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HISTORY 


-PEDOBAPTISM 


Presented  to  the 
LIBRARY  of  the 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO 
h 


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A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 


HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 


FROM  THE 
RISE  OF  PEDOBAPTISM  TO  A.  D.  1609 


ALBERT  HENRY  NEWMAN,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 
Professor  of  Church  History  in  {Mc-M aster  University,  Toronto,  Canada 


PHILADELPHIA 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 
1897 


BV 

Copyright  1896  by  the 
AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 


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THEODORE  HARDING  RAND,  D.  C.  L. 

Ex-Chancellor  of  SVtcMaster  University 

AUGUSTUS  HOPKINS  STRONG,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

President  of  Rochester  Theological  Seminary 

ALVAH  HOVEY,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

President  of  SJ^ewton  Theological  Institution 

AND 

HENRY  GRIGGS  WESTON,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 
President  of  Grower  Theological  Seminary 

BEFORE    THE    STUDENTS    OF    WHOSE     INSTITUTIONS 
MUCH  OF  THE  MATERIAL  HERE   PRESENTED  WAS 
DELIVERED  IN  THE  FORM  OF   LECTURES,  AND 
TO  WHOM  IN  MANY  WAYS  THE  AUTHOR  IS 
DEEPLY    INDEBTED,   THIS    VOLUME    IS 
AFFECTIONATELY  AND  RESPECT 
FULLY  DEDICATED 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

EARLY  PERVERSIONS  OF  DOCTRINE  AND  PRACTICE  IN 
RELATION  TO  BAPTISM, i 

Corrupting  ideas.  Baptismal  regeneration.  Sacerdotal 
ism.  Gnostic  and  Ebionitic  views.  Rise  of  infant  bap 
tism.  Superstition  and  idolatry. 

CHAPTER  II 

ANCIENT  SECTS  IN  THEIR  RELATION  TO  BAPTIST  PRIN 
CIPLES,     15 

Montanism  and  Novatianism.  Donatism.  Jovinian  and 
Vigilantius.  Early  British  churches.  The  Paulicians. 
General  observations. 

CHAPTER  III 

MEDIAEVAL    ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM  ;    THE  PETROBRUSIANS 

AND  THE  ARNOLDISTS, 30 

Peter  and  Henry.     Anti-pedobaptists  at  Cologne.     Arnold 

of  Brescia. 

CHAPTER  IV 

THE  WALDENSES  AND  RELATED  PARTIES, 40 

Poor  Men  of  Lombardy.  Waldensian  principles.  Wal- 
densian  organization.  Waldensians  in  1260. 

CHAPTER  V 
THE  TABORITES  AND  THE  BOHEMIAN  BRETHREN,   ...    49 

Peter  Chelcicky.  The  Bohemian  Brethren.  Lollards  not 
Anti-pedobaptists.  Bohemian  influence  in  Germany.  Mys 
ticism  and  millenarianism.  Remarks. 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  ZWICKAU  PROPHETS, 62 

Social  and  religious  agitation.    Luther  proves  disappoint- 


viii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

ing.  Mlinzer  at  Zwickau.  Mlinzer  at  Prague  and  Alstedt. 
The  prophets  at  Wittenberg.  Luther's  triumph.  Storch's 
later  career. 

CHAPTER  VII 
THOMAS  MUNZER  AND  THE  PEASANTS'  WAR,     ....    77 

Pfeiffer  and  Muhlhausen.  Return  to  Muhlhausen.  The 
sword  of  Gideon.  Chiliasm  and  mysticism.  Remarks. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

RADICAL  AGITATION  IN  ZURICH    AND    IN  WALDSHUT 

(1523-24), 88 

Agitation  in  Zurich,  etc.  Balthasar  Hubmaier.  Proceed 
ings  against  Hubmaier.  Hubmaier  at  Schaffhausen.  Hub 
maier  on  liberty  of  conscience.  Hubmaier's  return  to  Walds- 
hut.  Parties  at  Zurich.  Zwingli's  opposition. 

CHAPTER   IX 
ZURICH,  SCHAFFHAUSEN,  AND  ST.  GALL  (1524-25),  .  .    .105 

Pedobaptism  enforced.  Increasing  severity.  Hofmeis- 
ter's  position.  Hofmeister's  banishment.  Agitation  at  St. 
Gall.  Uolimann  and  Grebel.  Zwingli  and  Vadian. 

CHAPTER  X 

BASEL,  BERNE,  GRUNINGEN,  AND  WALDSHUT  (1524-25),    .  120 

Disputation  at  Basel.  Berne  and  Gruningen.  Practice  at 
Waldshut.  Hubmaier  and  Zwingli.  Conrad  Grebel. 
Blaurock  and  Reublin.  Denck,  Sattler,  and  Hetzer. 

CHAPTER  XI 
PERSECUTION  AND  DISPERSION, 134 

Motives  of  Persecutors.  Disputation  and  imprisonment. 
Hubmaier's  suffering  at  Zurich.  Hubmaier's  recantation. 
Hubmaier's  departure.  Churches  organized.  Conference 
of  the  cantons.  Execution  of  Falk  and  Reimann.  Exten 
sion  of  Swiss  influence. 

CHAPTER  XII 
SILESIA, 153 

Caspar  Schwenckfeldt.    Gabriel  Ascherham. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  AUGSBURG  CENTER, 159 

Ludwig  Hetzer.  Hans  Denck.  Denck's  teachings.  Hans 
Hut.  Eitelhans  Langenmantel.  Anti-pedobaptist  conven 
tion. 

CHAPTER  XIV 

HUBMAIER'S  MORAVIAN  LABORS  (1526-27), 173 

Hubmaier  at  Nikolsburg.  Literary  activity.  Hubmaier 
on  baptism  and  the  Supper.  Free  will  and  magistracy. 
Hubmaier  opposed  to  communism.  Hubmaier's  extradition 
demanded.  Hubmaier's  martyrdom. 

CHAPTER  XV 

THE  TYROL, , 188 

Early  evangelical  teaching.     Sixteen   hundred   martyrs. 

Increasing  severity.  Jacob  Huter.    Persecution  and  failure. 

The  Wolkensteins.  Amon    and  Greisinger.     Lanzenstiel 
and  Lochmayer. 

CHAPTER  XVI 

AUSTRIA, 205 

Anti-pedobaptists  at  Steyer.  Hut's  Austrian  labors. 
Hut's  evangelists.  Anti-pedobaptists  at  Linz.  Ambrose 
Spitalmaier.  Spitalmaier's  views.  Georg  Schoferl.  Mo 
ravian  influence. 

CHAPTER  XVII 
MORAVIA  AND  BOHEMIA  (1528  ONWARD), 222 

Blawermel  and  Scharding.  Wilhelm  Reublin.  Reckless 
church  discipline.  Persecution  in  Moravia.  Industry  and 
prosperity.  A  surviving  remnant.  Doctrine  and  polity. 
Georg  Zobel. 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  STRASBURG  CENTER, 238 

Capito  on  infant  baptism.  Carlstadt,  Echsel,  and  Gross. 
Michael  Sattler.  Reublin  and  Kautz.  Persecution.  Mar- 
beck  and  Bucer.  Marbeck's  teachings. 

CHAPTER  XIX 
MELCHIOR  HOFMANN  AND  STRASBURG,      254 


X  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Hofmann  at  Dorpat.  The  Supper  and  magistracy.  Plun 
dered  and  banished.  Hofmann  at  Strasburg.  Hofmann 
and  the  Miinster  Kingdom. 

CHAPTER  XX 
HOFMANN  AND  THE  NETHERLANDS 264 

Lutheran  and  Zwinglian  views.  Hofmann's  position. 
The  end  of  the  age,  1533.  The  incarnation. 

CHAPTER  XXI 

HESSE,  JULICH-CLEVE,  AND  WESTPHALIA 273 

Melchior  Rinck.  Miinster  and  Rothmann.  Expulsion  of 
the  bishop.  Roll  and  Rothmann. 

CHAPTER  XXII 
THE  MUNSTER  KINGDOM, 284 

Jan  Matthys.  John  of  Leyden.  Fanaticism  rampant. 
The  fall  of  Miinster.  Rationale  of  the  movement. 

CHAPTER  XXIII 
MENNO  SIMONS  AND  THE  QUIET  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISTS,  .    .  295 

Menno's  conversion.  Character  of  Menno's  teaching. 
Philips  and  Bouwens.  Menno  in  Cologne.  Excessive  dis 
cipline.  Controversy  with  Micronius.  Strasburg  confer 
ence.  Controversy  on  discipline.  Menno's  death. 

CHAPTER  XXIV 
THE  LATER  MENNONITES, 314 

Mennonite  Parties.  The  Bintgens  controversy.  Perse 
cuted  by  the  Reformed.  The  Rhynsburgers. 

CHAPTER  XXV 
ITALY  AND  POLAND, 323 

Camillo  Renato.  Convention  at  Venice  Manelfi's  treach 
ery.  Letter  from  Moravia.  Gherlandi  and  Saga.  Polish 
Anti-pedobaptism.  Racovian  Catechism.  Influence  on 
English  Baptists. 

CHAPTER  XXVI 
ENGLAND  (TO  1558), 340 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xi 

Lollards  and  Waldenses.  The  Lollards  of  Kyle.  Dutch 
immigration.  Radical  evangelicalism.  Persecution  of  Ana 
baptists.  Cranmer  and  foreign  theologians.  Cooke  and 
Turner.  Joan  Boucher. 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

ENGLAND  (1558-1602), 357 

Enforcement  of  uniformity.  Persecution.  Foxe's  peti 
tion.  Dutch  influence.  Robert  Browne.  Browne  in  Zee- 
land.  Separatists  and  Anabaptists. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

ENGLAND  (1602-1609), 376 

Gainsborough  and  Scrooby.  Smyth's  separation.  Smyth 
an  Anti-pedobaptist.  Smyth's  defense.  Se-baptism.  Im 
mersion  or  affusion.  Smyth  and  the  Mennonites.  Helwys 
and  Murton. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 


CHAPTER  I 

EARLY  PERVERSIONS  OF  DOCTRINE  AND  PRACTICE  IN 
RELATION  TO  BAPTISM 

THE  claim  of  Baptists  that  in  doctrine  and  in  polity 
they  are  in  substantial  accord  with  the  precept  and 
the  example  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  would  seem  to 
make  it  incumbent  upon  them  to  account  for  the  early 
departure  of  the  great  mass  of  Christians  from  the  apos 
tolic  norm. 

That  the  churches  of  the  post-apostolic  age  did  not 
long  remain  faithful  to  apostolic  precept  and  example  in 
all  respects  would  be  generally  admitted.  Christianity 
arose  in  an  age  of  religious  ferment.  The  philosophies 
and  theosophies  of  the  East  had  never  been  more  active 
and  aggressive  than  they  were  during  the  first  three 
Christian  centuries.  In  Alexandria,  long  before  the  be 
ginning  of  the  Christian  era,  Greek,  Jewish,  Egyptian, 
Persian,  Old-Babylonian,  and  Indian  thought  had  met, 
and  eclectic  systems  were  a  characteristic  feature  of  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  time.  The  same  is  true  in  a  less 
degree  of  Rome,  Antioch,  and  Ephesus,  and  indeed  of 
the  Empire  in  general.  These  elements  were  lying  in 
wait,  as  it  were,  for  nascent  Christianity.  Before  the 
close  of  the  apostolic  age  Gnosticism  in  some  of  its  most 
dangerous  forms  had  made  its  appearance  and  was  begin 
ning  seriously  to  threaten  the  life  of  the  churches.  Is  it 
to  be  wondered  at  that  the  succeeding  age  should  have 


2  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

been  marked  by  still  graver  and  more  widespread  per 
versions  ? 

Among  the  universal  features  of  paganism  was  belief 
in  the  efficacy  of  external  rites.  That  the  ordinances 
of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  should  have  been 
allowed  to  remain  symbolical  and  memorial  rites  to  be 
celebrated  in  simple  obedience  to  the  Master's  command 
was  more  than  could  have  been  reasonably  expected. 
Similar  rites  existed  in  paganism  and  were  regarded  as 
possessing  magical  virtue.  The_sacrifidal_ ^system  of 
Judaism  and  the  Jewish  purificatory  rites  would  them 
selves  furnish  a  point  of  departure  for  the  perver^forTof 
the  Christian  ordinances. 

Sacerdotalism  was  a  common  characteristic  of  pagan 
and  current  Jewish  religion.  That  the  Christian  minister 
should  soon  cease  to  be  a  brother  among  brethren,  owing 
common  obedience  to  a  common  Lord,  and  as  one  chosen 
and  set  apart  for  Christian  leadership  presiding  over  the 
administration  of  discipline,  of  charity,  and  of  the  ordi 
nances,  and  that  he  should  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  me 
diator  between  God  and  men,  possessed  of  magical  power 
by  virtue  of  his  office,  was  something  that  could  have 
been  avoided  only  by  constant  miraculous  Divine  inter 
position.  Such  interposition,  history  attests,  was  with 
held.  Christianity  was  a  leaven.  The  life  and  personal 
labors  of  the  Christ  and  of  his  apostles  and  the  inspired 
body  of  doctrine  contained  in  the  New  Testament  were 
given  to  the  world.  Churches  were  planted  and  organ 
ized  under  inspired  guidance.  Henceforth  the  leaven 
was  to  be  allowed  to  do  its  work,  not  certainly  without 
Divine  help  and  direction,  but  without  such  violent  in 
terposition  as  would  interfere  with  development  along 
natural  lines.  Pure  Christianity  was  sure  in  the  end  to 
triumph  ;  but  not  until  it  had  to  a  great  extent  absorbed, 
or  been  absorbed  by,  paganism.  By  becoming  assimilated 


CORRUPTING  IDEAS  3 

to  paganism  Christianity  was  to  secure  the  nominal  alle 
giance  of  the  peoples  of  Western  Asia,  Northern  Africa, 
and  Europe.  Its  vitality  was  never  to  be  entirely  de 
stroyed,  nor  was  there  to  be  a  time  when  Christ  should 
be  without  faithful  witnesses  ;  but  organized  Christianity 
was  to  become  so  corrupt  and  so  perverse  that  the  notes 
of  the  apostolic  church  could  scarcely  be  discovered. 

The  time  would  come  when  vital  Christianity,  with  the 
Bible  as  its  watchword  and  its  guide,  would  powerfully 
reassert  itself  and  would  throw  off  the  accretions  of  cen 
turies;  but  so  thoroughly  entrenched  did  these  corrup 
tions  become  that  the  process  must  needs  be  a  slow  one. 
When  we  consider  the  obstacles  to  the  restoration  of 
apostolic  Christianity  that  have  presented  themselves, 
the  natural  conservatism  that  shrinks  from  departure 
from  traditional  positions,  the  tremendous  influence  of 
State-churchism,  and  the  preference  of  multitudes  of 
people  for  a  religion  of  forms  and  ceremonies,  with  its 
priestly  absolutions  and  consolations,  the  wonder  is  that 
so  much  progress  has  been  made. 

If  the  apostolic  churches  were  Baptist  churches,  the 
churches  of  the  second  century  were  not.  Still  less  were 
those  of  the  third  and  the  following  centuries. 

Early  Jn_the  _second  century,  possibly  during  the  last 
idea  came  intcTvogue  that  while 


instruction  in  Christian  truth  and  morals,  repentance, 
faith,  fasting,  and  prayer  must  precede  baptism,  the  re 
mission  of  sins  takes  place  only  in  connection  with  the 
baptismal  act.  That  certain  New  Testament  representa 
tions,  when  taken  alone,  can  easily  be  so  interpreted  as 
to  seem  to  favor  this  view  of  the  relation  of  baptism  to 
salvation  may  be  freely  admitted.  ~  That  such"  an  inter 
pretation  is  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  trend  of  New 
Testament  teaching  —  Baptists  have  always  uncompromis 
ingly  maintained. 


4  A  HISTORY  OF  ANT1-PEDOBAPTISM 

In  lapsing  so  speedily  from  the  apostolic  view  of  justi 
fication  by  faith  and  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
in  adopting  the  belief  that  regeneration  is  completed  only 
in  connection  with  an  external  rite,  the  post-apostolic 
church  shows  that  it  has  already  begun  to  yield  to  the 
all-pervasive  pagan  idea  of  the  magical  efficacy  of  water 
baptism.  "The  Pastor  of  Hermas,"  an  allegorical  writ 
ing  highly  esteemed  in  the  ancient  church  and  probably 
written  as  early  as  A.  D.  139,  exhibits  this  doctrine  in  a 
transitional  stage.  In  one  passage  it  is  said:  "Whoso 
ever  with  his  whole  heart  changes  his  mind  (repents)  and 
purifies  himself  from  all  iniquity,  and  adds  no  more  to  his 
sin,  will  receive  from  the  Lord  a  cure  from  all  his  former 
sins."  Again  :  "  The  elect  of  God  will  be  saved  through 
faith."  Yet  (in  Commandment  IV.,  3)  it  is  said: 
"  When  we  went  down  into  the  water  and  received  re 
mission  from  our  former  sins."  Again  (Similitude  IX.,  15, 
1 6) :  "  Into  the  water,  therefore,  they  descend  dead  and 
arise  living."  The  account  of  the  tower  (Vision  III.,  7) 
built  up  of  stones  that  have  passed  through  the  water 
seems  to  imply  the  saving  efficacy  of  baptism.  The 
thought  of  the  author  appears  to  be,  that  while  repentance, 
faith,  and  reformation  of  life  must  precede  baptism,  it  is 
only  in  connection  with  the  baptismal  act  that  the  re 
mission  of  sins  actually  takes  place. 

Similar  is  the  teaching  of  Justin  Martyr  in  his  "First 
Apology,"  written  at  about  the  same  date  as  the 
"Pastor": 

As  many  as  are  persuaded  and  believe  to  be  true  these  things  that 
are  taught  and  spoken  by  us,  and  give  assurance  that  they  are  able 
to  live  accordingly,  are  taught  to  pray  and  fasting  to  implore  from 
God  the  forgiveness  of  sins  previously  committed,  we  ourselves 
praying  and  fasting  with  them.  Then  they  are  led  by  us  where 
there  is  water  and  are  regenerated  in  the  same  manner  in  which  we 
ourselves  were  regenerated  (chap.  61). 


BAPTISMAL  REGENERATION  5 

His  subsequent  explanation  makes  it  clear  that  he  re 
garded  water  baptism  as  absolutely  essential. 

The  so-called  "Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles," 
which  may  possibly  belong  to  the  second  half  of  the 
second  century  but  which  in  its  present  form  is  probably 
much  later,  does  not  so  explicitly  teach  baptismal  regen 
eration;  but  this  view  seems  to  be  implied  in  the  require 
ment,  in  case  of  absolute  lack  of  a  sufficiency  of  water 
of  any  kind  for  baptism  proper,  that  pouring  water  on 
the  head  three  times  be  resorted  to  as  a  substitute. 
Catechetical  instruction,  repentance,  fasting,  and  prayer 
must  precede  the  baptismal  rite. 

We  may  say  in  general,  that  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  second  century  the  idea  prevailed  that  mere  baptism 
without  repentance  and  faith  would  be  of  no  value  and 
that  the  remission  of  sins  takes  place  only  in  connection 
with  the  baptismal  act.  By  the  close  of  the  second  cen 
tury  the  pagan  view  that  water  baptism  possesses  in 
itself  magical  efficacy  begins  to  find  expression. 

The  most  striking  presentation  of  this  conception,  if 
not  the  earliest,  is  that  of  Tertullian.  "Is  it  not  won 
derful  too,"  he  writes,  "that  death  should  be  washed 
away  by  bathing  ? "  To  justify  such  ascription  of  efficacy 
to  water  baptism  he  expatiates  on  the  age  and  the  dig 
nity  of  water.  "Water  is  one  of  those  things  that,  be 
fore  all  the  furnishing  of  the  world,  were  quiescent  with 
God  in  a  yet  unshapen  state."  It  is  venerable,  there 
fore.  It  has  dignity  also  as  having  been  "  the  seat  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  more  pleasing  to  him,  no  doubt,  than  all 
the  other  then  existing  elements."  "Water  alone — al 
ways  a  perfect,  gladsome,  simple,  material  substance, 
pure  in  itself  .  .  .  supplied  a  worthy  vehicle  for  God." 
"  Water  was  the  first  to  produce  that  which  had  life,  that 
it  might  be  no  wonder  in  baptism  if  water  know  how  to 
give  life."  He  speaks  of  water  as  "the  primary  prin- 


6  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

ciple  of  baptism."  "  The  Spirit  of  God  who  hovered 
over  the  waters  from  the  beginning  would,"  he  main 
tained,  "continue  to  linger  over  the  waters  of  the  bap 
tized."  "Thus,"  he  continues,  "the  nature  of  the 
waters,  sanctified  by  the  Holy  One,  itself  conceived 
withal  the  power  of  sanctifying."  "All  waters,  there 
fore,  in  virtue  of  the  pristine  privilege  of  their  origin,  do, 
after  invocation  of  God,  attain  the  sacramental  power  of 
sanctification ;  for  the  Spirit  immediately  supervenes 
from  the  heavens  and  rests  over  the  waters,  sanctifying 
them  from  himself;  and  being  thus  sanctified  they  imbibe 
at  the  same  time  the  power  of  sanctifying." 

It  would  serve  no  useful  purpose  to  multiply  quota 
tions  from  subsequent  Christian  literature.  The  concep 
tions  of  Tertullian  speedily  became  the  conceptions  of 
the  church.  We  are  not  aware  that  any  contemporary 
writer  called  in  question  his  view  of  the  saving  efficacy 
of  water  baptism.  Yet  Cyprian  (about  253)  denied  that 
water  alone,  apart  from  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
could  cleanse  from  sin  and  sanctify.1 

It  is  highly  probable  that  the  disposition  to  attach  mag 
ical  significance  to  baptism  and  to  surround  its  adminis 
tration  with  mystery  and  ceremonial  came  into  the 
church  through  the  channel  of  Gnosticism  ;  although,  as  is 
well  known,  Gnostic  mysteries  were  themselves  derived 
from  those  that  had  long  prevailed  in  pagan  systems. 
We  need  only  mention  the  elaborate  initiatory  rites  of 
the  Eleusinian,  Pythagorean,  Orphic,  and  Delphian  mys 
teries,  of  the  old  Egyptian  priesthood,  and  of  the  Mithras 
worship.  The  fact  is,  there  was  a  great  fund  of  current 
thought  and  practice  on  this  matter  that  was  sure  sooner 
or  later  to  make  its  influence  profoundly  felt  by  Chris 
tianity.  That  advanced  ideas  on  the  efficacy  of  baptism 
were  prominent  features  of  early  Gnosticism  the  follow- 

i  Epistle  LXXIV. 


GNOSTIC  AND   EBIONITIC  VIEWS  7 

ing  extract  from  the  remarkable  Gnostic  writing  "  Pistis 
Sophia  "  makes  clear :  "  Then  came  forth  Mary  and  said  : 
Lord,  under  what  form  do  baptisms  remit  sins  ?  "  After 
further  elaboration  of  the  question  on  the  part  of  Mary 
and  a  somewhat  extended  answer,  Christ  is  represented 
as  replying  : 

Now,  therefore,  if  any  one  hath  received  the  mysteries  of  bap 
tism,  those  mysteries  become  a  great  fire,  exceeding  strong  and  wise, 
so  as  to  burn  up  all  the  sins :  and  the  fire  entereth  into  the  soul 
secretly,  so  that  it  may  consume  within  it  all  the  sins  which  the  count- 
terfeit  of  the  spirit  [conscience]  hath  printed  there.  Likewise  it 
entereth  into  the  body  secretly,  that  it  may  pursue  all  its  pursuers 
and  divide  them  into  parts.  .  .  The  fire  separates  the  counterfeit  of 
the  spirit,  fate,  and  the  body  into  one  portion,  and  the  soul  and  the 
power  [spirit]  into  another  portion.  The  mystery  of  baptism 
remaineth  in  the  middle  of  them,  so  that  it  may  perpetually  separate 
them,  so  that  it  may  purge  and  cleanse  them  in  order  that  they  may 
not  be  polluted  by  matter. 

To  show  that  baptismal  regeneration  early  appeared 
among  the  speculative  Ebionites,  the  following  passages 
will  suffice  : 

If,  therefore,  any  one  be  found  smeared  with  sins  and  lusts  as 
with  pitch,  the  fire  easily  gets  the  mastery  of  him.  But  if  the  tow  be 
not  steeped  in  the  pitch  of  sin,  but  in  the  water  of  purification  and 
regeneration,  the  fire  of  the  demons  shall  not  be  able  to  be  kindled  in 
it  (Clementine  "Recognitions"  IX.,  16). 

And  this  is  the  service  he  has  appointed :  To  worship  him  only, 
and  trust  only  in  the  Prophet  of  truth  and  to  be  baptized  for  the 
remission  of  sins,  and  thus  by  this  pure  baptism  to  be  born  again 
unto  God  by  saving  water  (Clementine  "Homilies"  K//.,  8}. 

With  the  passages  from  the  heretical  writers  just  quoted 
may  be  compared  the  following  sentence  from  Cyprian 
(Ep.  LXXVI.)  :  "For  as  scorpions  and  serpents,  which 
prevail  on  the  dry  ground,  when  cast  into  water  cannot 
prevail  nor  retain  their  venom  ;  so  also  the  wicked  spirits 


8  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

.  .  .  cannot  remain  any  longer  in  the  body  of  a  man  in 
whom,  baptized  and  sanctified,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  begin 
ning  to  dwell." 

Sid_e_  by  side  with  the  idea  of  the  efficacy  of  water 
^baptism  had  grown  up  the  conviction  that  apart  from  bap 
tism  there  is  no  salvation.  The  human  race  being  intrin 
sically  corrupt,  the  guilt  of  race-sin  attaches  to  uncon 
scious  infants  no  less  than  to  such  as  have  reached 
moral  consciousness.  The  only  avenue  of  escape  from 
the  guilt  of  race-sin  was  baptism.  Exception  was  made 
in  the  case  of  believers  who  suffered  martyrdom  before 
they  had  had  an  opportunity  to  wash  away  their  sins  in 
baptism  ;  but  these  were  said  to  have  had  a  baptism  of 
blood.  The  necessity  of  baptism  to  salvation  is  implied 
in  the  passages  above  quoted,  and  this  idea  was  devel 
oped  in  its  most  extreme  form  among  the  Gnostics  and 
the  Ebionites.  It  is  set  forth  in  a  striking  way  in  the  fol 
lowing  passages  from  the  Clementine  "  Recognitions," 
VI.,  8,  9,  where  Peter  is  represented  as  saying  : 

And  do  you  suppose  that  you  can  have  hope  toward  God,  even 
if  you  cultivate  all  piety  and  all  righteousness,  but  do  not  receive 
baptism  ?  .  .  When  you  are  regenerated  and  born  again  of  water 
and  of  God,  the  frailty  of  your  former  birth  which  you  have  through 
men  is  cut  off,  and  so  at  length  you  shall  be  able  to  attain  salva 
tion  ;  but  otherwise  it  is  impossible.  .  .  Betake  yourselves  therefore 
to  these  waters,  for  they  alone  can  quench  the  violence  of  the  future 
fire ;  and  he  who  delays  to  approach  to  them,  it  is  evident  that  the 
idol  of  unbelief  remains  in  him,  and  by  it  he  is  prevented  from  has 
tening  to  the  waters  that  confer  salvation.  For  whether  you  be 
righteous  or  unrighteous,  baptism  is  necessary  for  you  in  every 
respect :  for  the  righteous,  that  perfection  may  be  accomplished  in 
him  and  he  may  be  born  again  to  God  ;  for  the  unrighteous,  that 
pardon  may  be  vouchsafed  him  for  the  sins  which  he  has  committed 
in  ignorance. 

._When-Christians  had  come  to  believe  that -water  -bap 
tism  possessed,magirral  efficacyr^md  that  all  mankind 


RISE  OF  INFANT  BAPTISM  9 

were  so_myolyj£dLJD-sin.-that-  na  salvation  was  possible 
apart  from  baptism,  it  was  inevitablejthat  infant  baptism 
should  be  introduced.  The  widespread  prevalence  of 
infant  lustrations  among  pagans  made  the  introduction  of 
infant  baptism  easy  and  natural.  At  first  it  would  be 
confined  to  infants  in  danger  of  death  ;  butjyhen  the 
idea  had  taken  firm  hold  on  the  Christian  consciousness 
that  it  was  a  necessary  means  of  securing.cleansing  from 
hereditary  sin  its  progress  could  not  fail  to  be  rapid. 

The  universal  prevalence  of  infant  baptism  was  long 
prevented,  however,  by  another  error,  for  whose  eleva 
tion  to  the  position  of  a  dogma  Tertullian  was  chiefly 
responsible,  but  which  had  no  doubt  been  more  or  less 
current  since  the  middle  of  the  second  century.  This 
error  was,  in  effect,  that  mortal  sins  committed  after 
baptism  are  irremissible.  It  was  chiefly  on  this  ground 
that  Tertullian  so  earnestly  insisted  on  the  postponement 
of  baptism  until  such  a  degree  of  maturity  and  stability 
should  have  been  reached  as  to  warrant  the  expectation 
that  the  candidate  would  be  able  to  guard  himself  from 
the  commission  of  mortal  sins.  He  had  no  doubt  what 
ever  as  to  the  efficacy  of  baptism  to  cleanse  the  uncon 
scious  infant  of  hereditary  sin  ;  but,  on  prudential 
grounds,  he  considered  it  important  that  this  cleansing 
rite  should  be  reserved  until  such  time  as  he  could  have 
reasonable  assurance  that  its  efficacy  would  be  perma 
nent.  From  this  time  onward  the  choice  between  infant 
baptism  and  adult  baptism  was  determined  largely  by 
the  views  of  individuals  as  to  whether  the  former  or  the 
latter  would  probably  be  the  more  advantageous.  The 
baptized  infant  might  on  the  one  hand  grow  up  and  be 
come  involved  in  sin  and  so  lose  the  opportunity  that 
adult  baptism  would  confer  of  starting  out  on  his  per 
sonal  Christian  life  with  a  clean  score;  on  the  other 
hand  the  unbaptized  infant  might  die  by  violence  or  so 


10  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

unexpectedly  as  to  be  out  of  reach  of  the  saving  bath. 
The  rigorous  view  of  Tertullian  as  regards  the  unpar- 
donableness  of  post-baptismal  mortal  sin  gradually  gave 
place  to  a  more  benignant  view  and  from  the  middle  of 
the  third  century  the  church  made  so  ample  provision 
for  the  restoration  of  the  lapsed,  that  infant  baptism 
came  to  be  generally  regarded  as  the  safer  thing. 

The  departure  of  the  church  of  the  second  and  third 
centuries  from  the  apostolic  standard  was  by  no  means 
confined  to  the  matter  of  baptism.  The  same  influences 
soon  caused  the  Lord's  Supper  to  be  looked  upon  no 
longer  as  a  memorial  feast  in  which  believers  partook  in 
a  purely  symbolical  way  of  the  broken  body  and  the 
poured-out  blood  of  their  crucified,  risen,  and  glorified 
Lord,  but  rather  as  a  mystic  ceremony  to  be  celebrated 
with  elaborate  ritual.  This  change  was  likewise  due  to 
pagan  influences  brought  to  bear  chiefly  through  the 
Gnostic  sects. 

Other  perversions  of  Christianity  during  the  early 
centuries  are  so  universally  recognized  by  historians  and 
so  familiar  to  all  readers  of  church  history,  that  they 
need  only  be  barely  mentioned  here.  Sacerdotalism, 
a  constant  factor  in  pagan  religious  systems,  soon  in 
truded  itself  into  the  Christian  church.  The  ordinances 
having  become  mysteries  must  be  administered  by  a 
ceremonially  qualified  priesthood  ;  and  as  the  services 
became  elaborate  and  each  function  must  be  performed 
by  a  properly  qualified  functionary,  clerical  gradations 
came  to  be  multiplied  and  accurately  differentiated.  Out 
of  the  simple  polity  of  the  apostolic  time,  in  accordance 
with  which  each  congregation  chose  its  own  bishops  or 
presbyters  and  deacons  for  the  direction  of  the  spiritual 
work  of  the  body,  the  administration  of  discipline  and 
the  collection  and  distribution  of  charities,  there  was  de 
veloped,  under  the  influences  of  the  time,  a  system  of 


SACERDOTALISM  1 1 

presidential  administration  in  which  the  chief  elder  (or 
bishop)  directed  the  affairs  of  the  local  church  with  the 
assistance  and  advice  of  a  Board  of  presbyters.  As  the 
responsible  head  of  the  church  he  soon  came  to  have 
chief  control  of  the  finances  and  such  control  tended  to 
increase  his  relative  importance.  As  Christian  work 
spread  from  older  centers  the  newly  established  congrega 
tions  were  kept  in  relations  of  dependence  on  the  mother 
church,  or  rather,  as  integral  parts  thereof.  Thus  the 
pastor  of  the  central  church  would  have  the  supervision  of 
a  greater  or  smaller  number  of  outside  congregations  over 
each  of  which  a  presbyter  of  the  central  church  came  to 
preside.  Thus  arose  diocesan  episcopacy.  At  first  this  ar 
rangement  was  adopted  without  any  ambitious  intentions 
on  the  part  of  the  pastors  as  seemingly  the  most  effective 
way  of  conducting  Christian  work.  But  as  the  dependent 
congregations  became  conscious  of  strength  and  their 
presbyter-pastors  became  restless  under  episcopal  control, 
which  in  some  cases  was  no  doubt  arbitrarily  exercised, 
friction  arose  between  bishops  and  presbyters.  By  this 
time  (about  the  middle  of  the  third  century — the  case  of 
Cyprian  and  the  Carthaginian  presbyters  is  in  point)  the 
sacerdotal  idea  was  pretty  fully  developed.  Cyprian  and 
those  who  were  like-minded  believed  that  ecclesiastical 
unity  was  absolutely  essential  and  that  schism  was  one  of 
the  greatest  of  evils.  They  went  so  far  as  to  maintain 
that  outside  of  the  one  ecclesiastical  organization,  whose 
center  of  unity  was  found  in  the  episcopate,  there  is  no 
salvation.  By  the  strong  opposition  that  the  presbyters 
made  to  the  assumption  of  authority  on  the  part  of  the 
bishops  the  latter  were  led  to  assert  the  divine  right  and 
the  irresponsibility  of  bishops.  The  same  sense  of  the 
necessity  of  organic  union  and  unity  of  administration 
afterward  led  to  the  centralization  of  authority  in  metro 
politans  and  finally  in  the  papacy. 


12  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

No  less  destructive  of  the  spirit  of  primitive  Christian 
ity  was  the  early  intrusion  of  the  doctrine  of  the  meri- 
toriousness  of  external  works.  Jews  and  pagans  alike 
attached  great  merit  to  almsgiving,  fasting,  and  the  fre 
quent  utterance  of  fixed  forms  of  prayer.  By  the  middle 
of  the  third  century  leading  churchmen  like  Cyprian  did 
not  hesitate  to  teach  that  almsgiving  is  a  means  of  se 
curing  the  remission  of  sins  and  of  purchasing  an  eternal 
inheritance. 

Asceticism  also  was  imported  into  early  Christianity 
from  paganism.  The  disposition  to  regard  the  body  as 
intrinsically  evil  and  all  natural  impulses  as  worthy  only 
of  being  trampled  upon  is  a  common  feature  of  pagan 
religions.  Fanatical  seeking  for  martyrdom,  excessive 
fasting,  and  the  exaltation  of  virginity,  were  the  earliest 
forms  of  Christian  asceticism.  It  culminated  in  the 
brutalities  of  hermit  life.  It  was  chiefly  through  Gnosti 
cism  and  Manichaeism  that  ascetic  ideas  found  entrance 
into  the  church,  but  these  ideas  were  part  and  parcel  of 
the  spirit  of  the  age  and  could  not  easily  have  been  es 
caped.  That  Christianity  was  sadly  corrupted  by  the 
intrusion  of  this  element  all  evangelical  Christians  main 
tain. 

Superstition  and  idolatry  were  universally  prevalent  in 
ancient  paganism  as  they  are  in  modern.  They  pervaded 
and  corrupted  every  department  of  life  and  occupied  a 
most  prominent  place  in  the  popular  consciousness. 
That  these  elements  are  not  eradicated  once  for  all  by 
conversion,  but  persist  and  sadly  interfere  with  the  full 
development  of  Christian  character,  the  New  Testament 
record  illustrates  and  ancient  history  as  well  as  modern 
experience  fully  confirms.  In  proportion  as  Christianity 
increased  in  popular  influence  and  enjoyed  immunity 
from  persecution  was  the  accession  to  the  church  of  un- 
Christianized  or  imperfectly  Christianized  life.  Not  only 


SUPERSTITION  AND  IDOLATRY  13 

did  the  ordinances  assume  a  pagan  hue  and  sacerdotal  and 
ascetic  ideas  become  prevalent,  but  idolatrous  practices 
corresponding  in  almost  every  detail  with  those  of  the 
surrounding  heathenism  came  to  be  openly  indulged  in 
and  regarded  as  Christian.  The  exaltation  of  saints  and 
martyrs,  the  worship  of  images  of  Christ  and  the  saints, 
the  veneration  of  bones  and  other  relics  of  the  worthies 
of  the  past,  pilgrimages  to  shrines  and  other  holy  places, 
vigils  at  the  tombs  of  saints,  the  invocation  of  Mary  the 
mother  of  Jesus  as  "  the  mother  of  God,"  the  invocation 
of  saints,  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  relics  and  shrines  to 
cure  diseases — these  and  many  like  superstitious  prac 
tices  were  countenanced  by  some  of  the  ablest  and  holi 
est  of  the  Christian  leaders  of  the  fourth  and  following 
centuries,  and  by  the  fifth  century  had  become  well-nigh 
universal. 

The  church  that  rejoiced  in  the  patronage  of  Constan- 
tine  and  his  successors,  and  that  so  readily  assumed  the 
position  of  an  established  religion,  receiving  its  support 
from  public  taxation  and  persecuting  paganism  and  her 
esy,  was  evidently  not  the  church  of  the  apostles. 
It  has  been  maintained  that  the  influence  of  pagan 
thought  and  life  on  Christianity  was  in  general  whole 
some,  inasmuch  as  it  gave  philosophical  form  to  Christian 
doctrine  and  freed  the  church  from  the  narrowness  and 
exclusiveness  that  belonged  to  the  apostolic  age.  It  has 
been  urged  with  considerable  plausibility  that  the  com 
plete  Christianization  of  Europe  and  the  establishment  of 
a  Christian  civilization  was  greatly  hastened  by  the  readi 
ness  with  which  Christianity  absorbed  pagan  modes  of 
thought  and  adapted  itself  to  pagan  ideas  of  life  and  of 
worship.  Each  of  these  positions  certainly  contains  a 
modicum  of  truth.  Circumstances  being  as  they  were 
we  can  scarcely  conceive  of  Christianity  as  holding 
rigidly  aloof  from  the  influences  of  Jewish  and  pagan 


14  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

thought  and  life  ;  if  such  an  attitude  had  been  assumed 
the  progress  of  Christianity  must  during  the  first  few 
centuries  have  been  slow  indeed.  As  a  matter  of  histor 
ical  fact  great  masses  of  men  do  not  abandon  at  once  the 
religious  conceptions  that  constitute  the  inheritance  of 
centuries.  Departure  from  apostolic  doctrine  and  prac 
tice  was  gradual  and  unconscious,  but  none  the  less  real 
and  disastrous. 

Literature:  Ante-Nicene  Fathers  (orig.  or  transl.) ;  Pistis  Sophia 
(Ethiopic  with  Lat.  tr.  by  Petermann,  extracts  in  Eng.  in  King, 
The  Gnostics);  The  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  (ed.  by 
Schaff,  Harnack,  Hilgenfeld,  etc.) ;  Harnack,  Dogmengeschichte,  I. ; 
Works  on  Baptism  and  Infant  Baptism  by  Wall,  Gale,  Caspari, 
Hoffmann,  Hofling,  and  Ingham  ;  Stanley,  Chr.  Institutions  ;  Hatch, 
Hibbert  and  Bampton  Lectures;  articles  and  sections  on  Baptism, 
the  Supper,  etc.,  in  Smith's  Diet,  of  Chr.  Antiq.,  the  Encyclopae 
dias  of  Herzog-Plitt,  Schaff-Herzog,  Lichtenberger,  and  McClintock 
and  Strong,  and  the  Church  Histories  of  Neander,  Gieseler,  Schaff, 
Moller,  Muller,  etc. 


CHAPTER  II 

ANCIENT    SECTS    IN   THEIR    RELATION  TO  BAPTIST  PRIN 
CIPLES 

BUT,  it  may  be  asked,  did  the  church  as  a  whole  suc 
cumb  to  the  corrupting  influences  to  which  it  was 
subjected  during  the  early  centuries?  Were  there  none 
that  remained  loyal  to  primitive  Christianity  among 
the  tempted  multitudes?  Many  Baptist  writers  have 
sought  to  find  in  the  Montanists,  Novatians,  Donatists, 
Jovinianists,  Vigilantians,  Paulicians,  Bogomiles,  etc., 
who  successively  revolted  from  the  dominant  types  of 
Christianity,  faithful  adherents  to  apostolic  doctrine  and 
practice  and  links  in  the  chain  of  Baptist  apostolic  suc 
cession.  Let  us  test  the  claim  of  these  parties  to  this 
honorable  distinction. 

How  stands  the  case  with  the  Montanists  ?  They  pro 
tested  most  vigorously,  it  is  true,  against  many  of  the 
paganizing  corruptions  into  which  the  church  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  second  century  had  fallen.  They 
insisted  most  earnestly  upon  the  rigid  application  of 
church  discipline  and  upon  the  exclusion  of  all  members 
whose  lives  fell  short  of  a  high  moral  and  spiritual  stand 
ard.  They  showed  themselves  willing  to  suffer  all 
manner  of  persecution  on  behalf  of  the  truth  as  they 
understood  it.  They  spent  much  time  in  fasting  and 
prayer  and  were  zealous  in  good  works.  But  was  their 
zeal  according  to  knowledge?  Was  the  spirit  of  Mon- 
tanism  the  spirit  of  apostolic  Christianity?  Far  from  it. 
Judaistic  and  pagan  legalism  had  made  their  influence 
felt  even  more  powerfully  upon  this  enthusiastic  sect 
than  upon  the  general  church  of  the  time.  Their 

15 


16  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

religious  enthusiasm  was  grounded  in  the  erroneous  be 
lief  that  the  end  of  the  age  was  at  hand.  Supposing 
themselves  to  be  the  organs  of  a  new  revelation,  which 
Christ  had  promised  through  the  Paraclete,  they  felt 
themselves  justified  in  disparaging  the  ethical  teachings 
of  the  New  Testament  as  having  been  accommodated  to 
the  ignorance  and  weakness  of  the  apostolic  times  and  in 
setting  up  in  the  name  of  the  Paraclete  a  new  and  stricter 
code.  The  revelations  that  were  supposed  to  come 
through  their  prophets  were  almost  wholly  directions  for 
the  establishment  of  a  more  rigorous  morality  than  that 
of  the  New  Testament.  They  claimed  the  authority  of 
the  Paraclete  for  making  second  marriages  equivalent  to 
adultery  and  hence  mortal  sin  ;  for  rejecting  entirely  the 
use  of  wine  and  insisting  on  frequent  and  long-continued 
fasts  ;  for  making  flight  in  persecution  or  denial  of  the 
faith  under  any  circumstances  mortal  sin  ;  and  for  ex 
pecting  the  speedy  end  of  the  present  dispensation.  This 
rigid  system  was  emphasized  by  their  maintenance  of  the 
theory  that  mortal  sins  are  unpardonable,  absolutely  so 
as  far  as  the  church  is  concerned. 

Montanistic  prophecy,  as  far  as  appears,  differed  little 
from  pagan  manticism.  By  violent  physical  exertion, 
excessive  fasting,  and  intense  application  of  the  mind 
to  ethical  and  eschatological  problems,  these  prophets 
wrought  themselves  up  into  an  abnormal  psychological 
state  and  gave  utterance,  in  a  more  or  less  inco 
herent  manner,  to  the  thoughts  that  had  been  fore 
most  in  their  minds.  These  morbid  utterances  were 
regarded  by  the  Montanists  as  God's  latest  and  high 
est  revelation.  Their  legalistic  asceticism  was  radically 
opposed  to  the  New  Testament  idea  of  the  Christian  life. 
Their  arbitrary  extension  of  the  list  of  mortal  sins  and 
their  unwarranted  insistence  that  all  mortal  sins  are 
unpardonable  tended  to  drive  to  despair  those  who  had 


MONTANISM  AND   NOVATIANISM  17 

fallen  into  sin  and  to  cultivate  in  themselves  a  spirit  of 
self-righteousness.  Tertullian,  the  greatest  of  the  Mon- 
tanists,  was,  as  we  have  seen,  among  the  most  earnest 
maintainers  of  the  saving  efficacy  of  water  baptism. 
Montanism,  therefore,  so  far  from  being  a  return  to  prim 
itive  Christianity  or  an  anticipation  of  the  Baptist  posi 
tion,  contained  the  germs  of  many  of  the  worst  errors  of 
later  Roman  Catholicism. 

Equally  remote  from  the  spirit  of  primitive  Christianity 
were  the  Novatians  (A.  D.  251  onward).  Novatianism 
represents  an  earnest  protest  against  the  relaxation  of 
discipline  in  the  general  church  of  the  time  ;  but  this 
protest  was  based  upon  the  Montanistic  view  that  mortal 
sins  committed  after  baptism  are  absolutely  unpardon 
able  so  far  as  the  church  is  concerned  and  on  the  Mon 
tanistic  extension  of  the  list  of  mortal  sins.  A  person 
who  in  the  stress  of  persecution,  even  under  torture, 
had  momentarily  yielded  to  the  demands  of  his  tor 
mentors  that  he  should  deny  the  faith,  or  had  been  guilty 
of  flight  in  persecution,  or  had  in  any  other  way  com 
promised  himself  in  relation  to  the  faith,  had  forfeited, 
from  the  Novatian  point  of  view,  once  for  all  the  right  to 
a  place  and  a  name  among  God's  people.  He  might 
repent  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  but  so  far  as  church  priv 
ileges  were  concerned  it  was  of  no  avail.  He  was 
encouraged  to  hope  that  after  a  lifetime  of  penance  he 
might  finally  be  a  recipient  of  divine  grace  ;  but  on  earth 
he  could  never  expect  to  regain  his  church-membership 
and  privileges.  There  was  need  of  a  vigorous  protest 
against  the  extreme  laxity  with  which  many  churches 
were  dealing  with  the  lapsed.  But  the  Novatians  erred 
yet  more  grievously  in  refusing,  on  arbitrary  and  non- 
scriptural  grounds,  to  restore  to  church  fellowship  the 
truly  penitent.  Novatians,  like  Montanists,  were  ex 
treme  believers  in  the  magical  efficacy  of  water  baptism 


18  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

and  in  the  necessity  of  baptism  to  the  remission  of  sins. 
So  great  was  the  stress  laid  upon  the  ordinance  by  Nova- 
tian  himself,  that  when  he  was  lying  ill  and  was  not 
expected  to  recover  he  submitted  to  what  was  after 
ward  called  clinic  baptism,  that  is  to  say,  he  had  water 
poured  upon  him  while  lying  on  his  bed.  This  was  one 
of  the  charges  made  against  him  by  his  Catholic  oppo 
nents,  who  doubted  the  validity  of  such  baptism  and 
maintained  that  after  his  recovery  he  should  have  been 
properly  baptized.  It  is  not  easy  to  detect  in  Novatian- 
ism  the  notes  of  the  apostolic  church,  or  any  very  close 
relationship  to  the  Baptist  position. 

Almost  identical  with  the  position  of  the  Novatians 
was  that  of  the  Donatists  (A.  D.  311  onward).  As  the 
Novatian  schism  grew  out  of  the  lapses  that  occurred  in 
connection  with  the  Decian  persecution,  so  the  Donatist 
schism  grew  out  of  the  lapses  occasioned  by  the  Diocle 
tian  persecution.  The  immediate  occasion  of  the  Donat 
ist  schism  was  a  supposed  departure  from  Christian 
fidelity  on  the  part  of  Mensurius,  bishop  of  the  Cartha 
ginian  church,  and  one  of  his  deacons,  Caecilian.  The 
destruction  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  was  one  of  the 
chief  aims  of  the  persecutors.  Mensurius  and  Caecilian 
were  accused  of  having  secreted  the  Scriptures  belonging 
to  the  church  and  placing  certain  worthless  heretical 
manuscripts  in  their  place.  The  officers  of  the  law  were 
allowed,  it  was  said,  to  take  these  worthless  writings  on 
the  supposition  that  they  were  the  Scriptures.  Thus  the 
bishop  was  enabled  to  save  the  Scriptures  and  his  own 
life  as  well.  The  position  of  the  strict  party,  that  after 
ward  received  the  name  Donatist  from  its  most  promi 
nent  leader,  was,  that  such  deceit  was  mortal  sin  and 
disqualified  those  guilty  of  it  for  the  Christian  ministry 
and  even  for  church-membership.  What  they  should 
have  done,  in  the  circumstances  supposed,  was  to  hide 


DONATISM  19 

the  Scriptures  and  to  suffer  martyrdom  rather  than 
betray  their  place  of  concealment.  The  specific  charge 
against  Mensurius  and  Cascilian  was  persistently  denied, 
and  although  an  imperial  commission  was  appointed  to 
visit  Carthage  and  to  gather  evidence  on  the  question  of 
fact  no  sure  resujt  was  ever  reached.  On  the  death  of 
Mensurius  (A.  D.  311),  Caecilian,  knowing  that  he  would 
be  strongly  opposed  by  the  strict  party,  got  himself  hur 
riedly  and  irregularly  ordained  by  a  like-minded  bishop. 
The  opponents  of  Cascilian  set  up  a  rival  bishop  and  the 
schism  rapidly  spread  throughout  Northern  Africa  and 
elsewhere. 

The  Donatists  added  to  the  disciplinary  code  of  the 
Montanists  and  Novatians  the  dogma  that  the  validity 
of  the  ordinances,  especially  baptism,  depends  on  the 
character  of  the  administrator.  Nay,  the  validity  of  the 
baptism  of  any  individual  was  logically  conditioned  not 
merely  on  the  uprightness  of  the  person  who  baptized 
him,  but  upon  an  unbroken  line  of  ceremonially  and 
morally  unblemished  administrators  of  the  ordinance 
back  to  the  apostles.  To  have  fellowship  with  Mensur 
ius  and  Cascilian  and  their  successors  constituted  one  a 
traditor,  and  disqualified  him  for  membership  and  minis 
try  in  a  Donatist  church.  The  only  way  in  which  ad 
mission  could  be  secured  was  by  renouncing  the  church 
that  had  made  the  cause  of  Mensurius  and  Cascilian  its 
own  and  by  being  baptized  anew  into  the  Donatist  fel 
lowship.  The  Donatists  seem  to  have  laid  even  greater 
stress  than  did  the  Catholics  of  the  time  on  infant  bap 
tism  ;  and  so  intense  was  their  belief  in  the  necessity  of 
baptism  to  salvation  that  in  their  view  Christ  himself 
needed  to  be  baptized  in  order  to  secure  the  remission  of 
hereditary  sin.  Their  demand  for  an  unbroken  line  of 
worthy  administrators  of  the  ordinance  was  as  unwar 
ranted  as  it  was  impracticable,  and  tended  to  throw 


20  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

doubt  on  the  validity  of  any  individual  case  of  baptism. 
As  regards  episcopacy,  their  practice  seems  to  have  been 
identical  with  that  of  their  Catholic  opponents.  They 
may  properly  be  called  the  high  churchmen  of  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries.  That  they  were  either  apostolic  or 
Baptist  does  not  appear. 

The  protest  of  Aerius  (A.  D.  355)  in  Pontus  seems  to 
have  had  a  more  evangelical  basis.  He  claimed  that  the 
church  had  substituted  the  yoke  of  Jewish  bondage  for 
the  liberty  of  the  gospel.  He  insisted  on  Scriptural 
grounds  upon  the  equality  of  presbyters  and  bishops. 
He  protested  against  prayers  for  the  dead,  the  celebration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  as  an  offering  for  the  dead,  and 
ecclesiastical  fasts.  There  is  no  evidence  that  he  rejected 
infant  baptism  or  baptismal  regeneration,  as  from  his  gen 
eral  position  he  might  have  been  expected  to  do. 

Somewhat  similar  in  spirit  was  the  protest  of  Jovinian 
(A.  D.  385  onward),  a  Milanese  monk,  who  came  to  see 
the  evils  of  monasticism  and  who  vigorously  assailed 
various  errors  and  abuses  connected  with  current  ascetic 
modes  of  thought.  He  denied  the  superiority  of  celi 
bacy  to  married  life  ;  maintained  the  equality  in  merit  of 
virgins,  widows,  and  married  persons  who  have  been 
once  washed  in  Christ ;  denied  that  those  who  with  full 
faith  have  been  born  again  in  baptism  can  be  subverted 
by  the  devil  ;  insisted  upon  the  equality  in  point  of  merit 
of  those  who  abstain  from  foods  and  those  who  partake 
of  them  with  thanksgiving ;  and  maintained  that  for  all 
truly  regenerate  persons  there  is  one  remuneration  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  all  alike  being  saved  by  divine  grace 
and  not  by  merit,  and  all  works  of  supererogation  being 
thus  impossible.  He  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  vener 
ation  and  intercession  of  the  saints.  He  seems  to  have 
held,  with  the  Christian  writers  of  the  second  century, 
that' the  remission  of  sins  takes  place  in  connection  with 


JOVINIAN  AND  VIGILANTIUS  21 

the  baptismal  act,  faith  and  repentance  having  preceded. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  he  rejected  infant  baptism. 
He  secured  a  large  following,  but  was  condemned  by 
synods  at  Rome  and  Milan,  and  banished  by  the  emperor 
Honorius.  His  persecuted  followers  seem  to  have  taken 
refuge  in  the  Alps,  where  they  may  have  persisted  until 
the  Middle  Ages. 

Equally  evangelical  was  the  protest  of  Vigilantius,  a 
native  of  Southern  Gaul  and  a  protege  of  the  celebrated 
Sulpicius  Severus.  About  394  he  was  sent  by  his  patron 
on  a  visit  to  Paulinus  of  Nola,  a  highly  educated  and 
wealthy  patrician,  who  had  been  led  by  the  ascetic  spirit 
of  the  time  to  devote  his  entire  fortune  to  the  relief  of 
the  poor  and  the  maintenance  of  a  monastery  and 
church.  These  he  had  filled  with  relics  and  images  and 
had  adorned  with  the  utmost  splendor.  Vigilantius  was 
shocked  by  the  introduction  of  so  much  of  paganism  into 
Christian  worship.  He  afterward  visited  Jerome  in  his 
hermit  cell  at  Bethlehem.  The  excesses  of  asceticism 
witnessed  here  called  forth  his  earnest  opposition.  His 
antagonism  to  asceticism  was  intensified  by  a  visit  to 
Egypt  where  he  came  in  contact  with  the  swarms  of 
monks  and  hermits  that  inhabited  the  Nitrian  desert. 
He  returned  to  Gaul  and  gained  many  adherents.  Vigi 
lantius  condemned  the  undue  exaltation  of  celibacy  and 
virginity,  the  worship  of  images  and  relics,  the  invoca 
tion  of  saints,  vigils  at  the  tombs  of  martyrs,  etc.,  and 
insisted  on  a  return  to  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel.  The 
movement  was  lost  in  the  invasion  of  the  Alans  and 
Vandals,  but  it  is  probable  that  the  followers  of  Vigilan 
tius,  like  those  of  Jovinian,  took  refuge  in  the  Alpine 
valleys.  There  is  no  evidence  that  this  reformer  rejected 
infant  baptism  or  baptismal  regeneration. 

The  best  example  of  the  persistence  of  a  somewhat 
primitive  type  of  Christianity  is  probably  that  of  the 


22  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

ancieni  British  church.  During  the  fourth  and  fifth  cen 
turies  British  Christians  seem  to  have  held  aloof  in  a 
measure  from  the  paganizing  influences  in  which  the  con 
tinental  church  became  involved.  Diocesan  episcopacy 
seems  not  to  have  existed.  The  study  of  the  Scriptures 
was  pursued  with  zeal  in  the  numerous  semi-monastic 
colleges  for  the  training  of  pastors  and  missionaries. 
An  extensive  and  successful  missionary  work  was  carried 
on  in  Ireland,  Scotland,  France,  and  Germany.  Human 
authority  in  matters  of  religion  was  indignantly  repu 
diated.  Humility  and  simplicity  in  Christian  life  were 
insisted  upon  and  the  pomp  and  worldliness  of  the  Roman 
missionaries  who  sought  (A.  D.  598)  to  convert  them 
proved  highly  offensive.  British  Christians  were  not  only 
of  a  radically  different  spirit  from  the  Romanists  of  the 
time,  but  were  at  variance  with  them  as  regards  the  time  of 
celebrating  Easter,  the  mode  of  baptism,  tonsure,  etc. 
An  example  of  their  missionary  activity  is  the  work  of 
Patrick  (432  onward),  who  evangelized  more  or  less  thor 
oughly  the  whole  of  Ireland  and  left  a  reputation  for 
sanctity  of  life  and  spiritual  power  that  entitles  him  to 
be  considered  one  of  the  greatest  of  missionaries. 
Equally  noteworthy  are  the  labors  of  Columba,  an 
Irishman  by  birth  and  education,  who,  under  circum 
stances  of  great  difficulty,  succeeded  (latter  part  of  the 
sixth  century)  in  planting  evangelical  churches  through 
out  Scotland.  Columbanus,  another  Irishman,  is  worthy 
of  being  placed  by  the  side  of  Patrick  and  Columba. 
About  585,  with  thirteen  companions,  he  made  his  way 
to  Burgundy  where  he  founded  one  after  another  three 
great  mission  stations  that  formed  the  centers  of  exten 
sive  evangelistic  activity.  His  John-the-Baptist-like 
denunciation  of  the  immoralities  of  the  court  and  his  res 
olute  refusal  to  abandon  the  peculiarities  of  the  Irish 
church  resulted  in  his  banishment.  With  a  body  of 


EARLY  BRITISH  CHURCHES  23 

faithful  companions  he  made  his  way  up  the  Rhine  to 
Switzerland  where  also  he  founded  a  number  of  mission 
stations.  Driven  hence  by  the  malignity  of  his  enemies 
he  proceeded  to  Northern  Italy  where  in  his  old  age  he 
formed  yet  another  center  of  mission  work. 

Notwithstanding  the  terrible  persecutions  to  which 
they  were  subjected  during  the  seventh  and  following 
centuries  by  the  Saxon  kings,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  Christians  of  the  ancient  Brit 
ish  type  are  known  to  have  maintained  their  existence  in 
considerable  numbers,  especially  in  Wales  and  Scotland, 
until  the  eleventh  century.  It  is  probable  that  they 
were  never  completely  destroyed  and  that  they  reap 
peared  in  the  Lollards  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

The  mission  work  inaugurated  by  Columbanus  was 
carried  forward  with  great  perseverance  and  success  dur 
ing  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries.  By  the  middle  of 
the  eighth  century  the  Iro-Scottish  church  was  predom 
inant  throughout  the  Rhine  valley,  in  Thuringia,  and  in 
Bavaria.  In  the  entire  South  and  West  of  Germany, 
before  the  coming  of  Boniface,  the  so-called  apostle  of 
the  Germans,  there  existed  (to  quote  the  language 
of  Ebrard)  "  a  flourishing,  well-organized,  Rome-free 
church,  whose  only  supreme  authority  was  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  whose  preaching  was  the  word  of  the  free 
redeeming  grace  of  God."  The  same  writer  says  :  "  A 
simple  but  well-organized  church  existed  from  the 
Pyrenees  to  the  Scheldt,  from  Chur  to  Utrecht,  whose 
only  crime  was  that  it  did  not  recognize  the  Roman 
church  as  its  supreme  head  ;  hence  also  knew  no  new 
invocation  of  saints,  no  mass,  no  auricular  confession 
and  the  like,  and  did  not  do  homage  to  gross  Pelagian- 
ism,  but  preached  justification  through  faith."  Forster, 
another  learned  German  writer,  characterizes  the  Iro- 
Scottish  Christianity  of  the  Continent  as  of  "apostolic 


24  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

simplicity,"  as  having  "simple  ceremonies"  and  ear 
nest  moral  life,  and  as  "  recognizing  the  Scriptures  as  its 
completely  sufficient  norm." 

This  party  was  crushed,  but  probably  never  utterly 
destroyed,  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  hierarchy  and  the 
Prankish  rulers  ;  yet  its  evangelical  spirit  doubtless  sur 
vived  in  the  dissenting  parties  that  appeared  in  the  same 
regions  during  the  mediaeval  time.  There  is  no  sufficient 
evidence  that  the  Iro-Scottish  church  rejected  baptismal 
regeneration  or  infant  baptism. 

The  only  reason  for  even  mentioning  the  Paulicians  in 
this  connection  is  the  fact  that  some  Baptist  writers  have 
sought  to  represent  them  as  essentially  apostolic  in  doc 
trine  and  practice.  While  recent  investigations  by  Arme 
nian  scholars  have  seriously  discredited  the  Greek 
accounts  of  this  party,  on  which  we  have  been  almost 
wholly  dependent,  and  have  proved  that  such  writers  as 
Photius,  Peter  the  Sicilian,  and  Zygadenus,  have  care 
lessly  or  maliciously  confounded  the  Paulicians  with  such 
disreputable  parties  as  the  Manichaeans  and  the  Messa- 
lians,  the  positive  information  that  has  thus  far  been 
brought  to  light  is  wholly  inadequate  to  enable  us  to 
speak  definitely  about  their  evangelical  character.  The 
date  of  their  rise  in  Armenia  (about  660,  according  to  the 
ordinary  chronology)  is  itself  a  matter  of  uncertainty. 
That  they  were  radically  opposed  to  the  dominant  church, 
that  they  were  violently  iconoclastic,  that  they  were 
ready  to  co-operate  with  Mohammedan  invaders  against 
their  persecutors,  that  in  the  ninth  century  large  num 
bers  of  them  were  encouraged  by  the  Eastern  empire  to 
settle  in  Bulgaria,  where  they  served  as  a  sort  of  border- 
guard  between  the  empire  and  its  northwestern  enemies, 
that  from  this  vantage-ground  their  principles  extended 
throughout  Europe,  seem  to  be  well-established  facts. 
Whether  they  were  originally  dualistic  and  rejected  the 


THE  PAULICIANS  25 

Old  Testament  as  the  work  of  the  Demiurge  (world- 
framer),  and  rejected  the  ordinances  of  the  New  Testa 
ment,  or  whether  these  features  were  limited  to  other 
parties  with  which  they  came  into  close  contact  and  with 
which  they  might  easily  have  been  confounded,  must 
remain  undetermined  for  the  present.  That  among  the 
Oriental  Christians  who  settled  in  Bulgaria  and  whose 
teachings  spread  over  Western  Europe  there  were  many 
shades  of  opinion  and  practice  from  crass  dualism  and  the 
practice  of  gross  immorality  to  comparative  purity  in 
teaching  and  life  seems  highly  probable,  and  the  same 
degree  of  probability  attaches  to  the  supposition  that  the 
more  evangelical  as  well  as  the  less  evangelical  of  the 
mediaeval  European  sects  were  due  in  some  measure  to 
these  Oriental  influences.1 

What  then  are  the  results  of  this  cursory  survey  of  the 
first  eight  Christian  centuries  ? 

I.  We  have  seen  that  error  grappled  with  the  infant 
religion  in  its  very  cradle  and  while  it  did  not  succeed  in 
utterly  strangling  it  Christianity  did  not  escape  the  or 
deal  unscathed.  This  is  generally  acknowledged  so  far 
as  Ebionitic  (or  Jewish-speculative)  Christianity  and 
Gnostic  (or  pagan-theosophical)  Christianity  is  con 
cerned.  But  some  will  no  doubt  question  the  assertion 


JSee  Karapet  Ter-Mkrttschian's  "Die  Paulikianer  im  Byzantinischen  Kaiser- 
reiche  und  verwandte  ketzerische  Erscheinungen  in  Armenien,"  Leipzig,  1893.  Kar 
apet  is  an  Armenian  scholar,  who  has  studied  in  the  German  universities  and  has 
had  the  advantage  of  access  to  Armenian  literature,  printed  and  manuscript,  as  well 
as  to  the  Greek  sources  and  modern  German  discussions.  Unfortunately  his  results 
are  chiefly  negative  ;  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  himself  or  some  other  will  follow  the 
lines  of  research  marked  out  to  more  assured  positive  results.  In  the  "  Zeitschrift 
fur  Kirchengeschichte"  (October,  1895),  Karapet  has  given  an  account  of  a  modern 
Anti-pedobaptist  party.  He  imparts  in  German  ar  important  catechetical  work  that 
was  put  forth  by  a  leader  of  this  party  in  1782.  This  party  Karapet  insists  on  deriv 
ing  from  the  Thondrakians,  who  seem  to  have  perpetuated  in  Armenia  the  old  evan 
gelical  teaching  that  may  have  been  represented  in  the  earlier  time  by  the  Pauli- 
cians.  This  writing  sets  forth  views  as  regards  baptism,  etc.,  almost  identical  with 
those  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  of  the  sixteenth  century.  See  summary  of  its  contents 
in  an  article  by  the  present  writer  in  the  Chicago  "  Standard  "  for  May  16,  1896. 


26  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

that  error  invaded  the  very  bosom  of  the  church  early  in 
the  second  century.  The  error  is  often  committed  of  re 
garding  the  Gnostic  and  Ebionitic  tendencies  on  the  one 
hand  and  Catholic  orthodoxy  on  the  other  as  sharply 
defined  and  separate.  The  fact  is,  on  the  contrary,  that 
the  modes  of  thought  that  had  their  extreme  develop 
ment  in  Gnosticism  and  Ebionism  were  widely  current 
during  the  early  Christian  centuries  and  the  extent  to 
which  they  were  able  to  impress  themselves  upon  this  or 
that  Christian  individual  or  community  depended  on  the 
degree  to  which  Christian  truth  had  been  apprehended. 
Those  who  had  been  instructed  by  the  apostles  them 
selves  and  those  who  had  been  brought  up  under  strong 
Christian  influences  were  in  a  position  to  resist  Judaizing 
and  paganizing  influences  to  an  extent  impossible  for 
others.  Least  of  all  could  it  be  expected  that  men  edu 
cated  in  non-Christian  philosophy  and  theosophy  and  to 
whom  Christianity  came  as  new  wine  into  old  bottles 
should  at  once  become  free  from  the  domination  of  pagan 
thought.  Many  of  the  Christian  teachers  of  the  second 
and  following  centuries  brought  such  non-Christian  cul 
ture  with  them  and  unconsciously  were  instrumental  in 
working  important  changes  in  Christian  modes  of  thought 
and  life.  Those  whose  training  had  been  in  the  purer 
systems  such  as  Stoicism  and  Platonism,  or  in  eclectic 
systems  in  which  the  highest  elements  of  pagan  thought 
were  embodied,  influenced  Christianity  in  a  less  objec 
tionable  way  ;  those  who  had  been  schooled  in  Oriental, 
Egyptian,  and  Pythagorean  theosophy,  could  not  fail  to 
degrade  Christianity  almost  to  the  level  of  the  modes  of 
thought  that  had  mastered  them.1 

2.  While  we  admire  the  zeal  for  pure  membership,  the 
fidelity  to  conviction,   and  the  heroic  self-denial  of  the 

i  See  Hatch's  Hibbert  Lectures  on  "  The  Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and  Usages  upon 
the  Christian  Church." 


GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  27 

schismatic  parties  of  the  early  Christian  centuries,  we 
cannot  fail  to  see  in  the  church  of  Justin  Martyr,  of  Iren- 
asus,  of  Cyprian,  of  Origen,  of  Eusebius,  of  Athanasius, 
of  Chrysostom,  and  of  Augustine,  with  all  its  errors  and 
corruptions,  more  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  a  nearer 
approach  to  apostolic  doctrine  and  practice  than  in  Mon- 
tanism,  Novatianism,  or  Donatism. 

3.  The  case  is  different  with  the  movements  led  by 
Ae'rius,   Jovinian,  and  Vigilantius.      Here  we  encounter 
for  the  first  time  radical  opposition  to  the  rapidly  pro 
gressive  paganization  of  Christianity,  based  on  a  toler 
ably  correct  apprehension  of  New  Testament  principles. 
These  reformers  seem  to  have  distinctly  rejected  sacer 
dotalism  and  asceticism,  with  the  doctrine  of  the  meri- 
toriousness  of  good  works,  and  to  have  held  fast  to  the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.     It  is  probable  that  if 
we  knew  more  about  them  we  should  find  their  position 
even  more  completely  in  accord  with    New  Testament 
Christianity  than  the  meagre  and  hostile  accounts  that 
we  have  of  them  warrant  us  in  asserting.     But  the  cur 
rent  of  paganizing  influence  was  far  too  strong  to  be 
stayed  by  the  protests  of  a  few  exceptionally  enlight 
ened  spirits,  and  they  seem  to  have  made  little  impression 
on  their  time. 

4.  So  also  in  the  ancient  British  church  we  have  a 
distinctly  purer  and  more  primitive  type  of  Christianity 
than  that  which  prevailed  during  the  fourth  and  following 
centuries  in  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe  and  in  Asia. 
This  was  no  doubt  due  in  part  to  the  isolation  of  the 
British  church  from  the  corrupting  influences  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  and  in  part  to  the  prominence  that  was  given 
to  the  study  of  the  Bible  and  to  the  remarkable  activity 
in  mission  work  that  for  generations  prevailed. 

5.  Was  there  then  a  failure  of  the  assurance  of  Christ 
that  the  gates  of   hades  should   not  prevail  against  his 


28  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

church  ?  Far  be  it.  We  do  not,  it  is  true,  find  a  succes 
sion  of  organized  churches  in  which  Christian  doctrines 
were  maintained  incorrupt.  We  are  not  able  to  prove 
that  from  the  middle  of  the  second  century  onward  a 
single  congregation  could  anywhere  be  found  true  in 
every  particular  to  the  apostolic  norm.  Nay,  it  is  not 
possible  to  point  to  an  individual  Christian  during  the 
millennium  that  succeeded  the  apostolic  age  who  appre 
hended  Christianity  in  a  purely  apostolic  manner.  But 
that  there  were  hosts  of  true  believers  during  the  dark 
est  ages  of  Christian  history  can  by  no  means  be 
doubted.  It  is  comforting  to  know  that  men  may  be  in 
volved  in  grievous  errors  as  regards  doctrine  and  practice 
and  yet  attain  to  a  high  standard  of  Christian  living. 
That  a  church  also  may  make  grave  departures  in  doc 
trine  and  practice  from  the  apostolic  standard  without 
ceasing  to  be  a  church  of  Christ,  must  be  admitted,  or 
else  it  must  be  maintained  that  during  many  centuries  no 
church  is  known  to  have  existed.  In  this  admission 
there  is  no  implication  that  an  individual  or  a  church  may 
knowingly  live  in  disobedience  to  Christ's  precepts  with 
out  grievous  sin,  or  can  ignorantly  disobey  without  seri 
ous  spiritual  loss.  On  the  contrary,  every  departure, 
conscious  or  unconscious,  from  New  Testament  precept 
or  example,  not  only  involves  loss  as  regards  the  particu 
lar  defection,  but  brings  in  its  train  other  evils,  which  in 
turn  bring  others,  until  doctrine  and  practice  become 
thoroughly  corrupted.  For  example,  Baptists  have  al 
ways  regarded  infant  baptism  not  simply  as  an  unauthor 
ized  and  useless  innovation,  but  as  involving  a  radical 
departure  from  the  purpose  of  Christ  in  instituting  the 
ordinance  :  supplanting  believers'  baptism,  making  the 
symbol  antedate  the  thing  symbolized,  striking  at  the 
root  of  regenerate  church-membership,  tending  to  bring 
the  entire  population  of  a  Christianized  community  into 


GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  29 

church  fellowship,  and  making  possible  and  fostering 
State-churchism.  And  so  the  consequences  of  any  other 
radical  departure  from  New  Testament  precept  and  ex 
ample  may  be  shown  to  be  far-reaching  and  destructive. 

Literature:  On  Montanism :  Bonwetsch,  De  Soyres,  Neander 
(Antignosticus),  Ritschl  (D.  Altkath.  Kirche),  Baur,  Pressense.  On 
Novatianism :  Works  of  Cyprian,  Novatian,  Eusebius,  and  Socra 
tes,  O.  Ritschl,  Cyprian.  On  Donatism :  Works  of  Augustine 
and  Optatus,  and  the  monographs  of  Volter,  Seeck,  and  Deutsch. 
On  Jovinianism  and  Vigilantianism  :  Jerome,  Gilly,  and  Lindner. 
On  Paulicianism :  Photius,  Peter  Siculus,  Zygadenus,  Gieseler, 
Schmidt  (Hist.  Paul.  Orientalium),  Lombard  (Les  Paulic.),  Dollinger 
(Sectengesch,  I.),  and  Karapet.  On  all  the  parties  treated,  the  per 
tinent  articles  and  sections  in  Smith's  Diet,  of  Chr.  Biog.  and  in 
the  Encyclopaedias  and  Histories  referred  to  in  chapter  I. 


CHAPTER  III 

MEDIAEVAL  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM  :  THE  PETROBRUSIANS  AND 
THE  ARNOLDISTS 

NOT  until  we  reach  the  twelfth  century  do  we  en 
counter  Christian  doctrine  and  practice  that  we 
can  with  confidence  recognize  as  measurably  conformable 
to  the  apostolic  standard.  During  the  eleventh  century 
the  dualistic  heresies  of  the  East  made  rapid  progress  in 
Western  Europe,  especially  in  Northern  Italy  and  in 
Southern  France.  Like  their  prototypes  in  the  East,  the 
Cathari,  as  they  were  commonly  called,  were  radical 
separatists  and  made  uncompromising  war  on  the  corrup 
tions  and  perversions  of  the  dominant  church.  They  not 
only  repudiated  with  decision  all  the  non-scriptural  and 
anti-scriptural  practices  of  the  Catholics  of  the  time,  in 
cluding  the  baptism  of  infants,  but  they  rejected  water 
baptism  in  general,  substituting  therefor  a  ceremony  of 
their  own  called  the  Consolamentum.  They  were  all 
dualists,  some  of  them  going  to  the  Manichaean  extreme. 
Like  the  Manichaeans  they  rejected  marriage  and  all  in 
tercourse  of  the  sexes,  abstained  from  animal  food,  and 
in  general  practised  a  rigorous  asceticism. 

In  Peter  de  Bruys  (1104-1124)  and  Henry  of  Lausanne 
(1116-1148)  we  have  what  seems  to  be  an  almost  com 
plete  return  to  New  Testament  doctrine  and  practice. 
Our  information  about  these  reformers  is  derived  wholly 
from  their  enemies,  yet  it  is  of  such  a  nature  that  its 
authenticity  can  scarcely  be  called  in  question.  Under 
what  influence  Peter,  the  French  priest,  came  to  his 
evangelical  views  we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  Being 
well  educated  and  having  access  to  the  Scriptures,  he 
30 


PETER  AND  HENRY  31 

may  have  been  led  by  the  zealous  protests  of  the 
Cathari,  who  at  this  time  abounded  in  Southern  France, 
to  examine  the  scriptural  foundation  of  the  doctrines  and 
practices  that  were  the  special  object  of  their  attack  : 
infant  baptism,  sacred  buildings  and  shrines,  the  venera 
tion  of  crosses,  transubstantiation,  sacrifices,  prayers  and 
almsgiving  for  the  dead,  liturgical  services,  etc.  Peter 
the  Venerable  gives  us  a  highly  prejudiced  but  probably 
in  the  main  correct  account  of  the  teaching  and  work  of 
Peter  de  Bruys.  Referring  to  the  state  of  things  that 
had  resulted  from  Peter's  activity  in  the  regions  to  which 
his  confutation  was  addressed,  he  says  :  "  In  your  parts 
the  people  are  rebaptized,  the  churches  profaned,  the 
altars  overthrown,  crosses  burned,  on  the  very  day  of 
our  Lord's  passion  flesh  is  publicly  eaten,  priests  are 
scourged,  monks  imprisoned  and  compelled  by  terrors 
and  tortures  to  marry."  He  bears  witness  to  the  wide 
spread  acceptance  of  the  views  of  Peter  and  the  utter 
helplessness  of  priests  and  monks  in  the  presence  of  his 
fiery  zeal.  "  O  miserable  men,  whoever  you  are,"  he 
writes,  "  who  have  yielded  not  to  many  nations  but  to  two 
wretched  little  men  only,  Peter  de  Bruys  and  Henry,  his 
pseudo-apostle."  In  his  preface,  written  after  Peter's 
death,  he  states  somewhat  fully  five  errors  which,  as  he 
says,  for  twenty  years  have  increased  and  multiplied. 
That  we  may  be  still  further  assured  of  the  thoroughgoing 
evangelical  position  of  Peter  and  Henry,  we  may  quote 
from  his  statement : 

The  first  article  of  the  heretics  denies  that  children  who  have  not 
reached  the  age  of  intelligence  can  be  saved  by  baptism,  nor  (sic) 
that  another  person's  faith  can  profit  those  who  cannot  use  their 
own,' since  the  Lord  says:  "Whosoever  shall  have  believed  and 
shall  have  been  baptized  shall  be  saved."  .  .  The  second  article 
says  that  the  building  of  temples  or  churches  ought  not  to  take 
place,  that  those  already  made,  moreover,  ought  to  be  overthrown, 


32  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

nor  that  sacred  places  for  prayer  are  necessary  to  Christians,  since 
God  when  invoked  hears  as  well  in  a  tavern  as  in  a  church,  in  a 
market  as  in  a  temple,  before  an  altar  as  before  a  manger,  and 
hearkens  to  those  who  deserve  it.  The  third  article  teaches  that 
sacred  crosses  ought  to  be  broken  to  pieces  and  burned  up,  because 
that  kind  of  thing  or  instrument  by  which  Christ  was  so  frightfully 
tortured,  so  cruelly  slain,  is  not  worthy  of  adoration  or  veneration 
or  any  sort  of  supplication,  but,  by  way  of  revenge  for  his  torments 
and  death,  ought  to  be  dishonored  in  every  possible  way,  cut  to 
pieces  with  swords  and  burned  by  fire.  The  fourth  article  denies 
not  only  the  truth,  that  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord  are  daily 
and  continuously  through  the  sacrament  offered  in  the  church,  but 
maintains  that  the  sacrament  is  nothing  at  all,  nor  ought  to  be 
offered  to  God.  The  fifth  article  ridicules  sacrifices,  prayers,  alms, 
and  other  good  works  done  for  dead  believers  by  the  living,  and 
denies  that  these  things  can  aid  any  one  of  the  dead  or  in  any 
manner. 

He  further  mentions  that  these  heretics  hold  that  God 
is  mocked  by  ecclesiastical  chanting  because  he  who  is 
delighted  solely  by  pious  affections  cannot  be  called  to 
one's  aid  by  high-pitched  sounds  nor  soothed  by  musical 
modulations. 

Peter's  evangelistic  activity  extended  from  1104  to 
1124,  when  he  was  seized  and  burned  on  a  pile  of  crosses 
that  he  was  about  to  destroy.  That  he  should  have 
been  able  during  so  long  a  period  to  carry  forward  work 
so  revolutionary  is  sufficient  evidence  that  he  had  an 
immense  following  among  the  people,  and  that  the  nobil 
ity  were  sympathetic.  It  is  probable  that  many  of  the 
Cathari  were  led  by  his  intelligent  zeal  to  abandon  their 
dualism  and  to  accept  his  scriptural  position. 

Henry  of  Lausanne,  a  Clugniac  monk  and  deacon, 
began  a  similar  career,  probably  under  Peter's  influence, 
about  1116,  and  continued  it  until  1147.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  eloquent  preachers  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Public 
testimony  was  borne  that  "  never  had  a  man  been  known 
of  so  great  strictness  of  life,  so  great  humanity  and 


PETER  AND  HENRY  33 

bravery  "  ;  that  "  by  his  speech  he  could  easily  provoke 
even  a  heart  of  stone  to  compunction."  Having  been 
left  in  charge  of  the  spiritual  work  of  his  diocese  by  the 
bishop  of  Mans,  during  a  visit  to  Rome,  he  made  a  won 
derful  commotion  in  the  community.  We  learn  from  the 
records  of  the  diocese,  that  while  he  held  services  for 
the  people,  the  clergy  likewise  sitting  and  weeping  at  his 
feet,  he  resounded  in  such  an  oracular  manner  as  if 
legions  of  demons  with  one  howl  sounded  forth  a  mur 
mur  from  his  mouth.  Nevertheless  in  a  wonderful  man 
ner  he  was  eloquent.  His  speech  infused  through  the 
ears,  adhered  to  the  people's  minds  like  fresh  poison. 
By  which  heresy  the  people  were  roused  to  fury  against 
the  clergy,  so  that  their  servants  threatened  them  with 
tortures,  nor  were  they  willing  to  sell  them  anything  or 
buy  anything  of  them,  nay,  they  held  them  as  heathens 
and  publicans. 

He  induced  immoral  women  publicly  to  burn  their 
meretricious  attire.  He  facilitated  marriages  by  abolish 
ing  the  requirement  of  a  dowry  ;  so  that  many  young 
men  under  his  direction  married  those  with  whom  they 
had  been  living  unchastely.  When  the  bishop  returned 
from  Rome  the  people  cried  out:  "  We  wish  none  of 
your  ways,  none  of  your  blessing.  .  .  We  have  a  father, 
we  have  a  pontiff,  we  have  an  advocate  who  surpasses 
you  in  authority,  honesty,  and  knowledge."  Hildebert 
succeeded  in  banishing  him,  but  not  in  withdrawing  from 
him  the  affections  of  the  people.  From  this  time  onward 
Henry  seems  to  have  co-operated  fully  with  Peter  de 
Bruys  in  the  evangelistic  work  that  had  been  inaugurated 
by  the  latter  twelve  years  before.  In  1134  we  find  him 
laboring  with  great  success  in  Provence,  where  he  was 
seized  by  the  Archbishop  of  Aries,  and  being  sent  for 
trial  to  the  pope  was  convicted  of  heresy.  Having  been 
released,  through  what  influence  we  are  not  informed, 


34  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

he  continued  his  zealous  labors.  The  passionate  denun 
ciations  of  the  great  Bernard  furnish  abundant  evidence 
of  his  wonderful  popularity  and  success.  He  was  again 
thrown  into  prison  through  the  influence  of  Bernard 
(1147),  where  he  seems  to  have  died  about  1148. 

That  Peter  and  Henry  were  not  Cathari,  as  Dollinger 
has  recently  attempted  to  prove,  is  manifest :  i.  From  the 
zeal  with  which  they  promoted  marriage,  which  was  radi 
cally  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  Cathari.  2.  From 
the  fact  that  they  not  only  rejected  infant  baptism,  but 
rebaptized  on  a  profession  of  faith  those  who  came  into 
their  fellowship.  3.  From  the  absence  of  any  indication 
that  they  practised  themselves,  or  urged  upon  others, 
abstinence  from  animal  food. 

The  difficulty  felt  by  Dollinger  in  accounting  for  their 
rise  and  for  the  sudden  disappearance  of  their  followers 
as  a  distinct  sect,  apart  from  the  supposition  that  Peter 
and  Henry  were  themselves  Cathari  and  that  their  influ 
ence  persisted  in  the  extensive  Catharistic  movement  of 
the  later  time,  is  more  imaginary  than  real.  It  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  no  evangelical  life  existed  in  Southern 
France  before  the  appearance  of  Peter,  and  evidence  of 
the  persistence  of  evangelical  life  after  the  death  of 
Henry  abounds. 

Contemporary  with  Peter  and  Henry  were  two  relig 
ious  enthusiasts,  Tanchelm,  who  labored  in  the  Nether 
lands  with  great  success  from  1115  to  1124,  and  Eudo  de 
Stella,  who  closed  a  remarkable  career  in  Breton  in  1148. 
Both  of  these  reformers  denounced  the  Roman  Catholic 
churches  as  dens  of  iniquity,  and  exhorted  the  people  to 
abstain  from  receiving  the  sacrament  at  the  hands  of  the 
corrupt  priesthood.  They  are  charged  by  their  enemies 
with  making  extravagant  statements  as  to  their  own 
sanctity  and  authority.  Hugo,  Archbishop  of  Rouen, 
writing  in  1145  against  the  heretics  of  his  locality,  and 


ANTI-PEDOBAPTISTS  AT  COLOGNE  35 

probably  having  in  mind  Eudo  and  his  followers,  thus 
sets  forth  their  views  : 

The  sacraments  profit  only  the  intelligent,  not  the  ignorant ;  they 
profit  adults,  they  bestow  nothing  upon  little  children.  These  [here 
tics]  condemn  the  baptism  of  little  children  and  infants  and  say, 
"In  the  gospel  we  read,  Whosoever  shall  have  believed  and  shall 
have  been  baptized  shall  be  saved,  but  little  children  do  not  believe, 
therefore  baptisms  do  not  profit  little  children."  Again  :  "  If  justifi 
cation  is  of  faith  and  salvation  is  of  baptism,  what  does  confirmation, 
made  by  the  hand  of  a  pontiff,  add  to  those  who  believe  and  have 
been  baptized,  to  those  who  are  justified  and  saved? " 

Contemporaneously  (1115  to  1146),  a  similar  evangeli 
cal  movement  was  carried  forward  in  the  Rhenish  prov 
inces.  In  the  former  year  several  heretics,  among  them 
two  presbyters,  were  apprehended  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Treves,  who  according  to  the  records,  denied  "  that 
the  substance  of  the  bread  and  the  wine  which  is  blessed 
at  the  altar  through  the  priests  is  truly  transmuted  into 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  nor  did  they  say  that  the 
sacrament  of  baptism  profits  little  children  unto  salvation, 
and  very  many  erroneous  things  they  professed,  which  I 
have  thought  it  wrong  to  record."  So  numerous  and 
aggressive  had  heretics  become  in  these  parts  by  1146 
that  Evervin,  provost  at  Steinfeld,  sent  for  Bernard,  the 
great  heresy-hunter  of  the  Middle  Ages,  to  aid  him  in 
suppressing  them.  Having  described,  in  his  letter  to 
Bernard,  the  Cathari  who  abounded  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Cologne,  Evervin  proceeds  to  write  of  "  certain  other 
heretics  in  our  land,  absolutely  discordant  from  these, 
through  whose  mutual  discord  and  contention  both  have 
been  detected  by  us.  These  latter  deny  that  the  body 
of  Christ  is  made  at  the  altar.  .  .  Concerning  the  bap 
tism  of  little  children  they  have  no  faith,  because  of  that 
passage  in  the  gospel :  Whosoever  shall  have  believed 
and  shall  have  been  baptized  shall  be  saved."  He 


36  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

further  represents  them  as  rejecting  all  marriages  except 
those  in  which  both  the  contracting  parties  are  virgins,  as 
having  no  confidence  in  the  suffrages  of  saints,  as  deny 
ing  that  fasts  and  other  bodily  afflictions  are  profitable  as 
regards  the  remission  of  sins  either  for  the  righteous  or 
for  sinners,  as  calling  other  ecclesiastical  observances  not 
founded  by  Christ  or  the  apostles  superstitions,  as  reject 
ing  the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  and  maintaining  that 
souls  immediately  after  going  forth  from  the  body  pass 
either  into  eternal  rest  or  eternal  punishment,  and  as 
repudiating  prayers  or  offerings  for  the  dead.  Several 
clergymen  and  monks  are  said  to  have  joined  themselves 
to  this  party. 

Contemporary  with  these  evangelical  movements  in 
France,  Germany,  and  the  Netherlands,  was  the  remark 
able  career  of  Arnold  of  Brescia  in  Italy.  Of  noble 
lineage  and  great  intellectual  and  moral  powers,  he 
studied  under  the  famous  French  teacher  and  free 
thinker  Peter  Abelard.  It  is  highly  probable  that,  while 
in  France,  he  came  in  contact  with  the  widespread  evan 
gelical  work  of  Peter  and  Henry.  On  his  return  to  Italy, 
full  of  zeal  for  the  reformation  of  Church  and  State,  he 
was  admitted  into  one  of  the  lower  grades  of  the  clergy. 
He  had  come  to  see  in  the  secularization  of  the  church 
and  in  the  devotion  of  clergy  and  monks  to  the  accumu 
lation  of  wealth  as  means  of  luxury  and  oppression,  the 
root  of  the  corruptions  of  the  time,  and  he  was  able  to 
give  all  the  greater  emphasis  to  his  scathing  denuncia 
tions  by  reason  of  his  own  austerity  and  sanctity  of  life. 
He  demanded  the  complete  renunciation,  on  the  part  of 
the  church  as  a  whole  and  of  individual  clergy  and 
monks,  of  all  property  and  entire  withdrawal  from  all 
secular  affairs.  He  insisted  that  the  clergy  should  be 
supported  entirely  by  the  freewill  offerings  of  the  peo 
ple.  His  views  met  with  great  favor  throughout  all 


ARNOLD  OF  BRESCIA  37 

Northern  Italy,  but  having  been  accused  of  heresy  by 
his  bishop  in  a  Lateran  synod  he  was  obliged  to  leave 
Italy  in  1 1 39.  He  returned  to  France,  where  he  defended 
Abelard  against  Bernard  and  others,  and  soon  had  this 
fierce  and  unrelenting  heresy-hunter  dogging  his  foot 
steps.  He  next  went  to  Switzerland  where  he  labored 
with  acceptance  under  the  protection  of  the  Bishop  of 
Constance  until  the  zeal  of  Bernard,  who  warned  the 
bishop  not  to  harbor  this  "  roaring  lion,"  wrought  his 
expulsion.  He  found  protection  with  a  papal  legate  who 
afterward  became  Pope  Celestin  II.,  and  in  Rome  dur- 
ing  a  decade  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  popular  movement 
that  aimed  at  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  form  of  gov 
ernment  and  that  gained  such  power  as  to  be  able  to 
expel  the  pope  and  to  establish  a  new  regime.  In  the 
treaty  between  Frederick  Barbarossa  and  Alexander  III. 
(1155),  he  was  basely  sacrificed  by  the  former  to  the 
latter.  He  was  hanged,  his  body  was  burned  and  his 
ashes  were  cast  into  the  Tiber,  lest  his  followers  should 
gather  his  remains  for  relics. 

The  foregoing  are  well-established  facts.  The  ques 
tions  about  which  there  has  been  difference  of  opinion 
are  the  following :  Was  Arnold  a  religious  schismatic 
as  well  as  a  social  and  political  reformer?  We  should 
attach  very  little  importance  to  Bernard's  railings  if  we 
had  no  better  evidence  to  rely  upon.  Otto,  of  Freising, 
one  of  the  best  informed  and  most  judicial  of  the  con 
temporary  authorities,  remarks  that,  ((  Besides  these 
things,  he  is  said  to  have  been  astray  with  reference  to 
the  sacrament  of  the  altar  and  the  baptism  of  infants." 
The  former  part  of  this  statement  is  confirmed  by  sev 
eral  writers.  The  latter  part  has  commonly  been  sup 
posed  to  be  unconfirmed.  It  has  recently  been  claimed 
by  Breyer,  a  learned  German  writer,  who  has  studied  the 
career  of  Arnold  with  great  care,  that  Durandus  confirms 


38  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Otto's  report  as  to  Arnold's  unsatisfactory  views  on 
infant  baptism.  The  passage  from  Durandus  refers  not 
to  Arnold  personally  but  rather  to  his  followers  and  is 
not  a  direct  assertion  that  these  rejected  infant  baptism. 
It  is  as  follows :  "  The  Arnoldists  assert  that  never 
through  water  baptism  do  men  receive  the  Holy  Spirit, 
nor  did  the  baptized  Samaritans  receive  it,  until  they 
received  the  imposition  of  hands."  This  passage  can  be 
fairly  taken  to  prove  no  more  than  that  the  Arnoldists 
denied  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  received  in  baptism. 

Did  Arnold  found  a  sect  ?  We  have  abundant  evidence 
that  he  did.  It  is  related  by  Johannes  Saresberensis  in 
his  "  Historia  Pontificalis,"  that  during  his  stay  in  Rome 
Arnold  "founded  a  sect  of  men  which  is  still  (about 
1164)  called  the  heresy  of  the  Lombards,"  and  that  its 
adherents  on  account  of  the  uprightness,  rigor,  and  piety 
of  their  lives  have  found  most  enthusiastic  popular  sup 
port.  Johannes  was  resident  in  Rome  during  Arnold's 
time  and  must  have  known  whereof  he  affirmed. 

The  next  question  to  be  settled  is,  Whether  he  was 
founder  of  the  sect  known  during  the  succeeding  century 
as  Arnoldists  ?  Those  who  accept  the  evidence  that 
Arnold  founded  a  sect,  can  hardly  fail  to  regard  it  as 
highly  probable  that  the  Arnoldists  of  history  derived 
from  him  alike  their  impulse  and  their  name.  The  fact 
that  the  Arnoldists  centered  in  Lombardy,  where  Arnold's 
influence  is  known  to  have  been  greatest,  is,  moreover, 
strongly  favorable  to  this  identification. 

They  were  at  one  with  the  Petrobrusians  in  their 
uncompromising  hostility  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
whose  sacraments  they  repudiated.  They  denied  the 
efficacy  of  water  baptism  to  procure  the  remission  of  sins 
and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  laid  considerable 
stress  upon  the  imposition  of  hands  as  a  complementary 
rite. 


ARNOLD  OF  BRESCIA  39 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  century  they  seem  to 
have  united  with  a  party  of  the  Humiliati,  a  semi-monastic 
religious  and  industrial  community.  By  1184  some 
sort  ot  union  had  been  established  in  Lombardy  between 
these  Arnoldistic  Humiliati  and  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons, 
or  followers  of  Peter  Waldo;  for  Pope  Lucius  III.  (1184), 
in  a  bull  against  the  heresies  prevailing  in  Lombardy, 
mentioned  the  Humiliati  and  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons  as  if 
they  were  one  and  the  same  party. 

Literature :  On  the  Cathari :  Dollinger  (Sectengesch.)  and  Schmidt 
(Hist.  d.  Cathares).  On  Peter  de  Bruys  and  Henry  of  Lausanne: 
Peter  the  Venerable,  Bernard,  and  Dollinger.  On  Arnold  of  Bres 
cia:  Otto  Prising,  Durandus,  Bernard,  Giesebrecht,  Breyer,  and 
Hausrath.  On  all  the  topics  of  the  chapter  the  pertinent  articles  and 
sections  in  the  Encyclopaedias  and  Histories  referred  to  in  chapter  I. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  WALDENSES  AND   RELATED  PARTIES 

THE  simple  and  familiar  story  of  Peter  Waldo,  the 
prosperous  Lyonese  merchant  who  about  1173  gave 
up  property  and  home  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  evan 
gelistic  work,  need  not  be  here  recounted.  The  idea  of 
founding  a  sect  seems  to  have  been  as  remote  as  possible 
from  his  thoughts.  He  simply  claimed  for  himself  and 
his  followers  the  right  to  evangelize  as  laymen.  The 
denial  of  this  right  by  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  drew 
forth  an  expression  of  the  determination  of  the  evangelists 
to  obey  God  rather  than  men.  This  placed  them  in  the 
position  of  schismatics.  Persecution  only  served  to 
heighten  their  zeal  and  to  extend  the  sphere  of  their 
labors.  Early  in  his  career  Waldo  secured  the  transla 
tion  into  the  vernacular  of  portions  of  the  Scriptures. 
These  were  mastered  by  himself  and  a  body  of  faithful 
followers  and  formed  the  basis  of  their  enthusiastic  proc 
lamation  of  the  gospel  and  of  their  denunciation  of  pre 
vailing  corruptions  in  the  dominant  church. 

Two  errors  have  widely  prevailed  regarding  Waldo's 
relation  to  earlier  evangelical  life  :  that  of  the  Waldenses 
themselves,  followed  by  many  Mennonites  and  some 
Baptists,  in  accordance  with  which  Waldo  was  in  no 
proper  sense  the  founder  of  the  party  that  bears  his  name 
but  simply  attained  to  the  leadership  of  an  evangelical 
party  that  had  continuously  existed  from  apostolic  times  ; 
the  other,  represented  by  such  modern  scholars  as  Karl 
Miiller,  which  denies  any  sort  of  historical  connection 
between  Waldo  and  earlier  evangelical  life  and  which 
minimizes  the  evangelical  character  of  the  party. 
40 


POOR  MEN  OF  LOMBARDY  41 

The  theory  of  Waldensian  apostolic  succession  cannot 
be  sustained  by  historical  facts  ;  but  that  Waldo  had 
been  influenced  directly  or  indirectly  by  the  Petrobrusian 
movement,  which  a  few  years  before  had  profoundly 
stirred  the  religious  life  of  Southern  France  and  which 
must  have  persisted  in  some  measure  to  his  own  time, 
seems  highly  probable.  That  the  vigorous  and  aggressive 
party  led  by  Waldo  soon  absorbed  much  of  the  evangel 
ical  life  of  the  earlier  types  and  was  thereby  itself  made 
more  evangelical  can  scarcely  be  doubted. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Waldo  and  his  early  followers 
had  more  in  common  with  modern  Methodists  than  with 
modern  Baptists  and  more  in  common  with  Roman  Ca 
tholicism  than  with  any  evangelical  party.  His  views 
of  religious  life  and  doctrine  were  scarcely  in  advance  of 
those  of  many  earnest  Catholics  of  the  time.  He  depre 
cated  schism,  but  his  evangelical  zeal  did  not  permit  him 
to  regulate  his  work  by  the  will  of  his  ecclesiastical  su 
periors.  Refused  permission  to  carry  on  his  work  as  a 
Catholic  he  must  at  all  events  carry  it  on. 

An  alliance  was  formed,  as  early  as  1184,  between  the 
Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  as  Waldo's  followers  were  called, 
and  the  Poor  Men  of  Lombardy,  who  were  probably  iden 
tical  with  the  Arnoldistic  Humiliati.  The  union  was  dis 
solved  as  early  as  1205,  owing,  it  would  seem,  to  pro 
nounced  differences  of  opinion  between  the  parties  and 
Waldo's  uncompromising  attitude.  In  1218,  shortly  after 
.Waldo's  death,  a  conference  was  held  at  Bergamo  in 
Northern  Italy,  where  the  points  at  issue  were  fully  dis 
cussed,  but  no  harmonization  was  effected.  After  further 
correspondence  the  Poor  Men  of  Lombardy  (about  1230) 
wrote  what  may  be  called  an  ultimatum,  in  which  the 
difficulties  and  the  negotiations  of  the  past  are  fully  re 
viewed  and  the  points  still  at  issue  sharply  set  forth. 

This  recently  discovered  Rescript  is  the  oldest  Walden- 


42  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

sian  document  known  and  must  be  regarded  as  containing 
an  authentic  account  of  the  views  of  the  two  parties. 
They  were  agreed  as  regards  the  necessity  of  water  bap 
tism  to  salvation  even  in  the  case  of  infants,  and  in  hold 
ing  to  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation ;  but  they 
differed  as  to  whether  the  transmutation  of  the  elements 
is  due  to  the  utterance  of  the  divine  words  of  consecra 
tion,  so  that  a  Jew  or  a  harlot  can  effect  it,  or  whether  the 
power  to  transmute  depends  on  the  personal  character  of 
the  ministrant.  The  Italians  insisted  on  the  latter  view, 
the  Ultramontanes  on  the  former.  Both  maintained  that 
baptism  could  be  validly  administered  in  an  emergency 
by  a  harlot,  and  the  Ultramontanes  insisted  on  applying 
the  same  principle  to  the  Supper.  The  Ultramontanes 
felt  perfectly  free  to  receive  the  Supper  at  the  hands  of 
the  corrupt  priests  and  to  have  their  infants  baptized  by 
them.  Waldo  had  persistently  refused  to  consent  to  the 
appointment  during  his  own  lifetime  or  afterward  of 
bishops  or  general  superintendents,  just  as  Wesley 
strenuously  opposed  the  introduction  of  the  episcopate 
into  his  society.  The  Italians  preferred,  it  appears,  to 
appoint  superintendents  for  life,  the  Ultramontanes  for 
a  limited  period  They  had  differed  also  as  to  whether 
ministers  should  be  ordained  for  life  or  for  a  limited  period, 
the  Italians  preferring  the  former  arrangement,  the  Ultra 
montanes  the  latter.  In  this  also  they  were  able  to  reach 
a  satisfactory  adjustment.  Waldo  had  resolutely  opposed 
the  Italian  "  congregations  of  workmen,"  probably  a  per 
petuation  of  the  semi-monastic  working  societies  of  the 
Arnoldistic  Humiliati  mentioned  above.  The  grounds  of 
his  opposition  were  no  doubt  the  incongruity  of  this  mode 
of  life  with  devotion  to  evangelistic  work,  on  which  he 
laid  great  stress,  and  the  grave  abuses  that  usually  grew 
up  in  organizations  of  this  kind.  The  Italians  were 
willing  as  far  as  possible  to  reform  abuses,  but  did  not 


WALDENSIAN  PRINCIPLES  43 

see  their  way  clear  to  the  abolition  of  the  congregations. 
On  this  matter  also  conciliation  had  been  reached. 

The  most  obstinate  point  of  difference  with  which  they 
had  to  deal  was  that  with  regard  to  the  post-mortem  con 
dition  of  Waldo  and  of  Vivetus,  one  of  his  chief  co- 
laborers.  The  Ultramontanes  made  it  an  indispensable 
condition  of  the  restoration  of  fellowship,  that  the  Italians 
should  acknowledge  without  qualification  that  these 
worthies  "are  in  God's  paradise."  The  Italians  would 
go  no  further  than  to  say,  that  "If  before  their  death 
Waldo  and  Vivetus  satisfied  God  for  all  their  faults  and 
offenses,  they  could  be  saved."  These  faults  and  of 
fenses  doubtless  indicate  the  Italians'  view  of  the  proce 
dures  of  Waldo  and  Vivetus  that  led  to  the  schism.  The 
probability  is,  that  the  Italians  had  used  strong  language 
reflecting  on  the  Christian  character  of  these  leaders,  im 
plying  doubt  as  to  their  saved  condition.  Loyalty  to  the 
founder  of  their  society  and  to  his  honored  associate  re 
quired  that  such  language  should  be  withdrawn  before 
communion  could  be  re-established. 

It  is  probable  that  Waldo  and  his  immediate  followers 
held  to  the  set  of  views  that  soon  became  characteristic 
of  the  Waldenses,  and  were  communicated  by  them  to 
the  Bohemian  Brethren,  and  by  both  these  parties  to  the 
Anabaptists  of  the  sixteenth  century.  They  were  cer 
tainly  held  by  the  Waldenses  in  1235. 1  These  views 
were  common,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  Cathari  and  to 
the  evangelical  parties  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  their  per 
sistence  in  the  Anabaptists  is  one  of  the  most  convincing 
proofs  of  the  historical  connection  of  the  latter  with 
mediaeval  evangelical  life.  On  this  account,  and  not  be 
cause  these  views  are  distinctively  Baptist,  it  seems  im 
portant  to  give  some  account  of  them  here. 

While  the  Waldenses   laid    little   stress   on    dogmatic 

1  See  the  "  Supra  Stella  "  of  Salve  Burce,  in  Dollinger,  Vol.  II.,  p.  52.,  seq. 


44  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

statements,  their  theology  was  evidently  strongly  anti- 
Augustinian.  They  emphasized  the  imitation  of  Christ. 
The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  their  favorite  portion  of 
Scripture.  They  might  fairly  be  charged  with  over 
emphasizing  good  works  as  compared  with  faith.  From 
their  literalistic  interpretation  of  the  words  of  Christ,  they 
unconditionally  rejected  oaths,  capital  punishment,  magis 
tracy,  and  warfare.  On  the  ground  of  Christ's  words, 
they  taught  and  practised  non-resistance  ;  yet  in  dire 
emergencies  human  nature  sometimes  reasserted  itself 
and  they  repelled  persecution  with  the  utmost  vigor  and 
determination. 

The  Waldenses  soon  extended  their  work  throughout 
Europe.  Especially  active  and  successful  were  they  in 
Southern  Germany  and  in  the  southwestern  provinces  of 
Austria.  The  perpetual  conflict  between  popes  and  em 
perors  from  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  to  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century  and  the  degradation  and  schism 
of  the  papacy  during  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth 
and  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  centuries  was  highly 
favorable  to  their  spread.  Not  that  they  had  immunity 
from  persecution.  On  the  contrary  most  of  the  infor 
mation  as  to  the  extent  and  character  of  their  work 
we  owe  to  the  careful  records  of  inquisitors.  But  they 
found  such  acceptance  with  the  masses  of  the  people, 
had  effected  an  organization  for  secret  work  so  complete, 
and  had  attained  to  such  skill  in  evading  persecution, 
that  they  were  often  able  to  carry  forward  their  work 
with  considerable  vigor  and  success  in  the  very  face  of 
the  Inquisition.  They  had  a  three-fold  ministry : 
"majors,"  ordained  when  practicable  by  another 
"  major,"  otherwise  by  a  presbyter  or  presbyters  ;  "pres 
byters,"  who  devoted  themselves  exclusively  to  evangel 
istic  and  pastoral  work  under  the  direction  of  the 
major;  and  "deacons,"  whose  chief  duty  it  was  to  pro- 


WALDENSIAN  ORGANIZATION  45 

vide  for  the  support  of  majors  and  presbyters,  but 
who  also  engaged  largely  in  spiritual  work.  All  three  of 
these  orders  of  ministry  belonged  to  the  inner  circle  of 
the  society,  to  which  admission  could  be  secured  only 
after  a  long  period  of  training  and  testing.  The  outer 
circle  were  called  "friends"  or  "  believers,"  and  from 
these  were  derived  the  funds  for  the  support  of  the  work. 
Hospices,  presided  over  by  elderly  women,  were  main 
tained  in  the  various  communities  in  which  they  labored, 
where  the  itinerant  ministers  were  entertained,  and 
where  devotional  and  educational  work  was  conducted. 
Delegates  from  the  inner  circle  met  annually  in  conven 
tion,  usually  in  Lombardy,  where  they  brought  together 
the  funds  collected  for  the  maintenance  of  the  work, 
appointed  majors  and  presbyters  when  vacancies  ex 
isted,  planned  the  work  of  the  ensuing  year,  and  appor 
tioned  to  the  workers  funds  for  their  support. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  Waldenses  did  not 
long  remain  in  the  semi-Romanist  position  in  which  we 
left  them  about  1230.  From  the  "Supra  Stella"  of 
Salve  Burce,  an  Italian  writing  of  the  year  1235,  we  get 
a  far  more  favorable  view  of  the  evangelical  character 
of  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons  and  the  Poor  Men  of  Lom 
bardy  than  from  the  Rescript.  They  are  represented 
as  denouncing  the  Roman  Church  as  a  "  foul  harlot  "  and 
"beast,"  as  a  "serpent's  nest,"  and  yet  as  receiving 
from  it  "baptism  and  the  imposition  of  hands."1 

The  next  detailed  accounts  we  have  of  them  were 
written  about  thirty  years  later  by  their  enemies.  These 
inquisitorial  documents  show  that  by  1260  the  Waldenses 
had  emerged  from  the  condition  in  which  they  saw  men 
as  trees  walking  into  the  light  and  liberty  of  the  gospel. 

For  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  the  Waldenses  in  this 
more  favorable  light  we  select  the  accounts  of  David  of 

iDollinger,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  62-64. 


46  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Augsburg  and  of  the  so-called  "  Passau  Anonymous." 
According  to  the  former  writer,  "  their  first  heresy  "  was 

contempt  of  ecclesiastical  power.  .  .  Having  been  cast  out  from  the 
Catholic  Church  they  affirm  that  they  alone  are  the  church  of  Christ 
and  disciples  of  Christ.  They  say  that  they  are  successors  of  the 
apostles  and  have  apostolic  authority  and  the  keys  of  binding  and 
loosing.  They  say  that  the  Roman  Church  is  the  Babylonish  harlot, 
and  that  all  who  obey  her  are  damned.  They  say  that  all  the  saints 
and  the  faithful  since  the  time  of  Pope  Sylvester  have  been  damned. 
They  say  that  no  miracles  that  take  place  in  the  church  are  true.  .  . 
They  say  that  no  statutes  of  the  church  after  the  ascension  of  Christ 
are  to  be  observed,  or  are  of  any  value.  The  festivals,  fast-days, 
orders,  benedictions,  and  offices  of  the  church  they  absolutely  re 
pudiate.  They  say  that  then  for  the  first  time  is  a  man  truly  bap 
tized  when  he  has  been  inducted  into  their  heresy.  But  some  say 
that  baptism  does  not  avail  for  little  children  because  they  cannot 
yet  actually  believe.  The  sacrament  of  confirmation  they  repudiate, 
but  their  own  masters  lay  their  hands  upon  their  disciples  in  place  of 
that  sacrament.  They  say  that  the  bishops  and  clergy  and  monks 
of  the  church  are  scribes  and  Pharisees,  persecutors  of  the  apostles. 
They  do  not  believe  that  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  truly 
present  [in  the  Supper],  but  only  bread  that  has  been  blessed,  which 
by  a  certain  figure  of  speech  is  called  the  body  of  Christ.  .  .  But 
some  say  that  the  ordinance  is  validly  administered  only  by  good 
men,  but  others,  by  all  who  know  the  words  of  consecration.  . 
They  say  also,  that  a  priest  who  is  a  sinner  cannot  bind  and  loose 
any  one,  since  he  himself  has  been  bound  by  sin,  and  that  any  good 
and  intelligent  layman  can  absolve  another  and  impose  penance.  .  . 
They  repudiate  all  clerical  orders,  saying  that  they  would  be  rather  a 
curse  than  a  sacrament.  .  .  They  say  that  every  oath  is  unlawful 
and  mortal  sin  even  if  it  be  concerning  what  is  true.  .  .  They  say 
that  it  is  not  lawful  to  put  to  death  malefactors  through  secular  judg 
ment.  .  .  They  say  that  there  is  no  purgatory,  but  that  all  on  dying 
pass  immediately  into  heaven  or  hell ;  therefore  they  assert  that  suf 
frages  for  the  dead  made  by  the  church  are  of  no  profit,  since  in 
heaven  they  do  not  need  them  and  in  hell  they  are  in  no  way 
aided  by  them.  .  .  They  say  also  that  the  saints  in  heaven  do  not 
hear  the  prayers  of  the  faithful.  .  .  On  festal  days  where  they 
cautiously  can  thev  labor,  arguing  that  since  it  is  g'ood  to  labor  it 
is  not  evil  to  do  good  things  on  a  festal  day.  In  Lent  and  on 
other  fast-days  of  the  church  they  do  not  fast,  but  eat  flesh  where 


WALDENSIANISM  IN   12<5o  47 

they  dare,  saying  that  God  takes  no  delight  in  the  afflictions  of  his 
friends. 

Elsewhere  David  of  Augsburg  bears  testimony  to  their 
great  devotion  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  by  freely 
quoting  which  they  were  able  to  impress  the  people  and 
to  put  the  clergy  at  a  disadvantage.  The  outward  sanc 
tity  of  their  lives  he  freely  acknowledges  and  accounts 
thereby  for  their  strong  popular  influence.  Their  zealous 
and  effective  efforts  for  the  salvation  of  men  are  de 
scribed  by  the  author  in  a  way  that  reflects  credit  on 
the  Waldenses. 

The  "  Passau  Anonymous,"  describing  the  Austrian 
Waldenses,  of  whom  forty-two  distinct  communities  are 
mentioned,  conveys  substantially  the  same  impression  as 
to  their  thoroughgoing  evangelical  character  and  their 
zeal  in  Christian  work  :  "  In  relation  to  baptism  some  err 
in  that  they  maintain  that  little  children  are  not  saved 
through  baptism,  since  the  Lord  says  :  Whosoever  believ- 
eth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved."  He  adds:  "Some 
baptize  anew,  others  practise  laying  on  of  hands  instead 
of  baptism."  This  writer  accounts  for  the  rapid  spread 
of  heresy  by  candid  admission  of  the  corruptions  in  doc 
trine  and  practice  that  prevailed  in  the  church  and  ren 
dered  it  almost  defenseless  in  the  face  of  such  attacks. 

Rainerius  Sacco,  writing  of  the  Poor  Men  of  Lombardy 
(about  1260),  after  some  remarks  on  the  strong  anti- 
Romanist  attitude  of  the  party,  says  :  "  Likewise  they 
say  that  infants  are  saved  without  baptism." 

In  the  "  Summa  de  Heresibus  "  (Dollinger,  Vol.  II.,  p. 
297)  it  is  said  of  the  Runcarians,  a  sect  of  the  Waldenses  : 
"  Concerning  baptism  they  say  that  a  wicked  priest  does 
not  baptize  but  rather  pollutes.  .  .  Whence  they  teach 
that  all  their  own  ought  to  be  baptized,  and  that  they  had 
not  been  baptized  but  rather  polluted  "  in  the  Roman 
Church. 


48  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Literature:  Monographs  of  Preger,  Haupt,  Keller,  Comba,.  K. 
Miiller,  Wattenbach,  Herzog,  and  Dieckhoff,  as  in  the  Bibliography. 
Dollinger,  Sectengesch.,  II.,  gives  most  of  the  important  documents. 
Gieseler,  Ch.  Hist.,  II.,  531  seq.,  gives  a  large  amount  of  carefully 
selected  extracts  from  mediaeval  works.  Bern.  Guidonis,  Practica 
Inquisitionis  contains  much  important  matter. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  TABORITES  AND  THE  BOHEMIAN  BRETHREN 

THE  Taborites  appeared  as  the  radical  evangelicals 
in  connection  with  the  Hussite  movement  in  Bo 
hemia — first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century — and  were  a 
product  in  part  of  Wycliffite  and  in  part  of  Waldensian 
influence.  Preger,  Haupt,  Goll,  and  a  number  of  other 
high  authorities  on  mediaeval  religious  history,  lay  chief 
stress  on  the  Waldensian  element  and  find  in  the  records 
of  the  Bohemian  Inquisition  of  the  fourteenth  century 
abundant  evidence  of  the  presence  and  aggressive  activity 
of  a  radical  type  of  Waldensianism  in  regions  where  Tabor- 
ism  afterward  abounded.  Loserth  and  others,  having 
established  the  fact  that  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  were 
deeply  indebted  to  Wycliffe  and  that  through  their  influ 
ence  Wycliffe's  teachings  were  widely  diffused  throughout 
Bohemia,  feel  that  there  is  no  need  to  suppose  that  Wal 
densianism  exerted  any  important  influence  on  the  move 
ment.  The  fact  would  seem  to  be  that  Bohemian  religious 
life  had  been  profoundly  affected  by  the  old-evangelical 
teaching  in  its  various  forms  long  before  the  time  of  Wyc 
liffe  ;  but  that  the  clear  and  profuse  utterances  of  the 
great  English  reformer  were  brought  powerfully  to  bear 
through  Huss  and  the  University  of  Prague  and  gave  a 
mighty  impulse  to  evangelical  thought  and  life. 

