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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16797-8.txt b/16797-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d4a4d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/16797-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5017 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Luther and the Reformation:, by Joseph A. Seiss + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Luther and the Reformation: + The Life-Springs of Our Liberties + +Author: Joseph A. Seiss + +Release Date: October 4, 2005 [EBook #16797] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION: *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Linda Cantoni, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION: + +THE + +LIFE-SPRINGS + +OF + +OUR LIBERTIES. + +BY + +JOSEPH A. SEISS, D.D., + +PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY COMMUNION, PHILADELPHIA + +AUTHOR OF + +"A MIRACLE IN STONE," "VOICES FROM BABYLON," ETC. ETC. + +[Illustration: JOSEPH A. SEISS.] + +CHARLES C. COOK, + +150 NASSAU STREET, + +NEW YORK. + +Copyright, 1883, + +BY PORTER & COATES. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The first part of this book presents the studies of the Author in +preparing a Memorial Oration delivered in the city of New York, +November 10, 1883, on the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of +Martin Luther. The second part presents his studies in a like +preparation for certain Discourses delivered in the city of +Philadelphia at the Bi-Centennial of the founding of the Commonwealth +of Pennsylvania. There was no intention, in either case, to make a +book, however small in size. But the utterances given on these +occasions having been solicited for publication in permanent shape for +common use, and the two parts being intimately related in the +exhibition of the most vital springs of our religious and civil +freedom, it has been concluded to print these studies entire and +together in this form, in hope that the same may satisfy all such +desires and serve to promote truth and righteousness. + +Throughout the wide earth there has been an unexampled stir with +regard to the life and work of the great Reformer, and these +presentations may help to show it no wild craze, but a just and +rational recognition of God's wondrous providence in the constitution +of our modern world. + +And to Him who was, and who is, and who is to come, the God of all +history and grace, be the praise, the honor, and the glory, world +without end! + +THANKSGIVING DAY, 1883. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION pp. 7-134. + +Human Greatness, 9.--_The Papacy_, 12.--Efforts at Reform, 14.--Time +of the Reformation, 17.--Frederick the Wise, 18.--Reuchlin, +19.--Erasmus, 21.--Ulric von Hütten, 23.--Ulrich Zwingli, +24.--Melanchthon, 24.--John Calvin, 25.--Luther the Chosen Instrument, +27.--His Origin, 28.--Early Training, 29.--_Nature of the +Reformation_, 32.--Luther's Spiritual Training, 34.--Development for +his Work, 39.--Visit to Rome, 42.--Elected Town-Preacher, 45.--Made a +Doctor, 45.--His Various Labors, 48.--Collision with the Hierarchy, +49.--The Indulgence-Traffic, 50.--Tetzel's Performances, 54.--Luther +on Indulgences, 57.--Sermon on Indulgences, 59.--Appeal to the +Bishops, 62.--_The Ninety-five Theses_, 63.--Effect of the Theses, +65.--Tetzel's End, 68.--Luther's Growing Influence, 68.--Appeal to the +Pope, 69.--Citation to Rome, 70.--Appears before Cajetan, +71.--Cajetan's Failure, 72.--Progress of Events, 74.--_The Leipsic +Disputation_, 75.--Results of the Debate, 76.--Luther's +Excommunication, 78.--Answer to the Pope's Bull, 81.--_The Diet of +Worms_, 83.--Doings of the Romanists, 85.--Luther Summoned to the +Diet, 87.--Luther at the Diet, 90.--Refuses to Retract, 92.--His +Condemnation, 95.--Carried to the Wartburg, 95.--_Translation of the +Bible_, 96.--His Conservatism, 98.--Growth of the Reformation, +100.--_Luther's Catechisms_, 103.--Protestants and War, 103.--_The +Confession of Augsburg_, 105.--League of Smalcald, 109.--Luther's +Later Years, 111.--_His Personale_, 114.--His Great Qualities, +119.--His Alleged Coarseness, 123.--His Marvelous Achievements, +126.--His Impress upon the World, 127.--His Enemies and Revilers, 131. + + +THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA, pp. 135-206. + +I. THE HISTORY AND THE MEN. + +Beginning of Colonization in America, 137.--Movements in Sweden, +138.--Swedish Proposals, 143.--Was Penn Aware of these Plans? +145.--The Swedes in Advance of Penn, 147.--_The Men of those Times_, +151.--Gustavus Adolphus, 152.--Axel Oxenstiern, 155.--Peter Minuit, +157.--William Penn, 159.--Estimate of Penn, 161.--Penn and the +Indians, 162.--Penn's Work, 168.--The Greatness of Faith, 169. + +II. THE PRINCIPLES ENTHRONED. + +Man's Religious Nature, 173.--_Our State the Product of Faith_, +174.--Gustavus and the Swedes, 176.--The Feelings of William Penn, +178.--_Recognition of the Divine Being_, 180.--Enactments on the +Subject, 183.--Importance of this Principle, 185.--_Religious +Liberty_, 187.--Persecution for Opinion's Sake, 189.--Spirit of the +Founders of Pennsylvania, 190.--Constitutional Provisions, +193.--_Safeguards to True Liberty_, 194.--Laws on Religion and Morals, +197.--Forms of Government, 200.--_A Republican State_, 202.--The Last +Two Hundred Years, 203. + + + + +LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. + + +A rare spectacle has been spreading itself before the face of heaven +during these last months. + +Millions of people, of many nations and languages, on both sides of +the ocean, simultaneously engaged in celebrating the birth of a mere +man, four hundred years after he was born, is an unwonted scene in our +world. + +Unprompted by any voice of authority, unconstrained by any command of +power, we join in the wide-ranging demonstration. + +In the happy freedom which has come to us among the fruits of that +man's labors we bring our humble chaplet to grace the memory of one +whose worth and services there is scarce capacity to tell. + + +HUMAN GREATNESS. + +Some men are colossal. Their characters are so massive, and their +position in history is so towering, that other men can hardly get +high enough to take their measure. An overruling Providence so endows +and places them that they affect the world, turn its course into new +channels, impart to it a new spirit, and leave their impress on all +the ages after them. Even humble individuals, without titles, crowns, +or physical armaments, have wrought themselves into the very life of +the race and built their memorials in the characteristics of epochs. + +History tells of a certain Saul of Tarsus, a lone and friendless man, +stripped of all earthly possessions, forced into battle with a +universe of enthroned superstition, encompassed by perils which +threatened every hour to dissolve him, who, pressing his way over +mountains of difficulty and through seas of suffering, and dying a +martyr to his cause, gave to Europe a living God and to the nations +another and an everlasting King. + +We likewise read of a certain Christopher Columbus, brooding in lowly +retirement upon the structure of the physical universe, ridiculed, +frowned on by the learned, repulsed by court after court, yet +launching out into the unknown seas to find an undiscovered +hemisphere, and opening the way for persecuted Liberty to cradle the +grand empire of popular rule amid the golden hills of a new and +independent continent. + +And in this category stands the name of MARTIN LUTHER. + +He was a poor, plain man, only a doctor of divinity, without place +except as a teacher in a university, without power or authority except +in the convictions and qualities of his own soul, and with no +implements save his Bible, tongue, and pen; but with him the ages +divided and human history took a new departure. + +Two pre-eminent revolutions have passed over Europe since the +beginning of the Christian era. The one struck the Rome and rule of +emperors; the other struck the Rome and rule of popes. The one brought +the Dark Ages; the other ended them. The one overwhelmed the dominion +of the Cæsars; the other humiliated a more than imperial dominion +reared in Cæsar's place. Alaric, Rhadagaisus, Genseric, and Attila +were the chief instruments and embodiment of the first; _Martin +Luther_ was the chief instrument and embodiment of the second. The one +wrought bloody desolation; the other brought blessed renovation, under +which humanity has bloomed its happiest and its best. + + +THE PAPACY. + +Since Phocas decreed the bishop of Rome the supreme head of the Church +on earth there had grown up strange power which claimed to decide +beyond appeal respecting everybody and everything--from affairs of +empire to the burial of the dead, from the thoughts of men here to the +estate of their souls hereafter--and to command the anathemas of God +upon any who dared to question its authority. It held itself divinely +ordained to give crowns and to take them away. Kings and potentates +were its vassals, and nations had to defer to it and serve it, on pain +of _interdicts_ which smote whole realms with gloom and desolation, +prostrated all the industries of life, locked up the very graveyards +against decent sepulture, and consigned peoples and generations to an +irresistible damnation. It was omnipresent and omnipotent in civilized +Europe. Its clergy and orders swarmed in every place, all sworn to +guard it at every point on peril of their souls, and themselves held +sacred in person and retreat from all reach of law for any crime save +lack of fealty to the great autocracy.[1] The money, the armies, the +lands, the legislatures, the judges, the executives, the police, the +schools, with the whole ecclesiastical administration, reaching even +to the most private affairs of life, were under its control. And at +its centre sat its absolute dictator, unanswerable and supreme, the +alleged Vicar of God on earth, for whom to err was deemed impossible. + +Think of a power which could force King Henry IV., the heir of a long +line of emperors, to strip himself of every mark of his station, put +on the linen dress of a penitent, walk barefooted through the winter's +snow to the pope's castle at Canossa, and there to wait three days at +its gates, unbefriended, unfed, and half perishing with cold and +hunger, till all but the alleged Vicar of Jesus Christ were moved with +pity for his miseries as he stood imploring the tardy clemency of +Hildebrand, which was almost as humiliating in its bestowal as in its +reservation. + +Think of a power which could force the English king, Henry II., to +walk three miles of a flinty road, with bare and bleeding feet, to +Canterbury, to be flogged from one end of the church to the other by +the beastly monks, and then forced to spend the whole night in +supplications to the spirit of an obstinate, perjured, and defiant +archbishop, whom four of his over-zealous knights, without his orders, +had murdered, and whose inner garments, when he was stripped to +receive his shroud, were found alive with vermin! + +Think of a power which, in defiance of the sealed safe-conduct of the +empire, could seize John Huss, one of the worthiest and most learned +men of his time, and burn him alive in the presence of the emperor! + +Think of a power which, by a single edict, caused the deliberate +murder of more than fifty thousand men in the Netherlands alone! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Many assumed the clerical character for no other reason than that +it might screen them from the punishment which their actions deserved, +and the monasteries were full of people who entered them to be secure +against the consequences of their crimes and atrocities.--Rymer's +_Foedera_, vol. xiii. p. 532. + + +EFFORTS AT REFORM. + +To restrain and humble this gigantic power was the desideratum of +ages. For two hundred years had men been laboring to curb and tame it. +From theologians and universities, from kings and emperors, from +provinces and synods, from general councils, and even the College of +Cardinals--in every name of right, virtue, and religion--appeal after +appeal and solemn effort after effort were made to reform the Roman +court and free the world from the terrible oppression. Wars on wars +were waged; provinces on provinces were deluged with blood; +coalitions, bound by sacred oaths, were formed against the giant +tyranny. And yet the hierarchy managed to maintain its assumptions and +to overwhelm all remedial attempts. Whether made by individuals or +secular powers, by councils or governments, the result was the same. +The Pontificate still triumphed, with its claims unabridged, its +dominion unbroken, its scandals uncured. + +A general council sat at Constance to reform the clergy in head and +members. It managed to rid itself of three popes between whom +Christendom was divided, when the emperor moved that the work of +reform proceed. But the cardinals said, How can the Church reform +itself without a head? So they elected a pope who was to lead reform. +Yet a day had hardly passed before they found themselves in a +traitor's power, who reaffirmed all the acts of the iniquitous John +XXIII., who had just been deposed for his crimes, and presently +endowed him with a cardinal's hat! + +When this pope, Martin V., died, the cardinals thought to remedy their +previous mistake. They would secure their reforms before electing a +pope. So they erected themselves into a standing senate, without +which no future pope could act. And they each took solemn oath, before +God and all angels, by St. Peter and all apostles, by the holy +sacrament of Christ's body and blood, and by all the powers that be, +if elected, to conform to these arrangements and to use all the rights +and prerogatives of the sublime position to put in force the reforms +conceded to be necessary. + +But what are oaths and fore-pledges to candidates greedy for office? +The tickets which elected the new pope had hardly been counted when he +absolved himself from all previous obligations, disowned the senate of +cardinals he had helped to erect, began his career with violence and +robbery, plundered the cities and states of Italy, religiously +violated all compacts but those which favored his absolute supremacy, +brought to none effect the reform Council of Basle, deceived Germany +with his specious and hollow concessions, averted the improvements he +had sworn to make, and by his perfidy and cunning managed to retain in +subordination to the old régime nearly the whole of that Christendom +which he had outraged! + +In spite of the efforts of centuries, this super-imperial power held +by the throat a struggling world. + +To break that gnarled and bony hand, which locked up everything in its +grasp; to bring down the towering altitude of that olden tyranny, +whose head was lifted to the clouds; to strike from the soul its +clanking chains and set the suffering nations free; to champion the +inborn rights of afflicted humanity, and conquer the ignorance and +imposture which had governed for a thousand years,--constituted the +work and office of the man the four hundredth anniversary of whose +birth half the civilized world is celebrating to-day. + + +TIME OF THE REFORMATION. + +It has been said that when this tonsured Augustinian came upon the +stage almost any brave man might have brought about the impending +changes. The Reformers before the Reformation, though vanquished, had +indeed not lived in vain. The European peoples were outgrowing feudal +vassalage, and moving toward nationalization and separation between +the secular and ecclesiastical powers. Travel, exploration, and +discovery had introduced new subjects of human interest and +contemplation. Schools of law, medicine, and liberal education were +being established and largely attended. The common mind was losing +faith in the professions and teachings of the old hierarchy. Free +inquiry was overturning the dominion of authority in matters of +thought and opinion. The intellect of man was beginning to recover +from the nightmare of centuries. A mightier power than the sword had +sprung up in the art of printing. In a word, the world was gravid with +a new era. But it was not so clear who would be able to bring it +safely to the birth. + +There were living at the time many eminent men who might be thought of +for this office had it not been assigned to Luther. Reuchlin, Erasmus, +Hütten, Sickingen, and others have been named, but the list might be +extended, and yet no one be found endowed with the qualities to +accomplish the work that was needed and that was accomplished. + + +FREDERICK THE WISE. + +The Saxon Elector, Frederick the Wise, was the worthiest, most +popular, and most influential ruler then in Europe. He could have been +emperor in place of Charles V. had he consented to be. The history of +the world since his time might have been greatly different had he +yielded to the general desire. His principles, his attainments, his +wisdom, and his spirit were everything to commend him. He founded the +University of Wittenberg in hope that it would produce preachers who +would leave off the cold subtleties of Scholasticism and the +uncertainties of tradition, and give discourses that would possess the +nerve and power of the Gospel of God. He sought out the best and most +pious men for his advisers. He was the devoted friend of learning, +truth, and virtue. By his prudence and foresight in Church and State +he helped the Reformation more than any other man then in power. Had +it not been for him perhaps Luther could not have succeeded. But it +was not in the nature of things for the noble Elector to give us such +a Reformation as that led by his humble subject. It is useless to +speculate as to what the Reformation might have become in his hands; +but it certainly could never have become what we rejoice to know it +was, while the probabilities are that we would now be fighting the +battles which Luther fought for us three and a half centuries ago. + + +REUCHLIN. + +Reuchlin was a learned and able man, and deeply conscious of the need +of reform. When the Greek Argyrophylos heard him read and explain +Thucydides, he exclaimed, "Greece has retired beyond the Alps." He was +the first Hebrew scholar of Germany, and served to restore the Hebrew +Scriptures to the knowledge of the Church. He held that popes could +err and be deceived. He had no faith in human abnegations for +reconciliation with God. He saw no need for hierarchical mediations, +and discredited the doctrine of Purgatory and masses for the dead. He +bravely defended the cause of learning against the ignorant monks, +whom he hated and held up to merciless ridicule. He was a brilliant +and persuasive orator. He was an associate and counselor of kings. He +gave Melanchthon to the Reformation, and did much to promote it. +Luther recognized in him a great light, of vast service to the Gospel +in Germany. But Reuchlin could never have accomplished the +Reformation. The vital principles of it were not sufficiently rooted +in him. He was a humanist, whose sympathies went with the republic of +letters, not with the wants of the soul and the needs of the people. +When he got into trouble he appealed to the pope. And though he lived +to see Luther in agonizing conflict with the hierarchy of Rome, he +refrained from making common cause with him, and died in connection +with the unreformed Church, whose doctrines he had questioned and +whose orders he had so unsparingly ridiculed. + + +ERASMUS OF ROTTERDAM. + +Erasmus was a notable man, great in talent and of great service in +preparing the way for the Reformation. He turned reviving learning to +the study of the Word. He produced the first, and for a long time the +only, critical edition of the New Testament in the original, to which +he added a Latin translation and notes. He paraphrased the Epistle to +the Romans--that great Epistle on which above all, the Reformation +moved. Though once an inmate of a monastery, he abhorred the monks and +exposed them with terrible severity. He had more friends, reputation, +and influence than perhaps any other private man in Europe. And he was +deep in the spirit of opposition to the scandalous condition of things +in the Church. But he never could have given us the Reformation. He +said all honest men sided with Luther, and as an honest man his place +would have been by Luther's side; but he was too great a coward. "If I +should join Luther," said he, "I could only perish with him, and I do +not mean to run my neck into the halter. Let popes and emperors +settle matters."--"Your Holiness says, Come to Rome; you might as well +tell a crab to fly. If I write calmly against Luther, I shall be +called lukewarm; if I write as he does, I shall stir up a hornet's +nest.... Send for the best and wisest men in Christendom, and follow +their advice."--"Reduce the dogmas necessary to be believed to the +smallest possible number. On other points let every one believe as he +likes. Having done this, quietly correct the abuses of which the world +justly complains." + +So wrote Erasmus to the pope and to the archbishop of Mayence. Such +was his ideal of reformation--a thing as impossible to bring into +practical effect as its realization would have been absurd. It is easy +to tell a crab to fly, but will he do it? As well propose to convert +infallibility with a fable of Æsop as to count on bringing +regeneration to the hierarchy by such counsels. + +The waters were too deep and the storms too fierce for the vacillating +Erasmus. He did some excellent service in his way, but all his +counsels and ideas failed, as they deserved. Once the idol of Europe, +he died a defeated, crushed, and miserable man. "Hercules could not +fight two monsters at once," said he, "while I, poor wretch! have +lions, cerberuses, cancers, scorpions, every day at my sword's +point.... There is no rest for me in my age, unless I join Luther; and +that I cannot, for I cannot accept his doctrines. Sometimes I am stung +with desire to avenge my wrongs; but my heart says, Will you in your +spleen raise hand against your mother who begot you at the font? I +cannot do it. Yet, because I bade monks remember their vows; because I +told persons to leave off their wranglings and read the Bible; because +I told popes and cardinals to look to the apostles and be more like +them,--the theologians say I am their enemy." + +Thus in sorrow and in clouds Erasmus passed away, as would the entire +Reformation in his hands. + + +ULRIC VON HÜTTEN. + +Ulric von Hütten, soldier and knight, equally distinguished in letters +and in arms, and called the Demosthenes of Germany, was a zealous +friend of reform. He had been in Rome, and sharpened his darts from +what he there saw to hurl them with effect. All the powers of satire +and ridicule he brought to bear upon the pillars of the Papacy. He +helped to shake the edifice, and his plans and spirit might have +served to pull it down had he been able to bring Europe to his mind; +but it would only have been to bury society in its ruins. + + +ULRICH ZWINGLI. + +Ulrich Zwingli is ranked among Reformers, and he was energetic in +behalf of reform. But he fell a victim to his own mistakes, and with +him would have perished the Reformation also had it depended upon him. +Even had he lived, his radical and rationalistic spirit, his narrow +and fiery patriotism, his shallow religious experience, and his +eagerness to rest the cause of Reformation on civil authority and the +sword, would have wrecked it with nine-tenths of the European peoples. + + +MELANCHTHON. + +Philip Melanchthon was a better and a greater man, and did the +Reformation a far superior service. Luther would have been much +disabled without him, and Germany has awarded him the title of its +"Preceptor." But no Reformation could have come if the fighting or +directing of its battles had been left to him. Even with the great +Luther ever by his side, he could hardly get loose from Rome and +retain his wholeness, and when he was loose could hardly maintain his +legs upon the ground that had been won. + + +CALVIN. + +John Calvin was a man of great learning and ability. Marked has been +his influence on the theology and government of a large portion of the +Reformed churches. But the Reformation was twelve years old before he +came into it. It had to exist already ere there could be a Calvin, +while his repeated flights to avoid danger prove how inadequate his +courage was for such unflinching duty as rendered Luther illustrious. +He was a cold, hard, ascetic aristocrat at best, more cynical, stern, +and tyrannical than brave. The organization for the Church and civil +government which he gave to Geneva was quite too intolerant and +inquisitorial for safe adoption in general or to endure the test of +the true Gospel spirit. Under a régime which burnt Servetus for +heresy, threw men into prison for reading novels, hung and beheaded +children for improper behavior toward parents, whipped and banished +people for singing songs, and dealt with others as public blasphemers +if they said a word against the Reformers or failed to go to church, +the cause of the Reformation could never have commanded acceptance by +the nations, or have survived had it been received. The famous "Blue +Laws" of the New England colonies have had to be given up as a scandal +upon enlightened civilization; but they were largely transcribed from +Calvin's code and counsels, including even the punishing of witches. +For the last two hundred years the Calvinistic peoples have been +reforming back from Calvin's rules and spirit, either to a better +foundation for the perpetuation and honor of the Church or to a +rationalistic skepticism which lets go all the distinctive elements of +the genuine Christian Creed--the natural reaction from the hard and +overstrained severity of a legalistic style of Christianity. + +With all the great service Calvin has rendered to theological science +and church discipline, there was an unnatural sombreness about him, +which linked him rather with the Middle Ages and the hierarchical rule +than with the glad, free spirit of a wholesome Christian life. At +twenty-seven he had already drawn up a formula of doctrine and +organization which he never changed and to which he ever held. There +was no development either in his life or in his ideas. The evangelic +elements of his system he found ready to his hand, as thought out by +Luther and the German theologians. They did not originate or grow with +him. And had the Reformation depended upon him it could never have +become a success. So too with any others that might be named. + + +LUTHER THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT. + +We may not limit Providence. The work was to be done. Every interest +of the world and of the kingdom of God demanded it. And if there had +been no Luther at hand, some one else would have been raised up to +serve in his place. But there _was_ a Luther, and, as far as human +insight can determine, he was the only man on earth competent to +achieve the Reformation. And he it was who did achieve it. + +Looked at in advance, perhaps no one would have thought of him for +such an office. He was so humbly born, so lowly in station, so +destitute of fortune, and withal so honest a Papist, that not the +slightest tokens presented to mark him out as the chosen instrument to +grapple with the magnitudinous tyranny by which Europe was enthralled. + +But "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the +things that are mighty." Moses was the son of a slave. The founder of +the Hebrew monarchy was a shepherd-boy. The Redeemer-King of the world +was born in a stable and reared in the family of a village carpenter. +And we need not wonder that the hero-prophet of the modern ages was +the son of a poor toiler for his daily bread, and compelled to sing +upon the street for alms to keep body and soul together while +struggling for an education. + +It has been the common order of Providence that the greatest lights +and benefactors of the race, the men who rose the highest above the +level of their kind and stood as beacons to the world, were not such +as would have been thought of in advance for the mighty services which +render their names immortal. And that the master spirit of the great +Reformation was no exception all the more surely identifies that +marvelous achievement as the work of an overruling God. + + +LUTHER'S ORIGIN. + +Luther was a Saxon German--a German of the Germans--born of that blood +out of which, with but few exceptions, have sprung the ruling powers +of the West since the last of the old Roman emperors. He came out of +the bosom of the freshest, strongest, and hardiest peoples then +existing--the direct descendants of those wild Cimbrian and Teutonic +tribes who, even in their heathenism, were the most virtuous, brave, +and true of all the Gentiles. + +Nor was he the offspring of enfeebled, gouty, aristocratic blood. He +was the son of the sinewy and sturdy yeomanry. Though tradition +reports one of his remote ancestors in something of imperial place +among the chieftains of the semi-savage tribes from which he was +descended, when the period of the Reformation came his family was in +like condition with that of the house of David when the Christ was +born. His father and grandfather and great-grandfather, he says +himself, were true Thuringian peasants. + + +LUTHER'S EARLY TRAINING. + +In the early periods of the mediæval Church her missionaries came to +these fiery warriors of the North and followed the conquests of +Charlemagne, to teach them that they had souls, that there is a living +and all-knowing God at whose judgment-bar all must one day stand to +give account, and that it would then be well with the believing, +brave, honest, true, and good, and ill with cowards, profligates, and +liars. It was a simple creed, but it took fast hold on the Germanic +heart, to show itself in sturdy power in the long after years. + +This creed, in unabated force, descended to Luther's parents, and +lived and wrought in them as a controlling principle. They were also +strict to render it the same in their children. + +_Hans Luther_ was a hard and stern disciplinarian, unsparing in the +enforcement of every virtue. + +_Margaret Luther_[2] was noted among her neighbors as a model woman, +and was so earnest in her inculcations of right that she preferred to +see her son bleed beneath the rod rather than that he should do a +questionable thing even respecting so small a matter as a nut. + +From his childhood Luther was thus trained and attempered to fear +God, reverence truth and honesty, and hate hypocrisy and lies. +Possibly his parents were severer with him than was necessary, but it +was well for him, as the prospective prophet of a new era, to learn +absolute obedience to those who were to him the representatives of +that divine authority which he was to teach the world supremely to +obey. + +But no birth, or blood, or parental drilling, or any mere human +culture, could give the qualities necessary to a successful Reformer. +The Church had fallen into all manner of evils, because it had drifted +away from the apostolic doctrine as to how a man shall be just with +God; which is the all-conditioning question of all right religion. +There could then be no cure for those evils except by the bringing of +the Church back to that doctrine. But to do anything effectual toward +such a recovery it was pre-eminently required that the Reformer +himself should first be brought to an experimental knowledge of what +was to be witnessed and taught. + +On two different theatres, therefore, the Reformation had to be +wrought out: first, in the Reformer's own soul, and then on the field +of the world outside of him. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] The maiden name of Margaret Luther, the mother of Martin, was +_Margaret Ziegler_. There has been a traditional belief that her name +was Margaret Lindeman. The mistake originated in confounding Luther's +grandmother, whose name was _Lindeman_, with Luther's mother, whose +name was _Ziegler_. Prof. Julius Köstlin, in his _Life of Luther_, +after a thorough examination of original records and documents, gives +this explanation. + + +WHAT THE REFORMATION WAS. + +It is hard to take in the depth and magnitude of what is called The +Great Reformation. It stands out in history like a range of Himalayan +mountains, whose roots reach down into the heart of the world and +whose summits pierce beyond the clouds. + +To Bossuet and Voltaire it was a mere squabble of the monks; to others +it was the cupidity of secular sovereigns and lay nobility grasping +for the power, estates, and riches of the Church. Some treat of it as +a simple reaction against religious scandals, with no great depths of +principle or meaning except to illustrate the recuperative power of +human society to cure itself of oppressive ills. Guizot describes it +as "a vast effort of the human mind to achieve its freedom--a great +endeavor to emancipate human reason." Lord Bacon takes it as the +reawakening of antiquity and the recall of former times to reshape and +fashion our own. + +Whatever of truth some of these estimates may contain, they fall far +short of a correct idea of what the Reformation was, or wherein lay +the vital spring of that wondrous revolution. Its historic and +philosophic centre was vastly deeper and more potent than either or +all of these conceptions would make it. Many influences contributed to +its accomplishment, but its inmost principle was unique. The real +nerve of the Reformation was religious. Its life was something +different from mere earthly interests, utilities, aims, or passions. +_Its seat was in the conscience._ Its true spring was the soul, +confronted by eternal judgment, trembling for its estate before divine +Almightiness, and, on pain of banishment from every immortal good, +forced to condition and dispose itself according to the clear +revelations of God. It was not mere negation to an oppressive +hierarchy, except as it was first positive and evangelic touching the +direct and indefeasible relations and obligations of the soul to its +Maker. Only when the hierarchy claimed to qualify these direct +relations and obligations, thrust itself between the soul and its +Redeemer, and by eternal penalties sought to hold the conscience bound +to human authorities and traditions, did the Reformation protest and +take issue. Had the inalienable right and duty to obey God rather than +man been conceded, the hierarchy, as such, might have remained, the +same as monarchical government. But this the hierarchy negatived, +condemned, and would by no means tolerate. Hence the mighty contest. +And the heart, sum, and essence of the whole struggle was the +maintenance and the working out into living fact of this direct +obligation of the soul to God and the supreme authority of His clear +and unadulterated word. + + +SPIRITUAL TRAINING. + +How Luther came to these principles, and the fiery trials by which +they were burnt into him as part of his inmost self, is one of the +most vital chapters in the history. + +His father had designed him for the law. To this end he had gone +through the best schools of Germany, taken his master's degree, and +was advancing in the particular studies relating to his intended +profession, when a sudden change came over his life. + +Religious in his temper and training, and educated in a creed which +worked mainly on man's fears, without emphasizing the only basis of +spiritual peace, he fell into great terrors of conscience. Several +occurrences contributed to this: (1) He fell sick, and was likely to +die. (2) He accidentally severed an artery, and came near bleeding to +death. (3) A bosom friend of his was suddenly killed. All this made +him think how it would be with him if called to stand before God in +judgment, and filled him with alarm. Then (4) he was one day overtaken +by a thunderstorm of unwonted violence. The terrific scene presented +to his vivid fancy all the horrors of a mediæval picture of the Last +Day, and himself about to be plunged into eternal fire. Overwhelmed +with terror, he cried to Heaven for help, and vowed, if spared, to +devote himself to the salvation of his soul by becoming a monk. His +father hated monkery, and he shared the feeling; but, if it would save +him, why hesitate? What was a father's displeasure or the loss of all +the favors of the world to his safety against a hopeless perdition? + +Call it superstition, call it religious melancholy, call it morbid +hallucination, it was a most serious matter to the young Luther, and +out of it ultimately grew the Reformation. False ideas underlay the +resolve, but it was profoundly sincere and according to the ideas of +ages. It was wrong, but he could not correct the error until he had +tested it. And thus, by what he took as the unmistakable call of God, +he entered the cloister. + +Never man went into a monastery with purer motives. Never a man went +through the duties, drudgeries, and humiliations of the novitiate of +convent-life with more unshrinking fidelity. Never man endured more +painful mental and bodily agonies that he might secure for himself an +assured spiritual peace. Romanists have expressed their wonder that so +pure a man thought himself so great a sinner. But a sinner he was, as +we all; and to avert the just anger of God he fasted, prayed, and +mortified himself like an anchorite of the Thebaid. And yet no peace +or comfort came. + +A chained Bible lay in the monastery. He had previously found a copy +of it in the library of the university. Day and night he read it, +along with the writings of St. Augustine. In both he found the same +pictures of man's depravity which he realized in himself, but God's +remedy for sin he had not found. In the earnestness of his studies the +prescribed devotions were betimes crowded out, and then he punished +himself without mercy to redeem his failures. Whole nights and days +together he lay upon his face crying to God, till he swooned in his +agony. Everything his brother-monks could tell him he tried, but all +the resources of their religion were powerless to comfort him or to +beget a righteousness in which his anguished soul could trust. + +It happened that one of the exceptionally enlightened and +spiritual-minded monks of his time, _John Staupitz_, was then the +vicar-general of the Augustinians in Saxony. On his tour of inspection +he came to Erfurt, and there found Luther, a walking skeleton, more +dead than alive. He was specially drawn to the haggard young brother. +The genial and sympathizing spirit of the vicar-general made Luther +feel at home in his presence, and to him he freely opened his whole +heart, telling of his feelings, failures, and fears--his heartaches, +his endeavors, his disappointments, and his despair. And God put the +right words into the vicar-general's mouth. + +"Look to the wounds of Jesus," said he, "and to the blood he shed for +you, and there see the mercy of God. Cast yourself into the Redeemer's +arms, and trust in his righteous life and sacrificial death. He loved +you first; love him in return, and let your penances and +mortifications go." + +The oppressed and captive spirit began to feel its burden lighten +under such discourse. God a God of love! Piety a life of love! +Salvation by loving trust in a God already reconciled in Christ! This +was a new revelation. It brought the sorrowing young Luther to the +study of the Scriptures with a new object of search. He read and +meditated, and began to see the truth of what his vicar said. But +doubts would come, and often his gloom returned. + +One day an aged monk came to his cell to comfort him. He said he only +knew his Creed, but in that he rested, reciting, "_I believe in the +forgiveness of sins_."--"And do I not believe that?" said +Luther.--"Ah," said the old monk, "you believe in the forgiveness of +sins for David and Peter and the thief on the cross, but you do not +believe in the forgiveness of sins _for yourself_. St. Bernard says +the Holy Ghost speaks it to your own soul, _Thy_ sins are forgiven +_thee_." + +And so at last the right nerve was touched. The true word of God's +deliverance was brought home to Luther's understanding. He was +penitent and in earnest, and needed only this great Gospel hope to +lift him from the horrible pit and the miry clay. As a light from +heaven it came to his soul, and there remained, a comfort and a joy. +The glad conclusion flashed upon him, never more to be shaken, "If +God, for Christ's sake, takes away our sins, then they are not taken +away by any works of ours." + +The foundation-rock of a new world was reached. + +Luther saw not yet what all this discovery meant, nor whither it would +lead. He was as innocent of all thought of being a Reformer as a +new-born babe is of commanding an army on the battlefield. But the +Gospel principle of deliverance and salvation for his oppressed and +anxious soul was found, and it was found for all the world. The anchor +had taken hold on a new continent. In essence the Great Reformation +was born--born in Luther's soul. + + +LUTHER'S DEVELOPMENT. + +More than ten years passed before this new principle began to work off +the putrid carcass of mediæval religion which lay stretched over the +stifled and suffocating Church of Christ. There were yet many steps +and stages in the preparation for what was to come. But from that time +forward everything moved toward general regeneration by means of that +marrow doctrine of the Gospel: _Salvation by loving faith in the merit +and mediation of Jesus alone_. + +Staupitz counseled the young monk to study the Scriptures well and +whatever could aid him in their right understanding, and gave orders +to the monastery not to interfere with his studies. + +On May 2, 1507, he was consecrated to the priesthood. + +Within the year following, at the instance of Staupitz, Frederick the +Wise appointed him professor in the new University of Wittenberg. + +May 9, 1509, he took his degree of bachelor of divinity. From that +time he began to use his place to attack the falsehoods of the +prevailing philosophy and to explore and expose the absurdities of +Scholasticism, dwelling much on the great Gospel treasure of God's +free amnesty to sinful man through the merits and mediation of Jesus +Christ, on which his own soul was planted. + +Staupitz was astounded at the young brother's thorough mastery of the +sacred Word, the minuteness of his knowledge of it, and the power with +which he expounded and defended the great principles of the evangelic +faith. So able a teacher of the doctrines of the cross must at once +begin to preach. Luther remonstrated, for it was not then the custom +for all priests to preach. He insisted that he would die under the +weight of such responsibilities. "Die, then," said Staupitz; "God has +plenty to do for intelligent young men in heaven." + +A little old wooden chapel, daubed with clay, twenty by thirty feet in +size, with a crude platform of rough boards at one end and a small +sooty gallery for scarce twenty persons at the other, and propped on +all sides to keep it from tumbling down, was assigned him as his +cathedral. Myconius likens it to the stable of Bethlehem, as there +Christ was born anew for the souls which now crowded to it. And when +the thronging audiences required his transfer to the parish church, it +was called the bringing of Christ into the temple. + +The fame of this young theologian and preacher spread fast and far. +The common people and the learned were alike impressed by his +originality and power, and rejoiced in the electrifying clearness of +his expositions and teachings. The Elector was delighted, for he began +to see his devout wishes realized. Staupitz, who had drunk in the more +pious spirit of the Mystic theologians, shared the same feeling, and +saw in Luther's fresh, biblical, and energetic preaching what he felt +the whole Church needed. "He spared neither counsel nor applause," for +he believed him the man of God for the times. He sent him to +neighboring monasteries to preach to the monks. He gave him every +opportunity to study, observe, and exercise his great talents. He even +sent him on a mission to Rome, more to acquaint him with that city, +which he longed to see, than for any difficult or pressing business +with the pope. + + +LUTHER'S VISIT TO ROME. + +Luther performed the journey on foot, passing from monastery to +monastery, noting the extravagances, indolence, gluttony, and +infidelity of the monks, and sometimes in danger of his life, both +from the changes of climate and from the murderous resentments of some +of these cloister-saints which his rebukes of their vices engendered. + +When Rome first broke upon his sight, he hailed it reverently as the +city of saints and holy martyrs. He almost envied those whose parents +were dead, and who had it in their power to offer prayers for the +repose of their souls by the side of such holy shrines. But when he +beheld the vulgarities, profanities, paganism, and unconcealed +unbelief which pervaded even the ecclesiastical circles of that city, +his soul sunk within him. + +There was much to be seen in Rome; and the Roman Catholic writers find +great fault with Luther for being so dull and unappreciative as to +move amid it without being touched with a single spark of poetic fire. +They tell of the glory of the cardinals, in litters, on horseback, in +glittering carriages, blazing with jewels and shaded with gorgeous +canopies; of marble palaces, grand walks, alabaster columns, gigantic +obelisks, villas, gardens, grottoes, flowers, fountains, cascades; of +churches adorned with polished pillars, gilded soffits, mosaic floors, +altars sparkling with diamonds, and gorgeous pictures from +master-hands looking down from every wall; of monuments, statues, +images, and holy relics; and they blame Luther that he could gaze upon +it all without a stir of admiration--that he could look upon the +sculpture and statuary and see nothing but pagan devices, the gods +Demosthenes and Praxiteles, the feasts and pomps of Delos, and the +idle scenes of the heathen Forum--that no gleam from the crown of +Perugino or Michael Angelo dazzled his eyes, and no strain of Virgil +or of Dante, which the people sung in the streets, attracted his +ear--that he was only cold and dumb before all the treasures and +glories of art and all the grandeur of the high dignitaries of the +Church, seeing nothing, feeling nothing, exclaiming over nothing but +the licentious impurities of the priests, the pagan pomps of the +pontiff, the profane jests of the ministers of religion, the bare +shoulders of the Roman ladies. + +Luther was not dead to the æsthetic, but to see faith and +righteousness thus smothered and buried under a godless Epicurean life +was an offence to his honest German conscience. It looked to him as if +the popes had reversed the Saviour's choice, and accepted the devil's +bid for Christ to worship him. From what his own eyes and ears had now +seen and heard, he knew what to believe concerning the state of things +in the metropolis of Christendom, and was satisfied that, as surely as +there is a hell, the Rome of those days was its mouth.[3] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Bellarmine, an honored author of the Roman Church, one competent +to judge concerning the state of things at that time, and not +over-forward to confess it, says: "For some years before the Lutheran +and Calvinistic heresies were published there was not (as contemporary +authors testify) any rigor in ecclesiastical judicatories, any +discipline with regard to morals, any knowledge of sacred literature, +any reverence for divine things: THERE WAS ALMOST NO RELIGION +REMAINING."--_Bellarm._, Concio xviii., Opera, tom. vi. col. 296, +edit. Colon., 1617, apud _Gerdesii Hist. Evan. Renovati_, vol. i. p. +25. + + +LUTHER AS TOWN-PREACHER. + +On his return the Senate of Wittenberg elected him town-preacher. In +the cloister, in the castle chapel, and in the collegiate church he +alternately exercised his gifts. Romanists admit that "his success was +great. He said he would not imitate his predecessors, and he kept his +word. For the first time a Christian preacher was seen to abandon the +Schoolmen and draw his texts and illustrations from the writings of +inspiration. He was the originator and restorer of expository +preaching in modern times." + +The Elector heard him, and was filled with admiration. An old +professor, whom the people called "the light of the world," listened +to him, and was struck with his wonderful insight, his marvelous +imagination, and his massive solidity. And Wittenberg sprang into +great renown because of him, for never before had been heard in Saxony +such a luminous expositor of God's holy Word. + + +LUTHER MADE A DOCTOR. + +On all hands it was agreed and insisted that he should be made a +doctor of divinity. The costs were heavy, for simony was the order of +the day and the pope exacted high prices for all church promotions; +but the Elector paid the charges. + +On the 18th of October, 1512, the degree was conferred. It was no +empty title to Luther. It gave him liberties and rights which his +enemies could not gainsay, and it laid on him obligations and duties +which he never forgot. The obedience to the canons and the hierarchy +which it exacted he afterward found inimical to Christ and the Gospel, +and, as in duty bound, he threw it off, with other swaddling-bands of +Popery. But there was in it the pledge "to devote his whole life to +the study, exposition and defence of the Holy Scriptures." This he +accepted, and ever referred to as his sacred charter and commission. +Nor was it without significance that the great bell of Wittenberg was +rung when proclamation of this investiture was made. As the ringing of +the bell on the old State-house when the Declaration of Independence +was passed proclaimed the coming liberties of the American colonies, +so this sounding of the great bell of Wittenberg when Luther was made +doctor of divinity proclaimed and heralded to the nations of the earth +the coming deliverance of the enslaved Church. God's chosen servant +had received his commission, and the better day was soon to dawn. + + * * * * * + +Henceforth Luther's labors and studies went forward with a new impulse +and inspiration. Hebrew and Greek were thoroughly mastered. The +Fathers of the Church, ancient and modern, were carefully read. The +systems of the Schoolmen, the Book of Sentences, the Commentaries, the +Decretals--everything relating to his department as a doctor of +theology--were examined, and brought to the test of Holy Scripture. + +In his sermons, lectures, and disquisitions the results of these +incessant studies came out with a depth of penetration, a clearness of +statement, a simplicity of utterance, a devoutness of spirit, and a +convincing power of eloquence which, with the eminent sanctity of his +life, won for him unbounded praise. The common feeling was that the +earth did not contain another such a doctor and had not seen his equal +for many ages. Envy and jealousy themselves, those green-eyed monsters +which gather about the paths of great qualities and successes, seemed +for the time to be paralyzed before a brilliancy which rested on such +humility, conscientiousness, fidelity, and merit. + + +LUTHER'S LABORS. + +Years of fruitful labor passed. The Decalogue was expounded. Paul's +letter to the Romans and the penitential Psalms were explained. The +lectures on the Epistle to the Galatians were nearly completed. But no +book from Luther had yet been published. + +In 1515 he was chosen district vicar of the Augustinian monasteries of +Meissen and Thuringia. It was a laborious office, but it gave him new +experiences, familiarized him still more with the monks, brought him +into executive administrations, and developed his tact in dealing with +men. + +One other particular served greatly to establish him in the hearts of +the people. A deadly plague broke out in Wittenberg. Citizens were +dying by dozens and scores. At a later period a like scourge visited +Geneva, and so terrified Calvin and his ministerial associates that +they appealed to the Supreme Council, entreating, "Mighty lords, +release us from attending these infected people, for our lives are in +peril." Not so Luther. His friends said, "Fly! fly!" lest he should +fall by the plague and be lost to the world. "Fly?" said he. "No, no, +my God. If I die, I die. The world will not perish because a monk has +fallen. I am not St. Paul, not to fear death, but God will sustain +me." And as an angel of mercy he remained, ministering to the sick and +dying and caring for the orphans and widows of the dead. + + +COLLISION WITH THE HIERARCHY. + +Such was Luther up to the time of his rupture with Rome. He knew +something of the shams and falsities that prevailed, and he had +assailed and exposed many of them in his lectures and sermons; but to +lead a general reformation was the farthest from his thoughts. Indeed, +he still had such confidence in the integrity of the Roman Church that +he did not yet realize how greatly a thorough general reformation was +needed. Humble in mind, peaceable in disposition, reverent toward +authority, loving privacy, and fully occupied with his daily studies +and duties, it was not in him to think of making war with powers whose +claims he had not yet learned to question. + +But it was not possible that so brave, honest, and self-sacrificing a +man should long pursue his convictions without coming into collision +with the Roman high priesthood. Though far off at Wittenberg, and +trying to do his own duty well in his own legitimate sphere, it soon +came athwart his path in a form so foul and offensive that it forced +him to assault it. Either he had to let go his sincerest convictions +and dearest hopes or protest had to come. His personal salvation and +that of his flock were at stake, and he could in no way remain a true +man and not remonstrate. Driven to this extremity, and struck at for +his honest faithfulness, he struck again; and so came the battle which +shook and revolutionized the world. + + +THE SELLING OF INDULGENCES. + +Luther's first encounter with the hierarchy was on the traffic in +indulgences. It was a good fortune that it there began. That traffic +was so obnoxious to every sense of propriety that any vigorous attack +upon it would command the approval of many honest and pious people. +The central heresy of hierarchical religion was likewise embodied in +it, so that a stab there, if logically followed up, would necessarily +reach the very heart of the oppressive monster. And Providence +arranged that there the conflict should begin. + +Leo X. had but recently ascended the papal throne. Reared amid lavish +wealth and culture, he was eager that his reign should equal that of +Solomon and the Cæsars. He sought to aggrandize his relatives, to +honor and enrich men of genius, and to surround himself with costly +splendors and pleasures. These demanded extraordinary revenues. The +projects of his ambitious predecessors had depleted the papal coffers. +He needed to do something on a grand scale in order adequately to +replenish his exchequer. + +As early as the eleventh century the popes had betimes resorted to the +selling of pardons and the issuing of free passes to heaven on +consideration of certain services or payments to the Church. From +Urban II. to Leo X. this was more or less in vogue--first, to get +soldiers for the holy wars,[4] and then as a means of wealth to the +Church. If one wished to eat meat on fast-days, marry within +prohibited degrees of relationship, or indulge in forbidden pleasures, +he could do it without offence by rendering certain satisfactions +before or after, which satisfactions could mostly be made by payments +of money.[5] In the same way he could buy remission of sins in +general, or exemption for so many days, years, or centuries from the +pains of Purgatory. Bulls of authority were given, in the name of the +Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to issue certificates of exemption from +all penalties to such as did the service or paid the equivalent. +Immense incomes were thus realized. Even to the present this facile +invention for raising money has not been entirely discontinued. Papal +indulgences can be bought to-day in the shops of Spain and elsewhere. + +Leo seized upon this system with all the vigor and unscrupulousness +characteristic of the Medici. Had he been asked whether he really +believed in these pardons, he would have said that the Church always +believed the pope had power to grant them. Had he spoken his real mind +in the matter, he would have said that if the people chose to be such +fools, it was not for him to find fault with them. And thus, under +plea of raising funds to finish St. Peter's, he instituted a grand +trade in indulgences, and thereby laid the capstone of hierarchical +iniquity which crushed the whole fabric to its base. + +The right to sell these wares in Germany was awarded to Albert, the +gay young prince-archbishop of Mayence. He was over head and ears in +debt to the pope for his pallium, and Leo gave him this chance to get +out.[6] Half the proceeds of the trade in his territory were to go to +his credit. But the work of proclaiming and distributing the pardons +was committed to _John Tetzel_, a Dominican prior who had long +experience in the business, and who achieved "a forlorn notoriety in +European history" by his zeal in prosecuting it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] In the famous Bull of Gregory IX., published in 1234, that pope +exhorts and commands all good Christians to take up the cross and join +the expedition to recover the Holy Land. The language is: "The service +to which mankind are now invited is an effectual atonement for the +miscarriages of a negligent life. The discipline of a regular penance +would have discouraged many offenders so much that they would have had +no heart to venture upon it; but the holy war is a compendious method +of discharging men from guilt and restoring them to the divine favor. +Even if they die on their march, the intention will be taken for the +deed, and many in this way may be crowned without fighting."--Given in +Collier's _Eccl._, vol. i. + +[5] The Roman Chancery once put forth a book, which went through many +editions, giving the exact prices for the pardon of each particular +sin. A deacon guilty of murder was absolved for twenty pounds. A +bishop or abbot might assassinate for three hundred livres. Any +ecclesiastic might violate his vows of chastity for the third part of +that sum, etc., etc.--See Robertson's _Charles V._ + +[6] The pallium, or pall, was a narrow band of white wool to go over +the shoulders in the form of a circle, from which hung bands of +similar size before and behind, finished at the ends with pieces of +sheet lead and embroidered with crosses. It was the mark of the +dignity and rank of archbishops. Albert owed Pope Leo X. forty-five +thousand thalers for his right and appointment to wear the +archbishop's pallium. + +It was in this way that the Roman Church was accustomed to sell out +benefices as a divine right. Even _expectative graces_, or mandates +nominating a person to succeed to a benefice upon the first vacancy, +were thus sold. Companies existed in Germany which made a business of +buying up the benefices of particular sections and districts and +retailing them at advanced rates. The selling of pardons was simply a +lower kind of simoniacal bartering which pervaded the whole +hierarchical establishment. + + +TETZEL'S PERFORMANCES. + +Tetzel entered the towns with noise and pomp, amid waving of flags, +singing, and the ringing of bells. Clergy, choristers, monks, and nuns +moved in procession before and after him. He himself sat in a gilded +chariot, with the Bull of his authority spread out on a velvet cushion +before him. + +The churches were his salesrooms, lighted and decorated for the +occasion as in highest festival. From the pulpits his boisterous +oratory rang, telling the virtues of indulgences, the wonderful power +of the keys, and the unexampled grace of which he was the bearer from +the holy lord and father at Rome. + +He called on all--robbers, adulterers, murderers, everybody--to draw +near, pay down their money, and receive from him letters, duly sealed, +by which all their sins, past and future, should be pardoned and done +away. + +Not for the living only, but also for the dead, he proposed full and +instantaneous deliverance from all future punishments on the payment +of the price. And any wretch who dared to doubt or question the saving +power of these certificates he in advance doomed to excommunication +and the wrath of God.[7] + +Catholic divines have labored hard to whitewash or explain away this +stupendous iniquity; but, with all they have said or may say, such +were the presentations made by the hawkers of these wares and such was +the text of the diplomas they issued. + +A dispensation or indulgence was nothing more nor less than a +pretended letter of credit on Heaven, drawn at will by the pope out of +the superabundant merits of Christ and all saints, to count so much on +the books of God for so many murders, robberies, frauds, lies, +slanders, or debaucheries. As the matter practically worked, a more +profane and devilish traffic never had place in our world than that +which the Roman hierarchy thus carried on in the name of the Triune +God. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Many of the sayings which Tetzel gave out in his addresses to the +people have been preserved, and are amply attested by those who +listened to his harangues. + +"I would not," said he, "exchange my privileges for those of St. Peter +in heaven. He saved many by his sermons; I have saved more by my +indulgences." + +"Indulgences are the most precious and sublime of all the gifts of +God." + +"No sins are so great that these pardons cannot cover them." + +"Not for the living only, but for the dead also, there is immediate +salvation in these indulgences." + +"Ye priests, nobles, tradespeople, wives, maidens, young men! the +souls of your parents and beloved ones are crying from the depths +below: 'See our torments! A small alms would deliver us; and you can +give it, and you will not.'" + +"O dull and brutish people, not to appreciate the grace so richly +offered! This day heaven is open on all sides, and how many are the +souls you might redeem if you only would! Your father is in flames, +and you can deliver him for ten groschen, and you do it not! What +punishment must come for neglecting so great salvation! You should +strip your coat from your back, if you have no other, and sell it to +purchase so great grace as this, for God hath given all power to the +pope." + +"The bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul, with those of many blessed +martyrs, lie exposed, trampled on, polluted, dishonored, and rotting +in the weather. Our most holy lord the pope means to build the church +to cover them with glory that shall have no equal on the earth. Shall +those holy ashes be left to be trodden in the mire?" + +"Therefore bring your money, and do a work most profitable to departed +souls. Buy! buy!" + +"This red cross with the pope's arms has equal virtue with the Cross +of Christ." + +"These pardons make cleaner than baptism, and purer than Adam was in +his innocence in Paradise." + +In the certificates which Tetzel gave to those who bought these +pardons he declared that "by the authority of Jesus Christ, and of his +apostles Peter and Paul, and of the most holy pope, I do absolve thee +first from all ecclesiastical censures, in whatever manner they have +been incurred, and then _from all thy sins, transgressions, and +excesses, however enormous soever they may be_. I remit to you all +punishment which you deserve in Purgatory on their account, and I +restore you to the holy sacraments of the Church, union with the +faithful, and to that innocence and purity possessed at baptism; _so +that when you die the gates of punishment shall be shut and the gates +of the happy Paradise shall be opened; and if your death shall be +delayed, this grace shall remain in full force when you are at the +point of death_." + +The sums required for these passports to glory varied according to the +rank and wealth of the applicant. For ordinary indulgence a king, +queen, or bishop was to pay twenty-five ducats (a ducat being about a +dollar of our money); abbots, counts, barons, and the like were +charged ten ducats; other nobles and all who enjoyed annual incomes of +five hundred florins were charged six ducats; and so down to half a +florin, or twenty-five cents. + +But the commissioner also had a special scale for taxes on particular +sins. Sodomy was charged twelve ducats; sacrilege and perjury, nine; +murder, seven or eight; witchcraft and polygamy, from two to six; +taking the life of a parent, brother, sister, or an infant, from one +to six. + + +LUTHER ON INDULGENCES. + +Luther was on a tour of inspection as district vicar of the +Augustinians when he first heard of these shameful doings. As yet he +understood but little of the system, and could not believe it possible +that the fathers at Rome could countenance, much less appoint and +commission, such iniquities. Boiling with indignation for the honor of +the Church, he threatened to make a hole in Tetzel's drum, and wrote +to the authorities to refuse passports to the hucksters of these +shameful deceptions. + +But Tetzel soon came near to Wittenberg. Some of Luther's parishioners +heard him, and bought absolutions. They afterward came to confession, +acknowledging great irregularities of life. Luther rebuked their +wickedness, and would not promise them forgiveness unless contrite for +their sins and earnestly endeavoring to amend their evil ways. They +remonstrated, and brought out their certificates of plenary pardon. "I +have nothing to do with your papers," said he. "God's Word says you +must repent and lead better lives, or you will perish." + +His words were at once carried to the ears of Tetzel, who fumed with +rage at such impudence toward the authority of the Church. He ascended +the pulpit and hurled the curses of God upon the Saxon monk. + + * * * * * + +Thus an honest pastor finds some of his flock on the way to ruin, and +tries to guide them right. He is not thinking of attacking Rome. He is +ready to fight and die for holy Mother Church. His very protests are +in her behalf. He is on his own rightful field, in faithful pursuit of +his own rightful duty. Here the erring hierarchy seeks him out and +attacks him. Shall he yield to timid fears and weak advisers, keep +silence in his own house, and let the souls he is placed to guard +become a prey to the destroyer? Is he not sworn to defend God's holy +Word and Gospel? What will be his eternal fate and that of his people +should he now hold his peace? + + +SERMON ON INDULGENCES. + +Without conferring with flesh and blood his resolve was made--a +resolve on which hung all the better future of the world--a resolve to +take the pulpit against the lying indulgences. + +For several days he shut himself in his cell to make sure of his +ground and to elaborate what he would say. With eminent modesty and +moderation his sentences were wrought, but with a perspicuity and +clearness which no one could mistake. A crowded church awaited their +delivery. He entered with his brother-monks, and joined in all the +service with his usual voice and gravity. Nothing in his countenance +or manner betrayed the slightest agitation of his soul. It was a +solemn and momentous step for himself and for mankind that he was +about to take, but he was as calmly made up to it as to any other duty +of his life. The moment came for him to speak; _and he spoke_. + +"I hold it impossible," said he, "to prove from the Holy Scriptures +that divine justice demands from the sinner any other penance or +satisfaction than a true repentance, a change of heart, a willing +submission to bear the Saviour's cross, and a readiness to do what +good he can. + +"That indulgences applied to souls in Purgatory serve to remit the +punishments which they would otherwise suffer is an opinion devoid of +any foundation. + +"Indulgences, so far from expiating or cleansing from sin, leave the +man in the same filth and condemnation in which they find him. + +"The Church exacts somewhat of the sinner, and what it on its own +account exacts it can on its own account remit, but nothing more. + +"If you have aught to spare, in God's name give it for the building of +St. Peter's, but do not buy pardons. + +"If you have means, feed the hungry, which is of more avail than +piling stones together, and far better than the buying of indulgences. + +"My advice is, Let indulgences alone; leave them to dead and sleepy +Christians; but see to it that ye be not of that kind. + +"Indulgences are neither commanded nor approved of God. They excite no +one to sanctification. They work nothing toward salvation. + +"That indulgences have virtue to deliver souls from Purgatory I do not +believe, nor can it be proven by them that teach it; the Church says +nothing to that effect. + +"What I preach to you is based on the certainty of the Holy +Scriptures, which no one ought to doubt." + +So Luther preached, and his word went out to the ends of the earth. It +was no jest, like Ulric von Hütten's _Epistles of Obscure Men_, or +like the ridicule which Reuchlin and Erasmus heaped upon the stupid +monks. It raised no laugh, but penetrated, like a rifle-shot, into the +very heart of things. + +Those who listened were deeply affected by the serious boldness of the +preacher. The audience was with him in conviction, but many trembled +for the result. "Dear doctor, you have been very rash; what trouble +may come of this!" said a venerable father as he pulled the sleeve of +Luther's gown and shook his head with misgivings. "If this is not +rightly done in God's name," said Luther, "it will come to nothing; if +it is, let come what will." + +It was honest duty to God, truth, and the salvation of men that moved +him. Cowardly policy or timid expediency in such a matter was totally +foreign to his soul. + +In a few days, the substance of the sermon was in print. Tetzel raved +over it. Melanchthon says he burnt it in the market-place of +Jüterbock. In the name of God and the pope he bade defiance to its +author, and challenged him by fire and water. Luther laughed at him +for braying so loud at a distance, yet declining to come to Wittenberg +to argue out the matter in close lists. + + +APPEAL TO THE BISHOPS. + +Anxious to vindicate the Church from what he believed to be an +unwarranted liberty in the use of her name, Luther wrote to the bishop +of Brandenburg and the archbishop of Mayence. He made his points, and +appealed to these his superiors to put down the scandalous falsities +advanced by Tetzel. They failed to answer in any decisive way. The one +timidly advised silence, and the other had too much pecuniary interest +in the business to notice the letter. + +Thus, as a pastor, Luther had taken his ground before his parishioners +in the confessional. As a preacher he had uttered himself in earnest +admonition from the pulpit. As a loyal son he had made his +presentation and appeal to those in authority over him. Was he right? +or was he wrong? No commanding answer came, and there remained one +other way of testing the question. As a doctor of divinity he could +lawfully, as custom had been, demand an open and fair discussion of +the matter with teachers and theologians. And upon this he now +resolved. + + +THE NINETY-FIVE THESES. + +He framed a list of propositions on the points in question. They were +in Latin, for his appeal was to theologians, and not yet to the common +heart and mind of Germany. To make them public, he took advantage of a +great festival at Wittenberg, when the town was full of visitors and +strangers, and nailed them to the door of the new castle church, +October 31, 1517. + +These were the famous _Ninety-five Theses_. They were plainly-worded +statements of the same points he had made in the confessional and in +his sermon. They contained no assault upon the Church, no arraignment +of the pope, no personal attack on any one. Neither were they given as +necessarily true, but as what Luther believed to be true, and the real +truth or falsity of which he desired to have decided in the only way +questions of faith and salvation can be rightly decided. + +The whole matter was fairly, humbly, and legitimately put. "I, Martin +Luther, Augustinian at Wittenberg," he added at the end, "hereby +declare that I have written these propositions against indulgences. I +understand that some, not knowing what they affirm, are of opinion +that I am a heretic, though our renowned university has not condemned +me, nor any temporal or spiritual authority. Therefore, now again, as +often heretofore, I beg of one and all, for the sake of the true +Christian faith, to show me the better way, if peradventure they have +learned it from above, or at least to submit their opinion to the +decision of God and the Church; for I am not so insane as to set up my +views above everything and everybody, nor so silly as to accept the +fables invented by men in preference to the Word of God." + +It is from the nailing up of these _Theses_ that the history of the +Great Reformation dates; for the hammer-strokes which fixed that +parchment started the Alpine avalanche which overwhelmed the pride of +Rome and broke the stubborn power which had reigned supreme for a +thousand years. + + +EFFECT OF THE THESES. + +As no one came forward to discuss his Theses, Luther resolved to +publish them to the world. + +In fourteen days they overspread Germany. In a month they ran through +all Christendom. One historian says it seemed as if the angels of God +were engaged in spreading them. + +At a single stroke, made in modesty and faith, Luther had become the +most noted person in Germany--the man most talked of in all the +world--the mouthpiece of the best people in Christendom--the leader of +a mighty revolution. + +Reuchlin read, and thanked God. + +Erasmus read, and rejoiced, only counseling moderation and prudence. + +The Emperor Maximilian read, and wrote to the Saxon Elector: "Take +care of the monk Luther, for the time may come when we will need him." + +The bishop of Wurzburg read, and was filled with gladness, and wrote +to the Elector Frederick to hold on to Luther as a preacher of the +truth of God. + +The prior of Steinlausitz read, and could not suppress his joy. "See +here," said he to his monks: "the long-waited-for has come; he tells +the truth. _Berg_ means mountain, and _Wittenberg_ is the mountain +whither all the world will come to seek wisdom, and will find it." + +A student of Annaberg read, and said, "This Luther is the reaper in my +dream, whom the voice bade me follow and gather in the bread of life;" +and from that hour he was a fast friend of Luther and his cause, and +became the distinguished Myconius. + +The pope himself read the Theses, and did not think unfavorably of +their author. He saw in Luther a man of learning and brilliant genius, +and that pleased him. The questions mooted he referred to a mere +monkish jealousy--an unsober gust of passion which would soon blow +over. He did not then realize the seriousness which was in the matter. +His sphere was heathen art and worldly magnificence, not searching +into the ways of God's salvation. + +The great German heart was moved, and the brave daring of him whose +voice was thus lifted up against the abominations which were draining +the country to fill the pope's coffers was hailed with enthusiasm. +Had Luther been a smaller man he would have been swept away by his +vast and sudden fame. + +But not all was sunshine. Erasmus wittily said, Luther committed two +unpardonable sins: he touched the pope's crown and the monks' bellies. +Such effrontery would needs raise a mighty outcry. + +Prierias, the master of the sacred palace, pronounced Luther a +heretic. Hochstrat of Cologne, Reuchlin's enemy, clamored for fire to +burn him. The indulgence-venders thundered their anathemas, promising +a speedy holocaust of Luther's body. The monasteries took on the form +of so many kennels of enraged hounds howling to each other across the +spiritual waste. And even some who pronounced the Theses scriptural +and orthodox shook their heads and sought to quash such dangerous +proceedings. + +But Luther remained firm at his post. He honestly believed what he had +written, and he was not afraid of the truth. If the powers of the +world should come down upon him and kill him, he was prepared for the +slaughter. In all the mighty controversy he was ever ready to serve +the Gospel with his life or with his death. + + +TETZEL'S END. + +Tetzel continued to bray and fume against him from pulpit and press, +denouncing him as a heresiarch, heretic, and schismatic. By Wimpina's +aid he issued a reply to Luther's sermon, and also counter-theses on +Luther's propositions. But the tide was turning in the sea of human +thinking. Luther's utterances had turned it. The people were ready to +tear the mountebank to pieces. Two years later he imploringly +complained to the pope's nuncio, Miltitz, that such fury pursued him +in Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland that he was nowhere safe. +Even the representative of the pope gave the wretch no sympathy. When +Luther heard of his illness he sent him a letter to tell him that he +had forgiven him all. He died in Leipsic, neglected, smitten in soul, +and full of misery, July 14, 1519. + + +LUTHER'S GROWING INFLUENCE. + +Six months after the nailing up of the Theses, Luther was the hero of +a general convention of the Augustinians in Heidelberg. He there +submitted a series of propositions on philosophy and theology, which +he defended with such convincing clearness and tact that he won for +himself and his university great honor and renown. Better still, four +learned young men who there heard him saw the truth of his positions, +and afterward became distinguished defenders of the Reformation. + +His cause, meanwhile, was rapidly gaining friends. His replies to +Tetzel, Prierias, Hochstrat, and Eck had gone forth to deepen the +favorable impression made by the Ninety-five Theses. Truth had once +more lifted up its head in Europe, and Rome would find it no child's +play to put it down. The skirmish-lines of the hierarchy had been met +and driven in. The tug of serious battle was now to come. + + +HIS APPEAL TO THE POPE. + +Luther made the advance. He wrote out explanations (or +"_Resolutions_") of his Theses, and sent them, with a letter, to the +pope. With great confidence, point, and elegance, but with equal +submissiveness and humility, he spoke of the completeness of Christ +for the salvation of every true believer, without room or need for +penances and other satisfactions; of the evilness of the times, and +the pressing necessity for a general reform; of the damaging +complaints everywhere resounding against the traffic in indulgences; +of his unsuccessful appeals to the ecclesiastical princes; and of the +unjust censures being heaped upon him for what he had done, entreating +His Holiness to instruct his humble petitioner, and condemn or +approve, kill or preserve, as the voice of Christ through him might +be. He then believed that God's sanction had to come through the high +clergy and heads of the Church. Many good Christians had approved his +Theses, but he did not recognize in that the divine answer to his +testimony. He said afterward: "I looked only to the pope, the +cardinals, the bishops, the theologians, the jurisconsults, the monks, +the priests, from whom I expected the breathing of the Spirit." He had +not yet learned what a bloody dragon claimed to impersonate the Lamb +of God. + + +CITATION TO ANSWER FOR HERESY. + +While, in open frankness, Luther was thus meekly committing himself to +the powers at Rome, _they_ were meditating his destruction. +Insidiously they sought to deprive him of the Elector's protection, +and answered his humble and confiding appeal with a citation to appear +before them to answer for heresy. + +Things now were ominous of evil. Wittenberg was filled with +consternation. If Luther obeyed, it was evident he would perish like +so many faithful men before him; if he refused, he would be charged +with contumacy and involve his prince. One and another expedient were +proposed to meet the perplexity; but to secure a hearing in Germany +was all Luther asked. + +To this the pope proved more willing than was thought. He was not sure +of gaining by the public trial and execution of a man so deeply +planted in the esteem of his countrymen, and by bringing him before a +prudent legate he might induce him to retract and the trouble be +ended; if not, it would be a less disturbing way of getting possession +of the accused man. Orders were therefore issued for Luther to appear +before Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg. + + +LUTHER BEFORE CAJETAN. + +On foot he undertook the journey, believed by all to be a journey to +his death. But Maximilian, then in the neighborhood of Augsburg, gave +him a safe-conduct, and Cajetan was obliged to receive him with +civility. He even embraced him with tokens of affection, thinking to +win him to retraction. Luther was much softened by these kindly +manifestations, and was disposed to comply with almost anything if +not required to deny the truth of God. + +The interviews were numerous. Luther was told that it was useless to +think that the civil powers would go to war for his protection; and +where would he then be? His answer was: "I will be, as now, under the +broad heavens of the Almighty." Remonstrances, entreaties, +threatenings, and proposals of high distinction were addressed to him; +but he wanted no cardinal's hat, and for nothing in Rome's power would +he consent to retract what he believed to be the Gospel truth till +shown wherein it was at variance with the divine Word. Cajetan's +arguments tripped and failed at every point, and he could only +reiterate that he had been sent to receive a retraction, not to debate +the questions. Luther as often promised this when shown from the +Scriptures to be in the wrong, but not till then. + + +CAJETAN'S MORTIFICATION. + +Foiled and disappointed in his designs, and astounded and impatient +that a poor monk should thus set at naught all the prayers and powers +of the sovereign of Christendom, the cardinal bade him see his face +no more until he had repented of his stubbornness. + +At this the friends of the Reformer, fearing for his safety, +clandestinely hurried him out of Augsburg, literally grappling him up +from his bed only half dressed, and brought him away to his +university. He had answered the pope's summons, and yet was free! + +Cajetan was mortified at the result, and was upbraided for his +failure. In his chagrin he wrote angrily to the Elector not to soil +his name and lineage by sheltering a heretic, but to surrender Luther +at once, on pain of an interdict. The Elector was troubled. Luther had +not been proven a heretic, neither did he believe him to be one; but +he feared collision with the pope. + +Luther said if he were in the Elector's place he would answer the +cardinal as he deserved for thus insulting an honest man; but, not to +be an embarrassment to his prince, he agreed to leave the Elector's +dominions if he said so. But Frederick would not surrender his +distinguished subject to the legate, neither would he send him out of +the country. It is hard to say which was here the nobler man, Luther +or his illustrious protector. + + +PROGRESS OF EVENTS. + +The minds of men by this time were much aroused, and Luther's cause +grew and strengthened. The learned Melanchthon, Reuchlin's relative +and pupil, was added to the faculty at Wittenberg, and became Luther's +chief co-laborer. The number of students in the university swelled to +thousands, including the sons of noblemen and princes from all parts, +who listened with admiration to Luther's lectures and sermons and +spread his fame and doctrines. And the feeling was deep and general +that a new and marvelous light had arisen upon the world.[8] + +It was now that Maximilian died (Jan. 17, 1519), and Charles V., his +grandson, a Spanish prince of nineteen years, succeeded to his place. +The Imperial crown was laid at the feet of the Elector Frederick, +Luther's friend, but he declined it in favor of Charles, only exacting +a solemn pledge that he would not disturb the liberties of Germany. +Civil freedom is one of the glorious fruits of the Reformation, and +here already it began to raise barricades against despotic power. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] A writer of the Roman Church, in a vein of somewhat mingled +sarcasm and seriousness, remarks: "The university had reason to be +proud of Luther, whose oral lectures attracted a multitude of +strangers; these pilgrims from distant quarters joined their hands and +bowed their heads at the sight of the towers of the city, like other +travelers before Jerusalem. Wittenberg was like a new Zion, whence the +light of truth expanded to neighboring kingdoms, as of old from the +Holy City to pagan nations." + + +THE LEIPSIC DISPUTATION. + +Up to this time, however, there had been no questioning of the divine +rights claimed by the hierarchy. Luther was still a Papist, and +thought to grow his plants of evangelic faith under the shadow of the +Upas of ecclesiasticism. He had not yet been brought to see how his +Augustinian theology concerning sin and grace ran afoul of the entire +round of the mediæval system and methods of holiness. It was only the +famous Leipsic Disputation between him and Dr. John Eck that showed +him the remoter and deeper relations of his position touching +indulgences. + +This otherwise fruitless debate had the effect of making the nature +and bearings of the controversy clear to both sides. Eck now +distinctly saw that Luther must be forcibly put down or the whole +papal system must fall; and Luther was made to realize that he must +surrender his doctrine of salvation through simple faith in Christ or +break with the pope and the hierarchical system. + +Accepting the pontifical doctrines as true, Eck claimed the victory, +because he had driven Luther to expressions at variance with those +doctrines. On the other hand, Luther had shown that the pontifical +claims were without foundation in primitive Christianity or the Holy +Scriptures; that the Papacy was not of divine authority or of the +essence of the Church; that the Church existed before and beyond the +papal hierarchy, as well as under it; that the only Head of the +universal Christian Church is Christ himself; that wherever there is +true faith in God's Word, there the Church is, whatever the form of +external organization; that the popes could err and had erred, and +councils likewise; and that neither separately nor together could they +rightfully decree or ordain contrary to the Scriptures, the only +infallible Rule. + +To all this Eck could make no answer except that it was Hussism over +again, which the Council of Constance had condemned, and that, from +the standpoint of the hierarchy, Luther was a heretic and ought to be +dealt with accordingly. + + +RESULTS FROM THE DEBATE. + +Luther now realized that the true Gospel of God's salvation and the +pontifical system were vitally and irreconcilably antagonistic; that +the one could never be held in consistency with the other; and that +there must come a final break between him and Rome. This much +depressed him. He showed his spiritual anguish by his deep dejection. +But he soon rose above it. If he had the truth of God, as he verily +believed, what were the pope and all devils against Jehovah? And so he +went on lecturing, preaching, writing, and publishing with his +greatest power, brilliancy, and effectiveness. + +Some of the best and most telling products of his pen now went forth +to multitudes of eager readers. The glowing energy of his faith acted +like a spreading fire, kindling the souls of men as they seldom have +been kindled in any cause in any age. His _Address to the Nobility_ +electrified all Germany, and first fired the patriotic spirit of +Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer. His book on _The Babylonian +Captivity of the Church_ sounded a bugle-note which thrilled through +all the German heart, gave Bugenhagen to the Reformation, and sent a +shudder through the hierarchy.[9] Already, at Maximilian's Diet at +Augsburg to take measures against the Turk, a Latin pamphlet was +openly circulated among the members which said that the Turk to be +resisted was living in Italy; and Miltitz, the pope's nuncio and +chamberlain, confessed that from Rome to Altenberg he had found those +greatly in the minority who did not side with Luther. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] Glapio, the confessor of Charles V., stated to Chancellor Brück at +the Diet of Worms: "The alarm which I felt when I read the first pages +of the _Captivity_ cannot be expressed; they might be said to be +lashes which scourged me from head to foot." + + +LUTHER'S EXCOMMUNICATION. + +But the tempest waxed fiercer and louder every day. Luther's growing +influence the more inflamed his enemies. Hochstrat had induced two +universities to condemn his doctrines. In sundry places his books were +burned by the public hangman. Eck had gone to Italy, and was "moving +the depths of hell" to secure the excommunication of the prejudged +heretic. And could his bloodthirsty enemies have had their way, this +would long since have come. But Leo seems to have had more respect for +Luther than for them. Learning and talent were more to him than any +doctrines of the faith. The monks complained of him as too much given +to luxury and pleasure to do his duty in defending the Church. +Perhaps he had conscience enough to be ashamed to enforce his traffic +in paper pardons by destroying the most honest and heroic man in +Germany. Perhaps he did not like to stain his reign with so foul a +record, even if dangerous complications should not attend it. Whatever +the cause, he was slow to respond to these clamors for blood. Eck had +almost as much trouble to get him to issue the Bull of Luther's +excommunication as he had to answer Luther's arguments in the Leipsic +Discussion. But he eventually procured it, and undertook to enforce +it. + +And yet, with all his zealous personal endeavors and high authority, +he could hardly get it posted, promulged, or at all respected in +Germany. His parchment thunder lost its power in coming across the +Alps. Miltitz also was in his way, who, with equal authority from the +pope, was endeavoring to supersede the Bull by attempts at +reconciliation. It came to Wittenberg in such a sorry plight that +Luther laughed at it as having the appearance of a forgery by Dr. Eck. +He knew the pope had been bullied into the issuing of it, but this was +the biting irony by which he indicated the character of the men by +whom it was moved and the pitiable weakness to which such thunders had +been reduced. + +But it was a Bull of excommunication nevertheless. Luther and his +doctrines were condemned by the chief of Christendom.[10] Multitudes +were thrown into anxious perturbation. If the strong arm of the +emperor should be given to sustain the pope, who would be able to +stand? Adrian, one of the faculty of Wittenberg, was so frightened +that he threw down his office and hastened to join the enemy. + +Amid the perils which surrounded Luther powerful knights offered to +defend him by force of arms; but he answered, "_No_; by _the Word_ the +world was conquered, by _the Word_ the Church was saved, and by _the +Word_ it must be restored." The thoughts of his soul were not on human +power, but centred on the throne of Him who lives for ever. It was +Christ's Gospel that was in peril, and he was sure Jehovah would not +abandon his own cause. + +Germany waited to see what he would do. Nor was it long kept in +suspense. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] The Bull was issued June 15, 1520. It specified forty-one +propositions out of Luther's works which it condemned as heretical, +scandalous, and offensive to pious ears. It forbade all persons to +read his writings, upon pain of excommunication. Such as had any of +his books in their possession were commanded to burn them. He himself, +if he did not publicly recant his errors and burn his books within +sixty days, was pronounced an obstinate heretic, excommunicated and +delivered over to Satan. And it enjoined upon all secular princes, +under pain of incurring the same censure, to seize his person and +deliver him up to be punished as his crimes deserved; that is to be +burnt as a heretic. + + +LUTHER AND THE POPE'S BULL. + +In a month he discharged a terrific volley of artillery upon the +Papacy by his book _Against the Bull of Antichrist_. + +In thirteen days later he brought formal charges against the +pope--_first_, as an unjust judge, who condemns without giving a +hearing; _second_, as a heretic and apostate, who requires denial that +faith is necessary; _third_, as an Antichrist, who sets himself +against the Holy Scriptures and usurps their authority; and _fourth_, +as a blasphemer of the Church and its free councils, who declares them +nothing without himself. + +This was carrying the war into Africa. Appealing to a future general +council and the Scriptures as superior to popes, he now called upon +the emperor, electors, princes, and all classes and estates in the +whole German empire, as they valued the Gospel and the favor of +Christ, to stand by him in this demonstration. + +And, that all might be certified in due form, he called a notary and +five witnesses to hear and attest the same as verily the solemn act +and deed of Martin Luther, done in behalf of himself and all who stood +or should stand with him. + +Rome persisted in forcing a schism, and this was Luther's bill of +divorcement. + +Nay, more; as Rome had sealed its condemnation of him by burning his +books, he built a stack of fagots on the refuse piles outside the +Elster Gate of Wittenberg, invited thither the whole university, and +when the fires were kindled and the flames were high, he cast into +them, one by one, the books of the canon law, the Decretals, the +Clementines, the Papal Extravagants, and all that lay at the base of +the religion of the hierarchy! And when these were consumed he took +Leo's Bull of excommunication, held it aloft, exclaiming with a loud +voice, "Since thou hast afflicted the saints of God, be thou consumed +with fire unquenchable!" and dashed the impious document into the +flames. + +Well done was that! Luther considered it the best act of his life. It +was a brave heart, the bravest then living in this world, that dared +to do it. But it was done then and for ever. Wittenberg looked on +with shoutings. The whole modern world of civilized man has ever since +been looking on with thrilling wonder. And myriads of the sons of God +and liberty are shouting over it yet. + +The miner's son had come up full abreast with the triple-crowned +descendant of the Medici. The monk of Wittenberg had matched the +proudest monarch in the world. Henceforth the question was, Which of +them should sway the nations in the time to come? + + +THE DIET OF WORMS. + +The young emperor sided with the religion of the pope. The venerable +Elector Frederick determined to stand by Luther, at least till his +case was fairly adjudged. He said it was not just to condemn a good +and honest man unheard and unconvicted, and that "_Justice must take +precedence even of the pope_." + +Conferences of state now became numerous and exciting, and the efforts +of Rome to have Luther's excommunication recognized and enforced were +many and various, but nothing short of a Diet of the empire could +settle the disturbance.[11] + +Such a Diet was convoked by the young emperor for January, 1521. It +was the first of his reign, and the grandest ever held on German soil. +Philip of Hesse came to it with a train of six hundred cavaliers. The +electors, dukes, archbishops, landgraves, margraves, counts, bishops, +barons, lords, deputies, legates, and ambassadors from foreign courts +came in corresponding style. They felt it important to show their +consequence at this first Diet, and were all the more moved to be +there in force because the exciting matter of Reform was specified as +one of the chief things to be considered. The result was one of the +most august and illustrious assemblies of which modern history tells, +and one which presented a spectacle of lasting wonder that a poor lone +monk should thus have moved all the powers of the earth. