Report on Whether Secular Authority Should Suppress the Writings of Enthusiasts

...[nowa]days) the papist rulers wanted to force their subjects and the entire world to accept idolatry and the Pope's abominations. Against such abuse of papist authority authority: 'Obrigkeit,' referring to the divinely ordained secular government, Luther wrote that little book throughout. He also provides an example immediately following his aforementioned words, saying: "In Meissen, Bavaria, and in the March The March of Brandenburg, a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire., and other places, the tyrants have issued a command that the New Testaments should be surrendered to the administrative offices here and there." In that case, Luther says their subjects should not surrender a single leaf or letter, etc.

But from this, one will not be able to prove or make it true that the "New Testament" (which Luther commands one to keep in the house upon pain of losing salvation) refers to or is the teachings and books of Schwenkfeld Caspar Schwenkfeld, a Reformer whose followers emphasized internal spiritual experience over external sacraments., or the Zwinglians Followers of Huldrych Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer., or the Anabaptists, or the Interim The Augsburg Interim (1548), an imperial decree that temporarily forced many Protestants to return to Catholic-style worship., and other deceivers.

Oh, how the devil would be terrified—like the donkey who drops his pack—if the secular authorities were to accept and understand Luther's books in that same way alongside those of the adversaries. How quickly would God's word, the Sacrament, salvation, and the authorities themselves be ruined? Well then, if it is not a great, big, "fat" sin to thus falsely and wickedly boast of and cite the writings of that holy man Luther, then I do not know what a sin might be. As the saying goes, The shoemaker should not judge above the sandal original: "Non sutor supra crepidam." A Latin proverb meaning people should stay within their own area of expertise—in this context, the author argues his opponents are misapplying Luther's words., meaning no shoemaker has any business judging anything further than soles or slippers, etc.