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pedobaptism.’ … ‘The visible church,’ he said, ‘is a general assembly of all
living believers.’”
Of course, Hubmeyer, in his conceptions of the church, was not., in every
respect, fully up to the understanding of the best expositors of Baptist church
polity in our own time; but the above statements, as well as the preceding from
Dr. Burrage, show Hubmeyer and his people essentially Baptist. f443
In a tract, f444 Hubmeyer says:
“A heretic is one who knowingly resists the Holy Scriptures; … likewise, one
who falsely interprets the Scriptures, putting Rome for church and Lord for
shepherd. Although we cannot look for much good from such men, still they
should be instructed with all mildness, and if that accomplishes nothing
dismiss them free. For Christ wished that the tares should grow up with the
wheat. From this and many other passages of the Holy Scriptures, it appears
that persecutors of heretics are themselves the greatest heretics. For Christ did
not come to butcher, to kill and to burn, but to deliver and improve all. It is
necessary, therefore, to pray for the improvement of the erring, and to look for
it as long as a man lives. The Turk, or the heretic, can be overcome, not by
fire or sword, but only by patience and instruction. Burning heretics is, therefore,
nothing less than a sham confession and actual denial of Christ. … The
chief art consists in testing errors, and in refuting them by the Holy
Scriptures.”
In a document which the Anabaptists presented to the authorities of the
Gruningen district, we read:
“Believers are those who walk in the will of the Spirit, and bring forth the
fruits of the Spirit; they are the company of the body of Christ, the Christian
church. To this, therefore, the Anabaptists belong.” f445
In A.D. 1527, Denck, a great Anabaptist leader,
“in a letter frankly laid his views before Oecolampadius, and asked for
himself what he was willing to accord all men, religious freedom.” f446
In a tract Denck said:
“Those who walk in the footsteps of Christ I rejoice in and love, wherever I
find them. But with those who will not keep silent, I cannot have much
fellowship, for I do not discover in such the mind of Christ, but a perverted
mind, which will force me to abandon my faith and compel me to adopt its
own, whether it be right or not. And even if right, zeal may be very
commendable but unwise. For it should be known that in matters of faith
everything should be free, voluntary and without compulsion.” f447