Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/375

 I'edder : Baltliasar Hi'ibmaier 365 Thomas Miinzer. as has commonly been done, but merely to a careful study of the Bible. In 1523 Zwingli had admitted that he found in Holy W'rit no clear command to baptize infants ; and only by sacrificing his original principle that no rite should be performed without plain warrant of Scripture had he conserved the traditional practice. Hub- niaier was more thoroughgoing and rejected infant baptism, though there is no good reason to suppose that he ever followed certain Swiss Anabaptist leaders in giving up the practice of affusion in favor of immersion ("Excursus on the Act of Baptism among the Anabaptists", pp. 142-145). After recanting his views at Ziirich. Hiibmaier, to whose sufferings on the rack his former friend Zwingli had been callous, was allowed to make his way unnoticed to a place of safety. Probably not later than July, 1526, he arrived at Nikolsburg in Moravia, where he enjoyed a little over a twelvemonth of notable success as a preacher and organizer, and published many tracts which 'edder reckons " among the best speci- mens of religious literature produced by the sixteenth century " (p. 157). He had also to oppose his fanatical brethren under Hans Hut and others, who advocated what may roughly be described as anarchy and Christian communism complicated with chiliastic notions. The estab- lishment of the authority of Ferdinand of Austria in Moravia made it at length possible to arrest Hiibmaier in the summer of 1527, probably on the charge of sedition ; having recanted on all points save baptism and the Lord's Supper, he was burned at 'ienna on March 10, 1528. .fter his death the Anabaptist communities in Moravia developed along lines which are of great sociological interest, and are ably set forth in the closing chapter of the book. The appendixes are Hiibmaier " On the Sword " and " A Forgotten Hymn." The metrical rendering of the latter mistranslates " scharrn noch puchen " (scliarrcn ttnd pochcn) (p. 317), which means to stamp and scrape with' the feet as a sign of disapproval. .s. abaptist sources are at present almost inaccessible to one who does not read sixteenth-century German, it is sincerely to be hoped that the author will carry out his plan, expressed in the preface, of publishing all the important works of Hiibmaier in English. The very useful bibliography includes a list of twenty-six productions of Hubmaier; one regrets, however, that the names of authors are printed without initials. The "Excursus on the Spelling of Hiibmaier's Xame " (pp. 66-68) gives twenty variants: the forms employed most frequently by their owner late in life are Huebmor or Hiibmor. There are some things that we question in the book. In his treat- ment of character the author, though desirous of clearing the memory of Anabaptist leaders such as Ludwig Hatzer from charges he regards as slanderous, is careful to show that the behavior of Hiibmaier when cornered and especially when under the shadow of the rack was " far from heroic" (p. 236). The unfavorable remarks about Hiibmaier as