Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives – The Waldenses Opposed Infant Baptism – Baptist Peculiarity Three Continued – Part 6

Thomas E Kresal

Admin · 2 hrsFebruary 21, 2020

Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives – The Waldenses Opposed Infant Baptism – Baptist Peculiarity Three Continued – Part 6

On this point Mr. Robinson says: “As the Catholics of those times baptized by immersion, the Paterines, by what name soever they were called—as Manicheans, Gazari, Josephists, Arnoldists, Passagines, Bulgarians, or Bongres—made no complaint of the mode of baptizing; but, when they were examined, they objected vehemently against the baptism of infants, and condemned it as an error. They said, among other things, that a child knew nothing of the matter —that he had no desire to be Baptized, and was incapable of making any confession of faith, and that the willing and professing of another could be of no service to him.” (Robinson Eccles. Resources, p. 408)This quotation shows that the ancient Waldenses, also called Paterines, positively opposed infant baptism; they held the Baptists’ order of faith before baptism. It is a historic fact, that the ancient Waldenses, from the time of the flight of the woman into the wilderness, to the close of the twelve hundred and sixty years, bore testimony to the Bible order of faith prior to baptism.And as no one has ever dared to charge them with the gross absurdity of placing the Lord’s Supper before baptism, we may justly conclude that the Waldenses preserved the Bible order of the commandments—Repentance, Faith, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Thus we find that the Waldenses possessed the third Baptist peculiarity, and, therefore, they were Baptists in this respect.Peculiarity Four tomorrowPresented by Thomas E. Kresal from: “Baptist Succession” by D.B. Ray, 1871 Edition, pg. 355