Chapter 10 Anabaptists
On January 21, 1525, fifteen born-again believers met in a home in Zurich, Switzerland, and were led by the Holy Spirit to study the New Testament. This led them to the conviction that believer's baptism was God's will.
Near Zurich on a cold and dark night, they first put this conviction into practice. Possibly few of the men realized that this night would be one looked upon by Baptist brethren all over the world as a first flickering of a great light.
An account that bears the earmarks of an eyewitness describes the event.
"And it came to pass that they were together until anxiety came upon them, yes, they were so pressed within their hearts. Thereupon they began to bow their knees to the Most High God in heaven and called upon him as the Informer of Hearts and they prayed that he would give them his divine will and that he would show his mercy upon them. For flesh and blood and human forwardness did not drive them, since they well knew what they would have to suffer on account of it.
"After the prayer, George of the House of Jacob stood up and besought Conrad Grebel for God's sake to baptize him with the true Christian baptism upon his faith and knowledge. And when he had knelt down with such request and desire, Conrad baptized him, since at that time there was no ordained minister to perform such work" (From The Anabaptist Story, William Estep, page 8).
This was the birth of Anabaptism. This movement is as severely maligned as it was fiercely persecuted. Until recent years, even Christian historians, following the lead of highly partisan accounts in the writings of Ulrich Zwingli, Justus Menius, Heinrich Bullinger and Christopher Fischer, and even the milder but erroneous accounts of Luther and Melancthon, attributed to all of the Anabaptists the errors and eccentricities of some of the more unstable men with this name. Because of this unhappy journalism, the entire Anabaptist movement has been labeled by many to be largely heretical, and we did not even have to wait for Roman Catholic scholars to so describe it.
Priest Markoe does supply us with some "information." He says, "Nicholas Stork (sic), a weaver (d. 1525) and Thomas Munzer (sic), a Lutheran preacher and priest (c.1490-1525), made, at the time of the so-called reformation, the first attacks on infant baptism, and thus launched the Anabaptist movement. They denied the validity of infant baptism; practiced communism and polygamy; and condemned oaths and warfare as unlawful."
We could not allow such charges to go unanswered, so, starting with Markoe's own assertions, we will briefly examine Anabaptism.
Nicolaus Storch and Thomas Muntzer were the Zwicklau prophets. They claimed special revelation, and had one thing in common with the Anabaptists. They shared antipathy to reformation by civil authority or by the pope. However, they did not share the Anabaptists' emphasis on restoring New Testament truth, nor did they practice believer's baptism.
As has been previously stated, the Anabaptist groups of the 16th century were not, as Markoe charges, the first to attack infant baptism. Markoe himself lists several groups which denied infant baptism - the Manicheans (3rd century), the Bogomilists (11th century), the Petrobrosians (12th century), and their Albigenses (13th century).
Having demonstrated the shallowness of Markoe's attacks, let us try to unravel some history and find out exactly who these Anabaptist brethren were, and what they taught. Naturally, the name then, and even more now, includes some heresy and much uncertainty, but we can ask some very relevant questions about the inheritance received through people like these.
Anabaptism came from the Zwinglian Reformation in Zurich. A number of Zwingli's followers were impatient at what they felt to be his slowness to achieve full reformation, and the afore-mentioned Conrad Grebel insisted that the preachers be given detailed instructions as to the abolition of the Mass. Zwingli replied that this was not his to do. The matter had to be resolved in the City Council, but this did not satisfy the more radical Reformers. The basic disagreement was whether to wait for the civil authorities to enact Reformation laws or to go about in an independent fashion as the Lord led.
Another bone of contention was infant baptism. Zwingli held that it was scriptural, and when the City Council in January 1525, vindicated Zwingli's position, the die was cast. The baptism of all unbaptized children was commanded by a city ordinance leading to the meeting mentioned in the first paragraphs of this chapter.
All historians admit it was not safe to be an Anabaptist. Any deviation from whatever church was established in a given territory was considered treason because of the linking of church and state. Rebaptism, sedition, anarchy, blasphemy, sacrilege and hypocrisy were lumped together indiscriminately under the label of treason. Many times all that was necessary was to be accused of being an Anabaptist, and these folks fared about the same under Catholic, Lutheran or Reformed persecution.
The first Anabaptist known to have died for his faith was Eberli Bolt, a preacher who was burned at the stake at the hands of Roman Catholic authorities on May 19, 1525. This was the beginning of a persecution which would wax and wane through over three centuries. The number who died will never be known. Those we have chronicled by various historians testify to the price of being an Anabaptist.
