Jacob Dachser was one of the most zealous members and leaders of the
large Anabaptistic congregation in Augsburg, where he was also
imprisoned, 1527. He, not Langenmantel, is the author of the
"_Offenbarung von den wahrhaftigen Wiedertaeufern_. Revelation of the
True Anabaptists," secretly published by the Anabaptistic printer Philip
Ulhart in Augsburg and accepted as a sort of confession by the council
held by the Anabaptists in the fall of 1527 at Augsburg. The book of
Urban Regius: "_Wider den neuen Tauforden notwendige Warnung an alle
Christenglaeubigen_--Against the new Baptistic Order, a Necessary
Warning to All Christians," was directed against Dachser's _Revelation_.
In 1529 Dachser published his _Form and Order of Spiritual Songs_, the
first hymn-book of the Anabaptists, containing hymns of Luther,
Speratus, Muenzer, Hutt, Pollio, and Dachser.
In his _Revelation_ Dachser said: "The entire world is against each
other; we don't know any more where the truth is. While all are
convinced that the Pope has erred and deceived us, the new preachers, by
reviling and maligning each other, betray that they, too, are not sent
by God." "In their pulpits the false teachers [Lutherans, etc.]
themselves confess that the longer they preach, the less good is done.
But since they do not forsake a place where they see no fruits of their
doctrine, they thereby reveal that they are not sent by God." "God draws
us to Himself through the power which is in us, and warns us against
wickedness and through the Teacher Christ, who in His Word has taught us
the will of God." "Christ sent His disciples to preach the Gospel to all
creatures and to baptize such as believe. And such as obey this command
are called 'Anabaptists'!" "By our evil will original purity has been
defiled; from this uncleanness we must purge our heart. Who does not
find this uncleanness in himself, neither without nor within, is a true
child of God, obedient to the Word of God. Who, in accordance with the
command of Christ, preaches and baptizes such as believe, is not an
Anabaptist, but a cobaptist [_Mittaeufer_] of Christ and the Apostles."
"All such as preach, teach, and baptize otherwise than Christ commanded,
are the real Anabaptists [opponents of Baptism], acting contrary to the
Son of God, by first baptizing, instead of first teaching and awaiting
faith, as Christ commanded." "We need but strive with Christ to do the
will of the Father then we receive from God through the Holy Ghost the
power to fulfil the divine command." (Schlottenloher, 72ff.)
Hans Hutt (Hut), a restless bookbinder in Franconia, attended the
Anabaptistic council in Augsburg, where he was opposed by Regius and
incarcerated. He died 1527 in an attempt to escape from prison. As a
punishment his body was burned. Hutt must not be confounded with Jacob
Huter or Hueter, an Anabaptist in Tyrol. The followers of Hans Hutt in
the city of Steyr developed the socialistic tendencies of Anabaptism.
They taught: Private ownership is sinful; all things are to be held in
common; Judgment Day is imminent; then the Anabaptists will reign with
Christ on earth. Some also taught that finally the devil and all the
damned would be saved; others held that there is neither a devil nor a
hell, because Christ had destroyed them. (Tschackert 134ff. 141. 153.)
Article XVII of the _Augsburg Confession_ condemns "the Anabaptists, who
think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and
devils...; also others, who are now spreading certain Jewish opinions,
that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession
of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed."
(CONC. TRIGL., 51)