own wilful humour, they were all of them beheaded, but one who by chance made his escape.

But now the city was so streightly besieged, that there was no passage out left any where; therefore the citizens, fearing a famine, and apprehending the danger they were in, entered into a consultation of laying hands upon the King, and delivering him up bound to the bishop. But the King, having notice given him thereof, chose out twelve from among all the multitude, who, he imagined, would prove most faithful to him: to these he committed the chief care and charge of the city, assigning them every one their particular place to defend; besides these, he appointed himself a guard to suppress all kinds of commotions and seditions, that might arise among them. Having done this, calling the whole multitude before him, he promises them, they should be freed from the siege, and all kinds of want which might ensue thereupon, before Easter next, But, for his twelve commanders, to them he promises far greater matters: they, forsooth, should be marquisses, and dukes, and princes, and I know not what, assigning them every one their provinces by name, what signiories and castles they should be made lords of, resolving only to spare the Landgrave, for that he hoped, as he told them, that he in time should come to be one of themselves.

We told you before, that there was a meeting ordered of the princes and cities of the Rhenish provinces at Coblentz in December. John Frederick, the prince elector of Saxony, came of his own accord to this assembly. After deliberation, speedy aids were assigned to the bishop; three-hundred horse, and three-thousand foot, for three months. These forces and the managing of the whole war were committed to Wirich, Count Oberstein, as general. Here also they agreed, that other states of the empire should likewise be sollicited for aids; and, because the emperor was himself in Spain, that Ferdinand, therefore, the King of the Romans, should be requested, that a publick dyet, upon this occasion, might be appointed against April following. Then they sent letters, earnestly advising the besieged to yield themselves up, and to desist from an enterprise, than which the sun itself never beheld any more detestable, and to be abhorred; withal, threatening them, unless they did obey, and submit themselves to their lawful magistrates, that the bishop who now besieged them, and whose rights they detained, should not want the assistance of the whole empire, for his just relief, and redress of his losses. This was about the end of December.

They returned an answer towards the middle of January, 1535, and that in many words, but nothing to the purpose; yet so, that they still justified and maintained what they did. As for what they were charged withal, about setting up a King, they made no answer at all to that. But in their private letters to the Landgrave, they endeavour to excuse it, adding moreover many things else concerning the utter destruction of all the ungodly; and of the deliverance and kingdom of the godly in this life. Withal they sent to him the book I told you before they published, entitled, The Restitution,' counselling him to repent, and not, as the other ungodly princes, to make war against them, who were innocent men, and the very people of God. The Landgrave having

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perused, as well their book as their letters, and himself noting down with his own hand what he conceived amiss therein, he orders his own divines to make answer thereunto. And, because themselves had signified unto him in their letters, although but in few words, and that too, somewhat obscurely, that the King was not so much set up by themselves, as appointed and placed over by God himself, he demands of them, Why they urged not those places of scripture, upon the authority of which they imagined it lawful for them so to do; withal, what forerunning signs and prodigies they had to prove and make it good by? For that God by all his prophets, long before-hand, foretold of the coming of Christ; and that with that evidence and plainness, that not only the tribe or stock of which he should be descended was manifestly expressed, but also the very time and place where he should be born. They had desired likewise in the same letters, that their cause might have a fair hearing; whereunto the Landgrave answered, That there was now no place left for that, seeing that they had assumed to themselves the power of the sword, and had been the authors of so much mischief and calamity that every body began now plainly to perceive what was their main drift and aim, the suppressing of all laws, the overthrow and utter ruin of commonwealths. And that as their attempt, for the main of it, was altogether ungodly and execrable; so this their request, to have a fair hearing of their cause, was wholly feigned and counterfeit. That for his part, he had formerly sent unto them faithful ministers of the gospel, by whom, without all question, they had been rightly instructed. But whereas they now, rejecting the wholesome doctrine of such teachers, had fallen from their obedience to the magistrate; had with violent hands seized upon the goods and possessions of their neighbours; had taken to themselves variety and choice of wives; had elected and set up a new King among them; had denied that Christ had taken on him human nature, from the Virgin Mary; had maintained and asserted the freedom of man's will; had forcibly constrained the people to a communication of their goods in publick; had denied pardon and absolution to lapsed sinners; that in all these they had fouly violated the laws, as well human as divine.

