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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/7970-8.txt b/7970-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3161d0b --- /dev/null +++ b/7970-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18293 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Luther, by Julius Koestlin + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Life of Luther + +Author: Julius Koestlin + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7970] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 8, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF LUTHER *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Anne Folland, +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Illustration: LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in the Town +Church at Weimar.)] + + + + +LIFE OF LUTHER + +BY + +JULIUS KOSTLIN + + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS from AUTHENTIC SOURCES + + +TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN + + + + +_AUTHOR'S DEDICATION_ + +TO + +MY DEAR WIFE PAULINE + +WITH THE WORDS OF LUTHER + +'God's highest gift on earth is to have a pious, cheerful, +God-fearing, home-keeping wife.' + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE. + +No German has ever influenced so powerfully as Luther the religious +life, and, through it, the whole history, of his people; none has +ever reflected so faithfully, in his whole personal character and +conduct, the peculiar features of that life and history, and been +enabled by that very means to render us a service so effectual and +so popular. If we recall to fresh life and remembrance the great men +of past ages, we Germans shall always put Luther in the van: for us +Protestants, the object of our love and veneration, who will not +prevent, however, or prejudice the most candid historical inquiry; +for others, a rock of offence, whom even slander and falsehood will +never overcome. + +I have already in my larger work, 'Martin Luther: his Life and +Writings,' 2 vols., 1875, put together all the materials available +for that subject, together with the necessary references, historical +and critical, and have endeavoured to explain and illustrate at +length the subject matter of his various writings. I now offer this +sketch of his life to the wide circle of what are called educated +German readers. For further explanations and proofs of statements +herein contained I would refer them to my larger work. Further +investigation has prompted me to make some alterations, but only a +few, in matters of detail. + +For the illustrations and illustrative documents I beg to express my +warm thanks, and those of the publisher, to the friends who have +kindly assisted us in the work. + +J. KOSTLIN, Professor at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. + +_Oct_. 31, 1881, the anniversary of Luther's 95 Theses. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +PART I. + +_LUTHER'S CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, UP TO HIS ENTERING THE +CONVENT.--1483-1505._ + +I. Birth and Parentage + +II. Childhood and School-days + +III. Student-days at Erfurt and Entry into the Convent.--1501-1505 + + +PART II. + +_LUTHER AS MONK AND PROFESSOR, UNTIL HIS ENTRY ON THE WAR OF +REFORMATION.--1505-1517._ + +I. At the Convent at Erfurt, till 1508 + +II. Call to Wittenberg. Journey to Rome + +III. Luther as Theological Teacher, to 1517 + + +PART III. + +_THE BREACH WITH ROME, UP TO THE DIET OF WORMS.--1517-1521._ + +I. The Ninety-five Theses + +II. The Controversy concerning Indulgences + +III. Luther at Angsburg before Caietan. Appeal to a Council + +IV. Miltitz and the Disputation at Leipzig, with its Results + +V. Luther's further Work, Writings, and Inward Progress until 1520 + +VI. Alliance with the Humanists and Nobility + +VII. Crisis of Secession: Luther's Works--to the Christian Nobility +of the German Nation, and on the Babylonian Captivity. + +VIII. The Bull of Excommunication, and Luther's Reply + +IX. The Diet of Worms + + +PART IV. + +_FROM THE DIET OF WORMS TO THE PEASANTS' WAR AND LUTHER'S +MARRIAGE._ + +I. Luther at the Wartburg, to his Visit to Wittenberg in 1521. + +II. Luther's further Sojourn at the Wartburg, and his Return to +Wittenberg, 1522 + +III. Luther's Reappearance and fresh Labours at Wittenberg, 1522 + +IV. Luther and his anti-Catholic work of Reformation, up to 1525 + +V. The Reformer against the Fanatics and Peasants, up to 1525 + +VI. Luther's Marriage + + +PART V. + +_LUTHER AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CHURCH, TO THE FIRST +RELIGIOUS PEACE.--1525-1532._ + +I. Survey + +II. Continued Labours and Personal Life + +III. Erasmus and Henry VIII. Controversy with Zwingli and his +Followers, up to 1528 + +IV. Church Divisions in Germany. War with the Turks. The Conference +at Marburg, 1529 + +V. The Diet of Augsburg, and Luther at Coburg, 1530 + +VI. From the Diet of Augsburg to the Religious Peace of Nüremberg, +1632. Death of the Elector John + + +PART VI. + +_FROM THE RELIGIOUS PEACE OF NÜREMBERG TO THE DEATH OF LUTHER._ + +I. Luther under John Frederick + +II. Negotiations respecting a Council and Union among the +Protestants. The Legate Vergerius, 1535. The Wittenberg Concord, +1536 + +III. Negotiations respecting a Council and Union among the +Protestants (continued). The Meeting at Schmalkald, 1537. Peace with +the Swiss. + +IV. Other Labours and Proceedings, 1533-39. The Archbishop Albert +and Schönitz. Agricola + +V. Luther and the Progress and Internal Troubles of Protestantism, +1538-41 + +VI. Luther and the Progress and Internal Troubles of Protestantism +(continued), 1541-44 + +VII. Luther's Later Life; Domestic and Personal + +VIII. Luther's Last Year and Death + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in the Town Church at Weimar) + +1. COAT OF ARMS + +2. HANS LUTHER + +3. MARGARET LUTHER + +4. LUTHER'S CELL AT ERFURT + +5. STAUPITZ. (From the Portrait in St. Peter's Convent at Salzburg) +FACSIMILE FROM LUTHER'S PSALTER, AT WOLFENBUTTEL + +6. TITLE AND PREFACE OF PENITENTIAL PSALMS + +7. SPALATIN. (From L. Cranach's Portrait) + +8. ERASMUS. (From the Portrait by A. Dürer) + +9. LEO X. (From his Portrait by Raphael) FACSIMILE OF PLACARD OF +INDULGENCES, 1517 + +10. THE ABCHBISHOP ALBERT. (From Dürer's engraving) + +11. TITLE-PAGE OF A PAMPHLET WRITTEN AT THE BEGINNING OF THE +REFORMATION, with an Illustration showing the Sale of Indulgences + +12. THE CASTLE CHURCH. (From the Wittenberg Book of Relics, 1509) + +13. THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. (From his Portrait by Albert Dürer) + +14. DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. (From an old woodcut) + +15. LUTHER. (From an engraving of Cranach, in 1520) + +16. DR. JOHN ECK. (From an old woodcut) + +17. MELANCTHON. (From a Portrait by Dürer) + +18. LUCAS CRANACH. (From a Portrait by himself) + +19. W. PIRKHEIMER. (From a Portrait by Albert Dürer) + +20. ULRICH VON HUTTEN. (From an old woodcut) + +21. FRANCIS VON SICKINGEN. (From an old engraving) + +22. TITLE-PAGE OF THE SECOND EDITION OF LUTHER'S TREATISE TO THE +CHRISTIAN NOBILITY OF THE GERMAN NATION + +23. TITLE-PAGE, slightly reduced, of the original Tract 'On the +Liberty of a Christian Man' + +24. CHARLES V. (From an engraving by B. Beham, in 1531) + +25. LUTHER. (From an engraving by Cranach, in 1521) + +26. LUTHER as "SQUIRE GEORGE." (From a woodcut by Cranach) + +27. BUGENHAGEN. (From a picture by Cranach in his album, at Berlin, +1543) + +28. MÜNZER. (From an old woodcut) + +29. LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in 1525.) At Wittenberg. + +30. CATHARINE VON BORA, LUTHER'S WIPE. (From a Portrait by Cranach +about 1525.) At Berlin + +31. LUTHER'S RING FBOM CATHARINE + +32. LUTHER'S DOUBLE RING + +33. THE SAXON ELECTORS, FREDERICK THE WISE, JOHN, AND JOHN +FREDERICK. (From a Picture by Cranach.) At Nüremberg + +34. FACSIMILE OF FREDERICK'S SIGNATURE + +35. PHILIP OF HESSE. (From a woodcut of Brosamer) + +36. LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in 1528.) At Berlin + +37. LUTHER'S WIFE. (From a Portrait by Cranach in 1528.) At Berlin + +38. ZWINGLI. (From an old engraving) + +39. FACSIMILE OF THE SUPERSCRIPTION AND SIGNATURE TO THE MARBURG +ARTICLES + +40. VEIT DIETRICH, as Pastor of Nüremberg. (From an old woodcut) + +41. LUTHER'S SEAL. (Taken from letters written in 1517) + +42. LUTHER'S COAT OF ARMS. (From old prints) + +43. BUTZER. (From the old original woodcut of Beusner) + +44. AGRICOLA. (From a miniature Portrait by Cranach, in the +University Album at Wittenberg, 1531) + +45. JONAS. (From a Portrait by Cranach, in his Album at Berlin, +1543) + +46. AMSDORF. (From an old woodcut) + +47. LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach, in his Album, at Berlin) + +48. WITTENBERG. (From an old engraving) + +49. THE "LUTHER-HOUSE" (previously the Convent), before its recent +restoration + +50. LUTHER'S ROOM + +51. LUTHER'S DAUGHTER 'LENE.' (From Cranach's Portrait) + +52. DOOR OF LUTHER'S HOUSE AT WITTENBERG + +53. MATHESIUS. (From an old woodcut) + +54. LUTHER IN 1546. (From a woodcut of Cranach) + +55. JONAS' GLASS + +56. ADDRESS OF LUTHER'S LETTER OF FEBRUARY 7 + +57. LUTHER AFTER DEATH. (From a Picture ascribed to Cranach) + +58. CAST OF LUTHER AFTER DEATH. (At Halle) + +FACSIMILE OF PART OF THE EDICT OF WORMS, 8 MAY (1521), being the +title and conclusion, with the signature of the Emperor Charles + +TITLE AND COMMENCEMENT OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, IN THE FIRST +EDITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 1522. (From the original in the Royal +Public Library at Stüttgart) + +FACSIMILE OF CONCLUDING PORTION OF LUTHER'S WILL, with the +attestations of Melancthon, Crueiger, and Bugenhagen. (At Pesth) + +FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF LUTHER TO HIS WIFE, OF FEBRUARY 7, 1546. (At +Breslau) + + + + +LUTHER'S LIFE. + +PART I. + +LUTHER'S CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH UP TO HIS ENTERING THE CONVENT.--1483-1505. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. + + +On the 10th of November, 1483, their first child was born to a young +couple, Hans and Margaret Luder, at Eisleben, in Saxony, where the +former earned his living as a miner. That child was Martin Luther. + +His parents had shortly before removed thither from Möhra, the old +home of his family. This place, called in old records More and Möre, +lies among the low hills where the Thuringian chain of wooded +heights runs out westwards towards the valley of the Werra, about +eight miles south of Eisenach, and four miles north of Salzungen, +close to the railway which now connects these two towns. Luther thus +comes from the very centre of Germany. The ruler there was the +Elector of Saxony. + +Möhra was an insignificant village, without even a priest of its +own, and with only a chapel affiliated to the church of the +neighbouring parish. The population consisted for the most part of +independent peasants, with house and farmstead, cattle and horses. +Mining, moreover, was being carried on there in the fifteenth +century, and copper was being discovered in the copper schist, of +which the names of Schieferhalden and Schlackenhaufen still survive +to remind us. The soil was not very favourable for agriculture, and +consisted partly of moorland, which gave the place its name. Those +peasants who possessed land were obliged to work extremely hard. +They were a strong and sturdy race. + +From this peasantry sprang Luther. 'I am a peasant's son,' he said +once to Melancthon in conversation. 'My father, grandfather--all my +ancestors were thorough peasants.' + +[Illustration: Coat of arms] + +His father's relations were to be found in several families and +houses in Möhra, and even scattered in the country around. The name +was then written Luder, and also Ludher, Lüder, and Leuder. We find +the name of Luther for the first time as that of Martin Luther, the +Professor at Wittenberg, shortly before he entered on his war of +Reformation, and from him it was adopted by the other branches of +the family. Originally it was not a surname, but a Christian name, +identical with Lothar, which signifies one renowned in battle. A +very singular coat of arms, consisting of a cross-bow, with a rose +on each side, had been handed down through, no doubt, many +generations in the family, and is to be seen on the seal of Luther's +brother James. The origin of these arms is unknown; the device leads +one to conclude that the family must have blended with another by +intermarriage, or by succeeding to its property. Contemporaneous +records exist to show how conspicuously the relatives of Luther, at +Möhra and in the district, shared the sturdy character of the local +peasantry, always ready for self-help, and equally ready for +fisticuffs. Firmly and resolutely, for many generations, and amidst +grievous persecutions and disorders, such as visited Möhra in +particular during the Thirty Years' War, this race maintained its +ground. Three families of Luther exist there at this day, who are +all engaged in agriculture; and a striking likeness to the features +of Martin Luther may still be traced in many of his descendants, and +even in other inhabitants of Möhra. Not less remarkable, as noted by +one who is familiar with the present people of the place, are the +depth of feeling and strong common sense which distinguish them, in +general, to this day. The house in which Luther's grandfather lived, +or rather that which was afterwards built on the site, can still, it +is believed, but not with certainty, be identified. Near this house +stands now a statue of Luther in bronze. + +At Möhra, then, Luther's father, Hans, had grown up to manhood. His +grandfather's name was Henry, but of him we hear nothing during +Luther's time. His grandmother died in 1521. His mother's maiden +name was Ziegler; we afterwards find relations of hers at Eisenach; +the other old account, which made her maiden name Lindemann, +probably originated from confusing her with Luther's grandmother. + +What brought Hans to Eisleben was the copper mining, which here, and +especially in the county of Mansfeld, to which Eisleben belonged, +had prospered to an extent never known around Möhra, and was even +then in full swing of activity. At Eisleben, the miners' settlements +soon formed two new quarters of the town. Hans had, as we know, two +brothers, and very possibly there were more of the family, so that +the paternal inheritance had to be divided. He was evidently the +eldest of the brothers, of whom one, Heinz, or Henry, who owned a +farm of his own, was still living in 1540, ten years after the death +of Hans. But at Möhra the law of primogeniture, which vests the +possession of the land in the eldest son, was not recognised; either +the property was equally divided, or, as was customary in other +parts of the country, the estate fell to the share of the youngest. +This custom was referred to in after years by Luther in his remark +that in this world, according to civil law, the youngest son is the +heir of his father's house. + +We must not omit to notice the other reasons which have been +assigned for his leaving his old home. It has been repeatedly +asserted, in recent times, and even by Protestant writers, that the +father of our great Reformer had sought to escape the consequences +of a crime committed by him at Möhra. The matter stands thus: In +Luther's lifetime his Catholic opponent Witzel happened to call out +to Jonas, a friend of Luther's, in the heat of a quarrel, 'I might +call the father of your Luther a murderer.' Twenty years later the +anonymous author of a polemical work which appeared at Paris +actually calls the Reformer 'the son of the Möhra assassin.' With +these exceptions, not a trace of any story of this kind, in the +writings of either friend or foe, can be found in that or in the +following century. It was at the beginning of the eighteenth +century, in an official report on mining at Möhra, that the story, +evidently based on oral tradition, assumed all at once a more +definite shape; the statement being that Luther's father had +accidentally killed a peasant, who was minding some horses grazing. +This story has been told to travellers in our own time by people of +Möhra, who have gone so far as to point out the fatal meadow. We are +forced to notice it, not, indeed, as being in the least +authenticated, but simply on account of the authority recently +claimed for the tradition. For it is plain that what is now a matter +of hearsay at Möhra was a story wholly unknown there not many years +ago, was first introduced by strangers, and has since met with +several variations at their hands. The idea of a criminal flying +from Möhra to Mansfeld, which was only a few miles off, and was +equally subject to the Elector of Saxony, is absurd, and in this +case is strangely inconsistent with the honourable position soon +attained, as we shall see, by Hans Luther himself at Mansfeld. +Moreover, the very fact that Witzel's spiteful remark was long known +to Luther's enemies, coupled with the fact that they never turned it +to account, shows plainly how little they ventured to make it a +matter of serious reproach. Luther during his lifetime had to hear +from them that his father was a Bohemian heretic, his mother a loose +woman, employed at the baths, and he himself a changeling, born of +his mother and the Devil. How triumphantly would they have talked +about the murder or manslaughter committed by his father, had the +charge admitted of proof! Whatever occurrence may have given rise to +such a story, we have no right to ascribe it either to any fault or +any crime of the father. More on this subject it is needless to add; +the two strange statements we have mentioned do not attempt to +establish any definite connection between the supposed crime and the +removal to Eisleben. + +The day, and even the very hour, when her first-born came into the +world, Luther's mother carefully treasured in her mind. It was +between eleven and twelve o'clock at night. Agreeably to the custom +of the time, he was baptised in the Church of St. Peter the next +day. It was the feast of St. Martin, and he was called after that +saint. Tradition still identifies the house where he was born; it +stands in the lower part of the town, close to St. Peter's Church. +Several conflagrations, which devastated Eisleben, have left it +undestroyed. But of the original building only the walls of the +ground-floor remain: within these there is a room facing the street, +which is pointed out as the one where Luther first saw the light. +The church was rebuilt soon after his birth, and was then called +after St. Peter and St. Paul; the present font still retains, it is +said, some portions of the old one. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--HANS LUTHER.] + +When the child was six months old, his parents removed to the town of +Mansfeld, about six miles off. So great was the number of the miners +who were then crowding to Eisleben, the most important place in the +county, that we can well understand how Luther's father failed there +to realise his expectations, and went in search of better prospects +to the other capital of the rich mining district. Here, at Mansfeld, +or, more strictly, at Lower Mansfeld, as it is called, from its +position, and to distinguish it from Cloister-Mansfeld, he came among +a people whose whole life and labour were devoted to mining. The town +itself lay on the banks of a stream, inclosed by hills, on the edge +of the Harz country. Above it towered the stately castle of the +Counts, to whom the place belonged. The character of the scenery is +more severe, and the air harsher than in the neighbourhood of Möhra. +Luther himself called his Mansfeld countrymen sons of the Harz. In +the main, these Harz people are much rougher than the Thuringians. + +[Illustration: MARGARET LUTHER.] + +Here also, at first, Luther's parents found it a hard struggle to +get on. 'My father,' said the Reformer, 'was a poor miner; my mother +carried in all the wood upon her back; they worked the flesh off +their bones to bring us up: no one nowadays would ever have such +endurance.' It must not, however, be forgotten that carrying wood in +those days was less a sign of poverty than now. Gradually their +affairs improved. The whole working of the mines belonged to the +Counts, and they leased out single portions, called smelting +furnaces, sometimes for lives, sometimes for a term of years. Harts +Luther succeeded in obtaining two furnaces, though only on a lease +of years. He must have risen in the esteem of his town-fellows even +more rapidly than in outward prosperity. + +The magistracy of the town consisted of a bailiff, the chief +landowners, and four of the community. Among these four Hans Luther +appears in a public document as early as 1491. His children were +numerous enough to cause him constant anxiety for their maintenance +and education: there were at least seven of them, for we know of +three brothers and three sisters of the Reformer. The Luther family +never rose to be one of the rich families of Mansfeld, who possessed +furnaces by inheritance, and in time became landowners; but they +associated with them, and in some cases numbered them among their +intimate friends. The old Hans was also personally known to his +Counts, and was much esteemed by them. In 1520 the Reformer publicly +appealed to their personal acquaintance with his father and himself, +against the slanders circulated about his origin. Hans, in course of +time, bought himself a substantial dwelling-house in the principal +street of the town. A small portion of it remains standing to this +day. There is still to be seen a gateway, with a well-built arch of +sandstone, which bears the Luther arms of cross-bow and roses, and +the inscription J.L. 1530. This was, no doubt, the work of James +Luther, in the year when his father Hans died, and he took +possession of the property. It is only quite recently that the stone +has so far decayed as to cause the arms and part of the inscription +to peel off. + +The earliest personal accounts that we have of Luther's parents, +date from the time when they already shared in the honour and renown +acquired by their son. They frequently visited him at Wittenberg, +and moved with simple dignity among his friends. The father, in +particular, Melancthon describes as a man, who, by purity of +character and conduct, won for himself universal affection and +esteem. Of the mother he says that the worthy woman, amongst other +virtues, was distinguished above all for her modesty, her fear of +God, and her constant communion with God in prayer. Luther's friend, +the Court-preacher Spalatin, spoke of her as a rare and exemplary +woman. As regards their personal appearance, the Swiss Kessler +describes them in 1522 as small and short persons, far surpassed by +their son Martin in height and build; he adds, also, that they were +dark-complexioned. Five years later their portraits were painted by +Lucas Cranach: these are now to be seen in the Wartburg, and are the +only ones of this couple which we possess. [Footnote: Strange to +say, subsequently and even in our own days, a portrait of Martin +Luther's wife in her old age has been mistaken for one of his +mother.] In these portraits, the features of both the parents have a +certain hardness; they indicate severe toil during a long life. At +the same time, the mouth and eyes of the father wear an intelligent, +lively, energetic, and clever expression. He has also, as his son +Martin observed, retained to old age a 'strong and hardy frame.' The +mother looks more wearied by life, but resigned, quiet, and +meditative. Her thin face, with its large bones, presents a mixture +of mildness and gravity. Spalatin was amazed, on seeing her for the +first time in 1522, how much Luther resembled her in bearing and +features. Indeed, a certain likeness is observable between him and +her portrait, in the eyes and the lower part of the face. At the +same time, from what is known of the appearance of the Luthers who +lived afterwards at Möhra, he must also have resembled his father's +family. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS. + + +As to the childhood of Martin Luther, and his further growth and +mental development, at Mansfeld and elsewhere, we have absolutely no +information from others to enlighten us. For this portion of his +life we can only avail ourselves of occasional and isolated remarks +of his own, partly met with in his writings, partly culled from his +lips by Melancthon, or his physician Ratzeberger, or his pupil +Mathesius, or other friends, and by them recorded for the benefit of +posterity. These remarks are very imperfect, but are significant +enough to enable us to understand the direction which his inner life +had taken, and which prepared him for his future calling. Nor less +significant is the fact that those opponents who, from the +commencement of his war with the Church, tracked out his origin, and +sought therein for evidence to his detriment, have failed, for their +part, to contribute anything new whatever to the history of his +childhood and youth, although, as the Reformer, he had plenty of +enemies at his own and his parents' home, and several of the Counts +of Mansfeld, in particular, continued in the Romish Church. There +was nothing, therefore, dark or discreditable, at any rate, to be +found attaching either to his home or to his own youth. + +It is said that childhood is a Paradise. Luther in after years found +it joyful and edifying to contemplate the happiness of those little +ones who know neither the cares of daily life nor the troubles of +the soul, and enjoy with light hearts the good thing which God has +given them. But in his own reminiscences of life, so far as he has +given them, no such sunny childhood is reflected. The hard time, +which his parents at first had to struggle through at Mansfeld, had +to be shared in by the children, and the lot fell most hardly on the +eldest. As the former spent their days in hard toil, and persevered +in it with unflinching severity, the tone of the house was unusually +earnest and severe. The upright, honourable, industrious father was +honestly resolved to make a useful man of his son, and enable him to +rise higher than himself. He strictly maintained at all times his +paternal authority. After his death, Martin recorded, in touching +language, instances of his father's love, and the sweet intercourse +he was permitted to have with him. But it is not surprising, if, at +the period of childhood, so peculiarly in need of tender affection, +the severity of the father was felt rather too much. He was once, as +he tells us, so severely flogged by his father that he fled from +him, and bore him a temporary grudge. Luther, in speaking of the +discipline of children, has even quoted his mother as an example of +the way in which parents, with the best intentions, are apt to go +too far in punishing, and forget to pay due attention to the +peculiarities of each child. His mother, he said, once whipped him +till the blood came, for having taken a paltry little nut. He adds, +that, in punishing children, the apple should be placed beside the +rod, and they should not be chastised for an offence about nuts or +cherries as if they had broken open a money-box. His parents, he +acknowledged, had meant it for the very best, but they had kept him, +nevertheless, so strictly that he had become shy and timid. Theirs, +however, was not that unloving severity which blunts the spirit of a +child, and leads to artfulness and deceit. Their strictness, well +intended, and proceeding from a genuine moral earnestness of +purpose, furthered in him a strictness and tenderness of conscience, +which then and in after years made him deeply and keenly sensitive +of every fault committed in the eyes of God; a sensitiveness, +indeed, which, so far from relieving him of fear, made him +apprehensive on account of sins that existed only in his +imagination. It was a later consequence of this discipline, as +Luther himself informs us, that he took refuge in a convent. He +adds, at the same time, that it is better not to spare the rod with +children even from the very cradle, than to let them grow up without +any punishment at all; and that it is pure mercy to young folk to +bend their wills, even though it costs labour and trouble, and leads +to threats and blows. + +We have a reference by Luther to the lessons he learned in childhood +from his experience of poverty at home, in his remarks in later +life, on the sons of poor men, who by sheer hard work raise +themselves from obscurity, and have much to endure, and no time to +strut and swagger, but must be humble and learn to be silent and to +trust in God, and to whom God also has given good sound heads. + +As to Luther's relations with his brothers and sisters we have the +testimony of one who knew the household at Mansfeld, and +particularly his brother James, that from childhood they were those +of brotherly companionship, and that from his mother's own account +he had exercised a governing influence both by word and deed on the +good conduct of the younger members of the family. + +His father must have taken him to school at a very early age. Long +after, in fact only two years before his death, he noted down in the +Bible of a 'good old friend,' Emler, a townsman of Mansfeld, his +recollection how, more than once, Emler, as the elder, had carried +him, still a weakly child, to and from school; a proof, not indeed, +as a Catholic opponent of the next century imagined, that it was +necessary to compel the boy to go to school, but that he was still +of an age to benefit by being carried. The school-house, of which +the lower portion still remains, stood at the upper end of the +little town, part of which runs with steep streets up the hill. The +children there were taught not only reading and writing, but also +the rudiments of Latin, though doubtless in a very clumsy and +mechanical fashion. From his experience of the teaching here, Luther +speaks in later years of the vexations and torments with declining +and conjugating and other tasks which school children in his youth +had to undergo. The severity he there met with from his teacher was +a very different thing from the strictness of his parents. +Schoolmasters, he says, in those days were tyrants and executioners, +the schools were prisons and hells, and in spite of blows, +trembling, fear, and misery, nothing was ever taught. He had been +whipped, he tells us, fifteen times one morning, without any fault +of his own, having been called on to repeat what he had never been +taught. + +At this school he remained till he was fourteen, when his father +resolved to send him to a better and higher-class place of +education. He chose for that purpose Magdeburg; but what particular +school he attended is not known. His friend Mathesius tells us that +the town-school there was 'far renowned above many others.' Luther +himself says that he went to school with the Null-brethren. These +Null-brethren or Noll-brethren, as they were called, were a +brotherhood of pious clergymen and laymen, who had combined +together, but without taking any vows, to promote among themselves +the salvation of their souls and the practice of a godly life, and +to labour at the same time for the social and moral welfare of the +people, by preaching the Word of God, by instruction, and by +spiritual ministration. They undertook in particular the care of +youth. They were, moreover, the chief originators of the great +movement in Germany, at that time, for promoting intellectual +culture, and reviving the treasures of ancient Roman and Greek +literature. Since 1488 a colony of them had existed at Magdeburg, +which had come from Hildesheim, one of their head-quarters. As there +is no evidence of heir having had a school of their own at +Magdeburg, they may have devoted their services to the town-school. +Thither, then, Hans Luther sent his eldest son in 1497. The idea had +probably been suggested by Peter Reinicke, the overseer of the +mines, who had a son there. With this son John, who afterwards rose +to an important office in the mines at Mansfeld, Martin Luther +contracted a lifelong friendship. Hans, however, only let his son +remain one year at Magdeburg, and then sent him to school at +Eisenach. Whether he was induced to make this change by finding his +expectations of the school not sufficiently realised, or whether +other reasons, possibly those regarding a cheaper maintenance of his +son, may have determined him in the matter, there is no evidence to +show. What strikes one here only is his zeal for the better +education of his son. + +Ratzeberger is the only one who tells us of an incident he heard of +Luther from his own lips, during his stay at Magdeburg, and this was +one which, as a physician, he relates with interest. Luther, it +happened, was lying sick of a burning fever, and tormented with +thirst, and in the heat of the fever they refused him drink. So one +Friday, when the people of the house had gone to church, and left +him alone, he, no longer able to endure the thirst, crawled off on +hands and feet to the kitchen, where he drank off with great avidity +a jug of cold water. He could reach his room again, but having done +so he fell into a deep sleep, and on waking the fever had left him. + +The maintenance his father was able to afford him was not sufficient +to cover the expenses of his board and lodging as well as of his +schooling, either at Magdeburg or afterwards at Eisenach. He was +obliged to help himself after the manner of poor scholars, who, as +he tells us, went about from door to door collecting small gifts or +doles by singing hymns. 'I myself,' he says,' was one of those young +colts, particularly at Eisenach, my beloved town.' He would also +ramble about the neighbourhood with his school-fellows; and often, +from the pulpit or the lecturer's chair, would he tell little +anecdotes about those days. The boys used to sing quartettes at +Christmas-time in the villages, carols on the birth of the Holy +Child at Bethlehem. Once, as they were singing before the door of a +solitary farmhouse, the farmer came out and called to them roughly, +'Where are you, young rascals?' He had two large sausages in his +hand for them, but they ran away terrified, till he shouted after +them to come back and fetch the sausages. So intimidated, says +Luther, had he become by the terrors of school discipline. His +object, however, in relating this incident was to show his hearers +how the heart of man too often construes manifestations of God's +goodness and mercy into messages of fear, and how men should pray to +God perseveringly, and without timidity or shamefacedness. In those +days it was not rare to find even scholars of the better classes, +such as the son of a magistrate at Mansfeld, and those who, for the +sake of a better education, were sent to distant schools, seeking to +add to their means in the manner we have mentioned. + +After this, his father sent him to Eisenach, bearing in mind the +numerous relatives who lived in the town and surrounding country, +and who might be of service to him. But of these no mention has +reached us, except of one, named Konrad, who was sacristan in the +church of St. Nicholas. The others, no doubt, were not in a position +to give him any material assistance. + +About this time his singing brought him under the notice of one Frau +Cotta, who with genuine affection took up the promising boy, and +whose memory, in connection with the great Reformer, still lives in +the hearts of the German people. Her husband, Konrad or Kunz, was +one of the most influential citizens of the town, and sprang from a +noble Italian family who had acquired wealth by commerce. Ursula +Cotta, as her name was, belonged to the Eisenach family of Schalbe. +She died in 1511. Mathesius tells us how the boy won her heart by +his singing and his earnestness in prayer, and she welcomed him to +her own table. Luther met with similar acts of kindness from a +brother or other relative of hers, and also from an institution +belonging to Franciscan friars at Eisenach, which was indebted to +the Schalbe family for several rich endowments, and was named, in +consequence, the Schalbe College. At Frau Cotta's, Luther was first +introduced to the life in a patrician's house, and learned to move +in that society. + +At Eisenach he remained at school for four years. Many years +afterwards we find him on terms of friendly and grateful intercourse +with one Father Wiegand, who had been his schoolmaster there. +Ratzeberger, speaking of the then schoolmaster at Eisenach, mentions +a 'distinguished poet and man of learning, John Trebonius,' who, as +he tells us, every morning, on entering the schoolroom, would take +off his biretta, because God might have chosen many a one of the +lads present to be a future mayor, or chancellor, or learned doctor; +a thought which, as he adds, was amply realised afterwards in the +person of Doctor Luther. The relations of these two at the school, +which contained several classes, must be a matter of conjecture. But +the system of teaching pursued there was praised afterwards by +Luther himself to Melancthon. The former acquired there that +thorough knowledge of Latin which was then the chief preparation for +University study. He learned to write it, not only in prose, but +also in verse, which leads us to suppose that the school at Eisenach +took a part in the Humanistic movement already mentioned. Happily, +his active mind and quick understanding had already begun to +develop; not only did he make up for lost ground, but he even +outstripped those of his own age. + +As we see him growing up to manhood, the future hero of the faith, +the teacher, and the warrior, the most important question for us is +the course which his religious development took from childhood. + +He who, in after years, waged such a tremendous warfare with the +Church of his time, always gratefully acknowledged, and in his own +teaching and conduct kept steadily in view, how, within herself, and +underneath all the corruptions he denounced, she still preserved the +groundwork of a Christian life, the charter of salvation, the +fundamental truths of Christianity, and the means of redemption and +blessing, vouchsafed by the grace of God. Especially did he +acknowledge all that he had himself received from the Church since +childhood. In that House, he says on one occasion, he was baptised, +and catechised in the Christian truth, and for that reason he would +always honour it as the House of his Father. The Church would at any +rate take care that children, at home and at school, should learn by +heart the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten +Commandments; that they should pray, and sing psalms and Christian +hymns. Printed books, containing them, were already in existence. +Among the old Christian hymns in the German language, of which a +surprisingly rich collection has been formed, a certain number, at +least, were in common use in the churches, especially for festivals. +'Fine songs' Luther called them, and he took care that they should +live on in the Evangelical communities. Those old verses form in +part the foundation of the hymns which we owe to his own poetical +genius. Thus for Christmas we still have the carol of those times, +_Ein Kindelein so lobelich_; and the first verse of Luther's +Whitsun hymn, _Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist_, is taken, he +tells us, from one of those old-fashioned melodies. Of the portions +of Scripture read in church, the Gospels and Epistles were given in +the mother-tongue. Sermons, also, had long been preached in German, +and there were printed collections of them for the use of the +clergy. + +The places where Luther grew up were certainly better off in this +respect than many others. For, in the main, very much was still +wanting to realise what had been recommended and striven for by +pious Churchmen, and writers and religious fraternities, or even +enjoined by the Church herself. The Reformers had, indeed, a heavy +and an irrefutable indictment to bring against the Catholic Church +system of their time. The grossest ignorance and shortcomings were +exposed by the Visitations which they undertook, and from these we +may fairly judge of the actual state of things existing for many +years before. It appeared, that even where these portions of the +catechism were taught by parents and schoolmasters, they never +formed the subject of clerical instruction to the young. It was +precisely one of the charges brought against the enemies of the +Reformation, that, notwithstanding the injunctions of their Church, +they habitually neglected this instruction, and preferred teaching +the children such things as carrying banners in processions and holy +tapers. Priests were found, in the course of these visitations, who +had scarcely any knowledge of the chief articles of the faith. His +own personal experience of this neglect, when young, is not noticed +by Luther in his later complaints on the subject. + +But the main fault and failing which he recognised in after life, +and which, as he tells us, was a source of inward suffering to him +from childhood, was the distorted view, held up to him at school and +from the pulpit, of the conditions of Christian salvation, and, +consequently, of his own proper religious attitude and demeanour. + +Luther himself, as we learn from him later life, would have +Christian children brought up in the happy assurance that God is a +loving Father, Christ a faithful Saviour, and that it is their +privilege and duty to approach their Father with frank and childlike +confidence, and, if aroused to a consciousness of sin or wrong, to +entreat at once His forgiveness. Such however, he tells us, was not +what he was taught. On the contrary, he was instructed, and trained +up from childhood in that narrowing conception of Christianity, and +that outward form of religiousness, against which, more than +anything, he bore witness as a Reformer. + +God was pictured to him as a Being unapproachably sublime, and of +awful holiness; Christ, the Saviour, Mediator, and Advocate, whose +revelation can only bring judgment to those who reject salvation, as +the threatening Judge, against whose wrath, as against that of God, +man sought for intercession and mediation from the Virgin and the +other saints. This latter worship, towards the close of the middle +ages, had increased in importance and extent. Peculiar honour was +paid to particular saints, in particular places, and for the +furtherance of particular interests. The warlike St. George was the +special saint of the town and county of Mansfeld: his effigy still +surmounts the entrance to the old school-house. Among the miners the +worship of St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin, soon became popular +towards the end of the century, and the mining town of Annaberg, +built in 1496, was named after her. Luther records how the 'great +stir' was first made about her, when he was a boy of fifteen, and +how he was then anxious to place himself under her protection. There +is no lack of religious writings of that time, which, with the view +of preserving the Catholic faith, warn men earnestly against the +danger of overvaluing the saints, and of placing their hopes more in +them than in God; but we see from those very warnings how necessary +they were, and later history shows us how little fruit they bore. As +for Luther, certain beautiful features in the lives and legends of +the saints exercised over him a power of attraction which he never +afterwards renounced; and of the Virgin he always spoke with tender +reverence, only regretting that men wished to make an idol of her. +But of his early religious belief, he says that Christ appeared to +him as seated on a rainbow, like a stern Judge; from Christ men +turned to the saints, to be their patrons, and called on the Virgin +to bare her breasts to her Son, and dispose him thereby to mercy. An +example of what deceptions were sometimes practised in such worship +came to the notice of the Elector John Frederick, the friend of +Luther, and probably originated in a convent at Eisenach. It was a +figure, carved in wood, of the Virgin with the infant Saviour in her +arms, which was furnished with a secret contrivance by means of +which the Child, when the people prayed to him, first turned away to +His mother, and only when they had invoked her as intercessor, bowed +towards them with His little arms outstretched. + +On the other hand, the sinner who was troubled with cares about his +soul and thoughts of Divine judgment, found himself directed to the +performance of particular acts of penance and pious exercises, as +the means to appease a righteous God. He received judgment and +commands through the Church at the confessional. The Reformers +themselves, and Luther especially, fully recognised the value of +being able to pour out the inner temptations of the heart to some +Christian father-confessor, or even to some other brother in the +faith, and to obtain from his lips that comfort of forgiveness which +God, in His love and mercy, bestows freely on the faithful. But +nothing of this kind, they said, was to be found in the +confessional. The conscience was tormented with the enumeration of +single sins, and burdened with all sorts of penitential formalities; +and it was just with a view that everyone should be drawn to this +discipline of the Church, should use it regularly, and should seek +for no other way to make his peace with God, that the educational +activity of the Church, both with young and old, was especially +directed. + +Luther, in after life, as we have already remarked, always +recognised and found comfort in the fact that, even under such +conditions as the above, enough of the simple message of salvation +in the Bible could penetrate the heart, and awaken a faith which, in +spite of all artificial restraints and perplexing dogmas, should +throw itself, with inward longing and childlike trust, into the arms +of God's mercy, and so enjoy true forgiveness. He received, as we +shall see, some salutary directions for so doing from later friends +of his, who belonged to the Romish Church, nor was that character of +ecclesiastical religiousness, so to speak, stamped everywhere, or to +the same degree, on Christian life in Germany during his youth. +Nevertheless, his whole inner being, from boyhood, was dominated by +its influence; he, at all events, had never been taught to +appreciate the Gospel as a child. Looking back in later years on his +monastic days, and the whole of his previous life, he declared that +he never could feel assured that his baptism in Christ was +sufficient for his salvation, and that he was sorely troubled with +doubt whether any piety of his own would be able to secure for him +God's mercy. Thoughts of this kind he said induced him to become a +monk. + +Men have never been wanting, either before or since the time of +Luther's youth, to denounce the abuses and corruptions of the +Church, and particularly of the clergy. Language of this sort had +long found its way to the popular ear, and had proceeded also from +the people themselves. Complaints were made of the tyranny of the +Papal hierarchy, and of their encroachments on social and civil +life, as well as of the worldliness and gross immorality of the +priests and monks. The Papacy had reached its lowest depth of moral +degradation under Pope Alexander VI. We hear nothing, however, of +the impressions produced on Luther, in this respect, in the +circumstances of his early life. The news of such scandals as were +then enacted at Rome, shamelessly and in open day, very likely took +a long while to reach Luther and those about him. With regard to the +carnal offences of the clergy, against which, to the honour of +Germany be it said, the German conscience especially revolted, he +made afterwards the noteworthy remark, that although during his +boyhood the priests allowed themselves mistresses, they never +incurred the suspicion of anything like unbridled sensuality or +adulterous conduct. Examples of such kind date only from a later +period. + +The loyalty with which Mansfeld, his home, adhered to the ancient +Church, is shown by several foundations of that time, all of which +have reference to altars and the celebration of mass. The overseer +of the mines, Reinicke, the friend of Luther's family, is among the +founders: he left provision for keeping up services in honour of the +Virgin and St. George. + +A peculiarly reverential demeanour, in regard to religion and the +Church, is observable in Luther's father, and one which was common +no doubt among his honest, simple, pious fellow townsfolk. His +conduct was consistently God-fearing. In his house it was afterwards +told how he would often pray at the bedside of his little Martin,--how, +as the friend of godliness and learning, he had enjoyed the friendship +of priests and school-teachers. Words of pious reflection from his +lips remained stamped on Luther's memory from his boyhood. Thus +Luther tells us, in a sermon preached towards the close of his life, +how he had often heard his dear father say, that, as his own parents +had told him, the earth contains many more who require to be fed +than there are sheaves, even if collected from all the fields in the +world; and yet how wondrously does God know how to preserve mankind! +In common with his fellow-townsmen, he followed the precepts and +commands of his Church. When, in the year in which he sent his son to +Magdeburg, two new altars in the church at Mansfeld were consecrated +to a number of saints, and sixty days' indulgence was granted to +anyone who heard mass at them, Hans Luther, with Reinicke and other +fellow-magistrates, was among the first to make use of the invitation. +The enemies of the Reformer, while fain to trace his origin to a +heretic Bohemian, had not a shadow of a reason for suspecting his real +father of any leanings to heresy. Nor do we hear a word in later years +from the Reformer, after his father had separated with him from the +Catholic Church, to show a trace of any hostile or critical remark +against that Church, remembered from the lips of his father during +childhood. Quietly but firmly the latter asserted his own judgment, +and framed his will accordingly. He was firm, in particular, in the +consciousness of his paternal rights and duties, even against the +pretensions of the clergy. Thus, as his son Martin tells us, when he +lay once on the point of death, and the priest admonished him to +leave something to the clergy, he replied in the simplicity of his +heart, 'I have many children: I will leave it them, for they want it +more.' We shall see how unyieldingly, when his son entered a convent, +he insisted, as against all the value and usefulness of monasticism, +on the paramount obligation of God's command, that children should +obey their parents. Luther also tells us how his father once praised +in high terms the will left by a Count of Mansfeld, who without +leaving any property to the Church, was content to depart from this +world trusting solely to the bitter sufferings and death of Christ, +and commending his soul to Him. Luther himself, when a young student, +would have considered, as he tells us, a bequest to churches or +convents a proper will to make. His father afterwards accepted his +son's doctrine of salvation without hesitation, and with the full +conviction that it was right. But remarks of his such as we have +quoted, were consistent with a perfectly blameless demeanour in +regard to the forms of conduct and belief as prescribed by the Church, +with an avoidance of criticism and argument on ecclesiastical matters, +which he knew were not his vocation, and above all with a complete +abstention from such talk in the presence of his children. As to what +concerns further the positive religious influence which he exercised +over his children, any such impressions as he might have given by what +he said of the Count of Mansfeld, were fully counterbalanced by the +severity and firmness of his paternal discipline. + +Concurrent with the doctrine of salvation through the intercession +of the saints and the Church, and one's own good works, which Luther +had been taught from his youth, were the dark popular ideas of the +power of the devil--ideas, which, though not actually invented, were +at least patronised by the Church, and which not only threaten the +souls of men, but cast a baneful spell over all their natural life. +Luther, as is well known, has frequently expressed his own opinions +about the devil, in connection with the enchantments supposed to be +practised by the Evil One on mankind, and, more especially, on the +subject of witchcraft. Of one thing he was certain, that in God's +hand we are safe from the Evil One, and can triumph over him. But +even he believed the devil's work was manifested in sudden accidents +and striking phenomena of Nature, in storms, conflagrations, and the +like. As to the tales of sorcery and magic, which were told and +believed in by the people, some he declared to be incredible, others +he ascribed to the hallucinations effected by the devil. But that +witches had power to do one bodily harm, that they plagued children +in particular, and that their spells could affect the soul, he never +seriously doubted. + +From his earliest childhood, and especially at home, ideas of that +kind had been instilled into Luther, and accordingly they ministered +strong food to his imagination. They had just then spread to a +remarkable extent among the Germans, and had developed in remarkable +ways. They had affected the administration of ecclesiastical and +civil law, they had given rise to the Inquisition and the most +barbarous cruelties in the punishment of those who were pretended to +be in league with the devil, and they had gradually multiplied their +baneful effects. The year after Luther's birth, appeared the +remarkable Papal bull which sanctioned the trial of witches. When a +boy, Luther heard a great deal about witches, though later in life +he thought there was no longer so much talk about them, and he would +not scruple to tell stories of how they harmed men and cattle, and +brought down storms and hail. Nay, of his own mother he believed +that she had suffered much from the witcheries of a female +neighbour, who, as he said, 'plagued her children till they nearly +screamed themselves to death.' Delusions such as these are certainly +dark shadows in the picture of Luther's youth, and are important +towards understanding his inner life as a man. + +But while admitting the existence of these superstitious and +pseudo-religious notions, we must not imagine that they composed the +whole portraiture of Luther's early life. He was, as Mathesius +describes him, a merry, jovial young fellow. In his later reflections +on himself and his youthful days, the very war he was waging against +the false teachings of the Church, from which he himself had +suffered, made him dwell, as was natural, on this side of his early +life. But amidst all those trials and depressing influences, the +fresh and elastic vigour of his nature stood the strain--a vigour +innate and inherited, and which afterwards shone forth in a new and +brighter light, under a new aspect of religious life. His childlike +joy in Nature around him, which afterwards distinguished so +remarkably the theologian and champion of the faith, must be +referred back to his original bent of mind and his life, when a boy, +amid Nature's surroundings. + +How much he lived, from childhood, with the peasantry, is shown by +the natural ease with which he spoke in the popular dialect, even +when he was learning Latin and enjoying a higher culture, and by the +frequency with which the native roughnesses of that dialect broke +out in his learned discourses or sermons. In no other theologian, +nay, in no other known German writer of his century, do we meet with +so many popular proverbs as in Luther, to whom they came naturally +in his conversations and letters. German legends also, and popular +tales, such as the history of Dietrich von Bern and other heroes, or +of Eulenspiegel or Markolf, would hardly have been remembered so +accurately by him in later years, if he had not familiarised himself +with them in childhood. He would at times inveigh against the +worthless, and even shameless tales and 'gossip,' as he called it, +which such books contained, and especially against the priests who +used to spice their sermons with such stories; but that he also +recognised their value we know from his allusion to 'some people, +who had written songs about Dietrich and other giants, and in so +doing had expounded much greater subjects in a short and simple +manner.' The pleasure with which he himself may have read or +listened to them, can be gathered from his remark that 'when a story +of Dietrich von Bern is told, one is bound to remember it +afterwards, even though one has only heard it once.' + +He maintained through life a faithful devotion to the places where he +had grown up. Eisenach remained, as we have already seen, his beloved +town. Mansfeld was particularly dear to him as his home, and the whole +county as his 'fatherland;' he calls it with pride a 'noble and famous +county.' The miners also, who were his fellow-countrymen and his dear +father's work-mates, he loved all his life long. But a wider horizon +was not opened to him among the people of the little town of Mansfeld, +or where he afterwards went to school. To this fact, and to his quiet +life as a monk, we must ascribe the peculiar feature of his later +activity, namely, that while prosecuting with far-seeing eye and a +warm heart the highest and most extensive tasks for his Church and +for the German people in general, still, at the beginning of his work +and campaign, he understood but little of the great world outside, +and of politics, or even of the general state of Germany; nay, he +shows at times a touchingly childlike simplicity in these matters. + +The last few years of his school-life enabled him to make brave +progress on the road to intellectual culture, which his father +wished him to pursue. Thus equipped, he was prepared at the age of +eighteen, to remove, in the summer of 1501 to the university at +Erfurt. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +STUDENT-DAYS AT ERFURT AND ENTRY INTO THE CONVENT. 1501-1505. + + +Among the German universities, that of Erfurt, which could count +already a hundred years of prosperous existence, occupied at this +time a brilliant position. So high, Luther tells us, was its +standing and reputation, that all its sister institutions were +regarded as mere pigmies by its side. His parents could now afford +to give him the necessary means for studying at such a place. 'My +dear father,' he says, 'maintained me there with loyal affection, +and by his labour and the sweat of his brow enabled me to go there.' +He had now begun to feel a burning thirst for learning, and here, at +the 'fountain of all knowledge,' to use Melancthon's words, he hoped +to be able to quench it. + +He began with a complete course of philosophy, as that science was +then understood. It dealt, in the first place, with the laws and +forms of thought and knowledge, with language, in which Latin formed +the basis, or with grammar and rhetoric, as also with the highest +problems and most abstruse questions of physics, and comprised even +a general knowledge of natural science and astronomy. A complete +study of all these subjects was not merely requisite for learned +theologians, but frequently served as an introduction to that of +law, and even of medicine. + +When Luther first came from Eisenach to Erfurt, there was nothing +yet about him that attracted the attention of others so far as to +call forth any contemporary account of him. Enough, however, is +known of the most eminent teachers there, at whose feet he sat, and +also of the general kind of intellectual food which they +administered. He gained entrance into a circle of older and younger +men than himself, teachers and fellow-students, who in later years, +either as friends or opponents, were able to bear witness, +favourably or the reverse, as to his life and work at Erfurt. + +The leading professor of philosophy at Erfurt was then Jodocus +Trutvetter, who, three years after Luther's arrival, became also +doctor of theology and lecturer of the theological faculty. Next to +him, in this department, ranked Bartholomew Arnoldi of Usingen. It +was to these two men above others, and particularly to the former, +that Luther looked for his instruction. + +The philosophy which was then in vogue at Erfurt, and which found its +most vigorous champion in Trutvetter, was that of the Scholasticism of +later days. It is common to associate with the idea of Scholasticism, +or the theological and philosophical School-science of the middle +ages, a system of thought and instruction, embracing, indeed, the +highest questions of knowledge and existence, but at the same time +not venturing to strike into any independent paths, or to deviate an +inch from tradition, but submitting rather, in everything connected, +or supposed to be connected, with religious belief, to the dogmas and +decrees of the Church and the authority of the early Fathers, and +wasting the understanding and intellect in dry formalism or subtle +but barren controversies. This conception fails to appreciate the +vast labour of thought bestowed by leading minds on the attempt to +unravel the mass of ecclesiastical teaching which had twined round +the innermost lives of themselves and their fellow-Christians, and +at the same time to follow those general questions under the guidance +of the old philosophers, especially Aristotle, of whom they knew but +little. But it is applicable, at any rate, to the Scholasticism of +later days. The confidence with which its older exponents had thought +to explain and establish orthodoxy by means of their favourite science, +was gone; all the more, therefore, should that science keep silence in +face of the commands of the Church. Men, moreover, had grown tired of +the old questions of philosophy about the reality and real existence +of Universals. It had been formerly a question of dispute whether our +general ideas had a real existence, or whether they were nothing +more than words or names, mere abstractions, comprehending the +individual, which alone was supposed to possess Reality. At that +time the latter doctrine, that of Nominalism, as it was called, +prevailed. At length, these new or 'modern' philosophers abandoned +the question of Realism, and the relation of thought to Reality, in +favour of a system of pure logic or dialectics, dealing with the +mere forms and expressions of thought, the formal analysis of ideas +and words, the mutual relation of propositions and conclusions--in +short, all that constitutes what we call formal logic, in its widest +acceptation. At this point, the far-famed scholastic intellect, with +its subtleties, its fine distinctions, its nice questions, its +sophistical conclusions, reached its zenith. + +To this logic Trutvetter also devoted himself, and in it he taught +his pupils. He had just then published a series of treatises on the +subject. To him this study was real earnest. Compared with others, +he has shown in these excursions a cautious and discreet moderation, +and no inclination for the quarrels and verbal combats often dear to +logicians. The same can be said of his colleague Usingen. Trutvetter +has shown also that he enjoyed and was widely read in earlier and +modern, especially, of course, in Scholastic literature, including +the works not only of the most important, but also of very obscure +authors. We can imagine what delight he took in all this when in his +professor's chair, and how much he expected from his pupils. + +At Erfurt meanwhile, and by this same philosophical facility, a +fresh and vigorous impulse was being given to that study of +classical antiquity, which gave birth to a new learning, and ushered +in a new era of intellectual culture in Germany. We have already had +occasion to refer to the movement and influence of Humanism at the +schools which Luther attended at Magdeburg and Eisenach. He now +found himself at one of the chief nurseries of these 'arts and +letters' in Germany, nay, at the very place where their richest +blossoms were unfolded. Erfurt could boast of having issued the +first Greek book printed in Germany in Greek type, namely, a +grammar, printed in Luther's first year at the University. It was +the Greek and Latin poets, in particular, whose writings stirred the +enthusiasm and emulation of the students. For refined expression and +learned intercourse, the fluent and elegant Latin language was +studied, as given in the works of classical writers. But far more +important still was the free movement of thought, and the new world +of ideas thus opened up. + +In proportion as these young disciples of antiquity learned to +despise the barbarous Latin and insipidity of the monkish and +scholastic education of the day, they began to revolt against +Scholasticism, against the dogmas of faith propounded by the Church, +and even against the religious opinions of Christendom in general. +History shows us the different paths taken, in this respect, by the +Humanists; and we shall come across them, in another way, during the +career of the Reformer, as having an important influence on the +course of the Reformation. With many, an honest striving after +religion and morality allied itself with the impulse for independent +intellectual culture, and tried to utilise it for improving the +condition of the Church. When the struggle of the Reformation began, +some followed Luther and the other religious teachers on his side, +some, shrinking back from his trenchant conclusions, and, above all, +concerned for their own stock-in-trade of learning, counselled +others to practise prudence and moderation, and themselves retired +to the service of their muses. Others again, broke away altogether +from the Christian faith and the principles of Christian morality. +They took delight in a new life of Heathenism, devoted sometimes to +sensual pleasures and gross immoralities, sometimes to the +indulgence of refined tastes and the enjoyment of art. These latter +never raised a weapon against the Church, but for the most part +accommodated themselves to her forms. In her teachings, her +ordinances, and her discipline, they saw something indispensable to +the multitude, as whose conscious superiors they behaved. Indeed, +they themselves wielded this government in the Church, and +comfortably enjoyed their authority and its fruits. In Italy, at +Rome, and on the Papal chair these despotic pretensions were then +asserted without shame or reserve. In Germany, on the other hand, +the leading champions of the new learning, even when in open arms +against the barbarism of the monks and clergy, sought, for +themselves and their disciples, to remain faithful on the ground of +their Mother Church. At Erfurt, in particular, the relations between +them and the representatives of Scholasticism were peaceful, +unconstrained, and friendly. The dry writings of a Trutvetter they +prefaced with panegyrics in Latin verse, and the Trutvetter would +try to imitate their purer style. + +Some talented young students of the classics at Erfurt formed +themselves into a small coterie of their own. They enjoyed the +cheerful pleasures of youthful society, nor were poetry and wine +wanting, but the rules of decorum and good manners were not +overlooked. Several men, whom we shall come across afterwards in the +history of Luther, belonged to this circle;--for instance, John +Jager, known as Crotus Eubianus, the friend of Ulrich Hutten, and +George Spalatin (properly Burkhard), the trusted fellow-labourer of +the Reformer. Both had already been three years at the university +when Luther entered it. Three years after his arrival, came Eoban +Hess, the most brilliant, talented, and amiable of the young +Humanists and poets of Germany. + +Such was the learned company to which Luther was introduced in the +philosophical faculty at Erfurt. So far, different avenues of +intellectual culture were opened to him. He threw himself into the +study of that philosophy in all its bearings, and, not content with +exploring the tangled and thorny paths of logic, took counsel how to +enjoy, as far as possible, the fruits of the newly-revived knowledge +of antiquity. + +As regards the latter, he carried the study of Ovid, Virgil, and +Cicero, in particular, farther than was customary with the professed +students of Humanism, and the same with the poetical works of more +modern Latin writers. But his chief aim was not so much to master +the mere language of the classical authors, or to mould himself +according to their form, as to cull from their pages rich +apophthegms of human wisdom, and pictures of human life and of the +history of peoples. He learned to express pregnant and powerful +thoughts clearly and vigorously in learned Latin, but he was himself +well aware how much his language was wanting in the elegance, +refinement, and charm of the new school; indeed, this elegance he +never attempted to attain. + +With the members of this circle of young Humanists, Luther was on +terms of personal friendship. Crotus was able to remind him in after +life how, in close intimacy, they had studied the fine arts together +at the university. But there is no mention of him in the numerous +letters and poems left to posterity by the aspiring Humanists at +Erfurt. He had made himself, Crotus adds, a name among his +companions as the 'learned philosopher' and the 'musician,' but he +never belonged to the 'poets,' which was the favourite title of the +young Humanists. Many, including even Melancthon, have lamented that +he was not more deeply imbued with the spirit of those 'noble arts +and letters,' which educate the mind, and would have tended to +soften his rugged nature and manner. But they would have been of +little value to him for the quick decision and energy required for +the war he had afterwards to wage. Those intellectual treasures and +enjoyments kept aloof not only from such contests, but also from +sharp and searching investigations of the highest questions of +religion and morality, and from the inward struggle, so often +painful, which they bring. As regards the merits of Humanism, which +Luther again, as a Reformer, eagerly acknowledged, we must not +forget how selfishly it withdrew itself from contact and communion +with German popular life, nor how it helped to create an exclusive +aristocracy of intellect, and allowed the noblest talents to become +as clumsy in their own natural mother-tongue, as they were clever in +the handling of foreign, acquired forms of art. Luther, in not +yielding further to those influences, remained a German. + +Philosophy, then, engrossed him, and allowed him but little time for +other things. And in studying this, he sought to grapple with the +highest problems of the human understanding. These problems occupied +also the labours of the later Scholastics, however faulty were the +forms in which they clothed their ideas. At the same time, these +very forms attracted him, from the scope they gave to the exercise +of his natural acuteness and understanding. Disputation was his +great delight; and argumentative contests were then in fashion at +the universities. But in after years, as soon as the contents of the +Bible were opened to his inner understanding, and he recognised in +its pages the object of real theological knowledge, he regretted the +time and labour which he had wasted on those studies, and even spoke +of them with disgust. + +Crotus has already told us of the sociable life that Luther led with his +friends. The love for music, which he had shown in school-days, he +continued to keep up, and indulged in it merrily with his fellow-students. +He had a high-pitched voice, not strong, but audible at a distance. +Besides singing, he learned also to play the lute, and this without a +master, and he employed his time in this way when laid up once by an +accident to his leg. + +Such rapid progress did he make in his philosophical studies, that +in his third term he was able to attain his baccalaureate, the first +academical degree of the theological faculty. This degree, according +to the general custom of the universities, preceded that of Master, +corresponding to the present Doctor, of philosophy. The examination +for it, which Luther passed on Michaelmas day 1502, professed to +include the most important subjects in the province of philosophy. +But it could not have been very severe. The chief work came when he +took his next degree as Master, which was at the beginning of 1505. +He then experienced what afterwards, speaking of Erfurt's former +glory, he thus describes: 'What a moment of majesty and splendour +was that, when one took the degree of Master, and torches were +carried before, and honour was paid one. I consider that no temporal +or worldly joy can equal it.' Melancthon tells us, on the authority +of several of Luther's fellow-students, that his talent was then the +wonder of the whole university. + +In accordance with the wish of his father and the advice of his +relations, he was now to fit himself for a lawyer. In this +profession, they thought, he would be able to turn his talents to +the best account, and make a name in the world. And in this +department also, the university of Erfurt could boast of one of the +most distinguished men of learning of that time, Henning Goede, who +was now in the prime of his vigour. Luther, accordingly, began to +attend the lectures on law, and his father allowed him to buy some +valuable books for that purpose, particularly a 'Corpus Juris.' + +Meanwhile, however, in his inner religious life a change was being +prepared, which proved the turning-point of his career. + +Luther himself, as we have seen, frequently pointed out in after +life the influences which, even from childhood, under the discipline +of home, the experiences of school, and the teaching of the Church, +combined to bring about this result. He could never shake off for +any length of time, even when in the midst of learned study or the +enjoyment of student life, the consciousness that he must be pious +and satisfy all the strict commands of God, that he must make good +all the shortcomings of his life, and reconcile himself with Heaven, +and that an angry Judge was throned above who threatened him with +damnation. Inner voices of this kind, in a man of sensitive and +tender conscience, were bound to assert themselves the more loudly +and earnestly, as, in his progress from youth to manhood, he +realised more fully his personal responsibility to God, and also his +personal independence. To religious observances, in which he had +been trained from childhood, Luther, as a student, remained +faithful. Regularly he began his day with prayer, and as regularly +attended mass. But of any new or comforting means of access to God +and salvation, he heard nothing, even here. In the town of Erfurt +there was an earnest and powerful preacher, named Sebastian +Weinmann, who denounced in incisive language the prevalent vices of +the day, and exposed the corruption of ecclesiastical life, and whom +the students thronged to hear. But even he had nothing to offer to +satisfy Luther's inward cravings of the soul. It was an episode in +his life when he once found a Latin Bible in the library of the +university. Though then nearly twenty years of age, he had never yet +seen a Bible. Now for the first time he saw how much more it +contained than was ever read out and explained in the churches. With +delight he perused the story of Samuel and his mother, on the first +pages that met his eye; though, as yet, he could make nothing more +out of the Sacred Book. It was not on account of any particular +offences, such as youthful excesses, that Luther feared the wrath of +God. Staunch Catholics at Erfurt, including even later avowed +enemies of the Reformer, who knew him there as a student, have never +hinted at anything of that sort against him. 'The more we wash our +hands, the fouler they become,' was a favourite saying of Luther's. +He referred, no doubt, to the numerous faults in thought, word, and +deed, which, in spite of human carefulness, every day brings, and +which, however insignificant they might seem to others, his +conscience told him were sins against God's holy law. Disquieting +questions, moreover, now arose in his mind, so sorely troubled with +temptation; and his subtle and penetrating intellect, so far from +being able to solve them, only plunged him deeper in distress. Was +it then really God's own will, he asked himself, that he should +become actually purged from sin and thereby be saved? Was not the +way to hell or the way to heaven already fixed for him immutably in +God's will and decree, by which everything is determined and +preordained? And did not the very futility of his own endeavours +hitherto prove that it was the former fate that hung over him? He +was in danger of going utterly astray in his conception of such a +God. Expressions in the Bible such as those which speak of serving +Him with fear became to him intolerable and hateful. He was seized +at times with fits of despair such as might have tempted him to +blaspheme God. It was this that he afterwards referred to as the +greatest temptation he had experienced when young. + +His physical condition probably contributed to this gloomy frame of +mind. Already during his baccalaureate we hear of an illness of his, +which awakened in him thoughts of death. A friend, represented by +later tradition as an aged priest, said to him on his sick bed, +'Take courage; God will yet make you the means of comfort to many +others;' and these words impressed him strongly even then. An +accident also, which threatened to be fatal, must have tended to +alarm him. As he was travelling home at Easter, and was within an +hour's distance of Erfurt, he accidentally injured the main artery +of his leg with the rapier which, like other students, he carried at +his side. Whilst a friend who was with him had gone for a doctor, +and he was left alone, he pressed the wound tightly as he lay on his +back, but the leg continued to swell. In the anguish of death he +called upon the Virgin to help him. That night his terror was +renewed when the wound broke open afresh, and again he invoked the +Mother of God. It was during his convalescence after this accident +that he resolved upon learning to play the lute. + +He was terribly distressed also, a few months after he had taken his +degree as Master, by the sudden death of one of his friends, not +further known to us, who was either assassinated or snatched away by +some other fatality. + +Well might the thought even then have occurred to him, while so +disturbed in his mind and overpowered by feelings of sadness, +whether it would not be better to seek his cure in the monastic +holiness recommended by the Church, and to renounce altogether the +world and all the success he had hitherto aspired to. The young +Master of Arts, as he tells us himself in later years, was indeed a +sorrowful man. + +Suddenly and offhand he was hurried into a most momentous decision. +Towards the end of June 1505, when several Church festivals fall +together, he paid a visit to his home at Mansfeld, in quest, very +possibly, of rest and comfort to his mind. Returning on July 2, the +feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, he was already near +Erfurt, when, at the village of Stotternheim a terrific storm broke +over his head. A fearful flash of lightning darted from heaven +before his eyes. Trembling with fear, he fell to the earth, and +exclaimed, 'Help, Anna, beloved Saint! I will be a monk.' A few days +after, when quietly settled again at Erfurt, he repented having used +these words. But he felt that he had taken a vow, and that, on the +strength of that vow, he had obtained a hearing. The time, he knew, +was past for doubt or indecision. Nor did he think it necessary to +get his father's consent; his own conviction and the teaching of the +Church told him that no objection on the part of his father could +release him from his vow. Thus he severed himself at once from his +former life and companions. On July 16 he called his best friends +together to bid them leave. Once more they tried to keep him back; +he answered them, 'To-day you see me, and never again.' The next +day, that of St. Alexius, they accompanied him with tears to the +gates of the Augustinian convent in the town, which he thought was +to receive him for ever. + +It is chiefly from what Luther himself has told us that we are +enabled to picture to ourselves this remarkable occurrence. Rumour, +and rumour only, has given the name of Alexius to that unknown +friend whose death so terrified him, and has represented this friend +as having been struck dead by lightning at his side. + +The Luther of later days declared that his monastic vow was a +compulsory one, forced from him by terror and the fear of death. +But, at the same time, he never doubted that it was God who urged +him. Thus he said afterwards, 'I never thought to leave again the +convent. I was entirely dead to the world, until God thought that +the time had come.' + + + + +PART II. + +_LUTHER AS MONK AND PROFESSOR, UNTIL HIS ENTRY ON THE WAR OF +REFORMATION--1505-1517._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AT THE CONTENT AT ERFURT, TILL 1508. + + +Luther's resolve to follow a monastic life was arrived at suddenly, +as we have seen. But he weighed that resolve well in his mind, and +just as carefully considered the choice of the convent which he +entered. + +The Augustinian monks, whose society he announced his intention to join, +belonged at that time to the most important monastic order in Germany. +So much had already been said with justice, in the way of complaint and +ridicule, of the depravation of monastic life, its idleness, hypocrisy, +and gross immorality, that many of them fancied that the solemn +renunciation of marriage and the world's goods, and the absolute +submission of their wills to the commands of their superiors and the +regulations of their Order, constituted true service to God, and raised +them to a peculiar position of holiness and merit. Outward discipline, +at all events, was universally insisted on. Among the German institutions +of this Order, whilst neglect and depravity had crept in elsewhere, a +large number had, for some time past, distinguished themselves by a +strict adherence to their old statutes, originating, it was supposed, +from their founder St. Augustine, but relating, at the best, to mere +matters of form. These institutions formed themselves into an +association, presided over by a Vicar of the Order, as he was called, +a Vicar-General for Germany. To this association belonged the convent +at Erfurt. Its inmates were treated with marked favour and respect by +the higher and educated classes in the town. They were said to be +active in preaching and in the care of souls, and to cultivate among +themselves the study of theology. Arnoldi, Luther's teacher, +belonged to this convent. As the Order possessed no property, but +all its members lived on alms, the monks went about the town and +country to collect gifts of money, bread, cheese, and other +victuals. + +According to the rules of the Order, applications for admission were +not granted at once, but time was taken to see whether the applicant +was in earnest. After that he was received as a novice for at least +a year of probation. Until that year expired he was at liberty to +reconsider his wish. + +Luther, before taking this final step, thought of his parents, with +a view to lay before them his resolve. The monastic brethren, +however, endeavoured to dissuade him, by reminding him how one must +leave father and mother for Christ and His Cross, and how no one who +has put his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom +of God. Upon his writing to his father on the subject, the latter, +strong in the conviction of his paternal rights, flew into a passion +with his son. 'My father,' says Luther later, 'was near going mad +about it; he was ill satisfied, and would not allow it. He sent me +an answer in writing, addressing me in terms that showed his +displeasure, and renouncing all further affection. Soon after he +lost two of his sons by the plague. This epidemic had likewise +broken out so violently at Erfurt, that about harvesttime whole +crowds of students fled with their teachers from the town, and +Luther's father received news that his son Martin had also fallen a +victim. His friends then urged him that, if the report proved false, +he ought at least to devote his dearest to God, by letting this son +who still remained to him, enter the blessed Order of God's +servants. At last the father let himself be talked over; but he +yielded, as Luther informs us, with a sad and reluctant heart. + +The young novice was welcomed among his brethren with hymns of joy, +and prayers, and other ceremonies. He was soon clothed in the garb +of his Order. Over a white woollen shirt he was made to wear a frock +and cowl of black cloth, with a black leathern girdle. Whenever he +put these on or off a Latin prayer was repeated to him aloud, that +the Lord might put off the old and put on the new man, fashioned +according to God. Above the cowl he received a scapulary, as it was +called--in other words, a narrow strip of cloth hanging over +shoulders, breast, and back, and reaching down to his feet. This was +meant to signify that he took upon him the yoke of Him who said, 'My +yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' At the same time, he was +handed over to a superior, appointed to take charge of the novices, +to introduce them to the practices of monastic devotion, to +superintend their conduct, and to watch over their souls. + +Above all, it was held important that the monks should be taught to +subdue their own wills. They had to learn to endure, without +opposition, whatever was imposed upon them, and that, indeed, all +the more cheerfully, the more distasteful it appeared. Any tendency +to pride was overcome by enjoining immediately the most menial +offices on the offender. Friends of Luther tell us how, during his +first period of probation in particular, he had to perform the +meanest daily labour with brush and broom, and how his jealous +brethren took particular pleasure in seeing the proud young graduate +of yesterday trudge through the streets, with his beggar's wallet on +his back, by the side of another monk more accustomed to the work. +At first, we are told, the university interceded on his behalf as a +member of their own body, and obtained for him at least some +relaxation from his menial duties. From Luther's own lips, in after +life, we hear not a word of complaint about any special vexations +and burdens. As far as was possible, he did not allow them to daunt +him; nay, he longed for even severer exercises, to enable him to win +the favour of God. Even as a Reformer he remembered with gratitude +the 'Pedagogue,' or superintendent of his noviciate; he was a fine +old man, he tells us, a true Christian under that execrable cowl. + +The novice found each day, as it went by, fully occupied with the +repetition of set prayers and the performance of other acts of +devotion. For the day and night together there were seven or eight +appointed hours of prayer, or _Horae_. During each of these the +brethren who were not yet priests had to say twenty-five +Paternosters with the Ave Maria, more ample formulas of prayer being +prescribed meanwhile to the priests. Luther was also introduced +already then to certain theological studies, which were under the +supervision of two learned fathers of the monastery. But what was of +the most importance for him was that a Bible--the Latin translation +then in general use in the Church--was put into his hands. Just +about this time, a new code of statutes had come in force for these +Augustinian convents, drawn up by Staupitz, the Vicar of the Order, +which enjoined, as matters of duty, assiduous reading, devout +attention to the Hours, and a zealous study of Holy Writ. Teachers +were wanting to Luther, and he found it very difficult to understand +all he read. But with genuine appetite he read himself, so to speak, +into his Bible, and clung to it ever afterwards. + +At the end of his year of probation followed his solemn admission to +the Order. Faithfully 'unto death' did Luther then promise to live +according to the rules of the holy father Augustine, and to render +obedience to Almighty God, to the Virgin Mary, and to the prior of +the monastery. Before doing so, he put on anew the dress of his +Order, which had been consecrated with holy water and incense. The +prior received his vows and sprinkled holy water upon him as he +prostrated himself upon the ground in the form of a cross. When the +ceremony was over, his brethren congratulated him on being now like +an innocent child fresh from the baptism. He was then given a cell +of his own, with table, bedstead, and chair. It looked out upon the +cloistered yard of the monastery. It was destroyed by a fire on +March 7, 1872. + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.--LUTHER'S CELL AT ERFURT.] + +Luther now, by an inviolable promise, had bound himself to that +vocation through which he aspired to gain heaven. The means whereby +he hoped to realise his aspiration were abundantly provided for him +in his new home. If he sought the favour of the Virgin and of other +saints who should intercede for him before the judgment-seat of God +and Christ, he found at once in his Order a fervent worship of the +Virgin in particular, and all possible directions for her service. +The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which Pius IX., in our +own days, first ventured to raise into a dogma of the Church, was +zealously defended by the Augustinians, and firmly maintained by +Luther himself, even after the beginning of his war of Reformation. +John Palz, one of his two theological teachers in the convent, wrote +profusely in honour of this doctrine, and described all Christians +as its spiritual children. Under its mantle, says Luther, he had to +creep into the presence of Christ. From the multitude of other +saints Luther selected a number as his constant helpers in need. We +notice particularly that among these, in addition to St. Anne and +St. George, was the Apostle Thomas; from him who himself had once +betrayed such cowardice and want of faith he might well hope for +peculiar sympathy. We have already mentioned the set prayers which +filled up a great portion of the day. He was required above all +things to learn and repeat them accurately, word by word. +Afterwards, as he tells us, the _Horae_ were read aloud after +the manner of magpies, jackdaws, or parrots. + +If he wished in penitence to be freed from the sins which had +tormented him so long, and were a daily burden on his conscience, +the means of confession provided by the Church were always ready for +him in the convent. Once a week, at the least, every brother had to +attend the private confessional. All his sins, without exception, +had then to be revealed, if he wished to obtain for them +forgiveness. Luther endeavoured to unbosom to his father-confessor +all he had done from his youth up; but this was too much even for +the priest. It was by means of a complete inward contrition, +corresponding to the infinite burden of sin, that the person +confessing was to make himself worthy of the forgiveness which the +priest then testified to him by absolution. According to the +prevailing doctrine, however, what was wanting to the penitent in +completeness of contrition, was supplied by the Sacrament of +Absolution. But the punishments reserved by God for sinners were not +supposed to be ended by this absolution or forgiveness; these had to +be atoned for by peculiar observances, imposed by the priest, and by +prayer, alms, fasting, and other acts of mortification. For him who +was not forgiven, remained hell; for him who had not expiated his +sins, at least the fear and pains of purgatory. Such was and still +is the teaching of the Catholic Church. + +Thus Luther was now summoned and directed to pursue methodically the +painful work of self-examination, which had oppressed him even +before he entered the convent, and to use all the means of grace +here offered to him. But the more he searched into his life and +thoughts, the more transgressions of God's will he found, and the +more grievously did they afflict his conscience. It was not, indeed, +as might have been imagined with a strong young man like himself, a +question of any sensual appetites, stimulated all the more by the +restraints of the convent. It was with the passions of anger, +hatred, and envy against his brethren and fellow-creatures, that he +had to reproach himself. Those who disliked him accused him in +particular of self-conceit, and of letting his temper break out too +easily. Faults of that description, in thought, word, or deed, were +to his own conscience as deadly sins, though to the priest who +listened to him at confession, they seemed too trifling to call for +enumeration. To these were added a number of smaller offences +against the ordinances of the Church and the convent, with reference +to outward observances and forms of worship, prayers, and so on, all +of which, insignificant as they must seem to us, the Church was +accustomed to treat as grievous sins. Finally, there arose in his +mind a constant restlessness, which made him look for sins where +none in reality existed. What he had said once before about washing +one's hands, that it only made them become fouler, he had now to +experience for himself. His contrition made him feel pain and fear +in abundance, but not so as to enable him to say to himself that it +purged the evil in the sight of God. Absolution was pronounced over +him again and again, but who ever gave him any assurance that he had +fulfilled its conditions, and therefore could really confide in its +efficacy? As for acts of penance, he willingly performed them, and, +indeed, did far more in the way of prayer, fasting, and vigil than +either the rules of the convent demanded or his father-confessor +enjoined. His body, from his hardy training as a child, was well +prepared for such austerities, but in spite of that, he had for a +long while to suffer from their results. Luther, in later years, +could well bear witness of himself that he had caused his own body +far more pain and torture with those practices of penance than all +his enemies and persecutors had caused to theirs. + +What leisure remained, after his other monastic duties were over, he +devoted most industriously to the study of theology. He read, in +particular, the writings of the later Scholastic theologians, with +whom he had partly occupied himself during his philosophical course. +Of some of these, such as the Englishman Occam, in particular, whose +acuteness of reasoning he especially admired, there were writings +which, in reference to questions of external Church polity, might +have led him even then into paths of his own, if his mind had been +disposed for it. These writings were directed against the absolute +power of the Pope in the Church, and against his aggressions in the +territory of Empire and State. But any such aim was very far removed +from the monastic Order to which Luther had devoted himself, and +from the theologians who were here his teachers. Palz, whom we have +mentioned already, had especially distinguished himself by his +glorification of the Papal indulgences. Moreover, the whole Order, +and the German convents belonging to it in particular, were indebted +to the Pope for various acts of favour. Nor was Luther himself less +careful to hold firmly to the ordinances of the hierarchy, than to +avail himself of the means of salvation offered by the Church. + +What at all times in his theological studies enlisted his warmest +personal interest was the difficult question, how sinners could +obtain everlasting salvation. And all that he came to read on that +subject in the writings of those theologians, and to hear from his +learned teachers in the convent, served only to increase his +fruitless inward wrestlings, and his anxiety and sense of need. The +great father of the Church, from whom his Order was named, and to +whom their rules were ascribed, had once, on the ground of his own +experiences of the struggle with sin and the flesh, laid down with +great force, and in a triumphant controversy with his opponents, the +doctrine that, as the Apostle says, salvation depends not on the +conduct of man, but on the grace of God, not on the will of man, but +on the willingness of God to pardon, Who alone transforms the +sinner, and grants him the power and the will for good. But any +knowledge or understanding of this theology of Augustine was as +strange to his own Order as to the Scholastics. It was taught, +indeed, that heaven was too high for man to attain to otherwise than +by the grace of God. But it was also taught that the sinner, by his +own natural strength, both could and ought to do enough in God's +sight to earn that grace which would then help him further on the +way to heaven. He who had thus obtained that grace, it was said, +felt himself enabled and impelled to do even more than God's +commands require. Reference to the bitter passion and death of the +Saviour was not omitted, it is true, by the theologians with whom +Luther had to do, and frequently, as, for example, by his teacher +Palz, was impressed on Christian hearts in words full of feeling. +But the chief stress was laid, not on the redeeming love on which +man could rest his confident assurance, but on the necessity of +offering oneself to Him who had offered Himself for man, and of +submitting even to the pains of death, in imitation of Him, and to +pay the penalty of sin. In this way, again and again, Luther saw +before him claims on the part of God which he could never hope to +satisfy. His sorest trial was caused by the thought that God Himself +should have the will to let him fail after all his fruitless +efforts, and finally be numbered with the lost. And it was just with +the later Scholastics that he found, not indeed a theory according +to which God had simply predestined a part of mankind to perdition, +but a general conception of God which would represent Him as a Being +not so much of holy love, as of arbitrary, absolute will. + +Luther spent two years in the convent amidst these strivings and +inward sufferings. His spiritual life, as it was called, of strict +discipline and asceticism was quoted in other convents as a model +for imitation. Now and then, indeed, he felt himself puffed up with +a sense of superior sanctity--'a proud saint,' as he afterwards +called himself. But humility was the ruling temper of his mind. +Frequently, in after life, he described his condition as a warning +to others. Thus he speaks of the disciples of the law, who try by +their own works, by constant labour, by wearing shirts of hair, by +self-scourging, by fasting, by every means, in short, to satisfy the +law. Such a one, he tells us, he himself had been. But he had also +learned by experience, he adds, what happens when a man is tempted, +and death or danger frightens him; how he despairs, nay, would fly +from God as from the devil, and would rather that there were no God +at all. So great became his inward sufferings, that he thought both +body and soul must succumb. Thus he tells us later on, when speaking +of the torments of purgatory, of a man, who doubtless was himself, +how he had often endured such agony, only momentary it is true, but +so hellish in its violence, that no tongue could express nor pen +describe it; that, had it lasted longer, even for half an hour, or +only five minutes, he must have died then and there, and his bones +have been consumed to ashes. He himself saw afterwards in these +pains, visitations of a special kind, such as God does not send to +everyone. But they served him then as a proof, and one of universal +application, that that school of the law, as he called it, would +bring no real holiness either to others or himself, but must teach a +man to despair of himself and of any claims or merits of his own. +And, indeed, as we know from all that had gone before, it was not +simply the external barrenness of the regulations of Church and +convent, or a sense of imperfect fulfilment on his part, that caused +his restlessness of conscience; what gave him the deepest anxiety +and harassed him the most were those very inward stirrings, which +revealed to him his opposition to God's eternal demands, the +fulfilment of which he thought indispensable for reconciliation to +God. + +His experiences at the convent led him to the perception of those +principles which formed the groundwork of his preaching as a +Reformer. From his exemplary conduct there, and his wonderful and +active conversion, he was compared to St. Paul. In quite another +sense he resembled the great Apostle. The latter, when a Pharisee, +had laboured to justify himself before God by the law and the +prophets. 