Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/830

Rh 78G A N A A N A cloth. The book translated by Bell, and again by the younger Hazlitt in 1847, is said to have been originally collected by Dr Anthony Lauterbach, &quot;out of the holy mouth of Luther.&quot; It consists chiefly of observations and discussions on idolatry, auricular confession, the mass, excommunication, clerical jurisdiction, general councils, and all the points agitated by the Reformed Church in those early periods. The Table-Talk of Selden contains a more genuine and undisguised expression of the sentiments of that eminent man than we find in his more studied pro ductions. It was published after his death by Richard Milward, his amanuensis, who affirms that for twenty years he enjoyed the opportunity of daily hearing his dis course, and made it his practice faithfully to commit to writing &quot; the excellent things that usually fell from him.&quot; The work contains, along with much of a lighter kind, many curious facts and opinions concerning the political and ecclesiastical history of the interesting period during which Selden lived, and in the important events of which he bore a considerable share. The style of Seldcu, in most of the works published under his own care, is harsh and obscure ; but Clarendon describes him as &quot; a clear dis- courser, possessed of the faculty of making difficult things easy, and presenting them clearly to the understanding.&quot; This talent for elucidation shines chiefly in his Table-Talk, which is filled with the stores of his extensive reading, de livered without any pretensions to that order and method the want of which has been attributed to his other pro ductions. Many more recent works, under such titles as Literary Remains, Table-Talk, &c., partake more or less of the nature of Ana, but do not call for separate notice. The most remarkable collection of Ana in the English language and, indeed, in any language is to be found in a work which does not correspond to the normal type either in name or in form. In his Life of Samuel John son, LL.D., Boswell relates that to his remark, apropos of French literature, &quot; Their Ana are good,&quot; Johnson replied, &quot;A few of them are good; but we have one book of that kind better than any of them Selden s Table-Talk.&quot; Bos- well s own work is incomparably superior to all. In worth as a book this has been rated, on the high authority of Carlyle, beyond any other product of the 18th century, and the value it has depends mainly on its Ana. Its interest arises, not from the details it furnishes of the events of Dr Johnson s career, still less from any attempt at a discriminating estimate of his work and character, but from the graphic representation it gives of his habitual manner of life and speech. The innate greatness of Johnson appears, more than in all his writings, in his portrait, delineated with the exactness of a sharply-defined photograph, as he appeared to the eyes of his admiring biographer in his daily dishabille. &quot;Wolfnis has given a history of the Ana in a preliminary discourse to his edition of the Casauboniana, published in 1710. In the Repertoire de Bibliographies Speciales, Curieuses, ct Instruclives, by Peignot, there is a Notice JSibliographique of these collections ; but many of the books there enumerated consist of mere extracts from the writings of popular authors. ANABAPTISTS (re-laptisers, from ova. and /3a7rria&amp;gt;), & name sometimes applied indiscriminately to all denomi nations of Christians that deny the validity of infantbaptism, but restricted in general usage to certain sects which became prominent in Germany and elsewhere at the period of the Reformation. In both cases the designation originates with opponents, and is repudiated by the great majority of those to whom it is applied. Believing, as they do, that the baptism of infants is no baptism, they naturally object to a name which implies that their baptism of such persons as may have been baptised in infancy is a second adminis tration of the rite. It is therefore desirable to avoid the use of the term as descriptive of those who hold what are otherwise known as antipaedobaptist views. In its more limited sense the Avord has been too long in use, and is too well known to be now discarded, though it is open to the further objection, in addition to that already stated, that it describes a sect by one of the least important of its distinctive doctrines and practices. The Anabaptists of Germany are historically noteworthy, not because they insisted on re-baptism as the condition of admission to their communion, but because the enthusiasm of the Refor mation manifested itself in them in a form and manner altogether peculiar. Their views as to the true constitution of the church and its relation to the state, and the efforts they made to realise these views, furnish a problem, partly theological, partly historical, of which a satisfactory solution is not easy. To one who looks merely at the extravagance and lawlessness which appear on the surface, fanaticism and madness may furnish a sufficient explana tion of the whole Anabaptist movement, but a deeper in sight will find many elements in it that are quite incon sistent with the supposition of nothing more than bare faced imposture in the leaders, and blind delusion in the followers. There is an obvious genetic, though not histori cal connection between the Anabaptists and those earlier sects (Novatians, Donatists, Albigenses, Waldenses) which did not practise infant baptism. It is more important, however, to trace the relation between the Anabaptists and the great body of the Reformers. Anabaptism, as a system, may be defined as the Reformation doctrine carried to its utmost limit; the Anabaptists were the extreme left in the army of the Reformers. It is true that they regarded each other as in different camps ; but their mutual denunciations cannot conceal the fact that even the most peculiar doctrines of the Anabaptists were to them only corollaries, illegiti mately drawn, as the more orthodox Reformers thought, from the fundamental principle, common to both, of the independence of the individual judgment, and the supreme importance of the subjective element, personal faith, in religion. The connection of this principle with their theory of the church and its relation to the state, their doctrine of the sacraments, and even their political rising, is so obvious that it need not be dwelt upon. The history of the Anabaptist movement in its outward development is brief but eventful. In 1521 their first rising took place at Zwickau, under the leadership of Thomas Miinzer, the Lutheran pastor of that place. (See MtfNZEK.) Compelled to leave Zwickau, Miinzer visited Bohemia, resided two years at Altstadt and Thuringia, and in 1524 spent some time in Switzerland. During this period he proclaimed his revolutionary doctrines in religion and politics with grow ing vehemence, and, so far as the lower orders were con cerned, with growing success. The crisis came in the so- called Peasants War in South Germany, in 1525. In its origin a revolt against feudal oppression, it became, under the leadership of Miinzer, a war against all constituted authorities, and an attempt to establish by force his ideal Christian commonwealth, with absolute equality and the community of goods. The total defeat of the insurgents at Frankenhausen (May 15, 1525), followed as it was by the execution of Miinzer and several other leaders, proved only a temporary check to the Anabaptist movement. Here and there throughout Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands there were zealous propagandists, through whose teaching many were prepared to follow as soon as another leader should arise. A second and more deter mined attempt to establish a theocracy was made at Miin- ster, in Westphalia (1532-5). Here the sect had gained considerable influence, through the adhesion of Rothmann, the Lutheran pastor, and several prominent citizens ; and the leaders, Johann Matthyszoon or Matthiesen, a baker of