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Audin, in his _Life of Luther_, says: "A monk who wore a cassock +out at the elbows had caused to the most powerful emperor in the world +greater embarrassments than those which Francis I., his unsuccessful +rival at Frankfort, threatened to raise against him in Italy. With the +cannon from his arsenal at Ghent and his lances from Namur, Charles +could beat the king of France between sunrise and sunset; but lances +and cannon were impotent to subdue the religious revolution, which, +like some of the glaciers which he crossed in coming from Spain, +acquired daily a new quantity of soil."--Vol. i. chap. 25. Again, in +chap. 30, he says of the emperor: "The thought of measuring his +strength with the hero of Marignan was far from alarming him, but a +struggle with the monk of Wittenberg disturbed his sleep. He wished +that they should try to overcome his obstinacy." + + +DOINGS OF THE ROMANISTS. + +For three months the Diet wrangled over the affair of Luther without +reaching anything decided. The friends of Rome were the chief actors, +struggling in every way and hesitating at nothing to induce the Diet +and the emperor to acknowledge and enforce the pope's decree. But the +influence of the German princes, especially that of the Elector +Frederick, stood in the way; Charles would not act, as he had no right +to act, without the concurrence of the states, and the princes of +Germany held it unjust that Luther should be condemned on charges +which had never been fairly tried, on books which were not proven to +be his, and especially since the sentence itself presented conditions +with reference to which no answer had been legally ascertained. + +To overcome these oppositions different resorts were tried. Leo issued +a second Bull, excommunicating Luther absolutely, anathematizing him +and all his friends and abettors. The pope's legate called for money +to buy up influence for the Romanists: "We must have money. Send us +money. Money! money! or Germany is lost!" The money came; but the +Reformer's friends could not be bought with bribes, however much the +agents of Rome needed such stimulation. + +Trickery was brought into requisition to entrap Luther's defenders by +a secret proposal to compromise. Luther was given great credit and +right, except that he had gone a little too far, and it was only +necessary to restrain him from further demonstrations. Rome compromise +with a man she had doubly excommunicated and anathematized! Rome make +terms with an outlaw whom she had infallibly doomed to eternal +execration! Yet with these proposals the emperor's confessor +approached Chancellor Brück. But the chancellor's head was too clear +to be caught by such treachery. + +Then it was moved to refer the matter to a commission of arbitrators. +This met with so much favor that the pope's legate, Aleander, was +alarmed lest Luther should thereby escape, and hence set himself with +unwonted energy to incite the emperor to decisive measures. + +Charles was persuaded to make a demonstration, but demanded that the +legate should first "convince the Diet." Aleander was the most famous +orator Rome had, and he rejoiced in his opportunity. He went before +the assembly in a prepared speech of three hours in length to show up +Luther as a pestilent heretic, and the necessity of getting rid of him +and his books and principles at once to prevent the world from being +plunged into barbarism and utter desolation. He made a deep impression +by his effort. It was only by the unexpected and crushing speech of +Duke George of Saxony, Luther's bitter personal enemy, that the train +of things, so energetically wrought up, was turned. + +Not in defence of Luther, whom he disliked, but in defence of the +German nation, he piled up before the door of the hierarchy such an +overwhelming array of its oppressions, robberies, and scandals, and +exposed with such an unsparing hand the falsities, profligacies, +cupidity, and beastly indecencies of the Roman clergy and officials, +that the emperor hastened to recall the edict he had already signed, +and yielded consent for Luther to be called to answer for himself. + + +LUTHER SUMMONED. + +In vain the pope's legate protested that it was not lawful thus to +bring the decrees of the sovereign pontiff into question, or pleaded +that Luther's daring genius, flashing eyes, electric speech, and +thrilling spirit would engender tumult and violence. On March 6th the +emperor signed a summons and safe-conduct for the Reformer to appear +in Worms within twenty-one days, to answer concerning his doctrines +and writings. + +So far the thunders of the Vatican were blank. + +With all the anxious fears which such a summons would naturally +engender, Luther resolved to obey it. + +The pope's adherents fumed in their helplessness when they learned +that he was coming--coming, too, under the safe-conduct of the empire, +coming to have a hearing before the Diet!--_he_ whom the infallible +Vicar of Heaven had condemned and anathematized! Whither was the world +drifting? + +Luther's friends trembled lest he should share the fate of Huss; his +enemies trembled lest he should escape it; and both, in their several +ways, tried to keep him back. + +Placards of his condemnation were placed before him on the way, and +spectacles to indicate his certain execution were enacted in his +sight; but he was not the man to be deterred by the prospect of being +burnt alive if God called for the sacrifice. + +Lying fraud was also tried to seduce and betray him. Glapio, the +emperor's confessor, who had tried a similar trick upon the Elector +Frederick, conceived the idea that if Von Sickingen and Bucer could be +won for the plot, a proposal to compromise the whole matter amicably +might serve to beguile him to the château of his friend at Ebernburg +till his safe-conduct should expire, and then the liars could throw +off the mask and dispose of him with credit in the eyes of Rome. The +glib and wily Glapio led in the attempt. Von Sickingen and Bucer were +entrapped by his bland hypocrisy, and lent themselves to the execution +of the specious proposition. But when they came to Luther with it, he +turned his back, saying, "If the emperor's confessor has anything to +say to me he will find me at Worms." + +But even his friends were alarmed at his coming. It was feared that he +would be destroyed. The Elector's confidential adviser sent a servant +out to meet him, beseeching him by no means to enter the city. "Go +tell your master," said Luther, "I will enter Worms though as many +devils should be there as tiles upon its houses!" And he did enter, +with nobles, cavaliers, and gentry for his escort, and attended +through the streets by a larger concourse than had greeted the entry +of the emperor himself.[12] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[12] "The reception which he met with at Worms was such as he might +have reckoned a full reward of all his labors if vanity and the love +of applause had been the principles by which he was influenced. +Greater crowds assembled to behold him than had appeared at the +emperor's public entry; his apartments were daily filled with princes +and personages of the highest rank; and he was treated with all the +respect paid to those who possess the power of directing the +understanding and sentiments of other men--a homage more sincere, as +well as more flattering, than any which pre-eminence in birth or +condition command."--Robertson's _Charles V._, vol. i. p. 510. + + +LUTHER AT THE DIET. + +Charles hurried to convene his council, saying, "Luther is come; what +shall we do with him?" + +A chancellor and bishop of Flanders urged that he be despatched at +once, and this scandalous humiliation of the Holy See terminated. He +said Sigismund had allowed Huss to be burned, and no one was bound to +keep faith with a heretic. But the emperor was more moral than the +teachings of his Church, and said, "Not so; we have given our promise, +and we ought to keep it." + +On the morrow Luther was conducted to the Diet by the marshal of the +empire. The excited people so crowded the gates and jammed about the +doors that the soldiers had to use their halberds to open a way for +him. An instinct not yet interpreted drew their hearts and allied them +with the hero. From the thronged streets, windows, and housetops came +voices as he passed--voices of petition and encouragement--voices of +benediction on the brave and true--voices of sympathy and adjuration +to be firm in God and in the power of his might. It was Germany, +Scandinavia, England, Scotland, and Holland; it was the Americas and +hundreds of young republics yet unborn; it was the whole world of all +after-time, with its free Gospel, free conscience, free speech, free +government, free science, and free schools,--uttering themselves in +those half-smothered voices. Luther heard them and was strengthened. + +But there was no danger he would betray the momentous trust. That +morning, amid great rugged prayers which broke from him like massive +rock-fragments hot and burning from a volcano of mingled faith and +agony, laying one hand on the open Bible and lifting the other to +heaven, he cast his soul on Omnipotence, in pledge unspeakable to obey +only his conscience and his God. Whether for life or death, his heart +was fixed. + +A few steps more and he stood before Imperial majesty, encompassed by +the powers and dignitaries of the earth, so brave, calm, and true a +man that thrones and kings looked on in silent awe and admiration, and +even malignant scorn for the moment retreated into darkness. Since He +who wore the crown of thorns stood before Pontius Pilate there had not +been a parallel to this scene.[13] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] A Romanist thus describes the picture: "When the approach of +Luther was heard there ensued one of those deep silences in which the +heart alone, by its hurried pulsations, gives sign of life. Attention +was diverted from the emperor to the monk. On the appearance of Luther +every one rose, regardless of the sovereign's presence. It inspired +Werner with one of the finest acts of his tragedy.... Heine has +glorified the appearance at Worms. The Catholic himself loves to +contemplate that black gown in the presence of those lords and barons +caparisoned in iron and armed with helmet and spear, and is moved by +the voice of 'that young friar' who comes to defy all the powers of +the earth."--Audin's _Life of Luther_. + +"All parties must unite in admiring and venerating the man who, +undaunted and alone, could stand before such an assembly, and +vindicate with unshaken courage what he conceived to be the cause of +religion, of liberty, and of truth, fearless of any reproaches but +those of his own conscience, or of any disapprobation but that of his +God."--Roscoe's _Life of Leo X._, vol. iv. p. 36. + +Luther himself, afterward recalling the event, said: "It must indeed +have been God who gave me my boldness of heart; I doubt if I could +show such courage again." + + +LUTHER'S REFUSAL TO RECANT. + +A weak, poor man, arraigned and alone before the assembled powers of +the earth, with only the grace of God and his cause on which to lean, +had demand made of him whether or not he would retract his books or +any part of them, _Yes_ or _No_. But he did not shrink, neither did he +falter. "Since Your Imperial Majesty and Your Excellencies require of +me a direct and simple answer, I will give it. To the pope or councils +I cannot submit my faith, for it is clear that they have erred and +contradicted one another. Therefore, unless I am convinced by proofs +from Holy Scripture or by sound reasons, and my judgment by this means +is commanded by God's Word, _I cannot and will not retract anything_: +for a Christian cannot safely go contrary to his conscience." And, +glancing over the august assembly, on whose will his life hung, he +added in deep solemnity, those immortal words: "HERE I STAND. I +CAN DO NO OTHERWISE. SO HELP ME GOD! AMEN."[14] + +Simple were the facts. Luther afterward wrote to a friend: "I expected +His Majesty would bring fifty doctors to convict the monk outright; +but it was not so. The whole history is this: Are these your books? +_Yes._--Will you retract them? _No._--Well then, begone." + +He said the truth, but he could not then know all that was involved in +what he reduced to such a simple colloquy. With that _Yes_ and _No_ +the wheel of ages made another revolution. The breath which spoke them +turned the balances in which the whole subsequent history of +civilization hung. It was the _Yes_ and _No_ which applied the brakes +to the Juggernaut of usurpation, whose ponderous wheels had been +crushing through the centuries. It was the _Yes_ and _No_ which +evidenced the reality of a power above all popes and empires. It was +the _Yes_ and _No_ which spoke the supreme obligation of the human +soul to obey God and conscience, and started once more the pulsations +of liberty in the arteries of man. It was the _Yes_ and _No_ which +divided eras, and marked the summit whence the streams began to form +and flow to give back to this world a Church without a pope and a +State without an Inquisition. + +Charles had the happiness at Worms to hear the tidings that Fernando +Cortes had added Mexico to his dominions. The emancipated peoples of +the earth in the generations since have had the happiness to know that +at Worms, through the inflexible steadfastness of Martin Luther, God +gave the inspirations of a new and better life for them! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] "With this noble protest was laid the keystone of the +Reformation. The pontifical hierarchy shook to its centre, and the +great cause of truth and regenerate religion spread with electric +speed. The marble tomb of ignorance and error gave way, as it were, of +a sudden; a thousand glorious events and magnificent discoveries +thronged upon each other with pressing haste to behold and +congratulate the mighty birth, the new creation, of which they were +the harbingers, when, with a steady and triumphant step, the peerless +form of human intellect rose erect, and, throwing off from its +freshening limbs the death-shade and the grave-clothes by which it was +enshrouded, ascended to the glorious resurrection of that noontide +lustre which irradiates the horizon of our own day, rejoicing like a +giant to run his race."--John Mason Good's _Book of Nature_, p. 321. + + +LUTHER'S CONDEMNATION. + +After Luther and his friends left Worms the emperor issued an edict +putting him and all his adherents under the ban of the empire, +forbidding any one to give him food or shelter, calling on all who +found him to arrest him, commanding all his books to be burned, and +ordering the seizure of his friends and the confiscation of their +possessions. + +It was what Germany got for putting an Austro-Spanish bigot on the +Imperial throne. + + +LUTHER IN THE WARTBURG. + +But the cause of Rome was not helped by it. Luther's person was made +safe by the Elector, who arranged a friendly capture by which he was +concealed in the Wartburg in charge of the knights. + +No one knew what had become of him. His mysterious disappearance was +naturally referred to some foul play of the Romanists, and the feeling +of resentment was intense and deep. Indeed, Germany was now bent on +throwing off the religion of the hierarchy. No matter what it may once +have been, no matter what service it may have rendered in helping +Europe through the Dark Ages, it had become gangrened, perverted, +rotten, offensive, unbearable. The very means Rome took to defend it +increased revolt against it. It had come to be an oppressive lie, and +it had to go. No Bulls of popes or edicts of emperors could alter the +decree of destiny. + +And a great and blessed fortune it was that Luther still lived to +guide and counsel in the momentous transition. But Providence had +endowed him for the purpose, and so preserved him for its execution. +What was born with the Theses, and baptized before the Imperial Diet +at Worms, he was now to nourish, educate, catechise, and prepare for +glorious confirmation before a similar Diet in the after years. + + +TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. + +While in the Wartburg he was forbidden to issue any writings. Leisure +was thus afforded for one of the most important things connected with +the Reformation. Those ten months he utilized to prepare for Germany +and for the world a translation of the Holy Scriptures, which itself +was enough to immortalize the Reformer's name. Great intellectual +monuments have come down to us from the sixteenth century. It was an +age in which the human mind put forth some of its noblest +demonstrations. Great communions still look back to its Confessions as +their rallying-centres, and millions of worshipers still render their +devotions in the forms which then were cast. But pre-eminent over all +the achievements of that sublime century was the giving of God's Word +to the people in their own language, which had its chief centre and +impulse in the production of Luther's _German Bible_. Well has it been +said, "He who takes up that, grasps a whole world in his hand--a world +which will perish only when this green earth itself shall pass away." + +It was the Word that kindled the heart of Luther to the work of +Reformation, and the Word alone could bring it to its consummation. +With the Word the whole Church of Christ and the entire fabric of our +civilization must stand or fall. Undermine the Bible and you undermine +the world. It is the one, true, and only Charter of Faith, Liberty, +and salvation for man, without which this race of ours is a hopeless +and abandoned wreck. And when Luther gave forth his German Bible, it +was not only a transcendent literary achievement, which created and +fixed the classic forms of his country's language,[15] but an act of +supremest wisdom and devotion; for the hope of the world is for ever +cabled to the free and open Word of God. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] Chevalier Bunsen says; "It is Luther's genius applied to the +Bible which has preserved the only unity which is, in our days, +remaining to the German nation--that of language, literature, and +thought. There is no similar instance in the known history of the +world of a single man achieving such a work." + + +LUTHER'S CONSERVATISM. + +Up to the time of Luther's residence in the Wartburg nothing had been +done toward changing the outward forms, ceremonies, and organization +of the Church. The great thing with him had been to get the inward, +central doctrine right, believing that all else would then naturally +come right in due time. But while he was hidden and silent certain +fanatics thrust themselves into this field, and were on the eve of +precipitating everything to destruction. Tidings of the violent +revolutionary spirit which had broken out reached him in his retreat +and stirred him with sorrowful indignation, for it was the most +damaging blow inflicted on the Reformation. + +It is hard for men to keep their footing amid deep and vast commotions +and not drift into ruinous excesses. Storch, and Münzer, and +Carlstadt, and Melanchthon himself, were dangerously affected by the +whirl of things. Even good men sometimes forget that society cannot be +conserved by mere negations; that wild and lawless revolution can +never work a wholesome and abiding reformation; that the perpetuity of +the Church is an historic chain, each new link of which depends on +those which have gone before. + +There was precious gold in the old conglomerate, which needed to be +discriminated, extracted, and preserved. The divine foundations were +not to be confounded with the rubbish heaped upon them. There was +still a Church of Christ under the hierarchy, although the hierarchy +was no part of its life or essence. The Zwickau prophets, with their +new revelations and revolts against civil authority; the Wittenberg +iconoclasts, with their repudiation of study and learning and all +proper church order; and the Sacramentarians, with their insidious +rationalism against the plain Word,--were not to be entrusted with +the momentous interests with which the cause of the Reformation was +freighted. And hence, at the risk of the Elector's displeasure and at +the peril of his life, Luther came forth from his covert to withstand +the violence which was putting everything in jeopardy. + +Grandly also did he reason out the genuine Gospel principles against +all these parties. He comprehended his ground from centre to +circumference, and he held it alike against erring friends and +menacing foes. The swollen torrent of events never once obscured his +prophetic insight, never disturbed the balance of his judgment, never +shook his hold upon the right. With a master-power he held revolutions +and wars in check, while he revised and purified the Liturgy and Order +of the Church, wrought out the evangelic truth in its applications to +existing things, and reared the renewed habilitation of the pure Word +and sacraments. + + +GROWTH OF THE REFORMATION. + +It was now that Pope Leo died. His glory lasted but eight years. His +successor, Adrian VI., was a moderate man, of good intentions, though +he could not see what evil there was in indulgences. He exhorted +Germany to get rid of Luther, but said the Church must be reformed, +that the Holy See had been for years horribly polluted, and that the +evils had affected head and members. He was in solemn earnest this +time, and began to change and purify the papal court. To some this was +as if the voice of Luther were being echoed from St. Peter's chair, +and Adrian suddenly died, no man knows of what,[16] and Clement VII., +a relative of Leo X., was put upon the papal throne. + +In 1524 a Diet was convened at Nuremberg with reference to these same +matters. Campeggio, the pope's legate, thought it prudent to make his +way thither without letting himself be known, and wrote back to his +master that he had to be very cautious, as the majority of the Diet +consisted of "great Lutherans." At this Diet the Edict of Worms was +virtually annulled, and it was plain enough that "great Lutherans" had +become very numerous and powerful. + +Luther himself had become of sufficient consequence for Henry VIII., +king of England, to write a book against him, for which the pope gave +him the title of "Defender of the Faith," and for which Luther repaid +him in his own coin. Erasmus also, long the prince of the whole +literary world, was dogged into the writing of a book against the +great Reformer. Poor Erasmus found his match, and was overwhelmed with +the result. He afterward sadly wrote: "My troops of friends are turned +to enemies. Everywhere scandal pursues me and calumny denies my name. +Every goose now hisses at Erasmus." + +In 1525, Luther's friend and protector, the Elector Frederick, died. +This would have been a sad blow for the Reformation had there been no +one of like mind to take his place. But God had the man in readiness. +"Frederick the Wise" was succeeded by his brother, "John the +Constant." + +In Hesse, in Holland, in Scandinavia, in Prussia, in Poland, in +Switzerland, in France, _everywhere_, the Reformation advanced. Duke +George of Saxony raged, got up an alliance against the growing cause, +and beheaded citizens of Leipsic for having Luther's writings in their +houses. Eck still howled from Ingolstadt for fire and fagots. The +dukes of Bavaria were fierce with persecutions. The archbishop of +Mayence punished cities because they would not have his priests for +pastors. The emperor from Spain announced his purpose to crush and +exterminate "the wickedness of Lutheranism." But it was all in vain. +The sun had risen, the new era had come! + +Luther now issued his _Catechisms_, which proved a great and glorious +aid to the true Gospel. Henceforth the children were to be bred up in +the pure faith. Matthesius says: "If Luther in his lifetime had +achieved no other work but that of bringing his two Catechisms into +use, the whole world could not sufficiently thank and repay him." + +A quarrel between the emperor and the pope also contributed to the +progress of the Reformation. A Diet at Spire in 1526 had interposed a +check to the persecuting spirit of the Romanists, and granted +toleration to those of Luther's mind in all the states where his +doctrines were approved. The respite lasted for three years, until +Charles and Clement composed their difference and united to wreak +their wrath upon Luther and his adherents. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] The death of Adrian VI., on the 14th of September, 1523, was a +subject of general rejoicing in Rome. There was a crown of flowers +hung to the door of his physician, with a card appended which read, +"_To the savior of his country_." + + +PROTESTANTS AND WAR. + +A second Diet at Spire, in 1529, revoked the former act of toleration, +and demanded of all the princes and estates an unconditional +surrender to the pope's decrees. This called forth the heroic +_Protest_ of those who stood with Luther. They refused to submit, +claiming that in matters of divine service and the soul's salvation +conscience and God must be obeyed rather than earthly powers. It was +from this that the name of _Protestants_ originated--a name which half +the world now honors and accepts. + +The signers of this Protest also pledged to each other their mutual +support in defending their position. Zwingli urged them to make war +upon the emperor. He himself afterward took the sword, and perished by +it. Calvin, Cranmer, Knox, and even the Puritan Fathers as far as they +had power and occasion, resorted to physical force and the civil arm +to punish the rejecters of their creed. Luther repudiated all such +coercion. The sword was at his command, but he opposed its use for any +purposes of religion. All the weight of his great influence was given +to prevent his friends from mixing external force with what should +ever have its seat only in the calm conviction of the soul. He thus +practically anticipated Roger Williams and William Penn and the most +lauded results of modern freedom--not from constraint of +circumstances and personal interests, but from his own clear insight +into Gospel principles. Bloody religious wars came after he was dead, +the prospect of which filled his soul with horror, and to which he +could hardly give consent even in case of direst necessity for +self-defence; but it is a transcendent fact that while he lived they +were held in abeyance, most of all by his prayers and endeavors. He +fought, indeed, as few men ever fought, but the only sword he wielded +was "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." + + +THE CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG. + +And yet another Imperial Diet was convened with reference to these +religious disturbances. It was held in Augsburg in the spring of 1530. +The emperor was in the zenith of his power. He had overcome his French +rival. He had spoiled Rome, humbled the pope, and reorganized Italy. +The Turks had withdrawn their armies. And the only thing in the way of +a consolidated empire was the Reformation in Germany. To crush this +was now his avowed purpose, and he anticipated no great hardship in +doing it. He entered Augsburg with unwonted magnificence and pomp. He +had spoken very graciously in his invitation to the princes, but it +was in his heart to compel their submission to his former Edict of +Worms. It behoved them to be prepared to make a full exhibit of their +principles, giving the ultimatum on which they proposed to stand. + +Luther had been formulating articles embodying the points adhered to +in his reformatory teachings. He had prepared one set for the Marburg +Conference with the Swiss divines. He had revised and elaborated these +into the Seventeen Articles of Schwabach. He had also prepared another +series on abuses, submitted to the Elector John at Torgau. All these +were now committed to Melanchthon for careful elaboration into +complete style and harmony for use at the Diet. Luther assisted in +this work up to the time when the Diet convened, and what remained to +be done was completed in Augsburg by Melanchthon and the Lutheran +divines present with him. Luther himself could not be there, as he was +a dead man to the law, and by command of his prince was detained at +Coburg while the Diet was in session. + +The first act of the emperor was to summon the protesting princes +before him, asking of them the withdrawal of their Protest. This they +refused. They felt that they had constitutional right, founded on the +decision of Spire, to resist the emperor's demand; and they did not +intend to surrender the just principles put forth in their noble +Protest. They celebrated divine service in their quarters, led by +their own clergy, and refused to join in the procession at the Roman +festival of Corpus Christi. This gave much offence, and for the sake +of peace they discontinued their services during the Diet. + +At length they were asked to make their doctrinal presentation. +Melanchthon had admirably performed the work assigned him in the +making up of the Confession, and on the 25th day of June, 1530, the +document, duly signed, was read aloud to the emperor in the hearing of +many. + +The effect of it upon the assembly was indescribable. Many of the +prejudices and false notions against the Reformers were effectually +dissipated. The enemies of the Reformation felt that they had solemn +realities to deal with which they had never imagined. Others said that +this was a more effectual preaching than that which had been +suppressed. "Christ is in the Diet," said Justus Jonas, "and he does +not keep silence. God's Word cannot be bound." In a word, the world +now had added to it one of its greatest treasures--the renowned and +imperishable AUGSBURG CONFESSION. + +Luther was eager for tidings of what transpired at the Diet. And when +the Confession came, as signed and delivered, he wrote: "I thrill with +joy that I have lived to see the hour in which Christ is preached by +so many confessors to an assembly so illustrious in a form so +beautiful." + +Even Reformed authors, from Calvin down, have cheerfully added their +testimony to the worth and excellence of this magnificent +Confession--the first since the Athanasian Creed. A late writer of +this class says of it that "it best exhibits the prevailing genius of +the German Reformation, and will ever be cherished as one of the +noblest monuments of faith from the pentecostal period of +Protestantism." + +The Romanists attempted to answer the noble Confession, but would not +make their Confutation public. Compromises were proposed, but they +came to naught. The Imperial troops were called into the city and the +gates closed to intimidate the princes, but it resulted in greater +alarm to the Romanists than to them. The confessors had taken their +stand, and they were not to be moved from it. The Diet ended with the +decision that they should have until the following spring to determine +whether they would submit to the Roman Church or not, and, if not, +that measures would then be taken for their extermination. + + +THE LEAGUE OF SMALCALD. + +The emperor's edict appeared November 19th, and the Protestant princes +at once proceeded to form a league for mutual protection against +attempts to force their consciences in these sacred matters. It was +with difficulty that the consent of Luther could be obtained for what, +to him, looked like an arrangement to support the Gospel by the sword. +But he yielded to a necessity forced by the intolerance of Rome. A +convention was held at Smalcald at Christmas, 1530, and there was +formed the _League of Smalcald_, which planted the political +foundations of Religious Liberty for our modern world. + +By the presentation of the great Confession of Augsburg, along with +the formation of the League of Smalcald, the cause of Luther became +embodied in the official life of nations, and the new era of Freedom +had come safely to its birth. Long and terrible storms were yet to be +passed, but the ship was launched which no thunders of emperors or +popes could ever shatter.[17] + +When the months of probation ended, France had again become +troublesome to the emperor, and the Turks were renewing their +movements against his dominions. He also found that he could not count +on the Catholic princes for the violent suppression of the +Protestants. Luther's doctrines had taken too deep hold upon their +subjects to render it safe to join in a war of extermination against +them. + +The Zwinglians also coalesced with the Lutherans in presenting a +united front against the threatened bloody coercion. The Smalcald +League, moreover, had grown to be a power which even the emperor could +not despise. He therefore resolved to come to terms with the +Protestant members of his empire, and a peace--at least a truce--was +concluded at Nuremberg, which left things as they were to wait until a +general council should settle the questions in dispute. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] "The Reformation of Luther kindled up the minds of men afresh, +leading to new habits of thought and awakening in individuals energies +before unknown to themselves. The religious controversies of this +period changed society, as well as religion, and to a considerable +extent, where they did not change the religion of the state, they +changed man himself in his modes of thought, his consciousness of his +own powers, and his desire of intellectual attainment. The spirit of +commercial and foreign adventure on the one hand and, on the other the +assertion and maintenance of religious liberty, having their source in +the Reformation, and this love of religious liberty drawing after it +or bringing along with it, as it always does, an ardent devotion to +the principle of civil liberty also, were the powerful influences +under which character was formed and men trained for the great work of +introducing English civilization, English law, and, what is more than +all, Anglo-Saxon blood, into the wilderness of North America."--Daniel +Webster, _Works_, vol. i. p. 94. + + +LUTHER'S LATER YEARS. + +Luther lived nearly fifteen years after this grand crowning of his +testimony, diligently laboring for Christ and his country. The most +brilliant part of his career was over, but his labors still were great +and important. Indeed, his whole life was intensely laborious. He was +a busier man than the First Napoleon. His publications, as reckoned up +by Seckendorf, amount to eleven hundred and thirty-seven. Large and +small together, they number seven hundred and fifteen volumes--one for +every two weeks that he lived after issuing the first. Even in the +last six weeks of his life he issued thirty-one publications--more +than five per week. If he had had no other cares and duties but to +occupy himself with his pen, this would still prove him a very +Hercules in authorship.[18] + +But his later years were saddened by many anxieties, afflictions, and +trials. Under God, he had achieved a transcendent work, and his +confidence in its necessity, divinity, and perpetuity never failed; +but he was much distressed to see it marred and damaged, as it was, by +the weaknesses and passions of men. + +His great influence created jealousies. His persistent conservatism +gave offence. Those on whom he most relied betimes imperiled his cause +by undue concessions and pusillanimity. The friends of the Reformation +often looked more to political than Christian ends, or were more +carnal than spiritual. Threatening civil commotions troubled him. +Ultra reform attacked and blamed him. The agitations about a general +council, which Rome now treacherously urged, and meant to pack for its +own purposes, gave him much anxiety. It was with reference to such a +council that one other great document--_The Articles of +Smalcald_--issued from his pen, in which he defined the true and final +Protestant position with regard to the hierarchy, and the fundamental +organization of the Church of Christ. His bodily ailments also became +frequent and severe. + +Prematurely old, and worn out with cares, labors, and vexations--the +common lot of great heroes and benefactors--he began to long for the +heavenly rest. "I am weary of the world," said he, "and it is time the +world were weary of me. The parting will be easy, like a traveler +leaving his inn." + +He lived to his sixty-third year, and peacefully died in the faith he +so effectually preached, while on a mission of reconciliation at the +place where he was born, honored and lamented in his death as few men +have ever been. His remains repose in front of the chancel in the +castle church of Wittenberg, on the door of which his own hand had +nailed the Ninety-five Theses.[19] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] "Never before was the human mind more prolific." "Luther holds a +high and glorious place in German literature." "In his manuscripts we +nowhere discover the traces of fatigue or irritation, no embarrassment +or erasures, no ill-applied epithet or unmanageable expression; and by +the correctness of his writing we might imagine he was the copyist +rather than the writer of the work."--So says _Audin_, his Roman +Catholic biographer. + +Hallam's flippant and disparaging remarks on Luther, contained in his +_Introduction to the Literature of Europe_, are simply outrageous, +"stupid and senseless paragraphs," evidencing a presumption on the +part of their author which deserves intensest rebuke. "Hallam knows +nothing about Luther; he himself confesses his inability to read him +in his native German; and this alone renders him incapable of judging +intelligently respecting his merits as a writer; and, knowing nothing, +it would have been honorable in him to say nothing, at least to say +nothing disparagingly. And, by the way, it seems to us that writing a +history of European literature without a knowledge of German is much +like writing a history of metals without knowing anything of iron and +steel.... Luther's language became, through his writings, and has ever +since remained, the language of literature and general intercourse +among educated men, and is that which is now understood universally to +be meant when _the German_ is spoken of. His translation of the Bible +is still as much the standard of purity for that language as Homer is +for the Greek."--_Dr. Calvin E. Stowe._ + +[19] "Nothing can be more edifying than the scene presented by the +last days of Luther, of which we have the most authentic and detailed +accounts. When dying he collected his last strength and offered up the +following prayer: 'Heavenly Father, eternal, merciful God, thou hast +revealed to me thy dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Him I have taught, +him I have confessed, him I love as my Saviour and Redeemer, whom the +wicked persecute, dishonor, and reprove. Take my poor soul up to +thee!' + +"Then two of his friends put to him the solemn question: 'Reverend +Father, do you die in Christ and in the doctrine you have constantly +preached?' He answered by an audible and joyful '_Yes_;' and, +repeating the verse, 'Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,' he +expired peacefully, without a struggle."--_Encyc. Britannica._ + + +PERSONALE OF LUTHER. + +The personal appearance of this extraordinary man is but poorly given +in the painted portraits of him. Written descriptions inform us that +he was of medium size, handsomely proportioned, and somewhat darkly +complected. His arched brows, high cheek-bones, and powerful jaws and +chin gave to his face an outline of ruggedness; but his features were +regular, and softened all over with benevolence and every refined +feeling. He had remarkable eyes, large, full, deep, dark, and +brilliant, with a sort of amber circle around the pupil, which made +them seem to emit fire when under excitement. His hair was dark and +waving, but became entirely white in his later years. His mouth was +elegantly formed, expressive of determination, tenderness, affection, +and humor. His countenance was elevated, open, brave, and unflinching. +His neck was short and strong and his breast broad and full. + +Though compactly built, he was generally spare and wasted from +incessant studies, hard labor, and an abstemious life. + +Mosellanus, the moderator at the Leipsic Disputation, describes him +quite fully as he appeared at that time, and says that "his body was +so reduced by cares and study that one could almost count his bones." +He himself makes frequent allusion to his wasted and enfeebled body. +His health was never robust. He was a small eater. Melanchthon says: +"I have seen him, when he was in full health, absolutely neither eat +nor drink for four days together. At other times I have seen him, for +many days, content with the slightest allowance, a salt herring and a +small hunch of bread per day." + +Mosellanus further says that his manners were cultured and friendly, +with nothing of stoical severity or pride in him--that he was cheerful +and full of wit in company, and at all times fresh, joyous, inspiring, +and pleasant. + +Honest naturalness, grand simplicity, and an unpretentious majesty of +character breathed all about him. An indwelling vehemency, a powerful +will, and a firm confidence could readily be seen, but calm and +mellowed with generous kindness, without a trace of selfishness or +vanity. He was jovial, free-spoken, open, easily approached, and at +home with all classes. + +Audin says of him that "his voice was clear and sonorous, his eye +beaming with fire, his head of the antique cast, his hands beautiful, +and his gesture graceful and abounding--at once Rabelais and Fontaine, +with the droll humor of the one and the polished elegance of the +other." + +In society and in his home he was genial, playful, instructive, and +often brilliant. His _Table-Talk_, collected (not always judiciously) +by his friends, is one of the most original and remarkable of +productions. He loved children and young people, and brought up +several in his house besides his own. He had an inexhaustible flow of +ready wit and good-humor, prepared for everybody on all occasions. He +was a frank and free correspondent, and let out his heart in his +letters, six large volumes of which have been preserved. + +He was specially fond of music, and cultivated it to a high degree. He +could sing and play like a woman.[20] "I have no pleasure in any +man," said he, "who despises music. It is no invention of ours; it is +the gift of God. I place it next to theology." + +He was himself a great musician and hymnist. Handel confesses that he +derived singular advantage from the study of his music; and Coleridge +says: "He did as much for the Reformation by his hymns as by his +translation of the Bible." To this day he is the chief singer in a +Church of pre-eminent song. Heine speaks of "those stirring songs +which escaped from him in the very midst of his combats and +necessities, like flowers making their way from between rough stones +or moonbeams glittering among dark clouds." _Ein feste Burg_ welled +from his great heart like the gushing of the waters from the smitten +rock of Horeb to inspirit and refresh God's faint and doubting people +as long as the Church is in this earthly wilderness. There is a mighty +soul in it which lifts one, as on eagles' wings, high and triumphant +over the blackest storms. And his whole life was a brilliantly enacted +epic of marvelous grandeur and pathos.[21] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] Mattähus Ratzenberger, in a passage of his biography preserved in +the _Bibliotheca Ducalis Gothana_, says: "Lutherus had also this +custom: as soon as he had eaten the evening meal with his table +companions he would fetch out of his little writing-room his _partes_ +and hold a _musicam_ with those of them who had a mind for music. +Greatly was he delighted when a good composition of the old master +fitted the responses or _hymnos de tempore anni_, and especially did +he enjoy the _cantu Gregoriana_ and chorale. But if at times he +perceived in a new song that it was incorrectly copied he set it again +upon the lines (that is, he brought the parts together and rectified +it _in continenti_). Right gladly did he join in the singing when +_hymnus_ or _responsorium de tempore_ had been set by the _Musicus_ to +a _Cantum Gregorianum_, as we have said, and his young sons, Martinus +and Paulus, had also after table to sing the _responsoria de tempore_, +as at Christmas, _Verbum caro factum est_, _In principio erat verbum_; +at Easter, _Christus resurgens ex mortuis_, _Vita sanctorum_, _Victimæ +paschali laudes_, etc. In these _responsoria_ he always sang along +with his sons, and in _cantu figurali_ he sang the alto." + +The alto which Luther sang must not be confounded with the alto part +of to-day. Here it means the _cantus firmus_, the melody around which +the old composers wove their contrapuntal ornamentation. + +Luther was the creator of German congregational singing. + +[21] Luther's first poetic publication seems to have been certain +verses composed on the martyrdom of two young Christian monks, who +were burned alive at Brussels in 1523 for their faithful confession of +the evangelical doctrines. A translation of a part of this composition +is given in D'Aubigné's _History of the Reformation_ in these +beautiful and stirring words: + + "Flung to the heedless winds or on the waters cast, + Their ashes shall be watched, and gathered at the last; + And from that scattered dust, around us and abroad, + Shall spring a plenteous seed of witnesses for God. + + "Jesus hath now received their latest living breath, + Yet vain is Satan's boast of victory in their death. + Still, still, though dead, they speak, and trumpet-tongued proclaim + To many a wakening land the One availing Name." + +Audin, though a Romanist, says: "The hymns which he translated from +the Latin into German may be unreservedly praised, as also those which +he composed for the members of his own communion. He did not travesty +the sacred Word nor set his anger to music. He is grave, simple, +solemn, and grand. He was at once the poet and musician of a great +number of his hymns." + + +HIS GREAT QUALITIES. + +Luther's qualities of mind, heart, and attainment were transcendent. +Though naturally meek and diffident, when it came to matters of duty +and conviction he was courageous, self-sacrificing, and brave beyond +any mere man known to history. Elijah fled before the threats of +Jezebel, but no powers on earth could daunt the soul of Luther. Even +the apparitions of the devil himself could not disconcert him. + +Roman Catholic authors agree that "Nature gave him a German industry +and strength and an Italian spirit and vivacity," and that "nobody +excelled him in philosophy and theology, and nobody equaled him in +eloquence." + +His mental range was not confined to any one set of subjects. In the +midst of his profound occupation with questions of divinity and the +Church "his mind was literally world-wide. His eyes were for ever +observant of what was around him. At a time when science was hardly +out of its shell he had observed Nature with the liveliest curiosity. +He studied human nature like a dramatist. Shakespeare himself drew +from him. His memory was a museum of historical information, anecdotes +of great men, and old German literature, songs, and proverbs, to the +latter of which he made many rich additions from his own genius. +Scarce a subject could be spoken of on which he had not thought and on +which he had not something remarkable to say."[22] In consultations +upon public affairs, when the most important things hung in peril, his +contemporaries speak with amazement of the gigantic strength of his +mind, the unexampled acuteness of his intellect, the breadth and +loftiness of his understanding and counsels. + +But, though so great a genius, he laid great stress on sound and +thorough learning and study. "The strength and glory of a town," said +he, "does not depend on its wealth, its walls, its great mansions, its +powerful armaments, but in the number of its learned, serious, kind, +and well-educated citizens." He was himself a great scholar, far +beyond what we would suspect in so perturbed a life, or what he cared +to parade in his writings. He mastered the ancient languages, and +insisted on the perpetual study of them as "the scabbard which holds +the sword of the Spirit, the cases which enclose the precious jewels, +the vessels which contain the old wine, the baskets which carry the +loaves and the fishes for the feeding of the multitude." His +associates say of him that he was a great reader, eagerly perusing the +Church Fathers, old and new, and all histories, well retaining what he +read, and using the same with great skill as occasion called. + +Melanchthon, who knew him well, and knew well how to judge of men's +powers and attainments, said of him: "He is too great, too wonderful, +for me to describe. Whatever he writes, whatever he utters, goes to +the soul and fixes itself like arrows in the heart. _He is a miracle +among men._" + +Nor was he without the humility of true greatness. Newton's comparison +of himself to a child gathering shells and pebbles on the shore, +while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before him, has +been much cited and lauded as an illustration of the modesty of true +science. But long before Newton had Luther said of himself, in the +midst of his mighty achievements, "Only a little of the first fruits +of wisdom--only a few fragments of the boundless heights, breadths, +and depths of truth--have I been able to gather." + +He was a man of amazing _faith_--that mighty principle which looks at +things invisible, joins the soul to divine Omnipotence, and launches +out unfalteringly upon eternal realities, and which is ever the chief +factor in all God's heroes of every age. He dwelt in constant nearness +and communion with the Eternal Spirit, which reigns in the heavens and +raises the willing and obedient into blessed instruments of itself for +the actualizing of ends and ideals beyond and above the common course +of things. With his feet ever planted on the promises, he could lay +his hands upon the Throne, and thus was lifted into a sublimity of +energy, endurance, and command which made him one of the phenomenal +wonders of humanity. He was a very Samson in spiritual vigor, and +another Hannah's son in the strength and victory of his prayers. + +Dr. Calvin E. Stowe says: "There was probably never created a more +powerful human being, a more gigantic, full-proportioned MAN, in the +highest sense of the term. All that belongs to human nature, all that +goes to constitute a MAN, had a strongly-marked development in him. He +was a _model man_, one that might be shown to other beings in other +parts of the universe as a specimen of collective manhood in its +maturest growth." + +As the guide and master of one of the greatest revolutions of time we +look in vain for any one with whom to compare him, and as a +revolutionary orator and preacher he had no equal. Richter says, "His +words are half-battles." Melanchthon likens them to thunderbolts. He +was at once a Peter and a Paul, a Socrates and an Æsop, a Chrysostom +and a Savonarola, a Shakespeare and a Whitefield, all condensed in +one. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] Froude supplemented. + + +HIS ALLEGED COARSENESS. + +Some blame him for not using kid gloves in handling the ferocious +bulls, bears, and he-goats with whom he had to do. But what, +otherwise, would have become of the Reformation? His age was savage, +and the men he had to meet were savage, and the matters at stake +touched the very life of the world. What would a Chesterfield or an +Addison have been in such a contest? Erasmus said he had horns, and +knew how to use them, but that Germany needed just such a master. He +understood the situation. "These gnarled logs," said he, "will not +split without iron wedges and heavy malls. The air will not clear +without lightning and thunder."[23] + +But if he was rough betimes, he could be as gentle and tender as a +maiden, and true to himself in both. He could fight monsters all day, +and in the evening take his lute, gaze at the stars, sing psalms, and +muse upon the clouds, the fields, the flowers, the birds, dissolved in +melody and devotion. Feared by the mighty of the earth, the dictator +and reprimander of kings, the children loved him, and his great heart +was as playful among them as one of themselves. If he was harsh and +unsparing upon hypocrites, malignants, and fools, he called things by +their right names, and still was as loving as he was brave. Since King +David's lament over Absalom no more tender or pathetic scene has +appeared in history or in fiction than his outpouring of paternal love +and grief over the deathbed, coffin, and grave of his young and +precious daughter Madeleine. "I know of few things more touching," +says Carlyle, "than those soft breathings of affection, soft as a +child's or a mother's, in this great wild heart of Luther;" and adds: +"I will call this Luther a true Great Man; great in intellect, in +courage, affection, and integrity; one of our most lovable and +precious men. Great not as a hewn obelisk, but as an Alpine mountain, +so simple, honest, spontaneous; not setting up to be great at all; +there for quite another purpose than being great. Ah, yes, unsubduable +granite, piercing far and wide into the Heavens; yet, in the clefts of +it, fountains, green, beautiful valleys with flowers. A right +Spiritual Hero and Prophet; once more, a true Son of Nature and Fact, +for whom these centuries, and many that are yet to come, will be +thankful to Heaven." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[23] "It must be observed that the coarse vituperations which shock +the reader in Luther's controversial works were not peculiar to him, +being commonly used by scholars and divines of the Middle Ages in +their disputations. The invectives of Valla, Filelfo, Poggio, and +other distinguished scholars against each other are notorious; and +this bad taste continued in practice long after Luther down to the +seventeenth century, and traces of it are found in writers of the +eighteenth, even in some of the works of the polished and courtly +Voltaire."--_Cyclopædia of Soc. for Diffus. of Useful Knowledge._ + + +HIS MARVELOUS ACHIEVEMENTS. + +A lone man, whose days were spent in poverty; who could withstand the +mighty Vatican and all its flaming Bulls; whose influence evoked and +swayed successive Diets of the empire; whom repeated edicts from the +Imperial throne could not crush; whom the talent, eloquence, and +towering authority of the Roman hierarchy assailed in vain; whom the +attacks of kings of state and kings of literature could not disable; +to offset whose opinions the greatest general council the Church of +Rome ever held had to be convened, and, after sitting eighteen years, +could not adjourn without conceding much to his positions; and whose +name the greatest and most enlightened nations of the earth hail with +glad acclaim,--necessarily must have been a wonder of a man.[24] + +To begin with a minority consisting of one, and conquer kingdoms with +the mere sword of his mouth; to bear the anathemas of Church and the +ban of empire, and triumph in spite of them; to refuse to fall down +before the golden image of the combined Nebuchadnezzars of his time, +though threatened with the burning fires of earth and hell; to turn +iconoclast of such magnitude and daring as to think of smiting the +thing to pieces in the face of principalities and powers to whom it +was as God--nay, to attempt this, _and to succeed in it_,--here was +sublimity of heroism and achievement explainable only in the will and +providence of the Almighty, set to recover His Gospel to a perishing +race.[25] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24] "In no other instance have such great events depended upon the +courage, sagacity, and energy of a single man, who, by his sole and +unassisted efforts, made his solitary cell the heart and centre of the +most wonderful and important commotion the world ever witnessed--who +by the native force and vigor of his genius attacked and successfully +resisted, and at length overthrew, the most awful and sacred authority +that ever imposed its commands on mankind."--A letter prefixed to +Luther's _Table-Talk_ in the folio edition of 1652. + +[25] "To overturn a system of religious belief founded on ancient and +deep-rooted prejudices, supported by power and defended with no less +art than industry--to establish in its room doctrines of the most +contrary genius and tendency, and to accomplish all this, not by +external violence or the force of arms, are operations which +historians the least prone to credulity and superstition ascribe to +that divine providence which with infinite ease can bring about events +which to human sagacity appear impossible."--Robertson's _Charles V._ + + +HIS IMPRESS UPON THE WORLD. + +To describe the fruits of Luther's labors would require the writing of +the whole history of modern civilization and the setting forth of the +noblest characteristics of this our modern world.[26] + +On the German nation he has left more of his impress than any other +man has left on any nation. The German people love to speak of him as +the creative master of their noble language and literature, the great +prophet and glory of their country. There is nothing so consecrated in +all his native land as the places which connect with his life, +presence, and deeds. + +But his mighty impress is not confined to Germany. "He grasped the +iron trumpet of his mother-tongue and blew a blast that shook the +nations from Rome to the Orkneys." He is not only the central figure +of Germany, but of Europe and of the whole modern world. Take Luther +away, with the fruits of his life and deeds, and man to-day would +cease to be what he is. + +Frederick von Schlegel, though a Romanist, affirms that "it was upon +him and his soul that the fate of Europe depended." And on the fate +of Europe then depended the fate of our race. + +Michelet, also a Romanist, pronounces Luther "the restorer of liberty +in modern times;" and adds: "If we at this day exercise in all its +plenitude the first and highest privilege of human intelligence, it is +to him we are indebted for it." + +"And that any faith," says Froude, "any piety, is alive now, even in +the Roman Church itself, whose insolent hypocrisy he humbled into +shame, is due in large measure to the poor miner's son." + +He certainly is to-day the most potently living man who has lived this +side of the Middle Ages. The pulsations of his great heart are felt +through the whole _corpus_ of our civilization. + +"Four potentates," says the late Dr. Krauth, "ruled the mind of Europe +in the Reformation: the emperor, Erasmus, the pope, and Luther. The +pope wanes; Erasmus is little; the emperor is nothing; but Luther +abides as a power for all time. His image casts itself upon the +current of ages as the mountain mirrors itself in the river which +winds at its foot. He has monuments in marble and bronze, and medals +in silver and gold, but his noblest monument is the best love of the +best hearts, and the brightest and purest impression of his image has +been left in the souls of regenerated nations." + +Many and glowing are the eulogies which have been pronounced upon him, +but Frederick von Schlegel, speaking from the side of Rome, gives it +as his conviction that "few, even of his own disciples, appreciate him +highly enough." Genius, learning, eloquence, and song have volunteered +their noble efforts to do him justice; centuries have added their +light and testimony; half the world in its enthusiasm has urged on the +inspiration; but the story in its full dimensions has not yet been +adequately told. The skill and energy of other generations will yet be +taxed to give it, if, indeed, it ever can be given apart from the +illuminations of eternity.[27] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[26] "From the commencement of the religious war in Germany to the +Peace of Westphalia scarce anything great or memorable occurred in the +European political world with which the Reformation was not +essentially connected. Every event in the history of the world in this +interval, if not directly occasioned, was nearly affected, by this +religious revolution, and every state, great or small, remotely or +immediately felt its influence."--Schiller's _Thirty Years' War_, vol. +i. p. 1. + +[27] "Luther was as wonderful as he was great. His personal experience +in divine things was as deep as his mind was mighty, large, and +unbounded. Though called by the Most High, and continued by his +appointment, in the midst of papal darkness, idolatry, and error, with +no companions but the saints of the Bible, nor any other light but the +lamp of the Word to guide his feet, his heaven-taught soul was +ministerially furnished with as rich pasture for the sheep of Christ, +as awful ammunition for the terror and destruction of the enemies by +which he and they were perpetually surrounded. The sphere of his +mighty ministry was not bounded by his defence of the truth against +the great and powerful. No! He was as rich a pastor, as terrible a +warrior. He fed the sheep in the fattest pastures, while he destroyed +the wolves on every side. Nor will those pastures be dried up or lost +until time, nations, and the churches of God shall be no more."--Dr. +Cole's _Pref. to Luther on Genesis_. + + +HIS ENEMIES AND REVILERS. + +Rome has never forgotten nor forgiven him. She sought his life while +living, and she curses him in his grave. Profited by his labors beyond +what she ever could have been without him, she strains and chokes with +anathemas upon his name and everything that savors of him. Her +children are taught from infancy to hate and abhor him as they hope +for salvation. Many are the false turns and garbled forms in which her +writers hold up his words and deeds to revenge themselves on his +memory. Again and again the oft-answered and exploded calumnies are +revived afresh to throw dishonor on his cause. Even while the free +peoples of the earth are making these grateful acknowledgments of the +priceless boon that has come to them through his life and labors, +press and platform hiss with stale vituperations from the old enemy. +And a puling Churchism outside of Rome takes an ill pleasure in +following after her to gather and retail this vomit of malignity. + +Luther was but a man. No one claims that he was perfection. But if +those who sought his destruction while he lived had had no greater +faults than he, with better grace their modern representatives might +indulge their genius for his defamation. At best, as we might suppose, +it is the little men, the men of narrow range and narrow heart--men +dwarfed by egotism, bigotry, and self-conceit--who see the most of +these defects. Nobler minds, contemplating him from loftier +standpoints, observe but little of them, and even honor them above the +excellencies of common men. "The proofs that he was in some things +like other men," says Lessing, "are to me as precious as the most +dazzling of his virtues."[28] + +And, with all, where is the gain or wisdom of blowing smoke upon a +diamond? The sun itself has holes in it too large for half a dozen +worlds like ours to fill, but wherein is that great luminary thereby +unfitted to be the matchless centre of our system, the glorious source +of day, and the sublime symbol of the Son of God? + +If Luther married a beautiful woman, the proofs of which do not +appear, it is what every other honest man would do if it suited him +and he were free to do it. + +If he broke his vows to get a wife, of which there is no evidence, +when vows are taken by mistake, tending to dishonor God, work +unrighteousness, and hinder virtuous example and proper life, they +ought to be broken, the sooner the better. + +And, whatever else may be alleged to his discredit, and whoever may +arise to heap scandal on his name, the grand facts remain that it was +chiefly through his marvelous qualities, word, and work that the +towering dominion of the Papacy was humbled and broken for ever; that +prophets and apostles were released from their prisons once more to +preach and prophesy to men; that the Church of the early times was +restored to the bereaved world; that the human mind was set free to +read and follow God's Word for itself; that the masses of neglected +and downtrodden humanity were made into populations of live and +thinking beings; and that the nations of the earth have become +repossessed of their "inalienable rights" of "life, liberty, and the +pursuit of happiness." + + "And let the pope and priests their victor scorn, + Each fault reveal, each imperfection scan, + And by their fell anatomy of hate + His life dissect with satire's keenest edge; + Yet still may Luther, with his mighty heart, + Defy their malice. + Far beyond _them_ soars the soul + They slander. From his tomb there still comes forth + A magic which appalls them by its power; + And the brave monk who made the Popedom rock + Champions a world to show his equal yet!" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] "It was by some of these qualities which we are now apt to blame +that Luther was fitted for accomplishing the great work which he +undertook. To rouse mankind when sunk in ignorance and superstition, +and to encounter the rage of bigotry armed with power, required the +utmost vehemence of zeal as well as temper daring to +excess."--Robertson's _Charles V._ + + + + +THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. + + + + +I. THE HISTORY AND THE MEN. + + +It was in 1492, just nine years after Luther's birth, that the +intrepid Genoese, Christopher Columbus, under the patronage of +Ferdinand, king of Spain, made the discovery of land on this side of +the Atlantic Ocean. A few years later the distinguished Florentine, +Americus Vespucius, set foot on its more interior coasts, described +their features, and imprinted his name on this Western Continent. But +it was not until more than a century later that permanent settlements +of civilized people upon these shores began to be made. + +During the early part of the seventeenth century several such +settlements were effected. A company of English adventurers planted +themselves on the banks of the James River and founded Virginia +(1607). The Dutch of Holland, impelled by the spirit of mercantile +enterprise, established a colony on the Hudson, and founded what +afterward became the city and State of New York (1614). Then a +shipload of English Puritans, flying from religious oppression, landed +at Plymouth Rock and made the beginning of New England (1620). A +little later Lord Baltimore founded a colony on the Chesapeake and +commenced the State of Maryland (1633). But it was not until 1637-38 +that the first permanent settlement was made in what subsequently +became the State of Pennsylvania. + + +MOVEMENTS IN SWEDEN. + +From the year 1611 to 1632 there was upon the throne of Sweden one of +the noblest of kings, a great champion of religious liberty, the +lamented and ever-to-be-remembered GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. + +In his profound thinking to promote the glory of God and the good of +men his attention rested on this vast domain of wild lands in America. +He knew the sorrows and distresses which thousands all over Europe +were suffering from the constant and devastating religious wars, and +the purpose was kindled in his heart to plant here a colony as the +beginning of a general asylum for these homeless and persecuted +people, and determined to foster the same by his royal protection and +care. + +"To this end he sent forth letters patent, dated Stockholm, 2d of +July, 1626, wherein all, both high and low, were invited to contribute +something to the company according to their means. The work was +completed in the Diet of the following year (1627), when the estates +of the realm gave their assent and confirmed the measure. Those who +took part in this company were: His Majesty's mother, the +queen-dowager Christina, the Prince John Casimir, the Royal Council, +the most distinguished of the nobility, the highest officers of the +army, the bishops and other clergymen, together with the burgomasters +and aldermen of the cities, as well as a large number of the people +generally. For the management and working of the plan there were +appointed an admiral, vice-admiral, chapman, under-chapman, +assistants, and commissaries, also a body of soldiers duly +officered."[29] And a more beneficent, brilliant, and promising +arrangement of the sort was perhaps never made. The devout king +intended his grand scheme "for the honor of God," for the welfare of +his subjects and suffering Christians in general, and as a means "to +extend the doctrines of Christ among the heathen." + +But when everything was complete and in full progress to go into +effect, King Gustavus Adolphus was called to join and lead the allied +armies of the Protestant kingdoms of Germany against the endeavors of +the papal powers to crush out the cause of evangelical Christianity +and free conscience.[30] + +For the ensuing five years the attention and energies of Sweden were +preoccupied, first with the Polish, and then with these wars, and the +colonization scheme was interrupted. + +Then came the famous battle of Lützen, 1632, bringing glorious victory +over the gigantic Wallenstein, but death to the victor, the royal +Adolphus.[31] + +Only a few days before that dreadful battle he spoke of his +colonization plan, and commended it to the German people at Nuremberg +as "the jewel of his kingdom;" but with the king's death the company +disbanded. + +We could almost wish that Gustavus had lived to carry out his humane +and magnificent proposals with reference to this colony as well as for +Europe; but his work was done. What America lost by his death she more +than regained in the final success and secure establishment of the +holy cause for which he sacrificed his life. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] Acrelius's _History_, p. 21. + +[30] "When he now beheld that the cause of Protestantism was menaced +more seriously than ever throughout the whole of Germany, he took the +decisive step, and, formally declaring war against the emperor, he, on +the 24th of June, 1630, landed on the coast of Pomerania with fifteen +thousand Swedes. As soon as he stepped upon shore he dropped on his +knees in prayer, while his example was followed by his whole army. +Truly he had undertaken, with but small and limited means, a great and +mighty enterprise." "The Swedes, so steady and strict in their +discipline, appeared as protecting angels, and as the king advanced +the belief spread far and near throughout the land that he was sent +from heaven as its preserver."--_History of Germany_, by Kohlrausch, +pp. 328, 329. + +"Bavaria and the Tyrol excepted, every province throughout Germany had +battled for liberty of conscience, and yet the whole of Germany, +notwithstanding her universal inclination for the Reformation, had +been deceived in her hopes: a second Imperial edict seemed likely to +crush the few remaining privileges spared by the edict of +restitution.... Gustavus, urged by his sincere piety, resolved to take +up arms in defence of Protestantism and to free Germany from the yoke +imposed by the Jesuits."--Menzel's _History of Germany_, vol. ii. pp. +345, 346. + +"The party of the Catholics were carrying all before them, and +everything seemed to promise that Ferdinand (the Roman Catholic +emperor) would become absolute through the whole of Germany, and +succeed in that scheme which he seemed to meditate, of entirely +abolishing the Protestant religion in the empire. But this miserable +prospect, both of political and religious thraldom, was dissolved by +the great Gustavus Adolphus being invited by the Protestant princes of +Germany to espouse the cause of the Reformed religion, being himself +of that persuasion."--Tytler's _Univ. Hist._, vol. ii. p. 451. + +[31] The death of Gustavus Adolphus is thus described by Kohlrausch: +"The king spent the cold autumnal night in his carriage, and advised +with his generals about the battle. The morning dawned, and a thick +fog covered the entire plain; the troops were drawn up in +battle-array, and the Swedes sang, accompanied with trumpets and +drums, Luther's hymn, _Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott_ ('A mighty +fortress is our God'), together with the hymn composed by the king +himself, _Verzage nicht, du Häuflein klein_ ('Fear not the foe, thou +little flock'). Just after eleven o'clock, when the sun was emerging +from behind the clouds, and after a short prayer, the king mounted his +horse, placed himself at the head of the right wing--the left being +commanded by Bernard of Weimar--and cried, 'Now, onward! May our God +direct us!--Lord, Lord! help me this day to fight for the glory of thy +name!' and, throwing away his cuirass with the words, 'God is my +shield!' he led his troops to the front of the Imperialists, who were +well entrenched on the paved road which leads from Lützen to Leipsic, +and stationed in the deep trenches on either side. A deadly cannonade +saluted the Swedes, and many here met their death; but their places +were filled by others, who leaped over the trench, and the troops of +Wallenstein retreated. + +"In the mean time, Pappenheim came up with his cavalry from Halle, and +the battle was renewed with the utmost fury. The Swedish infantry fled +behind the trenches. To assist them, the king hastened to the spot +with a company of horse, and rode in full speed considerably in +advance to descry the weak points of the enemy; only a few of his +attendants, and Francis, duke of Saxe-Lauenberg, rode with him. His +short-sightedness led him too near a squadron of Imperial horse; he +received a shot in his arm, which nearly precipitated him to the +ground; and just as he was turning to be led away from the tumultuous +scene he received a second shot in the back. With the exclamation, 'My +God! my God!' he fell from his horse, which also was shot in the neck, +and was dragged for some distance, hanging by the stirrup. The duke +abandoned him, but his faithful page tried to raise him, when the +Imperial horsemen shot him also, killed the king, and completely +plundered him." Pappenheim was also mortally wounded, Wallenstein +retreated, and the victory was with the Swedes, but their noble king +was no more. + + +THE SWEDISH PROPOSAL. + +The plan of this illustrious king was to found here upon the Delaware +a free state under his sovereign protection, where the laborer should +enjoy the fruit of his toil, where the rights of conscience should be +preserved inviolate, and which should be open to the whole Protestant +world, then and for long time engaged in bloody conflict with the +papal powers for the maintenance of its existence. Here all were to be +secure in their persons, their property, and their religious +convictions. It was to be a place of refuge and peace for the +persecuted of all nations, of security for the honor of the wives and +daughters of those fleeing from sword, fire, and rapine, and from +homes made desolate by oppressive war. It was to be a land of +universal liberty for all classes, the soil of which was never to be +burdened with slaves.[32] And in all the colonies of America there was +not a more thoroughly digested system for the practical realization +of these ideas than that which the great Gustavus Adolphus had thus +arranged. + +Nor did it altogether die with his death. His mantle fell upon one of +the best and greatest of men. Axel Oxenstiern, his friend and prime +minister, and his successor in the administration of the affairs of +the kingdom, was as competent as he was zealous to fulfill the wise +plans and ideas of the slain king, not only with reference to Sweden +and Europe, but also with regard to the contemplated colony in +America. + +Having taken the matter into his own hands, on the 10th of April, +1633, only a few months after Gustavus's death, Oxenstiern renewed the +movement which had been laid aside, and repeated the offer to Germany +and other countries, inviting general co-operation in the noble +enterprise. + +Peter Minuit, a member of a distinguished family of Rhenish Prussia, +who had been for years the able director and president of the Dutch +mercantile establishment on the Hudson, presented himself in Sweden, +and entered into the matter with great energy and enthusiasm. And by +the end of 1637 or early in 1638 two ships were seen entering and +ascending the Delaware, freighted with the elements and nucleus of +the new state, such as Gustavus had projected. + +These ships, under Minuit, landed their passengers but a few miles +south of where Philadelphia now stands, and thus made the first +beginning of what has since become the great and happy Commonwealth of +Pennsylvania. + +This was _six years before Penn was born_. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[32] The description of the features of this plan is taken from +Geijer's _Svenska Folkets Historia_, vol. iii. p. 128, given by Dr. +Reynolds in his Introduction to Israel Acrelius's _History of New +Sweden_, published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It was +first propounded by Gustavus Adolphus in 1624. Also referred to in +_Argonautica Gustaviana_, pp. 3 and 22. + + +WAS PENN AWARE OF THESE PLANS? + +How far William Penn was illuminated and influenced by the ideas of +the great and wise Gustavus Adolphus in reference to the founding of a +free state in America as an asylum for the persecuted and suffering +people of God in the Old World, is nowhere told; but there is reason +to believe that he knew of them, and took his own plans from them. + +A few facts bearing on the point may here be noted. + +One peculiarly striking is, that the same plan and principles with +reference to such a colonial state which Penn brought hither in the +_Welcome_ in 1682 were already matured and widely propounded by the +illustrious Swedish king more than half a century before they +practically entered Penn's mind. + +Another is, that these proposals and principles were generally +promulgated throughout Europe--first by Gustavus and those associated +with him in the matter, and then again by Oxenstiern, in Germany, +Holland, and other countries. + +Still another is, that in 1677 Penn made a special tour of three +months through Holland and various parts of Germany, visiting and +conferring with many of the most pious and devoted people, including +distinguished men and women, and clergy and laity of high standing, +information, and influence. He made considerable stay in Frankfort, +where he says both Calvinists and Lutherans received him with gladness +of heart. He visited Mayence, Worms, Mannheim, Mulheim, Düsseldorf, +Herwerden, Embaden, Bremen, etc., etc., concerning which the editor of +his _Life and Writings_ says he had "interesting interviews with many +persons eminent for their talents, learning, or social position." +Among them were such as Elizabeth, Princess Palatine, niece of Charles +I. of England and the daughter of the king of Bohemia, the special +friend of Gustavus Adolphus, who died of horror on hearing that +Gustavus was slain; Anna Maria, countess of Hornes; the countess and +earl of Falkenstein and Brück; the president of the council of state +at Embaden; the earl of Donau, and the like; among all of which it is +hardly possible that he should have failed to meet with the proposals +which had gone out over all Protestant Europe from the throne of +Sweden. Nor is there any evidence that William Penn had thought of +founding a free Christian state in America until immediately after his +return to England from this tour on the Continent. + +Furthermore, the plans of Gustavus respecting his projected colony on +the Delaware were well understood in official circles in England +itself, especially in London, from 1634. John Oxenstiern, brother of +the great chancellor, was at that time Swedish ambassador in London, +and in that year he obtained from King Charles I. a renunciation and +cession to Sweden of all claims of the English to the country on the +Delaware growing out of the rights of first discovery, and for the +very purposes of this colonial free state and asylum first projected +by the Swedish king. + + +THE SWEDES IN ADVANCE OF PENN. + +We are left to our own inferences from these facts. But, however much +or little Penn may have been directly influenced and guided by what +Gustavus Adolphus had conceived and elaborated on the subject, the +wise and noble conception which he brought with him for practical +realization in 1682 was known to the European peoples for more than +fifty years before he laid hold on it. The same had also been one of +the chief sources of the inspiration of Lord Baltimore in the founding +of the colony of Maryland, of which Penn was not ignorant. And the +same, not unknown to him, had already begun to be realized here in +what is now called Pennsylvania full forty-four years before his +arrival. + +Shipload after shipload of sturdy and devoted people, mostly Swedes, +animated with the same grand ideas, had here been landed. And so +successfully had they battled with the perils and hardships of the +wilderness, and so justly had they treated and arranged to dwell in +peace and love with the wild inhabitants of the forests, that when +Penn came he found everything prepared to his hand. The Swedes alone +already numbered about one thousand strong. They had conquered the +wild woods, built them homes, and opened plantations; and "the eye of +the stranger could begin to gaze with interest upon the signs of +public improvement, ever regularly advancing, from the region of +Wilmington to that of Philadelphia." + +When Penn landed he found a town and court-house at New Castle, and a +town and place of public assemblage at Upland, and a Christian and +free people in possession of the territory, with whom it was necessary +for him to treat before his charter could avail for the planting of +his colony. The land to which the Swedes had acquired title (by +England's release to Sweden of all claim from right of discovery, by +charter from Sweden, by purchase from the Indians, first under Minuit, +the first governor, and then under his successor, Governor Printz, and +by other purchases or agreements) was the west bank of the Delaware +River from Cape Henlopen to Trenton Falls, and thence westward to the +great fall in the Susquehanna, near the mouth of the Conewaga Creek, +which included nearly the whole of Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. + +The fortunes of war, in Europe and between the colonies, in course of +time complicated the titles to one and another portion of this +territory, but the Swedes and Dutch occupied and held the most +prominent parts of it by right of actual possession when and after +Penn's charter was granted. + + +PENN'S CHARTER AND ARRIVAL. + +But when Penn arrived he brought with him letters patent from Charles +II., king of England, to this same district of country and the wilds +indefinitely beyond it, having also obtained from his friend, the +king's brother, the duke of York, full releases of the claims vested +in him to the "Lower Counties," which now form the State of Delaware. + +Penn was accompanied by from sixty to seventy colonists--all that +survived the scourge which visited them in their passage across the +sea. He landed first at New Castle, of which the Dutch of New York had +by conquest obtained possession. To them he made known his grants and +his plans, and succeeded in securing their acquiescence in them. + +Thence he came to Upland (Chester), the head-quarters of the Swedes, +who "received their new fellow-citizens with great friendliness, +carried up their goods and furniture from the ships, and entertained +them in their own houses without charge." His proposals with regard to +the establishment of a united commonwealth they also received with +much favor. And immediately thereupon he convened a general assembly +of the citizens, which sat for three days, by which an act was passed +for the consolidation of the various interests and parties on the +ground, a code of general regulations adopted, and the necessary +features of a common government enacted; all of which together formed +the basis of our present commonwealth. + + +HOW PENNSYLVANIA WAS NAMED. + +The name which Penn had chosen for the territory of his grant was +_Sylvania_, but the king prefixed the name of Penn and called it +_Penn's_ Silvania (_Penn's Woods_), in honor of the recipient's +father, Sir William Penn, a distinguished officer in the British navy. +Penn sought to have the title changed so as to leave his own name out, +as he thought it savored too much of personal vanity; but his efforts +did not avail. And thus our great old commonwealth took the name of +_Pennsylvania_, and the city of Philadelphia was laid out and named by +Penn himself as its capital. + + +THE MEN OF THOSE TIMES. + +In dwelling upon the founding of our happy commonwealth it is pleasant +to contemplate how enlightened and exalted were the men whom +Providence employed for the performance of this important work. + +Many are apt to think ours the age of culminated enlightenment, +dignity, wisdom, and intelligence, and look upon the fathers of two +and three hundred years ago as mere pigmies, just emerging from an era +of barbarism and ignorance, not at all to be compared with the proud +wiseacres of our day. Never was there a greater mistake. The +shallowness and flippancy of the leaders and politicians of this last +quarter of the nineteenth century show them but little more than +school-boys compared with the sturdy, sober-minded, deep-principled, +dignified, and grand-spirited men who discovered and opened this +continent and laid the foundations of our country's greatness. And +those who were most concerned in the founding of our own commonwealth +suffer in no respect in comparison with the greatest and the best. + + +GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. + +I have named the illustrious GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS as the man, +above all, who first conceived, sketched, and propounded the grand +idea of such a state. What other colonies reached only through varied +experiments and gradual developments, Pennsylvania had clear and +mature, in ideal and in fact, from the very earliest beginning; and +the royal heart and brain of Sweden were its source. + +Gustavus Adolphus was born a prince in the regular line of Sweden's +ancient kings. His grandfather, Gustavus Vasa, was a man of thorough +culture, excellent ability, and sterling moral qualities. When in +Germany he was an earnest listener to Luther's preaching, became his +friend and correspondent, a devout confessor and patron of the +evangelic faith, and the wise establisher of the Reformation in his +kingdom. + +Adolphus inherited all his grandfather's high qualities. He was the +idol of his father, Charles IX., and was devoutly trained from +earliest childhood in the evangelic faith, educated in thorough +princely style, familiarized with governmental affairs from the time +he was a boy, and developed into an exemplary, wise, brave, and +devoted Christian man and illustrious king. + +He ascended the throne when but seventeen years of age, extricated his +country from many internal and external troubles, organized for it a +new system, and became the hero-sovereign of his age. He was one of +the greatest of men, in cabinet and in field as well as in faith and +humble devotion. He was a broad-minded statesman and patriot, one of +the most beloved of rulers, and a philanthropist of the purest order +and most comprehensive views. That evangelical Christianity which +Luther and his coadjutors exhumed from the superincumbent rubbish of +the Middle Ages was dearer to him than his throne or his life. The +pure Gospel of Christ was to him the most precious of human +possessions. For it he lived, and for it he died. One of his +deep-souled hymns, sung along with Luther's _Ein Feste Burg_ at the +head of his armies in his campaigns for Christian liberty, has its +place in our Church-Book to-day. And the bright peculiar star which +appeared in the heavens at the time he was born fitly heralded his +royal career. + +Cut off in the midst of a succession of victories in the thirty-eighth +year of his age, the influence of his mind nevertheless served to give +another constitution to the Germanic peoples, established the right +and power of evangelical Christianity to be and to be unmolested on +the earth, and confirmed a new element in the development and progress +of the European races and of mankind. With the loftiest conceptions of +human life, a thorough acquaintance with the agencies which govern the +world, a mind in all respects in thorough subjection to an +enlightened Christian conscience, a magnanimity and liberality of +sentiment far in advance of his age, and an untarnished devotion which +marked his history to its very end, his name stands at the head of the +list of illustrious Christian kings and human benefactors.[33] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[33] Count Galeazzo Gualdo, a Venetian Roman Catholic, who spent some +years in both the Imperial and the Swedish armies, says of Gustavus +Adolphus that "he was tall, stout, and of such truly royal demeanor +that he universally commanded veneration, admiration, love, and fear. +His hair and beard were of a light-brown color, his eye large, but not +far-sighted. Eloquence dwelt upon his tongue. He spoke German, the +native language of his mother, the Swedish, the Latin, the French, and +the Italian languages, and his discourse was agreeable and lively. +There never was a general served with so much cheerfulness and +devotion as he. He was of an affable and friendly disposition, readily +expressing commendation, and noble actions were indelibly fixed upon +his memory; on the other hand, excessive politeness and flattery he +hated, and if any person approached him in that way he never trusted +him." + + +AXEL OXENSTIERN. + +AXEL OXENSTIERN, his friend, companion, and prime minister, +was of like mind and character with himself. He was high-born, +religiously trained, and thoroughly educated in both theology and law +in the best schools which the world then afforded. He was Sweden's +greatest and wisest counselor and diplomatist, liberal-minded, +true-hearted, dignified, and devout. In religion, in patriotism, +in earnest doing for the profoundest interests of man, he was one with +his illustrious king. He negotiated the Peace of Kmered with Denmark, +the Peace of Stolbowa with Russia, and the armistice with Poland. He +accompanied his king in the campaigns in Germany, having charge of all +diplomatic affairs and the devising of ways and means for the support +of the army in the field, whilst the king commanded it. He won no +victories of war, but he was a choice spirit in creating the means by +which some of the most valuable of such victories were achieved, and +conducted those victories to permanent peace. + +When Gustavus Adolphus fell at Lützen a sacrifice to religious +liberty, the whole administration of the kingdom was placed in +Oxenstiern's hands. The congress of foreign princes at Heilbronn +elected him to the headship of their league against the papal power of +Austria; and it was his wisdom and heroism alone which held the league +together unto final triumph. Bauer, Torstensson, and Von Wrangle were +the flaming swords which finally overwhelmed that power, but the brain +which brought the fearful Thirty Years' War to a final close, and +established the evangelical cause upon its lasting basis of security +by the Peace of Westphalia (1648), was that of Axel Oxenstiern, the +very man who sent to Pennsylvania its original colonists as the +founders of a free state. + + +PETER MINUIT. + +A kindred spirit was PETER MINUIT, the man whom Oxenstiern +selected and commissioned to accompany these first colonists to the +west bank of the Delaware, and to act as their president and governor. +He too was a high-born, cultured, large-minded Christian man. He was +an honored deacon in the Walloon church at Wesel. Removing to Holland, +his high qualities led to his selection by the Dutch West India +Company as the fittest man to be the first governor and +director-general of the Dutch colonies on the Hudson. His great +efficiency and public success in that capacity made him the subject of +jealousies and accusations, resulting in his recall after five or six +years of the most effective administration of the affairs of those +colonies. Oxenstiern had the breadth and penetration to understand his +real worth, and appointed him the first governor of the New Sweden +which since has become the great State of Pennsylvania. He lived less +than five years in this new position, and died in Fort Christina, +which he built and held during his last years of service on earth. He +was a wise, laborious, and far-seeing man, consecrated with all his +powers to the formation of a free commonwealth on this then wild +territory. His name has largely sunk away from public attention, as +the work of the Swedes in general in the founding and fashioning of +our commonwealth; but he and they deserve far better than has been +awarded them. + +A few years ago (1876) some movement was for the first time made to +erect a suitable monument to the memory of Minuit. Surely the founder +of the greatest city in this Western World, and of the colonial +possessions of two European nations, and the first president and +governor of the two greatest States in the American Union, ranks among +the great historic personages of his period; and his high qualities, +noble spirit, and valuable services demand for him a grateful +recognition which has been far too slow in coming. There is a debt +owing to his name and memory which New York, Pennsylvania, and the +American people have not yet duly discharged. + +And to these grand men, first of all, are we under obligation of +everlasting thanks for our free and happy old commonwealth. + + +WILLIAM PENN. + +But without WILLIAM PENN to reinforce and more fully execute +the noble plans, ideas, and beginnings which went before him, things +perhaps never would have come to the fortunate results which he was +the honored instrument in bringing about. + +This man, so renowned in the history of our State, and so specially +honored by the peculiar Society of which he was a zealous apostle, was +respectably descended. His grandfather was a captain in the English +navy, and his father became a distinguished naval officer, who reached +high promotion and gave his son the privileges of a good education. + +Penn was for three years a student in the University of Oxford, until +expelled, with others, for certain offensive non-conformities. He was +not what we would call religiously trained, but he was endowed with a +strong religious nature, even bordering on fanaticism, so that he +needed only the application of the match to set his whole being aglow +and active with the profoundest zeal, whether wise or otherwise. And +that match was early applied. + +When England had reached the summit of delirium under her usurping +Protector, Oliver Cromwell, there arose, among many other sects full +of enthusiastic self-assertion, that of the Quakers, who were chiefly +characterized by a profound religious, and oft fanatical, opposition +to the Established Church, as well as to the Crown. Coming in contact +with one of their most zealous preachers, young Penn was inflamed with +their spirit and became a vigorous propagator of their particular +style of devotion. + +As the Quaker tenets respected the state as well as religion, the bold +avowal of them brought him into collision with the laws, and several +times into prison and banishment. But, so far from intimidating him, +this only the more confirmed him in his convictions and fervency. By +his familiarity with able theologians, such as Dr. Owen and Bishop +Tillotson, as well as from his own studies of the Scriptures, he was +deeply grounded in the main principles of the evangelic faith. Indeed, +he was in many things, in his later life, much less a Quaker than many +who glory in his name, and all his sons after him found their +religious home in the Church of England, which, to Quakers generally, +was a very Babylon. But he was an honest-minded, pure, and cultured +Christian believer, holding firmly to the inward elements of the +orthodox faith in God and Christ, in revelation and eternal judgment, +in the rights of man and the claims of justice. If some of his friends +and representatives did not deal as honorably with the Swedes in +respect to their prior titles to their improved lands as right and +charity would require, it is not to be set down to his personal +reproach. And his zeal for his sect and his genuine devotion to God +and religious liberty, together with a large-hearted philanthropy, +were the springs which moved him to seize the opportunity which +offered in the settlement of his deceased father's claim on the +government to secure a grant of territory and privilege to form a free +state in America--first for his own, and then for all other persecuted +people. + + +AN ESTIMATE OF PENN. + +It may be that Penn has been betimes a little overrated. He has, and +deserves, a high place in the history of our commonwealth, but he was +not the real founder of it; for its foundations were laid years before +he was born and more than forty years before he received his charter. +He founded Pennsylvania only as Americus Vespucius discovered America. +Neither was he the author of those elements of free government, equal +rights, and religious liberty which have characterized our +commonwealth. They were the common principles of Luther and the +Reformation, and were already largely embodied for this very +territory[34] long before Penn's endeavors, as also, in measure, in +the Roman Catholic colony of Maryland from the same source. + +Nor was he, in his own strength, possessed of so much wise forethought +and profound legislative and executive ability as that with which he +is sometimes credited. But he was a conscientious, earnest, and +God-fearing man, cultured by education and grace, gifted with +admirable address, sincere and philanthropic in his aims, and guided +and impelled by circumstances and a peculiar religious zeal which +Providence overruled to ends far greater than his own intentions or +thoughts. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[34] See sketch of the plan of Gustavus Adolphus for his colony, page +143, and the instructions given to Governor Printz in 1642. + + +PENN AND THE INDIANS. + +What is called Penn's particular policy toward the Indians, and the +means of his successes in that regard, existed in practical force +scores of years before he arrived. His celebrated treaties with them, +as far as they were fact, were but continuations and repetitions +between them and the English, which had long before been made between +them and the Swedes, who did more for these barbarian peoples than he, +and who helped him in the matter more than he helped himself. + +We are not fully informed respecting all the first instructions given +to Governor Minuit when he came hither with Pennsylvania's original +colony in 1637-38, but there is every reason to infer that they +strictly corresponded to those given to his successor, Governor +Printz, five years afterward, on his appointment in 1642, about which +there can be no question. Minuit entered into negotiations with the +Indians the very first thing on his landing, and purchased from them, +as the rightful proprietors, all the land on the western side of the +river from Henlopen to Trenton Falls; a deed for which was regularly +drawn up, to which the Indians subscribed their hands and marks. Posts +were also driven into the ground as landmarks of this treaty, which +were still visible in their places sixty years afterward. + +In the appointment and commission of Governor Printz it was commanded +him to "bear in mind the articles of contract entered into with the +wild inhabitants of the country as its rightful lords." "The wild +nations bordering on all other sides the governor shall understand how +to treat with all humanity and respect, that no violence, or wrong be +done them; but he shall rather at every opportunity exert himself that +the same wild people may gradually be instructed in the truths and +worship of the Christian religion, and in other ways brought to +civilization and good government, and in this manner properly guided. +Especially shall he seek to gain their confidence, and impress upon +their minds that neither he, the governor, nor his people and +subordinates, are come into those parts to do them any wrong or +injury." + +This policy was not a thing of mere coincidence. It was the express +stipulation and command of the throne of Sweden, August 15, 1642, +which was two years before William Penn was born; and "this policy was +steadily pursued and adhered to by the Swedes during the whole time of +their continuance in America, as the governors of the territory of +which they had thus acquired the possession; and the consequences were +of the most satisfactory character. They lived in peace with the +Indians, and received no injuries from them. The Indians respected +them, and long after the Swedish power had disappeared from the shores +of the Delaware they continued to cherish its memory and speak of it +with confidence and affection."[35] + +Governor Printz arrived in this country in 1642, and with him came +Rev. John Campanius as chaplain and pastor of the Swedish colony. His +grandson, Thomas Campanius Holm, many years after published numerous +items put on record by the elder Campanius, in which it appears that +the commands to Printz respecting the Indians were very scrupulously +carried out. + +According to these records, the Indians were very familiar at the +house of the elder Campanius, and he did much to teach and +Christianize them. "He generally succeeded in making them understand +that there is one Lord God, self-existent and one in three Persons; +how the same God made the world, and made man, from whom all other men +have descended; how Adam afterward disobeyed, sinned against his +Creator, and involved all his descendants in condemnation; how God +sent his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ into the world, who was born +of the Virgin Mary and suffered for the saving of men; how he died +upon the cross, and was raised again the third day; and, lastly, how, +after forty days, he ascended into heaven, whence he will return at a +future day to judge the living and the dead," etc. And so much +interest did they take in these instructions, and seemed so well +disposed to embrace Christianity, that Campanius was induced to study +and master their language, that he might the more effectually teach +them the religion of Christ. He also translated into the Indian +language the Catechism of Luther, perhaps the very first book ever put +into the Indian tongue. + +Campanius began his work of evangelizing these wild people four years +before Eliot, who is sometimes called "the morning star of missionary +enterprise," but who first commenced his labors in New England only in +1646. Hence Dr. Clay remarks that "the Swedes may claim the honor of +having been the first missionaries among the Indians, at least in +Pennsylvania."[36] "It was, _in fact, the Swedes who inaugurated the +peaceful policy of William Penn_. This was not an accidental +circumstance in the Swedish policy, but was deliberately adopted and +always carefully observed."[37] + +When Mr. Rising became governor of the Swedish colony he invited ten +Indian chiefs, or kings, to a friendly conference with him. It was +held at Tinicum, on the Delaware, June 17, 1654, when the governor +saluted them, in the name of the Swedish queen, with assurances of +every kindness toward them, and proposed to them a firm renewal of the +old friendship. Campanius has given a minute account of this +conference, and recites the speech in which one of the chiefs, named +Naaman, testified how good the Swedes had been to them; that the +Swedes and Indians had been in the time of Governor Printz as one body +and one heart; that they would henceforward be as one head, like the +calabash, which has neither rent nor seam, but one piece without a +crack; and that in case of danger to the Swedes they would ever serve +and defend them. It was at the same time further arranged and agreed +that if any trespasses were committed by any of their people upon the +property of the Swedes, the matter should be investigated by men +chosen from both sides, and the person found guilty "should be +punished for it as a warning to others."[38] This occurred when +William Penn was but ten years of age, and twenty-eight years before +his arrival in America. + +And upon the subject of the help which the Swedes rendered to Penn in +his dealings with these people in the long after years, Acrelius +writes: "The Proprietor ingratiated himself with the Indians. The +Swedes acted as his interpreters, especially Captain Lars (Lawrence) +Kock, who was a great favorite among the Indians. He was sent to New +York to buy goods suitable for traffic. He did all he could to give +them a good opinion of their new ruler" (p. 114); and it was by means +of the aid and endeavors of the Swedes, more than by any influence of +his own, that Penn came to the standing with these people to which he +attained, and on which his fame in that regard rests. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35] Introduction to Acrelius's _History_. + +[36] _Swedish Annals_, p. 26. + +[37] Dr. Reynolds's _Introduction to Acrelius_, p. 14. + +[38] See Acrelius's _History_, pp. 64, 65, and Clay's _Swedish +Annals_, pp. 24, 25. + + +PENN'S WORK. + +But still, as a man, a colonist, a governor, and a friend of the race, +we owe to William Penn great honor and respect, and his arrival here +is amply worthy of our grateful commemoration. The location and +framing of this goodly city, and a united and consolidated +Pennsylvania established finally in its original principles of common +rights and common freedom, are his lasting monument. If he was not +the spring of our colonial existence, he was its reinforcement by a +strong and fortunate stream, which more fully determined the channel +of its history. If the doctrine of liberty of conscience and religion, +the principles of toleration and common rights, and the embodying of +them in a free state open to all sufferers for conscience' sake, did +not originate with him, he performed a noble work and contributed a +powerful influence toward their final triumph and permanent +establishment on this territory. And his career, taken all in all, +connects his name with an illustrious service to the cause of freedom, +humanity, and even Christianity, especially in its more practical and +ethical bearings. + + +THE GREATNESS OF FAITH. + +Such, then, were the men most concerned in founding and framing our +grand old commonwealth. They were men of faith, men of thorough +culture, men of mark by birth and station, men who had learned to +grapple with the great problem of human rights, human happiness, human +needs, and human relations to heaven and earth. They believed in God, +in the revelation of God, in the Gospel of Christ, in the +responsibility of the soul to its Maker, and in the demands of a +living charity toward God and all his creatures. And their religious +faith and convictions constituted the fire which set them in motion +and sustained and directed their exertions for the noble ends which it +is ours so richly to enjoy. Had they not been the earnest Christians +that they were, they never could have been the men they proved +themselves, nor ever have thought the thoughts or achieved the +glorious works for ever connected with their names. + +We are apt to contemplate Christian faith and devotion only in its +more private and personal effects on individual souls, the light and +peace it brings to the true believer, and the purification and hope it +works in the hearts of those who receive it, whilst we overlook its +force upon the great world outside and its shapings of the facts and +currents of history. We think of Luther wrestling with his sins, +despairing and dying under the impossible task of working out for +himself an availing righteousness, and rejoice with him in the light +and peace which came to his agonized soul through the grand and +all-conditioning doctrine of justification by simple faith in an +all-sufficient Redeemer; but we do not always realize how the breaking +of that evangelic principle into his earnest heart was the +incarnation of a power which divided the Christian ages, brought the +world over the summit of the water-shed, and turned the gravitation of +the laboring nations toward a new era of liberty and happiness. And so +we refer to the spiritual training of a Gustavus Adolphus and an Axel +Oxenstiern in the simple truths of Luther's Catechism and the restored +Gospel, and to the opening of the heart of a William Penn to the +exhortations of Friend Loe to forsake the follies of the corrupt world +and seek his portion with the pure in heaven, and mark the unfoldings +of their better nature which those blessed instructions wrought; +whilst we fail to note that therein lay the springs and germs which +have given us our grand commonwealth and established for us the free +institutions of Church and State in which we so much glory and +rejoice. + +Ah, yes; there is greatness and good and blessing untold for man and +for the world in the personal hearing, believing, and heeding of the +Word and testimony of God. No man can tell to what new impulses in +human history, or to what new currents of benediction and continents +of national glory, it may lead for souls in the school of Christ to +open themselves meekly to the inflowings of Heaven's free grace. It +was the sowing of God's truth and the planting of God's Spirit in +these men's hearts that most of all grew for us our country and our +blessed liberties. + + + + +II. THE PRINCIPLES ENTHRONED. + + +The religious element in man is the deepest and most powerful in his +nature. It is that also which asserts and claims the greatest +independence from external constraints. It is therefore the height of +unwisdom, not to say tyranny, for earthly magistracy to interfere by +penalty and sword with the religious opinions and movements of the +people, so long as civil authority and public order are not invaded +and the rights of others are not infringed. In such cases it is always +best to combat only with the Word of God. If of men it will come to +naught, and if of God it cannot be suppressed. Reaction against wrongs +done to truth and right is sure to come, and will push through to +revolution and victory in spite of all unrighteous power. It is vain +for any human governments to think to chain up the honest convictions +of the soul. God made it free, and sooner or later it will be free, in +spite of everything. + +It was largely the weight and current of such reaction against +arbitrary interference with the religious convictions and free +conscience of man that furnished the impulse to the original peopling +of our State and country, and gave shape to the constitution and laws +of this commonwealth for the last two hundred years. Nor will our +inquiries and showings with regard to the founding of Pennsylvania be +complete without something more respecting the leading principles +which governed in that fortunate movement. + + +OUR STATE THE PRODUCT OF FAITH. + +I. It is a matter of indisputable fact that the founding of our +commonwealth was one of the direct fruits of the revived Gospel of +Christ. But a little searching into the influences most active in the +history is required to show that it was religious conviction and +faith, more than anything else, that had to do with the case. + +Changes had come. Luther had found the Bible chained, and set it free. +Apostolic Christianity had reappeared, and was re-uttering itself with +great power among the nations. Its quickening truths and growing +victories were undermining the gigantic usurpations and falsehoods +which for ages had been oppressing our world. Conscience, illuminated +and revived by the Word of God, had risen up to assert its rights of +free judgment and free worship, and resentful power had drawn the +sword to put it down. Continental Europe was being deluged with blood +and devastated by relentless religious wars to crush out the evangelic +faith, whose confessors held up the Bible over all popes and secular +powers, and would not consent to part with their inalienable charter +from the throne of Heaven to worship God according to his Word. And +amid these woeful struggles the good providence of the Almighty opened +up to the attention of the nations the vast new territories of this +Western World. + +From various motives, indeed, were the several original colonies of +America founded. Some of the colonists came from a spirit of +adventure. Some came for territorial aggrandizement and national +enrichment. Some came as mercantile speculators. And each of these +considerations may have entered somewhat into the most of these +colonization schemes. But it was mainly flight from oppression on +account of religious convictions which influenced the first colony of +New England, and a still freer religious motive induced the +colonization of Pennsylvania. + +All the men most concerned in the matter were profoundly religious +men and thorough and active believers in revived Christianity; and it +was most of all from these religious feelings and impulses that they +acted in the case. + + +GUSTAVUS AND THE SWEDES. + +The first presentation to the king of Sweden, by William Usselinx, +touching the planting of a colony on the west bank of the Delaware, +looked to the establishment of a trading company with unlimited +trading privileges; and the argument for it was the great source of +revenue it would be to the kingdom. But when Gustavus Adolphus entered +into the subject and gave his royal favor to it, quite other motives +and considerations came in to determine his course. As the history +records, and quite aside from the prospect of establishing his power +in these parts of the world, "the king, whose zeal for the honor of +God was not less ardent than for the welfare of his subjects, _availed +himself of this opportunity to extend the doctrines of Christ among +the heathen_,"[39] and to this end granted letters patent, in which it +was further provided that a free state should be formed, guaranteeing +all personal rights of property, honor, and religion, and forming an +asylum and place of security for the persecuted people of all nations. +And when these gracious intentions of the king were revived after his +death, the same ideas and provisions were carefully maintained, +specially stipulating (1) for every human respect toward the +Indians--to wit, that the governors of the colony should deal justly +with them as the rightful lords of the land, and exert themselves at +every opportunity "that the same wild people may be instructed in the +truths and worship of the Christian religion, and in other ways +brought to civilization and good government, and in this manner +properly guided;" (2) "above all things to consider and see to it that +divine service be duly maintained and zealously performed according to +the unaltered Augsburg Confession;" and (3) to protect those of a +different confession in the free exercise of their own forms.[40] + +It is plain, therefore, that the spirit of religion, the spirit of +evangelical missions, the spirit of Christian charity, and the spirit +of devotion to the protection of religious liberty and freedom of +conscience were the dominating motives on the part of those who +founded the first permanent settlement on the territory of +Pennsylvania. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[39] _History of New Sweden_, by Israel Acrelius, p. 21. + +[40] Rehearsed in the commission to Governor Printz, 1642, sections 9 +and 26. + + +THE FEELINGS OF WILLIAM PENN. + +Bating somewhat the missionary character of the enterprise, the same +may be said of William Penn and his great reinforcement to what had +thus been successfully begun long before his time. He was himself a +very zealous preacher of religion, though more in the line of protest +against the world and the existing Church than in the line of positive +Christianity and the conversion and evangelization of the heathen. He +had himself been a great sufferer for his religious convictions, along +with the people whose cause he had espoused and made his own. His +controlling desire was to honor and glorify God in the founding of a +commonwealth in which those of his way of thinking might have a secure +home of their own and worship their Creator as best agreed with their +feelings and convictions, without being molested or disturbed; +offering at the same time the same precious boon to others in like +constraints willing to share the lot of his endeavors. + +The motives of Charles II. in granting his charter were, first of +all, to discharge a heavy pecuniary claim of Penn against the +government on account of his father; next, to honor the memory and +merits of the late Admiral Penn; and, finally, at the same time, to +"favor William Penn in his laudable efforts to enlarge the British +empire, to promote the trade and prosperity of the kingdom, and to +reduce the savage nations by just and gentle measures to the love of +civilized life and the Christian religion." Penn's idea, as stated by +his memorialist, was "to obtain the grant of a territory on the west +side of the Delaware, in which he might not only furnish an asylum to +Friends (Quakers), and others who were persecuted on account of their +religious persuasion, but might erect a government upon principles +approaching much nearer the standard of evangelical purity than any +which had been previously raised." + +His own account of the matter is: "For my country I eyed the Lord in +obtaining it; and more was I drawn inward to look to him, and to owe +it to his hand and power, than to any other way. I have so obtained +it, and desire to keep it, that I may not be unworthy of his love, but +do that which may answer his kind providence and serve his truth and +people, that an example may be set up to the nations. There may be +room there, though not here, for such an holy experiment." "I do +therefore desire the Lord's wisdom to guide me and those that may be +concerned with me, that we may do the thing that is truly wise and +just." + +And with these aims and this spirit he invited people to join him, +came to the territory which had been granted him, conferred with the +Swedish and Dutch colonists already on the ground, and together with +them established the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. + + +RECOGNITION OF THE DIVINE BEING. + +II. Accordingly, also, the chief corner-stone in the constitutional +fabric of our State was the united official acknowledgment of the +being and supremacy of one eternal and ever-living God, the Judge of +all men and the Lord of nations. + +The self-existence and government of Almighty God is the foundation of +all things. Nothing _is_ without him. And the devout and dutiful +recognition of him and the absolute supremacy of his laws are the +basis and chief element of everything good and stable in human +affairs. He who denies this or fails in its acknowledgment is so far +practically self-stultified, beside himself, outside the sphere of +sound rationality, and incapable of rightly understanding or directing +himself or anything else. Nor could those who founded our commonwealth +have been moved as they were, or achieved the happy success they did, +had it not been for their clear, profound, and practical +acknowledgment of the being and government of that good and almighty +One who fills immensity and eternity, and from whom, and by whom, and +to whom are all things. + +Some feel and act as if it were an imbecility, or a thing only for the +weak, timid, and helpless, to be concerned about an Almighty God. But +greater, braver, and more manly men did not then exist than those who +were most prominent and active in founding and framing our +commonwealth; and of all men then making themselves felt in the +affairs of our world, they were among the most honest and devout in +the practical confession of the eternal being and providence of +Jehovah. + +The great Gustavus Adolphus and the equally great Axel Oxenstiern held +and confessed from their deepest souls and in all their thoughts and +doings that there is an eternal God, infinite in power, wisdom, and +goodness, the Creator, Preserver, and Judge of all things, visible and +invisible, and that on him and his favor alone all good and +prosperity in this world and the next depends. This they ever formally +and devoutly set forth in all their state papers and in all their +undertakings and doings, whether as men or as rulers. The sound of +songs and prayers to this almighty and ever-present God was heard at +every sunrise through all the army of Gustavus in the field, as well +as in the tent and closet of its great commander. And all the +instructions given to the governors of the colony on the Delaware were +meekly conditioned to the will of God, with specific emphasis on the +provision: "Above all things, shall the governor consider and see to +it that a true and due worship, becoming honor, laud, and praise be +paid to the Most High in all things." + +The same is true of William Penn. From early life he was always a +zealous exhorter to the devout worship of Almighty God as the only +Illuminator and Helper of men. What he averred in his letter to the +Indians was the great root-principle of his life: "There is a great +God and Power, which hath made the world and all things therein, to +whom you and I and all people owe their being and well-being, and to +whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we have done +in this world." + +And what was thus wrought into the texture of his being he also wove +into the original constitution of our State. + + +ENACTMENTS ON THE SUBJECT. + +All the articles of government and regulation ordained by the first +General Assembly, held at Upland (Chester) from the seventh to the +tenth day of December, 1682, were fundamentally grounded on this +express "Whereas, the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is +the reason and end of government, and therefore government itself is a +valuable ordinance of God; and forasmuch as it is principally desired +to make and establish such laws as shall best preserve true Christian +and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and +unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, Cæsar his due, and the +people their due, from tyranny and oppression on the one side, and +insolence and licentiousness on the other; so that the best and +firmest foundation may be laid for the present and future happiness of +both the governor and the people of this province and their +posterity;" for it was deemed and believed on all hands that neither +permanence nor happiness, enduring order nor prosperity, could come +from any other principle than that of the recognition of the supremacy +and laws of Him from whom all things proceed and on whom all creatures +depend. + +On this wise also ran the very first of the sixty-one laws ordained by +that Assembly: "Almighty God being the Lord of conscience, Father of +lights, and the Author as well as Object of all divine knowledge, +faith, and worship, who alone can enlighten the mind and convince the +understanding of people in due reverence to his sovereignty over the +souls of mankind," the rights of citizenship, protection, and liberty +should be to every person, then or thereafter residing in this +province, "who shall confess one Almighty God to be the Creator, +Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and profess himself obliged in +conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government;" +provided, further, that no person antagonizing this confession, or +refusing to profess the same, or convicted of unsober or dishonest +conversation, should ever hold office in this commonwealth. + +And so entirely did this, and what else was then and there enacted and +ordained, fall in with the teachings, feelings, and beliefs of the +hardy and devoted Swedish Lutherans, who had here been professing and +fulfilling the same for two scores of years preceding, that they not +only joined in the making of these enactments, but sent a special +deputation to the governor formally to assure him that, on these +principles and the faithful administration of them, they would love, +serve, and obey him with all they possessed. + + +IMPORTANCE OF THIS PRINCIPLE. + +Nor can it ever be known in this world how much of the success, +prosperity, and happy conservatism which have marked this commonwealth +in all the days and years since, have come directly from this planting +of it on the grand corner-stone of all national stability, order, and +happiness. Surely, a widely different course and condition of things +would have come but for this secure anchoring of the ship on the +everlasting Rock. And a thousand pities it is that the influence of +French atheism was allowed to exclude so wholesome a principle from +the Declaration of our national Independence and from our national +Constitution. Whilst such recognition of Jehovah's supremacy and +government abides in living force in the hearts of the people, the +absence of its official formulation may be of no material +disadvantage; but for the better preservation of it in men's minds, +and for the obstruction of the insidious growth of what strikes at the +foundation of all government and order, it would have been well had +the same been put in place as the grand corner-stone of our whole +national fabric, as it was in the original organization of the +Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and kept in both clear and unchangeable +for ever. We might then hope for better things than are indicated by +the present drift, and the outlook for those to come after us would be +less dark and doubtful than it is. + +But, since weakenings and degeneration in these respects have come +into the enactments of public power, it is all the more needful for +every true and patriotic citizen to be earnest and firm in witnessing +for God and his everlasting laws, that the people may be better than +the later expressions of their state documents. The example of the +fathers makes appeal to the consciences of their children not to let +go from our hearts and lives the deep and abiding recognition and +confession of that almighty Governor of all things from whose +righteous tribunal no one living can escape, and before whom no +contemner of his authority can stand. + + +RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. + +III. Another great and precious principle enthroned in the founding of +our commonwealth was that of religious liberty. + +One of the saddest chapters in human history is that of persecution on +account of religious convictions--the imposition of penalties, +torture, and death by the sword of government on worthy people because +of their honest opinions of duty to Almighty God. For the punishment +of the lawless, the wicked, and the intractable, and for the praise, +peace, and protection of them that do well, the civil magistrate is +truly the authorized representative of God, and fails in his office +and duty where the powers he wields are not studiously and vigorously +exercised to these ends. But God hath reserved to himself, and hath +not committed to any creature hands, the power and dominion to +interfere with realm of conscience. As he alone can instruct and +govern it, and as its sphere is that of the recognition of his will +and law and the soul's direct amenability to his judgment-bar, it is a +gross usurpation and a wicked presumption for any other authority or +power to undertake to force obedience contrary to the soul's +persuasion of what its Maker demands of it as a condition of his +favor. + +It is a principle of human action and obligation recognized in both +Testaments, that when the requirements of human authority conflict +with those of the Father of spirits we must obey God rather than man. +The rights of conscience and the rights of God thus coincide, and to +trample on the one is to deny the other. And when earthly governments +invade this sacred territory they invade the exclusive domain of God +and make war upon the very authority from which they have their right +to be. + +The plea of its necessity for the support of orthodoxy, the +maintenance of the truth, and the glory of God will not avail for its +justification, for God has not ordained civil government to inflict +imprisonment, exile, and death upon religious dissenters, or even +heretics; and his truth and glory he has arranged to take care of in +quite another fashion. What Justin Martyr and Tertullian in the early +Church and Luther in the Reformation-time declared, must for ever +stand among the settled verities of Heaven: that it is not right to +murder, burn, and afflict people because they feel in conscience bound +to a belief and course of life which they have found and embraced as +the certain will and requirement of their Maker. We must ward off +heresy with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and not +with the sword of the state and with fire. + + +PERSECUTION FOR OPINION'S SAKE. + +And yet such abuses of power have been staining and darkening all the +ages of human administration, and, unfortunately, among professing +Christians as well as among pagans and Jews. Intolerance is so rooted +in the selfishness and ambition of human nature that it has ever been +one of the most difficult of practical problems to curb and regulate +it. Those who have most complained of it whilst feeling it, often only +needed to have the circumstances reversed in order to fall into +similar wickedness. The Puritans, who fled from it as from the Dragon +himself, soon had their Star-Chamber too, their whipping-posts, their +death-scaffolds, and their sentences of exile for those who dissented +from their orthodoxy and their order. Even infidelity and atheism, +always the most blatant for freedom when in the minority, have shown +in the philosophy of Hobbes and in the Reign of Terror in France that +they are as liable to be intolerant, fanatical, and oppressive when +they have the mastery as the strongest faith and the most assured +religionism. And the Quakers themselves, who make freedom of +conscience one of the chief corner-stones of their religion, have not +always been free from offensive and disorderly aggressions upon the +rightful sphere of government and the rightful religious freedom of +other worshipers. Even so treacherous is the human heart on the +subject of just and equal religious toleration. + + +SPIRIT OF THE FOUNDERS. + +It is therefore a matter of everlasting gratitude and thanksgiving +that all the men most concerned in the founding of our commonwealth +were so clear and well-balanced on the subject of religious liberty, +and so thoroughly inwove the same into its organic constitution. + +Gustavus Adolphus and Axel Oxenstiern were the heroes of their time in +the cause of religious liberty in continental Europe. Though intensely +troubled in their administration by the Roman Catholics and the +Anabaptists, the most intolerant of intolerants in those days, they +never opposed force against the beliefs or worships of either; and +when force was used against the papal powers, it was only so far as to +preserve unto themselves and their fellow-confessors the inalienable +right to worship God according to the dictates of their own +consciences without molestation or disturbance. In their scheme of +colonization in this Western World, first and last, the invitation was +to all classes of Christians in suffering and persecution for +conscience' sake, who were favorable to a free state where they could +have the free enjoyment of their property and religion, to cast in +their lot. In the first charter, confirmed by all the authorities of +the kingdom and rehearsed in the instructions given by the throne for +the execution of the intention, special provision was made for the +protection of the convictions and worship of those not of the same +confession with that for which the government provided. Though a +Lutheran colony, under a Lutheran king, sustained and protected by a +Lutheran government, the Calvinists had place and equal protection in +it from the very beginning; and when the Quakers came, they were at +once and as freely welcomed on the same free principles, as also the +representatives of the Church of England. + +As to William Penn, though contemplating above all the well-being and +furtherance of the particular Society of which he was an eminent +ornament and preacher, consistency with himself, as well as the +established situation of affairs, demanded of him the free toleration +of the Church, however unpalatable to his Society, and with it of all +religious sects and orders of worship. From his prison at Newgate he +had written that the enaction of laws restraining persons from the +free exercise of their consciences in matters of religion was but "the +knotting of whipcord on the part of the enactors to lash their own +posterity, whom they could never promise to be conformed for ages to +come to a national religion." Again and again had he preached and +proclaimed the folly and wickedness of attempting to change the +religious opinions of men by the application of force--the utter +unreasonableness of persecuting orderly people in this world about +things which belong to the next--the gross injustice of sacrificing +any one's liberty or property on account of creed if not found +breaking the laws relating to natural and civil things. + +Hence, from principle as well as from necessity, when he came to +formulate a political constitution for his colony, he laid it down as +the primordial principle: "I do, for me and mine, declare and +establish for the first fundamental of the government of my province +that every person that doth and shall reside therein shall have and +enjoy the free possession of his or her faith and exercise of worship +toward God, in such way and manner as every such person shall in +conscience believe is most acceptable to God. And so long as such +person useth not this Christian liberty to licentiousness or the +destruction of others--that is, to speak loosely and profanely or +contemptuously of God, Christ, the Holy Scriptures, or religion, or +commit any moral evil or injury against others in their +conversation--he or she shall be protected in the enjoyment of the +aforesaid Christian liberty by the civil magistrate." + + +CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS. + +This was in exact accord with the principles and provisions under +which the original colony had been formed, and had already been living +and prospering for more than forty years preceding. Everything, +therefore, was in full readiness and condition for the universal and +hearty adoption of the grand first article enacted by the first +General Assembly, to wit: "That no person now or hereafter residing in +this province, who shall confess one Almighty God to be the Creator, +Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and profess himself obliged in +conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government, +shall in any wise be molested or prejudiced on account of his +conscientious persuasion or practice; nor shall he be compelled to +frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry +contrary to his mind, but shall freely enjoy his liberty in that +respect, without interruption or reflection." + +In these specific provisions all classes in the colony at the time +heartily united. And thus was secured and guaranteed to every good +citizen that full, rightful, and precious religious freedom which is +the birthright of all Americans, for which the oppressed of all the +ages sighed, and which had to make its way through a Red Sea of human +tears and blood and many a sorrowful wilderness before reaching its +place of rest. + + +SAFEGUARDS TO TRUE LIBERTY. + +IV. But the religious liberty which our fathers thus sought to secure +and to transmit to their posterity was not a licentious libertinism. +They knew the value of religious principles and good morals to the +individual and to the state, and they did not leave it an open +matter, under plea of free conscience, for men to conduct themselves +as they please with regard to virtue and religion. + +To be disrespectful toward divine worship, to interfere with its free +exercise as honest men are moved to render it, or to set at naught the +moral code of honorable behavior in human society, is never the +dictate of honest conviction of duty, and, in the nature of things, +cannot be. It is not conscience, but the overriding of conscience; +nay, rebellion against the whole code of conscience, against the +foundations of all government, against the very existence of civil +society. Liberty to blaspheme Almighty God, to profane his name and +ordinances, to destroy his worship, and to set common morality at +naught, is not religious liberty, but disorderly wickedness, a cloak +of maliciousness, the licensing of the devil as an angel of light. It +belongs to mere brute liberty, which must be restrained and brought +under bonds in order to render true liberty possible. Wild and lawless +freedom must come under the restraints and limits of defined order, +peace, and essential morality, or somebody's freedom must suffer, and +social happiness is out of the question. And it is one of the inherent +aims and offices of government to enforce this very constraint, +without which it totally fails of its end and forfeits its right to +be. Where people are otherwise law-abiding, orderly, submissive to the +requisites for the being and well-being of a state, and abstain from +encroachments upon the liberties of others, they are not to be +molested, forced, or compelled in spiritual matters contrary to their +honest convictions; but public blasphemy, open profanity, disorderly +interference with divine worship and reverence, and the hindrance of +what tends to the preservation of good morals, it pertains to the +existence and office of a state to restrain and punish. Severity upon +such disorders is not tyrannical abridgment of the rights of +conscience, for no proper citizen's conscience can ever prompt or +constrain him to any such things. And everything which tends to weaken +and destroy regard for the eternal Power on which all things depend, +to relax the sense of accountability to the divine judgment, and to +trample on the laws of eternal morality, is the worst enemy of the +state, which it cannot allow without peril to its own existence. + +On the other hand, the state is bound for the same reasons to protect +and defend religion in general and the cultivation of the religious +sentiments, in so far, at least, as the laws of virtue and order are +not transgressed in the name of religion. It may not interfere to +decide between different religious societies or churches, as they may +be equally conscientious and honest in their diversities; but where +the tendency is to good and reverence, and the training of the +community to right and orderly life, it belongs to the office and +being of the state not only to tolerate, but to protect them all +alike. In the fatherly care of its subjects, the people consenting, +the state may also recommend and provide support for some particular +and approved order of faith and worship, just as it provides for +public education. And though the civil power may not rightfully +punish, fine, imprison, and oppress orderly and honest citizens for +conscientious non-conformity to any one specific system of belief and +worship, it may, and must, provide for and protect what tends to its +rightful conservation, and also condemn, punish, and restrain +whatsoever tends to unseat it and undermine its existence and peace. +These are fundamental requirements in all sound political economy. + + +LAWS ON RELIGION AND MORALS. + +Our fathers, in their wisdom, understood this, and fashioned their +state provisions and laws accordingly. + +The thing specified as the supreme concern of the public authorities +in the original settlement of this territory by the Swedes was, to +"consider and see to it that a true and due worship, becoming honor, +laud, and praise be paid to the most high God in all things," and that +"all persons, but especially the young, shall be duly instructed in +the articles of their Christian faith." + +But if public worship and religious instruction are to be fostered and +preserved by the state, there must be set times for it, the people +released at those times from hindering occupations and engagements, +and whatever may interfere therewith restrained and put under bonds +against interruption. In other words, the Lord's proper worship +demands and requires a protected Lord's Day. Such appointed and sacred +times for these holy purposes have been from the foundation of the +world. Under all dispensations one day in every seven was a day unto +the Lord, protected and preserved for such sacred uses, on which +secular occupations should cease, and nothing allowed which would +interfere with the public worship of Almighty God and the handling of +his Word. And "because it was requisite to appoint a certain day, that +the people might know when they ought to come together, it appears +that the Christian Church [and so all Christian states] did for that +purpose appoint the Lord's Day," our weekly Sunday. + +This William Penn found in existence and observance by the Swedes and +the Dutch on this territory when he arrived. He therefore advised, and +the first General Assembly of Pennsylvania justly ordained, "that, +according to the good example of the primitive Christians and the ease +of the creation, every first day of the week, called the Lord's Day, +people shall abstain from their common daily labor, that they may the +better dispose themselves to worship God according to their +understandings"--a provision so necessary and important that the +statute laws of our commonwealth have always guarded its observance +with penalties which the State cannot in justice to itself allow to go +unenforced, and which no good citizen should refuse strictly to obey. + +And to the same end was it provided and ordained by the first General +Assembly that "if any person shall abuse or deride another for his +different persuasion or practice in religion, such shall be looked +upon as disturbers of the peace, and be punished accordingly." And in +the line of the same wholesome and necessary policy it was also +further provided and ordained that "all such offences against God as +swearing, cursing, lying, profane talking, drunkenness, obscene words, +revels, etc. etc., which excite the people to rudeness, cruelty, and +irreligion, shall be respectively discouraged and severely punished." + +Such were the good and righteous provisions made for the restraint of +the licentiousness and brutishness of man in the primeval days of our +commonwealth; and wherein it has since sunk away from these original +organic laws the people have only weakened and degraded themselves, +and hindered that virtuous and happy prosperity which would otherwise +in far larger degree than now be our inheritance. + + +FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. + +V. And yet again, as the fathers of our commonwealth gave us religion +without compulsion, so they also gave us a State without a king. + +There is nothing necessarily wrong or necessarily right in this +particular. Monarchy, aristocracy, republicanism, or pure democracy +cannot claim divine right the one over against the other. Either may +be good, or either may be bad, as the situation and the chances may +be. There has been as much bloody wrong and ruin wrought in the name +of liberty as in the establishment of thrones. There have been as good +and happy governments by kings as by any other methods of human +administration. Civil authority is essential to man, and the power for +it must lie somewhere. The only question is as to the safest +depository of it. The mere form of the government is no great matter. +It has been justly said, "There is hardly a government in the world so +ill designed that in good hands would not do well enough, nor any so +good that in ill hands can do aught great and good." Governments +depend on men, not men on governments. Let men be good, and the +government will not be bad; but if men are bad, no government will +hold for good. If government be bad, good men will cure it; and if the +government be good, bad men will warp and spoil it. Nor is there any +form of government known to man that is not liable to abuse, +prostitution, tyranny, unrighteousness, and oppression. + +The best government is that which most efficiently conserves the true +ends of government, be the form what it may. Anything differing from +this is worthless sentimentalism, undeserving of sober regard. And to +meet the true ends of government there must be power to enforce +obedience, and there must be checks upon that power to secure its +subjects against its abuse; for "liberty without obedience is +confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery." But there may be +liberty under monarchy, as well as reverence and obedience under +democracy, whilst there may be oppression and bloody tyranny under +either. + +Amid the varied experiments of the ages the human mind is more and +more settling itself in favor of mixed forms of government, in which +the rights of the people and the limitations of authority are set down +in fixed constitutions, taking the direct rule from the multitude, but +still holding the rulers accountable to the people. Such were more or +less the forms under which the founders of our commonwealth were +tutored. + + +A REPUBLICAN STATE. + +But they went a degree further than the precedents before them. They +believed the safest depository of power to be with the people +themselves, under constitutions ordained by those intending to live +under them and administered by persons of their own choice. "Where +the laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws," was believed +to be the true ideal and realization of civil liberty--the way "to +support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people +from the abuse of power, that they may be free by their just +obedience, and the magistrates honorable for their just +administration." + +And with these ideas, "with reverence to God and good conscience to +men," the first General Assembly in 1682 enacted a common code of +sixty-one laws, in which the foundation-stones of the civil and +criminal jurisprudence of this broad commonwealth were laid, and a +style of government ordained so reasonable, moderate, just, and equal +in its provisions that no one yet has found just cause to deny the +wisdom and beneficence of its structure, whilst Montesquieu pronounces +it "an instance unparalleled in the world's history of the foundation +of a great state laid in peace, justice, and equality." + + +THE LAST TWO HUNDRED YEARS. + +Two hundred years have gone by since this completed organization of +our noble commonwealth. Her free and liberal principles then still +remained in large measure to be learned by some of the other American +colonies. From the very start she was the chief conservator of what +was to be the model for all this grand Union of free States--a +character which she has never lost in all the history of our national +existence. Six generations of stalwart freemen has she reared beneath +her shielding care to people her own vast territory and that of many +other States, no one of which has ever failed in truthfulness to the +great principles in which she was born. Always more solid than noisy, +and more reserved than obtrusive, she has ever served as the great +balance-wheel in the mighty engine of our national organization. Her +life, commingled with other lives attempered to her own, now pulsates +from ocean to ocean and from the frozen lakes to the warm Gulf waters, +all glad and glorious in the unity and sunshine of constitutional +government in the hands of a free people. With her population drawn +from all nationalities to learn from her lips the sacred lessons of +independent self-rule, she has sent it forth as freely to the westward +to build co-equal States in the beauty of her own image, whilst four +millions of her children still abide in growing happiness under her +maternal care. Verily, it was the spirit of prophecy which said, two +hundred years ago, "_God will bless that ground_." + +That blessing we have lived to see. May it continue for yet many +centennials, and grow as it endures! May the faith and spirit of the +men through whose piety and wisdom it has come still warm and animate +the hearts of their successors to the latest generations! May no +careless or corrupt administration of justice or "looseness" or +infidelities of the people come in to bring down the wrath of Heaven +for its interruption! May the sterling principles of our happy freedom +be made good to us and our posterity by the good keeping of them in +honest virtue and obedience, and in due reverence of Him who gave +them, and who is the God and Judge of nations! May those sacred +conditions of the divine favor "which descend not with worldly +inheritances" be so embedded in the training and education of our +youth that the spirit of the children may not be a libel on the faith +and devotion of their fathers! + +Centuries have passed, but the God of Gustavus Adolphus, of the +Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock, of William Penn, and of the hero-saints of +every age and country still lives and reigns. Men may deny it, but +that does not alter it. His government and Gospel are the same now +that they have ever been. What he most approved and blessed in their +days he most approves and blesses in ours. And may their fear and love +of him be to us and our children a copy and a guide, to steer in +safety amid the dangerous rapids of these doubtful times! + +"And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province, named +before thou wert born! what love, what care, what service, and what +travail has there been to bring thee forth and preserve thee from such +as would abuse and defile thee! My soul prays to God for thee, that +thou mayest stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be +blessed of the Lord, and thy people saved by his power." + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Luther and the Reformation:, by Joseph A. 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Seiss. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: none;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i18 {display: block; margin-left: 18em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Luther and the Reformation:, by Joseph A. Seiss + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Luther and the Reformation: + The Life-Springs of Our Liberties + +Author: Joseph A. Seiss + +Release Date: October 4, 2005 [EBook #16797] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION: *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Linda Cantoni, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>[Pg 1]</span></p> + + + +<h1><span class="smcap">Luther and the Reformation</span>:</h1> + +<h2>THE LIFE-SPRINGS OF OUR LIBERTIES.</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JOSEPH A. SEISS, D.D.,</h2> + +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Pastor of the Church of the Holy Communion, Philadelphia</span></p> + +<p style="text-align: center">AUTHOR OF</p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">"A Miracle in Stone," "Voices from Babylon," etc. etc.</span></p> + +<p style="text-align: center"> </p> + +<p style="text-align: center"> +<img src="images/seiss.jpg" alt="Joseph A. Seiss" width="302" height="400" /></p> + +<p style="text-align: center">JOSEPH A. SEISS</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p style="text-align: center">CHARLES C. COOK,</p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">150 Nassau Street,</span></p> + +<p style="text-align: center">NEW YORK.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center"> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>[Pg 2]</span></p> + +<p style="text-align: center">Copyright, 1883,</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">BY PORTER & COATES.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>[Pg 3]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>The first part of this book presents the studies of the Author in +preparing a Memorial Oration delivered in the city of New York, +November 10, 1883, on the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of +Martin Luther. The second part presents his studies in a like +preparation for certain Discourses delivered in the city of +Philadelphia at the Bi-Centennial of the founding of the Commonwealth +of Pennsylvania. There was no intention, in either case, to make a +book, however small in size. But the utterances given on these +occasions having been solicited for publication in permanent shape for +common use, and the two parts being intimately related in the +exhibition of the most vital <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>[Pg 4]</span>springs of our religious and civil +freedom, it has been concluded to print these studies entire and +together in this form, in hope that the same may satisfy all such +desires and serve to promote truth and righteousness.</p> + +<p>Throughout the wide earth there has been an unexampled stir with +regard to the life and work of the great Reformer, and these +presentations may help to show it no wild craze, but a just and +rational recognition of God's wondrous providence in the constitution +of our modern world.</p> + +<p>And to Him who was, and who is, and who is to come, the God of all +history and grace, be the praise, the honor, and the glory, world +without end!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thanksgiving Day, 1883.</span></p> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>[Pg 5]</span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p><a href="#PREFACE"><b>PREFACE.</b></a></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p><a href="#LUTHER_AND_THE_REFORMATION"><b>LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION pp. 7-134.</b></a></p> + +<p>Human Greatness, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>.—<i>The Papacy</i>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>.—Efforts at Reform, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>.—Time +of the Reformation, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>.—Frederick the Wise, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>.—Reuchlin, +<a href='#Page_19'>19</a>.—Erasmus, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>.—Ulric von Hütten, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>.—Ulrich Zwingli, +<a href='#Page_24'>24</a>.—Melanchthon, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>.—John Calvin, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>.—Luther the Chosen Instrument, +<a href='#Page_27'>27</a>.—His Origin, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>.—Early Training, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>.—<i>Nature of the +Reformation</i>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>.—Luther's Spiritual Training, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>.—Development for +his Work, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.—Visit to Rome, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>.—Elected Town-Preacher, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>.—Made a +Doctor, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>.—His Various Labors, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.—Collision with the Hierarchy, +<a href='#Page_49'>49</a>.—The Indulgence-Traffic, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>.—Tetzel's Performances, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>.—Luther +on Indulgences, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>.—Sermon on Indulgences, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>.—Appeal to the +Bishops, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.—<i>The Ninety-five Theses</i>, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>.—Effect of the Theses, +<a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.—Tetzel's End, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.—Luther's Growing Influence, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.—Appeal to the +Pope, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.—Citation to Rome, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>.—Appears before Cajetan, +<a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.—Cajetan's Failure, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>.—Progress of Events, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>.—<i>The Leipsic +Disputation</i>, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.—Results of the Debate, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>.—Luther's +Excommunication, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>.—Answer to the Pope's Bull, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.—<i>The Diet of +Worms</i>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>.—Doings of the Romanists, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>.—Luther Summoned to the +Diet, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>.—Luther at the Diet, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.—Refuses to Retract, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>.—His +Condemnation, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.—Carried to the Wartburg, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.—<i>Translation of the +Bible</i>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>.—His Conservatism, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>.—Growth of the Reformation, +<a href='#Page_100'>100</a>.—<i>Luther's Catechisms</i>, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.—Protestants and War, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.—<i>The +Confession</i> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>[Pg 6]</span><i>of Augsburg</i>, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.—League of Smalcald, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.—Luther's +Later Years, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>.—<i>His Personale</i>, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>.—His Great Qualities, +<a href='#Page_119'>119</a>.—His Alleged Coarseness, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.—His Marvelous Achievements, +<a href='#Page_126'>126</a>.—His Impress upon the World, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>.—His Enemies and Revilers, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><a href="#THE_FOUNDING_OF_PENNSYLVANIA"><b>THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA, pp. 135-206.</b></a></p> + +<p><a href="#I_THE_HISTORY_AND_THE_MEN"><b>I. THE HISTORY AND THE MEN.</b></a></p> +<p>Beginning of Colonization in America, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>.—Movements in Sweden, +<a href='#Page_138'>138</a>.—Swedish Proposals, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>.—Was Penn Aware of these Plans? +<a href='#Page_145'>145</a>.—The Swedes in Advance of Penn, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>.—<i>The Men of those Times</i>, +<a href='#Page_151'>151</a>.—Gustavus Adolphus, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>.—Axel Oxenstiern, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.—Peter Minuit, +<a href='#Page_157'>157</a>.—William Penn, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>.—Estimate of Penn, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>.—Penn and the +Indians, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.—Penn's Work, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>.—The Greatness of Faith, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>.</p> + + +<p><a href="#II_THE_PRINCIPLES_ENTHRONED"><b>II. THE PRINCIPLES ENTHRONED.</b></a></p> + +<p>Man's Religious Nature, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>.—<i>Our State the Product of Faith</i>, +<a href='#Page_174'>174</a>.—Gustavus and the Swedes, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>.—The Feelings of William Penn, +<a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.—<i>Recognition of the Divine Being</i>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>.—Enactments on the +Subject, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>.—Importance of this Principle, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.—<i>Religious +Liberty</i>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.—Persecution for Opinion's Sake, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.—Spirit of the +Founders of Pennsylvania, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>.—Constitutional Provisions, +<a href='#Page_193'>193</a>.—<i>Safeguards to True Liberty</i>, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>.—Laws on Religion and Morals, +<a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.—Forms of Government, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>.—<i>A Republican State</i>, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>.—The Last +Two Hundred Years, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>[Pg 9]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="LUTHER_AND_THE_REFORMATION" id="LUTHER_AND_THE_REFORMATION"></a>LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION.</h2> + +<p> </p> + + +<p>A rare spectacle has been spreading itself before the face of heaven +during these last months.</p> + +<p>Millions of people, of many nations and languages, on both sides of +the ocean, simultaneously engaged in celebrating the birth of a mere +man, four hundred years after he was born, is an unwonted scene in our +world.</p> + +<p>Unprompted by any voice of authority, unconstrained by any command of +power, we join in the wide-ranging demonstration.</p> + +<p>In the happy freedom which has come to us among the fruits of that +man's labors we bring our humble chaplet to grace the memory of one +whose worth and services there is scarce capacity to tell.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Human Greatness.</span></p> + +<p>Some men are colossal. Their characters are so massive, and their +position in history <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>[Pg 10]</span>is so towering, that other men can hardly get +high enough to take their measure. An overruling Providence so endows +and places them that they affect the world, turn its course into new +channels, impart to it a new spirit, and leave their impress on all +the ages after them. Even humble individuals, without titles, crowns, +or physical armaments, have wrought themselves into the very life of +the race and built their memorials in the characteristics of epochs.</p> + +<p>History tells of a certain Saul of Tarsus, a lone and friendless man, +stripped of all earthly possessions, forced into battle with a +universe of enthroned superstition, encompassed by perils which +threatened every hour to dissolve him, who, pressing his way over +mountains of difficulty and through seas of suffering, and dying a +martyr to his cause, gave to Europe a living God and to the nations +another and an everlasting King.</p> + +<p>We likewise read of a certain Christopher Columbus, brooding in lowly +retirement upon the structure of the physical universe, ridiculed, +frowned on by the learned, repulsed by court after court, yet +launching out into the unknown seas to find an undiscovered +hemisphere, and opening the way for persecuted Liberty to cradle the +grand empire of popular <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>[Pg 11]</span>rule amid the golden hills of a new and +independent continent.</p> + +<p>And in this category stands the name of <span class="smcap">Martin Luther</span>.</p> + +<p>He was a poor, plain man, only a doctor of divinity, without place +except as a teacher in a university, without power or authority except +in the convictions and qualities of his own soul, and with no +implements save his Bible, tongue, and pen; but with him the ages +divided and human history took a new departure.</p> + +<p>Two pre-eminent revolutions have passed over Europe since the +beginning of the Christian era. The one struck the Rome and rule of +emperors; the other struck the Rome and rule of popes. The one brought +the Dark Ages; the other ended them. The one overwhelmed the dominion +of the Cæsars; the other humiliated a more than imperial dominion +reared in Cæsar's place. Alaric, Rhadagaisus, Genseric, and Attila +were the chief instruments and embodiment of the first; <i>Martin +Luther</i> was the chief instrument and embodiment of the second. The one +wrought bloody desolation; the other brought blessed renovation, under +which humanity has bloomed its happiest and its best.</p> + +<p> </p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>[Pg 12]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Papacy.</span></p> + +<p>Since Phocas decreed the bishop of Rome the supreme head of the Church +on earth there had grown up strange power which claimed to decide +beyond appeal respecting everybody and everything—from affairs of +empire to the burial of the dead, from the thoughts of men here to the +estate of their souls hereafter—and to command the anathemas of God +upon any who dared to question its authority. It held itself divinely +ordained to give crowns and to take them away. Kings and potentates +were its vassals, and nations had to defer to it and serve it, on pain +of <i>interdicts</i> which smote whole realms with gloom and desolation, +prostrated all the industries of life, locked up the very graveyards +against decent sepulture, and consigned peoples and generations to an +irresistible damnation. It was omnipresent and omnipotent in civilized +Europe. Its clergy and orders swarmed in every place, all sworn to +guard it at every point on peril of their souls, and themselves held +sacred in person and retreat from all reach of law for any crime save +lack of fealty to the great autocracy.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The money, the armies, the +lands, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>[Pg 13]</span>the legislatures, the judges, the executives, the police, the +schools, with the whole ecclesiastical administration, reaching even +to the most private affairs of life, were under its control. And at +its centre sat its absolute dictator, unanswerable and supreme, the +alleged Vicar of God on earth, for whom to err was deemed impossible.</p> + +<p>Think of a power which could force King Henry IV., the heir of a long +line of emperors, to strip himself of every mark of his station, put +on the linen dress of a penitent, walk barefooted through the winter's +snow to the pope's castle at Canossa, and there to wait three days at +its gates, unbefriended, unfed, and half perishing with cold and +hunger, till all but the alleged Vicar of Jesus Christ were moved with +pity for his miseries as he stood imploring the tardy clemency of +Hildebrand, which was almost as humiliating in its bestowal as in its +reservation.</p> + +<p>Think of a power which could force the English king, Henry II., to +walk three miles of a flinty road, with bare and bleeding feet, to +Canterbury, to be flogged from one end of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>[Pg 14]</span>church to the other by +the beastly monks, and then forced to spend the whole night in +supplications to the spirit of an obstinate, perjured, and defiant +archbishop, whom four of his over-zealous knights, without his orders, +had murdered, and whose inner garments, when he was stripped to +receive his shroud, were found alive with vermin!</p> + +<p>Think of a power which, in defiance of the sealed safe-conduct of the +empire, could seize John Huss, one of the worthiest and most learned +men of his time, and burn him alive in the presence of the emperor!</p> + +<p>Think of a power which, by a single edict, caused the deliberate +murder of more than fifty thousand men in the Netherlands alone!</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Efforts at Reform.</span></p> + +<p>To restrain and humble this gigantic power was the desideratum of +ages. For two hundred years had men been laboring to curb and tame it. +From theologians and universities, from kings and emperors, from +provinces and synods, from general councils, and even the College of +Cardinals—in every name of right, virtue, and religion—appeal after +appeal and solemn effort after effort were made to reform the Roman +court and free the world from the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>[Pg 15]</span>terrible oppression. Wars on wars +were waged; provinces on provinces were deluged with blood; +coalitions, bound by sacred oaths, were formed against the giant +tyranny. And yet the hierarchy managed to maintain its assumptions and +to overwhelm all remedial attempts. Whether made by individuals or +secular powers, by councils or governments, the result was the same. +The Pontificate still triumphed, with its claims unabridged, its +dominion unbroken, its scandals uncured.</p> + +<p>A general council sat at Constance to reform the clergy in head and +members. It managed to rid itself of three popes between whom +Christendom was divided, when the emperor moved that the work of +reform proceed. But the cardinals said, How can the Church reform +itself without a head? So they elected a pope who was to lead reform. +Yet a day had hardly passed before they found themselves in a +traitor's power, who reaffirmed all the acts of the iniquitous John +XXIII., who had just been deposed for his crimes, and presently +endowed him with a cardinal's hat!</p> + +<p>When this pope, Martin V., died, the cardinals thought to remedy their +previous mistake. They would secure their reforms before electing a +pope. So they erected themselves into <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>[Pg 16]</span>a standing senate, without +which no future pope could act. And they each took solemn oath, before +God and all angels, by St. Peter and all apostles, by the holy +sacrament of Christ's body and blood, and by all the powers that be, +if elected, to conform to these arrangements and to use all the rights +and prerogatives of the sublime position to put in force the reforms +conceded to be necessary.</p> + +<p>But what are oaths and fore-pledges to candidates greedy for office? +The tickets which elected the new pope had hardly been counted when he +absolved himself from all previous obligations, disowned the senate of +cardinals he had helped to erect, began his career with violence and +robbery, plundered the cities and states of Italy, religiously +violated all compacts but those which favored his absolute supremacy, +brought to none effect the reform Council of Basle, deceived Germany +with his specious and hollow concessions, averted the improvements he +had sworn to make, and by his perfidy and cunning managed to retain in +subordination to the old régime nearly the whole of that Christendom +which he had outraged!</p> + +<p>In spite of the efforts of centuries, this super-imperial power held +by the throat a struggling world.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>[Pg 17]</span></p> + +<p>To break that gnarled and bony hand, which locked up everything in its +grasp; to bring down the towering altitude of that olden tyranny, +whose head was lifted to the clouds; to strike from the soul its +clanking chains and set the suffering nations free; to champion the +inborn rights of afflicted humanity, and conquer the ignorance and +imposture which had governed for a thousand years,—constituted the +work and office of the man the four hundredth anniversary of whose +birth half the civilized world is celebrating to-day.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Time of the Reformation.</span></p> + +<p>It has been said that when this tonsured Augustinian came upon the +stage almost any brave man might have brought about the impending +changes. The Reformers before the Reformation, though vanquished, had +indeed not lived in vain. The European peoples were outgrowing feudal +vassalage, and moving toward nationalization and separation between +the secular and ecclesiastical powers. Travel, exploration, and +discovery had introduced new subjects of human interest and +contemplation. Schools of law, medicine, and liberal education were +being established and largely attended. The common mind was losing +faith in the pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>[Pg 18]</span>fessions and teachings of the old hierarchy. Free +inquiry was overturning the dominion of authority in matters of +thought and opinion. The intellect of man was beginning to recover +from the nightmare of centuries. A mightier power than the sword had +sprung up in the art of printing. In a word, the world was gravid with +a new era. But it was not so clear who would be able to bring it +safely to the birth.</p> + +<p>There were living at the time many eminent men who might be thought of +for this office had it not been assigned to Luther. Reuchlin, Erasmus, +Hütten, Sickingen, and others have been named, but the list might be +extended, and yet no one be found endowed with the qualities to +accomplish the work that was needed and that was accomplished.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Frederick the Wise.</span></p> + +<p>The Saxon Elector, Frederick the Wise, was the worthiest, most +popular, and most influential ruler then in Europe. He could have been +emperor in place of Charles V. had he consented to be. The history of +the world since his time might have been greatly different had he +yielded to the general desire. His principles, his attainments, his +wisdom, and his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>[Pg 19]</span>spirit were everything to commend him. He founded the +University of Wittenberg in hope that it would produce preachers who +would leave off the cold subtleties of Scholasticism and the +uncertainties of tradition, and give discourses that would possess the +nerve and power of the Gospel of God. He sought out the best and most +pious men for his advisers. He was the devoted friend of learning, +truth, and virtue. By his prudence and foresight in Church and State +he helped the Reformation more than any other man then in power. Had +it not been for him perhaps Luther could not have succeeded. But it +was not in the nature of things for the noble Elector to give us such +a Reformation as that led by his humble subject. It is useless to +speculate as to what the Reformation might have become in his hands; +but it certainly could never have become what we rejoice to know it +was, while the probabilities are that we would now be fighting the +battles which Luther fought for us three and a half centuries ago.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Reuchlin.</span></p> + +<p>Reuchlin was a learned and able man, and deeply conscious of the need +of reform. When the Greek Argyrophylos heard him read and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>[Pg 20]</span>explain +Thucydides, he exclaimed, "Greece has retired beyond the Alps." He was +the first Hebrew scholar of Germany, and served to restore the Hebrew +Scriptures to the knowledge of the Church. He held that popes could +err and be deceived. He had no faith in human abnegations for +reconciliation with God. He saw no need for hierarchical mediations, +and discredited the doctrine of Purgatory and masses for the dead. He +bravely defended the cause of learning against the ignorant monks, +whom he hated and held up to merciless ridicule. He was a brilliant +and persuasive orator. He was an associate and counselor of kings. He +gave Melanchthon to the Reformation, and did much to promote it. +Luther recognized in him a great light, of vast service to the Gospel +in Germany. But Reuchlin could never have accomplished the +Reformation. The vital principles of it were not sufficiently rooted +in him. He was a humanist, whose sympathies went with the republic of +letters, not with the wants of the soul and the needs of the people. +When he got into trouble he appealed to the pope. And though he lived +to see Luther in agonizing conflict with the hierarchy of Rome, he +refrained from making common cause with him, and died in connection +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>[Pg 21]</span>with the unreformed Church, whose doctrines he had questioned and +whose orders he had so unsparingly ridiculed.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Erasmus of Rotterdam.</span></p> + +<p>Erasmus was a notable man, great in talent and of great service in +preparing the way for the Reformation. He turned reviving learning to +the study of the Word. He produced the first, and for a long time the +only, critical edition of the New Testament in the original, to which +he added a Latin translation and notes. He paraphrased the Epistle to +the Romans—that great Epistle on which above all, the Reformation +moved. Though once an inmate of a monastery, he abhorred the monks and +exposed them with terrible severity. He had more friends, reputation, +and influence than perhaps any other private man in Europe. And he was +deep in the spirit of opposition to the scandalous condition of things +in the Church. But he never could have given us the Reformation. He +said all honest men sided with Luther, and as an honest man his place +would have been by Luther's side; but he was too great a coward. "If I +should join Luther," said he, "I could only perish with him, and I do +not mean to run my neck into <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>[Pg 22]</span>the halter. Let popes and emperors +settle matters."—"Your Holiness says, Come to Rome; you might as well +tell a crab to fly. If I write calmly against Luther, I shall be +called lukewarm; if I write as he does, I shall stir up a hornet's +nest.... Send for the best and wisest men in Christendom, and follow +their advice."—"Reduce the dogmas necessary to be believed to the +smallest possible number. On other points let every one believe as he +likes. Having done this, quietly correct the abuses of which the world +justly complains."</p> + +<p>So wrote Erasmus to the pope and to the archbishop of Mayence. Such +was his ideal of reformation—a thing as impossible to bring into +practical effect as its realization would have been absurd. It is easy +to tell a crab to fly, but will he do it? As well propose to convert +infallibility with a fable of Æsop as to count on bringing +regeneration to the hierarchy by such counsels.</p> + +<p>The waters were too deep and the storms too fierce for the vacillating +Erasmus. He did some excellent service in his way, but all his +counsels and ideas failed, as they deserved. Once the idol of Europe, +he died a defeated, crushed, and miserable man. "Hercules could not +fight two monsters at once," said he, "while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>[Pg 23]</span> I, poor wretch! have +lions, cerberuses, cancers, scorpions, every day at my sword's +point.... There is no rest for me in my age, unless I join Luther; and +that I cannot, for I cannot accept his doctrines. Sometimes I am stung +with desire to avenge my wrongs; but my heart says, Will you in your +spleen raise hand against your mother who begot you at the font? I +cannot do it. Yet, because I bade monks remember their vows; because I +told persons to leave off their wranglings and read the Bible; because +I told popes and cardinals to look to the apostles and be more like +them,—the theologians say I am their enemy."</p> + +<p>Thus in sorrow and in clouds Erasmus passed away, as would the entire +Reformation in his hands.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ulric von Hütten.</span></p> + +<p>Ulric von Hütten, soldier and knight, equally distinguished in letters +and in arms, and called the Demosthenes of Germany, was a zealous +friend of reform. He had been in Rome, and sharpened his darts from +what he there saw to hurl them with effect. All the powers of satire +and ridicule he brought to bear upon the pillars of the Papacy. He +helped to shake the edifice, and his plans and spirit might have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>[Pg 24]</span>served to pull it down had he been able to bring Europe to his mind; +but it would only have been to bury society in its ruins.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ulrich Zwingli.</span></p> + +<p>Ulrich Zwingli is ranked among Reformers, and he was energetic in +behalf of reform. But he fell a victim to his own mistakes, and with +him would have perished the Reformation also had it depended upon him. +Even had he lived, his radical and rationalistic spirit, his narrow +and fiery patriotism, his shallow religious experience, and his +eagerness to rest the cause of Reformation on civil authority and the +sword, would have wrecked it with nine-tenths of the European peoples.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Melanchthon.</span></p> + +<p>Philip Melanchthon was a better and a greater man, and did the +Reformation a far superior service. Luther would have been much +disabled without him, and Germany has awarded him the title of its +"Preceptor." But no Reformation could have come if the fighting or +directing of its battles had been left to him. Even with the great +Luther ever by his side, he could hardly get loose <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>[Pg 25]</span>from Rome and +retain his wholeness, and when he was loose could hardly maintain his +legs upon the ground that had been won.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Calvin.</span></p> + +<p>John Calvin was a man of great learning and ability. Marked has been +his influence on the theology and government of a large portion of the +Reformed churches. But the Reformation was twelve years old before he +came into it. It had to exist already ere there could be a Calvin, +while his repeated flights to avoid danger prove how inadequate his +courage was for such unflinching duty as rendered Luther illustrious. +He was a cold, hard, ascetic aristocrat at best, more cynical, stern, +and tyrannical than brave. The organization for the Church and civil +government which he gave to Geneva was quite too intolerant and +inquisitorial for safe adoption in general or to endure the test of +the true Gospel spirit. Under a régime which burnt Servetus for +heresy, threw men into prison for reading novels, hung and beheaded +children for improper behavior toward parents, whipped and banished +people for singing songs, and dealt with others as public blasphemers +if they said a word against the Reformers or failed to go to church, +the cause <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>[Pg 26]</span>of the Reformation could never have commanded acceptance by +the nations, or have survived had it been received. The famous "Blue +Laws" of the New England colonies have had to be given up as a scandal +upon enlightened civilization; but they were largely transcribed from +Calvin's code and counsels, including even the punishing of witches. +For the last two hundred years the Calvinistic peoples have been +reforming back from Calvin's rules and spirit, either to a better +foundation for the perpetuation and honor of the Church or to a +rationalistic skepticism which lets go all the distinctive elements of +the genuine Christian Creed—the natural reaction from the hard and +overstrained severity of a legalistic style of Christianity.</p> + +<p>With all the great service Calvin has rendered to theological science +and church discipline, there was an unnatural sombreness about him, +which linked him rather with the Middle Ages and the hierarchical rule +than with the glad, free spirit of a wholesome Christian life. At +twenty-seven he had already drawn up a formula of doctrine and +organization which he never changed and to which he ever held. There +was no development either in his life or in his ideas. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>[Pg 27]</span>evangelic +elements of his system he found ready to his hand, as thought out by +Luther and the German theologians. They did not originate or grow with +him. And had the Reformation depended upon him it could never have +become a success. So too with any others that might be named.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther the Chosen Instrument.</span></p> + +<p>We may not limit Providence. The work was to be done. Every interest +of the world and of the kingdom of God demanded it. And if there had +been no Luther at hand, some one else would have been raised up to +serve in his place. But there <i>was</i> a Luther, and, as far as human +insight can determine, he was the only man on earth competent to +achieve the Reformation. And he it was who did achieve it.</p> + +<p>Looked at in advance, perhaps no one would have thought of him for +such an office. He was so humbly born, so lowly in station, so +destitute of fortune, and withal so honest a Papist, that not the +slightest tokens presented to mark him out as the chosen instrument to +grapple with the magnitudinous tyranny by which Europe was enthralled.</p> + +<p>But "God hath chosen the weak things of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>[Pg 28]</span>the world to confound the +things that are mighty." Moses was the son of a slave. The founder of +the Hebrew monarchy was a shepherd-boy. The Redeemer-King of the world +was born in a stable and reared in the family of a village carpenter. +And we need not wonder that the hero-prophet of the modern ages was +the son of a poor toiler for his daily bread, and compelled to sing +upon the street for alms to keep body and soul together while +struggling for an education.</p> + +<p>It has been the common order of Providence that the greatest lights +and benefactors of the race, the men who rose the highest above the +level of their kind and stood as beacons to the world, were not such +as would have been thought of in advance for the mighty services which +render their names immortal. And that the master spirit of the great +Reformation was no exception all the more surely identifies that +marvelous achievement as the work of an overruling God.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Origin.</span></p> + +<p>Luther was a Saxon German—a German of the Germans—born of that blood +out of which, with but few exceptions, have sprung the ruling powers +of the West since the last <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>[Pg 29]</span>of the old Roman emperors. He came out of +the bosom of the freshest, strongest, and hardiest peoples then +existing—the direct descendants of those wild Cimbrian and Teutonic +tribes who, even in their heathenism, were the most virtuous, brave, +and true of all the Gentiles.</p> + +<p>Nor was he the offspring of enfeebled, gouty, aristocratic blood. He +was the son of the sinewy and sturdy yeomanry. Though tradition +reports one of his remote ancestors in something of imperial place +among the chieftains of the semi-savage tribes from which he was +descended, when the period of the Reformation came his family was in +like condition with that of the house of David when the Christ was +born. His father and grandfather and great-grandfather, he says +himself, were true Thuringian peasants.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Early Training.</span></p> + +<p>In the early periods of the mediæval Church her missionaries came to +these fiery warriors of the North and followed the conquests of +Charlemagne, to teach them that they had souls, that there is a living +and all-knowing God at whose judgment-bar all must one day stand to +give account, and that it would <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>[Pg 30]</span>then be well with the believing, +brave, honest, true, and good, and ill with cowards, profligates, and +liars. It was a simple creed, but it took fast hold on the Germanic +heart, to show itself in sturdy power in the long after years.</p> + +<p>This creed, in unabated force, descended to Luther's parents, and +lived and wrought in them as a controlling principle. They were also +strict to render it the same in their children.</p> + +<p><i>Hans Luther</i> was a hard and stern disciplinarian, unsparing in the +enforcement of every virtue.</p> + +<p><i>Margaret Luther</i><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> was noted among her neighbors as a model woman, +and was so earnest in her inculcations of right that she preferred to +see her son bleed beneath the rod rather than that he should do a +questionable thing even respecting so small a matter as a nut.</p> + +<p>From his childhood Luther was thus trained <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>[Pg 31]</span>and attempered to fear +God, reverence truth and honesty, and hate hypocrisy and lies. +Possibly his parents were severer with him than was necessary, but it +was well for him, as the prospective prophet of a new era, to learn +absolute obedience to those who were to him the representatives of +that divine authority which he was to teach the world supremely to +obey.</p> + +<p>But no birth, or blood, or parental drilling, or any mere human +culture, could give the qualities necessary to a successful Reformer. +The Church had fallen into all manner of evils, because it had drifted +away from the apostolic doctrine as to how a man shall be just with +God; which is the all-conditioning question of all right religion. +There could then be no cure for those evils except by the bringing of +the Church back to that doctrine. But to do anything effectual toward +such a recovery it was pre-eminently required that the Reformer +himself should first be brought to an experimental knowledge of what +was to be witnessed and taught.</p> + +<p>On two different theatres, therefore, the Reformation had to be +wrought out: first, in the Reformer's own soul, and then on the field +of the world outside of him.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>[Pg 32]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">What the Reformation was.</span></p> + +<p>It is hard to take in the depth and magnitude of what is called The +Great Reformation. It stands out in history like a range of Himalayan +mountains, whose roots reach down into the heart of the world and +whose summits pierce beyond the clouds.</p> + +<p>To Bossuet and Voltaire it was a mere squabble of the monks; to others +it was the cupidity of secular sovereigns and lay nobility grasping +for the power, estates, and riches of the Church. Some treat of it as +a simple reaction against religious scandals, with no great depths of +principle or meaning except to illustrate the recuperative power of +human society to cure itself of oppressive ills. Guizot describes it +as "a vast effort of the human mind to achieve its freedom—a great +endeavor to emancipate human reason." Lord Bacon takes it as the +reawakening of antiquity and the recall of former times to reshape and +fashion our own.</p> + +<p>Whatever of truth some of these estimates may contain, they fall far +short of a correct idea of what the Reformation was, or wherein lay +the vital spring of that wondrous revolution. Its historic and +philosophic centre was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>[Pg 33]</span>vastly deeper and more potent than either or +all of these conceptions would make it. Many influences contributed to +its accomplishment, but its inmost principle was unique. The real +nerve of the Reformation was religious. Its life was something +different from mere earthly interests, utilities, aims, or passions. +<i>Its seat was in the conscience.</i> Its true spring was the soul, +confronted by eternal judgment, trembling for its estate before divine +Almightiness, and, on pain of banishment from every immortal good, +forced to condition and dispose itself according to the clear +revelations of God. It was not mere negation to an oppressive +hierarchy, except as it was first positive and evangelic touching the +direct and indefeasible relations and obligations of the soul to its +Maker. Only when the hierarchy claimed to qualify these direct +relations and obligations, thrust itself between the soul and its +Redeemer, and by eternal penalties sought to hold the conscience bound +to human authorities and traditions, did the Reformation protest and +take issue. Had the inalienable right and duty to obey God rather than +man been conceded, the hierarchy, as such, might have remained, the +same as monarchical government. But this the hierarchy negatived, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>[Pg 34]</span>condemned, and would by no means tolerate. Hence the mighty contest. +And the heart, sum, and essence of the whole struggle was the +maintenance and the working out into living fact of this direct +obligation of the soul to God and the supreme authority of His clear +and unadulterated word.