Baptist History and Heritage

Baptist History and Heritage

There is a tendency today to revise history, rather than relate. Whether this is so the historian can make a name for himself, or he has come to erroneous conclusions, or because of some other agenda is not always evident, though I tend to believe the latter scenario. Whatever the reason, such revision is falsehood, and should be unacceptable to all. We even see this revision taking place when it comes to the History and Heritage of our Baptist Churches.

Recently, I was researching Baptist History on the internet. I came across the website of the "Baptist History and Heritage Society." (www.baptisthistory.org) On the website they had an article entitle "Baptist Beginnings." This piqued my curiosity. I began to read through the article, and was quickly upset by what I read. Consider the following quote taken from the website I've mentioned on the history of Baptists:

"Our best historical evidence says that Baptists came into existence in England in the early seventeenth century. They apparently emerged out of the Puritan-Separatist movement in the Church of England. Some of these earnest people read the Bible in their own language, believed it, and sought to live by it. They formed separate congregations which accepted only believers into their membership, and they baptized converts upon their profession of faith. Their opponents nicknamed them "Baptists," and the name stuck."

1. First of all, I would question whether or not this argument has the "best historical evidence." The fact is, this idea that Baptists came out of the Reformation is a relatively new idea. The "best" historians of the previous centuries believed that Baptists had their roots in the first century. Hear what some of these historians from as late as the 19th century have to say.

Prominent Baptists, and Baptist Historians
Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) had this to say: “We believe that the Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the reformation, we were reformers before Luther and 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 days of Christ, and our principles, sometimes veiled and forgotten, like a river which may travel under ground 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 Government, and we will never make the Church, although the Queen, the despot over the consciences of men.”

J.R. Graves (1820-1893) said this in a foreword to a book he had written on Baptist History: "This little work is dedicated and it's dissemination throughout the denomination committed to every Baptist brother and sister and especially my brethren in the ministry and of the press in America, who love those principles for which our Baptist Fathers for 18 centuries suffered cruel mockings, bloody stripes, imprisonment, and martyrdoms . . ." (emphasis added)

D.B. Ray (1830-1922) said this in the preface of his book “Handbook of Baptist History:” "Baptists have, with one voice denied any connection with the Romish apostasy, and claimed their origin, as a church, from Jesus Christ and the apostles".

Charles B. Stovall, in his book “Baptist History and Succession” says: "It will be seen that the Baptists claim the high antiquity of the commencement of the Christian church. They can trace a succession of those who have believed the same doctrine and administered the same ordinances directly, up to the Apostolic Age."

M.M. Munger wrote in his book “Baptist Churches from Jerusalem to North America:” "The intention of this little work is to show that from the time of Christ, beginning while He was on earth, the church of Christ has not failed to exist down to this present year of 1926. We have chosen this line of history as being the most simple and direct; Jerusalem, Rome, Britain (now Wales), to the North American colonies. . .Baptist church perpetuity is a proven fact."
G.H. Orchard wrote a book on Baptist History entitled: “A Concise History of Baptists from the time of Christ their Founder to the 18th Century.”

Historians From Other Denominations
Stanislaus Hosius(1504-1579) (Roman Catholic, and President of the Council of Trent in 1524) made this statement: "Were it not that the Baptists have been grievously tormented and cut off with the knife during the past twelve hundred years, they would swarm in greater number than all the Reformers."
Note: By his admission alone, the would put the Baptists as far back as 324 A.D. and even further, since this in when the persecution was said to have started.

Johann Lorenz von Mosheim (1693-1755) (a prominent Lutheran historian) wrote: "Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay secreted in almost all of the countries of Europe persons who adhered tenaciously to the principles of modern Dutch Baptists."

John Clark Ridpath (1840-1900) (a Methodist Historian) said: "I should not readily admit that there was a Baptist Church as far back as A.D. 100, although without doubt there were Baptists then, as all Christians were then Baptists."

The name Baptist has not always been used, but the doctrine that true Baptists teach today has always been around and will always be around.

What does the Bible Say?

1. The True New Testament Church Will Always Be Around

“I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

"Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." (Ephesians 3:21)

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19,20)

The Bible doesn't teach that true New Testament Churches would fall away and have to be reformed. True New Testament Churches needed no reformation - they remained true to the word of God. Logically then, we still have them around today. We call them Baptist churches. Not all that are called Baptist churches are true New Testament churches. (Satan is, after all a counterfeiter.) But, the majority of those churches that still practice that faith once delivered unto the saints call themselves Baptists.

2. The True Doctrines of the Word of God Were Only Delivered Once

"One Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Ephesians 4:5)

"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude v.3)

Closing
As Baptists, we have a tremendous heritage stemming from Christ and the apostles up to the present day. Baptists should cling tenaciously to their true history – not what modern revisers have thrust upon them!
- Don