The Peasants’ War was a complete failure, and the victory of the princes an inglorious
revenge. The reaction made their condition worse than ever. Very few masters had sufficient
humanity and self-denial to loosen the reins. Most of them followed the maxim of Rehoboam: "My
father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions" (1 Kings 12:14). The real
grievances remained, and the prospect of a remedy was put off to an indefinite future.
The cause of the Reformation suffered irreparable injury, and was made responsible by the
Romanists, and even by Erasmus, for all the horrors of the rebellion. The split of the nation was
widened; the defeated peasantry in Roman Catholic districts were forced back into the old church;
quiet citizens lost their interest in politics and social reform; every attempt in that direction was
frowned down with suspicion. Luther had once for all committed himself against every kind of
revolution, and in favor of passive obedience to the civil rulers who gladly accepted it, and appealed
again and again to Rom. 13:1, as the popes to Matt. 16:18, as if they contained the whole
Scripture-teaching on obedience to authority. Melanchthon and Bucer fully agreed with Luther on
this point; and the Lutheran Church has ever since been strictly conservative in politics, and
indifferent to the progress of civil liberty. It is only in the nineteenth century that serfdom has been
entirely abolished in Germany and Russia, and negro slavery in America.
The defeat of the Peasants’ War marks the end of the destructive tendencies of the
Reformation, and the beginning of the construction of a new church on the ruins of the old.
CHAPTER V.
THE INNER DEVELOPMENT OF THE REFORMATION FROM THE PEASANTS’
WAR TO THE DIET OF AUGSBURG, a.d. 1525–1530.
§ 76. The Three Electors.
G. Spalatin: Friedrich d. Weise, Lebensgeschichte, ed. by Neudecker and Preller, Jena, 1851.
Tutzschmann: Fr. d. W., Grimma, 1848. Ranke, vol. II. Kolde: Friedrich der Weise und die
Anfänge der Reformation, Erlangen, 1881. Köstlin in the Studien u. Kritiken, 1882, p. 700,
(vers. Kolde). Comp. §§ 26 and 61.
Shortly before the close of the Peasants’ War, Frederick III., surnamed the Wise, Elector of
Saxony (1486–1525), died peacefully as he had lived, in his sixty-third year, May 5, 1525. His last
hours at the castle of Lochau form a striking contrast with the stormy and bloody scenes around
him. He hoped that the common people would not prevail, but admitted that they had reason to
complain of harsh treatment. "Dear children," he said to his servants, "if I have wronged any one
of you, I beg you to forgive me for God’s sake; we princes do many naughty things to the poor
people." Shortly before his death, he partook of the holy communion in both kinds. This is the only
distinct Protestant act in his life. His body was removed to Wittenberg, and buried in the castle
church at which Luther had posted his Ninety-Five Theses. Melanchthon delivered a Latin oration;
Luther wrote letters of condolence to his brother and nephew, who succeeded him, and praised his
wisdom, his kindness to his subjects, his love of justice and hatred of falsehood. Aleander, the
Pope’s legate at Worms, called him the old fox of Saxony, but in history he bears the name of the
Wise. He had charge of the German Empire after the death of Maximilian; he modestly declined
the imperial crown; he decided the election of King Charles of Spain, and was the only Elector
who did not sell his vote.