CHAPTER THREE

In opposing the old Baptists and their Biblical doctrines and practices, both Catholics and Protestants have unwittingly given witness to the perpetual existence of the very people they wished to extinguish. They have mentioned in their writings that there existed churches who would not conform to the wishes of the party in power. Churches outside the "established church" are mentioned: churches whose members refused to submit to non-Biblical teaching and polity.

The Catholics and Protestants (depending on which group was in power at the time) called themselves "orthodox" and all others "heretics," especially the Baptists. They falsely accused our Baptist forefathers of the most gross sins: things too disgusting and mean to be believed. These powerful religious interests categorized our Baptist forefathers with the worst of heretics because they refused to compromise the truth of God.

We do not intend that the reader should think that all whom the Catholics or Protestants termed heretics were necessarily sound Baptists. However, we do understand that from among those groups thus stigmatized are to be found our Baptist forefathers and that they are a scarlet cord of witness for Christ. Our second witness, then, shall be the unsolicited and sometimes antagonistic testimony of those outside Baptist ranks.

Heinrich (sometimes Henry) Bullinger (1504-1575), Protestant Swiss reformer, first aided then succeeded Zwingli in the work of the Protestant Reformation. Bullinger hated the Anabaptists. He opposed them in every way possible, even unto persecution. He wrote:

"...anabaptism is... as contrary as can be to the doctrine of Christ and His Apostles: truly it is no marvel that the obstinate Anabaptists are kept under and punished by common laws. For otherwise these things are damnable, and not to be dissembled or suffered of a christian magistrate." [1]

Here he calls upon every "christian magistrate" to punish the anabaptists of his day! In other comments about these anabaptists he unwittingly gave testimony as to their ancient origin by citing the opposition to "re-baptizers" on the part of the Caesars as follows:

"Now, I think it not labour lost to speak somewhat of anabaptism. In the time that Decius and Gallus Caesar were Emperors, there arose a question in the parts of Africa of rebaptising heretics; and St. Cyprian, and the rest of the Bishops, being assembled together in the council of Carthage, liked well of anabaptism... Against the Donatists St. Augustine, with other learned men, disputed. There is also an Imperial Law made by Honorius and Theodosius, that holy Baptism should not be iterated [repeated]. Justinian Caesar hath published the same, in Cod. lib. I. Tit. 6, in these words. 'If any Minister of the Catholic Church be detected to have rebaptised any, let both him which committed the unappeasable offence, (if at least by age he be punishable) and he, also, that is won and persuaded thereunto, suffer punishment of death.'" [2] [Brackets mine: C.A.P.]

Decius lived from about A.D. 201-251 and was "The first [Roman Emperor] to launch organized persecution against the Christians." [3] Bullinger testifies that as early as the third century A.D. the apostate church opposed the anabaptists! What a testimony to the ancient age of persons holding Baptist views!

Gallus Caesar (Gallerius) lived from about A.D. 201-311 and "was probably responsible for initiating the persecution against Christians in 303." [4] Persecution by the preceding emperor, Decius, failed to destroy anabaptism! It was still present according to Bullinger's testimony, in Africa at least, into the fourth century.

Justinian Caesar (A.D. 483-565) was "Roman emperor from 527... He established many churches and monasteries..." [5] Implicit in Bullinger's testimony is this: by the 6th century after Christ, apostate churches had joined with imperial Rome in outlawing anabaptism as a capital offense. Bullinger furnishes unwitting testimony to the pre-Reformation existence of persons holding Baptist views outside of the state church!

Bullinger is quoted as having stated early on in the Reformation:

"The Anabaptists think themselves to be the only true church of Christ and acceptable unto God and teach that they who by baptism are received into their churches ought not to have any communion [fellowship] with [those called] evangelical or any other, whatsoever, for that our [i.e. evangelical Protestant, or reformed] churches are not true churches any more than the Papists." [6]

We believe this to be an accurate statement of Baptist views. Baptists are not about to admit that a church which does not follow the Bible is as good as a church which does! Similarly, Baptists maintain that a church started by Christ and faithful to Him must of necessity be approved of God rather than any man-made society even though it may call itself a church.

