The Dippers Dipped, Essay 2
A TRACTATE against the ANABAPTISTS.
CHAPTER I.
Of the name and severall sorts of Anabaptists.
THe name Anabaptist is derived from the preposition foreign and foreign, and signifieth are-baptizer; or at least such an one who alloweth of, and maintaineth re-baptizing; they are called also Catabaptists from the preposition foreign and foreign, signifying an abuser or prophaner of baptisme. For indeed, every Anabaptist is also a Catabaptist; the reitteration of that sacrament of our entrance into the church, and seal of our new birth in Christ is a violation and depravation of that holy ordinance.
Of these Anabaptists, or Catabaptists, who differ no more then Bavius and Maevius (of whom the poet elegantly writeth, Qui Bavium non odit, Conpen… Theol.amat tua carniua Maevi) Alstedius maketh fourteen sorts: first, the Muncerians, 2. the Apostolical, 3. the Separatists, 4 the Catharists, 25, the Silents, 6. the Enthusiasts, 7. the Libertines, 8. the Adamites, 9. the Hutites, 10. the Augustintans, 11. the Buchedians, 12. the Melchiorites, 13. the Georgians, 14. the Menonists.
But in this, as in other things, he is more to be commended for his diligence in collection, then for his judgement in election. For although there are schismaticall and hereticall persons,Guil. Malms. De gest. reg. Angli. l. 5. Mi…i debeat collectionis gratiam, sibi habeat electionis materiam. that have neer affinitie with Anabaptists, known by all these names: yet these are not so many distinct and severall sorts of Anabaptists. For some of these differ only in respect of their doctors or teachers, and not of their doctrines, as the Muncerians, Hutites, & Menonists; others were hereticks, more ancient then the Anabaptists properly so called: as namely, the Apostolicall, the Catharists, the Adamites, and Enthusiasts; though as I shall shew hereafter, some of our present Anabaptists trench upon their heresies; the Augustinians, Melchiorites, and Georgians are Anabaptists, & aliquid amplius; though they agree with them in their main doctrine of re-baptizing, yet they go beyond the ordinary Anabaptists, holding far more damnable tenents then they. For the Augustinians beleeve that none shall enter into paradise till the prince of their sect, Austine the Bohemian shall open the way. The Melchiorites expect Melchior Hofmannus to come with Elias to restore all things before the last day. The Georgians blasphemously boast, that their master David George was a holy person, composed and made of the soul of Christ, & the third person in the Trinitie. Lastly, he omitteth one sort of Anabaptists, called Hemerobaptists, who in the summer time quotidiè baptizabātur, were christened every day;Gastius De Anabapt. exord. P. 50. senserunt enim aliter non posse hominem vivere, si non singulis diebus in aqua mergeretur ita ut abluatur & sanctificetur ab omni culpô. To leave therefore these detestable Sectaries, whom to detect is to consute, and to name is everlastingly to brand; there are but three only sorts to whom that name properly and peculiarly appertaineth.
The first broached their doctrine about the year, 250. which was this; That all those who had been baptized by Novatus, or any other hereticks, ought to be re-baptized by the orthodox pastours of the church.
The second broached theirs about the year, 380. which was this; That none were rightly baptised, but those that held with Donatus, and consequently, that all other, who had received baptisme in the catholike church, by any other save those of his partie, ought to be re-baptized.
The third broached theirs in the year 1525. which was this; That baptisme ought to be administred to none, but such as can give a good account of their faith; and in case any have been baptized in their infancie, that they ought to be re-baptized after they come to years of discretion, before they are to be admitted to the church of Christ.
