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Dosker, Henry Elias iprr
The Dutch AnIbapUst '

THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

THE
DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

THE STONE LECTURES
DELIVERED AT THE PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

1918-1919

By
HENRY ELIAS DOSKER

Professor of Church History,
In the Fresbjterian Theological Seminarj of Kentucky

PHILADELPHIA

THE JUDSON PRESS

BOSTON CHICAGO ST. LOUIS LOS ANGELES

KANSAS axy SEATTLE TORONTO

Published July, 1921

Printed in U. S. A.

®o^cr

WHOSE LOVE AND UNSELFISHNESS

HAS BEEN MY LIFELONG

INSPIRATION

PREFACE

Dr. Henry E. Dosker, the author of this volume, is the
Professor of Church History in the Presbyterian Theo-
logical Seminary, Louisville, Ky. Doctor Dosker gave
this course of lectures at Princeton University a year or
more ago. The American Baptist Publication Society ex-
amined the manuscript with a view to publication, as it
deals with the history of the Dutch Anabaptists, and is
naturally of interest to Baptists. The Society requested
me to read the manuscript before publication. This I have
done and have been greatly interested in it.

It follows, naturally, that there are a number of things
in it with which I do not agree and, as I understand the
matter, the Publication Society is issuing it because of its
wide general interest. Being a discussion of the history
of the Dutch Anabaptists by a Presbyterian, it has an
added interest. The history of the Dutch Anabaptists is
not generally known. Doctor Dosker has done much
scholarly research work in connection with the prepara-
tion of his manuscript, and while it contains some things
which Baptists will not accept, it contains a great deal
which will be of exceeding interest to them.

The style is clear and concise, and the book is easy to
read, and no doubt it will be read by a large number.

E. Y. MULLINS.

INTRODUCTION

The field of geography is practically exhausted ; only here
and there, in remote corners of the world, restricted areas
are still awaiting the explorer's daring.

It is different in the field of history. The earth's records
are practically indestructible, and they remain from gen-
eration to generation. Those of history are evanescent;
men and customs change, nations appear and disappear,
national boundary-lines are continually melting away, and
the written records of human events are perishable. This
is specially true of Church History, since ecclesiastical
prejudice and bigotry have often deliberately tried to wipe
out the literature which explains and illuminates historic
movements and ecclesiastical changes.

In the period of the early ages of Christianity, the in-
cessant persecutions, under the Empire, were directed
against the written records of the nascent Church, as
well as against its living members. And thus, alas, much
has been lost which would be of infinite value were it ex-
tant today. The word traditores, born in Christian circles
from this effort, is a mute witness to the extent and
intensity of the attempt to rob the Christians of their
sacred writings, inasmuch as it was specially directed
against the latter.

We are by no means sure that the canon of the New
Testament, as we have it today, represents the sum total

INTRODUCTION

of the literary work of the apostles and their contem-
poraries. Some apostolic writings we know to be lost,
and it is practically inconceivable that of all the apostles
only those whose literary remains we possess, should hav€
endeavored to express their ideas in writing.

A similar effort to destroy heretical literature was made,
in the age of the Reformation, by the Roman Catholic
Church. The Inquisition exerted itself to the utmost in
this direction. In Italy and Spain, in Austria and Hol-
land, wholesale heretical book-burnings were a common
occurrence. And we learn the efficiency of this combing
process from the fate of a book, originating in the circles
of The Oratory of the Divine Love, in Italy. It was en-
titled "The Benefits of Christ's Death "—1542— and has
usually been ascribed to Aeqnio Paleario, till Ranke and
Benrath proved it to be written by a Neapolitan monk,
Don Benedetto de Mandova. It seemed as if the efforts
of the Inquisition to destroy this work had been com-
pletely successful, since in thirty years not a copy of the
original was thought to exist, and in a century all trans-
lations had been apparently wiped out. And yet a single
copy remained, which was found at Cambridge in 1853
and published, with a translation, in 1855.

This same bitter attempt to destroy the writings of all
heretics was made in Holland in the days of the Reforma-
tion, and it exerted itself most keenly against those of the
Anabaptists, so that of all their numerous writings only
fragments remained here and there.

And it was these scattered fragments which were gath-
ered together in the ten volumes of the Bibliotheca Re-

INTRODUCTION

formatoria Neerlandica, 1903-1914. The reading of this
ancient Anabaptist and reformatory literature first led me
to the plan of attempting to shed some light on the Dutch
Anabaptists, who suffered so unspeakably and who ex-
erted an influence on the course of ecclesiastical develop-
ment in Protestantism wholly disproportionate to their
numbers.

I make no special literary claims for this work; its
dress may please or displease the reader; I am simply
after the facts. Since the language of practically all this
literature is a bar to nearly all English and American
students of Church History, it seemed worth while to
give them at least a glimpse of this terra incognita, in
which the Dutch Anabaptists have dwelt so long, in a
perpetual twilight.

The invitation to deliver the Stone Lectures, 1918-
1919, at Princeton, facilitated my plans.

I place this little volume in the hands of the friends
and students of Church History. In it they will learn
where the Dutch Anabaptists originated, what were the
normal and abnormal developments of their history, who
were their great leaders, what they believed, what they
practised, what were their weaknesses, and what was the
secret of their strength, how they were swayed by out-
side influences, and what is the ecclesiastical status of
the remnant today.

Henry Elias Dosker.

Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Kentucky,
Louisville, Kv.

CONTENTS

LHCTURB PAGE

I. Origin and Early Development. 1-46

1. The Sources 4

2. Pre-Reformation currents in Holland ... 8

3. Were the Dutch Anabaptists Waldenses ? 16

(a) Late origin of the theory 16

(b) Early Anabaptist views 17

4. General social conditions 21

5. The Miinzer revolution 26

6. The Swiss Anabaptists 28

(a) Leaders 30

(b) Position of Zwingli 32

7. The dawn of Anabaptism in Holland and

its swift spread 40

8. The Anabaptists were universally- hated . 42

9. Constant touch with England 45

n. The Radical Anabaptists 47-94

L Theological radicalism 47-63

1. Melchior Hoffmann 47

2. David Joris 53

3. Hendrick Niklaes 56

4. Adam Pastor 58

5. Sebastian Franck 61

CONTENTS

LKCTURB PAGH

II. The economic and social radicalisxM 63-94

1. The Miinster tragedy 69

2. Revolutionary movements in Holland . . 84

3. The menace of the old name 92

III. The Conservatives 95-149

1. Obbe Philips 96

2. Derek Philips 101

3. Menno Simons 106

4. The era of schisms 118

5. The martyrs 137

6. Condition under the nascent Republic , . 144

IV. The Theology of the Dutch Anabaptists 150-196

1. Their theology in general 151

2. The Scriptures 152

3. The doctrine of the Trinity 154

4. The doctrine of Christ 158

5. Original sin 171

6. The doctrine of salvation 173

7. The sacraments, baptism and the Lord's

Supper 176

8. The Ban 189

Conclusion 196

V. Internal Conditions AND Views OF Life . 197-242

1. Defections 198

2. Their views of life 199

3. Their confessions ,,,,,,,,,,,, 201

CONTENTS

LECTURE PAGB

4. Their social standing and pure life 205

5. Peculiar views 209

6. Names 216

7. An analytical sketch of their church life

in the eighteenth century 218

VI. Later History 243-295

1. Strength of the Mennonites in the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries .... 244

2. Effects of Arminianism 247

(a) Arminian theology 248

(b) The Collegiants 250

3. Influence of Socinianism 256

4. Growing importance of the Mennonites. 264

5. Benevolence of the Mennonites 266

6. The growing love for scholarship 267

7. The French revolution 273

8. Influence of Modernism 277

9. Final union-efiforts and present condition 280
10. Influence of the Mennonites on ecclesias-
tical developments, especially in En-
gland 282

Bibliography 297

Index 301

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS

For the last dozen years, the greater portion of my spare
time has been devoted to special work on the subject,
which I have chosen for the " Stone Lectures " of 1918-
1919.

It is an engrossing subject, but shrouded in a good deal
of mystery. Most of us know something about the widely
extended Anabaptist movement, which paralleled the his-
tory of the Reformation. All students of Church History
must necessarily touch the life and labors of these Ana-
baptists, for in the sixteenth century they were to be found
in all Europe, but especially in Switzerland, Upper Ger-
many, and Holland. Crushed and practically wiped out
everywhere else, they rooted themselves deeply in the
soil of Poland, in Northern Germany, and above all in
the Low Countries. And thence, whenever persecution
passed beyond the sustaining-point, they crossed the chan-
nel and moved to England, where their history is closely
interwoven with that of the Non-conformists in general
and especially with the nascent history of the English
Baptists and therefore with the great Baptist denomina-
tion of the world.

And yet how meager has been our knowledge of them,
and how eagerly some of us have sought for a closer
touch and a more intimate knowledge. For they are
worth knowing about — are these Anabaptists.

Doctor Harnack used to say, in his classroom, that
" they were three hundred years ahead of their time,"

2 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

and Doctor Vedder calls them " the radical Reformation."
If these estimates are true — and we will test their truth,
as we penetrate more deeply into our subject — it may be
worth while to endeavor to raise the curtain which hides
the stage on which they moved. And for the raising of
that curtain I had waited for many years, and my eyes
were constantly searching the distant horizon for further
light on, and a deeper knowledge of, the Anabaptist
movement, especially of that portion of it which was
wrapped up in the reformatory efforts in my fatherland.

Fortunately the language was no bar to research work,
as most of the available sources were written in modern
or middle Dutch. Hooft and Brandt and Wagenaar,
Ypey-Dermout, Bilderdyk, and Van Lennep, Fruin and
Motley, all had treated them slightly or more exhaustively,
as the case seemed to demand. I had read after the elder
Cramer and Blaupot Ten Cate, and especially after that
eminent authority. Dr. De Hoop Scheffer — and yet there
remained a void.

For all these, however scholarly their treatment, af-
forded only a reflected light, a vision of the Anabaptist
world, as they saw it. And I longed for the open vision,
for a look face to face, for the writings of these old Ana-
baptists themselves, or for what their contemporaries
had written about them. But these documents were so
rare and so jealously guarded that they were practically
inaccessible; for the powers of the Qiurch and State
alike had vied with each other in their efforts to wipe this
heretical literature from the face of the earth.

Their zeal had included Lutheran and Anabaptist and
early Calvinistic writings alike, that is to say, they had
tried to make a clean sweep of all the literature of the
three reformatory waves which had passed over the Low-
lands in the first half of the sixteenth century. Naturally,

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 3

the greater part of this literature has perished, but some
of it remains and what remains is exceedingly precious
and rare. Of several of these literary products only one
copy is extant, of some two or more ; of a few books, ex-
amples of different editions are found. And it is this
literature that is needed for a proper study of early Dutch
Protestantism and, in a special degree, for that of the
Anabaptist movement.

Some of our historians, especially the Baptists, went
across the sea and searched far and wide for these pre-
cious documents. Yet in the end they were compelled,
almost without exception, to fall back on second-hand
information; because even if they found the documents,
they proved inaccessible. And if they succeeded in laying
their hands on them, they were confronted with the well-
nigh insurmountable obstacle of the language, till many
turned away in weariness and disgust.

Then came the blessed year 1902, in which Professor
Dr. S. Cramer, of Amsterdam, and Professor Dr. F.
Pyper, of Leyden, resolved to assume the heroic task of
collecting and editing all this early reformatory Dutch
literature, or rather its sacred remains. It was a grueling
and thankless task. There was no money in it; I do not
think the publication even paid for itself. But these men
have given to the students of Church History an actual
reprint of these documents, letter for letter, comma for
comma, so that one has easy access today to the very
sources, which a dozen years ago were beyond the reach
of all but a few favored ones. And in this heartless and
monotonous labor they spent twelve of the best years of
their lives, till ten quarto volumes had been issued and
each document had been enriched with an introduction,
so searching, so illuminating that the document itself is
trebled in value. Doctor Cramer died before the last

4 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

volume was issued, but Doctor Pyper was able to see the
matter through to the end. Thus the Bibliotheca Refor-
matoria Neerlandica will forever remain a proud monu-
ment to the disinterested scholarship of these two great
Dutchmen.

1. The Sources

For the preparation of these lectures I have then first
of all availed myself of these ten volumes. They are a
rich storehouse of information concerning the entire Ana-
baptist movement, but especially that in Holland. But the
language remains a serious drawback. Were they writ-
ten in modern Dutch, the problem would be comparatively
easy to solve. But they are written in the Dutch of the
sixteenth century, a composite tongue, with a weird spell-
ing and a weirder punctuation, so that even to a Dutch-
man of fair attainments they are somewhat of a problem.
Even the learned editors had here and there to guess at
the meaning of a word, some long-lost and forgotten
idiom. Yet no sooner has one mastered the key to their
understanding but he finds himself in a surprisingly rich
mine of information concerning the Dutch Anabaptists.
Nay I do not hesitate to say that whoever will hereafter
seriously set himself to the task of studying this subject
will have to reckon with these ten volumes. Here we get
a glimpse of the peculiar Weltanschauung of these Ana-
baptists ; of their puritanical, almost ascetic view of life ;
of their theology, in many points radically at variance
with Rome and the Reformers alike. Here we find the
secret of their strength as well as their weakness, of their
internal divisions and endless quarrels, but also of the
sublimity of their courage and countless martyrdoms.

One cannot peruse these documents, hoary with age,
without an increasing reverence for a people apparently

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 5

so weak yet so strong; loyal to their convictions to the
bitter end, ever at variance within the family circle, yet
always showing a united front to a common foe.

Of these ten volumes, the second, the fifth, the seventh,
and the tenth are of special importance ; but there is not
one of the ten from which either direct or reflected light
does not fall on our subject.

In the second volume we find " The Sacrifice of the
Lord," ^ the pathetic story of their martyrdoms ; to which
is added a collection of songs, written either by or about
the martyrs, entitled " A Book of Songs." ^ In the fifth
volume we find Henrick Roll's " The Key to the Secret
of the Supper," ^ of which only three copies are known to
exist ; here also Hoffman's " Ordinance of God " * and his
" Explanation of the Captive and the Free Will." ^ In
this volume are two works of Adam Pastor : his " Dif-
ference Between True and False Doctrine "' and his
" Disputation of the Divinity of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost." '

In this volume we also find the first trace of an at-
tempt at consolidation of Anabaptist believers into one
cohesive group, soon to be known as Doopsgezinden,
those inclined to baptism or Baptists. The derivation of
the word Doopsgezinde may be from gezind, " inclined
to," or from gezindte, an association of believers on a
fixed doctrinal basis. In the latter case adult baptism
would be such a basis. The former derivation seems,
however, more likely correct, inasmuch as the Anabaptists
never formed a gezindte in the true sense.

1 Het Offer des Heeren. * Een Liedboexken.

^ Die Slotel van het Secreet des Nachtmaels.

* Die Ordinantie Gods.

5 Verclaringhe van de Genangen ende Vtien Wit.

e Underscheit tusschen Rechte Leer vnde Valsche Leer.

* Disputation van der Godtheit des Voders, des Soens ende des H.
Geistes.

6 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

The seventh volume is rich in historical writings of
the reformatory period, by which many a mystery is
cleared up and a better sense of proportion is given us
than we had before. The writings in this volume are
mostly from the hands of opponents of the Anabaptists.
But, as Doctor Cramer says, in his introduction : " The
fact that they were written by opponents does not dimin-
ish their historical value. The judgments pronounced may
be one-sided, but the writers were evidently well in-
formed." And in weighing this testimony, we should
remember that it was given by one who was one of the
foremost leaders of the present-day Dutch Mennonites.

The copy of Alenson's Critique,^ here reprinted, so far
as known, was the only one in existence. Here we find
the Successio Anabaptistica ^ and Carel van Ghent's " Be-
ginning and Progress " ^^ invaluable contributions to the
knowledge of contemporaneous Anabaptism. Also the
strangely moving " Confession " " of Obbe Philips, one
of the first leaders of the Dutch Anabaptists, who parted
from them in sorrow. Here also we find the " Inter-
polations," ^2 by Gerardus Nicolai, in Henry Bullinger's
great book against the Anabaptists, printed in 1531 and
reedited thirty years later. Carel van Ghent's work, al-
though his title to the authorship is not wholly clear,
is of the utmost value to the historian. It tells the story
of the early schisms among the Dutch Anabaptists and
has been used as a source by all later writers on the sub-
ject.

The tenth volume is invaluable because it reprints all
the known writings of Derek Philips, who, next to Menno

^ Tegefthericht.

» Latin title, with Dutch text
^^ Beghinsel ende Voortganck.
11 Bekentenisse Obbe PhiUpsa.
" Inlasschingen.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 7

Simons, was the greatest leader of the Dutch Anabaptists.
The Bibliotheca does not reprint the works of Menno,
because they were issued in the seventeenth century, in
one large octavo volume, under the title " Opera Omnia

M. sr

By bringing to light all these rare and practically lost
Anabaptistica, many things are made clear that were
nebulous before; many things, in dispute, now may be
considered settled; and many things in the history of
the Non-conformists in England, so closely allied with
the Anabaptist movement, are explained and cleared up.
The whole field of the Dutch Anabaptist history has been
lifted from the realm of the obscure and debatable into
that of clear understanding and appreciation.

Also many things, in the later development of the
history of Protestantism in general, are found to be evi-
dently related to or ultimately explainable by the Ana-
baptist movement in the sixteenth century. Their in-
fluence has been manifestly underrated and carries
infinitely farther than is generally supposed.

I have definitely limited myself, in this study, very
largely to Dutch and German works, besides the Biblio-
theca Reformatoria Neerlandica. For the Miinster tragedy
I have largely relied on Dr. Ludwig Keller's Geschichte
der Wiedertdufer und Hires Reiches in Miinster. Being
archivarius at Munster, the author had access to docu-
ments of the rarest value. I have also utilized the works
of Cornelius, Hast, and Tumbiilt, but especially the mov-
ing recital of the events at Munster, 1534-1535, by Hein-
rich Dorpius, an eye-witness of these horrors, reprinted in
1847 by Friedrich Merschmann.

A number of rare treasures were kindly loaned me by
the magnificent library of the Baptist Theological Semi-
nary, at Louisville, Ky. Qiief among these are : " The

8 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Story of the Anabaptist Riots," ^^ by Lambertus Hor-
tensius, 1694; '* The Life and Activities of Menno
Simons," ^* by A. M. Cramer, 1837, the father of one of
the editors of the Bibliotheca; ''Present Condition of the
Doopsgezinden, or Mennonites, in the United Nether-
lands," ^" by Frederick Rues ; and " A More Extended
Treatment of the History of the Mennonites," ^^ by Her-
mannus Schyn, 1744.

2. Pre-Reformation Currents in Holland

In the introduction to the Bibliotheca, the editors tell
us that their aim is " to afford building material, on a
large scale, to the students of history." What is here
reprinted, a dozen years ago, was scarcely known at all.
It was scattered in public and private libraries, sometimes
kept under lock and key and practically inaccessible. " It
seems desirable [they say] to remove these bars and to
collect what now lies scattered, in the four quarters of
the wind. All who are interested must have easy access
to these monuments of the past. The more searchers
study and compare them and bring them in contact with
what is known from other sources, the better." ^^ How
true these words are. Building material indeed !

The Dutch Reformation did not spring full-grown
into the arena, any more than the German or Swiss or
French or that of any other country. The dawn pre-
cedes the day in great human events, as well as in nature.
And as many rills form a stream, a great many tendencies
in pre-Reformation times seem to herald the coming
event.

" Verhael van de Oproeren der Wederdoopers.
1* Het leven en de verrigtingen van Menno Simons.
" Tegenwoordige Staet der Doopsgezinden, in de Vereenigde Neder-
tanden.

1" Uitvoeriger Verhandeling van de Geschiedenissen der Mennoniten.
"Introduction, B. R. N,

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 9

Heresy was in the air. Even the professors at Louvain,
famed for its orthodoxy, and later on one of the fulcrums
of the Inquisition, from which Erasmus was compelled to
flee, through a feeling of growing uneasiness, at this
earlier date were not altogether free from the suspicion
of heresy.^'' This indicates how wide-spread was the
feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction with existing con-
ditions, in the days immediately preceding the Reforma-
tion.

The sale of indulgences was the spark which exploded
the magazine of the revolt, but of the real inwardness of
these sales we know but little in an authentic way. We
know that Tetzel had some private instructions printed
for the personal use of the preachers of indulgences. But
here in the Bibliotheca we find the reprint of a document
of the earliest days of the Reformation, containing certain
rules for this sale, from the hand of no less a personage
than that of Pope Adrian VI, dated 1515, and here
printed for the first time. It was intended to regulate a
special sale of indulgences, which for three years was to
have precedence over every other, and its proceeds were
intended to finance the needed repairs to the dikes or
levees, those ramparts of Dutch safety. No one was to
escape the net. A fixed tariff settles the price each is to
pay, from the highest to the lowest. Even abbots and
cathedral priests are not allowed to go free; and the
scale varies between twenty-five Rhenish guilders, for the
highest class, to six stivers for the lowest.^^ One third
of the proceeds was for the pope, the rest went into
the treasury of the levee work. The document is a curi-
ous one and throws some light on prevailing conditions,
in the Netherlands, at this time. How earnestly Adrian,

i»B. R. N., Ill, 27, 33, 35, 102, 107, 108, 109, etc,
"B. R. N., IX, 535-547.

10 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

then archbishop of Utrecht, warns against the competition
of other indulgence-sales during these three years ! Such
sales were then a very common matter and constituted a
serious tax on the purses of the people. People are
warned not to ridicule this sale or to jeer at it. That,
then, must have been a not uncommon experience for
these sales and their promoters. The clergy is admon-
ished to preach on this sale, as the American pulpit
was exhorted to promote the sale of Liberty bonds. What
infinite care is taken lest the money fall into the wrong
hands. The archbishop evidently knew his clergy ! The
money is to be placed in a locked box, from which nothing
may be taken either by a commissary or subcommissary
or father confessor on any pretext whatever. The pope
is to have his full third ; all the rest absolutely goes to the
dikes.2^ A strange world to live in! If Adrian, as an
archbishop, was the same man he was in the papal chair,
these conditions were kept to the letter. But we cannot
wonder that such a parody on salvation and things like
it created antagonisms, which inevitably must lead to a
revolt like the Reformation.

The Brethren of the Common Life occupy a conspicu-
ous place among the pioneers of the Dutch Reformation.
How Erasmus hated and lampooned them, although in
their schools he had laid the foundations for his later
marvelous success as a Humanist. They were semi-
monastic, and, generally speaking, loyal to Rome. But
even among them ran a rill of heresy. For in the docu-
ments, reprinted in the Bibliotheca, we find proof that
they furnished their quota of martyrs.

In the Disputationes contra Lutheranos, by Jacob van
Hoogstraten, the bitter inquisitor, we are informed that,
in 1526, two brethren of the fraterhouse, at Amersfoort,

^B. R. N., IX, 542.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 11

were handed over to the civil magistrate for execu-
tion.2i

Another strong pre-Reformation force, pointing to the
coming event, was found in the so-called '' Chambers of )y^^
the Rhetoricians." 22 A sample of their work is found in
the Bibliothecar^ Doctor Pyper calls it " a heresy-process
on the stage," and such it is without a question of a
doubt. The play is founded on Acts, chapters 3-5. What
a parody on prevailing conditions ! How thinly veiled is
the bitterness of the attack on the Church, her priest-
hood, her morals, and her heresy-hunting. The stage was
set up in the market-place. It was a Punch-and-Judy
performance on a large scale, only the puppets were liv-
ing men and women. Crowds of people attended the per-
formances, for these plays were very popular. It was
in these meetings that the fuel was stacked up for the
coming conflagration. And it was in this rough school
of acting that John of Leyden first conceived the ideas
later embodied in the Munster tragedy. Not rarely these
performances cost the cities which permitted them dearly.
It is said that a production of a play of the Rhetorical
Chamber at Ghent was responsible for the terrible chas-
tisement which Charles V administered to his native city,
in 1540. A contemporaneous writer says, " These plays
have cost several thousand people their lives, for therein,
for the first time, the Word of God was opened in these
regions." 2*

Several distinct pre-Reformation currents are indicated
in bits of literature that have come down to us. Some of
this literature is reprinted in the Bihliotheca.

We find a tract there, entitled " The Fall of the Romish
Church," 25 which, from internal proofs, Doctor Pyper

2' B. R. N., Ill, 620. 23 B. R. N., I, 273 p. p.

^ Reder^.-k^rsknmers. 24 g^ j^^ -^^^ j^ ^^^^

•^ Den Val der Roomscher Kercke.

12 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

argues is an English origin. There seems to be no valid
reason to doubt his conclusion. It is a bitterly keen
polemic. There is nothing like it in the literature of the
period. The man who wrote it was evidently deeply
embittered against Rome and must have suffered much
at her hands. He paints the ecclesiastical picture in heavy
colors. Every line of that book in its day must have
been like vitriol to the wounded Romish consciousness.
Arguments, ridicule, sarcasm, and sneers appear in turn,
and at times there is in it a sound of hellish laughter.
The priests are unmercifully castigated, their hatred of
the Bible is bitterly lampooned, their moral character
ruthlessly assailed. One shudders at the state of mind
which produced such a book.^^

But there were other currents than this of undermin-
ing the authority of Rome by violent assaults. One of
these is described by Doctor Pyper as that of " the modern
devotion," expressing the feelings of the Dutch mystics of
the sixteenth century. The existence of such a tendency
was wholly unknown to the students of the Dutch Refor-
mation, till it was miraculously discovered on April 12,
1896, at the breaking down of an old church-tower, at
Boskoop, in the Netherlands. Five books were there
found, immured in a small hollow place in the wall,
twelve meters above the ground, where they had lain
hidden for three centuries. Three of these books were
dated 1566; one, 1554; another possibly, 1540. They were
all books that had been placed on the Index. Did a
mason place them there for fear of detection, hoping later
to get them again?

One of these was the rare book " Of the Faith," ^7
whose author occupies a middle ground between the

=« B. R. N., I, 395.
^ Van den Chelooue.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 13

Catholic and Protestant Churches, and exhibits the mys-
tical tendency, above indicated.^®

Hendrik Roll, in his " Key to the Secret of the Sup-
per," ^9 exhibits another of these tendencies. Doctor
Cramer has clearly established the authorship of this
work in a masterly introduction.

This man Roll was, together with Rottman, the spiritual
leader of the original Miinster Reformation, before it
was dominated by the Anabaptists under John of Leyden.
A converted Roman Catholic priest, he ultimately died
a martyr's death, in September, 1534. Doctor Cramer
places the date of this book between 1531 and 1533. If
the book really be Roll's, we have here a product of the
earliest sober Anabaptist tendencies in the Lowlands, as
different from the ideas of the later Hoffmanites as the
day is different from the night. In the Supper he finds
"a commemoration of our joyful redemption from sin,
death, and hell, granted us by God." The external cere-
mony is only an occasion or opportunity to express the
feeling within. The spirit and the heart must eat and
not the mouth only.^o

To this category of writings belong also " The Refuta-
tion of the Salve Regina " ^i against Mary-worship, pre-
sumably written in Dutch by an unknown author ; Pupper
van Goch's De Libertate Christiana (of which only two
copies are known to remain) which attacks the Roman
Catholic system of faith to its deepest foundations ; the
" Layman's Guide " ^^ of Joannes Anastasius ; and finally
"The Gospel of the Poor," ^s by Cornelis Cooltuyn.

2«B. R. N., IV, S24-SQ2.

^ Die Slotel van het Secreet des Nachtmaels.

«« B. R. N., V, 23.

'^^ De Refutacy van't Sahte Regina.

^^Leeken Wechwyser.

'^ Dat Euangeli der Armen.

14 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Every one of these rare volumes is found among the re-
prints in the Bibliotheca.

How great was the unrest in the Qiurch is plain from
the fact that numerous priests, in the Dutch Church, were
preaching against the old doctrine and advocating the
new; men like Veluanus, mentioned above, Angelus
Merula, Cornelis van der Heyden, and others, all of them
in priestly orders, yet boldly attempting to spread the
new faith through their preaching. Some of them sided
with the Lutherans, some with the first faint beginning
of the Calvinistic propaganda. Veluanus bitterly opposed
the nascent Anabaptist tendency, whose leaders he accuses
of cowardice and selfishness, in " that they do not them-
selves stand before kings and princes, as did the prophets
and apostles, but they lead their disciples miserably to
death and usually remain free themselves." ^*

The entire literature of the pre-Reformation period
evidences the wide-spread unrest which prevailed every-
where.

Even in the very presence of the young emperor,
Charles V, the finger of scorn was pointed at Rome.
In an address from the German nobility to the newly
crowned emperor, in 1519, Jacobus Sabius informed him
of the true state of things and of the unsafe condition of
affairs. Said he, " The only aim of Pope Julius II is to
enrich the Church of Rome, by injustice, by the sword, by
killing in battle, and by the destruction of believing Chris-
tians." The insatiable rapacity of the papacy is held up to
scorn, as is the needless humiliation of the emperor who,
when in the presence of his holiness, is compelled to act
as an equerry by holding his stirrup ; whilst the unspeak-
able nepotism of the Curia is depicted in flaming terms.^^

«B. R. N., TV, 333-
»B. R. N., IX, 519 p.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 15

But it was no easy matter for really devout people to
break away from the old faith and the old customs, and
many a heart-break was thus occasioned.

Micronius, in his book " On the Supper of Qirist and
of the Alass," ^^ tells a touching story. Says he : ^^

And when the Christian prince Eduardus VI, king of England,
purified his Church of the Romish idolatry, according to the
command of God, it happened that a man of the royal com-
missioners desired that they would not expell all images from
the churches of his parochy, but that they would leave them an
image of Mary, or at least a crucifix, before which he was ac-
customed to pray. The man being asked, if it happened that
the aforesaid images were taken away, what then? answered,
Then I would pour out my prayers before the sacrament. But,
they said, If that also were taken away, what would you do
then? I would, he answered, then be compelled with my heart
to call upon God in heaven.

It is true the Reformation arose in part from social and
economic conditions, but beneath and beyond these lay
a spiritual hunger and unrest, which bespeaks itself in all
the religious literature of the period. Doctor Pyper says
correctly of the reprints of all these hoary documents,
" What is here produced by noble-minded leaders contains
both the justification and explanation of the revolution,
which partisanship only can consider as being caused by
wilfulness or sinful passion." ^^

The dawn of the Reformation nowhere revealed itself
more clearly than in the Lowlands. People everywhere
were searching for the light and were longing for the
coming of the expected thing, though they knew not the
way or the form of its coming. The soil lay fallow for
the sower, and in that soil, after the Lutheran reformatory

'^ Van het Nachtmael Christi en van de Misse.
«^B. R. N., I. 485.
='*'B. R. N., X, 3-

16 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

wave had passed over the Netherlands and had broken
itself into spume on the rocks of a furious persecution,
the Anabaptists sowed their seed, from which they reaped
an unexpectedly rich harvest.

3. Were the Dutch Anabaptists Waldenses?

An interesting question, but one not easily answered.

The theory of the Waldensian origin of the Dutch
Anabaptists is of late origin. There is not a trace of it
in the early Anabaptist writings. Its beginnings hide
themselves in those dreary days, when the rebellious Ana-
baptists and the peaceful Baptists {Doopsgesinden) were
identified by all men. How many hundreds, aye thou-
sands, of true children of God were hounded to their
death, because everywhere and by all men they were
believed to be one with those detestable and deluded peo-
ple, who figured in the I\lunster tragedy !

It was only when there arose a sharp antagonism
against this persistent identification, that the theory of
their Waldensian origin was born. Nor was it a hope-
less misfit. The Waldenses had been scattered all over
Europe, and their descendants lay hidden in the Romish
Church.

In the main, that faith was singularly like that of the
reorganized Anabaptists. No regular priesthood, great
simplicity of worship, no bearing of arms, no oath, but
simple affirmation, separation between Church and State,
and rebaptism of those who joined them from the old
Church. These are the characteristics that are mentioned
by all who favor the Waldensian descent of the Anabap-
tists. Two things, however, are forgotten here. The first
is that, after all, there was a marked difiference in regard
to baptism. True enough, the Waldensians rebaptized all
who came to them from Rome, but they also maintained

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 17

infant baptism; and baptism was the cardinal article of
faith in Anabaptist doctrine, that is to say, adult baptism,
based on the confessed faith of the candidate. More-
over, they had entirely different ideas as to the place of
women in the church. The Anabaptists did not suffer a
woman to speak in their meetings, nor had they a vote
in the election of elders and deacons. Of the Walden-
sians we are told, " They teach that every layman and
even a woman must preach." ^^ At least as Luther knew
them and befriended them, they largely differed from the
Anabaptists of his day, to whom he was bitterly opposed.

And in the second place this similarity of views and
practise applies quite generally to all the medieval sec-
taries. We find them among the Arnoldists, the Petro-
brusians, the Catharistic sects, etc.

Similar causes apparently everywhere led to similar ef-
fects. From which men like Doctor Benedict, in his
repiarkable history of the Baptists, have argued to an
apostolic succession of sectarian life in the Roman Cath-
olic Church, dating back to the apostolic age. That view
now has been quite generally abandoned, and the Baptists
of the world proudly point back to 1641 as the year in
which their history began, as a denomination, based on
adult baptism by immersion, on a declaration of personal
faith in Christ.

Ypey and Dermout, in their history of the State Church
of Holland, strongly express their faith in the Walden-
sian origin of the Mennonites. *^ But here they only
follow Schyn^s argument, far more fully and laboriously
extended than theirs. *i Tileman Jans Van Bracht, in his
" Mirror of the Mennonite Martyrs," *2 tells us explicitly,

J9 Robertson, Eccl. Res., 462, quoting: an old Italian historian, Discunt
quod omms laxcus et ettam femina debeat praedicare.

*°Gesch. der H. K., I, 137, Note (loi). *^ Uitvoeriger Verh., 2-50.

** Martelaarsspiegel der Doopsgezinden.
B

18 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

" It will be well for iis to remember that the martyrs,
whom we will consider, were of the profession of the
Waldenses." *^ Rues, a German, who in the seventeenth
century came to Holland to study the Mennonites, evi-
dently follows the lead of the day,** and also identifies the
objects of his research with the Waldenses. Otius has
the same opinion in his Annalcs Anabaptistici}^ Van
Huyzen, a Mennonite preacher of note, joins all these wit-
nesses.***

But all this testimony belongs to one period, the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries. The shudder of Miinster
was still in the air, and men did not apprehend that two
wholly dissimilar stems might spring from the same root.
As the distance from Miinster grows, men begin to have
larger and broader views, and the theory of the Walden-
sian origin of the Anabaptists begins to lose its grip.

Dr. A. M. Cramer, who wrote an informing life of
Menno Simons, and especially his illustrious son, Dr..S.
Cramer, have greater critical insight and a better adjusted
historical balance, and they find a lack of connecting
points. Here, as so often elsewhere, post hoc, ergo prop-
ter hoc is a dangerous historical expedient.

Dr. A. M. Cramer discusses the early Anabaptist mar-
tyrdoms of 1527, and says : *''

It may be that there were Waldensian sentiments among the
Roman Catholics in Holland, but no real Waldenses. At least
I do not find that shortly before or in the times of the Refor-
mation, traces of them occur in this country.

The martyrs never even under torture mention the
name, nor is the question ever asked. And Menno

*^I, 395. **Teg. Staet. 2 p.

*^ Ann. Anah., 3, 4.

" Hist. Verhavdeling, 38.

*'' Lev. en V'crr., 11.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 19

Simons himself thought that the special views which he
advanced, overclouded since the days of the apostles,
only recently had come to light again. *^
Says Dr. A. Al. Cramer :*»

The sources of information are very insufficient. We know
practically nothing with certainty of the existence and extent
of the Waldenses at the time of the Reformation, The two
lines seem to run into one, but the very center, where they
ought to touch, is invisible.

He then reminds us of the milder views of the Waldenses
in regard to the ban, and that they had retained quite a
remnant of Roman Catholicism. They believed in the
distinction between common and perfect Christians ; some
of them revered Mary, and they baptized children as well
as adults.

And yet, even for this accomplished scholar, the subject
holds a certain fascination. For after he has proved its
improbability, he quotes the statement of Van Bracht that
Hans Koch, Leonard Meister, Michael Sattler, and Leon-
ard Keizer were all descendants of the Waldenses and
known as such. And they were one and all Anabaptist
martyrs. All this we have to accept on the unsupported
testimony of Van Bracht, for in their trials not a word
is said of the matter. And even if his testimony were
reliable, nothing is gained, for the men mentioned were
not the only or chief leaders of the Swiss Anabaptists,
from which the Dutch Anabaptists in the main derived
their existence.

Dr. A. M, Cramer concludes therefore that " they de-
scended from the Waldenses, but were not identical with
them. They received their origin from them, but further
they developed independently." ^^

**M. S. Werken, 443, *^ Lev. en Verr., 9. ^ Lev. en Verr., 22,

20 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

There is not a scintilla of proof for the whole Walden-
sian theory. The Dutch Anabaptists were but a scattered
small band before 1531, when the fanaticism of the Miin-
ster spirit began to spread like wild-fire. And in this
large and sudden accession to their numbers, the foun-
dations were laid for the reformatory and organizing
efforts of Menno Simons, after 1535, when the Anabap-
tists were like sheep without a shepherd.

The statement of Schyn ^^ — '' For one finds scarcely
a country in which this communion {Gezindte) is not
found. These men at the beginning of the Reformation
have started to reassemble their remnants, scattered every-
where, of which some have accepted Menno Simons as
their teacher and minister " — is wholly gratuitous and
incompatible with historical facts. The tie between
Menno and the founders of the Miinster party cannot be
broken. Through the Philips brothers, he owed his bap-
tism and ordination to John Matthysz, the " prophet
Enoch " of Miinster. Menno openly recognizes in some
of the Miinster party his " dear brethren," and with that
party he was indissolubly linked up. But by the grace
of God, he made of the Anabaptists {Wederdoopers)
Baptists {Doopsgezinden), and he changed the lion into
a lamb.

Says Dr. S. Cramer r'^^

One often meets the statement that the origin of the Ana-
baptists, among other things, has to be explained as the after-
math of the devotees of the fifteenth century and even of the
earlier mystics. This explanation is more or less feasible. But
I would like to have a single proof of its correctness, a single
clear trace of this connection, e. g., the name of a " devotee "
author or v^riting, which is quoted by one of the earliest Ana-
baptists.

^ Gesch. der Menn., 7.
62 B. R. N., V, 36.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 21

We will therefore set the theory aside and proceed on
the supposition that the Dutch Anabaptists have a Ger-
man-Swiss origin.

4. General Social Conditions

Feudalism had received its death-blow during the Cru-
sades. Under it there were only three classes in society,
the king and nobles, the clergy, and the serfs. During
this period free cities began to rise everywhere, especially
in the Lowlands. They stood under the immediate pro-
tection of the sovereign, from whom they derived their
liberty and privileges. Thus a fourth estate, the bour-
geoisie, was lifting its head. The burghers were mostly
interested in trade and manufacture, and the manufactur-
ing interests everywhere were strongly linked together by
guilds, which clamored for and obtained recognition in
the government of the cities. But on every hand the
craftsman and the trader were met by the unfair excise
laws of the realm. Taxes were unevenly distributed.
The nobility and the clergy, even the wealthy manufactur-
ing interests of the monastic orders were tax-free, and the
regular or secular producer was thus placed in an un-
favorable position. The inevitable result was an ever-
growing distrust of the Church and her authority, among
the middle class. Compulsory sales of indulgences and
grinding taxes burdened the people beyond endurance.
So cruel were the exactions and oppressions of the Church
in the matter of marriage, baptism, burial, the first ap-
pearance in the church of lying-in women, etc., that
Charles V was compelled, in 1528, to repeat the special
warnings issued by Pope Callixtus III in 1426, and to
issue a decree by which a definite tariff was set up, which
no priests dare to exceed, on pain of severe fines and
punishment. In the preamble, the emperor definitely con-

22 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

nects these abuses with " the disorders which have arisen
and are still regnant in some places." ^"

Celibacy was everywhere openly affronted. Erasmus,
the Philips brothers, and perhaps Menno Simons himself
were all sons of priests. The testimony of Lagarde, in
his "Latin Church in the Middle Ages" (Ch. XI), in
regard to the hopeless failure of the decree of celibacy,
especially as regards the North of Europe, is fully cor-
roborated by that of Anastasius Veluanus, in his " Lay-,
man's Guide." In harsh, unpitying terms he castigates
the clergy of his day for their gross immorality, and
points to a married clergy as the only way of escape from
an intolerably hideous situation.^*

The respect for the Church and her institutions was
fast waning. As early as 1329, the citizens of Frankfort-
on-the-Oder had rebelled against the Church, because
they wanted to remain loyal to Margrave Louis, who
had incurred her wrath. Of course they were put under
the ban, but they scorned it. For twenty-eight years they
lived without mass, baptism, marriage-ceremony, or
funeral rites. And when the baffled ecclesiastics finally
voluntarily returned, they were met with jeers and laugh-
ter, as if the whole thing had been a comedy or farce.^^

The horrors of the iconoclastic disturbances in Flanders
and Holland, in the second half of the sixteenth century,
could never have arisen, unless the reverence of the com-
mon people for the Church and her power had been
hopelessly undermined.

The intelligence of the masses was slowly awakened.
The invention of the printing-press had given an irresis-
tible impetus to this awakening. Every one wanted to
learn to read, and how eagerly these studies were pursued

'■■'B. R. N., IX, 571 p. 55 M. d'Aiib.. " Hist. Ref.," I. 70.

^B. R. N., IV, 252.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 23

is abundantly proved by the turbid stream of books which,
in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, was
pouring from the presses. It made the Revival of Letters
possible and the Reformation inevitable. And what was
the attitude of the Church to it ?

It was deeply felt that the printing-press was really
responsible for the marvelous spread of the new heresy.
And who can doubt the truth of the contention?

Thus this consciousness is bitterly lampooned, in one
of the documents in the Bibliotheca. It is entitled Con-
ciliabiilum Theologistarum. At this supposed meeting,
all the opponents of the Reformation are present, and
Van Hoogstraten, the notorious inquisitor, presides. Says
the latter, " What do you think of these new poets and
of their novelties, which now, through the impressory
art, yea a deviHsh art, are printed? "^^ How close the
lampoonist hit to the mark appears from the true words
of the same man, /* that he desired the institution of a
book-censure, and that he would not hesitate wholly to
crush the development of Humanism." ^^ All the oppo-
nents of the Reformation have recognized the intimate
connecticHi between the invention of the printing-press
and the new movement. They considered the ars im-
pressoria in very deed as an ars diabolica, an invention
of the devil, for this peculiar crisis.

They took Van Hoogstraten's advice and created an
Index Librorum Prohibitorum, under the operation of
which all forbidden books were weeded out with sedulous
care. How successful, or nearly successful they were,
these ten volumes of the Bibliotheca mutely witness.

But the social conditions, prevailing before and at the

"•^ B. R. N., Ill, 386. Quid vobis tndetur de illis novis poetu et de illis

nointatibus, quae jam per artem impressoriatn, itno diabolicam, impri-
tnantur.

"B. R. N., Ill, 388.

24 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

time of the Reformation, pressed hardest on the peasant
class, the so-called serfs. Says Vedder : ^^

The peasants were in most desperate case. The recent sharp
advances in prices and the consequent increase in their rents and
the growing exactions of their lords had made their condition
intolerable. They felt most keenly of all the economic crisis,
through which the nation was passing ; the pressure of which was
the real, though ill apprehended, cause of the revolt against
Rome.

I would rather consider the sufferings of the peasant
class as a contributory cause of the revolt than as its
" real " cause. As has been said before, the literature of
the period forbids us to consider it as such. But the
condition of this stratum of society was deeply deplorable,
ground as they were under the heels of their masters
and drained of the last coppers they possessed, by the
greed of the Church.

Up to the middle of the fifteenth century, their con-
dition was tolerable. They were fairly well housed and
fairly well clad. They had a commons for their cattle,
hogs, and sheep. The forest was open to them for wind-
falls and for mast for their swine. Their treatment was
considerate, and they paid reasonably, and always in kind,
for their master's support. Then came the change from
the Salic to the Roman law. The first was the outgrowth
of the national life ; the latter a foreign importation, wel-
comed by the nobility and the clergy for what it promised,
hated by the common people for what it threatened.
And then the storm soon broke.

The commons were taken from the people by the
nobles, the forests were closed against them, the " small
hunt " and the " small fishery " were forbidden, under

5* " The Reformation in Germany," 235.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 25

heavy penalties; their taxes henceforth must be paid in
money, of which they had practically none. They were
bitterly impoverished and, at the time of the Reformation,
their condition had become well-nigh insupportable.
"The Layman's Guide" {Leeken Wechwyser), in talk-
ing about fasts, has this to say : ^^

The third way of fasting, pleasing to God, is to be patient
and contented with such food as God pleases to give us, to be
jealous of no one's abundance, and never to murmur against
God's will, because no richer food is given us. In such a way-
it is that the whole existence of poor peasants and of laborers
in the cities is a noble, holy fasting, to which no fasting of
monks or Beguines can be compared.

But soon the rumbling of the coming storm was heard
in the distance. As early as 1502 a conspiracy was made
against the bishop of Spires. The last despairing hold
of these poor suffering underlings of society was the
Mother of God. A secret society was formed in Ger-
many, called the Liga Salutaria, whose password was
" Mary." In Baden and Wurtemberg a peasant associa-
tion was formed, called Der Arme Conrad. ^^ In the
Rhenish provinces, the peasants, in 1502, formed a L^a^w^
of the Shoes, whose standard was a peasant's shoe on a
pole. They swore in the future to pay no taxes but such
as they had freely consented to, to abolish all tolls and
lordly duties on wine sold at retail (jalage), and to limit
the power of the Church.

On such a horizon the weird figure appears of Thomas
Miinzer, and these conditions explain his momentary suc-
cess. From these inflamed masses the ranks were fed
of the fanatics of Miinster ; the radical Anabaptists, whose
tragic doings we will study in the next lecture.

59 B. R. N.. V, 303.
«• Brons, T. oder M.. i,

26 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Can we wonder at it all ?

As inevitable as fate, as sure as the force of gravity,
was the chain of events, which from the peasant unrest
led to the Peasant War and to the fatal days of 1535.

5. The Miinzer Revolution

In 1521, when Luther was on his " Patmos," suddenly
the '' Zwickau fanaticism " appeared in Wittenberg. The
churches were stripped of their ornaments, infant bap-
tism was rejected, nunneries and monasteries were opened
and the occupants dispersed, and radicalism was rampant
in Luther's city. Carlstadt, Luther's colleague and friend,
was completely swept off his feet, and even Melanchthon
was affected by the clamorings of the fanatics. Only
Luther's sudden return saved the day at Wittenberg.

One of the chief leaders of the Zwickau fanatics was
Thomas Miinzer, and not a few historians have found the
origin of the Anabaptist movement in the teachings of
this man. That he influenced a part of the early Ana-
baptists cannot be denied; that he tried to place himself
and his views in touch with the Swiss Anabaptist leaders
is undeniable ; that he failed to do so is certain ; that the
last flickerings of his red torch died out in the Munster
melodrama is sure. But the cradle of the Anabaptist
movement did not stand at Zwickau, thank God ; its origin
was Swiss, not German.

A strange man was Thomas Miinzer, a man of parts,
but also of lack of balance. Moderns would classify him
as a paranoiac. He was a man of education, a fiery, emo-
tional, enthusiastic preacher. He may have been the
anonymous author of a rare little work, found in the
Bibliotheca, entitled " Of the Old and the New God." ^^
He exhibited a profoundly mystical tendency when he

*i Van den olden ende nictizvcn God.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 27

was priest at Zwickau, a people's man in the fullest sense,
and the special favorite of the cloth-weavers guild. The
bitter controversy between him and his colleague, Joh.
Sylvanus, led to the exile of both. His own removal
was hastened by an insurrection of the weavers, men-
tioned above, for which he may have been responsible.
He denied it, but during his pastorate he had encouraged
the so-called " prophesyings " of laymen. In this circle,
the antagonism against infant baptism and the doctrine of
Anabaptism arose, in 1521, against which Miinzer orig-
inally protested. The little volume, mentioned above, if
Miinzer be its author, which Doctor Pyper strongly sur-
mises, gives us a clear idea of his views. The Scrip-
tures are to be realistically interpreted. He justifies
revolution against a government which refuses to pro-
mote the preaching of ' the gospel. In this tract we
find all the fundamental ideas of the Miinster radicals.
It must have been known and widely read by them. As
late as 1572 we find its title on the Index.^^ Miinzer's
influence was specially felt at Alstedt, Eisleben, Mansfeld,
Sangerhausen, Frankenhausen, Querfurt, Halle, Aschers-
leben, Nordhausen, and Muhlhausen, where he died by
the sword in 1525. The signature beneath his epistles
indicates his character — "Thomas Miinzer, with the
hammer," or "Thomas Miinzer, with the sword of
Gideon."

Take sentiments Hke these, taken at random from his
letters: "When they (the lords) are against the word
of God, let them kill them, without mercy " ; " good days
agree with them, the sweat of the laborers tastes sweet
to them, but it will become bitter gall. No hesitation or
sham-fight will help, . . people are hungry, they will and
must eat." And then that terrible letter to the miners

"^B. R. N., I, 33.

28 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

at Mansfeld, a pure piece of Bolshevism of the sixteenth
century. Then it wore religion for a mask, as now it
wears atheism. But the face behind both is the same.
Listen :

All Germany is awake, the master wants to make a spectacle
of it, the miscreants must perish, . . Where there are but three
of you, who believe in God and seek only his name and glory,
you will not be afraid of a hundred thousand. Now at them,
at them, at them (dran, dran, dran), it is time. [These words,
dran, dran, dran, are repeated again and again, they sound like a
tocsin, like the stroke of fate.] Do not consider the misery of
the godless; they will beseech you so kindly, they will sob and
weep like children, but have no pity on them, as God has com-
manded Aloses. . . You must dran, dran, dran, it is time. Let
not your sword grow cold of blood, beat pinkepank on the Nim-
rod of Ambo, throw down his tower. . . Dran, dran, dran, while
you have your day. God goes before you, follow him.

Do we wonder at the horrors of the Peasant War or
at those of Miinster? They were hatched in this crazy
brain. Fortunately for Germany, his head fell, under the
executioner's axe, on the bloody field on Frankenhausen,
May 15, 1525.

6. The Swiss Anabaptists

From the beginning there was among the Anabaptists
a left wing and a right wing, a conservative and a radical
party. In 1527, Michael Sattler warned his people against
" some, who prided themselves on inspiration." Three
years later, in 1530, Erasmus wrote about

Anabaptist people, of whom they say that there are many in their
company, who have been converted from the most wicked to
the best Hfe; and even if some of their opinions are foolishbr
erroneous, yet they never stormed cities and churches, nor have
they conspired against the government, nor driven any one from
his land or possessions.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 29

Here he evidently distinguished between such Anabap-
tists as formed the Miinster party and others of the sect
of a milder type, although both parties were identified
by his contemporaries. Only after the reorganizing
labors of Menno Simons, the name Baptist (Doopsge-
zinde) appears as distinct from the generic name of the
entire movement, Anabaptists, although their opponents
never used the first name, only the second.

The revolutionaries, alluded to by Erasmus, were un-
doubtedly the followers of Miinzer, or the Zwickau lead-
ers in general, who prided themselves on an inner light,
rejected infant baptism, and preached a millennial king-
dom of Christ, in which believers would rule the world,
lead an idyllic life, and enjoy social equality and com-
munistic wealth.

Melanchthon originally was deeply impressed by these
fanatics and, for months, entertained Marc Stiibner in
his home, and, at his suggestion, the elector promised
these " prophets " free exercise of their religion, provided
they kept from violence. As we have seen, Carlstadt was
swept away completely and was lost to the Reformation.

Protestant historians therefore usually date the Ana-
baptist movement from 1521, although Franck tells us
that Miinzer, whilst he rejected infant baptism, never
rebaptized.^^

Luther himself was originally against restrictive mea-
sures. As late as 1524 he wrote, " the office of the word
should not be hindered " ; ®* but a few weeks later he ad-
vised the nobles to " slay and kill," when the revolution
was sweeping Germany. And the patient Melanchthon,
in 1531, had so completely changed his attitude that he
declared the new movement to be " a devilish sect, against

«3 Chronicles, III, fol. i88.

** Letter to the elector, August 24, 1524. Man moge den Ambt des
Wortes nicht wehren.

30 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

whose leaders the sharpest punishments should be ad-
ministered." ^^

The Swiss Anabaptist movement stands entirely outside
this cycle. It had for its leaders men like Balthasar Hiib-
mayer, chief of all in influence, learning, and standing;
Conrad Grebel, whom Zwingli called " the coryphaeus "
of the movement,^® regarded by his opponents as the most
dangerous of all, the son of a Ziirich patrician and coun-
cilor; Melchior Rinck, Johannes Hut, Johannes Denk,
Liidwig Hatzer, Felix Manz, Wilhelm Roublin, Johannes
Brodlin, and Georg von Chur, surnamed " Blaurock."
All of these had considerable standing in their communi-
ties, the majority were men in orders, and all of them
had what the Germans call Bildung.

Hiibmayer had studied at Freiburg and Ingolstadt and
was a disciple of John Eck, the great opponent of Luther.
Eck was his promoter when he received his doctorate
of theology. In 1515, he was professor and preacher at
Ingolstadt; in 1521, he was priest in the cathedral at Re-
gensburg, and later we find him at Waldshutt, then in
Austrian territory. In the first period of his ministry
he was intensely Catholic in his views, a Jew-baiter and
a devout worshiper of Mary. At Waldshutt he was still
an ardent churchman, but he was beginning to read Paul's
epistles and the works of Luther. In this period he
visited Erasmus at Basel. In 1523 he met Zwingli at
Ziirich. Even then the two differed on the subject of
baptism, but not to the breaking-point. He was now fast
turning away from Rome and participated in the religious
debate of Zurich, October 26-28, 1523. Returning to
Waldshutt, he began to preach reformatory doctrines, and

^ Eine teuMche Secte, und gegen Hire Fiirhrer miisse man die schdrf-
sten Strafe sur Anwendung bringen.

^Newman, "Hist, of Antiped.," 129.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 31

wrote his " Eighteen Decisive Reasons "^^ to explain his
position. Nothing points as yet to his later Anabaptist
views. He touches on justification by faith, good works,
the mass, images, the invocation of saints, the true minis-
try, ceHbacy, etc. The tract is dated 1524. But toward
the close of the year his views on baptism had settled into
a decided antipedobaptist tendency. He fully agreed on
this subject with Grebel and Manz, and, with them, in
January, 1525, held a public debate with Zwingli on this
subject. Consequently the magistrates of Ziirich decided
to enforce the Church laws in regard to infant baptism.
Grebel and Manz were ordered to cease their agitation;
Wilhelm Roublin, the priest of Wyttikon, was banished
and Hiibmayer was bundled off to his pastorate at Walds-
hutt. But the trouble was not so easily settled.

On the contrary, the opponents of Zwingli passed the
Rubicon, and in a private house at Zollikon, near Zurich,
on February 7, 1525, Manz created a new church, by in-
stituting believer's baptism by sprinkling. Hiibmayer
was baptized by Roublin a few weeks later. And now
began the last brief period of his life, as an active propa-
gandist for Anabaptism, which led to his martyrdom.

Conrad Grebel belonged to the highest social stratum
of the city, he was educated at Paris and brightly intel-
lectual. Felix Manz was also a scion of the patrician
families of the city, had studied at Basel, specialized in
Hebrew, and was, with Grebel, teaching in the Academy
of Ziirich. Wilhelm Roublin was a successful priest, thor-
oughly educated, and gifted as a popular orator. He
preached at St. Albans, in 1521, and later was priest at
Wyttikon, near Ziirich. He was an advanced reformer
and was openly married as early as 1523. In a public pro-
cession, he carried a finely bound Bible instead of the

*" Achtien Shiitreden, B. R. N., I, 121.

32 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Venerabile, crying out to the people, " Behold, this is your
Venerabile, this is the true sancutary, all the rest is but
dust and ashes."

Michael Sattler became a leader of the Swiss Anabap-
tists, after Manz and Grebel had died a martyr's death.
He also was a man of parts, well educated, and was a
monk of the monastery of St. Peter's, in the Black Forest.
Joining the ranks of the Anabaptists, he labored zealously
for the cause in Strassburg, on the upper Rhine and in
Hessia.

Such were some of the leaders of the Swiss Anabaptist
movement. They baptized by affusion. Dr. De Hoop
Scheffer quotes the Sabbata of J. Kessler, in stating their
practise: "There (at ZoUikon) was prepared water and,
if any one desired rebaptism, they pour a dish of water on
his head in the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Ghost." The only exception he had been able to
find was that of Wolffgang Holiman,

who on the way to Schaffhausen, met Conrad Grebel and, through
him, came to so profound a recognition of the need of rebap-
tism, that he declined to be simply aspersed with a dishful of
water, but was, wholly naked and bare, immersed and covered
in the Rhine outside, by Grebel.

All this is quoted from the Sabbata. De Hoop Scheffer
suggests that this was on the principle of Peter's cry,
" Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my
head." ««

The general mode of administering baptism was that
known and practised in Switzerland at that time.

Meanwhile the struggle between Zwingli and the bold
dissenters waxed hot. The ideals of the new movement
were wholly foreign to the plans and hopes of Zwingli.

^ Oversicht der Geschiedenis, 140, 141.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 33

He wanted to form a strong Protestant State Church;
they demanded a Church absolutely free from the State.
He wanted to reform the old ; they wanted to build some-
thing wholly new. He tolerated all who had been mem-
bers of the old Church ; they wanted a Church of believers
only. A compromise between views so manifestly dis-
similar was from the start impossible.

But they were free from revolution. Grebel could
freely write from his prison in 1524, that it would never
be found that he had ever raised rebellion, or had taught
or spoken anything, which could lead to it.^^ Yies, he
had corresponded with Miinzer, but this is what he had
written to him : ^^

The brother of Hariisen writes that thou hast preached against
the princes, that they ought to be attacked with the fist. Is this
true? Or if thou desirest to instigate war, I admonish thee to
abstain from it and to respect the property of all now and here-
after.

Meanwhile the Anabaptists were steadily increasing in
numbers and power. All eflforts to bring them peacefully
back to the fold of the Zwinglian Church failed; they
were well versed in the Scriptures, exceedingly strict in
their lives, and rigorous in their church discipline; and
yet they must be brought back in peace, if possible, other-
wise by persecution. And thus was written that dark
page in the history of Protestantism, which records the
treatment of the Anabaptists at the hands of their breth-
ren in Switzerland and elsewhere. It makes sad and
dreary reading for us, who live centuries away from those
opinionated days and who have a broader outlook.

^^ Brons, T. oder M., 28.

'"Idem. 29: Des Hariisen Brtider schreibt du habest wider die Fiirsten
gepredigt, doss man sie mit der Fanst angreifen solle. 1st es wahr? Oder
so du Krieg schiiren 'zvollest, so ermahne ich dich, Wollest davon abstehen
und aller Gut achten jetzt und hernach.

34 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

By 1525, the Anabaptist movement had become a
menace. But a year before, in February, 1524, the
magistrates of Ziirich had already begun to arrest Ana-
baptists, among whom were Grebel and Manz. Then
followed punitive edicts, a fine of a silver mark for re-
baptizing or being rebaptized, and exile for those who did
so in the future. All in vain !