Between A.D. 800 and 1000, some European Anabaptists were ridiculed with the name "Waldenses" from their geographic location in the valleys of the Alps. Some were also nicknamed "Cathari" which means "pure ones" - this because they insisted on a regenerate church membership evidenced by holy living. Peter Allix (A.D. 1641-1717) was a learned scholar and historian of the Church of England. He furnishes us a list of thirty-three errors charged against this people by the Jacobite priest Raynerius. While some of the charges are doubtless false and others "twisted truth," the following excerpts indicate the doctrine and practice of these Baptists:

"...THEY AFFIRM THAT THEY ALONE ARE THE CHURCH OF CHRIST and his disciples. They declare themselves... to have apostolic authority and the keys of binding and loosing. They hold the Church of Rome to be the Great Whore of Babylon [mentioned in Revelation chapters 17, 18] and all that obey her are damned... They hold that none of the ordinances of the [Roman Catholic] Church, that have been introduced since Christ's ascension ought to be observed, as being of no worth: the feasts, fasts, orders, blessings, offices of the [Roman Catholic] Church, and the like, they utterly reject... THEY SAY, THAT THEN FIRST A MAN IS BAPTIZED, WHEN HE IS RECEIVED INTO THEIR SECT... They do not believe the body and blood of Christ to be the true sacrament, but only blessed bread, which by a figure only is called the body of Christ, in like manner as it is said, "and the rock was Christ," and such like... According to them there is no purgatory; and all that die do immediately pass either into heaven or hell. That therefore the prayers of the [Roman Catholic] Church for the dead are of no use... They hold, that the saints in heaven do not hear the prayers of the faithful, or regard the honours which are done to them... They add, that the saints do not pray for us... Wherefore also they deride all the festivals which we celebrate in honour of the saints, and all other instances of our veneration for them... They do not observe Lent or other fasts of the [Roman Catholic] Church... They do not receive the Old Testament; but the Gospel only, that they may not be overthrown by it, but rather be able to defend themselves therewith; pretending, that upon the coming of the Gospel, all old things are to be laid aside." [7] [Brackets & emphasis mine: C.A.P.]

These Baptists lived hundreds of years [8] before the Protestant Reformation. They remained separate from the Romish church and maintained the same church doctrine and practice for which modern Baptists stand even to this very day. We, like them, do not regard a person as baptized or a member of Christ's church until and unless he or she is baptized on the authority of Christ as delegated to His New Testament Baptist churches.

Ulrich (or Huldrych) Zwingli, Swiss Reformer, (1484-1531) was contemporary with Luther and Calvin. The Council of the city of Zurich, Switzerland (doubtless acting under Zwingli's leadership for there was then a union of church and civil government) "...took the drastic step of decreeing death by drowning as the penalty for all those who persisted in the heresy" of anabaptism. [9]

He gives testimony to the Anabaptists who caused both the Protestants and the Catholics great consternation because of their refusal to compromise with either "established" church. Hear this:

"The institution of Anabaptism is no novelty, but for thirteen hundred years has caused great disturbance in the church, and has acquired such a strength that the attempt in this age to contend with it appears futile for a time." [10]

This statement takes Baptists back to the third century! The third century is NOT the time of the beginning of the Baptists. The third century is near about the time when some apostate congregations began mixing Old Testament priesthood ideas with paganism under Christian names to form what is now known as the Catholic church. Zwingli testifies to the faithfulness of our Baptist forefathers in opposing the wicked innovations of apostate Rome from her beginning. Baptist doctrine and practice, founded as it is on the Scriptures alone, could not be destroyed. Neither unscriptural teachings of man's manufacture nor the sword could destroy the truth. The frustrated fury of those who had no support from the Bible for their pernicious doctrines and traditions resulted in the persecution of those who held the truth.

Roman Catholic Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius (see glossary) (1504-1579) was one of the most significant figures of the Roman Catholic "Counter Reformation." He was official representative of the pope and presiding officer of the Council of Trent (see glossary). Of the Anabaptists he said:

"If the truth of religion were to be judged by the readiness and cheerfulness which a man of any sect shows in suffering, the opinions and persuasions of no sect can be truer or surer than those of the Anabaptists, whence there have been none for these twelve hundred years past that have been more grievously punished, or that have more cheerfully and steadfastly undergone and even offered themselves to the most cruel sorts of punishment than these people." [11]

Again the Cardinal gives his unsolicited and clear testimony to the perpetuity of the Lord's churches when he says of our Baptist forefathers:

"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 numbers than all the reformers." [12]

The Cardinal takes Baptists back to at least A.D. 350 - just after Constantine united the secular government with apostate churches. Hosius is really saying that as long as the Romish church has existed there have been Baptist churches which opposed her heresies in spite of vigorous and violent attempts to exterminate them. We heartily agree with the Cardinal. Baptists were already in existence when Romanism came into being! 