'O wretched man that I am,' Luther there must have +exclaimed of himself, and afterwards looking back on his +experiences, have counted all as 'dung and loss' in order to be +justified rather by faith through the grace of God and the Saviour, +and to become free and holy. + +Just as, meanwhile, inside the Catholic Church, the laws, dogmas, +and School theories relating to the means of salvation, were never +able to supplant entirely the thought of the simple testimony of the +Bible, and of the Church's own confession of God's forgiving love +and His redeeming and absolving grace, or to prevent simple, pious +Christians from seeking here a refuge in the inmost depths of their +hearts, so now, at this very convent of Erfurt, where Luther's +inward development in those theories and dogmas had reached so high +a pitch, he received also the first serious impressions in the other +direction. They found with him a difficult and gradual entrance, +from the energy and consistency with which he had taken up his +original standpoint. But with all the more energy, and with perfect +consistency, did he abandon that standpoint, when new light dawned +upon him from his new conception of the truth. + +Luther's teacher at the convent, by whom we shall have to understand +the superintendent of the novices, had already made a deep +impression upon him, by reminding him of the words of the Apostles' +Creed about the forgiveness of sins, and representing to him, what +Luther had never ventured to apply to himself, that the Lord himself +had commanded us to hope. For this he referred him to a passage in +the writings of St. Bernard, where that fervent preacher, imbued +though he was in his theology with the Church notions of the middle +ages, insists on the importance of this very faith in God's +forgiveness, and appeals to the words of St. Paul that man is +justified by grace through faith. Remarks of this kind sank into +Luther's mind, and took root there, though their fruit only ripened +by degrees. Of his teacher Arnoldi, also, he spoke with admiration +and gratitude, for the comfort he had known how to impart to him. + +But the one who at this time acquired by far the most potent, +wholesome, and lasting influence upon Luther, was the Vicar-General, +John von Staupitz. He was a remarkable man, of a noble and pious +disposition, and a refined and far-seeing mind. A master of the +forms of Scholastic theology, he was also deeply read in Scripture; +he made its teachings the special standard of his life, and was +careful to enjoin others to do the same. He strove after an inward, +practical life in God, not confined to mere forms and observances. +Sharp conflicts and controversies were not to his taste; but mildly +and discreetly he sought to plant, in his own field of work, and to +leave what he had planted in God's name to grow up. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--STAUPITZ. (From the Portrait in St. Peter's +Convent at Salzburg.)] + +It was during his visits to Erfurt that Staupitz came in contact +with the gifted, thoughtful, and melancholy young monk. He treated +Luther, both in conversation and letter, with fatherly confidence, +and Luther unlocked to him, as to a father, his heart and its cares. +Upon his wishing to confess to him all his many small sins, Staupitz +insisted first on distinguishing between what were really sins, and +what were not; as for self-imagined sins, or such a patchwork of +offences as Luther laid before him, he would not listen to them; +that was not the kind of seriousness, he would say, that God wished +to have. Luther tormented himself with a system of penance, +consisting of actual pain, punishments, and expiations. Staupitz +taught him that repentance, in the Scriptural meaning, was an inward +change and conversion, which must proceed from the love of holiness +and of God; and that, for peace with God, he must not look to his +own good resolutions to lead a better life, which he had not the +strength to carry out, or to his own acts, which could never satisfy +the law of God, but must trust with patience to God's forgiving +mercy, and learn to see in Christ, whom God permitted to suffer for +the sins of man, not the threatening Judge, but rather the loving +Saviour. To Christ above all he referred him, when Luther pondered +on the secret eternal will of God, and was near despair. God's +eternal purpose, he would say, shines clearly in the wounds of +Christ. Did his temptations not cease, he bade him see in them means +to draw him to the love of God. The thoughts of Staupitz turned in +this on the temptations to pride, which might themselves be the +means of curing that pride, and on the great things for which God +wished to prepare him. In a simple, practical manner, and from the +experiences of his own life, he would thus counsel and converse with +Luther. During the long course of a confidential intercourse with +his friend, his own theology in later years became visibly +developed, and his pupil of earlier days became afterwards his +teacher. But Luther, both then and throughout his life, spoke of him +with grateful affection as his spiritual father, and thanked God +that he had been helped out of his temptations by Dr. Staupitz, +without whom he would have been swallowed up in them and perished. + +The first firm ground, however, for his convictions and his inner +life, and the foundation for all his later teachings and works, was +found by Luther in his own persevering study of Holy Writ. In this +also he was encouraged by Staupitz, who must, however, have been +amazed at his indefatigable industry and zeal. For the +interpretation of the Bible the means at his command were meagre in +the extreme. He himself explored in all cases to their very centre +the truths of Christian salvation and the highest questions of moral +and religious life. A single passage of importance would occupy his +thoughts for days. Significant words, which he was not able yet to +comprehend, remained fixed in his mind, and he carried them silently +about with him. Thus it was, for example, as he tells us, with the +text in Ezekiel, 'I will not the death of a sinner,' a passage which +engrossed his earnest thoughts. + +It was the third and last year of his monastic life at Erfurt that +brought with it, as far as we see, the decisive turn for his inward +struggles and labours. + +In his second year, on May 2, 1507, he received, by command of his +superiors, his solemn ordination as a priest. It was then for the +first time since his entry into the convent against his father's +will, that the latter saw him again. A convenient day was expressly +arranged for him, to enable him to take part personally at the +solemnity. He rode into Erfurt with a stately train of friends and +relations. But in his opinion of the step taken by his son he +remained unalterably firm. At the entertainment which was given in +the convent to the young priest, the latter tried to extort from him +a friendly remark upon the subject, by asking him why he seemed so +angry, when monastic life was such a high and holy thing. His father +replied in the presence of all the company, 'Learned brothers, have +you not read in Holy Writ, that a man must honour father and +mother?' And on being reminded how his son had been called, nay, +compelled to this new life by heaven, 'Would to God,' he answered, +'it were no spirit of the devil!' He let them understand that he was +there, eating and drinking, as a matter of duty, but that he would +much rather be away. + +To Luther, however, the post of high dignity to which he was now +promoted brought new fear and anxiety. He had now to appear before God +as a priest; to have Christ's Body, the very Christ Himself, and God +actually present before him at the mass on the altar; to offer the +Body of Christ as a sacrifice to the living and eternal God. Added +to this, there were a multitude of forms to observe, any oversight +wherein was a sin. All this so overpowered him at his first mass, +that he could scarcely remain at the altar; he was well-nigh, as he +said afterwards, a dead man. + +With these priestly functions he united an assiduous devotion to his +saints. By reading mass every morning, he invoked twenty-one +particular saints, whom he had chosen as his helpers, taking three +at a time, so as to include them all within the week. + +As regards the most important problems of life, his study of the +Scriptures gradually revealed to him the light which determined his +future convictions. The path had already been pointed out to him by +the words of St. Paul quoted by St. Bernard. When looking back, at +the close of his life, on this his inward development, he tells us +how perplexed he had been by what St. Paul said of the +'righteousness of God' (Rom. i. 17). For a long time he troubled +himself about the expression, connecting it as he did, according to +the ruling theology of the day, with God's righteousness in His +punishment of sinners. Day and night he pondered over the meaning +and context of the Apostle's words. But at length, he adds, God in +His great mercy revealed to him that what St. Paul and the gospel +proclaimed was a righteousness given freely to us by the grace of +God, Who forgives those who have faith in His message of mercy, and +justifies them, and gives them eternal life. Therewith the gate of +heaven was opened to him, and thenceforth the whole remaining +purport of God's word became clearly revealed. Still it was only by +degrees, during the latter portion of his stay at Erfurt, and even +after that, that he arrived at this full perception of the truth. + +After their ordination the monks received the title of fathers. +Luther was not as yet relieved of the duty of going out with a +brother in quest of alms. But he was soon employed in the more +important business of the Order, as, for instance, in transactions +with a high official of the Archbishop, in which he displayed great +zeal for the priesthood and for his Order. + +With the Scholastic theology of his time, albeit even now in a path +marked out by himself, his keen understanding and happy memory had +enabled him to become thoroughly familiar. He was scarcely twenty-five +years old when Staupitz, occupied with making provision for the +newly-founded university of Wittenberg, recognised in him the right +man for a professorial chair. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CALL TO WITTENBERG. JOURNEY TO ROME. + + +Wittenberg was at that time the youngest of the German universities. +It was founded in 1502 by the Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, +a man pre-eminent among the German princes, not only from his +prudence and circumspection, but also from his faithful care for his +country, his genuine love for knowledge, and his deep religious +feeling. His country was not a rich one. Wittenberg itself was a +poor, badly-built town of about three thousand inhabitants. But the +Elector showed his wisdom above all by his right choice of men whom +he consulted in his work, and to whose hands he entrusted its +conduct. These, in their turn, were very careful to select talented +and trustworthy teachers for the institution, which was to depend +for its success on the attractions offered by pure learning, and not +those of outward show and a luxurious style of life among the +students. The supervision of theology was entrusted by Frederick to +Staupitz, whom personally he held in high esteem, and who, together +with the learned and versatile Martin Pollich of Melrichstadt, had +already been the most active in his service in promoting the +foundation of the university. Staupitz himself entered the +theological faculty as its first Dean. A constant or regular +application to his duties was rendered impossible by the +multifarious business of his Order, and the journeys it entailed. +But in his very capacity of Vicar-General, he strove to supply the +theological needs of the university, and, by the means of education +thus offered, to assist the members of his Order. Already before +this the Augustinian monks had had a settlement at Wittenberg, +though little is known about it. A handsome convent was built for +them in 1506. In a short time young inmates of this convent, and +afterwards more monks of the same Order who came from other parts, +entered the university as students and took academical degrees. The +patron saint of the University was, next to the Virgin Mary, St. +Augustine. Trutvetter of Erfurt became professor of theology at +Wittenberg in 1507. It was early in the winter of 1508-9, when +Staupitz, who had been re-elected for the second time, was still +dean of the theological faculty, that Luther was suddenly and +unexpectedly summoned thither. He had to obey not merely the advice +and wish of an affectionate friend, but the will of the principal of +his Order. + +As hitherto he had simply graduated as a master in philosophy, and +had not qualified himself academically for a professor of theology, +Luther at first was only called on to lecture on those philosophical +subjects which, as we have seen, occupied his studies at Erfurt. +Theologians, it is true, had been entrusted with these duties, just +as, here at Wittenberg, the first dean of the philosophical faculty +was a theologian, and, in addition to that indeed, a member of the +Augustinian Order. But from the beginning, Luther was anxious to +exchange the province of philosophy for that of theology, meaning +thereby, as he expressed it, that theology which searched into the +very kernel of the nut, the heart of the wheat, the marrow of the +bones. So far, he was already confident of having found a sure +ground for his Christian faith, as well as for his inner life, and +having found it, of being able to begin teaching others. Indeed, +while busily engaged in his first lectures on philosophy, he was +preparing to qualify himself for his theological degrees. Here also +he had to begin with his baccalaureate, comprising in fact three +different steps in the theological faculty, each of which had to be +reached by an examination and disputation. The first step was that +of bachelor of biblical knowledge, which qualified him to lecture on +the Holy Scriptures. The second, or that of a _Sententiarius_, +was necessary for lecturing on the chief compendium of mediaeval +School-theology, the so-called Sentences of Peter Lombardus, the due +performance of which duly led to the attainment of the third step. +Above the baccalaureate, with its three grades, came the rank of +licentiate, which gave the right to teach the whole of theology, and +lastly the formal, solemn admission as doctor of theology. Already, +on March 9, 1509, Luther had attained his first step in the +baccalaureate. At the end of six months he was qualified, by the +statutes of the university, to reach the second step, and in the +course of the next six months he actually reached it. + +But before gaining his new rights as a _Sententiarius_, he was +summoned back by the authorities of his Order to Erfurt. The reason +we do not know; we only know that he entered the theological faculty +there as professor, receiving, at the same time, the recognition of +the academical rank he had acquired at Wittenberg. At Erfurt he +remained about three terms, or eighteen months. After that he +returned to the university at Wittenberg. Trutvetter, towards the +end of 1510, had received a summons back to Erfurt from Wittenberg. +The void thus caused by his summons away may have had something to +do with Luther's return thither. At all events his position at +Wittenberg was now vastly different from that which he had +previously held. No theologian, his superior in years or fame, was +any longer above him. + +Ere long, however, Luther received another commission from his +Order; a proof of the confidence reposed also in his zeal for the +Order, his practical understanding, and his energy. It was about a +matter in which, by Staupitz's desire, other Augustinian convents in +Germany were to enter into a union with the reformed convents and +the Vicar of the Order. As opposition had been raised, Luther in +1511, no doubt at the suggestion of Staupitz, was sent on this +matter to Rome, where the decision was to be given. The journey +thither and back may easily have taken six weeks or more. According +to rule and custom, two monks were always sent out together, and a +lay-brother was given them for service and company. They used to +make their way on foot. In Rome the brethren of the Order were +received by the Augustinian monastery of Maria del Popolo. Thus +Luther went forth to the great capital of the world, to the throne +of the Head of the Church. He remained there four weeks, discharging +his duties, and surrounded by all her monuments and relics of +ecclesiastical interest. + +No definite account of the result of the business he had to +transact, has been handed down to us. We only learn that Staupitz, +the Vicar of the Order, was afterwards on friendly relations with +the convents which had opposed his scheme, and that he refrained +from urging any more unwelcome innovations. For us, however, the +most important parts of this journey are the general observations +and experiences which Luther made in Italy, and, above all, at the +Papal chair itself. He often refers to them later in his speeches +and writings, in the midst of his work and warfare, and he tells us +plainly how important to him afterwards was all that he there saw +and heard. + +The devotion of a pilgrim inspired him as he arrived at the city +which he had long regarded with holy veneration. It had been his +wish, during his troubles and heart-searchings, to make one day a +regular and general confession in that city. When he came in sight +of her, he fell upon the earth, raised his hands, and exclaimed +'Hail to thee, holy Rome!' She was truly sanctified, he declared +afterwards, through the blessed martyrs, and their blood which had +flowed within her walls. But he added, with indignation at himself, +how he had run like a crazy saint on a pilgrimage through all the +churches and catacombs, and had believed what turned out to be a +mass of rank lies and impostures. He would gladly then have done +something for the welfare of his friends' souls by mass-reading and +acts of devotion in places of particular sanctity. He felt downright +sorry, he tells us, that his parents were still alive, as he might +have performed some special act to release them from the pains of +purgatory. + +But in all this he found no real peace of mind: on the contrary, his +soul was stirred to the consciousness of another way of salvation +which had already begun to dawn upon him. Whilst climbing, on his +knees and in prayer, the sacred stairs which were said to have led +to the Judgment-hall of Pilate, and whither, to this day, +worshippers are invited by the promise of Papal absolutions, he +thought of the words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans (i. +17), 'The just shall live by faith. As for any spiritual +enlightenment and consolation, he found none among the priests and +monks of Rome. He was struck indeed with the external administration +of business and the nice arrangement of legal matters at the Papal +see. But he was shocked by all that he observed of the moral and +religious life and doings at this centre of Christianity; the +immorality of the clergy, and particularly of the highest +dignitaries of the Church, who thought themselves highly virtuous if +they abstained from the very grossest offences; the wanton levity +with which the most sacred names and things were treated; the +frivolous unbelief, openly expressed among themselves by the +spiritual pastors and masters of the Church. He complains of the +priests scrambling through mass as if they were juggling; while he +was reading one mass, he found they had finished seven: one of them +once urged him to be quick by saying 'Get on, get on, and make haste +to send her Son home to our Lady.' He heard jokes even made about +the priests when consecrating the elements at mass, repeating in +Latin the words 'Bread thou art, and bread thou shalt remain: wine +thou art, and wine thou shalt remain.' He often remarked in later +years how they would apply in derision the term 'good Christian' to +those who were stupid enough to believe in Christian truth, and to +be scandalised by anything said to the contrary. No one, he +declared, would believe what villanies and shameful doings were then +in vogue, if they had not seen and heard them with their own eyes +and ears. But the truth of his testimony is confirmed by those very +men whose life and conduct so shocked and revolted him. He must have +been indignant, moreover, at the contemptuous tone in which the +'stupid Germans' or 'German beasts' were spoken of, as persons +entitled to no notice or respect at Rome. + +He was astonished at the pomp and splendour which surrounded the +Pope when he appeared in public. He speaks, as an eye-witness, of +the processions, like those of a triumphing monarch. But the +horrible stories were then still fresh at Rome of the late Pope +Alexander and his children, the murder of his brother, the +poisoning, the incest, and other crimes. Of the then Pope, Julius +II., Luther heard nothing reported, except that he managed his +temporal affairs with energy and shrewdness, made war, collected +money, and contracted and dissolved, entered into and broke, +political alliances. At the time of Luther's visit, he was just +returning from a campaign in which he had conducted in person the +sanguinary siege of a town. Luther did not fail to observe that he +had established in the sacred city an excellent body of police, and +that he caused the streets to be kept clean, so that there was not +much pestilence about. But he looked upon him simply as a man of the +world, and afterwards fulminated against him as a strong man of +blood. + +All these experiences at Rome did not, however, then avail to shake +Luther's faith in the authority of the hierarchy which had such +unworthy ministers; though, later on, when he was forced to attack +the Papacy itself, they made it easier for him to shape his judgment +and conclusions. 'I would not have missed seeing Rome,' he then +declared, 'for a hundred thousand florins, for I might then have +felt some apprehension that I had done injustice to the Pope. But as +we see, we speak.' + +During his visit he also roamed about among the ruins of the ancient +capital of the world, and was astonished at the remains of bygone +worldly splendour. The works of the new art which Pope Julius was +then beginning to call into existence, did not appear to have +particularly engaged his attention. The Pope was then progressing +with the building of the new Church of St. Peter. The indulgence, of +which the proceeds were to enable the completion of this vast +undertaking, led afterwards to the struggle between the Augustinian +monk and the Papacy. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LUTHER AS THEOLOGICAL TEACHER, TO 1517 + + +On his return to his Wittenberg convent, Luther was made sub-prior. +At the university he entered fully upon all the rights and duties of +a teacher of theology, having been made licentiate and doctor. Here +again it was Staupitz, his friend and spiritual superior, who urged +this step: Luther's own wish was to leave the university and devote +himself entirely to the office of his Order. The Elector Frederick, +who had been struck with Luther by hearing one of his sermons, took +this, the first opportunity, of showing him personal sympathy, by +offering to defray the expenses of his degree. Luther was reluctant +to accept this, and years after he was fond of showing his friends a +pear-tree in the courtyard of the convent, under which he discussed +the matter with Staupitz, who, however, insisted on his demand. He +must have felt the more sensibly the responsibility of his new task, +from his own personal strivings after new and true theological +light. It was a satisfaction to him afterwards, amidst the endless +and unexpected labours and contests which his vocation brought with +it, to reflect that he had undertaken it, not from choice, but so +entirely from obedience. 'Had I known what I now know,' he would +exclaim in his later trials and dangers, 'not ten horses would ever +have dragged me into it.' + +After the necessary preliminaries and customary forms, he received +on October 4, 1512, the rights of a licentiate, and on the 18th and +19th was solemnly admitted to the degree of doctor. As licentiate he +promised to defend with all his power the truth of the gospel, and +he must have had this oath particularly in his mind when he +afterwards appealed to the fact of his having sworn on his beloved +Bible to preach it faithfully and in its purity. His oath as doctor, +which followed, bound him to abstain from doctrines condemned by the +Church and offensive to pious ears. Obedience to the Pope was not +required at Wittenberg, as it was at other universities. + +Others, besides Staupitz, expected from the beginning something +original and remarkable from the new professor. Pollich, the first +great representative of Wittenberg in its early days, and who died +in the following year, said of him, 'This monk will revolutionise +the whole system of Scholastic teaching.' He seems, like others whom +we hear of afterwards, to have been especially struck with the depth +of Luther's eyes, and thought that they must reveal the working of a +wonderful mind. + +A new theology, in fact, presented itself at once to Luther in the +subject which, as doctor, he chose and exclusively adhered to in his +lectures. This was the Bible, the very book of which the study was +so generally undervalued in School-theology, which so many doctors +of theology scarcely knew, and which was usually so hastily forsaken +for those Scholastic sentences and a corresponding exposition of +ecclesiastical dogmas. + +Luther began with lectures upon the Psalms. It is his first work on +theology which has remained to posterity. We still possess a Latin +text of the Psalter furnished with running notes for his lectures (a +copy of it is given in these pages), and also his own manuscript of +those lectures themselves. In these also he states that his task was +imposed upon him by a distinct command: he frankly confessed that as +yet he was insufficiently acquainted with the Psalms; a comparison +of his notes and lectures shows further, how continually he was +engaged in prosecuting these studies. His explanations indeed fall +short of what is required at present, and even of what he himself +required later on. He still follows wholly the mediaeval practice of +thinking it necessary to find, throughout the words of the Psalmist, +pictorial allegories relating to Christ, His work of salvation, and +His people. But he was thus enabled to propound, while explaining +the Psalms, the fundamental principles of that doctrine of salvation +which for some years past had taken such hold on his inmost thoughts +and so engrossed his theological studies. And in addition to the +fruits of his researches in Scripture, especially in the writings of +St. Paul, we observe the use he made of the works of St. Augustine. +His acquaintance with the latter did not commence until years after +he had joined the Order, and had acquired independently an intimate +knowledge of the Bible. It was mainly through them that he was +enabled to comprehend the teaching of St. Paul, and to find how the +doctrine of Divine grace, which we have already alluded to, was +based on Pauline authority. Thus the founder of the Order became, as +it were, his first teacher among human theologians. + +From his lectures on the Psalms Luther proceeded a few years later +to an exposition of those Epistles which were to him the main source +of his new belief in God's mercy and justice, namely, the Epistles +to the Romans and the Galatians. + +In the convent also at Wittenberg, the direction of the theological +studies of the brethren was entrusted to Luther. His fellow-labourer +in this field was his friend John Lange, who had been with him also +in the convent at Erfurt. He was distinguished for a rare knowledge +of Greek, and was therefore a valuable help even to Luther, to whom +he was indebted in turn for a prolific advance in learning of +another kind. Closely allied with Luther also was Wenzeslaus Link, +the prior of the convent, who obtained his degree as doctor of the +theological faculty a year before him. These men were drawn together +by similarity of ideas, and by a strong and enduring personal +friendship; they had possibly been acquainted at the school at +Magdeburg. The new life and activity awakened at Wittenberg +attracted clever young monks more and more from a distance. The +convent, not yet quite finished, had scarcely room enough for them, +or means for their maintenance. + +When in 1515 the associated convents had to choose at Gotha, on a +chapter-day, their new authorities, Luther was appointed, Staupitz +being still Vicar-General, the Provincial Vicar for Meissen and +Thuringia. He obtained by this office the superintendence of eleven +convents, to which in the next year he paid the customary +visitation. In person, by word of mouth, and equally by letters, we +see him labouring with self-sacrificing zeal for the spiritual +welfare of those committed to his care, for the correction of bad +monks, for the comfort of those oppressed with temptations, as also +for the temporal and domestic, and even the legal business of the +different convents. + +In addition to his academical duties, he performed double service as +a preacher. In the first place he had to preach in his convent, as +he had already done at Erfurt. When the new convent at Wittenberg +was opened, the church was not yet ready; and in a small, poor, +tumbledown chapel close by, made up of wood and clay, he began to +preach the gospel and unfold the power of his eloquence. When, +shortly after, the town-priest of Wittenberg became weak and ailing, +his congregation pressed Luther to occupy the pulpit in his place. +He performed these different duties with alacrity, energy, and +power. He would preach sometimes daily for a week together, +sometimes even three times in one day; during Lent in 1517 he gave +two sermons every day in addition to his lectures at the university. +The zeal which he displayed in proclaiming the gospel to his hearers +in church, was quite as new and peculiar to himself as the lofty +interest he imparted to his professorial lectures on the Scriptures. + +Melancthon says of these first lectures by Luther on the Psalms and +the Epistle to the Romans, that after a long and dark night, a new +day was now seen to dawn on Christian doctrine. In these lectures +Luther pointed out the difference between the law and the gospel. He +refuted the errors, then predominant in the Church and schools, the +old teaching of the Pharisees, that men could earn forgiveness by +their works, and that mere outward penance would justify them in the +sight of God. Luther called men back to the Son of God; and just as +John the Baptist pointed to the Lamb of God who bore our sins, so +Luther showed how, for his Son's sake, God in His mercy will forgive +us our sins, and how we must accept such mercy in faith. + +In fact, the whole groundwork of that Christian faith on which the +inner life of the Reformer rests, for which he fought, and which gave +him strength and fresh courage for the fight, lies already before us +in his lectures and sermons during those years, and increases in +clearness and decision. The 'new day' had, in reality, broken upon +his eyes. That fundamental truth which he designated later as the +article by which a Christian Church must stand or fall, stands here +already firmly established, before he in the least suspects that it +would lead him to separate from the Catholic Church, or that his +adopting it would occasion a reconstruction of the Church. The primary +question around which everything else centred, remained always this--how +he, the sinful man, could possibly stand before God and obtain salvation. +With this came the question as to the righteousness of God; and now he +was no longer terrified by the avenging justice of God, wherewith He +threatens the sinner; but he recognised and saw the meaning of that +righteousness declared in the gospel (Rom. i. 17, iii. 25), by which +the merciful God justifies the faithful, in that He of His own grace +re-establishes them in His sight, and effects an inward change, and +lets them thenceforth, like children, enjoy His fatherly love and +blessing. Luther, in teaching now that justification proceeds from +faith, rejects, above all, the notion that man by any outward acts +of his own can ever atone for his sins and merit the favour of God. +He reminds us, moreover, with regard to moral works especially, that +good fruits always presuppose a good tree, upon which alone they can +grow, and that, in like manner, goodness can only proceed from a +man, if and when, in his inward being, his inward thoughts, +tendencies, and feelings, he has already become good; he must be +righteous himself, in a word, before he works righteousness. But it +is faith, and faith alone, which in the inward man determines real +communion with God. Then only, and gradually, can a man's own inner +being, trusting to God, and by means of His imparted grace, become +truly renovated and purged from sin. Had Luther, indeed, made +salvation depend on such a righteousness, derived from a man's own +works, as should satisfy the holy God, the very consciousness of his +own sins and infirmities would have made him despair of such +salvation. Moreover, all the working of the Holy Spirit, and His +gifts in our hearts, presuppose that we are already participators of +the forgiving mercy and grace of God, and are received into +communion with Him. To this, as Luther teaches after St. Paul, we +can only attain through faith in the joyful message of His mercy, in +His compassion, and in His Son, whom He has sent to be our Redeemer. +Thus he speaks of faith, even in his earliest notes on the Psalter, +as the keystone, the marrow, the short road. The worst enemy, in his +sight, is self-righteousness; he confesses having had to combat it +himself. + +Herein also Luther found the theology of St. Augustine in accord +with the testimony of the great Apostle. While studying that +theology, his conviction of the power of sin and the powerlessness +of man's own strength to overcome it, grew more and more decided. +But St. Paul taught him to understand that belief somewhat +differently to St. Augustine. To Luther it was not merely a +recognition of objective truths or historical facts. What he +understood by it, with a clearness and decision which are wanting in +St. Augustine's teaching, was the trusting of the heart in the mercy +offered by the message of salvation, the personal confidence in the +Saviour Christ and in that which He has gained for us. With this +faith, then, and by the merits and mediation of the Saviour in whom +this faith is placed, we stand before God, we have already the +assurance of being known by God and of being saved, and we are +partakers of the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies more and more the inner +man. According to St. Augustine, on the contrary, and to all +Catholic theologians who followed his teaching, what will help us +before God is rather that inward righteousness which God Himself +gives to man by His Holy Spirit and the workings of His grace, or, +as the expression was, the righteousness infused by God. The good, +therefore, already existing in a Christian is so highly esteemed +that he can thereby gain merit before the just God and even do more +than is required of him. But to a conscience like Luther's, which +applied so severe a standard to human virtue and works, and took +such stern count of past and present sins, such a doctrine could +bring no assurance of forgiveness, mercy, and salvation. It was in +faith alone that Luther had found this assurance, and for it he +needed no merits of his own. The happy spirit of the child of God, +by its own free impulse, would produce in a Christian the genuine +good fruit pleasing in God's sight. It was a long time before Luther +himself became aware how he differed on this point from his chief +teacher amongst theologians. But we see the difference appear at the +very root and beginning of his new doctrine of salvation; and it +comes out finally, based on apostolic authority, clear and sharp, in +the theology of the Reformer. + +And inseparably connected with this is what Melancthon said about +the Law and the Gospel. Luther himself always declared in later +days, that the whole understanding of the truth of Christian +salvation, as revealed by God, depends on a right perception of the +relation of one to the other, and this very relation he explained, +shortly before the beginning of his contest with the Church, upon +the authority of St. Paul's Epistles. The Law is to him the epitome +of God's demands with regard to will and works, which still the +sinner cannot fulfil. The Gospel is the blessed offer and +announcement of that forgiving mercy of God which is to be accepted +in simple faith. By the Law says Luther, the sinner is judged, +condemned, killed; he himself had to toil and disquiet himself under +it, as though he were in the hands of a gaoler and executioner. The +Gospel first lifts up those who are crushed, and makes them alive by +the faith which the good message awakens in their hearts. But God +works in both; in the one, a work which to Him, the God of love, +would properly be strange; in the other, His own work of love, for +which, however, he has first prepared the sinner by the former. + +Whilst Luther was prosecuting his labours in this path, he became +acquainted in 1516 with the sermons of the pious, deep-thinking +theologian Tauler, who died in 1361; and at the same time an old +theological tract, written not long after Tauler, fell into his +hands, to which he gave the name of 'German Theology.' Now for the +first time, and in the person of their noblest representatives, he +was confronted with the Christian and theological views which were +commonly designated as the practical German mysticism of the middle +ages. Here, instead of the value which the mediaeval Church, so +addicted to externals, ascribed to outward acts and ordinances, he +found the most devout absorption in the sentiments of real Christian +religion. Instead of the barren, formal expositions and logical +operations of the scholastic intellect, he found a striving and +wrestling of the whole inner man, with all the mind and will, after +direct communion and union with God, who Himself seeks to draw into +this union the soul devoted to Him, and makes it become like to +himself. Such a depth of contemplation and such fervour of a +Christian mind Luther had not found even in an Augustine. He +rejoiced to see this treasure written in his native German, and it +certainly was the noblest German he had ever read. He felt himself +marvellously impressed by this theology; he knew of no sermons, so +he wrote to a friend, which agreed more faithfully with the gospel +than those of Tauler. He published that tract--then not quite +complete--in 1516, and again afterwards in 1518. It was the first +publication from his hand. His further sermons and writings show how +deeply he was imbued with its contents. The influences he here +received had a lasting effect on the formation of his inner life and +his theology. + +With regard to sin, he now learned that its deepest roots and +fundamental character lay in our own wills, in self-love and +selfishness. To enjoy communion with God it is necessary that the +heart should put away all worldliness, and let its natural will be +dead, so that God alone may live and work in us. So, as he says on +the title-page of 'German Theology,' shall Adam die in us and Christ +be made alive. But the essential peculiarity of Luther's doctrine of +salvation, grounded as it was directly on Scripture, still remained +intact, despite the theology no less of the mystics than of +Augustine, and, after passing through these influences, developed +its full independence during his struggles as a Reformer. For this +communion with God he never thought it necessary, as the mystics +maintained, to renounce one's personality and retire altogether from +the world and things temporal: a purely passive attitude towards +God, and a blessedness consisting in such an attitude, was not his +highest or ultimate ideal. A man's personality, he held, should only +be destroyed so far as it resists the will of God, and dares to +assert its self-righteousness and merits before Him. The road to +real communion with God was always that 'short road' of faith, in +which the contrite sinner, who feels his personality crushed by the +consciousness of sin, grasps the hand of Divine mercy, and is lifted +up by it and restored. Christ was manifested, as the mystics said +with Scripture, in order that the man's personality should die with +Him, and imitate Him in self-renunciation. But the faith, on which +Luther insisted, saw in Christ above all the Saviour who has died +for us, and who pleads for us before God with His holy life and +conduct, that the faithful may obtain through Him reconciliation and +salvation. What the Saviour is to us in this respect Luther has thus +summarised in words of his own: 'Lord Jesus,' he says, 'Thou hast +taken to Thyself what is mine, and given to me what is Thine.' The +main divergence between Luther and the German mysticism of the +middle ages consists primarily in a different estimate of the +general relations between God and the moral personality of man. With +the mystics, behind the Christian and religious, lay a metaphysical +conception of God, as a Being of absolute power, superior to all +destiny, apparently rich in attributes, but in reality an empty +Abstraction,--above all, a Being who suffers nothing finite to exist +in independence of Himself. With Luther the fundamental conception +of God remained this, that He is the perfect Good, and that, in His +perfect holiness, He is Love. This is the God by whom the sinner who +has faith is restored and justified. From this conception as a +starting-point, Luther acquired fresh strength and energy for +advancing in the fight, whilst the pious mystic remained passively +and quietly behind. From this also he learned to realise Christian +liberty and moral duty in regard to daily life and its vocations, +whilst the mystics remained shut off altogether from the world. The +intimate connection between the conclusions to which the views of +Tauler tended, and the principles from which Luther started, is +shown further by the superior attraction which those sermons, so +warmly recommended by Luther, continued to exercise upon members of +the Evangelical, compared with those of the Catholic Church. + +What Christ has suffered and done for us, and how we gain through +Him the righteousness of God, peace, and real life,--these thoughts +of practical religion pervaded now all Luther's discourses. To the +saving knowledge of these facts he endeavoured to direct his +lectures, and discarded the dogmatical inquiries and subtle +investigations and speculations of School-theology. At first, and +even in his sermons at the convent, he had employed in his +exposition of Biblical truths, as was the custom of learned +preachers, philosophical expressions and references to Aristotle and +famous Scholastics. But latterly, and at the time we are speaking +of, he had entirely left this off; and, as regards the form of his +sermons, instead of a stiff, logical construction of sentences, he +employed that simple, lively, powerful eloquence which distinguished +him above all preachers of his time. In 1516 and 1517 he delivered a +course of sermons on the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer +before his town congregation, with the view of showing the +connection of the truths of Christian religion. He further had +printed in 1517, for Christian readers generally, an explanation of +the seven penitential psalms. He wished, as the title stated, to +expound them thoroughly in their Scriptural meaning, for setting +forth the grace of Christ and God, and enabling true self-knowledge. +It is the first of his writings, published by himself, and in the +German language, which we possess; for the later lectures that were +published were delivered by him in Latin, and the first sermons we +have of his were also written by him in that language. We give here +the title and preface from the original print. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6--Title and Preface of Penitential Psalms.] + +Luther had now become possessed with a burning desire to refute, by +means of the truth he had newly learned, the teaching and system of +that School-theology on which he himself had wasted so much time and +labour, and by which he saw that same truth darkened and obstructed. +He first attacked Aristotle, the heathen philosopher from whom this +theology, he said, received its empty and perverted formalism, whose +system of physics was worthless, and who, especially in his +conception of moral life and moral good, was blind, since he knew +nothing of the essence and ground of true righteousness. The +Scholastics, as Luther himself remarked against them, had failed +signally to understand the genuine original philosophy of Aristotle. +But the real greatness and significance which must be allowed to +that philosophy, in the development of human thought and knowledge, +were far removed from those profound questions of Christian morality +and religion which engrossed Luther's mind, and from those truths to +which he again had to testify. In theses which formed the subject of +disputation among his followers, Luther expressed with particular +acuteness his own doctrine, and that of Augustine, concerning the +inability of man, and the grace of God, and his opposition to the +previously dominant Schoolmen and their Aristotle. He was anxious +also to hear the verdict of others, particularly of his teacher +Trutvetter, upon his new polemics. + +He already could boast that, at Wittenberg, his, or as he called it, +the Augustinian theology, had found its way to victory. It was +adopted by the theologians who had taught there, though wholly in +the old Scholastic fashion, before him, especially by Carlstadt, who +soon strove to outbid him in this new direction, and who, later on, +in his own zeal for reform, fell into disputes with the great +Reformer himself, and also by Nicholas von Amsdorf, whom we shall +see afterwards at Luther's side as his personal friend and strongest +supporter. At Erfurt, Luther's former convent, his friend and +sympathiser Lange was now prior, having returned thither from +Wittenberg, where indeed his former teachers could not yet +accommodate themselves to his new ways. Of great importance to +Luther's work and position was his friendship with George Spalatin +(properly Burkardt of Spelt), the court preacher and private +secretary of the Elector Frederick, a conscientious, clear-minded +theologian, and a man of varied culture and calm, thoughtful +judgment. He was of the same age as Luther; he had been with him at +Erfurt as a fellow-student, and at Wittenberg afterwards, whither he +came as tutor to the prince, and had remained on terms of intimacy +with him. To Luther he proved an upright, warmhearted friend, and to +the Elector a faithful and sagacious adviser. It was mainly due to +his influence that the Elector showed such continued favour to +Luther, marks of which he displayed by presents, such as that of a +piece of richly-wrought cloth, which Luther thought almost too good +for a monk's frock. Spalatin had also been a member of that circle +of 'poets' at Erfurt; he kept up his connection with them, and +corresponded with Erasmus, the head of the Humanists, and thus acted +as a medium of communication for Luther in this quarter. Elsewhere +in Germany we find the theology of Augustine or of St. Paul, as +represented by Luther, taking root first among his friends at +Nüremberg; in 1517 W. Link came there as prior of the Augustinian +convent. + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.--SPALATIN. (from L. Cranach's Portrait.)] + +We have seen how Luther as a student associated with the young +Humanists at Erfurt, and now, whilst striving further on that road +of theology which he had marked out for himself, he was still +accessible to the general interests of learning as represented by +the Humanistic movement. He made the acquaintance, at least by +letter, of the celebrated Mutianus Rufus of Gotha, whom those +'poets' honoured as their famous master, and with whom Lange and +Spalatin maintained a respectful intercourse. When the Humanist John +Reuchlin, then the first Hebrew scholar in Germany, was declared a +heretic by zealous theologians and monks, on account of the protests +he raised against the burning of the Rabbinical books of the Jews, +and a fierce quarrel broke out in consequence, Luther, on being +asked by Spalatin for his opinion, declared himself strongly for the +Humanists against those who, being gnats themselves, tried to +swallow camels. His heart, he said, was so full of this matter that +his tongue could not find utterance. Still, the bold satire with +which his former college friend Crotus and other Humanists lashed +their opponents and held them up to ridicule, as in the famous +'Epistolae Virorum Obscurorum,' was not to Luther's taste at all. +The matter was to him far too serious for such treatment. + +The first place among the men who revived the knowledge of +antiquity, and strove to apply that knowledge for the benefit of +their own times and particularly of theology, belongs undoubtedly to +Erasmus, from his comprehensive learning, his refinement of mind, +and his indefatigable industry. Just when, in 1516, he brought out a +remarkable edition of the New Testament, with a translation and +explanatory comments, which forms in fact an epoch in its history. +Luther recognised his high talents and services, and was anxious to +see him exercise the influence he deserved. He speaks of him in a +letter to Spalatin as 'our Erasmus.' But nevertheless he steadily +asserted his own independence, and reserved the right of free +judgment about him. Two things he lamented in him; first of all that +he lacked, as was the case, the comprehension of that fundamental +doctrine of St. Paul as to human sin and righteousness by faith; and +further, that he made even the errors of the Church, which should be +a source of genuine sorrow to every Christian, a subject of +ridicule. He sought, however, to keep his opinion of Erasmus to +himself, to avoid giving occasion to his jealous and unscrupulous +enemies to malign him. + +[Illustration: Fig. 8.--ERASMUS. (From the Portrait by A. Dürer.)] + +Bitterness and ill-will, aroused by Luther's words and works, were +already not wanting among the followers of the hitherto dominant +views of theology and the Church. But of any separation from the +Church, her authority and her fundamental forms, he had as yet no +intention or idea. Nor, on the other hand, did his enemies take +occasion to obtain sentence of expulsion against him, until he found +himself forced to conclusions which threatened the power and the +income of the hierarchy. + +As yet he had not expressed or entertained a thought against the +ordinances which enslaved every Christian to the priesthood and its +power. He certainly showed, in his new doctrine of salvation, the +way which leads the soul, by simple faith in the message of mercy +sent to all alike, to its God and Saviour. But he had no idea of +disputing that everyone should confess to the priests, receive from +them absolution, and submit to all the penances and ordinances +ordained by the Church. And in that very doctrine of salvation he +knew that he was at one with Augustine, the most eminent teacher of +the Western Church, whilst the opposite views, however dominant in +point of fact, had never yet received any formal sanction of the +Church. Zealously, indeed, he soon exposed many practical abuses and +errors in the religious life of the Church. But hitherto these were +only such as had been long before complained of and combated by +others, and which the Church had never expressly declared as +essential parts of her own system. He gave vent freely to his +opinions about the superstitious worship of saints, about absurd +legends, about the heathen practice of invoking the saints for +temporal welfare or success. But praying to the saints to intercede +for us with God he still justified against the heresy originating +with Huss, and with fervour he invoked the Virgin from the pulpit. +He was anxious that the priests and bishops should do their duty +much better and more conscientiously than was the case, and that +instead of troubling themselves about worldly matters, they should +care for the good of souls, and feed their flocks with God's word. +He saw in the office of bishop, from the difficulties and +temptations it involved, an office fraught with danger, and one +therefore that he did not wish for his Staupitz. But the Divine +origin and Divine right of the hierarchical offices of pope, bishop, +and priest, and the infallibility of the Church, thus governed, he +held inviolably sacred. The Hussites who broke from her were to him +'sinful heretics.' Nay, at that time he used the very argument by +which afterwards the Romish Church thought to crush the principles +and claims of the Reformation, namely, that if we deny that power of +the Church and Papacy, any man may equally say that he is filled +with the Holy Ghost; everyone will claim to be his own master, and +there will be as many Churches as heads. + +As yet he was only seeking to combat those abuses which were outside +the spirit and teaching of the Catholic Church, when the scandals of +the traffic in indulgences called him to the field of battle. And it +was only when in this battle the Pope and the hierarchy sought to +rob him of his evangelical doctrine of salvation, and of the joy and +comfort he derived from the knowledge of redemption by Christ, that, +from his stand on the Bible, he laid his hands upon the strongholds +of this Churchdom. + + + + +PART III. + +THE BREACH WITH ROME, UP TO THE DIET OF WORMS. 1517-21. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE NINETY-FIVE THESES. + + +The first occasion for the struggle which led to the great division +in the Christian world was given by that magnificent edifice of +ecclesiastical splendour intended by the popes as the creation of +the new Italian art; by the building, in a word, of St. Peter's +Church, which had already been commenced when Luther was at Rome. +Indulgences were to furnish the necessary means. Julius II. had now +been succeeded on the Papal chair by Leo X. So far as concerned the +encouragement of the various arts, the revival of ancient learning, +and the opening up, by that means, to the cultivated and upper +classes of society of a spring of rich intellectual enjoyment, Leo +would have been just the man for the new age. But whilst actively +engaged in these pursuits and pleasures, he remained indifferent to +the care and the spiritual welfare of his flock, whom as Christ's +vicar he had undertaken to feed. The frivolous tone of morals that +ruled at the Papal see was looked upon as an element of the new +culture. As regards the Christian faith, a blasphemous saying is +reported of Leo, how profitable had been the fable of Christ. He had +no scruples in procuring money for the new church, which, as he +said, was to protect and glorify the bones of the holy Apostles, by +a dirty traffic, pernicious to the soul. Meanwhile, the popes were +not ashamed to appropriate freely to their own needs that indulgence +money, which was nominally for the Church and for other objects, +such as the war against the Turks. + +In order to appreciate the nature of these indulgences and of +Luther's attack upon them, it is necessary first to realise more +exactly the significance which the teachers of the Church ascribed +to them. The simple statement that absolution or forgiveness of sins +was sold for money, must in itself be offence enough to any moral +Christian conscience; and we can only wonder that Luther proceeded +so prudently and gradually towards his object of getting rid of +indulgences altogether. But the arguments by which they were +explained and justified did not sound so simple or concise. + +[Illustration: Leo X. (From his Portrait by Raphael.)] + +Forgiveness of sins, it was maintained, must be gained by penance, namely, +by the so-called sacrament of penance, including the acts of private +confession and priestly absolution. In this the father-confessor promised +to him who had confessed his sins, absolution for them, whereby his guilt +was forgiven and he was freed from eternal punishment. A certain +contrition of the heart was required from him, even if only imperfect, +and proceeding perhaps solely from the fear of punishment, but which +nevertheless was deemed sufficient, its imperfection being supplied by +the sacrament. But though absolved, he had still to discharge heavy +burdens of temporal punishment, penances imposed by the Church, and +chastisements which, in the remission of eternal punishment, God in His +righteousness still laid upon him. If he failed to satisfy these penances +in this life, he must, even if no longer in danger of hell, atone for the +rest in the torments of the fire of purgatory. The indulgence now came in +to relieve him. The Church was content with easier tasks, as, at that +time, with a donation to the sacred edifice at Rome. And even this +was made to rest on a certain basis of right. The Church, it was +said, had to dispose of a treasure of merits which Christ and the +saints, by their good works, had accumulated before the righteous +God, and those riches were now to be so disposed of by Christ's +representatives, that they should benefit the buyer of indulgences. +In this manner penances which otherwise would have to be endured for +years were commuted into small donations of money, quickly paid off. +The contrition required for the forgiveness of sins was not +altogether ignored; as, for instance, in the official announcements +of indulgences, and in the letters or certificates granting +indulgences to individuals in return for payment. But in those +documents, as also in the sermons exhorting the multitude to +purchase, the chief stress, so far as possible, was laid upon the +payment. The confession, and with it the contrition, was also +mentioned, but nothing was said about the personal remission of sins +depending on this rather than on the money. Perfect forgiveness of +sins was announced to him who, after having confessed and felt +contrition, had thrown his contribution into the box. For the souls +in purgatory nothing was required but money offered for them by the +living. 'The moment the money tinkles in the box, the soul springs +up out of purgatory.' A special tariff was arranged for the +commission of particular sins, as, for example, six ducats for +adultery. + +The traffic in indulgences for the building of St. Peter's was +delegated by commission from the Pope, over a large part of Germany, to +Albert, Archbishop of Mayence and Magdeburg. We shall meet with this +great prince of the Church, as now in connection with the origin of +the Reformation, so during its subsequent course. Albert, the brother +of the Elector of Brandenburg, and cousin of the Grand-Master of the +Teutonic Order in Prussia, stood in 1517, though only twenty-seven +years old, already at the head of those two great ecclesiastical +provinces of Germany; Wittenberg also belonged to his Magdeburg +diocese. Raised to such an eminence and so rapidly by good fortune, +he was filled with ambitious thoughts. He troubled himself little +about theology. He loved to shine as the friend of the new Humanistic +learning, especially of an Erasmus, and as patron of the fine arts, +particularly of architecture, and to keep a court the splendour of +which might correspond with his own dignity and love of art. For this +his means were inadequate, especially as, on entering upon his +Archbishopric of Mayence, he had had to pay, as was customary, a heavy +sum to the Pope for the _pallium_ given for the occasion. For +this he had been forced to borrow thirty thousand gulden from the +house of Fugger at Augsburg, and he found his aspirations incessantly +crippled by want of money and by debts. He succeeded at last in +striking a bargain with the Pope, by which he was allowed to keep half +of the profits arising from the sale of indulgences, in order to repay +the Fuggers their loan. Behind the preacher of indulgences, who announced +God's mercy to the paying believers, stood the agents of that commercial +house, who collected their share for their principals. The Dominican monk, +John Tetzel, a profligate man, whom the Archbishop had appointed his +sub-commissioner, drove the largest trade in this business with an +audacity and a power of popular declamation well suited to his work. + +[Illustration: Fig. 10.--The Archbishop Albert. (From Dürer's +engraving.)] + +Contemporaries have described the lofty and well-ordered pomp with +which such a commissioner entered on the performance of his exalted +duties. Priests, monks, and magistrates, schoolmasters and scholars, +men, women, and children, went forth in procession to meet him, with +songs and ringing of bells, with flags and torches. They entered the +church together amidst the pealing of the organ. In the middle of +the church, before the altar, was erected a large red cross, hung +with a silken banner which bore the Papal arms. Before the cross was +placed a large iron chest to receive the money; specimens of these +chests are still shown in many places. Daily, by sermons, hymns, +processions round the cross, and other means of attraction, the +people were invited and urged to embrace this incomparable offer of +salvation. It was arranged that auricular confession should be taken +wholesale. The main object was the payment, in return for which the +'contrite' sinners received a letter of indulgence from the +commissioner, who, with a significant reference to the absolute +power granted to himself, promised them complete absolution and the +good opinion of their fellow-men. + +[Illustration: Fig. 11--Title-page of a Pamphlet Written at the +Beginning of the Reformation, with an Illustration showing the Sale +of Indulgences.] + +We have evidence to show how Tetzel preached himself, and what he +wished these sermons on indulgences to be like. Calling upon the +people, he summoned all, and especially the great sinners, such as +murderers and robbers, to turn to their God and receive the medicine +which God, in his mercy and wisdom, had provided for their benefit. +St. Stephen once had given up his body to be stoned, St. Lawrence +his to be roasted, St. Bartholomew his to a fearful death. Would +they not willingly sacrifice a little gift in order to obtain +everlasting life? Of the souls in purgatory it was said, 'They, your +parents and relatives, are crying out to you, "We are in the +bitterest torments, you could deliver us by giving a small alms, and +yet you will not. We have given you birth, nourished you, and left +to you our temporal goods; and such is your cruelty that you, who +might so easily make us free, leave us here to lie in the flames."' + +To all who directly or indirectly, in public or in private, should +in any way depreciate, or murmur against, or obstruct these +indulgences, it was announced that, by Papal edict, they lay already +by so doing under the ban of excommunication, and could only be +absolved by the Pope or by one of his commissioners. + +After Luther had once ventured to attack openly this sale of +indulgences, it was admitted even by their defenders and the violent +enemies of the Reformer, that in those days 'greedy commissioners, +monks and priests, had preached unblushingly about indulgences, and +had laid more stress upon the money than upon confession, +repentance, and sorrow.' Christian people were shocked and +scandalised at the abuse. It was asked whether indeed God so loved +the money, that for the sake of a few pence He would leave a soul in +everlasting torments, or why the Pope did not out of love empty the +whole of purgatory, since he was willing to free innumerable souls +in return for such a trifle as a contribution to the building of a +church. But not one of them found it then expedient to incur the +abuse and slander of a Tetzel by a word spoken openly against the +gross misconduct the fruits of which were so important to the Pope +and the Archbishop. + +Tetzel now came to the borders of the Elector of Saxony's dominion, +and to the neighbourhood of Wittenberg. The Elector would not allow +him to enter his territory, on account of so much money being taken +away, and accordingly he opened his trade at Jüterbok. Among those +who confessed to Luther, there were some who appealed to letters of +indulgence which they had purchased from him there. + +In a sermon preached as early as the summer of 1516, Luther had +warned his congregation against trusting to indulgences, and he did +not conceal his aversion to the system, whilst admitting his doubts +and ignorance as to some important questions on the subject. He knew +that these opinions and objections would grieve the heart of his +sovereign; for Frederick, who with all his sincere piety, still +shared the exaggerated veneration of the middle ages for relics, and +had formed a rich collection of them in the Church of the Castle and +Convent at Wittenberg, which he was always endeavouring to enrich, +rejoiced at the Pope's lavish offer of indulgences to all who at an +annual exhibition of these sacred treasures should pay their +devotions at the nineteen altars of this church. A few years before +he had caused a 'Book of Relics' to be printed, which enumerated +upwards of five thousand different specimens, and showed how they +represented half a million days of indulgence. Luther relates how he +had incurred the Elector's displeasure by a sermon preached in his +Castle Church against indulgences: he preached, however, again +before the exhibition held in February 1517. The honour and +interest, moreover, of his university had to be considered, for that +church was attached to it, the professors were also dignitaries of +the convent, and the university benefited by the revenues of the +foundation. + +[Illustration: FIG. l2.--THE CASTLE CHURCH. (From the Wittenberg +Book of Relics, 1509: the hill in the background is an addition by +the artist.)] + +Luther was then, as he afterwards described himself, a young doctor +of divinity, ardent, and fresh from the forge. He was burning to +protest against the scandal. But as yet he restrained himself and +kept quiet. He wrote, indeed, on the subject to some of the bishops. +Some listened to him graciously; others laughed at him; none wished +to take any steps in the matter. + +He longed now to make known to theologians and ecclesiastics +generally his thoughts about indulgences, his own principles, his +own opinions and doubts, to excite public discussion on the subject, +and to awake and maintain the fray. This he did by the ninety-five +Latin theses or propositions which he posted on the doors of the +Castle Church at Wittenberg, on October 31, 1517, the eve of All +Saints' Day and of the anniversary of the consecration of the +Church. + +These theses were intended as a challenge for disputation. Such +public disputations were then very common at the universities and +among theologians, and they were meant to serve as means not only of +exercising learned thought, but of elucidating the truth. Luther +headed his theses as follows:-- + +_'Disputation to explain the virtue of indulgences._-In charity +and in the endeavour to bring the truth to light, a disputation on +the following propositions will be held at Wittenberg, presided over +by the Reverend Father Martin Luther.... Those who are unable to +attend personally may discuss the question with us by letter. In the +name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.' + +It was in accordance with the general custom of that time that, on +the occasion of a high festival, particular acts and announcements, +and likewise disputations at a university, were arranged, and the +doors of a collegiate church were used for posting such notices. + +The contents of these theses show that their author really had such +a disputation in view. He was resolved to defend with all his might +certain fundamental truths to which he firmly adhered. Some points +he considered still within the region of dispute; it was his wish +and object to make these clear to himself by arguing about them with +others. + +Recognising the connection between the system of indulgences and the +view of penance entertained by the Church, he starts with +considering the nature of true Christian repentance; but he would +have this understood in the sense and spirit taught by Christ and +the Scriptures, as, indeed, Staupitz had first taught it to him. He +begins with the thesis 'Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He +says Repent, desires that the whole life of the believer should be +one of repentance.' He means, as the subsequent theses express it, +that true inward repentance, that sorrow for sin and hatred of one's +own sinful self, from which must proceed good works and +mortification of the sinful flesh. The Pope could only remit his sin +to the penitent so far as to declare that God had forgiven it. + +Thus then the theses expressly declare that God forgives no man his +sin without making him submit himself in humility to the priest who +represents Him, and that He recognises the punishments enjoined by +the Church in her outward sacrament of penance. But Luther's leading +principles are consistently opposed to the customary announcements +of indulgences by the Church. The Pope, he holds, can only grant +indulgences for what the Pope and the law of the Church have +imposed; nay, the Pope himself means absolution from these +obligations only, when he promises absolution from all punishment. +And it is only the living against whom those punishments are +directed which the Church's discipline of penance enjoins: nothing, +according to her own laws, can be imposed upon those in another +world. + +Further on, Luther declares, 'When true repentance is awakened in a +man, full absolution from punishment and sin comes to him without +any letters of indulgence.' At the same time he says that such a man +would willingly undergo self-imposed chastisement, nay, he would +even seek and love it. + +Still, it is not the indulgences themselves, if understood in the +right sense, that he wishes to be attacked, but the loose babble of +those who sold them. Blessed, he says, be he who protests against +this, but cursed be he who speaks against the truth of apostolic +indulgences. He finds it difficult, however, to praise these to the +people, and at the same time to teach them the true repentance of +the heart. He would have them even taught that a Christian would do +better by giving money to the poor than by spending it in buying +indulgences, and that he who allows a poor man near him to starve +draws down on himself, not indulgences, but the wrath of God. In +sharp and scornful language he denounces the iniquitous trader in +indulgences, and gives the Pope credit for the same abhorrence for +the traffic that he felt himself. Christians must be told, he says, +that if the Pope only knew of it, he would rather see St. Peter's +Church in ashes, than have it built with the flesh and bones of his +sheep. + +Agreeably with what the preceding theses had said about the true +penitent's earnestness and willingness to suffer, and the temptation +offered to a mere carnal sense of security, Luther concludes as +follows: 'Away therefore with all those prophets who say to Christ's +people "Peace, peace!" when there is no peace, but welcome to all +those who bid them seek the Cross of Christ, not the Cross which +bears the Papal arms. Christians must be admonished to follow Christ +their Master through torture, death, and hell, and thus through much +tribulation, rather than by a carnal feeling of false security, hope +to enter the kingdom of heaven. + +The Catholics objected to this doctrine of salvation advanced by +Luther, that by trusting to God's free mercy and by undervaluing +good works, it led to moral indolence. But on the contrary, it was +to the very unbending moral earnestness of a Christian conscience, +which, indignant at the temptations offered to moral frivolity, to a +deceitful feeling of ease in respect to sin and guilt, and to a +contempt of the fruits of true morality, rebelled against the false +value attached to this indulgence money, that these Theses, the +germ, so to speak, of the Reformation, owed their origin and +prosecution. With the same earnestness he now for the first time +publicly attacked the ecclesiastical power of the Papacy, in so far +namely as, in his conviction, it invaded the territory reserved to +Himself by the Heavenly Lord and Judge. This was what the Pope and +his theologians and ecclesiastics could least of all endure. + +On the same day that these theses were published, Luther sent a copy +of them with a letter to the Archbishop Albert, his 'revered and +gracious Lord and Shepherd in Christ.' After a humble introduction, +he begged him most earnestly to prevent the scandalising and +iniquitous harangues with which his agents hawked about their +indulgences, and reminded him that he would have to give an account +of the souls entrusted to his episcopal care. + +The next day he addressed himself to the people from the pulpit, in +a sermon he had to preach on the festival of All Saints. After +exhorting them to seek their salvation in God and Christ alone, and +to let the consecration by the Church become a real consecration of +the heart, he went on to tell them plainly, with regard to +indulgences, that he could only absolve from duties imposed by the +Church, and that they dare not rely on him for more, nor delay on +his account the duties of true repentance. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE CONTROVERSY CONCERNING INDULGENCES. + + +Anyone who has heard that the great movement of the Reformation in +Germany, and with it the founding of the Evangelical Church, +originated in the ninety-five theses of Luther, and who then reads +these theses through, might perhaps be surprised at the importance +of their results. They referred, in the first place, to only one +particular point of Christian doctrine, not at all to the general +fundamental question as to how sinners could obtain forgiveness and +be saved, but merely to the remission of punishments connected with +penance. They contained no positive declaration against the most +essential elements of the Catholic theory of penance, or against the +necessity of oral confession, or of priestly absolution, and such +subjects; they presupposed, in fact, the existence of a purgatory. +Much of what they attacked, not one of the learned theologians of +the middle ages or of those times had ever ventured to assert; as, +for instance, the notion that indulgences made the remission of sins +to the individual complete on the part of God. Moreover, the ruling +principles of the theology of the day, which defended the system of +indulgences, though resting mainly on the authority of the great +Scholastic teacher Thomas Aquinas, were not adopted by other +Scholastics, and had never been erected into a dogma by any decree +of the Church. Theologians before Luther, and with far more +acuteness and penetration than he showed in his theses, had already +assailed the whole system of indulgences. And, in regard to any idea +on Luther's part of the effects of his theses extending widely in +Germany, it may be noticed that not only were they composed in +Latin, but that they dealt largely with Scholastic expressions and +ideas, which a layman would find it difficult to understand. + +Nevertheless the theses created a sensation which far surpassed +Luther's expectations. In fourteen days, as he tells us, they ran +through the whole of Germany, and were immediately translated and +circulated in German. They found, indeed, the soil already prepared +for them, through the indignation long since and generally aroused +by the shameless doings they attacked; though till then nobody, as +Luther expresses it, had liked to bell the cat, nobody had dared to +expose himself to the blasphemous clamour of the indulgence-mongers +and the monks who were in league with them, still less to the +threatened charge of heresy. + +On the other hand, the very impunity with which this traffic in +indulgences had been maintained throughout German Christendom, had +served to increase from day to day the audacity of its promoters. +Ranged on the side of these doctrines of Thomas Aquinas, the chief +mainstay of this trade, stood the whole powerful order of the +Dominicans. And to this order Tetzel himself, the sub-commissioner of +indulgences, belonged. Already other doctrines of the Pope's authority, +of his power over the salvation of the human soul, and the infallibility +of his decisions, had been asserted with ever-increasing boldness. The +mediaeval writings of Thomas Aquinas had conspicuously tended to this + result. And a climax had just been reached at a so-called General +Council, which met at Rome shortly after Luther's visit there, and +continued its sittings for several years. + +Tetzel, who hitherto had only made himself notorious as a preacher, or +rather as a bawling mountebank, now answered Luther with two series of +theses of his own, drawn up in learned scholastic form. One Conrad +Wimpina, a theologian of the university of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, whom +the Archbishop Albert had recommended, assisted Tetzel in this work. +The university of Frankfort immediately made Tetzel doctor of theology, +and thus espoused his theses. Three hundred Dominican monks assembled +round him while he conducted an academical disputation upon them. The +doctrines he now advanced were the doctrines of Thomas Aquinas. But at +the same time he took care to make the question of the Pope's position +and power the cardinal point at issue; he and his patrons knew well +enough, that for Luther, who in his theses had touched upon this +question so significantly though so briefly, this was the most fatal +blow that he could deal. 'Christians must be taught,' he declared, +'that in all that relates to faith and salvation, the judgment of the +Pope is absolutely infallible, and that all observances connected with +matters of faith on which the Papal see has expressed itself, are +equivalent to Christian truths, even if they are not to be found in +scripture.' With distinct reference to his opponent, but without +actually mentioning him by name, he insists that whoever defends +heretical error must be held to be excommunicated, and if he fails +within a given time to make satisfaction, incurs by right and law +the most frightful penalties. Furthermore, he argued--and this has +always been held up against Luther and Protestantism--that if the +authority of the Church and Pope should not be recognised, every man +would believe only what was pleasing to himself and what he found in +the Bible, and thus the souls of all Christendom would be +imperilled. + +Luther's theses now found another assailant, and one stronger even +than Tetzel, in the person of a Dominican and Thomist, one Sylvester +Mazolini of Prierio (Prierias), master of the sacred palace at Rome, +and a confidant of the Pope. He too, like Tetzel, based his chief +contention on the question of Papal authority, and was the first to +carry that contention to an extreme. The Pope, he said, is the +Church of Rome; the Romish Church is the Universal Christian Church; +whoever disputes the right of the Romish Church to act entirely as +she may, is a heretic. In this way he treated as contemptuously as +he could the obscure German, whose theses, that 'bite like a cur,' +as he expressed it, he only wished to dismiss with all despatch. + +Another Dominican, James van Hoogstraten, prior at Cologne, who had +already figured as the prime zealot in the affair about Reuchlin, +which he was still prosecuting, now demanded, in his preface to a +pamphlet on that subject, that Luther should be sent to the stake as +a dangerous heretic. + +But a far more important, and to Luther an utterly unexpected +opponent, appeared in the person of John Eck, professor at the +university of Ingolstadt, and canon at Eichstädt. He was a man of +very extensive learning in the earlier and later Scholastic theology +of the Church; he was a sharp-witted and ready controversialist, and +he knew how to use his weapons in disputations. He was fully +conscious of these gifts, and made a bold push to advance himself by +their means, whilst troubling himself very little in reality about +the high and sacred issues involved in the dispute. He sought to +keep on friendly and useful relations with other circles than those +of Scholastic theology, such as with learned Humanists, and a short +time before, with Luther himself and his colleague Carlstadt, to +whom he had been introduced through a jurist of Nüremberg named +Scheuerl. Luther, after the publication of his theses, had written a +friendly letter to Eck. What then was his surprise to find himself +attacked by Eck in a critical reply entitled 'Obelisks.' The tone of +his remarks was as wounding, coarse, and vindictive as their +substance was superficial. They aimed a well-meditated blow, by +stigmatising Luther's propositions as Bohemian poison, mere Hussite +heresy. Eck, when reproached for such a breach of friendship, +declared that he had written the book for his bishop of Eichstädt, +and not with any view of publication. + +Luther himself, loud as was his call to battle in his theses, had +still no intention of engaging in a general contest about the +leading principles of the Church. He had not yet realised the whole +extent and bearings of the question about indulgences. Referring +afterwards to the rapid circulation of his theses through Germany, +and to the fame which his onslaught had earned him, he says, 'I did +not relish the fame, for I myself was not aware of what there was in +the indulgences, and the song was pitched too high for my voice.' +People far and wide were proud of the man who spoke out so boldly in +his theses, while the multitude of doctors and bishops kept silence; +but he still stood alone before the public, confronting the storm +which he had aroused against himself. He did not conceal the fact, +that now and then he felt strange and anxious about his position. +But he had learned to take his stand singly and firmly on the word +of Scripture, and on the truth which God therein revealed to him and +brought home to his conviction. He was only the more strengthened in +that conviction by the replies of his opponents; for he must well +have been amazed at their utter want of Scriptural reference to +disprove his conclusions, and at the blind subservience with which +they merely repeated the statements of their Scholastic authorities. +The arrogant reply of Prierias, his opponent of highest rank, seemed +to him particularly poor. In confident words Luther assures his +friends of his conviction that what he taught was the purest +theology, that what he upheld and his opponents attacked, was a +revelation direct from God. He knew too, that, in the words of St. +Paul, he had to preach what to the holiest of the Jews was a +stumbling-block, and to the wisest of the Greeks foolishness. He was +none the less ready to do so, that Jesus Christ, his Lord, might say +of him, as He said once of that Apostle, 'I will show him how great +things he must suffer for my name's sake.' Luther's enemies in the +Romish Church have thought to see in these words an instance of +boundless self-assertion on the part of an individual subject. + +From henceforth Luther, while pursuing with unabated zeal his active +duties at the university and in the pulpit at Wittenberg, and taking +up his pen again and again to write short pamphlets of a simple and +edifying kind, occupied himself untiringly with controversial +writings, with the object partly of defending himself against +attacks, partly of establishing on a firm basis the principles he +had set forth, and of further investigating and making plain the way +of true Christian knowledge. He first addressed himself to German +Christendom, in German, in his 'Sermon on Indulgences and Grace.' +His inward excitement is shown by the vehemence and ruggedness of +expression which now and henceforth marked his polemical writings. +It recalls to mind the tone then commonly met with not only among +ordinary monks, but even in the controversies of theologians and +learned men, and in which Luther's own opponents, especially that +high Roman theologian, had set him the example. In Luther we see +now, throughout his whole method of polemics, as we shall see still +more later on, a mighty, Vulcanic, natural power breaking forth, but +always regulated by the humblest devotion to the lofty mission that +his conscience has imposed upon him. Even in his most vehement +outbursts we never fail to catch the tender expressions of a +Christian warmth and fervour of the heart, and a loftiness of +language corresponding to the sacredness of the subject. + +In the midst of these labours and controversies, Luther had to +undertake a journey in the spring of 1518 (about the middle of +April) to a chapter general of his Order at Heidelberg, where, +according to the rules, a new Vicar was chosen after a triennial +term of office. His friends feared the snares that his enemies might +have prepared for him on the road. He himself did not hesitate for a +moment to obey the call of duty. + +The Elector Frederick, who owed him at least a debt of gratitude for +having helped to keep his territory free from the rapacious Tetzel, +but who, both now and afterwards, conscientiously held aloof from +the contest, gave proof on this occasion of his undiminished +kindness and regard for him, in a letter he addressed to Staupitz. +He writes as follows:--'As you have required Martin Luder to attend +a Chapter at Heidelberg, it is his wish, although we grudge giving +him permission to leave our university, to go there and render due +obedience. And as we are indebted to your suggestion for this +excellent doctor of theology, in whom we are so well pleased, ... it +is our desire that you will further his safe return here, and not +allow him to be delayed.' He also gave Luther cordial letters of +introduction to Bishop Laurence of Wurzburg, through whose town his +road passed, and to the Count Palatine Wolfgang, at Heidelberg. From +both of these, though many had already declaimed against him as a +heretic, he met with a most friendly and obliging reception. + +His relations, moreover, at Heidelberg with his fellow-members of +the Order, and, above all, with Staupitz, remained unclouded. +Staupitz was re-elected here as Vicar of the Order; the office of +provincial Vicar passed from Luther to John Lange, of Erfurt, his +intimate friend and fellow-thinker. The question about indulgences +had not entered at all into the business of the chapter. But at a +disputation held in the convent, according to custom, Luther +presided, and wrote for it some propositions embodying the +fundamental points of his doctrines concerning the sinfulness and +powerlessness of man, and righteousness, through God's grace, in +Christ, and against the philosophy and theology of Aristotelian +Scholasticism. He attracted the keen interest of several young +inmates of the convent who afterwards became his coadjutors, such as +John Brenz, Erhardt Schnepf, and Martin Butzer. They marvelled at +his power of drawing out the meaning from the Scriptures, and of +speaking not only with clearness and decision, but also with +refinement and grace. Thus his journey served to promote at once his +reputation and his influence. + +On his return to Wittenberg on May 15, after an absence of five +weeks, he hastened to complete a detailed explanation in Latin of +the contents of his theses, under the title of 'Solutions,' the +greatest and most important work that he published at this period of +the contest. + +The most valuable fruit of the controversy so far as regards Luther +and his later work, and evidence of which is given in these +'Solutions,' was the advance he had made, and had been compelled to +make, in the course of his own self-reasoning and researches. New +questions presented themselves: the inward connection of the truth +became gradually manifest: new results forced themselves upon him: +his anxiety to solve his difficulties still continued. + + Luther in his theses, when speaking of the call of Jesus to +repentance, had never indeed admitted that the sacrament of penance +enjoined by the Church, with auricular confession and the penances +and satisfactions imposed by the priest, was based on God's command +or the authority of the Bible. He now openly acknowledged and +declared that these ecclesiastical acts were not enjoined by Christ +at all, but solely by the Pope and the Church. + +The contest about the indulgences granted by the Pope in respect of +these acts, opened up now the doctrine of the so-called treasures of +the Church, on which the Pope drew for his bounty. Luther, while +conceding to the Pope the right of dispensing indulgences in the +sense understood by himself, guarded himself against admitting that +the merits of Christ constituted that treasure, and so should be +disposed of by the Pope in this manner: the dispensation of +indulgences rested simply on the Papal power of the keys. It was now +objected to him that herein he was going counter to an express and +duly recorded declaration of a pope, Clement VI., namely, that the +merits of Christ were undoubtedly to be dispensed in indulgences. +Luther, who in his theses against the abuse of indulgences had +abstained as yet from propounding anything which might be +inconsistent with the ascertained meaning of the Pope, now insisted +without hesitation on this contradiction. That Papal pronouncement, +he declared, did not bear the character of a dogmatic decree, and a +distinction was to be drawn between a decree of the Pope and its +acceptance by the Church through a Council. + +How then, Luther proceeded to inquire, should the Christian obtain +forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with God, righteousness before +God, peace and holiness in God? And in answering this question he +reverted to the key-note of his doctrine of salvation, which he had +begun to preach before the contest about indulgences commenced. He +had already declared that salvation came through faith; in other +words, through heartfelt trust in God's mercy, as announced by the +Bible, and in the Saviour Christ. How was that consistent with the +acts of ecclesiastical penance, such as absolution in particular, +which must be obtained from the priest? Luther now declared that God +would assuredly allow his offer of forgiveness to be conveyed to +those who longed for it, by His commissioned servant of the Church, +the priest, but that the assurance of such forgiveness must lean +simply on the promise of God, by virtue and on behalf of Whom the +priest performed his office. And at the same time he declared that +this promise could be conveyed to a troubled Christian by any +brother-Christian, and that full forgiveness would be granted to him +if he had faith. No enumeration of particular sins was necessary for +that end; it was enough if the repentant and faithful yearning for +the word of mercy was made known to the priest or brother from whom +the message of comfort was sought. Hence it followed, on the one +hand, that priestly absolution and the sacrament availed nothing to +the receiver unless he turned with inward faith to his God and +Saviour, received with faith the word spoken to him, and through +that word let himself be raised to greater faith. It followed also, +on the other hand, that a penitent and faithful Christian, holding +fast to that word, to whom the priest should arbitrarily refuse the +absolution he looked for, could, in spite of such refusal, +participate in God's forgiveness to the full. Herewith was broken at +once the most powerful bond by which the dominant Church enslaved +the souls to the organs of her hierarchy. Luther has humbled man to +the lowest before God, through Whose grace alone the sinner, in meek +and believing trustfulness, can be saved. But in God and through +this grace he teaches him to be free and certain of salvation. +Christ, he says, has not willed that man's salvation should lie in +the hand or at the pleasure of a man. + +As for the outward acts and punishments which the Church and the +Pope imposed, he did not seek to abolish them. In this external +province at least he recognised in the Pope a power originating +direct from God. Here, in his opinion, the Christian was bound to +put up with even an abuse of power and the infliction of unjust +punishment. + + The whole contest turned ultimately on the question as to who +should determine disputes about the truth, and where to seek the +highest standard and the purest source of Christian verity. +Gradually at first, and manifestly with many inward struggles on the +part of Luther, his views and principles gained clearness and +consistency. Even within the Catholic Church the doctrine as to the +highest authority to be recognised in questions of belief and +conduct was by no means so firmly established as is frequently +represented by both Protestants and Roman Catholics. The doctrine of +the infallibility of the Pope, and of the absolute authority +attaching thereby to his decisions, however confidently asserted by +the admirers of Aquinas and accepted by the Popes, was not erected +into a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church until 1870. The other +theory, that even the Pope can err, and that the supreme decision +rests with a General Council, had been maintained by theologians +whom, at the same time, no Pope had ever ventured to treat as +heretics. It was on the ground of this latter theory that the +University of Paris, then the first university in Europe, had just +appealed from the Pope to a General Council. In Germany opinions +were on the whole divided between this and the theory of Papal +absolutism. Again, the view that neither the decisions of a Council +nor of a Pope were _ipso facto_ infallible, but that an appeal +therefrom lay to a council possibly better informed, had already +been advanced with impunity by writers of the fifteenth century. The +only point as to which no doubt was expressed, was that the +decisions of previous General Councils, acknowledged also by the +Pope, contained absolutely pure Divine truth, and that the Christian +Universal Church could never fall into error; but even then, with +reference to this Church, the question still remained as to who or +what was her true and final representative. + +Luther now followed what he found to be the teaching of the Bible, +so far as that teaching presented itself to his own independent and +conscientious research, and as, traced home in the New Testament and +especially in the Epistles of St. Paul, it shaped itself to his +perception. But for all this, he would not yet abandon his agreement +with the Church of which he was a member. The very man whom Eck had +branded as full of 'Bohemian poison,' complained of the Bohemian +Brethren or Moravians for exalting themselves in their ignorance +above the rest of Christendom. A Thomist indeed, who to him was only +a Scholastic among others, he fearlessly opposed; but still we find +no expression of a thought that the Church, assembled at a General +Council, had ever erred, nor even that any future Council could +pronounce an erroneous decision upon the present points in dispute. +Nay, he awaits the decision of such a Council against the charges of +heresy already brought against him, though without ever admitting +his readiness, if such a Council should assemble, to submit +beforehand and unconditionally to its decision, whatever it might +be. Above and before any such decision he held firm to the authority +of his own conviction: his conscience, he said, would not allow him +to yield from that resolve; he was not standing alone in this +contest, but with him stood the truth, together with all those who +shared his doubts as to the virtue of indulgences. + +Still, while rejecting the doctrine of the infallibility of the +Popes, it was a hard matter for Luther to reproach them also with +actual error in their decisions. We have seen how necessity forced +him to do so in the case of Clement VI. Towards the existing Head of +the Church he desired to remain, as far as possible, in concord and +subjection. It was not for mere appearance' sake, that in his +ninety-five theses he represented his own view of indulgences as +being also that of the Pope. He hoped, at all events, and wished +with all his heart that it was so; and later on, towards the close +of his life, he tells us how confidently he had cherished the +expectation that the Pope would be his patron in the war against the +shameless vendors of indulgences. Even after those hopes had failed, +he spoke of Leo X. with respect as a man of good disposition and an +educated theologian, whose only misfortune was that he lived in an +atmosphere of corruption and in a vicious age. He was none the less +assured of his Divine credentials as the supreme earthly Shepherd of +Christendom, and the depositary of all canonical power. The duty of +humility and obedience, impressed on him to excess as a monk, must, +no less than the fear of the possible dangers and troubles in store +for himself and his Christian brethren, have made Luther shrink from +the thought of having actually to testify and fight against him. He +ventured to dedicate his 'Solutions' to the Pope himself. The letter +of May 30, 1518, in which he did this, shows the peculiar, +anomalous, and untenable position in which he now found himself +placed. He is horrified, he says, at the charges of heresy and +schism brought against himself. He who would much prefer to live in +peace, had no wish to set up any dogmas in his theses, provoked as +they were by a public scandal, but simply in Christian zeal, or, as +others might have it, in youthful ardour, to invite men to a +disputation, and his present desire was to publish his explanation +of them under the patronage and protection of the Pope himself. But +at the same time he declares that his conscience was innocent and +untroubled, and he adds with emphatic brevity, 'Retract I cannot.' +He concludes by humbly casting himself at the Pope's feet with the +words, 'Give me life or death, accept or reject me as you please.' +He will recognise the Papal voice as that of the Lord Jesus Himself. +He will, if worthy of death, not flinch from it. But that +declaration of his, which he could not retract, must stand. