[1] In the preceding treatise on the _Blessed Sacrament_.
[2] See above, p. 10.
[3] See above, p. 18.
[4] I. e., the necessaries of life.
[5] E. g., the crusades against heretics, and the inquisition of the
thirteenth century. Luther's statement that to burn heretics is
contrary to the will of the Holy Spirit was condemned in the Bull
_Exsurge Domine_, of July 15, 1520.
[6] Cf. p. 53.
[7] Cf. p. 10.
[8] See Vol. I, pp. 53, 163 ff.
[9] The officials were officers of the bishops' courts; see also
below, p. 103.
[10] In Vito, lib. V, tit. xi, c. I,_Cum medicinalis_.
[11] According to Luther's interpretation of 1 Cor. 5:5. Cf. also Acts
5:5.
[12] The passage quoted from the canon law.
[13] For instances see the _Gravamina of the German Nation_ (1521),
Wrede, _Deutsche Reichstagsakten_, II, 685.
[14] Thiele, _Luthers Sprichwortersammlung_, No. 276.
[15] I. e., a cleric.
[16] This statement also was condemned in the papal bull.
[17] The "officials" were the administrators of this discipline, see
above, p. 41.
[18] A very important limitation for Luther's position.
[19] See Open Letter to the Nobility, below, p. 98.
[20] Again an important limitation.
[21] See above, p. 41.
[22] The ashes of Hus were cast into the Rhine (1415), and the body of
Wycliff was exhumed and cremated and the ashes cast into the water
(1427).
[23] See above, p. 42.
[24] In 1518 both George and Frederick of Saxony took the position
that spiritual jurisdiction should be limited to spiritual matters.
Gess, _Akten und Briefe zur Kirchen politik Georgs_ 1, 44.
[25] Luther puts a peculiar construction upon this passage.
[26] The ancient service was divided into the service of the Word
(_missa catechumenorum_) and the celebration of the sacrament (_missa
fidelium_); before the second, those under the ban as well as the
catechumens were required to withdraw.
[27] The "great ban" excluded from all services.
[28] According to Roman Catholic usage there is a distinction between
hearing mass and receiving the sacrament.
[29] Compare Treatise Concerning the Blessed Sacrament, above, p. 25.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN NOBILITY OF THE GERMAN NATION
CONCERNING THE REFORM OF THE CHRISTIAN ESTATE
1520