ng upon that cross addressed these words to each of his disciples,
"Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be
baptized with the same baptism that I am baptized with?"

On the side of the princes, it was continually repeated that Luther and
his doctrine were the cause of the revolt, and, however absurd this idea
may be, the reformer could not see it so generally entertained without
experiencing the deepest grief. On the side of the people, Munzer and
all the leaders of the insurrection represented him as a vile hypocrite,
a flatterer of the great, and these calumnies easily obtained belief.
The violence with which Luther had declared against the rebels had
displeased even moderate men. The friends of Rome exulted; all were
against him, and he bore the heavy anger of his times. But his greatest
affliction was to behold the work of heaven thus dragged in the mire and
classed with the most fanatical projects. Here he felt was his
Gethsemane: he saw the bitter cup that was presented to him; and,
foreboding that he would be forsaken by all, he exclaimed: "Soon,
perhaps, I shall also be able to say, 'All ye shall be offended because
of me this night.'"

Yet in the midst of this deep bitterness he preserved his faith: "He who
has given me power to trample the enemy under foot," said he, "when he
rose up against me like a cruel dragon or a furious lion, will not
permit this enemy to crush me, now that he appears before me with the
treacherous glance of the basilisk. I groan as I contemplate those
calamities. Often have I asked myself whether it would not have been
better to have allowed the papacy to go on quietly, rather than witness
the occurrence of so many troubles and seditions in the world. But no!
it is better to have snatched a few souls from the jaws of the devil
than to have left them all between his murderous fangs."

Now terminated the revolution in Luther's mind that had begun at the
period of his return from the Wartburg. The inner life no longer
satisfied him: the Church and her institutions now became most important
in his eyes. The boldness with which he had thrown down everything was
checked at the sight of still more sweeping destructions; he felt it his
duty to preserve, govern, and build up; and from the midst of the
blood-stained ruins with which the peasant war had covered all Germany,
the edifice of the new Church began slowly to arise.

These disturbances left a lasting and deep