An Outline of Baptist History

-6- was almost invaribly inflicted. The importance in bringing back the heretics is seen when we note that the Roman Church believed that schism in the body was a mortal sin, According to Vedder, p.55, during the first four centuries of church history, the following degmas had been developed within the Catholic church: The doctrine of the mass; the doctrine of penance; confession and priestly abso- lution; purgatory; invocation of saints: and the use of images in worship. II. The Persecuted Church, 1. The Church Reappears. "There were Protestants before there was a Protestant revolt, Reformers before the Reformation. The corruption of the primitive church and the development of the Roman Catholic church was a logical process that extended over a period of centuries.'' The church departed from the faith, then the papacy extended its power over all Europe. The resulting tyranny pro- voked revolts toward a purer faith. From the beginning of the 12th century reac- tions became more numerous. Each revolt had an independent origin within the church. These protests were led by various individuals. (1) Peter of Bruys, who founded the Petrobrusians. Peter was a pupil of Abelard and was found preaching in southern France, soen after the 12th century. After 20 years of ministry he was burned as a heretic in about 1126. He was perse- cuted by Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Clugmy who wrote a book against this heresy making the following charges: a. Peter the Venerable said these people rejected tradition and appealed to the scripture as the sole authority in religion. They would have "none of the fathers." b. They held the church te be a spiritual body where only believers who had been baptized could be members. They denied that children could be saved by bap- tism. c. They denied sacramental grace, ''They deny not only the truth of the body and bloed of the Lord, daily and constantly offered in the church through the sacra- ment, but declare that it is nothing at all and ought not to be offered to God," d. They denied the doctrine of purgatory and of prayers for the dead. They may have had some extremes, i.e. the view that churches ought not te be built. But in the main the beliefs attributed to them are such as are firmly held to- day by Baptists the world over. Vedder, p. 62. (2)Henry of Lausanne (1116-1150), the founder of the Henricians, At one time enry was a companion of Peter of Bruys. He too was a monk of Clugmy who became a preacherof righteousness. ''He is described as a man of great dig- nity of person, fiery eye, thundering voice, impetuous speech, mighty in the Scriptures. '' He labored in southern France and was hated by Bernard of Clair- vaux. In 1148, Henry was condemmed by the Council of Rheims, not to be martyred, but to be imprisoned for life. He died in solitary confinement.