[1054] Eitner, ibid., p. 94.
[1055] On September 19 (according to Enders), 1525, in “Briefe,” ed. De Wette, 6, p. 59, and Erl. ed., 56, p. xii. (“Briefwechsel,” 5, p. 243). The first sentences quoted are contained in the letter itself, the others in the marginal notes to the various articles, which in De Wette’s collection are printed together with the articles themselves after the letter.
[1056] This is Luther’s disdainful note to Art. 7, in itself a quite reasonable one, viz. “That the present councillors shall give an account of all expenditure and receipts.” His dislike for the “rabble” here made Luther unjust, and not here alone. His question concerning Art. 6 (on the protection of the “wards and trades”) is not to the point: “If councillors are not trusted, why appoint them?”
[1057] Eitner, ibid., pp. 102, 104.
[1058] Ibid., p. 107.
[1059] Eitner, ibid., p. 107.
[1060] Matthias Flacius, “Clarissimæ quædam notæ veræ ac falsæ religionis,” 1549 (Vienna Court Library), in showing “Holiness” as a mark sufficiently discernible in Luther’s church and person. According to O. Clemen, the Erfurt monastery dragged on a miserable existence until 1525. On July 31 of that year, Adam Horn, the Prior, received from the Vicar-General of the Congregation, Johann von Spangenberg, permission to leave the monastery since he was no longer safe in it. “Aus den letzten Tagen des Erfurter Augustinerklosters,” in “Theol. Studien und Kritiken,” 1899, p. 278 ff. It may be that Usingen quitted Erfurt at that time for the same reason (above, p. 337). The last trace of Nathin is found at the Chapter of the Order at Leipzig in 1523, at which he represented the Erfurt priory.
[1061] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 10, 3, p. 353; Erl. ed., 16², p. 438.
[1062] We may here mention what K. A. Meissinger, of Strasburg, says: “The period previous to 1517 has been looked upon as Luther’s age of immaturity and shyness, and his own numerous statements on the subject have contributed not a little to this fiction. The legend of Martin, the zealous young Papist, seeking to get to heaven by his monkish practices and wasting away in utter despair, gives (a fact which has become apparent only of recent years) quite a false picture of that decisive and truly momentous period in the inward growth of the great Reformer” (“Der junge Luther,” Frankfurter Ztng., 1910, No. 300).
[1063] Ed. E. L. Enders in “Neudrucke deutscher Literaturwerke,” Halle, 1893, No. 118, p. 3 ff.; “Werke,” Weim. ed., 15, p. 210 ff. Erl. ed., 53, p. 256 ff. (“Briefwechsel,” 4, p. 372).