The  Taborites  were  if  possible  more  pronounced  than 
the  most  evangelical  of  the  Waldenses  in  their  insistence 
on  the  absoluteness  and  the  exclusiveness  of  scriptural 
authority  and  in  applying  the  Scripture  touchstone  to 
every  doctrine  and  practice.  They  said  : 

D  4Q 


50  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Christ  Jesus  is  our  only  truly  good  and  perfect  lawgiver.  .  .  The 
law  of  Jesus  Christ,  i.  e.,  the  gospel  law,  which  surpasses  the  Old 
Testament  as  all  other  laws  in  brevity,  simplicity,  and  ease  of  fulfill 
ment,  is  of  itself  alone  sufficient  for  the  government  of  the  church 
militant  and  man  needs  no  new  law  for  his  pilgrimage  to  the  home 
above.  .  .  Only  those  truths  are  to  be  believed  and  accepted  that  are 
designated  in  the  canonical  Scriptures  and  can  be  derived  from  these 
directly  and  without  the  employment  of  far-fetched  methods  of  inter 
pretation.  .  .  Only  such  ceremonies  and  external  forms  in  worship 
are  to  be  employed  as  Christ  himself  has  approved. 

Baptismal  regeneration  and  the  real  presence  in  the 
Supper  were  explicitly  denied.  No  mediaeval  party 
came  nearer  to  the  Baptist  position  than  the  Taborites 
in  their  conception  of  the  relation  of  Scripture  to  doc 
trine  and  practice.  But  they  failed  to  see  the  incon 
sistency  of  infant  baptism  with  the  position  they  had 
taken  and  perpetuated  this  non-scriptural  practice. 
Aroused  to  fanatical  zeal  by  persecution,  many  of  them 
took  refuge  in  chiliastic  views,  as  did  some  of  the  Ana 
baptists  of  the  Reformation  time.  There  is  a  historical 
connection  between  the  chiliasm  of  the  Taborites  and 
that  of  the  fanatical  Anabaptists. 

In  Peter  Chelcicky  of  Bohemia,  the  spiritual  father  of 
the  Bohemian  Brethren  and  one  of  the  ablest  Christian 
thinkers  of  the  fifteenth  century,  we  have  a  near  approach 
to  the  position  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Like  the  Waldenses  and  the  Taborites  he  re 
jected  transubstantiation  and  baptismal  regeneration,  and 
sought  to  make  the  New  Testament  the  only  standard  of 
faith  and  practice.  According  to  Chelcicky,  the  only 
source  of  faith  is  the  will  of  God,  which  is  set  forth 
authoritatively  and  exhaustively  once  for  all  through  the 
apostles  in  their  writings  and  in  the  church  founded  by 
them.  He  regarded  the  apostolic  church  as  the  model. 
Any  deviation  from  this  model  is  apostasy,  whether  it  be 
by  way  of  addition  or  diminution.  God's  law  is  perfectly 


PETER  CHELCICKY  51 

sufficient  in  every  particular.  Apostasy  began  when  the 
relation  of  Church  and  State  changed.  If  the  whole  pop 
ulation  of  a  State  were  Christian,  there  would  be  no 
need  of  civil  government.  An  insoluble  contradiction  is 
involved  in  the  expression  "the  Christian  State,"  since 
to  the  essence  of  the  State  belongs  compulsion  by  way  of 
protecting  and  rewarding  the  good  and  punishing  the 
evil.  The  true  Christian  needs  not  to  be  compelled  to  the 
good  and  dares  not  compel  others,  since  God  desires 
purely  voluntary  good.  The  punishment  of  evil-doers 
that  the  State  administers  is  vengeance,  which  Chris 
tians  are  forbidden  to  practice.  Referring  to  Augustine's 
efforts  to  reconcile  Christianity  and  the  State,  he  says 
that  he  sucked  blood  instead  of  milk  from  the  Scriptures. 
In  the  Christian  State  and  in  Christian  society,  as  they 
have  existed  since  the  time  of  Constantine,  there  is  no 
place  for  the  true  Christian  except  in  the  lowest  ranks, 
which  only  obey  without  commanding,  which  serve  with 
out  dominating.  All  dominion,  all  class  distinctions,  are 
radically  opposed  to  Christ's  requirement  of  brotherly 
equality.  No  one  can  be  at  the  same  time  a  king  and  a 
true  Christian.  For  similar  reasons  Christians  cannot 
safely  or  consistently  occupy  any  civil  office.  So  also 
Christians  should  avoid  trade,  because  of  the  deceit  in 
volved  in  seeking  advantages.  He  regarded  cities  where 
trade  is  carried  on  as  vessels  of  poison  in  which  true 
Christians  cannot  possibly  escape  the  contamination  of  the 
world.  Agriculture  and  handicraft  seemed  to  him  the 
only  safe  occupations  for  Christians.  He  lays  great  stress 
on  the  imitation  of  Christ,  whom  he  regards  as  not  only 
teacher  and  exemplar  but  also  as  Saviour  and  the  only 
mediator  between  Creator  and  creature.  The  human 
will  has  remained  free  even  after  the  fall.  Good  and  evil 
stand  before  man,  let  him  choose.  Only  the  freely  chosen 
good  is  truly  good  and  valuable.  Yet  man  does  not  attain 


52  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

to  this  choice  without  God's  help.  Inner  regeneration  can 
not  take  place  without  God's  grace.  Such  regeneration 
gives  to  man  a  new  heart,  a  new  understanding,  new 
thoughts,  new  works.  Right  faith  leads  man  to  activity 
and  works  that  assure  him  of  the  eternal  reward.  Like 
the  Waldenses  he  rejected  oaths  and  capital  punishment 
with  great  decision.  As  regards  baptism,  after  quoting 
the  Great  Commission,  he  proceeds  : 

Open  and  clear  is  the  word  of  the  Son  of  God :  first  he  speaks  of 
faith,  then  of  baptism  .  .  .  and  since  we  find  this  doctrine  in  the 
gospel  we  should  now  also  hold  fast  to  it.  But  the  priests  err  griev 
ously  in  baptizing  the  great  mass,  and  no  one  is  found  whether  old 
or  young  who  knows  God  and  believes  his  Scripture,  and  this  is  evi 
dent  in  their  works  .  .  .  nevertheless  all  without  discrimination  are 
baptized  and  receive  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  .  .  But  we  should 
rather  hold  fast  to  the  view  that  baptism  belongs  to  those  who  know 
God  and  believe  his  Scripture. 

If  he  had  stopped  here  Baptists  would  have  little  fault 
to  find  with  him.  Unfortunately  and  inconsistently  he 
adds  : 

If  such  have  children  baptism  should  be  bestowed  upon  their 
children  in  their  conscience.  But  why  is  baptism  bestowed  before  the 
other  sacraments?  Because  the  transgression  which  rests  upon  all 
men  is  hereditary  sin  ;  and  this  is  of  such  kind  that  it  robs  the  soul 
of  the  life  of  grace  and  of  the  truth  of  all  virtues  and  inclines  it  to  all 
sorts  of  sins.  .  .  Baptism  is  the  second  birth  in  the  Holy  Spirit. 

While  he  rejects  transubstantiation,  he  falls  short  of 
the  Taborite  view  of  the  purely  symbolical  character  of 
the  Supper.  His  position  may  be  characterized,  with 
reference  to  the  later  Reformation  systems,  as  Calvin- 
istic  rather  than  Zwinglian  or  Lutheran. 

The  Bohemian  Brethren  (Unitas  Fratrum),  who  arose 
shortly  after  the  Hussite  wars  and  rapidly  absorbed  the 
more  evangelical  elements  of  the  Hussite  movement, 
carried  into  practice  to  a  considerable  extent  the  views 


THE  BOHEMIAN  BRETHREN  53 

of  Peter  Chelcicky  and  were  also  considerably  influenced 
by  the  Waldenses.  Their  first  act  after  the  completion 
of  their  organization  (1467)  was  the  rebaptism  of  all  who 
were  present.  It  is  difficult  to  determine  the  extent  to 
which  infant  baptism  was  rejected  and  adult  baptism  re 
quired,  as  the  accounts  that  have  come  down  to  us  are 
more  or  less  contradictory.  But  as  the  society  became 
widespread  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  their  practice 
became  diversified  in  response  to  the  varying  influences 
by  which  they  were  surrounded.  In  1503  and  1504, 
with  a  view  to  warding  off  impending  persecution,  the 
Bohemian  Brethren — they  now  call  themselves  Wal 
denses — addressed  an  "  Apology  "  and  two  "  Confessions 
of  Faith  "  to  King  Wladislaus,  in  which  they  seek  to  mini 
mize  the  extent  of  their  departure  from  the  Catholic 
Church.  While  admitting  that  in  times  past  some  of 
their  society  have  rejected  infant  baptism  they  are  now 
prepared  to  affirm  that  "  Baptism  is  to  be  administered 
to  children  also,  in  order  that  guided  by  their  sponsors 
they  may  be  incited  and  accustomed  to  a  life  of  faith." 
They  still  practised  rebaptism  in  the  case  of  those  coming 
to  them  from  the  Roman  Church. 

That  they  continued  this  latter  practice  until  1519  is 
attested  by  Kostelechius,  a  Bohemian  correspondent  of 
Erasmus,1  who  in  describing  to  Erasmus  the  religious 
condition  of  Bohemia  mentions  the  Brethren  (whom  he 
calls  Pickards)  as  the  third  sect.  Having  set  forth  in  a 
clear  but  unfriendly  light  the  decidedly  evangelical  char 
acter  of  these  Christians  he  proceeds:  "  Those  who 
come  to  their  heresy  are  each  compelled  to  be  rebap- 
tized." 

In  a  comparative  account  of  the  Bohemian  and  Mora 
vian  Pickards,  written  in  1535, 2  we  find  the  following 
concise  description  : 

1 "  Erasmi  Ep."  Lib.  XIV.,  Ep.  20.  2D6Ilinger,  Vol.  II.,  p.  635. 


54  A  HISTORY   OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

The  Bohemian  Pickards  rebaptize  all  those  who  come  anew  to 
themselves  and  their  sect,  before  they  are  admitted ;  but  those  who 
have  given  their  profession  to  his  royal  Majesty,  being,  as  far  as  can 
be  conjectured,  from  Moravia,  say,  that  this  custom  of  rebaptizing 
formerly  prevailed  among  them,  but  now  they  have  learned  that  that 
mode  of  rebaptizing  ought  neither  to  be  held  to  nor  practised.  .  . 
The  Bohemian  Pickards  say  that  the  priests  of  the  Roman  Church 
err  exceedingly  concerning  the  baptism  of  children. 

From  another  document  on  the  errors  of  the  Pickards 
we  learn  :  "  Some  baptize  children,  but  many  do  not." 
After  giving  in  some  detail  their  views  on  a  number  of 
points,  the  writer  draws  this  conclusion  :  "  To  sum  up, 
almost  all  the  articles  of  the  Anabaptists  have  place  in 
the  synagogue  of  the  Waldenses."1 

That  the  Bohemian  Brethren  and  the  Waldenses  aban 
doned  their  opposition  to  infant  baptism  and  their  practice 
of  rebaptism  was  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  large  num 
bers  of  their  more  radical  members  were  being  absorbed 
by  the  aggressive  Anabaptists,  and  in  part  to  the  greatly 
increased  danger  and  odium  that  attached  to  the  Anabap 
tist  name.  Decisive  action  in  this  direction  resulted  from 
the  rigorous  decree  of  the  Bohemian  Diet  (1534)  for  the 
arrest  and  execution,  in  case  of  refusal  to  recant,  of  every 
Anabaptist.  A  synod  of  the  Brethren  was  called  at 
Jung-Buntzlau  for  deciding  whether  rebaptism  should  be 
abolished  and  immunity  from  the  danger  of  being  con 
founded  with  the  proscribed  Anabaptists  be  secured,  or 
they  should  adhere  to  their  old  practice  and  subject  them 
selves  to  the  terrible  persecution  that  was  imminent.  A 
majority  favored  the  former  course.2 

Nothing  has  been  said  about  the  old-evangelical  life  of 
Britain  during  the  mediaeval  period.  Unfortunately  the 
information  available  is  by  no  means  satisfactory  or  com 
plete.  This  dearth  of  materials  may,  however,  be  due 

iDollinger,  Vol.  II.,  p.  661. 

2GindeIy,  "Gesch.  der  bohm.  Briider,"  Bd.  I.,  p.  223  seq. 


LOLLARDS  NOT  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISTS  55 

to  the  fortunate  circumstance  that  the  inquisition  of 
heresy  was  imperfectly  organized  and  inefficiently  worked 
in  Britain,  and  that  heretics  of  the  humbler  type  enjoyed 
during  long  periods  comparative  immunity  from  persecu 
tion.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  old  British  type  of 
Christianity  survived  throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  It  is 
also  probable  that  the  old-evangelical  Christianity  of  the 
Continent  made  its  way  into  Britain  in  the  early  part 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  if  not  before  the  close  of  the 
twelfth.  The  encouragement  given  by  Wycliffe,  sup 
ported  by  the  nobility,  with  his  "poor  priests,"  evan 
gelical  tracts,  English  Bible,  etc.,  doubtless  drew  out 
into  publicity  much  of  old-evangelical  life  that  had  been 
latent  and  caused  it  to  glow  with  fresh  enthusiasm. 

In  Lollardism  we  meet  with  the  same  set  of  views  that 
have  become  familiar  to  us  in  our  examination  of  conti 
nental  sect-life,  and  a  clearness  in  the  apprehension  of 
the  great  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity  that  we  en 
counter  only  here  and  there  among  the  continental  sec 
taries.  Lollardism  was  the  forerunner  of  all  that  was 
best  in  English  Puritanism,  from  which,  in  an  important 
sense,  modern  Baptists  have  derived  their  origin.  But 
we  have  searched  in  vain  for  any  satisfactory  proof  that 
it  embodied  distinctively  Baptist  principles  or  practices. 
We  find  views  of  truth  that  would  seem  logically  to  in 
volve  the  Baptist  position,  but  alas  !  men  are  not  always 
logical.  It  is  possible,  nay,  probable,  that  some  of  the 
medieval  British  evangelicals  rejected  infant  baptism  and 
insisted  on  believers'  baptism,  but  adequate  proof  has  not 
yet  been  presented.  Thomas  Walden's  charge  against 
Wycliffe,  that  he  denied  infant  baptism  and  his  seeming 
insinuation  that  the  Lollards,  whose  leader  Wycliffe  was, 
participated  in  this  heresy,  is  apparently  without  founda 
tion  in  fact.  Nothing  appears  in  Wycliffe's  published 
writings — and  Lechler  claims  to  have  read  through  all  his. 


56  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

extant  manuscript  works  without  finding  anything — that 
would  warrant  the  inference  that  he  rejected  infant  bap 
tism.  The  nearest  approach  to  the  Baptist  position  is  his 
expression  of  the  opinion  that  unbaptized  infants  may 
possibly  be  saved.  But  he  did  not  even  venture  so  far  as 
to  express  a  decided  conviction  that  they  would  be.  His 
rigid  predestinarianism  inclined  him  to  the  opinion  that 
elect  infants  would  be  saved  whether  baptized  or  not ; 
but  he  was  not  quite  sure  whether  elect  infants  ever  fail 
to  receive  baptism.  The  Lollards  took  a  far  more  de 
cided  stand  than  Wycliffe  in  favor  of  the  salvation  of  un 
baptized  infants  ;  but  no  one  of  them  so  far  as  we  are 
aware  denied  the  propriety  or  the  utility  of  infant  bap 
tism. 

The  extent  and  importance  of  the  old-evangelical 
movement  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  have  been  for  the 
most  part  greatly  underestimated.  In  fact  until  recent 
years  the  materials  necessary  for  forming  a  correct  judg 
ment  were  not  available.  Much  documentary  matter  of 
the  most  valuable  kind  has  been  brought  to  light  during 
the  last  twenty  years  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  important  finds  will  yet  be  made.  The  labors  of 
Preger,  Haupt,  Wattenbach,  Loserth,  and  Karl  Muller, 
happily  still  in  progress,  have  already  accomplished  much 
and  will  no  doubt  continue  to  be  fruitful. 

The  activity  and  success  of  the  Waldenses  and  related 
parties  during  the  fourteenth  century  were  such  as  to 
cause  widespread  alarm  on  the  part  of  the  standing 
order.  In  Southern  Germany  and  throughout  the  Rhine 
region  a  great  part  of  the  population  became  identified 
with  the  Waldenses.  In  Thuringia,  Brandenburg,  Bo 
hemia,  Moravia,  Silesia,  Pomerania,  Prussia,  and  Po 
land,  large  numbers  of  Waldensian  communities  are 
known  to  have  existed.  In  Austria  they  became  so 
numerous  and  aggressive,  that  the  Inquisition  feared  an 


BOHEMIAN  INFLUENCE  IN  GERMANY  57 

armed  uprising.  From  Styria  they  spread  throughout 
Hungary,  even  to  the  remoter  provinces,  Siebenburgen 
and  Galicia.  From  1390  onward  the  Inquisition  was  ap 
plied  with  considerable  vigor  but  with  small  effect.  Es 
pecially  influential  did  the  Waldenses  become  in  the  great 
commercial  cities  of  Southern  Germany  and  throughout 
the  surrounding  regions.  In  Wurtzburg,  Bamberg, 
Nurnberg,  Augsburg,  and  Strasburg  they  had  a  large 
number  of  adherents,  including  a  considerable  number 
from  the  wealthier  classes.  So  strong  was  the  popular 
sympathy  for  the  evangelicals,  that  the  officers  of  the 
Inquisition  found  great  difficulty  in  securing  such  co-oper 
ation  of  the  local  authorities  as  was  necessary  for  suc 
cess.  Even  the  bishops  often  showed  themselves  re 
luctant  to  allow  the  introduction  of  the  Inquisition  into 
their  dioceses. 

Nowhere  did  the  Waldensian  preachers  find  greater 
acceptance  than  in  Bohemia.  The  Inquisitorial  proce 
dures  in  1395  tended  to  increase  rather  than  to  diminish 
their  influence,  which  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  prime 
factors  in  the  Bohemian  religious  revolution  of  the  fif 
teenth  century.  The  Taborites  so  modified  Waldensian- 
ism  as  better  to  adapt  it  to  aggressive  work.  During  the 
first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century  large  numbers  of  Bo 
hemian  evangelists  labored  in  Southern  Germany,  con 
firming  the  old-evangelical  party  and  gaining  many  new 
adherents.  So  lively  was  the  intercourse  between  Bam 
berg  and  Nurnberg  and  the  evangelical  party  in  Bohemia, 
that  the  loyalty  of  these  cities  to  the  church  and  the 
empire  was  seriously  called  into  question.  "The  Bam- 
bergers  are  neighbors  of  the  Bohemians,"  we  find  writ 
ten  in  a  contemporary  document.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  the  artisans'  guilds,  which  prevailed  widely  during 
the  Middle  Ages  and  which  had  their  lodges  in  all  the 
principal  cities,  were  largely  under  the  control  of  the 


58  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

old-evangelical  party  and  were  utilized  by  them  in  the 
prosecution  of  their  work.  That  such  was  the  case  to  a 
considerable  extent  is  beyond  question.  The  art  of  print 
ing  arose  out  of  a  circle  known  to  have  been  closely  re 
lated  to  the  old-evangelical  party  and  was  early  utilized 
for  the  dissemination  of  the  Bible  and  old-evangelical 
literature. 

Zeal  for  Bible  study  led  to  the  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  and  portions  of  the  Old  Testament  into  the 
vernacular  languages.  A  careful  comparison  of  a  four 
teenth  century  manuscript  German  version  of  the  New 
Testament,  discovered  a  few  years  ago  in  the  monastery 
of  Tepl  in  Bohemia,  with  other  Waldensian  versions,  and 
the  fact  that  the  manuscript  contains  a  number  of  other 
documents  of  a  Waldensian  character,  has  rendered  it 
highly  probable  that  the  version  is  of  Waldensian  origin. 
A  comparison  of  the  manuscript  with  the  earliest  printed 
German  Bible  reveals  identity  of  text.  The  later 
editions  of  the  mediaeval  German  Bible  were  modified 
little  by  little  toward,  conformity  with  the  Latin  Vulgate 
and  with  Roman  Catholic  dogma.  The  widespread  circu 
lation  of  vernacular  versions  of  the  Bible  from  1456  to 
1518  was  undoubtedly  due  in  large  measure  to  Walden 
sian  influence.  During  this  period  at  least  fourteen  com 
plete  editions  of  the  German  Bible  and  four  of  the 
Dutch  Bible,  besides  large  numbers  of  Gospels,  Psalters, 
and  other  Scripture  portions,  were  printed.  This  fact, 
along  with  the  fact  that  at  least  ninety-eight  complete 
editions  of  the  Latin  Bible,  with  a  correspondingly  large 
number  of  Scripture  portions,  were  in  circulation  by  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  shows  that  the  Bible  was 
anything  but  a  neglected  book  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Protestant  Revolution. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  by  1500  the  Bohemian 
Brethren  had  from  three  hundred  to  four  hundred 


MYSTICISM  AND  MILLENARIANISM  59 

congregations,  about  equally  divided  between  Bohemia 
and  Moravia,  with  a  constituency  of  perhaps  two  hun 
dred  thousand.1  They  had  the  support  in  each  country 
of  a  number  of  powerful  noblemen,  who  were  able  to 
protect  them  to  a  great'  extent  from  the  persecuting 
measures  of  popes,  emperors,  and  kings.  In  the  'Al 
pine  valleys  of  Piedmont,  Dauphiny,  Languedoc,  and 
Provence,  the  Vaudois  had  maintained  themselves  from 
the  rise  of  the  party,  having  been  frequently  persecuted, 
but  never  to  the  extent  of  extermination.  It  is  probable 
that  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  they  had  as 
many  as  one  hundred  congregations,  with  a  constituency 
of  possibly  fifty  thousand. 

It  would,  we  should  think,  be  quite  within  the  bounds, 
in  view  of  what  we  know  of  the  wide  diffusion  of  old- 
evangelical  principles  during  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth, 
and  fifteenth  centuries,  if  we  should  place  the  number  of 
Waldensian  adherents  outside  of  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and 
the  Alpine  valleys  at  one  hundred  thousand. 

We  have  said  nothing  of  evangelical  mysticism,  with 
its  stirring  preaching,  its  widely  circulated  and  highly  in 
fluential  literature,  its  schools  for  the  promotion  of  evan 
gelical  learning,  and  its  intimate  relations  to  the  Walden 
sian  movement.  The  enthusiastic  millenarianism  of  the 
heretical  Franciscans  and  others  exerted  a  profound  in 
fluence  over  vast  numbers  during  this  period  and  explains 
some  of  the  unhappy  doctrinal  developments  of  the  six 
teenth  century.  The  combination  of  millenarianism  with 
ideas  of  social  revolution,  as  seen  in  the  Geisslers  of  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  was  repeated  in  the 
sixteenth  century  with  disastrous  results.  Dualistic 
heresy  greatly  declined  before  the  close  of  the  mediaeval 
period  ;  but  an  attentive  study  may  reveal  some  of  its 
features  surviving  in  the  sect  life  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 

1  Krummel,  "  Utraquisten  und  Taboriten, "  p.  247. 


60  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

tury.  Pantheistic  mysticism,  which  wrought  out  in  some 
of  the  Beghards  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centu 
ries  the  logical  consequences  of  self-identification  with 
God  on  the  part  of  its  adherents  and  denial  of  all  moral 
distinctions  and  obligations,  reappeared  in  the  Libertines 
of  the  sixteenth  century  and  in  a  less  extreme  form  in 
such  sect  leaders  as  David  Joris  and  Henry  Niclaes.  The 
influence  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  with  its  revival  of 
freedom  of  thought  and  the  grammatico-historical  study 
of  the  Scriptures  in  their  original  languages,  producing  as 
it  did  such  Christian  scholars  as  Reuchlin,  Erasmus,  and 
Colet,  cannot  be  left  out  of  consideration  in  any  careful 
study  of  the  history  of  the  radical  evangelical  movement 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

1.  In  the  above  brief  sketch  of  extra-Catholic  mediae 
val  religious  life  the  aim  has  been  to  put  the  reader  in  a 
position  to  form  right  judgments  of   the   radical  move 
ments  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  to  understand  the 
peculiar  features  of  the  parties  that  rigidly  held  aloof 
from  the  State-Church  systems  of  the  time  and  were 
without  much  discrimination  lumped  together  and  stig 
matized  by  their  opponents  as  "  Anabaptists." 

2.  We  have  seen  that  the  strivings  of  mediaeval  Chris 
tianity  to  shake  off  the  incubus  of    sacerdotalism    and 
ceremonialism  and  the  fearful  moral  evils  that  had  come 
everywhere  to  prevail  in  the  dominant  church,  were  far 
more  earnest  and  persistent  than  were  those  of  the  early 
centuries.     It  seems  to  have  required  some  generations 
for  the  fundamental  principles  of  Christianity  fully  to  re 
assert  themselves.      It  required  long  experience  of  the 
ruinous  outworking  of  pagan  principles  that  had  intruded 
themselves  into  the  church  of  the  time,  so  to  stir  the 
Christian  consciousness  as  to  compel  the  better  life  of  the 
church  to  protest  effectively  against  the  prevailing  evils. 
In  fact  it  was  only  when  the  Roman  hierarchy  had  be- 


REMARKS  6l 

come  thoroughly  organized  and  was  taking  vigorous 
measures  for  bringing  all  the  churches  into  entire  subjec 
tion  to  itself  and  so  into  uniformity  of  doctrine  and  prac 
tice,  that  organized  dissent  began  to  appear,  and  it  in 
creased  and  spread  as  the  machinery  of  the  church  for 
enforcing  uniformity  became  gradually  more  perfect. 

3.  Even  in  the  Middle  Ages  we  do  not  find  much  of  Chris 
tian  life  that  Baptists  can  recognize  as  in  every  respect 
conformable  to  the  apostolic  standard.  The  Petrobru- 
sians  and  Henricians  seem  to  approach  nearer  to  this 
standard  than  any  other  party.  They  rejected  infant 
baptism  and  practised  believer's  baptism  ;  they  rejected 
the  doctrine  of  the  real  presence  and  probably  cele 
brated  the  Supper  as  a  simple  memorial,  but  of  this 
last  we  have  no  direct  evidence.  Whether  they  laid 
stress  on  immersion  as  the  only  allowable  form  of 
baptism  we  do  not  know.  The  probability  is  that  on 
this  point  they  did  not  differ  from  the  Romanists  of 
their  time,  who  while  fully  acknowledging  that  normal 
baptism  was  immersion  had  long  since  admitted  other 
forms  as  more  convenient  and  as  answering  the  purpose 
equally  well.  The  early  Waldenses,  we  have  seen, 
had  scarcely  anything  in  common  with  Baptists.  Of  the 
later  Waldenses  some,  probably  not  a  large  proportion, 
came  to  reject  infant  baptism.  But  even  these  seem 
to  have  fallen  far  short  of  the  Baptist  position  in  other 
respects.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Taborites  and 
the  Bohemian  Brethren.  Even  those  who  rejected  infant 
baptism  and  practised  rebaptism  had  much  in  their  doc 
trine  and  practice  that  present-day  Baptists  would  not 
fellowship. 

Literature :  Pertinent  works  of  Goll,  Laserth,  Gindely,  Palacky, 
Zezschwitz,  Baum,  De  Schweinitz,  Hofler,  Krummel,  Preger,  Keller, 
and  Lea,  as  in  the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  ZWICKAU  PROPHETS 

THE  so-called  Anabaptist  movement  of  the  sixteenth 
century  had  its  roots  in  the  evangelical  life  and 
thought  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Even  the  non-evangelical 
and  corrupting  elements  that  appeared  in  connection  with 
the  sect  life  of  the  sixteenth  century  had  their  ante 
cedents  in  the  earlier  time.  The  term  "  Anabaptist " 
was  applied  indiscriminately  to  all  who  would  be  neither 
Protestants  nor  Catholics  and  who  insisted  on  setting  up 
separate  churches  for  the  embodiment  of  their  peculiar 
views.  To  the  dominant  parties  Thomas  Munzer,  the 
mystical  fanatic,  who  neither  submitted  to  nor  practised 
rebaptism,  who  to  the  last  practised  infant  baptism  and 
who  advocated  the  setting  up  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
by  carnal  warfare,  the  scholarly  and  soundly  scriptural 
Hubmaier,  the  mystical  Denck,  and  the  chiliastic  fanatics 
of  Munster,  were  all  alike  "  Anabaptists  ";  and  even  the 
most  Christlike  of  these  were  treated  as  criminals  of  the 
deepest  dye.  There  was  some  excuse  for  this  confusion 
in  the  fact  that  most  of  the  separatists  of  the  time  agreed 
in  denying  the  scriptural  authorization  of  infant  baptism. 
Difficulty  has  been  felt  by  some  in  connecting  the 
Anabaptist  movement  with  mediaeval  parties  on  the 
ground  of  supposed  lack  of  evidence  of  the  passing  over  of 
the  adherents  of  the  older  parties  to  the  new.  But  are 
we  not  confronted  with  even  graver  difficulties  if  we  deny 
such  connection  ?  During  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and 
fifteenth  centuries  multitudes  of  evangelical  Christians 
are  known  to  have  quietly  yet  persistently  carried  on 
their  work  in  some  of  the  very  regions  where  the  Ana- 
62 


SOCIAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  AGITATION  63 

baptist  movement  attained  to  its  greatest  popularity  and 
power.  How  shall  we  account  for  the  disappearance  of 
this  organized  evangelical  life  that  had  patiently  endured 
and  survived  three  centuries  of  terrible  persecution  ? 
The  last  years  of  the  fifteenth  century  and  the  early 
years  of  the  sixteenth  were  highly  favorable  for  the  de 
velopment  of  evangelical  life.  The  impetus  given  to  evan 
gelical  study  by  Humanism,  the  wide  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  evangelical  literature  through  the  newly 
discovered  art  of  printing,  the  spirit  of  toleration  that  was 
fostered  by  Humanism  and  that  resulted  in  comparative 
immunity  for  quiet  dissenters — these  considerations  make 
preposterous  the  supposition  that  there  had  been  a  decline 
in  evangelical  life  shortly  before  the  beginning  of  Lu 
ther's  reformatory  work.  There  had  doubtless  been  a 
marked  increase  of  spiritual  life  in  the  dominant  church, 
but  as  the  anti-Catholic  evangelical  movement  persisted 
with  great  vigor  in  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  the  Alpine  val 
leys,  so  we  must  believe  that  it  persisted  in  Germany, 
Switzerland,  Upper  Austria,  and  the  Netherlands,  al 
though  few  inquisitorial  processes  are  recorded  during 
the  years  immediately  preceding  the  Protestant  Revolu 
tion. 

The  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  a  time  of 
unrest  and  expectancy.  A  spirit  of  revolution  was 
abroad.  Enough  of  evangelical  light  and  enough  of  the 
spirit  of  freedom  had  been  diffused  among  the  masses  to 
insure  an  enthusiastic  reception  for  any  movement  that 
should  give  fair  promise  of  relief  from  priestcraft  and  of 
social  amelioration.  The  clergy  and  monks  of  the  domi 
nant  religion  were  not  only  as  a  rule  ignorant,  immoral, 
and  negligent,  but  the  extortionate  methods  of  raising 
money,  made  necessary  by  the  luxury  and  extravagance 
of  the  hierarchy,  aggravated  the  popular  discontent. 
They  were  no  longer  looked  upon  as  the  friends  and  pro- 


64  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

lectors  of  the  people,  but  as  a  privileged  class  whose  in 
terest  lay  in  keeping  them  in  bondage.  The  burdens  of 
serfdom  had  not  only  become  intrinsically  heavier,  owing 
to  peculiar  circumstances,  but  by  reason  of  the  growing 
democratic  spirit  of  the  time  infinitely  harder  to  be  borne. 
The  peasant  uprisings  before  as  well  as  after  the  inau 
guration  of  the  Protestant  movement  show  how  general 
and  profound  was  the  popular  unrest. 

When  Luther  denounced  indulgences  and  afterward 
went  on  assailing  one  after  another  of  the  corruptions 
and  errors  of  the  Roman  Church,  those  who  had  come 
under  old-evangelical  influence,  whether  as  members  of  a 
sect  or  as  disaffected  members  of  the  dominant  church, 
felt  that  now  at  last  the  day  of  deliverance  had  come. 
The  bold  reformer,  taking  his  stand  on  Scripture  and  in 
sisting  on  bringing  every  doctrine  and  practice  to  the 
Scripture  touchstone,  defying  emperor  and  pope  and 
boldly  standing  forth  as  the  champion  of  evangelical  truth 
and  of  the  rights  of  man,  must  have  made  a  wonderful 
impression  on  those  who  were  listening  for  such  a  voice. 

Evangelical  mystics,  churchly  and  non-churchly, 
hailed  with  delight  Luther's  advent  as  a  reformer,  for 
was  he  not  the  devoted  disciple  of  Staupitz  ?  Had  he 
not  published  with  highest  commendation  the  "  Theologia 
Germanica,"  the  text-book  of  evangelical  mysticism  ? 
And  had  he  not  commended  in  the  highest  terms  the 
works  of  Tauler  ? 

Humanists  too  gloried  in  his  utter  repudiation  of 
authority  and  in  his  insistence  on  freedom  of  thought. 
They  trusted  that  his  influence  would  be  strongly  favor 
able  to  the  advancement  of  the  new  learning  and  would 
contribute  much  toward  the  dethronement  of  bigotry 
and  intolerance. 

He  had  the  ear  of  the  nobility  of  Germany,  for  they 
were  weary  of  the  extortions  of  Rome,  and  eager  to 


LUTHER  PROVES  DISAPPOINTING  65 

secure  a  larger  share  of  the  control  and  emoluments  of 
ecclesiastical  property  and  patronage.  Moreover  the 
spirit  of  revolution  had  made  itself  felt  in  them  no  less 
than  among  the  people. 

Thus  Luther's  proclamation  of  emancipation  from 
Rome  and  restoration  of  a  scriptural  religion  and  moral 
ity  met  with  very  general  acceptance. 

The  Bohemian  Brethren  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  and 
the  Vaudois  of  the  Alpine  valleys  heard  thereof  and 
were  glad,  and  both  parties  sought  to  harmonize  their 
views  with  those  of  the  great  reformer.  That  the  old- 
evangelicals  of  Germany  (Waldenses,  etc.)  should  have 
promptly  accepted  Luther  as  their  leader,  without  mak 
ing  public  proclamation  of  the  fact  that  they  had  be 
longed  to  a  proscribed  party,  is  what  might  have  been 
expected. * 

The  old-evangelicals,  no  less  than  the  mystics,  the 
Humanists,  and  the  discontented  masses,  were  destined 
to  be  sorely  disappointed.  That  such  was  the  case  was 
not  wholly  Luther's  fault.  Each  party  no  doubt  ex 
pected  too  much.  The  impetuous  reformer  did  not  always 
weigh  well  his  words.  He  spoke  with  enthusiasm  and 
with  power  in  view  of  the  actual  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
condition,  and  naturally  did  not  stop  to  consider  the 
bearing  of  his  words  on  a  different  state  of  things,  or 
their  effect  on  minds  differently  constituted  from  his 
own  and  with  different  antecedents.  He  early  set  for 
himself  the  task  of  leading  the  German  people  as  a  body 
out  of  Roman  bondage  into  evangelical  freedom.  To  do 
this  he  must  have  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  rulers 
and  no  place  must  be  given  to  internal  schism.  When 
he  would  arouse  the  German  people  to  a  sense  of  their 
dignity  as  Christian  men  and  of  the  degradation  involved 
in  bondage  to  Romish  priestcraft,  he  could  proclaim  with 
enthusiasm  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers  and  the 


66  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

right  of  every  Christian  man  to  interpret  the  Scriptures 
for  himself.  He  could  repudiate  with  indignation  the  use 
of  force  in  repressing  error  or  in  constraining  men  to  the 
acceptance  of  truth.  He  could  assert  with  utmost  em 
phasis  the  sufficiency  and  authority  of  Scripture  as  a 
norm  of  faith  and  practice.  In  his  tract  on  vows,  written 
at  the  Wartburg  (1521-2),  he  had  condemned  uncondi 
tionally  "  whatever  falls  short  of,  is  apart  from,  or  goes 
beyond  Christ,"1  and  had  repudiated  the  papal  propo 
sition,  ''that  all  things  have  not  been  declared  and  insti 
tuted  by  Christ  and  the  apostles,  but  that  very  many 
things  were  left  to  the  church  to  be  declared  and  insti 
tuted."  Even  after  his  reactionary  attitude  had  been 
assumed,  we  find  him  asserting  with  reference  to  Roman 
Catholic  usages  "that  whatever  is  without  the  word  of 
God  is  by  that  very  fact  against  God." 

It  was  utterly  impossible  that,  circumstances  being  as 
they  were,  Luther  should  have  been  able  to  satisfy  the 
heterogeneous  aspirations  of  all  who  centered  their  hopes 
in  him.  It  was  equally  inevitable  that,  constituted  as  he 
was,  he  should  modify  his  views  materially  when  events 
seemed  to  him  to  demonstrate  their  unsoundness  or  im 
practicability.  To  demand  of  a  popular  religious  leader 
in  a  revolutionary  time  a  fully  matured  and  enunciated 
programme,  which  should  provide  against  emergencies 
that  no  human  wisdom  could  foresee,  would  be  unreason 
able.  Emergencies  of  the  gravest  character  were  not  slow 
in  arising,  and  as  a  practical  man  he  must  decide,  as  it 
seemed  to  him,  between  a  complete  reversal  of  policy 
as  regards  liberty  of  conscience,  the  rights  of  man,  and 
the  requirement  of  direct  scriptural  authority  for  every 
doctrine  and  practice,  and  the  utter  wrecking  of  the 
Protestant  movement. 

1 "  Vel  eitra,  vel  prater,  vel  ultra  Christum  incedit." 
2"£o  ipso  contra  Deum,  quod  sine  verbo  Dei.'" 


MUNZER  AT  ZWICKAU  67 

While  Luther  was  still  at  the  Wartburg,  biding  his 
time  for  actively  proceeding  with  his  work  of  reforma 
tion,  revolutionary  procedures  at  Zwickau  and  at  Wit 
tenberg  clearly  revealed  to  him  the  fact  that  half-way 
measures  of  reform  would  no  longer  satisfy  the  radical 
evangelicals  and  caused  him  not  only  to  antagonize  the 
radical  party,  but  also  to  abandon  completely  his  tolera 
tion  principles. 

Thomas  Munzer,  born  1490  or  later,  well  educated  (he 
was  a  Master  of  Arts  and  seems  to  have  studied  in  more 
than  one  university),  a  profound  student  like  Luther  of 
mystic  literature,  having  filled  a  number  of  ecclesiastical 
positions  without  dishonor  was  called  to  Zwickau  in 
1520.  He  seems  to  have  been  active  in  reform  before 
Luther  broke  with  the  papacy,  but  he  lacked  the  sta 
bility  that  was  requisite  for  effective  leadership.  He  was 
on  excellent  terms  with  Luther  and  went  to  Zwickau 
with  his  full  approval.  Here  he  at  once  aroused  the  hos 
tility  of  the  monks  and  some  of  the  clergy  by  the  vigor 
with  which  he  denounced  the  avarice,  hypocrisy,  and 
unevangelical  features  of  monastic  and  priestly  life. 
He  still  regarded  Luther  (July,  1520)  as  "the  example 
and  light  of  the  friends  of  God." 

Still  more  bitter  was  his  controversy  with  Egranus, 
pastor  of  the  principal  church,  who  resented  the  promi 
nence  assumed  by  Munzer  and  his  aggressiveness  in 
promulgating  his  ultra-evangelical  views.  Egranus' 
character,  unfortunately,  was  not  altogether  above 
reproach,  and  his  doctrine  whether  from  a  Protestant  or 
from  a  Catholic  point  of  view  was  not  free  from  sus 
picion.  We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  up  to  this 
time  Munzer  had  enunciated  any  of  the  fanatical  teach 
ings  for  which  he  afterward  became  famous.  His  intem 
perate  attacks  on  Egranus  displeased  Luther  and  turned 
against  him  many  of  the  more  moderate  men  of  Zwickau. 


68  A  HISTORY  OF  ANT1-PEDOBAPTISM 

We  soon  find   at  Munzer's  side,  in  his  conflict  with 
monks  and  clergy  and  in  his  strivings  for  radical  religious 
and  social  reform,  a  certain  weaver,  Nicholas  Storch  by 
name.     The  accounts  that  have  come  down  to  us  of  this 
remarkable  man  are  defective  and  somewhat  conflicting. 
He  is  spoken  of  as  a  former  citizen  of  Zwickau  and  may 
have  been  born  there,  but  the  authorities  agree  in  repre 
senting  him  as  deriving  his  religious  views  from  Bohemia. 
As  a  journeyman  weaver  he  probably  spent  a  number  of 
years  in  Bohemia  where  he  came  under  the  influence  of 
a  party  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren.     From  the  peculiar 
type  of  his  teaching,  it  may  be  inferred  that  his  religious 
associates  in   Bohemia  belonged  to  that  section  of  the 
Brethren  that  had  perpetuated  the  chiliastic  teachings  of 
the  Taborites.     After  the  manner  of   the  Brethren,  he 
had  acquired  a  remarkable  familiarity  with  the  Scriptures, 
so  that  although  a  layman  and  illiterate  he  could  quote  at 
pleasure  from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  giving  chapter 
and  verse  in  a  way  that  astonished  his  contemporaries, 
some  regarding  him  as  divinely  inspired  and  others  as  in 
collusion  with  Satan.     In  fact  he  is  said  to  have  encour 
aged  the  idea  that  his  knowledge  of  Scripture,  no  less  than 
his  own  prophetic  utterances,  was  due  to  direct  divine 
inspiration.     He  had  doubtless  been  quietly  propagating 
his  socialistic  and  millenarian  views  in  Zwickau  for  some 
time  before  the  advent  of  Munzer.     That  he  should  have 
come   forward   boldly   in   support  of    Munzer's    radical 
views  when  the  latter  became  involved  in  controversy 
was  natural  enough.     Munzer  in  turn    gave   him   high 
commendation,  declaring  that  he  understood  the  Bible 
better  than  all  the  priests  and  that  he  had  the  Spirit  of 
God. 

Encouraged  by  Munzer,  Storch  organized  a  separate 
church  on  the  model  of  the  Bohemian  churches  with 
which  he  had  been  connected.  He  is  said  to  have 


MUNZER  AT  PRAGUE  AND  ALSTEDT  69 

secured  the  appointment  of  twelve  apostles  and  seventy- 
two  disciples,  after  the  example  of  our  Lord,  and  to  have 
considered  himself  divinely  commissioned  to  lead  in  set 
ting  up  the  millennial  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth. 

We  have  no  thoroughly  trustworthy  account  of  the 
doctrinal  system  that  Storch  sought  to  embody  in  his  new 
organization.  It  seems  certain  that  he  rejected  infant 
baptism,  though  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  rebaptized 
while  in  Zwickau,  and  according  to  one  account  he 
regarded  the  protest  against  infant  baptism  as  a  wholly 
subordinate  matter.  Luther,  however,  understood  him 
to  lay  more  stress  on  this  point  than  did  some  of  his 
associates.  He  seems  to  have  insisted  on  the  separation 
of  a  believing  husband  or  wife  from  an  unbelieving 
partner.  The  rejection  of  oaths,  magistracy,  and  war 
fare,  and  insistence  on  community  of  goods  among  Chris 
tians,  are  the  other  charges  made  against  him,  and  as 
these  were  features  common  to  the  mediaeval  evangelical 
parties  and  to  many  of  the  later  Anabaptists,  we  have 
no  reason  to  call  in  question  the  correctness  of  the  rep 
resentation. 

Munzer  felt  it  advisable,  if  not  necessary,  to  leave 
Zwickau  about  the  end  of  April,  1521,  on  account  of  cer 
tain  riotous  demonstrations  in  which  his  followers  had 
figured  a  few  months  before.  Toward  the  end  of  the 
year  we  find  him  at  Prague,  whither  he  had  gone  to 
secure  the  co-operation  of  the  Bohemians  in  a  great  move 
ment  for  the  abolition  of  social  inequalities  and  the  set 
ting  up  of  a  kingdom  of  righteousness.  By  this  time  he 
seems  to  have  been  thoroughly  in  accord  with  Storch  as 
regards  millenarian  expectations,  and  to  have  believed 
himself  to  be  the  recipient  of  divine  communications 
that  he  exalted  above  the  written  word.  "The  letter 
killeth,  the  Spirit  maketh  alive." 

In  Prague  he  appeared  as  a  prophet  and  issued  a  proc- 


70  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

lamation  in  the  name  of  God,  promising  a  marvelous 
manifestation  of  God's  power  in  the  setting  up  of  a  new 
and  holy  church  in  their  own  land  if  they  would  hearken 
to  the  divine  message,  and  threatening  the  vengeance  of 
God  through  a  Turkish  invasion  in  case  they  refused  to 
hearken.  He  returned  to  Germany  early  in  1522  and 
spent  the  year  chiefly  at  Nordhausen.  There  is  little 
record  of  his  activity  during  this  year  ;  but  he  could 
not  have  refrained  from  bringing  his  views  to  bear  upon 
as  many  as  he  could  reach. 

About  Easter,  1523,  he  accepted  a  pastorate  in  Alstedt, 
in  Thuringia,  and  soon  afterward  married  an  ex-nun. 
He  was  still  on  friendly  terms  with  Luther,  who,  as  we 
shall  see  hereafter,  was  aware  of  his  erratic  disposition, 
but  did  not  yet  suspect  the  lengths  to  which  he  was  pre 
pared  to  go.  Here  he  took  a  leading  part  in  preparing 
and  introducing  an  elaborate  church  service,  wholly  in 
German,  which,  together  with  his  eloquent  preaching, 
attracted  vast  audiences  from  all  the  surrounding  region. 
It  is  remarkable  that,  although  Munzer  had  earlier  ex 
pressed  himself  against  infant  baptism,  he  makes  pro 
vision  for  it  in  his  liturgy.  He  afterward  sought  to  excuse 
the  inconsistency  by  saying  that  he  baptized  only  once 
in  two  or  three  months  and  then  sought  strongly  to  im 
press  the  responsibility  of  parents  and  sponsors  for  the 
right  training  of  the  children.  The  fact  is,  Munzer  cared 
little  for  water  baptism  ;  true  baptism  was  baptism  of  the 
Spirit. 

But  we  must  return  to  Zwickau,  where  Munzer  left 
Storch  and  his  conventicle  about  Easter,  1521.  Munzer's 
successor,  Nicoras  Hausmann,  was  unfriendly  to  the 
movement  and  began  at  once  to  take  steps  for  its  sup 
pression.  Storch  and  his  followers  were  arraigned  before 
the  municipal  authorities,  December  16,  1521,  on  the 
charge  of  repudiating  infant  baptism.  All  except  Storch 


THE   PROPHETS  AT  WITTENBERG  71 

himself  and  one  of  his  disciples  named  Forster  were 
brought  to  admit  that  infant  baptism  is  of  use  by  reason 
of  the  faith  of  the  sponsors.  Storch  was  required  to 
appear  at  a  later  date  for  a  still  further  examination  "  on 
some  erroneous  Bohemian  articles."  He  did  not  respond 
to  the  summons,  but  confident  of  the  correctness  and 
the  importance  of  his  views,  in  company  with  Marcus 
Stubner,  a  former  student  of  Wittenberg,  and  another 
weaver  who  had  been  won  to  his  views,  he  set  out  for 
Wittenberg  with  the  purpose  of  winning  the  professors 
of  the  university  and  thus  gaining  a  strong  support  for 
his  cause.  It  was  a  bold  venture  ;  but  it  showed  the 
sincerity  of  the  faith  of  these  men  and  their  eagerness 
to  propagate  their  views. 

Nor  was  their  faith  wholly  disappointed.  Carlstadt, 
rector  of  the  university,  and  like  Luther  a  great  student 
of  the  Bible,  Augustine,  and  the  German  mystics,  was 
carried  away  by  the  enthusiasm  of  Storch  and  Stubner. 
He  attempted  to  carry  out  in  practice  these  radical  views 
by  removing  from  the  church  all  objects  of  idolatry  and 
simplifying  the  service  so  as  to  make  a  complete  breach 
with  the  past.  The  time  had  come,  he  thought,  to  put 
an  end  to  all  temporizing  and  to  restore  the  church  to 
primitive  simplicity  and  purity.  He  cast  aside  his  scho 
lastic  attire,  renounced  his  doctor's  degree,  and  practised 
in  his  own  life  the  simplicity  that  he  thought  the  gospel 
required. 

Cellarius,  one  of  the  most  learned  Hebrew  and  Ara 
maic  scholars  of  the  time,  set  himself  to  oppose  the 
Zwickau  prophets.  The  result  of  his  efforts  was  his  own 
conversion  to  their  position.  Melancthon  too  was  greatly 
impressed  for  a  time,  but  was  able  at  last  to  throw  off 
the  spell  and  to  join  with  Luther  in  condemning  the 
prophets.  Writing  to  the  Elector  Frederick  (December  17) 
he  says:  "Wonderful  are  the  things  that  they  assert 


72  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

concerning  themselves  :  that  they  have  been  sent  to 
teach  by  the  clear  voice  of  God  ;  that  they  hold  familiar 
conversations  with  God  ;  that  they  see  the  future  ;  in 
short,  that  they  are  prophets  and  apostles.  I  can  scarcely 
tell  how  I  am  moved  by  these  things.  Certainly  I  have 
weighty  reasons  for  not  being  willing  to  treat  them  with 
contempt."  He  feels  sure  that  there  are  in  them  "  cer 
tain  spirits."  Whether  they  be  good  spirits  or  evil  can, 
he  thinks,  be  determined  only  by  Luther.  A  fortnight 
later  he  has  ceased  to  be  greatly  disturbed  by  their  pro 
phetic  claims,  but  what  they  have  advanced  against  in 
fant  baptism  continues  to  trouble  him.  He  finds  no 
scriptural  warrant  for  the  practice  and  he  is  at  a  loss  to 
know  how  to  justify  its  retention. 

Luther's  letter  of  January  13  doubtless  had  the  effect 
of  restoring  his  equanimity.  He  assures  Philip  that  he 
has  more  intellect  and  more  learning  than  himself,  and 
insists  that  he  should  have  tried  the  spirits.  These  proph 
ets  had  little  to  commend  them  and  much  to  awaken  mis 
trust.  If  they  have  the  special  divine  commission  they 
claim  they  should  be  in  a  position  to  furnish  some  sign  by 
which  they  could  be  unmistakably  recognized  as  prophets 
of  God.  As  it  regards  the  question  of  infant  baptism, 
his  arguments  may  have  satisfied  Melancthon,  anxious  to 
be  reassured,  but  few  would  now  consider  them  other 
than  sophistical.  Referring  to  the  scripture  on  which  the 
prophets  based  their  contention  :  "  Whosoever  shall  have 
believed  and  shall  have  been  baptized  shall  be  saved," 
he  asks,  "  How  will  they  prove  that  they  (infants)  do  not 
believe  ?  Because,  forsooth,  they  do  not  speak  and 
show  forth  faith?  Very  well.  By  this  reasoning,  how 
many  hours  will  we  ourselves  not  be  Christians,  while 
we  sleep  and  do  other  things?  Cannot  God  therefore  in 
the  same  manner  throughout  the  whole  period  of  infancy, 
as  in  a  continuous  sleep,  preserve  faith  in  them?  " 


LUTHER'S  TRIUMPH  73 

No  doubt  this  argument  first  came  to  Luther  as  an 
argumentum  ad  hominem.  These  prophets  were  making 
great  claims  for  themselves  without  giving  proof.  Why 
not  throw  on  them  the  responsibility  of  proving  that  un 
conscious  infants  do  not  exercise  saving  faith?  He  pro 
ceeds  to  justify  infant  baptism  on  the  ground  of  the 
united  testimony  of  the  church,  which  it  is  most  impious 
to  reject.  Forgetting  for  the  time  being  the  strong  state 
ments  against  non-scriptural  ceremonies  and  institutions 
which,  by  the  way,  he  would  still  employ  when  it  served 
his  turn  to  do  so,  he  formulates  a  new  canon  in  the  fol 
lowing  words  :  "  What  therefore  is  not  against  Scripture 
is  for  Scripture,  and  Scripture  for  it."  l 

The  disturbances  at  Wittenberg  occasioned  by  the 
visit  of  the  prophets,  and  especially  Carlstadt's  some 
what  iconoclastic  procedures,  determined  Luther  to  leave 
his  retreat  at  the  Wartburg,  even  without  the  full  ap 
proval  of  the  Elector.  At  this  period  he  was  extremely 
sensitive  with  reference  to  anything  that  might  cause 
scandal.  Any  further  schism  than  that  which  he  had 
accomplished  he  deprecated,  and  he  thought  it  highly  un 
desirable  to  offend  the  weak  by  violating  ecclesiastical 
fasts  or  by  making  radical  changes  in  the  church  services. 
He  returned  to  Wittenberg  early  in  March,  1522,  and  was 
soon  master  of  the  situation.  He  showed  little  dispo 
sition  to  give  a  fair  and  patient  hearing  to  such  of  the 
prophets  as  sought  to  convert  him,  ridiculing  their  ex 
travagant  claims  and  demanding  miraculous  attestations 
of  their  divine  commission. 

Carlstadt  was  completely  humiliated  and  ultimately 
felt  obliged  to  withdraw  from  Wittenberg.  Although  he 
denied  the  scriptural  authorization  of  infant  baptism,  he 
does  not  seem  to  have  gone  the  length  of  introducing  be 
lievers'  baptism.  He  took  strong  ground  against  Luther's 

1  "Quod  ergo  non  est  contra  Scripturam,  pro  Scriptura  est,  et  Scriptura  pro  eo." 


74  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

doctrine  of  the  real  presence  and  from  1530  onward 
allied  himself  with  the  Zwinglians.  His  iconoclastic 
precedures  at  Orlamunde,  whither  he  had  gone  after 
leaving  Wittenberg  in  1523,  resulted  in  his  expulsion  and 
banishment,  for  which  Luther  was  largely  responsible. 
For  years  he  was  in  circumstances  of  the  utmost  hard 
ship.  He  seems  soon  to  have  escaped  from  the  prophetic 
infatuation  and  endeavored  without  success  to  restrain 
the  extravagances  of  Munzer.  Some  years  later  (1534) 
he  secured  a  professorship  in  the  University  of  Basel, 
which  he  held  until  his  death  in  1541. 

Cellarius  also  while  persisting  in  denying  the  propriety 
of  infant  baptism  and  in  advocating  millenarian  views, 
made  little  effort  to  put  his  views  in  practice.  He  also 
found  refuge  with  the  Swiss,  gained  the  friendship  of 
OEcolampadius  and  Capito,  profoundly  impressed  both 
with  his  ability  and  sincerity,  and  almost  won  them, 
especially  the  latter,  to  his  views.  Like  Carlstadt  he 
finally  secured  (1546)  a  professorship  at  Basel,  which  he 
long  filled  in  a  highly  honorable  way. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  Storch  returned  to  Zwickau 
after  the  interview  of  the  prophets  with  Luther.  His 
movements  for  some  time  are  very  obscure.  As  re 
gards  the  radical  movement  at  Zwickau,  it  seems  to  have 
rapidly  declined  after  the  removal  of  Storch  and  Munzer. 
Luther  visited  the  city  during  the  latter  part  of  April  and 
delivered  to  immense  audiences  (variously  estimated  at 
from  fourteen  thousand  to  twenty-five  thousand  persons) 
four  powerful  discourses  against  religious  radicalism  and 
fanaticism. 

Storch  seems  to  have  remained  in  Thuringia  until  the 
autumn,  for  Luther  writes  in  September  of  an  interview 
with  him  as  if  it  had  been  recent.  According  to  Luther, 
he  "  dressed  and  wore  his  beard  like  a  lance-knight,  and 
was  in  all  points  in  contradiction  with  Marcus  and 


STORCH'S  LATER  CAREER  75 

Thomas  "(Stiibner  and  Munzer).  We  infer  from  another 
notice  of  Luther's,  that  from  his  point  of  view  Storch  was 
at  this  time  far  more  pronounced  in  his  radicalism  than 
Munzer.  He  seems  to  have  been  for  some  time  at  Or- 
lamiinde  after  Carlstadt's  settlement  there  in  1523,  and 
doubtless  continued  to  sustain  intimate  relations  with 
Munzer  as  well. 

In  1524  we  find  him  at  Hof  in  the  employ  of  the  burgo 
master  Simon  Klinger,  who  was  converted  to  his  views 
and  became  the  chief  supporter  of  a  radical  movement  like 
that  at  Zwickau.  Here  also  he  set  forth  claims  to  special 
divine  illumination.  The  medium  of  the  divine  communi 
cations  was  the  angel  Gabriel.  Even  those  who  dis 
trusted  his  claim  to  be  a  prophet  of  God  were  willing  to 
grant  that  there  was  something  supernatural  in  connec 
tion  with  his  utterances,  and  he  was  accused  of  practising 
the  "  black  art  "  in  league  with  Satan.  Here  also  he  is 
said  to  have  appointed  twelve  apostles  to  go  forth  and 
proclaim  the  setting  up  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  After 
raising  considerable  commotion  he  felt  obliged  to  flee  from 
the  city.  After  a  somewhat  similar  experience  at  Glogau 
in  Silesia,  he  seems  to  have  returned  to  Saxony  and  to 
have  spent  the  early  months  of  1525  in  league  with 
Munzer,  traveling  from  place  to  place  in  the  interest 
of  the  politico-religious  revolution  that  culminated  in  the 
Peasants'  War.  Whether  he  was  with  the  peasants  during 
the  struggle  is  uncertain.  He  is  said  to  have  prophesied 
that  within  four  years  he  himself,  as  being  divinely  com 
missioned  thereunto,  would  assume  dominion  and  that 
the  saints  should  everywhere  reign  in  righteousness. 
According  to  Widemann,  he  died  in  a  hospital  at  Munich 
in  1525. 

Literature :  On  Munzer :  Merx,  Strobel,  Seidemann,  Streif,  Arnold 
(Kirch-u.-Ketzerhistorie),  Hast  (Wiedertaufer),  Erbkam  (Prot.  Sek- 


76  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

ten),  Forstemann  (Neues  Urkundenbuch),  and  works  on  the  Pea 
sants'  War  (as  in  chap.  VII).  On  Storch :  Bachmann,  Erbkam, 
Hast,  Meyer  (Zeitschr.  f.  Kirchegesch.,  Bd.  XVI.,  p.  117,  seq.). 
On  Carlstadt:  Jager,  Fusslin,  Erbkam.  The  correspondence  of 
the  leading  reformers  (Luther,  Melancthon,  etc.),  contains  many 
important  notices. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THOMAS  MUNZER  AND  THE  PEASANTS'   WAR. 

WE  left  Munzer  about  the  middle  of  1523  in  Alstedt, 
with  a  new  church  service  prepared  and  adopted, 
highly  popular,  and  happily  married  withal.     From  this 
time  onward  his  preaching  grew  more  and  more  recklessly 
denunciatory.     The  lives  of  priests,  monks,   and  nuns 
were  doubtless  open  to  criticism.     He  indulged    in  the 
most  intemperate  vilification  of  these  classes,  who  were 
he  thought,  living  in  idleness,  luxury,  and  vice  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  workingman.     He  did  not  hesitate  to  advise 
the  withholding  of  all  tithes  and  rents.     Under  the  im 
pulse  of  his  denunciations  a  nunnery  was  plundered,  holy 
objects  were  profaned,  and  the  inmates  maltreated.    The 
effort  to  punish  the  guilty  parties  led  to  riotous  proce 
dures  which  had   Munzer's  approval.     He  did  not  spare 
such  high  civil  dignitaries  as  Count  Ernst  of  Mansfeld 
and  Duke  George  of  Saxony,  who  attempted  to  meddle 
with  Alstedt  affairs.     The  Lutheran  preachers  also  came 
in  for  a  share  of   his  denunciation  so  far  as  they  fell 
short  of  the  standard  he  had  set  up.     Obedience  to  civil 
rulers  was  obligatory  on  Christians  only  so  far  as  they 
ruled  righteously.     "  God  gave  lords  and  princes  in  his 
anger  and  he  will  do  away  with  them  in  his  sore  dis 
pleasure."      The  very  title   "  prince"   displeased  him. 
It  ought  to  be  reserved  for   Christ,  to  whom  alone  it 
rightly  belongs.     "  If  princes  act  not   only  against  the 
gospel,  but  also  against  the  natural  rights  of  the  people, 
they  should  be  strangled  like  dogs."     According  to  his 
view,  as  set  forth  just  before  his  execution,  Christians 
should  all  be  equal.    His  aim  was  to  bring  about  a  religio- 

77 


78  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

social  state  in  which  private  property  should  be  utterly 
abolished,  and  in  which  each  individual  should  have 
enough  and  no  more  than  enough  of  the  common  product 
and  in  which  each  should  contribute  according  to  his 
ability  to  the  work  of  production.  He  was  a  thorough 
going  socialist  of  the  modern  type  ;  but  his  socialism 
was  grounded  not  merely  on  natural  right — it  was  the 
requirement  of  the  gospel.  He  believed,  moreover, 
that  he  was  especially  commissioned  by  God  to  pro 
claim  the  inauguration  of  this  new  social  state,  and  to 
use  every  means  for  arousing  the  people  to  a  sense  of 
their  rights.  He  predicted  that  in  a  short  time  the 
power  would  be  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  "Whoever 
will  be  a  stone  of  the  new  church,  let  him  risk  his 
neck,  otherwise  he  will  be  rejected  by  the  builders." 
"If  you  have  not  the  pure  fear  of  God,"  he  said  in  a  ser 
mon,  "  you  can  stand  your  ground  in  no  conflict.  If  you 
have  it,  you  will  stand  victorious  before  all  tyrants,  and 
they  shall  be  so  miserably  put  to  shame,  that  they  will 
have  nothing  to  say." 

Munzer's  influence  was  by  no  means  confined  to  Al- 
stedt.  Eisleben,  Mansfeld,  Sangerhausen,  Franken- 
hausen,  Querfurt,  Halle,  Aschersleben,  Nordhausen, 
MUhlhausen,  and  some  of  the  Swiss  communities,  are 
known  to  have  been  more  or  less  agitated  by  his  teach 
ings.  He  encouraged  the  people  to  form  secret  societies 
for  the  propagation  of  these  views  and  to  make  ready  for 
action  when  the  time  should  come.  More  than  thirty  of 
these  societies  had  been  formed  by  the  middle  of  July, 
I524.1 

The  violent  controversy  into  which  he  fell  with  Luther 
during  his  stay  at  Alstedt  is  of  subordinate  importance  in 
the  present  discussion.  He  attacked  in  the  most  intem- 

lS>ee  Munzer's  letter  to  his  Sangerhausen  co-religionists,  in  "  Forstemann."  p. 
237,  seq. 


PFEIFFER  AND  MUHLHAUSEN  79 

perate  way  Luther's  teachings  on  faith,  Scripture,  and 
baptism.  Luther  was  not  to  be  outdone  when  it  came  to 
the  matter  of  invective  and  he  did  his  full  share  of  the 
hard  hitting. 

Luther's  influence  with  Duke  John  and  the  Elector  of 
Saxony  proved  sufficient  to  secure  their  active  interven 
tion.  Although  Munzer  had  a  large  majority  of  the 
people  of  Alstedt  on  his  side,  including  a  number  of  the 
leading  officials,  he  was  compelled  to  quit  the  city  and 
seek  another  basis  of  operations.  This  occurred  early  in 
August,  1524.  He  betook  himself  at  once  to  Muhlhausen, 
where  he  already  had  many  who  favored  him,  and  where 
the  eloquent  and  enthusiastic  Heinrich  Pfeiffer  had  al 
ready  for  some  months  been  conducting  a  religio-social- 
istic  agitation  in  MUnzer's  own  spirit.  Pfeiffer  had  come 
to  Muhlhausen  as  a  preacher  about  the  beginning  of  1523 
and  by  his  vigorous  denunciations  of  the  clergy  and  re 
ligious  orders  and  the  zealous  promulgation  of  his  own 
scheme  of  reform  had  set  the  city  in  a  commotion.  The 
monks  and  nuns  (he  was  an  ex-monk  himself)  he  declared 
to  be  "  servants  of  the  devil,"  and  their  possessions 
"  the  sweat  and  blood  of  the  poor." 

A  strong  revolutionary  party  was  soon  organized, 
which  issued  a  programme  of  reform  containing  fifty- 
three  articles,  only  two  of  which  are  distinctively  relig 
ious.  Of  these  latter  the  first  demanded  that  the  parish 
churches  and  chapels  be  provided  with  evangelical 
preachers  ;  the  second,  that  there  should  be  no  interfer 
ence  with  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  The  rest  of  the 
articles  were  of  politico-social  bearing,  and  aimed  at  the 
abolition  of  abuses  and  the  securing  of  a  larger  measure 
of  civil  liberty.  The  refusal  of  the  council  to  accede  to 
these  demands  was  followed  by  a  riot  of  which  the  sack 
ing  of  the  monasteries  constituted  the  chief  feature.  The 
revolutionary  party  succeeded  in  compelling  the  council 


80  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

to  accept  the  articles,  and  both  parties  undertook  to  live 
thenceforth  in  peace  and  unity  and  not  to  seek  the  inter 
vention  of  emperor,  kings,  princes,  or  any  other  outside 
parties. 

A  reaction  soon  set  in  and  the  council,  supported  by 
the  conservative  elements,  was  able  to  banish  Pfeiffer 
and  his  chief  co-laborer,  August  24,  1523.  In  December 
Pfeiffer  was  able  to  resume  his  work  in  MUhlhausen. 
During  his  absence,  whether  through  personal  intercourse 
with  Munzer  or  in  some  indirect  way,  he  had  become 
imbued  with  the  whole  circle  of  Munzer's  ideas.  Like 
Munzer  he  now  magnified  the  Jewish  law  and  insisted  on 
its  being  put  into  practice.  The  example  of  Old  Testa 
ment  heroes  in  taking  up  the  sword  against  the  enemies 
of  God  and  meting  out  summary  punishment  to  those 
who  refused  to  submit  to  the  setting  up  of  a  righteous 
government,  he  considered  worthy  of  imitation.  There 
was  nothing  good  in  the  clergy  from  sole  to  scalp  ;  they 
were  worthy  only  of  being  strangled  as  perverters  of 
the  people.  Uproar  soon  followed,  churches  were  plun 
dered,  and  images,  relics,  and  other  instruments  of  super 
stition  destroyed. 

Munzer's  arrival  about  the  middle  of  August  could 
have  had  no  other  effect  than  to  intensify  the  revolu 
tionary  spirit.  With  two  such  arch-agitators  as  Munzer 
and  Pfeiffer  in  one  small  city  a  crisis  must  soon  be 
reached.  The  flight  of  about  ten  members  of  the  coun 
cil  and  of  the  two  burgomasters  left  that  body  in  a 
crippled  condition.  So  timid  had  the  remaining  members 
become,  that  they  thought  it  prudent  to  ask  the  citizens 
for  advice.  Pfeiffer  and  Munzer  were  in  a  position  to 
speak  for  the  majority.  Under  their  direction  eleven 
articles  were  formulated  for  the  guidance  of  the  council. 
These  provided  for  the  constitution  of  a  new  council, 
that  should  rule  according  to  the  Bible  and  God's  word 


RETURN  TO  MUHLHAUSEN  8l 

and  execute  justice  and  judgment  by  the  same  standard. 
The  council  should  be  chosen  in  perpetuity  and  death 
should  be  the  penalty  of  failure  to  do  justice  or  to  avoid 
injustice.  No  one  should  be  compelled  to  accept  a  posi 
tion  on  the  couucil,  and  members  of  the  council  should 
be  suitably  supported.  In  case  the  present  council  should 
refuse  to  accept  the  proposed  arrangement  their  acts  of 
unrighteousness  for  the  past  twenty  years  would  be  pub 
lished  and  the  citizens  would  have  no  further  communion 
with  them.  It  is  emphatically  insisted  that  all  works  and 
transactions  are  to  be  carried  out  according  to  the  com 
mands  of  God  and  of  righteousness,  without  any  refer 
ence  to  men.  Evidently  a  theocracy  of  a  very  rigid  type 
was  in  the  minds  of  Munzer  and  Pfeiffer.  Supported  by 
the  neighboring  villagers,  who  had  not  yet  been  won  to 
the  revolutionary  cause,  the  council  was  able  to  resist 
the  demands  of  the  citizens  and  to  expel  Pfeiffer  and 
Munzer  from  the  city  (September  27).  They  now  di 
rected  their  steps  to  Nurnberg. 

Their  reputation  as  dangerous  religio-socialistic  agita 
tors  followed  them  and  after  a  brief  sojourn  they  were 
obliged  to  leave  the  city.  Pfeiffer  returned  to  Mu'hl- 
hausen  in  December,  and  with  the  support  of  the  villa 
gers,  now  zealous  for  social  reform,  was  able  to  withstand 
his  enemies  in  the  council.  It  is  probable  that  he  spent 
the  time  between  his  expulsion  from  Nurnberg  and  his 
return  to  Muhlhausen  in  winning  the  allegiance  of  the  vil 
lagers.  Before  leaving  Muhlhausen  Munzer  had  secretly 
printed  a  strong  polemic  against  Luther  and  other  oppo 
nents  of  the  gospel.  As  Luther  had  dedicated  his  writ 
ing  against  Munzer  to  the  "princes  of  Saxony,"  this  re 
joinder  was  dedicated  to  "the  most  august  first-born 
Prince  and  Almighty  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  gracious 
King  of  all  kings,  and  to  his  afflicted  bride,  poor  Christen 
dom."  In  this  document  he  set  forth  his  social-theo- 

F 


82  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

cratic  system  without  reserve.  He  maintained,  "  that  a 
community  as  a  whole  has  the  power  of  the  sword,  and 
that  the  princes  are  not  lords  but  servants  of  the  sword  ; 
therefore  also  they  have  unrighteously  appropriated  the 
fish  in  the  water,  the  birds  in  the  air,  the  products  of  the 
soil."  He  says  in  conclusion:  "  The  people  shall  be 
come  free,  and  God  will  be  the  only  Lord  over  them." 
According  to  his  own  account,  he  could  easily  have  made 
trouble  in  Nurnberg,  but  his  principal  object  had  been  not 
to  arouse  the  people  but  to  publish  the  writing  referred 
to.  He  spent  the  next  few  months  in  Swabia,  Switzer 
land,  and  Waldshut.  Preparations  for  a  peasant  uprising 
in  Swabia  were  already  far  advanced.  Munzer  undoubt 
edly  gave  all  the  encouragement  he  could  to  the  aspira 
tions  of  the  people  for  political  freedom  and  for  the  re 
dress  of  social  grievances.  He  had  several  interviews 
with  OEcolampadius  at  Basel,  who  treated  him  more  hos 
pitably  than  his  friends  thought  prudent.  At  Waldshut 
he  was  undoubtedly  in  conference  with  Balthasar  Hub- 
maier,  at  this  time  the  highly  popular  chief  pastor  of  the 
city,  who  also  was  something  of  a  religious  democrat, 
but  whose  ideas  of  human  rights  were  free  from  chili- 
astic  fanaticism. 

Munzer  returned  to  Muhlhausen  about  January,  1525, 
and  was  soon  made  pastor  of  the  principal  church. 
Along  with  Pfeiffer  he  became  the  chief  director  of 
ecclesiastical  affairs.  Already  before  Munzer's  return 
the  churches  and  monasteries  had  been  stripped  of  all 
idolatrous  objects  and  the  inmates  of  the  latter  with  few 
exceptions  had  been  driven  away.  Munzer  was  now  in 
a  position  to  put  his  theories  in  practice  as  never  before. 
So  great  was  the  preponderance  of  influence  on  the  radi 
cal  side  that  the  old  council  was  compelled  to  allow  the 
appointment  of  a  new  one  in  hearty  sympathy  with 
Pfeiffer  and  Munzer.  The  churches  and  their  services 


THE  SWORD  OF  GIDEON  83 

were  reduced  to  plainness  and  simplicity  ;  the  valuable 
articles  from  the  churches  and  monasteries  were  sold 
and  the  proceeds  applied  to  public  uses,  while  the  cruci 
fixes,  pictures  of  saints,  relics,  etc.,  were  destroyed. 

It  is  probable  that  during  this  period  Pfeiffer  was  even 
more  aggressive  than  Munzer  himself.  The  peasants' 
revolt,  that  had  for  months  been  moving  northward,  after 
its  early  successes  in  Swabia  and  Alsace,  reached  the 
neighborhood  of  Miihlhausen  early  in  May,  1525.  Prepa 
rations  had  been  made  to  join  in  the  movement  when  the 
right  time  should  come.  Munzer  had  long  preached 
revolution  and  had  prophesied  the  success  of  the  cause 
of  the  workingman.  He  had  led  the  people  to  believe 
that  supernatural  aid  would  be  vouchsafed  to  them  in 
this  righteous  cause,  as  in  the  Old  Testament  times. 
He  adopted  as  his  signature  "  Thomas  Munzer  with  the 
hammer,"  and  "  Thomas  Munzer  with  the  sword  of  Gid 
eon."  He  had  come  to  believe  that  it  was  the  will  of 
God  that  all  the  unrighteous  should  be  destroyed  by  the 
righteous  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  as  the  Canaanites 
were  by  divine  direction  destroyed  by  the  children  of 
Israel.  "  On!  on!  on!"  he  shrieked;  "  never  mind  the 
wail  of  the  godless.  Though  they  beg  in  friendly  tones, 
though  they  cry  and  whimper  like  children,  pity  not. 
On!  on!  while  the  fire  is  hot.  Down  with  the  castles 
and  their  inmates.  God  is  with  you.  On!  on!"  By 
this  time  the  nobility  had  been  able  to  rally  their  forces 
and  to  secure  concerted  action.  Munzer  and  his  hosts 
were  unused  to  warfare  and  poorly  equipped.  They 
were  trusting  more  to  supernatural  aid  than  to  the  use  of 
the  arts  of  war.  They  were  miserably  overwhelmed  by 
their  enemies.  About  one  hundred  thousand  peasants 
are  supposed  to  *have  been  massacred  in  this  misguided 
struggle  for  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Munzer  was 
arrested  and  shortly  afterward  put  to  death. 


84  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

What  is  the  significance  of  the  events  that  have  been 
thus  outlined  ? 

i.  We  must  distinguish  between  the  aspirations  and 
strivings  of  the  peasants  in  Swabia  and  Alsace,  and  the 
fanatical  procedures  of  MUnzer  and  Pfeiffer.  The  cause 
of  the  peasants  was  a  righteous  cause.  If  ever  an 
oppressed  class  was  justified  in  rebelling  against  consti 
tuted  authority,  the  peasants  of  Germany  were  surely 
justified  in  organizing  themselves  as  they  did  and  in  ven 
turing  their  lives  for  civil  and  religious  liberty.  The 
oppression  under  which  they  groaned  had  become  intol 
erable,  and  the  enthusiastic  utterances  of  Luther  and 
others  had  given  them  a  clear  consciousness  of  the  rights 
of  man  and  of  the  unjustifiableness  of  tyranny.  This 
is  not  the  place  to  give  in  detail  the  grievances  of  the 
peasants.  The  twelve  articles  in  which  they  set  forth 
their  demands,  as  has  been  justly  said,  are  worthy  of  a 
Solon.  There  is  not  one  trace  of  fanaticism  in  the  docu 
ment.  It  is  in  the  spirit  of  the  best  medieval  evangeli 
cal  thought.  It  is  in  accord  with  the  best  that  was  con 
tained  in  Luther's  earlier  utterances.  It  is  in  accord 
with  Baptist  views  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  It  is  in 
accord  with  modern  democratic  principles.  There  is  no 
demand  for  community  of  goods.  There  is  no  suggestion 
of  theocratic  government.  The  people  claim  the  right  to 
appoint  and  remove  pastors  and  to  insist  upon  the  preach 
ing  of  the  gospel  in  its  purity  and  simplicity.  They 
demand  the  abolition  of  oppressive  laws  as  regards 
wages,  rents,  tithes,  the  "  heriot  "  or  death  gift,  hunting, 
fishing,  the  use  of  the  forests  for  fuel  and  timber,  etc. 
The  demands  are  all  most  reasonable  and  Christian. 
Moreover  the  authors  of  the  demands  express  a  willing 
ness  to  abandon  any  one  of  them  that  shall  be  shown  to 
be  out  of  accord  with  Scripture.  So  thoroughly  sound 
are  these  articles  that  they  have  by  some  been  attributed 


CHILIASM  AND  MYSTICISM  85 

to  Hubmaier,  who  probably  came  nearer  to  the  modern 
Baptist  position  than  any  man  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
There  is  nothing  in  them  that  he  might  not  have  written, 
and  as  he  was  certainly  in  thorough  sympathy  with  the 
just  demands  of  the  peasantry,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
he  had  at  least  something  to  do  with  the  drafting  of  the 
document. 

2.  The  influence  of  Storch,  Munzer,  and  Pfeiffer  on  the 
peasant  movement  was  evil  and  only  evil.  They  were 
in  no  sense  the  originators  of  it,  and  so  far  as  their  influ 
ence  went  it  was  in  the  direction  of  intensifying  hatred 
and  preparing  the  people  for  deeds  of  cruel  vengeance  in 
the  name  of  religion.  The  most  revolting  scenes  of  Old 
Testament  history  were  held  up  to  the  people  as  models 
of  what  God  would  approve  in  the  setting  up  of  a  modern 
Christian  theocracy.  The  corrupting  elements  in  the 
teachings  of  this  party  are  easy  to  discern.  Chiliasm  in 
time  of  revolution  is  almost  sure  to  lead  certain  classes 
of  minds  into  fanaticism.  The  man  who  so  interprets 
the  prophetical  Scriptures  as  to  be  perfectly  sure  that 
their  fulfillment  is  to  take  place  at  a  particular  time  and 
in  a  particular  way,  and  who  is  filled  with  earnest  desire 
for  social  and  religious  reform,  very  easily  passes  over 
into  a  state  in  which  he  believes  himself  to  be  the  recipi 
ent  of  revelations  as  to  the  practical  carrying  out  of  the 
Divine  purposes.  The  more  one  indulges  in  such  pro 
phetic  exercises  the  more  fanatical  is  he  likely  to  become, 
especially  if  he  finds  a  large  number  of  people  with  like 
aspirations  who  are  ready  to  receive  his  utterances  as  the 
revelation  of  God.  Chiliasm  of  this  fanatical  type  is 
likely  to  occur  at  any  time  when  great  revolutions  are  in 
progress;  but  in  the  case  before  us  it  is  possible  to  find  a 
historical  connection  with  the  past.  Through  Nicholas 
Storch  the  chiliasm  of  Munzer  is  historically  connected 
with  that  of  the  Taborites  of  the  preceding  century,  and 


86  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

this  in  turn  doubtless  had  its  antecedents  in  the  earlier 
time,  as  in  the  chiliastic  teaching  of  Militz  of  Kremsier 
and  Matthias  of  Janow,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and 
in  that  of  the  heretical  Franciscans  of  the  thirteenth. 
Chiliasm  is  in  its  very  nature  fanatical,  and  if  in  particu 
lar  individuals  or  in  particular  times  we  find  it  existing 
in  comparatively  quiet  and  innocent  form,  this  in  no  way 
invalidates  the  principle  here  set  forth. 

So  also  we  see  in  Munzer's  career  a  natural  outcome 
of  mysticism.  The  tendency  of  mysticism  is  toward  the 
depreciation  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  exaltation  of  the 
authority  of  inner  illumination.  Sometimes  it  degen 
erates  into  pantheistic  self-identification  of  the  subject 
with  deity  and  the  complete  obliteration  of  moral  dis 
tinctions  ;  at  other  times  it  generates  the  delusion  that 
its  subject  is  possessed  of  prophetic  powers,  is  the  organ 
of  divine  revelation.  Assuming  this  latter  form  in  Storch 
and  Munzer,  it  produced,  in  connection  with  chiliasm, 
the  disastrous  results  that  have  been  noted. 

3.  As  has  been  made  evident  in  the  above  discussion, 
neither  Munzer  nor  Pfeiffer  was  a  Baptist,  or  even  an 
Anabaptist.  Their  denial  of  infant  baptism  as  a  scriptural 
ordinance  was  a  wholly  subordinate  element  in  their 
teaching,  and  they  continued  to  the  last  to  practise  it. 
There  is  no  evidence,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  that  either  of 
those  men  either  submitted  to  rebaptism  or  administered 
it  to  others.  The  identification  of  these  fanatics  with 
the  Anabaptist  cause  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders  of  the 
dominant  parties  of  the  time,  was  most  damaging  to  the 
biblical  Anti-pedobaptists,  and  caused  them  to  be  looked 
upon  as  capable  of  all  the  atrocities  of  the  fanatics. 
The  Storch-Munzer  movement  had  its  natural  develop 
ment  in  the  Munster  Kingdom  of  1535,  and  not  in  the 
evangelical  movement  that  beginning  at  Zurich  spread 
rapidly  throughout  Europe  and  that  before  the  outbreak 


REMARKS  87 

of  the  Peasants'  War  as  well  as  afterward  repudiated 
the  sanguinary  utterances  of  Munzer. 

4.  A  most  unfortunate  result  of  the  fanatical  strivings 
of  Storch  and  Munzer  was  the  complete  reversal  of 
Luther's  programme  of  reform,  and  through  Luther  of 
that  of  the  leading  Protestant  parties.  Luther  would  no 
doubt  have  strenuously  opposed  a  purely  Baptist  attempt 
to  restore  primitive  Christianity  ;  but  the  effect  of  the 
movement  we  have  considered  was  to  embitter  him 
against  any  type  of  reform  that  aimed  to  set  up  churches 
of  the  regenerate  and  that  involved  rupture  with  the 
State  Church.  From  his  point  of  view,  the  impractica 
bility  of  the  ideas  of  freedom  of  conscience  and  freedom 
of  speech  set  forth  with  enthusiasm  in  his  earlier  writ 
ings  had  been  fully  demonstrated.  He  counseled  the 
most  atrocious  treatment  of  those  who  rebelled  against 
constituted  authority  and  could  see  nothing  but  disaster 
in  any  dissenting  movement.  Protestants  and  Catholics 
vied  with  each  other  in  their  efforts  to  destroy  from  the 
face  of  the  earth  those  who  were  stigmatized  as  Anabap 
tists  and  were  supposed  to  be  capable,  whatever  might 
be  their  professions  and  however  quiet  and  holy  might 
be  their  lives,  of  committing  any  sort  of  atrocity ; 
and  whose  presence  in  a  State  was  looked  upon  as  a 
menace  to  constituted  authority.  This  feeling  was  in 
tensified  by  the  horrors  of  Munster  (1535),  ten  years 
after  the  Peasants'  War. 

Literature:  Works  on  the  Peasants'  War  by  Stern,  Seidemann, 
Fries,  Falkenheiner,  Schreiber,  Zimmermann,  Jorg ;  works  on 
Munzer,  as  in  chap.  V. ;  histories  of  Germany  in  the  Reformation 
time  by  Ranke  and  Janssen. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

RADICAL     AGITATION     IN     ZURICH     AND     IN     WALDSHUT 

(1523-24) 

A  RADICAL  movement  of  a  widely  different  type  we 
meet  in  Switzerland  from  1523  onward.  A  spirit 
of  independence  had  been  developed  in  Switzerland  long 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  Protestant  Revolution.  In 
place  of  the  feudal  system,  with  its  serfs  and  petty  lords, 
and  the  somewhat  ill-defined  subordination  of  the  nobil 
ity  to  the  imperial  government,  which  in  Germany 
obstructed  efforts  at  reform,  a  republican  form  of  gov 
ernment  prevailed  with  entire  independence  of  all  for 
eign  authority.  The  extraordinary  valor  that  had  won 
their  independence  and  enabled  them  to  maintain  it, 
caused  the  Swiss  to  be  in  great  demand  as  mercenary 
soldiers.  The  pope,  the  emperor,  and  the  king  of  France 
were  the  chief  employers  of  Swiss  troops.  The  mer 
cenary  system  was  not  morally  elevating  either  to  the 
soldiers  themselves  or  to  the  influential  citizens  who  were 
pensioned  by  the  foreign  powers  in  consideration  of  their 
good  offices.  But  it  undoubtedly  had  the  effect  of 
destroying  superstitious  veneration  for  the  church  whose 
carnal  battles  they  were  hired  to  wage  and  of  fostering 
freedom  of  thought.  When  in  1518  the  pope  asked  for 
twelve  thousand  Swiss  troops  to  fight  against  the  Turks, 
they  somewhat  reluctantly  promised  ten  thousand,  add 
ing  that  if  he  liked  he  might  take  in  addition  the  two 
thousand  priests.  The  new  learning  had  made  its 
influence  profoundly  felt,  especially  in  connection  with 
the  University  of  Basel.  The  mass  of  the  people  almost 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Protestant  movement  showed 


AGITATION  IN  ZURICH,  ETC.  89 

a  remarkable  readiness  to  abandon  the  papal  cause. 
There  was  no  violent  wrench  in  passing  from  nominal 
adherence  to  the  papacy  to  a  far  more  radical  type  of 
Protestantism  than  Luther  ever  thought  it  wise  to  intro 
duce  in  Germany. 

Zwingli,  the  chief  leader  of  the  politico-ecclesiastical 
reforming  movement  in  Switzerland,  was  a  thorough 
going  Humanist,  free  from  superstition  and  undue  enthu 
siasm,  cool-headed,  clear-headed,  a  good  scholar,  a  good 
theologian,  a  skillful  debater,  an  able  administrative 
head.  He  aimed  at  political  reform  almost  as  much  as 
at  religious,  and  the  practical  statesman  was  in  him  quite 
as  prominent  as  the  theologian  and  the  religious  leader. 
While  still  living  an  immoral  life  he  was  led  by  his 
studies  and  by  surrounding  influences  to  reject  the  Roman 
Catholic  system  and  to  seek  to  base  his  teachings  on  the 
New  Testament,  which  he  studied  with  enthusiasm  in 
Greek.  By  no  sudden  conversion,  but  by  a  quiet  pro 
cess,  the  truth  so  mastered  him  as  to  make  him  a  compar 
atively  worthy  religious  leader. 

From  1518  he  labored  so  successfully  in  Zurich  that 
by  the  beginning  of  1523  the  people  were  prepared  to 
adopt  radically  anti-Catholic  measures.  This  took  place 
formally  after  a  disputation  called  by  the  council.  On 
this  occasion  Zwingli  set  forth  and  defended  his  views  in 
sixty-seven  articles,  which  the  representative  of  the 
bishop  of  Constance  was  unable  to  refute.  These  articles 
were  published  with  full  explanatory  notes  shortly  after 
ward  and  may  be  regarded  as  the  Swiss  programme  of 
reform.  In  the  interpretation  of  the  eighteenth  article 
he  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  the  early  church  the 
baptism  of  infants  was  not  so  common  as  at  present, 
catechetical  instruction  having  preceded  and  baptism  hav 
ing  been  administered  only  after  the  catechumens  had  firm 
faith  in  the  heart  and  had  confessed  with  the  mouth. 


QO  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

He  persistently  denied  that  infants  are  saved  by  baptism 
or  dying  without  baptism  are  lost.  Still  later  he  con 
fessed  :  "The  error  also  misled  me  some  years  ago,  so 
that  I  thought  it  would  be  much  more  suitable  to  baptize 
children  after  they  had  arrived  at  a  good  age."  He 
made  the  impression  on  those  who  afterward  came  out 
in  open  hostility  to  infant  baptism,  that  he  favored  the 
abolition  of  this  practice,  which  he  acknowledged  to 
have  no  scriptural  authorization. 

Various  practical  reforms  followed  the  first  disputation. 
The  sentiment  against  idolatrous  objects  in  the  churches 
and  against  the  mass  was  intensified  by  the  publication 
of  a  treatise  on  images  and  pictures  by  Ludwig  Hetzer 
(a  learned  Hebraist,  afterward  associated  with  the  Ana 
baptists)  and  a  treatise  on  the  mass  by  Zwingli.  To 
avoid  lawless  iconoclasm  the  council  arranged  a  second 
disputation  for  October,  1523,  in  which  Zwingli,  Leo 
Judae,  Hetzer,  Conrad  Grebel,  and  Balthasar  Hubmaier 
(the  last  two  to  become  eminent  Anabaptist  leaders), 
took  part.  The  sentiment  was  unanimous  in  favor  of 
thorough-going  reform,  and  provision  was  made  for  pre 
paring  the  people,  especially  in  the  rural  districts,  for  the 
abolition  of  images  and  the  mass.  The  people  of  Zurich 
grew  so  impatient  that  the  council  thought  it  advisable 
to  order  the  destruction  of  images  in  June,  1524.  It  was 
not  until  April,  1525,  that  the  mass  was  supplanted  by  a 
simple  German  service  with  communion  under  both 
kinds. 

Similar  reforms,  largely  under  Zwingli's  counsel,  were 
introduced  in  Basel,  Berne,  St.  Gall,  and  other  Swiss 
centers.  At  Basel,  OEcolampadius,  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  liberal  of  the  reformers,  was  at  the  head  of 
the  evangelical  movement.  Wilhelm  Reublin,  afterward 
a  zealous  Anabaptist  leader,  had  preached  to  large 
audiences  in  Basel  until  1522,  when  he  was  expelled  for 


BALTHASAR  HUBMAIER  91 

abetting  the  violation  of  an  ecclesiastical  fast  on  Palm 
Sunday.  As  preacher  at  St.  Alban's  Church  he  is  said 
by  a  contemporary  to  have  "  interpreted  the  Scriptures 
so  well  that  the  like  had  never  been  heard  before."  At 
Berne  John  Haller  and  Berthold  Haller  were  the  evan 
gelical  leaders.  They  were  less  able  than  Zwingli  and 
OEcolampadius,  but  were  enlightened  and  tolerant  and 
conducted  the  work  with  discretion  and  success.  The 
evangelical  leader  at  St.  Gall  was  also  the  leading 
citizen,  Dr.  Joachim  von  Watt  (Vadian),  a  learned  lay 
man  of  excellent  spirit. 

Outside  of  Switzerland,  but  in  close  affiliation  with  the 
Swiss  evangelical  movement,  reform  was  carried  forward 
in  Strasburg  under  the  leadership  of  Capito  and  Bucer, 
and  at  Waldshut,  in  the  Austrian  Breisgau,  Dr.  Balthasar 
Hubmaier  labored  with  zeal  and  success.  Of  the  Stras 
burg  reformers,  Capito  was  like-minded  with  OEcolam 
padius,  liberal,  tolerant,  and  hospitable  toward  the  perse 
cuted  and  oppressed  ;  while  Bucer  was  an  ecclesiastical 
opportunist,  ready  to  compromise  or  persecute  as  policy 
seemed  to  dictate. 

The  reforming  labors  of  Hubmaier  at  Waldshut  are  of 
special  interest  to  us  by  reason  of  his  remarkable  abilities 
as  scholar,  thinker,  pulpit  orator,  disputant,  and  organizer 
and  leader  of  men  ;  and  especially  by  reason  of  the  fact 
that  he  devoted  all  these  powers  and  life  itself  to  the 
restoration  of  primitive  Christianity.  Born  near  Augs 
burg,  about  1480,  he  was  educated  in  the  University  of 
Freiburg  (1503  onward),  where  he  enjoyed  the  friend 
ship  of  the  famous  dialectician,  Dr.  John  Eck,  from  whom 
he  received  the  most  distinguished  praise.  He  is  said  to 
have  become  second  only  to  Eck  in  dialectics.  Having 
already  attained  to  great  distinction  in  the  university  he 
received  his  bachelor's  degree  in  1512,  and  was  probably 
ordained  to  the  priesthood  soon  after  his  graduation. 


92  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Later,  in  the  same  year,  he  followed  Eck  to  Ingolstadt, 
where  the  latter  had  accepted  a  professorship. 

Here  Hubmaier  was  made  pastor  of  a  church  belong 
ing  to  the  university  and  instructor  in  the  theological  fac 
ulty.  Through  Eck's  influence  the  doctor's  degree  was 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  university  shortly  after  his 
arrival.  His  extraordinary  eloquence  caused  him  to  be 
sought  for  as  preacher  by  the  cathedral  church  of  Regens- 
burg.  This  position  he  accepted  much  to  the  regret  of 
his  Ingolstadt  admirers.  In  the  spirit  of  his  time  he  joined 
in  a  movement  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  already 
in  progress,  and  assumed  the  care  of  the  chapel  erected 
on  the  site  of  a  destroyed  synagogue.  Pretended  mira 
cles  in  connection  with  a  shrine  in  this  chapel  attracted 
throngs  of  pilgrims.  He  encouraged  the  superstition  for 
a  time,  but  afterward  recognized  the  evil  involved  and 
sought  to  abate  it.  His  efforts  to  curb  certain  super 
stitious  practices  somewhat  strained  his  relations  with  the 
Regensburg  authorities  and  he  was  glad  in  1521  to  accept 
a  pastorate  in  Waldshut.  Here,  in  his  "  little  nest,"  he 
at  once  became  exceedingly  popular,  being  still  scrupu 
lously  exact  in  conforming  to  the  church  ceremonial. 
He  now  began  to  study  and  expound  the  Pauline  epistles 
and  by  1522  he  was  reading  Luther's  writings  with  the 
utmost  interest. 

In  June,  1522,  he  visited  Basel  where  he  met  a  num 
ber  of  leading'Humanists,  including  Busch,  Glarean,  and 
Erasmus.  He  noticed  that  at  Basel  the  monasteries  were 
being  emptied  and  their  inmates  were  marrying.  In 
November  he  returned  to  Regensburg  at  the  urgent 
entreaty  of  his  friends  and  was  well  received  by  clergy 
and  people.  By  this  time  he  had  adopted  evangelical 
views,  and  he  soon  began  to  realize  that  he  was  out  of 
sympathy  with  his  surroundings. 

After  a  few  months'  stay  he  returned  to  Waldshut, 


PROCEEDINGS  AGAINST  HUBMAIER  93 

where  the  principal  pastorate  had  been  kept  open  for 
him.  In  May,  1523,  he  had  a  conference  on  infant  bap 
tism  with  Zwingli  who  "conceded  to  him  that  children 
should  not  be  baptized  before  they  are  instructed  in  the 
faith."  He  also  visited  Vadian  at  St.  Gall,  with  whom 
he  entered  into  the  most  cordial  relations.  Returning  to 
Waldshut  he  at  once  began  to  agitate  for  the  abolition  of 
the  mass  and  of  the  idolatrous  use  of  images.  On  the 
basis  of  Deut.  27,  "  Cursed  be  the  man  who  makes  a 
graven  or  molten  image,"  he  insisted  upon  the  removal 
of  all  idolatrous  objects  from  the  churches.  The  mass 
he  declared  to  be  no  sacrifice  but  the  proclamation  of  the 
last  will  of  Christ  in  which  his  bitter  suffering  and  self- 
sacrifice  are  commemorated.  It  should  be  celebrated 
without  unscriptural  ceremonies  in  the  vernacular  and 
under  both  kinds.1  These  opinions  he  claimed  to  have 
drawn  directly  from  Scripture.  If  he  errs  he  is  open  to 
correction,  but  a  heretic  he  will  not  be. 

The  Waldshut  clergy  and  aristocracy  were  unsympa 
thetic  and  his  proposed  innovations  were  promptly  re 
ported  to  the  Austrian  authorities  who  soon  began  pro 
ceedings  for  the  expulsion  of  Hubmaier.  The  mayor  and 
council  repudiated  the  charge  that  Hubmaier  had  intro 
duced  false  teaching  or  had  been  guilty  of  any  act  of 
disloyalty  to  the  Austrian  government,  and  refused  either 
to  expel  or  deliver  up  their  favorite  preacher.  The 
people  could  scarcely  be  restrained  from  doing  violence 
to  the  imperial  commissaries  who  had  come  to  demand  his 

removal. 

Having  been  given  a  fortnight  for  the  consideration  o 
the  matter,  the  council  sent  an  apology  to  the  Austrian 
authorities,   probably  drafted  by  Hubmaier  himself.     It 
was  claimed  that  Hubmaier  had  repeatedly  preached  of 
the  obedience  due  to  the  civil 


i  /.  e.t  both  breadand  wine  should  be  distributed  to  communicants. 


94  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

only  preached  the  pure  gospel  and  that  his  expulsion 
could  not  be  accomplished  without  uproar  and  division. 
They  begged  that  the  doctor  be  left  in  his  place  and  that 
in  any  case  he  be  not  removed  without  a  thorough  inves 
tigation  of  his  doctrine  before  the  proper  authorities.  By 
this  time  Hubmaier's  position  in  Waldshut  was  almost  as 
strong  as  that  of  Zwingli  in  Zurich.  The  council  refused 
to  send  him  to  Constance  for  examination  before  the 
bishop,  and  the  people  were  ready  to  defend  him  with 
their  lives. 

As  a  basis  for  the  reformation  of  the  Waldshut 
churches  Hubmaier  set  forth  (June,  1524)  eighteen  propo 
sitions  for  the  consideration  of  the  clergy.  In  these  he 
repudiates  the  whole  ceremonial  system  of  the  Roman 
Church,  including  the  use  of  candles,  palms,  and  conse 
crated  water,  fasts,  monastic  vows,  masses  for  the  dead, 
the  veneration  of  images,  pilgrimages,  Latin  services, 
canonical  hours  for  prayer,  etc.  All  doctrines  that  God 
himself  has  not  planted  must  be  rooted  out.  Only  he  is 
a  priest  who  proclaims  the  word  of  God  and  only  true 
priests  should  be  supported  by  the  people.  Purgatory 
has  been  fabricated  by  those  whose  God  is  their  belly. 
Who  seeks  it  seeks  the  grave  of  Moses  :  he  will  never 
find  it.  He  rejects  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  and  de 
nounces  idlers  of  all  kinds,  whoever  they  may  be. 

The  bishop  of  Constance  and  the  Austrian  authorities 
continued  to  insist  on  the  suppression  of  "  Lutheran" 
heresy,  but  so  strongly  had  Hubmaier  become  entrenched 
in  the  affections  of  the  people  that  in  April  he  declined  a 
recall  to  his  old  charge  in  Regensburg.  He  informed  his 
Regensburg  friends  of  the  great  change  he  had  experi 
enced  in  the  past  two  years.  He  now  curses  all  teaching 
and  preaching  that  he  formerly  did  in  Regensburg  and 
elsewhere,  so  far  as  it  had  not  its  foundation  in  the  word 
of  God.  He  warns  them  not  to  be  misled  into  trusting  in 


HUBMAIER  AT   SCHAFFHAUSEN  95 

the  authority  of  councils.  A  single  pious  Christian 
woman  knows  more  of  the  divine  word  than  such  red- 
cappers  (cardinals)  have  any  conception  of. 

Harassed  by  the  charges  that  the  bishop  of  Constance 
continued  to  make  and  the  necessity  put  upon  the 
Waldshut  authorities  to  repel  them,  and  encouraged  by 
reformatory  measures  that  were  being  introduced  at 
Zurich,  in  June,  1524,  Hubmaier  proposed  to  the  assem 
bled  congregation  the  introduction  of  the  desired  changes 
in  worship.  Some  of  his  best  friends  strongly  objected 
to  this  course  as  inopportune  and  as  sure  to  involve  the 
city  in  the  gravest  difficulties.  He  promptly  resigned  his 
office,  but  the  popular  demand  for  his  re-election  was 
irresistible.  Many  believed  that  he  had  been  especially 
ordained  and  sent  of  God  to  reform  Waldshut  and  were 
ready  to  defend  him  with  property  and  blood.  The 
Catholic  priests  had  come  into  such  disfavor  that  they 
found  it  advisable  to  leave  the  city.  The  images  were 
destroyed,  a  simple  German  service  was  introduced  in 
place  of  the  mass,  and  the  Supper  was  celebrated  under 
both  kinds  as  a  simple  memorial  act.  He  discouraged 
abstinence  from  flesh  on  Fridays  and  Saturdays  and  soon 
afterward  showed  his  disapproval  of  sacerdotal  celibacy 
by  marrying  Elsbeth  Hugeline,  who  proved  worthy  of  his 
love  and  who  died  a  martyr's  death. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  the  Austrian  authorities 
now  became  still  more  peremptory  in  their  demand  for 
the  extradition  of  Hubmaier  and  the  restoration  of  the 
old  regime.  They  hesitated  for  a  long  time  to  resort  to 
extreme  measures  lest  the  Swiss  should  take  the  part  of 
Waldshut  and  lest  other  expensive  and  troublesome  com 
plications  should  arise.  The  Waldshut  officials  insisted 
that  Hubmaier  was  preaching  the  pure  gospel  and  nothing 
but  the  gospel  and  could  be  induced  by  no  threats  to  de 
liver  him  up  for  punishment.  The  Austrian  authorities 


96  A  HISTORY  OF  ANT1-PEDOBAPT1SM 

resolved  not  only  to  get  possession  of  the  person  of  Hub- 
maier,  but  also  to  put  him  out  of  the  way  of  causing  fur 
ther  trouble.  At  last,  when  resistance  was  no  longer 
possible  and  Hubmaier  was  in  imminent  danger  of  being 
seized,  he  escaped  by  night  to  Schaffhausen,  Septem 
ber  i,  1524. 

The  Schaffhausen  authorities,  though  well  disposed, 
were  put  thereby  in  a  most  trying  position.  The  Austrian 
authorities  were  strenuous  in  their  demands  for  his 
extradition,  and  most  of  the  cantons  of  the  Swiss  con 
federacy  had  expressed  the  opinion  that,  according  to  the 
treaties  then  in  force  between  the  confederacy  and 
Austria,  extradition  could  not  properly  be  refused.  Hub 
maier  knew  full  well  that  extradition  meant  certain 
death,  and  he  plead  with  the  Schaffhausen  authorities  for 
protection  for  at  least  a  short  time,  until  the  question  at 
issue  between  the  Austrian  authorities  and  Waldshut 
should  have  been  settled. 

It  was  during  his  sojourn  in  Schaffhausen  that  he  wrote 
the  most  remarkable  plea  for  liberty  of  conscience  that 
the  sixteenth  century  produced,  "  On  Heretics  and  their 
Burners."  Those  are  heretics  who  perversely  strive 
against  Scripture.  The  devil  was  the  first  of  these  when 
he  said  to  Eve,  "  Thou  shalt  not  surely  die."  Those 
also  are  heretics  who  obscure  Scripture  and  interpret  it 
otherwise  than  the  Spirit  requires  and  seek  to  compel 
others  to  believe  such  nonsense.  Heretics  are  to  be 
overcome  by  means  of  holy  instruction,  given  ruot  conten- 
tiously  but  gently,  although  it  is  true  Scripture  contains 
indignation  also.  But  this  indignation  of  Scripture  is 
truly  a  spiritual  fire.  If  heretics  will  not  yield  to  words 
of  power  or  evangelical  considerations  they  are  to  be  left 
to  their  own  condemnation.  To  God  alone  judgment  be 
longs  and  he  will  either  convert  them  or  harden  them  so 
that  the  blind  leading  the  blind  both  the  perverted  and 


HUBMAIER  ON   LIBERTY  OF  CONSCIENCE  97 

the  perverters  shall  be  led  to  ruin.  So  Christ  intended 
when  he  said,  "  Let  both  grow  together  until  the  har 
vest."  This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  we  should 
be  idle,  but  rather  that  we  should  strive  against  godless 
doctrines  instead  of  seeking  to  destroy  those  who  teach 
them.  Unfaithful  bishops  are  the  cause  of  the  incoming 
of  false  teaching,  for  while  men  slept  the  enemy  came 
and  sowed  the  tares.  He  who  watches  before  the  bride 
groom's  door  neither  slumbers  nor  sits  in  the  seat  of  the 
scornful.  The  greatest  arch-heretics  are  those  who 
against  Christ's  teaching  and  example  condemn  heretics 
to  the  flames  and  before  the  time  of  the  harvest  destroy 
wheat  and  tares  together ;  for  Christ  did  not  come  to 
butcher,  to  murder,  to  burn,  but  that  men  might  have 
life  and  that  more  abundantly.  So  long  as  a  man  lives 
we  should  pray  and  hope  for  his  repentance.  A  Turk  or 
a  heretic  is  to  be  overcome  not  with  sword  or  fire  but  by 
patience  and  weeping.  We  are  therefore  to  wait  patiently 
for  the  judgment  of  God.  As  thus  violating  the  spirit 
and  the  teaching  of  the  gospel,  the  preaching  orders,  who 
were  the  leaders  of  the  Inquisition,  are  declared  to  be  the 
producers  of  arch-heretics.  If  such  knew  of  what  spirit 
they  should  be  they  would  not  so  shamelessly  pervert 
God's  word  nor  so  often  cry  out,  "  To  the  fire  !  "  It  is  no 
excuse  that  they  deliver  their  victims  for  execution  to 
the  godless  secular  power.  Nay,  in  this  they  sin  still 
more  grievously.  Every  Christian  has  a  sword  against 
the  godless,  that  is,  the  word  of  God  ;  but  not  a  sword 
against  evil-doers.  The  civil  power  has  a  right  to  execute 
evil-doers,  but  the  godless  God  alone  should  punish  ;  for 
such  can  injure  neither  body  nor  soul,  but  are  useful 
rather ;  for  God  knows  how  to  bring  good  out  of  evil. 
For  true  faith  thrives  by  conflict ;  the  more  it  is  opposed 
the  greater  it  becomes.  To  burn  heretics  is  to  confess 
Christ  in  appearance  but  to  deny  him  in  reality,  and  is 


98  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

more  abominable  than  Joachim  king  of  Judah.  If  it  be 
a  great  abomination  to  destroy  those  who  are  really  here 
tics  how  much  greater  to  burn  to  ashes  the  true  preach 
ers  of  God's  word  before  they  have  been  confuted  with 
the  truth.  Those  who  would  attempt  to  improve  upon 
God's  commands  are  like  Uzzah  and  Peter.  When  Je- 
hoiakim  destroyed  the  book  of  Jeremiah,  Baruch  wrote  a 
better  one.  He  concludes,  "  Now  it  is  manifest  to  every 
one,  even  to  the  blind,  that  the  law  for  the  burning  of 
heretics  was  devised  by  the  devil.  The  truth  is  im 
mortal." 

His  presence  in  Schaffhausen  became  more  and  more 
embarrassing  to  the  authorities  and  insecure  for  himself. 
Besides,  circumstances  had  somewhat  changed  at  Walds- 
hut.  His  withdrawal  had  in  no  way  appeased  the  Aus 
trian  authorities,  who  despite  the  earnest  pleadings  of 
the  people  for  mercy,  their  protestations  of  loyalty,  and 
their  expressed  willingness  to  make  any  reasonable  repa 
ration  for  their  past  offenses,  continued  to  threaten  them 
with  the  direst  punishment  and  refused  to  accept  any 
terms  short  of  absolute  surrender. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  even  with  the  terrible  wrath  of 
Austria  before  their  eyes  the  Waldshut  authorities  were 
loyal  to  Hubmaier  and  could  not  be  led  to  admit  that  he 
had  preached  anything  but  the  pure  gospel.  Their  insist 
ence  on  the  purity  of  Hubmaier's  teaching  constituted  in 
fact  the  gravamen  of  their  offense.  Waldshut  had  be 
come  thoroughly  evangelical,  and  it  would  not  do  for  the 
Catholic  Austrian  government  to  give  any  quarter  to 
heresy.  Other  towns  and  provinces  would  soon  follow 
this  evil  example  if  Waldshut  should  go  unpunished, 
Yet  grave  difficulties  stood  in  the  way  of  the  immediate 
execution  of  the  vengeance  meditated  and  threatened. 
The  growth  of  evangelical  sentiment  in  the  neighboring 
Swiss  cantons  and  the  peasant  uprising  in  Swabia  and 


HUBMAIER'S  RETURN  TO  WALDSHUT  99 

upper  Alsace  made  it  probable  that  any  attempt  to  punish 
Waldshut  would  be  resented  and  strongly  resisted.  The 
intercession  of  the  Zurich  Council,  while  it  no  doubt  had 
the  effect  of  causing  the  Austrian  authorities  to  hesitate 
to  execute  the  threatened  punishment,  confirmed  the  sus 
picion  of  heresy. 

Preparations  had  been  made  for  the  assembling  of  an 
army  of  twelve  thousand  troops  for  the  occupation  of 
Waldshut  about  October  15.  The  timely  intervention  of 
Zurich,  which  decided  to  send  a  small  contingent  of  well- 
armed  troops  to  the  succor  of  Waldshut,  caused  a  post 
ponement  of  the  invasion.  The  Swiss  succor  was  not 
confined  to  the  troops  sent  and  paid  by  the  Zurich 
authorities,  but  a  number  of  earnest  Christians  seeing 
their  Waldshut  brethren  in  extreme  danger,  without 
commission  and  without  pay,  came  to  the  rescue.  The 
Zurich  authorities  wavered  after  permitting  the  troops  to 
depart  and  sent  couriers  to  recall  them.  They  answered 
that  they  would  die  sooner  than  return.  The  succor  re 
luctantly  and  waveringly  afforded  by  Zurich  had  a  far 
greater  moral  influence  on  the  Austrian  authorities  than 
it  was  really  entitled  to  exert ;  for  it  was  reported  to 
them  that  the  Zurich  Council  had  promised  six  thousand 
troops,  and  six  thousand  Swiss  troops  were  by  no  means 
to  be  despised.  Basel  and  Schaffhausen  also  had  shown 
a  disposition  to  intervene  in  case  the  Austrian  authorities 
should  proceed  to  extremities. 

Hubmaier  returned  to  Waldshut,  apparently  with  the 
approval  of  the  authorities,  on  October  28,  and  was  re 
ceived  with  the  beating  of  drums  and  the  blowing  of 
fifes  and  horns  ''just  as  if  he  had  been  an  emperor." 
On  November  2  representatives  of  Zurich,  Schaffhausen, 
and  Basel,  through  special  invitation  of  the  Austrian 
authorities,  appeared  with  representatives  of  Waldshut 
at  a  diet  of  the  regency,  to  seek  for  an  amicable  adjust- 


100  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

ment  of  the  Waldshut  difficulties.  The  Waldshut  del 
egates,  encouraged  by  the  interest  taken  in  their  cause 
by  their  Swiss  friends,  now  somewhat  insolently  de 
manded  not  only  immunity  from  punishment  and  entire 
religious  freedom,  but  indemnity  for  the  losses  sustained 
in  preparing  for  defense. 

The  Austrians  would  make  no  further  concession  than 
to  leave  the  fixing  of  the  civil  penalty  to  four  neighbor 
ing  Austrian  cities.  They  required  the  immediate  re 
moval  of  the  evangelical  preachers  and  of  the  Swiss  con 
tingent  of  troops.  No  result  was  reached,  but  it  was  ar 
ranged  to  continue  the  negotiations  at  a  diet  in  Rheins- 
felden  on  November  15.  The  Waldshut  representatives 
now  expressed  a  willingness  to  make  amends  for  their 
past  offenses  by  paying  a  reasonable  fine,  but  insisted  to 
the  last  on  religious  freedom.  This  the  Austrians  refused 
to  accord  and  threatened  to  carry  out  the  forcible 
measures  that  had  long  been  purposed.  Yet  nothing  was 
attempted  for  some  time.  The  Swiss  yielded  to  the 
Austrian  demand  and  withdrew  their  contingent  of  troops 
from  Waldshut,  December  4,  1524. 

There  was  general  rejoicing  in  evangelical  circles  that 
Waldshut  had  been  saved  without  making  any  compro 
mise  in  fidelity  to  the  truth.  Bucer  wrote  to  Zwingli, 
October  31,  "I  confidently  expect  that  the  example  of 
the  Waldshuters  will  encourage  very  many.  To  me  the 
affair  is  like  a  miracle.  Truly  the  Lord  has  lifted  up  the 
humble."  Hubmaier  soon  resumed  his  office  as  chief 
pastor,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  when  danger  threatened 
to  lay  aside  his  clerical  habit  and  to  take  his  place  in 
battle  array  among  the  soldiers.  Such  willingness  to 
take  his  full  share  of  the  work  of  defending  the  city  no 
doubt  added  to  his  already  great  popularity. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  the  question  of  infant  bap 
tism  had  come  to  the  front  in  Zurich  and  the  surrounding 


PARTIES  AT  ZURICH  IOI 

regions.  Apart  from  those  who  continued  loyal  to  the 
Roman  Church,  three  parties,  or  at  least  three  attitudes 
toward  reform,  may  be  distinguished  in  this  city.  The 
magistracy  as  a  body  were  exceedingly  conservative, 
and  while  they  early  came  to  feel  the  need  of  a  certain 
amount  of  reform  sought  to  reduce  innovation  to  a  mini 
mum.  Only  after  they  had  become  convinced  that  it 
was  impolitic  longer  to  delay  any  particular  item  of  re 
form  could  they  be  induced  to  give  their  sanction  to  it. 
So  politic  had  been  their  proceedings  that  as  late  as  1526 
they  were  still  on  friendly  terms  with  the  pope,  who  was 
heavily  indebted  to  the  council  for  troops  furnished  some 
years  before  and  who  in  response  to  persistent  solicita 
tions  made  repeated  promises  to  pay.  He  could  still 
address  the  council  as  "  beloved  sons,"  and  while  he 
mildly  remonstrated  with  them  for  tolerating  heresy  had 
not  yet  thought  it  expedient  to  excommunicate  even  such 
leaders  as  Zwingli. 

Zwingli  represented  the  middle  party,  that  wished  to 
carry  forward  reform  as  fast  as  it  could  be  done  with 
safety.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Zwingli  could 
secure  and  maintain  the  co-operation  of  the  council  in 
such  reforms  as  he  thought  desirable.  In  his  dealings 
with  the  council  he  displayed  political  capacity  of  a  high 
order.  His  lack  of  consuming  zeal  and  of  excessive 
scrupulosity  stood  him  well  in  hand  in  his  semi-political 
career. 

Almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  evangelical  move 
ment  in  Zurich  we  notice  a  number  of  radicals  who 
always  went  ahead  of  what  Zwingli  and  the  council 
thought  it  prudent  to  allow,  breaking  fasts  before  they 
had  been  authoritatively  abolished,  destroying  images 
before  their  removal  had  been  ordered,  refusing  to  par 
ticipate  in  the  mass  and  speaking  of  it  contemptuously 
while  its  celebration  was  still  required  by  the  authorities. 


102  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Zwingli  had  denied  that  under  the  gospel  dispensation 
tithes  are  binding,  and  was  of  the  opinion  that  rents 
should  be  so  adjusted  as  to  be  less  oppressive  to  the 
workingman.  The  radicals  did  not  hesitate  to  declare 
the  enforced  payment  of  tithes  tyrannical,  and  to  make 
their  protest  practical  by  refusing  to  pay  them  and  by 
holding  meetings  for  the  free  discussion  of  agrarian  griev 
ances.  When  there  was  talk  of  sending  Zwingli  to 
Constance  for  examination  before  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  the  radicals  arranged  for  a  monster  meeting 
to  protest  and  if  necessary  to  take  active  measures 
against  such  interference  with  freedom  of  evangelical 
teaching. 

