An opportunity was soon afforded of reducing these hopeful principles to practice. John latthins, a baker of Ilaerlem, and John Boccold, a journeyman tailor of Leyden, began to preach the doctrines of the Anabaptists in Munster, an inip,n-ial city of Westphalia. Emboldened by the success which attended their labours, they se cretly called in their associates from the country, and seizad on the arsenal and senate-house in the night time ; and, running- through the streets with drawn swords and frantic howlings, cried out alternately, 0 IT pent and be baptized," and "depart ye ungodly." The senators, nobility, and all the more respectable part of the citizens, fled in confusion, and left the two pro phets in possession of the city. Matthias, who was the most ent erprizing of the two, instantly set about esta blishing a new constitution. lie ordered every man to bring birth his gold, sih el., and precious effects, and to lay diem at his feet ; the wealth amassed by these means be deposited in a public treasury, and appointed deacons to dispense it for the common use of all. He command ed all the members of his commonwealth to eat at tables prepared in public, and prescribed the dishes which were to be served up each day. Having finished his plan of reformation, his next care was to provide for the defence of the city, which he did with a prudence that savoured nothing of fanaticism. Ile dignified Munster with the name of Mount Zion, and invited the faithful to repair to it from all quarters, that they might issue from thence to subdue the sinful nations. in the mean time, the bishop of Munster, having collected a considerable army, advanced to besiege the town. Matthias sallied out to meet him, and having attacked one quarter of the camp, he forced it with great slaughter, and returned to the city loaded with glory and spoil. Intoxicated with this success, he appeared next day brandishing a spear, and declaring, that, like Gideon, he would, with a hand ful of men, smite the ungodly. He chose thirty persons to accompany him in this wild enterprize, who, rushing on the enemy, were cut off to a man. Matthias was suc ceeded by John Boccold, who was, if possible, a wilder enthusiast than his predecessor. Ile marched through the streets of Munster, stark naked, proclaiming with a loud voice, " that whatever was highest on earth should be brought low, and whatever was lowest should be ex alted." Accordingly, in order to accomplish his own prediction, he commanded the churches to be levelled with the ground, and degraded Cnipperdoling, who had been made consul by Matthias, to the office of common hangman ; and that the other part of the prediction, respecting the exaltation of the low, might be equally fulfilled, he caused himself to be declared king of Zion.
Boccold was not more remarkable for his enthusiasm than for his licentiousness ; qualities, in appearance, widely different, but in the nature of things nearly allied ; for the same fervid temperament that gives rise to the extravagance of enthusiasm, inclines no less to sensual gratifications. Boccold, having a strong tendency that way, instructed the preachers to inculcate on their hear ers the necessity of taking more wives than one. To set them a laudable example in this new species of re formation, he himself married fourteen wives. The multitude, after the example of their prophet, gave them selves up to the most uncontrolled indulgence, and committed the most horrible indecencies, under the pretext of using their Christian liberty. Thus, to use the words of an elegant historian, (Robertson,) " by a monstrous, and almost incredible conjunction, voluptu ousness was engrafted on religion, and dissolute riot accompanied the austerities of fanatical devotion." The German princes beheld these outrages with in dignation, and voted a supply of men and money to the bishop of Munster, to enable him to reduce the fanatics. :Munster, accordingly, was invested more close]' than before, and the besieged were reduced to the greatest extremities for want of provisions. At last, a deserter from Boccold informed the enemy of a weak part in the and offered to conduct them in an attack during die night. The proposal was accepted, awl a party, having scaled the walls unperceived, opened ohe of the gates to their companions. The Anabaptists, thus surprized, were, alter au obstinate resistance, all either slain or taken prisoners, after having been in possession of the town for upwards of fifteen months. Boccold, having been carried about as a spectacle from city to city, was afterwards put to death at Munster, with exquisite tortures, which he bore with the most amazing firm ness, professing to the last his belief in the doctrines of his sect.
Before closing this article it may be proper to observe, that the descendants of the Anabaptists not only renounce all their most obnoxious tenets, but consider the very name of .•nabalaists as disgraceful. In England they are called Baptists ; in Holland they are called Menno nites, from Menu() their great reformer, and Water landians, from Waterland, a district in North Holland. Herman Schyn, in his history of the Mennonites, is at great pains to show, Oth9.521711 710111Cli Anabalaistarum iUis non convenire, that the odious name of Anabaptists does nut apply to them. See Mosheim's Church Hist. vol. iv. Robertson's Charles V. vol. ii. See also BAPTISTS. CO