§ 25. THE BAPTISMAL CONTROYEKSY. 79
clear case of immersion among the Swiss Anabaptists is that of Wolfgang Uliman (an ex-monk of Coire, and for a while assistant of Kessler in St. Gall). He was converted by Grebel on a journey to Schaffhausen, and, not satisfied with being " sprinkled merely out of a dish," was " drawn under and covered over in the Rhine." ^ On Palm Sunday, April 9, 1525, Grebel baptized a large number in the Sitter, a river a few miles from St. Gall, which descends from the Santis and flows into the Thur, and is deep enough for immersion.^
The Lord's Supper was administered by the Baptists in the simplest manner, after a plain supper (in imitation of the original institution and the Agape), by the recital of the words of institution, and the distribution of bread and wine. They reduced it to a mere commemoration.
The two ideas of a pure church of believers and of the baptism of believers were the fundamental articles of the Anabaptist creed. On other points there was a great variety and confusion of opinions. Some believed in the sleep of the soul between death and resurrection, a millennial reign of Christ, and final restoration ; some entertained communistic and socialistic opinions which led to the catastrophe of Miinster (1534). Wild excesses of immorality occurred here and there .^
But it is unjust to charge the extravagant dreams and practices of individuals upon the whole body. The Swiss Anabaptists had no connection with the Peasants' War, which barely touched the border of Switzerland, and were upon the whole, like the Moravian Anabaptists, distinguished for simple piety and strict morality. BuUinger, who was
1 Kessler, Sabbata, I. 266 {"in dem Ehin von dem Grebel under getriickt und bedeckt"). Comp. Burrage, 105.
2 Burrage, p. 117. I was informed by Mr. Steiger of Herisau (Appenzell) that the modern Baptists in St, Gall and Appenzell baptize by immersion in the Sitter; but their number has greatly diminished since the death of Schlatter.
3 As in St. Gall and Appenzell; see Cornelius, II. 64 sq.
80 THE SWISS KEFORMATION.
opposed to them, gives the Zurich Radicals the credit that they denounced luxury, intemperance in eating and drinking, and all vices, and led a serious, spiritual life. Kessler of St. Gall, likewise an opponent, reports their cheerful martyrdom, and exclaims, " Alas ! what shall I say of the people ? They move my sincere pity ; for many of them are zealous for God, but without knowledge." And Salat, a Roman Catholic contemporary, writes that with " cheerful, smiling faces, they desired and asked death, and went into it singing German psalms and other prayers." ^
The Anabaptists produced some of the earliest Protestant hymns in the German language, which deserve the attention of the historian. Some of them passed into orthodox collections in ignorance of the real authors. Blaurock, Manz, Hut, Hatzer, Koch, Wagner, Langmantel, Sattler, Schiemer, Glait, Steinmetz, Blichel, and many others contributed to this interesting branch of the great body of Christian song. The Anabaptist psalms and hymns resemble those of Schwenkfeld and his followers. They dwell on the inner life of the Christian, the mysteries of regeneration, sanctification, and personal union with Christ. They breathe throughout a spirit of piety, devotion, and cheerful resignation under suffering, and readiness for martyrdom. They are hymns of the cross, to comfort and encourage the scattered sheep of Christ ready for the slaughter, in imitation of their divine
Shepherd.
NOTES.
The Anabaptist hymns appeared in a collection under the title " Aussbund Etlicher schoner Christlicher Geseng luie die in der Gefengniss zii Passau iin Schloss von den Schiveitzern und auch von anderen rechigldubigen Christen hin und her gedicht warden," 1583, and often. Also in other collections of the sixteenth century. They are reprinted in Wacknernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, vol. III. (1870), pp. 440-491, and vol. V. (1877), pp. 677-887. He embodies them in this monumental corpus hymnologicum, as he does the SchAvenkfeld-
1 A. Baur, who sides altogether with Zwingli, must nevertheless admit (II. 187) that " the majority of the Swiss Anabaptists were quiet and honorable people of earnest character and unblemished reputation as citizens."