ebellion, which was, in his opinion, the forerunner of the
Judgment-day. Advice, prayers, and even irony had not been spared. At
the end of the articles drawn up at Erfurth by the rebels he had
subjoined, as a supplementary article: "_Item._ The following article
has been omitted. Henceforward the honorable council shall have no
power; it shall do nothing; it shall sit like an idol or a log of wood;
the commonalty shall chew its food, and it shall govern with its hands
and feet tied; henceforth the wagon shall guide the horses, the horses
shall hold the reins, and we shall go on admirably, in conformity with
the glorious system set forth in these articles."

Luther did not confine himself to writing. While the disturbance was
still at its height, he quitted Wittenberg and went through some of the
districts where the agitation was greatest. He preached, he labored to
soften his hearers' hearts, and his hand, to which God had given power,
turned aside, quieted, and brought back the impetuous and overflowing
torrents into their natural channels.

In every quarter the doctors of the Reformation exerted a similar
influence. At Halle, Brentz had revived the drooping spirits of the
citizens by the promise of God's Word, and four thousand peasants had
fled before six hundred citizens. At Ichterhausen, a mob of peasants
having assembled with an intent to demolish several castles and put
their lords to death, Frederick Myconius went out to them alone, and
such was the power of his words that they immediately abandoned their
design.

Such was the part taken by the reformers and the Reformation in the
midst of this revolt; they contended against it with all their might,
with the sword of the Word, and boldly maintained those principles which
alone, in every age, can preserve order and subjection among the
nations. Accordingly, Luther asserted that, if the power of sound
doctrine had not checked the fury of the people, the revolt would have
extended its ravages far more widely, and have overthrown both church
and state. If the reformers thus contended against sedition, it was not
without receiving grievous wounds. That moral agony which Luther had
first suffered, in his cell at Erfurth, became still more serious after
the insurrection of the peasants. No great change takes place among men
without suffering on the part of those who are its instruments. The
birth of Christianity was effected by the agony of the Cross; but He who
hu