Among  the  earliest  and  most  aggressive  of  these  radi 
cals  were  Simon  Stumpf,  pastor  at  Hongg,  Froschauer,  a 
printer,  afterward  to  become  widely  known  as  Hubmaier's 
publisher  at  Nikolsburg,  Glaus  and  Jacob  Hottinger, 
Heine  Aberli,  Andreas  Castelberg  (usually  called  An- 
dreas-on-the-Crutches),  among  the  less  educated  ;  and 
among  the.  educated  Conrad  Grebel,  Felix  Manz,  Wil- 
helm  Reublin,  Ludwig  Hetzer,  Georg  Blaurock,  and 
Hans  Brotli. 

In  June,  1523,  we  find  the  Hottingers  raising  a  com 
motion  at  Zollikon  by  insisting  on  communion  under 
both  kinds.  In  September  we  find  Glaus  Hottinger, 
Hochrutiner,  and  others,  arraigned  before  the  council 
for  lawless  iconoclasm  and  sentenced  to  banishment.1 

Zwingli's  refusal  to  insist  upon  the  immediate  abolition 
of  images  and  the  mass  was  highly  offensive  to  the  radi 
cals.  Grebel,  Manz,  Stumpf,  and  others,  had  repeated 
conferences  with  him  and  demanded  the  setting  up  of  a 
pure  church,  whose  members  should  all  be  true  children 

1  Hottinger  went  to  Baden,  where  he  was  arrested  for  heresy  and  delivered  over 
to  the  Swiss  deputies  at  Lucerne,  who  sentenced  him  to  death  for  heresy.  He  died 
heroically.  See  Bullinger,  "  Reformationgeschichte,"  Bd.  I.,  p.  145,5^. 


ZWINGLI'S  OPPOSITION  103 

of  God,  having  the  spirit  of  God  and  ruled  and  led  by 
him.  They  pointed  out  the  unseemliness  of  making  the 
reformation  of  the  church  dependent  upon  the  will  of  an 
ungodly  magistracy,  and  of  allowing  the  ungodly  to 
enjoy  the  privileges  of  church-fellowship.  Zwingli  urged 
them  to  be  patient  with  "the  feeble  sick  lambs,"  and 
sought  scriptural  support  for  his  position  in  the  account 
of  the  ark  which  contained  both  clean  and  unclean 
beasts,  and  in  the  parable  of  the  wheat  and  the  tares. 
The  magistrates,  while  they  may  not  all  be  true  believ 
ers,  are  yet  friendly  to  the  gospel  and  should  not  be 
violently  opposed.  He  warned  them  earnestly  of  the 
disastrous  consequences  of  separation  and  schism. 
The  warning  was  without  avail,  and  Stumpf,  whose 
revolutionary  preaching  reminds  one  of  that  of  Miinzer, 
was  banished  about  the  end  of  1523. 

After  Zwingli  had  declared  himself  definitely  against 
the  establishment  of  churches  of  the  regenerate  and  the 
immediate  abolition  of  all  unscriptural  elements,  the 
radicals  lost  confidence  in  him  as  a  reformer  and  began 
to  plan  for  the  independent  organization  of  New  Testa 
ment  churches.  They  met  together  frequently  at 
Manz'  home,  where  they  read  Hebrew  together  and 
discussed  the  ways  and  means  of  putting  into  practice 
their  ideas  of  reform.  In  fact  it  appears  that  as  early 
as  1522  Castelberg  had  held  private  meetings  for  the 
expounding  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  the  free 
discussion  of  the  religious  questions  of  the  time.  Cas- 
telberg's  views  were  largely  socialistic.  He  did  not 
hesitate  to  denounce  usury  as  theft,  and  the  oppression 
of  the  poor  by  the  rich  as  murder.  Warfare  also  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  denounce  as  equivalent  to  murder.  From 
the  early  date  at  which  Castelberg  began  his  religio- 
socialistic  agitation  and  the  similarity  of  his  views  to 
those  of  mediaeval  evangelical  parties  it  is  not  improba- 


104  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

ble  that  we  have  in  his  activity  a  point  of  contact  between 
the  earlier  and  the  later  radical  movements. 

Literature:  Pertinent  works  (as  in  Bibliography)  of  Egli,  Strickler, 
Heberle,  Strasser,  Nitsche,  Burrage,  Schaff,  Baur,  Keller,  Usteri, 
Stahelin,  E.  Muller,  Loserth,  Kessler,  Cast,  Bullinger,  Fiisslin, 
Beck,  Cornelius,  Hosek,  Schreiber,  Zwingli,  and  Hubmaier. 


CHAPTER  IX 
ZURICH,    SCHAFFHAUSEN,   AND   ST.  GALL  (1524-25) 

The  question  of  infant  baptism  was  first  brought  prom 
inently  forward  by  Wilhelm  Reublin  in  the  spring 
of  1524.  As  pastor  at  Wytikon,  while  not  refusing  to 
baptize  such  infants  as  were  presented,  he  had  expressed 
himself  against  infant  baptism.  If  he  had  a  child  he 
would  not  baptize  it  until  it  should  come  to  its  days  and 
could  personally  choose  godfather  and  godmother.  As  a 
result  of  such  teaching  many  withheld  their  children 
from  baptism.  A  number  of  such  were  arraigned  before 
the  council  and  commanded  to  have  their  children  bap 
tized  without  delay.  Reublin  was  thrown  into  prison 
and  a  fine  was  imposed  upon  parents  who  should  refuse 
to  obey  the  mandate.  Largely  through  Reublin's  in 
fluence  the  sentiment  against  infant  baptism  had 
extended  to  Zollikon,  where  many  violated  the  order  of 
the  council  for  conscience'  sake.  Hans  Brotli,  pastor  at 
Zollikon,  Andreas  Castelberg,  Georg  Blaurock,  Con 
rad  Grebel,  and  Felix  Manz  now  declared  themselves 
against  infant  baptism.  After  a  number  of  private  con 
ferences  between  Zwingli  and  the  opponents  of  infant 
baptism,  in  which  the  latter  complained  of  unfair  treat 
ment  at  the  hands  of  the  former,  the  council  arranged  for 
a  public  disputation  to  be  held  January  17,  1525.  The 
chief  disputants  on  the  Anti-pedobaptist  side  were  Grebel, 
Manz,  and  Reublin.  The  usual  arguments  for  and  against 
infant  baptism  were  ably  stated.  Zwingli  had  by  this 
time  come  to  feel  the  importance  of  pedobaptism  as  a 
necessary  concomitant  of  a  State  church.  It  had  not 
occurred  to  him  at  first  that  the  abolition  of  infant  bap- 

105 


106  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

tism  would  involve  the  setting  up  of  churches  composed 
exclusively  of  baptized  believers  and  the  unchurching  of 
the  great  mass  of  the  population  in  each  community. 
Such  separatism,  he  was  sure,  could  never  secure  the 
approval  of  the  magistracy.  Persecution  would  ensue 
and  evangelical  Christianity  would  have  to  give  way  to 
more  politic  Romanism.  When  these  consequences  had 
once  dawned  upon  him  he  devoted  all  the  energies  of  his 
being  to  the  maintenance  of  the  existing  order. 

The  Anti-pedobaptist  leaders,  as  was  natural,  bitterly 
charged  Zwingli  with  inconsistency  and  with  insincerity. 
Inconsistent  he  surely  was,  but  it  is  entirely  conceivable 
that  his  change  of  opinion  was  real.  His  opposition  to 
infant  baptism  had  never  been  based  on  profound  con 
viction  of  its  pernicious  character.  He  had  never  gone 
much  beyond  the  feeling  that  it  was  non-scriptural  and 
useless.  He  was  of  a  wholly  different  spirit  from  the 
Anti-pedobaptist  leaders  and  was  completely  out  of  har 
mony  with  their  plans  and  purposes.  It  is  not  improb 
able  that  he  actually  succeeded  in  convincing  himself  of 
the  defensibility  of  a  practice  so  essential  to  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  order.  His  chief  argument  was  based  upon 
the  practical  identity  of  baptism  with  circumcision.  He 
did  not  fail  to  call  attention  to  the  possibility  that  among 
the  households  baptized  in  the  apostolic  times  there  may 
have  been  infants,  nor  to  the  fact  that  the  children 
of  believers  are  spoken  of  by  the  apostle  as  holy. 
"  Children  are  with  their  parents  in  God's  covenant, 
they  belong  as  their  parents  to  God's  church,  and  hence 
are  also  God's  children.  Should  water  baptism  be 
denied  to  those  who  are  God's  children?  " 

The  council,  as  might  have  been  expected,  declared 
Zwingli  victorious,  commanded  that  all  unbaptized  chil 
dren  be  baptized  within  eight  days  on  pain  of  the  ban 
ishment  of  the  responsible  parties,  required  the  abandon- 


PEDOBAPTISM   ENFORCED  107 

ment  of  all  special  meetings  for  the  discussion  of  bap 
tism  and  like  questions,  and  banished  such  foreigners  as 
had  become  prominent  in  the  Anti-pedobaptist  move 
ment.  This  last  ordinance  involved  Reublin,  Brotli, 
Hetzer,  and  Castelberg. 

From  this  time  onward  the  radicals  became  more  and 
more  aggressive.  They  at  once  proceeded  to  intro 
duce  believers'  baptism  (about  the  middle  of  December, 
I524).1  In  this  Grebel  led,  baptizing  first  of  all  Blau- 
rock,  who  in  turn  baptized  large  numbers.  On  February 
7  fourteen  Anti-pedobaptists  from  Zollikon  were  arraigned 
before  the  council,  among  them  two  members  of  the 
Hottinger  family,  who  confessed  that  they  had  been  bap 
tized  and  expressed  their  resolution  to  act  henceforth 
according  to  the  directions  of  God's  Spirit  and  to  be  de 
terred  therefrom  by  no  worldly  power. 

Ruedi  Thomann  gave  an  account  of  a  meeting  in  his 
own  house  in  which  Brotli,  Reublin,  and  Blaurock  took 
part.  After  much  conversation  and  reading,  Hans  Brugg- 
bach  stood  up  weeping  and  crying  out  that  he  was  a 
great  sinner  and  asking  that  they  pray  God  for  him. 
Then  Blaurock  asked  him  whether  he  desired  the  grace 
of  God.  He  said  he  did.  Then  Manz  rose  and  said 
"Who  will  forbid  that  I  should  baptize  him?  "  Blaurock 
answered,  "No  one."  Then  Manz  took  a  dipper  with 
water  and  baptized  him  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Spirit.  Then  stood  up  Jacob  Hottinger.  Him 
also  Manz  baptized.  Then  the  others  all  went  away  and 
Manz  and  Blaurock  remained  with  him  over  night.  They 
rose  early  the  next  morning.  Then  Blaurock  said  to  his 
son-in-law :  "  Marx,  you  have  hitherto  been  a  gay  young 
man.  You  must  make  a  change.  You  must  put  away 

i  So  Nitsche,  "  Schw.  Wiedertaufer,"  p.  29,  seq.  ;  and  Egli,  "  St.  Caller  Taufer,"  p. 
22.  Usteri,  "Huldreich  Zwinjrli,"  Bd.  I.,  p.  478,  thinks  the  latter  part  of  January,  1525. 
the  more  probable  date.  Absolute  certainty  in  this  matter  is  at  present  unattainable. 


108  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

the  old  Adam  and  put  on  a  new."  Marx  answered 
"that  he  would  do  his  best."  Then  Blaurock  asked 
whether  he  desired  the  grace  of  God,  and  when  he  said 
that  he  did,  Blaurock  said  :  "  Come  hither  and  I  will 
baptize  you  also."  Then  Marx  went  to  him  and  was 
baptized.  Then  Blaurock  said  to  him  (Rtiedi  Thomann), 
that  he  was  an  old  man  and  near  to  death  and  that  he 
should  amend  his  life,  and  said  that  if  he  desired  the 
grace  of  God  he  would  baptize  him  too.  And  when  he 
said  that  he  did,  Blaurock  baptized  him.  After  this  Blau 
rock  would  have  no  rest  until  he  had  baptized  the  whole 
household.  He  related  further,  how  they  had  a  loaf 
upon  the  table  and  Blaurock  said  :  "  Whoever  believes 
that  God  has  redeemed  him  with  his  death  and  his  rose- 
colored  blood,  let  him  come  and  eat  with  me  of  the  bread 
and  drink  with  me  of  this  wine."  Then  they  ate  and 
drank.  This  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  methods  employed 
by  these  zealous  men  in  propagating  their  principles. 
Considering  the  universal  discontent  of  the  working 
classes  it  is  not  wonderful  that  within  a  few  weeks  thou 
sands  had  accepted  the  simple  gospel  thus  earnestly  pro 
claimed  and  were  baptized  on  profession  of  their  faith. 

After  the  prisoners  mentioned  above  had  been  detained 
for  a  time  and  Zwingli  and  his  associates  had  striven  to 
convince  them  of  their  errors,  they  were  heavily  fined 
and  dismissed,  a  special  injunction  having  been  put  upon 
the  leaders  not  to  engage  further  in  holding  unlawful 
meetings,  baptizing,  or  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper. 
As  might  have  been  expected  they  went  forward  with 
their  work  more  zealously  than  before.  Their  opinion  of 
Zwingli  was  not  improved  by  his  efforts  to  convert  them. 
Blaurock,  Manz,  and  Hans  Hottinger  were  obstinate  in 
their  heresy,  and  seem  to  have  been  held  for  further 
discipline.  At  any  rate  we  find  them  in  prison  a  short 
time  afterward. 


INCREASING  SEVERITY  109 

In  a  letter  to  the  council  (written  shortly  before  Feb 
ruary  18),  Blaurock  sets  forth  his  views  and  aims  in  a 
simple,  earnest  way.  Christ  in  sending  forth  his  dis 
ciples  commanded  them  to  go  forth  and  teach  all  peoples 
and  promised  remission  of  sins  through  the  power  given 
by  God  his  Father  to  all  who  should  call  upon  his  name, 
and  for  an  external  sign  commanded  them  to  baptize. 
As  he  has  taught,  some  have  come  to  him  weeping  and 
begging  to  be  baptized.  Such  he  has  not  felt  at  liberty 
to  refuse,  but  after  instructing  them  further  as  regards 
love,  unity,  and  community  of  all  things,  as  did  the 
apostles  (according  to  Acts  2),  he  has  baptized  them,  and 
that  they  might  always  keep  in  remembrance  the  death 
of  Christ  and  his  poured-out  blood  he  has  instructed 
them  how  Christ  instituted  the  Supper,  and  they  have 
together  broken  the  bread  and  drunk  the  wine,  in  com 
memoration  of  the  fact  that  they  were  all  redeemed  by 
the  one  body  of  Christ  and  washed  by  the  one  blood  of 
Christ,  and  that  all  might  be  brothers  and  sisters  of  each 
other  in  Christ  their  Lord.  In  all  this  he  feels  assured 
that  he  has  done  the  will  of  God.  He  beseeches  the 
council  not  to  come  in  conflict  with  the  corner-stone, 
Christ. 

Blaurock  and  Manz  were  firm  in  the  position  they  had 
taken.  Their  teaching  and  practice  they  held  to  be  in 
accord  with  God's  will,  and  they  demanded  scriptural 
proof  for  infant  baptism.  Manz  desired  that  Zwingli 
should  express  his  views  in  writing,  and  promised  writ 
ten  answers  to  his  arguments.  Blaurock  expressed  the 
opinion  that  Zwingli  perverted  the  Scriptures  more  vio 
lently  than  the  old  pope.  Further  conference  with 
Zwingli  tended  in  no  way  to  bring  him  and  the  Anti-pedo- 
baptists  to  a  better  understanding.  Their  conceptions 
and  aims  had  diverged  so  widely  that  reconciliation  was 
utterly  hopeless.  We  soon  find  Blaurock  in  Zollikon, 


1 10  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

preaching  to  a  large  congregation  and  baptizing.  Here 
he  baptized  Heine  Aberli,  whom  we  have  already  encoun 
tered  among  the  earlier  radicals. 

Finding  milder  measures  unavailing  and  alarmed  at  the 
increasing  aggressiveness  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists,  the 
council  decided  to  examine  Aberli  and  others,  imposed  a 
fine  upon  all  who  had  submitted  to  rebaptism  since  Feb 
ruary  7,  and  decreed  the  immediate  banishment,  with 
wife  and  child,  of  all  who  should  henceforth  do  so.  A 
thorough  investigation  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  disturb 
ances  at  Zollikon  was  ordered.  It  was  decided  on  March 
16  to  imprison  all  the  suspects  and  to  examine  them  on 
the  eighteenth.  A  large  number  were  arraigned  and  full 
records  of  the  examination  have  been  preserved.  Hans 
Hottinger  refused  to  receive  instruction  from  anyone  but 
Christ.  He  knows  not  whether  he  was  baptized  in 
childhood,  therefore  he  has  had  himself  baptized.  Many 
relate  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were  brought 
to  feel  their  need  of  baptism  and  were  baptized.  The 
brethren  at  Zollikon  pleaded  earnestly  for  liberty  to  follow 
God's  word.  No  opinions  or  thoughts  that  are  not  based 
upon  Scripture  will  move  them  in  the  slightest  degree. 
They  ask  for  a  public  disputation  on  baptism. 

A  disputation  was  arranged  between  Zwingli,  Leo 
Judae,  and  Myconius,  on  the  one  side,  and  Blaurock  and 
Manz  on  the  other,  before  members  of  the  council  (March 
20).  The  result  was  as  usual.  The  council  exhorted  the 
Anti-pedobaptists  to  desist,  assuring  them  that  their  sepa 
ration  and  schism  could  be  no  longer  endured.  Foreign 
ers  were  banished  and  natives  were  to  be  imprisoned  on 
a  bread  and  water  diet,  in  the  hope  that  they  would  be 
led  by  their  sufferings  and  the  prospect  of  starvation  to 
abandon  their  errors.  The  starvation  argument  proved 
more  effective  by  far  than  Zwingli's  logic  and  exegesis. 
On  March  25  a  number  promised  to  abandon  their  Ana- 


HOFMEISTER'S  POSITION  III 

baptist  teachings  and  practices  and  were  released. 
Zwingli  was  too  shrewd  to  be  misled  by  this  temporary 
compliance  on  the  part  of  the  weaker  brethren.  "  We 
have  accomplished  nothing,"  he  writes,  "  although  some 
have  desisted,  not  because  they  have  changed  their  mind, 
but  because  they  have  changed  their  nerve."1 

Blaurock  and  his  companions  continued  in  prison. 
Whether  by  accident  or  by  friendly  human  interven 
tion,  the  prisoners  discovered  (about  April  5)  that  one 
of  the  windows  was  unfastened.  After  some  hesitation 
they  decided  that  the  opportunity  to  escape  was  provi 
dential  and  let  themselves  down  by  a  rope.  Among 
those  who  escaped  were  Grebel,  Manz,  and  Blaurock. 
The  precise  date  of  Grebel's  imprisonment  cannot  be 
determined.  No  mention  of  him  is  made  in  connection 
with  the  disputation  of  March  20,  or  the  recantation  of 
part  of  the  prisoners  and  the  refusal  of  others  on  March 
25.  He  was  probably  arrested  shortly  before  April  5." 

When  Reublin  and  Brotli  were  banished  from  the  can 
ton  of  Zurich,  they  seem  to  have  directed  their  steps  at 
once  to  the  canton  of  Schaffhausen.  Grebel  soon  fol 
lowed  and  labored  faithfully  in  that  field.  We  have  seen 
that  this  canton  was  the  sanctuary  of  Hubmaier  when 
he  was  being  hotly  pursued  by  the  Austrian  authorities. 
The  principal  ecclesiastical  personage  in  Schaffhausen 
was  Dr.  Sebastian  Hofmeister.  He  received  the  ban 
ished  Anabaptists  with  Christian  hospitality,  and  listened 
patiently  and  sympathetically  to  their  Anti-pedobaptist 

111  Opera."  Lib.  VII.,  p.  398. 

2 There  is  considerable  difficulty  about  fixing  the  dates  of  Grebel's  movements  at 
this  time.  According  to  Kessler  ("Sabbata,"  Bd.  I.,  pp.  266,  268)  Grebel  reached  St. 
Gall  March  26,  and  remained  there  until  after  Palm  Sunday  (April  9).  This  is  of 
course  inconsistent  with  the  supposition  that  he  escaped  from  prison  at  Zurich  on 
April  5.  That  he  was  among  the  prisoners  who  escaped  there  can  be  no  doubt.  In  a 
letter  to  Vadian,  March  31,  Zwingli  mentions  the  fact  that  Grebel  is  at  Zurich,  but 
does  not  refer  to  his  imprisonment  ("Opera,"  Lib.  VII.,  p.  387).  It  would  seem  that 
Kessler's  dates  are  incorrect. 


112  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

arguments.  Brotli  wrote  to  his  friends  at  Zollikon : 
"  Dr.  Sebastian  agrees  with  us  as  regards  baptism. 
God  grant  that  he  may  come  to  a  better  understanding 
in  all  things."  Hubmaier  quotes  a  letter  from  Hofmeister 
which  leaves  no  doubt  that  for  a  time  at  least  he  rejected 
infant  baptism  not  only  in  theory  but  in  practice  as  well. 
Having  apologized  to  Hubmaier  for  not  communicating  to 
him  earlier  his  opinion  on  baptism  and  having  expressed 
his  anxiety  lest  disunion  should  grow  out  of  the  contro 
versy  that  has  arisen,  he  continues  : 

However,  it  pleased  the  Heavenly  Father  that  without  me  the 
matter  came  into  dispute,  so  that  it  spread  as  far  as  to  us,  and  there 
fore  for  the  sake  of  the  truth  we  have  not  been  ashamed  to  publicly 
confess  it  before  the  council  in  Schaffhausen,  that  our  brother 
Zwingli  is  erring  from  the  right  way  and  is  not  proceeding  accord 
ing  to  the  gospel,  if  he  determines  that  little  children  should  be  bap 
tized.  I  have  certainly  not  allowed  myself  to  be  compelled  to  bap 
tize  my  children,  and  therefore  you  do  what  is  exactly  Christian 
when  you  introduce  again  now  the  true  baptism  of  Christ,  that  had 
so  long  been  neglected. 

It  is  probable  that  Hofmeister  had  been  brought  to 
this  position  by  the  arguments  of  Hubmaier  during  the 
sojourn  of  the  latter  in  Schaffhausen.  But  he  lacked  the 
courage  of  his  convictions,  as  will  hereafter  more  fully 
appear. 

Brotli  after  visiting  a  number  of  places  in  the  canton 
of  Schaffhausen  settled  at  Hallau,  where  his  preaching 
met  with  marked  acceptance.  Reublin  spent  part  of  the 
time  with  him  and  baptized  many  in  Hallau,  but  his 
work  was  rather  that  of  an  evangelist.  With  untiring 
zeal  he  traveled  from  place  to  place  winning  multitudes. 
Of  Grebel's  activity  in  Schaffhausen  at  this  time  we 
have  no  particulars,  except  as  regards  his  intercourse 
with  Dr.  Hofmeister  and  other  leaders.  Hofmeister  some 
months  later  gave  to  Zwingli  and  the  Zurich  Council  an 


HOFMEISTER'S  BANISHMENT  113 

account  of  his  intercourse  with  Grebel  that  is  conceived 
in  an  unfriendly  spirit  and  seems  out  of  keeping  with  his 
earlier  attitude.  He  states  that  he  did  not  agree  with 
Grebel  as  to  infant  baptism.  Grebel  had  insisted  that  in 
no  other  way  could  the  papacy  be  more  effectively 
brought  low  than  by  the  abolition  of  infant  baptism. 
He  had  also  insisted  that  beneficed  clergymen  could  not 
rightly  proclaim  the  truth.  He  had  denounced  Zwingli 
as  an  adulterer  and  had  charged  him  with  desiring  to  put 
him  and  his  associates  to  death.  A  certain  French 
knight  had  been  present  as  a  guest  of  Hofmeister's  and 
had  conceived  a  highly  unfavorable  opinion  of  Zwingli 
as  portrayed  by  Grebel  ;  but  he  resolved  to  visit  Zwingli 
and  to  ascertain  the  truth.  The  result  was  that  his  ill 
impression  was  removed.  Grebel  had  said,  moreover, 
that  Leo  Judae  and  Caspar  Grossmann  were  likewise  of 
his  opinion,  but  were  overawed  by  Zwingli.  Felix  Manz 
had  also  been  to  Schaffhausen  to  seek  to  gain  adherents 
to  his  party.  He  had  taken  strong  ground  not  only 
against  infant  baptism,  but  also  against  the  right  of  a 
Christian  to  exercise  magistracy  or  to  engage  in  warfare. 
The  visits  of  Grebel  and  Manz  to  Schaffhausen  re 
ferred  to  by  Hofmeister  must  have  occurred  after  the 
escape  from  the  tower  on  April  5,  as  Grebel  is  repre 
sented  as  referring  to  the  escape  as  due  to  a  special 
divine  interposition,  and  Manz  had  been  for  some  time  in 
prison  previous  to  the  deliverance. 

The  explanation  of  Hoffmeister's  changed  attitude 
toward  Anabaptist  principles  is  to  be  found  in  the  follow 
ing  facts,  recorded  in  the  Schaffhausen  "Chronicle." 
The  Schaffhausen  authorities  became  greatly  alarmed  on 
account  of  certain  riotous  outbreaks  in  sympathy  with 
the  peasant  uprising  in  the  neighboring  countries,  and 
Dr.  Hofmeister  paid  dearly  for  the  sympathy  he  had 
manifested  for  Anti-pedobaptist  views.  He  was  accused 


114  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

by  his  opponents  of  having  spoken  of  the  mass  as  idols' 
bread,  idolatry,  the  work  of  the  devil,  etc.,  and  of  hav 
ing  publicly  taught  that  the  baptism  of  young  children  is 
useless  and  should  be  abandoned.  So  sensitive  and 
timid  had  the  council  become,  that  instead  of  arranging 
for  an  examination  of  the  honored  pastor  at  home  and 
giving  him  an  opportunity  to  defend  or  explain  his  teach 
ings,  as  he  earnestly  requested,  they  peremptorily  ordered 
him  to  leave  the  city  and  not  to  approach  within  three 
miles  of  it  until  he  could  present  a  certificate  of  ortho 
doxy  from  some  university.  Hofmeister  was  not  a  man 
of  heroic  cast  and  this  requirement  was  to  the  last  de 
gree  humiliating  to  him.  Whither  he  should  direct  his 
way  he  knew  not.  He  finally  decided  to  solicit  the  good 
offices  of  the  University  of  Basel,  as  being  near  at  hand 
and  friendly  to  evangelical  teaching  ;  but  he  found  that 
owing  to  the  same  circumstances  that  had  led  to  his  ban 
ishment  from  Schaffhausen  the  Basel  authorities  were 
in  a  supersensitive  state  and  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  him.  Greatly  cast  down,  he  resolved  to  return  to 
Schaffhausen  and  to  seek  to  satisfy  the  authorities  as  to 
his  orthodoxy.  But  the  council  was  inexorable.  This 
decree  of  banishment  affected  also  his  chief  colleague, 
Dr.  Sebastian  Meier.  He  now  made  his  way  to  Zurich, 
determined  it  would  seem  to  purge  himself  of  all  sus 
picion  of  sympathy  with  the  Anabaptists. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  in  Grebel's  Schaff 
hausen  ministry  was  the  baptism  of  Wolfgang  Uolimann, 
a  well-educated  and  zealous  evangelical  teacher  from  St. 
Gall.  Uolimann,  like  Blaurock,  had  been  a  Praemonstra- 
tensian  monk.  After  leaving  his  monastery  at  Chur  he 
entered  zealously  upon  evangelical  work  at  St.  Gall. 
He  had  reached  the  conviction  that  New  Testament  bap 
tism  was  the  immersion  of  the  believer,  and  he  was  not 
content  to  have  water  poured  or  sprinkled  upon  him 


AGITATION  AT  ST.  GALL  115 

from  a  dish,  but  insisted  upon  being  immersed  in  the 
river,  a  practice  which  Grebel  seems  afterward  to  have 
followed  at  St.  Gall. 

St.  Gall  now  became  the  chief  Swiss  center  of  the 
Anabaptist  movement.  In  this  important  manufacturing 
town  the  trades-unions  were  powerful  and  used  their 
influence  for  the  promotion  of  evangelical  teaching. 
Vadian,  a  graduate  and  former  rector  of  the  University 
of  Vienna,  a  scholar  of  high  rank  and  a  doctor  of  medi 
cine,  was  the  most  influential  citizen  of  St.  Gall.  He 
early  declared  himself  in  favor  of  evangelical  reform  and 
sustained  the  most  cordial  relations  with  Zwingli.  Chiefly 
through  the  influence  of  his  brother-in-law,  Conrad 
Grebel,  he  was  led  to  give  attention  to  the  baptismal 
question  and  to  sympathize  with  those  who  denied  the 
scriptural  authority  of  infant  baptism  ;  but  he  urged  that 
nothing  be  done  rashly.  In  its  own  good  time  the  doc 
trine  and  practice  of  baptism  would  be  made  right. 
Grebel  earnestly  besought  him  to  take  a  decided  stand, 
but  his  conservative  instincts  and  the  influence  of 
Zwingli  determined  him  to  oppose  the  radicals.  His 
strong  disinclination  to  the  use  of  compulsion  in  matters 
of  religion  and  the  prevailing  popular  sentiment  in  favor 
of  radical  reform  gave  opportunity  for  the  Anabaptist 
movement  to  gain  a  momentum  here  that  was  not  possi 
ble  at  Zurich  or  elsewhere  in  Switzerland. 

Laurence  Hochrutiner,  when  banished  from  Zurich  in 
1523,  returned  to  his  native  St.  Gall.  Here  he  became 
a  leader  of  the  radical  party  among  the  working  people. 
He  soon  declared  himself  against  infant  baptism  and 
gained  many  adherents.  John  Kessler  returned  from  a 
course  of  study  in  Basel  and  Wittenberg  in  November, 
1523,  and  instead  of  seeking  ordination  worked  at  the 
saddler's  trade  and  held  meetings  for  the  expounding  of 
the  Scriptures,  at  first  in  a  private  house  but  afterward 


Il6  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

in  the  hall  of  one  of  the  guilds.  When  Kessler  was  ex 
pounding  the  sixth  chapter  of  Romans,  Hochrutiner 
objected  to  his  interpretation  of  the  passage  about  bap 
tism,  and  insisted  upon  the  Baptist  view  of  the  apostle's 
teaching.  A  long  letter  from  Grebel  on  the  subject  was 
industriously  used  by  Hochriitiner.  The  conservative 
element  secured  the  prohibition  of  Kessler's  meetings  in 
September,  1524.  He  yielded  for  the  time  in  the  interest 
of  peace  ;  but  the  more  radical  evangelicals  insisted  that 
the  word  of  God  is  not  bound  and  that  we  must  obey 
God  rather  then  men.  On  Uolimann's  arrival  he  was 
invited  by  the  radicals  to  take  up  the  work.  He  preached 
out  of  doors  to  large  congregations,  who  as  winter 
approached  grew  indignant  that  the  churches  were  closed 
against  the  evangelical  preacher. 

Agitation  resulted  in  compromise.  Only  priests  could 
officiate  in  the  churches  ;  lay  meetings  must  remain  pri 
vate,  the  council  neither  permitting  nor  forbidding  ;  yet 
permission  was  granted  to  Kessler  to  expound  the  Scrip 
tures  in  one  of  the  churches,  while  Uolimann  being  sus 
pected  of  extreme  radicalism  was  refused  the  use  of  an 
other  and  held  his  meetings  in  the  weavers'  hall.  Having 
been  baptized  by  Grebel  (as  already  stated)  in  the  spring 
of  1525,  he  returned  to  St.  Gall.  The  breach  in  the  evan 
gelical  ranks,  long  imminent,  was  now  consummated. 
Uolimann  began  at  once  to  baptize  on  a  profession  of 
faith.  As  Kessler  observed,  "The  St.  Gall  people  ran 
after  baptism  as  the  Galatians  after  circumcision." 

Grebel  came  to  the  support  of  Uolimann  and  Hoch 
riitiner  in  April  and  his  popular  power  was  nowhere 
more  manifest  than  here.  He  seems  to  have  brought 
with  him  two  other  enthusiastic  Anabaptist  workers, 
Anthony  Roggenacher  and  Hippolytus  Eberle.  The 
latter  especially  proved  himself  a  man  of  high  character 
and  of  great  popular  power.  Crowd  after  crowd  went 


UOLIMANN  AND  GREBEL  117 

out  of  the  city  for  baptism  in  the  flowing  water.  In  some 
cases  tubs  or  vats  were  used. 

The  Anti-pedobaptist  excitement  spread  into  the  sur 
rounding  villages  in  the  abbot's  domains  and  in  the  Ap- 
penzell  territory.  Within  a  few  weeks  one  thousand  two 
hundred  were  baptized.  The  Anti-pedobaptists  had  strong 
supporters  in  the  council  and  their  opponents  were  not 
in  a  position  to  deal  summarily  with  them.  Three 
churches  were  formed  in  Appenzell.  At  Teufen  the 
pastor  of  the  church  was  supplanted  by  an  Anti-pedobap 
tist. 

The  highest  praise  is  bestowed  on  the  purity  and  sim 
plicity  of  the  lives  of  these  people  by  contemporary 
writers  who  abhorred  their  schismatic  principles.  Con 
sidering  the  intense  excitement  that  must  have  accom 
panied  changes  so  rapid  and  radical,  it  is  remarkable  that 
so  little  occurred  that  could  in  any  sense  be  regarded  as 
fanatical.  Eberle  left  St.  Gall  at  the  request  of  the 
burgomaster  in  the  interest  of  peace.  He  soon  afterward 
suffered  martyrdom  at  Schwyz,  whither  information  had 
been  sent  by  his  opponents,  who  did  not  dare  lay  hands 
on  him  in  St.  Gall. 

Uolimann  again  came  to  the  front  as  the  leader  of  the 
Anti-pedobaptists  of  the  canton.  He  was  brought  before 
the  council  on  April  25,  and  gave  an  intelligent  account 
of  his  position,  showing  a  creditable  acquaintance  with 
the  history  of  the  doctrine  of  baptism.  It  was  agreed 
that  the  council  should  in  the  near  future  arrange  for  a 
disputation  in  which  both  sides  should  be  fully  stated  and 
argued.  "  For  the  sake  of  brotherly  love,"  Uolimann 
agreed  to  discontinue  baptism  and  the  celebration  of  the 
Supper  until  after  the  proposed  disputation.  The  Anti- 
pedobaptists  might  in  the  meantime  continue  their 
preaching  and  teaching.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  grave 
error  in  judgment  on  the  part  of  Uolimann  to  agree  to  a 


Il8  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

temporary  suspension  of  the  administration  of  the 
ordinances.  It  destroyed  the  enthusiasm  of  the  move 
ment  and  gave  to  its  opponents  the  desired  opportunity 
to  mature  their  arrangements  for  its  suppression. 

Zwingli  was  urging  upon  the  St.  Gall  authorities  the 
necessity  of  taking  decisive  measures,  and  he  wrought 
night  and  day  in  preparing  his  great  work  on  "  Baptism, 
Anabaptism,  and  Infant  Baptism,"  with  special  reference 
to  the  needs  of  St.  Gall.  It  was  published  May  27. 
Grebel  wrote  a  most  passionate  appeal  to  Vadian,  his 
brother-in-law,  beseeching  him  not  to  allow  himself  to 
be  influenced  by  worldly  considerations  to  attempt  any 
thing  against  the  gospel,  but  rather  to  withdraw  from  the 
bloodthirsty  party  of  Zwingli.  If  he  will  not  put  him 
self  on  the  side  of  the  brethren,  he  is  entreated  at  least 
not  to  persecute  them.  This  letter  (or  a  similar  one) 
was  read  before  the  council  and  strongly  disapproved 
by  the  majority.  It  was  ordered  that  Zwingli's  recently 
issued  book  be  publicly  read  in  one  of  the  churches. 
Uolimann  was  present  when  the  reading  began  and  inter 
rupted  with  the  remark:  "You  may  have  Zwingli's 
word;  we  will  have  God's  word."  Others  of  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists  expressed  strongly  their  dissatisfaction  and 
the  members  of  the  party  left  the  church.  They  re 
solved  to  enter  anew  upon  aggressive  work,  being  con 
vinced  that  they  could  expect  nothing  but  violence  from 
the  council  swayed  by  Zwingli,  whom  they  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  declare  the  enemy  of  God. 

Vadian's  book  on  baptism  was  ready  by  June  5  and  the 
Anti-pedobaptists  were  required  to  answer  it.  They  pre 
sented  a  comprehensive  answer,  and  a  disputation  fol 
lowed.  They  were,  as  a  matter  of  course,  vanquished 
in  the  opinion  of  the  party  in  power,  and  an  ordinance 
followed  prohibiting  not  only  the  administration  of  the 
ordinances  but  all  separate  assemblies  for  religious  pur- 


ZWINGLI  AND  VADIAN  119 

poses,  except  a  service  at  the  St.  Lawrence  church. 
The  penalty  for  administering  the  ordinances  was  banish 
ment  with  wife  and  child  ;  for  submitting  to  baptism  a 
heavy  fine,  with  banishment  in  case  of  refusal  to  pay. 

Literature  :  Pertinent  works  (as  in  Bibliography)  of  Egli,  Strickler, 
Heberle,  Strasser,  Nitsche,  Burrage,  Schaff,  Baur,  Keller,  Usteri, 
Stahelin,  E.  Miiller,  Loserth,  Kessler,  Cast,  Bullinger,  Fusslin, 
Beck,  Cornelius,  Hosek,  Schreiber,  Zwingli,  and  Hubmaier. 


CHAPTER  X 
BASEL,  BERNE,    GRUNINGEN,  AND  WALDSHUT  (1524-25) 

BASEL  was  a  center  of  evangelical  free  thought  be 
fore  and  after  the  beginning  of  the  Protestant  revo 
lution.  It  is  probable  that  anti-pedobaptism  appeared 
there  not  much  later  than  in  Zurich.  When  Blaurock 
escaped  from  prison  in  Zurich  (April  5,  1525)  he  betook 
himself  to  Basel,  where  he  soon  succeeded  in  arousing  to 
activity  the  Anti-pedobaptist  forces  already  present  and 
in  adding  greatly  to  the  numbers  of  the  party.  Zwingli 
was  ever  on  the  alert  and  was  ready  with  his  earnest 
warnings  against  the  growing  interest  that  was  manifest 
in  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause.  Spurred  on  by  Zwingli, 
OEcolampadius,  tolerant  at  heart,  opposed  them  as  he 
might.  But  still  they  grew,  large  numbers  coming  to 
their  support  from  without.  OEcolampadius  petitioned 
the  council  to  prohibit  their  ingress  into  the  city  ;  but  the 
council  was  not  disposed  to  undertake  such  a  task  as  the 
violent  exclusion  and  suppression  of  a  party  already 
strong  and  influential  and  rapidly  growing  in  power. 

A  disputation  on  baptism  was  appointed  by  the  coun 
cil  for  June  5.  Blaurock  and  OEcolampadius  were  the 
chief  disputants.  As  usual  the  Anti-pedobaptists  insisted 
on  direct  scriptural  proof  for  infant  baptism,  while  the 
Pedobaptists  were  content  to  quote  Origen,  Cyprian, 
Augustine,  etc.  "What  have  we  to  do,"  said  the 
former,  "with  your  doctors,  the  church  Fathers,  and  the 
councils  ?  They  were  men  as  we  are,  and  as  subject  to 
blindness  as  we  are."  They  were  not  at  all  impressed 
by  OEcolampadius'  insistence  that  their  view  involved 
the  condemnation  of  the  great  multitude  of  Christians  of 

1 2Q 


DISPUTATION  AT  BASEL  121 

the  past  and  the  present,  many  of  them  men  of  the  most 
exalted  piety  and  the  most  profound  intellects.  Geier- 
falk,  one  of  OEcolampadius'  colleagues,  thought  it  a  fair 
rebuttal  of  their  demand  for  scriptural  proof  of  infant 
baptism,  to  ask  them  for  a  scriptural  prohibition  of  the 
same.  They  were  at  no  loss  to  show  that  infant  baptism  is 
not  only  not  authorized  by  Scripture,  but  that  it  is  contra 
dictory  of  the  entire  teaching  of  Scripture  with  reference 
to  baptism  and  completely  perverts  an  ordinance  of 
Christ. 

OEcolampadius  considered  himself  victorious.  Blaurock 
very  naturally  took  a  wholly  different  view  of  the 
matter,  and  his  followers  are  said  to  have  been  so  impru 
dent  as  to  march  in  procession  through  the  city  proclaim 
ing  the  triumph  of  their  cause.  The  council,  following 
the  advice  of  OEcolampadius,  now  took  measures  for  the 
suppression  of  the  movement.  Considerable  commotion 
followed.  Many  fled,  while  a  considerable  number  were 
thrown  into  prison.  A  minority  of  the  council  urged  the 
execution  of  the  prisoners,  as  being  guilty  of  heresy  and 
sedition. 

Hubmaier,  who  was  still  at  Waldshut,  wrote  soon 
afterward  a  work  on  baptism  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue 
between  himself  and  OEcolampadius,  the  utterances  of 
the  latter  being  taken  apparently  from  OEcolampadius' 
published  account  of  the  disputation.  Hubmaier's  exe 
gesis  and  logic  are  from  the  Baptist  point  of  view  unex 
ceptionable.  His  irony  is  masterly,  but  perhaps  severer 
than  good  policy  would  have  dictated.  Hubmaier  can 
scarcely  be  censured  for  pointing  out  the  inconsistency 
of  his  evangelical  antagonists  in  opposing  believers'  bap 
tism  on  the  ground  that  rejection  of  infant  baptism  in 
volved  the  condemnation  of  the  great  majority  of  Chris 
tians  for  the  last  fifteen  hundred  years,  while  they 
themselves  were  in  open  rebellion  against  the  Roman 


122  A   HISTORY  OF   ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Church,  many  of  whose  tenets  were  centuries  old.  The 
objection  that  insistence  on  believers'  baptism  tends  to 
separation  and  faction,  Hubmaier  meets  by  showing  that 
Christ  himself  was  spoken  against  as  a  seditious  person 
and  that  he  came  not  to  send  peace  but  a  sword.  If  the 
truth  produces  trouble,  wickedness  and  not  truth  is 
responsible.  He  charges  OEcolampadius  with  blasphemy 
when  he  maintains  that  those  who  in  striving  to  be  obedi 
ent  to  Christ  form  a  new  sect,  are  joining  themselves 
to  the  devil. 

The  attempt  of  OEcolampadius  to  show  that  infant 
baptism  takes  the  place  of  circumcision  fared  no  better. 
"  Baptism,"  says  Hubmaier,  'Ms  a  ceremony  of  the 
New  Testament ;  therefore  I  demand  a  plain  text  with 
which  you  support  infant  baptism  out  of  the  New  Testa 
ment.  The  word,  the  word,  the  WORD!  Why  will  you 
like  the  night  owl  hate  the  light  and  refuse  to  come  to  the 
sun?  You  prove  infant  baptism  from  Exodus,  as  Zwingli 
proves  'to  be'  means  'to  signify'  from  Genesis."1 
To  the  contention  of  OEcolampadius  that  inward  bap 
tism  is  the  principal  thing  and  that  it  is  a  matter  of  small 
importance  whether  outward  baptism  be  received  in 
infancy  or  afterward,  or  indeed  whether  it  be  received 
at  all,  Hubmaier  replies :  "  Those  who  are  baptized 
inwardly  will  surely  be  baptized  outwardly,  and  not 
annul  the  commandment  of  Christ  by  baptizing  in  any 
other  way."  But  we  must  forbear  to  quote  further  from 
this  masterly  piece  of  polemics.  No  man  since  Hub 
maier  has  more  completely  apprehended  or  more  lucidly 
and  logically  set  forth  the  Baptist  position  as  regards  the 
nature  and  the  subjects  of  baptism  ;  but  he  seems  never 
to  have  realized  the  importance  of  immersion  as  the 
form  of  apostolic  baptism. 

This  treatise  of  Hubmaier's  was  circulated  secretly  in 

1  Referring  to  the  controversy  on  the  real  presence  in  the  Supper, 


BERNE  AND  GRUNINGEN  123 

Basel  for  some  time  before  OEcolampadius  succeeded  in 
securing  a  copy  (October,  1525).  Irritated  by  the 
somewhat  severe  handling  he  had  received  from  the 
Waldshut  pastor,  he  sent  a  copy  to  Zwingli  urging  him 
to  prepare  a  refutation. 

In  Berne  also  Anti-pedobaptist  views  had  made  a  strong 
impression  on  many  minds.  Berthold  Haller,  the  leader 
of  the  evangelical  party,  was  for  a  time  greatly  disturbed 
by  questionings  as  to  the  scriptural  authority  of  infant 
baptism,  but  Zwingli's  influence  prevailed  to  overcome 
his  scruples.  Hubmaier's  tract  against  OEcolampadius 
had  circulated  in  Berne  also,  and  in  November  Haller 
wrote  to  Zwingli:  "  Balthasar's  plain  allegation  of  the 
Scriptures  seduces  many."  He  doubts  not  that  Zwingli 
will  be  able  so  to  answer  Hubmaier  as  to  change  the  minds 
of  those  that  have  been  affected,  and  he  reassures 
Zwingli  by  informing  him  that  the  authorities  have  pro 
scribed  the  new  procedures. 

Griiningen,  a  Zurich  dependency,  early  became  a 
stronghold  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists.  Many  fugitives 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Zurich  during  the  first  half  of 
1525  took  refuge  there.  Grebel,  Manz,  Blaurock,  now 
a  companion  of  Grebel,  seem  to  have  spent  most  of 
the  summer  and  autumn  in  that  neighborhood.  A  num 
ber  of  Anti-pedobaptist  organizations  resulted. 

The  mandates  of  the  council,  the  imprisonment,  fining, 
and  banishment  of  the  opponents  of  infant  baptism,  had 
by  no  means  availed  to  suppress  the  movement  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Zurich.  Inquisitorial 
processes  occurred  from  time  to  time,  but  few  cases  of 
baptism  could  be  proved. 

We  left  Waldshut  at  the  end  of  1524,  when  Hubmaier 
had  just  returned  from  his  sojourn  in  Schaffhausen  and 
when  the  impending  suppression  of  evangelical  religion 
by  the  Austrian  authorities  had  been  for  the  time  averted. 


124  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Before  leaving  Schaffhausen  Hubmaier  had  challenged 
his  old  friend,  Dr.  Eck,  to  a  disputation  on  twenty-six 
evangelical  propositions.  He  facetiously  represents  him 
self  as  a  fly  challenging  Eck  the  elephant.  In  these 
propositions  he  does  not,  however,  state  distinctly  his 
Anti-pedobaptist  views. 

Almost  immediately  after  his  resumption  of  leadership 
in  Waldshut,  Hubmaier's  relations  to  Zwingli  and  his 
associates  underwent  a  marked  change,  and  he  put  him 
self  definitely  on  the  side  of  the  Zurich  radicals,  who 
were  soon  to  carry  into  effect  their  ideas  of  Christian 
life  and  church  order  by  introducing  believers'  baptism 
as  the  initiatory  rite  into  churches  of  the  regenerate. 
From  this  time  forward  Hubmaier  must  be  regarded  as 
the  great  literary  defender  and  promoter  of  the  Anti-pedo 
baptist  position.  He  had  previously  argued  the  question 
of  baptism  with  Zwingli,  Judae,  Hofmeister,  OEcolam- 
padius,  and  others,  but  had  not  hitherto  felt  that  the  time 
had  come  for  resolutely  and  without  regard  to  conse 
quences  putting  away  a  practice  that  he  had  long  held 
to  be  unauthorized  by  Scripture  and  subversive  of  the 
purpose  of  Christ  in  instituting  the  ordinance.  On  Jan 
uary  16  he  wrote  to  OEcolampadius  :  "  Now  the  hour  is 
come  in  which  I  should  proclaim  publicly  and  upon  the 
housetops  what  hitherto  I  have  kept  pent  up  within. 
The  great  God  be  praised  who  has  vouchsafed  to  me  and 
equally  to  my  hearers  this  spirit  of  liberty." 

In  answer  to  a  supposed  question  of  OEcolampadius, 
who  was  of  the  opinion  that  a  mere  outward  sign  and 
ceremony  like  baptism  should  not  be  made  a  matter  of 
contention  and  schism,  Hubmaier  proceeds  : 

Why  then  do  we  trouble  ourselves  so  much  about  a  sign  ?  A  sign 
at  least  it  is  and  a  symbol  instituted  by  Christ  with  the  most  mo 
mentous  and  solemn  words,  namely,  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  But  whosoever  weakens  or  abuses  this  sign 


PRACTICE  AT  WALDSHUT  125 

does  violence  to  the  words  of  Christ.  The  significance  of  this  sign 
and  symbol,  the  obligation  of  fidelity  even  unto  death  in  hope  of  a 
resurrection  to  a  future  life,  is  moreover  of  greater  moment  than  the 
sign  itself.  But  these  significant  things  can  have  no  applicability  to 
infants.  Therefore  the  baptism  of  infants  is  foliage  without  vin 
tage. 

He  lays  much  stress  upon  the  fact  that  an  obligation 
is  assumed  in  baptism  which  an  infant  is  incapable  of 
assuming  and  which  no  one  can  assume  for  another. 

"  Dearest  brother,"  he  proceeds,  "  you  have  here  my  opinion.  If  I 
err  recall  me,  for  I  desire  nothing  so  much  as  to  recant,  to  do  every 
thing,  yea,  to  decline  nothing,  so  far  as  I  am  taught  by  you  and 
yours  out  of  God's  word.  Otherwise  I  persist  in  my  opinion,  for 
thereto  am  I  compelled  by  the  institution  of  Christ,  the  word,  faith, 
truth,  judgment,  conscience.  .  .  I  am  a  man  and  can  fall— which  is 
human ;  but  in  that  case  I  desire  from  my  heart  to  recover  my 
footing." 

He  then  asks  OEcolampadius  whether  he  thinks  that 
Matt.  19  :  14,  "  For  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven," 
refers  especially  to  children,  calling  attention  to  the  fact 
that  "  such  '  and  not  "  theirs  "  is  the  term  used. 

He  gives  an  account  of  the  practice  that  he  has 
introduced  at  Waldshut  : 

Instead  of  baptism,  1  have  the  church  assembled,  bring  in  the  child, 
pronounce,  in  German,  the  gospel  passage,  "  They  brought  a  little 
child,"  then  its  name  is  bestowed  upon  it,  then  the  whole  church 
prays  on  bended  knees  for  the  child,  commending  it  to  Christ  that 
he  may  be  gracious  to  it.  Are  the  parents  still  weak  and  determined 
that  the  child  shall  be  baptized,  I  baptize  it  and  for  the  time  being 
am  weak  with  the  weak  until  they  shall  be  better  instructed.  But  in 
the  word  I  do  not  yield  in  the  minutest  particular. 

He  states  that  he  has  written  to  Zwingli,  presumably 
in  the  same  tenor.  He  has  written  twenty-two  proposi 
tions  with  sixty-four  notes  that  OEcolampadius  shall  soon 
see. 


126  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

The  disputation  at  ZUrich  between  Zwingli  and  his 
associates  on  infant  baptism  occurred,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  about  this  time  (January  17).  The  results 
also  we  have  noticed.  Some  of  the  banished  leaders 
made  their  way  to  Waldshut  and  no  doubt  confirmed 
Hubmaier  in  his  purpose  to  proceed  with  as  little  delay 
as  possible  to  carry  his  views  fully  into  practice.  On 
February  2  he  set  forth  a  "  Public  Challenge  to  all  Chris 
tian  Men  "  to  show  that  baptism  should  be  administered 
to  infants,  and  that  it  should  be  celebrated  with  any 
other  words  than  those  of  Scripture  in  the  vernacular. 
He  asks  that  a  Bible  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  old  (the 
age  is  mentioned  no  doubt  to  avoid  suspicion  of  the 
influence  of  contemporary  partisanship  in  the  editing)  be 
placed  between  the  two  articles  (the  positive"  and  nega 
tive  propositions  he  has  formulated),  that  it  be  opened, 
that  it  be  read  with  prayerful,  humble  spirit,  and  then 
that  this  controversy  be  decided  according  to  God's 
word.  "  So  am  I  well  content,  for  I  will  ever  give  God 
the  honor  and  let  his  word  alone  be  umpire  ;  to  him  will  I 
subject  and  yield  myself  as  well  as  my  doctrines.  The 
truth  is  immortal." 

Reublin  visited  Waldshut  early  in  the  spring,  and  was 
for  some  weeks  closely  associated  with  Hubmaier  in 
evangelical  work.  It  was  doubtless  his  influence  in  part 
that  led  Hubmaier  to  advance  from  the  rejection  of  infant 
baptism  to  the  adoption  of  believers'  baptism.  Along 
with  sixty  others  he  accompanied  Reublin  (about  Easter, 
1525)  to  a  neighboring  village  and  they  were  baptized  by 
the  latter  on  a  profession  of  their  faith..  Afterward  Hub 
maier  himself  publicly  baptized  out  of  a  milk  pail  over 
three  hundred  more  believers.1  He  had  for  a  long  while 
refrained  from  taking  this  decisive  step  in  view  of  the 

1  The  term  "  baptize  "  is  used  by  the  author  in  this  connection  to  designate  an  act 
which  he  does  not  regard  as  apostolic  baptism. 


HUBMAIER  AND  ZWINGLI  127 

embarrassed  position  of  the  city  and  his  fear  of  bringing 
it  into  still  graver  danger  ;  but  he  had  now  reached  the 
conviction  that  further  delay  would  involve  disloyalty  to 
Christ  and  that  come  what  might  the  New  Testament 
order  must  be  restored. 

As  might  have  been  expected  this  radical  procedure 
was  not  satisfactory  to  all.  A  large  majority  of  the 
people  were  so  devoted  to  Hubmaier  that  they  were 
ready  to  sustain  him  in  the  carrying  out  of  his  convic 
tions  ;  but  an  influential  minority  felt  that  the  city  had 
been  thereby  seriously  compromised  and  that  the  effect 
would  prove  disastrous.  From  a  merely  human  and  po 
litical  point  of  view  the  position  of  Waldshut  was  un 
doubtedly  made  far  more  critical  by  the  introduction  of 
believers'  baptism.  One  effect  of  it  was  to  intensify  the 
distrust  of  the  Austrian  government,  which,  however, 
was  only  awaiting  a  favorable  opportunity  for  administer 
ing  the  chastisement  so  long  threatened. 

But  the  loss  of  the  confidence  of  the  ruling  classes  in 
the  evangelical  Swiss  cantons  was  a  more  serious  matter 
and  made  it  easier  for  Austria  to  wreak  her  vengeance 
on  the  heroic  little  city,  already  weakened  by  internal 
dissension.  Hubmaier  knew  full  well  that  he  was  the 
occasion  of  the  impending  disaster ;  but  truth  required 
him  to  act  as  he  had  done,  and  "the  truth,"  he  never 
wearied  of  saying,  "is  immortal." 

Zwingli's  treatise  on  "  Baptism,  Infant  Baptism,  and 
Anabaptism  "  was  published  on  May  twenty-eighth.  The 
disputation  in  Basel  between  QEcolampadius  and  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists,  in  which,  as  we  have  seen,  Hubmaier  took  a 
deep  interest,  occurred  on  June  fifth.  Five  days  later  Hub 
maier  wrote  the  Zurich  Council  that  he  had  read  Zwingli's 
book  and  had  nearly  completed  an  answer.  He  besought 
the  council  for  God's  sake  and  in  view  of  the  future 
judgment  to  give  him  a  safe  conduct  to  Zurich  in  order 


128  A  HISTORY  OF  ANT1-PEDOBAPTISM 

that  privately  or  publicly,  before  the  whole  council  or 
delegated  individuals,  he  might  discuss  the  question  of  in 
fant  baptism  with  Zwingli.  He  would  be  glad  to  have 
Dr.  Sebastian  Hofmeister  present.  If  he  should  be 
found  in  error  he  would  gladly  recant ;  should  Zwingli  be 
found  in  error  he  ought  not  to  be  ashamed  to  desist  from 
the  error,  for  the  truth  will  be  finally  victorious. 

Hubmaier's  work  on  baptism  (already  referred  to),  di 
rected  nominally  against  OEcolampadius  but  having  con 
stant  reference  to  Zwingli's  work,  was  published  July 
ii.  Most  impartial  readers  of  Zwingli's  and  Hubmaier's 
books  on  baptism  will  agree  with  Usteri,  a  modern  Swiss 
Reformed  writer,  when  he  says:  "  The  reading  of  the 
writing  on  the  Christian  baptism  of  believers  teaches 
clearly  that  a  direct  Scripture  proof  for  infant  baptism 
cannot  be  brought  into  the  field.  Over  against  Zwingli's 
sophistry  it  affords  a  peculiar  satisfaction  to  see  how 
clearly,  transparently,  and  harmoniously  with  Hubmaier 
the  richly  collected  biblical  proof-texts  group  themselves 
around  his  idea  of  baptism.  According  to  this  [Hub 
maier's  view]  the  right  scriptural  order  is  no  other  than 
this:  i,  Word;  2,  Hearing;  3,  Faith;  4,  Baptism;  5, 
Work.  And  Hubmaier  adds  :  '  I  hold  accordingly  that 
Scripture  is  also  a  Hercules,'  which  is  quite  in  accord 
with  his  device  and  the  motto  of  his  writings  :  '  the 
truth  is  immortal.'  "  Usteri  further  remarks  that  Hub 
maier's  exegesis  is  substantially  in  accord  with  modern 
scientific  methods. 

The  profound  impression  produced  by  this  writing  in 
Basel,  Berne,  and  elsewhere,  we  have  already  noticed. 
Urged  by  OEcolampadius,  Haller,  and  others,  who  felt 
themselves  unequal  to  the  task,  Zwingli  promptly  set 
about  preparing  an  elaborate  reply,  that  appeared  about 
November.  Hubmaier  thought  it  advisable  "  to  smite 
down  clear  out  of  the  way  this  perverse  booklet  with  the 


CONRAD  GREBEL 


I29 


staff  of  Jacob,  /.  e.,  with  evangelical  knowledge,"  for  he 
regarded  it  as  likely  to  prove  a  stone  of  stumbling  to 
many  pious  souls.  His  rejoinder  was  completed  by 
November  30,  but  was  not  printed  until  after  his  settle 
ment  in  Moravia  in  1526. 

The  names  of  the  leaders  of  the  early  Swiss  Anti- 
pedobaptists  have  become  familiar  through  the  foregoing 
narrative  and  their  leading  characteristics  and  relative 
importance  have  appeared.  A  few  further  details  with 
reference  to  the  more  prominent  characters  may  not  be 
out  of  place. 

Conrad  Grebel,  whom  Zwingli  called  the  "  Cory 
phaeus  of  the  Anabaptists,"  and  who  was  regarded  by 
all  the  opponents  of  the  movement  as  by  far  the  most 
influential  of  its  leaders,  was  the  son  of  a  Zurich  patri 
cian  and  councilor.  Born  some  time  after  1490,  he 
spent  about  three  years  (1515-1518)  in  the  University  of 
Vienna,  where  he  was  in  receipt  of  a  handsome  pension 
from  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  and  where  under  the  guid 
ance  of  Vadian,  then  prominently  connected  with  the 
university,  he  made  great  progress  in  classical  and  other 
studies.  He  proceeded  next  to  the  University  of  Paris, 
where  he  enjoyed  an  annual  allowance  of  three  hundred 
crowns  and  the  friendship  of  the  famous  Swiss  scholar, 
Glarean.  Here  he  fell  into  evil  ways  and  thereby  im 
paired  his  health.  He  quarreled  with  his  father,  who 
drew  his  pension  and  partly  on  account  of  his  reckless 
manner  of  life  withheld  it,  thus  bringing  him  into  sore 
embarrassment.  GrebePs  father,  by  the  way,  was  be 
headed  in  October,  1526,  for  illegally  receiving  money 
from  foreign  princes  in  his  son's  name. 

Conrad  returned  to  his  home  in  1520  and  soon  began 
to  take  a  profound  interest  in  the  evangelical  movement. 
He  was  one  of  Zwingli's  most  zealous  supporters  up  to 
1523,  when  we  find  him  among  the  radicals  who  insisted 


130  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

on  the  immediate  abolition  of  tithes  and  readjustment  of 
rents. 

It  has  commonly  been  represented  that  Grebel  and  his 
associates  were  greatly  influenced  by  Thomas  Munzer. 
It  is  not  impossible  that  some  of  Munzer's  published 
utterances  may  have  had  an  awakening  influence  upon 
them  ;  but  that  they  had  gone  far  beyond  him  in  their 
apprehension  of  Baptist  principles  and  that  they  abhorred 
the  chiliastic  fanaticism  which  led  him  to  seek  to  estab 
lish  a  reign  of  righteousness  by  the  sword,  is  evident 
from  a  letter  written  by  Grebel  and  others  to  Munzer  in 
September,  1524,  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Peasants' 
War.  They  state  that  they  have  received  his  writing 
against  false  faith  and  baptism,  and  rejoice  wonderfully 
to  have  found  one  who  is  of  common  Christian  under 
standing  with  themselves  and  can  point  out  their  defects 
to  the  evangelical  preachers.  They  hear  that  he  has 
translated  the  mass  into  German  and  that  he  uses  litur 
gical  forms  unauthorized  by  Scripture.  They  earnestly 
remonstrate  with  him  on  this  matter  and  urge  him  to  do 
away  with  all  papal,  antichristian  forms  and  ceremonies. 
They  understand  that  although  he  has  written  against 
infant  baptism  he  continues  to  practise  it.  They  urge 
him  to  bring  his  practice  as  well  as  his  teaching  into  com 
plete  accord  with  God's  word.  They  have  heard  that  he 
has  preached  against  the  princes  and  has  counseled 
armed  resistance.  If  this  be  true,  they  entreat  him  for 
the  sake  of  the  cause  of  Christ  to  desist.  They  assure 
him  that  with  the  Bible  he  can  stand  before  Luther  and 
the  princes.  In  Zurich  there  are  not  twenty  who  really 
believe  the  word  of  God.  They  fully  expect  to  be  called 
upon  to  suffer  for  their  faith.  Grebel  expresses  an  in 
tention  to  write  against  infant  baptism.1 

It  is  evident  that  Grebel,  Castelberg,  Manz,  Aberli, 

1  See  the  letter  printed  in  full  in  Cornelius,  Vol  II.,  p.  240  seq. 


BLAUROCK  AND  REUBLIN  131 

Brotli,  Oggenfiiss,  and  Huiuf,  who  signed  this  important 
document,  were  not  disciples  of  Miinzer,  but  would-be 
teachers. 

We  shall  follow  GrebePs  brief  career  to  its  close  in  the 
next  chapter.  He  died  of  the  pestilence  soon  after 
March,  1526,  having  suffered  much  for  the  faith. 

Felix  Manz,  son  of  a  canon  of  the  Minster  Church, 
was  closely  associated  with  Grebel  from  the  beginning! 
He  was  highly  educated  and  was  an  accomplished 
Hebraist.  He  was  unsurpassed  by  any  of  his  Swiss  con 
temporaries  in  his  evangelistic  gifts,  unless  it  were  Blau- 
rock,  and  his  enthusiasm  in  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause 
was  unbounded.  He  was  instrumental  in  the  conversion 
of  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  and  when  he  suffered 
martyrdom  by  drowning,  January  5,  1527,  though  still  a 
young  man  he  had  done  a  noble  lifework.  His  name 
will  continue  to  figure  prominently  in  the  events  to  be 
narrated  in  the  next  chapter. 

Georg  Blaurock,  of  Chur,  left  his  monastery  to  take 
up  the  cause  of  evangelical  reform  and  was  one  of  the 
earliest  and  most  zealous  of  the  radical  leaders.  He  was 
the  first  to  take  the  momentous  step  of  administering 
a  new  baptism.  From  this  time  onward  he  seems  never 
to  have  wavered,  but  was  instant  in  season  and  out  of 
season.  His  principles  were  identical,  as  far  as  we  can 
see,  with  those  of  Grebel  and  Manz.  Multitudes  thronged 
his  ministry  as  he  journeyed  from  place  to  place,  and 
large  numbers  were  led  to  repent  of  their  sins  and  to 
confess  their  Saviour  in  baptism.  He  followed  the  apos 
tolic  example  of  baptizing  immediately  on  a  confession  of 
faith  and  an  expression  of  desire  for  baptism.  This  was 
no  doubt  true  in  a  measure  of  all  the  early  Anti-pedobap- 
tists,  but  few  of  them  seem  to  have  been  so  eager  to 
baptize  as  he.  Of  his  earliest  labors  in  the  Anti-pedo 
baptist  cause  we  have  already  had  some  account.  We 


132  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

shall  have  occasion  to  become  better  acquainted  with  him 
hereafter.  His  ministry  extended  to  nearly  all  parts  of 
Protestant  Switzerland  from  1525  to  May,  1529,  when  he 
entered  upon  what  proved  to  be  a  brief  but  fruitful  minis 
try  in  the  Tyrol,  where  he  died  heroically  at  the  stake 
August  26,  1529.  It  is  probable  that  he  baptized  a  thou 
sand  or  more  during  the  four  years  and  a  half  of  his 
evangelistic  career.  He  was  known  by  his  brethren  as 
"Strong  Georg "  and  was  sometimes  designated  a 
"Second  Paul."  He  seems  to  have  been  entirely  free 
from  fanaticism  and  to  have  attained  to  a  remarkably 
high  standard  of  Christian  consecration.1 

Wilhelm  Reublin,  whom  we  know  as  one  of  the  earliest 
impugners  of  infant  baptism  and  as  one  of  the  most  elo 
quent  and  zealous  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  evangelists, 
was  born  at  Rottenburg  on  the  Neckar.  He  was  among 
the  first  of  the  Swiss  priests  to  take  a  radically  evangel 
ical  position.  In  1522  we  find  him  in  Basel,  where  in  a 
religious  procession  instead  of  relics  he  bore  a  large  Bible, 
saying  that  this  was  the  truly  sacred  thing,  the  others 
were  merely  dead  bones.  Though  the  most  popular 
evangelical  preacher  in  Basel  he  was  driven  away  be 
cause  he  abetted  the  breaking  of  ecclesiastical  fasts.  He 
was  the  first  pastor  in  the  canton  of  Zurich  to  break  a 
fast  and  the  first  to  marry.  He  was  perhaps  too  violently 
denunciatory  and  somewhat  inconsiderate  in  his  treat 
ment  of  opponents  ;  but  he  was  soundly  evangelical  in 
his  views  and,  next  to  Blaurock,  had  probably  the  most 
fruitful  career  of  any  of  the  early  Anti-pedobaptist 
leaders.  It  was  his  unspeakable  privilege  to  convince 
Hubmaier  that  the  time  had  come  for  action  and  to  bap 
tize  him  who  was  to  become  the  greatest  and  soundest  of 

!The  most  exhaustive  account  of  Blaurock  is  that  by  F.  Jecklin  in  the  twenty- 
first  "  Jahresbericht  der  historisch-antiquarischen  Gesellschaft  von  Graubiinden." 
1891,  pp.  1-20.  Blaurock's  original  name  was  Cajacob. 


DENCK,  SATTLER,  AND   HETZER  133 

all  the  Anti-pedobaptists  of  the  sixteenth  century.  After 
laboring  in  many  places  throughout  Switzerland  and 
Southern  Germany  he  removed  to  Moravia,  where  his  ex 
perience  was  for  a  time  most  unhappy. 

Of  Hans  Denck,  Michael  Sattler,  Ludwig  Hetzer, 
Jacob  Gross,  and  other  leaders,  whose  activity  as  Anti- 
pedobaptists  was  chiefly  outside  of  Switzerland  and  after 
the  middle  of  1525,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  treat  here 
after. 


Literature:  Pertinent  works  (as  in  Bibliography)  of  Egli,  Strickler, 
Heberle,  Strasser,  Nitsche,  Burrage,  Schaff,  Baur,  Keller,  Usteri, 
Stahelin,  E.  Muller,  Loserth,  Kessler,  Cast,  Bullinger,  Fusslin, 
Beck,  Cornelius,  Hosek,  Schreiber,  Zwingli,  and  Hubmaier. 


CHAPTER   XI 

PERSECUTION  AND   DISPERSION 

WE  have  traced  the  rise  of  the  Swiss  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  movement  in  the  canton  of  ZUrich  and 
its  rapid  spread  throughout  the  other  evangelical  can 
tons  during  the  first  half  of  1525.  For  a  time  the  move 
ment  threatened  to  sweep  everything  before  it.  Not 
only  were  the  masses  of  the  people  enthusiastic  in  their 
acceptance  of  the  new  doctrine  and  practice,  but  most  of 
the  leading  evangelical  scholars  were  profoundly  moved 
by  the  earnestness  and  zeal  of  the  leaders  of  the  party, 
and  by  the  absence  of  clear  scriptural  warrant  for  the 
baptizing  of  infants. 

The  time  was  most  opportune  for  the  rapid  spread  of 
Anti-pedobaptist  views.  The  violent  breaking  away  from 
the  old  order  of  things  by  the  politico-ecclesiastical  re 
formers  prepared  men's  minds  for  still  more  radical 
changes.  The  insistence  of  Luther  and  Zwingli  on 
scriptural  authority  for  every  point  of  faith  and  practice 
was  sure  to  lead  to  a  demand  for  the  scriptural  authen 
tication  of  infant  baptism.  The  socialistic  aims  that 
found  expression  in  the  Peasants'  War  were  based  upon 
the  people's  understanding  of  apostolic  Christianity.  The 
leading  reformers  had  admitted  the  injustice  of  the  feudal 
system  and  had  declaimed  against  the  extortionate  prac 
tices  of  the  hierarchy.  The  radical  party  made  social 
reform  one  of  the  chief  planks  in  its  platform.  This  latter 
consideration  undoubtedly  predisposed  the  masses  to 
give  heed  to  the  preaching  of  the  simple  gospel  in  which 
brotherly  love  figured  very  prominently.  For  the  per 
manence  of  the  movement  the  time  was  most  inoppor- 
134 


MOTIVES  OF  PERSECUTORS  135 

tune.  The  Peasants'  War  was  already  in  progress  when 
the  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  in  Switzerland  became 
aggressive.  The  universal  alarm  and  consternation 
caused  by  this  determined  effort  of  the  peasantry  to 
throw  off  their  bondage  and  by  the  fanatical  procedures 
of  Munzer  and  Pfeiffer,  with  which  the  name  "  Anabap 
tist"  was  closely  associated  in  the  popular  mind,  caused 
the  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  to  be  regarded  with  the 
utmost  disfavor  by  all  who  were  interested  in  the  main 
tenance  of  existing  social  and  religious  institutions. 

We  shall  misjudge  the  good  men  who  urged  the  extir 
pation  of  Anti-pedobaptism,  if  we  fail  to  take  into  consid 
eration  their  view  of  the  magnitude  of  the  danger  that 
threatened  everything  they  valued  in  Church  and  State. 
It  was  not  wanton  cruelty  but  a  sense  of  sheer  necessity 
that  made  Zwingli  the  fierce  persecutor  he  became. 
Once  convinced  that  disaster  was  involved  in  the  move 
ment  his  animosity  against  its  leaders  became  unbounded 
and  he  showed  himself  incapable  of  doing  justice  to  their 
arguments  or  of  seeing  anything  good  in  their  lives.  We 
abhor  intolerance,  but  we  must  temper  our  disapproval 
of  the  intolerant  by  taking  into  careful  consideration  the 
circumstances  of  time  and  place. 

The  earlier  stages  of  persecution  have  already  been 
recorded.  Fines  and  imprisonment  had  greatly  interfered 
with  the  progress  of  Anti-pedobaptist  principles  since 
January,  1525.  But  these  principles  were  far  too  popu 
lar  and  accorded  too  completely  with  a  deep-seated  and 
profoundly  felt  need  to  be  so  readily  suppressed  as  the 
authorities  hoped.  As  in  the  apostolic  age,  persecution 
intensified  the  zeal  and  spread  abroad  the  principles  of 
the  persecuted.  Such  enthusiastic  radicals  as  Grebel, 
Manz,  Blaurock,  Reublin,  and  Brotli,  might  have  been 
content  to  labor  quietly  in  their  own  communities  and  to 
carry  forward  the  work  of  propagandism  in  an  orderly 


136  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

and  deliberate  manner  had  they  not  been  driven  by  the 
earlier  persecuting  measures  to  extend  the  sphere  of  their 
activity,  and  had  they  not  been  aroused  by  the  violent 
treatment  they  suffered  to  do  everything  in  their  power 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  standing  order. 

We  have  traced  the  progress  of  these  radical  reformers 
and  the  oral  and  literary  controversies  of  which  they 
were  the  occasion  and  in  which  they  were  participants  to 
about  December,  1525.  We  have  seen  the  center  of 
interest  in  the  movement  shift  from  the  immediate  neigh 
borhood  of  Zurich  first  to  St.  Gall,  from  March  onward, 
and  afterward  to  Gruningen.  The  inability  of  the 
authorities  of  the  bailiwick  of  Gruningen  to  cope  with 
the  rapidly  spreading  and  highly  popular  movement  and 
the  urgent  appeal  of  the  Gruningen  authorities  to  the 
Zurich  Council  to  arrange  for  a  disputation  in  which  the 
points  at  issue  should  be  freely  discussed,  with  the  re 
quest  that  Zwingli  be  admonished  to  allow  the  poor 
people  to  express  their  minds  freely  and  not  by  his  over 
bearing  demeanor  to  make  their  words  "stick  in  their 
throats/'  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  disputation  for 
November  6-8,  1525.  Arrangements  were  made  for  a 
full  representation  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  and  of  their 
opponents.  That  good  order  might  be  preserved  in  the 
debates  and  the  utmost  freedom  of  utterance  be  secured, 
the  Abbot  of  Cappel,  the  Commander  of  Kussnacht,  Dr. 
Hofmeister  of  Schaffhausen,  and  Dr.  Vadian  of  St.  Gall, 
were  appointed  presidents.  Zwingli,  Judae,  and  Gross- 
mann  were  the  principal  disputants  on  the  one  side  and 
Grebel,  Manz,  and  Blaurock  on  the  other.  Hubmaier  was 
expected  but  did  not  appear,  owing  no  doubt  to  the  criti 
cal  situation  at  Waldshut. 

The  disputation  was  begun  in  the  great  council  chamber 
with  open  doors,  but  the  large  number  of  Anti-pedobap 
tists  present  became  so  demonstrative  that  it  was  thought 


DISPUTATION  AND   IMPRISONMENT  137 

advisable  to  remove  it  to  a  room  in  the  Minster  Church 
and  to  restrict  the  attendance.  The  debate  lasted  for 
three  days  and  the  points  at  issue  were  ably  and  fully 
argued  on  both  sides. 

The  authorities  decided  that  the  victory  lay  on  the 
side  of  Zwingli.  As  might  have  been  expected  the  Anti- 
pedobaptist  leaders  resolutely  refused  to  submit  to  this 
decision,  denied  that  any  scriptural  ground  for  infant 
baptism  had  been  adduced,  and  insisted  that  their  oppo 
nents  had  taken  advantage  of  the  fact  that  they  enjoyed 
the  favor  of  the  authorities  to  deny  them  freedom  of 
speech.  A  number  of  Anti-pedobaptists  were  now 
arraigned  before  the  authorities  at  Zurich  and  in  the 
Griiningen  district.  Some  promised  obedience,  while 
others  were  heavily  fined. 

On  November  18,  Grebel,  Manz,  and  Blaurock  were 
imprisoned  in  the  new  tower  on  account  of  their  ana- 
baptistry  and  their  "unseemly  practices";  their  food 
was  to  be  limited  to  apple-sauce  and  bread  and  water, 
and  they  were  to  be  wholly  denied  communication  with 
their  friends.  The  imprisonment  was  to  last  as  long  as 
the  council  should  think  fit.  Ulrich  Deck  of  Waldshut, 
who  had  for  some  time  been  laboring  in  Griiningen, 
Martin  Ling  of  Schaffhausen,  and  Michael  Sattler  of 
Staufen,  in  Breisgau,  were  banished.  Sattler  we  shall 
meet  again  as  one  of  the  ablest,  most  amiable,  and  no 
blest  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  leaders  and  martyrs.  Large 
numbers  were  imprisoned  in  Griiningen,  and  of  these 
many  persisted  in  their  views  and  expressed  their  deter 
mination  to  be  steadfast  even  unto  death.  They  did  not 
hesitate  to  declare  that  infant  baptism  was  of  the  devil. 
The  authorities  claimed  that  the  Anti-pedobaptists  had 
been  given  the  amplest  opportunity  to  defend  their  prin 
ciples  and  practices  in  the  disputation  at  Zurich  ;  that 
they  had  bee*n  fairly  vanquished  by  Zwingli  and  his  as- 


138  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

sociates,  and  that  their  persistence  in  denouncing  infant 
baptism  and  in  rebaptizing  involved  disobedience  to  the 
constituted  authorities,  caused  schism  and  the  destruc 
tion  of  Christian  love  among  Christian  people,  and  could 
not  be  tolerated  with  safety  to  the  community.  The 
measures  taken  against  them  in  Griiningen  proved  so 
ineffective  that  the  sheriff  (Landvogf)  was  in  despair. 
"  Truly,  I  know  not  where  I  should  attack,  so  much  dis 
turbance  besets  me."  "The  Baptists  make  my  head 
gray  with  their  words  and  proceedings." 

The  long-threatened  punishment  of  Waldshut  occurred 
on  December  9.  The  Waldshut  authorities  even  in  view 
of  imminent  doom  had  a  few  weeks  before  refused  the 
demand  of  the  Austrian  authorities  for  the  extradition  of 
Hubmaier  with  eight  other  leaders  of  the  disobedient  party 
and  the  surrender  of  the  city  to  be  dealt  with  at  the  dis 
cretion  of  the  government.  Seeing  that  the  possibility 
of  maintaining  the  evangelical  cause  in  Waldshut  was  at 
an  end,  with  the  permission  of  the  Waldshut  authorities 
Hubmaier  withdrew  on  December  5,  as  he  himself  said, 
"a  mortally  sick  man,  who  knows  not  whither  he  is  to 
go."  Forewarned  that  he  was  about  to  be  seized,  his 
flight  was  so  precipitate  that  he  was  obliged  to  leave  his 
clothing  behind.  His  wife  managed  to  get  into  his  hands 
a  small  amount  of  money,  and  by  the  help  of  a  neigh 
bor  he  got  safely  across  the  Rhine.  Many  of  his  imme 
diate  followers  escaped  at  about  the  same  time.  It  was 
Hubmaier's  intention  to  go  first  to  Basel  and  thence  to 
Strasburg  ;  but  the  danger  of  arrest  was  so  imminent 
that  he  thought  it  advisable  to  make  his  way  to  Zurich, 
notwithstanding  his  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  his  views 
were  there  under  the  ban. 

The  fall  of  Waldshut  was  lamented  by  the  leaders  of 
the  dominant  evangelical  party  in  Switzerland,  and  their 
animosity  was  aroused  quite  as  much  against  Hubmaier, 


HUBMAIER'S  SUFFERING  AT  ZURICH  139 

whose  radical  teachings  and  procedures  had  been  the 
immediate  occasion  of  the  catastrophe,  as  against  the 
Austrian  authorities,  who  would  tolerate  nothing  evan 
gelical.  That  an  unfriendly  reception  awaited  him  at 
Zurich  he  no  doubt  fully  expected  ;  but  the  terribleness 
of  the  sufferings  he  was  there  to  undergo  for  his  fidelity 
to  New  Testament  principles  he  could  scarcely  have 
foreseen. 

Hubmaier  arrived  in  Zurich  ragged  and  wretched.  He 
was  entertained  by  a  widow  recently  baptized  by  Aberli, 
now  the  most  influential  resident  Anti-pedobaptist.  He 
was  shortly  afterward  imprisoned  by  the  council,  who 
naturally  feared  that  the  arrival  of  this  great  leader 
would  cause  a  fresh  outbreak  of  activity  on  the  part  of 
the  radical  religionists.  Zwingli,  Judae,  Myconius,  Hof- 
meister  and  others  were  appointed  to  confer  with  Hub 
maier  in  regard  to  his  teachings.  A  discussion  took  place 
on  December  21,  in  which  Hubmaier  charged  Zwingli 
with  inconsistency  in  defending  infant  baptism,  which  he 
had  earlier  acknowledged  to  be  without  scriptural  author 
ity.  Zwingli  sought  to  prove  from  Acts  2  that  infant 
church-membership  existed  in  the  apostolic  church,  and 
he  quoted  the  passage  in  i  Corinthians  10  about  the 
baptism  of  the  Hebrews  by  Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the 
sea,  to  prove  that  infants  as  well  as  adults  were  proper 
subjects  of  baptism.  He  proceeded  to  reproach  Hub 
maier  violently  for  the  disaster  he  had  brought  upon 
Waldshut.  Feeble  in  health,  and  at  the  mercy  of  his 
opponents,  Hubmaier  is  said  to  have  promised  to  recon 
sider  his  views. 

The  Austrian  authorities,  chagrined  that  in  the  capture 
of  Waldshut  the  chief  object  of  their  displeasure  had 
escaped,  urgently  and  repeatedly  demanded  the  extradi 
tion  of  Hubmaier.  That  this  was  persistently  refused 
was  certainly  to  the  credit  of  the  Zurich  authorities. 


140  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Zwingli  made  much  of  the  favor  thus  shown,  when 
afterward  he  was  reproached  for  his  cruel  treatment 
of  Hubmaier.  It  is  not  entirely  clear  whether  the 
torture  was  literally  applied  to  Hubmaier  or  not.1  His 
own  language  does  not  necessarily  imply  more  than  that 
his  recantation  was  extorted  from  him  by  the  "great  hard 
ness  and  torment  of  the  rigorous  imprisonment,  which  " 
he  "suffered  against  all  right  and  in  spite  of  his  appeal 
to  the  confederacy,  to  the  Zurich  Council,  and  to  the  em 
peror  himself."  He  claimed  that  the  council  had  sought 
by  violent  means  to  compel  him,  a  sick  man  who  had 
just  risen  from  a  death-bed,  to  change  his  faith. 

Zwingli  is  said  at  this  time  to  have  publicly  advocated 
the  execution  of  Hubmaier  and  the  other  Anti-pedobap- 
tist  leaders.  Hubmaier's  own  account  of  his  imprison 
ment  is  probably  to  be  taken  as  accurate.  He  relates 
that  more  than  twenty  men,  widows,  delicate  women, 
and  maidens  were  thrown  into  a  miserable  prison,  and 
were  given  to  understand  that  during  their  lifetime  they 
were  to  be  permitted  to  look  upon  neither  sun  nor  moon, 
and  on  a  diet  of  water  and  bread  they  were  to  remain 
together,  and  die,  and  rot.  Among  the  prisoners  there 
were  some  (himself  probably  among  them)  who  for  three 
days  did  not  take  a  bite  of  bread,  in  order  not  to  let  the 
rest  hunger.  Among  Hubmaier's  fellow-sufferers  were 
Grebel,  Manz,  Blaurock,  and  a  number  of  less  prominent 
brethren,  and  Anna  Manz,  Anna  Wiederkehr,  and  Eliza 
beth  and  Margaret  Hottinger.  Several  of  these  women 
were  among  the  most  heroic  confessors. 

Most  of  the  prisoners  were  sentenced  on  March  seventh. 
In  the  process  of  March  5,  Hubmaier  is  said  to  have  prom 
ised  to  desist  from  rebaptizing.  Blaurock  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  confess  that  he,  along  with  his  brethren  in  Christ, 

lOf  recent  Swiss  writers,  Baur  and  Usteri  are  of  the  opinion  that  physical  tor 
ture  in  the  technical  sense  was  employed  ;  Egli  thinks  the  evidence  indecisive. 


HUBMAIER'S   "RECANTATION"  141 

Grebel  and  Manz,  had  introduced  believers'  baptism,  and 
to  charge  that  Luther  and  Zwingli,  no  less  than  the  pope, 
were  thieves  and  murderers,  inasmuch  as  they  did  not 
enter  the  sheepfold  by  the  proper  door,  but  sought  to 
climb  up  some  other  way. 

On  March  7  a  mandate  proceeded  from  the  council 
affixing  the  penalty  of  death  by  drowning,  without  any 
grace,  to  rebaptism.  As  regards  those  already  imprisoned 
it  is  enacted  that  they  be  discharged  in  case  they  will 
confess  that  rebaptism  is  wrong  and  infant  baptism  right, 
and  on  their  pledging  themselves  to  abandon  all  effort  for 
the  promulgation  of  Anti-pedobaptist  views.  In  case  of 
relapse  they  are  to  suffer  the  death  penalty  by  drown 
ing.  From  this  time  onward  no  quarter  was  given  to  the 
advocates  of  believers'  baptism. 

The  great  majority  of  the  imprisoned  persisted  in 
maintaining  that  since  infant  baptism  is  not  commanded 
in  Scripture  it  "  must  be  rooted  out,"  as  must  everything 
"  which  the  Heavenly  Father  has  not  planted." 

It  was  the  design  of  the  authorities  by  securing  his 
recantation  to  demoralize  the  Anti-pedobaptist  hosts,  who 
looked  upon  him  as  the  greatest  defender  of  their  prin 
ciples.  If  torture  in  the  technical  sense  was  actually  ap 
plied  it  was  with  this  highly  important  end  in  view. 
Probably  in  the  early  days  of  March  he  was  induced  to 
sign  a  form  of  recantation,  and  it  was  arranged  that  he 
should  personally  appear  in  the  two  principal  churches 
on  the  following  Sunday  and  read  it  to  the  assembled 
multitudes. 

The  recantation  begins  : 

I,  Balthasar  Hubmaier,  of  Friedberg,  publicly  confess  with  this 
my  autograph  that  I  have  not  otherwise  known  nor  understood  all 
Scriptures  pertaining  to  water  baptism,  than  that  preaching  should 
first  take  place,  then  believing,  and  thirdly,  baptism.  Upon  this  1 
finally  took  a  firm  stand.  But  now  there  has  been  shown  to  me 


142  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

through  Master  Ulrich  Zwingli  the  covenant  of  God  made  with 
Abraham  and  his  seed,  also  circumcision  as  a  sign  of  the  covenant, 
and  how  baptism  takes  the  place  of  circumcision,  which  I  have  not 
been  able  to  solve ;  and  so  also  there  has  been  held  before  me  by 
others,  as  Master  Leo,  Dr.  Sebastian,  and  Myconius,  how  love  should 
be  a  judge  and  umpire  in  all  the  Scriptures,  which  I  have  taken 
deeply  to  heart,  and  so  I  have  thought  much  of  love  and  have  finally 
been  moved  to  relinquish  my  contention  that  infants  should  not  be 
baptized,  and  acknowledge  that  I  have  erred  in  the  matter  of  re- 
baptism.1 

He  repudiates  the  charge  that  he  rejects  magistracy 
and  insists  that  he  has  ever  taught  obedience  to  the  con 
stituted  authorities  and  the  right  of  Christians  to  exercise 
magistracy.  He  denies  that  he  has  ever  taught  com 
munity  of  goods  ;  he  has  simply  insisted  on  the  require 
ment  of  Christian  charity  to  impart  freely  of  one's  sub 
stance  for  the  relief  of  hungry,  thirsty,  naked,  and  im 
prisoned  believers.  He  repudiates  the  charge  that  he 
thinks  himself  without  sin  and  confesses  that  he  is  a  poor 
sinner,  conceived  and  born  in  sin,  and  will  remain  a 
sinner  even  until  death.  He  entreats  the  authorities  in 
consideration  of  his  severe  illness,  adversity,  banish 
ment,  and  poverty,  and  of  the  great  anger  and  cruelty 
that  his  adversaries  have  conceived  against  him,  to  deal 
graciously  with  him  and  not  to  suffer  him  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  his  enemies,  "  for,"  he  continues,  "  I  am  a  weak 
man  and  can  in  this  weak  body  not  renounce  bodily  so 
licitude." 

Hubmaier  soon  bitterly  repented  that  in  his  weakness 
and  despair  he  had  so  far  compromised  his  position  as  to 
set  his  hand  to  this  document;  yet  he  knew  full  well  that 
those  who  required  this  act  of  him  were  not  deceived 
thereby.  The  instinct  of  self-preservation  was  undoubt- 

1  Stahelin  ("Zwingli,"  Vol  I.,  p,  516),  is  of  the  opinion  that  this  is  the  recanta 
tion  Hubmaier  promised  to  make  in  December,  1525,  and  not  that  which  he  was 
finally  tortured  into  making  in  March  and  April,  1526.  The  same  form  of  recanta 
tion  may  have  been  repeatedly  employed. 


HUBMAIER'S   DEPARTURE  143 

edly  stronger  in  him  than  in  most  of  his  brethren,  who 
could  be  induced  neither  by  "bodily  solicitude  "  nor  by 
torture  even  momentarily  to  depart  a  hair's  breadth  from 
what  they  believed  to  be  the  truth.  Yet  if  we  consider 
the  circumstances  few  of  us  will  feel  justified  in  casting  re 
proach  upon  this  great  and  good  man  for  so  far  manifesting 
fleshly  weakness.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  he  soon 
rose  superior  to  the  carnal  desire  for  self-preservation. 
When,  according  to  arrangement,  he  was  taken  to  the 
Minster  Church  to  read  publicly  the  document  he  had 
signed,  he  began  instead  to  defend  believers'  baptism. 
The  people  murmured,  Zwingli  was  obliged  to  restore 
order,  and  Hubmaier  was  remanded  to  prison. 

The  increased  rigors  of  his  imprisonment  and  the  de 
cision  of  the  council  to  let  their  impenitent  prisoners 
"die  and  rot"1  in  the  tower  finally  overcame  him  and 
he  consented,  April  n,  to  do  what  was  required  of  him. 
After  performing  his  recantation,  on  his  promise  to  depart 
from  the  Zurich  jurisdiction  and  to  refrain  from  activity 
in  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  while  in  the  jurisdiction,  he 
was  released.  Some  kindly  disposed  citizens  put  into  his 
hands  ten  gold  pieces  to  aid  him  in  his  journeyings, 
without  the  approval  of  Zwingli,  who  was  not  above  im 
puting  to  the  man  who  had  suffered  such  hardship  and 
was  evidently  in  the  depths  of  poverty  the  most  sordid 
motives.  He  went  first  to  Constance  and  after  a  short 
visit  departed  for  Augsburg,  where  an  extensive  Anti- 
pedobaptist  movement  was  in  progress.  Here  he  met 
and  conferred  with  Hans  Denck,  the  high-minded  mystic, 
with  some  of  whose  views  he  by  no  means  agreed.  Be 
fore  June  21  he  had  found  a  home  at  Nikolsburg  in  Mo 
ravia,  where  he  was  to  labor  for  more  than  a  year  with 
wonderful  assiduity  and  success. 

Grebel,  Manz,  and  Blaurock  were  soon  released  with 

1  These  words  are  official. 


144  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

the  injunction  to  abstain  from  Anti-pedobaptist  teaching 
and  practice.  We  find  them  soon  impelled  by  their  con 
suming  zeal  to  renew  their  activity  and  their  cause  con 
tinued  to  flourish  in  the  Gruningen  district,  the  scene  of 
their  labors.  If  the  Zurich  authorities  were  reluctant  to 
carry  out  the  mandate  in  accordance  with  which  drown 
ing  was  to  be  the  penalty  of  rebaptizing  and  evidently 
intended  it  more  as  a  deterrent  than  as  a  law  to  be 
strictly  executed,  the  local  Gruningen  authorities  posi 
tively  refused  to  execute  the  inhuman  law  and  appealed 
in  support  of  their  refusal  to  certain  old  privileges  that 
had  been  bestowed  upon  the  district  by  the  house  of 
Austria. 

In  Griiningen  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  struck  its  roots 
deeper  than  anywhere  else  in  the  canton  of  Zurich. 
Many  influential  families  were  among  its  adherents.  The 
heavy  fines  that  were  imposed  on  baptizers  and  baptized 
proved  ruinous  to  the  estates  of  many  and  interfered 
seriously  with  the  economic  well-being  of  the  district. 
The  authorities  complained  bitterly  of  the  disturbances 
thus  caused  and  urged  the  Zurich  Council  not  to  pay  too 
much  heed  to  the  clergy,  who  were  the  chief  informers 
against  Anti-pedobaptists,  "  since  some  of  them  [the 
clergy]  are  lying  and  worthless."  It  would  seem  from 
the  complaints  of  the  Gruningen  authorities  as  well  as 
from  the  constantly  recurring  charges  of  the  Anti-pedo 
baptists,  that  the  great  mass  of  the  Swiss  clergy  were 
not  only  lacking  in  vital  godliness  but  were  even  scandal 
ously  vicious.  Such  men  were  the  objects  of  attack  on 
the  part  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  and  such  in  turn  felt 
that  their  means  of  living  were  jeopardized  by  the 
pointed  denunciations  of  the  zealous  sectaries.  As  a 
result  of  the  firm  footing  which  the  Anti-pedobaptists  had 
gained  in  Gruningen  and  the  comparatively  favorable 
attitude  of  the  authorities,  they  were  able  to  carry  on 


CHURCHES  ORGANIZED  145 

their  work  with  vigor  and  success  despite  the  zeal  of  the 
sheriff  of  the  district  and  the  rigorous  and  frequently 
reiterated  mandates  of  the  Zurich  Council. 

Of  the  seventy  Anti-pedobaptist  organizations  in  the 
canton  of  Zurich  from  the  beginning  of  the  movement 
till  its  almost  complete  suppression  about  1535,  twelve 
were  in  Zurichberg,  seventeen  in  Oberland  and  adjacent 
regions,  twenty-seven  in  Unterland,  twelve  in  Weinland, 
and  three  in  Kronaueramt.  Of  those  in  Zurichberg  only 
two  remained  after  1527  and  none  after  1531.  Of  those 
in  Oberland,  all  but  two  of  which  were  formed  during 
the  years  1525-27,  only  four  survived  the  year  1527,  and 
only  one  (not  mentioned  in  the  earlier  lists)  remained  to 
be  extinguished  after  1531.  In  Unterland  eleven  organi 
zations  were  effected  1525-27,  nine  of  which  survived 
the  latter  date,  while  during  1527-31  fourteen  new  organ 
izations  were  effected  ;  of  the  older  organizations  twelve 
remained  to  suffer  extermination  between  1531  and  1535 
and  two  were  first  formed  during  this  period.  Of  the 
Weinland  churches  one  was  formed  1525-27,  two  during 
1527-31,  and  nine  during  the  years  of  extermination, 
1531-35.  All  the  Anti-pedobaptist  communities  in  the 
Kronaueramt  seem  to  have  been  organized  during  the 
later  period.  These  figures  show  to  some  extent  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  movement  spread  in  the  Zurich 
dependencies  and  how  ineffective  were  the  efforts  of  the 
Zurich  authorities  to  suppress  the  popular  party  that 
insisted  on  a  complete  return  to  New  Testament  Chris 
tianity. 

About  the  beginning  of  1527  Manz  and  Blaurock  were 
again  arrested  in  the  Griiningen  district  and  brought  to 
Zurich  for  trial.  Reluctant  as  the  council  was  to  inflict 
the  death  penalty,  it  had  come  to  feel  that  the  case  of 
Manz  was  a  most  aggravated  one  and  that  an  example 
should  be  made  of  him.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe 

K 


146  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

that  the  council  acted  on  the  advice  of  Zwingli  when  it 
decreed  that  this  zealous  and  godly  man  should  have  his 
hands  tied  together  and  put  over  his  knees,  a  stick  in 
serted  between  his  arms  and  legs,  and  should  be  thrown 
from  a  boat  into  the  Rhine  at  a  designated  spot.  This 
judgment  was  duly  executed.  The  preamble  of  the 
sentence  bases  the  action  of  the  council  on  the  fact  that 
Manz  "  confesses  that  he  has  said  that  he  and  others  who 
would  accept  Christ's  leadership  and  follow  the  word, 
also  walk  according  to  Christ,  would  gather  themselves 
together  and  unite  themselves  with  him  through  rebap- 
tism  and  let  the  others  remain  in  their  faith  ;  accordingly 
now  he  and  his  followers  have  separated  themselves  from 
the  Christian  community  and  under  the  appearance  and 
pretext  of  a  Christian  assembly  and  church  will  resusci 
tate  and  equip  a  self-constituted  sect,  factions,  and 
assemblies  of  their  own."  Manz  is  further  accused  of 
maintaining  that  no  Christian  may  exercise  magistracy, 
or  judge  others  with  the  sword  or  put  to  death  or  punish 
any  one.  That  for  such  teaching  and  practice  a  man 
should  be  put  to  death  with  the  approval  of  Christian 
teachers  like  Zwingli  and  his  associates  is  strange  indeed, 
and  readers  unacquainted  with  the  spirit  of  the  age  and 
the  circumstances  of  this  particular  case  may  be  prompted 
to  exclaim  that  men  guilty  of  such  intolerance  were  no 
Christians.  This  is  not,  however,  the  judgment  of  men 
who  understand  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  appreciate 
the  difficulties  that  seemed  to  be  involved  in  allowing 
each  individual  to  choose  his  own  manner  of  worshiping 
God  and  freely  to  propagate  his  views.  To  Zwingli  and 
his  associates  nothing  but  disaster  seemed  likely  to  result 
from  toleration.  It  would  seem  that  Zwingli  at  last  be 
came  so  embittered  against  his  opponents  that  he  rather 
gloried  in  their  sufferings. 

Blaurock  was  tried  the  same  day  and  was  pronounced 


CONFERENCE  OF  THE  CANTONS  147 

equally  guilty  with  Manz  ;  but  one  victim  sufficed,  and  in 
consideration  of  the  fact  that  he  was  a  foreigner  he  was 
sentenced  to  be  beaten  on  the  naked  back  through  the 
streets  until  the  blood  should  flow.  On  his  promising  to 
withdraw  immediately  from  the  Zurich  jurisdiction  and 
with  the  assurance  that  he  would  be  drowned  in  case  he 
returned,  he  was  released.  He  soon  returned,  however, 
to  the  Gruningen  district  and  resumed  his  ministry. 

The  unwillingness  of  the  Gruningen  authorities  to  exe 
cute  the  mandates  of  the  Zurich  Council  was  a  source 
of  much  perplexity,  especially  as  the  advocates  of 
believers'  baptism  were  rapidly  gaining  ground  and 
spreading  into  the  surrounding  regions.  Early  in  June, 
1527,  the  Zurich  Council  peremptorily  demanded  the 
drowning  of  a  number  of  prisoners.  On  the  refusal  of 
the  local  authorities  to  comply,  the  Zurich  Council 
threatened  to  secure  the  intervention  of  Berne  and  to 
take  measures  for  enforcing  obedience. 

Inasmuch  as  Anti-pedobaptism  was  spreading  from 
canton  to  canton  and  was  in  the  opinion  of  the  authori 
ties  menacing  civil  and  ecclesiastical  order,  the  Zurich 
Council  thought  it  advisable  to  invite  the  confederated 
cantons  of  Berne,  Basel,  Schaffhausen,  Chur,  Appenzell 
and  St.  Gall  to  a  conference  to  be  held  on  August  13,  to 
agree  upon  concerted  and  vigorous  measures  for  the  ex 
termination  of  Anti-pedobaptism,  which  was  declared  to 
have  for  its  aim  the  destruction  "  not  only  of  the  true 
right  faith  of  Christian  hearts,  but  also  of  outward  and 
human  ordinances  and  institutions  of  Christian  and  or 
dinary  magistracy,  against  brotherly  love  and  good 
morals."  Correspondence  was  also  inaugurated  with 
Augsburg  and  Ulm,  where  Anti-pedobaptists  were  known 
to  abound,  and  from  the  close  commercial  relations  in 
which  they  stood  to  Switzerland  having  many  interests 
in  common  with  the  latter. 


148  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

By  December  16,  1527,  arrangements  had  been  com 
pleted  for  a  more  thorough  inquisition  of  heresy  than  had 
yet  found  place.  At  this  time  the  council  issued  a  man 
date  to  the  sheriffs  of  the  canton  requiring  them  to  sup 
press  all  private  meetings  for  religious  purposes,  and  to 
arrest  and  bring  to  Zurich  for  imprisonment  in  the  Wel- 
lenberg  all  participants  in  such  meetings,  who  are  to 
be  released  only  on  payment  of  five  pounds. 

The  result  of  this  mandate  was  the  arrest  and  exami 
nation  of  large  numbers,  especially  in  the  Unterland 
district.  In  these  investigations  the  Anti-pedobaptists 
laid  chief  stress  on  the  moral  corruption  of  the  clergy 
and  the  lack  of  proper  discipline  in  the  churches  of  the 
standing  order.  The  authorities  could  not  deny  that  the 
charges  were  well  founded  and  remedial  measures  were 
adopted. 

After  Easter,  1528,  synods  were  established,  one  of 
whose  most  important  functions  was  to  discipline  un 
worthy  clergymen.  In  these  synods  the  gravest  charges 
were  made  by  representatives  of  several  of  the  congre 
gations  against  their  pastors.  The  pastor  of  Steinmaur 
was  removed  for  adultery.  The  Wetzikon  Church 
accused  its  pastor  of  backbiting  and  theft.  Wangen 
charged  its  pastor  with  drunkenness  and  gambling.  The 
Bulach  pastor  was  charged  with  absenting  himself  from 
church  services  when  other  ministers  preached,  with 
avarice,  and  with  failure  to  train  his  children  aright.  He 
is  required  to  go  to  Zurich  for  a  course  of  study.  The 
Russikon,  Zell,  Wildberg,  and  Turbenthal  pastors  were 
found  guilty  of  drunkenness,  tavern-haunting,  and  fight 
ing.  The  pastor  of  Laufen  was  charged  with  covetous- 
ness,  that  of  Ottenbach  with  drunkenness  and  wife-beat 
ing,  and  that  of  Stallikon  with  drunkenness.  Of  these 
some  were  removed,  while  others  were  sharply  censured 
and  on  promise  of  amendment  allowed  to  retain  their 


EXECUTION  OF  FALK  AND  REIMANN  149 

positions.  Thus  an  indirect  effect  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist 
movement  was  the  inauguration  of  a  somewhat  vigorous 
discipline  in  the  churches  of  the  dominant  party. 

Already  in  1526  baptismal  registers  had  been  intro 
duced  into  the  churches  by  the  authorities,  in  order  that 
it  might  be  authoritatively  ascertained  whether  any  par 
ticular  person  had  been  baptized.  Evasion  of  the  law 
by  opponents  of  infant  baptism  was  thus  rendered  more 
difficult.  Under  the  new  disciplinary  arrangement  of 
1528  provision  was  made  for  a  close  scrutiny  of  the  lives 
of  the  members  of  each  community,  in  order  that  those 
out  of  sympathy  with  the  standing  order  might  be  the 
more  readily  detected.  Thus  the  organization  of  the 
dominant  party  became  more  and  more  complete,  the 
enforcement  of  conformity  to  the  established  order  more 
and  more  rigorous,  and  the  persecution  of  dissent  more 
and  more  exterminating. 

At  Gruningen  a  number  of  Anti-pedobaptists  had  Iain 
in  prison  for  a  year  and  fifteen  weeks.  In  August,  1528, 
they  were  taken  to  Zurich  for  examination  and  subjected 
to  great  hardship,  a  small  quantity  of  bread  and  water 
being  the  only  nourishment  allowed.  Two  of  the 
leaders,  Jacob  Falk  and  Henry  Reimann,  persisted  in 
their  Anti-pedobaptism,  and  were  sentenced  to  death 
by  drowning  on  September  5.  Others  were  induced 
to  admit  that  infant  baptism  was  right  and  rebap- 
tism  wrong  and  were  released.  One  of  the  prisoners 
lay  sick  in  the  tower  for  several  months  and  was  swollen 
from  head  to  foot.  He  preferred  to  die  in  the  tower  with 
his  companions  rather  than  in  the  castle  outside. 

The  law  against  entertaining  or  in  any  way  showing 
favor  to  Anti-pedobaptists  was  from  this  time  onward 
rigorously  enforced.  The  local  authorities  throughout 
the  canton  were  held  to  their  duty  as  never  before. 
Gruningen  after  long  and  determined  resistance  was 


150  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

compelled  by  the  intervention  of  Berne  to  yield  obedi 
ence  to  the  Zurich  Council.  Aggressive  work  on  the 
part  of  the  sectaries  had  become  well-nigh  impossible. 
Most  of  the  leaders  of  the  movement  were  either  dead 
or  in  banishment.  Moreover,  a  land  of  promise  had 
been  discovered  in  Moravia,  and  thither  flocked  thou 
sands  of  the  most  aggressive  Anti-pedobaptists  from  Swit 
zerland,  Southern  Germany,  Silesia,  the  Tyrol,  and 
other  countries.  By  1529  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  in 
Switzerland  showed  a  marked  decline;  by  1535  only  a 
few  congregations  remained.  These  were  mostly  in  the 
canton  of  Berne,  where  they  increased  very  rapidly  from 
1527  onward,  and  where  they  became  so  firmly  rooted 
that  they  have  been  able  to  survive  in  considerable 
numbers  to  the  present  time.  The  Bernese  brethren 
represented  the  purest  type  of  sixteenth  century  Anti- 
pedobaptism.  So  closely  were  they  related  in  doctrine 
and  in  practice  to  the  Waldenses  of  the  earlier  time  that 
a  recent  historian  of  the  movement  insists  upon  their 
direct  derivation  from  the  mediaeval  evangelicals  who  are 
known  to  have  abounded  in  this  region  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  In  no  other  way  is  he  able  to  account  for  the 
persistence  with  which  they  have  held  on  their  way  in  the 
face  of  bitter  persecution.  He  thinks  that  if  the  Bernese 
Anabaptists  had  been  a  product  of  the  Reformation  their 
zeal  would  have  soon  subsided,  and  that  like  other  spas 
modic  movements  this  would  have  speedily  vanished.1 

It  scarcely  need  be  said  that  in  Roman  Catholic  coun 
tries  Anti-pedobaptism  was  regarded  as  the  most  radical 
and  dangerous  type  of  Protestantism,  and  was  from  the 

1  E.  Meyer,  Gesch.  d.  Bernischen  Taufer,  1895.  The  author  has  brought  to  light 
a  vast  amount  of  documentary  material  illustrative  of  the  earlier  as  well  as  the  later 
history  of  the  Bernese  Anti-pedobaptists  from  the  public  archives  of  the  canton  and 
other  sources.  While  he  may  be  unduly  confident  as  regards  the  historical  con 
nection  of  this  party  with  the  older  evangelical  parties,  he  has  presented  the  facts 
in  favor  of  this  view  in  a  most  impressive  manner. 


EXTENSION  OF  SWISS  INFLUENCE  I$I 

first  proscribed.  In  April,  1529,  an  Imperial  mandate, 
given  at  the  diet  of  Speier,  required,  "that  rebaptizers 
and  rebaptized  all  and  each,  male  and  female,  of  intelli 
gent  age,  be  judged  and  brought  from  natural  life  to 
death,  without  antecedent  inquisition  of  the  spiritual 
judges."  This  law  was  obligatory  upon  Protestant  and 
Catholic  princes  alike,  and  few  of  either  considered  it 
too  severe.  The  rigor  with  which  the  edict  was  enforced 
depended,  of  course,  upon  the  disposition  of  the  indi 
vidual  princes,  some  of  whom,  like  Philip  of  Hesse,  were 
inclined  to  moderation ;  but  that  it  was  for  the  most  part 
zealously  carried  out  the  multitude  of  recorded  martyr 
doms  attest.  It  is  stated  by  a  contemporary  historian,1 
that  by  1530  two  thousand  Anti-pedobaptists  had  been 
executed,  nearly  all  outside  of  Switzerland. 

Anti-pedobaptists  had  become  as  widely  diffused 
throughout  Europe  as  the  Waldenses  and  related  par 
ties  had  been  during  the  thirteenth  and  following  cen 
turies.  There  were  few  communities  in  which  they  did 
not  appear  in  greater  or  smaller  numbers  ;  while  in  many 
places  they  met  with  wonderful  popular  acceptance  and 
could  be  suppressed  only  by  long-continued  and  rigorous 
inquisitorial  procedures.  Of  these  multitudes  a  very 
large  proportion  owed  their  impulse  to  the  Anti-pedobap 
tists  of  Switzerland  and  of  Waldshut,  who  from  1525 
were  widely  scattered  by  persecution.  The  influence  of 
Munzer  and  Storch  can  also  be  traced  with  some  dis 
tinctness  in  scattered  chiliastic  Anti-pedobaptist  teachers 
and  congregations.  Hans  Hut  was  the  principal  propa 
gator  of  this  type  of  doctrine  in  Austria  and  Southern 
Germany.  Doubtless  many  individuals  came  inde 
pendently  to  Anti-pedobaptist  views  from  a  study  of  the 
Scriptures.  That  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  great 
Anti-pedobaptist  host  which  in  an  incredibly  short  time 

1  Sebastian  Franck. 


152  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

was  arrayed  against  Protestantism  as  decidedly  as  against 
Roman  Catholicism  had  been  previously  under  the  in 
fluence  of  mediaeval  evangelical  teaching,  a  comparison  of 
the  doctrines  and  the  manner  of  life  and  work  of  the 
two  parties  renders  highly  probable. 

To  give  in  detail  the  history  of  this  important  and  in 
teresting  movement  in  all  its  branches  and  during  the 
entire  period  of  its  persistence  is  manifestly  impractica 
ble.  Contemporary  documentary  materials  abound  and 
are  being  continually  made  more  available  by  the  zeal 
of  European  scholars,  both  Protestant  and  Catholic,  and 
by  the  liberality  of  governments,  municipalities,  and 
societies.  We  shall  be  compelled  to  restrict  ourselves 
to  a  few  of  the  great  centers  of  Anti-pedobaptist  activity, 
and  in  these  to  the  briefest  statement  of  the  more 
essential  facts. 

Literature:  Pertinent  works  (as  in  Bibliography)  of  Egli, Strickler, 
Heberle,  Strasser,  Nitsche,  Burrage,  Schaff,  Baur,  Keller,  Usteri, 
Stahelin,  E.  Muller,  Loserth,  Kessler,  Cast,  Bullinger,  Fusslin, 
Beck,  Cornelius,  Hosek,  Schreiber,  Zwingli,  and  Hubmaier. 


CHAPTER  XII 
SILESIA 

SILESIA,  bounded  by  Poland,  Moravia,  Bohemia, 
Brandenburg,  and  Saxony,  had  been  greatly  in 
fluenced  by  mediaeval  evangelical  movements  (Hussites, 
Bohemian  Brethren,  and  Waldenses),  and  was  sure  to 
be  among  the  earliest  regions  to  adopt  the  more  radical 
phases  of  the  Protestant  revolution.  It  is  probable  that 
Nicholas  Storch  spent  a  few  months  at  Glogau  and  in 
the  surrounding  regions  soon  after  the  disastrous  termina 
tion  of  the  Peasants'  War  in  May,  1525. 

Lutheranism  had  already  gained  a  considerable  follow 
ing  in  Silesia,  and  Storch  is  said  to  have  begun  his  work 
by  teaching  the  evangelical  truths  that  he  held  in  com 
mon  with  Luther,  reserving  his  peculiar  doctrines  until  he 
should  have  gained  sufficient  prestige  to  assure  their 
popular  acceptance.  His  influence  is  said  to  have  ex 
tended  to  Fraustadt,  which  afterward  became  the  center 
of  his  activity.  Here  as  elsewhere  the  labors  of  Storch 
are  said  to  have  occasioned  considerable  commotion,  and 
he  was  not  able  to  remain  long  in  the  same  place  ;  but 
so  great  was  his  enthusiasm  and  such  claims  did  he  make 
for  his  teachings  that  multitudes  are  said  to  have  accepted 
his  leadership. 

While  in  the  succeeding  years  occasional  indications  of 
the  influence  of  the  Storch-Munzer  type  of  teaching  ap 
pear,  the  preponderating  element  in  the  important  Anti- 
pedobaptist  movement  of  1525  onward  was  undoubtedly 
of  the  Swiss  type.  That  the  Swiss  brethren,  who  had 
Silesians  among  them  at  an  early  date  (1526)  and  who 
were  widely  scattered  by  persecution,  from  1526  onward, 


154  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

should  have  had  representatives  in  Silesia  was  what 
might  have  been  expected. 

Before  entering  upon  a  discussion  of  the  Anti-pedobap- 
tist  movement  that  was  to  furnish  its  thousands  of  re 
cruits  to  the  great  Moravian  brotherhood,  mention  should 
be  made  of  the  mystical  reforming  movement  led  by 
Caspar  Schwenckfeldt. 

Of  the  influence  of  this  Silesian  nobleman  in  causing 
a  widespread  departure  from  the  Lutheran  type  of  teach 
ing  and  a  general  adoption  in  evangelical  circles  of  Anti- 
pedobaptist  views  we  can  speak  with  far  more  confidence 
than  of  Storch's  Silesian  activity.  Schwenckfeldt  be 
longed  to  an  ancient  noble  house  at  Ossig.  He  studied 
in  several  universities,  finishing  his  studies  at  Cologne. 
Like  Luther  he  was  an  ardent  student  of  the  old-evan 
gelical  mysticism  of  Tauler,  the  German  Theology,  etc. 
While  residing  at  the  court  of  Duke  Charles  of  Mun- 
sterberg  he  came  under  the  influence  of  the  teachings 
of  Huss.  When  Luther  came  out  boldly  for  reform, 
Schwenckfeldt  was  ready  to  accept  his  leadership. 

In  1521  he  retired  for  a  season  of  profound  Scripture 
study.  In  1525  he  became  convinced  that  Luther  was 
astray  on  baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper,  justification  by 
faith,  and  a  number  of  other  points.  A  conference  with 
Luther  failed  to  result  in  harmony  of  views.  Not  only 
was  he  at  variance  with  Luther  in  reference  to  doctrine, 
but  he  took  sharp  issue  with  him  as  regards  the  manner 
of  bringing  about  reform.  Reformation  should  proceed 
from  within  outward,  without  the  intervention  of  the 
civil  authorities. 

He  soon  came  to  feel  that  the  tendency  of  Luther's 
teachings  was  to  bring  about  a  state  of  carnal  security  in 
those  who  accepted  them,  and  that  his  doctrine  of  justi 
fication  by  faith  alone  and  that  of  assurance  were  im 
moral  in  their  tendencies.  His  observation  of  Lutheran 


CASPAR  SCHWENCKFELDT  155 

evangelical  life  led  him  to  the  conviction  that  Lutheran 
faith  was  a  dead  faith,  that  Luther's  doctrine  of  Scripture 
was  a  doctrine  of  the  letter  and  not  of  the  spirit,  that 
his  teaching  respecting  baptism  and  the  Supper  was  un- 
scriptural  and  out  of  accord  with  the  principles  of  spiritual 
Christianity.  He  maintained,  moreover,  that  Luther  had 
departed  widely  from  the  position  he  had  occupied  when 
he  first  appeared  as  a  reformer. 

