ANABAPTISTS

From Agepedia

ANABAPTISTS (from the Greek ara and panTliw) ; a name given to a Christian sect by their adversaries, because they objected to infant baptism; they baptized again those who joined their sect, and hence their name. It is certain that infant baptism was not customary in the earliest period of the Christian church. (See Baptism.) In the middle ages, it was declared invalid by many dissenting parties, as the Petrobusians, Catharists, Picards, &c.; but in the prevailing church, for important reasons, it was retained. In 1521, when the progress of the reformation had opened the way to new opinions, some enemies of infant baptism appeared at Zwickau, in Saxony, united partially with the rebels in the peasants' war, and were completely separated, by their lawless fanaticism, from the Protestant cause. (See Miinster.) With the baptism of adults, performed even by laymen, they connected principles subversive of all religious and civil order. They acknowledged neither ecclesiastical nor civil authority; and attempted to bring about a perfect equality of all Christians. The vast increase of their adherents from the year 1524, especially among the common people on the Rhine, in Westphalia, Holstein, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, was soon met by severe measures on the part of the magistrates. After 1525, imperial and ecclesiastical decrees were issued against the Anabaptists in Germany, and many were put to death, after being urged to recant. The same happened in Switzerland and in the Netherlands. Still, new associations of this sect were perpetually formed by itinerant prophets and teachers; and their doctrines consisted of the following propositions: "Impiety prevails every where. It is therefore necessary that a new family of holy persons should be founded, enjoying, without distinction of sex, the gift of prophecy and skill to interpret divine revelations. Hence they need no learning; for the internal word is more than the outward expression. No Christian must be suffered to engage in a legal process, to hold a civil office, to take an oath, or to hold any private property ; but all things must be in common." With such sentiments, John Bockhold, or Bockelson, a tailor of Leyden, aged 26, and John Matthias, or Matthiesen, a baker of Harlem, came, in 1533, to Miinster in Westphalia, a city which had adopted the doctrines of the reformation. Here they soon gained over a portion of the excited populace, and, among the rest, Rothmann, a Protestant clergyman, and the counsellor Knipperdolling. The magistrates in vain excluded them from the churches. They obtained possession of the councilhouse by violence. Their numbers daily increased, and, towards the end of the year, they extorted a treaty, securing the religious liberty of both parties. Being strengthened by the accession of the restless spirits of the adjacent cities, they soon made themselves masters of the town by force, and expelled their adversaries. Matthiesen came forward as their prophet, and persuaded the people to devote their gold and silver and movable property to the common use, and to burn all their books but the Bible. But in a sally against the bishop of Miinster, who had laid siege to the city, he lost his life. He was succeeded in the prophetic office by Bockhold and Knipperdolling. The churches were destroyed, and twelve judges were set over the tribes, as in Israel ; but even this form of government was soon abolished, and Bockhold, under the name of John of Leyden, raised himself to the dignity of king of New Zion (so the Anabaptists of Miinster styled their kingdom), and caused himself to be formally crowned. From this period (1534), Miinster was a theatre of all the excesses of fanaticism, lust, and cruelty. The introduction of polygamy, and the neglect of civil order, concealed from the infatuated people the avarice and madness of the young tyrant, and the daily increase of danger from abroad. Bockhold lived in princely luxury and magnificence; he sent out seditious proclamations against neighboring rulers, against the pope and Luther; he threatened to destroy with iiis mob all who differed in opinion from hitn, made himself an object of terror to his subjects by frequent executions, and, while famine and pestilence raged in the city, persuaded the wretched, deluded inhabitants to a stubborn resistance of their besiegers. The city was at last taken, Jun e 24,1535, by treachery, though not without a brave defence, in which Rothmann and others were killed, and the kingdom of the Anabaptists destroyed by the execution of the chief men. Bockhold and two of Lis most activo companions, Knipperdolling and Krechting, were tortured to death with redhot pincers, and then hung up in iron cages on St. Lambert's steeple at Miinster, as a terror to all rebels.In the mean time, some of the 26 apostles, who were sent out by Bockhold to extend the limits of his kingdom, had been successful in various places, and many independent teachers, who preached the