Jacobus Gualtems Molanus, (Jacob Wouter Molenaar), and four other Reformed ministers on the Dutch island of Texel in 1649 had Claas Arentsz, the Mennonite elder of Nieuwe-Zijpe, arrested, because during a baptismal service on Texel he had spoken disparagingly of infant baptism. Arentsz had to dispute with Molanus and his colleagues. The dispute was broken off, but after a few weeks continued. Then Arentsz was assisted by three Mennonite preachers of Amsterdam, one of whom was Galenus Abrahamsz. After these disputations Molanus published Christen-Kinder-doops-Waerheijdt, voorafgegaan door een: Corte sommarische ende oprecht verhaal van de handelinghe ende 't samensprekjnghe der Gereformeerden Praedicanten in' eylandt Texel met Claas Arentz, Menniste Bisschop uit de Nieuwe Zijp met meer andere Bisschoppen ende vermaanders . . . (1650). An unknown author calling himself J.G.L.V.C.W.M.D. (apparently the initials of a motto) answered with Christelycke Antwoort op het Boeeck J. Molani, ghenaamt Christen-Kinder-doops-Waerheydt (Amsterdam, 1650). Neither the book by Molanus nor the reply was extant in the 1950s.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 724. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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