As the pressure from without grew, the Anabaptist
faith expanded; they now added to it the policy of non-
resistance, the doctrine that no Christian could be a
magistrate or office-holder under the government, and
they forbade the oath.^^

The arrests increased, the council of the city showed
its hand more plainly, as the masses of the people every-
where seemed to be swayed by the perfervid oratory of
the Anabaptist preachers. It vras openly said, " In three
years the Anabaptists will have the majority in the city."
The persecution now began to increase in vehemence, as
it was seen that it was a war to the death between two
diametrically different faiths. By a new edict every one
was ordered to attend his parish church, and all were
forbidden to harbor or entertain any Anabaptist or to
give them either bed or board. The effect was negligible.

The council, now fully aroused, arrested Georg von
Chur and turned their attention to Manz, who was in
prison. An example must be made, and Manz was chosen
as the vicarious sacrifice for the sins of the whole party.
To the amazement of all, the judges condemned Manz to
death. Here is his sentence,^- and strange reading it
makes nearly four hundred years later:

Because he has baptized, against Christian regulations ; because
it was found impossible to bring him back from it, through any

" Idem, 29.

" Idem, 34.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 35

instruction or admonition; because he has planned to seek yet
others, who accepted Christ, beheve in him and follow him, and
to unite himself with some by baptism, allowing the others to
remain in their faith; because he and his followers have thereby
separated themselves from the Christian congregation and have
riotously joined themselves together, as a schism, and are trying
to organize themselves as a self-made sect, under the appear-
ance and cover of a Christian congregation; because he has
rejected capital punishment and has prided himself on sure
revelations from the epistles of the apostle Paul, for the sake
of a larger following; because such doctrines are injurious to
the general custom of Christendom and lead to scandal, tumult,
and rebellion against the government, to the disturbance of the
universal peace, brotherly love, and civic unanimity, and to all
manner of evil.

Therefore Manz shall be handed over to the executioner, who
will bind his hands, place him in a skiff, bring him to the lower
HiittH, move his bound hands over his knees, and push a stick
between his knees and elbows, and will thus bound, cast him into
the water, and let him die and corrupt in the water, and that
thus he shall have satisfied justice and right. And his goods will
be confiscated by my lords.

And this terrible sentence was executed, to the everiasting
shame of Zurich and of Zwingli, who might have stopped
-it, January 5, 1527, whilst Manz on his way to death was
singing, In manus tuas, domine, commendo spiritum
meum. The carnival of death now began.

Jacob Grebel, the father of Conrad, who had inter-
ceeded for the Anabaptists, though not one himself, was
beheaded. His son Conrad, weakened by imprisonment
and crushed by his father's shameful death, now cheated
the executioner, by dying in prison.''^

And yet notwithstanding the growing bitterness of
the persecution, the Anabaptist movement continued to
spread and to gain in volume. Falk and Reiman followed
Manz to a watery grave.

'3 Idem, 38.

36 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

By an edict of March 7, 1526, the government of Zurich
decreed that '* every one who baptized another would be
drowned without mercy."

It sounds Hke an echo of the cynical motto, ascribed to
Zwingli, by numerous historians. Qui iterum mergit, mer-
gatur.

The rider attached to this law reminds us of the days
of the Inquisition : " All those, who have recanted from
the Anabaptist faith, and then fall back or give any
succor to their former friends, are condemned to the
same death by drowning."

The diet of Spires, in 1529, made the extirpation of the
Anabaptists the duty of the empire, involving Catholics
and Protestants alike. No trial was even necessary be-
fore a spiritual judge. The mere fact that one was an
Anabaptist was in itself a death-warrant.^* In the Tyrol
and Gorz, by 1531, the number of martyrs exceeded one
thousand; Sebastian Franck, a year earlier, mentions
double the number. They were like sheep before the
slaughterer. But the persecutions were unable to destroy
them. In 1562, when Henry Bullinger reedited his great
work against the Anabaptists, written thirty years before,
they were yet strong enough, even in Zurich, to compel
such an effort, and he admits that their influence was then
felt, even in the council of the city.'^^

But they were like sheep without a shepherd, after that
first fiery persecution.

The following touching letter ^® was written by Hut or
Hutter to some nobleman who had befriended them. Ap-
preciating the fidelity and capacity of these people as
laborers in their fields, they had given them shelter and
work :

''Kurtz, "Ch. Hist.," II. 389. '^s Brons, T. oder M., 46, 47.

'■ B. R. N., VII, 269.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 37

We have told you, they say, by word of mouth and now tell
you again in writing that we have forsaken all manner of godless
life and have consecrated ourselves unto the Lord, to live accord-
ing to his divine will and to keep his commandments. And for
that reason we are persecuted and robbed of all our goods.
Therefore the prince of darkness has caused that terrible tyrant,
Ferdinand, that enemy of the divine truth, mercilessly to murder
many of us, to rob us of our possessions, and to drive us from
home and garden and farm. But now we have come to the land
of A'lahre and have lived here for a while, and last of all under
the marshal. We do not burden any man and have sustained
ourselves by hard labor, of which all must bear us witness.
But now the marshal has caused us to be driven from our homes
again with violence, and we are here in the wilderness, among
the wild heather, under the clear sky. . . Woe and woe again
to all, who without any reason, only on account of the divine
truth, scatter us ! God will require the innocent blood at their
hands, . . God, in heaven, grant to show us where we shall go.
We cannot permit ourselves to be forbidden the earth, for the
earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. And when God
shows us where to go or whether to stay here, we will follow his
will.

This letter cost Hutter his life, for Ferdinand caused
him to be apprehended, and his body to be burned at the
stake at Innsbruck, in 1535, after he had been killed in
an attempt to escape from prison. Thus his little flock
was left behind. But they had been strongly organized,
after a purely communistic type, which greatly reminds
us of the later Shakers. Only during the second half
of the century they obtained toleration, but they stood for-
ever apart from the other Anabaptists, and called them-
selves ** Hutterites " after their founder.

Hiibmayer died a martyr, by fire, at Vienna, March 30,
1528. A year before Michael Sattler had passed away, on
May 21, 1527. After the death of Manz and Grebel he
had become the true leader of the Swiss Anabaptists.
His death was specially soul-harrowing. The farewell

38 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

letter to his congregation, written from the prison-tower
at Bintzdorp, breathes even now a benediction upon us.
Who can doubt the deep piety of this man? How ten-
derly he admonishes his people to fight the good fight
of faith to the end; how he agonizes for their spiritual
well-being ; with what tenderness he commits to them his
" true sister," his wife, if he be sacrificed unto the Lord !
He closes with these words : '' I wait on my God ; pray
without ceasing for all captives; God be with you all;
Amen."

His martyrdom, under an imperial sentence, was dia-
bolically cruel. Of what was he accused? Listen:

1. He and his followers have acted against the decrees
of the emperor.

2. He has denied that the sacrament is the true body
and blood of Christ.

3. He rejects infant baptism.

4. Also the validity of the sacrament of oil, the sacra-
ment of the dying.

5. He has despised and rejected the Mother of God
and the Saints.

6. He rejects the oath.

7. He has introduced a new and unheard-of way of
administering the Supper, putting the bread and wine in
one plate.

8. He left holy orders and married a wife.

9. He professed unwillingness to war against the Turks
and, if war were right, he would rather fight Christians
than Turks.

Sattler admitted all these accusations — how puerile they
seem to us as we scan the list today — only, as to the
last point, he remarked that those who persecuted the
children of God were worse than Turks, "seeing they
were Turks after the spirit."

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 39

The sentence against Sattler was a frightful one, even
for that day:

Between the governor K. M. and M. S. it has been deemed
just that M. S. shall be handed over to the sheriff, who shall
take him to the market-place and cut out his tongue. Thereupon
he shall be cast on a cart and, then and there, the sheriff shall
twice tear his body with a red-hot pincers, and thereafter, as he
is brought before the gate, in the same way five times.

This being done [says the chronicle] he was burnt to ashes as
a heretic, his brethren were decapitated, the sisters drowned.
But his wife, after much praying, admonition, and threatening,
was also drowned, in great constancy, not many days after."

Thus died the man who, more than any other of the
Swiss Anabaptists, has influenced the subsequent history
of the Dutch Mennonites.

All the prominent leaders of the Swiss Anabaptists had
now been cut oif by the persecution. Manz and Grebel
were gone, Simon Stumpf was exiled, Ludwig Hatzer had
been beheaded at Kostnitz in 1529; Hiibmayer and Sat-
tler and Denck had all gone to their reward.

The prospects of the Anabaptists in Switzerland and
Austria were literally stamped out in blood; the sheep
were without a shepherd, and hundreds of them preferred
exile and a foreign home to the hopeless memories of
the past and the dreary outlook for the future.

Can we wonder that, in this night of gloom, the star
of chiliastic expectations began to twinkle ; that what little
of Munzerism had found lodgment in the hearts of the
Anabaptists should now assert itself in a violent reac-
tion against the unbearable conditions under which they
lived? By 1530, the fate of the upper-German Anabap-
tists was settled. Torn asunder, scattered, all but anni-
hilated, the surviving brethren led a pitiable life. In re-

^" B. R. N., V, 6so.

40 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

mote corners, under the shadows of the forest and in the
dead of night, the survivors met in sad conventicles and,
in sorrowful commemoration, kept alive the names of
those who had died for the common cause. Keller's pic-
ture of these conditions is very vivid.'^^

From the highlands of Central Europe the waters run
dovv^n in every direction, and, like these waters, the Ana-
baptists spread, from this common center, to all European
lands. But the great bulk of the exiles came down the
Rhine and the Rhone and found refuge in the remote
lands of Northern Europe and especially in Northern
Germany and the Lowlands

7. The Dawn of Anabaptism in Holland and its
Swift Spread

Traces of Anabaptists had been observed there, long
before the Swiss impulse was felt. Zichenis wrote, in
1523, and it is evident from his Sacramentorum Brevis
Elucidatio that by that time the Anabaptist propaganda
was well known in the Netherlands, or at least that the
ideas, which became fundamental in their faith, were well
known.*^^

But now the shores of the North German ocean and
of the Baltic became the veritable breeding-grounds of
the Anabaptist movement. The people grew with amazing
rapidity. It seemed as if the lands of the North had been
waiting for their coming. Especially the mass of the
common people " heard their doctrine gladly."

They grew to be specially numerous in Frisia, Gronin-
gen. East Frisia, Gelderland, Holland, and Brabant. But
the entire shore of the Baltic, as far as Livonia, soon knew
them; and they found special harborage in cities like

"^ Geshichte der Wiedertatifer, 47.
"B. R. N., Ill, 295 p.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 41

Bremen, Hamburg-, Liibeck, Wismar, Rostock, Stral-
sund, etc.

They were practically everywhere recognized as desira-
ble citizens ; quiet, industrious, obedient, thrifty, and God-
fearing— and yet they were hated. The fever of Miin-
zerism touched only a comparatively small faction of
them, and the bulk of the Anabaptists were not responsi-
ble for the excesses of the few. And yet, strange to say,
the thought of discriminating between them seems never
to have entered the mind of their opponents. The rare
volume, " Brotherly Union," ^^ is perhaps the first serious
effort ever made to weld the mass of these believers in a
common faith, into one homogeneous whole. Of this old
volume only one copy is known to exist. It treats of
seven articles, which had been adopted by the Baden
Anabaptists, and were now sent by the brethren who
had attended the convention there, to all fellow believers
as a circular letter. These articles touch baptism, the ban,
the Supper, the ministry, the sword, the oath, etc.^^ The
date is probably between 1550 and 1560. But the funda-
mental facts go much further back, for Sattler died in
1527, and as Sattler had written down these principles,
and as they became the constitutional foundation of the
Sattler group of Anabaptist churches, we find here per-
haps the oldest printed Anabaptist documents.

Zwingli knew them and fought them in his In Catabap-
tistarum Strophas Elenchus. Calvin had studied them,
because in 1544 he discussed them, in detail, in his Contre
les Erreurs des Anahaptistes. Dr. S. Cramer is right in
calling the tract " the fullest, most upright, and most at-
tractive self-confession of the original South-German
Anabaptists." ^^

8" Broederlicke Vereeniginge.

61B. R. N., V, 603. 82 B. R. N., V, 585.

42 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

It is unquestionable that even before the Munster
tragedy the conservatives were far stronger among the
Anabaptists than the radicals.

But, as has been said, everywhere the good were iden-
tified with the bad and, through the example of Switzer-
land and Germany, both were considered one with the
followers of Thomas Miinzer, and thus they shared in a
common persecution and denunciation.

8. They Were Universally Hated

Blaupot ten Gate tells us, '' About the year 1534 sud-
denly the placards against the Lutherans, formerly threat-
ened, are replaced by those against the Anabaptists." ^^
A common name was given to all preachers of the sect —
Rotgeesten ("Riotous spirits"). For the tragedy of
Miinster was now staged, every eye was turned to that
doomed city, and the universal hatred against the Ana-
baptists, of whatever type, was accentuated. " The ana-
thema of the ban, pronounced in Holland against antago-
nists of priestly privileges before the Inquisition, came
with sterner measures." ^* Everywhere voices were raised
against the hated sect, and such of them as were exiles
from Switzerland and Germany might well say, " One
woe is passed away, and lo, another cometh." The per-
secution in Holland lasted from 1530 till 1580, Garel van
Ghent tells us. It actually ceased with the " Pacification
of Ghent," November 8, 1576, but sporadic cases of
martyrdom occurred close up to the time mentioned by
the author. Thus Reytse Ayssens was burned at the
stake at Leeuwarden, in 1574.^^ And of all the countless
sacrifices demanded by the bigotry of Rome and Spain of

^ Gesch. der Doopsges. in Vriesland, 49.
^ Motley, " Dutch Republic," I, 69.
85 B. R. N., VII, 521.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 43

the restless Netherlands, the ratio of Anabaptist losses
to that of other Protestant bodies was ten to one.^®

But the bitterest thing of all was that the hatred of
their fellow martyrs was not a whit less vehement than
that of the Roman Catholics. Surely it makes humiliating
reading, when we scan the lines, burning with antagonism
and hatred, in which the Protestant contemporaries of
these early Dutch Anabaptists pour vitriol in the wounds
of these humble followers of Christ. " By their fruits
ye shall know them." What are we to think of Luther,
who attributes the marvelous courage and patience as-
cribed to these martyrs to " diabolical possession " ?

Fabritius, the great Reformed preacher, captured by
treachery, awaits his sentence at Antwerp, and a friend,
writing him an encouraging letter, uses this argument :^^

When you see that nowadays the poor Anabaptists, in great
droves, with all confidence, suffer many and various oppressions,
exiles, imprisonment, torture-chambers, fire, sword, water, and
many other ways of death, and this all — what a pity — for ugly
and slanderous errors.

No one pities them, as they do the other martyrs; they
stand alone, forsaken of all men in their misery.

Guido de Bres, author of the " Belgic confession " and
the most celebrated martyr of the Spanish Inquisition,
who died by hanging at Valenciennes in 1567, called the
Anabaptists " the tares in the wheat." Two years before
his death he wrote a book against them,^^ in which he
called them " a pest for the Netherlands " and bitterly
traduced them in every way.^^ Compelled to admit that
many Anabaptists were truly godly men, he falls back on
the maxim " Doctrine goes before life."

86 Brons, T. oder M.. 88. " B. R. N., VIII, 430.

^^ La racine, source et fondatnent des Anabaptistes. B. R. N., VII, 467.

8» B. R. N., VIII, 487-

44 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

When the stress of the persecution had risen to the
breaking-point and when, afraid of the ominous rumbHngs
in every direction, which presaged a coming storm, Mar-
garet and her advisers had devised a plan of moderation,
the Anabaptists were specifically excluded from its opera-
tion.*^^ In the inhuman placards of the day, the Ana-
baptists, one and all, were declared to be outlaws. Those
who were captured and repented, if men, were to be be-
headed; if women, drowned or buried alive. All their
teachers and all unrepenting captives were burnt at the
stake.

Two things, in the main, constituted the indictment
against them: they were indiscriminately accused of re-
belliousness, and they rejected infant baptism. The latter,
in view of the age-long doctrine of the Church of Rome
anent the absolute necessity of baptism to secure the sal-
vation of the child, must have appeared little less than
child-murder to their contemporaries.

An echo of this state of mind comes to us from the
Strassburg Disputation,^^ in which we read :

We wish that Hoffman would assign a cause for his raving
against infant baptism and prove its justice, since he has caused
many hundreds of his brethren to be strangled on account of
it, who were executed in many lands.

Luther says of the Anabaptists, " These wretches can
be held under neither by fire nor sword. They leave wife,
child, home, farm, and all they have." Melanchthon, once
in sympathy with the Zwickau prophets, said, " One need
not pity the Anabaptists, although one sees them die sted-
fastly for their faith, for they are hardened by Satan."
And Calvin and Zwingli were not a whit behind in their

«» Y. en D., Gesch. der H. K.. i, i8i.

w B. R. N., V, 304.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 45

harsh condemnation of the hated sect. All the Protes-
tant leaders of the day but swell the chorus of condem-
nation. Nowhere a word of pity or sympathy, every-
where this crass and utter rejection of all their claims
and pleas.

In the fullest sense they were the outcasts, the Ishmaels
of their day.

9. Constant Touch with England

During all this period large numbers of Anabaptists
were continually shifting between the European mainland
and England.

Whenever the pressure of the persecution rose beyond
the endurance-point on the Continent, and whenever con-
ditions in England seemed more favorable, they flocked
in large numbers to the great island kingdom, their last
hope and sanctuary.

Economic conditions in England always offered a ready
market for labor, and thus laborers were always welcome.
And as the Anabaptists, taught by bitter experience else-
where, generally were content to hide their identity, were
frugal and industrious, and proved acceptable in the vari-
ous— mostly humble — spheres, where they sought admit-
tance, they were generally well received and universally
kindly treated. Thus there was a great influx of Ana-
baptists in England during the whole reformatory period.

Large numbers came in 1528, and the flow continued
uninterruptedly till by 1573 it was estimated that there
were fifty thousand of them in the country. They natu-
rally congregated in certain fixed centers. Their strong-
holds were found in London, Norwich, Dover, Romeney,
Sandwich, Canterbury, Colchester, Hastings, etc. Many
of the earlier Anabaptist refugees were Hoffmanites,
later they were prevailingly of the Mennonite type.

46 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

" Every record of these people, during the sixteenth
century, indicates that they were foreigners, chiefly Dutch,
who made little if any impression on the people of Eng-
land, who were the last of any people to adopt anti-
pedobaptist sentiments." ^^ But only a small portion of
these thousands of immigrants ever repatriated them-
selves. The great bulk of them were amalgamated with
the English nation, and became a leaven for the sub-
sequent non-conformist movement in the English Church.
Of this point I will treat more fully hereafter.

The laws of the land were as bitter against them as
those of the Continent ; their only safety consisted there-
fore in lying hidden. Wherever they asserted themselves
and revealed their identity or showed any disposition to
thrust their peculiar views upon their environment, they
were in as mortal danger in England as in Holland.

The fact that the trials of Anabaptists in England are
practically negligible in number pleads for the theory of
a quiet, restrained life on their part in England, till the
middle of the eighteenth century, when they had liberty
to exercise their religion as well as the other non-con-
formist bodies; or on the other hand, that of a quite
general absorption of them by their environment.

It appears that Doctor Vedder is not quite justified in
the assumption that " the decline of the persecution on
the continent caused their numbers to dwindle till they
disappeared."

Too many traces of them are left in the non-conformist
life of England to accept this theory. They came to En-
gland in vast numbers, they remained there in large num-
bers; and they set their stamp as indelibly on the land
that gave them sanctuary as they did on the land of their
birth.

^ Newman, •' Hist, of Antiped.," 345. 346.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS

Two currents, as we have seen, flowed side by side
in the Anabaptist movement; it developed on parallel
lines: to the right, the conservative current; to the left,
the radical.

Doctor Vedder calls the Anabaptist efforts " the radical
Reformation." And in a way this is true of the entire de-
velopment, but it is true, in a special sense of that part
of it which we will consider in the present lecture.

In order that we may obtain a bird's-eye view of this
radicaHsm, it is best to group it under two heads; the
first is its theological aspect ; the seond, its economic and
social development.

I. THEOLOGICAL RADICALISM

Here several names immediately suggest themselves,
more or less familiar to the church historian — Melchior
Hoffman, David Joris, Hendrick Niklaes, Adam Pastor,
Sebastian Franck, and John Matthysz; the last, a man
of opinions less than a man of acts but, as the connect-
ing-link between Hoffman and Miinster, indispensable in
this galaxy of worthies.

1. Melchior Hoffman

As we have seen, the Anabaptists spread themselves
over all Europe, from the highlands of Central Europe
where they had originated. But the mightiest current
flowed toward the North.

48 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

In Wiirtemberg, Baden, the Palatinate, Hessia, and Thuringia,
they were soon so numerous that they constituted a popular
movement. Here even in the Middle Ages, groups and asso-
ciations had formed themselves, which turned their backs on all
dogmatic and ceremonial ecclesiasticism. The Reformation em-
bodied this spirit, and from these circles soon accessions came to
the Anabaptist movement.^

But here also it met with a crushing opposition. Always
north the current therefore sped, till it crossed even the
ocean waves and washed the shores of England.

In Holland the Anabaptists found the soil prepared for
the reception of the seed, for Lutheranism had made an
appeal to the national spirit and somehow had failed.
What pleased the Germans could not please the Holland-
ers. They are of a radically different psychological type.
There is far more spiritual kinship between the Scotch-
man and the Hollander than between the latter and the
German. Lutheranism never obtained a strong hold on
the Dutch mind. And what there had been of it in the
Lowlands had been practically stamped out by the heel
of persecution.

Moreover when the Anabaptist movement swept over
Holland, Calvinism had not yet appeared in sufficient
strength to make a deep impression.

Let us therefore beware of underestimating the initial
success of Anabaptism in this part of Europe. It came
almost with the shock of a spiritual impact. It spread
like wild-fire among the masses of the people, in every
direction, but it held a special fascination for the inhabi-
tants of the Northern provinces. Not that its powerful
influence was not felt in the Southern provinces as well ;
but it seemed as if the Anabaptist current, rushing north-
ward, had reached the ocean and recoiling upon itself

* Brons, T. oder M., 54.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 49

had subsided at last in the spot where further progress
was a physical impossibihty.

And of this impact, of this tremendous initial success,
Melchior Hoffman was the leader. A. Brons calls him
"the father of the Dutch Baptists"" {Doopsgezinden),
and justly so.

In distinction from the Swiss Anabaptist leaders, Mel-
chior Hoffman was a man of the people, a craftsman, by
trade a furrier, wholly an autodidact ; whose library con-
sisted of one book, the Bible, and whose schooling was of
the most meager kind.

Originally closely attached to Luther, he soon drifted
away from Wittenberg with all its influences, and, in his
wanderings, finally reached the city of Strassburg, where
he joined the Anabaptists, in 1529, the same fatal year in
which they were declared outlaws throughout the entire
empire.

I have called attention to the fact that the reaction of
these terrible days produced among a certain type of
Anabaptists decidedly fanatical and chiliastic propensities.
Hoffman identified himself, heart and soul, with this
group; he began to study the prophecies, he received
visions and began to consider these as direct divine reve-
lations.

A man of a nervous temperament, with a fiery tongue
and a burning imagination, he was soon at the very fore-
front of the throng of visionists, who imagined they saw,
in the clouds of the distant horizon, the picture of their
deliverance and glory. Christ was coming, the millen-
nium fast approaching, the days of their warfare were al-
most over. Oh to be ready, with lamps trimmed and
burning, when the bridegroom came !

This furrier, untaught by man, began now to create,

* Brons, T. oder M., 54.
D

50 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

from the Scriptures and from his hypersensitive imagina-
tion, an eschatological structure which for a few years
was to cast its shadows over all Northern Europe. Strass-
burg was to be the " new Jerusalem," descending from
God out of heaven ; the two witnesses were to appear, and
of these two he was the first, even " Elijah."

He now began to move restlessly, like a wandering
Jew, from place to place, especially through the Nether-
lands and East Frisia. At Embden alone he baptized
three hundred people, among whom was Jan Volkerts,
surnamed Trypmaker, from his handicraft. This con-
vert of Hoffman was destined indirectly to point the way
to Miinster. With him Hoffman traversed Holland from
end to end, preaching, prophesying, baptizing everywhere.
As moths are attracted by the candle, so were men and
women attracted by his fiery pictures of the coming of
Christ, of the destruction of the wicked, and of the glory
in store for all true believers. Literally thousands were
baptized by Hoffman and Trypmaker. Like the breath of
the Lord in the valley of dead men's bones, the message
of this fervid chiliasm passed from lip to lip and from
heart to heart, and the words of the preacher burned
like fire in their bones.

But as the time v^s short and the millennium sure to
begin at Strassburg in 1533, Hoffman hied himself thither,
leaving Trypmaker behind in Holland to encourage the
saints. Alas, on his arrival in the city, he was appre-
hended, tried, convicted, and imprisoned till his death,
ten years later.

His fanaticism consisted of two things: First, he
preached a sudden imminent change in the course of
events ; and secondly, he assured himself that that which
he conceived possible would certainly come to pass. He
was therefore thoroughly wrapped up in himself and

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 51

utterly self-deceived.^ Zur Linden denies that Hoffman
was a chiliast. He tells us that he pictured to himself,
in the coming revolution, some such event as had con-
stituted former historical crises, say the period of John
Huss and his revolt against existing conditions.* But if
Zur Linden is correct in this judgment, why did Hoffman
call himself " EHjah," one of the " two witnesses " of
Revelation ? In his '' Ordinance of God " ^ lie the seeds
of the revolutionary outbreaks of his followers, who, as is
generally the case, were to go far beyond the master.
He there reminds his readers that " those who believe will
sit with Christ in his throne and will rule over the Gen-
tiles." ^ Surely the harvest of the Miinster tragedy lay
in the teachings of this man, as any harvest lies in the
seed scattered by the sower.

The whole recital of the Strassburg disputation, June
3-15, 1533, on which Hoffman was condemned to life-
long imprisonment, is found in the Bibliotheca Reforma-
toria Neerlandica, all the Reformed preachers of the city
being arrayed against the accused and Schwenkf eld.

The Acta of this meeting contain the entire proces ver-
bal of all its transactions. They are a perfect word-
picture of what transpired there and, though written by
an opponent of Hoffman, were never seriously questioned
as to their historicity or correctness. They were orig-
inally published in German, but immediately translated
into Dutch, on account of the large following Hoffman
had secured in the Lowlands.

In the introduction we are told by Martin Butzer, the
editor, that besides the commonly accepted Anabaptist
vagaries, some of these Strassburg Hoffmanites lived

^B. R. N., V, 129.

* M. H., Ein Prophet der IViedcrtdtifer, 199.

^ Ordonantie Gods.

«B. R. N., V. 154,

52 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

very impure lives, and, when accused of it, they answered
'' that they did not sin in these things, for they can no
longer sin, their old Adam is dead." "^ Strip this of all
partisanship, and there is still ground to believe that the
antinomian spirit, later so familiarly known among the
Hoffmanites, was even then at work at Strassburg, and
waited only for a more favorable environment.

The fanaticism there had risen to the boiling-point.
One Leonard Joesten and his wife Ursula were said to be
divinely inspired, as they prophesied. These prophecies
were eagerly published by Hoffman and, in 1532, they
had passed through a second edition. They are now,
alas, utterly lost. If we had them, we would be able to
see more clearly to what extent Hoffman was really re-
sponsible for the Miinster disaster.

According to these prophecies, the light was to go forth
from Strassburg, which was to enlighten the whole world.
The baptism with water was offered to the whole world,
but for those who had persecuted the saints there was
to be a baptism of blood, etc. And Hoffman claimed
that these prophecies were as valuable as those of Isaiah
or Jeremiah.^

When the " disputation " was over, his case was
summed up as follows by the judges:

1. He denies both the divinity and humanity of Christ.

2. He denies the prescience of God, and the doctrine of
election. He impugns the plan of salvation and teaches
an absolutely free will.

3. He attacks the comfort of the consciousness of the
forgiveness of sin.

4. He assigns infant baptism to the devil and disrupts
the communion of saints.®

^ Intr. to Disp., B. R. N., V, 222.

8B. R. N., V, 226, Aant, 4. ^ B. R. N., V, 308.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 53

The Strassburgers evidently looked upon him as a
dreadful heretic ; as we see him, he was rather a vacillat-
ing and weak man. In his Das XII Cap. des Daniels aus-
gelegt, 1526, he had denied the freedom of the will, and
before his death, he " recanted most of his strange ideas
and said he no longer believed that the last day was
near." ^^ Evidently his spirit was broken by his long
imprisonment. Trypmaker, his Dutch disciple, had al-
ready sealed his faith with his blood, December 5, 1531, at
the Hague. Poor Hoffman! When he was led away to
prison — and those medieval prisons were no rest-houses —

he had lifted up his hand toward heaven and swore by God, who
lives there for ever and ever, that he would neither use food nor
drink, but bread and water, before he had pointed his finger
to Him who had sent him.

Did he keep his oath all these endless, tragic, ten years ?
With his death the Strassburg Hoffmanites died out.

2. David J oris

David Joris was born at Delft and was ordained as an
Anabaptist bishop by Obbe Philips, at Delft, either in
1535 or 1536; at least about the same time with Derek
Philips and Menno Simons.^^ For a while he was with
Hoffman at Strassburg. In 1545 he attended the dispu-
tation at Liibeck, with Menno and others, and took an
active part in the discussion. He has been called " the
arch-heretic " among the Anabaptists and he was always
named in the same breath with Sebastian Franck. Mar-
nix van Aldegonde, the celebrated Reformed statesman
and theologian, stigmatizes him as the " greatest heretic
among them all." ^^

" Brons, T. oder M., 57-

" Succ. Anab., B. R. N., VII, 45-

^■' B. R. N., X, 475.

54 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

His industry was marvelous, for two folios and more
than a thousand tracts remain from his hand. Both
Dr. A. M. Cramer ^^ and Doctor Nippold ^* have shed
a wonderful light on this singular character. And yet
Dr. S. Cramer admits that still much about David Joris
and his doctrines remains dark and uncertain.^^ So much
is sure, that he was extremely egoistic and considered
himself the " true David," the acme and final consumma-
tion of the revelation of God. Even Christ was only the
shadow of the coming glory realized in him. With him
all revelation reached its adult state, he ushered in the
final stage of the development of the kingdom of God.
V. P., the unknown author, in his Successio Anahaptistica,
summarizes the doctrines of David Joris, as follows : ^^

1. All revelation, hitherto given by Moses, the prophets,
Christ, and the apostles, are now null and void for salva-
tion. They were only temporary expedients, till the time
of David Joris.

2. David Joris is the true Christ and Messiah.

3. Christ did not rise in the flesh, but is now reincar-
nated in David Joris.

4. D. J. can absolutely pardon sin, and can also damn
forever; and, at the last day, he will judge the world.

5. D. J. will again raise the House of Israel and the
true children of Levi, with the true tabernacle of God;
not by the way of the cross and of death, like the other
Christ, but with mercy, love, and grace.

Blasphemous and ridiculous claims, you say; but tell
me how could one, with such claims, in a period so un-
settled, and with thousands longing for any change that
offered, help gaining a tremendous following?

12 Het Ned. Ar chief v. Kerkgesch.
1* Zeitschrift filr die Hist. Tkeologie.
«B. R. N., VII, 282.
i«B. R. N., VII, 48.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 55

His bold assumption, his fiery oratory, his hysterical
utterance, both in his public address and in his writings
frequently bordering on absolute blasphemy, made it in-
evitable. For example : ^"

Come hither to me and listen to me. Come, ye that are
athirst, to the waters of life, to the fountain of wisdom in the
highest. Yea, ye that are at your wits' end, who have no
money, come buy, that ye may have to eat. . . Hear, hear, ye that
have the fear of the Lord, listen, listen to the voice of the
trumpet. Wake up ! Wake up ! Wake up ! Rouse yourselves,
more, still more, yet more, more, more ! No, still more and
more and still more! Look, look now, expect your God.

Sentences like these strike one like a hammer. There
is an echo in it all of the style of Miinzer. In all ages
and among all peoples there is always a stratum of stupid
admirers of the marvelous and the bizarre, who are
caught in that sort of net. Who can wonder that in
the restless days, in which these words were spoken or
rather flung out among masses wholly estranged from
the Church, whose entire religious consciousness was in
a state of flux, such an appeal must have been strangely
fascinating to the common people, especially those of an
emotional temperament ? When, later on, the Mennonites
were organized, they forbade the reading of the books
of David Joris to their members, on pain of the ban.^^
And small wonder, for Joris denied all the cardinal
articles of the Christian faith. He sought the kingdom
of God in this world, denying both heaven and hell. He
was accused of immorality,^^ since he taught that the
acts and words of the believer do not affect the holiness
of his heart in the least. He taught that believers, in
order to escape persecution, may safely take part in the

" B. R. N., VII, 378, 379.
"B. R. N., VII, 416.
"B. R. N., VII, 283, 302.

56 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Romish ceremonies, if only they set not their heart on
them. His main ideas apparently were these: First, the
Scriptures, their commands and ceremonies, must not be
taken literally, but must be translated into the terms of
one's environment. Not the letter, but the spirit, that is
the value one sets on the letter, counts — an idea which re-
minds us of Ritschl's Werthurtheil. And secondly, the be-
liever is a changed man, drastically changed ; he lives not
only in a different sphere of thought, but in a really new
world, he stands individually before the great question
of life and salvation. No church, no theology, no dogma
can help him. God lives in and with believers, in a sense
they are deified. All searching after God and all philoso-
phizing about him are unnecessary ; tKe believer has God.
Such was the theology of David Joris.

For a while he had a large following. But the Ana-
baptists had excommunicated him, and the Inquisition
tried very hard to lay hands on him. Had he been caught,
his punishment would have been exemplary. But he dis-
appeared completely. For many years he lived unrecog-
nized at Basel, under the assumed name of Johan van
Brugge, and when he died he received a notable, almost
an official funeral. Three years after his death, it was
discovered whom the city had harbored so many years.
His body was exhumed, a regular trial was held over it,
and the poor remains, together with a large box of his
books and his portrait, were burned at the stake, by the
executioner, in 1556.^°

3. Hendrick Niklaes

Running somewhat on parallel lines with the David-
Jorists, the faction among the Anabaptists created by
Hendrick Niklaes was yet distinct from them. But he

2«B. R. N., VII, 274.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 57

was of the same general type with David Joris, whose
correspondent he was.

He claimed to usher in a complete state of sinlessness,
of absolute perfection, when he founded the " House or
Family of Love." Like David, he taught that all former
revelations, imperfect as they were, now had reached their
ultimate in him. The past had done its work, it was
irrevocably cast aside. No more doctrine or sacraments,
all these were dead, mere works of childhood; with him
the period of adolescence was ushered in. Acts do not
count, only what one feels and believes counts ; and love
is the one thing in life. Remain in the Church, if you will,
or leave it, if you will, it is all the same. When the heart
is right, all else is. His contemporaries accused him of
shocking immorality and of teaching free love. It is
certain that his teaching had a distinct antinomian ten-
dency.

In a little book, still found in the Mennonite library at
Amsterdam, published in 1546, and entitled " Of the
Spiritual Land of Promise, of the Heavenly Jerusalem,
and the Holy People, written by Niklaes," ^^ we read
things like these:

Nothing unclean is to be seen in each other, it is all divine and
holy and good. Because it is all God's handiwork, they are not
ashamed of it, nor do they cover their members from each
other* , . And thus God views the noble man in his nakedness
and man also views the glorious God in his divine nakedness.
And this is pleasing to God that all coverings and all protec-
tions and all middle walls of partition be removed from his
handiwork, in order that God may recognize it as good, as he has
made it.

Niklaes specifically defends " spiritual marriage " in his
" Spiritual Law and Promise," and thus we see one of

^ B. R. N., VII, Nic, /«/.. 304.

58 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

the modern Mormon doctrines grin at us from the gray
past. Strange is it not, how little that is really new there
is under the sun.^-

What Niklaes teaches had been taught and practised
before his day. For the " Adamites " of Hussite days
had held similar views. And the Libertines who were
Calvin's mortal enemies at Geneva evidently had come in
touch with the House of Love. And the so-called
" Naked-runners " (Naaktloopers) among the Anabaptist
fanatics, who in this period appeared in many cities, in
serious disturbances, were manifestly disciples of Niklaes.
The sect was transplanted to England, where they were
known as Familists, with a very unsavory reputation,
and where they lay under the imputation of serious im-
morality.

4. Adam Pastor

Here we meet with a man of a different stamp, radical,
as were the others mentioned, but of a far more danger-
ous type. His original name was Roelof Martens. He
was a Westphalian by birth and had been in holy orders,
inasmuch as he was a converted monk or priest. Among
several others he was sent out as an Anabaptist (Doops-
gezinde) bishop by Derek Philips and Menno Simons,
between 1543 and 1547 — when is not exactly known.
He became a strong antagonist of the David Joris party
and of the " House of Love." His mind was too clear,
his eye too sharp, his thoughts too profound to be de-
ceived or attracted by such vagaries. He was unques-
tionably the most brilliant man and scholar in the entire
Dutch Anabaptist community of his day. In him we
find all the boldness, all the self-assertiveness of the later
Dutch '' Moderns " and a forecast of many of their doc-

22Nic., Inlass., B. R. N., 304, 306.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 59

trines. He was a born liberal and wholly unafraid to
state his views. Dr. S. Cramer heralds Pastor as one
*' in whom we most purely meet that which gave its
peculiar cachet to the ' brotherhood/ at least in our coun-
try ; " ^^ which clearly indicates the doctrinal position of
the Dutch Mennonites in our day.

Adam Pastor, in his earlier ministry, had a decided
leaning to the Catholic doctrine of the incarnation, which
was utterly different from that of Menno Simons. Hence
the indecisive disputation of Embden in 1547, where they
covered this point in a lengthy debate. That debate
formed a crisis in the life of Pastor ; his views changed
completely and he became an avowed anti-Trinitarian.
After the disputation of Goch, which followed soon after
that of Embden, where Pastor avowed his change of
opinion and openly expressed his new views, he was de-
posed from the Anabaptist ministry and excommunicated
by Philips and Menno. But he retained a large following
and labored on the lower Rhine. His followers were
named " Pastorites " and after his death were gradually
absorbed by the other parties among the Anabaptists ; by
the Baptists (Doopsgesinden) to the largest extent, and
by the later Socinians.

It is said that Menno Simons, when an old man, de-
plored his act of '* banning " Pastor ; at least he wrote, in
1550, whilst he deplored the fact that they had disputed
about such matters as the divinity of Christ and of the
Holy Spirit, " May the Lord not impute it as a sin to
them, who allowed it to come to the ban." ^^

Surely Menno Simons banned or helped to ban many
a man for far more insignificant lapses than those of
Adam Pastor. The latter, however, apparently felt the

23Intr. Underscheit, etc., B. R. N., V, 355-

^ Een vennanende Belvdinge van den drie-eenigen, eexiungen en waren
God; M. S. Op. Ornn,, Amsterdam, 1681, fol. 385.

6a THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

sting of this ban to the end of his Hfe. It was a wound
that never healed.

The principal writing of Pastor has been preserved for
us, although only one copy, so far as known, remained
when it was reprinted in the Bibliotheca, and from it we
learn to know the exact theological opinions of the
author.2^ Its title is " Difference between True Doctrine
and False Doctrine." -^

He denied the Trinity, the preexistence of Christ, and
the personality of the Holy Ghost. He evinced little sym-
pathy with Paul, whose doctrine of salvation was ap-
parently repugnant to him. Christ, his life, his words —
that is the content of his religion. He was totally averse
to the Miinster spirit, evidently a man of a clean life and
a kindly disposition. He sided with the other Anabap-
tists in the rejection of infant baptism; but was against
the overvaluation of adult baptism on faith.^^ But he
condemned the position of the David-Jorists, who, al-
though they called themselves Anabaptists, permitted in-
fant baptism, because they had no faith in any external
application of the sacrament.^^

Such a man was Adam Pastor, whom we will meet
again.

His influence survived for a long time, for as late as
1628, some Flemings, the " Contra-house-buyers " (Con-
tra-hniskoopers) — a great name for a sect of believers —
are mentioned as adherents of Arius and Adam Pastor.
He unquestionably prepared the way for the reception
of Socinianism in Northern Europe and inoculated Ana-
baptism with it. His motto evidently was Infelligo ut
credam; what he could not understand he would not be-
lieve— pure rationalism therefore.

25 B. R. N., V, 315-581.

26 Underscheit tusschen Rechte Leer unde Valsche Leer, Dorch A. P.
=" B. R. N.. V, 419. 28 B. R. N., V, 477.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 61

5. Sebastian Franck

Sebastian Franck was a man of the same general type
as Pastor. Dr. S. Cramer does not hesitate to rank
him as one of the early independent Anabaptist leaders,
whose followers were called " Franconists." ^^ With Pas-
tor, he bitterly opposed the Miinster party, although he
says, in his " Chronicles," of the same period, " I con-
sider it true and I fully believe that many pious, simple
folk have been and still are in this sect, and that many,
even of the leaders, were zealous for God." The same
testimony was borne by Martin Biitzer, who lived and
labored four years among them; and in that same spirit
Menno Simons unquestionably called them " his dear
brethren."

Franck was a liberal par excellence among these early
Anabaptists. He rejected the Church as an institution,
with her dogmas and sacraments, and taught an undog-
matic, antiecclesiastical type of Christianity, entirely de-
pending on individual convictions.^^ Even among the
radicals he is a radical. He considers the inward testi-
mony of the Spirit far superior to the Word of God, and
utterly denies the doctrine of the Trinity, whilst he de-
rides preaching and preachers and the sacraments. The
Church of God is found everywhere; not only among
Christians, but also among Jews, heathen, and Turks.
Every one who fears God is our brother, even though
he never heard of baptism. The ban and foot-washing
seemed to him ridiculous inventions of man. No one is
worthy the name of preacher, except he be called by a
voice from heaven. Since, however, the entire apostolic
tradition is abandoned and overturned, the Church will
remain a hopeless makeshift till the end of time. And

^ B. R. N., VII, 280.
"« Idem.

62 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

no man has the right to gather the dispersed body of
Christ, unless God specifically commissioned him to do
so.^^ A cheerful sort of religion.

But Franck was a tireless worker. He wrote " Chron-
icles from the Time of Creation till 1536"; "World-
book, the Mirror and Image of the Whole Earth," printed
at Delft in 1583; a " Golden Ark," 1560; and a " Con-
cordance or the Sealed Book, Closed with Seven Seals."

As late as the first half of the seventeenth century, he
had many followers and admirers in Holland. Chief
among these was Dirck Volkertszoon Coomhert, the au-
thor of " The Art of Living Well " (Welhevenskunst) , a
book which largely influenced the Arminian tendency
in the Netherlands, in the Reformed Church. It would
seem therefore as if some of Franck's ideas, through
Coornhert, might have sprouted up again in that his-
torical controversy. Nor is this a far-fetched supposition.

Dr. F. Pyper tell us : ^2

Coornhert criticized Philips severely. On the other hand, he is
a great admirer of Franck. A number of Coornhert's writings
afford evidence that he has been subjected to a large degree to
his influence.

We will later meet the point of contact between these
two again.

Marnix, of Aldegonde, the great statesman and friend
of William of Orange, outlines the ideas of Franck after
this manner : ^^

He teaches that the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments are not the word of God, but only a shadow of
the word, a manger of Christ, a monstrance, an ark, a sheath,

^iB. R. N., X, 481-S08.

"2 B. R. N., X, 475.

•^2 Ph, M- van Aldegonde, Wederlegginge der Geestdryxnsche Leere,

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 63

a lantern, a witness, a lost and closed book, yea death only
and eternal darkness, wherewith Christ and all pious people are
killed. That nothing in all the world is less to be considered
the word of God than those Scriptures, if one understands them
externally, as they sound after the letter, because they are an
eternal allegory, that is, they have a hidden meaning, the very
opposite of the literal meaning. Yea one might almost as easily
give an account of Ovid's De Arte Amandi, a book full of terrible
immorality, as of the Scriptures, if they are to be literally un-
derstood.

So much is certain that, if possible, Franck went even
beyond David Joris and Adam Pastor in the liberalism
of his ideas. Was I right in calling these men the leaders
of the theological radicalism of the Anabaptists ?

II. THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
RADICALISM

As we have seen, the social condition of the common
people, at the time of the Reformation, was deplorable in
the extreme. In a rare little volume, written by Lamber-
tus Hortensius, of Montfoort, rector of the Latin school
of Naarden, which treats of the riots of the Anabaptists,
the theory is advanced that the great controversial tract
of Martin Luther on " The Freedom of the Christian
Man," wrongly understood by the masses of the people,
led to the socialistic disturbances, which culminated in
the Miinster tragedy.^* This seems an extremely far-
fetched explanation. For although the year of the ap-
pearance of this work of Luther, 1524, makes the con-
jecture historically possible, we are not to forget that
Luther was not largely read, was indeed persona non
grata in the circles where these Anabaptist disorders
specially revealed themselves.

3* Verhael v. d. Oproeren, 3.

64 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Dutch Anabaptists heralded the Miinster kingdom ; they
were the leaders in all the tragic developments in the
episcopal city, and they attempted several coups of a like
character with the Miinster calamity, in several cities in
the Lowlands. And in all these circles Luther was hated
almost as much as the pope of Rome. This view of Hor-
tensius may then be set aside as a mere speculation.

It was rather an echo, in the history of the development
of Anabaptism, of the teachings of Thomas Miinzer.
The latter had proclaimed everywhere that '* the common
people were oppressed with heavy burdens and tolls,
that they were steadily overworked and, in addition to
that, could scarcely get enough food to live on, and that
all wealth was in the hands of the princes." ^^ His re-
bellion had been a terrible experience for Germany, and
a costly lesson for the rebels; since over one hundred
thousand are said to have perished in the peasant wars
by which the Miinzer rebellion was crushed.®®

But the teachings of Miinzer were not dead. They
spread far and wide and mutterings were heard on every
hand, in lands far removed from the seat of the peasant
wars. It was a disease with a local outbreak, but which
affected the whole social life of the sixteenth century.
The entire proletariat was affected by this revolt, and
again and again the fire broke out in widely separated
places.

Now into all this inflammable material had fallen the
firebrands of the fanatical, chiliastic preaching of Melchior
Hoffman. Hundreds of people joined the ranks of his
followers, not from deeply religious convictions, but for
a change whatever it might be; for the excitement it
would bring; for an outlook, vague and ill defined for
the time being, but full of promise for the future, in

^ Verhael v. d. Oproercn, 4. ^e idem, 6.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 65

vvhich the terrible power of oppression would be broken
and the coming millennium would usher in a wholly new
order of things and absolute social equality.

To these were added malignant elements among the
lower orders, vultures of prey, then as now ever ready
to join a movement which promised gain and an outlet
for their evil passions.

Van Lennep,^" Ypey and Dermout,^^ Fruin,^^ and Mot-
ley,*** all pour out the vials of their historic wrath on the
heads of the actors in the drama of 1534-1535,

The fate of Europe hung in the balance; what Bol-
shevism is today, radical Anabaptism was then. The
Miinster tragedy was an epoch, it was the hinge on which
the future of Europe turned. Success for the Miinsterites
would have brought chaos to the whole continent, for
Argus eyes in every city were watching the experiment.
As it was, the Miinster experience wrought irreparable
harm to the Reformation, and thousands, who blindly
identified all branches of Protestantism with those riotous
Anabaptists, drew back with a sigh of relief in the em-
brace of the old Church, which after all seemed like
a harbor of refuge in the dreadful cataclysm of human
passions.

The communism practised by the Miinster Anabaptists
was no new thing. We have met it among the followers
of Hut, the so-called " Meerlanders," the Anabaptists of
Mahren, Moravian Anabaptists therefore. They were
separated from the Germans for this very reason. On
account of this communism, which they adopted because
they read in the Scriptures that it was practised in the
apostolic Church (Acts 2 : 44, 45; 4 : 34, 35; 5 : 1-10),

^ Geschiedenis van Nederland, I, 212 p.
^ Geschiedenis der Hervormde Kerk, I, 130, Note 97.
^Tien Jaren uit den Tachtig-jarigen Oorlog, 237.
" " Dutch Republic," 79.

66 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

some were burnt at the stake. *^ The same authority-
tells us that the Mahren Anabaptists had church-officers,
whom they called oeconomicos or stewards. All the mem-
bers together had a kitchen-purse (Koecborse), from
which all drew according to their need.^-

The estimate of Anabaptism by Doctor Vedder, in view
of the Miinster tragedy, seems amazing. Says he :*^

They alone accepted in absolute good faith and followed to its
necessary consequences the principle avowed by the leading re-
formers, that the Scriptures were the sole source of religious
authority. . . They were centuries in advance of their time, in
perceiving that the good news of salvation, as taught by Jesus,
was a social gospel, and that the acceptance of it implied and
necessitated a reconstruction of society, until all institutions
could endure the measurement of the golden rule. In a word,
the Anabaptists were the real reformers of the sixteenth century.

In a foot-note the author qualifies this sweeping state-
ment and says that some of them now would be called
" anarchists " and " communists."

All the radical elements, which we have studied up to
this point evidently can lay no claim to the title of " real
reformers of the sixteenth century " ; the Miinsterites
assuredly do not deserve the title, and of the Anabaptists
in general it is certainly untrue. The inherent faults of
their whole organization forbade them from making a
deep and lasting impression anywhere. A reformation,
along the lines laid down by the Anabaptists, would have
ended in dismal failure. Here, I think, we have a clear
case of " Distance lends enchantment to the view."

The more intimately one studies the Anabaptist move-
ment the deeper the conviction grows of its inherent
weakness.

*iNic., Inlass., B. R. N., VII, 467.

*2Idem, 474.

«"Ref. in Germ.," 345.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 67

However we may try to discriminate between them,
prior to the Miinster tragedy they were all called Ana-
baptists. Under that name they figure in all the docu-
ments of the Bibliotheca, and we gravely doubt whether
Doctor Vedder's statement can stand the test of an un-
prejudiced historical criticism.

Keller has justly said : " The Reformation originally
was largely negative. Masses of the people left Rome,
but they got nothing in its stead." Luther called the
condition of the Church, in 1529, " most miserable. The
common people learn nothing and know nothing. They
no longer attend the confession or go to the Lord's Sup-
per, as if they were totally free from the experience of all
religion."

And these conditions prevailed in the Netherlands to
an alarming degree. Lutheranism had been practically
killed by persecution. Calvinism had not yet made its
appearance there, at least not to any extent. In the in-
terval, the gospel of Melchior Hoffman, who had passed
through the Lowlands with the swiftness of a meteoric
flight, had deeply stirred the masses. His announcement
of a glorious future, bright like the morning-star, set their
souls afire. Trypmaker, his disciple, had taken up the
task of inspiring the people, after the master's departure.

And now " Elijah " languished in prison and Tryp-
maker had fallen a martyr to the cause. Every eye was
strained to see the signs of the times, every ear listened
eagerly to catch the footfalls of the coming Redeemer.
Thus the year 1533 passed away. Would Hoffman's
prophecy be fulfilled and would the promised " Enoch "
appear? The year was almost passed, when first in
whispers, then like a clap of thunder the news was heard :
" He has come, the time is at hand." Trypmaker, before
his death, had dropped his mantle on the shoulders of the

68 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

man of destiny, and that man was a baker from the city
of Haarlem, John Matthysz, who startled his hearers
by solemnly averring that he was the expected " Enoch,"
and thus he began his mission of death and revolution.

He started out comparatively calmly, but soon his in-
nate fanaticism burst out in lurid flames, as he boldly
raised the cry, " Take the sword and slay, the unbe-
lievers must be rooted out." At the start he met with
some doubt and opposition, but in a little while his fol-
lowers were completely hypnotized by his frenzied ap-
peals, and soon he was the acknowledged prophet of the
Dutch Anabaptists.

He was a man of unsavory reputation, but of great
personal magnetism and courage. Tiring of his aging
wife at Haarlem, he had hypnotized a beautiful young
woman of that city, the daughter of a respectable brewer,
and persuaded her to follow him to Amsterdam.** Thence
he sent out apostles, whom he appointed, two by two ; and
it was through the twain sent into Vriesland, Bartholo-
mew Boeckbinder and Dirk Cuyper, that the link was
established between the Matthysz-Anabaptists and the
party which was to be regenerated through the labors of
Menno Simons. For from them Obbe Philips received
his mission, which he in turn handed over to his brother
Derek and Menno Simons, who were destined to become
the leaders of the reformed Anabaptists.

The prophetic promise now was scattered abroad, " that
God in a short time would purge the earth of all those
who shed blood, all tyrants and unbelievers." *^

Meanwhile all eyes were turned to Miinster, where the
Reformation had triumphed and where great things might
be expected for the fanatical Anabaptists. Among the

**Succ. Anah., B. R. N., VII, 30.
*^Bek. O. Ph., B. R. N., VII, izg.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 69

disciples sent out, two therefore were despatched to Miin-
ster, Gerritt Boeckbinder and John of Leyden.

1. The Miinster Tragedy

John Matthysz claimed to have received a revelation
that this city was destined to be the " New Jerusalem,"
not Strassburg, as Hoffman had prophesied. As a spark
in a magazine, this news acted on the tense, hysterical
mood of his adherents. " Blind masses from the Low-
lands, Westphalia, and East Frisia, following their inward
compulsion, began to march to Miinster, there to take
part in the victory of the believers." *^ They were prom-
ised that, if they left all, they would not lack anything,
their shoes would not wear out, their clothes would be
like iron, nor need they care for any sustenance; for
they would be either spiritually nourished or food would
be sent to them from heaven.*^

The most illuminating recital of what transpired in
Miinster, between 1533 and 1535, which I have read,
is the wonderful book of Dr. Ludwig Keller, Geschichte
der Wiedert'dufer und ihres Reichs zu Miinster}^ He has
the more right to a candid hearing, because as State
archivarius he had access to documents hopelessly be-
yond the reach of others. Kersenbroick's story, as that
of an eye-witness, heretofore was one of the chief sources
for all research work in this direction. But as he had
been burgomaster of the city and one of the councilors,
later on a follower of John of Leyden, and yet was only
exiled after the fall of Miinster, his testimony seems
somewhat clouded and open to suspicion. A more reliable
and astonishingly vivid story is that told by another, eye-
witness, Hendrich Dorpius, in 1536, reprinted from the

" Brons, T. oder M., 57.

"B. R. N., VII. 32. "Miinster, 1880.

70 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

original by Friedrich Merschman, in 1847. Among the
addenda, he publishes a very informing letter of Anton
Corvinus to Spalatin, a sort of report of the success of
the Hessian mission, which was sent to the captive " king "
to convert him, if possible. Doctor Merschman says of
the story of Dorpius : '' For the historian it is invalua-
ble, as the tale of an eye-witness and from the mouths of
eye-witnesses ; and for one who loves to study the present
by the light of the past, it shows, as in a mirror, the
communism of the sixteenth century." Schlozer, I think,
is correct in surmising that Dorpius was one of the
twenty-eight apostles who were sent out by John of
Leyden, when the siege grew bitter. It would appear
to me that the sentence,*^ " All of them were executed
in the places where they first arrived, except one, who
was saved by our God," conclusively points to the author
as the one saved. And that the author returned to
Protestantism is plain from his words : ^^

Thereupon, on Friday, St. John's day, in the midst of the
summer, God comes and destroys this hell and drives the devil
out of it, and his mother (Mary) comes back into it. . . And on
the aforesaid day, when the city was taken by the bishop, the
Anabaptists were torn up by the roots, but the Papists were
planted in again.

And still another document of special value is one re-
printed in part in the Bihliotheca, only three copies of
which are known to remain. Its title is " Restitution of
the right and true understanding of some articles of the
Christian faith, doctrine, life," etc.^^ It is dated 1534,
during the siege of the city by the bishop therefore, and
is from the hand of Rottman, who had introduced the

" Die Wiedert. in Miinstcr, 23. ^ Idem, 25.

" Restitutie des Rechten ende waerachtigen Verstands Soomiger Articu-
ten des Christelyken Geloofs, Leere, Levens, etc. B. R. N., VII, 559 p.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 71

Reformation in Miinster and later, alas, was torn from
his moorings by the prevailing fanaticism. It is a curious
document and plainly indicates the beginnings of the hys-
teria which led to the Miinster drama.

The Anabaptists began to arrive after he had preached
there three of four years. But once won over by them,
he became as wild a fanatic as any of them. In this
book we are told of heavenly voices, of weird visions, of
a man seen in the sky with a crown of gold and a sword
in his right hand and a rod in the left ; and of another man
also seen in the heavens, whose hand dripped with blood.
He tells us that, when they were baptized, they intended
to suffer for Christ's sake, but that they had changed their
mind, by the will of God. The sword now had become
the symbol of vengeance, of cleansing, of the divine gov-
ernment in the earth.

Rottman remained in Miinster to the last. But in the
storm and massacre of the city he mysteriously disap-
peared, his body was not found, and no one ever knew
what became of him. Presumably he was killed in the
final assault or drowned in trying to cross the deep moat.
If he escaped alive, he wisely hid himself where he never
could be found. For his punishment, had he been caught
alive, would have equaled, if not exceeded, that of the
"king."

Keller lays down these doctrinal principles, as funda-
mental in the entire early Anabaptist movement :

1. The Church must go back to apostolic times.

2. She must build on the Scriptures, but on the Old
Testament only in so far as it is not contradicted by the
New Testament. The latter is really the basis of faith.

3. The internal revelation stands by the side of the
external. The relation between these two, from the be-
ginning of the movement, was in debate among them.

72 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

4. Religion is all, theology is of small account.
' 5. Faith is trust in God's mercy and obedience to his
will.

6. Justification is necessary for the existence of faith,
but faith without works cannot save us.

7. Heaven and hell were of small account; in their
earlier days at least the Anabaptists were strongly in-
clined to universalism.

8. There is no original sin.

9. They denied the Trinity, either directly or by im-
plication.

10. They had strange views concerning the incarnation.

11. Also about the Supper.

12. They were bitterly opposed to the doctrine of pre-
destination.

13. They believed in liberty of conscience; yet among
themselves they banned those who differed from the
others on the slightest pretext.

14. The rejection of infant baptism and the insistence
on that of adults, on profession of faith, was the funda-
mental creed of the entire sect.

Viewed socially and politically their ideals were sub-
versive of all existing standards :

1. Communism prevailed in the oldest types. This was
notably so among the group which took part in the Miin-
ster tragedy, but it revealed itself elsewhere as well. It
was unquestionably a relic of Miinzerism.

2. A true Christian needs no magistrate.

3. So long, however, as men are sinful, magistrates may
be necessary and should be obeyed. This doctrine pre-
vailed also among the Mennonites or Doopsgesinden.

4. A sharp social division between believers and unbe-
lievers should be maintained.

5. No military service.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 73

6. No oath under any conditions.

This is the general view of Anabaptism, as Keller
saw it. We shall study the theology of the Anabaptists
more in detail later on, and we shall see in how far Keller
has given a true outline of their faith and views of life
and society. But take this outline, as here given; sift
out what is good, retain what is bad, multiply it a hun-
dredfold, and blow on it the hottest breath of fanaticism ;
throw over it a cloud of crude chiliasm, and you have the
foundation of the Miinster tragedy.

Its story in detail would fill a volume ; I can only etch
it in outline, with a few strokes of the pen.

Miinster had rebelled against its bishop, had thrown
off the yoke of the past, and had accepted the Reforma-
tion. Bernard Rottman had become its spokesman,
wholly against the will of the magistrates, but with the
powerful backing of the populace. His preaching almost
from the beginning betrayed a communistic and Ana-
baptistic cast. A small trickle of the Anabaptist sect had
begun to filter into the city. On November 2, 1533, the
preaching of Rottman caused a riot among the people,
and three days later it was decided to exile the trouble-
some preacher from the city, together with all his fol-
lowers. The interference of Bernard Knipperdolling,
one of the burgomasters, frustrated this plan and crushed
the Catholic reaction. Three parties now were formed:
the Anabaptists, whose number grew day by day, the
Catholics, and the Council party. The last held the city
hall. A bloody conflict was narrowly averted by the com-
promise of November 6, under which general religious
liberty was granted.