For the first sort, though their opinion and practise were erroneous, yet some conceive,—causas habet error honestas, that they had very plausible pretences for it; namely, that hereticks were miscreants, and had no place themselvs in the true church of God; and that therefore they had no power by their baptisme to admit any into it: that they had not the holy Ghost, and therefore could not confer the gifts thereof upon any: that they were foul themselvs how then could they by their baptisme wash others clean? foreign. Against this opinion and practise of theirs,Erasm Ad…g. Pope Stephen mainly opposed himself, and in a Synod held at Rome condemned it, as being repugnant to the tradition of the church; which, as he affirmeth, received hereticks upon their submission, & recantation of their heresies, without re-baptizing them. But St. Cyprian, a famous bishop in Africa in those dayes, and afterwards a glorious Martyr, took Pope Stephen to task, refelled his argument drawn from unwritten tradition by scripture, and in a provinciall Synod held at Carthage, whereof he was president, Anno Dom. 258. with the joynt suffrages of 87. bishops, condemns the sentence of the Roman Synod, and determines the flat contradictorie thereunto; namely, that the baptisme administred by hereticks was invalid and Null; and that all that had no better baptisme ought to be brought again to the font, and be christened anew, & no otherwayes to be accounted members of the true church. And truely Erasmus, in his Preface to his Edition of St. Cyprian, affirmeth it to be an even lay between both opinions; and that though the church in latter ages took part with Stephen, yet that they might as well have confirmed St. Cyprians opinion, without any prejudice at all to the catholike faith. Howheit, with Erasmus his good leave be it spoken, whosoever shall dive deep into the point, and ponder what St. Austine hath written in his exquisite tractates against the Donatists, especially in his third book, where professedly he scans all the arguments alledged by St. Cypran, De bapt. con. Don. l 3. c. 4. 5. & 6. & l. 7. c. l.and his colleagues in the above-named third Synod at Carth…go, will find that St. Cyprian had the better parts and gifts, but yet the worst of the cause; and therefore in the first and most celebrious councell of Nice it is ordered, can. 8. that the Catharists or Novatians, who shall renounce their heresie, and seek to be reconciled to the church, shall be received by imposition of hands, without requiring any new baptisme of them: yet in the nineteenth canon it is decreed, that is the hereticks, called the Paulians, (taking that name from Paulus Samosatenus) fly to the catholike church,Syn. Nic. c. 19. foreign. that they shall be re-baptized by all means. By which seeming contradiction of the decrees of this most sacred Synod, as it were by the collision of flint stones, the fire of truth is thus clearly beaten out. That we must distinguish of hereticks, whereof some destroy the foundation, as the Paulians, Gnosticks, Cataphrygians, and the like; others held the foundation, but built upon it hay and stubble, as the Catharists, and Novatians, and such hereticks as had a right beliefe in the blessed Trinitie, and the natures and offices of Christ, yet upon this good seed, super seminarunt zizania: some depraved the essentiall form of baptisme prescribed by our Saviour, as did that Arrian of whom Nicephorus writeth;L. 10 hist. c. 35 Refert quendā Episcopum Arrianum nomine Deutrum baptizasse in nomine patris per filiū in spiritu sancto, & addit miraculosè accidisse, ut aqua quae ad baptismum parata eret repente in detestationem Arrianae harcsi… quam ille praedictis verbis profiteri intendebat disparuerit. that after he had used an hereticall kind of form, & dipt his hand in the font to christen the child, all the water suddainly vanished away: others, though they had ill opinions concerning other articles of faith, yet were right in doctrine of the Trinity, and maintained the true form of baptisme; and all those, who were baptized by these latter sort of hereticks, the church held their baptisme good, and therefore did not re-baptize them when they received them into the church, but only enjoyned them publikely to renounce their errours: but those who had been baptized by the former sort of hereticks, in regard their baptisme was indeed no baptisme, the church appoynted, agreeably unto this decree of the Synod of Nice, that they should not be admitted without a new baptisme.
For the second sort of Anabaptists, they were far worse then the former; for they made a separation from the catholike Christian church, holding that none were members thereof, but those that held with Donatus, all other they accounted no Christians; and therefore, if any were converted, or rather perverted to their heresie, they christened them again. The former sort of Anabaptists were accounted only erroneous and schismaticall, but not heretical; but these were stigmatized for heretiks also, and that deservedly, for confining the church of Christ only to Africa, and their sect there: they consequently denied a main article of the Creed, (viz.) Credo sanctam ecclesiam catholicam, I beleeve the holy catholike church, and the communion of saints. Yet with these hereticks and schismaticks, our Iacobites, Brownists, and Barrowsts, symbolize; for, as the Donatists refused communion with the catholike church, in regard of some scandalls they observed in it, so do these separate from the true church of England in regard of some abuses, and, as they tearm them, popish corruptions in it. As they excluded all from hope of salvation, who were not of their pure precise sect, so these go not much behind them in their uncharitable censures of all those who are not of their fraternitie; and as St. Austine complains of the Donatists, Ep. 50. altaria lignea fregerunt.that wheresoever they bore sway, they brake down the communion tables (which he there metaphorically tearmeth Altars) and defaced the churches: so we have had but too just cause to complain of the like out-rages committed by some of the Zelots of that strain, though some of them of late have not escaped the heavy judgment of God for it.