He  held  that  only  the  spiritually  enlightened  man  can 
properly  understand  the  Scriptures,  and  he  distinguished 
between  the  word  of  God  and  the  material  Scriptures 
that  contain  this  word.  Faith  he  regarded  as  the  per 
sonal  appropriation  of  Chnst,  and  it  necessarily  involved 
a  complete  transformation  of  character.  Baptism  he  re 
garded  as  symbolical  of  the  great  inner  transformation 
that  has  occurred  in  regeneration,  and  hence  as  utterly 
inapplicable  to  infants.  The  Lord's  Supper  he  took  to 
be  symbolical  of  the  spiritual  partaking  of  Christ,  and 
communion  with  his  sufferings  and  death. 

The  Duke  of  Leignitz,  one  of  the  most  influential  of 
the  Silesian  nobility,  sympathized  with  Schwenckfeldt's 
anti-Lutheran  views  of  reform.  There  soon  resulted  a 
general  falling  away  from  the  Lutheran  position  and 
large  numbers  openly  adopted  Anti-pedobaptist  views. 

Schwenckfeldt  was  too  much  of  a  mystic  to  be  willing 
to  be  the  leader  of  a  radical  reforming  party  or  to  lay  so 
great  stress  upon  external  ordinances  as  was  involved 
in  the  Anti-pedobaptist  position,  but  he  continued  to  the 
end  of  a  long  life  in  friendly  relations  with  the  Anti-pedo- 
baptists,  and  his  influence  during  the  earlier  time  in 
Silesia,  as  well  as  during  his  later  life  when  he  made 
Strasburg  his  home,  was  highly  favorable  to  the  popular 
acceptance  of  their  principles.  "  Hoffmann  and  the  Ana 
baptists,"  he  said  on  one  occasion  when  accused  of  un 
due  intimacy  with  that  great  leader, 


156  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

I  patronize  not  more  than  is  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
.  .  .  That  I  now  subject  myself  to  no  party  and  sect,  neither  to  the 
Papists,  Lutherans,  Zwinglians,  nor  Baptisvs,  has  many  causes  and 
brings  me  not  a  little  persecution  and  ill-will  from  them  all.  But  I 
pray  the  Lord  he  will  keep  me  in  this  position  and  not  allow  me  to 
despise  what  is  good,  right,  and  well  pleasing.  Yet  I  see  in  one 
party  much  more  of  God  than  in  the  rest,  more  divinely  given  bless 
edness  and  imitation  of  the  crucified  Christ ;  this  I  cannot  deny. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  party  to  which  he 
gave  so  decided  a  preference.  He  justified  his  separa 
tion  on  the  ground, 

That  it  is  a  necessity  to  the  Christian  that  he  touch  no  unclean 
thing,  and  that  he  be  not  yoked  together  with  unbelievers,  nor  have 
communion  with  the  works  of  darkness. 

Schwenckfeldt  had  no  thought  of  forming  a  sect,  but 
a  considerable  number  of  those  who  had  been  dominated 
by  his  teachings  gathered  themselves  after  his  death  into 
a  society  for  the  circulation  of  his  writings  and  the  con 
servation  of  his  influence.  In  1734  a  number  of  families 
settled  in  Pennsylvania,  where  they  still  have  four  con 
gregations  with  a  membership  of  about  three  hundred  and 
six.  Schwenckfeldt  died  in  1562. 

The  encouragement  given  to  Anti-pedobaptism  by 
Schwenckfeldt  ami  the  noblemen  who  supported  him, 
and  a  natural  predilection  of  the  masses  for  radical  types 
of  religious  thought,  resulted  in  a  very  rapid  growth  of 
the  cause.  Hast  (following  Meschovius)  doubtless  grossly 
exaggerates  when  he  states  that  by  1526  Silesia  had 
become  almost  entirely  Anti-pedobaptist ;  yet  we  have 
abundant  evidence  that  thousands  adopted  Anti-pedo 
baptist  views  and  that  congregations  were  organized  in 
many  of  the  most  important  towns  as  well  as  in  many 
villages  and  rural  communities. 

By  far  the  most  important  leader  at  this  time  (1526-28) 


GABRIEL  ASCHERHAM  157 

was  Gabriel  Ascherham  of  Scharding.  This  Bavarian 
evangelist,  of  whose  earlier  antecedents  little  or  nothing 
is  known,  was  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  hun 
dreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  Silesians  to  Anti-pedobaptist 
views  and  in  the  organization  of  many  congregations. 
When  persecution  arose  (1527-28)  he  led  a  large  party  to 
Rossnitz  in  Moravia.  He  was  followed  later  by  hundreds 
more,  the  number  of  his  Silesian  followers  in  Moravia 
having  reached,  according  to  some  accounts,  about  two 
thousand.  The  strife  that  arose  between  Gabriel  and 
the  Hutherites  has  resulted  in  an  unjust  loss  of  reputation 
for  the  Silesian  leader,  as  the  accounts  that  have  been 
preserved  emanated  from  his  opponents.  That  he  was 
strong-willed,  somewhat  arbitrary,  and  over-violent  in 
his  polemics,  may  be  freely  admitted  ;  but  the  same 
might  be  said  of  most  of  the  great  leaders  of  the  age. 

Among  the  influential  teachers  of  this  time  were  Os 
wald  and  Hess  in  Breslau,  where  a  congregation  seems 
to  have  been  organized.  This  community  seems  to  have 
been  visited  by  Hans  Hut  in  1527.  Congregations  existed 
in  and  around  Leignitz,  Glatz,  and  Glogau.  These  bore 
marks  of  the  influence  of  Storch.1  In  Glatz  and 
Schweidnitz  the  Anti-pedobaptists  came  forward  in  1529 
as  a  "  League  of  Jesus  Christ/'  and  asked  the  princely 
and  local  authorities  for  the  opportunity  to  explain  and 
defend  their  principles  under  a  safe-conduct.  This  re 
quest  was  refused  and  served  only  to  increase  the  vigi 
lance  of  the  authorities  and  to  sharpen  the  measures 
already  being  employed  for  the  extirpation  of  the  party. 

According  to  a  manuscript  in  the  Vienna  Court  Library, 
Clemens  Adler,  the  most  important  Silesian  leader  of  the 
time,  was  executed  at  Glogau  in  1636.  According  to  the 
Presburg  manuscript,  he  was  master  of  three  languages, 

1  Dr.  Loserth  is  of  the  opinion  that  these  had  nothing  to  do  with  those  Anti-pedo 
baptists  who  went  to  Moravia  under  the  leadership  of  Gabriel. 


158  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Latin,  Bohemian,  and  German.  For  some  time  he  was 
engaged  as  a  preacher  in  Bohemia.  Moved  by  the  Lord 
he  came  one  day  into  the  church  at  Glatz,  silenced  the 
preacher  and  himself  preached  for  an  hour.  He  was 
however  driven  from  the  city.  Another  leader  of  the 
Anti-pedobaptists  in  the  city  of  Breslau  and  its  environs 
was  Hans  Reck  (Giganteus),  well  known  through  the 
controversy  that  he  had  with  Dr.  Hess,  in  connection 
with  which  he  wrote  (in  Latin)  his  "Judgment  on  the 
Faith  of  Infants,  to  Dr.  Joh.  Hess."  He  also  wrote  a 
refutation  of  Justus  Menius'  strictures  on  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists. 

Andrew  von  Nespe  is  spoken  of  as  an  apostle  of  the 
Silesian  Anti-pedobaptists.  He  labored  successfully  at 
Heilbron  on  the  Neckar,  in  Wirtemberg,  and  in  Bavaria, 
and  finally  suffered  martyrdom  at  Neustadt  on  the  Dan 
ube.  The  most  important  individual  contribution  of 
Silesia  to  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  was  undoubtedly 
Peter  Reidemann,  who,  after  laboring  for  a  time  in  upper 
Austria,  removed  to  Moravia  and  became  head  of  the 
Hutherite  connection.  He  wrote  the  best  systematic  ex 
position  of  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  party. 

After  1528-29  the  persecuting  measures  of  the  Silesian 
authorities  were  too  exterminating  in  their  nature  to 
allow  of  the  building  up  of  vigorous  church  organizations, 
but  fostered  by  the  brethren  in  Moravia  the  cause  was 
long  kept  alive.  Schwenckfeldt  was  himself  obliged  to 
quit  Silesia  in  1528,  the  noblemen  who  favored  his  cause 
being  no  longer  able  to  protect  him. 

Literature:  Meschovius,  Bachmann,  Erbkam,  and  Hast,  as  in  the 
Bibliography.  For  some  of  the  details  the  writer  is  indebted  to 
Professor  Dr.  J.  Loserth,  of  the  University  of  Graz,  Austria,  who 
in  a  private  communication  generously  imparted  much  information 
not  otherwise  procurable. 


CHAPTER   XIII 
THE  AUGSBURG  CENTER 

A  UGSBURG  was  one  of  the  great  commercial  centers 
r\  of  the  Reformation  time.  It  was  favorably  situ 
ated  for  trade  with  Italy,  Austria,  and  all  parts  of  central 
Germany.  Its  merchants  were  among  the  most  enter 
prising  in  the  world  and  had  their  ships  on  all  the  seas. 
Augsburg  profited  largely  by  the  discovery  of  the  new 
world  and  the  great  increase  of  commerce  with  the 
Orient.  Manufactures  kept  pace  with  foreign  trade.  In 
a  population  of  about  thirty  thousand  there  were  nearly 
fifteen  hundred  master  weavers.  As  in  the  Middle  Ages 
Augsburg  was  an  important  center  of  old-evangelical 
life,  so  in  the  Reformation  time,  side  by  side  with  Stras- 
burg,  it  was  a  refuge  for  the  persecuted  and  a  place 
where  any  radical  teacher  might  hope  to  gain  followers. 
The  bitter  and  long-continued  conflict  in  Augsburg  be 
tween  the  Lutheran  and  Zwinglian  types  of  doctrine 
prevented  the  establishment  of  any  complete  or  vigor 
ously  administered  church  order.  Among  the  evangelical 
ministers  no  man  arose  who  was  able  to  mold  the  relig 
ious  life  of  the  city. 

Augsburg  received  into  its  bosom  at  an  early  date 
representatives  of  the  movement  led  by  Storch  and 
Munzer  and  those  who  had  received  their  training  in 
Anti-pedobaptist  principles  in  Switzerland.  Of  mystical 
and  fanatical  types  it  had  its  full  share.  In  no  city  of 
upper  Germany  was  there  so  large  an  aggregation  of 
Anti-pedobaptist  life.  Not  only  did  Augsburg  receive 
from  abroad  large  numbers  of  representatives  of  the  great 
Anti-pedobaptist  movement,  but  its  own  inhabitants, 


160  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

among  whom  the  artisan  classes  abounded,  showed  re 
markable  readiness  to  accept  what  claimed  to  be  pure 
apostolic  Christianity.  Situated  on  the  road  between 
Strasburg  and  Moravia,  two  other  great  centers  of  the 
movement,  it  formed  a  sort  of  distributing  point  for  the 
Anti-pedobaptist  life  of  the  time.  Most  of  the  prominent 
leaders  spent  more  or  less  time  here,  and  several  of 
them  made  a  profound  impression  on  the  religious  life  of 
the  city.  Among  those  who  barely  touched  the  city 
with  their  personal  influence  was  Hubmaier,  who  spent  a 
few  days  there  on  his  way  to  Moravia.  Among  those 
who  made  Augsburg  a  definite  field  for  labor  may  be 
mentioned  Hans  Denck,  Jacob  Gross,  Hans  Hut,  and 
Eitelhans  Langenmantel.  Not  only  did  Augsburg  furnish 
a  place  of  refuge  for  persecuted  sectaries,  but  it  was 
also  a  center  from  which  streams  of  influence  went 
forth. 

Among  the  earliest  laborers  in  the  Anti-pedobaptist 
cause  in  Augsburg  were  Hans  Denck  and  Ludwig  Hetzer. 
The  latter  though  not  yet  an  avowed  Anti-pedobaptist  was 
already  a  somewhat  zealous  propagator  of  Anti-pedobap 
tist  views.  We  have  met  him  before  in  Zurich,  where 
for  some  time  he  worked  diligently  with  tongue  and  pen 
side  by  side  with  Zwingli  in  the  cause  of  evangelical 
reform.  At  a  later  date  we  find  him  among  those  who 
were  banished  by  the  Zurich  Council  for  opposing  infant 
baptism.  He  had  a  profound  sympathy  for  the  poor  and 
oppressed  and  was  eager  for  social  no  less  than  for 
religious  reform.  He  was  befriended  during  his  earlier 
visit  to  Augsburg  by  Georg  Regel,  a  wealthy  gentleman 
temporarily  resident  there.  His  wife  Anna,  under  Hetzer's 
influence,  afterward  became  an  Anabaptist  and  it  was  on 
the  pretext  of  suspicious  relations  with  this  woman  that 
Hetzer  was  beheaded  at  Constance  in  1529.  During  his 
later  residence  in  Augsburg  he  supported  himself  chiefly 


LUDWIG  HETZER  l6l 

by  serving  as  a  corrector  of  the  press  and  by  literary 
work.  He  translated  from  time  to  time  a  number  of 
books  written  in  Latin  by  leading  Reformers,  besides 
publishing  a  number  of  original  works. 

It  was  probably  in  the  autumn  of  1525  that  he  pub 
lished  his  famous  pamphlet  on  "  Evangelical  Cups." 
This  is  one  of  the  strongest  pleas  for  abstinence  from 
intoxicants  that  appeared  during  the  Reformation  time. 
Undoubtedly  excessive  drinking  was  common  among  the 
evangelical  clergy.  In  assemblies  which  they  called 
evangelical  the  social  cup  was  freely,  often  immoderately, 
indulged  in.  "  No  Christian,"  writes  Hetzer,  "should 
suffer  that  to  be  called  evangelical  which  is  antagonistic 
to  the  gospel.  Many  indeed  think  that  'moderate  drink 
ing  '  is  quite  allowable.  If  one  does  not  vomit  at  the 
table  he  is  said  to  have  '  drunk  moderately  '  even  if  he 
has  drunk  three  measures  of  wine."  He  thinks  that 
Bacchus  and  not  Christ  is  the  influence  that  brings 
them  together  in  such  assemblies,  and  that  the  utterances 
at  such  meetings  are  often  inspired  not  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  but  by  the  emptied  beer  glasses  and  cups.  In  such 
gatherings  there  may  be  volubility,  but  no  true  elo 
quence.  By  way  of  contrast  he  describes  the  gatherings 
of  true  Christians.  He  lays  much  stress  upon  the  love- 
feasts  of  the  early  Christians  in  which  rich  and  poor  sat 
down  together  to  food  provided  by  the  rich.  "  Now  we 
should  know  that  Christian  life  and  faith  are  a  mere 
sham  .  .  .  where  there  is  no  love  or  this  is  cold  in  us. 
Faith  deals  with  God,  but  also  through  expression  in 
works  of  love  toward  our  neighbors." 

Hetzer's  disinclination  toward  infant  baptism  was  due 
quite  as  much  to  his  observation  of  the  evil  results  of  its 
adoption  as  to  its  lack  of  scriptural  warrant.  "  The 
pope's  book,"  he  says,  "in  which  I  read  that  they  have 
ascribed  blessedness  to  external  water  baptism,  led  me 


162  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

to  reject  infant  baptism."  "Oh, how  many  pious  mothers 
have  been  made  miserable  who  have  had  no  other 
thought  than  that  unbaptized  infants  are  damned.  .  . 
Also  the  special  places  of  burial  where  unbaptized  in 
fants  are  not  buried  along  with  other  people  simply 
because  they  shall  no  more  see  God's  face  !  Oh,  the 
knavery  !  " 

His  position  was  one  of  wavering  and  indecision.  We 
find  him  in  September,  1525,  seeking  to  re-establish  him 
self  in  the  confidence  of  Zwingli.  He  was  then  at 
Augsburg  where  he  was  zealously  defending  the  Zwin- 
glian  view  of  the  Supper  against  the  Lutherans.  Expelled 
from  Augsburg  we  find  him  in  November  in  Basel  with 
OEcolampadius,  whom  he  seems  to  have  convinced  that 
he  was  not  an  Anti-pedobaptist,  and  whom  he  induced  to 
write  to  Zwingli  to  this  effect.  Yet  he  continued  to  labor 
in  a  somewhat  secret  way  against  infant  baptism. 

The  influence  of  Hans  Denck,  his  intimate  friend  and 
associate  in  Bible  translation,  it  is  easier  to  estimate. 
Next  to  Hubmaier  we  must  regard  Denck  as  the  foremost 
leader  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists.  In  scholarship  and  the 
profundity  of  his  grasp  of  truth  he  was  probably  Hub- 
maier's  superior.  We  first  meet  with  him  in  Basel, 
where  he  was  employed  by  one  of  the  leading  publishers 
as  a  corrector  of  the  press,  and  where  he  was  intimately 
associated  with  OEcolampadius.  In  1523,  on  the  recom 
mendation  of  the  latter,  he  was  appointed  rector  of  the 
St.  Sebaldus  school  of  Nurnberg.  It  is  probable  that  he 
met  Miinzer  on  the  occasion  of  his  first  visit  to  Nurnberg, 
and  may  have  been  somewhat  influenced  by  this  enthu 
siastic  spirit.  Besides  being  one  of  the  foremost  masters 
of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures,  he  was  like  Luther, 
Carlstadt,  Munzer,  Schwenckfeldt,  and  many  other  lead 
ing  men  of  the  time,  deeply  imbued  with  the  evangelical 
mysticism  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  fact,  he  was  a  mystic 


HANS   DENCK  163 

himself  of  the  highest  type  ;  but  his  mysticism  was  tem 
pered  by  the  profoundest  knowledge  of  Scripture  and  the 
profoundest  reverence  for  its  teachings.  At  Nurnberg 
he  fell  into  controversy  with  the  famous  Lutheran  theo 
logian  Osiander  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Supper;  but  the 
doctrines  of  Scripture,  sin,  the  righteousness  of  God,  the 
law,  the  gospel,  and  baptism,  ultimately  came  forward  as 
matters  of  dispute.  His  highly  spiritualistic  conception 
of  the  Divine  nature,  of  Scripture,  of  faith,  and  of  the 
ordinances,  were  taken  by  his  opponents  to  involve  a 
practical  setting  aside  of  historical  Christianity.  He  was 
accused,  moreover,  of  denying  that  obedience  was  due 
to  the  civil  magistracy  and  of  maintaining  the  right  and 
duty  of  a  Christian  man  or  woman  to  put  away  an  un 
believing  spouse  and  to  marry  a  believer.  Arraigned 
before  the  authorities  at  the  instigation  of  the  intolerant 
Osiander,  he  asked  to  be  allowed  to  set  forth  his  views 
in  writing.  His  "  Protestation  and  Confession"  embodied 
the  chief  points  on  which  he  found  himself  at  variance 
with  Lutheranism.  In  this  important  document  we  find 
the  germs  of  the  system  that  he  afterward  wrought  out 
with  such  beauty  and  eloquence.  Driven  from  Nurn 
berg,  he  seems  to  have  spent  some  months  in  retirement, 
maturing  and  giving  careful  expression  to  his  views. 

We  next  meet  him  in  St.  Gall  in  the  following  June, 
while  the  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  was  at  its  height, 
but  he  seems  to  have  taken  no  public  part  in  the  agita 
tion.  He  made  a  strong  impression  upon  Vadian,  who 
wrote  to  Zwingli :  "  In  Denck,  that  most  gifted  youth, 
all  excellences  were  truly  so  present  that  he  even  sur 
passed  his  age  and  seemed  greater  than  himself,  but  he 
has  so  abused  his  genius  as  to  defend  with  great  zeal 
Origen's  opinion  concerning  the  liberation  and  salvation 
of  the  damned." 

At  this  period  he  seems  to  have  been  so  carried  away 


164  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

by  the  thought  of  God's  infinite  love  and  mercy  and  to 
have  urged  this  aspect  of  truth  so  eloquently  upon  those 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  that  they  could  scarcely 
resist  the  conviction  that  the  final  salvation  of  all  might 
be  in  accord  with  the  Divine  purpose.  To  give  a  detailed 
account  of  Denck's  writings  and  of  his  system  is  mani 
festly  impracticable  in  a  work  like  the  present. 

A  few  quotations  will  suffice  to  give  some  idea  of  the 
quality  of  his  theological  thinking  : 

Faith  is  obedience  to  God  and  confidence  in  his  promise  through 
Jesus  Christ.  Where  this  obedience  is  lacking  this  confidence  is 
false  and  illusory.  But  the  obedience  must  be  genuine,  that  is, 
heart,  mouth,  and  act  must  go  together  as  far  as  possible. 

He  who  has  known  the  truth  in  Christ  Jesus  and  is  obedient  to  it 
from  the  heart  is  free  from  sin,  though  not  from  temptation.  He  is 
not  able  to  run  in  the  way  of  God  further  than  he  is  strengthened 
by  God.  He  who  runs  more  or  less  fails  in  truth,  obedience,  and 
freedom.  He  who  surrenders  his  will  to  the  will  of  God  is  both  free 
and  fettered.  Whose  servant  one  is,  the  same  makes  him  free  in 
doing  what  he  will  in  his  service.  God  compels  no  one  to  remain  in 
his  service  whom  love  does  not  compel.  The  devil  is  able  to  compel 
no  one  to  remain  in  his  service  who  has  once  known  the  truth. 
Therefore  it  makes  no  difference  whether  we  speak  of  free  or  fettered 
will,  so  long  as  we  recognize  the  distinctions  on  both  sides. 

God  will  give  to  every  man  according  to  his  works,  to  the  evil 
eternal  punishment  according  to  his  righteousness,  to  the  good  eter 
nal  life  according  to  his  mercy.  Not  that  he  is  under  obligation,  if 
he  should  reckon  rigorously.  But  he  pays  us  out  of  the  promise 
that  he  has  given  to  us  beforehand.  He  looks  upon  faith  and 
good  works,  regards  them  as  well-pleasing,  and  rewards  them.  Not 
that  they  originate  with  us,  but  that  we  have  not  received  in  vain  or 
rejected  the  grace  which  he  has  provided  for  us.  It  is  all  of  one 
treasury,  which  is  truly  good,  namely,  from  the  Word  which  from 
the  beginning  was  with  God  and  in  the  last  times  has  become  flesh. 

The  Holy  Scripture  I  esteem  above  human  treasures,  but  not  so 
highly  as  the  Word  of  God,  which  is  living,  powerful,  and  eternal, 
which  is  separate  and  pure  from  the  elements  of  this  world,  since  it  is 
God  himself,  spirit  and  not  letter,  written  without  pen  and  paper,  so 
that  it  can  never  be  blotted  out.  Therefore  also  blessedness  is  not 


DENCK'S  TEACHINGS  165 

bound  up  in  Scripture,  however  useful  and  good  it  may  always  be  in 
that  direction.  It  is  not  possible  for  Scripture  to  make  better  a  bad 
heart ;  but  a  pious  heart  is  bettered  by  all  things.  A  man  who  is 
chosen  by  God  may  attain  to  blessedness  without  preaching,  without 
Scripture. 

The  broken  law  God  himself  has  fulfilled.  Perfect  resignation  to 
God's  will,  so  that  when  we  ask  for  wisdom  we  shall  be  willing  that 
God  should  give  us  foolishness,  is  necessary  to  any  proper  conver 
sion.  So  long  as  we  will  not  leave  blessedness  out  of  our  own 
hands  it  cannot  come  to  us.  So  long  as  we  strive  to  escape  con 
demnation  it  continues  to  hang  about  our  necks.  Should  one  say,  I 
am  willing  for  God's  sake  to  forego  blessedness  and  to  have  damna 
tion,  yet  God  could  not  show  himself  toward  him  otherwise  than  he 
is,  namely,  good,  and  must  give  him  the  best  and  noblest  that  he 
has,  that  is,  himself. 

The  voice  of  my  heart,  of  which  I  assuredly  know  that  it  renders 
the  truth,  says  to  me  that  God  is  righteous  and  merciful,  and  this 
voice  speaks  in  every  good  heart  distinctly  and  intelligibly,  the  more 
distinctly  and  clearly  the  better  each  one  is. 

His  ideas  as  to  the  righteousness  and  mercy  of  God  did 
not  permit  him  to  believe  that  God  would  remain  forever 
unreconciled  with  his  enemies  or  would  punish  them 
eternally.  Punishment  in  this  life  and  the  life  to  come 
he  looked  upon  as  designed  to  convince  men  of  their  folly 
and  to  bring  them  into  the  path  of  obedience. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  Denck's  mysticism 
would  make  him  indifferent  to  external  ordinances,  and 
that  he  would  decline,  like  Schwenckfeldt,  to  throw  him 
self  heartily  into  the  separatist  movement  ;  yet  he  was 
thoroughly  convinced  that  infant  baptism  was  not  only 
unscriptural,  but  was  also  one  of  the  principal  bulwarks 
of  the  State-church  systems  that  so  obstructed  Christian 
freedom.  He  became,  after  Hubmaier's  departure  to 
Moravia,  the  most  influential  Anti-pedobaptist  leader. 
Bucer  calls  him  the  Anabaptist  "  pope  "  ;  Urban  Rhegius 
their  "  abbot."  Haller  designates  him  "  the  Anabaptist 
Apollo  "  ;  Gynoraeus,  "  the  head  of  the  Anabaptists." 


166  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

At  Augsburg,  where  Denck  seems  to  have  arrived  in 
October  or  November,  1525,  he  enjoyed  the  friendship 
of  the  young  nobleman,  Sebastian  von  Freiburg,  and  of 
Georg  Regel.  His  powerful  personality  soon  drew 
around  him  a  large  number  of  those  who  had  predilec 
tions  for  evangelical  mysticism,  and  were  out  of  sympa 
thy  with  Romanism,  Lutheranism,  and  Zwinglianism, 
which  were  strenuously  contending  with  each  other  for 
the  mastery.  Hetzer  seems  to  have  left  Augsburg  before 
Denck's  arrival.  It  is  certain  that  most  of  those  upon 
whom  he  had  brought  his  influence  to  bear  became  fol 
lowers  of  Denck  and  constituted  the  nucleus  of  the 
organization  that  was  soon  to  be  formed.  Denck  sup 
ported  himself  at  this  time  by  giving  instruction  to  the 
sons  of  burghers  in  Latin  and  Greek,  and  must  have 
devoted  considerable  time  to  writing.  His  most  important 
work  on  "  The  Law  of  God  "  was  probably  written,  or 
at  least  completed,  after  his  arrival  in  Augsburg. 

It  was  probably  through  the  influence  of  Hubmaier, 
who  visited  Augsburg  about  June,  1526,  on  his  way  to 
Moravia,  that  Denck  decided  to  organize  the  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  life  of  the  city  into  a  church.  It  is  likely  that 
Hubmaier  influenced  others  during  this  visit.  He  con 
ferred  with  the  leading  evangelical  ministers,  Gynorasus 
and  Urban  Rhegius,  and  no  doubt  sought  to  win  them  to 
his  position.  According  to  the  report  of  the  first  of 
these,  Hubmaier  found  little  satisfaction  in  Denck's 
mystical  views.  The  organization  under  Denck's  leader 
ship  was  formed  soon  after  Hubmaier's  visit,  for  it  is 
mentioned  in  a  letter  from  Gynorasus,  August  22,  as 
already  an  accomplished  fact.  The  efforts  of  Rhegius 
and  others  to  convince  Denck  of  his  errors  in  doctrine 
and  in  practice  were  eminently  unsuccessful.  After 
discussing  with  them  the  points  at  issue  for  some  hours 
he  suddenly  broke  off,  convinced  that  no  useful  result 


HANS  HUT  167 

could  be  reached.  When  it  was  proposed  to  have  him 
appear  before  the  council  to  answer  charges  made  against 
him,  he  quietly  departed.  This  occurred  in  the  autumn 
of  1526.  The  Anti-pedobaptist  community  seems  already 
to  have  numbered  some  hundreds.  He  was  to  return  to 
Augsburg  after  a  period  of  similar  labors  in  Strasburg 
and  Worms. 

Hans  Hut  was  probably  the  first  who  received  baptism 
at  Denck's  hands  in  Augsburg.  As  early  as  1521,  Hut, 
who  was  then  sacristan  to  the  knight  Hans  von  Bibra, 
was  imprisoned  for  refusing  to  have  his  babe  baptized. 
He  afterward  spent  some  time  in  Nurnberg,  where  he 
learned  bookbinding  and  one  or  two  other  trades,  and 
where  he  seems  to  have  become  acquainted  with  Denck. 
We  next  find  him  in  Wittenberg  engaged  in  the  book 
business.  He  entered  the  camp  of  the  peasants'  army 
under  Munzer  just  before  the  disastrous  battle  of  Frank- 
enhausen  and  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Hessian  troops. 
Claiming  to  have  been  among  the  peasants  not  as  a 
soldier  but  as  a  bookseller,  he  was  released.  It  is  prob 
able,  however,  that  he  had  already  adopted  MUnzer's 
chiliastic  views  and  that  his  real  purpose  in  going  to 
Frankenhausen  was  to  have  part  in  what  he  expected 
would  be  a  great  manifestation  of  Divine  power  on  be 
half  of  Munzer  and  the  peasants.  After  leaving  Frank 
enhausen  he  went  to  Bibra,  where  he  is  said  to  have 
preached,  in  the  spirit  of  Munzer,  that  the  subjects 
should  smite  all  magistrates  to  death.  He  believed  him 
self  to  have  been  specially  commissioned  by  God  to 
interpret  the  prophecies  to  the  people  of  his  time,  and  to 
proclaim  the  approaching  end  of  the  age  and  the  setting 
up  of  a  kingdom  of  righteousness  through  the  slaughter 
of  the  ungodly. 

With  consuming  zeal  he  labored  for  the  propagation  of 
his  views.  While  he  did  not  during  his  later  ministry 


168  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

counsel  the  people  to  take  up  the  sword  and  proceed 
immediately  to  slay  the  ungodly,  he  taught  them  to  be 
ready  to  obey  whenever  God  should  make  known  to 
them  that  the  appointed  time  had  come.  He  possessed 
a  striking  and  powerful  personality  and  easily  gained  the 
enthusiastic  confidence  of  the  oppressed  classes,  who 
believed  him  to  be  endowed  with  supernatural  powers 
and  readily  accepted  his  grotesque  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures.  His  labors  extended  over  a  vast  territory. 

In  Moravia  he  attempted  to  gain  the  Nikolsburg  Church, 
of  which  Hubmaier  was  pastor,  to  his  views.  He  was 
vanquished  by  Hubmaier  and  speedily  withdrew.  Styria, 
Tyrol,  Breslau,  Salzburg,  Wurzburg,  and  other  localities, 
were  profoundly  moved  by  his  personal  labors.  So  irre 
sistible  was  his  influence  that  a  few  hours'  stay  in  a  place 
often  sufficed  to  establish  a  community  pledged  to  his 
principles.  In  the  intensity  of  his  zeal  and  the  fervor  of 
his  eloquence  he  has  been  compared  with  the  Old  Testa 
ment  prophets.  The  terribly  corrupting  influence  of  this 
man  on  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  can  be  readily  sur 
mised. 

Hut's  influence  on  the  Augsburg  Anti-pedobaptists  was 
considerable  ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  those  who 
had  become  deeply  imbued  with  the  evangelical  mysti 
cism  of  Denck,  or  the  soundly  biblical  teachings  of  Hub 
maier,  were  carried  away  by  this  wild  enthusiasm.  Hut 
did  not  remain  long  at  a  time  in  Augsburg,  but  visited 
the  city  often  enough  to  keep  his  hand  on  the  movement. 

In  October,  1527,  he  was  thrown  into  prison  by  the 
Augsburg  Council.  It  was  asserted  at  the  time  that  he 
made  a  desperate  effort  to  escape  by  firing  his  cell  and 
then  giving  the  alarm.  The  fire  advanced  so  rapidly  that 
he  was  mortally  burned  before  the  guard  arrived.  He 
died  a  few  days  after  ;  but  his  trial  proceeded,  he  was 
duly  condemned,  and  his  dead  body  was  burned  on  De- 


EITELHANS   LANGENMANTEL  169 

cember  7,  1527.  We  have  laid  more  stress  upon  the 
errors  of  Hut  than  upon  those  evangelical  elements  in 
his  teaching  that  were  common  to  him  and  the  sounder 
Anti-pedobaptists  of  the  time. 

If  Thomas  Munzer's  influence  was  kept  alive  and  mul 
tiplied  by  the  enthusiastic  labors  of  Hut,  that  of  Denck 
was  perpetuated  in  Augsburg  not  only  through  his  pub 
lished  writings  but  also  through  a  number  of  faithful 
disciples.  The  most  noted  of  these  was  Eitelhans  Lan- 
genmantel,  a  member  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
distinguished  patrician  families  and  son  of  one  of  the 
most  illustrious  citizens.  After  spending  years  abroad 
he  returned  to  Augsburg  and  became  early  an  enthusi 
astic  defender  of  Zwingli's  doctrine  of  the  Supper  in 
opposition  to  Luther's.  He  seems  to  have  been  baptized 
by  Hut  early  in  1527.  Without  the  learning  and  the 
profound  philosophical  grasp  of  Denck,  or  the  wonderful 
popular  power  of  Hut,  his  social  position  and  his  enthusi 
astic  devotion  to  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  constituted 
him  one  of  the  most  influential  leaders  of  the  party.  His 
anti-Lutheran  writings  showed  a  strong  leaning  toward 
the  Anabaptist  position.  His  view  of  the  Supper  differs 
from  that  of  Zwingli  in  being  more  mystical,  or  in  laying 
more  stress  upon  the  personal  attitude  of  the  believer 
toward  Christ.  He  objected  strongly  to  having  the  ordi 
nances  administered  by  the  evangelical  clergy  for  money. 
The  ministers  of  the  word  should  rather  learn  to  trust  in 
God.  In  1526  he  declared  the  "new  papists"  to  be 
worse  than  the  old.  He  accused  the  evangelical  clergy 
of  avarice.  Not  the  slightest  service  will  they  render, 
he  said,  without  pay,  even  for  the  very  poor. 

As  an  Anti-pedobaptist  he  came  out  boldly  in  defense 
of  his  principles.  His  work  entitled,  "  A  Divine  and 
thorough  Revelation  of  the  true  Anabaptists,"  was  ad 
dressed  to  the  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  whole  world. 


170  A   HISTORY   OF   ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

The  treatise  is,  like  his  earlier  writings,  strongly  polemi 
cal  against  the  evangelicals,  and  sets  forth  the  views  of 
the  Anti-pedobaptists  in  the  spirit  of  Denck  rather  than 
in  that  of  Hut,  yet  without  the  excessive  mysticism  of 
the  former. 

Early  in  September,  1527,  Denck  returned  to  Augs 
burg,  having  spent  the  intervening  months  in  Strasburg, 
Zabern,  Landau,  and  Worms,  in  quietly  propagating  his 
principles  and,  in  company  with  Hetzer,  translating  from 
the  Hebrew  the  prophetical  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 
This  translation  was  published  in  Worms  shortly  before 
Denck's  departure,  and  so  great  was  its  popularity  that 
in  three  years  not  fewer  than  thirteen  editions  appeared. 
Its  fidelity  to  the  original  and  its  literary  excellence  give 
it  a  high  place  among  versions,  and  although  Luther  dis 
couraged  its  circulation  he  was  not  above  making  consid 
erable  use  of  it  in  the  preparation  of  his  own  version. 

Soon  after  Denck's  return  to  Augsburg  the  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  cause  may  be  said  to  have  reached  the  height 
of  its  prosperity.  Its  numbers  reached  at  this  time 
about  eleven  hundred.  Baptism  by  immersion  is  said  to 
have  been  regularly  practised,  the  houses  i»  which  it  was 
administered  being  indicated  by  bathing  dresses  hung  out 
in  front. 

Shortly  after  Denck's  return  we  find  an  extraordinarily 
large  number  of  Anti-pedobaptist  leaders  in  the  city. 
Indeed,  it  was  commonly  believed  and  is  highly  probable 
that  a  great  convention  was  held  in  Augsburg  at  this  time. 
Among  the  visitors  were  the  following  :  Hetzer;  Kautz,  a 
highly  educated  and  eloquent  young  evangelical  preacher 
who  had  been  won  for  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  by 
Denck  and  Hetzer  at  Worms,  and  who  carried  some  of 
Denck's  unsound  views  to  harsher  expression  than  would 
have  been  possible  for  Denck  himself ;  Hut ;  Jacob  Gross, 
of  Waldshut,  a  faithful  disciple  of  Hubmaier,  whose  labors 


ANTI-PEDOBAPTIST  CONVENTION  171 

in  the  Gruningen  district  of  Zurich  have  already  been 
noticed ;  Sigmund  Salminger,  an  ex-monk  from  Munich, 
one  of  the  pastors  or  bishops  of  the  Augsburg  commu 
nity;  Jacob  Dachser,  an  ex-monk  from  Ingolstadt,  who 
had  also  attained  to  a  leading  position  among  the  Augs 
burg  Anabaptists;  Hans  Gulden,  of  Biberack;  Ulrich 
Trechsel;  Peter  Sheppach;  Gregory  Maler,  of  Chur;  and 
Hans  Bechelknecht,  of  Basel. 

At  about  the  same  time  the  council,  under  the  influ 
ence  of  the  principal  evangelical  minister,  Urban  Rhegius, 
and  under  strong  pressure  from  without,  began  to  take 
energetic  steps  against  the  now  flourishing  and  aggressive 
Anti-pedobaptist  party.  On  August  25  Jacob  Dachser 
was  imprisoned.  On  September  15  a  meeting  was  raided 
and  Gross,  Salminger,  and  Hut  were  seized.  Through 
information  extorted  from  some  of  these  many  more  were 
soon  afterward  imprisoned,  among  them  Langenmantel. 

Of  the  large  number  arrested  some  were  dismissed  on 
promising  to  abandon  their  Anti-pedobaptist  activity. 
About  forty  were  steadfast.  Among  the  prisoners  were 
two  members  of  the  council,  Vischer  and  Widholz.  On 
September  6  Rhegius  had  published  a  reply  to  Langen- 
mantel's  polemic.  On  October  9  the  council  issued  a 
sharp  mandate  against  the  withholding  of  infants  from 
baptism,  rebaptism,  unauthorized  religious  assemblies, 
and  the  harboring  of  foreign  Anti-pedobaptists. 

Several  of  the  prisoners  were  tortured  in  order  that 
evidence  of  evil  deeds  and  purposes  on  the  part  of  the 
sectaries  might  be  secured.  It  was  probably  under  tor 
ture  that  Hut  gave  the  full  account  of  his  activity  that 
has  been  preserved.  Damaging  evidence  against  the 
imprisoned  was  industriously  gathered  from  other  cities. 
Beyond  the  facts  that  have  already  been  mentioned  re 
garding  Hut's  somewhat  fanatical  procedures,  little  that 
was  discreditable  could  be  discovered.  It  was  com- 


172  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

monly  believed  that  Hut  had  established  a  secret  league 
among  his  followers,  and  that  he  was  industriously 
making  preparations  for  the  slaughtering  of  the  ruling 
classes  and  for  the  setting  up  of  a  kingdom  of  righteous 
ness  and  equality.  During  the  early  months  of  1528 
many  arrests  were  made,  the  penalties  for  the  most 
part  being  fines  and  banishment. 

In  Swabia,  Bavaria,  and  Franconia  exterminating 
measures  against  the  Anabaptists  were  enacted  in  Feb 
ruary,  1528.  The  Swabian  League  determined  that  each 
of  the  four  quarters  should  maintain  one  hundred  men 
for  their  suppression.  The  edict  of  Speier,  with  its  san 
guinary  requirements,  followed  in  April,  1529. 

The  tragic  fate  of  Hut  has  already  been  mentioned. 
Langenmantel  was  allowed  to  go  into  banishment,  but  in 
his  retirement  he  was  seized  and  executed,  with  his 
attendants,  May  12,  1528.  Denck  and  Hetzer  withdrew 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  persecution.  Denck  went  to 
Basel  early  in  October,  1527,  ill  and  discouraged.  He 
died  a  few  weeks  later  at  the  house  of  OEcolampadius, 
after  having  made  a  conciliatory  statement  of  his  views, 
sometimes  erroneously  represented  as  a  recantation. 

The  party  was  too  firmly  rooted  in  Augsburg  to  suc 
cumb  at  once  to  persecuting  measures.  Of  the  ban 
ished  more  than  one  hundred  sought  refuge  in  Strasburg, 
where  exterminating  persecution  was  longer  delayed. 
Many  found  their  way  to  Moravia.  For  years  there  was 
a  remnant  of  Anti-pedobaptist  life  that  from  time  to  time 
came  to  the  notice  of  the  authorities  ;  but  as  a  move 
ment  it  was  practically  at  an  end  by  1530. 

Literature :  Works  of  Denck,  Hetzer,  and  Urbanus  Rhegius  ;  per 
tinent  monographs  and  articles  of  Jorg,  Roth,  C.  Meyer,  Keim, 
Keller,  Hagen,  Erbkam,  Winter,  Will,  Heberle,  Trechsel,  Frank, 
and  Cornelius  ("Die  Munster,  Aufruhr"),  as  in  the  Bibliography  ; 
Dollinger,  Die  Reformation,  I.,  195-201;  and  Uhlhorn,  Urb.  Rhegius. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

HUBMAIER'S  MORAVIAN  LABORS   (1526-27). 

THE  western  provinces  of  Austria,  including  Styria, 
Salzburg,  Carniola,  the  Tyrol,  and  the  Passau 
region  had,  since  the  thirteenth  century,  been  permeated 
with  old-evangelical  life.  Whatever  of  reforming  sen 
timent  appeared  in  Northern  Italy,  Switzerland,  Southern 
Germany,  Bohemia,  or  Moravia,  was  pretty  sure  to  find 
its  way  into  these  provinces  through  which  ran  some  of 
the  main  roads  from  north  to  south  and  from  east  to  west. 
From  Switzerland,  Southern  Germany,  and  Bavaria  Anti- 
pedobaptist  influence  was  brought  to  bear  upon  these 
provinces  as  early  as  1525-26.  In  few  lands  did  it  find 
a  more  responsive  soil,  or  prove  so  persistent  in  the  face 
of  persecution  that  was  meant  to  be  exterminating. 

From  1526  onward  Moravia  became  the  center  of  the 
movement  for  the  entire  Austro-Hungarian  realm,  a  refuge 
for  the  persecuted  and  a  supplier  of  men  and  means  for 
the  carrying  forward  of  the  work  in  the  more  severely 
persecuted  regions. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  inquire  why  Moravia  was 
about  1526  "a  goodly  land,"  where  those  who  were 
striving  to  renew  apostolic  Christianity  could  "  live 
cheaply  and  without  persecution."  As  a  result  of  more 
than  a  century  of  religious  and  political  conflict  in  Bo 
hemia,  with  which  country  Moravia  was  closely  con 
nected,  Moravia  had  come  to  have  an  exceedingly  het 
erogeneous  population.  Being  somewhat  removed  from 
the  center  of  conflict  and  the  center  of  government,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  more  radical  representatives  of 
mediaeval  evangelical  religion  had  removed  thither  from 

173 


174  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Bohemia  and  other  persecuting  countries.  Catholics, 
Hussites  (Utraquists),  and  Bohemian  Brethren  were  all 
strongly  represented  among  the  nobility,  and  all  existed 
side  by  side  in  mutual  toleration.  The  rights  of  the 
Utraquists  were  guaranteed  by  treaty.  The  Brethren 
{Unitas  Fratrum)  had  gained  toleration  only  after  fearful 
sufferings  for  their  faith. 

So  firmly  had  the  Brethren  become  established  that 
the  famous  edict  of  St.  James  (July  25,  1505)  forbidding 
their  religious  services,  the  sale  of  their  books,  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  ordinances  by  their  ministers,  the 
harboring  of  them  by  the  nobility,  etc.,  and  aiming  at 
their  extirpation,  while  it  was  accepted  by  the  Bohemian 
Diet  and  ruthlessly  executed,  was  rejected  by  the  Mo 
ravian.  A  number  of  the  most  influential  nobles  were 
supporters  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  Many  others  were  so 
far  indifferent  to  the  points  at  issue  among  the  various 
parties  that  they  were  unwilling  to  disturb  the  tranquillity 
of  their  domains,  and  to  deprive  themselves  of  their  most 
valuable  subjects  for  the  sake  of  gratifying  king  and 
pope. 

The  royal  authority  was  remarkably  feeble  and  in 
effective  from  1516  to  1526.  Louis  II.,  ten  years  of  age, 
came  to  the  Bohemian-Hungarian  throne  in  1516,  and 
after  years  of  unsuccessful  warfare  with  the  Turks,  was 
slain  at  Mohacz  in  August,  1526.  The  Archduke  Ferdi 
nand,  who  had  married  a  sister  of  Louis,  claimed  the 
throne  in  her  right,  but  it  was  some  time  before  his  au 
thority  was  fully  recognized.  Under  such  circumstances 
the  nobles  did  each  what  was  right  in  his  own  eyes,  and 
it  is  gratifying  to  know  that  many  of  them  made  good 
use  of  their  freedom. 

Moravia  was  still  a  somewhat  sparsely  settled  and  un 
developed  country,  and  had  ample  room  for  the  thousands 
of  skillful  and  industrious  Anti-pedobaptist  workmen  who 


HUBMAIER  AT  NIKOLSBURG  175 

from  1526  onward  streamed  into  it  from  Switzerland, 
Germany,  Bavaria,  the  Tyrol,  Styria,  Carniola,  and  even 
from  Italy.  As  the  authority  of  Ferdinand  increased,  the 
immunity  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  from  persecution  pro 
portionately  diminished,  and  we  shall  see  that  even  in 
this  New  Jerusalem  they  had  no  occasion  to  forget  that 
they  were  pilgrims  and  sojourners  on  earth. 

Hubmaier,  after  his  fearful  sufferings  at  Zurich  and 
short  visits  to  Constance,  Augsburg,  and  a  number  of 
other  places  on  the  way,  arrived  at  Nikolsburg,  in  Mo 
ravia,  about  the  first  of  July,  1526.  From  the  beginning, 

J   *        J  o  t?J 

whether  by  virtue  of  some  prearrangement  or  otherwise 
we  are  not  informed,  he  enjoyed  the  favor  of  Leonard 
and  Hans  of  Lichtenstein,  great  landed  proprietors  in 
whose  domains  Nikolsburg  was  situated.  It  is  probable 
that  the  Lichtensteins  had  been  influenced  to  a  consider 
able  extent  by  Hussitism  in  one  of  its  forms.  From  1524 
they  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  movement  led  by  Luther 
and  fostered  in  their  domains  the  new  evangelical  teaching. 

The  chief  evangelical  preacher  in  Nikolsburg,  when 
Hubmaier  arrived,  was  Hans  Spitalmaier,  a  Bavarian, 
who  had  as  his  assistant  Oswald  Glaidt,  a  fellow-country 
man.  Glaidt  had  occupied  himself  zealously  and  with 
some  success  in  efforts  to  secure  a  good  understanding 
between  the  old  and  the  new-evangelical  parties. 

In  March,  1526,  the  Moravian  nobleman,  John  Dub- 
cansky,  with  the  co-operation  of  several  other  noblemen, 
had  secured  a  meeting  (at  Austerlitz)  of  representatives 
of  the  Utraquists,  Bohemian  Brethren,  and  Lutherans, 
for  the  purpose  of  seeking  a  basis  of  union.  Glaidt  took 
prominent  part  in  this  meeting,  but  the  most  influential 
theologian  present  was  Martin  Goschel,  formerly  suffragan 
bishop  at  Olmutz,  but  at  this  time  provost  of  a  nunnery 
at  Kanitz,  which  position,  because  of  its  emoluments,  he 
continued  to  hold  after  his  adoption  of  evangelical  views. 


176  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

In  1525  he  had  married  one  of  the  nuns.  When  com 
pelled  in  1526  to  give  up  the  office,  he  contrived  to  put 
the  control  of  the  property  of  the  cloister  into  the  hands 
of  officials  who  were  ready  to  serve  his  interests.  He 
labored  zealously  for  the  promotion  of  the  new-evangel 
ical  teaching  and  for  the  union  of  all  evangelical  parties. 
The  bishop  of  Olmiitz  proceeded  energetically  against 
him  in  April,  1526,  and  finally  succeeded  in  severing  his 
connection  with  the  nunnery  and  its  property.  He  be 
took  himself  to  Nikolsburg,  where  he  arrived  at  about 
the  same  time  as  Hubmaier,  with  whom  he  soon  entered 
into  very  cordial  relations,  and  with  whose  cause  he 
identified  himself. 

Oswald  Glaidt  hospitably  entertained  Hubmaier  on  his 
arrival  at  Nikolsburg,  and  was  soon  afterward  baptized 
by  him.  The  lords  of  Lichtenstein  were  soon  won  to 
Hubmaier's  scheme  for  the  restoration  of  primitive  Chris 
tianity  and  in  all  humility  received  baptism  at  his 
hands. 

It  is  probable  that  Anti-pedobaptists  were  already  in 
Moravia  in  considerable  numbers  before  the  advent  of 
Hubmaier,  but  we  have  no  definite  information  with  re 
gard  to  their  activity. 

In  Hubmaier  the  evangelical  cause  secured  a  leader 
who  in  point  of  learning,  character,  and  personal  at 
tractiveness  was  without  a  peer  in  any  of  the  religious 
parties  of  Moravia.  Multitudes  followed  the  example  of 
Lichtenstein  and  Glaidt,  and  in  a  short  time  from  six 
thousand  to  twelve  thousand  in  Nikolsburg  and  the  sur 
rounding  regions  had  submitted  to  believers'  baptism. 
The  fame  of  Hubmaier's  successful  work  and  of  the  re 
ligious  liberty  that  was  accorded  to  Anti-pedobaptists  in 
Moravia  spread  throughout  Europe,  and  large  numbers 
soon  left  the  regions  in  which  persecution  prevailed  for 
this  land  of  promise. 


LITERARY  ACTIVITY  177 

here  also  Hubmaier  developed  a  remarkable  literary 
activity.  Froschauer,  a  Zurich  publisher,  took  refuge  as 
an  Anti-pedobaptist  in  Nikolsburg.  Here  he  was  wel 
comed  by  Leonard  of  Lichtenstein,  under  whose  patron 
age  he  set  up  a  plant  for  the  publication  of  Hubmaier's 
writings.  Hubmaier  seems  at  this  time  to  have  enter 
tained  the  hope  that  many  others  of  the  evangelical 
nobility  would  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Lichten- 
steins.  To  these  noblemen  one  after  another  he  dedi 
cated  his  books  in  courtly  style.  Besides  making  the 
fullest  (almost  flattering)  recognition  of  the  services  of 
Hans  and  Leonard  of  Lichtenstein,  he  dedicated  works 
to  Johann  of  Pernstein  and  Helfenstein,  the  governor- 
general  of  Moravia,  to  Arkled  of  Boskowitz,  the  chief 
treasurer,  and  to  John  Dubcansky, 

He  writes  in  the  spirit  of  a  man  who  has  the  utmost 
confidence  in  his  cause,  and  encouraged  by  the  accept 
ance  that  the  truth  has  already  received  hopes  to  secure 
its  general  recognition  throughout  the  land. 

In  a  little  more  than  a  year  he  published  not  fewer  than 
fifteen  distinct  works.  A  considerable  number  of  these 
treat  of  baptism.  The  first  of  his  Nikolsburg  publica 
tions,  issued  soon  after  his  arrival,  was  a  critique  of 
Zwingli's  book  on  baptism,  in  which  he  gave  a  full 
account  of  his  transactions  with  Zwingli,  and  of  the 
cruel  treatment  he  had  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Zurich 
reformer.  The  argument  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue 
between  Zwingli  and  Hubmaier.  Our  readers  are 
already  sufficiently  familiar  with  Hubmaier's  method  of 
dealing  with  this  subject.  It  is  in  every  respect  one  of 
the  noblest  defenses  of  believers'  baptism  ever  written. 
He  closes  the  book  with  an  eloquent  appeal  to  Zwingli : 

Thou  givest  to  the  godless  ground  to  say :  See,  they  bend  and 
gloss  the  Scripture  according  to  their  pleasure.  With  what  dost  thou 
yet  tax  the  poor  brethren  and  sisters,  that  thou  shouldst  fight 

M 


178  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

against  them  with  such  groundless  weapons?  With  what  dost  thou 
tax  thine  own  conscience,  which  tells  thee  otherwise?  With  what 
dost  thou  tax  Christ,  that  thou  shouldst  put  in  the  place  of  his 
words  thine  own  inventions?  .  .  Confess  the  truth,  thou  art  a  cap 
tive.  Abolish  the  miserable  prisons,  cease  from  hunting  down  pious 
brethren  and  sisters,  from  prisons  and  stocks,  from  blocks  and 
from  drowning.  God  grant  thee  grace  that  thou  mayest  again,  as 
once  thou  didst,  apprehend  his  plain,  clear,  pure  word,  and  mayest 
walk  according  thereto. 

Shortly  afterward  he  published  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"Judgment  of  Ancient  and  Modern  Teachers,  that 
Young  Children  Should  Not  be  Baptized  until  they  have 
been  Instructed  in  the  Faith."  This  he  dedicated  to  the 
Provost  Martin  Goschel,  of  whose  relations  to  the  author 
mention  has  already  been  made.  Of  ancient  writers,  he 
cites  Origen,  Basil,  Athanasius,  Tertullian,  Jerome, 
Cyril,  Theophylact,  Eusebius,  and  the  Corpus  Juris  Can- 
onici ;  of  moderns,  Erasmus,  Luther,  OEcolampadius, 
Zwingli,  Judae,  Hofmeister,  Hagendorf,  Hetzer,  and 
Cellarius.  His  dedication  contains  a  sober  but  forceful 
arraignment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  of  whose 
terrible  corruptions  he  and  Goschel  alike  had  the  amplest 
personal  knowledge.  The  book  contains  a  summary  in 
catechetical  form  of  what  a  person  should  know  before 
baptism.  In  compliment  to  Leonard  and  Hans  of  Lichten- 
stein  he  introduces  their  names  as  questioner  and  an 
swerer,  and  calls  them  'Movers  of  the  holy  gospel." 
"  Where  water  baptism  according  to  the  ordination  of 
Christ  has  not  been  again  instituted,  there  one  knows 
not  who  is  brother  or  sister,  there  is  no  church,  no  fra 
ternal  discipline  or  correction,  no  exclusion,  no  Supper," 
etc.  The  Supper  is  declared  to  be 

A  public  sign  and  testimony  of  the  love  through  which  Christians 
oblige  themselves  before  the  church,  just  as  they  together  break 
the  bread  and  drink  the  cup,  so  also  to  give  up  their  lives  and  their 
blood  for  each  other,  and  this  according  to  the  example  of  Christ, 


HUBMAIER  ON  BAPTISM  AND  THE  SUPPER          179 

whose  suffering  they  memorialize  in  the  breaking  of  the  bread. 
Bread  and  wine  are  not  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  but  mere 
memorials  of  the  suffering  and  death  of  Christ  for  the  remission  of 
our  sins,  the  greatest  sign  of  his  love  that  he  has  left  us. 

Christians  should  fast  daily,  that  is,  should  eat  and 
drink  in  moderation  with  thanksgiving  and  without  dis 
tinction  of  foods.  All  opprobrious  words  are  to  be 
avoided  by  Christians.  As  regards  Sabbath  observance, 
man's  whole  life  should  be  a  continuous  Sabbath.  The 
idea  of  sacred  times  and  seasons  found  no  place  in  his 
system. 

His  next  writing  was  entitled  "  Ground  and  Reason 
that  every  Person  Who  has  been  Baptized  in  His  Infancy 
is  Under  Obligation  to  be  Baptized  According  to  the 
Ordinance  of  Christ,  though  He  Were  a  Hundred  Years 
Old."  The  aim  of  the  writing  was  to  influence  the  mul 
titude  of  Christians  who  acknowledged  that  there  is  no 
scriptural  ground  for  infant  baptism  and  yet  declined  to 
submit  to  believers'  baptism,  and  who  were,  as  he  says, 
hanging  like  Absalom  between  heaven  and  earth,  to  take 
the  decisive  step  in  obedience  to  Christ's  command. 

His  answer  to  OEcoIampadius,  prepared  before  he  left 
Waldshut,  was  now  for  the  first  time  published,  as  was 
also  his  "  Twelve  Articles  of  the  Christian  Faith,"  writ 
ten  while  in  prison  at  Zurich.  Another  writing  pub 
lished  at  this  time  was  his  "  Apology  or  Vindication  to 
all  Christian  Men,"  being  an  answer  to  the  slanderous 
charges  that  were  circulated  to  his  disadvantage  and  to 
the  hindrance  of  the  progress  of  the  gospel.  He  em 
phatically  denies  that  he  speaks  contemptuously  of  the 
mother  of  Christ  and  of  the  saints,  that  he  rejects  prayer 
and  confession,  and  that  he  despises  the  holy  fathers  and 
councils.  He  explains  his  real  attitude  in  these  matters 
in  a  thoroughly  evangelical  way.  He  repudiates  the 
charge  that  he  is  an  Anabaptist.  The  only  true  baptism 


180  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

is  the  baptism  of  believers,  which  he  holds  should  be 
administered  once  for  all.  He  can  prove  by  thousands 
of  witnesses  that  he  has  always  taught  obedience  to  the 
civil  magistracy  as  instituted  by  God  and  entrusted  by 
him  with  the  disciplinary  sword.  The  work  is  largely 
autobiographical  and  is  of  great  value.  Before  the  close 
of  1526  Hubmaier  published  two  other  writings,  "  A 
Short  Pater  INoster,"  or  exposition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
and  "  A  Simple  Exposition  of  the  Word  :  '  This  is  My 
Body/  in  Christ's  Supper."  In  his  dedication  of  this 
latter  work  to  Leonard  of  Lichtenstein  he  comments  in 
a  highly  complimentary  manner  on  the  composition  of  his 
name.  Leonard  expresses  strength,  truth,  and  stead 
fastness  (leo — lion),  so  that  even  the  grim  lion  of  this 
world  cannot  frighten  him  ;  Lichtenstein  says  that  light 
is  come  into  the  world  which  the  good  love  and  the  evil 
hate.  The  word  stein  (stone)  in  the  name  is  that  stone 
upon  which  the  wise  man  in  the  Bible  built  his  house. 
He  knows  no  place  on  earth  where  the  light  of  the  gos 
pel  is  shining  forth  with  such  brightness  as  in  the 
Lichtensteins'  domains,  where  Spitalmaier  and  Glaidt 
are  placing  it  on  the  candlestick. 

During  1527  he  published  somewhat  elaborate  forms 
for  baptism  and  the  Supper,  two  works^on  "The  Free 
dom  of  the  Will,"  a  work  on  "  Brotherly  Correction," 
a  work  on  "  Christian  Exclusion  "  (excommunication  of 
unworthy  members),  a  catechetical  work  "  including 
what  every  man  should  know  before  he  is  baptized  in 
the  water,"  and  a  work  on  "  The  Sword." 

Hubmaier's  form  of  baptism  is  satisfactory  to  Baptists 
in  nearly  every  particular  except  that  it  does  not  require 
immersion  as  the  act.  His  practice  in  relation  to  baptism 
was  to  have  the  candidate  kneel  and  to  pour  water  upon 
him.  This  practice  was  invariably  followed,  so  far  as 
we  are  informed,  by  the  Moravian  Anti-pedobaptists  and 


FREE   WILL  AND  MAGISTRACY  l8l 

by  the  entire  Austrian  brotherhood.  This  form  is  defi 
nitely  prescribed  in  Peter  Reidemann's  "Account  of  our 
Religion,"  which  from  about  1547  onward  was  recognized 
by  his  brethren  as  an  almost  authoritative  work.  Yet 
Hubmaier  frequently  used  the  expression  "baptizing  in 
the  water." 

As  regards  the  will,  he  held  with  Peter  Chelcicky  and 
with  the  old-evangelical  party  in  general,  as  well  as  with 
the  entire  Anti-pedobaptist  brotherhood,  the  anti-Augus- 
tinian  view,  practically  equivalent  to  that  which  has  be 
come  so  widely  prevalent  in  modern  evangelical  Armin- 
ianism.  His  very  able  discussion,  which  it  would  re 
quire  too  much  space  to  summarize,  may  be  set  forth  in 
the  following  sentences  from  another  of  his  works : 
"  Man  has  lost  his  freedom  through  sin  and  has  received 
it  again  through  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ.  He  who 
sins  is  unfree,  until  Christ  destroys  the  power  of  flesh 
and  sin,  death,  devil,  and  hell.  To  this  end  unceasing 
prayer  is  necessary." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  Hubmaier  laid  the  utmost 
stress  on  fraternal  correction  and  upon  the  exclusion  of 
unworthy  members  : 

After  the  people  have  received  the  word  of  God  and  through 
water  baptism  in  the  presence  of  the  church  have  put  themselves 
under  obligation  to  God  to  live  according  to  the  word,  and  if  they 
are  ready  to  walk  in  newness  of  life  and  henceforth  not  to  let  sin 
reign  in  the  mortal  body,  they  still  have  need  of  medicine,  because 
men  are  by  nature  children  of  wrath,  evil  and  incapable,  whereby 
the  foul  and  stinking  flesh  together  with  the  poisoned  members  may 
be  somehow  cut  off,  in  order  that  the  whole  body  may  not  be  dis 
honored  and  corrupted. 

The  very  essence  of  Hubmaier's  position  lay  in  the 
requirement  of  the  strictest  application  of  discipline 
according  to  the  precepts  of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  He 
regarded  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  baptism,  and  the 


182  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Supper  as  vain  and  useless  apart  from  discipline,  and  sin, 
shame,  and  abomination  as  the  inevitable  consequence 
of  its  neglect. 

In  his  treatise  on  the  sword  he  puts  himself  at  vari 
ance  with  the  old-evangelical  brotherhood  and  with  the 
great  majority  of  his  Anti-pedobaptist  contemporaries. 
His  judgment  is  based  upon  a  very  full  and  careful  exam 
ination  of  the  Scriptures  and  is  in  entire  accord  with  that 
of  modern  Baptists.  He  defends  magistracy  as  a  Chris 
tian  institution  and  vindicates  for  Christians  the  right  to 
exercise  magistracy  and  to  bear  the  sword.  He  discusses 
the  fifteen  proof-texts  that  his  brethren  of  the  medieval 
time  and  his  Anti-pedobaptist  contemporaries  were  in  the 
habit  of  urging  against  magistracy,  attempting  to  show 
that  fidelity  to  Scripture  does  not  necessitate  the  conclu 
sion  reached,  and  caps  his  argument  with  the  passage  : 
"  Let  every  man  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers,"  etc. 
"This  Scripture  alone,  dear  brethren,  is  itself  sufficient 
confirmation  of  magistracy  against  all  the  gates  of  hell." 

He  maintains  that  Paul's  injunction  is  with  reference 
to  magistracy  in  general,  whether  it  be  believing  or  un 
believing,  God  has  not  ordained  magistracy  against  him 
self.  If  magistrates  seek  to  punish  the  evil  and  summon 
Christian  subjects  to  their  aid,  they  are  bound  by  the 
salvation  of  their  souls  to  render  the  needed  help  : 

Subjects,  however,  are  to  prove  well  beforehand  the  spirits  of 
their  magistracies  whether  they  are  not  moved  more  by  vanity, 
pride,  passion,  animosity,  hatred,  and  avarice,  than  by  love  for  the 
common  utility  and  the  peace  of  the  land :  for  this  is  not  to  bear  the 
sword  of  God  according  to  the  ordinance.  But  if  thou  knowest 
that  the  magistracy  punishes  the  evil  solely  in  order  that  the  pious 
may  come  to  rest  and  remain  unharmed,  then  help,  then  counsel, 
then  assist,  as  often  as  it  is  required  of  thee.  But  if  a  magistracy 
should  be  childish  or  foolish,  yea,  wholly  unfit  to  rule,  it  may  be 
with  propriety  abolished  and  another  chosen  that  is  good,  since  on 
account  of  an  evil  magistracy  God  has  often  punished  a  whole 


HUBMAIER  OPPOSED  TO  COMMUNISM  183 

country.    But  if  this  cannot  be  done  conveniently  and  with  peace, 
also  without  great  injuries  and  revolution,  then  it  may  be  endured. 

In  conclusion  he  makes  an  earnest  appeal  to  his  breth 
ren  to  which  few  in  that  generation  were  ready  to  re 
spond  : 

Therefore  in  fidelity  I  advise  you,  brethren,  turn,  prove  yourselves. 
You  have  struggled  hard  and  done  much  that  was  ill-advised 
against  God  and  brotherly  love  under  an  appearance  and  a  pretext 
of  humility.  Were  Christian  magistrates  and  subjects  seen  to 
hold  together  in  a  manly,  brotherly,  and  Christian  way,  many  a 
tyrant  would  desist  from  his  oppression  and  compulsion  against  God 
and  all  that  is  proper  and  would  sheath  his  sword.  Even  if  there 
were  no  Scripture,  yet  our  own  conscience  tells  us  that  we  should 
help  the  magistracy. 

Hubmaier  correctly  discerned  that  one  of  the  greatest 
obstacles  to  the  progress  of  New  Testament  Christianity 
in  his  time  was  the  rejection  of  magistracy,  which  caused 
Anti-pedobaptists  everywhere  to  be  looked  upon  as  ene 
mies  of  civil  government  and  their  presence  as  a  menace 
to  law  and  order.  He  made  a  strong  but  ineffective 
effort  to  remove  this  barrier. 

Equally  at  variance  with  the  great  majority  of  his 
brethren  was  Hubmaier  in  relation  to  the  doctrine  of 
property.  The  preponderating  sentiment  of  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists  was  in  favor  of  community  of  goods.  The 
example  of  the  early  Christians  in  Jerusalem,  who  sold 
their  goods  and  laid  the  proceeds  at  the  apostles'  feet, 
calling  nothing  their  own,  was  thought  by  them  to  be  in 
entire  accord  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  any 
thing  short  of  this  absolute  renunciation  of  private  own 
ership,  to  savor  of  selfishness  and  worldliness.  Hub 
maier  and  many  of  the  early  Swiss  Anti-pedobaptists 
maintained  that  while  the  spirit  of  Christ  requires  the 
utmost  liberality  on  the  part  of  believers  in  succoring 
needy  believers  and  in  carrying  forward  the  work  of 


1 84  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Christ,  it  does  not  require  the  relinquishment  of  private 
ownership. 

The  prosperous  and  promising  cause  at  Nikolsburg  was 
not  to  be  permitted  long  to  enjoy  the  peace  and  unity 
that  the  favorable  external  circumstances  and  the  wise 
and  considerate  leadership  of  Hubmaier  would  seem  to 
have  promised.  Hans  Hut,  whose  career  has  been 
already  sketched,  appeared  at  Nikolsburg  before  the 
close  of  1526,  and  here,  as  everywhere,  soon  made  his 
influence  profoundly  felt.  Not  only  did  Hubmaier 
strongly  object  to  his  fanatical  teaching  with  reference 
to  the  speedy  setting  up  of  a  carnal  kingdom  of  Christ, 
but  the  views  of  the  two  men  came  into  the  sharpest 
collision  regarding  magistracy.  Hut,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  one  of  the  most  radical  opponents  of  magistracy  as 
a  permanent  divine  institution.  While  he  believed  that 
the  time  would  soon  come  when  under  Divine  direction 
believers  would  be  called  upon  to  take  up  the  sword  for 
the  slaughter  of  the  ungodly,  and  especially  of  the  ruling 
classes,  he  denied  the  right  of  Christians  to  engage 
directly  or  indirectly  in  carnal  warfare  under  the  leader 
ship  of  secular  princes.  A  considerable  proportion  of 
those  who  had  adopted  Anti-pedobaptist  views  under 
Hubmaier's  influence,  including  Oswald  Glaidt  and  sev 
eral  other  ministers,  were  carried  away  by  Hut's  en 
thusiasm.  Even  Goschel  seems  to  have  taken  sides 
with  Hut  against  Hubmaier.  Two  disputations  failed  to 
secure  the  desired  unity,  and  Hut's  teaching  and  conduct 
were  regarded  by  Lichtenstein  as  so  revolutionary  in 
their  nature  as  to  warrant  his  exclusion  from  the  com 
munity.  We  need  not  suppose  that  all  who  sided  with 
Hut  in  this  controversy  accepted  his  more  fanatical 
views.  The  chief  points  at  issue  were,  as  we  have 
seen,  magistracy  and  warfare,  and  on  these  points  Hut 
was  in  accord  with  old-evangelical  tradition  and  with  the 


HUBMAIER'S  EXTRADITION   DEMANDED  185 

views  of  the  great  majority  of  contemporary  Anti-pedo- 
baptists,  while  Hubmaier  was  in  the  position  of  an  inno 
vator  in  these  matters. 

Before  Hut's  arrival  a  considerable  party  had  appeared, 
represented  by  Jacob  Wiedemann,  Jager,  Schlegel,  and 
Burkhardt,  who  not  only  denied  that  Christians  could 
personally  engage  in  warfare,  but  who  insisted  that  it 
was  just  as  little  allowable  to  pay  taxes  for  the  support 
of  warfare.  Such  taxes  they  stigmatized  as  "  blood- 
money."  These,  of  course,  arrayed  themselves  on 
Hut's  side  in  the  controversy  with  Hubmaier. 

Jacob  Wiedemann  (commonly  called  by  his  brethren 
"One-eyed  Jacob  ")  had  come  from  the  land  of  the  Enns 
(Salzburg),  and  before  the  close  of  1527  had  begun 
to  agitate  most  persistently  in  favor  of  community  of 
goods.  Spitalmaier,  one  of  the  Nikolsburg  evangelical 
ministers  who  had  been  won  to  the  support  of  Hub- 
maier's  cause,  continued  faithful  to  the  moderate  princi 
ples  of  Hubmaier,  and  as  pastor  or  chaplain  of  the  Lich- 
tensteins,  contended  zealously  against  Wiedemann  and 
his  party. 

In  the  summer  of  1527  the  Austrian  Government 
began  to  take  cognizance  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  move 
ment  that  was  rapidly  spreading  over  Southern  Moravia. 
The  widely  circulated  writings  of  Hubmaier  brought  the 
movement  into  great  prominence.  Attention  was  called 
to  the  fact  that  the  same  Hubmaier  who  had  been  the 
cause  of  so  much  trouble  at  Waldshut,  and  whom  the 
Austrian  authorities  had  vainly  endeavored  to  get  within 
their  power,  was,  with  the  full  protection  and  support  of 
an  Austrian  subject,  bringing  multitudes  of  people  to  the 
adoption  of  his  heresies. 

We  need  not  dwell  upon  the  steps  by  which  the  Lich- 
tensteins  felt  themselves  compelled  to  deliver  their 
spiritual  father  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies.  Ferdi- 


186  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

nand  was  all  the  more  desirous  to  put  an  end  to  the 
activity  of  Hubmaier  from  the  fact  that  accounts  were 
about  this  time  continually  coming  to  him  of  the  growth 
and  aggressiveness  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  in 
Upper  and  in  Lower  Austria. 

Hans  Hut  had  been  preaching  publicly  in  Steyer,  and 
his  activity  since  leaving  Nikolsburg  had  been  unceasing 
and  effective.  So  strong  a  foothold  had  the  movement 
secured  in  the  Salzburg  region  that  the  local  officers 
assured  the  government  of  the  necessity  of  proceeding 
with  the  utmost  caution  in  efforts  to  suppress  it.  A 
number  of  people  of  consideration  were  involved  and 
riot  might  follow  an  effort  to  punish  them.  In  Lower 
Austria  too,  largely  as  a  result  of  Hubmaier's  influence, 
Anabaptist  communities  were  appearing  in  many  places. 

The  demand  for  Hubmaier's  extradition  seems  to  have 
been  based  on  his  supposed  treasonable  attitude  toward 
the  government  during  his  Waldshut  career.  Whether 
the  Lichtensteins  could  have  protected  him  for  any  con 
siderable  time  against  the  demands  of  the  government  it 
is  not  easy  to  determine.  That  they  yielded  with  un 
seemly  readiness  is  a  conclusion  that  can  scarcely  be 
avoided. 

In  July,  1527,  a  little  over  a  year  after  his  arrival  at 
Nikolsburg,  he  was  seized,  along  with  his  devoted  wife, 
by  the  Austrian  authorities. 

While  Hubmaier  was  in  prison  at  Greitzenstein,  his 
old  friend,  Dr.  Johann  Faber,  spent  several  days  discuss 
ing  with  him  in  a  friendly  way  the  points  at  issue  and 
seeking  to  win  him  back  to  the  communion  of  the  church. 
Hubmaier  prepared  on  this  occasion  an  elaborate  confes 
sion,  in  which  he  stated  his  position  in  the  most  concili 
atory  manner  that  his  conscience  would  allow  ;  but  he 
was  too  radically  at  variance  with  Roman  Catholicism  to 
satisfy  his  persecutors. 


HUBMAIER'S  MARTYRDOM  187 

After  a  long  imprisonment,  he  was  burned  at  the  stake 
on  March  10,  1528.  Three  days  later,  his  wife  was 
drowned  in  the  Danube  and  her  body  burned.  Goschel, 
Hubmaier's  distinguished  colleague,  was  seized  at  about 
the  time  of  Hubmaier's  death.  At  Prague  he  was  seven 
times  subjected  to  the  most  excruciating  tortures,  and 
finally  induced  to  recant.  In  consideration  of  the  fact 
that  he  had  been  a  Catholic  bishop  and  of  the  interces 
sion  of  some  of  the  Moravian  nobles  he  escaped  the  stake 
to  die  in  prison  shortly  afterward  of  the  hardships  he  had 
suffered. 

Thus  the  Moravian  Anti-pedobaptists  were  deprived  of 
their  greatest  leader  and  the  cause  of  radical  evangelical 
reform  of  its  ablest  and  soundest  advocate.  In  point  of 
ability  and  character  Hubmaier  deserves  a  high  place 
among  the  evangelical  leaders  of  the  church  universal. 

Literature:  Hubmaier's  writings,  and  the  pertinent  works  of 
Loserth,  Hosek,  Schreiber,  Veesenmeyer,  Wolny,  Cornelius,  Stern, 
Faber  (Fabri),  Kessler,  Hagen,  and  Beck  (Geschichtsbucher)  as  in 
the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE  TYROL 

E  Tyrol  was  happily  designated  by  one  of  the  em- 
perors  "the  eye  and  the  shield  of  Austria."  No 
portion  of  Europe  was  more  likely  to  be  strongly  in 
fluenced  by  the  Anti-pedobaptist  movement,  and  in  few 
did  it  meet  with  a  heartier  reception  or  strike  deeper  its 
roots.  The  Tyrol  is  essentially  a  series  of  valleys,  and 
at  that  time  the  mountain  regions  were  covered  with 
dense  forests.  Even  in  times  of  direst  persecution  Anti- 
pedobaptist  teachers  trained,  like  the  Waldenses  of  the 
earlier  time,  in  all  the  arts  of  evading  their  persecutors, 
were  able  to  carry  forward  effective  work.  They  were 
familiar  with  all  the  secret  refuges  and  byways  used  by 
the  persecuted  people,  and  some  of  the  leaders  who  had 
been  singled  out  for  destruction  by  the  authorities  were 
able  for  years  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  the  police,  who 
had  every  inducement  to  seize  them. 

One  of  the  principal  passes  of  the  Alps  was  in  the 
Tyrol.  The  Waldenses,  whose  principal  centers  during 
the  thirteenth  and  following  centuries  were  Lombardy 
and  the  western  Austrian  provinces,  were  continually 
passing  through  this  region,  and  had  many 'congregations 
within  its  bounds.  Its  contiguity  to  Switzerland  and 
Southern  Germany  made  it  inevitable  that  Anti-pedo- 
baptists  fleeing  from  persecution  or  impelled  by  mission 
ary  zeal  should  make  known  to  the  Tyrolese  what  they 
considered  the  pure  gospel. 

Lutheranism  had  secured  a  considerable  following  at 
an  early  period,  Urban  Rhegius,  the  noted  Augsburg 
evangelical  leader,  having  for  some  time  (1522-23) 
188 


EARLY  EVANGELICAL  TEACHING  189 

labored  zealously  for  reform  at  Hall.  The  authorities 
were  soon  able  to  suppress  all  public  evangelical  teach 
ing  ;  but  the  people,  whose  religious  sensibilities  had  been 
quickened  by  what  they  had  learned  of  the  gospel,  gave 
a  hearty  reception  to  such  evangelical  preachers  as  were 
willing  to  risk  their  lives  to  make  known  the  truth. 

As  early  as  1525-26  there  was  at  least  one  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  congregation  in  the  Inn  Valley.  Hans  Hut  related 
that  a  certain  Caspar  from  the  Inn  Valley  told  him  (May, 
1526)  of  some  brethren  who  had  been  baptized  there, 
and  induced  him  to  seek  baptism  at  the  hands  of  Denck, 
at  Augsburg.  The  origin  of  this  community  is  unknown. 
Its  most  distinguished  member  was  Pilgram  Marbeck 
who,  in  1525,  had  been  appointed  by  the  Austrian  au 
thorities  magistrate  for  miners,  and  of  whose  career  as 
a  loyal  Anti-pedobaptist  and  as  a  civil  engineer  at  Stras- 
burg  we  shall  hereafter  learn. 

In  1527,  according  to  contemporary  documents,  these 
native  Anti-pedobaptists  were  largely  reinforced  by 
refugees  from  Switzerland,  Bavaria,  Salzburg,  and  Car- 
niola.  It  is  said  that  "  the  teachers  and  ministers  of  the 
word"  came  down  on  both  sides  of  the  Brenner,  trav 
ersed  the  land  in  all  directions,  and  frequented  the  huts 
of  the  peasants,  the  houses  of  the  citizens,  and  the 
castles  of  the  nobles. 

The  cowherd  Wolfgang,  of  the  Sarn  Valley,  is  said  to 
have  been  "  a  messenger  of  Anabaptism."  The 
esquires  at  Clausen  had  urged  him  by  no  means  to  be 
deterred  from  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  a  majority 
of  them  had  attended  his  services.  The  warden  of 
Guffidaun  had  sent  for  him,  and  there  he  had  preached 
four  times  in  private  houses.  If  he  had  desired  to  preach 
in  a  church  he  might  have  done  so.  In  Bozen,  Taufers, 
and  other  places,  he  had  enjoyed  the  favor  of  people  of 
high  social  standing,  including  some  priests.  During  the 


IQO  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

early  part  of  1527  the  government  received  information 
of  the  existence  of  Anti-pedobaptists  in  Rattenberg, 
Glurns,  and  Mais.  In  May  a  mandate  was  issued  for 
the  imprisonment  of  all  persons  of  high  or  low  estate, 
native  or  foreign,  spiritual  or  secular,  who  should  impugn 
the  sacraments  of  the  church. 

The  most  notable  persons  affected  by  the  mandate 
were  Anton  von  Wolkenstein  and  Helena  von  Freiberg. 
The  former,  whose  house  was  said  to  be  "an  asylum  of 
sectaries,"  was  arraigned  before  the  authorities,  but 
was  discharged  on  his  promise  to  cease  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  the  sectaries  and  their  books.  Far  more 
loyal  to  the  persecuted  Anti-pedobaptists  was  Helena  von 
Freiberg.  She  endured  much  loss  and  suffering  on  be 
half  of  the  cause  that  was  very  dear  to  her,  but  finally 
felt  herself  obliged  to  renounce  her  views  (1534). 

The  first  to  suffer  martyrdom  in  the  Anti-pedobaptist 
cause  in  the  Tyrol  was  Leonard  Schiemer,  who  is  spoken 
of  as  the  "first  Anabaptist  bishop"  in  upper  Austria.  A 
full  record  of  the  trial  has  been  preserved.  A  number 
of  writings  produced  during  his  somewhat  extended  im 
prisonment  are  also  extant.  He  was  evidently  a  man  of 
high  culture  and  of  remarkable  force  of  character.  A 
Bavarian  by  birth,  his  earlier  years  of  service  in  the  Anti- 
pedobaptist  cause  seem  to  have  been  devoted  to  his  native 
land.  His  labors  in  the  Tyrol  had  been  of  short  dura 
tion,  but  singularly  fruitful.  The  fields  were  evidently 
white  unto  the  harvest,  and  any  zealous  preacher  of  the 
gospel  could  reap  abundantly.  Schiemer  could  not  be 
induced  to  compromise  his  position  in  the  slightest  de 
gree.  He  expressed  his  regret  that  he  had  not  accom 
plished  more  than  he  had  been  permitted  to  do  in  the 
good  cause.  He  was  condemned  to  the  stake,  but  was 
mercifully  executed  by  the  sword  and  his  body  burned, 
January  14,  1528. 


SIXTEEN  HUNDRED  MARTYRS  IQI 

When  we  remember  that  by  1531  one  thousand  Anti- 
pedobaptists  had  suffered  martyrdom  in  the  Tyrol  and  in 
Gb'rtz,  and  six  hundred  at  Ennisheim,  we  need  not  to  be 
informed  either  of  the  great  vigor  with  which  their  work 
was  carried  forward  or  of  the  terrible  zeal  with  which  the 
government  pursued  them.  In  almost  every  community 
a  large  proportion  of  those  who  were  arraigned  were  in 
duced  so  far  to  deny  their  faith  as  to  secure  release,  and 
many  escaped  the  vigilance  of  the  authorities.  Probably 
thousands  of  these  dissenters  from  the  Tyrol  and  Austrian 
provinces  made  their  way  to  Moravia,  and  most  of  the 
leaders  had  their  training  among  the  Moravians. 

To  go  into  the  details  of  the  persecution  is  manifestly 
impracticable.  To  describe  the  work  in  its  various  local 
ities  would  be  to  deal  with  the  entire  land  ;  for  probably 
no  locality  escaped  the  influence  of  the  evangelism  that 
was  carried  on  with  marvelous  energy  and  success. 

The  Inn  and  the  Danube  furnished  the  means  of  com 
munication  between  the  upper  Austrian  provinces  and 
Moravia.  While  boatmen  trafficking  on  these  streams 
were  strictly  enjoined  by  the  government  not  to  furnish 
transportation  to  heretics,  and  to  assist  the  authorities  in 
arresting  them,  and  while  a  large  special  police  force  was 
appointed  to  prevent  the  intercourse  that  was  known  to 
exist  between  the  Tyrol  and  Moravia,  little  was  accom 
plished  in  this  direction.  Many  were  arrested,  but  their 
places  were  speedily  taken  by  ethers  who  counted  not 
their  lives  dear  unto  them. 

It  seems  certain  that  a  considerable  number  of  the 
officials  whose  business  it  was  to  arrest  and  convict  Anti- 
pedobaptists  were  themselves  strongly  in  sympathy  with 
the  persecuted  people.  Some  of  them  were  suspected 
by  the  government  and  were  punished.  That  many  of 
them  were  faithful  to  the  government  the  vast  number 
arrested,  convicted,  and  executed  bears  ample  witness. 


192  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Among  the  first  of  the  congregations  to  be  taken  in 
hand  by  the  authorities  were  those  of  Freundsberg,  Rat- 
tenberg,  and  KitzbUchl.  The  prison  of  the  first  of  these 
places  was  soon  so  overcrowded  that  that  of  Schwaz  had 
to  be  called  into  requisition.  KitzbUchl  was  the  chief 
resort  of  the  Salzburg  fugitives.  The  arrest  of  a  certain 
local  ex-priest,  who  called  himself  Paul,  and  around 
whom  a  large  number  of  persons  had  gathered,  was  a 
special  object  of  desire  on  the  part  of  the  authorities. 
For  favoring  and  protecting  him  Helena  von  Freiberg  in 
curred  a  deepening  of  the  suspicion  in  which  she  was 
held. 

The  next  prominent  leader  to  be  seized,  tried,  and  exe 
cuted  was  Hans  Schlaffer,  who  had  been  in  Moravia  and 
Southern  Germany,  and  who  numbered  among  his 
friends  and  acquaintances  such  men  as  Wiedemann, 
Kautz,  Hut,  Hetzer,  and  Denck.  He  bewailed  the  sins 
that  he  had  committed  as  a  priest,  and  gloried  in  the  work 
that  he  and  his  brethren  had  been  permitted  to  do  by 
way  of  restoring  the  pure  gospel.  He  thought  it  just  as 
unreasonable  to  put  straw  into  the  fire  and  forbid  it  to 
burn  as  to  expect  anything  but  corruption  from  the 
priests  under  existing  conditions. 

In  1528  a  little  book  was  discovered  in  circulation  in 
which  "  Anabaptism  was  painted  for  those  who  could  not 
read." 

Ferdinand  was  continually  writing  to  the  local  officials 
where  heresy  had  been  detected  and  urging  them  to  use 
their  utmost  diligence  in  executing  his  mandates.  Large 
numbers  were  put  to  death  ;  many  more  were  compelled 
by  tortures  and  hardships  to  deny  the  faith.  It  was 
found  that  a  large  proportion  of  those,  who  under  stress 
of  torture  were  induced  to  promise  to  abandon  the  Anti- 
pedobaptist  way,  relapsed  soon  after  their  release. 

In  April,  1528,  a  special  ordinance  was  enacted  for  the 


INCREASING  SEVERITY  193 

burning  or  demolition  of  houses  that  had  been  used  for 
dissenting  services,  and  many  such  were  destroyed. 
The  carrying  out  of  this  ordinance  affected  disadvanta- 
geously  many  of  the  faithful  whose  houses  had  been  thus 
used  without  their  consent,  and  who  bitterly  complained 
of  the  loss  inflicted.  A  further  mandate  prohibited  the 
entertainment  of  these  so-called  heretics  by  innkeepers, 
etc. 

Persecution  having  broken  out  in  Moravia  during  this 
year,  a  considerable  number  of  Tyrolese  brethren  re 
turned  to  their  homes  and  thus  added  to  the  perplexity 
of  the  authorities,  who  saw  the  numbers  of  the  heretics 
rapidly  increasing  in  the  face  of  the  rigorous  execution  of 
the  royal  mandates.  One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  with 
which  Ferdinand  had  to  contend  was  the  extreme  reluc 
tance  of  local  magistrates  and  jurors  to  press  the  persecu 
tion  to  extremes.  Especially  was  this  the  case  at  Guffi- 
daun  and  Sterzing.  At  Kitzbuchl  large  numbers  were 
put  to  death  and  one  hundred  and  six  renounced  Ana- 
baptism. 

Georg  Zaunring,  who  at  an  earlier  date  was  the 
associate  of  Reublin  in  his  contest  with  Jacob  Wiede- 
mann,  baptized  multitudes  in  the  summer  of  1528.  One 
of  his  disciples  named  Kirschner  took  up  the  work  and 
preached  throughout  an  extended  region.  He  had  bap 
tized  over  a  hundred  when  he  was  seized  at  Kitzbuchl,  in 
April,  1529,  and  summarily  executed. 

A  mandate  of  February,  1529,  renews  the  provisions 
of  the  earlier  mandates  and  complains  that  some  magis 
trates  are  pronouncing  judgment  not  according  to  the 
royal  mandates,  but  according  to  their  own  opinions. 
Such  conduct  is  strictly  prohibited  as  being  against  their 
vows  and  oaths  in  accepting  office.  It  is  ordered  that 
henceforth  all  Anabaptist  processes  be  held  in  the  cities 
and  seats  of  justice,  in  order  that  the  laxity  likely  to 


194  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

prevail  in  less  responsible  courts  may  be  avoided.  The 
imperial  edict  of  Speier,  which  was  promulgated  at  this 
time,  sharpened  the  procedures  in  the  Tyrol.  Fifty 
mounted  patrolmen  and  three  inquisitors  were  employed 
to  hunt  out  the  noxious  sectaries  throughout  the  country. 

Sterzing,  Hall,  and  Kitzbuchl  were  at  this  time  the 
principal  centers  of  the  movement.  Among  its  adherents 
were  citizens,  peasants,  and  gentry.  The  prisons  were 
perpetually  filled  to  overflowing.  Large  numbers  of 
orphaned  children  had  to  be  cared  for  at  the  public 
expense.  Spies  were  employed  to  insinuate  themselves 
into  their  confidence  by  pretended  conversion  to  their 
views  and  thus  to  ascertain  their  secret  meeting  places, 
the  names  and  abodes  of  their  leaders,  etc. 

At  Brixen  the  priest  Benedict  denounced  the  butchery 
of  the  pious  people  and  soon  afterward  identified  himself 
with  them.  The  jurors  at  Bozen  protested  against  the 
bloodshed  in  which  they  were  required  to  involve  them 
selves,  and  especially  against  the  sending  to  Bozen  for 
trial  of  persons  from  outside  their  special  jurisdiction. 

In  the  Michaelsburg  district  persecution  raged  more 
fiercely  than  elsewhere.  Here  we  first  meet  with  Jacob 
Huter  as  an  Anabaptist  worker.  Born  in  the  Puster 
Valley,  he  received  a  fair  education  at  the  Bruneck 
school.  He  then  went  to  Prague  to  learn  the  hatter's 
trade  (whence  his  name).  It  is  probable  that  there,  if 
not  earlier,  he  came  under  the  influence  of  the  old-evan 
gelical  teaching.  As  a  journeyman  hatter  he  visited 
many  places,  and  finally  took  up  his  abode  at  Spital  in 
Carniola.  There  seems  to  be  no  foundation  whatever 
for  the  report  of  Meschovius,  followed  by  some  later 
writers,  that  Huter  was  a  disciple  of  Nicholas  Storch, 
and  that  he  was  a  leader  along  with  Gabriel  Scharding 
of  the  great  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  in  Silesia.  There 
is  no  evidence  that  he  had  ever  visited  Silesia.  Just 


JACOB   HUTER  195 

when  and  where  he  united  with  the  brotherhood  is  un 
known.    His  first  labors  seem  to  have  been  in  the  Puster 
Valley  in  the  latter  part  of  1528  or  early  in  1529.    When 
one  of  his  meetings  was  raided  in  May,  1529,  fourteen  of 
those  present  were  seized,  but  Huter  along  with  some 
others  escaped.     The  severity  of  persecution  increasing, 
Huter  was  sent  by  his  brethren  to  Moravia  to  consult 
with  the  brethren  there  as  to  fellowship  and  refuge  for 
the  persecuted.     Returning  to  the  Tyrol  fully  satisfied 
as  regards  the  desirableness  of  emigration  to  Moravia  he 
sent  thither  under  the  guidance  of  Georg  Zaunring  one 
company  of  people  after  another,  with  all  their  movable 
means,  to  enter  into  fellowship  with  Wiedemann's  party. 
During  his  absence  in  Moravia,  Georg  Blaurock,  with 
the  quality  of  whose  Christian  character  and  work  we 
are  already  familiar,  came  to  the  Tyrol  in  company  with 
Hans  Langecker,   a  weaver.     No  evangelical  preacher 
had  awakened  in  the  Tyrol  anything  like  the  widespread 
popular  interest  aroused  by  "Strong  Georg."     We  find 
him    laboring   at  Glurns,   Schlaunders,   Klausen,   Guffi- 
daun,  and  in  many  other  localities.     He  moved  rapidly 
from  place  to  place,  and  thus  for  some  months  was  able 
to  escape  the  police.     He  labored  as  a  man  who  realized 
that  his  time  on  earth  was  short,  and  the  people  every 
where   thronged   his   ministry.      On    August    14,   along 
with  Langecker,  he  was  arrested  and  thrown  into  the 
Guffidaun  prison,     The  two  were  burned  alive  on  Sep 
tember  6,  1529. 

The  stress  of  persecution  in  the  Tyrol  drove  a  consid 
erable  number  into  the  diocese  of  Trent,  and  the  Vene 
tian  authorities  were  warned  that  some  seemed  to  be 
making  their  way  thither.  It  is  highly  probable  that 
they  succeeded,  for  a  few  years  later  the  Venetian  terri 
tory  abounded  in  Anti-pedobaptists.  Yet  they  continued 
to  maintain  themselves  with  unabated  zeal  in  all  the 


196  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

principal  Tyrolese  centers.  The  king  continued  to  press 
on  the  persecution  with  the  utmost  vigor,  and  complaints 
are  frequent  of  the  remissness  of  officials,  who  are  in 
some  cases  accused  of  favoring  the  heretics. 

The  practice  of  examining  them  publicly  and  disputing 
with  them  was  found  to  encourage  rather  than  deter 
from  heresy,  and  its  discontinuance  was  ordered.  Per 
secution  itself  had  no  terrors  for  the  zealous  people. 
The  Tyrolese  officials  reminded  the  king  that  "in  two 
years  scarcely  a  day  has  passed  in  which  they  have  not 
dealt  with  Anabaptist  matters,  and  more  than  seven 
hundred  men  and  women  in  this  earldom  (Tyrol),  in 
many  different  places,  have  been  condemned  to  death, 
others  have  been  driven  from  the  land,  still  more  have 
miserably  fled,  leaving  their  goods,  and  in  some  cases 
their  children  as  orphans."  They  advise  the  king  to 
send  a  special  injunction  to  the  upper  and  official  classes 
all  over  the  land  to  see  to  it  that  those  who  are  charged 
with  bringing  heretics  to  justice  do  their  duty.  They 
complain  of  the 

madness  that  is  now  commonly  found  among  the  people,  that  they 
are  not  only  not  terrified  by  the  punishment  of  others,  but  they  go, 
where  they  are  at  liberty  to  do  so  or  desire  to  go,  themselves  to  the 
imprisoned  and  show  themselves  as  their  brethren  and  sisters,  and 
when  the  magistrates  waylay  and  surprise  them,  they  confess 
readily  and  willingly  without  torture,  will  listen  to  no  instruction, 
and  rarely  can  one  of  them  be  converted  from  their  unbelief,  their 
only  desire  for  the  most  part  being  to  die  speedily.  And  if  indeed 
one  recants,  not  much  confidence  is  to  be  put  in  him  ;  so  that  neither 
good  teaching  nor  severe  punishment  will  help  among  the  people. 
We  hope  your  royal  majesty  will,  from  these  our  true  accounts, 
graciously  understand  that  we  have  in  no  respect  allowed  our  in 
dustry  to  flag. 

It  was  exceedingly  mortifying  to  Ferdinand  to  find  his 
persistent  and  earnest  efforts  for  the  suppression  of  the 
Anti-pedobaptists  so  futile,  and  he  probably  derived  little 


PERSECUTION  AND   FAILURE  197 

satisfaction  from  the  assurance  that  the  Tyrolese  authori 
ties  had  done  their  very  best  to  carry  out  his  wishes.  In 
fact  he  could  not  be  persuaded  that  his  mandates  had 
been  energetically  executed,  and  continued  to  sharpen 
his  requirements  and  to  look  carefully  after  their  execu 
tion.  July  i,  1530,  he  issued  further  directions  for  the 
detection  of  Anti-pedobaptists,  and  offered  a  reward  of 
thirty  to  forty  florins  to  any  one  who  would  detect  a 
brother  and  secure  his  arrest. 

In  the  meantime  Jacob  Huter  was  laboring  with  unre 
mitting  zeal.  From  valley  to  valley  throughout  the 
Tyrol  he  went,  encouraging  the  persecuted  brethren,  and 
where  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  remain  in  their 
homes  without  great  danger,  arranging  for  their  emigra 
tion  to  Moravia.  His  continued  activity,  notwithstand 
ing  the  extreme  anxiety  of  the  authorities  to  get  posses 
sion  of  his  person,  was  possible  by  reason  of  his  own 
rare  skill  in  avoiding  the  officers  of  the  law  and  the  fidel 
ity  of  his  brethren,  who  could  be  induced  by  no  tortures 
to  betray  him.  Of  Huter's  successful  efforts  to  heal 
the  divisions  that  had  arisen  among  the  brethren  in 
Moravia  we  shall  hereafter  become  aware. 

The  persecution  did  not  reach  its  height  until  1532- 
33.  We  have  some  interesting  indications  of  the  meet 
ing  places  of  the  brethren  during  these  troublous  times. 
At  Rattenberg  they  met  in  a  colliery ;  at  Schwaz  in  an 
abandoned  gallery  of  a  mine ;  in  Klausen,  Huter  held 
an  assembly  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  a  pit  and  admin 
istered  the  Supper.  At  Albeins  and  at  Prugg  meetings 
of  fifty  to  sixty  were  held  in  the  smelting  works. 

On  February  6  a  mandate  was  issued  prohibiting  the 
housing  or  harboring  of  Anabaptists,  who  are  declared  to 
be  "more  noxious  than  murderers,  and  enemies  of  the 
land,  whom  every  one  should  be  willing  to  throw  down 
and  take  prisoners."  A  few  weeks  later  a  fresh  mandate 


198  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

was  issued  reminding  all  the  people  of  the  earlier  ones 
and  bewailing  the  fact  that  "in  spite  of  all  precautions 
it  (the  Anabaptists'  sect)  will  have  no  cessation,  but  still 
propagates  itself  in  many  places." 

A  fresh  mandate  against  those  who  harbor  Anabaptists 
was  issued  April  24.  These  mandates  proving  inadequate 
for  the  immediate  extermination  of  the  party,  a  far  more 
sanguinary  one  was  issued  on  May  12.  It  is  provided, 
among  other  things,  that  those  who  house,  harbor,  or  in 
any  way  render  assistance  to  Anabaptists  shall  be 
arrested  and  questioned  under  torture  as  to  their  rela 
tions  to  the  Anabaptists  ;  and  even  if  their  connection 
with  the  sect  cannot  be  established,  they  shall  neverthe 
less  be  punished  in  body  and  goods. 

One  of  the  chief  sources  of  vexation  to  Ferdinand  was 
the  failure  of  the  heretic  hunters  to  seize  the  leaders, 
especially  Huter,  Hans  Tuchmacher,  Hans  Amon,  and 
Onofrius,  who  were  known  to  be  holding  meetings  here 
and  there,  but  who  long  eluded  their  pursuers. 

In  June,  1533,  Ferdinand  offered  a  reward  of  sixty, 
seventy,  or  one  hundred  florins  (according  to  circum 
stances)  for  the  apprehension  of  any  one  of  the  Anabap 
tist  ministers,  and  ordered  that  a  number  of  men  be 
secretly  appointed  to  seek  admission  by  baptism  into  the 
Anabaptist  fellowship,  learn  all  they  could  about  their 
leaders,  methods,  meeting  places,  etc.,  and  betray  them 
to  the  authorities.  Meanwhile  the  prisons  were  full, 
and  torture,  butchery,  and  burning  went  on  with  ever- 
increasing  vigor. 

In  May,  1533,  the  government  directed  the  warden  at 
GufTidaun  to  pour  some  consecrated  water  into  the  drink 
of  the  obstinate  prisoners  and  to  cook  their  food  with 
consecrated  salt ;  to  do  this  for  some  days  and  to  see 
what  would  come  of  it. 

Huter  retired  to  Moravia  for  a  season,  in  August,  1533, 


THE   WOLKENSTEINS  199 

having  already  sent  multitudes  of  his  brethren  to  this 
land  of  promise.  His  promotion  to  the  head  pastorship 
of  the  party  that  came  to  bear  his  name  soon  followed. 

The  trial  of  Anton  von  Wolkenstein  and  his  family, 
identified  with  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  since  1527,  did 
not  occur  till  1534.  With  his  wife  and  several  other 
members  of  his  household  he  was  cast  into  prison,  and 
every  effort  was  made  to  induce  them  to  recant.  Both 
husband  and  wife  persisted  for  some  time  in  their  refusal. 
It  looked  as  if  Lady  Wolkenstein  would  persevere  to  the 
end  and  wear  the  martyr's  crown.  Anton  yielded  first, 
and  through  the  importunity  of  her  children,  whose  pros 
pects  in  life  would  be  utterly  blighted  by  her  execution 
for  heresy,  she  was  finally  induced  to  sign  a  form  of 
recantation.  Young  Sigismund  von  Wolkenstein  with 
great  difficulty  emerged  from  the  inquisition  through  the 
influence  of  friends  and  his  agreement  to  enter  the  army. 

Persecution  having  broken  out  violently  in  Moravia, 
many  Tyrolese  Anti-pedobaptists  returned  to  their  native 
land,  among  them  Huter  himself.  Soon  after  his  arrival, 
he  wrote  to  brethren  left  behind  an  account  of  his  work 
and  its  prospects.  He  is  not  able  to  advise  or  discourage 
the  return  of  other  brethren.  Each  must  take  the  re 
sponsibility  for  himself.  "  The  Lord  has  abundantly 
prospered  our  way,  and  has  brought  us  safely  to  the 
Puster  valley  and  the  Etsch  land."  He  is  already  at 
work  in  mountain  and  valley,  visiting  those  who  are 
hungering  and  thirsting  after  the  truth.  "  But  the  god 
less  tyrants  and  the  enemies  of  the  truth,  who  have  the 
power  to  slay,  do  not  yet  know,  as  we  suppose,  of  our 
being  here.  God  from  heaven  grant  that  they  may  be 
blinded  and  may  not  for  a  long  time  be  made  aware  of 
our  presence."  This  letter  unfortunately  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  authorities,  and  the  hunt  for  its  author  was 
renewed  with  intensified  zeal. 


200  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

The  authorities  used  the  utmost  diligence  in  seizing 
the  fugitives  from  Moravia,  and  many  fell  into  their 
hands.  From  April  to  July,  1535,  Huter's  presence  in 
the  country  seems  to  have  been  concealed  from  his  ene 
mies.  From  this  time  they  were  in  hot  pursuit  of  him. 
Three  letters  written  to  his  brethren  in  Moravia  shortly 
before  his  death  are  full  of  foreboding  as  to  the  future, 
but  also  breathe  the  spirit  of  pious  resignation.  That  he 
should  write  with  some  degree  of  bitterness  of  those  who 
had  destroyed  so  many  of  his  brethren  and  like  "  cruel 
hell-hounds  "  were  seeking  his  own  life  was  no  more 
than  might  have  been  expected.  He  says  : 

The  godless,  Sodomitic  sea  roars  and  rages.  I  fear  indeed  that  there 
will  be  no  rest  until  the  pious  Jonas  is  cast  in  and  the  cruel  whale 
has  swallowed  him.  The  whale  is  the  cruel  tyrant  and  enemy  of  the 
truth,  Ferdinand,  with  all  his  following,  and  the  accursed  pope,  with 
his  accursed  hell-hounds.  But  God  will  command  this  sea  and  his 
own  shall  be  delivered  from  the  power  of  godless  men.  Dearly  be 
loved  brethren,  we  now  expect  daily,  hourly,  momentarily  the  catch- 
poles  of  the  magistrate,  and  the  servants  of  the  executioner,  and  all 
tribulation.  .  .  The  Lord  grant  us  power  and  strength  to  abide  in 
his  truth. 

He  was  seized  about  November  19,  1535,  and  after 
suffering  unspeakable  tortures,  was  burned  at  the  stake. 
His  bearing  throughout  the  whole  process,  like  his  life, 
was  most  heroic. 

The  Anti-pedobaptist  cause,  it  is  needless  to  say,  suf 
fered  irreparable  loss  in  the  death  of  its  ablest  leader. 
Hans  Amon,  now  at  the  head  of  Huterite  Church  in 
Moravia,  sent  Hieronymus  Kals,  an  educated  school 
master,  with  two  companions,  to  encourage  the  sorely 
persecuted  brethren  in  the  Tyrol,  January,  1636  ;  but 
they  were  seized  on  their  way  at  Vienna  and  there  exe 
cuted.  Leonard  Seiler  was  next  sent,  but  he  also  was 
thrown  into  prison  at  Moding,  where  he  lay  for  nearly  a 


AMON  AND   GRIESINGER  2OI 

year.  To  attempt  to  enter  upon  evangelical  work  in  the 
Tyrol  or  in  any  part  of  Austria  at  this  time  was  most 
hazardous  and  required  heroism  of  the  highest  order ;  but 
there  was  no  lack  of  men  who  were  willing  to  enter  the 
breaches  as  they  occurred. 

Huter's  successor  in  the  Tyrolese  work  proved  to  be 
Onophrius  Griesinger.  For  nearly  two  years  he  was 
able  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  the  authorities  and  to  carry 
forward  the  work  in  Huter's  own  spirit.  He  possessed 
courage  amounting  almost  to  audacity,  but  combined 
with  this  a  rare  skill  in  concealing  his  movements  from 
the  police  acquired  by  years  of  experience  as  an  evan 
gelist  in  the  Tyrolese  valleys.  A  Bavarian  by  birth  he 
had  held  an  honorable  civil  position  in  Salzburg.  Since 
his  conversion  (1532)  his  labors  had  been  chiefly  in  the 
Tyrol.  Arrested  in  April,  1536,  he  had  effected  an 
escape.  The  authorities  offered  one  hundred  florins  for 
his  apprehension,  but  this  was  not  accomplished  until 
August  26,  1538. 

Associated  with  Griesinger  were  a  considerable  number 
of  zealous  evangelists  who  did  not  suffer  the  good  work 
to  languish.  We  still  hear  of  large  assemblies  of  the 
persecuted  people  in  many  places.  The  vigor  of  the 
work  carried  on  at  this  time  as  well  as  later  was  due  to 
the  well-directed  efforts  of  the  Moravian  brethren,  a 
large  proportion  of  whose  members  knew  from  experi 
ence  what  it  was  to  attempt  to  follow  Scripture  and  con 
science  in  the  Tyrol. 

The  zeal  of  Ferdinand  and  his  advisers  was  unabated 
and  vast  numbers  continued  to  suffer  for  their  faith. 
Side  by  side  with  these  persistent  efforts  for  the  exter 
mination  of  heresy  was  a  recognition  of  the  corruptions 
of  monastic  and  clerical  life  and  a  somewhat  vigorous 
effort  by  bringing  about  needed  reforms  to  remove  one  of 
the  chief  grounds  for  evangelical  dissent. 


202  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

From  1539  to  1548,  although  their  ranks  had  been 
considerably  thinned  by  persecution  and  emigration, 
the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  was  energetically  maintained 
largely  through  the  encouragement  of  the  Moravians. 
While  persecution  continued  we  see  signs  of  relaxation. 
Executions  became  less  summary,  and  more  earnest 
efforts  than  heretofore  were  made  to  win  the  heretics, 
now  recognized  as  deluded  rather  than  malignant,  from 
their  errors.  Ferdinand  did  not  see  his  way  to' follow  the 
recommendation  of  the  Innsbruck  government  (Septem 
ber,  1529)  that  Anabaptists  who  persisted  in  their  errors 
should  be  given  a  limited  time  within  which  to  dispose  of 
their  property  and  leave  the  land,  but  he  did  not  repel 
the  suggestion  with  such  decision  as  he  would  probably 
have  done  at  an  earlier  time. 

The  ecclesiastical  authorities  at  Brixen  complained  to 
the  king  (November  10,  1539)  of  the  great  expense  in 
volved  in  the  attempt  to  exterminate  the  Anabaptists  and 
the  ineffectiveness  of  persecution.  While  within  a  few 
years  more  than  six  hundred  have  been  executed,  the 
sect  has  been  thereby  from  day  to  day  more  and  more 
enkindled  and  raised  up.  Attention  is  further  called  to 
the  fact  that  many  of  those  who  have  been  appointed  to 
try  and  condemn  heretics  have  conscientious  scruples 
against  condemning  the  Anabaptists  to  death.  While 
every  effort  is  being  made  by  them  (the  Brixen  author 
ities)  to  enforce  the  royal  mandates,  they  ask  Ferdinand 
to  take  into  consideration  the  addition  of  a  provision  for 
the  sale  of  goods  and  removal  from  the  land  of  such  as 
persist  in  their  errors.  Evidently  the  Tyrolese  people 
were  growing  weary  of  bloodshed. 

Ferdinand  renewed  the  earlier  mandates  a  few  weeks 
later  and  insisted  on  their  rigorous  enforcement.  Yet  by 
1543  even  Ferdinand  relented  and  did  not  hesitate  to  de 
clare  that  he  had  "  a  horror  "  of  this  continual  slaugh- 


LANZENSTIEL  AND  LOCHMAYER  203 

ter  and  complained  of  the  rigorous  execution  of  the 
imperial  and  princely  mandates  against  the  poor  and  mis 
guided  people.  The  utmost  importance  continued  to  be 
attached  to  the  apprehension  of  the  leaders. 

The  most  prominent  leader  during  this  time  was 
Leonard  Lanzenstiel  (or  Seiler),  a  Bavarian,  who  had 
spent  some  time  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  He  was  nom 
inated  by  Hans  Amon  as  his  successor  in  the  leadership 
of  the  Huterite  connection  in  1542,  and  died  at  the  stake 
in  Salzburg  during  the  same  year.  Closely  associated  with 
Lanzenstiel  in  Tyrolese  work  was  Leonard  Lochmayer, 
an  ex-priest  from  Freisingen,  converted  to  Anti-pedobap- 
tism  in  1527.  He  removed  to  Moravia  in  1528  and  be 
came  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  successful  of  evan 
gelists.  His  field  embraced  Hungary  and  several  parts  of 
Austria.  In  the  Tyrol  he  was  considered  by  his  oppo 
nents  more  dangerous  than  Huter.  He  suffered  for  his 
faith  in  1538. 

There  is  no  more  striking  proof  of  relaxation  in  the 
execution  of  the  mandates  against  the  Anti-pedobaptists 
than  is  to  be  found  in  the  career  of  Hans  Mandl  (1537- 
61).  A  native  of  the  Tyrol,  he  was  baptized  by  Gries- 
inger  in  1537.  Soon  afterward  he  was  thrown  into 
prison  at  Sterzing,  where  he  lay  for  six  months.  In  1544 
he  was  imprisoned  for  twenty-two  weeks  at  Landeck. 
He  regarded  his  deliverance  on  these  two  occasions  as 
providential.  By  1548  he  was  the  chief  leader  of  the 
Tyrolese  Anti-pedobaptists  and  remained  such  until  his 
death  in  1561.  Soon  after  he  had  assumed  the  leader 
ship  he  was  again  arrested  and  imprisoned  (November, 
1548).  He  was  treated  with  much  kindness  and  consid 
eration  by  a  priest  commissioned  to  convince  him  of  his 
errors  and  managed  to  escape.  After  a  career  of  great 
activity  and  success, — he  is  said  to  have  himself  alone 
baptized  about  four  hundred  and  as  leader  exerted  a  wide- 


204  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

spread  influence,— he  was  seized,  condemned,  and  burned 
in  1561. 

During  this  period  the  exodus  to  Moravia  was  constant 
and  the  work  in  the  Tyrol  was  carried  on  largely  under 
the  direction  and  with  the  support  of  the  Huterite  con 
nection  in  that  land. 

In  the  trial  of  Mandl  the  government  had  great  diffi 
culty  with  the  jurors,  who  were  required  to  swear  that 
they  would  render  judgment  strictly  according  to  the 
royal  mandates  and  not  according  to  their  own  con 
sciences.  Much  time  was  consumed  in  dealing  with 
three  jurors  who  declared  "that  they  could  not  burden 
their  consciences  with  such  a  case  and  that  they  would 
sooner  endure  therefor  any  punishment  whatever." 
They  were  thrown  into  prison. 

The  reign  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian  II.  (1564-76),  was 
one  of  comparative  toleration.  The  position  of  the 
Moravian  Anti-pedobaptists  was  during  this  period,  as  we 
shall  see,  one  of  great  prosperity.  After  Mandl's  exe 
cution  along  with  two  other  ministers,  the  exodus  of  the 
Tyrolese  brethren  to  Moravia  became  greater  than  it  had 
been  for  a  number  of  years  ;  yet  in  spite  of  the  diminu 
tion  of  numbers  the  work  was  carried  zealously  forward. 

Before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  however, 
the  Jesuits  had  begun  to  gain  an  ascendency  over  the 
Hapsburg  rulers,  and  from  this  time  onward  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists  throughout  Austria  and  its  dependencies 
were  systematically  and  persistently  persecuted.  We 
are  familiar  with  the  methods  by  which  they  conducted 
their  crusade  against  evangelical  religion  of  every  type 
and  of  the  process  by  which  Hussites,  Bohemian  Breth 
ren,  Anti-pedobaptists,  and  Protestants,  were  almost 
utterly  exterminated  (1618-1648). 

Literature:  Pertinent  works  of  Loserth,  Kripp,  and  Beck,  as  in 
the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

AUSTRIA 

THE  term  "  Austria,"  sometimes  used  to  designate  the 
archduchy  of  Austria,  may  be  here  employed  in  a 
broader  sense  so  as  to  embrace  Styria,  Salzburg,  Carni- 
ola,  and  Carinthia.     The  Tyrol  has  demanded  a  separate 
chapter. 

The  diocese  of  Passau,  which  embraced  territory  now 
partly  in  Bavaria  and  partly  in  Upper  Austria,  was  a 
chief  center  of  mediaeval  evangelical  life.  About  1260,* 
as  has  been  earlier  mentioned,  as  many  as  forty  distinct 
congregations  were  located  by  the  authorities  in  this 
region.  Notwithstanding  the  rigor  of  the  inquisitorial 
processes  carried  forward  at  this  time,  they  persisted  in 
large  numbers.  Many  were  arraigned  in  Steyer  in  1311. 
In  the  region  between  Traiskirchen  and  St.  Polten  resi 
dent  heretics  were  found  about  this  time  in  thirty-six 
localities,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  were  burned 
at  the  stake.  Many  more  recanted  and  many  fled.  A 
Waldensian  bishop  named  Neumeister  was  burned  in  1315, 
who  confessed  to  having  eighty  thousand  adherents  in  the 
archduchy  of  Austria  alone.  He  represented  the  number 
of  Waldenses  in  Bohemia1  and  Moravia  as  beyond  computa 
tion.  These  statements  seem  exaggerated  and  may  have 
been  extorted  ;  but  the  inquisitors  must  have  believed 
that  they  were  in  accord  with  the  facts. 

The  city  of  Steyer  and  its  environs  long  continued  to 
be  a  stronghold  of  dissent.  The  inquisitor  Peter,  who 
made  Steyer  his'residence  from  1395  onward,  found  mul- 

1  Among  the  errors  attributed  to  the  Bohemian  heretics  by  Pope  John  XXII.,  in 
1318,  was  Anabaptism. 

S  205 


206  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

titudes  of  Waldenses.  A  contemporary  document  places 
the  number  of  suspects  at  more  than  one  thousand. 
About  one  hundred  were  burned  in  1397.  We  have 
abundant  evidence  of  the  activity  of  the  Waldenses 
throughout  the  various  provinces  of  Upper  Austria  dur 
ing  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

This  region  formed  part  of  the  territory  traversed  and 
cultivated  by  the  famous  Waldensian  bishop,  Frederick 
Reiser,  who  was  in  close  touch  with  the  Taborite  move 
ment  in  Bohemia.  A  large  proportion  of  the  old-evan 
gelicals  of  Upper  Austria  seem  to  have  taken  refuge  in 
Bohemia  and  Moravia  ;  but  the  inquisition  was  not  en 
tirely  abandoned  and  occasional  heretical  processes 
occur.  Waldenses  were  persecuted  as  witches  in  many 
parts  of  Europe  during  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  Waldensianism  came  to  be  practically 
synonymous  with  witchcraft. 