But among the Anabaptists in the city, Miinzerism
and the Hoffmanite chiliasm now began to work like a
leaven, and a new sect of Anabaptists was born, wholly

74 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

distinct from the general body, of which it was a wild
offshoot. The sentence pronounced against Hoffman at
Strassburg and his incarceration seems to have fanned
the chiliastic enthusiasm into a lurid flame. Bands of
Anabaptists continued to arrive and a smith, Johann
Schroeder, openly began to make propaganda for the
new fanaticism. He was imprisoned, but immediately
liberated by an angry mob, December 16. The Anabap-
tists now began to aspire to the mastery in the city.

On January 13, 1534, John of Leyden, with a fellow
emissary of John Matthysz, Gerthom Klooster (what be-
came of the man Boeckbinder, orginally sent out with
him to Miinster, is not known), arrived in the city. They
preached a new gospel. *' The baptized and elect were
henceforth, under the rule of Qirist, to live a happy life,
in communion of goods, without laws, without govern-
ment, and without marriage." ^^

John of Leyden, or as his proper name is, Jan Beukel-
szoon van Leyden, at that time was about twenty-five
years old. He was born out of wedlock of a Miinster
woman. A few months before, he was converted under
the fiery preaching of John Matthysz, at Leyden. He was
there baptized and immediately sent out as an apostle,
naturally to Miinster, his mother's city. He was hand-
some, a glib talker, an adept at theatricals, through his
training in the rhetorical chambers of Holland, and, above
all, he had a forehead of brass.

After familiarizing himself with the situation, he first
of all succeeded in getting a proper social standing by
marrying, by what hypnotic art we know not, the daugh-
ter of KnipperdoUing. In an inconceivably quick time
Roll, KnipperdoUing, and Rottman were his willing tools.
Hundreds of people were baptized by night, in secret

°- Keller, Gesch. d. Wiedert., 136.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 75

Anabaptist meetings. Conditions now began to be hectic
in the city. On February 9, 1534, an attempt was made
to surprise the city by an armed band of shouting Ana-
baptists; which was suppressed with great difficulty by
another compromise.

Meanwhile Anabaptists were marching on Miinster
from every direction. On March 21 thirty ships filled
with them left Amsterdam and anchored near Genemui-
den. Four days later, three thousand men, women, and
children arrived in twenty-one other ships. The attempts
of these hordes to join the Miinster Anabaptists were
bloodily repulsed by the Dutch Government and hundreds
of these fanatics were ruthlessly killed. But others kept
coming, and other cities of the diocese of Miinster were
beginning to feel the strain and taint of the fanaticism
which was in the air. Only by the sternest measures,
Warendorf, Soest, and Osnabriick were saved from Mun-
ster's fate. Everywhere the same symptoms, the same
extravagant chiliasm, the same stealthy meetings in the
dead of night and multitudinous conversions, the same
projected violence.

Miinster now had become a cave of Adullam. It was
said in the instructions to the Keistag at Cologne : " All
fugitives, exiles, and felons, within and without the see
of Miinster, are gathered there." The city had become
the rendezvous of shady characters of every type, who,
under the cloak of religion, sought to further their own
nefarious ends. " All the evil passions in human life
were exhibited in ' the holy kingdom of the New Jeru-
salem ' at Miinster." ^^

On February 24, 1534, a terrible iconoclastic wave
passed over the city. The great Minster, the bishop's
own church, was ruthlessly sacked; altars, images, and

^^ Keller, Gesch. d. IV., 196.

16 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

baptismal fonts were broken into fragments, the bones of
the saints were desecrated; monasteries and convents
were spoliated, and the invaluable library of the Minster
was destroyed by fire.

Three days later the reign of terror began. An armed
mob ran through the city shouting, '' Out with you, ye
unbelievers, God will awake and destroy you." Prac-
tically all who were not Anabaptists left the city, and
their goods were immediately confiscated. All who re-
mained and were yet unbaptized submitted to the rite, and
by March 2, 1534, not an unbeliever remained in the city.
The " Holy Jerusalem " had been established.

Meanwhile the prophet " Enoch," John Matthysz, had
arrived in Miinster and had assumed the chief leadership.

In the same week the bishop laid siege to the city, but
the fanatic Anabaptists laughed him and his allies to
scorn. Was not God on their side, and would not Christ
soon appear, in glorious majesty, to crush and disperse
their enemies?

A system of absolute communism was now intro-
duced, all money and all valuables were deposited in a
designated house, on pain of death to those who refused
to obey the order. And thus the whole population of
Miinster was enslaved to the Anabaptist leaders. Rubert
Riischer, who had dared to laugh at all these pretensions
and decrees, was shot down in cold blood by " Enoch "
himself.

But the days of this second " witness " were numbered ;
for on the fourth of April, in an excess of fanaticism, he
left the city with a handful of volunteers to disperse the
besiegers, as he claimed, by divine command. He fought
like a lion, but was overpowered and slain, and his poor
remains were brought back into the city in a basket.

On the same day John of Leyden assumed the leader-

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 77

ship, and, at his suggestion, twelve elders were appointed
to rule the people. Their power was only an apparent
one, for John ruled the city with a high hand and did not
tolerate much intervention from any one.

Things speedily went from bad to worse. On July 23
the institution of polygamy was solemnly announced;
John of Leyden setting the example by marrying the
widow or rather the mistress of his late chief. The
decree was received with acclaim by the mass of the
fanatics; and, in this connection, Dorpius mentions in-
iquities which strangely remind us of the press reports of
the sexual regulations of the Russian Bolsheviki.

The better-minded remnants of the former inhabitants
of the city, under the leadership of Heinrich Mollenbeke,
rebelled against this condition of affairs. The party of
insurgents numbered about two hundred men, and they
actually succeeded in capturing John of Leyden, Knipper-
dolling, Rottman, and thirty other leaders of the Anabap-
tists ; but after a desperate battle they were overpowered
by numbers. The survivors were massacred to the last
man.

John of Leyden now had absolute control of the entire
situation. The fortune of war seemed to smile on him,
and his popularity grew by leaps and bounds ; and when,
on August 31, 1534, the attacking forces of Bishop Frans
had been decisively repulsed, Diesentschur, one of the
newly appointed elders, in a hysterical address, proclaimed
the kingdom of the New Jerusalem and dramatically
pointed to John of Leyden as the new King David, and
the latter was unanimously acclaimed as such.

The twelve elders, much to the surprise of his sponsor,
were now deposed from office, and John became the auto-
crat of Miinster, an honor for which he had long and
arduously plotted. As Hoffman had claimed to be

78 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

" Elijah " and Matthysz " Enoch," so John now arrogated
to himself the proud title, " King David," bestowed on
him by a semilunatic.

I have said before that John of Leyden was a con-
summate actor. Hear what he has to say on the day of
his election:

God has chosen me to be king of all the world. But I tell
you I had rather been a swineherd or followed the plow than
to be king, dear brethren and sisters. But what I do I must
do, for God has chosen me for it.

John significantly retained for himself the office of
chief executioner, but KnipperdoUing became his stad-
holder, Rottman, his royal orator. Other high-sounding,
but really meaningless dignities were liberally distributed
among his favorites, as it pleased the king.

His highest ambition had been attained, he had become
the incarnation of the chiliastic dreams of his fanatical
followers.

The new kingdom was established with great pomp.
An imperial crown of gold was made for " King David " ;
he wore a golden chain about his neck, from which a ball
of gold was suspended, pierced with two swords, symbol-
ical of world dominion. A scepter of gold, studded with
jewels, was ever in his hand; and Divarra of Haarlem,
John Matthysz's widow, became the chief queen. Other
queens, from eleven to seventeen, as the chroniclers say,
shared her glory. On the market-place a throne was
set up, and there he judged the people.

But the siege inclosed the city ever more closely; the
bishop having abandoned the costly attempts to take
Miinster by force and now entirely depending on famine
as his chief ally. Nor was he wrong in this change of
policy. In the palace all was glitter and abundance and

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 79

luxury, whilst hunger and suffering slowly began to
stalk about the city. Knipperdolling, perhaps resenting
the humiliation of his daughter, who was John's legiti-
mate wife, resented the new order of things, yet dared
not openly rebel, though he succeeded in artfully under-
mining the king's authority. He finally proclaimed him-
self the " spiritual " as John was the " physical " king
of Zion.

The last days of 1534 were the heydays of the glory
of the " New Jerusalem," even though ominous clouds,
portentous of evil, were hovering on the distant hori-
zon. At a great public festival, at which John parodied
the Lord's Supper, he solemnly sent out twenty-eight
apostles to the neighboring cities. They succeeded in get-
ting through the besieging army of Bishop Frans and ar-
rived at their various destinations. But there they
perished at the hands of the executioner — " all but one."
That single exception, as we have seen, was undoubtedly
Dorpius, who left us so vivid a narrative of the Miinster
tragedy.

On September 25, 1534, Elisabeth Holschen, one of the
queens, was publicly decapitated by John, for interfering
with her husband, *'as an example to the wives of the
city." Her only fault was this, that she had called the
attention of the king to the luxury of the palace, as
compared with the growing destitution in the city.

The courage of the besieged, however, was unabated ;
they resisted the bishop heroically, made many successful
sallies, and harried the enemy day and night. But all
importation of food was prohibited by the close invest-
ment of the city, and day by day the scant supplies
dwindled. All flour and corn were now collected and
doled out in small rations to the populace. The king
alone fared well, as did his court ; and after the taking of

80 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

the city, plentiful supplies were found stacked up in the
" palace." But hunger will not be denied, and murmur-
ings of the people began to reach the royal ears; he re-
sorted therefore to dreams and visions to bolster up the
declining fanaticism; and one night, only half clad or
as others say wholly naked, he ran through the city, shout-
ting, '' Rejoice, O Israel, thy salvation draweth nigh."
Everything that ingenuity could devise was done to fan
the dying embers into flame again and to turn the popu-
lace of the city from the contemplation of the inevitable.
And for a while he succeeded. A strange psychology
this — a whole people hypnotized by one man ! There were
attempts at rebellion — that was inevitable — but all such
attempts were crushed out in blood. Of treason very
little revealed itself till the very end, but many tried to
escape from the doomed city, only to meet a worse fate
at the hands of their implacable enemies. History records
but few instances of a more heroic defense in the face of
impossible odds. The resistance made by these untrained
warriors had been magnificent. But the siege was not
raised, and the famine in the city grew ever more deadly.

New emissaries were now sent out from the city, with
pitiful cries for succor, some of whom escaped the en-
circling enemy and did their work well, as is indicated by
the popular unrest, in the winter of 1534-1535, in a wide
radius about Miinster. Four armies were planned to
raise the siege of the city, which were all to meet at
designated spots in Holland. The attempts to assemble
them were actually made, as the historical facts witness,
but they failed of execution through the watchfulness
of the Dutch government.

Finally the crisis came.

The city was betrayed by one Heinrich Grossbeck,
who was attempting to escape from the inferno and was

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 81

captured, but spared on condition that he show the weak
place in the defenses. He did so and actually reentered
the city at the spot indicated. Another man, Hans Eck,
formerly a servant of the bishop, then a deserter to " King
David," now made an attempt to be reconciled with his
master by betraying the city into his hands. And strange
to say, he pointed out the very spot, as most vulnerable
in the defenses of the city, which had been indicated by
Grossbeck. The two therefore cooperated in the final
surprise of Miinster.

By April conditions in the city had become appalling;
every living animal and every green thing in it had been
devoured by the ravenous people; death only remained,
either by famine or the sword.

On this doomed city the army of Bishop Frans de-
scended, in a surprise attack, on June 25, 1535. Those
who first entered the city were in imminent danger of
being wholly wiped out, for the Anabaptists defended
themselves with the courage of despair. But relief came
in time, and after terrific street-fighting, the city was
taken, and all Anabaptists caught with arms in their hands
were ruthlessly killed. The whole place was literally
drenched with blood. Queen Divarra and several others
of the harem of " King David " were taken alive and be-
headed.

John of Leyden, a coward and poltroon to the last, tried
to escape from the city, but was captured, alive and wholly
unwounded ; so were also Knipperdolling and Krechting.
All of them like cowards had left their people to their
fate, thinking only of their own miserable lives. Far
better had they died, arms in hand at the head of their
fighting men. Rottman had disappeared as by magic and
was never seen or heard of again. The city since that
day has stood loyal to its ancient traditions.

82 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

The captured king was led from town to town, with a
double chain about his neck, fastened to a horseman on
either side, bareheaded and barefoot, for the sport of
the people. He was incarcerated in a strong castle, at a
little distance from Miinster, called Bevern. And there
he was visited by a commission of Philip of Hessia, who
had supported the bishop in the- siege and capture of the
city, consisting of Corvinus and Kymaeus, who tried to
find out the exact doctrinal position of the Miinster
Anabaptists and who discussed with him certain points
of his belief.

The result was meager and the theology of John was
negligible. And yet we learn more about the actual be-
liefs of the Miinster fanatics from this document than
perhaps from any other source.

As to the right of rebellion John of Leyden held
the exact position of Thomas Miinzer ; any people had the
right to rebel against a government which refused to obey
the gospel of Christ and to rule accordingly. As to justi-
fication, he had apparently the haziest possible views him-
self, but he professed a willingness to accept the .Lutheran
view.

On one point he stood absolutely firm and that was
infant baptism, which was to be utterly rejected. On
the Lord's Supper he had the vaguest possible views. In
regard to the incarnation he held the common Anabaptist
belief that Christ had not taken his human body from
Mary. And in regard to polygamy, he saw no sin in
that at all, since the Bible saints had practised it.

No one can read this story of Corvinus without sensing
very clearly that John of Leyden was no theologian. He
had no deep, immovable foundations of any kind. He
was the man of the hour, a born opportunist, egoistic
and self-centered to the core, a buffoon and a harlequin

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 83

to the last. He was evidently willing- to make concessions
to save his life, and he promised the commission, if set
free, to cause all Anabaptists to modify their Christo-
logical views. As to polygamy, he grandiosely announced
that he was willing to consider it a moot point, to be held
in suspense, till the whole Church had decided it to be
permissible.

Poor buffoon! To the very last he evidently deluded
himself with the hope of escape, than which nothing was
further from the minds of his captors. All three were
condemned to death for lese-majesty and insurrection;
the question of heresy did not even enter into the con-
sideration of their guilt. They were condemned simply
on political grounds, which of course was inevitable on
account of the mixed character of the court. They were
inhumanly tortured to death, by having the flesh torn
from their bodies with red-hot pincers. Yet not one
of them gave a sign of pain. John said, as the torture
began, " Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit."
Further than that, no sound till his death. Knipperdol-
ling is said to have prayed, " God be merciful to me, a
sinner." Beyond that an unbroken silence. Krechting
called out twice, '' O Father, O Father," but nothing
more.

The effect of this execution on the spectators was un-
canny; it made the impression of corpses being violated.
Was it stoicism, courage, fanaticism, hardness of heart,
or faith ? Who can tell us ?

Their remains, enclosed in three iron cages, were
swung from the tower of St. Lambert. There they still
hang,^* although the few remaining bones were perhaps
removed some years ago.^^

^ Brons, T. oder M., 59.

55 Vedder, " Ref. in Germ.," 348.

84 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Thus ended the Miinster tragedy.

Ended, do I say? No, it was only the beginning of
the real tragedy, for the sins of the Miinster fanatics
were visited on countless thousands of martyrs of the
Anabaptist faith, innocent of any participation in the
crime of Miinster, abhorring it even with unspeakable
loathing; yet, on account of the similarity of name and
faith, falling under a common condemnation with the
Miinster fanatics.

2. Revolutionary Movements in Holland

The fanaticism of John Matthysz had spread like wild-
fire all over the Netherlands. Ypey and Dermout draw a
vivid picture of prevailing conditions during this period.
The very air seemed filled with the wildest and most hys-
terical notions : ^^

Christ was to appear in the clouds of heaven, to establish him
(John Matthysz) in his royal dignity. He would cast the
pope of Rome, as the Antichrist, from his throne, and in "his
place he would solemnly appoint him as the head of the Church.
Then only it would appear that the kingdom of Christ was not
of this world. In the fullest sense It would be a heavenly
kingdom, whose subjects would find here a heaven on earth.
The New Jerusalem would descend from heaven, and the end
of the state of man would be as the beginning. The earth
would be a paradise of purest sensuality, of which the enjoy-
ment was incapable of description. The loss of moral power
would thereby be completely restored, and no corruption of
morals would ever again be able to vitiate humanity.

The authors then tell us how this Mohammedan escha-
tology captured the hearts of men, especially young men,
who scarcely knew what they were doing. They offered
themselves for baptism in masses, and they went forth to

^^ Sleidani Conim., Lib. X, p. 157, note 94; Gesch. d. Ned. Herv. Kerk,
I, 124, 125-

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 85

attain the ideal pictured to them. They had no experi-
ence of war ; they knew Httle of life ; they were hypnotized
by the picture presented to them — that was all.

By far the majority were not Anabaptists; they
simply joined their ranks for what this joining might
bring them. Most of them, at heart, had no religion at
all; but the result was the same. Bands of armed Ana-
baptists appeared, as by magic, everywhere in the Low-
lands. At Amsterdam, at 't Zand, at Bloemkamp they
created terrible disturbances and seemed to be filled with
a spirit of malicious deviltry. But everywhere they were
dispersed by the authorities, and their leaders were cruelly
punished. And it is worthy of note that practically all
these disturbances coincide with the occurrences in Miin-
ster during the last stage of the siege ; and that they are
evidently vitally connected with the final desperate at-
tempt made by John of Leyden to obtain succor for the
sorely tried " New Jerusalem." The death of Matthysz
and the inevitable collapse of the kingdom seemed un-
able to dampen the ardor of the fanatics.

On January 23, 1535, an attempt was made to surprise
and burn Leyden. A month later, a party of fanatic Ana-
baptists took Oude Klooster, near Bolsward, and were
there besieged and practically exterminated by the stad-
holder of Frisia. About the same time the riot at 't Zand,
in the province of Groningen, took place; and on the
tenth of May a serious attempt was made by the Ana-
baptists to get possession of Amsterdam, the chief city of
Holland.

An earlier attempt on this city had been made, a year
before, April 21, 1534. A large fleet, filled with Anabap-
tists, had been held at this city, as they were ready to
start for Miinster. Asked " whither they went," they
replied, " To the land that God will show us." But the

86 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

next day the city was startled by the appearance of five
men, stark naked, who ran about the streets, with naked
swords in their hands, shouting : " In the name of the
Lord, God's blessing is on the right side and his curse
on the left side of the city. Repent, repent, woe to all
unbelievers." They were apprehended and summarily
executed. Justice moved quickly in those days. By en-
ergetic measures Amsterdam was saved at that time from
an overt attack, because the authorities were warned of
the coming storm.^^

The projected attempt on Ley den was discovered, either
at Amsterdam or by the castellan of the fortress of
Woerden, January 23, 1535. The city was to be set on
fire in several places and during the disturbance the
effort to take it was to be made. An immediate house-
to-house visitation discovered fifteen men and five women
who were implicated in the plot. All of these, after a
complete confession of their intentions, were immediately
executed, the men being beheaded, the women drowned.

A similar attempt on the city of Dordt was discovered
and frustrated at the same time.^^

In the same year one of the weirdest occurrences of
the disturbed times took place at 't Zand. It was the
climax of Anabaptist fanaticism in Holland. The chief
agents — we are told the whole story in detail in the
Bibliotheca — were Herman Shoemaker, who claimed to
be " the true prophet, the veritable Messiah, yea the
Father himself," and Cornelius Kerkhof, a much younger
man, who associated himself with the other and claimed
to be the Son. Shoemaker lay in bed all day, in a half
nude condition, with a keg of beer by his side, from which
he frequently slaked his burning thirst, for he was hoarse

" Wagenaar, Vaderl. Hist. V, 75.
^» Wagenaar, Vad. Hist., V, 88.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 87

with crying, " Kill, kill, kill, monks and priests and all
magistrates, our magistrates first of all." For two days
he raged in this insane way, but apparently he made an
impression and his fanaticism touched many as with a
virulent contagion. During the night, one of the coldest
of the winter, three hundred people were baptized in
the open air. The frenzied people were willing and ready
to follow the two self-appointed leaders anywhere and for
any purpose, when suddenly Antony Kistemaker, one of
the men sent out from Miinster, appeared on the scene
and, dreading the effect of the blasphemous pair on the
plans of Zion, assaulted the " Son " and drove him from
the place. The people seeing their idol so easily cast
down, at once sided with the newcomer and with him
turned on Shoemaker, whom they seized, bound with
cords, and thus left him on the floor of his house to sober
up. There the wretch was found by the constabulary,
who had been advised of the disturbance and had been
sent to quell it. After a terrific resistance he was finally
secured and brought to the city of Groningen, where he
was tortured to death, in the vain endeavor to wring
from him the names of his accomplices. The only words
he spoke were those of his old battle-cry, " Kill, kill, kill
monks and priests and all magistrates, ours first of all." ^®
Incidents like this indicate the excessively inflammable
condition of the public mind.

One of the Miinster emissaries was Jan van Geelen
who, true to his commission, gathered together a band
of three hundred Anabaptists and in the latter part of
February, 1535, made an armed assault on a strongly
defensible position, near the city of Bolsward, in Frisia,
called Het Oiide Klooster (" The Old Monastery ") . The
place was easily taken, the monks driven out, and the

^^B. R. N., VII, 362 p.

88 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

church sacked. Presumably Van Geelen intended to make
this spot the rallying-point for one of the armies of succor
for the distressed city of Miinster. But he had to deal
with a stern man, Jurgen Schenk, the stadholder of the
province. The latter quickly raised a small army and,
after a sanguinary assault, succeeded in storming the posi-
tion, putting practically the whole band of Anabaptists
to the sword. Among those who died there was the
brother of Menno Simons, the reorganizer of the sect
of the Anabaptists. Among the few who escaped was
the arch-plotter of the whole undertaking, Jan Van
Geelen.''^

He had one more effort in reserve, and that the most
serious of all, the second attempt on the city of Amster-
dam. Here he was destined to shoot his final bolt.

Amsterdam was evidently honeycombed with treason.
Especially among the lower classes Anabaptists had a
considerable following, and they were only waiting for
proper leadership to make their power felt. How great
was the tension among this class, as they lay hidden
here and there in the city, appears from a bit of virulent
fanaticism, preserved for us by Wagenaar. Some time
before the attempt was made on the city, he tells us, a
company of seven men and five women, led by Dirk de
Snyder, after an exciting meeting, in which Dirk claimed
to have seen the glory of God, deliberately stripped off
all their garments and thus ran out into the streets of the
city, shouting at the top of their voices, " Woe, woe, woe,
the vengeance of God." All except one woman were
at once apprehended. Without doubt, they were Ana-
baptists of the following of the House of Love of Hend-
rick Niklaes. Brought before the judges, they refused to
put on any garments, with the explanation that they were

«° Wagenaar J Vad. Hist., V, 91,

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 89

the naked truth, the image of God, and therefore were
ashamed of nothing. All of them were sewed in sail-
cloth, and, after a brief examination, executed.®^

In these and similar occurrences the magistrates of the
city saw the possibility of an attempt in force on the
city of Amsterdam. Nor were they mistaken. And dili-
gent as was their lookout for the signs of the times,
they were nearly caught napping.

Jan Van Geelen after his fiasco in the North came to
Amsterdam, early in the spring of 1535. He lived there
under an assumed name and had the temerity to go to
Brussels and, there confessing his guilt, to request letters
of pardon from Margareth. He offered to deliver the
city of Miinster, which was still holding out, into the
hands of the emperor. On this condition, the letters
asked for were granted him, and he returned immediately
to Amsterdam, where from that time on he associated
with the best class of citizens.

Secretly, however, he kept in touch with the Anabap-
tists and made propaganda for the party, with such suc-
cess that on the tenth of May he deemed himself strong
enough to make the attempt. Hendrick Goedbeleid was
the other leader of the conspiracy. They fully believed
that the mass of the common people would join them
as soon as an initial success had been attained. Hendrick
of Hilversum had promised Amsterdam and two other
cities to the king of Zion; and was he not a prophet of
the Lord?

The tolling of the bell was to be the signal of attack
in all parts of the city. The date chosen was that of the
festival of the " Guild of the Cross-Brothers," always cele-
brated with a great banquet, at which the magistrates and
the wealthiest citizens were present. But at the eleventh

*^ Wagenaar, Vad. Hist., V, 90,

90 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

hour the secret leaked out, in part at least, through in-
formation given by a young man who may have been
related to one of the Anabaptists.

It was hard to convince the magistrates that the danger
was real and imminent, for there had been scores of false
alarms ; and only reluctantly they took some measures of
defense. It was said that the headquarters of the Rhetor-
ical Chambers (Rederykerskamers) in the city were con-
verted into an arsenal and that a goodly part of the
armament of the conspirators was hidden there. But
what to do ? It was close to midnight, and the festivities
were just about to break up. Some proposed one plan,
others another. But suddenly, like the crack of doom,
they heard the ruffling drums and the loud shouts of the
onrushing Anabaptists. These were only a detachment
of the main body, sent out to capture the city hall. This
they succeeded in doing after a few citizens, who had
been hastily dispatched to keep the place secure against
attack, had been killed.

The burgomasters escaped by a hasty flight. Had
the tocsin been sounded, as had been planned by the Ana-
baptists, Amsterdam might have been taken and have
shared the fate of Miinster. But history turns on small
events. A drunken under-sheriff, hearing the tumult of
the attack and insanely afraid, made his way into the
belfry and drew up both rope and ladder after him, thus
preventing the ringing of the bell, and therefore no
signal for a general attack was given.

But the Anabaptists, weak as they were in numbers,
were well armed and kept the city hall and the Dam
against all attacks during the night. In one of these at-
tacks, Peter Kolyn, one of the burgomasters of the city,
lost his life. The Anabaptists were, however, closely in-
vested, and all hope for outside aid was cut off. When

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 91

the day dawned the citizens attacked the besieged in dead
earnest, and after desperate resistance the city hall was
finally taken. Of the entire Anabaptist band only twelve
were taken alive ; all the others died fighting with a hero-
ism worthy of a better cause. Jan van Geelen deliberately
exposed himself to the fire of the besiegers and was shot
to death. Twenty-eight Anabaptists and twenty citizens
were killed in the fighting. All the captives were either
immediately or subsequently executed. Not a known
Anabaptist in the city was spared. Thus Amsterdam was
saved. ^2

Subsequent revelations made it evident that the danger
had even been more serious than was expected. Three
hundred Anabaptists from Benskoop, ordered by Jan van
Geelen to report at Amsterdam on May 10, returned
when they discovered that the attempt had failed. And
two large vessels filled with Anabaptists arrived in the
harbor of Amsterdam on the same day, and hearing
of the failure of the plan, turned about and sailed for
England.

When after these failures in Holland, Miinster finally
succumbed and its king was publicly executed, the mil-
lennial frenzy seemed to have worked itself out. The
dreary chapter, written by Hoffman and the disciples of
his school, had run to its final paragraph ; from the fall
of Miinster the fanaticism of the Anabaptists abated.
They became sane and sober, and the alien elements,
drawn into their circles by the Hoffmanite chiliasm, soon
were purged out. The new party eschewed the hated
name Anabaptist (Wederdooper) and adopted for them-
selves a new and pacific name, by which they were known
in subsequent Dutch history, that of Baptists (Doops-
gednden).

«*Wagenaar, Vad. Hist., V, 91-99-

92 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

3. The Menace of the Old Name

Newman has correctly said, " No episode in history-
has done so much to impede the progress of Baptist prin-
ciples as that of Miinster. Its influence is still quite
marked in Germany and other European countries." ®^
The name " Anabaptist " became a synonym for violence,
outrage, rebellion, sensuality, and every kind of outrage.

Say Ypey and Dermout, " The recalcitrant Anabaptists,
mostly of the lower classes, during the period of which
we now write, have made themselves notorious by the
most unheard-of riots, which were accompanied with a
folly and lack of true religion, which transcend every-
thing." ^* The sober-minded portion of the Anabaptists
had deeply felt this, and they had bitterly resented the
outrage committed by these fanatics against their heri-
tage, a name which in Switzerland had been the synonym
of mutual love and non-resistance and faithfulness unto
death.

In a meeting at Sparendam, in January, 1535, when the Miin-
ster tragedy was still in full swing, it had been shown that
they [the quiet, peaceful party among them] were in the majority.
And in a large gathering at Bocholt, in Westphalia, in the sum-
mer of 1536, they were so completely victorious that the im-
pure and riotous elements were thrown out.^

And yet they were identified with them by the Church
as well as by the State. As we have se'en, they chose a
separate name to distinguish themselves from the riotous
party, but all in vain.

Rome carried the matter even further. It did not
distinguish between any particular sects of heretics, who
all had this in common, that they opposed her, in her

^ " Hist, of Antip." 292.

^ Gesch. d. Herv. Kerk, I, 120.

«5 Brons, T. oder M., 59.

THE RADICAL ANABAPTISTS 93

organization, her theology and rites — and so she named
them all Anabaptists.

Thus it happened that the detestation merited only by
some of the Anabaptists became the burden of all Protes-
tants.®^ All alike were persecuted by the Inquisition as
belonging to one and the same family.

But when this wider identification was finally set aside
by a more critical study of Protestantism as to life and
doctrine, and when it was seen that the antipedobaptists
stood in a class by themselves, the identification between
Anabaptists and Baptists remained as absolute as ever.
Says Glasius the historian : ®^

Very dear the Doopsgezinden had to pay for the fact that, in
some points, they were of the same mind with the Wederdoopers.
Not only did they have to bear the hated name, but they were
especially the victims on which the sword of the Inquisition
dulled itself. They were grossly ill-treated, and the Protestants
were led to hate them to the utmost, under the impression that
they were the progeny of the Miinster sect.

Therefore it turned out that, after the Miinster tragedy,
the name Anabaptist became a menace, a thing to recoil
from in horror, a thing to frighten with, and an absolutely
sure way to the hangman's noose or the executioner's axe
or stake. Woe to the man or woman who could be
proved to have a right to the name !

In June, 1539, a placard was issued against them, under
which

All so-called prophets, apostles, or bishops among the Ana-
baptists were condemned to death by fire; and all other Ana-
baptists to the sword or the pit without the right, on the part
of the judges, to use even the least mercy toward these people, on
account of their evil intentions.^

^Gesch. d. Ned. Herv. Kerk., I, 131, 132.
e^Brons, T. oder M., 120.
•*Wagenaar, Vad. Hist., V, 100.

94 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

And yet how they differed from each other. Even a
casual glance at the two parties suffices.

The Dutch Baptists or Mennonites, in distinction from
the Anabaptists, stood for a purely religious program.
The latter had political aspirations, dreamed millennial
dreams, obeyed the lusts of the flesh, greedily used carnal
means to attain carnal ends, saw visions of world domin-
ion, paid little or no attention to the Scriptures, but de-
rived what little spiritual light they had from the flicker-
ing flames of their own inward experience, and all in all,
displayed little of the life of Christ in their own lives.

The former withdrew from the world with almost as-
cetic austerity ; they had abandoned, as a menace, all mil-
lennial ideals ; they were moral examples to all who knew
them, their bitterest enemies being witnesses. They felt
themselves strangers and pilgrims here, and they sought
a city whose founder and builder is God. They depended
absolutely on the Scriptures for their faith, and they were
marvelously skilled in their use; and of nearly every one
of them it might be said, " a close follower of Christ."
The Anabaptists and the Mennonites sprang from one
stem, but they were as different as Esau and Jacob, as
different as bitter and sweet, as sin and righteousness.
Of course, I am thinking here of the Dutch Wederdoopers
and Doopsgezinden. As the waters from the same spring
on the " Great Divide," separating at the very source,
turn in part to the placid Pacific and in part to the stormy
Atlantic, thus these two, having a common historical
origin, have separated and differentiated themselves, until
only the faintest family trace remains to betray this com-
mon origin. We turn our backs to the radicals and our
faces to the conservatives, in the next lecture.

Ill

THE CONSERVATIVES

From Ypres to the border of the Oise above Noyon,
more than a hundred miles in longitude and from a
dozen to fifty miles in latitude, we find today the most
appalling desert of which the mind can conceive. Once
seen the picture of devastation can never be forgotten.

It was not always thus, the desert is not God-made
but man-made. In all these hundreds of square miles
once happiness reigned and thrift and prosperity; small
and larger streams lazily flowed through smiling valleys
and fertile fields, cattle dotted the pastures, forests beau-
tified the landscape, the laugh of the young and the quav-
ering voices of the old were heard on every side. There
was no fairer land, nor one more obviously prosperous
than Northern France and Southern Belgium, before the
war. It has all been wiped out with the besom of de-
struction. Hamlets and villages and towns are absolutely
obliterated, forests are removed as with a wizard's wand,
and for decades not even a shadow of their imposing
glory can return; the very ruins are ominous with the
menace of death, which lurks in countless unexploded
shells, whether in the rubbish pile or in the furrow to be
turned up by the plow.

And over all these miles of wilderness we may well
write, " Behold what the frenzy of man has wrought ! "
And yet this desert is the geographical link between the
prosperity on the North and that on the South, Simons
has called this desert " a monstrous and amazing miracle

96 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

of destruction." * And thus between the bitter-sweet
experiences of the Anabaptists in their Swiss home, and
the bitter-sweet experiences of these same people in their
Dutch history, there Ues the desert of the fanatical frenzy
of the Hoffmanite group of Anabaptists, as it expressed
itself in the riots and wantonness and bloodshed of the
Miinster tragedy and the multitudinous outbursts of a
similar character, in Holland and elsewhere.

As the Belgian-French desert is a geographical link
between the fertile North and the fertile South, so Hoff-
manitism is a historical link between Switzerland and
Holland.

Cardinal Newman tells us somewhere, in his Historical
Sketches, of the providence of God which used the Nor-
mans, the descendants of the Norsemen, to quell the Vik-
ing power in England. And thus from an offshoot of
the Hoffmanite movement, deliverance was to come to the
Dutch Anabaptists. The fiercely foaming current of radi-
calism was to be replaced, and that forever, by the placid
stream of conservatism. A conservatism, however, not
to be measured by the accepted meaning of the term, as
our further research will clearly indicate; but fully ap-
plicable in comparison with the turbulency of the theolog-
ical and social radicals whom we have met heretofore.
Several names at once clamor for recognition — ^the Philips
brothers, Menno Simons, Leonard Bouwens, and others.
Of all these Menno Simons and the Philips brothers
have an outstanding significance for the history, the theol-
ogy, and the life of the churches they founded.

1. Obbe Philips

Except among Dutch and a few German historians, up
to this time Obbe Philips was little more than a name.

* " Evening Post," Louisville, Ky., January 25, 1919.

THE CONSERVATIVES 97

Invaluable light has been spread over his personality by
the Bihliotheca, in which we find a reprint of his " Con-
fession" (Bekentenisse). Says Dr. S. Cramer:^

What is known of Obbe's life has been related by Dr. De
Hoop Scheffer, in a treatise printed in the Doopsgezinde Bydra-
gen of 1884, pages 1-24. He wrote under the caption, "The
Installer of Menno." Further we have Krause's article, in the
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ; although as early as 1733 a
very exhausting and uncommonly keen treatise about Obbe had
been published in the form of a dissertation, by J. H. Hilmers.

Besides these we have some minor sources: a single
letter, dated 1538 or 1539, and the confession of Jan van
Batenborch, obtained under torture in 1537, in which
Obbe is called " the son of a priest in West Frisia and
one of the principal Anabaptists."

But the " Confession," reprinted in the Bihliotheca, is
after all the only source, from which all have derived
their scant information.

We know nothing about his parentage except what we
learn from Batenborch, for on this point Obbe himself is
silent.

He was unquestionably the direct connecting link be-
tween the Hoffmanites and the founders of the brother-
hood of Anabaptists, who after Munster began to call
themselves Baptists (Doopsgesinden), and these founders
were his brother Derek and Menno Simons.

He was himself baptized and chosen and ordained as
bishop by Bartelt Boeckbinder and Derk Cuper, who
had been sent to Vriesland by John Matthysz. And he, in
his turn, " ordained his brother Derek in Den Ham, David
Joris in Delft, and Menno Simons in Groningen." ^

2 B. R. N., VII, 94.

3 B. R. N., VII, 45.

98 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Neither he, nor his brother, nor Menno had anything
to do with the wild fanaticism which soon pervaded the
entire Anabaptist movement in Holland. The excesses
of the Miinsterites shocked and amazed him. And he
soon was deeply convinced that he had committed a
grave error in joining the sect at all, for current events
were making a deep impression on his mind.

Says V. P. (an unknown author, who hides his identity
behind these two letters) in the Successio Anabaptistica,^

These and similar ravings and the fanaticism which had no
aim but the ruin of united Christendom, have moved Obbe
PhiHps to lament the false and lying mission which he had
received and also the empty and powerless and hurtful mis-
sion, which he in turn had imparted to the three missionaries,
Derek Philips, Menno Simons, and David Joris.

In the distress of his soul, he laid the matter before his
brother and Menno and begged them, with him, to demit
the office which he had given them. They flatly refused
to do so and separated in anger from him. And this it is
that caused him to write his " Confession."

As a matter of course he was excommunicated by the
Anabaptists, whose new name originated some time after
his departure from the brotherhood. Later he was called
the " Demas " of the movement by Menno. His de-
tractors tell us that he returned to the Romish Church,
for which there is not an iota of proof. This slander is
of late origin and is absolutely disproved by the contents
of the " Confession." ^ Doctor Cramer has clearly proved
this in his wonderful introduction to the tract.

After his break with the Anabaptists, he stood appa-
rently outside of all church connection. If the true
Church was not founded by the Anabaptists, where was

* B. R. N., VII, 47. ^ B. R. N., VII. 95-

THE CONSERVATIVES 99

it to be sought; or had it ceased to exist, and was the
thread of apostolic succession broken forever? Sebastian
Franck, Obbe's contemporary, answered this question af-
firmatively; so did many Mennonites later on, and the
Collegiants and the later Darbists and others. And, says
Doctor Cramer, ''therewith a conviction was uttered,
which since the eighteenth century has leavened one-
half of the Protestant Church." ^

The " Confession " of Obbe Philips has often been
critically attacked and its genuineness has been placed
in jeopardy. It first appeared in Amsterdam in 1584, and
before 1609 it had passed through a second and third
edition. It was translated in French, under the title Obbe
Philippe Recognoissance, and in 1720 it was published
in a German translation. No volume in all the Ana-
baptist literature was more widely and avidly read than
this. Why then these efforts to discountenance it?

It was a thorn in the sides of the Mennonites, because
it identified them with the Anabaptists as springing from
the same root, and thus its genuineness was bitterly at-
tacked. But several critics undertook its defense, lean-
ing heavily on the testimony of Carel van Ghent, who
evidently was familiar with it, and who was practically a
contemporary of Obbe. And yet so great a scholar as
Dr. Blaupot ten Gate, in the nineteenth century, revived
the doubt which first had been created by Dr. Hermanns
Schyn, in 1744. Ten Gate was joined by Sepp, in 1872,
in his Geschiedkundige Nasporingen (" Historical Re-
searches"). But De Hoop Scheffer brilHantly refuted
all these attacks in 1884, in the Doopsgezinde Bydragen
("Baptist Contributions"), and Dr. S. Cramer adds the
finishing touches to the argument in his illuminating in-
troduction to the work in the Bibliotheca?

«B, R. N.. VII, 99. 'B, R. N., VII, 102-108.

100 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

The " Confession " of Obbe Philips is worth reading ; I
freely confess that none of the Anabaptistica, in the won-
derful collection of the Bibliotheca, affected me as did this
one.

It grips one, it seems to conjure up the whole scene; the
sorrow-smitten man, the deep consciousness of the wrong
he committed and which he now seeks to undo, his stern
judges, the love of former brethren turned to hatred —
you see it all, you feel it all, after these four hundred
years.

It is indeed a wonderful confession ! Not in vain does
Dr. S. Cramer say of it,^

No more circumstantial or vivid, no more deeply felt or more
j&nely drawn, and no more trustworthy picture of the tendencies
and ideas, which were current among the Dutch Anabaptists,
from 1534-1536, and of the mind which then prevailed among
them, has come down to us.

He is so absolutely modest, so evidently contrite, so
whole-souled in his sorrow, that we can almost hear the
sob in his voice as he tells the story; we seem to hear
the tears drop on the paper as he writes.

Yet one of his fellow Anabaptist bishops, Peter van
Ceulen, called this book " a partisan slander," and the
author " a bad man, fallen away from God, who thereafter
lived an ungodly carnal life, till his death." And even
Menno Simons called him " a Demas." ^

In his whole book Obbe quotes the Scriptures only
once. In the Anabaptist circles, in his day, they had not
yet been restored to their true place, as the foundation
yoi faith. That was to be Menno's task. Obbe's call had
come to him in a great wave of emotionality; he had
obeyed it in the same mood, and ncHvv lays it down again

«B. R. N., VII, 91. » Opera Omnia, 1681, 312.

THE CONSERVATIVES 101

with a breaking heart. The Hoffmanites moved in other
than Scriptural spheres ; but among them were many
naturally pious men, and Obbe Philips was a prince among
them.

2. Derek Philips

Derek Philips, the brother of Obbe, was probably born
at Leeuwarden in.Frisia, in 1504.^^ He apparently shared
with his brother the misfortune of a bar sinister; for
their father is said to have been a priest of the Church
of Rome, " which is not so strange if one knows, that
in that period in Vriesland a married priesthood was
the rule." ^^ Thus this bar sinister was only an ecclesias-
tical one, and in the eyes of his fellow* Frisians the mat-
ter may have seemed regular enough. It is said that he
belonged to the Franciscan order, but whether he was in
orders or not, so much is sure, that he was an educated
man. He calls his own attainments " a small, simple
talent" (eene cleyn-e eenvoudige gave); but his con-
temporaries thought differently, and posterity has con-
firmed their judgment. We may judge from his Enchi-
ridion that he knew Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. One of
his writings was originally written in French and thence
translated into Dutch, i. e., his tract on " The Evangelical
Ban and Avoidance." On the other hand, his reply to
the letters of Sebastian Franck is so full of Germanisms
that the conclusion is unavoidable that he knew German.
He must have been therefore quite a linguist.

It is not clear whether he ever attended a university,
although his intimate acquaintance with the works of
Luther and Erasmus might point to Wittenberg and Lou-
vain. And yet his somewhat sneering remark ^^ " that

" Blaupot ten Gate, Gesch. d. Doopsg. in Vriesl., $7-

"B. R. N., X, 5- i^Ench., B. R. N., X, 217, 224, 225.

102 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

some theologians who, on account of the gospel and of
their office as teachers, permit themselves to be called
Masters, Licentiates, Doctors, yea Reverend Fathers and
Lords in Christ," indicates that he has no great respect
for or fear of the usual university dignities and digni-
taries.

Cassander, who was a bitter enemy of the Mennonites,
pays him the following tribute : '* His zeal was no less
great than that of Menno Simons, and he was as great
as he in popular eloquence. But in learning and familiar-
ity with classic letters he far excelled him."

In the winter of 1533-1534 he was baptized on con-
fession of faith. This baptism took place at Leeuwarden,
in Vriesland, and was administered by Pieter Houtsagher,
an apostle of John Matthysz. This we know for certain
from the united testimony of the Successio Anabaptistica
and from the " Confession " of his brother Obbe/^ Soon
after this baptism he was ordained to the ministry by
his brother. His enemies accused him of having taken
part In the riotous attack on Ckide Klooster, In 1535, and
this accusation was vehemently pressed home by the au-
thor of the Successio Anabaptistica,^^ but his brother
Obbe twice assures us to the contrary.^^

By nature he was too well balanced and too sober-
minded a man to be moved by such fanaticism. And If
any further assurance In regard to his attitude to the
Miinsterltes is needed, we find it In the fact that he con-
troverted this fanaticism in public print. Rottman had
written his widely read tract, " Restoration of the True
and Healthy Doctrine of Christ" (Herstelling van de
rechte en gezonde Leer van Christus), in 1534, during
the siege of Miinster, and in this tract he had boldly de-

«B. R. N.. VIT. 45, 136.

»*B. R. N., VII, 46, 61. i^B. R. N., VII, 135.

THE CONSERVATIVES 103

fended all the fanatical proceedings of the Miinsterites.
And Derek Philips had replied to this work of Rottman,
in a characteristic treatise, entitled " Of the Spiritual
Restoration" {Van de geestelyke Herstelling), in which
all these extravagances were combated and in which the
prophesies concerning the kingdom of Christ were spirit-
ually explained.^*^

But he fought in vain, with Menno Simons, to stem
the wild current of fanaticism. Only after the fall of
Miinster, the remnant of the crushed Anabaptists were
willing to listen and to be sanely led, and thus a regenera-
tion of the sect took place and the Anabaptists {Weder-
doopers) became Baptists {Doopsgezinden),

Says Otius : ^^

And when, about 1536, Ubbo and Derek Philips, sons of a
priest in Leeuwarden, had agreed to form a new party or fac-
tion, after they had seceded from the Hoffmanites, by whom,
however, in 1534 they had been created bishops, and also from
the remainder of the Miinsterites, of whose institution they had
always disapproved ; Menno being persuaded by them and having
relinquished his papal priesthood, has suffered himself to be
created bishop of the new faction.

When Obbe left them, Menno Simons and Derek
Philips became the faithful leaders of the reformed Dutch
Anabaptists. They frequently differed on matters in de-
bate, but they stood side by side in the working out of the
tremendous task which they had undertaken, of making a
homogeneous whole out of distinctly heterogeneous ele-
ments. In how far they succeeded will appear later on.
Sometimes there were sharp differences between these
two leaders, but when Menno died in 1561, he was still
able to call Derek what he had called him in 1550, " my

i«B. R. N.. VII, 559 p.; X, 339 p.
^''Annates Anabaptistici, 84.

104 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

faithful and much beloved brother." Derek survived
Menno seven years, dying in 1568.

In the records of the Court of Inquisition against some
Anabaptists surprised at Utrecht in 1561, at the house of
Cornelius van Voordt, where people had been baptized and
the Lord's Supper had been administered, one of the wit-
nesses had something to say of the appearance of Philips :
'* He was an old man with white hair, of medium stature,
dressed in black, with a round cap, and he talked the
dialect of the Brabanders."

Where H. Schyn obtained his cut of the portrait of
Derek he does not tell us, but in his " More Extensive
Treatise" (Uitvoeriger Verhandeling) among others, we
find an excellent copperplate of the face and person of the
great leader.^^ As seen there he was a man with a broad
face, a wide but low forehead, keen, resolute eyes, a well-
formed, straight nose, a short neck, and a long flowing
beard, parted in the middle, and a heavy, drooping mus-
tache. The picture is that of a man in middle life. The
face expresses great determination, even unto stubborn-
ness. If the picture is authentic, it is just like the picture
one would conjure up from reading his works and the
story of his life. Schyn called him " a very reverend and
learned man, in those days, who was second to none
among the Mennonites." But when he wrote in the mid-
dle of the eighteenth century he complained that it " was
a sad thing that no more of the writings of that man have
come down to us, for we have nothing of all his works,
but only one little book, known as Enchiridion." ^^

In the Bihliotheca, we have now all the known writings
of Philips, and they are a veritable treasure-house of in-
formation, concerning the Anabaptists of his time. The
Enchiridion covers more than four hundred quarto pages

1* Schyn, Uitv. Verh.. 326. " Idem, 326.

THE CONSERVATIVES 105

in the tenth volume of the Bibliotheca, whilst all the re-
mainder of this volume of more than seven hundred
pages is devoted to him.

If we candidly compare the writings of Menno with
those of Derek Philips, it seems to me self-evident that
Derek was not a whit less a leader of the Doopsgezinden
than the former. He suffered as much, he labored as
hard, he ruled as well as Menno. And the question is
whether Menno, so much more pliable than Derek, would
have taken the place he now occupies in Anabaptist his-
tory without the sterner fiber and the clearer views of his
colaborer. If one searches for a definite, clear-cut, fin-
ished statement of the doctrines and views of life of the
early Doopsgezinden, we find it in the writings of Derek
Philips, more even than in those of Menno.

Menno changed, repented of decisions made and things
done ; on his death-bed he admitted that he had often been
led beyond his convictions by stronger minds; Derek
Philips never. He is the Petra, the rock-man, among
those early followers of the reconstructed Anabaptist
movement, a typical Frisian in his mentality and im-
movable resoluteness.

His Enchiridion is the treasury of conservative Ana-
baptist doctrine in his day. Says Dr. F. Pyper of it : ^^

It was for the Mennonites (and the majority of the Anabap-
tists followed him as their true leader) what the Loci Communes
of Melanchthon were for the Lutherans ; Calvin's Institutes and
the confession of Beza, for the Calvinists; and the Leken-Wech-
wyser ("The Layman's Guide") for the early Dutch Protestants.

Its theology is strongly " spiritualistic," in the sense
which the word conveys to Doctor Pyper, i. e., it accen-
tuates the work of the Holy Spirit. All believers outside

«» B. R, N., X, 4.

106 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

of their communion belong to the *' world." He knows
nothing of the relation between the Waldenses and the
Anabaptists.^^ All the fundamental points of faith are
clearly, boldly, and succinctly stated. One never hesitates
as to what Derek Philips really means or where he stands.
His style is clear, perspicuous, and simple.

All in all, the tenth volume of the Bibliotheca, contain-
ing the writings of Derek Philips, is perhaps the most
illuminating of the whole series, in the insight it af-
fords us into the real world of thought and action of the
new branch of the Anabaptist movement which had
sprung into being after the Miinster fiasco of the Hoff-
manite group.

3. Menno Simons

The vast majority of the Dutch Anabaptists, as we have
seen, were bitterly averse to the fanatic excesses of the
Miinster party. Says Madame Brons, " Their abhorrence
of all violence was such that they would not recognize
any one as brother who had received baptism at Miin-
ster." 22

But their communion had been sadly disrupted, and
everywhere they looked for a Moses, a leader, a man
filled with the Spirit and with power, able to organize
the scattered believers and to give them confidence in
the future. And such a man they found in Menno
Simons. Alas, how very much of darkness remains in
all this page of history! How little we know about
Menno ! The date of his birth and even the year are un-
known. We know that he was born at Witmarsum in
Vriesland, but we know neither his father's name nor his
mother's, nor what was their social position. Rumor has

21 Idem, 83, 369.

2* Brons, T. oder M., 59.

THE CONSERVATIVES 107

it that he, as well as Erasmus and the two Philips broth-
ers, was the son of a priest. He had one brother at least,
and of him we know that he died in the riot of Oude
Klooster and therefore had joined the Anabaptists pre-
sumably before Menno. We also know that Menno was
married and had several children who, all but one daugh-
ter, died before their parents.

So much, or rather so little, we know of Menno's pri-
vate life.

In his autobiographical sketch, he tells us that he was
priest in Pingjum, when he was twenty-eight years old,
and that even after three years of service, as such, he had
never read the Bible. But one day, when he was celebrat-
ing mass, a horrible doubt about the Church doctrine sud-
denly assailed him. He prayed and struggled against it,
but in vain; then he sought carnal diversions, all to no
purpose. He now began to read the Bible and the works
of Luther and slowly began to work his way to the light.
Of the Anabaptists he knew nothing as yet. But he was
suddenly startled into a new mental and spiritual strug-
gle by a great doubt about baptism, which assailed him
when he witnessed the execution of Sicke Frerich at
Leeuwarden. Soon it became like fire in his bones; he
found rest neither day nor night. He read after Luther,
who taught him that children were baptized on account
of their own faith. Then he turned to Bucer, and he
taught him that they were baptized as a guaranty of a
godly training; to Bullinger, and he told him that bap-
tism and circumcision were practically one, the one having
replaced the other. Then he began to doubt all these
teachers, who did not agree among themselves, and all
their theories, and became convinced that infant baptism
was unscriptural.^^

*Brons, T. oder M., 60,

108 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

He saw the Anabaptist movement in Vriesland grow
in volume; but he also saw the sudden fanatic frenzy
which took hold of the Hoffmanites, his own brother
falling a victim to it, at Oude Klooster, near his own
home at Witmarsum, where he then functioned as a
Romish priest; and he shuddered. The burden of all
these wandering, shepherdless sheep fell heavily on his
soul; he began to chafe under the galling bonds of his
vows, and he began to preach what he believed to be
the truth from the pulpit. As we have seen, he was
baptized in 1534, and later inducted into the office of a
bishop among the Anabaptists by Obbe Philips. But be-
tween that baptism and the acceptance of the cross of
an Anabaptist bishop we find a bitter period of great
mental anxiety and struggle.-*

Menno was now a member of the Anabaptist com-
munion through baptism, while he still functioned as a
priest in the Catholic Church. When the situation be-
came intolerable, he broke away from the Church, sur-
rendered his home, and sank down into the mass of the
poor unknown, as he thought, very likely supporting him-
self by manual labor.^^ And there, in his retreat, a dele-
gation of Anabaptists of sober type came to him and
begged of him to become their leader. After much hesi-
tation and prayer, he consented, believing this course to
be the will of God, and hearing in his soul the echo of
Paul's words, " Woe is me, if I preach not the gospel."
Thus he became the center of that new type of Ana-
baptists, who, discarding the abhorred name Wederdoop-
ers, adopted the name Doopsgezinden.

They among the various sects of Protestantism occu-
pied a platform all their own. If it be true that Luther

-* Idem, 64; as to his baptism, compare B. R. N., VII, 362.
25 Idem, 64.

THE CONSERVATIVES 109

had for his " formal principle " the authority of the
Holy Scriptures and for his material principle that of the
doctrine of justification, we may safely say that the Men-
nonites or Doopsgezinden, following the cue given them
by their leader, chose for their formal principle the doc-
trine of the new creature. If the other Protestants found
the center of gravity in doctrine, they placed it in life.
Thus began the life-work of Menno Simons. All his Hfe
long he was ever a marked and hounded man, forever
in danger of death ; for he was known as the arch-heretic,
the veritable high priest of the quiet folk, to whom he
ministered, but who were still branded with the hated
name " Anabaptist." On December 15, 1542, a personal
imperial edict was issued against him, in which a price
was set on his head, and in which all who aided or
harbored him were threatened with summary execution.
And thus he wandered from place to place, now in Gro-
ningen, then in Embden, then in Cologne. His home —
for he married and raised a family of children — was
very likely in Wismar. He was a voluminous writer and
an ardent debater in defense of his faith. In 1547, the
well-known meeting took place at Embden, in which
Menno, the Philips brothers, Gilles van Aachen, Hendrick
van Vrenen, and presumably also Leonard Bouwens, who
had been sent out by Menno and Derek Philips, debated
with Adam Pastor and Frans Cuyper on the Trinity,
the divinity of Qirist, the ban, etc. The meeting ad-
journed to Goch in Cleve and there Adam Pastor was
" banned."

Eastward from Embden lay the chosen field of Menno
and Derek Philips, whilst Bouwens became the great
apostle of Frisia and Holland in general, where, in a few
years, he baptized ten thousand people.^^

26 Idem, 78.

110 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

All sorts of nicknames were given to Menno's followers,
such as " new-monks," Gleissner, men who would be
saved by good works, " sacrament-spoilers," " child-soul
murderers," " Communists," *' house-sHppers," because
they slipped into the houses where they met through side
entrances; and in Holland, in some districts, they were
called " syrup-lickers," because it is said that Menno once
narrowly escaped capture when as he preached from the
top of a barrel, the bottom suddenly caved in, just as the
alarm was given of the near approach of the enemy.
His friends are said, on that occasion, to have stripped
the sticky fluid from the garments of their beloved leader
to facilitate his powers of locomotion, and to have licked
their fingers after the operation.

Menno wrote and disputed incessantly, as his large
collection of works abundantly witnesses. At Wismar he
gathered in secret a small but devoted congregation, and
there he came in painful contact with the followers of
John a Lasco, who had escaped from London, on the
accession of " Bloody Mary " to the throne in 1553.

The last years of Menno's life were full of trouble.
The controversy about the application of the ban caused a
rupture between him and Derek Philips. The schismatic
spirit now began to lift its head among his followers, and
he found himself between two fires. From a controversy
about the enforcement of the ban and what they called
"Avoidance" (on the part of married people, one of
whom was excommunicated), two parties arose among
the followers of Menno, bitterly hostile to each other, a
rigorous and a temperate party. Menno, always con-
ciliating in his attitude, modified his position consider-
ably and thus the Upper-German party, on the one hand,
began to suspect him and the Dutch party, on the other.

In 1559, Menno wrote his last book, an apologetic

THE CONSERVATIVES 111

against Sylis and Lemke, who had sown the seeds of
distrust against him. His soul was deeply burdened on
account of the churches, *' to which," as Brons says,^^
" he had devoted all his knowledge, all his powers, all his
will and faith and love, that he might promote their
moral well-being and unity."

He closed his tired eyes on January 31, 1561, at Wiis-
tenfelde, near Oldesloe, in Holstein, and there he sleeps
in Christ, on his own little farm, buried in secret as he
had died, lest the enemy desecrate his bones. The barren
fields about it had been changed into a garden of God
by the tireless labors of his followers. The cruel devasta-
tion of the Thirty Years War swept over it, and lo,
the desert resumed its sway, so that no one ever knew
where his poor body was laid to rest.

In 1902, the German Mennonites raised a monument
to Menno, near Oldesloe. Benedict claimed that Menno
was baptized by immersion, because he had expressed
himself in favor of " dipping," ^^ although the Anabap-
tists, who baptized him, knew nothing of that mode of
baptism and always sprinkled or affused. There Is no
scintilla of proof for the truth of this statement in any
of the documents of the Bihliotheca, or in any of the
biographies of Menno. Had it been true, a thing so
obviously at variance with the general practise of the
Anabaptists must have been noted by friend and foe alike.
It is impossible to deny the charge against Menno that
he vacillated on the subject of the ban. In his first Ban-
hoeck of 1550, and in his letter, written to those of the
city of Franeker and of West Frisia, in 1555, and to those
of Embden in 1556, he took position unquestionably in
favor of the milder policy. There must be no ban without

27 Idem, 105,

28 Benedict, " Gen. Hist. Bapt. Den.," 82.

112 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

the regular Scriptural admonition. But in 1558 he had
radically changed his views. In cases of the application
of the ban, there was to be no longer any admonition, but
strict and swift judgment and absolute avoidance in the
relations between married people, on one of whom the
ban had fallen.-^

In his old age he had been frightened into the accep-
tance of the more radical views by a threat of the ban
for himself, which Leonard Bouwens held over his head.
And thus he traveled with Bouwens and the others to
Cologne to bring over the German congregations to this
view. When they refused, they were all put under the
ban, and the Menno party considered itself as the only
true Church.

All his life long Menno had hated violence, and there-
fore he most cordially detested the Miinsterites. Says
he, in his autobiography, before the '' Opera Omnia,"
printed in 1681 :

Know, my good reader, that in all my days I have never as-
sented to those of Miinster, in the aforesaid articles (king, sword,
rebellion, resistance, polygamy, and such other horrors), but
according to my small talents, have warned against these hor-
rible aberrations, for more than seventeen years, and have ever
opposed them. But I have brought some of them, with the
word of God, to the right way. Miinster I have never seen in
all my life ; I have never been in their communion and, by the
grace of God, if there be any of them left, I will neither eat
nor drink with them, as the Scriptures teach me, unless they
heartily acknowledge their abominations and give proof of true
repentance and walk rightly according to the gospel.