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LUTHER AT AUGSBURG BEFORE CAIETAN. APPEAL TO A COUNCIL. + + +The task that Luther had now undertaken lay heavy upon his soul. He +was sincerely anxious, whilst fighting for the truth, to remain at +peace with his Church, and to serve her by the struggle. Pope Leo, +on the contrary, as was consistent with his whole character, treated +the matter at first very lightly, and when it threatened to become +dangerous, thought only how, by means of his Papal power, to make +the restless German monk harmless. + +Two expressions of his in these early days of the contest are +recorded. 'Brother Martin,' he said, 'is a man of a very fine +genius, and this outbreak the mere squabble of envious monks;' and +again, 'It is a drunken German who has written the theses; he will +think differently about them when sober.' Three months after the +theses had appeared, he ordered the Vicar-General of the +Augustinians to 'quiet down the man,' hoping still to extinguish +easily the flame. The next step was to institute a tribunal for +heretics at Rome, for Luther's trial: what its judgment would be was +patent from the fact that the single theologian of learning among +the judges was Sylvester Prierias. Before this tribunal Luther was +cited on August 7; within sixty days he was to appear there at Rome. +Friend and foe could well feel certain that they would look in vain +for his return. + +Papal influence, meanwhile, had been brought to bear on the Elector +Frederick, to induce him not to take the part of Luther, and the +chief agent chosen for working on the Elector and the Emperor +Maximilian was the Papal legate, Cardinal Thomas Vio of Gäeta, +called Caietan, who had made his appearance in Germany. The +University of Wittenberg, on the other hand, interposed on behalf of +their member, whose theology was popular there, and whose biblical +lectures attracted crowds of enthusiastic hearers. He had just been +joined at Wittenberg by his fellow-professor Philip Melancthon, then +only twenty-one years old, but already in the first rank of Greek +scholars, and the bond of friendship was now formed which lasted +through their lives. The university claimed that Luther should at +least be tried in Germany. + +Luther expressed the same wish through Spalatin to his sovereign. He +now also answered publicly the attack of Prierias upon his theses, +and declared not only that a Council alone could represent the +Church, but that even a decree of Council might err, and that an Act +of the Church was no final evidence of the truth of a doctrine. +Being threatened with excommunication, he preached a sermon on the +subject, and showed how a Christian, even if under the ban of the +Church, or excluded from _outward_ communion with her, could +still remain in true _inward_ communion with Christ and His +believers, and might then see in his excommunication the noblest +merit of his own. + +The Pope, meanwhile, had passed from his previous state of haughty +complacency to one of violent haste. Already, on August 23, thus +long before the sixty days had expired, he demanded the Elector to +deliver up this 'child of the devil,' who boasted of his protection, +to the legate, to bring away with him. This is clearly shown by two +private briefs from the Pope, of August 23 and 25, the one addressed +to the legate, the other to the head of all the Augustinian convents +in Saxony, as distinguished from the Vicar of those congregations, +Staupitz, who already was looked on with suspicion at Borne. These +briefs instructed both men to hasten the arrest of the heretic; his +adherents were to be secured with him, and every place where he was +tolerated laid under the interdict. So unheard of seemed this +conduct of the Pope, that Protestant historians would not believe in +the genuineness of the briefs; but we shall soon see how Caietan +himself refers to the one in his possession. + +Other and general relations, interests, and movements of the +ecclesiastical and political life of the German nation now began to +exercise an influence, direct or indirect, upon the history of +Luther and the development of the struggles of the Reformation, and +even caused the Pope himself to moderate his conduct. + +Whilst questions of the deepest kind about the means of salvation, +and the grounds and rules of Christian truth, had been opened up for +the first time by Luther during the contest about indulgences, the +abuses, encroachments, and acts of tyranny committed by the Pope on +the temporal domain of the Church, and closely affecting the +political and social life of the people, had long been the subject +of bitter complaints and vigorous remonstrances throughout Germany. +These complaints and remonstrances had been raised by princes and +states of the Empire, who would not be silenced by any theories or +dogmas about the Divine authority and infallibility of the Pope, nor +crushed by any mere sentence of excommunication. And in raising them +they had made no question of the Divine right of the Papacy. Was it +not natural that, in the indignation excited by their wrongs, they +should turn to the man who had laid the axe to the root of the tree +which bore such fruit, and at least consider the possibility of +profiting by his work? Luther, on his part, showed at first a +singularly small acquaintance with the circumstances of their +complaints, and seemed hardly aware of the loud protests raised so +long on this subject at the Diets. But with the question of +indulgences the field of his experience broadened in this respect. +The care he evinced in this matter for the care of souls and true +Christian morality made him the ally of all those who were alarmed +at the vast export of money to Rome, about which he had already said +in his theses that the Christian sheep were being regularly fleeced. + +In another respect, also, the ecclesiastical policy of the Papal see +was closely interwoven with the political condition and history of +Germany. If in theory the Pope claimed to control and confirm the +decrees even of the civil power, in practice he at least attempted +to assert and maintain an omnipresent influence. And with regard to +Germany it was all-important to him that the Empire should not +become so powerful as to endanger his authority in general and his +territorial sovereignty in Italy. However loftily the Popes in their +briefs proclaimed their immutable rights, derived from God, and +their plenary power, and took care to let theologians and jurists +advance such pretensions, they understood clearly enough in their +practical conduct to adjust those relations to the rules of +political or diplomatic necessity. + +In the summer of 1518 a Diet was held at Augsburg, at which the +Papal legate attended. The Pope was anxious to obtain its consent to +the imposition of a heavy tax throughout the Empire, to be applied +ostensibly for the war against the Turks, but alleged to be wanted +in reality for entirely other objects. The Emperor Maximilian, now +old and hastening to his end, was endeavouring to secure the +succession of his grandson Charles, and Caietan's chief task was to +exert his influence with Maximilian and the Elector Frederick to +bring Luther into their disfavour. The Archbishop Albert, who had +been hit so hard by Luther's attack on the traffic in indulgences, +was solemnly proclaimed Cardinal by order of the Pope. + +Of Maximilian it might fairly have been expected that, after his +many experiences and contests with the Popes, he would at least +protect Luther from the worst, however unlikely it might be that he +should entertain the idea of effecting, by his help, a great reform +in the National Church. He did indeed express his wish to +Pfeffinger, a counsellor of the Elector, that his prince should take +care of the monk, as his services might some day be wanted. But he +supported the Pope in the matter of the tax, and hoped to gain him +for his own political ends. He opposed Luther also in his attack on +indulgences, on the ground that it endangered the Church, and that +he was resolved to uphold the action taken by the Pope. + +This demand for a tax, however, was received with the utmost +disfavour both by the Diet and the Empire; and a long-cherished +bitterness of feeling now found expression. An anonymous pamphlet +was circulated, from the pen of one Fischer, a prebendary of +Wiirzburg, which bluntly declared that the avaricious lords of Rome +only wished to cheat the 'drunken Germans,' and that the real Turks +were to be looked for in Italy. This pamphlet reached Wittenberg and +fell into the hands of Luther, whom now for the first time we hear +denouncing 'Roman cunning,' though he only charged the Pope himself +with allowing his grasping Florentine relations to deceive him. The +Diet seized the opportunity offered by this demand for a tax, to +bring up a whole list of old grievances; the large sums drawn from +German benefices by the Pope under the name of annates, or extorted +under other pretexts; the illegal usurpation of ecclesiastical +patronage in Germany, the constant infringement of concordats, and +so on. The demand itself was refused, and in addition to this, an +address was presented to the Diet from the bishop and clergy of +Liege, inveighing against the lying, thieving, avaricious conduct of +the Romish minions, in such sharp and violent tones that Luther, on +reading it afterwards when printed, thought it only a hoax, and not +really an episcopal remonstrance. + +This was reason enough why Caietan, to avoid increasing the +excitement, should not attempt to lay hands on the Wittenberg +opponent of indulgences. The Elector Frederick, from whose hands +Caietan would have to demand Luther, was one of the most powerful +and personally respected princes of the Empire, and his influence +was especially important in view of the election of a new Emperor. +This prince went now in person to Caietan on Luther's behalf, and +Caietan promised him, at the very time that the brief was on its way +to him from Rome, that he would hear Luther at Augsburg, treat him +with fatherly kindness, and let him depart in safety. + +Luther accordingly was sent to Augsburg. It was an anxious time for +himself and his friends when he had to leave for that distant place, +where the Elector, with all his care, could not employ any physical +means for his protection, and to stand accused as a heretic before +that Papal legate who, from his own theological principles, was +bound to condemn him, Caietan being a zealous Thomist like Prierias, +and already notorious as a champion of indulgences and Papal +absolutism. 'My thoughts on the way,' said Luther afterwards, 'were +now I must die; and I often lamented the disgrace I should be to my +dear parents.' + +He went thither in humble garb and manner. He made his way on foot +till within a short distance of Augsburg, when illness and weakness +overcame him, and he was forced to proceed by carriage. Another +younger monk of Wittenberg accompanied him, his pupil Leonard Baier. +At Nüremberg he was joined by his friend Link, who held an +appointment there as preacher. From him he borrowed a monk's frock, +his own being too bad for Augsburg. He arrived here on October 7. + +The surroundings he now entered, and the proceedings impending over +him, were wholly novel and unaccustomed. But he met with men who +received him with kindness and consideration; several of them were +gentlemen of Augsburg favourable to him, especially the respected +patrician, Dr. Conrad Peutinger, and two counsellors of the Elector. +They advised him to behave with prudence, and to observe carefully +all the necessary forms, to which as yet he was a stranger. + +Luther at once announced his arrival to Caietan, who was anxious to +receive him without delay. His friends, however, kept him back until +they had obtained a written safe-conduct from the Emperor, who was +then hunting in the environs. In the meantime, a distinguished +friend of Caietan, one Urbanus of Serralonga, tried to persuade him, +in a flippant, and, as Luther thought, a downright Italian manner, +to come forward and simply pronounce six letters,--_Revoco_--I +retract. Urbanus asked him with a smile if he thought his sovereign +would risk his country for his sake. 'God forbid!' answered Luther. +'Where then do you mean to take refuge?' he went on to ask him. +'Under Heaven,' was Luther's reply. + +To Melancthon Luther wrote as follows: 'There is no news here, +except that the town is full of talk about me, and everybody wants +to see the man who, like a second Herostratus, has kindled such a +flame. Remain a man as you are, and instruct the youth aright. I go +to be sacrificed for them and for you, if God so will. For I will +rather die, and, what is the hardest fate, lose for ever the sweet +intercourse with you, than revoke anything that it was right for me +to say.' + +On October 11 Luther received the letter of safe-conduct, and the +next day he appeared before Caietan. Humbly, as he had been advised, +he prostrated himself before the representative of the Pope, who +received him graciously and bade him rise. + +The Cardinal addressed him civilly, and with a courtesy Luther was +not accustomed to meet with from his opponents; but he immediately +demanded him, in the name and by command of the Pope, to retract his +errors, and promise in future to abstain from them and from +everything that might disturb the peace of the Church. He pointed +out, in particular, two errors in his theses; namely, that the +Church's treasure of indulgences did not consist of the merits of +Christ, and that faith on the part of the recipient was necessary +for the efficacy of the sacrament. With respect to the second point, +the religious principles upon which Luther based his doctrine were +altogether strange and unintelligible to the Scholastic standpoint +of Caietan; mere tittering and laughter followed Luther's +observations, and he was required to retract this thesis +unconditionally. The first point settled the question of Papal +authority. On this, the Cardinal-legate took his chief stand on the +express declaration of Pope Clement: he could not believe that +Luther would venture to resist a Papal bull, and thought he had +probably not read it. He read him a vigorous lecture of his own on +the paramount authority of the Pope over Council, Church, and +Scripture. As to any argument, however, about the theses to be +retracted, Caietan refused from the first to engage in it, and +undoubtedly he went further in that direction than he originally +desired or intended. His sole wish was, as he said, to give fatherly +correction, and with fatherly friendliness to arrange the matter. +But in reality, says Luther, it was a blunt, naked, unyielding +display of power. Luther could only beg from him further time for +consideration. + +Luther's friends at Augsburg, and Staupitz, who had just arrived +there, now attempted to divert the course of these proceedings, to +collect other decisions of importance bearing on the subject, and to +give him the opportunity of a public vindication. Accompanied +therefore by several jurists friendly to his cause, and by a notary +and Staupitz, he laid before the legate next day a short and formal +statement of defence. He could not retract unless convicted of +error, and to all that he had said he must hold as being Catholic +truth. Nevertheless he was only human, and therefore fallible, and +he was willing to submit to a legitimate decision of the Church. He +offered, at the same time, publicly to justify his theses, and he +was ready to hear the judgment of the learned doctors of Basle, +Freiburg, Louvain, and even Paris upon them. Caietan with a smile +dismissed Luther and his proposals, but consented to receive a more +detailed reply in writing to the principal points discussed on the +previous day. + +On the morrow, October 14, Luther brought his reply to the legate. +But in this document also he insisted clearly and resolutely from +the commencement on those very principles which his opponents +regarded as destructive of all ecclesiastical authority and of the +foundations of Christian belief. He spoke with crucial emphasis of +the trouble he had taken to interpret the words of Pope Clement in a +Scriptural sense. The Papal decrees might err, and be at variance +with Holy Writ. Even the Apostle Peter himself had once to be +reproved (Galat. ii. 11 sqq.) for 'walking not uprightly according +to the truth of the gospel;' surely then his successor was not +infallible. Every faithful believer in Christ was superior to the +Pope, if he could show better proofs and grounds of his belief. +Still he entreated Caietan to intercede with Leo X., that the latter +might not harshly thrust out into darkness his soul, which was +seeking for the light. But he repeated that he could do nothing +against his conscience: one must obey God rather than man, and he +had the fullest confidence that he had Scripture on his side. +Caietan, to whom he delivered this reply in person, once more tried +to persuade him. They fell into a lively and vehement argument; but +Caietan cut it short with the exclamation 'Revoke.' In the event of +Luther not revoking or submitting to judgment at Rome, he threatened +him and all his friends with excommunication, and whatever place he +might go to with an interdict; he had a mandate from the Pope to +that effect already in his hands. He then dismissed him with the +words, 'Revoke, or do not come again into my presence.' + +Nevertheless he spoke in quite a friendly manner after this to +Staupitz, urging him to try his best to convert Luther, whom he +wished well. Luther, however, wrote the same day to his friend +Spalatin, who was with the Elector, and to his friends at +Wittenberg, telling them that he had refused to yield. The legate, +he said, had behaved with all friendliness of manner to Staupitz in +his affair, but neither Staupitz nor himself trusted the Italian +when out of sight. If Caietan should use force against him, he would +publish the written reply he gave him. Caietan might call himself a +Thomist, but he was a muddle-headed, ignorant theologian and +Christian, and as clumsy in giving judgment in the matter as a +donkey with a harp. Luther added further that an appeal would be +drawn up for him in the form best fitted to the occasion. He further +hinted to his Wittenberg friends at the possibility of his having to +go elsewhere in exile; indeed, his friends already thought of taking +him to Paris, where the university still rejected the doctrine of +Papal absolutism. He concluded this letter by saying that he refused +to become a heretic by denying that which had made him a Christian; +sooner than do that, he would be burned, exiled, or cursed. + +The appeal of which Luther here spoke, was 'from the Pope ill-informed +to the same when better informed.' On October 16 he submitted it, +formally prepared, to a public notary. While Staupitz and Link, warned +to consult their personal safety, and despairing of any good result, +left Augsburg, Luther still remained there. He even addressed on +October 17 a letter to Caietan, conceding to him the utmost he thought +possible. Moved, as he said, by the persuasions of his dear father +Staupitz and his brother Link, he offered to let the whole question of +indulgences rest, if only that which drove him to this tragedy were +put a stop to; he confessed also to having been too violent and +disrespectful in dispute. In after years he said to his friends, when +referring to this concession, that God had never allowed him to sink +deeper than when he had yielded so much. The next day, however, he +gave notice of his appeal to the legate, and told him he did not wish +longer to waste his time in Augsburg. To this letter he received no +answer. + +Luther waited, however, till the 20th. He and his Augsburg patrons +began to suspect whether measures had not already been taken to detain +him. They therefore had a small gate in the city wall opened in the +night, and sent with him an escort well acquainted with the road. Thus +he hastened away, as he himself described it, on a hard-trotting hack, +in a simple monk's frock, with only knee-breeches, without boots or +spurs, and unarmed. On the first day he rode eight miles, as far as +the little town of Monheim. As he entered in the evening an inn and +dismounted in the stable, he was unable to stand from fatigue, and +fell down instantly among the straw. He travelled thus on horseback +to Wittenberg, where he arrived well and joyful, on the anniversary of +his ninety-five theses. He had heard on the way of the Pope's brief to +Caietan, but he refused to think it could be genuine. His appeal, +meanwhile, was delivered to the Cardinal at Augsburg, who had it +posted by his notary on the doors of the cathedral. + +From Augsburg Luther was followed by a letter from Caietan to the +Elector, full of bitter complaints against him. He had formed, he +said, the highest hopes of his spiritual recovery, and had been +grievously disappointed in him; the Elector, for his own honour and +conscience' sake, must now either send him to Rome or, at least, +expel him from his territory, since measures of fatherly kindness +had failed to make him acknowledge his error. Frederick, after +waiting four weeks, returned a quiet answer, showing how the conduct +of Luther quite agreed with his own view of the matter. He would +have expected that no recantation would have been required of Luther +till the matter in dispute had been satisfactorily examined and +explained. There were a number of learned men, also, at foreign +universities, from whom he could not yet have learned with certainty +that Luther's doctrine was unchristian; while, to say the least, it +was chiefly those whose personal and financial interests were +affected by it that had become his opponents. He would propose +therefore that the judgment of several universities should be +obtained, and have the matter disputed at a safe place. Luther, +however, to whom the Elector showed this letter, at once declared +himself ready to go into exile, but would not be deterred from +publishing new declarations or taking further steps. + +He had a report of his conference with Caietan printed, with a +justification of himself to the readers. And in this he advanced +propositions against the Papacy which entirely shook its whole +foundation. Already, in the solutions to his theses, he had +incidentally, and without attracting further notice by the remark, +spoken of a time when the Papacy had not yet acquired supremacy over +the Universal Church, thereby contradicting what the Romish Church +maintained and had made into a dogma, namely, that the Papal see +possessed this primacy by original institution through Christ, and +by means of immutable Divine right. He now expressed this opinion as +a positive proposition. The Papal monarchy, he declared, was only a +Divine institution in the sense in which every temporal power, +advanced by the progress of historical development, might be called +so also. 'The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.' + +Without waiting for an answer direct from Rome, Luther now abandoned +all thoughts of success with Leo X. On November 28 he formally and +solemnly appealed from the Pope to a General Christian Council. By +so doing he anticipated the sentence of excommunication which he was +daily expecting. With Rome he had broken for ever, unless she were +to surrender her claims and acquisitions of more than a thousand +years. + +After once the first restraints of awe were removed with which +Luther had regarded the Papacy, behind and beyond the matter of the +indulgences, and he had learned to know the Papal representative at +Augsburg, and made a stand against his demands and menaces, and +escaped from his dangerous clutches, he enjoyed for the first time +the fearless consciousness of freedom. He took a wider survey around +him, and saw plainly the deep corruption and ungodliness of the +powers arrayed against him. His mind was impelled forward with more +energy as his spirit for the fight was stirred within him. Even the +prospect that he might have to fly, and the uncertainty whither his +flight could be, did not daunt or deter him. His thought was how he +could throw himself with more freedom into the struggle, if no +longer hampered by any obligations to his prince and his university. +Writing at that time to his friend Link, to inform him of his new +publications and his appeal, he invited his opinion as to whether he +was not right in saying that the Antichrist of whom St. Paul speaks +(2 Thess. ii.), ruled at the Papal court. 'My pen,' he went on to +say, 'is already giving birth to something much greater. I know not +whence these thoughts come. The work, as far as I can see, has +hardly yet begun, so little reason have the great men at Rome for +hoping it is finished.' Again, while informing Spalatin, through +whom the Elector always urged him to moderation, of new Papal edicts +and regulations aimed against him, he declared, 'The more those +Romish grandees rage and meditate the use of force, the less do I +fear them. All the more free shall I become to fight against the +serpents of Rome. I am prepared for all, and await the judgment of +God.' + +He was really prepared for exile or flight at any moment. At +Wittenberg his friends were alarmed by rumours of designs on the +part of the Pope against his life and liberty, and insisted on his +being placed in safety. Flight to France was continually talked of; +had he not followed in his appeal a precedent set by the university +of Paris? We certainly cannot see how he could safely have been +conveyed thither, or where, indeed, any other and safer place could +have been found for him. Some urged that the Elector himself should +take him into custody and keep him in a place of safety, and then +write to the legate that he held him securely in confinement and was +in future responsible for him. Luther proposed this to Spalatin, and +added, 'I leave the decision of this matter to your discretion; I am +in the hands of God and of my friends.' The Elector himself, anxious +also in this respect, arranged early in December a confidential +interview between Luther and Spalatin at the Castle of Lichtenberg. +He also, as Luther reported to Staupitz, wished that Luther had some +other place to be in, but he advised him against going away so +hastily to France. His own wish and counsel, however, he refrained +as yet from making known. Luther declared that at all events, if a +ban of excommunication were to come from Rome, he would not remain +longer at Wittenberg. On this point also the prince kept secret his +resolve. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MILTITZ AND THE DISPUTATION AT LEIPZIG, WITH IT RESULTS. + + +The rumours of the dangers that threatened Luther from Rome had a +good foundation. A new agent from there had now arrived in Germany, +the Papal chamberlain, Charles von Miltitz. + +His errand was designed to remove the chief obstacle to summoning +the Wittenberg heretic to Rome, or imprisoning him there, namely, +the protection afforded him by his sovereign. Miltitz was of a noble +Saxon family, himself a Saxon subject by birth, and a friend of the +Electoral court. He brought with him a high token of favour for the +Elector. The latter had formerly expressed a wish to receive the +golden rose; a symbol solemnly consecrated by the Pope himself, and +bestowed by his ambassadors on princely personages to this day, for +services rendered to the Church or the Papal see. The bearer of this +decoration was Miltitz, and on October 24, 1518, he was furnished +with a whole armful of Papal indulgences. + +Above all, he took with him two letters of Leo X. to Frederick. The +Elector, his beloved son, so ran the first missive, was to receive +the most holy rose, anointed with the sacred chrism, sprinkled with +scented musk, consecrated with the Apostolic blessing, a gift of +transcendent worth and the symbol of a deep mystery, in remembrance +and as a pledge of the Pope's paternal love and singular good-will, +conveyed through an ambassador specially appointed by the Pope, and +charged with particular greetings on that behalf &c. &c. Such a +costly gift, proffered him by the Church through her Pontiff, was +intended to manifest her joy at the redemption of mankind by the +precious blood of Jesus Christ, and the rose was an appropriate +symbol of the quickening and refreshing body of our Redeemer. These +high-sounding and long-winded expressions showed very plainly the +real object of the Pope. The divine fragrance of this flower was so +to permeate the inmost heart of Frederick, the 'beloved son,' that +he being filled with it, might with pious mind receive and cherish +in his noble breast those matters which Miltitz would explain to +him, and whereof the second brief made mention; and thus the more +fervently comprehend the Pope's holy and pious longing, agreeably to +the hope he placed in him. The other letter, however, after +referring to the call for aid against the Turks, goes on to speak of +Luther. From Satan himself came this son of perdition, who was +preaching notorious heresy, and that chiefly in Frederick's own +land. Inasmuch as this diseased sheep must not be suffered to infect +the heavenly flock, and as the honour and conscience of the Elector +also must needs be stained by his presence, Miltitz was commissioned +to take measures against him and his associates, and Frederick was +exhorted in the name of the Lord to assist him with his authority +and favour. + +Papal instructions in writing to the same effect were given to +Miltitz for Spalatin, as Frederick's private secretary, and for +Degenhard Pfeffinger, a counsellor of the Elector. To Spalatin in +particular, the most trusted adviser of Frederick in religious +matters, it was represented, how horrible was the heretical audacity +of this 'son of Satan,' and how he imperilled the good name of the +Elector. In like manner the chief magistrate of Wittenberg was +required by letter to give assistance to Miltitz, and enable him to +execute freely and unhindered the Pope's commands against the +heretic Luther, who came of the devil. Miltitz took with him similar +injunctions for a number of other towns in Germany, to ensure safe +passage for himself and his prisoner to Rome, in the event of his +arresting Luther. He was armed, it was said, with no less than +seventy letters of this kind. + +As regards the rose, Miltitz had strict orders to make the actual +delivery of it to Frederick depend wholly on his compliance with +Caietan's advice and will. It was deposited first of all in the +mercantile house of the Fuggers at Augsburg. This public precaution +was taken, to prevent Miltitz from parting with the precious gift in +haste or from too anxious a desire for the thanks and praise in +prospect, before there were reasonable grounds for hoping that it +had served its purpose. + +Towards the middle of December a Papal bull, issued on November 9, +was published by Caietan in Germany, which finally laid down the +doctrine of indulgences in the sense directly combated by Luther, +and, although not mentioning him by name, threatened excommunication +against all who shared the errors which had lately been promulgated +in certain quarters. + +So utterly did the Pope appear to have set his face against all +reconciliation or compromise. And yet, as the event showed, room was +left for Miltitz in his secret instructions to try another method, +according as circumstances might dictate. + +Miltitz, after having crossed the Alps, sought an interview first +with Caietan in Southern Germany, and, as the latter had gone to the +Emperor in Austria, he paid a visit to his old friend Pfeffinger, at +his home in Bavaria. Continuing his journey with him, he arrived on +December 25 at the town of Gera, and from there announced his +arrival to Spalatin, who was at Altenburg. On the way he had had +constant opportunities of noticing, both among learned men and the +common people, signs of sympathy for the man against whom his +mission was directed, and a feeling hostile to Rome, of which those +at Rome neither knew nor cared to know. He was a young and clever +man, full of the enjoyment of life, who knew how to mix and converse +with people of every kind, and even to touch now and then on the +situation and doings at Rome which were exciting such lively +indignation. Tetzel also, whom Miltitz summoned to meet him, wrote +complaining that the people in Germany were so excited against him +by Luther, that his life would not be safe on the road. Miltitz +accordingly, with his usual readiness, resolved speedily on an +attempt to make Luther harmless by other means. After paying his +visit to the Elector at Altenburg, he agreed to treat with him there +in a friendly manner. + +The remarkable interview with Luther took place at Spalatin's house +at Altenburg in the first week of the new year. Miltitz feigned the +utmost frankness and friendliness, nay, even cordiality. He himself +declared to Luther, that for the last hundred years no business had +caused so much trouble at Rome as this one, and that they would +gladly there give ten thousand ducats to prevent its going further. +He described the state of popular feeling as he had found it on his +journey; three were for Luther where only one was for the Pope. He +would not venture, even with an escort of 25,000 men, to carry off +Luther through Germany to Rome. 'Oh, Martin!' he exclaimed, 'I +thought you were some old theologian, who had carried on his +disputations with himself, in his warm corner behind the stove. Now +I see how young, and fresh, and vigorous you are.' Whilst plying him +with exhortations and reproaches about the injury he did to the +Romish Church, he accompanied them with tears. He fancied by this +means to make him his confidant and conformable to his schemes. + +Luther, however, soon showed him that he could be his match in +cleverness. He refrained, he tells us, from letting Miltitz see that +he was aware what crocodile's tears they were. Indeed he was quite +prepared, as he had been before under the menaces of a Papal +ambassador, so now under his persuasions and entreaties, to yield +all that his conscience allowed, but nothing beyond, and then +quietly to let matters take their own course. + +In the event of Miltitz withdrawing his demand for a retractation, +Luther agreed to write a letter to the Pope, acknowledging that he +had been too hasty and severe, and promising to publish a +declaration to German Christendom urging and admonishing reverence +to the Romish Church. His cause, and the charges brought against +him, might be tried before a German bishop, but he reserved to +himself the right, in case the judgment should be unacceptable, of +reviving his appeal to the Church in Council. Personally he desired +to desist from further strife, but silence must also be imposed on +his adversaries. + +Having come to this point of agreement, they partook of a friendly +supper together, and on parting Miltitz bestowed on him a kiss. + +In a report given of this conference to the Elector, Luther +expressed the hope that the matter by mutual silence might 'bleed +itself to death,' but added his fear that, if the contest were +prolonged, the question would grow larger and become serious. + +He now wrote his promised address to the people. He bated not an +inch from his standpoint, so that, even if he should for the future +let the controversy rest, he might not appear to have retracted +anything. He allowed a value to indulgences, but only as a +recompense for the 'satisfaction' given by the sinner, and adding +that it was better to do good than to purchase indulgences. He urged +the duty of holding fast in Christian love and unity, and +notwithstanding her faults and sins, to the Romish Church, in which +St. Peter and St. Paul and hundreds of martyrs had shed their blood, +and of submitting to her authority, though with reference only to +external matters. Propositions going beyond what was here conceded +he wished to be regarded as in no way affecting the people or the +common man. They should be left, he said, to the schools of +theology, and learned men might fight the matter out between them. +His opponents indeed, if they had admitted what Luther declared in +this address, would have had to abandon their main principles, for +to them the doctrine that indulgences and Church authority meant far +more than was here stated was a truth indispensable for salvation. + +Luther wrote his letter to the Pope on March 3, 1519. It began with +expressions of the deepest personal humility, but differed +significantly in the quiet firmness of its tone from his other +letter of the previous year to Leo X. Quietly, but as resolutely, he +repudiated all idea of retracting his principles. They had already, +through the opposition raised by his enemies, been propagated far +and wide, beyond all his expectations, and had sunk into the hearts +of the Germans, whose knowledge and judgment were now more matured. +If he let himself be forced to retract them he would give occasion +to accusation and revilement against the Romish Church; for the sake +of her own honour he must refuse to do so. As for his battle against +indulgences, his only thought had been to prevent the Mother Church +from being defiled by foreign avarice, and that the people should +not be led astray, but learn to set love before indulgences. + +Meanwhile, on January 12, Maximilian had died. He was the last +national Emperor with whom Germany was blessed; in character a true +German, endowed with rich gifts both mental and physical, a man of +high courage and a warm heart, thoroughly understanding how to deal +with high and low, and to win their esteem and love. By Luther too +we hear him often spoken of afterwards in terms of affectionate +remembrance: he tells us of his kindness and courtesy to everyone, +of his efforts to attract around him trusty and capable servants +from all ranks, of his apt remarks, of his tact in jest and in +earnest; further of the troubles he had in his government of the +Empire and with his princes, of the insolence he had to put up with +from the Italians, and of the humour with which he speaks of himself +and his imperial rule. 'God,' said he on one occasion, 'has well +ordered the temporal and spiritual government; the former is ruled +over by a chamois-hunter, and the latter by a drunken priest' (Pope +Julius). He called himself a king of kings, because his German +princes only acted like kings when it suited them. With the lofty +ideas and projects which he cherished as sovereign, he stood before +the people as a worthy representative of Imperialism, even though +his eyes may have been fixed in reality more on his own family and +the power of his dynasty, than on the general interests of the +Empire. The ecclesiastical grievances of the German nation, which we +heard of at the Diet of 1518, had long engaged his lively sympathy, +though he deemed it wiser to abstain from interfering. He had an +opinion on these matters and on the necessary reforms drawn up by +the Humanist Wimpheling. Nay, he had once, in his contest with Pope +Julius, worked to bring about a general reforming Council. The +question forces itself on the mind--however vain such an inquiry may +be from a historical point of view--what turn Luther's great work, +and the fortunes of the German nation and Church would have taken, +if Maximilian had identified his own imperial projects with the +interests for which Luther contended, and thus had come forward as +the leader of a great national movement. As it was, Maximilian died +without ever having realised more of the importance of this monk +than was shown by his remark about him, already noticed, at +Augsburg. + +[Illustration: FIG. l3.--THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. (From his Portrait +by Albert Dürer.)] + +His death served to increase the respect which the Pope found it +necessary to show to the Elector Frederick. For, pending the +election of a new Emperor, the latter was Administrator of the +Empire for Northern Germany, and the issue of the election depended +largely on his influence. On June 28 Maximilian's grandson, King +Charles of Spain, then nineteen years of age, was chosen Emperor. He +was a stranger to German life and customs, as the German people and +the Reformer must constantly have had to feel. For the Pope, +however, these considerations were of further import, for in his +dealings with the new Emperor he had to proceed at least with +caution, since the latter was aware that he had done his best to +prevent his election. On the other hand, Charles was under an +obligation to the Elector, being mainly indebted to him for his +crown, and unable to come himself immediately to Germany to accept +his rule. + +Miltitz meanwhile had further prosecuted his scheme, without +revealing his own ultimate object. He chose for a judge of Luther's +cause the Archbishop of Treves, and persuaded him to accept the +office. Early in May he had an interview with Caietan at Coblentz, +the chief town of the archiepiscopal diocese, and now summoned +Luther to appear there before the Archbishop. + +But Miltitz took good care to say nothing about the opinions +entertained at Rome of his negotiations with Luther. Would Luther +venture from his refuge at Wittenberg without the consent of his +faithful sovereign, who himself evinced suspicion in the matter, and +set forth in the dark, so to speak, on his long journey to the two +ambassadors of the Pope? He would be held a fool, he wrote to +Miltitz, if he did; moreover, he did not know where to find the +money for the journey. What took place between Rome and Miltitz in +this affair was altogether unknown to Luther, as it is to us. + +Whilst this attempt at a mediation--if such it could be called--remained +thus in abeyance, a serious occasion of strife had been prepared, which +caused the seemingly muffled storm to break out with all its violence. + +Luther's colleague, Carlstadt, who at first, on the appearance of +Luther's theses, had viewed them with anxiety, but who afterwards +espoused the new Wittenberg theology, and pressed forward in that +path, had had a literary feud since 1518 with Eck, on account of his +attacks upon Luther. The latter, meeting Eck at Augsburg in October, +arranged with him for a public disputation in which Eck and +Carlstadt could fight the matter out. Luther hoped, as he told Eck +and his friends, that there might be a worthy battle for the truth, +and the world should then see that theologians could not only +dispute but come to an agreement. Thus then, at least between him +and Eck, there seemed the prospect of a friendly understanding. The +university of Leipzig was chosen as the scene of the disputation. +Duke George of Saxony, the local ruler, gave his consent, and +rejected the protest of the theological faculty, to whom the affair +seemed very critical. + +When, however, towards the end of the year, Eck published the theses +which he intended to defend, Luther found with astonishment that +they dealt with cardinal points of doctrine, which he himself, +rather than Carlstadt, had maintained, and that Carlstadt was +expressly designated the 'champion of Luther.' Only one of these +theses related to a doctrine specially defended by Carlstadt, +namely, that of the subjection of the will in sinful man. Among the +other points noticed was the denial of the primacy of the Romish +Church during the first few centuries after Christ. Eck had +extracted this from Luther's recent publications; so far as +Carlstadt was concerned, he could not have read or heard a word of +such a statement. + +Luther fired up. In a public letter addressed to Carlstadt he +observed that Eck had let loose against him, in reality, the frogs +or flies intended for Carlstadt, and he challenged Eck himself. He +would not reproach him for having so maliciously, uncourteously, and +in an untheological manner charged Carlstadt with doctrines to which +he was a stranger; he would not complain of being drawn himself +again into the contest by a piece of base flattery on Eck's part +towards the Pope; he would merely show that his crafty wiles were +well understood, and he wished to exhort him in a friendly spirit, +for the future, if only for his own reputation, to be a little more +sensible in his stratagems. Eck might then gird his sword upon his +thigh, and add a Saxon triumph to the others of which he boasted, +and so at length rest on his laurels. Let him bring forth to the +world what he was in labour of; let him disgorge what had long been +lying heavy on his stomach, and bring his vainglorious menaces at +length to an end. + +Luther was anxious, indeed, apart from this special reason, to be +allowed to defend in a public disputation the truth for which he was +called a heretic; he had made this proposal in vain to the legate at +Augsburg. He now demanded to be admitted to the lists at Leipzig. He +wished in particular, to take up the contest, openly and decisively, +about the Papal primacy. + +His friends just on this point grew anxious about him. But he +prepared his weapons with great diligence, studying thoroughly the +ecclesiastical law-books and the history of ecclesiastical law, with +which until now he had never occupied himself so much. Herein he +found his own conclusions fully confirmed. Nay, he found that the +tyrannical pretensions of the Pope, even if more than a thousand +years old, derived their sole and ultimate authority from the Papal +decretals of the last four centuries. Arrayed against the theory of +that primacy were the history of the previous centuries, the +authority of the Council of Nice in 325, and the express declaration +of Scripture. This he stated now in a thesis, and announced his +opinion in print. + +We have already noticed the high importance of this historical +evidence in regard to matters of belief, as well as to the entire +conception of Christian salvation, and of the true community or +Church of Christ. The real essence of the Church is shown not to +depend on its constitution under a Pope. And the course of history, +wherein God allowed the Christians of the West to come under the +external authority of the Pope, just as people come to be under the +rule of different princes, in no way subjected, or should subject, +the whole of Christendom to his dominion. The millions of Eastern +Christians, who are not his subjects, and who are therefore +condemned by the Pope as schismatics, are all, as Luther now +distinctly declares, none the less members of Christendom, of the +Church, of the Body of Christ. Participation in salvation does not +exist only in the community of the Church of Rome. For Christendom +collectively, or the Universal Church, there is no other Head but +Christ. Luther now also discovered and declared that the bishops did +not receive their posts over individual dioceses and flocks until +after the Apostolic period; the episcopate therefore ceases to be an +essential and necessary element of the Church system. What, then, is +really essential for the continuance of the Church, and how far does +it extend? Luther answers this question with the fundamental +principle of Evangelical Protestantism. The Church, he says, is not +at Rome only, but there, and there only, where the Word of God is +preached and believed in; where Christian faith, hope, and charity +are alive, where Christ, inwardly received, stands before a united +Christendom as her bridegroom. This Universal Church, says Luther, +is the one intended by the Creed, when it says 'I believe in a Holy +Catholic Church, the communion of saints.' + +The mere external power which the Popedom exercised in its +government of the Church, in the imposition of outward acts and +penalties--appeared, so far, to Luther a matter of indifference in +respect to religion and the salvation of souls. But it was another +and more serious matter with regard to the claim to Divine right +asserted for that power by the Papacy, and to its extension over the +soul and conscience, over the community of the faithful, nay, over +the fate of departed souls. Here Luther saw an invasion of the +rights reserved by God to Himself, and a perversion of the true +conditions of salvation, as established by Christ and testified in +Scripture. Here he saw a human potentate and tyrant, setting himself +up in the place of Christ and God. He shuddered, so he wrote to his +friends, when, in reading the Papal decretals, he looked further +into the doings of the Popes, with their demands and edicts, into +this smithy of human laws, this fresh crucifixion of Christ, this +ill-treatment and contempt of His people. As previously he had said +that Antichrist ruled at the Papal court, so now, in a letter of +March 13, 1519, he wrote privately to Spalatin, 'I know not whether +the Pope is Antichrist himself, or one of his Apostles,' so +antichristian seemed to him the institution of the Papacy itself, +with its principles and its fruits. Of these decretals he says in +another letter: 'If the death-blow dealt to indulgences has so +damaged the see of Rome, what will it do when, by the will of God, +its decretals have to breathe their last? Not that I glory in +victory, trusting to my own strength, but my trust is in the mercy +of God, whose wrath is against the edicts of man.' + +[Illustration: Fig. 14.--DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. (From an old +woodcut.)] + +Luther earnestly entreated Duke George to allow him to take part in +the disputation. His Elector, who no doubt was personally desirous +of a public, free, and learned treatment of the questions at issue, +had already given him his permission. Luther's understanding with +Miltitz presented no obstacle, since the silence required as a +condition on the part of his opponents, had never been observed, nor +indeed had ever been enjoined or recommended either by Miltitz or +any other authorities of the Church. His application, nevertheless, +to the Duke was referred to Eck for his concurrence, and the latter +let him wait in vain for an answer. At last the Duke drew up a +letter of safe-conduct for Carlstadt and all whom he might bring +with him, and under this designation Luther was included. He might +safely trust himself to George's word as a man and a prince. + +The whole disputation was opposed and protested against from the +outset by the Bishop of Merseburg, the chancellor of the university +of Leipzig and the spiritual head of the faculty of theology. The +project must have been inadmissible in his eyes from the mere fact +that Eck's theses revived the controversy about indulgences, which +was supposed to have been settled once and for ever by the Papal +bull. He appealed to this pronouncement as a reason for not holding +it. Inasmuch as the disputation took place, in spite of this +protest, with the Duke's consent, it became an affair of all the +more importance. + +Duke George himself took an active interest in the matter. His was a +robust, upright, and sturdy character. He was a staunch and faithful +upholder of the ecclesiastical traditions in which he had grown up; +it was difficult for him to extend his views. But he was honestly +interested in the truth. He wished that his own men of learning +might have a good scuffle in the lists for the truth's sake. On +hearing of the objections of the Leipzig theologians to the +disputation, his remark was, 'They are evidently afraid to be +disturbed in their idleness and guzzling, and think that whenever +they hear a shot fired, it has hit them.' An unusually large +audience being expected for the disputation, he had the large hall +of his Castle of Pleissenburg cleared and furnished for the +occasion. He commissioned two of his counsellors to preside, and was +anxious himself to be present. How much depended on the impression +which the disputation itself, and Luther with it, should produce +upon him! + +On June 24 the Wittenbergers entered Leipzig, with Carlstadt at +their head. An eye-witness has described the scene: 'They entered at +the Grimma Gate, and their students, two hundred in number, ran +beside the carriages with pikes and halberds, and thus accompanied +their professors. Dr. Carlstadt drove first; after him, Dr. Martin +and Philip (Melancthon) in a light basket carriage with solid wooden +wheels (Rollwagen); none of the wagons were either curtained or +covered. Just as they had passed the town-gate and had reached the +churchyard of St. Paul, Dr. Carlstadt's carriage broke down, and the +doctor fell out into the dirt; but Dr. Martin and his _fidus +Achates_ Philip, drove on.' Meanwhile, an episcopal mandate, +forbidding the disputation on pain of excommunication, had been +nailed up on the church doors, but no heed was paid to it. The +magistrate even imprisoned the man who posted the bill for having +done so without his permission. + +Before commencing the disputation, certain preliminary conditions +were arranged. The proceedings were to be taken down by notaries. +Eck had opposed this, fearing to be hindered in the free use of his +tongue, and not liking to have all his utterances in debate so +exactly defined. The protocols, however, were to be submitted to +umpires charged to decide the result of the disputation, and were to +be published after their verdict was announced. In vain had both +Luther and Carlstadt, who refused to bind themselves to this +decision, opposed this stipulation. The Duke, however, insisted on +it, as a means of terminating judicially the contest. + +Early on the morning of June 27 the disputation was opened with all +the worldly and spiritual solemnity that could be given to a most +important academical event. First came an address of welcome in the +hall, spoken by the Leipzig professor, Simon Pistoris; then a mass +in the church of St. Thomas, whither the assembly repaired in a +procession of state; then a still grander procession to the +Pleissenburg, where a division of armed citizens was stationed as a +guard of honour; then a long speech on the right way of disputing, +delivered in the Castle hall by the famous Peter Schade Mosellanus, +a professor at Leipzig and a master of Latin eloquence; and lastly +the chanting three times of the Latin hymn, 'Come, Holy Ghost,' the +whole assembly kneeling. At two o'clock the disputation between Eck +and Carlstadt began. They were placed opposite each other in +pulpits. + +A host of theologians and learned laymen had flocked together to the +scene. From Wittenberg had come the Pomeranian Duke Barnim, then +Rector of the University. Prince George of Anhalt, then a young +Leipzig student, and afterwards a friend of Luther, was there. Duke +George of Saxony frequently attended the proceedings, and listened +attentively. His court jester is said to have appeared with him, and +a comic scene is mentioned as having occurred between him and Eck, +to the great diversion of the meeting. Frederick the Wise was +represented by one of his counsellors, Hans von Planitz. + +Eck and Carlstadt contended for four days, from June 27 to July 8, +on the question of free will and its relations to the operation of +the grace of God. It was a wearisome contest, with disconnected +texts from Scripture and passages from old teachers of the Church, +but without any of the lively and free animation of moral and +religious spirit, which, in Luther's treatment of such questions, +carried his hearers with him. In power of memory, as in readiness of +speech, Eck proved himself superior to his opponent. On Carlstadt +bringing books of reference with him, he got this disallowed, and +had now the advantage that no one could check his own quotations. +Thus, confident of triumph, he proceeded to his contest with Luther. + +Luther meanwhile, on June 29, the day of St. Peter and St. Paul, had +preached a sermon at the request of Duke Barnim at the Castle of +Pleissenburg, wherein, referring to the Gospel of the day, he +treated, in a simple, practical, and edifying manner, of the main +point of the disputation between Eck and Carlstadt, and at the same +time of the point he himself was about to argue, namely, the meaning +of the power of the keys granted to St. Peter. In opposition to him, +Eck delivered four sermons in various churches of the town (none of +which Luther would have been allowed to preach in), and speaking of +them afterwards he said, 'I simply stirred up the people to be +disgusted with the Lutheran errors.' The members of the Leipzig +university kept peevishly aloof from their brethren of Wittenberg +throughout the disputation, while paying all possible homage to Eck. +When Luther one day entered a church, the monks who were conducting +service hastily took away the monstrance and the elements, to avoid +having them defiled by his presence. And yet he was afterwards +reproached for neglecting to go to church at Leipzig. In the +hostelries where the Wittenberg students lodged, such violent scenes +occurred between them and their Leipzig brethren, that halberdiers +had to be stationed at the tables to keep order. + +Duke George invited the heretic, together with Eck and Carlstadt, to +his own table, and to a private audience as well. So frank and +genial was he, and so intent on making himself acquainted with +Luther and his cause. Luther spoke of him then as a good, pious +prince, who knew how to speak in princely fashion. The Duke, +however, told him at that audience, that the Bohemians entertained +great expectations of him; and yet George, who on his mother's side +was grand-son to Podiebrad, King of Bohemia, was anxious to have all +taint of the hateful Bohemian heresy most carefully avoided. On this +point Luther remarked to him that he knew well how to distinguish +between the pipe and the piper, and was only sorry to see how +accessible princes might be to the influence of foreign agitations. +Leipzig altogether must have been a strange and uncomfortable +atmosphere for Luther. + +On Monday, July 4, he entered the lists with Eck. On the morning of +that day he signed the conditions, which had been arranged in spite +of his protest; but he stated that, against the verdict of the +judges, whatever it might be, he maintained the right of appeal to a +Council, and would not accept the Papal curia as his judge. The +protocol on this point ran as follows: 'Nevertheless Dr. Martin has +stipulated for his appeal, which he has already announced, and so +far as the same is lawful, will in no wise abandon his claim +thereto. He has stipulated further that, for reasons touching +himself, the report of this disputation shall not be submitted for +approval to the Papal court.' + +[Illustration: Fig. 15.--LUTHER. (From an engraving of Cranach, in +1520.)] + +The appearance of Luther at this disputation has given occasion for +the first description of his person which we possess from the pen of +a contemporary. Mosellanus, already mentioned, says of him in a +letter: 'He is of middle stature, his body thin, and so wasted by +care and study, that nearly all his bones may be counted. He is in +the prime of life. His voice is clear and melodious. His learning +and his knowledge of Scripture are extraordinary; he has nearly +everything at his fingers' ends. Greek and Hebrew he understands +sufficiently well to give his judgment on the interpretation of the +Scriptures. In speaking, he has a vast store of subjects and words +at his command; he is moreover refined and sociable in his life and +manners; he has no rough Stoicism or pride about him, and he +understands how to adapt himself to different persons and times. In +society he is lively and witty. He is always fresh, cheerful, and at +his ease, and has a pleasant countenance, however hard his enemies +may threaten him, so that one cannot but believe that Heaven is with +him in his great undertaking. Most people however reproach him with +wanting moderation in polemics, and with being more cutting than +befits a theologian and one who propounds something new in sacred +matters.' His ability as a disputant was afterwards acknowledged by +Eck, who in referring to this tourney, quoted Aristotle's remark +that when two men dispute together, each of whom has learned the +art, there is sure to be a good disputation. + +Eck is described by Mosellanus as a man of a tall, square figure, +with a voice fit for a public crier, but more coarse than distinct, +and with nothing pleasant about it; with the mouth, the eyes, and +the whole appearance of a butcher or soldier, but with a most +remarkable memory. In power of memory and elocution he surpassed +even Luther; but in solidity and real breadth of learning, impartial +men like Pistoris gave the palm to Luther. Eck is said to have +imitated the Italians in his great animation of speech, his +declamation, and gesticulations with his arms and his whole body. +Melancthon even said in a letter after the disputation, 'Most of us +must admire Eck for his manifold and distinguished intellectual +gifts.' Later on he calls him, 'Eckeckeck, the daws'-voice.' At any +rate Eck displayed a rare power and endurance in those Leipzig days, +and understood above all how to pursue with cleverness the real +object he had in view in his contest with Luther. + +The two began at once with that point which Eck had singled out as +the chief object of debate, and about which Luther had advanced his +boldest proposition, namely, the question of the Papal power. + +[Illustration: Fig 16.--DR. JOHN ECK. (From an old woodcut.)] + +After lengthy discussions on the evidence of texts of Scripture; on +the old Fathers of the Church, to whom the Papal supremacy was +unknown; on the Western Church of middle ages, by whom that +supremacy was acknowledged at an earlier period than Luther would +admit; on the non-subjection to Rome of Eastern Christendom, to whom +Luther referred, and whom Eck with a light heart put outside the +pale of salvation, Eck on the second day of the disputation passed, +after due premeditation, from the ecclesiastical authorities he had +quoted in favour of the Divine right of the Papal primacy, to the +statements of the English heretic Wicliffe, and the Bohemian Huss, +who had denied this right, and had therefore been justly condemned. +He was bound to notice them, he said, since, in his own frail and +humble judgment, Luther's thesis favoured in the highest degree the +errors of the Bohemians, who, it was reported, wished him well for +his opinions. Luther answered him as he had done in each case +before. He condemned the separation of the Bohemians from the +Catholic Church, on the ground that the highest right derived from +God was that of love and the Spirit, and he repudiated the reproach +which Eck sought to cast upon him. But he declared at the same time +that the Bohemians on that point had never yet been refuted. And +with perfect self-conviction and calm reflection he proceeded to +assert that among the articles of Huss some were fundamentally +Christian and Evangelical, such as, for example, his statements that +there was only one Universal Church (to which even Greek Christendom +had always and still belonged), and that the belief in the supremacy +of the Church of Rome was not necessary to salvation. No man, he +added, durst impose upon a Christian an article of belief which was +antiscriptural; the judgment of an individual Christian must be +worth more than that of the Pope or even of a Council, provided he +has a better ground for it. + +That moment, when Luther spoke thus of the doctrines of Huss, a +heretic already condemned by a Council and proscribed in Germany, +was the most impressive and important in the whole disputation. An +eye-witness, who sat below Duke George and Barnim, relates that the +Duke, on hearing the words, shouted out in a voice heard by all the +assembly, 'A plague upon it!' and shook his head, and put both hands +to his sides. The whole audience, variously as they thought of the +assertion, must have been fairly astounded. Luther, it was true, had +already stated in writing that a Council could err. But now he +declared himself for principles which a Council, namely that of +Constance, solemnly appointed and unanimously recognised by the +whole of Western Christendom, had condemned, and thus openly accused +that Council of error in a decision of the most momentous +importance. Nay more, that decision had been concurred in by the +very men who, while recognising the Papal primacy, strenuously +defended against Papal despotism the rights of General Councils, and +of the nations and states which they represented. The Western +Catholic Church entertained, as we have seen, a diversity of views +as to the relative authority of the Popedom, as an institution of +Christ, and that which appertained to Councils. Luther now, by +denying the Divine institution and authority of the Papacy, seemed +to have broken with all authority whatsoever existing in the Church, +and with every possible exercise of the same. + +Luther himself does not appear to have considered at the moment this +extent of his acknowledgment of the 'Christian' character of some of +Huss's articles, nor to have adequately reflected on the attitude of +direct opposition in which it placed him to the Council of +Constance. When Eck declared it 'horrible' that the 'reverend +father' had not shrunk from contradicting that holy Council, +assembled by consent of all Christendom, Luther interrupted him with +the words, 'It is not true that I have spoken against the Council of +Constance.' He then went on to draw the inference that the authority +of the Council, if it erred in respect of those articles, was +consequently fallible altogether. + +Some days later, and after further consideration, Luther produced +four propositions of Huss, which were perfectly Christian, although +they had been formally rejected by the Council. He sought means, +nevertheless, to preserve for the Council its dignity. As for these +rejected articles, he said, it had declared only some to be +heretical, and others to be simply mistaken, and the latter, at all +events, must not be counted as heresies--nay, he took the liberty of +supposing that the former were interpolations in the text of the +Council's resolutions. He would grant, further, that the decisions +of a Council in matters of faith must at all times be accepted. And +in order to guard himself against any misunderstanding and +misconstruction, he once broke off from the Latin, in which the +whole disputation had been conducted, and declared in German that he +in no way desired to see allegiance renounced to the Romish Church, +but that the only question in dispute was whether its supremacy +rested on Divine right--that is to say, on direct Divine institution +in the New Testament, or whether its origin and character were +simply such as the Imperial Crown, for example, possessed in +relation to the German nation. He was well aware how charges of +heresy and apostasy were raised against him, and how industriously +Eck had promoted them. It was only with pain and inward struggles +that he stood out, Bible in hand, against the Council of Constance +and such a general gathering of Western Christendom. But not a step +would he go towards any recognition of the Papacy as an institution +resting on Scripture. He insisted that even a Council could not +compel him to do this, or make an essential article of Christian +belief out of anything not found in the Bible. Again and again he +declared that even a Council could err. + +For five whole days they contested this main point of the +disputation, without arriving at any further result. + +The other subjects of discussion, relating to purgatory, +indulgences, and penance, were after this of very little importance. +With regard to indulgences even Eck now displayed striking +moderation. The dispute on the correct conception of purgatory led +to a new and important declaration by Luther as to the power of the +Church in relation to Scripture. Eck quoted as Biblical proof a +passage from the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament, which +although not originally included in the records of the Old Covenant, +had been accepted by the middle ages as of equal authority with the +other Biblical writings. For the first time Luther now protested +against the equal value thus assigned to them, and especially +against the Church conferring upon them an authority they did not +possess. + +The disputation between Eck and Luther lasted till July 13. Luther +concluded his argument with the words: 'I am sorry that the learned +doctor only dips into Scripture as deep as the water-spider into the +water--nay, that he seems to fly from it as the devil from the +Cross. I prefer, with all deference to the Fathers, the authority of +Scripture, which I herewith recommend to the arbiters of our cause.' + +After this Carlstadt and Eck had only a short passage of arms. The +disputation was to be concluded on the 15th, as Duke George wished +to receive the Elector of Brandenburg on a visit to the +Pleissenburg. With regard to the universities, to whom the report +of the disputation was to be submitted, those agreed upon were Paris +and Erfurt, but neither of the two would undertake so responsible a +task. + +Eck left the disputation with triumph, applauded by his friends and +rewarded by Duke George with favours and honours. He followed up his +fancied victory by further exciting the people against Luther, and +pointing out to them in particular the sympathy between him and +Huss. He wrote even to the Elector Frederick from Leipzig, proposing +that he should have Luther's books burnt. The two men henceforth and +for ever were mutual enemies, with no dealings together but those of +heated controversy in writing. Eck's chief efforts were directed to +securing Luther's formal and public condemnation. + +At Leipzig Luther had been watched with the utmost suspicion. The +common people had actually been told that there was something +mysterious in the little silver ring he wore on his finger, very +likely a small charm with the devil inside. It was even remarked on +and wondered at that he carried a bunch of flowers in his hand, +which he would look at and smell. From that time probably originated +the saying of a devout old dame at Leipzig, as published by one of +his theological opponents, the old woman having once lived at +Eisleben with Luther's mother, that her son Martin was the fruit of +an embrace by the devil. + +For real information, however, about Luther at Leipzig, and the +impression he produced by his arguments, more is to be gathered from +the effect of his public appearance there during this disputation, +than from a whole heap of printed matter. We allude not only to the +educated laity and men of learning, but to the mass of the people +who shared in the excitement caused by this controversy. A few +months later we hear an opponent complain that Luther's teaching had +given rise to so much squabbling, discord, and rebellion among the +people, that 'there was absolutely not a town, village, or house, +where men were not ready to tear each other to pieces on his +account.' + +Luther returned to Wittenberg full of dejection. The time at Leipzig +had only been wasted; the disputation had been unworthy of the name; +Eck and his friends there had cared nothing whatever about the +truth. Eck, he said, had made more clamour in an hour than he or +Carlstadt could have done in a couple of years, and yet all the time +the question at issue was one of peaceful and abstruse theology. His +disappointment, however, did not refer, as people perhaps might have +imagined, to the treatment his thesis on the Papal primacy had met +with, or to any embarrassment occasioned him on that account. On the +contrary, while complaining of the unworthy character of the +disputation, he excepted that particular thesis. He alluded rather +to the superficiality and want of interest with which such important +questions as justification by faith, and the sinfulness attaching +even to the best works of man, were passed over or evaded. On all +the points which he had wished to contend for and expound at +Leipzig, he now published further explanations. And with regard to +the Councils, he declared in still stronger terms than at Leipzig, +that they certainly might err and had erred even in the most +important matters; one had no right to identify either them or the +Pope with the Church. + +From this he proceeded to explain his true relations with the +Bohemians. The theologian Jerome Emser, a friend of Eck, and a +favourite of Duke George, contributed in his own way to this end. He +had had a hot discussion with Luther before the disputation at +Leipzig, in which he reproached him with causing trouble in the +Church. He now prepared a remarkable public letter to a high +Catholic ecclesiastic at Prague, of the name of Zack. Whilst +asserting in it that the Bohemian schismatics appealed to Luther and +had actually offered prayers and held services for him during the +disputation, he announced, with feigned kindness to Luther, that the +latter, on the contrary, had eagerly repudiated at Leipzig any +fellowship with them, and had denounced their apostasy from Rome. +Luther detected in all this, mere trickery and malice, and we also +can only recognise in it a crafty attempt to ruin Luther's position +all round. If, says Luther, he were to accept in silence the praise +here meted out to him, he would seem to have retracted his whole +teaching, and laid down his arms before Eck; if, on the other hand, +he were to disclaim it, he would be cried down at once as a patron +of the Bohemians, and charged with base ingratitude to Emser. +Accordingly, in a small pamphlet, he broke out, full of wrath and +bitterness, against Emser, who replied to him in a similar tone. But +he represented the case with great clearness. If his doctrines had +pleased the Bohemians, he would not retract them on that account. He +had no desire to screen their errors, but he found on their side +Christ, the Scriptures, and the sacraments of the Church, and +therewith a Christian hatred of the worldliness, immorality, and +arrogance of the Romish clergy. Nay, he rejoiced to think that his +doctrines pleased them, and would be glad if they pleased Jews and +Turks, and Emser, who was enthralled in godless error, and even Eck +himself. + +Letters were now already on the way to Luther from two ecclesiastics +of Prague, Paduschka and Rossdalovicky, members of the Utraquist +Hussite Church, which in opposition to Rome insisted on the +sacramental cup being given to the laity. They assured Luther of +their joyful and prayerful sympathy with him in his struggle. One of +them sent him a present of knives of Bohemian workmanship, the other +a writing of Huss upon the Church. Luther accepted the presents with +cordiality, and sent them his own writings in return. With regard to +separation from the Romish Church, the experience of Huss plainly +showed him how impossible that Church made it, even to one whose +heart was heavy at the thought of leaving her, to remain in her +communion. + +Thus the contest at Leipzig was now over, whilst in the meantime at +Frankfort-on-the-Main, after the election of the new Emperor, the +Elector Frederick and the Archbishop of Treves consulted together +about an examination of Luther before the Archbishop, as proposed by +Miltitz. Both wished to postpone it till the Diet, then about to be +held. Miltitz, however, notwithstanding the result of the +disputation and the further declarations of Luther, still clung to +his plan of mediation. He arranged once more an interview with +Luther on October 9 at Liebenwerda, when the latter renewed his +promise to appear before the Archbishop, but he failed to induce the +Elector to let Luther travel with him to the Archbishop. For the +delivery of the golden rose, when it at last took place, he was +richly rewarded with money. But the fruitlessness of his +negotiations with Luther had become apparent. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LUTHER'S FURTHER WORK, WRITINGS, AND INWARD PROGRESS, UNTIL 1520. + + +Luther looked upon his disputation at Leipzig as an idle waste of +time. He longed to get back to his work at Wittenberg. He remained, +in fact, devoted with his whole soul to his official duties there, +though to the historian, of course, his work and struggles in the +broader and general arena of the Church engage the most attention. +He might well quarrel with the occasions that constantly called him +out to it, as so many interruptions to his proper calling. + +His energy there in the pulpit was as constant as his energy in the +professor's chair. He glowed with zeal to unfold the one truth of +salvation from its original source, the Scriptures, and to declare +it and impress it on the hearts of his young pupils and his +Wittenberg congregation, of educated and uneducated, of great and +small. But he also wished to lay it before his students as a truth +for life. With this object, he continued active with his pen, both +in the Latin and the German languages. He was glad to turn to this +from the questions of ecclesiastical controversy, which had formed +the subject of his disputation, and of the writings referring to it. +It was enough for him to show forth simply the merciful love of God +and of the Saviour Christ, to point out the simple road of faith, +and to destroy all trust in mere outward works, in one's own merit +and virtue. Only to this extent, and because the authority pretended +by the Church was opposed to this truth and this road to salvation, +he was forced here also, and in face of his congregation, to wield +the sword of his eloquence against that authority, and this he did +with a zeal regardless of consequences. In all that he did, in his +lectures as well as in his sermons, in his exposition of God's word +in particular, as in his own polemics, he always threw his whole +personality into the subject. We see him inwardly moved and often +elated by the joyful message which he himself had learned, and had +to announce to others, inspired by love to his fellow-Christians, +whom he would wish to help save, and zealous even to anger for the +cause of his Lord. At the same time, it cannot be denied that he was +often carried away by the vehemence of his views, which saw at once +in every opponent an uncompromising enemy to the truth; and that his +naturally passionate temperament was often powerfully stirred, +though even then his whole tone and demeanour was blended with +outbursts of the noblest and the purest zeal. + +In his academical lectures Luther still remained faithful to that +path which he had struck out on entering the theological faculty. He +wished simply to propound the revealed word of God, by explaining +the books of the Old and New Testaments; though he took pains in +these lectures, in which he devoted several terms to the study of a +single book, to explain thoroughly and impressively the most +important doctrines of Christian faith and conduct. Thus he occupied +himself during the time of the contest about indulgences, and after +the autumn of 1516, with the Epistle to the Galatians, wherein he +found comprised clearly and briefly the fundamental truth of +salvation, the doctrine of the way of faith, of God's laws of +requirements and punishments, and of gospel grace. He then turned +anew to the Psalms, dissatisfied with his own earlier exposition of +them. His exposition of St. Paul's Epistle he had sent to the press +whilst engaged in his preparations for the Leipzig disputation. His +opponents, he says here, might busy themselves with their much +larger affairs, with their indulgences, their Papal bulls, and the +power of the Church, and so on; he would retire to smaller matters, +to the Holy Scriptures and to the Apostle, who called himself not a +prince of Apostles, but the least of the Apostles. He also now began +the printing of his work on the Psalms. + +Crowds of listeners gathered around him; his audience at times +numbered upwards of four hundred. During the three years following +the outbreak of the quarrel about indulgences, the number of those +who matriculated annually at the university increased threefold. +Luther wrote to Spalatin that the number of students increased +mightily, like an overflowing river; the town could no longer +contain them, many had to leave again for want of dwellings. + +To this prosperity of the university Melancthon especially +contributed. He had been appointed, as we have already mentioned, +first professor of Greek by the Elector, and in addition to the +young theologians, he attracted a number of other students to his +lectures. Of still greater importance for Luther and his work, was +the personal friendship and community of ideas, convictions, and +aspirations which had bound the two men together in close intimacy +from their first acquaintance. Their paths in life had hitherto been +very different. Philip Schwarzerd, surnamed Melancthon, born in 1497 +of a burgher's family of the little town of Bretten in the +Palatinate, had passed a happy youth, and harmoniously and +peacefully developed into manhood. He had had from early life +capable teachers for his education, and was under the protection of +the great philologist Reuchlin, who was a brother of his +grandmother. He then showed gifts of mind wonderfully rich and early +ripening. Besides the classics, he learnt mathematics, astronomy, +and law. He also studied the Scriptures, grew to love them, and even +when a youth had made himself familiar with their contents, without +having had first to learn to know their worth by a heavy sense of +inward need, by inward struggles or a long unsatisfied hunger of the +soul. Thus, at seventeen he was already master of arts, and at +twenty-one was appointed professor at Wittenberg. The young man, +with an insignificant, delicate frame, and a shy, awkward demeanour, +yet with a handsome, powerful forehead, an intellectual eye, and +refined, thoughtful features, effaced at once, by his inaugural +address, any doubts arising from his youthful appearance. + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.--MELANCTHON. (From a Portrait by Dürer.)] + +In this speech, however, he already declared that the chief object +of classical studies was to teach theologians to draw from the +original fount of Holy Scripture. He himself delivered a lecture on +the New Testament immediately after one on Homer. And it was the +Lutheran conception of the doctrine of salvation which he adopted in +his own continued study of the Bible. + +The year of his arrival at Wittenberg he celebrated Luther in a +poem. He accompanied him to Leipzig. During the disputation there he +is said to have assisted his friend with occasional suggestions or +notes of argument, and thereby to have roused the anger of Eck. He +now took the lowest theological degree of bachelor, to qualify +himself for giving theological lectures on Scripture. He who from +early youth had enjoyed so abundantly the treasures of Humanistic +learning, and had won for himself the admiration of an Erasmus, now +found in this study of Scripture a 'heavenly ambrosia' for his soul, +and something much higher than all human wisdom. And already, in +independent judgment on the traditional doctrines of the Church, he +not only kept pace with Luther but even outwent him. It was he who +attacked the dogma of transubstantiation, according to which in the +mass the bread and wine of the sacrament are so changed by the +consecration of the priest into the body and blood of our Lord, that +nothing really remains of their original substance, but they only +appear to the senses to retain it. + +Luther at once recognised with joy the marvellous wealth of talent +and knowledge in his new colleague, whose senior he was by fourteen +years, besides being far ahead of him in theological study and +experience. We have seen, during Luther's stay at Augsburg, how +closely his heart clung to Melancthon and to the 'sweet intercourse' +with him; we know of no other instance where Luther formed a +friendship so rapidly. The more intimately he knew him, the more +highly he esteemed him. When Eck spoke slightingly of him as a mere +paltry grammarian, Luther exclaimed, 'I, the doctor of philosophy +and theology, am not ashamed to yield the point, if this +grammarian's mind thinks differently to myself; I have done so often +already, and do the same daily, because of the gifts with which God +has so richly filled this fragile vessel; I honour the work of my +God in him.' 'Philip,' he said at another time, 'is a wonder to us +all; if the Lord will, he will beat many Martins as the mightiest +enemy to the devil and Scholasticism;' and again, 'This little Greek +is even my master in theology.' Such were Luther's words, not +uttered to particular friends of Melancthon, in order to please +them, nor in public speeches or poetry, in which at that time +friends showered fulsome flattery on friends, but in confidential +letters to his own most intimate friends, to Spalatin, Staupitz, and +others. So willing and ready was he, whilst himself on the road to +the loftiest work and successes, to give precedence to this new +companion whom God had given him. Luther also interested himself +with Spalatin to obtain a higher salary for Melancthon, and thus +keep him at Wittenberg. In common with other friends, he endeavoured +to induce him to marry; for he needed a wife who would care for his +health and household better than he did himself. His marriage +actually took place in 1520, after he had at first resisted, in +order to allow no interruption to his highest enjoyment, his learned +studies. + +At the university Luther was also busily engaged with the necessary +preparations for many lectures that were not theological. He +steadily persisted in his efforts to secure the appointment of a +competent professor of Hebrew. He also worked hard to get a +qualified printer, the son of the printer Letter at Leipzig, to +settle at the university, and set up there for the first time a +press for three languages, German, Latin, and Greek. For everything +of this kind that was submitted to the Elector, who took a constant +interest in the prosperity of the university, his friend Spalatin +was his confidential intermediary. As early as 1518 Luther had +expressed to him the wish and hope that Wittenberg, in honour of +Frederick the Wise, should, by a new arrangement of study, become +the occasion and pattern for a general reform of the universities. +In addition to his constant and arduous labours of various kinds, he +took part also in the social intercourse of his colleagues, although +he complained of the time he lost by invitations and entertainments. + +In the town church at Wittenberg he continued his active duties not +only on Sundays but during the week. His custom was to expound +consecutively in a course of sermons the Old and New Testaments, and +he explained particularly to children and those under age, the +Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. This work alone, he once +complained to Spalatin, required properly a man for it and nothing +else. These services he gave to the town congregation gratuitously. +The magistracy were content to recognise them by trifling presents +now and then; for instance, by a gift of money on his return from +Leipzig, where he had had to live on his own very scanty means. In +simple, powerful, and thoroughly popular language, Luther sought to +bring home to the people who filled his church, the supreme truth he +had newly gained. Here in particular he employed his own peculiar +German, as he employed it also in his writings. + +Both he and Melancthon formed a close personal intimacy with several +worthy townsmen of Wittenberg. The most prominent man among them, +the painter Lucas Cranach, from Bamberg, owner of a house and estate +at Wittenberg, the proprietor of an apothecary's and also of a +stationer's business, besides being a member of the magistracy, and +finally burgomaster, belonged to the circle of Luther's nearest +friends. Luther took a genuine pleasure in Cranach's art, and the +latter, in his turn, soon employed it in the service of the +Reformation. + +[Illustration: Fig. l8.--LUCAS CRANACH. (From a Portrait by +himself.)] + +While occupied thus in delivering simple and practical sermons to +his congregation in the town, he continued to publish written works +of the same character and purport, in addition to his labours in the +field of learned ecclesiastical controversy, thus showing the love +with which he worked for them at large in this matter. These +writings were little books, tracts, so-called sermons. It did not +disturb him, he once said, to hear daily of certain people who +despised his poverty because he only wrote little books and German +sermons for the unlearned laymen. 