The  readiness  with  which  Lutheranism  found  accept 
ance  in  Upper  Austria,  would  seem  to  show  that  though 
its  outward  manifestation  had  long  been  suppressed  the 
old-evangelical  spirit  had  survived.  By  1525  a  majority 
of  the  local  diet  of  Upper  Austria  had  declared  in  favor 
of  reform.  Steyer,  which  had  been  a  chief  center  of  old- 
evangelical  life,  was  also  foremost  in  its  enthusiastic 
adoption  of  Protestantism.  The  efforts  of  the  Austrian 
government  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  local  au 
thorities  for  the  suppression  of  Lutheranism  proved  in 
effective  up  to  1527.  The  aggressiveness  of  Anti-pedo- 
baptism  had  by  this  time  become  so  marked  that  special 
attention  was  now  given  to  this  phase  of  dissent  and 
many  princes  and  officials  were  ready  to  join  hands  with 
the  king  in  efforts  to  extirpate  so  dangerous  a  heresy. 

In  August,  1527,  Ferdinand  issued  a  mandate  in  which 
he  complained  that  not  only  was  Lutheranism  steadily 
increasing  in  strength,  but  that  "  new,  fearful,  unheard- 


ANTI-PEDOBAPTISTS  AT  STEYER  207 

of  doctrines  .  .  .  are  emerging.  Among  these  the  re 
newal  of  baptism  and  the  abuse  of  the  highly  venerable 
sacrament  of  Christ's  holy  body  are  included."  Erro 
neous  teaching  with  respect  to  baptism,  the  mass,  and 
extreme  unction  are  to  be  punished  with  imprisonment, 
banishment,  or  in  some  other  way  ;  but  whosoever  shall 
have  "preached  up  among  the  common  people  the  false 
doctrine  of  Christian  freedom,  as  if  all  things  should  be 
in  common  and  there  should  be  no  magistracy  ...  is  to 
be  capitally  punished." 

The  Steyer  Council  complained  that  the  clergy  and 
monks  will  allow  no  learned  man  to  labor  there,  "  but  if 
God  should  lead  such  an  one  here,  they  would  have  no 
rest  or  repose  until  he  should  be  removed."  The  accept 
ance  given  to  Hans  Hut's  preaching  was  in  their  opinion 
due  not  to  any  evil  purpose  but  to  love  for  God's  word. 
The  town  clerk,  Pruckmiiller,  quoted  in  favor  of  non-in 
terference  with  the  Anti-pedobaptists,  Gamaliel's  words: 
"  If  this  work  is  of  man's  hand  it  will  come  to  naught, 
but  if  it  proceeds  from  God  you  cannot  suppress  it." 

On  September  10,  1527,  Ferdinand  issued  full  directions 
to  the  Steyer  authorities  for  dealing  with  the  disciples  of 
Hut.  They  are  to  be  required  to  abjure  and  ever  after 
ward  keep  themselves  free  from  all  of  Hut's  errors, 
regularly  attend  the  services  of  the  church,  and  submit 
themselves  to  all  its  ordinances  to  the  end  of  their  lives, 
to  do  public  penance  on  three  successive  feast  days  in 
a  way  prescribed,  etc. 

It  is  certain  that,  apart  from  the  persistence  of  old-evan 
gelical  modes  of  thought  and  the  preparation  furnished 
by  the  widespread  acceptance  of  early  Lutheranism, 
Anti-pedobaptist  life  had  invaded  the  Austrian  provinces 
as  early  as  1525-6.  The  persecutions  in  Switzerland 
and  the  bordering  States  at  this  time  scattered  the  perse 
cuted  flocks  very  widely  and  these  regions  were  at  this 


208  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

time  among  the  most  inviting.  It  is  probable  that  Hans 
Hut  found  considerable  numbers  of  radical  evangelicals 
and  some  pronounced  Anti-pedobaptists  in  most  of  the 
places  that  he  visited  in  the  memorable  summer  of  1527. 
We  cannot  easily  account  for  the  readiness  with  which 
his  teachings  were  everywhere  accepted  and  the  rapidity 
with  which  he  was  able  to  organize  churches  of  baptized 
believers  without  supposing  that  the  preparation  for  his 
labors  had  been  of  a  somewhat  direct  and  very  effective 
kind.  But  it  was  this  great  enthusiast  who  first  inau 
gurated  a  vigorous  and  comprehensive  propaganda  of 
Anti-pedobaptist  principles. 

As  early  as  1525  there  seems  to  have  been  an  Anti- 
pedobaptist  organization  in  the  city  of  Steyer,1  the  strong 
hold  of  mediaeval  evangelical  life.  Even  the  names  of 
the  members  of  this  little  body  of  earnest  Christians 
have  been  preserved  and  we  are  not  left  in  ignorance  of 
the  handicrafts  by  which  they  gained  their  support.  It 
is  remarkable  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists  of  the  sixteenth  century,  as  of  the  Wal- 
denses  of  the  earlier  time,  were  artisans.  Their  ability 
to  support  themselves,  even  in  times  of  bitter  persecution, 
was  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  they  enjoyed  the  privi 
leges  of  journeymen  and  members  of  the  trade  guilds 
that  formed  so  prominent  a  feature  of  the  industrial  life 
of  the  time,  and  so  were  able,  when  driven  from  one  lo 
cality,  readily  to  find  entrance  into  another. 

Some  time  before  Hut's  visit  two  brethren  from  this 
region,  one  of  whom  was  to  attain  to  a  position  of  leader 
ship  in  the  land  of  his  adoption,  had  taken  up  their  abode 
in  Moravia.  These  were  Jacob  Wiedemann  and  Philip 
Jager,  through  whose  advocacy  the  doctrine  of  commu 
nity  of  goods  came  to  prevail  among  the  Moravian  Anti- 
pedobaptists. 

1Czerny,  "  Bauernkrieg."  p.  58. 


HUT'S  AUSTRIAN   LABORS  2OQ 

A  recent  Austrian  writer1  has  made  an  elaborate  effort 
to  prove  that  the  Anti-pedobaptists  of  Upper  Austria  rep 
resent  a  direct  development  out  of  the  persistent  Wal- 
densian  life  of  the  mediaeval  time  and  were  wholly  inde 
pendent  of  Swiss  influence.  He  seeks  to  show  that  the 
type  of  Anti-pedobaptist  teaching  that  prevailed  here 
before  Hut's  visit  was  widely  different  from  the  Swiss 
and  that  it  was  closely  conformed  to  the  mediaeval  life 
and  teaching  that  so  widely  prevailed  in  these  regions 
during  the  thirteenth  and  following  centuries.  This 
effort  can  scarcely  be  pronounced  a  complete  success. 
The  materials  for  a  comparison  with  the  Swiss  brethren 
are  not  abundant,  and  Anti-pedobaptists  in  general  had 
so  much  in  common  with  mediaeval  evangelical  parties 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  discern  in  the  position  of  those  of 
Upper  Austria  any  material  difference. 

Hans  Hut,  whom  we  have  met  as  an  influential  leader 
in  Augsburg,  and  whose  widespread  and  highly  effective 
activity  as  an  evangelist  has  been  referred  to,  was  in 
1527  at  the  height  of  his  popularity.  The  Nurnberg 
Council  described  him  in  March  of  this  year  as  follows  : 
"The  highest  and  most  eminent  patron  of  the  Baptists 
is  Johannes  Hut,  a  well-informed  and  clever  fellow,  of 
tolerably  good  physical  proportions  and  of  a  boorish 
person,  with  light-brown  cropped  hair  and  with  a  pale- 
yellow  little  beard.  His  dress  is  a  gray  and  sometimes  a 
black  riding  coat,  a  gray,  broad-brimmed  hat  and  gray 
stockings." 

He  had  just  been  driven  from  Nikolsburg,  where  he 
had  strongly  attacked  warfare  as  a  Christian  occupation, 
and  had  almost  wrecked  the  church  over  which  Hub- 
maier  and  Hans  Spitalmaier  presided,  and  of  which  the 

^icoladoni,  in  his  "  Joh.  Bunderlin."  See  Jakel's  able  critique  of  Nicoladoni  in 
his  gymnasial  address,  "  Zur  Frage  iiber  die  Entstehung  d.  Taufergemeinden  in 
Oberbsterreich." 


210  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Lords  of  Lichtenstein  were  members  and  patrons.  He 
labored  for  some  days  in  Vienna,  and  baptized  fifty  con 
verts  ;  but  the  pastor  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  congrega 
tion,  the  ex-bishop  Martin  Goschel,  resisted  him  with  such 
decision  as  to  cause  his  speedy  departure.  He  awakened 
much  interest  in  Molk,  where  he  probably  found  a  body 
of  Anti-pedobaptists,  and  was  accompanied  by  two 
prominent  and  well-to-do  citizens1  of  that  place  to  Steyer. 
At  Molk  he  baptized  about  fifteen.  At  Steyer  he  received 
marked  distinction.  The  chaplain  and  castle  preacher  of 
the  burggrave  introduced  him  into  the  houses  of  dis 
tinguished  citizens,  in  some  of  which  he  was  permitted 
to  preach.  He  evangelized  from  one  notable  house  to 
another  under  the  patronage  of  Chaplain  Jacob  Portner, 
who  was  deeply  impressed  by  Hut's  understanding  and 
exposition  of  Scripture. 

After  a  few  days  he  retired  to  the  country  for  baptizing 
and  administering  the  Supper.  This  aroused  the  author 
ities  against  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  flee.  His  adher 
ents  were  arrested,  and  the  city  incurred  the  severe 
censure  of  the  king  for  so  far  encouraging  this  dangerous 
heretic.  Chaplain  Jacob,  having  embraced  Hut's  views 
and  received  baptism  at  his  hands,  went  as  a  missionary 
to  Freistadt. 

The  provincial  authorities  invited  the  six  cities  of  the 
province  to  send  each  a  delegate  to  sit  in  council  with 
the  Steyer  authorities  for  judging  the  accused.  Of  those 
arrested  some  disclaimed  adherence  to  Hut,  and  secured 
release.  Those  who  proved  steadfast  disclaimed  any 
spirit  of  disloyalty  toward  the  government.  They  were 
accustomed  to  pray  for  the  king.  They  sought  to  obey 
the  scriptural  injunction  to  subject  themselves  to  every 
human  ordinance  for  the  Lord's  sake.  Their  meeting 

1  These  were  probably  Hieronymus  Hermann,  of  Mansee,  and  Carius  Binder.     The 
former  was  sent  forth  by  Hut  as  a  missionary  from  Steyer. 


HUT'S  EVANGELISTS  211 

together  in  brotherly  love  had  no  revolutionary  design  ; 
their  doctrine  was  not  new,  but  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 

After  several  efforts  to  secure  their  recantation  had 
failed,  the  burgomaster,  Zuvernumb,  of  Steyer,  gave  his 
opinion  to  this  effect :  "  It  is  clear  that  either  the  accused 
are  heretics  or  himself  and  all  present  are.  As  such  they 
should  be  burned,  but  as  an  act  of  mercy  they  should  be 
first  executed  with  the  sword."  A  large  majority  of  the 
council  favored  milder  measures  and  imprisonment  until 
conversion  was  finally  decided  upon. 

The  provincial  authorities  appealed  to  Vienna  against 
this  decision,  and  Ferdinand  issued  a  mandate  (March, 
1528)  requiring  the  execution  and  burning  of  those  who 
remained  obstinate,  and  insisting  that  royal  mandates 
shall  be  regarded  as  laws  to  be  executed  without  regard 
to  the  consciences  of  those  who  sit  in  judgment. 

A  number  of  executions  followed.  One  of  the  prison 
ers  testified  that  Hut  had  introduced  nothing  new  save 
the  sign  by  which  brethren  could  recognize  each  other. 
If  a  strange  brother  came  he  greeted  them  "in  the  Lord," 
and  they  thanked  him  "  in  the  Lord,"  and  they  asked  him 
whether  he  came  "before  or  after  the  Lord."  If  he 
were  a  genuine  brother  his  answer  would  be  :  "  Neither 
before  nor  after  but  with  the  Lord."  It  was  also  ordered 
that  houses  in  which  Anabaptist  meetings  had  been  held 
with  the  consent  of  the  owners  be  destroyed. 

According  to  the  testimony  of  Hieronymus  Hermann, 
of  Mansee,  a  priest  who  had  allied  himself  with  Hut,  the 
latter,  while  at  Steyer,  cast  lots  for  four  evangelists  to 
be  sent  forth  for  proclaiming  "the  faith  of  Anabaptism." 
Hermann  himself  was  one  of  the  four  chosen  ;  Leonard 
Schiemer,  a  well-educated  monkish  preacher,  afterward  a 
prominent  Anti-pedobaptist,  was  the  second  ;  a  German 
priest  (name  not  given)  the  third  ;  and  Jacob  Portner, 
the  burggrave's  chaplain,  the  fourth. 


212  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Cuntz  Schmaus  testified  that  he  had  been  won  to  the 
brotherhood  by  Hut,  and  in  company  with  him  had  gone 
from  Vienna  to  Waldeck,  and  that  in  fourteen  days  they 
had  won  one  hundred  converts  to  their  brotherhood. 
These  facts  are  given  to  show  the  rapidity  of  Hut's  move 
ments,  the  overmastering  enthusiasm  that  enabled  him 
to  gain  to  his  cause  not  only  multitudes  of  intelligent 
artisans,  but  educated  priests  and  monks  as  well,  and  his 
wonderful  ability  to  imbue  his  converts  with  his  own 
missionary  spirit  and  to  send  them  forth  as  propagators 
of  his  principles. 

The  enthusiasm  aroused  by  Hut  at  this  time  was  doubt 
less  due  in  some  measure  to  his  prophetic  utterances  with 
reference  to  the  millennium.  His  little  book  on  "The 
Seven  Seals"  set  forth  his  views  in  a  way  that  power 
fully  impressed  the  discontented  masses.  His  idea  seems 
to  have  been  that  three  and  a  half  years  after  the  Peas 
ants'  War,  that  is  in  1528,  the  godless  of  Europe  would 
be  destroyed  by  a  Turkish  invasion,  while  the  true  be 
lievers  would  take  refuge  in  various  places,  and  be  in 
readiness  for  a  new  reign  of  righteousness.  That  he 
had  any  purpose  to  resist  and  overthrow  the  magistracy 
he  denied  to  the  end.  The  Hutite  propaganda  went  for 
ward,  from  this  time  onward,  with  astonishing  rapidity, 
and  within  a  few  months  had  covered  the  whole  of  Upper 
Austria.1 

After  the  partial  suppression  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist 
cause  at  Steyer,  Linz  became  the  chief  rallying  point  of 
the  brethren.  Hut  visited  the  city  in  July.  He  gathered 
around  him  those  already  in  partial  or  complete  agree 
ment  with  his  views,  baptized  a  considerable  number, 

1  A  recent  Austrian  writer,  Nicoladoni,  says  (p.  35) :  "At  the  end  of  the  year  1527 
there  was  no  city  and  no  market-town  in  the  land  of  Upper  Austria  in  which  con 
fessors  of  the  Baptist  doctrine  had  not  permanently  or  transiently  taken  up  their 
abode ;  nay,  Baptist  churches  proper  must  have  been  formed  about  this  time  in 
almost  every  larger  place." 


ANTI-PEDOBAPTISTS  AT  LINZ  213 

filled  the  little  body  with  his  enthusiasm,  and  set  them 
to  work  preparing  for  the  kingdom  of  God  soon  to  be 
established. 

A  considerable  number  of  the  severely  persecuted 
brethren  of  Steyer  sought  homes  in  Linz,  and  for  a  time 
the  cause  prospered.  We  have  the  names  and  occupa 
tions  of  many  of  the  Linz  members.  More  important 
than  the  local  was  the  missionary  work  that  this  com 
munity  was  able  to  accomplish  in  the  surrounding  regions. 
Few  communities  furnished  to  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause 
a  larger  number  of  distinguished  leaders. 

Among  the  more  prominent  leaders  at  Linz  were 
Leonard  of  Wels,  a  schoolmaster  ;  Hans  Fischer,  former 
secretary  of  a  nobleman  ;  Jacob  Portner,  who  after  his 
departure  from  Steyer  had  led  the  Anti-pedobaptists  of 
Freistadt,  but  who  at  a  later  date  labored  for  some  time 
in  Linz  ;  and  Wolfgang  Brandhuber,  a  tailor  who  had 
lived  and  labored  for  a  time  at  Passau.  His  activity  is 
said  to  have  embraced  the  whole  of  Upper  Austria  proper 
and  the  diocese  of  Passau.  He  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  influential  leaders  of  the  time  and  his  execution, 
early  in  1531,  along  with  about  seventy  of  his  brethren 
and  sisters,  was  a  great  calamity.  Peter  Riedemann,  a 
Silesian,  afterward  to  become  a  great  leader  in  Moravia, 
labored  at  this  time  in  a  neighboring  community, 
Gmunden,  and  suffered  a  long  imprisonment  for  his  faith. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  characters  among  the  Linz 
Anti-pedobaptists  was  Ambrose  Spitalmaier.  Although 
his  labors  were  largely  in  other  communities,  it  seems 
best  to  introduce  here  some  account  of  his  teachings. 

o 

The  record  of  his  very  thorough  examination  by  the 
Erlangen  authorities  has  been  preserved  and  constitutes 
the  best  extant  statement  of  the  views  of  the  Upper 
Austrian  brethren  at  this  time.  Baptized  by  Hut  at  Linz 
in  July,  1527,  and  set  apart  by  him  as  a  preacher  of  the 


214  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

gospel,  he  seems  to  have  labored  in  and  around  Linz  till 
September.  Driven  from  his  home  he  journeyed  from 
place  to  place  everywhere  preaching  and  baptizing.  He 
visited  Augsburg,  went  thence  to  Nurnberg,  where  he 
was  entertained  by  the  saddlers'  guild,  and  passing 
through  Schwabach  and  Gunzenhausen  came  to  Erlangen 
where  he  hoped  to  find  a  certain  family  to  whom  he  had 
been  directed  by  Hut. 

He  was  arrested  at  Erlangen  about  September  twelfth, 
was  examined  repeatedly  with  the  utmost  care,  torture 
being  employed  to  some  extent,  and  after  a  few  months 
of  imprisonment  was  executed  in  February,  1528. 

Spitalmaier  was  a  man  of  marked  intelligence,  deep 
Scripture  knowledge,  and  thorough  grasp  of  religion  in 
its  inner  spiritual  sphere.  We  cannot  believe  that  his 
religious  convictions  and  experiences,  and  his  study  of 
the  Bible,  were  matters  of  recent  origin.  They  show  a 
degree  of  maturity  that  must  have  been  the  result  of 
years  of  evangelical  life  and  thought.  That  he  had  been 
under  the  influence  of  the  Lutheran  movement  is  certain, 
that  he  had  early  imbibed  the  traditions  and  modes  of 
thought  of  the  mediaeval  evangelicals  is  not  improbable. 
He  says  : 

If  any  one  desires  to  know  our  faith,  we  show  him  the  will 
of  God  clearly  in  every  creature,  to  each  according  to  his  occupa 
tion  through  his  own  tool,  as  Christ  has  taught  that  man  through 
his  handiwork,  as  through  a  book  which  God  has  given  him,  can 
recognize  his  will,  as  a  woman  through  the  flax  that  she  spins  and 
through  the  household  work  in  which  she  is  engaged.  To  sum 
up,  our  doctrine  is  nothing  else  than  that  we  teach  all  men  to  rec 
ognize  the  will  of  God  through  the  creature,  as  invisible  things 
through  the  visible  things  that  God  has  placed  before  our  eyes.  The 
chief  result  of  such  recognition  of  the  will  of  God  is  the  leading  of  a 
Christian  life.  This  is  the  fundamental  command  of  his  teaching.  .  . 
Our  teaching  is  nothing  else,  [he  says  again,]  than  from  the 
eternal,  pure  word  of  God.  Thus  if  I  (or  another)  come  to  one  who 
is  not  of  this  faith,  I  ask  him  first  of  all  whether  he  is  a  Christian, 


'AMBROSE  SPITALMAIER  21$ 

what  his  Christian  walk  is,  how  he  bears  himself  toward  his  brethren, 
whether  he  in  association  with  others  has  all  things  in  common, 
whether  any  one  among  them  suffers  want  in  respect  of  food  and 
clothing,  whether  they  practise  mutual  brotherly  admonitions. 

Brotherhood  he  regards  as  involving  a  mutual  obliga 
tion  on  the  part  of  believers  to  exhort  each  other  and  to 
guide  each  other  in  the  right  way,  if  one  or  the  other  is 
found  astray ;  to  avoid  all  unseemly  strife ;  and  to  have 
all  things  in  common,  including  spiritual  as  well  as  tem 
poral  gifts.  We  have  this  : 

He  who  as  a  member  of  Christ  would  enter  into  the  heavenly  king 
dom  on  the  day  of  judgment  must  live,  suffer,  and  die  in  such  a 
manner  as  Christ  the  head  has  died  for  us  ;  he  who  suffers  not 
with  him  will  not  inherit  with  him  ;  he  must  drink  the  cup  that  he 
has  drunk.  But  he  who  will  not  suffer  here  must  there  suffer  in 
eternal  fire. 

A  real,  genuine  Christian  should  not  have  upon  the  whole  earth  so 
much  as  standing  room  for  one  foot.  By  this  it  is  not  meant  that  he 
should  have  no  shelter  and  should  sleep  in  the  woods,  that  he  should 
call  his  own  no  farm  or  meadow  and  should  not  labor,  but  only  that 
he  should  not  believe  that  what  he  has  he  must  use  for  himself  alone 
or  say,  the  house  is  mine,  the  farm  is  mine,  the  penny  is  mine.  He 
must  rather  believe  that  his  possession  is  that  of  all  his  brethren. 

His  Christology  has  some  points  of  interest.    He  says  : 

We  hold  and  believe,  that  Christ  here  on  earth  became  a  real, 
essential  man,  such  as  we  are,  of  flesh  and  blood,  a  son  of  Mary, 
who  conceived  him,  however,  without  human  seed.  .  .  But  ac 
cording  to  his  deity  he  was  a  natural  Son  of  God  from  eternity  to 
eternity,  born  in  the  paternal  heart  through  the  Word.  .  .  With  his 
sufferings  he  has  quenched  the  eternal  wrath  of  the  Father  against 
us  and  has  procured  for  us  his  complacency. 

Again  :  "  Christ  did  not  make  satisfaction  for  the  sins 
of  the  whole  world  ;  else  no  one  would  be  damned.'' 
In  this  he  would  seem  to  be  at  one  with  the  Particular 
Baptists  of  the  later  time,  and  at  variance  with  most  of 
his  contemporaries.  Less  satisfactory  is  the  following 


216  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

statement,  which  moreover  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  with 
the  statement  already  quoted  about  the  deity  of  Christ : 
"  As  often  as  Christ  is  mentioned  in  Scripture  by  this 
name  he  is  to  be  understood  as  a  mere  man  with  flesh 
and  blood,  corporeal  and  mortal  as  ourselves  ;  therefore 
that  he  is  not  God  but  a  man,  an  instrument  through 
which  God  has  made  known  to  us  his  word."  He  would 
seem  to  have  denied  the  real  union  of  the  divine  and  the 
human  in  the  person  of  Christ,  and  the  germs  of  the 
later  anti-trinitarianism  may  have  inhered  in  his  some 
what  confused  thinking. 

Infant  baptism  he  regarded  as  not  only  superfluous, 
but  as  "a  blaspheming  of  Christ."  The  administration 
of  believers'  baptism  he  described  as  follows:  "They 
require  no  other  words  than,  '  I  baptize  thee  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,'  and 
they  take  water  in  a  dish  or  a  cup,  dip  two  fingers  in  it  and 
make  with  them  a  cross  on  the  brow  of  the  candidate." 

He  charges  with  jugglery  and  legerdemain  those  who 
maintain  that  in  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  Supper  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  contained.  They  are  de 
ceivers  of  men  and  murderers  of  souls. 

Mariolatry  is  condemned  with  the  utmost  decision. 
True  believers  have  no  special  places  of  assembly  and 
no  ecclesiastical  officers  with  authority  over  the  bodies 
of  believers. 

Spitalmaier  persistently  denied  any  hostility  to  magis 
tracy  as  such,  and  any  purpose  to  attempt  its  abolition 
by  violent  means.  He  admits  that  magistracy  is  a  divine 
institution,  but  that  "it  has  not  remained  in  God,  since 
it  has  overstepped  its  proper  function  and  does  so  still 
to-day."  He  regarded  the  magistracy  with  which  he 
was  familiar  as  "  blind  and  a  leader  of  the  blind,  since  it 
seeks  only  its  own  and  not  that  which  belongs  to  God, 
and  therefore  its  judgment  is  false."  True  Christians, 


SPITALMAIER'S  VIEWS  217 

"  being  meek  in  heart,  need  no  magistracy,  no  sword,  or 
constraint,  for  they  do  voluntarily  that  which  is  righteous. 
To  the  upright  no  law  has  been  given,  and  only  those 
Christians  who  are  such  merely  in  word  require  magistracy 
for  their  piety,  else  they  would  gouge  out  each  others' 
eyes ;  which  compulsory  piety  however  is  not  well- 
pleasing  to  God."  He  intimates  that  the  work  of  true 
Christians  is  to  proclaim  the  truth,  and  to  secure  its  ac 
ceptance  by  as  many  as  possible.  If  they  were  ten  to 
one  in  any  community  they  would  do  nothing  further 
than  to  pray  for  the  ungodly  minority  that  they  also 
might  be  enlightened  with  the  divine  light. 

Hut's  eschatological  views  had  evidently  made  a  deep 
impression  on  Spitalmaier.  He  regarded  all  the  political 
and  religious  troubles  of  the  time,  including  Turkish  in 
vasions,  as  penal  judgments  of  God.  The  last  day  he 
regarded  as  imminent,  and  interpreted  the  prophetic 
Scriptures  in  accordance  with  this  view.  Enthusiasm 
was  given  to  his  preaching  of  repentance  by  his  convic 
tion  that  the  time  was  short.  Yet  he  seems  not  to  have 
attempted  to  fix  the  exact  date  of  the  great  catastrophe. 

Another  citizen  of  Linz  who  attained  to  great  promi 
nence  abroad  was  Johannes  Bunderlin.1  From  1515 
to  1519  he  studied  in  the  University  of  Vienna.  Here 
he  came  under  the  influence  of  Humanistic  modes  of 
thought  and  was  prepared  for  his  later  radical  career. 
Returning  to  Upper  Austria  he  seems  to  have  taken  part 
in  the  evangelical  movement  that  advanced  so  rapidly 
from  1520  to  1525.  For  some  time  he  was  a  preacher  in 
the  service  of  Lord  Bartholomaus,  of  Starhemberg  (about 
1526).  It  is  probable  that  Bunderlin  came  under  the  in 
fluence  of  Anti-pedobaptist  teachings  while  engaged  in 
this  service,  his  patron's  secretary,  Hans  Fischer,  being 
among  the  earliest  Anti-pedobaptists  of  this  region.  He 

1  See  Nicoladoni,  "J.  Bunderlin." 


218  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

was  baptized  in  Augsburg,  probably  in  1526,  and  after 
spending  some  time  in  Nikolsburg,  Moravia,  under  the 
protection  of  Lichtenstein,  he  betook  himself  to  Stras- 
burg,  where  he  appeared  in  1529.  Strasburg  was  at 
this  time  the  resort  of  all  types  of  Anti-pedobaptists 
and  Mystics.  Persecuting  measures  of  a  mild  form  were 
now,  perforce,  being  introduced,  and  Bunderlin  was  called 
upon  to  give  an  account  of  himself.  Here  he  published 
several  works  in  which  he  set  forth  mystical  views  far 
more  radical  than  those  of  Denck,  and  in  some  respects 
less  evangelical  than  those  of  Schwenckfeldt. 

The  first  of  these  works  was  on  the  contents  of  Holy 
Scripture,  the  second  on  the  incarnation,  and  the  third 
(published  in  1530)  was  on  baptism.  The  aim  of  the 
last  was  to  show  that  "  water  baptism,  together  with 
other  external  usages  practised  in  the  apostolic  churches, 
are  continued  by  some  of  this  time  without  God's  com 
mand  and  the  testimony  of  Scripture."  His  thought  was 
that  baptism  was  given  to  the  apostolic  church  by  way  of 
accommodation  to  the  Jews,  "who  still  clung  to  the  let 
ter  of  the  law.  Christians  need  neither  baptism  nor  the 
Supper."  "  Christ  baptizes  in  the  Holy  Ghost  and  in 
fire,  as  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  this  has  taken 
place  in  every  believing  heart." 

Thus  by  1530  Bunderlin  had  abandoned  the  baptism  to 
which  he  had  submitted  some  years  before,  and  for  which 
he  had  thought  it  worth  his  while  to  suffer,  and  had  gone 
beyond  Denck  and  beyond  Schwenckfeldt  in  spiritualiz 
ing  Christianity  and  in  disparaging  external  ordinances. 
His  position  at  this  time  was  similar  to  that  of  Faustus 
Socinus  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  of 
the  Society  of  Friends  in  the  seventeenth. 

Freistadt  also  seems  to  have  been  invaded  by  radical 
forms  of  evangelical  life  before  Hut's  visit,  about  August, 
1527.  It  is  probable_that  Hans  Schlaffer,  an  Upper  Aus- 


GEORG   SCHOFERL  219 

trian  priest,  who  renounced  popery  in  1526  and  after 
ward  spent  some  time  with  the  Lord  of  Zelking  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Freistadt,  exerted  some  influence  in  the 
town.  This  is  rendered  probable  by  the  fact  that  a 
tract  of  his  has  been  preserved  among  the  inquisitorial 
acts  of  the  town  council.  Schlaffer  visited  Augsburg, 
Nurnberg,  Regensburg,  and  Nikolsburg  (1526-7),  and 
became  acquainted  with  most  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist 
leaders  of  the  time.  He  suffered  martyrdom  in  the 
Tyrol  early  in  1528.  A  number  of  his  writings  have 
been  preserved. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  Hut  baptized  a  considerable  num 
ber  (ten  or  twelve)  almost  immediately  after  his  arrival, 
and  organized  the  body  for  aggressive  work.  Jacob 
Portner,  whom  he  had  set  apart  for  missionary  work  at 
Steyer,  was  left  in  charge  of  the  work  at  Freistadt,  and 
may  be  regarded  as  the  pastor  of  the  church. 

Soon  after  Hut's  departure  persecution  began,  a  num 
ber  were  seized,  and  others  escaped.  Those  tried  for 
heresy  were  here,  as  elsewhere,  artisans.  This  perse 
cution  was  instigated  by  King  Ferdinand  who,  as  early  as 
August  12,  had  learned  of  the  procedures  of  Hut  and  his 
associates,  and  who  looked  upon  their  presence  as  fraught 
with  danger,  involving  "  conspiracy  and  secret  evil  prac 
tices  that  lead  to  uproar  and  insubordination."  Six  had 
been  arrested  by  August  twenty-second.  The  most  prom 
inent  of  these  was  Georg  Schoferl,  whose  confession  of 
faith  has  been  preserved.  Much  to  the  displeasure  of 
Ferdinand,  the  examination  of  the  accused  was  deferred 
until  October. 

Schoferl  and  his  companions  strenuously  denied  that 
they  had  derived  their  doctrines  from  Hut,  Zwingli,  or 
Luther,  and  insisted  that  they  had  "taken  them  from 
God's  word."  They  repudiate  the  charge  that  they 
have  submitted  to  a  "  second  baptism."  They  know  of 


220  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

only  one  baptism  authorized  by  Scripture,  and  this  is  the 
baptism  of  believers.  If  they  err  they  are  willing  to  be 
instructed. 

Schoferl's  exposition  of  the  Christian  life  represents  a 
pure  evangelical  mysticism,  like  that  of  Ambrose  Spital- 
maier,  in  which  great  stress  is  laid  on  the  renunciation  of 
self  and  all  selfish  ends,  and  a  complete  surrender  of  the 
entire  being  to  God.  Blessedness  comes  only  through 
suffering.  "  Christ  taught  the  common  people  the  gospel 
in  their  own  handicrafts,  and  did  not  have  much  to  do 
with  books,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  stiff-necked  scribes  he 
used  Scripture,  for  which  purpose  also  Scripture  must 
still  be  used,  and  not  for  the  sake  of  the  common  man  : 
for  the  common  man  can  be  more  successfully  instructed 
in  the  creatures."  In  this  we  have  another  indication  of 
the  strong  mystical  tendency  of  Upper  Austrian  Anti- 
pedobaptist  thought. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  persistent  demands  of  Ferdi 
nand  led  to  the  gradual  suppression  of  the  movement, 
and  by  1530  few  traces  of  it  remained.  It  may  be  re 
marked  that  most  of  those  originally  arrested  were  in 
duced  to  purchase  their  freedom  by  renouncing  their 
faith. 

Hut  visited  a  number  of  other  places  and  sent  mis 
sionaries  into  communities  that  he  could  not  personally 
reach.  During  the  years  1527-8  Anti-pedobaptist  con 
gregations,  greater  or  smaller,  more  or  less  completely 
organized,  existed  in  Wels,  Gmunden,  Lambach,  Haag, 
Ried,  Scharding,  Brunau,  Obenberg,  St.  Florian,  Grein, 
Vocklapruck,  and  probably  in  many  other  places  in  Upper 
Austria. 

In  close  sympathy  with  the  movement  in  Upper  Aus 
tria  and  the  still  more  important  and  persistent  one  in 
the  Tyrol,  Styria,  Carniola,  and  Salzburg  were  from 
1527  onward  seriously  affected  by  this  type  of  teaching. 


MORAVIAN   INFLUENCE  221 

Royal  mandates  and  remonstrances,  royal  commissions 
for  the  inquisition  of  heresy,  executions  and  banishments 
were  here,  as  elsewhere,  the  order  of  the  day. 

As  the  Anti-pedobaptist  communities  were  transient  in 
their  nature,  and  as  few  leaders  of  outstanding  influence 
appeared  in  those  regions,  such  details  as  have  come  to 
light  add  little  to  our  knowledge  of  their  thought  and 
life. 

Moravia  became  the  great  place  of  refuge  for  the  per 
secuted  people  of  these  and  of  other  lands ;  and  if  from 
time  to  time  in  later  years  Anti-pedobaptist  life  reap 
peared,  it  was  for  the  most  part  due  to  the  active  encour 
agement  of  the  vigorous  and  well-organized  brotherhood 
that  so  long  prospered  in  that  goodly  land. 

Literature:  Pertinent  works  of  Nicoladoni,  Jakel,  Beck,  Preger, 
Czerny,  Loserth,  as  in  the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

MORAVIA  AND  BOHEMIA  (1528  ONWARD) 

SOON  after  Hubmaier's  removal  from  Nikolsburg  the 
controversy  between  Wiedemann  and  Jager  on 
the  one  hand  and  Spitalmaier  on  the  other  became 
acute.  The  conduct  of  the  Lichtensteins  in  delivering  up 
Hubmaier  to  death  had  certainly  not  tended  to  weaken 
the  party  that  rejected  magistracy  and  insisted  on  com 
munity  of  goods.  The  unfaithfulness  of  this  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  noble,  as  seen  in  his  readiness  to  sacrifice  his 
brethren  to  appease  the  royal  fury  and  make  secure  his 
possessions,  was  an  object-lesson  of  the  most  effective 
kind. 

With  Wiedemann  and  Jager  community  of  goods  was 
of  the  very  essence  of  Christianity.  Their  agitation  of 
this  question  in  season  and  out  of  season  brought  com 
motion  into  the  community.  Spitalmaier  publicly  re 
quested  his  followers  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  Wiede 
mann  and  Jager  and  applied  to  them  contemptuous 
epithets.  Lichtenstein  could  not  tolerate  schism,  and 
while  he  was  sorry  to  lose  so  large  a  number  of  valuable 
settlers,  or  to  do  anything  that  savored  of  intolerance,  he 
felt  constrained  to  send  away  those  who  could  not  con 
scientiously  abide  by  the  existing  order.  Yet  he  did 
everything  in  his  power  to  insure  them  against  loss  and 
unnecessary  hardship,  and  personally  accompanied  them 
to  the  river  that  bounded  his  territory,  urging  them 
meanwhile  to  return  and  live  at  peace  with  the  Nikolsburg 
pastor.  They  were  inexorable,  however,  and  proceeded 
on  their  way  toward  Austerlitz. 

When  they  had  reached  Neusslaw  they  sent  a  deputa- 

222 


BLAWERMEL  AND  SCHARDING  223 

tion  to  the  Austerlitz  authorities  to  lay  before  them  g 
frank  statement  of  their  views  and  wishes.  They  were 
cordially  invited  to  settle  and  were  assured  that  a  thou 
sand  such  would  be  welcome.  Wagons  were  sent  to  con 
vey  the  weary  pilgrims  to  the  city,  where  they  were 
treated  with  the  utmost  kindness.  They  were  provided 
with  a  desirable  site  for  a  communal  house  and  with 
building  materials. 

With  the  approval  of  the  authorities,  brethren  were 
sent  into  other  lands,  especially  the  Tyrol,  for  reinforce 
ments.  The  severe  persecution  in  the  Tyrol,  Salzburg, 
and  in  Upper  Austria  in  general  (1529-33),  made  their  mis 
sion  an  easy  one.  Jacob  Huter  was  sent  by  his  Tyrolese 
brethren  toward  the  close  of  1529  to  confer  with  them 
as  regards  doctrine  and  practice.  His  report  was  so 
favorable  that  large  numbers  soon  emigrated.  Huter 
himself  remained  in  the  Tyrol  looking  after  the  perse 
cuted  flocks  until  1531  when  he  made  a  second  visit  to 
Austerlitz,  which  as  we  shall  see  was  of  the  utmost  im 
portance  in  the  history  of  the  movement. 

As  early  as  1527-28  we  find  Anti-pedobaptist  com 
munities  at  Znaim,  Eibenschitz,  Briin,  and  Rossnitz.  At 
Rossnitz,  Gabriel  Scharding  (Ascherham),  a  Bavarian  fur 
rier,  had  gathered  the  people  and  was  acting  as  their 
minister.  On  the  arrival  of  Philip  Blawermel,  a  Swabian 
weaver,  who  seems  to  have  enjoyed  in  a  large  measure 
the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  majority  of  the  com 
munity,  especially  of  those  who  had  come  from  Swabia, 
Hesse,  and  the  Palatinate,  Gabriel  withdrew  from  the 
position  of  leadership  in  his  favor.  The  community  hav 
ing  grown  inconveniently  large  and  difficulties  having 
arisen  between  Philip  and  Gabriel  and  their  adherents, 
Philip  removed  to  Auspitz  with  a  colony  of  five  or  six 
hundred  adults.  Gabriel  was  now  at  the  head  of  a  com 
munity  of  about  twelve  hundred  adults  and  afterward 


224  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

attained  to  a  still  more  influential  position  as  pastor  of 
the  united  communities  of  Rdssnitz,  Auspitz,  and  Auster- 
litz.  The  reconciliation  of  parties  and  the  union  of  com 
munities  was  due  to  the  influence  of  Jacob  Huter  and 
marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Moravian  Anti-pedobap- 
tists. 

Between  Huter's  first  and  second  visits  (1529-1531)  a 
lamentable  schism  had  occurred  in  the  Austerlitz  com 
munity.  In  the  expressive  words  of  the  chronicler :  "In 
the  meantime  it  came  about,  inasmuch  as  the  devil  does 
not  rest  but  goes  about  the  house  of  God  like  a  roaring 
lion,  seeking  on  all  sides  opportunity  to  introduce  division 
and  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  order  that  he 
may  destroy  that  which  is  godly,  he  attacked  it  in  the 
most  favorable  place,  namely  in  the  elders  of  the  church, 
because  the  life  of  the  whole  people  stands  in  them." 

The  occasion  of  the  trouble  v/as  Wilhelm  Reublin, 
whom  we  have  learned  to  know  as  one  of  the  earliest, 
ablest,  most  eloquent,  and  most  successful  of  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  preachers.  One-eyed  Jacob  had  lost  none  of  his 
zeal  for  community  of  goods  and  his  zeal  for  sole  leader 
ship  was  just  as  marked.  Jacob  was  one  of  those  narrow, 
unamiable,  stern,  domineering  ministers,  whom  people 
grow  weary  of,  but  from  whose  authority  they  find  it 
difficult  to  escape.  It  might  have  been  expected  that 
with  so  large  a  community  on  his  hands  he  would  have 
invited  the  zealous  and  accomplished  Reublin,  who  had 
suffered  so  much  for  the  faith,  to  assist  him.  But  no  ! 
Though  absent  much  of  the  time  he  positively  and  per 
sistently  refused  to  have  another  share  his  work.  Mur- 
murings  naturally  multiplied. 

Some  of  the  young  sisters  had  shown  a  reluctance  to 
enter  into  matrimonial  relations  with  the  marriageable 
brethren.  One-eyed  Jacob  in  his  usual  energetic  style 
had  told  the  sisters  that  if  they  persisted  in  their  ob- 


WILHELM  REUBLIN  225 

stinacy  he  "  would  be  obliged  to  give  the  brethren 
heathen  wives,"  and  thereby  had  scandalized  many. 
The  sisters  also  complained  that  he  "  troubled  them  with 
strange  questions,"  that  he  gave  them  lessons  to  learn, 
and  that  "  those  who  succeeded  in  learning  them  and 
answered  the  questions  skillfully  were  praised,  while  the 
simple  and  stupid,  but  yet  true  and  pious,  were  thereby 
held  up  to  ridicule  and  shame."  Much  sighing,  com 
plaining,  and  murmuring  arose  among  the  people  in  con 
sequence  of  the  failure  of  some  of  the  members  to  con 
form  strictly  to  the  rigorous  rules  of  the  community. 
Some  were  obliged  to  withdraw  to  other  houses  for  lack 
of  room  in  the  communal  house.  Some  were  known  to 
have  "  gone  to  market  and  to  have  purchased  whatever 
they  desired,"  and  to  have  "sent  food  and  drink  to  each 
other."  The  Tyrolese  brethren  complained  that  the 
teaching  was  not  so  edifying  as  that  to  which  they  had 
been  accustomed.  Many  objected  to  the  communistic 
method  of  bringing  up  children. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  could  hardly  have  been  ex 
pected  that  Reublin  should  wholly  abstain  from  exercis 
ing  his  gifts,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  "he  had  not 
been  called  to  the  office  of  teacher  "  in  the  community. 
One-eyed  Jacob,  who  was  absent  when  Reublin  began 
to  hold  meetings  for  the  exposition  of  Scripture,  did  not 
fail  on  his  return  to  resent  this  encroachment  on  his 
authority.  He  promptly  called  together  "all  the  elders 
in  the  land,"  and  with  their  concurrence,  publicly  de 
nounced  Reublin  for  this  breach  of  church  order.  Reublin 
entreated  them  "for  God's  sake  to  give  him  an  oppor 
tunity  to  reply."  This  was  peremptorily  refused,  and 
forty  or  fifty  of  Reublin's  friends  refused  to  have  any 
thing  further  to  do  with  the  majority  until  this  righteous 
request  should  be  accorded. 

Georg  Zaunring,  a  minister  in  the  church,  was  among 


226  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Reublin's  most  zealous  supporters.  One-eyed  Jacob 
warned  the  people  against  Reublin  and  Zaunring  in  lan 
guage  so  intemperate  that  about  one  hundred  more  went 
over  to  their  side.  But  Jacob  was  master  of  the  situa 
tion,  for  he  had  absolute  control  of  the  entire  commissariat. 
The  starvation  argument  has  rarely  been  applied  with 
more  heartlessness.  "  Zaunring  and  Reublin,  together 
with  the  people,  appeared  before  the  house  quite  sad  at 
heart.  Then  Reublin  shook  off  the  dust  from  his  shoes 
over  all  that  remained  with  Jacob  for  a  testimony  of  their 
false  and  unrighteous  judgment." 

With  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  followers,  Zaunring 
and  Reublin  made  their  way  to  Auspitz.  There  "they 
were  obliged  to  endure  great  hunger  and  need,  and  often 
had  to  live  and  labor  on  "  water  and  a  morsel  of  bread  the 
whole  day."  Robbers  also  attacked  them  and  beat  some 
of  them  to  death.  "  Deep  calleth  unto  deep,"  is  the  re 
flection  of  the  chronicler. 

The  Auspitz  and  Austerlitz  churches  each  sent  two 
delegates  to  the  brethren  in  the  Tyrol  with  the  request 
that  the  latter  would  appoint  two  of  their  number  to  in 
vestigate  the  difficulties  that  had  arisen  and  to  adjudicate 
on  them.  Jacob  Huter  and  Sigismund  Schutzinger  were 
appointed.  A  pitiful  charge  against  poor  Reublin  was 
trumped  up,  to  the  effect  that  when  he  had  fallen  into  a 
severe  illness  he  was  found  to  have  "  reserved  forty 
florins  that  he  had  brought  with  him  from  home."  On 
the  strength  of  this  charge  and  that  of  his  alleged  irreg 
ularity  in  setting  himself  up  as  a  teacher  without  due 
authorization,  Huter  and  Schutzinger  excluded  him  as  "a 
lying,  unfaithful,  malignant  Ananias."  Such  treatment 
did  one  of  the  noblest  of  ministers  receive  at  the  hands 
of  his  brethren.1 

1  Reublin's  name  disappears  entirely  from  the  Chronicle  from  this  time.    Recently 
an  order  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  (Feb.,  1559)  was  discovered  by  Bossert  in  the  Inns- 


RECKLESS  CHURCH   DISCIPLINE  227 

Reublin  humiliated  and  driven  out,  the  attention  of  the 
church  was  soon  called  to  the  "fleshly  freedom  "  con 
tained  in  the  teachings  of  Avan  Schlegel.  This  "fleshly 
freedom  "  seems  to  have  been  nothing  more  serious  than 
a  mild  protest  against  the  communism  that  Jacob  Wiede- 
mann  was  enforcing.  Schlegel  was  promptly  deposed 
from  his  office  and  forbidden  to  teach,  as  was  also  his 
principal  supporter  Burkhardt  von  Ofen.  These  com 
plained  of  the  treatment  they  had  received  and  were 
thereupon  excommunicated.  Bohemian  David  brought 
upon  himself  the  censure  of  the  church  by  "  promising  to 
pay  and  paying  the  authorities  of  Nicholshitz  for  some 
guards  "  to  protect  his  party  from  robbers  on  their  way 
to  Auspitz.  George  Zaunring  was  deposed  from  his 
office  and  excluded  from  the  church  for  receiving  back 
his  wife  who  had  committed  adultery. 

As  a  natural  result  of  so  reckless  an  exercise  of  dis 
cipline  the  church  soon  found  itself  "destitute  of  pastors 
and  teachers"  and  with  only  "ministers  of  temporal 
need,"  or  deacons.  The  Tyrolese  brethren  were  then 
requested  to  "come  to  their  help  with  ministers." 
Huter  and  Schutzinger  again  visited  them  and  secured 
the  reunion  of  the  three  churches,  Rossnitz,  Auspitz,  and 
Austerlitz.  Schutzinger  remained  as  pastor  of  the  Auster- 
litz  division,  Gabriel  continuing  at  Rossnitz  as  head  pas 
tor  of  the  tripartite  church  and  Philip  retaining  leadership 
at  Auspitz. 

Huter  returned  to  the  Tyrol,  whence  he  sent  "one 
crowd  of  people  after  another  to  Schutzinger  and  the 
church."  In  1533  Huter  himself,  with  many  others,  re- 

bruck  archives,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  Wilhelm  Reble  (this  was  a  common  way 
of  writing  his  name)  had  made  a  long  journey  to  lay  before  the  emperor  a  request  for 
aid  in  securing  his  inheritance  at  Rottenburg.  He  is  spoken  of  as  very  old  and  his 
residence  is  given  as  Znaim,  Moravia.  How  he  spent  the  intervening  twenty-eight 
years,  we  know  not.  An  Anti-pedobaptist  church  of  the  Swiss  type  is  known  to  have 
persisted  at  Znaim  until  1591.  It  is  probable  that  he  quietly  ministered  to  this  body. 


228  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

moved  to  Auspitz,  where  he  was  most  cordially  received. 
To  Schutzinger  and  the  rest  of  the  brethren  that  greeted 
him  he  said  that  he  had  "  not  come  as  to  strangers  but  as 
to  dear  brethren."  He  was  asked  to  assist  in  the  pas 
toral  care  of  the  church,  which  he  was  by  no  means  re 
luctant  to  do.  For  the  past  two  years  he  had  been  rec 
ognized  as  the  foremost  leader  of  the  entire  connection 
in  Austria  and  its  dependencies,  and  had  practically  ruled 
the  Moravian  and  the  Tyrolese  churches.  Being  still  at 
the  height  of  his  zeal  and  activity  he  could  not  be  ex 
pected,  as  a  member  of  the  triparite  church,  to  remain  in 
a  subordinate  position.  Gabriel  could  not  begin  to  cope 
with  him  as  regards  administrative  ability  or  popular 
power.  He  soon  found  occasion  to  exclude  from  the 
church  his  former  colleague,  Schutzinger,  along  with  his 
chief  sympathizers,  for  failure  to  conform  strictly  to  the 
principle  of  community  of  goods. 

Philip  and  Gabriel  resisted  Huter's  high-handed  meas 
ures  and  a  complete  division  ensued  between  the  Huter- 
ites  and  the  Philippists.  "  The  Philippists  would  neither 
work,  sit,  eat,  nor  drink  with  the  Huterites."  The  latter, 
owing  to  the  great  force  of  character  and  administrative 
ability  of  their  leader,  soon  became  the  principal  party 
and  gradually  absorbed  the  Gabrielite  and  Philippist  fac 
tions. 

In  1535  began  the  first  great  persecution  of  the  Mora 
vian  Anti-pedobaptists.  The  edict  of  Speier  had  not 
been  executed  with  much  rigor  in  Moravia,  but  the 
abominations  of  the  Munster  Kingdom  (1534-35)  had  in 
tensified  the  alarm  that  already  prevailed  among  the 
rulers  of  Europe  in  consequence  of  the  spread  of  Anti- 
pedobaptism.  There  was  no  longer  any  excuse  for  toler 
ation.  The  Moravians  and  related  bodies  professed,  to 
be  sure,  the  utmost  abhorrence  of  the  Munster  proce 
dures,  but  their  own  social  ideas  were  completely  out  of 


PERSECUTION  IN  MORAVIA  229 

harmony  with  the  views  of  civil  government  that  pre 
vailed,  and  the  general  prevalence  of  their  principles  and 
views  would  mean  the  complete  subversion  of  the  exist 
ing  order,  to  say  nothing  of  the  possibility  that  under 
favorable  circumstances  they  might  attempt  to  set  up  the 
kingdom  of  God  in  Munster  fashion. 

The  Moravian  nobles,  highly  as  they  prized  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists  as  peaceable  and  industrious  subjects,  could 
no  longer  resist  the  demand  of  King  Ferdinand  for  their 
extermination.  Many  of  the  unhappy  people  were  de 
stroyed.  Their  communities  were  ruthlessly  broken  up 
and  under  circumstances  of  the  greatest  hardship  their 
members  were  scattered  far  and  wide.  Yet  their  scat 
tering  was  not  disorderly.  On  the  contrary,  the  mem 
bers  were  systematically  divided  up  into  small  groups  of 
eight  or  ten,  each  with  a  director,  and  wherever  a  group 
settled  they  were  in  a  position  at  once  to  form  the 
nucleus  of  a  new  community.  Huter  returned  to  the 
Tyrol,  where,  as  we  have  already  seen,  he  was  arrested 
toward  the  end  of  the  year  and  after  suffering  terrible 
tortures  was  burned  at  the  stake,  February  25,  1536. 
Thus  died  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  energetic  of  the 
leaders  of  the  party,  after  ten  years  of  highly  fruitful 
service  in  the  Tyrol  and  Moravia. 

The  fierceness  of  persecution  soon  subsided,  as  the 
Moravian  nobility  were  careful  not  to  go  beyond  what 
the  exigencies  of  the  case  required.  Hans  Amon  be 
came  the  leader  of  the  Huterite  party  after  the  depart 
ure  of  Huter  and  retained  the  position  until  his  death 
in  1542.  During  his  leadership  many  new  "house 
holds,"  as  the  communistic  churches  were  called,  were 
formed  in  Moravia,  and  several  in  Austria  and  Bohemia. 
It  was  their  communism  more  than  anything  else  that 
stood  in  the  way  of  their  securing  toleration,  yet  they 
"were  resolved,  by  God's  help,  to  die  rather  than  give 


230  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

up  community  of  goods."  In  1542  Hans  Amon,  "a  true 
evangelical  servant  of  Christ  and  superintendent  of  the 
whole  church  of  God,  after  he  had  suffered  many  con 
flicts  and  trials,  after  he  had  imparted  to  us,  his  fellow- 
believers,  much  wholesome  doctrine,  with  peaceful  heart 
fell  asleep  in  the  Lord  at  Stackowitz  in  Moravia."  He 
designated  as  his  successor  Leonard  Lanzenstiel,  with 
whom  the  brethren  soon  associated  Peter  Riedemann,  the 
ablest  literary  exponent  of  their  principles.  To  him  we 
are  indebted  for  an  admirable  statement  of  the  doctrine 
and  practice  of  the  party.1 

Besides  the  Huterites,  Philippists,  and  Gabrielites, 
there  were  still  in  1543  several  congregations  of  ''Swiss 
Brethren,"  or  followers  of  the  early  Swiss  leaders  and 
of  Hubmaier.  These  rejected  community  of  goods,  paid 
the  "  blood-tax,"  and,  according  to  their  opponents,  were 
neglectful  of  discipline.  During  Riedemann's  able  ad 
ministration  of  the  Huterite  party  many  of  the  Philip 
pists,  Gabrielites,  and  Swiss  Brethren2  united  with  the 
more  vigorous  party.  In  1550  there  were  seventeen 
"ministers  of  the  word,"  thirty-one  "ministers  of 
need,"  and  about  twenty-five  "households"  in  the 
Huterite  connection. 

The  years  1547-54  are  called  by  the  chronicler  "the 
time  of  great  persecution."  Previous  persecutions  were 
as  nothing  compared  with  this.  Many  took  refuge  in 
Hungary,  where  some  of  the  nobles  received  them 
kindly,  but  most  of  them  returned  to  Moravia  in  1549 

1  See  Riedemann's  "  Rechenschafft  unserer  Religion,"  reprinted  in  Calvary's  Mit- 
theilungen,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  256-417. 

2  These  were  the  followers  of  Hubmaier,  who  under  the  protection  of  Lichtenstein 
and  others  had  congregations  at  Bergen,  Pohlau,  Wisternitz,  Voitsbrunn,  Tasswitz, 
Urban,  Seletitz,  Jamnitz,  Muschau,  and  Znaim.     Oswald  Glait,  one  of  Hubmaier's 
earliest   and  ablest  Moravian  converts,  labored  in  this   interest  till  his  death  at 
Vienna  by  drowning  in  1545.     A  body  of  Swiss  Brethren  existed  at  Znaim  in  1591, 
and  one  at  Eibenschitz  persisted  till  1618  or  later.    See  Beck,  "  Geschichts-Bvicher," 
p.  152. 


INDUSTRY  AND  PROSPERITY  231 

when  the  fierceness  of  persecution  had  somewhat 
abated.  The  narrative  of  this  persecution  is  full  of 
mournful  interest  and  bears  ample  witness  to  the  stead 
fastness  of  the  brethren.  It  is  remarkable  that  they 
rapidly  increased  in  numbers  even  during  this  time  of 
great  suffering.  "  Many  became  pious,  amended  their 
lives,  took  the  cross  upon  them,  more  than  often  after 
ward  in  good  times." 

With  1554  began  what  the  chronicler  calls  "the  good 
time  of  the  church,"  and  it  continued  with  slight  inter 
ruptions  till  1592.  During  this  long  period  the  brethren 
enjoyed  unbounded  prosperity.  Their  churches  and  min 
isters  multiplied.  When  the  Emperor  Maximilian  urged 
the  Moravian  nobles  to  renew  the  persecution  in  1567, 
they  replied  that  the  country  would  suffer  great  loss  from 
being  thus  deprived  of  its  best  mechanics  and  laborers. 
When  he  insisted  that  they  must  be  expelled  within  a 
year,  the  nobles  protested  that  this  was  impossible,  as 
the  people  would  sooner  be  beaten  to  death  than  go  forth 
they  knew  not  whither.  Maximilian  was  not  noted  for 
persecuting  zeal  and  was  not  inclined  to  press  the  matter 
to  extremes. 

According  to  contemporary  accounts  the  Moravian 
Anti-pedobaptists  were  highly  skilled  in  the  various  me 
chanical  arts  as  well  as  in  agriculture  and  stock-raising. 
Their  cutlery,  linens,  and  cloths  are  said  to  have  been 
the  best  of  their  kind.  Their  courts  were  called  the  bee 
hives  of  the  land.  Order,  cleanliness,  sobriety,  and 
earnestness  are  said  to  have  been  manifest  in  their  whole 
demeanor.  Their  widows  and  orphans  were  carefully 
provided  for  and  pauperism  was  unknown.  The  nobles 
gladly  frequented  their  baths,  of  which  they  maintained 
a  number.  The  best  of  horses  came  forth  from  their 
stables.  They  had  almost  a  monopoly  in  several 
branches  of  manufacture.  The  Moravian  landlords, 


232  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Catholic  and  others,  were  glad  to  put  them  in  charge  of 
their  farms,  mills,  wine  cellars,  etc.  ;  for  they  were 
known  to  be  not  only  capable  but  strictly  trustworthy. 
The  communities  became  wealthy  ;  but  they  used  their 
surplus  means  in  succoring  needy  brethren  in  other 
places  and  such  as  were  constantly  coming  to  live  among 
them. 

Even  during  this  prosperous  period  they  were  heavily 
taxed  and  depredations  were  frequently  made  upon  them. 
Times  of  scarcity,  almost  of  famine,  are  recorded  now  and 
again  ;  but  they  made  little  of  providential  afflictions  or 
of  slight  annoyances.  About  1622  they  are  said  to  have 
numbered  in  all  Moravia  seventy  thousand.1 

From  1592  onward  their  history  is  that  of  misfortune 
and  gradual  decline.  The  Jesuits  were  on  their  track, 
and  we  know  full  well  what  that  meant.  The  Thirty 
Years'  War  devastated  the  land,  though  not  to  the  same 
extent  as  Bohemia.  After  suffering  indescribable  hard 
ships  during  those  perilous  times,  these  hardy,  industri 
ous  Anti-pedobaptists  still  constituted  a  vigorous  party  at 
the  close  of  the  war  in  1648. 

From  1651  onward  they  were  utterly  ruined  by  inva 
sions  of  Germans,  Turks,  and  Tartars,  and  by  1665  they 
had  been  reduced  to  such  misery  that  they  felt  con 
strained  to  petition  the  Mennonites  in  the  Netherlands  for 
aid.  Many  of  them  were  taken  captive  by  the  Turks 
and  conveyed  to  the  far  East.  The  Roman  Catholic 
authorities,  urged  on  by  the  Jesuits,  massacred  them 
mercilessly.  According  to  the  chronicler,  "Some  were 
torn  to  pieces  on  the  rack,  some  were  burned  to  ashes 
and  powder,  some  were  roasted  on  pillars,  some  were 
torn  with  red-hot  tongs,  some  were  shut  up  in  houses  and 
burned  in  masses,  some  were  hanged  on  trees,  some 

1See  Merian,  "  Topographia   Bohemiae,  Moravice,  et  Silesias,"  p.  46,  quoted  by 
Loserth. 


A  SURVIVING  REMNANT  233 

were  executed  with  the  sword,  some  were  plunged  into 
the  water,  many  had  gags  put  into  their  mouths  so  that 
they  could  not  speak  and  were  thus  led  away  to  death. 
Like  sheep  and  lambs  crowds  of  them  were  led  away  to 
be  slaughtered  and  butchered.  Others  were  starved  or 
allowed  to  rot  in  noisome  prisons.  Many  had  holes 
burned  through  their  backs  and  were  left  in  this  con 
dition.  Like  owls  and  bitterns  they  dared  not  go  abroad 
by  day,  but  lived  and  crouched  in  rocks  and  caverns,  in 
wild  forests,  in  caves  and  pits.  Many  were  hunted  down 
with  hounds  and  catchpoles,"  etc. 

"  Whence  does  it  arise,"  wrote  one  of  their  Roman 
Catholic  persecutors,  "that  the  Anabaptists  so  joyfully 
and  confidently  suffer  the  death  penalty  ?  They  dance 
and  spring  into  the  fire,  they  behold  the  glittering  sword 
with  undaunted  hearts,  they  speak  and  preach  to  the 
people  with  smiling  mouths,  they  sing  psalms  till  the 
soul  goes  out,  they  die  with  joy  as  if  they  were  in  a 
festive  company,  they  remain  strong,  confident,  stead 
fast  even  unto  death."  Like  Luther,  Faber  attributed 
these  phenomena  to  Satanic  influence. 

"The  holy  land  into  which  God  brought  them"  no 
longer  afforded  them  a  refuge.  Many  of  them  escaped 
to  Hungary  and  Siebenburgen  where  they  maintained 
themselves  in  gradually  diminishing  numbers  until  they 
became  extinct  about  1762.  A  number  of  families  re 
moved  to  Wischeuka  in  Southern  Russia,  where  they  per 
sisted  until  the  present  century.  The  remnant  removed 
in  1874  to  South  Dakota,  where,  to  the  number  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty-two  communicants,  in  five  organiza 
tions,  they  still  maintain  the  faith  and  the  customs  of 
Jacob  Huter.1 

The  historical  documents  of  the  Moravian  Anti-pedo- 
baptists  show  us  a  people  of  marvelous  steadfastness  and 

JSee  Carroll,  "  The  Religious  Forces  of  the  United  States."  p.  213. 


234  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

undaunted  courage.  No  more  heroic  martyrology  exists. 
They  evidently  had  not  the  slightest  misgivings  as  to  their 
position,  and  they  considered  the  smallest  of  their  pecu 
liarities  well  worth  dying  for.  Side  by  side  with  this  un 
swerving  loyalty  to  conviction  and  intimately  related  to 
it  we  find  a  certain  narrowness  and  punctiliousness,  an 
incapacity  to  bear  with  each  other  in  minor  differences,  a 
willingness  to  throw  a  whole  community  into  turmoil  and 
thus  to  hinder  religious  work  and  jeopardize  their  tolera 
tion  by  the  authorities  on  account  of  some  slight  per 
sonal  disagreement  or  some  slight  breach  of  discipline. 

Unable  to  tolerate  each  other  in  minor  differences,  we 
could  not  expect  to  find  among  them  any  due  appreci 
ation  of  the  religious  character  of  those  who  were  at 
variance  with  them  on  fundamental  points.  Their  ex 
treme  bigotry  could  not  fail  to  make  them  hateful  to  those 
who  did  not  share  their  peculiar  views. 

Community  of  goods,  as  we  have  seen,  was  regarded 
by  them  as  fundamental.  It  constituted  one  of  the  chief 
grounds  of  suspicion  against  them  and  encouraged  to  the 
utmost  extreme  separatism  and  bigotry.  It  involved  a 
surrender  of  personal  freedom  not  conducive  to  the  high 
est  spiritual  development.  It  rendered  it  possible  for  the 
head  pastor  and  other  officials  to  tyrannize  over  their 
brethren.  It  gave  occasion  to  jealousies  and  murmur- 
ings  and  an  unwholesome  disposition  to  pry  into  each 
other's  affairs.  It  practically  destroyed  family  life  by 
separating  infants  from  their  mothers  and  bringing  them 
up  together  in  communal  nurseries.  It  excluded  from 
the  community  the  nobility  and  the  gentry,  many  of 
whom  openly  sympathized  with  them  in  their  main  posi 
tions,  but  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  surrender  property 
and  rank  and  to  enter  into  communal  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  feature  of  their  system  was 
highly  attractive  to  the  poor  and  oppressed  and  doubtless 


DOCTRINE  AND  POLITY  235 

attracted  a  far  larger  number  than  it  repelled.  It  gave  to 
the  brethren  a  certain  solidarity  and  harmony  of  action 
that  enabled  them  to  hold  together  and  to  multiply  in  the 
face  of  bitter  persecution  and  readily  to  meet  the  chari 
table  demands  made  upon  them  by  the  constant  influx  of 
persecuted  and  impoverished  brethren  from  the  West. 
Apart  from  their  communism,  their  treatment  by  the 
civil  authorities  being  supposed  to  be  the  same,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  they  could  have  maintained  a  separate 
existence  at  all  during  the  seventeenth  century. 

Their  doctrinal  position  was  in  general  identical  with 
that  of  the  great  Anti-pedobaptist  body  and  with  that  of 
the  principal  mediaeval  evangelical  parties.  They  ac 
cepted  heartily  the  Apostles'  Creed  ;  they  seem  to  have 
been  free  from  chiliasm  ;  and  they  were  decidedly  anti- 
Augustinian  in  their  anthropology.  Their  views  of  the 
will,  original  sin,  universal  redemption,  and  related  doc 
trines,  were  similar  to  those  of  evangelical  Arminians. 
As  regards  the  subjects  and  the  aim  of  baptism  they 
were  entirely  at  one  with  modern  Baptists,  but  they  did 
not  come  to  see  the  importance  of  immersion  as  the 
apostolic  mode.  They  were  uncompromising  in  restrict 
ing  the  Lord's  Supper  to  those  who  had  been  baptized 
into  their  fellowship  and  were  in  good  standing.  Their 
views  on  oaths,  magistracy,  warfare,  capital  punishment, 
etc.,  were  those  of  the  mediaeval  evangelical  parties,  of 
nearly  all  the  Anabaptists  (including  the  Mennonites), 
and  of  the  later  Society  of  Friends. 

Their  church  polity,  apart  from  the  communistic  or 
ganization  already  described,  was  as  follows  :  The  en 
tire  Huterite  brotherhood,  with  its  local  organizations  or 
households,  was  presided  over  by  a  head  pastor  or 
bishop  (in  this  also  they  followed  the  Waldenses  and  the 
Bohemian  Brethren)  appointed  by  representatives  of  the 
entire  body.  Under  the  head  pastor  were  in  each  local 


236  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

congregation  "  ministers  of  the  word  "  and  "  ministers  of 
need."  These  officers,  while  they  are  commonly  desig 
nated  as  artisans  of  one  sort  or  other,  in  prosperous  and 
aggressive  times  devoted  themselves  largely  to  religious 
work,  sometimes  traveling  into  remote  regions  to  minis 
ter  to  persecuted  and  scattered  flocks  and  to  labor  for  the 
conversion  of  souls. 

Like  the  mediaeval  parties  already  referred  to  and  most 
of  the  other  Anti-pedobaptists,  they  were  somewhat 
narrow  and  one-sided  as  regards  occupations.  Merchan 
dizing,  money-lending,  and  inn-keeping,  were  strictly  pro 
hibited  as  immoral  or  as  inconsistent  with  the  simplicity 
of  the  gospel  ;  while  physical  labor  was  exalted  and 
every  member  of  the  community  was  taught  to  work. 
A  more  industrious  community  probably  never  existed. 

In  Bohemia  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  never  attained 
to  important  proportions.  The  proclamation  of  Thomas 
Munzer  in  1521  in  the  Bethlehem  chapel  at  Prague,  no 
doubt  caused  considerable  commotion  at  the  time  and 
met  with  some  response  from  those  who  had  been  under 
Taborite  influence  ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  his 
visit  resulted  in  any  organized  effort  for  the  carrying  out 
of  his  scheme.  Hans  Hut's  labors  in  Upper  Austria  in 
1626-27  undoubtedly  made  some  impression  on  the  neigh 
boring  parts  of  Bohemia.  A  congregation  had  been  or 
ganized  at  Krumau  some  time  before  1529,  when,  under 
the  stress  of  persecution,  eighty  of  its  members  went  to 
Moravia  and  united  with  the  Huterite  party.  They  were 
led  by  Hans  Amon,  who  as  we  have  seen,  afterward  be 
came  the  head  pastor  of  the  connection. 

The  repudiation  of  Anabaptism  by  the  Bohemian 
Brethren  in  1534,  in  order  to  escape  the  operation  of  the 
laws  against  Anabaptists  and  to  distinguish  themselves 
from  this  aggressive  form  of  Christianity,  was  from  one 
point  of  view  a  hindrance  and  from  another  a  help  to  the 


GEORG  ZOBEL  237 

Anti-pedobaptist  cause  in  Bohemia.  It  was  thenceforth 
more  difficult  for  the  Anti-pedobaptists  to  carry  forward 
their  work  undetected.  It  undoubtedly  caused  a  consid 
erable  number  of  the  Brethren  who  resented  the  aban 
donment  on  grounds  of  expediency  of  one  of  the  original 
practices  of  the  connection,  to  unite  with  the  more  con 
sistent  and  more  aggressive  body. 

Among  the  most  noted  of  the  Bohemian  Anti-pedobap 
tists  of  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  was 
Georg  Zobel,  the  physician,  who  from  1581  to  1599  was 
frequently  called  upon  to  practise  his  profession  in  the 
imperial  court  and  from  whose  skill  the  emperor  himself 
is  said  to  have  derived  great  benefit. 

Chiefly  through  the  encouragement  of  the  Moravians 
individual  congregations  maintained  themselves  in  Bo 
hemia  till  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  ;  but  perse 
cution  was  so  continuous  and  severe,  and  it  was  so  easy 
for  persecuted  bodies  to  make  their  way  to  their  more 
favored  brethren  in  Moravia,  that  the  building  up  of  a 
strong  cause  in  Bohemia  was  impracticable. 

Literature :  Pertinent  works  of  Beck,  Loserth,  Cornelius  ("  Miinst. 
Aufr."),  Wolny,  Czerny,  and  Dudik,  as  in  the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
THE  STRASBURG  CENTER 

SITUATED  on  the  Rhine,  the  medium  of  communica 
tion  between  the  East  and  the  West,  at  a  point  that 
commands  the  commerce  of  the  valleys  of  several  of  the 
tributaries  of  the  Rhine,  and  on  the  great  route  of  com 
merce  between  the  North  and  the  South,  Strasburg  was 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  an  important 
manufacturing  and  distributing  center.  It  was  at  the 
same  time  one  of  the  most  prosperous  and  one  of  the 
most  cosmopolitan  cities  of  the  age.  In  the  mediaeval 
time  it  had  been  a  stronghold  of  evangelical  life  and 
thought.  Like  many  other  cities  it  had  secured  for  itself 
a  large  measure  of  independence.  Its  reputation  for  jus 
tice,  moderation,  and  toleration  was  worldwide.  The 
death  penalty  was  rarely  inflicted.  Yet  it  was  shrewdly 
remarked  by  a  contemporary  that  better  order  prevailed 
there  than  in  cities  where  the  greatest  severity  was  em 
ployed. 

To  the  Anti-pedobaptists,  hounded  to  death  on  all  sides 
by  persecutors,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  it  became  a 
veritable  Eldorado.  The  large  aggregation  of  artisans  of 
all  kinds  offered  the  material  from  which  the  Anabaptists, 
like  the  Waldenses  before  them,  assimilated  most  freely. 
Many  of  the  evangelists  were  artisans  and  there  was  no 
city  where  they  were  more  sure  to  find  work,  or  failing 
this,  hospitality.  The  liberality  with  which  the  citizens 
of  Strasburg  provided  for  the  poor  and  distressed  was 
extraordinary.  New-comers,  even  when  applying  for  aid, 
seem  not  to  have  been  questioned  about  their  faith,  and 
as  long  as  they  conducted  themselves  so  as  not  to  disturb 
238 


CAPITO  ON  INFANT  BAPTISM  239 

the  public  peace,  citizens  and  strangers  were  free  to  be 
lieve  what  they  would.  The  evangelical  pastors  were 
men  of  marked  liberality.  It  was  only  after  the  growth 
of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  had  become  so  marked  as 
to  threaten  seriously  the  existing  order  that  Bucer  as 
sumed  a  persecuting  attitude.  Later,  when  he  saw  Cap- 
ito,  his  chief  colleague,  on  the  point  of  being  carried 
away  by  this  new  influence,  he  became  somewhat  intol 
erant.  Distinctly  more  tolerant  was  Matthew  Zell,  who 
never  could  be  induced  zealously  to  antagonize  the  sec 
taries.  "  Whoever  recognizes  Christ  as  his  Lord  and 
Saviour  shall  have  part  at  my  table  and  I  will  have  part 
with  him  in  heaven."  In  accord  with  this  motto  was  his 
bearing  toward  the  Anti-pedobaptists  and  other  oppo 
nents  of  the  standing  order.  Schwenckfeldt  spent  two 
years  in  his  home. 

Wolfgang  Capito  was,  if  possible,  still  more  friendly  to 
the  separatists.  For  years  his  attitude  toward  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists  was  such  as  to  cause  the  gravest  anxiety  to 
Zwingli,  Bucer,  and  others.  The  position  of  Bucer  in  re 
gard  to  infant  baptism  is  succinctly  expressed  in  the  fol 
lowing  sentence  :  "  But  if  any  one  would  postpone  water 
baptism  and  could  do  so  without  the  destruction  of  love 
and  unity  with  those  among  whom  he  lives,  we  would 
ourselves  not  quarrel  with  him  nor  condemn  him,  for  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  just  as  little  water  baptism  as  it  is  eat 
ing,  drinking,"  etc. 

As  late  as  December,  1531,  Bucer  denied  that  there 
was  any  just  cause  for  the  Anabaptists'  renunciation  of 
communion  with  himself  and  the  evangelicals  of  the  city, 
and  expressed  a  willingness  to  offer  them  the  ''sincere 
love  that  is  known  to  be  germane  to  the  disciples  of 
Christ  .  .  .  even  if  they  persist  in  the  abolition  of  in 
fant  baptism."1 

aSee  letter  of  Bucer  to  Ambrose  Blaurer  in  Cornelius,  Vol.  II.,  p.  261. 


240  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

In  1526  or  1527  Capito  began  to  show  a  strong  inclina 
tion  toward  the  Anti-pedobaptist  position.  At  this  period 
he  was  greatly  influenced  by  Cellarius,  Hetzer,  and 
Denck,  all  like  himself  advanced  Hebraists,  and  while 
differing  in  other  matters  agreeing  in  rejecting  infant  bap 
tism  as  unscriptural  and  unwarranted.  In  1528  Bucer 
regarded  Capito  as  theoretically  an  Anti-pedobaptist. 
Cellarius  offended  Bucer  and  Capito  took  sides  with  the 
former.  In  his  commentary  on  Hosea,  Capito  took  occa 
sion  to  refute  Zwingli's  and  Bucer's  arguments  for  infant 
baptism.  He  repudiated  the  idea  that  baptism  sustains 
any  relation  to  circumcision  and  could  see  no  merit  in  the 
New  Testament  arguments  used  by  Zwingli  and  Bucer 
in  support  of  their  position.  He  defined  the  church  in 
such  a  way  as  to  exclude  infants,  a  profession  of  faith 
being  a  condition  of  membership.  "  In  which  symbols 
(baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper)  those  rightly  participate 
who  participate  in  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,"  expresses 
his  idea  of  the  proper  use  of  the  ordinances.  Writing  of 
the  Anti-pedobaptist  martyrs  he  says:  "Those  who 
under  the  harshest  tyranny  confirm  Anabaptism  with  the 
confession  of  Christ,  sin  without  malice  if  they  sin." 
He  could  scarcely  be  dissuaded  by  Bucer  (about  Decem 
ber,  1531)  from  marrying  the  widow  of  an  Anabaptist 
martyr.1  For  years  Bucer  tried  in  vain  to  deliver  Capito 
from  the  influence  of  his  Anti-pedobaptist  associates  and 
at  times  almost  despaired  of  him.  Yet  in  his  later  years 
even  Capito  became  embittered  against  the  people  that 
were  everywhere  spoken  against. 

Nowhere  was  the  separatist  life  so  varied  as  at  Stras- 
burg.  The  bare  mention  of  the  names  of  the  more  in 
fluential  leaders  that  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period 
brought  their  influence  to  bear  upon  the  religious  life  of 

1  Augustin  Bader,  who  suffered  at  Stuttgart.    See  letter  of  Bucer  to  Blaurer  in  Cor 
nelius,  Vol.  II.,  p.  262. 


CARLSTADT,  ECHSEL,  AND  GROSS  241 

the  city  will  illustrate  this  statement.  The  list  includes 
the  names  of  Storch,  Carlstadt,  Cellarius,  Denck,  Het- 
zer,  Kautz,  BUnderlin,  Reublin,  Sattler,  Wiedemann, 
Schwenckfeldt,  Franck,  Servetus,  and  Hoffman. 

Nicholas  Storch  is  said  to  have  visited  Strasburg  in  the 
summer  of  1524.  With  his  mastery  of  the  letter  of 
Scripture  and  his  extraordinary  enthusiasm  he  soon  made 
a  deep  impression,  and  as  was  everywhere  the  case, 
caused  so  much  commotion  that  he  was  soon  obliged  to 
leave  the  city.  That  he  left  behind  him  those  who 
formed  the  nucleus  of  a  chiliastic  Anti-pedobaptist  com 
munity  can  scarcely  be  doubted. 

Carlstadt,  driven  from  Orlamunde  through  Luther's 
efforts,  visited  Strasburg  in  October,  1524.  At  this 
time  Carlstadt  stood  for  the  most  complete  individualism 
in  matters  of  religion.  To  him  the  essential  thing  was 
the  mystical  union  of  the  believer  with  God.  All  out 
ward  forms  and  ceremonies  were  of  entirely  subsidiary 
importance.  "If  one  should  not  receive  the  sacrament 
forever,  he  would  yet  be  blessed,  if  he  were  otherwise 
justified."  Infant  baptism  was,  in  his  view,  without 
scriptural  authority  and  without  value  for  the  Christian 
life.  He  favored  its  entire  abolition.  Yet  he  never  be 
came  an  Anabaptist,  and  after  a  few  years  of  suffering 
he  thought  it  advisable  to  hold  in  abeyance  his  views  on 
baptism  and  to  accept  a  professorship  in  the  University 
of  Basel.  But  at  this  time  he  represented  a  radical  type 
of  reform  and  repudiated  the  idea  that,  to  avoid  scandal 
and  maintain  unity,  idolatry  and  other  unscriptural  and 
baneful  things  should  be  even  temporarily  retained  in 
Christian  churches.  He  had  already  taken  issue  with 
Luther  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  was  the 
forerunner  of  the  Swiss  theologians  in  holding  to  the 
memorial  view.  He  was  exceedingly  bitter  against 
Luther,  whom  he  regarded  as  a  cruel  persecutor  and  a 

Q 


242  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

perverter  of  Scripture.  Luther's  influence  was  suffi 
cient  to  secure  the  prohibition  and  confiscation  of  Carl- 
stadt's  books  and  soon  afterward  the  banishment  of  their 
author,  who  by  the  end  of  November  had  secured  a  con 
siderable  following  and  whose  presence  was  thought  to 
be  fraught  with  danger.  Yet  Strasburg  accepted  Carl- 
stadt's  view  of  the  Supper  in  preference  to  that  of  Luther 
and  a  breach  with  Luther  soon  followed. 

During  1526  large  numbers  of  Anabaptists  from  all 
parts  of  Alsace,  Southern  Germany,  and  Switzerland, 
streamed  into  Strasburg.  Among  the  most  influential  of 
these  were  Wilhelm  Echsel  and  Jacob  Gross.  The  for 
mer  had  been  baptized  in  the  canton  of  Zurich  and  had 
been  banished  thence  ;  the  latter  was  one  of  Hubmaier's 
most  faithful  Waldshut  followers,  and  since  the  fall  of 
Waldshut  had  labored  with  zeal  and  success  in  the  Gru'n- 
ingen  district.  In  Strasburg  he  soon  had  a  large  follow 
ing.  A  furrier  by  trade  he  baptized,  among  others,  a  fel 
low-workman  from  St.  Gall,  named  Matthew  Hiller,  and 
Georg  Tucher  of  Weissenburg.  In  his  conference  with 
the  authorities  he  expressed  himself  entirely  in  accord 
with  Hubmaier's  views  as  regards  magistracy.  In  refer 
ence  to  warfare  his  conscience  would  not  allow  him  to 
engage  personally  in  smiting  people  to  death,  but  he 
would  not  object  to  standing  guard,  providing  food  for  the 
soldiers,  etc.  Like  most  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  he 
steadfastly  opposed  oaths.  His  arguments  against  infant 
baptism  are  such  as  have  already  become  familiar  to  us. 
He  was  imprisoned  and  afterward  banished. 

The  Anti-pedobaptist  life  of  Strasburg  was  first  organ 
ized  and  made  aggressive  through  the  efforts  of  Hans 
Denck,  who  arrived  in  October,  1526.  Here  he  was  able 
almost  immediately  to  gather  around  him  and  to  impress 
with  his  peculiar  modes  of  thought  the  unorganized  ma 
terial  that  had  for  some  years  awaited  the  advent  of  such 


MICHAEL  SATTLER  243 

a  master  spirit.  Even  the  tolerant  Capito  could  write  a 
few  weeks  after  Denck's  arrival  complaining  of  the  dis 
turbances  that  the  latter  was  creating.  He  understands 
not  the  spirit  of  such  men,  but  he  is  assured  that  they 
are  not  of  God  who  take  away  from  us  that  which  is 
distinctive  in  Christianity,  nor  leave  any  confidence  in 
the  suffering  of  the  Lord.  A  colloquy  with  Bucer, 
Capito,  and  others,  December  22,  left  a  highly  unfavor 
able  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  evangelical  leaders 
and  confirmed  them  in  the  conviction  that  they  had  to 
deal  with  an  exceedingly  able,  but  erratic  and  dangerous 
man. 

Denck's  residence  in  Strasburg  was  of  short  duration. 
In  response  to  an  order  of  the  council  he  departed  on 
December  25.  He  spent  some  days  at  Zaubern,  and  at 
Landau  held  a  disputation  on  infant  baptism  with  Johann 
Bader,  an  evangelical  pastor.  Bader  published  a  full  re 
port  of  the  discussion  under  the  impression  that  he  had 
effectively  defended  the  Pedobaptist  cause;  but  some 
years  afterward  he  yielded  to  the  force  of  Denck's  argu 
ments,  rejected  infant  baptism,  and  became  a  follower 
of  Schwenckfeldt.  Denck  next  took  up  his  abode  at 
Worms,  where  he  conducted  himself  quietly  but  exerted 
a  strong  influence  in  favor  of  radical  Anti-pedobaptist  re 
form. 

While  in  Strasburg  he  had  been  closely  associated  with 
Hetzer,  with  whom  he  was  zealously  engaged  in  Bible 
translation.  The  latter  still  resided  at  the  house  of 
Capito  and  did  not  openly  declare  himself  an  Anti-pedo 
baptist  ;  but  he  soon  followed  Denck  to  Worms,  where  he 
more  openly  espoused  the  Anabaptist  cause. 

Another  Anti-pedobaptist  visitor  to  Strasburg  was 
Michael  Sattler,  an  ex-monk,  who  had  labored  in  Swit 
zerland  and  had  been  banished  some  time  before.  Even 
his  opponents  are  lavish  in  their  praise  of  his  learning, 


244  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

amiability,  and  piety.  He  must  have  had  a  singularly 
attractive  personality.  He  was  entertained  by  Capito 
and  after  a  short  but  not  unfruitful  stay  departed  in  a 
perfectly  peaceable  way.  He  did  an  important  work  in 
Rottenburg  and  its  vicinity,  was  probably  the  author  of 
the  Schleitheim  Confession  of  February  24,  1527,  and 
suffered  martyrdom  shortly  afterward  (May  20)  at  Rot 
tenburg.  Even  Bucer  could  speak  of  him  as  a  "  martyr 
of  Christ,"  who,  "though  he  was  a  leader  among  the 
Baptists,  was  much  more  reasonable  and  honorable  than 
some  of  the  rest."  According  to  Capito,  he  manifested 
"a  great  zeal  for  the  honor  of  God  and  the  church  of 
Christ,  which  he  wished  to  have  pure  and  irreproach 
able  and  free  from  offense  to  those  who  are  without'/ 

In  view  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist 
cause  at  Worms  and  the  encouragement  that  the  Stras- 
burg  radicals  were  deriving  from  this  source,  the  Stras- 
burg  preachers  addressed  a  "True  Warning"  to  the 
authorities  at  Worms  (July  2,  1527)  calling  attention  to 
the  doctrinal  unsoundness  of  Denck  and  urging  that 
measures  be  taken  against  the  party.  Under  the  advice 
of  the  ministers  the  Strasburg  Council  issued  a  rigorous 
mandate  against  the  Anabaptists  on  July  27.  All  resi 
dents  of  the  city  and  land  were  strictly  enjoined  to 
guard  themselves  against  Anabaptist  error  and  prohib 
ited  from  housing,  harboring,  supplying  with  food  and 
drink,  or  giving  secret  encouragement  to  the  sectaries. 
Undoubtedly  it  was  the  great  influence  of  Zwingli  that 
led  the  tolerant  Strasburg  ministers  and  council  to 
assume  a  persecuting  attitude, 

A  few  arrests  were  made  and  some  were  banished, 
but  the  council  soon  revoked  its  mandate  so  far  as  the 
banishment  of  the  followers  of  Denck  was  concerned, 
and  in  November  Capito  could  write  to  Zwingli :  "  Daily 
new  Anabaptists  arise,  likewise  they  bring  in  new  views 


REUBLIN  AND   KAUTZ  245 

upon  new,  which  stand  outside  of  any  connection  with 
the  honor  of  God."  He  laments  their  extreme  persist 
ence  in  holding  to  their  views  even  when  they  seem  to 
have  been  argumentatively  worsted.  Yet  he  thinks  he 
sees  some  improvement. 

Although  a  mild  form  of  persecution  continued  they 
did  not  cease  to  multiply.  When  it  became  unsafe  to 
hold  large  gatherings  in  the  city  they  resorted  to  a  neigh 
boring  forest  where  hundreds  sometimes  worshiped  to 
gether.  A  difficulty  in  dealing  with  the  Anti-pedobap- 
tists  lay  in  their  conscientious  objection  to  taking  an 
oath.  By  arguments  that  do  not  now  seem  particularly 
cogent,  Capito  succeeded  in  convincing  many  of  them  of 
the  lawfulness  of  oaths  and  Bucer  was  able  to  report  in 
February,  1528,  that  all  the  Anabaptists  had  taken  the 
oath. 

At  Worms,  Jacob  Kautz,  a  brilliant  and  enthusiastic 
young  preacher,  who  had  enjoyed  the  fullest  confidence 
of  the  Strasburg  ministers,  was  won  by  Denck  and  Het- 
zer  to  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause.  On  July  9,  1528,  he 
set  forth  his  position  in  seven  articles.  These  contain, 
along  with  the  ordinary  Anabaptist  view  of  the  ordinances, 
the  most  objectionable  features  of  Denck's  system,  ex 
pressed  in  a  manner  that  would  doubtless  have  offended 
the  latter.  The  external  word  is  declared  to  be  "  not  the 
true,  living,  eternally  abiding  word  of  God,  but  only 
the  witness  or  indication  of  the  inner."  It  is  declared 
that  in  Christ  will  be  more  richly  restored  all  that  was 
lost  through  the  first  Adam,  nay,  that  in  Christ  all  man 
kind  shall  become  alive  or  blessed.1  "  Jesus  Christ  of 
Nazareth  "  is  declared  in  no  other  way  to  have  suffered 
or  made  satisfaction  for  us,  than  that  we  should  stand  in 


*Like  Denck,  he  was  accused  of  teaching  that  "the  devil  together  with  all  the 
impious  would  be  saved."  See  letter  of  Bedrotus  to  Ambrose  Blaurer,  in  Cornelius, 
Vol.  II.,  p.  261. 


246  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

his  footsteps  and  traverse  the  road  that  he  has  beaten, 
and  follow  the  command  of  the  Father  as  did  the  Son. 

This  clear  and  dogmatic  statement  of  erroneous  doc 
trine  was  the  occasion  of  severe  persecution  by  order  of 
the  Elector  of  the  Palatinate.  In  company  with  William 
Reublin,  Kautz  betook  himself  to  Strasburg.  Soon  after 
his  arrival  he  asked  for  a  public  disputation  with  the  min 
isters  on  the  doctrines  for  which  he  stood  ;  but  the 
authorities  decided  that  he  and  Reublin  should  rather  be 
dealt  with  privately  by  the  ministers,  inasmuch  as  their 
errors  were  "so  fundamental."  It  was  ordered,  more 
over,  that  the  discussion  take  place  in  writing.  On  Jan 
uary  15  Kautz  and  Reublin  presented  a  statement  of 
their  views.  In  the  first  part  they  expounded  their  bap 
tismal  views,  in  the  second  they  sharply  criticised  the 
Strasburg  church  order,  or  rather  lack  of  order.  Private 
conferences  proved  ineffective  and  both  parties  pressed 
for  a  public  disputation.  In  the  meantime  the  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  cause  was  becoming  daily  stronger  and  more 
aggressive.  The  ministers  were  all  the  more  eager  for 
a  public  disputation  because  of  the  impression  which  was 
coming  to  prevail  in  Anti-pedobaptist  circles  that  they 
feared  the  light.  The  edict  of  Speier  (April,  1529)  caused 
the  council  to  refuse  the  demand  ;  for  unless  it  was  pre 
pared  for  a  wholesale  butchery  of  the  Anabaptists  the 
less  noise  made  about  them  the  better. 

Kautz  and  Reublin  had  been  imprisoned  at  an  early 
stage  of  these  procedures.  Kautz  having  sickened  was 
transferred  to  the  hospital,  where  he  enjoyed  the  minis 
trations  of  his  wife.  In  October,  Capito  and  Schwenck- 
feldt  requested  the  council  to  "leave  Kautz  to  them  for 
four  weeks,"  promising  to  return  him  at  the  end  of  this 
time  if  he  should  remain  unconverted.  He  persisted  in 
his  views  and  was  banished.  Reublin  also  became 
"  miserably  sick  and  lame  "  through  long  imprisonment, 


PERSECUTION  247 

and  was  banished.  Having  appeared  again  in  an  Ana 
baptist  gathering  he  was  again  banished,  with  the  threat 
of  drowning,  after  the  Zurich  fashion,  in  case  he  should 
be  found  again  within  the  jurisdiction.1 

Cellarius,  the  associate  of  Storch  and  Miinzer,  resided 
for  years  in  Strasburg.  Being  a  distinguished  Orientalist 
and  Old  Testament  scholar,  he  gained  for  a  time  almost 
complete  ascendency  over  Capito.  He  was  strongly  op 
posed  to  infant  baptism,  though  he  did  not  identify  him 
self  with  the  Anabaptists.  At  this  period  he  seems  to 
have  laid  more  stress  upon  his  millenarian  views  than 
upon  Anti-pedobaptism.  He  was  one  of  the  most  enthu 
siastic  and  scholarly  millennialists  of  the  time,  and  his 
interpretation  of  the  prophetical  Scriptures  was  largely  rn 
the  interest  of  these  views. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  Capito's  sympa 
thy  with  Anti-pedobaptist  views  and  his  strong  disin 
clination  to  the  persecuting  measures  that  Bucer  advised. 
In  1528  or  1529  he  wrote  to  Musculus:  "  The  reckless  pro 
ceedings  of  my  colleagues  against  them  (the  Anabaptists) 
frighten  me."  He  expresses  his  hearty  accord  with  Mus 
culus  in  his  compassionate  and  gentle  treatment  of  the 
Anabaptists.  He  attributes  to  Bucer  the  cruel  measures 
that  the  authorities  are  employing  against  them.  "  I  op 
pose,  because  in  the  sight  of  God  the  matter  is  to  be  dealt 
with,  who  indeed  commands  that  the  truth  be  left  unmo 
lested,  but  has  not  as  yet  seen  fit  to  give  any  instructions 
as  to  whether  errors  should  in  any  way  be  abolished  and 
abjured."  "1  doubt  not,"  he  continues,  "that  with  us 
everything  would  have  remained  entirely  quiet  if  we  had 
taken  stricter  account  of  the  consciences  of  men  and 
their  exigencies.  Often  one  proceeds  not  otherwise  than 

1  In  1532  Kautz  begged  for  permission  to  reside  in  Strasburg,  which  was  refused. 
In  1636  we  meet  him  again  as  schoolmaster  at  Iglau,  in  Moravia.  See  notice  by 
Bossert  in  "  Jahrbuch  der  Geselsch.  f.  d.  Gesch.,  d.  Prot.  in  Oesterreich,"  1892,  p. 
54  seq. 


248  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

as  if  profane  things  were  being  dealt  with,  and  this  takes 
place  indeed  through  such  as  resting  upon  the  judgments 
of  others  crassly  condemn  that  of  which  they  them 
selves  have  no  proper  understanding."1  While  he  does 
not  favor  the  abolition  of  infant  baptism  at  the  present 
time,  he  knows  very  well  that  the  "  considerations 
brought  forward  in  support  of  infant  baptism  are  without 
argumentative  force." 

The  imperial  edict  of  Speier  introduced  a  new  era  in 
Anabaptist  history.  In  the  countries  of  the  Swabian 
league  and,  in  fact,  in  most  countries  belonging  to  the 
empire,  Anabaptists  were  henceforth  hunted  down  like 
wild  beasts,  and  thousands  were  mercilessly  destroyed. 
Nearly  all  of  the  original  leaders  had  passed  away. 
Strasburg  now  became  more  than  ever  the  western  cen 
ter  of  the  movement.  From  Bavaria,  Baden,  the  Pa 
latinate,  the  Tyrol,  Wurtemberg,  Holland,  Zealand,  and 
other  countries,  Anabaptists  flocked  to  Strasburg.  Many 
of  them  had  already  suffered  for  the  gospel.  Immersion 
may  in  some  instances  have  been  practised  here  at  this 
time.2  Large  numbers  were  thrown  into  prison  and  ex 
amined,  some  of  them  under  torture.  The  object  of  the 
application  of  torture  was  to  ascertain  whether  the  Ana 
baptists  practised  community  of  wives,  and  whether  they 
were  plotting  revolution.  Among  the  leaders  at  this  time 
were  Pilgram  Marbeck,  Melchior  Hofmann,  Hans  Bunder- 
lin,  and  Andreas  Hiiber,  an  ex-priest  of  high  standing. 

1  He  probably  refers  to  Bucer's  dependence  on  ZwingH's  judgment  in  such 
matters. 

2Gerbert  ("  Stras.  Sectenbewegung,"  p.  93)  states  that  baptism  occurred  at  this 
time  "before  the  Butchers'  Gate,  probably  in  a  branch  of  the  Rhine."  He  refers  to 
confessions  of  Anabaptists  recorded  in  Wencker's  MS.  "  Actensammlung."  Rohr- 
ich  quotes  from  the  Acts  a  confession  of  Bertel  and  Esinger,  that  they  were  "bap 
tized  before  the  gate  by  a  shoemaker."  Others  at  the  same  time  mentioned  houses 
in  which  they  had  been  baptized  ("  Zeitschr.  f.  Hist.  Theol.,"  1860,  p.  48).  Whether 
being  "baptized  before  the  gate"  implies  immersion,  is  a  question  that  cannot  be 
answered  with  confidence  without  further  information  as  to  the  location  of  the  gate 
referred  to,  etc. 


MARBECK  AND  BUCER  249 

Marbeck  was,  after  Denck,  by  far  the  most  important 
personage  among  the  Strasburg  Anti-pedobaptists.  A 
Tyrolese  by  birth,  and  a  member  of  a  monastic  order, 
he  embraced  Anabaptist  views  some  time  before  1527. 
Driven  by  persecution  from  his  home  he  resided  for  some 
time  (1527-8)  in  Augsburg.  He  removed  to  Strasburg  in 
October,  1528.  He  was  a  skillful  engineer  and  an  enter 
prising  business  man.  The  city  was  suffering  from  an 
insufficient  supply  of  fuel.  Marbeck  advised  the  council 
to  purchase  forests  in  the  Ehn  and  the  Kinzig  valleys, 
and  directed  the  rafting  of  the  wood.  Owing  partly  to 
his  business  engagements  he  did  not  assume  the  leader 
ship  of  the  party  till  1530  or  1531.  The  Anabaptists, 
according  to  Bucer,  "worshiped  him  like  a  god."  Mar- 
garetha  Blaurer,  sister  of  the  famous  Ambrose  Blauer, 
and  one  of  the  most  eminent  Christian  women  of  the 
time,  took  a  profound  interest  in  Marbeck,  whose  influ 
ence  over  her  Bucer  vainly  endeavored  to  destroy.  She 
reproached  Bucer  for  his  harsh  and  rough  treatment  of 
the  Anti-pedobaptists,  his  unseemly  prejudice  against 
them,  and  his  lack  of  a  proper  understanding  of  their 
position.  His  prestige  as  a  business  man  and  the  friend 
ship  of  such  personages  as  Margaretha  Blaurer  enabled 
Marbeck  for  some  time  to  carry  forward  his  work  with 
comparative  freedom. 

In  October,  1531,  he  published  two  books  in  defense  of 
his  principles.  This  was  made  the  pretext  for  his  im 
prisonment.  After  fruitless  conferences  with  Pollio  and 
Capito,  he  was  allowed  to  discuss  with  Bucer  before  the 
council  the  points  at  issue.  An  abbreviated  but  appar 
ently  careful  record  of  the  two  days'  discussion  has  been 
preserved  in  the  Strasburg  archives.  In  these  proced 
ures  Marbeck  conducted  himself  with  much  dignity,  and 
his  defense  of  his  position  was,  from  a  Baptist  point  of 
view,  eminently  satisfactory. 


2$0  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

In  the  beginning  of  the  discussion  he  states  that  he 
appears  before  the  council  not  because  he  recognizes  the 
authority  of  any  human  judgment  in  matters  of  faith, 
nor  to  discuss  with  the  preachers  alone,  but  rather  that 
he  may  speak  with  all  Christians.  He  expresses  a  will 
ingness  to  follow  Bucer  in  case  he  should  be  overcome 
in  argument,  and  asks  that  Bucer  follow  him  in  case  the 
former  be  vanquished.  He  rebukes  the  spirit  of  hatred 
and  strife  that  exists  between  the  papists  and  the  follow 
ers  of  Bucer,  and  between  Luther  and  Zwingli,  and 
urges  the  council  to  put  away  all  respect  of  persons  as 
among  papists,  evangelicals,  and  Anti-pedobaptists.  If 
this  shall  take  place,  good  will  result ;  if  not,  matters  will 
grow  worse.  Like  Kautz  and  Reublin,  he  complains  that 
there  is  no  proper  church  order  in  Strasburg.  "  Every 
Christian  should  subject  himself  to  the  biblical  word  and 
the  work  of  Christ,  not  that  works  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  matter,  but  that  every  one  should  give  himself 
up  to  the  obedience  of  Christ,  which  is  accomplished  in 
him  through  the  grace  of  God.  .  .  Moses'  at  God's 
command  used  the  staff,  which  was  changed  into  a  ser 
pent  not  in  the  power  of  the  staff,  but  from  the  power  of 
God's  command.  So  also  I  have  accepted  baptism  as  a 
witness  of  the  obedience  of  faith,  not  that  I  have  regard 
to  the  water,  but  only  to  God's  word."  Bucer  admits 
that  there  is  no  special  command  to  baptize  infants,  but 
insists  that  there  is  also  no  special  command  to  baptize 
adults.  The  discussion  followed  well-beaten  paths  on 
both  sides. 

The  council  decided  in  favor  of  Bucer  and  decreed 
the  banishment  of  Marbeck.  He  obtained  permission  to 
remain  a  few  weeks  to  arrange  his  affairs,  but  after 
making  an  earnest  plea  for  the  suspension  of  persecu 
tion  and  the  granting  of  toleration  and  support  to  "those 
miserable  men  who  have  no  abiding  place  in  the  whole 


MARBECK'S  TEACHINGS  251 

world,  and  who  flee  to  you,"  he  was  obliged  to  depart 
early  in  January,  1532.  Marbeck's  plea  for  liberty  of 
conscience  deserves  to  be  placed  by  the  side  of  that  of 
Hubmaier. 

After  spending  some  time  at  Ulm  he  again  took  up  his 
residence  at  Augsburg.  Until  his  death,  about  1546,  he 
was  the  guiding  spirit  of  an  Anti-pedobaptist  movement 
that  had  many  congregations  scattered  throughout  the 
region  between  Ulm  and  the  Neckar,  and  that  from  1535 
onward,  owing  in  part  to  the  lamentable  corruption  of 
the  evangelical  churches,  grew  from  year  to  year.  He 
seems  to  have  kept  up  a  regular  correspondence  with  the 
brethren  in  Moravia.  Among  his  influential  supporters 
were  the  noblewomen  Marpurga  Marschalk  of  Pappen- 
heim  and  her  kinswoman  Magdalena.  These  seem  to 
have  been  active  members  of  an  Anti-pedobaptist  church. 
He  was  intimately  acquainted  with  Lady  Helena  Strei- 
cher,  a  disciple  of  Schwenckfeldt,  whom  he  sought  to 
win  to  the  support  of  his  cause.  In  1542  he  published 
an  exposition  of  his  teachings  regarding  baptism,  sin, 
hereditary  sin,  divine  worship,  magistracy,  the  Supper, 
etc.1  A  copy  of  this  work  he  sent  to  Helena  Streicher, 
whose  polemical  zeal  for  Schwenckfeldt's  views  was 
aroused  thereby.  She  replied  that  she  could  not  agree 
with  him  nor  accept  the  views  of  the  "  Baptists."  They 
have  an  external  water  baptism  without  the  Spirit. 
"  You  are  washed  through  your  baptism,  but  not  sanc 
tified."  She  regarded  the  "  Baptists  "  as  "  bodily  pious 
people,"  but  not  as  "children  of  God."  "They  make 
of  the  cross  an  idol  "  and  "degrade  Christ  to  a  servant 
according  to  the  flesh."  She  exhorts  Marbeck  to  free 
himself  from  the  outward  elements.  Marbeck  rejoined 
in  a  letter  of  twenty  pages,  in  which  he  sought  to  correct 

1 "  Verm  ah  nun  g  auch  ganz   klarer    griindlicher  und  unwidersprechl.     Bericht  zu 
wahrer  Christlicher  ewig  bestandiger  Briider-Vereinigung." 


252  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

her  misapprehensions  respecting  the  views  of  his  breth 
ren.  He  knows  only  "of  one  baptism  .  .  .  that  is  the 
baptism  of  the  Lord,  the  washing  away  of  my  sin  ... 
If  you  know  of  two  baptisms,  show  me  the  Scripture 
therefor."  He  agrees  that  mere  water  baptism,  without 
the  Spirit,  is  a  vain  work,  but  he  repudiates  the  charge 
that  the  baptism  of  his  brethren  is  such.  This  letter, 
with  the  printed  book,  Helena  put  into  Schwenckfeldt's 
hands,  who,  after  private  correspondence  had  proved  una 
vailing,  wrote  a  sharp  polemic  against  Marbeck  and  Mag- 
dalena  Marschalk.  Marbeck  replied  to  Schwenckfeldt's 
"  Judicium"  with  considerable  bitterness,  charging  him 
with  making  "false  accusations,"  whereby  he  would 
"fill  with  doubts  the  consciences  of  the  weak,  perplex 
the  zealous,  blind  the  eyes  of  the  simple,  and  throw  sus 
picion  on  the  covenant's  witness  with  Christ."  The 
congregations  under  Marbeck's  charge  seem  to  have 
been  considerably  disturbed  by  Schwenckfeldtian  mys 
ticism,  and  shortly  before  his  death  he  thought  it  neces 
sary  to  make  discussion  with  Schwenckfeldt  a  matter  of 
church  discipline. 

Few  Anti-pedobaptist  teachers  were  permitted  to  labor 
so  long  or  so  fruitfully  as  Pilgram  Marbeck,  and  no  one 
maintained  a  more  unblemished  reputation.  The  writ 
ings  of  his  opponents  abound  in  recognitions  of  his  high 
character  and  of  his  ability  as  a  Christian  teacher.1 

From  1531  the  authorities  were  careful  to  suppress  any 
attempt  at  aggressive  work  on  the  part  of  the  Anti-pedo- 
baptists,  but  remnants  of  the  party  long  existed. 

Literature:  Pertinent  works  of  Gerbert,  T.  W.  Rohrich,  G.  W. 

1  For  the  facts  about  Marbeck's  career  after  his  banishment  from  Strasburg  I  am 
indebted  to  Prof.  Dr.  J.  Loserth,  who  on  the  basis  of  materials  contained  in  the  Beck 
Collection  has  recently  published  "  Two  Biographical  Sketches  "  ("  Zwei  Biograph- 
ische  Skizzen  "),  of  which  one  is  occupied  with  Marbeck.  He  informs  us  that  a  col 
lection  of  Marbeck's  writings  (presumably  in  English)  is  to  be  published  in  America. 


LITERATURE  253 

Rohrich,  Keller  ("  Ein  Apost."),  Baum  ("  Capito  u.  Butzer"), 
Erbkam,  Hagen,  Heberle,  Keim,  C.  Meyer,  Cornelius  ("  Munst. 
Aufr."),  Trechsel,  Nicoladoni,  Loserth  ("Zwei  Biog.  Skizzen"), 
Arnold,  and  Gobel,  as  in  the  Bibliography;  the  contemporary 
writings  (including  correspondence)  of  Zwingli,  Bucer,  Capito, 
Franck,  Schwenckfeldt,  Hetzer,  Denck,  Kautz,  Bunderlin,  Marbeck, 
and  the  "  Getrewe  Warnung  d.  Prediger." 


CHAPTER  XIX 

MELCHIOR  HOFMANN  AND  STRASBURG 

TWO  years  and  a  half  before  the  banishment  of  Pil- 
gram  Marbeck  from  Strasburg  there  appeared  upon 
the  scene  a  man  who  was  to  exert  a  momentous,  nay, 
a  disastrous  influence  on  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause. 
This  was  Melchior  Hofmann,  a  native  of  Hall  in  Swabia 
and  a  furrier  by  trade.  Like  Nicholas  Storch  he  was  pro 
foundly  versed  in  the  letter  of  Scripture  and  supposed 
himself  to  be  in  possession  of  a  key  to  all  the  mysteries 
of  the  sacred  book.  Naturally  he  was  deeply  interested 
in  the  prophetical  Scriptures  and  the  book  of  Daniel  and 
the  Apocalypse  had  for  him  special  attractions.  These  he 
interpreted  with  reference  to  his  own  times  and  he  rev 
eled  in  thoughts  of  millennial  glories  about  to  be  re 
vealed.  He  seems  to  have  accepted  Luther's  views  at 
an  early  date,  and  about  the  middle  of  1523  we  find  him 
zealously  laboring  for  reform  at  Wolmar  in  Livonia. 

The  fact  that  he  was  an  artisan  no  doubt  gave  him 
greater  influence  with  the  masses  than  he  could  other 
wise  have  attained  ;  but  his  eloquence  and  enthusiasm 
and  his  extraordinary  Bible  knowledge  would  have  awak 
ened  profound  and  widespread  interest  under  any  cir 
cumstances.  If  he  had  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a 
regular  education  Hofmann  would  certainly  have  taken 
rank  with  the  foremost  men  of  his  age.  He  was  after  a 
time  imprisoned  and  banished  by  the  head  of  the  Teu 
tonic  Knights,  who  held  control  in  those  regions. 

In  the  summer  of  1524  we  find  him  laboring  in  Dorpat 
with  such  zeal  and  success,  that  when  the  bishop's  sher 
iff  attempted  to  arrest  him  the  people  would  not  permit 
254 


HOFMANN  AT  DORPAT  255 

his  imprisonment  and  in  retaliation  for  the  affront  offered 
to  their  preacher  they  raided  the  churches  and  destroyed 
images,  pictures,  etc.  In  the  riot  that  followed  lives  were 
lost  on  both  sides. 

The  authorities  soon  afterward  gave  full  recognition  to 
Lutheranism,  and  had  not  suspicion  been  aroused  as  to 
his  orthodoxy  Hofmann  might  have  remained  in  Dorpat ; 
but  his  allegorical  method  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures 
and  the  fanatical  tendency  of  his  chiliastic  teachings  led 
the  authorities  to  require,  as  a  condition  of  his  further 
engaging  in  religious  work,  a  certificate  of  orthodoxy 
from  theologians  of  repute.  At  Riga  he  secured  such  a 
certificate,  but  the  suspicion  was  too  profound  to  be  al 
layed  by  any  lower  authority  than  that  of  Luther  him 
self.  So  to  Wittenberg  he  went,  June,  1525,  and  though 
Luther  was  not  without  misgivings  he  did  not  feel  free  to 
withhold  the  desired  testimonial. 

While  at  Wittenberg  Hofmann  published  his  first  book 
in  the  form  of  an  address  to  the  church  at  Dorpat,  in 
which  he  expressed  himself  on  most  points  quite  in 
accord  with  Luther's  views  and  condemned  fanaticism  of 
the  Mlinzer  type  (the  Peasants'  War  had  just  ended  dis 
astrously).  Yet  in  its  allegorizing  and  its  prophetical 
forecasts  it  contained  the  germs  of  much  of  his  later  ex 
travagance. 

Returning  to  Dorpat  he  found  that  even  Luther's  en 
dorsement  had  not  sufficed  to  remove  the  dislike  and  sus 
picion  of  the  clergy  and  the  secular  authorities.  The  fact 
that  he  was  a  mere  mechanic  without  theological  educa 
tion,  and  that  he  gloried  in  preaching  the  gospel  without 
cost  while  supporting  himself  by  his  handicraft,  was  no 
doubt  one  reason  for  the  aversion  of  the  clergy  ;  the 
peculiar  and  over-confident  type  of  his  teaching  was  cer 
tainly  another.  He  was  soon  involved  in  controversy 
with  the  Lutheran  ministers,  and  Luther  called  himself  a 


256  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

fool  for  having  commended  him.     The  controversy  re 
sulted  in  Hofmann's  banishment. 

We  next  find  him  in  Sweden,  where  the  Reformation 
had  already  made  considerable  progress,  but  the  contest 
with  Roman  Catholicism  was  still  acute.  He  arrived  at 
Stockholm  about  the  beginning  of  1526  and  soon  secured 
recognition  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  Here  he  pub 
lished  "  A  Short  Exhortation  to  the  Assembly  of  Believ 
ers  in  Livonia."  A  chiliastic  interpretation  of  the 
twelfth  chapter  of  Daniel  was  embodied  in  this  work. 
From  this  time  onward  chiliasm  formed  the  mainspring 
of  Hofmann's  activity.  As  a  specimen  of  his  exegesis 
his  interpretation  of  the  four  beasts  (Ezek.  i  and  Rev.  4) 
may  be  cited,  The  lion  is  the  law,  the  calf  stands  for 
the  "  figures  "  or  typical  passages  in  the  Old  Testament. 
The  twelve  wings  of  the  two  beasts  designate  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel.  In  the  New  Testament  the  human  coun 
tenance  and  the  eagle  prevail.  By  the  former  he  under 
stands  the  parables  and  similitudes  which  Christ  ex 
pressed  in  the  spirit  of  man.  Among  them  "  lies  the 
eagle  enswathed,  which  the  children  of  God  taste  and 
feel  in  their  hearts."  By  the  eagle  he  seems  to  under 
stand  the  Holy  Spirit.  Equally  fantastic  is  his  interpreta 
tion  of  the  Apocalypse. 

Soon  afterward  he  published  a  fuller  exposition  of 
Daniel  12,  together  with  a  scriptural  justification  of  lay 
preaching,  a  discussion  of  the  Supper,  of  confession,  and 
of  the  office  of  the  keys.  He  still  held  fast  to  the  Lu 
theran  doctrine  of  justification,  predestination,  and  the 
will. 

In  his  doctrine  of  the  Supper  he  departed  from  the 
Lutheran  doctrine  of  the  real  presence  and  adopted  sub 
stantially  the  Carlstadt-Zwinglian  view.     The  believer 
partakes  of  Christ  through  faith  in  his  word  or  under  the 
sign  and  seal  of  the  sacrament.     "  The  bread  which  thou 


THE  SUPPER  AND  MAGISTRACY  257 

in  faith  and  in  the  power  of  the  word  receivest,  this  is  to 
thee  the  body,  and  the  drink  is  to  thee  the  blood  of 
Christ." 

The  church  he  regarded  as  a  democratic  organization 
in  which  all  members  have  equal  rights.  The  clergy  are 
shepherds  and  not  lords  and  have  no  further  power  than 
to  preach  the  word.  Every  layman  moreover  has  the 
full  right  to  exercise  his  gifts.  Every  one  is  under  obli 
gation  to  contribute  his  being  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Magistracy  he  regards  as  intended  only  for  evil-doers. 
If  all  were  Christians  there  would  be  no  need  for  it. 
Oaths  he  rejects  unconditionally  as  prohibited  by  Christ 
himself. 

He  now  undertook  to  fix  the  time  of  the  end  of  the 
dispensation  by  computation  from  prophetic  data,  and  1533 
was  the  result  reached. 

Thus  we  see  this  remarkable  man  already  equipped 
with  the  allegorical  and  chiliastic  system  of  the  mediaeval 
Franciscan  sects  (Joachimites,  etc.)  and  with  the  old- 
evangelical  views  of  magistracy,  oaths,  lay  evangelism, 
etc.  Was  Hofmann  a  product  of  the  sect-life  of  the  pre- 
Reformation  time,  or  did  he  derive  his  peculiar  views 
from  various  sources  after  he  became  interested  in 
Lutheranism  ?  His  perfect  familiarity  with  the  letter  of 
Scripture  and  the  thoroughness  with  which  he  was  im 
bued  with  allegorical  methods  of  interpretation  and  with 
chiliastic  modes  of  thought  make  it  probable  that  these 
were  not  recent  acquisitions,  but  that  he  acquired  them 
in  his  youth.  That  they  were  the  products  of  his  own 
mind  cannot  for  a  moment  be  accepted  as  probable. 
The  influence  direct  or  indirect  of  Storch,  Munzer,  and 
Carlstadt,  and  that  of  the  Swiss  Anti-pedobaptists  must 
in  any  case  be  recognized. 

In  Stockholm,  as  elsewhere,  Hofmann's  preaching 
seems  to  have  been  provocative  of  disorderly  and  icono- 

R 


258  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

clastic  procedures.  Leaving  Stockholm  early  in  1527  he 
went  to  Lubeck,  where  he  at  once  awakened  much  popu 
lar  interest,  and  where  the  usual  riotous  demonstrations 
attended  his  ministry. 

King  Frederick  I.,  of  Denmark,  became  greatly  inter 
ested  in  the  artisan  preacher  toward  the  close  of  1527 
and  invited  him  to  Kiel,  not  precisely  as  court  preacher, 
but  rather  as  a  general  evangelist  Here  he  labored  for 
about  two  years,  keeping  his  chiliastic  views  constantly 
to  the  front.  Amsdorf  published  against  his  views  of 
prophecy  in  1528,  and  other  of  the  Lutheran  leaders, 
including  Luther  himself,  encouraged  by  their  letters  the 
growing  local  opposition. 

