As a contemporary infamous religious sect, the Anabaptists are obvious targets for Jonson, who can clearly see through their somewhat misguided morality, which leads the Anabaptists to look out only for their own kind. Jonson allows the Anabaptists to put forth their arguments, but phrases them in such a way that they sound truly ridiculous, and only increase the humorous effect.

Our first meeting with the Anabaptists occurs during Act II, when Ananias speaks with Subtle. Here, we see Ananias initially portrayed as a devout character, who believes that

“All’s heathen, but the Hebrew”

By saying this, Ananias attempts to appear both linguistically, since he has an apparent knowledge of Hebrew, and religiously superior to Subtle. This is all part of Jonson’s bathetic satire of the Anabaptists: by allowing Ananias to build up the sect to this level, he increases the comic effect created through the exposure of the Anabaptists to the audience.

The exposure begins very shortly after the introduction of Ananias, through the conversation with Subtle, when he comments that, if the parents of orphans were “Sincere professors”,

“We then are to deal justly, and give (in truth)
Their utmost value”

The suggestion is clearly made here that the Anabaptists will happily deal fairly with their own members, but are not adverse to cheating people who come to them seeking help if they are not, themselves, Anabaptists. Through this statement, the audience would begin to wonder exactly what the morals of this so-called religious cult are, as most would expect devout and holy people to help everyone, regardless of their personal beliefs.

The events in the given extract occur as Ananias returns to Lovewit’s house to see Face and Subtle, having earlier been thrown out by Subtle. As Subtle requested, Tribulation has accompanied Ananias. In this exchange, we see that Ananias, despite being a relatively low ranking member of the Anabaptists, can see through Face and Subtle’s plot to some extent, and also feel that it is wrong for a religious group to deal with criminals in order to achieve their aims. Tribulation, however, sees Subtle’s contemptuousness towards Ananias as a test, declaring that

“These chastisements are common to the Saints,”

By comparing themselves to Saints, Tribulation only succeeds in satirising the Anabaptists further in the eyes of the audience because of the arrogance displayed.

It is Ananias who is uncomfortable working with Subtle in order to gain the Philosopher’s stone:

“I do not like the man: he is a heathen.”

Tribulation agrees with him:

“I think him a profane person indeed”

and yet, Tribulation still feels that working with Subtle is the best solution as to getting the Philosopher’s Stone, and overrules Ananias’s better judgement. Whilst both realise that Subtle is a criminal, Tribulation feels that

“we must bend unto all means
That may give furtherance, to the holy cause.”

This line perfectly demonstrates the hypocrisy which Jonson is satirising in this play. Tribulation, the higher ranking religious official, is clearly happy to do anything, even that which is illegal, to gain power for the Anabaptists, whereas the more naïve Ananias is keen to stick to their religious principles, declaring that

“the sanctified cause
Should have a sanctified course.”

In his statement, we see that Ananias, the lower-ranking religious official, is rather more moral than Tribulation, the higher-ranking official. The placement by Jonson of the rhyming phrases at the end of the lines, as well as the repetition of the word “sanctified”, helps to make Ananias’s argument seem more simple and logical, almost as if it is obvious that this is the case. This simplicity contrasted against Tribulation’s long, metaphorical speeches makes Tribulation’s fundamentally flawed arguments seem all the more ridiculous compared to Ananias’s simplicity.

By juxtaposing these two contrasting points of view, Jonson shows how the control of the Anabaptists has corrupted Tribulation. Jonson seems to be saying that whilst there are a great many Anabaptists who, like Ananias, may be attempting to act as morally as possible, the organisation as a whole is corrupt due to its leaders, who act only in their own interests.

Jonson manipulates the audience to see Tribulation as a bad character through Tribulation’s long speech, during which he proclaims

“Where have you greater atheists, than your cooks?
Or more profane, or choleric than your glassmen?
More antichristian, than your bell-founders?”

Here, Tribulation is effectively insulting many people in the audience by attempting to portray them as evil. Throughout this speech, he attempts to make the argument that it is spending time with fire and potentially toxic chemicals which makes people evil: “What makes the Devil so devilish…but his being / Perpetually about the fire”. Since many members of the audience will have occupations that involve being around fire regularly, since many manual occupations would involve this, Tribulation is effectively insulting the audience, and it is probable that they would react by shouting their dislike of Tribulation. Therefore, the audience certainly do not feel sympathy for Tribulation when his bathetic fall occurs, meaning that it will seem comic to the audience.

Throughout the play, we see that Jonson presents the Anabaptists as a somewhat hypocritical religious sect, and shows that the leaders of the Anabaptists are fundamentally corrupt. Jonson even shows us how the moral, more junior members of the Anabaptists can become corrupt by being subjected to long arguments made by the people they respect – the Anabaptist leaders – despite the fact that these arguments are flawed, and insulting to the majority of the audience. In this way, Jonson manages to satirise the Anabaptists in such a way as to bring maximum amusement to his contemporary audience.