Chapter II
Now I COMMAND you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. 2
Thess. 3:6.
1. WE have endeavored to detail, in the previous pages, the
features of the Christian churches generally. While the interests of religion
retained their scriptural character, all were upon equality, and each society
possessed its government within itself; so that no one church originally can
claim our attention more than another. The churches, during this early period,
were strictly Baptist in their practice and constitution.* These early
interests stood perfectly free of Rome, and at after periods refused her
communion. As churches rose into importance, contentions about offices were
frequent, and tumults ensued; but having no secular aid, their rage against
each other spent itself in reproaches, and often subsided into apathy. The
disappointed, the disaffected, the oppressed, the injured, with the pious, had
only to retire from the scene of strife, and they were safe; which evidently
they did: and while the express command, 2 Thess. 3:6, regulated dissidents,
other causes and motives combined to increase…
* See above, ch. 1, s. 3, S 7.
…their number, since by 250 they became very numerous, as already
stated. These dissidents, in small companies, or in more general associations,
unostentatiously worshipped God under their own vine, and were not disturbed,
unless the government adopted measures involving all; but as dissidents
increased, political considerations regulated the governors.
2. The religion of the New Testament commenced with Dissent. John, Jesus, and his disciples were charged
with innovations, both at Jerusalem and in other cities, John 1:22; Luke 23:2,
5; Acts 11:28; 17:7; and 18:13. Their want of conformity was a crime in the
eyes of the unthinking or secularizing multitude. The genuine spirit of
religion has been and will be preserved by those only, who dissent from all establishments
devised by human policy.* Liberty of soul is the breath, the element, the
existence of that religion inculcated in the New Testament, of which liberty
the Baptists have ever been the most open advocates. † "Ye have one
master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." The voice of Moses and the
prophets, with Jesus and his apostles, urge on all who fear God, singleness of
motive, blamelessness of character; and in their social stations, purity of
communion. In obedience to these heavenly injunctions, men and women have
"come out" of impure communities, and with such persons, actuated by
divine motives, we now hope to associate.
249 3. When Decius came to the throne
in 249, he required by edicts all persons in the empire to…
* Church records prove purity to have existed only out of establishments.
† Robins. Resear. pp. 641 and 551, from Voltaire.
…conform to Pagan worship. Forty years' toleration had greatly
increased professors, and they were found in every department of the government.
They had been so long unaccustomed to trials, that the lives of many were
unsuited to suffering. Decius's edicts rent asunder the churches, multitudes
apostatized, and many were martyred. In two years the trial abated, when many
apostates applied for restoration to Christian fellowship, and sanctioned their
application by letters, written by some eminent Christians 251 who had been martyrs during the
persecution.*
The flagrancy of some apostates occasioned an opposition to their
readmission. In the time of peace, many had entered the church without
calculating on trials, and when persecution arose such persons revolted easily
to idolatry, and on trials subsiding, gained but too easy admittance again to
communion. One NOVATIAN, a presbyter in the church of Rome, strongly opposed
the readmission of apostates, but he was not successful. The choice of a pastor
in the same church fell upon Cornelius, whose election Novatian opposed, from
his readiness to readmit apostates. Novatian consequently separated himself
from the church, and from Cornelius's jurisdiction. †
4. Novatian, with every considerate person, was disgusted with the
hasty admission of such apostates to communion, and with the conduct of many
pastors, who were more concerned about numbers than purity of communion.
Novatian was the first to begin a separate interest with success, and which was
known for centuries by his name. One Novatus, of Carthage, coming to Rome,
united himself…
* From this circumstance arose prayer to saints.
† Dupin's Hist., c. 3, p. 125, &c.
