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“We believe that in the ordinance of baptism the water is the visible and external sign, which represents to us that which, by virtue of God’s invisible operation, is within us -- namely, the renovation of our minds, and the mortification of our members through [the faith of] Jesus Christ. And by this ordinance we are received into the holy congregation of God’s people, PREVIOUSLY PROFESSING AND DECLARING OUR FAITH AND CHANGE OF LIFE” (Jones’ History of the Christian Church, vol. II, “Waldensian sentiments and practices, collected from their own writings”).
It is obvious that the ancient Waldensian churches would have rejected with abhorrence the modern idea that repentance does not necessarily result in a change of life and that churches can receive members who have no testimony of salvation other than a mere prayer that they have muttered.
Roger Williams
Hundreds of examples could be given of Baptists in England and America during the last few centuries to demonstrate that they have commonly stood for biblical repentance. As an example of what Baptists thought about repentance and conversion in the early history of America, we turn to Roger Williams. He founded what is widely considered the first Baptist church in America. Though Williams later disassociated himself from the Baptists and other organized churches, he was very bold about the necessity of genuine conversion. In his Reply to George Fox (founder of the Quakers) of 1676, Roger Williams observed that “a Gospel Church must be made up of such regenerate men, and calls them actual believers, true disciples and converts, living stones, such as can give some account how the grace of God hath appeared unto them and WROUGHT THAT
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