a name given to those Christians who maintain that baptism
ought always to be performed by immersion; that it ought not to be
administered to children before the age of discretion; and that at this
age it ought to be readministered to those who have been baptized in
their infancy. They affirm that the administration of this sacrament is
neither valid nor useful, if it be done by sprinkling only, and not by
immersion; or if the persons who receive it be not in a condition to
give the reasons of their belief. The Anabaptists of Germany brought the
name into great odium by their turbulent conduct; but by the people of
this persuasion generally, the conduct of these fanatics was at all
times condemned. In England they form a most respectable, though not a
very numerous body.
The word Anabaptist is compounded of ἀνὰ, new, and βαπτιϛὴς, a baptist;
and has been indiscriminately applied to people of very different
principles. Many of them object to the name, because the baptism of
infants by sprinkling is, in their opinion, no baptism; and others hold
nothing in common excepting some one or other of the above mentioned
opinions concerning baptism. See BAPTISM.
ought always to be performed by immersion; that it ought not to be
administered to children before the age of discretion; and that at this
age it ought to be readministered to those who have been baptized in
their infancy. They affirm that the administration of this sacrament is
neither valid nor useful, if it be done by sprinkling only, and not by
immersion; or if the persons who receive it be not in a condition to
give the reasons of their belief. The Anabaptists of Germany brought the
name into great odium by their turbulent conduct; but by the people of
this persuasion generally, the conduct of these fanatics was at all
times condemned. In England they form a most respectable, though not a
very numerous body.
The word Anabaptist is compounded of ἀνὰ, new, and βαπτιϛὴς, a baptist;
and has been indiscriminately applied to people of very different
principles. Many of them object to the name, because the baptism of
infants by sprinkling is, in their opinion, no baptism; and others hold
nothing in common excepting some one or other of the above mentioned
opinions concerning baptism. See BAPTISM.