As Schyn reproduces his picture, we see a spare man,
of medium height, with a broad brow and extremely mild
eyes. His face is deeply lined, his forehead wrinkled,

2»B. R. N., VII, 443, 444, 448.

THE CONSERVATIVES 113

with vertical lines between the eyes, indicative of con-
centration. The nose is slightly aquiline, beard and mus-
tache are long and heavy. A tight-fitting black cap, of the
usual pattern of the sixteenth century, covers his head and
ears. It is the face of a good man, capable of endless
suffering.^^ The picture in the biography of Dr. A. M.
Cramer, of 1837, is that of a much younger man, with a
round skull-cap and curly hair flowing thick about the
ears. The face, however, has the same general character-
istics. Doctor Pyper places Menno Simons below Derek
Philips, as regards general and classical erudition.^^
With that judgment Dr. A. M. Cramer seems to agree,
when he tells ^- us that Menno,

neither by natural talent or development, nor by study and con-
tact with others, ever attained a special degree of culture. But
he had a real love for the truth and for the glory of God, a
true faith in Jesus Christ, humility and steadfastness under all
circumstances, and a fiery zeal for the cause of his Master and
for the salvation of his fellow men.

Opinions about his style have greatly differed. Mos-
heim describes h-im as " possessing the invaluable gift of
a natural and convincing eloquence, sufl&cient to pass-
with the masses of the people for an oracle." ^^ But his
Dutch translator appends a note to this statement of Mos-
heim, which seriously damages the " oracle." Says he :

He had an exceedingly monotonous way of writing, many
and unnecessary repetitions, an exceedingly great commingling
of sentences and things. He was pious, but unimpressive and
admonitions and other similar defects make the reading of his
writings highly disagreeable.

*" Schyn, 215.

'IB. R. N., X, 7-

^^ Het Lev. e. d. Verr., van M. S., 158.

33 " Ch. Hist.," VII, 253 (Dutch Ed.).

114 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

And I am afraid that those of us who have read or tried
to read after Menno, will have to admit that the Dutch
annotator was right. As a writer, he is impressive only
when deeply stirred. But how is it possible that one can
be "an oracle" as a speaker, and tedious as a writer?
His two chief doctrines were ( 1 ) the need of regeneration
and (2) the gathering of a church which shall truly be a
body of believers.^*

Dr. A. M. Cramer, against later evidence, questions
whether Menno was ever baptized, although he certainly
was, not immersed.^^ His enemies accused him of crafti-
ness. We would rather call it quick-wittedness. One
day, it is said, as he rode on a wagon, trying to escape al-
most certain capture, a band of men rode up, stopped
the wagon, and the leader loudly demanded " whether
Menno Simons were on that vehicle." Menno was seated
with the driver and turned about deliberately to his fel-
low travelers with the remark, " These men want to know
whether Menno Simons is on this wagon." When they
answered in the negative, he turned to the chief constable,
and said, " The friends say no." ^^ It is rather refreshing
to know that all the drabness of his life had not been able
to utterly destroy his innate sense of humor. He told
no lie, but simply availed himself of a legitimate means
of escape.

A. M. Cramer's estimate of the man is not very flat-
tering. Says he, " All in all, he seems to me to have been
a man of a narrow and small rather than of a great and
liberal spirit, namely, in comparison with the other Re-
formers." ^^ His was undoubtedly an impressionable
mind, easily moved to change, for of these same Mun-

»*A. M. Cramer, Het Leven, etc., 162.

35Idem, 158.

3«B. R. N., VII, 362.

"A. M. Cramer, Het Leven, etc., 158.

THE CONSERVATIVES 115

sterites, whom he so bitterly attacked in his autobiog-
raphy, he said in 1539:

I do not doubt that our brethren, who formerly went a little
astray, because they wanted to defend their faith with arms,
have a merciful God. They sought only Jesus Christ and life
eternal; and therefore they left home, garden, soil, father,
mother, wife, child, and even their own lives.'^

Menno disapproved of rebaptism of his followers
among themselves, as they passed from one faction to the
other. He refused to rebaptize the wife of Eydes, be-
cause she had been baptized by one of the Miinster party,
and here for once he was joined by Leonard Bouwens.^*
And yet this same Bouwens had forced him " to do things
for fear of the ban for which he was sorry."

For when Menno had gone to Franeker and thence to
Harlingen with the brethren, a stricter application of the
ban was proposed. Menno hesitated and was asked to
go out of the room. As he went out Bouwens stood at
the door and laying his hand on Menno's head, said:
" Menno has not yet grown above our heads. If he can-
not follow us, we will do to him as is done to other min-
isters." Whereupon Menno was much frightened and
disturbed. And thus, under compulsion, Menno changed
from the milder to the stricter doctrine of the ban.*^
It was the thing which caused him to say to an inti-
mate friend on his death-bed, " How sorry I am that I
consented to the Avoidance (Echtmydinghe)." And
again, " Be no slave of men as I have been." *^

Under similar circumstances, as the event proved,
Derek Philips would have been immovable as a rock.

38 Dat Fundament des Christl. Lenens door M. S., quat. R, VII, 2,
^^Alenson's Tegenbericht, B. R. N., VII, 236,
*»Idem, 258.
<^Id€m, 258,

116 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Yet what a work Menno Simons had accomplished be-
fore he died ! He started out with a handful of despised,
persecuted Anabaptists; he left behind a mighty organ-
ization, loosely bound together, it is true, but still stand-
ing on a common platform, with common ideals ; a band
of men, which in 1561 had a mightier hold on the Low-
lands than the Dutch Reformed Church. And to that end
he had labored more than any of the other leaders, for he
had greater influence and a larger following than any of
them. He started with the Philips brothers, David Joris,
Van Batenburg, and others, but soon they dropped by the
roadside. When he died only Derek Philips was left as
the coleader of the party which he had founded, and he
had outstripped them all.

The principal works of Menno, found in his Opera
Omnia of 1681, are these (I translate their titles) :

1. " Christ the promised Son of David " (against John
of Leyden).

2. " Of the spiritual resurrection."

3. " Of the new Creature."

4. " Of the right Christian faith."
The dates of these four are uncertain.

5. " The fundamental Book," 1539.

6. " Meditation on the Twenty-fifth Psalm," 1539.

7. " On excommunication," 1540.

8. " Declaration to John a Lasco, about Christ's hu-
manity,'' 1543.

9. " Explanation of Christian Baptism," 1543.

10. " The cause of M. S.'s teaching and writing " ( ?).

11. " Of the triune God," 1550.

12. " Answer to questions about the ban," 1550.

13. " Of the cross of Christ " ( ?).

14. " Supplication to the magistrates," 1552.

THE CONSERVATIVES 117

15. "A justification of the oppressed Christians, to the
preachers," 1552.

16. " Confession about points in debate," 1552.

17. " Justification and defense against lies and accusa-
tions," 1553.

18. "Against Cellius Faber," 1554.

19. " About Christ's incarnation. Against John a
Lasco," 1554.

20. " How a Christian is to be disposed, and of the
Ban" (?).

21. "Answer to Martin Micron," 1556.

22. " Discourse on Excommunication," 1557.

23. "Of child-discipHne " (?).

24. " Answer to ZyHs and Lememken," 1559.

In his polemic he resembled his contemporaries; his
mode of attack was often coarse and vicious. The epi-
thets used in these debates stagger us, the children of a
milder age, of a broader outlook, and of greater tolerance.
In this respect Derek Philips far surpasses Menno; his
controversial style is far more refined and almost entirely
free from personalities, a thing which even his most
lenient critic could not say of Menno.

I will not devote a separate paragraph to Leonard
Bouwens, and the other secondary leaders of the Men-
nonites, because we shall meet them again and again in
the recital of the events which mark the development of
the Anabaptist movement in the Lowlands. Suffice it to
say that Bouwens was sent out, as a bishop, by Derek
Philips and Menno Simons, together with Gielis van
Aken, in 1553," at the request of the people." ^^ Al-
though very successful in his ministry, especially in the
Lowlands, and among the Frisians, he was destined to be-

«B. R. N., X, 23.

118 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

come a thorn In the flesh of both Derek and Menno.
We have seen already how he compelled Menno, by a
threat of the ban, to abandon his mild policy in the mat-
ter of excommunication for one of extreme rigor. And
he finally came into deadly conflict with Derek Philips,
who, made of tougher fiber, scorned his threats and in
turn excommunicated him. Gielis van Aken recanted,
under torture, and was decapitated.''^

4, The Era of Schisms

Public debates were the order of the day in the whole
period of the Reformation. It seemed as if the rabies
disputandi of the schools of the Middle Ages had been
revived. Thus Lutherans debated with the Swiss and
with the Catholics ; the Swiss debated among themselves
and in fact largely settled their reformation by the de-
bates of Bern and Basel. Zwingli debated with the
Anabaptists. The Dutch and German Anabaptists de-
bated with the Reformed and the Lutherans, and they
strenuously debated among themselves. After a fashion,
their convictions in re certain dogmas, and also their
views of life, were thus settled, but on the other hand
the door was opened for endless schisms.

And the Dutch Protestants in general shared with the
Anabaptists in this trait of disputatiousness and also in
that of a decided schismatic tendency. How could it be
otherwise? The mind, set free from the bondage of scho-
lasticism and tradition, had to exercise its newly found
liberty. Lutheran and Calvinist alike believed in the great
principle of the " priesthood of all believers " ; but no-
where was this principle so unduly exalted as among the
Anabaptists. If the latter were zealous even unto fanati-
cism, no less so were some Protestants. Think of Martin

« B. R. N., VII, 520.

THE CONSERVATIVES 119

Micron, the friend and colaboror of Utenhove, in the
Dutch church of London, now an exile for Christ's sake,
a man small of stature but contentious to a degree, always
aching for a debate, always urging some disputation, and
of course always considering himself the victor.

By his disputatiousness, he succeeded in having the
Reformed driven from Hamburg, where they had been
in quiet safety before his arrival among them. The
Wismar and Liibeck disputations were no more advan-
tageous to the Reformed cause than that of Hamburg.
Everywhere disaster followed his strenuous efforts, and
yet he was ever ready to renew the attempt.

What may be the psychological ground for this conten-
tious spirit? For to a certain degree it was common to
all. Did they thus search for that certainty and fixedness
of faith, which they had lost in leaving Rome ?

And in all this animosity and contentiousness the Ana-
baptists were the common object of hatred of all, Prot-
estants and Catholics alike.

Think of the incident, which happened at Wismar, in
1553. Hermes Backereel, to whom, in Micron's absence,
the care of the church or rather of the group of Reformed
exiles had been entrusted, insisted on a debate with Menno
Simons. The Anabaptists informed him that Menno was
not there, but they prevaricated, for Hermes had found
out Menno's hiding-place from the prattle of an innocent
child.** Menno then appeared and debated with Hermes,
who broke his promise of secrecy and openly pointed out
the place where Menno might be found. And this though
he knew full well that the Lutheran preachers of Wismar
deemed the death-penalty none too heavy for Anabaptists
and incidentally for *' Sacramentarians " (nickname for
the Reformed) as well.

** Myn verborgene woonstede van een onnosel kint wtvraechde.

120 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Debates at Haff nia, at Hamburg, at Liibeck, at Rostock,
at Wismar, even though they all knew that the eye of
the enemy was upon them and that their safety lay in
keeping quietly under cover !

The Government frequently insisted on these debates
between the Anabaptists and the Reformed, evidently in
the hope of converting the former. Thus came off the
Frankenthal disputation of 1571, by order of Frederick
of the Palatinate, where Dathenus, the great Reformed
Dutch field preacher, and Rauf debated with the Anabap-
tists. Again at Embden, in 1578, where the Reformed
pastors debated with Peter van Ceulen and his associates ;
and again at Leeu warden in Vriesland, in 1596, where
Acronius defended the Reformed doctrine and Peter van
Ceulen that of the IMennonites. Naturally all these efforts
at union failed.

The Lutheran was as bitter against the Zwinglians and
Calvinists and Anabaptists as he was against Rome, only
more so. And the compliment was returned with avidity.
Each thought and taught that he had found and founded
the " true Church." The bitter spirit of exclusion and
seclusion, which had characterized Judaism, revealed it-
self again among the children of the Reformation, and
ages were to pass before the spirit of mutual toleration
and appreciation, and better understanding and a broader,
mellower, and more clear-eyed spirit revealed itself.

It was an age of general intolerance, an intolerance
which revealed itself at home and abroad. Let me cite
a single example. In 1564, the Dutch Reformed church
at London, founded under Edward VI, exiled under
"Bloody Mary," and restored again by Elizabeth, had
attained great prosperity. Yet so simple a question as
an agitation about the procedure to be followed when
an infant was presented for baptism — mind you not the

THE CONSERVATIVES 121

mode of baptism but simply the ecclesiastical procedure
that went before — practically ruined the church. Cool-
tuyn, a pastor of the Embden church, was called in as
arbitrator and spent half a year in trying to settle the
matter. Yet no sooner had he returned to Embden, but
the agitation broke out anew and nearly ruined the
church.

We will not be amazed then if we find this spirit of con-
tentiousness to abound among the followers of Menno
Simons and Derek Philips.

How could it be otherwise? Nowhere individualism
held such supreme sway as among the Anabaptists. Each
man read the Scriptures for himself; other books being
practically interdicted, except such as belonged to his own
circle.

If it be true that the old Dutch Anabaptists had paid
little attention to the Scriptures, and had placed their own
visions and fanciful interpretations of the truth far above
the simple words of Holy Writ, not so with the Men-
nonites.

They studied the Scriptures ardently, they knew them
as few Protestants did ; witness their quickness in repartee
and especially the inexhaustible wealth of Scripture quo-
tations, in the proces verbal of the examination of their
martyrs, before the Inquisitorial tribunals.

Thus a sternness of opinion was created, which coupled
with the native Dutch stubbornness and a firm conviction
of duty, naturally and inevitably led to endless schisms.
In the decades following the death of Menno Simons,
the centrifugal force wholly preponderated over the cen-
tripetal among his followers.

Schisms had occurred even before his death; after it,
they multiplied with amazing rapidity. No one can study
these endless schisms among the Dutch Mennonites with-

122 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

out the assistance of Carel van Ghent's " Beginning of
the Schisms " (Beginsel der Scheuringen).

Many of the followers of Menno had followed his ex-
ample in trying to break entirely with the Miinster party
and in making themselves believe that their so-called
'' mission " had a different origin from that of the Miin-
sterites.

This contention is mercilessly exposed by a document,
originally printed in Latin and found as an addendum
behind Carel's " Beginning," in the Bibliotheca: *^

1. Jan Matthysz, a baker at Haarlem, simply ran on his own
account. [He was baptized and ordained by Jan Trypmaker, the
disciple and associate of Hoffman.—//. E. D.], and unjustly
called himself " Elias," sent from God. He first sent, to Vries-
land, Bartholomew Boekbinder and Dirk Kuyper, to preach and
to baptize.

2. These, Bartholomew and Dirk, coming to Leeuwarden, there
have baptized and ordained, with the laying on of hands and
have sent out with apostolic power, to teach and to baptize, Ubbo
Philips, John the Barber, and others.

3. Ubbo Philips thereupon, as appears from his Confession,
has sent out in the same way Dirck Philips, his brother, Menno
Simons, and many others.

4. Thereupon Derek Philips sent out, after the same manner,
John Lubberts, Lubbert Gerrits, and many others.

5. Finally Lubbert Gerrits, when he was almost dying, among
many others, after the laying on of hands, has sent out Gerrit
Reynier Wybrants, who was then still living.

In this and no other way, or by no other means or authority,
thereafter the sending out and ordination of ministers, among
the Flemings and other Anabaptist sects, as many as there may
be, has taken its origin. And thereafter the one sent out and
ordained the other, up to the present day.

Now as to whether this so highly exalted ordination and
mission of the aforesaid preachers actually is from heaven or
from man, believers and spiritually minded men, who can dis-
tinguish things rightly and uprightly, may judge.

*5B, R. N., VII, 558.

THE CONSERVATIVES 123

What is this " Commencement " (Begins el) of Car el
van Ghent? It is one of the chief (if not the chief)
sources of information concerning the schisms among the
Anabaptists in the sixteenth century. It was printed
after the death of the author, and we do not know his
true name. But internal evidence in the book itself seems
to point conclusively to Carel van Ghent, who joined the
Anabaptists as a young man of twenty-two years, in
1563, after he had studied for the Romish priesthood.
He joined that group of Menno's followers who four
years later were to split into two bodies — the Flemings
and the Frisians. He was put under the ban in 1568.
Later he was received again by the Flemings, and he
was their clerk at the Embden disputation of 1578. Two
years later, in 1580, he was " banned " again and there-
after sought reinstatement in vain. He then apparently
became, like so many expelled Anabaptists, an ecclesias-
tical free-lance, a sort of pietistic mystic, without any
church connection. But the entire contents of the book
point him out as a naturally pious man.

If one doubts it, let him listen to the close of the
book:**

Thus from the stress of my soul, I must henceforth, in my
old age, by the gracious illumination of my Lord, turn to
and accommodate myself to the internal rather than to the ex-
ternal, to the heavenly from the earthly, and from the soiled . . .
signs, to what they truly and spiritually mean. And thus, with-
out rejecting or despising any one, I must await with patience
the gracious rest of my soul (death) and also the glorious ap-
pearance of Christ my Lord and God and the resurrection of
those who belong to him.

The whole tone of the book, its bitterness to Protestantism
in general, and its apologetic attitude for faults, which he

*«B. R. N., VII, 494.

124 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

freely criticizes in the Anabaptist circles, prove that the
author never lost his first love.

And this conviction increases our estimate of the his-
torical value of his revelations concerning the schisms
among the Anabaptists. No one can read the introduction
to the book and mistake the author's standing. He
died a loyal Anabaptist at heart. Sometimes he severely
criticizes, as when he slashes away at the evil practises
sometimes occuring in connection with the ban and avoid-
ance. Says he,*^ '' If it were necessary and profitable the
author could name some who were snatched away from
their excommunicated husbands without the latter being
able to detect where they were taken.." And he. writes
these words not from hearsay, but from personal knowl-
edge.

De Hoop Scheffer was at first suspicious of this book,
but came to see differently later on. Dr. S. Cramer, on
the other hand, " does not see why we should have to
use greater circumspection here than that which every
historian must exercise over against every informant."
Dr. De Hoop Scheffer had spoken of bitter denunciations
and hard accusations against the brotherhood, but Doctor
Cramer denies this and proves conclusively that the author
was at least as fair and open-minded in his strictures as
were the best of his contemporaries.^^

Rome brought this charge of dissent and of a general
tendency to schism not only against the Anabaptists, but
against all Protestant bodies, as she studied their internal
development, when the break from Rome had become an
accomplished fact.

Says Joannis Bunderius, the great Dominican antago-
nist of Anastasius Veluanus, whom I have quoted in an-

"B. R. N., VII, 501.
*8B. R. N., VII, 502.

THE CONSERVATIVES 125

other lecture, whilst bitterly attacking the latter's " Lay-
mans Guide " (Lckenwechwyser) : ^^

When faith is one and the same, there should be mutual accord
between the articles of faith, and no discord. The CathoHc
faith, received from Peter and Paul, till now has been preserved
unpolluted and has not been weakened by internal dissensions.
But your faith counts as many sects as there are heretical
leaders.

In line with this, there is a biting criticism of V. P. in
the Successio Anabaptistica, another valuable source for
our knowledge of the schisms among the Anabaptists : ^^

They form an army against the Catholics, as the Midianites
against Gideon; and when they plan to fight the enemy, they
fall out among themselves, each man's sword is turned against
his neighbor, and with biting and banning, scolding and quarrel-
ing, they so destroy each other that from the village church they
can scarcely fill a little loft of their own sect.

The main cause of the schisms in the early Church,
during the great persecutions, from the Hippolitan schism
of 217 A. D. till the Donatist schism of 311 A. D., was
invariably the treatment of the lapsi; church discipline,
therefore. And among the Anabaptists it was again the
subject of discipline which formed the main cause of
disruptions.

Discipline, the ban and its rigorous application in the
case of married people, in avoidance, these were the three
main reasons of all ruptures among them. We find,
coupled with these, at a later period, the doctrine of the
incarnation. As an accidental matter of difference, we
find the various answers to the question, " What is a dis-
ciplinary ofifense?" The Flemings would answer, "All
luxury, pride, ostentatiousness in dress, splendid house-
furnishings, all these make one liable to discipline." The

«B. R. N., IV, 117. ^B. R. N.. VII, 83.

126 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Waterlandians would have none of all that, and they
would answer, " Only Scriptural offenses are to be thus
considered." And between these two groups we find also
an intense difference as to the treatment of those under
discipline. The first, true to their national, vehement
character, especially where this was reenforced by the
stern Frisian temperament, would have those under dis-
cipline to be treated as if they were dead, even in the
family circle; no contact whatever was permitted in any
conceivable way, no pity might be shown.

The Waterlandians, on the other hand, milder and
broader from the start, only avoided particular intimacy,
but for the rest they assumed a conciliatory attitude.

Let us try to obtain a coup d'oeil of the various groups
among the followers of Menno, as they stood about the
time of his death.

1. The Miinster party was practically dead. It lived on
only in a straggling way, as in the sect of the Baten-
burgers, whose leader, a thorough Miinsterite, had died
a martyr's death.

2. The Adam Pastorites still formed a considerable,
though dwindling body along the upper Rhine.

3. The House of Love, followers of Hendrick Nik-
laes, existed as scattered remnants here and there, whom
we perhaps meet in the Dutch " Naked-runners " (Naakt-
loopers).

4. The party of Sebastian Franck, negligible as a dis-
tinct Anabaptist development.

5. The Meerlanders were a small group about Aix la
Qiapelle, standing by themselves and distinguished by
communism. They called themselves " The Dutch Con-
gregation " (De Nederlandsche Ghemeynte).

All these are only of passing interest and have very
little bearing on. our ?ybject

THE CONSERVATIVES 127

6. The " Old Congregation." These were the follow-
ers of Menno Simons and Derek Philips and were known
as the " Hard Banners," because they were rigid in the
application of the ban.

7. The '' New Congregation," who had been excom-
municated by Menno and Derek and Leonard Bouwens,
because they were unwilling to adopt the harsh measures
proposed. They were known as the '* Soft Banners," on
account of their leniency ; also the " Overland Church "
or " Waterlandians," from their location.

8. The Frisians, mainly churches founded by Leon-
ard Bouwens. It is with these Frisians and Flemings and
Waterlandians, or the " New Congregation," that we are
chiefly concerned, for from them in the main was to grow
the body which till this day is known as the Doopsgesinde
G>emeente (The Mennonite Church) in the Netherlands.

The first serious schism had occurred in 1555, as has
been said, and it had resulted in the formation of the
New Congregation. Their leaders were Joris Heins and
Hendrick Naaldman; and Bouwens had viciously called
them " The Garbage Cart " (Dreckwaghen) , because they
received in their membership people who had been
" banned " by other Anabaptist sects. And yet they were
destined to become the leaders of the Dutch Mennonites,
though they were the earliest schismatics.

They adopted the following six points as a sort of
church program : ^^

1. There can be no marriage in case one is under the
sentence of the ban and avoidance. Even in case of adul-
tery neither the guilty nor innocent can be married again.

2. Christ took his human nature from heaven.

3. No Christian may bear the sword.
"B. R. N., VII, 466. 467, 524.

128 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

4. No Christian may seek justice in the civil courts.

5. Christ died only for Adan^'s, i. e., for original, sin,
not for our later sins.

6. Christ reigns on this earth, since his resurrection,
with his own people, till he deliver the kingdom to his
Father.

These points were not in the nature of a confession
of faith, but only the loosest possible basis of agreement.

In 1559 the separation occurred between the Mennon-
ites and the followers of Zyles and Lemke. The latter
desired a moderate application of the Wismar articles of
1554, which would p'ermit contact with those who were
banned " in case of necessity." ^^ ^^d they also wanted
to modify the law of avoidance in case of conscientious
scruples. The Zyles-Lemke pa.rty were now excommuni-
cated and thus the Germans separated from the Dutch
Mennonites.^^

But a more serious danger threatened in 1565; so seri-
ous in fact that it shook the brotherhood to its very foun-
dations.

FcHir cities in Vriesland — Leeuwarden, Dokkum, Frane-
ker, and Harlingen — had formed a sort of alliance among
their Mennonite congregations. It had regard partly to
the maintenance of the* services of their churches and also
those of certain villages and islands; and partly to some
merely domestic arrangements. But some of the stricter
constructionists of Mennonite practise saw in this move
the violation of a fundamental principle. They claimed
that the Scriptures were a sufficient covenant, and that
beyond them nothing was needed or permitted.^*

Here was the foundation of all the trouble that fol-
lowed.

^B. R. N., VII, 52. ^Idem, 56, 527. "Idem, 536.

THE CONSERVATIVES 129

But there was another and a more subtle cause of
friction. Leonard Bouwens, the popular founder of most
of the Frisian churches, had been put under the ban
and had been deposed from his ministry, in this same
year 1565, by Derek Philips and six other pastors " for
some great sin." What was the nature of the offense is
wholly unknown. None of the ancient sources throws a
ray of light on the mystery. His frequent and prolonged
absences from his charge at Embden had caused great
dissatisfaction there. But this was not the cause of his
deposition. Whatever it was, his judges were merciful
and kept the cause of their harsh sentence entirely secret,
and whatever the cause, it was serious enough to prohibit
him, self-willed as he was, from defying the sentence.
He passed from thenceforth out of the ministry of the
Mennonite churches.

But he was deeply angry and terribly wounded by this
humiliation. Being an imperious and impulsive man,
and exercising a tremendous influence in Vriesland, where
he had thousands of converts, he was a dangerous foe for
his old friend and bishop, who had ordained him to the
ministry. And Derek Philips was destined to feel the
weight of his displeasure.

Was he the ultimate cause of the great schism? Who
can tell us?

It is a significant fact that Bouwens, on leaving Embden,
had moved to Vriesland and had settled down in the
country near Harlingen, where he nursed his grievances
in silence. And it is still more significant that Ebbe
Pieters, the Mennonite pastor of Harlingen and the spe-
cial object of the antagonism of Jeroen Tinnegieter, the
leader of the schismatics, was one of the seven judges
who had deposed Bouwens.

Let us look for a moment at this Franeker dispute,
I

130 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

in which Tinnegieter figured, and which led to all the
trouble.

During the severe persecution in the South many Flem-
ish Anabaptists had migrated to Vriesland, where the
placards were less strenuously enforced, and had joined
the brotherhood there. From the start there was some
friction between the two nationalities. The Frisians were
neater and more elaborate in their domestic arrange-
ments; while the Flemish dressed more ostentatiously
abroad and were less particular at home. Some mutual
recriminations were indulged in and thus the seed was
sown for dissension. There was some dispute about at-
tending the funerals of " outsiders." Jeroen Tinnegieter,
the teacher of the Flemish Anabaptists at Franeker, had
serious grievances against Ebbe Pieters, the pastor at
Harlingen. In the spring of 1556, he called a meeting
at night. There was some discussion about the covenant
between the four cities, and six of the members of the
consistory insisted on maintaining it. Jeroen and his
followers summarily suspended them from their office.
Ebbe heard of it the next day, on his way to Leeuwarden,
where he spread the news. The Flemish now accused
him of lying and of creating discord and demanded his
appearance for a hearing. Ebbe appeared and Hoyte
Reynix of Bolsward was present as judge (with a few
other pastors), who however had received no mandate
from his church to act in that capacity. Forty people
attended the meeting and, with a vote of twenty-five
against fifteen, declared Ebbe innocent. Jeroen was ab-
sent at the time, but on his return, demanded a rehearing
of the case and accused Ebbe before his own church at
Harlingen. A meeting for this purpose was called by a
certain Michael Jans, who sided with the Flemish, for
August 7, 1566. Of the four hundred members of the

THE CONSERVATIVES 131

church only thirty appeared; but these thirty banned
and deposed Ebbe. The followers of Ebbe did not accept
this ridiculous sentence, and they retaliated by banning
members of the other party, both at Harlingen and Frane-
ker. The thing, originally a farce, now developed into
a struggle between the defenders and the opponents of
the " covenant between the four cities."

When the strife increased, Derek Philips wrote his
famous epistle anent the " Covenant," ^^ to which was
added an official document, signed by all the pastors who
had deposed Bouwens. Why this addendum to his letter,
if Bouwens was not suspected of fomenting the strife in
Vriesland? The letter was very conciliatory and ad-
monished to brotherly love and forbearance. It specially
emphasized the relations between church and pastor.
God, he told them, called pastors, the church ordained
them, and each church was entitled to the services of its
own pastor. Here again was a palpable reminder of the
offense Bouwens had given at Embden by his repeated
absences. One feels all the time in reading the letter
that Derek keeps Bouwens continually in mind.

But the epistle failed of its purpose and the dissension
grew apace. De Hoop Scheffer has clearly shown that
the great increase in the Reformed Qiurch in the Nether-
lands synchronizes with the bitter schisms, which started
among the Mennonites, in 1566. It was so in Harlingen
and in other places in Vriesland.^^

The Flemish decided to put the six elders, mentioned
above, under the ban and thus to confirm their original
sentence, but they did not immediately act on this de-
cision ; when suddenly a perfect ban-storm broke out all
over. It was rather a brain-storm and it threatened to

^5B. R. N., X, 517 p.

^^ Het Verbond der Vier Steden, 1893.

132 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

consume the entire brotherhood, as with fire. In their
utter distraction, a mutual attempt was made to patch
up some sort of peace. Both parties to the controversy
agreed to call in two pastors of the church of Hoorn, in
North Holland, Jan Willems and Lubbert Gerrits, as
arbitrators. They came, investigated the matter and pro-
nounced their verdict at Harlingen, in the presence of
both parties. Both were decided to have been at fault,
and they were mutually to confess their guilt and to make
a permanent peace. They were to do so kneeling. The
Frisians made confession and rose from the floor; the
Flemish followed suit; but as they were about to rise,
they were told that they must remain kneeling, till they
were assisted to rise, inasmuch as they had been the
aggressors.

Knowing that this meant, according to Anabaptist cus-
tom, that thereafter not one of them would be eligible
to office, they arose as one man, and repudiated their con-
fession. This was in 1567. The only exception was that
of Michael Jans, mentioned above, who had announced to
Ebbe Pieters the sentence of the ban. The next day he
exclaimed, with a flood of tears, to Carel van Ghent : ^^

O God, have we poor people allowed ourselves to be deluded,
in our search of the Scriptures, running after trouble and dis-
sent, and not after peace, love, and unity! O God, give me
grace that I may be redeemed from this amazing madness and
may live for half a year in a quiet and peaceful place. Then I
will gladly sacrifice my body for my faith.

His prayer was heard ; he moved to a village near Brielle,
and died a martyr within the year.

Nearly all the churches in Groningen, Embden, East
Frisia, Brabant, and Flanders now took the side of the
Flemish, and Derek Philips demanded that the Frisians

"B. R. N., VII, 542.

THE CONSERVATIVES 133

and the arbitrators of the quarrel appear before him, at
Embden, to have the matter adjudicated. As they refused
to come they were all " banned " by the Embden church,
and the Flemish were adjudged to be in the right in the
quarrel. The latter now began to rebaptize Frisians who
joined them. They followed the example set them by
those of Embden and decided (I quote literally) :

To pronounce a general and universal ban, with the strong
effect and corollary thereof, namely avoidance of all Frisian
Anabaptists, of whatever kind they may be, men, women, and
children, servants, maids, old and young, educated or unedu-
cated, guilty or guiltless.

It sounds almost like a papal ban, and it seems to us a
psychological riddle that men could ever be carried away
by a blind passion, as these were. And yet, I am sure,
they thought they were doing God service. A few mem-
bers of both parties made peace, in 1574, at Homster-
land, in the province of Groningen. From the place
where the compromise was made, it is called the " Hom-
ster Peace." But the peacemakers were repudiated by
both parties, and thus but added another to the long list
of Anabaptist sects in the sixteenth century.

Four years later, this " Homster Peace " became the
subject of a debate at Embden, whether to cancel or extend
it. Alas, the majority decided for cancellation! Pieter
van Ceulen now leaped into the limelight, as a defender
of the peace-party. The Embden pastors then formally de-
cided to visit Groningen and to settle the matter in situ,
with the astonishing result that they resolved to per-
petuate the break between the Flemish and the Frisians.
The schism now became a public scandal.

Another effort at pacification was made at Hoorn in
1576, but it proved a lamentable failure; for the Flemish,

134 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

on account of their former experience, resisted all efforts
at conciliation with the utmost stubbornness.

Derek Philips, one of the founders of the Church, nay
with Menno the chief founder, was now put under the
ban by his opponents; and replied to this action by an
*' Appendix to Our Little Book on the Dissension " (Ap-
pendix aen ons boecsken van den Twistigen Handel), In
the letter, accompanying the ban, names and places had
been given in full; and of that act, as a betrayal of the
brethren so named, Derek bitterly complains ; ^® of the
epistle itself he says, " a more abominably slanderous
epistle we have not seen nor read in our lifetime."

One of the Flemish delegates to this meeting was Jan
van Ophoorn, pastor of the Flemish church at Embden,
who had imagined to see in the proposals for reconcilia-
tion at Hoorn " all manner of snares and pitfalls, pre-
pared for them by their opponents." Later on, in an
access of schismatic fury, he separated from his own
party, as having departed from the truth. Unable to start
a new sect, and believing himself and wife the only be-
lievers left, he founded a church at his house between
them, remembering the Master's " where two or three."
He then solemnly proceeded to place all the Flemish
pastors under the ban. Poor and forlorn and lonely he
died at Norden.^®

This great schism did not prevent several smaller ones
from budding and springing into a more or less vigor-
ous life.

Thus the sale of a house at Franeker, apparently a
somewhat questionable transaction, led in 1586, to the
forming of the sect of the " Housebuyers " (Huiscopers),
who were led by Thomas Bintgens, and opposed by J. K.,
whom Dr. S. Cramer identifies with the celebrated Jaques

^B. R. N., X, 589, p. ^'B. R. N.. VII, 70.

THE CONSERVATIVES 135

Outerman, whose followers continued to call themselves
Flemish. Thus we have two new sects, the " Anti-house-
buyers " as well as the " Housebuyers." ^®

At Dantzig meanwhile another little group had seceded,
when its pastor, Quyryn vander Meulen, had been banned
by Hans de Wever and Jacob van der Meulen. Says the
Successio Anabaptistica: ®^

These have so troubled the aforesaid heads with disputing,
arguing, and the allegation of many Scriptures, that they saw
no way to defend their opinion; and as it is the nature of pride
rather to fall into the abyss of hell than to turn toward love,
with abnegation of self, they remained obstinate, as Hans and
Vermoelen saw it, and therefore were banned by them.

They are known in Anabaptist history as the " Concerned
Ones" (Bekommerden).

This same Jacob van der Meulen figures in another
schism, whereby the Housebuyers were split again, in
1598, by the expulsion of the so-called " Bankrupt Party "
(Bancquerottiers), at Haarlem. The trouble arose
through the bankruptcy of one of the members of the
church,^^ for and against the excommunication of whom
the members ranged themselves in two parties. Let me
omit further tiresome details. Enough has been said to
show that no division of Protestantism sinned as griev-
ously through schismatic contentions as did the Anabap-
tists. Somehow, in studying their history, one is ever
reminded of the frequently recurring statement in the
book of Judges : " In those days there was no king in
Israel; every man did that which was right in his own
eyes,"

Meanwhile the Frisians had split among themselves
again into " Young " or " Soft " and " Old " or " Hard "

«"'B. R. N., VII, 70, 554-

«iB. R. N., VII, 70. "^B. R. N., VII, 555-

136 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Frisians. The Germans made a peace-pact with the
former in 1591, and in 1601 the Waterlandians joined
this new group, alas, only to separate from them again
in 1613, in Holland, Vriesland, and elsewhere. The cen-
tripetal force was not yet ready to assert itself.

How bitter was the antagonism, as late as 1613, appears
from the thirty-three articles, printed with the new Mar-
tyrs' Book, in that year, against which Alenson wrote his
"Apology" (Tegenbericht). The spirit of criticism and
of depreciation of the. opponent party displayed in them
is very offensive.^^

And in judging of this matter, let us not forget that
they who edited this book and who wrote these articles
were the liberals of their day among the Mennonites.
And yet, even when they tried to be conciliatory, they
could not resist the temptation to mingle a little gall with
the cup of peace, they poured out.

It was after all but a struggle between two great
principles, between the rigorists and the moderates, be-
tween implacable justice and divine mercy. And though
they knew it not, it touched the vital point of their whole
church polity, absolute individualism in all congregational
matters. The later Congregational polity is built on the
original Anabaptist doctrine. A council might carry
some weight, its advice might be good or bad, but it had
no final jurisdiction, no absolute authority. The local
church alone possessed this power. Individualism was
the vitium originis of the whole Anabaptist movement,
and it limited its possibilities for the future; while its
very constitution made the endless disruptions of which I
have been speaking a foregone conclusion. Granted a
heterogeneous aggregate, made up of many different na-
tionalities, each with its own peculiar idiosyncrasies, with-

«3 B. R. N., VII, 2i8,

THE CONSERVATIVES 137

out any central organization or controlling power, like
that which constituted the Anabaptist movement, and the
wonder is not that they split up into so many parties, but
rather that two of them remained together.

These endless schisms were like a heavy cloud, rest-
ing on the last days of Derek Philips. He was not a per-
fect man ; who is ? But he was, not even barring Menno
Simons, the greatest leader of the early Dutch Anabap-
tists. Complaining of the treatment he received at the
hands of the Frisian zealots and their Hoorn confed-
erates, he said : ^*

So much we have not been able to obtain, that they would
answer for themselves before their accusers and those who
had laid charges against them. So much of fairness, modesty,
yea of the fear of the Lord or of Christ's spirit and brotherly
love, was not found among them.

All this was strictly true. But what could Derek Philips
expect? He had back of him no organization which
authorized him to assume arch-episcopal powers. The
Waterlandians and those of the opposition party were
not obliged by any law in vogue among the Anabaptists
to come to him. He could " ban " them, and so he did ;
but they in turn could " ban " him, and so they did. The
schisms among the Anabaptists were the necessary out-
come of the very thing which the founders had inaugu-
rated, the absolute liberty and independence of the in-
dividual church.

5. The Martyrs

While all these things were happening, while the radical
Anabaptist development ran its swift and destructive
course, ending in the annihilation of the faction comprised

9*(7on Verhael, B. R. N., X, 556,

138 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

under it; and while all the disheartening schisms and
separations were developing among the conservative wing
of the Anabaptists, death was ceaselessly swinging his
scythe among them in the form of countless martyrdoms.

Remember they were hated of all mankind ; their name
had been given by Rome, in the Netherlands, to all here-
tics without distinction ; and among them the bitter spirit
of persecution reaped its richest harvest.

Doctor Fruin must have had Schyn's work before him
when he wrote his wonderful book on the war of
Liberty,®^ else I am unable to understand the following
quotation :^^

Next to the calm Lutherans, the fanatical Anabaptists arose.
In them the multiform heresies of the Middle Ages revived
and the antagonism against the clergy which once had animated
the Hussites. They carried back their genealogical tree to the
first Middle Ages. [The early Anabaptists never did. — H. E. D.]
The troubles caused by Luther did not originate them, but only
drew them into the open. As a running fire they spread all
over the Lowlands and soon assimilated the most zealous of the
Protestants, who now found no satisfaction any longer for their
zeal in Lutheranism. For a time they threatened to gain the
upper hand, but they were not capable of founding a lasting
church. Unanimous in their destructive spirit, but of many
varieties of doctrine and of greatly divergent aims, they were
only capable of breaking down, etc.

If this be an estimate of a liberal modern historian, what
must have been that of their contemporaries?

We are assured by a number of creditable witnesses
that even in the opening years of the seventeenth century
Rome held a majority of the inhabitants of the Lowlands.
During the persecutions, the heretical portion of the popu-
lation was but a fraction of the whole. They were liter-
ally like sheep amid wolves. Inasmuch as they departed

^^ Tien Jaren. *^ Tien Jaren, 238.

THE CONSERVATIVES 139

furthest from Rome in their simple services, the Anabap-
tists were the special objects of persecution. The Miin-
ster tragedy had seriously affected the progress of the
Reformation in the Lowlands. Thus in Deventer, where
two years earlier a remarkable reformatory spirit revealed
itself, in 1534 and 1535, the strongest measures were
taken against Lutheranism.^^ Ypey and Dermout tell us :

During this whole period, in most of the Lowlands, the spirit
of the abyss so shockingly revealed itself, that it must raise
the hair on one's head. Everywhere places of execution, where
people were incessantly decapitated, strangled, and burned.
Everywhere pits were pointed out, which were desecrated by
the inhuman homicidal mania of the heresy hunters, who gnashed
their teeth. . . In 1539, at Delft alone, thirty-nine Mennonites
were executed; in 1543, at Louvain alone, between twenty and
thirty, also Mennonites.

The relative number of their martyrdoms to that of the
Reformed stands ten to one.®^ In Vriesland it was for-
bidden, on a fine of one hundred guilders, to rent house
or land to Anabaptists. No one was permitted to inter-
cede for them in any way, when they were condemned to
die, by fire or sword. All who betrayed them received
one-third of their possessions. Whatever belonged to an
Anabaptist, even if given in sacred trust, was to be de-
livered at once to the authorities. All Anabaptists, even
though they repented, were to be executed. All unbap-
tized children were at once to be baptized, and the names
of their parents were to be given to the bishop of Leeu-
warden and also to the clergy of the other provinces.^^

As a sample of the cruelty of the imprisonment of the
period, I relate the following. Mattheus Biernaert was

«Y. and D., Gesch. d. N. H. K., I, 132.
«8Brons, T. oder M., 88.
fioidem, 94- _

140 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

imprisoned at Ghent for several months, in a cell so dark
that he saw neither sun nor daylight. All the light the
prisoner had was an occasional piece of candle obtained
from those on the floor above. He was confined in a
cellarlike dungeon, so small that he could only lie in a
curled-up position, and if he wanted to stretch his legs,
he had to sit up against the wall. The hole was so full of
rodents that he had to keep his food in his hand when he
said his prayers ; for when he put it down it was gone at
once. Says the chronicler,^^ '' After such cruel imprison-
ment, besides enduring all kinds of admonitions and tor-
tures, he was condemned to death and thus confirmed his
testament with his blood."

The persecution had begun in dead earnest in 1535, but
it increased in intensity between 1540 and 1546, on ac-
count of the rebellion of Ghent against Charles V. But
from that date it began again to lessen its fury. Five
years later, however, the placards of 1550 fanned the
flames into a fresh blaze, and thousands of Protestants,
mostly Mennonites, went into voluntary exile, largely
to Embden, Wesel, or England.

When Philip II succeeded his father, October 25, 1555,
the final struggle began, which led in 1566 to the cele-
brated " request " of the Dutch nobles, which is the real
beginning of the Dutch war of liberty. In the same year
the great storm of iconoclasm burst over the Netherlands,
starting at Houtschoten, near Ypres, and spreading with
inconceivable rapidity over all the Lowlands. Scarcely a
church remained untouched ; everywhere images of Mary
and of the saints were ruthlessly destroyed.

Margareth wavered before the blast, but King Philip
answered it by changing the government and by issuing
a blanket condemnation to death of every Dutchman, a

70 B. R. N., VII, 159.

THE CONSERVATIVES 141

few excepted by name, and by the introduction of the
Spanish Inquisition. The notorious duke of Alva was
entrusted with the execution of the royal decree and
arrived in the Netherlands in 1567. Death stalked at his
heels.

The scene that now opens baffles description. I have
neither time nor space to describe that most heroic of all
wars, in which a handful of brave and determined men,
led by William I of Orange, the Dutch Washington,
fought for their liberty and kept up the unequal struggle
with Spain, the Germany of the sixteenth century, till
the war, of which the time element was virtually lost,
ended in the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, after it had
lasted for eighty years, or since 1568.

Doctor Cramer puts the number of Dutch martyrs at
two thousand, of whom, he says, three-quarters were
Anabaptists.^^ Where he gets this low figure I do not
know, but the number certainly was enormously larger.

Alva was regent from 1567 till 1573. Say Ypey and
Dermout : ^^

It Is said that he then [when he left] gloried in the fact that,
In six years' time, either as rebels against the king or as heretics,
he had caused to be killed 18,600 people. This was almost a
fifth part of all who then for the space of fifty years, for the
same reason, had been killed in the Lowlands by the hand of
the executioner.

Wagenaar is more circumstantial and even mentions the
name of the man to whom Alva had boasted of his
cruelty. It was Louis of Koningstein, an uncle (and
enemy) of William of Orange, on his mother's side. "

The whole literature of the period is a mute witness
to this carnival of blood ; and of this bitter cup the Ana-

" Intr., B. R. N.

■'^Gesch. d. N. H. K., I, 234. 73 y^d. Hist., VI, 457.

142 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

baptists drank to the very dregs. But they were undis-
mayed, their enemies even being witnesses to their ex-
emplary Hves. They had long since gone beyond the
doctrine of resistance and physical force: that page in
their history was sealed forever. And their blood was
then, as always, the seed of the church.

When the martyrs at the stake sang their swan-song, as they
frequently did, hundreds of voices in the dense multitude which
witnessed the execution, at once joined in the song of the
martyrs, in spite of their enemies around them and of the en-
raged magistrates who had pronounced the sentence/*

And from this period we have that wonderful martyr
story, *' The Sacrifice of the Lord" (Het Offer des
Heeren), reprinted in toto in the second volume of the
Bihliotheca.

It was originally printed in a small compact form, pos-
sible only, as Doctor Cramer tells us, by the wonderful
paper and still more wonderful printing and binding of
that age. How popular it was is plain from the fact that
between 1566 and 1599 we have at least eleven separate
editions of the book. As a matter of course it was
placed by Rome on the Index."^^ To be found in posses-
sion of the book meant a speedy trip to the scaffold. Read
the " Sacrifice," and it places you in a new world.

These are not the Anabaptists we have met before.
Gone is their fanaticism ; gone the memory of Miinster ;
gone the heresies of some of their leaders ; gone their
endless internecine quarrels and schisms.

The book is a revelation. Here we see a faith that
overcomes the world. The book was written " for the
comfort and strengthening of the slaughter-lambs of

'*Y. and D.. Gesch. d. N. H. K., I, 173.
"B. R. N., II, 6.

THE CONSERVATIVES 143

Christ," both for the martyrs who died and for the loved
ones who were to mourn them. It was a book for edi-
fication: to be read, yes, but rather to be pondered and
prayed over.

Rome, its fear, its obnoxious doctrines and ritual, all
that lies far behind, that is the '' world " which perse-
cutes them. As for them, they are translated even now,
they are going home, into a new and ever safe life."^*

Hysterical, you say, narrow-minded; well, call it so.
But oh, the deep conviction of the truth, the deathless
faith of these men and women ! And this faith scintillates
in all these pages, none excepted. They were God's chil-
dren, were these Anabaptist martyrs.

We have a clear picture of their spiritual exaltation in
the conclusion of the " Sacrifice " : ^^

Kind reader, here you have many examples of men and women
who, with a faithful and pure heart, have feared God from their
innermost soul. Their hearts flourished in the word and love
of God; their lips overflowed with power, spirit, and wisdom;
their life and death were Christ Jesus. They did not seek their
kingdom and rest in this world, for their mind was heavenly and
spiritual, as is evident from their posthumous writings. Beloved
reader, mark the difference, namely, what is the way of the
Lord and what the way of the devil; and which is the upright
service of God and the service of the devil and of idols; and
who are the children of God and the children of the devil ; and
who are the persecutors and the persecuted?

Thus you may understand what kind of people they are, from
what father they are born, what spirit has moved them, who
have rejected, plundered, belied, caught, tortured, broken,
drowned, strangled, and murdered these loving, peaceful, inno-
cent, obedient children of God in so unmerciful a fashion.
Some they have strangled on stakes and hanged on gallows;
some they have executed with the sword and given as food to
the birds of the air; some they have cast to the fishes. And this

'«B. R. N., II, 31.

'^B. R. N., II, 615, 616.

144 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

tyranny, as would appear from the tenor of the Scriptures, will
not cease till the rejected, strangled, and crucified Christ Jesus,
with all his saints, will come at the last day, in the clouds of
heaven, as an all-mighty potentate, conqueror, and glorious king,
with the angels of his power and flames of fire; and will be
glorified in his saints and will wonderfully appear in all believers,
in the resurrection and in the revelation of heavenly glory, with
which they shall be clothed, by the power of Christ; in order
that, in that perfect state, they may possess and obtain the
eternal and imperishable glory, world without end. Amen.

That was the prevalent attitude of the Anabaptist martyrs.
Divided in life from the Reformed martyrs, they were
united with them in a triumphant death.

6. Condition under the Nascent Republic

As the wave of persecution receded, the Dutch Republic
was born; and after a long bitter night, the slow dawn
came for the followers of Menno, purified as by fire.
Long since their value as citizens had been recognized by
the new government. The long and cruel memory of
the Miinster tragedy was slowly fading out. But danger
threatened from a new quarter.

The Reformed Church had been the source of the Re-
public; it had not been created by it, it had created it.
And thus was born an age-long struggle for the mastery
between the Church and the State. One needs only to
be familiar with the Arminian controversy, to know how
strong was the tension between the leaders in the Church
and the leaders in the State. The Roman Catholics, al-
though they still held a majority of the inhabitants of
the Lowlands, in the early years of the seventeenth cen-
tury, were merely a religio licita. Fruin tells us : ^^

In a conference of preachers and deputies of the States, the
president says that, in Holland, no public exercise of any other

'* Fruin, quoting Bor. ; II, 976; Tien Jar en, 238.

THE CONSERVATIVES 145

religion is permitted than of the Reformed only. Which may
be considered a great benefit, in view of the many and different
opinions which exist, so that there is not a tenth part of the in-
habitants of the country which belongs to the Reformed faith.

The ideas of the time demanded a State Church, and
since the adherents of Calvinism had been the founders
of the State, naturally the Reformed Church came to be
that of the State. *' The firmness of their convictions,
their unshaken faith in the divinity of their cause, their
unconquerable courage and persistency, assured to their
Church the front rank and the government." ^® Says
Bakhuizen Van den Brink,^^ himself a liberal and an an-
tagonist of Calvinism, "A reformatory struggle, which
came so late after the origin of the Reformation as took
place among us, could be nothing but Calvinistic and in
favor of Calvinism." But the fact remained that in 1587,
it could be said, without fear of contradiction, that the
Reformed did not constitute more than a tenth part of
the population.

There is little doubt that the Mennonites at that time
were numerically stronger than they. But the former, as
we have seen, were hopelessly disorganized, everywhere
broken by schisms, without a central government, and
without the necessary principle of cohesion. And thus
like the Jews and the Catholics they were barely tolerated.
Moreover, toward the close of the sixteenth century, the
Reformed Church made terrible inroads on their numbers,
and by hundreds they joined the State Church. Fruin is
correct when he denies to the Anabaptists constructive
ability ; " of many doctrines and of the most divergent
aims, they were able to break down only." ^^

"Idem, 238.

^ Het huwelyk van Willetn van Oranje met Anna van Saxen, 123.

81 Fruin, Tien Jaren, 240.

146 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

In the first meeting of the States General, it was re-
solved : ®-

That there shall be liberty of religion and that every man
shall exercise the same in public, in church or chapel, as it shall
please the government, without any one being troubled therein.
And further that the clergy shall remain in their condition, with-
out being attacked.

But, in the end, this liberty was curtailed, and the Re-
formed Church becam.e the religion of the State. When,
in 1575, Prince William I was made stadholder, it was
demanded of him that he " uphold the Reformed re-
ligion." Fortunately it was also ordered " that no one
shall be persecuted on account of his faith." ^^

Was this stipulation kept as regards the Doopsgesinden
or Mennonites? I am afraid the answer must be nega-
tive. These men of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies were too near to Rome as yet, had too much of the
old leaven of intolerance in their veins to have an abso-
lute conception of religious liberty in the true sense.

As late as 1577, a persecution against the Anabaptists
was organized at Middelburg in Zeeland, under the in-
fluence it is said of the Reformed Church, but it was
nipped in the bud by the larger-hearted, broader-minded
leader. Prince William I of Orange. Wagenaar tells the
story in detail and gives us the full text of the letter,
which the " Father of his Country " wrote to the magis-
trates of Middelburg, He tells them that the rumor of
that persecution had become confirmed by the testimony
of eye-witnesses. The Doopsgezinden had been pro-
hibited from opening their shops or doing their work, on
the ground that they were unwilling to take the oath of

^ Idem, 241.

83 Idem, 243; Bor. I, 643.

THE CONSERVATIVES 147

citizenship. Also that they were ill-treated because they
were unwilling to perform the usual military service.
The Anabaptists were willing to pay in money what
would be an equivalent for the service performed, but
the city fathers refused, and the thing became quite a
scandal. The Prince's letter is as direct as he could
make it, and he lays down the order peremptorily that the
persecution must cease. Says he : ^*

Therefore it seems to us that you do very wrong in not
permitting them to live in peace and quietude, according to the
dictates of their mind and conscience, agreeable to the letter,
which we granted them on a former occasion, with the approval
of the governor and council, and which they presented to you,
as they declare. As we perceive that you have been hitherto
unwilling to mind it, and also the letter going before, therefore
we are now compelled for the last time to draw up an ordinance,
in which we publicly declare to you that it does not pertain to
you to oppress the conscience of any one, when nothing is done
which would tend to the harm of another, in which case we
would not respect or tolerate any man. Therefore we command
and specially enjoin you that hereafter you cease from oppress-
ing the aforesaid people, namely the Doopsgezinden, or hinder
them from pursuing their trades or business, in order to make a
living for wife and children; but that you permit them to open
their shops and work at their trades, as they formerly did, till
such time at least as it shall be otherwise ordained, by the States
General, to whom it appertains. See to it therefore that you
undertake nothing contrary to this ordinance which we have
granted them, and take no fines from them for the above-men-
tioned reasons as long as they undertake nothing that tends to
the prejudice of any man, and besides bear all civil and lawful
burdens along with the other citizens.

As we shall see later, there was a very good reason
why William I should feel kindly toward the Anabaptists.
But all the good-will of the supreme government not-

8*Wagenaar, Vad. Hist., VII, 211.

148 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

withstanding, the bitter spirit of antagonism against them
continued. It had been bred in the bone of the national
consciousness so long that it proved a hard matter to
eradicate the evil.

Especially in the Northern provinces, where the Ana-
baptists had been specially numerous, the fire broke out
again and again, as we shall see. Thus in 1601 there
was a keen revival of the old antagonistic spirit in Gro-
ningen, where several edicts, really in violation of the
fundamental law of the land, were promulgated against
the Anabaptists.

1. An attempt was to be made to convert them forcibly
to the State Church.

2. Their property must be inventoried, so as to enable
the magistrates to levy the supertax for non-conformity.

3. No person was to harbor Anabaptists or suffer their
meetings on his premises.

4. All unbaptized children were excluded from being
heirs at law of any property.

5. All Anabaptist preachers must be licensed by the
civil authority.

6. The refusal to bear arms was to be considered as
a dangerous political heresy.

7. The public exercise of all religions, but the Re-
formed, was prohibited.^^

Fortunately all similar laws fell of their own weight.
They were slightly behind the times in the new Republic.

Wagenaar tells us that Prince William I had a soft
spot in his heart for the Doopsgesinden, because as early
as 1572, some of them had furnished him with a goodly
sum of money for his army.^®

In 1578, they were permitted to meet in pubic at Am-

8^ Benedict, H. o. B., 113.

8« Brandt, Ref., I, 525; Wagenaar, Vad. Hist., 212.

THE CONSERVATIVES 149

sterdam;®^ by degrees they obtained more liberty and,
as the new century advanced, they grew stronger and
better organized and began to occupy a more influential
position in the land where they had suffered so deeply
and so long.

•' Wagenaar, Vad. Hist., 209.

THE THEOLOGY OF THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

The subject before us is intensely interesting, and only-
no w, with the Bibliotheca before us, it is possible to form
a somewhat definite conception as to what the Dutch
Anabaptists really believed and what was their theological
position in distinction from the rest of the Protestant
world.

All this was possible before, as a matter of course, for
the chosen few who had access to the scattered documents
left by the Anabaptist leaders. Now, with the Bibliotheca
before us, the field is open to all ; we now have an op-
portunity to compare the casual references to Anabaptist
theology, in the Inquisitorial examinations- of the mar-
tyrs, with what Menno Simons teaches in his Op^era
Omnia and with the theological writings of Adam Pastor
and Sebastian Franck, and especially with the clear and
unequivocal statements of Derek Philips who, more than
any other Anabaptist, deserves the name theologian.

And thus we can obtain a comparatively unobstructed
view of what they believed concerning the Scriptures,
the Trinity, the doctrine of Christ, original sin, the doc-
trine of grace and free will, the sacraments, especially
baptism, the ban, and the world to come.

It would take a large volume- to work out all these
points in detail. To "some of them we will therefore
only devote a few paragraphs, while others, like the doc-
trines of the Trinity, of Christ, and of the Sacraments,
demand a more extensive treatment.
150

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 151

1. Their Theology in General

At the start let me say, that character and creed, be-
lief and conduct, doctrine and duty cannot be separated.
It has been tried by the moderns, but ends in a lamentable
failure.

After all, a man is what he believes. Doctrine and life
are the two inseparable hemispheres of one and the same
sphere. Faith and conduct, if there be true and deep
faith, always go hand in hand. There never was a duty
which ultimately is not based on faith. If the faith be
right, the duty will be clear and definite ; if it be shadowy
and weak, the duty will be cloudy and ill defined.

Now the Anabaptists from the beginning separated
themselves widely from the tenets of the old Catholic
Church, and from the common Protestant faith as well.
They accepted the " formal principle " of the Reforma-
tion, i. e., the absolute authority of the Holy Scriptures.
But they differed widely from the Reformers in their
interpretation of the great truths of the gospel; and
this difference is equally noticeable between the left and
the right wings of the Anabaptist movement. All Ana-
baptists lacked authority in matters of faith.

Even among the Erasmian group of authors, who were
all bitterly hostile to the Anabaptists, at least most of
them, we find this lack of authority. Veluanus claims
we are to rely on the Scriptures and on them alone. " All
idolatry must be utterly destroyed; the whole work of
the mass, with its altars, images, garments, and, all its
heathenish ceremonies, should be removed from the eyes
of the people."

Well and good ; but who is to tell us what the Bible
demands? Are we not compelled to fall back on the
clergy? By no means. Hear!

152 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

The understanding of the Sacred Scriptures should al\rays
remain with the clergy, but this does not always happen. Their
right understanding sometimes remains longer with the lowest
members than with the highest (clergy). Sometimes the whole
understanding moves from the clergy to the laity.^

And that was precisely the position taken by the Ana-
baptists. Individualism, from the beginning, was the
bete noire of their existence. Derek Philips wants ' every
man to test the truth of what he has spoken or written,

with the touchstone of the Holy Scriptures. . . And let him
keep watch over the teacher whom he finds and knows to be
false, let him not hear him but depart from him. . . After the
same fashion the Holy Scriptures forbid us to hear false
teachers; and this is the idea, that we shall not go to the false
teachers in the house of idols, when they stand in the school of
pestilence and falsify the word of God, neither shall we listen
to their words nor believe them.

This was strong language and threw the burden of de-
cision on the individual conscience. The Anabaptists
followed the advice of Derek Philips; they learned their
lesson, but they learned it too well ; for they applied it to
their own men as well as to the Roman Catholic clergy.
They heard, disapproved, and separated.