For the third sort of Anabaptists, they have sunk deeper in the former quag-mire, & are drowned over head & eares in it. For they not only nullifie all baptisme, administred either by Romish priests, or orthodox Protestants, but condemn baptizing of children simply, which neither the first nor the second sort of Anabaptists did; for both the Novatians and Donatists, yea, and Pelagians too, though they denied originall sin, yet they all allowed and practised the baptisme of infants. The author of this third and worst sect of Anabaptists, was, as some say,*Pontan. cata…. haearet. & si Anabaptistae originem trabant a Donalistis, proximo tamen superiori tempore authorfuit Thomas Mon…tarius, seu Muncerus. Muncerus; as others, *Alstedius compend. Anno, 1525:Balthasar Pacimontanus, against whom Zuinglius wrote; as others, Carolstadius; but I subscribe to Melancthou, who lived in those times, and could not but be very well acquainted with those passages which fell out near the place of his residence. And he affirmeth, as I said before, that Nicholas Stock was the first that broached Anabaptisme in Germany. This Stock affirmed, that God spake to him by an Angel, and revealed his will to him in dreams promising him the place of the Angel Gabriel: in this mans school was Tho. Muncer bred, who kept such a racket in Alset, a citie in the borders of Thuringia, and after him Iohn Leydan, and Cniperdoling, who in the year 1532. infected and infested also Munster; wherein, though they consul'd it,Bleidanus com. l. i…. Cavcis s…rreis …lligantui singul…, & ad sū mam turrem …rbis exponuntur. See Eudaemon Johan, Apolog. Garneti. and king'd it for a time; yet in the end were taken, pinched with fiery pincers, and after stab'd to the heart with daggers, and their bodies shut up in iron cages, which were hung upon the highest steeple in Munster, where they dance in the aire. And as Garnet the Jesuit, the great patron and practiser of equivocation in his life time, is said to have equivocated in some sort after his death, for two faces of his were shewed by Roman catholikes; the one upon an iron pole, the other upon a straw: so these ring-leaders of the Anabaptists, who stickled so much for re-baptizing in their life time, have been a thousand times re-baptized since their death, by every shower of rain beating through their iron lettice.
CHAP. II.
Of the errors of the Anabaptists, both common to other sects, and those which are peculiarly their own.
THose, who have raked into this mud, find severall beds of these slippery Eels, or rather indeed Lampreys; for they have all of them some string or other of poyson in them. Their errours they rank into three kinds.
First, ecclesiasticall, or in point of the church, or matter of faith.
Secondly, politicall, or in point of policie, or matter of state.
Thirdly, oeconomicall, or in point of family-government.
First, their ecclesiasticall errors, such as peculiarly concern the doctrine or discipline of the church, are,
First,aPantan. catal haret. in verbo Anabapt. dicunt christ… per Mariam editum, ut vitrum sol penetrat, vel per canalem pluvia in terrum sertu…. That Christ took not flesh from the Virgin Mary, but that he past through her as the Sun beams do through glasse, or rain through a spout.
Secondly,bI…. nullum esse peccatum …iginale. That there is no originall sin.
Thirdly,cPueros non esse baptizā dos Gastius de Anabapt. exord. p. 129. dicunt baptismum parvulorum esse c… diabolo, & papae figmentum. That children ought not to be baptized.
Fourthly,dPontan. ib. qui in teneris annis baptizati fuerrunt, suni re-baptizandi. That such as have been baptized in their infancie, ought to be re-baptized when they come to years of discretion.
Fifthly,ePont, ab. docendi partes sib sumunt, Sleid. com. l. 10. coena peracta rex panem singulis parrigit his ver bis, accip te, comedite; regina poculum porrigens, bibite, inquit, ann… ̄ciate mortem Domini. That Lay-people may preach and administer the sacraments, Gastius p. 35. Anabaptistae sumunt sibi omnes praedicandi officium.