He  continued  to  publish  largely  in  defense  and  in  ex 
position  of  his  views,  having  purchased  with  the  pro 
ceeds  of  his  handicraft  a  printing  plant  for  this  purpose. 
His  exposition  of  the  tabernacle,  in  which  each  minutest 
part  is  supposed  to  have  a  profound  spiritual  significance, 
contains  most  of  the  features  of  the  method  current 
among  the  Plymouth  Brethren.  His  polemical  writings 
are  denunciatory,  but  scarcely  more  so  than  those  of  his 
Wittenberg  opponents.  Having  been  drawn  into  a  con 
troversy  on  the  Supper  he  took  distinctly  anti-Lutheran 
ground,  and  after  a  disputation  with  the  Lutheran 
preachers  he  was  banished. 

He  maintained  that  Luther's  earlier  teaching  (1523)  was 
in  accord  with  his  own,  and  that  the  former  had  since 
changed  his  position.  But  he  had  little  regard  for  the 
authority  of  man.  "If  all  emperors,  kings,  princes, 
popes,  bishops,  cardinals,  stood  in  one  heap,  the  truth 
should  and  must  be  confessed  to  the  honor  of  God."  He 
was  now  in  communication  with  Carlstadt,  who  visited 
him  in  Holstein  and  who  no  doubt  influenced  him  con 
siderably  in  his  view  of  the  Supper. 

Plundered  of  his  goods  (to  the  value,  as  he  estimated, 


PLUNDERED  AND   BANISHED  259 

of  one  thousand  florins),  he  left  Holstein  for  East  Fries- 
land  in  company  with  Carlstadt.  Luther's  doctrine  had 
gained  wide  acceptance  in  East  Friesland,  but  a  reaction 
was  setting  in  under  the  leadership  of  Aportanus  in  favor 
of  the  Zwinglian  view  of  the  Supper  and  related  doc 
trines.  Carlstadt  is  said  to  have  thrown  himself  into 
the  anti-Lutheran  movement  with  the  most  passionate 
zeal.  Hofmann  occupied  himself  at  first  with  preparing 
his  account  of  the  disputation  which  had  resulted  in  his 
banishment.  It  is  probable  that  during  his  short  sojourn 
he  formed  connections  which  were  of  value  to  him  in  the 
great  work  that  he  accomplished  there  at  a  later  date. 

Hofmann  reached  Strasburg  in  June,  1529,  where  he 
was  heartily  received  by  the  ministers  as  one  who  had 
suffered  for  his  defense  of  the  Zwinglian  view  of  the 
Supper.  It  would  seem  that  he  had  already  reached  the 
conclusion  that  the  human  nature  of  Christ  was  not  de 
rived  from  Mary,  but  that  it  only  passed  through  her 
body  like  water  through  a  tube.  This  view,  along  with 
his  chiliasm,  formed  henceforth  an  important  part  of  his 
teaching  and  he  was  able  to  give  it  such  currency  that  it 
became  a  feature  of  later  Mennonite  theology.  Like  the 
Gnostics  of  the  earlier  time  and  the  Cathari  of  the  Mid 
dle  Ages,  he  supposed  it  a  degradation  of  Christ  to  assert 
that  he  partook  of  our  corrupt  nature  and  thought  to 
exalt  Christ  by  denying  his  true  humanity. 

The  Strasburg  ministers  soon  discovered  that  they  had 
a  dangerous  visionary  on  their  hands  and  advised  him  to 
give  up  preaching  and  return  to  his  trade  ;  but  he  was 
too  thoroughly  convinced  that  he  was  under  the  direct 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  that  God  had  a  great 
work  for  him  to  do  to  act  upon  this  advice.  Of  all 
men  he  thought  himself  best  qualified  to  expound  the 
Scriptures  and  to  tell  the  world  what  it  needed  to  know. 
He  formed  at  this  time  intimate  relations  with  Schwenck- 


260  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

feldt,  though  it  does  not  appear  that  either  greatly  in 
fluenced  the  other. 

During  this  visit  he  published  a  number  of  writings  in 
exposition  of  his  prophetic  views,  including  a  somewhat 
detailed  exposition  of  the  Apocalypse,  in  which  he  applies 
the  prophecies  to  the  events  of  history  in  such  a  way  as 
to  show  that  they  have  nearly  all  been  fulfilled  and  that 
the  final  catastrophe  is  at  hand.  The  thousand  years  of 
the  Apocalypse  Hofmann  regarded  as  already  past,  yet 
his  carnal  view  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  fully  justifies 
us  in  calling  him  a  chiliast.  We  can  sympathize  with 
Hofmann's  recent  biographer,  F.  O.  Zur  Linden,  when 
he  says  in  reference  to  Hofmann's  attempt  to  interpret 
the  Apocalypse  as  contrasted  with  Luther's  attitude  of 
reserve  :  "  Oh,  that  he  too  had  let  this  book  alone,  how 
much  confusion  and  misfortune  would  the  world  and  es 
pecially  our  Low-Dutch  lands  have  been  spared  !  " 

Hofmann,  like  the  other  dissenters  of  the  time,  came 
to  look  upon  Luther  as  an  arch-persecutor  and  murderer 
of  God's  people,  as  a  Judas,  nay,  a  Satan. 

At  Strasburg  Hofmann  formed  the  acquaintance  of 
Leonard  Jost  and  his  wife  Ursula,  who  supposed  them 
selves  to  be  the  recipients  of  divine  revelations,  and 
in  1530  he  published  one  of  Ursula's  visions,  with  an 
interpretion  of  Rev.  12,  which  he  applied  to  the  emperor 
in  a  way  that  the  council  regarded  as  treasonable.  At 
about  the  same  time  he  made  bold  to  petition  the  council 
for  the  use  of  one  of  the  churches.  It  is  probable  that  he 
now  formally  entered  into  relations  with  such  Anti-pedo- 
baptists  as  were  in  accord  with  his  views,  and  was  him 
self  baptized. 

Driven  from  the  city  on  the  ground  of  the  publication 
before  mentioned  he  returned  at  once  to  Friesland  where 
the  controversies  that  were  raging  between  Lutherans 
and  Zwinglians  gave  him  ready  access. 


HOFMANN  AT  STRASBURG  261 

His  wonderful  work  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  West 
phalia  during  the  next  three  years  will  be  narrated  in  a 
future  chapter.  Suffice  it  here  to  say  that  largely 
through  his  efforts  these  countries  were  covered  with  en 
thusiastic  Anti-pedobaptists,  who  by  reason  of  the  chili- 
astic  teachings  of  Hofmann  were  ready  to  be  led  by  some 
of  his  fanatical  disciples  into  the -fearful  excesses  of 
Munster.  He  seems  to  have  made  a  secret  and  flying 
visit  to  Strasburg  in  November,  1530. 

Some  time  after  he  had  broken  with  Lutheranism  con 
cerning  the  Supper  he  continued  to  hold  with  the  Luther 
ans  as  regards  predestination,  the  will,  and  related  sub 
jects.  With  his  rejection  of  infant  baptism  he  now  put 
himself  into  accord  with  Anti-pedobaptist  modes  of 
thought  on  these  points  as  well. 

He  returned  to  Strasburg  early  in  1533,  under  the  im 
pression  that  this  city  was  to  be  the  New  Jerusalem 
whence  the  conquering  hosts  of  God  would  march  forth 
to  destroy  the  enemies  of  the  truth.  In  this  course  he 
supposed  that  he  was  acting  under  immediate  divine  di 
rection.  He  scrupulously  avoided  appearing  in  public  as 
a  teacher,  and  on  days  when  he  was  likely  to  be  visited 
at  his  lodging  to  such  an  extent  as  might  furnish  occasion 
for  suspicion  he  prudently  absented  himself.  A  com 
plete  change  seems  to  have  come  over  the  bold,  reckless 
preacher. 

He  was  closely  associated  with  Leonard  Jost,  whose 
prophecies  he  compared  to  those  of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah, 
and  with  a  number  of  prophetical  women.  Since  the 
banishment  of  Pilgram  Marbeck  and  other  moderate 
teachers  it  is  probable  that  a  larger  proportion  of  the 
Strasburg  Anti-pedobaptists  were  ready  to  listen  to  the 
dreams  of  a  Hofmann  than  was  the  case  when  he  first 
visited  the  city.  Moreover,  the  terrible  fate  that  had  be 
fallen  their  brethren  throughout  most  of  Europe  through 


262  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

the  execution  of  the  imperial  edict  of  Speier  had  done 
much  to  prepare  the  minds  of  Anti-pedobaptists  to  receive 
hospitably  any  assurance  that  a  special  divine  interposi 
tion  was  at  hand  for  the  deliverance  of  the  persecuted 
host.  Hofmann's  reputation  as  a  mighty  evangelist 
must  have  given  weight  to  his  utterances.  Still  he  had 
the  ear  of  only  a  section  of  the  Strasburg  Anabaptist 
community. 

Glaus  Frei,  a  disciple  of  Hofmann,  had  left  his  wife 
and  eight  children,  under  the  supposed  prompting  of  the 
Spirit,  and  was  living  with  a  widow  who  felt  herself 
drawn  to  him  by  the  same  influence.  He  was  repudiated 
by  Hofmann  and  the  Anti-pedobaptists  in  general.  On 
his  refusal  to  abandon  his  adulterous  life,  after  having 
been  repeatedly  ordered  to  do  so,  he  was  drowned  by 
order  of  the  council  in  1534. 

It  may  be  said  of  Hofmann  that  while  there  is  every 
reason  for  believing  that  he  was  sincere  in  his  prophesy 
ing  and  his  entire  religious  life,  and  while  he  never  sup 
posed  himself  commissioned  to  command  Christians  to 
take  up  arms  against  the  enemies  of  God  or  to  commit 
any  immoral  act,  his  reliance  on  visions  and  his  gen 
eral  method  of  teaching  were  such  as  could  not  fail  to 
lead  others  less  fundamentally  sound  than  himself  to 
take  their  own  fleshly  inclinations  for  the  promptings  of 
God's  Spirit  and  to  commit  all  kinds  of  enormities  in  the 
name  of  religion.  The  Munster  Kingdom  was  a  natural 
outgrowth  of  Hofmann's  teachings,  however  shocking 
the  atrocities  of  Munster  must  have  been  to  him. 

One  of  the  prophetesses  saw  in  a  vision  on  a  river  a 
white  swan  that  sang  with  wonderful  sweetness.  She 
interpreted  the  vision  to  mean  that  Hofmann  was  the 
white  swan  and  the  true  Elias  who  was  expected  before 
the  end  of  the  age.  At  another  time  she  saw  the  walls 
of  the  city  studded  with  dead  men's  heads.  She  searched 


HOFMANN  AND   THE  MUNSTER  KINGDOM          263 

and  found  the  head  of  Hofmann.  It  smiled  at  her  in  a 
friendly  way  ;  whereupon  all  the  rest  of  the  heads  came 
to  life. 

Before  Hofmann  left  Friesland  an  aged  brother  had 
prophesied  that  he  must  return  to  Strasburg,  suffer  six 
months'  imprisonment,  and  then  lead  the  children  of  God 
to  universal  victory.  He  patiently  awaited  the  fulfill 
ment  of  this  prophecy. 

Meanwhile  he  published  a  number  of  works,  among 
them  a  treatise  on  "  The  Sword,"  in  which  he  denied  the 
right  of  the  civil  magistracy  to  jurisdiction  in  religious 
matters,  and  a  prophecy  with  reference  to  the  imminent 
inauguration  of  the  new  dispensation  at  Strasburg.  He 
was  thrown  into  prison  (May,  1533),  where  he  died  ten 
years  later. 

There  is  something  highly  pathetic  in  the  patience 
with  which  he  endured  his  imprisonment  and  in  his  faith 
in  his  own  prophecies  and  those  of  his  associates  which 
could  not  be  shaken  by  failure  of  fulfillment.  He  seems 
to  have  continued  to  the  end  of  his  life  to  fix  the  date  of 
the  beginning  of  the  new  order  of  things  a  short  time 
ahead.  When  the  time  arrived,  instead  of  abandoning 
the  prophesying,  he  would  go  over  his  computations 
anew  and  remove  his  date  forward  a  stage.  The  close 
connection  of  his  modes  of  thought  with  the  Munster 
Kingdom  (1535)  made  it  impracticable  for  the  Strasburg 
authorites  to  release  him,  and  intensified  the  bitterness 
with  which  Anti-pedobaptists  were  everywhere  perse 
cuted. 

Literature:  Gerbert,  Zur  Linden,  Krohn,  T.  W.  Rohrich,  Cor 
nelius  ("  Miinst.  Aufr."),  as  in  the  Bibliography,  and  Hofmann's 
writings. 


CHAPTER  XX 
HOFMANN  AND  THE   NETHERLANDS 

THE  Netherlands,  which  in  the  time  of  the  Protestant 
revolution  belonged  to  the  imperial  domains,  pos 
sessed  during  the  Middle  Ages  a  large  measure  of  evan 
gelical  light.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  cen 
tury  and  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth,  large  numbers 
of  Waldenses  were  discovered  by  the  officers  of  the 
Inquisition,  compelled  by  the  most  cruel  tortures  to  con 
fess  to  the  most  abominable  teachings  and  deeds,  and  were 
then  burned  at  the  stake.  Among  these  were  a  number 
of  men  and  women  of  high  rank.  The  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life  with  their  evangelical  mysticism  and  their 
earnest  devotion  to  Bible  study  and  to  the  promotion  of 
popular  education  had  here  their  chief  stronghold.  From 
1477  onward  the  Bible  was  widely  circulated  in  the  ver 
nacular  and  zealously  studied.  A  vast  amount  of  asceti- 
cal  and  mystical  devotional  literature  was  circulated 
during  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  This 
was  nearly  all  Catholic,  it  is  true,  but  its  circulation 
shows  that  Christian  life  was  energetic  and  it  prepared 
the  way  for  evangelicalism  of  a  more  thorough-going  type. 
The  density  of  the  population,  the  large  number  of  pros 
perous  cities,  the  presence  of  a  large  and  influential 
artisan  class,  the  facilities  for  travel  furnished  by  the 
natural  and  artificial  waterways,  well  fitted  the  Nether 
lands  for  the  activity  of  radical  types  of  evangelical  life. 
Luther's  earlier  reformatory  writings  were  widely  cir 
culated  and  eagerly  read.  Zwinglianism  had  come  into 
conflict  with  Lutheranism  from  1526  onward  and  the 
strife  had  reached  an  acute  stage  by  1529. 
264 


LUTHERAN  AND  ZWINGLIAN  VIEWS  265 

Carlstadt  and  Hofmann  availed  themselves  of  this 
controversy  in  1529  to  diffuse  with  their  own  substan 
tially  Zwinglian  view  of  the  Supper  their  more  radical 
schemes  of  reform.  Neither  Lutheranism  nor  Zwinglian- 
ism  had  at  this  time  gained  sufficient  foothold  among  the 
people  to  be  able  to  resist  the  strong  popular  influence  of 
Hofmann,  who  with  all  the  enthusiasm  and  confidence  of 
a  prophet  proclaimed  the  approaching  end  of  the  age  and 
warned  men  to  flee  from  the  coming  wrath. 

A  few  representatives  of  the  earlier  Swiss  and  German 
Anti-pedobaptist  movements  had  no  doubt  taken  up  their 
abode  in  the  Netherlands  and  disseminated  their  views 
within  narrow  circles  long  before  the  appearance  of  Hof 
mann.  It  is  probable  that  out  of  the  evangelical  life  of 
the  earlier  time,  under  the  impulse  of  the  great  Prot 
estant  movement  individuals  here  and  there,  or  even 
small  communities,  had  come  independently  to  Anti-pedo 
baptist  views.  But  it  remained  for  Hofmann  to  inau 
gurate  an  enthusiastic  propaganda  of  these  principles  in 
combination  with  his  chiliastic  perversions. 

It  is  stated  on  the  authority  of  eye-witnesses  that  Hof 
mann  did  not  proclaim  himself  an  Anti-pedobaptist  im 
mediately  on  his  return  to  Emden  in  May,  1530.  He  is 
said  to  have  still  posed  as  a  Zwinglian  and  thereby  to 
have  gained  such  an  influence  over  the  entire  anti-Lu 
theran  element  as  enabled  him  successfully  to  promulgate 
his  more  radical  views  a  little  later.  He  found  a  portion 
of  the  evangelical  clergy  ready  to  adopt  his  Anti-pedo 
baptist  views  as  soon  as  he  saw  fit  to  announce  them. 
Friesland  was  at  this  time  a  refuge  for  the  persecuted 
evangelicals  of  Holland  as  well  as  from  Catholic  German 
countries.  The  local  government  was  tolerant  and  en 
forced  the  imperial  decrees  as  little  as  possible,  whereas 
in  Holland  persecuting  edicts  were  at  this  time  remorse 
lessly  executed.  The  evangelical  element  in  Friesland 


266  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

was  likely,  therefore,  to  represent  a  somewhat  radical 
type  of  Protestantism. 

The  contemporary  accounts  of  Hofmann's  activity  in 
East  Friesland  are  conflicting.  The  Lutheran  authorities 
have  evidently  wished  to  exaggerate  the  extent  to  which 
their  Zwinglian  opponents  were  carried  away  by  Ana 
baptist  fanaticism  ;  the  Zwinglians  for  obvious  reasons 
have  sought  to  minify  the  extent  of  the  defection.  It  is 
certain  that  some  of  the  Zwinglian  ministers  opposed 
Hofmann,  while  others  defended  him.  Among  his  oppo 
nents  was  Aportanus,  the  most  influential  of  them  all, 
through  whose  influence  the  Count  Enno  had  been 
brought  to  favor  Zwinglianism  as  against  Lutheranism 
and  who  died  a  few  months  after  Hofmann's  arrival.  It 
seems  certain  that  Hofmann  for  a  time  had  the  use  of  a 
room  in  the  church,  where  he  publicly  baptized.  He  is 
said  within  a  short  time  to  have  baptized  at  Emden  about 
three  hundred. 

Difficulties  having  arisen  in  Emden  which  interfered 
with  the  further  prosecution  of  his  work,  he  left  the 
church  he  had  organized  in  the  care  of  Jan  Trijpmaker, 
and  about  the  first  of  October  went  forth  as  an  apostolic 
herald  to  proclaim  the  gospel  covenant  and  to  gather  out 
from  the  multitudes  the  "  lovers  of  the  truth." 

About  this  time  he  published  one  of  the  most  remark 
able  of  his  works,  entitled  "  The  Ordinance  of  God,"  in 
which  he  sets  forth  the  programme  of  his  great  enter 
prise.  By  the  ordinance  of  God  he  means  the  baptismal 
command  of  Christ  (Matthew  28  :  18  seq.°),  which  he 
adopts  as  the  motto  of  his  book  and  expounds  clause  by 
clause.  He  understands  the  passage  to  teach  that  the 
redemptive  work  of  Christ  is  universal,  and  that  the  ob 
ligation  rests  upon  contemporary  believers  to  make  a 
universal  proclamation  of  the  gospel.  He  takes  occasion 
to  repudiate  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  justification  by 


HOFMANN'S  POSITION  267 

faith  alone,  and  insists  upon  a  "  faith  that  brings  forth  its 
true  fruits."  "Where  the  power  and  the  truly  good 
works  of  righteousness  are  not  present,  there  also  is 
no  justification."  Like  the  old-evangelical  party,  he 
lays  great  stress  on  the  imitation  of  Christ  in  his  life  of 
holiness  and  self-sacrifice. 

So  in  the  matter  of  baptism.  "Jesus  came  to  the 
Jordan,  bound  himself  there  through  the  water-bath  of 
baptism  with  God,  and  offered  up  to  him  in  all  submis- 
siveness  his  own  will.  Thereupon  God  opened  the 
heavens  and  sent  down  upon  Jesus  all  his  power,  his 
Spirit,  his  heart,  and  his  will,  and  received  him  as  his 
dear  son."  In  all  points  should  the  children  of  God  and 
the  brethren  of  Jesus  be  imitators  of  him.  He  designates 
baptism  "the  true  sign  of  the  covenant."  This  should 
be  received  by  believers  publicly  without  fear  of  men  as 
the  act  whereby  we  entrust  ourselves  to  Christ  and  unite 
ourselves  with  him  in  order  that  henceforth  we  may  be 
obedient  to  the  will  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  alone.  By  the  reception  of  water  baptism  we  be 
come  incorporated  into  the  body  of  which  Christ  is  the 
head.  Hofmann's  view  of  the  Supper,  as  here  presented, 
is  thoroughly  spiritual  and,  like  his  view  of  baptism,  from 
the  Baptist  point  of  view  unobjectionable. 

After  a  journey  back  to  Strasburg,  in  which  he  prob 
ably  did  much  missionary  work,  he  went  to  Holland. 
Here  also  Lutheranism  had  been  introduced  to  a  consider 
able  extent  some  years  before,  and  had  been  success 
fully  combated  by  Zwinglianism,  which  seems  to  have 
been  more  in  accord  with  Netherlandish  modes  of  thought. 
Persecution  of  evangelical  Christianity  had  prevailed  from 
1525  till  1531,  and  wonderfully  prepared  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  people  for  the  gospel  that  Hofmann  was 
about  to  proclaim,  with  the  speedy  setting  up  of  the  king 
dom  of  God  and  the  destruction  of  God's  enemies. 


268  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

In  1525  some  Anti-pedobaptists  from  upper  Germany 
are  said  to  have  gone  to  Holland,  but  their  influence  can 
scarcely  be  detected.  In  1527  we  meet  with  a  party  of 
separatists  who  had  formed  themselves  into  a  brother 
hood  to  await  the  advent  of  Christ.  In  the  same  year, 
Jan  Walen  and  two  of  his  brethren  from  Krommenies- 
dijk,  in  Waterland,  were  burned  as  Anabaptists  in  Hol 
land. 

Trijpmaker,  whom  Hofmann  had  left  at  Emden,  re 
moved  to  Amsterdam  about  November,  1530,  where  he 
carried  forward  the  Hofmannite  propaganda  with  great 
zeal  and  success.  While  making  Amsterdam  the  center 
of  his  activity  he  itinerated  widely  among  the  cities  of 
Holland,  organizing  in  many  places  churches  of  (<  the 
lovers  of  the  truth,"  who  accepted  at  his  hands  the  "sign 
of  the  covenant." 

Hofmann  appeared  in  Holland  early  in  1531,  and  of 
course  took  the  leading  part  in  the  aggressive  work.  His 
numerous  writings  were  no  doubt  very  widely  circulated 
and  must  have  been  highly  influential.  Trijpmaker  had 
labored  quietly  and  secretly  and  so  had  not  come  in  con 
flict  with  the  authorities.  Hofmann  was  less  circumspect 
and  soon  had  to  flee  from  Amsterdam  to  escape  arrest. 
Trijpmaker  himself  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  authorities 
and,  along  with  eight  of  his  fellow-believers,  was  be 
headed  in  December,  1531.  They  showed  wonderful 
heroism  and  devotion  to  their  principles. 

Hofmann  now  promulgated  an  order  that  baptism  be 
suspended  for  two  years,  just  as  the  building  of  the  tem 
ple  under  Zerubbabel  was  suspended  for  two  years,  and 
intimated  that  at  the  end  of  this  time  there  would  be  a 
wonderful  manifestation  of  God's  power  on  behalf  of  the 
lovers  of  the  truth.  The  effect  of  Hofmann's  thus  fixing 
the  date  of  the  advent  of  Christ  and  the  setting  up  his 
kingdom  on  earth  was  truly  wonderful.  His  disciples 


THE  END  OF  THE  AGE,  1533  269 

were  filled  with  the  enthusiasm  of  those  who  are  assured 
that  they  have  a  great  mission  to  fulfill,  and  that  the 
time  is  strictly  limited.  They  must  indeed  work  while  it 
is  called  to-day.  There  was  no  longer  any  uncertainty 
as  to  the  future.  Two  years  of  enthusiastic  service 
would  bring  them  into  a  glorious  inheritance.  From  this 
time  forward  the  growth  of  the  Hofmannite  party  in  Hol 
land  was  very  rapid.  Lutheranism  and  Zwinglianism 
almost  completely  vanished,  and  from  this  time  until 
1566  evangelical  teaching  was  almost  exclusively  of  the 
Anti-pedobaptist  type.  From  Holland  the  movement  ex 
tended  throughout  the  Netherlands  and  into  the  surround 
ing  countries,  as  well  as  into  England. 

Before  leaving  Holland  Hofmann  published  his  work  on 
"Fettered  and  Free  Will.1'  This  is  one  of  his  ablest 
works.  As  he  had  already  put  himself  on  record  against 
Luther's  teachings  regarding  the  Supper,  predestination, 
and  baptism,  he  now  combats  with  acuteness  and  warmth 
his  doctrine  of  the  will,  and  thus  put  himself  in  one  ad 
ditional  particular  in  accord  with  the  theological  system 
of  the  mediaeval  evangelical  parties  and  of  the  various 
parties  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists. 

In  this,  as  in  several  writings  that  followed,  he  adopted 
as  a  Scripture  motto,  "  He  that  hath  ears,  let  him  hear." 
While  he  holds  fast  to  the  view  that  salvation  is  only  of 
grace  and  only  through  Christ,  he  insists  on  the  univer 
sality  of  Christ's  redemptive  work.  To  every  man,  after 
enlightenment  has  been  received  through  the  preaching 
of  God's  word,  is  given  free  power  of  choice  between 
life  and  death.  God  compels  no  one  to  come  into  his 
kingdom.  His  doctrine  of  the  will,  as  all  other  points  of 
his  teaching,  he  illustrates  strikingly  from  the  Old  Tes 
tament  through  the  application  of  the  allegorical  method. 

Hofmann  seems  to  have  made  another  journey  up  the 
Rhine  at  the  end  of  1531,  for  he  appeared  in  Strasburg  in 


270  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

December,  where  he  soon  afterward  issued  two  other 
works.  In  one  of  these  he  vigorously  combats  what  he 
takes  to  be  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  Satan,  death,  hell, 
sin,  and  eternal  damnation,  which  he  maintains  have  not 
their  origin  in  God,  but  are  the  outgrowth  of  self-will. 
If  there  had  been  no  self-will  there  would  also  be  no 
Satan,  no  hell,  no  death,  no  pain,  and  no  damnation. 
He  denounces  the  view  of  "  the  false  apostle  "  (Luther) 
that  some  men  were  created  unto  damnation.  Not  God 
but  Adam  is  the  originator  of  sin,  and  through  his  fall  his 
posterity  have  come  into  the  power  of  sin,  death,  and 
damnation,  so  that  only  God  through  the  incarnation  of 
his  Word  can  erase  the  injuries  wrought  through  the  first 
man.  While  in  these  doctrinal  treatises  his  chiliastic 
views  are  kept  in  the  background,  they  have  by  no 
means  been  lost  sight  of. 

In  a  work  entitled  "  The  Joyful  Witness  of  the  True, 
Peaceable,  Eternal  Gospel,"  published  at  this  time,  Hof- 
mann  gives  us  some  means  of  judging  of  the  degree  of 
acceptance  that  has  been  accorded  to  his  teachings  in 
upper  Germany.  He  complains  that  after  the  truth  has 
been  taught  for  three  years  he  still  sees  no  people  who 
will  hear.  "  O  God,  what  a  dreadful  time  is  this,  that  I 
still  see  no  true  evangelists,  yea,  even  know  no  writer  in 
the  whole  of  Germany  who  has  borne  witness  to  the 
true  faith  and  the  everlasting  gospel." 

It  would  seem  that  up  to  this  time  the  great  majority 
of  the  Strasburg  Anti-pedobaptists  looked  upon  him  with 
distrust,  and  so  narrow  and  bigoted  was  he  that  he  was 
incapable  of  recognizing  anything  as  truth  and  gospel 
that  was  not  in  entire  accord  with  his  own  views.  In 
fact,  he  seems  to  have  regarded  with  the  utmost  hatred, 
and  as  due  to  Satanic  influence,  the  teachings  of  all  who 
were  at  variance  with  himself.  In  this,  to  be  sure,  he 
followed  the  example  of  some  of  the  leading  Reformers. 


THE  INCARNATION  271 

Hitherto  he  had  spared  the  Zwinglians  in  his  polemics. 
He  now  denounced  them  as  ''miserable,  treacherous 
thieves  of  God's  honor.' 

In  1532  appeared  his  work  on  "  The  true,  all-glorious, 
sole  Majesty  of  God,  and  of  the  true  Incarnation  of  the 
Eternal  Word  and  Son  of  the  Most  High."  In  this  trea 
tise  he  sets  forth  dogmatically  the  view  that  he  had  for 
some  years  been  teaching  as  to  the  flesh  of  Christ,  the 
true  humanity  of  which  he  denied.  It  is  probable  that 
Hofmann  had  already  (1532)  touched  Hesse  with  his  per 
sonal  influence.  It  is  certain  that  soon  afterward  large 
numbers  of  Anabaptists  were  to  be  found  there  who 
agreed  with  him  in  his  characteristic  views. 

His  last  missionary  journey  to  the  Netherlands  occupied 
part  of  1532  and  part  of  1533.  His  work  was  largely 
that  of  giving  encouragement  and  direction  to  his  faithful 
evangelists  and  visiting  the  various  flocks.  Yet  he  was 
not  without  opposition  among  his  own  people.  We  find 
that  his  authority  to  suspend  the  administration  of  bap 
tism  for  two  years  was  called  in  question  by  Jan  Mat- 
thys,  who  had  been  baptized  by  Trijpmaker,  and  whose 
influence  was  soon  vastly  to  exceed  that  of  Hofmann 
himself. 

It  was  probably  at  this  time  that  Hofmann  made  his 
missionary  tour  through  West  Friesland,  where  he  already 
had  many  disciples.  It  was  the  heroic  martyr  death  of 
Sicke  Snyder,  a  West  Frieslander  who  had  been  brought 
under  the  influence  of  Hofmann's  views  at  Emden,  and 
had  there  received  baptism,  that  led  to  the  conversion 
of  Menno  Simons. 

In  1533  he  published  his  exposition  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  in  which  he  seeks  to  explain  the  ninth 
chapter  of  the  epistle  in  accord  with  his  own  view  of 
universal  redemption,  and  puts  himself  on  record  in 
favor  of  the  civil  magistracy  as  an  institution  ordained 


272  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

of  God.  In  this  latter  point  he  may  have  had  in  view 
the  revolutionary  utterances  and  acts  of  Jan  Matthys 
that  were  already  giving  cause  for  the  gravest  anxiety 
and  that  were  so  speedily  to  precipitate  the  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  life  of  the  Netherlands,  Westphalia,  and  neigh 
boring  countries  into  the  horrors  of  Munster. 

Of  Hofmann's  return  to  Strasburg  to  await  the  inaugu 
ration  of  the  new  dispensation  and  of  his  imprisonment 
during  the  remainder  of  life,  mention  has  already  been 
made. 

Literature:  Zur  Linden,  Leendertz,  Krohn,  Cornelius  ("  Nederl. 
Wiedert."  and  "  Miinst.  Aufr."),  De  Hoop-Scheffer,  Brons,  Gobel, 
as  in  the  Bibliography;  and  the  writings  of  Hofmann. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

HESSE,   JULICH-CLEVE,   AND  WESTPHALIA 

THE  Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse  was,  with  all  his  moral 
delinquencies,  by  far  the  most  tolerant  of  all  the 
princes  of  Germany.  In  spite  of  the  entreaties  and  re 
monstrances  of  such  neighboring  princes  as  Duke  John 
George,  of  Saxony,  and  of  such  Protestant  leaders  as 
Luther,  Melancthon,  and  Bucer,  and  in  spite  of  the  im 
perial  edict  of  Speier,  he  steadfastly  refused  to  deal 
severely  with  the  Anti-pedobaptists.  The  Peasants' 
War  of  1525,  which  his  contemporaries  were  wont  to 
charge  to  their  account,  had  involved  his  own  domain 
and  he  had  been  personally  engaged  in  suppressing  this 
popular  uprising,  yet  he  not  only  refused  to  put  the  peas 
ants  to  death,  but  he  allowed  a  man  who  had  been  promi 
nently  engaged  in  the  movement  and  who  perpetuated 
many  of  Munzer's  peculiar  teachings,  to  labor  for  years 
in  his  territory  when  Anti-pedobaptists  were  being  re 
morselessly  butchered  by  nearly  all  the  princes  of  the 
empire,  and  when  his  attention  was  constantly  being 
called  in  the  sharpest  way  to  his  delinquency  and  to  the 
exceeding  peril  of  toleration. 

It  is  remarkable  that  while  up  to  1530  at  least  two 
thousand  of  the  sectaries  had  been  executed  in  the  em 
pire,  not  one  execution  had  taken  place  in  Hesse.  In 
1529,  in  response  to  a  remonstrance  from  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  he  wrote  :  "  We  are  still  unable  at  the  present 
time  to  find  it  in  our  conscience  to  have  any  one  executed 
with  the  sword  on  account  of  his  faith." 

Even  after  the  Munster  catastrophe,  when  other  princes 
were  slaughtering  Anti-pedobaptists  indiscriminately  as 

s  273 


274  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

all  alike  revolutionary  and  capable,  under  favorable  cir 
cumstances,  of  the  atrocities  of  Munster,  he  insisted  on 
making  a  distinction  between  fanatics  of  the  Munster 
type  and  evangelical  advocates  of  believers'  baptism. 
"  Some  of  them  are  simple,  pious  people,"  he  writes  to 
John  Frederick,  of  Saxony,  who  was  urging  him  to  ex 
terminate  Anabaptists  without  discrimination,  "  and  must 
be  treated  with  moderation." 

He  admits  that  those  who  have  taken  the  sword  may 
be  suitably  executed  by  the  sword,  but  insists  that  those 
who  simply  err  in  their  faith  should  be  dealt  with  moder 
ately  and  won  back  to  the  truth  through  loving  ministry. 
In  case  they  do  not  yield  to  such  treatment  and  give 
trouble  in  their  community,  they  may  be  banished. 
"  But  to  punish  capitally,  as  has  happened  in  some  prin 
cipalities  in  the  land,  those  who  have  done  nothing  more 
than  err  in  the  faith,  cannot  indeed  be  justified  on  gospel 
grounds." 

The  Saxon  princes  under  the  influence  of  Luther  and 
Melancthon  gave  no  quarter  to  Anti-pedobaptists  of  any 
type,  and  it  was  regarded  by  them  as  a  serious  grievance 
that  Philip  so  obstinately  refused  to  co-operate  with  them 
in  the  work  of  extermination. 

The  most  noted  and  influential  of  the  Hessian  Anti- 
pedobaptists  was  undoubtedly  Melchior  Rinck,  who,  on 
account  of  the  identity  of  their  first  names  and  the  simi 
larity  of  some  of  their  views,  has  been  confounded  by 
many  writers  with  Hofmann.  Rinck  was  a  man  of  dis 
tinguished  scholarship  who,  probably  by  reason  of  his 
mastery  of  the  Greek  language,  was  often  called  "the 
Greek."  According  to  some  early  writers  he  was  one 
of  the  Zwickau  prophets  who  visited  Wittenberg  in  1521, 
but  this  is  probably  a  mistake.  We  find  him  in  Hersfeld 
in  1523,  as  schoolmaster  and  chaplain.  Along  with 
Heinrich  Fuchs  he  came  into  conflict  with  the  concubi- 


MELCHIOR  RINCK  275 

nary  pastor.  The  latter  was  worsted  to  the  delight  of  the 
Wittenbergers. 

He  seems  about  this  time  to  have  come  under  the  in 
fluence  of  Thomas  Munzer  and  to  have  become  a  prom 
inent  agitator  side  by  side  with  Munzer  and  Pfeiffer. 
When  he  entered  into  relations  with  Munzer  he  was  pas 
tor  at  Echardshausen.  Escaping  with  his  life  from  the 
battle  of  Frankenhausen  he  was  for  some  time  a  fugitive 
and  we  are  unable  to  trace  his  career.  We  find  him  at 
Worms  in  1527  signing  a  challenge  for  a  disputation  on 
baptism  along  with  Denck,  Hetzer,  and  Kautz.  He  seems 
soon  afterward  to  have  settled  down  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Hersfeld  where  he  formed  an  Anti-pedobaptist  church 
and  to  have  exerted  a  considerable  influence  throughout 
Hesse. 

He  was  often  arrested  and  the  most  determined  efforts 
were  made  by  Hessian  officials  and  foreign  princes  and 
theologians  to  induce  the  Landgrave  to  authorize  his  exe 
cution.  According  to  Balthasar  Raidt,  whom  Philip  ap 
pointed  to  labor  with  him,  Rinck  maintained  that  all  who 
follow  Luther  and  teach  as  he  does  are  leading  the  people 
to  the  devil,  denied  that  any  are  damned  for  hereditary 
sin  who  have  not  come  to  the  age  of  intelligence  and  per 
sonally  acquiesced  in  sin,  maintained  that  all  who  re 
ceive  the  sacrament  according  to  Luther's  view  receive 
a  devil  every  time  they  do  so,  denied  predestination, 
maintained  that  infants  baptized  in  the  Lutheran  or  popish 
way  are  sacrificed  to  the  devil,  insisted  upon  believers' 
baptism,  denied  the  real  presence  in  the  Supper,  and  held 
that  man  can  through  the  denial  and  renunciation  of  his 
works,  of  the  creature,  and  of  himself,  through  his  natural 
powers,  prepare  himself  for  faith  and  come  to  the  Spirit 
of  God. 

The  harsh  expression  about  the  sacrament  he  after 
ward  denied  having  used,  but  he  certainly  looked  with 


276  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

great  disfavor  on  Luther's  doctrine  of  the  real  presence. 
In  this  account  of  Rinck's  doctrines  no  mention  is  made 
of  his  chiliastic  views  ;  but  in  this  regard  he  is  known  to 
have  been  in  sympathy  with  Miinzer,  and  he  is  said  to 
have  been  in  Munster  in  1533  a  short  time  before  the  out 
burst  of  fanaticism. 

No  further  trace  of  him  can  be  found.  Some  have 
supposed  that  he  met  his  end  in  the  Munster  conflict,  but 
he  certainly  did  not  appear  among  the  leaders  and  it  is 
likely  that  he  left  or  died  before  the  city  came  into  the 
hands  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists. 

Rinck's  labors  extended  into  many  places  in  Saxony 
and  Thuringia,  where,  however,  persecution  was  so  per 
sistent  as  to  be  from  the  beginning  practically  extermin 
ating.  In  these  countries  nothing  like  an  organized  ex 
istence  with  continuity  of  effort  was  possible.  Many 
Anti-pedobaptists  appeared  from  time  to  time  and  churches 
were  organized  in  many  places  ;  but  the  Wittenberg  theo 
logians  were  too  alert  to  leave  them  long  undetected  and 
they  constantly  urged  upon  the  civil  rulers  the  duty  of 
using  the  utmost  severity  toward  those  who  would  re 
store  primitive  Christianity. 

We  have  seen  that  through  the  labors  of  Hofmann 
Anti-pedobaptism  of  the  Hofmannite  type  was  during  the 
years  1530-33  widely  diffused  throughout  the  Nether 
lands  and  the  neighboring  countries.  Mention  has  also 
been  made  of  the  baleful  influence  exerted  by  Jan 
Matthys.  Hofmann,  under  divine  direction  as  he  sup 
posed,  had  ordered  the  suspension  of  baptism  for  two 
years.  He  was  himself  Elias,  Enoch  would  appear  later 
and  be  revealed  to  the  faithful.  In  two  years  the  saints 
would  gather  at  Strasburg,  the  new  Jerusalem,  and  to 
the  number  of  one  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand 
would  go  forth  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  to  set  up  his 
kingdom.  Hofmann  had  gone  to  Strasburg  to  await  the 


MUNSTER  AND  ROTHMANN  277 

great  event  and  in  accordance  with  a  prophecy  was  lying 
in  prison.  As  the  end  of  1533  drew  near  expectation 
was  at  its  height  and  the  wildest  excitement  prevailed 
throughout  Hofmannite  circles,  now  become  very  wide. 

The  city  of  Munster  and  Westphalia  in  general,  after 
the  suppression  of  the  peasant  uprising  of  1525,  had  ex 
cluded  Protestantism  in  all  forms  with  the  utmost  rigor. 
Munster  was  a  great  ecclesiastical  center  and-  was 
governed  by  a  most  dissolute  prince-bishop,  whose  oppo 
sition  to  Protestantism  was  on  personal  and  political  far 
more  than  on  religious  grounds.  The  clergy  were  indif 
ferent  to  the  wants  of  the  people  and  incapable  in  any 
case  of  supplying  them. 

The  spirit  of  liberty  had  not  been  destroyed  when  the 
peasants  were  crushed,  neither  was  it  possible  to  keep 
from  the  knowledge  of  the  people  the  evangelical  work 
that  was  going  on  all  around  them.  The  intensest  eager 
ness  for  evangelical  teaching  arose  and  soon  became  irre 
pressible. 

In  1529  Bernard  Rothmann,  a  brilliant  young  clergy 
man  who  had  been  educated  at  Deventer  in  the  school 
of  the  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life,  and  who  had  come 
somewhat  under  the  influence  of  Lutheranism  and  of 
Zwinglianism,  began  to  preach  evangelical  sermons  at 
St.  Mauritz  Church,  near  Munster.  Despite  the  opposi 
tion  of  magistrates  and  clergy  the  Munster  people 
thronged  his  ministry.  He  was  suspended  for  a  year  in 
order  that  he  might  go  to  Cologne  for  further  studies  or 
for  the  correction  of  his  errors.  He  seems  to  have  spent 
his  year  in  becoming  more  deeply  imbued  with  evangeli 
cal  teaching  and  returned  to  his  work  in  1531  to  labor  for 
reform. 

While  it  was  the  working  people  that  were  chiefly  at 
tracted  by  his  ministry,  a  number  of  influential  citizens, 
magistrates  among  them,  soon  appeared  among  his  sup- 


278  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

porters.  Seeing  his  way  clear  to  carry  out  a  measure  of 
evangelical  reform,  he  made  a  visit  to  Wittenberg  to  con 
fer  with  Luther  and  his  associates.  Returning  in  July  he 
assumed  a  still  more  aggressive  attitude  and  met  with 
ever-increasing  popular  favor. 

When  the  bishop  inhibited  his  preaching  and  attempted 
to  banish  him  from  the  diocese,  instead  of  going  into 
banishment  he  took  up  his  abode  in  the  city,  where  he 
had  a  large  following. 

The  social  democracy  of  the  city  which  had  since  the 
suppression  of  the  peasant  uprising  remained  compara 
tively  quiet,  had  at  its  head  Bernard  Knipperdollinck,  a 
man  of  ability  and  standing,  who  is  said  to  have  come  in 
contact  with  Melchior  Rinck  some  time  before  and  who 
was  no  doubt  already  in  sympathy  with  the  social-demo 
cratic,  if  not  with  the  mystico-religious  and  chiliastic 
views  of  MUnzer.  An  alliance  was  formed  between  the 
radical  Lutheran  element  and  the  social  democracy. 
Rothmann  appeared  in  1532  as  the  enthusiastic  advocate 
of  the  rights  of  the  common  man  and  the  opponent  of 
the  privileged  classes. 

He  resumed  his  preaching  in  February,  1532,  in  the 
court  of  St.  Lambert  Church.  A  few  days  later  he  se 
cured  the  use  of  the  church  itself,  while  the  foremost 
guild  of  the  city  accorded  to  him  the  use  of  the  guild- 
house  as  a  dwelling. 

Bishop  Frederick  was  powerless  to  interfere  with  the 
progress  of  the  popular  evangelical  movement,  which  was 
by  this  time  strongly  represented  on  the  council.  The 
retirement  of  Frederick  and  the  succession  of  Erich  as 
prince-bishop  (March  27,  1532),  checked  for  a  time  the 
progress  of  the  radical  party,  inasmuch  as  the  moderate 
evangelicals  looked  upon  him  as  evangelically  disposed 
and  hoped  that  he  would  carry  forward  the  work  of  re 
form  in  a  safe  and  legal  manner. 


EXPULSION  OF   THE   BISHOP  279 

Rothmann  was  ordered  by  the  council,  with  the  ap 
proval  of  the  heads  of  the  guilds,  to  suspend  his  preach 
ing.  Supported  by  the  masses  he  refused  to  obey. 

The  death  of  Bishop  Erich  in  May  and  the  succession 
of  Count  Franz  von  Waldeck  in  June  put  an  end  to  hopes 
for  reform  through  the  constituted  authorities.  Count 
von  Waldeck  was  not  only  notoriously  immoral  and  irre 
ligious,  but  his  political  connections  were  such  as  would 
certainly  prevent  him  from  showing  any  sympathy  with 
evangelical  teaching.  An  attempt  on  his  part  to  execute 
a  mandate  of  Charles  V.  for  the  immediate  removal  of 
all  anti-Catholic  preachers  and  the  punishment  of  all  dis 
turbers  of  the  existing  order  brought  him  into  sharp  col 
lision  with  the  municipal  authorities,  who  declared  their 
determination  with  property  and  life  to  maintain  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel.  Attempting  to  enforce  obedi 
ence,  the  bishop  was  driven  from  the  city  and  its  neigh 
borhood  and  many  of  his  aristocratic  supporters  were  im 
prisoned.  This  occurred  December  26,  1532.  The  bishop 
appealed  to  the  neighboring  Catholic  princes,  while  the 
evangelical  citizens  of  Miinster  received  promises  of  sup 
port  from  the  Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse  and  Duke  Ernst 
of  Luneburg. 

Peace  was  made  in  February,  1533,  on  terms  highly 
advantageous  to  the  evangelicals.  The  success  of  the 
evangelical  movement  aroused  the  wildest  enthusiasm 
not  only  in  the  city  and  diocese,  but  throughout  the  lower 
Rhenish  regions.  Under  Rothmann's  direction  the  coun 
cil  adopted  a  scheme  of  church  order  in  accordance  with 
which  the  choice  of  pastors  was  to  be  left  to  each  con 
gregation.  The  monasteries  were  closed.  The  Catholic 
priests,  deprived  of  popular  support  and  of  the  means  of 
livelihood,  were  obliged  to  leave  the  city.  Arrangements 
were  made  for  evangelical  education,  general  and  theo 
logical,  and  for  the  care  of  the  poor. 


280  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

A  similar  evangelical  movement  had  for  some  time 
been  going  forward  in  the  lower  Rhenish  provinces,  espe 
cially  in  the  Cleve-Julich  duchy.  In  the  summer  of  1532 
the  Clevish  authorities  banished  the  evangelical  leaders. 
These  had  figured  as  Lutherans,  but  under  the  influence 
of  the  Hofmannite  movement  several  of  them  seem  al 
ready  to  have  reached  Anti-pedobaptist  views.  The 
most  noted  of  these  was  Heinrich  Roll,  an  ex-monk  from 
Haarlem.  In  1532  he  published  a  work  on  the  Supper,  in 
which  he  took  substantially  Zwinglian  ground,  but  laid 
great  stress  on  the  spiritual  communion  of  the  believer 
with  God.  The  work  is  remarkably  free  from  violence 
and  bitterness  and  takes  a  most  charitable  view  even  of 
the  enemies  and  persecutors  of  the  truth,  who  persecute 
because  they  know  no  better.  "  If  they  knew  the  flesh 
and  blood  of  the  true  body  of  Christ,  they  would  rather 
die  than  revile  that  which  they  now  revile." 

Roll  appeared  in  Munster  in  the  summer  of  1532. 
One  after  another  nearly  all  his  fellow-laborers  fol 
lowed.  Among  them  were  Dionysius  Vinne,  Johann 
Klopriss,  Hermann  Staprade,  and  Henry  Schlactscaef. 
Several  of  these  were  to  play  prominent  parts  in  the 
Munster  upheaval  that  was  soon  to  follow. 

Roll  became  an  avowed  advocate  of  believers'  baptism 
soon  after  his  arrival  in  Munster.  Under  his  influence 
Rothmann  took  the  same  position  in  May,  1533.  Roth- 
mann  had  by  this  time  attained  to  a  commanding  influ 
ence.  He  had  married  the  widow  of  a  syndic,  had  the 
full  support  of  the  council  and  the  guilds,  and  could 
readily  have  carried  out  any  but  the  most  radical  scheme 
of  reform. 

When  Rothmann  declared  himself  against  infant  bap 
tism,  his  Lutheran  friends  remonstrated  with  him  and 
begged  him  to  desist  from  the  agitation  of  such  questions. 
This  proving  ineffective,  the  council  summoned  him  and 


ROLL  AND  ROTHMANN  28 1 

his  Anti-pedobaptist  followers  and  commanded  him  to 
avoid  such  revolutionary  teaching.  But  he  had  become 
too  completely  mastered  by  his  views  on  baptism  to  be 
able  long  to  hold  the  matter  in  abeyance.  He  was  soon 
preaching  against  infant  baptism  more  violently  than 
ever.  He  insisted  that  in  matters  of  faith  the  assembled 
church  and  not  the  magistracy  has  authority.  Staprade, 
now  a  pronounced  Anti-pedobaptist,  was  soon  afterward 
called  by  the  congregation  of  St.  Lambert  to  be  Roth- 
mann's  assistant.  Staprade  was  the  first  in  Munster 
publicly  to  declare  infant  baptism  an  abomination  in 
the  sight  of  God. 

The  syndic  van  der  Wieck  exerted  himself  to  the  ut 
most  to  save  the  city  from  the  domination  of  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists.  Failing  in  other  measures,  he  arranged  a 
disputation  for  August  8,  1533,  in  which  the  celebrated 
Humanist  van  dem  Busche  was  the  chief  Pedobaptist 
spokesman,  and  in  which  Rothmann  represented  the 
Anti-pedobaptist  party.  Rothmann  quietly  allowed  his 
opponents  to  state  their  position,  and  then  in  a  speech  of 
over  an  hour  presented  the  arguments  against  infant  bap 
tism  with  great  fullness  and  clearness.  So  profound  was 
the  impression  he  made  that  no  one  of  his  opponents  was 
willing  to  undertake  a  refutation  of  his  arguments. 

Notwithstanding  the  advantage  that  the  Anti-pedobap 
tist  party  had  gained  in  the  disputation,  the  council  under 
took  to  compel  Rothmann,  Roll,  Klopriss,  Vinne,  Stralen, 
and  Staprade,  all  of  whom  were  now  ardent  rejecters  of 
infant  baptism,  to  resume  the  administration  of  the  rite. 
Two  members  of  the  council  required  Staprade  to  ad 
minister  baptism  to  their  own  infants.  On  his  refusal  he 
was  banished.  The  alternative  was  given  to  the  other 
five  to  administer  baptism  to  infants  or  go  into  banish 
ment.  They  replied  that  they  must  obey  God  rather 
than  men,  and  were  willing  with  goods  and  life  to  defend 


282  A   HISTORY   OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTIS.M 

the  truth.  They  insisted  that  jurisdiction  in  matters  of 
doctrine  belongs  not  to  the  council  but  to  the  churches. 
If  the  council  has  anything  against  them,  it  should  bring 
the  charges  before  the  assembly  of  believers  to  be  dealt 
with.  They  warn  the  council  most  earnestly  against 
incurring  the  Divine  judgment  by  interfering  with  the 
ministers  in  their  proclamation  of  the  truth. 

The  council  proceeded  to  order  the  closing  of  the 
churches  of  the  disobedient  ministers  and  to  depose  Roth- 
mann.  A  great  popular  demonstration  secured  for  Roth- 
mann  the  right  to  preach  in  another  church,  on  condition 
that  he  should  be  silent  on  the  matters  in  dispute.  He 
promised  to  conform  to  the  requirement  until  such  time 
as  the  matter  should  have  been  made  clear  and  the  Lord 
should  have  given  further  intimation  as  to  his  will. 

Thus  far  there  had  been  nothing  fanatical  in  the  con 
duct  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  cause  in  Munster.  There 
was  much  disorderly  excitement  among  the  evangelicals 
in  their  struggle  with  the  Roman  Catholic  authorities  and 
considerable  iconoclasm  ;  but  among  the  Anti-pedobap- 
tists  as  such  we  see  only  a  firm  resolve  to  follow  the  dic 
tates  of  conscience  and  to  restore  Christianity  to  the 
form  in  which  it  was  given  by  Christ  and  his  apostles. 

In  a  "  Confession  on  the  Two  Sacraments,"  published 
by  Rothmann,  Klopriss,  Staprade,  Vinne,  and  Stralen, 
November  8,  1533,  we  have  the  following  definition: 

Baptism  is  an  immersion  in  water,  which  the  candidate  desires 
and  receives  for  a  true  sign  that  he  has  died  to  sins,  being  buried 
with  Christ,  has  been  thereby  raised  into  a  new  life,  henceforth  to 
walk  not  in  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  but  in  obedience  to  the  will  of 
God.  .  .  In  this  [obedience  to  the  will  of  God]  is  blessedness  placed 
and  this  it  is  also  that  is  required  in  baptism.  .  .  Those  who  are 
baptized  thereby  confess  their  faith,  and  in  the  power  of  faith  are 
inclined  to  put  off  the  entire  old  man  and  henceforth  to  walk  in  new 
ness  of  life.  .  .  Accordingly  baptism  is  a  gate  or  entrance  into  the 
holy  church  and  a  putting  on  of  Jesus  Christ. 


LITERATURE  283 

They  regarded  the  baptism  of  unintelligent,  will-less, 
and  speechless  children,  as  an  abominable  perversion  and 
as  "the  source  of  the  desolation  and  of  the  complete 
apostasy  of  the  holy  church." 

In  an  earlier  paragraph  "water  sprinkling"  is  given  a 
place  in  the  definition  of  baptism  side  by  side  with  im 
mersion. 

Literature :  Bouterwek,  Cornelius  ("  Miinst.  Aufr."),  Hochhut. 
Erbkam,  Gobel,  and  Schauenburg,  as  in  the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
THE  MUNSTER   KINGDOM 

WE  left  Melchior  Hofmann  in  prison  at  Strasburg 
patiently  awaiting  the  divine  trumpet  blast  that 
should  usher  in  the  new  dispensation.  His  disciples  in 
the  Netherlands,  Westphalia,  and  the  provinces  of  the 
lower  Rhine,  had  been  laboring  with  great  secrecy  but 
with  remarkable  enthusiasm  in  the  full  expectation  that 
the  new  age  would  be  ushered  in  according  to  his  pre 
diction  in  1533.  Baptism  had  been  suspended  for  two 
years  at  Hofmann's  command  in  order  that  the  propa 
ganda  might  be  the  more  secret  and  effective. 

Jan  Matthys,  a  Haarlem  baker,  had  come  to  the  front 
as  under  Hofmann  the  inspired  leader  of  the  party.  In 
Matthys  we  see  a  wholly  different  spirit  from  that  which 
animated  Hofmann.  With  all  his  extravagancies  Hofmann 
never  abandoned  the  great  fundamental  truths  of  Chris 
tianity.  God  continued  with  him  to  be  a  God  of  love. 
While  he  uttered  some  bitter  words  against  his  opponents, 
he  seems  never  to  have  been  dominated  by  the  spirit  of 
hatred.  He  expected  the  godless  to  be  destroyed,  but 
he  never  reached  the  point  of  commanding  believers  to 
take  up  the  sword  of  Gideon  and  to  slaughter  them. 

In  Matthys  we  see  the  spirit  of  the  Taborites  and  of 
Thomas  Munzer  revived,  and  that  in  an  intensified  form. 
Munzer  was  too  much  of  a  scholar  and  had  been  too 
much  under  the  influence  of  evangelical  mysticism  to  be 
as  utterly  fanatical  as  Matthys  became.  He  seems  to 
have  been  consumed  with  hatred  of  the  upper  classes, 
whom  he  regarded  as  the  oppressors  and  persecutors  of 
the  poor  people  of  God.  God  to  him  was  in  relation  to 
284 


JAN  MATTHYS  28$ 

the  ungodly  a  God  of  vengeance.  The  dealing  of  Jeho 
vah  with  the  Canaanites  was  the  basis  of  his  idea  of 
the  way  in  which  the  new  dispensation  was  to  be  estab 
lished.  Christians  are  to  take  up  arms  and  to  blot  out 
the  ungodly  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Weary  of  waiting  for  the  promised  inauguration  of  the 
new  age  at  Strasburg,  he  proclaimed  himself  a  prophet 
of  God,  nay  the  prophet  Enoch  who,  according  to  Hof- 
mann's  scheme,  was  to  appear  just  before  the  great  event. 
It  was  revealed  to  him  that  baptism  should  be  resumed. 
Near  the  end  of  1533  he  sent  forth  a  number  of  his  faith 
ful  followers  two  by  two  to  visit  the  Hofmannite  congre 
gations  and  to  inform  them  that  the  promised  Enoch  had 
appeared  and  that  baptism  was  to  be  resumed  as  a  prepa 
ration  for  the  great  event 

They  seem  to  have  been  generally  successful  in  arous 
ing  enthusiasm.  Not  only  were  vast  numbers  of  the 
working  classes  baptized  in  the  communities  where  con 
gregations  had  already  been  established,  but  a  rapid 
propaganda  was  carried  forward  by  those  who  had  al 
ready  accepted  Anti-pedobaptist  views  throughout  the 
cities  and  villages  of  the  Netherlands  and  neighboring 
countries.  The  social  democracy  seem  to  have  been 
everywhere  ready  to  receive  the  new  gospel,  so  agree 
able  was  it  to  their  aspirations  after  freedom  and  abun 
dance.  In  an  incredibly  short  time  many  thousands  must 
have  been  introduced  into  the  covenant  by  baptism  and 
have  committed  themselves  to  the  carrying  out  of  the 
great  revolution  that  Matthys  had  planned. 

The  news  of  the  overthrow  of  Roman  Catholicism  in 
Munster  and  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist 
cause  soon  reached  the  Netherlands  and  all  the  regions 
in  which  Hofmannite  communities  had  been  planted.  As 
a  result  multitudes  from  these  regions  flocked  to  Munster, 
where  they  hoped  to  find  protection  and  succor. 


286  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

On  December  8,  Jan  Schroder,  one  of  Rothmann's 
disciples,  publicly  discussed  in  the  court  of  St.  Lambert's 
Church  the  points  at  issue  between  the  council  and  the 
Anti-pedobaptists.  The  council  having  threatened  to 
withdraw  the  protection  that  had  been  conditionally  ac 
corded  to  Rothmann,  he  replied  that  he  had  no  need  of 
its  protection  ;  God  and  his  people  would  protect  him. 

Rothmann  resumed  preaching  on  disputed  points  on 
December  14.  Schroder  was  imprisoned  on  December 
15.  The  next  day  the  whole  of  the  smith  guild,  to  which 
Schroder  belonged,  besieged  the  council  house  and  de 
manded  his  release.  The  magistrates  were  obliged  to 
yield,  and  the  released  prisoner  was  borne  in  triumph 
through  the  streets.  The  Anti-pedobaptist  party,  thus 
combined  with  the  social  democracy,  was  now  conscious 
of  its  power  and  became  bold  and  aggressive. 

About  January  5,  1534,  two  missionaries  from  Matthys 
reached  Munster  and  made  known  to  the  Anti-pedobap 
tist  leaders  that  Enoch  had  appeared  in  the  person  of 
Matthys,  that  the  millennial  kingdom  was  at  hand,  and 
that  the  baptized  and  redeemed  should  henceforth  under 
the  dominion  of  Christ  lead  a  blessed  life,  with  commu 
nity  of  goods,  without  law,  without  magistracy,  and 
without  marriage.  Baptism  was  at  once  to  be  resumed. 
Rothmann,  Roll,  Vinne,  and  Stralen  were  baptized,  and 
through  them  during  the  next  eight  days  fourteen  hun 
dred  submitted  to  the  ordinance  and  were  thus  prepared 
to  take  part  in  the  new  regime.1 

Those  who  were  baptized  renounced  the  wickedness 
and  the  heathen  ways  of  the  world,  and  promised  in  all 
fidelity  to  fulfill  the  will  of  Christ.  Brotherly  love,  com- 

1  Notwithstanding  the  definition  of  baptism  as  immersion,  quoted  in  the  last  chap 
ter,  the  authors  of  the  definition  seem  not  to  have  been  immersed  themselves  or  to 
have  practised  immersion.  According  to  the  evidence  of  eye-witnesses,  the  method 
of  baptizing  that  prevailed  in  Munster  was  the  pouring  of  three  handfuls  of  water 
on  the  kneeling  candidate.  See  Cornelius,  "  Augenzengen,"  p.  20. 


JOHN  OF  LEYDEN  287 

munity  of  goods,  the  renunciation  of  rents  and  interest, 
the  cancellation  of  notes,  mortgages,  etc.,  and  the  aban 
donment  of  extravagance  and  display  in  dress,  were 
among  the  features  of  the  new  kingdom.  No  commun 
ion  was  to  be  had  with  the  godless.  Unbelievers  were 
not  to  be  admitted  to  their  religious  meetings. 

These  first  emissaries  from  Matthys  seem  not  to  have 
fully  expounded  the  means  by  which  the  kingdom  was 
to  be  set  up.  The  full  revelation  was  soon  to  be  made. 
On  January  13  appeared  two  men  who  had  been  espe 
cially  commissioned  by  Matthys  to  remain  in  Miinster 
and  to  lead  in  the  great  work.  These  were  John  of  Ley- 
den  and  Gert  torn  Kloster.  The  former  was  a  highly 
gifted  young  man  about  five  and  twenty  years  of  age. 
Of  only  a  moderate  education,  he  had  learned  the  tailor's 
trade  and  had  traveled  widely  as  a  journeyman.  He  had 
spent  some  time  in  England.  He  had  come  first  under 
the  influence  of  the  teaching  of  Hofmann  and  latterly 
had  been  completely  carried  away  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
Matthys. 

Rothmann  hesitated  for  a  time  to  fall  into  line  with  the 
sanguinary  programme  of  Matthys  and  John  of  Leyden, 
but  he  was  overborne  by  the  popular  enthusiasm  and 
soon  accepted  the  leadership  of  the  young  fanatic. 

The  city  authorities  were  utterly  powerless  to  stay 
the  progress  of  this  wild  enthusiasm.  Evangelicals  and 
Catholics  fled.  The  monasteries  and  religious  houses  of 
all  kinds  were  seized  and  their  inmates  obliged  either  to 
leave  the  city  or  to  be  baptized.  Many  of  them  accepted 
the  latter  alternative  and  entered  with  great  heartiness 
into  the  abominations  that  were  to  follow.  The  same 
alternative  was  presented  to  the  citizens  in  general. 
John  of  Leyden  and  his  followers  soon  had  possession  of 
the  entire  city  with  all  its  wealth. 

In   February,    1534,    persecution   was   renewed   with 


288  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

great  severity  in  Holland.  Learning  of  the  success  of  his 
emissaries  in  Munster,  Matthys  reached  the  conclusion, 
by  divine  revelation  as  he  claimed,  that  Munster  and  not 
Strasburg  was  the  new  Jerusalem.  Strasburg  had  failed 
of  the  honor  because  of  its  sins.  He  dispatched  messen 
gers  in  all  directions  to  bear  some  such  message  as  this 
to  the  faithful  : 

Dear  brethren,  you  are  to  journey  to .    There  you  are  to  be 

before  midday.  This  must  be.  The  24th  of  March  you  must  be 
there,  before  midday.  See  that  no  one  selfishly  remains  behind,  or 
vengeance  will  without  fail  overtake  him. 

This  message  spread  through  the  land  like  wildfire. 
The  poor  people  had  no  intimation  as  to  their  destination 
or  the  object  of  their  leaving  their  homes  and  their  all. 
The  command  came  to  them  as  the  voice  of  God  himself, 
and  they  obeyed  unquestioningly.  They  were  met  at 
the  appointed  places  by  Matthys'  confidential  agents  and 
directed  as  to  their  further  course. 

Thousands  of  the  wretched,  deluded  people  were  seized 
in  the  principal  ports  of  the  Netherlands  and  many  were 
cruelly  executed.  In  some  of  the  cities  the  fanatics  at 
tempted  to  gain  control.  There  are  cases  recorded,  prob 
ably  authentic,  in  which  men  and  women  ran  naked 
through  the  streets  proclaiming  the  vengeance  of  God. 
Thousands  of  Netherlander  and  others  reinforced  the 
thousands  of  the  inhabitants  of  Munster  who  had  been 
drawn  into  the  fanaticism. 

Matthys  himself  was  soon  in  Munster,  where  he  con 
tinued  to  play  the  role  of  chief  prophet.  The  city  was 
now  organized  as  a  theocracy.  Matthys  secured  the  ap 
pointment  of  seven  deacons  with  absolute  authority.  An 
indignant  citizen  rebuked  the  leaders.  Matthys  con 
demned  him  to  death  ;  John  of  Leyden  stabbed  him,  and 
Matthys  finished  the  slaughter.  Matthys  is  said  to  have 


FANATICISM  RAMPANT  289 

proposed  the  slaughter  of  all  the  ungodly  who  remained 
in  the  city,  but  was  opposed  by  Knipperdollinck,  who 
knew  full  well  that  such  a  procedure  would  arouse  the 
indignation  of  Christendom  and  prove  destructive  to  the 
hopes  of  the  theocracy. 

The  bishop  found  great  difficulty  in  securing  the  aid 
that  was  necessary  for  the  suppression  of  the  movement. 
The  Protestant  princes  were  not  anxious  to  see  the 
Roman  Catholic  dominance  restored  and  the  neighboring 
Catholic  princes  were  not  in  a  position  to  render  imme 
diate  and  adequate  succor.  Well  equipped  with  arms 
and  provisions  and  filled  with  fanatical  zeal  the  Munster- 
ites  were  by  no  means  easy  to  dislodge  from  their  strong 
hold. 

Messengers  were  sent  out  in  all  directions  to  proclaim 
the  establishment  of  the  new  Jerusalem  and  to  invite  all 
the  faithful  to  come  to  Munster  and  to  participate  freely 
in  the  good  things  which  were  there  in  abundance.'  It 
is  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  human  nature 
that  the  needy  and  vicious  classes  should  accept  the  in 
vitation  without  much  reference  to  their  religious  con 
victions,  and  that  they  should  readily  accept  a  gospel 
that  conveyed  so  immediate  and  material  advantages. 

The  city  was  soon  besieged  by  the  bishop's  forces  and 
such  allies  as  he  was  able  to  secure,  but  for  some  months 
the  siege  was  by  no  means  complete,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Munster  were  able  to  communicate  somewhat  freely 
with  the  outside  world. 

In  April  Matthys  went  forth  with  a  small  band  under 
supposed  Divine  guidance  to  attack  the  besiegers,  and 
after  a  desperate  struggle  was  slain. 

To  John  of  Leyden  now  belonged  the  undisputed  su 
premacy.  He  proceeded  to  organize  the  new  Israel  after 
the  model  of  the  old.  Twelve  elders  were  appointed 
with  power  of  life  and  death.  A  new  code  of  laws  based 


290  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

upon  the  Mosaic  was  promulgated.  The  elders  were  to 
sit  in  judgment  twice  each  day.  Knipperdollinck  was 
made  executioner.  One  of  the  provisions  of  the  new 
code  was  that  every  one  belonging  to  the  new  Israel 
shall  unhesitatingly  observe  (that  is,  abstain  from  or 
obey)  whatever  Scripture  either  forbids  or  commands. 
This  ordinance  undoubtedly  had  chief  reference  to  the 
Old  Testament,  and  the  design  of  it  apparently  was  to 
give  place  to  polygamy.  Rothmann  and  the  rest  of  the 
preachers  soon  began  to  preach  polygamy  with  an  effect 
upon  the  people  that  can  be  easily  imagined. 

John's  attention  was  drawn  to  a  prophecy  in  accord 
ance  with  which  a  king  should  arise  in  Israel  who  should 
have  dominion  over  the  whole  earth.  It  was  revealed  to 
him  that  the  promised  king  was  none  other  than  him 
self.  "God  has  chosen  me  to  be  king  over  the  whole 
world.  But  I  tell  you,  dear  brethren,  that  I  had  rather 
feed  swine  or  follow  the  plow  than  be  king.  Yet  what  I 
do  I  must  do,  for  God  has  appointed  me  thereunto." 

Knipperdollinck,  Rothmann,  and  the  rest  of  the  proph 
ets,  became  the  king's  functionaries  and  counselors.  As 
David  had  his  harem,  so  John  provided  himself  with 
wives  at  his  pleasure  and  slew  with  his  own  hands  such 
as  displeased  him.  Old  marriage  relations  were  com 
pletely  ignored.  Women  were  in  many  cases  forced  to 
unite  with  men  who  felt  it  a  sacred  duty  to  have  a  plu 
rality  of  wives.  It  was  truly  a  reign  of  terror,  in  which 
the  wildest  license  on  the  one  hand  and  the  most  abso 
lute  despotism  on  the  other  prevailed. 

In  December,  1534,  the  leaders  of  the  theocracy  pub 
lished  "The  Book  of  Vengeance/'  the  aim  of  which  was 
to  vindicate  and  glorify  the  kingdom  of  God  in  Munster. 
It  is  addressed  to  the  "true  Israelites  and  members  of 
the  covenant  in  Christ  Jesus,  all  and  each,"  and  seeks 
to  show  by  copious  quotations  from  the  Old  and  New 


THE   FALL  OF  MUNSTER  2QI 

Testaments  that  the  promised  kingdom  has  been  set  up, 
and  that  the  day  of  wrath  for  the  ungodly  is  at  hand.1 

For  more  than  a  year  the  wretched  fanatics  were  able 
to  resist  the  bishop  and  his  troops.  The  scenes  enacted 
during  this  year  are  indescribable.  Rebellion  was  sup 
pressed  in  the  most  summary  manner.  There  was  not 
the  slightest  regard  for  the  sacredness  of  human  life  and 
the  leaders  reveled  in  blood. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  period  the  blockade  was  made 
complete  and  provisions  grew  scarce.  The  last  few 
months  were  a  time  of  fearful  suffering.  Knowing  full 
well  that  massacre  would  follow  conquest  the  besieged 
held  out  as  long  as  possible.  The  scene  ended  in  a  hor 
rible  massacre  and  in  the  most  revolting  torturing  of  the 
leaders. 

The  massacre  was  not  confined  to  Munster,  but  ex 
tended  over  the  whole  territory  that  had  been  affected 
by  the  movement.  Multitudes  of  those  who  were  sym 
pathetic  with  the  aims  of  the  new  Jerusalem  had  been 
destroyed  before  the  fall  of  Munster.  Throughout  nearly 
the  whole  of  Europe  the  persecution  of  Anti-pedobaptists 
in  general  was  greatly  intensified. 

Philip  of  Hesse,  as  before  remarked,  was  the  only 
prince  in  Western  Europe  who  still  ventured  to  discrimi 
nate  between  wild  fanatics  and  those  who  quietly  op 
posed  infant  baptism  and  sought  by  purely  spiritual 
means  to  restore  Christianity  to  its  primitive  position. 

Princes  and  religious  leaders  who  from  the  beginning 
had  considered  the  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  fraught 
with  danger  and  had  felt  compelled  to  persecute  it,  saw  in 
the  Munster  episode  a  justification  for  their  fears  and 
their  severity,  and  some  of  those  who  had  sought  to 
exercise  moderation  felt  that  their  leniency  had  been  ill 
bestowed. 

1  "Das  Biichlein  von  der  Rache"  is  reprinted  in  full  by  Bouterwek,  p.  66,  seq. 


292  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

The  Munster  Kingdom  was  regarded  for  centuries  as  a 
great  object-lesson,  showing  the  natural  working  out  of 
the  principles  involved  in  the  Anti-pedob.aptist  position. 
If  all  Anti-pedobaptists  were  not  so  atrocious  as  Matthys, 
John  of  Leyden,  and  Knipperdollinck,  it  was  because  all 
did  not  have  the  same  opportunity  to  exhibit  themselves 
in  their  true  character.  If  some  taught  and  practised 
absolute  non-resistance  and  abstinence  from  the  use  of 
the  sword,  this  was  supposed  to  be  a  shrewd  device  on 
their  part  for  escaping  persecution  and  for  avoiding  the 
burdens  of  citizenship. 

In  England  and  in  America  the  opponents  of  the  Bap 
tist  movement  long  persisted  in  holding  up  the  Munster 
Kingdom  as  a  sample  of  what  might  be  expected  should 
its  advocates  be  allowed  to  grow  strong  enough  to  show 
their  colors.  No  episode  in  history  has  done  so  much  to 
impede  the  progress  of  Baptist  principles  as  that  of  Mun 
ster.  Its  influence  is  still  quite  marked  in  Germany  and 
other  European  countries. 

What  then  are  the  lessons  of  this  frightful  episode  ? 
Where  rests  the  responsibility  for  the  Munster  Kingdom  ? 
Primarily  it  rests  with  the  oppressors  of  the  working 
classes,  or  rather  with  the  institutions  that  made  such 
oppression  possible.  This  grinding  oppression  had  be 
come  intolerable  long  before  the  Reformation  time  and 
fanatical  leaders  had  frequently  appeared  with  visionary 
schemes  for  the  emancipation  of  the  oppressed.  The 
early  reformatory  utterances  of  Luther  and  others  had 
aroused  anew  the  hopes  of  the  common  man.  The  wide 
diffusion  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  evangelical  teaching 
had  convinced  the  people  that  the  treatment  they  were 
receiving  was  unjust  and  unchristian.  The  violent 
suppression  of  the  great  peasant  uprising  had  not  de 
stroyed  the  seeds  of  discontent.  In  fact  it  had  been 
increased  by  the  atrocities  committed. 


RATIONALE  OF  THE  MOVEMENT  293 

But  the  immediate  cause  of  the  particular  form  of  revo 
lution  that  found  its  culmination  in  the  Munster  Kingdom 
was  chiliasm,  combined  as  it  always  is  in  times  of  social 
and  religious  fermentation,  with  prophetical  mysticism. 
The  prophetico-mystical  chiliasm  of  Nicholas  Storch  and 
Thomas  Munzer  was  perpetuated  by  Hans  Hut,  Melchior 
Rinck,  and  Melchior  Hofmann.  The  unrelenting  perse 
cution  to  which  Anti-pedobaptists  were  nearly  everywhere 
subjected  and  the  utter  hopelessness  of  their  cause  from 
a  human  point  of  view  put  the  people  in  such  a  state  of 
desperation  that  they  were  ready  to  listen  to  any  one 
who,  claiming  to  be  divinely  illuminated,  proclaimed  to 
them  that  in  fulfillment  of  prophetical  Scriptures  a  new 
era  was  about  to  be  inaugurated  in  which  the  cruel  per 
secutors  of  the  people  of  God  should  be  destroyed,  in 
which  magistracy,  that  seemed  to  them  to  stand  so  much 
in  the  way  of  the  prosperity  of  the  cause  of  Christ, 
should  be  abolished,  and  in  which  the  people  of  God 
should  live  a  glorious  and  blessed  life  in  the  full  enjoy 
ment  of  the  liberty  and  equality  that  they  despaired  of 
ever  receiving  under  existing  conditions. 

Hofmann  taught  obedience  to  the  magistracy,  but  en 
couraged  the  expectation  of  the  speedy  inauguration  of 
the  glorious  kingdom  of  Christ  through  direct  Divine 
agency.  It  was  but  a  step  farther  to  the  position  of 
Matthys,  that  God  would  have  his  people  destroy  the  un 
godly  and  set  up  a  kingdom  of  righteousness,  as  under 
the  Old  Testament  dispensation,  by  their  own  right  arms. 
The  more  revolting  features  of  the  Munster  Kingdom  fol 
lowed  naturally  from  the  position  that  Matthys  had  taken. 
Fanaticism  once  in  power  knows  no  bounds,  and  if  the 
Old  Testament  system  is  a  model  in  some  respects,  why 
not  in  all  ? 

It  should  be  observed  that  only  a  portion  of  the  great 
Anabaptist  party  was  involved  in  chiliastic  heresy,  and 


294 


A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 


that  a  large  element  of  the  party  was  wholly  free  from 
complicity  or  sympathy  with  the  Munster  uproar. 

Literature :  Cornelius,  Keller,  Dorpius,  Hast,  Erbkam,  De  Bussiere, 
Rhegius,  Kerssenbroick,  Kielstra,  Bouterwek,  Pearson,  and  Roth- 
mann,  as  in  the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
MENNO  SIMONS  AND  THE  QUIET  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISTS 

IT  is  certain  that  there  were  Anti-pedobaptists  in  the 
Netherlands  before  the  advent  of  Melchior  Hofmann. 
It  is  equally  certain  that  Hofmann's  type  of  teaching 
became  so  far  the  prevailing  type  that  for  a  number  of 
years  there  is  no  record  of  any  Anti-pedobaptist  oppo 
sition.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  Hofmannite  movement 
seems  to  have  drawn  to  itself  all  the  social-democratic 
and  radical-religious  elements.  It  would  be  going  too  far 
to  say  that  from  1528  to  1534  there  were  in  the  Nether 
lands  no  Anti-pedobaptists  who  were  free  from  the  ex 
travagant  chiliasm  of  Hofmann  ;  but  if  such  there  were 
they  seem  not  to  have  lifted  up  their  voices  in  protest. 

When  Jan  Matthys  went  beyond  Hofmann  and  claimed 
to  have  received  a  divine  intimation  that  the  time  had 
come  for  believers  to  take  up  the  sword  and  smite  the 
ungodly,  there  was  some  not  very  effective  protesting ; 
but  the  great  mass  of  Anti-pedobaptists  were  swept  irre 
sistibly  into  the  maelstrom  of  chiliastic  fanaticism.  That 
a  considerable  number  refused  to  follow  blindly  the  pro 
phetic  guidance  of  Matthys  there  can  be  no  doubt.  In  the 
very  nature  of  things  the  names  and  numbers  of  those 
who  held  back  would  for  the  most  part  escape  publicity. 
Many  who  were  for  a  time  involved  in  the  current  fanati 
cism  were  cured  of  their  chiliasm  by  the  course  of  events. 

Among  the  most  noteworthy  of  those  who  refused  to 
follow  the  lead  of  Jan  Matthys  were  Dirk  and  Obbe 
Philips  and  Leonard  Bouwens,  of  Emden  in  East  Fries- 
land.  It  was  at  Emden,  as  will  be  remembered,  that 
Hofmann  began  his  labors  in  the  Netherlands.  Here  more 

295 


296  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

than  elsewhere  Anti-pedobaptists  and  evangelicals  in 
general  had  enjoyed  partial  toleration.  It  was  probably 
due  to  the  degree  of  toleration  enjoyed  by  the  Anti-pedo 
baptists  of  this  region  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  them 
were  able,  notwithstanding  the  chiliastic  teaching  to 
which  they  were  subjected,  to  withhold  themselves  from 
fanaticism. 

Menno  Simons,  who  was  to  gather  out  of  the  wreck 
caused  by  the  outburst  of  chiliastic  fanaticism  of  1534- 
35  the  sound  evangelical  elements  and  to  carry  forward 
along  old-evangelical  lines  the  work  of  restoring  primi 
tive  Christianity,  was  born  at  Witmarsum,  in  West  Fries- 
land,  about  1492.  He  was  educated  for  the  priesthood 
and  entered  upon  his  duties  as  parish  priest  in  the  neigh 
boring  village  of  Pingjum  about  1519. 

According  to  his  own  account,  he  had  at  this  time  little 
or  no  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  was  entirely  devoid  of 
right  religious  convictions  and  motives.  He  performed 
the  duties  of  his  office  in  a  purely  perfunctory  manner 
and  lived  a  life  of  self-indulgence. 

In  the  third  year  of  his  incumbency,  while  he  was  on 
one  occasion  administering  mass,  the  thought  came  to 
him  with  irresistible  force  that  the  elements  he  was  hand 
ling  could  not  be  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  He  at 
first  attributed  this  mental  disturbance  to  the  devil, 
sighed,  prayed,  and  confessed  ;  but  his  skepticism  held 
its  ground.  It  is  probable  that  he  was  already  to  some 
extent  familiar  with  the  Protestant  agitation,  and  his 
doubts  may  have  been  due  to  this  source. 

Once  led  to  question  the  correctness  of  the  traditional 
system,  he  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  investigate  the 
new  teachings  that  were  causing  such  a  stir  in  the  relig 
ious  world.  He  began  reading  assiduously  the  writings 
of  Luther  and  other  evangelical  teachers.  There  is  evi 
dence  that  from  1523  onward  the  writings  of  many  of  the 


MENNO'S  CONVERSION  297 

German  and  Swiss  Reformers  were  extensively  circulated 
in  the  Netherlands. 

Like  most  of  the  religious  thinkers  of  the  time,  he  was 
soon  brought  face  to  face  with  the  question  of  infant  bap 
tism.  He  had  been  taught  as  a  Catholic  that  by  means 
of  baptism  infants  are  washed  of  original  sin.  He  tested 
this  view  by  Scripture  and  decided  that  it  was  against  the 
blood  of  Christ.  Afterward  he  went  to  Luther,  who 
taught  him  that  infants  should  be  baptized  upon  their 
own  faith.  This  also,  he  saw,  was  not  in  accord  with 
God's  word.  In  the  third  place  he  went  to  Bucer,  who 
taught  him  that  infants  should  be  baptized  in  order  that 
the  obligation  to  bring  them  up  in  the  way  of  the  Lord 
might  be  more  carefully  observed.  This  theory  also  he 
found  without  scriptural  basis.  In  the  fourth  place  he 
went  to  Bullinger,  who  claimed  that  infant  baptism  was  a 
sign  of  the  new  covenant  as  circumcision  was  of  the  old. 
This  view  also  failed  to  satisfy  him.  He  was  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  these  views  were  mutually  contradic 
tory  and  that  not  one  of  them  had  a  scriptural  foundation. 

Instead  of  abandoning  at  once  the  church  of  whose 
falseness  he  had  become  convinced,  he  remained  for  a 
long  time  in  his  priestly  office  and  even  received  promo 
tion  to  a  position  in  his  native  town.  His  convictions  had 
not  yet  become  overmastering,  and  he  was  still  content 
perfunctorily  to  fulfill  the  requirements  of  his  position 
and  to  spend  his  time  in  a  profound  study  of  the  questions 
that  were  agitating  the  religious  world. 

In  1533  persecution  drove  a  number  of  Anti-pedobap- 
tists  from  Flanders  to  West  Friesland.  The  martyrdom 
of  one  of  these,  Sicke  Frierichs  by  name,  made  a  pro 
found  impression  on  Menno's  mind  ;  but  he  still  hesitated 
to  take  the  decisive  step  and  to  subject  himself  to  the 
operation  of  the  terrible  imperial  edicts  that  were  being 
so  ruthlessly  executed. 


298  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

The  fanatical  movement  culminating  in  the  Munster 
Kingdom  (1534-35)  soon  followed  and  brought  such 
shame  to  the  Anti-pedobaptist  name  that  he  felt  con 
strained  still  to  hold  his  convictions  in  abeyance. 

It  is  probable  that  as  early  as  1534  Menno  entered 
secretly  into  relations  with  the  Anti-pedobaptists,  while 
still  maintaining  publicly  his  position  as  priest.  However 
this  may  be,  he  attempted  in  vain  to  dissuade  members 
of  the  fanatical  party  from  carrying  into  effect  their 
ruinous  programme.  But  the  spirit  of  vengeance  in  the 
name  of  God  had  taken  too  firm  a  hold  on  their  natures 
to  be  dislodged  by  such  argument  as  he  was  able  to 
adduce. 

In  February,  1535,  a  body  of  these  fanatics  numbering 
three  hundred  men  with  women  and  children  had  en 
trenched  themselves  in  a  monastery  in  the  ne.-ghborhood 
of  his  home.  Most  of  them  fell  in  the  conflict,  and  of 
those  who  were  taken  captive  nearly  all  were  executed. 
Among  those  who  were  slain  was  Menno's  own  brother. 
This  event  aroused  Menno's  conscience  as  nothing  else 
had  done. 

I  thought  within  myself,  wretched  man  that  I  am,  what  do  I 
remaining  in  this  position  and  not  confirming  by  my  life  the  word 
of  the  Lord  and  the  knowledge  that  I  have  received?  If  I  do  not  lead 
the  ignorant,  misguided  sheep  who  are  so  anxious  to  do  what  is 
right,  as  much  as  in  me  lies,  to  the  true  fold  of  Christ,  how  then 
will  the  blood  shed  in  error  rise  up  against  me  in  the  judgment  of 
Almighty  God?  My  heart  trembled  in  my  body  at  this  contempla 
tion  of  myself.  I  implored  God  for  grace  and  the  pardon  of  my 
transgressions,  and  besought  the  Almighty  that  he  would  create 
in  me  a  pure  heart,  that  he  would  endow  me  with  frankness  and 
manly  power  in  order  that  I  might  preach  his  unfalsified  word. 

His  prayer  was  answered.  Immediately  he  conferred 
not  with  flesh  and  blood,  and  his  subsequent  life  was  one 
of  single-minded  devotion  to  what  he  believed  to  be 
God's  truth.  Few  men  in  all  history  have  approached 


CHARACTER  OF  MENNO'S  TEACHING  299 

nearer  to  the  life  of  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  than 
did  Menno  Simons.  First  of  all,  he  began  to  preach  and 
write  with  all  earnestness  against  John  of  Leyden  and 
the  MUnster  Kingdom,  denouncing  the  leaders  as  false 
prophets. 

In  1536  he  openly  renounced  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  How  he  spent  the  following  year  we  do  not 
know;  but  we  see  him  in  1537,  after  much  hesitation 
on  account  of  distrust  of  his  ability  to  lead  the  Anti- 
pedobaptist  cause  in  such  trying  times,  yielding  to  the 
earnest  entreaty  of  a  deputation  of  quiet  Anti-pedobaptists 
that  he  should  come  forward  and  assume  the  leadership 
of  the  shepherdless  flock,  "who  in  obedience  to  Christ 
stood  ready  to  lead  a  life  in  the  fear  of  God,  who  served 
their  neighbors  in  love,  willingly  bore  their  cross,  sought 
the  welfare  and  safety  of  all  men,  loved  righteousness 
and  truth,  and  fled  from  unrighteousness." 

He  now  began  to  write  in  defense  of  his  position.  On 
baptism  and  the  Supper  his  views  were  in  accord  with 
those  we  have  met  in  the  great  Anti-pedobaptist  move 
ment  of  the  earlier  time.  As  regards  oaths,  magistracy, 
warfare,  and  capital  punishment,  he  was  in  agreement 
with  the  evangelical  parties  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  with 
the  great  majority  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  with  whom 
we  have  already  become  acquainted. 

In  view  of  the  terrible  disaster  that  had  come  upon  the 
Anti-pedobaptist  cause  through  the  chiliastic  fanaticism 
of  Matthys  and  John  of  Leyden,  he  laid  special  stress,  as 
did  the  Waldenses  of  old,  on  the  duty  of  Christians  to 
resist  not  evil  under  any  circumstances.  He  exalted  the 
doctrine  of  the  new  life  in  Christ,  agreeing  with  the  rest 
of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  of  the  time  in  repudiating  the 
Lutheran  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone  and 
insisting  on  the  imitation  of  Christ  in  his  life  of  utter 
self-abnegation. 


300  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

As  with  the  old-evangelical  party  in  general  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  was,  in  Menno's  view,  funda 
mental. 

We  must  be  born  from  above  and  transposed  out  of  the  evil  nature 
of  Adam  into  the  good  way  of  Christ,  from  which  a  new  life  follows. 
The  poor,  ignorant  people  are  vainly  consoled  through  external 
works  and  exercises.  Let  each  one  be  warned  no  longer  to  trust  in 
the  fact  that  he  is  a  baptized  Christian,  nor  upon  the  long  usage  of 
the  times,  nor  upon  papal  decrees,  nor  upon  imperial  edicts,  nor  upon 
the  wit  of  the  learned,  nor  upon  human  counsels  and  wisdom. 

He  defies  lords,  popes,  cardinals,  and  bishops  to  prove 
with  a  single  word  of  Scripture  "that  a  perverse,  carnally 
minded  man,  without  the  new  birth  from  God's  Spirit, 
has  been  saved  or  can  be  saved  merely  because  he 
vaunts  his  faith  in  Christ,  or  hears  mass,  or  goes  to 
church,  or  makes  pilgrimages."  "For  us,"  he  says,  "a 
counsel  has  been  made  in  heaven,  to  which  alone  we 
listen  and  which  alone  we  must  follow.  This  counsel 
stands, — it  stands,  I  tell  you, — and  the  gates  of  hell  shall 
never  prevail  against  it." 

He  published  soon  afterward  a  strongly  polemical 
work  against  the  corruptions  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  entitled  "The  Contradictions  of  Babylon,"  and 
various  apologetical  works,  in  which  he  sought  to  induce 
the  authorities  to  distinguish  between  the  wild  fanatics 
of  Miinster  and  the  quiet,  non-resisting,  benevolent  people 
with  whom  he  had  identified  himself. 

The  authorities  were  soon  seeking  his  life  and  offering 
a  reward  for  his  arrest.  With  great  caution  he  had  been 
able  to  labor  in  West  Friesland  until  1542.  In  the  city 
of  Groningen  he  found  a  comparatively  safe  retreat  owing 
to  the  tolerant  disposition  of  Duke  Charles  of  Gelders, 
who  ruled  the  city.  The  bishop  of  Utrecht  was  also 
inclined  to  toleration.  Yet  even  here  Menno  and  his 
more  prominent  associates  felt  themselves  unsafe  after  a 


PHILIPS  AND  BOUWENS  3OI 

time  and  betook  themselves  to  East  Friesland,  where  the 
Countess  Anna,  regent  of  the  province,  had  long  been 
known  as  the  friend  and  protector  of  evangelical  Chris 
tians. 

While  from  1530  onward  it  had  not  been  possible 
wholly  to  avoid  persecution  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists,  so 
vigorously  pressed  throughout  the  empire,  it  was  never 
carried  to  the  cruel  extreme  here  as  in  most  other  regions. 
The  countess  had  entrusted  the  direction  of  religious 
affairs  to  the  noted  reformer  John  a  Lasco,  a  Polish 
nobleman  and  ex-priest,  who  was  far  more  liberal  in  his 
attitude  toward  the  Anti-pedobaptists  than  were  most  of 
the  Protestant  leaders.  After  the  suppression  of  the 
Munster  Kingdom,  East  Friesland  became  a  refuge  for 
the  persecuted  from  the  rest  of  the  Netherlands,  Switzer 
land,  France,  and  England.  Here  were  to  be  found  about 
1543  the  quiet,  non-resisting  followers  of  Dirk  Philips, 
the  disciples  of  Battenburg,  the  leader  of  the  Dutch 
Munsterites,  and  those  of  David  Joris,  the  pantheistic 
Anti-pedobaptist  leader.  The  Countess  Anna  and  John 
a  Lasco,  like  Philip  of  Hesse,  and  unlike  most  rulers  and 
theologians,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  recognized  the 
distinction  between  the  quiet  Anti-pedobaptists  and  the 
chiliastic  fanatics. 

It  is  probable  that  Menno  had  already  established  rela 
tions  with  Dirk  and  Obbe  Philips  and  Leonard  Bouwens 
before  his  removal  to  East  Friesland.  At  any  rate,  soon 
after  his  arrival  at  Emden  we  find  him  closely  associated 
with  these  leaders,  whose  followers  were  somewhat 
numerous  in  Emden  and  its  vicinity.  At  Leer  and  Nor- 
den  and  in  many  villages  and  country  places  communi 
ties  of  quiet  Anabaptists  are  known  to  have  existed  at 
this  time. 

Thus  Menno  is  to  be  regarded  as  in  no  sense  the  origi 
nator  of  the  religious  denomination  that  bears  his  name, 


302  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

but  rather  as  the  organizer  and  leader  of  a  people  already 
somewhat  numerous  and  only  waiting  for  a  master  spirit 
to  lead  them  out  into  aggressive  and  fruitful  work. 

Unfortunately,  as  it  seems  to  us,  Menno  had  adopted, 
along  with  the  sounder  elements  common  to  the  old- 
evangelical  party  and  to  the  Anti-pedobaptists,  Melchior 
Hofmann's  view  of  the  incarnation,  involving  denial  of 
the  true  humanity  of  Christ.  Upon  this  dogma  he  laid 
the  utmost  stress,  and  he  spent  in  its  defense  a  vast 
amount  of  time  that  might  have  been  far  better  employed. 
At  the  same  time  he  needlessly  aroused  much  antago 
nism  by  advocating  a  view  that  seemed  to  the  great 
majority  of  evangelical  Christians  out  of  harmony  with 
Scripture  teaching  and  with  the  great  doctrines  of  grace. 
It  may  be  said  that  this  view  has  been  abandoned  by  the 
majority  of  Menno's  own  followers.  Undoubtedly  it  was 
a  hurtful  excrescence  on  Menno's  system. 

He  soon  became  involved  in  controversy  with  John  a 
Lasco  on  the  incarnation,  the  two  natures  of  Christ, 
hereditary  sin,  sanctification,  the  Christian  ministry,  etc. 
John  a  Lasco  proposed  a  public  disputation,  to  which 
Menno  readily  agreed.  It  was  held  in  January,  1543, 
and  lasted  for  three  or  four  days.  As  usual,  both  parties 
claimed  the  victory  and  each  leader  published  in  defense 
of  his  position. 

Menno's  first  work  growing  out  of  this  controversy 
was  on  the  incarnation,  his  second  on  church  polity,  and 
his  third  on  baptism.1  In  the  last  he  set  forth  clearly  the 

1  It  seems  almost  certain  that  Menno  did  not  require  or  practise  immersion.  In  his 
"  Foundation  Book"  (p.  22,  folio  Dutch  edition  of  his  works)  he  refers  to  the  act  of 
baptism  as  receiving  "  a  handful  of  water."  The  passage  in  his  treatise  on  "  Chris 
tian  Baptism  "  (p.  409)  sometimes  supposed  to  assert  the  exclusive  validity  of  immer 
sion,  cannot  possibly  be  so  interpreted.  The  author  is  simply  insisting  upon  be 
lievers'  baptism  as  "the  only  baptism  in  the  water  that  is  well  pleasing  to  God"  to 
the  exclusion  of  infant  baptism.  Yet  in  this  same  treatise  he  speaks  repeatedly  of 
"  baptizing  in  the  water  "  and  of  baptism  as  "  a  water-bath,"  and  he  does  not  hesitate 
to  employ  the  symbolism  of  burial  and  resurrection  in  connection  with  the  ordinance. 
On  p.  419  he  repudiates  the  idea  of  the  "miserable  world"  (referring  to  his  Pedo- 


MENNO  IN  COLOGNE  303 

grounds  on  which  he  felt  himself  justified  in  continuing 
to  strive  for  the  restoration  of  primitive  Christianity, 
rather  than  co-operate  with  evangelical  bodies  that  re 
tained  infant  baptism  and  maintained  unjustifiable  rela 
tions  to  the  civil  powers. 

Like  most  of  the  polemical  writing  of  the  time,  Menno's 
would  have  been  improved  by  the  introduction  of  more 
"sweetness  and  light."  His  influence  was  doubtless 
lessened  by  the  irritation  that  he  must  have  caused  by 
the  sharpness  of  some  of  his  utterances.  His  denuncia 
tions  of  a  salaried  ministry  were  particularly  odious  to 
those  who  felt  themselves  justified  in  living  by  the 
gospel.  Undoubtedly  Menno's  attitude  of  pronounced 
hostility  to  a  regularly  educated  and  paid  ministry  and 
the  acceptance  of  this  view  by  his  followers,  while  it 
may  have  attracted  the  illiterate  of  his  time,  was  a  source 
of  permanent  weakness  to  his  denomination.  This  came 
to  be  felt  after  a  while  by  his  followers  and  efforts  were 
made  to  overcome  it. 

Before  the  close  of  1543  we  find  Menno  in  Cologne, 
where  the  Archbishop-Elector  Hermann  von  Wied  had 
adopted  Protestantism  and  had  just  introduced  a  plan 
of  reformation  under  the  advice  of  Melancthon  and 
Bucer.  Here  Menno  labored  quietly,  but  apparently  with 
large  results,  for  two  years.  It  is  probable  that  during 
this  time  he  visited  many  other  places  and  that  through 
correspondence  and  otherwise  he  was  encouraging  and 
directing  the  work  in  the  Netherlands  and  throughout  the 
Rhenish  regions  of  Germany. 

A  large  community  of  Anti-pedobaptists  in  sympathy 
with  Menno's  views  was  already  in  Cologne  and  its 
neighborhood.  Here  also  Menno  proposed  to  hold  a  pub- 
baptist  opponents,  Catholic  and  Protestant)  that  "a  plunging  (duycken)  in  the  water" 
is  equivalent  to  "the  new  birth."  While  perfectly  familiar  with  immersion  as  the 
primitive  form  of  baptism  he  was  probably  content  with  affusion,  the  practice  of  the 
later  Mennonites  as  well. 


304  A  HISTORY  OF  ANT1-PEDOBAPTISM 

lie  disputation  on  the  incarnation  and  other  points  of  doc 
trine  on  which  he  was  at  variance  with  the  evangelical 
ministers.  The  theologians  of  Bonn  and  Wesel  would 
have  accepted  his  proposal,  but  were  influenced  by  John 
a  Lasco  to  decline. 

By  1 546  the  Catholics  had  secured  the  deposition  of 
Hermann  von  Wied  and  had  regained  ecclesiastical  con 
trol  in  Cologne  and  its  dependencies.  Menno,  with  his 
sick  wife,  was  obliged  to  seek  elsewhere  a  retreat  and  a 
center  for  his  evangelistic  activity. 

For  the  next  nine  years  Wismar  afforded  him  a  home 
and  the  East  Sea  region  was  the  chief  field  of  his  labors. 
He  continued  to  publish  largely  in  defense  of  his  views 
and  was  engaged  in  several  controversies  with  prominent 
theologians  during  this  period.  The  most  noteworthy  of 
these  were  with  John  a  Lasco,  Gellius  Faber,  and  Martin 
Micronius. 

In  1547  he  made  a  visit  to  Emden  for  the  purpose  of 
conferring  with  Obbe  and  Dirk  Philips,  Gillis  of  Aachen, 
Henry  of  Vrenen,  Antony  of  Cologne,  and  Leonard 
Bouwens,  with  reference  to  the  future  work  of  the  de 
nomination.  These  were  all  general  evangelists  (head- 
elders  or  bishops),  and  had  been  for  some  years  engaged 
in  a  wonderfully  successful  evangelistic  work.  Besides 
these,  there  were  two  brethren  present  who  were  out  of 
harmony  with  the  rest  on  fundamental  points  :  Adam 
Pastor,  who  was  inclined  to  anti-trinitarianism,  and 
Francis  Cuyper,  who  was  too  much  disposed  toward 
Roman  Catholic  views. 

The  chief  questions  discussed  at  this  conference  were 
those  regarding  the  incarnation  of  Christ  and  the  exer 
cise  of  the  ban.  On  the  latter  point  a  serious  difference 
of  opinion  that  finally  led  to  a  division  of  the  body  ap 
peared.  Menno,  Dirk  Philips,  Gillis  of  Aachen,  and 
Bouwens,  agreed  in  insisting  on  the  most  rigorous  applica- 


EXCESSIVE  DISCIPLINE  305 

tion  of  discipline,  the  rest  contended  for  more  of  modera 
tion.  The  specific  question  on  which  division  occurred 
was  with  reference  to  marital  avoidance.  Menno  con 
tended  that  the  believing  husband  or  wife  of  a  church- 
member  excluded  for  improper  conduct  should  refuse  to 
cohabit  with  the  excluded  party.  Here  again  Menno 
seems  to  us  to  have  spent  his  strength  in  vain.  From 
this  time  onward  a  large  part  of  his  time  was  consumed 
in  advocating  this  extreme  view,  and  the  attempt  to  en 
force  it  was  the  cause  of  endless  trouble  in  the  churches 
as  well  as  of  a  schism  in  the  connection. 

Menno  saw  all  the  greater  reason  for  the  use  of  rigor 
in  the  application  of  the  ban  from  the  fact  that  Mun- 
sterites  were  seeking  to  gain  entrance  into  the  churches 
and  that  the  good  name  of  the  connection  depended  on 
their  rigorous  exclusion. 

"  I  know  of  a  surety,"  he  wrote  in  a  circular  letter  after  his  return 
to  Wismar,  "  that  if  we  had  not  used  our  utmost  endeavor  by  means 
of  the  ban  to  keep  clear  of  the  adherents  of  the  Miinster  fanatics, 
we  should  not  now  be  so  free  from  the  abominations  of  the  perverse 
sect,  to  which  we  can  now  bear  witness  before  the  whole  world. 
Without  the  ban  our  churches  would  have  stood  open  to  all  errorists, 
all  scoffers  and  wanton  sinners,  while  now  the  pure,  clear  light  of 
the  gospel  in  this  time  of  anti-Christian  abomination  is  revealed  to 
us." 

If  the  question  had  been  between  discipline  and  no 
discipline,  between  the  exclusion  of  unworthy  members 
for  sufficient  cause  with  the  guarded  admission  of  appli 
cants  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  indiscriminate  reception  of 
all  who  might  apply  for  membership  with  the  toleration 
of  open  sin  and  heresy  on  the  other,  there  would  have 
been  point  in  Menno's  contention.  It  is  possible 
that  the  opponents  of  Menno  favored  a  degree  of  laxity 
that  was  unwholesome  and  that  did  not  sufficiently  guard 
the  purity  and  the  good  name  of  the  connection ;  it  is 

u 


306  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

certain  that  Menno's  position  was  rigorous  in  the  extreme 
and  it  is  probable  that  it  occasioned  more  of  scandal  than 
it  prevented.  The  marriage  tie  is  too  sacred  a  thing  to 
be  ruthlessly  broken  on  account  of  misconduct  that  makes 
exclusion  from  church-membership  proper,  and  it  seems 
clear  that  the  New  Testament  neither  requires  nor  per 
mits  such  avoidance  as  Menno  required. 

Soon  after  the  division  mentioned  above,  Obbe  Philips 
abandoned  the  Anti-pedobaptists  and  henceforth  labored 
zealously  against  them.  Dirk  Philips  long  continued  to 
labor  side  by  side  with  Menno.  Next  to  Menno  he  was  the 
chief  literary  leader  of  the  connection  and  his  practical 
works  are  still  highly  prized  in  Mennonite  circles.  Leon 
ard  Bouwens  probably  surpassed  both  Menno  and  Philips 
in  popular  power.  He  continued  to  make  Emden  his 
center  and  evangelized  with  great  zeal  throughout  the 
Netherlands,  planting  churches  in  many  places  and  en 
couraging  them  by  his  visits.  He  is  said  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years  to  have  baptized  ten  thousand.  It  was 
with  the  utmost  reluctance  that  Bouwens  allowed  him 
self  to  be  made  a  head-elder  (or  bishop)  along  with 
Menno  and  Dirk  Philips.  His  wife  was  strongly  opposed 
to  his  assuming  the  responsibilities  and  incurring  the 
dangers  that  belonged  to  the  office  and  wrote  to  Menno 
entreating  him  to  excuse  her  husband.  Menno  replied 
most  benevolently,  yet  was  inexorable  in  his  insistence 
that  Bouwens  should  assume  the  office  to  which  he  had 
been  chosen  and  for  which  he  was  so  eminently  fitted. 
His  chief  co-laborer  in  the  Netherlands  was  Gillis  of 
Aachen. 

As  already  suggested,  Menno  devoted  a  large  part  of 
his  attention  to  literary  work.  In  1552  he  published  an 
earnest  appeal  to  the  civil  rulers  on  behalf  of  his  perse 
cuted  people,  defending  them  against  the  charges  that 
were  made  against  them  by  their  enemies  and  setting 


CONTROVERSY  WITH   MICRONIUS  307 

forth  their  pious  and  inoffensive  character.     A  second 
apology  was  addressed  to  the  evangelical  ministers.     In 
a  third  writing  he  set  forth  the  views  of  his  connection 
with   reference   to   justification,   ministry,   baptism,   the 
Supper,  and  oaths.     The  tone  of   Menno's  apologetical 
writings  was  too  polemical  to  be  highly  effective,  and  it 
is  doubtful  whether  they  produced  any  favorable  result. 
John  a  Lasco  had  been  obliged  to  leave  Emden  in  1547, 
when,  owing  to  the  treachery  of  Maurice  of  Saxony,  the 
emperor   seemed    for   the   time   to  have  the  Protestant 
princes  at  his  mercy,  and  had  resolved  to  crush  out  every 
vestige  of  Protestantism  in  his  hereditary  possessions. 
Lasco  took  refuge  in  England,  where  he  ministered  for  a 
number  of  years  to  a  congregation  of  Polish  Protestants. 
Persecution  under  Mary  drove  him  thence.     With  two 
other  ministers,  Utenhofen  and  Micronius,  and  about  one 
hundred   and   seventy-five  others,  he  came    by  ship  in 
stormy  weather   to   seek   protection    from    the    king  of 
Denmark.     After  being  much  tossed  about  and  suffering 
fearful  hardships,  they  succeeded  in  gaining  an  audience 
with  the  king.     He  finally  decided,  after  long  consulta 
tion  with  his  Lutheran  preachers,  that  he  could  not  allow 
such  as  denied  the  real  presence  in  the  Supper  to  remain 
in  his  land.     They  besought  him,  in  view  of  their  misery 
and  the  fact  that  winter  was  at  hand,  to  allow  them  to 
remain  for  the  winter.     But  he  was  inexorable,  and  they 
were  obliged  without  further  delay  to  set  sail. 

The  ship  containing  Lasco  and  the  other  ministers  be 
came  fastened  in  the  ice  near  Wismar.  The  Mennonites 
were  the  only  persons  ready  to  bear  them  succor.  Lasco 
and  the  other  ministers  proceeded  with  little  delay  to 
Emden,  while  a  number  of  their  followers  remained  at 
Wismar.  One  of  these,  Hermes  by  name,  soon  began 
to  agitate  for  a  disputation  with  Menno.  Menno's  secu 
rity  at  Wismar  depended  on  his  avoidance  of  any  sort  of 


308  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

publicity.  He  consented  to  a  disputation  on  the  distinct 
understanding  that  secrecy  should  be  observed  in  the 
matter.  Hermes  sent  to  East  Friesland  for  Micronius, 
who  on  February,  1555,  disputed  for  eleven  hours  with 
Menno  on  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  baptism,  the  oath, 
and  divorce.  Without  regard  to  Menno's  interests, 
Micronius  published  an  account  of  the  disputation. 
Menno  soon  afterward  published  an  extended  reply  to 
Micronius  on  the  points  at  issue  between  them  as  well 
as  a  reply  to  Gellius  Faber,  who  had  published  an  ill- 
tempered  attack  on  Menno  and  his  views.  The  followers 
of  Lasco  were  soon  afterward  banished  from  Wismar  by 
the  Lutheran  authorities,  toleration  being  still  accorded 
to  Menno  and  his  followers. 

In  August,  1555,  the  six  Lutheran  cities  of  the  Hanse- 
atic  League,  to  which  Wismar  belonged,  decreed  the 
banishment  of  all  Anti-pedobaptists.  Menno  and  his 
followers  found  a  retreat  at  Wustenfelde,  in  the  posses 
sions  of  Count  Bartholomews  von  Ahlefeldt,  who  had 
come  to  know  the  quiet  Anti-pedobaptists  in  the  Nether 
lands,  and  who  treated  Menno  with  the  greatest  kind 
ness.  Here  he  remained  till  his  death  in  1559.  Bou- 
wens  had  had  chief  charge  of  the  work  in  the  Nether 
lands,  and  Dirk  Philips  had  been  for  some  years  assisting 
Menno  in  the  East  Sea  region. 

The  advantage  gained  by  the  emperor  over  the  Prot 
estant  princes  in  1547  had  soon  been  lost  and  the 
exterminating  procedures  against  evangelical  teaching 
in  the  Netherlands  were  temporarily  suspended.  Large 
numbers  of  the  Mennonites  had  suffered  martyrdom 
during  this  period  of  acute  persecution  in  East  Friesland 
and  elsewhere.  Anabaptism  was  made  punishable  with 
death,  even  in  case  of  repentance.  Heavy  penalties 
were  attached  to  harboring  or  in  any  way  ministering  to 
Anabaptists.  Inquisitors  were  appointed  to  search  them 


STRASBURG  CONFERENCE  309 

out  and  bring  them  before  the  tribunals.  Some  of  the 
nobility  suffered  among  the  rest.  Yet  in  spite  of  perse 
cution  the  Mennonites  rapidly  increased  and  were  soon 
the  principal  evangelical  party  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  question  of  the  incarnation  of  Christ  and  that  of 
the  application  of  church  discipline  continued  to  agitate 
the  minds  of  the  brethren  and  to  be  productive  of  strife 
and  division,  by  which  Menno  was  deeply  grieved.  The 
German  brethren,  now  quite  numerous  (1555),  felt  that 
the  time  had  come  when  these  and  other  questions  that 
were  the  occasion  of  controversy  among  the  quiet  Anti- 
pedobaptists  should  be  settled.  To  this  end  a  conference 
was  called  at  Strasburg,  which  had  become  an  important 
center  of  the  new  connection.  A  statement  framed  by 
the  conference  with  reference  to  the  incarnation  has 
fortunately  been  preserved.  It  is  admitted  that — 

in  many  passages  of  Scripture  it  seems  as  if  Christ  brought  his  body 
with  him  from  heaven,  but  in  others,  as  if  he  received  his  flesh  from 
Mary.  Further,  it  seems  also  that  he  is  the  Father  and  also  God 
himself.  The  confusion  of  tongues  has  come  upon  the  brethren 
in  this  matter  because  they  would  know  more  than  it  was  intended 
that  they  should  know. 

It  is  urged  that  more  attention  be  given  to  keeping 
God's  commandments  than  to  prying  into  such  mys 
teries.  They  should  be  content  with  the  statement : 
"The  Word  became  flesh  and  tabernacled  among  us." 
"  To  take  from  or  to  add  to  these  words  is  not  only  dis 
turbing,  but  it  is  criminal."  It  is  further  stated  that 
godlessness  and  evil  are  to  be  overcome  more  through 
the  example  of  a  Christian  life  and  walk  than  by  means 
of  words. 

It  is  evident  that  this  document  involved  a  sharp 
censure  of  Menno  and  Philips.  A  copy  of  it  was  sent  to 
Menno,  who  lost  no  time  in  framing  an  answer. 

Menno  and  those  immediately  associated  with  him  had 


310  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

formulated  nine  rules  of  discipline,  which  they  wished 
all  the  churches  of  the  connection  to  follow.  These  for 
bade  marriage  outside  of  the  church  and  required  suspen 
sion  of  fellowship  in  case  of  such  marriage  until  the  life 
had  been  tested  anew  ;  forbade  intercourse,  beyond  what 
was  absolutely  necessary,  with  apostates  ;  and  required 
marital  avoidance  in  case  of  the  evil  life  of  husband  or 
wife  till  amendment.  In  case  of  the  separation  of  a  mar 
ried  couple  on  account  of  religion,  the  party  remaining 
in  the  church  may  not  marry  again  unless  the  apostate 
party  marry  again  or  become  immoral  ;  children  of  be 
lievers  shall  not  marry  without  their  parents'  consent ; 
the  payment  of  just  debts  may  be  required,  but  nothing 
ungodly  must  be  done  in  collecting  ;  military  service  and 
all  bearing  of  arms  are  strictly  prohibited  ;  no  one  shall 
set  himself  up  as  a  teacher  or  exhorter  until  he  has  been 
chosen  thereunto  by  the  church  and  ordained  thereunto 
by  the  elders. 

These  rules  caused  great  dissatisfaction  in  many  quar 
ters.  Bouwens  sought  rigorously  to  enforce  them  in  the 
churches  under  his  immediate  direction.  Gillis  of  Aachen 
met  with  much  opposition  in  executing  them  among  the 
Waterland  churches.  The  feeling  was  very  general  that 
the  requirement  of  marital  avoidance  involved  too  serious 
an  interference  with  personal  liberty.  The  Franecker 
church  was  thrown  into  confusion  by  the  efforts  of  the 
strict  party  to  carry  out  Menno's  rules. 

Menno  was  deeply  grieved  by  the  remonstrance  of  his 
brethren  assembled  at  Strasburg  and  by  the  failure  of 
many  in  the  Netherlands  rigorously  to  execute  his  rules. 
He  claimed  that  he  and  Dirk  Philips  had  always  favored 
making  allowance  for  circumstances.  He  entreated  his 
brethren  to  let  the  rule  requiring  marital  avoidance 
stand,  but  to  use  due  caution  in  executing  it.  If  the  inno 
cent  husband  or  wife  feels  bound  by  conscience  to  adhere 


CONTROVERSY  ON  DISCIPLINE  311 

to  the  sinful  and  excommunicated  spouse  and  in  the  judg 
ment  of  the  brethren  this  can  be  done  without  endanger 
ing  the  Christian  life  of  the  innocent  party,  he  makes  no 
objection.  Yet  he  would  have  each  case  individually  in 
vestigated  and  passed  upon  by  the  elders.  He  claimed 
to  know  of  three  hundred  cases  in  which  through  the 
guilt  of  one  party  both  (husband  and  wife)  have  been 
brought  to  destruction.  Evidently  the  cases  that  would 
escape  the  application  of  the  rule  by  Menno  and  those 
who  were  like-minded  would  be  few  indeed.  To  make 
his  position  on  this  and  other  matters  perfectly  clear 
Menno  published  in  1555  his  "Foundation  Book,"  the 
most  complete  and  mature  exposition  of  his  system.  A 
deputation  from  the  upper  German  brethren,  consisting  of 
the  teachers  Sylis,  Lemke,  and  Heinrich,  visited  Menno 
at  Wismar  to  discuss  this  question  of  marital  avoidance 
and  if  possible  to  reach  a  basis  of  agreement  which  all 
the  churches  could  accept.  These  brethren  were  to  re 
port  to  the  German  and  Netherland  churches  ;  but  so  im 
perfectly  did  they  agree  among  themselves  and  so  vary- 
ing  was  the  coloring  they  gave  to  the  conference  with 
Menno,  that  greater  confusion  than  ever  ensued. 

In  1557  another  convention  was  held  in  Strasburg  with 
representatives  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  churches  of 
Wurtemberg,  Swabia,  Moravia,  Alsace,  the  Palatinate, 
and  Switzerland,  the  chief  purpose  being  to  discuss  and 
if  possible  reach  a  conclusion  on  the  questions  of  disci 
pline  that  had  been  thrust  upon  the  churches  by  the 
rules  of  Menno  and  Philips. 

The  conference  addressed  a  letter  to  Menno  in  which 
they  urged  him  not  to  be  too  rigorous  and  while  express 
ing  general  agreement  with  the  Wismar  rules  yet  insisted 
on  liberty  to  deal  with  individual  cases  on  their  merits  and 
with  due  regard  to  the  usages  of  the  country  in  which  a 
church  is  situated.  Especially  do  they  think  that  the  ut- 


312  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

most  caution  should  be  observed  in  the  application  of  the 
rule  requiring  marital  avoidance.  The  command  as  to 
marriage  transcends  that  as  to  excommunication. 

