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 it is apparent that
the bread is not the body of Christ, but only a reminder of it. Likewise
the wine is not the blood of Christ, but also a mere memorial that He
has shed and given His blood to wash all believers from their sins." "In
the Lord's Supper the body and blood of Christ are received spiritually
and by faith only." In the Supper of Christ "bread is bread and wine is
wine and not Christ. For He has ascended to heaven and sits at the right
hand of God, His Father."
Hubmaier did not regard the Word as a means of grace nor Baptism and the
Lord's Supper as gracious acts of God, but as mere works of man. "In
believers," he says, "God works both to will and to do, by the inward
anointing of His Holy Spirit." Concerning church discipline he taught:
Where the Christian ban is not established and used according to the
command of Christ, there sin, shame, and vice control everything. A
person who is expelled must be denied all communion until he repents. In
connection with his deliverances on the ban, Hubmaier, after the fashion
of the Papists, made the Gospel of Christian liberty as preached by
Luther responsible for the carnal way in which many abused it. The
socialistic trend of Anabaptism, however, was not developed by Hubmaier.
(Tschackert 132. 172. 234.)