…with Novatian, and their combined efforts were at- tended with
remarkable success. It is evident that many persons were previously in such a situation
as to embrace the earliest opportunity of uniting with churches whose communion
was scriptural. Novatian became the first pastor in the new interest, and is
accused of the crime of giving birth to an innumerable multitude of
congregations of puritans in every part of the Roman empire; and yet all the
influence he exercised was, an upright example, and moral suasion: these
churches flourished until the fifth century.*
5. There was no difference in point of doctrine between the Novatianists
and other Christians. Novatian had seen evils result from readmitting
apostates; he consequently refused communion to all those who had fallen after
baptism. The terms of admission in those churches were, "It you wish to
join any of our churches, you may be admitted among us by baptism; but observe,
that if you fall away into idolatry or vice, we shall separate you from our
communion, and on no account can you be readmitted among us. We shall never
attempt to injure you, in your person, property, or character; we do not
presume to judge the sincerity of your repentance, or your future state; but
you can never be readmitted to the fellowship of our churches, without our
giving up the securest guardian we have for the purity of our communion."
† "They considered," says Mosheim, "the Christian Church, as a
society where virtue and innocence reigned universally, and none of whose
members, from their entrance into it, had defiled…
* Euseb. b. 6,
c. 42. Dupin's Hist., c. 3, pp. 125 and 146. Mosh., c. 3,. S 17,
18.
† Robins. Res.,
p. 127. Jones's Lect., 1, 306.
…themselves with any enormous crimes; and, of consequence, they
looked upon every society, which readmitted heinous offenders to its communion,
as unworthy of the title of a true Christian church. On account of the church's
severity of discipline, the example was followed by many, and churches of this
order flourished in the greatest part of those provinces which had received the
gospel.* Many advenient rites had been appointed, and interwoven with baptism,
with a threefold administration of the ordinance, in the old interests, which
obscured the original simplicity and design of the institutor. To remove all
human appendages, the Novatianists said to candidates, "If you be a
virtuous believer, and will accede to our confederacy against sin, you may be
admitted among us by baptism, or if any catholic has baptized you before, by
rebaptism." They were at later periods called anabaptists.† The churches
thus formed upon a plan of strict communion and rigid discipline, obtained the
reproach of PURITANS; they were the oldest body of Christian churches, of which
we have any account, and a succession of them, we shall prove, has continued to
the present day. Novatian's example had a powerful influence, and puritan
churches rose in different parts, in quick succession. So early as 254, these
Dissenters are complained of, as having infected France with their doctrines,‡
which will aid us in the Albigensian churches, where the same severity of
discipline is traced, S and reprobated. ||
* Hist. c. 3, S 17.
† Rob. Res., p.
127. Baronius' Ann., v. iii. 231. Chamb. Ency. Collier's Diet. Ency. Brit. Art.
Anabap. Formey’s Ecc. Hist., v. i. p. 64, and Mosh. ubi sup.
‡ Mezeray's Hist.,
p. 4. Miln. Ch. Hist, c. 3, c. 13.
S
Allix's Pied., c. 17, 156.
|| Modi. Hist.,
cent. 13, p. 2. c. 5, S
7, note.
6. Learned men and historians have investigated the pretensions of
these churches to puritanical character, and have conferred on them the palm of
honor. Dupin says, "Novatian's style is pure, clean and polite; his
expressions choice, his thoughts natural, and his way of reasoning just; he is
full of citations of texts of Scripture, that are always to the purpose; and
besides, there is a great deal of order and method in those treatises of his we
now have, and he never speaks but with a world of moderation and candor."* "Their manners," says Dr.
A. Clarke, "were, in general, simple and holy; indeed, their rigid
discipline is no mean proof of this." We well know that those called
Pietists in Germany, and Puritans in England, were in general, in their
respective times, among the most religious and holy people in both nations. †
7. These churches existed for sixty years under a pagan
government, during which time, the old corrupt interests at Rome, Carthage, and
other places, possessed no means, but those of persuasion and reproach, to stay
the progress of Dissent. During this period, the Novatian churches were very
prosperous, and were planted all over the Roman empire. † "They were very
numerous," says Lardner, "in Phrygia," and a number of eminent
men were raised up in the work of the ministry. It is impossible to calculate
the benefit of their services to mankind. Their influence must have
considerably checked the spirit of innovation and secularity in the old
churches. Although rigid in discipline and schismatic in character, yet they…
* Dupin, c. 3,
pp. 125, and 146.