J. Cardinal Gibbons, Primate of the Roman Catholic Church in America; Patrick J. Healy, D.D., Catholic University of America; Theodore Roosevelt, LL.D., Associate Editor, "The Outlook" and former President of the United States of America; and some eleven other eminent scholars served as contributors to the volume entitled Crossing the Centuries.

This popular history was edited by William C. King and copyrighted in 1912. Mr. King advertised to bring forward, among other things, "The Development of Literature, Religions, Philosophies..." and stated that he was "Assisted by the Editorial Counsel and Special Contributions of College Presidents, Leading Educators, Distinguished Divines, Eminent Authors, Literary Specialists, Historians, Archaeologists, Sociologists, Scientists, State and National Officials, State Librarians and Bibliographers."

This educated host of men and women gave the histories of various religious denominations then known in North America. Regarding the Baptists this volume states:

"Of the Baptists it may be said that they are not reformers. These people, comprising bodies of Christian believers known under various names in different countries, are entirely distinct and independent of the Roman and Greek churches, have had an unbroken continuity of existence from Apostolic days down through the centuries. Throughout this long period they were bitterly persecuted for heresy, driven from country to country, disfranchised, deprived of their property, imprisoned, tortured and slain by the thousands, yet they swerved not from their New Testament Faith, Doctrine and Adherence.

"The extreme conditions of the Reformation served to develop an organized denominational unity among the Baptists in Switzerland in 1523, which extended into Germany, then spread to Holland and other countries of Europe, also to England and Wales. The Baptist church of modern times may properly claim its "organized" denominational activities as beginning with the Switzerland movement." [13]

What a testimony! We make no claim other than this: true New Testament churches holding and following basic, Biblical, Baptist principles have existed from the days of Christ's earthly ministry down to the present time. Those principles caused them to require baptism at the hands of a baptized man with connection to a New Testament kind of church.

Robert Barclay, a Scottish apologist for the Society of Friends (Quakers), lived from 1648-1690. Barclay, along with eleven others, was granted a patent for the province of East New Jersey by the Duke of York. This notable man was then appointed governor. Barclay's collected works were published posthumously in 1692 under the title Truth Triumphant Through the Spiritual Warfare. The preface to this work was written by William Penn, for whom Pennsylvania was named. Barclay reports the following concerning the Baptists:

"We shall afterwards show that the rise of the Anabaptists took place prior to the reformation of the Church of England, and there are also reasons for believing that on the continent of Europe small hidden Christian societies, who have held many of the opinions of the Anabaptists, have existed from the times of the apostles. In the sense of the direct transmission of divine truth, and the true nature of spiritual religion, it seems probable that these churches have a lineage or succession more ancient than that of the Roman Church." [14]

Barclay's testimony certainly supports the old Baptist claim to their direct connection with the first church! The testimony of this respected individual carries much weight not only because of his position, but also because, as a Quaker, he was not connected with the Baptists. Thus he had no interest in promoting them or their cause.
The Testimony of John Lawrence von Mosheim, D.D.

More properly spelled Johann Laurenz von Mosheim (see glossary), this candid and noteworthy Lutheran wrote:

"The true origin of that sect which acquired the denomination of the Anabaptists, by their administering anew the rite of baptism to those who came over to their communion, and derived that of Mennonites from that famous man, to whom they owe the greatest part of their present felicity, is hid in the remote depths of antiquity, and is consequently extremely difficult to be ascertained." [15]

Modern Baptists and Mennonites share a kindred ancestry, although the Mennonites have swerved, in many instances, from the truth. Thus von Mosheim's testimony bears directly on the origin of those people called in our day "Baptists."