The  right  of  the  conference  to  address  this  remon 
strance  to  Menno  is  grounded  on  the  fact  that  some  of  its 
members  bore  on  their  persons  the  marks  of  torture  for 
their  faith,  while  in  the  house  of  one  of  them  thirty  years 
before  an  interview  with  Michael  Sattler  had  taken  place. 
Many  of  the  members  had  traveled  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  at  great  cost  and  sacrifice  to  be  present  at  the 
meeting. 

Mention  is  also  made  of  a  very  large  meeting  of  Anti- 
pedobaptists  that  had  occurred  at  Worms,  shortly  before, 
in  which  the  doctrines  of  hereditary  sin  and  of  spiritual 
and  bodily  sin  were  discussed  and  much  confusion  caused 
among  the  brethren  in  the  Palatinate.  The  number  said 
to  have  been  at  the  Worms  meeting  (one  thousand  four 
hundred  or  one  thousand  five  hundred)  is  suspiciously 
large  ;  but  it  is  evident  that  there  was  at  this  time  in  the 
Palatinate  as  well  as  in  Alsace  and  in  the  lower  Rhenish 
regions  a  large  Anti-pedobaptist  element  that  wished  to 
maintain  a  good  understanding  with  Menno,  yet  viewed 
independently  the  question's  that  from  time  to  time  arose. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  at  this  time  there  was  consid 
erable  activity  among  the  Anti-pedobaptists  in  Hesse, 
Westphalia,  Switzerland,  and  in  fact  in  most  of  the 
countries  of  Western  Europe.  This  was  due  in  part  to 
the  encouragment  received  from  the  successful  movement 
in  the  Netherlands  ;  but  to  a  larger  extent  it  was  due  to 
the  revival  of  the  religious  life  that  had  been  so  fearfully 
persecuted  just  before  and  for  some  time  after  the 
Munster  catastrophe.  The  Munster  affair  was  now  well 
in  the  past  and  there  was  coming  to  be  a  slight  realiza 
tion  among  rulers  that  all  Anti-pedobaptists  were  not 
Munsterites. 


MENNO'S  DEATH  313 

With  a  view  to  restoring  unity  and  order  in  the 
churches  Menno,  now  growing  infirm  with  age  and  dis 
ease,  made  a  visit  to  the  churches  in  Friesland  and  after 
ward  attended  a  conference  at  Cologne.  The  result  was 
by  no  means  according  to  his  desire.  Almost  broken 
hearted  he  returned  to  his  home.  The  last  few  years  of 
his  life  were  embittered  by  the  controversies  in  the 
churches  of  the  connection  which  his  influence  was  in 
adequate  to  allay.  He  died  January  23,  1559. 

Literature:  Works  of  Menno  Simons  and  Dirk  Philips,  "  Mennon- 
itische  Blatter,  "  Doopsgezinde  Bijdragen,"  and  monographs  of 
Brons,  Cramer,  Roosen,  De  Hoop  Scheffer,  Van  Braght,  Blaupot 
ten  Gate,  Schyn,  Hamelmann,  Upeij  u.  Dermout,  and  Van  Slee,  as 
in  the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE   LATER  MENNONITES 

BY  1559,  the  date  of  Menno's  decease,  those  who 
agreed  substantially  with  the  great  organizer  of 
quiet  Anti-pedobaptist  life  numbered  many  thousands. 
Lutheranism  had  long  been  practically  extinct  in  the 
Netherlands.  The  Calvinistic  type  of  teaching,  soon  to 
become  dominant,  had  long  since  proved  itself  better 
adapted  to  the  genius  of  the  people  and  had  supplanted  it. 

The  great  mass  of  the  people  had  come  to  abominate 
the  Spanish  rule  and  the  Catholic  religion  with  which 
the  gloomy  and  unscrupulous  king  Philip  II.  was  so 
thoroughly  identified.  After  the  accession  of  Philip, 
Calvinism  grew  more  aggressive.  It  soon  became  evi 
dent  that  the  king  would  give  no  quarter  to  evangelical 
religion  in  any  of  its  forms.  The  persecuting  measures 
under  the  direction  of  the  Duke  of  Alva  (1567  onward) 
are  too  well  known  to  need  recounting  here.  It  is  prob 
able  that  by  1572  nearly  twenty  thousand  evangelical 
Christians  had  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  Philip's  cruel  zeal. 

The  effect  of  the  persecution  was  to  intensify  the  en 
thusiasm  of  the  Calvinists.  Their  preachers  did  not 
hesitate  to  risk  their  lives  in  proclaiming  the  truth  and 
thousands  would  gather  to  hear  them.  A  large  number 
of  Mennonites  suffered  among  the  rest,  but  as  they  were 
on  principle  quiet  and  non-resisting  and  did  not  openly 
antagonize  their  persecutors  they  probably  suffered  less 
in  proportion  to  their  numbers  than  thf  Calvinists. 

The  conviction  was  growing  upon  the  people  of  the 
Netherlands  that  the  time  was  at  hand  when  by  a 
desperate  struggle  the  galling  Spanish  Catholic  yoke 


MENNONITE  PARTIES  315 

must  be  thrown  off.  The  Mennonites  with  their  radical 
opposition  to  warfare  and  their  principle  of  absolute  non- 
resistance  could  not  under  such  circumstances  hope  to 
win  to  their  cause  the  controlling  life  of  the  land.  Men 
like  William  of  Orange  sympathized  deeply  with  the 
Mennonites  in  many  things  ;  but  if  he  and  others  who 
were  like-minded  had  united  themselves  with  their  non- 
resisting  friends  they  would  all  together,  so  far  as  we  can 
see,  have  been  led  like  sheep  to  the  slaughter  by  the 
relentless  Spaniards.  It  was  in  the  very  nature  of  things 
that  militant  Calvinism  should  carry  the  day. 

In  the  forty  years'  struggle  with  Spain  that  began  in 
1568  the  Mennonites  occupied  the  somewhat  inconsistent 
position  of  being  liberal  contributors  to  the  expenses  of 
the  war  and  assisting  the  patriotic  cause  in  every  possible 
indirect  way,  and  yet  refusing  on  conscientious  grounds 
to  bear  arms. 

Before  and  during  the  war  the  Mennonites  were  as  a 
body  a  most  prosperous  people.  Industry  and  thrift  in 
sured  to  almost  all  a  competency  and  to  many  large 
means.  They  were  foremost  in  contributing  to  every 
benevolent  cause,  and  in  no  way  restricted  their  gifts 
to  denominational  channels.  They  became  noted  for 
their  honesty  and  uprightness,  and  though  they  refused 
to  take  judicial  oaths,  their  word  was  considered  a  suffi 
cient  guarantee  for  their  faithful  performance  of  all  obli 
gations.  While  even  in  their  most  prosperous  times  they 
insisted  upon  the  utmost  plainness  in  dress,  they  made 
up  in  a  measure  for  this  excessive  plainness  by  requiring 
whatever  they  used  to  be  the  very  best  of  its  kind.  So 
noticeable  was  their  care  in  this  regard  that  the  term 
"  Mennist-fme  "  came  to  be  used  in  trade  to  designate 
the  best  that  could  be  made. 

The  controversy  on  discipline  that  Menno  himself  had 
been  utterly  unable  to  prevent  or  allay  continued  after 


316  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

his  death  and  increased  in  its  violence.  Party  divisions, 
some  of  which  have  continued  to  the  present  time,  soon 
became  clearly  marked.  Four  of  these  we  note  in  the 
early  time.  The  Waterlanders  occupied  the  extreme 
liberal  position  laying  much  stress  upon  the  freedom  of 
the  individual.  Their  churches  were  contemptuously 
nicknamed  by  their  strict  opponents  "truck-wagons." 
The  extreme  position  as  regards  disciplinary  rigor  was 
occupied  by  the  Flemings,  who  made  such  matters  as 
dress  a  ground  for  discipline,  insisted  on  marital  avoid 
ance  of  an  excommunicated  member,  and  in  general 
strove  to  carry  out  Menno's  rules  more  rigorously  than 
he  himself  would  have  thought  of  doing.  Intermediate 
between  these  were  the  Upper  German  and  Frisian 
churches  and  the  "young"  or  "loose  Frisians,"  the 
latter  closely  approaching  the  position  of  the  Water- 
landers. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  among  the  stricter  parties 
the  rigorous  exercise  of  discipline  sometimes  amounted 
almost  to  persecution  and  that  the  spirit  of  censorious- 
ness  was  cultivated  at  the  expense  of  brotherly  love. 
An  illustration  of  this  tendency  is  afforded  by  the  famous 
case  of  Bintgens,  an  elder  in  the  Franecker  church. 
Bintgens  had  purchased  a  house  for  seven  hundred  flor 
ins,  which  he  allowed  the  seller  for  purposes  of  his  own 
to  value  in  the  deed  at  eight  hundred  florins,  deriving 
himself  no  benefit  whatever  from  the  misstatement. 
When  this  came  to  the  ears  of  a  brother  elder  he  de 
clared  that  Bintgens  had  sinned  by  being  a  party  to 
a  fraud.  The  matter  was  brought  up  in  the  local  church 
where  Bintgens  expressed  his  profound  sorrow  for  what 
had  occurred,  but  maintained  his  entire  innocence  of  ar\y 
fraudulent  intention  in  the  matter.  He  would  have 
sooner  paid  double  the  value  of  the  house  than  wrong 
any  one.  The  church  seemed  satisfied  with  his  state- 


THE   BINTGENS  CONTROVERSY  317 

ment.  Two  of  the  elders,  however,  some  time  afterward 
began  to  agitate  the  matter  afresh,  and  appealed  to  the 
elders  of  the  neighboring  churches  for  their  opinion  of  the 
case.  These  refused  to  give  an  opinion  without  further 
knowledge  of  the  circumstances. 

Two  parties  were  now  formed  in  the  church,  the  one 
demanding  Bintgens'  deposition  from  office,  the  other 
sustaining  him.  A  council  was  called  to  adjudicate  on 
the  matter.  Bintgens  now  claimed  that  while  he  had 
paid  only  seven  hundred  florins  in  money,  he  had  given 
to  the  seller  one  hundred  florins'  worth  of  linen.  No 
definite  result  was  reached,  but  the  prevailing  sentiment 
seems  to  have  been  unfavorable  to  Bintgens. 

A  second  council  was  called  at  which  Bintgens'  ac 
cusers  demanded  not  only  his  deposition  from  office,  but 
his  exclusion  from  church  fellowship.  There  was  a  dif 
ference  of  opinion  as  to  whether  the  matter  should  be 
decided  by  all  the  churches  or  by  some  brethren  espe 
cially  appointed  thereunto,  or  whether  the  procedure  en 
joined  in  i  Tim.  5  :  19,  20  should  not  be  followed. 

A  third  council  failing  to  agree,  the  Amsterdam  and 
Haarlem  brethren  advised  that  the  opinion  of  brethren  in 
Groningen,  Cologne,  and  Emden  be  sought.  The  coun 
cil  ended  in  bitter  wrangling,  some  of  the  brethren  ac 
cusing  others  of  trying  to  cover  up  Bintgens'  guilt.  Bint- 
gens'  party  refused  to  admit  the  right  of  the  Groningen 
and  Emden  brethren  to  be  consulted  in  the  premises. 
The  Amsterdam  brethren  pronounced  against  Bintgens 
and  secured  the  concurrence  of  those  of  Emden  and 
Groningen  ;  the  Haarlem  brethren  took  the  side  of  the 
accused.  The  Haarlem  church  became  so  exasperated 
with  that  of  Amsterdam  as  to  withdraw  from  its  fellow 
ship.  The  dominant  party  persisted  in  condemning  Bint 
gens  and  his  adherents  and  stigmatized  them  as  "  House 
buyers"  and  "  Bankrupts." 


3l8  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

The  transaction  that  occasioned  the  controversy  took 
place  in  1588.  In  1590  the  bitter  divisions  just  men 
tioned  were  at  their  height.  The  vindication  of  the  prin 
ciple  of  absolute  honesty  was  worth  much,  but  it  is  doubt 
ful  whether  it  was  worth  what  it  cost  in  this  case.  The 
censure  of  the  local  church  with  Bintgens'  expression  of 
sorrow  for  what  had  occurred  should,  it  seems,  have  suf 
ficed.  This  is  only  a  sample  of  divisions  that  were  con 
stantly  occurring  through  undue  rigor  in  the  exercise  of 
disciplinary  functions. 

From  1574  onward  the  Reformed  (Calvinistic)  church 
sought  persistently  to  destroy  the  Mennonites,  but  they 
enjoyed  the  protection  of  William  the  Silent  and  after 
ward  of  Maurice  of  Nassau.  The  Synod  of  Dort  in  1574 
decided  to  exhort  the  government  to  tolerate  no  one  who 
would  not  swear  obedience  to  it,  to  compel  the  Mennon 
ites  to  have  their  infants  baptized,  and  in  case  of  refusal 
to  turn  them  over  to  the  Reformed  ministers  to  be  dealt 
with.  They  also  sought  the  right  to  intrude  themselves 
into  the  assemblies  of  the  Mennonites  for  the  purpose  of 
convincing  them  of  their  errors.  In  West  Friesland  they 
secured  for  a  time  the  latter  privilege  and  used  it  greatly 
to  the  annoyance  of  the  brethren.  Having  gained  the 
support  of  Count  Leicester,  who  had  come  to  the  Nether 
lands  as  a  representative  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  to  aid  the 
Dutch  in  their  war  with  Spain,  the  Reformed  ministers, 
though  their  membership  constituted  as  yet  only  a  small 
fraction  of  the  population  (one-tenth  according  to  some 
authorities)  sought  to  secure  recognition  as  the  estab 
lished  church  of  the  land  with  power  to  coerce  dissent. 
Maurice  of  Nassau,  under  the  advice  of  Barnaveld,  fol 
lowed  the  example  of  his  honored  father,  William  the 
Silent,  in  protecting  the  Mennonites. 

In  1596  a  public  disputation,  lasting  from  August  16  to 
November  17  and  embracing  one  hundred  and  fifty-five 


PERSECUTED  BY  THE   REFORMED  319 

sittings,  was  held  at  Leeuwarden  in  Friesland  between 
Ruardus  Acronius  on  behalf  of  the  Reformed  and  Peter 
of  Cologne  on  behalf  of  the  Mennonites.  The  aim  of 
the  disputation  on  the  Reformed  side  was,  apparently,  by 
bringing  out  into  publicity  the  teachings  of  the  Menno 
nites  to  gain  a  pretext  for  their  persecution. 

The  protocol  of  the  disputation  was  published  by  the 
Reformed  party,  accompanied  by  a  claim  of  complete 
victory  and  violent  denunciations  of  the  Mennonites. 
The  preface,  which  occupies  fifty-two  closely  printed 
quarto  pages,  concludes  with  an  impassioned  appeal  to 
the  authorities  to  withdraw  all  toleration  from  the  Ana 
baptists,  whose  principles  are  declared  to  strike  at  the 
root  of  saving  truth  and  of  civil  and  religious  order,  and 
whose  doctrine,  founded  in  lying  hypocrisy,  eats  as  doth 
a  gangrene. 

Peter  of  Cologne  was  probably  the  most  prominent  of 
the  Mennonite  teachers  of  the  time.  Though  seventy 
years  of  age,  he  conducted  the  Mennonite  side  in  the 
prolonged  disputation  with  marked  ability  and  to  the  sat 
isfaction  of  his  brethren.  Neither  he  nor  his  opponent 
adhered  rigidly  to  the  agreement  to  avoid  all  bitterness 
which,  under  any  circumstances,  would  have  been  diffi 
cult. 

The  Reformed  synods  at  Franecker  and  Harlingen 
sought  to  induce  the  magistracy  to  restrain  Peter  from 
preaching  in  Friesland. 

About  1601  a  book  of  Beza's  defending  the  execution 
of  heretics  was  translated  into  Dutch  and  published,  the 
chief  object  being  to  prepare  the  public  mind  for  the 
slaughter  of  the  Mennonites.  In  the  preface  it  is  argued 
that  to  tolerate  heresy  is  to  make  peace  with  Satan. 
Only  one  church  must  be  tolerated  in  the  State. 

In  answer  to  the  objection  that  some  might  raise  to  the 
persecution  of  heretics  on  the  ground  of  loss  of  trade, 


320  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

etc.,  it  is  answered  that  it  is  better  to  have  a  city  deso 
late  and  uninhabited  than  a  thriving  city  full  of  heretics. 
In  some  places  the  Mennonites  were  refused  the  privilege 
of  doing  business  or  of  holding  meetings  and  their  min 
isters  were  fined  and  ordered  to  go  into  banishment. 

In  1603  a  Reformed  synod  asked  the  government  to 
restrain  the  Mennonite  bishops  from  traveling  from  place 
to  place,  preaching  and  baptizing  ;  in  1604  the  govern 
ment  was  asked  to  prohibit  the  ordaining  of  young  min 
isters  by  the  Mennonites  ;  in  1605  it  was  petitioned  not 
to  allow  them  to  build  any  more  chapels.  The  most  de 
termined  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  Calvinists  to  crush 
out  the  Mennonites  by  the  use  of  the  civil  power  were 
continued  almost  without  intermission  during  the  seven 
teenth  century.  If  the  Mennonites  were  not  destroyed 
root  and  branch,  but  were  able  to  survive  the  calumny 
and  persecution  to  which  they  were  subjected,  it  was 
due  to  no  lack  of  zeal  on  the  part  of  the  Reformed  min 
isters,  but  rather  to  their  power  of  endurance  and  the 
restraining  influence  of  the  government. 

The  Socinian  wave  that  swept  over  the  Protestant 
Netherlands  during  the  last  years  of  the  sixteenth  cen 
tury  and  the  early  years  of  the  seventeenth  did  not  leave 
the  Mennonites  unaffected.  In  common  with  the  rest  of 
the  Anti-pedobaptists  and  with  the  old-evangelical  party 
of  the  mediaeval  time,  the  Mennonites  had  from  the  be 
ginning  been  most  pronounced  in  their  opposition  to  the 
Augustinian  system  as  it  had  been  revived  and  modified 
by  Luther  and  Calvin.  They  had  much  in  common  with 
the  Socinians,  who,  as  we  shall  see,  were  themselves 
rigid  Anti-pedobaptists  and  insisted  on  the  inspiration  and 
authority  of  the  Scriptures,  while  they  gave  to  Christ  a 
position  not  of  co-equality  with  the  Father,  but  yet  of 
exaltation  above  all  created  things.  His  miraculous  con 
ception,  his  creative,  providential,  and  redemptive  work 


THE  RHYNSBURGERS  321 

were  unreservedly  accepted.  As  regards  original  sin,  the 
will,  and  justification,  the  Socinianism  as  expounded  in  the 
Racovian  Catechism  (1590),  was  not  essentially  different 
from  that  of  the  old-evangelical  party  as  perpetuated  by 
the  Anti-pedobaptists  in  general  and  by  the  Mennonites. 

Calvinism  never  assumed  a  more  extreme  type  than  it 
assumed  in  the  Netherlands  about  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  mighty  reaction  against 
hyper-Calvinism  under  Socinian  and  other  influences  re 
sulting  in  the  rending  asunder  of  the  Reformed  church 
and  the  formation  of  the  Remonstrant  or  Arminian  com 
munion,  with  the  years  of  strife  and  persecution  that 
preceded  and  followed  the  Synod  of  Dort  (1618),  could 
not  have  failed  to  interest  and  influence  the  Mennonites. 
During  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  sup 
posed  sympathy  with  Socinianism  on  the  part  of  some  of 
the  Mennonites  was  alike  an  occasion  of  internal  strife 
and  of  attacks  from  their  Calvinistic  opponents. 

About  1619  a  movement  originated  at  Rhynsburg,  Hol 
land,  that  not  only  sustains  an  important  relation  to  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  Mennonites,  but  has  also  an 
interesting  point  of  contact  with  English  Baptist  history. 
The  brothers  van  der  Kodde  (John,  Adrian,  William,  and 
Gisbrecht),-  by  way  of  reaction  against  the  religious 
strife  of  the  time,  began  to  hold  meetings  for  Christian 
fellowship  and  prophesying.  They  repudiated  creeds  and 
eschewed  all  controversy.  Their  meetings  were  open  to 
all  true  believers,  each  of  whom  had  the  fullest  liberty 
of  taking  part  in  the  exercises.  Their  assemblies  were 
largely  devoted  to  the  edifying  interpretation  of  the  Scrip 
tures  whose  authority  they  accepted.  The  breaking  of 
bread,  in  commemoration  of  the  incarnation  and  death  of 
Christ  and  as  a  means  of  communion  of  believers, 
prayer,  and  the  singing  of  hymns,  formed  prominent 
features  of  their  meetings.  The  Christian  ministry  as  a 


322  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

distinct  office  they  thought  unnecessary  and  harmful. 
The  New  Testament  having  been  given,  Christians  had 
no  need  that  any  one  should  teach  them,  but  all  alike 
should  draw  from  the  revealed  word  as  they  might  be 
able  and  each  should  be  in  his  measure  a  teacher  of 
others.  They  baptized  into  the  fellowship  of  the  saints 
by  immersion.  Their  modes  of  religious  thought  were 
distinctly  anti-Calvinistic.  Socinianism  was  undoubt 
edly  the  chief  source  of  their  impulse,  although  they  did 
not  dogmatize  as  did  the  Socinians  on  the  person  of 
Christ,  etc.  It  is  highly  probable  that  they  were  in 
fluenced  to  a  considerable  extent  by  the  Mennonites,  with 
many  of  whose  views  they  thoroughly  agreed  and  who 
certainly  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  movement  after 
its  organization. 

Deprived  to  a  great  extent  of  educational  advantages 
the  Mennonites  utilized  the  meetings  of  the  Rhyns- 
burgers  (or  Collegiants)  as  means  of  improvement  and 
edification.  It  is  also  probable  that  the  introduction  of 
immersion  by  the  Rhynsburgers  was  due  to  Socinian 
influence,  as  the  Socinians  insisted  on  immersion  while 
the  Mennonites  usually  practised  sprinkling  or  affusion. 
After  a  period  of  prosperity  the  movement  gradually 
declined  and  became  extinct  early  in  the  present  cen 
tury. 

It  does  not  fall  within  the  plan  of  the  present  work  to 
trace  the  history  of  the  Mennonites  beyond  the  first 
quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  they  exerted 
an  influence  on  the  rise  of  the  English  Baptists. 

Literature:  Works  of  Menno  Simons  and  Dirk  Philips,  "  Men- 
nonitische  Blatter,"  "  Doopsgezinde  Bijdragen,"  and  monographs 
of  Brons,  Cramer,  Roosen,  De  Hoop-Scheffer,  Van  Braght,  Blaupot 
ten  Gate,  Schyn,  Hamelmann,  Upeij  u.  Dermout,  and  Van  Slee,  as 
in  the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
ITALY  AND  POLAND 

NO  country  of  Europe  was  more  hospitable  to  free 
dom  of  thought  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century  than  Italy.  As  the  center  of  the  Renaissance, 
with  its  repugnance  to  scholasticism  and  its  devotion  to 
classical  modes  of  thought  and  expression,  Italy  was  the 
theatre  of  a  widespread  departure  from  the  old  faith  and 
the  development  of  radical  types  of  Christian  thought. 

Several  of  the  popes  of  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth 
and  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  centuries  are  said  to 
have  been  free-thinkers  of  the  most  pronounced  type, 
and  the  Roman  Curia  was  not  likely  under  such  circum 
stances  to  apply  the  inquisition  of  heresy  with  pristine 
vigor.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the  Protestant  Revolution 
clubs  of  learned  men  of  evangelical  tendencies  were  in 
the  habit  of  meeting  in  various  places  for  the  discus 
sion  of  theological  questions  and  for  mutual  edification. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  evangelical 
movement  of  which  Lombardy  had  been  since  the 
twelfth  century  a  chief  center  had  been  exterminated 
during  the  later  Middle  Ages.  It  is  probable,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  evangelical 
Christians  whom  we  meet  in  Italy  during  the  fourth  and 
following  decades  of  the  sixteenth  century  had  earlier 
been  under  old-evangelical  influence.  From  the  Rhas- 
tian  provinces  of  Switzerland  and  from  the  contiguous 
districts  of  the  Tyrol  the  old-evangelical  life  of  Northern 
Italy  was  no  doubt  reinforced  and  made  aggressive  by 
the  Anti-pedobaptists  who  abounded  in  the  former  terri 
tories. 


323 


324  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

That  evangelical  Anti-pedobaptist  views  should  have 
there  become  blended  with  the  radical  modes  of  thought, 
the  later  development  of  which  we  see  in  the  Italico-Polish 
anti-trinitarian  movement,  is  quite  comprehensible.  The 
tendency  of  Italian  Humanism  was  to  call  in  question, 
with  the  errors  and  corruptions  of  the  mediaeval  church, 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  and 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  sure  to  be  assailed. 

The  writings  of  Luther  and  of  the  evangelical  leaders 
of  Switzerland  and  Southern  Germany  were  somewhat 
widely  circulated  in  Italy  from  1520  onward.     Anti-trini 
tarian  tendencies  were  doubtless  fostered  to  a  consider 
able  extent  by  the  writings  of   the   Spanish   anti-trini 
tarian  Michael  Servetus,  which  are  known  to  have  been 
in  circulation  during  the  fourth  decade  of  the  century. 
Servetus  was  one  of  the  most  zealous  of  Anti-pedobap- 
tists.     He  declared  infant  baptism  to  be  "  a  figment  of 
Anti-christ"  and  "a  figment  of  Satan."     He  adduced 
twenty-five  reasons  why  pedobaptism  should    be  abol 
ished.     He  insisted  that  as  Adam  was  born  thirty  years 
old,  as  the  Jews  were  permitted  to  enter  the  sanctuary 
only  after  the  thirtieth  year,  and  as  Christ  was  baptized 
when  thirty  years  old,  so  believers  should  be  baptized 
at  this  age.     He  had  a  peculiar  view  of  the  right  mode 
of   administering  the  ordinance.     The  candidate  should 
go  down  into  the  water  and  then  have  water  poured  upon 
his  head.     While  he  emphasized  the  importance  of  faith 
as  a  prerequisite  to  baptism  and  held  that  baptism  with 
out  faith  effects  nothing,  he  was  yet  assured  that  baptism 
adds  something  to  faith.     If  two  believers  prepared  for 
baptism  should  die,  the  one  baptized  and  the  other  un- 
baptized,  the  former  alone  would  be  free  from  the  power 
and  the  pains  of  hell.1 

*See  "Restitutio  Christianismi,"  pp.  228,  seq.,  4",  seq.,  560,  seq.,   $70.  seq.,  484, 
seq.,  492,  seq.,  616,  seq.,  etc. 


CAMILLO  RENATO  325 

The  Republic  of  Venice  had  long  been  a  place  of  refuge 
for  political  as  well  as  religious  fugitives  and  was  able  to 
resist  the  efforts  of  the  Roman  Curia  to  introduce  the  in 
quisition  until  1551.  Early  Socinian  tradition  knew  of  a 
college  or  club  of  freethinkers  at  Vicenza  in  the  Repub 
lic  of  Venice  about  1546.  It  is  not  in  accord  with  the 
purpose  of  the  present  work  to  investigate  the  rise  of  the 
anti-trinitarianism  as  such  in  Italy,  and  this  movement 
claims  attention  only  from  the  fact  that  it  was  closely 
connected  with  an  important  Anti-pedobaptist  movement. 
One  of  the  earliest  representatives  of  this  liberal  Anti- 
pedobaptist  tendency  was  the  Sicilian,  Camillo  Renato, 
who  was  active  as  a  teacher  in  Caspano,  Traona,  Chia- 
venna,  and  Vicosoprano,  during  the  years  1542-45.  He 
has  been  fitly  characterized  as  a  "  Calvinistic  Quaker." 
A  rigid  predestinarian,  he  held  that  the  elect  and  only 
they  have  the  spirit  of  God  and  so  are  immortal.  Souls 
that  have  not  the  Holy  Spirit  die,  those  that  have  the 
Spirit  only  slumber  in  death  to  receive  afterward  a  re 
newed,  purely  spiritual  form  of  being.  The  child  of  the 
Spirit  needs  no  external  law.  The  sacraments  are  only 
symbols  of  truths  that  have  already  been  realized  in  the 
heirs  of  the  kingdom.  The  Supper  is  a  memorial  of 
Christ's  death.  Baptism  is  only  an  external  sign  that  the 
old  man  has  been  put  away. 

In  a  controversy  with  Meinardo,  who  had  adopted  the 
Reformed  view  of  the  sacraments,  he  repudiated  baptism 
received  "under  the  pope  and  antichrist,"  in  a  special 
writing,  and  openly  denied  that  infant  baptism  was  in 
accord  with  the  "doctrine  of  the  gospel."  He  had  no 
sympathy  with  the  Reformed  view  that  infant  baptism 
takes  the  place  of  circumcision.  He  laid  great  emphasis 
on  regeneration,  which  involves  a  complete  transforma 
tion  of  our  nature  and  constitutes  us  children  of  God  and 
heirs  of  eternal  life. 


326  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Camillo  Renato  was  closely  associated  with  a  number 
of  men  who  became  prominent  anti-trinitarians,  among 
others  with  Laelius  Socinus,  then  a  young  man,  and 
Celio  Secundo  Curio.  His  correspondence  with  Bullinger 
of  Zurich,  with  whose  views  of  the  Supper  he  was  in  sub 
stantial  accord,  was  broken  off  as  a  result  of  his  contro 
versy  with  Meinardo  on  baptism.  In  his  rejection  of  in 
fant  baptism  he  soon  had  a  considerable  following. 
Among  the  most  noted  of  his  first  disciples  were  Fran 
cesco  Negri,  and  the  physician  Pietro  da  Casali  Maggiore, 
one  of  the  most  zealous  Anti-pedobaptists  of  the  time. 

Greater  by  far  than  the  influence  of  Camillo  was  that 
of  Tiziano.  Almost  nothing  is  known  of  his  antece 
dents.  We  first  meet  him  about  1547  or  1548,  fleeing 
from  place  to  place  to  escape  persecution.  Camillo  had 
declared  himself  opposed  to  infant  baptism,  but  there  is 
no  evidence  that  he  submitted  to  or  practised  believers' 
baptism.  It  is  probable  that  he  attached  too  little  im 
portance  to  external  rites  to  think  either  worth  while. 

Pietro  Manelfi,  an  ex-priest,  was  led  by  the  teachings 
of  the  famous  Capuchin  friars  Hieronimo  Spinazola  and 
Bernardino  Ochino  to  believe  that  the  pope  was  anti 
christ.  He  was  baptized  along  with  a  number  of  other 
notable  men  by  Tiziano  in  1548  or  1549,  and  after  serv 
ing  for  some  years  as  a  leader  among  the  Italian  Anti- 
pedobaptists  became  an  apostate  and  a  traitor.  He  at 
tributed  the  following  teachings  to  Tiziano  :  (i)  Insist 
ence  of  believers'  baptism  ;  (2)  rejection  of  magistracy  as 
inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity  ;  (3)  mainte 
nance  of  the  symbolical  and  memorial  nature  of  the  sacra 
ments  ;  (4)  exaltation  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  only  crite 
rion  of  the  faith;  (5)  denunciation  of  the  Romish  church 
as  devilish  and  absolutely  anti-christian.  As  ordinances 
administered  by  this  anti-christian  church  are  of  no  value 
he  insisted  on  believers'  baptism. 


CONVENTION  AT  VENICE  327 

By  1550  about  forty  Anti-pedobaptist  churches,  scat 
tered  throughout  Northern  Italy  and  contiguous  parts  of 
Switzerland,  were  in  fellowship  with  each  other  and  were 
enjoying  the  periodical  visitations  of  a  general  superin 
tendent.  Their  connectional  organization  seems  to  have 
been  very  similar  to  that  of  the  Waldensian  churches  of 
the  earlier  time. 

The  churches  had  become  greatly  agitated  over  the 
question  "whether  Christ  is  God,  or  man."  To  settle 
this  question  it  was  decided  to  secure  the  assembling  of 
all  the  ministers  of  all  the  churches  at  Venice.  No  church 
was  to  send  more  than  two  representatives,  yet  there 
were  about  sixty  delegates  present.  As  many  distant 
churches  would  not  be  likely  to  send  a  full  delegation,  it 
is  probable  that  at  least  forty  churches  were  represented. 
Among  the  delegates  were  Tiziano,  Iseppo  of  Asola, 
Manelfi,  Celio  Secundo  Curio,  afterward  to  become 
famous  as  an  advocate  of  freedom  of  conscience  and  as 
author  of  the  "  Tragedy  of  Free  Will,"  Francesco  Negri, 
and  the  ex-abbot  Hieronimo  Buzano,  who  had  offered  to 
his  Anti-pedobaptist  church  the  income  of  one  thousand 
ducats  a  year  from  his  office.  It  is  gratifying  to  know 
that  the  church  declined  to  receive  anything  "from  the 
blood  of  the  beast."  An  interesting  feature  of  this  con 
vention  is  that  the  churches  paid  the  expenses  of  their 
delegates. 

Unfortunately  the  doctrinal  beliefs  of  this  large  and 
respectable  Anti-pedobaptist  convention  were  far  less 
satisfactory  than  their  attitude  toward  the  corruptions  of 
Rome  and  their  views  on  the  ordinances.  It  was  decided 
that  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  were 
to  be  accepted  as  the  fundamental  authority.  Thrice 
during  the  meeting  the  Supper  was  celebrated.  The  ut 
most  devoutness  seems  to  have  characterized  the  entire 
proceedings  of  the  convention.  And  yet  after  forty 


328  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

days  of  earnest  discussion  they  reached  the  following 
conclusions  :  (i)  Christ  is  not  God  but  man,  begotten  by 
Joseph  of  Mary,  but  full  of  all  divine  powers.  (2)  Mary 
afterward  bore  other  sons  and  daughters.  (3)  There  are 
no  angels  as  a  special  class  of  beings  ;  where  Scripture 
speaks  of  angels,  it  means  servants — that  is,  men  sent 
by  God  for  definite  purposes.  (4)  There  is  only  one 
devil,  namely,  human  prudence.  By  the  serpent,  who, 
according  to  Moses'  account,  seduced  Eve,  nothing  else 
than  this  is  to  be  understood.  (5)  The  godless  are  not  to 
be  awakened  at  the  last  day,  but  only  the  elect,  whose 
Head  Christ  has  been.  (6)  There  is  no  other  hell  than 
the  grave.  (7)  If  the  elect  die,  they  slumber  till  the  day 
of  judgment,  when  they  shall  all  be  awakened.  (8)  The 
souls  of  the  godless  pass  into  dissolution  with  their  bodies 
just  as  in  the  case  of  the  beasts.  (9)  Human  seed  has 
from  God  the  capacity  to  propagate  flesh  and  spirit.  (10) 
The  elect  are  justified  through  God's  eternal  mercy  and 
love,  without  any  sort  of  external  work,  that  is,  without 
the  merit,  blood,  and  death  of  Christ, 

Such  is  the  account  of  his  brethren  that  Manelfi, 
who,  having  by  years  of  personal  visitation  and  inter 
course  secured  complete  information  as  to  the  connec 
tion,  gave  to  the  Inquisition.  There  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  its  substantial  accuracy,  as  its  main  features  are 
otherwise  known  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  facts. 
It  is  possible  that  only  those  churches  were  included 
in  the  connection  that  were  understood  to  entertain  low 
views  of  the  person  of  Christ.  We  have  abundant  evi 
dence  a  few  years  later  in  the  records  of  the  Inquisition 
that  side  by  side  with  the  anti-trinitarian  Anti-pedobap- 
tists  were  some  who  rejected  the  anti-trinitarian  and 
other  errors  to  which  the  convention  at  Venice  almost 
unanimously  subscribed. 

Manelfi's  report  to  the  Inquisition  furnishes  a  full  and 


MANELFI'S  TREACHERY 


329 


seemingly  accurate  account  of  the  church  organization 
of  the  anti-trinitarian  Anti-pedobaptists  of  Italy  and 
Switzerland.  It  seems  to  have  been  almost  identical 
with  that  of  the  Waldenses  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Each 
local  congregation  had  its  ministers  ordained  by  the 
"  apostolic  bishops,"  or  general  superintendents.  The 
functions  of  these  latter  were  to  "preach  the  word  and 
to  constitute  ministers."  A  connection  of  churches  had 
grown  up  before  the  time  of  the  convention  referred  to, 
and  this  connection  was  fostered  through  the  regular 
visitation  of  the  congregations  by  the  itinerant  super 
intendents  or  bishops.  A  superintendent  was  usually 
accompanied  in  his  itinerating  by  a  less-experienced 
brother,  who  thus  secured  the  necessary  training  in  the 
arts  of  evading  the  authorities  and  of  reaching  success 
fully  the  scattered  and  persecuted  flocks.  For  instance, 
Manelfi  had  accompanied  Marcantonio  of  Asola  in  his 
visitation  of  the  churches  in  Vicenza,  Padua,  Treviso, 
and  Istria.  He  had  visited  the  churches  in  the  Romagna, 
in  Ferrara,  and  in  Tuscany,  in  company  with  the 
"  bishop,"  Lorenzo  Nicoluzzo,  from  Modiana.  As  a  trav 
eling  companion  of  Pasqualino  of  Asola  he  had  again 
visited  the  churches  in  Ferrara,  Padua,  and  Vicenza. 

From  Manelfi  we  learn  that  the  brethren  practised  a 
most  effective  method  of  warning  each  of  approaching 
danger,  through  special  messengers  dispatched  to  the 
various  threatened  congregations.  They  were  shrewd 
enough  likewise  to  visit  and  console  brethren  in  prison 
despite  the  rigid  prohibition  of  the  authorities.  He  him 
self  had  visited  an  Anti-pedobaptist  brother  in  prison, 
and  while  there  had  converted  and  baptized  a  Lutheran 
prisoner.  Manelfi  was  able  to  give  the  most  detailed 
information  with  reference  to  the  entire  connection  and 
with  reference  to  individual  congregations. 

It  was  upon  one  of   his  tours  of  visitation  in  Octo- 


33O  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

ber,  1551,  as  he  was  passing  through  Ravenna  on  his 
way  to  Tuscany,  that  the  conviction  pressed  itself  upon 
him  that  he  was  an  apostate  from  the  true  faith  and  that 
there  was  nothing  left  for  him.  but  to  retrace  his  steps 
and  seek  as  far  as  in  him  lay  to  undo  the  evil  that  he  had 
accomplished  during  his  years  of  apostasy.  He  forsook 
his  companion,  made  his  way  to  Bologna,  threw  himself 
at  the  feet  of  the  inquisitors,  and  was  restored  to  the  fel 
lowship  of  the  Romish  church. 

It  was  natural  that  the  authorities  should  insist  upon  his 
furnishing  all  the  information  he  possessed  for  assisting 
the  inquisitors  in  their  work  of  exterminating  heresy,  and 
he  showed  no  reluctance  in  betraying  those  with  whom 
he  had  so  long  and  so  zealously  labored  and  whose  con 
fidence  he  had  so  fully  enjoyed.  Of  the  large  number 
of  Anti-pedobaptists  arraigned  by  the  Inquisition  through 
the  information  furnished  by  Manelfi  the  majority  re 
nounced  their  faith  and  promised  to  return  to  their  alle 
giance  to  Rome.  A  considerable  number  fled  to  Moravia 
and  Poland.  Some  of  those  who  took  refuge  among  the 
ever-hospitable  and  at  that  time  highly  prosperous 
brethren  in  Moravia  were  convinced  by  them  of  the 
errors  of  the  Italian  brethren  with  reference  to  the  per 
son  of  Christ,  the  future  life,  etc.,  and  were  filled  with 
yearning  to  instruct  their  Anti-pedobaptist  fellow-country 
men  more  perfectly  in  the  way  of  the  Lord  and  to  induce 
as  many  of  them  as  possible  to  take  refuge  in  the  goodly 
land  where  they  themselves  had  been  so  kindly  received 
and  so  richly  blessed. 

Among  the  most  noteworthy  of  the  Italian  anti-trini- 
tarian  Anti-pedobaptists  who  were  brought  to  evangelical 
views  through  intercourse  with  the  Moravians  was  Giulio 
Gherlandi.  Educated  for  the  priesthood  and  already  in 
troduced  into  one  of  its  lower  grades,  Gherlandi,  while 
still  a  young  man,  was  awakened  by  our  Lord's  warn- 


LETTER  FROM  MORAVIA  331 

ing,  which  he  found  in  the  Breviary  :  "  Beware  of  false 
prophets,"  etc.  His  knowledge  of  the  corrupt  lives  of 
the  clergy  led  him  to  identify  them  with  the  false 
prophets  that  inwardly  were  ravening  wolves.  After 
much  prayerful  heart-searching  he  determined  to  leave 
the  Romish  church  and  to  seek  a  people  "  who  should  be 
free  through  the  gospel  of  truth  from  the  bondage  of  sin 
and  should  walk  in  newness  of  life,  a  people  that  is 
God's  holy,  unspotted  church,  separate  from  sinners, 
without  wrinkle  and  without  blemish." 

About  1549  he  came  in  contact  with  the  Anti-pedobap- 
tists  and  was  baptized  at  Treviso  by  Nicolao  d'Alessan- 
dria.  He  became  an  active  worker  in  the  new  fellowship 
and  baptized  a  number  of  converts.  Some  time  between 
1551  and  1557  he  went  to  Moravia  and  was  soon  brought 
into  complete  accord  with  the  doctrines  and  the  mode  of 
life  of  the  brethren  there.  In  1557  he  was  sent  on  a 
mission  to  Italy  to  warn  his  friends  against  "that  pesti 
lential  doctrine" — denial  of  the  deity  of  Christ.  His 
aim  was  after  instructing  his  brethren  in  right  doctrine  to 
lead  them  away  to  Moravia,  "  since  there  was  no  servant 
of  the  word  to  be  found  in  Italy."  This  first  mission  he 
seems  to  have  accomplished  in  safety. 

In  1559  he  was  sent  a  second  time  to  Italy.  This  time 
he  was  accompanied  by  two  other  brethren.  They  bore 
a  letter  from  Francesco  della  Saga,  an  influential  Italian 
Anti-pedobaptist  convert  to  Moravian  orthodoxy,  to  the 
Anti-pedobabtist  church  at  Vicenza.  The  document  be 
gins  : 

We,  the  church  sanctified  through  Jesus  Christ  and  received  into 
the  communion  of  God  the  Father  and  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ, 
together  with  the  elders  and  ministers,  desire  for  all  those  who  are  in 
Italy  and  would  live  perfectly  in  the  truth,  insight. into  the  divine 
will :  that  with  upright  heart  they  may  recognize  Christ  in  his 
power,  embrace  him,  yield  themselves  up  to  him,  and  thereby  be 
come  partakers  of  his  fellowship  and  of  eternal  life. 


332  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

The  writer  is  just  as  careful  to  warn  his  hearers 
against  the  opposite  (Hofmannite)  error  of  denying  the 
true  humanity  of  Christ  by  maintaining  that  he  brought 
his  flesh  with  him  from  heaven.  Adverse  reference  is 
also  made  to  other  errors  into  which  the  Italian  party  had 
fallen,  such  as  conditional  immortality  and  denial  of  the 
existence  of  angels  and  of  the  devil  ;  and  the  hope  is 
expressed  that  if  they  still  hold  to  such  views  they  will 
soon  abandon  them  and  allow  themselves  to  be  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  into  the  true  church. 

This  short  letter  gives  us  a  clear  insight  into  the  spirit 
that  actuated  the  Italian  brethren  who  in  Moravia  had 
been  won  to  right  views  of  the  person  of  Christ  in  their 
efforts  to  deliver  their  fellow-countrymen  from  what 
they  saw  to  be  ruinous  errors.  In  the  efforts  which 
they  put  forth  in  this  direction  they  had  the  hearty  co 
operation  of  the  entire  Moravian  brotherhood  with  whom 
they  had  become  identified. 

To  facilitate  their  work  in  reaching  the  scattered  breth 
ren  in  Italy,  Gherlandi  and  his  companions  had  been  fur 
nished  with  a  list  of  the  names  of  brethren  in  various 
places,  especially  we  may  suppose  of  those  thought  to  be 
most  likely  to  respond  to  the  sentiments  of  the  letter  and 
to  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries.  It  seems  to  us  little 
short  of  criminal  that  at  such  a  time  men  with  such  a 
mission  should  have  run  the  risk  for  themselves  and  for 
those  whom  they  were  seeking  to  bless  that  was  involved 
in  carrying  on  their  persons  such  documents.  To  what 
extent  they  had  accomplished  their  mission  before  they 
were  arrested  and  their  brethren  throughout  Italy  be 
trayed  into  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition  we  are  not  in  a 
position  to  determine.  Some  time  before  October  14, 
1561,  when  he  had  his  first  hearing  before  the  Inquisition, 
Gherlandi  was  seized  in  the  Venetian  jurisdiction  and  the 
documents  referred  to  were  used  by  the  inquisitors  for  his 


GHERLANDI  AND  SAGA  333 

own  condemnation  as  well  as  that  of  those  whose  names 
appeared  on  his  lists.  The  Counter-Reformation  was  now 
in  full  progress.  The  clues  furnished  by  the  document 
were  utilized  to  the  utmost  ;  large  numbers  were  seized 
and  subjected  to  torture  with  a  view  of  ascertaining  the 
names  and  whereabouts  of  as  many  of  their  brethren  as 
possible. 

Gherlandi's  admirable  account  of  his  life  and  of  the 
principles  and  practices  of  the  Moravian  Anti-pedobap- 
tists,  with  whom  he  was  in  complete  and  loving  accord, 
has  already  been  referred  to. 

Another  Italian  convert  to  Moravian  orthodoxy  claims 
our  attention.  Francesca  della  Saga,  of  Rovigo,  born  in 
1532,  while  a  student  in  the  University  of  Padua  was 
brought  by  a  severe  illness  and  the  earnest  words  of  an 
artisan  to  reflect  upon  his  spiritual  condition.  Late  in  the 
fifties  we  find  him  among  the  Moravians,  working  at  the 
tailor's  trade  and  occupying  a  position  of  considerable  in 
fluence.  He  made  several  journeys  to  Italy  to  look  after 
his  inheritance  and  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  Italian 
brethren. 

In  1562  we  find  him  engaged  in  an  earnest  effort  on  be 
half  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  in  company  with  Antonio 
Rizzetto  of  Vicenza.  Their  efforts  were  being  crowned 
with  success  when  they  were  betrayed  by  a  false 
brother  and,  just  as  they  were  setting  sail  from  Capo 
d'Istria  on  their  way  to  Moravia  with  a  large  company  of 
coreligionists,  were  seized  by  the  authorities.  Among 
the  prisoners  was  the  physician  Nicolao  Bucella.  Most  of 
the  members  of  the  party  came  from  a  church  that  seems 
never  to  have  affiliated  with  the  radical  Anti-trinitarian 
element. 

Gherlandi  was  still  in  prison  and,  witnessing  to  the  last 
most  heroically  to  the  truth,  was  sentenced  to  death  by 
drowning  in  October,  1562.  Saga's  trial  occurred  at 


334  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

about  the  same  time.  His  confession  of  faith,  which  the 
authorities  allowed  him  to  make  in  writing  and  which  has 
been  preserved,  is  in  harmony  with  the  highest  and  pur 
est  type  of  Anti-pedobaptist  teaching.  His  letters  to  the 
brethren  in  Moravia  and  to  the  members  of  his  own 
family,  who  had  no  sympathy  with  his  religious  views 
and  who  held  completely  aloof  from  him,  reveal  to  us  an 
extraordinarily  pure  and  noble  Christian  character.  After 
more  than  two  years  of  imprisonment  both  Saga  and 
Rizzetto  were  executed  by  drowning  in  1565.  We  hear 
little  or  nothing  henceforth  of  Anti-pedobaptists  in  Italy. 
It  is  probable  that  most  of  those  who  did  not  renounce 
their  faith  made  their  way  to  Moravia  and  Poland. 

Humanism  found  its  way  early  to  Poland  and  in  point 
of  intelligence  and  tolerance  the  Polish  nobles  were  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Reformation  in  advance  of  the  same 
class  in  most  other  lands.  A  lively  intercourse  was 
maintained  between  Italy  and  Poland,  and  many  free- 
thinking  Italians  found  refuge  and  employment  in  the 
retinues  of  Polish  nobles.  Poland  had  been  strongly  in 
fluenced  by  the  Hussite  movement  of  the  fifteenth  cen 
tury,  for  after  the  defeat  of  the  Hussites  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  many  had  emigrated  to  this  land  of  freedom. 
Anti-pedobaptists  from  Germany  and  Moravia  had  gone 
thither  in  considerable  numbers  during  the  fourth  and 
fifth  decades  of  the  century.  Lutherans  and  Reformed 
had  each  a  considerable  constituency.  As  no  one  party 
possessed  overmastering  strength  toleration  became  a  ne 
cessity  even  to  those  that  were  not  tolerant  on  principle. 
Lutherans,  Reformed,  Bohemian  Brethren,  Anti-pedo 
baptists,  and  anti-trinitarians  existed  side  by  side,  each 
having  their  special  favorers  among  the  nobility. 

Laelius  Socinus,  who  in  his  own  person  and  through 
his  less-learned  but  more  aggressive  nephew,  Faustus 
Socinus,  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  anti-trinitarian 


POLISH  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM  335 

movement  in  Poland  that  came  to  bear  his  family  name, 
had  been  closely  associated  with  Camillo  Renato,  the 
Italian  Anti-pedobaptist.  Laslius  himself  was  suspected 
as  early  as  1555  of  holding  to  Anti-pedobaptist  views.1 

Peter  Gonesius,  a  Pole,  after  studying  at  Wittenberg 
and  in  Switzerland,  where  he  came  under  the  influence 
of  the  anti-trinitarian  teachings  of  Servetus  and  of  the 
Italian  free-thinkers,  returned  to  Poland  and  began  zeal 
ously  to  propagate  his  views  about  1555.  He  denounced 
the  Nicene  and  Athanasian  Creeds  as  human  fictions,  de 
nied  the  consubstantiality  of  the  Son  with  the  Father,  and 
repudiated  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  the  communication 
of  idioms,  in  accordance  with  which  by  virtue  of  union 
with  the  divine  the  human  nature  of  Christ  has  been  ex 
alted  so  as  to  possess  in  their  fullness  all  divine  attributes. 

In  1558  he  presented  to  the  Reformed  synod  a  treatise 
against  infant  baptism,  which  he  sought  to  prove  neither 
scriptural,  ancient,  Christian,  nor  reasonable.2  He  was 
defended  by  Jerome  Pieskarski  and  soon  found  many 
favorers  among  the  nobles.  His  Anti-pedobaptist  views 
were  vigorously  propagated  by  Martin  Czechowitz  ;  his 
anti-trinitarian  views  found  a  warm  advocate  in  the  bril 
liant  but  not  over-scrupulous  Italian  physician,  George 
Biandrata.  Simler  connected  the  growth  of  Anti-pedobap 
tist  sentiments  in  Poland  as  well  as  of  dissension  in 
general  with  the  advent  of  Bernardo  Ochino,  the  great 
Capuchin  preacher,  who  after  his  expulsion  from  Zurich 
came  to  Poland  in  his  old  age  in  1564.  It  is  by  no  means 
certain  however  that  Ochino  denied  infant  baptism.3 

1  See  letter  of  Julius  Mediolanus,  minister  at  Peschlav,  to  Bullinger  (November  4, 
1555),  printed  in  the  "  Museum  Helveticum,"  Part  XIV.,  p.  289.     Julius  warns  Bui- 
linger  against  Laelius,  who  had  recently  persuaded  the  Zurich  pastor  of  his  doc 
trinal  soundness.     "We  have  had  sufficient  experience  of  the  fact  that  Servetians 
and  Anabaptists  do  not  easily  put  aside  what  they  have  once  imbibed." 

2  See  on  Gonesius,  Foch,  "  Der  Socinianismus,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  143,  seq. 

3Simler's  charge  against  Ochino  is  quoted  in  "Museum  Helveticum."  Part  XIV., 
p.  231,  seq. 


336  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

One  of  the  most  noted  of  the  early  Anti-pedobaptist 
and  anti-trinitarian  leaders  of  Poland  was  Gregorius 
Paulus,  pastor  at  Cracow.  John  a  Lasco  represents  him 
as  thundering  against  God's  essence  and  trinity,  as 
proceeding  to  such  further  madness  as  to  deny  "that  in 
fants  ought  to  be  admitted  to  baptism  as  the  fountain  of 
life  and  the  door  of  the  church,"  and  as  insisting  that 
those  who  had  received  baptism  in  infancy  ought  to  "  re 
ceive  baptism  anew."  After  he  has  impressed  upon  his 
people  the  doctrine  that  baptism  should  be  given  not  to 
crying  babes  but  to  believing  adults,  "  he  leads  them  to 
the  river  and  immerses  them."  He  claimed  that  these 
things  were  "the  first  rudiments  of  the  ancient  religion 
about  to  be  restored,"  and  maintained  that  he  was  acting 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  An  associate 
of  his,  Goncozius  by  name,  had  written  against  the  use 
of  the  sword  in  the  spirit  of  the  old-evangelical  sects  and 
of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  in  general. 

John  a  Lasco  distinguishes  between  the  religious  con 
dition  of  greater  Poland,  which  borders  on  Silesia  and 
Pomerania,  where  the  "  Waldensian  Brethren  "  (Bohe 
mian  Brethren)  are  carefully  guarding  against  the  en 
croachments  of  heresy,  and  lesser  Poland,  whose  re 
ligious  condition  owing  to  the  prevalence  of  anti-trini- 
tarianism  and  Anti-pedobaptism  was  utterly  deplorable.1 

By  1574  the  anti-trinitarian  Anti-pedobaptists  had  be 
come  a  vigorous  and  aggressive  party  in  Poland  and  in 
Siebenburgen,  closely  connected  with  Poland  and  subject 
to  the  same  influences.  In  1574  a  catechism  was  set 
forth  in  which  baptism  is  restricted  to  adults  and  is  de 
fined  as  "  the  immersion  in  water  and  the  emersion  of  a 
person  who  believes  the  gospel  and  repents,  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  or  in  the  name  of 
Christ  only,  whereby  he  publicly  professes  that  by  the 

i Letter  to  Beza,  May  30,  1566,  in  "Museum  Helveticum,"  Part  XIV.,  p.  282,  seg. 


RACOVIAN  CATECHISM  337 

grace  of  God  the  Father,  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  through 
the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  is  washed  of  all  his 
sins,  in  order  that  being  inserted  into  the  body  of  Christ 
he  may  mortify  the  old  Adam,  and  be  transformed  into 
that  heavenly  Adam,  with  the  assurance  that  after  the 
resurrection  he  will  attain  to  eternal  life."  l  The  utmost 
stress  is  laid  upon  the  exercise  of  church  discipline  as  a 
means  to  the  maintenance  of  the  purity  of  the  church. 

These  anti-trinitarian  Anti-pedobaptists  were  far  re 
moved  from  the  religious  indifferentism  that  has  charac 
terized  much  of  the  later  Socinianism.  They  yielded  to 
none  in  their  zeal  for  the  authority  of  Scripture  and  in 
their  belief  that  in  Christ  and  in  him  alone  is  salvation. 
Their  view  of  the  person  of  Christ,  while  wholly  inade 
quate  from  our  point  of  view,  was  coupled  with  the  pro- 
foundest  reverence  for  Christ  and  the  completest  trust  in 
him.  In  rejecting  the  Nicene  and  Athanasian  symbols 
they  misinterpreted  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament 
itself  with  respect  to  the  God-Man.  Directing  their 
attention  chiefly  to  those  passages  in  the  New  Testa 
ment  that  seem  to  imply  subordination  they  lost  sight  of, 
or  misunderstood,  those  passages  that  identify  the  Son 
with  the  Father  and  imply  his  coequality  and  consub- 
stantiality. 

The  "  Racovian  Catechism  "  was  first  issued  in  1605, a 
when  anti-trinitarian  Anti-pedobaptism  had  become  the 
controlling  type  of  Protestantism  in  Poland,  when  it  had 
an  efficient  and  largely  attended  college  and  a  well- 
equipped  publishing  house  at  Racov,  and  when  it  enjoyed 
the  support  of  some  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  nobles. 
It  had  been  prepared  in  part  by  Faustus  Socinus  ;  but  in 
many  points  it  takes  far  more  evangelical  ground  than 

1  See  Foch,  "  Der  Socinianismus,"  p.  152,  seq.,  and  Rees'  historical  introduction  to 
his  edition  of  the  "Racovian  Catechism,"  p.  Ixxi.,  seq.  The  catechism  of  1574  is 
variously  ascribed  to  George  Schomann  and  to  Gregorius  Paulus. 

-Composed  about  1590. 

W 


338  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

this  great  leader  had  taken  in  his  published  writings. 
The  inspiration  and  authority  of  the  Scriptures  are  vin 
dicated  in  the  most  orthodox  way. 

"  The  Lord  Jesus  "Js  said  to  have  "  been  conceived  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  born  of  a  virgin,  without  the  intervention  of  any  human 
being."  He  is  spoken  of  as  *'  from  his  earliest  origin  the  only  begotten 
Son  of  God."  He  is  said  to  have  "  been  sent  by  the  Father,  with 
supreme  authority,  on  an  embassy  to  mankind."  "  He  was  raised 
from  the  dead  by  God,  and  thus  as  it  were  begotten  a  second  time. 
...  By  this  event  he  became  like  God  immortal."  It  is  recognized 
that  he  possesses  "  dominion  and  supreme  authority  over  all  things." 
He  is  said  to  have  been  "  not  merely  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God, 
on  account  of  the  divine  power  and  authority  which  he  displayed 
even  while  he  was  yet  mortal ;  much  more  may  he  be  so  denominated 
now,  that  he  has  received  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth,  and  that 
all  things,  God  himself  alone  excepted,  have  been  put  under  his 
feet." 

Yet  his  coeternity  and  consubstantiality  with  the  Father 
are  explicitly  denied. 
Baptism  is  defined  to  be, 

A  rite  of  initiation  whereby  men,  after  admitting  his  doctrine  and 
embracing  faith  in  him,  are  bound  to  Christ  and  planted  among  his 
disciples,  or  in  his  church  ;  renouncing  the  world,  with  its  manners 
and  errors,  and  professing  that  they  have  for  their  sole  leader  and 
master  in  religion,  and  in  the  whole  of  their  lives  and  conversations, 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  spoke  by  the  apostles  : 
declaring,  and  as  it  were  representing  by  their  very  ablution,  im 
mersion,  and  emersion,  that  they  design  to  rid  themselves  of  the  pol 
lution  of  their  sins,  to  bury  themselves  with  Christ,  and  therefore 
to  die  with  him,  and  rise  again  to  newness  of  life ;  binding  them 
selves  down,  in  order  than  they  may  do  this  in  reality  ;  and  at  the 
same  time,  after  making  this  profession  and  laying  themselves 
under  this  obligation,  receiving  the  symbol  and  the  sign  of  the  re 
mission  of  their  sins,  and  so  far  receiving  the  remission  itself. 

As  regards  the  subjects  of  baptism  it  is  said  : 

It  does  not  pertain  to  infants,  since  we  have  in  the  Scriptures  no 
command  for,  nor  any  example  of,  infant  baptism,  nor  are  they  as 


INFLUENCE  ON  ENGLISH  BAPTISTS  339 

yet  capable,  as  the  thing  itself  shows,  of  the  faith  in  Christ,  which 
ought  to  precede  this  rite,  and  which  men  profess  by  this  rite.  In 
answer  to  the  question  :  "  What  then  is  to  be  thought  of  those  who 
baptize  infants? "  it  is  replied  :  "  You  cannot  correctly  say  that  they 
baptize  infants.  For  they  do  not  baptize  them— since  this  cannot  be 
done  without  the  immersion  and  ablution  of  the  whole  body  in 
water ;  whereas  they  only  lightly  sprinkle  their  heads— this  rite  be 
ing  not  only  erroneously  applied  to  infants  but  also  through  this 
mistake,  evidently  changed." 

It  should  be  said  that  Faustus  Socinus  did  not  see  eye 
to  eye  with  the  majority  of  the  Polish  anti-trinitarians 
with  respect  to  baptism.  He  denied  that  our  Lord  in 
tended  to  enjoin  the  perpetual  observance  of  this  rite. 
It  was  intended  only  for  those  to  whom  the  Commission 
was  originally  given.  Refusing  to  receive  baptism  as  a 
believer  he  was  for  many  years  excluded  from  the  fel 
lowship  of  the  Polish  churches  that  historically  bear  his 
name. 

The  Polish  anti-trinitarian  Anti-pedobaptist  movement 
is  of  great  jmportance  in  Baptist  history.  From  this 
party  the  English  General  Baptists  derived  much  of  their 
impulse,  by  it  they  have  been  greatly  influenced,  and 
between  it  and  them  there  has  always  been  a  close 
affinity  ;  from  it,  through  the  Rhynsburgers,  or  Colle- 
giants,  of  Holland,  the  Particular  Baptists  of  England 
seem  to  have  derived  their  immersion  (1641),  having 
already  come  to  the  conviction  that  immersion  and  im 
mersion  only  is  New  Testament  baptism. 

Literature:  Works  of  Socinus,  Servetus,  Czechowitz,  Ottius, 
Wissowaty,  Benrath,  Trechsel,  Foch,  Sandius,  Bock,  Tollin,  Gor 
don,  and  the  Racovian  Catechism,  as  in  the  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

ENGLAND  (to  1558) 

EVANGELICAL  Christianity,  in  the  form  of  Lollard- 
ism,  persisted  in  England  and  Scotland  with  con 
siderable    vigor    until    after    the    inauguration    of     the 
Protestant  Revolution.     Inquisitorial  processes  occurred 
from  time  to  time  from  the  time  of  Wycliffe  onward. 

In  a  Lollard  book,  found  in  circulation,  along  with 
others,  in  1415,  in  the  city  of  London,  the  pope  is  desig 
nated  "that  wicked  Antichrist,"  who  "hath  sowed 
among  the  laws  of  Christ  his  popish  and  corrupt  de 
crees  ";  the  archbishops  and  bishops  are  said  to  be 
"  seats  of  the  beast  Antichrist,  when  he  sitteth  in  them, 
and  reigneth  above  other  people  in  the  deep  caves  of 
errors  and  heresies."  The  bishop's  license  to  preach 
is  "the  true  character  of  the  beast  ...  and  therefore 
simple  and  faithful  priests  may  preach  when  they  will, 
against  the  prohibition  of  that  Antichrist,  and  without 
license."  "The  court  of  Rome  is  the  chief  head  of 
Antichrist,  and  the  bishops  be  the  body  ;  and  the  new 
sects  [monastic  orders,  etc.]  brought  in  not  by  Christ, 
but  damnably  by  the  pope,  be  the  venomous  and  pestif 
erous  tail  of  Antichrist." 

Regenerate  church-membership  is  insisted  upon.  Or 
namental  church  buildings  are  condemned.  "  The  fol 
lowers  of  the  humility  of  Jesus  Christ  ought  to  worship 
their  Lord  God  humbly,  in  mean  and  simple  houses." 
"  The  often  singing  in  the  church  is  not  founded  on  the 
Scripture,  and  therefore  it  is  not  lawful  for  priests  to 
occupy  themselves  with  singing  in  the  church,  but  with 
the  study  of  the  law  of  Christ,  and  preaching  his  word." 
340 


LOLLARDS  AND  WALDENSES  341 

The  memorial  view  of  the  Supper  is  strongly  set  forth 
in  opposition  to  transubstantiation.  Indulgences,  priestly 
intercessions,  pilgrimages,  the  veneration  of  images,  and 
almsgiving  as  a  meritorious  work  apart  from  the  worthi 
ness  or  the  need  of  the  object,  are  earnestly  repudiated. 

The  owner  of  this  and  other  English  evangelical  books 
brought  to  light  at  this  time  was  John  Claydon,  a  pros 
perous  London  currier,  who  was  burned  at  Smithfield  for 
his  fidelity  to  principle.  Many  other  heresy  trials  oc 
curred  at  about  this  time.  Lord  Cobham,  one  of  the 
noblest  of  martyrs,  died  at  the  stake  in  1418.  Between 
1428  and  1431  one  hundred  and  twenty  men  and  women 
in  different  parts  of  England  were  arraigned  for  Lollard- 
ism,  and  many  remained  faithful  even  unto  death. 

Among  the  heresies  brought  to  light  in  the  various  in 
quisitorial  processes  besides  those  already  given,  were 
the  denial  of  the  special  sanctity  of  any  days  except 
Sunday  ;  rejection  of  ecclesiastical  fasts  ;  insistence  that 
prayer  is  to  be  offered  to  God  alone,  with  the  rejection  of 
Mariolatry  and  the  veneration  of  saints,  images,  relics, 
holy  places,  etc.  ;  denial  of  the  efficacy  of  offerings  and 
intercessions  for  the  dead  ;  denial  of  the  doctrine  of  pur 
gatory  ;  repudiation  of  ordinances  administered  by  cor 
rupt  priests  ;  rejection  of  sacerdotal  celibacy  and  strong 
conviction  as  to  its  ruinous  effects  ;  repudiation  of  mo 
nastic  vows  ;  vigorous  opposition  to  auricular  confession; 
insistence  on  the  utmost  simplicity  in  living,  luxury  being 
regarded  as  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  ;  and  in 
general  the  acceptance  of  apostolic  precept  and  example 
as  the  norm  of  faith  and  life.  In  all  this  the  Lollards 
were  at  one  with  the  best  evangelical  life  of  the  Con 
tinent,  and  they  seem  to  have  been  almost  wholly  free 
from  the  extravagancies  that  marred  the  teachings  of 
some  of  the  continental  parties. 

The  Lollards  were  in  agreement  with  the  Waldenses 


342  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

and  related  parties  in  their  rejection  of  oaths,  warfare, 
and  capital  punishment,  though  they  seem  to  have  placed 
less  emphasis  upon  this  set  of  views  than  their  conti 
nental  brethren.  A  Lollard  party  arraigned  in  1428  was 
charged  with  maintaining  "  that  it  is  not  lawful  to  swear 
in  private  cases."  This  would  seem  to  imply  the  lawful 
ness  of  judicial  oaths.  But  in  another  trial  of  the  same 
year  a  Lollard  woman  is  charged  with  exhorting  vehe 
mently  against  any  sort  of  oath  as  venomous  to  the  soul.1 
As  early  as  1395  a  large  body  of  Lollards  declared,  in  a 
memorial  to  Parliament:2  "Manslaughter  by  war  or  pre 
tended  law  of  justice  for  any  temporal  cause,  without  a 
spiritual  revelation,  is  expressly  contrary  to  the  New 
Testament,  which  is  a  law  of  grace  and  full  of  mercy." 

As  regards  the  ordinances  they  repudiated  with  the 
utmost  decision  the  Roman  Catholic  view  of  the  magical 
efficacy  of  priestly  consecration,  insisted  that  the  Supper 
is  a  memorial  rite,  denied  the  necessity  of  baptism  to  sal 
vation,  and  in  general  closely  approached  the  Baptist 
position.  Yet  diligent  research  has  failed  to  discover  any 
case  of  Anti-pedobaptism  among  the  English  evangelicals 
before  the  incoming  of  Anti-pedobaptists  from  the  Con 
tinent  (1530  onward).  While  it  would  be  rash  to  assert 
that  these  views,  so  common  on  the  Continent  during 
the  later  Middle  Ages,  had  no  representatives  in  England 
at  that  time,  documentary  materials  thus  far  available 
by  no  means  warrant  a  contrary  assertion. 

The  fact  is  that  the  extant  materials  for  the  history  of 
English  evangelical  life  during  the  mediaeval  and  early 
Reformation  times  are  meagre  and  unsatisfactory.  This 
is  no  doubt  largely  due  to  the  happy  circumstance  that 
the  Inquisition  proper  was  never  established  in  England, 
and  that  the  systematic  and  persistent  efforts  of  skilled 
detectives,  examiners,  and  recorders,  to  which  we  are 

1  Foxe,  Vol.  III.,  p.  549.  2  Lechler's  "  Wycliffe,"  p.  448. 


THE   LOLLARDS  OF  KYLE  343 

largely  indebted  for  the  fullness  of  our  information  about 
the  Waldenses  and  related  bodies,  were  wanting  here. 
We  have  reason  to  suspect  that  there  was  in  England 
during  the  later  Middle  Ages  vastly  more  of  evangelical 
life  than  came  into  publicity  ;  we  may  regard  it  as  prob 
able  that  some  at  least  of  those  who  had  so  firm  a  grasp 
of  apostolic  Christianity  were  not  content  with  denying 
the  magical  efficacy  of  water  baptism  and  asserting  that 
unbaptized  infants  are  saved,  but  went  on  to  insist  upon 
believers'  baptism.  Yet  we  must  beware  of  asserting 
that  such  was  the  case. 

To  show  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  Protestant  Revo 
lution  Lollardism  had  lost  nothing  in  clearness  of  view, 
strength  of  conviction,  and  aggressive  opposition  to  the 
hierarchy,  a  Scotch  and  an  English  case  may  be  cited. 
In  1494  the  "  Lollards  of  Kyle,"  to  the  number  of  thirty, 
were  arraigned  before  the  archbishop  of  Glasgow.1 
The  list  includes  such  names  as  Campbell,  Shaw, 
Chalmers,  Cunningham,  and  Reid.  The  charges  against 
them,  the  correctness  of  which  we  have  no  reason  to 
question,  embraced  nearly  all  of  the  views  attributed  to 
the  earlier  Lollards  expressed  with  Scotch  vigor.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  their  close  adherence  to  old-evan 
gelical  traditions  with  respect  to  oaths,  magistracy,  war 
fare,  etc.  :  f(  It  is  not  lawful  to  fight  or  to  defend  the 
faith";  "Christ  at  his  coming  has  taken  away  power 
from  kings  to  judge  "  [in  religious  matters,  was  no  doubt 
meant]  ;  "  In  no  case  is  it  lawful  to  swear."  Other  strik 
ing  statements  are  :  "The  pope  is  not  the  successor  of 
Peter,  but  where  he  [Christ]  said,  Get  thee  behind  me, 
Satan"  ;  "The  pope  is  the  head  of  the  church  of  Anti 
christ  "  ;  "  The  pope  and  his  ministers  are  murderers  "  ; 
"Every  faithful  man  or  woman  is  a  priest";  "True 
Christians  receive  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  every  day." 

1Knox,  "Reformation,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  7,  seq. 


344  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

As  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Lollards  of  Kyle 
were  without  fellow-believers  in  various  parts  of  Scot 
land,  a  knowledge  of  their  sturdiness  and  aggressiveness 
helps  us  not  a  little  to  understand  the  rapidity  with 
which  a  little  later  popery  gave  place  to  a  thorough-going 
type  of  Protestantism. 

From  1 5 10  to  1527  forty  Lollards  were  arraigned  by  the 
Bishop  of  London  alone.  Among  the  most  noted  of  these 
was  Richard  Hun  (1514),  a  man  of  intelligence  and  sub- 
Stance.  He  is  charged  with  having  "read,  taught, 
preached,  published,  and  obstinately  defended,  that 
bishops  and  priests  be  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  that 
did  crucify  Christ,"  that  "bishops  and  priests  be  teach 
ers  and  preachers,  but  no  doers,  neither  fulfillers  of  the 
law  of  God  ;  but  catching,  ravening,  and  all  things  tak 
ing,  and  nothing  ministering,  neither  giving";  with 
"  keeping  divers  English  books  prohibited  and  damned 
by  law,  as  the  Apocalypse  in  English,  Epistles  and  Gos 
pels  in  English,  Wycliffe's  damnable  works,"  etc.  ;  with 
defending  "the  translation  of  the  Bible  and  the  holy 
Scripture  into  the  English  tongue,  which  is  prohibited  by 
the  laws  of  our  mother,  holy  church  "  ;  with  saying 
that  "kings  and  lords,  called  Christian  in  name  and 
heathen  in  conditions,  defile  the  sanctuary  of  God, 
bringing  clerks  full  of  covetousness,  heresy,  and  malice, 
to  stop  God's  law,  that  it  cannot  be  known,  kept,  and 
freely  preached";  with  damning  "the  University  of 
Oxford,  with  all  degrees  and  faculties  in  it  ...  saying 
that  they  hinder  the  true  way  to  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  God  and  Holy  Scripture  ";  and  with  say 
ing  that  "  the  very  body  of  the  Lord  is  not  contained  in 
the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  but  that  men  receiving  it 
shall  thereby  keep  in  mind  that  Christ's  flesh  was 
wounded  and  crucified  for  us."1 

ipoxe,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  183-6. 


DUTCH   IMMIGRATION  345 

It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  many  of  those  who  came 
forward  as  aggressive  evangelicals  under  Henry  VIII.  had 
been  under  the  influence  of  this  older  evangelical  party. 
We  should  not  expect  here,  anymore  than  on  the  Conti 
nent,  evidence  of  the  passing  over  of  individuals  from 
the  older  to  the  newer  forms  of  evangelicalism  ;  but  the 
speedy  disappearance  of  the  older  form  after  the  intro 
duction  of  the  newer  is  sufficient  proof  of  the  fact. 

We  are  safe  in  saying  that  the  deeply  rooted  prin 
ciples  of  Lollardism  lay  at  the  basis  of  the  Puritanism 
and  the  Independency  of  the  later  time,  and  along  with 
other  circumstances  help  us  to  account  for  the  wide 
spread  acceptance  of  radical  types  of  evangelicalism  under 
Elizabeth  and  the  Stuarts.  The  persistent  influence  of 
the  older  Lollardism  could  hardly  have  failed  to  co-oper 
ate  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  with  the  foreign  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  teaching  that  appeared  in  England  about  1530 
and  was  from  this  time  onward  always  active. 

The  early  persecutions  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands 
under  Charles  V.  and  the  encouragement  given  to  manu 
facturing  enterprise  by  Henry  VIII.  caused  a  large  immi 
gration  of  Dutch  artisans  to  England  (1528  onward). 
By  1560  there  were  in  England  about  ten  thousand 
Dutch,  and  two  years  later  the  number  had  increased 
threefold.  The  Duke  of  Alva's  persecutions  (1568-73) 
raised  the  number  to  at  least  fifty  thousand.  There 
were  many  thousands  of  Dutch  in  London  at  this  time. 
A  majority  of  the  population  of  the  manufacturing  city 
of  Norwich  in  1587  were  Dutch  and  Walloons.  Dover, 
Romney,  Sandwich,  Canterbury,  Colchester,  Hastings, 
and  Hythe,  had  each  a  large  Dutch  population.1  The 
great  majority  of  these  were  Calvinists,  who  were  toler 
ated  by  the  government  and  had  their  own  churches  and 
pastors  ;  but  a  considerable  proportion  were  certainly 

1  Green,  "History  of  the  English  People,"  Book  VI.,  Chap.  V. 


346  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Anti-pedobaptists,  at  first  of  the  Hofmannite  and  later 
of  the  Mennonite  type.  The  English,  up  to  the  time  of 
the  Dutch  immigration,  knew  little  of  manufacturing,  and 
the  incoming  of  this  large  artisan  population  was  an  im 
portant  source  of  wealth  to  the  country. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  business  men  of  Antwerp 
settled  in  London  after  the  fall  of  their  city  (1576).  The 
Dutch  were  at  this  time  among  the  most  highly  educated 
people  in  the  world.  Ideas  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
had  reached  a  degree  of  maturity  in  the  Netherlands  un 
known  elsewhere.  It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate 
the  extent  of  the  wholesome  influence  exerted  by  the 
large  body  of  intelligent  Dutch  refugees  upon  the  politi 
cal  and  religious  thought  of  England.  Dutch  influence 
reached  England  in  other  ways  as  well.  Both  before 
and  during  the  Spanish  wars  many  Englishmen  resided 
for  longer  or  shorter  periods  in  the  Netherlands  and  there 
became  imbued  with  Dutch  ideas. 

The  first  public  notice  of  the  presence  of  foreign  Anti- 
pedobaptists  in  England  is  contained  in  a  royal  proclama 
tion  of  1534  : 

Forasmuch  as  divers  and  sundry  strangers  of  the  sect  and  false 
opinion  of  the  Anabaptists  and  Sacramentaries  (Zwinglians),  being 
lately  come  into  this  realm,  where  they  lurk  secretly  in  divers  cor 
ners  and  places,  minding  craftily  and  subtilly  to  provoke  and  stir  the 
king's  loving  subjects  to  their  errors  and  opinions,  whereof  part  of 
them,  by  the  great  travail  and  diligence  of  the  king's  highness  and 
his  council,  be  apprehended  and  taken,  the  king's  most  royal  ma 
jesty  declareth  .  .  .  that  he  abhorreth  and  detesteth  the  same  sects 
and  their  wicked  and  abominable  errors  and  opinions,  and  intendeth 
to  proceed  against  such  of  them  as  be  already  apprehended. 

All  who  had  not  been  found  were  commanded  to  de 
part  the  realm  within  eight  or  ten  days.1 

This  was  followed  by  another  proclamation,  in  which 

iWilkins,  "Cone.,"  Vol.  III.,  p.  777. 


RADICAL  EVANGELICALISM  347 

the  king  complains  that  many  strangers  who,  condemn 
ing  the  holy  sacrament  that  they  had  received  in  infancy, 
had  presumptuously  rebaptized  themselves,  had  entered 
the  realm,  and  were  spreading  everywhere  their  pesti 
lent  heresies  "  against  God  and  his  Holy  Scriptures  to 
the  great  unquietness  of  Christendom  and  perdition  of 
innumerable  Christian  souls."  Many  have  been  con 
victed  "  and  have  and  shall  for  the  same  suffer  the  pains 
of  death."  All  such  heretics  are  ordered  to  leave  the 
realm  in  twelve  days  "  on  pain  to  suffer  death  "  in  case 
they  be  apprehended  after  the  prescribed  date. 

It  is  evident  that  Anti-pedobaptists  were  at  this  time 
somewhat  numerous  and  very  aggressive  in  England. 

There  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  regarding  James  Bain- 
ham,  a  barrister,  who  suffered  martyrdom  for  his  radical 
evangelical  views  in  1534  as  an  Anti-Pedobaptist.  Like 
the  Lollards  and  the  Zwinglians  he  denied  with  great 
emphasis  the  necessity  and  the  magical  efficacy  of  water 
baptism  and  insisted  upon  repentance  and  faith  as  condi 
tions  of  salvation. 

Neither  are  we  to  regard  the  Lollard  books  that  were 
condemned  about  this  time,  along  with  Tyndale's  New 
Testament,  as  distinctively  Anti-pedobaptist.  The  radical 
evangelicalism  of  Tyndale  and  Fryth  had  much  in  common 
with  English  Lollardism  and  with  the  old-evangelical 
position  in  general,  as  well  as  with  the  position  of  the 
early  Anti-pedobaptists  of  the  continent ;  but  the  same 
may  be  said  with  reference  to  many  of  the  earlier  writ 
ings  of  Luther,  Zwingli,  OEcolampadius,  etc.  A  writer 
is  not  necessarily  a  Baptist  for  saying  :  "  The  water  of  the 
font  has  no  more  virtue  in  it  than  the  water  of  the  river ; 
the  baptism  lies  not  in  hallowed  water,  or  in  any  out 
ward  thing,  but  in  the  faith  only  ;  "  l  or,  "  The  water  of 
baptism  is  nothing  but  a  sign  that  we  must  be  under  the 

1  "The  Sum  of  Scripture,"  fol.  6. 


348  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

standard  of  the  cross;"1  or,  "Men  of  war  are  not 
allowed  by  the  gospel  ;  the  gospel  knows  peace  and  not 
war.  .  .  Some  texts  of  the  canon  suffer  war,  but  the 
teaching  of  Christ  forbids  war;"2  or,  "The  gospel 
makes  all  true  Christian  men  servants  to  all  the  world  "  ; 3 
or,  "  Christian  men,  among  themselves,  have  nought  to 
do  with  the  sword,  nor  with  the  law,  for  that  is  to  them 
neither  needful  nor  profitable  "  ;4  or,  "  A  true  Christian 
man  never  plaineth  to  the  judge  of  the  injury  that  is 
done  unto  him";5  or,  "The  worst  Turk  living  has  as 
much  right  to  my  goods  at  his  need  as  my  own  household 
or  myself  "  ;6  or,  "  Every  man  is  lord  of  another  man's 
goods.  I  am  bound  to  love  the  Turk  with  the  very  bot 
tom  of  my  heart  "  ;  or,  "  Whosoever  first  ordained  uni 
versities  .  .  .  was  a  star  that  fell  from  heaven  to  earth  ; 
there  are  brought  in  moral  virtues  for  faith  and  opinions 
for  truth.  .  .  The  universities  are  the  confused  cloud 
and  open  gate  of  hell,  and  this  cloak  of  all  other  is  most 
noisome,  and  does  most  hurt  and  damage."7  These 
quotations  represent  a  strongly  mystical  type  of  old- 
evangelical  teaching  and  the  authors  of  the  books  cited 
may  have  been  Anti-pedobaptist,  but  of  this  we  have  no 
evidence.8 

In  1535  we  have  a  definite  account  of  the  arrest,  trial, 
and  burning  of  some  Dutch  Anti-pedobaptists.  Accord 
ing  to  a  contemporary  chronicler : 9 

The  five  and  twentieth  day  of  May  (1535)  were  in  St.  Paul's 
Church,  London,  examined  nineteen  men  and  six  women,  born  in 
Holland,  whose  opinions  were — first,  that  in  Christ  is  not  two  na- 

1  "  The  Sum  of  Scripture,"  fol.  12.       2  Ibid,  fol.  116  and  118.       3  Ibid,  fol.  no. 
4  Ibid,  fol.  no.  6Ibid,  fol.  113.  6  "  Wicked  Mammon." 

7  "The  Revelation  of  Antichrist,"  fol.  31,  32,  33. 

8  These  books  seem  to  have  been  written  or  edited  by  Tyndale.  The  quotations 
are  given  in  the  garbled  form  in  which  they  were  brought  forward  by  the  inquisitors. 
Foxe  gives  the  passages  in  full  along  with  these  abstracts  ("  Actes  and  Monuments," 
V.,  570,  seq.) 

9  Stow,  p.  571. 


PERSECUTION  OF  ANABAPTISTS  349 

tures,  God  and  man  ;  secondly,  that  Christ  took  neither  flesh  nor 
blood  of  the  Virgin  Mary  ;  thirdly,  that  children  born  of  infidels  may 
be  saved ;  fourthly,  that  baptism  of  children  is  of  none  effect ; 
fifthly,  that  the  sacrament  of  Christ's  body  is  but  bread  only  ; 
sixthly,  that  he  who  after  baptism  sinneth  wittingly,  sinneth  deadly, 
and  cannot  be  saved.  Fourteen  of  them  were  condemned,  a  man 
and  woman  were  burnt  at  Smithfield.  The  remaining  twelve  were 
scattered  among  the  towns  there  to  be  burnt. 

These  can  have  been  no  other  than  disciples  of  Mel- 
chior  Hofmann,  some  of  whose  characteristic  views,  as 
on  the  incarnation,  are  here  somewhat  inaccurately  set 
forth. 

In  1538  Philip  of  Hesse  wrote  to  Henry  VIII.,  whose 
alliance  with  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany  was  at 
that  time  being  earnestly  sought,  informing  him  that  an 
Anabaptist  named  Peter  Tasch  had  recently  been 
arrested,  on  whose  person  was  found  correspondence 
with  brethren  in  England,  From  the  correspondence 
it  appeared  that  one  of  the  latter  had  recently  published 
a  book  on  the  incarnation  which  it  was  hoped  would  aid 
much  in  disseminating  true  doctrine.  Tasch  himself 
was  planning  to  join  his  brethren  in  England.  Philip, 
who  was  noted  for  his  tolerant  disposition,  was  too 
anxious  to  gain  the  good  will  of  Henry  to  withhold  this 
interesting  bit  of  information.  He  even  went  so  far  as 
to  represent  the  sectaries  in  the  most  unfavorable  light. 
Henry  did  not  require  much  stimulus  in  the  direction  of 
intolerance.  On  October  i  he  ordered  Cranmer  and  a 
number  of  his  clerical  colleagues  to  make  a  rigorous 
search  for  Anabaptists,  their  books  and  their  correspond 
ence.  Such  as  should  recant  were  to  be  liberated  ;  such 
as  should  prove  obstinate  were  to  be  burned  along  with 
their  writings.1  On  November  16  the  king  issued  a  fresh 
proclamation  against  the  importation  or  printing  of  un 
licensed  books  and  ordering  the  burning  of  the  books  of 

i  Wilkins'  "  Cone.,"  Vol.  III.,  pp.  836-7. 


350  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Anabaptists  and  Sacramentaries.  A  few  days  later  a 
number  of  arrests  were  made  and  two,  a  man  and 
a  woman,  were  burned  at  Smithfield. 

In  December  the  king  issued  a  letter  to  the  justices  of 
the  peace  throughout  England  urging  the  utmost  rigor 
against  Anabaptists.  Many  fled  to  Holland.  On  Jan 
uary  5  thirty-one  of  them  were  beheaded  at  Delft,  where 
a  few  months  before  twenty-seven  of  their  brethren  had 
died  for  their  faith. 

Violent  measures  having  proved  ineffective,  it  occurred 
to  the  king  to  issue  a  proclamation  of  grace  to  such  as 
had  been  misled  by  "certain  Anabaptists  and  Sacra 
mentaries,  coming  out  of  outward  parts  into  this  realm  " 
through  "divers  and  many  perverse  and  crafty  means," 
and  who  "  now  be  sorry  for  their  offenses  and  minding 
fully  to  return  again  to  the  Catholic  Church."  ''The 
king's  highness  like  a  most  loving  parent  much  moved 
with  pity,  tendering  the  winning  of  them  again  to 
Christ's  flock,  and  much  lamenting  also  their  simplicity, 
so  by  devilish  craft  circumscribed  ...  of  his  inestimable 
goodness,  pity,  and  clemency,  is  content  to  remit,  pardon, 
and  forgive  ...  all  and  singular  such  persons,"  etc. 
Yet  if  any  in  future  "  fall  to  any  such  detestable  and 
damnable  opinions,"  the  laws  will  be  mercilessly  en 
forced  against  them. 

This  proclamation  affords  evidence  of  the  most  con 
vincing  kind  of  the  numbers  and  aggressiveness  of  Anti- 
pedobaptism  in  England  at  this  time  and  of  the  fact  that 
these  teachings  were  spreading  among  the  native  popula 
tion. 

In  1540  the  king  issued  a  general  pardon  to  those  who 
had  religiously  offended,  but  made  a  special  exception 
against  such  as  maintained  that  "  infants  ought  not  to  be 
baptized,"  that  "it  is  not  lawful  for  a  Christian  man  to 
bear  office  or  rule  in  the  commonwealth,"  that  "every 


CRANMER  AND  FOREIGN  THEOLOGIANS  351 

manner  of  death,  with  the  time  and  hour  thereof,  is  so 
certainly  prescribed,  appointed,  and  determined  to  every 
man  by  God,  that  neither  any  prince  by  his  word  can 
alter  it,  nor  any  man  by  his  willfulness  prevent  or 
change  it."  This  last  specification  does  not  strike  one  as 
characteristic  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  teaching  of  the 
time,  which  made  much  of  free-will. 

There  is  no  adequate  reason  for  regarding  Anne 
Askew,  a  gentlewoman  of  Lincolnshire,  who  was  burned 
after  suffering  cruel  tortures  in  1546  because  of  her  zeal 
against  transubstantiation,  as  a  Baptist,  or  even  as  an 
Anti-pedobaptist.  Her  intense  antipathy  to  popish  cere 
monialism  would  seem  to  connect  her  with  the  earlier 
Lollardism  ;  but  Calvinism  had  become  fully  developed 
by  this  time  and  her  zeal  may  have  been  of  the  Calvin- 
istic  type.  Her  profound  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures 
and  her  mastery  of  the  arts  of  polemics  would  seem  to 
show  that  she  not  only  possessed  intellectual  powers  of  a 
very  high  order  but  that  she  had  enjoyed  educational  ad 
vantages  beyond  what  was  usual  for  women  at  that 
time.  She  was  far  more  than  a  match  for  the  bishops  in 
argument  ;  but  her  repartees  were  sharper  by  far  than 
good  judgment  would  have  dictated.  There  is  no  hint  in 
contemporary  literature  that  she  held  to  any  of  the  dis 
tinctive  views  of  the  hated  Anti-pedobaptists. 

Edward  VI.,  son  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Jane  Seymour, 
ascended  the  throne  when  only  ten  years  of  age.  He 
had  been  brought  up  under  Protestant  influence  and  his 
advisers  were  favorable  to  the  complete  abolition  of 
Roman  Catholicism.  Cranmer  had  by  this  time  come  to 
be  a  thorough-going  Protestant  of  the  Melancthon  type, 
and  his  influence  as  primate  and  religious  director  of  the 
young  king  was  paramount.  A  number  of  leading  Prot 
estant  theologians  of  the  Continent  were  prevailed  upon 
to  take  up  their  abode  in  England  and  to  assist  in  the  work 


352  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTi-PEDOBAPTISM 

of  shaping  the  polity  of  the  English  church.  Among  the 
most  noted  of  these  were  Bullinger,  Zwingli's  successor 
at  Zurich ;  Peter  Martyr,  a  learned  Italian,  who  had  for 
years  been  associated  with  the  Swiss  Protestants  ;  Martin 
Bucer,  the  great  Strasburg  theologian,  who  had  labored 
zealously  for  the  conciliation  of  Lutheranism  and  Zwing- 
lianism  and  whose  position  was  essentially  Melanctho- 
nian  ;  John  a  Lasco,  an  eminent  Polish  theologian  of . 
noble  birth,  who  also  represented  a  moderate  type  of 
Protestant  theology;  and  Bernardo  Ochino  who,  as  Vicar- 
General  of  the  Capuchins,  had  attained  to  a  reputation 
as  a  pulpit  orator  almost  equal  to  that  of  Savonarola  in 
the  earlier  time,  and  having  been  converted  to  Protestant 
ism  in  1542,  had  since  lived  as  an  exile  in  Geneva  and 
elsewhere. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  Cranmer's  liberal 
programme  would  embrace  toleration  for  evangelicals 
of  a  more  radical  type  ;  but  these  liberal  theologians 
were  for  the  most  part  deeply  prejudiced  against  the 
Anti-pedobaptists,  with  whose  exclusive  and  uncom 
promising  adherence  to  their  principles  they  had  had  un 
pleasant  experience.  Bullinger  had  taken  a  foremost 
part  in  their  exclusion  from  Switzerland  and  was  to  write 
voluminously  against  them.  Of  Bucer's  increasing  dis 
like  for  them  we  have  had  abundant  evidence.  Cran 
mer's  father-in-law, Osiander  of  Nurnberg,  was  one  of  the 
earliest  and  most  uncompromising  opponents  of  Anti-pe- 
dobaptism.  It  was  the  conviction  of  all  the  leaders  that 
the  toleration  of  Anabaptists  would  imperil  every  social, 
religious,  and  civil  institution,  and  that  they  must  be  ex 
cluded  at  whatever  cost. 

In  1547  an  Anti-pedobaptist  named  Robert  Cooke  be 
came  a  member  of  the  court  of  Edward  VI.  as  keeper  of 
the  royal  wine  cellar.  He  had  spent  considerable  time  in 
Switzerland,  and  was  learned  and  accomplished.  Be- 


COOKE  AND  TURNER  353 

sides  opposing  the  baptism  of  infants,  he  is  said  to  have 
held  to  Pelagian  views  on  original  sin  and  related  doc 
trines.  Skillful  and  aggressive  in  debate,  he  gave  vast 
trouble  to  such  court  preachers  as  Coverdale,  Turner, 
Parkhurst,  and  Jewel. 

Turner  was  incited  by  Cooke's  polemics  to  write  "  A 
Preservative,  or  Triacle,  against  the  Poison  of  Pelagius 
lately  renewed  and  stirred  up  again  by  the  furious  Sect 
of  the  Anabaptists  "  (1551).  He  quotes  the  opinions  of 
his  opponents  (no  doubt  having  Cooke's  arguments  in 
mind)  on  original  sin  and  infant  baptism  in  their  relations 
to  each  other : 

By  baptism  alone  is  no  salvation,  but  by  baptism  and  preaching ; 
and  certain  it  is  that  God  is  able  to  save  his  chosen  church  without 
these  means.  But  this  is  his  ordinary  way  to  save  and  damn  the 
whole  world,  namely,  by  offering  remission  of  sins  and  baptism  to  all 
the  world,  that  thereby  the  believers  may  be  absolved  from  all  con 
science  of  sin,  and  the  disobedient  and  unbelievers  bound  still  either 
to  amend  or  to  be  damned. 

Again  : 

The  remission  of  sins  is  offered  to  all,  but  all  receive  it  not ;  the 
church  sanctified  by  faith  in  the  blood  of  Christ  only  receiveth,  and 
unto  them  only  baptism  belongeth.  Therefore  none  ought  to  receive 
it  but  such  as  have  not  only  heard  the  good  promises  of  God,  but  have 
also  thereby  received  a  singular  consolation  in  their  hearts,  through 
remission  of  sin,  which  they  by  faith  have  received.  For  if  any  re 
ceive  baptism  without  this  persuasion,  it  profits  them  nothing. 

Again  : 

All  the  world  hath  sinned  and  is  defiled  in  Adam.  How,  now,  will 
water  scour  away  the  filth  of  this  corruption  ?  No  ;  it  is  a  wound  re 
ceived  in  the  soul,  and  is  washed  away  but  with  the  only  faith  in 
the  blood  of  Christ. 

The  Pelagianism  here  set  forth  is  certainly  of  a  very 
mild  type,  and  the  theory  of  baptism  is  quite  in  accord 
with  the  Baptist  position. 


354  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

Cooke  was  induced  so  far  to  withdraw  his  offensive 
opinions  as  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  abandoning  his 
position  in  the  court.  As  late  as  1573  we  find  him  acting 
as  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  queen's  chapel. 

In  1547  Ridley  and  Latimer  were  appointed  to  deal 
with  certain  Anti-pedobaptists  in  Kent,  where  many 
Dutch  had  settled. 

After  the  rebellion  of  1549  Parliament  passed  an  act  of 
grace  and  general  pardon  ;  but  those  were  expressly  ex- 
cepted  who  held  :  ""  That  infants  were  not  to  be  baptized  ; 
and  if  they  were  baptized,  that  they  ought  to  be  rebap- 
tized  when  they  came  to  lawful  age  ;  that  it  was  not 
lawful  for  a  Christian  man  to  bear  office  or  rule  in  the 
commonwealth  ;  that  no  men's  laws  ought  to  be  obeyed  ; 
that  it  was  not  lawful  for  a  Christian  man  to  take  an  oath 
before  any  judge  ;  that  Christ  took  not  his  substance  of 
our  blessed  Lady  ;  that  sinners  after  baptism  could  not 
be  restored  by  repentance  ;  that  all  things  be  or  ought  to 
be  common,  and  nothing  several."1 

Early  in  1549  an  ecclesiastical  commission  was  ap 
pointed,  consisting  of  Archbishop  Cranmer,  Bishop  Rid 
ley,  and  a  number  of  other  prominent  prelates  and 
statesmen,  with  full  powers  to  search  out  and  punish 
Anabaptist  and  Arian  heresy.  At  about  this  time  a 
translation  of  a  violent  polemic  against  the  Anabaptists, 
ascribed  to  Calvin,  was  published  in  England.  The  ef 
fect  of  it  could  only  be  to  sharpen  the  zeal  of  churchmen 
and  statesmen  against  the  sect  already  sufficiently  ab 
horred. 

There  is  some  reason  for  suspecting  that  Joan  Boucher, 
of  Kent,  who  suffered  martyrdom  in  1550  for  persistently 
denying  that  our  Lord  derived  his  flesh  from  Mary,  was 
an  Anti-pedobaptist.  This  Hofmannite  view  seems  to 
have  been  almost  universally  maintained  by  Dutch-Eng- 

1Strype,  "Mem."  II.  i,  291. 


JOAN  BOUCHER  355 

lish  Anti-pedobaptists  and  is  not  often  encountered  out 
side  of  this  circle.  She  devoted  herself  assiduously  to 
the  secret  circulation  of  Tyndale's  New  Testament  and 
other  religious  books  of  an  evangelical  character.  She  is 
said  to  have  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Anne  Askew  and 
she  had  much  in  common  with  that  heroic  woman. 
Though  illiterate,  she  was  well  versed  in  Scripture  and 
was  able  to  hold  her  own  in  argument  with  the  learned 
prelates  of  the  day.  Like  Anne  Askew  she  gave  need 
less  offense  by  the  harshness  of  her  denunciations  and 
the  sharpness  of  her  repartees. 

Her  manner  of  putting  the  Hofmannite  doctrine  of  the 
incarnation  is  interesting  : 

I  deny  not  Christ  is  Mary's  seed,  or  the  woman's  seed  ;  nor  do  I 
deny  him  to  be  a  man.  But  Mary  had  two  seeds— one  seed  of  her 
faith,  and  another  seed  of  her  flesh  and  in  her  body.  There  is  a 
natural  and  a  corporeal  seed,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  and  an  heavenly 
seed.  .  .  And  Christ  is  her  seed  ;  but  he  is  become  man  of  the  seed 
of  her  faith  and  belief— of  spiritual  seed,  not  of  natural  seed  ;  for  her 
seed  was  sinful,  as  the  seed  and  flesh  of  others. 

Every  effort  was  made  by  Ridley  and  others  to  per 
suade  her  to  purchase  her  life  by  denying  her  faith  on 
this  point  ;  but  she  was  as  firm  as  a  rock.  "  It  was  not 
long  ago,"  she  said,  "since  you  burnt  Anne  Askew  for 
a  piece  of  bread,  yet  came  yourself  to  believe  the  doc 
trine  for  which  you  have  burnt  her ;  and  now  you  will 
burn  me  for  a  piece  of  flesh,  and  in  the  end  you  will  be 
lieve  this  also." 

Little  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  tradition  of  the 
little  Baptist  church  at  Eythorne  in  Kent  that  its  history 
as  a  Baptist  church  antedates  the  martyrdom  of  Joan 
Boucher  and  that  she  was  a  member.  Of  course  it  is 
possible  that  this  and  some  other  of  the  English  Baptist 
churches  that  claim  a  very  early  date  grew  out  of  Dutch- 
English  Anti-pedobaptist  congregations  of  the  sixteenth 


356  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

century,  or  out  of  still  older  Lollard  congregations  ;  but  the 
evidence  in  no  case  seems  complete.  A  critical  investi 
gation  of  the  claims  of  these  churches  is  a  desideratum. 

Kent  continued  to  give  much  anxiety  to  the  authorities 
on  account  of  the  continuance  there  of  Anti-pedobaptist 
activity.  The  Bishop  of  Winchester  (Gardiner)  had  to 
be  taken  severely  to  task  on  account  of  his  lukewarmness 
in  extirpating  heresy.  John  Knox  was  highly  recom 
mended  for  the  bishopric  of  Rochester  "because  he 
would  be  a  great  confounder  of  the  Anabaptists  lately 
springing  up  in  Kent."  Congregations,  Anabaptist  or 
Pelagian,  or  both,  were  discovered  about  this  time  in 
Essex  and  Kent.  Many  of  their  members  were  arrested 
and  tried,  but  chief  stress  was  laid  on  their  free-will 
teaching  and  rejection  of  the  doctrine  of  original  sin. 

Under  Queen  Mary  (1553-8)  Roman  Catholicism  was 
re-established  and  all  forms  of  evangelical  life  were  under 
the  ban.  Cranmer,  Ridley,  and  Latimer,  who  had  been 
so  zealous  for  the  burning  of  Anabaptists,  themselves 
suffered  at  the  stake.  The  government  was  so  much 
occupied  with  larger  game  that  the  obscure  Anti-pedo- 
baptists  were  no  doubt  to  some  extent  overlooked.  It 
may  be  that  they  suffered  less  under  "bloody  Mary" 
than  under  the  gentle,  evangelical  Edward. 

Literature :  Underbill,  "  Introduction  to  the  Hanserd  Knollys  Soc. 
Pub."  ;  Crosby,  "  Hist,  of  the  Eng.  Baptists,"  Vol.  I.  ;  Ivimey, 
"  Hist,  of  the  Eng.  Baptists,"  Vol.  I. ;  Evans,  "  Early  Eng.  Bap 
tists,"  Vol.  I. ;  Goadby,  "  By-Paths  of  Bapt.  Hist."  ;  Strype  (vari 
ous  works)  ;  Foxe,  "Actes  and  Monuments"  ;  Fuller,  "  Ch.  Hist."  ; 
Collier,  "  Eccl.  Hist."  ;  D'Anvers,  "  Treatise  on  Baptism  "  ;  Burnet, 
"  Hist,  of  the  Ref."  ;  Knox,  works,  ed.  Laing ;  Tyndale,  works; 
Van  Braght,  "  Blcedig  Toneel"  ;  Wilkins,  "  Concilia  Mag.  Br."  ; 
Walker,  "  Creeds  and  Platforms  "  and  "  Hist,  of  the  Congreg.  Ch. 
in  the  U.  S."  ;  Campbell,  "The  Puritans"  ;  Hanbury,  "Hist.  Me 
morials"  ;  and  Dexter,  "The  Congregationalism  of  the  Last  Three 
Hundred  Years." 


A 


CHAPTER  XXVII 
ENGLAND  (1558-1602) 

T  the  beginning  of  her  glorious  reign,  Elizabeth  de 
termined  on  political  and  other  grounds  to  establish 
a  Protestant  form  of  religion  ;  but  the  limits  of  toleration 
were  sharply  defined  and  an  act  of  uniformity  rigorously 
enforced.  The  great  majority  of  the  educated  and  in 
fluential  churchmen  who  served  Elizabeth  had  been 
trained,  during  the  era  of  Mary,  in  the  most  rigorous  form 
of  Protestantism  and  would  have  preferred  a  Presby 
terian  establishment  ;  but  the  will  of  the  queen  was 
supreme  and  great  theologians  were  obliged  to  swallow 
their  convictions  as  to  what  was  best  and  content  them 
selves  with  what  was  practicable.  The  idea  of  toleration 
was  as  foreign  to  the  Calvinistic  divines  as  to  the  Tudor 
queen.  Only  a  few  years  before,  the  great  Calvin  had 
compassed  and  gloried  in  the  burning  of  Servetus,  and 
Theodore  Beza,  his  colleague  and  successor,  had  recently 
written  an  atrocious  work  in  favor  of  the  punishment  of 
heretics  by  the  civil  magistracy. 

In  1560  John  Knox,  the  great  Scottish  reformer,  who 
had  become  noted  during  his  English  ministry  under  Ed 
ward  VI.  for  his  zeal  against  Anabaptists,  published  "  An 
Answer  to  a  Great  Number  of  Blasphemous  Cavillations 
Written  by  an  Anabaptist,  an  Adversary  to  God's  Eternal 
Predestination."  The  author  of  the  book  attacked  was 
a  former  friend  of  Knox. 

The  spirit  of  the  Anti-pedobaptist  work  may  be  judged 
from  the  following  extracts  : 

Your  chief  Apollos  be  persecutors,  on  whom  the  blood  of  Servetus 
crieth  a  vengeance,  so  doth  the  blood  of  others  more  whom  I  could 

357 


358  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

name.  But  forasmuch  as  God  has  already  partly  avenged  their 
blood  [referring,  no  doubt,  to  the  burning  of  Cranmer,  Ridley,  etc., 
who  had  themselves  been  arch-persecutors],  and  served  some  of 
their  persecutors  with  the  same  measure  wherewith  they  measured 
to  others,  I  will  make  no  mention  of  them  at  this  time.  And  to  de 
clare  their  wickedness  not  to  have  proceeded  of  ignorance  and 
human  infirmity,  but  of  endured  malice,  they  have  for  a  perpetual 
memory  of  their  cruelty,  set  forth  books,  affirming  it  to  be  lawful  to 
persecute  and  put  to  death  such  as  dissent  from  others  in  contro 
versies  of  religion,  whom  they  call  blasphemers  of  God.  Notwith 
standing,  afore  they  came  to  authority,  they  were  of  another  judg 
ment,  and  did  both  say  and  write,  that  no  man  ought  to  be  perse 
cuted  for  his  conscience'  sake ;  but  now  they  are  not  only  become 
persecutors,  but  also  they  have  given,  as  far  as  lieth  in  them,  the 
sword  into  the  hand  of  bloody  tyrants.  Be  these,  I  pray  you,  the 
sheep  whom  Christ  sent  forth  in  the  midst  of  wolves?  Can  the 
sheep  persecute  the  wolf?  Doth  Abel  kill  Cain?  Doth  David, 
though  he  might,  kill  Saul?  Shortly,  doth  he  which  is  born  of  the 
Spirit  kill  him  which  is  born  after  the  flesh?  Mark,  how  ye  be 
fallen  into  most  abominable  tyranny,  and  yet  ye  see  it  not.  Thus 
I  am  constrained  of  conscience  to  write.  That  if  it  shall  please  God 
to  awake  you  out  of  your  dream,  that  ye  may  perceive  how  one 
error  hath  drowned  you  in  more  error,  and  hath  brought  you  to  a 
sleeping  security,  that  when  ye  walk,  even  after  the  lusts,  thirsting 
after  blood,  and  persecuting  poor  men  for  their  conscience'  sake,  ye 
be  blinded,  and  see  not  yourselves,  but  say,  "  Tush  !  we  be  predesti 
nate  ;  whatsoever  we  do  we  are  certain  we  cannot  fall  out  of  God's 
favor."  l 

This  Anti-pedobaptist  writer  seems  to  have  maintained 
that  there  was  a  logical  connection  between  the  Calvin- 
istic  theology,  with  its  predestinarianism,  and  the  perse 
cuting  spirit  which  in  that  age  everywhere  characterized 
the  great  Reformed  body. 

Knox  answered  this  plain-spoken  warning  with  reviling 
and  threats  rather  than  with  argument : 

You  dissembling  hypocrites  cannot  abide  that  the  sword  of  God's 
vengeance  shall  strike  the  murderer,  the  blasphemer,  and  such  others 

1  Quoted  by  Underbill  in  his  "Historical  Introduction." 


ENFORCEMENT  OF  UNIFORMITY  359 

as  God  commandeth  by  his  word  to  die ;  not  so,  by  your  judg 
ments  ;  he  must  live,  and  may  repent. 

He  accuses  his  opponent  of  blasphemy  for  suggesting 
that  God  had  taken  vengeance  on  Cranmer  and  others 
for  persecuting  his  saints. 

I  will  not  now  so  much  labor  to  confute  by  my  pen,  as  that  my 
full  purpose  is  to  lay  the  same  to  thy  charge,  if  I  shall  apprehend 
thee  in  any  commonwealth  where  justice  against  blasphemers  may  be 
ministered,  as  God's  word  requireth.  And  hereof  I  give  thee  warn 
ing,  lest  that  after  thou  shalt  complain  that  under  the  cloak  of  friend 
ship  I  have  deceived  thee.  Thy  manifest  defection  from  God,  and 
this  thy  open  blasphemy  .  .  .  have  so  broken  and  dissolved  all 
familiarity  which  hath  been  betwixt  us,  that  although  thou  wert  my 
natural  brother,  I  durst  not  conceal  thine  iniquity  in  this  case. 

He  proceeds  to  justify  the  burning  of  Servetus  and 
Joan  Boucher  by  referring  to  Old  Testament  examples 
of  the  capital  punishment  of  idolaters,  etc.  :  "  Your 
privy  assemblies,  and  all  those  that  in  despite  of  Christ's 
blessed  ordinance  do  frequent  the  same,  are  accursed  of 
God." 

From  the  above  quotation  it  is  manifest  that  Robert 
Browne  was  by  no  means  the  first  to  advocate  in  Britain 
the  doctrine  of  soul-liberty.  This  writer  deserves  to  be 
put  by  the  side  of  Hubmaier  in  the  early  part  of  the  fif 
teenth  century,  of  the  General  Baptist  authors  of  the 
tracts  on  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  of  Roger  Williams  and  John 
Clarke  a  generation  later,  as  one  of  the  noble  Anti-pedo- 
baptist  advocates  of  separation  of  Church  and  State  and 
absolute  freedom  of  conscience. 

Referring  to  the  beginning  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  Jewel 
wrote:1  "We  found  a  large  and  inauspicious  crop  of 
Arians,  Anabaptists,  and  other  pests,  which  I  know  not 

1  Zurich  Letters,  Vol.  I  ,  p.  qa. 


360  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

how,  but  as  mushrooms  spring  up  in  the  night  and  in 
darkness,  so  these  sprung  up  in  that  darkness  and  un 
happy  night  of  the  Marian  times."  There  was  at  this 
time  a  great  outcry  from  pulpit  and  press  against  the  sec 
taries,  chief  stress  being  put  upon  their  anti-Calvinistic 
teachings.  In  1559  it  was  seriously  proposed  to  imprison 
"incorrigible  Arians,  Pelagians,  or  free-will  men"  in 
"  some  castle  in  North  Wales,  or  Wallingford  .  .  .  there 
to  live  of  their  own  labor  and  exercise,  and  none  other 
be  suffered  to  resort  unto  them  but  their  keepers." 

Parkhurst,  bishop  of  Norwich,  was  severely  repri 
manded  for  his  failure  to  clear  his  diocese  of  Anti-pedo- 
baptists.  Norwich,  as  has  been  stated,  was  a  great 
resort  of  Dutch  immigrants  and  the  Anti-pedobaptist  ele 
ment  was  large  and  aggressive. 

In  1560  Elizabeth  reinforced  the  Act  of  Uniformity  by 
a  special  order  to  heretics  (Anabaptists,  etc.,)  to  depart 
the  realm  within  twenty-one  days  on  pain  of  imprison 
ment  and  forfeiture  of  goods.  In  the  same  year  an 
anonymous  supplication  on  behalf  of  those  thus  cruelly 
threatened  for  permission  freely  to  exercise  their  re 
ligion  was  addressed  to  Bishop  Grindal,  of  London. 
He  suspected  Hadrian  Hamsted,  one  of  the  ministers 
of  the  Dutch  church  in  London,  of  being  its  author, 
and  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Dutch  ministers  regarding 
the  matter.  Hamsted,  when  summoned  before  the 
bishop,  acknowledged  that  he  had  spoken  in  a  tolerant 
way  of  the  error  of  the  Anabaptists  on  the  incarnation. 
The  maintenance  of  such  views  he  had  held  to  be  no  bar 
to  fellowship.  Quarreling  over  such  matters  he  had 
compared  publicly  to  the  disputing  of  the  Roman  soldiers 
over  Christ's  garments.  Such  errors  he  had  said  were 
as  the  wood,  hay,  and  stubble,  which  would  be  con 
sumed  ;  but  the  souls  of  those  who  held  them  might  be 
saved  so  as  by  fire.  He  had  also  advocated  freedom  on 


PERSECUTION  361 

the  part  of  parents  to  withhold  their  infants  from  bap 
tism,  or  to  present  them,  according  to  the  dictates  of  con 
science.  Hamsted  was  deposed  from  his  ministry  by  the 
bishop  and  soon  afterward  left  England.  Yet  the  matter 
of  infant  baptism  continued  to  be  agitated  in  the  Dutch 
church,  and  the  services  of  the  bishop  were  four  years 
later  again  called  into  requisition. 

In  1 567  the  government  ordered  an  inquisition  to  be 
made,  especially  in  the  diocese  of  Norwich  whose  bishop 
was  suspected  of  winking  at  schismatics  and  Anabaptists, 
as  to  the  character  of  the  religious  instruction  imparted 
in  the  schools  and  as  to  the  manner  in  which  function 
aries  of  the  church  were  performing  their  duties.  Special 
inquiry  was  to  be  made  as  to  whether  any  taught  or 
said  that  children  being  infants  ought  not  to  be  baptized, 
that  post-baptismal  sins  were  not  remissible  by  penance, 
that  it  was  not  lawful  to  swear,  that  civil  magistrates 
may  not  punish  certain  crimes  with  death,  or  that  it  was 
lawful  for  any  man  without  the  appointment  and  calling 
of  the  magistrate  to  take  upon  him  any  ministry  in 
Christ's  church.1 

The  year  1568  was  still  more  trying  to  the  authorities. 
Vast  numbers  of  Dutch  were  at  this  time  fleeing  before 
the  fury  of  Alva  and  it  was  feared  that  among  them 
might  be  "  Anabaptists  and  such  other  sectaries."  The 
government  now  ordered  a  special  visitation  to  be  made  in 
all  communities  of  foreigners  with  a  view  to  ascertaining 
their  mode  of  life,  the  length  of  their  residence,  the  cause 
of  their  coming,  the  churches  they  attended,  etc.  All 
suspected  persons  were  to  be  arraigned  and  those  found 
guilty  of  erroneous  teaching,  unless  they  should  yield  to 
"charitable  teaching,"  were  to  be  compelled  to  depart 
the  realm  within  twenty  days  or  to  expect  severer  pun 
ishment.  Many  Dutch  Anabaptists  are  said  to  have  been 

1  Underbill,  "Hist.  Introd.  Broadm.  Rec.,"  p.  53. 


362  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

holding  private  conventicles  in  London  at  this  time  and 
to  have  perverted  a  large  number  of  citizens.1 

In  1572  Whitgift  published,  from  Continental  sources, 
a  highly  unfavorable  account  of  the  Anabaptists,  the 
horrors  of  the  Peasants'  War  and  of  the  Munster  King 
dom  being  represented  as  due  wholly  to  their  baneful 
teachings  and  as  samples  of  what  might  be  expected 
in  England  if  such  heresy  were  not  remorselessly  sup 
pressed.  For  more  than  a  century  English  Anti-pedo- 
baptists  had  to  bear  the  fearful  burden  of  such  obloquy, 
which  from  time  to  time  was  reiterated  in  the  most  un 
scrupulous  and  sensational  Way. 

A  body  of  dissenters  discovered  in  the  isle  of  Ely  in 
1573  had  most  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Anti-pedobap- 
tists  of  the  time,  although  rejection  of  infant  baptism  is 
not  specifically  charged. 

On  Easter-day,  1575,  about  thirty  Dutch  Anti-pedo- 
baptists  were  seized  in  the  suburbs  of  London  while  hold 
ing  religious  services  in  a  private  house.  They  were 
released  on  bail,  but  about  the  beginning  of  May  were 
summoned  before  a  royal  commission,  consisting  of  Bishop 
Sandys  and  a  number  of  civilians  and  judges.  Several 
Dutch  ministers  and  a  French  Protestant  minister  were 
invited  to  sit  with  the  commission. 

Four  questions  were  propounded  to  the  accused  :  "  (i) 
Whether  Christ  had  not  taken  his  flesh  and  blood  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  ?  (2)  Ought  not  little  children  to  be  bap 
tized  ?  (3)  May  a  Christian  serve  the  office  of  a  magis 
trate  ?  (4)  Whether  a  Christian,  if  needs  be,  may  not 
swear  ?  "  The  fullest  accounts  of  these  examinations 
have  been  left  us  by  members  of  the  accused  party. 
To  question  i.  they  answered:  "He  (Christ)  is  the 
Son  of  the  living  God."  Question  2,  they  answered 
with  a  straight  negation.  Their  answer  to  question  3 

1  Collier,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  462,  and  Strype,  "  Parker,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  522. 