One of the earliest Anabaptist heroes was the same Conrad Grebel who performed the historic baptism in January 1525. Once a thorough-going humanist, Grebel's early life and schooling are full of stormy sessions and very noticeable "works of the flesh." A marriage which he thought would bring him fullness of joy turned out not only to be a nightmare for him, it alienated his mother because he had married below his social state. All this was changed, when, on an unknown date in early 1522, II Corinthians 5:17 became a reality for Conrad Grebel - he became a new creature in Christ.
After his conversion, under the tutelage of Ulrich Zwingli, Grebel became a true soldier of the Cross. He owed much to "Master Ulrich", but he owed much more to the Word of God. When the question of infant baptism was raised in the Zurich area, although not the first to break ranks, Conrad stood by the truths of the Word of God and was clearly at odds with his mentor. Since he was then used to initiate believer's baptist, Grebel became a champion of this movement.
Conrad Grebel had only twenty months as an active Anabaptist preacher. During this time, he was repeatedly imprisoned, and he suffered increasingly poor health which at last caused him to succumb to the plague. But his accomplishments during this time were nothing short of phenomenal.
He went from house to house witnessing, baptizing and conducting the Lord's Supper according to the teachings of the group called the Swiss Brethren. Although accused of communism, they merely taught that every Christian should share his wealth with others, a thought certainly not foreign to fundamentalist thinking today.
A former monk, Wolfgang Ulimann, was converted and requested believer's baptism by Grebel, but "not out of a platter." Therefore they both went down into the Rhine River, where Grebel put Ulimann "under the waters of the river and covered him over." True baptism by immersion had begun only a few months after the Anabaptist movement had started.
A climax to the impasse growing between the official Reformers of Zurich under Zwingli and the Anabaptists came on April 5, 1525, when Grebel baptized hundreds of people in the Sitter River. Fearing imprisonment Conrad, still in poor health, went into hiding for several months. When he emerged, he ministered for four months in Gruningen, his boyhood home. The great success of this work was suddenly halted by his imprisonment in October 1525.
False accusations abounded, but these perverted accounts were sufficient to have Grebel sentenced to an indefinite term of imprisonment. Others were imprisoned, and during the long winter months, the Zurich tower rang with the songs of praise and prayers of these Anabaptists.
During this time, Grebel prepared a manuscript on baptism, which, after great difficulty, was finally published. However, when he first requested its publication, this audacity provoked the authorities to try Grebel again and sentence him, and others, to life imprisonment. On the same day, a law was passed that made the act of performing baptism a crime punishable by death.
Two weeks after his imprisonment, Grebel escaped, and got the manuscript printed. Zwingli saw the first copy of it in 1527, but by this time, Conrad Grebel, never physically strong, became a victim of the plague, probably in August 1526.
The sum total of Grebel's life might be summed up thus by a skeptic: a few sermons, many letters, imprisonments, a few baptisms, one manuscript on baptism printed, much poverty, misunderstanding at home and rejection by his home town, less than 2 years of active ministry. But, to the believer who knows the ways in which God works (see I Corinthians 1:27,28), he made a contribution to the Anabaptist movement that still lives on.
Others of importance in the earliest days of Anabaptists must be briefly noted. One of the original group was Felix Manz. It was from his house that the small group went forth to perform the first "re-baptism."He was active in house to house witnessing and in the work of the first Anabaptist church in Zurich. He was constantly imprisoned; it is said that hardly a prison in the vicinity of his labors escaped being honored by his presence. These included two prisons in Zurich and three others in the nearby countryside.
Ferdinand, the Catholic King of Austria, had declared that the best antidote to Anabaptism was "the third baptism." By this he meant drowning, and it was indeed a means often used. Felix Manz has the distinction of being the first Anabaptist to die at the hands of Protestants and the first to die in Zurich.
His condemnation read, "Manz shall be delivered to the executioner, who shall tie his hands, put him into a boat, take him to the lower hut, there strip his bound hands down over his knees, place a stick between his knees and arms, and thus push him into the water and let him perish in the water; thereby he shall have atoned to the law and justice." This took place on Saturday, January 5, 1527.