Masson was professor at the University of Edinburgh and lived from 1822-1907. This Scottish literary critic and biographer wrote the six-volume Life of John Milton as well as other biographies. Concerning the Baptists he wrote:

"The Baptists were by far the most numerous of the sectaries. Their enemies... were fond of tracing them to the anarchial German Anabaptists of the Reformation; but they themselves claimed a higher origin. They maintained, as Baptists still do, that in the primitive or apostolic church the only baptism practised or heard of was an immersion in water; and they maintained further that the baptism of infants was one of the corruptions of Christianity against which there had been a continued protest by pure and forward spirits in different countries, in ages prior to Luther's Reformation, including some of the English Wyclifites, although the protest may have been repeated in a louder manner, and with wild admixtures, by the German Anabaptists who gave Luther so much trouble." [16]

True Baptists continue to maintain that the ONLY baptism according to Scripture is immersion in water - just as Paul wrote of the "one baptism" in Ephesians 4:5. Since Baptists refuse to accept as true the innovation of Luther - an invisible church -we have no need of an invisible "baptism" into it. 

We understand 1 Cor. 12:13 consistently with other Scriptures to refer to the one baptism inaugurated by John the Baptist. Those who believe 1 Cor. 12:13 to refer to some kind of "Spirit baptism" do so at the peril of forcing themselves into a corner in which they must believe in more than one baptism. Usually they try to link 1 Cor. 12:13 with the prophecy of John (John 1:33), but John records that Christ would baptize IN THE SPIRIT on Pentecost, which He did. 1 Cor. 12:13 does not state that Christ would baptize, BUT RATHER THAT THE HOLY GHOST WOULD BE THE ACTING AGENT - quite a different thing altogether. 1 Cor. 12:13 teaches that the Holy Ghost leads believers to be baptized just as Simeon "came by the Spirit" into the temple in Luke 2:27. Compare "baptized by one Spirit" in 1 Corinthians with "came by the Spirit" in Luke. No student of the Bible understands that Simeon was somehow supernaturally carried through the air into the temple, nor is it sound exegesis to say that the Spirit supernaturally immerses anyone. We do understand that the Holy Spirit leads men to seek the truth and submit to Scriptural baptism just as the Spirit led Simeon to go into the temple at the right moment to see the infant Christ.

Protestants are forced to believe in two or three baptisms for this age. They believe in (1) water baptism as there are just too many clear Scriptures to deny it. They believe in (2) the baptism in the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost -Charismatics and Pentecostals insist this event has often been repeated though they can furnish no data for such claimed recurrences. Protestants also usually believe in (3) believers being somehow baptized into the invisible church by the Holy Spirit. Shame on any who knowingly tries to defend such a forced interpretation as Protestants do with 1 Cor. 12:13! And to think they base their whole "spirit baptism" doctrine on only ONE VERSE in the whole Bible - and that of disputed meaning! Baptists believe in "ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM" as Eph. 4:5 says, and they believe it BECAUSE the Bible says it! Which will you believe, reader, the teachings of men or the simple Word of God?

Alexander Campbell, founder of the various Campbellite groups now known as "The Churches of Christ," "The Disciples," "The Christian Churches," etc., in his debate with MacCalla, a Presbyterian, had this word of testimony for the Baptists:

"...from the apostolic age to the present time, the sentiments of Baptists, and the practice of baptism has had a continued chain of advocates, and public monuments of their existence in every century can be produced." [17]

What need we add to Mr. Campbell's statement?

John C. Ridpath was a well respected American educator and historian. Born in 1840, he lived until 1900. He was for 16 years associated with what is now De Pauw University in Indiana. There he held the professorship of belles-letters, of history, and of political philosophy. He also served as vice-president of De Pauw, his alma mater. He resigned this office in 1885 to devote the remainder of his life to writing. He is known for his monumental work, History of the World, as well as numerous other works of various sorts. He was a Methodist in his denominational affiliation. He wrote:

"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." [18]

It seems logical that if all Christians were Baptists in A.D. 100, then their churches would have been Baptist churches. It is unthinkable that such a principled people as the Baptists would organize churches contrary to their principles! No doubt Mr. Ridpath, in saying there was not "a Baptist Church" in A.D. 100, referred to an organized group of Baptist churches as some have formed in recent times. Usually these organizations are understood by the public at large to be "The Baptist Church." As Southern Baptist Convention preacher and author J.G. Bow wrote:

"Baptists, following the New Testament pattern, have no aggregate known as 'The Baptist Church.' Like the apostles and early Christians we have churches... 