'Would to God,' he said, 'I had +all my life long and with all my power served a layman to his +improvement; I should then be content to thank God, and would very +willingly after that let all my little books perish. I leave it to +others to judge whether writing large books and a great number of +them constitutes art and is useful to Christianity; I consider +rather, even if I cared to write large books after their art, I +might do that quicker, with God's help, than making a little sermon +in my fashion. I have never compelled or entreated anyone to listen +to me or read my sermons. I have given freely to the congregation of +what God has given to me and I owe to them; whoever does not like +His word, let him read and listen to others.' + +In this spirit he composed, after the Leipzig disputation, a little +consolatory tract for Christians, full of reflection and wisdom. He +dedicated it to the Elector, an illness of whom had prompted him to +write it. Even his most bigoted opponents could not withhold their +approbation of the work. Luther's pupil and biographer Mathesius, +thought there had never been such words of comfort written before in +the German language. In a similar strain Luther wrote about +preparation for dying, the contemplation of Christ's sufferings, and +other matters of like kind. He explained to the people in a few +pages the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. At the +desire of the Elector, conveyed to him through Spalatin, and +notwithstanding the difficulty he had in finding time for such a +large work, he applied himself to a practical exposition of the +Epistles and Gospels read in church, intended principally for the +use of preachers. + +At the same time he made steady progress with his own Scriptural +researches, which led him away more and more from the main articles +of the purely traditional doctrines of the Church. And the light +which dawned upon him in these studies he took pains to impart at +once to his congregation. But it was no mere negative or +hypercritical interest that led him on and induced him to write. In +connection with the saving efficacy of faith, which he had gathered +from the Bible, new truths, full of import, unfolded themselves +before him. On the other hand, such dogmas of the Church as he found +to have no warrant in Scripture, nor to harmonise with the +Scriptural doctrine of salvation, frequently faded from his notice, +and perished even before he was fully conscious of their hollowness. +The new knowledge had ripened with him before the old husk was +thrown away. + +Thus he now learnt and taught others to understand anew the meaning +of the Christian sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The Church of the +middle ages beheld with wonder in this sacrament the miracle of +transubstantiation. The body of our Lord, moreover, here present as +the object of adoration, was to serve above all as the bloodless +repetition of the bloody sacrifice for sin on Golgotha, to be +offered to God for the good of Christendom and mankind. To offer +that sacrifice was the highest act which the priesthood could boast +of, as being thought worthy to perform by God. This whole +mysterious, sacred transaction was clothed in the mass, for the eye +and ear of the members of the congregation, with a number of +ritualistic forms. In giving them, moreover, the consecrated +elements in the sacrament, the priest alone partook of the cup. +Luther, on the contrary, found the whole meaning of that institution +of the departing Saviour, according to His own words, 'Take, eat, +and drink,' in the blessed and joyful communion here prepared by Him +for the congregation of receivers, each one of whom was verily to +partake of it in faith. Here, as he taught in a sermon on the +Sacrament in 1519, they were to celebrate and enjoy real communion; +communion with the Saviour, who feeds them with His flesh and blood; +communion with one another, that they, eating of one bread, should +become one cake, one bread, one body united in love; communion in +all the benefits purchased by their Saviour and Head; and communion +also in all gifts of grace bestowed upon His people, in all +sufferings to be endured, and in all virtues alive in their hearts. +Above all, he appealed to Christ's own words, that He had shed His +blood for the forgiveness of sins. Here at His holy Supper, He +wished to dispense this forgiveness, and, with it, eternal life to +all His guests; He pledged it to them here by the gift of His own +body. Luther, but only incidentally, remarked in this sermon, when +speaking of the cup: 'I should be well pleased to see the Church +decree in a General Council, that communion in _both kinds_ +should be given to the laity as to the priests.' Even then he +regarded as unfounded that idea of sacrifice at the mass which in +his later writings he so strenuously denied and combated. At the +same time he pointed out the sacrifice which Christendom, and indeed +every Christian, must continually offer to God, namely, the +sacrifice to God of himself and all that he possesses, offered with +inward humility, prayer, and thankfulness. The question as to a +change of the elements, which Melancthon had already denied, Luther +passed by as an unnecessary subtlety. Lastly, together with the +sacrifice supposed to be offered by the priest, he dismissed also +the notion of a peculiar priesthood; for with the real sacrifice +offered by Christians, as he understood it, all became priests. +Instead of the difference theretofore existing between priests and +laymen, he would recognise no difference among Christians but such +as was conferred by the public ministration of God's word and +sacrament. + +Whilst discoursing in a sermon, in a similar manner, on the inner +meaning of baptism, he passed from the vow of baptism to the vow of +chastity, so highly prized in the Catholic Church. He admits this +vow, but represents the former one as so immeasurably higher and +all-embracing, as to deprive the Church of her grounds for attaching +such value to the latter. + +He enlarged on moral and religious life in general in a long sermon +'On Good Works,' which he dedicated early in 1520 to Duke John, the +brother of the Elector. In clear and earnest language he explained +how faith itself, on which everything depended, was a matter of +innermost moral life and conduct, nay, the very highest work +conformable to God's will; and further, how that same faith cannot +possibly remain merely passive, but, on the contrary, the faithful +Christian must himself become pleasing to God, on whose grace he +relies, must love Him again, and fulfil His holy Will with energy +and activity in all duties and relations of life. These duties he +proceeds to explain according to the Ten Commandments. He will not, +however, have the conscience further laden with duties imposed by +the Church, for which no corresponding moral obligation exists. He +turns then with earnest exhortation to rebuke certain common faults +and crimes in the public life of his nation, the gluttony and +drunkenness, the excessive luxury, the loose living, and the usury, +which was then the subject of so much complaint. Against this last +practice he preached a special sermon, in which, agreeably with the +older teaching of the Church, he spoke of all interest taken for +money as questionable, inasmuch as Jesus had exhorted only to +lending without looking for a return. The creditor, at any rate, he +said, should take his share of the risks to which his capital, in +the hands of the debtor, was exposed from accident or misadventure. + +The essence of the Church of Christ he placed in that inner +communion of the faithful with one another and their heavenly Head, +on which he dwelt with such emphasis in connection with the +sacrament of the Lord's Supper. For the stability and prosperity of +this Church he considered no externals necessary beyond the +preaching of God's Word and the administration of the Sacraments, as +ordained by Christ,--no Romish Popedom, nor any other hierarchical +arrangements. But in the same spirit of love and brotherly +fellowship with which he embraced Hussites, as well as the Eastern +Christians who were denounced as Schismatics, he still wished to +hold fast to the visible community of the Church of Rome, declining +to identify it with the corrupt Romish Curia. That love, he said, +should make him assist and sympathise with the Church, even in her +infirmities and faults. + +He was anxious also to fulfil personally all the minor duties +incumbent on him as a monk and a priest. And yet the higher +obligations of his calling, that incessant activity in proclaiming +the word, both by speech and writing, were of much greater +importance in his eyes. He performed with diligence such duties as +the regular repetition of prayers, singing, reading the +_Horae_, and never dreamed of venturing to omit them. He +relates afterwards, how wonderfully industrious he had been in this +respect. Often, if he happened to neglect these duties during the +week, he would make up for it in the course of the Sunday from early +morning till the evening, going without his breakfast and dinner. In +vain his friend Melancthon represented to him that, if the neglect +were such a sin, so foolish a reparation would not atone for it. + +Measures, however, were now taken by the Romish Church and its +representatives, which, by attacking the word, as he preached it, +drove him further into the battle. + +It will be remembered that the Papal bull, directed against his +theses on indulgences, had not actually mentioned him by name. +Contemptuously, therefore, as the Pope had spoken of him as an +execrable heretic, he had never yet uttered a formal public judgment +upon him. Two theological faculties, those of the universities of +Cologne and Louvain, were the first to pronounce an official +condemnation of him and his writings. The latter were to be burnt, +and their author compelled publicly to recant. This sentence, though +pronounced after the disputation at Leipzig, related only to a small +collection of earlier writings. In a published reply he dismissed, +not without scorn, these learned divines, who, in a spirit of vain +self-exaltation and without the smallest grounds, had presumed to +pass sentence on Christian verities. Their boasting, he said, was +empty wind; their condemnation frightened him no more than the curse +of a drunken woman. + +The first official pronouncement of a German bishop touched him more +nearly. This was a decree, issued in January 1520 by John, Bishop of +Meissen, from his residence at Stolpen. Herein, Luther's one +statement about the cup, which the Church, as he said, would do well +to restore to the laity, was picked out of his Sermon on the +Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The people were to be warned against +the grievous errors and inconveniences which were bound to ensue +from such a step; and the sermon was to be suppressed. Luther was +now classed as an open ally of the Hussites, whose very ground of +contention was the cup. Duke George in alarm complained of him to +the Elector Frederick. It was rumoured about him even that he had +been born and educated among the Bohemians. + +To this episcopal note, which he ridiculed in a pun, Luther +published a short and pungent reply in Latin and German. He was +particularly indignant that this occasion should have been seized to +tax his sermon with false doctrine, since the wish he there +expressed did not contain, as even his enemies must admit, anything +contrary to any dogma of the Church. For his enemies, no doubt, this +one point was of more practical importance than many deviations from +orthodoxy with which they might have reproached him in his doctrine +of salvation; for it concerned a jealously guarded privilege of +their priestly office, and was connected with the 'Bohemian heresy.' +As for Huss, however, Luther now confessed without reserve the +sympathy he shared with his evangelical teaching. He had learned to +know him better since the Leipzig disputation. He now wrote to +Spalatin: 'I have hitherto, unconsciously, taught everything that +Huss taught, and so did John Staupitz, in short we are all Hussites, +without knowing it. Paul and Augustine are also Hussites. I know +not, for very terror, what to think as to God's fearful judgments +among men, seeing that the most palpable evangelical truth known for +more than a century, has been burnt and condemned, and nobody has +ever ventured to say so.' + +On the part of the Elector, Luther still continued to reap the +benefit of that placid good-will which disregarded all attempts, +either by friendly words or menaces, to set that prince against him. +Luther for this thanked him publicly, without meeting with any +demurrer from the Elector, as well in a dedication of the first part +of his new work on the Psalms, which he had sent to the press early +in 1519, as in another prefixed to his tract on Christian comfort, +already noticed. This last work he had been encouraged to write by +Spalatin, the confidant of the sick prince whom it was intended to +please. In the dedication prefixed to the Psalms, he expressed his +joy at hearing how Frederick had declared in a conversation reported +by Staupitz, that all sermons, made by man's wit and uttering man's +opinions, were cold and powerless, and the Scriptures alone inspired +with such marvellous power and majesty that one must needs say, +'There is something more there than mere Scribe and Pharisee; there +is the finger of God;' and how, when Staupitz had concurred in the +remark, the prince had taken his hand and said, 'Promise me that you +will always think thus.' Luther also thanked Frederick for having, +as all his subjects knew, taken more care of his safety than he had +done himself. In his thoughtlessness, he himself had thrown the die, +and had already prepared himself for the worst, and only hoped to be +able to retire into some corner, when his prince had come forward as +his champion. + +At the same time the Elector remained constant in his efforts to +check the impetuosity of Luther. We have noticed how he encouraged +him, through Spalatin, to peaceful work in the service of Christian +preaching. When the episcopal missive from Stolpen threatened to +make the storm break out afresh, he sent, by Spalatin, an urgent +exhortation to Luther to restrain his pen, and further advised him +to send letters of explanation, in a conciliatory spirit, to Albert, +Archbishop of Magdeburg and Mayence, and the Bishop of Merseburg. + +Luther wrote to both in a tone of perfect dignity. He begged them +not to lend an ear to the complaints and calumniations which were +being circulated against him, especially in reference to giving the +cup to the laity, and to the Papal power, until the matter had been +seriously examined. He spoke at the same time of malicious accusers, +who on those points held secretly the same opinions as himself. + +But from this contest with the Bishop of Meissen he refused to +withdraw. To Spalatin he broke out again in February 1520, in terms +more decided than any he had previously given vent to, and which led +people to expect still sharper utterances. 'Do not suppose,' he +said, 'that the cause of Christ is to be furthered on earth in sweet +peace: the Word of God can never be set forth without danger and +disquiet: it is a Word of infinite majesty, it works great things, +and is wonderful among the great and the high; it slew, as the +prophet says (Psalm lxxviii. 31), the wealthiest of them, and smote +down the chosen ones of Israel. In this matter one must either +renounce peace or deny the Word; the battle is the Lord's, who has +not come to bring peace into the world.' Again he says: 'If you +would think rightly of the Gospel, do not believe that its cause can +be advanced without tumult, trouble, and uproar. You cannot make a +pen out of a sword: the Word of God is a sword; it is war, +overthrow, trouble, destruction, poison; it meets the children of +Ephraim, as Amos says, like a bear on the road, or like a lioness in +the wood.' Of himself he adds: 'I cannot deny that I am more violent +than I ought to be; they know it, and therefore should not provoke +the dog. How hard it is to moderate one's heat and one's pen you can +learn for yourself. That is the reason why I was always unwilling to +be forced to come forward in public; and the more unwilling I am, +the more I am drawn into the contest; that this happens so is due to +those scandalous libels which are heaped against me and the Word of +God. So shameful are they that, even if my heat and my pen did not +carry me away, a very heart of stone would be moved to seize a +weapon, how much more myself, who am hot and whose pen is not +entirely blunt.' + +The two dignitaries of the Church answered not ungraciously. They +merely expressed an opinion that he was too violent, and that his +writings would have a questionable influence with the mass of the +people. They refrained from giving judgment on the matter; a proof +that, in the Catholic Church in Germany, the questions raised by +Luther could not then have been considered of such importance as the +upholders of the strict Papal system maintained and desired. Even +Albert, the Cardinal, Archbishop, and Primate of the German Church, +ventured to speak of the whole question about the Divine or merely +human right of the Papacy as an insignificant affair, which had but +little to do with real Christianity, and therefore should never have +become the occasion of such passionate dispute. + +From Rome was now awaited the supreme judicial decision as to Luther +and his cause. The Pope had already in 1518 indicated clearly enough +to Frederick the Wise in what sense he intended to give this +decision. But it kept on being delayed, because, on the one hand, it +still appeared necessary to act with caution and consideration, and, +on the other, because Roman arrogance continued to underestimate the +danger of the German movement. Meanwhile Eck, by a report of his +disputation and by letters had stirred the fire at Rome. The +theologians of Cologne and Louvain worked in the same direction, and +called on the whole Dominican Order to assist them with their +influence. The Papal pretensions which Luther had disputed were now +for the first time proclaimed in all their fulness of audacity and +exaggeration. Luther's old opponent Prierias, in a new pamphlet, +extended them to the temporal as well as the spiritual sovereignty +of the world; the Pope, he said, was head of the Universe. Eck now +devoted an entire treatise to justifying the Divine right of the +Papal primacy, resting his proofs boldly, and without any attempt at +critical inquiry, on spurious old documents. With this book he +hastened in February 1520 to Rome, in order personally to push +forward and assist in publishing the bull of excommunication which +was to demolish his enemy and extinguish the flame he had kindled. + +But Luther's work, in proportion as it advanced and became bolder, +had stirred already the minds of the people both wider and deeper. +Opponents of Rome who had risen up against her in other quarters, on +other grounds, and with other weapons, now ranged themselves upon +his side. Among all alike the ardour of battle grew the more +powerful and violent, the more it was attempted to smother them with +edicts of arbitrary power. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ALLIANCE WITH THE HUMANISTS AND THE NOBILITY. + + +We have already seen how astonished Miltitz was at the sympathy with +Luther which he found among all classes of the German people. The +growth of this sympathy is shown in particular by the increasing +number of printed editions of his writings; the perfect freedom then +enjoyed by the press contributed largely to their wide circulation. +In 1520 alone there were more than a hundred editions of Luther's +works in German. Though the ordinary book-trade as now carried on +was then unknown, there were a multitude of colporteurs actively +employed in going with books from house to house, some of them +merely in the interests of their trade, others also as emissaries of +those who were friends of the cause, thus intended to be furthered. +As reading was a difficult matter to the masses, and even to many of +the higher classes, there were travelling students who went about to +different places, and proffered their assistance. The earnest, +deeply instructive contents of Luther's small popular tracts met the +needs of both the educated and uneducated classes, in a manner never +done by any other religious writings of that time, and served to +stimulate their appetite for more. And to this was added the strong +impression produced directly on their minds by the elementary +exposition of his doctrine, irreconcilable with all notions of the +Church system hitherto prevailing, and stigmatised by his enemies as +poison. All, in short, that this condemned heretic wrote, became +dear to the hearts of the people. + +Luther found now, moreover, most valuable allies in the leading +champions of that Humanistic movement, the importance of which, as +regards the culture of the priesthood and the religious and +ecclesiastical development of that time, we had occasion to notice +during Luther's residence at the university of Erfurt. That +Humanism, more than anything else, represented the general +aspiration of the age to attain a higher standard of learning and +culture. The alliance between Luther and the Humanists inaugurated +and symbolised the union between this culture and the Evangelical +Reformation. + +Luther, even before entering the convent, had formed a friendship with +at least some of the young 'poets,' or enthusiasts of this new learning. +Later on, when, after the inward struggles and heart-searchings of +those gloomy years of monastic experience, the light dawned upon him +of his Scriptural doctrine of salvation, we find him expressing his +sympathy and reverence for the two leading spirits of the movement, +Reuchlin and Erasmus; and this notwithstanding the fact that he never +approved the method of defence adopted by the supporters of the former, +nor could ever conceal his dislike of the attitude taken up by Erasmus +in regard to theology and religion. + +Meanwhile, such Humanists as wished to enjoy the utmost possible +freedom for their own learned pursuits flocked around Reuchlin +against his literary enemies, and cared very little about the +authorities of the Church. The bold monk and his party excited +neither their interest nor their concern. Many of them thought of +him, no doubt, when he was engaged in the heat of the contest about +indulgences, as did Ulrich von Hutten, who wrote to a friend: 'A +quarrel has broken out at Wittenberg between two hot-headed monks, +who are screaming and shouting against each other. It is to be hoped +that they will eat one another up.' To such men the theological +questions at issue seemed not worth consideration. At the same time +they took care to pay all necessary respect to the princes of the +Church, who had shown favour to them personally and to their +learning, and did homage to them, notwithstanding much that must +have shocked them in their conduct as ecclesiastics. Thus Hutten did +not scruple to enter the service of the same Archbishop Albert who +had opened the great traffic in indulgences in Germany, but who was +also a patron of literature and art, and was only too glad to be +recognised publicly by an Erasmus. We hear nothing of any +remonstrances made to him by Erasmus himself. In the same spirit +that dictated the above remark of Hutten, Mosellanus, who opened +with a speech the disputation at Leipzig, wrote to Erasmus during +the preparations for that event. There will be a rare battle, he +said, and a bloody one, coming off between two Scholastics; ten such +men as Democritus would find enough to laugh over till they were +tired. Moreover, Luther's fundamental conception of religion, with +his doctrine of man's sinfulness and need of salvation, so far from +corresponding, was in direct antagonism with that Humanistic view of +life which seemed to have originated from the devotion to classical +antiquity, and to revive the proud, self-satisfied, independent +spirit of heathendom. Even in an Erasmus Luther had thought he +perceived an inability to appreciate his new doctrine. + +Melancthon's arrival at Wittenberg was, in this respect, an event of +the first importance. This highly-gifted young man, who had united +in his person all the learning and culture of his time, whose mind +had unfolded in such beauty and richness, and whose personal +urbanity had so endeared him to men of culture wherever he went, now +found his true happiness in that gospel and in that path of grace +which Luther had been the first to make known. And whilst offering +the right hand of fellowship to Luther, he continued working with +energy in his own particular sphere, kept up his intimacy with his +fellow-labourers therein, and won their respect and admiration. +Humanists at a distance, meanwhile, must have noticed the fact, that +the most violent attacks against Luther proceeded from those very +quarters, as for instance, from Hoogstraten, and afterwards from the +theological faculty at Cologne, where Reuchlin had been the most +bitterly persecuted. At length the actual details of the disputation +between Luther and Eck opened men's eyes to the magnitude of the +contest there waged for the highest interests of Christian life and +true Christian knowledge, and to the greatness of the man who had +ventured single-handed to wage it. + +At Erfurt Luther had found already in the spring of 1518, on his +return from the meeting of his Order at Heidelberg, in pleasing +contrast to the displeasure he had aroused among his old teachers +there, a spirit prevailing among the students of the university, +which gave him hope that true theology would pass from the old to +the young, just as once Christianity, rejected by the Jews, passed +from them to the heathen. Those well-wishers and advisers who took +his part at Augsburg, when he had to go thither to meet Caietan, +were friends of Humanistic learning. Among the earliest of those, +outside Wittenberg, who united that learning with the new tendency +of religious teaching, we find some prominent citizens of the +flourishing town of Nüremberg, where, as we have seen, Luther's old +friend Link was also actively engaged. Already before the contest +about indulgences broke out, the learned jurist Scheuerl of that +place had made friends with Luther, whom the next year he speaks of +as the most celebrated man in Germany. The most important of the +Humanists there, Willibald Pirkheimer, a patrician of high esteem +and an influential counsellor, and who had once held local military +command, corresponded with Luther, and after learning from him the +progress of his views and studies concerning the Papal power, made +his Leipzig opponent the object of a bitter anonymous satire, 'The +Polished Corner' (Eck). Another learned Nüremberger, the Secretary +of the Senate, Lazarus Spengler, was on terms of close Christian +fellowship with Luther: he published in 1519 a 'Defence and +Christian Answer,' which contained a powerful and worthy vindication +of Luther's popular tracts. Albert Dürer also, the famous painter, +took a deep interest in Luther's evangelical doctrine, and revered +him as a man inspired by the Holy Ghost. Among the number of +theologians who ranked next to Erasmus, the well-known John +Oecolampadius, then a preacher at Augsburg, and almost of the same +age as Luther, came forward in his support, towards the end of 1519, +with a pamphlet directed against Eck. Erasmus himself in 1518, at +least in a private letter to Luther's friend Lange at Erfurt, of +which the latter we may be sure did not leave Luther in ignorance, +declared that Luther's theses were bound to commend themselves to +all good men, almost without exception; that the present Papal +domination was a plague to Christendom; the only question was +whether tearing open the wound would do any good, and whether it was +not conceivable that the matter could be carried through without an +actual rupture. + +Luther, on his part, approached Reuchlin and Erasmus by letter. To +the former he wrote, at the urgent entreaty of Melancthon, in +December 1518, to the latter in the following March. Both letters +are couched in the refined language befitting these learned men, and +particularly Erasmus, and contain warm expressions of respect and +deference, though in a tone of perfect dignity, and free from the +hyperboles to which Erasmus was usually treated by his common +admirers. At the same time Luther was careful indeed to conceal the +other and less favourable side of his estimate of Erasmus, which he +had already formed in his own mind and expressed to his friends. We +can see how bent he was, notwithstanding, upon a closer intimacy +with that distinguished man. + +Reuchlin, then an old man, would have nothing to do with Luther and +the questions he had raised. He even sought to alienate his nephew +Melancthon from him, by bidding him abstain from so perilous an +enterprise. + +[Illustration: Fig. l9.--W. PIRKHEIMER. (From a Portrait by Albert +Dürer.)] + +Erasmus replied with characteristic evasion. He had not yet read +Luther's writings, but he advised everyone to read them before +crying them down to the people. He himself believed that more was to +be gained by quietness and moderation than by violence, and he felt +bound to warn him in the spirit of Christ against all intemperate +and passionate language; but he did not wish to admonish Luther what +to do, but only to continue steadfastly what he was doing already. +The chief thought to which he gives expression is the earnest hope +that the movement kindled by Luther's writings would not give +occasion to opponents to accuse and suppress the 'noble arts and +letters.' A regard for these, which indeed were the object of his +own high calling, was always of paramount importance in his eyes. +Not content with attacking by means of ridicule the abuses in the +Church, Erasmus took a genuine interest in the improvement of its +general condition, and in the elevation and refinement of moral and +religious life, as well as of theological science; and the high +esteem he enjoyed made him an influential man among even the +superior clergy and the princes of the Church. But from the first he +recognised, as he says in his letter to Lange, and possibly better +than Luther himself, the difficulties and dangers of attacking the +Church system on the points selected by Luther. And when Luther +boldly anticipated the disturbances which the Word must cause in the +world, and dwelt on Christ's saying that He had come to bring a +sword, Erasmus shrank back in terror at the thought of tumult and +destruction. Conformably with the whole bent of his natural +disposition and character, he adhered anxiously to the peaceful +course of his work and the pursuit of his intellectual pleasures. +Questions involving deep principles, such as those of the Divine +right of the Papacy, the absolute character of Church authority, or +the freedom of Christian judgment, as founded on the Bible, he +regarded from aloof; notwithstanding that silence or concealment +towards either party, when once these principles were publicly put +in question, was bound to be construed as a denial of the truth. + +We shall see how this same standpoint, from which this learned man +still retained his inward sympathy with Church matters, dictated +further his attitude towards Luther and the Reformation. For the +present, Luther had to thank the good opinion of Erasmus, cautiously +expressed though it was, for a great advancement of his cause. It +was valuable to Luther in regard to those who had no personal +knowledge of him, as giving them conclusive proof that his character +and conduct were irreproachable. His influence is apparent in the +answer of the Archbishop Albert to Luther, in its tone of gracious +reticence, and its remarks about needless contention. Erasmus had +written some time before to the Archbishop, contrasting the excesses +charged against Luther with those of the Papal party, and denouncing +the corruptions of the Church, and particularly the lack of +preachers of the gospel. Much to the annoyance of Erasmus, this +letter was published, and it worked more in Luther's favour than he +wished. + +Those hopes which Luther had placed in the young students at Erfurt +were shortly fulfilled by the so-called 'poets' beginning now to +read and expound the New Testament. The theology, which, in its +Scholastic and monastic form, they regarded with contempt, attracted +them as knowledge of the Divine Word. Justus Jonas, Luther's junior +by ten years, a friend of Eoban Hess, and one of the most talented +of the circle of young 'poets,' now exchanged for theology the study +of the law, which he had already begun to teach. To his respect for +Erasmus was now added an enthusiastic admiration for Luther, the +courageous Erfurt champion of this new evangelical doctrine. A close +intimacy sprang up between Jonas and Luther, as also between Jonas +and Luther's friend Lange. Erasmus had persuaded him to take up +theology; Luther, on hearing of it in 1520, congratulated him on +taking refuge from the stormy sea of law in the asylum of the +Scriptures. + +None of the old Erfurt students, however, had cultivated Luther's +friendship more zealously than Crotus, his former companion at that +university; and this even from Italy, where his sympathies with +Luther had been stirred by the news from Germany, and where he had +learned to realise, from the evidence of his eyes, the full extent +of the scandals and evils against which Luther was waging war. He, +who in the 'Epistolae Virorum Obscurorum,' had failed to exhibit in +his satire the solemn earnestness which recommended itself to +Luther's taste and judgment, now openly declared his concurrence +with Luther's fundamental ideas of religion and theology, and his +high appreciation of Scripture and of the Scriptural doctrine of +salvation. He wrote repeatedly to him, reminding him of their days +together at Erfurt, telling him about the 'Plague-chair' at Rome, +and the intrigues carried on there by Eck, and encouraging him to +persevere in his work. Expressions common to the 'poets' of his +university days were curiously mingled in his letters with others of +a religious kind. He would like to glorify, as a father of their +fatherland, worthy of a golden statue and an annual festival, his +friend Martin, who had been the first to venture to liberate the +people of God, and show them the way to true piety. Not only from +Italy, but also after his return, he employed his characteristic +literary activity, by means of anonymous pamphlets, in the service +of Luther. It was he who, towards the end of 1519, sent from Italy +to Luther and Melancthon at Wittenberg, the Humanist theologian, +John Hess, afterwards the reformer of the Church at Breslau. Crotus +himself returned in the spring of 1520 to Germany. + +[Illustration: Fig. 20.--ULRICH VON HUTTEN. (From an old woodcut.)] + +Here these Humanist friends of the Lutheran movement had already +been joined by Crotus' personal friend, Ulrich von Hutten, who not +only could wield his pen with more vigour and acuteness than almost +all his associates, but who declared himself ready to take up the +sword for the cause he defended, and to call in powerful allies of +his own class to the fight. He sprang from an old Franconian family, +the heirs, not indeed of much wealth or property, but of an old +knightly spirit of independence. Hatred of monasticism and all that +belonged to it, must have been nursed by him from youth; for having +been placed, when a boy, in a convent, he ran away with the aid of +Crotus, when only sixteen. Sharing the literary tastes of his +friend, he learned to write with proficiency the poetical and +rhetorical Latin of the Humanists of that time. In spite of all his +irregularities, adventures, and unsettlement of habits, he had +preserved an elastic and elevated turn of mind, desirous of serving +the interests of a 'free and noble learning,' and a knightly +courage, which urged him to the fight with a frankness and +straightforwardness not often found among his fellow-Humanists. +Whilst laughing at Luther's controversy as a petty monkish quarrel, +he himself dealt a heavy blow to the traditional pretensions of the +Papacy by the republication of a work by the famous Italian Humanist +Laurentius Valla, long since dead, on the pretended donation of +Constantine, in which the writer exposed the forgery of the edict +purporting to grant the possession of Rome, Italy, and indeed the +entire Western world to the Roman see. This work Hutten actually +dedicated to Pope Leo himself. But what distinguished this knight +and Humanist above all the others who were contending on behalf of +learning and against the oppressions and usurpations of the Church +and monasticism, were his thoroughly German sympathies, and his zeal +for the honour and independence of his nation. He saw her enslaved +in ecclesiastical bondage to the Papal see, and at the mercy of the +avarice and caprice of Rome. He heard with indignation how scornfully +the 'rough and simple Germans' were spoken of in Italy, how even on +German soil the Roman emissaries openly paraded their arrogance, how +some Germans, unworthy of the name, pandered to such scorn and +contempt by a cringing servility which made them crouch before the +Papal chair and sue for favour and office. He warned them to prepare +for a mighty outburst of German liberty, already well-nigh strangled +by Rome. At the same time he denounced the vices of his own countrymen, +particularly that of drunkenness, and the proneness to luxury and +usurious dealing in trade and commerce, all of which, as we have +seen, had been complained of by Luther. Nor less than of the honour +of Germany herself, was he jealous of the honour and power of the +Empire. In all that he did he was guided, perhaps involuntarily, but +in a special degree, by the principles and interests of knighthood. +His order was indebted to the Empire for its chief support, although +the imperial authority no less than that of his own class, had sunk +in a great measure through the increasing power of the different +princes. In the prosperous middle class of Germany he saw the spirit +of trade prevailing to an excess, with its attendant evils. In the +firmly-settled regulations of law and order, which had been established +in Germany with great trouble at the end of the middle ages, he felt +most out of his element: he longed rather to resort to the old method +of force whenever he saw justice trampled on. And in this respect also +Hutten proved true to the traditions of knighthood. + +But in the material power required to give effect to his ideas of +reform in the kindred spheres of politics and of the Church in her +external aspect, Hutten was entirely wanting. More than this, we +fail to find in him any clear and positive plans or projects of +reform, nor any such calm and searching insight into the relations +and problems before him as was indispensable for that object. His +call, however rousing and stirring it was, died away in the distance +of time and the dimness of uncertainty. + +Hutten found, however, an active and powerful friend, and one versed +in war and politics, in Francis von Sickingen, the 'knight of manly, +noble, and courageous spirit,' as an old chronicler describes him. +He was the owner of fine estates, among them the strong castles of +Landstuhl near Kaiserslautern, and Ebernburg near Kreuznach, and had +already, in a number of battles conducted on his own account and to +redress the wrongs of others, given ample proof of his energy and +skill in raising hosts of rustic soldiery, and leading them with +reckless valour, in pursuit of his objects, to the fray. Hutten won +him over to support the cause of Reuchlin, still entangled in a +prosecution by his old accusers of heresy, Hoogstraten and the +Dominicans at Cologne. A sentence of the Bishop of Spires, rejecting +the charges of his opponents, and mulcting them in the costs of the +suit, had been annulled, at their instance, by the Pope. Against +them and against the Dominican Order in particular, Sickingen now +declared his open enmity, and his sympathy with the 'good old doctor +Reuchlin.' In spite of delay and resistance, they were forced to pay +the sum demanded. Meanwhile, no doubt under the influence of his +friend Crotus, Hutten's eyes were opened about the monk Luther. +During a visit in January 1520 to Sickingen at his castle of +Landstuhl, he consulted with him as to the help to be given to the +man now threatened with excommunication, and Sickingen offered him +his protection. Hutten at the same time proceeded to launch the most +violent controversial diatribes and satires against Rome; one in +particular, called 'The Roman Trinity,' wherein he detailed in +striking triplets the long series of Romish pretensions, trickeries, +and vexatious abuses. At Easter he held a personal interview at +Bamberg with Crotus, on his return from Italy. + +For the furtherance of their objects and desires, in respect to the +affairs of Germany and the Church these two knights placed high +hopes in the new young Emperor, who had left Spain, and on the 1st +of July landed on the coast of the Netherlands. Sickingen had earned +merit in his election. He had hoped to find in him a truly German +Emperor, in contrast to King Francis of France, who was a competitor +for the imperial crown. The Pope, as we have seen, had opposed his +election; his chief advocate, on the contrary, was Luther's friend, +the Elector Frederick. Support was also looked for from Charles' +brother Ferdinand, as being a friend of arts and letters. Hutten +even hoped to obtain a place at his court. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2l.--FRANCIS VON SICKINGEN. (From an old +engraving.)] + +On this side, therefore, and from these quarters, Luther was offered +a friendly hand. + +We hear Hutten first mentioned by Luther in February 1520, in +connection with his edition of the work of Valla. This work, though +published two years before, had been made known to Luther then, for +the first time, by a friend. It had awakened his keenest interest; +the falsehoods exposed in its pages confirmed him in his opinion +that the Pope was the real Antichrist. + +Shortly after, a letter from Hutten reached Melancthon, containing +Sickingen's offer of assistance; a similar communication forwarded +to him some weeks before, had never reached its destination. +Sickingen had charged Hutten to write to Luther, but Hutten was +cautious enough to make Melancthon the medium, in order not to let +his dealings with Luther be known. Sickingen, he wrote, invited +Luther, if menaced with danger, to stay with him, and was willing to +do what he could for him. Hutten added that Sickingen might be able +to do as much for Luther as he had done for Reuchlin; but Melancthon +would see for himself what Sickingen had then written to the monks. +He spoke, with an air of mystery, of negotiations of the highest +importance between Sickingen and himself; he hoped it would fare +badly with the Barbarians, that is, the enemies of learning,--and +all those who sought to bring them under the Romish yoke. With such +objects in view, he had hopes even of Ferdinand's support. Crotus, +meanwhile, after his interview with Hutten at Bamberg, advised +Luther not to despise the kindness of Sickingen, the great leader of +the German nobility. It was rumoured that Luther, if driven from +Wittenberg, would take refuge among the Bohemians. Crotus earnestly +warned him against doing so. His enemies, he said, might force him +to do so, knowing, as they did, how hateful the name of Bohemian was +in Germany. Hutten himself wrote also to Luther, encouraging him, in +pious Scriptural language, to stand firm and persevere in working +with him for the liberation of their fatherland. He repeated to him +the invitation of N., (he did not mention his name,) and assured him +that the latter would defend him with vigour against his enemies of +every kind. + +Another invitation, at the same time, and of the same purport, came +to Luther from the knight Silvester von Schauenburg. He too had +heard that Luther was going to the Bohemians. He was willing, +however, to protect him from his enemies, as were also a hundred +other nobles whom with God's help he would bring with him, until his +cause was decided in a right and Christian manner. + +Whether Luther really entertained the thought of flying to Bohemia, +we cannot determine with certainty. But we know with what +seriousness, as early as the autumn of 1518, after he had refused to +retract to the Papal legate, he anticipated the duty and necessity +of leaving Wittenberg. How much more forcibly must the thoughts have +recurred to him, when the news arrived of the impending decision at +Rome, of the warning received from there by the Elector, and of the +protest uttered even in Germany, and by such a prince as Duke George +of Saxony, against any further toleration of his proceedings. The +refuge which Luther had previously looked for at Paris was no longer +to be hoped for. Since the Leipzig disputation he had advanced in +his doctrines, and especially in his avowed support of Huss, far +beyond what the university of Paris either liked or would endure. + +Such then was Luther's position when he received these invitations. +They must have stirred him as distinct messages from above. The +letters in which he replied to them have not been preserved to us. +We hear, however, that he wrote to Hutten, saying that he placed +greater hopes in Sickingen than in any prince under heaven. +Schauenburg and Sickingen, he says, had freed him from the fear of +man; he would now have to withstand the rage of demons. He wished +that even the Pope would note the fact that he could now find +protection from all his thunderbolts, not indeed in Bohemia, but in +the very heart of Germany; and that, under this protection, he could +break loose against the Romanists in a very different fashion to +what he could now do in his official position. + +As he reviewed, in the course of the contest, the proceedings of his +enemies, and was further informed of the conduct of the Papal see, +the picture of corruption and utter worthlessness, nay the +antichristian character of the Church system at Rome, unfolded +itself more and more painfully and fully before his eyes. The +richest materials for this conclusion he found in the pamphlets of +the writers already referred to, and in the descriptions sent from +Italy by men like Hess and others, who shared his own convictions. + +All this time, moreover, Luther's feelings as a German were more and +more stirred within him, while thinking of what German Christianity +in particular was compelled to suffer at the hands of Rome. A lively +consciousness of this had been awakened in his mind since the Diet +of Augsburg in 1518, with its protest against the claims of the +Papacy, its statement of the grievances of the German nation, and +the vigorous writings on that subject which were circulated at that +time. He referred in 1519 to that Diet, as having drawn a +distinction between the Romish Church and the Romish Curia, and +repudiated the latter with its demands. As for the Romanists, who +made the two identical, they looked on a German as a simple fool, a +lubberhead, a dolt, a barbarian, a beast, and yet they laughed at +him for letting himself be fleeced and pulled by the nose. Luther's +words were now re-echoed in louder tones by Hutten, whose own wish, +moreover, was to incite his fellow-countrymen, as such, to rise and +betake themselves to battle. + +There were certain of the laity who had already brought these German +grievances in Church matters before the Diets, and who now gave vent +in pamphlets to their denunciations of the corruption and tyranny of +the Romish Church. As for Luther, he valued the judgment of a +Christian layman, who had the Bible on his side, as highly, and +higher, than that of a priest and prince of the Church, and ascribed +the true character of a priest to all Christians alike: these +Estates of the Augsburg Diet he speaks of as 'lay theologians.' +Leading laymen of the nobility now came forward and offered to +assist him in his labours on behalf of the German Church. Both he +and Melancthon placed their confidence also gladly in the new German +Emperor. + +Several letters of Luther at this time, closely following on each +other, express at once the keenest enthusiasm for the contest, and +the idea of a Reformation proceeding from the laity, represented, as +he understood them, by their established authorities and Estates. + +We find in these letters powerful effusions of holy zeal and +language full of Christian instruction, mingled with the most +vehement outbursts of the natural passion which was boiling in +Luther's breast. Compared with them, the cleverest controversial +writings of the Humanists, and even the fiercest satires of Hutten, +sound only like rhetoric and elaborate displays of wit. + +Luther, in his Sermon on Good Works, already noticed as so replete +with wholesome doctrine and advice, had already complained that +God's ministry was perverted into a means of supporting the lowest +creatures of the Pope, and had declared that the best and only thing +left was for kings, princes, nobles, towns, and parishes to set to +work themselves, and 'make a breach in the abuse,' so that the +hitherto intimidated clergy might follow. As for excommunication and +threats, such things need not trouble them: they meant as little as +if a mad father were to threaten his son who was guarding him. + +The sharpest replies on the part of Luther were next provoked by two +writings which justified and glorified the Divine authority and +power of the Papacy. One was by a Franciscan friar, Augustin von +Alveld; the other by Silvester Prierias, already mentioned, who was +his most active opponent in this matter. + +Luther broke out against 'the Alveld Ass' (as he called him in a +letter to Spalatin) in a long reply entitled 'The Popedom at Rome,' +with the object of exposing once and finally the secrets of +Antichrist. 'From Rome' he says 'flow all evil examples of spiritual +and temporal iniquity into the world, as from a sea of wickedness. +Whoever mourns to see it, is called by the Romans a 'good +Christian,' or in their language, a fool. It was a proverb among +them that one ought to wheedle the gold out of the German simpletons +as much as one could.' If the German princes and nobles did not +'make short work of them in good earnest,' Germany would either be +devastated or would have to devour herself. + +Prierias' pamphlet provoked him to exclaim, in that same letter to +Spalatin, 'I think that at Rome they are all mad, silly, and raging, +and have become mere fools, sticks and stones, hells and devils.' +His remarks on this pamphlet, written in Latin, contain the +strongest words that we have yet heard from his lips about the 'only +means left,' and the 'short work' to be made of Rome. Emperors, +kings, and princes, he says, would yet have to take up the sword +against the rage and plague of the Romanists. 'When we hang thieves, +and behead murderers, and burn heretics, why do not we lay hands on +these Cardinals and Popes and all the rabble of the Romish Sodom, +and bathe our hands in their blood?' What Luther now in reality +wished to see done, was, as he goes on to say, that the Pope should +be corrected as Christ commands men to deal with their offending +brethren (St. Matth. xviii. 15 sqq.), and, if he neglected to hear, +should be held as an heathen man and a publican. + +While these pages of Luther's were in the press, towards the middle +of June, Hutten, full of hope himself, and carrying with him the +hopes of Luther and Melancthon, set off on his journey to the +Emperor's brother in the Netherlands, and, on his way, paid a visit +at Cologne to the learned Agrippa von Nettesheim, accompanied, as +the latter says, by a 'few adherents of the Lutheran party.' There, +as Agrippa relates with terror, they expressed aloud their thoughts. +'What have we to do with Rome and its Bishop?' they asked. 'Have we +no Archbishops and Bishops in Germany, that we must kiss the feet of +this one? Let Germany turn, and turn she will, to her own bishops +and pastors.' Hutten paid the expenses of this journey out of money +given him by the Archbishop Albert; between these two, therefore, +the bonds of friendship were not yet broken. Albert was the first of +the German bishops; Hutten, and very possibly the Archbishop also, +might reasonably suppose that a reform proceeding from the Emperor +and the Empire, might place him at the head of a German National +Church. + +But Luther had already put his pen to a composition which was to +summon the German laity to the grand work before them, to establish +the foundations of Christian belief, and to set forth in full the +most crying needs and aims of the time. He had resolved to give the +strongest and amplest expression in his power to the truth for which +he was contending. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +LUTHER'S WORKS TO THE CHRISTIAN NOBILITY OF THE GERMAN NATION, AND +ON THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. + + +In a dedication to his friend and colleague Amsdorf, prefixed to the +first of these works, he begins, 'The time of silence is past, and +the time for speaking is come.' He had several points, he tells us, +concerning the improvement of the Christian condition, to lay before +the Christian nobility of Germany; perhaps God would help His Church +through the laity, since the clergy had become entirely careless. If +charged with presumption in venturing to address such high people on +such great matters, so be it, then perhaps he was guilty of a folly +towards his God and the world, and might one day become court-jester. +But inasmuch as he was a sworn doctor of Holy Scripture, he rejoiced +in the opportunity of satisfying his oath in this manner. + +He then turns to the 'Most illustrious, Most powerful Imperial +Majesty, and to the Christian nobility of the German nation,' with +the greeting, 'Grace and strength from God first of all, most +illustrious, gracious, and beloved Lords!' + +The need and troubles of Christendom, and especially of Germany, +constrained him, as he said, to cry to God that He might inspire +some one to stretch out his hand to the suffering nation. His hopes +were in the noble young blood now given by God as her head. He would +likewise do his part. + +The Romanists, in order to prevent their being reformed, had shut +themselves within three walls. Firstly, they said, the temporal +power had no rights over them, the spiritual power, but the +spiritual was above the temporal; secondly, the Scriptures, which +were sought to be employed against them, could only be expounded by +the Pope; thirdly, no one but the Pope could summon a Council. +Against this, Luther calls to God for one of those trumpets which +once blew down the walls of Jericho, in order to blow down also, +these walls of straw and paper. + +His assault upon the first wall was decisive for the rest. He +accomplished it with his doctrine of the spiritual and priestly +character of all Christians, who had been baptised and consecrated +by the blood of Christ (1 Peter ii. 9; Rev. v. 10). Thus, according +to Luther, they are all of one character, one rank. The only thing +peculiar to the so-called ecclesiastics or priests, is the special +office or work of 'administering the Word of God and the Sacraments' +to the congregation. The power to do this is given, indeed, by God +to all Christians as priests, but, being so given, cannot be assumed +by an individual without the will and command of the community. The +ordination of priests, as they are called, by a bishop can in +reality only signify that, out of the collective body of Christians, +all possessing equal power, one is selected, and commanded to +exercise this power on behalf of the rest. They hold, therefore, +this peculiar office, like their fellow-members of the community who +are entrusted with temporal authority, namely, to wield the sword +for the punishment of the bad and the protection of the good. They +hold it, as every shoemaker, smith, or builder holds office in his +particular trade, and yet all alike are priests. Moreover, this +temporal magisterial power has the right to exercise its office free +and unhindered in its own sphere of action; no Pope or bishop must +here interfere, no so-called priest must usurp it. + +As a consequence of this spiritual character of Christians, the +second wall was also doomed to fall. Christ said of all Christians, +that they shall all be taught of God (St. John vi. 45). Thus any +man, however humble, if he was a true Christian, could have a right +understanding of the Scriptures; and the Pope, if wicked and not a +true Christian, was not taught of God. If the Pope alone were always +in the right, one would have to pray 'I believe in the Pope at Rome,' +and the whole Christian Church would then be centred in one man, +which would be nothing short of devilish and hellish error. After +this the third wall fell by itself. For, says Luther, when the Pope +acts against the Scriptures, it is our duty to stand by the Scriptures +and to punish him as Christ taught us to punish offending brethren +(St. Matthew xviii. 17), when He said, 'Tell it unto the Church.' Now +the Church or Christendom must be gathered together in a Council. And +like as the most famous of the Councils, that of Nice, and others after +it, had been summoned by the Emperor, so must everyone, as a true member +of the whole body, and when necessary, do what he can to make it a +really free Council: 'which nobody can do so well as the temporal +authorities, who meet these as fellow-Christians, fellow-priests.' Just +as if a fire broke out in a city, no one, because he had not the power +of the burgomaster, durst stand still and let it burn, but every +citizen must run and call others together, so was it in the spiritual +city of Christ, if a fire of trouble and affliction should arise. The +question as to the composition of such a Council Luther does not proceed +to discuss. That he wished, however, the laity to be represented, we may +safely assume from the whole context, though it is doubtful how far he +may then have thought of a representation of the temporal authorities as +such, and, above all, of the Christian body collectively, through +its political members. But the main point on which he insisted was, +that the Council should be a free and really Christian one, bound by +no oath to the Pope, fettered by no so-called Canon law, but subject +only to the Word of God in Holy Writ. + +Under twenty-six heads Luther then proceeds to enumerate the points +on which such a Council should treat, and which should be urged in +particular in connection with the question of reform. + +The whole arrogance of the Papacy, the temporal pride with which the +Pope clothed himself, the idolatry with which he was treated, were +to Luther a scandal and unchristian. Lord of the universe, the Pope +styled himself, and paraded about with a triple crown in all +temporal splendour, and with an endless train of followers and +baggage, whilst claiming to be the vicegerent of the Lord who +wandered about in poverty, and gave Himself up to the Cross, and +declared that His kingdom was not of this world. Clearly and fully +Luther shows the various ways, embracing the whole life of the +Church, in which Romish tyranny had enslaved the Churches of other +countries, especially of Germany, and had turned them to account and +plundered them: by means of fees and taxes of all kinds, by drawing +away the trial of ecclesiastical cases to Rome, by accumulating +benefices in the hands of Papal favourites of the worst description, +by the unprincipled and usurious sale of dispensations, by the oath +which made the bishops mere vassals of the Pope, and effectually +prevented all reform. In this greed for money in particular, and in +the crafty methods of collecting it, Luther saw the genuine +Antichrist, who, as Daniel had foretold, was to gather the treasures +of the earth (Daniel xi. 8, 39, 43). + +To confront this oppression and these acts of usurpation, Luther +would not have men wait for a Council. As for these impositions and +taxes, he says that every prince, noble, and town should straightway +repudiate and forbid them. This lawless pillaging of ecclesiastical +benefices and fiefs by Rome should be resisted at once by the +nobility. Anyone coming from the Papal court to Germany with such +claims, must be ordered to desist, or to jump into the nearest piece +of water with his seals and letters and the ban of excommunication. +Luther insists especially on demanding, as Hutten had already +demanded, that the individual Churches, and particularly those of +Germany, should order and conduct their own affairs independently of +Rome. The bishops were not to obtain their confirmation at Rome, +but, as already decreed by the Nicene Council, from a couple of +neighbouring bishops or an archbishop. The German bishops were to be +under their own primate, who might hold a general consistory with +chancellors and counsellors, to receive appeals from the whole of +Germany. The Pope, in other respects, was still to be left a +position of supremacy in the collective Christian Church, and the +adjudication of matters of importance on which the primates could +not agree. One other matter Luther dwells on, as affecting the +entire constitution of the Church. It is not the mere administrative +and judicial functions that constitute the true meaning of office, +whether in a priest, a bishop, or a Pope, but a constant service to +God's Word. Luther therefore is anxious that the Pope should not be +burdened with small matters. He calls to mind how once the Apostles +would not leave the Word of God, and serve tables, but wished to +give themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word (Acts vi. +2, 4). But he would have a clean sweep made of the so-called +ecclesiastical law, contained in the law-books of the Church. The +Scriptures were sufficient. Besides, the Pope himself did not keep +that law, but pretended to carry all law in the shrine of his own +heart. + +Consistently with all that he has said about the relative positions +of the temporal and spiritual powers, Luther goes on to protest, on +behalf especially of the German Empire, against the 'overbearing and +criminal behaviour' of the Pope, who arrogates to himself power over +the Emperor, and allows the latter to kiss his foot and hold his +stirrup. Granted that he is superior to the Emperor in spiritual +office, in preaching, in administering the Word of grace; in other +matters he is his inferior. + +But the most important demand advanced by Luther, while pushing +further his inquiries into the moral and social regulations and +condition of the Church, is the abolition of the celibacy of the +clergy. If Popes and bishops wish to impose upon themselves the +burden of an unmarried life, he has nothing to say to that. He +speaks only of the clergy in general, whom God has appointed, who +are needed by every Christian community for the service of preaching +and the sacraments, and who must live and keep house amongst their +fellow-Christians. Not an angel from Heaven, much less a Pope, dare +bind this man to what God has never bound him, and thereby +precipitate him into danger and, sin. A limit at least must be +imposed on monastic life. Luther would like to see the convents and +cloisters turned into Christian schools, where men might learn the +Scriptures and discipline, and be trained to govern others and to +preach. He would further give full liberty to quit such institutions +at pleasure. He reverts to the question of clerical celibacy, in +lamenting the gross immoralities of the priesthood, and complaining +that marriage was so frequently avoided on account simply of the +responsibilities it entailed, and the restraints it imposed on loose +living. + +Luther would abolish all commands to fast, on the ground that these +ordinances of man are opposed to the freedom of the Bible. He would +do away also with the multitude of festivals and holidays, as +leading only to idleness, carousing, and gambling. He would check +the foolish pilgrimages to Rome, on which so much money was wasted, +whilst wife and child, and poor Christian neighbours were left at +home to starve, and which drew people into so much trouble and +temptation. As regards the management of the poor, Luther's +requirements were somewhat stringent. All begging among Christians +was to be forbidden; each town was to provide for its own poor, and +not admit strange beggars. As the universities at that time, no less +than the schools, were in connection with the Church, Luther offers +some suggestions for their reform. He singles out the writings of +the ancients which were read in the philosophical faculty, and +others, which might be done away with as useless or even pernicious. +With regard to the mass of civil law, he agreed with the complaint +often heard among Germans, that it had become a wilderness: each +state should be governed, as far as possible, 'by its own brief +laws.' For children, girls as well as boys, he would like to see a +school in every town. It grieved him to see how, in the very heart +of Christendom, the young folk were neglected and allowed to perish +for lack of timely sustenance with the bread of the gospel. + +He reverts again to the question about the Bohemians, with a view to +silencing at length the vile calumniations of his enemies. And in so +doing he remarks of Huss, that even if he had been a heretic, +'heretics must be conquered with the pen and not with fire. If to +conquer them with fire were an art, the executioners would be the +most learned doctors on the earth.' + +Lastly he refers briefly to the prevalent evils of worldly and +social life; to wit, the luxury in dress and food, the habits of +excess common among Germans, the practice of usury and taking +interest. He would like to put a bridle into the mouth of the great +commercial firms, especially the rich house of Fugger; for the +amassing of such enormous wealth, during the life of one man, could +never be done by right and godly means. It seemed to him 'far more +godly to promote agriculture and lessen commerce.' Luther speaks in +this as a man of the people, who were already suspicious about this +accumulation of money, from a right feeling really of the moral and +economical dangers thence accruing to the nation, even if ignorant +of the necessary relations of supply and demand. As to this, Luther +adds: 'I leave that to the worldly-wise; I, as a theologian, can +only say, Abstain from all appearance of evil.' (1 Thessalonians v. +22.) + +So wide a field of subjects did this little book embrace. We have +only here mentioned the chief points. Luther himself acknowledges at +the conclusion: 'I am well aware that I have pitched my note high, +that I have proposed many things which will be looked upon as +impossible, and have attacked many points too sharply. I am bound to +add, that if I could, I would not only talk but act; I would rather +the world were angry with me than God.' But Rome always remained the +chief object of his attacks. 'Well then,' he says of her, 'I know of +another little song of Rome; if her ear itches for it, I will sing +it to her and pitch the notes at their highest.' He concludes, 'God +give us all a Christian understanding, and to the Christian nobility +of the German nation, especially, a true spiritual courage to do +their best for the poor Church. Amen.' + +Whilst Luther was working on this treatise, new disquieting rumours +and remonstrances addressed from Rome to the Elector reached him +through Spalatin. But with them came also that promise of protection +from Schauenburg. Luther answered Spalatin, 'The die is cast, I +despise alike the wrath and the favour of Rome; I will have no +reconciliation with her, no fellowship.' Friends who heard of his +new work grew alarmed; Staupitz, even at the eleventh hour, tried to +dissuade him from it. But before August was far advanced, four +thousand copies were already printed and published. A new edition +was immediately called for. Luther now added another section +repudiating the arrogant pretension of the Pope, that through his +means the Roman Empire had been brought to Germany. + +Well might Luther's friend Lange call this treatise a war-trumpet. +The Reformer, who at first merely wished to point out and open to +men the right way of salvation, and to fight for it with the sword +of his word, now stepped forward boldly and with determination, +demanding the abolition of all unlawful and unchristian ordinances +of the Romish Church, and calling upon the temporal power to assist +him, if need be, with material force. The groundwork of this resolve +had been laid, as we have seen, in the progress of his moral and +religious convictions; in the inalienable rights which belong to +Christianity in general, and the mission with which God entrusts +also the temporal power or state; in the independence granted by Him +to this power on its own domain, and the duties He has imposed upon +all Christian authorities, even in regard to all moral and religious +needs and dangers. But he denied altogether, and we may well believe +him, that he had any wish to create disorder or disturbance; his +intention was merely to prepare the way for a free Council. Not +indeed that he shrank from the thought of battle and tumult, should +the powers whom he invoked meet with resistance from the adherents +of Rome or Antichrist. As for himself, though forced to make such a +stormy appearance, he had no idea of himself being destined to +become the Reformer, but was content rather to prepare the way for a +greater man, and his thoughts herein turned to Melancthon. Thus he +wrote to Lange these remarkable words: 'It may be that I am the +forerunner of Philip, and like Elias, prepare the way for him in +spirit and in strength, destroying the people of Ahab' (1 Kings +xviii). Melancthon, on the other hand, wrote to Lange just then +about Luther, saying that he did not venture to check the spirit of +Martin in this matter, to which Providence seemed to have appointed +him. + +From the Electoral court Luther learned that his treatise was 'not +altogether displeasing.' And just at this time he had to thank his +prince for a present of game. + +[Illustration: Fig. 22.--TITLE-PAGE OF THE SECOND EDITION OF THIS +TREATISE, in a rather smaller size.] + +There is no doubt that Luther received also from that quarter the +advice to approach the Emperor, who had just arrived in Germany, and +whom he had wished to address in his treatise, with a direct +personal request for protection, to prevent his being condemned +unheard. He addressed to him a well-considered letter, couched in +dignified language. He issued at the same time a short public +'offer,' appealing therein to the fact, that he had so long begged +in vain for a proper refutation. These two writings were first +examined and corrected by Spalatin, and so appeared only at the end +of August, not, as is generally supposed, in the January of this +year. Luther never received an answer to his letter to the Emperor, +and therefore never heard how it was received. + +The dangers which threatened Luther, and through him also the honour +and prosperity of his Order, affected further his companions and +friends who belonged to it. And of this Miltitz took advantage to +renew his attempts at mediation. He induced the brethren, at a +convention of Augustinian friars held at Eisleben, to persuade +Luther once more to write to the Pope, and solemnly assure him that +he had never wished to attack him personally. A deputation of these +monks, with Staupitz and Link at their head, came to Luther at +Wittenberg on the 4th or 5th of September, and received his promise +to comply with their wishes. At this convention, Staupitz, who felt +his strength no longer equal to the difficult questions and +controversies of the time, had resigned his office as Vicar of the +Order, and Link had succeeded him. Luther saw him now at Wittenberg +for the last time. He retired in quiet seclusion to Salzburg, where +the Archbishop was his personal friend. + +But Luther's spirit would not let him desist for a moment from +prosecuting his contest with Rome. He had yet 'a little song' to +sing about her. He was in fact at work in August, while rumours were +already afloat that Eck was on his way with the bull, upon a new +tract, and had even begun to have it printed. It was to treat of the +'Babylonian Captivity of the Church,' taking as its subject the +Christian sacraments. Luther knew that in this he cut deeper into +the theological and religious principles of the Church, which had +come under discussion in his quarrel with Rome, than in all his +demands for reform, put forward in his address to the nobility. For +while, in common with the Church herself, he saw in the Sacraments, +instituted by Christ, the most sacred acts of worship, and the +channels through which salvation itself, forgiveness, grace, and +strength are imparted from above, in those principles he saw them +limited by man's caprice in their original scope and meaning, robbed +of their true significance, and made the instruments of Papal and +priestly domination, while other pretended sacraments were joined to +them, never instituted by Christ. On this account he complained of +the tyranny to which these sacraments, and with them the Church, +were subject, of the captivity in which they lay. Against him were +arrayed not only the hierarchy, but the whole forces of Scholastic +learning. He knew that what he now propounded would sound +preposterous to these opponents; he would make, he said, his feeble +revilers feel their blood run cold. But he met them in the armour of +profound erudition, and with learned arguments lucidly and concisely +expressed in Latin. At the same time his language, where he explains +the real essence of the sacraments, shows a clearness and religious +fervour which no layman could fail to understand. + +The subject of the deepest importance to Luther in this treatise was +the sacrament of the altar. He dwells on the mutilated form, without +the cup, in which the Lord's Supper was given to the laity; on the +doctrine invented about the change of the bread, instead of keeping +to the simple word of Scripture; and, lastly, on the substitution of +a sacrifice, supposed to be offered to God by the priest, for the +institution ordained by Christ for the nourishment of the faithful. +The withholding of the cup he calls an act of ungodliness and +tyranny, beyond the power of either Pope or Council to prescribe. +Against the sacrifice of the mass he had published just before a +sermon in German. He was well aware that his principles involved, as +indeed he intended, a revolution of the whole service, and an attack +on an ordinance, upon which a number of other abuses, of great +importance to the hierarchy, depended. But he ventured it, because +God's word obliged him to do it. So now he proceeds to describe, in +contrast to this mass, the one of true Christian institution, and +resting wholly, as he conceived it, on the words of Christ, when +instituting the Last Supper, 'Take, and eat,' etc. Christ would here +say, 'See, thou poor sinner, out of pure love I promise to thee, +before thou canst either earn or promise anything, forgiveness of +all thy sins, and eternal life, and to assure thee of this I give +here my Body and shed my Blood; do thou, by my death, rest assured +of this promise, and take as a sign my Body and my Blood.' + +For the worthy celebration of this mass, nothing is required but +faith, which shall trust securely in this promise; with this faith +will come the sweetest stirrings of the heart, which will unfold +itself in love, and yearn for the good Saviour, and in Him will +become a new creature. + +As regards baptism Luther lamented that it was no longer allowed to +possess the true significance and value it ought to have for a man's +whole life. Whereas in truth the person baptized received a promise +of mercy from God, to which time after time, even from the sins of +his future life, he might and was bound to turn, it was taught, that +in sinning after baptism, the Christian was like a shipwrecked man, +who, instead of the ship, could only reach a plank; this being the +sacrament of penance, with its accompanying outward formalities. +Whereas further, in true baptism he had vowed to dedicate his whole +life and conduct to God, other vows of human invention were now +demanded of him. Whereas he then became a full partaker of Christian +liberty, he was now burdened with ordinances of the Church, devised +by man. + +Concerning this sacrament of penance, with confession, absolution, +and its other adjuncts, Luther rates at its full value the word of +forgiveness spoken to the individual, and values also the free +confession made to his Christian brother by the Christian seeking +comfort. But confession, he said, had been perverted into an +institution of compulsion and torture. Instead of leading the +tempted brother to trust in God's mercy, he was ordered to perform +acts of penance, whereby nominally to give satisfaction to God, but +in reality to minister to the ambition and insatiable avarice of the +Roman see. + +From all these abuses and perversions Luther seeks to liberate the +sacraments, and restore them in their purity to Christians. +Nevertheless, he takes care to insist on the fact that it is not the +mere external ceremony, the act of the priest in administering, and +the visible partaking of the receiver, that make the latter a sharer +in the promised grace and blessedness. This, he says, depends upon a +hearty faith in the Divine promise. He who believes enjoys the +benefit of the sacrament, even though its outward administration be +denied him. + +The mediaeval Church ordained four other sacraments, namely, +confirmation, marriage, consecration of priests, and extreme +unction. But Luther refuses to acknowledge any of these as a +sacrament. Marriage, he says, in its sacramental aspect, was not an +institution of the New Testament, nor was it connected with any +especial promise of grace. It was but a holy moral ordinance of +daily life, existing since the beginning of the world and among +those who were not Christians as well as those who were. At the same +time he takes the opportunity to protest against those human +regulations with which even this ordinance had been invaded by the +Romish Church, especially against the arbitrary obstacles to +marriage she had created. Even these were made a source of revenue +to her, by the granting of dispensations. For the other three +sacraments there was no especial promise. In the Epistle of St. +James (v. 14), where it speaks of anointing the sick with oil, the +allusion is not to extreme unction to the dying, but to the exercise +of that wonderful Apostolic gift of healing the sick through the +power of faith and prayer. With regard to the consecration of +priests, Luther repeats the principles laid down in his address to +the nobility. Ordination consists simply of this, that out of a +community, all of whom are priests, one is chosen for the particular +work of administering God's word. If, as in consecration, the hand +is laid upon him, this is a human custom and not instituted by the +Lord Himself. But in truth, says Luther, the outrageous tyranny of +the clergy, with their priestly bodily anointing, their tonsure, and +their dress, would arrogate a higher position than other Christians +anointed with the Spirit; these are counted almost as unworthy as +dogs to belong to the Church. And most seriously he warns a man not +to strive for that outward anointing, unless he is earnestly intent +on the true service of the gospel, and has disclaimed all pretension +to become, by consecration, better than lay Christians. + +In conclusion Luther declares: he hears that Papal excommunication +is prepared for him, to force him to recant. In that case this +little treatise shall form part of his recantation. After that he +will soon publish the rest, the like of which has never been seen or +heard by the Romish see. + +In the beginning of October, probably on the 6th of that month, the +book was issued. Luther had heard some ten days before that Eck had +actually arrived with the bull. He had already caused it to be +posted publicly at Meissen on September 21. Early in October he sent +a copy of it also to the university of Wittenberg. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE BULL OF EXCOMMUNICATION, AND LUTHER'S REPLY. + + +At Rome, the bull, now newly arrived in Germany, had been published +as early as June 16. It had been considered, when at length, under +the pressure of the influences described above, the subject was +taken up in earnest, very carefully in the Papal consistory. The +jurists there were of opinion that Luther should be cited once more, +but their views did not prevail. As for the negotiations, conducted +through Miltitz, for an examination of Luther before the Archbishop +of Treves, no heed was now paid to the affair. + +The bull begins with the words, 'Arise, O Lord, and avenge Thy +cause.' It proceeds to invoke St. Peter, St. Paul, the whole body of +the saints, and the Church. A wild boar had broken into the vineyard +of the Lord, a wild beast was there seeking to devour &c. Of the +heresy against which it was directed, the Pope, as he states, had +additional reason to complain, since the Germans, among whom it had +broken out, had always been regarded by him with such tender +affection: he gives them to understand that they owed the Empire to +the Romish Church. Forty-one propositions from Luther's writings are +then rejected and condemned, as heretical or at least scandalous and +corrupting, and his works collectively are sentenced to be burnt. As +to Luther himself, the Pope calls God to witness that he has +neglected no means of fatherly love to bring him into the right way. +Even now he is ready to follow towards him the example of Divine +mercy which wills not the death of a sinner, but that he should be +converted and live; and so once more he calls upon him to repent, in +which case he will receive him graciously like the prodigal son. +Sixty days are given him to recant. But if he and his adherents will +not repent, they are to be regarded as obstinate heretics and +withered branches of the vine of Christ, and must be punished +according to law. No doubt the punishment of burning was meant; the +bull in fact expressly condemns the proposition of Luther which +denounces the burning of heretics. + +All this was called then at Rome, and has been called even latterly +by the Papal party, 'the tone rather of fatherly sorrow than of +penal severity.' The means by which the bull had been brought about, +made it fitting that Eck himself should be commissioned with its +circulation throughout Germany, and especially with its publication +in Saxony. More than this, he received the unheard of permission to +denounce any of the adherents of Luther at his pleasure, when he +published the bull. + +Accordingly, Eck had the bull publicly posted up in September at +Meissen, Merseburg, and Brandenburg. He was charged, moreover, by a +Papal brief, in the event of Luther's refusing to submit, to call +upon the temporal power to punish the heretic. But at Leipzig, where +the magistrate, by order of Duke George, had to present him with a +goblet full of money, he was so hustled in the streets by his +indignant opponents, that he was forced to take refuge in the +Convent of St. Paul, and hastened to pursue his journey by night, +whilst the city officials rode about the neighbourhood with the +bull. A number of Wittenberg students, adds Miltitz, made their +appearance also at Leipzig, who 'behaved in a good-for-nothing way +towards him.' + +At Wittenberg, where the publication of the bull rested with the +university, the latter notified its arrival to the Elector, and +objected for various reasons to publish it, alleging, in particular, +that Eck, its sender, was not furnished with proper authority from +the Pope. Luther for the first time felt himself, as he wrote to +Spalatin, really free, being at length convinced that the Popedom +was Antichrist and the seat of Satan. He was not at all discouraged +by a letter sent at this time by Erasmus from Holland to Wittenberg, +saying that no hopes could be placed in the Emperor Charles, as he +was in the hands of the Mendicant Friars. As for the bull, so +extraordinary were its contents, that he wished to consider it a +forgery. + +Still the promise which Luther had given to his Augustinian +brethren, only a few weeks before, under pressure from Miltitz, +remained as yet unfulfilled. Nor did Miltitz himself wish the +threads of the web then spun to slip from his fingers. Even at this +hour, with the consent and at the wish of the Elector, an interview +had been arranged between Miltitz and Luther at the Castle of +Lichtenberg (now Lichtenburg, in the district of Torgau), where the +monks of St. Antony were then housed. Just as Miltitz, as we have +seen, had thought to be able to avert the bull by getting Luther to +write a letter to the Pope, so now he promised the Elector still to +conciliate the Pope by that means. Only the letter was to be dated +back to the time, before the publication of the bull, when Luther +first gave his consent to write it. Its substance was to be as then +agreed upon; Luther, as Miltitz expressed it, was to 'eulogise the +Pope personally in a manner agreeable to him,' and at the same time +submit to him an historical statement of what he had done. Luther +consented to publish a letter in these terms, in Latin and German, +under date of September 6, and immediately gave effect to his +promise. + +It is hardly conceivable how Miltitz could still have nurtured such +a hope. Neither his wish to ingratiate himself with the Elector +Frederick, and to checkmate the plans of Eck whom he detested, nor +his personal vanity and flippancy of character, are sufficient to +account for it. He must have learnt from his own previous personal +intercourse with the Pope, and his experiences of the Papal court, +that Leo did not take up Church questions and controversies so +gravely and so seriously as not to remain fully open all the time to +influences and considerations of other kinds, and that around him +were parties and influential personages, arrayed in mutual hostility +and rivalry. He must have been strangely ignorant of the state of +things at Rome. But as to Luther and his cause there was no longer +any hesitation in that quarter. + +In what sense Luther himself was willing to comply with the demand +of Miltitz, the contents of his letter suffice to show. He makes it +clear that nothing was further from his intention than to appease +the angry Pontiff by any dexterous artifices or concealments. The +assurance required from him, that he had no wish to attack the Pope +personally, he construes in its literal terms, apart altogether from +the official character and acts of Leo. And in fact against his +personal character and conduct he had never said a word. But he +takes this opportunity, at the same time, of speaking to him plainly, +as a Christian is bound to do to his fellow-Christian; of repeating +to him, face to face, the severest charges yet made by him against +the Romish chair; of excusing Leo's own conduct in this chair simply +and solely on the ground that he regarded him as a victim of the +monstrous corruption which surrounded him, and of warning him once +more against it as a brother. He tells him to his face that he +himself, the Holy Father, must acknowledge that the Papal see was +more wicked and shameful than any Sodom, Gomorrah, or Babylon; that +God's wrath had fallen upon it without ceasing; that Rome, which +had once been the gate of heaven, was now an open jaw of hell. Most +earnestly he warns Leo against his flatterers,--the 'ear-ticklers' +who would make him a God. He assures him that he wishes him all +that is good, and therefore he wishes that he should not be devoured +by these jaws of hell, but on the contrary, should be freed from +this godless idolatry of parasites, and be placed in a position where +he would be able to live on some smaller ecclesiastical preferment, +or on his own patrimony. As for the historical retrospect which +Miltitz wanted, and which Luther briefly appends to this letter, all +that the latter says in vindication of himself is, that it was not +his own fault, but that of his enemies, who had driven him further +and further onward, that 'no small part of the unchristian doings at +Rome had been dragged to light.' + +[Illustration: Fig. 23.--TITLE-PAGE, slightly reduced, of the +original Tract 'On the Liberty of a Christian Man.' The Saxon swords +are represented above, and the arms of Wittenberg below.] + +Luther sent with this letter, as a present to the Pope, a pamphlet +entitled 'On the Liberty of a Christian Man.' This is no +controversial treatise intended for the great struggle of churchmen +and theologians, but a tract to minister to 'simple men.' For their +benefit he wished to describe compendiously the 'sum of a Christian +life'; to deal thoroughly with the question, 'What was a Christian? +and how he was to use the liberty which Christ had won and given to +him.' He premises as an axiom that a Christian is a free lord over +all things, and subject to nobody. He considers, first of all, the +new, inner, spiritual man, and asks what makes him a good and free +Christian. Nothing external, he says, can make him either good or +free. It does not profit the soul if the body puts on sacred +vestments, or fasts, or prays with the lips. To make the soul live, +and be good and free, there is nothing else in heaven or on earth +but the Holy Scriptures, in other words, God's Word of comfort by +His dear Son Jesus Christ, through Whom our sins are forgiven us. In +this Word the soul has perfect joy, happiness, peace, light, and all +good things in abundance. And to obtain this, nothing more is +required of the soul than what is told us in the Scriptures, namely, +to give itself to Jesus with firm faith and to trust joyfully in +Him. At first, no doubt, God's command must terrify a man, seeing +that it must be fulfilled, or man condemned; but when once he has +been brought thereby to recognise his own worthlessness, then comes +God's promise and the gospel, and says, Have faith in Christ, in +Whom I promise thee all grace; believe in Him, and thou hast Him. A +right faith so blends the soul with God's word, that the virtues of +the latter become her own, as the iron becomes glowing hot from its +union with the fire. And the soul becomes joined to Christ as a +bride to the bridegroom; her wedding-ring is faith. All that Christ, +the rich and noble bridegroom possesses, He makes His bride's; all +that she has, He takes unto Himself. He takes upon Himself her sins, +so that they are swallowed up in Him and in His unconquerable +righteousness. Thus the Christian is exalted above all things, and +becomes a lord; for nothing can injure his salvation; everything +must be subject to him and help towards his salvation; it is a +spiritual kingdom. And thus all Christians are priests; they can all +approach God through Christ, and pray for others. 'Who can +comprehend the honour and dignity of a Christian? Through his +kingship he has power over all things, through his priesthood he has +power over God, for God does what he desires and prays for.' + +But the Christian, as Luther states in his second axiom, is not only +this new inner man. He has another will in his flesh, which would +make him captive to sin. Accordingly, he dare not be idle, but must +work hard to drive out evil lusts and mortify his body. He lives, +moreover, among other men on earth, and must labour together with +them. And as Christ, though Himself full of the Kingdom of God, for +our sake stripped Himself of His power and ministered as a servant, +so should we Christians, to whom God through Christ has given the +Kingdom of all goodness and blessedness, and therewith all that is +sufficient to satisfy us, do freely and cheerfully for our heavenly +Father whatever pleases Him, and do unto our neighbours as Christ +has done for us. In particular, we must not despise the weakness and +weak faith of our neighbour, nor vex him with the use of our +liberty, but rather minister with all we have to his improvement. +Thus the Christian, who is a free lord and master, becomes a useful +servant of all and subject to all. But he does these works, not that +he may become thereby good and blessed in the sight of God; he is +already blessed through his faith, and what he does now he does +freely and gratuitously. Luther thus sums up in conclusion: 'A +Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbour; +in Christ through faith, in his neighbour through love. Through +faith he rises above himself in God, from God he descends again +below himself through love; and yet remains always in God and in +godlike love.' + +This tract was a remarkable pendant to Luther's remarkable letter to +the Pope. His Holiness, so he wrote to him in his dedication, might +taste from its contents what kind of occupation the author would +rather, and might with more profit, be engaged in, if only the +godless Papal flatterers did not hinder him. And in fact the Pope +could plainly see from it how Luther lived and laboured, with his +inmost being, in these profound but simple ideas of Christian truth, +and how he was inwardly compelled and delighted to represent them in +their noble simplicity. The whole tone and tenor of this dedication, +so tranquil, fervent, and tender, shows further what profound peace +reigned in the soul of this vehement champion of the faith, and what +happiness the excommunicated heretic found in his God. Next to +Luther's Address to the German Nobility and his Babylonian +Captivity, this tract is one of the most important contributions of +his pen to the cause of the Reformation. It is clear from its pages +that when Luther wrote his letter, at the request of Miltitz, to the +Pope, he had no thought of making peace with the Papacy, or of even +a moment's truce in the campaign. + +The bull of excommunication he met in the manner intimated to +Spalatin from the first. He launched a short tract against it, 'On +the new Bull and Falsehoods of Eck,' treating it as Eck's forgery. +This he followed up with another tract in German and Latin, 'Against +the Bull of Antichrist.' He was resolved to unmask the blindness and +wickedness of the Roman evil-doers. He saw partly his own real +doctrines perverted, partly the Christian and Scriptural truth that +his doctrines contained, stigmatised as heresy and condemned. He +declared that if the Pope did not retract and condemn this bull, no +one would doubt that he was the enemy of God and the disturber of +Christianity. + +He then solemnly renewed, on November 17, the appeal to a Council, +which he had made two years before. But how was his attitude changed +since then! He, the accused and condemned heretic, now himself +proclaims condemnation and ruin to his enemy, the antichristian +power that seeks to domineer the world. Nor is it only from a future +Council, and one constituted as the previous great assemblies of the +Church, that he expects and demands protection for himself and the +Christian truth; again and again he calls upon the Christian laity +to assist him. Thus in his appeal now published, he invites the +Emperor Charles, the Electors and Princes of the Empire, the counts, +barons, and nobles, the town councils, and all Christian authorities +throughout Germany, to support him and his appeal, that so the true +Christian belief and the freedom of a Council might be saved. +Similarly, in the Latin edition of his tract against the bull, he +calls upon the Emperor Charles, on Christian kings and princes and +all who believe in Christ, together with all Christian bishops and +learned doctors, to resist the iniquities of the Popedom. In his +German version he defends himself against the charge of stirring up +the laity against the Pope and priesthood; but he asks if, indeed, +the laity will be reconciled, or the Pope excused, by the command to +burn the truth. The Pope himself, he says, and his bishops, priests, +and monks are wrestling to their own downfall, through this +iniquitous bull, and want to bring upon themselves the hatred of the +laity. 'What wonder were it, should princes, nobles, and laymen beat +them on the head, and hunt them out of the country?' + +Hutten now followed with a stormy demand for a general rising of +Germany against the tyranny of Rome, whose hirelings and emissaries +were to be chased away by main force. When two papal legates, +Aleander and Caraccioli, appeared on the Rhine to execute the bull +and work upon the Emperor in person, he was anxious to strike a blow +at them on his own account, little good as, on calm reflection, it +was evident could have come of it. Luther, on hearing of it, could +not refrain remarking in a letter to Spalatin, 'If only he had +caught them!' + +Luther however persisted in repeating to himself and his friends the +warning of the Psalmist, 'Put not your trust in princes, nor in any +child of man, for there is no help in them.' Nay, when Spalatin, who +had gone with the Elector to the Emperor, told him how little was to +be hoped for from the latter, he expressed to him his joy at finding +that he too had learned the same lesson. God, he said, would never +have entrusted simple fishermen with the Gospel, if it had needed +worldly potentates to propagate it. It was to the Last Day that he +looked with full confidence for the overthrow of Antichrist. And, +indeed, his idea that Antichrist had long reigned at Rome was +connected in his mind with the belief that the Last Day was close at +hand. Of this, as he wrote to Spalatin, he was convinced, and for +many strong reasons. + +And in fact the Emperor Charles, before leaving the Netherlands, on +his journey to Aix-la-Chapelle to be crowned, had already been +induced by Aleander to take his first step against Luther. He had +consented to the execution of the sentence in the bull, condemning +Luther's works to be burnt, and had issued orders to that effect +throughout the Netherlands. They were burnt in public at Louvain, +Cologne, and Mayence. At Cologne this was done while he was staying +there. It was in this town that the two legates approached the +Elector Frederick with the demand to have the same done in his +territory, and to execute due punishment on the heretic himself, or +at least to keep him close prisoner, or deliver him over to the +Pope. Frederick however refused, saying that Luther must first be +heard by impartial judges. Erasmus also, who was then staying at +Cologne, expressed himself to the same effect, in an opinion +obtained from him by Frederick through Spalatin. At an interview +with the Elector he said to him, 'Luther has committed two great +faults; he has touched the Pope on his crown and the monks on their +bellies.' The Archbishop of Mayence, Cardinal Albert, received +directions from the Pope to take more decisive and energetic steps +against Hutten as well. The burning of Luther's books at Mayence was +effected without hindrance, though Hutten was able to inform Luther +that, according to the account received from a friend, Aleander +narrowly escaped stoning, and the multitude were all the more +inflamed in favour of Luther. The legates in triumph proceeded to +carry out their mission elsewhere. + +Luther, however, lost no time in following up their execution of the +bull with his reply. On December 10 he posted a public announcement +that the next morning, at nine o'clock, the antichristian decretals, +that is, the Papal law-books, would be burnt, and he invited all the +Wittenberg students to attend. He chose for this purpose a spot in +front of the Elster Gate, to the east of the town, near the +Augustinian convent. A multitude poured forth to the scene. With +Luther appeared a number of other doctors and masters, and among +them Melancthon and Carlstadt. After one of the masters of arts had +built up a pile, Luther laid the decretals upon it, and the former +applied the fire. Luther then threw the Papal bull into the flames, +with the words 'Because thou hast vexed the Holy One of the Lord, +[Footnote: It is obvious that he refers to Christ, who is spoken of +in Scripture as the Holy One of God (St. Mark i. 24, Acts ii. 27), +not, as ignorance and malice have suggested, to himself.] let the +everlasting fire consume thee.' Whilst Luther with the other +teachers returned to the town, some hundreds of students remained +upon the scene, and sang a Te Deum, and a Dirge for the decretals. +After the ten o'clock meal, some of the young students, grotesquely +attired, drove through the town in a large carriage, with a banner +emblazoned with a bull four yards in length, amidst the blowing of +brass trumpets and other absurdities. They collected from all +quarters a mass of Scholastic and Papal writings, and especially +those of Eck, and hastened with them and the bull, to the pile, +which their companions had meanwhile kept alight. Another Te Deum +was then sung, with a requiem, and the hymn 'O du armer Judas.' + +Luther at his lecture the next day told his hearers with great +earnestness and emotion what he had done. The Papal chair he said, +would yet have to be burnt. Unless with all their hearts they +abjured the Kingdom of the Pope, they could not obtain salvation. + +He next announced and justified his act in a short treatise entitled +'Why the Books of the Pope and his disciples were burnt by Dr. +Martin Luther.' 