A. D. 413.—As those Christians greatly increased, who valued only the baptism which is administered upon faith, and, consequently rebaptized (as not having been baptized aright) those who had been baptized by unbelievers or in infancy, when they attained to the true faith, the Emperor Theodosius, A. D. 413, issued an edict, against the Anabaptists, commanding that they should be put to death. Introduction, page 47, col. 2, from Chron. Baron., num. 6.
But lest any one should think that the people who, under the name of Anabaptists, were threatened with death by the Emperor Theodosius, held, with regard to this point, views different from those maintained by the Baptists of the present day, who are likewise called Anabaptists, it is expedient to mention what was said about their views by the inquisitor of Leeuwærden, in opposition to one of our latest martyrs, namely, Jagues d’Auchi. When Jagues wanted the inquisitor, who appealed to the Emperor’s edict, to prove that said edict was just or founded on holy Scripture, the inquisitor made this reply to him: “I believe you think that all our fathers were deceived, and that your sect is saved: what do you say? It is now 1200 or 1300 years since the Emperor Theodosius issued an edict, that the heretics should be put to death, namely, those who were rebaptized like your sect.” See the year 1558, and, in the index, the name Jagues d’Auchi.
When, therefore, the inquisitor says that they “were rebaptized like your sect,” he certainly indicates thereby, that they were people like Jagues d’Auchi was, and, consequently, like the Anabaptists who at that time, namely, A. D. 1558, gave their lives for the truth.
A. D. 415.—Bapt. Hist., page 407, Prosperus, Resp. 2, ad Object. Gallorum, says: “Every one who, believing on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is regenerated in baptism, is freed from his own, voluntary and actual, sins, as well as from original sin.”
Page 413. Prosperus, in his Epigrams, puts the martyrs and the candidates for baptism on an equal footing, when he says:
“Sanctify, baptism will indeed;
But the martyr’s crown doth all complete.”
In the first passage of Prosperus we see that faith, regeneration, baptism, forsaking of voluntary sins, etc., are all joined together, even as this is done in the holy Scriptures of the New Testament. Compare Mark, 16:16; Eph. 5:26,27; Tit. 3:5; 1 Pet. 3:21, with Matt. 3:6; Mark 1:5; Luke 3:3; Acts 2:37,38; Rom. 6:4. Hence it is a scriptural confession; and there we will let it rest.
In the second passage the martyrs and the candidates for baptism are compared to one another; but who does not know that infants cannot be martyrs, seeing they can neither believe nor confess, much less can they voluntarily confirm said confessed faith with death, which, nevertheless, is the own work of all the orthodox and faithful martyrs. Now then, if infants are not qualified for martyrdom, they are not fit for baptism. Therefore judge whether this is not comprised in the words of Prosperus which we have just mentioned.
A. D. 418.—The doctrine of infant baptism having been openly controverted ever since the beginning of this century, its foundation, namely, original sin, being denied and refuted, it occurred, A. D. 418, that those of the Roman church in Africa, through the urgent request of Augustine and his fellow-bishops, obtained the convocation of a council or synod under Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, composed of two hundred and fourteen bishops; which council, in the name of the See of Rome, absolutely anathematized or condemned the views of those who did not admit infant baptism or recognize original sin in infants, as well as of those who, opposing predestination, held that the will of man was free. The 112th Canon contains the following resolution respecting original sin and baptism: “It is likewise thought proper, that every one who denies that infants who are baptized from their birth, are baptized for the remission of sins, and that they derive from the sin of the first father, Adam, that from which they must be cleansed through the washing of regeneration, be anathema, that is, accursed.”