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Spiritual Training.</span></p> + +<p>How Luther came to these principles, and the fiery trials by which +they were burnt into him as part of his inmost self, is one of the +most vital chapters in the history.</p> + +<p>His father had designed him for the law. To this end he had gone +through the best schools of Germany, taken his master's degree, and +was advancing in the particular studies relating to his intended +profession, when a sudden change came over his life.</p> + +<p>Religious in his temper and training, and educated in a creed which +worked mainly on man's fears, without emphasizing the only basis of +spiritual peace, he fell into great terrors of conscience. Several +occurrences contributed to this: (1) He fell sick, and was likely to +die. (2) He accidentally severed an artery, and came near bleeding to +death. (3) A bosom friend of his was suddenly killed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>[Pg 35]</span> All this made +him think how it would be with him if called to stand before God in +judgment, and filled him with alarm. Then (4) he was one day overtaken +by a thunderstorm of unwonted violence. The terrific scene presented +to his vivid fancy all the horrors of a mediæval picture of the Last +Day, and himself about to be plunged into eternal fire. Overwhelmed +with terror, he cried to Heaven for help, and vowed, if spared, to +devote himself to the salvation of his soul by becoming a monk. His +father hated monkery, and he shared the feeling; but, if it would save +him, why hesitate? What was a father's displeasure or the loss of all +the favors of the world to his safety against a hopeless perdition?</p> + +<p>Call it superstition, call it religious melancholy, call it morbid +hallucination, it was a most serious matter to the young Luther, and +out of it ultimately grew the Reformation. False ideas underlay the +resolve, but it was profoundly sincere and according to the ideas of +ages. It was wrong, but he could not correct the error until he had +tested it. And thus, by what he took as the unmistakable call of God, +he entered the cloister.</p> + +<p>Never man went into a monastery with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>[Pg 36]</span>purer motives. Never a man went +through the duties, drudgeries, and humiliations of the novitiate of +convent-life with more unshrinking fidelity. Never man endured more +painful mental and bodily agonies that he might secure for himself an +assured spiritual peace. Romanists have expressed their wonder that so +pure a man thought himself so great a sinner. But a sinner he was, as +we all; and to avert the just anger of God he fasted, prayed, and +mortified himself like an anchorite of the Thebaid. And yet no peace +or comfort came.</p> + +<p>A chained Bible lay in the monastery. He had previously found a copy +of it in the library of the university. Day and night he read it, +along with the writings of St. Augustine. In both he found the same +pictures of man's depravity which he realized in himself, but God's +remedy for sin he had not found. In the earnestness of his studies the +prescribed devotions were betimes crowded out, and then he punished +himself without mercy to redeem his failures. Whole nights and days +together he lay upon his face crying to God, till he swooned in his +agony. Everything his brother-monks could tell him he tried, but all +the resources of their religion were powerless to comfort him <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>[Pg 37]</span>or to +beget a righteousness in which his anguished soul could trust.</p> + +<p>It happened that one of the exceptionally enlightened and +spiritual-minded monks of his time, <i>John Staupitz</i>, was then the +vicar-general of the Augustinians in Saxony. On his tour of inspection +he came to Erfurt, and there found Luther, a walking skeleton, more +dead than alive. He was specially drawn to the haggard young brother. +The genial and sympathizing spirit of the vicar-general made Luther +feel at home in his presence, and to him he freely opened his whole +heart, telling of his feelings, failures, and fears—his heartaches, +his endeavors, his disappointments, and his despair. And God put the +right words into the vicar-general's mouth.</p> + +<p>"Look to the wounds of Jesus," said he, "and to the blood he shed for +you, and there see the mercy of God. Cast yourself into the Redeemer's +arms, and trust in his righteous life and sacrificial death. He loved +you first; love him in return, and let your penances and +mortifications go."</p> + +<p>The oppressed and captive spirit began to feel its burden lighten +under such discourse. God a God of love! Piety a life of love! +Salvation by loving trust in a God already <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>[Pg 38]</span>reconciled in Christ! This +was a new revelation. It brought the sorrowing young Luther to the +study of the Scriptures with a new object of search. He read and +meditated, and began to see the truth of what his vicar said. But +doubts would come, and often his gloom returned.</p> + +<p>One day an aged monk came to his cell to comfort him. He said he only +knew his Creed, but in that he rested, reciting, "<i>I believe in the +forgiveness of sins</i>."—"And do I not believe that?" said +Luther.—"Ah," said the old monk, "you believe in the forgiveness of +sins for David and Peter and the thief on the cross, but you do not +believe in the forgiveness of sins <i>for yourself</i>. St. Bernard says +the Holy Ghost speaks it to your own soul, <i>Thy</i> sins are forgiven +<i>thee</i>."</p> + +<p>And so at last the right nerve was touched. The true word of God's +deliverance was brought home to Luther's understanding. He was +penitent and in earnest, and needed only this great Gospel hope to +lift him from the horrible pit and the miry clay. As a light from +heaven it came to his soul, and there remained, a comfort and a joy. +The glad conclusion flashed upon him, never more to be shaken, "If +God, for Christ's sake, takes away our sins, then <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>[Pg 39]</span>they are not taken +away by any works of ours."</p> + +<p>The foundation-rock of a new world was reached.</p> + +<p>Luther saw not yet what all this discovery meant, nor whither it would +lead. He was as innocent of all thought of being a Reformer as a +new-born babe is of commanding an army on the battlefield. But the +Gospel principle of deliverance and salvation for his oppressed and +anxious soul was found, and it was found for all the world. The anchor +had taken hold on a new continent. In essence the Great Reformation +was born—born in Luther's soul.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Development.</span></p> + +<p>More than ten years passed before this new principle began to work off +the putrid carcass of mediæval religion which lay stretched over the +stifled and suffocating Church of Christ. There were yet many steps +and stages in the preparation for what was to come. But from that time +forward everything moved toward general regeneration by means of that +marrow doctrine of the Gospel: <i>Salvation by loving faith in the merit +and mediation of Jesus alone</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>[Pg 40]</span></p> + +<p>Staupitz counseled the young monk to study the Scriptures well and +whatever could aid him in their right understanding, and gave orders +to the monastery not to interfere with his studies.</p> + +<p>On May 2, 1507, he was consecrated to the priesthood.</p> + +<p>Within the year following, at the instance of Staupitz, Frederick the +Wise appointed him professor in the new University of Wittenberg.</p> + +<p>May 9, 1509, he took his degree of bachelor of divinity. From that +time he began to use his place to attack the falsehoods of the +prevailing philosophy and to explore and expose the absurdities of +Scholasticism, dwelling much on the great Gospel treasure of God's +free amnesty to sinful man through the merits and mediation of Jesus +Christ, on which his own soul was planted.</p> + +<p>Staupitz was astounded at the young brother's thorough mastery of the +sacred Word, the minuteness of his knowledge of it, and the power with +which he expounded and defended the great principles of the evangelic +faith. So able a teacher of the doctrines of the cross must at once +begin to preach. Luther remonstrated, for it was not then the custom +for all <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>[Pg 41]</span>priests to preach. He insisted that he would die under the +weight of such responsibilities. "Die, then," said Staupitz; "God has +plenty to do for intelligent young men in heaven."</p> + +<p>A little old wooden chapel, daubed with clay, twenty by thirty feet in +size, with a crude platform of rough boards at one end and a small +sooty gallery for scarce twenty persons at the other, and propped on +all sides to keep it from tumbling down, was assigned him as his +cathedral. Myconius likens it to the stable of Bethlehem, as there +Christ was born anew for the souls which now crowded to it. And when +the thronging audiences required his transfer to the parish church, it +was called the bringing of Christ into the temple.</p> + +<p>The fame of this young theologian and preacher spread fast and far. +The common people and the learned were alike impressed by his +originality and power, and rejoiced in the electrifying clearness of +his expositions and teachings. The Elector was delighted, for he began +to see his devout wishes realized. Staupitz, who had drunk in the more +pious spirit of the Mystic theologians, shared the same feeling, and +saw in Luther's fresh, biblical, and energetic preaching what he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>[Pg 42]</span>felt +the whole Church needed. "He spared neither counsel nor applause," for +he believed him the man of God for the times. He sent him to +neighboring monasteries to preach to the monks. He gave him every +opportunity to study, observe, and exercise his great talents. He even +sent him on a mission to Rome, more to acquaint him with that city, +which he longed to see, than for any difficult or pressing business +with the pope.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Visit to Rome.</span></p> + +<p>Luther performed the journey on foot, passing from monastery to +monastery, noting the extravagances, indolence, gluttony, and +infidelity of the monks, and sometimes in danger of his life, both +from the changes of climate and from the murderous resentments of some +of these cloister-saints which his rebukes of their vices engendered.</p> + +<p>When Rome first broke upon his sight, he hailed it reverently as the +city of saints and holy martyrs. He almost envied those whose parents +were dead, and who had it in their power to offer prayers for the +repose of their souls by the side of such holy shrines. But when he +beheld the vulgarities, profanities, paganism, and unconcealed +unbelief which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>[Pg 43]</span>pervaded even the ecclesiastical circles of that city, +his soul sunk within him.</p> + +<p>There was much to be seen in Rome; and the Roman Catholic writers find +great fault with Luther for being so dull and unappreciative as to +move amid it without being touched with a single spark of poetic fire. +They tell of the glory of the cardinals, in litters, on horseback, in +glittering carriages, blazing with jewels and shaded with gorgeous +canopies; of marble palaces, grand walks, alabaster columns, gigantic +obelisks, villas, gardens, grottoes, flowers, fountains, cascades; of +churches adorned with polished pillars, gilded soffits, mosaic floors, +altars sparkling with diamonds, and gorgeous pictures from +master-hands looking down from every wall; of monuments, statues, +images, and holy relics; and they blame Luther that he could gaze upon +it all without a stir of admiration—that he could look upon the +sculpture and statuary and see nothing but pagan devices, the gods +Demosthenes and Praxiteles, the feasts and pomps of Delos, and the +idle scenes of the heathen Forum—that no gleam from the crown of +Perugino or Michael Angelo dazzled his eyes, and no strain of Virgil +or of Dante, which the people sung in the streets, attracted his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>[Pg 44]</span>ear—that he was only cold and dumb before all the treasures and +glories of art and all the grandeur of the high dignitaries of the +Church, seeing nothing, feeling nothing, exclaiming over nothing but +the licentious impurities of the priests, the pagan pomps of the +pontiff, the profane jests of the ministers of religion, the bare +shoulders of the Roman ladies.</p> + +<p>Luther was not dead to the æsthetic, but to see faith and +righteousness thus smothered and buried under a godless Epicurean life +was an offence to his honest German conscience. It looked to him as if +the popes had reversed the Saviour's choice, and accepted the devil's +bid for Christ to worship him. From what his own eyes and ears had now +seen and heard, he knew what to believe concerning the state of things +in the metropolis of Christendom, and was satisfied that, as surely as +there is a hell, the Rome of those days was its mouth.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + + +<p> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>[Pg 45]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther as Town-Preacher.</span></p> + +<p>On his return the Senate of Wittenberg elected him town-preacher. In +the cloister, in the castle chapel, and in the collegiate church he +alternately exercised his gifts. Romanists admit that "his success was +great. He said he would not imitate his predecessors, and he kept his +word. For the first time a Christian preacher was seen to abandon the +Schoolmen and draw his texts and illustrations from the writings of +inspiration. He was the originator and restorer of expository +preaching in modern times."</p> + +<p>The Elector heard him, and was filled with admiration. An old +professor, whom the people called "the light of the world," listened +to him, and was struck with his wonderful insight, his marvelous +imagination, and his massive solidity. And Wittenberg sprang into +great renown because of him, for never before had been heard in Saxony +such a luminous expositor of God's holy Word.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther made a Doctor.</span></p> + +<p>On all hands it was agreed and insisted that he should be made a +doctor of divinity. The costs were heavy, for simony was the order of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>[Pg 46]</span>the day and the pope exacted high prices for all church promotions; +but the Elector paid the charges.</p> + +<p>On the 18th of October, 1512, the degree was conferred. It was no +empty title to Luther. It gave him liberties and rights which his +enemies could not gainsay, and it laid on him obligations and duties +which he never forgot. The obedience to the canons and the hierarchy +which it exacted he afterward found inimical to Christ and the Gospel, +and, as in duty bound, he threw it off, with other swaddling-bands of +Popery. But there was in it the pledge "to devote his whole life to +the study, exposition and defence of the Holy Scriptures." This he +accepted, and ever referred to as his sacred charter and commission. +Nor was it without significance that the great bell of Wittenberg was +rung when proclamation of this investiture was made. As the ringing of +the bell on the old State-house when the Declaration of Independence +was passed proclaimed the coming liberties of the American colonies, +so this sounding of the great bell of Wittenberg when Luther was made +doctor of divinity proclaimed and heralded to the nations of the earth +the coming deliverance of the enslaved Church. God's <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>[Pg 47]</span>chosen servant +had received his commission, and the better day was soon to dawn.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Henceforth Luther's labors and studies went forward with a new impulse +and inspiration. Hebrew and Greek were thoroughly mastered. The +Fathers of the Church, ancient and modern, were carefully read. The +systems of the Schoolmen, the Book of Sentences, the Commentaries, the +Decretals—everything relating to his department as a doctor of +theology—were examined, and brought to the test of Holy Scripture.</p> + +<p>In his sermons, lectures, and disquisitions the results of these +incessant studies came out with a depth of penetration, a clearness of +statement, a simplicity of utterance, a devoutness of spirit, and a +convincing power of eloquence which, with the eminent sanctity of his +life, won for him unbounded praise. The common feeling was that the +earth did not contain another such a doctor and had not seen his equal +for many ages. Envy and jealousy themselves, those green-eyed monsters +which gather about the paths of great qualities and successes, seemed +for the time to be paralyzed before a brilliancy which rested on such +humility, conscientiousness, fidelity, and merit.</p> + +<p> </p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>[Pg 48]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Labors.</span></p> + +<p>Years of fruitful labor passed. The Decalogue was expounded. Paul's +letter to the Romans and the penitential Psalms were explained. The +lectures on the Epistle to the Galatians were nearly completed. But no +book from Luther had yet been published.</p> + +<p>In 1515 he was chosen district vicar of the Augustinian monasteries of +Meissen and Thuringia. It was a laborious office, but it gave him new +experiences, familiarized him still more with the monks, brought him +into executive administrations, and developed his tact in dealing with +men.</p> + +<p>One other particular served greatly to establish him in the hearts of +the people. A deadly plague broke out in Wittenberg. Citizens were +dying by dozens and scores. At a later period a like scourge visited +Geneva, and so terrified Calvin and his ministerial associates that +they appealed to the Supreme Council, entreating, "Mighty lords, +release us from attending these infected people, for our lives are in +peril." Not so Luther. His friends said, "Fly! fly!" lest he should +fall by the plague and be lost to the world. "Fly?" said he. "No, no, +my God. If I die, I die.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>[Pg 49]</span> The world will not perish because a monk has +fallen. I am not St. Paul, not to fear death, but God will sustain +me." And as an angel of mercy he remained, ministering to the sick and +dying and caring for the orphans and widows of the dead.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Collision with the Hierarchy.</span></p> + +<p>Such was Luther up to the time of his rupture with Rome. He knew +something of the shams and falsities that prevailed, and he had +assailed and exposed many of them in his lectures and sermons; but to +lead a general reformation was the farthest from his thoughts. Indeed, +he still had such confidence in the integrity of the Roman Church that +he did not yet realize how greatly a thorough general reformation was +needed. Humble in mind, peaceable in disposition, reverent toward +authority, loving privacy, and fully occupied with his daily studies +and duties, it was not in him to think of making war with powers whose +claims he had not yet learned to question.</p> + +<p>But it was not possible that so brave, honest, and self-sacrificing a +man should long pursue his convictions without coming into collision +with the Roman high priesthood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>[Pg 50]</span> Though far off at Wittenberg, and +trying to do his own duty well in his own legitimate sphere, it soon +came athwart his path in a form so foul and offensive that it forced +him to assault it. Either he had to let go his sincerest convictions +and dearest hopes or protest had to come. His personal salvation and +that of his flock were at stake, and he could in no way remain a true +man and not remonstrate. Driven to this extremity, and struck at for +his honest faithfulness, he struck again; and so came the battle which +shook and revolutionized the world.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Selling of Indulgences.</span></p> + +<p>Luther's first encounter with the hierarchy was on the traffic in +indulgences. It was a good fortune that it there began. That traffic +was so obnoxious to every sense of propriety that any vigorous attack +upon it would command the approval of many honest and pious people. +The central heresy of hierarchical religion was likewise embodied in +it, so that a stab there, if logically followed up, would necessarily +reach the very heart of the oppressive monster. And Providence +arranged that there the conflict should begin.</p> + +<p>Leo X. had but recently ascended the papal <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>throne. Reared amid lavish +wealth and culture, he was eager that his reign should equal that of +Solomon and the Cæsars. He sought to aggrandize his relatives, to +honor and enrich men of genius, and to surround himself with costly +splendors and pleasures. These demanded extraordinary revenues. The +projects of his ambitious predecessors had depleted the papal coffers. +He needed to do something on a grand scale in order adequately to +replenish his exchequer.</p> + +<p>As early as the eleventh century the popes had betimes resorted to the +selling of pardons and the issuing of free passes to heaven on +consideration of certain services or payments to the Church. From +Urban II. to Leo X. this was more or less in vogue—first, to get +soldiers for the holy wars,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and then as a means of wealth to the +Church. If one wished <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>[Pg 52]</span>to eat meat on fast-days, marry within +prohibited degrees of relationship, or indulge in forbidden pleasures, +he could do it without offence by rendering certain satisfactions +before or after, which satisfactions could mostly be made by payments +of money.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> In the same way he could buy remission of sins in +general, or exemption for so many days, years, or centuries from the +pains of Purgatory. Bulls of authority were given, in the name of the +Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to issue certificates of exemption from +all penalties to such as did the service or paid the equivalent. +Immense incomes were thus realized. Even to the present this facile +invention for raising money has not been entirely discontinued. Papal +indulgences can be bought to-day in the shops of Spain and elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Leo seized upon this system with all the vigor and unscrupulousness +characteristic of the Medici. Had he been asked whether he really +believed in these pardons, he would <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>[Pg 53]</span>have said that the Church always +believed the pope had power to grant them. Had he spoken his real mind +in the matter, he would have said that if the people chose to be such +fools, it was not for him to find fault with them. And thus, under +plea of raising funds to finish St. Peter's, he instituted a grand +trade in indulgences, and thereby laid the capstone of hierarchical +iniquity which crushed the whole fabric to its base.</p> + +<p>The right to sell these wares in Germany was awarded to Albert, the +gay young prince-archbishop of Mayence. He was over head and ears in +debt to the pope for his pallium, and Leo gave him this chance to get +out.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Half the proceeds of the trade in his territory were to go to +his credit. But the work of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>[Pg 54]</span>proclaiming and distributing the pardons +was committed to <i>John Tetzel</i>, a Dominican prior who had long +experience in the business, and who achieved "a forlorn notoriety in +European history" by his zeal in prosecuting it.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Tetzel's Performances.</span></p> + +<p>Tetzel entered the towns with noise and pomp, amid waving of flags, +singing, and the ringing of bells. Clergy, choristers, monks, and nuns +moved in procession before and after him. He himself sat in a gilded +chariot, with the Bull of his authority spread out on a velvet cushion +before him.</p> + +<p>The churches were his salesrooms, lighted and decorated for the +occasion as in highest festival. From the pulpits his boisterous +oratory rang, telling the virtues of indulgences, the wonderful power +of the keys, and the unexampled grace of which he was the bearer from +the holy lord and father at Rome.</p> + +<p>He called on all—robbers, adulterers, murderers, everybody—to draw +near, pay down their money, and receive from him letters, duly sealed, +by which all their sins, past and future, should be pardoned and done +away.</p> + +<p>Not for the living only, but also for the dead, he proposed full and +instantaneous de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>[Pg 55]</span>liverance from all future punishments on the payment +of the price. And any wretch who dared to doubt or question the saving +power of these certificates he in advance doomed to excommunication +and the wrath of God.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>[Pg 56]</span></p> + +<p>Catholic divines have labored hard to whitewash or explain away this +stupendous iniquity; but, with all they have said or may say, such +were the presentations made by the hawkers of these wares and such was +the text of the diplomas they issued.</p> + +<p>A dispensation or indulgence was nothing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>[Pg 57]</span>more nor less than a +pretended letter of credit on Heaven, drawn at will by the pope out of +the superabundant merits of Christ and all saints, to count so much on +the books of God for so many murders, robberies, frauds, lies, +slanders, or debaucheries. As the matter practically worked, a more +profane and devilish traffic never had place in our world than that +which the Roman hierarchy thus carried on in the name of the Triune +God.</p> + + + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther on Indulgences.</span></p> + +<p>Luther was on a tour of inspection as district vicar of the +Augustinians when he first heard of these shameful doings. As yet he +understood but little of the system, and could not believe it possible +that the fathers at Rome could countenance, much less appoint and +commission, such iniquities. Boiling with indignation for the honor of +the Church, he threatened to make a hole in Tetzel's drum, and wrote +to the authorities to refuse passports to the hucksters of these +shameful deceptions.</p> + +<p>But Tetzel soon came near to Wittenberg. Some of Luther's parishioners +heard him, and bought absolutions. They afterward came to confession, +acknowledging great irregularities <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>[Pg 58]</span>of life. Luther rebuked their +wickedness, and would not promise them forgiveness unless contrite for +their sins and earnestly endeavoring to amend their evil ways. They +remonstrated, and brought out their certificates of plenary pardon. "I +have nothing to do with your papers," said he. "God's Word says you +must repent and lead better lives, or you will perish."</p> + +<p>His words were at once carried to the ears of Tetzel, who fumed with +rage at such impudence toward the authority of the Church. He ascended +the pulpit and hurled the curses of God upon the Saxon monk</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Thus an honest pastor finds some of his flock on the way to ruin, and +tries to guide them right. He is not thinking of attacking Rome. He is +ready to fight and die for holy Mother Church. His very protests are +in her behalf. He is on his own rightful field, in faithful pursuit of +his own rightful duty. Here the erring hierarchy seeks him out and +attacks him. Shall he yield to timid fears and weak advisers, keep +silence in his own house, and let the souls he is placed to guard +become a prey to the destroyer? Is he not sworn to defend God's holy +Word and Gos<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>[Pg 59]</span>pel? What will be his eternal fate and that of his people +should he now hold his peace?</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Sermon on Indulgences.</span></p> + +<p>Without conferring with flesh and blood his resolve was made—a +resolve on which hung all the better future of the world—a resolve to +take the pulpit against the lying indulgences.</p> + +<p>For several days he shut himself in his cell to make sure of his +ground and to elaborate what he would say. With eminent modesty and +moderation his sentences were wrought, but with a perspicuity and +clearness which no one could mistake. A crowded church awaited their +delivery. He entered with his brother-monks, and joined in all the +service with his usual voice and gravity. Nothing in his countenance +or manner betrayed the slightest agitation of his soul. It was a +solemn and momentous step for himself and for mankind that he was +about to take, but he was as calmly made up to it as to any other duty +of his life. The moment came for him to speak; <i>and he spoke</i>.</p> + +<p>"I hold it impossible," said he, "to prove from the Holy Scriptures +that divine justice demands from the sinner any other penance <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>[Pg 60]</span>or +satisfaction than a true repentance, a change of heart, a willing +submission to bear the Saviour's cross, and a readiness to do what +good he can.</p> + +<p>"That indulgences applied to souls in Purgatory serve to remit the +punishments which they would otherwise suffer is an opinion devoid of +any foundation.</p> + +<p>"Indulgences, so far from expiating or cleansing from sin, leave the +man in the same filth and condemnation in which they find him.</p> + +<p>"The Church exacts somewhat of the sinner, and what it on its own +account exacts it can on its own account remit, but nothing more.</p> + +<p>"If you have aught to spare, in God's name give it for the building of +St. Peter's, but do not buy pardons.</p> + +<p>"If you have means, feed the hungry, which is of more avail than +piling stones together, and far better than the buying of indulgences.</p> + +<p>"My advice is, Let indulgences alone; leave them to dead and sleepy +Christians; but see to it that ye be not of that kind.</p> + +<p>"Indulgences are neither commanded nor approved of God. They excite no +one to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>[Pg 61]</span>sanctification. They work nothing toward salvation.</p> + +<p>"That indulgences have virtue to deliver souls from Purgatory I do not +believe, nor can it be proven by them that teach it; the Church says +nothing to that effect.</p> + +<p>"What I preach to you is based on the certainty of the Holy +Scriptures, which no one ought to doubt."</p> + +<p>So Luther preached, and his word went out to the ends of the earth. It +was no jest, like Ulric von Hütten's <i>Epistles of Obscure Men</i>, or +like the ridicule which Reuchlin and Erasmus heaped upon the stupid +monks. It raised no laugh, but penetrated, like a rifle-shot, into the +very heart of things.</p> + +<p>Those who listened were deeply affected by the serious boldness of the +preacher. The audience was with him in conviction, but many trembled +for the result. "Dear doctor, you have been very rash; what trouble +may come of this!" said a venerable father as he pulled the sleeve of +Luther's gown and shook his head with misgivings. "If this is not +rightly done in God's name," said Luther, "it will come to nothing; if +it is, let come what will."</p> + +<p>It was honest duty to God, truth, and the salvation of men that moved +him. Cowardly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>[Pg 62]</span>policy or timid expediency in such a matter was totally +foreign to his soul.</p> + +<p>In a few days, the substance of the sermon was in print. Tetzel raved +over it. Melanchthon says he burnt it in the market-place of +Jüterbock. In the name of God and the pope he bade defiance to its +author, and challenged him by fire and water. Luther laughed at him +for braying so loud at a distance, yet declining to come to Wittenberg +to argue out the matter in close lists.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Appeal to the Bishops.</span></p> + +<p>Anxious to vindicate the Church from what he believed to be an +unwarranted liberty in the use of her name, Luther wrote to the bishop +of Brandenburg and the archbishop of Mayence. He made his points, and +appealed to these his superiors to put down the scandalous falsities +advanced by Tetzel. They failed to answer in any decisive way. The one +timidly advised silence, and the other had too much pecuniary interest +in the business to notice the letter.</p> + +<p>Thus, as a pastor, Luther had taken his ground before his parishioners +in the confessional. As a preacher he had uttered himself in earnest +admonition from the pulpit. As <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>[Pg 63]</span>a loyal son he had made his +presentation and appeal to those in authority over him. Was he right? +or was he wrong? No commanding answer came, and there remained one +other way of testing the question. As a doctor of divinity he could +lawfully, as custom had been, demand an open and fair discussion of +the matter with teachers and theologians. And upon this he now +resolved.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Ninety-five Theses.</span></p> + +<p>He framed a list of propositions on the points in question. They were +in Latin, for his appeal was to theologians, and not yet to the common +heart and mind of Germany. To make them public, he took advantage of a +great festival at Wittenberg, when the town was full of visitors and +strangers, and nailed them to the door of the new castle church, +October 31, 1517.</p> + +<p>These were the famous <i>Ninety-five Theses</i>. They were plainly-worded +statements of the same points he had made in the confessional and in +his sermon. They contained no assault upon the Church, no arraignment +of the pope, no personal attack on any one. Neither were they given as +necessarily true, but as what Luther believed to be true, and the real +truth <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>[Pg 64]</span>or falsity of which he desired to have decided in the only way +questions of faith and salvation can be rightly decided.</p> + +<p>The whole matter was fairly, humbly, and legitimately put. "I, Martin +Luther, Augustinian at Wittenberg," he added at the end, "hereby +declare that I have written these propositions against indulgences. I +understand that some, not knowing what they affirm, are of opinion +that I am a heretic, though our renowned university has not condemned +me, nor any temporal or spiritual authority. Therefore, now again, as +often heretofore, I beg of one and all, for the sake of the true +Christian faith, to show me the better way, if peradventure they have +learned it from above, or at least to submit their opinion to the +decision of God and the Church; for I am not so insane as to set up my +views above everything and everybody, nor so silly as to accept the +fables invented by men in preference to the Word of God."</p> + +<p>It is from the nailing up of these <i>Theses</i> that the history of the +Great Reformation dates; for the hammer-strokes which fixed that +parchment started the Alpine avalanche which overwhelmed the pride of +Rome and broke the stubborn power which had reigned supreme for a +thousand years.</p> + +<p> </p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[Pg 65]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Effect of the Theses.</span></p> + +<p>As no one came forward to discuss his Theses, Luther resolved to +publish them to the world.</p> + +<p>In fourteen days they overspread Germany. In a month they ran through +all Christendom. One historian says it seemed as if the angels of God +were engaged in spreading them.</p> + +<p>At a single stroke, made in modesty and faith, Luther had become the +most noted person in Germany—the man most talked of in all the +world—the mouthpiece of the best people in Christendom—the leader of +a mighty revolution.</p> + +<p>Reuchlin read, and thanked God.</p> + +<p>Erasmus read, and rejoiced, only counseling moderation and prudence.</p> + +<p>The Emperor Maximilian read, and wrote to the Saxon Elector: "Take +care of the monk Luther, for the time may come when we will need him."</p> + +<p>The bishop of Wurzburg read, and was filled with gladness, and wrote +to the Elector Frederick to hold on to Luther as a preacher of the +truth of God.</p> + +<p>The prior of Steinlausitz read, and could <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>[Pg 66]</span>not suppress his joy. "See +here," said he to his monks: "the long-waited-for has come; he tells +the truth. <i>Berg</i> means mountain, and <i>Wittenberg</i> is the mountain +whither all the world will come to seek wisdom, and will find it."</p> + +<p>A student of Annaberg read, and said, "This Luther is the reaper in my +dream, whom the voice bade me follow and gather in the bread of life;" +and from that hour he was a fast friend of Luther and his cause, and +became the distinguished Myconius.</p> + +<p>The pope himself read the Theses, and did not think unfavorably of +their author. He saw in Luther a man of learning and brilliant genius, +and that pleased him. The questions mooted he referred to a mere +monkish jealousy—an unsober gust of passion which would soon blow +over. He did not then realize the seriousness which was in the matter. +His sphere was heathen art and worldly magnificence, not searching +into the ways of God's salvation.</p> + +<p>The great German heart was moved, and the brave daring of him whose +voice was thus lifted up against the abominations which were draining +the country to fill the pope's coffers was hailed with enthusiasm. +Had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>[Pg 67]</span> Luther been a smaller man he would have been swept away by his +vast and sudden fame.</p> + +<p>But not all was sunshine. Erasmus wittily said, Luther committed two +unpardonable sins: he touched the pope's crown and the monks' bellies. +Such effrontery would needs raise a mighty outcry.</p> + +<p>Prierias, the master of the sacred palace, pronounced Luther a +heretic. Hochstrat of Cologne, Reuchlin's enemy, clamored for fire to +burn him. The indulgence-venders thundered their anathemas, promising +a speedy holocaust of Luther's body. The monasteries took on the form +of so many kennels of enraged hounds howling to each other across the +spiritual waste. And even some who pronounced the Theses scriptural +and orthodox shook their heads and sought to quash such dangerous +proceedings.</p> + +<p>But Luther remained firm at his post. He honestly believed what he had +written, and he was not afraid of the truth. If the powers of the +world should come down upon him and kill him, he was prepared for the +slaughter. In all the mighty controversy he was ever ready to serve +the Gospel with his life or with his death.</p> + +<p> </p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>[Pg 68]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Tetzel's End.</span></p> + +<p>Tetzel continued to bray and fume against him from pulpit and press, +denouncing him as a heresiarch, heretic, and schismatic. By Wimpina's +aid he issued a reply to Luther's sermon, and also counter-theses on +Luther's propositions. But the tide was turning in the sea of human +thinking. Luther's utterances had turned it. The people were ready to +tear the mountebank to pieces. Two years later he imploringly +complained to the pope's nuncio, Miltitz, that such fury pursued him +in Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland that he was nowhere safe. +Even the representative of the pope gave the wretch no sympathy. When +Luther heard of his illness he sent him a letter to tell him that he +had forgiven him all. He died in Leipsic, neglected, smitten in soul, +and full of misery, July 14, 1519.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Growing Influence.</span></p> + +<p>Six months after the nailing up of the Theses, Luther was the hero of +a general convention of the Augustinians in Heidelberg. He there +submitted a series of propositions on philosophy and theology, which +he defended with such convincing clearness and tact that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>[Pg 69]</span>he won for +himself and his university great honor and renown. Better still, four +learned young men who there heard him saw the truth of his positions, +and afterward became distinguished defenders of the Reformation.</p> + +<p>His cause, meanwhile, was rapidly gaining friends. His replies to +Tetzel, Prierias, Hochstrat, and Eck had gone forth to deepen the +favorable impression made by the Ninety-five Theses. Truth had once +more lifted up its head in Europe, and Rome would find it no child's +play to put it down. The skirmish-lines of the hierarchy had been met +and driven in. The tug of serious battle was now to come.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">His Appeal to the Pope.</span></p> + +<p>Luther made the advance. He wrote out explanations (or +"<i>Resolutions</i>") of his Theses, and sent them, with a letter, to the +pope. With great confidence, point, and elegance, but with equal +submissiveness and humility, he spoke of the completeness of Christ +for the salvation of every true believer, without room or need for +penances and other satisfactions; of the evilness of the times, and +the pressing necessity for a general reform; of the damaging +complaints everywhere resounding against the traffic in indulgences; +of his unsuccessful <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>[Pg 70]</span>appeals to the ecclesiastical princes; and of the +unjust censures being heaped upon him for what he had done, entreating +His Holiness to instruct his humble petitioner, and condemn or +approve, kill or preserve, as the voice of Christ through him might +be. He then believed that God's sanction had to come through the high +clergy and heads of the Church. Many good Christians had approved his +Theses, but he did not recognize in that the divine answer to his +testimony. He said afterward: "I looked only to the pope, the +cardinals, the bishops, the theologians, the jurisconsults, the monks, +the priests, from whom I expected the breathing of the Spirit." He had +not yet learned what a bloody dragon claimed to impersonate the Lamb +of God.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Citation to Answer for Heresy.</span></p> + +<p>While, in open frankness, Luther was thus meekly committing himself to +the powers at Rome, <i>they</i> were meditating his destruction. +Insidiously they sought to deprive him of the Elector's protection, +and answered his humble and confiding appeal with a citation to appear +before them to answer for heresy.</p> + +<p>Things now were ominous of evil. Wittenberg was filled with +consternation. If Luther <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>[Pg 71]</span>obeyed, it was evident he would perish like +so many faithful men before him; if he refused, he would be charged +with contumacy and involve his prince. One and another expedient were +proposed to meet the perplexity; but to secure a hearing in Germany +was all Luther asked.</p> + +<p>To this the pope proved more willing than was thought. He was not sure +of gaining by the public trial and execution of a man so deeply +planted in the esteem of his countrymen, and by bringing him before a +prudent legate he might induce him to retract and the trouble be +ended; if not, it would be a less disturbing way of getting possession +of the accused man. Orders were therefore issued for Luther to appear +before Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther before Cajetan.</span></p> + +<p>On foot he undertook the journey, believed by all to be a journey to +his death. But Maximilian, then in the neighborhood of Augsburg, gave +him a safe-conduct, and Cajetan was obliged to receive him with +civility. He even embraced him with tokens of affection, thinking to +win him to retraction. Luther was much softened by these kindly +manifesta<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>[Pg 72]</span>tions, and was disposed to comply with almost anything if +not required to deny the truth of God.</p> + +<p>The interviews were numerous. Luther was told that it was useless to +think that the civil powers would go to war for his protection; and +where would he then be? His answer was: "I will be, as now, under the +broad heavens of the Almighty." Remonstrances, entreaties, +threatenings, and proposals of high distinction were addressed to him; +but he wanted no cardinal's hat, and for nothing in Rome's power would +he consent to retract what he believed to be the Gospel truth till +shown wherein it was at variance with the divine Word. Cajetan's +arguments tripped and failed at every point, and he could only +reiterate that he had been sent to receive a retraction, not to debate +the questions. Luther as often promised this when shown from the +Scriptures to be in the wrong, but not till then.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Cajetan's Mortification.</span></p> + +<p>Foiled and disappointed in his designs, and astounded and impatient +that a poor monk should thus set at naught all the prayers and powers +of the sovereign of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>[Pg 73]</span> Christendom, the cardinal bade him see his face +no more until he had repented of his stubbornness.</p> + +<p>At this the friends of the Reformer, fearing for his safety, +clandestinely hurried him out of Augsburg, literally grappling him up +from his bed only half dressed, and brought him away to his +university. He had answered the pope's summons, and yet was free!</p> + +<p>Cajetan was mortified at the result, and was upbraided for his +failure. In his chagrin he wrote angrily to the Elector not to soil +his name and lineage by sheltering a heretic, but to surrender Luther +at once, on pain of an interdict. The Elector was troubled. Luther had +not been proven a heretic, neither did he believe him to be one; but +he feared collision with the pope.</p> + +<p>Luther said if he were in the Elector's place he would answer the +cardinal as he deserved for thus insulting an honest man; but, not to +be an embarrassment to his prince, he agreed to leave the Elector's +dominions if he said so. But Frederick would not surrender his +distinguished subject to the legate, neither would he send him out of +the country. It is hard to say which was here the nobler man, Luther +or his illustrious protector.</p> + +<p> </p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>[Pg 74]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Progress of Events.</span></p> + +<p>The minds of men by this time were much aroused, and Luther's cause +grew and strengthened. The learned Melanchthon, Reuchlin's relative +and pupil, was added to the faculty at Wittenberg, and became Luther's +chief co-laborer. The number of students in the university swelled to +thousands, including the sons of noblemen and princes from all parts, +who listened with admiration to Luther's lectures and sermons and +spread his fame and doctrines. And the feeling was deep and general +that a new and marvelous light had arisen upon the world.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>It was now that Maximilian died (Jan. 17, 1519), and Charles V., his +grandson, a Spanish prince of nineteen years, succeeded to his place. +The Imperial crown was laid at the feet of the Elector Frederick, +Luther's friend, but he declined it in favor of Charles, only exacting +a solemn pledge that he would not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>[Pg 75]</span>disturb the liberties of Germany. +Civil freedom is one of the glorious fruits of the Reformation, and +here already it began to raise barricades against despotic power.</p> + + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Leipsic Disputation.</span></p> + +<p>Up to this time, however, there had been no questioning of the divine +rights claimed by the hierarchy. Luther was still a Papist, and +thought to grow his plants of evangelic faith under the shadow of the +Upas of ecclesiasticism. He had not yet been brought to see how his +Augustinian theology concerning sin and grace ran afoul of the entire +round of the mediæval system and methods of holiness. It was only the +famous Leipsic Disputation between him and Dr. John Eck that showed +him the remoter and deeper relations of his position touching +indulgences.</p> + +<p>This otherwise fruitless debate had the effect of making the nature +and bearings of the controversy clear to both sides. Eck now +distinctly saw that Luther must be forcibly put down or the whole +papal system must fall; and Luther was made to realize that he must +surrender his doctrine of salvation through simple faith in Christ or +break with the pope and the hierarchical system.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>[Pg 76]</span></p> + +<p>Accepting the pontifical doctrines as true, Eck claimed the victory, +because he had driven Luther to expressions at variance with those +doctrines. On the other hand, Luther had shown that the pontifical +claims were without foundation in primitive Christianity or the Holy +Scriptures; that the Papacy was not of divine authority or of the +essence of the Church; that the Church existed before and beyond the +papal hierarchy, as well as under it; that the only Head of the +universal Christian Church is Christ himself; that wherever there is +true faith in God's Word, there the Church is, whatever the form of +external organization; that the popes could err and had erred, and +councils likewise; and that neither separately nor together could they +rightfully decree or ordain contrary to the Scriptures, the only +infallible Rule.</p> + +<p>To all this Eck could make no answer except that it was Hussism over +again, which the Council of Constance had condemned, and that, from +the standpoint of the hierarchy, Luther was a heretic and ought to be +dealt with accordingly.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Results from the Debate.</span></p> + +<p>Luther now realized that the true Gospel <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>[Pg 77]</span>of God's salvation and the +pontifical system were vitally and irreconcilably antagonistic; that +the one could never be held in consistency with the other; and that +there must come a final break between him and Rome. This much +depressed him. He showed his spiritual anguish by his deep dejection. +But he soon rose above it. If he had the truth of God, as he verily +believed, what were the pope and all devils against Jehovah? And so he +went on lecturing, preaching, writing, and publishing with his +greatest power, brilliancy, and effectiveness.</p> + +<p>Some of the best and most telling products of his pen now went forth +to multitudes of eager readers. The glowing energy of his faith acted +like a spreading fire, kindling the souls of men as they seldom have +been kindled in any cause in any age. His <i>Address to the Nobility</i> +electrified all Germany, and first fired the patriotic spirit of +Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer. His book on <i>The Babylonian +Captivity of the Church</i> sounded a bugle-note which thrilled through +all the German heart, gave Bugenhagen to the Reformation, and sent a +shudder through the hierarchy.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Already, at Maximilian's Diet at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>[Pg 78]</span>Augsburg to take measures against the Turk, a Latin pamphlet was +openly circulated among the members which said that the Turk to be +resisted was living in Italy; and Miltitz, the pope's nuncio and +chamberlain, confessed that from Rome to Altenberg he had found those +greatly in the minority who did not side with Luther.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Excommunication.</span></p> + +<p>But the tempest waxed fiercer and louder every day. Luther's growing +influence the more inflamed his enemies. Hochstrat had induced two +universities to condemn his doctrines. In sundry places his books were +burned by the public hangman. Eck had gone to Italy, and was "moving +the depths of hell" to secure the excommunication of the prejudged +heretic. And could his bloodthirsty enemies have had their way, this +would long since have come. But Leo seems to have had more respect for +Luther than for them. Learning and talent were more to him than any +doctrines of the faith. The monks complained of him as too much given +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>[Pg 79]</span>to luxury and pleasure to do his duty in defending the Church. +Perhaps he had conscience enough to be ashamed to enforce his traffic +in paper pardons by destroying the most honest and heroic man in +Germany. Perhaps he did not like to stain his reign with so foul a +record, even if dangerous complications should not attend it. Whatever +the cause, he was slow to respond to these clamors for blood. Eck had +almost as much trouble to get him to issue the Bull of Luther's +excommunication as he had to answer Luther's arguments in the Leipsic +Discussion. But he eventually procured it, and undertook to enforce +it.</p> + +<p>And yet, with all his zealous personal endeavors and high authority, +he could hardly get it posted, promulged, or at all respected in +Germany. His parchment thunder lost its power in coming across the +Alps. Miltitz also was in his way, who, with equal authority from the +pope, was endeavoring to supersede the Bull by attempts at +reconciliation. It came to Wittenberg in such a sorry plight that +Luther laughed at it as having the appearance of a forgery by Dr. Eck. +He knew the pope had been bullied into the issuing of it, but this was +the biting irony by which he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>[Pg 80]</span>indicated the character of the men by +whom it was moved and the pitiable weakness to which such thunders had +been reduced.</p> + +<p>But it was a Bull of excommunication nevertheless. Luther and his +doctrines were condemned by the chief of Christendom.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Multitudes +were thrown into anxious perturbation. If the strong arm of the +emperor should be given to sustain the pope, who would be able to +stand? Adrian, one of the faculty of Wittenberg, was so frightened +that he threw down his office and hastened to join the enemy.</p> + +<p>Amid the perils which surrounded Luther powerful knights offered to +defend him by force of arms; but he answered, "<i>No</i>; by <i>the Word</i> the +world was conquered, by <i>the Word</i> the Church was saved, and by <i>the +Word</i> it must be restored." The thoughts of his soul were not on human +power, but centred <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>[Pg 81]</span>on the throne of Him who lives for ever. It was +Christ's Gospel that was in peril, and he was sure Jehovah would not +abandon his own cause.</p> + +<p>Germany waited to see what he would do. Nor was it long kept in +suspense.</p> + + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther and the Pope's Bull.</span></p> + +<p>In a month he discharged a terrific volley of artillery upon the +Papacy by his book <i>Against the Bull of Antichrist</i>.</p> + +<p>In thirteen days later he brought formal charges against the +pope—<i>first</i>, as an unjust judge, who condemns without giving a +hearing; <i>second</i>, as a heretic and apostate, who requires denial that +faith is necessary; <i>third</i>, as an Antichrist, who sets himself +against the Holy Scriptures and usurps their authority; and <i>fourth</i>, +as a blasphemer of the Church and its free councils, who declares them +nothing without himself.</p> + +<p>This was carrying the war into Africa. Appealing to a future general +council and the Scriptures as superior to popes, he now called upon +the emperor, electors, princes, and all classes and estates in the +whole German empire, as they valued the Gospel and the favor of +Christ, to stand by him in this demonstration.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>[Pg 82]</span></p> + +<p>And, that all might be certified in due form, he called a notary and +five witnesses to hear and attest the same as verily the solemn act +and deed of Martin Luther, done in behalf of himself and all who stood +or should stand with him.</p> + +<p>Rome persisted in forcing a schism, and this was Luther's bill of +divorcement.</p> + +<p>Nay, more; as Rome had sealed its condemnation of him by burning his +books, he built a stack of fagots on the refuse piles outside the +Elster Gate of Wittenberg, invited thither the whole university, and +when the fires were kindled and the flames were high, he cast into +them, one by one, the books of the canon law, the Decretals, the +Clementines, the Papal Extravagants, and all that lay at the base of +the religion of the hierarchy! And when these were consumed he took +Leo's Bull of excommunication, held it aloft, exclaiming with a loud +voice, "Since thou hast afflicted the saints of God, be thou consumed +with fire unquenchable!" and dashed the impious document into the +flames.</p> + +<p>Well done was that! Luther considered it the best act of his life. It +was a brave heart, the bravest then living in this world, that dared +to do it. But it was done then and for <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>[Pg 83]</span>ever. Wittenberg looked on +with shoutings. The whole modern world of civilized man has ever since +been looking on with thrilling wonder. And myriads of the sons of God +and liberty are shouting over it yet.</p> + +<p>The miner's son had come up full abreast with the triple-crowned +descendant of the Medici. The monk of Wittenberg had matched the +proudest monarch in the world. Henceforth the question was, Which of +them should sway the nations in the time to come?</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Diet of Worms.</span></p> + +<p>The young emperor sided with the religion of the pope. The venerable +Elector Frederick determined to stand by Luther, at least till his +case was fairly adjudged. He said it was not just to condemn a good +and honest man unheard and unconvicted, and that "<i>Justice must take +precedence even of the pope</i>."</p> + +<p>Conferences of state now became numerous and exciting, and the efforts +of Rome to have Luther's excommunication recognized and enforced were +many and various, but nothing short of a Diet of the empire could +settle the disturbance.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>[Pg 84]</span></p> + +<p>Such a Diet was convoked by the young emperor for January, 1521. It +was the first of his reign, and the grandest ever held on German soil. +Philip of Hesse came to it with a train of six hundred cavaliers. The +electors, dukes, archbishops, landgraves, margraves, counts, bishops, +barons, lords, deputies, legates, and ambassadors from foreign courts +came in corresponding style. They felt it important to show their +consequence at this first Diet, and were all the more moved to be +there in force because the exciting matter of Reform was specified as +one of the chief things to be considered. The result was one of the +most august and illustrious assemblies of which modern history tells, +and one which presented a spectacle of lasting wonder that a poor lone +monk should thus have moved all the powers of the earth.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>[Pg 85]</span></p> + +<p> </p> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Doings of the Romanists.</span></p> + +<p>For three months the Diet wrangled over the affair of Luther without +reaching anything decided. The friends of Rome were the chief actors, +struggling in every way and hesitating at nothing to induce the Diet +and the emperor to acknowledge and enforce the pope's decree. But the +influence of the German princes, especially that of the Elector +Frederick, stood in the way; Charles would not act, as he had no right +to act, without the concurrence of the states, and the princes of +Germany held it unjust that Luther should be condemned on charges +which had never been fairly tried, on books which were not proven to +be his, and especially since the sentence itself presented conditions +with reference to which no answer had been legally ascertained.</p> + +<p>To overcome these oppositions different resorts were tried. Leo issued +a second Bull, excommunicating Luther absolutely, anathematizing him +and all his friends and abettors. The pope's legate called for money +to buy up influence for the Romanists: "We must have money. Send us +money. Money! money! or Germany is lost!" The money <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>[Pg 86]</span>came; but the +Reformer's friends could not be bought with bribes, however much the +agents of Rome needed such stimulation.</p> + +<p>Trickery was brought into requisition to entrap Luther's defenders by +a secret proposal to compromise. Luther was given great credit and +right, except that he had gone a little too far, and it was only +necessary to restrain him from further demonstrations. Rome compromise +with a man she had doubly excommunicated and anathematized! Rome make +terms with an outlaw whom she had infallibly doomed to eternal +execration! Yet with these proposals the emperor's confessor +approached Chancellor Brück. But the chancellor's head was too clear +to be caught by such treachery.</p> + +<p>Then it was moved to refer the matter to a commission of arbitrators. +This met with so much favor that the pope's legate, Aleander, was +alarmed lest Luther should thereby escape, and hence set himself with +unwonted energy to incite the emperor to decisive measures.</p> + +<p>Charles was persuaded to make a demonstration, but demanded that the +legate should first "convince the Diet." Aleander was the most famous +orator Rome had, and he rejoiced in his opportunity. He went before +the as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>[Pg 87]</span>sembly in a prepared speech of three hours in length to show up +Luther as a pestilent heretic, and the necessity of getting rid of him +and his books and principles at once to prevent the world from being +plunged into barbarism and utter desolation. He made a deep impression +by his effort. It was only by the unexpected and crushing speech of +Duke George of Saxony, Luther's bitter personal enemy, that the train +of things, so energetically wrought up, was turned.</p> + +<p>Not in defence of Luther, whom he disliked, but in defence of the +German nation, he piled up before the door of the hierarchy such an +overwhelming array of its oppressions, robberies, and scandals, and +exposed with such an unsparing hand the falsities, profligacies, +cupidity, and beastly indecencies of the Roman clergy and officials, +that the emperor hastened to recall the edict he had already signed, +and yielded consent for Luther to be called to answer for himself.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther Summoned.</span></p> + +<p>In vain the pope's legate protested that it was not lawful thus to +bring the decrees of the sovereign pontiff into question, or pleaded +that Luther's daring genius, flashing eyes, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>[Pg 88]</span>electric speech, and +thrilling spirit would engender tumult and violence. On March 6th the +emperor signed a summons and safe-conduct for the Reformer to appear +in Worms within twenty-one days, to answer concerning his doctrines +and writings.</p> + +<p>So far the thunders of the Vatican were blank.</p> + +<p>With all the anxious fears which such a summons would naturally +engender, Luther resolved to obey it.</p> + +<p>The pope's adherents fumed in their helplessness when they learned +that he was coming—coming, too, under the safe-conduct of the empire, +coming to have a hearing before the Diet!—<i>he</i> whom the infallible +Vicar of Heaven had condemned and anathematized! Whither was the world +drifting?</p> + +<p>Luther's friends trembled lest he should share the fate of Huss; his +enemies trembled lest he should escape it; and both, in their several +ways, tried to keep him back.</p> + +<p>Placards of his condemnation were placed before him on the way, and +spectacles to indicate his certain execution were enacted in his +sight; but he was not the man to be deterred by the prospect of being +burnt alive if God called for the sacrifice.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>[Pg 89]</span></p> + +<p>Lying fraud was also tried to seduce and betray him. Glapio, the +emperor's confessor, who had tried a similar trick upon the Elector +Frederick, conceived the idea that if Von Sickingen and Bucer could be +won for the plot, a proposal to compromise the whole matter amicably +might serve to beguile him to the château of his friend at Ebernburg +till his safe-conduct should expire, and then the liars could throw +off the mask and dispose of him with credit in the eyes of Rome. The +glib and wily Glapio led in the attempt. Von Sickingen and Bucer were +entrapped by his bland hypocrisy, and lent themselves to the execution +of the specious proposition. But when they came to Luther with it, he +turned his back, saying, "If the emperor's confessor has anything to +say to me he will find me at Worms."</p> + +<p>But even his friends were alarmed at his coming. It was feared that he +would be destroyed. The Elector's confidential adviser sent a servant +out to meet him, beseeching him by no means to enter the city. "Go +tell your master," said Luther, "I will enter Worms though as many +devils should be there as tiles upon its houses!" And he did enter, +with nobles, cavaliers, and gentry for his escort, and attended +through the streets by a larger <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>[Pg 90]</span>concourse than had greeted the entry +of the emperor himself.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p> </p> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther at the Diet.</span></p> + +<p>Charles hurried to convene his council, saying, "Luther is come; what +shall we do with him?"</p> + +<p>A chancellor and bishop of Flanders urged that he be despatched at +once, and this scandalous humiliation of the Holy See terminated. He +said Sigismund had allowed Huss to be burned, and no one was bound to +keep faith with a heretic. But the emperor was more moral than the +teachings of his Church, and said, "Not so; we have given our promise, +and we ought to keep it."</p> + +<p>On the morrow Luther was conducted to the Diet by the marshal of the +empire. The excited people so crowded the gates and jammed about the +doors that the soldiers <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>[Pg 91]</span>had to use their halberds to open a way for +him. An instinct not yet interpreted drew their hearts and allied them +with the hero. From the thronged streets, windows, and housetops came +voices as he passed—voices of petition and encouragement—voices of +benediction on the brave and true—voices of sympathy and adjuration +to be firm in God and in the power of his might. It was Germany, +Scandinavia, England, Scotland, and Holland; it was the Americas and +hundreds of young republics yet unborn; it was the whole world of all +after-time, with its free Gospel, free conscience, free speech, free +government, free science, and free schools,—uttering themselves in +those half-smothered voices. Luther heard them and was strengthened.</p> + +<p>But there was no danger he would betray the momentous trust. That +morning, amid great rugged prayers which broke from him like massive +rock-fragments hot and burning from a volcano of mingled faith and +agony, laying one hand on the open Bible and lifting the other to +heaven, he cast his soul on Omnipotence, in pledge unspeakable to obey +only his conscience and his God. Whether for life or death, his heart +was fixed.</p> + +<p>A few steps more and he stood before Im<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>[Pg 92]</span>perial majesty, encompassed by +the powers and dignitaries of the earth, so brave, calm, and true a +man that thrones and kings looked on in silent awe and admiration, and +even malignant scorn for the moment retreated into darkness. Since He +who wore the crown of thorns stood before Pontius Pilate there had not +been a parallel to this scene.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Refusal to Recant.</span></p> + +<p>A weak, poor man, arraigned and alone before the assembled powers of +the earth, with only the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>[Pg 93]</span>grace of God and his cause on which to lean, +had demand made of him whether or not he would retract his books or +any part of them, <i>Yes</i> or <i>No</i>. But he did not shrink, neither did he +falter. "Since Your Imperial Majesty and Your Excellencies require of +me a direct and simple answer, I will give it. To the pope or councils +I cannot submit my faith, for it is clear that they have erred and +contradicted one another. Therefore, unless I am convinced by proofs +from Holy Scripture or by sound reasons, and my judgment by this means +is commanded by God's Word, <i>I cannot and will not retract anything</i>: +for a Christian cannot safely go contrary to his conscience." And, +glancing over the august assembly, on whose will his life hung, he +added in deep solemnity, those immortal words: <span class="smcap">"Here I stand. I +can do no otherwise. So help me God! Amen."</span><a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>[Pg 94]</span></p> + +<p>Simple were the facts. Luther afterward wrote to a friend: "I expected +His Majesty would bring fifty doctors to convict the monk outright; +but it was not so. The whole history is this: Are these your books? +<i>Yes.</i>—Will you retract them? <i>No.</i>—Well then, begone."</p> + +<p>He said the truth, but he could not then know all that was involved in +what he reduced to such a simple colloquy. With that <i>Yes</i> and <i>No</i> +the wheel of ages made another revolution. The breath which spoke them +turned the balances in which the whole subsequent history of +civilization hung. It was the <i>Yes</i> and <i>No</i> which applied the brakes +to the Juggernaut of usurpation, whose ponderous wheels had been +crushing through the centuries. It was the <i>Yes</i> and <i>No</i> which +evidenced the reality of a power above all popes and empires. It was +the <i>Yes</i> and <i>No</i> which spoke the supreme obligation of the human +soul to obey God and conscience, and started once more the pulsations +of liberty in the arteries of man. It was the <i>Yes</i> and <i>No</i> which +divided eras, and marked the summit whence the streams began to form +and flow to give back to this world a Church without a pope and a +State without an Inquisition.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>[Pg 95]</span></p> + +<p>Charles had the happiness at Worms to hear the tidings that Fernando +Cortes had added Mexico to his dominions. The emancipated peoples of +the earth in the generations since have had the happiness to know that +at Worms, through the inflexible steadfastness of Martin Luther, God +gave the inspirations of a new and better life for them!</p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Condemnation.</span></p> + +<p>After Luther and his friends left Worms the emperor issued an edict +putting him and all his adherents under the ban of the empire, +forbidding any one to give him food or shelter, calling on all who +found him to arrest him, commanding all his books to be burned, and +ordering the seizure of his friends and the confiscation of their +possessions.</p> + +<p>It was what Germany got for putting an Austro-Spanish bigot on the +Imperial throne.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther in the Wartburg.</span></p> + +<p>But the cause of Rome was not helped by it. Luther's person was made +safe by the Elector, who arranged a friendly capture by which he was +concealed in the Wartburg in charge of the knights.</p> + +<p>No one knew what had become of him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>[Pg 96]</span> His mysterious disappearance was +naturally referred to some foul play of the Romanists, and the feeling +of resentment was intense and deep. Indeed, Germany was now bent on +throwing off the religion of the hierarchy. No matter what it may once +have been, no matter what service it may have rendered in helping +Europe through the Dark Ages, it had become gangrened, perverted, +rotten, offensive, unbearable. The very means Rome took to defend it +increased revolt against it. It had come to be an oppressive lie, and +it had to go. No Bulls of popes or edicts of emperors could alter the +decree of destiny.</p> + +<p>And a great and blessed fortune it was that Luther still lived to +guide and counsel in the momentous transition. But Providence had +endowed him for the purpose, and so preserved him for its execution. +What was born with the Theses, and baptized before the Imperial Diet +at Worms, he was now to nourish, educate, catechise, and prepare for +glorious confirmation before a similar Diet in the after years.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Translation of the Bible.</span></p> + +<p>While in the Wartburg he was forbidden to issue any writings. Leisure +was thus afforded for one of the most important things con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>[Pg 97]</span>nected with +the Reformation. Those ten months he utilized to prepare for Germany +and for the world a translation of the Holy Scriptures, which itself +was enough to immortalize the Reformer's name. Great intellectual +monuments have come down to us from the sixteenth century. It was an +age in which the human mind put forth some of its noblest +demonstrations. Great communions still look back to its Confessions as +their rallying-centres, and millions of worshipers still render their +devotions in the forms which then were cast. But pre-eminent over all +the achievements of that sublime century was the giving of God's Word +to the people in their own language, which had its chief centre and +impulse in the production of Luther's <i>German Bible</i>. Well has it been +said, "He who takes up that, grasps a whole world in his hand—a world +which will perish only when this green earth itself shall pass away."</p> + +<p>It was the Word that kindled the heart of Luther to the work of +Reformation, and the Word alone could bring it to its consummation. +With the Word the whole Church of Christ and the entire fabric of our +civilization must stand or fall. Undermine the Bible and you undermine +the world. It is the one, true, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>[Pg 98]</span>only Charter of Faith, Liberty, +and salvation for man, without which this race of ours is a hopeless +and abandoned wreck. And when Luther gave forth his German Bible, it +was not only a transcendent literary achievement, which created and +fixed the classic forms of his country's language,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> but an act of +supremest wisdom and devotion; for the hope of the world is for ever +cabled to the free and open Word of God.</p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Conservatism.</span></p> + +<p>Up to the time of Luther's residence in the Wartburg nothing had been +done toward changing the outward forms, ceremonies, and organization +of the Church. The great thing with him had been to get the inward, +central doctrine right, believing that all else would then naturally +come right in due time. But while he was hidden and silent certain +fanatics thrust themselves into this field, and were on the eve of +precipitating everything to destruction. Tidings of the violent +revolutionary spirit which had broken out reached him in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>[Pg 99]</span>his retreat +and stirred him with sorrowful indignation, for it was the most +damaging blow inflicted on the Reformation.</p> + +<p>It is hard for men to keep their footing amid deep and vast commotions +and not drift into ruinous excesses. Storch, and Münzer, and +Carlstadt, and Melanchthon himself, were dangerously affected by the +whirl of things. Even good men sometimes forget that society cannot be +conserved by mere negations; that wild and lawless revolution can +never work a wholesome and abiding reformation; that the perpetuity of +the Church is an historic chain, each new link of which depends on +those which have gone before.</p> + +<p>There was precious gold in the old conglomerate, which needed to be +discriminated, extracted, and preserved. The divine foundations were +not to be confounded with the rubbish heaped upon them. There was +still a Church of Christ under the hierarchy, although the hierarchy +was no part of its life or essence. The Zwickau prophets, with their +new revelations and revolts against civil authority; the Wittenberg +iconoclasts, with their repudiation of study and learning and all +proper church order; and the Sacramentarians, with their insidious +rationalism against the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[Pg 100]</span>plain Word,—were not to be entrusted with +the momentous interests with which the cause of the Reformation was +freighted. And hence, at the risk of the Elector's displeasure and at +the peril of his life, Luther came forth from his covert to withstand +the violence which was putting everything in jeopardy.</p> + +<p>Grandly also did he reason out the genuine Gospel principles against +all these parties. He comprehended his ground from centre to +circumference, and he held it alike against erring friends and +menacing foes. The swollen torrent of events never once obscured his +prophetic insight, never disturbed the balance of his judgment, never +shook his hold upon the right. With a master-power he held revolutions +and wars in check, while he revised and purified the Liturgy and Order +of the Church, wrought out the evangelic truth in its applications to +existing things, and reared the renewed habilitation of the pure Word +and sacraments.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Growth of the Reformation.</span></p> + +<p>It was now that Pope Leo died. His glory lasted but eight years. His +successor, Adrian VI., was a moderate man, of good intentions, though +he could not see what evil there was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[Pg 101]</span>in indulgences. He exhorted +Germany to get rid of Luther, but said the Church must be reformed, +that the Holy See had been for years horribly polluted, and that the +evils had affected head and members. He was in solemn earnest this +time, and began to change and purify the papal court. To some this was +as if the voice of Luther were being echoed from St. Peter's chair, +and Adrian suddenly died, no man knows of what,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and Clement VII., +a relative of Leo X., was put upon the papal throne.</p> + +<p>In 1524 a Diet was convened at Nuremberg with reference to these same +matters. Campeggio, the pope's legate, thought it prudent to make his +way thither without letting himself be known, and wrote back to his +master that he had to be very cautious, as the majority of the Diet +consisted of "great Lutherans." At this Diet the Edict of Worms was +virtually annulled, and it was plain enough that "great Lutherans" had +become very numerous and powerful.</p> + +<p>Luther himself had become of sufficient consequence for Henry VIII., +king of Eng<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[Pg 102]</span>land, to write a book against him, for which the pope gave +him the title of "Defender of the Faith," and for which Luther repaid +him in his own coin. Erasmus also, long the prince of the whole +literary world, was dogged into the writing of a book against the +great Reformer. Poor Erasmus found his match, and was overwhelmed with +the result. He afterward sadly wrote: "My troops of friends are turned +to enemies. Everywhere scandal pursues me and calumny denies my name. +Every goose now hisses at Erasmus."</p> + +<p>In 1525, Luther's friend and protector, the Elector Frederick, died. +This would have been a sad blow for the Reformation had there been no +one of like mind to take his place. But God had the man in readiness. +"Frederick the Wise" was succeeded by his brother, "John the +Constant."</p> + +<p>In Hesse, in Holland, in Scandinavia, in Prussia, in Poland, in +Switzerland, in France, <i>everywhere</i>, the Reformation advanced. Duke +George of Saxony raged, got up an alliance against the growing cause, +and beheaded citizens of Leipsic for having Luther's writings in their +houses. Eck still howled from Ingolstadt for fire and fagots. The +dukes of Bavaria were fierce with persecutions. The arch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[Pg 103]</span>bishop of +Mayence punished cities because they would not have his priests for +pastors. The emperor from Spain announced his purpose to crush and +exterminate "the wickedness of Lutheranism." But it was all in vain. +The sun had risen, the new era had come!</p> + +<p>Luther now issued his <i>Catechisms</i>, which proved a great and glorious +aid to the true Gospel. Henceforth the children were to be bred up in +the pure faith. Matthesius says: "If Luther in his lifetime had +achieved no other work but that of bringing his two Catechisms into +use, the whole world could not sufficiently thank and repay him."</p> + +<p>A quarrel between the emperor and the pope also contributed to the +progress of the Reformation. A Diet at Spire in 1526 had interposed a +check to the persecuting spirit of the Romanists, and granted +toleration to those of Luther's mind in all the states where his +doctrines were approved. The respite lasted for three years, until +Charles and Clement composed their difference and united to wreak +their wrath upon Luther and his adherents.</p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Protestants and War.</span></p> + +<p>A second Diet at Spire, in 1529, revoked the former act of toleration, +and demanded of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[Pg 104]</span>all the princes and estates an unconditional +surrender to the pope's decrees. This called forth the heroic +<i>Protest</i> of those who stood with Luther. They refused to submit, +claiming that in matters of divine service and the soul's salvation +conscience and God must be obeyed rather than earthly powers. It was +from this that the name of <i>Protestants</i> originated—a name which half +the world now honors and accepts.</p> + +<p>The signers of this Protest also pledged to each other their mutual +support in defending their position. Zwingli urged them to make war +upon the emperor. He himself afterward took the sword, and perished by +it. Calvin, Cranmer, Knox, and even the Puritan Fathers as far as they +had power and occasion, resorted to physical force and the civil arm +to punish the rejecters of their creed. Luther repudiated all such +coercion. The sword was at his command, but he opposed its use for any +purposes of religion. All the weight of his great influence was given +to prevent his friends from mixing external force with what should +ever have its seat only in the calm conviction of the soul. He thus +practically anticipated Roger Williams and William Penn and the most +lauded results of modern freedom—not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[Pg 105]</span>from constraint of +circumstances and personal interests, but from his own clear insight +into Gospel principles. Bloody religious wars came after he was dead, +the prospect of which filled his soul with horror, and to which he +could hardly give consent even in case of direst necessity for +self-defence; but it is a transcendent fact that while he lived they +were held in abeyance, most of all by his prayers and endeavors. He +fought, indeed, as few men ever fought, but the only sword he wielded +was "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Confession of Augsburg.</span></p> + +<p>And yet another Imperial Diet was convened with reference to these +religious disturbances. It was held in Augsburg in the spring of 1530. +The emperor was in the zenith of his power. He had overcome his French +rival. He had spoiled Rome, humbled the pope, and reorganized Italy. +The Turks had withdrawn their armies. And the only thing in the way of +a consolidated empire was the Reformation in Germany. To crush this +was now his avowed purpose, and he anticipated no great hardship in +doing it. He entered Augsburg with unwonted magnificence and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[Pg 106]</span>pomp. He +had spoken very graciously in his invitation to the princes, but it +was in his heart to compel their submission to his former Edict of +Worms. It behoved them to be prepared to make a full exhibit of their +principles, giving the ultimatum on which they proposed to stand.</p> + +<p>Luther had been formulating articles embodying the points adhered to +in his reformatory teachings. He had prepared one set for the Marburg +Conference with the Swiss divines. He had revised and elaborated these +into the Seventeen Articles of Schwabach. He had also prepared another +series on abuses, submitted to the Elector John at Torgau. All these +were now committed to Melanchthon for careful elaboration into +complete style and harmony for use at the Diet. Luther assisted in +this work up to the time when the Diet convened, and what remained to +be done was completed in Augsburg by Melanchthon and the Lutheran +divines present with him. Luther himself could not be there, as he was +a dead man to the law, and by command of his prince was detained at +Coburg while the Diet was in session.</p> + +<p>The first act of the emperor was to summon the protesting princes +before him, asking of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[Pg 107]</span>them the withdrawal of their Protest. This they +refused. They felt that they had constitutional right, founded on the +decision of Spire, to resist the emperor's demand; and they did not +intend to surrender the just principles put forth in their noble +Protest. They celebrated divine service in their quarters, led by +their own clergy, and refused to join in the procession at the Roman +festival of Corpus Christi. This gave much offence, and for the sake +of peace they discontinued their services during the Diet.</p> + +<p>At length they were asked to make their doctrinal presentation. +Melanchthon had admirably performed the work assigned him in the +making up of the Confession, and on the 25th day of June, 1530, the +document, duly signed, was read aloud to the emperor in the hearing of +many.</p> + +<p>The effect of it upon the assembly was indescribable. Many of the +prejudices and false notions against the Reformers were effectually +dissipated. The enemies of the Reformation felt that they had solemn +realities to deal with which they had never imagined. Others said that +this was a more effectual preaching than that which had been +suppressed. "Christ is in the Diet," said Justus Jonas,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[Pg 108]</span> "and he does +not keep silence. God's Word cannot be bound." In a word, the world +now had added to it one of its greatest treasures—the renowned and +imperishable <span class="smcap">Augsburg Confession</span>.</p> + +<p>Luther was eager for tidings of what transpired at the Diet. And when +the Confession came, as signed and delivered, he wrote: "I thrill with +joy that I have lived to see the hour in which Christ is preached by +so many confessors to an assembly so illustrious in a form so +beautiful."</p> + +<p>Even Reformed authors, from Calvin down, have cheerfully added their +testimony to the worth and excellence of this magnificent +Confession—the first since the Athanasian Creed. A late writer of +this class says of it that "it best exhibits the prevailing genius of +the German Reformation, and will ever be cherished as one of the +noblest monuments of faith from the pentecostal period of +Protestantism."</p> + +<p>The Romanists attempted to answer the noble Confession, but would not +make their Confutation public. Compromises were proposed, but they +came to naught. The Imperial troops were called into the city and the +gates closed to intimidate the princes, but it resulted in greater +alarm to the Romanists than to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[Pg 109]</span>them. The confessors had taken their +stand, and they were not to be moved from it. The Diet ended with the +decision that they should have until the following spring to determine +whether they would submit to the Roman Church or not, and, if not, +that measures would then be taken for their extermination.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The League of Smalcald.</span></p> + +<p>The emperor's edict appeared November 19th, and the Protestant princes +at once proceeded to form a league for mutual protection against +attempts to force their consciences in these sacred matters. It was +with difficulty that the consent of Luther could be obtained for what, +to him, looked like an arrangement to support the Gospel by the sword. +But he yielded to a necessity forced by the intolerance of Rome. A +convention was held at Smalcald at Christmas, 1530, and there was +formed the <i>League of Smalcald</i>, which planted the political +foundations of Religious Liberty for our modern world.</p> + +<p>By the presentation of the great Confession of Augsburg, along with +the formation of the League of Smalcald, the cause of Luther became +embodied in the official life of nations, and the new era of Freedom +had come safely <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[Pg 110]</span>to its birth. Long and terrible storms were yet to be +passed, but the ship was launched which no thunders of emperors or +popes could ever shatter.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>When the months of probation ended, France had again become +troublesome to the emperor, and the Turks were renewing their +movements against his dominions. He also found that he could not count +on the Catholic princes for the violent suppression of the +Protestants. Luther's doctrines had taken too deep hold upon their +subjects to render it safe to join in a war of extermination against +them.</p> + +<p>The Zwinglians also coalesced with the Luth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[Pg 111]</span>erans in presenting a +united front against the threatened bloody coercion. The Smalcald +League, moreover, had grown to be a power which even the emperor could +not despise. He therefore resolved to come to terms with the +Protestant members of his empire, and a peace—at least a truce—was +concluded at Nuremberg, which left things as they were to wait until a +general council should settle the questions in dispute.</p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Luther's Later Years.</span></p> + +<p>Luther lived nearly fifteen years after this grand crowning of his +testimony, diligently laboring for Christ and his country. The most +brilliant part of his career was over, but his labors still were great +and important. Indeed, his whole life was intensely laborious. He was +a busier man than the First Napoleon. His publications, as reckoned up +by Seckendorf, amount to eleven hundred and thirty-seven. Large and +small together, they number seven hundred and fifteen volumes—one for +every two weeks that he lived after issuing the first. Even in the +last six weeks of his life he issued thirty-one publications—more +than five per week. If he had had no other cares and duties but to +occupy himself with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[Pg 112]</span>his pen, this would still prove him a very +Hercules in authorship.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>But his later years were saddened by many anxieties, afflictions, and +trials. Under God, he had achieved a transcendent work, and his +confidence in its necessity, divinity, and perpetuity never failed; +but he was much distressed to see it marred and damaged, as it was, by +the weaknesses and passions of men.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[Pg 113]</span></p> + +<p>His great influence created jealousies. His persistent conservatism +gave offence. Those on whom he most relied betimes imperiled his cause +by undue concessions and pusillanimity. The friends of the Reformation +often looked more to political than Christian ends, or were more +carnal than spiritual. Threatening civil commotions troubled him. +Ultra reform attacked and blamed him. The agitations about a general +council, which Rome now treacherously urged, and meant to pack for its +own purposes, gave him much anxiety. It was with reference to such a +council that one other great document—<i>The Articles of +Smalcald</i>—issued from his pen, in which he defined the true and final +Protestant position with regard to the hierarchy, and the fundamental +organization of the Church of Christ. His bodily ailments also became +frequent and severe.</p> + +<p>Prematurely old, and worn out with cares, labors, and vexations—the +common lot of great heroes and benefactors—he began to long for the +heavenly rest. "I am weary of the world," said he, "and it is time the +world were weary of me. The parting will be easy, like a traveler +leaving his inn."</p> + +<p>He lived to his sixty-third year, and peace<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[Pg 114]</span>fully died in the faith he +so effectually preached, while on a mission of reconciliation at the +place where he was born, honored and lamented in his death as few men +have ever been. His remains repose in front of the chancel in the +castle church of Wittenberg, on the door of which his own hand had +nailed the Ninety-five Theses.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p> </p> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Personale of Luther.</span></p> + +<p>The personal appearance of this extraordinary man is but poorly given +in the painted portraits of him. Written descriptions inform us that +he was of medium size, handsomely proportioned, and somewhat darkly +complected. His arched brows, high cheek-bones, and powerful jaws and +chin gave to his face an outline <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[Pg 115]</span>of ruggedness; but his features were +regular, and softened all over with benevolence and every refined +feeling. He had remarkable eyes, large, full, deep, dark, and +brilliant, with a sort of amber circle around the pupil, which made +them seem to emit fire when under excitement. His hair was dark and +waving, but became entirely white in his later years. His mouth was +elegantly formed, expressive of determination, tenderness, affection, +and humor. His countenance was elevated, open, brave, and unflinching. +His neck was short and strong and his breast broad and full.</p> + +<p>Though compactly built, he was generally spare and wasted from +incessant studies, hard labor, and an abstemious life.