† Sue. of Sac.
Lit. Mosh. i. 2 22. Gill's cause of God, &c., v. iv. pp. 57 and 131. Miln.
Ch. Hist., c. 3, ch. 3 and 11. Neal's Hist. of the Puritans, v. i. pref.
vii.
† Jones's Lect,
v. i. pp. 305 and 436.
…were found extensive, and in a flourishing condition, when 306 Constantine came to the throne,
306. Their soundness Aug. 6 in doctrine, evident unity among themselves,
with their numbers, suggested to Constantine the propriety of uniting them with
the catholic church, but this union they refused. These churches with other dissidents, realized religious liberty
in 313, from Constantine.*
In 331 he changed his policy towards these people, and they were
involved, with other denominations, in distress and sufferings. Their books
were sought for, they were forbidden assembling together, and many lost their
places of worship. † The orthodoxy of the Novatian party, with…
* Constantine's father lived in Britain at the time of his birth, 271. He was not baptized during infancy, though his father was favorable to Christianity, if not a professor of it. When he came to the throne, he professed to receive the gospel, and many officers and servants did the same. He gave Bishop Sylvester his mansion, for a baptistery, and conferred freedom on those slaves who would receive baptism. He offered a reward to others, on their embracing Christianity, so that 12,000 men, besides women and minors, were baptized in one year. In 319 he relieved the clergy of taxes, and in 320, issued an edict against the Donatists. He abolished heathen superstition, and erected splendid churches, richly adorned with paintings and images, bearing a striking resemblance to heathen temples. Places were erected for baptizing, some over running water, while others were supplied by pipes. In the middle of the building was the bath, which was very large. (Dr. Cave.) Distinct apartments were provided for men and women, as are found in Baptist meeting houses at this day. See Bing. Antiq. Robins. Hist. Bap. and Res. Gibbon's ch. 20. Campbell's Lect. No. 3, p. 35. Fosbroke's Ency. of Antiq., v. i. p. 103. Pilkington's Sac. Elucidations, v. 2, part 4.
† Constantine's
conduct in the church, has proved a kind of Pandora's box to the interest of
religion, and the hope of deliverance has tried the faith of the godly to this
day. The evils of splendid churches and pensioned bishops were soon seen in
their persecuting ascendency, and in the ministers of religion, exhorting their
congregations to crown their talents with clapping their
hand, and loud applause.-See Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History, v. 4,
part 2, c. 70, p. 169.
…the influence of some of their ministers, is supposed to have
procured some mitigation of the law. Constantine's oppressive measures prompted
many to leave the scene of sufferings, and retire into more sequestered spots.
Claudius Seyssel, the popish archbishop, TRACES the rise of the Waldensian
heresy to a pastor named Leo, leaving Rome at this period, for the Valleys.*
352 The succeeding emperor,
Constantius, embraced the Arian faith, and severely oppressed the orthodox. In
the territory of Mantinium, a large district of Paphlagonia, the Novatianists
were extremely numerous. Being involved in the massacre sanctioned by
Constantius, a body of four thousand troops was sent to exterminate them, with
other Trinitarians. The Novatian peasants, however, arming themselves with
scythes and axes, fought the invaders of their homes in so desperate a manner,
that they even vanquished and destroyed the disciplined soldiery. † They lost
several of their places of worship, but Julian on ascending the throne,
required the Arians to rebuild and restore them. In 375, the emperor Valens 375 embraced the Arian creed. He
closed the Novatian churches, banished their ministers,‡ and probably would
have carried his measures to extreme severity, had not his prejudices and zeal
been moderated by a pious man, named Marcion. During this severe trial, the
benevolent…
* Facts opp. to
Fict. p. 37.
† Mosh. Hist.
