Church History, Volume 3 (of 3)Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
History
Church History, Volume 3 (of 3)
Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Church history
1. =The Dutch Baptists= (§ 147, 2). Even during Menno’s
lifetime the Mennonites had split into the _Coarse_ and
the _Fine_. The _Coarse_, who had abandoned much of the
primitive severity of the sect, and were by far the most
numerous, were again divided during the Arminian controversy
into Remonstrants and Predestinationists. The former, from
their leader, were called Galenists, and from having a lamb
as the symbol of their Church, Lambists. The latter were
called Apostoolers from their leader, and Sunists because
their churches had the figure of the sun as a symbol. The
Lambists, who acknowledged no confession of faith, were most
numerous. In A.D. 1800, however, a union of the two parties
was effected, the Sunists adopting the doctrinal position
of the Lambists.--During the time when Arminian pastors
were banished from the Netherlands, three brothers Van der
Kodde founded a sect of =Collegiants=, which repudiated
the clerical office, assigned preaching and dispensation of
sacraments to laymen, and baptized only adults by immersion.
Their place of baptism was Rhynsburg on the Rhine, and hence
they were called Rhynsburgers. Their other name was given
them from their assemblies, which they styled _collegia_.
2. =The Moravian Baptists= (§ 147, 3). The Thirty Years’ War
ruined the flourishing Baptist congregations in Moravia,
and the reaction against all non-Catholics that followed
the battle of the White Mountain near Prague, in A.D. 1620,
told sorely against them. In A.D. 1622 a decree for their
banishment was issued, and these quiet, inoffensive men
were again homeless fugitives. Remnants of them fled into
Hungary and Transylvania, only to meet new persecutions
there. A letter of protection from Leopold I., A.D. 1659,
secured them the right of settling in three counties around
Pressburg. But soon these rigorous persecutions broke out
afresh; they were beset by Jesuits seeking to convert them,
and when this failed they were driven out or annihilated.
At last, by A.D. 1757-1762, they were completely broken up,
and most of them had joined the Roman Catholic church. A few
families preserved their faith by flight into South Russia,
where they settled in Wirschenka. When the Toleration Edict
of Joseph II., of A.D. 1781, secured religious freedom to
Protestants in Austria, several returned again to the faith
of their fathers, in the hope that the toleration would be
extended to them; but they were bitterly disappointed. They
now betook themselves to Russia, and together with their
brethren already there, settled in the Crimea, where they
still constitute the colony of Hutersthal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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