'I, Martin Luther,' he says, 'doctor of Holy +Scripture, an Augustinian of Wittenberg, make known hereby to +everyone, that by my wish, advice, and act, on Monday after St. +Nicholas' day, in the year 1520, the books of the Pope of Rome, and +of some of his disciples, were burnt. If anyone wonders, as I fully +expect they will, and asks for what reason and by whose command I +did it, let this be his answer.' Luther considers it his bounden +duty, as a baptized Christian, a sworn doctor of Holy Scripture, and +a daily preacher, to root out, on account of his office, all +unchristian doctrines. The example of others, on whom the same duty +devolved, but who shrank from doing as he did, would not deter him. +'I should not,' he says, 'be excused in my own sight; of that my +conscience is assured, and my spirit, by God's grace, has been +roused to the necessary courage.' He then proceeds to cite from the +law-books thirty erroneous doctrines, in glorification of the +Papacy, which deserved to be burnt. The sum total of this Canon law +was as follows: 'The Pope is a God on earth, above all things, +heavenly and earthly, spiritual and temporal, and everything is his, +since no one durst say, What doest thou?' This, says Luther, is the +abomination of desolation (St: Matth. xxiv. 15), or in other words +Antichrist (2 Thess. ii. 4). + +Simultaneously with this, he set out in a longer and exhaustive work +the 'ground and reason' of all his own articles which had been +condemned by the bull. He takes his stand upon God's word in +Scripture against the dogmas of the earthly God;--upon the +revelation by God Himself, which, to everyone who studies it deeply +and with devotion, will lighten his understanding, and make clear +its substance and meaning. What though, as he is reminded, he is +only a solitary, humble man, he is sure of this, that God's Word is +with him. + +To Staupitz, who felt faint-hearted and desponding about the bull, +Luther wrote, saying that, when burning it, he trembled at first and +prayed; but now he felt more rejoiced than at any other act in all +his life. He now released himself finally from the restraints of +those monastic rules, with which, as we have remarked before, he had +always tormented himself, besides performing the higher duties of +his calling. He was freed now, as he wrote to his friend Lange, by +the authority of the bull, from the commands of his Order and of the +Pope, being now an excommunicated man. Of this he was glad; he +retained merely the garb and lodging of a monk: he had more than +enough of real duties to perform with his daily lectures and +sermons, with his constant writings, educational, edifying, and +polemical, and with his letters, discourses, and the assistance he +was able to give his brethren. + +By this bold act, Luther consummated his final rupture with the +Papal system, which for centuries had dominated the Christian world, +and had identified itself with Christianity. The news of it must +also have made the fire which his words had kindled throughout +Germany, blaze out in all its violence. He saw now, as he wrote to +Staupitz, a storm raging, such as only the Last Day could allay; so +fiercely were passions aroused on both sides. + +Germany was then, in fact, in a state of excitement and tension more +critical than at any other period of her history. Side by side with +Luther stood Hutten, in the forefront of the battle with Rome. The +bull he published with sarcastic comments: the burning of Luther's +works of devotion he denounced in Latin and German verses. Eberlin +von Günzburg, who shortly after began to wield his pen as a popular +writer on reform, called these two men 'two chosen messengers of +God.' A German Litany, which appeared early in 1521, implored God's +grace and help for Martin Luther, the unshaken pillar of the +Christian faith, and for the brave German knight Ulrich Hutten, his +Pylades. + +Hutten also wrote now in German for the German people, both in prose +and verse. During his stay with Sickingen in the winter at his +Castle of Ebernburg, he read to him Luther's works, which roused in +this powerful warrior an active sympathy with the doctrines of the +Reformation, and stirred up projects in his mind, of what his own +strong arm could accomplish for the good cause. + +Pamphlets, both anonymous and pseudonymous, were circulated in +increasing numbers among the people. They took the form chiefly of +dialogues, in which laymen, in a simple Christian spirit, and with +their natural understanding, complain of the needs of Christendom, +ask questions and are enlightened. The outward evils of the Papal +system are put clearly before the people:--the scandals among the +priesthood and in the convents, the iniquities of the Romish +courtiers and creatures of the Pope, who pandered with menial +subservience to the magnates at Rome, in order to fatten on German +benefices, and reap their harvest of taxes and extortions of every +kind. The simple Word of God, with its sublime evangelical truths, +must be freed from the sophistries woven round it by man, and be +made accessible to all without distinction. Luther is represented as +its foremost champion, and a true man of the people, whose testimony +penetrated to the heart. His portrait, as painted by Cranach, was +circulated together with his small tracts. In later editions the +Holy Ghost appears in the form of a dove hovering above his head; +his enemies spread the calumny, that Luther intended this emblem to +represent himself. + +Satirical pictures also were used as weapons on both sides in this +contest. Cranach pourtrayed the meek and suffering Saviour on one side, +and on the other the arrogant Roman Antichrist, in the twenty-six +woodcuts of his 'Passion of Christ and Antichrist:' Luther added short +texts to these pictures. + +Luther's enemies now began, on their side, to write in German and +for the people. The most talented among them, as regards vigorous, +popular German and coarse satire, was the Franciscan Thomas Murner; +but his theology seemed to Luther so weak, that he only favoured him +once with a brief allusion. He entered now into a longer literary +duel with the Dresden theologian Emser, who had challenged him after +the disputation at Leipzig, and who now published a work 'Against +the Unchristian Address of Martin Luther to the German Nobility.' +Luther replied with a tract 'To the Goat at Leipzig,' Emser with +another 'To the Bull at Wittenberg,' Luther with another 'On the +Answer of the Goat at Leipzig,' and Emser with a third, 'On the +furious Answer of the Bull at Wittenberg.' Luther, whose reply to +Emser's original work had been directed to the first sheets that +appeared, met the work, when published in its complete form, with +his 'Answer to the over-Christian, over-priestly, over-artful Book +of the Goat Emser.' Emser followed up with a 'Quadruplica,' to which +Luther rejoined with another treatise entitled 'A Refutation by +Doctor Luther of Emser's error, extorted by the most learned priest +of God, H. Emser.' When later, during Luther's residence at the +Wartburg, Emser published a reply, Luther let him have the last +word. Nothing new was contributed to the great struggle by this +interchange of polemics. The most effective point made by Emser and +the other defenders of the old Church system, was the old charge +that Luther, one man, presumed to oppose the whole of Christendom as +hitherto constituted, and by the overthrow of all foundations and +authorities of the Church, to bring unbelief, distraction, and +disturbance upon Church and State. Thus Emser says once in German +doggrel, that Luther imagined that + + What Church and Fathers teach was nought; + None lived but Luther;--so he thought. + +In threatening Luther with the consequences of his heresy, he never +failed to hold up Huss as a bugbear. + +In Germany, as Emser complains, there was already 'such quarrelling, +noise, and uproar, that not a district, town, village, or house was +free from partisans, and one man was against another.' Aleander wrote +to Rome saying that everywhere exasperation and excitement prevailed, +and the Papal bull was laughed at. Among the adherents of the old +Church system one heard rumours of strange and terrible import. A +letter written shortly after the burning of the bull, gave out that +Luther reckoned on thirty-five thousand Bohemians, and as many Saxons +and other North Germans, who were ready, like the Goths and Vandals +of old, to march on Italy and Rome. But it was evident, even at this +stage, that from rancorous words to energetic and self-sacrificing +action was a long step to take. Even in central Germany the bull was +executed without any disturbance breaking out; and that in the +bishoprics of Meissen and Merseburg, which were adjacent to Wittenberg. +Pirkheimer and Spengler at Nüremberg, whose names Eck had included in +the bull, now bowed to the authority of the Pope, represented though +it was by their personal enemy. + +Hutten, who saw his hopes in the Emperor's brother deceived, and +believed his own liberty and even his life was menaced by the Papal +bull, burned with impatient ardour to strike a blow. He was anxious +also to see whether a resort to force, after his own meaning of the +term, would meet with any support from the Elector Frederick. He +ventured even, when speaking of Sickingen's lofty mission, to refer +to the precedent of Ziska, the powerful champion of the Hussites, +who had once been the terror and abomination of the Germans. He, a +member of the proud Equestrian order, was willing now to join hands +with the towns and the burghers to do battle with Rome for the +liberty of Germany. But, passionate as were his words, it was by no +means clear what particular end under present circumstances he +sought to achieve by means of arms. Sickingen, who had grasped the +situation in a practical spirit, advised him to moderate his +impatience, and sought, for his own part, to keep on good terms with +the Emperor, in whom Hutten accordingly renewed his hopes. Each, in +short, had overrated the influence which Sickingen really possessed +with the Emperor. + +In this posture of affairs, Luther reverted, with increased +conviction, to his original opinion, that the future must be left +with God alone, without trusting to the help of man. Hutten himself +had written to him, during the Diet of Worms, as follows: 'I will +fight manfully with you for Christ; but our counsels differ in this +respect, that mine are human, while you, more perfect than I am, +trust solely in those of God.' And when Hutten seemed really bent on +taking the sword, Luther declared to him and to others, with all +decision of purpose: 'I would not have man fight with force and +bloodshed for the Gospel. By the Word has the world been subdued, by +the Word has the Church been preserved, by the Word will she be +restored. As Antichrist has begun without a blow, so without a blow +will Antichrist be crushed by the Word.' Even against the Romish +hirelings among the German clergy, he would have no acts of violence +committed, such as were committed in Bohemia. He had not laboured +with the German nobility to have such men restrained by the sword, +but by advice and command. He was only afraid that their own rage +would not allow of peaceful means to check them, but would bring +misery and disaster upon their heads. + +His expectation--not indeed ungrounded--of the approaching end of +the world, to which, as we have seen, he alluded in a letter to +Spalatin on January 16, 1521, Luther now announced more fully in a +book, written in answer to an attack by the Romish theologian +Ambrosius Catharinus. He based his opinion on the prophecies of the +Old and New Testament, on which Christian men and Christian +communities, sore pressed in the battle with the powers of darkness, +had been wont ere then to rely, in the sure hope of the approaching +victory of God. Luther referred in particular to the vision of +Daniel (chap. viii.), where he states that after the four great +Kingdoms of the World, the last of which Luther takes to be the +Roman Empire, a bold and crafty ruler should rise up, and 'by his +policy should cause craft to prosper in his hand, and should stand +up against the Prince of princes, but should be broken without +hand.' He saw this vision fulfilled in the Popedom; which must, +therefore, be destroyed 'without hand,' or outward force. St. Paul, +in his view, said the same in the passage in which (2 Thess. ii.) he +foreshadowed long before the Roman Antichrist. That 'man of sin' who +set himself up as God in the temple of God, 'the Lord shall consume +with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness +of His coming.' So, said Luther, the Pope and his kingdom would not +be destroyed by the laity, but would be reserved for a heavier +punishment until the coming of Christ. He must fall, as he had +raised himself, not 'with the hand,' but with the spirit of Satan. +The Spirit must kill the spirit; the truth must reveal deceit. + +Luther, as we shall see, had all his life held firmly to this belief +that the end was near. As his glowing zeal pictured the loftiest +images and contrasts to his mind, so also this assurance of victory +was already before his eyes. In his hope of the near completion of +the earthly history of Christianity and mankind, he became the +instrument of carving out a new grand chapter in its career. + +The announcement of the retractation required from Luther by the +bull, was to have been sent to Rome within 120 days. Luther had +given his answer. The Pope declared that the time of grace had +expired; and on the 3rd of January Leo X. finally pronounced the ban +against Luther and his followers, and an interdict on the places +where they were harboured. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE DIET OF WORMS. + + +If we consider the powerful influences then at work to further the +ecclesiastical movement in Germany, it seems reasonable to suppose +that they would succeed in accomplishing its ends through the power +of the Word alone, without any such bloodshed and political +convulsions as were feared; and that Germany, therefore, though +vexed with spiritual tempests--the 'tumult and uproar' whose +outburst Luther already discerned--must inevitably rid herself of +the forms and fetters of Romish Churchdom, by the sheer force of her +new religious convictions. And, indeed, even in the short interval +since Luther had commenced, and only with slow steps had advanced +further in the contest, a success had been attained which no one at +the beginning could have ventured to expect, or even hope for. +Frederick the Wise, the Nestor among the great German Princes of the +Empire, had plainly freed himself inwardly from those fetters, and +though, as yet, he did not feel himself called upon to express his +sentiments by decisive action, his conduct, nevertheless, could not +fail to make an impression on those about him. The nobility and +burgher class, among whom the new doctrines had made most progress, +were, politically speaking, powerfully represented at the Diets. The +most important of the spiritual lords, the Archbishop of Magdeburg +and Mayence, who had most cause to resent Luther's onslaught on +indulgences, had hitherto adopted a cautious and expectant attitude, +which left him free to join at some future time a national revolt +against his Romish sovereign. The Diets, indeed, had hitherto +submitted to their old ecclesiastical grievances without any fear of +the wrath or scolding of the Pope. But, as soon as the conviction +prevailed among the Estates, that the pretensions of the Roman see +had no eternal, Divine foundation, they could take in hand at once, +on their own account, the reformation of the Church. As for the +episcopacy, in particular, Luther had never desired, as his Address +to the Nobility sufficiently showed, to interfere with or disturb it +in any way, provided only the bishops would feed their flocks +according to God's Word. An independent German episcopate would then +have been well able to undertake the reforms necessary in the system +of worship. Luther himself, as we shall see, wished and continued to +wish that those reforms should be as few and simple as possible. + +In the various German states which afterwards became Protestant, the +work of reform was in fact accomplished, without any serious +agitation, by the Princes themselves, in concert with their Estates; +and in the free towns by the magistrates and representatives of the +burghers, notwithstanding the fact that its opponents were supported +by the majority of the Empire and by the Emperor himself, who was a +staunch adherent of the Romish system. How much easier, in +comparison, must the work of Evangelical reformation have been, had +it been resolved on by the power of the Empire itself, in accord +with the overwhelming voice of the whole nation. + +Reference was made, and in significant terms, to the savage and +cruel war of the Hussites. But no one could deny to Luther's +teaching, a clearness, a religious depth, and a freedom from +fanaticism, peculiar to itself, and utterly wanting in the preaching +of the followers of Huss. Again, the wild Hussite wars, which were +still fresh in the sorrowful memory of the Germans, had in the first +instance been provoked by the use of force, on the part of the +Church, against the Bohemians. When Germany revolted, Rome found no +such means of force at her command. + +It might fairly be questioned, if the thought were worth pursuing, +whether Luther at that time had sufficient ground for looking for +the triumph of his cause, not indeed to the power of the Word and +the influences then active in his favour, but to the Day of the +Lord, which he believed was near. + +It is true that in such great crises of history as this, the final +issue never depends alone on the character and conduct of particular +personages, however eminent they may be. In this antichristian +system of the Papacy, Luther saw Satanic powers at work, which +blinded the human heart, and might indeed succeed, by dint of +suffering and oppression, in overcoming for the moment the Word of +God, but which could never finally extirpate or extinguish it. And +we Protestants must confess that not only did a great mass of the +German people remain bound by the spell of tradition, but that even +to honest and independent-minded adherents of the old system, the +interests of religion and morality might in reality have seemed to +be seriously endangered by the new teaching and by the breach with +the past. But never did the most momentous issue in the fortunes of +the German nation and Church rest so entirely with one man as they +did now with the German Emperor. Everything depended on this, +whether he, as head of the Empire, should take the great work in +hand, or should fling his authority and might into the opposite +scale. + +Charles had been welcomed in Germany as one whose youthful heart +seemed likely to respond to the newly-awakened life and aspirations; +as the son of an old German princely family, who by his election as +Emperor had won a triumph over the foreign king Francis, supported +though the latter was by the Pope. Rumour now alleged that he was in +the hands of the Mendicant Friars: the Franciscan Glapio was his +confessor and influential adviser, the very man who had instigated +the burning of Luther's works. + +[Illustration: Fig. 24.--CHARLES V. (From an engraving by B. Beham, +in 1531.)] + +He was, however, by no means so dependent on those about him as +might have been supposed. His counsellors, in the general interests +of his government, pursued an independent line of policy, and +Charles himself, even in these his youthful days, knew to assert his +independence as a monarch and display his cleverness as a statesman. + +But a German he was not, in spite of his grandfather Maximilian; he +had not even an ordinary knowledge of the German language. First and +foremost, he was King of Spain and Naples; in his Spanish kingdom he +retained, even after his accession to the imperial dignity, the +chief basis of his power. His religious training and education had +familiarised him only with the strict orthodoxy of the Church and +his duties in respect to her traditional ordinances. To these his +conscience also constrained him to adhere. He never showed any +inclination to investigate the opposite opinions of his German +subjects, at least with any independent or critical exercise of +judgment. A strict regard to his rights and duties as a sovereign +was his sole guide, next to his religious principles, in dictating +his conduct towards the Church. In Spain some reforms were being +then introduced, based essentially on the doctrines and hierarchical +constitution of the mediaeval Church. Stricter discipline, in +particular, was observed with regard to the clergy and monks, who +were admonished to attend more faithfully to their duties of +promoting the moral and religious welfare of the people; and the +result was seen in a revival of popular interest in the forms and +ordinances of religion. Furthermore, the crown enjoyed certain +rights independently of the Roman Curia: an absolute monarchy was +here ingeniously united with Papal absolutism. Such a union, +however, sufficed in itself to make any severance of the German +Church from the Papacy impossible under Charles V. The unity of his +dominions was bound up with the unity of the Catholic Church, to +which his subjects, alike in Spain and Germany, belonged. Added to +this, he had to consider his foreign policy. Provoked as he had been +by Leo X., who had leagued with France to prevent his election, +still, with menaces of war from France, he saw the prudence of +cultivating friendship, and contracting, if possible, an alliance +with the Pope. The pressure desirable for this purpose could now be +supplied by means of the very danger with which the Papacy was +threatened by the great German heresy, and against which Rome so +sorely needed the aid of a temporal power. At the same time, Charles +was far too astute to allow his regard for the Pope, and his desire +for the unity of the Church, to entangle his policy in measures for +which his own power was inadequate, or by which his authority might +be shaken, and possibly destroyed. Strengthened as was his +monarchical power in Spain, in Germany he found it hemmed in and +fettered by the Estates of the Empire and the whole contexture of +political relations. + +Such were the main points of view which determined for Charles V. +his conduct towards Luther and his cause. Luther thus was at least a +passive sharer in the game of high policy, ecclesiastical and +temporal, now being played, and had to pursue his own course +accordingly. + +The imperial court was quickly enough acquainted with the state of +feeling in Germany. The Emperor showed himself prudent at this +juncture, and accessible to opinions differing from his own, however +small cause his proclamations gave to the friends of Luther to hope +for any positive act of favour on his part. + +Whilst Charles was on his way up the Rhine, to hold, at the +beginning of the New Year, a Diet at Worms, the Elector Frederick +approached him with the request that Luther should at least be heard +before the Emperor took any proceedings against him. The Emperor +informed him in reply that he might bring Luther for this purpose to +Worms, promising that the monk should not be molested. The Elector, +however, felt doubts on this point: possibly he thought of the +danger to which Huss had been exposed at Constance. But Luther, to +whom he announced through Spalatin the Emperor's offer, replied +immediately, 'If I am summoned, I will, so far as I am concerned, +come; even if I have to be carried there ill; for no man can doubt +that, if the Emperor calls me, I am called by the Lord.' Violence, +he said, would no doubt be offered him; but God still lived, who had +delivered the three youths from the fiery furnace at Babylon, and if +it was not His will that he should be saved, his head was of little +value. There was one thing only to beseech of God, that the Emperor +might not commence his reign by shedding innocent blood to shield +ungodliness: he would far rather perish by the hands of the +Romanists alone. Some time before, Luther had thought of a place to +fly to, in case it were impossible to stay at Wittenberg; Bohemia +was always open to him. But now he roundly declared, 'I will not +fly, still less can I recant.' + +Meanwhile the Emperor began to reflect whether Luther, who lay +already under the ban and interdict, ought to be admitted to the +place of the Diet. As to what proceedings should be taken against +him, if he came, long, wavering, and anxious negotiations now took +place between the Emperor, the Estates, and the legate Aleander, at +Worms, where the Estates assembled in January, and the Diet was +opened on the 28th. + +A Papal brief demanded the Emperor to enforce the bull, by which +Luther was now definitely condemned, by an imperial edict. In vain, +he wrote, had God girded him with the sword of supreme earthly +power, if he did not use it against heretics, who were even worse +than infidels. His advisers, however, were agreed in the conviction +that he could not move in this matter without the consent of his +Estates. Aleander sought to gain them over in an elaborate harangue. +He, according to whose principles the appeal to a Council was a +crime, cleverly diverted from himself the comparison and retort +which his present arguments suggested, and insisted all the more on +his complaint, that Luther always despised the authority of Councils +and would take no correction from anyone. Glapio, then the Emperor's +confessor and diplomatist, addressed himself, with expressions of +wonderful friendship, to Frederick's chancellor, Brück. Even he +found much that was good in Luther's writings, but the contents of +his book, the 'Babylonian Captivity,' were detestable. All that need +be done was that Luther should disclaim or retract that offensive +work, so that what was good in his writings might bear fruit for the +Church, and Luther, together with the Emperor, might co-operate in +the work of true reform. He might be invited to meet some learned, +impartial men at a suitable place, and submit himself to their +judgment. This, at all events, would be a happy means of preventing +his having to appear before the Emperor and the Estates of the +Empire, and if he persisted in refusing to recant, of deciding then +and there his fate. We must leave it an open question, how far +Glapio still seriously thought it possible, by dint of threats and +entreaties, to utilise Luther for effecting a reform in the Spanish +sense, and as an instrument against any Pope who should prove +hostile to the Emperor. But the Elector Frederick would undertake no +responsibility in this dark design: he refused flatly to grant to +Glapio the private audience he desired. + +The Emperor acceded so far to the urgency of the Pope as to cause a +draft mandate to be laid before the Estates, proposing that Luther +should be arrested, and his protectors punished for high treason. +The Frankfort deputy wrote home: 'The monk makes plenty of work. +Some would gladly crucify him, and I fear he will hardly escape +them; only they must take care that he does not rise again on the +third day.' After seven days' excited debate in the Diet, in which +the Elector took a prominent and lively part, an answer to the +imperial mandate was at length agreed upon, offering for +consideration 'whether, inasmuch as Luther's preaching, doctrines, +and writings had awakened among the common people all kinds of +thoughts, fancies, and desires, any good result or advantage would +accrue from issuing the mandate alone in all its stringency, without +first having cited Luther before them and heard him.' At the same +time, his examination was to be so far restricted, that no +discussion with him should be allowed, but simply the question put +to him, 'whether or not he intended to insist upon the writings he +had published against our holy Christian faith.' If he retracted +them, he should be heard further on other points and matters, and +dealt with in all equity upon them. If, on the contrary, he +persisted in all or any of the articles at variance with the faith, +then all the Estates of the Empire should, without further +disputation, adhere to and help to maintain the faith handed down by +their fathers, and the imperial edict should then go abroad +throughout the land. + +The Emperor, accordingly, on March 6, issued a citation to Luther, +summoning him to Worms, to give 'information concerning his +doctrines and books.' An imperial herald was sent to conduct him. In +the event of his disobeying the citation, or refusing to retract, +the Estates declared their consent to treat him as an open heretic. + +Luther, therefore, had to renounce at once all hope of having the +truth touching his articles of faith tested fairly at Worms by the +standard of God's word in Scripture. Spalatin indicated to him the +points on which, according to Glapio's statement, he would in any +case be expected to make a public recantation. + +It remained still doubtful, however, how far those articles would be +extended, and how far the 'other points' might be stretched, or +possibly be made the subject of further and profitable discussion, +if he submitted in respect to the former. Glapio had made no +reference to the question of the patristic belief in the +infallibility of the Pope, or his absolute power over the Church +collectively and her Councils: even the Papal nuncio himself had not +ventured to touch on these subjects. There was room enough for the +more liberal and independent principles entertained on these points +by the members of the earlier reforming Councils, if only Luther had +not disputed their authority with that of Councils altogether. The +ecclesiastical abuses, against which the Diet had already +remonstrated to the Pope, were just now at Worms the subject of +general and bitter complaint. The imposts levied by Rome on +ecclesiastical benefices and fiefs, mere outward symbols of +supremacy it is true, but highly important to the Pope, swallowed up +enormous sums; while the Empire hardly knew how to scrape together a +miserable subsidy for the newly organised government and the +expenses of justice, and men talked openly of retaining these Papal +tributes, notwithstanding all protests from Rome, for these +purposes. Even faithful adherents of the old Church system, like +Duke George of Saxony, demanded a comprehensive reformation of the +clergy, whose scandals were so destructive of religion, and, as the +best means to effect this reformation, a General Council of the +Church. Aleander had to report to Rome, that all parties were +unanimous in this desire, so hateful to the Pope himself, and that +the Germans wished to have the Council in their own country. + +Luther formed his resolve at once on the two points required of him. +He determined to obey the summons to the Diet, and, if there +unconvicted of error, to refuse the recantation demanded. + +The Emperor's citation was delivered to him on March 26 by the +imperial herald, Kaspar Sturm, who was to accompany him to Worms. +Within twenty-one days after its receipt, Luther was to appear +before the Emperor; he was due therefore at Worms on April 16, at +the latest. + +Up till now he had continued uninterruptedly his arduous and +multifarious labours, and, to use his own expression, like Nehemiah +he carried on at once the work of peace and of war; he built with +one hand, and wielded the sword with the other. His controversy with +Catharinus he brought quickly to a conclusion. During March he +finished the first part of his Exposition of the Gospel as read in +church, which he had undertaken, as a peaceful and edifying work, at +the request of the Elector, to whom he wrote a dedication; and he +was now at work on a fervent and tender practical explanation of the +_Magnificat_, which he had intended for his devoted friend, +Prince John Frederick, the son of Duke John and nephew of the +Elector Frederick. He addressed a short letter to him on March 31, +enclosing the first printed sheets of this treatise; and the next +day sent him the epilogue, addressed to his friend Link, to his +reply to Catharinus, dedicated also to Link. 'I know,' he says here, +'and am certain, that our Lord Jesus Christ still lives and rules. +Upon this knowledge and assurance I rely, and therefore I will not +fear ten thousand Popes; for He Who is with us is greater than he +who is in the world.' + +On the following day, April 2, the Tuesday after Easter, he set out +on his way to Worms. His friend Amsdorf and the Pomeranian nobleman +Peter Swaven, who was then studying at Wittenberg, accompanied him. +He took with him also, according to the rules of the Order, a +brother of the Order, John Pezensteiner. The Wittenberg magistracy +provided carriages and horses. + +The way led past Leipzig, through Thuringia from Naumburg to +Eisenach, then southward past Berka, Hersfeld, Grünberg, Friedberg, +Frankfort, and Oppenheim. The herald rode on before in his coat of +arms, and announced the man whose word had everywhere so mightily +stirred the minds of people, and for whose future behaviour and fate +friend and foe were alike anxious. Everywhere people collected to +catch a glimpse of him. + +On April 6 he was very solemnly received at Erfurt. The large +majority of the university there were by this time full of +enthusiasm for his cause. His friend Crotus, on his return from +Italy, had been chosen Rector. The ban of excommunication had not +been published by the university, and had been thrown into the water +by the students. Justus Jonas was foremost in zeal; and even +Erasmus, his honoured friend, had no longer been able to restrain +him. Lange and others were active in preaching among the people. + +Jonas hastened to Weimar to meet Luther on his approach. Forty +members of the university, with the Rector at their head, went on +horseback, accompanied by a number of others on foot, to welcome him +at the boundary of the town. Luther had also a small retinue with +him. Crotus expressed to him the infinite pleasure it was to see +him, the great champion of the faith; whereupon Luther answered, +that he did not deserve such praise, but he thanked them for their +love. The poet Eoban also stammered out, as he said of himself, a +few words; he afterwards described the progress in a set of Latin +songs. + +The following day, a Sunday, Luther spent at Erfurt. He preached +there, in the church of the Augustine convent, a sermon which has +been preserved. Beginning with the words, of the Gospel of the day, +'Peace be unto you,' he spoke of the peace which we find through +Christ the Redeemer, by faith in whom and in his work of salvation +we are justified, without any works or merit of our own; of the +freedom with which Christians may act in faith and love; and of the +duty of every man, who possessed this peace of God, so to order his +work and conduct, that it shall be useful not only to himself but to +his neighbour. This he said in protest against the justification by +works taught by most preachers, against the system of Papal +commands, and against the wisdom of heathen teachers, of an +Aristotle or a Plato. Of his present personal position and the +difficult path he had now to tread, he took no thought, but only of +the general obligation he was under, whatever other men might teach; +'I will speak the truth and must speak it; for that reason I am +here, and take no money for it.' During the sermon a crash was +suddenly heard in the overweighted balconies of the crowded church, +the doors of which were blocked with multitudes eager to hear him. +The crowd were about to rush out in a panic, when Luther exclaimed, +'I know thy wiles, thou Satan,' and quieted the congregation with +the assurance that no danger threatened, it was only the devil who +was carrying on his wicked sport. + +Luther also preached in the Augustine convents at Gotha and +Eisenach. At Gotha the people thought it significant that after the +sermon the devil tore off some stones from the gable of the church. + +In the inns Luther liked to refresh himself with music, and often +took up the lute. + +At Eisenach, however, he was seized with an attack of illness, and +had to be bled. From Frankfort he writes to Spalatin, who was then +at Worms, that he felt since then a degree of suffering and weakness +unknown to him before. + +On the way he found a new imperial edict posted up, which ordered +all his books to be seized, as having been condemned by the Pope and +being contrary to the Christian faith. Charles V. by this edict had +given satisfaction again to the legates, who were annoyed at Luther +being summoned to Worms. Many doubted whether Luther, after this +condemnation of his cause by the Emperor, would venture to present +himself in person at Worms. He himself was alarmed, but travelled +on. + +Meanwhile at Worms disquietude and suspense prevailed on both sides. +Hutten from the Castle of Ebernburg sent threatening and angry +letters to the Papal legates, who became really anxious lest a blow +might be struck from that quarter. Aleander complained that +Sickingen now was king in Germany, since he could command a +following whenever and as large as he pleased. But in truth he was +in no case ready for an attack at that moment. He still reckoned on +being able, with his Church sympathies, to remain the Emperor's +friend, and was just now on the point of taking a post of military +command in his service. Some anxious friends of Luther's were afraid +that, according to Papal law, the safe-conduct would not be observed +in the case of a condemned heretic. Spalatin himself sent from Worms +a second warning to Luther after he had left Frankfort, intimating +that he would suffer the fate of Huss. + +Meanwhile Glapio, on the other side, no doubt with the knowledge and +consent of his imperial master, made one more attempt in a very +unexpected manner to influence Luther, or at least to prevent him +from going to Worms. He went with the imperial chamberlain, Paul von +Armsdorf, to Sickingen and Hutten at the Castle of Ebernburg, spoke +of Luther as he had formerly done to Brück, in an unconstrained and +friendly manner, and offered to hold a peaceable interview with +Luther in Sickingen's presence. Armsdorf at the same time earnestly +dissuaded Hutten from his attacks and threats against the legates, +and made him the offer of an imperial pension if he would desist. +Had Luther agreed to this proposal and gone to the Ebernburg, he +could not have reached Worms in time; the safe-conduct promised him +would have been no longer valid, and the Emperor would have been +free to act against him. Nevertheless Sickingen entered into the +proposal. The danger threatening Luther at Worms must have appeared +still greater to him, and Luther could then have enjoyed the +protection of his castle, which he had offered him before. Martin +Butzer, the theologian from Schlettstadt, happened then to be with +Sickingen; he had already met Luther at Heidelberg in 1518, had then +learned to know him, and had embraced his opinions. He was now +commissioned to convey this invitation to him at Oppenheim, which +lay on Luther's road. + +But Luther continued on his way. He told Butzer that Glapio would be +able to speak with him at Worms. To Spalatin he replied, though Huss +were burnt, yet the truth was not burnt; he would go to Worms, +though there were as many devils there as there were tiles on the +roofs of the houses. + +On April 16, at ten o'clock in the morning, Luther entered Worms. He +sat in an open carriage with his three companions from Wittenberg, +clothed in his monk's habit. He was accompanied by a large number of +men on horseback, some of whom, like Jonas, had joined him earlier +in his journey, others, like some gentlemen belonging to the +Elector's court, had ridden out from Worms to receive him. The +imperial herald rode on before. The watchman blew a horn from the +tower of the cathedral on seeing the procession approach the gate. +Thousands streamed hither to see Luther. The gentlemen of the court +escorted him into the house of the Knights of St. John, where he +lodged with two counsellors of the Elector. As he stepped from his +carriage he said, 'God will be with me.' Aleander, writing to Rome, +said that he looked around with the eyes of a demon. + +Crowds of distinguished men, ecclesiastics and laymen, who were +anxious to know him personally, flocked daily to see him. + +On the evening of the following day he had to appear before the +Diet, which was assembled in the Bishop's palace, the residence of +the Emperor, not far from where Luther was lodging. He was conducted +thither by side streets, it being impossible to get through the +crowds assembled in the main thoroughfare to see him. On his way +into the hall where the Diet was assembled, tradition tells us how +the famous warrior, George von Frundsberg, clapped him on the +shoulder, and said: 'My poor monk! my poor monk! thou art on thy way +to make such a stand as I and many of my knights have never done in +our toughest battles. If thou art sure of the justice of thy cause, +then forward in the name of God, and be of good courage--God will +not forsake thee.' The Elector had given Luther as his advocate the +lawyer Jerome Schurf, his Wittenberg colleague and friend. + +[Illustration: FIG. 25.-LUTHER. (From an engraving by Cranach, in +1521.)] + +When at length, after waiting two hours, Luther was admitted to the +Diet, Eck, [Footnote: This Eck must not be confused with the other +John Eck, the theologian.] the official of the Archbishop of Treves, +put to him simply, in the name of the Emperor, two questions, +whether he acknowledged the books (pointing to them on a bench +beside him) to be his own, and next, whether he would retract their +contents or persist in them. Schurf here exclaimed, 'Let the titles +of the books be named.' Eck then read them out. Among them there +were some merely edifying writings, such as 'A Commentary on the +Lord's Prayer,' which had never been made the subject of complaint. + +Luther was not prepared for this proceeding, and possibly the first +sight of the august assembly made him nervous. He answered in a low +voice, and as if frightened, that the books were his, but that since +the question as to their contents concerned the highest of all +things, the Word of God and the salvation of souls, he must beware +of giving a rash answer, and must therefore humbly entreat further +time for consideration. + +After a short deliberation the Emperor instructed Eck to reply that +he would, out of his clemency, grant him a respite till the next +day. + +So Luther had again, on April 18, a Thursday, to appear before the +Diet. Again he had to wait two hours, till six o'clock. He stood +there in the hall among the dense crowd, talking unconstrained and +cheerfully with the ambassador of the Diet, Peutinger, his patron at +Augsburg. + +After he was called in, Eck began by reproaching him for having +wanted time for consideration. He then put the second question to +him in a form more befitting and more conformable with the wishes of +the members of the Diet: 'Wilt thou defend _all_ the books +acknowledged by thee to be thine, or recant some part?' Luther now +answered with firmness and modesty, in a well-considered speech. He +divided his works into three classes. In some of them he had set +forth simple evangelical truths, professed alike by friend and foe. +Those he could on no account retract. In others he had attacked +corrupt laws and doctrines of the Papacy, which no one could deny +had miserably vexed and martyred the consciences of Christians, and +had tyrannically devoured the property of the German nation; if he +were to retract these books, he would make himself a cloak for +wickedness and tyranny. In the third class of his books he had +written against individuals, who endeavoured to shield that tyranny, +and to subvert godly doctrine. Against these he freely confessed +that he had been more violent than was befitting. Yet even these +writings it was impossible for him to retract, without lending a +hand to tyranny and godlessness. But in defence of his books he +could only say in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, 'If I have +spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou +me?' If anyone could do so, let him produce his evidence and confute +him from the sacred writings, the Old Testament and the Gospel, and +he would be the first to throw his books into the fire. And now, as +in the course of his speech he had sounded a new challenge to the +Papacy, so he concluded by an earnest warning to Emperor and Empire, +lest by endeavouring to promote peace by a condemnation of the +Divine Word, they might; rather bring a dreadful deluge of evils, +and thus give an unhappy and inauspicious beginning to the reign of +the noble young Emperor. He said not these things as if the great +personages who heard him stood in any need of his admonitions, but +because it was a duty that he owed to his native Germany, and he +could not neglect to discharge it. + +Luther, like Eck, spoke in Latin, and then, by desire, repeated his +speech with equal firmness in German. Schurf, who was standing by +his side, declared afterwards with pride, 'how Martin had made this +answer with such bravery and modest candour, with eyes upraised to +Heaven, that he and everyone was astonished.' + +The princes held a short consultation after this harangue. Then Eck, +commissioned by the Emperor, sharply reproved him for having spoken +impertinently and not really answered the question put to him. He +rejected his demand that evidence from Scripture might be brought +against him, by declaring that his heresies had already been +condemned by the Church, and in particular by the Council of +Constance, and such judgments must suffice if anything were to be +held settled in Christianity. He promised him, however, if he would +retract the offensive articles, that his other writings should be +fairly dealt with, and finally demanded a plain answer 'without +horns' to the question, whether he intended to adhere to all he had +written, or would retract any part of it. + +To this Luther replied he would give an answer 'with neither horns +nor teeth.' Unless he were refuted by proofs from Scripture, or by +evident reason, his conscience bound him to adhere to the Word of +God which he had quoted in his defence. Popes and Councils, as was +clear, had often erred and contradicted themselves. He could, not, +therefore, and he would not, retract anything, for it was neither +safe nor honest to act against one's conscience. + +Eck exchanged only a few more words with him in reply to his +assertion that Councils had erred. 'You cannot prove that, 'said +Eck. 'I will pledge myself to do it,' was Luther's answer. Pressed +and threatened by his enemy, he concluded with the famous words: +'Here I stand, I can do, no otherwise. God help me. Amen.' + +The Emperor reluctantly broke up the Diet, at about eight o'clock in +the evening. Darkness had meanwhile come on; the hall was lighted +with torches, and the audience were in a state of general excitement +and agitation. Luther was led out; whereupon an uproar arose among +the Germans, who thought that he had been taken prisoner. As he +stood among the heated crowd, Duke Erich of Brunswick sent him a +silver tankard of Eimbeck beer, after having first drank of it +himself. + +On reaching his lodging, 'Luther,' to use the words of a Nüremberger +present there, 'stretched out his hands, and with a joyful +countenance exclaimed, "I am through! I am through!"' Spalatin says: +'He entered the lodging so courageous, comforted and joyful in the +Lord, that he said before others and myself, "if he had a thousand +heads, he would rather have them all cut off than make one +recantation.' He relates also how the Elector Frederick, before his +supper, sent for him from Luther's dwelling, took him into his room +and expressed to him his astonishment, and delight at Luther's +speech. 'How excellently did, Father Martin speak both in Latin and +German before the Emperor and the Orders. He was bold enough, if not +too much so.' The Emperor, on the contrary, had been so little +impressed by Luther's personality, and had understood so little of +it, that he fancied the writings ascribed to him must have been +written by some one else. Many of his Spaniards had pursued Luther, +as he left the Diet, with hisses and shouts of scorn. + +Luther, by refusing thus point-blank to retract, effectually +destroyed whatever hopes of mediation or reconciliation had been +entertained by the milder and more moderate adherents of the Church +who still wished for reform. Nor was any union possible with those +who, while looking to a truly representative Council as the best +safeguard against the tyranny of a Pope, were anxious also to obtain +at such a Council a secure and final settlement of all questions of +Christian faith and morals. It was these very Councils about which +Eck purposely called on Luther for a declaration; and Luther's words +on this point might well have been considered by the Elector as 'too +bold.' Aleander, who had used such efforts to prevent Luther's being +heard, was now well satisfied with the result. But Luther remained +faithful to himself. True it was that he had often formerly spoken +of yielding in mere externals, and of the duty of living in love and +harmony, and respecting the weaknesses of others; and his conduct +during the elaboration of his own Church system will show us how +well he knew to accommodate himself to the time, and, where +perfection was impossible, to be content with what was imperfect. +But the question here was not about externals, or whether a given +proceeding were judicious or not for the attainment of an object +admittedly good. It was a question of confessing or denying the +truth--the highest and holiest truths, as he expressed it, relating +to God and the salvation of man. In this matter his conscience was +bound. + +And the trial thus offered for his endurance was not yet over. On +the morning of the 19th, the Emperor sent word to the Estates, that +he would now send Luther back hi safety to Wittenberg, but treat him +as a heretic. The majority insisted on attempting further +negotiations with him through a Committee specially appointed. These +were conducted accordingly by the Elector of Treves, to whom +Frederick the Wise and Miltitz had once been anxious to submit +Luther's affair. The friendliness, and the visible interest in his +cause, with which Luther now was urged, was more calculated to move +him than Eck's behaviour at the Diet. He himself bore witness +afterwards how the Archbishop had shown himself more than gracious +to him, and would willingly have arranged matters peaceably. Instead +of being urged simply to retract all his propositions condemned by +the Pope, or his writings directed against the Papacy, he was +referred in particular to those articles in which he rejected the +decisions of the Council of Constance. He was desired to submit in +confidence to a verdict of the Emperor and the Empire, when his +books should be submitted to judges beyond suspicion. After that he +should at least accept the decision of a future Council, unfettered +by any acknowledgment of the previous sentence of the Pope. So +freely and independently of the Pope did this Committee of the +German Diet, including several bishops and Duke George of Saxony, +proceed in negotiating with a Papal heretic. But everything was +shipwrecked on Luther's firm reservation that the decision must not +be contrary to the Word of God; and on that question his conscience +would not allow him to renounce the right of judging for himself. +After two days' negotiations, he thus, on April 25, according to +Spalatin, declared himself to the Archbishop: 'Most gracious Lord, I +cannot yield; it must happen with me as God wills;' and continued: +'I beg of your Grace that you will obtain for me the gracious +permission of His Imperial Majesty that I may go home again, for I +have now been here for ten days and nothing yet has been effected.' +Three hours later the Emperor sent word to Luther that he might +return to the place he came from, and should be given a safe-conduct +for twenty-one days, but would not be allowed to preach on the way. + +Free residence, however, and protection at Wittenberg, in case +Luther were condemned by the Empire, was more than even Frederick +the Wise would be able to assure him. But he had already laid his +plan for the emergency. Spalatin refers to it in these words: 'Now +was my most gracious, Lord somewhat disheartened; he was certainly +fond of Dr. Martin, and was also most unwilling to act against the +Word of God, or to bring upon himself the displeasure of the +Emperor. Accordingly, he devised means how to get Dr. Martin out of +the way for a time, until matters might be quietly settled, and +caused Luther also to be informed, the evening before he left Worms, +of his scheme for getting him out of the way. At this Dr. Martin, +out of deference to his Elector, was submissively content, though, +certainly, then and at all times he would much rather have gone +courageously to the attack.' + +The very next morning, Friday the 26th, Luther departed. The imperial +herald went behind him, so as not to attract notice. They took the +usual road to Eisenach. At Friedberg Luther dismissed the herald, +giving him a letter to the Emperor and the Estates, in which he +defended his conduct at Worms, and his refusal to trust in the +decision of men, by saying that when God's Word and things eternal +were at stake, one's trust and dependence should be placed, not on +one man or many men, but on God alone. At Hersfeld, where Abbot Crato, +in spite of the ban, received him with all marks of honour, and again +at Eisenach, he preached, notwithstanding the Emperor's prohibition, +not daring to let the Word of God be bound. From Eisenach, whilst +Swaven, Schurf, and several other of his companions went straight +on, he struck southward, together with Amsdorf and Brother Pezensteiner, +in order to go and see his relations at Möhra. Here, after spending +the night at the house of his uncle Heinz, he preached the next +morning, Saturday, May 4. Then, accompanied by some of his relations, +he took the road through Schweina, past the Castle of Altenstein, and +then across the back of the Thuringian Forest to Waltershausen and Gotha. +Towards evening, when near Altenstein, he bade leave of his relations. +About half an hour farther on, at a spot where the road enters the +wooded heights, and ascending between hills along a brook, leads to an +old chapel, which even then was in ruins, and has now quite disappeared, +armed horsemen attacked the carriage, ordered it to stop with threats +and curses, pulled Luther out of it, and then hurried him away at full +speed. Pezensteiner had run away as soon as he saw them approach. +Amsdorf and the coachman were allowed to pass on; the former was in the +secret, and pretended to be terrified, to avoid any suspicion on the +part of his companion. The Wartburg lay to the north, about eight miles +distant, and had been the starting-point of the horsemen, as it now was +their goal; but precaution made them ride first in an eastern direction +with Luther. The coachman afterwards related how Luther in the haste of +the flight dropped a grey hat he had worn. And now Luther 'was given a +horse to ride. The night was dark, and about eleven o'clock they arrived +at the stately castle, situated above Eisenach. Here he was to be kept +as a knight-prisoner. The secret was kept as strictly as possible +towards friend and foe. For many weeks afterwards even Frederick's +brother John had no idea of it, on the contrary, he wrote to Frederick +that Luther, he had heard, was residing at one of Sickingen's castles. +Among his friends and followers the terrible news had spread, +immediately upon his capture, that he had been made away with by his +enemies. + +At Worms, however, while the Pope was concluding an alliance with +Charles against France, the Papal legate Aleander, by commission of +the Emperor, prepared the edict against Luther on the 8th of May. It +was not, however, until the 25th, after Frederick, the Elector of +the Palatinate, and a great part of the other members of the Diet +had already left, that it was deemed advisable to have it +communicated to the rest of the Estates; nevertheless it was +antedated the 8th, and issued 'by the unanimous advice of the +Electors and Estates.' It pronounced upon Luther, applying the +customary strong expressions of Papal bulls, the ban and re-ban; no +one was to receive him any longer, or feed him &c., but wherever he +was found, he was to be seized and handed over to the Emperor. + + + + +PART IV. + +_FROM THE DIET OF WORMS TO THE PEASANTS' WAR AND LUTHER'S +MARRIAGE_. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +LUTHER AT THE WARTBURG, TO HIS VISIT TO WITTENBERG IN 1521. + + +Luther, after being brought to the fortress, had to live there as a +knight-prisoner. He was called Squire George, he grew a stately +beard, and doffed his monk's cowl for the dress of a knight, with a +sword at his side. The governor of the castle, Herr von Berlepsch, +entertained him with all honour, and he was liberally supplied with +food and drink. He was free to go about as he pleased in the +apartments of the castle, and was permitted, in the company of a +trusty servant, to take rides and walks out of doors. Thus, as he +writes to a friend, he sat up aloft, in the region of the birds, as +a curious prisoner, _nolens volens_, whether he willed or no; +willing, because God would have it so, not willing, because he would +far rather have stood up for the Word of God in public, but of such +an honour God had not yet found him worthy. + +[Illustration: Fig 26--LUTHER as "Squire George." (From a woodcut by +Cranach.)] + +Care was also taken at once that he should be able to correspond at +least by letter with his friends, and especially with those at +Wittenberg. These letters were sent by messengers of the Elector +through the hands of Spalatin. When Luther afterwards heard that a +rumour had got abroad as to his place of residence, he sent a letter +to Spalatin, in which he said: 'A report, so I hear, is spread that +Luther is staying at the Wartburg near Eisenach; the people suppose +this to be the case, because I was taken prisoner in the wood below; +but while they believe that, I sit here safely hidden. If the books +that I publish betray me, then I shall change my abode; it is very +strange that nobody thinks of Bohemia.' This letter, so Luther +thought, Spalatin might let fall into the hands of some of his +spying opponents, so as to lead them astray in their conjecture. +Spalatin made no use of this naive attempt at trickery. He could +hardly have done much in the matter, and would probably have +directed those who saw through the meaning of the letter straight to +the Wartburg. He succeeded, however, remarkably well in keeping the +spot a secret, even after it was generally guessed and known that +Luther was to be found somewhere in Saxony. As late as 1528, +Luther's friend Agricola remarks that he had hitherto remained +concealed, whilst some even sought to hear of him by questioning of +the devil; and more than twenty years later Luther's opponent +Cochlaeus declares that he was hidden at Alstedt in Thuringia. + +There was no imperial power at that time which might have deemed it +necessary or expedient to track out the man who had been condemned +by the Edict of Worms. The Emperor had left Germany again, and was +engaged in a war with France. + +In his quiet solitude Luther threw himself again without delay into +the work of his calling, so far as he could here perform it. This +was the study of Scripture and the active exercise of his own pen in +the service of God's Word. He had now more time than before to +investigate the meaning of the Bible in its original languages. 'I +sit here,' he writes to Spalatin ten days after his arrival, 'the +whole day at leisure, and read the Greek and Hebrew Bible.' + +His sojourn at the castle began in the festival time between Easter +and Whitsuntide. He wrote at once an exposition of the sixty-eighth +Psalm, with particular reference to the events of Ascension and +Whitsuntide. + +For the liberation of the laity from the Papal yoke, he set at once +further to work by composing a treatise 'On Confession, whether the +Pope has power to order it.' He commends confession, when a man +humbles himself and, receives forgiveness of God through the lips of +a Christian brother, but he denounces any compulsion in the matter, +and warns men against priests who pervert it into a means of +increasing their own power. He now expressed his public thanks to +Sickingen, and dedicated the book to him--'To the just and firm +Francis von Sickingen, my especial lord and patron.' In this +dedication he repeats the fears he had long expressed of the +judgment that the clergy would bring upon themselves by their hatred +of improvement and their obstinacy. 'I have,' he says, 'often +offered peace, I have offered them an answer, I have disputed, but +all has been of no avail: I have met with no justice, but only with +vain malice and violence, nothing more. I have been simply called on +to retract, and threatened with every evil if I refused.' Then +speaking of the critical moment at which he was obliged to withdraw, +'I can do no more,' he says, 'I am now out of the game. They have +now time to change that which cannot, and should not, and will not +be tolerated from them any longer. If they refuse to make the +change, another will make it for them, without their thanks, one who +will not teach like Luther with letters and words, but with deeds. +Thank God, the fear and awe of those rogues at Borne is now less +than it was.' And again, speaking of Roman insolence: 'They push on +blindly ahead--there is no listening or reasoning. Well, I have +seen; more water-bubbles than even theirs, and once such an +outrageous smoke that it managed to blot out the sun, but the smoke +never lasted, and the sun still shines. I shall continue to keep the +truth bright and expose it, and am as far from fearing my ungracious +masters as they are ready to despise me.' + +Luther now finished his exposition of the _Magnificat_, which, +with loving devotion to the subject, he had intended for Prince John +Frederick. He resumed also his work on the Sunday Gospels and +Epistles. The first part of it he had already published in Latin. +But he gave it now a new, and for the Christian people of Germany, a +most important character, by writing in German his comments on these +passages of Scripture, including those already dealt with in Latin, +which formed the text of the sermon for the day. Thus arose his +first collection of sermons, the 'Church-Postills.' By November he +had already sent the first part to the press, though the work +progressed but slowly. In a simple exposition of the words of the +Bible, without any artificial and rhetorical additions or ornament, +but with a constant and cheerful regard to practical life, with an +unceasing attention to the primary questions of salvation, and in +pithy, clear, and thoroughly popular language, he began to lay +before his readers the sum total of Christian truth, and impress it +on their hearts. The work served as much for the instruction and +support of other preachers of the gospel now newly proclaimed, as +for the direct teaching and edifying of the members of their flocks. +It advanced, however, only by degrees, and Luther after many years +was obliged to have it finished by friends, who collected together +printed or written copies of his various sermons. + +For the special comfort and advice of his Wittenberg congregation +Luther wrote an exposition of the thirty-seventh Psalm. Nor with +less energy and force did he wield his pen during June, in a +vigorous and learned polemical reply in Latin to the Louvain +theologian, Latomus. + +And yet Luther all this while continued to lament that he had to sit +there so idly in his Patmos: he would rather be burnt in the service +of God's Word than stagnate there alone. The bodily rest which took +the place of his former unwearied activity in the pulpit and the +lecturer's chair, together with the sumptuous fare now substituted +for the simple diet of the convent, were no doubt the cause of the +physical suffering which for a long time had grievously distressed +him and put his patience to the test, and which must have weighed +upon his spirits. In his distress he once thought of going to Erfurt +to consult physicians. Some strong remedies, however, which Spalatin +got for him, gave him temporary relief. + +He took exercise in the beautiful woods around the castle, and +there, as he related afterwards, he used to look for strawberries. +In August he had news to give Spalatin of a hunt, at which he had +been present two days. He wished to look on at 'this bitter-sweet +pleasure of heroes.' 'We have,' he says, 'hunted two hares and a few +poor little partridges; truly a worthy occupation for idle people!' +But among the nets and hounds he managed, as he says, to pursue +theology. He saw in it all a picture of the devil, who by cunning +and godless doctrines ensnares poor innocent creatures. Graver +thoughts still were suggested to his mind by the fate of a little +hare, which he had helped to save, and had rolled up in the long +sleeve of his cloak, but which, on his putting it down afterwards +and going away, the dogs caught and killed. 'Thus,' he says, 'do the +Pope and Satan rage together, to destroy, despite my efforts, souls +already saved.' + +At that time too he fancied he heard and saw all kinds of devil's +noises and sights, which long afterwards he frequently described to +his friends, but which he took at the time with great calmness. +Such, for instance, were a strange continual rumbling in a chest in +which he kept hazel nuts, nightly noises of falling on the stairs, +and the unaccountable appearance of a black dog in his bed. + +Of the well-known ink-stain at the Wartburg we hear nothing either +from those or after-times; and a similar spot was shown in the last +century at the Castle of Coburg, where Luther stayed in 1530. + +In the outer world, meanwhile, the great movement that emanated from +Luther continued to advance and grow, in spite of his disappearance. +It was apparent how powerless was his enforced absence to suppress +it. Soon too it was to be seen how much on the other hand it +depended on him that the movement should not bring real danger and +destruction. + +At Wittenberg his friends continued labouring faithfully and +undisturbed. Much as Melancthon troubled himself about Luther and +longed for his return, Luther relied with confidence upon him and +his efforts, as rendering his own presence unnecessary. With joyful +congratulations to his friend he acknowledged his receipt at the +Wartburg of the sheets of his work--the _Loci Communes_--wherein +Melancthon, whilst intending at first only to proclaim the +fundamental principles and doctrines of the Bible, and especially of +the Epistle to the Romans, actually laid the foundation for the +dogma of the Evangelical Church. + +Just at this time new forces had stepped in to further the work and the +battle. Shortly before Luther's departure to Worms, John Bugenhagen of +Pomerania had appeared at Wittenberg,--a man only two years younger +than Luther, well trained in theology and humanistic learning, and +already won over to Luther's doctrines by his writings, and more +especially by his work on the Babylonish Captivity. He had made friends +with Luther and Melancthon, and soon began to teach with them at the +university. John Agricola from Eisleben had already taken part in the +biblical lectures at the university, which was then the chief place for +the exposition of evangelical doctrine. This man, born in 1494, had +lived at Wittenberg since 1516. He had from the first been an adherent +of Luther, and had won his confidence, as also that of Melancthon. He +was now their fellow-lecturer at the university, and since the spring +of 1521 had been appointed by the town as catechist at the parish +church, charged with the duty of teaching children religion. Wittenberg +had also gained the services of the learned Justus Jonas, so conspicuous +for his high culture, and a staunch and open friend of Luther. Shortly +after his journey with Luther from Erfurt to the Diet of Worms, he +obtained, by grant of the Elector, the office of provost to the church +of All Saints at Wittenberg, and became a member also of the theological +faculty at the university. The excommunication under which Melancthon +had fallen with Luther did not deter the mass of students from their +cause. The academical youth who had assembled here from the whole of +Germany, and from Switzerland, Poland, and other countries, were +renowned for the exemplary unity in which, unlike their brethren in +most of the universities in those days, they lived together and +devoted themselves to the purest and most elevating studies. +Everywhere students might be seen with Bibles in their hands; the +young nobles and sons of burghers applied themselves diligently to +self-discipline; and the drinking-bouts practised elsewhere, and so +destructive to the muses, were unknown among them. + +Luther, by his behaviour at Worms in particular, had fastened upon +himself the eyes of all Germany. The proceedings before the Diet, +made known, as they would be nowadays, by the newspapers, were then +published abroad by means of fugitive pamphlets of a longer or +shorter kind. Luther's speech in particular was circulated from +notes made partly by himself, partly by others. Day after day, and +especially during the sittings of the Diet, a number of other short +tracts and fly-sheets set forth, mainly in the form of a dialogue, a +popular discussion and explanation of his cause. His fate at Worms +was immediately proclaimed in a book called 'The Passion of Dr. +Martin Luther,' the title of which sufficiently indicated the +analogy suggested. Then came the stirring and disquieting news of +his sudden kidnapping by the powers of darkness; rumours which only +served to stimulate him further in his concealment to speak out and +march forwards with undaunted courage and assurance. + +As writers who now began to labour for the cause in a similar spirit +to Luther's and in a similarly popular style and manner, we must not +omit to name the following. First and foremost was Eberlin of +Günzburg, formerly a Franciscan at Tübingen; next, the Augustine +monk Michael Stifel of Esslingen, who came himself to Wittenberg and +joined there the circle of friends; and lastly, the Franciscan Henry +von Kettenbach at Ulm. The authors of some other influential works, +such as the dialogue 'Neu Karsthans' (Karsthans being a name for +peasants), are not known with certainty. In these men and their +writings, ideas and thoughts already made their appearance, going +beyond the intentions of Luther, and into a territory which, from +his standpoint of religion, he would rather have seen more exactly +defined, and taking up weapons which he had rejected. Thus +'Karsthans' contains the advice to break off, after the example of +the Hussites in Bohemia, from most of the Churches, as being tainted +with avarice and superstition; and a rising against the clergy is +contemplated, in which the nobles and peasants should combine. +Eberlin, with his extraordinary energy, not content with the most +comprehensive and far-reaching schemes of ecclesiastical reform, +plunged into questions affecting the wants of municipal, social, and +political life, which Luther, in his Address to the German Nobility, +had only briefly alluded to, and had carefully distinguished from +his own particular work in hand. To the dealings of the great +merchants he showed himself more hostile even than Luther; and put +forward such proposals as the establishment by the civil authorities +of a cheaper tariff of prices for provisions, the appointment to +magisterial offices by election, for which peasants also should be +qualified, and free rights of hunting and fishing. + +The Edict of Worms, intended to proscribe and suppress throughout +Germany the heretic and his writings, was published in the different +states and towns by the princes and magistrates; but the power, and +partly also the will, was wanting to enforce its execution. At +Erfurt, shortly after Luther's passage through the town upon his way +to Worms, the interference of the clergy against a member of a +religious institution which had taken part in the ovation accorded +to the Reformer, gave the first occasion to violent and repeated +tumults. Students and townspeople attacked upwards of sixty houses +of the priests, and demolished them. Luther told his friends at +once, that he saw in this the work of Satan, who sought by this +means to bring contempt and legitimate reproach upon the gospel. + +Elsewhere, and above all at Wittenberg, his followers busied +themselves in his absence with putting into practice what he had +defended with his words. Calmly and with mature deliberation and +courage, Luther took part in their labours from the solitude of his +watch-tower. He had a very lively and, as he himself confesses, +often painful consciousness of his own responsibility, as the one +who had put the first match to the great fire, and whose first +duties lay with his Wittenberg brethren, as their teacher and +pastor. + +Shortly after his arrival at the Wartburg, he received the news that +Bartholomew Bernhardi of Feldkirchen, provost in the little town of +Kemberg near Wittenberg, had publicly, and with the consent of his +congregation, taken a wife. He was not the first priest who had +ventured to break the unchristian prohibition of marriage by the +Romish Church. But he was the most distinguished of such offenders +hitherto, besides being a particular disciple of Luther and a man of +unimpeachable integrity. Luther wrote about it to Melancthon, +saying: 'I admire the newly married man, who in these stormy times +has no fears, and has lost no time about it. May God guide him.' + +At Wittenberg it was now demanded, not without violence, that +monasticism should be abolished, and that the mass and the Lord's +Supper should be changed in conformity with the institution of +Christ. It seemed as if here, in the place of Luther, who had gone +before with the simple testimony of the Word and doctrine, two other +men were now to step in as practical and energetic Reformers. One of +them was Luther's old colleague, Carlstadt, who had returned in July +from a short visit to Copenhagen, whither the King of Denmark had +invited him to promote the new evangelical theology at the +university, but had soon again dismissed him, and who now assumed +the lead at Wittenberg with a passionate and ambitious, but +undeterminate zeal. The other was the Augustine monk, Gabriel +Zwilling, who had introduced himself to notice as a fiery preacher +in the convent church, and in spite of his unattractive appearance +and weak voice had drawn together a large congregation from the town +and university, and fascinated them with his eloquence. A young +Silesian wrote home from the university of Wittenberg about him, +saying: 'God has raised up for us another prophet; many call him a +second Luther. Melancthon is never absent when he preaches.' + +For the clergy Carlstadt sought, by a perverse interpretation of +Scripture, to make the married state into a law. Only married men +were to be appointed to offices in the Church. For monks and nuns he +claimed the liberty of renouncing their cloistered and celibate +life, if they found its moral requirements insupportable; but the +biblical evidence that he adduced in support of this doctrine was +unhappily chosen; and he still declared the renunciation of vows to +be a sin, though justified by the avoidance thereby of a still +greater sin, that of unchastity in monastic life. Luther had +required that at the Lord's Supper the cup, in accordance with the +original institution of Christ, should be given to the laity. +Carlstadt and Zwilling, however, wished to make it a sin for a +person to partake of the Communion without the cup being given to +the communicants. Other changes also were now demanded in the mode +of administering the elements, conformably with the Holy Supper held +by Jesus Himself with His twelve disciples. Zwilling would have +twelve communicants at a time partake of the bread and wine. It was +further insisted that, like as at ordinary meals, the elements +should be given into the hand of each individual to partake of, and +not put into his mouth by the priest. The sacrifice of the mass +Zwilling would abolish altogether, but Carlstadt thought it +necessary, in dealing with so important a feature of the old form of +worship, to proceed with caution. + +Upon these questions and proceedings Luther expressed his opinion +early in August to Melancthon, who was keenly excited about them, +but on many points was unsettled in his mind. The project of +restoring at Wittenberg the celebration of the Lord's Supper, as +originally instituted, with the cup, met with Luther's full +approval; for the tyranny which the Christian congregations had +hitherto endured in this respect had been acknowledged there, and +there was a general wish to resist it. He declared further, with +regard to private masses, that he was resolved never to say any more +while he lived. But compulsion he would not dream of: if any who +still suffered from this tyranny partook of the Communion without +the cup, no man durst account it to him as a sin. As for the +troubles of the monks and nuns, under their self-imposed vows, his +sympathy for them was no less acute than that of his friends at +Wittenberg, but the arguments by which they sought to help them to +liberty he did not consider sound. He gave now this subject a more +searching and deeper consideration, and shortly addressed a series +of theses on celibacy to the bishops and deacons of the church at +Wittenberg. He attacked vows in general, and assailed them at the +very root. Inasmuch, moreover, as the vows of chastity, he said, and +of other monastic observances were commonly made to God with the +intent and purpose of working out one's own salvation by one's own +works and righteousness, these were not vows in accordance with the +will of God, but denials of the faith. And even though a man should +have made a vow in a spirit of piety, he placed himself at all +events, by his own will and act, under a restraint and yoke at +variance with the gospel and the liberty which faith in Christ +bestows. Luther went still farther, and declared that the chastity +enjoined upon the monk was only possible if he possessed the special +gift of continence spoken of by St. Paul. How dare a man make a vow +to God, which God must first endue him with the power to keep? A +man, therefore, in vowing chastity, makes a vow which it is not +really possible for him to keep, whilst true chastity is made +possible for him by God in the married life which he condemns. These +vows, accordingly, are radically vicious and displeasing to God, and +cease to be binding on a Christian who has been made free in faith, +and has recognised the true will of God. + +Personally concerned as Luther was, as an Augustine monk himself, in +these questions which he discussed, he treated the liberty, which +inwardly he knew himself to possess, as quietly and coolly as +possible. On receiving the news from Wittenberg, he wrote to +Spalatin, 'Good Heaven! our Wittenbergers will allow even the monks +to have wives, but they shall not force me to take one.' And he asks +Melancthon jokingly, if he was going to revenge himself upon him for +having helped him to get a wife; he would know well enough how to +guard against that. + +At Wittenberg there was great excitement, particularly on account of +the mass. In the Augustinian convent there, the majority of the +monks held with Zwilling; they wished to celebrate the sacrament of +the Lord's Supper in strict accordance with the institution of +Christ. Their prior, Conrad Held, took the opposite side, and +adhered to the ancient usage. Justus Jonas, the provost, expressed +his views with equal ardour in the convent church attached to the +university, and met with violent opposition from other members of +the foundation. A committee, composed of deputies from the +university and chapter of canons, from whom the Elector in October +demanded a formal opinion on the subject, expressed by their +majority the same view, and requested the Elector himself to abolish +the abuse of the mass. But Frederick utterly rejected the idea of +decreeing on his own authority innovations which would constitute a +deviation from the great Christian Catholic Church, more especially +as opinions were not agreed on them even at Wittenberg. He would do +no more than give free scope and protection to the new testimony of +biblical truth, until it should be properly sifted by the Church. In +the church of the Augustinian convent, the mass and the Lord's +Supper were now both suspended. + +Men set to work now in earnest to give effect to the new principles +applied to monachism. Thirteen Augustine monks, about a third of the +then inmates of the convent at Wittenberg, quitted that convent +early in November, and cast away their cowls. Some of them took up +at once a civil trade or handicraft. This step increased the growing +feeling of hostility to the monks among the students and inhabitants +of the town. All kinds of enormities ensued: monks were mocked at in +the streets; the convents were threatened; and even the service of +the mass was disturbed by rioters who forced their way into the +parish church. + +Meanwhile Luther went on, in the quietness of his seclusion, to +teach the Christian truth about vows and masses, to explain and +establish his newly-acquired knowledge and convictions, and to +prepare by that means the way of ultimate reform. He composed a +tract, in Latin and German, 'On the Abuse of Masses,' and another, +in Latin, 'On Monastic Vows.' The latter he dedicated to his father, +taking note of his protest against his entering the convent, and +telling him with joy that he was now a free man, a monk, and yet no +longer a monk. As for his brethren's desertion of the convent, +however, he disapproved the manner of it. They could, and should, +have parted in peace and amity, not as they did, in a tumult. These +two works he completed in November, and sent them to Spalatin, to +have them printed at Wittenberg. + +In this manner Luther occupied himself from the summer to the +winter, continuing all the while his biblical studies and the +composition of his Church-Postills. But he was also preparing to +deal a heavy blow at the Cardinal Albert. This prelate had abstained +as yet, with great caution, from taking any stringent measures to +prevent the spread of Lutheran preaching in his diocese. But he was +in want of money. To supply this want, he published a work, giving +news of a precious relic, which he had placed for view at Halle, his +town, and inviting pilgrimages to see it. A multitude of other rich +and wondrous relics had been collected there; not only heaps of +bones and entire corpses of saints, with a portion of the body of +the patriarch Isaac, but also pieces of the manna, as it had fallen +from heaven in the desert, little bits of the burning bush of Moses, +jars from the wedding at Cana, and some of the wine into which Jesus +there had changed the water, thorns from the Saviour's crown, one of +the stones with which Stephen was stoned, and a multitude of other, +in all nearly 9,000, relics. Whoever should attend with devotion at +the exhibition of these sacred treasures in the Collegiate Church at +Halle, and should give a pious alms to the institution, was to +receive a 'surpassing' indulgence. The first exhibition of this kind +took place about the beginning of September. Albert also had not +scrupled to cause one of the priests who wished to marry to be +imprisoned, though it was notorious how he himself made up for his +celibacy by his loose living. + +Luther now, as he wrote to Spalatin on October 7, 1521, could not +restrain himself any longer from breaking out, in private and in +public, against his 'Idol of indulgences' and his scandalous +whoredoms. He took no thought of the fact that his own pious +Elector, only a few years before, had arranged a similar, though +less showy exhibition of relics at the convent church at Wittenberg, +and was thus indirectly assailed by reproaches now no longer +deserved. By the end of the month Luther had a pamphlet ready for +publication. But an attack of such a kind on a magnate like Albert, +the great prince of the Empire, Elector of Mayence, and brother of +the Elector of Brandenburg, was not to Frederick's taste, and he +informed Luther, through Spalatin that he forbade it. He would not +sanction anything, he said, which might disturb the public peace. +Luther told Spalatin, in his reply, that he had never read a more +disagreeable letter than Frederick's. 'I will not put up with it,' +he indignantly broke out; 'I will rather lose you and the prince +himself, and every living being. If I have stood up against the +Pope, why should I yield to his creature?' He wished only to show +his pamphlet first to Melancthon, and submit a few alterations in it +to the judgment of his friend. For this purpose he sent it to +Spalatin, requesting him to forward it. Then, on December 1, he +wrote a letter to Albert himself. Its tone and contents indicate +pretty plainly what the pamphlet itself contained. In clear vigorous +German, and without any circumlocution, he submits to the Cardinal +his 'humble request,' to abstain from corrupting the poor people, +and not to show himself a wolf in bishop's clothing. He must surely +know by this time that indulgences were sheer knavery and trickery. +He was not to imagine that Luther was dead: Luther would trust +cheerfully in God, and carry on a game with the Cardinal of Mayence, +of which not many people were yet aware. As for the priests who had +wished to marry, he warned the Archbishop that a cry would be raised +from the gospel about it; and the bishops would learn that they had +better first pluck out the beam from their own eyes, and drive their +own mistresses away. Luther concluded by giving him fourteen days +for a 'proper' answer; otherwise, when that time expired, he would +immediately publish his pamphlet on 'The Idol at Halle.' All this +while, the news from Wittenberg kept Luther in a state of constant +anxiety. The distance and the difficulty of correspondence had +become quite insupportable. A few days after his letter of December +1, he suddenly re-appeared there among his friends. In secret, and +accompanied only by a servant, he had gone thither on horseback in +his knight's dress. He stayed there for three days with Amsdorf. +Only his most intimate friends were allowed to know of his arrival. +His meeting with them again gave him, as he wrote to Spalatin, the +keenest pleasure and enjoyment. But it was a bitter sorrow to hear +that Spalatin would not look at, or listen to, his pamphlet against +Albert, nor his tracts on masses and monastic vows, but had kept +them back. What his friends now told him of their efforts and +labours he approved of, and he wished them strength from above to +persevere. But he had heard already, when on his way, of fresh +outrages committed by some of the townspeople and students against +the priests and monks, and henceforth he deemed it his nearest duty +to warn them publicly against such acts of violence and disorder. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LUTHER'S FURTHER SOJOURN AT THE WARTBURG, AND HIS RETURN TO +WITTENBERG, 1522. + + +In secret, as he had first gone there, Luther returned to the +Wartburg, and now set to work with his 'True Admonition for all +Christians to abstain from turbulence and rebellion.' He had before +his eyes the danger of an insurrection, involving the lives of all +the priests and monks who opposed reform, and one in which the +common people, in revenge for their many grievances, might fall to +laying about them with clubs and flails, as the 'Karsthans' +threatened. To the princes, magistrates, and nobles, he had already +addressed a demand to put a stop to the corruption of the Church and +the tyranny of the Pope. Of the civil authorities and the nobility, +he says now that 'they ought to do this, in duty to their ordinary +position and power, every prince and lord on his own territory; for +what is brought about by the exercise of ordinary power is not to be +accounted turbulence.' At the same time, to the masses and to +individuals he plainly prohibits a rising by force. Turbulence was +the usurpation of justice, and revenge, which God would not suffer, +for He said, 'Revenge is Mine.' All turbulence, he said, was wrong, +however good might be the cause, and only made bad worse. As for the +magistrates, he would not have them kill the priests, as once Moses +and Elias had done to the worshippers of idols; they were simply to +forbid them from acting contrary to the gospel. Words would do more +than was enough with them, so there was no need of hewing and +stabbing. We have seen how emphatically Luther expressed himself to +the same effect before he went to Worms. The Apostle's words that +the Lord should consume the Antichrist with the Spirit of His Mouth, +were to be fulfilled, according to Luther, in the words of gospel +preaching. It was his own previous experience that had taught him to +rely with such lofty confidence on the simple Word; he had done more +injury with it alone to the Pope, and the priests and monks, than +all the emperors and princes had ever done with all their power. He +still looked forward steadfastly to the approach of the Last Day, +when Christ by His coming should utterly destroy the Pope, whose +iniquity the Word had exposed. As he had done formerly in his +treatise on Christian liberty, and had now good reason to do with +the Wittenbergers, he exhorts men to a loving and merciful regard to +their weaker brethren, whose consciences were still ensnared by the +old ordinances respecting fasting and masses. They ought not to be +taken unawares, but instructed kindly and, if unable to agree at +once, dealt with patiently. 'The wolves,' he says, 'cannot be +treated too severely, nor the tender sheep too gently.' + +Luther's works on the mass and monastic vows were now actually in +print. Cardinal Albert, however, gave the answer demanded by Luther, +in a short letter of December 21. He assured him that the subject of +his complaint had been removed; that as to himself, he did not deny +that he was a miserable sinner, the very filth of the earth, as bad +as anyone. Christian chastisement he could well endure; he looked to +God for grace and strength, to live according to His will. So +abjectly did this magnate quail before the Word, with which Luther +threatened to expose his doings. He must no doubt have been ashamed +of his traffic in indulgences before all his Humanist friends, and +especially Erasmus; and must have expected that the other scandals +with which Luther charged him would be laid bare without mercy or +regard. At the same time we see in all this, how perfectly free from +reproach in this matter of morality must Luther have been, not only +in his own conscience, but also in the eyes of Albert. Luther, on +receiving this letter, doubted indeed the sincerity of its +professions, and even abstained from acknowledging it. But he now +finally abandoned, nevertheless, the publication of the pamphlet, +intended to expose him, which had hitherto been hindered by the +Elector. + +But the most important task that Luther now undertook, and in which +he persevered with steadfast devotion during his further stay at the +Wartburg, was one of a peaceful character, the most beautiful fruit +of his seclusion, the noblest gift that he has bequeathed to his +countrymen. This was his translation of the Bible--first of the New +Testament. 'Our brethren demand it of me,' he wrote to Lange shortly +after his return from Wittenberg. And in these words the wish was +evidently expressed, or else laid to heart anew. The Bible, it is +true, had been translated into German before Luther's time, but in a +clumsy idiom that sounded foreign to the people, and not, like +Luther's version, from the original text, but from the Latin +translation used in the churches. Luther declared that no one could +speak German of this outlandish kind, 'but,' he said, 'one has to +ask the mother in her home, the children in the street, the common +man in the market-place, and look at their mouths to see how they +speak, and thence interpret it to oneself, and so make them +understand. I have often laboured to do this, but have not always +succeeded or hit the meaning.' None the less strictly and faithfully +did he seek to adhere to the spirit of the text, and, where +necessary, even to the letter. Such an interpretation, he said, +required a 'truly devout, faithful, diligent, fearful, Christian, +learned, experienced, and practised heart.' Penetrated himself with +the substance and spirit of the Scriptures, he understood how to +combine in his language, as if by intuition, a dignified tone and a +national character. So hard did he work, that he finished the New +Testament at the Wartburg in a few months; he then wished to revise +it with the help of Melancthon. + +Meanwhile, affairs at Wittenberg were assuming so serious an aspect +as to make Luther's apprehensions increase from day to day. The +question of monastic vows indeed was settled peaceably, and in a +manner such as Luther would have desired, by some resolutions (so +far as resolutions could settle it), passed by the Augustinian +brethren at a chapter held at Wittenberg by Link, the Vicar of the +Order. It was there resolved that free permission should be given to +leave the convent, but that those who preferred to adhere to the +monastic life should remain there in voluntary but strict +subordination to their superiors and to the established rules; some +of them should be employed in preaching the Word of God, others +should contribute by manual labour to the support of the +institution. Outside, however, among the people of Wittenberg, +Carlstadt, who had shortly before restrained even his own partisans +in regard to the question of the mass, and who was neither a regular +preacher in the town nor in the possession of any other office, now +pressed forward, by his sermons and writings, impetuously in the +van, and made hasty strides towards the furtherance of his misty +projects of reform. Anticipating a prohibition from the Elector, he +celebrated the Lord's Supper at Christmas in the new manner. Even +the usual vestments were discarded as idolatrous: Zwilling performed +the service in a student's gown. The people were enjoined to eat +meat and eggs on fast days; and confession was no longer held before +the Communion. Carlstadt went further, and denounced the pictures +and images in the churches; it was not enough to desist from +worshipping them, nor durst it be hinted that they served as books +for the instruction of laymen. God had plainly forbidden them; their +proper place was in the fire and not in God's house. Whilst the +town-council, at his instance, resolved to have the images removed +from the parish church, some of the populace stormed in, tore them +down, hewed them to pieces, and burned them. + +Luther himself, even with regard to rites and ordinances which he +rejected altogether, always counselled moderation and patience +towards the weak. He could not believe that the great body of his +Wittenberg congregation were already ripe for such changes, or that +many conscientious but weaker brethren among them were not in need +of tender consideration. People might say that it was only a +question of time; well, he did not wish to delay genuine reform for +ever, merely to humour the minority. But it was precisely that those +members should have proper time allowed them, and every means taken +for their instruction and edification, that was to Luther a matter +of conscience. External matters, of which the other Reformers made +so much, such as eating on fast days, the taking with one's own +hands the bread and wine at the Communion, and so forth, he regarded +as trifles, the performance or non-performance of which in no way +affected the true liberty of the faithful, while grievous wrong was +done to the souls of the weaker brethren, if they were compelled to +do anything therein against their consciences. 