The Catholic church established the base position with regards to baptisms. The first "remove" from this consisted of the churches of the Lutherans, Anglicans, and Moravians, even though they did not agree on the meaning of baptism. The second remove from the Catholics was a group of churches of which three had the name Reformed. The churches were the Swiss Reformed (the first), the German Reformed, and the Dutch Reformed, and they were joined by the Presbyterians. The leaders in the initial movement were Ulrich Zwingli in Switzerland, and John Calvin from France (later also John Knox from Scotland). Calvin and Zwingli were more radical than Martin Luther and their ideas were more systematic toward changing the Church. They organized around pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons. Bishops were out. They broke completely with the Catholics on the subject of baptism.
John Calvin held that Baptism was entrance into the church, but he also held that unbaptized infants could gain entrance into heaven. Calvin also adopted the view that baptism did not guarantee salvation. There was an element of predestination in Calvin's theology. Whereas Luther had held that faith was essential for Baptism, Calvin said that it was the faith of the parents that were important. Calvin totally rejected spiritual kinship and godparents. The parents were the important element but the congregation was also involved. Private baptisms were rare. Because baptism was not absolutely required, the sense of urgency for an infant's baptism was not there. Baptismal records have not been preserved as carefully as they have in some other churches. In fact, the Pennsylvania synod had to caution Presbyterian churches in 1766 to keep records. Still, there was a pattern of sloppy and incomplete record keeping.
The Reformed Churches used the thoughts of several men, including Zwingli, Calvin, Melanchthon, and Bullinger. The single most important document for the Reformed Churches (after the Bible) was the Heidelberg Catechism. This was written at the request of the Elector Frederick, III, the head of the Palatinate, and the first German ruler to accept the Reformed faith. Baptism was to be limited to children who had at least one parent who was a member in good standing in the church. The Reformed Churches were not rigid on the question of predestination.
The Reformed Church was liberal on the question of children of questionable birth. A parent need only make a private confession before the minister, and, after the child was baptized, the minister would note that the child was illegitimate. In 1747, four Reformed ministers and lay representatives formed a governing body for the Church in Pennsylvania. It was not permitted that a person could partake of baptism and communion if this person was from another Reformed Church, except if they came by certificate from the previous church.
(16 Jul 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.