Sermon to the Princes (Exposition of the Second Chapter of Daniel)
A sermon on Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that Thomas Müntzer preached before the dukes of Saxony at Allstedt in July 1524 and then printed. It calls on the princes to use the sword against the godless.
The printed title says the sermon was preached at the castle of Allstedt before the dukes and rulers of Saxony by Thomas Müntzer, minister of the word of God. He expounds Daniel 2, defends true visions and dreams as a way in which God still speaks, and says that a new Daniel must arise to interpret them to the rulers. The princes are told that the sword was given to them to root out the godless; if they will not use it, it will be taken from them.
It is Müntzer’s own statement of his programme, a year before the rising in Thuringia, and it mocks an opponent under nicknames that the editors take to mean Martin Luther. Whether the printed text matches what was spoken cannot be checked.
Cited in
- 1524 to 1525, firm date