WEBVTT 00:15.250 --> 00:17.630 The Anabaptist Vision by Harold S. 00:17.690 --> 00:17.930 Bender. 00:18.430 --> 00:20.230 In this sermon, Harold S. 00:20.290 --> 00:24.250 Bender focuses on the essence of the Anabaptist Vision as it came to life 00:24.250 --> 00:25.750 during the latter part of the Reformation. 00:26.410 --> 00:30.710 Starting around the year 1525, historians have frequently named this 00:30.710 --> 00:35.090 latter part of the Reformation as the Radical Reformation because of its 00:35.090 --> 00:38.670 emphasis of wanting to return to the roots of ancient Christianity. 00:39.530 --> 00:44.430 In this message, Bender identifies the Anabaptist view of salvation, the radical 00:44.430 --> 00:49.470 idea of separation of church and state, and also the revolutionary new view of 00:49.470 --> 00:51.070 church life as a brotherhood. 00:51.770 --> 00:56.090 Speaking of their view of salvation, Bender says that in short, the Anabaptist 00:56.090 --> 01:00.050 Vision could simply be summed up as followers of Christ. 01:00.550 --> 01:03.810 He notably states that while the Anabaptists fully recognized that their 01:03.810 --> 01:08.550 salvation was obtained and maintained by grace through faith, they were 01:08.550 --> 01:13.790 nevertheless convinced that a real salvation must produce real Christ-like 01:13.790 --> 01:14.310 followers. 01:14.770 --> 01:18.330 The idea of claiming a faith that exists only in creeds, professions, 01:18.910 --> 01:22.950 proclamations, or even sacrament without a changed life was seen to the early 01:22.950 --> 01:26.370 Anabaptists as deficient, heretical, even scandalous. 01:27.670 --> 01:31.910 In speaking of the church and the world, Bender states that the early Anabaptists 01:31.910 --> 01:36.290 practiced a radical sense of separation from the world, and while they went on 01:36.290 --> 01:40.750 living within the general population, nevertheless their idea of separation 01:40.750 --> 01:42.650 affected every part of their lives. 01:42.990 --> 01:47.190 Particularly, the idea of being called out of the world and into an assembly of 01:47.190 --> 01:50.790 believers drastically affected the way they viewed the nature of the church. 01:51.330 --> 01:54.510 The Reformers were teaching that the church was established by the state, 01:54.850 --> 01:59.550 based on a population area, and that the true church was an invisible number known 01:59.550 --> 02:00.310 only to God. 02:00.690 --> 02:04.930 The Anabaptists challenged this and said that the church was made up only of truly 02:04.930 --> 02:09.850 born-again saints, and even welcomed constructive church discipline to maintain 02:09.850 --> 02:10.590 this dynamic. 02:11.150 --> 02:16.950 In both these concepts of salvation and church fellowship, Bender utilizes the 02:16.950 --> 02:18.630 word discipleship. 02:19.210 --> 02:22.950 By this, Bender does not mean the modern-day empty practice of trying to 02:22.950 --> 02:28.010 drag unregenerated men through empty prayers, baptisms, and endless teaching, 02:28.250 --> 02:30.170 as we struggle with them all of their life. 02:30.210 --> 02:30.850 Not at all. 02:31.550 --> 02:34.850 Such empty discipleship the Anabaptists saw as a waste of time. 02:35.210 --> 02:38.910 As a matter of fact, one prominent early Anabaptist leader, Menno Simons, 02:38.970 --> 02:40.290 put it this way, he said, 02:51.490 --> 02:53.150 And then in another place, 03:03.450 --> 03:08.270 No, the word discipleship, for the early Anabaptists, was not an empty word. 03:08.830 --> 03:11.570 They took it as Jesus used it when he said, 03:19.450 --> 03:24.330 Bender tells us that this concept of discipleship, as following Christ, 03:24.770 --> 03:27.570 was the key note in Anabaptist theology. 03:28.510 --> 03:32.350 Bender clearly documents that as the Anabaptists of the Radical Reformation 03:32.350 --> 03:36.670 grew, they found that they were more and more at odds with both the original 03:36.670 --> 03:38.590 Reformers and the Catholics. 03:39.010 --> 03:43.030 Making a point about their differences, recently I found a letter from an early 03:43.030 --> 03:44.670 Anabaptist leader, Michael Sattler. 03:45.170 --> 03:50.670 Pointedly, he cautioned his readers that they must beware of the scribes and the 03:50.670 --> 03:51.310 Pharisees. 03:51.790 --> 03:56.550 He labeled the evangelicals of his day who held a faith only visible in books, 03:56.930 --> 04:01.670 creeds, and empty professions as being equivalent to the Old Testament scribes. 04:02.110 --> 04:06.450 Contrawise, he said that those who seek salvation by performing empty works 04:06.450 --> 04:10.270 without faith as equivalent to the Old Testament Pharisees. 04:10.830 --> 04:14.890 The early Anabaptists endeavored to traverse the narrow path between these two 04:14.890 --> 04:18.370 diversions, both the scribes and the Pharisees. 04:18.730 --> 04:24.090 By doing this, the early Anabaptists found enemies in two camps, and ultimately many 04:24.090 --> 04:25.590 lost their lives in both. 04:26.350 --> 04:31.170 Finally, Bender convincingly argues that the Anabaptists of the Radical Reformation 04:31.170 --> 04:36.450 were actually the fulfillment of the visions and dreams of the early Reformers, 04:36.550 --> 04:37.930 those such as Luther and Zwingli. 04:38.550 --> 04:43.350 He demonstrates that the original vision of the Reformers came to fruition in a 04:43.350 --> 04:49.850 church established not by the state, not by force, but on faith and lived out 04:49.850 --> 04:50.650 in reality. 04:51.770 --> 04:57.690 Bender offered this radical, literal, simple, and Christ-following manifesto to 04:57.690 --> 05:02.290 a church of his day at a time when the alternatives were becoming conspicuously 05:02.290 --> 05:02.970 deficient. 05:03.550 --> 05:08.090 Radical Reformation Books offers his message to the church today, over 50 years 05:08.090 --> 05:11.390 later, at a time that we believe to be no better. 05:11.970 --> 05:14.370 Our prayer is that we will get it this time. 05:15.490 --> 05:19.430 The message which you are about to hear was given as a presidential address before 05:19.430 --> 05:24.050 the American Society of Church History at Columbia University in 1943. 05:24.910 --> 05:29.010 Bender was just made their president and this was his inaugural address. 05:29.350 --> 05:33.410 He begins the sermon somewhat academically, just keep in mind who his 05:33.410 --> 05:34.070 audience was. 05:34.330 --> 05:37.590 Some of his most significant points are near the latter part of the message. 05:41.500 --> 05:43.600 The Anabaptist Vision by Harold S. 05:43.640 --> 05:47.800 Bender, copyright by Church History 1944, used by permission. 05:48.640 --> 05:50.980 Starting with a quote from the historian Rufus M. 05:51.040 --> 05:56.280 Jones about the Anabaptists, Bender begins, Judged by the reception it met at 05:56.280 --> 06:00.980 the hands of those in power, both in church and state, equally in Roman 06:00.980 --> 06:05.620 Catholic and in Protestant countries, the Anabaptist movement was one of the 06:05.620 --> 06:07.920 most tragic in the history of Christianity. 06:08.260 --> 06:13.560 But, judged by the principles which were put into play by the man who bore this 06:13.560 --> 06:18.400 reproachful nickname, it must be pronounced one of the most momentous and 06:18.400 --> 06:23.460 significant undertakings in man's eventful religious struggle after the truth. 06:23.940 --> 06:26.500 It gathered up the gains of earlier movement. 06:26.900 --> 06:32.320 It is the spiritual soil out of which all nonconformist sects have sprung and it is 06:32.320 --> 06:37.800 the first plain announcement in modern history of a program for a new type of 06:37.800 --> 06:42.860 Christian society, which the modern world, especially in America and England, 06:43.200 --> 06:49.780 has been slowly realizing, an absolutely free and independent religious society and 06:49.780 --> 06:56.300 a state in which every man counts as a man and has a share in shaping both church and 06:56.300 --> 06:59.860 state." These words of Rufus M. 07:00.000 --> 07:03.640 Jones constitute one of the best characterizations of Anabaptism and its 07:03.640 --> 07:07.150 contribution to our modern Christian culture to be found in the English 07:07.150 --> 07:07.410 language. 