</p> + +<p>Mosellanus, the moderator at the Leipsic Disputation, describes him +quite fully as he appeared at that time, and says that "his body was +so reduced by cares and study that one could almost count his bones." +He himself makes frequent allusion to his wasted and enfeebled body. +His health was never robust. He was a small eater. Melanchthon says: +"I have seen him, when he was in full health, absolutely neither eat +nor drink for four days together. At other times I have seen him, for +many days, content with the slightest allow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[Pg 116]</span>ance, a salt herring and a +small hunch of bread per day."</p> + +<p>Mosellanus further says that his manners were cultured and friendly, +with nothing of stoical severity or pride in him—that he was cheerful +and full of wit in company, and at all times fresh, joyous, inspiring, +and pleasant.</p> + +<p>Honest naturalness, grand simplicity, and an unpretentious majesty of +character breathed all about him. An indwelling vehemency, a powerful +will, and a firm confidence could readily be seen, but calm and +mellowed with generous kindness, without a trace of selfishness or +vanity. He was jovial, free-spoken, open, easily approached, and at +home with all classes.</p> + +<p>Audin says of him that "his voice was clear and sonorous, his eye +beaming with fire, his head of the antique cast, his hands beautiful, +and his gesture graceful and abounding—at once Rabelais and Fontaine, +with the droll humor of the one and the polished elegance of the +other."</p> + +<p>In society and in his home he was genial, playful, instructive, and +often brilliant. His <i>Table-Talk</i>, collected (not always judiciously) +by his friends, is one of the most original and remarkable of +productions. He loved children <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[Pg 117]</span>and young people, and brought up +several in his house besides his own. He had an inexhaustible flow of +ready wit and good-humor, prepared for everybody on all occasions. He +was a frank and free correspondent, and let out his heart in his +letters, six large volumes of which have been preserved.</p> + +<p>He was specially fond of music, and cultivated it to a high degree. He +could sing and play like a woman.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> "I have no pleasure <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[Pg 118]</span>in any +man," said he, "who despises music. It is no invention of ours; it is +the gift of God. I place it next to theology."</p> + +<p>He was himself a great musician and hymnist. Handel confesses that he +derived singular advantage from the study of his music; and Coleridge +says: "He did as much for the Reformation by his hymns as by his +translation of the Bible." To this day he is the chief singer in a +Church of pre-eminent song. Heine speaks of "those stirring songs +which escaped from him in the very midst of his combats and +necessities, like flowers making their way from between rough stones +or moonbeams glittering among dark clouds." <i>Ein feste Burg</i> welled +from his great heart like the gushing of the waters from the smitten +rock of Horeb to inspirit and refresh God's faint and doubting people +as long as the Church is in this earthly wilderness. There is a mighty +soul in it which lifts one, as on eagles' wings, high and triumphant +over the blackest storms. And his whole life was a brilliantly enacted +epic of marvelous grandeur and pathos.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[Pg 119]</span></p> + +<p> </p> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">His Great Qualities.</span></p> + +<p>Luther's qualities of mind, heart, and attainment were transcendent. +Though naturally meek and diffident, when it came to matters of duty +and conviction he was courageous, self-sacrificing, and brave beyond +any mere man known to history. Elijah fled before the threats of +Jezebel, but no powers on earth could daunt the soul of Luther. Even +the apparitions of the devil himself could not disconcert him.</p> + +<p>Roman Catholic authors agree that "Nature gave him a German industry +and strength and an Italian spirit and vivacity," and that "no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[Pg 120]</span>body +excelled him in philosophy and theology, and nobody equaled him in +eloquence."</p> + +<p>His mental range was not confined to any one set of subjects. In the +midst of his profound occupation with questions of divinity and the +Church "his mind was literally world-wide. His eyes were for ever +observant of what was around him. At a time when science was hardly +out of its shell he had observed Nature with the liveliest curiosity. +He studied human nature like a dramatist. Shakespeare himself drew +from him. His memory was a museum of historical information, anecdotes +of great men, and old German literature, songs, and proverbs, to the +latter of which he made many rich additions from his own genius. +Scarce a subject could be spoken of on which he had not thought and on +which he had not something remarkable to say."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> In consultations +upon public affairs, when the most important things hung in peril, his +contemporaries speak with amazement of the gigantic strength of his +mind, the unexampled acuteness of his intellect, the breadth and +loftiness of his understanding and counsels.</p> + +<p>But, though so great a genius, he laid great stress on sound and +thorough learning and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[Pg 121]</span>study. "The strength and glory of a town," said +he, "does not depend on its wealth, its walls, its great mansions, its +powerful armaments, but in the number of its learned, serious, kind, +and well-educated citizens." He was himself a great scholar, far +beyond what we would suspect in so perturbed a life, or what he cared +to parade in his writings. He mastered the ancient languages, and +insisted on the perpetual study of them as "the scabbard which holds +the sword of the Spirit, the cases which enclose the precious jewels, +the vessels which contain the old wine, the baskets which carry the +loaves and the fishes for the feeding of the multitude." His +associates say of him that he was a great reader, eagerly perusing the +Church Fathers, old and new, and all histories, well retaining what he +read, and using the same with great skill as occasion called.</p> + +<p>Melanchthon, who knew him well, and knew well how to judge of men's +powers and attainments, said of him: "He is too great, too wonderful, +for me to describe. Whatever he writes, whatever he utters, goes to +the soul and fixes itself like arrows in the heart. <i>He is a miracle +among men.</i>"</p> + +<p>Nor was he without the humility of true greatness. Newton's comparison +of himself <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[Pg 122]</span>to a child gathering shells and pebbles on the shore, +while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before him, has +been much cited and lauded as an illustration of the modesty of true +science. But long before Newton had Luther said of himself, in the +midst of his mighty achievements, "Only a little of the first fruits +of wisdom—only a few fragments of the boundless heights, breadths, +and depths of truth—have I been able to gather."</p> + +<p>He was a man of amazing <i>faith</i>—that mighty principle which looks at +things invisible, joins the soul to divine Omnipotence, and launches +out unfalteringly upon eternal realities, and which is ever the chief +factor in all God's heroes of every age. He dwelt in constant nearness +and communion with the Eternal Spirit, which reigns in the heavens and +raises the willing and obedient into blessed instruments of itself for +the actualizing of ends and ideals beyond and above the common course +of things. With his feet ever planted on the promises, he could lay +his hands upon the Throne, and thus was lifted into a sublimity of +energy, endurance, and command which made him one of the phenomenal +wonders of humanity. He was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[Pg 123]</span>a very Samson in spiritual vigor, and +another Hannah's son in the strength and victory of his prayers.</p> + +<p>Dr. Calvin E. Stowe says: "There was probably never created a more +powerful human being, a more gigantic, full-proportioned MAN, in the +highest sense of the term. All that belongs to human nature, all that +goes to constitute a MAN, had a strongly-marked development in him. He +was a <i>model man</i>, one that might be shown to other beings in other +parts of the universe as a specimen of collective manhood in its +maturest growth."</p> + +<p>As the guide and master of one of the greatest revolutions of time we +look in vain for any one with whom to compare him, and as a +revolutionary orator and preacher he had no equal. Richter says, "His +words are half-battles." Melanchthon likens them to thunderbolts. He +was at once a Peter and a Paul, a Socrates and an Æsop, a Chrysostom +and a Savonarola, a Shakespeare and a Whitefield, all condensed in +one.</p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">His Alleged Coarseness.</span></p> + +<p>Some blame him for not using kid gloves in handling the ferocious +bulls, bears, and he-goats with whom he had to do. But what, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[Pg 124]</span>otherwise, would have become of the Reformation? His age was savage, +and the men he had to meet were savage, and the matters at stake +touched the very life of the world. What would a Chesterfield or an +Addison have been in such a contest? Erasmus said he had horns, and +knew how to use them, but that Germany needed just such a master. He +understood the situation. "These gnarled logs," said he, "will not +split without iron wedges and heavy malls. The air will not clear +without lightning and thunder."<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>But if he was rough betimes, he could be as gentle and tender as a +maiden, and true to himself in both. He could fight monsters all day, +and in the evening take his lute, gaze at the stars, sing psalms, and +muse upon the clouds, the fields, the flowers, the birds, dissolved in +melody and devotion. Feared by the mighty of the earth, the dictator +and rep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[Pg 125]</span>rimander of kings, the children loved him, and his great heart +was as playful among them as one of themselves. If he was harsh and +unsparing upon hypocrites, malignants, and fools, he called things by +their right names, and still was as loving as he was brave. Since King +David's lament over Absalom no more tender or pathetic scene has +appeared in history or in fiction than his outpouring of paternal love +and grief over the deathbed, coffin, and grave of his young and +precious daughter Madeleine. "I know of few things more touching," +says Carlyle, "than those soft breathings of affection, soft as a +child's or a mother's, in this great wild heart of Luther;" and adds: +"I will call this Luther a true Great Man; great in intellect, in +courage, affection, and integrity; one of our most lovable and +precious men. Great not as a hewn obelisk, but as an Alpine mountain, +so simple, honest, spontaneous; not setting up to be great at all; +there for quite another purpose than being great. Ah, yes, unsubduable +granite, piercing far and wide into the Heavens; yet, in the clefts of +it, fountains, green, beautiful valleys with flowers. A right +Spiritual Hero and Prophet; once more, a true Son of Nature and Fact, +for whom these centuries, and many <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[Pg 126]</span>that are yet to come, will be +thankful to Heaven."</p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">His Marvelous Achievements.</span></p> + +<p>A lone man, whose days were spent in poverty; who could withstand the +mighty Vatican and all its flaming Bulls; whose influence evoked and +swayed successive Diets of the empire; whom repeated edicts from the +Imperial throne could not crush; whom the talent, eloquence, and +towering authority of the Roman hierarchy assailed in vain; whom the +attacks of kings of state and kings of literature could not disable; +to offset whose opinions the greatest general council the Church of +Rome ever held had to be convened, and, after sitting eighteen years, +could not adjourn without conceding much to his positions; and whose +name the greatest and most enlightened nations of the earth hail with +glad acclaim,—necessarily must have been a wonder of a man.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[Pg 127]</span></p> + +<p>To begin with a minority consisting of one, and conquer kingdoms with +the mere sword of his mouth; to bear the anathemas of Church and the +ban of empire, and triumph in spite of them; to refuse to fall down +before the golden image of the combined Nebuchadnezzars of his time, +though threatened with the burning fires of earth and hell; to turn +iconoclast of such magnitude and daring as to think of smiting the +thing to pieces in the face of principalities and powers to whom it +was as God—nay, to attempt this, <i>and to succeed in it</i>,—here was +sublimity of heroism and achievement explainable only in the will and +providence of the Almighty, set to recover His Gospel to a perishing +race.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">His Impress upon the World.</span></p> + +<p>To describe the fruits of Luther's labors would require the writing of +the whole history of modern civilization and the setting forth of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>[Pg 128]</span>the +noblest characteristics of this our modern world.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>On the German nation he has left more of his impress than any other +man has left on any nation. The German people love to speak of him as +the creative master of their noble language and literature, the great +prophet and glory of their country. There is nothing so consecrated in +all his native land as the places which connect with his life, +presence, and deeds.</p> + +<p>But his mighty impress is not confined to Germany. "He grasped the +iron trumpet of his mother-tongue and blew a blast that shook the +nations from Rome to the Orkneys." He is not only the central figure +of Germany, but of Europe and of the whole modern world. Take Luther +away, with the fruits of his life and deeds, and man to-day would +cease to be what he is.</p> + +<p>Frederick von Schlegel, though a Romanist, affirms that "it was upon +him and his soul that the fate of Europe depended." And on <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>[Pg 129]</span>the fate +of Europe then depended the fate of our race.</p> + +<p>Michelet, also a Romanist, pronounces Luther "the restorer of liberty +in modern times;" and adds: "If we at this day exercise in all its +plenitude the first and highest privilege of human intelligence, it is +to him we are indebted for it."</p> + +<p>"And that any faith," says Froude, "any piety, is alive now, even in +the Roman Church itself, whose insolent hypocrisy he humbled into +shame, is due in large measure to the poor miner's son."</p> + +<p>He certainly is to-day the most potently living man who has lived this +side of the Middle Ages. The pulsations of his great heart are felt +through the whole <i>corpus</i> of our civilization.</p> + +<p>"Four potentates," says the late Dr. Krauth, "ruled the mind of Europe +in the Reformation: the emperor, Erasmus, the pope, and Luther. The +pope wanes; Erasmus is little; the emperor is nothing; but Luther +abides as a power for all time. His image casts itself upon the +current of ages as the mountain mirrors itself in the river which +winds at its foot. He has monuments in marble and bronze, and medals +in silver and gold, but his noblest monument is the best love of the +best hearts, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>[Pg 130]</span>the brightest and purest impression of his image has +been left in the souls of regenerated nations."</p> + +<p>Many and glowing are the eulogies which have been pronounced upon him, +but Frederick von Schlegel, speaking from the side of Rome, gives it +as his conviction that "few, even of his own disciples, appreciate him +highly enough." Genius, learning, eloquence, and song have volunteered +their noble efforts to do him justice; centuries have added their +light and testimony; half the world in its enthusiasm has urged on the +inspiration; but the story in its full dimensions has not yet been +adequately told. The skill and energy of other generations will yet be +taxed to give it, if, indeed, it ever can be given apart from the +illuminations of eternity.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>[Pg 131]</span></p> + +<p> </p> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">His Enemies and Revilers.</span></p> + +<p>Rome has never forgotten nor forgiven him. She sought his life while +living, and she curses him in his grave. Profited by his labors beyond +what she ever could have been without him, she strains and chokes with +anathemas upon his name and everything that savors of him. Her +children are taught from infancy to hate and abhor him as they hope +for salvation. Many are the false turns and garbled forms in which her +writers hold up his words and deeds to revenge themselves on his +memory. Again and again the oft-answered and exploded calumnies are +revived afresh to throw dishonor on his cause. Even while the free +peoples of the earth are making these grateful acknowledgments of the +priceless boon that has come to them through his life and labors, +press and platform hiss with stale vituperations from the old enemy. +And a puling Churchism outside of Rome takes an ill pleasure in +following after her to gather and retail this vomit of malignity.</p> + +<p>Luther was but a man. No one claims that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>[Pg 132]</span>he was perfection. But if +those who sought his destruction while he lived had had no greater +faults than he, with better grace their modern representatives might +indulge their genius for his defamation. At best, as we might suppose, +it is the little men, the men of narrow range and narrow heart—men +dwarfed by egotism, bigotry, and self-conceit—who see the most of +these defects. Nobler minds, contemplating him from loftier +standpoints, observe but little of them, and even honor them above the +excellencies of common men. "The proofs that he was in some things +like other men," says Lessing, "are to me as precious as the most +dazzling of his virtues."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>And, with all, where is the gain or wisdom of blowing smoke upon a +diamond? The sun itself has holes in it too large for half a dozen +worlds like ours to fill, but wherein is that great luminary thereby +unfitted to be the matchless centre of our system, the glorious source +of day, and the sublime symbol of the Son of God?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>[Pg 133]</span></p> + +<p>If Luther married a beautiful woman, the proofs of which do not +appear, it is what every other honest man would do if it suited him +and he were free to do it.</p> + +<p>If he broke his vows to get a wife, of which there is no evidence, +when vows are taken by mistake, tending to dishonor God, work +unrighteousness, and hinder virtuous example and proper life, they +ought to be broken, the sooner the better.</p> + +<p>And, whatever else may be alleged to his discredit, and whoever may +arise to heap scandal on his name, the grand facts remain that it was +chiefly through his marvelous qualities, word, and work that the +towering dominion of the Papacy was humbled and broken for ever; that +prophets and apostles were released from their prisons once more to +preach and prophesy to men; that the Church of the early times was +restored to the bereaved world; that the human mind was set free to +read and follow God's Word for itself; that the masses of neglected +and downtrodden humanity were made into populations of live and +thinking beings; and that the nations of the earth have become +repossessed of their "inalienable rights" of "life, liberty, and the +pursuit of happiness."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>[Pg 134]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And let the pope and priests their victor scorn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each fault reveal, each imperfection scan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And by their fell anatomy of hate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His life dissect with satire's keenest edge;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet still may Luther, with his mighty heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Defy their malice.<br /></span> +<span class="i15">                          Far beyond <i>them</i> soars the soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They slander. From his tomb there still comes forth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A magic which appalls them by its power;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the brave monk who made the Popedom rock<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Champions a world to show his equal yet!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>[Pg 137]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_FOUNDING_OF_PENNSYLVANIA" id="THE_FOUNDING_OF_PENNSYLVANIA"></a>THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I_THE_HISTORY_AND_THE_MEN" id="I_THE_HISTORY_AND_THE_MEN"></a>I. THE HISTORY AND THE MEN.</h2> + + +<p>It was in 1492, just nine years after Luther's birth, that the +intrepid Genoese, Christopher Columbus, under the patronage of +Ferdinand, king of Spain, made the discovery of land on this side of +the Atlantic Ocean. A few years later the distinguished Florentine, +Americus Vespucius, set foot on its more interior coasts, described +their features, and imprinted his name on this Western Continent. But +it was not until more than a century later that permanent settlements +of civilized people upon these shores began to be made.</p> + +<p>During the early part of the seventeenth century several such +settlements were effected. A company of English adventurers planted +themselves on the banks of the James River and founded Virginia +(1607). The Dutch of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>[Pg 138]</span> Holland, impelled by the spirit of mercantile +enterprise, established a colony on the Hudson, and founded what +afterward became the city and State of New York (1614). Then a +shipload of English Puritans, flying from religious oppression, landed +at Plymouth Rock and made the beginning of New England (1620). A +little later Lord Baltimore founded a colony on the Chesapeake and +commenced the State of Maryland (1633). But it was not until 1637-38 +that the first permanent settlement was made in what subsequently +became the State of Pennsylvania.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Movements in Sweden.</span></p> + +<p>From the year 1611 to 1632 there was upon the throne of Sweden one of +the noblest of kings, a great champion of religious liberty, the +lamented and ever-to-be-remembered <span class="smcap">Gustavus Adolphus</span>.</p> + +<p>In his profound thinking to promote the glory of God and the good of +men his attention rested on this vast domain of wild lands in America. +He knew the sorrows and distresses which thousands all over Europe +were suffering from the constant and devastating religious wars, and +the purpose was kindled in his heart to plant here a colony <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>[Pg 139]</span>as the +beginning of a general asylum for these homeless and persecuted +people, and determined to foster the same by his royal protection and +care.</p> + +<p>"To this end he sent forth letters patent, dated Stockholm, 2d of +July, 1626, wherein all, both high and low, were invited to contribute +something to the company according to their means. The work was +completed in the Diet of the following year (1627), when the estates +of the realm gave their assent and confirmed the measure. Those who +took part in this company were: His Majesty's mother, the +queen-dowager Christina, the Prince John Casimir, the Royal Council, +the most distinguished of the nobility, the highest officers of the +army, the bishops and other clergymen, together with the burgomasters +and aldermen of the cities, as well as a large number of the people +generally. For the management and working of the plan there were +appointed an admiral, vice-admiral, chapman, under-chapman, +assistants, and commissaries, also a body of soldiers duly +officered."<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> And a more beneficent, brilliant, and promising +arrangement of the sort was perhaps never made. The devout king +intended <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>[Pg 140]</span>his grand scheme "for the honor of God," for the welfare of +his subjects and suffering Christians in general, and as a means "to +extend the doctrines of Christ among the heathen."</p> + +<p>But when everything was complete and in full progress to go into +effect, King Gustavus Adolphus was called to join and lead the allied +armies of the Protestant kingdoms of Germany against the endeavors of +the papal powers to crush out the cause of evangelical Christianity +and free conscience.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>[Pg 141]</span></p> + +<p>For the ensuing five years the attention and energies of Sweden were +preoccupied, first with the Polish, and then with these wars, and the +colonization scheme was interrupted.</p> + +<p>Then came the famous battle of Lützen, 1632, bringing glorious victory +over the gigantic Wallenstein, but death to the victor, the royal +Adolphus.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>[Pg 142]</span></p> + +<p>Only a few days before that dreadful battle he spoke of his +colonization plan, and commended it to the German people at Nuremberg +as "the jewel of his kingdom;" but with the king's death the company +disbanded.</p> + +<p>We could almost wish that Gustavus had lived to carry out his humane +and magnificent proposals with reference to this colony as well as for +Europe; but his work was done. What America lost by his death she more +than regained in the final success and secure establishment of the +holy cause for which he sacrificed his life.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>[Pg 143]</span></p> + +<p> </p> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Swedish Proposal.</span></p> + +<p>The plan of this illustrious king was to found here upon the Delaware +a free state under his sovereign protection, where the laborer should +enjoy the fruit of his toil, where the rights of conscience should be +preserved inviolate, and which should be open to the whole Protestant +world, then and for long time engaged in bloody conflict with the +papal powers for the maintenance of its existence. Here all were to be +secure in their persons, their property, and their religious +convictions. It was to be a place of refuge and peace for the +persecuted of all nations, of security for the honor of the wives and +daughters of those fleeing from sword, fire, and rapine, and from +homes made desolate by oppressive war. It was to be a land of +universal liberty for all classes, the soil of which was never to be +burdened with slaves.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> And in all the colonies of America there was +not a more thoroughly digested <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>[Pg 144]</span>system for the practical realization +of these ideas than that which the great Gustavus Adolphus had thus +arranged.</p> + +<p>Nor did it altogether die with his death. His mantle fell upon one of +the best and greatest of men. Axel Oxenstiern, his friend and prime +minister, and his successor in the administration of the affairs of +the kingdom, was as competent as he was zealous to fulfill the wise +plans and ideas of the slain king, not only with reference to Sweden +and Europe, but also with regard to the contemplated colony in +America.</p> + +<p>Having taken the matter into his own hands, on the 10th of April, +1633, only a few months after Gustavus's death, Oxenstiern renewed the +movement which had been laid aside, and repeated the offer to Germany +and other countries, inviting general co-operation in the noble +enterprise.</p> + +<p>Peter Minuit, a member of a distinguished family of Rhenish Prussia, +who had been for years the able director and president of the Dutch +mercantile establishment on the Hudson, presented himself in Sweden, +and entered into the matter with great energy and enthusiasm. And by +the end of 1637 or early in 1638 two ships were seen entering and +ascend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>[Pg 145]</span>ing the Delaware, freighted with the elements and nucleus of +the new state, such as Gustavus had projected.</p> + +<p>These ships, under Minuit, landed their passengers but a few miles +south of where Philadelphia now stands, and thus made the first +beginning of what has since become the great and happy Commonwealth of +Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>This was <i>six years before Penn was born</i>.</p> + +<p> </p> + + + +<p><span class="smcap">Was Penn Aware of these Plans?</span></p> + +<p>How far William Penn was illuminated and influenced by the ideas of +the great and wise Gustavus Adolphus in reference to the founding of a +free state in America as an asylum for the persecuted and suffering +people of God in the Old World, is nowhere told; but there is reason +to believe that he knew of them, and took his own plans from them.</p> + +<p>A few facts bearing on the point may here be noted.</p> + +<p>One peculiarly striking is, that the same plan and principles with +reference to such a colonial state which Penn brought hither in the +<i>Welcome</i> in 1682 were already matured and widely propounded by the +illustrious Swedish king more than half a century before they +practically entered Penn's mind.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>[Pg 146]</span></p> + +<p>Another is, that these proposals and principles were generally +promulgated throughout Europe—first by Gustavus and those associated +with him in the matter, and then again by Oxenstiern, in Germany, +Holland, and other countries.</p> + +<p>Still another is, that in 1677 Penn made a special tour of three +months through Holland and various parts of Germany, visiting and +conferring with many of the most pious and devoted people, including +distinguished men and women, and clergy and laity of high standing, +information, and influence. He made considerable stay in Frankfort, +where he says both Calvinists and Lutherans received him with gladness +of heart. He visited Mayence, Worms, Mannheim, Mulheim, Düsseldorf, +Herwerden, Embaden, Bremen, etc., etc., concerning which the editor of +his <i>Life and Writings</i> says he had "interesting interviews with many +persons eminent for their talents, learning, or social position." +Among them were such as Elizabeth, Princess Palatine, niece of Charles +I. of England and the daughter of the king of Bohemia, the special +friend of Gustavus Adolphus, who died of horror on hearing that +Gustavus was slain; Anna Maria, countess of Hornes; the countess <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>[Pg 147]</span>and +earl of Falkenstein and Brück; the president of the council of state +at Embaden; the earl of Donau, and the like; among all of which it is +hardly possible that he should have failed to meet with the proposals +which had gone out over all Protestant Europe from the throne of +Sweden. Nor is there any evidence that William Penn had thought of +founding a free Christian state in America until immediately after his +return to England from this tour on the Continent.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, the plans of Gustavus respecting his projected colony on +the Delaware were well understood in official circles in England +itself, especially in London, from 1634. John Oxenstiern, brother of +the great chancellor, was at that time Swedish ambassador in London, +and in that year he obtained from King Charles I. a renunciation and +cession to Sweden of all claims of the English to the country on the +Delaware growing out of the rights of first discovery, and for the +very purposes of this colonial free state and asylum first projected +by the Swedish king.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Swedes in Advance of Penn.</span></p> + +<p>We are left to our own inferences from these facts. But, however much +or little Penn may <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>[Pg 148]</span>have been directly influenced and guided by what +Gustavus Adolphus had conceived and elaborated on the subject, the +wise and noble conception which he brought with him for practical +realization in 1682 was known to the European peoples for more than +fifty years before he laid hold on it. The same had also been one of +the chief sources of the inspiration of Lord Baltimore in the founding +of the colony of Maryland, of which Penn was not ignorant. And the +same, not unknown to him, had already begun to be realized here in +what is now called Pennsylvania full forty-four years before his +arrival.</p> + +<p>Shipload after shipload of sturdy and devoted people, mostly Swedes, +animated with the same grand ideas, had here been landed. And so +successfully had they battled with the perils and hardships of the +wilderness, and so justly had they treated and arranged to dwell in +peace and love with the wild inhabitants of the forests, that when +Penn came he found everything prepared to his hand. The Swedes alone +already numbered about one thousand strong. They had conquered the +wild woods, built them homes, and opened plantations; and "the eye of +the stranger could begin to gaze with interest upon the signs of +public improvement, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>[Pg 149]</span>ever regularly advancing, from the region of +Wilmington to that of Philadelphia."</p> + +<p>When Penn landed he found a town and court-house at New Castle, and a +town and place of public assemblage at Upland, and a Christian and +free people in possession of the territory, with whom it was necessary +for him to treat before his charter could avail for the planting of +his colony. The land to which the Swedes had acquired title (by +England's release to Sweden of all claim from right of discovery, by +charter from Sweden, by purchase from the Indians, first under Minuit, +the first governor, and then under his successor, Governor Printz, and +by other purchases or agreements) was the west bank of the Delaware +River from Cape Henlopen to Trenton Falls, and thence westward to the +great fall in the Susquehanna, near the mouth of the Conewaga Creek, +which included nearly the whole of Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.</p> + +<p>The fortunes of war, in Europe and between the colonies, in course of +time complicated the titles to one and another portion of this +territory, but the Swedes and Dutch occupied and held the most +prominent parts of it by right of actual possession when and after +Penn's charter was granted.</p> + +<p> </p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>[Pg 150]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Penn's Charter and Arrival.</span></p> + +<p>But when Penn arrived he brought with him letters patent from Charles +II., king of England, to this same district of country and the wilds +indefinitely beyond it, having also obtained from his friend, the +king's brother, the duke of York, full releases of the claims vested +in him to the "Lower Counties," which now form the State of Delaware.</p> + +<p>Penn was accompanied by from sixty to seventy colonists—all that +survived the scourge which visited them in their passage across the +sea. He landed first at New Castle, of which the Dutch of New York had +by conquest obtained possession. To them he made known his grants and +his plans, and succeeded in securing their acquiescence in them.</p> + +<p>Thence he came to Upland (Chester), the head-quarters of the Swedes, +who "received their new fellow-citizens with great friendliness, +carried up their goods and furniture from the ships, and entertained +them in their own houses without charge." His proposals with regard to +the establishment of a united commonwealth they also received with +much favor. And immediately thereupon he convened a general assembly +of the citizens, which sat for three <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>[Pg 151]</span>days, by which an act was passed +for the consolidation of the various interests and parties on the +ground, a code of general regulations adopted, and the necessary +features of a common government enacted; all of which together formed +the basis of our present commonwealth.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">How Pennsylvania was Named.</span></p> + +<p>The name which Penn had chosen for the territory of his grant was +<i>Sylvania</i>, but the king prefixed the name of Penn and called it +<i>Penn's</i> Silvania (<i>Penn's Woods</i>), in honor of the recipient's +father, Sir William Penn, a distinguished officer in the British navy. +Penn sought to have the title changed so as to leave his own name out, +as he thought it savored too much of personal vanity; but his efforts +did not avail. And thus our great old commonwealth took the name of +<i>Pennsylvania</i>, and the city of Philadelphia was laid out and named by +Penn himself as its capital.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Men of those Times.</span></p> + +<p>In dwelling upon the founding of our happy commonwealth it is pleasant +to contemplate how enlightened and exalted were the men whom +Providence employed for the performance of this important work.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>[Pg 152]</span></p> + +<p>Many are apt to think ours the age of culminated enlightenment, +dignity, wisdom, and intelligence, and look upon the fathers of two +and three hundred years ago as mere pigmies, just emerging from an era +of barbarism and ignorance, not at all to be compared with the proud +wiseacres of our day. Never was there a greater mistake. The +shallowness and flippancy of the leaders and politicians of this last +quarter of the nineteenth century show them but little more than +school-boys compared with the sturdy, sober-minded, deep-principled, +dignified, and grand-spirited men who discovered and opened this +continent and laid the foundations of our country's greatness. And +those who were most concerned in the founding of our own commonwealth +suffer in no respect in comparison with the greatest and the best.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gustavus Adolphus.</span></p> + +<p>I have named the illustrious <span class="smcap">Gustavus Adolphus</span> as the man, +above all, who first conceived, sketched, and propounded the grand +idea of such a state. What other colonies reached only through varied +experiments and gradual developments, Pennsylvania had clear and +mature, in ideal and in fact, from the very <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>[Pg 153]</span>earliest beginning; and +the royal heart and brain of Sweden were its source.</p> + +<p>Gustavus Adolphus was born a prince in the regular line of Sweden's +ancient kings. His grandfather, Gustavus Vasa, was a man of thorough +culture, excellent ability, and sterling moral qualities. When in +Germany he was an earnest listener to Luther's preaching, became his +friend and correspondent, a devout confessor and patron of the +evangelic faith, and the wise establisher of the Reformation in his +kingdom.</p> + +<p>Adolphus inherited all his grandfather's high qualities. He was the +idol of his father, Charles IX., and was devoutly trained from +earliest childhood in the evangelic faith, educated in thorough +princely style, familiarized with governmental affairs from the time +he was a boy, and developed into an exemplary, wise, brave, and +devoted Christian man and illustrious king.</p> + +<p>He ascended the throne when but seventeen years of age, extricated his +country from many internal and external troubles, organized for it a +new system, and became the hero-sovereign of his age. He was one of +the greatest of men, in cabinet and in field as well as in faith and +humble devotion. He was a broad-minded <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>[Pg 154]</span>statesman and patriot, one of +the most beloved of rulers, and a philanthropist of the purest order +and most comprehensive views. That evangelical Christianity which +Luther and his coadjutors exhumed from the superincumbent rubbish of +the Middle Ages was dearer to him than his throne or his life. The +pure Gospel of Christ was to him the most precious of human +possessions. For it he lived, and for it he died. One of his +deep-souled hymns, sung along with Luther's <i>Ein Feste Burg</i> at the +head of his armies in his campaigns for Christian liberty, has its +place in our Church-Book to-day. And the bright peculiar star which +appeared in the heavens at the time he was born fitly heralded his +royal career.</p> + +<p>Cut off in the midst of a succession of victories in the thirty-eighth +year of his age, the influence of his mind nevertheless served to give +another constitution to the Germanic peoples, established the right +and power of evangelical Christianity to be and to be unmolested on +the earth, and confirmed a new element in the development and progress +of the European races and of mankind. With the loftiest conceptions of +human life, a thorough acquaintance with the agencies which govern the +world, a mind in all respects in thorough subjection to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>[Pg 155]</span>an +enlightened Christian conscience, a magnanimity and liberality of +sentiment far in advance of his age, and an untarnished devotion which +marked his history to its very end, his name stands at the head of the +list of illustrious Christian kings and human benefactors.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Axel Oxenstiern.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Axel Oxenstiern</span>, his friend, companion, and prime minister, +was of like mind and character with himself. He was high-born, +religiously trained, and thoroughly educated in both theology and law +in the best schools which the world then afforded. He was Sweden's +greatest and wisest counselor and diplomatist, liberal-minded, +true-hearted, dignified, and devout. In religion, in patriotism,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>[Pg 156]</span> +in earnest doing for the profoundest interests of man, he was one with +his illustrious king. He negotiated the Peace of Kmered with Denmark, +the Peace of Stolbowa with Russia, and the armistice with Poland. He +accompanied his king in the campaigns in Germany, having charge of all +diplomatic affairs and the devising of ways and means for the support +of the army in the field, whilst the king commanded it. He won no +victories of war, but he was a choice spirit in creating the means by +which some of the most valuable of such victories were achieved, and +conducted those victories to permanent peace.</p> + +<p>When Gustavus Adolphus fell at Lützen a sacrifice to religious +liberty, the whole administration of the kingdom was placed in +Oxenstiern's hands. The congress of foreign princes at Heilbronn +elected him to the headship of their league against the papal power of +Austria; and it was his wisdom and heroism alone which held the league +together unto final triumph. Bauer, Torstensson, and Von Wrangle were +the flaming swords which finally overwhelmed that power, but the brain +which brought the fearful Thirty Years' War to a final close, and +established the evangelical cause upon its lasting basis of security +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>[Pg 157]</span>by the Peace of Westphalia (1648), was that of Axel Oxenstiern, the +very man who sent to Pennsylvania its original colonists as the +founders of a free state.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Peter Minuit.</span></p> + +<p>A kindred spirit was <span class="smcap">Peter Minuit</span>, the man whom Oxenstiern +selected and commissioned to accompany these first colonists to the +west bank of the Delaware, and to act as their president and governor. +He too was a high-born, cultured, large-minded Christian man. He was +an honored deacon in the Walloon church at Wesel. Removing to Holland, +his high qualities led to his selection by the Dutch West India +Company as the fittest man to be the first governor and +director-general of the Dutch colonies on the Hudson. His great +efficiency and public success in that capacity made him the subject of +jealousies and accusations, resulting in his recall after five or six +years of the most effective administration of the affairs of those +colonies. Oxenstiern had the breadth and penetration to understand his +real worth, and appointed him the first governor of the New Sweden +which since has become the great State of Pennsylvania. He lived less +than <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>[Pg 158]</span>five years in this new position, and died in Fort Christina, +which he built and held during his last years of service on earth. He +was a wise, laborious, and far-seeing man, consecrated with all his +powers to the formation of a free commonwealth on this then wild +territory. His name has largely sunk away from public attention, as +the work of the Swedes in general in the founding and fashioning of +our commonwealth; but he and they deserve far better than has been +awarded them.</p> + +<p>A few years ago (1876) some movement was for the first time made to +erect a suitable monument to the memory of Minuit. Surely the founder +of the greatest city in this Western World, and of the colonial +possessions of two European nations, and the first president and +governor of the two greatest States in the American Union, ranks among +the great historic personages of his period; and his high qualities, +noble spirit, and valuable services demand for him a grateful +recognition which has been far too slow in coming. There is a debt +owing to his name and memory which New York, Pennsylvania, and the +American people have not yet duly discharged.</p> + +<p>And to these grand men, first of all, are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>[Pg 159]</span>we under obligation of +everlasting thanks for our free and happy old commonwealth.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">William Penn.</span></p> + +<p>But without <span class="smcap">William Penn</span> to reinforce and more fully execute +the noble plans, ideas, and beginnings which went before him, things +perhaps never would have come to the fortunate results which he was +the honored instrument in bringing about.</p> + +<p>This man, so renowned in the history of our State, and so specially +honored by the peculiar Society of which he was a zealous apostle, was +respectably descended. His grandfather was a captain in the English +navy, and his father became a distinguished naval officer, who reached +high promotion and gave his son the privileges of a good education.</p> + +<p>Penn was for three years a student in the University of Oxford, until +expelled, with others, for certain offensive non-conformities. He was +not what we would call religiously trained, but he was endowed with a +strong religious nature, even bordering on fanaticism, so that he +needed only the application of the match to set his whole being aglow +and active with the profoundest zeal, whether wise or otherwise. And +that match was early applied.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>[Pg 160]</span></p> + +<p>When England had reached the summit of delirium under her usurping +Protector, Oliver Cromwell, there arose, among many other sects full +of enthusiastic self-assertion, that of the Quakers, who were chiefly +characterized by a profound religious, and oft fanatical, opposition +to the Established Church, as well as to the Crown. Coming in contact +with one of their most zealous preachers, young Penn was inflamed with +their spirit and became a vigorous propagator of their particular +style of devotion.</p> + +<p>As the Quaker tenets respected the state as well as religion, the bold +avowal of them brought him into collision with the laws, and several +times into prison and banishment. But, so far from intimidating him, +this only the more confirmed him in his convictions and fervency. By +his familiarity with able theologians, such as Dr. Owen and Bishop +Tillotson, as well as from his own studies of the Scriptures, he was +deeply grounded in the main principles of the evangelic faith. Indeed, +he was in many things, in his later life, much less a Quaker than many +who glory in his name, and all his sons after him found their +religious home in the Church of England, which, to Quakers <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>[Pg 161]</span>generally, +was a very Babylon. But he was an honest-minded, pure, and cultured +Christian believer, holding firmly to the inward elements of the +orthodox faith in God and Christ, in revelation and eternal judgment, +in the rights of man and the claims of justice. If some of his friends +and representatives did not deal as honorably with the Swedes in +respect to their prior titles to their improved lands as right and +charity would require, it is not to be set down to his personal +reproach. And his zeal for his sect and his genuine devotion to God +and religious liberty, together with a large-hearted philanthropy, +were the springs which moved him to seize the opportunity which +offered in the settlement of his deceased father's claim on the +government to secure a grant of territory and privilege to form a free +state in America—first for his own, and then for all other persecuted +people.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">An Estimate of Penn.</span></p> + +<p>It may be that Penn has been betimes a little overrated. He has, and +deserves, a high place in the history of our commonwealth, but he was +not the real founder of it; for its foundations were laid years before +he was born and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>[Pg 162]</span>more than forty years before he received his charter. +He founded Pennsylvania only as Americus Vespucius discovered America. +Neither was he the author of those elements of free government, equal +rights, and religious liberty which have characterized our +commonwealth. They were the common principles of Luther and the +Reformation, and were already largely embodied for this very +territory<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> long before Penn's endeavors, as also, in measure, in +the Roman Catholic colony of Maryland from the same source.</p> + +<p>Nor was he, in his own strength, possessed of so much wise forethought +and profound legislative and executive ability as that with which he +is sometimes credited. But he was a conscientious, earnest, and +God-fearing man, cultured by education and grace, gifted with +admirable address, sincere and philanthropic in his aims, and guided +and impelled by circumstances and a peculiar religious zeal which +Providence overruled to ends far greater than his own intentions or +thoughts.</p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Penn and the Indians.</span></p> + +<p>What is called Penn's particular policy to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>[Pg 163]</span>ward the Indians, and the +means of his successes in that regard, existed in practical force +scores of years before he arrived. His celebrated treaties with them, +as far as they were fact, were but continuations and repetitions +between them and the English, which had long before been made between +them and the Swedes, who did more for these barbarian peoples than he, +and who helped him in the matter more than he helped himself.</p> + +<p>We are not fully informed respecting all the first instructions given +to Governor Minuit when he came hither with Pennsylvania's original +colony in 1637-38, but there is every reason to infer that they +strictly corresponded to those given to his successor, Governor +Printz, five years afterward, on his appointment in 1642, about which +there can be no question. Minuit entered into negotiations with the +Indians the very first thing on his landing, and purchased from them, +as the rightful proprietors, all the land on the western side of the +river from Henlopen to Trenton Falls; a deed for which was regularly +drawn up, to which the Indians subscribed their hands and marks. Posts +were also driven into the ground as landmarks of this treaty, which +were still visible in their places sixty years afterward.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>[Pg 164]</span></p> + +<p>In the appointment and commission of Governor Printz it was commanded +him to "bear in mind the articles of contract entered into with the +wild inhabitants of the country as its rightful lords." "The wild +nations bordering on all other sides the governor shall understand how +to treat with all humanity and respect, that no violence, or wrong be +done them; but he shall rather at every opportunity exert himself that +the same wild people may gradually be instructed in the truths and +worship of the Christian religion, and in other ways brought to +civilization and good government, and in this manner properly guided. +Especially shall he seek to gain their confidence, and impress upon +their minds that neither he, the governor, nor his people and +subordinates, are come into those parts to do them any wrong or +injury."</p> + +<p>This policy was not a thing of mere coincidence. It was the express +stipulation and command of the throne of Sweden, August 15, 1642, +which was two years before William Penn was born; and "this policy was +steadily pursued and adhered to by the Swedes during the whole time of +their continuance in America, as the governors of the territory of +which they had thus acquired the possession; and the consequences were +of the most satisfactory character.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>[Pg 165]</span> They lived in peace with the +Indians, and received no injuries from them. The Indians respected +them, and long after the Swedish power had disappeared from the shores +of the Delaware they continued to cherish its memory and speak of it +with confidence and affection."<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>Governor Printz arrived in this country in 1642, and with him came +Rev. John Campanius as chaplain and pastor of the Swedish colony. His +grandson, Thomas Campanius Holm, many years after published numerous +items put on record by the elder Campanius, in which it appears that +the commands to Printz respecting the Indians were very scrupulously +carried out.</p> + +<p>According to these records, the Indians were very familiar at the +house of the elder Campanius, and he did much to teach and +Christianize them. "He generally succeeded in making them understand +that there is one Lord God, self-existent and one in three Persons; +how the same God made the world, and made man, from whom all other men +have descended; how Adam afterward disobeyed, sinned against his +Creator, and involved all his descendants in condemnation; how God +sent his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ into the world, who was born +of the Virgin Mary and suffered for the saving of men; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>[Pg 166]</span>how he died +upon the cross, and was raised again the third day; and, lastly, how, +after forty days, he ascended into heaven, whence he will return at a +future day to judge the living and the dead," etc. And so much +interest did they take in these instructions, and seemed so well +disposed to embrace Christianity, that Campanius was induced to study +and master their language, that he might the more effectually teach +them the religion of Christ. He also translated into the Indian +language the Catechism of Luther, perhaps the very first book ever put +into the Indian tongue.</p> + +<p>Campanius began his work of evangelizing these wild people four years +before Eliot, who is sometimes called "the morning star of missionary +enterprise," but who first commenced his labors in New England only in +1646. Hence Dr. Clay remarks that "the Swedes may claim the honor of +having been the first missionaries among the Indians, at least in +Pennsylvania."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> "It was, <i>in fact, the Swedes who inaugurated the +peaceful policy of William Penn</i>. This was not an accidental +circumstance in the Swedish policy, but was deliberately adopted and +always carefully observed."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>[Pg 167]</span>When Mr. Rising became governor of the Swedish colony he invited ten +Indian chiefs, or kings, to a friendly conference with him. It was +held at Tinicum, on the Delaware, June 17, 1654, when the governor +saluted them, in the name of the Swedish queen, with assurances of +every kindness toward them, and proposed to them a firm renewal of the +old friendship. Campanius has given a minute account of this +conference, and recites the speech in which one of the chiefs, named +Naaman, testified how good the Swedes had been to them; that the +Swedes and Indians had been in the time of Governor Printz as one body +and one heart; that they would henceforward be as one head, like the +calabash, which has neither rent nor seam, but one piece without a +crack; and that in case of danger to the Swedes they would ever serve +and defend them. It was at the same time further arranged and agreed +that if any trespasses were committed by any of their people upon the +property of the Swedes, the matter should be investigated by men +chosen from both sides, and the person found guilty "should be +punished for it as a warning to others."<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> This occurred when +William Penn was but ten <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>[Pg 168]</span>years of age, and twenty-eight years before +his arrival in America.</p> + +<p>And upon the subject of the help which the Swedes rendered to Penn in +his dealings with these people in the long after years, Acrelius +writes: "The Proprietor ingratiated himself with the Indians. The +Swedes acted as his interpreters, especially Captain Lars (Lawrence) +Kock, who was a great favorite among the Indians. He was sent to New +York to buy goods suitable for traffic. He did all he could to give +them a good opinion of their new ruler" (p. 114); and it was by means +of the aid and endeavors of the Swedes, more than by any influence of +his own, that Penn came to the standing with these people to which he +attained, and on which his fame in that regard rests.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Penn's Work.</span></p> + +<p>But still, as a man, a colonist, a governor, and a friend of the race, +we owe to William Penn great honor and respect, and his arrival here +is amply worthy of our grateful commemoration. The location and +framing of this goodly city, and a united and consolidated +Pennsylvania established finally in its original principles of common +rights and common free<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>[Pg 169]</span>dom, are his lasting monument. If he was not +the spring of our colonial existence, he was its reinforcement by a +strong and fortunate stream, which more fully determined the channel +of its history. If the doctrine of liberty of conscience and religion, +the principles of toleration and common rights, and the embodying of +them in a free state open to all sufferers for conscience' sake, did +not originate with him, he performed a noble work and contributed a +powerful influence toward their final triumph and permanent +establishment on this territory. And his career, taken all in all, +connects his name with an illustrious service to the cause of freedom, +humanity, and even Christianity, especially in its more practical and +ethical bearings.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Greatness of Faith.</span></p> + +<p>Such, then, were the men most concerned in founding and framing our +grand old commonwealth. They were men of faith, men of thorough +culture, men of mark by birth and station, men who had learned to +grapple with the great problem of human rights, human happiness, human +needs, and human relations to heaven and earth. They believed in God, +in the revelation of God, in the Gospel of Christ, in the +responsibility of the soul to its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>[Pg 170]</span> Maker, and in the demands of a +living charity toward God and all his creatures. And their religious +faith and convictions constituted the fire which set them in motion +and sustained and directed their exertions for the noble ends which it +is ours so richly to enjoy. Had they not been the earnest Christians +that they were, they never could have been the men they proved +themselves, nor ever have thought the thoughts or achieved the +glorious works for ever connected with their names.</p> + +<p>We are apt to contemplate Christian faith and devotion only in its +more private and personal effects on individual souls, the light and +peace it brings to the true believer, and the purification and hope it +works in the hearts of those who receive it, whilst we overlook its +force upon the great world outside and its shapings of the facts and +currents of history. We think of Luther wrestling with his sins, +despairing and dying under the impossible task of working out for +himself an availing righteousness, and rejoice with him in the light +and peace which came to his agonized soul through the grand and +all-conditioning doctrine of justification by simple faith in an +all-sufficient Redeemer; but we do not always realize how the breaking +of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>[Pg 171]</span>that evangelic principle into his earnest heart was the +incarnation of a power which divided the Christian ages, brought the +world over the summit of the water-shed, and turned the gravitation of +the laboring nations toward a new era of liberty and happiness. And so +we refer to the spiritual training of a Gustavus Adolphus and an Axel +Oxenstiern in the simple truths of Luther's Catechism and the restored +Gospel, and to the opening of the heart of a William Penn to the +exhortations of Friend Loe to forsake the follies of the corrupt world +and seek his portion with the pure in heaven, and mark the unfoldings +of their better nature which those blessed instructions wrought; +whilst we fail to note that therein lay the springs and germs which +have given us our grand commonwealth and established for us the free +institutions of Church and State in which we so much glory and +rejoice.</p> + +<p>Ah, yes; there is greatness and good and blessing untold for man and +for the world in the personal hearing, believing, and heeding of the +Word and testimony of God. No man can tell to what new impulses in +human history, or to what new currents of benediction and continents +of national glory, it may lead for souls in the school of Christ to +open <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>[Pg 172]</span>themselves meekly to the inflowings of Heaven's free grace. It +was the sowing of God's truth and the planting of God's Spirit in +these men's hearts that most of all grew for us our country and our +blessed liberties.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>[Pg 173]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="II_THE_PRINCIPLES_ENTHRONED" id="II_THE_PRINCIPLES_ENTHRONED"></a>II. THE PRINCIPLES ENTHRONED.</h2> + + +<p>The religious element in man is the deepest and most powerful in his +nature. It is that also which asserts and claims the greatest +independence from external constraints. It is therefore the height of +unwisdom, not to say tyranny, for earthly magistracy to interfere by +penalty and sword with the religious opinions and movements of the +people, so long as civil authority and public order are not invaded +and the rights of others are not infringed. In such cases it is always +best to combat only with the Word of God. If of men it will come to +naught, and if of God it cannot be suppressed. Reaction against wrongs +done to truth and right is sure to come, and will push through to +revolution and victory in spite of all unrighteous power. It is vain +for any human governments to think to chain up the honest convictions +of the soul. God made it free, and sooner or later it will be free, in +spite of everything.</p> + +<p>It was largely the weight and current of such reaction against +arbitrary interference with the religious convictions and free +con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>[Pg 174]</span>science of man that furnished the impulse to the original peopling +of our State and country, and gave shape to the constitution and laws +of this commonwealth for the last two hundred years. Nor will our +inquiries and showings with regard to the founding of Pennsylvania be +complete without something more respecting the leading principles +which governed in that fortunate movement.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Our State the Product of Faith.</span></p> + +<p>I. It is a matter of indisputable fact that the founding of our +commonwealth was one of the direct fruits of the revived Gospel of +Christ. But a little searching into the influences most active in the +history is required to show that it was religious conviction and +faith, more than anything else, that had to do with the case.</p> + +<p>Changes had come. Luther had found the Bible chained, and set it free. +Apostolic Christianity had reappeared, and was re-uttering itself with +great power among the nations. Its quickening truths and growing +victories were undermining the gigantic usurpations and falsehoods +which for ages had been oppressing our world. Conscience, illuminated +and revived by the Word of God, had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>[Pg 175]</span>risen up to assert its rights of +free judgment and free worship, and resentful power had drawn the +sword to put it down. Continental Europe was being deluged with blood +and devastated by relentless religious wars to crush out the evangelic +faith, whose confessors held up the Bible over all popes and secular +powers, and would not consent to part with their inalienable charter +from the throne of Heaven to worship God according to his Word. And +amid these woeful struggles the good providence of the Almighty opened +up to the attention of the nations the vast new territories of this +Western World.</p> + +<p>From various motives, indeed, were the several original colonies of +America founded. Some of the colonists came from a spirit of +adventure. Some came for territorial aggrandizement and national +enrichment. Some came as mercantile speculators. And each of these +considerations may have entered somewhat into the most of these +colonization schemes. But it was mainly flight from oppression on +account of religious convictions which influenced the first colony of +New England, and a still freer religious motive induced the +colonization of Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>All the men most concerned in the matter <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>[Pg 176]</span>were profoundly religious +men and thorough and active believers in revived Christianity; and it +was most of all from these religious feelings and impulses that they +acted in the case.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gustavus and the Swedes.</span></p> + +<p>The first presentation to the king of Sweden, by William Usselinx, +touching the planting of a colony on the west bank of the Delaware, +looked to the establishment of a trading company with unlimited +trading privileges; and the argument for it was the great source of +revenue it would be to the kingdom. But when Gustavus Adolphus entered +into the subject and gave his royal favor to it, quite other motives +and considerations came in to determine his course. As the history +records, and quite aside from the prospect of establishing his power +in these parts of the world, "the king, whose zeal for the honor of +God was not less ardent than for the welfare of his subjects, <i>availed +himself of this opportunity to extend the doctrines of Christ among +the heathen</i>,"<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> and to this end granted letters patent, in which it +was further provided that a free state should be formed, guaranteeing +all personal rights <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>[Pg 177]</span>of property, honor, and religion, and forming an +asylum and place of security for the persecuted people of all nations. +And when these gracious intentions of the king were revived after his +death, the same ideas and provisions were carefully maintained, +specially stipulating (1) for every human respect toward the +Indians—to wit, that the governors of the colony should deal justly +with them as the rightful lords of the land, and exert themselves at +every opportunity "that the same wild people may be instructed in the +truths and worship of the Christian religion, and in other ways +brought to civilization and good government, and in this manner +properly guided;" (2) "above all things to consider and see to it that +divine service be duly maintained and zealously performed according to +the unaltered Augsburg Confession;" and (3) to protect those of a +different confession in the free exercise of their own forms.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>It is plain, therefore, that the spirit of religion, the spirit of +evangelical missions, the spirit of Christian charity, and the spirit +of devotion to the protection of religious liberty and freedom of +conscience were the dominating <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>[Pg 178]</span>motives on the part of those who +founded the first permanent settlement on the territory of +Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Feelings of William Penn.</span></p> + +<p>Bating somewhat the missionary character of the enterprise, the same +may be said of William Penn and his great reinforcement to what had +thus been successfully begun long before his time. He was himself a +very zealous preacher of religion, though more in the line of protest +against the world and the existing Church than in the line of positive +Christianity and the conversion and evangelization of the heathen. He +had himself been a great sufferer for his religious convictions, along +with the people whose cause he had espoused and made his own. His +controlling desire was to honor and glorify God in the founding of a +commonwealth in which those of his way of thinking might have a secure +home of their own and worship their Creator as best agreed with their +feelings and convictions, without being molested or disturbed; +offering at the same time the same precious boon to others in like +constraints willing to share the lot of his endeavors.</p> + +<p>The motives of Charles II. in granting his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>[Pg 179]</span>charter were, first of +all, to discharge a heavy pecuniary claim of Penn against the +government on account of his father; next, to honor the memory and +merits of the late Admiral Penn; and, finally, at the same time, to +"favor William Penn in his laudable efforts to enlarge the British +empire, to promote the trade and prosperity of the kingdom, and to +reduce the savage nations by just and gentle measures to the love of +civilized life and the Christian religion." Penn's idea, as stated by +his memorialist, was "to obtain the grant of a territory on the west +side of the Delaware, in which he might not only furnish an asylum to +Friends (Quakers), and others who were persecuted on account of their +religious persuasion, but might erect a government upon principles +approaching much nearer the standard of evangelical purity than any +which had been previously raised."</p> + +<p>His own account of the matter is: "For my country I eyed the Lord in +obtaining it; and more was I drawn inward to look to him, and to owe +it to his hand and power, than to any other way. I have so obtained +it, and desire to keep it, that I may not be unworthy of his love, but +do that which may answer his kind providence and serve his truth and +people, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>[Pg 180]</span>that an example may be set up to the nations. There may be +room there, though not here, for such an holy experiment." "I do +therefore desire the Lord's wisdom to guide me and those that may be +concerned with me, that we may do the thing that is truly wise and +just."</p> + +<p>And with these aims and this spirit he invited people to join him, +came to the territory which had been granted him, conferred with the +Swedish and Dutch colonists already on the ground, and together with +them established the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Recognition of the Divine Being.</span></p> + +<p>II. Accordingly, also, the chief corner-stone in the constitutional +fabric of our State was the united official acknowledgment of the +being and supremacy of one eternal and ever-living God, the Judge of +all men and the Lord of nations.</p> + +<p>The self-existence and government of Almighty God is the foundation of +all things. Nothing <i>is</i> without him. And the devout and dutiful +recognition of him and the absolute supremacy of his laws are the +basis and chief element of everything good and stable in human +affairs. He who denies this or fails in its acknowledgment is so far +practically self-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>[Pg 181]</span>stultified, beside himself, outside the sphere of +sound rationality, and incapable of rightly understanding or directing +himself or anything else. Nor could those who founded our commonwealth +have been moved as they were, or achieved the happy success they did, +had it not been for their clear, profound, and practical +acknowledgment of the being and government of that good and almighty +One who fills immensity and eternity, and from whom, and by whom, and +to whom are all things.</p> + +<p>Some feel and act as if it were an imbecility, or a thing only for the +weak, timid, and helpless, to be concerned about an Almighty God. But +greater, braver, and more manly men did not then exist than those who +were most prominent and active in founding and framing our +commonwealth; and of all men then making themselves felt in the +affairs of our world, they were among the most honest and devout in +the practical confession of the eternal being and providence of +Jehovah.</p> + +<p>The great Gustavus Adolphus and the equally great Axel Oxenstiern held +and confessed from their deepest souls and in all their thoughts and +doings that there is an eternal God, infinite in power, wisdom, and +goodness, the Creator, Preserver, and Judge of all things, visible and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>[Pg 182]</span>invisible, and that on him and his favor alone all good and +prosperity in this world and the next depends. This they ever formally +and devoutly set forth in all their state papers and in all their +undertakings and doings, whether as men or as rulers. The sound of +songs and prayers to this almighty and ever-present God was heard at +every sunrise through all the army of Gustavus in the field, as well +as in the tent and closet of its great commander. And all the +instructions given to the governors of the colony on the Delaware were +meekly conditioned to the will of God, with specific emphasis on the +provision: "Above all things, shall the governor consider and see to +it that a true and due worship, becoming honor, laud, and praise be +paid to the Most High in all things."</p> + +<p>The same is true of William Penn. From early life he was always a +zealous exhorter to the devout worship of Almighty God as the only +Illuminator and Helper of men. What he averred in his letter to the +Indians was the great root-principle of his life: "There is a great +God and Power, which hath made the world and all things therein, to +whom you and I and all people owe their being and well-being, and to +whom you and I must one day <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>[Pg 183]</span>give an account for all that we have done +in this world."</p> + +<p>And what was thus wrought into the texture of his being he also wove +into the original constitution of our State.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Enactments on the Subject.</span></p> + +<p>All the articles of government and regulation ordained by the first +General Assembly, held at Upland (Chester) from the seventh to the +tenth day of December, 1682, were fundamentally grounded on this +express "Whereas, the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is +the reason and end of government, and therefore government itself is a +valuable ordinance of God; and forasmuch as it is principally desired +to make and establish such laws as shall best preserve true Christian +and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and +unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, Cæsar his due, and the +people their due, from tyranny and oppression on the one side, and +insolence and licentiousness on the other; so that the best and +firmest foundation may be laid for the present and future happiness of +both the governor and the people of this province and their +posterity;" for it was deemed and believed on all hands that neither +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>[Pg 184]</span>permanence nor happiness, enduring order nor prosperity, could come +from any other principle than that of the recognition of the supremacy +and laws of Him from whom all things proceed and on whom all creatures +depend.</p> + +<p>On this wise also ran the very first of the sixty-one laws ordained by +that Assembly: "Almighty God being the Lord of conscience, Father of +lights, and the Author as well as Object of all divine knowledge, +faith, and worship, who alone can enlighten the mind and convince the +understanding of people in due reverence to his sovereignty over the +souls of mankind," the rights of citizenship, protection, and liberty +should be to every person, then or thereafter residing in this +province, "who shall confess one Almighty God to be the Creator, +Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and profess himself obliged in +conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government;" +provided, further, that no person antagonizing this confession, or +refusing to profess the same, or convicted of unsober or dishonest +conversation, should ever hold office in this commonwealth.</p> + +<p>And so entirely did this, and what else was then and there enacted and +ordained, fall in with the teachings, feelings, and beliefs of the +hardy and devoted Swedish Lutherans, who <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>[Pg 185]</span>had here been professing and +fulfilling the same for two scores of years preceding, that they not +only joined in the making of these enactments, but sent a special +deputation to the governor formally to assure him that, on these +principles and the faithful administration of them, they would love, +serve, and obey him with all they possessed.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Importance of this Principle.</span></p> + +<p>Nor can it ever be known in this world how much of the success, +prosperity, and happy conservatism which have marked this commonwealth +in all the days and years since, have come directly from this planting +of it on the grand corner-stone of all national stability, order, and +happiness. Surely, a widely different course and condition of things +would have come but for this secure anchoring of the ship on the +everlasting Rock. And a thousand pities it is that the influence of +French atheism was allowed to exclude so wholesome a principle from +the Declaration of our national Independence and from our national +Constitution. Whilst such recognition of Jehovah's supremacy and +government abides in living force in the hearts of the people, the +absence of its official formulation may be of no material +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>[Pg 186]</span>disadvantage; but for the better preservation of it in men's minds, +and for the obstruction of the insidious growth of what strikes at the +foundation of all government and order, it would have been well had +the same been put in place as the grand corner-stone of our whole +national fabric, as it was in the original organization of the +Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and kept in both clear and unchangeable +for ever. We might then hope for better things than are indicated by +the present drift, and the outlook for those to come after us would be +less dark and doubtful than it is.</p> + +<p>But, since weakenings and degeneration in these respects have come +into the enactments of public power, it is all the more needful for +every true and patriotic citizen to be earnest and firm in witnessing +for God and his everlasting laws, that the people may be better than +the later expressions of their state documents. The example of the +fathers makes appeal to the consciences of their children not to let +go from our hearts and lives the deep and abiding recognition and +confession of that almighty Governor of all things from whose +righteous tribunal no one living can escape, and before whom no +contemner of his authority can stand.</p> + +<p> </p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>[Pg 187]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Religious Liberty.</span></p> + +<p>III. Another great and precious principle enthroned in the founding of +our commonwealth was that of religious liberty.</p> + +<p>One of the saddest chapters in human history is that of persecution on +account of religious convictions—the imposition of penalties, +torture, and death by the sword of government on worthy people because +of their honest opinions of duty to Almighty God. For the punishment +of the lawless, the wicked, and the intractable, and for the praise, +peace, and protection of them that do well, the civil magistrate is +truly the authorized representative of God, and fails in his office +and duty where the powers he wields are not studiously and vigorously +exercised to these ends. But God hath reserved to himself, and hath +not committed to any creature hands, the power and dominion to +interfere with realm of conscience. As he alone can instruct and +govern it, and as its sphere is that of the recognition of his will +and law and the soul's direct amenability to his judgment-bar, it is a +gross usurpation and a wicked presumption for any other authority or +power to undertake to force obedience contrary to the soul's +persuasion of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>[Pg 188]</span>what its Maker demands of it as a condition of his +favor.</p> + +<p>It is a principle of human action and obligation recognized in both +Testaments, that when the requirements of human authority conflict +with those of the Father of spirits we must obey God rather than man. +The rights of conscience and the rights of God thus coincide, and to +trample on the one is to deny the other. And when earthly governments +invade this sacred territory they invade the exclusive domain of God +and make war upon the very authority from which they have their right +to be.</p> + +<p>The plea of its necessity for the support of orthodoxy, the +maintenance of the truth, and the glory of God will not avail for its +justification, for God has not ordained civil government to inflict +imprisonment, exile, and death upon religious dissenters, or even +heretics; and his truth and glory he has arranged to take care of in +quite another fashion. What Justin Martyr and Tertullian in the early +Church and Luther in the Reformation-time declared, must for ever +stand among the settled verities of Heaven: that it is not right to +murder, burn, and afflict people because they feel in conscience bound +to a belief and course of life which they have found and embraced as +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>[Pg 189]</span>certain will and requirement of their Maker. We must ward off +heresy with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and not +with the sword of the state and with fire.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Persecution for Opinion's Sake.</span></p> + +<p>And yet such abuses of power have been staining and darkening all the +ages of human administration, and, unfortunately, among professing +Christians as well as among pagans and Jews. Intolerance is so rooted +in the selfishness and ambition of human nature that it has ever been +one of the most difficult of practical problems to curb and regulate +it. Those who have most complained of it whilst feeling it, often only +needed to have the circumstances reversed in order to fall into +similar wickedness. The Puritans, who fled from it as from the Dragon +himself, soon had their Star-Chamber too, their whipping-posts, their +death-scaffolds, and their sentences of exile for those who dissented +from their orthodoxy and their order. Even infidelity and atheism, +always the most blatant for freedom when in the minority, have shown +in the philosophy of Hobbes and in the Reign of Terror in France that +they are as liable to be intolerant, fanatical, and oppressive when +they have the mastery as the strong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>[Pg 190]</span>est faith and the most assured +religionism. And the Quakers themselves, who make freedom of +conscience one of the chief corner-stones of their religion, have not +always been free from offensive and disorderly aggressions upon the +rightful sphere of government and the rightful religious freedom of +other worshipers. Even so treacherous is the human heart on the +subject of just and equal religious toleration.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Spirit of the Founders.</span></p> + +<p>It is therefore a matter of everlasting gratitude and thanksgiving +that all the men most concerned in the founding of our commonwealth +were so clear and well-balanced on the subject of religious liberty, +and so thoroughly inwove the same into its organic constitution.</p> + +<p>Gustavus Adolphus and Axel Oxenstiern were the heroes of their time in +the cause of religious liberty in continental Europe. Though intensely +troubled in their administration by the Roman Catholics and the +Anabaptists, the most intolerant of intolerants in those days, they +never opposed force against the beliefs or worships of either; and +when force was used against the papal powers, it was only so far as to +preserve unto themselves and their <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>[Pg 191]</span>fellow-confessors the inalienable +right to worship God according to the dictates of their own +consciences without molestation or disturbance. In their scheme of +colonization in this Western World, first and last, the invitation was +to all classes of Christians in suffering and persecution for +conscience' sake, who were favorable to a free state where they could +have the free enjoyment of their property and religion, to cast in +their lot. In the first charter, confirmed by all the authorities of +the kingdom and rehearsed in the instructions given by the throne for +the execution of the intention, special provision was made for the +protection of the convictions and worship of those not of the same +confession with that for which the government provided. Though a +Lutheran colony, under a Lutheran king, sustained and protected by a +Lutheran government, the Calvinists had place and equal protection in +it from the very beginning; and when the Quakers came, they were at +once and as freely welcomed on the same free principles, as also the +representatives of the Church of England.</p> + +<p>As to William Penn, though contemplating above all the well-being and +furtherance of the particular Society of which he was an eminent +ornament and preacher, consistency with him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>[Pg 192]</span>self, as well as the +established situation of affairs, demanded of him the free toleration +of the Church, however unpalatable to his Society, and with it of all +religious sects and orders of worship. From his prison at Newgate he +had written that the enaction of laws restraining persons from the +free exercise of their consciences in matters of religion was but "the +knotting of whipcord on the part of the enactors to lash their own +posterity, whom they could never promise to be conformed for ages to +come to a national religion." Again and again had he preached and +proclaimed the folly and wickedness of attempting to change the +religious opinions of men by the application of force—the utter +unreasonableness of persecuting orderly people in this world about +things which belong to the next—the gross injustice of sacrificing +any one's liberty or property on account of creed if not found +breaking the laws relating to natural and civil things.</p> + +<p>Hence, from principle as well as from necessity, when he came to +formulate a political constitution for his colony, he laid it down as +the primordial principle: "I do, for me and mine, declare and +establish for the first fundamental of the government of my <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>[Pg 193]</span>province +that every person that doth and shall reside therein shall have and +enjoy the free possession of his or her faith and exercise of worship +toward God, in such way and manner as every such person shall in +conscience believe is most acceptable to God. And so long as such +person useth not this Christian liberty to licentiousness or the +destruction of others—that is, to speak loosely and profanely or +contemptuously of God, Christ, the Holy Scriptures, or religion, or +commit any moral evil or injury against others in their +conversation—he or she shall be protected in the enjoyment of the +aforesaid Christian liberty by the civil magistrate."</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Constitutional Provisions.</span></p> + +<p>This was in exact accord with the principles and provisions under +which the original colony had been formed, and had already been living +and prospering for more than forty years preceding. Everything, +therefore, was in full readiness and condition for the universal and +hearty adoption of the grand first article enacted by the first +General Assembly, to wit: "That no person now or hereafter residing in +this province, who shall confess one Almighty God to be the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>[Pg 194]</span> Creator, +Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and profess himself obliged in +conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government, +shall in any wise be molested or prejudiced on account of his +conscientious persuasion or practice; nor shall he be compelled to +frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry +contrary to his mind, but shall freely enjoy his liberty in that +respect, without interruption or reflection."</p> + +<p>In these specific provisions all classes in the colony at the time +heartily united. And thus was secured and guaranteed to every good +citizen that full, rightful, and precious religious freedom which is +the birthright of all Americans, for which the oppressed of all the +ages sighed, and which had to make its way through a Red Sea of human +tears and blood and many a sorrowful wilderness before reaching its +place of rest.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Safeguards to True Liberty.</span></p> + +<p>IV. But the religious liberty which our fathers thus sought to secure +and to transmit to their posterity was not a licentious libertinism. +They knew the value of religious principles and good morals to the +individual and to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>[Pg 195]</span>state, and they did not leave it an open +matter, under plea of free conscience, for men to conduct themselves +as they please with regard to virtue and religion.</p> + +<p>To be disrespectful toward divine worship, to interfere with its free +exercise as honest men are moved to render it, or to set at naught the +moral code of honorable behavior in human society, is never the +dictate of honest conviction of duty, and, in the nature of things, +cannot be. It is not conscience, but the overriding of conscience; +nay, rebellion against the whole code of conscience, against the +foundations of all government, against the very existence of civil +society. Liberty to blaspheme Almighty God, to profane his name and +ordinances, to destroy his worship, and to set common morality at +naught, is not religious liberty, but disorderly wickedness, a cloak +of maliciousness, the licensing of the devil as an angel of light. It +belongs to mere brute liberty, which must be restrained and brought +under bonds in order to render true liberty possible. Wild and lawless +freedom must come under the restraints and limits of defined order, +peace, and essential morality, or somebody's freedom must suffer, and +social happiness is out of the question. And it is one of the inherent +aims and offices <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>[Pg 196]</span>of government to enforce this very constraint, +without which it totally fails of its end and forfeits its right to +be. Where people are otherwise law-abiding, orderly, submissive to the +requisites for the being and well-being of a state, and abstain from +encroachments upon the liberties of others, they are not to be +molested, forced, or compelled in spiritual matters contrary to their +honest convictions; but public blasphemy, open profanity, disorderly +interference with divine worship and reverence, and the hindrance of +what tends to the preservation of good morals, it pertains to the +existence and office of a state to restrain and punish. Severity upon +such disorders is not tyrannical abridgment of the rights of +conscience, for no proper citizen's conscience can ever prompt or +constrain him to any such things. And everything which tends to weaken +and destroy regard for the eternal Power on which all things depend, +to relax the sense of accountability to the divine judgment, and to +trample on the laws of eternal morality, is the worst enemy of the +state, which it cannot allow without peril to its own existence.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the state is bound for the same reasons to protect +and defend religion in general and the cultivation of the religious +sen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>[Pg 197]</span>timents, in so far, at least, as the laws of virtue and order are +not transgressed in the name of religion. It may not interfere to +decide between different religious societies or churches, as they may +be equally conscientious and honest in their diversities; but where +the tendency is to good and reverence, and the training of the +community to right and orderly life, it belongs to the office and +being of the state not only to tolerate, but to protect them all +alike. In the fatherly care of its subjects, the people consenting, +the state may also recommend and provide support for some particular +and approved order of faith and worship, just as it provides for +public education. And though the civil power may not rightfully +punish, fine, imprison, and oppress orderly and honest citizens for +conscientious non-conformity to any one specific system of belief and +worship, it may, and must, provide for and protect what tends to its +rightful conservation, and also condemn, punish, and restrain +whatsoever tends to unseat it and undermine its existence and peace. +These are fundamental requirements in all sound political economy.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Laws on Religion and Morals.</span></p> + +<p>Our fathers, in their wisdom, understood <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>[Pg 198]</span>this, and fashioned their +state provisions and laws accordingly.