You do not keep the commandments of Christ, especially that relating to baptism. Is it right, when Christ speaks four or five words, for one to take the last word and put it first and the first last? You turn it about and take the last word first, according to your will. Where is it said to baptize without preaching the Gospel and faith? Now, I demand testimony before the whole world, and give them all the Scriptures to show where God has so commanded.' He was finally put to death by the sword, although his family offered five thousand florins for his release.

Several other leaders were imprisoned and condemned at Augsburg, amongst whom were Gross, Hut and Snyder. The Martyrology' says, that many of the Baptists there were branded and one had his tongue cut out. Hans Koch and Leonard Meyster were put to death in 1524, and Leonard Snyder in 1527. Hut had refused to bring his babe to baptism in 1521. Early in his religious life he had tendencies to sedition and was always a strong millenarian. Hubmeyer contended with him on these points, and in his preaching he said much of the end of the world. The circular which called for his capture described him as a very learned man ;' his conduct shows him to have been brave and even daring. In his prison he kindled straw to burn the beam and loosen the chain which bound him, and was suf focated in the effort. His corpse was brought out amid the ringing of the city bells and burnt on the public square, and his ashes thrown into the Wertach. In 1527 the Dukes of Bavaria issued decrees for the arrest and imprisonment of all Baptists. This document was posted in the market-places and read from all state pulpits. Duke William was very zealous, and wrote a full description of one poor offender to the Bishop of Passau: His name is Anthony, born at Salzburg, a lastmaker, a big, heavy fellow, thirty years old, lame in his right hand, wears a red cap, left Augsburg without a coat, will stop with Hermann Kheil, a brother, on the fishmarket.' Soon the prisons were crowded with Baptists, many died in prison, others were branded, burned or drowned in the Isar; but few left the Falcon Tower unpunished. At Augsburg it was made the duty of one of the city councilors to be present at the opening and closing of the gates, so that no Baptist should enter. Sender, a monk of the city, kept an account of the daily outrages practiced upon them: January 12th, 1528, twelve were banished; 13th, thirty were imprisoned; 18th, ten perpetually exiled; 19th, twenty driven out of the city; 22d, seven scourged out of town; 23d, three men and five women driven out; 24th, one refusing to take the oath was branded on the cheek. 28 The barbarous crusade ran on till February, when a general sweep was made. At Easter two hundred were surprised at the house of Ducher, as they were holding a 'love-feast;' then Seebold preached and his sermon cost him his life, for he was slaughtered April 25th, his congregation being driven in all directions; a little later twelve were slain at Augsburg.

Rhegius, the reformed preacher, was at the bottom of this bloody work, and a lady of the nobility, a prisoner, said to him: There is a great difference between

you and me. You sit on a soft cushion beside the Burgomasters and declaim as Apollo from his tripod, while I must speak here on the ground bound in chains.' He said that if the Anabaptists would keep their errors to themselves they would be let alone; but if they proposed to gather a peculiar people to God and return from banishment, then the government must use the sword.' 29

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In February, 1527, George Wagner (Carpenter), was captured by dragoons and cast into prison at Munich, and every means was used to make him recant, even the duke visiting him to change his mind, but in vain. The fourth charge against him was, 'That he did not believe that the very element of the water itself in baptism doth give grace' (regeneration). He was asked why he esteemed baptism lightly, knowing that Christ was baptized in the Jordan. He then showed why Christ was baptized, but that our salvation stands in his atonement and not in his baptism. Then he opened the true use of baptism. Foxe, i, 402. When brought out for execution, the procession halted at the steps of the City Hall to hear the charges of heresy read, and a school-master asked him, George, are you not afraid to die, would you not be glad to go back to your wife and children?' He replied, To whom would I rather hasten?" 'Recant and you can go.' On his way to the stake his wife and children came, and kneeling before him, begged him to recant and save his life. 30 He said: 'My wife and children are so dear that the duke could not pay me for them with the revenue of the State, but I part with them for my inmost love to God.' 'Do you really believe in God as confidently as you say?" 'It would be hard for me to face a death so terrible if I did not.' He offered prayer, and a priest promised to say masses for his soul, when George said: 'Pray for me now, that God will give me patience, humility and faith. I shall need no prayer after death.' A brother asked him for a sign of perseverance in the flames, when he promised to confess Christ as long as he could speak. As he fell in the fire he cried, Jesus! Jesus!' and was with him.