07:07.890 --> 07:11.970 They were brave words when they were written 35 years ago, but they have been 07:11.970 --> 07:16.630 abundantly verified by a generation of Anabaptist research since that time. 07:16.850 --> 07:21.470 There can be no question but that the great principles of freedom of conscience, 07:21.950 --> 07:26.610 separation of church and state, and voluntarism in religion so basic in 07:26.610 --> 07:32.070 American Protestantism and so essential to democracy ultimately are derived from the 07:32.070 --> 07:36.810 Anabaptists of the Reformation period, who for the first time clearly enunciated 07:36.810 --> 07:40.670 them and challenged the Christian world to follow them in practice. 07:41.170 --> 07:45.530 The line of descent through the centuries since that time may not always be clear 07:45.530 --> 07:48.990 and may have passed through other intermediate movements and groups, 07:49.250 --> 07:52.830 but the debt to original Anabaptism is unquestioned. 07:53.450 --> 07:58.370 The 16th century reformers understood the Anabaptist position on this point all too 07:58.370 --> 08:00.910 well and deliberately rejected it. 08:01.230 --> 08:05.550 The best witness is Heinrich Bollinger, Zwingli's successor in Zurich, 08:05.850 --> 08:09.670 whose active lifespan covers the first 50 years of the history of the Swiss 08:09.670 --> 08:15.330 Anabaptists and who knew them so well that he published two extensive treatises 08:15.330 --> 08:18.750 against them in 1531 and 1561. 08:19.830 --> 08:24.550 According to Bollinger, the Swiss Brethren taught this, quoting from his source, 08:32.270 --> 08:38.250 It is wrong to compel anyone by force or coercion to embrace the faith or to put to 08:38.250 --> 08:40.830 death anyone for the sake of his erring faith. 08:41.390 --> 08:46.310 It is an error that in the church any sword other than that of the divine word 08:46.310 --> 08:47.130 should be used. 08:47.550 --> 08:51.910 The secular kingdom should be separated from the church and no secular ruler 08:51.910 --> 08:54.090 should exercise authority in the church. 08:54.610 --> 09:00.670 The Lord has commanded it simply to preach the gospel, not to compel anyone by force 09:00.670 --> 09:01.470 to accept it. 09:01.870 --> 09:06.730 The true church of Christ has a characteristic that it suffers and endures 09:06.730 --> 09:14.330 persecution but does not inflict persecution upon anyone." But great as is 09:14.330 --> 09:17.790 the Anabaptist contribution to the development of religious liberty, 09:18.430 --> 09:24.050 this concept not only does not exhaust but actually fails to divine the true essence 09:24.050 --> 09:24.990 of Anabaptism. 09:25.530 --> 09:31.210 In the last analysis, freedom of religion is a purely formal concept, barren of its 09:31.210 --> 09:31.690 content. 09:32.170 --> 09:36.890 It says nothing about the faith or the way of life of those who advocate it, 09:37.010 --> 09:40.130 nor does it reveal their goals or program of action. 09:41.030 --> 09:46.170 And Anabaptism had not only clearly defined goals but also an action program 09:46.170 --> 09:48.350 of definiteness and power. 09:48.870 --> 09:53.250 In fact, the more intimately one becomes acquainted with this group, the more one 09:53.250 --> 09:58.550 becomes conscious of the great vision that shaped their course in history and for 09:58.550 --> 10:00.650 which they gladly gave their lives. 10:03.070 --> 10:07.310 Before describing this vision, it is well to note its attractiveness to 10:07.310 --> 10:09.850 the masses of Christians of the 16th century. 10:10.470 --> 10:16.110 Sebastian Frank himself an opponent wrote in 1531 scarcely seven years after the 10:16.110 --> 10:17.570 rise of this movement in Zurich. 10:17.890 --> 10:18.610 This is his quote, 10:42.590 --> 10:46.090 In the same year, Bullinger wrote that, 10:50.610 --> 10:53.810 Another contemporary writer asserts that, 11:02.910 --> 11:07.710 Zwingli was so frightened by the power of the movement that he complained that the 11:07.710 --> 11:13.430 struggle with the Catholic party was but child's play compared to the conflict with 11:13.430 --> 11:14.270 the Anabaptists. 11:14.950 --> 11:19.390 The dreadful severity of the persecution of the Anabaptist movement in the years 11:19.390 --> 11:26.590 1527 to 1560, not only in Switzerland, South Germany and Thuringia, but in all 11:26.590 --> 11:31.410 the Austrian lands as well as the Low Countries testifies to the power of the 11:31.410 --> 11:36.850 movement and the desperate haste with which Catholic, Lutheran and Zwingli 11:36.850 --> 11:41.170 authorities alike strove to throttle it before it should be too late. 11:41.710 --> 11:48.330 The notorious decree issued in 1529 by the Diet of Speers, the same Diet which 11:48.330 --> 11:53.990 protested the restriction of evangelical liberties, summarily passed the sentence 11:53.990 --> 11:57.710 of death upon all Anabaptists ordering that, 12:09.790 --> 12:15.330 Repeatedly in subsequent sessions of the Imperial Diet, this decree was re-invoked 12:15.330 --> 12:21.130 and intensified and as late as 1551, the Diet of Augsburg issued a decree 12:21.130 --> 12:26.090 ordering that judges and jurors who had scruples against pronouncing the death 12:26.090 --> 12:31.230 sentence on Anabaptists be removed from office and punished by heavy fines and 12:31.230 --> 12:32.170 imprisonment. 12:32.790 --> 12:37.670 The authorities had great difficulties in executing their program of suppression, 12:38.630 --> 12:42.210 for they soon discovered that the Anabaptists feared neither torture nor 12:42.210 --> 12:45.750 death and gladly sealed their faith with their blood. 12:46.150 --> 12:51.230 In fact, the joyful testimony of the Anabaptist martyrs was a great stimulus to 12:51.230 --> 12:55.630 new recruits for it stirred the imagination of the populace as nothing 12:55.630 --> 12:56.830 else could have done. 12:59.070 --> 13:04.350 Finding, therefore, that the customary method of individual trials and sentences 13:04.350 --> 13:10.150 was proving totally inadequate to stem the tide, the authorities resorted to the 13:10.150 --> 13:15.870 desperate expedient of sending out through the land companies of armed executioners 13:15.870 --> 13:21.590 and mounted soldiers to hunt down the Anabaptists and kill them on the spot, 13:22.090 --> 13:25.450 singly or en masse, without trial or sentence. 13:26.010 --> 13:30.290 The most atrocious application of this policy was made in Swabia, where the 13:30.290 --> 13:37.010 original 400 special police of 1528 sent against the Anabaptists proved too small a 13:37.010 --> 13:39.990 force and had to be increased to 1,000. 13:40.650 --> 13:45.770 An imperial provost marshal, Berthold Eichelle, served as chief administrator of 13:45.770 --> 13:50.610 this bloody program in Swabia and other regions until he finally broke down in 13:50.610 --> 13:56.930 terror and dismay, and after an execution at Brixen, lifted his hand to heaven and 13:56.930 --> 14:04.210 swore a solemn oath never again to put to death an Anabaptist, which vow he kept. 14:04.810 --> 14:10.970 The Count of Alcy and the Palatinate, after 350 Anabaptists had been executed 14:10.970 --> 14:14.790 there, was heard to exclaim, What shall I do? 14:15.210 --> 14:18.770 The more I kill, the greater becomes their number. 14:19.670 --> 14:25.630 The extensive persecution and martyrdom of the Anabaptists testify not only of the 14:25.630 --> 14:30.630 great extent of the movement, but also of the power of the vision that burned within 14:30.630 --> 14:30.970 them. 14:31.410 --> 14:37.090 This is most effectively presented in a moving account written in 1542 and taken 14:37.090 --> 14:42.130 from the ancient Hutterian Chronicles, where it is found at the close of a report 14:42.130 --> 14:48.630 of 2,173 brethren and sisters who gave their lives for their faith. 14:48.890 --> 14:51.750 And here's that report, quoting straight from that document. 14:52.450 --> 14:57.090 No human being was able to take away out of their heart what they had experienced. 14:57.690 --> 14:59.830 Such zealous lovers of God were they. 15:00.310 --> 15:02.430 The fire of God burned within them. 15:02.890 --> 15:06.790 They would die the bitterest death, yea, they would die ten deaths, 15:07.230 --> 15:10.910 rather than forsake the divine truth which they had espoused. 