A number of weeks ago, I posted evidence that the quote by Catholic cardinal Stanislaus Hosius on Baptist succession frequently referenced by Landmark Baptist writers was legitimate, and later I wrote about the Baptist succession quote by the Dutch Reformed writers Annaeus Ypeij and Isaak Johannes Dermout, which is also legitimate. Baptist successionists likewise reference the Methodist historian John Clark Ridpath on the ancient heritage of Baptists.

 

Methodist historian John Clark Ridpath

 

For example, William Dudley Nowlin, in his book Fundamentals of the Faith, wrote:

 

Church historians agree that Baptist principles and practices can be traced back to Christ and his apostles. Prof. John Clark Ridpath (Methodist) of De Pauw University says “I should not readily admit that there was a Baptist church as far back as A.D. 100 though without doubt there were Baptists then, as all Christians were then Baptists” (Baptist Church Perpetuity by Jarrell, page 59).

If, as this Methodist historian says, “all Christians in the year A.D. 100 were Baptists” and if they had any churches then they were Baptist churches, for a church composed of Baptists is a Baptist church. No logically minded man can escape this conclusion. (William Dudley Nowlin, Fundamentals of the Faith [Roger Williams Heritage Archives, 1922], 316)

 

Did this leading Methodist scholar admit that Baptists were around in A. D. 100?  Yes, he did! As I note in my study on famous Baptist historical succession quotes in context:

 

The quotation comes from Willis Anselm Jarrel, Baptist Church Perpetuity (Dallas, TX: Jarrell, 1894), 58-59.  The text records personal correspondence from Professor John Clarke Ridpath of Du Paw University in response to Dr. Jarrel’s written questions:  “When, where and by whom was the first Baptist church originated?”  … There is no objective reason to suspect the reality and accurate reproduction of the correspondence between Dr. Ridpath and Dr. Jarrel.  This quotation on Baptist succession is also accurate.

 

(By the way, Jarrel’s Baptist Church Perpetuity is a good book which is well worth reading.)

 

Thus, this Methodist historian provided further evidence, as did the Roman Catholic and Dutch Reformed historians Hosius, Ypeij, and Dermout, that Baptists did not originate at the time or after the Protestant Reformation, but are the true churches with continuity from the first century until the present time, in accordance with Christ’s promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church (Matthew 16:18). Both Scripture and history affirm Baptist succession.

 

–TDR