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N 1524, when Cortez was forging the chains of Mexico and conquered city, a flame burst out in Europe which soon grew to a general conflagration. The peasantry of Germany were literally interpreting God's good news of "liberty to the captive and the opening of the prison to them who are bound." The printing-press stood ready to speak for them, and thousands of handbills—probably the first ever thrown to the winds—were scattered broadcast, proclaiming the gospel of freedom for the people. The hard-working Germans were roused to a new sense of their manhood. When the spokesman of their great multitude came to plead their cause with