15:11.450 --> 15:15.630 They had drunk of the waters which had flowed from God's sanctuary, yea, 15:15.830 --> 15:16.930 the water of life. 15:17.230 --> 15:22.590 They realized that God helped them to bear the cross and to overcome the bitterness 15:22.590 --> 15:23.390 of death. 15:23.850 --> 15:26.210 The fire of God burned within them. 15:26.650 --> 15:31.330 Their tent they had pitched, not here upon earth, but in eternity. 15:31.870 --> 15:36.030 And of their faith they had a foundation and assurance. 15:36.490 --> 15:41.270 Their faith blossomed as a lily, their loyalty as a rose, their piety and 15:41.270 --> 15:44.670 sincerity as the flower of the garden of God. 15:45.270 --> 15:49.830 The angel of the Lord battled for them that they could not be deprived of the 15:49.830 --> 15:50.950 helmet of salvation. 15:51.590 --> 15:55.890 Therefore they bore all torture and agony without fear. 15:56.470 --> 16:01.650 The things of this world they counted in their holy minds only as shadows, 16:01.970 --> 16:03.930 having the assurance of greater things. 16:04.230 --> 16:09.930 They were so drawn unto God that they knew nothing, sought nothing, desired nothing, 16:10.290 --> 16:12.390 loved nothing but God alone. 16:12.890 --> 16:17.970 Therefore they had more patience in their suffering than their enemies in tormenting 16:17.970 --> 16:18.250 them. 16:19.490 --> 16:24.530 Continuing with the quote, the persecutors thought they could dampen and extinguish 16:24.530 --> 16:25.390 the fire of God. 16:25.790 --> 16:29.750 But the prisoners sang in their prisons and rejoiced so that the enemies outside 16:29.750 --> 16:34.110 became much more fearful than the prisoners and did not know what to do with 16:34.110 --> 16:34.310 them. 16:34.850 --> 16:38.430 Many were talked to in wonderful ways, often day and night. 16:38.690 --> 16:43.410 They were argued with, with great cunning and cleverness, with many sweet and smooth 16:43.410 --> 16:48.170 words by monks and priests, by doctors of theology with much false testimony, 16:48.610 --> 16:54.030 with threats and scoldings and mockery, with lies and grievous slander against the 16:54.030 --> 16:54.530 brotherhood. 16:54.790 --> 16:58.430 But none of these things moved them or made them falter. 16:59.050 --> 17:05.710 From the shedding of such innocent blood arose Christians everywhere, brothers all, 17:06.110 --> 17:10.450 for all these persecutions did not take place without fruit. 17:12.530 --> 17:16.990 Perhaps this interpretation of the Anabaptist spirit should be discounted as 17:16.990 --> 17:19.990 too glowing, coming as it does from the group itself. 17:20.750 --> 17:24.770 But certainly it is nearer to the truth than the typical harsh 19th century 17:24.770 --> 17:28.530 interpretation of the movement, which is well represented by the opening 17:28.530 --> 17:33.370 sentence of Ursula, the notable historical novel on the Anabaptists, published in 17:33.370 --> 17:39.090 1878 by the Swiss Gottfried Keller, next to Goethe, perhaps the greatest of 17:39.090 --> 17:40.710 all writers in the German language. 17:40.810 --> 17:46.450 And here's the quote from the beginning of that book, Times of religious change are 17:46.450 --> 17:48.750 like times when the mountains open up. 17:49.350 --> 17:54.310 For then not only do all the marvelous creatures of the human spirit come forth, 17:54.910 --> 18:01.250 the great golden dragons, magic beings and crystal spirits, but there also comes to 18:01.250 --> 18:08.370 light all the hateful vermin of humanity, the host of rats and mice and pestiferous 18:08.370 --> 18:09.030 creations. 18:09.810 --> 18:14.050 And so it was at the time of the Reformation in the northeast part of 18:14.050 --> 18:20.470 Switzerland." Before defining the Anabaptist vision, it is essential to 18:20.470 --> 18:23.710 state clearly what is meant by the term Anabaptist. 18:24.070 --> 18:27.870 Since the name has come to be used in modern historiography to cover a wide 18:27.870 --> 18:31.890 variety of Reformation groups, sometimes thought of as the whole, 18:32.270 --> 18:37.370 quote, left wing of the Reformation, as Roland Baten said, or the Bolsheviks of 18:37.370 --> 18:39.930 the Reformation, as Preserve Smith said. 18:40.430 --> 18:44.890 Although the defense definitive history of Anabaptism has not yet been written, 18:45.370 --> 18:50.170 we know enough today to draw a clear line of demarcation between original 18:50.170 --> 18:56.170 evangelical and constructive Anabaptism on the one hand, which was born in the bosom 18:56.170 --> 19:01.210 of Zwinglianism in Zurich, Switzerland in 1525 and established in the Low Countries 19:01.210 --> 19:07.010 in 1533, and the various mystical, spiritual, revolutionary or even 19:07.010 --> 19:12.050 antinomian related and unrelated groups on the other hand, which came and went like 19:12.050 --> 19:15.270 the flowers of the field in those days of great renovation. 19:15.730 --> 19:20.330 The former, Anabaptism proper, maintained an unbroken course in 19:20.330 --> 19:25.010 Switzerland, South Germany, Austria and Holland throughout the 16th century and 19:25.010 --> 19:29.170 has continued until the present day in the Mennonite movement now in 1944, 19:29.570 --> 19:34.130 almost 500,000 baptized members strong in Europe and America. 19:34.410 --> 19:38.550 There is no longer any excuse for permitting our understanding of the 19:38.550 --> 19:43.030 distinct character of this genuine Anabaptism to be obscured by Thomas 19:43.030 --> 19:47.410 Müntzer, by the peasant wars, the Munzerites or any other aberration of 19:47.410 --> 19:49.370 Protestantism in the 16th century. 19:49.790 --> 19:53.510 There may be some excuse, however, for a failure on the part of the 19:53.510 --> 19:58.750 uninformed student to see clearly what the Anabaptist vision was, because of the 19:58.750 --> 20:02.150 varying interpretation placed upon the movement even by those who mean to 20:02.150 --> 20:03.310 appreciate and approve it. 20:03.570 --> 20:07.130 There is, for instance, the socialist writer, led by Kautsky, who would make 20:07.130 --> 20:11.850 Anabaptism either, quote, the forerunner of the modern socialism, end quote, 20:11.970 --> 20:17.310 or the culminating effort of medieval communism, and who in reality see it only 20:17.310 --> 20:20.630 as an external religious shell of a class movement. 20:21.170 --> 20:26.590 There are the sociologists with their partial socio-economic determinism as 20:26.590 --> 20:31.170 reflected in Richard Niebuhr's approach to the social origin of religious 20:31.170 --> 20:32.050 denominations. 20:32.450 --> 20:38.090 There is Albrecht Reichel, who sees the Anabaptists as an ascetic semi-monastic 20:38.090 --> 20:43.030 continuation of the medieval Franciscan Tertiaries, and locates the 17th century 20:43.030 --> 20:44.570 Pietists with the same line. 20:44.950 --> 20:49.410 And Ludwig Keller, who finds Anabaptists throughout the pre-reformation period in 20:49.410 --> 20:54.170 the guise of Waldenses and other similar groups, whom he chooses to call, 20:54.290 --> 21:00.770 quote, the old evangelical brotherhoods, and for whom he posits a continuity from 21:00.770 --> 21:01.770 earliest times. 21:02.270 --> 21:05.910 Related to Keller are the early Baptist historians and certain Mennonites who 21:05.910 --> 21:09.790 rejoice to find in the Anabaptists the missing link which keeps them in the 21:09.790 --> 21:14.110 apostolic succession of the true church back through the Waldensians, the 21:14.110 --> 21:18.670 Bogomils, the Cathari, the Peliscians, the Donatists, to Pentecost. 21:19.310 --> 21:21.410 But more recently, there is Rufus M. 21:21.510 --> 21:25.450 Jones, who is inclined to class the Anabaptists with the mystics, and Walter 21:25.450 --> 21:28.810 Kohler, who finds an Erasmian humanist origin for them. 21:30.790 --> 21:35.250 However, there is another line of interpretation, now almost 100 years old, 21:35.410 --> 21:39.710 which is being increasingly accepted and which is probably destined to dominate the 21:39.710 --> 21:40.030 field. 