Baptist History, Heritage and Distinctives – Crucified, Burnt and Ashes thrown in the River ARNOLD OF BRESCIA

THOMAS E KRESAL ADMIN · 6H AUGUST 19, 2020

Baptist History, Heritage and Distinctives – Crucified, Burnt and Ashes thrown in the River ARNOLD OF BRESCIA

Contemporary with Peter de Bruys and Henry of Toulouse was the Italian, Arnold of Brescia, Italy. In early life he traveled from Italy into France, and there became a pupil of the celebrated Abelard. Here he imbibed the spirit of soul-freedom, and received into his heart the light of the gospel.Returning to his native city he began preaching the gospel with great power. The people were melted and roused beneath his fiery appeals. The Catholic clergy became alarmed at his success, and condemned him to perpetual silence in the year 1139. He at once fled to the wilderness, and in the valley of the Alps found shelter among people of like views.He finally planted himself in the midst of his foes and entered Rome itself. His appeals for freedom and liberty of conscience were for a time successful. Rome seemed to waken from the slumber and slavery of ages. The united power of the clergy was again brought against the preacher. He was charged with advocating that the kingdom of Christ was not of this world, that the church was a distinct and spiritual assembly of baptized believers. For advocating just what Baptists now teach, he was arrested, condemned, crucified, and then burned, and his ashes thrown into the Tiber.These three heroes of truth (NOTE: The three brethren featured this week) – Henry, Peter de Bruys, and Arnold of Brescia – were flame pillars in the night-gloom, and stand as way-marks in the wilderness by which we are able to trace the true church of Christ through the darkest period of the past. Their followers were known by their enemies as Henricians, Petrobrussians, and Arnoldists. They were numbered by thousands, and were what would now be termed Baptists. We shall trace these humble, zealous followers of Christ, on through succeeding centuries, in demonstration of the Master’s declaration, that the gates of hell should not prevail against his church.There have been a succession of churches in regular order from the apostles, if Jesus spoke the truth. This cannot be reasonably denied. This being true, the Old Baptist church is the true church, or the Roman Catholic church is. To evade the force of this unanswerable argument, representatives of other churches assert that there is nothing in the question of church succession. There is no other way to escape the conclusion, the churches of recent origin can establish no claim to be churches of Jesus Christ.Presented by Thomas E. Kresal from: Elder John R. Daily, Primitive Monitor, 1897, pp. 422-425.