Cent. 4, S 14. J. R. Peyrin's Def. of the Vaudois, p. 362. It is said Liberius,
Bishop of Rome, in 360, baptized 8,800 persons on one Saturday, and that a boy
was drowned on the occasion,
‡This
Valens, who required baptism for his dying son, sent 80 ministers into
banishment, but before the vessel had gotten far from land, it fired, and all
of them perished.
…feelings of the Novationists became so apparent, as 380 to extort admiration from their
enemies. About this period, 380, Pacianus, Bishop of Barcelona, wrote some
treatises against these people. He observes to Sempronianus, one of the
Novatian ministers, "You have forsaken the tradition of the church, under
pretence of reformation: likewise you say, that the church is a body of men
regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit, who have not denied the name of
Christ, which is the temple and house of God, the Pillar and Ground of truth:
we 383 say the same also."* In 383, Theodosius assembled a synod,
with a view to establish unity among churches. On the Novatianists stating
their views of discipline; the emperor, says Socrates, † "wondered at
their consent and harmony touching the faith." He passed a law, securing
to them liberty, civil and religious, all their property, with all churches of
the same faith and practice. While these pure churches were in peace and
concord, it is stated that discord prevailed in the national churches.
390 8. At the conclusion of this
fourth century, the Novatianists had three, if not four churches, in
Constantinople; they had also churches at Nice, Nicomedia, and Cotiveus, in
Phrygia, all of them large and extensive bodies, besides which, they were very
numerous in the Western empire. There were several churches of this 410 people in the city of Alexandria,
in the beginning 412
of the fifth century. In 412, Cyril was ordained bishop of the catholic
church in this city. One of his first acts, was to shut up the churches of the
Novatianists, ‡ to…
* Dupin, cent.
4. pp. 81-3.
† Lib. 5, cap.
10.
‡Persecution
in the first ages was confined to the edict of the Emperors; but in Cyril and
Innocent's conduct, we see the spirit and rising power of the man of sin.
…strip them of all their sacred vessels and ornaments. One
minister, Cyril deprived of everything he possessed. They experienced very
similar treatment at Rome, from Innocent, who was one of the first bishops to
persecute the Dissenters, and rob them of their churches. This proceeding is
easily accounted for. The clergy of the establishments were an idle and
ignorant class of men, and unacquainted with the Scriptures. Innocent wrote
many letters to various bishops, containing the rules of discipline in his
church, plainly with the intention of establishing uniformity.* This uniformity
could not be imposed on the Novatianists, nor would they receive his views on
children's baptism and communion; they, consequently, became the object of his
aversion. Another means of awakening the catholic prelates' anger, was
rebaptizing. When this was first introduced, purity of communion, with a strict
adherence to Zion's laws, was no doubt intended; but when the Arians arose,
different creeds were formed, and the candidates' acquaintance with the creed
was, in each church, the sine qua non for baptism. The catholic party, now
accumulating power, saw, in other churches' rebaptizing, a virtual renunciation
of the baptism they had conferred upon those who went over to the other party;
as understood by the pasdobaptists of the present day: consequently a spirit of persecution was
raised against all those who rebaptized catholics. In the fourth Lateran
council, canons were made to banish them as heretics, and 413 these canons were supported by an
edict in 413, issued by the emperors, Theodosius and Honorius, declaring that
all persons rebaptized, and the rebaptizers, should be both punished with
death. Accordingly,…
* Dupin, c. 5.
pp. 195-8.
