Some of our brethren, confused by the current popularity of the Reformed Baptists, claim that Protestantism has always been friendly toward the Baptists and their predecessors. History proves otherwise.
For example, Felix Manz was born an illegitimate son of a Roman Catholic priest. He was given an excellent education and through that connection became a friend of the Reformer Ulrich Zwingli. Ultimately, Manz saw through the reformed Catholicism of the Protestants, after which he rejected his infant sprinkling. Soon thereafter he was immersed as a testimony of God’s saving grace. The Reformers in Zurich considered Manz and other “anabaptists” as threats to their power. So on October 8, 1525, Manz was incarcerated along with Conrad Grebel and George Blaurock. After escaping, he was rearrested, and on this day in 1527, he was sentenced to death – “because contrary to Christian order and custom, he had become involved in Anabaptism… and because he confessed to having said that he wanted to… unite himself with them through baptism.”
Manz, our brother in Christ, was taken down the Limmat River, with a crowd watching, and with the voice of his mother urging him to be faithful to the Lord. As the boat slipped out into the waters of Lake Zurich, he was tossed bound into the water.
Manz, our brother in Christ, was taken down the Limmat River, with a crowd watching, and with the voice of his mother urging him to be faithful to the Lord. As the boat slipped out into the waters of Lake Zurich, he was tossed bound into the water.
Felix Manz was not the only Baptist to suffer on that day. His friend George Blaurock, although not executed, was stripped to the waist and severely beaten for his faith in Christ and his application of the Word of God. The Protestant religion of the Reformers has survived to this day in much of its original form, and it should not be considered friendly to the cause of God and truth.
– Source: This Day in Baptist History, Cummins and Thompson