</p> + +<p>The thing specified as the supreme concern of the public authorities +in the original settlement of this territory by the Swedes was, to +"consider and see to it that a true and due worship, becoming honor, +laud, and praise be paid to the most high God in all things," and that +"all persons, but especially the young, shall be duly instructed in +the articles of their Christian faith."</p> + +<p>But if public worship and religious instruction are to be fostered and +preserved by the state, there must be set times for it, the people +released at those times from hindering occupations and engagements, +and whatever may interfere therewith restrained and put under bonds +against interruption. In other words, the Lord's proper worship +demands and requires a protected Lord's Day. Such appointed and sacred +times for these holy purposes have been from the foundation of the +world. Under all dispensations one day in every seven was a day unto +the Lord, protected and preserved for such sacred uses, on which +secular occupations should cease, and nothing allowed which would +interfere with the public worship of Almighty God <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>[Pg 199]</span>and the handling of +his Word. And "because it was requisite to appoint a certain day, that +the people might know when they ought to come together, it appears +that the Christian Church [and so all Christian states] did for that +purpose appoint the Lord's Day," our weekly Sunday.</p> + +<p>This William Penn found in existence and observance by the Swedes and +the Dutch on this territory when he arrived. He therefore advised, and +the first General Assembly of Pennsylvania justly ordained, "that, +according to the good example of the primitive Christians and the ease +of the creation, every first day of the week, called the Lord's Day, +people shall abstain from their common daily labor, that they may the +better dispose themselves to worship God according to their +understandings"—a provision so necessary and important that the +statute laws of our commonwealth have always guarded its observance +with penalties which the State cannot in justice to itself allow to go +unenforced, and which no good citizen should refuse strictly to obey.</p> + +<p>And to the same end was it provided and ordained by the first General +Assembly that "if any person shall abuse or deride another for his +different persuasion or practice in relig<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>[Pg 200]</span>ion, such shall be looked +upon as disturbers of the peace, and be punished accordingly." And in +the line of the same wholesome and necessary policy it was also +further provided and ordained that "all such offences against God as +swearing, cursing, lying, profane talking, drunkenness, obscene words, +revels, etc. etc., which excite the people to rudeness, cruelty, and +irreligion, shall be respectively discouraged and severely punished."</p> + +<p>Such were the good and righteous provisions made for the restraint of +the licentiousness and brutishness of man in the primeval days of our +commonwealth; and wherein it has since sunk away from these original +organic laws the people have only weakened and degraded themselves, +and hindered that virtuous and happy prosperity which would otherwise +in far larger degree than now be our inheritance.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Forms of Government.</span></p> + +<p>V. And yet again, as the fathers of our commonwealth gave us religion +without compulsion, so they also gave us a State without a king.</p> + +<p>There is nothing necessarily wrong or necessarily right in this +particular. Monarchy, aristocracy, republicanism, or pure democracy +cannot claim divine right the one over against <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>[Pg 201]</span>the other. Either may +be good, or either may be bad, as the situation and the chances may +be. There has been as much bloody wrong and ruin wrought in the name +of liberty as in the establishment of thrones. There have been as good +and happy governments by kings as by any other methods of human +administration. Civil authority is essential to man, and the power for +it must lie somewhere. The only question is as to the safest +depository of it. The mere form of the government is no great matter. +It has been justly said, "There is hardly a government in the world so +ill designed that in good hands would not do well enough, nor any so +good that in ill hands can do aught great and good." Governments +depend on men, not men on governments. Let men be good, and the +government will not be bad; but if men are bad, no government will +hold for good. If government be bad, good men will cure it; and if the +government be good, bad men will warp and spoil it. Nor is there any +form of government known to man that is not liable to abuse, +prostitution, tyranny, unrighteousness, and oppression.</p> + +<p>The best government is that which most efficiently conserves the true +ends of government, be the form what it may. Anything <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>[Pg 202]</span>differing from +this is worthless sentimentalism, undeserving of sober regard. And to +meet the true ends of government there must be power to enforce +obedience, and there must be checks upon that power to secure its +subjects against its abuse; for "liberty without obedience is +confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery." But there may be +liberty under monarchy, as well as reverence and obedience under +democracy, whilst there may be oppression and bloody tyranny under +either.</p> + +<p>Amid the varied experiments of the ages the human mind is more and +more settling itself in favor of mixed forms of government, in which +the rights of the people and the limitations of authority are set down +in fixed constitutions, taking the direct rule from the multitude, but +still holding the rulers accountable to the people. Such were more or +less the forms under which the founders of our commonwealth were +tutored.</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">A Republican State.</span></p> + +<p>But they went a degree further than the precedents before them. They +believed the safest depository of power to be with the people +themselves, under constitutions ordained by those intending to live +under them and administered by persons of their own choice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>[Pg 203]</span> "Where +the laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws," was believed +to be the true ideal and realization of civil liberty—the way "to +support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people +from the abuse of power, that they may be free by their just +obedience, and the magistrates honorable for their just +administration."</p> + +<p>And with these ideas, "with reverence to God and good conscience to +men," the first General Assembly in 1682 enacted a common code of +sixty-one laws, in which the foundation-stones of the civil and +criminal jurisprudence of this broad commonwealth were laid, and a +style of government ordained so reasonable, moderate, just, and equal +in its provisions that no one yet has found just cause to deny the +wisdom and beneficence of its structure, whilst Montesquieu pronounces +it "an instance unparalleled in the world's history of the foundation +of a great state laid in peace, justice, and equality."</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Last Two Hundred Years.</span></p> + +<p>Two hundred years have gone by since this completed organization of +our noble commonwealth. Her free and liberal principles then still +remained in large measure to be learned by some of the other American +colonies. From <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>[Pg 204]</span>the very start she was the chief conservator of what +was to be the model for all this grand Union of free States—a +character which she has never lost in all the history of our national +existence. Six generations of stalwart freemen has she reared beneath +her shielding care to people her own vast territory and that of many +other States, no one of which has ever failed in truthfulness to the +great principles in which she was born. Always more solid than noisy, +and more reserved than obtrusive, she has ever served as the great +balance-wheel in the mighty engine of our national organization. Her +life, commingled with other lives attempered to her own, now pulsates +from ocean to ocean and from the frozen lakes to the warm Gulf waters, +all glad and glorious in the unity and sunshine of constitutional +government in the hands of a free people. With her population drawn +from all nationalities to learn from her lips the sacred lessons of +independent self-rule, she has sent it forth as freely to the westward +to build co-equal States in the beauty of her own image, whilst four +millions of her children still abide in growing happiness under her +maternal care. Verily, it was the spirit of prophecy which said, two +hundred years ago, "<i>God will bless that ground</i>."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>[Pg 205]</span></p> + +<p>That blessing we have lived to see. May it continue for yet many +centennials, and grow as it endures! May the faith and spirit of the +men through whose piety and wisdom it has come still warm and animate +the hearts of their successors to the latest generations! May no +careless or corrupt administration of justice or "looseness" or +infidelities of the people come in to bring down the wrath of Heaven +for its interruption! May the sterling principles of our happy freedom +be made good to us and our posterity by the good keeping of them in +honest virtue and obedience, and in due reverence of Him who gave +them, and who is the God and Judge of nations! May those sacred +conditions of the divine favor "which descend not with worldly +inheritances" be so embedded in the training and education of our +youth that the spirit of the children may not be a libel on the faith +and devotion of their fathers!</p> + +<p>Centuries have passed, but the God of Gustavus Adolphus, of the +Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock, of William Penn, and of the hero-saints of +every age and country still lives and reigns. Men may deny it, but +that does not alter it. His government and Gospel are the same now +that they have ever <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>[Pg 206]</span>been. What he most approved and blessed in their +days he most approves and blesses in ours. And may their fear and love +of him be to us and our children a copy and a guide, to steer in +safety amid the dangerous rapids of these doubtful times!</p> + +<p>"And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province, named +before thou wert born! what love, what care, what service, and what +travail has there been to bring thee forth and preserve thee from such +as would abuse and defile thee! My soul prays to God for thee, that +thou mayest stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be +blessed of the Lord, and thy people saved by his power."</p> + + +<p> </p> + + +<p style="text-align: center"><b>THE END.</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Many assumed the clerical character for no other reason +than that it might screen them from the punishment which their actions +deserved, and the monasteries were full of people who entered them to +be secure against the consequences of their crimes and +atrocities.—Rymer's <i>Foedera</i>, vol. xiii. p. 532.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The maiden name of Margaret Luther, the mother of Martin, +was <i>Margaret Ziegler</i>. There has been a traditional belief that her +name was Margaret Lindeman. The mistake originated in confounding +Luther's grandmother, whose name was <i>Lindeman</i>, with Luther's mother, +whose name was <i>Ziegler</i>. Prof. Julius Köstlin, in his <i>Life of +Luther</i>, after a thorough examination of original records and +documents, gives this explanation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Bellarmine, an honored author of the Roman Church, one +competent to judge concerning the state of things at that time, and +not over-forward to confess it, says: "For some years before the +Lutheran and Calvinistic heresies were published there was not (as +contemporary authors testify) any rigor in ecclesiastical +judicatories, any discipline with regard to morals, any knowledge of +sacred literature, any reverence for divine things: THERE WAS ALMOST +NO RELIGION REMAINING."—<i>Bellarm.</i>, Concio xviii., Opera, tom. vi. +col. 296, edit. Colon., 1617, apud <i>Gerdesii Hist. Evan. Renovati</i>, +vol. i. p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> In the famous Bull of Gregory IX., published in 1234, +that pope exhorts and commands all good Christians to take up the +cross and join the expedition to recover the Holy Land. The language +is: "The service to which mankind are now invited is an effectual +atonement for the miscarriages of a negligent life. The discipline of +a regular penance would have discouraged many offenders so much that +they would have had no heart to venture upon it; but the holy war is a +compendious method of discharging men from guilt and restoring them to +the divine favor. Even if they die on their march, the intention will +be taken for the deed, and many in this way may be crowned without +fighting."—Given in Collier's <i>Eccl.</i>, vol. i.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The Roman Chancery once put forth a book, which went +through many editions, giving the exact prices for the pardon of each +particular sin. A deacon guilty of murder was absolved for twenty +pounds. A bishop or abbot might assassinate for three hundred livres. +Any ecclesiastic might violate his vows of chastity for the third part +of that sum, etc., etc.—See Robertson's <i>Charles V.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The pallium, or pall, was a narrow band of white wool to +go over the shoulders in the form of a circle, from which hung bands +of similar size before and behind, finished at the ends with pieces of +sheet lead and embroidered with crosses. It was the mark of the +dignity and rank of archbishops. Albert owed Pope Leo X. forty-five +thousand thalers for his right and appointment to wear the +archbishop's pallium. +</p><p> +It was in this way that the Roman Church was accustomed to sell out +benefices as a divine right. Even <i>expectative graces</i>, or mandates +nominating a person to succeed to a benefice upon the first vacancy, +were thus sold. Companies existed in Germany which made a business of +buying up the benefices of particular sections and districts and +retailing them at advanced rates. The selling of pardons was simply a +lower kind of simoniacal bartering which pervaded the whole +hierarchical establishment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Many of the sayings which Tetzel gave out in his +addresses to the people have been preserved, and are amply attested by +those who listened to his harangues.</p> +<p>"I would not," said he, "exchange my privileges for those of St. Peter +in heaven. He saved many by his sermons; I have saved more by my +indulgences."</p> +<p>"Indulgences are the most precious and sublime of all the gifts of +God."</p> +<p>"No sins are so great that these pardons cannot cover them."</p> +<p>"Not for the living only, but for the dead also, there is immediate +salvation in these indulgences."</p> +<p>"Ye priests, nobles, tradespeople, wives, maidens, young men! the +souls of your parents and beloved ones are crying from the depths +below: 'See our torments! A small alms would deliver us; and you can +give it, and you will not.'"</p> +<p>"O dull and brutish people, not to appreciate the grace so richly +offered! This day heaven is open on all sides, and how many are the +souls you might redeem if you only would! Your father is in flames, +and you can deliver him for ten groschen, and you do it not! What +punishment must come for neglecting so great salvation! You should +strip your coat from your back, if you have no other, and sell it to +purchase so great grace as this, for God hath given all power to the +pope."</p> +<p>"The bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul, with those of many blessed +martyrs, lie exposed, trampled on, polluted, dishonored, and rotting +in the weather. Our most holy lord the pope means to build the church +to cover them with glory that shall have no equal on the earth. Shall +those holy ashes be left to be trodden in the mire?"</p> +<p>"Therefore bring your money, and do a work most profitable to departed +souls. Buy! buy!"</p> +<p>"This red cross with the pope's arms has equal virtue with the Cross +of Christ."</p> +<p>"These pardons make cleaner than baptism, and purer than Adam was in +his innocence in Paradise."</p> +<p>In the certificates which Tetzel gave to those who bought these +pardons he declared that "by the authority of Jesus Christ, and of his +apostles Peter and Paul, and of the most holy pope, I do absolve thee +first from all ecclesiastical censures, in whatever manner they have +been incurred, and then <i>from all thy sins, transgressions, and +excesses, however enormous soever they may be</i>. I remit to you all +punishment which you deserve in Purgatory on their account, and I +restore you to the holy sacraments of the Church, union with the +faithful, and to that innocence and purity possessed at baptism; <i>so +that when you die the gates of punishment shall be shut and the gates +of the happy Paradise shall be opened; and if your death shall be +delayed, this grace shall remain in full force when you are at the +point of death</i>."</p> +<p>The sums required for these passports to glory varied according to the +rank and wealth of the applicant. For ordinary indulgence a king, +queen, or bishop was to pay twenty-five ducats (a ducat being about a +dollar of our money); abbots, counts, barons, and the like were +charged ten ducats; other nobles and all who enjoyed annual incomes of +five hundred florins were charged six ducats; and so down to half a +florin, or twenty-five cents.</p> +<p>But the commissioner also had a special scale for taxes on particular +sins. Sodomy was charged twelve ducats; sacrilege and perjury, nine; +murder, seven or eight; witchcraft and polygamy, from two to six; +taking the life of a parent, brother, sister, or an infant, from one +to six.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> A writer of the Roman Church, in a vein of somewhat +mingled sarcasm and seriousness, remarks: "The university had reason +to be proud of Luther, whose oral lectures attracted a multitude of +strangers; these pilgrims from distant quarters joined their hands and +bowed their heads at the sight of the towers of the city, like other +travelers before Jerusalem. Wittenberg was like a new Zion, whence the +light of truth expanded to neighboring kingdoms, as of old from the +Holy City to pagan nations."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Glapio, the confessor of Charles V., stated to Chancellor +Brück at the Diet of Worms: "The alarm which I felt when I read the +first pages of the <i>Captivity</i> cannot be expressed; they might be said +to be lashes which scourged me from head to foot."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The Bull was issued June 15, 1520. It specified +forty-one propositions out of Luther's works which it condemned as +heretical, scandalous, and offensive to pious ears. It forbade all +persons to read his writings, upon pain of excommunication. Such as +had any of his books in their possession were commanded to burn them. +He himself, if he did not publicly recant his errors and burn his +books within sixty days, was pronounced an obstinate heretic, +excommunicated and delivered over to Satan. And it enjoined upon all +secular princes, under pain of incurring the same censure, to seize +his person and deliver him up to be punished as his crimes deserved; +that is to be burnt as a heretic.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Audin, in his <i>Life of Luther</i>, says: "A monk who wore a +cassock out at the elbows had caused to the most powerful emperor in +the world greater embarrassments than those which Francis I., his +unsuccessful rival at Frankfort, threatened to raise against him in +Italy. With the cannon from his arsenal at Ghent and his lances from +Namur, Charles could beat the king of France between sunrise and +sunset; but lances and cannon were impotent to subdue the religious +revolution, which, like some of the glaciers which he crossed in +coming from Spain, acquired daily a new quantity of soil."—Vol. i. +chap. 25. Again, in chap. 30, he says of the emperor: "The thought of +measuring his strength with the hero of Marignan was far from alarming +him, but a struggle with the monk of Wittenberg disturbed his sleep. +He wished that they should try to overcome his obstinacy."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "The reception which he met with at Worms was such as he +might have reckoned a full reward of all his labors if vanity and the +love of applause had been the principles by which he was influenced. +Greater crowds assembled to behold him than had appeared at the +emperor's public entry; his apartments were daily filled with princes +and personages of the highest rank; and he was treated with all the +respect paid to those who possess the power of directing the +understanding and sentiments of other men—a homage more sincere, as +well as more flattering, than any which pre-eminence in birth or +condition command."—Robertson's <i>Charles V.</i>, vol. i. p. 510.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> A Romanist thus describes the picture: "When the +approach of Luther was heard there ensued one of those deep silences +in which the heart alone, by its hurried pulsations, gives sign of +life. Attention was diverted from the emperor to the monk. On the +appearance of Luther every one rose, regardless of the sovereign's +presence. It inspired Werner with one of the finest acts of his +tragedy.... Heine has glorified the appearance at Worms. The Catholic +himself loves to contemplate that black gown in the presence of those +lords and barons caparisoned in iron and armed with helmet and spear, +and is moved by the voice of 'that young friar' who comes to defy all +the powers of the earth."—Audin's <i>Life of Luther</i>.</p> +<p>"All parties must unite in admiring and venerating the man who, +undaunted and alone, could stand before such an assembly, and +vindicate with unshaken courage what he conceived to be the cause of +religion, of liberty, and of truth, fearless of any reproaches but +those of his own conscience, or of any disapprobation but that of his +God."—Roscoe's <i>Life of Leo X.</i>, vol. iv. p. 36.</p> +<p>Luther himself, afterward recalling the event, said: "It must indeed +have been God who gave me my boldness of heart; I doubt if I could +show such courage again."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> "With this noble protest was laid the keystone of the +Reformation. The pontifical hierarchy shook to its centre, and the +great cause of truth and regenerate religion spread with electric +speed. The marble tomb of ignorance and error gave way, as it were, of +a sudden; a thousand glorious events and magnificent discoveries +thronged upon each other with pressing haste to behold and +congratulate the mighty birth, the new creation, of which they were +the harbingers, when, with a steady and triumphant step, the peerless +form of human intellect rose erect, and, throwing off from its +freshening limbs the death-shade and the grave-clothes by which it was +enshrouded, ascended to the glorious resurrection of that noontide +lustre which irradiates the horizon of our own day, rejoicing like a +giant to run his race."—John Mason Good's <i>Book of Nature</i>, p. 321.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Chevalier Bunsen says; "It is Luther's genius applied to +the Bible which has preserved the only unity which is, in our days, +remaining to the German nation—that of language, literature, and +thought. There is no similar instance in the known history of the +world of a single man achieving such a work."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> The death of Adrian VI., on the 14th of September, 1523, +was a subject of general rejoicing in Rome. There was a crown of +flowers hung to the door of his physician, with a card appended which +read, "<i>To the savior of his country</i>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> "The Reformation of Luther kindled up the minds of men +afresh, leading to new habits of thought and awakening in individuals +energies before unknown to themselves. The religious controversies of +this period changed society, as well as religion, and to a +considerable extent, where they did not change the religion of the +state, they changed man himself in his modes of thought, his +consciousness of his own powers, and his desire of intellectual +attainment. The spirit of commercial and foreign adventure on the one +hand and, on the other the assertion and maintenance of religious +liberty, having their source in the Reformation, and this love of +religious liberty drawing after it or bringing along with it, as it +always does, an ardent devotion to the principle of civil liberty +also, were the powerful influences under which character was formed +and men trained for the great work of introducing English +civilization, English law, and, what is more than all, Anglo-Saxon +blood, into the wilderness of North America."—Daniel Webster, +<i>Works</i>, vol. i. p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> "Never before was the human mind more prolific." "Luther +holds a high and glorious place in German literature." "In his +manuscripts we nowhere discover the traces of fatigue or irritation, +no embarrassment or erasures, no ill-applied epithet or unmanageable +expression; and by the correctness of his writing we might imagine he +was the copyist rather than the writer of the work."—So says <i>Audin</i>, +his Roman Catholic biographer.</p> +<p>Hallam's flippant and disparaging remarks on Luther, contained in his +<i>Introduction to the Literature of Europe</i>, are simply outrageous, +"stupid and senseless paragraphs," evidencing a presumption on the +part of their author which deserves intensest rebuke. "Hallam knows +nothing about Luther; he himself confesses his inability to read him +in his native German; and this alone renders him incapable of judging +intelligently respecting his merits as a writer; and, knowing nothing, +it would have been honorable in him to say nothing, at least to say +nothing disparagingly. And, by the way, it seems to us that writing a +history of European literature without a knowledge of German is much +like writing a history of metals without knowing anything of iron and +steel.... Luther's language became, through his writings, and has ever +since remained, the language of literature and general intercourse +among educated men, and is that which is now understood universally to +be meant when <i>the German</i> is spoken of. His translation of the Bible +is still as much the standard of purity for that language as Homer is +for the Greek."—<i>Dr. Calvin E. Stowe.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> "Nothing can be more edifying than the scene presented +by the last days of Luther, of which we have the most authentic and +detailed accounts. When dying he collected his last strength and +offered up the following prayer: 'Heavenly Father, eternal, merciful +God, thou hast revealed to me thy dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Him +I have taught, him I have confessed, him I love as my Saviour and +Redeemer, whom the wicked persecute, dishonor, and reprove. Take my +poor soul up to thee!'</p> +<p>"Then two of his friends put to him the solemn question: 'Reverend +Father, do you die in Christ and in the doctrine you have constantly +preached?' He answered by an audible and joyful '<i>Yes</i>;' and, +repeating the verse, 'Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,' he +expired peacefully, without a struggle."—<i>Encyc. Britannica.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Mattähus Ratzenberger, in a passage of his biography +preserved in the <i>Bibliotheca Ducalis Gothana</i>, says: "Lutherus had +also this custom: as soon as he had eaten the evening meal with his +table companions he would fetch out of his little writing-room his +<i>partes</i> and hold a <i>musicam</i> with those of them who had a mind for +music. Greatly was he delighted when a good composition of the old +master fitted the responses or <i>hymnos de tempore anni</i>, and +especially did he enjoy the <i>cantu Gregoriana</i> and chorale. But if at +times he perceived in a new song that it was incorrectly copied he set +it again upon the lines (that is, he brought the parts together and +rectified it <i>in continenti</i>). Right gladly did he join in the singing +when <i>hymnus</i> or <i>responsorium de tempore</i> had been set by the +<i>Musicus</i> to a <i>Cantum Gregorianum</i>, as we have said, and his young +sons, Martinus and Paulus, had also after table to sing the +<i>responsoria de tempore</i>, as at Christmas, <i>Verbum caro factum est</i>, +<i>In principio erat verbum</i>; at Easter, <i>Christus resurgens ex +mortuis</i>, <i>Vita sanctorum</i>, <i>Victimæ paschali laudes</i>, etc. In these +<i>responsoria</i> he always sang along with his sons, and in <i>cantu +figurali</i> he sang the alto."</p> +<p>The alto which Luther sang must not be confounded with the alto part +of to-day. Here it means the <i>cantus firmus</i>, the melody around which +the old composers wove their contrapuntal ornamentation.</p> +<p>Luther was the creator of German congregational singing.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Luther's first poetic publication seems to have been +certain verses composed on the martyrdom of two young Christian monks, +who were burned alive at Brussels in 1523 for their faithful +confession of the evangelical doctrines. A translation of a part of +this composition is given in D'Aubigné's <i>History of the Reformation</i> +in these beautiful and stirring words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Flung to the heedless winds or on the waters cast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their ashes shall be watched, and gathered at the last;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from that scattered dust, around us and abroad,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall spring a plenteous seed of witnesses for God.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Jesus hath now received their latest living breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet vain is Satan's boast of victory in their death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still, still, though dead, they speak, and trumpet-tongued proclaim<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To many a wakening land the One availing Name."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p>Audin, though a Romanist, says: "The hymns which he translated from +the Latin into German may be unreservedly praised, as also those which +he composed for the members of his own communion. He did not travesty +the sacred Word nor set his anger to music. He is grave, simple, +solemn, and grand. He was at once the poet and musician of a great +number of his hymns."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Froude supplemented.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> "It must be observed that the coarse vituperations which +shock the reader in Luther's controversial works were not peculiar to +him, being commonly used by scholars and divines of the Middle Ages in +their disputations. The invectives of Valla, Filelfo, Poggio, and +other distinguished scholars against each other are notorious; and +this bad taste continued in practice long after Luther down to the +seventeenth century, and traces of it are found in writers of the +eighteenth, even in some of the works of the polished and courtly +Voltaire."—<i>Cyclopædia of Soc. for Diffus. of Useful Knowledge.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> "In no other instance have such great events depended +upon the courage, sagacity, and energy of a single man, who, by his +sole and unassisted efforts, made his solitary cell the heart and +centre of the most wonderful and important commotion the world ever +witnessed—who by the native force and vigor of his genius attacked +and successfully resisted, and at length overthrew, the most awful and +sacred authority that ever imposed its commands on mankind."—A letter +prefixed to Luther's <i>Table-Talk</i> in the folio edition of 1652.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> "To overturn a system of religious belief founded on +ancient and deep-rooted prejudices, supported by power and defended +with no less art than industry—to establish in its room doctrines of +the most contrary genius and tendency, and to accomplish all this, not +by external violence or the force of arms, are operations which +historians the least prone to credulity and superstition ascribe to +that divine providence which with infinite ease can bring about events +which to human sagacity appear impossible."—Robertson's <i>Charles V.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> "From the commencement of the religious war in Germany +to the Peace of Westphalia scarce anything great or memorable occurred +in the European political world with which the Reformation was not +essentially connected. Every event in the history of the world in this +interval, if not directly occasioned, was nearly affected, by this +religious revolution, and every state, great or small, remotely or +immediately felt its influence."—Schiller's <i>Thirty Years' War</i>, vol. +i. p. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> "Luther was as wonderful as he was great. His personal +experience in divine things was as deep as his mind was mighty, large, +and unbounded. Though called by the Most High, and continued by his +appointment, in the midst of papal darkness, idolatry, and error, with +no companions but the saints of the Bible, nor any other light but the +lamp of the Word to guide his feet, his heaven-taught soul was +ministerially furnished with as rich pasture for the sheep of Christ, +as awful ammunition for the terror and destruction of the enemies by +which he and they were perpetually surrounded. The sphere of his +mighty ministry was not bounded by his defence of the truth against +the great and powerful. No! He was as rich a pastor, as terrible a +warrior. He fed the sheep in the fattest pastures, while he destroyed +the wolves on every side. Nor will those pastures be dried up or lost +until time, nations, and the churches of God shall be no more."—Dr. +Cole's <i>Pref. to Luther on Genesis</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> "It was by some of these qualities which we are now apt +to blame that Luther was fitted for accomplishing the great work which +he undertook. To rouse mankind when sunk in ignorance and +superstition, and to encounter the rage of bigotry armed with power, +required the utmost vehemence of zeal as well as temper daring to +excess."—Robertson's <i>Charles V.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Acrelius's <i>History</i>, p. 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> "When he now beheld that the cause of Protestantism was +menaced more seriously than ever throughout the whole of Germany, he +took the decisive step, and, formally declaring war against the +emperor, he, on the 24th of June, 1630, landed on the coast of +Pomerania with fifteen thousand Swedes. As soon as he stepped upon +shore he dropped on his knees in prayer, while his example was +followed by his whole army. Truly he had undertaken, with but small +and limited means, a great and mighty enterprise." "The Swedes, so +steady and strict in their discipline, appeared as protecting angels, +and as the king advanced the belief spread far and near throughout the +land that he was sent from heaven as its preserver."—<i>History of +Germany</i>, by Kohlrausch, pp. 328, 329.</p> +<p>"Bavaria and the Tyrol excepted, every province throughout Germany had +battled for liberty of conscience, and yet the whole of Germany, +notwithstanding her universal inclination for the Reformation, had +been deceived in her hopes: a second Imperial edict seemed likely to +crush the few remaining privileges spared by the edict of +restitution.... Gustavus, urged by his sincere piety, resolved to take +up arms in defence of Protestantism and to free Germany from the yoke +imposed by the Jesuits."—Menzel's <i>History of Germany</i>, vol. ii. pp. +345, 346.</p> +<p>"The party of the Catholics were carrying all before them, and +everything seemed to promise that Ferdinand (the Roman Catholic +emperor) would become absolute through the whole of Germany, and +succeed in that scheme which he seemed to meditate, of entirely +abolishing the Protestant religion in the empire. But this miserable +prospect, both of political and religious thraldom, was dissolved by +the great Gustavus Adolphus being invited by the Protestant princes of +Germany to espouse the cause of the Reformed religion, being himself +of that persuasion."—Tytler's <i>Univ. Hist.</i>, vol. ii. p. 451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> The death of Gustavus Adolphus is thus described by +Kohlrausch: "The king spent the cold autumnal night in his carriage, +and advised with his generals about the battle. The morning dawned, +and a thick fog covered the entire plain; the troops were drawn up in +battle-array, and the Swedes sang, accompanied with trumpets and +drums, Luther's hymn, <i>Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott</i> ('A mighty +fortress is our God'), together with the hymn composed by the king +himself, <i>Verzage nicht, du Häuflein klein</i> ('Fear not the foe, thou +little flock'). Just after eleven o'clock, when the sun was emerging +from behind the clouds, and after a short prayer, the king mounted his +horse, placed himself at the head of the right wing—the left being +commanded by Bernard of Weimar—and cried, 'Now, onward! May our God +direct us!—Lord, Lord! help me this day to fight for the glory of thy +name!' and, throwing away his cuirass with the words, 'God is my +shield!' he led his troops to the front of the Imperialists, who were +well entrenched on the paved road which leads from Lützen to Leipsic, +and stationed in the deep trenches on either side. A deadly cannonade +saluted the Swedes, and many here met their death; but their places +were filled by others, who leaped over the trench, and the troops of +Wallenstein retreated.</p> +<p>"In the mean time, Pappenheim came up with his cavalry from Halle, and +the battle was renewed with the utmost fury. The Swedish infantry fled +behind the trenches. To assist them, the king hastened to the spot +with a company of horse, and rode in full speed considerably in +advance to descry the weak points of the enemy; only a few of his +attendants, and Francis, duke of Saxe-Lauenberg, rode with him. His +short-sightedness led him too near a squadron of Imperial horse; he +received a shot in his arm, which nearly precipitated him to the +ground; and just as he was turning to be led away from the tumultuous +scene he received a second shot in the back. With the exclamation, 'My +God! my God!' he fell from his horse, which also was shot in the neck, +and was dragged for some distance, hanging by the stirrup. The duke +abandoned him, but his faithful page tried to raise him, when the +Imperial horsemen shot him also, killed the king, and completely +plundered him." Pappenheim was also mortally wounded, Wallenstein +retreated, and the victory was with the Swedes, but their noble king +was no more.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> The description of the features of this plan is taken +from Geijer's <i>Svenska Folkets Historia</i>, vol. iii. p. 128, given by +Dr. Reynolds in his Introduction to Israel Acrelius's <i>History of New +Sweden</i>, published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It was +first propounded by Gustavus Adolphus in 1624. Also referred to in +<i>Argonautica Gustaviana</i>, pp. 3 and 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Count Galeazzo Gualdo, a Venetian Roman Catholic, who +spent some years in both the Imperial and the Swedish armies, says of +Gustavus Adolphus that "he was tall, stout, and of such truly royal +demeanor that he universally commanded veneration, admiration, love, +and fear. His hair and beard were of a light-brown color, his eye +large, but not far-sighted. Eloquence dwelt upon his tongue. He spoke +German, the native language of his mother, the Swedish, the Latin, the +French, and the Italian languages, and his discourse was agreeable and +lively. There never was a general served with so much cheerfulness and +devotion as he. He was of an affable and friendly disposition, readily +expressing commendation, and noble actions were indelibly fixed upon +his memory; on the other hand, excessive politeness and flattery he +hated, and if any person approached him in that way he never trusted +him."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> See sketch of the plan of Gustavus Adolphus for his +colony, page <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, and the instructions given to Governor Printz in +1642.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Introduction to Acrelius's <i>History</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Swedish Annals</i>, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Dr. Reynolds's <i>Introduction to Acrelius</i>, p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> See Acrelius's <i>History</i>, pp. 64, 65, and Clay's +<i>Swedish Annals</i>, pp. 24, 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>History of New Sweden</i>, by Israel Acrelius, p. 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Rehearsed in the commission to Governor Printz, 1642, +sections 9 and 26.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Luther and the Reformation:, by Joseph A. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Luther and the Reformation: + The Life-Springs of Our Liberties + +Author: Joseph A. Seiss + +Release Date: October 4, 2005 [EBook #16797] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION: *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Linda Cantoni, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION: + +THE + +LIFE-SPRINGS + +OF + +OUR LIBERTIES. + +BY + +JOSEPH A. SEISS, D.D., + +PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY COMMUNION, PHILADELPHIA + +AUTHOR OF + +"A MIRACLE IN STONE," "VOICES FROM BABYLON," ETC. ETC. + +[Illustration: JOSEPH A. SEISS.] + +CHARLES C. COOK, + +150 NASSAU STREET, + +NEW YORK. + +Copyright, 1883, + +BY PORTER & COATES. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The first part of this book presents the studies of the Author in +preparing a Memorial Oration delivered in the city of New York, +November 10, 1883, on the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of +Martin Luther. The second part presents his studies in a like +preparation for certain Discourses delivered in the city of +Philadelphia at the Bi-Centennial of the founding of the Commonwealth +of Pennsylvania. There was no intention, in either case, to make a +book, however small in size. But the utterances given on these +occasions having been solicited for publication in permanent shape for +common use, and the two parts being intimately related in the +exhibition of the most vital springs of our religious and civil +freedom, it has been concluded to print these studies entire and +together in this form, in hope that the same may satisfy all such +desires and serve to promote truth and righteousness. + +Throughout the wide earth there has been an unexampled stir with +regard to the life and work of the great Reformer, and these +presentations may help to show it no wild craze, but a just and +rational recognition of God's wondrous providence in the constitution +of our modern world. + +And to Him who was, and who is, and who is to come, the God of all +history and grace, be the praise, the honor, and the glory, world +without end! + +THANKSGIVING DAY, 1883. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION pp. 7-134. + +Human Greatness, 9.--_The Papacy_, 12.--Efforts at Reform, 14.--Time +of the Reformation, 17.--Frederick the Wise, 18.--Reuchlin, +19.--Erasmus, 21.--Ulric von Huetten, 23.--Ulrich Zwingli, +24.--Melanchthon, 24.--John Calvin, 25.--Luther the Chosen Instrument, +27.--His Origin, 28.--Early Training, 29.--_Nature of the +Reformation_, 32.--Luther's Spiritual Training, 34.--Development for +his Work, 39.--Visit to Rome, 42.--Elected Town-Preacher, 45.--Made a +Doctor, 45.--His Various Labors, 48.--Collision with the Hierarchy, +49.--The Indulgence-Traffic, 50.--Tetzel's Performances, 54.--Luther +on Indulgences, 57.--Sermon on Indulgences, 59.--Appeal to the +Bishops, 62.--_The Ninety-five Theses_, 63.--Effect of the Theses, +65.--Tetzel's End, 68.--Luther's Growing Influence, 68.--Appeal to the +Pope, 69.--Citation to Rome, 70.--Appears before Cajetan, +71.--Cajetan's Failure, 72.--Progress of Events, 74.--_The Leipsic +Disputation_, 75.--Results of the Debate, 76.--Luther's +Excommunication, 78.--Answer to the Pope's Bull, 81.--_The Diet of +Worms_, 83.--Doings of the Romanists, 85.--Luther Summoned to the +Diet, 87.--Luther at the Diet, 90.--Refuses to Retract, 92.--His +Condemnation, 95.--Carried to the Wartburg, 95.--_Translation of the +Bible_, 96.--His Conservatism, 98.--Growth of the Reformation, +100.--_Luther's Catechisms_, 103.--Protestants and War, 103.--_The +Confession of Augsburg_, 105.--League of Smalcald, 109.--Luther's +Later Years, 111.--_His Personale_, 114.--His Great Qualities, +119.--His Alleged Coarseness, 123.--His Marvelous Achievements, +126.--His Impress upon the World, 127.--His Enemies and Revilers, 131. + + +THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA, pp. 135-206. + +I. THE HISTORY AND THE MEN. + +Beginning of Colonization in America, 137.--Movements in Sweden, +138.--Swedish Proposals, 143.--Was Penn Aware of these Plans? +145.--The Swedes in Advance of Penn, 147.--_The Men of those Times_, +151.--Gustavus Adolphus, 152.--Axel Oxenstiern, 155.--Peter Minuit, +157.--William Penn, 159.--Estimate of Penn, 161.--Penn and the +Indians, 162.--Penn's Work, 168.--The Greatness of Faith, 169. + +II. THE PRINCIPLES ENTHRONED. + +Man's Religious Nature, 173.--_Our State the Product of Faith_, +174.--Gustavus and the Swedes, 176.--The Feelings of William Penn, +178.--_Recognition of the Divine Being_, 180.--Enactments on the +Subject, 183.--Importance of this Principle, 185.--_Religious +Liberty_, 187.--Persecution for Opinion's Sake, 189.--Spirit of the +Founders of Pennsylvania, 190.--Constitutional Provisions, +193.--_Safeguards to True Liberty_, 194.--Laws on Religion and Morals, +197.--Forms of Government, 200.--_A Republican State_, 202.--The Last +Two Hundred Years, 203. + + + + +LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. + + +A rare spectacle has been spreading itself before the face of heaven +during these last months. + +Millions of people, of many nations and languages, on both sides of +the ocean, simultaneously engaged in celebrating the birth of a mere +man, four hundred years after he was born, is an unwonted scene in our +world. + +Unprompted by any voice of authority, unconstrained by any command of +power, we join in the wide-ranging demonstration. + +In the happy freedom which has come to us among the fruits of that +man's labors we bring our humble chaplet to grace the memory of one +whose worth and services there is scarce capacity to tell. + + +HUMAN GREATNESS. + +Some men are colossal. Their characters are so massive, and their +position in history is so towering, that other men can hardly get +high enough to take their measure. An overruling Providence so endows +and places them that they affect the world, turn its course into new +channels, impart to it a new spirit, and leave their impress on all +the ages after them. Even humble individuals, without titles, crowns, +or physical armaments, have wrought themselves into the very life of +the race and built their memorials in the characteristics of epochs. + +History tells of a certain Saul of Tarsus, a lone and friendless man, +stripped of all earthly possessions, forced into battle with a +universe of enthroned superstition, encompassed by perils which +threatened every hour to dissolve him, who, pressing his way over +mountains of difficulty and through seas of suffering, and dying a +martyr to his cause, gave to Europe a living God and to the nations +another and an everlasting King. + +We likewise read of a certain Christopher Columbus, brooding in lowly +retirement upon the structure of the physical universe, ridiculed, +frowned on by the learned, repulsed by court after court, yet +launching out into the unknown seas to find an undiscovered +hemisphere, and opening the way for persecuted Liberty to cradle the +grand empire of popular rule amid the golden hills of a new and +independent continent. + +And in this category stands the name of MARTIN LUTHER. + +He was a poor, plain man, only a doctor of divinity, without place +except as a teacher in a university, without power or authority except +in the convictions and qualities of his own soul, and with no +implements save his Bible, tongue, and pen; but with him the ages +divided and human history took a new departure. + +Two pre-eminent revolutions have passed over Europe since the +beginning of the Christian era. The one struck the Rome and rule of +emperors; the other struck the Rome and rule of popes. The one brought +the Dark Ages; the other ended them. The one overwhelmed the dominion +of the Caesars; the other humiliated a more than imperial dominion +reared in Caesar's place. Alaric, Rhadagaisus, Genseric, and Attila +were the chief instruments and embodiment of the first; _Martin +Luther_ was the chief instrument and embodiment of the second. The one +wrought bloody desolation; the other brought blessed renovation, under +which humanity has bloomed its happiest and its best. + + +THE PAPACY. + +Since Phocas decreed the bishop of Rome the supreme head of the Church +on earth there had grown up strange power which claimed to decide +beyond appeal respecting everybody and everything--from affairs of +empire to the burial of the dead, from the thoughts of men here to the +estate of their souls hereafter--and to command the anathemas of God +upon any who dared to question its authority. It held itself divinely +ordained to give crowns and to take them away. Kings and potentates +were its vassals, and nations had to defer to it and serve it, on pain +of _interdicts_ which smote whole realms with gloom and desolation, +prostrated all the industries of life, locked up the very graveyards +against decent sepulture, and consigned peoples and generations to an +irresistible damnation. It was omnipresent and omnipotent in civilized +Europe. Its clergy and orders swarmed in every place, all sworn to +guard it at every point on peril of their souls, and themselves held +sacred in person and retreat from all reach of law for any crime save +lack of fealty to the great autocracy.[1] The money, the armies, the +lands, the legislatures, the judges, the executives, the police, the +schools, with the whole ecclesiastical administration, reaching even +to the most private affairs of life, were under its control. And at +its centre sat its absolute dictator, unanswerable and supreme, the +alleged Vicar of God on earth, for whom to err was deemed impossible. + +Think of a power which could force King Henry IV., the heir of a long +line of emperors, to strip himself of every mark of his station, put +on the linen dress of a penitent, walk barefooted through the winter's +snow to the pope's castle at Canossa, and there to wait three days at +its gates, unbefriended, unfed, and half perishing with cold and +hunger, till all but the alleged Vicar of Jesus Christ were moved with +pity for his miseries as he stood imploring the tardy clemency of +Hildebrand, which was almost as humiliating in its bestowal as in its +reservation. + +Think of a power which could force the English king, Henry II., to +walk three miles of a flinty road, with bare and bleeding feet, to +Canterbury, to be flogged from one end of the church to the other by +the beastly monks, and then forced to spend the whole night in +supplications to the spirit of an obstinate, perjured, and defiant +archbishop, whom four of his over-zealous knights, without his orders, +had murdered, and whose inner garments, when he was stripped to +receive his shroud, were found alive with vermin! + +Think of a power which, in defiance of the sealed safe-conduct of the +empire, could seize John Huss, one of the worthiest and most learned +men of his time, and burn him alive in the presence of the emperor! + +Think of a power which, by a single edict, caused the deliberate +murder of more than fifty thousand men in the Netherlands alone! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Many assumed the clerical character for no other reason than that +it might screen them from the punishment which their actions deserved, +and the monasteries were full of people who entered them to be secure +against the consequences of their crimes and atrocities.--Rymer's +_Foedera_, vol. xiii. p. 532. + + +EFFORTS AT REFORM. + +To restrain and humble this gigantic power was the desideratum of +ages. For two hundred years had men been laboring to curb and tame it. +From theologians and universities, from kings and emperors, from +provinces and synods, from general councils, and even the College of +Cardinals--in every name of right, virtue, and religion--appeal after +appeal and solemn effort after effort were made to reform the Roman +court and free the world from the terrible oppression. Wars on wars +were waged; provinces on provinces were deluged with blood; +coalitions, bound by sacred oaths, were formed against the giant +tyranny. And yet the hierarchy managed to maintain its assumptions and +to overwhelm all remedial attempts. Whether made by individuals or +secular powers, by councils or governments, the result was the same. +The Pontificate still triumphed, with its claims unabridged, its +dominion unbroken, its scandals uncured. + +A general council sat at Constance to reform the clergy in head and +members. It managed to rid itself of three popes between whom +Christendom was divided, when the emperor moved that the work of +reform proceed. But the cardinals said, How can the Church reform +itself without a head? So they elected a pope who was to lead reform. +Yet a day had hardly passed before they found themselves in a +traitor's power, who reaffirmed all the acts of the iniquitous John +XXIII., who had just been deposed for his crimes, and presently +endowed him with a cardinal's hat! + +When this pope, Martin V., died, the cardinals thought to remedy their +previous mistake. They would secure their reforms before electing a +pope. So they erected themselves into a standing senate, without +which no future pope could act. And they each took solemn oath, before +God and all angels, by St. Peter and all apostles, by the holy +sacrament of Christ's body and blood, and by all the powers that be, +if elected, to conform to these arrangements and to use all the rights +and prerogatives of the sublime position to put in force the reforms +conceded to be necessary. + +But what are oaths and fore-pledges to candidates greedy for office? +The tickets which elected the new pope had hardly been counted when he +absolved himself from all previous obligations, disowned the senate of +cardinals he had helped to erect, began his career with violence and +robbery, plundered the cities and states of Italy, religiously +violated all compacts but those which favored his absolute supremacy, +brought to none effect the reform Council of Basle, deceived Germany +with his specious and hollow concessions, averted the improvements he +had sworn to make, and by his perfidy and cunning managed to retain in +subordination to the old regime nearly the whole of that Christendom +which he had outraged! + +In spite of the efforts of centuries, this super-imperial power held +by the throat a struggling world. + +To break that gnarled and bony hand, which locked up everything in its +grasp; to bring down the towering altitude of that olden tyranny, +whose head was lifted to the clouds; to strike from the soul its +clanking chains and set the suffering nations free; to champion the +inborn rights of afflicted humanity, and conquer the ignorance and +imposture which had governed for a thousand years,--constituted the +work and office of the man the four hundredth anniversary of whose +birth half the civilized world is celebrating to-day. + + +TIME OF THE REFORMATION. + +It has been said that when this tonsured Augustinian came upon the +stage almost any brave man might have brought about the impending +changes. The Reformers before the Reformation, though vanquished, had +indeed not lived in vain. The European peoples were outgrowing feudal +vassalage, and moving toward nationalization and separation between +the secular and ecclesiastical powers. Travel, exploration, and +discovery had introduced new subjects of human interest and +contemplation. Schools of law, medicine, and liberal education were +being established and largely attended. The common mind was losing +faith in the professions and teachings of the old hierarchy. Free +inquiry was overturning the dominion of authority in matters of +thought and opinion. The intellect of man was beginning to recover +from the nightmare of centuries. A mightier power than the sword had +sprung up in the art of printing. In a word, the world was gravid with +a new era. But it was not so clear who would be able to bring it +safely to the birth. + +There were living at the time many eminent men who might be thought of +for this office had it not been assigned to Luther. Reuchlin, Erasmus, +Huetten, Sickingen, and others have been named, but the list might be +extended, and yet no one be found endowed with the qualities to +accomplish the work that was needed and that was accomplished. + + +FREDERICK THE WISE. + +The Saxon Elector, Frederick the Wise, was the worthiest, most +popular, and most influential ruler then in Europe. He could have been +emperor in place of Charles V. had he consented to be. The history of +the world since his time might have been greatly different had he +yielded to the general desire. His principles, his attainments, his +wisdom, and his spirit were everything to commend him. He founded the +University of Wittenberg in hope that it would produce preachers who +would leave off the cold subtleties of Scholasticism and the +uncertainties of tradition, and give discourses that would possess the +nerve and power of the Gospel of God. He sought out the best and most +pious men for his advisers. He was the devoted friend of learning, +truth, and virtue. By his prudence and foresight in Church and State +he helped the Reformation more than any other man then in power. Had +it not been for him perhaps Luther could not have succeeded. But it +was not in the nature of things for the noble Elector to give us such +a Reformation as that led by his humble subject. It is useless to +speculate as to what the Reformation might have become in his hands; +but it certainly could never have become what we rejoice to know it +was, while the probabilities are that we would now be fighting the +battles which Luther fought for us three and a half centuries ago. + + +REUCHLIN. + +Reuchlin was a learned and able man, and deeply conscious of the need +of reform. When the Greek Argyrophylos heard him read and explain +Thucydides, he exclaimed, "Greece has retired beyond the Alps." He was +the first Hebrew scholar of Germany, and served to restore the Hebrew +Scriptures to the knowledge of the Church. He held that popes could +err and be deceived. He had no faith in human abnegations for +reconciliation with God. He saw no need for hierarchical mediations, +and discredited the doctrine of Purgatory and masses for the dead. He +bravely defended the cause of learning against the ignorant monks, +whom he hated and held up to merciless ridicule. He was a brilliant +and persuasive orator. He was an associate and counselor of kings. He +gave Melanchthon to the Reformation, and did much to promote it. +Luther recognized in him a great light, of vast service to the Gospel +in Germany. But Reuchlin could never have accomplished the +Reformation. The vital principles of it were not sufficiently rooted +in him. He was a humanist, whose sympathies went with the republic of +letters, not with the wants of the soul and the needs of the people. +When he got into trouble he appealed to the pope. And though he lived +to see Luther in agonizing conflict with the hierarchy of Rome, he +refrained from making common cause with him, and died in connection +with the unreformed Church, whose doctrines he had questioned and +whose orders he had so unsparingly ridiculed. + + +ERASMUS OF ROTTERDAM. + +Erasmus was a notable man, great in talent and of great service in +preparing the way for the Reformation. He turned reviving learning to +the study of the Word. He produced the first, and for a long time the +only, critical edition of the New Testament in the original, to which +he added a Latin translation and notes. He paraphrased the Epistle to +the Romans--that great Epistle on which above all, the Reformation +moved. Though once an inmate of a monastery, he abhorred the monks and +exposed them with terrible severity. He had more friends, reputation, +and influence than perhaps any other private man in Europe. And he was +deep in the spirit of opposition to the scandalous condition of things +in the Church. But he never could have given us the Reformation. He +said all honest men sided with Luther, and as an honest man his place +would have been by Luther's side; but he was too great a coward. "If I +should join Luther," said he, "I could only perish with him, and I do +not mean to run my neck into the halter. Let popes and emperors +settle matters."--"Your Holiness says, Come to Rome; you might as well +tell a crab to fly. If I write calmly against Luther, I shall be +called lukewarm; if I write as he does, I shall stir up a hornet's +nest.... Send for the best and wisest men in Christendom, and follow +their advice."--"Reduce the dogmas necessary to be believed to the +smallest possible number. On other points let every one believe as he +likes. Having done this, quietly correct the abuses of which the world +justly complains." + +So wrote Erasmus to the pope and to the archbishop of Mayence. Such +was his ideal of reformation--a thing as impossible to bring into +practical effect as its realization would have been absurd. It is easy +to tell a crab to fly, but will he do it? As well propose to convert +infallibility with a fable of AEsop as to count on bringing +regeneration to the hierarchy by such counsels. + +The waters were too deep and the storms too fierce for the vacillating +Erasmus. He did some excellent service in his way, but all his +counsels and ideas failed, as they deserved. Once the idol of Europe, +he died a defeated, crushed, and miserable man. "Hercules could not +fight two monsters at once," said he, "while I, poor wretch! have +lions, cerberuses, cancers, scorpions, every day at my sword's +point.... There is no rest for me in my age, unless I join Luther; and +that I cannot, for I cannot accept his doctrines. Sometimes I am stung +with desire to avenge my wrongs; but my heart says, Will you in your +spleen raise hand against your mother who begot you at the font? I +cannot do it. Yet, because I bade monks remember their vows; because I +told persons to leave off their wranglings and read the Bible; because +I told popes and cardinals to look to the apostles and be more like +them,--the theologians say I am their enemy." + +Thus in sorrow and in clouds Erasmus passed away, as would the entire +Reformation in his hands. + + +ULRIC VON HUeTTEN. + +Ulric von Huetten, soldier and knight, equally distinguished in letters +and in arms, and called the Demosthenes of Germany, was a zealous +friend of reform. He had been in Rome, and sharpened his darts from +what he there saw to hurl them with effect. All the powers of satire +and ridicule he brought to bear upon the pillars of the Papacy. He +helped to shake the edifice, and his plans and spirit might have +served to pull it down had he been able to bring Europe to his mind; +but it would only have been to bury society in its ruins. + + +ULRICH ZWINGLI. + +Ulrich Zwingli is ranked among Reformers, and he was energetic in +behalf of reform. But he fell a victim to his own mistakes, and with +him would have perished the Reformation also had it depended upon him. +Even had he lived, his radical and rationalistic spirit, his narrow +and fiery patriotism, his shallow religious experience, and his +eagerness to rest the cause of Reformation on civil authority and the +sword, would have wrecked it with nine-tenths of the European peoples. + + +MELANCHTHON. + +Philip Melanchthon was a better and a greater man, and did the +Reformation a far superior service. Luther would have been much +disabled without him, and Germany has awarded him the title of its +"Preceptor." But no Reformation could have come if the fighting or +directing of its battles had been left to him. Even with the great +Luther ever by his side, he could hardly get loose from Rome and +retain his wholeness, and when he was loose could hardly maintain his +legs upon the ground that had been won. + + +CALVIN. + +John Calvin was a man of great learning and ability. Marked has been +his influence on the theology and government of a large portion of the +Reformed churches. But the Reformation was twelve years old before he +came into it. It had to exist already ere there could be a Calvin, +while his repeated flights to avoid danger prove how inadequate his +courage was for such unflinching duty as rendered Luther illustrious. +He was a cold, hard, ascetic aristocrat at best, more cynical, stern, +and tyrannical than brave. The organization for the Church and civil +government which he gave to Geneva was quite too intolerant and +inquisitorial for safe adoption in general or to endure the test of +the true Gospel spirit. Under a regime which burnt Servetus for +heresy, threw men into prison for reading novels, hung and beheaded +children for improper behavior toward parents, whipped and banished +people for singing songs, and dealt with others as public blasphemers +if they said a word against the Reformers or failed to go to church, +the cause of the Reformation could never have commanded acceptance by +the nations, or have survived had it been received. The famous "Blue +Laws" of the New England colonies have had to be given up as a scandal +upon enlightened civilization; but they were largely transcribed from +Calvin's code and counsels, including even the punishing of witches. +For the last two hundred years the Calvinistic peoples have been +reforming back from Calvin's rules and spirit, either to a better +foundation for the perpetuation and honor of the Church or to a +rationalistic skepticism which lets go all the distinctive elements of +the genuine Christian Creed--the natural reaction from the hard and +overstrained severity of a legalistic style of Christianity. + +With all the great service Calvin has rendered to theological science +and church discipline, there was an unnatural sombreness about him, +which linked him rather with the Middle Ages and the hierarchical rule +than with the glad, free spirit of a wholesome Christian life. At +twenty-seven he had already drawn up a formula of doctrine and +organization which he never changed and to which he ever held. There +was no development either in his life or in his ideas. The evangelic +elements of his system he found ready to his hand, as thought out by +Luther and the German theologians. They did not originate or grow with +him. And had the Reformation depended upon him it could never have +become a success. So too with any others that might be named. + + +LUTHER THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT. + +We may not limit Providence. The work was to be done. Every interest +of the world and of the kingdom of God demanded it. And if there had +been no Luther at hand, some one else would have been raised up to +serve in his place. But there _was_ a Luther, and, as far as human +insight can determine, he was the only man on earth competent to +achieve the Reformation. And he it was who did achieve it. + +Looked at in advance, perhaps no one would have thought of him for +such an office. He was so humbly born, so lowly in station, so +destitute of fortune, and withal so honest a Papist, that not the +slightest tokens presented to mark him out as the chosen instrument to +grapple with the magnitudinous tyranny by which Europe was enthralled. + +But "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the +things that are mighty." Moses was the son of a slave. The founder of +the Hebrew monarchy was a shepherd-boy. The Redeemer-King of the world +was born in a stable and reared in the family of a village carpenter. +And we need not wonder that the hero-prophet of the modern ages was +the son of a poor toiler for his daily bread, and compelled to sing +upon the street for alms to keep body and soul together while +struggling for an education. + +It has been the common order of Providence that the greatest lights +and benefactors of the race, the men who rose the highest above the +level of their kind and stood as beacons to the world, were not such +as would have been thought of in advance for the mighty services which +render their names immortal. And that the master spirit of the great +Reformation was no exception all the more surely identifies that +marvelous achievement as the work of an overruling God. + + +LUTHER'S ORIGIN. + +Luther was a Saxon German--a German of the Germans--born of that blood +out of which, with but few exceptions, have sprung the ruling powers +of the West since the last of the old Roman emperors. He came out of +the bosom of the freshest, strongest, and hardiest peoples then +existing--the direct descendants of those wild Cimbrian and Teutonic +tribes who, even in their heathenism, were the most virtuous, brave, +and true of all the Gentiles. + +Nor was he the offspring of enfeebled, gouty, aristocratic blood. He +was the son of the sinewy and sturdy yeomanry. Though tradition +reports one of his remote ancestors in something of imperial place +among the chieftains of the semi-savage tribes from which he was +descended, when the period of the Reformation came his family was in +like condition with that of the house of David when the Christ was +born. His father and grandfather and great-grandfather, he says +himself, were true Thuringian peasants. + + +LUTHER'S EARLY TRAINING. + +In the early periods of the mediaeval Church her missionaries came to +these fiery warriors of the North and followed the conquests of +Charlemagne, to teach them that they had souls, that there is a living +and all-knowing God at whose judgment-bar all must one day stand to +give account, and that it would then be well with the believing, +brave, honest, true, and good, and ill with cowards, profligates, and +liars. It was a simple creed, but it took fast hold on the Germanic +heart, to show itself in sturdy power in the long after years. + +This creed, in unabated force, descended to Luther's parents, and +lived and wrought in them as a controlling principle. They were also +strict to render it the same in their children. + +_Hans Luther_ was a hard and stern disciplinarian, unsparing in the +enforcement of every virtue. + +_Margaret Luther_[2] was noted among her neighbors as a model woman, +and was so earnest in her inculcations of right that she preferred to +see her son bleed beneath the rod rather than that he should do a +questionable thing even respecting so small a matter as a nut. + +From his childhood Luther was thus trained and attempered to fear +God, reverence truth and honesty, and hate hypocrisy and lies. +Possibly his parents were severer with him than was necessary, but it +was well for him, as the prospective prophet of a new era, to learn +absolute obedience to those who were to him the representatives of +that divine authority which he was to teach the world supremely to +obey. + +But no birth, or blood, or parental drilling, or any mere human +culture, could give the qualities necessary to a successful Reformer. +The Church had fallen into all manner of evils, because it had drifted +away from the apostolic doctrine as to how a man shall be just with +God; which is the all-conditioning question of all right religion. +There could then be no cure for those evils except by the bringing of +the Church back to that doctrine. But to do anything effectual toward +such a recovery it was pre-eminently required that the Reformer +himself should first be brought to an experimental knowledge of what +was to be witnessed and taught. + +On two different theatres, therefore, the Reformation had to be +wrought out: first, in the Reformer's own soul, and then on the field +of the world outside of him. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] The maiden name of Margaret Luther, the mother of Martin, was +_Margaret Ziegler_. There has been a traditional belief that her name +was Margaret Lindeman. The mistake originated in confounding Luther's +grandmother, whose name was _Lindeman_, with Luther's mother, whose +name was _Ziegler_. Prof. Julius Koestlin, in his _Life of Luther_, +after a thorough examination of original records and documents, gives +this explanation. + + +WHAT THE REFORMATION WAS. + +It is hard to take in the depth and magnitude of what is called The +Great Reformation. It stands out in history like a range of Himalayan +mountains, whose roots reach down into the heart of the world and +whose summits pierce beyond the clouds. + +To Bossuet and Voltaire it was a mere squabble of the monks; to others +it was the cupidity of secular sovereigns and lay nobility grasping +for the power, estates, and riches of the Church. Some treat of it as +a simple reaction against religious scandals, with no great depths of +principle or meaning except to illustrate the recuperative power of +human society to cure itself of oppressive ills. Guizot describes it +as "a vast effort of the human mind to achieve its freedom--a great +endeavor to emancipate human reason." Lord Bacon takes it as the +reawakening of antiquity and the recall of former times to reshape and +fashion our own. + +Whatever of truth some of these estimates may contain, they fall far +short of a correct idea of what the Reformation was, or wherein lay +the vital spring of that wondrous revolution. Its historic and +philosophic centre was vastly deeper and more potent than either or +all of these conceptions would make it. Many influences contributed to +its accomplishment, but its inmost principle was unique. The real +nerve of the Reformation was religious. Its life was something +different from mere earthly interests, utilities, aims, or passions. +_Its seat was in the conscience._ Its true spring was the soul, +confronted by eternal judgment, trembling for its estate before divine +Almightiness, and, on pain of banishment from every immortal good, +forced to condition and dispose itself according to the clear +revelations of God. It was not mere negation to an oppressive +hierarchy, except as it was first positive and evangelic touching the +direct and indefeasible relations and obligations of the soul to its +Maker. Only when the hierarchy claimed to qualify these direct +relations and obligations, thrust itself between the soul and its +Redeemer, and by eternal penalties sought to hold the conscience bound +to human authorities and traditions, did the Reformation protest and +take issue. Had the inalienable right and duty to obey God rather than +man been conceded, the hierarchy, as such, might have remained, the +same as monarchical government. But this the hierarchy negatived, +condemned, and would by no means tolerate. Hence the mighty contest. +And the heart, sum, and essence of the whole struggle was the +maintenance and the working out into living fact of this direct +obligation of the soul to God and the supreme authority of His clear +and unadulterated word. + + +SPIRITUAL TRAINING. + +How Luther came to these principles, and the fiery trials by which +they were burnt into him as part of his inmost self, is one of the +most vital chapters in the history. + +His father had designed him for the law. To this end he had gone +through the best schools of Germany, taken his master's degree, and +was advancing in the particular studies relating to his intended +profession, when a sudden change came over his life. + +Religious in his temper and training, and educated in a creed which +worked mainly on man's fears, without emphasizing the only basis of +spiritual peace, he fell into great terrors of conscience. Several +occurrences contributed to this: (1) He fell sick, and was likely to +die. (2) He accidentally severed an artery, and came near bleeding to +death. (3) A bosom friend of his was suddenly killed. All this made +him think how it would be with him if called to stand before God in +judgment, and filled him with alarm. Then (4) he was one day overtaken +by a thunderstorm of unwonted violence. The terrific scene presented +to his vivid fancy all the horrors of a mediaeval picture of the Last +Day, and himself about to be plunged into eternal fire. Overwhelmed +with terror, he cried to Heaven for help, and vowed, if spared, to +devote himself to the salvation of his soul by becoming a monk. His +father hated monkery, and he shared the feeling; but, if it would save +him, why hesitate? What was a father's displeasure or the loss of all +the favors of the world to his safety against a hopeless perdition? + +Call it superstition, call it religious melancholy, call it morbid +hallucination, it was a most serious matter to the young Luther, and +out of it ultimately grew the Reformation. False ideas underlay the +resolve, but it was profoundly sincere and according to the ideas of +ages. It was wrong, but he could not correct the error until he had +tested it. And thus, by what he took as the unmistakable call of God, +he entered the cloister. + +Never man went into a monastery with purer motives. Never a man went +through the duties, drudgeries, and humiliations of the novitiate of +convent-life with more unshrinking fidelity. Never man endured more +painful mental and bodily agonies that he might secure for himself an +assured spiritual peace. Romanists have expressed their wonder that so +pure a man thought himself so great a sinner. But a sinner he was, as +we all; and to avert the just anger of God he fasted, prayed, and +mortified himself like an anchorite of the Thebaid. And yet no peace +or comfort came. + +A chained Bible lay in the monastery. He had previously found a copy +of it in the library of the university. Day and night he read it, +along with the writings of St. Augustine. In both he found the same +pictures of man's depravity which he realized in himself, but God's +remedy for sin he had not found. In the earnestness of his studies the +prescribed devotions were betimes crowded out, and then he punished +himself without mercy to redeem his failures. Whole nights and days +together he lay upon his face crying to God, till he swooned in his +agony. Everything his brother-monks could tell him he tried, but all +the resources of their religion were powerless to comfort him or to +beget a righteousness in which his anguished soul could trust. + +It happened that one of the exceptionally enlightened and +spiritual-minded monks of his time, _John Staupitz_, was then the +vicar-general of the Augustinians in Saxony. On his tour of inspection +he came to Erfurt, and there found Luther, a walking skeleton, more +dead than alive. He was specially drawn to the haggard young brother. +The genial and sympathizing spirit of the vicar-general made Luther +feel at home in his presence, and to him he freely opened his whole +heart, telling of his feelings, failures, and fears--his heartaches, +his endeavors, his disappointments, and his despair. And God put the +right words into the vicar-general's mouth. + +"Look to the wounds of Jesus," said he, "and to the blood he shed for +you, and there see the mercy of God. Cast yourself into the Redeemer's +arms, and trust in his righteous life and sacrificial death. He loved +you first; love him in return, and let your penances and +mortifications go." + +The oppressed and captive spirit began to feel its burden lighten +under such discourse. God a God of love! Piety a life of love! +Salvation by loving trust in a God already reconciled in Christ! This +was a new revelation. It brought the sorrowing young Luther to the +study of the Scriptures with a new object of search. He read and +meditated, and began to see the truth of what his vicar said. But +doubts would come, and often his gloom returned. + +One day an aged monk came to his cell to comfort him. He said he only +knew his Creed, but in that he rested, reciting, "_I believe in the +forgiveness of sins_."--"And do I not believe that?" said +Luther.--"Ah," said the old monk, "you believe in the forgiveness of +sins for David and Peter and the thief on the cross, but you do not +believe in the forgiveness of sins _for yourself_. St. Bernard says +the Holy Ghost speaks it to your own soul, _Thy_ sins are forgiven +_thee_." + +And so at last the right nerve was touched. The true word of God's +deliverance was brought home to Luther's understanding. He was +penitent and in earnest, and needed only this great Gospel hope to +lift him from the horrible pit and the miry clay. As a light from +heaven it came to his soul, and there remained, a comfort and a joy. +The glad conclusion flashed upon him, never more to be shaken, "If +God, for Christ's sake, takes away our sins, then they are not taken +away by any works of ours." + +The foundation-rock of a new world was reached. + +Luther saw not yet what all this discovery meant, nor whither it would +lead. He was as innocent of all thought of being a Reformer as a +new-born babe is of commanding an army on the battlefield. But the +Gospel principle of deliverance and salvation for his oppressed and +anxious soul was found, and it was found for all the world. The anchor +had taken hold on a new continent. In essence the Great Reformation +was born--born in Luther's soul. + + +LUTHER'S DEVELOPMENT. + +More than ten years passed before this new principle began to work off +the putrid carcass of mediaeval religion which lay stretched over the +stifled and suffocating Church of Christ. There were yet many steps +and stages in the preparation for what was to come. But from that time +forward everything moved toward general regeneration by means of that +marrow doctrine of the Gospel: _Salvation by loving faith in the merit +and mediation of Jesus alone_. + +Staupitz counseled the young monk to study the Scriptures well and +whatever could aid him in their right understanding, and gave orders +to the monastery not to interfere with his studies. + +On May 2, 1507, he was consecrated to the priesthood. + +Within the year following, at the instance of Staupitz, Frederick the +Wise appointed him professor in the new University of Wittenberg. + +May 9, 1509, he took his degree of bachelor of divinity. From that +time he began to use his place to attack the falsehoods of the +prevailing philosophy and to explore and expose the absurdities of +Scholasticism, dwelling much on the great Gospel treasure of God's +free amnesty to sinful man through the merits and mediation of Jesus +Christ, on which his own soul was planted. + +Staupitz was astounded at the young brother's thorough mastery of the +sacred Word, the minuteness of his knowledge of it, and the power with +which he expounded and defended the great principles of the evangelic +faith. So able a teacher of the doctrines of the cross must at once +begin to preach. Luther remonstrated, for it was not then the custom +for all priests to preach. He insisted that he would die under the +weight of such responsibilities. "Die, then," said Staupitz; "God has +plenty to do for intelligent young men in heaven." + +A little old wooden chapel, daubed with clay, twenty by thirty feet in +size, with a crude platform of rough boards at one end and a small +sooty gallery for scarce twenty persons at the other, and propped on +all sides to keep it from tumbling down, was assigned him as his +cathedral. Myconius likens it to the stable of Bethlehem, as there +Christ was born anew for the souls which now crowded to it. And when +the thronging audiences required his transfer to the parish church, it +was called the bringing of Christ into the temple. + +The fame of this young theologian and preacher spread fast and far. +The common people and the learned were alike impressed by his +originality and power, and rejoiced in the electrifying clearness of +his expositions and teachings. The Elector was delighted, for he began +to see his devout wishes realized. Staupitz, who had drunk in the more +pious spirit of the Mystic theologians, shared the same feeling, and +saw in Luther's fresh, biblical, and energetic preaching what he felt +the whole Church needed. "He spared neither counsel nor applause," for +he believed him the man of God for the times. He sent him to +neighboring monasteries to preach to the monks. He gave him every +opportunity to study, observe, and exercise his great talents. He even +sent him on a mission to Rome, more to acquaint him with that city, +which he longed to see, than for any difficult or pressing business +with the pope. + + +LUTHER'S VISIT TO ROME. + +Luther performed the journey on foot, passing from monastery to +monastery, noting the extravagances, indolence, gluttony, and +infidelity of the monks, and sometimes in danger of his life, both +from the changes of climate and from the murderous resentments of some +of these cloister-saints which his rebukes of their vices engendered. + +When Rome first broke upon his sight, he hailed it reverently as the +city of saints and holy martyrs. He almost envied those whose parents +were dead, and who had it in their power to offer prayers for the +repose of their souls by the side of such holy shrines. But when he +beheld the vulgarities, profanities, paganism, and unconcealed +unbelief which pervaded even the ecclesiastical circles of that city, +his soul sunk within him. + +There was much to be seen in Rome; and the Roman Catholic writers find +great fault with Luther for being so dull and unappreciative as to +move amid it without being touched with a single spark of poetic fire. +They tell of the glory of the cardinals, in litters, on horseback, in +glittering carriages, blazing with jewels and shaded with gorgeous +canopies; of marble palaces, grand walks, alabaster columns, gigantic +obelisks, villas, gardens, grottoes, flowers, fountains, cascades; of +churches adorned with polished pillars, gilded soffits, mosaic floors, +altars sparkling with diamonds, and gorgeous pictures from +master-hands looking down from every wall; of monuments, statues, +images, and holy relics; and they blame Luther that he could gaze upon +it all without a stir of admiration--that he could look upon the +sculpture and statuary and see nothing but pagan devices, the gods +Demosthenes and Praxiteles, the feasts and pomps of Delos, and the +idle scenes of the heathen Forum--that no gleam from the crown of +Perugino or Michael Angelo dazzled his eyes, and no strain of Virgil +or of Dante, which the people sung in the streets, attracted his +ear--that he was only cold and dumb before all the treasures and +glories of art and all the grandeur of the high dignitaries of the +Church, seeing nothing, feeling nothing, exclaiming over nothing but +the licentious impurities of the priests, the pagan pomps of the +pontiff, the profane jests of the ministers of religion, the bare +shoulders of the Roman ladies. + +Luther was not dead to the aesthetic, but to see faith and +righteousness thus smothered and buried under a godless Epicurean life +was an offence to his honest German conscience. It looked to him as if +the popes had reversed the Saviour's choice, and accepted the devil's +bid for Christ to worship him. From what his own eyes and ears had now +seen and heard, he knew what to believe concerning the state of things +in the metropolis of Christendom, and was satisfied that, as surely as +there is a hell, the Rome of those days was its mouth.[3] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Bellarmine, an honored author of the Roman Church, one competent +to judge concerning the state of things at that time, and not +over-forward to confess it, says: "For some years before the Lutheran +and Calvinistic heresies were published there was not (as contemporary +authors testify) any rigor in ecclesiastical judicatories, any +discipline with regard to morals, any knowledge of sacred literature, +any reverence for divine things: THERE WAS ALMOST NO RELIGION +REMAINING."--_Bellarm._, Concio xviii., Opera, tom. vi. col. 296, +edit. Colon., 1617, apud _Gerdesii Hist. Evan. Renovati_, vol. i. p. +25. + + +LUTHER AS TOWN-PREACHER. + +On his return the Senate of Wittenberg elected him town-preacher. In +the cloister, in the castle chapel, and in the collegiate church he +alternately exercised his gifts. Romanists admit that "his success was +great. He said he would not imitate his predecessors, and he kept his +word. For the first time a Christian preacher was seen to abandon the +Schoolmen and draw his texts and illustrations from the writings of +inspiration. He was the originator and restorer of expository +preaching in modern times." + +The Elector heard him, and was filled with admiration. An old +professor, whom the people called "the light of the world," listened +to him, and was struck with his wonderful insight, his marvelous +imagination, and his massive solidity. And Wittenberg sprang into +great renown because of him, for never before had been heard in Saxony +such a luminous expositor of God's holy Word. + + +LUTHER MADE A DOCTOR. + +On all hands it was agreed and insisted that he should be made a +doctor of divinity. The costs were heavy, for simony was the order of +the day and the pope exacted high prices for all church promotions; +but the Elector paid the charges. + +On the 18th of October, 1512, the degree was conferred. It was no +empty title to Luther. It gave him liberties and rights which his +enemies could not gainsay, and it laid on him obligations and duties +which he never forgot. The obedience to the canons and the hierarchy +which it exacted he afterward found inimical to Christ and the Gospel, +and, as in duty bound, he threw it off, with other swaddling-bands of +Popery. But there was in it the pledge "to devote his whole life to +the study, exposition and defence of the Holy Scriptures." This he +accepted, and ever referred to as his sacred charter and commission. +Nor was it without significance that the great bell of Wittenberg was +rung when proclamation of this investiture was made. As the ringing of +the bell on the old State-house when the Declaration of Independence +was passed proclaimed the coming liberties of the American colonies, +so this sounding of the great bell of Wittenberg when Luther was made +doctor of divinity proclaimed and heralded to the nations of the earth +the coming deliverance of the enslaved Church. God's chosen servant +had received his commission, and the better day was soon to dawn. + + * * * * * + +Henceforth Luther's labors and studies went forward with a new impulse +and inspiration. Hebrew and Greek were thoroughly mastered. The +Fathers of the Church, ancient and modern, were carefully read. The +systems of the Schoolmen, the Book of Sentences, the Commentaries, the +Decretals--everything relating to his department as a doctor of +theology--were examined, and brought to the test of Holy Scripture. + +In his sermons, lectures, and disquisitions the results of these +incessant studies came out with a depth of penetration, a clearness of +statement, a simplicity of utterance, a devoutness of spirit, and a +convincing power of eloquence which, with the eminent sanctity of his +life, won for him unbounded praise. The common feeling was that the +earth did not contain another such a doctor and had not seen his equal +for many ages. Envy and jealousy themselves, those green-eyed monsters +which gather about the paths of great qualities and successes, seemed +for the time to be paralyzed before a brilliancy which rested on such +humility, conscientiousness, fidelity, and merit. + + +LUTHER'S LABORS. + +Years of fruitful labor passed. The Decalogue was expounded. Paul's +letter to the Romans and the penitential Psalms were explained. The +lectures on the Epistle to the Galatians were nearly completed. But no +book from Luther had yet been published. + +In 1515 he was chosen district vicar of the Augustinian monasteries of +Meissen and Thuringia. It was a laborious office, but it gave him new +experiences, familiarized him still more with the monks, brought him +into executive administrations, and developed his tact in dealing with +men. + +One other particular served greatly to establish him in the hearts of +the people. A deadly plague broke out in Wittenberg. Citizens were +dying by dozens and scores. At a later period a like scourge visited +Geneva, and so terrified Calvin and his ministerial associates that +they appealed to the Supreme Council, entreating, "Mighty lords, +release us from attending these infected people, for our lives are in +peril." Not so Luther. His friends said, "Fly! fly!" lest he should +fall by the plague and be lost to the world. "Fly?" said he. "No, no, +my God. If I die, I die. The world will not perish because a monk has +fallen. I am not St. Paul, not to fear death, but God will sustain +me." And as an angel of mercy he remained, ministering to the sick and +dying and caring for the orphans and widows of the dead. + + +COLLISION WITH THE HIERARCHY. + +Such was Luther up to the time of his rupture with Rome. He knew +something of the shams and falsities that prevailed, and he had +assailed and exposed many of them in his lectures and sermons; but to +lead a general reformation was the farthest from his thoughts. Indeed, +he still had such confidence in the integrity of the Roman Church that +he did not yet realize how greatly a thorough general reformation was +needed. Humble in mind, peaceable in disposition, reverent toward +authority, loving privacy, and fully occupied with his daily studies +and duties, it was not in him to think of making war with powers whose +claims he had not yet learned to question. + +But it was not possible that so brave, honest, and self-sacrificing a +man should long pursue his convictions without coming into collision +with the Roman high priesthood. Though far off at Wittenberg, and +trying to do his own duty well in his own legitimate sphere, it soon +came athwart his path in a form so foul and offensive that it forced +him to assault it. Either he had to let go his sincerest convictions +and dearest hopes or protest had to come. His personal salvation and +that of his flock were at stake, and he could in no way remain a true +man and not remonstrate. Driven to this extremity, and struck at for +his honest faithfulness, he struck again; and so came the battle which +shook and revolutionized the world. + + +THE SELLING OF INDULGENCES. + +Luther's first encounter with the hierarchy was on the traffic in +indulgences. It was a good fortune that it there began. That traffic +was so obnoxious to every sense of propriety that any vigorous attack +upon it would command the approval of many honest and pious people. +The central heresy of hierarchical religion was likewise embodied in +it, so that a stab there, if logically followed up, would necessarily +reach the very heart of the oppressive monster. And Providence +arranged that there the conflict should begin. + +Leo X. had but recently ascended the papal throne. Reared amid lavish +wealth and culture, he was eager that his reign should equal that of +Solomon and the Caesars. He sought to aggrandize his relatives, to +honor and enrich men of genius, and to surround himself with costly +splendors and pleasures. These demanded extraordinary revenues. The +projects of his ambitious predecessors had depleted the papal coffers. +He needed to do something on a grand scale in order adequately to +replenish his exchequer. + +As early as the eleventh century the popes had betimes resorted to the +selling of pardons and the issuing of free passes to heaven on +consideration of certain services or payments to the Church. From +Urban II. to Leo X. this was more or less in vogue--first, to get +soldiers for the holy wars,[4] and then as a means of wealth to the +Church. If one wished to eat meat on fast-days, marry within +prohibited degrees of relationship, or indulge in forbidden pleasures, +he could do it without offence by rendering certain satisfactions +before or after, which satisfactions could mostly be made by payments +of money.