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    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 ,

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    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

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1819, page 93, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1769/page/25/