RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
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carried away its treasures, since Milnzer preached open rebellion against the princes. It is evident that Miinzer had been seized by the idea, then dominating wide circles, of a great revolution to come in the year 1524, and he felt himself called upon to assist in its fulfilment. When a member of the council was arrested on account of his participation in the attack at the chapel, he ordered the alarm-bell to be rung, and immediately an armed mob arose; even women seized pitchforks in order to protect their council and preachers against possible attack. Nevertheless, the princes found no way to intervene. At the same time Miinzer's invectives against the Wittenberg Reformers became more violent, especially against Luther's doctrine of Scripture. When the people of Sangerhausen were forbidden by the authorities to attend his sermons, he preached rebellion against the tyrants, and in fearful threatenings denounced the princes. On July 13, 1524, Elector Friedrich and Duke Johann came to Alstedt and permitted Miinzer to deliver before them a sermon in which in vehement terms he demanded the use of force against the godless and those that practised idolatry: " The vicious lazy Christians must be eradicated if the princes are not willing to do it " (Ausslegung des andern vnterschyds Danielis, etc., Alstedt, 1524). Duke Johann on this occasion pledged him to subject his writings to the censor, but the other proposal to be tried" before the Wittenberg circle Miinzer indignantly rejected and yet remained unmolested. The excitement increased on hearing that people who had fled from Sangerhausen for the sake of the Gospel and others who had attended the sermons of Miinzer and were captured were to be delivered to the authorities. Thereupon Miinzer preached on July 24 that sword must be met by sword, and his following was convinced that no harm could come to them if a struggle should result.
In the mean time Luther had seen the sermon preached before the princes and at the end of July wrote his famous Sendbrief an den Filrsten zu Sachsen vom aufruhrerischen Geist in which he instructed the authorities in their duties in regard to the rebellion. Consequently Miinzer was tried on Aug. 1 before Duke Johann and his councilors at Weimar. Although he denied many 5. Expulsion things, he was convicted of rebellious from Alstedt actions and dismissed until the elector and should dispose of him further. Miinzer Milhlhausen.then offered himself to be tried for the purpose of defending his doctrine against the " mendacious Luther " before the Christianity of all nations. He did not wait for the elector's answer, but after his return to Alstedt the council opposed him, and he secretly left the city on Aug. 7. Shortly before that he had written a new work, Aussgetrilckte emplossung des falschen Glaubens der vngetrewen welt, durchs gezeugnis des Euangelions Luce, etc., which offers the best insight into his doctrine. From Alstedt Miinzer went to Miihlhausen. In this small but industrious imperial city Evangelical preachers had been active for some time, among them Heinrich Pfeiffer, a native of Miihlhausen and formerly a monk in the monas- VIII.-4
tery of Reiffenstein in the Eichsfeld, a man gifted with great energy and stirring eloquence. His sermons and those of his associates, being directed more against the hated priests and monks than toward the preaching of the Gospel, fell upon fertile soil, since the people were dissatisfied with the avaricious and immoral life of the clergy and the autocratic and arbitrary rule of the council. The priests' houses were despoiled, and after an insurrection the council was compelled to admit participation in the government by the citizens. Nevertheless, toward the end of Aug., 1523, Pfeiffer and his associates were banished from the city. Toward the end of the year Pfeiffer was again in Miihlhausen and found many adherents, and although these entered the church about Easter, 1524, and broke the images, the council did not dare to interfere and was satisfied with the prohibition to shelter the preacher. In this town Miinzer expected to find what he sought. A warning letter from Luther, dated Aug. 21, 1524, and addressed to the council, arrived too late. At first people hesitated to allow Miinzer to preach, but finally they consented. He entered into the closest connection with Pfeiffer, and more and more the opponents of the old government of the city united with the religious innovators. Churches and monasteries were ravaged, pictures removed, relics torn out and disfigured. The preachers surrounded themselves with armed mobs. Miinzer instructed the people that they were not obliged to obey the authorities and without compromise announced the duty to persecute and expel all not following the spiritual life. The tumult increased in such a way that a number of councilors escaped their responsibility by flight. For the radicals the time seemed to have arrived to obtain their demands. Miinzer and Pfeiffer issued twelve articles in which was urged the deposition of the old council and the installation of a new council that should order and judge according to the Word of God. The articles were distributed in the neighboring villages, but did not find a favorable reception, and the council once more succeeded in gaining the upper hand, whereupon Miinzer and Pfeiffer were expelled on Sept. 28, 1524.
Both turned to the South and reappeared in Nuremberg, where Miinzer found a printer for his lampoon on Luther with which he intended to avenge himself for his expulsion from Saxony, Hoch verursachte Schutzrede und Antwort wider das geistlose, sanftlebende Fleisch zu Witten- 6. Events berg welches mit verkehrter Weise durch Leading to den Diebstahl der heiligen Schrift die the Peasants' erbdrmliche Christenheit also ganz jam- War. merlich besudelt hat. Before the council of Nuremberg was aware, he had disappeared. He traveled south, and his works on baptism and faith as well as his inimical attitude to Luther had directed the attention to him even in Zurich in the circle of the Anabaptists. In Griessen, a little village between Waldshut and Schaffhausen, he became personally acquainted with the Zurich Friends; and their communistic tendencies have not without reason been traced to Miinzer's influence. In places like Klettgau and Hegau,
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