[565] Cp. Kolde, “Analecta Lutherana,” p. 64.
[566] Cp. Köstlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 715, with the references p. 794 and Weim. ed., 18, p. 376, Introduction. E. Rolffs (“Preuss. Jahrbücher,” 15, 1904, p. 481): “When, incited thereto by his evangel of the freedom of a Christian man, the oppressed and down-trodden peasantry sought by flame and bloodshed to secure for themselves an existence fit for human beings, then he no longer understood his German people. And when, thereupon, he wrote his frightful book, ‘Against the murderous and thieving hordes of Peasants,’ the German people also ceased to understand him.”
[567] Hausrath, “Luthers Leben,” 2, p. 58 f.
[568] “Werke,” Erl. ed., 53, p. 306 (“Briefwechsel,” 5, p. 181). “This rabble [the peasants under Thomas Münzer] was an enemy of the evangel, and its leaders bitter opponents of the Lutheran teaching.” Introduction to the circular-letter. Weim. ed., 18, p. 376.
[569] Luther’s own way of putting the objection, “Werke,” Weim. ed., 18, p. 399; Erl. ed., 24², p. 331. Cp. Köstlin-Kawerau, ibid.
[570] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 18, p. 367 ff.; Erl. ed., 65, p. 12 ff. The date is determined by K. Müller in the work quoted above, p. 201, n. 3, p. 144.
[571] In the sermon at Wittenberg on June 4, 1525, Köstlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 715.
[572] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 18, p. 401; Erl. ed., 24², p. 334.
[573] Ibid., p. 384 ff.=pp. 311-14.
[574] Ibid., p. 387 f.=pp. 315-16.