The Emperor, unprepared for these bold proceedings, was speedily convinced how impolitic, at present, would be the employment of violence. Instead of accomplishing his great design, which was to consolidate Germany into one united body, he found that by consulting the wishes of the Pope he was running the risk of a civil war. To avoid a result so disastrous, he began to sue for peace. After much negotiation

and delay, a truce was agreed upon by the Emperor and the Protestants at Nuremberg in 1532. The terms of this peace were, that the Protestants should assist in the Turkish war, and acknowledge Ferdinand's election as king of the Romans, while the Emperor annulled the Edicts of Worms and Augsburg, granted to the Lutherans "full liberty to regulate their religious matters as they pleased, until either a Council, which was to be held within six months, or a Diet of the empire, should determine what religious principles were to be adopted and obeyed." Just after the conclusion of this pacification the Elector of Saxony died; an event of no injury to the Reformers, as he was succeeded by his son John Frederic, who was an ardent friend to their

cause.

CHAPTER X.

THE ANABAPTISTS-THEIR ORIGIN AND LEADERS — THEIR CAPTURE OF THE CITY OF MUNSTER-THEIR DEFEAT. 1533-1535.

THE disturbed state of men's minds, during the times of the Reformation, gave rise to some strange excesses, which, although they may not in strictness be considered a part of the history of that event, are yet too interesting and instructive to be entirely omitted. Of one of these, the War of the Peasants, - we have already given some account; and we shall devote this chapter to a brief description of another, which will, perhaps, serve to remind our readers how necessary to the welfare and virtue of society are the restraints of knowledge, reason, and good govern

ment.

The insurrection of the peasantry, although chiefly owing to the oppression of their masters, was, as has been stated, influenced and promoted by religious fanaticism. After the rebellion was crushed, some of the enthusiasts who had been engaged in it roamed about Germany and Switzerland, and spread their over-heated zeal and extravagant notions among the lower classes of the people. As the number of their converts

increased, their restlessness and wild conduct frequently called for the interference of the civil authority, and in some places they were treated with great severity. Notwithstanding this, they continued to multiply with great rapidity, being every where joined by the idle, discontented, and ignorant, until the years 1533 and 4, when they appeared in crowds and caused great disturbances. Their distinguishing tenet, and the one from which they derived their name of Anabaptists, (to re-baptize), related to the rite of baptism, which they contended ought only to be administered to adults, and then always by immersion and not by sprinkling. In addition to this they professed many dangerous, opinions. They declared the existence of civil government to be an encroachment upon the privileges of Christians, who were a law unto themselves; they allowed polygamy; they insisted that the distinctions occasioned by birth, rank, or wealth were contrary to the gospel, and that all possessions should be thrown into a common treasury, for the use of the whole community, who were to live together as brethren on a perfect equality; they also pretended to the gift of prophecy and to immediate inspiration, and held all human learning in contempt.

Sentiments like these, promulgated by dissolute impostors or ignorant fanatics, soon produced

most lamentable consequences. In the year 1534, John Matthias, a baker of Harlem, and John Bockhold, a tailor of Leyden, filled with a rage for making proselytes, and forming a society, fixed upon the city of Münster in Westphalia, as a place of residence. Here they gained over and deceived many of the populace, and among the rest a Protestant clergyman, and an opulent magistrate by the name of Knipperdolling. When their followers were sufficiently numerous to warrant the step, they sallied forth at midnight, seized upon the arsenal and Senate house, and ran through the streets, sword in hand, crying, "Repent and be baptized!" "Depart ye ungodly!" The bishop of Münster, and the sober citizens, both Catholics and Protestants, fled in terror, and left the town in the hands of the fanatical multitude. Freed from all control, the Anabaptists yielded themselves up to the directions of Matthias.

The community was formed into a sort of Commonwealth, of which Knipperdolling and another were nominally appointed consuls; all the real authority being possessed by the fanatical baker. The churches were plundered and their ornaments destroyed; all books were burnt except the Bible;- the gold, silver, and other valuable articles found in the houses of the opulent citizens were collected together into a common treasury; and in order to establish a

more perfect equality, the multitude ate at tables daily prepared in public. Having finished these arrangements, Matthias next set his followers at work to fortify the city, and sent emissaries to invite the Anabaptists in other parts of the country to assemble at Münster, or, as it was now called, Mount Sion.

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While this strange revolution was going on, the bishop of Münster began to raise forces, for the purpose of attacking the city and driving out the rebels. The moment the army appeared before the walls, Matthias sallied forth and routed one division of it with great slaughter. He returned from this victory, loaded with spoils and in higher repute than ever with his deluded followers. "Intoxicated with this success, he appeared the next day brandishing a spear, and declared that, in imitation of Gideon, he would go forth with a handful of men and smite the ungodly. Thirty persons, whom he named, followed him without hesitation, and rushing on the enemy were cut off to a man.'

The death of Matthias at first confounded the Anabaptists. But Bockhold rose up to take his place as a leader, and soon succeeded to his influence over the infatuated multitude. Less courageous, but more ambitious, less skilful, but more fanatical than his predecessor, the new prophet and general contented himself with a