Through a defense, Manz wrote in defense of the Anabaptist position, his witness for Christ can come to us. He wrote, "Love to God through Christ shall alone avail and subsist; but boasting, reviling and threatening shall fail. The unadulterated love of Christ puts to flight the enemy - I hereby resolve that I will remain faithful to Christ, and put my trust in him who knows my every distress, and is mighty to deliver."
The man who had implored Conrad Grebel to baptize him in January 1525, was George Blaurock, described as a "tall, powerful figure with fiery eyes, black hair and a small bald spot." His aggressiveness won him the nickname "strong George." His surname, Blaurock, came from the fact that on one occasion he wore a blue coat (Blaurock) and the designation stuck to him. But his reputation was more aptly stated by Zwingli, who called him "a fool, who in his presumption counted no one a child of God unless he was a `madman' like himself."
Manz and Blaurock worked closely together, and on the day that Manz was drowned, Blaurock was stripped to the waist and severely beaten. He was expelled from Zurich and never returned. Wherever he went, he found a fruitful ministry and severe persecutions. Finally, he was taken into custody by Innsbruck authorities, and was charged with not maintaining infant baptism, rejecting Mass and confession, and disallowing the worship of the mother of Christ. On his way to his execution, he spoke to the people, exhorting them to turn to the scriptures. He was burned at the state on September 6, 1529.
It could truly be said that martyrdom became a way of life for the Anabaptists. Because records are fragmentary, it is difficult to assess how many were actually put to death for their stand on the Word of God. They fell by the multiplied thousands. One Catholic leader was quoted as saying, "What shall I do, the more I execute, the more they increase." In some areas the Anabaptist movement was stamped out, but in others the testimony of the martyrs led to great growth. Among all the martyrs, some died at the stake, others by drowning. Some were called to endure a more painful death, as Michael Sattler, who was "committed to the executioner, (who) shall take him to the square and there first cut out his tongue, and then forge him fast to a wagon and there with glowing iron tongues twice tear pieces from his body, then on the way to the site of execution five times more as above and then burn his body to powder as an arch-heretic."
Sattler, who had given a true and skillful testimony at the trial, was thus handled. Even after the pieces were torn from his body and a part of his tongue cut out, Sattler still prayed for his persecutors and admonished the officials to repent and be converted. As he was dying, Sattler raised the two forefingers of his hands giving the signal to the brethren, as he had arranged, that a martyr's death was bearable. From his seared lips, the crowd heard him say, "Father, I commend my spirit into Thy hands." Then he fell asleep.
There has always been a great deal of misunderstanding about just what Anabaptists believed. Much of this is because their enemies distorted their writings, and often classed complete heretics and loonies as Anabaptists to discredit the group. Just because a person re-baptizes does not mean he is saved, as anyone in the 20th century who knows of Campbellite heresy can understand. Many of our Catholic friends today even class Jehovah's Witnesses as fundamentalists because of their decided cleavage from Roman Catholic heresy (e.g., Karl Keating/Bart Brewer debate). But one thing we can know for sure about the Anabaptists is that they did receive commendation for their lives and faith even from their enemies.
In 1527, Capiuto, a leading Reformation minister in Strassburg said, "I frankly confess that in most (Anabaptists) there is in evidence piety and consecration and indeed a zeal which is beyond any suspicion of insincerity."
Franz Agricola, a Roman Catholic theologian, wrote, "As concerns their outward public life they are irreproachable. No lying, deception, swearing, strife, harsh language, no intemperate eating and drinking, no outward personal display, is found among them, but humility, patience, uprightness, neatness, honesty, temperance, straightforwardness in such measure that one would suppose that they had the Holy Spirit of God."
Much has been written about the "communistic" leanings of the Anabaptists. Unkind and untrue things have been deduced, and this has added to some of the charges of fanaticism and heresy with which these Christians are labeled. First of all, it must be understood that these people were coming out of backgrounds in which totally unscriptural practices were being taught. A great number of the early Anabaptist leaders were converted priests who had now come to a fuller appreciation of scripture.
We could cite practices that seem to indicate they went overboard on some issues, but if some of these brethren went too far, is that more of a crime than that of some other Reformers who didn't go far enough, and retained two "sacraments" as well as a concept of a hierarchal church that, for political expediency, was wedded to the State?
Many of the early Anabaptists practiced foot-washing, as they had a fervent desire to follow the scriptures entirely. Others, notably the Moravian Hutterites, had a strong desire to practice communal living, and, even though this often had real problems, was arrived at in a most sincere and biblical fashion.