Sixthly,fPont. ib. l…berum in spiritualibus esse homints arbitriū ▪ That men have free will, not only in naturall and morall, but also in spirituall actions.
Seventhly,gSleid. p. …56. Lapso p…ccator denegant abs… lutionem. That absolution and the church-peace ought to be denied to such who are fallen into any grievous sin; yea, though they repent of it.
Eighthly,hSleid. ib. Lutherum & Pontificem Romanum aiunt esse falsos prophetas, Lutherum tamen altero deteriorem. That Luthers doctrine is worse then the Popes.
Secondly, their politicall errors, or in matter of state, are,
First,iPont. catal. libertatem per principes extinctam armis esse vindicandam. That the people may depose their magistrates and chief rulers, Sleid. ib. licere plebets in magistratum arnia sumere.
Secondly,kPont. ib. Christiano non esse licitum gerere magistratum vel tenere imperium. That a Christian with a good conscience may not take upon him, or bear the office of a magistrate, or keep any court of Justice.
Thirdly,lSleid. l. 10. Non licere Christianis in foro contendere, non jusjurandum dicere. That none may administer an oath to another.
Fourthly,mPont. ib. sacinorosos a magistratibus ultimo supplicio affic… non debere. That no malefactors ought to be put to death.
Thirdly, their oeconomicall errors are,
First,nPont. ib. oportere facultates esse communes, & Sleid. l. …0. Non licere Christiano babere quid proprium. That no man hath a proprietie in his goods, but that all things ought to be held in common.
Secondly,oPont. ib. licitum esse ducere plures uxores. That it is lawfull to have more wives then one at once.
Thirdly,pPont, licere proprias uxores relinquere, si a dormate Anabaptistar i… abborreant, Sleid… loc. sup. cit. dicunt matrimonium illorum qui vera fide non suint illustrati pollutum esse atque impurum. That a man may put away his wife, if she differ from him in point of religion, and be not of their sect.
These indeed are the most of their known errors, yet all the Lampreys are not found in these beds, there be some straglers; and to the end that none of them escape, we will put them all as it were into two great weels. All the errors of the Anabaptists are of two sorts.
First, such as they hold in common with other heretiks.
Secondly, such as are peculiar to their sect.
First, concerning the common errors, we are to note, that as the wild beasts in Africa meeting at the rivers to drinke, engender one with another, and beget strange monsters; whence is that proverb,Erasm. Adag. semper Africa altquid apportat novi: so diverse kinds of heretiks and schismatiks meeting together at unlawfull conventicles, and having conference one with the other, have mingled their opinions, and brought forth mungrell heresies. Epiphanius instanceth in diverse ancient heretiks, but I shall only at this time in those heretikes I am now to deale with, viz. the last and worst sort of Anabaptists; these joyn their opinions, and, if I may so speake, engender
First,qSleid. l. 10. Tradunt inter alia re…num Christi futurum esse ejusmodi ante supremum judicii diem, ut pii & electi regnent, impiis omnino deletis &c. with the Millenaties; and their joynt issue is, That Christ before the day of judgement shall come downe from heaven, and reigne with the saints upon earth a thousand yeares; in which time they shall destroy all the wicked, binding their Kings in chaines, and their Nobles in links of iron.
Secondly,rSleid. com. l. 10. p. 256. Lapso peccatori denegant absolutionem. with the Catharists or Novatians; and their joynt issue is, That they are a communion of all saints, and that none that hath fallen into idolatrie, or any other grievous crime, for which he hath beene excommunicated, ought to be restored upon his repentance, to the church.
Thirdly,sCompend. Alsted. Hutitae se solos jactitant filios aeternae felicitatis dicti à Iohanne Huta &c. with the Donatists; and their joynt issue is, That in the true church there are no scandals, or lewd and vitious livers; that the church of Christ is confined to their sect; that we ought to separate from all assemblies of Christians, wherein there are any abuses or scandals, yea, though the church alloweth them not, but seeketh to reforme them; that all such as have been baptized by any other then those of their sect, ought to be rebaptized.
