Baptist History, Heritage and Distinctives – Anabaptists of Bohemia – Part One

Thomas E Kresal Admin  · 4h  · August 26, 2020

Baptist History, Heritage and Distinctives – Anabaptists of Bohemia – Part One

A forest region embracing a territory of 60,000 square miles, lying in the valley of the Danube, was settled in the days of Roman triumph by a tribe of Celts known as Boii, who fled from Roman oppression to the shelter of this secluded retreat. From the name Boii came the word Bohemia, by which that region is still known. It later formed a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.It seems evident that the gospel was preached in this country in the first century of the Christian era. Paul informs us that he preached the gospel of Christ in Illyricum, and adjoining regions (Romans 15:19), and that Titus visited Dalmatia (II. Tim. 4:10). It is related in Robinson’s Researches, that Jerome, who was a native of Illyricum, and presbyter of the church at Dalmatia, translated the Scriptures in his native tongue, in the year 378, and that the Bohemians and others used this translation for many centuries.Here Peter Waldo sought an asylum in the year 1176, who, with others, “introduced more extensively among the Bohemians, the knowledge of the Christian faith in its purity, according to the word of God.” “Waldo’s labors in Bohemia were crowned with remarkable success. He spent his concluding years in this kingdom, promoting the cause of his Master in every commendable way, until 1179, when he was rewarded with a crown that fadeth not away.” – Orchard’s History, pp. 233, 234. These people, we are informed, baptized and rebaptized those who joined their churches. In the 14th century they are said to have numbered 80,000.Among the able defenders of the principles of the Anabaptists was the gifted John Huss, born in 1373, and burned at the stake in July 1415. Like Wickliffe, though he espoused the doctrine of the Baptists of Bohemia, yet he remained in the Catholic establishment, lamenting its corruptions, while he strove to effect a reformation.Presented by Thomas E. Kresal from: Elder John R. Daily, Primitive Monitor, 1897, pp. 27-30