They having received this answer from the Landgrave made their reply, and withal sent him a book, composed and written in the High Dutch, concerning the mysteries of scripture. And in their letter they set a fair and specious gloss upon their own cause, together with a defence and justification of their opinions. But in their book we spoke of, they made a division of the course and succession of all times, of the whole world, into three parts or ages: That the first world, from Adam to Noah, perished indeed by the deluge of waters: that the second, which is that wherein we now live, shall be destroyed by fire: but their third, and new world, which they maintain shall be hereafter, is that, wherein righteousness and justice shall bear the sway; but before this last shall begin to dawn, and shed its light in the eyes of men, it must necessarily be, that this old one, that now is, be first purged by fire; which shall not be neither, before Antichrist is revealed, and his power utterly suppressed and trodden

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down under foot. That then it shall come to pass, that the throne of David, which was cast down, shall be reared up again and established; and Christ shall again receive his kingdom here upon earth, and so shall all the sayings of the prophets be accomplished. That this present world is like the age, wherein Esau had the power and sway in his hands; for that now righteousness and equity are put to silence, and the godly ones only afflicted; but as from the Babylonish captivity, so from the great miseries and calamities of this present age, there shall at length appear a day of ransom and restitution, a day of freedom and liberty, for the righteous; wherein the wicked shall abundantly receive the reward of all they have done maliciously against the saints of God, as is foretold and threatened in the Revelation. Now this Restitution is to happen immediately before this blessed age of the world, which is yet to come; so that, all the ungodly and wicked ones being suppressed all the world over, the seat and dwelling-place of justice shall be adorned and beautified. The Landgrave, having perused this book of theirs, employs some of his own ministers to write and publish an answer against it.

There was a meeting of some cities of the empire at Esling, who among themselves made a decree and agreement, that those who formerly met at Coblentz had no power or right to impose any burthens upon them, for that the consent and authority, or the emperor and all the states of the empire were to be required therein. Whereupon they wholly reject that order, promising mutual aid and assistance among themselves, in case any one of them should be called in question, or endangered hereby. Withal they make remonstrance, that whatsoever should be ordered and decreed by the publick convention of the princes and states of the empire, in a lawful manner, in behalf of the commonwealth, that therein they would most readily express their duty.

Now in February, there happening a great penury and scarcity of corn, insomuch that many perished by reason of hunger and want; one of the queens, pitying the sad condition of the people, in her discourse to her companions, expressed her mind so far, that she could not once think it, that it was the good will and pleasure of God, that poor people should daily be destroyed in this manner, for lack of food. The King, who had his store-houses sufficiently replenished, not only for necessity and use, but even for riot, having notice given him hereof, brings her forth into the market-place, together with his other queens, and commandiag her to kneel down, straightway he strikes off her head, disgracing her dead body, as if she had been some common strumpet. The rest of them applaud the action, giving thanks to their heavenly father, upon which the King fell a dancing, encouraging the people also, who had nothing left them, but bread and salt, to dance likewise, and to be merry.

Easter being now come, and no sign of deliverance yet appearing, the King who had made them many glorious promises, to devise some thing, whereby to excuse himself to the people, for six days together, counterfeits himself sick: after this he comes abroad into the marketplace, and there he tells them, how he had been riding upon a blind

ass, and that the father had laid upon him the heavy burden of all their sins; that now therefore they were become clean, washed and purified from all their offences. And that this was that deliverance, which he had promised them, and that herewith they ought all to remain contented.

