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The Reformation and the Anabaptists:
Steps to Reconciliation
26 June, 2004, Zurich, Switzerland
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Tribute to Hans Landis
by James Gotwals Landis
Today I wear the name of Landis, and though I cannot bear with Hans the same cross he bore, I share with him the same faith he wore and hope to gain another crown like the one Hans hoped for.
For Hans the Sermon on the Mount became his creed and to live by faith meant to live by deed.
To Hans there was no higher law than the Word God gave. No rules by Pope or Council or king could in the least way alter right or wrong in anything.
It mattered not to Hans what reasoning the priests did use, or of what error they did him accuse; Hans rested his soul and pressed on toward his goal.
Neither Canton, Council, nor Church could expel this stately tall man from Hirzel. In spite of prison and ban, Hans always came home to serve his own fellow man.
In his gentle manner Hans continued going about encouraging those in doubt. Doing good was his redoubt.
In 1614 Hans made his final decision there at the Wolfstadt* Prison. He freely forgave and went to his grave … in peace.
Today, 26 June 2004, I espouse the same faith Hans Landis lived out fourteen generations gone by. I am honored to bear the Landis name and to pay tribute to this great hero of faith.
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Petersburg, West Virginia
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*The prison was the Wellenberg Tower. Walstatt was the place of execution, mistakenly named "Wolfstadt" in the Martyrs Mirror. (See Hans Landis, Swiss Anabaptist Martyr in Seventeenth Century Documents, James W. Lowry, Ohio Amish Library, 2003, p. 109, footnote 18. --jes