One and all they believed in salvation through Christ,
but they glorified the Christian life. And this stress laid
on Christian Hving, by Philips and all their other teach-
ers, is due to the legalistic character of their theology.
The law and the gospel are fundamentally one, through
the one we come to the other.^

2. The Scriptures

On the whole, it may be said of all their theological
leaders, without exception, that they spiritualize the

* Leken Wechwyser, B. R. N., IV 329, 330.
2B. R. N., X, 226, 247. 3i(jeni, 217,

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 153

Scriptures.* They believe them explicitly, they see in
them God's own revelation ; but the Scriptures are to be
subjectively appreciated. They have an inner meaning,
which may or may not be the same to different individ-
uals. And yet, widely as these teachers diverged from
Rome, they apparently continued to receive its doctrine
of the Canon. For all through these writings, especially
in Het Offer des Heeren (" The Sacrifice of the Lord "),
we find the Apocrypha of the Old Testament freely quoted
in substantiation of their views.

Thus among the martyrs, Gielis Matthysz quotes
Judith, Tobias, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus.^ Adriaen
Cornelis quotes First Esther, thereby recognizing the
canonicity of its sequels.® And in the introduction of
this Book of Martyrs, we find the Apocrypha quoted
equally with the canonical books. Says Doctor Cramer,^
" As is seen, the examples here, as also the quotations
in the entire work, are taken indiscriminatingly from the
Apocrypha and from the canonical books of the Bible."

The only exception among these martyrs is Jacques,
who decisively rejects their authority in matters of faith.^
They attached apparently little weight to the doctrine
of inspiration. They had and loved the Scriptures, that
was abundantly enough for them, and they were little
concerned about their remote origin or their ultimate
source or authors. If they rejected the Apocrypha, as
did Jacques, they did so solely on the ground that Christ
and the apostles never quoted them for the substantiation
of doctrine. Pastor, the rationalist among them, evi-
dently did not believe in the doctrine of inspiration at

<Ideni, 55, 67, 182, 187, 189, 207, 273-
BB. R. N., II, 448.
® Idem, 213.
' Idem, S3, 54.
8B, R. N., II, 302.

154 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

all. He never calls the Bible " the word of God," but
always refers to it as '* the teaching of Christ," " the teach-
ing of Paul," or " Jesus says." ^

3. The Doctrine of the Trinity

The Anabaptists counted no great, outstanding theo-
logians among their leaders. Even Adam Pastor, Menno
Simons, and Derek Philips fade into insignificance, when
we compare them with the mighty theological thinkers
which the Reformation produced. They were not schol-
arly men in the true sense of the word; they never had
been trained to think deeply or logically or philosoph-
ically. Neither Menno nor Derek apparently had a uni-
versity training, and the latter, as we have seen, looked
askance at its product. They had studied the Scriptures
extensively and in a sense intensively, but either clung
tenaciously to their literal meaning or else lost them-
selves in the mazes of bewildering spiritualization. Small
wonder therefore that they should have little enthusiasm
for a doctrine whose name was not even mentioned in the
Bible. And when we touch the details of the doctrine of
the Trinity, in our researches among these ancient Ana-
baptist theological productions, it is evident that not only
the early Anabaptist leaders, but their successors as well,
strongly objected to the terms " consubstantiality " and
" person." If we read the hymns, printed behind the
text of the " Sacrifice," the martyrs seem to be wholly
orthodox and to use the word " Trinity " freely. But
Dr. S. Cramer, after citing several examples, where refer-
ence is made to this doctrine, shrewdly observes : ^^

But, as I surmise, it has there become a term for God's im-
penetrability, a term which, as these four writers thought,
corresponded with the Scriptural idea and which appealed to

»B. R. N., V, 365. ^"B. R. N., II, 36.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 155

them as the stereotyped expression of God's being. When, e. g.,
one of them, Joris Simons, advises his son to "knock at the
door of his holy Trinity," it is evident that he might just as
well have written "of his holy majesty," or something similar.

According to Pastor, the Holy Spirit has no indepen-
dent personal existence. He is merely the " inspiration,"
" the inward moving of the heart to things that are
good." Man's soul and body may be separated in death,
because he is man; but God's Spirit cannot thus separate
itself from God. We may not therefore suppose that
God's Spirit can be conceived apart from himself and
thus would form a separate, self-existent, personal be-
ing.^^ He therefore clearly rejects the doctrine of the
Trinity.

But let us hear him somewhat more fully : ^^

I believe that the Father is a self-existing being. But the
Holy Spirit is no independent or personal being; but he has an
existence in the same way as a breath, a blowing, or the wind
is an existence. And I esteem God's breath or blowing so high,
that we may baptize in its name. . . All persons have proper
names (propria nomina). Thus the Father's proper name is
Jehovah, and the Son's proper name is Jesus. But the Holy
Ghost has no proper or own name, because it is no person.
Were it a person it would have a proper name. Holy Ghost is
a name of its existence, for it can be named a Holy Spirit or
breath, blowing, or wind of God, therefore a breathing (an-
weyinge, aanwaaiing) of God, but that is no proper or personal
name.

He pursues the same argument in speaking of the in-
carnation : ^^

Were Christ a physical product of the generative force of the
Holy Spirit, then we would call him the son of the Holy Ghost.

" B. R. N., V, 562.

^ Disp., B. R. N., V, 573. ^^ B. R. N.. V, 581.

156 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

[Then he goes on:] Thus Christ is conceived of no one but
the Father himself. Thus he is truly called his son, for the
Holy Ghost is none other but himself.

y^ Menno Simons' views are expressed in these words : ^*

God is a spirit, whom the heaven of all heavens cannot contain,
and besides this one, living, almighty, all-governing Lord and
God, we know no other. He is the inexplicable Father, one.
with his inexplicable Son and inexplicable Spirit, in will, power,
and works, and they can be separated from each other as little
as power, light, and heat. The one is not without the other, as
light and heat out of the sun. The one must be conjoined
with the other, or the entire Deity is denied; for all that the
Father does, he does through the Son, as the personified wis-
dom, power, light, truth, and life, proceeding from him and
entering into the visible world or, as the Scriptures say — " his
Word." The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the
Son, and is inseparable from the divine substance . . . whoso
wants to go further into this unfathomable profundity, will either
ascend too high, or he will not move from his place, or he
will wander into bypaths; the right foundation will be lacking
and he will act no more wisely than if one would try to pour
the Rhine or the Meuse into a pail and endeavor to contain
them therein.

As we turn to Derek Philips we find the following.
In 1557, he wrote his " Confession of Our Faith," ^^ in
which he says, on the subject of the Trinity:

This only God and Lord is and remains one only God and
Lord, from eternity to eternity, and has, according to his char-
acter, attributes, and works, many names in the Old Testa-
ment, whereby he is named. But in the New Testament, he is
truly named by Jesus Christ, and is called Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, with which three names the whole essence (in as
far as it is possibly intelligible by man) is pronounced by the
Lord himself.

" Brons, quoting Opera Omnia, T. oder M., 157.
^^ Bjkentenisse onses Gheloofs, B. R. N., X, 60-64.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 157

The Lord Jesus Christ we confess to be the first born, only
born, and own Son of the Almighty Father and living God, and
we believe that there are in the same only (Son) Jesus Christ,
two natures, a divine and a human nature. . . The Holy Spirit
we confess to be the eternal and only Holy Spirit, who is a
Spirit both of the Father and of the Son, a Spirit of truth
and of all heavenly wisdom, the distributor of faith and of all
spiritual gifts, a comforter of the consciences, by whom all
Christians adore God and call him "Abba Father," by whom
they justly call Jesus Christ "Lord," by whom they believe
and, on their faith, are baptized into one body, by whom they
are sealed and are to be sealed in the day of redemption;
through whom Jesus Christ still rules his Church; by whom
teachers are sent out to preach the gospel, by whom bishops
and pastors are appointed to care for the Church of God. For he
is the Paraclete, of whom Christ has spoken to his apostles.

Derek Philips evidently comes very close to the Catholic
confession of the Trinity. Remember these lines were
written in the bitter days of his contest with Pastor. But
notice the significant absence of all reference to the term
" Trinity " when he discusses the doctrine and of every
reference to the very point in debate, the " consubstan-
tiality " of the three persons in the Godhead, and of the
word " person " itself. There is no question whatever
but from the very beginning the Anabaptists had very
cloudy ideas concerning the Trinity. The view of Menno
looks strangely like Modalism. And, in this connection,
it is very significant that Socinianism flourished largely
in states, like Poland, where the Anabaptists had settled
down in force; and also that this same Socinianism,
once it was fully established and defined, had a disastrous
effect on the later development of the Dutch Anabap-
tists. We shall find indubitable proof of that later on.

Schyn, in the eighteenth century, in outlining the doc-
trinal position of the Doopsgezinden, says : ^* ** As to the

i« Schyn, Uitv. Verh., 386.

158 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Trinity the difference lay in the words ' Consubstantiality '
and * person.' As to the Holy Ghost, he is the power,
wisdom, breath of God, but his personality is left in
doubt."

4. The Doctrine of Christ

If the Anabaptists deviated considerably from the doc-
trine of the Trinity as expressed in the creeds of Protes-
tantism, we shall find a still greater difference in their
Christological views.

How wide-spread was the discussion among Dutch
Protestants, regarding the Christological heresies of the
Anabaptists, may appear from the fact that not only
did Guido de Bres, the author of the Dutch Confession
of Faith, write a volume against them, but that even in
the story of the martyrdom of Hoste van de Katelyne,
published by Martin Micron, in 1555, we find a lengthy
discussion of the subject, in which all the Anabaptist
theories are carefully dissected and tested by the Scrip-
tures.^^

We meet with the same phenomenon in the story of
the martyrdom of Fabritius, the celebrated Antwerp pas-
tor. It was presumably written by his colleague, Joris
Wybo, and was published in 1565. In the introduction
we find a sharp attack on the Anabaptist Christology.
The warning is sounded there that men may deceive
themselves and that their suffering may go for naught,^*
" Whoever is out of Christ, that is, believes dift'erently of
Christ than the Scriptures teach, is erring from the right
way and truth, and if he suffers, it is not for Christ, nor
for righteousness sake." This warning is sounded again
and again.

" B. R. N., VIII, 204 p.
^* Idem, 286, 290.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 159

Let us see in how far there was any just ground for
this antagonism. The denial of the common Christolog-
ical doctrine is in evidence ahnost from the beginning of
Anabaptist history.

As early as 1526 divine honors were denied to Qirist
by Lewis Hitzer, a name famous among the vagrant Ana-
baptists. Hitzer was beheaded in 1529 at Constance.

Veluanus, speaking of the ancient Christological here-
sies, says, in his " Laymens Guide," ^^ " Thus also now
several Anabaptists hold, especially the followers of Adam
Pastor." Dr. S. Cramer discusses the whole subject of
their Christology, as it reveals itself even in their mar-
tyrology, and he comes to the following conclusion : ^^

Doctrinal formulas are practically absent in all these confes-
sions of faith of the martyrs, . . A being, which was God and
man at once, appeared inexplicable to them. They found it far
more intelligible that the preexisting Christ, at the conception,
was changed into a man.

Look at some of these martyr testimonies. They indicate
either that the rank and file of the early Anabaptists were
singularly well indoctrinated by their leaders, or else that
these views from the very beginning had been held by the
sect and had become a sort of inheritance. So much
is sure, Hitzer taught them, John of Leyden confessed
them; they must therefore have been a Hoffmanite doc-
trine, and the martyrs express the same views before the
Inquisition.

Jacques confesses before the inquisitorial court : ^^ "I
believe that He is the Son of God, in every way, in flesh
and spirit, but where he got his flesh, that I leave to the
mystery of God. The apostles did not dispute about
that." Jooskint, executed in 1553, asked whether he did

"B. R. N., IV, 335. ^B. R. N., II, 36. ^B. R. N., II, 301.

160 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

not believe that Qirist received his flesh from Mary, an-
swered, '' No." " Then it seemed," says the chronicler,
*' as if master Cornelis [the interrogator] would have
fainted." 22

We find the same views among the English refugee
Anabaptists. Thus Joan Boucher was condemned in
the Edwardian reign for believing -^ " that Christ was
not truly incarnate of the Virgin, whose flesh being sin-
ful, he could not partake of it, but the Word by the
consent of the inner man in the Virgin, took flesh of her."

Neal calls this " a scholastic distinction incapable of
doing much mischief." But those who are familiar with
the Anabaptist teachings on the subject, at once catch
the drift of Joan's remark.

Confining ourselves to the Dutch Anabaptists, we will
compare the views of Hoffman, Pastor, Menno, and
Derek Philips, their most eminent early theological
thinkers.

Let us begin with Melchior Hoffman, the founder of
the Dutch Anabaptists, if at least the ordination of preach-
ers and the sending out of teachers make him such. In
the " Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans," he tells
us that the eternal Word, in the incarnation, has not taken
his flesh and blood from the Virgin Mary ; but has become
flesh and blood in Mary's womb, that is, he has been
changed into it, as the drop of dew falling into an oyster-
shell is changed into a pearl. He claims that such is the
teaching of the Scriptures in regard to the incarnation.
In his " Ordinance of God," in which he develops this
doctrine, we are told,^*

that God, the merciful Father, has sent his own eternal word of
power into this world, in the flesh, which has become flesh and

22 B. R. N., II, 36, 223.

2»Neal, "Purit.," II, 356. «B. R. N., V, i6i.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 161

a body, in form like any other man, without sin, and that he
has been a bodily, visible word of God, before his death and
remains such even after his resurrection and to all eternity.
He has not taken flesh unto himself, but has become flesh and
a body, that by himself he might bring salvation and pay for
the sin of all the world, with his innocent suffering of death
and the pouring out of his blood.

Note the distinction between his " taking " on himself
a body from the Virgin and his " becoming " flesh.

And again in the Strassburg disputation, in 1533, he
defended himself against the accusation of heresy, by
claiming : -^

1. That John said, "The word became flesh."

2. If Christ had taken our flesh from Mary, it must be the
accursed flesh of Adam, and then he could not have been our
Redeemer.

3. That Paul had said, "The first man was of the earth
earthy, the other Adam is the Lord from heaven." And he
elucidated by contending against the idea that our Lord is the
veritable fruit of Mary's womb, that we also are brothers and
sisters and mothers of the Lord, and that we are called such
by the Lord himself, if we do the will of his Father in heaven.

The dead literalism of the whole contention never seems
to have struck Hoffman. Of the rare book from which I
quote, only two copies were known to exist when the
Bibliotheca was printed: one in the Mennonite Library
in Amsterdam, the other in that of Louvain, now per-
haps lost in the German sack of the city. Hoffman went
even so far as to say, " Accursed be the flesh of Mary." ^^
One can easily see how extravagant statements, like the
above, in a day in which Mary was raised above the
stars of heaven, would open wide the doors of the most
relentless persecution.

»B. R. N., V, 132, 228. ^B. R. N., VII, 83.

162 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Alenson claims, in his Tegenbericht, that these peculiar
views of the incarnation were unknown to the martyrs
before Menno ; as if Menno and what he calls the Miin-
ster party had created this new type of theology.^'' Dr.
S. Cramer justly sets this contention aside, by showing
that not the Waterlandian collators of the martyr-book,
of 1615; but they themselves, the Frisian editors of 1626,
had done their best to create an unjust impression in
regard to the faith of the oldest fathers.^^ For so much
seems sure, that the peculiar views anent Christ's incar-
nation antedated Menno and perhaps Hoffman as well.
It is scarcely conceivable that Hoffman should have been
the originator of this radical departure from the Christo-
logical views of the ages. The views of the Strassburg
leader seem too well defined, too finished a product, to
have started with him. He must have received them
from an older source.

In the Strassburg Disputation, quoted above, he had
gone even more explicitly into this matter by saying ^^
that

Christ had not taken his flesh and blood from Mary. But only
as dough is changed into bread in an oven, or as a statue stands
in the shop of a sculptor and is there finished, so the Word has
been made flesh and blood in Mary. So that Mary's flesh and
blood have done nothing in this birth.

The Strassburg theologians logically concluded that he
denied the two natures in Christ. They saw in his teach-
ings a subtle reappearance of the ancient doctrine of the
Docetics.

Dr. S. Cramer, as a true representative of the Brother-
hood, in our day, reveals his own position very clearly,
when he tells us : ^^

27 B. R. N., VII, 179. 29 B ^ N., V, 244.

28 B. R. N.. VII, 146. 30 B. R. N., V, 132, 133.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 163

It seems peculiar, even bizarre, thus to confound, even unto
identity, the realm of the cosmic-physical v^^ith the spiritual; the
life of the inner man, material or physical, with invisible things.
But not only the men of the Middle Ages, but also the Protes-
tants of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, evidently did
not feel the heterogeneousness of these realms.

Adam Pastor went far beyond Hoffman. Originally
he had occupied the Hoffmanite standpoint, which in the
main was that of Menno ; but later he went off on a sharp
tangent and began to consider these views erroneous.^^
Small wonder that Sandius and other Socinian leaders
later on mention ^^ Pastor " as the man, in our father-
land, or a neighboring territory, who had been the first
and an able writer in that direction." Pastor treats the
whole idea of Christ's preexistence with bitter sarcasm,
as well as his incarnation, as it was held by the Church,
and even the peculiar views of the Mennonites. The
" Word " of John 1 : 1 was not a person, but God's
creative word or will. The conception took place by an
act of God's volition. Christ was certainly carnally re-
lated to Mary. He was a natural but a sinless man, not
needing regeneration, because his generation left him
pure and holy. Says he, " Had there been nothing of
Adam in Christ, Adam had not died in the death of
Christ, and that was the word, which God spoke, that
Adam must die." So much for his humanity; but when
it comes to the divinity of Christ he has this to say:
" But since there was in Christ more than Adam's flesh,
n. 1. God's word, God's will, God's spirit, God's nature,
and an innocent conversation, he has been the innocent
Lamb which had not earned by his own guilt so miserable
a death." " God's nature," as Doctor Cramer well ob-
serves, is not to be taken here in the sense of essence, but

31 B. R. N., V, 379. =^ B. R. N., V, 326.

164 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

must be taken in the sense of character. And that this
is really the meaning of Pastor is evident from what
he further says ^^ about his equality with God (Phil. 2) :

As one who did not consider it great, as a robbery, in such
a form to be equal with God, as one who had one nature with
God, the same will, the same spirit, the same mind and desires
of the heart, as a true image, after the outward being of the
invisible God.

Ponder these words, and tell me does this not strangely
look like the theories of the modern German Christo-
logians, and their Gotteshewustseinf Did Pastor mean
to say that Christ was divine in the sense that he was
conscious of being at one with God in all these things?
Divinity and humanity are as wide apart as heaven and
earth. Five years after the disputes of Embden and
Goch, of 1547, after which he had been banned by his
former associates, he tells us he still held the same views
as to Christ's divinity, which had led to his excommunica-
tion by the Mennonites. After a lengthy exposition of
Christ's words concerning himself, in stating his disbe-
lief in the divinity of Christ, in the accepted sense of
the creeds, he concludes as follows : ^*

Therefore I confess that the divinity of Christ is the Father's
wisdom in him, the Father's word in him, the Father's will, the
Father's spirit, mind, and inclination in him, the Father's power
and work in him, the Father's nature (character) in him, and
whatever of this sort there is more in him of the one God, the
Father.

Christ then was the Son of God, in so far as he was like
God, in all the operations of heart and soul and mind,
and thus felt himself to be the Son of God.

«» B. R. N., V, 38^, 383. ** B. R. N.. V, 519.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 165

And yet everywhere he speaks with the greatest rever-
ence. As he sees it, it touches the honor of the Father if
a place were assigned to Christ which, according to the
Scriptures, is not his.^^

When we read after Pastor we have to rub our eyes
to see whether we are awake or dreaming. What he has
to say is so startlingly modern that it bewilders the reader.
And we wake up to see that not all " modernity " — I use
the word in the Dutch theological sense — is modern.

From the radical we turn to the conservative branch
of the Mennonites. Let us ask Menno Simons what he "^^
believes of Christ.

I may start out at once by saying that Menno's theo-
logical views throughout are somewhat hazy. He is not
a clear thinker. Both he and Derek Philips wholly con-
demned and rejected the crass utterances of Pastor, on
account of which they excommunicated him; for which
act, as we have seen, Menno in his last days professed
sorrow. He never impugned the divinity of Christ; we y^
can therefore only test his views on Christ's humanity.

The " Laymen's Guide " quotes him as saying ^^ " The
Word within the body of Mary was changed into flesh,
without taking over anything from the nature of Mary."
Clearly the Hoffmanite doctrine therefore, which per-
meated Dutch Anabaptism in all its ramifications.

Mosheim tells us : ^^

Menno denied that Christ received from the Virgin Mary that
human body which he assumed. On the contrary, he supposed
it was produced out of nothing, in the womb of the immaculate
Virgin, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Was Mosheim correct?

35 Idem.

88 B. R. N., IV, 139-

s» Inst. Eccl. Hist., Ill, 244.

166 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

In his disputation with a Lasco, printed in 1544, Menno
said : ^^

The eternal Word changed into flesh, as water turned into
wine. Christ did not remain in his first, eternal, divine sub-
stance or essence. But leaving the same, was changed into
another, i. e., a human substance and thus became man, able to
suffer and to die, and has lost his first essence.

And again in his " Summary" (Sommarie), which was
printed after his death, in 1600, he confesses :

That the Word in Mary became flesh and in her was nour-
ished, fed, and has grown in her, as a natural child is nourished
by its mother, and thus is called a fruit of Mary's body, in the
same way as a natural offspring is called and acknowledged as
a fruit of its natural mother.

Again :

A man and the son of man Christ became, but so that he has
neither father nor mother nor relative among men. Mary
calls Joseph his father and herself his mother. But he has
neither father nor mother nor relationship among men, so that
he should have become man from any human seed.

At times he speaks very disparagingly of the flesh of
Mary. I think Dr. S. Cramer is absolutely correct when
he says ^^ that the doctrine of Hoffman and jMenno, which
alleges that the Word only passed through Mary, with-
out coming at all in touch with her body, is simply
the revamping of the ancient doctrine of Valentine, the
Gnostic.

Pastor mercilessly exposes this logic or lack of logic of
Menno, when he draws a lurid picture of the Creator be-
coming a creature, in the way Menno depicts it.***

38 B. R. N., VIT, 468.

3«B. R. N., V, 380 (Note). « B. R. N., V, 377-

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 167

In 1543, Menno wrote *^ to a Lasco that

when first the article of the holy incarnation was proposed to
him by the brethren, he was very much troubled and horrified
in his heart. Yea, after he had received baptism, he has
often been frightened, troubled, and shaken in his conscience,
and prayed to God that he might clearly unlock the door and
unfold to him the mystery of the conception of his blessed Son.
And then he went on, wandering several days, weeks, and months.

Did he ever see the Hght, was the door of mystery ever
unlocked? Judging from the conflicting statements on
the subject, made by Menno, we may answer the ques-
tion in the negative. For later on he wrote again against
a Lasco, who once more came back to the old charge : *^

That I should ever have said or written anywhere that the
Word was changed into human flesh and blood, I suppose one
never will prove against me. Although they dare say of us
that I have spoken of it, as the high apostle has taught me
"that the word became flesh." That testimony I leave un-
touched, and I commit the mystery, as to how much changed
or unchanged, to Him, who by his almighty power, has so ap-
pointed it to the salvation of us all.

But all his denials could not undo the fact that, at the
start, he had taught the Hofifmanite doctrine of the in-
carnation. As an old man, he professed his sorrow that
he tried " to enter into mysteries, which were too deep
for him."

His early position was abandoned by the Mennonites
(Doopsgednden) of the eighteenth century and especially
by the Waterlandians. They quote with approval his later
words: *^ " I believe that God's eternal Word, in accord-
ance with God's decree and promise, has become man

"Alenson's Tegenb., B. R. N., VII, i8o.

« B. R. N., VII, 200.

*3 Schyn, Uitv. Verh., 33-

168 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

through the Holy Spirit, in the Virgin Mary, without
connection with a man."

In the Strasshurg Compromise of August 24, 1555, the
Anabaptists decided **

that hitherto the incarnation has been driven too high or too low,
by a mutual misunderstanding, by which the brotherly love has
been impaired. [Then they confess] that the Scriptures teach,
in some places that Christ brought his flesh from heaven; and
elsewhere on the other hand it appears as if he took it from
Mary. . . Till now they have been building an unnecessary tower,
and God has confused their tongues, so that no man understood
the other. . . In their simplicity they now want to abide by the
Scriptures — the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

That was a sane decision, but it did not remove the dif-
ficulty, for the apparent contradiction in the Scriptures
still remained.

Menno certainly had not shed much light on the ques-
tion of the incarnation.

Let us turn finally to Derek Philips and see what he
has to say on the subject.

The peculiar Anabaptist views on the incarnation are
nowhere so fully and definitely expounded as they are in
the writings of Philips. He devotes eighteen quarto
pages in his Enchiridion to the incarnation and twenty-
three pages to the true humanity of Christ."*^ Derek
Philips unequivocally teaches that the body of Christ
was a heavenly body and not derived from the Virgin
Mary. And neither he nor any of his Anabaptist friends
seemed to sense the fact that this belief invalidates the
whole doctrine of the atonement. He argues precisely
to the contrary and believes that the common Christian
view, held by Catholic and Protestant alike, does this

** Brons., T. oder M., 97.

«B. R. N., X, 135-153; 155-178,

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 169

very thing. The Anabaptist doctrine of the humanity
of Christ stood closely connected with those of the
sacraments and of salvation. They spiritualized the ele-
ments of the Supper. We eat and drink the flesh and
blood of Christ, because the Word of God became flesh,
and therefore the Word of God and the flesh of Christ
are one. Thus only the true spiritual communion of the
believer with Christ can be established.*® Listen to
Philips : ^'

God could not help fallen and ruined man, by his own cor-
rupted seed; but by His own eternal Word, the Son. Thus the
salvation of man was like his creation. An earthly body of
Christ would have been unclean and contaminated; but because
it was a heavenly body, it could wipe out sin.

The comparison, which Philips makes between Adam and
Christ, speaks for itself : *^

Even as Christ, in Mary, was conceived by the Holy Ghost, so
also Adam was created by God and had no other father but
God. . . God's own only begotten Son, yea and his firstborn, yea
God himself, became man and has divested himself of his divine
estate, has left his glory and has adopted the form of a man
and of a servant. Summa, he who was God became man; and
he who became man, is God and man; and he who is God and
man, dies as a man; and he who dies as a man, is raised from
the dead as God.

All the Scriptural references to Christ as " the seed of
the woman," " the seed of Abraham and of David," have
to be taken figuratively.'*^

Christ may not be a natural seed of Abraham, but he is a
natural seed of the spiritual Abraham, of his heavenly Father,
which has been graciously promised by God to the patriarch
Abraham.

♦«B. R. N., X, 141, 153- *®B. R. N., X, 140, 142.

"B. R. N., X, 16s, *>B. R. N.. X., 147.

170 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Therefore no one, who is wise in the Scriptures, will be
astonished that they call Christ " a seed of the woman " and
"of Abraham" and a fruit of the loins of David and of the
body of Mary. For since these Scriptures call Christ sin, who
knew no sin, because he became a sacrifice for our sins, what
wonder that the same Scriptures call him a seed of the woman
and of Abraham, a fruit of the loins of David and of the body
of Mary, on account of the reasons stated above, although he
is truly no such thing nor may he be conceived by any Christian
as such.^

Christ then is a man, but he brought his humanity from
heaven. He was born of Mary, but he was not her child.
He was created in Mary, as Adam was created from the
dust of the earth. Such is the doctrine of Philips.

The Waterlandians, among the Doopsgesinden, utterly
rejected the earlier Anabaptist doctrine, that Christ had
brought his body from heaven, or that he took it from
the air, or that he passed through Mary as water passes
through a gutter or as light passes through glass. They
embraced the common Catholic faith of the incarnation.^^

The Frisians, on the other hand, had accepted this doc-
trine and tried to create the impression that from the
beginning it had been the doctrine of all Anabaptists.
Nor does it appear as if this contention was far in error,
if we consider only the Dutch Anabaptists. If the term
Anabaptist be taken generically, the Frisians were wrong.

It was Melchior Hoffman, who in 1532, started the in-
novation. The Munster party adopted the new view in
1534, and announced it in their " Restitution " as one of
the articles of faith, which " God had restored by them,
without any human wisdom ... so that those who
have not yet attained to a better understanding, can-
not be fundamentally founded on a living faith in Christ."

^B. R. N., X, 147-

^1 Schyn, Uitv. Verh., 395.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 171

And among their restored articles of faith they mention
" that Christ did not receive his flesh and blood from
the Virgin Mary." Nicolai, in his Inlasschingen, makes
it the second point, inferior only to adult baptism, of the
six characteristics of the Anabaptists.^^ But Menno's
wavering position aroused a storm of protests on all sides.
He who, in 1544, had said in his " Small Confession-
book " (Belydingsboecksken), '* Thus Jesus Christ re-
mains the noble, pure, and blessed (ghebenedyde) fruit
of the body of Mary," was accused in 1556, by Martin
Micron,^^ to have compared the flesh of Mary to a
" stinking elderbush," a prickly thornbush, from which
such glorious fruit could not be gathered. This was
going to extremes, and we would certainly reject Micron's
testimony, were it not for the extremely violent language
sometimes employed by the meek Menno in his contro-
versies. Alas, there are other witnesses besides Micron,
who was known as an extreme hater of the Anabaptists.
The accusation against Menno on this score is repeated
in the Successio Anabaptistica,^'^ and Dr. S. Cramer
verifies these words as being the identical words used by
Menno, in his tract " A Very Plain and Modest Answer "
(Een gans duitlyck end bescheyden Antwoordt) . If the
rest of the book was as plain and modest as the references
to Mary, it must have been a marvel.

5. Original Sin

Just a word or two about this point in Anabaptist
theology. They admitted that sin entered this world
through Adam's disobedience, but they qualified this ad-
mission by saying that ^^

62 B. R. N., VII, 462.

^ Waerachtigh. Verhael.

"B. R. N., VII, 83.

^ Schyn, quoting Rauf, Uitv. Verh., 398.

172 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

everything which reigns or has been introduced into this world,
unto eternal death, by the sin of Adam, has been removed by
Christ, wherefore also the children, as regards their liability to
eternal damnation, are liberated by the obedience of Christ.
And they deny absolutely that original sin, in young children,
tends to eternal death, or that by nature they are still children
of wrath and guilty unto eternal death.

This is Rauf's statement, and the martyr-book strangely
confirms it.

Jacques was examined before the inquisitors, and the
following dialogue ensued : ^^

Q. How are children purified? Is not that done by baptism?
A. They are purified by the blood of Christ, since he is the
Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world. Q. How is it then
that they are purified from original sin? A. My lord, I have
told you, by the blood of the Son of God, who died for us,
when we were enemies and unbelievers. Q. Do you not be-
lieve then that children bear the sin of Adam, till the time that
they are purified by baptism? A. One would have to prove that
to me from the Scriptures. I believe in the word of the prophet,
who says: "The children shall not bear the sins of the fathers,
but the soul that sinneth shall die."

Claesken, another of the martyrs, was asked, whether
she had any of her children baptized. Her answer was,
No. The inquisitor then told her that, on account of
original sin, a child must be baptized in order to be saved.
She answered, '* If a man can be saved by an external
sign, Christ has died in vain." The inquisitor replied,
" I read, we must be born again of water and spirit,
therefore the children should be baptized!" The answer
came like a flash : *' Christ does not say that to children,
but to people who can understand it. Therefore I have
given myself to regeneration. We know that the children

e;« B. R. N., II, 281.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 173

are in the hands of God. The Lord said, ' Let the little
children come unto me, of such is the kingdom of
heaven.' " The interrogator, somewhat taken back, said :
" The family of Stephen was baptized. Peradventure
there were children among them." And Claesken tri-
umphantly replied : " We do not stand on adventures ;
we have a sure ground." ^^

The doctrine of original sin then, if believed at all, was
lightly carried, and in all their defenses of adult baptism
we find the ever-recurring statement : " Original sin has
been wiped out by the atonement of Christ ; our children
are therefore safe, if they die before they come to the
years of discretion and confess Christ on their own
faith." It is somewhat difficult to rhyme this belief with
the habitual hesitation of the Anabaptists to receive bap-
tism during the early years of adolescence. Young peo-
ple under twenty were rarely baptized, and it was not
an uncommon thing to wait till thirty or even later. Did
they believe that all these unbaptized adults still occupied
the status of children?

6. The Doctrine of Salvation

The Reformers, one and all, had laid the corner-stone
of the building of their hope, theologically, in justification
by faith. For ages the pall of semi-Pelagianism had
hung over the church. It taught that God saves man
synergistically. Man is not dead in trespasses and sin, as
Augustine had held in the fifth century ; neither is he alive
and perfectly able to help himself, as Augustine's contem-
porary and opponent, Pelagius, had taught ; but man is ill
and needs a little help to set him on his feet. Thus semi-
Pelagianism had gradually become the fixed doctrine of
the Roman Church. Like an electric shock, the bugle-

" B. R. N., II, 326.

174 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

blast of Martin Luther, " Man is justified by faith and not
by the works of the law," had passed through the Church,
and it had awakened some, but not all. The hardest
lesson proud man can ever be called on to learn, is that
of absolute prostration before the majesty of a sovereign
God. And here is one of the characteristic differentia-
tions between the Anabaptists and the rest of Protestant-
ism. I may be wholly mistaken, but as I studied these
sources, in the quaint old Dutch originals, the thought
obtruded itself again and again, in reading on the in-
carnation, that what really was at work here was the
leaven of Romanism; a conception of the incarnation
which left Mary intact, a perfect virgin, after she had
given birth to Christ. And in the study of the doctrine
of salvation, the same thought came. The Anabaptists, in
those early days of foundation-building, never got com-
pletely away from their old semi-Pelagian stamping-
ground.

Hoffman combats the doctrine of the divine sover-
eignty, common to all the Reformers; and which Luther
had specially emphasized, in his Servo Arhitrio, in his
controversy with Erasmus, in 1525. Hoffman taught that
all men have sinned, but all, none excepted, are called to
salvation, because Christ died for all. This universal call
presupposes the power to answer it. The cause of one's
damnation never lies with God. Many claim that they
have not sufficient grace to accept the gospel, and thus
they are unwilling to use what they have got. God
forces no one, but he desires that every one look away
from self to God. On the other hand, he warns against
over-confidence, as if the liberty of God's people means
license.*'"'^

Doctor Cramer has justly called the last sentence " the

68 B. R. N., V, 178.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 175

premonition of the moral bewilderment, which later
would show itself in the Anabaptist fanaticism." Wher-
ever we meet an Anabaptist, he always deprecates doc-
trine and emphasizes the Christian life. To them life was
all, it filled the entire horizon of all Christian aspiration.
It largely extinguished the flames of hell and dimmed the
glories of heaven. The Anabaptists are drunk with life,
the Christian Hfe, in all its ardor and sweetness and pos-
sibilities.

Pastor never touches free will or predestination in all
his writings ; he neither attacks nor defends the doctrine
of God's sovereignty, he simply passes it by as unworthy
of notice. But he plants himself four-square on the plat-
form that man is able, from his own strength, to save him-
self, to accept the teachings of Christ, and to embody them
in his life.^^

All salvation is from grace, but that grace is common
to all; in so far he goes along with Hoflfman. But
exiled as he is from the communion of his brethren, Pas-
tor is always and ever a good Anabaptist, in that he never
ceases to lay stress on life. In his view Christianity has
little to do with doctrine. So much of doctrine only
counts as is translated into terms of life. If it be true,
on the one hand, that generally speaking, the faith of the
Protestants, in the age of the Reformation, was perhaps
a shade too objective, that of the Anabaptists, on the other
hand, was absolutely subjective. If the others separated
justification and sanctification to an extent, that in some
cases proved absolutely dangerous, it was because Rome,
in its theology, had blended them together almost to iden-
tification. And this same blending process we find among
the Anabaptists. With Rome they saw in justification a
medicinal rather than a forensic act of God. The in-

»» B. R. N., V, 340.

176 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

definiteness and laxity of their theology made them in
later years an easy prey to every anti-confessional cur-
rent of thought with which they came in contact.

7. The Sacraments

Here we touch bed-rock in the doctrinal system of the
Anabaptists. Of the Lord's Supper I will say little, for
it is not there but in the sacrament of baptism that the
Anabaptists radically differed from all Protestant bodies
as well as from Rome. In whatever respect they might
differ among themselves, here they presented a united
front all along the line. They believed, one and all, in
adult baptism on confession of a personal faith in Christ.

Every candid historian will have to admit that the
Baptists have, both philologically and historically, the
better of the argument, as to the early prevailing mode of
baptism. The word haptizo means immersion, both in
classical and in Biblical Greek, except where it is mani-
festly used in a tropical sense.

Doctor Newman's " History of Antipedobaptism " is of
great value to the student who seeks for definite informa-
tion on the subject. Of even greater value are the studies,
written by an eminent Presbyterian and an eminent Men-
nonite. Dr. B. B. Warfield, of Princeton Seminary, wrote
on " Archeology of the Mode of Baptism," in the Octo-
ber number of the Bibliotheca Sacra, in 1896, and Dr. De
Hoop Scheffer, in 1882, published his masterly " Review
of the History of Baptism by Immersion." ^^ Here are
three men, scholars of established reputation all, a Baptist,
a Presbyterian, and a Mennonite, and all of them remain
absolutely and impassively objective in their treatment
of the subject, and their treatment is wonderfully clear
and illuminating.

"" Overzicht der Geschiedetuis van den Doop, by Onderdompeling.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 177

The early Christians were Jews, and in adopting the
rite of baptism for the admission of their converts to
the nascent church, in obedience to their Master's com-
mand, they would follow such practise of baptism as was
familiarly known to them. And such a practise actually
existed in the proselyte baptism of Judaism. It was ad-
ministered by immersion, of such completeness, as Doc-
tor Warfield tells us,^^ that " a ring on the finger, a band
confining the hair, or anything that in the least degree
broke the continuity of contact with the water, was held
to invalidate the act.'* All the lines between this baptism
and later Christian baptism run parallel. The candidate
is instructed both before baptism and during the rite;
there are god-fathers, and there is the effect of bap-
tism in producing a new creature. The question is, and
it is far from being settled, which of these two baptisms
had priority. On this question scholars are divided, some
claiming that the Jewish baptism anteceded Christian bap-
tism, others that the reverse was the case. Doctor War-
field claims the a priori possibility that the Jews imitated
the Christians in this matter, or else that both rites arose
from a common antecedent stock, and that in the course
of time both assimilated something from the other. The
latter of course is possible, but the former hypothesis
appears to me untenable and a psychological impossibility
on account of the fierce antagonism of the Jew against
the Christian.

Here then again a very hopeful trail for positive results
is lost in the mazes of mere conjecture.

So much seems certain, that the early Church im-
mersed, although the Didache, which is placed as early
as the first half of the second century, adds affusion as a
permissible mode of baptism in case of necessity. But

«^Bibl. Sacra, Oct., 1896, 639.
M

178 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

ordinarily there is to be trine immersion, in flowing
water, by the bishop.*^^ The ecclesiastical standing, how-
ever, of the " aspersed " was for a long period a matter
of debate. Cyprian, in the third century, comforts them
by telling them ^^ that '' aspersion also was an image of
the bath of regeneration." But it was only in periculo
mortis that such baptism was permitted. Chrysostom,
Ambrose, Tertullian, and Gregory the Great all insisted
on immersion. Infant baptism as well as adult baptism
was administered by this mode, as does the Greek Church
universally till this day. In the ninth century, the cus-
tom of placing the child erect up to his neck in the water,
and then pouring water over his head, was condemned by
the council of Celichyth, July 25, 816, in England; and
this warning was repeated by Walifridius Strabo before
A. D. 850.

The change came in the West, in France and Italy, in
the thirteenth century. Bonaventura approved of asper-
sion in case of necessity, but still calls immersion " the
common custom of the Church." Thomas Aquinas agrees
with him in the matter of aspersion, but deems it " safer
to immerse."

The councils of Clermont, 1286; Anjou, 1275; and of
Nismes, 1284, still consider " immersion " the rule and
" aspersion " the exception.

Now the compromise of immersing the body and of
sprinkling the head again came up, and it proved the
bridge for the change in the mode of baptism. By the
close of the century, this custom had made much head-
way, and the council of Ravenna, in 1311, inverted the
order and placed aspersion first and immersion second.

England alone refused to countenance the change. The

^^Didache. Cap. VII.

"" Ezech. 36, 25, adspersionem quoque aquae instar salutaris lavacri
cbtinere.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 179

council of Exeter, in 1287, demanded immersion, even " in
case of necessity," and John Duns Scotus, in 1300, in-
sisted on trine immersion. All over the North a strong
conservatism prevailed, in this matter. The colder the
climate, the tardier the change, indicating that climatic
conditions, as. is often claimed, were not responsible for
the abolition of immersion. A century later, in 1404, the
Synod of Langres names only aspersion, while that of
Meaux says naively, " Notice that the modern mode
is not immersion, but aspersion or affusion." The whole
scheme of uniting the Eastern and Western Churches
broke down, at Ferrara, 1438-1439, on the difference in
the mode of baptism.

By the time of the Reformation immersion had prac-
tically disappeared in Italy, France, Belgium, and South-
ern Germany. In Eastern Germany the propinquity of
the Greek Church caused it to survive, at least in part.
Of Holland Erasmus tells us, " Infants among us are
aspersed, among the English they are immersed." In
the latter country, as late as 1530, the manual of
Henry VIII, of that year, prescribed trine immersion.
And even the Book of Common Prayer of Edward VII
demands immersion, except in case of weakness of the
child. The same usage prevailed under Bloody Mary.
Under Elizabeth aspersion gained favor, but even then
immersion was not wholly abandoned. As late as 1645,
Thomas Blake tells us, " I have seen, vdth my own eyes,
many children immersed." Adult baptism had wholly
disappeared in England, and practically everywhere else,
since under the law infant baptism was compulsory.

We shall have to admit, therefore, that from the apos-
tolic days till the Synod of Ravenna, in 1311, practically
all the ecclesiastical documentary evidence is in favor of
immersion.

180 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Volumes have been written on the testimony of early
Qiristian art. But as both immersionists and sprinklers
see in the same pictures and works of art things which
are diametrically opposed, we may safely conclude that
this form of testimony is of little relative value and leads
us nowhere.

By the time the Reformation had run its course, im-
mersion was wholly abandoned in Europe, except in the
far East. The Anabaptists of Switzerland did not im-
merse. Wolfgang Holiman, who was immersed by Grebel
at Schaffliausen, at his own urgent request, was an ex-
ception. The cases at St. Gall, under Conrad Grebel,
are set aside by De Hoop Scheflfer as mere inferences,
without any historical basis.®* Neither at Strassburg nor
at Miinster were there any cases of immersion.®^

Sebastian Franck, who minutely describes the customs
of the Dutch Anabaptists, never mentions a case of im-
mersion; nor did De Hoop Scheffer, their greatest and
most acute historian, discover any.

Immersion came back to Holland from the Unitarian
Poles. Johannes Geesteranus, an Arminian preacher, de-
posed by the Synod of Dort, in 1619, and a great favorite
of the Socinians in Poland, was the first case in Holland.
And he was immersed, at his own suggestion, by the
Collegiants, whom we will meet later and who were
the ecclesiastical free-lances of Holland. This immersion
occurred in 1620.^®

And from these free-lances, Richard Blunt, in 1640,
received baptism by immersion.®^ " He went to John
Batten, well known as a teacher among the Collegiants,
and, receiving the rite at his hands, returned to England."

** Overzicht, 141.

^ Idem, 145.

^^ Overzicht, 157.

«^ " A Question," 89.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 181

Some who still believe in apostolic succession, find in this
baptism of Blunt the connecting link between the remote
past and the present. Later on I shall come back to this
claim.

It is certain that prior to 1640, adult baptism by im-
mersion was not practised in England, neither by the Ana-
baptists, who came over from Holland in the sixteenth
century, nor by the followers of Helwys and Morton.^^

David Benedict had strongly advocated this doctrine
of apostolic succession and found the chain among the
medieval sects, up to the time of the reintroduction of
the rite in England, among the Particular Baptists, in
1641. But a closer study of these medieval sectarian
movements has set this claim aside. Many of them
it is true rebaptized those who joined them, but they also
maintained infant baptism.®^ Doctor Newman has clearly
established this point. The Donatists rebaptized, but they
also baptized their infantsJ^ So did the Waldensians,
the main link in the chain.*^^ As regards the practise of
the Bohemian Brethren, who are viewed as the link be-
tween the Waldenses and the Anabaptists, Doctor New-
man quotes their own official statement as follows : ^^

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.

Doctor Newman also wholly denies the claim that
Wyclif and the Lollards rejected infant baptism."^^ The
most diligent search has convinced him that prior to the

« Idem, 88. ^ Idem, 42.

«» Lofton, E. B. R., 11. '2 « Antipedob.," 53.

'" " Antipedobaptism," 19. "^ j^jg^, 55, 56.

182 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

incoming of antipedobaptism from the Continent, there
was not a case of it among EngHsh evangeHcals/*

Surely the Blunt expedition was not necessary to estab-
lish the rite of immersion among the Baptists in England
and in the world. It was a broken reed to lean on.
For the man who imparted was not able to impart, hav-
ing never received in the line of apostolic evangelical
succession. And stranger yet, the Collegiants believed
in infant baptism as well as in adult baptism and in sprin-
kling as well as in immersion, for they received members
of all denominations, asking no questions for conscience'
sake. They insisted on nothing; each man among them
was absolutely free to believe and to do as he pleased
within gospel bounds. They were the most elastic and
least dogmatic sect that ever existed. They were short-
lived, and the bulk of them later on joined the Dutch
Mennonites, who sprinkled. It is clear therefore that the
Blunt baptism, in Holland, could have carried but little
weight in the line of apostoHc succession.

The Blunt church soon went to pieces, and the English
Baptists repudiated the succession theory and adopted
the anti-succession ideas of the restoration. The question
of the " proper administrator " led to the discovery of the
" proper administration," as Lofton says.'^^ " Immersion
was never written in an English Baptist confession till
1644, for the reason, as we shall see, [says Doctor Lofton]
that it was never adopted by the English Baptists till
1640-164L" '^

The Dutch Anabaptists as a sect never immersed, they
are sprinklers till this day. If the Waterlandians, in ex-
ceptional cases permitted it, it was, as we shall see, always
on account of conscientious scruples, and practically al-

" Idem, 342.

"Lofton, E. B. R., 60, 65, 66. '« Idem, 51.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 183

ways where people had come under the influence of the
Collegiants; in precisely the same way as a Presbyterian
pastor has been known to immerse candidates for member-
ship who insisted on being baptized by that mode.

The real issue between the Anabaptists and the rest of
Protestantism goes far deeper than these externals. It
is not a question of the mode of baptism, of which some
on either side of the line have made a dogma, and on
which the Westminster fathers, influenced no doubt by
the longevity of the rite of immersion in England, felt so
liberal, that when the question came up, whether immer-
sion should be an optional mode of baptism, the Assem-
bly stood twenty-four to twenty-five when it came to
a vote, so that the question was temporarily laid on the
table. Of that debate the very phraseology of the Con-
fession, anent baptism, bears the earmarks till this dayJ^
Says the Journal : ^*

But as for the dispute itself, about dipping, it was deemed
fit and most safe to let it alone and to express it thus on the
Directory: "He is to baptize the child with water, which for
the manner of doing, is not only lawful but also sufficient and
most expedient to be, by pouring or sprinkling water on the face
of the child, without any other ceremony." But it cost a great
deal of time about the wording of it.

The real issue between the Anabaptists and their op-
ponents is the status of the child in the church of God.
It is the question of the identity of the Old Testament
Church with that of the New Testament. It is the ques-
tion of the immutability of the God of the covenant and
of the permanency of the covenant of grace and therefore
of the true Scriptural significance of the sacrament of

"Conf. Presb. Ch., XXVIII, III.

■^8 Journal of the Assy, of Div., by Dr. John Lightfoot, Aug. 7, 1644,
299.

184 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

baptism. So much is apparent from all their contro-
versial writings on the subject.

By all these Anabaptist writers the issues are clearly
stated. The mode of baptism cut no figure whatever in
their debates, for the simple reason that in the administra-
tion of the sacrament of baptism, they were one and all
sprinklers.

I have searched these ancient documents, with absorbed
interest, to find a trace of immersion, and I never found it.
There was a large amount of material at hand for the
search. First of all their martyrology. As I have said
before, the accounts of these inquisitorial proceedings are
in all cases verbatim reports of what occurred. And
naturally, as these Anabaptists all had repudiated their
early baptism and were rebaptized on their profession
of faith, the question of their views on baptism occurs
again and again. But in no single case was reference ever
made to immersion. Now it is self-evident that a de-
parture from the mode of baptism, accepted and prac-
tised at that time in the Roman Catholic Church, would
certainly have attracted the attention of the inquisitor and
must have called for an explanation. But this question is
never asked.

This is an inferential argument; but of absolutely de-
cisive importance are the theological treatises of Hoff-
man, Menno, Pastor, and especially Derek Philips, in
some of which we actually find chapters on " true and
false baptism." The mode of baptism is never so much
as mentioned, but the discussion always covers the field
of pedo- and antipedobaptism.

The Baptists of England therefore did not inherit im-
mersion from the Dutch Anabaptists, but reintroduced
the practise, in 1641, from independent study of the word
of God and of the past history of the church.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 185

In the library of the Baptist Theological Seminary at
Rochester, a little book is preserved, so rare that besides it
only one other copy is known to exist, and that is found
in the library of the LIniversity of Utrecht. It is from
the hand of Henrick Rol, who was burned at the stake,
at Maastricht, in 1534. On the title-page the year 1536
is assigned to this martyrdom, but that is a mistake.
The title is " The Key to the Secret of the Supper " (Die
Slotel van dat Secreet des Nachtmaels.) Rol belonged to
the leaders of the Gulick reformation, the so-called Was-
senburg preachers. If, as Doctor Cramer surmises, we
find in it the oldest document, coming to us from the
earliest beginnings of the Anabaptist movement in the
Netherlands, we have here a singular testimony in regard
to their original attitude to the sacraments. Says Doctor
Cramer : "^^

In this nebulous conception of baptism and communion (water
baptism or spiritual baptism; the communion of believers on
earth or the adoption of spirits in Christ's heavenly body), we
find the clearest exposition of the peculiar tendency of the
leaders of the Gulick reformation, the Wassenburg preachers, to
whom Rol belonged. In the period 1531-1533, their ideas are
not yet clearly defined; they do not yet antagonize infant bap-
tism, and although they gather believers together, they do not
bring them into a fixed organization.

All this quickly changed with the appearance of Hoff-
man. He is a bitter antipedobaptist and finds no war-
rant for the baptism of children in the Bible. It is not
an apostolic institution — he tells us — we cannot find that
they ever baptized a child, " nor will it be found to all
eternity." Faith must precede baptism. Infant baptism
is anti-Christian and of Satanic origin.

But in all this bitter invective of Hoffman, not a word

"B. R. N„ V, 25.

186 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

against sprinkling, not a word about immersion; the
thought of immersion apparently did not occur to Hoff-
man. And yet the claim is made that the Strassburg
Anabaptists were immersionists. Their leader was sim-
ply bitterly antipedobaptist.^'' Why did his writings
utterly disappear, and why is Hoffman never quoted
by other Anabaptist writers, and why is his name never
found on the Indexes? It was on account of his vital
connection with the Miinsterites, and therefore the Doops-
gesinden, the followers of Menno, buried him in deepest
oblivion. Moreover, these men freely quoted the Scrip-
tures, but only very rarely one of their own contempo-
raries. They did, however, quote the Church Fathers, be-
cause on them was built the doctrine of the Romish
Church, which they had left ; for the rest they rested their
case on the Bible.

In his Enchiridion, Derek Philips devotes fifty-two
pages to baptism and twenty-three to the Lord's Sup-
per.^^ There are many deeply interesting pages in this
discussion ; the reasoning is always cogent, the style clear
as crystal. One never tires in reading after Philips, who
is a deep and logical thinker. The whole argument is
directed to the proof of the necessity of faith, as pre-
venient to baptism. It means the dying of the old man,
the burial of sin, the laying aside of the old Adam, and
the resurrection in newness of life. Derek bitterly an-
tagonizes infant baptism, and uses all the well-known
arguments against it. It is a human invention and must
therefore be set aside. Incidentally Derek mentions the
fact that Luther chides the Waldensians, because they
baptized their children and denied at the same time that
these children exercised faith.^^ j^ all his lengthy dis-

soOrd. Gods, B. R. N., V, 154-

81 B. R. N., X, 69-134. *^B. R. N., X, 89.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 187

cussion on baptism, there is not a word on the mode
of baptism, nor a hint of difference, in this respect, be-
tween the Anabaptists and other Christians. He even
speaks of " washing and aspersion with the external
water" {dat zvasschen ofte begieten met het wtmendighe
water.) Himself sprinkled in baptism, he sprinkled
others. It is very strange that, in his discussion of the
sacraments, Philips uses time and again phrases and
words and figures which are found in the later Dutch
forms for the celebration of the Supper and for the
administration of baptism.^^

His writings evidently were familiarly known to the
authors of these forms, and they quoted them con-
sciously or subconsciously; either in approval or in such
a way as to turn the quotation into a weapon against the
Anabaptist doctrine. The discussion of Philips on the
Supper would be acceptable to most Protestants today.
If there is any criticism against it, it would be a decided
tendency to spiritualization.

In all the debates and disputes with Anabaptists, on
the subject of infant baptism, their opponents freely quote
the Church Fathers — Irenaeus, Origen, Chrysostom, Ter-
tullian, Cyprian, and Augustine — to prove its apostolic
origin; precisely the line of argumentation, with which
we are familiar in the various systems of dogmatic theo-
ology.^*

Alas, for the Anabaptists and their views on baptism !
No sooner had the schismatic spirit begun to assert it-
self, but they denied each other's baptism and began to
rebaptize those who joined one group from another.
And thus later on the Doopsgezinden hated the very
name " Anabaptist," both for its Miinster associations

83 B. R. N., X, 73, 78. 80, 103, 114, 132.
8* B. R. N., IV, 195.

188 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

and because people called them by that name, with a new
innuendo to their habit of multitudinous baptisms. By
the middle of the seventeenth century, they had largely
outgrown the evil practise.^^

On the Supper, on the whole, they held practically the
same views as other Protestants, although their peculiar
doctrine of the incarnation, especially in their earlier his-
tory, led them into strange bypaths.

Rol, whom I quoted above on baptism, believes that we
should not pronounce the words of the institution over
the elements, insisting that it savors of magic.^^ He also
insists that the consciousness of sin is no bar to the par-
taking of the Supper, but that those who live in open sin
must be kept from it.^^ But Rol places the spiritual com-
munion far above the outward form, which the Church
offers. The latter is nothing at all. "If your heart is at
peace with God and you do not come to communion ; noth-
ing can thereby be taken from you, for your name is writ-
ten in the book of life, by the invisible divine Christ." ®^
Michael Sattler, in Switzerland, introduced the weird
practise of putting bread and wine in one dish,^* which
practise had some followers in small groups among the
Dutch Anabaptists.

Sebastian Franck laughed at both the sacraments and
called them " puppet-work " and " child-play " (poppen-
werk en kinderspel). No matter what the Scriptures say,
they must bow before the testimony of God in the heart
of man. And thus he utterly rejects the outward sacra-
ments. Derek Philips strongly antagonized these views
in his open letters to Franck. The Supper is only for

86 Schyn, Uitv. Verh., 65.

^Die Slotel, B. R. N., V, 74.

" Idem, 84, 92, 109.

^ Eine ware Bedynckinge, B. R, N., V, iiS-

«» B. R. N., II, 63.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 189

true believers and for them it is the very bread from
heaven. His whole treatise on the Lord's Supper reads
like some pages in De Imitatione of Thomas a Kempis,
and has the same mystic flavor and power.

8. The Ban

The reformed Anabaptists, i. e., the followers of
Menno and Derek, were very strict in their views of the
holiness of the Church. It was a body of believers who
had deliberately turned their backs on the world and now
were a people separate unto the Lord. No Puritan, in
the balmiest days of Puritanism, viewed life more askance
or had more ascetic ideals as regards a beHever's life,
than had the Doopsgezinden (Mennonites).

The Dutch, in this respect, were equal to the best of
the Swiss Anabaptists and far in advance of those else-
where. All the rest of men were gentiles, they were the
chosen people. They always spoke of themselves as
" Christians," in distinction from those who were not ; and
all the latter were comprised under the generic term
"world."

The first mention of the ban, so far as is known in their
circles, was made in the decision of the brethren at Zol-
likon, in Switzerland.^^ It was there decided to excom-
municate a brother who, after baptism, fell into sin. They
were apparently led to this decision by the laxness of
supervision and discipline in the Lutheran and Zwinglian
Churches. In the bitter debates between the Anabaptists
and their opponents, the former make this specific charge
against Protestantism, as they knew it, again and again.
The bride of Christ must be kept pure and spotless, and
lo, this ideal seemed utterly forgotten. Of course the
exuberant, fanatical Hoffmanite movement had no room

•" Brons, T. oder M., 25.

190 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

for strict discipline, and during the Miinster fanaticism
the hoi polloi eagerly streamed to the new standard, and
little account was taken of their past or present life,
provided they were loyal to the king of Zion and to his
kingdom. But the very extravagances of that party led
those who separated from them and who became the
founders of the new Anabaptists or Doopsgezind^en, to
put the bars up very high.

It is therefore, among the followers of Menno Simons
and Derek Philips that the strictness of church discipline
reaches its culmination. Of course there were degrees
of rigor, due to the psychological differentiations between
various groups and nationalities. The Latin mind does
not work in the grooves of the German, nor the more
vacillating Flemish mind in those of the stern Frisians.

Can we wonder therefore that in a sect, so self-centered
as were the Anabaptists, so utterly governed by the prin-
ciple of individualism as they were, this subject of the
ban should have become the fruitful, I had almost said
the sole, cause of their endless schisms?

Menno's views, as we have seen, were more elastic than
those of his typically Frisian colaborer, Derek Philips.
Menno was terrorized into stiffening his views on the ban,
because he dreaded its recoil upon himself, as was threat-
ened by Leonard Bouwens. Derek stood firm as a rock,
immovable, implacable; he needed neither threat nor al-
lurement to set his ideal of church-memberShip as high as
any ban could make it.

To him therefore we go, in the main, for our views on
this very important branch of Anabaptist theology — their
doctrine of the keys or of church discipline.

Nicolai has proved conclusively how widely the earlier
views of Menno and some of his associates differed from
those which were later adopted. Originally they went no

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 191

further than the Scriptures. Menno wrote against Gel-
lius Faber, in 1539, his "Clear Answer" {Clare Beant-
woordinghe) and in it he admonishes to absolute ad-
herence to the instructions of the Bible. He there
unequivocally states the principle that only adultery can
break the marriage relation.^^ But, in 1547, Derek Philips
and seven other pastors had finally resolved on a course
of absolute rigorism. They planted themselves like a
rock in their opposition to intermarriage between " be-
lievers " and " unbelievers." ^^ We have seen what they
meant by these terms. No matter among the Anabaptists
was deemed more vital than this.

