The Anabaptists were the heirs of the evangelical spirit of the German brethren. Stirred by the Lutheran movement, they were more disposed to follow Luther’s example of independent action, though they were not ready to join his movement. With a literal interpretation of the Bible, they reached certain conclusions that were quite unconventional. They were dubbed Anabaptists because they rebaptized those who joined their company, and they refused baptism to infants on the ground that they were not old enough to have conscious faith. They chose their own religious leaders and organized tentatively on a presbyterian basis, rejecting the authority of the Catholic Church. Two men represented divergent types of Anabaptism. Balthasar Hiibmaier was their leader in theological disputation. John Denck represented the prevalence of their mysticism and is related in his spiritual attitude to the later Quakers of England, as Hübmaier anticipated the English Baptists. Lutherans and Catholics alike opposed them. But Anabaptists persisted in the Netherlands, where they took the name of Mennonites from their leader Menno Simons.
Impact: In general the Anabaptists were peaceful and drew disaffected persons of various sorts. Yet, while it was primarily a religious movement, it included some who were fanatical in their anticipation of the second coming of Christ and who were eager to hurry it along.