. Among other things, which about this time Luther published in the High Dutch: Alas! saith he, what, or how shall I complain, and bewail the sad condition of these wretched and forlorn men? Most certain it is, that evil spirits in abundance have taken up here their habitation and residence. Howsoever, we ought deservedly to praise the infinite mercy and goodness of God herein. For although, by reason of the contempt of the gospel, and the reproach of God's name, and the effusion of godly men's blood, Germany hath deserved to suffer the fierce wrath and displeasure of God; yet, for all that, he did restrain the rage and furious attempts of Satan, and suffered him not to go on with full swing and career; but, in mercy, gave us gentle warning and admonition: And especially, by this tragedy or play of Munster, which had but little skill, or cunning in it, he fairly invited and called us to the amendment of our lives. For without all doubt, except God had held him in with a strong bridle, he being so subtle a spirit, and so much his crafts-master, had certainly acted his part, in a far more dangerous manner. But now, seeing the goodness of God had curbed him in, and abated his power, he rages not, and plays his pranks, according to his own will and desire, but only so far as the divine permission had given him leave. For this evil spirit, all whose endeavour is to subvert the christian faith, would not likely make use of such means as to persuade the marriage of many wives at once, thereby to effect and bring about what he aimed at; because the heinousness and foulness of the thing itself, being confessed on all hands, he knew full well how all men, not yet bereft of their right reason, would abominate it, and cry it down with shame. The civil polity, indeed, and government, may, in some sort, be troubled and shaken hereby; but Christ's kingdom must be assaulted by other kind of battery than this. He that will undertake to inveagle, and draw men into snares, must by no means affect empire and command, much less act the tyrant. This being detested alike by all men, and all eyes being broad open to observe and interpret, whereto such counsels tend; they must go to work by more hidden means, as it were by-way paths, if they intend their designs shall obtain the wished for issue, and take effect. A sordid and uncouth attire; a behaviour of the countenance, to composedness and austerity; a hanging of the head, with dejected looks; frequent fastings, and an utter refusal of the very touch of money; abstinence from flesh-meats and marriage; a denial of obedience to magistrates, and a general disrespect to all kind of temporal, or civil dominion, with an outward profession, however, of extraordinary humility in themselves: By these means indeed, and by such close policy as this, even wise men have been overreached; and, by such dark and mysterious courses, some have made a way and entrance to great sway and power. But, as here, by extreme impudence, to arrogate and usurp the power of a king, and, ac

cording to the unruliness of unbounded lust, to take away wives; that this was the trick of some shallow and untaught devil, or else, if he had all his cunning and sleights about him, that he was so fettered and chained by an over-mastering power, that he could not make use of his tricks at his own pleasure. Which, no doubt, God does to no other end, than that we should entertain a more reverential respect of the Divine Providence, and be the sooner excited to repentance, and amendment of our ways, before God give him liberty for the full exercise of his practices; who certainly then will set upon us, with redoubled forces. For if this same poor and contemptible scribe-devil can of himself raise such tumults and uproars; What shall we do, when the great devil himself, with all his knowledge and arts about him, shall come with full sail against us, and give us a broadside, being both a cunning lawyer, and a crafty divine? Wherefore, no such great fear, or thought, ought to be entertained concerning this so untrimmed and untutored a devil. Besides, I am fully persuaded, that this pageant and mock-show is not so well approved of by all in the city, but that it occasions great grief, and sad thoughts of heart, to most there; who no doubt, with tears and sighs, daily petition for, and expect a deliverance from God's hands, as formerly happened in that tumultuary insurrection of the rusticks, and ill-advised people, lately among us. And I could wish from my heart, that there were no spirit in the whole world more cunning and crafty than is this Munster devil: For, so long as God doth not quite take away his word and gospel from among us, there can certainly be but few, and those not very wise, who will suffer themselves to be drawn away, by so sottish and unsober a master. Notwithstanding, I must confess, that, when the wrath and anger of God is kindled against any people, there is no error so unreasonable or absurd, which the devil cannot easily persuade them unto; as we plainly see, it happened in the doctrine of Mahomet. For, though the whole composition and frame thereof be but a continued piece of extreme folly and sensuality, yet upon the removal, or rather putting out of the divine light of God's Word among them, it assumed to itself that strength and vigour, and spread itself to that large extent and power, which, at this day, Christendom beholds and witnesses, with no less wonderment than shame. And indeed, except God had, by his goodness and providence, repressed the attempts and insolencies of Munster, Germany had now been in no better a condition. For although the devil, by God's permission, can sometimes blow a small spark into a general flame, and wild-fire; however there is no more compendious way of extinguishing it, than by the word of God. For, seeing all the armour of our enemy is incorporeal and spiritual, it is not troops of horses, or other warlike preparations, that can quell and overcome him. Now, as for those books written, and published by them of Munster, wherein in lively colours, they paint, and set forth to view, their own folly and madness, In the first place, their doctrines contain in them extreme fopperies and absurdities; and that in matters of faith. For speaking of Christ, they say, he is not sprung of the seed of the Virgin Mary, to use their own words; although they confess him to come of the seed of David. Here