This page has been validated.
1527]
Teachings of Hübmaier
215

16; Eph. v., 19). But otherwise God utterly rejects it and will have none of our Baal cries (Mal. ii., 17; Ezek. xxxiii., 31, 32)."[1]

The Anabaptists were likewise greatly divided on the question of the community of goods, some holding it to be an inseparable part of church order that the brethren should have all things in common, as in the church at Jerusalem. In his writings Hübmaier does not deal with this question, for he does not appear to have been brought into personal contact with Anabaptists who held this theory till the closing months of his life. There is no reason to doubt that the explanation he made to the Zürich council, already quoted in full, correctly represented both his private views and his public teaching, not only up to that time, but to the end of his life. The fact that at Nikolsburg he found this doctrine closely associated with Hut's chiliasm and denial of the right of the sword, would not be likely to incline him to its acceptance, to say the least. We may, without fear of hasty conclusion, set Hübmaier down as a disbeliever in this doctrine as a necessary part of Christianity.

  1. Short Apology, Op. 13.