"Errors in the formation and government of churches lead to errors in doctrine and practice. Baptists believe the New Testament plan to be good enough, and hence we cling to the scriptural form and government. Jesus commanded (Matt. 18:17) to tell a certain kind of grievance to the church, after other divinely given measures had failed.

"Imagine an Episcopalian, a Methodist, Presbyterian, or Catholic attempting to obey the injunction, and telling his grievance to his church." [19]

We are in hearty agreement that there was no such man-made organization of churches in A.D. 100 nor is there any Scriptural warrant for their existence now. We further agree with Mr. Ridpath concerning first-century Christians, that "all Christians were then Baptists."

Sir Isaac Newton, English scientist, mathematician, philosopher, student of the Scriptures and of history said:

"The modern Baptists formerly called Anabaptists are the only people that never symbolized with the Papacy." [20]

"Symbolize" in its older usage meant to resemble, represent or make to agree. In this Newton is saying that the Baptists are unique in that they were never connected with the Roman Catholic Church. Baptists maintain that they existed BEFORE the Catholic apostasy took place; that they existed ALONGSIDE Catholicism after her formation; and that they existed APART from Catholicism. Sound Baptists who understand their history and their principles would never maintain that they originated during or after the Protestant "Reformation."

Dr. A. Ypeij was Professor of Theology at Graningen. Along with Dr. J.J. Dermout, Chaplain to the king of Holland, he received a royal commission to prepare a history of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1819. This history, prepared under royal sanction, and officially published, contains the following testimony to the antiquity and orthodoxy of the Baptists:

"We have now seen that the Baptists, who were formerly called Anabaptists, and in later times, Mennonites, were the original Waldenses... On this account, the Baptists may be considered as the only religious community which has stood since the days of the apostles, and as a Christian society which has preserved pure the doctrines of the gospel through all ages. The perfectly correct external and internal economy of the Baptist denomination tends to confirm the truth, disputed by the Romish Church, that the Reformation brought about in the sixteenth century was in the highest degree necessary, and at the same time goes to refute the erroneous notion of the Catholics, that their denomination is the most ancient." [21]

The words of these two Dutch scholars is certainly clear. No elucidation is required!

Thus we conclude our brief look at a sampling of non-Baptist witnesses. We have heard the testimony of Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Quaker, Church of England, and Dutch Reformed Protestants, as well as the testimony of Roman Catholics. They all give witness to the continual existence of persons holding Baptist principles and observing Baptist practices in Baptist churches from ancient times until the present. 

Their testimonies combine to provide what would be considered incontrovertible evidence in a court of law! They testify to the apostolic origin of those churches practicing New Testament principles found among the people called Baptists today.

Doubtless, ignorance of the Bible is the reason some of these non-Baptists stood against John's baptism and Christ's church. (See Matt. 22:29.) However, history records that many non-Baptists of by-gone days remained in the churches of their own or some other man's manufacture because of vested interests! It would have cost them too much to follow Christ completely! They followed the Bible until they saw their prospects were painful and then left off following it in order to follow the path of expediency. What an awful thing to have knowingly rejected the truth of God concerning His church - that church which Christ loved and gave Himself for - regardless of the reason! 

While these "great Reformers" are held in the highest regard by some, it is feared that when they give account of themselves to God, it will be quite a different matter. You and I, reader, will also give account to God for our actions and religious loyalties. Do we think to commend ourselves to God and His will by rejecting His church, His baptism and His truth? May God give grace to all, both writer and reader, to learn of Him and follow His Word in pattern and principle as well as precept.

[2] Bullinger, ibid., pp. 186, 187.

[3] J. D. Douglas, Walter A. Elwell, & Peter Toon, THE CONCISE DICTIONARY OF THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1989), p. 119.

[4] Douglas, Elwell, & Toon, ibid., p. 162.

[5] Douglas, Elwell, & Toon, ibid., p. 213.

[6] Heinrich Bullinger, (Graves, OLD LANDMARKISM, Texarkana, Bogard Press, 1881 ed.), p. 115.

[7] Pierre Allix, D.D., THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT CHURCHES OF PIEDMONT originally published in 1690, (reprinted at Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1821), [reprinted by Church History Research & Archives, Gallatin, TN, 1989], pp. 209-212.