21:40.430 --> 21:44.110 It is the one which holds that Anabaptism is the culminating of the Reformation, 21:44.590 --> 21:48.850 the fulfillment of the original vision of Lutheran's wingly, and thus makes it a 21:48.850 --> 21:54.610 consistent evangelical Protestantism, seeking to recreate without compromise the 21:54.610 --> 21:58.830 original New Testament church, the vision of Christ and the apostles. 21:59.130 --> 22:04.550 This line of interpretation begins in 1848 with Max Gible's work on the church in the 22:04.550 --> 22:05.050 Rhine there. 22:05.530 --> 22:10.450 It also goes on to see a Cornelius in his work, following in his work of men like 22:10.450 --> 22:15.330 Johan Loserth, Carl Rembert, and John Horsch, and is represented by such 22:15.330 --> 22:19.210 contemporaries as Ernest Corral of Washington and Fritz Blank of Zurich. 22:19.210 --> 22:24.530 A quotation from Gible may serve to illustrate this interpretation. 22:24.850 --> 22:25.510 Here's his quote. 22:26.210 --> 22:30.890 The essential and distinguishing characteristic of this church is its great 22:30.890 --> 22:36.790 emphasis on the actual personal conversion and regeneration of every Christian 22:36.790 --> 22:38.190 through the Holy Spirit. 22:38.710 --> 22:43.670 They aim with special emphasis at carrying out and realizing the Christian doctrine 22:43.670 --> 22:48.370 and faith in the heart and life of every Christian in the whole Christian church. 22:48.370 --> 22:53.590 Their aim was the bringing together of all the true believers out of the great 22:53.590 --> 22:57.810 degenerated national churches into a true Christian church. 22:58.450 --> 23:03.230 That which the Reformation originally intended to accomplish, they aimed to 23:03.230 --> 23:06.430 bring into full immediate realization. 23:07.010 --> 23:07.430 End quote. 23:08.390 --> 23:13.290 And Johan Loserth says, quote, More radically than any other party for 23:13.290 --> 23:18.970 church reformation, the Anabaptists strove to follow the footsteps of the church of 23:18.970 --> 23:23.630 the first century and to renew unadulterated original Christianity. 23:24.050 --> 23:24.390 End quote. 23:25.310 --> 23:28.890 The evidence in support of this interpretation is overwhelming and could 23:28.890 --> 23:32.730 be taken from the statements of the contemporary opponents of the Anabaptists 23:32.730 --> 23:34.770 as well as from the Anabaptists themselves. 23:35.350 --> 23:40.330 Conrad Grebel, the founder of the Swiss Brethren Movement, states clearly this 23:40.330 --> 23:46.510 point of view in his letter to Thomas Münzer of 1524 in words written on behalf 23:46.510 --> 23:51.890 of the entire group, which constitute in effect the original Anabaptist 23:51.890 --> 23:53.210 pronunciamento. 23:53.710 --> 23:54.710 And here's his quote. 23:55.290 --> 24:00.550 Just as our forebears, the Roman Catholic papal church, fell away from the true God 24:00.550 --> 24:05.310 and the knowledge of Jesus Christ and of the right faith in him, and from the one 24:05.310 --> 24:11.130 true common divine word, from the divine institution, from Christian love and life, 24:11.230 --> 24:17.050 and lived without God's law and gospel and human, useless, unchristian customs and 24:17.050 --> 24:22.450 ceremonies, and expected to attain salvation therein, yet fell far short of 24:22.450 --> 24:26.350 it, as the evangelical preachers, such as Luther and Zwingli, etc., 24:26.350 --> 24:31.370 have declared, and to some extent are still declaring, so today, too, 24:31.850 --> 24:37.730 every man wants to be saved by superficial faith, without fruits of faith, 24:38.070 --> 24:43.870 without the baptism of test and probation, without love and hope, without right 24:43.870 --> 24:49.450 Christian practices, and wants to persist in all the old fashions of personal vices, 24:49.850 --> 24:54.570 and in common ritualistic and anti-Christian customs of baptism and the 24:54.570 --> 24:59.450 Lord's Supper, in disrespect for the divine word, and in respect for the word 24:59.450 --> 25:05.290 of the Pope and the anti-papal preachers, which yet is not equal to the divine word, 25:05.310 --> 25:10.450 nor in harmony with it, in respecting persons, and in manifold seductions there 25:10.450 --> 25:16.350 is grosser and more pernicious error now than ever has been since the beginning of 25:16.350 --> 25:16.890 the world. 25:17.490 --> 25:23.570 In the same error, too, we lingered as long as we heard and read only the 25:23.570 --> 25:28.430 evangelical preachers who are to blame for all this and punishment for our sins. 25:28.990 --> 25:33.350 But after we took the Scriptures in hand, too, we consulted it on many points, 25:33.670 --> 25:37.610 we have been instructed somewhat and have discovered the great and hurtful error of 25:37.610 --> 25:43.770 the shepherds, of ours, too, namely that we do not daily beseech God earnestly with 25:43.770 --> 25:49.330 constant groanings to be brought out of this destruction of all godly life and of 25:49.330 --> 25:56.630 human abominations and to attain to true faith and divine instruction." A similar 25:56.630 --> 26:02.990 statement was made in 1538 after 14 years of persecution by an Anabaptist leader who 26:02.990 --> 26:07.950 spoke on behalf of his group and the great colloquy of Bern with the leaders of the 26:07.950 --> 26:08.810 Reformed Church. 26:09.210 --> 26:09.850 Here's his quote. 26:10.350 --> 26:14.730 While yet in the National Church we obtain much instruction from the writings of 26:14.730 --> 26:18.510 Luther, Zwingli, and others concerning the Mass and other papal ceremonies, 26:18.670 --> 26:19.690 that they are vain. 26:20.490 --> 26:25.630 Yet we recognize a great lack as regard repentance, conversion, and the true 26:25.630 --> 26:26.490 Christian life. 26:26.870 --> 26:29.530 Upon these things my mind was bent. 26:29.950 --> 26:34.390 I waited and hoped for a year or two since the ministers had much to say of amendment 26:34.390 --> 26:38.470 of life, of giving to the poor, loving one another, and abstaining from 26:38.470 --> 26:38.790 evil. 26:38.970 --> 26:44.290 But I could not close my eyes to the fact that the doctrine which was preached and 26:44.290 --> 26:47.310 which was based on the Word of God was not carried out. 26:47.950 --> 26:52.210 No beginning was made toward true Christian living and there was no unison 26:52.210 --> 26:54.570 in the teaching concerning the things that were necessary. 26:55.110 --> 26:59.770 And although the Mass and the images were finally abolished, true repentance and 26:59.770 --> 27:01.610 Christian love were not in evidence. 27:02.290 --> 27:05.310 Changes were made only as concern external things. 27:05.910 --> 27:08.890 This gave me occasion to inquire further into these matters. 27:08.890 --> 27:14.530 Then God sent His messengers, Conrad Grebel and others, whom which I conferred 27:14.530 --> 27:18.370 about the fundamental teachings of the apostles and the Christian life and 27:18.370 --> 27:18.830 practice. 27:19.230 --> 27:24.630 I found them men who had surrendered themselves to the doctrine of Christ by 27:24.630 --> 27:29.430 busfetigate, repentance evidenced by fruits. 27:30.170 --> 27:35.110 With their assistance we established a congregation in which repentance was in 27:35.110 --> 27:38.030 evidence by newness of life in Christ. 27:39.090 --> 27:44.710 It is evident from these statements that the Anabaptists were concerned most of all 27:44.710 --> 27:47.830 about, quote, a true Christian life. 27:48.190 --> 27:53.270 That is, a life patterned after the teaching and examples of Christ. 27:53.770 --> 27:57.510 The Reformers, they believed, whatever their profession may have been, 27:57.810 --> 28:02.750 did not secure among the people true repentance, regeneration, and Christian 28:02.750 --> 28:04.970 living as a result of their preaching. 28:04.970 --> 28:11.850 The Reformation emphasis on faith was good, but inadequate, for without newness 28:11.850 --> 28:14.990 of life, they held faith is hypocritical. 28:17.210 --> 28:22.290 This Anabaptist critique of the Reformation was a sharp one, but it was 28:22.290 --> 28:23.010 not unfair. 28:23.570 --> 28:28.270 There is abundant evidence that although the original goal sought by Luther and 28:28.270 --> 28:33.910 Zwingli was, quote, an earnest Christianity for all, the actual outcome 28:33.910 --> 28:35.290 was far less. 28:35.790 --> 28:39.570 For the level of Christian living among the Protestant population was frequently 28:39.570 --> 28:42.870 lower than it had been before under Catholicism. 