[5] In the same way he could buy remission of sins in +general, or exemption for so many days, years, or centuries from the +pains of Purgatory. Bulls of authority were given, in the name of the +Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to issue certificates of exemption from +all penalties to such as did the service or paid the equivalent. +Immense incomes were thus realized. Even to the present this facile +invention for raising money has not been entirely discontinued. Papal +indulgences can be bought to-day in the shops of Spain and elsewhere. + +Leo seized upon this system with all the vigor and unscrupulousness +characteristic of the Medici. Had he been asked whether he really +believed in these pardons, he would have said that the Church always +believed the pope had power to grant them. Had he spoken his real mind +in the matter, he would have said that if the people chose to be such +fools, it was not for him to find fault with them. And thus, under +plea of raising funds to finish St. Peter's, he instituted a grand +trade in indulgences, and thereby laid the capstone of hierarchical +iniquity which crushed the whole fabric to its base. + +The right to sell these wares in Germany was awarded to Albert, the +gay young prince-archbishop of Mayence. He was over head and ears in +debt to the pope for his pallium, and Leo gave him this chance to get +out.[6] Half the proceeds of the trade in his territory were to go to +his credit. But the work of proclaiming and distributing the pardons +was committed to _John Tetzel_, a Dominican prior who had long +experience in the business, and who achieved "a forlorn notoriety in +European history" by his zeal in prosecuting it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] In the famous Bull of Gregory IX., published in 1234, that pope +exhorts and commands all good Christians to take up the cross and join +the expedition to recover the Holy Land. The language is: "The service +to which mankind are now invited is an effectual atonement for the +miscarriages of a negligent life. The discipline of a regular penance +would have discouraged many offenders so much that they would have had +no heart to venture upon it; but the holy war is a compendious method +of discharging men from guilt and restoring them to the divine favor. +Even if they die on their march, the intention will be taken for the +deed, and many in this way may be crowned without fighting."--Given in +Collier's _Eccl._, vol. i. + +[5] The Roman Chancery once put forth a book, which went through many +editions, giving the exact prices for the pardon of each particular +sin. A deacon guilty of murder was absolved for twenty pounds. A +bishop or abbot might assassinate for three hundred livres. Any +ecclesiastic might violate his vows of chastity for the third part of +that sum, etc., etc.--See Robertson's _Charles V._ + +[6] The pallium, or pall, was a narrow band of white wool to go over +the shoulders in the form of a circle, from which hung bands of +similar size before and behind, finished at the ends with pieces of +sheet lead and embroidered with crosses. It was the mark of the +dignity and rank of archbishops. Albert owed Pope Leo X. forty-five +thousand thalers for his right and appointment to wear the +archbishop's pallium. + +It was in this way that the Roman Church was accustomed to sell out +benefices as a divine right. Even _expectative graces_, or mandates +nominating a person to succeed to a benefice upon the first vacancy, +were thus sold. Companies existed in Germany which made a business of +buying up the benefices of particular sections and districts and +retailing them at advanced rates. The selling of pardons was simply a +lower kind of simoniacal bartering which pervaded the whole +hierarchical establishment. + + +TETZEL'S PERFORMANCES. + +Tetzel entered the towns with noise and pomp, amid waving of flags, +singing, and the ringing of bells. Clergy, choristers, monks, and nuns +moved in procession before and after him. He himself sat in a gilded +chariot, with the Bull of his authority spread out on a velvet cushion +before him. + +The churches were his salesrooms, lighted and decorated for the +occasion as in highest festival. From the pulpits his boisterous +oratory rang, telling the virtues of indulgences, the wonderful power +of the keys, and the unexampled grace of which he was the bearer from +the holy lord and father at Rome. + +He called on all--robbers, adulterers, murderers, everybody--to draw +near, pay down their money, and receive from him letters, duly sealed, +by which all their sins, past and future, should be pardoned and done +away. + +Not for the living only, but also for the dead, he proposed full and +instantaneous deliverance from all future punishments on the payment +of the price. And any wretch who dared to doubt or question the saving +power of these certificates he in advance doomed to excommunication +and the wrath of God.[7] + +Catholic divines have labored hard to whitewash or explain away this +stupendous iniquity; but, with all they have said or may say, such +were the presentations made by the hawkers of these wares and such was +the text of the diplomas they issued. + +A dispensation or indulgence was nothing more nor less than a +pretended letter of credit on Heaven, drawn at will by the pope out of +the superabundant merits of Christ and all saints, to count so much on +the books of God for so many murders, robberies, frauds, lies, +slanders, or debaucheries. As the matter practically worked, a more +profane and devilish traffic never had place in our world than that +which the Roman hierarchy thus carried on in the name of the Triune +God. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Many of the sayings which Tetzel gave out in his addresses to the +people have been preserved, and are amply attested by those who +listened to his harangues. + +"I would not," said he, "exchange my privileges for those of St. Peter +in heaven. He saved many by his sermons; I have saved more by my +indulgences." + +"Indulgences are the most precious and sublime of all the gifts of +God." + +"No sins are so great that these pardons cannot cover them." + +"Not for the living only, but for the dead also, there is immediate +salvation in these indulgences." + +"Ye priests, nobles, tradespeople, wives, maidens, young men! the +souls of your parents and beloved ones are crying from the depths +below: 'See our torments! A small alms would deliver us; and you can +give it, and you will not.'" + +"O dull and brutish people, not to appreciate the grace so richly +offered! This day heaven is open on all sides, and how many are the +souls you might redeem if you only would! Your father is in flames, +and you can deliver him for ten groschen, and you do it not! What +punishment must come for neglecting so great salvation! You should +strip your coat from your back, if you have no other, and sell it to +purchase so great grace as this, for God hath given all power to the +pope." + +"The bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul, with those of many blessed +martyrs, lie exposed, trampled on, polluted, dishonored, and rotting +in the weather. Our most holy lord the pope means to build the church +to cover them with glory that shall have no equal on the earth. Shall +those holy ashes be left to be trodden in the mire?" + +"Therefore bring your money, and do a work most profitable to departed +souls. Buy! buy!" + +"This red cross with the pope's arms has equal virtue with the Cross +of Christ." + +"These pardons make cleaner than baptism, and purer than Adam was in +his innocence in Paradise." + +In the certificates which Tetzel gave to those who bought these +pardons he declared that "by the authority of Jesus Christ, and of his +apostles Peter and Paul, and of the most holy pope, I do absolve thee +first from all ecclesiastical censures, in whatever manner they have +been incurred, and then _from all thy sins, transgressions, and +excesses, however enormous soever they may be_. I remit to you all +punishment which you deserve in Purgatory on their account, and I +restore you to the holy sacraments of the Church, union with the +faithful, and to that innocence and purity possessed at baptism; _so +that when you die the gates of punishment shall be shut and the gates +of the happy Paradise shall be opened; and if your death shall be +delayed, this grace shall remain in full force when you are at the +point of death_." + +The sums required for these passports to glory varied according to the +rank and wealth of the applicant. For ordinary indulgence a king, +queen, or bishop was to pay twenty-five ducats (a ducat being about a +dollar of our money); abbots, counts, barons, and the like were +charged ten ducats; other nobles and all who enjoyed annual incomes of +five hundred florins were charged six ducats; and so down to half a +florin, or twenty-five cents. + +But the commissioner also had a special scale for taxes on particular +sins. Sodomy was charged twelve ducats; sacrilege and perjury, nine; +murder, seven or eight; witchcraft and polygamy, from two to six; +taking the life of a parent, brother, sister, or an infant, from one +to six. + + +LUTHER ON INDULGENCES. + +Luther was on a tour of inspection as district vicar of the +Augustinians when he first heard of these shameful doings. As yet he +understood but little of the system, and could not believe it possible +that the fathers at Rome could countenance, much less appoint and +commission, such iniquities. Boiling with indignation for the honor of +the Church, he threatened to make a hole in Tetzel's drum, and wrote +to the authorities to refuse passports to the hucksters of these +shameful deceptions. + +But Tetzel soon came near to Wittenberg. Some of Luther's parishioners +heard him, and bought absolutions. They afterward came to confession, +acknowledging great irregularities of life. Luther rebuked their +wickedness, and would not promise them forgiveness unless contrite for +their sins and earnestly endeavoring to amend their evil ways. They +remonstrated, and brought out their certificates of plenary pardon. "I +have nothing to do with your papers," said he. "God's Word says you +must repent and lead better lives, or you will perish." + +His words were at once carried to the ears of Tetzel, who fumed with +rage at such impudence toward the authority of the Church. He ascended +the pulpit and hurled the curses of God upon the Saxon monk. + + * * * * * + +Thus an honest pastor finds some of his flock on the way to ruin, and +tries to guide them right. He is not thinking of attacking Rome. He is +ready to fight and die for holy Mother Church. His very protests are +in her behalf. He is on his own rightful field, in faithful pursuit of +his own rightful duty. Here the erring hierarchy seeks him out and +attacks him. Shall he yield to timid fears and weak advisers, keep +silence in his own house, and let the souls he is placed to guard +become a prey to the destroyer? Is he not sworn to defend God's holy +Word and Gospel? What will be his eternal fate and that of his people +should he now hold his peace? + + +SERMON ON INDULGENCES. + +Without conferring with flesh and blood his resolve was made--a +resolve on which hung all the better future of the world--a resolve to +take the pulpit against the lying indulgences. + +For several days he shut himself in his cell to make sure of his +ground and to elaborate what he would say. With eminent modesty and +moderation his sentences were wrought, but with a perspicuity and +clearness which no one could mistake. A crowded church awaited their +delivery. He entered with his brother-monks, and joined in all the +service with his usual voice and gravity. Nothing in his countenance +or manner betrayed the slightest agitation of his soul. It was a +solemn and momentous step for himself and for mankind that he was +about to take, but he was as calmly made up to it as to any other duty +of his life. The moment came for him to speak; _and he spoke_. + +"I hold it impossible," said he, "to prove from the Holy Scriptures +that divine justice demands from the sinner any other penance or +satisfaction than a true repentance, a change of heart, a willing +submission to bear the Saviour's cross, and a readiness to do what +good he can. + +"That indulgences applied to souls in Purgatory serve to remit the +punishments which they would otherwise suffer is an opinion devoid of +any foundation. + +"Indulgences, so far from expiating or cleansing from sin, leave the +man in the same filth and condemnation in which they find him. + +"The Church exacts somewhat of the sinner, and what it on its own +account exacts it can on its own account remit, but nothing more. + +"If you have aught to spare, in God's name give it for the building of +St. Peter's, but do not buy pardons. + +"If you have means, feed the hungry, which is of more avail than +piling stones together, and far better than the buying of indulgences. + +"My advice is, Let indulgences alone; leave them to dead and sleepy +Christians; but see to it that ye be not of that kind. + +"Indulgences are neither commanded nor approved of God. They excite no +one to sanctification. They work nothing toward salvation. + +"That indulgences have virtue to deliver souls from Purgatory I do not +believe, nor can it be proven by them that teach it; the Church says +nothing to that effect. + +"What I preach to you is based on the certainty of the Holy +Scriptures, which no one ought to doubt." + +So Luther preached, and his word went out to the ends of the earth. It +was no jest, like Ulric von Huetten's _Epistles of Obscure Men_, or +like the ridicule which Reuchlin and Erasmus heaped upon the stupid +monks. It raised no laugh, but penetrated, like a rifle-shot, into the +very heart of things. + +Those who listened were deeply affected by the serious boldness of the +preacher. The audience was with him in conviction, but many trembled +for the result. "Dear doctor, you have been very rash; what trouble +may come of this!" said a venerable father as he pulled the sleeve of +Luther's gown and shook his head with misgivings. "If this is not +rightly done in God's name," said Luther, "it will come to nothing; if +it is, let come what will." + +It was honest duty to God, truth, and the salvation of men that moved +him. Cowardly policy or timid expediency in such a matter was totally +foreign to his soul. + +In a few days, the substance of the sermon was in print. Tetzel raved +over it. Melanchthon says he burnt it in the market-place of +Jueterbock. In the name of God and the pope he bade defiance to its +author, and challenged him by fire and water. Luther laughed at him +for braying so loud at a distance, yet declining to come to Wittenberg +to argue out the matter in close lists. + + +APPEAL TO THE BISHOPS. + +Anxious to vindicate the Church from what he believed to be an +unwarranted liberty in the use of her name, Luther wrote to the bishop +of Brandenburg and the archbishop of Mayence. He made his points, and +appealed to these his superiors to put down the scandalous falsities +advanced by Tetzel. They failed to answer in any decisive way. The one +timidly advised silence, and the other had too much pecuniary interest +in the business to notice the letter. + +Thus, as a pastor, Luther had taken his ground before his parishioners +in the confessional. As a preacher he had uttered himself in earnest +admonition from the pulpit. As a loyal son he had made his +presentation and appeal to those in authority over him. Was he right? +or was he wrong? No commanding answer came, and there remained one +other way of testing the question. As a doctor of divinity he could +lawfully, as custom had been, demand an open and fair discussion of +the matter with teachers and theologians. And upon this he now +resolved. + + +THE NINETY-FIVE THESES. + +He framed a list of propositions on the points in question. They were +in Latin, for his appeal was to theologians, and not yet to the common +heart and mind of Germany. To make them public, he took advantage of a +great festival at Wittenberg, when the town was full of visitors and +strangers, and nailed them to the door of the new castle church, +October 31, 1517. + +These were the famous _Ninety-five Theses_. They were plainly-worded +statements of the same points he had made in the confessional and in +his sermon. They contained no assault upon the Church, no arraignment +of the pope, no personal attack on any one. Neither were they given as +necessarily true, but as what Luther believed to be true, and the real +truth or falsity of which he desired to have decided in the only way +questions of faith and salvation can be rightly decided. + +The whole matter was fairly, humbly, and legitimately put. "I, Martin +Luther, Augustinian at Wittenberg," he added at the end, "hereby +declare that I have written these propositions against indulgences. I +understand that some, not knowing what they affirm, are of opinion +that I am a heretic, though our renowned university has not condemned +me, nor any temporal or spiritual authority. Therefore, now again, as +often heretofore, I beg of one and all, for the sake of the true +Christian faith, to show me the better way, if peradventure they have +learned it from above, or at least to submit their opinion to the +decision of God and the Church; for I am not so insane as to set up my +views above everything and everybody, nor so silly as to accept the +fables invented by men in preference to the Word of God." + +It is from the nailing up of these _Theses_ that the history of the +Great Reformation dates; for the hammer-strokes which fixed that +parchment started the Alpine avalanche which overwhelmed the pride of +Rome and broke the stubborn power which had reigned supreme for a +thousand years. + + +EFFECT OF THE THESES. + +As no one came forward to discuss his Theses, Luther resolved to +publish them to the world. + +In fourteen days they overspread Germany. In a month they ran through +all Christendom. One historian says it seemed as if the angels of God +were engaged in spreading them. + +At a single stroke, made in modesty and faith, Luther had become the +most noted person in Germany--the man most talked of in all the +world--the mouthpiece of the best people in Christendom--the leader of +a mighty revolution. + +Reuchlin read, and thanked God. + +Erasmus read, and rejoiced, only counseling moderation and prudence. + +The Emperor Maximilian read, and wrote to the Saxon Elector: "Take +care of the monk Luther, for the time may come when we will need him." + +The bishop of Wurzburg read, and was filled with gladness, and wrote +to the Elector Frederick to hold on to Luther as a preacher of the +truth of God. + +The prior of Steinlausitz read, and could not suppress his joy. "See +here," said he to his monks: "the long-waited-for has come; he tells +the truth. _Berg_ means mountain, and _Wittenberg_ is the mountain +whither all the world will come to seek wisdom, and will find it." + +A student of Annaberg read, and said, "This Luther is the reaper in my +dream, whom the voice bade me follow and gather in the bread of life;" +and from that hour he was a fast friend of Luther and his cause, and +became the distinguished Myconius. + +The pope himself read the Theses, and did not think unfavorably of +their author. He saw in Luther a man of learning and brilliant genius, +and that pleased him. The questions mooted he referred to a mere +monkish jealousy--an unsober gust of passion which would soon blow +over. He did not then realize the seriousness which was in the matter. +His sphere was heathen art and worldly magnificence, not searching +into the ways of God's salvation. + +The great German heart was moved, and the brave daring of him whose +voice was thus lifted up against the abominations which were draining +the country to fill the pope's coffers was hailed with enthusiasm. +Had Luther been a smaller man he would have been swept away by his +vast and sudden fame. + +But not all was sunshine. Erasmus wittily said, Luther committed two +unpardonable sins: he touched the pope's crown and the monks' bellies. +Such effrontery would needs raise a mighty outcry. + +Prierias, the master of the sacred palace, pronounced Luther a +heretic. Hochstrat of Cologne, Reuchlin's enemy, clamored for fire to +burn him. The indulgence-venders thundered their anathemas, promising +a speedy holocaust of Luther's body. The monasteries took on the form +of so many kennels of enraged hounds howling to each other across the +spiritual waste. And even some who pronounced the Theses scriptural +and orthodox shook their heads and sought to quash such dangerous +proceedings. + +But Luther remained firm at his post. He honestly believed what he had +written, and he was not afraid of the truth. If the powers of the +world should come down upon him and kill him, he was prepared for the +slaughter. In all the mighty controversy he was ever ready to serve +the Gospel with his life or with his death. + + +TETZEL'S END. + +Tetzel continued to bray and fume against him from pulpit and press, +denouncing him as a heresiarch, heretic, and schismatic. By Wimpina's +aid he issued a reply to Luther's sermon, and also counter-theses on +Luther's propositions. But the tide was turning in the sea of human +thinking. Luther's utterances had turned it. The people were ready to +tear the mountebank to pieces. Two years later he imploringly +complained to the pope's nuncio, Miltitz, that such fury pursued him +in Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland that he was nowhere safe. +Even the representative of the pope gave the wretch no sympathy. When +Luther heard of his illness he sent him a letter to tell him that he +had forgiven him all. He died in Leipsic, neglected, smitten in soul, +and full of misery, July 14, 1519. + + +LUTHER'S GROWING INFLUENCE. + +Six months after the nailing up of the Theses, Luther was the hero of +a general convention of the Augustinians in Heidelberg. He there +submitted a series of propositions on philosophy and theology, which +he defended with such convincing clearness and tact that he won for +himself and his university great honor and renown. Better still, four +learned young men who there heard him saw the truth of his positions, +and afterward became distinguished defenders of the Reformation. + +His cause, meanwhile, was rapidly gaining friends. His replies to +Tetzel, Prierias, Hochstrat, and Eck had gone forth to deepen the +favorable impression made by the Ninety-five Theses. Truth had once +more lifted up its head in Europe, and Rome would find it no child's +play to put it down. The skirmish-lines of the hierarchy had been met +and driven in. The tug of serious battle was now to come. + + +HIS APPEAL TO THE POPE. + +Luther made the advance. He wrote out explanations (or +"_Resolutions_") of his Theses, and sent them, with a letter, to the +pope. With great confidence, point, and elegance, but with equal +submissiveness and humility, he spoke of the completeness of Christ +for the salvation of every true believer, without room or need for +penances and other satisfactions; of the evilness of the times, and +the pressing necessity for a general reform; of the damaging +complaints everywhere resounding against the traffic in indulgences; +of his unsuccessful appeals to the ecclesiastical princes; and of the +unjust censures being heaped upon him for what he had done, entreating +His Holiness to instruct his humble petitioner, and condemn or +approve, kill or preserve, as the voice of Christ through him might +be. He then believed that God's sanction had to come through the high +clergy and heads of the Church. Many good Christians had approved his +Theses, but he did not recognize in that the divine answer to his +testimony. He said afterward: "I looked only to the pope, the +cardinals, the bishops, the theologians, the jurisconsults, the monks, +the priests, from whom I expected the breathing of the Spirit." He had +not yet learned what a bloody dragon claimed to impersonate the Lamb +of God. + + +CITATION TO ANSWER FOR HERESY. + +While, in open frankness, Luther was thus meekly committing himself to +the powers at Rome, _they_ were meditating his destruction. +Insidiously they sought to deprive him of the Elector's protection, +and answered his humble and confiding appeal with a citation to appear +before them to answer for heresy. + +Things now were ominous of evil. Wittenberg was filled with +consternation. If Luther obeyed, it was evident he would perish like +so many faithful men before him; if he refused, he would be charged +with contumacy and involve his prince. One and another expedient were +proposed to meet the perplexity; but to secure a hearing in Germany +was all Luther asked. + +To this the pope proved more willing than was thought. He was not sure +of gaining by the public trial and execution of a man so deeply +planted in the esteem of his countrymen, and by bringing him before a +prudent legate he might induce him to retract and the trouble be +ended; if not, it would be a less disturbing way of getting possession +of the accused man. Orders were therefore issued for Luther to appear +before Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg. + + +LUTHER BEFORE CAJETAN. + +On foot he undertook the journey, believed by all to be a journey to +his death. But Maximilian, then in the neighborhood of Augsburg, gave +him a safe-conduct, and Cajetan was obliged to receive him with +civility. He even embraced him with tokens of affection, thinking to +win him to retraction. Luther was much softened by these kindly +manifestations, and was disposed to comply with almost anything if +not required to deny the truth of God. + +The interviews were numerous. Luther was told that it was useless to +think that the civil powers would go to war for his protection; and +where would he then be? His answer was: "I will be, as now, under the +broad heavens of the Almighty." Remonstrances, entreaties, +threatenings, and proposals of high distinction were addressed to him; +but he wanted no cardinal's hat, and for nothing in Rome's power would +he consent to retract what he believed to be the Gospel truth till +shown wherein it was at variance with the divine Word. Cajetan's +arguments tripped and failed at every point, and he could only +reiterate that he had been sent to receive a retraction, not to debate +the questions. Luther as often promised this when shown from the +Scriptures to be in the wrong, but not till then. + + +CAJETAN'S MORTIFICATION. + +Foiled and disappointed in his designs, and astounded and impatient +that a poor monk should thus set at naught all the prayers and powers +of the sovereign of Christendom, the cardinal bade him see his face +no more until he had repented of his stubbornness. + +At this the friends of the Reformer, fearing for his safety, +clandestinely hurried him out of Augsburg, literally grappling him up +from his bed only half dressed, and brought him away to his +university. He had answered the pope's summons, and yet was free! + +Cajetan was mortified at the result, and was upbraided for his +failure. In his chagrin he wrote angrily to the Elector not to soil +his name and lineage by sheltering a heretic, but to surrender Luther +at once, on pain of an interdict. The Elector was troubled. Luther had +not been proven a heretic, neither did he believe him to be one; but +he feared collision with the pope. + +Luther said if he were in the Elector's place he would answer the +cardinal as he deserved for thus insulting an honest man; but, not to +be an embarrassment to his prince, he agreed to leave the Elector's +dominions if he said so. But Frederick would not surrender his +distinguished subject to the legate, neither would he send him out of +the country. It is hard to say which was here the nobler man, Luther +or his illustrious protector. + + +PROGRESS OF EVENTS. + +The minds of men by this time were much aroused, and Luther's cause +grew and strengthened. The learned Melanchthon, Reuchlin's relative +and pupil, was added to the faculty at Wittenberg, and became Luther's +chief co-laborer. The number of students in the university swelled to +thousands, including the sons of noblemen and princes from all parts, +who listened with admiration to Luther's lectures and sermons and +spread his fame and doctrines. And the feeling was deep and general +that a new and marvelous light had arisen upon the world.[8] + +It was now that Maximilian died (Jan. 17, 1519), and Charles V., his +grandson, a Spanish prince of nineteen years, succeeded to his place. +The Imperial crown was laid at the feet of the Elector Frederick, +Luther's friend, but he declined it in favor of Charles, only exacting +a solemn pledge that he would not disturb the liberties of Germany. +Civil freedom is one of the glorious fruits of the Reformation, and +here already it began to raise barricades against despotic power. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] A writer of the Roman Church, in a vein of somewhat mingled +sarcasm and seriousness, remarks: "The university had reason to be +proud of Luther, whose oral lectures attracted a multitude of +strangers; these pilgrims from distant quarters joined their hands and +bowed their heads at the sight of the towers of the city, like other +travelers before Jerusalem. Wittenberg was like a new Zion, whence the +light of truth expanded to neighboring kingdoms, as of old from the +Holy City to pagan nations." + + +THE LEIPSIC DISPUTATION. + +Up to this time, however, there had been no questioning of the divine +rights claimed by the hierarchy. Luther was still a Papist, and +thought to grow his plants of evangelic faith under the shadow of the +Upas of ecclesiasticism. He had not yet been brought to see how his +Augustinian theology concerning sin and grace ran afoul of the entire +round of the mediaeval system and methods of holiness. It was only the +famous Leipsic Disputation between him and Dr. John Eck that showed +him the remoter and deeper relations of his position touching +indulgences. + +This otherwise fruitless debate had the effect of making the nature +and bearings of the controversy clear to both sides. Eck now +distinctly saw that Luther must be forcibly put down or the whole +papal system must fall; and Luther was made to realize that he must +surrender his doctrine of salvation through simple faith in Christ or +break with the pope and the hierarchical system. + +Accepting the pontifical doctrines as true, Eck claimed the victory, +because he had driven Luther to expressions at variance with those +doctrines. On the other hand, Luther had shown that the pontifical +claims were without foundation in primitive Christianity or the Holy +Scriptures; that the Papacy was not of divine authority or of the +essence of the Church; that the Church existed before and beyond the +papal hierarchy, as well as under it; that the only Head of the +universal Christian Church is Christ himself; that wherever there is +true faith in God's Word, there the Church is, whatever the form of +external organization; that the popes could err and had erred, and +councils likewise; and that neither separately nor together could they +rightfully decree or ordain contrary to the Scriptures, the only +infallible Rule. + +To all this Eck could make no answer except that it was Hussism over +again, which the Council of Constance had condemned, and that, from +the standpoint of the hierarchy, Luther was a heretic and ought to be +dealt with accordingly. + + +RESULTS FROM THE DEBATE. + +Luther now realized that the true Gospel of God's salvation and the +pontifical system were vitally and irreconcilably antagonistic; that +the one could never be held in consistency with the other; and that +there must come a final break between him and Rome. This much +depressed him. He showed his spiritual anguish by his deep dejection. +But he soon rose above it. If he had the truth of God, as he verily +believed, what were the pope and all devils against Jehovah? And so he +went on lecturing, preaching, writing, and publishing with his +greatest power, brilliancy, and effectiveness. + +Some of the best and most telling products of his pen now went forth +to multitudes of eager readers. The glowing energy of his faith acted +like a spreading fire, kindling the souls of men as they seldom have +been kindled in any cause in any age. His _Address to the Nobility_ +electrified all Germany, and first fired the patriotic spirit of +Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer. His book on _The Babylonian +Captivity of the Church_ sounded a bugle-note which thrilled through +all the German heart, gave Bugenhagen to the Reformation, and sent a +shudder through the hierarchy.[9] Already, at Maximilian's Diet at +Augsburg to take measures against the Turk, a Latin pamphlet was +openly circulated among the members which said that the Turk to be +resisted was living in Italy; and Miltitz, the pope's nuncio and +chamberlain, confessed that from Rome to Altenberg he had found those +greatly in the minority who did not side with Luther. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] Glapio, the confessor of Charles V., stated to Chancellor Brueck at +the Diet of Worms: "The alarm which I felt when I read the first pages +of the _Captivity_ cannot be expressed; they might be said to be +lashes which scourged me from head to foot." + + +LUTHER'S EXCOMMUNICATION. + +But the tempest waxed fiercer and louder every day. Luther's growing +influence the more inflamed his enemies. Hochstrat had induced two +universities to condemn his doctrines. In sundry places his books were +burned by the public hangman. Eck had gone to Italy, and was "moving +the depths of hell" to secure the excommunication of the prejudged +heretic. And could his bloodthirsty enemies have had their way, this +would long since have come. But Leo seems to have had more respect for +Luther than for them. Learning and talent were more to him than any +doctrines of the faith. The monks complained of him as too much given +to luxury and pleasure to do his duty in defending the Church. +Perhaps he had conscience enough to be ashamed to enforce his traffic +in paper pardons by destroying the most honest and heroic man in +Germany. Perhaps he did not like to stain his reign with so foul a +record, even if dangerous complications should not attend it. Whatever +the cause, he was slow to respond to these clamors for blood. Eck had +almost as much trouble to get him to issue the Bull of Luther's +excommunication as he had to answer Luther's arguments in the Leipsic +Discussion. But he eventually procured it, and undertook to enforce +it. + +And yet, with all his zealous personal endeavors and high authority, +he could hardly get it posted, promulged, or at all respected in +Germany. His parchment thunder lost its power in coming across the +Alps. Miltitz also was in his way, who, with equal authority from the +pope, was endeavoring to supersede the Bull by attempts at +reconciliation. It came to Wittenberg in such a sorry plight that +Luther laughed at it as having the appearance of a forgery by Dr. Eck. +He knew the pope had been bullied into the issuing of it, but this was +the biting irony by which he indicated the character of the men by +whom it was moved and the pitiable weakness to which such thunders had +been reduced. + +But it was a Bull of excommunication nevertheless. Luther and his +doctrines were condemned by the chief of Christendom.[10] Multitudes +were thrown into anxious perturbation. If the strong arm of the +emperor should be given to sustain the pope, who would be able to +stand? Adrian, one of the faculty of Wittenberg, was so frightened +that he threw down his office and hastened to join the enemy. + +Amid the perils which surrounded Luther powerful knights offered to +defend him by force of arms; but he answered, "_No_; by _the Word_ the +world was conquered, by _the Word_ the Church was saved, and by _the +Word_ it must be restored." The thoughts of his soul were not on human +power, but centred on the throne of Him who lives for ever. It was +Christ's Gospel that was in peril, and he was sure Jehovah would not +abandon his own cause. + +Germany waited to see what he would do. Nor was it long kept in +suspense. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] The Bull was issued June 15, 1520. It specified forty-one +propositions out of Luther's works which it condemned as heretical, +scandalous, and offensive to pious ears. It forbade all persons to +read his writings, upon pain of excommunication. Such as had any of +his books in their possession were commanded to burn them. He himself, +if he did not publicly recant his errors and burn his books within +sixty days, was pronounced an obstinate heretic, excommunicated and +delivered over to Satan. And it enjoined upon all secular princes, +under pain of incurring the same censure, to seize his person and +deliver him up to be punished as his crimes deserved; that is to be +burnt as a heretic. + + +LUTHER AND THE POPE'S BULL. + +In a month he discharged a terrific volley of artillery upon the +Papacy by his book _Against the Bull of Antichrist_. + +In thirteen days later he brought formal charges against the +pope--_first_, as an unjust judge, who condemns without giving a +hearing; _second_, as a heretic and apostate, who requires denial that +faith is necessary; _third_, as an Antichrist, who sets himself +against the Holy Scriptures and usurps their authority; and _fourth_, +as a blasphemer of the Church and its free councils, who declares them +nothing without himself. + +This was carrying the war into Africa. Appealing to a future general +council and the Scriptures as superior to popes, he now called upon +the emperor, electors, princes, and all classes and estates in the +whole German empire, as they valued the Gospel and the favor of +Christ, to stand by him in this demonstration. + +And, that all might be certified in due form, he called a notary and +five witnesses to hear and attest the same as verily the solemn act +and deed of Martin Luther, done in behalf of himself and all who stood +or should stand with him. + +Rome persisted in forcing a schism, and this was Luther's bill of +divorcement. + +Nay, more; as Rome had sealed its condemnation of him by burning his +books, he built a stack of fagots on the refuse piles outside the +Elster Gate of Wittenberg, invited thither the whole university, and +when the fires were kindled and the flames were high, he cast into +them, one by one, the books of the canon law, the Decretals, the +Clementines, the Papal Extravagants, and all that lay at the base of +the religion of the hierarchy! And when these were consumed he took +Leo's Bull of excommunication, held it aloft, exclaiming with a loud +voice, "Since thou hast afflicted the saints of God, be thou consumed +with fire unquenchable!" and dashed the impious document into the +flames. + +Well done was that! Luther considered it the best act of his life. It +was a brave heart, the bravest then living in this world, that dared +to do it. But it was done then and for ever. Wittenberg looked on +with shoutings. The whole modern world of civilized man has ever since +been looking on with thrilling wonder. And myriads of the sons of God +and liberty are shouting over it yet. + +The miner's son had come up full abreast with the triple-crowned +descendant of the Medici. The monk of Wittenberg had matched the +proudest monarch in the world. Henceforth the question was, Which of +them should sway the nations in the time to come? + + +THE DIET OF WORMS. + +The young emperor sided with the religion of the pope. The venerable +Elector Frederick determined to stand by Luther, at least till his +case was fairly adjudged. He said it was not just to condemn a good +and honest man unheard and unconvicted, and that "_Justice must take +precedence even of the pope_." + +Conferences of state now became numerous and exciting, and the efforts +of Rome to have Luther's excommunication recognized and enforced were +many and various, but nothing short of a Diet of the empire could +settle the disturbance.[11] + +Such a Diet was convoked by the young emperor for January, 1521. It +was the first of his reign, and the grandest ever held on German soil. +Philip of Hesse came to it with a train of six hundred cavaliers. The +electors, dukes, archbishops, landgraves, margraves, counts, bishops, +barons, lords, deputies, legates, and ambassadors from foreign courts +came in corresponding style. They felt it important to show their +consequence at this first Diet, and were all the more moved to be +there in force because the exciting matter of Reform was specified as +one of the chief things to be considered. The result was one of the +most august and illustrious assemblies of which modern history tells, +and one which presented a spectacle of lasting wonder that a poor lone +monk should thus have moved all the powers of the earth. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Audin, in his _Life of Luther_, says: "A monk who wore a cassock +out at the elbows had caused to the most powerful emperor in the world +greater embarrassments than those which Francis I., his unsuccessful +rival at Frankfort, threatened to raise against him in Italy. With the +cannon from his arsenal at Ghent and his lances from Namur, Charles +could beat the king of France between sunrise and sunset; but lances +and cannon were impotent to subdue the religious revolution, which, +like some of the glaciers which he crossed in coming from Spain, +acquired daily a new quantity of soil."--Vol. i. chap. 25. Again, in +chap. 30, he says of the emperor: "The thought of measuring his +strength with the hero of Marignan was far from alarming him, but a +struggle with the monk of Wittenberg disturbed his sleep. He wished +that they should try to overcome his obstinacy." + + +DOINGS OF THE ROMANISTS. + +For three months the Diet wrangled over the affair of Luther without +reaching anything decided. The friends of Rome were the chief actors, +struggling in every way and hesitating at nothing to induce the Diet +and the emperor to acknowledge and enforce the pope's decree. But the +influence of the German princes, especially that of the Elector +Frederick, stood in the way; Charles would not act, as he had no right +to act, without the concurrence of the states, and the princes of +Germany held it unjust that Luther should be condemned on charges +which had never been fairly tried, on books which were not proven to +be his, and especially since the sentence itself presented conditions +with reference to which no answer had been legally ascertained. + +To overcome these oppositions different resorts were tried. Leo issued +a second Bull, excommunicating Luther absolutely, anathematizing him +and all his friends and abettors. The pope's legate called for money +to buy up influence for the Romanists: "We must have money. Send us +money. Money! money! or Germany is lost!" The money came; but the +Reformer's friends could not be bought with bribes, however much the +agents of Rome needed such stimulation. + +Trickery was brought into requisition to entrap Luther's defenders by +a secret proposal to compromise. Luther was given great credit and +right, except that he had gone a little too far, and it was only +necessary to restrain him from further demonstrations. Rome compromise +with a man she had doubly excommunicated and anathematized! Rome make +terms with an outlaw whom she had infallibly doomed to eternal +execration! Yet with these proposals the emperor's confessor +approached Chancellor Brueck. But the chancellor's head was too clear +to be caught by such treachery. + +Then it was moved to refer the matter to a commission of arbitrators. +This met with so much favor that the pope's legate, Aleander, was +alarmed lest Luther should thereby escape, and hence set himself with +unwonted energy to incite the emperor to decisive measures. + +Charles was persuaded to make a demonstration, but demanded that the +legate should first "convince the Diet." Aleander was the most famous +orator Rome had, and he rejoiced in his opportunity. He went before +the assembly in a prepared speech of three hours in length to show up +Luther as a pestilent heretic, and the necessity of getting rid of him +and his books and principles at once to prevent the world from being +plunged into barbarism and utter desolation. He made a deep impression +by his effort. It was only by the unexpected and crushing speech of +Duke George of Saxony, Luther's bitter personal enemy, that the train +of things, so energetically wrought up, was turned. + +Not in defence of Luther, whom he disliked, but in defence of the +German nation, he piled up before the door of the hierarchy such an +overwhelming array of its oppressions, robberies, and scandals, and +exposed with such an unsparing hand the falsities, profligacies, +cupidity, and beastly indecencies of the Roman clergy and officials, +that the emperor hastened to recall the edict he had already signed, +and yielded consent for Luther to be called to answer for himself. + + +LUTHER SUMMONED. + +In vain the pope's legate protested that it was not lawful thus to +bring the decrees of the sovereign pontiff into question, or pleaded +that Luther's daring genius, flashing eyes, electric speech, and +thrilling spirit would engender tumult and violence. On March 6th the +emperor signed a summons and safe-conduct for the Reformer to appear +in Worms within twenty-one days, to answer concerning his doctrines +and writings. + +So far the thunders of the Vatican were blank. + +With all the anxious fears which such a summons would naturally +engender, Luther resolved to obey it. + +The pope's adherents fumed in their helplessness when they learned +that he was coming--coming, too, under the safe-conduct of the empire, +coming to have a hearing before the Diet!--_he_ whom the infallible +Vicar of Heaven had condemned and anathematized! Whither was the world +drifting? + +Luther's friends trembled lest he should share the fate of Huss; his +enemies trembled lest he should escape it; and both, in their several +ways, tried to keep him back. + +Placards of his condemnation were placed before him on the way, and +spectacles to indicate his certain execution were enacted in his +sight; but he was not the man to be deterred by the prospect of being +burnt alive if God called for the sacrifice. + +Lying fraud was also tried to seduce and betray him. Glapio, the +emperor's confessor, who had tried a similar trick upon the Elector +Frederick, conceived the idea that if Von Sickingen and Bucer could be +won for the plot, a proposal to compromise the whole matter amicably +might serve to beguile him to the chateau of his friend at Ebernburg +till his safe-conduct should expire, and then the liars could throw +off the mask and dispose of him with credit in the eyes of Rome. The +glib and wily Glapio led in the attempt. Von Sickingen and Bucer were +entrapped by his bland hypocrisy, and lent themselves to the execution +of the specious proposition. But when they came to Luther with it, he +turned his back, saying, "If the emperor's confessor has anything to +say to me he will find me at Worms." + +But even his friends were alarmed at his coming. It was feared that he +would be destroyed. The Elector's confidential adviser sent a servant +out to meet him, beseeching him by no means to enter the city. "Go +tell your master," said Luther, "I will enter Worms though as many +devils should be there as tiles upon its houses!" And he did enter, +with nobles, cavaliers, and gentry for his escort, and attended +through the streets by a larger concourse than had greeted the entry +of the emperor himself.[12] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[12] "The reception which he met with at Worms was such as he might +have reckoned a full reward of all his labors if vanity and the love +of applause had been the principles by which he was influenced. +Greater crowds assembled to behold him than had appeared at the +emperor's public entry; his apartments were daily filled with princes +and personages of the highest rank; and he was treated with all the +respect paid to those who possess the power of directing the +understanding and sentiments of other men--a homage more sincere, as +well as more flattering, than any which pre-eminence in birth or +condition command."--Robertson's _Charles V._, vol. i. p. 510. + + +LUTHER AT THE DIET. + +Charles hurried to convene his council, saying, "Luther is come; what +shall we do with him?" + +A chancellor and bishop of Flanders urged that he be despatched at +once, and this scandalous humiliation of the Holy See terminated. He +said Sigismund had allowed Huss to be burned, and no one was bound to +keep faith with a heretic. But the emperor was more moral than the +teachings of his Church, and said, "Not so; we have given our promise, +and we ought to keep it." + +On the morrow Luther was conducted to the Diet by the marshal of the +empire. The excited people so crowded the gates and jammed about the +doors that the soldiers had to use their halberds to open a way for +him. An instinct not yet interpreted drew their hearts and allied them +with the hero. From the thronged streets, windows, and housetops came +voices as he passed--voices of petition and encouragement--voices of +benediction on the brave and true--voices of sympathy and adjuration +to be firm in God and in the power of his might. It was Germany, +Scandinavia, England, Scotland, and Holland; it was the Americas and +hundreds of young republics yet unborn; it was the whole world of all +after-time, with its free Gospel, free conscience, free speech, free +government, free science, and free schools,--uttering themselves in +those half-smothered voices. Luther heard them and was strengthened. + +But there was no danger he would betray the momentous trust. That +morning, amid great rugged prayers which broke from him like massive +rock-fragments hot and burning from a volcano of mingled faith and +agony, laying one hand on the open Bible and lifting the other to +heaven, he cast his soul on Omnipotence, in pledge unspeakable to obey +only his conscience and his God. Whether for life or death, his heart +was fixed. + +A few steps more and he stood before Imperial majesty, encompassed by +the powers and dignitaries of the earth, so brave, calm, and true a +man that thrones and kings looked on in silent awe and admiration, and +even malignant scorn for the moment retreated into darkness. Since He +who wore the crown of thorns stood before Pontius Pilate there had not +been a parallel to this scene.[13] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] A Romanist thus describes the picture: "When the approach of +Luther was heard there ensued one of those deep silences in which the +heart alone, by its hurried pulsations, gives sign of life. Attention +was diverted from the emperor to the monk. On the appearance of Luther +every one rose, regardless of the sovereign's presence. It inspired +Werner with one of the finest acts of his tragedy.... Heine has +glorified the appearance at Worms. The Catholic himself loves to +contemplate that black gown in the presence of those lords and barons +caparisoned in iron and armed with helmet and spear, and is moved by +the voice of 'that young friar' who comes to defy all the powers of +the earth."--Audin's _Life of Luther_. + +"All parties must unite in admiring and venerating the man who, +undaunted and alone, could stand before such an assembly, and +vindicate with unshaken courage what he conceived to be the cause of +religion, of liberty, and of truth, fearless of any reproaches but +those of his own conscience, or of any disapprobation but that of his +God."--Roscoe's _Life of Leo X._, vol. iv. p. 36. + +Luther himself, afterward recalling the event, said: "It must indeed +have been God who gave me my boldness of heart; I doubt if I could +show such courage again." + + +LUTHER'S REFUSAL TO RECANT. + +A weak, poor man, arraigned and alone before the assembled powers of +the earth, with only the grace of God and his cause on which to lean, +had demand made of him whether or not he would retract his books or +any part of them, _Yes_ or _No_. But he did not shrink, neither did he +falter. "Since Your Imperial Majesty and Your Excellencies require of +me a direct and simple answer, I will give it. To the pope or councils +I cannot submit my faith, for it is clear that they have erred and +contradicted one another. Therefore, unless I am convinced by proofs +from Holy Scripture or by sound reasons, and my judgment by this means +is commanded by God's Word, _I cannot and will not retract anything_: +for a Christian cannot safely go contrary to his conscience." And, +glancing over the august assembly, on whose will his life hung, he +added in deep solemnity, those immortal words: "HERE I STAND. I +CAN DO NO OTHERWISE. SO HELP ME GOD! AMEN."[14] + +Simple were the facts. Luther afterward wrote to a friend: "I expected +His Majesty would bring fifty doctors to convict the monk outright; +but it was not so. The whole history is this: Are these your books? +_Yes._--Will you retract them? _No._--Well then, begone." + +He said the truth, but he could not then know all that was involved in +what he reduced to such a simple colloquy. With that _Yes_ and _No_ +the wheel of ages made another revolution. The breath which spoke them +turned the balances in which the whole subsequent history of +civilization hung. It was the _Yes_ and _No_ which applied the brakes +to the Juggernaut of usurpation, whose ponderous wheels had been +crushing through the centuries. It was the _Yes_ and _No_ which +evidenced the reality of a power above all popes and empires. It was +the _Yes_ and _No_ which spoke the supreme obligation of the human +soul to obey God and conscience, and started once more the pulsations +of liberty in the arteries of man. It was the _Yes_ and _No_ which +divided eras, and marked the summit whence the streams began to form +and flow to give back to this world a Church without a pope and a +State without an Inquisition. + +Charles had the happiness at Worms to hear the tidings that Fernando +Cortes had added Mexico to his dominions. The emancipated peoples of +the earth in the generations since have had the happiness to know that +at Worms, through the inflexible steadfastness of Martin Luther, God +gave the inspirations of a new and better life for them! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] "With this noble protest was laid the keystone of the +Reformation. The pontifical hierarchy shook to its centre, and the +great cause of truth and regenerate religion spread with electric +speed. The marble tomb of ignorance and error gave way, as it were, of +a sudden; a thousand glorious events and magnificent discoveries +thronged upon each other with pressing haste to behold and +congratulate the mighty birth, the new creation, of which they were +the harbingers, when, with a steady and triumphant step, the peerless +form of human intellect rose erect, and, throwing off from its +freshening limbs the death-shade and the grave-clothes by which it was +enshrouded, ascended to the glorious resurrection of that noontide +lustre which irradiates the horizon of our own day, rejoicing like a +giant to run his race."--John Mason Good's _Book of Nature_, p. 321. + + +LUTHER'S CONDEMNATION. + +After Luther and his friends left Worms the emperor issued an edict +putting him and all his adherents under the ban of the empire, +forbidding any one to give him food or shelter, calling on all who +found him to arrest him, commanding all his books to be burned, and +ordering the seizure of his friends and the confiscation of their +possessions. + +It was what Germany got for putting an Austro-Spanish bigot on the +Imperial throne. + + +LUTHER IN THE WARTBURG. + +But the cause of Rome was not helped by it. Luther's person was made +safe by the Elector, who arranged a friendly capture by which he was +concealed in the Wartburg in charge of the knights. + +No one knew what had become of him. His mysterious disappearance was +naturally referred to some foul play of the Romanists, and the feeling +of resentment was intense and deep. Indeed, Germany was now bent on +throwing off the religion of the hierarchy. No matter what it may once +have been, no matter what service it may have rendered in helping +Europe through the Dark Ages, it had become gangrened, perverted, +rotten, offensive, unbearable. The very means Rome took to defend it +increased revolt against it. It had come to be an oppressive lie, and +it had to go. No Bulls of popes or edicts of emperors could alter the +decree of destiny. + +And a great and blessed fortune it was that Luther still lived to +guide and counsel in the momentous transition. But Providence had +endowed him for the purpose, and so preserved him for its execution. +What was born with the Theses, and baptized before the Imperial Diet +at Worms, he was now to nourish, educate, catechise, and prepare for +glorious confirmation before a similar Diet in the after years. + + +TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. + +While in the Wartburg he was forbidden to issue any writings. Leisure +was thus afforded for one of the most important things connected with +the Reformation. Those ten months he utilized to prepare for Germany +and for the world a translation of the Holy Scriptures, which itself +was enough to immortalize the Reformer's name. Great intellectual +monuments have come down to us from the sixteenth century. It was an +age in which the human mind put forth some of its noblest +demonstrations. Great communions still look back to its Confessions as +their rallying-centres, and millions of worshipers still render their +devotions in the forms which then were cast. But pre-eminent over all +the achievements of that sublime century was the giving of God's Word +to the people in their own language, which had its chief centre and +impulse in the production of Luther's _German Bible_. Well has it been +said, "He who takes up that, grasps a whole world in his hand--a world +which will perish only when this green earth itself shall pass away." + +It was the Word that kindled the heart of Luther to the work of +Reformation, and the Word alone could bring it to its consummation. +With the Word the whole Church of Christ and the entire fabric of our +civilization must stand or fall. Undermine the Bible and you undermine +the world. It is the one, true, and only Charter of Faith, Liberty, +and salvation for man, without which this race of ours is a hopeless +and abandoned wreck. And when Luther gave forth his German Bible, it +was not only a transcendent literary achievement, which created and +fixed the classic forms of his country's language,[15] but an act of +supremest wisdom and devotion; for the hope of the world is for ever +cabled to the free and open Word of God. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] Chevalier Bunsen says; "It is Luther's genius applied to the +Bible which has preserved the only unity which is, in our days, +remaining to the German nation--that of language, literature, and +thought. There is no similar instance in the known history of the +world of a single man achieving such a work." + + +LUTHER'S CONSERVATISM. + +Up to the time of Luther's residence in the Wartburg nothing had been +done toward changing the outward forms, ceremonies, and organization +of the Church. The great thing with him had been to get the inward, +central doctrine right, believing that all else would then naturally +come right in due time. But while he was hidden and silent certain +fanatics thrust themselves into this field, and were on the eve of +precipitating everything to destruction. Tidings of the violent +revolutionary spirit which had broken out reached him in his retreat +and stirred him with sorrowful indignation, for it was the most +damaging blow inflicted on the Reformation. + +It is hard for men to keep their footing amid deep and vast commotions +and not drift into ruinous excesses. Storch, and Muenzer, and +Carlstadt, and Melanchthon himself, were dangerously affected by the +whirl of things. Even good men sometimes forget that society cannot be +conserved by mere negations; that wild and lawless revolution can +never work a wholesome and abiding reformation; that the perpetuity of +the Church is an historic chain, each new link of which depends on +those which have gone before. + +There was precious gold in the old conglomerate, which needed to be +discriminated, extracted, and preserved. The divine foundations were +not to be confounded with the rubbish heaped upon them. There was +still a Church of Christ under the hierarchy, although the hierarchy +was no part of its life or essence. The Zwickau prophets, with their +new revelations and revolts against civil authority; the Wittenberg +iconoclasts, with their repudiation of study and learning and all +proper church order; and the Sacramentarians, with their insidious +rationalism against the plain Word,--were not to be entrusted with +the momentous interests with which the cause of the Reformation was +freighted. And hence, at the risk of the Elector's displeasure and at +the peril of his life, Luther came forth from his covert to withstand +the violence which was putting everything in jeopardy. + +Grandly also did he reason out the genuine Gospel principles against +all these parties. He comprehended his ground from centre to +circumference, and he held it alike against erring friends and +menacing foes. The swollen torrent of events never once obscured his +prophetic insight, never disturbed the balance of his judgment, never +shook his hold upon the right. With a master-power he held revolutions +and wars in check, while he revised and purified the Liturgy and Order +of the Church, wrought out the evangelic truth in its applications to +existing things, and reared the renewed habilitation of the pure Word +and sacraments. + + +GROWTH OF THE REFORMATION. + +It was now that Pope Leo died. His glory lasted but eight years. His +successor, Adrian VI., was a moderate man, of good intentions, though +he could not see what evil there was in indulgences. He exhorted +Germany to get rid of Luther, but said the Church must be reformed, +that the Holy See had been for years horribly polluted, and that the +evils had affected head and members. He was in solemn earnest this +time, and began to change and purify the papal court. To some this was +as if the voice of Luther were being echoed from St. Peter's chair, +and Adrian suddenly died, no man knows of what,[16] and Clement VII., +a relative of Leo X., was put upon the papal throne. + +In 1524 a Diet was convened at Nuremberg with reference to these same +matters. Campeggio, the pope's legate, thought it prudent to make his +way thither without letting himself be known, and wrote back to his +master that he had to be very cautious, as the majority of the Diet +consisted of "great Lutherans." At this Diet the Edict of Worms was +virtually annulled, and it was plain enough that "great Lutherans" had +become very numerous and powerful. + +Luther himself had become of sufficient consequence for Henry VIII., +king of England, to write a book against him, for which the pope gave +him the title of "Defender of the Faith," and for which Luther repaid +him in his own coin. Erasmus also, long the prince of the whole +literary world, was dogged into the writing of a book against the +great Reformer. Poor Erasmus found his match, and was overwhelmed with +the result. He afterward sadly wrote: "My troops of friends are turned +to enemies. Everywhere scandal pursues me and calumny denies my name. +Every goose now hisses at Erasmus." + +In 1525, Luther's friend and protector, the Elector Frederick, died. +This would have been a sad blow for the Reformation had there been no +one of like mind to take his place. But God had the man in readiness. +"Frederick the Wise" was succeeded by his brother, "John the +Constant." + +In Hesse, in Holland, in Scandinavia, in Prussia, in Poland, in +Switzerland, in France, _everywhere_, the Reformation advanced. Duke +George of Saxony raged, got up an alliance against the growing cause, +and beheaded citizens of Leipsic for having Luther's writings in their +houses. Eck still howled from Ingolstadt for fire and fagots. The +dukes of Bavaria were fierce with persecutions. The archbishop of +Mayence punished cities because they would not have his priests for +pastors. The emperor from Spain announced his purpose to crush and +exterminate "the wickedness of Lutheranism." But it was all in vain. +The sun had risen, the new era had come! + +Luther now issued his _Catechisms_, which proved a great and glorious +aid to the true Gospel. Henceforth the children were to be bred up in +the pure faith. Matthesius says: "If Luther in his lifetime had +achieved no other work but that of bringing his two Catechisms into +use, the whole world could not sufficiently thank and repay him." + +A quarrel between the emperor and the pope also contributed to the +progress of the Reformation. A Diet at Spire in 1526 had interposed a +check to the persecuting spirit of the Romanists, and granted +toleration to those of Luther's mind in all the states where his +doctrines were approved. The respite lasted for three years, until +Charles and Clement composed their difference and united to wreak +their wrath upon Luther and his adherents. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] The death of Adrian VI., on the 14th of September, 1523, was a +subject of general rejoicing in Rome. There was a crown of flowers +hung to the door of his physician, with a card appended which read, +"_To the savior of his country_." + + +PROTESTANTS AND WAR. + +A second Diet at Spire, in 1529, revoked the former act of toleration, +and demanded of all the princes and estates an unconditional +surrender to the pope's decrees. This called forth the heroic +_Protest_ of those who stood with Luther. They refused to submit, +claiming that in matters of divine service and the soul's salvation +conscience and God must be obeyed rather than earthly powers. It was +from this that the name of _Protestants_ originated--a name which half +the world now honors and accepts. + +The signers of this Protest also pledged to each other their mutual +support in defending their position. Zwingli urged them to make war +upon the emperor. He himself afterward took the sword, and perished by +it. Calvin, Cranmer, Knox, and even the Puritan Fathers as far as they +had power and occasion, resorted to physical force and the civil arm +to punish the rejecters of their creed. Luther repudiated all such +coercion. The sword was at his command, but he opposed its use for any +purposes of religion. All the weight of his great influence was given +to prevent his friends from mixing external force with what should +ever have its seat only in the calm conviction of the soul. He thus +practically anticipated Roger Williams and William Penn and the most +lauded results of modern freedom--not from constraint of +circumstances and personal interests, but from his own clear insight +into Gospel principles. Bloody religious wars came after he was dead, +the prospect of which filled his soul with horror, and to which he +could hardly give consent even in case of direst necessity for +self-defence; but it is a transcendent fact that while he lived they +were held in abeyance, most of all by his prayers and endeavors. He +fought, indeed, as few men ever fought, but the only sword he wielded +was "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." + + +THE CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG. + +And yet another Imperial Diet was convened with reference to these +religious disturbances. It was held in Augsburg in the spring of 1530. +The emperor was in the zenith of his power. He had overcome his French +rival. He had spoiled Rome, humbled the pope, and reorganized Italy. +The Turks had withdrawn their armies. And the only thing in the way of +a consolidated empire was the Reformation in Germany. To crush this +was now his avowed purpose, and he anticipated no great hardship in +doing it. He entered Augsburg with unwonted magnificence and pomp. He +had spoken very graciously in his invitation to the princes, but it +was in his heart to compel their submission to his former Edict of +Worms. It behoved them to be prepared to make a full exhibit of their +principles, giving the ultimatum on which they proposed to stand. + +Luther had been formulating articles embodying the points adhered to +in his reformatory teachings. He had prepared one set for the Marburg +Conference with the Swiss divines. He had revised and elaborated these +into the Seventeen Articles of Schwabach. He had also prepared another +series on abuses, submitted to the Elector John at Torgau. All these +were now committed to Melanchthon for careful elaboration into +complete style and harmony for use at the Diet. Luther assisted in +this work up to the time when the Diet convened, and what remained to +be done was completed in Augsburg by Melanchthon and the Lutheran +divines present with him. Luther himself could not be there, as he was +a dead man to the law, and by command of his prince was detained at +Coburg while the Diet was in session. + +The first act of the emperor was to summon the protesting princes +before him, asking of them the withdrawal of their Protest. This they +refused. They felt that they had constitutional right, founded on the +decision of Spire, to resist the emperor's demand; and they did not +intend to surrender the just principles put forth in their noble +Protest. They celebrated divine service in their quarters, led by +their own clergy, and refused to join in the procession at the Roman +festival of Corpus Christi. This gave much offence, and for the sake +of peace they discontinued their services during the Diet. + +At length they were asked to make their doctrinal presentation. +Melanchthon had admirably performed the work assigned him in the +making up of the Confession, and on the 25th day of June, 1530, the +document, duly signed, was read aloud to the emperor in the hearing of +many. + +The effect of it upon the assembly was indescribable. Many of the +prejudices and false notions against the Reformers were effectually +dissipated. The enemies of the Reformation felt that they had solemn +realities to deal with which they had never imagined. Others said that +this was a more effectual preaching than that which had been +suppressed. "Christ is in the Diet," said Justus Jonas, "and he does +not keep silence. God's Word cannot be bound." In a word, the world +now had added to it one of its greatest treasures--the renowned and +imperishable AUGSBURG CONFESSION. + +Luther was eager for tidings of what transpired at the Diet. And when +the Confession came, as signed and delivered, he wrote: "I thrill with +joy that I have lived to see the hour in which Christ is preached by +so many confessors to an assembly so illustrious in a form so +beautiful." + +Even Reformed authors, from Calvin down, have cheerfully added their +testimony to the worth and excellence of this magnificent +Confession--the first since the Athanasian Creed. A late writer of +this class says of it that "it best exhibits the prevailing genius of +the German Reformation, and will ever be cherished as one of the +noblest monuments of faith from the pentecostal period of +Protestantism." + +The Romanists attempted to answer the noble Confession, but would not +make their Confutation public. Compromises were proposed, but they +came to naught. The Imperial troops were called into the city and the +gates closed to intimidate the princes, but it resulted in greater +alarm to the Romanists than to them. The confessors had taken their +stand, and they were not to be moved from it. The Diet ended with the +decision that they should have until the following spring to determine +whether they would submit to the Roman Church or not, and, if not, +that measures would then be taken for their extermination. + + +THE LEAGUE OF SMALCALD. + +The emperor's edict appeared November 19th, and the Protestant princes +at once proceeded to form a league for mutual protection against +attempts to force their consciences in these sacred matters. It was +with difficulty that the consent of Luther could be obtained for what, +to him, looked like an arrangement to support the Gospel by the sword. +But he yielded to a necessity forced by the intolerance of Rome. A +convention was held at Smalcald at Christmas, 1530, and there was +formed the _League of Smalcald_, which planted the political +foundations of Religious Liberty for our modern world. + +By the presentation of the great Confession of Augsburg, along with +the formation of the League of Smalcald, the cause of Luther became +embodied in the official life of nations, and the new era of Freedom +had come safely to its birth. Long and terrible storms were yet to be +passed, but the ship was launched which no thunders of emperors or +popes could ever shatter.[17] + +When the months of probation ended, France had again become +troublesome to the emperor, and the Turks were renewing their +movements against his dominions. He also found that he could not count +on the Catholic princes for the violent suppression of the +Protestants. Luther's doctrines had taken too deep hold upon their +subjects to render it safe to join in a war of extermination against +them. + +The Zwinglians also coalesced with the Lutherans in presenting a +united front against the threatened bloody coercion. The Smalcald +League, moreover, had grown to be a power which even the emperor could +not despise. He therefore resolved to come to terms with the +Protestant members of his empire, and a peace--at least a truce--was +concluded at Nuremberg, which left things as they were to wait until a +general council should settle the questions in dispute. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] "The Reformation of Luther kindled up the minds of men afresh, +leading to new habits of thought and awakening in individuals energies +before unknown to themselves. The religious controversies of this +period changed society, as well as religion, and to a considerable +extent, where they did not change the religion of the state, they +changed man himself in his modes of thought, his consciousness of his +own powers, and his desire of intellectual attainment. The spirit of +commercial and foreign adventure on the one hand and, on the other the +assertion and maintenance of religious liberty, having their source in +the Reformation, and this love of religious liberty drawing after it +or bringing along with it, as it always does, an ardent devotion to +the principle of civil liberty also, were the powerful influences +under which character was formed and men trained for the great work of +introducing English civilization, English law, and, what is more than +all, Anglo-Saxon blood, into the wilderness of North America."--Daniel +Webster, _Works_, vol. i. p. 94. + + +LUTHER'S LATER YEARS. + +Luther lived nearly fifteen years after this grand crowning of his +testimony, diligently laboring for Christ and his country. The most +brilliant part of his career was over, but his labors still were great +and important. Indeed, his whole life was intensely laborious. He was +a busier man than the First Napoleon. His publications, as reckoned up +by Seckendorf, amount to eleven hundred and thirty-seven. Large and +small together, they number seven hundred and fifteen volumes--one for +every two weeks that he lived after issuing the first. Even in the +last six weeks of his life he issued thirty-one publications--more +than five per week. If he had had no other cares and duties but to +occupy himself with his pen, this would still prove him a very +Hercules in authorship.[18] + +But his later years were saddened by many anxieties, afflictions, and +trials. Under God, he had achieved a transcendent work, and his +confidence in its necessity, divinity, and perpetuity never failed; +but he was much distressed to see it marred and damaged, as it was, by +the weaknesses and passions of men. + +His great influence created jealousies. His persistent conservatism +gave offence. Those on whom he most relied betimes imperiled his cause +by undue concessions and pusillanimity. The friends of the Reformation +often looked more to political than Christian ends, or were more +carnal than spiritual. Threatening civil commotions troubled him. +Ultra reform attacked and blamed him. The agitations about a general +council, which Rome now treacherously urged, and meant to pack for its +own purposes, gave him much anxiety. It was with reference to such a +council that one other great document--_The Articles of +Smalcald_--issued from his pen, in which he defined the true and final +Protestant position with regard to the hierarchy, and the fundamental +organization of the Church of Christ. His bodily ailments also became +frequent and severe. + +Prematurely old, and worn out with cares, labors, and vexations--the +common lot of great heroes and benefactors--he began to long for the +heavenly rest. "I am weary of the world," said he, "and it is time the +world were weary of me. The parting will be easy, like a traveler +leaving his inn." + +He lived to his sixty-third year, and peacefully died in the faith he +so effectually preached, while on a mission of reconciliation at the +place where he was born, honored and lamented in his death as few men +have ever been. His remains repose in front of the chancel in the +castle church of Wittenberg, on the door of which his own hand had +nailed the Ninety-five Theses.[19] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] "Never before was the human mind more prolific." "Luther holds a +high and glorious place in German literature." "In his manuscripts we +nowhere discover the traces of fatigue or irritation, no embarrassment +or erasures, no ill-applied epithet or unmanageable expression; and by +the correctness of his writing we might imagine he was the copyist +rather than the writer of the work."--So says _Audin_, his Roman +Catholic biographer. + +Hallam's flippant and disparaging remarks on Luther, contained in his +_Introduction to the Literature of Europe_, are simply outrageous, +"stupid and senseless paragraphs," evidencing a presumption on the +part of their author which deserves intensest rebuke. "Hallam knows +nothing about Luther; he himself confesses his inability to read him +in his native German; and this alone renders him incapable of judging +intelligently respecting his merits as a writer; and, knowing nothing, +it would have been honorable in him to say nothing, at least to say +nothing disparagingly. And, by the way, it seems to us that writing a +history of European literature without a knowledge of German is much +like writing a history of metals without knowing anything of iron and +steel.... Luther's language became, through his writings, and has ever +since remained, the language of literature and general intercourse +among educated men, and is that which is now understood universally to +be meant when _the German_ is spoken of. His translation of the Bible +is still as much the standard of purity for that language as Homer is +for the Greek."--_Dr. Calvin E. Stowe._ + +[19] "Nothing can be more edifying than the scene presented by the +last days of Luther, of which we have the most authentic and detailed +accounts. When dying he collected his last strength and offered up the +following prayer: 'Heavenly Father, eternal, merciful God, thou hast +revealed to me thy dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Him I have taught, +him I have confessed, him I love as my Saviour and Redeemer, whom the +wicked persecute, dishonor, and reprove. Take my poor soul up to +thee!' + +"Then two of his friends put to him the solemn question: 'Reverend +Father, do you die in Christ and in the doctrine you have constantly +preached?' He answered by an audible and joyful '_Yes_;' and, +repeating the verse, 'Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,' he +expired peacefully, without a struggle."--_Encyc. Britannica._ + + +PERSONALE OF LUTHER. + +The personal appearance of this extraordinary man is but poorly given +in the painted portraits of him. Written descriptions inform us that +he was of medium size, handsomely proportioned, and somewhat darkly +complected. His arched brows, high cheek-bones, and powerful jaws and +chin gave to his face an outline of ruggedness; but his features were +regular, and softened all over with benevolence and every refined +feeling. He had remarkable eyes, large, full, deep, dark, and +brilliant, with a sort of amber circle around the pupil, which made +them seem to emit fire when under excitement. His hair was dark and +waving, but became entirely white in his later years. His mouth was +elegantly formed, expressive of determination, tenderness, affection, +and humor. His countenance was elevated, open, brave, and unflinching. +His neck was short and strong and his breast broad and full. + +Though compactly built, he was generally spare and wasted from +incessant studies, hard labor, and an abstemious life. + +Mosellanus, the moderator at the Leipsic Disputation, describes him +quite fully as he appeared at that time, and says that "his body was +so reduced by cares and study that one could almost count his bones." +He himself makes frequent allusion to his wasted and enfeebled body. +His health was never robust. He was a small eater. Melanchthon says: +"I have seen him, when he was in full health, absolutely neither eat +nor drink for four days together. At other times I have seen him, for +many days, content with the slightest allowance, a salt herring and a +small hunch of bread per day." + +Mosellanus further says that his manners were cultured and friendly, +with nothing of stoical severity or pride in him--that he was cheerful +and full of wit in company, and at all times fresh, joyous, inspiring, +and pleasant. + +Honest naturalness, grand simplicity, and an unpretentious majesty of +character breathed all about him. An indwelling vehemency, a powerful +will, and a firm confidence could readily be seen, but calm and +mellowed with generous kindness, without a trace of selfishness or +vanity. He was jovial, free-spoken, open, easily approached, and at +home with all classes. + +Audin says of him that "his voice was clear and sonorous, his eye +beaming with fire, his head of the antique cast, his hands beautiful, +and his gesture graceful and abounding--at once Rabelais and Fontaine, +with the droll humor of the one and the polished elegance of the +other." + +In society and in his home he was genial, playful, instructive, and +often brilliant. His _Table-Talk_, collected (not always judiciously) +by his friends, is one of the most original and remarkable of +productions. He loved children and young people, and brought up +several in his house besides his own. He had an inexhaustible flow of +ready wit and good-humor, prepared for everybody on all occasions. He +was a frank and free correspondent, and let out his heart in his +letters, six large volumes of which have been preserved. + +He was specially fond of music, and cultivated it to a high degree. He +could sing and play like a woman.[20] "I have no pleasure in any +man," said he, "who despises music. It is no invention of ours; it is +the gift of God. I place it next to theology." + +He was himself a great musician and hymnist. Handel confesses that he +derived singular advantage from the study of his music; and Coleridge +says: "He did as much for the Reformation by his hymns as by his +translation of the Bible." To this day he is the chief singer in a +Church of pre-eminent song. Heine speaks of "those stirring songs +which escaped from him in the very midst of his combats and +necessities, like flowers making their way from between rough stones +or moonbeams glittering among dark clouds." _Ein feste Burg_ welled +from his great heart like the gushing of the waters from the smitten +rock of Horeb to inspirit and refresh God's faint and doubting people +as long as the Church is in this earthly wilderness. There is a mighty +soul in it which lifts one, as on eagles' wings, high and triumphant +over the blackest storms. And his whole life was a brilliantly enacted +epic of marvelous grandeur and pathos.[21] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] Mattaehus Ratzenberger, in a passage of his biography preserved in +the _Bibliotheca Ducalis Gothana_, says: "Lutherus had also this +custom: as soon as he had eaten the evening meal with his table +companions he would fetch out of his little writing-room his _partes_ +and hold a _musicam_ with those of them who had a mind for music. +Greatly was he delighted when a good composition of the old master +fitted the responses or _hymnos de tempore anni_, and especially did +he enjoy the _cantu Gregoriana_ and chorale. But if at times he +perceived in a new song that it was incorrectly copied he set it again +upon the lines (that is, he brought the parts together and rectified +it _in continenti_). Right gladly did he join in the singing when +_hymnus_ or _responsorium de tempore_ had been set by the _Musicus_ to +a _Cantum Gregorianum_, as we have said, and his young sons, Martinus +and Paulus, had also after table to sing the _responsoria de tempore_, +as at Christmas, _Verbum caro factum est_, _In principio erat verbum_; +at Easter, _Christus resurgens ex mortuis_, _Vita sanctorum_, _Victimae +paschali laudes_, etc. In these _responsoria_ he always sang along +with his sons, and in _cantu figurali_ he sang the alto." + +The alto which Luther sang must not be confounded with the alto part +of to-day. Here it means the _cantus firmus_, the melody around which +the old composers wove their contrapuntal ornamentation. + +Luther was the creator of German congregational singing. + +[21] Luther's first poetic publication seems to have been certain +verses composed on the martyrdom of two young Christian monks, who +were burned alive at Brussels in 1523 for their faithful confession of +the evangelical doctrines. A translation of a part of this composition +is given in D'Aubigne's _History of the Reformation_ in these +beautiful and stirring words: + + "Flung to the heedless winds or on the waters cast, + Their ashes shall be watched, and gathered at the last; + And from that scattered dust, around us and abroad, + Shall spring a plenteous seed of witnesses for God. + + "Jesus hath now received their latest living breath, + Yet vain is Satan's boast of victory in their death. + Still, still, though dead, they speak, and trumpet-tongued proclaim + To many a wakening land the One availing Name." + +Audin, though a Romanist, says: "The hymns which he translated from +the Latin into German may be unreservedly praised, as also those which +he composed for the members of his own communion. He did not travesty +the sacred Word nor set his anger to music. He is grave, simple, +solemn, and grand. He was at once the poet and musician of a great +number of his hymns." + + +HIS GREAT QUALITIES. + +Luther's qualities of mind, heart, and attainment were transcendent. +Though naturally meek and diffident, when it came to matters of duty +and conviction he was courageous, self-sacrificing, and brave beyond +any mere man known to history. Elijah fled before the threats of +Jezebel, but no powers on earth could daunt the soul of Luther. Even +the apparitions of the devil himself could not disconcert him. + +Roman Catholic authors agree that "Nature gave him a German industry +and strength and an Italian spirit and vivacity," and that "nobody +excelled him in philosophy and theology, and nobody equaled him in +eloquence." + +His mental range was not confined to any one set of subjects. In the +midst of his profound occupation with questions of divinity and the +Church "his mind was literally world-wide. His eyes were for ever +observant of what was around him. At a time when science was hardly +out of its shell he had observed Nature with the liveliest curiosity. +He studied human nature like a dramatist. Shakespeare himself drew +from him. His memory was a museum of historical information, anecdotes +of great men, and old German literature, songs, and proverbs, to the +latter of which he made many rich additions from his own genius. +Scarce a subject could be spoken of on which he had not thought and on +which he had not something remarkable to say."[22] In consultations +upon public affairs, when the most important things hung in peril, his +contemporaries speak with amazement of the gigantic strength of his +mind, the unexampled acuteness of his intellect, the breadth and +loftiness of his understanding and counsels. + +But, though so great a genius, he laid great stress on sound and +thorough learning and study. "The strength and glory of a town," said +he, "does not depend on its wealth, its walls, its great mansions, its +powerful armaments, but in the number of its learned, serious, kind, +and well-educated citizens." He was himself a great scholar, far +beyond what we would suspect in so perturbed a life, or what he cared +to parade in his writings. He mastered the ancient languages, and +insisted on the perpetual study of them as "the scabbard which holds +the sword of the Spirit, the cases which enclose the precious jewels, +the vessels which contain the old wine, the baskets which carry the +loaves and the fishes for the feeding of the multitude." His +associates say of him that he was a great reader, eagerly perusing the +Church Fathers, old and new, and all histories, well retaining what he +read, and using the same with great skill as occasion called. + +Melanchthon, who knew him well, and knew well how to judge of men's +powers and attainments, said of him: "He is too great, too wonderful, +for me to describe. Whatever he writes, whatever he utters, goes to +the soul and fixes itself like arrows in the heart. _He is a miracle +among men._" + +Nor was he without the humility of true greatness. Newton's comparison +of himself to a child gathering shells and pebbles on the shore, +while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before him, has +been much cited and lauded as an illustration of the modesty of true +science. But long before Newton had Luther said of himself, in the +midst of his mighty achievements, "Only a little of the first fruits +of wisdom--only a few fragments of the boundless heights, breadths, +and depths of truth--have I been able to gather." + +He was a man of amazing _faith_--that mighty principle which looks at +things invisible, joins the soul to divine Omnipotence, and launches +out unfalteringly upon eternal realities, and which is ever the chief +factor in all God's heroes of every age. He dwelt in constant nearness +and communion with the Eternal Spirit, which reigns in the heavens and +raises the willing and obedient into blessed instruments of itself for +the actualizing of ends and ideals beyond and above the common course +of things. With his feet ever planted on the promises, he could lay +his hands upon the Throne, and thus was lifted into a sublimity of +energy, endurance, and command which made him one of the phenomenal +wonders of humanity. He was a very Samson in spiritual vigor, and +another Hannah's son in the strength and victory of his prayers. + +Dr. Calvin E. Stowe says: "There was probably never created a more +powerful human being, a more gigantic, full-proportioned MAN, in the +highest sense of the term. All that belongs to human nature, all that +goes to constitute a MAN, had a strongly-marked development in him. He +was a _model man_, one that might be shown to other beings in other +parts of the universe as a specimen of collective manhood in its +maturest growth." + +As the guide and master of one of the greatest revolutions of time we +look in vain for any one with whom to compare him, and as a +revolutionary orator and preacher he had no equal. Richter says, "His +words are half-battles." Melanchthon likens them to thunderbolts. He +was at once a Peter and a Paul, a Socrates and an AEsop, a Chrysostom +and a Savonarola, a Shakespeare and a Whitefield, all condensed in +one. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] Froude supplemented. + + +HIS ALLEGED COARSENESS. + +Some blame him for not using kid gloves in handling the ferocious +bulls, bears, and he-goats with whom he had to do. But what, +otherwise, would have become of the Reformation? His age was savage, +and the men he had to meet were savage, and the matters at stake +touched the very life of the world. What would a Chesterfield or an +Addison have been in such a contest? Erasmus said he had horns, and +knew how to use them, but that Germany needed just such a master. He +understood the situation. "These gnarled logs," said he, "will not +split without iron wedges and heavy malls. The air will not clear +without lightning and thunder."[23] + +But if he was rough betimes, he could be as gentle and tender as a +maiden, and true to himself in both. He could fight monsters all day, +and in the evening take his lute, gaze at the stars, sing psalms, and +muse upon the clouds, the fields, the flowers, the birds, dissolved in +melody and devotion. Feared by the mighty of the earth, the dictator +and reprimander of kings, the children loved him, and his great heart +was as playful among them as one of themselves. If he was harsh and +unsparing upon hypocrites, malignants, and fools, he called things by +their right names, and still was as loving as he was brave. Since King +David's lament over Absalom no more tender or pathetic scene has +appeared in history or in fiction than his outpouring of paternal love +and grief over the deathbed, coffin, and grave of his young and +precious daughter Madeleine. "I know of few things more touching," +says Carlyle, "than those soft breathings of affection, soft as a +child's or a mother's, in this great wild heart of Luther;" and adds: +"I will call this Luther a true Great Man; great in intellect, in +courage, affection, and integrity; one of our most lovable and +precious men. Great not as a hewn obelisk, but as an Alpine mountain, +so simple, honest, spontaneous; not setting up to be great at all; +there for quite another purpose than being great. Ah, yes, unsubduable +granite, piercing far and wide into the Heavens; yet, in the clefts of +it, fountains, green, beautiful valleys with flowers. A right +Spiritual Hero and Prophet; once more, a true Son of Nature and Fact, +for whom these centuries, and many that are yet to come, will be +thankful to Heaven." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[23] "It must be observed that the coarse vituperations which shock +the reader in Luther's controversial works were not peculiar to him, +being commonly used by scholars and divines of the Middle Ages in +their disputations. The invectives of Valla, Filelfo, Poggio, and +other distinguished scholars against each other are notorious; and +this bad taste continued in practice long after Luther down to the +seventeenth century, and traces of it are found in writers of the +eighteenth, even in some of the works of the polished and courtly +Voltaire."