A MARTYR'S CROWN 73regularly at the Gasthaus zum Pfauen. His room and the printing
establishment were raided by the police; a part of the manuscript
and some of Weitling's correspondence and other papers were
confiscated; but some of his material, including part of the Evan¬
gelium, apparently had been removed or burned by friends be
fore the police arrived. Among others arrested in this purge of
the radicals were a shoemaker from Homberg and three German
tailors. Although released rather promptly, they were kept under
police surveillance, with other journeymen, for a long time. Ac
cording to the report to the Vienna police, sixty-six dangerous
characters were under suspicion, though the police could make no
specific charges at the moment.
Before proceeding with the events of the trial of the conspirator
against Christianity and the social order, the contents of this dan
gerous manuscript should be examined. Through the good offices
of friends, it finally was issued in Bern by Jenni, publisher of many
radical treatises; and after Weitling's release, a second edition,
enlarged and revised, was published in Birsfelden. The book went
through a fourth edition in New York in 1854, with a preface
proclaiming "the gospel of liberty," which would give the poor
and despised new courage, "plant the kiss of forgiveness on the
cheek of the criminal," light the way to hope, and bring the warm
glow of love and liberty into the hearts of sinners everywhere.
The Evangelium opened with a discussion of the "trinity of
all religions," faith, hope, and love. Faith in God, "the concept of
highest perfection," the author defined as that "acute" emotion
which man's reason cannot comprehend, but which a suffering and
feeble humanity will not relinquish. Weitling had no desire to
rob men of this "anchor" in the storm of life which was a "com
fort, support and trust," even for men of science and education.
Preserve "a holy spark of faith," he pleaded. No one has unraveled
the riddle of the universe; and man needs religion when mental
and physical sufferings become too heavy to bear. At the same
time, he pleaded with his fellows not to hope for help pom heaven