s
all men to honor the powers that be. Let us save our wives and children
from the fury of these murderers. The Lord will give us the victory, for
he has said, 'Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of
God.'" Philip then gave the signal of attack. It was the 15th of May,
1525. The army was put in motion; but the peasant host stood immovable,
singing the hymn, "Come, Holy Ghost," and waiting for heaven to declare
in their favor. The artillery soon broke down their rude rampart,
carrying dismay and death into the midst of the insurgents. Their
fanaticism and courage at once forsook them; they were seized with a
panic-terror, and ran away in disorder. Five thousand perished in the
flight.

After the battle the princes and their victorious troops entered
Frankenhausen. A soldier who had gone into a loft in the house where he
was quartered, found a man in bed. "Who art thou?" said he; "art thou
one of the rebels?" Then, observing a pocket-book, he took it up, and
found several letters addressed to Thomas Munzer, "Art thou Munzer?"
demanded the trooper. The sick man answered, "No." But as the soldier
uttered dreadful threats, Munzer, for it was really he, confessed who he
was. "Thou art my prisoner," said the horseman. When Munzer was taken
before Duke George and the Landgrave, he persevered in saying that he
was right to chastise the princes, since they opposed the Gospel.
"Wretched man!" replied they, "think of all those of whose death you
have been the cause." But he answered, smiling in the midst of his
anguish, "They would have it so!" He took the sacrament, and was
beheaded at the same time with Pfeiffer, his lieutenant. Mulhausen was
taken, and the peasants were loaded with chains.

A nobleman having observed among the crowd of prisoners a peasant of
favorable appearance, went up and said to him: "Well, my man, which
government do you like best--that of the peasants or of the princes?"
The poor fellow made answer with a deep sigh, "Ah, my lord, no knife
cuts so deep as the rule of the peasant over his fellows."

The remnants of the insurrection were quenched in blood; Duke George, in
particular, acted with the greatest severity. In the states of the
Elector, there were neither executions nor punishment. The Word of God,
preached in all its purity, had shown its power to restrain the
tumultuous passions of the people.

From the very beginning, indeed, Luther had not ceased to struggle
against the r