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Progress of the Reformation
97
The fanatical teachers gave themselves up to be governed by
impressions, calling every thought of the mind the voice of God;
consequently they went to great extremes. Some even burned their
Bibles, exclaiming, “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” Men
naturally love the marvelous, and whatever flatters their pride, and
many were ready to accept Munzer’s teachings. He soon denounced
all order in public worship, and declared that to obey princes was to
attempt to serve both God and Belial.
The minds of the people, already beginning to throw off the yoke
of the papacy, were also becoming impatient under the restraints of
civil authority. Munzer’s revolutionary teachings, claiming divine
sanction, led them to break away from all control, and give the rein
to their prejudices and passions. The most terrible scenes of sedition
and strife followed, and the fields of Germany were drenched with
blood.
The agony of soul which Luther had so long before experienced
in his cell at Erfurth, now pressed upon him with redoubled power as
he saw the results of fanaticism charged upon the Reformation. The
papist princes declared, and many believed, that Luther’s doctrine
had been the cause of the rebellion. Although this charge was
without the slightest foundation, it could not but cause the Reformer
great distress. That the work of Heaven should be thus degraded
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by being classed with the basest fanaticism, seemed more than he
could endure. On the other hand, the leaders in the revolt hated
Luther because he had not only opposed their doctrines and denied
their claims to divine inspiration, but had pronounced them rebels
against the civil authority. In retaliation they denounced him as a
base pretender. He seemed to have brought upon himself the enmity
of both princes and people.
The Romanists exulted, expecting to witness the speedy downfall
of the Reformation; and they blamed Luther, even for the errors
which he had been most earnestly endeavoring to correct. The
fanatical party, by falsely claiming to have been treated with great
injustice, succeeded in gaining the sympathies of a large class of the
people, and, as is usually the case with those who take the wrong
side, they came to be regarded as martyrs. Thus the ones who were
exerting every energy in opposition to the Reformation were pitied
and lauded as the victims of cruelty and oppression. This was the