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 his peace with the Emperor and enabled him to return. It throws some light on his character at this time that he promised the city council on his arrival that he would do just the contrary, that he would not slacken his efforts against the Jews; while, as for his pledge to the Emperor, he said, the Church would hold him guiltless, and would defend him! It is true that this was the common morality of ecclesiastics in his day, though a less frank avowal of perfidy was usual.

It is difficult, from the facts we have at hand, to infer the motives that led Hübmaier to take so active and so discreditable a part in this agitation. It is extremely probable that he honestly shared the prejudices of his time against the Jews, and even believed that persecution of them was a mark of a good Christian. Even after he had become more enlightened as to the true spirit of the gospel, he expressed no regret for his course, but rather gives it tacit approval, though he by no means tells the whole story of his misdeeds. In 1526 he makes this allusion to the matter: "When I was preacher in Regensburg, I saw the great oppression that the population suffered from the Jews; I saw that