It is impossible for one now to conceive the impression which
was produced in Catholic Europe by the marriage of a priest and a nun.
Many of the German princes now followed the example of John of Saxony,
and openly avowed their faith in the Lutheran doctrines. In the Austrian
States, notwithstanding all Ferdinand's efforts to the contrary, the new
faith steadily spread, commanding the assent of the most virtuous and
the most intelligent. Many of the nobles avowed themselves Lutherans, as
did even some of the professors in the university at Vienna. The vital
questions at issue, taking hold, as they did, of the deepest emotions of
the soul and the daily habits of life, roused the general mind to the
most intense activity. The bitterest hostility sprung up between the two
parties, and many persons, without piety and without judgment, threw off
the superstitions of the papacy, only to adopt other superstitions
equally revolting. The sect of Anabaptists rose, abjuring all civil as
well as all religious authority, claiming to be the elect of God,
advocating a community of goods and of wives, and discarding all
restraint. They roused the ignorant peasantry, and easily showed them
that they were suffering as much injustice from feudal lords as from
papal bishops.
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