ormation asked the reformer, with a malicious sneer, if he did not
know that it was easier to kindle a fire than to extinguish it. Shocked
at these excesses, alarmed at the thought that they might check the
progress of the Gospel, Luther hesitated no longer, no longer
temporized; he inveighed against the insurgents with all the energy of
his character, and perhaps overstepped the just bounds within which he
should have contained himself.

"The peasants," said he, "commit three horrible sins against God and
man, and thus deserve the death of body and soul. First, they revolt
against their magistrates, to whom they have sworn fidelity; next, they
rob and plunder convents and castles; and lastly, they veil their crimes
with the cloak of the Gospel. If you do not put a mad dog to death, you
will perish, and all the country with you. Whoever is killed fighting
for the magistrates will be a true martyr, if he has fought with a good
conscience." Luther then gives a powerful description of the guilty
violence of the peasants who force peaceful and simple men to join their
alliance and thus drag them to the same condemnation. He then adds: "For
this reason, my dear lords, help, save, deliver, have pity on these poor
people. Let everyone strike, pierce, and kill who is able. If thou
diest, thou canst not meet a happier death; for thou diest in the
service of God, and to save thy neighbor from hell."

Neither gentleness nor violence could arrest the popular torrent. The
church-bells were no longer rung for divine service; whenever their deep
and prolonged sounds were heard in the fields, it was the tocsin, and
all ran to arms. The people of the Black Forest had rallied round John
Muller of Bulgenbach. With an imposing aspect, covered with a red cloak
and wearing a red cap, this leader boldly advanced from village to
village followed by the peasantry. Behind him, on a wagon decorated with
ribands and branches of trees, was raised the tricolor flag--black, red,
and white--the signal of revolt. A herald dressed in the same colors
read the twelve articles, and invited the people to join in the
rebellion. Whoever refused was banished from the community.

Ere long this march, which at first was peaceful, became more
disquieting. "We must compel the lords to submit to our alliance,"
exclaimed they. And to induce them to do so, they plundered the
granaries, emptied the cellars, drew the seigniorial fish-ponds,
demolished the castles of