(Heb 11:38) "Of whom the world was not worthy..."

Lesson Five - Wales and England.

I. The Welsh Baptists.

A. Found in the mountainous parts of Wales at the time of the Reformation.

1. They claimed descent from the Apostles.

> This claim cannot be successfully disputed.

2. Situated between England and the mountainous parts of Wales, the vale of Carleon, was, for centuries, the location of the Welsh Baptists.

3. Perry, Wroth, and Ebury adopted the sentiments held by the Baptists of Wales.

> Ford quotes the following from Thomas' History of Welsh Baptists:

"It is no wonder that Perry, Wroth, and Ebury, commonly called the first Baptist reformers in Wales, should have so many followers at once, when we consider that the field of their labors was the vale of Carleon and its vicinity.

As they were learned men belonging to that religion established by law, and particularly as they left that establishment and joined the poor Baptists, their names are handed down to posterity, not only by their friends, but also by their foes, because more notice was taken of them than of those scattered Baptists on the mountains of Wales.

If this denomination had existed in the country SINCE THE YEAR 63, and so severely persecuted, it must be, by this time, an old thing."

 

4. How many hundred years it had been inhabited by Baptists before William Ebury, it is impossible to tell.

> It is a fact that cannot be controverted that there were Baptists ALREADY here at the time of the reformation.

B. In the year 1636, the four books of Moses were translated into the Welsh language by William Tyndale.

1. Tyndale also translated the entire Bible into the English language.

> There are very conclusive evidences that Tyndale was a Welsh Baptist, living most of his time in Gloucester, England.

2. It is known that his parents Llewellyn Tyndale and Hezekiah Tyndale were members of the Baptist church in Abergavenny, South Wales.

> While Baptists were found on the continent of Europe during the long years of Popish rule and persecution, God had true followers on the Island of Great Britain from time immemorial.

3. The previous is a VERY BOLD historical statement.

> It means that Historians can trace Baptist back to at least 63 A.D., and who knows how far before that.

> This claim assumes that English Christianity was a result of the very followers of Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

 

C. Henry VIII severed the bands that attached him to Rome, and established the church of England.

1. He threw off the ties with Roman Catholicism.

> This encouraged the Baptists of that country to come forth from their hiding places.

> They had hoped that now that England was not under the Pope's edicts, that they could worship freely.

2. They came out of hiding, but did not find peace, only further persecutions.

> In 1535 ten so called Ana-Baptists were put to death, as recorded in the Registers of London.

3. Lutheran historian, Mosheim, wrote this frank observation of the Ana-Baptists of Wales and England.

 

"The true origin of that sect which acquired the denomination of Anabaptists, by their administering anew the rite of baptism to those who came over to their communion, and derived that of Mennonites, from that famous man to whom they owe much of their present felicity, is hidden in the depths of antiquity, and is of consequence difficult to be ascertained.

They not only considered themselves descendants of the Waldenses, who were so grievously oppressed and persecuted by the despotic heads of the Romish church, but pretend, moreover, to be the purest offspring of those respectable sufferers being opposed to all principles of rebellion on the one hand, and all suggestions of fanaticism on the other.

It may be observed that they are NOT entirely in error when they boast of their descent from the Waldenses, Petrobrussians, and other ancient sects, who are usually considered as witnesses of the truth in times of general darkness and superstition.

Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay concealed in almost all the countries of Europe, particularly in Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland, and Germany, many persons who adhered tenaciously to the doctrine, etc., which is the true source of all the peculiarities that are to be found in the religious doctrine and discipline of the Anabaptists."

Mosheim's History of the Anabaptists, pp. 490-491.

 

 

4. Such admissions, made by an acknowledged scholar who was not a Baptist, carries with it great weight as testimony.

> It is as plain as history can make it, that the Baptist church has descended from the Apostles.

> There remains not a shadow of doubt.

 

 

II. The Scrooby Congregation.

A. Among the Church of England was a group who refused to follow the false doctrine, brought from the Roman Catholic church.

1. They were called "Separatists."

> These began to be persecuted for their refusal to join the church of England, who they said was no more than a whitewashed Roman Catholic church.

2. As persecution grew, part of the Separatists left with John Smythe to Amsterdam, Holland; where they joined with the Mennonites.

> The Mennonites had a profound effect on John Smythe, who upon understanding the truth of their doctrine, Baptized himself, and then his entire congregation.

> This Pastor influenced his entire congregation to convert to becoming Baptists.

3. The other part of the fleeing Separatists, went to Leyden, Holland.

> This group was known as the Scrooby Congregation.

> They were known for their stand on holiness and purity, and were often called "the Puritans" but they were not!

> The Separatists thought the Church of England was an apostate child of the Roman church...

> The Puritans wanted to reform the Church of England from within.

B. In 1620, over 100 members of the Scrooby Congregation determined to sail to the New World.

1. They wanted a place where they could worship God in peace.

> They had already fled England for Holland to avoid persecution.

2. The king of England was granting them immunity from prosecution if they would colonize New England.

> This he did, not out of respect for their religion, but because he wanted the New World to be colonized.

