SECTION II.

German Baptists-Thomas Munzer-The Peasant War-Michael SatlerHans Schlaffer-Salzburg-Wolfgang Brand-Hueber-The Burggraf of Alzey-Imperial Edicts.

Ο

N the 10th of December, 1520, Luther burnt the Pope's bull against him, together with the decretals and other Papal documents, without the walls of Wittenburg, in the presence of an immense concourse of people. By that act he severed himself from the Church of Rome, and

proclaimed the advent of a new order of things. The Baptists hailed it with joy, rightly judging that it indicated a great and favourable change of public opinion. They availed themselves of the advantages thus offered, and immediately engaged in active operations for the spread of

truth. Luther had freed himself from the Pope: they proclaimed freedom from Luther, and from all other human authority, so far as religion was concerned, and called on their fellow-countrymen everywhere to demand their rights. This was more than Luther intended. Great and good man as he was, he had his crotchets, like some other great men. He was willing that others should think for themselves, so that they thought as he thought. If they did not, he looked on them with suspicion, and they soon found it best to keep out of his way. His followers and flatterers regarded him with an awe bordering on superstition. Sleidan, the historian, was struck with surprise at the boldness of Thomas Munzer, who, said he, "not only began to preach against the Roman Pontiff, but against Luther himself! Doubtless that was 66 an iniquity to be punished by the judge." Reference to the earthly judge, in religious affairs, was too common in those days.

Believer's baptism and martyrdom were closely connected. The first witnesses for God in Germany, in the Reformation age, were Baptists. Hans Koch and Leonard Meyster were put to death at Augsburg in the year 1524.

The reader will find in most church histories doleful accounts of the German Anabaptists. Storck and Stubner, the writers tell us, pretended to prophesy, and demanded submission on the ground of their Divine calling. They advocated a wild millenarianism, maintaining that the day of God's vengeance was at hand, and that the saints would put down all worldly rule, and possess the earth. And Thomas Munzer, they say, not only held similar sentiments, but also headed the insurrection of the peasants, which brought so much misery on Germany, and ultimately on the poor peasants themselves.

Now, we have no desire to defend anything foolish or wrong. Granted, if you please, that the men just spoken * De Statu Religionis, lib. v. p. 265. Ed. 1785.

of were visionaries, and that their conduct was in some respects indefensible; but let it be further granted that they were not the Baptist body, and that for their follies that body was by no means responsible. As for the Peasant War, Gieseler justly remarks that "no traces of Anabaptist fanaticism were seen in it.* This is honourable and important.

But it is necessary here to repeat the observation, that our accounts of these men are mainly derived from their enemies. Thomas Munzer is blackened in Pædobaptist histories. The reader of those histories would think him the very incarnation of all evil. Yet what are the facts? Just these; that he was a pious, learned man, and an eloquent preacher, whom the people followed amazingly; and that he was driven from place to place, because as fast as he learned the truth he preached it, sometimes to the great annoyance of Luther and his friends, whose misconceptions and errors, as he deemed them, he was not backward to expose. Let us listen to Robert Robinson :

"He had been a priest, but became a disciple of Luther, and a great favourite with the Reformed. His deportment was remarkably grave, his countenance was pale, his eyes rather sunk as if he was absorbed in thought, his visage long, and he wore his beard. His talent lay in a plain and easy method of preaching to the country people, whom (it should seem as an itinerant) he taught almost all through the electorate of Saxony. His air of mortification won him the hearts of the rustics; it was singular then for a preacher so much as to appear humble. When he had finished his sermon in any village, he used to retire, either to avoid the crowd, or to devote himself to meditation and prayer. This was a practice so very singular and uncommon, that the people used to throng about the door, peep through the crevices, and oblige him sometimes to let them in, though Ecclesiastical History, v. 352.

he repeatedly assured them that he was nothing, that all he had came from above, and that admiration and praise were due only to God. The more he fled from applause, the more it followed him; the people called him Luther's curate, and Luther called him his Absalom,' probably because he 'stole the hearts of the men of Israel.'"*

The Peasant War was an ill-advised, badly managed thing. But the peasants had right on their side. Their manifesto was a plain-spoken, noble document. It told a sad tale of oppression. The historian Robertson epitomizes it thus: "The chief articles were, that they might have liberty to choose their own pastors; that they might be freed from the payment of all tithes, except that of corn; that they might no longer be considered as the slaves or bondmen of their superiors; that the liberty of hunting and fishing might be common; that the great forests might not be regarded as private property, but be open for the use of all; that they might be delivered from the unusual burden of taxes under which they laboured; that the administration of justice might be rendered less rigorous and more impartial; that the encroachments of the nobles upon meadows and commons might be restrained." The conclusion is admirable. We copy it from Gieseler, who has inserted the entire paper. "In the twelfth place, it is our conclusion and final resolution, that if one or more of the articles here set forth is not in agreement with the Word of God, we will recede therefrom, if it be made plain to us on scriptural ground. Or, if an article be now conceded to us, and hereafter it be discovered to be unjust, from that hour it shall be dead and null, and have no more force. Likewise, if more articles of complaint be truly discovered from Scripture, we will also reserve the right of resolving upon these." It is said that Munzer assisted in preparing this Ecclesiastical Researches, ch. xiv.

+ Charles V., book iv.

Ibid. v. 347-349.

document. If so, it does him honour. Whatever silly or extravagant opinions he fell into, he may be excused, for in those days very few public men escaped connection with some weakness or other. His conduct in joining the insurgents has brought heavy censure upon him. But he paid dearly for it. Taken prisoner after the battle in which the peasants were defeated, or rather slaughtered, for it was no fight, he was subjected to cruel tortures, after the fashion. of the times, and put to death.

Though the Peasant War was not in itself a Baptist affair at all, occasion was taken from Munzer's connection with it to raise a storm of indignation against the Baptists, as if they were all rebels. The persecution raged fiercely, and it never wholly ceased during the period. Baptists worshipped God and preached the Gospel at perpetual hazard of liberty and life. Still they held on their way. Sometimes they met in buildings far removed from general observation; sometimes in the woods; and not unfrequently long intervals passed between their meetings, so hot was the pursuit after them. One effect was produced which proved advantageous to their cause :-they were "scattered abroad,"—eastward, to Moravia, Hungary, and the adjoining Gountries-westward, to Holland. Everywhere numerous churches sprang up.

Sebastian Franck, a trustworthy historian of those times, affirms that "within a few years not less than two thousand Baptists had testified their faith by imprisonment or martyrdom." A few of the details shall be placed before the reader.

Michael Satler had been a monk. He was converted to

God, and became a preacher. He was put to death at Rottenburg, May 26, 1527. Thus ran his sentence :"That Michael Satler be delivered over to the executioner, who shall bring him to the place of execution and cut out

*Baptist Martyrology, i. 49.