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Progress in Germany
111
of fanatical excitement. The gospel brought back misguided people
into the way of truth.
Several years later the fanaticism broke out with more terrible
results. Said Luther: “To them the Holy Scriptures were but a dead
letter, and they all began to cry, ‘The Spirit! the Spirit!’ But most
assuredly I will not follow where their spirit leads them.
Thomas Münzer, the most active of the fanatics, was a man of
considerable ability, but he had not learned true religion. “He was
possessed with a desire of reforming the world, and forgot, as all
enthusiasts do, that the reformation should begin with himself.
He
was unwilling to be second, even to Luther. He himself, he claimed,
had been divinely commissioned to introduce the true reform: “He
who possesses this spirit, possesses the true faith, although he should
never see the Scriptures in his life.
The fanatical teachers gave themselves up to be governed by
impressions, regarding every thought and impulse as the voice of
God. Some even burned their Bibles. Münzer’s doctrines were
received by thousands. He soon declared that to obey princes was to
attempt to serve both God and Belial.
Münzer’s revolutionary teachings led the people to break away
from all control. Terrible scenes of strife followed, and the fields of
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Germany were drenched with blood.
Agony of Soul Now Pressed Upon Luther
The papist princes declared that the rebellion was the fruit of
Luther’s doctrines. This charge could not but cause the Reformer
great distress—that the cause of truth should be disgraced by being
ranked with the basest fanaticism. On the other hand, the leaders
in the revolt hated Luther. He had not only denied their claims to
divine inspiration, but had pronounced them rebels against the civil
authority. In retaliation they denounced him as a base pretender.
The Romanists expected to witness the downfall of the Refor-
mation. And they blamed Luther even for the errors which he had
most earnestly endeavored to correct. The fanatical party, falsely
7
Ibid., bk. 10, ch. 10.
8
Ibid., bk. 9, ch. 8.
9
Ibid., bk. 10, ch. 10.