the
spiritual: he held firmly the popular idea, that there should be two
ruling powers,--the Church, and the princes, and he thought he was
justified in proudly placing the domination of the former above that of
worldly politics. He strove indignantly to prevent the governing powers
from assuming the control in matters pertaining to the care of souls
and to the autonomy of his communities. He estimated all politics with
reference to the interests of his faith and according to the laws of
his Bible. When the Scripture seemed to be endangered by worldly
politics, he raised his voice, indifferent where it hit: it was not his
fault that he was strong and the princes weak, and it ought to be no
reproach to him, the monk, the professor, and the shepherd of souls, if
the allied Protestant princes withstood the cunning statesmancraft of
the Emperor, like a herd of deer; he himself was so conscious that
politics were not his business, that when on one occasion the active
Landgrave of Hesse would not follow ecclesiastical advice, he was the
more esteemed for it by Luther: "He has a good head of his own; he will
be successful; he thoroughly understands the world."

Since Luther's return to Wittenberg a democratic agitation had been
fermenting amongst the people. Luther had opened the cloisters, and now
people desired to be delivered from many other social evils, such as
the destitution of the peasants, the ecclesiastical imposts, the
malversation of the benefices, and the bad administration of justice.
The honest heart of Luther sympathized with this movement, and he
exhorted and reproved the landed proprietors and princes; but when the
wild waves of the Peasant war poured over his own country, when deeds
of bloody violence wounded his spirit, and he found that factious men
and enthusiasts exercised a dominion over the multitudes which
threatened his doctrines with destruction, he threw himself with the
deepest indignation into the struggle against the rough masses. Wild
and warlike was his appeal to the princes; he was horrified at what had
taken place: the gospel of love had been disgraced by the headstrong
wilfulness of those who had called themselves its followers. His policy
was right; there was in Germany, unfortunately, no better power than
that of the princes; on them, in spite of everything, rested the future
of the father-land, for which neither the peasant serfs, nor the
rapacious noblemen, nor the dispersed cities of t