Not Without Witness – Part 4

Most of the early pioneers for the gospel were people of little account to the world, their names unknown, their brave stand for Christ unsung and unremembered. Records of their struggles lie buried in old archives, ignored by historians on the search for more worldly themes. To us, they are of lively interest, linking us as they do with forgotten fellow-crusaders. But none the less, at least three who had interest in these “Anabaptists” and “Mortalists” are famous names today. One of them is the poet Milton. The French scholar Saurat in his book “Milton, Man and Thinker,” called Milton “a kind of Christadelphian,” and compares at some length the views of Milton and those put forward by “Christendom Astray.” The links are very close, and Milton’s exposition in “De Doctrina” of Genesis 2:7 is almost identical with that of John Thomas, though preceding it by 200 years Man became a living soul, whence it may be inferred that man is a living being, intrinsically and properly one and individual, no compound and separable Milton was a firm belies er in the second appearing of Jesus to establish the Millenium on earth Though we have no evidence that Milton was actually a communicant member of a Moralist” Ana­baptist group, it is possible, but not certain, that in Christology his views were what historians call Adoptionist that is, that Jesus became Son of God by virtue of his moral excellence and not by reason of his virgin birth From their subsequent history, It is unlikely that as a group the Mortalists ever adopted this extreme view. An other famous personage to have e contact with believers in the Truth (or much of it) was Sir Isaac Newton. In a lane behind the National Gallery in London is a tiny chapel with an obscure but interesting history Originally it appears to have had connections with some Huguenot refugees who worshipped there At the beginning of the 18th century, however It would seem as if the congregation was one of the Anabaptist type, certainly it was anti Trinitarian Newton lived next door and the little evidence we have suggests that he was in close sympathy with the group and his own theological writings reflect then outlook John Thomas owed much to New ton s apocalyptic writings, and probably also to his theological bias Newton’s fame as a scientist has caused his considerable Interest in the Scriptures to be largely over looked, he was, however, and ardent reader of them and since he approached them with the same acute mental perception and humility with which he examined the physical principles of the universe, it is not surprising that he came to reject mans of the heresies of orthodoxy and adopted views much closer to the Truth Despite his meteoric brilliance as a scientist, he retained a meekness and godliness that we could commend to aspiring young scientists in this more arrogant age The third well known personage known to have e had affinities with the groups we are considering was Benjamin Franklin The American statesman—himself also an amateur scientist—held ideas during his youth which seem to be identical with those that the Mortalists held.

Evidence is meager for the survival of the Mortalist Anabaptists in England longer than the beginning of the eighteenth century The established churches in Britain had too much influence the Act of Uniformity and subsequent persecutions made perpetuation in that country difficult As late as the 1740s’ only a hundred years before Elpis Israel, and a few years after Newton s death, a student at Edinburgh University dared to false a protest at the dogma of the Trinity He was arraigned before a court’ of divines, who pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to death Only one or two ministers recommended mercy He was made a public spectacle in High Street, and finally disembowelled and hanged at the Cross But in contrast with such conditions in Britain, there existed across the Atlantic a new has en of freedom the American colonies, soon to become the United States and Canada Here new principles of religious tolerance were hammered out and many of the persecuted minority religions sought and found refuge there.