28:43.370 --> 28:46.390 Luther himself was keenly conscious of this deficiency. 28:47.370 --> 28:54.690 In April 1522, he expressed the hope that, quote, we who at the present are well nigh 28:54.690 --> 28:59.070 heathen under a Christian name may yet organize a Christian assembly, 28:59.550 --> 28:59.930 end quote. 28:59.930 --> 29:06.670 In December of 1525, he had an important conversation with Caspar Schwenkfeld 29:06.670 --> 29:09.910 concerning the establishment of the New Testament church. 29:10.510 --> 29:14.670 Schwenkfeld pointed out that the establishment of the new church had failed 29:14.670 --> 29:19.350 to result in spiritual and moral betterment of the people, a fact which 29:19.350 --> 29:20.050 Luther admitted. 29:20.550 --> 29:25.030 For Schwenkfeld states that, quote, Luther regretted very much that no 29:25.030 --> 29:27.750 amendment of life was in evidence, end quote. 29:28.510 --> 29:36.530 Between 1522 and 1527, Luther repeatedly mentioned his concern to establish a true 29:36.530 --> 29:42.830 Christian church and his desire to provide for earnest Christians, die mit ernst 29:42.830 --> 29:49.430 Christian zu wollen, who would confess the gospel with their lives as well as with 29:49.430 --> 29:49.970 their tongues. 29:50.550 --> 29:54.470 He thought of entering the names of these earnest Christians in a special book and 29:54.470 --> 29:59.070 having them meet separately from the mass of nominal Christians, but concluding that 29:59.070 --> 30:02.470 he would not have sufficient of such people, he dropped the plan. 30:03.070 --> 30:04.550 Zwingli faced the same problem. 30:04.910 --> 30:09.130 He was in fact specifically challenged by the Swiss brethren to set up such a 30:09.130 --> 30:11.790 church, but he refused and followed Luther's course. 30:12.710 --> 30:17.810 Both reformers decided that it was better to include the masses within the fold of 30:17.810 --> 30:21.910 the church than to form a fellowship of true Christians only. 30:21.910 --> 30:26.890 Both certainly expected the preaching of the word and the ministration of the 30:26.890 --> 30:31.410 sacraments to bear fruit in an earnest Christian life, at least among some, 30:31.930 --> 30:35.990 but they reckoned with a permanent and largely indifferent mass. 30:36.690 --> 30:41.150 And taking this course, said the Anabaptists, the reformers surrendered 30:41.150 --> 30:45.270 their original purpose and abandoned the divine intention. 30:45.870 --> 30:48.650 Others may say that they were wise and statesmanlike leaders. 30:48.650 --> 30:54.150 The Anabaptists, however, retained the original vision of Lutheran Zwingli, 30:54.390 --> 30:59.230 enlarged it, gave it body and form, and set out to achieve it in actual 30:59.230 --> 31:00.270 experience. 31:00.790 --> 31:06.290 They proceeded to organize a church composed solely of earnest Christians and 31:06.290 --> 31:07.850 actually found the people for it. 31:08.170 --> 31:12.650 They did not believe in any case that the size of their response to determine 31:12.650 --> 31:17.430 whether or not the truth of God should be applied, and they refused to compromise. 31:17.430 --> 31:22.410 They preferred to make a radical break with the 1500 years of history and 31:22.410 --> 31:26.110 culture, if necessary, rather than to break with the New Testament. 31:27.310 --> 31:31.710 May it not be said that the decision of Lutheran Zwingli to surrender their 31:31.710 --> 31:35.310 original vision was the tragic turning point of the Reformation? 31:36.170 --> 31:39.830 Professor Carl Mueller, one of the keenest and fairest interpreters of the 31:39.830 --> 31:43.890 Reformation, evidently thinks so, for he says, quote, The aggressive, 31:44.490 --> 31:49.310 conquering power which Lutheranism manifested in its first period was lost 31:49.310 --> 31:53.770 everywhere at the moment when the governments took matter in hands and 31:53.770 --> 31:56.910 established the Lutheran creed, end quote. 31:57.150 --> 32:01.450 That is to say, when Luther's mass church concept was put into practice. 32:02.090 --> 32:07.570 Luther, in his latter years, expressed disappointment at the final outcome of the 32:07.570 --> 32:11.970 Reformation, setting that the people had become more and more indifferent towards 32:11.970 --> 32:15.690 religion and the moral outlook was more deplorable than ever. 32:16.390 --> 32:21.190 His last years were embittered by the consciousness of partial failure and his 32:21.190 --> 32:24.210 expression of dejection are well known. 32:24.670 --> 32:29.730 Contrast this sense of defeat at the end of Luther's outward successful career with 32:29.730 --> 32:33.370 a sense of victory in the hearts of the Anabaptist martyrs who laid down their 32:33.370 --> 32:38.250 lives in what the world would call defeat, conscious of having kept faith with their 32:38.250 --> 32:39.450 vision to the end. 32:41.310 --> 32:46.570 Having defined genuine Anabaptism in its Reformation setting, we are ready to 32:46.570 --> 32:48.550 examine its central teachings. 32:49.070 --> 32:52.550 The Anabaptist vision included three major points of emphasis. 32:53.090 --> 32:58.710 First, a new conception of the essence of Christianity as discipleship. 32:58.990 --> 33:03.330 Secondly, a new conception of the church as a brotherhood. 33:03.330 --> 33:07.690 And third, a new ethic of love and non-resistance. 33:08.090 --> 33:10.910 We turn now to an exposition of these three points. 33:12.390 --> 33:17.150 First, and fundamental in the Anabaptist vision, was the conception of the essence 33:17.150 --> 33:19.330 of Christianity as discipleship. 33:19.670 --> 33:24.850 It was a concept which meant the transformation of the entire way of life 33:24.850 --> 33:29.850 of the individual believer and the society so that it should be fashioned after the 33:29.850 --> 33:32.470 teachings and example of Christ. 33:32.470 --> 33:36.850 The Anabaptists could not understand a Christianity which made regeneration, 33:37.390 --> 33:42.530 holiness, and love primarily a matter of intellect, of doctrinal belief, 33:42.830 --> 33:48.070 or of subjective experience rather than one of the transformation of life. 33:48.470 --> 33:52.690 They demanded an outward expression of the inward experience. 33:53.250 --> 33:57.250 Repentance must be evidence by newness of behavior. 33:57.250 --> 34:02.850 In evidence is the keynote which rings through the testimonies and challenges of 34:02.850 --> 34:06.650 the early Swiss brethren when they are called to give an account of themselves. 34:07.330 --> 34:13.790 The whole life was to be brought literally under the lordship of Christ in a covenant 34:13.790 --> 34:19.090 of discipleship, a covenant which the Anabaptist writers delighted to emphasize. 34:19.870 --> 34:24.770 The focus of the Christian life was to be not so much an inward experience of the 34:24.770 --> 34:30.250 grace of God as it was for Luther, but the outward application of that grace 34:30.250 --> 34:36.150 to all human conduct and the consequent Christianization of all human 34:36.150 --> 34:36.870 relationship. 34:37.530 --> 34:41.150 The true test of the Christian, they held, is discipleship. 34:41.730 --> 34:45.990 The great word of the Anabaptist was not faith as it was for the Reformers, 34:46.730 --> 34:51.470 but following, nachvolle Christi, following of Christ. 34:52.450 --> 34:58.110 And baptism, the greatest of the Christian symbol, was accordingly to be for them the 34:58.110 --> 35:04.510 covenant of a good conscience towards God, the pledge of a complete commitment to 35:04.510 --> 35:08.470 obey Christ and not primarily the symbol of a past experience. 35:09.010 --> 35:14.470 The Anabaptists had faith indeed, but they used it to produce a life. 35:15.050 --> 35:17.870 Theology was for them a means, not an end. 35:18.550 --> 35:22.990 That the Anabaptists not only proclaimed the idea of full Christian discipleship, 35:23.350 --> 35:27.210 but achieved in the eyes of their contemporaries and even of their opponents 35:27.210 --> 35:31.990 a measurably higher level of performance than the average is fully witnessed by the 35:31.990 --> 35:32.350 sources. 