An Outline of Baptist History

-4- 4. The Church in the Wilderness. Christ promised ultimate but not necessarily con- tinuous triumph (Matt. 16:18) to His church. We shall note now that His churches went through times of great persecution and trials. Vedder, p.45, says, "If every church of Christ were today to become apostate, it would be possible and right for any true believer to organize tomorrow another church on the apostolic modelof faith and practice and that church would have the only apostolic succession werth having, a succession of faith in the Lord Christ and obedience to Him." (1) Certain facts can be established, however, to show the antiquity of Baptist prin- ciples. Everychurch through the 1st century organized as Baptist churches are now. Bodies of Christians 4 centuries before the Reformation were stigmatized by the Roman authorities as heretics. These people, according to their enemies, professed nearly and sometimes identically what Baptists believe today. (2) Certain sects which some suppose to be in the line of the Baptists. a. Montanists began their existence in150 AD. These people protested the cor- rupt teachings of the degenerate church. They taught the gift of prophecy and speaking in tongues were perpetual gifts. They believed in faith healing. They were pre-millennial. They gave greater authority to the words of their pro- phets than they did the Bible. They were no different than the Roman Catholics for both had abandoned congregationalism and accepted episcopacy as church government. They almest took a gnostic view of the flesh. They claimed special revelations. It is interesting to note that Tertullian advocated this teaching. Those who had "lapsed" from the true faith, according to the Mon- tanists, must be rebaptized. infant baptism was not yet a dogma and it was rejected by the Montanisis. b. Novatians (250 AD). Their origin seems to be traced to the Decian persecu- tion, when many Christians denied the faith. After the persecution, the church asked, ''How can we deal with these traditores?'' The laxer party in Romefav- ored admitting them without delay or ceremony. Novatian (not the one mentioned previously in these notes) opposed this. He withdrew and became the bishop of the protesting party. He formed a strong church in North Africa. The Novatians believed in rebaptizing those who came from other churches. However, they held to the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. They held to the view of inde- pendence of churches and recognized the equality of pastors. Novatian opposed the election of Cornelius as the pastor of the church at Rome in 250 AD. c. Donatists began around 311 AD. They began their existence for about the same reason as the Nevatians but under the Diocletian instead of the Decian persecu- tion. These people insisted on a pure church membership. They rejected un- worthy ministers. They protested civil interference in matters of religion, but they too believed in baptismal regeneration. They believed the human nature of Christ had to be cleansed by baptism. Vedder says they practiced infant bap- tism. They were intolerant and bigoted according to Newman. Christian says that the Donatists rejected infant baptism and were congregational in their form of government.