Albanus, a zealous minister, with others, was punished with death,
for rebaptizing.* The edict was probably obtained by the influence of
Augustine, who could endure no rival, nor would he bear with any who questioned
the virtue of his rites, or the sanctity of his brethren, or the soundness of
the Catholic creed; and these points being disputed by the Novatianists and
Donatists, two powerful and extensive bodies of dissidents in Italy and Africa,
they were consequently made to feel the weight of his influence. These combined
modes of oppression led the faithful to abandon the cities, and seek retreats
in the country, which they did, particularly in the valleys of Piedmont, the
inhabitants of which began to be called Waldenses.†
415 9. The Novatianists had hitherto
flourished mightily in Rome, having a great many places of worship, and large
congregations; but the rising power of the Catholic interest, its union with
the sword, the…
* Bap. Mag. vol. i. p. 256. Circumstances become here apparent, and unite their evidence to prove WHEN infant baptism was publicly espoused. We have already noticed the writers who declared against the innovation. In 412, the Baptists were banished as heretics. In 413, Innocent sent letters of advice to various ministers. In the same year, the Baptists, for rebaptizing, were sentenced to death. In 416, a council at Mela, accursed all those who denied forgiveness to accompany infant baptism, and in 418, a council at Carthage enforced the same curse. Augustine, Cyril, Innocent and others, concurred in its expediency, Rob. Res. 151. They borrowed the sword of the magistrate, to enforce what their arguments and views could not do. Wall, i. p. 111. The sword, and the infant rite have always been companions, Rob. Bap. 438 and 450; and the early advocates accursed the parents who withheld the blessing from the child. Its support by the sword has called the Baptists to extreme sufferings, but they are additionally convinced of its origin from its companion and defence, and know that every rite defended by the sword shall perish by the sword.
† Bap. Mag. ib.
…ambitious character of its officers, with the tyrannical spirit
of its bishops, prompted them to crush every opposing interest. They,
consequently, robbed the Novatianists of all their churches, and drove them into
obscurity. About this time, some epistles appeared against them, 425 written by different individuals,
which had a baneful influence at this period on the interests of this people.
One individual, whose hostility was felt by the 432 Novatianists, was Celestines, one
of Innocent's successors, A.D., 432. He took possession of all their churches
in the city of Rome, and compelled them to worship in private houses, in the
most obscure places. 455 A council was convened at Aries,
and at Lyons, in 455, in which the views of the Novatianists on predestination
were controverted, and by which name they were stigmatized.*
These holy people now retired from public notice; yet it is pretty
manifest that, while some of them sought asylums in other kingdoms, many of
these despised people continued in Italy, and a succession of them will be
found under another name.†
476 In 476, on the 23rd of
August, a period was put to all persecution in Italy, by the subjection of that
kingdom to the Goths, whose laws breathed the purest spirit of equal and
universal liberty. The state of religion out of the Catholic church is not made
apparent This civil and religious liberty continued for about three centuries,
during which time the dissidents, no doubt, greatly increased.‡ The accounts
given of the Novatianists,…
* Mezeray, p. 19, Clovis.
† Mosh. Hist.
cent. 12, p. 2, c. 5, S
4, note; and cent. 11, p. 2, c. 5, S
2, note; and cent. 11, p. 2, c. 2, S
13, note.
‡ Rob.
Res. ch. 8, pp. 151,157.
…by Eusebius and Socrates in their histories, are decided proofs
of their extensive influence. That they 575 subsisted towards the end of the
sixth century, is evident from the book of Eulogius, bishop of Alexander. Dr.
Lardner remarks, "The vast extent of this sect is manifest from the names
of the authors who have mentioned or written against them, and from the several
parts of the Roman empire in which they were found. It is evident, too, that
these churches had among them some individuals of note and eminence."
10. The rise of these puritans at so critical a period, their soundness in the faith, their regard to character and purity of communion, their vast extent, and long success, must have had a powerful influence in all the vicinity of their churches, in checking the ambition and secularity of the established clergy, and in shedding a moral auspice on benighted provinces. These sealed witnesses, Rev. vii. 3, were the Erst protestant dissenters from assuming hierarchies; and it is most gratifying to be able to prove ourselves the successors of a class of men who first set the example of contending for the purity and simplicity of Christian worship, and a firm adherence to the laws of the King of Zion.*
* Robins. EC. Res. ch. 8. Jones' Lect., 25. See a detailed account of the Novatianists in Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History, vol. iii. Part 2, c. 47, p. 206-seq.