and the standing or sitting posture. Some Lutheran churches retained also the elevation of the host;
Luther himself declared it a matter of indifference, and abolished it at Wittenberg in 1542.^811
§ 102. The Anabaptist Controversy. Luther and Huebmaier.
Luther: Von der Wiedertaufe, an zwei Pfarrherrn. Wittenberg, 1528. In Walch, XXVII. 2643 sqq.;
Erl. ed. XXVI. 254–294. Justus Menius: Der Wiedertäufer Lehre und Geheimniss, with a Preface
by Luther, 1530. In the Erl. ed. LXIII. 290 sqq. Melanchthon: Contra Anabaptistas Judicium,
"Corp. Reform." I. 953 sqq.
On the Baptist side the writings of Huebmaier, or, as he wrote his name, Huebmör, which are very
rare, and ought to be collected and republished. Calvary, in "Mittheilungen aus dem
Antiquariate," vol. I. Berlin, 1870, gives a complete list of them. The most important are Von
dem christlichen Tauf der Gläubigen (1525); Eine Stimme eines ganzen christlichen Lebens
(1525); Von Ketzern und ihren Verbrennern; Schlussreden (Axiomata); Ein Form des Nachtmals
Christi; Von der Freiwilligkeit des Menschen (to show that God gives to all men an opportunity
to become his children by free choice); Zwölf Artikel des christlichen Glaubens, etc.
On Huebmaier, see Schreiber in the "Taschenbuch fuer Gesch. und Alterthum Sueddeutschlands,"
Freiburg, 1839 and 40. Cunitz in Herzog’s "Encykl.," 2d ed. VI. 344. Ranke, II. 118, 126; III.
366, 369. Janssen, II. 387, 486.
All the Reformers retained the custom of infant-baptism, and opposed rebaptism (Wiedertaufe)
as a heresy. So far they agreed with the Catholics against the Anabaptists, or Catabaptists as they
were called, although they rejected the name, because in their view the baptism of infants was no
baptism at all.
The Anabaptists or Baptists (as distinct from Pedobaptists) sprang up in Germany, Holland,
and Switzerland, and organized independent congregations. Their leaders were Huebmaier, Denck,
Hätzer, and Grebel. They thought that the Reformers stopped half-way, and did not go to the root
of the evil. They broke with the historical tradition, and constructed a new church of believers on
the voluntary principle. Their fundamental doctrine was, that baptism is a voluntary act, and requires
personal repentance, and faith in Christ. They rejected infant-baptism as an anti-scriptural invention.
They could find no trace of it in the New Testament, the only authority in matters of faith. They
were cruelly persecuted in Protestant as well as Roman Catholic countries. We must carefully
distinguish the better class of Baptists and the Mennonites from the restless revolutionary radicals
and fanatics, like Carlstadt, Muenzer, and the leaders of the Muenster tragedy.
The mode of baptism was not an article of controversy at that time; for the Reformers either
preferred immersion (Luther), or held the mode to be a matter of indifference (Calvin).
Luther agreed substantially with the Roman Catholic doctrine of baptism. His Taufbuechlein
of 1523 is a translation of the Latin baptismal service, including the formula of exorcism, the sign
of the cross, and the dipping. The second edition (1526) is abridged, and omits the use of chrisma,
(^811) "Vom Anbeten des Sacraments des heil. Leichnams Christi" (1523), addressed to the Bohemians (Erl. ed. XXVIII. 389, 404, 410);
Kurzes Bekenntniss vom heil. Sacrament (1544), Erl. ed. XXXII. 420 sqq. In a letter to Buchholzer in Berlin, Dec. 4, 1539 (De Wette, V.
236), Luther reports that the elevation was given up at Wittenberg. But this must refer to the castle church, for in the parish church it
continued till June 25, 1542 when Bugenhagen abolished it. See Köstlin, II. 588 and 683.