35:33.150 --> 35:38.590 The early Swiss and German Reformers were keenly aware of this achievement and its 35:38.590 --> 35:39.790 attractive power. 35:39.790 --> 35:46.850 Zwingli knew it best of all, but Bollinger, Capito, Vadian, and many other 35:46.850 --> 35:51.550 confirmed his judgment that the Anabaptist brethren were unusually sincere, 35:52.070 --> 35:53.790 devoted, and effective Christians. 35:54.250 --> 35:59.690 However, since the brethren refused to accept the state church system which the 35:59.690 --> 36:04.290 Reformers were building, in addition made radical demands which might have changed 36:04.290 --> 36:09.390 the entire social order, the leaders of the Reformation were completely baffled in 36:09.390 --> 36:13.290 their understanding of the movement and professed to believe that the Anabaptists 36:13.290 --> 36:15.790 were hypocrites of the darkest dye. 36:16.470 --> 36:18.330 Bollinger, for instance, calls them, quote, 36:22.090 --> 36:28.190 Nevertheless, they had to admit the apparent superiority of their life. 36:28.970 --> 36:32.830 In Zwingli's last book against the Swiss brethren in 1527, for instance, 36:32.950 --> 36:35.330 the following is found, quoting from Zwingli, 36:51.070 --> 36:52.350 End quote. 36:52.850 --> 36:57.110 Bollinger himself, who wrote bitter diatribes against them, was compelled to 36:57.110 --> 37:00.210 admit of the early Swiss brethren that, quoting from Bollinger, 37:25.690 --> 37:27.930 End quote. 37:29.050 --> 37:30.770 Bollinger's lament that, quote, 37:34.850 --> 37:35.450 End quote. 37:35.790 --> 37:36.670 Had been reported earlier. 37:51.270 --> 37:52.630 End quote. 37:53.270 --> 37:57.710 Capito, the Reformer of Strasbourg, wrote in 1527 concerning the Swiss 37:57.710 --> 37:59.470 brethren, quoting from him, 38:27.610 --> 38:30.370 End quote. 38:31.330 --> 38:33.490 End quote. 38:33.490 --> 38:37.470 admitted in a letter to the Council of Bern in 1532, that, quoting, 38:52.590 --> 38:53.830 End quote. 38:54.930 --> 38:59.710 Walter Klerer, the Reformed chronicler of Appelsen, Switzerland, wrote this, 39:07.450 --> 39:08.810 End quote. 39:09.550 --> 39:14.850 And the Roman Catholic theologian, Franz Agricola, in his book of 1582, 39:15.570 --> 39:18.690 against the terrible errors of the Anabaptists, says this, 39:33.490 --> 39:39.490 Deception, swearing, strife, harsh language, no intemperate eating and 39:39.490 --> 39:45.030 drinking, no outward personal display is found among them, but humility, 39:45.650 --> 39:52.550 patience, uprightness, neatness, honesty, temperance, straightforwardness, 39:52.790 --> 39:57.930 in such measure that one would suppose that they have the Holy Spirit of God. 39:58.410 --> 39:58.890 End quote. 39:59.570 --> 40:05.070 A mandate against the Swiss brethren, published in 1585 by the Council of Bern, 40:05.470 --> 40:10.390 states that offensive sins and vices were common among the preachers and the 40:10.390 --> 40:12.250 memberships of the Reformed church, adding, 40:22.590 --> 40:23.730 End quote. 40:24.450 --> 40:28.770 One of the finest contemporary characterizations of the Anabaptists is 40:28.770 --> 40:34.070 given in 1531 by Sebastian Frank, an objective and sympathetic witness, 40:34.390 --> 40:37.110 though an opponent of the Anabaptists, who wrote the following, 40:53.730 --> 40:57.810 They break bread with one another as an evidence of unity and love. 40:58.070 --> 41:01.450 They helped each other faithfully and called each other brothers. 41:01.990 --> 41:07.130 They died as martyrs, patiently and humbly, enduring all persecution. 41:07.530 --> 41:07.910 End quote. 41:08.490 --> 41:12.930 A further confirmation of the above evaluation of the achievement of the 41:12.930 --> 41:17.450 Anabaptists is found in the fact that in many places, those who lived a consistent 41:17.450 --> 41:22.190 Christian life were in danger of falling under the suspicion of being guilty of 41:22.190 --> 41:23.170 Anabaptist heresy. 41:23.170 --> 41:28.790 Caspar Schwenkfeld, for instance, declares, I am being maligned by both 41:28.790 --> 41:34.430 preachers and others with the charge of being an Anabaptist, even as all others 41:34.430 --> 41:38.570 who lead a true, pious Christian life are now almost everywhere given this name. 41:38.930 --> 41:39.250 End quote. 41:39.750 --> 41:41.410 Bullinger himself complained that, 41:53.170 --> 41:58.210 and consequently called or misnamed Anabaptists by petulant persons. 41:58.510 --> 41:58.830 End quote. 42:00.010 --> 42:04.690 The great collection of Anabaptist sources materials, commonly called the Teufer 42:04.690 --> 42:09.050 files, now in the third volume, contains a number of specific 42:09.050 --> 42:10.230 illustrations of this. 42:10.590 --> 42:16.930 In 1562, a certain Caspar Seicher of Württemberg was accused of being an 42:16.930 --> 42:22.210 Anabaptist, but the court records reports that since he was an envious man who could 42:22.210 --> 42:26.790 not get along with others and who often started quarrels, as well as being guilty 42:26.790 --> 42:31.210 of swearing and cursing and carrying a weapon, he was not considered to be an 42:31.210 --> 42:31.890 Anabaptist. 42:32.150 --> 42:38.030 On the other hand, in 1570, a certain Hans Jaeger in Württemberg was brought before 42:38.030 --> 42:42.850 the court on suspicion of being an Anabaptist, primarily because he did not 42:42.850 --> 42:45.670 curse, but lived an irreproachable life. 42:47.590 --> 42:53.090 As a second major element in the Anabaptist vision, a new concept of the 42:53.090 --> 42:59.030 church was created by the central principle of newness of life and applied 42:59.030 --> 42:59.970 Christianity. 43:00.710 --> 43:06.750 Voluntary church membership based upon true conversion and involving a commitment 43:06.750 --> 43:12.910 to holy living and discipleship was the absolutely essential heart of this 43:12.910 --> 43:13.630 concept. 43:13.630 --> 43:19.630 This vision stands in sharp contrast to the church concept of the reformers who 43:19.630 --> 43:24.730 retained the medieval idea of a mass church with memberships of the entire 43:24.730 --> 43:29.430 population from birth to the grave compulsory by law and force. 43:30.270 --> 43:34.630 It is from the standpoint of this new conception of the church that the 43:34.630 --> 43:37.830 Anabaptist opposition to infant baptism must be interpreted. 43:38.470 --> 43:42.690 Infant baptism was not the cause of their disavowal of the state church. 43:42.690 --> 43:45.310 It was only a symbol of the cause. 43:45.870 --> 43:50.150 How could infants give their commitment based upon a knowledge of what true 43:50.150 --> 43:51.450 Christianity means? 43:51.810 --> 43:56.710 They might conceivably, passively experience the grace of God, though 43:56.710 --> 44:01.170 Anabaptists would question this, but they could not respond in pledging 44:01.170 --> 44:02.670 their lives to Christ. 44:03.270 --> 44:07.330 Such infant baptism would not only be meaningless, but would in fact become a 44:07.330 --> 44:12.950 serious obstacle to a true understanding of the nature of Christianity and 44:12.950 --> 44:14.410 membership in the church. 44:14.790 --> 44:19.870 Only adult baptism could signify an intelligent life commitment. 44:21.710 --> 44:27.250 An inevitable corollary of the concept of the church as a body of committed and 44:27.250 --> 44:31.870 practicing Christian pledged to the highest standards of New Testament living 44:31.870 --> 44:36.690 was the insistence of the separation of the church from the world. 44:36.690 --> 44:42.370 That is, non-conformity of the Christian to the worldly way of life. 44:42.950 --> 44:47.790 The world would not tolerate the practice of true Christian principles in society, 44:48.010 --> 44:53.290 and the church could not tolerate the practice of worldly ways among its 44:53.290 --> 44:53.890 membership. 44:54.570 --> 44:58.310 Hence, the only way out was separation, absonderung. 44:58.890 --> 45:04.970 The gathering of true Christians into their own Christian society where Christ's 45:04.970 --> 45:07.470 way could and would be practiced. 45:07.910 --> 45:13.050 On this principle of separation, Menno Simons says this, All the 45:13.050 --> 45:19.950 evangelical scriptures teach us that the church of Christ was and is in doctrine, 45:20.590 --> 45:25.310 life, and worship of people separated from the world. 