Jarrel - Baptist Church Perpetuity - Landmark Baptist

The Anabaptists believed children inherit the moral depravity of their parents.
Denck said: “There is something in me that strongly opposes my inborn
inclination to evil.” f448
They believed faith the miraculous gift of God:
“What our parents and teachers tell us, and what is written in books, we may
regard as true and believe; I myself,” says Dr. Denck, “have ‘believed’ in this
sense: but this faith has never helped the infirmities which were born in me,
and has not released me from the conflict in my soul between good and evil
inclinations. For me, therefore, it is incontestable that merely to hold as true
that which has been handed down to me cannot lead me to the life for which a
deep longing slumbers within. Since it is true we are saved by faith, the word
must be understood in the right sense. ‘Faith,’ says Denck, ‘is the accordance
of our will with the will of the good, or with the divine will. … Faith,
therefore, must be built upon other foundations; indeed upon the immediately
given facts of experience.’ As such a fact Denck designates the feeling within,
which says to every one that he must do good, ‘which impels me wholly
without my will and assistance.’ … The Scripture teaches that the unfolding
of the good seed is not possible through our power alone. … The inclination
to evil has its seat deep in the nature of man; it is indeed possible for us to
strive after the good; but we cannot accomplish it without the help of
Almighty God. … But the more I am filled with the divine source of the
doctrines of Christ, which are transmitted in the Holy Scriptures, the more is
my conviction that he only can rightly understand them who has himself been
illuminated by the light of the divine Spirit. … Yes, it is true, that the
inclination to evil resides deep in human nature; however, the Holy Scriptures
were the only means of leading men to the good, there never would have been
good men among those who are ignorant of the Scriptures, and God would
not have given to many millions of men oven the possibility of attaining to the
good and salvation.” f449
These Anabaptists believed in election:
“Christ, the Lamb of God, has been from the beginning of the world a
mediator between God and men, and will remain a mediator to the end. Of
what men? Of you and me alone? Not so, but of all men whom God has given
to him for a possession.” f450
John Muller, another Anabaptist leader, in 1525, wrote:
“Since faith in the free gift of God and not in every man’s possession, as the
Scriptures show, do not burden my conscience. It is born not of the will of the
flesh, but of the will of God. … No man cometh unto me except the Father
draw him. The secret of God is like a treasure concealed in a field which no
man can find unless the Spirit of the Lord reveal it to him.”