Newman took this middle path and articulated it in numerous publications, notably in his A History of Anti-Pedobaptism: From the Rise of
Pedobaptism to A.D.
When a newly drafted church ordinance submitted for review to Lutheran theologians in Marburg was rejected, it forced Rothmann, who was at least publically still ambivalent on the question of
pedobaptism, to choose sides, and he had "no choice but to move to where his followers were" (110), namely to Hendrik Roll, a prominent Sacramentarian preacher and advocate of believer's baptism.
It is part and parcel of the Baptist position, which usually claims to go back to an "apostolic" tradition of "believers' baptism" and involves rejection of the
pedobaptism associated with national churches where baptism becomes a form of registration as a citizen.
Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and other leaders of the revival had emphasized the same points, though they stopped short of renouncing
pedobaptism. See Stout, The New England Soul, 185-211.
(17) Albert Henry Newman, A History of Anti-Pedobaptism: From the Rise of
Pedobaptism to A.D.
In the article he asserts that
pedobaptism was the practice of the apostolic church.
(28.) Klager argues that Hubmaier believed that credobaptism and
pedobaptism were practiced in tangent since at least the second century.
Thus he concluded that the division of "Generals and Particulars" was "the only point, I know of, wherein they [i.e., English Baptists] differ from the primitive churches" and his HEB depicted Baptists in a line of Christians stretching back to the "Primitive Baptists" who had defended and practiced adult baptism, denied the validity of
pedobaptism as a "human tradition, and unwarrantable custom," and accordingly were persecuted more than all other Dissenting movements.
"
Pedobaptism," Tie writes, "is, therefore, ecclesiologically untenable because it denies one's voluntary confession of faith and creates noncommitted membership" (p.
Through these intellects, Jones successfully paints a picture of Baptists, most of whom are Reformed-leaning or at least interested in ecumenical dialogue, who struggle to infuse baptism with rich meaning while also avoiding connections with baptismal regeneration or
pedobaptism. They clearly state that something spiritual is happening, even if they are unsure exactly what it is.
For Judson's part, he "could not find a single intimation, in the New Testament" nor "nothing satisfactory" in the traditional passages used to defend
pedobaptism. (8) The reviewer was even more forceful, asserting that the pedobaptists, by contrast, divided and confused on the matter, the obvious result of a "want of substantial evidence" for their position.
(8) Baptists charged that
pedobaptism compromised the Puritan quest for a visible church made up of visible saints.