The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-06-02

n
IL economic chaos would endan-
ger his religious revolution, and per-
haps he felt a boundless debt to
the Princes who had preserved his
life against Emperor and Pope. He
few to the rescue of his lords,
bearded the prophets" in Witten-
berg itself, called upon them then,
if they were real disciples of Christ,
to put aside all use of force, and
assured them, as st. Paul had as
sured another generation, that the
inequalities of this world we're in
evitable and natural, and were of
no consequence in the light of eter-
nifty.
When the rebels turned against
him as a traitor he lost his temper;
wrote savagely that the Common
Herd (Herr Onlnes) must be con-
strained by law and the sword as
beasts are held in chains and cages,
that zone cannot argue reasonably
with rebel, but one must answer
him with the fist, so that blood
flows from his nose; and he ad-
vised any men who came upon a
rebel to kill him without trial or
scruple. The great Reformer had
the defects Of his qualities, a ruth
lessness that seemed inextricable
from the courage which carried him
to victory over the Church.
Nevertheless the revolt spread;
by 1925 it had shown itself in every
section of Germany; castles were
burned, mobiles we're pulled down
from their horses and made to walk;
Heilbronn, Rothenberg and Wurz-
burg fell into the hands of the
Communists, and at Frankfort there
was full-fledged council of work.
ers and peasants in control.
The princes, unable to rely upon
their own people for defense, en-
gagged mercenaries, whose cold SUI
perior skill soon mastered the dis
orderly rebels When Munzer was
captured and executed the move
ment fell to pieces; 100000 peasants
were slain, and some of the leaders
were slowly roasted to death. APP
parently the peasants revolt was
over.
DUT in 1929 another wave of re-
ID bellion came. The Swiss re-
former, zwingli, had meantime been
leading the religious revolution in
Zurich, and had repeated Luther's
mistake of contrasting the life of
the early Christians with that of
the later church.
Some of the simpler people took
him at his word and began the
Anabaptist movement for a COM
picte return to primitive commun-
ism they held all their goods (such
as IL ey hadD in common, condemned
war and the taking Of oaths, washed
one another's feet, called one an
other brother and sister, and greet
ed one another with a kiss.
7ney accepted the Reformers'
principle that a mans highest al
legiance was to his conscience, and
derived from it philosophy akin to
anarchism; they denounced the
State as an instrument designed
like the Church, for the punishment
of mans sins, and believed that both
State and Church would disappear
with the coming of the Kingdom of
Heaven.
They we're at first non-resistants;
but persecution made them violent.
From 1929 on, hundreds of them
were burned alive; some had their
tongues torn out first, and were
flayed with hot pincers.
They were bounded out, black
listed, forbidden to parade, and
generally abhorred as "a menace to
civilization"
Suddenly, in 1884, a group Of them
rose to arms, and captured Munster,
the capital of Westphalia. A com
mittee of public safety was formed,
which took over all the food re-
sources of the city, and fed the peo-
pie through community kitchens.
Several small towns followed the
example of Munster, and large
cities like Brunswick and Hanover
seemed on the verge of going over
to the rebels.
Church and State, attacked to-
gether, joined their hostile forces,
and it was a bishop who led an
army of mercenaries to the siege of
Munster. The little city held out
for year and a half, reducing the
food allowance to the citizens month
by month, and at last accepting
starvation without surrender.