No brother or sister may marry outside of the Church. If
one does, however pious, faithful, and godly the party married
may be, he must be called married out of the Lord, If on the
other hand one marries in the Church, such a marriage is un-
questionably contracted in the Lord. Whoso acts to the con-
trary is banned and can never be reconciled nor readmitted to
the Church, in whatever way he may seek it, with tears, com-
plaints or groans."^

Some Anabaptists recoiled from a measure so severe, and
thus an opportunity for schismatic developments was
given. Shortly before his death, Derek Philips, in his last
tract in defense of this position, in 1568, shows a little
mollification. Age naturally has a mellowing effect. He
is now willing to receive the offender back. But sin
must be atoned for, and he does not recoil from a
complete divorce, as the remedy. Remarriage, however,
is not permitted.^* There are exceptions, e. g., the con-
version of one of the parties who were married when
they were both unbelievers. In that case they may live

»B. R. N., VII. 46s p.

•2 B. R. N., X, Van die Echt der Christenen. 623 p.

«»B. R. N., VII, 531 p. ""^Die Echt.. B. R. N., X, 646.

192 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

together, provided the faith of the believer is not hurt
thereby. The whole matter must be left to the pastors
of the churches, in serious cases to a conference of
pastors.

Sebastian Franck of course ridiculed this whole doc-
trine of avoidance (Mydinghe) and scorns it, as he does
the external sacraments, foot-washings, etc.®^ But the
opinion of Franck counted for little in orthodox Anabap-
tist circles.

Philips does not want to apply the ban to those who sin
from weakness, but to wilful and public sinners.^® His
idea was that by the ban, the Church of God may be kept
pure, and secondly, that the penitent brother may thus
be converted.^^ But what if a man was hopelessly cut
off, beyond the power of reconciliation, as Derek first had
decided ?

If one was '' banned," he was completely separated from
all the brethren. The law of avoidance, (Mydinghe) was
awful in its provisions. No one might speak to him, eat
or drink with him. The only conversation permitted was
Scriptural admonition. The marriage relation was wholly
suspended; but in his last word on the subject Philips
admitted the possibility of its resumption, after conver-
sion.®^

The Anabaptist view of the necessity of marrying with-
in the fold, was as absolute as that of Rome today. And
the papal decree Ne Temere was not more rigorous than
were the ruthless Anabaptist enactments on the sub-
ject. With these strict views of marriage with " unbe-
lievers,'* what must they have thought of Luther's saying,
in his sermon on the married life : ®^

»5 B. R. N., X, 495.

^Enchir.. B. R. N., X, 25S P. '« B. R. N., X, 661, 664, 665.

8^ B. R. N., X, 660. »» Von Ehelichen Leben, 1522.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 193

Marriage is an outward carnal thing, like other worldly mat-
ters. Just as I may eat, drink, walk, ride, buy, and talk with a
heathen, Jew, Turk, and heretic, so I may also enter the mar-
ried life with him and remain therein.

It must have unspeakably horrified them. For the Ana-
baptists looked at marriage, even with a pious Protestant,
as a heinous offense.

Precisely what happened in Ireland, under the opera-
tion of the Ne Temere decree, happened in Holland in
the sixteenth century under the decree of avoidance.
Wives were torn from their husbands, mothers from their
children in the dead of night, and no one knew what be-
came of them.i^^ It extended to the complete isolation
of the banned person from father, mother, brothers, sis-
ters, husband, wife, and all others, whoever they might
be. It prohibited buying, selling, eating, drinking, etc.
The banned person was to be helped by no one, nor was
their help to be accepted by any one, even in case of
danger from fire, water, or death itself. This extreme
severity of the decree was later modified, so that help
might be given in case of extreme necessity.

Derek Philips had immense weight among the Doops-
gezinden, especially after Menno's death. They consid-
ered him a sort of an apostle. Hoyte Renix writes ^^^ to
him, in 1566, " Come to us with your whole family as
Jacob came to Egypt, and we will here in your fatherland
care for you as a dear old father and serve you all our
lives." But there was a string tied to the invitation. He
must come as a partisan of Renix, or else he had better
stay away. Refreshing reading, these old documents!
But the bait was dangled in vain, and Derek was not
to be enticed away from the straight path of duty as he
saw it.

loo B. R. N.. VII, 438. i"! B. R. N., X, 670.

194 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Originally admonition of the accused preceded the ban ;
later on, when the banning fever reached its height, this
practise was set aside. The bolt struck one from a clear
sky. All sorts of sins were punishable by the ban. Those
early Anabaptists made the way of life very straight and
very narrow. Their homes and their furniture were
watched, their clothing and their ornaments, their eating
and drinking, their social contact with unbelievers or
" banned " people, even things so remote as whether one
might attend the funeral of an unbeliever, or stay at the
table of an unbeliever, if one met there a person under the
discipline of the church.

It was a bleak life indeed; no Puritan life ever was
bleaker.

In the true martyr days, when death stalked among
them, these questions did not disturb the hearts and minds
of the people. It was when the stress of the outward
pressure lessened, that the stress of inner tyranny became
greater.^°2 Qf course there was a milder tendency,
common sense was not wholly dead among them, and
that tendency after a while became a party and a schism
and a new sect.^^^

So far went this fanaticism that bride and groom, on
their wedding day, were asked whether, in case of a lapse
and of the ban, they would mutually be willing to obey the
law of avoidance.^^* Much on the principle of the candi-
date for the ministry, in ultra-Calvinistic circles, who
was asked whether he would be willing to be damned
for the glory of God, if occasion arose. The ban led
to schisms, and schisms led to the undoing of the ban.
For one sect among them banned the other, till nearly
all had passed through the bitter experience; and the

»<«B. R. N., II, 37.

iw B. R. N., VII, 222. iw B. R. N., VII, 530.

THEOLOGY OF DUTCH ANABAPTISTS 195

" banned " of one sect were not rarely welcomed in an-
other. Some literally played with the ban. People were
" banned " and, before the meeting was over they were
received again.' ^^ It developed into an inquisition.
Think of it ! If one in secret told his brother his fault,
and if this other person did not at once inform the elders
of the church, both must be " banned " and be given over
to the devil.''^^

They aimed high in raising this disciplinary structure ;
but the abuse of the power of the keys soon made it a
laughing-stock and a ridiculous memory to their chil-
dren's children.

The autocratic and local power, by which the ban
was pronounced, rested in the " consistory " of the local
church, and one can easily understand that members of
a local church were amenable to it. But where each
church had absolute autonomy and was a unit in itself, it
seems passing strange that the Hoorn delegates, with
Hoyte Renix (whose unctuous letter I quoted above),
pastor of the church at Bolsward, and others should have
the temerity to put Derek Philips under the ban ; and that
he in turn, in a letter dated June 8, 1567, should an-
nounce ^^^ to Hoyte Renix that "he must suspend his
services till he has cleared himself before the Lord, be-
fore us and others, in the presence of his accusers."

A similar letter was written to Jan Willems and Lub-
bert Gerrits of the city of Hoorn, June 30, 1567, in which
they also were suspended from their office on the same
condition. ^^^

All these things are anomalies. The Anabaptists evi-
dently had not thought their church ideals through to

W5B. R. N., VII, 239, 528.
W6B. R. N., VII, 456.
w^B. R. N., X, 689.
i»8 B. R. N., X, 691.

196 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

an ultimate concept. Everything in their theology, their
church life, their views of discipline, was hazy and ill
defined, in a plastic state, in fact.

And yet they were evidently not far enough removed
from Rome, to get wholly away from tlie episcopal idea.
In fact, they called their pastors " bishops " ; but how,
and with what functions and powers? There was still in
them a leaven of clerical absolutism and a stern judg-
ment of offending members. Or did these leaders naively
reach out after apostolic powers, without an apostolic mis-
sion?

The more one studies these early Anabaptists, the less
one seems to understand them. The Mennonites aban-
doned all chiliastic dreams and tendencies. The very
mentioning of the name even dies out among them.
Chiliasm had so exhausted its possibilities among the
Hoffmanites and the Miinster faction that it was wholly
abandoned and cast aside by the followers of Menno and
Derek Philips. It cuts no figure in their later theological
development. Their eyes are wholly directed on the
path before them, and their only aim is to live acceptably
to God here below. They leave the future to God.
Eschatology, the future, heaven, and hell do not occupy
the commanding position in their theology which they
possess in the Protestant theological systems of their day.
One word is written in large capitals over the whole of
their ecclesiastical and theological development and that
word is individualism. It was both their strength and
weakness, their glory and their bane.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

In the lectures before this we have paid but Httle atten-
tion to the more intimate side of the history of the Ana-
baptists. We have studied their origin, their early leaders,
we have followed the tumultuous stream of their early his-
tory in the Lowlands. We have seen the terrific outburst
of fanaticism in the Miinster tragedy and the almost
miraculous change which took place in them through the
reaction from that fanaticism. And in the very rebound,
they were caught by the most furious persecution which
ever swept over Holland, literally drenching the soil
with the blood of their martyrs. We have studied the
amazing variety of theological types which revealed them-
selves in the unchecked assertion of that individualism
which was one of their fundamental characteristics. We
have seen the weird outburst of sectarianism, almost as
intense as their political fanaticism, which divided them
into small, intensely hostile factions. We have studied
their theological aberrations and their bitter quarrels
about the administration of ecclesiastical discipline — a
discipline which searched out the offender even in his
bedchamber.

Small wonder if, under these conditions, many of the
xnore intelligent or less self-sure of their members left
their ranks altogether and lost their identity in a different
type of religious life ; or if, like Obbe Philips and others,
they did lose themselves in absolute irreligiousness or in
a declaration of spiritual independence, which looked with

197

198 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

disdain on all sects and all types of religious life alike and,
sufficient unto itself, refused to enter into any temple of
man's building, whatever its name or pretensions.

1. Defections

The defections among them were sufficiently numerous
for Blaupot ten Gate to call attention to the sudden
growth of the Reformed Church in the Northern Nether-
lands, which coincided with the furious outburst of the
schism between the Frisians and the Flemings in those
regions, in the last quarter of the sixteenth century.

Among those who early left the Anabaptist com-
munion, Carel van Ghent mentions Christian Entfelder,
George Haugh van Juchsen, John Denck, Ludwig Hetzer,
Dr. John Stabitius, all of whom he calls " learned men." ^
That the persecutions were a fruitful source of this
defection we learn both from the text and the songs in
Het Offer, the Anabaptist martyrology. We find there
repeated warnings against it and admonitions to stedfast-
ness. Many had apparently made their peace with Rome
and had gone back into its communion, and more perhaps
had joined the newly established Reformed Church, the
State Church of the new Republic.^ And David Joris
had carried many others away.^

Derek Philips, in his Enchiridion, also warns repeatedly
against this danger of infidelity to the common cause, and
urgently advises all Anabaptists to look out for the first
signs of it.*

The Roman Catholic priests everywhere preached a
crusade against them. In the Southern provinces espe-
cially their zeal was unbounded, about 1566. Zwinglians
and Melanchthonians, sharply distinguished from the

IB. R. N., VII, 518. 3B. R. N., II, 136.

2 B. R. N., II, 1 01, 454. <B. R. N., X, 188, 23s.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 199

Lutherans, abounded there, and " the Anabaptists, Cas-
siandrians, and other heretics " must all be rooted out, as
we learn from a sermon of Cornelis Adriaansz,^ a Roman
Catholic priest of Brabant. Ypey and Dermout, in their
history of the Dutch Reformed Church, deliberately state
that the number of Anabaptists who joined that church in
the last quarter of the sixteenth century, was greater than
that of converts from Rome. Some of their churches
disappeared entirely, we are told, and others lost many
members and — most conclusive proof of all — the records
of that time prove that a mass of people who were
adults joined the Reformed Church by baptism. As the
Church did not recognize adult Anabaptist baptism, and
those who had been baptized among the Anabaptists had
thereby repudiated their early baptism, they were thus
reinitiated into the Church.® This condition of things
slowly changed when the centripetal force began to assert
itself among the Doopsgezinden and when their civil and
social status was finally recognized and improved.

2. Their Views of Life

They looked upon life as a true Militia Christi, a war-
fare for Christ. Although subsequently many people of
considerable means were found among them, they be-
longed originally to the masses rather than to the classes ;
or rather, as we have seen, to the thrifty middle class of
society. While not condemning wealth, they looked upon
pride and ostentatiousness, in the early period of their
history, as a deadly sin. The blue laws of Geneva and
New England might have been written by them. As they
took the Scriptures in the literal sense, all outward adorn-
ment was frowned on, in men as well as in women.

BY. en D., Gesch. der Ned. H. K., II, i8i; Aant., (215).
« Idem, III, 54, 55.

200 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Their dress must be such as behooves those who are
followers of the lowly Nazarene. Their tendency was
ascetic. Self-denial, the pulling out of an eye for Christ's
sake or the cutting off of a hand or foot for the kingdom
of heaven's sake, the crucifixion of the flesh, the sub-
jugation of the old man — these were their ideals. They
were literally men of one book, and that book the Bible.
How faithfully they read it appears from their almost
uncanny familiarity with its text. They quote the Scrip-
tures, from Genesis to Revelation, with a readiness and
an accuracy, which abundantly prove that most of their
spare time was spent in the perusal of these precious
pages. We read books, they read the Book; it was their
vade mecum, their guide, their solace, their inward judge,
their refuge, their all in all.

The pleasures of life, the common excitements and pas-
sions of life, its extravagances and dissipations passed by
them without touching them, they were an eddy in a tur-
bulent current. Their life was Christ, their death their
gain. Such a view of life makes for drabness, a killing
monotony; it is apparently wholly one-sided and must
inevitably lead to mysticism, you say. Perhaps it did, and
there are not a few pages in the writings of these old
Wederdoopers to indicate that it actually had such an
effect. But it left the mind placid; it sowed the seed,
which in England was to sprout up in a great variety of
new revelations of this same W elt an s chaining ; and it en-
abled the long line of their martyrs to go to their death
with a heroism which was a source of amazement to their
enemies and of ceaseless inspiration to their friends. It
is safe to say that, had their view of life been other than
it was, the entire Anabaptist movement would have been
swamped under the load of persecution, and that not one
of their churches would have survived.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 201

3. Their Confessions

As the Doopsgezinden or Mennonites, that branch of
the great Anabaptist family which in the main followed
the teachings of Menno Simons, had no fixed ecclesiastical
organization, but wholly followed the polity of the local
autonomy of the church, they were averse to symbols in
the accepted sense of the Protestant Churches. Logically
so. But the time came when it was necessary to show
the world what were their real tenets, not to be consid-
ered in the sense of a vinculum ecclesiarum, but rather
as a basis of understanding, of union in a large sense,
and as an expression of their common faith.

In the eighteenth century, Hermannus Schyn, one of
their leading pastors, outlines their position as follows:
They agree, he tells us, in these things :

1. Adult baptism on faith.

2. The office of the magistrate is necessary in this sin-
ful world, but Christians should avoid it, since believers
are citizens of a heavenly city. Obedience, however, is the
duty of Christians.

3. War and all bearing of arms are forbidden to the
believer.

4. The oath also is forbidden."^ (Matt. 5 : 33-37.)

As to the expression of their faith, the Waterlandians
had published a confession of faith in 1580, written by
Hans de Ries and Lubbert Gerritsz. In 1665, the United
Flemish, Frisian, and German Doopsgezinden issued a
general confession, which became the peace basis between
them. This general confession contains :

1. The Concept of Cologne, of May 1, 1591.

2. The Apology, handed to the Deputates of the Court
of Holland, October 8, 1626.

' Schyn Uitv. Verh., 96 p.

202 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

3. Het Olyftakje ("The Olive Branch"), first printed
in Hamburg in 1684. It contains the Psalms of David, a
number of hymns, and the above-named document — Korte
Belydenisse des Geloofs, mitsgaders de voornaamste ze-
den, welke in de Kerkelyke discipline, in de Christelyke
gemeente, in zwang syn ("A Short Confession of Faith,
besides the principal customs which are in vogue in ec-
clesiastical discipline in the Christian Church.")

4. Korte Confessie of Belydenis des Geloofs en der
voornaamste stucken der Christelyke Leere, zoo dezelve,
met kracht van Scriftuiir, by dengeene, die men, met
\eenen gemeenen Naame, de Vereenigde Vrieschen en
Hoogduitschen noemt, geleerd werd ("A Short Confes-
sion or Profession of Faith and of the principal points of
the Christian doctrine, as they are taught, w^ith the au-
thority of the Scriptures, by those v^ho are called with a
common name, Frisians and Germans.").

5. The Confession of Dort, April 21, 1632, with
eighteen articles.

6. The True Covenant of Union, approved at Leyden,
in October, 1664.

Here is the basis of the Mennonite faith of the mid-
dle of the eighteenth century.^

As the Korte Confessie is the most circumstantial of
these, it may be well to look at it somewhat more closely.
Have the Doopsgezinden changed their doctrinal basis in
any point, since we have heard from them last through the
mouths of their chief protagonists? Let us see. As
this short confession is one of the bases of union among
them, we may consider that it expresses the theological
views of the mass of Doopsgezinden, at that time. It
contains twenty-one articles. At many points they agree,
at least in substance, with the Protestant confessions in

8 Idem, 156 p.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 203

general. They do so in the articles bearing on the person
of God (I), the creation of all things (II), the fall and
restoration of man (III), the purpose of Christ's advent
and his offices (VI), the atoning death of Christ (VII),
the resurrection and exaltation of Christ (VIII), the
promise, mission, and office of the Holy Spirit (IX), the
Church of God (X), the Lord's Supper (XII), the works
of love (XIV), the forgiveness of sin (XX), and, in
a modified way, the resurrection of the body and the life
to come (XXI). They differ from the common doctrine
of Protestantism in the article on the free will (IV) and
that on the incarnation (V) which, though carefully
worded, impugns the true humanity of Christ. Says the
Confesssion :

And according to the prophecy of Isaiah, in the original body
of Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph of the House of David,
but had no knowledge of her — by the power of the most high
God and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, at Nazareth, in
order that he might be called a Nazarene — he was conceived
and has not adopted flesh, but became flesh, remaining what he
was, namely God and God's Son, and becoming what he was
not, namely man and the Son of man. In this way that we
acknowledge that the child, which Mary bore and which was
born at Bethlehem and grew up and suffered on the cross, is
externally and internally, visibly and invisibly, just as he walked
here, the only, own, and true Son of God and the Redeemer
of us all.

There is here a veiled echo of the old Anabaptist doc-
trine of the heavenly humanity of Christ. Note the old,
familiar stress on " became " and the heavy accentuation
of the divinity of Christ.

In the article of baptism (XI) there is of course the
widest divergence. That on foot-washing (XIII) is not
an article of faith but of practise. That on the married
estate (XV), also out of place in a confession of faith,

204 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

rings true till, in the second part, we come to the in-
hibition of mixed marriages. That on the office of the
civil magistrate (XVI), while recognizing its necessity,
yet forbids a believer to fill such an office. The next, on
the oath (XVII), absolutely forbids a Christian to swear
in any way. The article on discipline (XVIII) clearly
sets forth the old Anabaptist doctrine, especially as re-
gards the punishment of those who contract an outside
marriage (Btiitenfrouzv). The authors evidently know
that the times are changing, and therefore they express
their views with manifest hesitation; yet they conclude
'* that such an outside marriage to an unrepentant one
and an unbeliever should be punished with expulsion from
the church, till the sinner finally repents." We notice that
the way of repentance is now left open; in so far the
harshness of the creed has been toned down. But under
it still all " outsiders," all non-Anabaptists, are " unbe-
lievers." They are still sectarian to the core.

The article on Mydinge (avoidance) is typically Ana-
baptistic. No communication is to be held at all with the
one banned. He is like one dead in all worldly matters.
Efforts for his salvation are not prohibited, and even, in
case of absolute need, help may be given him.

The acceptance of these so-called confessions, how-
ever, did not restrict the rights of the individual churches.
They were not confessions in the commonly accepted
sense, but simply efforts to arrive at a better mutual
understanding in regard to their basic faith.

In the seventeenth century, Schyn tells us, there were
four distinct sects among them, and by that time they
recognized each other's baptism and began to permit
opening their communion tables for members of factions
differing from their own. But it was a slow and tedious
process.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 205

A compromise was established between the Flemings,
the United Germans, and the Frisians, October 5, 1630,
and nineteen years later, in 1649, the Flemings and Ger-
mans formally united with this group. Between them and
the Waterlandians by and by more cordial relations were
established, till they finally were united on the basis of a
common faith as above described.

By the middle of the eighteenth century practically all
the Doopsgezinden in Holland, West Frisia, Zeeland,
Utrecht, Overisel, and Vriesland, held their services in
common, in city and village, without any distinction of
name.

The very thing they had therefore so bitterly opposed
at the beginning, the writing of a confession of faith,
although they never adopted anything like it in the Prot-
estant sense, saved them at last. And through the con-
fession which they made and adopted, as a common basis,
the centripetal force began to assert itself, and the horrid
nightmare of their endless schisms became a thing of the
past.

And yet in their history it was proved true, " The
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of their chil-
dren were set on edge," for when the occasion arose they
were ready to sever these bonds again. Only Amsterdam,
Haarlem, and a few old Frisian congregations still con-
tinued the old schism.^

4. Their Social Standing and Pure Life

Many historians have represented the Anabaptists as
belonging exclusively to the poorer classes. Fruin de-
scribes them as de heife des volks, the lower class of so-
ciety. It is true not many of the ruling class or of the
nobility were found among them, but the general con-

» Schyn, Uitv. Verh., 87,

206 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

ception in regard to their social status is evidently wrong,
they were not what they were thought to have been.

Het Offer des Heeren bears silent testimony to this
fact. Among all the martyrs mentioned in this martyr-
ology, we find only one, Claesken's husband, who is un-
able to read. Elizabeth van Leeuwarden knows Latin,
also Jan Geertsz. Jacques d'Auchy reads the Swiss trans-
lation of the New Testament. Gielis Matthysz reminds
his brethren of their evil past, when they were ** eager
for costly banquets or dinner parties, yea, for pride of
apparel" {proncken end pralen). Jan Claesz had caused
six hundred copies of one of Menno's books to be printed
at Antwerp. They are always reminded of the duty of
hospitality, manifestly impossible for very poor people.

From all this it appears that the bulk of them belonged
to the middle class of society, dejt niet onhemiddelden en
niet onheschaafden btirgerstand, as Cramer puts it.^^

After the Miinster tragedy their life was irreproach-
able. Says the inquisitor to Claes De Praet : ^^

As to your life, you have an honorable conversation among
all men. You live peaceably together, in love and harmony,
which is very good. You help each other, which is also good.
You stand by each other in trouble and are willing even to die
for each other. This is all good. I can say nothing against
it. . . But what does it help you and you have not the faith?

Yes, they were obedient to death. Listen to the last
words of the Confession of Jacques : ^^ " I also pray, if I
should have sinned against the Emperor or King, or
against any one else, that they may be pleased to forgive
me, through the great love and mercy of God."

The repeated references to showiness in dress and lav-
ish ways of living, found in this martyr testimony, and

" Intr. Het O^er, B. R. N., II, 27.

^ B. R. N., II, 247. ^ B. R. N., II, 273-

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 207

also the distinction between the Flemings and Frisians, as
to dress and house-furnishings, give one the ineradicable
impression that we are here dealing with a class of so-
ciety far removed from its dregs.

The name Slodder Mennonisfs (" Slovenly Mennon-
ites ") given to some, has no reference to their way of
living, but to their laxity in the application of the ban.
They are thus distinguished from the rigorous " Hard
Mennonites." Sometimes the word " soft " is used in-
stead of " slovenly."

The Waterlandians belonged to these softer types. On
this account the zealots or rigorists called them " an im-
pure Church," especially because, besides laxity in church
discipline, they left the oath entirely to the dictates of
the individual conscience.^^

Nay, we have better proof than any heretofore ad-
duced in regard to their social status. We have seen
how William of Orange interfered in their behalf at
Middelburgh, in 1577, because even then they had been
able, instead of doing military service, to assist him by
furnishing him with considerable sums of money. In
the seventeenth century, Huber, the Frisian advocate,
could say : ^*

The Mennonites are not dangerous citizens ; on the whole they
are peaceable, industrious, well-to-do, and they need little for
themselves. They are therefore very much in a condition to
pay taxes and in times of distress to help the country with money.

Did they do it?

In the war with England, in the province of West
Frisia alone, 4,856 Mennonites paid the huge sum of five
hundred thousand guilders, for that time as much as five

" B. R. N., VII, 175.
»• Brons, T. oder M., 139.

208 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

million would be today. Only a little later, in the war
with France and its allies, a new levy of four hundred
thousand guilders was laid on the Mennonites, in the
same province; this time not as a prayer but as a direct
demand. And the money was raised. In 1676 a third tax
of 123,943 guilders was imposed and, although this time
with some trouble, the sum was raised again. When in
1672 the Dutch troops in North Holland went into winter
quarters, they were absolutely in need of everything.
The States General asked the Doopsgezinden for aid.
One of them, Meyndish Arends Meyn, a well-to-do mer-
chant, visited a few of the churches and, in a few days
raised thirty thousand guilders, got fifteen thousand pairs
of shoes, twelve thousand pairs of hose, one thousand
shirts, and linen and food of all sorts.^^ In Groningen,
in 1666 and subsequent years, in a comparatively short
time, twelve little churches raised, for the defense of the
city, 149,810 guilders. Let us say that in raising these
huge sums they gave their all, that they stripped them-
selves bare. Perhaps they did. But before one can
strip, there must be something to strip. Fruin's heife des
volks would have been utterly unable to do these things.

They were peaceful, industrious, and saving and there-
fore must make financial headway.

And Doctor Maclaine, living at the Hague, about 1764,
tells us, a century later,^^

It is certain that the Mennonites in Holland at this day are, in
their table arrangements, their equipages, and their country-seats,
the most luxurious part of the Dutch nation.

In the eighteenth century then, if we are to believe this
witness, their ancient simplicity and Puritanism had

" Idem, 139.

^« Mosheim, III, 244, (note 23).

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 209

largely departed. But it is an added proof that we are
not to underestimate the social standing of the Doops-
gezinden, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

5. Peculiar Views

In his bitter attack on Martin Luther, in Sacramen-
torum brevis Elucidatio, Eustachius de Zichensis ^' gives
us a glimpse, from the Roman Catholic standpoint, at the
cause of the eccentricities in doctrine and life of the
Anabaptists. Says he :

By the side of Luther other antagonists have arisen, who
need to be fought at least as strenuously as he. They go much
farther than Luther. They lean on their individual judgment.
Being of no standing in any university, they leave on their left
hand all that is taught in the universities, all that the most
sapient philosophers and scholastic theologians have taught; and
they try to bring all Christendom back to the time when its
religion was still in a state of infancy. They reject all authority
in State and Church, they not only criticize faults but they
condemn all ecclesiastical dignitaries. They say that all arch-
bishops and bishops are common sinners. They deem that they
are fully able to understand and explain the Scriptures, without
any one's assistance, etc.

The last words are a slanderous attack on the entire body
of Anabaptist believers, as if the guilt of Miinster was
that of the whole body. But he is correct in so far as he
sees the vitium originis of the entire sect in their over-
weening individualism.

First of all among their peculiarities stands their re-
fusal to swear an oath. This peculiar trait of their re-
ligion was not original with them nor did it die out when
the great mass of Doopsgezinden abandoned their posi-
tion on the oath.

" B. R. N., Ill, 295 p.

o . • ^

210 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Originally it was one of their distinguishing character-
istics. By all branches of the Anabaptist brotherhood the
oath was strictly forbidden. ^^ Matthew 5 : 33-37 was
taken in an absolutely literal sense, and all believers, for
all time, are absolutely inhibited by these words from
swearing under any conditions whatsoever.

In the "Confutation of the Determination of the Pari-
sian Doctors," 1523, the author lays down as the third
proposition, " Because the Christian must not love tem-
poral things, therefore he must not swear concerning
them." The Parisians had called this immoral and heret-
ical, but the author replies, " Not darkly our Lord has
forbidden all use of the oath," and then proceeds to
prove from the Scriptures and from the Fathers that this
is the correct view. Evangelical views do not tolerate
the oath, since every faithful word should be as an oath.^^
The stories of the martyrs all alike confirm their abhor-
rence of the oath; even under torture they cannot be
made to swear one.^"

Menno Simons had somewhat broader views. He con-
tended that not every oath was absolutely forbidden, but
only an oath in temporal aifairs.^^' Adam Pastor and
his followers again were far more lenient on this point
than was Menno; and his views, even though they were
those of a heretic, slowly gained the ascendency among
the Anabaptists.

Their views on human government and justice rendered
by man were extremely radical. Of course ultimately
they were founded again on their literal and individual-
istic interpretation of the Scriptures. No man was their
master but Christ, God alone was the governor, and Paul
had specifically warned against seeking justice at the

"B. R. N., V, 6ii. 20 B R, N., II, 91. 363, SOS-

"B. R. N., VI, 503. =^B. R. N., II, 495.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 211

hands of outsiders. If judgment was to be rendered, the
lowliest of the brethren were competent to do so. They
reasoned somewhat in line with Dr. A. Kuyper, in his
celebrated " Stone Lectures " on Calvinism.

God alone is sovereign. Had sin not entered the
world this sovereignty would have been exercised imme-
diately by God. In a sinful world he has delegated it
to sinful men, and we must obey them on that account.
But all power, whatever it be, is of God.

Rebellion against human governments was possible
therefore only among that type of the Anabaptists who
dreamed the dream of the restoration of God's immediate
government in this world. We have seen how they went
about this restoration. Sober counsels brought more sober
views.

Says Menno, speaking of the office of the magistrate,^^

I believe that it is of God, and that it is our duty to revere it,
to honor and to obey it, in all things which are not contrary
to the Word of God.

Most of the Anabaptists, however, did not tolerate a
magistrate to be a member of their communion, on ac-
count of the moral and spiritual perils attending such a
position. " No Christian shall be a public judge or hold
a public office." ^^ Menno differed here again from his
brethren. He did not refuse membership to magistrates ;
on the other hand, he admonished them to rule as be-
hooves the children of God.^*

The Dutch Anabaptists, who followed Menno, were a
different people from the Miinster fanatics, and they
wanted the world to know it. Says Jacques, in his " Con-
fession of Faith " : ^^

22Schyn, Quoting Menno, Uitv. Verh., 32. =* B. R. N., VII, 255-

. 5»B, R, N., V, 611, » B. R. N., II, 272.

212 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

I confess that the magistrates are instituted and ordained of
God, for a punishment of evil-doers, and for the protection of
the good. For they do not bear the sword in vain, which magis-
trates the Scriptures command us to obey.

But they desired religious liberty, such as was guaranteed
them shortly after, under the new Republic.

The declaration of faith, put forth by Smyth and
Helwys, at Amsterdam, in 1611, and later revised by

Smyth, states : ^^

That the magistrate, by virtue of his office, is not to meddle
with religion or matters of conscience, nor to compel men to
this or that form of religion or doctrine ; but to leave the Chris-
tian religion to the free conscience of every one, and to meddle
only with political matters, i. e., injustice and wrong-doing of
one man against another, such as murder, adultery, theft, and
the like, because Christ alone is the King and the Lawgiver of
the Church and the conscience.

Professor Masson claims that this was the first expres-
sion of the absolute principle of liberty of conscience
in the public articles of any body of Christians. But the
author of " Puritanism " correctly says,-^ that, though
it may be the first formulated expression in a confession,

We have evidence that places it beyond a doubt that this
principle was apprehended and acted upon by a body of Chris-
tians long anterior to, the period here referred to.

May I add that this confession of Helwys and Smyth
was written in a country, where years before, at the real
founding of the Republic, this principle was embodied in
the constitution of the country, or rather in the instru-
ment which was destined to become such.

Says the " Union of Utrecht" (of 1579),2»

^Gregory, "Puritanism," 370.

^^ Idem, 371. 2a ^rtg 5^ g^ jq, h^ 12, 13.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 213

provided always that every individual should remain free in
his religion, and that no man should be molested or questioned
on the subject of divine worship, as has been already established
by the Pacification of Ghent.

The Anabaptists absolutely refused to carry arms or to
do military service. They were pacifists in the fullest
sense. And this sentiment was found outside of their
circle as well. In the account of a disputation held in
St. Marks, in the city of Groningen, in 1523, between the
Dominicans and the priests of that church, I find these
words used,^^ Quaero si Christiano ullum helium sit lici-
tum, qui jubetur a Christo et inimicos deligere.

They were not permitted to use weapons either for their
defense or against an enemy, in accordance with the words
of Christ, " Thou shalt not resist evil." They carried this
principle of non-resistance to such a length that they
permitted no merchant among them to carry his goods on
an armed vessel, much less to have such a vessel in his
possession.

In their earlier days at least, they had neither a spe-
cially trained nor a paid ministry. They selected men,
in whatever walk of life they might be, who were of good
report and well versed in the Scriptures; and to them
they committed the cure of their souls. Small wonder —
for these preachers after all were human, as we are — that
the author of the Leken Wechweyser could say of the
preachers among sects outside of the bounds of the
State Church, unquestionably referring to the Anabap-
tists,^° " they are jealous of the evangelical preachers,
because they are supported by a fixed annuity and are
protected by the magistrate."

^ B. R. N., VI, 561. " I question whether any war is permissible to
a Christian, who is commanded by Christ even to love his enemies."
3» B. R. N., IV, 335.

214 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

The reaction from the Miinster tragedy and from the
erroristic teachings of Hendrick Niclaes has created
among the Doopsgezinden a truly Puritanical conception
of sexual morality. The Miinster experience was past,
but not at all forgotten. For generations it remained the
nightmare of their life. It seems positively amusing
to the present-day historian, delving among these musty
records of the past, to see the intensity of their efforts
to make the gap between themselves and the Miinsterites
as wide as possible. Read after Hermannus Schyn, and
you will see this effort assumes a form that is almost
naive.

The echoes of the Miinster enormities were heard in
the camps of the followers of Batenburg and Appelman,
when the millenial dream still was dreamt and where
an antinomian tendency still prevailed.^^ Of all that the
Doopsgezinden were absolutely free. And yet the women
occupied an honored place in their church life. In their
churches no musical instruments were found. Why?
A logical explanation would seem to be the imposed
secrecy of their meetings in the days of persecution, and
the enforced restriction of their worship even when they
had their religious liberty under the laws of the land.
Therefore their places of meeting had no towers, nor
bells, nor special ecclesiastical appearance. And there-
fore, and not because they were on principle against it,
they had no organs in their churches.

One more word anent their views of the apostolic suc-
cession. This idea, through the latter half of the seven-
teenth century, so frequently exploited by the English
Baptists, or rather a faction among them, was not un-
known to the early Anabaptists. Or rather let me say
among them also was a faction which exploited this idea.

^ B. R. N., V, 511.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 215

The author of Successio Anabaptistica, a Roman Catho-
lic, but by Doctor Cramer accepted as an absolutely re-
liable historical witness, tells us : ^-

I am dealing with the Mennonites or Anabaptists, who pride
themselves as having the apostolic succession, that is, the mis-
sion and extraction from the apostles. Who claim that the
true Church is found nowhere, except among themselves alone
and in their congregations, since with them alone remains the
true understanding of the Scriptures. To that end they appeal
to the letter of the S. S. and want to explain them with the S. S.
And thus they sell to the simple folks glass rubies for precious
stones. . . If one charges them with the newness of their sect,
they claim that their *' true Church" during the time of the
dominion of the Catholic Church, was hidden in her. This
contention was specially upheld by Jacob Pieters van der
Meulen, teacher of the old Flemish Doopsgezinden at Haarlem,
who by the other old Flemish were decried as Bankroetiers
(" Bankrupts "), because, less strict in the administration of
the ban than the others, they had not denied membership to
a brother who had become bankrupt.

The idea of an apostolic succession arose then in the
second period of the history of the Anabaptists. The
Hoflfmanites knew nothing of it. And when the reaction
of the Miinster tragedy set in and the Anabaptists were
purified and led to a higher plane, Menno Simons never
mentioned it. And Derek Philips knew nothing of it.
Van der Meulen apparently started the idea. In the
eighteenth century Schyn zealously advocates it and,
strange to say, in his elaborate defense of the idea liter-
ally expresses some of the words used in the above quo-
tation.

Among Baptist historians, David Benedict, in the mid-
dle of the nineteenth century, made a final heroic effort
to establish it. The later and more sober and critical

3*B. R. N., VII, 8, sio.

216 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

historians of this great denomination have practically
abandoned it. Rome claims apostolic succession, so does
the Greek Church and the Church of England, all pre-
latical bodies in fact.

Protestantism turns its face to the future rather than
to the past. So far as the Anabaptists are concerned,
it is an exploded theo'ry among the Mennonites of today.

As to the peculiar customs of the early Anabaptists a
word will suffice. They are practically all of them re-
flected in the history of the Puritans, the Brownists, the
Quakers, and the Shakers, and similar ecclesiastical de-
velopments. Most of them rigidly secluded themselves
from all " unbelievers " or " gentiles," as they called all
who stood outside of their communion. They regulated
the wearing apparel of men and women. The latter re-
minds us of the heroism of Tertullian, the Church Father,
who had the temerity to write on " The Dress of Women."
They tried to regulate the manner of walking ; how many
pleats there might be in a woman's apron ; they regulated
eating and drinking, both in quantity and quality; the
manner of speech, etc. All of this to show non-con-
formity to the world.^^

As their horizon expanded and as their social status
changed, all these by-products of their religious life
slowly disappeared; and in their later history the mem-
ory of those earlier strait- jacket days must have humor-
ously affected the susceptible among them.

6. Names

We have heretofore used the name Anabaptist, Doops-
gezinden, Wederdoopers, and Mennonites interchange-
ably. The Wederdoopers, or Anabaptists, and the Doops-
gezinden grew originally from one stem. The distinctive

33 Nic, Inl, B. R. N., VII, 475.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 217

name Doopsgezinden originated through Menno Simon's
saving leadership. Their enemies always called them by
the generic name Anabaptists. As we have seen, some
have tried to reason away the historic connection between
the Hoffmanites and the Doopsgezinden, but the testi-
mony to the contrary is too strong to be denied. Obbe
Philips wrote his "Confession" (Bekentenisse) before
1560 and it was printed in 1609, fifty years after his
death; and this tract is one of the monumental proofs
of the common origin referred to. The names Doopsge-
zinden and Mennonites or Mennisten are of early origin.
Anastasius Veluanus, having scourged the Anabaptists in
his Leken Weckivyser, says,^*

But there are many simple-minded people among them who,
with an impeccable walk and peaceful mind, live on in the lack
of understanding, namely, the best Mennonites.

As Veluanus wrote in 1554, the name Mennonite was
then well known. Note also that he speaks of the fol-
lowers of Menno as a faction among the Anabaptists.

The Successio Anahaptistica, of 1603, uses the name
Doopsgezinde for Anabaptists.^^ Carel van Ghent, in his
Beginscl der Scheuringen ("Beginning of Schisms"),
1658, taunts the Anabaptists with their schismatic pro-
clivities and their rebaptizing among themselves, in their
various factions, men and women, who went from one
faction to another, and says ^^ " that for that reason they
were justly called Wederdoopers ("Anabaptists"). In
the middle of the seventeenth century they were then
generically known as Wederdoopers. But Alenson, in his
Tegenbericht of 1626, mentions the fact that the Frisians,

3*B. R. N., IV, 203.
35 B. R. N., VII, 44.
3« B. R. N., VII, 525.

218 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

in their articles of faith of 1626, on the title of the docu-
ment call themselves Mennonites, and that from that time
they were thus called.^^ And King John Casimir of
Poland, in his letter of 1660, calls them repeatedly Men-
nonites and " Minists," so that they were evidently called
by that name in Poland.

From which we may conclude that all these names were
used interchangeably in the seventeenth century accord-
ing to different locations or to the preference of the
Anabaptist factions in giving themselves a name.

As we shall see, even in the eighteenth century the
names Mennoniten and Doopsgezinden were still contend-
ing for the mastery. Anabaptist then is the generic name
for the whole sect.

7. An Analytical Sketch of Their Church Life in the
Eighteenth Century

Now and then a book is written which escapes the
ravages of time. The contemporaries of the author may
have frowned upon it, perhaps it was little read in its
day. The readers perchance called the author dry, too
lengthy, too circumstantial — what not. Time rolled on,
and men asked themselves what a certain thing was
exactly like at a certain time, and they found our author
and blessed him for his tedious, painstaking labor and
for the minuteness of his portrayal of things.

How little we would know of the true inwardness of the
history of the Dutch Anabaptists in the eighteenth cen-
tury, were it not for the unspeakable minuteness and
agonizing accuracy of detail and infinite patience of a
German, who came to Holland to study these Anabap-
tists in situ. His name was Frederick Rues. The title of
his book was Tegenzvoordige Staet der Doopsgezinden of

3' B. R. N., VII, 242.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 219

Mennontten, in de Vereenigde Nederlanden (" Present
Condition of the Doopsgezinden or Mennonites in the
United Netherlands "), 1745. I presume the book is ex-
tant in German. I read the Dutch translation, which is
said to be rare, and is counted by the Baptist Seminary
Library of Louisville, Kentucky, among its " treasures."
And thanks to that book, we are able to get a satisfactory
view of the Dutch Anabaptists in the eighteenth century,
and we are enabled to study them in detail.

In addition to the above, another work was kindly
loaned to me by my colleagues of the Baptist Seminary at
Louisville, Uitvoeriger Verhandeling van de geschiede-
nissen der Mennoniten, van Hermannus Schyn, 1/44,
which adds a great deal to the information given by Rues.
Alas the time was too short to send for additional litera-
ture to other libraries and to the Netherlands. But these
works suffice for the purpose in hand. They give us a
clear idea of the advancement, in every respect, made by
the Doopsgezinden, since the time of their wildly schis-
matic behavior in the later years of the sixteenth and
in the seventeenth century.

In Holland they had obtained religious freedom and a
civil status — the right of citizenship — in 1672, But
neither England, Switzerland, nor Germany was as yet
willing to give them the same privileges. There the
Doopsgezinden were still identified with the old rebellious
Anabaptists, whose enormities were still fresh in the
minds of the magistrates. Their refusal of the oath and
their denial of church-membership to magistrates of every
description, may have had a great deal to do with this.

By 1630 the mass of the Flemings, Germans, and
Waterlandians had entered into an elastic union at
Amsterdam, without, however, wholly renouncing their in-
dividual tenets. Nine years later the Grermans and Flem-

220 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

ings came still closer, and thus the position of the Water-
landians became a commanding one. The main division
now lay between the remnant of the Flemings and
Frisians, unwilling to enter the union, and the Water-
landians. The former were called the Fine, as in my
young days members of the Free Church of Holland, in
Vriesland were still called, and the Coarse. The former
were strict in all their ancient tenets, the latter were more
lax and inclined to liberalism. Within these two great
groups, however, there were still endless varieties, mostly
on minor points of doctrine and practise. The Fine held
more closely to the doctrines and practise of Menno, they
still clung to his views on the incarnation, the ban, etc.,
and some of them were foot-washers. Individualism, as
we have seen, from the beginning had been the bane of
the Anabaptist movement. It kept them forever decen-
tralized, it created circles within circles and prevented
them from becoming a large and impressive body, with
commanding national influence. One of the minor sects
of the Fine was that of the Uke-Wallists, named after
Uke Wallis. Unlettered and unrefined, he yet obtained
a considerable following. He was exiled from the city
of Groningen, in 1637, because he taught the old, familiar
early patristic idea that Judas Iscariot and the other per-
secutors of Christ might be saved. Removing to East
Frisia, he founded his own church, of which remnants
still are said to exist. They were, in the eighteenth cen-
tury, a separate folk, rebaptizing every one who entered
their communion. They abhorred elegance in dress or
any ornaments; their dress was of the plainest, both for
men and women. All men wore beards. Their aspect was
gloomy and austere. Their homes were of the humblest,
even though they had the means to live better, and they
strictly adhered to the rite of foot-washing.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 221

The Coarse had two main divisions, the Frisians and
the Waterlandians, and among these another serious
schism arose, that of the Gallenists and Apostoolians, thus
named after their party leaders.

The Arminian controversy, as a matter of course, had
deeply affected the always impressionable Doopsgezinden.
The aftermath came in the creation of a new sect, the so-
called Collegiants, of whom I will speak later. They
were a body so totally disorganized, so absolutely indi-
vidualistic, with doctrinal opinions so loose and disjointed
that a subtle affinity was felt, from the very beginning,
between them and the Doopsgezinden, And they exer-
cised a considerable influence on the later Anabaptistic
developments in Holland.^^ In the latter half of the cen-
tury, the position of the Doopsgezinden in Amsterdam
had become influential in every way.

The Flemish party there had two celebrated pastors.
The one was Galenus De Haan, a man full of spiritual
power and of a personality both imposing and attractive.
He came in touch with the Collegiants and took part in
their prophesyings. He was a scholarly man, well trained
in Greek and Latin, a graduate of the medical department
at the University of Leyden, and practised medicine in
Amsterdam, according to the Anabaptist custom, in ad-
dition to his pastorate. Beyond all this he conducted a
training-school for young ministers. His contemporaries
say that, true to the fundamental ideas of the Anabap-
tists, he accentuated life at the expense of doctrine, and
taught a very liberal theology. Once sure of his own
position, he laid down his views in nineteen articles,
which he sent to the Consistory — our session — and then
published them.

The church where he and his colleague preached, had

** Brons, T. oder M., 134.

222 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

the image of a Lamb above the door, and thus those who
worshiped there were called " Lammists." ^^ His col-
league, Samuel Apostool, also a man of great power
and influence, was of entirely different opinions. Con-
servative and tenacious of purpose, perhaps a little irked
at the greater popularity of De Haan, he organized a
party of opposition. He maintained that the Church
should stand by the Confession of Hans de Ries and Lub-
bert Gerrits, mentioned above. De Haan wanted only
the Scriptures, with a free interpretation thereof. In ad-
dition the old questions were revived, about the divinity
of Christ, his two natures, and the three persons in the
Godhead.*^

For five years the tension steadily increased and the
acrimonious debates continued. The measure was full
in 1664, and the expected disruption occurred.

Samuel Apostool and two other leaders separated, with
seven hundred members of the church, and swarmed to
another hive, which received the sign of the Sun over its
door, and thus the " Lammists " and " Sunnists " were
born among the descendants of the Dutch Anabaptists.

Galenus De Haan, with some three hundred members,
retained the property of the original church, after the
courts, in defiance of ancient Anabaptist principles, had
decided the matter. The Sunnists made the signing of
the Confession, mentioned above, obligatory on its pas-
tors and members and had no touch with the Collegiants.
The Lammists rejected all confessions and were hand
and fist with the Collegiant propaganda. The split passed
from Amsterdam through the entire country, and thus the
Coarse Doopsgezinden were split again into two mutually
hostile camps.*^

"3 Idem, 144.

*<• Idem, 145. " Idem, 146.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 223

A vain effort at reunion was made in 1672, but the
views of the antagonistic factions were too heterogenous
for the reaHzation of the hopes of the Unionists. In cer-
tain localities, as in Zaandam, in 1687, and at Rotterdam
and Ley den, in 1700, local unions were effected, but the
main bodies remained apart for the present.*^ True
union was to come later. Thus the eighteenth century
opened, with a divided life.*^

In the analytical sketch of the inner conditions of these
two great groups of churches among the Doopsgezinden
of the Netherlands, which follows, I will follow Simeon
Frederick Rues. (I make no special page-references to
this painstaking outline,** except in cases of special in-
terest and refer the reader to the book as a whole.) No
more circumstantial and painstaking account of the con-
dition of the Doopsgezinden in the Lowlands, in the
eighteenth century, has come down to us, than this work,
somewhat rare today. The great outburst of schismatic
fury had spent its force and, although split again into two
main groups of churches, there was no longer the bitter-
ness and mutual condemnation which had characterized
the past. Wherever they were, they recognized the
fundamental oneness of their divided life. And that was
a vast improvement.

From this work of Rues, written in the true German
style, with an eye to infinite details, we obtain a co^ip d'oeil
of the conditions, customs, worship, social standing,
church organization, etc., obtaining, in this century, among
the Doopsgezinden of Holland; and, in the main, they
remain unchanged till this day.

The old distinction between the Fijie and the Coarse
still was made. The Fine were very fond of calling them-

*2 Idem, 146. " Schyn, Uitv. Verh. 79, 83.

** Tegenwoordige Staet der Doopsgezinden.

224 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

selves Mennonites; the Coarse, who had largely aban-
doned the theological foundation of Menno, preferred the
name Doopsgezinden, and so called themselves. As we
have seen, the first great schism originated in Vriesland.
The strictest part were therefore called Frisians, from
the Province where the storm first broke out. The Old
Flemings joined themselves to this party. The Water-
landians, whose home was, in the main, in the marshy
region of North Holland, stood between this strictest
party and the Flemings or New Flemings, who joined the
conciliatory party. Both parties alike hated the Water-
landians, who by degrees grew more lax in doctrine and
life than others. In time, however, the milder Frisians
and Flemings, together with the so-called German Men-
nonites, refugees from Germany, drew toward the Water-
landians, and this coalition shortly formed the predom-
inating party among the Doopsgezinden.

The smaller conservative party then adopted the name
Old Flemings ; but among themselves again they were
divided into a number of smaller sects, without any inter-
communication with each other. Their main divisions
w^ere the Dantzigers and Groningers, thus named from
the places where they developed their main strength.

The Coarse party, coming in more continuous contact
with the world, by degrees developed a taste for the
sciences, for culture in general, and for an educated
ministry.

All these distinctions and combinations are entirely
apart from the schism between the Sunnists and Lam-
mists, of which I spoke a little way back, which developed
only among the Coarse. They were the inheritance of
the past and formed the background on which the pic-
ture of the life of the Doopsgezinden in the eighteenth
century is painted.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 225

The Fine party again were divided into these general
classes: the Very Finest (Allerfynsten), whose rigorous
way of living and somber dress marked them everywhere ;
the Dantzigers, who were a tiny bit more lenient, both
in doctrine and life ; and the Groningers, who besides this
greater leniency had somewhat different ecclesiastical cus-
toms from the others. But all together they were classi-
fied as Fine Mennonites.

Now what were their doctrinal views?

1. They clung to the confessions of faith, which, in the
sixteenth century and later, were adopted by the Doops-
gezinden.

2. They followed Menno Simons implicitly.

3. They adopted the doctrine of the Trinity, professed
by the universal Christian church; but they denied the
propriety of the word persona,

4. They held the peculiar Christological views of
Menno.

5. They rebaptized all those who had been baptized
in infancy and also those who joined them from Ana-
baptist bodies other than their own.

6. They practised foot-washing. The Dantzigers
washed the feet of the bishop only, and the housefather
or housemother extended this, as a courtesy of welcome,
to the guest who came to their home, especially if such
a guest came with the purpose of joining the congrega-
tion. The father washed the feet of men, the mother
those of women. The Groningers, on the other hand,
made this ceremony a part of their administration of the
Lord's Supper, the sexes being wholly separated in the
exercise of this part of worship.

7. They did not tolerate any one who held a public of-
fice as a member of their churches.

8. They all absolutely rejected the oath.

226 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

9. They believed in passive obedience and forbade their
members to bear any arms or ever to use them.

10. The Finest would not enter any court of justice
under any circumstances, nor seek redress there for any
injury. The Groningers receded from this extreme view.

11. They had ministers or elders and deacons in their
churches.

Their religious teachers were of two kinds. Besides
the bishops or elders, who alone administered the sacra-
ments, they had a sort of adjunct pastors, who preached,
but were not permitted to do anything of a strictly official
character. The deacons held office for life. No preacher
from any body of Christians other than their own pecu-
liar sect, was permitted to enter their pulpits. No bap-
tism was deemed efficient, except when administered by
one who had been ordained by one of their own bishops
or pastors, and so on. Hence many of them doubted the
validity of the mission and baptism of Menno Simons,
who had been baptized by Obbe Philips. For, both ac-
cording to the Inlasschingen of Nicolai *^ and the Pro-
tocol van de discussie te Leeuwarden, 1597, this is an in-
controvertible fact. Menno never mentions it. Perhaps
because later, when rebaptism became more common, the
fact that he had been baptized by a disciple of Jan Mat-
thysz, or at least had his official derivation from one
who later on proved a renegade and was called " a
Demas " by himself, might have cast a cloud over his
baptism. This fear was realized, as we see, long after
his death.

12. They were, one and all, very strict in the applica-
tion of the ban. The Dantzigers went so far as to believe
that the carrying of side-arms (the usual thing for a
gentleman in those days, as we carry a cane), the em-

« B. R. N.. VII. 362. 461.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 227

ployment of an armed vessel for merchandise, a marriage
to one of another denomination, luxury in dress or home
life, or the impropriety of having one's portrait painted —
that all of these were sins deserving of excommunication.
In Prussia even the wearing of a wig, in those bewigged
days, was an excommunicable offense.

The Very Fine wore no buttons on their garments,
neither silver nor gold ornaments, no buckles on their
knee-breeches or shoes. What a life ! By slow degrees,
especially in the cities, this strenuousness was somewhat
ameliorated.

All contact with excommunicates was forbidden and,
in accordance with the later doctrine of Derek Philips
and Menno Simons, married people of whom one was
an excommunicate, were compelled to maintain an abso-
lute avoidance.

The Groningers always dressed in simple black, the
men wore long beards and shaving or hair-cutting was
deemed a sign of worldliness. On the whole, however,
in every respect, they were more lenient than the others.
All of them, the Groningers excepted, forbade intermar-
riage with people of other churches, even though they be-
longed to the groups of the Fine.

They cared little for culture or book-learning. So long
as their pastors *' were taught of God," that sufficed them.
They stood alone and refused intercourse with any other
Christian or Anabaptist sect. They alone were the true
Church, and whosoever would enter it must seek such
entrance by submitting to rebaptism. They surely de-
served the name " Anabaptist."

It may be of interest to study them somewhat more
closely and to look into their organization and worship.

All power rested with the male members of the church.
Women had no vote, nor were they permitted to speak in

228 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

their churches. The elders, or bishops, and the other
teachers and deacons formed the Consistory, which was
merely an administrative body. Everything that was of
common interest must be brought before the council of all
the male members.*^ The preachers were dressed soberly,
but like other gentlemen. They were seated in armchairs,
on a platform, facing the door of the meeting-house.
The taller chair, in the center of the row, was for the
preacher of the occasion. A precentor led the singing,
without any instrumental accompaniment. They sang
only Psalms in the seventeenth and early eighteenth cen-
turies. During the first singing the ministers entered the
church and seated themselves.

The minister preached, seated in his chair. Prayer
was made kneeling, but in absolute silence. The minis-
ter outlined, before the prayer was made, the objects of
special attention. Strange that in our recent evangelistic
methods we have returned again to this ancient custom.*^
In the meeting no collection was taken. The gifts of the
faithful were placed in a box at the door as the congre-
gation dispersed. They had no classes for cathechetical
instruction, as among the Reformed churches, perhaps on
account of their antipathy to symbolized doctrine, their
own being very indefinite. Of prayer-meetings they knew
nothing. Even at home their prayers were always silent.

How did they administer the sacraments ?

We have studied their theory of these sacraments;
what was their practise? Rues was an eye-witness, and
he tells his story in such a vivid way that we can see,
even across the centuries, what actually transpired.

We are still considering that party of the Anabaptists
or Doopsgezinden called the Fine in distinction from the

" Tegenw. Staet., 40.
*^ Idem, 41 p.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 229

Coarse. They baptized eight days before communion.
The new candidates were examined by the preachers, or
preferably they handed in a written confession of their
faith. The people were asked whether there was any
objection against the candidates. If not, the minister
made an address, setting forth, in general terms, the faith
of the Doopsgezinden; after which the candidates were
requested to stand before the pulpit. They were then
asked: (1) Whether they were truly penitent for all
their sins, sought salvation in God's mercy alone, and
were willing to fight against sin; (2) whether they be-
lieved in the articles of the Apostolic Confession (the
descent to hell excepted) ; (3) whether they believed the
doctrine expounded by the pastor in his address, and
whether they promised to abide in it. The speaker then
said : " God gave to Jesus Christ a name, in which every
knee must be bowed. Be pleased therefore to kneel down
before the presence of your great Saviour." He then
made a heart-searching address to the candidates and to
the congregation, recommending the new members to
their prayers. He then took from beneath his chair a
stone jar, filled with water, kept it in his left hand, placing
his right on the head of the candidate and said, " I baptize
thee, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost." As he spoke the formula he tilted the
jar thrice over the head of the candidate, so that the
water flowed down his forehead. In the baptism of
women, the cap was shoved back a little. The new
members were then welcomed into the church with a
kiss of brotherly love. All the teachers and preachers
on the platform did likewise. Then the benediction was
pronounced.*^

At communion they had silent prayer, as always, and

*^ Tegenw. Staet, 45 p.

230 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

the usual sermon was preached. After the sermon, the
bishop went to a table covered with white, on which
stood some small loaves of bread and some cups. Wine,
in bottles, stood on the floor by the table. Everything as
rigidly simple and unritualistic as may well be imagined.
He took one of the small loaves and spoke the first words
of the institution, in a dead silence of the whole con-
gregation. Usually a few words regarding the Supper
were here introduced. He then broke off a piece of the
loaf in his hand, and gave it to the pastor sitting next
to him. Then he passed through the place of meeting
and, breaking off pieces of bread, passed them to all the
communicants, a deacon closely following with a basket
of loaves. Then, as now, the question was asked whether
any one had been passed in the distribution of the bread.
They did not eat their bread but, with silent prayer, kept
it in their hands till all were served. Only then they ate,
literally in holy communion. The same proceeding was
followed with the cup. Again a silent prayer, a brief
address, and the speaking of the words of the institution.
The bishop or minister ate and drank first, the others
after him. The deacons carried the cups to different parts
of the church, so that all were quickly served.

Surely the administration of the sacraments was a
solemn affair to these Old Flemings. The Dantzigers
held communion at stated times, usually every three or
four months ; the Groningers only, when no members had
any trouble of any kind with another. As may be imag-
ined, the Supper was but rarely administered among the
latter. Foot-washing, if practised at all, accompanied
communion.*^

As to their pastors, they had no trained ministry. No
man could become pastor or teacher till he had been a

*^ Tegenw. Staet., 45 p. 53.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 231

deacon. If a vacancy occurred, the church elected a pas-
tor by a majority vote, and he at once began his work
without any further ado. No ordination was required.
Usually the pastors were chosen from the teachers.
A candidate for this latter office was examined by two
pastors and, if accepted, at once began preaching, when
the occasion required.

If one was elected elder or bishop, he was given time
for consideration. If he accepted, another elder preached
a sermon, after which the candidate knelt down, and he
imposed his hands. It was all simplicity itself. These
Old Flemish were extremely democratic in church affairs.
Their marriage ceremony consisted in a notification of
intention to the bishop and an appearance before the
church. Again a silent prayer, as on all occasions. Then
the couple were called forward and they were asked
whether they desired to be married. Of course they an-
swered, Yes. Then followed a brief exposition of the
married estate ; then another question whether, after this
exposition, they still persisted in their purpose. Then a
hand-clasp, a silent prayer, a trip to the town hall for
civic enrolment, and all was over. The latter had to be
done, since the Reformed Church alone had the jus civilis,
or the right of keeping a marriage register, so that the
members of the State Church were spared the double
ceremony.

The Fine were far less efficiently organized than the
Coarse. They had poorer buildings and no orphan asy-
lums of their own, but paid individuals for the rearing
of their orphans. In the eighteenth century, the Gronin-
gers had fifteen churches in the province of Groningen,
four in Overysel, and four in Vriesland. All these met,
from time to time for conference, in the city of Groningen.

The other Old Flemings had in Groningen only two

232 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

churches, four in Overysel, eight in Vriesland, and five in
Holland.