Two letters from prisoners fell into the hands of Rhegius, 1528, in which they show most beautifully their reliance on the saving work of Christ. Amongst other things this is set forth:

The only answer to give our enemies is faith and patience, for this is the hour and power of darkness. If any one asks you why you were baptized, tell him to go and ask Jesus, the Son of God. He will tell you why he gave the command. If you reply out of the Holy Spirit you will not contradict the command of Christ, for the Holy Spirit gave the command through Christ. Christ, our Brother, was circumcised after the law when he was eight days old, but baptized to fulfill all righteousness, according to the New Testament, when he was thirty years old. The truth says that teaching is the principal and most needful thing, for the apostles made disciples before they baptized them. He who baptizes children confesses that baptism is more necessary than teaching.'

Another apostle amongst the Bavarian Baptists was Augustine Wurzelburger, a school-teacher who did a great work amongst them, but the dukes demanded his exe

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cution. The magistrates of Regensburg, however, reported that they found so much

reason in his views,' that they counted him not worthy of death, he had simply been rebaptized. The dukes frankly declared this guilt enough, according to many princes and prelates. On a second demand he was promptly put to death.

Also,

All

at Salzburg, many were slain. Seventeen of them were discovered in the pastor's house, and all were burned, but those who recanted had the privilege of being beheaded beforehand. Many were locked in their place of worship and burned therewith. Also a beautiful child of sixteen was condemned to be burned, and the whole town interceded for her life. But she remained steadfast, and as an act At of mercy the executioner carried her, like a lamb, in his arms, held her under water in a trough and drowned her, and then threw her body into the flames.31 Vienna one day a large number were drowned in the Danube, being bound together in such a manner that as one fell into the water he drew another after him. met their fate with joy.32 Martyrdoms took place also in many other cities, where Baptists were treated like reptiles and wild beasts. This was especially true at Rothenburg on the Neckar, where Michael Sattler, who had been a monk and had become a Baptist, was slaughtered. The fiendish sentence was carried out to the letter in 1527. His tongue was cut out, twice his flesh was torn with red-hot pincers, and then he was brought in a cart to the city gate, where his flesh was torn five times more before he was burned to ashes. His wife and several other women were drowned, several men were beheaded and about seventy more were murdered in one way or another.

M

CHAPTER VI.

THE REFORMATION-GERMAN BAPTISTS-Continued.

OST interesting facts are connected with the Baptists of the Tyrol. Fugitives from other lands flocked to this Austrian province as early as 1525, and Ferdinand began to persecute them in 1527. Their places of worship were torn down and their ministers made to suffer by water, fire and sword. When Bishop George issued his command for their arrest, Ulrich Müller was forthwith burnt alive at Brixen, for the king had confiscated all Baptist property and ordered the burning of all their preachers. Sunday after Sunday his decrees were read from the State pulpits, and priests failing to publish them were to be punished. Despite all this activity, Baptists filled Innthal and the Brenner Pass. Schwatz, a town of twelve hundred people, had eight hundred of the new faith. A prisoner at Innsbrück, confessed that he had himself baptized four hundred. This sudden growth was due in part to the coming of Blaurock from Switzerland, whose eloquent enthusiasm ranked him, in the eyes of the people, as a second Paul. Many fled from this persecution to Moravia, and, angered by their escape, the king issued a a new order in 1529, inflicting death on all, regardless of recantation. Baptists were burnt in every village and city wherever found, and amongst them Blaurock, at Claussen. The town records say that sixty-seven perished at Kitzbuhel, sixty-six at Rattenburg, and twenty-two at Kuffstein. Down to 1531 one thousand had been put to death in the Tyrol, or two hundred and fifty a year; whereas only two hundred and sixty-four persons were martyred in the reign of 'bloody Mary.' No writer of the present day possesses such facilities for full and accurate statement on this subject as Dr. Keller, of Münster; and, on what he pronounces 'reliable statements,' the number of Baptists put to death was as follows: In 1531, 1,000 had been martyred in the Tyrol and Görtz, 600 at Enzisheim, 73 at Linz, from 150 to 200 in the Palatinate. In 1527, 12 had suffered death in Switzerland and about 20 at Rottenburg. He cites Hase, a stout opponent of the Baptists, who says: "The energy, the capacity for suffering, the joy in believing, which characterized the Christians of the first centuries of the Church, reappeared in the Anabaptists.'