Peter Riedemann, a Moravian Hutterite Anabaptist, wrote a simple confession of faith, in which a comparatively brief treatment of communal living is presented. Reidemeann is obviously giving arguments to sanction the practice, as was then quite common among his group.
Reidemann felt that the concern for personal gain, which finds expression in the desire to possess things, was not a mirror of man's original sinless state. Such a desire is an expression of man's depraved, unregenerate nature. Man was not created to appropriate God's creation for his own personal ends, Reidemann continued, and as this is the way of the world, a true disciple of Christ cannot conform to the world. Therefore, he who will not forsake private property cannot be a disciple of Christ. Then the example of the Jerusalem church is brought to bear as the clinching argument, and hence, the community of goods is held to be a necessity for true Christian living.
Most Christians today could not swallow all of that, yet the abiding principle that what we have is not our own is New Testament teaching, and wealth is only excusable if it is used for others. So while the result may have been different, there is a common bond of practical living that tells us the communal living of the Hutterites was certainly not all bad.
When most of Europe was still illiterate, the Hutterites had an excellent school system, and education was compulsory. They believed the continuation of their movement needed educated people who could live their Christian lives according to the New Testament.
The Hutterites (their name came after the death of Jacob Hutter, one of their early leaders) were also not without fierce persecution. In late 1539, the Roman Catholic authorities chained ninety able-bodied Hutterite men and sent them on a long journey by foot to Trieste, where they were to become galley slaves. However, God intervened, and 78 of these men escaped and returned to their homeland with much rejoicing.
Melchior Hoffman was the first man to introduce Anabaptist teaching into the Netherlands. In his early years, he was a devoted disciple of Martin Luther, but on April 30, 1530 at approximately the age of 35, he was baptized into the Strassburg Anabaptist brotherhood. Less than two months after his baptism, he is recorded as having had phenomenal success in his preaching endeavors, publicly baptizing about 300 people. The authorities were very angry at this, and he was opposed vehemently, which caused him to write The Ordinance Of God, defending his views on Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
However, within a few years, his eschatology began to become more and more sensational. A fellow Anabaptist had prophesied that Hoffman would perform the role of John the Baptist in the return of Christ, which was to occur in less than two years. Hoffman became convinced that this was true, and that he himself had to be imprisoned in Strassburg, which God had chosen to be the New Jerusalem.
At his instigation, he was arrested, and awaited Christ's return from his cell in Strassburg. Although his lack of sound theology instigated others to more fanaticism, Hoffman himself was not to blame for what occurred. Indeed, he pined away in prison while two unscrupulous opportunists, Jan Matthys (who called himself Enoch) and Jan of Lwyden (who called himself King David) became leaders. Hoffman became the forgotten man and died in prison in 1543, ten long years after he had cheerfully entered prison to await God's deliverance in a matter of months.
Under Enoch and King David, visions and revelations multiplied and it was discovered that the New Jerusalem was to be Munster, not Strassburg. The wildness of the new "truths created an atmosphere quite unlike that of the general Anabaptist, which was riveted in God's Word. The only thing Matthys and Jan of Lyden had in common with Anabaptists was their "re-baptizing."
However, much of Holland's Anabaptist community was caught up in the fanaticism of Munster. It looked like the whole movement which had started so scripturally was to be discredited by a group of fanatics and succeeded in swaying many in the Lowlands. Finally, however, rationality started to prevail.
An Anabaptist group motivated by scriptural teaching, excommunicated the Munsterites. Obbe Phillips, who previously had joined in with the revelations, became more and more disillusioned with the Munsterites. He was among the first Dutch Anabaptist to champion the non-violent, anti-Munsterite Anabaptist party in the Netherlands. He also ordained Menno Simons.
Menno Simons, for whom the Mennonites were named, is erroneously called by Markoe the founder of the Mennonites. That he was the most influential and fruitful is not questioned. He eventually renounced the Catholic Church, left the priesthood and cast aside comfortable life for that of a hounded, hunted heretic. This decision to stand for the Lord in the Anabaptist camp came while the remembrance of Munster was still upon the hearts of most people.
Menno Simons' great influence was due not so much to the profundity of his theology as the warmth of his personality and his administrative ability. His influence of Dutch Anabaptists was such that their history could well be recorded in three periods: before Menno, under Menno and after Menno.
During his time as a Catholic priest, Menno had had an education in keeping with that of an ordinary parish priest of the day. The Bible was an unknown book to him, in fact, he testifies to not having read the Bible because he feared it might mislead him. But he finally was drawn to the New Testament to resolve difficulties in his mind, and he soon found out about the emptiness of Romanism.