There was no paid ministry among the Fine. Their
pastors or bishops were laboring men or small traders.
Within the circle of the Old Flemings in the eighteenth
century, yet scarcely identified with it, was a small group,
the followers of Jan Jacobs Volk, called the Jan Jacobs-
gesinden. They were somewhat more liberal than the
regular Fine Doopsgezinden, rejecting foot- washing and
permitting preachers of other churches to enter their pul-
pits. And more than that, they permitted marriage with
members of other groups of Doopsgesinden, and even
called pastors of churches other than their own.

The Coarse Doopsgezinden had by far the greatest
strength, not because they were actually homogeneous,
but because they had simply agreed no longer to disagree.

By the middle of the eighteenth century, Rues mentions
among them the following parties :^^ Waterlandians,
Flemings, Frisians; United Frisians and Waterlandians;
United Flemings and Frisians ; United Flemings, Frisians
and Germans; United Waterlandians, Flemings, and
Frisians. Quite a kaleidoscopic aspect of things ! But he
was able to add " that notwithstanding all these names,

for about eighty years, there were only two chief parties, Frisians
and Waterlandians, with the latter of whom were also counted
the Flemings, the United Flemish, and the Waterlandian Con-
gregations.

The Waterlandians were spread over the whole coun-
try, whilst the Frisians were only found in North Hol-
land and West Frisia. The Frisians had a well-attended
annual synod and even in case of a union between a

^ Tegenw. Staet, 75.
Idem.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 233

Waterlandian and a Frisian congregation, the latter still
kept up its contact with this meeting. The church life of
the Doopsgezinden was therefore as free and untram-
meled by any human ordinances as could be imagined.

The Coarse, though liberal, came closer to the com-
mon Protestant symbolical faith than the Fine, excepting
the four main characteristics of all Anabaptists — adult
baptism, and the common views on the office of the magis-
trate, the use of arms, and the oath. But the Arminian
and Socinian developments of the early part of the seven-
teenth century, as we have seen, in their influence on the
Doopsgezinden, caused another main division among them
which, however, affected the Coarse party only.

The Sunnists and Lammists split this entire wing of
the Mennonites into two bitterly hostile camps.

The followers of Galenus de Haan were originally
greatly outnumbered by the Conservatives, under Samuel
Apostool, and for a while it seemed as if the Sunnists
would triumph completely over the Lammists.

But the fact that Galenus retained the old property, the
church endeared to the Doopsgezinden by many memories,
the personal magnetism of his leadership, the love of
learning and culture displayed by his followers, and the
great wealth of the party which remained with him —
all this soon gave the Lammists, weaker as they originally
were, a strong lead over their opponents. The followers
of De Haan rejected the name Mennonites and always
called themselves Doopsgezinden; those of Apostool, on
the other hand, standing much closer to Menno in doc-
trine and practise, preferred the name Mennonite.

Rues therefore distinguishes them as the Remonstrant
Doopsgezinden and Mennonite Doopsgezinden.

As to their doctrinal position:

The Frisians as well as the Mennonite Waterlandians,

234 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

the Flemings, and the United Congregations, all stood by
the confessions of the earlier Anabaptists and bound their
members, on their baptism, to these doctrines. They also
demanded of their preachers adhesion to them.
Let me recapitulate them :

1. That of the Waterlandians of 1581.

2. That of the Frisians, not adopted by the churches,
but written by Peter Jans Twisk, in 1617.

3. Two German Confessions, (a) the Concept of
Cologne, 1591, {h) the Confession of Jan Centsen, 1630.

4. The Flemish Confessions of (a) Jacques Outerman,
1626, and {h) Htet Olyftakje (mentioned above), of 1629,
and (c) the Confession of Adriaan Cornelis van Dor-
trecht, 1632, the basis of union for most of the Flemish
churches.

The Remonstrant Doopsgezinden rejected all of these
and considered all confessions, in the main, as a violation
of conscience. The Bible, they claimed, was enough
confession for them. Finally a sort of compromise was
effected among them, and on September 26, 1647, they
accepted the Confession of Hans De Ries of 1581, in a
meeting of Waterlandian pastors and deacons, as a basis
of union, but with this proviso,'*^ " that the Confession
was not to be placed above the Word of God, as a pre-
cise rule of faith."

Let us understand, however, that the Waterlandians
never bound themselves to any confession, and that that
of Hans de Ries was considered only as a personal state-
ment of himself and church.

Some of the United Flemish and Waterlandians re-
jected both the name Doopsgezinden and Mennonites, and
insisted on being called Christians. The American de-
nomination of that name may or may not be aware of

'^ Tegenw. Staet., 80.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 235

the fact that these ancient Dutchmen preempted their
title to the name Christians. It is worthy of note that
both in respect to baptism and anticonfessional attitude,
as well as in name, these Doopsgezinden of the seven-
teenth century occupied the identical position of our
" Christian " denomination today.

Like their brethren in Frisia, all the Mennonite Frisians
held the evangeHcal view of the Trinity, but they rejected,
like the Fine, the name " person."

Wholly unlike the Fine, they absolutely rejected the
Mennonite doctrine of the incarnation, and they con-
sidered the sacraments as " signs and seals of grace im-
parted." ^^

The Remonstrant Doopsgezinden followed the doctrine
of the Arminians in regard to grace and salvation, also
as regards the sacraments, and went even beyond them
in their low valuation.

Not one pastor of the Coarse party rebaptized those
who came from other Anabaptist sects, when they had
been baptized as adults. Some even went so far as to
recognize infant baptism and to require of those baptized
in infancy only a sort of confirmation.^* This, however,
was wholly confined to the Remonstrant Doopsgezinden.

The Waterlandians and Frisians or Mennonite Doops-
gezinden did not admit any one to the Lord's table who
did not believe as they did, and therefore their table was
closed against all Protestants and all Doopsgezinden who
did not subscribe to their confessions.

The Remonstrant Doopsgezinden, on the other hand,
claimed that " the table of the Lord was open to all those
who were guided by the Word of God and walked cir-
cumspectly." ^^

^ Tegenw. Staet., 93.

^ Idem, 94. "Idem, 95.

236 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

And thus they received members of other churches
as " guests " at their communion table.

All the Coarse Doopsgezinden abolished foot-washing.
They even permitted their members to be magistrates
and thus differed in toto from the Fine. Nay, as regards
the oath, the Remonstrant Doopsgezinden, in the eight-
eenth century, had considerably changed their views, and
they permitted the oath of confirmation, but still inter-
dicted that which bound one for the future.^® As to the
matter of resistance, the Remonstrant Doopsgezinden, in
the eighteenth century, called themselves Wraekelooze
Christensen, ("unavenging Christians"). As to arms
and their use, they permitted their defensive use, but for-
bade their offensive use.

Their men therefore bore side-arms and permitted trade
on armed vessels. They had evidently traveled many a
league from the trodden path of ancient Anabaptist views
and had relinquished many of the old fundamentals.

They were more bureaucratic and aristocratic than the
Fine. The power of the membership among the Coarse
had been largely transferred to the consistory or church
board. The latter body decided everything and unless
there arose opposition on the part of the congregation,
this settled a matter finally. In this regard they adopted
the polity of the Dutch Reformed (State) Church.

As regards the ban, they were far milder than the Fine.
Only great sins were punished by excommunication. The
Frisian and Mennonite Waterlandians included heresy in
this category, the Remonstrant Doopsgezinden rejected
this view. Liberal without limitation themselves, how
could they ban one for heresy? And what, pray, was
heresy? They claimed that unity cannot be broken by
a difference in the expression of faith. They utterly

'•Idem, 97.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 237

abandoned the old cruel position of avoidance under the
ban. They permitted mixed marriages even with Cath-
olics. The entire Coarse party magnified intellectual
training, especially for their ministry. This was especially
so among the Remonstrant Doopsgezind^en.

All of them believed that the Church revealed itself
in other branches of Christendom, as well as in their own
churches, and hence they maintained constant intercourse
with other Christians. They were therefore as far re-
moved from the Fine, or from the old Anabaptists, as the
south pole is removed from the north pole. In fact, the
Remonstrant Doopsgesinden had for their motto,^^ " Not
holiness but tolerance is the privilege of the Church."

As to their church polity, all the powers of the con-
gregation were vested and centralized in the consistory.
It consisted of the ministers, ministerial candidates (pro-
ponenten), and deacons. Their number varied, according
to the opulence of the church. An act of the consistory
became binding by the assent of the church. The preach-
ers were salaried, and even the ministerial candidates, in
Amsterdam, received three hundred guilders per annum.
Ministers dressed in gown and bands, like the ministers
of the State Church, and the candidates imitated their
dress as closely as their means warranted. In Amster-
dam all deacons, officiating at the services of the church,
were dressed in black and wore bands.

Among the Frisians, the deacons served for life ; among
the others, for a fixed period, usually from five to seven
years, after which an equal period had to elapse before
reelection was possible.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, the Remon-
strant Doopsgesinden in Amsterdam maintained a pro-
fessor of theology for the training of young ministers, at

" Idem, 105,

238 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

a stipend of two thousand guilders ; for that time an enor-
mous salary.

The Mennonite Waterlandians and Flemings refused to
support this new departure. They demanded assurance
as to the character of theology taught, and moreover they
still followed, at least for the greater part, the ancient
Anabaptist custom of a self-supporting ministry, uncon-
taminated by the breath of the schools. The salaries of
the Amsterdam pastors were large for that day, running
between one thousand two hundred and two thousand
guilders.

As to their worship, it is curious to notice how, in the
cities at least, the Doopsgezinden had adopted customs
and manners of address and external forms from the
State Church, whose overpowering and killing influence
was felt by them everywhere in the land. Their pastors
therefore were called " domine " as in the State Church.
They appeared in the pulpit in gown and bands, a cus-
tom forbidden by the more conservative Frisians. Their
churches had high pulpits like the State churches. The
consistory, here as there, was seated in an enclosed space,
on each side of the pulpit. The precentor opened the
meeting, and the pastors and consistory entered the
church during this singing. In Amsterdam they had
even borrowed from the State Church the office of cate-
chist, for the teaching of their children in the faith of the
Church.

All prayers were audible, made by the pastor. The
collection was made in conventional black velvet bags on
a long stick, having a tinkling little bell in the pendant
tassel, to remind the drowsy church-member of the fact
that the time for making his offering was at hand.

As to the sacraments, they followed practically the
same method we have observed among the Fine Weder-

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 239

doopers, with some slight differences. The same an-
nouncement of the names of the candidates for baptism
was made from the pulpit; the same address was made,
and the same questions were asked. The candidate
kneeled before the ministers here as there, but the jar
of water was absent. In its place was a little stool-like
table, with a silver basin on it. In the administration
of baptism the minister formed his two hands into a
cup, and dipping them in the vessel standing on the
stand or held by another minister, he poured the full
contents of the hands on the head of the candidate, as he
was pronouncing the usual formula. Young people, i. e.,
very young people, were rarely baptized. Eighteen or
twenty years was considered a very early time of life for
baptism. They not rarely waited till they were forty or
fifty.«»

The only cases of immersion among the Anabaptists of
Holland we find, in the eighteenth century, among the
Remonstrant Doopsgezinden. Like the English Baptists,
they had come in contact with the Collegiants, and their
pastors, or at least some of them, as today among the
Presbyterians, were willing to immerse a candidate for
baptism, if he insisted on being baptized by this mode.
Says Rues : ^®

In such a case they go with him to a dyeing establishment, and
a tub is filled with tepid water. The candidate appears in his
nether garments and passes into the tub, where the baptizer dips
him under the water, following the usual ritual.

Such cases were confined to people who were influenced
by the Collegiants, who were strongly represented at
Amsterdam. The latter immersed and impressed their

"Idem, 135.
^ Idem, 136.

240 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

hearers with the necessity of this kind of baptism. As no
one was ever rebaptized after having received adult bap-
tism by the Coarse Doopsgezinden, they totally rejected
the name Wederdoopers. Strange to say the Remon-
strant Doopsgezinden, the followers of De Haan, so
liberal in every other way, made an exception of people
baptized by the Collegiants and rebaptized them by sprink-
ling. Why ?

They rejected their baptism, though they were willing,
if people desired it, to follow their mode of baptism, " be-
cause these people are baptized by men who have no mis-
sion (sending) and who are not in the public ministry of
the Word, in any Church." ^° One of the fundamental
points of the Collegiant organization was the denial of
the rights of an ordained ministry.

In the administration of the Lord's Supper, they fol-
lowed on the whole the same customs as the Fine. The
Mennonite Doopsgezinden admitted only those who were
baptized on confession, and therefore the officiating min-
ister required all not thus qualified to abstain from par-
ticipating. The Remonstrant Doopsgezinden were far
more liberal and invited all who believed in Christ as
their Saviour, whether as members or as " guests." In
the Flemish and Frisian churches, the elements were
passed among the communicants, in their seats. Among
the Waterlandians, they came to a table spread with fine
linen, before the pulpit, at which from eighteen to twenty
members could commune at a time. It was filled and
refilled till all were served. The same custom as among
the Fine obtained, i. e., of retaining the bread till all
were served and then eating it together. When there was
no table, the deacons served the wine, after the pastor
had served the bread, and to that end jugs of wine were

•"Idem, 138.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS 241

carried around the church to refill the cups as they were
emptied. From which one may conclude that they were
as literal here as in their exegesis of the rest of Scrip-
ture. " Drink " meant drink and not sip to them. Dur-
ing communion, people sang or appropriate passages of
Scripture were read.^^

Communion was held twice, thrice, in some cases five or
six times a year. The consistory examined candidates
for the ministry, and they were ordained by the pastor
or pastors, with the laying on of hands. ®^

The Frisians did not examine, but simply ordained
after hearing the confession of faith of the candidate
for the ministry. Most of the Coarse Doopsgezinden left
marriage to the State and had no ecclesiastical cere-
mony.®^ They had no burial services in their churches.
Only in the case of a pastor, a memorial sermon was
preached in his honor, some weeks later.^* Every pastor
was obliged at least once a year to make a true pastoral
visit in every family of the church {Huisbezo eking) , a
custom probably derived from the State Church, where it
still prevails, as well as among all Reformed Churches
of Dutch origin.

The churches held annual meetings, but these so-called
" synods " were mere conventions and were not judica-
tories in any sense. They had only advisory power and
could not enforce anything on which they resolved.*^ But
in the middle of the eighteenth century the Doopsgezin-
den occupied a considerable position in the church life of
Holland. Well might Rues say : ^^

The Doopsgezinden in the Netherlands are an imposing de-
nomination of Christians and, yes we may say, of the Protestant

*^ Idem, 139 p. «* Idem, 157.

^ Idem, 148. ^ Idem, 172.

<»Idem, 152. 6«Idem, 183.

242 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Church. In the domain of the United Netherlands, I have
counted one hundred and ninety-seven churches, taking the two
powerful divisions and the minor sects together. And they had
among them more than four hundred pastors.

In the province of Holland he found seventy-seven, in
Vriesland, sixty-one churches. But even then they were
dying. Their internal divisions and their growing liberal-
ism were sapping their strength. And their lack of real
organization made them an easy prey for every invading
force. Then as now, young people went to the fashion-
able rather than to the despised church. And thus the
defections were more numerous as their strictness of Hfe
and morals decreased. Rues tells us they were *^

counted among the wealthiest in the country. . . If they had been
compelled to leave the land, the wealth and commerce of this
country would receive a very serious check. . . They love the
show of vanity of this world as much as any people ever could
do, and they are able to enforce whatever want with their
money.

Not an imposing picture. And Rues was an observant, but
wholly objective witness.

«Idem, 184.

LATER HISTORY

" It is a long lane that has no turning; " it is a longer
one that has no end.

Have I succeded in arousing your interest in this
strange by-product of the Reformation? The ideas pre-
vailing concerning it hitherto have been so vague; our
best encyclopedias depend for their scant information,
not on original study of the remaining literature of the
Anabaptists, but on what others have said about them.
And since the sources until recently were so widely scat-
tered, so hopelessly inaccessible, and withal so few, do
we wonder that our information should be cloudy and
superficial ?

We are informed by the authors of the Bibliotheca
that their aim in collecting and publishing these priceless
documents of antiquity was twofold: first, their preser-
vation; and secondly, that they might blaze out a way
along which the historian may walk in his search for in-
formation concerning the Anabaptist development, in the
age of the Reformation and in subsequent times.^ We
are now ready to study these strange people in the
Lowlands, in the later periods of their history, and to
see how their past has continually dominated various
issues in their history as they presented themselves.

A child is born generations before it sees the light of
day, for the law of heredity asserts itself in its life ; and
the same is true in the life of the church as an organism.

1 B. R. N., I, Intr.

243

244 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

1. Strength of the Mennonites in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries

During the seventeenth century it became evident that
men of considerable talent were to be found among
the rank and file of the Mennonites. And they were not
confined to one learned profession or to one social
stratum. There were physicians of more than local repu-
tation: men Hke A. J. Roscius, doctor of medicine and
preacher at Hoorn; the celebrated Bidloo brothers, one
of whom was body-physician to Peter the Great, Czar of
Russia, and the other similarly employed at the court
of Prince William III of the Netherlands. Another of
these famous Mennonite doctors was Galenus de Haan,
whom we have met before, who was equally celebrated as
preacher and practitioner of medicine at Amsterdam ; and
especially A. C. Van Dale, whose works on the science of
healing made him a European celebrity.

Among the men of letters I mention J. P. Schabalje,
preacher at Alkmaar, renowned as scholar and poet. So
far as is known, he was the first to write a " Life of
Christ."

. We find poets among them like J. A. van der Goes,
celebrated by his Ystroom, and Karel van Mander, trans-
lator of Virgil and of the Iliad.

In the world of art they boasted a Mierevelt, especially
Ruysdael, the greatest of Dutch landscape-painters, and
greatest of all perhaps, Rembrandt. For science they
could claim J. A. Leeghwater, who drew the plans for
the reclamation of Haarlem lake, a marvelous engineering
problem ; and J. van der Heyden, who first undertook the
illumination of the streets of Amsterdam, and who was
the inventor of the prototype of the modern fire-engine.

Before the close of the seventeenth century the Frisian

LATER HISTORY 245

Society was formed, which still exists, whose final aims
were the promotion of unity and peace among the Doops-
gesinderi, the assistance of needy and mostly still un-
salaried ministers, and kindred objects. Forty-seven
churches in Vriesland joined this Society. The province
of Groningen followed this example, by establishing a
similar society, with similar aims, to which was added the
maintenance of the ancient purity of life and the propa-
gation of the ancient doctrines of the sect. This aggre-
gate embraced forty churches.^

For it was felt, in the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury, that the entire brotherhood would perish, if the
progress of liberalism in the Mennonite churches was not
checked. The Groninger society had sounded a note of
warning in this direction and, in 1701, Lambertus Bidloo
issued his vigorous tract, '* Unlimited Tolerance the Ruin
of the Doopsgezinden." ^

At the close of the seventeenth century and in the be-
ginning of the eighteenth century, voices were raised
everywhere among them, warning against the decay of
morals engendered by the steadily increasing prosperity
of the members of the brotherhood and by persistently
growing laxness of doctrinal views. Tolerance indeed
loomed up as the Nemesis of Anabaptism. If it be true
that in the past they had been unreasonably strict in the
administration of discipline, it now had become little more
than a somber memory of bygone days; they now had
scarcely any discipline at all.

The break between the Sunnists and the Lammists had
been the inevitable result of a clash between a growing
liberalism and a timid conservatism. And this last schism,
for a time, had steadied the vessel of the Doopsgezinden.

^Brons, T. oder M., 142.
8 Idem, 142.

246 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

But the Lammists, or liberal party, exercised the
greater influence of the two on the course of future events.
And yet, till that time, they had so maintained their
ancient purity of life that, in 1772, one who had been
chief of police in Amsterdam for half a century, could
say that * " in all that time he had found not a single
major accusation, on the criminal registers of the city,
against a member of the brotherhood." Fair testimony
indeed, in the largest and morally the lowest city in the
commonwealth !

In the new century, they maintained their gradually
acquired love of* culture. Brons mentions, among the
Mennonite celebrities of the eighteenth century, men like
Hermannus Schyn, scholar and historian, whom I have
repeatedly quoted ; Maetschoen, a man of similar caliber ;
M. Schagen, famous in Holland by his translation of the
works of Josephus into the vernacular ; J. Deknatel, fam-
ous as a preacher and author both in Holland and Ger-
many; and whole famihes, whose names live on till this
day as the Loosjes, de Vries, ten Gate, Messchaert, Hoek-
stra, HulshofT, van Hulst, Anslo, Van Gelder, Huide-
kooper, etc.^

During the whole of this century they maintained their
position and strengthened it considerably. If they did not
grow in numbers to any considerable extent ; if they even
lost members all the time to the State Ghurch on account
of the growing liberalism and fraternization and inter-
marriage, especially among the Lammists, they certainly
grew in the popular esteem, they were honored by their
fellow citizens, and the time was long past that a Men-
nonite was pointed at with scorn, as a sort of a gypsy,
wandering among the churches of the Reformation.

* Brons, T. oder M.. 151.
' Idem, 152.

LATER HISTORY 247

But whatever changes inwardly occurred, in whatever
their past differed from the present, amid all outward
changes, they stedfastly maintained their ancient church
polity. The local church remained autonomous. First
among the Lammists and later among all the Dutch Men-
nonite churches, women received the same ecclesiastical
status as men, that is to say, they received the full suf-
frage. But whatever changes were made, all along the
main line they remained the true descendants of the
fathers of the sixteenth century.

2. Effects of Arminianism

The Arminian controversy shook the Dutch Republic
to its very foundations. The Church had here created the
State; the Dutch war for liberty was essentially a re-
ligious war. It was caused by the intolerance and bigotry
of the Roman Catholic Church and of the Spanish over-
lords of the country.

When the United Provinces broke the tie which bound
them to Spain, the new government, though ostensibly
declaring for liberty of conscience and religious free-
dom, made the Calvinistic Reformed Church the State
Church.

Its symbol was found in the Belgic Confession of Guido
de Bres, 1562, which was adopted in a secret (mostly
Walloon) synod, at Antwerp, in 1566. But this symbol
was not sufficiently definite and explicit on certain points
of doctrine, notably the doctrine of the decrees and of
the freedom of the human will.

We have seen, in a previous lecture, how Dirck Vol-
kerts Coornhert was enamored of the principles and
teachings of Sebastian Franck. No book was more fre-
quently quoted by the early Arminians than Coornhert's
'' Art of Living Well " ( W ellevenskunst) .

248 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

All readers of Ypey and Dermout have sensed the sym-
pathy of these authors with the Arminians. Small won-
der therefore that they refuse to recognize Coornhert as
one of the protagonists of the movement.^

Jacobus Arminius, 1609, was its father. Called upon,
when pastor of the Reformed Church at Amsterdam,
to refute Infra-lapsarianism and Coornhert's humanistic
universalism, he was converted to both. Elected pro-
fessor at Ley den in 1603, he found there a bitter opponent
in Francis Gomarus. From the university the contro-
versy spread all over the Church, and thus two bitterly
antagonistic parties were created in the Establishment, a
Calvinistic and an Arminian faction. The principles of
the latter were laid down in the so-called " Remon-
strance " of 1610, written by the followers of Arminius/
from which the party were called Remonstrants. The
document postulated as follows : ( 1 ) God predestinates to
life all those who believe in Christ. (2) The value of
Christ's atonement is universal. (3) Human depravity
is partial, not total. (4) The grace of God is resistible.
(5) Believers may be finally lost.

The celebrated Synod of Dordt, 1618-1619, which set-
tled the Arminian controversy, voiced Calvinism in its five
points, which diametrically oppose the Remonstrant doc-
trine. These five points are as follows : ( 1 ) Election is
wholly unconditional. (2) The value of the atonement is
limited to the elect. (3) Human depravity is total. (4)
Divine grace is irresistible. (5) All true saints persevere
to the end.

A terrible controversy raged, which involved the whole
Republic, in all its social ranks. The nation resolved it-
self into a general debating society. Politics soon were

• Y. en D., Gesch. der Ned. Hen: Kerk, II, Aant. 217.
■^ Idem, II, 191.

LATER HISTORY 249

mixed up with it. Johann of Oldenbarneveldt, the able
pensionary of Holland, as well as the States of that prov-
ince, espoused the cause of the Remonstrants and stood
for the political principle of decentralization. Prince
Maurice of Nassau embraced the cause of the estab-
lished Church, as he was bound to do by his oath, and his
party stood for the political principle of centralization.
It was the miniature prototype of our own civil war —
the State or the Union, which? State rights or Federal
rights? The country was brought to the verge of ruin,
and had Spain not utterly lost its grip, it might have re-
gained all it had lost, in this hour of disruption. Olden-
barneveldt's death by the sword, on a charge of high
treason, May 19, 1619, is till this day a matter of debate,
and the question is still asked, Was he a martyr or a
traitor? Robbed of their great leader, the Arminians
were overwhelmed; they were condemned by the Synod
of Dordt, deposed from the ministry, if they were preach-
ers, in which case they were also exiled, their churches
were forbidden to open their doors for worship, and the
whole Remonstrant faction was utterly overwhelmed.

But Arminianism was not to be rooted out in this way.
It survived and was destined later on, in the ecclesiastical
history of Holland, to lead to far more radical theolog-
ical departures.

Was it possible for a party like that of the Mennon-
ites, theologically wedded, as we have seen, to the doc-
trine of free will and to the denial of original sin, to be
unmoved by the storm which swept everything about
them, and which threatened to overthrow the Church
that had so bitterly oppressed them ?

Hundreds of their members had been converted to the
State Church during the dark days of their persecution
and bitter internal divisions ; and later on again, in still

250 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

larger numbers they had joined the same Church during
the days of their growing power and worldliness. And all
these converts were potential Arminians, before the ques-
tion of free will or sovereign grace was ever broached.
And when the storm broke, it was hailed with undis-
guised delight by all the various branches of Dutch Ana-
baptism. The struggle could not hurt them ; and it might
infinitely benefit them. Naturally therefore the Mennon-
ites stood on the side of the Remonstrant party. But
there is still another angle from which the Arminian
controversy was to touch the Mennonites; and that was
the singular sect of the Collegiants, a sort of a by-product
of the Arminian struggle.
Says Doctor Newman : ^

Their modes of religious thought were distinctly anti-Calvin-
istic. Socinianism was undoubtedly the chief source of their
impulse, though they did not dogmatize, as did the Socinians,
on the person of Christ. . . It is highly probable that they were
influenced 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.

Let us see in how far Newman is correct. Who were
these Collegiants ? Is Socinianism an affluent of the cur-
rent, or its main source, as Newman suggests?

As we have seen, the Synod of Dordt, 1618-1619, had
deposed all pastors of the Remonstrant or Arminian party,
exiling them and declaring their pulpits vacant.

This was also the case at Warmond and Oestgeest near
Leyden, whose ministers were in exile. At a near-by
village, Rhynsburg, a large part of the congregation
sided with the Arminians ; their preacher was a Calvinist,
and they would not hear him. In each of these three vil-

» " Hist, of Antipedob.," 322.

LATER HISTORY 251

lages lived a son of one Jacob van der Kodde. Of the
father we have but very vague impressions ; presumably
he was a man of outstanding personality. One of the
sons was professor at Leyden, the others were in the
eldership of the Church, and all of them were Armm-
ians. They resolved to hold meetings without a pastor,
at which each man could speak, as the Spirit moved him.
Gysbert was the first leader, his two brothers, Adrian
and John, followed him at the succeeding meetings.

Meanwhile the Remonstrant brotherhood, with head-
quarters at Antwerp, sent out Hendrick van Holten to
Warmond, to preach there, in defiance of the law. The
Vander Koddes, once having tasted the sweets of leader-
ship, refused to receive him or to recognize his mission.
He went away, but the indefatigable committee at Ant-
werp sent out another man to Warmond, who was coolly
informed by the Vander Koddes " that they needed no
minister, but were full well able to edify themselves."
The preacher however continued his ministrations to those
who were willing to attend them. Thus a schism took
place in the churches at Warmond, Oestgeest, and Rhyns-
burg ; the loyal party united and formed a church, which
was still in existence when Ypey and Dermout wrote
their history, and may yet be. The others, followers of
the Vander Kodde brothers, met at Rhynsburg and re-
jecting the regular ministry as an unbiblical institution,
edified themselves by " prophesying." They were called
Collegiants from their collegia or stated meetings for
mutual Bible study, and Rhynsburgers from the place
where they originally met. They considered all ministers.
Calvinists and Arminians alike, as " servants of the dead
letter." They were extremely self-centered; especially
the Vander Kodde brothers strike a reader of Ypey and
Dermout and of Rues, who has studied them more

252 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

minutely than any other man, as men in whom the ego
preponderates.^

Rhynsbiirg became and remained the center of the new-
sect. There they began to celebrate communion without
an ordained minister; there also, through Geesteranus,
they adopted baptism by immersion from the Polish So-
cinians. As they recognized no ordained ministry, their
baptism ever remained an irregular one. From Rhyns-
burg they branched out to other places, about 1646.

At one time they had collegia at Amsterdam, Rotter-
dam, Leyden, Haarlem, Alkmaar, Hoorn, Enkhuizen,
Leeuwarden, and Groningen. They were strong in the
first half of the eighteenth century, but began to dwindle
in strength in the second half, and when Ypey and Der-
mout wrote their history, in 1822, they could say,^*
" Nowadays they cannot be found anywhere any more."
They were therefore a Jonah's gourd, flourishing for a
little while. Their doctrine was largely a derived faith.
The greater part was pure Arminianism. They discarded
all confessions of faith, a trained and ordained ministry,
and infant baptism. All this they evidently borrowed
from the Anabaptists. Immersion was borrowed from
the Polish Socinians or Unitarians. With the Anabaptists
they rejected the office of the magistrate, the use of the
oath and of arms. Their only article of faith was be-
lief in the Holy Scriptures, to be explained by each in-
dividual believer as he saw the light. Small wonder
that numbers of men, tired of the endless dogmatic de-
bates of the Arminian struggle, sought peace and refuge
in this harbor of dogmatic indifferentism.

But their contact with the Mennonites left its mark

• Y. en D., Gesch. der Herv. Kerk., II, 285 pp. Rues, Appendix, Tegenw.
Staet.

10 Idem, 289.

LATER HISTORY 253

on the latter. They were less a special sect or congrega-
tion than a gathering of men who endeavored, without
any binding formula of belief, to find the true light by
debating on the meaning of the Scriptures from all con-
ceivable points of view. For a time, in these dogmatic
days, this must have been very refreshing. When the
novelty wore off, the aggregation melted away. But in a
way they presented splendid opportunities for young men
who wanted to learn something about the Scriptures.
Thus scores of Mennonite ministers and candidates for
the ministry came to these meetings and were there in-
fluenced far more deeply than they knew. There Galenus
de Haan of Amsterdam obtained his pecuHar Socinian
and liberalistic views. The Waterlandians, among the
Dutch Mennonites, specially sought this contact, and thus
the way was prepared for an ever-widening doctrinal
schism between the Mennonites and the State Church of
Holland ; a condition of affairs which was finally destined
to be reversed when the State Church had come over to
their position in the growth of liberalism and ultimate
modernism.^^

But in the seventeenth century this contact and in-
timacy between the Mennonites, the Remonstrants, the
Collegiants, and other groups considered heretical by the
State Church, had the inevitable result of focusing once
more the hatred of their enemies upon them.

Thus the Synod of 1651 prayed for the enforcement
of all edicts against heretical sects and specifically
begged ^^ the States General " to prevent the building
of Mennonite meeting-places [Ermanungshduser, Brons
calls them], and to command that those newly built be
Horn down again or at least closed, in order that the

"Brons, T. oder M., 134, 135.
1^ Brons. T. oder M., 137.

254 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

spread of their heresies may be hindered." And it was
due only to the greater Hberality of the politicians that
the decree of the churchmen was not made the law of the
State.

Vriesland was fairly aflame with opposition to the
Mennonites. And there the government was more than
willing to cooperate. The Frisian Stadholder, Henry
Casimir II, issued a placard in 1687 in which he said:^^

Since the devil, the sworn enemy of God, daily tries to sow
new errors, for which he uses the Socinians, the Quakers, and
the Dompelaars (dippers or Collegiants), who through their vain
phantasies lead the people of God astray ; and since we know that
such people are in this province and are to be found among the
Mennonites, in order that they may be able the more surely
to sow their blasphemous seed among simple citizens, to the
very great offense of many pious souls and to the denial of the
Holy Trinity;

Therefore we renew the placards of 1662 and authorize all
preachers to point out all suspects of these errors to the magis-
trates and to examine them in their presence, and whoever
points out such an one shall receive a premium of twenty-five
gold pieces {Ryder s). We also forbid the printing and sale
of their heretical writings and shameful songs.

The State Church preachers the sleuthhounds of heresy?
A kind of Roma redivivaf Most assuredly. Make the
cook mistress, and she will be harder on the coming cooks
than ever her mistress was before her. That is human
nature.

For the time being, especially in the North, the pro-
vision of the Union of Utrecht anent liberty of conscience
seemed forgotten. But the Mennonites had themselves
prepared the gallows, on which they were hung. They
were ever their own greatest enemies.

The whole schism between the Waterlandians and the

i' Brons, T. oder M., 137, 138,

LATER HISTORY 255

others, between the Lammists and the Sunnists, was sim-
ply due to their eager contact with the CoUegiants.

Mrs. Brons splendidly depicts the situation, when she
says : ^*

A communion which neither had nor would have a binding
symbol of faith, but which founded itself alone on the Holy-
Scriptures; a communion which without the least concern came
in close contact with several reformed sects like the Quakers,
the CoUegiants, the Labadists, and the Moravians; which, in its
liberty, did not hesitate to test the views of others and to
acknowledge them as right, yea to adopt them as her own
when she found them in accord with the Gospels, according to
the word of the apostle, "Prove all things, hold fast to that
which is good," such a communion must be viewed with sus-
picion by the Reformed Church.

That was the inevitable ; and the inevitable, as always,
happened. The Church of the Netherlands had just
passed through a struggle which had shaken it from cen-
ter to circumference. The leaders were not unaware that
the Arminians had found at least one of the great sources
of their supply in the thousands of Mennonites who had
joined the Church during the previous century and were
continuing to join her, in the present century, men and
women of exemplary lives, but doctrinally wholly foot-
free, untrained, and with fundamental, hereditary ideas,
wholly in line with the Remonstrant teachings. Does any
one wonder that these strict churchmen of Holland were
afraid of the Mennonites in the seventeenth century?
And later events proved the essential oneness of the Men-
nonites in Holland with the Remonstrants. In all their
later history they drew one line. Educationally they
cooperated, and the theological views of the Arminian
party were wholly absorbed by the Doopsgezinden or

"Brons, T. oder M., 155.

256 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Mennonites. As time went on, they grew less distinctively
Anabaptist in their views and more distinctly Arminian.

3. Influence of Socinianism

Between the Socinians and the Doopsgezinden or Men-
nonites there existed a still more obvious affinity than be-
tween them and the Arminians; for the simple reason
that the Socinians expressed, although in different terms,
the very same ideas which had been taught by their own
great teachers in the sixteenth century. In fact, as has
been pointed out before, the Socinians of the sixteenth
century claimed Adam Pastor as the first man who had
clearly voiced their doctrines in the Netherlands a cen-
tury before.

Mosheim identifies the early Socinians in Poland with
the Anabaptists and said that they were usually called
by that name among the Poles,^^

because they admitted none to baptism, in their assemblies, but
adults and were accustomed to rebaptize such as came to them
from other communions.

The preface of the Racovian catechism conveys the same
idea. And this testimony is confirmed by the author of
" The Epistle of the Life of Andreas Wissowitius," sub-
joined to Sand's Bihliotheca. He says that his sect bore
the name of Arius and of the Anabaptists, but that the
other Christians in Poland were all promiscuously called
Chrsescians from Chrzest, which denotes baptism/® If
this testimony stands, the distinction between the Ana-
baptists or Wederdoopcrs and the Baptists or Doopsgesin-
den was far more general and far more deep-seated than
is generally suppposed.

The Racovian catechism of 1574 clearly shows the af-

" " Inst, of Eccl. Hist.," Ill, 267. " Idem, 225.

LATER HISTORY 257

finity between the Anabaptists and the Socinians, when
it forbids tlie taking of an oath and the repelHng of
assaults and injuries, and also in its doctrine of excom-
munication. Here they follow the original Mennonite
hne of procedure: first admonition; then expulsion; and
if there be no betterment, after this, eternal damnation.
In distinction from the Anabaptists they administered
baptism by immersion — in aquam immersio et enwrsio.

As we have seen, immersion continued to be in vogue in
Eastern Europe long after its abandonment in the West,
on account of the propinquity of the Greek Church, which
never abandoned it. And thus from Poland immersion
came again to the Netherlands, through the channel of
the Collegiant movement, and through them it came to
that group of English Baptists which sent out Richard
Blunt to obtain true baptism in the line of apostolic suc-
cession. Fortunately for the great Baptist denomination,
the Richard Blunt claim has been long since abandoned
by nearly all.

The Socinians attached little value to the sacraments;
to them they were mere habits, good enough in a way,
but of little real value. And so they attached no mean-
ing to immersion, but simply retained it as a sacramental
habit of tile fathers.

It was different with the Baptist fathers in England,
in 1641. With them immersion was a rediscover}-, a great
principle, the corner-stone of their whole ecclesiastical
building. Between the Rhynsburgers or Collegiants and
their baptism and that of the Baptists in England, in the
middle of the seventeenth century, there is therefore not
the slightest affinity.

The conditions described above prevailed during the
leadership of Laelius Socinus, the uncle. Things changed
when his nephew, Faustus Socinus, took over the reins.

258 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Less erudite than his uncle, but far more practical and
a better organizer, he was the true father of Socinianism.
Absolute rationalism now began to pervade the move-
ment. Faustus believed only what he could understand.

The leaven of Anabaptism, however, is discernible in
the new Racovian catechism, as well as in the old. The
new doctrinal standpoint still opposes resistance to evil,
vengeance, arms-bearing, the oath, the infliction of capital
punishment, luxurious living, etc.^'^

Faustus Socinus strangely reminds us, in all his teach-
ing, of Adam Pastor. The appearance of the new doc-
trine was hailed with undisguised approval by the Doops-
gezinden. The Waterlandians, as always, are at the front
again, the liberals among the Dutch Anabaptists, who
more than any other faction among them have placed
their cachet on all their later history.

Nay, I will go a step further. It is my deepest con-
viction that from 1664, the year of the last great schism
in the ranks of the Mennonites, the history of the entire
brotherhood in the Netherlands is really that of the
Waterlandians. Galenus Abrahams de Haan occupies in
their later history somewhat the same position which
Menno Simons had held in their earlier development.
Menno has become a mere name, a sort of enshrined saint
among them, but few indeed are the Doopsgesinden in
Holland today who would travel far along the theological
path blazed out by Menno. The great mass of them
recognize in de Haan the man who marched on to
broader fields and roomier ideas. He was the protagonist
of the new spirit among them.

And one of the accusations against him, proved from
his own celebrated nineteen articles, was that he had
traveled more than a day's journey with the Socinians.

" " Inst, of Eccl. Hist.," Ill, 272.

LATER HISTORY 259

For the next half century, the tendency toward So-
cinianism among the brotherhood grew apace, till in the
eighteenth century the Doopsgezinden came once more to
death-grapples with the Reformed Church, the last great
struggle of their history in the Netherlands.

In the first two decades of the century it was like a
smoldering fire, seeking for a vent-hole to enable it to
break out into lurid flames. Everywhere rumors of tre-
mendous Socinian propaganda were in the air, in which
the Doopsgezinden especially figured.

The thing came to a crisis in the Synod of 1722, when
a demand was made on the Mennonites to sign the fol-
lowing articles : ^^

1. That there are three divine persons in the divine essence.
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and that these three different
persons are together the only eternal and true God.

2. That Christ is true and only God with the Father, pos-
sessed of all the divine attributes which belong to the divine
essence, absolutely and from all eternity; (and that he is not
God, made such by the Father.)

3. That the Holy Spirit is a true person, distinct from the
Father, and shares equally with the Father and the Son in the
same divine essence.

4. That Christ, being God from eternity, has become man in
the fulness of time and, as our intercessor, has borne the punish-
ment of our sins and thus has satisfied the divine justice, in order
that we, by virtue of his merits, might be received in mercy
by God.

The Synod seemed so sure of its position and of suc-
cess that the Mennonites were stupified with fear lest
the government be behind the matter. And the power of
the government was still absolute in religious matters in
the eighteenth century. The theoretic constitutional prin-

1' Rues, Tegenw. Staet., 193.

260 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

ciple of liberty of conscience could easily be set aside, as
it had been, to some extent, in the Arminian controversy,
on the plea that the safety of the commonwealth was
involved.

The Mennonite's conscience forbade him to sign, for
by so doing he would sign away his historic faith. Deep
gloom pervaded the entire brotherhood. Everywhere
Mennonite pastors laid down their office, and their flocks
were without shepherds. Through the united efforts of
the entire body, in the different provinces, the ordinance
was finally suspended. It was proved conclusively that
their influence as citizens had grown by leaps and bounds,
and that they were able, to some extent at least, to curb
the power of the arrogant churchmen. The magistrates
were, however, ordered to keep an eye on those pastors
who had openly taught Socinian doctrines, but to leave
the rest in peace. This was an evident subterfuge, since
every one knew perfectly well that the Anabaptist doc-
trines, from the very beginning, had been in direct an-
tagonism to the four points proposed by the Synod.^^

Thus some years elapsed, when in 1738, the smoldering
fire broke out anew in Vriesland; when Wybe Pieters,
Pieke Tjommes, and Wytze Jeens, Mennonite pastors at
Heerenveen, were accused by the Classis of Zevenwoude,
of the State Church, of openly holding and preaching
Socinian doctrines.

Called before the magistrates, the last two of these
pastors refused to say what they believed of the four
articles, which had figured in the matter years ago, and
were at once deposed from their ministry. Thus Jeens
and Tjommes were eliminated from the problem.

Pieters gained his case by indirection. He claimed that
personally he could subscribe the articles, but that, by so

^'Idero, 195; Y, en D„ Qe^ch, der Herv. Kerk, III, Aant., 211.

LATER HISTORY 261

doing, he would lose his pastorate. He would thus in-
flict on himself the same punishment which the magis-
trates had inflicted on his brethren. He claimed, there-
fore, inability openly to express his views about the four
points. The high and mighty lords had apparently never
viewed the matter from this unique standpoint, and they
permitted him to continue his ministry.

The Church now appealed to the States of Vriesland
to settle this matter, once for all, and a struggle ensued,
which ultimately involved the whole country and all the
universities of the country.

This struggle created a literature, which is voluminous
in itself.

In 1740, the Doopsgezinden presented a so-called " De-
duction," entitled '' The right of religious liberty, religion,
and conscience, set forth in a request, with added deduc-
tions, in the name of the Doopsgezinden in Vriesland, de-
livered to the Noble, Puissant Lords, States of the afore-
said province, met in Diet at Leeuwarden, 1740." In this
document they claimed that their constitutional rights,
under the laws of the land, were infringed.

The worm had turned at last, and the storm broke out
afresh, while the wind blew from every quarter.

Writings for and against the Doopsgezinden and their
complaint appeared in swift succession, till they formed
a fair-sized library by themselves. Prof. Daniel Gerdes
of Groningen and Prof. Antony Driessen of the same uni-
versity ; Prof. Jan van den Honert of Leyden ; Prof. Her-
manns Vennema of Franeker — all of these took part in
the literary controversy, which involved all the theological
faculties in the land, viz., those of Groningen, Franeker,
Harderwyk, Utrecht, and Leyden. The entire State
Church was in commotion from North to South and from
East to West.

262 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

The storm-center was a book containing five sermons,
published by a young Mennonite preacher at Harlingen,
John Simons Stinstra. It bore the title " Nature and
Condition of the Kingdom of Christ; its Subjects, Church,
and Religion, sketched in five sermons." ^" It was issued
at Harlingen in 1741. The treatment of this book and
incidentally of the whole question, by Professor Vennema
of Franeker, did much to clear the atmosphere. He
clearly proved that the accusations of the opponents could
not be proved from the contents of this book, and closed
his discussion of the subject with a quotation from the
celebrated Witsius, In necessariis unitas, in non nece»-
sariis libertas, in omnibus prudentia et caritas.

On January 13, 1742, the deputies of the States of
Vriesland nevertheless deposed Stinstra from the ministry
and forbade the further publication and sale of the book.
Stinstra replied with an immediate appeal to the full
States, when they met, the same year, in their usual great
session.

At this meeting a committee of Mennonites also ap-
peared to pray for the maintenance of their ancient
liberties and for the reinstatement of Stinstra. Both
papers were coolly laid on the table.-^ Vriesland was
still the main stronghold of opposition to the brotherhood.

The matter was never fully settled; the middle of the
century still saw it drag its weary length along.

Stinstra could not preach, but he could write, and he
wrote and published one sermon a month; and these
sermons did more to abate the trouble than all the learned
discussions of the past. By 1757 the bitter antagonism
had sufficiently abated to enable Stinstra to resume his
pastorate at Harlingen unhindered, and there he remained

^ Rues, Tegenw. Staet., 212.
^ Idem, 243.

LATER HISTORY 263

till his death in 1800. And this hounded preacher of 1742
was asked by the same body which had deposed him to
come to Leeu warden, in 1757, to preach for the mellowed
fathers every Sunday, as long as the States were in
session, and that — wonder of wonders — in the Mennonite
church.-- Strange conversion!

When toward the close of the century the embittered
Reformed ministers tried once more to rejuvenate the
dead spirit of persecution and renewed the four old
articles, to which seven new ones of similar import were
added, they found the government unwilling to lift a hand.
Religious liberty by this time had become more than a
dead letter, and the churchmen knew full well that with-
out the government no persecution was possible.

The spirit of intolerance was dead and was to be re-
vived only once more when, in 1834, the believers in the
old orthodox faith in the State Church, tired of the
liberalism which had overwhelmed the whole Church of
the fathers, and hungering for the gospel, which the
Church no longer offered them, separated from her to
establish the Free Church or Christian Reformed Church
of the Netherlands.

As the close of the century drew near, and the sense
of approaching catastrophe and universal cataclysm in
every conceivable direction gripped the souls of men,
there was little time to think of dogmatic niceties or of
persecutions. The foundations of Church and State alike
were rocking, and all faith apparently was in a state of
flux.

The Mennonites, like all the other Churches, great and
small, in Holland as elsewhere in Europe, were carried
down the swift current which disembogued in the great
revolution.

s^Brons, T. oder M., 162.

264 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

4. Growing Importance of the Mennonites

The storm of the eighteenth century had passed away
and had become a memory. It left the Mennonites prac-
tically where they had been before. There had always
been a bitter jealousy between the Church and the State
in Holland. The politicians resented the attitude of the
churchmen, whose dream of superiority seemed to have
been realized in the days of the Arminian controversy
through the strong support of Prince Maurice of Nassau.
The disturbed equilibrium had been restored again, but
after all, a bitter taste was left in the mouths of the men
who were the pilots of the vessel of State. Its life had
been a strenuous one almost from the beginning, for the
Dutch Republic never was very popular with its neigh-
bors, and danger threatened now from England, then
from France.

And the State needed money and a great deal of it and,
strange to say, the Doopsgesinden had it. Long since they
had ceased to believe that no member of the brotherhood
could accept an office under the government ; and both in
Vriesland and in the other provinces the government had
begun to pick out Mennonites for positions of great
trust.-^

The antagonism of the church party was broken on
this rock of official approval, and the persecution of the
Doopsgesinden had competely terminated. Moreover, the
prevailing spirit of the closing years of the eighteenth
century, with its ever-growing liberalism, interdicted all
indications of religious intolerance.

Finally, by the change of the constitution, in 1795, the
State Qiurch was abolished, and all Christian confessions
or beliefs were given equal rights under the law. Mem-

^ Brons, T. oder M., 162.

LATER HISTORY 265

bership in the State Church was no longer needed for
the fullest exercise of the rights of citizenship. The
Mennonites were no longer compelled to feel the yoke of
mere toleration; they stood on the same line with other
men. They had always stood for absolute religious
liberty, always for absolute separation between Church
and State. Their martyrs had died for these principles,
their teachers had ceaselessly inculcated them. Is Mrs.
Brons far wrong when she says,^* " They dared to assert
that, with the help of the gospel, they had always been
the pioneers of religious liberty " ? It is undeniable that
the Doopsgezinden occupied a position of growing impor-
tance, in the Republic, at the close of the eighteenth cen-
tury. They were still wholly loyal to the existing gov-
ernment, and as yet, as a body, as averse as ever to the
revolutionary methods of the Miinster fanatics.

But bitter days now lay before the Republic. The ship,
which for three centuries had weathered every gale and
steered clear of all dangerous coasts, was now approach-
ing the breakers. The cruel days of the revolution and of
complete God-forgetfulness and of unutterable humilia-
tion lay before her. And if the testimony we have pre-
viously cited be true, that no criminal was found among
them in fifty years, during the entire tenure of office of
the chief of police in the city of Amsterdam in the eight-
eenth century, we may rest assured that the quiet strength
and the loyalty of the mass of the Mennonites were one
of the best assets to the Netherlands in the momentous
changes through which the country was about to pass.

I have no records nor statistics at hand by which to
prove my contention; but I am morally sure that among
the strongest and most ardent supporters of the counter-
revolution, which brought the house of Orange back

2* Idem, 164.

266 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

from its English exile to Holland, were the great mass
of these quiet, undogmatic, practically pious, and utterly
reliable Doopsgezinden.

William of Orange had befriended them, in the hour
of their greatest need, and the Mennonites ever were pos-
sessed of a tenacious memory.

5. Benevolence of the Mennonites

As a people the Mennonites never were fond of osten-
tatious living. We have cited exceptions to this rule, as
we have studied the development of the Anabaptist move-
ment from its very beginning in the Lowlands. But the
rule of their lives was one of humility and thrift and
altruism. As a matter of course this altruism showed it-
self first of all at home and among the brotherhood ; but
as their views expanded, their benevolence by degrees
began to include the fatherland and suffering humanity
everywhere.

This altruistic spirit led them, in the opening years of
the eighteenth century, to establish the Fund for Foreign
Needs (Fonds voor Buitenlandsche Nooden). All the
parties among the followers of Menno had contributed
to this fund ; and from it aid was given to the persecuted
brethren in France and in the Palatinate in the eighteenth
century.^^

When the American Mennonites at Germantown, in
this period, needed a preacher, the Holland brethren did
their utmost to find them one. But America was then
far, far away, the wide sea had its sore terrors, and con-
sequently they failed of their purpose of finding a man.
But at the advice of the Holland brethren, the American
Mennonites elected from among themselves William Rit-
tinghausen as their pastor and kept him as such till he

2" Brons, T. oder M., 204, 205, 209, 214, 219, 251, 252.

LATER HISTORY 267

died in 1708. When they needed books and Bibles, these
were sent to them from Holland.

In 1717, the Fund paid out four thousand guilders
for the assistance of Mennonite exiles who had come to
Holland as a harbor of refuge. Again, in 1734, they
paid a ransom to the elector of the Palatinate, as a
guaranty of religious liberty for the persecuted Men-
nonites.

Brons fills page after page with recitals of the won-
derful benevolence shown in the creation of the Fund,
and from which aid was freely given wherever it was
needed by the brotherhood. It has been well said,^^ " The
benevolence of the Dutch brotherhood for their fellow
believers remains a crown of glory in their history, which
can never fade."

6. The Growing Love for Scholarship

Originally both the Anabaptists and the Mennonites
were averse to scholastic and scientific pursuits. They
looked askance at human learning. Their general attitude
had been voiced by Derek Philips, one of their brightest
stars and most logical thinkers. Even he looked with
suspicion on the product of the schools ; and as we have
seen, in their earlier days they absolutely preferred a
God-made rather than a man-made ministry.

This attitude reminds us of one of the biting " Laymen's
Stanzas," Leeken Dichtjes, of the bitter-sweet Dutch poet,
De Genestet, who says :

Hy was een God-geleerde,
Zy was geleerd van God.
(He was a theologian,
She had been taught of God.)

^ Brons, T. oder M., 217.

268 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

That was their ideal — to be taught of God, to be learn-
ers in the one great school, the school of the Book. Thus
they had come to idolize the Scriptures, to study them
exclusively and subjectively, and to disparage all human
learning in every direction. But in the course of time
the more intelligent among them had come to see that
this narrow limitation of their intellectual horizon spelled
disaster for the entire brotherhood. Thus in the eight-
eenth century a hunger for intellectual pursuits began to
reveal itself among their younger men. They began to
sense the need of expansion, of wider and deeper knowl-
edge among their preachers and, as we have seen, they
sought it in the debating clubs of the CoUegiants and
among the Remonstrants, for both of whom they felt a
natural affinity. This spirit was especially strong among
the Waterlandians, and from this group the aspirations
went forth which were destined to change the entire out-
look of the Mennonites in the Netherlands. For their
intimate contact with the Remonstrants and CoUegiants
and Socinians led them into a channel, where the drift
was always more irresistibly away from their former
undogmatic to a subsequent antidogmatic position, and
thus Modernism, when it appeared, reaped a rich harvest
among them.

It has been shown how, in the eighteenth century, they
could boast of names among the brotherhood, of national
and even international reputation. In this connection I
want to point to certain landmarks of intellectuahsm,
which I had originally intended to treat later, but for
which the logical place seems to be right here. I have
reference to the institutions, which they have founded.

And first of all I point to their seminary at Amster-
dam. The Waterlandians early felt the need of a trained
ministry; as it was felt that the old method of electing

LATER HISTORY 269

men to be spiritual leaders, without any special prepara-
tion for the office, was wholly out of joint with the times.
Galenus de Haan therefore tentatively began the prepara-
tion of men for the ministry, in the seventeenth century.^^
Rues supplies added information, when he tells us that
the Church of the Lammists, in Amsterdam, in his day,
supported a salaried teacher of theology.^^

As the power of the Church in ecclesiastical affairs
slowly died out, and that of its natural enemies, the
politicians, grew by degrees, greater leniency was shown
to the Mennonites. The chief cities set the example, as
early as 1627.^^

This leniency included the Remonstrant party, which
obtained liberty at Amsterdam, in 1630, to have their
own church and to conduct their own services therein.
Thus encouraged they founded, three years later, their
own celebrated seminary in the chief city of the Nether-
lands, of which Episcopius, who after the death of Ar-
minius, had become the leader of the party, became the
first professor in theology. He died in that position, in
1643.^^ Limborch and Clericus (le Clercq) taught in the
same school. The Mennonite young men eagerly sought
their training there, but in the dire need of pastors even
many Remonstrants were called to Mennonite pulpits.
Thus the bond between them became ever closer. In
1724, however, the Remonstrants themselves, through the
insistent demand for a competently trained ministry, were
compelled to dissuade their ministers from serving Men-
nonite churches, and they were also forced to close their
school for Mennonite students.

Thus the Doopsgezinden were placed before a serious
dilemma. The Lammists of Amsterdam now undertook

" Brons, T. oder M., 148, ^ Ypey en Dermout, II, 329.

2« Tegenw. Staet. so idem, 330.

270 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

to establish a school for themselves and, in 1735, Tjerk
Nieuwenhuis was appointed as its first professor in the-
ology and philosophy. The churches, however, showed
very little sympathy with the undertaking, which was indi-
cated by the fact that, at a meeting to discuss the subject,
of the forty-two churches invited to send delegates only
six responded. The church '' Under the Lamb," the
mother church of the Lammists, therefore shouldered the
burden alone.^^ The board of directors of this nascent
seminary consisted of the professor in charge, four min-
isters, two deacons, and three laymen. The first endow-
ments paid in, were furnished by two members of the
same old church, Jan Honore and Leonard Thomas de
Vogel.^^ In these two schools lay the nucleus for the
subsequent City University {Stedelyke Universiteit) of
Amsterdam. At the present time young Doopsgezinden
studying for the ministry spend five years at one of the
national universities, the last two at Amsterdam, during
which the candidate for the ministry is compelled to at-
tend the lectures in the Mennonite Seminary. The pro-
fessors in this school are at the same time regular pro-
fessors in the theological faculty of the City University .^^
The late Dr. S. Cramer, one of the two editors of the
Bibliotheca, celebrated as a historian and, as I know to
my joy, an ever-ready adviser and helper of the man
eager for original research work, was one of these pro-
fessors at the time of his death, January 30, 1913. I
reverently place a garland of immortelles on his grave.

Another institution, which has made the Dutch Men-
nonites famous, is the Teyler Institution, or correctly,
" The Society for the Extension of Knowledge and for
the Establishment of the Christian Religion," 1778. The

^^ Brons, T. odcr M., 149.

32 Idem, 149. 23 Brons, T. oder M., 358.

LATER HISTORY 271

danger which threatened the Mennonites was not specially
materialistic in its nature, but it lay in the subtle changes
which were taking place in their deepest religious con-
victions. And to remedy this condition of affairs, Pieter
Teyler vander Hulst, at the close of the eighteenth cen-
tury, established the above society, which bore his name.
The original family name was not Teyler but Taylor.
Its founder had fled from England to Holland, in 1580,
and had married a young Dutch woman, Tryntje Kerk-
hoven, who was also a religious refugee from Flanders.
The family became wealthy. When Teyler died, he left a
considerable capital for the founding of the institution,
besides a museum for natural history, coins, paintings,
rare books, etc. This foundation was further enriched
by the Stolpian legacy, and has exerted a telling influence
on the development of religious and scientific thought in
the Netherlands in the nineteenth century. It offers
premiums in money, or gold and silver medals, for the
best answers to questions of the utmost variety, of a re-
ligious and scientific character. Not only Mennonite
scholars, but men of every conceivable religious type, in
Holland, France, and Germany, compete for the honors
it offers.^*

But the scholarly zest of the Mennonites had not been
exhausted by this first serious undertaking of theirs in
a new direction. Six years after the founding of the
Teyler Institute, in 1784, Jan Nieuwenhuizen, with his
son, who was a doctor of medicine at Amsterdam, and
two other men, A. J. Hoekstra and A. H. van Gelder,
founded the Society for the Public Good (De Maat-
schappy tot nut van het Algemeen), whose aim was the
improvement of general conditions. Mrs. Brons calls it ^^
" one of the most flourishing and noteworthy associa-

"Idem, 153, 35 Brons, T. oder M., 165.

272 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

tions of its kind in Europe." It aimed and still aims at
the uplift of the masses ; it created the Dutch public-school
system, savings-banks, public libraries, kindergartens, etc.
It tabooes politics and religion, and practically all edu-
cated Dutchmen today are members of 't Nut. Both men
and women are welcome to its membership.

The old mother church at Amsterdam had practically
all alone sustained the burden of the Training School for
the ministry, till France overwhelmed the Dutch Republic.
But the heavy draft on her income through the demands
of the rapacious State, since 1795, threatened its very
existence. The churches of Haarlem and Zaandam were
the first to declare their willingness to cooperate in the
work. A new enthusiasm was thus created which spread
far and wide and, in 1811, it was decided to sustain the
institution on a broader scale. And thus, for the first
time in the history of Dutch Anabaptism, the plan ripened
to provide all churches of the brotherhood with specially
trained men, and also to create a sustentation fund for the
assistance of weak congregations. This was the begin-
ning of the " United Mennonite Society " (de Algemeene
Doopsgesinde Sociteit) which was destined to play an
important part in their subsequent history.^®

All these institutions demand leadership of a high
order of intelligence, and the supply seems always to meet
the demand, which indicates that the day is forever past,
in the history of the Dutch Mennonites, in which intel-
lectual pursuits were looked upon as belonging to the
realm of " the world." Once they began to feel proud
of their history and developed an interest in historical
studies along the channels of their own past, it was
found that they could boast of historians who were fully
abreast of their contemporaries in this department.

»«Idem, i6s.

