to a publication of hymns of Breuning,
Salminger said: "Whoever speaks in truth to what his own heart testifies
will be received by God." Schlottenloher remarks: "It was medieval
mysticism from which they [the Anabaptists] derived their consuming
desire for the complete union of the soul with God and the Spirit."
(83.)

259. Balthasar Hubmaier.

Hubmaier (Hubmoer, Friedberger, Pacimontanus) was born at Friedberg,
near Augsburg, and studied under Eck. In 1512 he became Doctor and
professor of theology at Ingolstadt; 1516 preacher in Regensburg; 1522
pastor in Waldshut on the Rhine. Before he came to Waldshut, he had read
the books of Luther. He joined Zwingli in his opposition to Romanism. In
January, 1525, however, he wrote to Oecolampadius that now "he
proclaimed publicly what before he had kept to himself," referring in
particular to his views on infant baptism. On Easter Day of the same
year he was rebaptized together with 60 other persons, after which he
continued to baptize more than 300. In July of 1525 he published his
book _Concerning Christian Baptism of Believers_, which was directed
against Zwingli, whose name, however, was not mentioned. At Zurich,
whither he had fled from Waldshut after the defeat of the peasants in
their rebellion of 1525, he was compelled to hold a public disputation
with Zwingli on infant baptism. This led to his imprisonment from which
he was released only after a public recantation, 1526. He escaped to
Nicolsburg, Moravia, where, under the protection of a powerful nobleman,
he developed a feverish activity and rebaptized about 12,000 persons.
When the persecutions of the Anabaptists began, Hubmaier was arrested,
and after sulphur and powder had been well rubbed into his long beard,
he was burned at the stake in Vienna, March 10, 1528. Three days after,
his wife, with a stone about her neck, was thrust from the bridge into
the Danube.

Hubmaier denounced infant baptism as "an abominable idolatry." He
taught: Children are incapable of making the public confession required
by Baptism; there is no Scriptural reason for infant baptism; it robs us
of the true baptism, since people believe that children are baptized
while in reality they are nothing less than baptized. He says: "Since
the alleged infant baptism is no baptism, those who now receive
water-baptism according to the institution of Christ cannot be charged
with anabaptism."

Concerning the Lord's Supper, Hubmaier taught: "Here