Under the edict of 1530 all houses were searched, to discover who refrained from mass, and what children had been held back from baptism; the houses of all who sheltered Baptists were to be destroyed, informers were rewarded from twenty to forty gulden and Baptist property was to meet the costs of the Inquisition. The trials were private, and the purpose of Ferdinand was to annihilate these home

less disciples. When the storm was at its height the Baptists of Moravia heard 'what a great work God was doing in the Tyrol,' and sent Jacob Huter, their leader, to assist them. He saved many of them from the blood-thirst of Ferdinand by sending them into Moravia; but on his second visit he was arrested and executed. A gag was put in his mouth, he was led to Innsbrück, where he was first thrown into cold water, then into hot, then his flesh was torn with pincers, the wounds filled with brandy and set on fire.

Sigmund von Wolkenstine, a young noble of seventeen, was another victim. After a year's imprisonment he was set free for a little time, to choose between recantation and new sufferings. He selected the latter, but his powerful family induced the king to permit him to enter the army. A price was put upon the head of Griessteller, now the Baptist leader. The officers of a dozen districts combined and found him in the mountains, between Bruneck and Rodeneck. After a long hunt, the king was delighted with his capture and he was speedily put to death at Brixen. The fagots had been soaked in rain the night before and would not burn, so the people begged for the sword as the easier death, but dry fuel was brought and he was burnt alive. Spies were hired to be baptized, to gain the confidence and find out the secrets of the sect, and after all other measures had failed to crush them it entered into somebody's head that possibly argument and exhortation might convert them! Hence, Cardinal Bernard ordered his priests to preach the word of God, according to the Scriptures-the best cure for Anabaptism' ever devised. But, in the eyes of Ferdinand, this made things worse and worse and he went back to the old weapons. Then he made his edicts cover all Austria and her dependencies, and thus, in 1545, Moravia became as perilous to the Baptists as the Tyrol. Yet, these Tyrolese brethren stood as firmly as their own mountains; when the king became emperor, State affairs so absorbed his attention that he forgot all about this hated people. When he returned to his task, however, every valley and ravine was scoured, and the old scenes were re-enacted. Baptists swarmed in Pusterthal, and in Au they were the ruling power in society.

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In 1585 four Tyrolese Baptists ventured from Moravia to labor in their own country. Jacob Pauzer had left home when seventeen, but was now a man of forty, simple-hearted, active and strong in the faith. Ruprecht Sier, thirty years of age, Leonard Mareez, aged forty-two, and a fourth, whose name is not given, formed the heroic band. Each of them was rooted in the faith, and would stretch upon the rack rather than betray a brother. They met their friends in forests, by-ways and crags, as best they could, but some of their relatives were in prison and could not be reached. They were hunted at every point, two of them wavered and one fled, but Pauzer met martyrdom by the axe. These facts, with many others of equal interest, are found in Kripp's 'Contribution to the History of the Anabaptists in the Tyrol: Innsbrück, 1857.

The first effect of the Reformation in Germany was to drive away the old