same doctrines, continued active in the work of founding a new empire of pure Christians, and propagating their visions and revelations in the countries abovementioned. It is true that they rejected the practice of polygamy, community of goods, and intolerance towards those of different opinions, which had prevailed in Miinster: but they enjoined upon their adherents the other doctrines of the early Anabaptists, and certain heretical opinions in regard to the humanity of Christ, occasioned by the controversies of that day about the sacrament. The most celebrated of these Anabaptist prophets were Melchior Hoffmann and David Joris. The former, a furrier from Swabia, first appeared as a teacher in Kiel, in 1527; afterwards, in 1529, in Emden; and finally in Strasburg, where, in 1540, he died in prison. He formed, chiefly by his magnificent promises of a future elevation of himself and his disciples, a peculiar sect, whose scattered members retained the name of Hojfinannists, in Germany, till their remains were lost among the Anabaptists. They have never owned that Hoffmann recanted before his death. David Joris, or George, a glasspainter of Delft, born 1501, and rebaptized in 1534, showed more depth of mind and warmth of imagination in his various works. Amidst the confusion of ideas, which prevails in them, they dazzle by their elevation and fervor. In his endeavors to unite the discordant parties of the Anabaptists, he collected a party of quiet adherents in the country, who studied his works (as the Gichtelians did those of Bohme), especially his book of miracles, which appeared at Deventer in 1542, and revered him as a kind of new Messiah. Unsettled in his opinions, he travelled a long time from place to place, till, at last, to avoid persecution, in 1554, he became a citizen of Bale, under the name of John of Bruges, In 1556, aftei an honorable life^ he died there, among the Calvinists. In i 1559, his longconcealed heresy was first made public. He was accused, though without much reason, of profligate doctrines and conduct, and the council of Bale condemned him, and ordered his body to be bunu. A friend of Joris was Nicholas, the founderof the Farmlists, who do not belong, however, to the Anabaptists. After the disturbances at Minister, an opinion slowly gained ground among the Protestants, that no heretic could be punished with death unless he was guilty of exciting disturbances; hence these and similar parties of separatists were permitted to remain unmolested, provided they continued quiet. But, till after the middle of the 16th century, prophets were constantly rising up among the Anabaptists, and subverting civil order. Of the heretics executed by Alva in the Spanish Netherlands, a large proportion were Anabaptists. In fact, they were never worthy of toleration, till quiet and good order were introduced among them. The institutions of Menno were the first occasion of this change. This judicious man, about the middle of the 16th century, united them in regular societies, which formed an independent church, under the name of Mennonites, Mennists, or Anabaptists, as they are still called in the north of Germany and in Holland, imitating strictly the peculiarities of the primitive apostolical church. But he could not prevent the division, which took place among them as early as 1554, in regard to the degree of severity necessary in case of excommunication. The stricter party punished every individual transgression against morality and church order with excommunication, and carried their severity so far that near relations, even husbands and wives, were obliged to renounce all connexion with one another, in case of such punishment. The more moderate party resorted to excommunication only in case of longcontinued disobedience to the commands of the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, they never inflicted this punishment till after various kinds of warnings and reproofs (gradus admonitionis),an& even then it did not extend beyond the relation of the individual excommunicated with the church. As neither party would yield, and the strict often excluded the moderate from their communion, the Anabaptists have continued, to this day, divided into two parties. The moderate party were called Waterlanders, because their earliest congregations lived in the Waterland, on the Pampus in the north of Holland, and in Franeker. By the strict party they were styled the Gross, and even the Dungcarts, as a designation of their inferior purity. This latter party, who consisted of the Frieslanders in and about Emden, Flemish refugees (Flemingians), and Germans, called themselves the Pure (Die Feinen^ i. e. the Blessed, the Strict. Menno did not wholly adopt the excessive rigor of the Pure, nor yet would he abandon the Frieslanders, among whom he taught, Immediately after his death, in 1565, a contest broke out among the Pure, and they divided into three parties. Of these, the Flemingians were more severe and fanatical than the rest, and maintained the