Everything he read in the scriptures became a part of his preaching ministry while he was still a priest. However, it wasn't until he heard of the martyrdom of an otherwise unknown Anabaptist, one Sicke Snijer, that he seriously studied the scriptures, and came away with theological discoveries that were to shape his life, and the life of the movement which afterward took his name.
At first, his efforts resulted in a defense of the faith against the Munsterites who, he said, possessed zeal without knowledge. However, he saw in them a devotion which he did not possess, and the agony of his soul in a fresh Anabaptist persecution was one of the goads which God was using to draw this man into the truth.
Three hundred Anabaptists, including Menno's brother, sought refuge at the Old Cloister, but rather than receive protection, they were put to death. He wrote, "The blood of these people, although mislead, fell hot on my heart."
In April 1535, Menno was truly converted, but all of the events of the past years were to be used of God to transform him into a servant that could and would be mightily used of God.
For nine months, he attempted to preach the Gospel from his Roman Catholic pulpit, but finally his timidity was overcome by the sheer impossibility of what he was doing. His testimony was, "Then I, without constraint, of a sudden, announced all my worldly reputation, name and fame, my unchristian abominations, my masses, infant baptism, and poverty under the heavy cross of Christ."
Immediately, God used him among local Anabaptists. Some who were still under some of the false prophecies which had plagued the Munsterites, were brought back to the faith of Christ by Menno. It is unknown just when he was baptized, but on October 24, 1536, Herman and Gerritt Jans were arrested and charged with having given lodging to Mr. Menno Simons.
Menno was ordained probably in 1537, and immediately he began an active ministry among the Anabaptists. His testimony of life as an Anabaptist preacher was not exaggerated. He wrote, "I with my poor, weak wife and children have for eighteen years endured anxiety, oppression affliction, misery and persecution. Yes, when the preachers repose on easy beds and soft pillows, we generally have to hide ourselves in out-of-the-way corners. We have to be on guard when a dog barks for fear the arresting officer has arrived. In short, while they are gloriously rewarded for their services with large incomes and good times, our recompense and portion be it fire, sword and death" (Writings, Menno Simons, p. 674).
An edict had been published in 1539 commanding all Anabaptists to leave the province. Menno fled to Friesland, and resumed his ministry. There, he was given hospitality by Tjard Reynerds, who was repaid by the authorities by being arrested, broken on the wheel, and executed. Menno became so notoriously an Anabaptist leader that pardon was offered to any Anabaptist then in confinement who would deliver Menno into their hands, but no traitors were forthcoming.
Charles V, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, then published an edict against Menno and placed a price of a hundred gold guilders on his head. People were warned against giving him shelter, and any known followers were to be arrested immediately. Complete pardon for any crime was promised to anyone delivering Menno into the hands of the authorities.
Hunted from pillar to post, Menno labored near Amsterdam for the next two years, and even found time to write. During this period, he wrote Christian Baptism, Foundation Of Christian Doctrine and True Christian Faith.
In 1543, he left Holland and finished his life's work in comparative peace in Northern Germany. He died in 1561.
As early as 1544, the term "Mennonite" was used in a letter from John a Lasco, a Reformed minister, to Countess Anna. He asked for a more lenient policy toward the Mennonite party, which he distinguished from other more fanatical Anabaptist groups, although these are generally included indiscriminately with the more biblical Anabaptism of Menno and other biblical leaders.
Menno combated these fanatical groups, and was successful in leading the Anabaptists through the treacherous waters of these false doctrines, some of which were merely a remnant of the Munsterite heresy.
Menno held to the scriptural truths we embrace today as fundamentalists, but it was with a heavy heart that he had to exercise biblical discipline against others who, although they came out of the Roman priesthood, fell by the way into false doctrine. It is these false doctrines that are often mistakenly thought to have been the general faith of the Anabaptists, when in actual fact they were aberrations that were severely dealt with by Menno and the other Anabaptist leaders.
He died in early 1561, at the age of 65, having spent 40 years in Roman Catholic darkness and 25 years as a Christian. His ministry was comparatively long for Anabaptists, and it seems the Lord kept him on the scene for this period of time to cement together much of what could have crumbled due to the Munsterite fiasco, but which God wanted to use as a foundation upon which to build a biblical baptistic witness in the world.