PERSECUTION  363 

was  somewhat  ambiguous  :  "  That  it  did  not  oblige  their 
consciences,  but  as  they  read,  they  esteemed  it  an  or 
dinance  of  God."  Their  view  on  this  point  was  evidently 
that  of  the  great  Anti-pedobaptist  brotherhood  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  Their  answer  to  question  4  was  : 
"  That  it  also  obliged  not  their  consciences  ;  for  Christ 
has  said  in  Matthew,  '  Let  your  words  be  yea,  yea  ;  nay, 
nay.'  '  Here  also  their  position  is  manifest. 

When  they  had  given  their  answers  the  bishop  de 
clared  that  their  misdeeds  were  so  great  that  they  could 
not  enjoy  the  favor  of  God.  They  were  informed  that 
the  queen  and  her  council  were  resolved  to  compel  all 
strangers  to  renounce  these  articles.  If  they  would  com 
ply  with  this  requirement,  they  might  remain  in  the  land 
free  from  taxes  ;  if  not,  a  frightful  death  awaited  them. 

There  was  no  desire  on  the  part  of  Elizabeth  or  her 
advisers  to  relight  the  fires  of  Smithfield,  but  Anabaptist 
heresy  was  too  dangerous  a  thing  to  be  tolerated.  If  it 
could  be  exterminated  without  bloodshed,  so  much  the 
better ;  if  not,  it  must  at  all  cost  be  exterminated. 

Master  Joris  (one  of  the  Dutch  ministers)  came  to  us  and  said,  if 
we  would  join  the  church,  that  is,  the  Dutch  church,  our  chains 
should  be  struck  off  and  our  bonds  loosed.  The  bishop,  he  said, 
had  given  him  command  so  to  do.  But  we  remained  steadfast  to 
the  truth  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  indeed  our  Captain,  and  no  other; 
yea,  in  him  is  all  our  trust. 

Five  of  their  number  were  induced  to  recant  and  were 
set  for  a  gazing-stock  in  St.  Paul's  church-yard,  a  fagot 
being  bound  on  each  one's  shoulder  to  indicate  that  he 
deserved  to  be  burnt.  After  repeated  and  strenuous  ef 
forts  to  overcome  the  scruples  of  the  rest  of  the  party, 
one  woman  only  having  been  terrified  into  submission, 
fourteen  women  and  a  youth  were  led,  bound  together, 
to  Newgate,  where  they  remained  some  days  in  daily 
expectation  of  a  horrible  death.  Finding  them  steadfast, 


364  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

and  not  relishing  a  wholesale  slaughter  of  women,  the 
queen  commuted  the  sentence  to  banishment.  They 
were  put  on  board  a  ship,  the  youth  having  been  tied  to 
a  cart  and  whipped  through  the  streets.  Separation  from 
husbands,  fathers,  etc.,  and  the  probability  that  an  ill 
fate  awaited  them  on  their  debarkation  almost  annulled 
the  satisfaction  that  escape  from  a  fiery  death  in  England 
would  naturally  have  given. 

The  five  principal  members  of  the  party  had  some 
time  before  been  separated  from  the  rest  for  harsher 
treatment.  On  June  2,  just  after  the  embarkation  of  the 
fifteen,  they  were  again  brought  bound  before  their  in 
quisitors.  Threats  of  burning  availed  nothing.  "  It  is 
a  small  matter  thus  to  die,"  said  Jan  Pieters.  "We 
must  shave  such  heretics,  and  cut  them  off  as  an  evil 
thing  from  the  church,"  said  the  bishop.  "How  canst 
thou  cut  us  off  from  your  church,"  said  Hendrik  Ter- 
woort,  "  seeing  we  are  not  of  it?  " 

The  rigors  of  their  imprisonment  were  thenceforth 
greatly  increased.  So  heavily  ironed  were  their  limbs 
and  so  hideously  foul  was  their  cell  that  they  longed  for 
a  speedy  death.  "  After  eight  days  one  of  our  brethren 
was  released  by  death,  trusting  in  God  ;  his  dying  testi 
mony  filled  us  with  joy."  So  great  a  horror  of  the  Ana 
baptists  had  English  churchmen  conceived,  that  they 
were  fearful  lest  the  ordinary  criminals  in  the  prison 
should  be  corrupted  by  association  with  them. 

One  of  the  churchmen  used  occasionally  to  visit  them 
in  their  dungeon  and  in  the  most  solemn  manner  com 
mand  the  evil  fiend  to  depart  from  them.  Bishop  Sandys 
thought  the  toleration  of  such  opinions  meant  the  expul 
sion  "  both  out  of  church  and  commonwealth"  of  "all 
godliness,  all  peace,  all  honesty." 

But  there  were  many  in  high  positions  who  looked 
with  dismay  upon  the  prospect  of  a  return  to  the  barbar- 


FOXE'S  PETITION  365 

ous  practices  of  the  age  of  Mary.  A  vain  effort  was  made 
to  induce  the  queen  to  give  her  attention  to  an  earnest 
supplication  and  a  confession  of  their  faith  prepared  by 
the  condemned.  Lord  Burghley  earnestly  strove  to  stir 
up  the  compassion  of  Bishop  Sandys  for  the  miserable 
men.  But  bishop  and  queen  were  alike  obdurate.  John 
Foxe,  the  famous  martyrologist,  wrote  a  letter  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  pleading  for  a  milder  form  of  punishment  than 
burning  at  the  stake.  Exile  he  thought  a  right  sen 
tence.  "  But  I  hear  there  are  one  or  two  of  these  who 
are  appointed  to  the  most  severe  punishment,  viz.,  burn 
ing,  except  your  clemency  forbid.  Now  in  this  one  affair 
I  conceive  there  are  two  things  to  be  considered  ;  the  one 
is  the  wickedness  of  their  errors,  the  other  the  sharpness 
of  their  punishment."  He  admits  the  absurdity  and  the 
monstrosity  of  their  opinions  and  says  : 

It  is  certain  they  are  by  no  means  to  be  countenanced  in  a  com 
monwealth,  but,  in  my  opinion,  ought  to  be  suppressed  by  proper 
correction.  But  to  roast  alive  the  bodies  of  poor  wretches  that  offend 
rather  through  blindness  of  judgment  than  perverseness  of  will,  in 
fire  and  flames,  raging  with  pitch  and  brimstone,  is  a  hard-hearted 
thing,  and  more  agreeable  to  the  practice  of  Romanists  than  the 
customs  of  the  Gospeler. 

He  beseeches  her  majesty  for  the  sake  of  Christ 

that  these  miserable  wretches  may  be  spared ;  at  least  that  a  stop 
may  be  put  to  the  horror  by  changing  the  punishment  to  some  other 
kind  .  .  .  that  the  piles  and  flames  of  Smithfield,  so  long  ago  ex 
tinguished  by  your  happy  government,  may  not  more  be  revived. 

Foxe's  opposition  to  the  holocaust  that  had  been  deter 
mined  upon  was  evidently  far  more  a  matter  of  sentiment 
than  a  matter  of  principle.  The  queen  hardened  her 
heart  even  against  this  tender  plea.  One  of  the  five 
died  early  in  prison.  Two  were  finally  liberated.  It 
was  reserved  for  Jan  Pieters  and  Hendrik  Terwoort  to 


366  A   HISTORY   OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

rekindle  with  their  writhing  bodies  the  flames  that  were, 
in  co-operation  with  other  influences,  so  to  quicken  the 
popular  conscience  of  England  as  sixty-five  years  later 
to  destroy  at  a  stroke  ecclesiastical  and  civil  despotism, 
to  introduce  into  Britain  an  era  of  religious  toleration  and 
constitutional  government,  and  to  establish  in  America, 
after  generations  of  conflict,  absolute  liberty  of  con 
science,  complete  separation  of  Church  and  State,  and 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people. 
A  thoroughly  sympathetic  and  highly  instructive  ac 
count  of  the  sufferings  of  this  party  of  Dutch  Anti- 
pedobaptists  has  been  preserved  in  a  letter  by  Jacques 
de  Somers,1  a  member  of  one  of  the  Dutch  churches  in 
London,  to  his  mother  in  Ghent.  The  facts  he  records 
substantially  as  given  by  the  martyrs  themselves.  "  It 
is  with  extreme  reluctance  that  I  write  upon  a  subject  of 
which  you  cannot  even  think  without  emotions  of  the 
deepest  distress."  He  claims  to  have  had  full  first-hand 
information,  and  he  encloses  copies  of  the  confession 
and  petition  referred  to  above.  "  Their  confession  of 
faith  was  scriptural,  and  drawn  up  in  such  a  manner  that 
I  would  be  free  to  subscribe  to  every  tenet,  with  the  ex 
ception  of  the  article  concerning  oaths,  in  which  they 
publicly  confessed  their  belief  that  men  should  '  swear 
not  at  all.''  He  gives  the  following  personal  details 
concerning  the  martyrs:  "  One  of  them,  Jan  Pieters, 
was  a  poor  man,  upward  of  fifty  years  old,  and  had  nine 
children.  His  first  wife  was  previously  burnt  at  Ghent, 
in  Flanders,  on  account  of  her  religion  ;  and  he  married 
a  second  wife,  whose  first  husband  had  likewise  been 
burnt  at  Ghent  for  his  religious  principles.  .  .  The  other, 
called  Hendrik  Terwoort,  was  a  handsome  and  respectable 
man,  about  twenty-six  years  old,  a  goldsmith  by  trade, 


1  Translated  from  the  Dutch  Martyrology  of  Van  Braght  for. Benedict's  "  History  of 
the  Baptists,"  and  copied  by  Evans,  "Early  Eng.  Bapt.,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  159,  seq. 


DUTCH   INFLUENCE  367 

and  had  been  married  eight  or  ten  weeks  before  he  was 
apprehended." 

He  gives  the  queen  credit  for  signing  the  death  war 
rants  with  reluctance,  persuaded  thereunto  by  "perverse 
men  and  enemies  of  the  truth,"  who  had  grievously  mis 
represented  the  principles  of  the  persecuted  people.  He 
continues  : 

The  Lord  forgive  those  who  were  authors  and  abettors  in  this 
matter,  and  so  misrepresented  these  poor  people  to  her  majesty,  as 
you  may  judge  from  their  confession,  which  they  signed  near  me 
(in  my  presence),  with  their  own  hands;  for  though  I  do  not  assent 
to  the  whole,  and  am  assured  that  they  are  in  a  mistake  in  regard  to 
the  article  concerning  the  original  conception  of  Christ  and  the 
origin  of  his  flesh,  yet  as  they  made  a  Christian  confession  in  express 
terms,  and  often  confessed  orally  in  my  presence  that  Christ  is  very 
God  and  very  man,  like  unto  us  in  flesh  and  blood,  and  in  all  other 
respects,  sin  excepted,  so  be  it  far  from  me  to  acknowledge  that  they 
were  worthy  of  death  ;  nay,  I  would  much  rather  acknowledge  them 
as  brethren. 

He  refers  to  two  other  young  men  of  the  party  as  still 
in  prison.  He  has  earnestly  labored  to  secure  their  re 
lease,  but  thus  far  without  success.  He  is  aware  of  the 
fact  that  it  seems  strange  and  incredible  to  his  mother 
and  deeply  distresses  her  "that  those  who  formerly  suf 
fered  persecution  should  now  persecute  other  people  on 
account  of  their  religion,  constraining  the  consciences  of 
others  with  fire  and  sword,  whereas  they  formerly  taught, 
and  which  is  the  plain  truth,  that  it  is  the  province  of  no 
man  to  lord  it  over  the  consciences  of  others  ;  and  that 
faith  is  a  special  gift  of  God  and  is  not  implanted  in  men 
by  any  human  power."  He  assures  his  mother  that 
"some  of  the  pious  and  learned,  as  well  English  as  for 
eigners,  who  are  here,  did  not  approve  of  nor  assent  to 
it." 

It  would  seem  that  the  Dutch  evangelicals  who  took 
refuge  in  England  during  the  Elizabethan  age  had  among 


368  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

them  at  least  a  fair  proportion  of  those  who,  under  Men- 
nonite  and  Socinian  influence,  had  revolted  against  the 
asperities  and  the  intolerance  of  the  prevailing  Calvinism 
and  who,  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  under  the 
leadership  of  Arminius,  Uitenbogaert,  Episcopius,  etc., 
and  supported  by  such  statesmen  and  scholars  as  Grotius 
and  Olden-Barnaveld,  were  to  cause  a  tremendous  up 
heaval  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Communion.  It  is  proba 
ble  that  this  liberal  Dutch  element  that  was  tolerated  by 
the  government  of  Elizabeth  exerted  a  more  direct  and 
pervasive  influence  in  favor  of  religious  liberty  than  the 
avowed  Anti-pedobaptists,  who  were  not  only  under  the 
ban  of  the  authorities,  but  were  comparatively  few  in 
number,  unlearned,  and  obscure.  Many  of  these  liberal 
Dutch  Protestants  sympathized  with  the  Anti-pedobap 
tists  in  all  but  their  extravagancies  and  were  inclined  to 
look  upon  these  as  comparatively  harmless. 

Meanwhile  the  pent-up  fires  of  opposition  to  forms  and 
ceremonies  were  beginning  to  break  forth.  Hooper  had 
"scrupled  the  vestments."  Jewel  had  wished  that  all 
"  extraneous  rubbish,"  including  the  linen  surplice,  might 
be  abolished,  and  had  stigmatized  the  liturgical  cere 
monies  as  "scenic  apparatus,"  "fooleries,"  and  "the 
relics  of  the  Amorites." 

Thomas  Cartwright,  of  Cambridge,  one  of  the  ablest 
theologians  of  the  age,  was  forced  from  his  professorship 
(1570)  by  reason  of  his  advocacy  of  the  exclusive  right 
of  presbyterial  church  government  and  his  uncompro 
mising  hostility  to  prelacy  and  to  royal  supremacy.  In 
1574  more  than  five  hundred  divines  followed  him  in  sub 
scribing  a  Presbyterian  book  of  discipline.  Conven 
ticles  of  non-conforming  Puritans  were  established  in 
many  localities  and  many  noblemen  supported  preaching 
of  this  type.  Most  of  these  non-conforming  Puritans 
were  quite  as  intolerant  as  were  the  churchmen  of  the 


ROBERT  BROWNE  369 

time.  What  they  contended  for  was  a  union  of  Church 
and  State  with  the  church  in  full  control,  as  in  the 
Genevan  theocracy.  They  objected  strongly  to  being 
persecuted  themselves,  but  they  held  that  it  was  the  duty 
and  right  of  the  civil  magistracy  to  punish  all  errors  in 
doctrine  and  life  and  in  general  to  execute  the  behests 
of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities. 

Some  time  between  1578  and  1580  Robert  Browne,  a 
highly  connected  and  well-educated  young  man  who  for 
some  years  had  been  zealously  laboring  as  a  Puritan 
preacher  and  teacher,  reached  the  conviction  that  Pres- 
byterianism  no  less  than  prelacy  is  without  scriptural 
warrant,  and  that  according  to  apostolic  precept  and  ex 
ample  the  church  is  a  pure  democracy  in  which  each  mem 
ber,  by  reason  of  his  personal  relation  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  only  Head  of  the  church,  has  equal  rights  and 
privileges  with  every  other.  He  insisted  upon  the  right 
and  duty  of  separation  from  a  corrupt  and  apostate 
church.  "The  kingdom  of  God,"  he  maintained,  was 
"not  to  be  begun  by  whole  parishes,  but  rather  of  the 
worthiest,  were  they  never  so  few."  His  zeal  soon 
brought  him  into  collision  with  the  authorities.  His 
irregular  preaching  was  forbidden  by  the  bishop.  This 
seems  to  have  further  fired  his  zeal. 

According  to  his  own  account  "he  took  counsel  still, 
and  had  no  rest,  what  he  might  do  for  the  name  and 
kingdom  of  God.  He  often  complained  of  those  evil 
days  and  with  many  tears  sought  where  to  find  the 
righteous,  which  glorified  God,  with  whom  he  might  live 
and  rejoice  together,  that  they  put  away  abominations." 
Hearing  that  there  were  some  in  Norfolk  who  were 
"very  forward"  in  religious  reform,  he  "thought  it 
his  duty  to  take  a  voyage  to  them  "  in  order  that  he 
might  assist  them  in  organizing  separate  worship.  No 
doubt  it  was  from  Robert  Harrison,  a  Cambridge  gradu- 


370  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

ate  who  had  resided  for  some  years  as  teacher  and  hos 
pital  master  in  Norwich  and  who  agreed  with  Browne  in 
regarding  episcopal  authorization  as  ''trash  and  pollu 
tion,"  that  he  learned  of  the  people's  attitude  toward 
reform.  In  many  things  Harrison  was  less  advanced  than 
Browne,  but  they  labored  together  in  Norwich,  and  in 
1580  or  1581  a  Separate  church  was  organized. 

To  give  a  detailed  account  of  the  lives  and  labors  of 
Browne  and  Harrison  would  not  be  in  accord  with  the 
purpose  of  the  present  work.  The  question  has  ausen 
and  has  been  much  discussed  whether  Browne  was  in 
debted  to  the  Dutch  Anti-pedobaptists  for  his  clearly  con 
ceived  and  ardently  advocated  views  on  the  right  and 
duty  of  separation  from  the  ungodly,  the  abominableness 
of  prelatical  or  civil  interference  with  conscience,  and  the 
rigid  limitation  of  the  authority  of  the  State  to  civil  mat 
ters.  That  he  was  closely  associated  with  the  radical 
elements  of  the  Dutch  population  in  Norwich  is  admitted 
by  all.  There  is  an  early  tradition  that  his  work  in  Nor 
wich  began  among  the  Dutch.1  Of  this  we  cannot  be 
sure  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  while  in  Norwich  he  had 
abundant  opportunity  to  become  familiar  with  the  views 
of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  which,  on  a  number  of  points, 
were  identical  with  his  own. 

His  failure  to  follow  them  in  the  rejection  of  infant 
baptism  and  in  their  peculiar  views  with  respect  to  the 
incarnation,  oaths,  magistracy,  etc.,  is  sufficient  proof 
that  he  had  not  been  dominated  by  their  influence.  We 
do  not  feel  warranted,  therefore,  in  going  so  far  as  cer 
tain  recent  Pedobaptist  writers  have  done,  who  virtually 
attribute  Browne's  entire  system,  so  far  as  it  deviated 
from  Puritanism,  to  Anabaptist  influence,2  but  must  con- 

1  Fuller,  followed  by  Collier,  Chambers,  and  others. 

2D.  Campbell,    "The   Puritan  in   Holland,    England,  and  America,"   and   W.  E 
Griffis,  "The  Anabaptist,  in  the  New  World,"  December,  1895. 


BROWNE  IN  ZEELAND  371 

tent  ourselves  with  the  more  reserved  position  of  the 
ablest  living  authority  on  Congregational  history,  that 

Anabaptist  modes  of  thought,  imported  with  these  Hollanders 
into  their  new  English  home,  may  have  borne  some  fruitage,  and 
may  have  unconsciously  affected  Browne  himself  in  his  conceptions 
of  the  church.  Though  no  trace  of  a  recognition  of  indebtedness 
to  Anabaptist  thought  can  be  found  in  Browne's  writings,  and 
though  we  discover  no  Dutch  names  among  the  small  number  of  his 
followers  whom  we  know  by  name  at  all,  the  similarity  of  the  sys 
tem  which  he  now  worked  out  to  that  of  the  Anabaptists  is  so  great 
in  many  respects  that  the  conclusion  is  hard  to  avoid  that  the  resem 
blance  is  more  than  accidental.1 

It  may  be  further  said  that  the  views  of  the  Dutch 
Anti-pedobaptists  were  by  this  time  too  well  known  in 
England  to  allow  the  supposition  that  Browne  was  igno 
rant  of  them  and  too  much  abhorred  for  us  to  expect  any 
unnecessary  mention  of  indebtedness  to  them.  What 
ever  of  suggestion  Browne  may  have  received  directly 
or  indirectly  from  the  Dutch  Anti-pedobaptists,  it  was  the 
recognized  conformity  of  their  views  with  Scripture  and 
not  the  fact  that  they  were  advocated  by  a  certain  class 
of  men  that  impressed  him.  It  is  by  no  means  impossible 
that  the  martyrdom  of  Pieters  and  Terwoort,  which 
awakened  much  interest  at  the  time,  produced  a  deep  im 
pression  on  the  young  Puritan  preacher  already  zealous 
for  reform  and  aided  him  in  reaching  the  advanced  posi 
tion  he  came  to  occupy.  But  of  this  we  have  no 
evidence. 

Finding  that  the  bishop  of  Norwich  and  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury  were  bent  on  the  suppression  of  this  little 
independent  church,  and  learning  no  doubt  from  his 
Dutch  friends  that  English  dissenters  would  be  welcomed 
in  Zeeland,  Browne  emigrated  with  a  portion  of  his  fol- 

iWilliston  Walker,     "A  History  of  the  Congregational  Church   in  the   United 
States,"  p.  30,  seq. 


372  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

lowers  and  settled  in  Middelburg,  probably  near  the  close 
of  1581.  Middelburg  had  long  been  in  close  commercial 
relations  with  England,  and  English  merchants  and  others 
had  some  time  before  established  there  a  congregation  of 
Puritan  proclivities.  Here  also  Browne  and  his  followers 
seem  to  have  been  intimately  associated  with  the  Men- 
nonites.  It  was  while  resident  in  Zeeland  that  Browne 
set  forth  in  a  somewhat  elaborate  way  his  fully  matured 
system  of  church  reform.  The  titles  of  these  works  will 
give  some  idea  of  their  contents  :  "  A  Treatise  of  Refor 
mation  Without  Tarrying  for  Any,  and  of  the  Wicked 
ness  of  Those  Preachers,  Which  Will  Not  Reform  Till  the 
Magistrate  Command  or  Compell  Them  "  ;  and  "  A  Book 
which  Sheweth  the  Life  and  Manners  of  All  True  Chris 
tians,  and  How  Unlike  They  are  unto  Turks  and  Papists, 
and  Heathen  Folks."1  He  was  still  careful  to  maintain 
the  right  and  duty  of  baptizing  infants. 

The  Middelburg  church,  under  Browne's  guidance,  soon 
became  involved  in  strife.  Browne  left  it  in  disgust  late 
in  1583,  and  after  attempting  in  vain  to  labor  in  Scotland 
returned,  broken  in  spirit  and  apparently  shattered  in  in 
tellect,  to  the  Established  Church.  His  later  career  was 
obscure  and  in  every  way  discreditable.  A  portion  of 
his  Norwich  congregation  seem  to  have  remained  when 
Browne  left  for  Middelburg,  but  little  is  known  of 
their  subsequent  history.  Some  members  of  the  Middel 
burg  congregation  are  said  to  have  united  with  the  Men- 
nonites.  Browne's  books  were  strictly  prohibited  in 
England  (June,  1583)  and  two  brethren  were  hanged  for 
circulating  them. 

The  congregation  in  London,  led  by  Greenwood,  Bar- 
rowe,  and  Penry,  first  came  clearly  into  the  light  in 
1586-7.  These  able  and  devoted  men  were  arrested  at 

1See  copious  extracts  from  this  work  in  Walker,  "Creeds  and  Platforms,"  p.  18, 
teg. 


SEPARATISTS  AND  ANABAPTISTS  373 

this  time,  and  after  prolonged  imprisonment,  which  some 
of  them  turned  to  good  account  in  writing  against  the 
establishment,  they  were  hanged  in  1593.  Their  posi 
tion  was  far  less  in  accord  with  that  of  the  Anti-pedobap- 
tists  of  the  time  and  with  that  of  modern  Baptists  than 
was  that  of  Browne.  They  advocated  a  moderate  system 
of  presbyterial  government,  and  acknowledged  the  right 
and  duty  of  the  State  to  coerce  heresy. 

In  1591  Francis  Johnson,  a  Puritan  minister  who  had 
taken  refuge  at  Middelburg,  was  converted  by  reading 
passages  in  one  of  Barrowe's  tracts,  the  publication  of 
which  at  Middelburg  he  was  seeking  to  prevent.  He  re 
turned  to  London,  conferred  with  Barrowe  in  prison  and 
became  one  of  the  ablest  representatives  of  the  presby 
terial  type  of  Congregationalism.  Shortly  after  the  mar 
tyrdom  of  Greenwood,  Barrowe,  and  Penry,  he  led  a 
party  of  Separatists  to  Amsterdam,  where  a  strong 
church  was  established.  He  was  soon  joined  by  Henry 
Ainsworth,  one  of  the  most  scholarly  men  of  the  time. 
Soon  after  the  settlement  of  the  company  in  Amsterdam 
"  divers  of  them  fell  into  the  errors  of  the  Anabaptists," 
which  were  "too  common  in  these  countries,  and  so 
persisting,  were  excommunicated  by  the  rest."  So 
wrote  Francis  Johnson  in  1606. 

In  a  polemical  treatise  published  in  1589  against  Green 
wood,  Barrowe,  and  Penry,  Dr.  R.  Some  sought  to 
show  that  these  Separatists  were  essentially  Anabaptists. 
He  compared  the  views  of  the  two  parties  with  consider 
able  minuteness,  and  as  both  based  themselves  upon 
Scripture  there  could  not  fail  to  be  much  in  common.  He 
asserted  that  there  were  several  Anabaptistical  conven 
ticles  in  London  and  other  places,  and  that  some  of  their 
members  had  been  educated  at  the  universities.  He 
pointed  out  the  grave  dangers  involved  in  tolerating  dis 
sent.  "  If  every  particular  congregation  in  England  might 


374  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

set  up  and  put  down  at  their  pleasure,  popish  and  Ana- 
baptistical  fancies  would  overflow  this  land  ;  the  conse 
quence  would  be  dangerous,  viz.,  the  dishonor  of  God, 
the  contempt  of  her  majesty,  the  overthrow  of  the 
church  and  universities,  and  the  utter  confusion  of  this 
noble  kingdom." 

In  a  writing  by  John  Payne,  published  at  Haarlem  in 
1597,  Englishmen  are  warned  against  the  "  new  English 
Anabaptists."  He  mentions  one  Maidstone  as  being  in 
prison  at  Norwich  for  his  Anabaptist  teachings.  He  urges 
that  the  prisoner  be  not  put  to  death,  but  banished,  "  by 
reason,  our  noble  prince,  judges,  nor  State,  should  not  be 
so  reputed  of,  with  such  hard  terms,  by  Anabaptists  and 
others,  as  I  am  loath  here  to  express."  He  appeals  to 
the  prisoner  himself  not  to  suffer  in  so  disreputable  a 
cause. 

The  notices  of  Anti-pedobaptists  during  the  remainder 
of  Elizabeth's  reign  are  few  and  insignificant.  No  doubt 
a  very  large  proportion  of  these,  as  of  non-conforming 
Puritans  and  Separatists,  were  driven  from  the  country 
by  the  inquisitorial  procedures  of  the  government  and 
had  taken  up  their  abode  in  the  Netherlands  where  a 
large  measure  of  freedom  was  accorded. 

It  should  not  be  necessary  to  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  document  brought  to  light  about  1866  and  pub 
lished  by  Dr.  John  Clifford  in  1879  as  tne  "Ancient 
Records  "  of  "  the  church  of  Christ  meeting  at  Epworth, 
Crowle,  and  West  Butterwick,  in  the  county  of  Lincoln," 
has  been  proved  to  be  a  miserable  forgery.  This  spuri 
ous  record  begins  in  1598-9.  The  elders  of  the  church 
in  1599  were  James  Rayner,  Henry  Helwys,  John  Mor 
ton,  William  Brewster,  and  William  Bradford.  Believers' 
baptism  is  insisted  upon  in  the  covenant,  and  William 
Bradford  is  represented  as  baptizing  in  the  river  Tome  at 
midnight.  The  last  two  names  are  famous  as  those  of 


LITERATURE  375 

the  leaders  of  the  Mayflower  party  that  had  enjoyed  the 
ministry  of  John  Robinson.  Thomas  Helwys  (not 
Henry)  and  Morton  were  members  of  the  Anti-pedobap- 
tist  church  founded  by  John  Smyth  in  1508.  Many  de 
tails  are  given  in  this  forged  document  and  the  great  mass 
of  them  have  been  proved  to  be  completely  out  of  accord 
with  the  known  facts.  As  this  document  has  been  used 
in  certain  well-known  books  it  is  not  surprising  that  it  is 
often  quoted  as  authentic  by  those  who  have  not  been 
informed  of  the  exposure  of  the  forgery.1 

Literature:  Underbill,  "  Introduction  to  the  Hanserd  Knollys  Soc. 
Pub."  ;  Crosby,  "  Hist,  of  the  Eng.  Baptists,"  Vol.  I. ;  Ivimey, 
"  F'ist.  of  the  Eng.  Baptists,"  Vol.  I. ;  Evans,  "  Early  Eng.  Bap 
tists,"  Vol.  I. ;  Goadby,  "  By-Paths  of  Bapt.  Hist."  ;  Strype  (vari 
ous  works)  ;  Foxe,  "Actes  and  Monuments"  ;  Fuller,  "  Ch.  Hist."  ; 
Collier,  "  Eccl.  Hist."  ;  D'Anvers,  "  Treatise  on  Baptism  "  ;  Burnet, 
"Hist,  of  the  Ref."  ;  Knox,  works,  ed.  Laing ;  Tyndale,  works; 
Van  Braght,  "  Bloedig  Toneel ;  Wilkins,  "  Concilia  Mag.  Br."  ; 
Walker,  "  Creeds  and  Platforms"  and  "  Hist,  of  the  Congreg.  Ch. 
in  the  U.  S."  ;  Campbell,  "The  Puritans"  ;  Hanbury,  "Hist.  Me 
morials";  Dexter,  "The  Congregationalism  of  the  Last  Three 
Hundred  Years  ; "  and  Dexter,  "  John  Smyth." 

aSee  Dexter,   "  John  Smyth,"  etc.,  p.  63,  seq. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 
ENGLAND  (1602-1609) 

JUST  before  or  shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  reign 
of  James  I.  (1602),  a  Separatist  church  was  formed 
at  Gainsborough,  in  Lincolnshire,  under  the  leadership  of 
John  Smyth.  As  this  church  was  a  few  years  later  to 
adopt  believers'  baptism  and  to  become  the  mother  of 
English  General  Baptist  churches,  it  claims  a  place  in 
this  narrative. 

Of  Smyth's  childhood  nothing  is  known.  As  he  ma 
triculated  at  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  as  a  sizar,  in 
1571,  we  may  infer  that  he  was  born  somewhere  be 
tween  1550  and  1555.  On  the  completion  of  his  course 
for  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1575-6,  he  was  chosen  Fellow  in 
his  college  and  proceeded  to  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts  in  1579.  He  seems  to  have  been  strongly  inclined 
to  Puritanism  as  early  as  1585,  for  in  this  year  he  preached 
a  lenten  sermon  on  Sabbath-keeping  that  caused  him 
some  trouble.  Somewhere  about  1 590  he  was  preacher  in 
the  city  of  Lincoln  and  was  afterward  beneficed  at  Gains 
borough.  After  a  long  period  of  anxiety  and  question 
ing  as  regards  the  propriety  of  separating  from  the  cor 
rupt  establishment  and  a  conference  on  the  subject  with 
a  number  of  his  brother  ministers,  he  withdrew  from  the 
Established  Church  about  1602  and  organized  a  congre 
gation  of  believers  at  Gainsborough. 

Smyth  and  his  followers  covenanted  together  "  to  walk 
in  all  his  ways,  made  known  or  to  be  made  known  unto 
them,  according  to  their  best  endeavors,  whatsoever  it 
should  cost  them,  the  Lord  assisting  them." 

This  church  was  in  every  way  a  most  remarkable  one. 
376 


GAINSBOROUGH  AND   SCROOBY  377 

It  embraced  Helwys  and  Murton,  along  with  Smyth  des 
tined  to  be  the  fathers  of  the  General  Baptist  movement. 
John  Robinson,  the  Father  of  the  Pilgrims,  who  was  to 
become  pastor  of  a  Separate  church  at  Scrooby,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Gainsborough,  who,  with  his  congrega 
tion,  was  to  follow  Smyth  in  his  exodus  to  the  Nether 
lands,  and  whose  congregation,  after  years  of  discourag 
ing  experience  at  Leyden,  was  to  try  its  fortunes  in  New 
England  (1620  onward),  united  with  Smyth's  church  about 
1604.  Among  the  other  members  to  become  men  of  fore 
most  rank  in  Congregational  history,  and  especially  in 
the  early  religious  history  of  New  England,  were  William 
Brewster  and  William  Bradford. 

Harassed  by  continuous  persecution  and  knowing  that 
a  congregation  of  English  Separatists  had  long  enjoyed 
toleration  at  Amsterdam,  "  the  most  were  fain  to  fly  and 
leave  their  houses  and  habitations  and  the  means  of  their 
livelihood,"  and  "to  go  into  the  Low  Countries,  where 
they  heard  was  freedom  of  religion  for  all  men." 

Smyth  and  most  of  the  Gainsborough  congregation 
made  their  way  to  Amsterdam  late  in  1606  or  early  in 
1607.  Robinson  and  most  of  the  members  of  the  Scrooby 
congregation  followed  during  1607  and  1608.  Arriving  at 
Amsterdam  Smyth  and  his  company  had  not  identified 
themselves  with  the  older  congregation  of  which  Francis 
Johnson  was  pastor  and  Henry  Ainsworth  teacher,  but 
proceeded  on  an  independent  basis  as  "  the  Second  Eng 
lish  Church  at  Amsterdam."  That  they  should  have 
proceeded  along  independent  lines  at  Amsterdam  was 
natural,  seeing  that  their  numbers  were  sufficient  and 
that  they  had  so  learned  and  so  highly  esteemed  a  minis 
ter  as  Smyth,  whose  activity  would  have  been  hampered 
if  with  his  congregation  he  had  entered  into  the  fellow 
ship  of  a  church  already  well  organized  and  fully  offi 
cered.  It  is  probable  that  consciousness  of  important 


378  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

differences  as  regards  church  polity  would  in  any  case 
have  prevented  an  organic  union  of  the  two  companies. 

For  some  time,  however,  the  two  congregations  sus 
tained  the  most  cordial  relations  and  full  communion 
with  each  other.  Shortly  before  or  after  Smyth's  ar 
rival  at  Amsterdam  he  published  a  tract  under  the 
title,  "  Principle  and  Inferences  Concerning  the  Visible 
Church,"  which  showed  little  or  no  deviation  from  the 
views  of  Johnson  and  Ainsworth,  yet  with  the  sugges 
tion  of  sympathy  with  the  more  democratic  system  of 
Robert  Browne.  This  position  was  more  distinctly  taken 
in  a  larger  work  entitled,  "Separatists'  Schism,"  which 
soon  followed.  He  could  still  speak  contemptuously  of 
Anabaptists,  classing  them  with  Papists,  Arians,  and 
"  any  other  heretics  and  anti-Christians,"  the  accept- 
ableness  of  whose  "prayers  and  religious  exercises" 
with  God  he  emphatically  denied. 

His  view  of  church  government  at  this  time  is  em 
bodied  in  the  following  sentences  : 

Christ's  church,  in  several  respects,  is  a  monarchy,  an  aristoc 
racy,  a  democracy.  In  respect  of  Christ  the  King  it  is  a  mon 
archy,  of  the  eldership  an  aristocracy,  of  the  brethren  jointly  a 
democracy  or  popular  government.  .  .  The  body  of  the  church  hath 
all  power  immediately  from  Christ;  and  the  elders  have  all  their 
power  from  the  body  of  the  church,  which  power  of  the  eldership 
is  not  exercised,  nor  cannot  be  used  over  or  against  the  whole  body 
of  the  church,  for  that  is  an  anti-Christian  usurpation.  .  .  The  defin 
itive  sentence,  the  determining  power,  the  negative  voice,  is  in  the 
body  of  the  church,  not  in  the  elders. 

In  this  he  took  definite  issue  with  the  position  of  John 
son,  but  did  not  go  much  beyond  that  of  Ainsworth. 

It  was  not  the  question  of  baptism  that  first  occasioned 
the  breach  of  communion  between  the  congregation  pre 
sided  over  by  Smyth  and  the  older  congregation  at  Am 
sterdam.  Early  in  1608  Smyth  seems  to  have  found 


SMYTH'S  SEPARATION  379 

himself  at  variance  with  his  brethren  of  the  older  church 
on  a  number  of  points,  some  of  which  strike  us  at  this 
time  as  rather  trivial.  The  matter  cannot  be  so  well  set 
forth  as  in  his  own  summary  of 

"  Our  Differences  from  the  Ancient  Brethren  of  the  Separation  "  : 
(i)  We  hold  that  the  worship  of  the  New  Testament  properly  so 
called  is  spiritual,  proceeding  originally  from  the  heart ;  and  that 
reading  out  of  a  book  (though  a  lawful  ecclesiastical  action)  is  no 
part  of  spiritual  worship,  but  rather  the  invention  of  the  man  of  sin, 
it  being  substituted  for  a  part  of  spiritual  worship.  (2)  We  hold  that 
seeing  prophesying  is  a  part  of  spiritual  worship,  therefore  in  time 
of  prophesying  it  is  unlawful  to  have  the  book  as  a  help  before  the 
eye.  (3)  We  hold  that  seeing  singing  a  psalm  is  a  part  of  spiritual 
worship,  therefore  it  is  unlawful  to  have  the  book  before  the  eye  in 
time  of  singing  a  psalm.  (4)  We  hold  that  the  presbytery  of  the 
church  is  uniform  ;  and  that  the  triformed  presbytery  consisting 
of  three  kinds  of  elders,  viz.,  pastors,  teachers,  rulers,  is  none  of 
God's  ordinance  but  man's  device.  (5)  We  hold  that  the  elders  of 
the  church  are  pastors  ;  and  that  lay  elders  (so  called)  are  anti- 
Christian.  (6)  We  hold  that  in  contributing  to  the  church  treasury, 
there  ought  to  be  both  a  separation  from  them  that  are  without,  and 
a  sanctification  of  the  whole  action  by  prayer  and  thanksgiving. 

It  is  evident  that  up  to  this  time  the  unscripturalness 
and  unwarrantableness  of  infant  baptism  had  not  im 
pressed  itself  upon  the  mind  of  this  godly  man  who  was 
seeking  even  in  the  minutest  matters  to  bring  his  life 
and  that  of  his  church  into  entire  conformity  with  New 
Testament  precept  and  example,  and  who  was  even 
supersensitive  as  to  any  infringement  on  spiritual  wor 
ship.  His  deep-seated  prejudice  against  the  Anabaptists 
undoubtedly  had  the  effect  of  delaying  for  some  time  his 
application  of  the  principle  of  the  rigorous  exclusion  of 
all  formalism  and  all  unscriptural  elements  to  the  matter 
of  baptism. 

His  objection  to  the  use  of  the  book  in  singing  psalms 
and  in  prophesying,  while  it  seems  to  us  somewhat  gro 
tesque,  was  of  the  nature  of  an  extreme  application  of 


380  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

the  anti-liturgical  principle  of  Puritanism.  Spiritual  wor 
ship  alone  is  acceptable  to  God.  The  use  of  a  book 
interferes  with  the  freedom  of  the  working  of  the  spirit. 
Prophesying  is  utterance  under  the  promptings  of  God's 
Spirit.  The  use  of  a  book  implies  dependence  on  a  human 
object  instead  of  on  the  divine  impulse.  Much  can  be 
said  in  defense  of  his  contention  that  church  benefi 
cence  as  an  act  of  worship  should  be  restricted  to  be 
lievers.  At  any  rate,  it  was  a  logical  inference  from  the 
principle  of  Separatism  that  lay  at  the  basis  of  the  older 
Amsterdam  church  as  well  as  the  newer.  It  is  evident 
that  Smyth  had  by  this  time  reached  the  position  of  pure 
Congregationalism  in  church  government,  every  vestige 
of  Presbyterianism  having  been  eliminated. 

It  is  asserted  by  his  contemporaries  that  Smyth  at 
this  time  contended  most  pertinaciously  for  the  position 
that  translations  of  the  Bible  as  being  human  produc 
tions  are  apocryphal,  and  are  not  to  be  used  in  the  wor 
ship  of  God;  but  "that  teachers  should  bring  the 
originals,  the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and  out  of  them  trans 
late  by  voice."  It  is  claimed  that  this  objection  to  the 
use  of  the  translated  Scriptures  in  worship  was  the  pri 
mary  cause  of  the  breach  of  communion  between  the 
two  congregations.  Testimony  to  this  effect  is  so  full 
and  so  unanimous  that  it  cannot  with  any  propriety  be 
called  in  question.  This  again  was  an  extreme  applica 
tion  of  the  principle  that  in  worship  nothing  human 
should  be  allowed  to  intervene  between  the  believer  and 
God. 

Having  broken  communion  with  the  brethren  of  the 
older  church  on  the  ground  of  more  questionable  applica 
tions  of  scriptural  principles,  it  was  inevitable  that  the 
inconsistency  involved  in  the  position  of  the  Separatists 
as  regards  baptism  should  sooner  or  later  dawn  upon 
Smyth  and  his  followers.  They  had  reached  the  posi- 


SMYTH  AN  ANTI-PEDOBAPTIST  381 

tion  of  being  ready  to  carry  out  regardless  of  conse 
quences  the  requirements  of  fidelity  to  Christ  and  to 
New  Testament  Christianity.  In  spite  of  their  intense 
prejudice  against  the  Anabaptists,  the  conviction  forced 
itself  upon  them  that  neither  they  themselves  nor  those 
from  whom  they  had  separated  were  a  true  church  of 
Christ.  All  alike  had  received  their  baptism  in  the 
apostate  Church  of  England,  and  they  had  received  this 
so-called  baptism  not  in  personal  obedience  to  Christ's 
command  and  on  a  profession  of  faith  in  him,  but  as 
unconscious  infants. 

The  exact  date  of  Smyth's  change  of  view  as  regards 
baptism  cannot  be  accurately  determined.  It  must  have 
been  late  in  1608,  or  early  in  1609,  for  in  the  preface  to 
the  "Character  of  the  Beast,"  etc.,  evidently  written 
after  he  had  adopted  Anti-pedobaptist  views,  he  states  : 
"  I  end  writing  this  24  of  March,  1608,"  while  a  work 
entitled  "  Parallels,  Censures,  Observations,"  etc.,  evi 
dently  written  before  he  had  reached  firm  ground  on  the 
baptismal  question,  bears  on  its  title-page  the  date  1609. 
An  undated  w.ork  by  Smyth  on  "  The  Differences  of  the 
Churches  of  the  Separation,"  in  which  he  vindicates  for 
himself  and  his  followers  the  sufficiency  of  the  grounds 
for  separation  from  the  older  church,  seems  to  have  in 
tervened.  The  date  March  24,  1608,  would  be,  accord 
ing  to  the  new  style  of  reckoning;  March  24,  1609.  The 
"Parallels,"  though  written  before  the  "Character  of 
the  Beast,"  may  not  have  issued  from  the  press  till  1609, 
which  according  to  the  old  style  began  on  March  25. 
These  works  must  in  any  case  have  followed  each  other 
in  quick  succession.  His  adoption  of  Anti-pedobaptist 
views  must  have  occurred  some  time  before  March  24, 
1609  (N.  S.),  and  probably  some  time  before  the  end  of 
1608  (N.  S.). 

The  procedures  of  Smyth  and  his  associates  are  thus 


382  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

described  by  their  Amsterdam  contemporaries  :  "  After 
this,"  wrote  Richard  Clyfton,  "they  dissolved  their 
church  (which  before  was  conjoined  in  the  fellowship  of 
the  gospel  and  profession  of  the  true  faith)  and  Mr.  Smyth 
being  pastor  thereof  gave  over  his  office,  as  did  also  the 
deacons,  and  devised  to  enter  a  new  communion  by  re 
nouncing  their  former  baptism,  and  taking  upon  them 
selves  another,  of  man's  invention." 

"Soon  after  this,"  wrote  Henry  Ainsworth,  "God 
stroke  him  [Smyth]  with  blindness,  that  he  could  no 
longer  find  the  door  of  the  church  out  of  which  he  was 
gone  by  schism,  and  which  he  had  assaulted  with  error. 
.  .  .  And  now  as  a  man  benumbed  in  mind,  he  crieth 
out  against  us,  contrary  to  his  former  faith  and  confes 
sion  :  '  Lo,  we  protest  against  them  (saith  he)  to  be  a 
false  church,  falsely  constituted  in  the  baptizing  of  in 
fants,  and  their  own  unbaptized  estate,'  etc." 

Richard  Bernard,  after  enumerating  six  earlier  changes 
of  views  on  Smyth's  part,  proceeds:  "Seventhly,  and 
lastly,  if  it  prove  the  last,  he  hath  (if  you  will  believe 
him)  recovered  the  true  baptism,  and  the  true  matter  and 
form  of  a  true  church,  which  now  is  only  to  be  found 
pure  among  a  company  of  Se-baptists,"  etc. 

An  anonymous  contemporary  writer  puts  the  matter 
thus  :  "Soon  after  Satan  drew  him  to  deny  the  covenant 
preached  to  Abraham  to  be  the  covenant  of  grace,  which 
led  him  to  deny  his  baptism  received  in  infancy." 

Nothing  was  more  natural  than  that  Smyth's  opponents 
should  taunt  him  with  inconsistency.  He  manfully  met 
the  charge  in  the  following  memorable  words  : 

To  change  a  false  religion  is  commendable,  and  to  retain  a  false 
religion  is  damnable.  For  a  man,  of  a  Turk  to  become  a  Jew,  of  a 
Jew  to  become  a  Papist,  of  a  Papist  to  become  a  Protestant,  are  all 
commendable  changes,  though  they  all  of  them  befall  one  and  the 
same  person  in  one  year,  nay,  if  it  were  in  one  month.  So  that  not 


SMYTH'S  DEFENSE  383 

to  change  religion  is  evil  simply  ;  and  therefore  that  we  should  fall 
from  the  profession  of  Puritanism  to  Brownism,  and  from  Brown- 
ism  to  true  Christian  baptism,  is  not  simply  evil  and  reprovable  in 
itself,  except  it  be  proved  that  we  have  fallen  from  true  religion.  If 
we  therefore,  being  formerly  deceived  in  the  way  of  Pedobaptistry, 
now  do  embrace  the  truth  in  the  true  Christian  apostolic  baptism, 
then  let  no  man  impute  this  as  a  fault  unto  us. 

Be  it  remembered  that  the  Separatists  were  at  this 
time  agreed  in  regarding  the  English  Established  Church 
as  apostate,  and  in  regarding  any  sort  of  communion 
with  this  church  as  wholly  inadmissible.  Be  it  remem 
bered,  furthermore,  that  the  central  point  of  their  con 
tention  was  for  a  pure  church — a  church  of  the  regener 
ate.  They  had  all  received  what  they  considered  baptism 
in  their  infancy,  at  the  hands  of  the  priesthood  of  this 
apostate  church  ;  they  were  themselves,  by  the  practice 
of  infant  baptism,  the  regenerating  efficacy  of  which 
they  denied,  introducing  into  the  membership  of  the 
church  those  whose  conversion  even  in  the  future  was 
by  no  means  assured.  The  wonder  is  not  that  Smyth 
should  have  come  to  an  overmastering  realization  of  the 
inconsistencies  involved,  but  rather  that  any  of  them 
should  have  failed  to  see  the  untenableness  of  the  posi 
tion  they  had  assumed.  Men  like  John  Robinson  escaped 
the  alternative  that  Smyth  chose  by  receding  from  the 
position  of  extreme  Separatism  and  adopting  the  position 
known  as  Semi-separatism,  which  involved  a  more 
friendly  attitude  toward  the  Church  of  England. 

With  Smyth  and  his  followers  conviction  was  the  im 
mediate  forerunner  of  action.  What  action  followed 
their  conviction  that  infant  baptism  in  general  and 
Church  of  England  baptism  in  particular  was  unwar 
ranted  and  invalid  has  been  stated  in  general  in  some  of 
the  extracts  given  above.  Repudiating  their  former  bap 
tism  and  their  church  organization  as  unscriptural  and 


384  A   HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

unwarranted,  they  proceeded  to  introduce  a  new  baptism 
of  believers,  and  to  organize  themselves  strictly  accord 
ing  to  New  Testament  precept  and  example,  as  under 
stood  by  them,  into  a  true  church  of  Christ,  whose 
members  all  claimed  to  have  been  regenerated  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  through  faith  in  Christ.1 

Being  in  an  unbaptized  estate,  they  must  first  of  all 
obey  Christ  in  the  ordinance  of  baptism.  How  should 
they  proceed  in  this  matter  ?  Who  should  take  the 
initiative  ?  As  the  spiritual  leader  of  his  people  and 
their  pastor,  under  the  former  organization,  it  could  be 
no  other  than  Smyth  himself.  Should  he  first  administer 
the  ordinance  to  another  and  then  receive  baptism  him 
self  at  the  hands  of  the  person  thus  baptized  ?  Helwys 
or  Murton  would  naturally  have  shrunk  from  initiating 
the  new  baptism.  It  seems  almost  certain  that  what 
actually  occurred  was  this  :  Smyth  first  baptized  himself 
and  then  as  a  baptized  believer  proceed  to  baptize  Helwys 
and  the  other  members  of  the  company.  This  is  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  unanimous  testimony  of  contempo 
raries  who  had  the  fullest  opportunity  to  know  the  facts, 
and  was  uncontradicted,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  by  any 
member  of  the  party  concerned.2 

As  this  act  of  se-baptism  was  made  a  matter  of  re 
proach  by  Smyth's  contemporary  opponents,  and  has 
been  similarly  used  in  more  recent  times  by  the  adver 
saries  of  the  Baptists,  some  Baptist  writers  have  vainly 
attempted  to  weaken  the  force  of  the  evidence  and  to 
repudiate  the  charge  as  calumnious.  A  few  of  the  testi 
monies  of  contemporaries  will  suffice  for  setting  this 
transaction  in  its  proper  light. 

1  This  occurred  in  all  probability  about  October,  1608.    See  DeHoop-Scheffer,  "  De 
Brownisten  te  Amsterdam,"  p.  104. 

2  Dexter  ("  The  True  Story  of  John  Smyth,  the  Se-baptist,"  pp.  26,  seq.)  has  adduced 
the  evidence  in  so  convincing  a  manner  as  to  render  the  question  of  Smyth's  se- 
baptism  no  longer  an  open  one. 


SE-BAPTISM  335 

Ainsworth  wrote:  -Mr.  Smyth  anabaptized  himself 
with  water.  .  .  He  anabaptized  himself  and  then  ana- 
baptized  others."  John  Robinson  wrote:  "As  I  have 
heard  from  themselves  ...  Mr.  Smyth  baptized  first  him 
self,  and  next  Mr.  Helwys,  and  so  the  rest,  making  their 
particular  confessions."  Richard  Clyfton,  severely  criti 
cising  both  the  act  itself  and  the  idea  of  the  church  that 
underlay  the  act,  wrote  :  "  If  you  [referring  to  Smyth] 
that  baptize  yourself  (being  but  an  ordinary  man),  may 
do  this,  then  may  another  do  the  like,  and  so  every  one 
baptize  himself." 

Even  more  conclusive  is  Smyth's  own  testimony.  The 
passage  is  valuable,  moreover,  as  showing  the  grounds 
on  which  Smyth  and  his  followers  justified  their  action 
in  introducing  a  new  baptism  and  in  organizing  themselves 
afresh  : 

Whereas,  you  say  that  they  [we]  have  no  warrant  to  baptize 
themselves  [ourselves],  I  say,  as  much  as  you  have  to  set  up  a  true 
church,  yea,  fully  as  much.  For  if  a  true  church  may  be  erected 
which  is  the  most  noble  ordinance  of  the  New  Testament,  then  much 
more  baptism  ;  and  if  a  true  church  cannot  be  erected  without  bap 
tism  .  .  .  you  cannot  deny  .  .  .  that  baptism  may  also  be  recovered. 
If  they  must  recover  them,  men  must  begin  so  to  do,  and  then  two 
men  joining  together  may  make  a  church.  .  .  Why  may  they  not 
baptize,  seeing  they  cannot  conjoin  into  Christ  but  by  baptism  ?  .  .  . 
Now,  for  baptizing  a  man's  self  there  is  as  good  warrant  as  for  a 
man  churching  himself.  For  two  men  singly  are  no  church,  jointly 
they  are  a  church,  and  they  both  of  them  put  a  church  upon  them 
selves,  so  may  two  men  put  baptism  upon  themselves.  For  as  both 
those  persons  unchurched  yet  have  power  to  assume  the  church  each 
of  them  for  himself  with  others  in  communion  ;  so  each  of  them 
unbaptized  hath  power  to  assume  baptism  for  himself  with  others  in 
communion.  And  as  Abraham  and  John  Baptist,  and  all  proselytes 
after  Abraham's  example  (Exod.  12  :  48)  did  administer  the  sacra 
ment  upon  themselves,  so  may  any  man  raised  up  after  the  apostasy 
of  Antichrist,  in  the  recovering  of  the  church  by  baptism,  admin 
ister  it  upon  himself  in  communion  with  others.  .  .  And  as  in  the  Old 
Testament,  every  man  that  was  unclean  washed  himself;  every 

z 


386  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

priest  going  to  sacrifice  washed  himself  in  the  laver  at  the  door  of 
the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation  ;  which  was  a  type  of  baptism, 
the  door  of  the  church  (Titus  3  :  5).  Every  master  of  a  family  ad 
ministered  the  Passover  to  himself  and  all  of  his  family.  The  priest 
daily  sacrificed  for  himself  and  others.  A  man  cannot  baptize 
others  into  the  church,  himself  being  out  of  the  church.  Therefore 
it  is  lawful  for  a  man  to  baptize  himself  together  with  others  in  com 
munion,  and  this  warrant  is  a  plerophory  for  the  practice  of  that 
which  is  done  by  us. 

Thus  the  fact  of  se-baptism  seems  to  be  fully  admitted 
by  Smyth  himself.  If  Smyth  and  his  associates  were 
right  in  concluding  that  they  were  unbaptized,  and  that 
it  was  their  duty  to  organize  themselves  on  a  New  Tes 
tament  basis  as  a  church  of  Christ,  it  was  evidently  in 
cumbent  on  them  either  to  seek  and  find  a  church  of  be 
lievers  in  which  true  baptism  could  be  secured  or  to 
introduce  believers'  baptism  anew. 

Why  they  did  not  seek  baptism  at  the  hands  of  the 
Mennonites,  who  were  close  at  hand  and  were  known 
by  them  to  practise  believers'  baptism,  it  may  not  be 
possible  to  determine.  The  odium  of  the  name  "  Ana 
baptist,"  by  which  the  Mennonites,  despite  their  most 
earnest  protests,  were  commonly  called,  doubtless  had 
some  influence  in  deterring  them  from  taking  this  step. 
The  difficulty  of  making  themselves  thoroughly  under 
stood  by  the  Mennonites  owing  to  their  lack  of  familiar 
ity  with  the  Dutch  language  was  probably  another  reason 
for  their  proceeding  independently  in  the  matter. 

As  it  regards  the  form  of  the  new  baptism  introduced  by 
Smyth,  modern  criticism  has  rendered  it  highly  probable 
that  it  was  not  immersion  but  affusion.  We  need  not  go 
into  a  detailed  proof  of  this  proposition.  A  few  con 
siderations  will  suffice  for  our  present  purpose.  In  a  let 
ter  addressed  by  leaders  of  the  Mennonite  church  at 
Amsterdam  to  those  of  the  church  at  Leeuwarden  on 
the  occasion  of  the  application  of  Smyth  and  his  follow- 


IMMERSION  OR  AFFUSION?  387 

ers  for  admission  into  the  fellowship  of  the  former,  it  is 
distinctly  stated  :  "  We  ministers  .  .  .  summoned  these 
English  brethren  and  again  most  perfectly  examined 
them  as  regards  the  doctrine  of  salvation  and  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  church,  and  also  inquired  for  the  founda 
tion  and  form  of  their  baptism,  and  we  have  not  found 
that  there  was  any  difference  at  all,  neither  in  the  one 
nor  the  other  thing  between  them  and  us."  There  is 
no  evidence,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  that  at  this  time 
any  party  of  Mennonites  practised  immersion.  Like  the 
great  majority  of  the  Anti-pedobaptists  of  the  Reforma 
tion  time,  they  contented  themselves,  as  regards  the  act 
of  baptism,  with  the  practice  that  prevailed  around  them, 
the  subjects  of  baptism  and  its  sacramental  efficacy  being 
alone  matters  of  controversy. 

About  ten  years  later  (1619)  the  Rhynsburgers  (Colle- 
giants)  introduced  immersion  under  the  influence  of  the 
Polish  Socinian  Anti-pedobaptists,  who  may  have  derived 
it  from  the  Swiss  and  Augsburg  Anti-pedobaptists. 

The  most  competent  Mennonite  scholar  of  the  present 
time1  does  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  the  universal  prac 
tice  of  Mennonites  of  all  parties  about  1609  was  affusion, 
It  is  not  probable  from  the  context  that  the  term  "form 
of  their  baptism"  in  the  above  quotation  refers  directly 
to  the  mode  of  applying  the  water.  It  probably  refers 
rather  to  the  words  spoken  in  connection  with  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  ordinance.  But  the  absence  of  any 
intimation  in  the  controversial  literature  of  the  time  that 
Smyth  had  introduced  an  innovation  as  regards  the  mode 
of  administering  baptism,  beyond  that  of  se-baptism, 
seems  quite  decisive  against  the  supposition  that  the  be 
lievers'  baptism  that  he  introduced  and  insisted  upon  was 


1  Dr.  J.  G.  DeHoop-Scheffer. 

2  For  a  full  discussion  of  this  point,  see  Dexter,  "  J.  Smyth,"  p.  10,  seq. 


388  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

The  party  that  under  Smyth's  guidance  adopted  be 
lievers'  baptism  and  formed  themselves  into  a  new 
church  consisted  of  about  forty-two  men  and  women. 
The  foremost  among  the  brethren,  after  Smyth,  were 
Thomas  Helwys  and  John  Murton,  both  of  whom  proved 
steadfast  in  their  new  faith. 

About  the  beginning  of  1609,  or  earlier,  a  division 
arose  in  the  newly  constituted  body.  In  the  meantime 
Smyth  had  become  better  acquainted  with  the  Mennon- 
ites,  and  thoroughly  imbued  with  their  teachings,  includ 
ing  the  Pelagian  or  Socinian  modes  of  thought  that  at  this 
time  widely  prevailed  among  them.  He  had  reached  the 
conviction  that  he  and  his  followers  had  made  a  prodigious 
blunder  in  ignoring  this  truly  apostolic  communion,  and 
in  introducing  a  new  baptism  and  a  new  church  order. 
What  they  had  done  in  ignorance,  or  from  culpable  prej 
udice,  it  was  their  bounden  duty  to  undo  as  promptly 
as  possible.  That  he  should  soon  have  made  himself 
intolerable  in  the  little  church,  a  portion  only  of  whose 
members  favored  his  latest  proposal,  was  what  might 
have  been  expected. 

The  minority,  led  by  Helwys  and  Murton,  felt  it  neces 
sary  to  excommunicate  Smyth  and  his  supporters  for  the 
errors  into  which  they  had  fallen.  The  following  is  their 
own  justification  of  this  procedure  : 

That  it  may  not  be  thought  we  lay  imputations  or  cast  reproaches 
upon  Mr.  Smyth  unjustly,  we  thought  good,  in  short,  to  set  down 
some  of  the  errors  whereunto  he  is  fallen,  etc.  (i)  That  concerning 
Christ  the  first  matter  of  his  flesh,  he  affirmed  that  all  the  Scrip 
tures  would  not  prove  that  he  had  it  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  thus 
making  Christ  to  have  two  matters  of  his  flesh.  (2)  That  men 
are  justified  partly  by  the  righteousness  of  Christ  apprehended 
by  faith,  partly  by  their  own  inherent  righteousness.  (3)  That 
Adam's  sin  was  not  imputed  unto  any  of  his  posterity,  and  that 
all  men  are  in  the  estate  of  Adam  in  his  innocency  before  they 
commit  actual  sin ;  and  therefore  infants  were  not  redeemed  by 


SMYTH  AND  THE  MENNONITES  389 

Christ,  but  as  angels  and  all  other  creatures.  (4)  That  the  church 
and  ministry  must  come  by  succession,  contrary  to  his  former  pro 
fession  in  words  and  writings,  and  that  by  a  supposed  succession  he 
cannot  show  from  whom,  nor  when,  nor  where.  (5)  That  an  elder 
of  one  church  is  an  elder  of  all  the  churches  in  the  world.  (6)  That 
magistrates  may  not  be  members  of  Christ's  church  and  retain  their 
magistracy. 

Smyth  and  thirty-one  others  promptly  sought  admis 
sion  into  the  Mennonite  church  in  Amsterdam,  whose 
pastor  was  the  celebrated  Lubbert  Gerrits.1  They  "  con 
fess  this  their  error,  and  repent  of  the  same,  viz.  :  that 
they  undertook  to  baptize  themselves  contrary  to  the 
order  laid  down  by  Christ,"  and  "  now  desire  to  get  back 
into  the  true  church  of  Christ  as  speedily  as  may  be." 
Helwys,  Piggott,  Seamer,  and  Murton,  on  behalf  of  the 
church,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Mennonite  brethren 
(March  12,  1609)'  beseeching  them  to  proceed  cautiously 
in  the  matter  of  receiving  Smyth  and  his  company  and 
setting  forth  somewhat  fully  their  position  in  the  matter: 

We  are  with  much  gladness  and  willingness  stirred  up  to  write  to 
you,  praying  you,  as  you  love  the  Lord  and  his  truth,  that  you  will 
take  wise  counsel,  and  that  from  God's  word,  how  you  deal  in  this 
cause  betwixt  us  and  those  who  are  justly,  for  their  sins,  cast  out 
from  us.  And  the  whole  cause  in  question  being  succession  (for  so 
it  is  in  deed  and  in  truth),  consider,  we  beseech  you,  how  it  is  Anti 
christ's  chief  hold,  and  that  it  is  Jewish  and  ceremonial,  an  ordinance 
of  the  Old  Testament,  but  not  of  the  New.  Furthermore,  let  it  be 
well  considered  that  the  succession  which  is  founded  upon  neither  the 
times,  person,  nor  place,  can  [not]  be  proved  to  any  man's  conscience, 
and  so  herein  we  should  ground  our  faith,  we  cannot  tell  upon  whom, 
nor  when,  nor  where. 

The  case  of  John  the  Baptist  is  cited  to  prove  the 
right  of  an  unbaptized  person  to  introduce  baptism. 

1See  the  correspondence  in  Evans'  "  Early  Eng.  Bapt."     Vol.  I.,  p.  209,  seq. 

3  Evans,  supposing  the  date  given  to  be  O.  S.,  has  changed  it  to  1610.  Dexter 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  N.  S.  had  been  adopted  in  Holland  in  1583,  and  in 
sists  upon  the  earlier  date. 


390  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

And  whosoever  shall  now  be  stirred  up  by  the  same  Spirit  to 
preach  the  same  word,  and  men  thereby  being  converted,  may,  ac 
cording  to  John's  example,  wash  them  with  water,  and  who  can 
forbid?  And  we  pray  that  we  may  speak  freely  herein,  how  dare 
any  man  or  men  challenge  unto  themselves  a  pre-eminence  herein,  as 
though  the  Spirit  of  God  was  only  in  their  hearts,  and  the  word  of 
God  now  only  to  be  fetched  at  their  mouths,  and  the  ordinance  of 
God  only  to  be  had  from  their  hands,  except  they  were  apostles  ? 
Hath  the  Lord  thus  restrained  his  Spirit,  his  word,  and  ordinances, 
as  to  make  particular  men  lordly  over  them,  or  keepers  of  them? 
God  forbid.  This  is  contrary  to  the  liberty  of  the  gospel,  which  is 
free  for  all  men,  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  .  .  And  now  for  the 
other  question,  that  elders  must  ordain  elders ;  or  if  this  be  a  per 
petual  rule,  then  from  whom  is  your  eldership  come?  And  if  one 
church  might  once  ordain,  then  why  not  all  churches  always  ? 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  the  Mennonite  church 
would  receive  with  open  arms  this  large  body  of  zealous 
converts  to  their  principles.  But  they  had  had  too  much 
experience  of  internal  strife  to  be  willing  to  incur  the 
risk  of  introducing  into  their  body  a  factious  element,  or 
of  alienating  sister  churches  by  entering  precipitately 
upon  a  course  that  might  be  called  in  question.  The 
remonstrance  of  Helwys  and  his  brethren  may  have 
furnished  still  further  ground  for  hesitancy.  The  Am 
sterdam  Mennonite  church  writes  to  the  church  at  Leeu- 
warden,  stating  the  fact  that  these  English  have  been 
thoroughly  examined  by  them,  and  have  been  found  in 
perfect  agreement  with  the  Mennonite  churches  in  every 
respect.  They  express  the  opinion  "  that  these  English, 
without  being  baptized  again,  must  be  accepted."  It  is 
stated  that  the  English  are  willing  to  be  baptized,  if  it 
can  be  proved  to  be  necessary  from  Scripture  and  reason. 
If  the  Leeuwarden  brethren  think  they  ought  to  be  re- 
baptized,  they  are  entreated  to  come  to  Amsterdam,  and 
to  prove  to  their  Mennonite  brethren  and  to  the  English 
that  the  baptism  the  latter  have  received  is  invalid. 

The  Leeuwarden  brethren  were  non-committal  and  in- 


HELWYS  AND  MURTON  39! 

disposed  to  take  any  responsibility  upon  themselves  in 
the  matter.  Yet  they  urge  that  nothing  be  done  which 
might  disturb  the  good  fellowship  of  the  connection. 

A  Mennonite  brother,  Jan  Munter,  provided  Smyth 
and  his  associates  with  a  room  for  worship  in  "The 
Great  Cake  House  "  ;  but  the  English  brethren  were  not 
formally  received  into  fellowship  until  1615,  about  three 
years  after  Smyth's  death. 

Helwys  and  the  rest  of  the  anti-succession  party  re 
turned  to  England  about  1611,  impelled  by  a  deep  con 
viction  that  flight  from  persecution  "  had  been  the  over 
throw  of  religion  in  this  island,  the  best,  ablest,  and 
greater  part  being  gone  and  leaving  behind  them  some 
few  who,  by  the  others'  departure,  have  had  their  afflic 
tion  and  contempt  increased,  hath  been  the  cause  of 
many  falling  back,  and  of  their  adversaries  rejoicing." 

The  church  of  Helwys  and  Murton  became  the  mother 
of  the  General  Baptist  churches.  Although  these  leaders 
objected  strongly,  as  we  have  seen,  to  most  of  the  fea 
tures  that  differentiated  the  Mennonites  of  the  time  from 
modern  Baptists,  including  the  Pelagian  (Socinian)  type 
of  doctrine,  these  views  soon  gained  general  acceptance 
among  their  followers.  Before  1624  controversy  had 
arisen  as  to  the  deity  of  Christ,  the  lawfulness  of  oaths, 
magistracy,  and  warfare,  and  as  to  the  obligatoriness  of 
the  weekly  celebration  of  the  Supper.  Both  parties  to 
the  controversy  appealed  to  the  Dutch  Mennonites  and 
sought  to  secure  recognition  at  their  hands  (1624-6).  A 
rich  literature  in  defense  of  liberty  of  conscience  ema 
nated  from  this  body  of  believers  (1614  onward).1 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  both  Smyth  and  Helwys 
gave  clear  and  forcible  expression  to  this  old-evangelical 
principle.  In  a  long  and  elaborate  confession  of  faith 

!See  "Tracts  on  Liberty  of   Conscience,"    Hanserd  Knollys  Society  Publica 
tions. 


392  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

prepared  by  Smyth  about  1611,'  he  declares:  ''That 
the  magistrate  is  not  by  virtue  of  his  office  to  meddle 
with  religion  or  matters  of  conscience,  to  force  or  com 
pel  men  to  this  or  that  form  of  religion  or  doctrine,  but 
to  leave  the  Christian  religion  free  to  every  man's 'con 
science,  and  to  handle  only  civil  transgressions  (Rom.  13), 
injuries,  and  wrongs  of  man  against  man,  in  murder,  adul 
tery,  theft,  etc.,  for  Christ  only  is  the  king  and  lawgiver 
of  the  church  and  conscience  (James  4  :  12)."  Helwys 
wrote  as  follows  :  "The  king  is  a  mortal  man  and  not 
God,  therefore  hath  no  power  over  the  immortal  souls  of 
his  subjects,  to  make  laws  and  ordinances  for  them,  and 
to  set  spiritual  lords  over  them.  If  the  king  have  au 
thority  to  make  spiritual  lords  and  laws,  then  he  is  an 
immortal  God  and  not  a  mortal  man." 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  present  work  to  trace  the 
history  of  Anti-pedobaptism  beyond  the  date  of  the 
organization  of  the  first  English  Baptist  church  of  which 
we  have  any  definite  information.  From  this  time  onward 
the  history  of  Anti-pedobaptism  becomes  almost  coinci 
dent  with  that  of  the  Baptists. 

Earlier  Anti-pedobaptism  was  for  the  most  part  so  ham 
pered  by  errors  in  doctrine  and  in  practice  and  so  re 
morselessly  persecuted  by  Church  and  State,  that  it 
could  not  possibly  embody  itself  in  a  great  aggressive 
denomination  adapted  to  all  classes  and  conditions  of 
men.  Its  narrowness  and  its  erroneous  views  were 
doubtless  due  in  large  measure  to  the  fierceness  of  the 
persecution  to  which  its  advocates  were  everywhere  sub 
jected.  Magistracy  as  observed  by  them  was  for  the 
most  part  hostile  to  pure  religion,  destroying  those  who 
sought  to  restore  primitive  Christianity  ;  warfare  was 
generally  waged  for  selfish  and  cruel  ends  and  involved 

1  A  good  English  translation  is  given  by  Barclay  in  his  "The  Inner  Life,"  etc. 
Appendix  to  Chap.  VI. 


LITERATURE  393 

untold  misery  ;  oaths  were  employed  for  the  most  part 
either  profanely  or  with  a  view  to  extorting  from  Chris 
tian  people  information  to  which  the  authorities  had  no 
right.  That  they  should  have  interpreted  the  Scriptures 
in  accord  with  these  prepossessions  was  most  natural. 
Communism,  so  far  as  it  was  introduced  among  Anti- 
pedobaptists,  struck  at  the  root  of  modern  civilization 
and  doomed  the  parties  adopting  it  to  extinction.  Sep 
aratism  was  sometimes  carried  so  far  as  to  make  its  sub 
jects  narrow  and  bigoted,  and  incapable  of  effectively 
impressing  their  views  upon  those  outside  their  own  com 
munion. 

Helwys  and  his  followers  escaped  many  of  these  nar 
rowing  influences,  but  not  all.  The  Socinian  form  of 
anti-Augustinian  theology,  against  which  Helwys  and 
Murton  protested  at  the  beginning,  proved  a  great  hin 
drance  to  the  effectiveness  of  the  party  and  in  the 
eighteenth  century  almost  wrecked  it. 

It  remained  for  the  Particular  (Calvinistic)  Baptists, 
formed  by  secession  from  a  London  Congregational 
church  in  1633,  to  embody  Anti-pedobaptism  in  a  form 
that,  when  animated  by  the  missionary  spirit,  has  proved 
highly  effective.  In  this  form  during  the  past  century  its 
progress  has  been  marvelous,  and  there  seems  to  be  no 
limit  to  its  possible  achievements. 


Literature:  Underbill,  "  Introduction  to  the  Hanserd  Knollys  Soc. 
Pub.";  Crosby,  "Hist,  of  the  Eng.  Baptists,"  Vol.  I.;  Ivimey, 
"  Hist,  of  the  Eng.  Baptists,"  Vol.  I. ;  Evans,  "  Early  Eng.  Bap 
tists,"  Vol.  I.  ;  Goadby,  "  By-Paths  of  Bapt.  Hist."  ;  Strype  (vari 
ous  works) ;  Foxe,  "Actes  and  Monuments  "  ;  Fuller,  "  Ch.  Hist."  ; 
Collier,  "  Eccl.  Hist."  ;  D'Anvers,  "  Treatise  on  Baptism  "  ;  Burnet, 
"  Hist,  of  the  Ref." ;  Knox,  works,  ed.  Laing ;  Tyndale,  works ; 
Van  Braght,  "  Bloedig  Toneel"  ;  Wilkins,  "  Concilia  Mag.  Br."  ; 
Walker,  "  Creeds  and  Platforms  "  and  "  Hist,  of  the  Congreg.  Ch. 
in  the  U.  S."  ;  Campbell,  "The  Puritans"  ;  Hanbury,  "  Hist.  Me- 


394  A  HISTORY  OF  ANTI-PEDOBAPTISM 

morials";  Dexter,  "The  Congregationalism  of  the  Last  Three 
Hundred  Years  "  and  "  John  Smyth  "  ;  Barclay,  "  Inner  Life  of  the 
Rel.  Soc.  of  the  Commonwealth  "  ;  De  Hoop-Scheffer,  "  De  Brown- 
isten  te  Amsterdam"  ;  and  Whitsitt,  "A  Question  in  Baptist  His 
tory"  (published  since  this  work  was  written). 


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Baur,  A.,  Zur  Einleitung  in  Zwinglis 
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Beck,  Collection  of  Anti-pedobaptist 
literature  (probably  the  most  extensive 
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libraries  of  Europe.  See  partial  list  of 
its  contents  in  Loserth's  Hubmaier,  p. 
10,  seq.,  and  Beck's  own  directory  to 
the  MS.  sources  in  Gesch. -Biicher, 
pp.  23,  24.  The  collection  is  still  in 
the  possession  of  the  Beck  family,  but 
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Loserth's  recent  works  on  Anti-pedo 
baptist  history  have  been  based  upon 
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to  Prof.  M.  von  Waldberg,  of  Heidel 
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Belling,  H.,  Ueber  Jovinian  (Zeitschr. 
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Bezold,  F.  von,  Gesch.  d.  Husitenthums. 
Munchen,  1874- 

Biographical  Sketches  of  many  Anti- 
pedobaptist  leaders  in  the  Herzog- 
Plitt  Real-Encyklopadie  and  in  the 
Allgem.  Deutsch.  Biographic. 

Blaupot  Ten  Gate,  S.,  Gesch.  d.  Doopsge- 
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395 


396 


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INDEX 


Aerius,  a  reformer,  but  not  an  Anti-pedo- 
baptist,  20,  scq.,  27. 

Ainsworth  :  an  English  Separatist,  373 ; 
against  John  Smyth,  382,  385. 

Amon,  Hans  :  an  Anti-pedobaptist  leader 
in  Moravia,  229  ;  death  of,  230. 

Anabaptism,  "painted  for  those  who 
could  not  read,"  192. 

"Ancient  Records,"  spurious,  374,  seq. 

Anna,  Countess,  tolerance  of,  301. 

Anti-pedobaptists,  wide  diffusion  of,  151. 

Arnold  of  Brescia,  possibly  an  Anti- 
pedobaptist,  35,  scq. 

Arnoldists,  The,  38,  scq. 

Asceticism,  pagan  origin  of,  12. 

Askew,  Anne,  probably  not  an  Anti-pe 
dobaptist,  351. 

Augsburg,  Anti-pedobaptist  movement 
in,  seq. 

Austerlitz  :  an  important  Anti-pedodap- 
tist  center,  223 ;  schism  in  the  com 
munity,  224,  seq. 

Austria:  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  in, 
205,  seq. ;  extent  of  the  movement,  212. 

Barrowe,  Henry,  an  English  martyr,  373. 

Baptismal  regeneration  in  the  early 
church,  4,  scq. 

Basel:  disputation  on  baptism  in,  120; 
persecutes  Anabaptists,  121. 

Battenburg,  Jan,  a  fanatical  Dutch  Ana 
baptist  leader,  30. 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  as  a  heresy- 
hunter,  35,  36. 

Bernard,  Richard,  against  John  Smyth, 
382. 

Berne,  power  and  persistence  of  the  Anti- 
pedobaptist  movement  in,  123,150. 

Beza,  Theodore,  work  of,  in  defense  of 
the  burning  of  heretics,  published  in 
the  Netherlands  (about  1601  or  1602), 
319. 

Bintgens'  controversy,  316,  seq. 


Blaurer,  Margaretta,  a  protector  of  Pil- 

gram  Marbeck,  249. 

Blaurock,  Georg :  baptized  by  Grebel, 
107  ;  method  of  evangelizing  and  bap 
tizing,  107,  seq.  ;  defends  his  Anti-pe- 
dobaptism,  109;  disputes  with  Zwingli, 
no;  sketch  of,  i}i,seq.;  imprisoned 
at  Zurich,  137;  released,  144;  re-ar 
rested,  scourged,  and  banished,  145, 
seq. ;  in  the  Tyrol,  195  ;  martyrdom  of, 
195. 

Blawermel,  Philip,  a  Moravian  Anti-pe 
dobaptist  leader,  223. 
Bohemia,     Anti-pedobaptist     movement 

in,  236,  scq. 

Bohemian   Brethren :    practised    rebap- 
tism  and  in  part  rejected  infant  bap 
tism,    53,  scq. ;    abandoned   rebaptism 
in  1534,  54. 
Boucher,  Joan,   the   martyr,    may  have 

been  an  Anti-pedobaptist,  354,  scq. 
Bouwens,  Leonard,  a  Mennonite  leader, 

301,  304,  scq. 

Bozen  :  a  Tyrolese  Anti-pedobaptist  cen 
ter,  194  ;  persecution  in,  194. 
Brandhuber,     Wolfgang,    an     Austrian 

Anti-pedobaptist  leader,  213. 
Brixen :     a    Tyrolese     Anti-pedobaptist 
center,   194;  persecution   in,  194;   six 
hundred    Anti-pedobaptists    executed 
in,  202  ;  weary  of  bloodshed,  202. 
British  church,   the  early,   evangelical, 

but  not  Anti-pedobaptist,  22,  seq. 
Brotli,  Hans  :  opposes  infant  baptism 
at  Zollikon,  105;  banished,  107;  at 
Schaffhausen,  m,  scq. 
Browne,  Robert:  an  English  Separatist, 
369,  seq. ;  indebtedness  of  to  the  Anti- 
pedobaptists,  370,  scq. ;  in  Zeeland,  371, 
scq.  ;  returned  to  the  Church  of  Eng 
land  and  died  in  disrepute,  372 ;  some 
followers  of,  became  Anti-pedobap 
tists,  372. 

407 


408 


INDEX 


Bucer,  Martin :  Protestant  pastor  in 
Strasburg,  239,  scq. ;  attitude  of  toward 
Anti-pedobaptists,  239,  240,  244,  247, 
249,  scq,;  in  England,  352. 

Biinderlin,  Job.  :  accepts  Anti-pedobap- 
tist  views,  217  ;  rejects  external  ordi 
nances,  218. 

Calvinism :  gains  the  ascendency  in 
the  Netherlands,  314,  scq. ;  intolerance 
of,  318,  scq. 

Capito,  Wolfgang,  a  Strasburg  Protest 
ant  pastor  :  tolerant  disposition  of,  239, 
scq. ;  almost  an  Anti-pedobaptist,  240, 
247. 

Carlstadt,  Andreas :  influenced  by  the 
Zwickau  prophets,  71  ;  driven  from 
Wittenberg,  73 ;  at  Orlamiinde,  74 ; 
in  Strasburg,  241,  scq. 

Castelberg,  Andreas :  an  opponent  of 
Zwingli,  101,  scq. ;  rejects  infant  bap 
tism,  105  ;  banished,  107. 

Catechism  of  Polish  Anti-pedobaptists 
(1574),  on  baptism,  336,  scq. 

Cathari,  30. 

Cellarius,  Martin :  influenced  by  the 
Zwickau  prophets,  71,  scq.,  74;  in 
Strasburg,  241  ;  influence  of,  on  Ca 
pito,  240,  247. 

Chelcicky,  Peter:  evangelical  views  of, 
50,  scq. ;  almost  an  Anti-pedobaptist,  52. 

Chiliasm  :  the  corrupting  element  in  the 
work  of  Storch,  Miinzer,  and  Pfeiffer, 
85,  scq. ;  of  Hofmann,  257,  268,  etc.  ; 
of  Hut,  151  ;  of  Matthys,  284,  scq. ;  in 
relation  to  the  Miinster  Kingdom,  293. 

Clementine  Homilies  and  Recognitions, 
on  baptism,  7,  8. 

Clyfton,  Richard,  on  John  Smyth,  382, 
385. 

Collegiants,  321,  scq.,  387. 

Cologne,  Anti-pedobaptists  in  (1146),  35. 

Communism  :  a  course  of  persecution  in 
Moravia,  229,  scq.  ;  description  of  the 
communistic  organization  of  the  Huter- 
ites,  234,  scq. 

Convention  of  Anti-pedobaptists  in 
Augsburg,  170,  scq. 

Cooke,  Robert :  an  English  Anti-pedo 
baptist,  352;  disputes  with  the  court 
preachers  of  Edward  VI.,  353 ;  accused 
of  Pelagianism  by  Turner,  353. 


Cranmer,  Archbishop :  influenced  by 
foreign  theologians  to  persecute  Anti- 
pedobaptists,  352;  an  inquisitor,  354. 

Cyprian,  on  baptism,  6,  7,   scq. 

Czechowitz,  Martin,  a  Polish  Anti-pe 
dobaptist,  335. 

Dachser,  Jacob,  an  Anti-pedobaptist 
leader  in  Augsburg,  171. 

Dakota,  South,  present  abode  of  the 
Huterites,  233. 

David  of  Augsburg,  on  the  Waldenses, 
46,  scq. 

Denck,  Hans :  in  Augsburg,  160,  scq.;  in 
St.  Gall,  163,  scq. ;  his  theological 
views,  164,  scq. ;  driven  from  Augsburg, 
167  ;  return  to  Augsburg,  170 ;  died  at 
Basel,  172;  in  Strasburg,  242,  scq.; 
at  Zaubern,  243 ;  at  Landau,  disputes 
with  Baker,  243 ;  at  Worms,  243. 

Doctrines  and  polity  of  the  Moravian 
Anti-pedobaptists,  compared  with  those 
of  the  old-evangelical  parties,  235,  scq. 

Dollinger,  erroneous  view  of,  regarding 
Peter  de  Bruys  and  Henry  of  Lau 
sanne,  34. 

Donatists,  not  Baptists  or  Anti-pedobap 
tists,  18,  scq. 

Dubcansky,  Joh.,  an  evangelical  Mora 
vian  nobleman,  175,  177. 

Dutch    Anabaptists:    in    England,    361; 
persecution  of,  361,  scq. ;  thirty  seized 
in  a  suburb  of  London,  365  ;  sufferings 
and  confession  of,  362,  scq. 
j    Dutch  in  England,  345,  scq. 

Eberle,  H.,  Anabaptist  worker  at  St. 
Gall,  116,  scq. 

Ebionitism,  26. 

Echsel,  W.,  an  Anti-pedobaptist  leader 
in  Strasburg,  242. 

Edward  VI.,  of  England:  favored  Pro 
testantism,  but  persecuted  Anti-pedo- 
baptism,  351,  seq. ;  excepted  Anti-pe 
dobaptists  from  the  act  of  grace,  354. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  a  persecutor  of  Anti- 
pedobaptists,  357,  seq. 

Emden,  an  Anti-pedobaptist  center,  266. 

England:  Anti-pedobaptists  in  (1534  on 
ward),  346,  seq.;  persecuting  meas 
ures  in,  346,  348,  350. 

Enno,  Count,  a  tolerant  ruler,  266. 


INDEX 


409 


Evervin,  on  mediaeval  Anti-pedobaptists 

in  Cologne,  35,  scq. 
Eythorne,  Baptist  church  at,  its  claims 

to  antiquity,  355,  scq. 

Faber,  Gellius,  in  controversy  with 
Menno,  308. 

Faber,  J.,  seeks  to  convert  Hubmaier, 
186. 

Falk,  Jacob,  executed  at  Zurich,  149. 

Ferdinand,  King,  mandates  of,  against 
Anabaptism,  192,  scq. 

Foxe,  John,  against  the  burning  of  here 
tics,  365. 

Freundberg,  a  Tyrolese  Anti-pedobap- 
tist  center,  192. 

Freistadt :  an  Austrian  Anti-pedobaptist 
center,  218,  scq.;  Hut's  labors  in,  219. 

Gabrielites,  a  Moravian  Anti-pedobap 
tist  party,  228. 

Gerrits :  Lubbert,  Mennonite  pastor  in 
Amsterdam  ;  negotiations  of,  with  John 
Smyth  and  his  followers,  389. 

Gherlandi,  Giulio  :  an  Italian  Anti-pe 
dobaptist,  who  was  converted  to  evan 
gelical  views  in  Moravia  and  returned 
to  Italy  to  labor,  331,  seq. ;  his  confes 
sion  and  martyrdom,  333,  scq. 

Gillis  of  Aachen,  a  Mennonite  leader, 
304,  scq. 

Glaidt,  Oswald :  Hubmaier's  colleague 
at  Nikolsburg,  175,  scq. ;  later  labors 
of,  230. 

Gnosticism,  influence  of,  on  Christian 
thought,  6,  scq. 

Goschel,  Martin:  an  ex-bishop  and 
Hubmaier's  colleague  at  Nikolsburg, 
175,  scq. 

Gonesius,  Peter,  a  Polish  anti-trinita- 
rian  Anti-pedobaptist,  335. 

Grebel,  Conrad  :  an  associate  of  Zwingli, 
90;  opposes  Zwingli,  101,  scq.;  re 
sists  infant  baptism,  105,  seq.;  bap 
tizes  Blaurock  and  others,  107 ;  in 
Schaffhausen,  112,  scq. ;  at  St.  Gall, 
116,  seq. ;  sketch  of,  129,  seq.;  im 
prisoned  at  Zurich,  137  ;  released,  143, 
seq. ;  in  Griiningen,  144. 

Griesinger,  Onophrius,  a  Tyrolese  Anti- 
pedobaptist  leader  executed  in  1538, 
201. 


Gross,  Jacob:  in  Augsburg,  160,  170;  in 
Strasburg,  242. 

Griiningen:  a  stronghold  of  Anti-pedo- 
baptism,  123 ;  authorities  of  unable  to 
suppress  the  movement,  136;  con 
tinued  growth  of  Anti-pedobaptism  in, 
144;  immorality  of  clergy  in,  144;  re 
fuses  to  execute  Anti-pedobaptists, 
147  ;  compelled  to  yield,  149,  seq. 

Guffidaun,  persecution  of  Anti-pedobap 
tists  in,  193. 

Haller,  Berthold  and  Joh. :  reformers  at 
Berne,  91  ;  disturbed  about  infant  bap 
tism,  123. 

Hamsted,  Hadrian,  a  defender  of  Anti- 
pedobaptists,  360,  scq. 

Helena  von  Freiberg,  a  Tyrolese  Anti- 
pedobaptist,  190,  192. 

Helwys,  Thomas  :  an  associate  of  John 
Smyth  in  introducing  believers'  bap 
tism,  385  ;  refused  to  follow  Smyth  in 
seeking  union  with  the  Mennonites, 
388,  scq. ;  denied  the  need  of  succes 
sion,  389 ;  returned  to  England,  391  ;  on 
liberty  of  conscience,  392. 

Henry  of  Lausanne,  an  Anti-pedobaptist 
reformer,  32,  scq. 

Hermann,  Hieronymus,  sent  forth  from 
Steyer  by  Hut,  211. 

Hesse,  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  in, 
273,  scq. 

Hetzer,  Ludwig  :  an  associate  of  Zwingli, 
90;  banished  for  Anti-pedobaptism, 
107;  in  Augsburg,  160,  scq. ;  in  Stras 
burg,  242. 

Hochriitiner,  L,  :  banished  from  Zurich, 
102;  opposes  infant  baptism  at  St. 
Gall,  115. 

Hofmann,  Melchior  :  a  native  of  Swabia, 
254  ;  at  Wolmar,  254  ;  at  Dorpat,  254, 
seq. ;  endorsed  by  Luther,  255  ;  banish 
ed,  256  ;  in  Sweden,  256,  seq.;  at  Liibeck, 
258  ;  employed  by  Frederick  I.,  of  Den 
mark,  258 ;  plundered  and  banished, 
258,  scq. ;  in  East  Friesland,  259 ;  in 
Strasburg,  259,  scq. ;  in  the  Nether 
lands,  261  ;  imprisoned  for  life  at  Stras 
burg,  263 ;  at  Emden,  266  ;  on  baptism, 
266,  seq. ;  in  Holland,  267,  seq. ;  suspends 
the  administration  of  baptism  for  two 
years,  268;  on  the  will,  269;  combats 


4io 


INDEX 


Lutheranism,  270;  bewails  his  lack  of 
followers  in  Germany,  270 ;  on  the  in 
carnation,  271. 

Hofmeister,  Sebastian:  rejects  infant 
baptism,  112  ;  driven  by  persecution 
to  repudiate  Anti-pedobaptism,  113,5^. 

Hubmaier,  Balthasar :  in  conference 
with  Miinzer,  82 ;  at  Zurich,  disputa 
tion,  go ;  early  career  at  Freiburg,  In- 
golstadt,  and  Regensburg,  91,  scq. ;  a 
radical  leader  at  Waldshut,  92,  seq. ; 
in  Schaffhausen,  g6,seq.;  returns  to 
Waldshut,  99  ;  opposes  OEcolampadius 
and  Zwingli,  121,  scq.  ;  against  infant 
baptism,  124,  scq. ;  issues  a  challenge, 
126  ;  baptized  by  Reublin,  126  ;  baptizes 
a  multitude,  126;  publishes  on  bap 
tism,  128  ;  leaves  Waldshut,  138  ;  takes 
refuge  in  Zurich,  139;  his  extradition 
demanded  by  Austria,  139;  imprisoned 
and  probat'y  tortured,  139,  seq.  /partial 
recantation  of,  141,  scq. ;  allowed  to 
depart,  143;  in  Augsburg,  160,  166  ;  ca 
reer  in  Moravia,  173,  scq. ;  great  liter 
ary  activity  of,  177,  scq. ;  against 
Zwingli,  177,  scq.  •  on  the  Supper,  178, 
scq.,  and  180  ;  on  fasting  in  sacred  sea 
sons,  179  ;  on  the  obligation  of  believ 
ers'  baptism,  179  ;  apology  of,  179,  seq. ; 
on  the  will,  181 ;  on  the  sword,  182,  scq.  ; 
on  baptism,  180,  scq.  :  against  commu 
nity  of  goods,  183,  scq.  ;  controversy 
with  Hut,  184,  scq. ;  delivered  to  the 
Austrian  authorities,  186 ;  burned  at 
the  stake,  187. 

Humiliati,  The,  39. 

Hut,  Hans:  a  propagator  of  chiliastic 
views,  151  ;  a  leader  in  Augsburg,  167, 
scq. ;  his  death,  168 ;  at  Steyer,  207, 
scq. ;  description  of,  209  ;  enthusiasm 
aroused  by,  212  ;  "  The  Seven  Seals  " 
of,  212  ;  at  Freistadt,  219. 

Huter,  Jacob  :  early  career  of,  194,  seq. ; 
goes  to  Moravia,  195  ;  Tyrolese  labors 
of,  197,  seq. ;  tortured  and  burned,  200. 

Idolatry,  Christian,  pagan  origin  of,  12, 
scq. 

Infant  baptism  :  rise  of,  9,  seq. ;  evils  of, 
28. 

Italy:  religious  condition  of,  at  the  be 
ginning  of  the  Protestant  Revolution, 


323 ;  influence  of  German  and  Swiss 
Protestants  in,  323,  seq. ;  antitrinitarian 
Anti-pedobaptist  movement  in,  325,  seq. 

Jesuits,  The,  promoters  of  persecution, 
204. 

Jewel,  Bishop,  on  English  Anti-pedo- 
baptists,  359,  seq. 

John  of  Leyden,  head  of  "the  King 
dom  of  God  "  in  Miinster,  289,  seq. 

Johnson,  Francis  :  an  English  Separat 
ist,  373  ;  pastor  of  a  congregation  in 
Amsterdam,  373 ;  some  followers  of, 
became  Anti-pedobaptists,  373. 

Joris,  David,  a  pantheistic  Anti-pedo 
baptist  leader,  301. 

Jovinian,  a  reformer,  but  not  an  Anti- 
pedobaptist,  20,  scq.,  27. 

Jiilich-Cleve,  evangelical  movement  in, 
280. 

Justin  Martyr,  on  baptism,  4. 

Kals,  Hieronymus,  an  Anti-pedobaptist 
leader,  executed  at  Vienna,  200. 

Karapet,  on  Paulicians  and  Thondra- 
kians,  25. 

Kautz,  Jacob:  a  mystical  Anti-pedobap 
tist  at  Worms,  245  ;  in  Strasburg,  246, 
scq. ;  in  Augsburg,  170. 

Kent,  Anti-pedobaptists  in,  354,  seq. 

Kessler,  Joh.,  an  evangelical  teacher  at 
St.  Gall,  115,  scq. 

Kitzbiichl :  a  Tyrolese  Anti-pedobaptist 
center,  192 ;  persecution  in,  193,  194. 

Klopriss,  J. :  an  Anti-pedobaptist  leader 
at  Miinster,  280,  seq. ;  accepts  the 
leadership  of  Matthys,  280. 

Knipperdollinck,  B.,  a  Miinster  fanatic, 
289,  seq. 

Knox,  John  :  a  confounder  of  Anabap 
tists,  356  ;  polemical  treatise  of,  against 
an  Anabaptist,  357,  seq. ;  justified  the 
burning  of  heretics,  359. 

Kodde,  Van  der,  four  brothers,  who 
founded  the  Collegiants,  321. 

Langecker,  Hans,  an  Anti-pedobaptist 
martyr,  195. 

Langenmantel,  Eitelhans,  an  Anti-pedo 
baptist  leader  in  Augsburg,  169,  seq. 

Lanzenstiel  (or  Seiler),  Leonard:  an 
Anti-pedobaptist  minister,  imprisoned 


INDEX 


at  Moding,  200,  seq.;  a  prominent 
leader  in  the  Tyrol,  203  ;  execution  of, 
203. 

Lasco,    John   a:    controversy    of,   with 
Menno,  362,  scq. ;  befriended  by  Men- 
nonites,  307,  scq. ;  on   Polish  Anti-pe 
dobaptists,  336;  in  England,  352. 
Latimer,  Bishop,  a  persecutor,  354. 
Liberty   of  Conscience  :   Hubmaier   on, 
96,    seq. ,    advocated    by   an    English 
Anti-pedobaptist  in  1560,  357. 
Lichtenstein,    Leonard   and    Hans   von, 

Hubmaier's  patrons,  175,  scq. 
Linz,  an  Austrian  Anti-pedobaptist  cen 
ter,  212,  scq. 

Lochmayer,  Leonard,  a  Tyrolese  Anti- 
pedobaptist  minister,  203. 
Lollards  :  not  known  to  have  been  Anti- 
pedobaptists,   55,  seq.;  340,  scq. ;  per 
sisted  in  England  and  Scotland  till  the 
sixteenth  century,  340,5^.;  evangeli 
cal  position  of,  343,  scq. 
Luther:  radical  character  of    his  early 
teachings,     64,     scq.  ;      against     the 
Zwickau  prophets,  72,  seq. 

Mandl,  Hans,  an  Anti-pedobaptist  leader 
in  the  Tyrol,  203,  seq 

Manelfi,  Pietro :  an  Italian  Anti-pedo 
baptist,  126  ;  his  account  of  Tiziano's 
teachings,  326  ;  his  account  of  the 
Anti-pedobaptist  convention  at  Venice, 
327,  seq. ;  an  apostate  and  traitor,  328, 
330. 

Manz,  Felix  :  an  opponent  of  Zwingli,  101, 
seq.  ;  rejects  infant  baptism,  105,  scq. ; 
disputes  with  Zwingli,  no  ;  sketch  of, 
131,  scq. ;  imprisoned  at  Zurich,  137; 
released,  143,  seq.  ;  in  Griiningen,  144  ; 
re-arrested  and  executed  by  drowning, 
145,  seq. 

Marbeck,  Pilgram:  an  early  Tyrolese 
Anti-pedobaptist,  189  ;  in  Strasburg, 
249  ;  disputation  with  Bucer,  249,  seq. ; 
banished,  250;  later  career  and  writ 
ings  of,  251,  seq. 

Martyr,  Peter,  in  England,  352. 

Mary,  Queen,  a  persecutor  of  Protest 
ants,  356, 

Matthys,  Jan  :  a  disciple  of  Hofmann 
and  Trijpmaker,  271  ;  character  of, 
284,  seq. ;  assumes  leadership  of  the 


Hofmannites,  285  ;  proclaims  the  inau 
guration   of  the   Kingdom   of   God  in 
Miinster,  288  ;  chief  prophet  in  Miin 
ster,  288,  scq. ;  slain  in  battle,  289. 
Maximilian  II.,  a  comparatively  tolerant 

ruler,  204. 
Meinardo,  an  Italian  Protestant  leader, 

325. 

Menno,  Simons:  early  life  of,  296,  scq. ; 
conversion  of,  296,  scq. ;  leader  of  the 
quiet  Anti-pedobaptists,  299,  scq. ; 
teachings  and  controversies  of,  300, 
seq. ;  at  Cologne,  305,  scq. ;  at  Wismar, 
304,  scq. ;  at  Wiistenfelde,  308 ;  death 
of,  313- 

Mennonites  :     prosperity    of,    315,    seq. ; 
controversies    and    divisions    among, 
1*5,  seq. 
Micronius,     M.,     in    controversy    with 

Menno,  308. 

Millenarianism.     (See  Chiliasm.) 
Montanists,   not  Baptists  or  Anti-pedo 
baptists,  15,  scq. 

Moravia  :  a  land  of  promise  for  the  per 
secuted,  150,  173  ;  political  and  relig 
ious  condition  of,  173,  scq. ;  first  great 
persecution  in,  228,  scq.;  second  great 
persecution  in,  230,  scq.;  "good  time 
of  the  church"  in,  231,  scq. ;  misfor 
tunes  and  decline  of  Anti-pedobaptists 
in,  232,  seq.  ;  Anti-pedobaptist  move 
ments  in,  after  Hubmaier's  departure, 
222,  scq. 

Miinster:  suppression  of  evangelical 
life  in,  277  ;  Rothmann's  activity  in, 
277,  scq. ;  triumph  of  evangelicalism 
and  social  democracy,  279,  scq.  ;  Cath 
olics  driven  from  the  city,  279;  Anti- 
pedobaptism  in,  280,  scq. ;  Anti-pedo 
baptist  confession,  282,  scq. ;  Anabap 
tist  kingdom  in,  284,  scq. ;  responsibil 
ity  for  the  abominations  of,  292,  scq. 
Miinzer,  Thomas:  at  Zwickau,  67,  seq. ; 
at  Prague  and  Alstedt,  69,  seq. ;  preach 
ing  against  the  princes,  77,  scq. ;  at 
Miihlhausen,  79,  scq.  ;  at  Niirnberg 
and  at  Waldshut,  80,  scq. ;  at  Franken- 
hausen,  83  ;  not  an  Anabaptist,  86. 
Murton,  John,  an  associate  of  Helwys, 

388,  389. 

Mysteries,      Eleusinian,     Pythagorean, 
Orphic,  Delphian,  and  Egyptian,  6. 


412 


INDEX 


Nespe,  And.  von,  an  Anti-pedobaptist 
leader  in  Silesia,  158. 

Netherlands  :  religious  condition  of,  at 
beginning  of  the  Protestant  revolu 
tion,  264  ;  introduction  of  Lutheranism 
and  Zwinglianism,  264,  seq. ;  strife  be 
tween  Lutherans  and  Zwinglians,  264, 
scq. ;  Hofmann  and  Carlstadt  in,  265, 
scq. 

Nikolsburg,  Hubmaier's  Moravian  home, 
175,  seq. 

Novatians,  not  Baptist  or  Anti-pedobap 
tist,  17. 

Ochino,  Bernardo:  possibly  an  Anti- 
pedobaptist,  335  ;  in  England,  352. 

OEcolampadius,  Jon.  :  a  leader  at  Basel, 
90  ;  disputes  with  Blaurock  on  infant 
baptism,  120,  scq. 

Old-evangelical  party,  relation  of,  to  the 
Anabaptist  movement,  62,  scq. 

Paganism,  corrupting  influence  of,  2. 
Parkhurst,  Bishop,  lax  in   his  dealings 

with  Anabaptists,  360. 
Particular  Baptists,  393. 
Passau  Anonymous,  The,  on  the  Wal- 

denses,  47. 

Pastor  of  Hermes,  The,  on  baptism,  4. 
Paulicians,    dualistic   and    iconoclastic, 

but  not  Anti-pedobaptist,  24,  scq. 
Paulus,  Gregorius:  a   Polish   antitrini- 
tarian  Anti-pedobaptist,  336;  baptized 
by  immersion,  336. 

Payne,  John,  against  English  Anabap 
tists,  374. 

Peasants'  War  :  relation  of  Miinzer  to, 
8$,  scq. ;    causes  persecution   of  Ana 
baptists,  135. 
Pelagianism  charged    against    English 

Anti-pedobaptists,  353. 
Persecution     in    Switzerland    disperses 
Anabaptists  and   extends    the    move 
ment,  135,  scq. 

Peter  de  Bruys,  an  Anti-pedobaptist  re 
former,  30,  scq. 
Peter  of  Cologne,  a  Mennonite   leader, 

disputes  with  Acronius,  318,  scq. 
Pfeiffer,  Heinrich,  with  Miinzer  at  Muhl- 

hausen,  79,  scq. 

Philip  of  Hesse  :  tolerance  of,  273,  scq.  ; 
warns  Henry  VIII.  against  the  Ana 
baptists,  349. 


Philippists,  a  Moravian  Anti-pedobap 
tist  party,  228. 

Philips,  Dirk,  a  Mennonite  leader,  301, 
304. 

Philips,  Obbe,  a  Mennonite  leader,  301, 
304,  scq. 

Peters,  Jan,  a  martyr,  364,  seq. 

Pistis  Sophia,  on  baptism,  7. 

Poland :  religious  condition  of,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Protestant  revolu 
tion,  334;  toleration  in,  334;  Anti-pe 
dobaptist  movement  in,  335,  seq. 

Poor  Men  of  Lombardy,  41,  seq. 

Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  41,  scq. 

Portner,  Jacob  :  chaplain  at  Steyer,  210  ; 
accepts  Hut's  views  and  becomes  a 
missionary,  210 ;  at  Linz,  213  ;  at  Frei- 
stadt,  219. 

Puritanism,  in  England,  368,  scq. 

Pythagorean  theosophy,  26. 

Racovian  Catechism,  on  the  person  of 
Christ  and  on  baptism,  337,  scq. 

Raidt,  Balthasar,  examines  and  reports 
on  Melchior  Rinck,  275. 

Reck,  Hans,  an  Anti-pedobaptist  leader 
in  Silesia,  158. 

Regel,  G.,  a  friend  of  Denck  and  Het- 
zer,  160,  166. 

Reimann,  Henry,  executed  at  Zurich, 
149- 

Renato,  Camillo,  an  Italian  Anti-pedo 
baptist  leader,  325,  scq. 

Rattenberg,  a  Tyrolese  Anti-pedobaptist 
center,  192. 

Reublin,  William:  a  reformer  at  Basel, 
90;  opposes  infant  baptism,  105,  seq. ; 
banished,  107;  at  Schaffhausen,  m, 
scq.;  baptizes  Hubmaier  at  Walds- 
hut,  126 ;  sketch  of,  132,  scq. ;  in  Stras- 
burg,  246 ;  occasions  a  schism  in  the 
Austerlitz  community,  224,  scq.  ;  with 
draws  to  Auspitz,  226 ;  maltreated  by 
Wiedemann  and  Huter,  226;  later  ca 
reer  of,  226,  seq. 

Rhegius,  Urbanus  :  urges  the  Augsburg 
authorities  to  persecute  Anti-pedobap- 
tists,  171. 

Ridley,  Bishop,  a  persecutor,  354. 
Riedemann,  Peter:  chief  pastor  of  the 
Huterites  and  author  of  an  exposition 
of  Anti-pedobaptist  doctrine,  230. 


INDEX 


413 


Rinck,  Melchior:  a  Hessian  Anti-pedo- 
baptist,  274,  scq.  ;  views  of,  275,  scq. ; 
protected  by  Philip  of  Hesse,  275. 

Robinson,  John,  a  semi-Separatist,  383. 

Roll,  H.  :  a  radical  evangelical  in 
Jiilich-Cleve,  280;  an  Anti-pedobap- 
tist  in  Mtinster,  280,  scq. ;  carried  away 
with  the  fanaticism  of  Matthys,  286. 

Rothmann,  carried  away  with  the  fa 
naticism  of  Matthys,  287. 

Rhynsburgers,  321,  seq,,  387. 

Sacerdotalism  :    pagan     origin    of,     2  ; 

growth  of,  10,  seq, 

Saga,  Francesco  Delia  :  an  Italian  Anti- 
pedobaptist  leader  in  Moravia,  331  ; 
letter  to  Italian  brethren,  331,  scq. ;  re 
turns  to  Italy  and  suffers  martyrdom, 
333,  seq. 
Salminger,  Sigismund :  an  Anti-pedo- 

baptist  leader  in  Augsburg,  171. 
Salve  Burce,  on  the  Waldenses,  45- 
Sattler,  Michael :  banished  from  Zurich, 
137;  in  Strasburg,  243,  seq. ;  author  of 
the  Schleitheim  Confession,  244  ;  exe 
cuted  at  Rottenberg,  244. 
Scharding,     Gabriel:    Anti-pedobaptist 
leader  in  Silesia,  157;  pastor  of  large 
community  of  Silesian  Anti-pedobap- 
tists  at  Rossnitz  in  Moravia,  223. 
Schaffhausen,  Anti-pedobaptist    move 
ment  in,  in,  seq. 

Schiemer,  Leonard  :  an  Austrian  disciple 
of  Hut,  211  ;  suffered  martyrdom  in  the 
Tyrol,  IQO. 
Schlactscaef,   H.,   an    Anti-pedobaptist 

leader  at  Miinster,  280,  seq. 
Schlaffer,  Hans  :  an  Austrian  Anti-pedo 
baptist  leader,  218,  scq. ;  executed  in 
the  Tyrol,  192,  219. 
Schmaus,  Cuntz,  an  Austrian  disciple  of 

Hut,  212. 

Schoferl,  Georg  :  an  Austrian  Anti-pedo 
baptist  leader,   219,  seq. ;    theological 
teachings  of,  220. 
Schroder,  Jan,  an  emissary  of  Matthys, 

286. 

Schutzinger,  Sigismund:  Anti-pedobap 
tist  leader,  sent  by  Tyrolese  brethren 
to  Moravia,  226;  pastor  at  Austerlitz, 
227 ;  excluded  for  non-communistic 
practices,  228. 


Schwenckfeldt,  Casper :  conversion  of, 
154,  seq. ;  opposes  Lutheranism,  154, 
seq.;  Anti-pedobaptist  views  of,  155, 
seq. ;  widespread  influence  of,  in  Sile 
sia,  156;  in  Strasburg,  241,  246;  con 
troversy  with  Marbeck,  251,  seq. 
Sebastian  von  Freiburg,  a  friend  of 

Denck,  166. 

Silesia:  religious  condition  of,  153; 
labors  of  Storch  in,  153:  Schwenck- 
feldt's.  activity  in,  154,  seq. ;  Gabriel 
Scharding's  labors  in,  156,  scq. ;  Clem 
ens  Adler's  activity  in,  157,  seq. ;  An 
drew  von  Nespe's  labors  in,  158  ;  Hans 
Reek's  labors  in,  158;  expulsion  of 
Anti-pedobaptists  and  Schwenckfeldt- 
ians  from,  158. 

Smyth,  John  :  early  life,  376  ;  a  Sepa 
ratist  at  Gainsborough,  376,  scq. ;  emi 
grated  with  his  church  to  Amsterdam, 
377  ;  at  variance  with  the  older  con 
gregation,  379,  scq. ;  introduced  be 
lievers'  baptism,  381,  scq.  ;  seeks 
union  with  the  Mennonites,  388,  scq.  ; 
on  liberty  of  conscience,  392. 
Socinian  teachings,  influence  of,  on  the 

Mennonites,  320,  scq. 
Socinus,  Faustus,  on  baptism,  339. 
Socinus,  Laelius,  associated  with  Italian 
Anti-pedobaptists,    335 ;    influence  of, 
in  Poland,  335. 

Some,  R.,  sought  to  prove  that  Separat 
ists  were  essentially  Anabaptists,  373- 
Somers,  Jacques  de,  his  sympathetic  ac 
count  of  the  martyrdom  of  Pieters  and 
Terwoort,  366,  seq. 

Speier,  edict  of,  151 ;  enforced  in  the  Ty 
rol,  194  ;  influence  of,  in  Strasburg,  248. 
Spitalmaier,  Ambrose  :  an  Austrian  Anti- 
pedobaptist  leader,  213,  scq. ;  theologi 
cal  views  of,  214,  seq. 
Spitalmaier,     Hans,     Hubmaier's     col 
league  at  Nikolsburg,  175- 
Staprade,  H.,  an  Anti-pedobaptist  leader 

at  Miinster,  280,  scq. 
Sterzing,   a  Tyrolese    Anti-pedobaptist 

center,  193,  194- 

Steyer  :  a  center  of  Old-evangelical  life, 
205,  seq. ;  favorable  to  Lutheranism, 
206;  the  Anti-pedobaptist  movement 
in,  206,  seq. ;  a  council  for  judging 
Anabaptists,  210,  seq. ;  executions,  211. 


414 


INDEX 


St.  Gal! :  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  in, 

115,  seq. ;  immersion  practised  in,  116. 

Storch,  Nicholas:   at  Zwickau,  68,  scq. ; 

at  Hof,  75  ;  in  Strasburg,  241. 
Strasburg:  a  center  of  Old-evangelical 
life,  238;  toleration  in,  238,  seq. ;  Anti- 
pedobaptists  in,  238,  scq.;  persecution 
of  Anti-pedobaptists  in,  244,  scq. 
Strasburg:  Anti-pedobaptist  convention 
in  (^SS),  309,  scq. ;  another  convention 
(iSS?),  3",  seq. 

Stumpf,  Simon,  an  Anti-pedobaptist  op 
ponent  of  Zwingli,  101,  scq. 
Supper,  the  Lord's,  perverted,  10. 
Swabian  League,  persecutions  of,  172. 
Swiss  Brethren,  in  Moravia,  230. 
Switzerland,  political,  social,  and  relig 
ious  condition  of  at  beginning  of  Pro 
testant  revolution,  88,  scq. 

Taborites,    Waldensian   and    Wycliffite 

element  in,  49,  scq. 

Tasch,  Peter,  a  Hessian  Anti-pedobap 
tist  in  correspondence  with  his  breth 
ren  in  England,  349. 
Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  The, 

on  baptism,  5. 

Tertullian,  on  baptism,  5,  scq. 
Terwoort,  Hendrik,  a  martyr,  364,  scq. 
Thondrakians,   ancient    and   mediaeval, 

possibly  Anti-pedobaptist,  25. 
Tiziano,    an     Italian     Anti-pedobaptist 

leader,  326. 
Trent,  Tyrolese  Anti-pedobaptists  driven 

into,  195. 
Trijpmaker,  Jan.,  a  disciple  of  Hofmann, 

268 ;  executed,  268. 
Turner,   against  Robert  Cooke's  Pela- 

gianism  and  Anti-pedobaptism,  353. 
Tyrol,  The  :  Old-evangelical  life  in,  188 ; 
Lutheranism  in,   188,  scq. ;  Anti-pedo 
baptist  movement  in,  189,  seq. ;  terrible 
persecutions  in,  191,  seq. 

Uolimann,  W.,  immersed  by  Grebel,  114, 
seq.;  at  St.  Gall,  116,  seq. 

Vadianus,  Joachim  :  evangelical  leader 
at  St.  Gall,  115,  seq. ;  publishes  on  bap 
tism,  118. 

Vigilantius,  a  reformer,  but  not  an  Anti- 
pedobaptist,  21,  27. 
Vinne,  D. :  an  Anti-pedobaptist  leader  at 


Miinster,  280,  seq. ;  accepts  the  leader 
ship  of  Matthys,  280. 
Vivetus,  a  Waldensian  leader,  43. 

Waldenses:  origin,  40,  seq.;  doctrines, 
42,  seq.;  polity,  45,  Seq.;  more  evan 
gelical  by,  1260,43,  seq.;  wide  diffu 
sion  of,  56,  seq.;  activity  of,  in  Bible 
translation,  58,  seq. 

Waldshut,    evangelical    movement    in, 
under  Hubmaier,  92,  seq. ;  fall  of,  138. 
Wiedemann,   Jacob:  against  Hubmaier 
and  Spitalmaier,  185  ;  insists  on  com 
munity  of  goods,  222  ;   leads  a  party 
from  Nikolsburg  to  Austerlitz,  222,  seq. 
Whitgift,  Archbishop,  against  Anabap 
tists,  362. 
Wischenka,  in  S.  Russia,  Huterites  in, 

233. 
Wolfgang,  the  cowherd,  "a  messenger 

of  Anabaptism  "  in  the  Tyrol,  189. 
Wolkenstein,  Anton  von,  and  his  family  : 
Tyrolese  Anti-pedobaptists,  190;  trial 
and  recantation  of,  199;  his  wife,  re 
luctantly  yielded,  199. 
Works,  meritoriousness  of,  12. 
Worms  :  Anti-pedobaptist  movement  in, 
244,245;  Anti-pedobaptist  convention 
at  (about  1556),  312. 
Wycliffe,  not  an  Anti-pedobaptist,  bb,  seq. 

Zaunring,  Georg,  an  Anti-pedobaptist 
evangelist :  executed  in  the  Tyrol,  193  ; 
a  Moravian  Anti-pedobaptist  leader, 
a  supporter  of  Reublin,  225,  seq.;  ex 
cluded  from  fellowship,  227. 
Zell,  Matthew,  Protestant  pastor  in 

Strasburg,  liberality  of,  239. 
Zobel,  Georg,  a  Bohemian  Anti-pedobap 
tist  physician,  237. 

Zurich  :  radical  movement  in,  101,  seq. ; 
disputation   on  baptism   in,  105,  seq. ; 
persecutes  Anti-pedobaptism,  108,  seq.; 
disputation  with   Gruningen   Anti-pe 
dobaptists,  136,  seq. ;  statistics  of  Anti- 
pedobaptist  organizations  in,  145  ;  dis 
cipline  of  clergy,  148,  seq. ;  baptismal 
registers  introduced,  149, 
Zwickau  prophets,  62,  seq. 
Zwingli,  Ulrich  :  characterized,  89  ;  re 
formatory  work  of,  89,  seq. ;  defends 
infant  baptism,  106  ;  publishes  against 
Anabaptism,  118. 


Newman,    Alber  Henry 
«13  A  history  of  Anti- 

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