e little book, shows that its contents were
such as the soul might feed on; which should be sweet to the believer's
taste, but would subject him to bitter persecution. And the announcement
that they were to prophesy _again_ before many nations and peoples and
tongues and kings, marks this as the commencement of an era when the
Gospel should again begin to go forth into distant lands.

All of the above particulars harmonize in the time of the reformation of
LUTHER in the sixteenth century, and with no other epoch. The great truths
then promulgated, of which "justification by faith" was the cardinal one,
electrified the whole world, as the loud roaring of a lion would startle
the passer-by. These were immediately responded to by the multitudinous
errors of the Anabaptists and others, who thought to set up the kingdom of
GOD in _this world_, and _before the resurrection_, by putting to death
the ungodly and sparing only the saints.

As in all efforts for good Satan is careful to attempt a counterfeit, or
to mingle impure elements to the injury of the truth, so in the
Reformation there were false reformers. THOMAS MUNZER, and others, in
1525, incited vast numbers on the borders of the Danube to make physical
war on the Papal ecclesiastics. He denounced LUTHER, also, with the same
violence that he did the Pope. In his mad attempt to slay the ungodly, he
took possession of Muhlhausen, appointed a new city council, pillaged the
houses of the rich, proclaimed a community of goods, and committed various
excesses; but they were finally defeated in a pitched battle, with a loss
of from five thousand to seven thousand killed. Others succeeded him,
teaching that GOD spake to them in person, instructing them how to act.
They professed the most extravagant doctrines, setting aside both LUTHER
and the Bible. The former did not go near far enough for them; and the
latter was in their view insufficient for man's instruction, who could
only be taught of God. They taught that the world was to be immediately
devastated; and no priest or ungodly person be left alive; and that then
the kingdom of GOD would commence, and the saints possess the earth. Those
who adhered to LUTHER, united with him in bearing a faithful testimony
against such extravagances, adhered to the written word, denounced new
revelations, and showed from the Bible that Antichrist was to be
overthrown by the personal advent of CHRIST, and not by the sword of man.
The followi