'By acting thus,' he +says, 'you have made many consciences miserable; if they had to give +an account on their death-beds, or when troubled with temptation, +they would not for the life of them know why or how they had +offended.' Nay, he accuses a man of corrupting souls, who 'plunges' +them carelessly into practices that offend their consciences. 'You +wish,' he says, 'to serve God, and you don't know that you are the +forerunners of the devil. He has begun by attempting to dishonour +the Word; he has set you to work at that bit of folly, so that +meanwhile you may forget faith and love.' Thus Luther wrote in a +work intended for the Wittenbergers. Even the innovations with +regard to pictures and images he numbers among the 'trivial matters +which are not worth the sacrifice of faith and love.' Those which +represented truly Christian subjects he would preserve at all times, +and he valued them highly. + +These Wittenberg Reformers, however, with all their desire to assert +the higher spiritual character of evangelical Christianity, still +remained devotees, in their peculiar 'spirit,' to the externals of +worship and, in regard to images, to the letter of the Old Testament +law. And yet their conception of the Christian spirit and of +Christian revelation produced results of another and still stranger +kind. Not only did they repudiate all titles and dignities conferred +by the university, on the plea that, in the words of Christ, no man +durst call himself Rabbi or master, but Carlstadt and Zwilling now +openly expressed their contempt of all human theology and biblical +learning. God, they said, has hid these things from the wise and +prudent, and has revealed them unto babes; the Spirit from above +must enlighten a man. Carlstadt went to simple burghers in their +houses, to have passages in the Bible explained to him. He and +Zwilling won over to their side the master of the boys' school in +the town, and the school was broken up. A new municipal +constitution, supported by the magistracy, made strange inroads on +the rights of the citizens and the domain of social life; a common +chest, containing the revenues of the Church, was utilised for +advancing money without interest to needy handicraftsmen, and making +loans to other townsmen at a low rate of interest. Meantime the +spiritual wants of the community were neglected, and in the +hospitals and prisons entirely overlooked. + +Such was the direction here taken by the reform for which Luther's +preaching had prepared the way. And just at this time, at Christmas, +three fanatics came to Wittenberg from Zwickau, with the object of +taking part in the movement and furthering the work of God. These were +Nicholas Storch, a weaver, Mark Stübner, a former student at Wittenberg, +and another weaver, who were now zealously joined by the theologian +Martin Cellarius. They boasted of a direct revelation from God, of +prophetic visions, dreams, and familiar conversations with the Deity. +Compared with these pretensions, Scripture was a thing of small +importance in their eyes. They rejected infant baptism, as incapable +of imparting the Spirit. For communion and intercourse with God they +looked not to faith, which, as Luther taught, accepts submissively +what the Word of God reveals to the conscience and the heart, but to +a mystic process of self-abstraction from everything external, sensual, +and finite, until the soul becomes immovably centred in the one Divine +Being. This spirit, seemingly so elevated and pure, broke out +nevertheless into fanaticism of the wildest kind, by proclaiming and +demanding a general revolution, in which all the priests were to be +killed, all godless men destroyed, and the kingdom of God established. + +These fanatical displays had begun at Zwickau, no doubt under +Bohemian influence, and were characterised by the ravings common to +the middle ages. Thomas Münzer, from Stolberg in the Harz country, +who was a preacher at one of the churches, took the lead; and he was +certainly the most important and most dangerous personage among +them. He accounted the civil authorities, with their rights, no more +as Christians than he did the clergy and the hierarchy; and began +already to prate of universal equality and communism. This novel and +exciting doctrine soon won adherents, and propagated the 'spirit of +revelation.' Already disturbances were brewing. But the magistrates +took vigorous and timely measures. Storch, Stübner, and Cellarius +fled to Wittenberg, while Münzer roamed about elsewhere in Germany. + +Carlstadt went on with his innovations without allying himself +outwardly with these refugees. But the connection of his aims with +theirs could not be mistaken, and as time went on, became more and +more apparent. Melancthon, with all his refinement and purity of +soul, had not sufficient energy and independence to bridle the +passions and forces that had been aroused by Carlstadt. The Zwickau +prophets, with their visions and revelations, haunted him; he seemed +incapable of forming any settled or sober judgment on this strange +and sudden phenomenon. + +Luther, on the contrary, received the news with calmness and +composure. He marvelled at the anxiety of his friend, who in +intellect and learning was his superior. He found no difficulty in +testing these enthusiasts by the standard of the New Testament. +There was nothing, he said, in their words and acts, so far as he +had heard anything of them, which the devil might not do or mimic. +As for their so-called ecstasies of devotion, there was nothing in +all that, even though they boasted of being rapt into the third +heaven. The Majesty of God was not wont to hold such familiar +converse with men in old time. The creature must first perish before +his Creator, as before a consuming fire: when God speaks, he must +feel the meaning of the words of Isaiah, 'As a lion, so will he +break all my bones.' And yet Luther would not have them imprisoned +or dealt with by violence; they could be disposed of without +bloodshed and the sword, and be laughed out of their folly. + +But his cares for his Wittenberg congregation and the trouble which +Carlstadt's doings there were giving him, left him no peace. He +could not justify those acts before God and the world: they lay upon +his own shoulders, and above all, they brought discredit on the +gospel. In January he went back to Wittenberg. He was entreated to +do so by the magistrates. In vain did the Elector attempt to detain +him, and so prevent his risking an appearance in public. Moreover, +the Council of Regency at Nüremberg, which represented the Emperor +in his absence, had just demanded of Frederick a strict suppression +of the innovations at Wittenberg. + +Luther quitted the Wartburg, without leave, on March 1. About his +journey thence we only know that he passed through Jena and the town +of Borna, lying south of Leipzig. A young Swiss, John Kessler from +St. Gallen, who was then on his way with a companion to the +university at Wittenberg, has left us an interesting account of +their meeting with Luther at the inn of the 'Black Bear,' just +outside Jena. They found there a solitary horseman sitting at the +table, 'dressed after the fashion of the country in a red +_schlepli_ (or slouched hat), plain hose and doublet--he had +thrown aside his tabard--with a sword at his side, his right hand +resting on the pommel, and the other grasping the hilt.' Before him +lay a little book. He invited them in a friendly manner, bashful as +they were, to take a seat by him, and spoke to them about the +Wittenberg studies, about Melancthon and other men of learning, and +as to what people thought of Luther in Switzerland. Discoursing +thus, he made them feel so much at ease, that Kessler's companion +took up the little book lying before him, and opened it: it was a +Hebrew Psalter. At supper, where they were joined by two merchants, +he paid for Kessler and his friend, and fascinated them all by his +'agreeable and godly discourse.' Afterwards he drank with his young +friends 'one more friendly glass for a blessing,' gave them his hand +at parting, and charged them to greet the jurist Schurf at +Wittenberg, who was a fellow-countryman of theirs by birth, with the +words 'He who is coming, salutes you.' The host had recognised +Luther, and told his guests who he was. Early next morning the +merchants found him in the stable: he mounted his horse, and rode +forward on his way. + +At Borna, where he lodged with an official of the Elector, he wrote +in haste a long answer to the warning instructions of his prince, +conveyed to him by the governor of Eisenach on the eve of his +departure. He did not seek to excuse himself, or to beg forgiveness, +but to quiet his 'most gracious Highness,' and confirm him in the +faith. He had never spoken with greater certainty about what he had +to do, nor with a calmer and more joyful, bold, and proud assurance, +in view of what lay before him, than now, when he had to encounter, +on two contrary sides, opposition and danger. In his resolve and his +hopes he threw himself entirely on his God. 'I go to Wittenberg,' he +writes to Frederick, 'under a far higher protection than yours. Nay, +I hold that I can offer your Highness more protection than your +Highness can offer me.... God alone must be the worker here, without +any human care or help; therefore, he who has the most faith will be +able to give the most protection.' To the question what the Elector +should do in his cause, he answered, 'nothing at all.' The Elector +must allow the Imperial authorities to exercise their powers in his +territory without let or hindrance, even if they chose to seize him +or put him to death. The Elector would surely not be called on to be +his executioner. Should he leave the door open and give safe-conduct +to those who sought to capture him, he would have done his duty +quite enough. + +Luther rode on undaunted, even through the territory of Duke George, +who was now violently exasperated with him and the people of +Wittenberg; and on the evening of March 6 he reached his destination +and his friends, safe in body and happy in his mind. + +On the morning of the following Saturday, Kessler and his companion, +on visiting Schurf, found Luther sitting at his house with +Melancthon, Jonas, and Amsdorf, and telling them about his doings. +Kessler thus describes his appearance. 'When I saw Martin in 1522, +he was somewhat stout, but upright, bending backwards rather than +stooping; with a face upturned to heaven; with deep, dark eyes and +eyebrows, twinkling and sparkling like stars, so that one could +hardly look steadily at them.' + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LUTHER'S RE-APPEARANCE AND FRESH LABOURS AT WITTENBEBG, 1522. + + +It was on a Thursday that Luther arrived again at Wittenberg. The +very next Sunday he re-appeared in his old pulpit among his town +congregation. In clear, simple, earnest, and Scriptural language he +endeavoured to explain to them their errors, and to lead them again +into the right way. For eight successive days he preached in this +manner. The truths and principles he propounded were the same that +he uttered from the Wartburg, and, indeed, ever since his career of +reformation began. Above all things he exhorted them to charity, and +to deal with their faithful fellow-Christians as God had dealt with +them in His love, whereof through faith they were partakers. 'In +this, dear friends,' he said, 'you are almost entirely wanting, and +not a trace of charity can I see in you, but perceive rather that +you have not been thankful to God. I see, indeed, that you can +discourse well enough on the doctrines of faith and love which have +been preached to you, and no wonder: cannot even a donkey sing his +lesson? and should you not then speak and teach the doctrine or the +little Word? But the kingdom of God does not consist in talk or +words, but in deeds, in works and practice.' He taught them to +distinguish between what was obligatory and what was free, between +what was to be observed or what was not. Charity must be practised, +he said, even in essentials, since no man must compel his brother by +force, but must let the Word operate on the hearts of the weak and +erring, and pray for them. Whatever is free must be left free, so as +not to cause vexation to the weak; but against unchristian tyrants a +stand must be made for freedom. + +Thus, with the sheer power and fervour of his eloquence, Luther +prevailed with his congregation, and soon had the conduct of the +Church movement again in his hands. Zwilling allowed himself to be +reproved. Carlstadt shrank back silently, though sullenly; Luther +earnestly begged him not to publish anything hostile and thus compel +him to a battle. In his sermons he refrained from all personal +references. Of the recent innovations, only one was retained, the +omission from the mass of the words relating to the sacrifice of the +Body of Christ by the priests. Luther considered them downright +objectionable and unchristian; and important as they were in +themselves, they were scarcely noticed by the weak and simple, being +uttered in Latin, and in a low voice. The sacrament was again +administered to the majority in one kind; and only those who +expressly desired it could receive it with the lay-cup at an altar +set aside for the purpose. The latter form of celebration, however, +soon became the general custom, to the exclusion of the former. As +regards the vestments to be worn during service, the taking the +elements into one's own hand, and such-like matters, Luther +maintained that they were too trifling to make a fuss about, or to +be allowed to be a stumbling-block to the weak adherents of the old +system. Luther himself returned to live at the convent, resumed his +cowl, and observed again the customary ordinance of fasting. It was +only after two years, when his frock was quite worn out, and he had +a new suit made of some good cloth which the Elector had given him, +that he laid aside altogether his monk's dress. + +The prophets of Zwickau were away from Wittenberg at the moment when +Luther returned there. A few weeks after Stübner and Cellarius +appeared before Luther. Their real character and spirit were now +fully shown him by the arrogance and violence with which they +demanded belief in their superior authority, and by their outburst +of rage when he ventured to contradict them. He writes thus to +Spalatin: 'I have caught them even in open lying; when they tried to +evade me with miserable smooth words, I at last bade them prove +their teaching by miracles, of which they boasted against the +Scriptures. This they refused, but threatened that I should have to +believe them some day. Thereupon I told them that their God could +work no miracle against the will of my God. Thus we separated.' They +then left the town for ever, without having gained any ground there. + +Thus Luther, who was accused by his enemies of subverting all +ordinances of the Church, began his practical labours of reform by +checking, through the firmness and clearness of his principles, the +violence of others, and concentrating all his thoughts on the +spiritual welfare of his congregation. The preacher of free and +saving faith was the foremost to insist, in the practical conduct of +the Church, upon the active exercise of brotherly love in the +service of true freedom. The great man of the people opposed +himself, regardless of popular favour or dislike, to the current +which had now become national. Under the influence of his preaching +the Elector could now quietly allow matters in Wittenberg and the +neighbourhood to shape their further course in quiet. Nevertheless, +he permitted the neighbouring bishops to work against the new +doctrines by visitations in his country; he only denied them the +assistance of magisterial compulsion and temporal penalties. The +truth should make its own way. + +Luther, immediately on his return to Wittenberg, was impatient to +explain in full to German Christendom his position, without the +restraints imposed on his words during his residence at the +Wartburg. This he did in a letter to the knight Hartmuth von +Kronberg, near Frankfort-on-the-Main, which he intended for +publication. The latter, son-in-law to Sickingen, a man of upright, +honourable, Christian character, had published a couple of little +tracts in Luther's spirit. Luther, by his letter wished to 'visit +him in spirit and make known to him his joy.' He took the +opportunity, at the same time, of speaking his mind plainly, both +about the contest he had to wage at Wittenberg, and the hostility to +the gospel displayed by Romanists in Germany. But harder yet for the +faith than the snares of such enemies, appeared to him 'the cunning +game' devised by Satan at Wittenberg, to bring reproach upon the +gospel. 'Not all my enemies,' he said, 'have hit me as I now am hit +by our people, and I must confess that the smoke makes my eyes smart +and almost tickles my heart. "Hereby," thought the Evil One, "I will +take the heart out of Luther and weary the tough spirit; this attack +he will neither understand nor conquer!"' Fearlessly also, and in a +manner which would have been impossible to him at the Wartburg, he +spoke out against the grievous 'sin at Worms, when the truth of God +was so childishly despised, so publicly, defiantly, wilfully +condemned;' it was a sin of the whole German nation, because the +heads had done this, and no one at the godless Diet had opposed +them. He reproached himself with having, in order to please good +friends there, and not to appear too obstinate, smothered his +feelings and not spoken out his belief with more vigour and decision +before the tyrants, however much the unbelieving heathens might have +abused him for answering haughtily. Of one of his 'miserable +enemies' he says: 'The chief one is the water-bladder N., who defies +Heaven with his high stomach, and has renounced the gospel. He would +like to devour Christ, as the wolf does a gnat.' This was an +unmistakable allusion to Duke George, who, in his bigoted devotion +to the Church, was especially excited by the dangerous influences +which threatened his country from the neighbouring Wittenberg, and +who shortly before had made violent complaints on that account to +the Elector Frederick. Indeed, in a copy of this letter, he was +mentioned by name. Duke George afterwards demanded satisfaction, but +the matter was prolonged without any result. Luther informs Hartmuth +of his return to Wittenberg, but adds that he does not know how long +he will remain there. He announces to him the portion of his +Postills which had just been published, and states that he had made +up his mind to translate the Bible into German. This, he said, was +necessary for him, for it would show him his mistake in fancying he +was a learned man. + +Luther now threw himself into his work in all its branches. He +resumed his academical lectures as well as the regular preaching in +the town church, and he also preached on week days on the different +books of the Bible. These sermons he continued when, in the +following year, after the death of the old pastor Heins, for whom he +had hitherto acted as deputy, his friend Bugenhagen was appointed to +the living. He and Bugenhagen remained from now until the latter +died, united by personal friendship and common theological views, +and laboured faithfully together in the service of their parochial +congregation. Bugenhagen, as town pastor, appears as one of the most +prominent figures in the history of Wittenberg at this time. Luther +assisted him and his congregation with unselfish affection and +friendship, and in turn made confidential use of his services as +pastor and father-confessor. + +[Illustration: Fig. 27.--Bugenuagen. From a picture by Cranach in +his album, (at Berlin,) 1543.] + +During the busy times of Lent and Easter, 1522, Luther had again +undertaken duty among the Wittenberg congregation, and immediately +after Easter he visited Borna, Altenburg, Zwickau, and Eilenburg, +where the people were longing to hear his preaching, and where he +exerted himself to have an evangelical preacher appointed. His eyes +indeed were chiefly fixed on Zwickau, where he was resolved to +counteract finally by his words the consequences of the recent +infatuation. According to a report, made by a state official, 25,000 +people assembled to hear Luther, who preached from a balcony of the +town-hall to the multitude gathered below. At Borna he preached +immediately before a visitation held there by the Bishop of +Merseburg, and again on the day after it. During the following +autumn he also preached several times at Weimar, whither he had been +invited by John, the brother of the Elector Frederick; and likewise +before the congregation at Erfurt, to whom during the summer he had +addressed an instructive exhortation in writing on the subject of +the innovations. + +Even at Wittenberg his literary labours, as we have seen from his +letter to Kronberg, were still mainly devoted to the Bible. In +concert with Melancthon, and with the assistance of other friends, +he set about a revision of his translation of the New Testament. He +sent the first sheets when printed to Spalatin, on May 10, as a +'foretaste of our new Bible.' With the aid of three presses the +printing progressed so rapidly, that already in September the work +was ready for publication. September 21, dedicated to St. Matthew, +is distinguished as the birthday of the German New Testament. In +December already a second edition was called for, though the price +of the book, a florin and a half, was a high one at that time. + +The work was greedily and thankfully pounced upon by many thousands +in all parts of Germany, who had learnt from Luther to distinguish +the 'pure Word of God' from the dogmas of the Church, and to honour +it accordingly. Nor could any means more powerful than this be found +of spreading the doctrine thus founded on the Word of God, and +making it the real property of hearers and readers. All the greater +was the danger recognised herein by those who adhered to +ecclesiastical authority and traditions. Of great significance for +both sides are the words of one of the most violent of Luther's +contemporary opponents, the theologian Cochlaeus: 'Luther's New +Testament was multiplied by the printers in a most wonderful degree, +so that even shoemakers and women, and every and any lay person +acquainted with the German type, read it greedily as the fountain of +all truth, and by repeatedly, reading it, impressed it on their +memory. By this means they acquired in a few months so much +knowledge, that they ventured to dispute, not only with Catholic +laymen, but even with masters and doctors of theology, about faith +and the gospel. Luther himself, indeed, had long before taught that +even Christian women, and everyone who had been baptized, were in +truth priests, as much as pope, bishop, and priests. The crowd of +Lutherans gave themselves far more trouble in learning the +translation of the Bible than did the Catholics, where the laity +left such matters chiefly to the priests and monks.' The Catholic +authorities immediately issued orders forbidding the book, and +directing it to be delivered up and confiscated. They hastened also +to accuse the translation of a number of pretended errors and +falsifications, which were mostly corrections of passages +mistranslated in the established Latin version from the words of the +original Greek text. Cochlaeus brought one particular charge against +Luther's translation, that he had ventured to alter the beginning of +the Lord's Prayer in contradiction to the Universal, including the +German Church, and likewise to the original text, by substituting +'Unser Vater in dem Himmel' for 'Vater unser, der du bist im +Himmel.' ('Our Father in Heaven,' for 'Our Father which art in +Heaven'). When, some years later, Emser published a rival +translation of the New Testament, it was found to be in great part a +transcript of Luther's, with only a few corrections according to the +old Latin. + +Whilst the New Testament was still in the press, Luther set +zealously to work on the Old. Here he encountered more difficulties, +on account of the language; but he had long been studying Hebrew +with devotion and zeal, and moreover he could now get the assistance +of his new colleague, Aurogallus, who was especially famous for +teaching Hebrew. Before Christmas the five Books of Moses were ready +for press; these were to be published by themselves. In 1524 they +were followed by two other parts, containing the biblical books +(according to the present German order) up to the Song of Solomon. +His translation of the prophets, interrupted by other work, was +delayed for several years. + +Nor was Luther's sharp pen long idle against Rome, as indeed might +have been anticipated from his letter to Kronberg. He found his +chief occasion for attack in a series of new edicts and other +measures of the German bishops against the innovations--the +abolition of clerical celibacy, the transgression of the laws of +fasting, and so on. For this purpose ecclesiastical visitations were +undertaken by the Bishops of Meissen and Merseburg, such as have +already been alluded to when Luther went to Zwickau. + +Luther's sermons against the abuse of Christian liberty were +followed by a small tract entitled 'On the necessity of avoiding +human doctrine.' He did not mean it, as he said, for those 'bold, +intemperate heads;' but he wished to preach Christian liberty to the +poor, humble consciences, enslaved by monkish vows and ordinances, +that they might be instructed how, by God's help and without danger, +to escape and to use their liberty discreetly. Against the existing +Romish episcopacy he declared war to the knife in a treatise +'Against the Order, falsely called Spiritual, of Pope and Bishops.' +He who had been robbed of his title of priest and doctor by the +displeasure of Pope and Emperor, and from whom, by Papal bulls, the +'mark of the beast' (Rev. xiii. 16) was washed off, confronts the +'popish bishops' now, as 'by God's grace, preacher at Wittenberg.' + +Luther's further writings against the Romish Churchdom and dogma do +not possess the same interest for us as his earlier ones, inasmuch +as they no longer show the progress and development of his own views +on the Church. In the violent language he now employs he vents his +chief anger in complaining that he, and the truth he represented, +'had been condemned unheard--an unexampled proceeding--unrefuted, +and in headlong and criminal haste.' + +With reference to the attack he had made on the 'episcopal +masqueraders' in the tract above mentioned, Luther remarked in a +letter to Spalatin on July 26 that he had purposely been so sharp in +it, because he saw how vainly he had humbled himself, yielded, +prayed and complained. And he added that he would just as little +flatter, the King of England. + +King Henry VIII., who later on, for other reasons, broke so entirely +with the Church of Rome and began reforms after his own fashion, had +at that time gained for himself from the Pope the title of 'Defender +of the Faith,' on account of a learned scholastic treatise against +Luther's 'Babylonish Captivity.' This treatise had made such a stir, +that Luther thought it expedient to answer it in one of his own. The +latter, originally written in Latin, gives a carefully considered +explanation of the points of doctrine at issue, and proceeds to +prove the propositions he had previously advanced. He points out +fundamental, and, indeed, irreconcilable variance between his +principles and those of the King, by showing how he, Luther, fought +for freedom and established it, while the King, on the contrary, +took up the cudgels for captivity, without even attempting to +justify it by argument, but simply kept talking of what it consists +of, and how people must be content to remain in it. In fact, the +whole book was a mere reiteration of the dogmas of ecclesiastical +authorities, of the Councils, and of tradition, always taking it for +granted that these dare not be disputed. 'I do not need,' says +Luther,' the King to teach me this.' But the personal tone adopted +by Luther against Henry went beyond anything that his expressions to +Spalatin might have led one to expect, and was even more marked in a +German edition of his treatise, which he published after the royal +one had been translated into German. The King had, moreover, set the +example of abuse, as coarse and defiant as that of his opponent. +Luther did not shrink from an incidental remark at the expense of +other princes. 'King Henry,' he says, 'must help to prove the truth +of the proverb, that there are no greater fools than kings and +princes.' + +But the most important among the works which Luther was now led to +undertake by his opposition to the Romish Church and her teaching, +and by her hostile proceedings against himself, was a treatise on +the secular power, which he began in December, as soon as he had +finished the translation of the five Books of Moses. It appeared +under the title of 'On the Secular Power, and how far obedience is +due to it.' + +How far obedience is due to it? This was the question provoked by +the commands and threats of punishment with which Catholic princes +were now endeavouring to aid the spiritual power in suppressing the +gospel, the writings on reform, and especially the new translation +of the Bible. The question was, how far a Christian was bound to +obey. + +Nor had Luther to step forward less decisively as the champion of +the rights, the Divine authority, and the dignity of the civil +power, against the pretensions of the Catholic Church. Words of +Jesus such as these lay before him: 'But I say unto you, that ye +resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, +turn to him the other also.' How could these words be reconciled +with the fact that the secular arm resisted wrong with force, and +raised the sword against the evil-doer? The Church of the middle +ages and the School theology maintained that these words were not +general moral commands for all Christians, but merely advice for +those among them who wished to attain a higher degree of perfection. +Hereby the whole civil government with its authorities was assigned +a lower grade of ordinary morality, whilst higher morality or true +perfection was to be represented in the priestly office and +monasticism. On the other hand, friends of Luther, ere now, while +taking note that Christ had spoken these words direct to all his +disciples, and therefore to all Christians, had been troubled to +know how to establish, with regard to Christians, the rights and +duties of temporal power. + +With respect to this second point in particular Luther now gives his +explanation. Those words of Christ were unquestionably commands for +all Christians. They demand of every Christian that he should never +on his own account grasp the sword and employ force; and if only the +world were full of good Christians there would be no need of the, +sword of secular authority. But it is necessary to wield it against +evil for the general welfare, to punish sin and to preserve the +peace; and therefore the true Christian, in order thereby to serve +his neighbour, must willingly submit to the rule of this sword, and, +if God assigns him an office, must wield this sword himself. This +command of Scripture is confirmed by other passages, as for instance +by the words of the Apostle: 'Let every soul be subject unto the +higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be +are ordained of God. For he is the minister of God to thee for good +... for he beareth not the sword in vain.' (Romans xiii.). Luther +thus ranks the vocation of civil government together with the other +vocations of moral life in the world. They are all, he said, +instituted by God, and all of them, no less than the so-called +priestly office, are intended and able to serve God and one's +neighbour. These were ideas which laid the foundation for a new +Christian estimate of political, civic, and temporal life in +general. Thus, later on, the Augsburg Confession rejected the +doctrine that to attain evangelical perfection, a man must renounce +his worldly calling, as also the theory of the Anabaptists, who +would allow no Christian to hold civil office or to wield the sword. + +But Luther, while thus determining the province of secular +authority, took care to impose limits on its jurisdiction, and to +guard against those limits being invaded. The true spiritual +government, as instituted by Christ, was intended to make men good, +by working upon the soul by the Word, in the power of the Spirit. +The temporal government, whose duty it was to secure external peace +and order, and to protect men against evil-doers, extends only to +what is external upon earth,'--over person and property. 'For God +cannot and will not allow anyone but Himself alone to rule the +soul.'--'No one can or shall force another to believe.'--'True is +the proverb: "Thoughts are free of taxes."' We must 'obey God rather +than man,' as St. Peter says: these words impose a limit on temporal +power. Luther is aware of the objection, that the temporal power +does not force a man to believe, but only outwardly guards against +heretics, to prevent them from leading the people astray with false +doctrines. But he answers: 'Such an office belongs to bishops, and +not to princes. God's Word must here contend for mastery. Heresy is +something spiritual, that cannot be hewn with steel nor burned with +fire.' And among these invasions of the province and office of the +Word, Luther includes the edict to confiscate books. Herein must +subjects obey God rather than such tyrannical princes. They are to +leave the exercise of outward power, even in this matter, to the +civil authorities, they must never venture to oppose them by force; +they must suffer it, if men invade their houses, and take away their +books or property. But if they attempt to rob them of their Bible, +they must not surrender a page or a letter. + +These are the most powerful and comprehensive utterances which we +possess from the mouth of the Reformer, about the demarcation of +these provinces of authority, the independent operation of the Word +and the Spirit, and liberty of conscience. It is doubtful, indeed, +how far they are consonant with those measures which he afterwards +found admissible and advisable for the protection of evangelical +communities and evangelical truth against those who attempted to +lead them astray. + +Amidst such active labours the year of Luther's return to Wittenberg +passed away. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LUTHER AND HIS ANTI-CATHOLIC WORK OF REFORMATION, UP TO 1525 + + +Luther, as we have seen, was able to prosecute his labours at +Wittenberg, undisturbed by the act of the Diet. In other parts of +Germany as well, the imperial power left wide scope for the spread +of his teaching. At the next approaching Diet at Nüremberg no +majority could be looked for again, to give effect to the +consequences demanded by the Edict of Worms. Any such expectation +was the more futile, from the results, already experienced, of +Luther's reappearance in public. + +The new Pope, Hadrian VI., whilst adhering strictly to the doctrines +of mediæval Scholasticism and of Church authority, nevertheless, by +his honest avowal of ecclesiastical abuses, and the firmness and +earnestness of his personal character, led men to expect a new era +of energetic reform for the Romish Church, at least in regard to the +discipline of the clergy and monks, and to a conscientious restraint +of Church ordinances, so that even men like Erasmus might rest +content. And yet, he was the very one who sought now to stamp out +with all severity the Lutheran heresy and its innovations. With this +object he broke out into low abuse and slander against Luther +personally, as a drunkard and a debauchee. Libels of this kind were +perpetually repeated by the Romanists, and no doubt Hadrian believed +them, though Luther did not trouble himself much about such personal +attacks, but in his letters to Spalatin, simply called the Pope an +ass. Hadrian also, like so many Romish Churchmen after him, was +extremely zealous to impress upon princes that he who despises the +sacred decrees and the heads of the Church, would cease to respect a +temporal throne. + +But the Diet which assembled at Nüremberg in the winter of 1522-23, +replied to the demands of the Pope by renewing the old grievances of +the German nation, and insisting on a free Christian Council, to be +held in Germany. + +Nor did even an unfortunate military enterprise, undertaken at this +time against the Archbishop of Treves by Sickingen, who, while +fighting for his own power and the interests of the German nobles, +announced his wish also to break road for the Gospel, produce those +disastrous results for the evangelical cause in Germany which its +enemies had anticipated and hoped for. Sickingen, indeed, after +being defeated by the superior forces of the allied princes, died of +the wounds he received, but it was as clear as noonday that +Frederick the Wise and his evangelical theologians had had nothing +to do with his act of violence. Luther, on hearing of Sickingen's +enterprise, remarked that it would be 'a very bad business,' and +added, on learning the issue, 'God is a just, but a marvellous +judge.' + +The next meeting of the Diet, from whom, after Hadrian's early +death, his successor, Clement VII.--another modern Pope of Leo's way +of thinking--demanded anew the execution of the Edict of Worms, +resulted in the imperial decree of April 18, 1524. By this, the +states of the Empire agreed to execute that edict 'as far as +possible,' but stipulated that the Lutheran and the other new +doctrines should first be 'examined with the utmost diligence,' and, +together with the grievances presented by the princes against the +Pope and the hierarchy, should be made the subject of a +representation to the Council now demanded. But the inconsistency +that lurked in this decree caught Luther's eye and aroused his +suspicion. It was scandalous, he declared in a paper upon it, that +the Emperor and the princes should issue 'contradictory orders.' +They were going to deal with him according to the Edict of Worms, +and proclaim him a condemned man, and persecute him, and at the same +moment wait to decide what was good or bad in his doctrines. But the +decree was, in fact, a subterfuge, by which they resigned the idea +of executing that edict. The Lord's Supper could be celebrated at +Nüremberg in the new way before the eyes of the whole Diet. Well +might Frederick the Wise hope that men would still, at least in +Germany, come gradually to agree in peace about the truth contained +in Luther's preaching. + +The absent Emperor, indeed, remained insensible to all such +influences. In the Netherlands strict penal laws were in force. In a +letter addressed to the German Empire he condemned the decree of +Nüremberg, and, like Hadrian, compared Luther to Mahomet. Further, a +minority of the German princes, including, in particular, Ferdinand +of Austria, and the Dukes William and Louis of Bavaria, entered into +a league at Ratisbon to execute the Edict of Worms, while agreeing +to certain reforms in the Church, according to a Papal scheme +proposed by his nuncio Campeggio. They too began to persecute and +punish the heretics. + +Thus, then, the seed sown by Luther began to germinate throughout +the whole of Germany. The number of Lutheran preachers increased, +and requests were made in many places for their services. Even +Cochlaeus had to confess that, however bad were their ultimate +objects, they showed a remarkable unselfishness and industry in +their calling, and that they avoided even the appearance of pushing +themselves forward in an irregular and arbitrary manner, waiting +rather for their appointment in due course by the nobles or the +various congregations. Among the treatises and other writings on +ecclesiastical and religious questions which inundated Germany at +that time, at least ten were written on the Lutheran, one on the +Romish side. The complaint was that there were not more numerous and +better qualified printers for the work. + +Among the nobles who espoused the cause of Luther, the support of +Albert of Mansfeld, one of the Counts of Luther's native place, was +particularly grateful. It was mainly by the nobles that the movement +was represented in Austria. + +But the gospel gained most ground in German towns, especially among +the burgher class in the free cities of the Empire. Preachers were +invited hither, where none already existed, and the mass was publicly +abolished. This took place during 1523 and 1524 at Magdeburg, +Frankfort-on-the-Main, Schwäbish Hall, Nüremberg, Ulm, Strasburg, +Breslau, and Bremen. On Saxon territory also, Lutheran congregations +were formed in various towns, such as Zwickau, Altenburg, and Eisenach. +In many cases Luther's personal friends took part in the movement, and +thus cemented more closely their friendship with the Reformer. He had +already some trusted fellow-labourers at Nüremberg. At Magdeburg his +friend Amsdorf was pastor. Hess, the first evangelical pastor of +Breslau, had formed some years earlier a warm friendship with him and +Melancthon. Link, his old friend, and the successor of Staupitz as +Vicar-General of the Augustines, held office as a preacher at Altenburg, +whence he was recalled, for the same purpose, in 1525, to Nüremberg, +his former place of residence. Wherever Luther heard of evangelical +communities who seemed to need especial help for their strengthening or +consolation under trouble, he addressed to them letters, which were +afterwards circulated in print. These were sent, for instance, to +Esslingen, Augsburg, Worms; also to his 'beloved friends in Christ' +at Wittenberg, who had been harassed by the Romanists, and whose +cause he pleaded to the Archbishop Albert. With particular joy he +sent greetings to the 'chosen and dear friends in God' in the +distant towns of Riga, Reval, and Dorpat; and he sent them also an +exposition of the 127th Psalm. + +The Word, rejected and condemned as it had been by bishops and +priests in Germany, met with singular success beyond the eastern +boundary of the Empire, among the Order of Teutonic Knights in +Prussia. The Grand Master of the Order, Albert of Brandenburg, +brother of the Elector of Brandenburg, and cousin of Albert, the +Archbishop and Cardinal, had kept up communication with Luther, both +orally and by letter, and had been advised by him and Melancthon to +make himself familiar with the gospel and the principles of the +Evangelical Church. And, above all, there were here two bishops who +espoused the new teaching, and who were anxious to tend the flocks +committed to their charge as true evangelical bishops or overseers, +in the sense insisted on by Luther, and particularly to minister to +the Word by preaching and by the care of souls. These were George of +Polenz, Bishop of Samland since 1523, and Erhard of Queiss, Bishop +of Pomerania since 1524. The members of the Order, almost without +exception, were on their side: they resolved to establish a temporal +princedom in Prussia and to renounce their vows of 'false chastity +and spirituality.' The King of Poland, under whose suzerainty the +country had long been, solemnly invested the hitherto Grand Master +on April 10, 1525, as hereditary Duke of Prussia. Thus Prussia +became the first territory that collectively embraced the +Reformation, whilst as yet, even in the Electorate of Saxony, no +general measures had been taken in its support. It became, in short, +the first Protestant country. Luther wrote to the new Duke: 'I am +greatly rejoiced that Almighty God has so graciously and wondrously +helped your princely Grace to attain such an eminent position, and +further my wish is that the same merciful God may continue His +blessing to your Grace through life, for the benefit and godly +welfare of the whole country.' And to the Archbishop Albert he held +the new Duke up as a shining example, in saying of him, 'How +graciously has God sent such a change, as, ten years ago, could not +have been hoped for or believed in, even had ten Isaiahs and Pauls +announced it. But because he gave room and honour to the gospel, the +gospel in return has given him far more room and honour--more than +he could have dared to wish for.' + +The gospel now received its first testimony in blood. With joyful +confidence Luther beheld what God had done, but could not refrain +from lamenting, with sorrowful humility, that he himself had not +been found worthy of martyrdom. In the Imperial hereditary lands, +where for some years missionaries, chiefly members of Luther's own +Augustine Order, had been actively labouring in the strength of the +convictions derived from Wittenberg, two young Augustine monks, +Henry Voes and John Esch, were publicly burnt, on July 1, 1523, as +heretics. Luther thereupon addressed a letter to 'the beloved +Christians in Holland, Brabant, and Flanders,' praising God for His +wondrous light, that He had caused again to dawn. He spoke out even +stronger in some verses in which he celebrated the young martyrs; +they were published no doubt originally as a broadsheet: + + A new song will we raise to Him + Who ruleth, God our Lord; + And we will sing what God hath done, + In honour of His Word. + At Brussels in the Netherlands, + It was through two young lads, + He hath made known His Wonders, &c. + +They conclude as follows:-- + + So let us thank our God to see + His Word returned at last. + The Summer now is at the door, + The Winter is forepast, + The tender flowerets bloom anew, + And He, who hath begun, + Will give His work a happy end. + +He was, later on, deeply grieved by the death of his brother-Augustine +and friend Henry Moller of Zütphen, who, after having been forced to +fly from the Netherlands, had begun a blessed work at Bremen, and was +now murdered in the most brutal manner on December 11, 1524, by a mob +instigated by monks, near Meldorf, whither he had gone in response to +an invitation from some of his companions in the faith. Luther informed +his Christian brethren in a circular of the end of this 'blessed +brother' and 'Evangelist.' He mentions, with him, the two martyrs of +Brussels, as well as other disciples of the new doctrine; one Caspar +Tauber, who was executed at Vienna, a bookseller named Georg, who was +burnt at Pesth, and one who had been recently burnt at Prague. 'These +and such as these,' he adds, 'are they whose blood will drown the +popedom, together with its god, the devil.' + +With regard to his work of reformation, which had now spread so +widely and found so many coadjutors, Luther at present thought as +little about the outward constitution of a new Church as he had +thought about any outward organisation of the war itself, or an +external alliance of his adherents, or of a cleverly devised +propaganda. Just as here the simple Word was to achieve the victory, +so his whole efforts were devoted solely to restoring to the +congregations the possession and enjoyment of that Word in all its +purity, that they might gather round it, and be thereby further +edified, sustained, and guided. + +Wherever this privilege was denied to Christians, Luther claimed for +them the right, by virtue of their universal priesthood, to ordain a +priest for themselves, and to reject the ensnaring deceits of mere +human doctrine. He declared himself to this effect, in a treatise +written in 1523, and intended in the first instance for the +Bohemians--that is to say, for the so-called Utraquists who were +then the leading party in Bohemia. These sectaries, whose only +ground of estrangement from Rome was the question of administering +the cup to the laity, and who had never thought of separating +themselves from the so-called Apostolical succession of the +episcopate in the Catholic Church, Luther then hoped, albeit in +vain, to win over to a genuine evangelical belief and practice of +religion. In this treatise he went a step beyond the election of +pastors by their congregations, by maintaining that a whole +district, composed of such evangelical communities, might appoint +their own overseer, who should exercise control over them, until the +final establishment of a supreme bishopric, of an evangelical +character, for the entire national Church. But of any such +ecclesiastical edifice for Germany, wholly absorbed as he was in her +immediate needs, he had not yet said a word. Congregations of such a +kind, and suitable for such a purpose, could only be created by +preaching the Word; nor had Luther yet abandoned the hope that the +existing German episcopate, as already had been the case in Prussia, +would accept an evangelical reconstruction on a much larger scale. +With regard to individual congregations, moreover, it was the +opinion of Luther and his friends that, where the local magistrates +and patrons of the Church were inclined to the gospel, the +appointment of pastors might be made by them in a regular way. A +separation of civil communities, each represented by their own +magistrate, from the ecclesiastical or religious units, was an idea +wholly foreign to that time. + +That the word of God should be preached to the various congregations +in a pure and earnest manner, that those congregations themselves +should be entrusted with the work, should make it their own, and, in +reliance thereon, should lift up their hearts to God with prayer, +supplication, and thanksgiving,--this was the fixed object which +Luther held in view in all the regulations which he made at +Wittenberg, and wished to institute in other places. In this spirit +he advanced cautiously and by degrees in the changes introduced in +public worship,--changes which, as he admits, he had commenced with +fear and hesitation. 'That the Word itself,' he says, 'should +advance mightily among Christians, is shown by the whole of +Scripture, and Christ Himself says (Luke x.) that "one thing is +needful," namely, that Mary should sit at the feet of Christ, and +hear His Word daily. His Word endures for ever, and all else must +melt away before it, however much Martha may have to do.' He points +out as one of the great abuses of the old system of worship, that +the people had to keep silence about the Word, while all the time +they had to accept unchristian fables and falsehoods in what was +read, and sung, and preached in the churches, and to perform public +worship as a work which should entitle them to the grace of God. He +now set vigorously about separating the mere furniture of worship. +As to the Word itself, on the contrary, he was anxious to have it +preached to the congregation, wherever possible, every Sunday +morning and evening, and on week-days, at least to the students and +others, who desired to hear it: this was actually done at +Wittenberg. Innovations, not apparently required by his principles, +he shunned himself, and warned others to do so likewise. Nor was he +less diligent to guard against the danger of having the new forms of +worship, now practised at Wittenberg, made into a law for all +evangelical brethren without distinction. He gave an account and +estimate of them in the form of a letter to his friend Hausmann, the +priest at Zwickau, 'conjuring' his readers 'from his very heart, for +Christ's sake,' that if anyone saw plainly a better way in these +matters, he should make it known. No one, he declared, durst condemn +or despise different forms practised by others. Outward customs and +ceremonies were, indeed, indispensable, but they served as little to +commend us to God, as meat or drink (1 Cor. viii. 8) served to make +us well pleasing before Him. + +In order to enable the congregations themselves to take an active +part in the service, he now longed for genuine Church hymns, that is +to say, songs composed in the noble popular language, verse, and +melody. He invited friends to paraphrase the Psalms for this +purpose; he had not sufficient confidence in himself for the work. +And yet he was the first to attempt it. With fresh impulse and with +the exuberance of true poetical genius, his verses on the Brussels +martyrs had flowed forth spontaneously from his inmost soul. They +were the first, so far as we know, that Luther had ever written, +though he was now forty years of age. With the same poetic impulse +he composed, probably shortly after, a hymn in praise of the +'highest blessing' that God had shown towards us in the sacrifice of +His beloved Son. + + Rejoice ye now, dear Christians all, + And let us leap for joy, + And dare with trustful, loving hearts, + Our praises to employ, + And sing what God hath shown to man, + His sweet and wondrous deed, + And tell how dearly He hath won. etc. + +The full tone of a powerful, fresh, often uncouth, but very tender +popular ballad no other writer of the time displayed like Luther. +And whilst seeking to compose or re-arrange hymns for congregational +use in church, he now busied himself with the Psalter, paraphrasing +its contents in an evangelical spirit and in German metre. + +Thus now, early in 1524, there appeared at Wittenberg the first +German hymn-book, consisting at first, of only eight hymns, about +half of them, such as that beginning _Nun freut euch_, being +original compositions of Luther, and three others adapted from the +Psalms. In the course of the same year he brought out a further +collection of twenty hymns, written by himself for the evangelical +congregation there: among these is the one on the Brussels martyrs. +It was, in fact, the year in which German hymnody was born. Luther +soon found the coadjutors he had wished for. + +These twenty-four hymns by Luther were followed in after years by +only twelve more from his own pen, among the latter being his grand +hymn, _Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott_, written probably in +1527. Of these later compositions, comparatively few expressed +entirely his own ideas; most of them had reference to subjects +already in the possession and use of the Christian world, and of +German Christians in particular; that is to say, some referred to +the Psalms and other portions of the Bible, others to parts of the +Catechism, others again to short German ballads, sung by the people, +and even to old Latin hymns. In all of them he was governed by a +strict regard to what was both purely evangelical, and also suitable +for the common worship of God. And yet they differ widely, one from +another, in the poetical form and manner in which he now gives +utterance to the longings of the heart for God, now seeks to clothe +in verse suited for congregational singing words of belief and +doctrine, now keeps closely to his immediate subject, now vents his +emotions freely in Christian sentiments and poetical form, as for +example in _Ein' feste Burg_, the most sublime and powerful +production of them all. + +The new hymns went forth in town and country, in churches and homes, +throughout the land. Often, far more than any sermons could have +done, they brought home to ears and hearts the Word of evangelical +truth. They became weapons of war, as well as means of edification +and comfort. + +In his preface to a small collection of songs, which Luther had +published in the same year, he remarks: 'I am not of opinion that +the gospel should be employed to strike down and destroy all the +arts, as certain high ecclesiastics would have it. I would rather +that all the arts, and especially music, should be employed in the +service of Him who has created them and given them to man.' What he +says here about music and poetry, he applied equally to all +departments of knowledge. He saw art and learning now menaced by +wrong-minded enthusiasts. For this reason he was particularly +anxious that they should be cultivated in the schools. + +With great zeal he directed his counsels to the general duty of +caring for the good education and instruction of the young, as +indeed he had done some time before in his address to the German +Nobility. These, above all, he said, must be rescued from the +clutches of Satan. He had again in his mind schools for girls. Thus +in 1523 he recommended the conversion of the cloisters of the +Mendicant Orders into schools 'for boys and girls.' The same advice +was offered by Eberlin, already mentioned, who was then living at +Wittenberg, and who made the suggestion to the magistrates of Ulm. + +But Luther's chief advice was directed to the requirements of the +Church and the State, or 'temporal government,' which assuredly were +then in need of educated and well-cultured servants. For the +training here required, the ancient languages, Latin and Greek, were +indispensable, and for the ministers of the Church, Greek and Hebrew +in particular, as the languages in which the Word of God was +originally conveyed to man. 'Languages,' he says, 'are the sheaths +which enclose the sword of the Spirit, the shrine in which this +treasure is carried, the vessel which contains this drink.' He +insisted further on the study of history, and especially of that of +Germany. It was a matter of regret to him that so little had been +done towards writing the history of Germany, whilst the Greeks, the +Romans, and the Hebrews had compiled theirs with such industry. 'O! +how many histories and sayings,' he remarked, 'we ought to have in +our possession, of all that has been done and said in different +parts of Germany, and of which we know nothing. That is why, in +other countries, people know nothing about us Germans, and all the +world calls us German beasts, who can do nothing but fight, and +guzzle, and drink.' Such were his opinions, as given in 1524, in a +public letter 'To the Councillors of all the States of Germany; an +appeal to institute and maintain Christian schools.' + +The enthusiasm which had recently inspired young men of talent and +ambition to study and imitate the ancient classics, and had banded +together the leading teachers of Humanism, very quickly died away. +The universities everywhere were less frequented. Enemies of Luther +ascribed this to the influence of his doctrines, though matters were +little better where his doctrines were repudiated. It is not, +indeed, surprising that the Humanist movement, with its regard for +formal culture and aesthetic enjoyment, and its aristocracy of +intellect, should retire perforce before the supreme struggle, +involving the highest issues and interests of life, which was now +being waged by the German people and the Church. A further cause of +this decline of academical studies was to be found, no doubt, in the +vigorous, and somewhat giddy bound taken by trade and commerce in +those days of increased communication and extensive geographical +discovery, and in the striving after material gain and enjoyment, +which seemed to find satisfaction in other ways more easily and +rapidly than by learned industry and the pursuit of culture. It was +from these quarters that came the complaints against the great +merchants' houses, the usury, the rise in prices, the luxury and +extravagance of the age,--complaints which were re-echoed alike by +the friends and foes of the Reformation. The Reformers themselves +fully recognised the thanks they owed to those Humanistic studies, +and their permanent value for Church and State. In the new church +regulations introduced in the towns and districts which accepted the +evangelical teaching, the school system then played a prominent +part. Nüremberg, some years after, was among the most active to +establish a good high school. Luther himself went in April 1525 with +Melancthon to his native place Eisleben, to assist in promoting a +school, founded there by Count Albert of Mansfeld: his friend +Agricola was the head master. + +Thus we see that the work of planting and building occupied Luther +at this time more than the contest with his old opponents. Well +might he, as he says in his hymn, rejoice to see the spring-tide and +the flowers, and hope for a rich summer. + +On the other hand, not only did the adherents of the old system knit +their ranks together more closely, and, like the confederates of +Ratisbon in 1524, profess their desire to do something at least to +satisfy the general complaint of the corruption of the Church; but +men even, who from their undeniably deep and earnest striving for +religion, seemed originally called to take part in the work and war, +now separated themselves from Luther and his associates, not venturing +to break free from the bonds of old ecclesiastical tradition. Still +more was this the case with men of Humanistic culture, whose temporary +alliance with Luther had been dictated more by the interest they felt +in the arts and letters threatened by the old monastic spirit, and by +the open scandal caused by the outrageous abuses of the clergy and +monachism, than by any sympathy with his religious principles and +ideas. And to those who wavered in so momentous a decision, and shrank +back from it and the contests it involved, there was plenty in what +they observed among Luther's adherents, to give them occasion for +still further reflection. It was not to be denied that, sharply as +Luther had reproved the conduct of the Wittenberg innovators, the +new preaching gave rise among excited multitudes, in many places, to +disturbance, disorder, and acts of violence against obstinate monks +and priests; and all this was held up as a proof of what the +consequences must be of a general dissolution of religious ties. +The desertion of their convents by monks and nuns, ostensibly on the +ground of their newly-proclaimed liberty, but in reality, for the +most part, as was alleged against them by the Catholics, for the +sake of carnal freedom, was denounced with no small severity by +Luther himself; but, in so doing, he recalled to mind the fact, +that equally low interests had led them into the convents, and +that the cloisters also, after their fashion, indulged in the +'worship of the belly.' Luther was just as indignant that the +great majority of those who refused to be robbed any longer of +their money and goods at the demand and by the deceits of the +Papal Church, now withheld them both from serving the objects of +Christian love and benevolence, which they were all the more called +on to promote. The enemies of the new doctrine began already to charge +against it that the faith, which was supposed to make men so blessed, +bore so little good fruit. Lastly, there were many honest-minded men, +and many, also, who looked about for an excuse for abstaining from the +battle, whom Luther's personal participation in the din and clamour of +the fray served to scandalise, if not to alienate from his cause. Thus +among those who had formerly been united by a common endeavour to +improve the condition of the Church and repel the tyranny of Rome, a +crisis had now begun. + +Of all who drew back from Luther's work of reformation, none had +been more intimately attached to him than his spiritual father, +Staupitz. And this intimacy he retained as Abbot of Salzburg. In his +view, nothing of all the external matters to which the Reformation +was directed, seemed so important as to warrant the endangerment of +religious concord and unity in the Church. Luther expressed to him +the sorrow he felt at his estrangement, while renewing, at the same +time, his assurance of unalterable affection and gratitude. Staupitz +himself felt unhappy in his attitude and position. But even as +abbot, and in the proximity of the Archbishop of Salzburg, a man of +very different views and temperament to himself, he remained true to +his doctrine of Faith, as being the only means of salvation and the +root of all goodness. And the very last year of his life, in a +letter to Luther, recommending to him a young theologian who was +about to further his education at Wittenberg, he assured him of his +unchanging love, 'passing the love of women' (2 Sam. i. 26), and +gratefully acknowledged how his beloved Martin had first led him +away 'to the living pastures from the husks for the pigs.' Luther +gave a friendly welcome to the young man recommended to his care, +and assisted him in gaining the desired degree of Master of +Philosophy. This is the last that we hear of the intercourse between +these two friends. On December 28, 1524, Staupitz died from a fit of +apoplexy. + +The earlier acquaintance between the Reformer and the great +Humanist, Erasmus, had now developed into an irreconcilable enmity. +The latter had long been unable to refrain from venting, in private +and public utterances, his dissatisfaction and bitterness at the +storm aroused by Luther, which was distracting the Church and +disturbing quiet study. Patrons of his in high places--above all, +King Henry VIII. of England--urged him to take up the cause of the +Church against Luther in a pamphlet; and, difficult as he felt it to +take a prominent part in such a contest, he was the less able to +decline their overtures, since other Churchmen were reproaching him +with having furthered by his earlier writings the pernicious +movement. He chose a subject which would enable him, at any rate, +while attacking Luther, to represent his own personal convictions, +and to reckon on the concurrence not only of Romish zealots but also +of a number of his Humanist friends, and even many men of deeply +moral and religious disposition. Luther, it will be remembered, had +told him plainly from the first that he knew too little of the grace +of God, which alone could give salvation to sinners, and strength +and ability to the good. Erasmus now retorted by his diatribe 'On +Free Will,' by virtue whereof, he said, man was able and was bound +to procure his own blessing and final happiness. + +Luther, on perusing this treatise, in September 1524, was struck +with the feebleness of its contents. So far, indeed, from defining +the operation of the human will, Erasmus floated vaguely about in +loose and incoherent propositions, evidently not from want of +extreme care and circumspection, but from the fact that, in this +province of antiquarian research, he failed in the necessary +acuteness and depth of observation and thought. He declared himself +ready to yield obedience to all decisions of the Church, but without +expressing any opinion as to the real infallibility of an +ecclesiastical tribunal. Throughout his whole treatise, however, +there were personal thrusts at his enemy. + +Luther, as he said, only wished to answer this diatribe out of +regard to the position enjoyed by its author, and, from his sheer +aversion to the book, for a long while postponed his reply. We shall +see moreover, very shortly, what other pressing duties and events +engrossed his attention for some time after. It was not until a year +had elapsed, that his reply appeared, entitled 'On the Bondage of +the Will.' Herein he pushes the propositions to which Erasmus took +exception to their logical conclusion. Free Will, as it is called, +has always been subject to the supremacy of a higher Power; with +unredeemed sinners to the power of the devil; with the redeemed, to +the saving, sanctifying, and sheltering Hand of God. For the latter, +salvation is assured by His Almighty and grace-conferring Will. The +fact that in other sinners no such conversion to God and to a +redeeming faith in His Word is effected, can only be ascribed to the +inscrutable Will of God Himself, nor durst man dispute thereon with +his Maker. Luther in this went further than did afterwards the +Evangelical Church that bears his name. And even he, later on, +abstained himself and warned others to abstain from discussing such +Divine mysteries and questions connected with them. But as for +Erasmus, he never ceased to regard him as one who, from his +superficial worldliness, was blind to the highest truth of +salvation. + +In respect to the battle against Catholic Churchdom and dogma, the +controversy between Luther and Erasmus presents no new issue or +further development. But in company with their old master, other +Humanists also, the leading champions of the general culture of the +age, dissociated themselves from Luther, and returned, as his +enemies, to their allegiance to the traditional system of the +Church. Next to Erasmus, the most important of these men was +Pirkheimer of Nüremberg, to whom we have already referred. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE REFORMER AGAINST THE FANATICS AND PEASANTS UP TO 1525. + + +In his new as in his old contests, Luther's experiences remained +such as he described them to Hartmuth of Kronberg, on his return to +Wittenberg. 'All my enemies, near as they have reached me, have not +hit me as hard as I have now been hit by our own people.' + +At first, indeed, Carlstadt kept silent, and continued quietly, till +Easter 1523, his lectures at the university. But inwardly he was +inclined to a mysticism resembling that of the Zwickau fanatics, and +imbibed, like theirs, from mediæval writings; and he too, soon +turned, with these views, to new and practical projects of reform. + +He now began to unfold in writing his ideas of a true union of the +soul with God. He too explained how the souls of all creatures +should empty themselves, so to speak, and prepare themselves in +absolute passiveness, in 'inaction and lassitude,' for a glorified +state. His profession of learning, and his academical and clerical +dignities he resigned, as ministering to vanity. He bought a small +property near Wittenberg, and repaired thither to live as a layman +and peasant. He wore a peasant's coat, and mixed with the other +peasants as 'Neighbour Andrew.' Luther saw him there, standing with +bare feet amid heaps of manure, and loading it on a cart. + +He found a place for the exercise of his new work in the church at +Orlamünde on the Saale, above Jena. This parish, like several +others, had been incorporated with the university at Wittenberg, and +its revenues formed part of its endowment, being specially attached +to the archdeaconry of the Convent Church, which was united with +Carlstadt's professorship. The living there, with most of its +emoluments, had passed accordingly to Carlstadt, but the office of +pastor could only be performed by vicars, as they were called, +regularly nominated, and appointed by the Elector. Carlstadt now +took advantage of a vacancy in the office, to go on his own +authority as pastor to Orlamünde, without wishing to resign his +appointment and its pay at Wittenberg. By his preaching and personal +influence he soon won over the local congregation to his side, and +ended by gaining as great an influence here as he had done at +Wittenberg. Here also the images were abolished and destroyed, +crucifixes and other representations of Christ no less than images +of the saints. Carlstadt now openly declared that no respect was to +be paid to any local authority, nor any regard to other +congregations; they were to execute freely the commands of God, and +whatever was contrary to God, they were to cast down and hew to +pieces. And in interpreting and applying these commands of God he +went to more extravagant lengths than ever. Must not the letter of +the Old Testament be the law for other things as well as images? +Acting on this idea, he demanded that Sunday should be observed with +rest in all the Mosaic rigour of the term; this rest he identified +with that 'inaction,' which formed his idea of true union with God. +He proceeded then to advocate polygamy, as permitted to the Jews in +the Old Testament: he actually advised an inhabitant of Orlamünde to +take a second wife, in addition to the one then living. He began, at +the same time, to dispute the real presence of the Body and Blood of +Christ in the Sacrament--a doctrine which Luther steadfastly +insisted on in his contest with the Catholic doctrine of +Transubstantiation. By an extraordinary perversion, as is evident at +a glance, of the meaning of Christ's words of institution, he +maintained that when our Saviour said 'This is My Body,'--alluding, +of course, to the bread which He was then distributing, He was not +referring to the bread at all, but only to His own body, as He stood +there. + +The inhabitants of the neighbouring town of Kahla were seized with +the same spirit. These mystical ideas and phrases assumed strange +forms of expression among the common people, who jumbled together in +wild confusion the supernatural and the material. Carlstadt kept up +also a secret correspondence with Münzer. + +The question of the authority of the Old Testament soon took a wider +range. It seemed to be one of the authority of Scripture in general, +which was contended for against the Papists. If the authority of +God's Word in the Old Testament applied to the whole domain of civil +life, should it not equally apply, as against particular regulations +established by civil society? On these principles, for example, all +taking of interest, as well as usury, was declared to be forbidden, +just as it had been forbidden to God's people of old. A restoration +of the Mosaic year of Jubilee was even talked of, when after fifty +years all land which had passed into other hands should revert to +its original owners. With eagerness the people took up these new +ideas of social reform, so specious and so full of promises. The +evangelical and earnest preacher, Strauss at Eisenach, worked +zealously with word and pen in this direction. Even a court-preacher +of Duke John, Wolfgang Stein at Weimar, espoused the movement. + +Meanwhile Münzer came again to Central Germany. He had succeeded, at +Easter 1523, in obtaining the office of pastor at Allstedt, a small +town in a lateral valley of the Unstrut. In him, more than in any +other, the spirit of the Zwickau prophets fermented with full force, +and was preparing for a violent outburst. Alone, in the room of a +church tower, he held secret intercourse with his God, and boasted +of his answers and revelations. He affected the appearance and +demeanour of a man whose soul was absorbed in tranquillity, devoid +of all finite ideas or aspirations, and open and free to receive +God's Spirit and inner Word. More violently than even the champions +of Catholic asceticism, he reproached Luther for leading a +comfortable, carnal life. But his whole energies were directed to +establishing a Kingdom of the Saints,--an external one, with +external power and splendour. His preaching dwelt incessantly on the +duty of destroying and killing the ungodly, and especially all +tyrants. He wished to see a practical application given to the words +of the Mosaic dispensation, commanding God's people to destroy the +heathen nations from out of the promised land, to overthrow their +altars, and burn their graven images with fire. Community of +property was to be a particular institution of the Kingdom of God, +the property being distributed to each man according to his need: +whatever prince or lord refused to do this, was to be hanged or +beheaded. Meanwhile, Münzer sought by means of secret emissaries in +all directions to enlist the saints into a secret confederacy. His +chief associate was the former monk, Pfeifer at Mühlhausen, not far +from Allstedt. The Orlamündians, however, whom also he endeavoured +to seduce to his policy of violence, would have nothing to say to +such overtures. + +The Elector Frederick even now came only tardily to the resolve, to +interpose, in these ecclesiastical matters and disputes, his +authority as sovereign, nor did Luther himself desire his +intervention so long as the struggle was one of minds about the +truth. Duke John had been strongly influenced by the ideas of his +court-preacher. The princes still hoped to be able to restore peace +between Luther and his colleague, Carlstadt, who, with all his misty +projects, was still of importance as a theologian. + +Carlstadt consented, indeed, at Easter in 1524, to resume quietly +his duties at Wittenberg university. But he soon returned to +Orlamünde, to re-assert his position there as head and reformer of +the Church. + +With regard to the question of Mosaic and civil law, Luther was now +invited by John Frederick, the son of Duke John, to express his +opinion. It is easy to conceive how this question might present, +even to upright and calm-judging adherents of the evangelical +preaching, considerations of difficulty and much inward doubt. It +had cropped up as a novelty, and, as it seemed, in necessary +connection with this preaching: moreover, on its answer depended a +revolution of all ordinances of State and society, in accordance +with the command of God. + +Luther's views on this subject, however, were perfectly clear, and +he expressed himself accordingly. In his opinion, the answer had +been given by the keynote of evangelical teaching. It lay in the +distinction between spiritual and temporal government, the essential +features of which he had already explained in 1523 in his treatise +'On the Secular Power.' The life of the soul in God, its +reconciliation and redemption, its relations and duty to God and +fellow-man in faith and love--these are the subjects dealt with in +the gospel message of salvation, or the biblical revelation in its +completeness. God has left to the practical understanding and needs +of man, and to the historical development of peoples and states +under His overruling providence, the arrangement of forms of law for +social life, without the necessity of any special revelation for +that purpose. It is the duty of the secular power to administer the +existing laws, and to make new ones in a proper and legal manner, +according as they may think fit. That God prescribed to the people +of Israel external, civil ordinances by the mouth of Moses, was part +of His scheme of education. Christians are not bound by these +ordinances,--no more, indeed, than is their inner life and right +conduct made conditional on outward rules and forms. Moral commands +alone belong to that part of the Mosaic law whereof the sanction is +eternal; and to the fulfilment of these commands, written, as St. +Paul says, from the beginning on the hearts of men, the Spirit of +God now urges His redeemed people. No doubt the law of Moses, in +regard to civil life, might contain much that would be useful for +other peoples also in that respect. But it would, in that case, be +the business of the powers that be to examine and borrow from it, +just as Germany borrowed her civil law from the Romans. + +Such, briefly stated, are the views which Luther enunciated with +clearness and consistency, in his writings and sermons. He guards +the civil power as jealously now against an irregular assertion of +religious principles and biblical authority, as he had formerly done +against the aggressions of an ecclesiastical hierarchy, while at the +same time he defends the religious life of Christians against the +dangers and afflictions which that hierarchy threatened. Thus he +answered the prince, on June 18, 1524, to this effect: Temporal laws +are something external, like eating and drinking, house and +clothing. At present the laws of the Empire have to be maintained, +and faith and love can coexist with them very well. If ever the +zealots of the Mosaic law become Emperors, and govern the world as +their own, they may choose, if they please, the law of Moses; but +Christians at all times are bound to support the law which the civil +authority imposes. + +In Münzer Luther looked for a near outbreak of the Evil Spirit. He +alluded to him in his letter of June 18, as the 'Satan of Allstedt,' +adding that he thought he was not yet quite fledged. He soon heard +more about him, namely, that 'his Spirit was going to strike out +with the fist.' On this subject he wrote the next month to the +Elector Frederick and Duke John, and published his letter. Against +Münzer's mere words--his preaching and his personal revilements--he +was not now concerned to defend himself. 'Let them boldly preach,' +he says, 'what they can.... Let the Spirits rend and tear each +other. A few, perhaps, may be seduced; but that happens in every +war. Wherever there is a battle and fighting, some one must fall and +be wounded.' He repeats here, what he had said before, that +Antichrist should be destroyed 'without hands,' and that Christ +contended with the Spirit of His Word. But if they really meant to +strike out with the fist, then Luther would have the prince say to +them, 'Keep your fists quiet, for that is our office, or else leave +the country.' + +In August Luther came himself to Weimar, in obedience to a wish +expressed by the two princes. With the court-preacher he had come to +a friendly understanding. Münzer had just left Allstedt, an official +report of his dangerous proceedings having been forwarded from there +to Weimar, whither he was summoned for an examination and inquiry. +On August 14 Luther wrote from this town to the magistrate of +Mühlhausen, where Münzer, as he heard, had taken refuge and had +already mustered a party. He warned the people of Mühlhausen to wait +at least before receiving Münzer, until they had heard 'what sort of +children he and his followers were.' They would not remain long in +the dark about him. He was a tree, as he had shown at Zwickau and +Allstedt, which bore no fruit but murder and rebellion. + +From Weimar Luther travelled on to Orlamünde. On August 21 he +arrived at Jena, where a preacher named Reinhard was staying with +Carlstadt. Luther here preached against the 'Spirit of Allstedt,' +which destroyed images, despised the sacrament, and incited to +rebellion. Carlstadt, who was present and heard the sermon, waited +on him afterwards at his lodging, to defend himself against these +charges. Luther insisted, notwithstanding, that Carlstadt was 'an +associate of the new prophets.' He challenged him finally to abandon +his intrigues and confute him openly in writing, and the heated +interview ended by Carlstadt promising to do so, and by Luther +giving him a florin as a pledge and token of the bargain. + +From Jena Luther went through Kahla, where also he preached, to +Orlamünde. The people here had been anxious for a personal +discussion with him, but in writing to him for that purpose, had +addressed him in words as follows: 'You despise all those who, by +God's command, destroy dumb idols, against which you trump up feeble +evidence out of your own head, and not grounded on Scripture. Your +venturing thus publicly to slander us, members of Christ, shows that +you are no member of the real Christ.' The discussion he held with +them led to no success, and he gave up any further attempt to +convince them; for, as he said, they burned like a fire, as if they +longed to devour him. On his departure they pursued him with savage +shouts of execration. + +Carlstadt, a few weeks later, was deprived of his professorship, and +had to leave the country. Luther put in a word for the people of +Orlamünde as 'good simple folk,' who had been seduced by a stronger +will. But against Carlstadt's whole conduct and teaching he launched +an elaborate attack in a pamphlet, published in two parts, at the +close of 1524 and the beginning of the following year. It was +entitled 'Against the Celestial Prophets, concerning Images and the +Sacrament, &c.,' with the motto 'Their folly shall be manifest unto +all men' (2 Timothy iii. 9). For in Carlstadt he sought to expose +and combat the same spirit that dwelt in the Zwickau prophets and in +Münzer, and that threatened to produce still worse results. If +Carlstadt, like Moses, was right in teaching people to break down +images, and in calling in for this purpose the aid of the disorderly +rabble, instead of the proper authorities, then the mob had the +power and right to execute in like manner all the commands of God. +And the consequence and sequel of this would be, what was soon shown +by Münzer. 'It will come to this length,' says Luther, 'that they +will have to put all ungodly people to death; for so Moses (Deut. +vii.), when he told the people to break down the images, commanded +them also to kill without mercy all those who had made them in the +land of Canaan.' + +The great storm, announced and prepared by the 'Spirit of Allstedt,' +broke loose even sooner than could have been expected. + +Münzer had really appeared at Mühlhausen. The town-council, however, +were still able to insist on his leaving the place, together with +his friend Pfeifer. He then wandered about for several weeks in the +south-west of Germany, exciting disturbance wherever he went. But on +September 13 he returned with Pfeifer to Mühlhausen, where he +preached in his wonted manner, propounded to the people in the +streets his doctrines and revelations, and attracted the mob to his +side, while respectable citizens and members of the magistracy left +the town from fear of the mischief that was threatening. Towards the +end of February he was offered a regular post as pastor, and soon +after all the old magistrates were turned out and others more +favourable to him elected in their place. The multitude raged +against images and convents. The peasants from the neighbourhood +flocked in, anxious for the general equality which was promised +them. Luther wrote to a friend, 'Münzer is King and Emperor at +Mühlhausen.' + +Meanwhile, in Southern Germany peasant insurrections had broken out +in various places since the summer of this year. In itself, there +was nothing novel in this. Repeatedly during the latter part of the +previous century, the poor peasantry had risen and erected their +banner, the 'Shoe of the League' (_Bundschuh_), so called from +the rustic shoes which the insurgents wore. Their grievances were +the intolerable and ever-growing burdens, laid upon them by the lay +and clerical magnates, the taxes of all kinds squeezed from them by +every ingenious device, and the feudal service which they were +forced to perform. The nobles had, in fact, towards the close of the +middle ages, usurped a much larger exercise of their ancient +privileges against them, by means partly of a dexterous manipulation +of the old Roman law, and partly of the ignorance of that law which +prevailed among their vassals. On the other side, complaints were +heard at that time of the insolence shown by the wealthier peasants; +of the luxury, in which they tried to rival their masters; and of +the arrogance and defiant demeanour of the peasantry in general. The +oppression endured by any particular class of the civil community +does not usually lead to violent disturbances and outbreaks, unless +and until that class is awakened to a higher sense of its own +importance and has acquired an increase of power. The peasants +found, moreover, discontented spirits like themselves among the +lower orders in the towns, who were avowed enemies of the upper +classes, and who complained bitterly of the hardships and +oppressions suffered by small people at the hands of the great +merchants and commercial companies,--in a word, from the power of +capital. Furthermore, when once the peasants rose in rebellion +against their masters, the latter also, including the nobility, +showed an inclination here and there to favour a general revolution, +if only to remedy the defects of their own position. And, in truth, +throughout the German Empire at that time there was a general +movement pressing for a readjustment of the relations of the various +classes to each other and to the Imperial power. Ideas of a total +reconstruction of society and the State had penetrated the mass of +the people, to an extent never known before. + +Thus the way was paved, and incentives already supplied for a +powerful popular movement, apart altogether from the question of +Church Reform. And indeed this question Luther was anxious, as we +have seen, to restrict to the domain of spiritual, as distinguished +from secular, that is to say, political and civil action. It was +impossible, however, but that the accusations of lying, tyranny, and +hostility to evangelical truth, now freely levelled against the +dominant priesthood and the secular lords who were persecuting the +gospel, should serve to intensify to the utmost the prevailing +bitterness against external oppression. With the same firmness and +decision with which Luther condemned all disorderly and violent +proceedings in support of the gospel, he had also long been warning +its persecutors of the inevitable storm which they would bring upon +themselves. Other evangelical preachers, however, as for instance, +Eberlin and Strauss, mingled with their popular preaching all sorts +of suggestions of social reform. At last men went about among the +people, with open or disguised activity, whose principles were +directly opposed to those of Luther, but who proclaimed themselves, +nevertheless, enthusiasts for the gospel which he had brought again +to light, or which, as they pretended, they had been the first to +reveal, together with true evangelical liberty. They appealed to +God's Word in support of the claims and grievances of the oppressed +classes; they grasped their weapons by virtue of the Divine law. +Hence the peculiar ardour and energy that marked the insurrection, +although the enthusiasm, thus kindled, was united with the utmost +barbarity and licentiousness. Never has Germany been threatened with +a revolution so vast and violent, or so immeasurable in its possible +results. On no single man's word did so much depend as on that of +Luther, the genuine man of the people. + +The movement began late in the summer of 1524 in the Black Forest +and Hegau. After the beginning of the next year it continued rapidly +to spread, and the different groups of insurgents who were fighting +here and there, combined in a common plan of action. Like a flood +the movement forced its way eastwards into Austria, westwards into +Alsatia, northwards into Franconia, and even as far as Thuringia. At +Rothenburg on the Tauber, Carlstadt had prepared the way for it by +inciting the people to destroy the images. The demands in which the +peasants were unanimous, were now drawn up in twelve articles. These +still preserved a very moderate aspect. They claimed above all the +right of each parish to choose its own minister. Tithes were only to +be abolished in part. The peasants were determined to be regarded no +longer as the 'property of others,' for Christ had redeemed all +alike with his blood. They demanded for everyone the right to hunt +and fish, because God had given to all men alike power over the +animal creation. They based their demands upon the Word of God; +trusting to His promises they would venture the battle. 'If we are +wrong,' they said, 'let Luther set us right by the Scriptures.' God, +who had freed the children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, would +now shortly deliver His people. In these articles, and in other +proclamations of the peasantry, there were none of the wild +imaginations of Münzer and his prophets, nor their ideas of a +kingdom and schemes of murder. They burned down, it is true, both +convents and cities, and had done so from the outset. Still in some +places a more peaceable understanding was arrived at with the upper +classes, although neither party placed any real confidence in the +other. + +When now the articles arrived at Wittenberg, and Luther heard how +the insurgents appealed to him, he prepared early in April to make a +public declaration, in which he arraigned their proceedings, but at +the same time exhorted the princes to moderation. He was just then +called away by Count Albert of Mansfeld to Eisleben, to assist, as +we have seen, in the establishment of a new school in that town. He +set off thither on Easter Sunday, April 16, after preaching in the +morning. There he wrote his 'Exhortation to peace: On the Twelve +Articles of the Peasantry in Swabia. + +In this manifesto he sharply rebukes those princes and nobles, +bishops and priests, who cease not to rage against the gospel, and +in their temporal government 'tax and fleece their subjects, for the +advancement of their own pomp and pride, until the common people can +endure it no longer.' If God for their punishment allowed the devil +to stir up tumult against them, He and his gospel were not to blame; +but he counselled them to try by gentle means to soften, if +possible, God's wrath against them. As for the peasants, he had +never from the first concealed from them his suspicions, that many +of them only pretended to appeal to Scripture, and offered for mere +appearance' sake to be further instructed therein. But he wished to +speak to them affectionately, like a friend and a brother, and he +admitted also that godless lords often laid intolerable burdens upon +the people. But however much in their articles might be just and +reasonable, the gospel, he said, had nothing to do with their +demands, and by their conduct they showed that they had forgotten +the law of Christ. For by the Divine law it was forbidden to extort +anything from the authorities by force: the badness of the latter +was no excuse for violence and rebellion. Respecting the substance +of their demands, their first article, claiming to elect their own +pastor, if the civil authority refused to provide one, was right +enough and Christian; but in that case they must maintain him at +their own expense, and on no account protect him by force against +the civil power. As for the remaining articles, they had nothing +whatever to do with the gospel. He tells the peasants plainly, that +if they persist in their rebellion, they are worse enemies to the +gospel than the Pope and Emperor, for they act against the gospel in +the gospel's own name. He is bound to speak thus to them, although +some among them, poisoned by fanatics, hate him and call him a +hypocrite, and the devil, who was not able to kill him through the +Pope, would now like to destroy and devour him. He is content if +only he can save some at least of the good-hearted among them from +the danger of God's indignation. In conclusion, he gives to both +sides, the nobles and the peasants, his 'faithful counsel and +advice, that a few counts and lords should be chosen from the +nobility, and a few councillors from the towns, and that matters +should be adjusted and composed in an amicable manner--that so the +affair, if it cannot be arranged in a Christian spirit, may at least +be settled according to human laws and agreements.' + +Thus spoke Luther, with all his accustomed frankness, fervency, +power, and bluntness, equally indifferent to the favour of the +people or of their rulers. But what fruit, indeed, could be looked +for from his words, uttered evidently with violent inward emotion, +when popular passion was so excited? Was it not rather to be feared +that the peasants would greedily fasten on the first portion of his +pamphlet, which was directed against the nobles, and then shut their +ears all the more closely against the second, which concerned their +own misconduct? The pamphlet could hardly have been written, and +much less published, before new rumours and forebodings crowded upon +Luther, such as made him think its contents and language no longer +applicable to the emergency, but that now it was his duty to sound +aloud the call to battle against the enemies of peace and order. 