LATER HISTORY 273

They found an outlet for the product of these historical
studies in the " Mennonite Contributions " (Doopsge-
zinde Bydragen), in which articles of a very high order
appeared. Most of the names of these historians have
been freely quoted in these lectures — S. Miiller, A. M.
Cramer, S. Blaupot ten Cate, J. G. de Hoop Scheffer,
Chr. Sepp, and especially the lamented Dr. S. Cramer.

7. The French Revolution

We are living in days of high tension, in which a
spirit of anarchy passes from country to country, and in
which thrones and principalities have tottered and fallen,
till of the old forms of government in Europe but little
remains. And what we are experiencing is but the echo
(or is it the final development?) of the spirit of revolu-
tion which shook France, aye, and all Europe to its
deepest foundations in the closing years of the eighteenth
century. The French Revolution was underlaid by a
type of infidelity totally different from anything which
had hitherto appeared ; the most callous and radical type
of rationalism which had ever been developed in the his-
tory of the Church.

Its organ was found in the Encyclopedic Frangaise,
edited by Diderot and D'Alembert, and whose contribu-
tors were men like Montesquieu, Voltaire, Helvetius, Hol-
bach, and Rousseau. Never perhaps in the history of the
world was a more brilliant group of men cooperating for
an object, to them in the main only a scholastic idea, but
fraught with the gravest issues for humanity.

The hearts of men were inflamed, evil passions were
aroused to frenzy; the down-trodden masses, held under
a cruel yoke of age-long oppression, broke their bonds
and, with the cry Ni Dieu ni mattre flung themselves
at the throats of their masters and inaugurated the hectic
s

274 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

revolt which disemboweled France, wiped out her line
of kings, crushed the Church under its heel, and changed
all of France, but especially Paris, into a shambles. It
reached its climax in the Terrorist National Convention,
1792-1795, which aboHshed ^' The Christian Era," on
October 5, 1793, aye, and " Christianity " itself, on No-
vember 7 of the same year. It must have appeared to all
men of sober mind, in that era, as if the end of the
world had come.

Like wild-fire the revolution spread in every direction,
and Holland saw its Republic, founded in martyr blood
and the prayers of the saints, swirled away to destruction
in the turbulent flood. Suddenly the whole country
teemed with riot and turmoil. These so-called " phleg-
matic " Dutchmen were changed into hysterical maniacs,
and a strange restlessness, a bizarre lust for change and
liberty, of which no nation at that day had a greater share
than they, welled up in every breast. Everywhere men
and women danced about liberty poles set up on the
commons, and shouted the slogan of the French revolu-
tion. Liberie, egalite, fraternite.

The churches in Holland, as elsewhere, were tried to
the core. It appears to me that Hase was correct, when
he said,^^ " The revolution was not occasioned by the
collapse of the Church, but was made possible by it."
Such was certainly the case in the Netherlands. The
old faith had gone, and a dead supranaturalism had begun
to take its place.

The Mennonite churches, as well as the others, were
caught in this swift current, even more so than any other
group of believers in the country.^^ Complete liberty
meant at least complete separation between Church and

" " History of the Church," 434.
"* Brons, T. oder M., 163.

LATER HISTORY 275

State. How deeply the new spirit gripped them may be
judged from the fact that some of them whose hereditary
principles demanded passive obedience and whose fathers
had passionately condemned war and the bearing of arms,
now not only encouraged the revolution but were among
the most zealous supporters of and participants in the
forming of armed citizens' militia, which aimed at the
overthrow of the existing government.^'* These cases
were, however, exceptional, and they were condemned by
the rank and file of the Mennonites ; and it is a significant
fact that this spirit displayed itself among the brother-
hood mainly in Vriesland where they had been so long
and so bitterly persecuted. The Mennonites as a whole
were as bitterly opposed to the revolution as any other
sect or church in the land.

But all action causes reaction. The French Revolution
reacted in the French empire, and the Napoleonic regime
began. The Dutch Republic was abolished and Napoleon
annexed Holland to his great empire. The supreme trial
of Europe had begun.

How the Churches suffered under the hand of the con-
queror !

A glance at the " Inventory of the Archives in the
hands of the United Mennonite Church at Amsterdam "
(Inventaris der Archiefstukken berustende by de Ver-
eenigde Doopsgezinde gemeente te Amsterdam) ^ edited
by De Hoop Scheffer, 1883-1884, will tell us of the end-
less vexations and troubles of the brotherhood at that
time.

Napoleon demanded organization. He was the man
of the square and the compass, the high priest of ex-
actitude in outward form and accessibility of facts. And
the Mennonites always had been, were then, and still

3» Y. en D., Gesck, der Herv. Kerk, 111, 420.

276 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

are a body consisting of perfectly independent units.
They were then, as they still are, divided into groups.
Fortunately Napoleon had approved the appointment of a
Hollander at the head of the commission, to whom the
reorganization of all the churches in Holland was en-
trusted.*^

Baron d'Alphonse, as general intendant of domestic
affairs, had control of the whole matter; but the Re-
formed, the Lutherans, the Remonstrants, and the Men-
nonites owed a great deal to the shrewd management
of their affairs by Janssen. The Mennonites were in a
peculiarly bad way. Napoleon insisted on organizing the
Mennonites as a whole, under the imperial decree; and
they could not be thus organized, by virtue of their inter-
nal constitution. Janssen therefore prevailed on d'Al-
phonse to accept an apparent organization in lieu of a
real one.*^ This was accomplished by articles, which in
the main were as follows : ^^

1. The communion of the Doopsgezinden, separated into its
constituent groups, shall continue as heretofore.

2. The minister of religion shall correspond only with such
consistories, as are appointed as " corresponding consistories."

3. Said consistories shall be the medium of correspondence for
all congregations in their district.

4. These consistories will not assume governing authority over
the congregations under them, which will all retain their abso-
lute autonomy.

5. A vacancy in any pulpit shall be at once reported to the
" corresponding consistories," and the vacancy shall not be filled
except with the approval of his Majesty, the Emperor.

Thus the Doopsgezinden lived on during the years of
the French regime; and when, by the counter-revolution

*" Idem, IV, 390.

" Y. en D., Gesch. der Herv. Kerk. IV, 526.

«2 Idem. IV, 527.

LATER HISTORY 277

of 1813, William of Orange returned, and Holland again
became an independent State, a kingdom this time, they
had suffered perhaps less than any other religious body
from the interference of the French government.

In the opening years of the nineteenth century, they
still faced the future undaunted, although their churches,
notably in the larger cities, had suffered considerably in
a financial way, through the confiscatory methods of the
French.

8. Influence of Modernism

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the theology
of the Dutch Reformed Church had wholly lost the vigor
and depth' of its earlier days. A flat and insipid supra-
naturalism had replaced it, represented by men like Van
der Palm, Borger, Clarisse, Kist, Van Hengel, all at the
University of Leyden ; Chevallier, Muntinghe, and Ypey,
at Groningen; Heringa, Royaards, Bouman, and Vinke,
at Utrecht; and by numerous celebrated ministers
throughout the Qiurch. This whole tendency stood for
a modified rationalism. It professed to build on the
Scriptures, but was anticonfessional, antiphilosophical,
and anti-Calvinistic. It was deistical in its dogmatics.
Pelagian in its anthropology, moralistic in its Christology,
collegialistic in its ecclesiology, and eudaimonistic in its
eschatology.*^

About 1835 it was set aside by the Groninger theology,
especially in the Northern part of the country, which re-
placed revelation and doctrine by the idea of " training for
a higher destiny," whose ultimate aim was conformity
with God; a theological evolutionary hypothesis, there-
fore.

But by the middle of the century all this was swept

•^Bavinck, Ceref. Dogm., I, 129.

278 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

away by Modernism. Its foundations were laid by Pro-
fessor Opzoomer of Utrecht. Its protagonists were
Scholten, who prepared its way theologically, with his
*' Doctrine of the Reformed Qiurch " (Leer der Her-
vornide Kerk), and Kuenen, who with Wellhausen of
Germany became the founder of the destructive critical
school, especially as regards the early books of the Testa-
ment.

Thus modernism was born, which for a time swept
everything before it. The old dogmatics were entirely
discarded and the fundamental doctrines of the Chris-
tian faith — the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the atone-
ment, miracles, the resurrection, ascension, and second
coming of Christ, heaven and hell — all these were ruth-
lessly cast aside.

They were replaced by an outwardly sweet and attrac-
tive humanitarianism, in which doctrine had no part
whatever, but in which life counted for everything. It
was the culmination, in the Netherlands, of a series of
negative doctrinal steps, by which the center of gravity
by degrees was wholly removed from God to man, from
the world to come to the world that now is.

Now remember our outline of the theology of the
Dutch Anabaptists, their views on the Trinity, on the
divinity of Christ, on the atonement, on original sin, on
doctrine as compared to life; and tell me, was it not
inevitable that this new theological or rather untheo-
logical departure should take them by storm and win
among them large numbers of eager recruits?

Both the Remonstrants and the Mennonites were
quickly largely won over to the side of the Modernists.

Perhaps the most striking example of the general
attitude of serious-minded Mennonites today is found in
the wonderful story of the Anabaptists from the hand

LATER HISTORY 279

of Mrs. Brons, which I have repeatedly quoted. The atti-
tude of this talented writer is frankly and thoroughly
modern. Says she : ^*

It is a general phenomenon of modern times that religion no
longer forms the center of human interest in the same way as
in former centuries. The questions which then dominated all
were those of its outward exhibition in worship, ceremonies,
and doctrinal statements. For, by degrees, religion had be-
come identified with these external forms; and its ethical con-
tents, which Christ put in the forefront, with a breaking of
similar stark forms, were assigned a secondary position, wholly
in contradiction with the fundamental ideas of its founder.
The reaction did not fail to come. The horror of the bondage
of dogmas had led large numbers, who in the end confounded
the husk with the kernel, to the point of extending their aversion
of the mere outward in religion to the whole of it and to supinely
withdraw from it with indifference and disdain.

And again : *^

In every field of science we behold a fresh and joyful prog-
ress but, with regard to our appreciation of the Bible, only here
and there the German people begin to overcome their fear of
the light. As a whole they occupy a standpoint, almost the
same as that which they held three hundred years ago. The
majority of the Protestants are still bound by the antiquated
confessions of that period. But the Mennonites, by reason of
the perfect liberty which the fathers obtained and kept for them,
are not hindered by anything to prove everything and to hold
fast to that which is good. Such a test the Bible must be able
to stand, in what is spiritual in it, or it is not what man has
hitherto believed it to be. The real in the Bible will stand forth
in all the greater brilliancy, the more the unreal in it is recog-
nized and treated as such. The real, the spirit which fills it, that
is love, and tenderness of conscience is valuable for all men.
On the unreal, the differences in the confessions and in church-
dom are built up, etc.

" Brons, T. oder M., 378.
*^ Idem. 380.

280 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

Here we have a clear statement of the doctrinal posi-
tion held, at this day, by the overwhelming majority of
Dutch Mennonites. Thus they view life and faith.

9. Final Union-Efforts, and Present Condition of the
Mennonites

It is passing strange that such a measure of organic
oneness as is theirs today was obtained by the Dutch
Mennonites by means of that very trained ministry which
they despised and rejected in their earlier history. As
we have indicated repeatedly, the party among them,
which more than any other has blazed the way to their
present position of importance and recognition, is that of
the Waterlandians. They were the first to broaden out,
they first began to break through the wall of separation
and seclusion which kept them apart from all fellow
believers. They first of all began to lay the foundations
for an educated ministry, and when Amsterdam, in the
bitter days of the French regime, felt her strength wan-
ing, and when the danger presented itself of a compulsory
closing of the doors of their school in the capital city,
suddenly a wave of concentrated effort passed over all
the churches and the founding of the General Mennonite
Society, in 1811, may be considered as the occasion by
which a sense of solidarity was born among them.

Of course, after a fashion, the Frisian and Groninger
societies had reached out toward the same end. But
after all, they were local and provincial in character.
With their ever-broadening views in theology and their
great humanitarian interests, it was inevitable that the in-
grained and inherited sense of differentiation and distrust
which so long had obtained among them, must finally
make place for more advanced and more thoroughly
fraternal views. The Groninger Society maintains a spe-

LATER HISTORY 281

cial fund for the support of ministers' widows, since 1835 ;
they also take care of their orphans.

The brotherhood as a whole have organized a special
" Society for the Mennonites of the Dispersion," which
does excellent work for little bands of their fellow be-
lievers scattered here and there.

Since 1849, they also have a Foreign Missionary So-
ciety, laboring not only in heathen, but in all foreign
lands, wherever an opportunity offers itself. Churches
were founded by this Society on Java and Sumatra. And
in these foreign missionary efforts, they were among the
first to start a medical mission and an agricultural colony.

They edit their own paper, " The Sunday Herald," (De
Zondagsbode)y which is read by practically all the Dutch
Mennonites.

In their internal constitution, they are still absolutely
autonomous. Each church is a perfect unit in itself. Re-
ligious instruction is regularly given to their children,
from the age of ten till they are ready for baptism. Bap-
tism still occurs generally late in youth, most of them con-
sidering eighteen as too early in life for so serious an
undertaking.

Liberalism, as has been shown, is in vogue among them,
although *^ " an evangelical minority still represents a
sort of Biblical orthodoxy, but free from all polemic."
The old opposition to the bearing of arms and military
service has been wholly abandoned ; the oath is still for-
bidden to Dutch Mennonites. One of their members was
nominated some years ago as minister of war, indicating
how absolute has been their change of base in regard to
pacifism. Since 1809, their preachers, if they desire it,
receive a subsidy from the State treasury, as do the min-
isters of the Reformed Church.

«Brons, T. oder M., 361.

282 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

A remarkable number of noted statesmen, ministers,
representatives in the Lower and Higher House, burgo-
masters of different cities, etc., have belonged and are
still belonging to the Mennonites.

Numerically they are weak, far out of proportion to the
recognition they have received, which pleads well for
their intrinsic value as citizens. In 1808, they numbered
only 26,935 souls in all. In 1860, the number had risen
to 41,813 souls. In 1900, they numbered 57,786 souls. At
the present time they have about three thousand more
souls, so that they number about sixty thousand in all.
If we remember that this includes not members only,
but all their unbaptized children as well, their insig-
nificance numerically is at once apparent.

The old affection for the Mennonite brotherhood, and the
mutual tolerance which springs from the recognition of the
exalted and highly honored demand for freedom of personal
conviction, all this has caused a deeply felt and undisturbed in-
ternal unity, which encompasses all the Dutch Doopsgezinden."

What will their future be ? Who can tell us ?

10. Influence of the Mennonites on Ecclesiastical
Developments, especially in England

Vedder has called the Anabaptist movement " the radi-
cal Reformation." In view of all we have seen about this
movement, is there much doubt in regard to the correct-
ness of his statement? I do not now speak of that
peculiar tendency within the circle of the Anabaptist
movement, which we have called " radical," radical in
their theology, radical in their views of life. But broadly
speaking, does not the entire movement stand for and

*' Brons, T. oder M., 361.

LATER HISTORY 283

make for radicalism? We have studied the theological
views of the men whom we dubbed '' conservatives," as
compared with men like Pastor and Niklaes and Franck
and Matthysz. But did not the opinions of Menno and
Derek Philips and the other leaders of the conservative
wing of the movement, in the end, make for Arminianism
and Socinianism? Or at least, did they not prepare
the way for the acceptance of these views, once they had
appeared on the scene?

And is not the entire ultimate position they occupied in
the Netherlands, where of all lands they made the deepest
impression in the end, and where they attained the great-
est success, a substantial verification of the words of Doc-
tor Vedder, when we place them side by side with the
candid avowal of Mrs. Brons ? **

And let us remember, on the part of the Anabaptists
this was not a gradual dogmatic change, a sort of doc-
trinal evolution, as it has been in many other communions,
springing from the Reformation ; but with them it was the
maintenance of an essential principle as old as their com-
munion— the absolute and untrammeled freedom of
every individual to read in the Scriptures the things he
saw, or thought he saw there, without any confessional
restraint or ecclesiastical control. Modernism, which in
these later days has so completely enveloped the Men-
nonite churches of the Netherlands, lay hidden in these
early Anabaptist principles as the oak lies hidden in the
acorn. Small wonder then that these sons and daughters
of untrammeled freedom have exerted a generative in-
fluence far beyond their own country.

And as they were connected with no country so closely
as with England, there was no country where this in-
fluence was so strongly felt as there. Professor Lezius

** Brons, T. oder M., 361.

284 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

of Greifswald is quoted by the " Mennonite Papers "
(Mennonitische Bladen) as follows: *^

When the seventeenth century in England has led to a great
victory for the idea of tolerance as soon as it began to be dis-
cussed and was called into existence, this merit is to be only
ascribed to the Doopsgezinden, the Independents, and Quakers,
who demanded from the state liberty to build their own churches.

And where did all this love of independence and of
liberty originate? Is Mrs. Brons correct or not, when
she speaks,^^ in this connection, of the

Independents and Quakers and Baptists, who with their fathers,
the Mennonites, belong to the originators of that great movement
of the spirits of men, of which the ideal was the liberation and
elevation of man in every sphere, and which with all the great
results which it has already attained, is as yet far from having
reached the goal — that is to say, Liberalism.

So much is sure, on no country outside of Holland
did they exercise a more obvious and indisputable in-
fluence than on England.

The distance between Holland and England is small,
and in the turbulent times of the great persecution, in
the Lowlands, refugees by the thousands left Holland
for the harbor of refuge in the great island kingdom,. As
early as 1546 several refugees, mostly from Antwerp,
came to London, where Catherine Parr, the wife of
Henry VIII, made the Reformed party welcome. In this
same year the church of the Augustinian convent was
handed over to them by Cranmer, and it soon had four
regular pastors, under the superintendency of John a
Lasco. In 1553 it counted nearly four thousand mem-
bers.^^ So large had been the immigration from the

"November, 1909. ^ Y. en D., Gesch. der Herv. Kerk I, 156.

^" Brons, T. oder M., 357.

LATER HISTORY 285

Netherlands that in 1550 they literally came by ship-
loads.*^'

By far the majority of these immigrants were Ana-
baptists, because in this period they far outnumbered
the Reformed in Holland. If the latter came by hundreds,
the others came by thousands. But at this time they
were still everywhere identified with the Miinster fanatics,
and they were compelled to hide their identity. In En-
gland, as well as on the Continent, they were proscribed
as public enemies. So long, however, as they lay hidden
they were not ferreted out. During the six years of the
reign of Edward VI England had absolute religious
liberty, with the exception of the sect of the Anabaptists
who were under the ban. And how closely the Anabap-
tists hid their identity in all these years may be judged
from the fact that in the whole reign of Edward VI " no
one was heard to suffer for any matter of religion, either
Papist or Protestant, two only excepted: an English-
woman, Joan Boucher of Kent, and a Dutchman named
George." ^^ Both were Anabaptists and unquestionably
of the violent type, if not politically, at least doctrinally.

For not all lay hidden; there were always exuberant
spirits among them, who did not believe in hiding the
light under a bushel and who sought martyrdom rather
than to avoid it. It was well known to the authorities
that large numbers of Anabaptists had sought asylum in
England, but nothing was done about it so long as they
kept quiet. The only difference between the Continent
and England lay in the fact that England did not search
them out whereas the Continental States did.

The attitude toward the Anabaptists and their limited
activities appears from the edicts promulgated during the
reign of Henry VIII, 1511-1547, against the Anabaptists,

^- Idem, 155. ^ Neal, quoting Fox, II, 355.

286 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

under which several martyrs were executed.^* At his
marriage to Anna of Qeve, the Dutch flocked to England
in great numbers, among them large numbers of Ana-
baptists. Some of these evidently belonged to the martyr
class, men who felt compelled to witness in season and
out of season. Of them Neal tells us,^^ " They began to
broach their strange opinions, being branded by the gen-
eral name Anabaptists."

Then came the convocation of Henry VIII, of 1536,
a year after the collapse of the Miinster kingdom. The
" strange opinions " of which Neal speaks, must have
been therefore the original Anabaptist heresies of the
Miinster faction. Not only did they preach, but they
wrote down their opinions and thus tried to spread them.
This is clear from the law ^^ of Henry VIII, promulgated
in 1539:

That those who are in any error, as Sacramentarians, Ana-
baptists, or any others that sell books, having such opinions in
them, being once known, both the books and such persons shall be
detected and disclosed immediately to the king's Majesty, or
one of his privy-councillors, to the intent to have it punished,
without favor, even with the extremest of the law.

And yet, these harsh statues notwithstanding, the Ana-
baptist martyrdoms during the reign of Henry were few,
compared to the large numbers at that time in the coun-
try.

These statutes were still in vogue in Edward's reign,
and under them undoubtedly the two martyrs mentioned
were executed. This was still the case in Elizabeth's
reign, 1558-1603, for the Anabaptists were singled out
by the queen, as the pet objects of her hatred of non-
conformity. In reply to Fox's letter pleading for clem-

^^ Neal, II, 354. ^^ Fox, " Martyrs," II, 440.

S5 Idem, 354.

LATER HISTORY 287

ency, she declared -''^ " their impieties to be damnable, and
that she was necessitated to this severity."

As the current of immigration from Holland steadily
waxed in volume during her reign, we may conclude
that the greater part of the Anabaptists in England kept
their traces well hidden. As was the case in Holland,
the greater part of them ultimately joined the Qiurch
of the land. But the ancient principles were never wholly
forgotten ; they formed rather a leaven both in the Estab-
lished Church and in the kingdom; and it is from the
mass of these folk, I think, that the ranks of the various
non-conformist bodies in England were originally largely
recruited. A glance at the map of England will further-
more convince us that the Roundheads of Cromwell
mainly sprang from the same districts and counties where
these people had originally settled in large numbers.
And it is worth considering that when the Brownists
sought for a haven of refuge, they did not go to Scan-
dinavia or other countries, but were instinctively drawn
to Holland.

Many of the names, even in this day, on the pages of
the directories of the cities where the early Anabaptists
loved to congregate, and in all parts of England, are dis-
tinctively Dutch.

And many of these people not only joined the Church
of the land, but they intermarried with the daughters of
the land; but the inherited traits of the old view-points
remained in evidence, even in their children's children.
And thus the tie between the Puritan of England and the
Puritan of Holland, yclept Anabaptist, is far closer than
is generally supposed.

As late as 1575, when the great stream of immigration
had practically stopped, Thomas Fuller could say,^^

O'Neal, II, 360. 58.. Church Hist.," Cent. XVI, 104.

288 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

"Though the Anabaptists have increased wonderfully in
the land, as yet the English are free from the infection."
Which would seem to indicate that the Anabaptists, in
leaving Holland, had largely left behind their self-asser-
tiveness and spirit of propaganda, in which they certainly
had not been lacking in the homeland.

The same testimony was borne by John Fox, in his
well-known petition for clemency, to Queen Elizabeth.
Said he,^*^ *' I hear not of an Englishman that is in-
clined to this madness." And again, "I understand there
are some here in England, but come hither from Holland."

All of which goes to show that, if they kept up an
organization at all, it was done very quietly and that for
the greater part they led an unobtrusive, quiet life and
that to an extent far greater than we usually think they
were absorbed, ecclesiastically and nationally, by their
environment. And it is among these men and their de-
scendants that we have to seek for the fathers of the
great Baptist Church. No one claims that these Baptists
were an indigenous English growth. The claim of vast
antiquity for genuine Baptist churches in England, for-
merly maintained by the older Baptist historians, is shat-
tered by men like Newman, Whitsitt, Lofton, and
Vedder.««

The fathers of the English Baptists were Dutch Ana-
baptists, whose views on many of their old doctrines were
modified in the course of time, and who had largely been
assimilated by the English nation. Whatever views they
held on baptism, they were not yet immersionists ; that
was to come later. The current swept ever to and fro.
During the reign of Henry VHI, Brandt tells us : " In
the year 1539, thirty-one Anabaptists that fled from En-

"» Whitsitt, quoting Crosby, 35.
^ See next page.

LATER HISTORY 289

gland were put to death at Delft ; the men were beheaded,
the women drowned." If they were known as Anabap-
tists there was no peace for them on either side of the
channel.

I have neither time nor space to take you to the cradle
of the great Baptist Church in England, whence it spread
to America and over all the world. For intimate knowl-
edge of the subject, I refer you to Newman's " History
of the Baptist Church," in the American Church History
series ; to the " History of Antipedobaptism," by the same
author ; to Whitsitt's admirable " A Question in Baptist
History " ; to Lofton's " The English Baptist Reforma-
tion," and to Vedder's " Short History of the Baptists."

In the days of the Reformation, the Anabaptists orig-
inated or rather revived the doctrine of adult baptism;
the English Baptists, receiving this main doctrine from
the Anabaptists, added to it by returning to the ancient
general mode of baptism — immersion.

Doctor Whitsitt has undoubtedly forever settled the
date of this return, putting it at 1641. Let me repeat
here again what I have said before, the baptism by im-
mersion of Richard Blunt among the Rhynsburgers or
CoUegiants is a regrettable incident. For two reasons.
He did not need it, for he had back of him the solid
practise of the Church for thirteen centuries. And, if
he sought for " apostolic succession," he did not find it.
In the first place, because the men who imparted bap-
tism to him invalidated this baptism by their Socinian
affiliations. What could a baptism, imposed by them in
the name of the Holy Trinity, mean to the recipient?
Geesteranus, who introduced this mode of baptism among
them, was an out-and-out Socinian, and to the Socinians
baptism meant nothing at all. And secondly, because
John Batten, who baptized him, being a common lay-

290 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

man and not ordained to administer the sacraments, had
nothing to impart. As we have seen, on the ground of
their refusing to recognize an ordained ministry, the
Waterlandians, who were very tolerant on the subject of
immersion in the eighteenth century, yet refused to recog-
nize the baptism of the Collegiants and rebaptized, much
as they hated to do so, all Collegiants who came to them.
There is therefore something almost humorous in the
words of Doctor Whitsitt : ®^

In 1641, these two parties "had met in two companies" and
did intend so to meet after this," and these " two companies "
did each set apart one to baptize the rest. Mr, Blunt bap-
tizing those from the Jessey church, and Mr. Blacklock those
from the Spilsbury church, after Mr. Blacklock had first received
baptism from Blunt, who, in his turn, received it in Holland.

1641 then is the natal year of the great Baptist Church.
Anabaptism itself had been forbidden under the law by
any mode of baptism; but after 1641, immersion became
the crime.

The earliest prescription of immersion by an English
confession of faith is found in Article 40 of " The Con-
fession of Faith of Seven Congregations or Churches of
Christ in London," 1644 : '^

That the way and manner of dispensing this ordinance is dip-
ping or plunging the body under water. It being a sign, must
answer the things signified, which is that interest the saints
have in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ; and that
as certainly as the body is under water and risen again, so
certainly shall the bodies of the saints be raised by the power
of Christ, in the day of the resurrection, to reign with Christ.

In this same year, 1644, the name " Baptist " was first
used,®^ as close a translation as is possible of the Dutch

«i " A Question," etc., 87.

•2 " A Question," 90. ^ Idem, 92.

LATER HISTORY 291

word Doopsgesinde, then quite generally used to denote
the Anabaptists in Holland.

The churches of Helwys and Murton became the moth-
ers of the General Baptists, we are told by Newman,**
since

before 1624 a controversy had arisen as to the duty of Chris-
tians, the lawfulness of oaths, magistracy, and warfare, and as
to the obligatoriness of the weekly celebration of the Supper.

In many of these we recognize the old familiar doctrines
of the Anabaptists. Mrs. Brons mentions the Indepen-
dents, the Baptists, and the Quakers as the offspring
(Nachkommen) of the Mennonites. " They lost their
name, but the spirit remained alive." ^^

As we have seen the Dutch Mennonites were deeply
affected by Arminianism. But so were the English Bap-
tists, and half a century after their birth, in the very
year in which they were officially recognized by the Act
of Toleration of William III, in 1689, they split on this
rock into General and Particular Baptists.

The General Baptists most closely resembled the Ana-
baptists. According to Mosheim, their creed, as set forth
by William Whiston in his " Memoirs " *^ and by Wall's
" History of Infant Baptism," ^^ was as follows : ^^

1. They were the only Church of Christ.

2. They immerse once, not thrice; and either in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or only in the
name of Jesus.

3. They are premillenarians.

4. They hold Menno's views of the incarnation.

•* Newman, " Hist. Antiped.," 391.
"^ Brons, T. oder M., 351.
««II, 461.
^'Lat. Ed., 1 70s.
^ Mosheim, III, 249.

292 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

5. They consider the Noachic law binding on the
Church.

6. They are soul-sleepers.

7. They believe in extreme unction.

8. Some keep both the Lord's Day and the Sabbath.

Whether Mosheim was well informed or not, so much
is certain, that the present-day Mennonites claim the
General Baptists as their true children and point to the
Particular Baptists as stray children; these follow
Menno, those Calvin.^®

The Particular Baptists, originally the weaker party,
were destined to win the long-distance race. Newman
has truly said of them : ^®

It remained for the Particular Baptists (Calvinistic) formed
by a secession from a London Congregational Church, in 1633,
to embody antipedobaptism in a form that, animated by the mis-
sionary spirit, has proved highly effective. In this form dur-
ing the last century, its progress has been marvelous, and there
seems to be no limit to its possible achievements.

And what are we to say to the claim made by Mrs.
Brons, that the English Independents and Quakers were
the offspring of the Dutch Anabaptists? May I quote
what the keenest author on Puritanism, Dr. J. Gregory ,^^
has to say on the subject?

The Anabaptists were Puritans before Puritanism had sprung
into recognized existence and held subsequently all that the
Puritans afterward contended for.

Look at the famous Cartwright principles :

1. That the names and functions of archbishops and arch-
deacons should be abolished.

*" Brons, T. oder M., 356.

''^ Newman, " Hist. Antiped.," 393.

"" Purit.," 176.

LATER HISTORY 293

2. That the apostolic order and offices should be revived,
namely, bishops and deacons; the former to preach and conduct
worship, the latter to attend to the ministration of the poor.

3. That the church should be governed by its own ministers
and not by bishops, chancellors, and nominees of archdeacons.

4. That each minister should have charge of a particular con-
gregation, and not exercise supervision over others.

5. That no minister should put himself forward as a candidate
for the ministry.

6. That ministers ought not to be created by the authority of
the bishop, but to be openly and fairly chosen by the people.

Now tell me, was there anything in their ecclesiastical
environment which could suggest these principles? Is it
not self-evident that these principles were inherited?

And have we not met them one and all, as the age-long
principles of the Anabaptists? Where did they get their
sober ideals of life, of dress, of speech? Where their
abstemiousness and separateness from the world? The
answer lies in the seed that was sown by the refugee
Anabaptists in England. It had lost its identity for a
while, but it had leavened with its views of life a portion
of the English Church and had thus created the Puritan
tendency.

And was it different with the Brownists, from whom
later on the Congregational Church in America was to
spring?

Brown preached in Norwich, one of the great centers
in which Dutch Anabaptists found asylum. They formed
at that time " full half of the population of the city." '^^
What, in view of this intimate and daily contact with
these folk, is one to say of Brown's principles, as laid
down in his " Life and Manners of True Christians,"
1582? Says he: "

"Gregory, " Purit.," 127.
"Idem, 128.

294 THE DUTCH ANABAPTISTS

The Church planted or gathered is a company or number of
Christians or believers, which, by a willing covenant made with
their God, are under the government of God and Christ and
keep his laws, in one holy communion. The Church government
is the Lordship of Christ, in the communion of his offices,
whereby his people obey his will and have mutual use for their
graces and callings to further their godliness and welfare.

Again the same familiar note we have heard so often
before in the writings of the Anabaptists. Says Greg-
ory,'^* " They claimed a kind of divine-right democracy."

And that precisely was the Anabaptist ideal — absolute
individuality, but all this individuality controlled and abso-
lutely ruled by the will of God. What of the polity of
these Brownists, of their church organization, of their
church officers, of their absolute local autonomy? Again
the key to unlock the door of mystery must be found
in the Anabaptist leaven, in England, for several genera-
tions.

Driven away from England, the Brownists settled in
the Netherlands ; a group at Middleburg, another at Am-
sterdam, still another at Leyden, where they were every-
where in constant contact with the Doopsgemnden. And
from the Leyden group the celebrated " Pilgrim Fathers "
went forth who, in 1620, sailed on the Mayflower from
Delfthaven, to plant the banner of Independency on the
North American mainland, and ultimately to perpetuate
their principles in the founding of the Congregational
Church.

And where again did the Quakers receive their mys-
ticism, their quaint separateness of dress and customs,
their faith in the leading of the Spirit in their own leader-
ship, their abhorrence of violence and war and arms and
the oath, their antidogmatic and anticonfessional ideas?

'* Idem, 129.

LATER HISTORY 295

Unquestionably from the same source. For although
Fox spoke harshly against them, grouping them all to-
gether under the hated name " Anabaptists," he adopted
for his followers the very principles which they held dear.

And thus I have come to the end of my story. Has it
been worth while to tell it? Are not these Anabaptists,
of whom most of us knew so little, worth knowing?

For better or for worse they have exerted an influence
far wider and deeper than their numbers warranted.

Shaken, bruised, and broken by persecution; torn by
inward schisms and divisions; animated by a spirit of
courage and hope such as the world has but rarely seen ;
strong in their weakness; notwithstanding all their de-
partures from the faith, like the Moravians, still centering
their all in Christ — they stand till this day.

I may close with a word of Menno to the churches:

Hold fast continually to the spirit of Christ, to his doctrine
and example, if you would not deceive yourselves. For every
spirit which is not satisfied with Christ's spirit, doctrine, and
example, is not from God and will be robbed of the light of
saving truth.

Do the Dutch Mennonites measure up to this farewell
word of their founder?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(The abbreviations in parentheses are those used in the foot-
notes of this work.)

1. Bibliotheca Reformatoria Neerlandica (B. R. N.), Dr. S.
Cramer and F. Pyper; 10 vols. S. Gravenhage. Martinus
Nyhoff. 1903-1914.

2. Verhael van de Oproeren der Wederdoopers, Lambertus
Hortensius. Amsterdam, 1694.

3. Historic der Reformatie, G. Brandt. Rotterdam, 1704.

4. Uitvoeriger Verhandeling van de Geschiedenissen der Men-
noniten, Hermannus Schyn. Amsterdam, 1744.

5. Tegenwoordige Staet der Doopsgezinden of Mennoniten, in
de Vereenigde Nederlanden, Simon Frederick Rues. Amster-
dam, 1745.

6. Vaderlandsche Hisiorie, Jan Wagenaar; 21 vols. Amster-
dam, Leiden, Dord, Harlingen, 1782.

7. " A General History of the Baptist Denomination in Amer-
ica and other parts of the world," D. Benedict. Boston, 1813.
Revised edition, 1848.

8. Geschiedenis der Nederlandsch Hervormde Kerk, A. Ypey
en I. J. Dermout. Breda, 1819.

9. "Institutes of Ecclesiastical History," J. L. Van Mosheim.
New Haven, 1832.

10. Geschichte der Wiedert'dufer, Hast. Miinster, 1836.

11. Het Leven en de Verrigtingen van Menno Simons (Lev. en
Verr.), A M. Cramer. Amsterdam, 1837.

12. Geschiedenis der Doopsgezinden in Vriesland, S. Blaupot
ten Gate. Leeuwarden, 1839.

13. Heinrich Dorpius, Die Wiedert'dufer in Miinster. Heraus-
gegeben von Friedrich Merschmann. ^lagdeburg, 1847.

297

298 BIBLIOGRAPHY

14. "The Rise of the Dutch Republic," J. Motley, 3 vols.
Harper and Brothers, New York, 1855.

15. Geschiedenis des Vaderlands, W. Bilderdyk. Amsterdam,
1853.

16. Geschiedenis van Nederland, J. van Lennep. Leiden, 7de
Druk.

17. "History of the Reformation," J. H. Merle d' Aubigne.
Tract Society.

18. Calvyn's histitutie, G. Ph. Zalsman. Kampen, 1865.

19. " History of the Christian Religion and Church," Augustus
Neander. Boston, 1872.

20. De Wederdoopers te Maestricht en Roermond, Jos. Habets.
1877.

21. "Summary of Christian Doctrine," Dr. F. L. Patton.

22. Geschichte der Wiedertdufer und ihres Reiches in MUn-
ster, Dr. Ludwig Keller. Miinster, 1880.

23. Ein Apostel der Wiedertdufer, Dr. Ludwig Keller. Miin-
ster, 1882.

24. Overzicht der Geschiedenis van den doop by Onderdom-
peling, De Hoop Scheffer. Amsterdam, 1882.

25. Inventaris der Archief-Stukken, berustende by de Vereen-
igde Doopsgezinde Gemeente te Amsterdam, De Hoop Scheffer.
1883-1884.

26. Geschichte des MUnferschen Aufruhrs, Cornelius. Lcipsic,
1885.

27. Melchior Hoffmann, ein Prophet der Wiedertdufer, Zur
Linden. 1885.

28. Gereformeerde Dogmatiek, Dr. H. Bavinck, 4 vols. Kam-
pen. J. H. Bos. 1895.

29. " Puritanism," J. Gregory. Fleming H. Revell Co., New
York, 1896.

30. "The Archeology of the Mode of Baptism," Dr. B. B.
Warfield. "Bibliotheca Sacra," October, 1896.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 299

31. Tien Jaren uit den Tachtig-jarigen Oorlog, Dr. R. Fruin.
S. Gravenhage. 1899. 5de Druk.

32. " A Question in Baptist History," W. H. Whitsitt. Louis-
ville. 1896.

33. "History of Antipedobaptism " ("Hist, of Antiped."),
A. H. Newman. Philadelphia, 1897.

34. ** English Baptist Reformation," Geo. A. Lofton. Louis-
ville, 1899.

35. "The Reformation in Germany," H. C. Vedder. New
York, 1914.

36. Tdufgesinnten oder Mennoniten (T. oder M.), A. Brons.
Amsterdam, 1912. Second Edition.

INDEX

Adamites, 58.

Acronius, 120.

Adrian VI, famous indulgence of, 9.

a Kempis, Thomas, 189.

a Lasco, John, no, 284.

Alenson's Tegenbericht, 6, 136, 162,
217.

AUerfynsten (Very Strictest), 225.
227.

Alva, 141.

Ambrose, 178.

American Mennonites, 266.

Amsterdam, attempts on, 85, 88.

Anabaptists: an aid to government,
207; church life of, in eighteenth
century, 218; confessions of, 201,
234; defections from, 198; dis-
putes among, 118; expansion of
faith of, 33; hatred of, 4i-45. 148;
indictment against, 44; individual-
ism of, 136, 152; in England, 285-
293; in Holland, 48; internal con-
dition of, 197; life of, 92, 17s,
193. 194. 205; Luther on martyrs
of, 43; meager information con-
cerning, i; 2; menace of name of,
92, 108; names of, 216, 225; nu-
merical strength of, 282; settle-
ment of, in the North, 40; social
standing of, 205; sprinklers, 184;
strength of, 145; students of the
Scriptures, 121, 199; Swiss, 28;
theology of, in general, 151; views
of, 188, 209.

Anjou, council of, 178,

Anna of Cleve, 286.

Anti-housebuyers, 60, 135.

Apocrypha, 153.

Apostolic succession : Anabaptist
views of, 115, 214; idea of,
started by J. C. Vander Meulen,

215; Richard Blunt and, i8r,
289.

Apostoolians, 221, 222, 233.

Aquinas, Thomas, 178.

Arminianism, 247-256.

Arminius, Jacobus, 248.

Arras, use of, Anabaptist views con-
cerning, 213, 226, 233, 236, 291,
294.

Arnoldists, 17.

Avoidance, 192, 193, 204.

Ayssens, last of the martyrs, 42.

Backereel, Hermes, 119.

Baden articles, 41.

Ban, 22, 6i, 130-137, 189-195, 204,

226, 236.
Bankrupts, 135, 215.
Baptism: adult, 181; among the

fine, 229; among the coarse, 235,

239; late administration of, 239,

281; of proselytes, 177.
Baptist, 290.
Baptists: beginnings of English, 289;

general, 291; name of, first used,

290; particular, 292.
BapHzo, 176.
Batenborch, J. Van, 97, 98, 126,

214»

Batten, John, 180, 289.

Beginsel of Carcl van Ghent, 122.

Belgic confession, 247.

Benedict, David, 181, 215.

Benevolence of Anabaptists, 266.

Bible among Anabaptists, 199.

Bibliotheca Reformatoria Neerlan-
dica: description of, 3; editors of,
3; specially important volumes of,
5; value of, 7, 150, 161, 243.

Bidloo brothers, 244, 245.

Biernaert, Mattheus, 139.

303

304

INDEX

Bishops or elders, 226, 231.

Blake on immersion, 179.

Blunt, Richard, 180, 182, 257, 289,

290.
Bocholt, meeting at, 92.
Boeckbinder, Bartholomew, 68.
Boeckbinder, Gerritt, 69.
Bohemian Brethren, 181.
Bolshevism of the sixteenth century,

28.
Bonaventura, 178.
Boskoop, 12.
Boucher, Joan, 160.
Bouwens, Leonard, 112, 115, 117,

126, 129, 131, 190.
Brethren of the Common Life, 10.
Brons, Madame, iii, 253, 255, 267,

271, 279, 283, 284, 292.
Brotherly Union, 41.
Brownists, 293, 294.
Bullinger, Henry, 36, 107.
Bunderius, Joannis, 124.
Butzer, 51, 6r.

Callixtus III, 21.

Candidates for the ministry, 241.

Carel van Ghent, 217.

Carlstadt, 26.

Cartwright principles, 292.

Casimir II, Henry, 254.

Cassander, 102.

Catechetical instruction, 228, 238,

281.
Catherine Parr, 284.
Celibacy, 22.

Chambers of Rhetoricians, 11.
Charles V, 21.

Chiliasm, 64, 67, 73, 74, 84, 196.
Christ, doctrine of, 158, 278.
" Christians," as party name, 234.
Chrysostom, 178, 187.
Churches of Anabaptists, 215.
Claesken, 172.
Clermont, council of, 178.
Coarse Mennonites, 221, 223, 224,

231-233-
Collection, 228.
Collegiants, 180, 182, 221, 239, 250,

251. 255, 257, 268.

Communism, 29, 65, 70, 72, 74, 76.
" Concerned Ones," 135.
Confessions, Anabaptist, 201.
Congregationalists and Anabaptists,

136, 293.
Conservatism of Anabaptists, 283.
Consistory, power of, 237.
Constitution of Holland, change of,

264.
Controversy about Socinians, 260.
Cooltuyn, Cornelis, 13, 121.
Coonhert, D. V., 62, 247.
Corvinus, Anton, 70, 82.
Covenant of four cities, 128, 131.
Cramer, A. M., 8, 18, 19, 54, 113,

"4. 273.
Cramer, S., 20, 41, 61, 97, 99, 134,

154. iS9» 162, 163, 166, 171, 174,

185, 270, 273.
Culture among Anabaptists, 227, 237,

246.
Customs, peculiar, of early Ana-
baptists, 216.
Cuyper, Derk, 68, 97.
Cyprian, 178, 187.

D'Alphonse, 276.

Dantzigers, 225, 226.

Dathenus, 120.

Deacons, 228, 230,

"Deduction," the, 261.

Defections among the Anabaptists,

198.
De Bres, Guido, 43, 158, 247,
De Genestet, 267,
De Haan, Galenus, 221, 233, 244,

253. 258, 269.
Deknatel, J., 246.
De Ries and Gerritsz, Confession

of, 201.
Didache, the, 177.
Diesentschur, 77.
Discipline: cases of, 125; rigor of,

125.
Disputation, a craze for, 118.
Docetics, 162.

Domine, the title for pastors, 238.
Donatists, 181.

IISDEX

305

Doopsgezinde, origin of name, 5.
Daopsgezinde Bydragen, 27Z-
Dordt, Synod of, 202, 248, 250.
Dorpius, 7, 69, 77, 79-
Duns Scotus, 179-

Edward VI, 285.

Edward VII, 179.

Efforts at union, 223, 280.

Elizabeth, Queen, 179, 286, 288.

Embden, 50, 59, 109, 120, 121, 123,

129, 131, 133, 140.
Enchiridion, loi, 104, 105, 168, 186,

198.
Encyclopedic Frangaise, 273.
England, immersion in, 178-184.
Episcopius, 269.
Erasmus, 22, 28, loi, 179.
Eschatology, 196.
Eustachius de Zichenis, 209.

Geesteranus, Johannes, 180, 252,
289.

General Mennonite Society, 280.

Gerrits, Lubbert, 195, 222.

Glasius, on name of Anabaptists,
93.

Goch, Pupper van, 59.

Goedbeleid, Hendrick, 89.

Gomarus, Francis, 248,

Gottesbewustsein, 164.

Grebel, Conrad, 31, 33, 44, 180.

Gregory, J., 292, 294.

Gregory the Great, 178.

Groningen Society, 245, 280.

Groningen Theologj', 277.

Groningers, 225, 226.

Grossbeck, Heinrich, 80.

Groups of Anabaptists, 126.

Guests at the communion, 236, 240.

Guido de Bres, estimate of Anabap-
tists by, 43, 158.

Guild of the Cross-Brothers, 89.

Faber, Gellius, 191.

Fabritius, 43, 158.

** Fall of the Romish Church," ir.

Familists, 58.

Fasting, 25.

Ferrara, 179.

Fine and Coarse Anabaptists, 220-

242.
Fine, doctrinal views of the, 220-

232.
Foot-washing, 61, 225, 230, 232, 236.
Foreign Mission Society, 281.
Fox, John, 286, 288, 295.
Franck, Sebastian, 36, 61, 99, 126,

180, 188, 192.
" Franconists," 61.
French Revolution, 273.
" Frisian Society," 245, 280.
Fruin on Anabaptists, 138, 144, 145,

205-

Fuller, Thomas, 287.

Fund for Foreign Needs, 266,

Funerals, 241.

Galenists," 221.
Garbage Cart," 127,

Hard Mennonites, 135, 207.

Harnack, 1.

Hase on the French Revolution,
274-

Henry VIII, 179, 285, 286, 288.

Hilversum, Hendrick van, 89.

Hitzer, Lewis, 159.

Hoffman, Melchior: case against, 52;
chiliasm of, 64, 67; on baptism,
185; on grace, 174; on incarna-
tion, 147, 160-162, 170; sketch of,
47-53.

Hoffmanites, 64, 73, 96, 97, 189,
196, 217.

Holiman, Wolfgang, 180.

Homster Peace, the, 133.

Hortensius, Lambertus, 8, 63.

Housebuyers, 135.

House of Love, 57, 58, 88.

Houtsagher, Pieter, 102.

Huber, 207.

Hiibmayer, Balthasar, 30, 37, 39.

Huidekooper, 246.

Humanism, 10, 23.

Hutter, Johannes, 30, 36.

Hutterites, 37.

306

INDEX

Iconoclasm, 22.

Immersion, 176-186 passim, 239,252,
■257. 289, 290.

Incarnation, the, 82.

Individualism of Anabaptists, 136,
152, 196, 209.

Indulgences, 9.

Infant baptism, 52, 60, 82, 120, 181,
186, 187, 225.

Influence of Anabaptists on En-
gland, 46, 282, 294.

Inquisition, 9, 93, 141.

Institutions of Anabaptists, 268-273.

Intermarriage forbidden by Gronin-
gers, 227.

Irenseus, 187.

Jacques, 153. i59» ^72, 184, 206,
211.

Jan Jacobs-Gesinden, 232.

Jans, Michael, 130, 132.

Janssen, 276.

Jeens, Wytze, 260.

Joesten, Leonard, and wife, 52.

John of Leyden: antecedents of, 74;
arrives at Miinster, 69, 74; capture
and death of, 81; hypocrisy of,
78; "King David," 77, 78; kills
his wife, 79; mentioned, 11, 69,
159; theology of, 82.

Jooskint, 159.

Joris, David: books of, forbidden,
55; heresies of, 54; industry of,
54; sketch of, 47-53; teachings of,
56.

Keller, Ludwig, on Reformation, 7,

40, 67, 69, 71, 73-
Kerkhof, Cornelius, 86.
Kersenbroick, 69.
Kistemaker, A., 87.
Knipperdolling, B., 73, 74, 78, 83.
Kolyn, P., 90.

Koningstein, Louis von, 141.
Krechting, 83.

Kuenen, A., 278.
Kuyper, A., 211.

Lagarde, 22.

" Lammists," 222, 233, 245-247, 270.

Leeghwater, J. A., 244.

Leyden, attempts on, 85, 86.

Lezius, Professor, 283.

Liberalism among Mennonites, 281.

Libertines, 56.

Liga Salutaria, 25.

Limborch, 269.

Lofton, 182.

Lollards, i8r.

Louvain, 9.

Luther, 29, 43, 44, 63, 67, loi, 107,

108, 174, 186, 192, 209.
Lutheranism in Holland, 48, 139,

198, 276.

Maclaine, testimony of, concerning
the Mennonites, 208.

Magistrates, views of Anabaptists
as to, 211, 212.

Male membership of Anabaptist
churches, 227.

Manz, Felix, 30-35.

Marnix van Aldegonde, 53.

Marriage: Anabaptist rules as to,
191, 192, 204, 231, 232, 241;
Luther on, 192; spiritual, 57.

Martyrs, 42, 137-144, 197.

Mary, mother of Jesus, in Anabap-
tist theology, 161-171.

Masson, Professor, 212.

Matthysz, John, 20, 68, 74, 76, 78,
84, 8s, 97. 102, 226.

Maurice of Nassau, 249, 264.

Meerlanders, 126.

Melanchthon, 26, 29, 44.

Menno. (See " Simons, Menno.")

Mennonite Contributions, 273.

Mennonites: and Anabaptists, 94,
217; and Napoleon, 274, 275;
names of, 219-242 passim; nick-
names given to, no.

Mennonite Waterlandians, 233-238
passiin.

INDEX

307

Merschraan, Friedrich, 70.

Merula, Angelus, 14.

Meyndish, Arends Meyn, 208.

Micron, 15, 119, 158, 171.

Mierevelt, 244.

Ministry, the, among Anabaptists,
213, 230, 232.

Modalism, 154.

Modernism, 277-280.

Mollenbeke, H., 77.

Morality among Anabaptists, 214.

Moravian, Anabaptists, 65.

Miinster: a cave of Adullam, 75;
effect of fanaticism in, 20, 83;
fall of, 81; fate of harem, 81;
plans for relief of, 79, 80; reign
of terror in, 77; tragedy of, 65,
67, 69, 84, 93, 144, 197, 214.

" Miinsterites," 65, 74, 98, 102, 112.

Miinzer, Thomas: conditions favor-
ing success of, 25; echo of, 64;
influence of, 26; relation of, to
Anabaptists, 25-28.

Naked-runners, 58, 88.

Names of sects, 194, 210, 216-242

passim.
Neal, 160.

New Jerusalem, the, 50, 69. •
Newman, A. H., 176, 181, 289.
Newman, Cardinal, 96.
Netherlands, religious conditions in,

67.

Nicolai, 171, 190, 226.
Nieuwenhuis, Tjerk, 270.
Niewenhuizen, Jan, 271.
Niklaes, H., 55, 88, 126, 214.
Nismes, council of, 178.
Numerical strength of Anabaptists,
282.

Oath, Anabaptists' refusal to take

an, 209, 233.
Offer des Heeren, Het, 142, 206.
Oldenbameveldt, Johann of, 249.
Ophoorn, J. van, 134.
Opzoomer, Professor, 278.

Origin, 187.
Original sin, 171.

Orphans, care of, among Anabap-
tists, 231, 281.
Otius, 18, 103.

Oude Klooster, 85, 87, 102, 107.
Outerman, Jacques, 135.

Pacifism, 231, 281.

Parr, Catherine, 284.

Pastor, Adam: Cramer's estimate of,
59; on grace, 175; on the incar-
nation, 163, 166; on the oath, 210;
on the Trinity, 155, 256, 258;
sketch of, 58-60.

Pastoral calls by Anabaptist minis-
ters, 241.

Pastorites, 59, 126.

Pastors of the Anabaptists, 213, 230,
232.

Peasants, 21-25 passim.

Peasant War, 28.

Peculiar view-points of Anabaptists,
209.

Pelagianism, 173.

Persecutions, 33-40, 42-46, 137-144,
259.

Petrobrusians, 17.

Philip II, 140.

Philips, Derek: and individualism,
152; banned, 134; banned others,
i37> 190, 191; character of, 115;
Enchiridion of (see " Enchiri-
dion ") ; influence of, 192, 193,
197; on baptism, 102, 186; on
education, loi, 267; on the incar-
nation, 165, 168; on personal
judgment, 152; on the Supper,
188; on the Trinity, 157; polemics
of, 117; sketch of, 1 01-106; talents
of, loi; writings of, 6, 105, 131.

Philips, Obbe: banned, 98; baptism
of, 97; baptized Menno Simons,
97, 108; " Confession " of, 6, 98-
100; no fanatic, 98; sketch of, 96-

lOI.

Pieters, Ebbe, 129, 130.
Pieters, Wybe, 260.

308

INDEX

Polygamy, 77, 82.

Prayers, 228, 238,

Preachers, 229, 237.

Preaching, 228, 238.

Present condition of Anabaptists,

280.
Priesthood, exactions of, 21.
Printing-press, invention of, 22.
Prisons, 140-
Prophesyings, 29.
Psalmsinging among Anabaptists,

228.
Puritans, 189, 194, 292.
Purity of lives of Anabaptists, 205-

209.

Quakers, 292, 294. "

Racovian Catechism, 257, 258.

Radicalism, 47.

Radicalism of Anabaptists, 282.

Rauf, 120, 172.

Ravenna, council of, 178, i79.

Reformed Church, 144. MS. 146,
198, 231, 247, 259-265, 278, 281.

Religious liberty, 146, i47, 212.

Rembrandt a Mennonite? 244.

Remonstrance of 1610, 248.

Remonstrant Doopsgezinden, 233-
235, 248, 255, 268.

Remonstrants, 248, 268, 276, 278.

Renin, Hoyte, 195.

Reputation of Mennonites, 244.

Revolutionary movements in Hol-
land, 84.

Rhynsburgers, 251, 257, 289.

Rittinghausen, William, 266,

Roll, Hendrick, 5, 13, 74, 185,
188.

Roscius, A. J., 244.

Rottman, 71, 73, 74. 102.

Roublin, W., 30, 31.

Rues and his work, 8, 18, 218,
223.

Riischer, Rubert, killed by Matthysz,
76.

Ruysdael a Mennonite, 244.

Sabius, Jacobus, 14.

Sacraments, 176-189, 228, 238-241.

"Sacrifice of the Lord," 142, 153,
154, 198, 206.

Salvation, doctrine of, 173-176.

Sandius, 163.

Sattler, Michael, 19, 28, 32, 37, 38,
188.

Schabalje, J. P., 244.

Schagen, M., 246.

Scheffer, De Hoop, 32, 124, 131,
176, 180.

Schisms, the era of, 1 18-137.

Scholarship, love for, 267.

Scholten, D., 27S.

Schroeder, Johann, 74.

Schyn, Hermannus, 8, 104, 112, 138,
157, 201, 204, 214, 215, 219, 246.

Scriptures, study of, by Anabaptists,
121, 152, 199.

Seminary at Amsterdam, 268, 269,
272.

Shoemaker, Herman, 86.

Simons, Menno: activities of, 68,
no; and baptism, 107, 115; and
the "Fine," 220; baptism of, in,
226; chief doctrines of, 114;
Cramer's estimate of, 114; last
days of, no; later estimate of,
258; mentioned, 59, 88, 103;
monument for, in; on the ban,
190; on Christ, 165-168; on mag-
istrates, 211; on rebaptism, 115;
on the Trinity, 156; ordained, 97;
parentage of, 106; perils of, 109,
114; picture of, 112; polemic of,
117; principal works of, 116;
sketch of, 1 06-118; work accom-
plished by, 29, 116.

Slovenly Mennonites, 207.

Smyth and Helwys on magistrates,
212.

Social standing of Anabaptists, 242,
246.

Society after Crusades, 21.

Society for Public Good, 271.

Society for the Mennonites of the
Dispersion, 281.

INDEX

309

Socinianism, 157, 180, 256, 268,

289.
Socinus, Laelius, and Faustus, 257.
Soft Mennonites, 135.
Sources used in this history, 4.
Spalatin, 70.
Sparendam meeting, 92.
Spiritual marriage, 57.
State Church of Holland, 246.
Stinstra, John Simons, 262.
Strabo, Walifridius, 178.
Strassburg, 49, 52, 53, 180.
Strassburg Compromise, 168.
Strassburg Disputation, 44, 51.
Strength of Mennonites in the eight*

eenth century, 244-247.
Stubner, 29.
Sunnists, 222, 233, 245.
Supper, the, 38, 82, 169, 187, 188,

229, 235, 240.
Supranaturalism, 277.
Swiss Anabaptists: leaders of, 30;

mode of baptism of, 29, 31, 180;

scattered, 40; sketch of, 28-40.
Synods, 241.

Valentine, 166,

Van Aken, Gielis, 117, 118.

VanBracht, T. J., 17, 19.

Van Ceulen, Pieter, 100, 133.

Van Dale, A. C, 244.

Van der Goes, J. C, 244,

Van der Heyden, J., 251.

Van der Kodde, J., 251.

Van der Meulen, Quyryn and Jacob,

133.
Van Geelen, Jan, 87-91 passim.
Van Ghent, Carel, 6, 42, 122, 123,

132, 198, 217.
Van Hooghstraten, Jacob, 10, 23.
Van Ophoorn, Jan, 134.
Van Voordt, Cornelius, 104.
Vedder, H. C, 2, 46, 47, 66, 282,

289.
Vennema, Professor, 262.
Veluanus, Anastasius, 13, 14, 22,

124, 151, 159, 217.
Views of life, Anabaptist, 199.
Volkerts, Jan (Trypmaker), 50, 53,

67.

Taxes, unequal distribution of, 21.
Ten Gate, 42, 198, 246, 273.
Terrorist - National Convention,

274.

TertuUian, 178, 187.

Tetzel, 9.

Teyler Institute, 270.

Teyler, Pieter, 271.

Tinnegieter, Jeroen, 129, 130.

Tjommes, Pieke, 260.

Tolerance, and the progress of Ana-
baptists, 245.

Trinity, the doctrine of the, 60, 61,
109, 154, 278.

Trypmaker, Jan, 50, 53, 67,

Ukke-Wallists, 220.

Union of Utrecht, 212, 254.

Unitarians, 180,

United Mennonite Society, 272.

Wagenaar, 141, 146, 148.

Waldenses and Anabaptists: advo-
cates of identity of, 17, 181; dif-
ferences between, 16-18; discus-
cussion of relation between, 21;
Pyper on relation between, 106.

Waldshutt, 30.

Warfield, B. B., 176, 177.

Wassenburg preachers, 185.

Waterlandians, 126, 167, 170, 182,
201, 207, 220, 221, 224, 232-236,
238, 24:0, 253, 254, 268, 283, 290.

Westminster Assembly, 183.

Whitsitt, 289, 290.

Wigs, 227.

Willems, Jan, 195.

William of Orange, 141, 146-148,
207.

William III, 291.

Women, place of, among Anabap-
tists, 17, 214, 216.

310

INDEX

Worship among the '
Wybo, Joris, 158.
Wyclif, 181.

* Coarse,"

238.

" Young " and " Old '
Ypres, 95.

' Frisians,

13s.

Zand 't, 85, 36.
Zichenis, 40.
ZoUikon, 31, 189.
Zondagsbode, De, 281.
Zwickau, 26, 27, 29, 44.
Zwingli, 30-36 passim, 41, 44*

Date Due

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Full text of "The Dutch Anabaptist; the Stone lectures delivered at the Princeton theological seminary, 1918-1919"

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