--_Cyclopaedia of Soc. for Diffus. of Useful Knowledge._ + + +HIS MARVELOUS ACHIEVEMENTS. + +A lone man, whose days were spent in poverty; who could withstand the +mighty Vatican and all its flaming Bulls; whose influence evoked and +swayed successive Diets of the empire; whom repeated edicts from the +Imperial throne could not crush; whom the talent, eloquence, and +towering authority of the Roman hierarchy assailed in vain; whom the +attacks of kings of state and kings of literature could not disable; +to offset whose opinions the greatest general council the Church of +Rome ever held had to be convened, and, after sitting eighteen years, +could not adjourn without conceding much to his positions; and whose +name the greatest and most enlightened nations of the earth hail with +glad acclaim,--necessarily must have been a wonder of a man.[24] + +To begin with a minority consisting of one, and conquer kingdoms with +the mere sword of his mouth; to bear the anathemas of Church and the +ban of empire, and triumph in spite of them; to refuse to fall down +before the golden image of the combined Nebuchadnezzars of his time, +though threatened with the burning fires of earth and hell; to turn +iconoclast of such magnitude and daring as to think of smiting the +thing to pieces in the face of principalities and powers to whom it +was as God--nay, to attempt this, _and to succeed in it_,--here was +sublimity of heroism and achievement explainable only in the will and +providence of the Almighty, set to recover His Gospel to a perishing +race.[25] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24] "In no other instance have such great events depended upon the +courage, sagacity, and energy of a single man, who, by his sole and +unassisted efforts, made his solitary cell the heart and centre of the +most wonderful and important commotion the world ever witnessed--who +by the native force and vigor of his genius attacked and successfully +resisted, and at length overthrew, the most awful and sacred authority +that ever imposed its commands on mankind."--A letter prefixed to +Luther's _Table-Talk_ in the folio edition of 1652. + +[25] "To overturn a system of religious belief founded on ancient and +deep-rooted prejudices, supported by power and defended with no less +art than industry--to establish in its room doctrines of the most +contrary genius and tendency, and to accomplish all this, not by +external violence or the force of arms, are operations which +historians the least prone to credulity and superstition ascribe to +that divine providence which with infinite ease can bring about events +which to human sagacity appear impossible."--Robertson's _Charles V._ + + +HIS IMPRESS UPON THE WORLD. + +To describe the fruits of Luther's labors would require the writing of +the whole history of modern civilization and the setting forth of the +noblest characteristics of this our modern world.[26] + +On the German nation he has left more of his impress than any other +man has left on any nation. The German people love to speak of him as +the creative master of their noble language and literature, the great +prophet and glory of their country. There is nothing so consecrated in +all his native land as the places which connect with his life, +presence, and deeds. + +But his mighty impress is not confined to Germany. "He grasped the +iron trumpet of his mother-tongue and blew a blast that shook the +nations from Rome to the Orkneys." He is not only the central figure +of Germany, but of Europe and of the whole modern world. Take Luther +away, with the fruits of his life and deeds, and man to-day would +cease to be what he is. + +Frederick von Schlegel, though a Romanist, affirms that "it was upon +him and his soul that the fate of Europe depended." And on the fate +of Europe then depended the fate of our race. + +Michelet, also a Romanist, pronounces Luther "the restorer of liberty +in modern times;" and adds: "If we at this day exercise in all its +plenitude the first and highest privilege of human intelligence, it is +to him we are indebted for it." + +"And that any faith," says Froude, "any piety, is alive now, even in +the Roman Church itself, whose insolent hypocrisy he humbled into +shame, is due in large measure to the poor miner's son." + +He certainly is to-day the most potently living man who has lived this +side of the Middle Ages. The pulsations of his great heart are felt +through the whole _corpus_ of our civilization. + +"Four potentates," says the late Dr. Krauth, "ruled the mind of Europe +in the Reformation: the emperor, Erasmus, the pope, and Luther. The +pope wanes; Erasmus is little; the emperor is nothing; but Luther +abides as a power for all time. His image casts itself upon the +current of ages as the mountain mirrors itself in the river which +winds at its foot. He has monuments in marble and bronze, and medals +in silver and gold, but his noblest monument is the best love of the +best hearts, and the brightest and purest impression of his image has +been left in the souls of regenerated nations." + +Many and glowing are the eulogies which have been pronounced upon him, +but Frederick von Schlegel, speaking from the side of Rome, gives it +as his conviction that "few, even of his own disciples, appreciate him +highly enough." Genius, learning, eloquence, and song have volunteered +their noble efforts to do him justice; centuries have added their +light and testimony; half the world in its enthusiasm has urged on the +inspiration; but the story in its full dimensions has not yet been +adequately told. The skill and energy of other generations will yet be +taxed to give it, if, indeed, it ever can be given apart from the +illuminations of eternity.[27] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[26] "From the commencement of the religious war in Germany to the +Peace of Westphalia scarce anything great or memorable occurred in the +European political world with which the Reformation was not +essentially connected. Every event in the history of the world in this +interval, if not directly occasioned, was nearly affected, by this +religious revolution, and every state, great or small, remotely or +immediately felt its influence."--Schiller's _Thirty Years' War_, vol. +i. p. 1. + +[27] "Luther was as wonderful as he was great. His personal experience +in divine things was as deep as his mind was mighty, large, and +unbounded. Though called by the Most High, and continued by his +appointment, in the midst of papal darkness, idolatry, and error, with +no companions but the saints of the Bible, nor any other light but the +lamp of the Word to guide his feet, his heaven-taught soul was +ministerially furnished with as rich pasture for the sheep of Christ, +as awful ammunition for the terror and destruction of the enemies by +which he and they were perpetually surrounded. The sphere of his +mighty ministry was not bounded by his defence of the truth against +the great and powerful. No! He was as rich a pastor, as terrible a +warrior. He fed the sheep in the fattest pastures, while he destroyed +the wolves on every side. Nor will those pastures be dried up or lost +until time, nations, and the churches of God shall be no more."--Dr. +Cole's _Pref. to Luther on Genesis_. + + +HIS ENEMIES AND REVILERS. + +Rome has never forgotten nor forgiven him. She sought his life while +living, and she curses him in his grave. Profited by his labors beyond +what she ever could have been without him, she strains and chokes with +anathemas upon his name and everything that savors of him. Her +children are taught from infancy to hate and abhor him as they hope +for salvation. Many are the false turns and garbled forms in which her +writers hold up his words and deeds to revenge themselves on his +memory. Again and again the oft-answered and exploded calumnies are +revived afresh to throw dishonor on his cause. Even while the free +peoples of the earth are making these grateful acknowledgments of the +priceless boon that has come to them through his life and labors, +press and platform hiss with stale vituperations from the old enemy. +And a puling Churchism outside of Rome takes an ill pleasure in +following after her to gather and retail this vomit of malignity. + +Luther was but a man. No one claims that he was perfection. But if +those who sought his destruction while he lived had had no greater +faults than he, with better grace their modern representatives might +indulge their genius for his defamation. At best, as we might suppose, +it is the little men, the men of narrow range and narrow heart--men +dwarfed by egotism, bigotry, and self-conceit--who see the most of +these defects. Nobler minds, contemplating him from loftier +standpoints, observe but little of them, and even honor them above the +excellencies of common men. "The proofs that he was in some things +like other men," says Lessing, "are to me as precious as the most +dazzling of his virtues."[28] + +And, with all, where is the gain or wisdom of blowing smoke upon a +diamond? The sun itself has holes in it too large for half a dozen +worlds like ours to fill, but wherein is that great luminary thereby +unfitted to be the matchless centre of our system, the glorious source +of day, and the sublime symbol of the Son of God? + +If Luther married a beautiful woman, the proofs of which do not +appear, it is what every other honest man would do if it suited him +and he were free to do it. + +If he broke his vows to get a wife, of which there is no evidence, +when vows are taken by mistake, tending to dishonor God, work +unrighteousness, and hinder virtuous example and proper life, they +ought to be broken, the sooner the better. + +And, whatever else may be alleged to his discredit, and whoever may +arise to heap scandal on his name, the grand facts remain that it was +chiefly through his marvelous qualities, word, and work that the +towering dominion of the Papacy was humbled and broken for ever; that +prophets and apostles were released from their prisons once more to +preach and prophesy to men; that the Church of the early times was +restored to the bereaved world; that the human mind was set free to +read and follow God's Word for itself; that the masses of neglected +and downtrodden humanity were made into populations of live and +thinking beings; and that the nations of the earth have become +repossessed of their "inalienable rights" of "life, liberty, and the +pursuit of happiness." + + "And let the pope and priests their victor scorn, + Each fault reveal, each imperfection scan, + And by their fell anatomy of hate + His life dissect with satire's keenest edge; + Yet still may Luther, with his mighty heart, + Defy their malice. + Far beyond _them_ soars the soul + They slander. From his tomb there still comes forth + A magic which appalls them by its power; + And the brave monk who made the Popedom rock + Champions a world to show his equal yet!" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] "It was by some of these qualities which we are now apt to blame +that Luther was fitted for accomplishing the great work which he +undertook. To rouse mankind when sunk in ignorance and superstition, +and to encounter the rage of bigotry armed with power, required the +utmost vehemence of zeal as well as temper daring to +excess."--Robertson's _Charles V._ + + + + +THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. + + + + +I. THE HISTORY AND THE MEN. + + +It was in 1492, just nine years after Luther's birth, that the +intrepid Genoese, Christopher Columbus, under the patronage of +Ferdinand, king of Spain, made the discovery of land on this side of +the Atlantic Ocean. A few years later the distinguished Florentine, +Americus Vespucius, set foot on its more interior coasts, described +their features, and imprinted his name on this Western Continent. But +it was not until more than a century later that permanent settlements +of civilized people upon these shores began to be made. + +During the early part of the seventeenth century several such +settlements were effected. A company of English adventurers planted +themselves on the banks of the James River and founded Virginia +(1607). The Dutch of Holland, impelled by the spirit of mercantile +enterprise, established a colony on the Hudson, and founded what +afterward became the city and State of New York (1614). Then a +shipload of English Puritans, flying from religious oppression, landed +at Plymouth Rock and made the beginning of New England (1620). A +little later Lord Baltimore founded a colony on the Chesapeake and +commenced the State of Maryland (1633). But it was not until 1637-38 +that the first permanent settlement was made in what subsequently +became the State of Pennsylvania. + + +MOVEMENTS IN SWEDEN. + +From the year 1611 to 1632 there was upon the throne of Sweden one of +the noblest of kings, a great champion of religious liberty, the +lamented and ever-to-be-remembered GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. + +In his profound thinking to promote the glory of God and the good of +men his attention rested on this vast domain of wild lands in America. +He knew the sorrows and distresses which thousands all over Europe +were suffering from the constant and devastating religious wars, and +the purpose was kindled in his heart to plant here a colony as the +beginning of a general asylum for these homeless and persecuted +people, and determined to foster the same by his royal protection and +care. + +"To this end he sent forth letters patent, dated Stockholm, 2d of +July, 1626, wherein all, both high and low, were invited to contribute +something to the company according to their means. The work was +completed in the Diet of the following year (1627), when the estates +of the realm gave their assent and confirmed the measure. Those who +took part in this company were: His Majesty's mother, the +queen-dowager Christina, the Prince John Casimir, the Royal Council, +the most distinguished of the nobility, the highest officers of the +army, the bishops and other clergymen, together with the burgomasters +and aldermen of the cities, as well as a large number of the people +generally. For the management and working of the plan there were +appointed an admiral, vice-admiral, chapman, under-chapman, +assistants, and commissaries, also a body of soldiers duly +officered."[29] And a more beneficent, brilliant, and promising +arrangement of the sort was perhaps never made. The devout king +intended his grand scheme "for the honor of God," for the welfare of +his subjects and suffering Christians in general, and as a means "to +extend the doctrines of Christ among the heathen." + +But when everything was complete and in full progress to go into +effect, King Gustavus Adolphus was called to join and lead the allied +armies of the Protestant kingdoms of Germany against the endeavors of +the papal powers to crush out the cause of evangelical Christianity +and free conscience.[30] + +For the ensuing five years the attention and energies of Sweden were +preoccupied, first with the Polish, and then with these wars, and the +colonization scheme was interrupted. + +Then came the famous battle of Luetzen, 1632, bringing glorious victory +over the gigantic Wallenstein, but death to the victor, the royal +Adolphus.[31] + +Only a few days before that dreadful battle he spoke of his +colonization plan, and commended it to the German people at Nuremberg +as "the jewel of his kingdom;" but with the king's death the company +disbanded. + +We could almost wish that Gustavus had lived to carry out his humane +and magnificent proposals with reference to this colony as well as for +Europe; but his work was done. What America lost by his death she more +than regained in the final success and secure establishment of the +holy cause for which he sacrificed his life. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] Acrelius's _History_, p. 21. + +[30] "When he now beheld that the cause of Protestantism was menaced +more seriously than ever throughout the whole of Germany, he took the +decisive step, and, formally declaring war against the emperor, he, on +the 24th of June, 1630, landed on the coast of Pomerania with fifteen +thousand Swedes. As soon as he stepped upon shore he dropped on his +knees in prayer, while his example was followed by his whole army. +Truly he had undertaken, with but small and limited means, a great and +mighty enterprise." "The Swedes, so steady and strict in their +discipline, appeared as protecting angels, and as the king advanced +the belief spread far and near throughout the land that he was sent +from heaven as its preserver."--_History of Germany_, by Kohlrausch, +pp. 328, 329. + +"Bavaria and the Tyrol excepted, every province throughout Germany had +battled for liberty of conscience, and yet the whole of Germany, +notwithstanding her universal inclination for the Reformation, had +been deceived in her hopes: a second Imperial edict seemed likely to +crush the few remaining privileges spared by the edict of +restitution.... Gustavus, urged by his sincere piety, resolved to take +up arms in defence of Protestantism and to free Germany from the yoke +imposed by the Jesuits."--Menzel's _History of Germany_, vol. ii. pp. +345, 346. + +"The party of the Catholics were carrying all before them, and +everything seemed to promise that Ferdinand (the Roman Catholic +emperor) would become absolute through the whole of Germany, and +succeed in that scheme which he seemed to meditate, of entirely +abolishing the Protestant religion in the empire. But this miserable +prospect, both of political and religious thraldom, was dissolved by +the great Gustavus Adolphus being invited by the Protestant princes of +Germany to espouse the cause of the Reformed religion, being himself +of that persuasion."--Tytler's _Univ. Hist._, vol. ii. p. 451. + +[31] The death of Gustavus Adolphus is thus described by Kohlrausch: +"The king spent the cold autumnal night in his carriage, and advised +with his generals about the battle. The morning dawned, and a thick +fog covered the entire plain; the troops were drawn up in +battle-array, and the Swedes sang, accompanied with trumpets and +drums, Luther's hymn, _Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott_ ('A mighty +fortress is our God'), together with the hymn composed by the king +himself, _Verzage nicht, du Haeuflein klein_ ('Fear not the foe, thou +little flock'). Just after eleven o'clock, when the sun was emerging +from behind the clouds, and after a short prayer, the king mounted his +horse, placed himself at the head of the right wing--the left being +commanded by Bernard of Weimar--and cried, 'Now, onward! May our God +direct us!--Lord, Lord! help me this day to fight for the glory of thy +name!' and, throwing away his cuirass with the words, 'God is my +shield!' he led his troops to the front of the Imperialists, who were +well entrenched on the paved road which leads from Luetzen to Leipsic, +and stationed in the deep trenches on either side. A deadly cannonade +saluted the Swedes, and many here met their death; but their places +were filled by others, who leaped over the trench, and the troops of +Wallenstein retreated. + +"In the mean time, Pappenheim came up with his cavalry from Halle, and +the battle was renewed with the utmost fury. The Swedish infantry fled +behind the trenches. To assist them, the king hastened to the spot +with a company of horse, and rode in full speed considerably in +advance to descry the weak points of the enemy; only a few of his +attendants, and Francis, duke of Saxe-Lauenberg, rode with him. His +short-sightedness led him too near a squadron of Imperial horse; he +received a shot in his arm, which nearly precipitated him to the +ground; and just as he was turning to be led away from the tumultuous +scene he received a second shot in the back. With the exclamation, 'My +God! my God!' he fell from his horse, which also was shot in the neck, +and was dragged for some distance, hanging by the stirrup. The duke +abandoned him, but his faithful page tried to raise him, when the +Imperial horsemen shot him also, killed the king, and completely +plundered him." Pappenheim was also mortally wounded, Wallenstein +retreated, and the victory was with the Swedes, but their noble king +was no more. + + +THE SWEDISH PROPOSAL. + +The plan of this illustrious king was to found here upon the Delaware +a free state under his sovereign protection, where the laborer should +enjoy the fruit of his toil, where the rights of conscience should be +preserved inviolate, and which should be open to the whole Protestant +world, then and for long time engaged in bloody conflict with the +papal powers for the maintenance of its existence. Here all were to be +secure in their persons, their property, and their religious +convictions. It was to be a place of refuge and peace for the +persecuted of all nations, of security for the honor of the wives and +daughters of those fleeing from sword, fire, and rapine, and from +homes made desolate by oppressive war. It was to be a land of +universal liberty for all classes, the soil of which was never to be +burdened with slaves.[32] And in all the colonies of America there was +not a more thoroughly digested system for the practical realization +of these ideas than that which the great Gustavus Adolphus had thus +arranged. + +Nor did it altogether die with his death. His mantle fell upon one of +the best and greatest of men. Axel Oxenstiern, his friend and prime +minister, and his successor in the administration of the affairs of +the kingdom, was as competent as he was zealous to fulfill the wise +plans and ideas of the slain king, not only with reference to Sweden +and Europe, but also with regard to the contemplated colony in +America. + +Having taken the matter into his own hands, on the 10th of April, +1633, only a few months after Gustavus's death, Oxenstiern renewed the +movement which had been laid aside, and repeated the offer to Germany +and other countries, inviting general co-operation in the noble +enterprise. + +Peter Minuit, a member of a distinguished family of Rhenish Prussia, +who had been for years the able director and president of the Dutch +mercantile establishment on the Hudson, presented himself in Sweden, +and entered into the matter with great energy and enthusiasm. And by +the end of 1637 or early in 1638 two ships were seen entering and +ascending the Delaware, freighted with the elements and nucleus of +the new state, such as Gustavus had projected. + +These ships, under Minuit, landed their passengers but a few miles +south of where Philadelphia now stands, and thus made the first +beginning of what has since become the great and happy Commonwealth of +Pennsylvania. + +This was _six years before Penn was born_. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[32] The description of the features of this plan is taken from +Geijer's _Svenska Folkets Historia_, vol. iii. p. 128, given by Dr. +Reynolds in his Introduction to Israel Acrelius's _History of New +Sweden_, published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It was +first propounded by Gustavus Adolphus in 1624. Also referred to in +_Argonautica Gustaviana_, pp. 3 and 22. + + +WAS PENN AWARE OF THESE PLANS? + +How far William Penn was illuminated and influenced by the ideas of +the great and wise Gustavus Adolphus in reference to the founding of a +free state in America as an asylum for the persecuted and suffering +people of God in the Old World, is nowhere told; but there is reason +to believe that he knew of them, and took his own plans from them. + +A few facts bearing on the point may here be noted. + +One peculiarly striking is, that the same plan and principles with +reference to such a colonial state which Penn brought hither in the +_Welcome_ in 1682 were already matured and widely propounded by the +illustrious Swedish king more than half a century before they +practically entered Penn's mind. + +Another is, that these proposals and principles were generally +promulgated throughout Europe--first by Gustavus and those associated +with him in the matter, and then again by Oxenstiern, in Germany, +Holland, and other countries. + +Still another is, that in 1677 Penn made a special tour of three +months through Holland and various parts of Germany, visiting and +conferring with many of the most pious and devoted people, including +distinguished men and women, and clergy and laity of high standing, +information, and influence. He made considerable stay in Frankfort, +where he says both Calvinists and Lutherans received him with gladness +of heart. He visited Mayence, Worms, Mannheim, Mulheim, Duesseldorf, +Herwerden, Embaden, Bremen, etc., etc., concerning which the editor of +his _Life and Writings_ says he had "interesting interviews with many +persons eminent for their talents, learning, or social position." +Among them were such as Elizabeth, Princess Palatine, niece of Charles +I. of England and the daughter of the king of Bohemia, the special +friend of Gustavus Adolphus, who died of horror on hearing that +Gustavus was slain; Anna Maria, countess of Hornes; the countess and +earl of Falkenstein and Brueck; the president of the council of state +at Embaden; the earl of Donau, and the like; among all of which it is +hardly possible that he should have failed to meet with the proposals +which had gone out over all Protestant Europe from the throne of +Sweden. Nor is there any evidence that William Penn had thought of +founding a free Christian state in America until immediately after his +return to England from this tour on the Continent. + +Furthermore, the plans of Gustavus respecting his projected colony on +the Delaware were well understood in official circles in England +itself, especially in London, from 1634. John Oxenstiern, brother of +the great chancellor, was at that time Swedish ambassador in London, +and in that year he obtained from King Charles I. a renunciation and +cession to Sweden of all claims of the English to the country on the +Delaware growing out of the rights of first discovery, and for the +very purposes of this colonial free state and asylum first projected +by the Swedish king. + + +THE SWEDES IN ADVANCE OF PENN. + +We are left to our own inferences from these facts. But, however much +or little Penn may have been directly influenced and guided by what +Gustavus Adolphus had conceived and elaborated on the subject, the +wise and noble conception which he brought with him for practical +realization in 1682 was known to the European peoples for more than +fifty years before he laid hold on it. The same had also been one of +the chief sources of the inspiration of Lord Baltimore in the founding +of the colony of Maryland, of which Penn was not ignorant. And the +same, not unknown to him, had already begun to be realized here in +what is now called Pennsylvania full forty-four years before his +arrival. + +Shipload after shipload of sturdy and devoted people, mostly Swedes, +animated with the same grand ideas, had here been landed. And so +successfully had they battled with the perils and hardships of the +wilderness, and so justly had they treated and arranged to dwell in +peace and love with the wild inhabitants of the forests, that when +Penn came he found everything prepared to his hand. The Swedes alone +already numbered about one thousand strong. They had conquered the +wild woods, built them homes, and opened plantations; and "the eye of +the stranger could begin to gaze with interest upon the signs of +public improvement, ever regularly advancing, from the region of +Wilmington to that of Philadelphia." + +When Penn landed he found a town and court-house at New Castle, and a +town and place of public assemblage at Upland, and a Christian and +free people in possession of the territory, with whom it was necessary +for him to treat before his charter could avail for the planting of +his colony. The land to which the Swedes had acquired title (by +England's release to Sweden of all claim from right of discovery, by +charter from Sweden, by purchase from the Indians, first under Minuit, +the first governor, and then under his successor, Governor Printz, and +by other purchases or agreements) was the west bank of the Delaware +River from Cape Henlopen to Trenton Falls, and thence westward to the +great fall in the Susquehanna, near the mouth of the Conewaga Creek, +which included nearly the whole of Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. + +The fortunes of war, in Europe and between the colonies, in course of +time complicated the titles to one and another portion of this +territory, but the Swedes and Dutch occupied and held the most +prominent parts of it by right of actual possession when and after +Penn's charter was granted. + + +PENN'S CHARTER AND ARRIVAL. + +But when Penn arrived he brought with him letters patent from Charles +II., king of England, to this same district of country and the wilds +indefinitely beyond it, having also obtained from his friend, the +king's brother, the duke of York, full releases of the claims vested +in him to the "Lower Counties," which now form the State of Delaware. + +Penn was accompanied by from sixty to seventy colonists--all that +survived the scourge which visited them in their passage across the +sea. He landed first at New Castle, of which the Dutch of New York had +by conquest obtained possession. To them he made known his grants and +his plans, and succeeded in securing their acquiescence in them. + +Thence he came to Upland (Chester), the head-quarters of the Swedes, +who "received their new fellow-citizens with great friendliness, +carried up their goods and furniture from the ships, and entertained +them in their own houses without charge." His proposals with regard to +the establishment of a united commonwealth they also received with +much favor. And immediately thereupon he convened a general assembly +of the citizens, which sat for three days, by which an act was passed +for the consolidation of the various interests and parties on the +ground, a code of general regulations adopted, and the necessary +features of a common government enacted; all of which together formed +the basis of our present commonwealth. + + +HOW PENNSYLVANIA WAS NAMED. + +The name which Penn had chosen for the territory of his grant was +_Sylvania_, but the king prefixed the name of Penn and called it +_Penn's_ Silvania (_Penn's Woods_), in honor of the recipient's +father, Sir William Penn, a distinguished officer in the British navy. +Penn sought to have the title changed so as to leave his own name out, +as he thought it savored too much of personal vanity; but his efforts +did not avail. And thus our great old commonwealth took the name of +_Pennsylvania_, and the city of Philadelphia was laid out and named by +Penn himself as its capital. + + +THE MEN OF THOSE TIMES. + +In dwelling upon the founding of our happy commonwealth it is pleasant +to contemplate how enlightened and exalted were the men whom +Providence employed for the performance of this important work. + +Many are apt to think ours the age of culminated enlightenment, +dignity, wisdom, and intelligence, and look upon the fathers of two +and three hundred years ago as mere pigmies, just emerging from an era +of barbarism and ignorance, not at all to be compared with the proud +wiseacres of our day. Never was there a greater mistake. The +shallowness and flippancy of the leaders and politicians of this last +quarter of the nineteenth century show them but little more than +school-boys compared with the sturdy, sober-minded, deep-principled, +dignified, and grand-spirited men who discovered and opened this +continent and laid the foundations of our country's greatness. And +those who were most concerned in the founding of our own commonwealth +suffer in no respect in comparison with the greatest and the best. + + +GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. + +I have named the illustrious GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS as the man, +above all, who first conceived, sketched, and propounded the grand +idea of such a state. What other colonies reached only through varied +experiments and gradual developments, Pennsylvania had clear and +mature, in ideal and in fact, from the very earliest beginning; and +the royal heart and brain of Sweden were its source. + +Gustavus Adolphus was born a prince in the regular line of Sweden's +ancient kings. His grandfather, Gustavus Vasa, was a man of thorough +culture, excellent ability, and sterling moral qualities. When in +Germany he was an earnest listener to Luther's preaching, became his +friend and correspondent, a devout confessor and patron of the +evangelic faith, and the wise establisher of the Reformation in his +kingdom. + +Adolphus inherited all his grandfather's high qualities. He was the +idol of his father, Charles IX., and was devoutly trained from +earliest childhood in the evangelic faith, educated in thorough +princely style, familiarized with governmental affairs from the time +he was a boy, and developed into an exemplary, wise, brave, and +devoted Christian man and illustrious king. + +He ascended the throne when but seventeen years of age, extricated his +country from many internal and external troubles, organized for it a +new system, and became the hero-sovereign of his age. He was one of +the greatest of men, in cabinet and in field as well as in faith and +humble devotion. He was a broad-minded statesman and patriot, one of +the most beloved of rulers, and a philanthropist of the purest order +and most comprehensive views. That evangelical Christianity which +Luther and his coadjutors exhumed from the superincumbent rubbish of +the Middle Ages was dearer to him than his throne or his life. The +pure Gospel of Christ was to him the most precious of human +possessions. For it he lived, and for it he died. One of his +deep-souled hymns, sung along with Luther's _Ein Feste Burg_ at the +head of his armies in his campaigns for Christian liberty, has its +place in our Church-Book to-day. And the bright peculiar star which +appeared in the heavens at the time he was born fitly heralded his +royal career. + +Cut off in the midst of a succession of victories in the thirty-eighth +year of his age, the influence of his mind nevertheless served to give +another constitution to the Germanic peoples, established the right +and power of evangelical Christianity to be and to be unmolested on +the earth, and confirmed a new element in the development and progress +of the European races and of mankind. With the loftiest conceptions of +human life, a thorough acquaintance with the agencies which govern the +world, a mind in all respects in thorough subjection to an +enlightened Christian conscience, a magnanimity and liberality of +sentiment far in advance of his age, and an untarnished devotion which +marked his history to its very end, his name stands at the head of the +list of illustrious Christian kings and human benefactors.[33] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[33] Count Galeazzo Gualdo, a Venetian Roman Catholic, who spent some +years in both the Imperial and the Swedish armies, says of Gustavus +Adolphus that "he was tall, stout, and of such truly royal demeanor +that he universally commanded veneration, admiration, love, and fear. +His hair and beard were of a light-brown color, his eye large, but not +far-sighted. Eloquence dwelt upon his tongue. He spoke German, the +native language of his mother, the Swedish, the Latin, the French, and +the Italian languages, and his discourse was agreeable and lively. +There never was a general served with so much cheerfulness and +devotion as he. He was of an affable and friendly disposition, readily +expressing commendation, and noble actions were indelibly fixed upon +his memory; on the other hand, excessive politeness and flattery he +hated, and if any person approached him in that way he never trusted +him." + + +AXEL OXENSTIERN. + +AXEL OXENSTIERN, his friend, companion, and prime minister, +was of like mind and character with himself. He was high-born, +religiously trained, and thoroughly educated in both theology and law +in the best schools which the world then afforded. He was Sweden's +greatest and wisest counselor and diplomatist, liberal-minded, +true-hearted, dignified, and devout. In religion, in patriotism, +in earnest doing for the profoundest interests of man, he was one with +his illustrious king. He negotiated the Peace of Kmered with Denmark, +the Peace of Stolbowa with Russia, and the armistice with Poland. He +accompanied his king in the campaigns in Germany, having charge of all +diplomatic affairs and the devising of ways and means for the support +of the army in the field, whilst the king commanded it. He won no +victories of war, but he was a choice spirit in creating the means by +which some of the most valuable of such victories were achieved, and +conducted those victories to permanent peace. + +When Gustavus Adolphus fell at Luetzen a sacrifice to religious +liberty, the whole administration of the kingdom was placed in +Oxenstiern's hands. The congress of foreign princes at Heilbronn +elected him to the headship of their league against the papal power of +Austria; and it was his wisdom and heroism alone which held the league +together unto final triumph. Bauer, Torstensson, and Von Wrangle were +the flaming swords which finally overwhelmed that power, but the brain +which brought the fearful Thirty Years' War to a final close, and +established the evangelical cause upon its lasting basis of security +by the Peace of Westphalia (1648), was that of Axel Oxenstiern, the +very man who sent to Pennsylvania its original colonists as the +founders of a free state. + + +PETER MINUIT. + +A kindred spirit was PETER MINUIT, the man whom Oxenstiern +selected and commissioned to accompany these first colonists to the +west bank of the Delaware, and to act as their president and governor. +He too was a high-born, cultured, large-minded Christian man. He was +an honored deacon in the Walloon church at Wesel. Removing to Holland, +his high qualities led to his selection by the Dutch West India +Company as the fittest man to be the first governor and +director-general of the Dutch colonies on the Hudson. His great +efficiency and public success in that capacity made him the subject of +jealousies and accusations, resulting in his recall after five or six +years of the most effective administration of the affairs of those +colonies. Oxenstiern had the breadth and penetration to understand his +real worth, and appointed him the first governor of the New Sweden +which since has become the great State of Pennsylvania. He lived less +than five years in this new position, and died in Fort Christina, +which he built and held during his last years of service on earth. He +was a wise, laborious, and far-seeing man, consecrated with all his +powers to the formation of a free commonwealth on this then wild +territory. His name has largely sunk away from public attention, as +the work of the Swedes in general in the founding and fashioning of +our commonwealth; but he and they deserve far better than has been +awarded them. + +A few years ago (1876) some movement was for the first time made to +erect a suitable monument to the memory of Minuit. Surely the founder +of the greatest city in this Western World, and of the colonial +possessions of two European nations, and the first president and +governor of the two greatest States in the American Union, ranks among +the great historic personages of his period; and his high qualities, +noble spirit, and valuable services demand for him a grateful +recognition which has been far too slow in coming. There is a debt +owing to his name and memory which New York, Pennsylvania, and the +American people have not yet duly discharged. + +And to these grand men, first of all, are we under obligation of +everlasting thanks for our free and happy old commonwealth. + + +WILLIAM PENN. + +But without WILLIAM PENN to reinforce and more fully execute +the noble plans, ideas, and beginnings which went before him, things +perhaps never would have come to the fortunate results which he was +the honored instrument in bringing about. + +This man, so renowned in the history of our State, and so specially +honored by the peculiar Society of which he was a zealous apostle, was +respectably descended. His grandfather was a captain in the English +navy, and his father became a distinguished naval officer, who reached +high promotion and gave his son the privileges of a good education. + +Penn was for three years a student in the University of Oxford, until +expelled, with others, for certain offensive non-conformities. He was +not what we would call religiously trained, but he was endowed with a +strong religious nature, even bordering on fanaticism, so that he +needed only the application of the match to set his whole being aglow +and active with the profoundest zeal, whether wise or otherwise. And +that match was early applied. + +When England had reached the summit of delirium under her usurping +Protector, Oliver Cromwell, there arose, among many other sects full +of enthusiastic self-assertion, that of the Quakers, who were chiefly +characterized by a profound religious, and oft fanatical, opposition +to the Established Church, as well as to the Crown. Coming in contact +with one of their most zealous preachers, young Penn was inflamed with +their spirit and became a vigorous propagator of their particular +style of devotion. + +As the Quaker tenets respected the state as well as religion, the bold +avowal of them brought him into collision with the laws, and several +times into prison and banishment. But, so far from intimidating him, +this only the more confirmed him in his convictions and fervency. By +his familiarity with able theologians, such as Dr. Owen and Bishop +Tillotson, as well as from his own studies of the Scriptures, he was +deeply grounded in the main principles of the evangelic faith. Indeed, +he was in many things, in his later life, much less a Quaker than many +who glory in his name, and all his sons after him found their +religious home in the Church of England, which, to Quakers generally, +was a very Babylon. But he was an honest-minded, pure, and cultured +Christian believer, holding firmly to the inward elements of the +orthodox faith in God and Christ, in revelation and eternal judgment, +in the rights of man and the claims of justice. If some of his friends +and representatives did not deal as honorably with the Swedes in +respect to their prior titles to their improved lands as right and +charity would require, it is not to be set down to his personal +reproach. And his zeal for his sect and his genuine devotion to God +and religious liberty, together with a large-hearted philanthropy, +were the springs which moved him to seize the opportunity which +offered in the settlement of his deceased father's claim on the +government to secure a grant of territory and privilege to form a free +state in America--first for his own, and then for all other persecuted +people. + + +AN ESTIMATE OF PENN. + +It may be that Penn has been betimes a little overrated. He has, and +deserves, a high place in the history of our commonwealth, but he was +not the real founder of it; for its foundations were laid years before +he was born and more than forty years before he received his charter. +He founded Pennsylvania only as Americus Vespucius discovered America. +Neither was he the author of those elements of free government, equal +rights, and religious liberty which have characterized our +commonwealth. They were the common principles of Luther and the +Reformation, and were already largely embodied for this very +territory[34] long before Penn's endeavors, as also, in measure, in +the Roman Catholic colony of Maryland from the same source. + +Nor was he, in his own strength, possessed of so much wise forethought +and profound legislative and executive ability as that with which he +is sometimes credited. But he was a conscientious, earnest, and +God-fearing man, cultured by education and grace, gifted with +admirable address, sincere and philanthropic in his aims, and guided +and impelled by circumstances and a peculiar religious zeal which +Providence overruled to ends far greater than his own intentions or +thoughts. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[34] See sketch of the plan of Gustavus Adolphus for his colony, page +143, and the instructions given to Governor Printz in 1642. + + +PENN AND THE INDIANS. + +What is called Penn's particular policy toward the Indians, and the +means of his successes in that regard, existed in practical force +scores of years before he arrived. His celebrated treaties with them, +as far as they were fact, were but continuations and repetitions +between them and the English, which had long before been made between +them and the Swedes, who did more for these barbarian peoples than he, +and who helped him in the matter more than he helped himself. + +We are not fully informed respecting all the first instructions given +to Governor Minuit when he came hither with Pennsylvania's original +colony in 1637-38, but there is every reason to infer that they +strictly corresponded to those given to his successor, Governor +Printz, five years afterward, on his appointment in 1642, about which +there can be no question. Minuit entered into negotiations with the +Indians the very first thing on his landing, and purchased from them, +as the rightful proprietors, all the land on the western side of the +river from Henlopen to Trenton Falls; a deed for which was regularly +drawn up, to which the Indians subscribed their hands and marks. Posts +were also driven into the ground as landmarks of this treaty, which +were still visible in their places sixty years afterward. + +In the appointment and commission of Governor Printz it was commanded +him to "bear in mind the articles of contract entered into with the +wild inhabitants of the country as its rightful lords." "The wild +nations bordering on all other sides the governor shall understand how +to treat with all humanity and respect, that no violence, or wrong be +done them; but he shall rather at every opportunity exert himself that +the same wild people may gradually be instructed in the truths and +worship of the Christian religion, and in other ways brought to +civilization and good government, and in this manner properly guided. +Especially shall he seek to gain their confidence, and impress upon +their minds that neither he, the governor, nor his people and +subordinates, are come into those parts to do them any wrong or +injury." + +This policy was not a thing of mere coincidence. It was the express +stipulation and command of the throne of Sweden, August 15, 1642, +which was two years before William Penn was born; and "this policy was +steadily pursued and adhered to by the Swedes during the whole time of +their continuance in America, as the governors of the territory of +which they had thus acquired the possession; and the consequences were +of the most satisfactory character. They lived in peace with the +Indians, and received no injuries from them. The Indians respected +them, and long after the Swedish power had disappeared from the shores +of the Delaware they continued to cherish its memory and speak of it +with confidence and affection."[35] + +Governor Printz arrived in this country in 1642, and with him came +Rev. John Campanius as chaplain and pastor of the Swedish colony. His +grandson, Thomas Campanius Holm, many years after published numerous +items put on record by the elder Campanius, in which it appears that +the commands to Printz respecting the Indians were very scrupulously +carried out. + +According to these records, the Indians were very familiar at the +house of the elder Campanius, and he did much to teach and +Christianize them. "He generally succeeded in making them understand +that there is one Lord God, self-existent and one in three Persons; +how the same God made the world, and made man, from whom all other men +have descended; how Adam afterward disobeyed, sinned against his +Creator, and involved all his descendants in condemnation; how God +sent his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ into the world, who was born +of the Virgin Mary and suffered for the saving of men; how he died +upon the cross, and was raised again the third day; and, lastly, how, +after forty days, he ascended into heaven, whence he will return at a +future day to judge the living and the dead," etc. And so much +interest did they take in these instructions, and seemed so well +disposed to embrace Christianity, that Campanius was induced to study +and master their language, that he might the more effectually teach +them the religion of Christ. He also translated into the Indian +language the Catechism of Luther, perhaps the very first book ever put +into the Indian tongue. + +Campanius began his work of evangelizing these wild people four years +before Eliot, who is sometimes called "the morning star of missionary +enterprise," but who first commenced his labors in New England only in +1646. Hence Dr. Clay remarks that "the Swedes may claim the honor of +having been the first missionaries among the Indians, at least in +Pennsylvania."[36] "It was, _in fact, the Swedes who inaugurated the +peaceful policy of William Penn_. This was not an accidental +circumstance in the Swedish policy, but was deliberately adopted and +always carefully observed."[37] + +When Mr. Rising became governor of the Swedish colony he invited ten +Indian chiefs, or kings, to a friendly conference with him. It was +held at Tinicum, on the Delaware, June 17, 1654, when the governor +saluted them, in the name of the Swedish queen, with assurances of +every kindness toward them, and proposed to them a firm renewal of the +old friendship. Campanius has given a minute account of this +conference, and recites the speech in which one of the chiefs, named +Naaman, testified how good the Swedes had been to them; that the +Swedes and Indians had been in the time of Governor Printz as one body +and one heart; that they would henceforward be as one head, like the +calabash, which has neither rent nor seam, but one piece without a +crack; and that in case of danger to the Swedes they would ever serve +and defend them. It was at the same time further arranged and agreed +that if any trespasses were committed by any of their people upon the +property of the Swedes, the matter should be investigated by men +chosen from both sides, and the person found guilty "should be +punished for it as a warning to others."[38] This occurred when +William Penn was but ten years of age, and twenty-eight years before +his arrival in America. + +And upon the subject of the help which the Swedes rendered to Penn in +his dealings with these people in the long after years, Acrelius +writes: "The Proprietor ingratiated himself with the Indians. The +Swedes acted as his interpreters, especially Captain Lars (Lawrence) +Kock, who was a great favorite among the Indians. He was sent to New +York to buy goods suitable for traffic. He did all he could to give +them a good opinion of their new ruler" (p. 114); and it was by means +of the aid and endeavors of the Swedes, more than by any influence of +his own, that Penn came to the standing with these people to which he +attained, and on which his fame in that regard rests. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35] Introduction to Acrelius's _History_. + +[36] _Swedish Annals_, p. 26. + +[37] Dr. Reynolds's _Introduction to Acrelius_, p. 14. + +[38] See Acrelius's _History_, pp. 64, 65, and Clay's _Swedish +Annals_, pp. 24, 25. + + +PENN'S WORK. + +But still, as a man, a colonist, a governor, and a friend of the race, +we owe to William Penn great honor and respect, and his arrival here +is amply worthy of our grateful commemoration. The location and +framing of this goodly city, and a united and consolidated +Pennsylvania established finally in its original principles of common +rights and common freedom, are his lasting monument. If he was not +the spring of our colonial existence, he was its reinforcement by a +strong and fortunate stream, which more fully determined the channel +of its history. If the doctrine of liberty of conscience and religion, +the principles of toleration and common rights, and the embodying of +them in a free state open to all sufferers for conscience' sake, did +not originate with him, he performed a noble work and contributed a +powerful influence toward their final triumph and permanent +establishment on this territory. And his career, taken all in all, +connects his name with an illustrious service to the cause of freedom, +humanity, and even Christianity, especially in its more practical and +ethical bearings. + + +THE GREATNESS OF FAITH. + +Such, then, were the men most concerned in founding and framing our +grand old commonwealth. They were men of faith, men of thorough +culture, men of mark by birth and station, men who had learned to +grapple with the great problem of human rights, human happiness, human +needs, and human relations to heaven and earth. They believed in God, +in the revelation of God, in the Gospel of Christ, in the +responsibility of the soul to its Maker, and in the demands of a +living charity toward God and all his creatures. And their religious +faith and convictions constituted the fire which set them in motion +and sustained and directed their exertions for the noble ends which it +is ours so richly to enjoy. Had they not been the earnest Christians +that they were, they never could have been the men they proved +themselves, nor ever have thought the thoughts or achieved the +glorious works for ever connected with their names. + +We are apt to contemplate Christian faith and devotion only in its +more private and personal effects on individual souls, the light and +peace it brings to the true believer, and the purification and hope it +works in the hearts of those who receive it, whilst we overlook its +force upon the great world outside and its shapings of the facts and +currents of history. We think of Luther wrestling with his sins, +despairing and dying under the impossible task of working out for +himself an availing righteousness, and rejoice with him in the light +and peace which came to his agonized soul through the grand and +all-conditioning doctrine of justification by simple faith in an +all-sufficient Redeemer; but we do not always realize how the breaking +of that evangelic principle into his earnest heart was the +incarnation of a power which divided the Christian ages, brought the +world over the summit of the water-shed, and turned the gravitation of +the laboring nations toward a new era of liberty and happiness. And so +we refer to the spiritual training of a Gustavus Adolphus and an Axel +Oxenstiern in the simple truths of Luther's Catechism and the restored +Gospel, and to the opening of the heart of a William Penn to the +exhortations of Friend Loe to forsake the follies of the corrupt world +and seek his portion with the pure in heaven, and mark the unfoldings +of their better nature which those blessed instructions wrought; +whilst we fail to note that therein lay the springs and germs which +have given us our grand commonwealth and established for us the free +institutions of Church and State in which we so much glory and +rejoice. + +Ah, yes; there is greatness and good and blessing untold for man and +for the world in the personal hearing, believing, and heeding of the +Word and testimony of God. No man can tell to what new impulses in +human history, or to what new currents of benediction and continents +of national glory, it may lead for souls in the school of Christ to +open themselves meekly to the inflowings of Heaven's free grace. It +was the sowing of God's truth and the planting of God's Spirit in +these men's hearts that most of all grew for us our country and our +blessed liberties. + + + + +II. THE PRINCIPLES ENTHRONED. + + +The religious element in man is the deepest and most powerful in his +nature. It is that also which asserts and claims the greatest +independence from external constraints. It is therefore the height of +unwisdom, not to say tyranny, for earthly magistracy to interfere by +penalty and sword with the religious opinions and movements of the +people, so long as civil authority and public order are not invaded +and the rights of others are not infringed. In such cases it is always +best to combat only with the Word of God. If of men it will come to +naught, and if of God it cannot be suppressed. Reaction against wrongs +done to truth and right is sure to come, and will push through to +revolution and victory in spite of all unrighteous power. It is vain +for any human governments to think to chain up the honest convictions +of the soul. God made it free, and sooner or later it will be free, in +spite of everything. + +It was largely the weight and current of such reaction against +arbitrary interference with the religious convictions and free +conscience of man that furnished the impulse to the original peopling +of our State and country, and gave shape to the constitution and laws +of this commonwealth for the last two hundred years. Nor will our +inquiries and showings with regard to the founding of Pennsylvania be +complete without something more respecting the leading principles +which governed in that fortunate movement. + + +OUR STATE THE PRODUCT OF FAITH. + +I. It is a matter of indisputable fact that the founding of our +commonwealth was one of the direct fruits of the revived Gospel of +Christ. But a little searching into the influences most active in the +history is required to show that it was religious conviction and +faith, more than anything else, that had to do with the case. + +Changes had come. Luther had found the Bible chained, and set it free. +Apostolic Christianity had reappeared, and was re-uttering itself with +great power among the nations. Its quickening truths and growing +victories were undermining the gigantic usurpations and falsehoods +which for ages had been oppressing our world. Conscience, illuminated +and revived by the Word of God, had risen up to assert its rights of +free judgment and free worship, and resentful power had drawn the +sword to put it down. Continental Europe was being deluged with blood +and devastated by relentless religious wars to crush out the evangelic +faith, whose confessors held up the Bible over all popes and secular +powers, and would not consent to part with their inalienable charter +from the throne of Heaven to worship God according to his Word. And +amid these woeful struggles the good providence of the Almighty opened +up to the attention of the nations the vast new territories of this +Western World. + +From various motives, indeed, were the several original colonies of +America founded. Some of the colonists came from a spirit of +adventure. Some came for territorial aggrandizement and national +enrichment. Some came as mercantile speculators. And each of these +considerations may have entered somewhat into the most of these +colonization schemes. But it was mainly flight from oppression on +account of religious convictions which influenced the first colony of +New England, and a still freer religious motive induced the +colonization of Pennsylvania. + +All the men most concerned in the matter were profoundly religious +men and thorough and active believers in revived Christianity; and it +was most of all from these religious feelings and impulses that they +acted in the case. + + +GUSTAVUS AND THE SWEDES. + +The first presentation to the king of Sweden, by William Usselinx, +touching the planting of a colony on the west bank of the Delaware, +looked to the establishment of a trading company with unlimited +trading privileges; and the argument for it was the great source of +revenue it would be to the kingdom. But when Gustavus Adolphus entered +into the subject and gave his royal favor to it, quite other motives +and considerations came in to determine his course. As the history +records, and quite aside from the prospect of establishing his power +in these parts of the world, "the king, whose zeal for the honor of +God was not less ardent than for the welfare of his subjects, _availed +himself of this opportunity to extend the doctrines of Christ among +the heathen_,"[39] and to this end granted letters patent, in which it +was further provided that a free state should be formed, guaranteeing +all personal rights of property, honor, and religion, and forming an +asylum and place of security for the persecuted people of all nations. +And when these gracious intentions of the king were revived after his +death, the same ideas and provisions were carefully maintained, +specially stipulating (1) for every human respect toward the +Indians--to wit, that the governors of the colony should deal justly +with them as the rightful lords of the land, and exert themselves at +every opportunity "that the same wild people may be instructed in the +truths and worship of the Christian religion, and in other ways +brought to civilization and good government, and in this manner +properly guided;" (2) "above all things to consider and see to it that +divine service be duly maintained and zealously performed according to +the unaltered Augsburg Confession;" and (3) to protect those of a +different confession in the free exercise of their own forms.[40] + +It is plain, therefore, that the spirit of religion, the spirit of +evangelical missions, the spirit of Christian charity, and the spirit +of devotion to the protection of religious liberty and freedom of +conscience were the dominating motives on the part of those who +founded the first permanent settlement on the territory of +Pennsylvania. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[39] _History of New Sweden_, by Israel Acrelius, p. 21. + +[40] Rehearsed in the commission to Governor Printz, 1642, sections 9 +and 26. + + +THE FEELINGS OF WILLIAM PENN. + +Bating somewhat the missionary character of the enterprise, the same +may be said of William Penn and his great reinforcement to what had +thus been successfully begun long before his time. He was himself a +very zealous preacher of religion, though more in the line of protest +against the world and the existing Church than in the line of positive +Christianity and the conversion and evangelization of the heathen. He +had himself been a great sufferer for his religious convictions, along +with the people whose cause he had espoused and made his own. His +controlling desire was to honor and glorify God in the founding of a +commonwealth in which those of his way of thinking might have a secure +home of their own and worship their Creator as best agreed with their +feelings and convictions, without being molested or disturbed; +offering at the same time the same precious boon to others in like +constraints willing to share the lot of his endeavors. + +The motives of Charles II. in granting his charter were, first of +all, to discharge a heavy pecuniary claim of Penn against the +government on account of his father; next, to honor the memory and +merits of the late Admiral Penn; and, finally, at the same time, to +"favor William Penn in his laudable efforts to enlarge the British +empire, to promote the trade and prosperity of the kingdom, and to +reduce the savage nations by just and gentle measures to the love of +civilized life and the Christian religion." Penn's idea, as stated by +his memorialist, was "to obtain the grant of a territory on the west +side of the Delaware, in which he might not only furnish an asylum to +Friends (Quakers), and others who were persecuted on account of their +religious persuasion, but might erect a government upon principles +approaching much nearer the standard of evangelical purity than any +which had been previously raised." + +His own account of the matter is: "For my country I eyed the Lord in +obtaining it; and more was I drawn inward to look to him, and to owe +it to his hand and power, than to any other way. I have so obtained +it, and desire to keep it, that I may not be unworthy of his love, but +do that which may answer his kind providence and serve his truth and +people, that an example may be set up to the nations. There may be +room there, though not here, for such an holy experiment." "I do +therefore desire the Lord's wisdom to guide me and those that may be +concerned with me, that we may do the thing that is truly wise and +just." + +And with these aims and this spirit he invited people to join him, +came to the territory which had been granted him, conferred with the +Swedish and Dutch colonists already on the ground, and together with +them established the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. + + +RECOGNITION OF THE DIVINE BEING. + +II. Accordingly, also, the chief corner-stone in the constitutional +fabric of our State was the united official acknowledgment of the +being and supremacy of one eternal and ever-living God, the Judge of +all men and the Lord of nations. + +The self-existence and government of Almighty God is the foundation of +all things. Nothing _is_ without him. And the devout and dutiful +recognition of him and the absolute supremacy of his laws are the +basis and chief element of everything good and stable in human +affairs. He who denies this or fails in its acknowledgment is so far +practically self-stultified, beside himself, outside the sphere of +sound rationality, and incapable of rightly understanding or directing +himself or anything else. Nor could those who founded our commonwealth +have been moved as they were, or achieved the happy success they did, +had it not been for their clear, profound, and practical +acknowledgment of the being and government of that good and almighty +One who fills immensity and eternity, and from whom, and by whom, and +to whom are all things. + +Some feel and act as if it were an imbecility, or a thing only for the +weak, timid, and helpless, to be concerned about an Almighty God. But +greater, braver, and more manly men did not then exist than those who +were most prominent and active in founding and framing our +commonwealth; and of all men then making themselves felt in the +affairs of our world, they were among the most honest and devout in +the practical confession of the eternal being and providence of +Jehovah. + +The great Gustavus Adolphus and the equally great Axel Oxenstiern held +and confessed from their deepest souls and in all their thoughts and +doings that there is an eternal God, infinite in power, wisdom, and +goodness, the Creator, Preserver, and Judge of all things, visible and +invisible, and that on him and his favor alone all good and +prosperity in this world and the next depends. This they ever formally +and devoutly set forth in all their state papers and in all their +undertakings and doings, whether as men or as rulers. The sound of +songs and prayers to this almighty and ever-present God was heard at +every sunrise through all the army of Gustavus in the field, as well +as in the tent and closet of its great commander. And all the +instructions given to the governors of the colony on the Delaware were +meekly conditioned to the will of God, with specific emphasis on the +provision: "Above all things, shall the governor consider and see to +it that a true and due worship, becoming honor, laud, and praise be +paid to the Most High in all things." + +The same is true of William Penn. From early life he was always a +zealous exhorter to the devout worship of Almighty God as the only +Illuminator and Helper of men. What he averred in his letter to the +Indians was the great root-principle of his life: "There is a great +God and Power, which hath made the world and all things therein, to +whom you and I and all people owe their being and well-being, and to +whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we have done +in this world." + +And what was thus wrought into the texture of his being he also wove +into the original constitution of our State. + + +ENACTMENTS ON THE SUBJECT. + +All the articles of government and regulation ordained by the first +General Assembly, held at Upland (Chester) from the seventh to the +tenth day of December, 1682, were fundamentally grounded on this +express "Whereas, the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is +the reason and end of government, and therefore government itself is a +valuable ordinance of God; and forasmuch as it is principally desired +to make and establish such laws as shall best preserve true Christian +and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and +unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, Caesar his due, and the +people their due, from tyranny and oppression on the one side, and +insolence and licentiousness on the other; so that the best and +firmest foundation may be laid for the present and future happiness of +both the governor and the people of this province and their +posterity;" for it was deemed and believed on all hands that neither +permanence nor happiness, enduring order nor prosperity, could come +from any other principle than that of the recognition of the supremacy +and laws of Him from whom all things proceed and on whom all creatures +depend. + +On this wise also ran the very first of the sixty-one laws ordained by +that Assembly: "Almighty God being the Lord of conscience, Father of +lights, and the Author as well as Object of all divine knowledge, +faith, and worship, who alone can enlighten the mind and convince the +understanding of people in due reverence to his sovereignty over the +souls of mankind," the rights of citizenship, protection, and liberty +should be to every person, then or thereafter residing in this +province, "who shall confess one Almighty God to be the Creator, +Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and profess himself obliged in +conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government;" +provided, further, that no person antagonizing this confession, or +refusing to profess the same, or convicted of unsober or dishonest +conversation, should ever hold office in this commonwealth. + +And so entirely did this, and what else was then and there enacted and +ordained, fall in with the teachings, feelings, and beliefs of the +hardy and devoted Swedish Lutherans, who had here been professing and +fulfilling the same for two scores of years preceding, that they not +only joined in the making of these enactments, but sent a special +deputation to the governor formally to assure him that, on these +principles and the faithful administration of them, they would love, +serve, and obey him with all they possessed. + + +IMPORTANCE OF THIS PRINCIPLE. + +Nor can it ever be known in this world how much of the success, +prosperity, and happy conservatism which have marked this commonwealth +in all the days and years since, have come directly from this planting +of it on the grand corner-stone of all national stability, order, and +happiness. Surely, a widely different course and condition of things +would have come but for this secure anchoring of the ship on the +everlasting Rock. And a thousand pities it is that the influence of +French atheism was allowed to exclude so wholesome a principle from +the Declaration of our national Independence and from our national +Constitution. Whilst such recognition of Jehovah's supremacy and +government abides in living force in the hearts of the people, the +absence of its official formulation may be of no material +disadvantage; but for the better preservation of it in men's minds, +and for the obstruction of the insidious growth of what strikes at the +foundation of all government and order, it would have been well had +the same been put in place as the grand corner-stone of our whole +national fabric, as it was in the original organization of the +Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and kept in both clear and unchangeable +for ever. We might then hope for better things than are indicated by +the present drift, and the outlook for those to come after us would be +less dark and doubtful than it is. + +But, since weakenings and degeneration in these respects have come +into the enactments of public power, it is all the more needful for +every true and patriotic citizen to be earnest and firm in witnessing +for God and his everlasting laws, that the people may be better than +the later expressions of their state documents. The example of the +fathers makes appeal to the consciences of their children not to let +go from our hearts and lives the deep and abiding recognition and +confession of that almighty Governor of all things from whose +righteous tribunal no one living can escape, and before whom no +contemner of his authority can stand. + + +RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. + +III. Another great and precious principle enthroned in the founding of +our commonwealth was that of religious liberty. + +One of the saddest chapters in human history is that of persecution on +account of religious convictions--the imposition of penalties, +torture, and death by the sword of government on worthy people because +of their honest opinions of duty to Almighty God. For the punishment +of the lawless, the wicked, and the intractable, and for the praise, +peace, and protection of them that do well, the civil magistrate is +truly the authorized representative of God, and fails in his office +and duty where the powers he wields are not studiously and vigorously +exercised to these ends. But God hath reserved to himself, and hath +not committed to any creature hands, the power and dominion to +interfere with realm of conscience. As he alone can instruct and +govern it, and as its sphere is that of the recognition of his will +and law and the soul's direct amenability to his judgment-bar, it is a +gross usurpation and a wicked presumption for any other authority or +power to undertake to force obedience contrary to the soul's +persuasion of what its Maker demands of it as a condition of his +favor. + +It is a principle of human action and obligation recognized in both +Testaments, that when the requirements of human authority conflict +with those of the Father of spirits we must obey God rather than man. +The rights of conscience and the rights of God thus coincide, and to +trample on the one is to deny the other. And when earthly governments +invade this sacred territory they invade the exclusive domain of God +and make war upon the very authority from which they have their right +to be. + +The plea of its necessity for the support of orthodoxy, the +maintenance of the truth, and the glory of God will not avail for its +justification, for God has not ordained civil government to inflict +imprisonment, exile, and death upon religious dissenters, or even +heretics; and his truth and glory he has arranged to take care of in +quite another fashion. What Justin Martyr and Tertullian in the early +Church and Luther in the Reformation-time declared, must for ever +stand among the settled verities of Heaven: that it is not right to +murder, burn, and afflict people because they feel in conscience bound +to a belief and course of life which they have found and embraced as +the certain will and requirement of their Maker. We must ward off +heresy with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and not +with the sword of the state and with fire. + + +PERSECUTION FOR OPINION'S SAKE. + +And yet such abuses of power have been staining and darkening all the +ages of human administration, and, unfortunately, among professing +Christians as well as among pagans and Jews. Intolerance is so rooted +in the selfishness and ambition of human nature that it has ever been +one of the most difficult of practical problems to curb and regulate +it. Those who have most complained of it whilst feeling it, often only +needed to have the circumstances reversed in order to fall into +similar wickedness. The Puritans, who fled from it as from the Dragon +himself, soon had their Star-Chamber too, their whipping-posts, their +death-scaffolds, and their sentences of exile for those who dissented +from their orthodoxy and their order. Even infidelity and atheism, +always the most blatant for freedom when in the minority, have shown +in the philosophy of Hobbes and in the Reign of Terror in France that +they are as liable to be intolerant, fanatical, and oppressive when +they have the mastery as the strongest faith and the most assured +religionism. And the Quakers themselves, who make freedom of +conscience one of the chief corner-stones of their religion, have not +always been free from offensive and disorderly aggressions upon the +rightful sphere of government and the rightful religious freedom of +other worshipers. Even so treacherous is the human heart on the +subject of just and equal religious toleration. + + +SPIRIT OF THE FOUNDERS. + +It is therefore a matter of everlasting gratitude and thanksgiving +that all the men most concerned in the founding of our commonwealth +were so clear and well-balanced on the subject of religious liberty, +and so thoroughly inwove the same into its organic constitution. + +Gustavus Adolphus and Axel Oxenstiern were the heroes of their time in +the cause of religious liberty in continental Europe. Though intensely +troubled in their administration by the Roman Catholics and the +Anabaptists, the most intolerant of intolerants in those days, they +never opposed force against the beliefs or worships of either; and +when force was used against the papal powers, it was only so far as to +preserve unto themselves and their fellow-confessors the inalienable +right to worship God according to the dictates of their own +consciences without molestation or disturbance. In their scheme of +colonization in this Western World, first and last, the invitation was +to all classes of Christians in suffering and persecution for +conscience' sake, who were favorable to a free state where they could +have the free enjoyment of their property and religion, to cast in +their lot. In the first charter, confirmed by all the authorities of +the kingdom and rehearsed in the instructions given by the throne for +the execution of the intention, special provision was made for the +protection of the convictions and worship of those not of the same +confession with that for which the government provided. Though a +Lutheran colony, under a Lutheran king, sustained and protected by a +Lutheran government, the Calvinists had place and equal protection in +it from the very beginning; and when the Quakers came, they were at +once and as freely welcomed on the same free principles, as also the +representatives of the Church of England. + +As to William Penn, though contemplating above all the well-being and +furtherance of the particular Society of which he was an eminent +ornament and preacher, consistency with himself, as well as the +established situation of affairs, demanded of him the free toleration +of the Church, however unpalatable to his Society, and with it of all +religious sects and orders of worship. From his prison at Newgate he +had written that the enaction of laws restraining persons from the +free exercise of their consciences in matters of religion was but "the +knotting of whipcord on the part of the enactors to lash their own +posterity, whom they could never promise to be conformed for ages to +come to a national religion." Again and again had he preached and +proclaimed the folly and wickedness of attempting to change the +religious opinions of men by the application of force--the utter +unreasonableness of persecuting orderly people in this world about +things which belong to the next--the gross injustice of sacrificing +any one's liberty or property on account of creed if not found +breaking the laws relating to natural and civil things. + +Hence, from principle as well as from necessity, when he came to +formulate a political constitution for his colony, he laid it down as +the primordial principle: "I do, for me and mine, declare and +establish for the first fundamental of the government of my province +that every person that doth and shall reside therein shall have and +enjoy the free possession of his or her faith and exercise of worship +toward God, in such way and manner as every such person shall in +conscience believe is most acceptable to God. And so long as such +person useth not this Christian liberty to licentiousness or the +destruction of others--that is, to speak loosely and profanely or +contemptuously of God, Christ, the Holy Scriptures, or religion, or +commit any moral evil or injury against others in their +conversation--he or she shall be protected in the enjoyment of the +aforesaid Christian liberty by the civil magistrate." + + +CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS. + +This was in exact accord with the principles and provisions under +which the original colony had been formed, and had already been living +and prospering for more than forty years preceding. Everything, +therefore, was in full readiness and condition for the universal and +hearty adoption of the grand first article enacted by the first +General Assembly, to wit: "That no person now or hereafter residing in +this province, who shall confess one Almighty God to be the Creator, +Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and profess himself obliged in +conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government, +shall in any wise be molested or prejudiced on account of his +conscientious persuasion or practice; nor shall he be compelled to +frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry +contrary to his mind, but shall freely enjoy his liberty in that +respect, without interruption or reflection." + +In these specific provisions all classes in the colony at the time +heartily united. And thus was secured and guaranteed to every good +citizen that full, rightful, and precious religious freedom which is +the birthright of all Americans, for which the oppressed of all the +ages sighed, and which had to make its way through a Red Sea of human +tears and blood and many a sorrowful wilderness before reaching its +place of rest. + + +SAFEGUARDS TO TRUE LIBERTY. + +IV. But the religious liberty which our fathers thus sought to secure +and to transmit to their posterity was not a licentious libertinism. +They knew the value of religious principles and good morals to the +individual and to the state, and they did not leave it an open +matter, under plea of free conscience, for men to conduct themselves +as they please with regard to virtue and religion. + +To be disrespectful toward divine worship, to interfere with its free +exercise as honest men are moved to render it, or to set at naught the +moral code of honorable behavior in human society, is never the +dictate of honest conviction of duty, and, in the nature of things, +cannot be. It is not conscience, but the overriding of conscience; +nay, rebellion against the whole code of conscience, against the +foundations of all government, against the very existence of civil +society. Liberty to blaspheme Almighty God, to profane his name and +ordinances, to destroy his worship, and to set common morality at +naught, is not religious liberty, but disorderly wickedness, a cloak +of maliciousness, the licensing of the devil as an angel of light. It +belongs to mere brute liberty, which must be restrained and brought +under bonds in order to render true liberty possible. Wild and lawless +freedom must come under the restraints and limits of defined order, +peace, and essential morality, or somebody's freedom must suffer, and +social happiness is out of the question. And it is one of the inherent +aims and offices of government to enforce this very constraint, +without which it totally fails of its end and forfeits its right to +be. Where people are otherwise law-abiding, orderly, submissive to the +requisites for the being and well-being of a state, and abstain from +encroachments upon the liberties of others, they are not to be +molested, forced, or compelled in spiritual matters contrary to their +honest convictions; but public blasphemy, open profanity, disorderly +interference with divine worship and reverence, and the hindrance of +what tends to the preservation of good morals, it pertains to the +existence and office of a state to restrain and punish. Severity upon +such disorders is not tyrannical abridgment of the rights of +conscience, for no proper citizen's conscience can ever prompt or +constrain him to any such things. And everything which tends to weaken +and destroy regard for the eternal Power on which all things depend, +to relax the sense of accountability to the divine judgment, and to +trample on the laws of eternal morality, is the worst enemy of the +state, which it cannot allow without peril to its own existence. + +On the other hand, the state is bound for the same reasons to protect +and defend religion in general and the cultivation of the religious +sentiments, in so far, at least, as the laws of virtue and order are +not transgressed in the name of religion. It may not interfere to +decide between different religious societies or churches, as they may +be equally conscientious and honest in their diversities; but where +the tendency is to good and reverence, and the training of the +community to right and orderly life, it belongs to the office and +being of the state not only to tolerate, but to protect them all +alike. In the fatherly care of its subjects, the people consenting, +the state may also recommend and provide support for some particular +and approved order of faith and worship, just as it provides for +public education. And though the civil power may not rightfully +punish, fine, imprison, and oppress orderly and honest citizens for +conscientious non-conformity to any one specific system of belief and +worship, it may, and must, provide for and protect what tends to its +rightful conservation, and also condemn, punish, and restrain +whatsoever tends to unseat it and undermine its existence and peace. +These are fundamental requirements in all sound political economy. + + +LAWS ON RELIGION AND MORALS. + +Our fathers, in their wisdom, understood this, and fashioned their +state provisions and laws accordingly. + +The thing specified as the supreme concern of the public authorities +in the original settlement of this territory by the Swedes was, to +"consider and see to it that a true and due worship, becoming honor, +laud, and praise be paid to the most high God in all things," and that +"all persons, but especially the young, shall be duly instructed in +the articles of their Christian faith." + +But if public worship and religious instruction are to be fostered and +preserved by the state, there must be set times for it, the people +released at those times from hindering occupations and engagements, +and whatever may interfere therewith restrained and put under bonds +against interruption. In other words, the Lord's proper worship +demands and requires a protected Lord's Day. Such appointed and sacred +times for these holy purposes have been from the foundation of the +world. Under all dispensations one day in every seven was a day unto +the Lord, protected and preserved for such sacred uses, on which +secular occupations should cease, and nothing allowed which would +interfere with the public worship of Almighty God and the handling of +his Word. And "because it was requisite to appoint a certain day, that +the people might know when they ought to come together, it appears +that the Christian Church [and so all Christian states] did for that +purpose appoint the Lord's Day," our weekly Sunday. + +This William Penn found in existence and observance by the Swedes and +the Dutch on this territory when he arrived. He therefore advised, and +the first General Assembly of Pennsylvania justly ordained, "that, +according to the good example of the primitive Christians and the ease +of the creation, every first day of the week, called the Lord's Day, +people shall abstain from their common daily labor, that they may the +better dispose themselves to worship God according to their +understandings"--a provision so necessary and important that the +statute laws of our commonwealth have always guarded its observance +with penalties which the State cannot in justice to itself allow to go +unenforced, and which no good citizen should refuse strictly to obey. + +And to the same end was it provided and ordained by the first General +Assembly that "if any person shall abuse or deride another for his +different persuasion or practice in religion, such shall be looked +upon as disturbers of the peace, and be punished accordingly." And in +the line of the same wholesome and necessary policy it was also +further provided and ordained that "all such offences against God as +swearing, cursing, lying, profane talking, drunkenness, obscene words, +revels, etc. etc., which excite the people to rudeness, cruelty, and +irreligion, shall be respectively discouraged and severely punished." + +Such were the good and righteous provisions made for the restraint of +the licentiousness and brutishness of man in the primeval days of our +commonwealth; and wherein it has since sunk away from these original +organic laws the people have only weakened and degraded themselves, +and hindered that virtuous and happy prosperity which would otherwise +in far larger degree than now be our inheritance. + + +FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. + +V. And yet again, as the fathers of our commonwealth gave us religion +without compulsion, so they also gave us a State without a king. + +There is nothing necessarily wrong or necessarily right in this +particular. Monarchy, aristocracy, republicanism, or pure democracy +cannot claim divine right the one over against the other. Either may +be good, or either may be bad, as the situation and the chances may +be. There has been as much bloody wrong and ruin wrought in the name +of liberty as in the establishment of thrones. There have been as good +and happy governments by kings as by any other methods of human +administration. Civil authority is essential to man, and the power for +it must lie somewhere. The only question is as to the safest +depository of it. The mere form of the government is no great matter. +It has been justly said, "There is hardly a government in the world so +ill designed that in good hands would not do well enough, nor any so +good that in ill hands can do aught great and good." Governments +depend on men, not men on governments. Let men be good, and the +government will not be bad; but if men are bad, no government will +hold for good. If government be bad, good men will cure it; and if the +government be good, bad men will warp and spoil it. Nor is there any +form of government known to man that is not liable to abuse, +prostitution, tyranny, unrighteousness, and oppression. + +The best government is that which most efficiently conserves the true +ends of government, be the form what it may. Anything differing from +this is worthless sentimentalism, undeserving of sober regard. And to +meet the true ends of government there must be power to enforce +obedience, and there must be checks upon that power to secure its +subjects against its abuse; for "liberty without obedience is +confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery." But there may be +liberty under monarchy, as well as reverence and obedience under +democracy, whilst there may be oppression and bloody tyranny under +either. + +Amid the varied experiments of the ages the human mind is more and +more settling itself in favor of mixed forms of government, in which +the rights of the people and the limitations of authority are set down +in fixed constitutions, taking the direct rule from the multitude, but +still holding the rulers accountable to the people. Such were more or +less the forms under which the founders of our commonwealth were +tutored. + + +A REPUBLICAN STATE. + +But they went a degree further than the precedents before them. They +believed the safest depository of power to be with the people +themselves, under constitutions ordained by those intending to live +under them and administered by persons of their own choice. "Where +the laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws," was believed +to be the true ideal and realization of civil liberty--the way "to +support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people +from the abuse of power, that they may be free by their just +obedience, and the magistrates honorable for their just +administration." + +And with these ideas, "with reverence to God and good conscience to +men," the first General Assembly in 1682 enacted a common code of +sixty-one laws, in which the foundation-stones of the civil and +criminal jurisprudence of this broad commonwealth were laid, and a +style of government ordained so reasonable, moderate, just, and equal +in its provisions that no one yet has found just cause to deny the +wisdom and beneficence of its structure, whilst Montesquieu pronounces +it "an instance unparalleled in the world's history of the foundation +of a great state laid in peace, justice, and equality." + + +THE LAST TWO HUNDRED YEARS. + +Two hundred years have gone by since this completed organization of +our noble commonwealth. Her free and liberal principles then still +remained in large measure to be learned by some of the other American +colonies. From the very start she was the chief conservator of what +was to be the model for all this grand Union of free States--a +character which she has never lost in all the history of our national +existence. Six generations of stalwart freemen has she reared beneath +her shielding care to people her own vast territory and that of many +other States, no one of which has ever failed in truthfulness to the +great principles in which she was born. Always more solid than noisy, +and more reserved than obtrusive, she has ever served as the great +balance-wheel in the mighty engine of our national organization. Her +life, commingled with other lives attempered to her own, now pulsates +from ocean to ocean and from the frozen lakes to the warm Gulf waters, +all glad and glorious in the unity and sunshine of constitutional +government in the hands of a free people. With her population drawn +from all nationalities to learn from her lips the sacred lessons of +independent self-rule, she has sent it forth as freely to the westward +to build co-equal States in the beauty of her own image, whilst four +millions of her children still abide in growing happiness under her +maternal care. Verily, it was the spirit of prophecy which said, two +hundred years ago, "_God will bless that ground_." + +That blessing we have lived to see. May it continue for yet many +centennials, and grow as it endures! May the faith and spirit of the +men through whose piety and wisdom it has come still warm and animate +the hearts of their successors to the latest generations! May no +careless or corrupt administration of justice or "looseness" or +infidelities of the people come in to bring down the wrath of Heaven +for its interruption! May the sterling principles of our happy freedom +be made good to us and our posterity by the good keeping of them in +honest virtue and obedience, and in due reverence of Him who gave +them, and who is the God and Judge of nations! May those sacred +conditions of the divine favor "which descend not with worldly +inheritances" be so embedded in the training and education of our +youth that the spirit of the children may not be a libel on the faith +and devotion of their fathers! + +Centuries have passed, but the God of Gustavus Adolphus, of the +Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock, of William Penn, and of the hero-saints of +every age and country still lives and reigns. Men may deny it, but +that does not alter it. His government and Gospel are the same now +that they have ever been. What he most approved and blessed in their +days he most approves and blesses in ours. And may their fear and love +of him be to us and our children a copy and a guide, to steer in +safety amid the dangerous rapids of these doubtful times! + +"And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province, named +before thou wert born! what love, what care, what service, and what +travail has there been to bring thee forth and preserve thee from such +as would abuse and defile thee! My soul prays to God for thee, that +thou mayest stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be +blessed of the Lord, and thy people saved by his power." + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Luther and the Reformation:, by Joseph A. 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