'In +my former tract,' he said, 'I did not venture to condemn the +peasants, because they offered themselves to reason and better +instruction. But before I could look about me, forth they rush, and +fight and plunder and rage like mad dogs.... The worst is at +Mühlhausen, where the arch-devil himself presides.' + +In South Germany, on that very Easter Sunday when Luther set out for +Eisleben, the scene of horror was enacted at Weinsberg, where the +peasants, amid the sound of pipes and merriment, drove the unhappy +Count of Helfenstein upon their spears, before the eyes of his wife +and child. Luther's ignorance of this and similar atrocities, at the +time when he was writing his pamphlet at Eisleben, is easily +intelligible from the slow means of communication then existing. +Soon the news came, however, of bands of rioters in Thuringia, busy +with the work of pillage, incendiarism, and massacre, and of a +rising of the peasantry in the immediate neighbourhood. Towards the +end of April they achieved a crowning triumph by their victorious +entry into Erfurt, where the preacher, Eberlin of Günzburg, with +true loyalty and courage, but all in vain, had striven, with words +of exhortation and warning, to pacify the armed multitude encamped +outside the town, and their sympathisers and associates inside. + +On April 26 Münzer advanced to Mühlhausen, the 'arch-devil, 'as +Luther called him, but as he described himself, the 'champion of the +Lord.' He came with four hundred followers, and was joined by large +masses of the peasants. His 'only fear,' as he said in his summons +to the miners of Mansfeld, 'was that the foolish men would fall into +the snare of a delusive peace.' He promised them a better result. +'Wherever there are only three among you who trust in God and seek +nothing but His honour and glory, you need not fear a hundred +thousand.... Forward now!' he cried; 'to work! to work! It is time +that the villains were chased away like dogs.... To work! relent not +if Esau gives you fair words. Give no heed to the wailings of the +ungodly; they will beg, weep, and entreat you for pity, like +children. Show them no mercy, as God commanded Moses (Deut. vii.) +and has declared the same to us.... To work! while the fire is hot; +let not the blood cool upon your swords.... To work! while it is +day. God is with you; follow Him!' Of Luther he spoke in terms of +peculiar hatred and contempt. In a letter which he addressed to +'Brother Albert of Mansfeld,' with the object of converting the +Count, he alluded to him in expressions of the coarsest possible +abuse. + +In Thuringia, in the Harz, and elsewhere, numbers of convents, and +even castles, were reduced to ashes. The princes were everywhere +unprepared with the necessary troops, while the insurgents in +Thuringia and Saxony counted more than 30,000 men. The former, +therefore, endeavoured to strengthen themselves by coalition. Duke +John, at Weimar, prepared himself for the worst: his brother, the +Elector Frederick, was lying seriously ill at his Castle at Lochau +(now Annaburg) in the district of Torgau. + +At this crisis Luther, having left Eisleben, appeared in person +among the excited population. He preached at Stolberg, Nordhausen, +and Wallhausen. In his subsequent writings he could bear witness of +himself, how he had been himself among the peasants, and how, more +than once, he had imperilled life and limb. On May 3 we find him at +Weimar; and a few days afterwards in the county of Mansfeld. Here he +wrote to his friend, the councillor Rühel of Mansfeld, advising him +not to persuade Count Albert to be 'lenient in this affair'--that +is, against the insurgents; for the civil power must assert its +rights and duties, however God might rule the issue. 'Be firm,' he +entreats Rühel, 'that his Grace may go boldly on his way. Leave the +matter to God, and fulfil His commands to wield the sword as long as +strength endures. Our consciences are clear, even if we are doomed +to be defeated.... It is but a short time, and the righteous Judge +will come.' + +Luther now hastened back to his Elector, having received a summons +from him at Lochau. But before he could arrive there, Frederick had +peacefully breathed his last, on May 5. Faithfully and discreetly, +and in the honest conviction that truth would prevail, he had +accorded Luther his favour and protection, whilst purposely +abstaining to employ his power as ruler for infringing or invading +the old-established ordinances of the Church. He allowed full +liberty of action to the bishops, and carefully avoided any personal +intercourse with Luther. But in the face of death, he confessed the +truth of the gospel, as preached by Luther, by partaking of the +communion in both kinds, and refusing the sacrament of extreme +unction. + +When his corpse was brought in state to Wittenberg, and buried in +the Convent Church, Luther, who had to preach twice on the occasion, +spoke of the universal grief and lamentation that 'our head is +fallen, a peaceful man and ruler, a calm head.' And he pointed out +as the 'most grievous sorrow of all,' how this loss had happened +just in those difficult and wondrous times when, unless God +interposed His arm, destruction threatened the whole of Germany. He +exhorted his hearers to confess to God their own ingratitude for His +mercy in having given them such a noble vessel of His grace. But of +those who set themselves against authorities, he declared, in the +words of the Apostle (Rom. xiii. 2), that 'they shall receive to +themselves damnation.' 'This text,' he said, 'will do more than all +the guns and spears.' + +Quite in the same spirit that dictated his letter sent to Rühel only +a few days before at Mansfeld, Luther now sent forth a public +summons 'Against the murderous and plundering bands of peasants.' He +began it with the words already quoted, 'Before I could look about +me, forth they rush ... and rage like mad dogs.' + +Thus he wrote when he saw the danger was at its highest. He even +suggested the possibility 'that the peasants might get the upper +hand (which God forbid!);' and that 'God perhaps willed that, in +preparation for the Last Day, the devil should be allowed to destroy +all order and authority, and the world turned into a howling +wilderness.' But he called upon the Christian authorities, with all +the more urgency and vehemence, to use the sword against the +devilish villains, as God had given them command. They should leave +the issue to God, acknowledge to Him that they had well deserved His +judgments, and thus with a good conscience and confidence 'fight as +long as they could move a muscle.' Whosoever should fall on their +side would be a true martyr in God's eyes, if he had fought with +such a conscience. Then, thinking of the many better people who had +been forced by the bloodthirsty peasants and murderous prophets to +join the devilish confederacy, he broke out by exclaiming, 'Dear +lords, help them, save them, take pity upon these poor men; but as +to the rest, stab, crush, strangle whom you can.' + +These words of Luther were speedily fulfilled by the events. The +Saxon princes, the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, the Duke of Brunswick, +and the Counts of Mansfeld combined together before the mass of the +peasants in Thuringia and Saxony had collected into a large army. On +May 15 the forces of Münzer, numbering about 8,000 men, were +defeated in the battle of Frankenhausen. Münzer himself was taken +prisoner, and, crushed in mind and spirit, was executed like a +criminal. A few days before, the main army of the Swabian peasants +had been routed, and during the following weeks, one stronghold of +the rebellion after another was reduced, and the horrors perpetrated +by the peasants were repaid with fearful vengeance on their heads. +The Landgrave Philip, and John, the new Elector of Saxony, +distinguished themselves by their clemency in dismissing unpunished +to their homes, after the victory, a number of the insurgent +peasants. + +But Luther's violent denunciations now gave offence even to some of +his friends. His Catholic opponents, and those even who saw no harm +in burning heretics wholesale for no other reason than their faith, +reproached him then, and do so even now, with horrible cruelty for +this language. Luther replied to the 'complaints and questions about +his pamphlet,' with a public 'Epistle on the harsh pamphlet against +the peasants.' His excitement and irritation was increased by what +he heard talked about his conduct. He maintained what he had said. +But he also reminded his readers, that he had never, as his +calumniators accused him, spoken of acting against the conquered and +humbled, but solely of smiting those actually engaged in rebellion. +He declared further, at the close of his new and forcible remarks on +the use of the sword, that Christian authorities, at any rate were +bound, if victorious, to 'show mercy not only to the innocent, but +also to the guilty.' As for the 'furious raging and senseless +tyrants, who even after the battle cannot satiate themselves with +blood, and throughout their life never trouble themselves about +Christ'--with these he will have nothing whatever to do. Similarly, +in a small tract on Münzer, containing characteristic extracts from +the writings of this 'bloodthirsty prophet,' as a warning to the +people, Luther entreated the lords and civil authorities 'to be +merciful to the prisoners and those who surrendered, ... so that the +tables should not be turned upon the victors.' If we have now to +lament, as we must, that after the rebellion was put down, nothing +was done to remedy the real evils that caused it; nay, that those +very evils were rather increased as a punishment for the vanquished, +this reproach at least applies just as much to the Catholic lords, +both spiritual and temporal, as to the Evangelical authorities or +Luther. + +In addition also to his alleged harshness and severity to the +insurgents, Luther was accused, both then and since, by his +ecclesiastical opponents, of having given rise to the rebellion by +his preaching and writings. When the danger and anxiety were over, +Emser had the effrontery to say of him in some popular doggrel, 'Now +that he has lit the fire, he washes his hands like Pilate, and turns +his cloak to the wind;' and again, 'He himself cannot deny that he +exhorted you to rebellion, and called all of you dear children of +God, who gave up to it your lives and property, and washed your +hands in blood. Thus did he write in public, and thereto has he +striven.' + +[Illustration: Fig. 28.--Münzer (his execution in the background.) +From an old woodcut.] + +In answer to this charge, Luther referred to his treatise 'On the +Secular Power,' and to other of his writings. 'I know well,' he was +able to say with truth, 'that no teacher before me has written so +strongly about secular authority; my very enemies ought to thank me +for this. Who ever made a stronger stand against the peasants, with +writing and preaching, than myself?' Among the Estates of the +Empire, not even the most violent enemies of evangelical doctrine +could venture now to turn their victorious weapons against their +associates in arms who espoused that doctrine, with whom they had +achieved the common conquest, and from whose midst had sounded the +most vigorous call to battle and to victory. Luther, on the +contrary, was not afraid at this moment to exhort the Archbishop, +Cardinal Albert, of whose friendly disposition to himself, his +friend Rühel had recently informed him, to follow the example of his +cousin, the Grand Master in Prussia, by converting his bishopric +into a temporal princedom, and entering the state of matrimony, and +to name, as the chief motive for so doing, the 'hateful and horrible +rebellion,' wherewith God's wrath had visited the sins of the +priesthood. + +Thus did Luther, in these stormy times, whatever might be thought of +the violence of his utterances, take up his position clearly and +resolutely from the first, and maintain it to the end;--sure of his +cause, and safe against the new attack which he saw now the devil +was making; unyielding and defiant towards his old Papal enemies and +their new calumniations. And in this frame of mind he took just now +a step, calculated to sharpen all the tongues of slander, but one in +which he saw the fulfilment of his calling. Freed from unchristian +monastic vows, he entered into the holy state of matrimony ordained +by God. We first hear him speaking decidedly on this subject in a +letter to Rühel of May 4. After referring to the devil as the +instigator of the insurgent peasants, and of the murderous deeds +which made him anxious to prepare himself for death, he continues +with the following remarkable words: 'And if I can, in spite of him, +I will take my Kate in marriage before I die. I hope they will not +take from me my courage and my joy.' + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +LUTHER'S MARRIAGE. + + +Our readers will recall to mind those words of Luther at the +Wartburg, on hearing that his teaching was making the clergy marry +and monks renounce the obligation of their vows. No wife, he +declared, should be forced upon him. He remained in his convent; +looked on quietly, as one friend and fellow-labourer after the other +took advantage of their liberty; wished them happiness in the +enjoyment of it, and advised others to do the same; but never +changed his views about himself. + +His enemies reproached him with living a worldly life, with drinking +beer in company with his friends, with playing the lute, and so on. +Nor was it merely his Catholic opponents who sought in such charges +material for vile slander, but also jealous ranters like Münzer gave +vent to their hatred in this manner. All the more remarkable it is +that no slanderous reports of immoral conduct were ever launched at +this time, even by his bitterest enemies, against the man who was +denouncing so openly and sternly offences of that description among +the superior, no less than the inferior, clergy. Calumnies of this +kind were reserved for the occasion of his marriage. + +In truth, his life was one of the most arduous labour, anxiety, and +excitement; and as regards his bodily needs, he was satisfied with +the plainest and most sparing diet and the simplest enjoyments. The +Augustinian convent, whence he received his support, being gradually +denuded of its inmates by their abandonment of monastic life, its +revenues accordingly were stopped. Luther informed Spalatin in 1524 +of the poverty to which they were reduced; not indeed, as Spalatin +well knew, that he concerned himself much about it, or wished to +make it a subject of complaint; if he had no meat or wine, he could +live well enough on bread and water. Melancthon describes how once, +before his marriage, Luther's bed had not been made for a whole +year, and was mildewed with perspiration. 'I was tired out,' says +Luther, 'and worked myself nearly to death, so that I fell into the +bed and knew nothing about it.' + +When, moreover, he exchanged, as we have seen, in the autumn of +1524, the monastic cowl for the garb of a professor; and when he and +the prior Brisger were the only ones of all the former monks left in +the convent, he remained quietly where he was, and never entertained +the idea of marriage. A noble lady, Argula von Staufen, wife of the +Ritter von Grumbach, formerly in the Bavarian army, who had written +publicly for the cause of the gospel, and thereby incurred, with her +husband, the displeasure of the Duke of Bavaria, and who was now in +active correspondence with the Wittenbergers and Spalatin, expressed +to the latter her surprise that Luther did not marry. Luther +thereupon wrote to Spalatin on November 30, 1524, saying, 'I am not +surprised that folks gossip thus about me, as they gossip about many +other things. But please thank the lady in my name, and tell her +that I am in the hands of the Lord, as a creature whose heart He can +change and re-change, destroy or revive, at any hour or moment; but +as my heart has hitherto been, and is now, it will never come to +pass that I shall take a wife. Not that I am insensible to my I +flesh or sex, ... but because my mind is averse to wedlock, because +I daily expect the death and the well-merited punishment of a +heretic.' + +Shortly afterwards Luther wrote to his friend Link: 'Suddenly, and +while I was occupied with far other thoughts, the Lord has plunged +me into marriage.' It was in the spring of 1525 that he had formed +this resolve, which speedily ripened to its fulfilment. + +In a letter of March 12, 1525, he complained to his friend Amsdorf, +who had gone to Magdeburg, of depression of spirits and temptation, +and besought him to pay him a friendly visit to cheer him. It was, +as we see from the contents of the letter, a temptation, which +caused Luther to feel that, in the words of Scripture, it was 'not +good for man to be alone,' but that he ought to have a help-meet to +be with him. As to the choice of such a help-meet he may have +already talked with Amsdorf, and very possibly they may have spoken +of a lady of Magdeburg of the family of Alemann, who were +conspicuous there for their devotion to the evangelical cause. + +But Luther's own choice turned on Catharine von Bora, a former nun. +Sprung from an ancient, though poor family of noble blood, she had +been brought up from childhood in the convent of Nimtzch near +Grimma. We find her there as early as 1509; she was born on January +29, 1499, and was consecrated as a nun at the age of sixteen. When +the evangelical doctrine became known at Nimtzch, Catharine +endeavoured with other nuns to break the bonds, which she had taken +upon herself without any real free-will or knowledge of her own. In +vain she entreated her relatives to release her. At length one +Leonhard Koppe, a burgher and councillor of Torgau, took her part. +Assisted by him and two of his friends, nine nuns escaped secretly +from the convent on Easter Eve, April 5, 1523. Luther justified +their escape in a public letter addressed to Koppe, and collected +funds for their support, until they could be further provided for. +They fled first to Wittenberg, and here Catharine stayed at the +house of the town clerk and future burgomaster, Philip Reichenbach. + +She was now in her twenty-sixth year, when Luther turned his thoughts +towards her. He told afterwards his friends and Catharine herself, +with perfect frankness, that he had not been in love with her before, +for he had his suspicions, and they were not unfounded, that she was +proud. He had even thought, shortly before, of arranging a marriage +between her and a minister named Glatz, who later on, however, proved +himself unworthy of his office. Catharine, on the other hand, is said +to have gone to Amsdorf, as the trusted friend of Luther, and to have +told him frankly that she did not wish to marry Glatz, but was ready +to form an honourable alliance with himself or with Luther. If +Cranach's portrait of her is to be trusted, she was not remarkable +for beauty or any outward attraction. But she was a healthy, strong, +frank and true German woman. Luther might reasonably expect to have +in her a loyal, fresh-hearted, and staunch help-meet for his life, +whose own cares or requirements would cause him little anxiety, +while she would be just such a companion as, with his physical +ailments and mental troubles, he required. In the event of her +haughty disposition asserting itself unduly, he was the very man +to correct it with quiet firmness and affection. + +What further considerations induced him to marry, appear from his +letters, in which he urged his friends to do likewise. Thus he wrote +on March 27 to Wolfgang Reissenbusch, preceptor of the convent at +Lichtenberg, saying that man was created by God for marriage. God +had so made man that he could not well do without it; whoever was +ashamed of marrying, must also be ashamed of his manhood, or must +pretend to be wiser than God. The devil had slandered the married +state by letting people who lived in immorality be held in high +honour. Luther, in thus frankly stating the natural disposition of +man to married life, spoke from his own experience. 'To remain +righteous unmarried,' he said once later on, 'is not the least of +trials, as those know well who have made the attempt.' In referring +as he did to the devil, he probably had in his mind the scandal +which threatened him if he should decide on marrying. He then goes +on to say to Reissenbusch that if he honoured the Word and work of +God, the scandal would be only a matter of a moment, to be followed +by years of honour. To Spalatin he writes on April 10: 'I find so +many reasons for urging others to marry, that I shall soon be +brought to it myself, notwithstanding that enemies never cease to +condemn the married state, and our little wiseacres ridicule it +every day.' The 'wiseacres' he was thinking of were professors and +theologians of his circle at Wittenberg. Not only was he resolved, +however, to obey the will of his Creator, despite all condemnation +and ridicule, but he deemed it his duty to testify to the rightness +of the step by his example as well as by his words. His enemies, in +fact, were taunting him that he did not venture to practise himself +what he preached to others. A few days after, immediately before his +departure for Eisleben, he wrote again to Spalatin, recommending his +friend, who had been so utterly averse to matrimony, to take care +that he was not anticipated in the step. + +Amidst all the terrors of the Peasants' War, which had now broken +out in all its violence, and in earnest contemplation of a near end +possibly threatening himself, he had formed the fixed resolve, as +his letter of May 4 to Rühel shows, to 'take his Kate to wife, in +spite of the devil.' This is the first letter in which he mentions +her name to a friend. And to this resolve he steadily adhered during +the troublous weeks that followed, when he was called on to pay the +last honours to his Elector, to rouse men to the sanguinary contest +with the peasants, and to hear contumely and reproach heaped upon +his stirring words. Besides writing to the Cardinal Albert himself, +recommending him to marry, he sent a letter also on June 3 to his +friend Rühel, who held office as one of his advisers, saying, 'If my +marrying might serve in any way to strengthen his Grace to do the +same, I should be very willing to set his Grace the example; for I +have a mind, before leaving this world, to enter the married state, +to which I believe God has called me.' He had thoughts of this kind, +he added, even if it should end only in a betrothal, and not an +actual marriage. + +He speedily gave effect to his final resolve, in order to cut short +all the loose and idle gossip which threatened him as soon as his +intentions were known with regard to Catharine von Bora. He took +none of his friends into his confidence, but acted, as he afterwards +advised others to act. 'It is not good,' he said, 'to talk much +about such matters. A man must ask God for counsel, and pray, and +then act accordingly.' + +As to how he finally came to terms with Catharine we have no account +to show. But on the evening of June 13, on the Tuesday after the +feast of the Trinity, he invited to his house his friends +Bugenhagen, the parish priest of the town, Jonas, the professor and +provost of the church of All Saints, Lucas Cranach with his wife, +and the juristic professor Apel, formerly a dean of the Cathedral at +Bamberg, who himself had married a nun, and in their presence was +married to Catharine. The marriage was solemnised in the customary +way. The pair were asked, by the priest present, Bugenhagen, +according to the custom prevailing in Germany, and which Luther +afterwards followed in his tract on Marriage, whether they would +take one another for husband and wife; their right hands were then +joined together, and thus, in the name of the Trinity, they were +'joined together in matrimony.' The ceremony was therewith +concluded, and Catharine remained thenceforth with Luther as his +wife. Some days after Luther gave a little breakfast to his friends; +and the magistracy, of whom Cranach was a member, sent him their +congratulations, together with a present of wine. A fortnight later, +on June 27, Luther celebrated his wedding in grander style, by a +nuptial feast, in order to gather his distant friends around him. He +wrote to them saying that they were to 'seal and ratify' his +marriage, and 'help to pronounce the benediction.' Above all he +rejoiced to be able to see his 'dear father and mother' at the +feast. Among the motives for his marrying he especially mentioned +that he had felt himself bound to fulfil an old duty, in accordance +with his father's wishes. + +Great as was the surprise which Luther occasioned by his speedy +marriage, it was no greater than the talk and sensation that +immediately ensued. + +Among even his adherents and friends--especially the 'wiseacres' of +whom he had spoken--there was much astonishment and shaking of +heads. It was considered that the great man had lowered himself, and +gossip was busy in asking what reasons could have induced him to +take the step. Melancthon, his devoted friend, lost for the moment, +as is shown by his letter of June 16 to the philologist Camerarius, +his accustomed self-possession. He admitted that married life was a +holy state, and one well-pleasing to God, and that its results might +be beneficial to Luther's nature and character; but he was of +opinion that Luther's lowering himself to this condition was a +lamentable act of weakness, and injurious to his reputation--and +that, too, at a time when Germany was more than ever in need of all +his spirit and his energy. Luther had not invited him to be present +on the 13th, from a suspicion that Melancthon would scarcely approve +of what he was doing. A few days afterwards, however, he warmly +besought Link, their common friend, to be sure and attend their +nuptial feast on the 27th. That Luther, in this respect also, had +acted as a man of strong character and determination, would soon be +evident to them all. + +His enemies seized the occasion of his marriage to spread vulgar +falsehoods about him, which soon were further exaggerated, and have +been raked up shamelessly again, even in our own time, or at least +repeated in veiled and scandalous inuendoes. + +[Illustration: Fig. 29.--LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in +1525.) At Wittenberg.] + +As for Luther himself, he at first felt strange in the new mode of +life which he had entered at the age of forty-one, so suddenly, and +in the midst of his arduous labours, and the stirring public events +and struggles of the time. At the same time he could not but be +aware of the unfavourable reception which his step would encounter, +even with his friends at Wittenberg. Melancthon found him, during +the early days of his married life, in a restless and uncertain +mood. But he remained firm in his conviction that God had called him +to the married state. The same day that Melancthon wrote so +anxiously to Camerarius about his marriage, Luther himself wrote to +Spalatin, saying, 'I have made myself so vile and contemptible +forsooth, that all the angels, I hope, will laugh, and all the +devils weep.' In his letter of invitation to his friends for June +27, friendly humour is mingled with words of deep earnestness; nay, +even with thoughts of death, and a longing for release from this +infatuated world. Later on Luther preached, on the ground of his own +experiences, about the blessings, the joys, and the purifying +burdens of the state ordained and sanctified by God, and never +without an expression of gratitude to God for having brought him to +enter into it. Seventeen years after his marriage he bore testimony +to Catharine in his will, that she had been to him a 'pious, +faithful, and devoted wife, always loving, worthy, and beautiful.' + +[Illustration: Fig. 30.--CATHARINE VON BORA, LUTHER'S WIFE. (From a +Portrait by Cranach about 1525.) At Berlin.] + +Of the wedding feast of June 27 we have no further details. It was, +so far as concerns the repast, a very simple one, as compared with +the elaborate nuptial entertainments then in fashion. The university +presented Luther with a beautifully chased goblet of silver, bearing +round its base the words: 'The honourable University of the +Electoral town of Wittenberg presents this wedding gift to Doctor +Martin Luther and his wife Kethe von Bora. [Footnote: The goblet is +now in the possession of the University of Greifswald.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 3l.--LUTHER'S RING FROM CATHARINE.] + +Apartments in the convent, which Brisger also quitted shortly after to +become a minister, were appointed by the Elector as the dwelling-place +of Luther. Here, therefore, Catharine had to manage her household. + +[Illustration: Fig. 82.--LUTHER'S DOUBLE RING.] + +Protestant posterity has been anxious to retain a memorial of this +marriage in the wedding rings of the newly-married couple. These, +however, were probably not used at the marriage itself, since Luther +wished to have it solemnised so quickly and without the knowledge of +others. But a ring has been preserved, which Luther, to judge from +the inscription (D. Martino Luthero Catharina v. Boren 13 Jun. +1525), received at any rate from his Kate as a supplementary +reminiscence of the day. In recent times--about 1817--it has been +multiplied by several copies. It bears the figure of the crucified +Saviour and the instruments of His death; in perfect keeping with +the spirit of the Reformer, whose marriage, like the other acts of +his life, was concluded in the name of Christ crucified. There +exists also, in the Ducal Museum at Brunswick, a double ring, +consisting of two interfastened in the middle, of which one bears a +diamond with his initials M. L. D., and the other a ruby with the +initials of his wife, C. v. B. The inner surface of the first ring +is engraved with the words: 'WAS. GOT. ZUSAMEN. FIEGT,' (Those whom +God hath joined together), and the second, 'SOL. KEIN. MENSCH. +SCHEIDEN,' (Shall no man put asunder). This double ring was probably +given by some friend to Luther, or, as others suppose, to his wife. + + + + +PART V. + +_LUTHER AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CHURCH, TO THE FIRST +RELIGIOUS PEACE_. 1525-1532. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +SURVEY. + + +The year 1525 marks in the life of Luther and the history of the +Reformation an epoch and a departure of general importance. + +Luther's preaching had originally forced its way among the German +people and its various classes, with an energy and strength never +counted on by its opponents. It seemed impossible to calculate how +far the ferment would extend, and what would be its ultimate +results. It was the idea of the Elector Frederick the Wise, now +dead, that by simply letting the word of the gospel unfold itself +quietly and work its way without hindrance, the truth could not fail +eventually to penetrate all Christendom, or at least the Christian +world of Germany, and thus accomplish a peaceful victory. This hope +had guided him during his lifetime in his relations with Luther, and +no one appreciated and responded to it more loyally than Luther +himself. But now, as we have seen, those German princes who adhered +to the old Church system had begun to form a close alliance, and +were meditating means of remedying, albeit in their own fashion, +certain evils in the Church. Erasmus, still the representative of a +powerful modern movement of the intellect, had at length broken +finally with Luther, and renewed his former allegiance to the Romish +Church. From the German nobility, whose sympathy and co-operation +Luther had once so boldly and hopefully invoked in his contest with +the Papacy, it was vain, since the fatal enterprise of Sickingen, +which Luther himself had been forced to condemn, to expect any +material assistance in furtherance of the Evangelical cause. True, +there was the extensive rising of another class, the peasantry, who +likewise appealed to the gospel. But genuine disciples of the gospel +could not fail to see in this movement, with terror, how a perverse +conception of the sacred text led to errors and crimes which even +Luther wished to see suppressed in blood. And the Catholic nobles +took advantage of this rising to persecute with the greater rigour +all evangelical preaching, and to extend, without further inquiry, +their denunciation of the insurgents to those of evangelical +sympathies who held entirely aloof from the insurrection. Luther, in +his dealings with the nobles and peasants, failed to preserve that +boldness and confidence of mind and language which he had previously +displayed towards his fellow-countrymen. That his cause, indeed, was +the cause of God, he remained unshakenly convinced; but in a sadder +spirit than he had ever shown before, he left God's will to +determine what amount of visible success that cause should attain to +in the present evil world, or how far the decision should depend +upon His last great Judgment. + +[Illustration: Fig. 33.--The Saxon Electors, FREDERICK THE WISE, +JOHN, and JOHN FREDERICK. (From a Picture by Cranach.) At +Nüremberg.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 34.--Facsimile of FREDERICK's signature.] + +Even before the Peasants' War broke out, the proceedings of the +fanatics had begun to hamper and disturb his labours in the field of +reformation, and had prepared for him much pain and tribulation. He +had to grow distrustful of so many whom he had regarded as brothers, +and of their manner of proclaiming the Word of God, Whom they +pretended to serve. He already heard of men among them, who not only +rejected infant baptism, and openly attacked his own, no less than +the Catholic doctrine of the Sacrament, but who impugned the +universal belief of Christendom in the Triune God and the Divinity +of the Saviour. Early in 1525 news reached him of such a man at +Nüremberg, John Denk, the Rector of the school there, who was +expelled on that account by the magistrates. Luther's own doctrine +of the presence of Christ's Body in the Lord's Supper, which he had +previously to defend against Carlstadt, his former colleague and +fellow-combatant, now found a far more formidable opponent in the +Zurich Reformer, Ulrich Zwingli. The latter, in a letter of November +16, 1524, to Alber, a preacher at Reutlingen, had already disputed +the Real Presence, by interpreting the words 'This _is_ my +body' to mean 'This _signifies_ my body.' In March 1525 he made +known this interpretation to the world by publishing his letter, +together with a pamphlet 'On the True and False Religion.' He was +joined at Basle by Oecolampadius, whom Luther had welcomed formerly +as a fellow-labourer, and who published his own interpretation of +the words of Christ. Butzer and Capito, the evangelical preachers at +Strasburg, inclined to the same view, which threatened to spread +rapidly over the South of Germany. The opposition now encountered by +Luther was far more dangerous for his teaching than the theories and +agitations of a Carlstadt, since whatever judgment may be formed +about its merits, it proceeded at any rate from men of far more +thoughtful minds, more solid theological acquirements, and more +honest reverence for the Word of God. Herewith then began that +division of opinion among the ranks of the Evangelical Reformers, +which served more than anything else to retard the fresh and +vigorous progress of the Reformation, and infected even Luther's +spirit with the bitterness of the controversy it entailed. + +At the same time, however, Luther had now won firm ground for the +Evangelical cause upon a fixed and extensive territory. Within these +limits it was possible to construct a new Church system, upon stable +foundations and with a new constitution. John, the new Elector of +Saxony, did not enjoy, it is true, the same high consideration +throughout the Empire as his brother Frederick, Luther's great +protector, and he was also his inferior as a statesman. But with +Luther himself both he and his son John Frederick had already +maintained a friendly personal intercourse, such as his predecessor +had carefully avoided. Nor did his disposition lead him, like +Frederick, to pay any such regard to the possible preservation of +Church unity in the German Empire and Western Christendom; on the +contrary, he soon showed his readiness to undertake independently, +as sovereign of his country, the establishment of a new Evangelical +Church. Prussia had just preceded him in a reform embracing the +whole country, under the former Grand Master of the Teutonic +Knights, their present Duke. The Elector now found a further ally +for the work in the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, the most active and +politically the most important of all. As a young man of only twenty +years of age, in the beginning of 1525, he had rendered valuable +service by his energy, resolution, and warlike ability, in the +defeat of Sickingen, and again when opposed to the seditious +peasants. Already before the Peasants' War commenced, he had +acquired, mainly through Melancthon, whom he had met when +travelling, a knowledge and love of the evangelical doctrines. His +father-in-law, Duke George of Saxony, had vainly endeavoured, after +their common victory over the insurgents, to alienate him from the +cause of the hateful Luther, who he said was the author of so much +mischief. But the menaces hurled against that cause by the Catholic +States of the Empire served only to attach him more closely and +loyally to John and John Frederick, and thence resulted in the +following spring the League of Torgau, which was joined also by the +princes of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Anhalt, and Mecklenburg, and the town +of Magdeburg. The co-operation of the territorial princes made it +possible to procure for the Reformation and its Church system a firm +position in the German Empire against the Emperor and the hostile +Catholic States. And, at the same time, it offered means for +establishing on the ground newly occupied by the Reformation itself, +firm and generally recognised regulations of Church polity, and +defending them from being disturbed by the proceedings of fanatics. + +[Illustration: Fig. 35.--PHILIP OF HESSE. (From a woodcut of +Brosamer.)] + +Under these new conditions and circumstances, Luther's work became +limited, as was natural, to a narrower field, and bore no longer the +same character of boldness and independence which had marked it in +his original contest with Rome. But it required, on this account, +all the more perseverance and patience, faithfulness and +circumspection in minor matters, and an adequate regard to what was +actually required and practicable, while clinging firmly to the +lofty aims and objects with which the work of the Reformation had +commenced. + +To the portrait of Luther as the Reformer we have to add henceforth +that of the married man and head of the household, whose single +desire is to fulfil, as a man and a Christian, the duties belonging +to this state of life, and to enjoy with a quiet conscience the +blessings of God. In his letters to intimate friends we find happy +home news alternating with the most profound and serious reflections +on the conduct and duties of the Evangelical Church, and on abstruse +questions of theology. His language as a Reformer deals now no +longer, as in his Address to the German Nobility, in particular, +with the problems and interests of political and social life; it is +mainly to religious and spiritual matters, and to the kindred +questions affecting the active work and constitution of the Church, +that his mission is now directed. But his personal relations with +his countrymen became all the more close and intimate in consequence +of this change of life; and that which by many of his friends was +regretted as a lowering of his reputation and influence, becomes a +valuable and essential feature in the historical portrait now +presented to our eyes. + +In single dramatic incidents and changes, so to speak, Luther's life +henceforth, as was only natural, is no longer so rich as during the +earlier years of development and struggle. We shall no longer meet +with crises of such a kind as mark a momentous epoch. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CONTINUED LABOURS AND PERSONAL LIFE TO 1529. + + +Among the particular labours which occupied Luther during the +further course of the year 1525, apart from his persevering industry +as a professor and preacher, we have already had occasion to mention +one, namely, his reply to Erasmus. We find him towards the end of +September entirely engrossed in this work. Not a single proposition +in Erasmus' book, so he wrote to Spalatin, would he admit. + +The reckless severity with which he assailed that distinguished +opponent appears all the more remarkable when contrasted with the +conciliatory tone whereby he was then hoping to appease the wrath of +his two bitterest enemies in high places, King Henry VIII. of +England and Duke George of Saxony. + +On September 1, 1525, he addressed a humble letter to Henry. King +Christian II. of Denmark, who, after forfeiting his throne by his +arbitrary and despotic rule, had taken refuge with the Elector +Frederick, showed an inclination to favour the new doctrine, and +even came in person to Wittenberg. By him Luther was induced to +believe--for what reason it does not appear--that Henry VIII. had +entirely changed his Church principles; and to hope that, if only he +could make amends for the personal offence he had given him, Henry +might be won over still further for the Evangelical cause. Luther +refers to this hope as follows: 'My Most Gracious Sire the King gave +me good cause to hope for the King of England ... and ceased not to +urge me by speech and letter, giving me so many good words, and +telling me that I ought to write humbly, and that it would be useful +to do so, and so forth, until I am fairly intoxicated with the +idea.' He then cast himself in his letter at the feet of his +Majesty, and besought him to pardon him for the offence he had given +by his earlier pamphlet, 'because from good witnesses he had learned +that the Royal treatise which he had attacked, was not indeed the +work of the King himself, but a concoction of the miserable Cardinal +of York' (Edward Lee). He promised to make a public retractation, in +another pamphlet, for the sake of the King's honour. At the same +time, he wished that the grace of God might assist his Majesty, and +enable him to turn wholly to the gospel, and shut his ears against +the siren voices of its enemies. + +With regard to Duke George of Saxony, all that Luther had as yet +heard about him was that he was incessantly bringing fresh +complaints about him to the Elector, that he rigorously excluded the +new teaching from his own territory, and, what was more, that, he +was anxious to go on from the conquest of the peasants to the +suppression of Lutheranism, which had been the cause, he declared, +of all the mischief. Now, however, Luther learned from certain Saxon +nobles, that the Duke himself was not so unfavourably disposed to +the cause, and was willing to treat with mildness and toleration +those who preached or confessed the gospel; that it was with Luther +personally that he was so offended and irritated. Luther wrote to +him on December 22 of this year. 'I have been advised,' he says, +'once more to entreat your Grace in this letter, with all humility +and friendship, for it almost seems to me as if God, our Lord, would +soon take some of us from hence, and the fear is that Duke George +and Luther may also have to go.' He then entreats, with all +submission, his pardon for whatever wrong he had done the Duke by +writing or in speech; but of his doctrine he could, for conscience' +sake, retract nothing. Luther, however, did not humble himself to +George as he had done to King Henry, and his letter bears his +characteristic sharpness of tone. He assured the Duke, however, +that, with all his former severity of language towards him, he was a +better friend to him than all his sycophants and parasites, and that +the Duke had no need to pray to God against him. + +Luther undoubtedly wrote the two letters, as he himself says of the +one to Henry, with a simple and honest heart. They show, indeed, how +much genuine good-nature, and at the same time how strange an +ignorance of the world and of men, was combined in him together with +a passionate zeal for combat. George answered him at once with +ferocity, and, as Luther says, with the coarseness of a peasant. The +prince, otherwise not ignoble, was so embittered by hatred against +the heretic as to reproach him with the vulgarest motives of +avarice, ambition, and the lust of the flesh. Never had Luther, even +with his worst enemies, stooped to such personal slander. Concerning +the answer which came afterwards from King Henry, as well as the +reply of Erasmus, we shall speak further on. + +Meanwhile, Luther and his friends were directing their attention to +the newly published doctrine of the Last Supper. At first Luther +left others to contest it: Bugenhagen addressed a public letter +against it to his friend Hess at Breslau; Brenz at Schwäbish Hall, +together with other Swabian preachers, published tracts against +Oecolampadius. Luther himself, after February 1525, referred +repeatedly to Zwingli's theory in sermons to the congregation at +Wittenberg which were printed at the time. But beyond this he +confined himself to sending warnings by letter, on November 5, 1525, +and January 4, 1526, to Strasburg and Reutlingen, whence he had been +appealed to on the subject, against the false doctrines which had +been put forward concerning the Sacrament, and particularly against +the fanatics. We shall follow later on the further course of the +controversy. + +All these polemics, however, were only an adjunct to his positive +labours and activity. His chief task now was to carry out the work +he had begun in his own Church. For this he could rely with +certainty on the inward sympathy of the new Elector, and he hastened +to turn it actively to account as soon as possible, for the +furtherance of his Church objects. During his communications with +the late Elector Frederick, Spalatin had always acted as +intermediary; but to John he addressed himself direct, and, whenever +occasion offered, by word of mouth, and this at times with much +urgency. Spalatin was now the pastor of a parish, as had been his +wish some time before. He was the successor at Altenburg of Link, +who had removed to Nüremberg, and he enjoyed the especial confidence +of John. + +In his official capacity Luther was, and always remained, before all +things, a member of the university. He cherished at all times a +lively appreciation of its importance to the cause of evangelical +truth, the Church, and the common welfare of society. He began by +pleading on its behalf to the new Elector, to remedy the defects and +grievances which had crept in during the latter years of the old and +ailing Elector Frederick. The requisite salary, in particular, was +wanting for several of the professorships, and the customary +lectures on many branches of study had been dropped. Luther, as he +himself afterwards told the Elector in a tone of apology, had +'worried him sorely to put the university in order,' so much so that +'his urgency wellnigh surprised the Elector, as though he had not +much faith in his promises.' In September the necessary reforms at +Wittenberg were provided for by a commission specially appointed by +the prince. The interest the latter took in theology made him double +Melancthon's salary, in order to attach him the more closely to the +theological lectures, which originally were not part of his duty. + +Luther next devoted all his energies towards the requirements of the +new Church system. + +At Wittenberg, and from thence in other places, regulations for the +performance of public worship had already been established, with the +object of giving full and free expression to evangelical truth. The +congregation had the Word of God read aloud to them, and joined in +the singing of German hymns. The portions of the Liturgy, however, +which were sung partly by the priests and partly by the choir, were +still conducted in Latin. Luther now introduced a complete service +in German, changing here and there the old form. To assist him in +the musical alterations required, the Elector sent him two musicians +from Torgau. With one of these in particular, John Walter, Luther +worked with diligence, and continued afterwards on terms of friendly +intercourse. He himself composed a few pieces for the work. + +Of these, as of the earlier regulations at Wittenberg, Luther +published a formal account. It appeared at the beginning of the next +year (1526), under the title of 'The German Mass and Order of Divine +Worship at Wittenberg.' But he guarded himself in this publication, +from the outset, against the new Service being construed into a law +of necessary obligation, or made a means of disquieting the +conscience. In this matter, as in others, he wished above all things +that regard should be paid to the weak and simple brethren--to those +who had still to be trained and built up into Christians. Nay, he +had meant it for a people among whom, as he said, many were not +Christians at all, but the majority stood and stared, for the mere +sake of seeing something new, just as though a Christian Service +were being performed among Turks and heathens. The first question +with these was how to attract them publicly to a confession of +belief and Christianity. He thought also, at this time, of another +and, as he termed it, a true kind of Evangelical Service, for which, +however, the people were not yet prepared. His idea in this was that +all individuals who were Christians in earnest, and were willing to +confess the gospel, should enrol themselves by name, and meet +together for prayer, for reading the Word of God, for administering +the Sacraments, and exercising works of Christian piety. For an +assembly of this kind, and for their worship of God, he contemplated +no elaborate form of Liturgy, but, on the contrary, simply a 'short +and proper' means of 'directing all in common to the Word and prayer +and charity,' and in addition thereto, a regular exercise of +congregational discipline and a Christian care of the poor, after +the example of the Apostles. But for the present, he said, he must +resign this idea of a congregation simply from the want of proper +persons to compose it. He would wait 'until Christians were found +sufficiently earnest about the Word to offer themselves for the +purpose, and adhere to it;' otherwise it might serve only to +generate a 'spirit of faction,' if he attempted to carry it through +by himself; for the Germans, he said, were a wild people, and very +difficult to deal with, unless extreme necessity compelled them. The +Elector, however, readily assented to this project, and purposed to +propose it as a model for other churches in his dominions. + +At this point, however, a wider field of action opened out, the +details of which could not be comprehended at a single glance, and +which seemed to require a higher care, and the guidance and support +of higher powers and authorities. In many places, nothing as yet, or +at all events nothing of a stable and well-ordered kind, had been +done towards a reconstruction of the Church and the satisfaction of +spiritual requirements in an evangelical sense. There was no +collective Church, and no ecclesiastical office existing by whose +influence and authority reforms might have been made, and a new +organisation established. This was a grievous state of need where, +perhaps, the existing clergy and the majority or the flower of their +congregations were already unanimous and decided in their confession +of evangelical doctrine. And in a number of congregations, indeed, +among the great mass of the country people, there prevailed to a +peculiar degree, that want of understanding, of ripe thought, and of +inward sympathy, which Luther noticed even among many of his +Wittenbergers. The bishops, in their visitations in Saxony under the +Elector Frederick, had been unable to check any longer the progress +of the new teaching, and did not venture on any further +interference. And yet this teaching, as Luther knew better than +anyone, had not yet succeeded, in spite of all its popularity, in +penetrating the souls of men. To a large extent, the masses seemed +to be still stolid and indifferent. Even among the clergy, many were +so unstable, so obscure, and so incompetent, that they failed to +make any progress with their congregations. There were even some +among them who were ready, according to circumstances, to adopt +either the old or the new Church usages. In some places the new +practices were opposed as innovations, especially by various nobles, +and by the priests, who were dependent on the nobles: if such +opposition was to be broken, it could only be done by the authority +and power of the local sovereign. Lastly, and apart from all this, +the new Church system was threatened with imminent disturbance and +dissolution from the insufficiency or misuse of the funds required +for its support. The customary revenues were falling off; payments +were no longer made for private masses; and many of the nobles, +including even those who remained attached to the old system, began +to secularise the property of the Church. 'Unless measures are +taken,' said Luther, 'to secure a suitable disposition and proper +maintenance for ministers and preachers, there will shortly be +neither parsonages nor schools worth speaking of, and Divine Worship +and the Word of God will come utterly to an end.' + +The first question was to establish the principles on which a new +organisation of the Church should be based. + +The earlier opinions expressed by Luther, especially in his Address +to the German Nobility, might have led one to expect that the new +Church system conformably to his ideas would have to be built up, to +use a modern expression, from below, that is to say, on the basis of +the universal priesthood of all baptized Christians, who should now +therefore, after hearing and receiving the Word of the Gospel, have +proceeded to organise and embody themselves into a new community. +Luther had also, in that treatise, as we have seen, allotted certain +duties to the civil authorities in regard even to ecclesiastical +matters; and it was now from profound and painful conviction that he +confessed that the great bulk of the people were as yet not genuine +Christians, but needed public means of attraction to draw them to +Christianity. Later on we met with his idea of a 'German Mass,' +involving a voluntary union and assembly of genuine Christians, as +explained by him three years before in a sermon. There were elements +here at least, one might have thought, sufficient to constitute an +independent system of congregations. Shortly afterwards, in October +1526, a Hessian synod, convoked by the Landgrave Philip at Homberg, +actually adopted the draft of a constitution, which provided that +those Christians who acknowledged the Word of God should voluntarily +enrol themselves as members of a Christian Evangelical Brotherhood +or congregation, who should elect in assembly their pastors and +bishops, and that the latter, together with other deputies, should +constitute a general synod for the national Church. But Luther, true +to his conviction, previously expressed, that there were not the men +fitted for such an institution, stated now his opinion to Philip, +that he had not the boldness to carry out such a heap of +regulations, and that people were not as fit for them as those who +sat and made the regulations imagined. Moreover he could not +tolerate the idea that the mass of those who remained outside this +community, and who were looked upon, according to the Homberg +scheme, as heathens, should be left to their fate, without preachers +of the Word, and above all, without either baptism or the Christian +education of their children. Added to this, he adhered strenuously +to his belief, which we have noticed long before, that certain +duties with reference to religion and the Church were incumbent on +the civil authorities, the princes and magistrates, in common with +all the rest of Christendom. It was their duty, he declared in those +earlier writings of his, to prohibit, by force if necessary, the +proceedings of those priests who were hostile to the gospel. He now +applied the idea and definition of external, idolatrous practices to +the Papal system of public worship and the sacrifice of the mass. To +suppress these practices, he said, was the duty of those authorities +who watched over the external relations of life: such was his demand +against the Catholics at Altenburg. On the other hand, this province +of external life and external regulations embraced also the material +means required for the external maintenance of the Church. And it +was only a step further for those authorities to forbid any public +exposition of doctrines which they found to be at variance with the +Word of God, and to appoint also preachers of that Word; nay, to +undertake, in short, the establishment and preservation of the +constitution of the Church, so far as the same was external, and +necessary, and incapable of being established by any other power. +The Elector John himself had already, on August 16, 1525, announced +at his palace of Weimar to the assembled clergy of the district, +'that the gospel should be preached, pure and simple, without any +additions by man.' + +Under such circumstances, and starting with such views, Luther now +urged the Elector to take in hand a comprehensive regulation of the +Church. As soon as he had discharged his duties at the university +and completed his new Church Service in German, he turned his +efforts to a general 'Reform of parishes.' This, as he said in a +letter at the end of September, was now the stumbling-block before +him. On October 31, 1525, the anniversary of his ninety-five theses, +he represented to the Elector that, now that the reorganisation of +the university and the regulation of public worship had been +completed, there still remained two points which demanded the +attention and care of his Highness, as the supreme temporal +authority in his country. One of these was the miserable condition +of the parishes in general; the other was the proposal that the +Elector, as Luther had already advised him at Wittenberg, should +institute an inspection also of the civil administration of his +councillors and officials, about which there were everywhere +complaints both in the towns and country districts. With regard to +the first point, he went on to explain, on receiving a gracious +reply from the Elector, that the people who wished to have an +evangelical preacher should themselves be made to contribute the +additional income required; and he proposed that the country should +be divided into four or five districts, each of which should be +visited by two commissioners appointed by the prince. He then +proceeded to consider the external maintenance of the parochial +clergy, and the means necessary for that purpose. He suggested +further that ministers advanced in years, or unfit to preach, but +otherwise of pious life and conduct, should be instructed to read +aloud, in person or by deputy, the Gospel, together with the +Postills or short homilies. With regard to those parishes where the +appointment of an evangelical preacher was a matter of indifference +or of actual repugnance, he expressed at present no opinion; but in +his later proposals he assumed the establishment of evangelical +preachers throughout the country. He expresses his conviction that +the Elector will give his services to God in these reforms of the +Church, as a faithful instrument in His hands, 'because,' as he +says, 'your Highness is entreated and demanded to do so by us, and +by the pressing need itself, and, therefore, assuredly by God.' + +Readily as the Elector John listened to Luther's words and +exhortations, he found it difficult, nevertheless, to initiate at +once so vast an undertaking as was imposed upon him. Luther was well +aware, as he himself told John, that matters of importance might +easily be delayed at court, 'through the overwhelming press of +business;' and that princely households had much to do, and it was +necessary to importune them perseveringly. He knew his prince--that +with the best will possible, he was not energetic enough with those +about him; and among the latter he suspected that many were +indifferent and selfish with regard to matters of religion and the +Church. The task, however, that now lay before him, was even more +difficult and involved than Luther himself had imagined when first +shaping and propounding his idea. + +A whole year went by before the project was taken up +comprehensively. Only in the district of Borna, in January 1526, was +an inspection of parishes effected by Spalatin and a civil official +of the prince; and another one was held during Lent in the +Thuringian district of Tenneberg, in which Luther's friend Myconius +of Gotha, afterwards one of the most prominent Reformers in +Thuringia, took an active part. Meantime, however, the clergy in +general received directions from the Elector to perform public +worship in the manner prescribed by Luther's 'German Mass.' + +In the course of the summer the development of the general affairs +of the Empire enabled the desired co-operation of the civil +authorities in the work of Reformation to be established on a basis +of law. And yet, just now, the situation, as regards the Evangelical +cause, had become more critical than at any previous time since the +Diet of Worms. For the Emperor Charles had terminated, by a +brilliant victory, the war with France, which had compelled him to +let his Edict remain dormant; and the peace concluded with the +captured King Francis, in January 1526, at Madrid, was designated by +the two monarchs as being intended to enable them to take up their +Christian arms in common for the expulsion of the infidels and the +extirpation the Lutheran and other heresies. The Emperor issued an +admonition to certain princes of Germany, bidding them take measures +accordingly, and a number of them held a conference together on the +subject. Against the danger thus threatening, the Evangelical party +formed the League of Torgau. But no sooner was King Francis at +liberty and back in France, than he broke the peace so solemnly +contracted. Pope Clement, to whom this peace had offered such a +splendid prospect of purifying and uniting Christendom, set more +store by his political interests and temporal possessions in Italy, +which formed a subject of such jealous rivalry and contention +between himself, the Emperor, and the King. Terrified at the +overwhelming power of the Emperor, the Holy Father made use of his +Divine credentials to absolve the French king from his oath, and +himself concluded a warlike alliance with him against Charles, which +went by the name of the 'Holy League.' Myconius remarked of this +compact that 'whatever Popes do must be called most holy, for so +holy are they that even God, the Gospel, and all the world, must lie +at their feet.' Meanwhile, the Turks from the East were advancing on +Germany. Thus it came to pass that a Diet at Spires, which seemed +originally to have been summoned for the final execution of the +Edict of Worms, led to the Imperial Recess of August 27, 1526, +wherein it was declared that until the General, or at least National +Council of the Church, which was prayed for, should be convoked, +each State should, in all matters appertaining to the Edict of +Worms, 'so live, rule, and bear itself as it thought it could answer +it to God and the Emperor.' + +Luther now turned again, on November 22, 1526, to John, 'not having +laid for a long while any supplication before his Electoral +Highness.' The peasants, he said, were so unruly, and so ungrateful +for the Word of God, that he had almost a mind to let them go on +living like pigs, without a preacher, only their poor young +children, at any rate, must be cared for. He laid down in this +letter some important principles concerning the duty of the civil +power and the State. The prince, he declared, was the supreme +guardian of the young, and of all who required his protection. All +towns and villages that could afford the means, should be compelled +to keep schools and preachers, just as they were compelled to pay +taxes for bridges, roads, and other local requirements. In support +of this demand, he appealed to the direct command of God, and to the +universal state of destitution prevailing. If that duty were +neglected, the country would be full of vagrant savages. With regard +to the convents and other religious foundations, he stated that, as +soon as the Papal yoke had been removed from the land, they would +pass over to the prince as the supreme head; and it would then +become his duty, however onerous, to regulate such matters, since no +one else would have the power to do so. He particularly warned the +Elector not to allow the nobles to appropriate the property of the +convents, 'as is talked of already, and as some of them are actually +doing.' They were founded, he said, for the service of God: whatever +was superfluous might be applied by the Elector to the exigencies of +the state or the relief of the poor. To his friends Luther +complained with grief and bitterness of some courtiers of the +Elector, who after having always shut their ears to religion and the +gospel, were now chuckling over the rich spoils in prospect, and +laughing at evangelical liberty. + +The work now commenced in real earnest. The Elector had the +necessary regulations prepared at Wittenberg, at a conference +between his chancellor Brück, Luther, and others. In February 1527 +visitors were appointed, and among them was Melancthon. They began +their labours at once in the district to which Wittenberg belonged, +but of their proceedings here nothing further is known. In July the +first visitation on a large scale took place in Thuringia. + +Just at this time, however, Luther was overtaken by severe bodily +suffering and also by troubles at home, while the visitation and the +academical life at Wittenberg had to experience an interruption. + +Luther's first year of married life had been one of happiness. +Symptoms of a physical disorder, the stone, had appeared, however, +even then, and in after years became extremely painful and +dangerous. + +On June 7, 1526, as he announced to his friend Rühel, his 'dear Kate +brought him, by the great mercy of God, a little Hans Luther,'--her +firstborn. With joy and thankfulness, as he says in another letter, +they now reaped the fruit and blessings of married life, whereof the +Pope and his creatures were not worthy. + +Amidst all his various labours in theology and for the Church, and +in preparing for the visitation, he took his share in the cares of +his household, laid out the garden attached to his quarters at the +convent, had a well made, and ordered seeds from Nüremberg through +his friend Link, and radishes from Erfurt. He wrote at the same time +to Link for tools for turning, which he wished to practise with his +servant Wolf or Wolfgang Sieberger, as the 'Wittenberg barbarians' +were too much behind in the art; and he was anxious, in case the +world should no longer care to maintain him as a minister of the +Word, to learn how to gain a livelihood by his handiwork. + +Early in January 1527 he was seized with a sudden rush of blood to +the heart. It nearly proved fatal at the moment, but fortunately +soon passed away. An attack of illness, accompanied by deep +oppression and anxiety of mind, and the effects of which long +remained, followed on July 6. On the morning of that day, being +seized with anguish of the soul, he sent for his faithful friend and +confessor Bugenhagen, listened to his words of comfort from the +Bible, and with persevering prayer commended himself and his beloved +ones to God. At Bugenhagen's advice, he then went to a breakfast, to +which the Elector's hereditary marshal, Hans Löser, had invited him. +He ate little at the meal, but was as cheerful as possible to his +companions. After it was over, he sought to refresh himself with +conversation with Jonas in his garden, and invited him and his wife +to spend the evening at his home. On their arrival, however, he +complained of a rushing and singing noise, like the waves of the +sea, in his left ear, and which afterwards shot through his head +with intolerable pain, like a tremendous gust of wind. He wished to +go to bed, but fainted away by the door of his bedroom, after +calling aloud for water. Cold water having been poured upon him, he +revived. He began to pray aloud, and talked earnestly of spiritual +things, although a short swoon came over him in the interval. The +physician Augustin Schurf, who was called in, ordered his body, now +quite cold, to be warmed. Bugenhagen too was sent for again. Luther +thanked the Lord for having vouchsafed to him the knowledge of His +holy Name; God's will be done, whether He would let him die, which +would be a gain to himself, or allow him to live on still longer in +the flesh, and work. He called his friends to witness that up to his +end he was certain of having taught the truth according to the +command of God. He assured his wife, with words of comfort, that in +spite of all the gossip of the blind world she was his wife, and he +exhorted her to rest solely on God's Word. He then asked, 'Where is +my darling little Hans?' The child smiled at his father, who +commended him with his mother to the God who is the Father of the +fatherless and judges the cause of the widow. He pointed to some +silver cups which had been given him, and which he wished to leave +his wife. 'You know,' he added, 'we have nothing else.' After a +profuse perspiration he grew better, and the next day he was able to +get up to meals. He said afterwards that he thought he was dying, in +the hands of his wife and his friends, but that the spiritual +paroxysm which had preceded had been something far more difficult +for him to bear. + +Luther, after recovering from this attack, still complained of +weakness in the head, and his inward oppression and spiritual +anguish was renewed and became intensified. On August 2 he told +Melancthon, who was then busy with his visitation in Thuringia, that +he had been tossed about for more than a week in the agonies of +death and hell, and that his limbs still trembled in consequence. + +Whilst he was still in this state of suffering, news came that the +plague was approaching Wittenberg, nay, had actually broken out in +the town. It is well known how this fearful scourge had repeatedly +raged in Germany, and how ruinous it had been, from the panic which +preceded and accompanied it. The university, from fear of the +epidemic, was now removed to Jena. + +Luther resolved, however, together with Bugenhagen, whom he was +assisting as preacher, to remain loyally with the congregation, who +now more than ever required his spiritual aid; although his Elector +wrote in person to him saying, 'We should for many reasons, as well +as for your own good, be loth to see you separated from the +university.... Do us then the favour.' He wrote to a friend, 'We are +not alone here; but Christ, and your prayers, and the prayers of all +the saints, together with the holy angels, are with us.' + +The plague had really broken out, though not with that violence +which the universal panic would have led one to suppose. Luther soon +counted eighteen corpses, which were buried near his house at the +Elster Gate. The epidemic advanced from the Fishers' suburb into the +centre of the town: here the first victim carried off by it, died +almost in Luther's arms--the wife of the burgomaster Tilo Denes. To +his friends elsewhere Luther sent comforting reports, and repressed +all exaggerated accounts. His friend Hess at Breslau asked him 'if +it was befitting a Christian man to fly when death threatened him.' +Luther answered him in a public letter, setting forth the whole duty +of Christians in this respect. Of the students, a few at any rate +remained at Wittenberg. For these he now began a new course of +lectures. + +Luther's spiritual sufferings continued to afflict him for several +months, and until the close of the year. Though he had known them, +he said, from his youth, he could never have expected that they +would prove so severe. He found them very similar to those attacks +and struggles which he had had to endure in early life. The invasion +of the plague, and the parting from all his intimate friends except +Bugenhagen, must have contributed to increase them. + +He was just now deeply shocked and agitated by the news of the death of +a faithful companion in the faith, the Bavarian minister Leonard Käser +or Kaiser, who was publicly burnt on August 16, 1527, in the town of +Scherding. Luther broke out, as he had done after Henry of Zütphen's +martyrdom, into a lamentation of his own unworthiness compared with +such heroes. He published an account of Leonard and his end, which had +been sent him by Michael Stiefel, adding a preface and conclusion of +his own. About the same time he composed a consolatory tract for the +Evangelical congregation at Halle-on-the-Saale, whose minister Winkler +had been murdered in the previous April. + +In the autumn a new controversial treatise was published against him +by Erasmus, which he rightly described as a product of snakes; and +he now stood in the midst of the contest between Zwingli and +Oecolampadius. He exclaimed once in a letter to Jonas, 'O that +Erasmus and the Sacramentarians (Zwingli and his friends) could only +for a quarter of an hour know the misery of my heart. I am certain +that they would then honestly be converted. Now my enemies live, and +are mighty, and heap sorrow on sorrow upon me, whom God has already +crushed to the earth.' + +The pestilence soon reached his friends. The wife of the physician +Schurf, who was then living in the same house with him, was attacked +by it, and only recovered slowly towards the beginning of November. +At the parsonage the wife of the chaplain or deacon George Rörer +succumbed to it on November 2, whereupon Luther took Bugenhagen and +his family from the panic-stricken house into his own dwelling. But +soon after dangerous symptoms showed themselves with a friend, +Margaret Mocha, who was then staying with Luther's family, and she +was actually ill unto death. His own wife was then near her +confinement. Luther was the more concerned about her, as Rörer's +wife, when in the same condition, had sickened and died. But Frau +Luther remained, as he says, firm in the faith, and retained her +health. Finally, towards the end of October his little son Hans fell +ill, and for twelve whole days would not eat. When the anniversary +of the ninety-five theses came round again, Luther wrote to Amsdorf +telling him of these troubles and anxieties, and concluded with the +words: 'So now there are struggles without and terror within.... It +is a comfort which we must set against the malice of Satan, that we +have the Word of God, whereby to save the souls of the faithful, +even though the devil devour their bodies.... Pray for us, that we +may endure bravely the hand of the Lord, and overcome the power and +craft of the devil, whether it be through death or life. Amen. +Wittenberg: All Saints' Day, the tenth anniversary of the death-blow +to indulgences, in thankful remembrance whereof we are now drinking +a toast.' + +[Illustration: Fig. 36.--LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in +1528, at Berlin.)] + +A short time afterwards Luther was able to send Jonas somewhat +better news about the sickness at home, though he was still sighing +with deep inward oppression; 'I suffer,' he said, 'the wrath of God, +because I have sinned in His sight. Pope, Emperor, princes, bishops, +and all the world hate me, and, as if that were not enough, my +brethren too (he means the Sacramentarians) must needs afflict me. +My sins, death, Satan with all his angels--all rage unceasingly; +and what could comfort me if Christ were to forsake me, for Whose +sake they hate me? But He will never forsake the poor sinner.' Then +follow the words above quoted about Erasmus and the Sacramentarians. + +[Illustration: Fig. 37.--LUTHER'S WIFE. (From a Portrait by Cranach +in 1528, at Berlin.)] + +Towards the middle of December the plague gradually abated. Luther +writes from home on the tenth of that month: 'My little boy is well +and happy again. Schurf's wife has recovered, Margaret has escaped +death in a marvellous manner. We have offered up five pigs, which +have died, on behalf of the sick.' And on his return home this day +to dinner from his lecture, his wife was safely delivered of a +little daughter, who received the name of Elizabeth. + +To his own inward sufferings Luther rose superior by the +strengthening power of the conviction that even in these his Lord +and Saviour was with him, and that God had sent them for his own +good and that of others; that is to say, for his own discipline and +humbling. He applied to himself the words of St. Paul, 'As dying, +and behold we live;' nay, he wished not to be freed of his burden, +should his God and Saviour be glorified thereby. + +Luther's famous hymn, _Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott_, +appeared for the first time, as has been recently proved, in a +little hymn-book, about the beginning of the following year. We can +see in it indeed a proof how anxious was that time for Luther. It +corresponds with his words, already quoted, on the anniversary of +the Reformation. + +With the cessation of the pestilence and the return of his friends, +the new year seems to have brought him also a salutary change in his +physical condition; for his sufferings, which were caused by impeded +circulation, became sensibly diminished. + +Since the outbreak, and during the continuance of the plague, the +work of Church visitation had been suspended. Melancthon, however, +who had followed the university to Jena, was commissioned meanwhile +to prepare provisionally some regulations and instructions for +further action in this matter, and in August Luther received the +articles which he had drafted for his examination and approval. + +These articles or instructions comprised the fundamental principles +of Evangelical doctrine, as they were henceforth to be accepted by +the congregations. They were drawn up with especial regard to the +'rough common man,' who too often seemed deficient in the first +rudiments of Christian faith and life, and with regard also to many +of those confessing the new teaching, who, as Melancthon perceived, +were not unfairly accused of allowing the word of saving faith to be +made a 'cloak of maliciousness,' and who filled their sermons rather +with attacks against the Pope than with words of edifying purport. +Melancthon said on this point, 'those who fancy they have conquered +the Pope, have not really conquered the Pope.' And whilst teaching +that those who were troubled about their sins had only to have faith +in their forgiveness for the merits of Christ, to be justified in +the sight of God and to find comfort and peace, nevertheless, he +would have the people earnestly and specially reminded that this +faith could not exist without true repentance and the fear of God; +that such comfort could only be felt where such fear was present, +and that to achieve this end God's law, with its demands and threats +of punishment, would effectually operate upon the soul. + +Luther himself had taught very explicitly, and in accordance with +his own experience of life, that the faith which saves through God's +joyful message of grace could only arise in a heart already bowed +and humbled by the law of God, and, having arisen, was bound to +employ itself actively in fruits of repentance; although, in stating +this doctrine, he had not perhaps so equally adjusted the +conditions, as Melancthon had here done. An outcry, however, now +arose from among the Romanists, that Melancthon no longer ventured +to uphold the Lutheran doctrine; of course it suited their interests +to fling a stone in this manner at Luther and his teaching. But what +was far more important, an attack was raised against Melancthon from +the circle of his immediate friends. Agricola of Eisleben, for +instance, would not hear of a repentance growing out of such +impressions produced by the Law and the fear of punishment. The +conversion of the sinner, he declared, must proceed solely and +entirely from the comforting knowledge of God's love and grace, as +revealed in His message to man: thence, further, and thence alone, +came the proper fear of God, a fear, not of His punishment, but of +Himself. This distinction he had failed to find in Melancthon's +Instructions. It was the first time that a dogmatic dispute +threatened to break out among those who had hitherto stood really +united on the common ground of Lutheran doctrine. + +Luther, on the contrary, approved Melancthon's draft, and found +little to alter in it. What his opponents said did not disturb him; +he quieted the doubts of the Elector on that score. Whoever +undertook anything in God's cause, he said, must leave the devil his +tongue to babble and tell lies against it. He was particularly +pleased that Melancthon had 'set forth all in such a simple manner +for the common people.' Fine distinctions and niceties of doctrine +were out of place in such a work. Even Agricola, who wished to be +more Lutheran than Luther himself, was silenced. + +Melancthon's work, after having been subjected by the Elector to +full scrutiny and criticism in several quarters, was published by +his command in March 1528, with a preface written by Luther, as +'Instructions of the Visitors to the parish priests in the +Electorate of Saxony.' In this preface Luther pointed out how +important and necessary for the Church was such a supervision and +visitation. He explained, as the reason why the Elector undertook +this office and sent out visitors, that since the bishops and +archbishops had proved faithless to their duty, no one else had been +found whose special business it was, or who had any orders to attend +to such matters. Accordingly, the local sovereign, as the temporal +authority ordained by God, had been requested to render this service +to the gospel, out of Christian charity, since, in his capacity as +civil ruler, he was under no obligation to do so. In like manner, +Luther afterwards described the Evangelical sovereigns as +'Makeshift-bishops' (_Nothbischöfe_). At the same time the +instructions for visitation introduced now in the smaller districts +the office of superintendent as one of permanent supervision. + +In the course of the summer preparations were made for a visitation +on a large scale, embracing the whole country. The original +intention had been to deal, by means of one commission, with the +various districts in rotation. Such a course would have necessarily +entailed, as was admitted, much delay and other inconveniences. A +more comprehensive method was accordingly adopted, of letting +different commissions work simultaneously in the different +districts. Each of these commissions consisted of a theologian and a +few laymen, jurists, and councillors of state, or other officials. +Luther was appointed head of the commission for the Electoral +district. The work was commenced earlier in some districts than in +others. Luther's commission was the first to begin, on October 22, +and apparently in the diocese of Wittenberg. + +Luther had already, since May 12, voluntarily undertaken a new and +onerous labour. Bugenhagen had left Wittenberg that day for the town +of Brunswick, where, at the desire of the local magistracy, he +carried out the work of reform in the Church, until his departure in +October for the same purpose to Hamburg, where he remained until the +following June. Luther undertook his pastoral duties in his absence, +and preached regularly three or four times in the week. +Nevertheless, he took his share also in the work of visitation; the +district assigned to him did not take him very far away from +Wittenberg. He remained there, actively engaged in this work, during +the following months, and with some few intervals, up to the spring. +From the end of January 1529 he again suffered for some weeks from +giddiness and a rushing noise in his head; he knew not whether it +was exhaustion or the buffeting of Satan, and entreated his friends +for their prayers on his behalf, that he might continue steadfast in +the faith. + +The shortcomings and requirements brought to light by the visitation +corresponded to what Luther had expected. In his own district the +state of things was comparatively favourable; happily, a third of +the parishes had the Elector for their patron, and in the towns the +magistrates had, to some extent at least, fulfilled their duties +satisfactorily. The clergy, for the most part, were good enough for +the slender demands with which, under existing circumstances, their +parishioners had to be content. But things were worse in many other +parts of the country. A gross example of the rude ignorance then +prevailing, not only among the country people, but even among the +clergy, was found in a village near Torgau, where the old priest was +hardly able to repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, but was in +high reputation far and near as an exorcist, and did a brisk +business in that line. Priests had frequently to be ejected for +gross immorality, drunkenness, irregular marriages, and such like +offences; many of them had to be forbidden to keep beer-houses, and +otherwise to practise worldly callings. On the other hand, we hear +of scarcely any priests so addicted to the Romish system as to put +difficulties in the way of the visitors. Poverty and destitution, so +Luther reports, were found everywhere. The worst feature was the +primitive ignorance of the common people, not only in the country +but partly also in the towns. We are told of one place where the +peasants did not know a single prayer; and of another, where they +refused to learn the Lord's Prayer, because it was too long. Village +schools were universally rare. The visitors had to be satisfied if +the children were taught the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten +Commandments by the clerk. A knowledge of these at least was +required for admission to the Communion. + +Luther in the course of his visitations mixed freely with the +people, in the practical, energetic, and hearty manner so peculiar +to himself. + +For the clergy, who needed a model for their preaching, and for the +congregations to whom their pastors, owing to their own incompetence, +had to preach the sermons of others, nothing more suitable for this +purpose could be offered than Luther's Church-Postills. Its use, +where necessary, was recommended. It had shortly before been +completed; that is to say, after Luther in 1525 had finished the +portion for the winter half-year, his friend Roth, of Zwickau, +brought out in 1527 a complete edition of sermons for the Sundays +of the summer half-year, and all the feast-days and holidays, +compiled from printed copies and manuscripts of detached sermons. + +The most urgent task, however, that Luther now felt himself bound to +perform, was the compilation of a Catechism suitable for the people, +and, above all, for the young. Four years before, he had endeavoured +to encourage friends to write one. His 'German Mass' of 1526 said: +'The first thing wanted for German public worship is a rough, +simple, good Catechism;' and further on in that treatise he declared +that he knew of no better way of imparting such Christian +instruction, than by means of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and +the Lord's Prayer, for they summed up, briefly and simply, almost +all that was necessary for a Christian to know. + +He now took in hand at once, early in 1529, and amidst all the +business of the visitations, a larger work, which was intended to +instruct the clergy how to understand and explain those three main +articles of the faith, and also the doctrines of Baptism and the +Lord's Supper. This work is his so-called 'Greater Catechism,' +originally entitled simply the 'German Catechism.' + +Shortly afterwards followed the 'Little Catechism,'--called also the +'Enchiridion'--which contains in an abbreviated form, adapted to +children and simple understandings, the contents of his larger work, +set out here in the form of question and answer. 'I have been +induced and compelled,' says Luther in his introduction, 'to +compress this Catechism, or Christian teaching, into this modest and +simple form, by the wretched and lamentable state of spiritual +destitution which I have recently in my visitations found to prevail +among the people. God help me! how much misery have I seen! The +common folk, especially the villagers, know absolutely nothing of +Christian doctrine, and alas, many of the parish priests are almost +too ignorant or incapable to teach them!' He entreats therefore his +brother clergymen to take pity on the people, to assist in bringing +home the Catechism to them, and more particularly to the young; and +to this end, if no better way commended itself, to take these forms +before them, and explain them word by word. + +For the use of the pastors, he added to this Catechism a short tract +on Marriage, and in the second edition, which followed immediately +after, he subjoined a reprint of his treatise on Baptism, which he +had published three years before. + +The Catechism met the requirements of simple minds and of a +Christian's ordinary daily life, by providing also forms of prayer +for rising, going to bed, and eating, and lastly a manual for +households, with Scriptural texts for all classes. This ends with +the words-- + + Let each his lesson learn to spell, + And then his house will prosper well. + +To the clergy, in particular, Luther addressed himself, that they +might imbue the people in this manner with Christian truth. But he +wished also, as he said, to instruct every head of a household how +to 'set forth that truth simply and clearly to his servants,' and +teach them to pray, and to thank God for His blessings. + +The contents of the Catechism were carefully confined to the +highest, simplest, and thoroughly practical truths of Christian +teaching, without any trace or feature of polemics. In its +composition, as for instance, in his exposition of the Lord's +Prayer, and in his small prayers above mentioned, he availed himself +of old materials. How excellently this Catechism, with its +originality and clearness, its depth and simplicity, responded to +the wants not only of his own time, but of after generations, has +been proved by its having remained in use for centuries, and amid so +many different ranks of life and such various degrees of culture. +Except his translation of the Bible, this little book of Luther is +the most important and practically useful legacy which he has +bequeathed to his people. + +The visitations were over when the two Catechisms appeared, although +they had not yet been held in all the parishes. Events of another +kind and dangers threatening elsewhere now demanded the first +attention of the Elector and the Reformers. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ERASMUS AND HENRY VIII.--CONTROVERSY WITH ZWINGLI AND HIS FOLLOWERS, +UP TO 1528. + + +Luther's controversy with Erasmus, the most important of the +champions of Catholic Churchdom, had terminated, it will be +remembered, so far as Luther was concerned, with his treatise 'On +the Bondage of the Will.' To the new tract which Erasmus published +against him, in two parts, in 1526 and 1527, and which, though +insignificant in substance, was violent and insulting enough in +tone, Luther made no reply. Erasmus, nevertheless, to the pleasure +of himself and his patrons in high places, continued his virulent +attacks on the Reformation, which was bringing ruin, he declared, on +the noble arts and letters, and carrying anarchy into the Church, +while he himself, in his own mediating manner, and in the sense and +with the help of the temporal rulers, was doing his best to promote +certain reforms in the Church, within the pale of the ancient +system, and on its proper hierarchical basis. On what principles, +however, that basis was established, and the Divine rights of the +hierarchy reposed, he wisely abstained, now as he had done before, +from explaining. In Luther's eyes he was merely a refined Epicurean, +who had inward doubts about religion and Christianity, and treated +both with disdain. + +Luther's letter to Henry VIII., which we have noticed in an earlier +chapter, took a long time before it reached the King, and before the +latter could send an answer to it. The writing of that answer must +have given his royal adversary much satisfaction; it turned out a +good deal coarser than even the one from Duke George; Luther's +marriage in particular afforded Henry an occasion for insulting +language. Emser published it in German early in 1527, adding some +vituperations and falsehoods of his own. Luther's only object in +replying was to dissipate any impression that he had ever declared +to Henry his readiness to recant. His reply consisted of a few but +powerfully written pages. He pointed out that in his letter he had +expressly excepted his doctrines from any offer of retractation; +upon these doctrines he took his stand, let kings and the devil do +their worst. Beyond these he had nothing which so encouraged his +heart, and gave him such strength and joy. To the personal insults +and imputations of sensuality and so forth, which Henry VIII., this +man of unbridled passions, had poured upon him, he replied that he +was well aware that, in regard to his personal life, he was a poor +sinner, and that he was glad his enemies were all saints and angels. +He added, however, that though he knew himself to be a sinner before +God and his dear Christian brethren, he wished at the same time to +be virtuous before the world, and that virtuous he was--so much so +that his enemies were not worthy to unloose the latchet of his +shoes. With regard to his letter to Henry he acknowledged that in +this, as in his letter to Duke George, and others, he had been +tempted to make a foolish trial of humility. 'I am a fool, and +remain a fool, for putting faith so lightly in others.' + +Luther reverts in this reply to enemies of a different sort, who +make his heart still heavier. These are to him his 'tender +children,' his 'little brothers,' his 'golden little friends, the +spirits of faction and the fanatics,' who would not have known +anything worth knowing either of Christ or of the gospel, if Luther +had not previously written about it. He alluded, in particular, to +the new 'Sacramentarians,' and to Zwingli their leader. + +Although this is the first time that Zwingli makes his appearance in +the history of Luther, and was never treated by him otherwise than +as a new offshoot of fanaticism, it is important, in order to +understand and appreciate him aright, to bear in mind the fact that, +himself only a few months younger than Luther, he had been working +since 1519 among the community at Zurich as an independent and +progressive Evangelical Reformer, and had extended his active +influence over Switzerland, however little noticed he had been at +Wittenberg. + +His career hitherto had been made easier for him than was the case +with Luther. The Grand Council of the city of Zurich not only +afforded him their protection, but in 1520 decreed full liberty to +preach the Gospels and Epistles of the Apostles in the sense he +ascribed to them, and in 1523 formally declared their acceptance of +his doctrines, and abolished all idolatrous practices. No Recess of +a Diet was here to disturb or threaten him. The Pope, for political +reasons, behaved with unwonted caution and discretion: he delayed in +this case for several years the ban of excommunication which he had +pronounced so readily against Luther. Even Hadrian, the man of firm +character, to whom Luther was an object of abhorrence, had only +gracious and insinuating words for the Zurich Reformer. The Zurich +authorities, at the same time, acting in concert with Zwingli, +adopted severe measures against any intrusion of fanatics and +Anabaptists, nor did the entire population of the small republic +contain any great number of persons so thoroughly neglected, and so +difficult of influence by preachers, as was the case with the +country people in Germany. Well might Zwingli press forward with a +lighter heart than Luther's in his work. + +[Illustration: Fig. 38.