[8] James Murdock, translator of Mosheim, though opposing the view of Rainerius Saccho, a 13th century enemy of the Cathari, nevertheless quotes him as follows regarding the Waldensian Baptists:

"Their sect has been the most injurious of all to the church of God on account of their antiquity; for they, according to some, originated in the times of the Roman bishop Silvester in the fourth century; and according to others, existed as early as the days of the apostles." [Rainerius Saccho, LIEBER ADV. WALDENSES, c. iv [in the Biblioth. Patrum, tom. xxv., p. 262, &c.] quoted by James Murdock, footnote in his translation of John Lawrence von Mosheim, INSTITUTES OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, (Boston, Scriptural Tract Repository, 1892), Vol. II, p. 27.}

Murdock opposed the apostolic origin of the Baptists, but was forced to admit the Waldensians were of ancient origin as follows:

"...it has long been admitted that for centuries there had existed in the valleys of Piedmont various sorts of people, who were not in communion with the Romish church." ibid. p. 27.

Surely no honest and informed person can doubt the apostolic origin of the Baptists and their continued existence under differing local names.

[9] G.W. Bromiley, THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS, (Philadelphia, The Westminster Press), Vol. XXIV, p. 120.

[10] Christian, op cit, p. 86.

[11] Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius, Letters, APUD OPERA, pp. 112, 113. [Baptist

Magazine, CVII, p. 278 (May 1826)], quoted by Christian, op. cit. pp. 85, 86. 

Quoted also by C. B. and Sylvester Hassell, HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD, (Middletown, NY, Gilbert Beebe's Sons, 1886), [reprinted by Old School Hymnal Co, Inc., Conley, GA., 1973], p. 504.

[12] Hosius, ibid.

[13] William C. King, Ed., CROSSING THE CENTURIES, (London, Stationer Hall, 1912), p. 174.

[14] Robert Barclay, THE INNER LIFE OF THE SOCIETIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH, (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1876), pp. 11, 12.

[15] Johann Laurenz von Mosheim, AN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1860), [Reprinted by Old Paths Book Club, Box V, Rosemead, CA., Second ed.], Vol. II. pp.119, 120. 

[16] David Masson, LIFE OF JOHN MILTON, NARRATED IN CONNECTION WITH THE POLITICAL, ECCLESIASTICAL, AND LITERARY HISTORY OF HIS TIME, (London, 1876), Vol. I, p. 146.

[17] Alexander Campbell, A DEBATE ON CHRISTIAN BAPTISM, BETWEEN THE REV. W. L. MACCALLA, A PRESBYTERIAN TEACHER, AND ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, ("Buffaloe," NY., Campbell and Sala, 1824), pp. 378, 379. 

Campbell goes on in the same place to say, "Even the greatest enemy, among ecclesiastic historians, Dr. Mosheim, [see Glossary] is constrained to say, vol iv, p. 424, 'The TRUE ORIGIN of that sect which ACQUIRED the denomination of Anabaptists, by their administering anew the rite of baptism, to those that came over to their communion, and derived the name of Mennonists from the famous man to whom they owe the greatest part of their present felicity, is HID in the REMOTE DEPTHS of antiquity, and is of consequence difficult to be ascertained.'" [Capitals & Italic type belong to Campbell: brackets mine, C.A.P.]

[18] John Clark Ridpath, personal letter to W.A. Jarrell, quoted in W.A. Jarrell's BAPTIST CHURCH PERPETUITY, (Dallas, 1894), [reprinted by the Calvary Baptist Church Book Store, Ashland, KY.], p. 59.

[19] Bow, op cit., pp. 21, 22.

[20] William Whiston, MEMOIRS OF WHISTON (Jarrell, op cit), p. 313. 

Whiston was at first deputy to Isaac Newton in the mathematics professorship at Cambridge, then successor to him. He lived from 1667 to 1752 and was a well-known preacher in the Church of England until he left it because of his "Arian" views to become a General Baptist.

[21] Ypeij en Dermout, GESCHIEDENIS DER NEDERLANDSCHE HERVORMDE KERK, (Breda, 1819), Christian, op. cit. pp. 95, 96. 

A slightly different, but materially identical translation by Thomas W. Tobey, D.D., college professor, editor, and pastor, is quoted by J.R. Graves, op cit, p. 87 

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