45:25.810 --> 45:33.010 In the great debate of 1528 at Zöwingen, spokesman of the Swiss brethren said this, 45:33.790 --> 45:39.650 The true church is separated from the world and is conformed to the nature of 45:39.650 --> 45:40.110 Christ. 45:40.110 --> 45:46.890 If a church is yet at one with the world, we cannot recognize it as a true church. 45:47.250 --> 45:52.230 In a sense, this principle of non-conformity to the world is merely a 45:52.230 --> 45:55.790 negative expression of the positive requirement of discipleship. 45:56.130 --> 46:01.150 But it goes further in a sense that it represents a judgment on the contemporary 46:01.150 --> 46:07.710 social order which the Anabaptists called the world as non-Christian and sets up a 46:07.710 --> 46:13.010 line of demarcation between the Christian community and worldly societies. 46:13.690 --> 46:17.910 A logical outcome of the concept of non-conformity to the world was the 46:17.910 --> 46:19.610 concept of a suffering church. 46:20.230 --> 46:24.030 Conflicts with the world was inevitable for those who endeavored to live an 46:24.030 --> 46:25.350 earnest Christian life. 46:25.790 --> 46:28.030 The Anabaptists expected opposition. 46:28.730 --> 46:33.890 They took literally the words of Jesus when he said, In this world ye shall have 46:33.890 --> 46:34.570 tribulation. 46:35.090 --> 46:39.770 But they also took literally his words of encouragement, But be of good cheer, 46:39.950 --> 46:41.850 I have overcome the world. 46:42.590 --> 46:48.870 Conrad Grebel said in 1524, True Christian believers are sheep among wolves, 46:49.330 --> 46:50.870 sheep for the slaughter. 46:51.790 --> 46:55.950 They must be baptized in anguish and affliction, tribulation, persecution, 46:56.410 --> 46:57.270 suffering and death. 46:57.270 --> 47:02.450 They must be tried with fire and must reap the fatherland of eternal rest, 47:02.490 --> 47:07.650 not by killing their bodily enemy, but by mortifying their spiritual enemies. 47:08.610 --> 47:13.690 Professor Ernest Steilen of Basel, Switzerland says this, Anabaptism, 47:13.830 --> 47:18.630 by its earnest determination to follow in life and practice the primitive Christian 47:18.630 --> 47:24.330 church, has kept alive the conviction that he who is in Christ is a new creature and 47:24.330 --> 47:29.330 that those who are identified with his cause will necessarily encounter the 47:29.330 --> 47:30.910 opposition of the world. 47:31.850 --> 47:37.850 Perhaps it was persecution that made the Anabaptists so acutely aware of the 47:37.850 --> 47:39.950 conflict between the church and the world. 47:40.350 --> 47:45.890 But this persecution was due to the fact that they refused to accept what they 47:45.890 --> 47:50.510 considered the sub-Christian way of life practiced in European Christendom. 47:50.510 --> 47:55.870 They could have avoided the persecution had they but conformed, or they could have 47:55.870 --> 48:00.490 suspended the practice of their faith to a more convenient time and settled under the 48:00.490 --> 48:03.070 false colors as did David Joris. 48:03.430 --> 48:09.210 But they chose with dauntless courage and simple honesty to live their faith, 48:09.570 --> 48:14.550 to defy the existing world order and to suffer the consequences. 48:16.570 --> 48:21.350 Basic to the Anabaptist vision of the church was the insistence on the practice 48:21.350 --> 48:25.390 of true brotherhood and love among the members of the church. 48:25.930 --> 48:30.450 This principle was understood to mean not merely the expression of pious sentiments, 48:30.910 --> 48:34.850 but the actual practice of sharing possessions to meet the needs of others in 48:34.850 --> 48:36.490 the spirit of true mutual aid. 48:36.910 --> 48:40.890 Hans Leopold, a Swiss brother and martyr of 1528, said of the brethren, 48:40.890 --> 48:45.910 If they know of anyone who is in need, whether or not he is a member of their 48:45.910 --> 48:50.270 church, they believe it is their duty, out of love to God, to render help and 48:50.270 --> 48:50.490 aid. 48:51.770 --> 48:57.370 Heinrich Seeler, a Swiss brother and martyr of 1535, said, I do not believe it 48:57.370 --> 49:02.590 wrong that a Christian has property of his own, but yet he is nothing more than a 49:02.590 --> 49:02.950 steward. 49:04.430 --> 49:09.430 An early Hutterian book states that one of the questions addressed by the Swiss 49:09.430 --> 49:15.470 brethren to applicants for baptism was, whether they would consecrate themselves 49:15.470 --> 49:20.510 with all their temporal possessions to the service of God and His people. 49:20.510 --> 49:26.690 A Protestant of Strasbourg, a visitor at a Swiss brethren baptism service in the city 49:26.690 --> 49:32.930 in 1557, reports that a question addressed to all applicants for baptism was this, 49:34.130 --> 49:39.210 whether they, if necessary require it, would devote all their possessions to the 49:39.210 --> 49:44.030 service of the brotherhood and would not fail any member that is in need if they 49:44.030 --> 49:45.210 were able to render it. 49:46.210 --> 49:49.210 Heinrich Bullinger, the bitter enemy of the brethren states, 50:02.010 --> 50:07.350 This principle of full brotherhood and stewardship was actually practiced and not 50:07.350 --> 50:09.110 merely speculatively considered. 50:09.590 --> 50:13.570 In its absolute form, with the complete repudiation of private property, 50:13.570 --> 50:18.610 it became the way of life of the Hutterian brotherhood in 1528 and has remained so to 50:18.610 --> 50:22.190 this day, for the Hutterites held that private property is the greatest enemy of 50:22.190 --> 50:22.770 Christian love. 50:23.170 --> 50:27.350 One of the inspiring stories of the 16th and 17th centuries is the successful 50:27.350 --> 50:30.350 practice of the full communal way of life by this group. 50:31.490 --> 50:36.610 The third great element of the Anabaptist vision was the ethic of love and 50:36.610 --> 50:40.510 non-resistance as applied to all human relationships. 50:40.510 --> 50:45.710 The brethren understood this to mean complete abandonment of all warfare, 50:46.130 --> 50:49.270 strife, and violence, and of the taking of human life. 50:49.630 --> 50:52.710 Conrad Grebel, the Swiss, said in 1524, 51:10.590 --> 51:13.430 Neither should they thus protect themselves. 51:14.090 --> 51:18.970 Pilgrim Marpeck, the South German leader in 1544, speaking of Matthew 5, 51:19.290 --> 51:26.610 said, All bodily, worldly, carnal, earthly fightings, conflicts, and wars are 51:26.610 --> 51:33.070 annulled and abolished among them through such law, which law of love Christ himself 51:33.070 --> 51:37.350 observed and thereby gave his followers a pattern to follow after. 51:38.330 --> 51:43.850 Peter Riedemann, the Hutterian leader, wrote in 1545, Christ, the Prince of 51:43.850 --> 51:49.170 Peace, has established his kingdom, that is, his church, and has purchased it 51:49.170 --> 51:50.330 by his blood. 51:51.090 --> 51:54.770 In this kingdom all worldly warfare has ended. 51:55.350 --> 52:00.570 Therefore a Christian has no part in war, nor does he wield the sword to execute 52:00.570 --> 52:08.810 vengeance." Menno Simons of Holland wrote in 1550, The regenerated do not go to war 52:08.810 --> 52:10.350 nor engage in strife. 52:10.350 --> 52:15.530 They are the children of peace who have beaten their swords into plowshares and 52:15.530 --> 52:17.290 their spears into pruning hooks. 52:17.730 --> 52:24.530 And of no war, spears and swords of iron, we leave to those who, alas, consider 52:24.530 --> 52:31.450 human blood and swine's blood of well-nigh equal value." In this principle of 52:31.450 --> 52:35.770 non-resistance or biblical pacifism, which was thoroughly believed and 52:35.770 --> 52:40.270 resolutely practiced by all the original Anabaptist brethren and their descendants 52:40.270 --> 52:44.210 throughout Europe from the beginning until this last century, the Anabaptists were 52:44.210 --> 52:49.910 again creative leaders, far ahead of their times in this antedating the Quakers by 52:49.910 --> 52:51.270 over a century and a quarter. 