Fourthly,tAlsted, compend. Melchioritae discipu… Melchioris Hofmanni quem in die Domini cum El…a praeconem praestolantur: Mariam virginem non Christi parentem sed velut canalem fuisse docent. with the Priscillianists; and their joynt issue is, That Christ took not flesh from the Virgin Mary.
Fifthly,uAlsted. compend. Octava secta Anabaptistarum est corum qui Adamitae vocantur, qui vestem omnem execrantur; quae data sit in poenam peccati à quo se credunt immunes. with the Adamites; and their joynt issue is, That clothes were appointed not so much to cover shame, as to discover sinne; and that therefore they being such as Adam was in his innocencie, ought to goe naked and not to be ashamed.
Sixtly,wSleid. l. 10, Ad bonorum communicalionem homines adigendos, non enim licere Christiano aliquid proprium habere, sed omnia omnibus esse debere communia. with the Apostolici; that is, a sort of hereticks, who perversely and preposterously imitated the first Christians in the dayes of the Apostles: and their joynt issue is, That none ought to possesse any lands or goods to himself, but that they ought to have all things in common. This was Mu…erus his doctrine at Alset, and it very much took with the common people; who presently left working, and what they wanted they took by force from them that had it.
Seventhly,xSleid. l. 10. Post Io. Leidensis ad quiitem se componit & totum triduum somniat, expergefactus nullum verbum sacit, sed chartam poscit, in eaque duo decim viros describit & dogmata quaedom proponit concionatoribus, viz. virum non esse d…vinctum uni un…ri &c. with the Enthusiasts; and their joynt issue is That the Scripture is not our onelyonly rule of faith, and manners, but that God revealeth his will to his children at this day by visions and dreams: and therefore Iohn of Leidan, after he had set himself to sleep, and had dreamed three dayes and n…ghts, when hee awaked, fained himselfe speechlesse and called by signes with Zacharie for a table-book, or pen and ink, and there writeth down certaine positions as revealed to him from God, and commanded the preachers to publish them: the first and principall whereof was, that a man was not tyed to one wife, but that he might have more; and this doctrine he put presently in practise, martying three wives at once, and fifteene before he left.
Eightly,ySee the historie of the Anabaptists, printed at London, Sleid. l. 5. with the Iesuites; and their joynt issue is, That it is lawfull for the people to lay hands upon the Lords anoynted, and depose and slay hereticall and wicked magistrates: the Iesuites hold this to be lawfull, after a declaration and sentence of deprivation by the Pope; the Anabaptists upon a revelation from one of their prophets. And this doctrine the Anabaptists practised in the yeare 1527. and pulled downe all magistrates, where they had any strength.
Ninthly, with the Arminians; and their joynt issue is, That there is no originall sinne, or at least, that none is damned for it alone; that election is upon fore-seen faith and repentance; that God giveth all men sufficient grace to be saved; that man hath free will of himselfe either to accept or refuse Gods grace; that Christ dyed indifferently for all; that a true beleever, who is in the state of grace, may fall away totally and finally.
Tenthly, with the Brownists or Barrowists; and their joynt issue is, That there ought to be a paritie in the church; that the government by arch-bishops and bishops, &c. is Popish and antichristian; that the service and ceremonies of the church are idolatrous and superstitious; that in regard of these and such like abuses and corruptions the church of England is no true church of Christ, and consequently, that all that have a care of their soules must of necessitie separate from her.
Eleventhly,Author. histor. Anahap. printed 1642. Sleid. l. 10. non licere Christianis in foro contendere. Alsted. compend. respuunt vindictam publicam, & aiunt nefas esse ullo modo arma sumere. with a peculiar sect, called the Separati; and their joynt issue is, That no Christian may goe to law, or in any case to right himselfe by arms or violent means.
Secondly, such as are peculiar to their sect, and these are six.
First, That none are rightly baptized but those who are dipt.
Secondly, That no children ought to be baptized.
Thirdly, That there ought to be no set forme of Liturgie or prayer by the book, but only by the Spirit.
Fourthly, That there ought to be no distinction by the word of God between the Clergie and the Laitie, but that all who are gifted may preach the word, and administer the sacraments.
Fifthly, that it is not lawfull to take an oath at all, no, not though it be demanded by the magistrate.
Sixtly, that no Christian may with a good conscience execute the office of a civill magistrate.