Anabaptism developed as a radical religious and social movement during the Reformation in 16th century Europe. "Anabaptist" means "re-baptiser" and refers to the movement's central rejection of infant baptism in favour of a conscious act of adult baptism into the Christian faith. Anabaptist congregations separated themselves from all forms of state control and avoided contact with society outside their own communities. They rejected both the Roman Catholic Church and the new Reformed Protestant Churches. The Mennonites, the Amish, the Hutterites and other similar groups originated in Anabaptist congregations. Militant Anabaptist uprisings occurred in Europe, notably at Münster in Germany in 1534, leaving the movement with a reputation for disrupting the established social order. Anabaptists who fled to England were persecuted during the reigns of Henry VIII and Mary I.
Anabaptism influenced several nonconformist sects in England and the New World, especially the early Baptists, but the word "Anabaptist" was generally a term of abuse during the Civil War and Commonwealth era, used to denote any potentially subversive religious doctrine.
Baptists
The English Baptist movement has its origins in a Separatist congregation established at Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, around 1606, which was led by John Smyth, a former clergyman who had become disillusioned with the Anglican church. Smyth's followers, along with a small number of sister congregations that had formed in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, were persecuted as dissenters and forced to flee to the Netherlands in 1608. At Amsterdam, the English Separatists came under the influence of Dutch Mennonites, an Anabaptist sect which claimed to practise a pure form of Christianity similar to that of the early Church.
A central Mennonite tenet was that infant baptism was meaningless. A deliberate act of adult baptism was essential for entry into the faith. Smyth and his followers baptised themselves and confessed Jesus as Saviour to form the first Baptist congregation. After Smyth's death in 1611, Thomas Helwys led his congregation back to England and established a Baptist church at Spitalfields, London. Although persecuted and stigmatised as "Anabaptists", the Baptist faith grew steadily throughout England and Wales.
"General" Baptists believed in free will rather than the Calvinist doctrine of predestination taught by the Presbyterians. There was a strong emphasis on individual personal salvation. Pastors were elected by the casting of lots. Set prayers and recitations were regarded as a discouragement to true religion and some churches encouraged prophesying, where members said whatever they believed God had inspired them to say. Travelling General Baptist preachers were regarded as troublemakers by local civil and church authorities throughout England. The General Baptist churches held regular meetings of delegates in London and issued the London Confession in 1644, which declared that men must be allowed to follow their own conscience and understanding.
The General Baptists were challenged by the pro-Calvinist "Particular" Baptists, who emerged in London during the mid-1640s with stricter regulation of their congregations and an acceptance of predestination. They believed in salvation for a "particular" few, rather than the "general" salvation preached by the General Baptists. The Particular Baptists believed in the separation of church and state and encouraged lay preachers amongst their congregations. By 1658, the Particular Baptists were organised into four large regional associations covering the whole of England. There was no national meeting, but the London pastors greatly influenced the movement as a whole. Many officers and men of the New Model Army were Particular Baptists, including the regicides Ludlow, Axtell and Hewson.
Another radical grouping were the "Seventh Day" Baptists, who observed the sabbath on Saturday rather than Sunday and were often associated with the Fifth Monarchists.
During the early 1650s, army Baptists flourished in Ireland under the tolerant administration of the Lord-Deputy Charles Fleetwood. However, the religious radicals were highly critical of the establishment of the Protectorate, and In 1655, Fleetwood was replaced as Lord-Deputy by Cromwell's son Henry, who succeeded in forcing the leading Baptist officers to resign their commissions or to leave Ireland.
Baptist congregations continued to meet after the Restoration, but they were regarded with suspicion by the church authorities. Many congregations prospered in America.