A number of weeks ago we examined the famous Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius quote on Baptist or Anabaptist succession, one often employed by Landmark Baptist writers and in the famous pamphlet The Trail of Blood. We saw that it was legitimate–this great Catholic scholar recognized the existence of Baptist succession.  Landmark Baptists also often quote the Dutch Reformed historians Ypeij & Dermout on Baptist succession.

Reformed historian Annaeus Ypeij

For example, J. R. Graves, in his book The Trilemma; Or, Death By Three Horns (J. R. Graves and Son, 1890), 135–136, states the following as proof of Baptist succession:

In the year 1819, Dr. Ypeij, Professor of the University of Gunningen, and Dr. J. J. Dermout, chaplain to the King of Holland, distinguished Pedobaptist scholars, published a history, in four volumes, entitled, “History of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands” — of which Church they were members — in which work they devote a chapter to the history of the Dutch Baptists. I have space for only the frank statement of the conclusion to which their impartial investigation led them:

“We have now seen that the Baptists, who were formerly called Anabaptists, and in later times Mennonites, were the original Waldenses, and who have long, in the history of the Church, received the honor of that origin. On this account the Baptists may be considered the only Christian community which has stood since the apostles, and as a Christian society which has preserved pure the doctrine of the Gospel through all ages. The perfectly correct external economy of the Baptist denomination, tends to confirm the truth disputed by the Romish Church, that the Reformation brought about in the sixteenth century was in the highest degree necessary; and at the same time goes to refute the erroneous notions of the Catholics, that their communion is the most ancient.”

Is the quote by Annaeus Ypeij and Isaak Johannes Dermout accurate? Yes it is! The quote comes from Annaeus Ypeij & Izaak Johannes Dermout, Geschiedenis der Netherlandsche Hervomke Kerk (Breda: 1819-1827), 4 vol, I:148.  An English translation appears in John Newton Brown, ed., Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (Boston: Shattuck & Co.,1835), 796, Article “Mennonites.”  The encyclopedia continues:

“This testimony, from the highest official authority in the Dutch Reformed church, is certainly a rare instance of liberality towards another denomination.  It is conceding all . . . the Baptists claim.”

Baptist successionists took care to check the Dutch and confirm the quote’s accuracy. For more on this quotation on Baptist history, please see my article “Famous Baptist Succession / History Quotes in Context.”

Thus, both Roman Catholics and Reformed Protestants admit that Baptists are not Protestants, but have solid historical reasons to view themselves as the churches started by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, something that is proven by their Biblical doctrine and practice.

–TDR