workman, and all which lives, they pluck off their skin from them and the flesh from off their bones [Micah iii. 3]. And should he then lay violent hands on what is holiest, he must hang. Then saith Doctor Liar, 'Amen!' The great men are themselves the cause that the poor man is their enemy. If they will not do away with the cause of strife, how can it go well in the long-run? And if I, saying that, am rebellious and a stirrer-up of strife, so let it be!"
In these words spake three hundred years ago Thomas Münzer, one of the most heroic-minded and unfortunate sons of the German Fatherland, a preacher of the Gospel, which, according to his belief, promised not only happiness in heaven, but also equality and brotherhood unto men upon earth. Doctor Martin Luther was of a different opinion, and condemned such rebellious doctrines, by which his own work, the separation from Rome and the foundation of the new faith, was endangered, and inspired perhaps more by worldly wisdom than by evil zeal, wrote his disreputable book against the unfortunate peasants. Pietists and canting hypocrites (Duckmäuser) have of late revived this work, and spread the reprints far and wide—partially to show their high protectors how much the pure Lutheran faith upholds absolute government, and partially to suppress by Luther's authority the enthusiasm for freedom in
