Note 1213 — Chapter XVIII · (continued 2)

“Many of the people,” he writes in 1524, “attach themselves to Luther as the champion of freedom; they are weary of the good old customs ... many of them think that Luther merely teaches contempt of human traditions.” (In the Epitome addressed to the Landgrave of Hesse [above, p. 348, n. 1].) Cp. Döllinger, loc. cit., 3, p. 301. He laments in similar fashion the results of Luther’s behaviour in 1527, complaining that the people had become “over-confident and had lost the sense of fear” because they heard nothing about penance. This one-sided preaching of the Gospel resulted “in greater errors and sins than had ever existed before.” Döllinger, ibid., 3, p. 302. Melanchthon regarded the writings of his friend, particularly on account of their exaggeration, with “ever-increasing distrust.” “The great man’s boisterousness began to alarm him.... There is no doubt that it was from this quarter that the misgivings first arose which nipped and caused to wither the blossoms of their previous so intimate relationship.” Thus Ellinger, “Melanchthon,” p. 187.