52:51.750 --> 52:55.630 It should also be remembered that they held this principle in a day when both 52:55.630 --> 53:01.050 Catholic and Protestant churches not only endorsed war as an instrument of state 53:01.050 --> 53:04.330 policy, but employed it in religious conflict. 53:04.330 --> 53:09.650 It is true, of course, that occasional earlier prophets like Peter Kielczewski 53:09.650 --> 53:14.530 had advocated similar views, but they left no continuing practice of the principle 53:14.530 --> 53:15.370 behind them. 53:17.130 --> 53:22.250 As we review the vision of the Anabaptists, it becomes clear that there 53:22.250 --> 53:24.310 are two foci in this vision. 53:25.030 --> 53:29.270 The first focus relates to the essential nature of Christianity. 53:29.270 --> 53:36.130 Is Christianity primarily a matter of the reception of divine grace through a 53:36.130 --> 53:40.910 sacramental, sacerdotal institution, as we see in Roman Catholicism? 53:41.410 --> 53:46.550 Is it chiefly enjoyment of the inner experience of the grace of God through 53:46.550 --> 53:48.710 faith in Christ, as in Lutheranism? 53:48.970 --> 53:54.890 Or is it most of all the transformation of life through discipleship, as in 53:54.890 --> 53:55.590 Anabaptism? 53:55.590 --> 54:00.790 The Anabaptists were neither institutionalists, mystics, nor pieties, 54:01.290 --> 54:06.030 for they laid the weight of their emphasis upon following Christ in life. 54:06.570 --> 54:11.850 To them, it was unthinkable for one truly to be a Christian without creating a new 54:11.850 --> 54:16.910 life on divine principles, both for himself and for all men who commit 54:16.910 --> 54:18.510 themselves to the Christian way. 54:19.530 --> 54:21.530 The second focus relates to the church. 54:21.530 --> 54:25.690 For the Anabaptists, the church was neither an institution, again as 54:25.690 --> 54:30.830 Catholicism, nor the instrument of God for the proclamation of the divine word, 54:31.170 --> 54:36.970 as in Lutheranism, nor a resource group for individual piety, as in Pietism. 54:37.610 --> 54:44.310 It was a brotherhood of love in which the fullness of the Christian life ideal was 54:44.310 --> 54:45.170 expressed. 54:45.170 --> 54:50.730 The Anabaptist vision may be further clarified by comparison of the social 54:50.730 --> 54:55.830 ethics of the four main Christian groups of the Reformation period, Catholic, 54:56.050 --> 54:58.210 Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist. 54:58.590 --> 55:03.170 Catholic and Calvinist alike were optimistic about the world, agreeing that 55:03.170 --> 55:04.930 the world can be redeemed. 55:05.310 --> 55:09.830 They held that the entire social order can be brought under the sovereignty of God 55:09.830 --> 55:13.690 and Christianized, and although they used different means to attain this goal. 55:13.690 --> 55:18.710 Lutheran and Anabaptist were pessimistic about the world, denying the possibility 55:18.710 --> 55:21.410 of Christianizing the entire social order. 55:21.990 --> 55:26.950 But the consequent attitudes of these two groups toward the social order were 55:26.950 --> 55:28.530 diametrically opposed. 55:29.190 --> 55:34.930 Lutheranism said that since the Christian must live in a world order that remains 55:34.930 --> 55:38.210 sinful, he must make a compromise with it. 55:38.570 --> 55:42.810 As a citizen, he cannot avoid participation in the evils of the world. 55:42.810 --> 55:44.730 For instance, in making war. 55:45.090 --> 55:49.830 And for this, his only recourse is to seek forgiveness by the grace of God. 55:50.090 --> 55:54.670 Only within his personal, private experience can the Christian truly 55:54.670 --> 55:55.950 Christianize his life. 55:56.590 --> 55:59.910 The Anabaptist rejected this view completely. 56:00.830 --> 56:06.510 Since for him, no compromise dare be made with evil, the Christian may in no 56:06.510 --> 56:11.830 circumstance participate in any conduct in the existing social order which is 56:11.830 --> 56:17.190 contrary to the spirit and teaching of Christ and the apostolic practice. 56:17.750 --> 56:22.310 He must consequently withdraw from the worldly system and create a Christian 56:22.310 --> 56:26.190 social order within the fellowship of the church brotherhood. 56:26.710 --> 56:31.350 Extension of this Christian order by the conversion of individuals and their 56:31.350 --> 56:37.850 transfer out of the world into the church is the only way by which progress can be 56:37.850 --> 56:40.630 made in Christianizing the social order. 56:40.630 --> 56:44.270 However, the Anabaptists were realistic. 56:45.270 --> 56:49.730 Down the long perspective of the future, he saw little chance that the mass of 56:49.730 --> 56:53.410 humankind would enter such a brotherhood with its high ideals. 56:53.730 --> 56:59.310 Hence, he anticipated a long and grievous conflict between the church and the world. 56:59.770 --> 57:03.710 Neither did he anticipate the time when the church would rule the world. 57:03.990 --> 57:06.690 The church would always be a suffering church. 57:06.690 --> 57:11.690 He agreed with the words of Jesus when he said that those who would be his disciples 57:11.690 --> 57:18.050 must deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow him, and that there 57:18.050 --> 57:22.650 would be few who would enter the straight gate and travel the narrow way of life. 57:23.330 --> 57:28.690 If this prospect should seem too discouraging, the Anabaptists reply that 57:28.690 --> 57:33.870 the life within the Christian brotherhood is satisfyingly full of love and joy. 57:33.870 --> 57:40.210 The Anabaptist vision was not a detailed blueprint for the reconstruction of human 57:40.210 --> 57:46.670 society, but the brethren did believe that Jesus intended that the kingdom of God 57:46.670 --> 57:52.730 should be set in the midst of earth, here and now, and this they proposed to do 57:52.730 --> 57:53.070 forthwith. 57:53.710 --> 57:57.970 We shall not believe, they said, that the Sermon on the Mount or any other 57:57.970 --> 58:03.170 vision that he had is only a heavenly vision meant but to keep his followers in 58:03.170 --> 58:07.510 tension until the last great day, but we shall practice what he taught, 58:07.970 --> 58:15.690 believing that where he walked, we can, by his grace, follow in his steps. 58:17.630 --> 58:20.410 This concludes the Anabaptist vision by Harold S. 58:20.470 --> 58:20.690 Bender. 58:20.690 --> 58:25.930 But allow me, if I may, to lift this old message out of the vaults of history and 58:25.930 --> 58:27.850 lay the question to our current experience. 58:28.630 --> 58:30.130 What is your faith like? 58:30.850 --> 58:34.830 Is your faith that which exists merely as a receptacle of sacramental or mechanical 58:34.830 --> 58:37.490 rites that you have participated in in the past? 58:38.010 --> 58:43.530 Or is it, like so many today, a mere profession, a fleeting prayer or a creed 58:43.530 --> 58:47.710 spoken with no repentance or no real change in your life? 58:48.670 --> 58:54.270 Or are you, as the Anabaptists in this message have challenged, a genuine 58:54.270 --> 58:55.790 follower of Christ? 58:56.490 --> 58:59.950 Jesus said, repent, and he said, follow me. 59:00.610 --> 59:04.850 If you believe him, you can, by his grace, do just that. 59:05.370 --> 59:06.850 And what about your view of the church? 59:07.390 --> 59:11.530 Is your church an institution that exists merely to keep the structure going? 59:11.530 --> 59:16.870 Or is your view of the church, like most today, and you see it more as a 59:16.870 --> 59:18.510 collection of individuals? 59:19.310 --> 59:23.650 Do you see the church, as Bender challenged, a resource of individual 59:23.650 --> 59:24.350 piety? 59:25.130 --> 59:30.930 Allow me to invite you to dare to experience church life, even in this day 59:30.930 --> 59:36.110 and age, as a covenanted group of brethren, called out of the world and 59:36.110 --> 59:40.830 called into a joyful society of commitment, sharing, and discipleship. 59:40.830 --> 59:46.650 Well, if you choose such a faith, with such a practice, be careful. 59:47.270 --> 59:51.370 Like the early Anabaptists, it could cost you everything, even your life. 59:52.030 --> 59:55.950 Well, thank you for listening, and may God bless and guide your way. 01:00:15.550 --> 01:00:18.050 Christ is our God.