Luther having laid it down as a foundation , that the JSpripture was to be the only 1
rule of Christ isms . '* Without entering also an the subject of the actual origin of the Baptists , strictly so called , which would embrace top large a field for our present pbject , I would beg to observe , that it is highly probable Bur net ' s observation is correct with respect to the German
Baptists y and I trust I shall not incur the charge of illiberality if I also add , that no other supposition can satisfactorily account for the rise of the Baptists at ally unless it be granted that they originated before the Christian Scriptures were published , and derived their origin immediately from Christ and his apostles .
But to return to Wickliffe . It has been supposed , and not unreasonably , that , if Wickliffe * s great and just principle of appealing to the Scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice , led others to become Baptists , he was one also . This , however , does not follow as a natural
consequence . He might not have followed up his principle to its obvious result ; although in his Dialogues , written while he retained many of his popish error * , he asserts , " That children may be saved without baptism ; and that the baptism of water profiteth not 1
without the baptism of the Spirit . ' f I am aware that , from his speaking lightly of water baptism , and insisting on the baptism of the Spirit , it has been supposed he was rather an Antibapti & t than a Baptist . If , however , we can rely on the testimony of Johannes
Slecht ^ Costelecius , who wrote a Letter to Erasmus , dated October 10 , 1519 , giving an account of the Hussites , it would appear that Wickliffe was not regarded as an . Antibaptist by them . For , be it remembered , that John Huss was induced to
commence the Reformation in Bohemia , in consequence of reading Wickliffe ' s writings : and Coatelecius says , the Hussites * believe or own little or nothing of the * sacraments of the Church : such as come over to their
* ttfci , jM * np . ' -II ,- P * > arid Cwwbf * UkUtf % + V . I :. p . 12 . + Dialogues . B . it , CIl xi ,
The Nonconformist. No. Vii. An Inquiry I...
sect , must every one be baptized anew in merei water . " " Wajldensis , who wrote against the Wickliffites and Hussites , about 1410 , affirms , that Wickliffe ^ fo llowers in Scotland ,. and some in the bishop of Norwich * * diocese did hold , that the children of believers ^ ire not ifo be sacrament ally baptized ; and that they
judged it unprofitable to give children ecclesiastical baptism . " * He does not state any objection as having been made by them to the baptism of adults ; and from what is stated above respecting the Hussites , it would seem more natural to conclude that the
Wickliffites rather objected to the baptism of infants as not being the proper subjects of the rite , than from any supposed virtue entailed on them by their parents ' faith . Mosheim says , " It is difficult to
determine , with certainty , the panr * ticular spot that gave birth to that Seditious and pestilential sect of Anabaptists , whose tumultuous and desperate attempts were equally pernicious to the cause of religion and the civil interests of mankind . —It is
most probable that several persons of this odious class made their appear * ance at the same time , in different countries ; and we may fix this period soon after the dawn of the Reformation in Germany , when Luther arose to set bounds to the ambition of Rome . " -f This may serve as a specimen of the manner in which that historian
speaks of the sect under consideration . His supposition that several persons sprung up simultaneously in different countries , presupposes a cause of their springing up which he had probably sufficient reason for not wishing to bring prominently into view ; but the most obvious is that which we havje
already seen was assigned by bishop Burnet . The Scriptures had been circulated privately , in many parts of Europe , through the instrumentality of Wickliffe and his followers . The latter had seen what Were the
consequences of making his sentiments known ; and had therefore lain as concealed as they possibly could till they found a very considerable body * Crosby ' s Jjttff . of Bap . I . pp . 23 , 2 < tf Eccl . Hisi Cent . jfi . $ cct . HI . ft ; ii . pp . 445 ^ 446 . m
Whe Nonconfitrmfah N<>. Vil 9$ ¦ " ¦&
Whe Nonconfitrmfah N <> . VIL 9 $ ¦ " ¦&
Vol. X*V. O
VOL . X * V . O
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 22, 1819, page 93, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_22021819/page/25/
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