utmost severity in regard to excommunication ; the Frieslanders did not indeed exercise this discipline on whole congregations, nor extend the curse, in the case of individuals, to the destruction of their family relations; the Germans were distinguished from the Frieslanders only by more carefully avoiding all luxury. To the party of these Germans belonged those who were settled in Holstein, Prussia, Dantzic, the Palatinate of the Rhine, Juliers, Alsace, and Switzerland, and the numerous Anabaptists, who inhabited Moravia till the 30 years' war. In 1591, they were united again with the Frieslanders by means of the concept of Cologne, so called, or articles of faith, chiefly because their separation was injurious to commerce, in which the Anabaptists soon became much engaged. With these two sects, thus connected, after many attempts towards reconciliation and friendship, the strictest Anabaptists at length joined themselves, and certain articles of faith were adopted by the whole body. But these arrangements were insufficient to check the bitterness with which they persecuted one another. Soon after the union of the Frieslanders with the Germans, a large number of malcontents left the former, because they were displeased with this connexion and the laxness of the church discipline. Under Jan Jacob, their teacher, they constituted a separate church on the most rigid principles. They were not numerous. During the negotiations of the Flemingians with the Frieslanders, there appeared among the former a Friesland peasant, UkeWallis, who held the opinion that Judas and the highpriests were blessed, because in the murder of Jesus they had executed the designs of God. In 1637, he collected a party of individuals, who adopted this opinion, but still remained distinct from the other Anabaptists, on account of their aversion to the excessive strictness of the ancient Flemingians. The UkeWallists, or Groniiigenists, so called because the sect arose in the territory of Groningen, received the malcontents of the united parties, and therefore called themselves emphaticaPy the an c%p.nt Flemingians, or the ancient Frieslanders; but, by their adversaries, they were denominated the Dompelers,i. e. Dippers, because some of their churches used, in baptism, the threefold immersion of the whole body. The other Anabaptists, on the contrary, regarded the sprinkling of the head as sufficient. Beyond Friesland, though not numerous, they spread to Lithuania and Dantzic. The Anabaptists in Galicia, a part of the ancient Moravia, who were divided, on account of their dress, into Buttoners (those who buttoned their clothes) and Pinners (those who used wire pins instead of buttons, and wore long beards), and comprehended about 24 families of the simple countrypeople, agreed with the UkeWallists in maintaining the ancient doctrines and strict exercise of excommunication, and were distinguished for purity of morals. The ancient Flemingians, or the strictest sect of Anabaptists, persevere firmly in the ancient doctrines and practices of the sect. They reject the word person, in the doctrine of the Trinity, and explain the purity of the human nature in Christ, according to Menno, by saying, that he was created out of nothing by God, in the womb of Mary, although he was nourished by the blood of the mother. They view the baptism of their own party as alone valid, and practise the washing of feet, as an act commanded by Christ, not only towards travellers of their own party, like the Pure, but even in religious assemblies. Like Anabaptists in general, they view as improper, oaths, the discharge of civil offices, and all defence of property, liberty or life, which requires violence against their fellowmen. Hence they were formerly called, without distinction, the unarmed Christians. Only in this particular, and in churchdiscipline, are the ancient Flemingians more strict than the other Anabaptists. Immorality, the bearing of arms, marriage with a person out of their church, extravagance in dress or furniture, they punish by excommunication, without gradus admonitionis, and extend their discipline to domestic life. Those of Dantzic excluded persons who had their portraits painted, as a punishment for their vanity. Ill general, they strive to imitate, with the utmost exactness, the simplicity and purity, and the democratic government, of the earliest apostolic church, the restoration of which was originally the object of every Anabaptist. Hence they appoint their teachers by a vote of the whole church, forbid them to enjoy any political office, and place but little value on learning. In modern times, it is true, they have gradually remitted tlieir severity, and given up, in particular, the rebaptism of proselytes from other Anabaptist sects, while Christians, who have only been baptized in infancy, are admitted into any sect of the Anabaptists only after rebaptism. The Flemingians, Frieslanders and Germans, who had united, 1649, and at first belonged also to the Pure, gradually sided with the