CHAPTER XXX

. LUTHER AT THE ZENITH OF HIS LIFE AND

SUCCESS, FROM 1540 ONWARDS. APPREHENSIONS AND PRECAUTIONS _pages_ 165-224

1. THE GREAT VICTORIES OF 1540-1544.

Success met with at Halle and Naumburg; efforts made at Cologne, Münster, Osnabrück, Brunswick, and Merseburg. Progress abroad; the Turkish danger; the Council _pages_ 165-168

2. SAD FOREBODINGS.

False brethren; new sects; gloomy outlook for the future _pages_ 169-174

3. PROVISIONS FOR THE FUTURE.

A Protestant Council suggested by Bucer and Melanchthon. Luther’s attitude towards the Consistories. He seeks to reintroduce the Lesser Excommunication. The want of a Hierarchy begins to be felt _pages_ 174-191

4. CONSECRATION OF NICHOLAS AMSDORF AS “EVANGELICAL BISHOP” OF NAUMBURG (1542).

The Ceremony. Luther’s booklet on the Consecration of Bishops. Excerpts from his correspondence with the new “Bishop” _pages_ 192-200

5. SOME FURTHER DEEDS OF VIOLENCE. FATE OF ECCLESIASTICAL WORKS OF ART.

End of the Bishopric of Meissen. Destruction of Church Property. Luther’s attitude towards pictures and images. Details as to the fate of works of art in Prussia, Brunswick, Danzig, Hildesheim, Merseburg, etc. Protest of the Nuremberg artists _pages_ 200-224

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