Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives – Patrick was a Baptist – RCC Contemporaries Never Claimed Patrick – PART TWO of EIGHT

Thomas E Kresal Admin · 9 hrs March 15, 2020

Baptist History, Heritage & Distinctives – Patrick was a Baptist – RCC Contemporaries Never Claimed Patrick – PART TWO of EIGHT

Like the great apostle Paul, he received a clear and personal “Macedonian call” from the Lord of harvest to preach the Gospel in the land of his former captivity. Patrick described his call in these words: “Again, I was in Britain with my parents, who received me as their son, and besought me to promise that, after the many afflictions I had endured, I would never leave them again. And then, truly, in the bosom of the night I saw a man as if coming from Ireland, whose name was Victoricus, with numerous letters, one of which he gave me, and I read the beginning of the epistle, containing the Voice of the Irish.

“And while I was reading the beginning of the epistle I thought in my mind that I heard the voice of those who were near the wood Focluti, which is near the western sea. And they shouted thus: ‘We beseech thee, holy youth, to come and live amongst us.’ And I was greatly pained in my heart, and could not read very much more; and thus I was proved. Thank God, that after many years the Lord performed to them according to their entreaty.”

From these words it is evident that his call to go as a missionary to Ireland was not from any Pope or representative of the Roman Church. If our hero has been an agent of Rome, surely Popes Sixtus or Leo, who were his contemporaries, would have informed the Roman constituency of the astounding work being performed by Patrick and his co-laborers.

Dr. J. Lewis Smith, in his scholarly treatise, “Patrick of Ireland Not A Romanist,” says, “We have in hand now 140 letters of Pope Leo the Great and we have not found a line written by him or any other Pope or any other man rejoicing over the wonderful additions to the Roman Church by Patrick and his disciples.” 2

Patrick, like Paul, “had the mighty ordination of the nail-pierced hands.” The Book of Darrow, one of the oldest of Irish manuscripts, says nothing about his being an ecclesiastic of Rome and in his letter to the Christians under Coroticus and in his “Confession” Patrick makes no mention whatsoever of his being consecrated as a diocesan bishop.

Dr. Hamilton, in his book, “The Irish Church,” says this of Patrick’s confession letter: “There is not a faint Roman tinge about it. It is . . . thoroughly evangelical.” And Dr. Todd says: “The confession of St. Patrick contains not a word of a mission from the Pope Celestine.” 3

We are certain that Patrick was a product of the Celtic Church, noted for its purity of Biblical doctrine, and not an “obsequious tool of the Romish system.” Yes, we are positive that Patrick’s call to go to “Ireland as a missionary was from God Himself and not from Pope Celestine.

Presented by Thomas E. Kresal from: A tract titled:

St. Patrick was a Baptist by John Summerfield Wimbish, D.D.

2. Smith, J. Lewis, Patrick of Ireland Not a Romanist, Associated Printing Co., Stockton, Calif., 1924, P. 10.