1200 / History, from Martyrs Mirror, in the 13th Century. This is the century, writes Jacob Mehrning, with which the Magdeburg Centuriators have closed their church history, etc. Concerning this time they write in the preface as follows, "This is the calamitous time, in which the Roman pope exalted his might to the highest, in the occidental churches, and the Turk his power, in the Orient; where, then, the divine and pure doctrine became most abominably adulterated in every respect. Yea, the ground of doctrine, and all external ceremonies, as well as all points of doctrine,-all these, without reservation, the Pope of Rome would have under his control; in consequence of which such a blindness and darkness arose among men, that almost all of them took upon them the yoke, submitting whatever they spoke or wrote, with more fear to the judgment of the pope, than of God Himself, or of His church. Rules were established. by which all controverted articles were to be decided and judged; namely, the corrupted writings of the fathers, and the decrees or resolutions of councils. The Magdeburg Centuriators quote the following from a synodal book, written jointly by some bishops, at Nemansa, A. D. 1251, "We command, that an infant, just born and in peril of death, so that it can not be brought to the priest, be baptized by the men present, whether in warm or in cold water, but with no other liquid, and this in a wooden, stone or other vessel. But if there be no men present, let the women who are there baptize the child, or even the father or the mother, in case there be no one else present, to baptize the child." By these and similar means the Romanists at this time, sought to maintain the credit of infant baptism, which was greatly opposed; to which end tended also the words of Aquinas, which are as follows, "The proper administrator of baptism shall be a priest, whose province it is by virtue of 'his office, to baptize; but in cases of necessity, not only a chaplain, but also a layman, or a woman, yea, even a heathen or a heretic may baptize, if he only observes the form of the church, and purposes to do what the church does. But if a person, from necessity, is baptized by such an one, he indeed receives the sacrament, so that he need not be baptized again; but he does not receive the grace of baptism, because he is considered as not having been baptized aright,". A. D. 1206.-In the beginning, yea, before the beginning of this century, and so through a number of years, the doctrine of the ancient Anabaptists increased not a little, which appeared more particularly in the year 1206, when they had so INCREASED IN MANY COUNTRIES, that the wiles and power of the Roman church were not sufficient to bring them to apostatize, much less to exterminate them. P. J. Twisck gives the following description, "The adherents of the doctrine of Peter de Bruis and Henry of Toulouse, Anabaptists, mentioned for the year 1135, which doctrine afterwards was also followed by the Waldenses, MULTIPLIED SO GREATLY ABOUT THIS TIME, namely, that FEW WERE FOUND in the provinces of Albi, Languedoc, Narbonne, Gascony, Rouergue, and Toulouse, WHO DID NOT adhere to said doctrine, notwithstanding Pope Innocent III very cruelly opposed it. The principal points of their doctrine, besides others, were these: 1. That the Roman church was the whore of Babylon. 2. That her polity was impure and corrupted. 3. That the mass was a work replete with wickedness, and instituted neither by Christ nor for His disciples. A. D. 1230.-the Waldenses, declared at this time in the proceedings which it seems they had against the pope, that their NUMBERS WERE SO GREAT in Germ., Fran. and Italy, and especially in Lombardy-where their teachers lived, to whom they annually sent sustenance from other countries-that any one of them traveling from his country to Milan, could lodge every night with one of his own persuasion, whom they recognized by certain marks on the door or upon the roof. A. D. 1280 the above profession, so multiplied in Lombardy that their doctrine, having spread in Italy, penetrated even into Sicily; as is attested by the open letters emitted against them by the Emperor Frederick II. respecting their views against infant baptism, the office of criminal authority, the swearing of oaths, etc., were laid to their charge, as can be gleaned from the writings of Reinerius, the priest: That in the matter of salvation we must believe only the Holy Scriptures, and in no wise depend on men. That said Scriptures contain everything that is necessary to salvation; and that nothing is to be received but what is commanded of God. That there is but one Mediator, and, consequently, that the saints ought not to be invoked. That there is no purgatory, but that all who are justified in Christ, enter into life everlasting, and those who do not believe, shall be cast into eternal death; thus denying that there is still besides a third or fourth place. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8pIS1xksdc

1Jn 5/1-9. Acts 9/26-31. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTe3S8aoh4I