Letter: What Luther really said

Sir: Perhaps we should judge Luther by the standards of his own age rather than ours . Compared with the muscular expression of the views of some of his followers, Luther's own writings seem a model of restraint.

With his Lutheran background, Ronald Odgers may have come across the text that inspired the composer Michael Praetorius to pull out the stops - four choirs, strings, wind and brass. It begins:

Erhalt uns Herr bei deinem Wort

und steur des Babsts und Tirken Mord

(Uphold us, Lord, in your word

and send murder to the Pope and the Turks).

ANDREW VAN DER BEEK

Lacock,

Wiltshire