3. At last there was a place within England's jurisdiction, where one could be a Separatist, and still be free from persecution.

> Here the descendent children of the Ana-Baptists hoped to find a place of rest.

C. During this time a young man by the name of Roger Williams was serving as chaplain amongst a group of Secret Separatists.

1. They wanted to remain citizens of England, but be free to worship as they were led by God.

> They did not want to flee England, but they could not openly worship upon her shores.

> Hence their excitement, when word came of the colonization of the new world.

2. So was the excitement of Roger Williams when he was called to the church at Boston.

> He called it a "Call of God to the New World."

> The Boston church was impressed with Roger William's resume, and his experience among the Separatists.

> And, William's became impassion about the possibility of freedom and separation away from the pressure of "England's Black Hats".

3. Roger William's referred to the leader's of the church of England, when he spoke of "England's Black Hats," since they were known by the tall black hats of the Pilgrims.

> Secular history mixes the stories of the Separatists and the Puritans, so most do not know where one ends and the other begins...

> But, Baptist Historians are careful not to mix the two, to show a pure line of our ancestral heritage.

 

III. The Boston Church.

A. The Boston church was impressed with Roger Williams, until he arrived.

1. He arrived to find that the guys in the "Black Hats" from Old England, were ruling New England as well.

> He began a fiery series of messages and pamphlets attacking the New England church for doing exactly the things they fled Old England about.

2. He said it was a shame that the Puritans demanded toleration in Old England, but were not granting toleration in New England.

> It is important to understand who the Puritans were persecuting!

> They were persecuting the Separatists descendents of the Ana-Baptists.

B. The Boston civil court was a church court.

1. This was the same thing they despise in Mother England.

> It was totally against their conscience that one could be forced to serve God as a rule of law.

> They claimed such laws caused the church to be filled with false professions and unconverted members.

2. While in England these Boston leaders were allies of Roger Williams as he debated the church of England.

> They too fled from the church's demand that all be members of the church by baptism as an infant.

> But, now in Boston, they wish to impose penalties and fines on those who did not become Puritans.

 

3. Roger had traveled to America to take the position in the Boston Pulpit.

> However, once it was seen how the Boston church would continue the practices of the Church of England, he immediately declined the position.

> Roger Williams wrote: "I conscientiously refused and withdrew, because I durst not officiate to an unseparated people."

> The Boston leaders were furious with him, and made plans to have him banished back to England.

C. About this time King Charles I, gave orders to revoke all the charters which had been made with the New England Colonies.

1. Leaders were displaced, and Laws were rewritten...

> For the first time in America a law was written that imposed tithes on the people fr support of the clergy.

> These laws were enacted along with fines, imprisonment, or death for those who refused to comply.

2. In 1635, the Boston court passed an ordinance requiring all men 16 and older to take the "Oath of a Freeman."

> On the surface the oath seemed like a break from Old English dominion...

> However, the oath made one swear to abide by the laws of NEW England in both civil and religious matters.

3. In order ro abide by this law, one had to be a member of the Congregational church.

> And, how did one become a member of the Congregational church?

> By infant Baptism.

4. Roger Williams preached against taking the oath.

> On April 30, 1635, he was called before the Boston court, but he "Refused to retract what he had preached!"

D. "The First Table of The Law..."

1. "The First Table of the Law" was an edict brought by the Boston court that the court had a duty to enforce the first part of the Ten Commandments.

> Roger Williams contended that while the court could enforce the last six of the Commandments:

> Which are man's duties to his fellow man; Thou shalt Not kill, not steal, etc.

> The first FOUR of the Commandments are man's duties toward God: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, etc.

2. Roger Williams preached that the last six were enforceable by man, but the first four were only enforceable by God.

> He said, you could not force a man by law to Love God!

> He did not believe any citizen should be punished by law enforcement for not serving God; I.E. missing service at the Congregational church and Re-Baptizing (carried death penalty)

4. This was not new to the Ana-Baptists.

> The Donatists of the 4th century argued with Augustine over the practice of the magistrates enforcing religious law.

> John Calvin used this law to have "heretics" burned.

> Zwingli used this law to drown Ana-Baptists of Switzerland.

> The REFORMERS of England claimed this law to burn Joan Boucher, and the Welsh Baptist Edward Wightman.

> Several hundred thousand more Baptists in Europe were executed in this fashion, under this rule of law.

> The Great Mother Catholic church INTRODUCED this law, and her daughters of the reformation continued its practice.

5. Roger Williams, from his Pulpit in Salem, went on record to oppose this violation of conscience.

> The Boston court was aware that their jurisdiction extended to the town of Salem, and included the beautiful beach at Marbleneck.

> The court commanded them to "Surrender their preacher, or surrender their beach!"

> They elected to keep their beach, and lose their preacher.

> To this day, there is something strange and creepy about the city of Salem.

> Here was the site of the now infamous witch trials; Which actually were persecutions of Christians as "heretics."

> It is evident, even today, that God's spirit has withdrawn Himself from that place!

Thank God for men like Roger Williams who stayed the course, endured persecutions and afflictions...

Of Whom the World Was Not Worthy!