moderate party, with which they are now reckoned. A division took place in. the general church of the united Waterlanders, Flemingians, Frieslanders and Germans, in 1664, on account of the favor with which a part of them regarded the doctrines of the Remonstrants. Galenus Abrahamssohn, of Haen, a learned physician and teacher of the Anabaptists, of a gentle disposition and distinguished talents, was the leader of this new party, which was called; after him, the sect of the Galenists. He maintained that sound doctrine is less decisive of Christian worth than a pious life: and, therefore, churchcommunion should be refused to no virtuous person, believing in the Scriptures. But he betrayed, by these opinions, his Socinian views of Christ and the Holy Ghost. Samuel Apostool (also a physician and teacher of the church) and the orthodox party in it, declared themselves opposed to such innovations, and determined to maintain their ancient faith and discipline.Besides the branches of the ancient Flemingians, or the proper Pure, described above, there are now two leading parties of Anabaptists,the Apostoolians, who, from their attachment to the ancient confessions, founded on the doctrines of Menno, are called Mennonites, in a more limited use of that word; and the Galenists, who are likewise styled Remonstrants and Arminian Baptists, after Arminius, the founder of the Remonstrants. The Mennonites, as they belong to the moderate party, no longer maintain Menno's doctrine of the creation of Christ in the womb of Mary; they rebaptize no proselyte, and punish none but gross crimes with excommunication, and that not without previous warning. They do not require churchmembers utterly to avoid die excommunicated. They carefully prohibit oaths, military service, and the holding of civil offices. The confession of faith of the true Mennonites, composed by Cornelius Riss, one of their teachers, and published in German, at Hamburg, in 1776, corresponds, in annos* every point, with the doctrines of the Calvmist church.The Remonstrants have departed the most widely from the faith and order of the ancient Anabaptists. They reject all symbolical books, and permit the most unrestrained reading; hence they have among them many Socinians. They tolerate, in the bosom of the church, those of a different faith, and receive Christians of all creeds, but only in a few congregations without rebaptism. They consider the Pure and Mennonites as brethren; seldom exclude members, except from the sacrament, and this not so frequently as the latter parties; permit mihtary service, and the discharge of civil offices, and even an oath of testimony, and prohibit only the oath of promise. They allow of learning, and have erected a seminary at Amsterdam for the education of ministers, to which young men of the Mennonite party are also admitted. In Holland, the Anabaptists obtained toleration under William I, and complete religious liberty in 1626. There are now in that country 131 churches, and 183 teachers of all the parties of Anabaptists, of whom the majority belong to the Remonstrants, about one third to the Mennonites, and a few small congregations to the Pure. The Anabaptists in Germany, where they are most numerous, on the banks of the Rhine, in East Prussia, Switzerland, Alsace and Lorraine, consider themselves proper Mennonites. In the religious worship of all these parties, there is but a trifling difference from the forms of the Protestant service; but they more nearly resemble the Calvinists than the Lutherans. The Pure have elders or bishops who administer the sacraments, ministers who preach, and deacons or almoners. All these officers are chosen by the vote of the churches. The Mennonites have ministers or deacons, of whom the former are the proper pastors, and the latter only exhorters or preachers ; but botirare chosen by the ecclesiastical council or presbytery. The Remonstrants pursue a similar course. In general, the Anabaptists still deserve the praise formerly bestowed upon them, of diligence, industry, order and purity of morals. Many of them, however, have become so accustomed to the manners of the world, that the peculiarities of this sect have gradually worn away, and the sect itself seems hastening to decay. The Baptists (q. v.) in England form a distinct sect, without any j. unnexion with the successors of the ancient Anabaptists here described. ANAC HARSIS THE YOUNGER, a Scythian, and brother of the king Saulus, was a lover of wisdom and of the sciences, and esteemed one of the seven wise men of Greece. The love of knowledge induced him to leave his barbarous country, and travel among the more civilized nations. In the time of Solon, he visited Athens, from whence he proceeded to other countries. After his return, the king put him to death, in order to prevent the introduction of the effeminate manners and wor^ ship of the Greeks, which was attempted by A. (See Voyage du jeune Anacharsis f par Barthelemi; see also the translation, Travels of Anacharsis the Younger.)