"Full of hope for the future," says Professor
Pearson, "Jan sets out for Muenster to join the saints. Still young,
handsome, imbued with a fiery enthusiasm, actor by nature and even by
choice, he has no small influence on the spread of Anabaptism in that
city. The youth of twenty-three expounds to the followers of Rottmann
the beauties of his ideal kingdom of the good and the true. With
his whole soul he preaches to them the redemption of the oppressed,
the destruction of tyranny, the community of goods, and the rule of
justice and brotherly love. Women and maidens slip away to the secret
gatherings of the youthful enthusiast; the glowing young prophet of
Leyden becomes the centre of interest in Muenster. Dangerous, very
dangerous ground, when the pure of heart are not around him; when
the spirit 'chosen by God' is to proclaim itself free of the flesh.
"The world has judged Jan harshly, condemned him to endless
execration. It were better to have cursed the generations of
oppression, the flood of persecution, which forced the toiler to
revolt, the Anabaptists to madness. Under other circumstances the
noble enthusiasm, with other surroundings the strong will, of Jan of
Leyden might have left a different mark on the page of history.
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