--ZWINGLI. (From an old engraving.)] + +Personally, moreover, he had never passed through such severe inward +struggles as Luther, nor had ever wrestled with such spiritual +anguish and distress. The thought of reconciliation with God, and +the comforting of conscience by the assurance of His forgiving +mercy, were not with Zwingli, as with Luther, the centre and focus +of his aspirations and religious interests. He knew not that fervour +and intenseness which made Luther grasp at every means for bringing +home God's grace to congregations of believers, or to each individual +Christian according to his spiritual need. His view, from the very +first, extended rather to the totality of religious truth, as revealed +by God in Scripture, but sadly disfigured in the creeds of the Church +by man's additions and misinterpretations; and he aimed, far more than +Luther, at a reconstruction of moral, and especially of communal life, +in conformity with what the Word of God appeared to demand. It was +easier for him, therefore, to break with the past: critical scruples +against tradition did not weigh so heavily on his conscience. His +critical faculties, no doubt, were sharpened by the humanistic culture +he had acquired. Compared with Luther's peculiar meditative mood, and +his half-choleric, half-melancholic temperament, Zwingli evinced, in +all his conduct and demeanour, a more clear and sober intelligence, +and a far calmer and more easy disposition. His practical policy and +conduct was allied with a tendency to judicial severity, in contrast +to the free spirit which animated Luther. So rigorous and narrow-minded +was his zeal against the toleration of images, that the Wittenberg +theologians could not help detecting in him a spirit akin to that +of Carlstadt and the other fanatics. In renouncing the Catholic +doctrine of transubstantiation and the idea of a sacrifice, Zwingli +had rejected altogether the supposition of a Real Presence of Christ's +Body at the Sacrament; nay, as he declared later on, he had never truly +believed in it. He quoted the words of Christ, 'The flesh profiteth +nothing' (St. John vi. 63). He would understand by the Sacrament +simply a spiritual feeding of the faithful, who, by the Word of God +and His Spirit, are enabled to enjoy in faith the salvation +purchased by the death of Christ. He saw no particular necessity for +offering this salvation to them by an administration of Christ's +Body, which had been given for them, through the visible medium of +the bread; nor did he see how by so doing their faith could be +strengthened. In Luther's view the practical significance of the +Real Presence lay in this, that in this special manner the +Christian, who felt his need of salvation, was assured, and became a +partaker, of forgiveness and communion with his Saviour. With +Zwingli, such a visible communication of the Divine gift of +salvation was opposed to his conception of God and the Divine +Nature; just as this conception was opposed to that kind of union of +the Divine and human nature in Christ Himself, by virtue of which, +according to Luther, Christ was able and willing to be actually +present everywhere in the Sacrament with His human, transfigured +body. Inasmuch, said Zwingli, as this spiritual feeding took place +in faith everywhere, and not only at the Sacrament, it was no +essential part of the Sacrament; the real essence whereof consisted +in this, that the faithful here confessed by that act their common +belief in the commemoration of Christ's death, and, as members of +His Body, pledged themselves to such belief: he called the Sacrament +the symbol of a pledge. Luther himself, as we have seen, had taught +from the first that the Sacrament or Communion should represent the +union of Christians with the spiritual Body, or their communion of +the spirit, of faith, and of love. But with him this communion was a +secondary condition; it was the feeding on the Body of Christ +Himself which was to promote such communion with one another and, +above all, with Christ. Zwingli explained the word 'is' of our Lord, +in His institution of the Sacrament, to mean 'signifies.' +Oecolampadius preferred the explanation that the bread was not the +Body in the proper sense of the word, but a symbol of the Body. In +point of fact, this was a distinction without a difference. + +Such, briefly stated, was the doctrinal controversy in which the two +Reformers, the German and the Swiss, now engaged, and which had +first brought them into contact. + +About the same time Luther made the acquaintance of another opponent +of his doctrine of the Lord's Supper, the Silesian Kaspar +Schwenkfeld. He also, like his friend Valentin Krautwald, denied the +Real Presence; but sought to interpret the words of institution in +yet another manner, connecting with his theory of their meaning +deeper mystical ideas of the means of salvation in general, which at +least in some quarters and to a small extent, have still survived. + +In all of them, however--in Carlstadt, Zwingli, Schwenkfeld, and the +rest--Luther, as he wrote to his friends at Reutlingen, perceived +only one and the same puffed up, carnal mind, twisting about and +struggling, to avoid having to remain subject to the Word of God. + +His first public declaration against Zwingli's new doctrine was in +1526, in his preface to the Syngramma or treatise of the fourteen +Swabian ministers, written, as his opening words express it, +'against the new fanatics, who put forth novel dreams about the +Sacrament, and confuse the world.' + +Blow upon blow followed in the battle thus commenced. While +Oecolampadius was busy composing a reply to the treatise and its +preface, by which he in particular had been assailed, Luther +proceeded to follow up the attack. The same year he published a +'Sermon on the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, against +the Fanatics;' and in the following spring a larger work with the +title 'A Proof that Christ's Words of Institution, "This is My +Body," &c., still stand, against the Fanatics.' He concludes the +latter with the wish, 'God grant that they may be converted to the +truth; if not, that they may twist cords of vanity wherewith to +catch themselves, and fall into my hands.' Just then, however, +Zwingli had written against him, and to him, and the missive arrived +at the moment when he had issued the last-named work. Zwingli wrote +in Latin, entitling his tract, 'A Friendly Exposition of the matter +concerning the Sacrament,' and sent it with a letter to Luther. +These were followed almost immediately by a reply, in German, to +Luther's Sermon, under the title of 'A Friendly Criticism of the +Sermon of the Excellent Martin Luther against the Fanatics.' Zwingli +had scarcely had Luther's last written work in his hands when he +replied to it in a new treatise: 'A proof that Christ's words, "This +is My Body which is given for you," will for all ages retain the +ancient and only meaning, and that Martin Luther in his last book +has neither taught nor proved his own and the Pope's meaning;' the +title thus indicating that Luther's and the Pope's meaning were one +and the same. Oecolampadius at the same time published 'A fair +Reply' to Luther's work. These were the writings of the +Sacramentarians which reached Luther during the troublous time of +the plague at Wittenberg, and filled him with the pain of which we +heard him then complain. + +Zwingli's doctrine, from the time of its first announcement, had +seemed to Luther nothing but a visionary--nay, 'devilish' perversion +of the truth and the Word of God. The progress of the controversy, +so far from healing the difference between them, tended only to +sharpen and intensify it. From the first hour the two Reformers met +in opposition, the gulf was already fixed which henceforth divided +Evangelical Protestantism into two separate Confessions and Church +communities. + +This is not the place to pass judgment on the matter in controversy, +or to trace minutely the leading points of dogma involved in the +dispute. Regarding it, however, by the light of history, it must be +acknowledged and avowed that this was no mere passionate quarrel +about words alone or propositions of dogmatic and metaphysical +interest, but devoid of any religious importance. Even in the +attempts to establish points of detail, reference was constantly +made, on both sides, to deep questions and views of Christian +religion. + +Not only did Zwingli and Oecolampadius, in their anti-literal and +figurative interpretation of the words of institution, endeavour to +support it by Scriptural analogies, more or less appropriate, but +in the practical objections they raised, which Luther treated as +over-curious subtleties of human reason, they were actuated in reality +by motives of a religious character. In their view, a pure and +reverential conception of God was inconsistent with the idea of such +an offertory of Divine gifts, consisting of material elements and +for mere bodily nourishment. Not indeed that Luther, in accepting +the words in their literal sense, had become a slave to the letter, +in contradiction to the free and lofty spirit in which he had +elsewhere accepted the contents of Holy Scripture. The question with +him here was about a word of unique importance--a word used by +Christ on the threshold, so to speak, of His death for our +redemption; and we have already remarked what value he attached to +the actual bodily presence indicated by that word, as assuring and +imparting salvation to those who partook at His table in faith. No +analogies to the contrary, derived from other figurative +expressions, would content him, though of course he never denied +that such expressions could and did occur throughout the Bible. The +text, 'The flesh profiteth nothing,' on which Zwingli primarily +relied, Luther understood as referring not to the flesh of Christ, +but to the carnal mind of man; though he was careful to declare that +it was not the fleshly presence, as such, of our Saviour which gave +the Sacrament its value and importance; nor must the feeding of the +communicants be a mere bodily feeding, but that the word and promise +of Christ were there present, and that faith alone in that word and +promise could make the feeding bring salvation. God's glory was +therein exalted to the highest, that from His pitying love he made +Himself equal with the lowest. + +In the doctrine concerning the person of the Redeemer, a point to +which the controversy further led, the Church had hitherto affirmed +simply a union of the Divine and human natures, each retaining the +attributes and qualities peculiar to itself. Luther wished to see in +the Man Jesus, the Divine nature, which stooped to share humanity, +conceived and realised with deeper and more active fervour. As the +Son of God He died for us, and as the Son of Man He was exalted, +with His body, to sit at the right hand of God, which is not limited +to any place, and is at once nowhere and everywhere. It is true, +Luther does not proceed to explain how this body is still a human +body, or indeed a body at all. Zwingli, in keeping the two natures +distinct, wished to preserve the sublimity of his God and the +genuine humanity of the Redeemer; but in so doing, he ended by +making the two natures run parallel, so to speak, in a mere stiff, +dogmatic formulary, and by an artificial interpretation and analysis +of the words of Scripture touching the One Jesus, the Son of God and +man. + +The manner, however, in which this controversy was conducted on both +sides betrays an utter failure on the part of either combatant to +apprehend and do justice to the religious and Christian motives, +which, with all their antagonism, never ceased to animate the +opposite party. Luther's attitude towards Zwingli we have already +noticed. We have seen how his zeal, in particular, prompted him too +often to see in the conduct of individual opponents simply and +solely the dominating influence of that spirit, from which certain +pernicious tendencies, according to his own convictions, proceeded +and had to be combated. Thus it was in this instance. It was all +visionary nonsense, nay, sheer devilry, and be attacked it in language +of proportionate violence. From Zwingli a different attitude was to +be expected, from the amicable titles of his treatises and the +personal correspondence with Luther which he himself invited. He +adopted here for the most part, as in other matters, a calm and +courteous tone, and exercised a power of self-restraint to which +Luther was a stranger. But with a lofty mien, though in the same +tone, he rejected Luther's propositions, as the fruit of ludicrous +obstinacy and narrowness of mind, nay, as a retrograde step into +Popery. His letter, moreover, embittered the contest by importing +into it extraneous matter of reproach, such as, in particular, +Luther's conduct in the Peasants' War. Luther had reason to say of him, +'He rages against me, and threatens me with the utmost moderation and +modesty.' Zwingli's later replies evince a straightforwardness we miss +in the earlier ones, but they are marred by much rudeness and coarseness +of language, and display throughout a lofty self-consciousness and a +triumphant assurance of victory. + +Luther, after reading the last-mentioned treatises of Zwingli and +Oecolampadius, resolved to publish one answer more, the last; for +Satan, he said, must not be suffered to hinder him further in the +prosecution of other and more important matters. At this time he was +particularly anxious to complete his translation of the Bible, being +now hard at work with the books of the Prophets. His answer to +Zwingli grew ultimately into the most exhaustive of all his +contributions to the dispute. It appeared in March 1528 under the +title of 'Confession concerning the Lord's Supper.' He went over +once more all the most important questions and arguments which had +formed the subject of contention, expounded his ideas more fully on +the Person and Presence of Christ, and explained calmly and +impressively the passages of Scripture relating thereto. He +concluded with a short summary of his own confession of Christian +faith, that men might know, both then and after his death, how +carefully and diligently he had thought over everything, and that +future teachers of error might not pretend that Luther would have +taught many things otherwise at another time and after further +reflection. + +Zwingli and Oecolampadius hastened at once to prepare new pamphlets +in reply, and to publish them with a dedication to the Elector John +and the Landgrave Philip. But Luther adhered to his resolve. He let +them have the last word, as he had done with Erasmus. They had not +contributed anything new to the dispute. + +While Luther was writing his last treatise against the +Sacramentarians, he found himself obliged to issue a fresh protest +against the Anabaptists. This was a tract entitled 'On Anabaptism; +to two pastors.' But while denouncing these sectaries, he protested +strongly against the manner in which the civil authorities were +dealing with them, by the infliction of punishment and even death on +account of their principles, even when no seditious conduct could be +alleged against them. Everyone, he said, should be allowed to +believe what he liked. Similarly he wrote to Nüremberg shortly +after, where as we have already mentioned, the new errors were +spreading, saying that he could in no wise admit the right to +execute false prophets or teachers; it was quite enough to expel +them. Luther in this distinguished himself above most of the men of +the Reformation. At Zurich, while Zwingli was accusing Luther of +cruelty, Anabaptists were being drowned in public. + +The foreground is now occupied again by the struggle with +Catholicism--in other words, by the contest with the German princes +who were hostile to the Reformation, and with the Emperor himself +and the majority of the Diet. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CHURCH DIVISIONS IN GERMANY--WAR WITH THE TURKS--THE CONFERENCE AT +MARBURG, 1529. + + +In the war against the Pope and France an imperial army in 1527 had +stormed and plundered Borne. God, as Luther said, had so ordained, +that the Emperor, who persecuted Luther for the Pope, had to destroy +the Pope for Luther. But Charles V. was not then in a position to +break with the Head of the Church. In the treaty concluded with the +Pope in November, mention was again made of extirpating the Lutheran +heresy. And whilst in Italy the war with France was still going on, +the Emperor in the spring of 1528 sent an ambassador to the German +Courts, to rouse fresh zeal for the Church in this matter. + +But before the threatened danger actually reached the Evangelical +party, it was preceded by disquieting rumours and false alarms. + +In March 1528 a new Diet was to assemble at Ratisbon. Luther heard +in February of strange designs being meditated there by the Papists. +His wish was that Charles's brother Ferdinand might be detained in +Hungary, where he was occupied in fighting the Turks and their +_protégé,_ Prince John Zapolya of Transylvania, and that the +Diet should be prevented from meeting. Luther's adversaries, on the +other hand, feared an unfavourable decision from the Estates, and +the Emperor at length peremptorily forbade their meeting. + +Just about this time, John Pack, a steward of the chancery who had +been dismissed by Duke George of Saxony, came to the Landgrave +Philip and informed him of a league concluded with King Ferdinand by +the Dukes of Saxony and Bavaria, the Electors of Mayence and +Brandenburg, and several Bishops, to attack the Evangelical princes. +The Electorate of Saxony, where John was just then engaged in +completing the re-organisation of the Church, was to be partitioned +among them, and Hesse was to be allotted to Duke George. John and +Philip quickly formed an offensive and defensive alliance, and +called out their troops. The whole scheme, as was shortly proved +beyond dispute, was an invention, and the pretended treaty a +forgery, of Pack, who had been paid a large sum for his revelations. +Luther himself had no doubt of the genuineness of the document, and +persisted even afterwards in his belief. But while the Landgrave, +with his habitual vehemence, was impatient to strike quickly, before +their enemies were prepared, both Luther and the other Wittenberg +theologians did their utmost to restrain their sovereign from any +act of violence. Luther earnestly bade him remember the words: +'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth' (St. Matt. +v. 5),--'As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men' (Rom. +xii. 18),--'Those that take the sword, shall perish with the sword' +(St. Matt. xxvi. 52). He warned them that 'one durst not paint the +devil over one's door, nor ask him to stand godfather.' He feared a +civil war among the princes, which would be worse than a rising of +the peasants, and utterly ruinous to Germany. Philip accordingly +stayed his hand, until the reply of his supposed enemies, from whom +he demanded an explanation, puzzled him as to the meaning of Pack's +overtures. + +A private letter sent by Luther to Link, in which he spoke of George +as a fool, and said he mistrusted his promises, led afterwards, on +George's learning its contents, to a new and bitter quarrel between +the two. The Duke made a violent attack on Luther in a pamphlet, +which appeared early in 1521, to which the latter replied with equal +violence, denouncing the abuse of 'secret (_i.e._ private) and +stolen letters.' George retorted in the same strain, and persuaded +his cousin John, to whom he addressed a formal complaint, to +prohibit Luther from printing anything more against him without +Electoral permission;--a step which effectually silenced his +opponent. + +On November 30, 1528, the Emperor summoned a Diet to meet at Spires +on February 21 of the following year, in order that decisive and +energetic measures should be taken--as recommended once more by the +Pope--to secure the unity and sole supremacy of the Catholic Church. +The chief subjects named for deliberation were, the armament against +the Turks, and the innovations in matters of religion. + +As regards the war against the Turks, Luther, who had previously let +fall some occasional remarks about certain wholesome effects it +would have in checking the designs of the Papacy, let his voice be +heard, notwithstanding, in summoning the whole nation to do battle +against the fearful and horrible enemy, whom they had hitherto +suffered so shamefully to oppress them. Since the latter part of the +summer of 1528 he had been engaged upon a pamphlet 'On the War +against the Turks,' the publication of which was accidentally +delayed till March, when he was busy with his Catechism. + +In this pamphlet he spoke to his fellow-Germans, with the noblest +fire and in the fulness of his strength, as a Christian, a citizen, +and a patriot, and with a clearness and decision derived from +convictions and principles of his own. He had no wish to preach a +new crusade; for the sword had nothing to do with religion, but only +with bodily and temporal things. But he exhorted and encouraged the +authority, whom God had entrusted with temporal power, to take up +the sword against the all-devouring enemy, with sure trust in God +and certain confidence in his mission. By the 'authority' he meant +the Emperor, in whom he recognised the head of Germany. He it was +who must fight against the Turks; under his banner they must march, +and upon that banner should be seen the command of God, which said +'Protect the righteous, but punish the wicked.' 'But,' asked Luther, +'how many are there who can read those words on the Emperor's +banner, or who seriously believe in them?' He complained that +neither Emperor nor princes properly believed that they were Emperor +and princes, and therefore thought little about the protection they +owed to their subjects. Further on he rebuked the princes for +letting matters go on as if they had no concern in them, instead of +advising and assisting the Emperor with all the means in their +power. He knew well the pride of some of the princes, who would like +to see the Emperor a nonentity and themselves the heroes and +masters. Rebellion, he said, was punished in the case of the +peasants; but if rebellion were punished also among princes and +nobles, he fancied there would be very few of them left. He feared +that the Turk would bring some such punishment upon them, and he +prayed God to avert it. Finally, he bade them remember not to buckle +on their armour too loosely, and underrate their enemies, as Germans +were too prone to do. He warned them not to tempt God by inadequate +preparation, and sacrifice the poor Germans at the shambles, nor as +soon as the victory was won to 'sit down again and carouse until the +hour of need returned.' + +At Spires, however, the whole zeal of the imperial commissaries and +of the Catholic Estates was directed, not against the common enemy +of Germany and Christendom, but to the internal affairs of the +Church. They succeeded in passing a resolution or article, declaring +that those States which had held to the Edict of Worms should +continue to impose its execution on their subjects; the other States +should abstain at least from further innovations. The celebration of +the mass was not to be obstructed, nor was anyone to be prevented +from hearing it. The subjects of one State were never to be +protected by another State against their own. By these means, not +only was the Reformation prevented from spreading farther, but it +was cut off at a blow in those places where it had already been in +full swing. By the decision respecting the mass, room was given for +attempts to reinstate it on Evangelical territory; by the other +decision respecting the subjects of different States, power was +given to the bishops of the German Empire to coerce, if they chose, +the local clergy, as their subordinates. Further steps in the +exercise of this power could easily be anticipated. + +This resolution of the majority was answered on April 19 by the +Evangelical party with a formal protest, from which they received +the name their descendants still bear--Protestants. They insisted +that the Imperial Recess unanimously agreed on at the first Diet of +Spires in 1526 could only be altered by the unanimous consent of the +States; and they declared 'that, even apart from that, in matters +relating to the honour of God and the salvation of our souls, every +man must stand alone before God and give account for himself.' In +these matters, therefore, "they could not submit to the resolution +of the majority." + +The majority, however, as well as Ferdinand, the Emperor's brother +and representative, refused to admit their right of opposition. The +minority must prepare to submit to coercion and the exercise of +force. Against this the Elector and Landgrave concluded, on April +22, a 'secret agreement' with the cities of Nüremberg, Strasburg, +and Ulm. The Landgrave was eager that this alliance should be +strengthened by the admission of Zurich and the other Evangelical +towns in Switzerland. And a similar proposal was made to him by +Zwingli, who, in connection with his ecclesiastical labours, was +carrying on a bold and high policy, in striving to effect an +alliance with the republic of Venice and the King of France against +the Emperor, He certainly far overrated the importance of his town +in the great affairs of the world, and placed a strangely naive +confidence in the French monarch. + +Luther, on the contrary, set his face as resolutely now as in the +affair of Pack, against any appeal to the sword in support of the +gospel. He would have his friends rely on God and not on the wit of +man; and, with regard to the last Diet, he was quite content that +God had not allowed their enemies to rage even more. He was willing +even to trust to the Emperor for relief; the Evangelical party, he +said, should represent to his Majesty how their sole concern was for +the gospel and for the removal of abuses which no one could deny to +exist; how, at the same time, they had resisted the iconoclasts and +other riotous fanatics, nay, how the suppression of the Anabaptists +and the peasants was pre-eminently due to them, and how they had +been the first to bring to light and vindicate the rights and +majesty of authority. A representation of this kind, he hoped, must +surely have an influence on the Emperor. He flatly rejected any +alliance with those,--namely, the Swiss,--who 'strive thus against +God and the Sacrament;' such an alliance would disgrace the gospel +and draw down their sins upon their heads. This opinion, in which +the other Wittenberg theologians, and especially Melancthon, +concurred, determined that of the Elector. + +The Landgrave did his utmost to remove this obstacle to an alliance +with the Swiss. He urged a personal conference between the rival +theologians on the question of the Sacrament. Luther and Melancthon +were strongly opposed to such a step, inasmuch as the course of the +controversy hitherto had not revealed a single point which offered +any hope of reconciliation or mutual approach. Luther reminded him +how, ten years before, the Leipzig disputation served only to make +bad worse. Intrigues, moreover, were apprehended from the other +side, lest the Lutherans should be held up to odium as the enemies +of unity and obstacles to an alliance, and the Landgrave be +alienated from them. Melancthon, indeed, had brought with him from +Spires, where he had been staying with Philip, a suspicion that the +latter inclined to the Zwinglians, and was right in his conjecture +at least so far, that their doctrine did not appear to him nearly so +questionable as to the Wittenbergers. But the simple fear of +consequences made Luther unwilling and unable to refuse the +Landgrave's urgent invitation, backed as it was with the concurrence +of the Elector. He wrote to him on June 23, declaring his readiness +to 'render him this useless service with all diligence,' and only +entreated him to consider once more whether it would do more good +than harm. The conference was to take place at the Castle of Marburg +on Michaelmas day (1529). + +Luther's sentiments in the interval are expressed in a letter which +he wrote on August 2 to a distant friend, the pastor Brismann at +Eiga. 'Philip (Melancthon) and myself,' he says, 'after many +refusals and much vain resistance, have been at length compelled to +give our consent, because of the Landgrave's importunity; but I know +not yet whether our going will come to anything. We have no hopes of +any good result, but suspect artifice on all sides, that our enemies +may be able to boast of having gained the victory.... I am pretty +well in body, but inwardly weak, suffering like Peter from want of +faith; but the prayers of my brethren support me.... That youth of +Hesse is restless, and boiling over with projects.... Thus +everywhere we are threatened with more danger from our own people +than from our enemies. Satan rests not, in his bloodthirstiness, +from the work of murder and bloodshed.' + +In the same letter Luther tells of the panic caused by a new +pestilence--the Sweating Sickness--which had appeared in Germany and +at Wittenberg itself. It was a plague, known already many years +before, which used to attack its victims with fever, sweat, thirst, +intense pain and exhaustion, and snatch them off with fearful +rapidity. Luther knew well the danger of it when once it actually +appeared. But he watched without terror the supposed symptoms of its +appearance at Wittenberg, and remarked that the sickness there was +mainly caused by fright. On the 27th he told another friend how the +night before he had awoke bathed in sweat, and tormented with +anxious thoughts, so much so, that had he given way to them he might +very likely have fallen ill like so many others. He named also +several of his acquaintances, whom he had driven out of bed, when +they lay there fancying themselves ill, and who were now laughing at +their own fancies. + +The Emperor, meanwhile, concluded a final treaty with the Pope on +June 29, and on August 5 made peace with King Francis. By this +treaty of Barcelona he pledged himself to provide a suitable +antidote to the poisonous infection of the new opinions. By the +peace of Cambray he renewed the promise, given in the treaty of +Madrid, of a mutual cooperation of the two monarchs for the +extirpation of heresy. + +At Marburg the meeting now actually took place between the +theological champions of that great religious movement which strove +to set up the gospel against the domination of Rome, and was +therefore condemned by Rome as heretical. It was now to be decided +whether the anti-Romanists could not become united among themselves; +whether the two hostile parties in this movement could not, at least +in face of the common danger, join to make a powerful united Church. +Zwingli's political conduct, and the cheerful and submissive +readiness with which he had complied with the Landgrave's proposal, +afforded ground for expecting that, while steadfastly adhering to +his own doctrine, he would embrace such an alliance, notwithstanding +their doctrinal differences. Everything now really depended upon +Luther. + +Zwingli and Oecolampadius met the Strasburg theologians, Butzer and +Hedio, and Jacob Sturm, the leading citizen of that town, on +September 29, at Marburg. The next day they were joined by Luther +and Melancthon, together with Jonas and Cruciger from Wittenberg and +Myeonius from Gotha; and afterwards came the preachers Osiander from +Nüremberg, Brenz from Schwäbish Hall, and Stephen Agricola from +Augsburg. The Landgrave entertained them in a friendly and sumptuous +manner at his castle. + +On October 1, the day after his arrival, Luther was summoned by the +Landgrave to a private conference with Oecolampadius, towards whom +he had always felt more confidence, and whom he had greeted in a +friendly manner when they met. Melancthon, being of a calmer +temperament, was left to confer with Zwingli. As regards the main +subject of the controversy, the question of the Sacrament, no +practical result was arrived at between the parties. But on certain +other points, in which Zwingli had been suspected by the +Wittenbergers, and in which he partly differed from them--for +instance, concerning the Church doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, +and the Godhead of Christ, and the doctrine of original sin--he +offered explanations to Melancthon, the result of which was that +the two came to an agreement. + +The general debate began on Sunday, October 2, at six o'clock in the +morning. The theologians assembled for that purpose in an apartment +in the east wing of the castle, before the Landgrave himself, and a +number of nobles and guests of the court, including the exiled Duke +Ulrich of Würtemberg. Out of deference to the audience, the language +used was to be German. Zwingli had wished, instead, that anyone who +desired it might be admitted to hear, but that the discussion should +be held in Latin, which he could speak with greater fluency. The +four theologians last mentioned, who were to conduct the debate, sat +together at a table. Luther, however, assumed the lead of his side; +Melancthon only put in a few remarks here and there. The Landgrave's +chancellor, Feige, opened the proceedings with a formal address. + +Luther at the outset requested that his opponents should first +express their opinions upon other points of doctrine which seemed to +him doubtful; but he waived this request on Oecolampadius's replying +that he was not aware that such doubts involved any contradiction to +Luther's doctrine, and on Zwingli's appealing to his agreement +recently effected with Melancthon. All he himself had to do, said +Luther, was to declare publicly, that with regard to those doubts he +disagreed entirely with certain expressions contained in their +earlier writings. The chief question was then taken in hand. + +The arguments and counter-arguments, set forth by the combatants at +various times in their writings, were now succinctly but +exhaustively recapitulated. But they were neither strengthened +further nor enlarged. The disputants were constrained to listen +during this debate to the oral utterances of their opponents with +more deference than they had done for the most part in their +literary controversy, with its hasty and passionate expressions on +each side. + +Luther from the outset took his stand, as he had done before, on the +simple words of institution, 'This is my Body.' He had chalked them +down before him on the table. His opponents, he maintained, ought to +give to God the honour due to Him, by believing His 'pure and +unadorned Word.' + +Zwingli and Oecolampadius, on the contrary, relied mainly, as +heretofore, on the words of Christ in the sixth chapter of St. John, +where He evidently alluded to a spiritual feeding, and declared that +'the flesh profiteth nothing.' Honour must be given to God, he said, +by accepting from Him this clear interpretation of His Word. Luther +agreed with them, as previously, that Jesus there spoke only of the +spiritual partaking by the faithful, but maintained that in the +Sacrament He had, in his words of institution, superadded the offer +of His Body for the strengthening of faith and that these words were +not useless or unmeaning, but of potent efficacy through the Word of +God. 'I would eat even crab-apples,' said Luther, without asking +why, if the Lord put them before me, and said "Take and eat."' He +fired up when Zwingli answered that the passage in St. John 'broke +Luther's neck,' the expression not being as familiar to him as to +the Swiss: the Landgrave himself had to step in as a mediator and +quiet them. + +In the afternoon Luther's opponents proceeded to argue 'that Christ +could not be present with His Body at the Sacrament, because His +Body was in heaven, and the body, as such, was confined within +circumscribed limits, and could only be present in one place at a +time. Luther then asked, with reference to the objection that Christ +was in heaven and at the right hand of God, why Zwingli insisted on +taking those words in such a nakedly literal sense. He declined to +enter upon explanations as to the locality of the Body, though he +could well have disputed for a long time on that subject: for the +omnipotence of God, he said, by virtue whereof that Body was present +everywhere at the Sacrament, stood above all mathematics. Of greater +weight to him must have been the argument of Zwingli, which at any +rate had a Christian and biblical aspect, that Christ with His flesh +became like his human brethren, while they again at the last day are +to be fashioned like unto his glorified Body, though incapable, +nevertheless, of being in different places at the same time. Luther +rejected this argument, however, on the ground of the distinction he +was careful to draw between the actual attributes which Christ +possessed in common with all Christians, and those which He did not +so possess at all, or possessed in a manner peculiar to Himself, and +exalting him far above mankind. For example, Christ had no wife, as +men have. + +The next day, Sunday, Luther preached the early morning sermon. He +connected his remarks with the Gospel for the day, and dwelt with +freshness and power, but without any reference to the controversy +then pending, on forgiveness of sin and justification by faith. + +The disputation, however, was resumed later on in the morning. The +subject of discussion was still the presence of Christ's Body in the +Sacrament. Luther persisted in refusing to regard that Body as one +involving the idea of limits: the Body here was not local or +circumscribed by bounds. The Swiss, on the other hand, did not deny +the possibility of a miracle, whereby God might permit a body to be +in more than one place at the same time; but then they demanded +proof that such a miracle was really; effected with the Body of +Christ. Luther again appealed to the words before him: 'This is My +Body.' He said: 'I cannot slur over the words of our Lord. I cannot +but acknowledge that the Body of Christ is there.' Here Zwingli +quickly interrupted him with the remark that Luther himself +restricted Christ's Body to a place, for the adverb 'there' was an +adverb of place. Luther, however, refused to have his off-hand +expression so interpreted, and again deprecated the mathematical +argument. The same day, the second of the debate, Zwingli and +Oecolampadius sought to fortify their theory by evidence adduced +from Christian antiquity. On some points at least they were able to +appeal to Augustine. But Luther put a different construction on the +passages they quoted, and refused altogether to accept him as an +authority against Scripture. That evening the disputation was +concluded by each party protesting that their doctrine remained +unrefuted by Scripture, and leaving their opponents to the judgment +of God, by whom they might still be converted. Zwingli broke into +tears. + +Philip in vain endeavoured to bring the contending parties to a +closer understanding. Just then the news came that the fearful +pestilence, the Sweating Sickness, had broken out in the town. All +further proceedings were stopped at once, and everyone hurried away +with his guests. The Landgrave only hastily arranged that in regard +to the points of Christian belief in which it was doubtful how far +the Swiss agreed with the Evangelical faith, a series of +propositions should be drawn up by Luther, and signed by the +theologians on both sides. This was done on the Monday. They are the +fifteen 'Articles of Marburg.' They expressed unity in all other +doctrines, and in the Sacrament also, in so far as they declared +that the Sacrament of the Altar is a Sacrament of the true Body and +Blood of Christ, and that the 'spiritual eating' of that Body is the +primary condition required. The only point left in dispute was +'whether the true Body and Blood of Christ are present bodily in the +bread and wine.' + +[Illustration: Fig. 89. FACSIMILE OF THE SUPERSCRIPTION AND +SIGNATURES TO THE MARBURG ARTICLES.] + +If we compare the manner in which this disputation at Marburg was +conducted with the previous character of the contest, in which the +one party had denounced their opponents as diabolical fanatics, and +the other as reactionary Papists and worshippers of 'a god made of +bread,' it will be evident that some results of importance at least +had been attained by the discussion itself and the mode in which it +had been held. The tone here, from first to last, was more +courteous, nay, even friendly in comparison. And the moderation now +used by these frank, outspoken men, so passionately excited hitherto, +could not have resulted solely from self-imposed restraint. Luther, +when he wished to speak very emphatically, addressed his opponents +as 'my dearest sirs.' Brenz, who was an eye-witness, tells us one +might have thought Luther and Zwingli were brothers. And, in fact, +on all the main doctrines but that one they agreed. Finer distinctions +of theory, which might have furnished food for argument, were mutually +waived. But the essential divergence between them on the one great +point of the Sacrament, and the spirit manifested in regard to it, +made it impossible for Luther to hold out to Zwingli the right hand +of fellowship, which the latter and his party so earnestly desired. +Luther held to his opinion: 'Yours is a different spirit from ours.' +His companions unanimously agreed with him that though they might +entertain sentiments of friendship and Christian love towards them, +they dared not acknowledge them as brethren in Christ. In the 'Articles' +the only mention made of this matter was that although they had not yet +agreed on that point, still 'each party should treat the other with +Christian charity, so far as each one's conscience would permit.' + +On Tuesday afternoon Luther left Marburg, and set out on his journey +homeward. At the wish of the Elector he travelled by way of Schleiz, +where John was then consulting with the Margrave George of +Brandenburg about the Protestant alliance. They desired of Luther a +short and comprehensive confession of evangelical faith, as members +of which they wished to enrol themselves. Luther immediately +compiled one accordingly, upon the basis of the Marburg Articles, +making some additions and strengthening some expressions in +accordance with his own views. About October 18 he returned to +Wittenberg. + +This confession was submitted without delay to a meeting of +Protestants at Schwabach. The result was, that Ulm and Strasburg +declined to subscribe a compact from which the Swiss were excluded. + +Within the league itself, the question was now seriously considered, +how far the Protestant States might go, in the event of the Emperor +really seeking to coerce them to submission--whether, in a word, +they could venture to oppose force to force. Luther's opinion, +however, on this point remained unshaken. Whatever civil law and +counsellors might say, it was conclusive for them as Christians, in +his opinion, that civil authority was ordained by God, and that the +Emperor, as the lord paramount of Germany, was the supreme civil +authority in the nation. His first consideration was the imperial +dignity, as he conceived it, and the relative position and duties of +the princes of the Empire. As subjects of the Emperor, he regarded +these princes in the same light as he regarded their own territorial +subjects, the burgomasters of the towns and the various other +magnates and nobles, to whom they themselves had never conceded any +right to oppose, either by protest or force, their own regulations, +as territorial sovereigns, in matters affecting the Church. Not, +indeed, that he required a simply passive obedience, however badly +the authorities and the Emperor might behave; on the contrary, he +admitted the possibility of having to depose the Emperor. 'Sin +itself,' he said, 'does not destroy authority and obedience; but the +punishment of sin destroys them, as, for instance, if the Empire and +the Electors were unanimously to dethrone the Emperor, and make him +cease to be one. But so long as he remains unpunished and Emperor, +no one should refuse him obedience.' Nothing, therefore, in his +opinion, short of a common act of the Estates could provide a remedy +against an unjust, tyrannical, and law-breaking Emperor, while at +present it was apparent that Charles and the majority of the Diet +were agreed. Hence he refused to recognise the right of individual +States to an appeal to force, for his theory of the German Empire +involved the idea of a firm and united community or State, and not +in any way that of a league or federation, the independent members +of which might take up arms against a breach of their articles of +agreement. This theory was shared by his Elector and the +Nürembergers. Just as these Protestants for conscience sake had +refused obedience to the resolution of the Diet at Spires, so they +felt themselves bound by conscience to submit to the consequences of +that refusal. Luther's opinion, therefore, as to the proper attitude +for the Protestant States was the same as he had expressed to the +Elector Frederick on his return from the Wartburg. It was their +duty, he said, if God should permit matters to go so far, to allow +the Emperor to enter their territory and act against their subjects, +without, however, giving their assent or assisting him. But he +added: 'It is sheer want of faith not to trust to God to protect us, +without any wit or power of man.... "In quietness and confidence +shall be your strength."' + +Meanwhile Luther was anxious to respond still further to the call of +duty against the Turks. Their multitudinous hosts had advanced as +far as Vienna, and had severely harassed that city, which, though +defended with heroic valour, was but badly fortified. A general +assault was made in force while Luther was on his homeward journey. +The news stirred him to his inmost soul. He ascribed to it, and to +their god, the devil, the violent temptations and anguish of soul +from which he was then suffering again. Immediately after his +return, he undertook to write a 'War sermon against the Turks.' On +October 26 he received the tidings that they were compelled to +retreat. This was a 'heavensent miracle' to him. But though his +former exhortations and warnings had seemed to many exaggerated, he +was right in perceiving that the danger was only averted. He +published his sermon, a new edition of which had to be issued with +the new year. + +He saw in the Turks the fulfilment of the prophecy of Ezekiel and +the Revelation of St. John about Gog and Magog, and therewith a +judgment of God for the punishment of corrupt Christendom. But just +as in his first pamphlet he had called on the authorities, in virtue +of their appointment by God, to protect their own people against the +enemy, so he now wished further to make all German Christians strong +in conscience and full of courage, to take the field under their +banner, according to God's command. He set before them the example +of the 'beloved St. Maurice and his companions,' and of many other +saints, who had served in arms their Emperor as knights or citizens. +He would, if danger came in earnest, 'fain have, whoever could, +defend themselves,--young and old, husband and wife, man-servant and +maid-servant,' just as, according to ancient Roman writers, the +German wives and maidens fought together with the men. He looked on +no house as so mean that it might not do something to repel the foe. +Was it not better to be slain at home, in obedience to God, than to +be taken prisoners and dragged away like cattle to be sold? At the +same time he exhorted and encouraged those whom this misfortune +befell, that, as Jeremiah admonished the Jews in Babylon, they +should be patient in prison, and cling firmly to the faith, and +neither through their misery nor through the hypocritical worship of +the Turks, allow themselves to be seduced into becoming renegades. + +Such is what he preached to the people, while he had to complain in +his letters to friends that 'the Emperor Charles threatens us even +still more dreadfully than does the Turk; so that on both sides we +have an Emperor as our enemy, an Eastern and a Western one.' And in +those days also he expressed his opinion that those who confessed +the gospel should keep their hands 'unsoiled by blood and crime' as +regards their Emperor, and, even though his behaviour might be a +'very threat of the devil,' should keep steadfastly to their God, +with prayer, supplication, and hope,--to that God Whose manifest +help had hitherto been so abundantly vouchsafed to them. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DIET OF AUGSBURG AND LUTHER AT COBURG, 1530. + + +A proclamation of the Emperor, convoking a new Diet at Augsburg for +April 8, 1530, seemed now to indicate a more pacific demeanour. For +in assigning to this Diet the task of consulting 'how best to deal +with and determine the differences and division in the holy faith +and the Christian religion,' it desired, for this object, that +'every man's opinions, thoughts, and notions should be heard in love +and charity, and carefully weighed, and that men should thus be +brought in common to Christian truth, and be reconciled.' The +Emperor by no means meant, as might be inferred from this +proclamation, that the two opposing parties should treat and arrange +with each other on an equal footing; the rights of the Romish Church +remained, as before, unalterably fixed. He only wished to avoid, if +possible, the dangers of internal warfare. Even the Papal legate +Campeggio, agreed that conciliatory measures might first be tried; +the arrangements for the visitation of the Saxon Electorate were +already construed at Rome, as indeed by many German Catholics, into +a sign that people there were frightened at the so-called freedom of +the gospel, and were inclined to return to the old system. But +Luther at this moment displayed again the confidence which he always +so gladly reposed in his Emperor. He announced on March 14 to Jonas, +then absent on the business of the visitation: 'The Emperor Charles +writes that he will come in person to Augsburg, to settle everything +peaceably.' The Elector John immediately instructed his theologians +to draw up for him articles in view of the proceedings at the Diet, +embodying a statement of their own opinions. They were also required +to hold themselves in readiness to accompany him on his journey to +Augsburg. There was, however, no hurry about arriving there; for the +Emperor came thither so slowly from Italy, that it was found +impossible to meet on the day originally appointed. + +On April 3 Luther, Melancthon, and Jonas went to the Elector at +Torgau, in order to start with him from there. He took Spalatin also +with him, and Agricola as preacher. The 10th, Palm Sunday, they +spent at Weimar, where the prince wished to partake of the +sacrament. At Coburg, where they arrived on the 15th, they expected +to receive further news as to the day fixed for the actual opening +of the Diet. Luther preached here on Easter Day, and on the +following Monday and Thursday, upon the Easter texts and the grand +acts of Redemption. + +On Friday, the 22nd, the Elector received an intimation from the +Emperor to appear at Augsburg at the end of the month. The next +morning he set off at once with his companions. Luther, however, was +to remain behind. The man on whom lay the ban of the Empire and +Church could not possibly, however favourably inclined the Emperor +might be towards him, have appeared before the Emperor, the Estates, +and the delegates of the Pope; moreover, no safe-conduct would have +availed him. Luther seems, nevertheless, to have been ingenuous +enough to think the contrary. At least, he wrote to a friend that +the Elector had bidden him remain at Coburg; why, he knew not. To +another friend, however, he alleged as a reason, that his going +would not have been safe. But his prince was anxious to keep him at +any rate as close by as possible, at a safe place on the borders of +his territory in the direction of Augsburg, so that he might be able +to obtain advice from him in case of need. Moreover, he contemplated +the possibility of his being summoned later on to Augsburg. A +message from the one place to the other took, at that time, four +days as a rule. + +Accordingly, on the night of the 22nd, Luther was conveyed to the +fortress overlooking the town of Coburg. This was the residence +assigned to him. + +His first day here passed by unoccupied. A box which he had brought, +containing papers and other things, had not yet been delivered to +him. He did not even see any governor of the castle. So he looked +around him leisurely from the height, which offered a wide and +varied prospect, and examined the apartments now opened for his use. +The principal part of the castle, the so-called Prince's Building, +had been assigned him, and he was given at once the keys of all the +rooms it contained. The one which he chose as his sitting-room is +still shown. He was told that over thirty people took their meals at +the castle. + +But his thoughts were still with his distant friends. He wrote that +afternoon to Melancthon, Jonas, and Spalatin. 'Dearest Philip,' he +begins to Melancthon, 'we have at last reached our Sinai, but we +will make a Sion of this Sinai, and here will I build three +tabernacles, one to the Psalms, one to the Prophets, and one to +Æsop.... It is a very attractive place, and just made for study; +only your absence grieves me. My whole heart and soul are stirred +and incensed against the Turks and Mahomet, when I see this +intolerable raging of the devil. Therefore I shall pray and cry to +God, nor rest until I know that my cry is heard in heaven. The sad +condition of our German Empire distresses you more.' Then, after +expressing a wish that the Lord might send his friend refreshing +sleep, and free his heart from care, he told him about his residence +at the castle, in the 'empire of the birds.' In his letters to Jonas +and Spalatin he indulged in humorous descriptions of the cries of +the ravens and jackdaws which he had heard since four o'clock in the +morning. A whole troop, he said, of sophists and schoolmen were +gathered around him. Here he had also his Diet, composed of very +proud kings, dukes, and grandees, who busied themselves about the +empire and sent out incessantly their mandates through the air. This +year, he heard, they had arranged a crusade against the wheat, +barley, and other kinds of corn, and these fathers of the Fatherland +already hoped for grand victories and heroic deeds. This, said +Luther, he wrote in fun, but in serious fun, to chase away if +possible the heavy thoughts which crowded on his mind. A few days +later he enlarged further on this sportive simile in a letter to his +Wittenberg table-companions, _i.e._ the young men of the +university who, according to custom, boarded with him. He was +delighted to see how valiantly these knights of the Diet strutted +about and wiped their bills, and he hoped they might some day or +other be spitted on a hedge-stake. He fancied he could hear all the +sophists and papists with their lovely voices around him, and he saw +what a right useful folk they were, who ate up everything on the +earth and 'whiled away the heavy time with chattering.' He was glad, +however, to have heard the first nightingale, who did not often +venture to come in April. + +As companions he had his amanuensis, Veit Dietrich from Nüremberg, +and his nephew Cyriac Kaufmann from Mansfeld, a young student. The +former, born in 1506, had been at the university of Wittenberg since +1523; he soon became preacher in his native town, where he +distinguished himself by his loyalty and courage. They were all +hospitably entertained at the castle. Luther, in these comfortable +quarters, let his beard grow again, as he had formerly done at the +Wartburg. + +[Illustration: Fig. 40.--VEIT DIETRICH, as Pastor of Nüremberg. +(From an old woodcut.)] + +In that same letter to Melancthon, Luther mentioned several writings +which he had in prospect. His chief work was a public 'Admonition to +the Clergy assembled at the Diet at Augsburg.' He wished, as he said +in the introduction, since he could not personally appear at the +Diet, at least to be among them in writing with this his 'dumb and +weak message;' which he had expressed, however, in the strongest and +most forcible language at his command. As for his own cause, he +declared that for it no Diet was necessary. It had been brought thus +far by the true Helper and Adviser, and there it would remain. He +reminded them once more of the chief scandals and iniquities against +which he had been forced to contend; he warned them not to strain +the strings too tightly, lest perhaps a new rebellion might arise; +and he promised them that if only they would leave the gospel free, +they should be left in undisturbed possession of their +principalities, their privileges, and their property, which in fact +was all they cared for. This tract was already printed in May. + +He now took up in earnest the labours he had spoken of to +Melancthon. His chief work was the continuation of his German Bible, +namely the translation of the Prophets. He had long complained of +the difficulties presented by these Books, and he now hoped to have +the leisure they required. Such was his zeal that, when he came to +Jeremiah, he looked forward to finishing all the Prophets by +Whitsuntide, but he soon saw that this was impossible. He published +the prophecy of Ezekiel about Gog and Magog by itself. His wish was +to treat of various portions of the Psalms, his own constant book of +comfort and prayer, for the benefit of his congregation; and he +began, accordingly, with a Commentary on the 118th Psalm. He +expounded to Dietrich whilst at Coburg the first twenty-five Psalms; +and the transcript of his commentary on these, which Dietrich left +behind him, was afterwards printed. + +And to these works he wished to add the fables of Æsop. His desire +was to adapt them for youth and common men, that they should be of +some profit to the Germans.' For among them, he said, were to be +found, set forth in simple words, the most beautiful lessons and +warnings, to show men how to live wisely and peacefully among bad +people in the false and wicked world. Truth which none would endure, +but which no man could do without, was clothed there in pleasing +colours of fiction. For this work, however, Luther had very little +time; we possess only thirteen fables of his version. He has +rendered them in the simplest popular language, and expressed the +morals in many appropriate German proverbs. + +Luther thought at first that, with these occupations, he had better +have remained at Wittenberg, where, as professor, he would have been +of more service. + +Soon his bodily sufferings--the singing and noise in the head, and +the tendency to faintness,--began again to attack him; so that for +several days he could neither read nor write, and for several weeks +could not work continuously for any length of time. He did not know +whether it was the effect of Coburg hospitality, or whether Satan +was at fault. Dietrich thought his illness must be caused by Satan, +since Luther had been particularly careful about his diet. He told +also of a fiery, serpent-like apparition, which he and Luther had +seen one evening in June at the foot of the Castle Hill. The same +night Luther fainted away, and the next day was very ill; and this +fact confirmed Dietrich in his belief. + +On June 5 Luther received the news of the death of his aged father, +who breathed his last at Mansfeld, on Sunday, May 29, after long +suffering, and in the firm belief in the gospel preached by his son. +Luther was deeply moved by this intelligence. He had never ceased to +treat him with the same high filial veneration that had formerly +prompted him to dedicate to his parent his treatise on Monastic +Vows, and to invite him to the celebration of his marriage, made, as +we have seen, in accordance with his father's wish. Since his +marriage, indeed, his parents had come to visit him at Wittenberg; +and the town accounts for 1527 contain an item of expense for a +gallon of wine, given as a _vin d'honneur_ to old Luther on +that occasion. It was then that Cranach painted the portraits of +Luther's parents which are now to be seen at the Wartburg. Luther +had heard from his brother James in February 1530, that their father +was dangerously ill. He sent a letter to him thereupon, on the 15th +of that month, by the hands of his nephew Cyriac. He wrote: 'It +would be a great joy to me if only you and my mother could come to +us here. My Kate and all pray for it with tears. I should hope we +would do our best to make you comfortable.' Meanwhile he prayed +earnestly to his Heavenly Father to strengthen and enlighten with +His Holy Spirit this father whom He had given him on earth. He would +leave it in the hands of his dear Lord and Saviour whether they +should meet one another again on earth or in heaven; 'for,' said he, +'we' doubt not but that we shall shortly see each other again in the +presence of Christ, since the departure from this life is a far +smaller matter with God, than if I were to come hither from you at +Mansfeld, or you were to go to Mansfeld from me at Wittenberg.' +After he had opened the letter with the news of his father's death, +he said to Dietrich, 'So then, my father too is dead,' and then took +his Psalter at once, and went to his room, to give vent to his +tears. He expressed his grief and emotion the same day in a letter +to Melancthon. Everything, he said, that he was or had, he had +received through his Creator from this beloved father. + +He kept up his intimacy with his friends at Wittenberg through his +letters to his wife, and by a correspondence with his friend Jerome +Weller, who had come to live in his house, and who assisted in the +education of his son, little Hans. Weller, formerly a jurist, and +already thirty years old, was then studying theology at Wittenberg. +He suffered from low spirits, and Luther repeatedly sent him from +Coburg comfort and good advice. The little Hans had now begun his +lessons, and Weller praised him as a painstaking pupil. Luther's +well-known letter to him was dated from Coburg, June 19. Written in +the midst of the most serious studies and the most important events +and reflections, it must on no account be omitted in a survey of +Luther's life and character. It runs as follows:-- + +'Grace and peace in Christ, my dear little son. I am pleased to see +that thou learnest thy lessons well, and prayest diligently. Do +thus, my little son, and persevere; when I come home I will bring +thee a fine "fairing." I know of a pretty garden where merry +children run about that wear little golden coats, and gather nice +apples and pears, and cherries, and plums under the trees, and sing +and dance, and ride on pretty horses with gold bridles and silver +saddles. I asked the man of the place, whose the garden was, and +whose the children were. He said, "These are the children who pray +and learn, and are good." Then I answered, "Dear sir, I also have a +son who is called Hans Luther. May he not also come into this +garden, and eat these nice pears and apples, and ride a little horse +and play with these children?" The man said, "If he says his +prayers, and learns, and is good, he too may come into the garden; +and Lippus and Jost may come, [Footnote: Melancthon's son Philip, +and Jonas's son Jodocus.] and when they all come back, they shall +have pipes and drums and lutes and all sorts of stringed instruments, +and they shall dance and shoot with little crossbows." Then he +showed me a smooth lawn in the garden laid out for dancing, where +hung pipes of pure gold, and drums and beautiful silver crossbows. +But it was still early, and the children had not dined. So I could +not wait for the dance, and said to the man, "Dear sir, I will go +straight home and write all this to my dear little son Hans, that he +may pray diligently and learn well and be good, and so come into this +garden; but he has an aunt, Lene, [Footnote: Hans's great-aunt, +Magdalen, mentioned in Part VI. Ch. vii.] whom he must bring with +him." And the man answered, "So it shall be; go home and write as you +say." Therefore, dear little son Hans, learn and pray with a +good heart, and tell Lippus and Jost to do the same, and then you +will all come to the beautiful garden together. Almighty God guard +you. Give my love to aunt Lene, and give her a kiss for me. In the +year 1530.--Your loving father, MARTIN LUTHER.' + +The intercourse between Coburg and Augsburg was, as may be imagined, +well kept up by letters and messengers. + +But the crisis of importance arrived when now the great decision +approached, or at least seemed to approach, for it was most +unexpectedly delayed. + +Though the Elector had entered Augsburg on May 2, the Emperor did +not arrive there till June 15. He had stopped on the way at +Innspruck, where Duke George and other princes hostile to the +Reformation hastened to present themselves before him. + +In the meanwhile, Melancthon worked with great industry and anxious +labour at the Apology and Confession which the Elector of Saxony was +to lay before the Diet. Luther warned him, by his own example, +against ruining his head by immoderate exertion. He wrote to him on +May 12: 'I command you and all your company, that they compel you, +under pain of excommunication, to keep your poor body by rule and +order, so that you may not kill yourself and imagine that you do so +from obedience to God. We serve God also by taking holiday and +resting; yes, indeed, in no other way better.' Melancthon had begun +this work at Coburg, while there with Luther, and based his most +important propositions of dogma on the articles which Luther had +drawn up in the previous autumn at Schwabach. His chief efforts, +however, in accordance with his own inclination and line of thought, +were directed to representing the evangelical doctrines as agreeing +with the traditional doctrines of the universal Christian Church; +and the Protestant Reformation as simply the abolition of certain +practical abuses. Never would Luther have consented to submit to the +Diet, and the Papists and enemies of the gospel there present, a +Confession which marked so faintly the gulf of difference between +himself and them. Nevertheless he gladly approved of this +composition of his peace-making friend, which was sent to him for +his opinion by the Elector immediately on its completion, on May 11. +His verdict was: 'I like it well enough, and see nothing to alter or +improve; indeed, I could not do so if I would, for I cannot tread so +softly and gently. May Christ, our Lord, help that it may bring +forth much fruit, as we hope and pray it will.' He encouraged the +Elector, in a letter full of tender words of comfort, to keep his +heart firm and patient, even if he had to stay in a tedious place. +He pointed out to him God's great token of His love, in granting so +freely to him and to his people the word of grace, and especially in +allowing the tender youth, the boys and girls who were his subjects, +to grow up in his country as in a pleasant Paradise of God. + +News now reached them of the Emperor, that he blamed the Elector for +the non-execution of the Edict of Worms, and forbade the clergymen +whom the Protestant princes had brought to Augsburg, to preach +there,--a prohibition against which even Luther admitted they were +powerless. On the other side, Melancthon was particularly troubled +and annoyed that the Landgrave Philip would not admit a repudiation +of Zwingli's doctrine in the Confession, to which Melancthon +attached the utmost importance, not only on account of the intrinsic +objections to that doctrine, but chiefly in the interests of +bringing about a reconciliation with the Catholics. He begged +Luther, on May 22, to try and influence Philip by letter on this +point. + +Luther appears to have shown but little inclination to accede to the +request. Melancthon, waiting for his assent, stopped writing to him. +Meanwhile Luther's friends at Augsburg were looking with anxiety for +the arrival and first appearance of the Emperor. Three whole weeks +passed by before Luther again received a letter from them; it was +just at this time that he was mourning the death of his father. + +Luther was exceedingly indignant at this silence. On receiving +another letter, on June 13, from Melancthon, who said he was +impatiently waiting for the letter to the Landgrave, Luther sent +back the messenger without an answer, and at first was unwilling +even to read the letter. He did, however, now, what was asked of +him. He earnestly but calmly entreated Philip not to espouse their +opponents' doctrine of the Sacrament, or allow himself to be moved +by their 'sweet good' words. And when now Melancthon, whom he had +seriously frightened by his anger, grew restless and desponding and +sleepless with increasing disquietude, through the difficulties at +Augsburg, the threats of his embittered Catholic opponents, and the +anxiety as to submitting the Confession to the Elector, and the +consequences of so doing, and news also reached Luther of the +troubles and distress of his other friends, he repeatedly sent to +them at Augsburg fresh words of encouragement, comfort, and counsel, +which remain to attest, more than anything else, the nobleness of +his mind and character. He speaks, as from a height of confident, +clear, and proud conviction, to those who are struggling in the +whirl and vortex of earthly schemes and counsels. He has gained this +height, and maintains it in the implicit faith with which he clings +to the invisible God, as if he saw Him; and, raised above the world, +he enjoys filial communion with his Heavenly Father. + +In answering another anxious letter from Melancthon on the 27th, he +reproved his friend for the cares which he allowed to consume him, +and which were the result, he said, not of the magnitude of the task +before him, but of his own want of faith. 'Let the matter be ever so +great,' he said, 'great also is He who has begun and who conducts +it; for it is not our work.... "Cast thy burthen upon the Lord; the +Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him." Does He say that to +the wind, or does He throw his words before animals?... It is your +worldly wisdom that torments you, and not theology. As if you, with +your useless cares, could accomplish anything. What more can the +devil do than strangle us? I conjure you, who in all other matters +are so ready to fight, to fight against yourself as your greatest +enemy.' + +Two days after, he had already another letter from his friend to +answer. He saw from it, he said, the labour and trouble, the +distress and tears of his friends. He received also the Confession, +now completed, and had to give his opinion whether it would be +possible to make still more concessions to the Romanists. Upon this +point he wrote: 'Day and night I am occupied with it, I turn it over +every way in my mind, I meditate and argue, and examine the +Scriptures on the subject, and more and more convinced do I become +of the truth of our doctrine, and more resolved never, if God will, +to allow another letter to be torn from us, be the consequence what +it may.' But he objected to the others speaking of 'following his +authority;' the cause was theirs as much as his, and he himself +would defend it, even if he stood alone. He then referred the +anxious Melancthon again to that Faith which had certainly no place +in his rhetoric or philosophy. For faith, he said, must recognise +the Supernatural and the Invisible, and he who attempts to see and +understand it receives only cares and tears for his reward, as +Melancthon did now. 'The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick +darkness,' 'and make darkness His secret place' (1 Kings viii. 12; +Psalm xviii. 11). 'He who wishes, let him do differently; had Moses +wished first to "understand" what the end of Pharaoh's army would +be, then Israel would still be in Egypt. May the Lord increase faith +in you and all of us; if we have that, what in all the world shall +the devil do with us?' + +He hastened to send off this letter, and wrote more again on the +same subject the next day, June 30, to Jonas, who had informed him +of Melancthon's afflictions and of the fierce hatred of their +Catholic opponents; also to Spalatin, Agricola, and Brenz, and to +the young Duke John Frederick. He sought to calm the latter about +the 'poisonous, wicked talons' of his nearest blood-relations, +especially the Duke George. He entreated all those theological +friends to bring a wholesome influence to bear on their companion +Melancthon, and for each of them he had particular words of +affection. Melancthon, he wrote, must be dissuaded from wishing to +direct the world and thus crucifying himself. The news that 'the +princes and nations rage against the Lord's anointed,' he accepted +as a good sign; for the Psalmist's words that immediately follow +(Ps. ii. 4) were: 'He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the +Lord shall have them in derision.' He did not understand how men +could be troubled since God still lives: 'He who has created me will +be father to my son and husband to my wife; He will guide the +community and be preacher to the congregation better than I can +myself.' His letter to Melancthon shows in an interesting manner the +contrast between himself and his friend with regard to cares and +temptations. 'In private contests which concern one's own self, I am +the weaker, you the stronger combatant; but in public ones, it is +just the reverse (if, indeed, any contest can be called private +which is waged between me and Satan); for you take but small account +of your life, while you tremble for the public cause; whereas I am +easy and hopeful about the latter, knowing as I do for certain that +it is just and true, and the cause of God Himself, which has no +consciousness of sin to make it blanch, as I must about myself. +Hence, in the latter case, I am as a careless spectator.' Moreover +he felt himself just now less visited by his old spiritual +temptations, although the devil still made his body weary. + +How Luther used to converse with God as his Father and Friend, +Melancthon learned that day from Dietrich. The latter heard him pray +aloud: 'I know that Thou art our Father and our God.... The danger +is Thine as well as ours; the whole cause is Thine, we have put our +hands to it because we were obliged to; do Thou protect it.' Luther +daily devoted at least three hours to prayer. He liked all his +family to do the same. He wrote home to his wife thus: 'Pray with +confidence, for all is well arranged, and God will aid us.' Two +years later he said in a sermon about the fulfilment of prayer: 'I +have tried it, and many people with me, especially when the devil +wanted to devour us at the Diet at Augsburg, and everything looked +black, and people were so excited that everyone expected things +would go to ruin, as some had defiantly threatened, and already +knives were drawn and guns were loaded; but God, in answer to our +prayers, so helped us, that those bawlers, with their clamour and +menaces, were put thoroughly to shame, and a favourable peace and a +good year granted to us.' + +Just about this time, as Jonas announced to Luther, Duke John +Frederick had the arms of the Reformer cut in stone for a signet +ring, and Luther was requested, through his friend Spengler of +Nüremberg, to explain their meaning. They were peculiarly +appropriate to the times. Luther, as long ago, to our knowledge, as +the year 1517, instead of his father's arms, which were a crossbow +with two roses, had taken as his own one rose, having in its centre +a heart with a cross upon it. This, he now explained, should be a +black cross on a red heart; for, in order to be saved, it is +necessary to believe with our whole heart in our crucified Lord, and +the cross, though bringing pain and self-mortification, does not +corrupt the nature, but rather keeps the heart alive. The heart +should be placed in a white rose, to show that faith gives joy, +comfort, and peace, and because white is the colour of the spirits +and angels, and the joy is not an earthly joy. The rose itself +should be set in an azure field; just as this joy is already the +beginning of heavenly joy and set in heavenly hope, and outside, +round the field, there should be a golden ring, because heavenly +happiness was eternal and precious above all possessions. + +[Illustration: FIG. 41.--LUTHER'S SEAL. (Taken from letters written +in 1517.)] + +[Illustration: FIG. 42.--LUTHER'S COAT OF ARMS. (From old prints.)] + +Shortly after this, Luther received the great news that the summary +of belief of German Protestants, or Augsburg Confession, had been +submitted on June 25 to the Emperor and the Estates, in the German +language. The Emperor, only the day before, had been anxious that it +should not be read aloud, but only received in writing. Publicly, +and in clear and solemn tones, the Saxon chancellor read the +statement of that evangelical faith, which, only nine years before, +at Worms, Luther had been required to retract. Luther was highly +rejoiced. He saw fulfilled the words of the Psalmist, 'I will speak +of Thy testimonies also before kings,' and he felt sure that the +remainder of the verse, 'and will not be ashamed' (Ps. cxix. 46), +would likewise be accomplished. He wrote to his Elector, saying it +was, forsooth, a clever trick of their enemies to seal the lips of +the princes' preachers at Augsburg. The consequence was, that the +Elector and the other nobles 'now preached freely under the very +noses of his Imperial Majesty and the whole Empire, who were obliged +to hear them, and could not offer any opposition.' How sorry he felt +not to have been present there himself! But he rejoiced to have seen +the day when such men stood up in such an assembly, and so bravely +bore witness to the truth of Christ. + +Tidings also now arrived of a certain clemency and generosity even +on the part of the Emperor, and of the peaceful disposition of some +of the princes, such as Duke Henry of Brunswick, who invited +Melancthon to dinner, and especially of Cardinal Albert, the +Archbishop and Elector of Mayence. Luther, unlike Melancthon, was +clear and certain on one point, that an agreement with their +opponents on the questions of belief and religion was absolutely out +of the question. But he now spoke out his opinion most decidedly as +to a 'political agreement,' in spite of their differences of +belief,--an agreement, in other words, that the two Confessions and +Churches should peacefully exist together in the German Empire. This +he wished, and almost hoped, might come to pass. In the Emperor +Charles he recognised--he, the loyal-minded German--a good heart and +noble blood, worthy of all honour and esteem. He did not dare to +hope that the Emperor, surrounded as he was by evil advisers, should +actually favour the Evangelical cause, but he believed at any rate +so far in his clemency. In that spirit he once more by letter +approached the Archbishop. Since there was no hope, he wrote, of +their becoming one in doctrine, he begged him at least to use his +influence that peace might be granted to the Evangelicals. For no +one could be, or dared be, forced to accept a belief, and the new +doctrine did no harm, but taught peace and preserved peace. He +endeavoured further to appeal to the Archbishop's conscience as a +German. 'We Germans do not give up believing in the Pope and his +Italians until they bring us, not into a bath of sweat, but a bath +of blood. If German princes fell upon one another, that would make +the Pope, the little fruit of Florence, happy; he would laugh in his +sleeve and say: "There, you German beasts, you would not have me as +Pope, so have that."... I cannot hold my hands; I must strive to +help poor Germany, miserable, forsaken, despised, betrayed, and +sold--to whom indeed I wish no harm, but everything that is good, as +my duty to my dear Fatherland commands me.' + +Luther then would not only not hear of surrender, but looked upon as +useless any further negotiations in matters of belief. He could not +understand why his friends were detained any longer at Augsburg, +where they had nothing to expect but menace and bravado on the part +of their opponents. On July 15 he wrote to them: 'You have rendered +unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that +are God's.... May Christ confess us, as you have confessed Him.... +Thus I absolve you from this assembly in the Name of the Lord. Now +go home again--go home!' + +But they had still to wait for a Refutation, which the Emperor +caused to be drawn up by some strict Catholic theologians, among +whom were Eck, the old and ever violent and active enemy of Luther, +and John Cochlaeus, originally a champion of Humanism, but who had, +since the beginning of the great contest in the Church, +distinguished himself by petty but bitter polemics against Luther, +and now assisted Duke George in the place of the deceased Emser. +Meanwhile the spiritual and temporal lords caused the Protestants to +fear the worst. For Melancthon, these were his worst and weakest +hours. He even sought to pacify the Papal legate, by representing +that there was no dogma in which they differed from the Roman +Church. He thought it possible that even large concessions might be +made, so far at least as regarded the rites and services of the +Church. For these were external things, and the bishops belonged to +the authorities whom God had placed over the externals of life. + +Luther therefore had still to wait with patience. He continued his +encouraging letters, nor did even menaces disturb him. He remembered +that too sharp an edge gets only full of notches, and that, as he +had already been told by Staupitz, God first shuts the eyes of those +He wishes to plague. To begin a war now would be dangerous even to +their enemies; the beginning would lead to no progress, the war to +no victory. To Melancthon he spoke, using a coarse German proverb, +about a man who 'died of threatening.' + +He drew his richest and most powerful utterances from his one +highest source, the Scriptures. In his own peculiar manner he +expressed himself once to Brück, the chancellor of the Saxon +Elector, his temporal adviser at Augsburg, and a man who did much to +further the Reformation. 'I have lately,' he wrote, 'on looking out +of the window, seen two wonders: the first, the glorious vault of +heaven, with the stars, supported by no pillar and yet firmly fixed; +the second, great thick clouds hanging over us, and yet no ground +upon which they rested, or vessel in which they were contained; and +then, after they had greeted us with a gloomy countenance and passed +away, came the luminous rainbow, which like a frail thin roof +nevertheless bore the great weight of water.' If anyone amidst the +present troubles was not satisfied with the power of faith, Luther +would compare him to a man who should seek for pillars to prevent +the heavens from falling, and tremble and shake because he could not +find them. He was willing, as he wrote in this letter, to rest +content, even if the Emperor would not grant the political peace +they hoped for; for God's thoughts are far above men's thoughts, and +God, and not the Emperor, must have the honour. In a letter to +Melancthon he explained calmly and clearly the duty of +distinguishing between the bishops as temporal princes or +authorities, and the bishops as spiritual shepherds, and how, in +this latter capacity, they must never be allowed the right of +burdening Christ's flock with arbitrary rites and ordinances. + +He now published a series of small tracts, one after the other, in +which, with inflexible determination, he again asserted the +evangelical principles against Catholic errors. In this spirit he +wrote about the Church and Church authority; against purgatory; +about the keys of the Church, or how Christ dispenses real +forgiveness of sins to His community; against the worship of the +saints; about the right celebration of the Sacrament, and so forth. +Regardless of the pending questions of dispute, his thoughts +reverted likewise to the needy condition of the schools: he wrote a +special tract, 'On the duty of keeping Children at school.' His +Commentary on the 118th Psalm was now followed by one upon the +117th. He also worked indefatigably at the translation of the +Prophets. Thus steadily he persevered in his labours, suffering more +or less in his head, always weak and 'capricious.' At the conclusion +of his stay at Coburg he told a friend that, on account of the +'buzzing and dizziness' in his head, he had been obliged, with all +his regularity of habits, to make a holiday of more than half the +summer. + +On August 3 the Catholic Refutation was at length submitted to the +Diet. It showed indeed, as did the imperial proclamation convoking +the Diet, that it was far from the Emperor's intention to have the +opinions of both sides fairly heard and judged in a friendly and +impartial spirit: on the contrary, he demanded that the Protestants +should declare themselves convinced by it, and therefore conquered. +The Landgrave Philip replied to this demand by quitting Augsburg on +August 6, without the leave and contrary to the command of the +Emperor, and hastening home, openly resolved, in case of need, to +meet force by force. But the Emperor, though urged by Rome to take +violent measures, was not prepared, as indeed Luther had guessed, +for such a sudden stroke. He preferred to adopt a more peaceful and +mediating course, and to attempt once more to settle the differences +by a mixed commission of fourteen, and afterwards by a new and +smaller committee, in which Melancthon alone represented the +Evangelical theologians. + +The Protestants had now to consider seriously the question of a +possible submission which Melancthon had hitherto been anxiously +pondering with himself. Luther's view of the entire standpoint and +interests of the Romish Church was now confirmed by the fact that +her representatives attached less importance to the more profound +differences of doctrine in regard to the inward means of salvation, +than to the restoration of episcopal rights and forms of worship, +such as, in particular, the mass and the Sacrament in both kinds, +which formed the principal difficulties during the negotiations. On +the other hand, no one had taught more clearly than Luther the +freedom which belongs to Christians in outward forms of constitution +and worship, and which enables them to yield to and serve each other +on these very points. But he had none the less earnestly cautioned +against making concessions to ecclesiastical tyrants, who might make +use of them to enslave and mislead souls. In this respect Melancthon +now showed himself entirely resolved. He longed for a restoration of +the Catholic episcopacy for the Evangelicals, not only for the sake +of peace, but because he despaired of securing otherwise a genuine +regulation of the Church in the face of arbitrary princes and +undisciplined multitudes. In fact the Protestants on this commission +were willing to promise lawful obedience to the bishops, if only the +questions of service and doctrine were left to a free Council. As +regarded the service of the mass the point at issue was whether the +Protestants could not and ought not to accept it with its whole act +of priestly sacrifice, if only an explanation were added as to the +difference between this sacrifice and the sacrifice of Christ upon +the Cross. Other Protestants, on the contrary, especially the +representatives of Nüremberg, became suspicious and angry at such a +way of settling matters, and especially at the behaviour of +Melancthon. Spengler at Nüremberg wrote accordingly to Luther. The +situation was all the more critical, since the negotiations, +according to the wish of the Emperor, were to proceed uninterruptedly, +and there was no time to obtain an opinion from Coburg. + +Luther now, to whom the Elector submitted the Articles which were to +bring about an agreement, sent a very calm, clear answer, entering +into all the particulars. He gave a purely practical judgment, +though resting upon the highest principles. Thus, with regard to the +mass, he says that the Catholic liturgy contained the inadmissible +idea that we must pray to God to accept the Body of His Son as a +sacrifice; if this were to be explained in a gloss, either the words +of the liturgy would have to be falsified by the gloss, or the gloss +by the words of the liturgy. It would be wrong and foolish to run +into danger unnecessarily about so troublesome a word. He warned +Melancthon especially against the power of the bishops. He knew well +that obedience to them meant a restriction of the freedom of the +gospel; but the bishops would not consider themselves equally bound, +and would declare it a breach of faith if everything that they +wished were not observed. He then quietly expressed his conviction +that the whole attempt at negotiation was a vain delusion. It was +wished to make the Pope and Luther agree together, but the Pope was +unwilling and Luther begged to be excused. Firmly and calmly he +relied on the consciousness, whatever happened, of his own +independence and strength. Thus he wrote to Spengler: 'I have +commended the matter to God, and I think also I have kept it so well +in hand that nobody can find me defenceless on any point so long as +Christ and I are united.' To Spalatin he wrote: 'Free is Luther, and +free also is the Macedonian (Philip of Hesse).... Only be brave and +behave like men!' We have taken this from letters rich in similar +thoughts, addressed by Luther on August 26 to the Elector John, +Melancthon, Spalatin, and Jonas, and from other letters written two +days after to the three last-named friends and to Spengler. He +likewise wrote for Brenz on the 26th a preface to his Exposition of +the Prophet Amos. This preface shows us how Luther himself judged +his own words which he sent forth with such power. His own speech, +he says, is a wild wood, compared with the clear, pure flow of +Brenz's language; it was, to compare small things with great, as if +his was the strong spirit of Elijah, the wind tearing up the rocks, +and the earthquake and fire, whereas Brenz's was the 'still, small +voice.' Yet God needs also rough wedges for rough logs, and together +with the fruitful rain He sends the storm of thunder and lightning +to purify the air. + +If, however, Protestantism was then threatened by danger from +mistaken concessions, the danger was soon averted by the demands of +its opponents, who went too far even for a Melancthon. The +proceedings of the smaller committee had likewise to be closed +without any result. On September 8 Luther was able at last to tell +his wife that he hoped soon to return home; to his little Hans he +promised to bring a 'beautiful large book of sugar,' which his +cousin Cyriac, who had travelled with Luther to Augsburg and +Nüremberg, had brought for him out of that 'beautiful garden.' On +the 14th he received a visit from Duke John Frederick and Count +Albert of Mansfeld upon their return from the Diet. The former +brought him the signet ring, which, however, was too large even for +his thumb; he remarked that lead, not gold, was fitting for him. He +only wished he could see his other friends also escaped from +Augsburg; and although the Duke was ready to take him away with him, +he preferred to remain behind at Coburg, in order, as he wrote to +Melancthon, to receive them there and wipe off their perspiration +after their hot bath. + +At Augsburg negotiations were re-opened with Melancthon and Brück; +the Nüremberg deputy even thought it necessary to complain in the +strongest terms of an 'underhand unchristian stratagem' against +which Melancthon would no longer listen to a word of remonstrance; +and Luther, who heard of these complaints through Spengler and Link, +expressed indeed his full confidence to his Saxon theologians, and +was particularly anxious not to wound Melancthon, but earnestly and +pressingly begged him and Jonas, on the 20th of the month, to inform +him about the matter, to be on their guard against the crafty +attacks of their enemies, and to renounce finally all idea of a +compromise. While, however, these letters were on their way past +Nüremberg through Spengler's hands, it was already known there that +the new attempt, especially that against the constancy of Jonas and +Spalatin, had shipwrecked, and Spengler consequently did not forward +them to their address. The Evangelical States adhered to their +Protest of 1529 and to the Imperial Recess of 1526. + +The Emperor made known his displeasure at this result, but found +that even those princes who were most zealous against the +innovations, were not equally zealous to plunge into at least a +doubtful war for the extirpation of heresy, and the aggrandisement, +moreover, of the Emperor's authority and power, and accordingly he +resolved to put off the decision. On the 22nd he announced a Recess, +which gave the Protestants, whose Confession, it was stated, had +been publicly heard and refuted, time till the 15th of the following +April for consideration whether, in the matter of the articles in +dispute, they would return to unity with the Church, Pope, and +Empire. The Emperor, meanwhile, engaged to bring about the meeting +of a Council within a year, for the removal of real ecclesiastical +grievances, but reserved until that period the consideration of what +further steps should eventually be taken. The Evangelicals protested +that their Confession had never been refuted, and proceeded to lay +before the Emperor an apology for it, drawn up by Melancthon. They +accepted the time offered for consideration. So far then the promise +was given of the political peace which Luther had wished and hoped +for. Referring to the other dangers and menaces before them, he said +to Spengler: 'We are cleared and have done enough; the blood be upon +their own head.' + +Yet another attempt at union came to Luther at Coburg from quite a +different quarter. Strasburg, and three other South German towns, +Constance, Memmingen, and Lindau, differing as they did from the +Lutherans in the Sacramental controversy, had laid before the Diet a +Confession of their own--the so-called Tetrapolitana. They too, like +Zwingli, refused to recognise any partaking of the Body of Christ by +the mouth and body of the receiver, but at the same time, unlike +him, they based their whole view of the Eucharist on the assumption +of a real Divine gift and a spiritual enjoyment of the 'real Body' +of Christ. On the strength of this view, Butzer, the theological +representative of Strasburg, sought to make further overtures to the +Wittenbergers. He was not deterred by Melancthon's mistrustful +opposition or by Luther's leaving a letter of his unanswered. He now +appeared in person at the Castle of Coburg, and on September 25 had +a confidential and friendly interview with Luther. The latter still +refused to content himself with a mere 'spiritual partaking,' and, +though demanding above all things entire frankness, did not himself +conceal a constant suspicion. However, he himself began to hope for +good results, and assured Butzer he would willingly sacrifice his +life three times over, if thereby this division might be put an end +to. This fortunate beginning encouraged Butzer to further attempts, +which he made afterwards in private. + +The day after the reading of the Recess, the Elector John was able +at length to leave the Diet and set forward on his journey home. The +Emperor took leave of him with these words: 'Uncle, Uncle, I did not +look for this from you.' The Elector, with tears in his eyes, went +away in silence. After staying a short time at Nüremberg, he paid a +visit, with his theologians, to Luther. They left Coburg together on +October 5, and travelled by Altenburg, where Luther preached on +Sunday, the 9th, to the royal residence at Torgau. After Luther had +also preached here on the following Sunday, he returned to his home. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FROM THE DIET OF AUGSBURG TO THE RELIGIOUS PEACE OF NÜREMBERG, 1532. +DEATH OF THE ELECTOR JOHN. + + +No sooner had Luther resumed his official duties at Wittenberg, than +he again undertook extra and very arduous work. Bugenhagen went in +October to Lübeck, as he had previously gone to Brunswick and Hamburg. +The most important advance made by the Reformation during those years +when its champions had to fight so stoutly at the Diets for their +rights, was in the North German cities. Luther, soon after his arrival +at Coburg, had received news that Lübeck and Lüneburg had accepted the +Reformation. The citizens of Lübeck refused to allow any but Evangelical +preachers, and abolished all non-evangelical usages, though an +opposition party appealed to the Emperor, and actually induced him +to issue a mandate prohibiting the innovations. To organise the new +Church, the Lübeckers would have preferred the assistance of Luther +himself; but failing him, their delegates begged the Elector John, +when at Augsburg, to send them at least Bugenhagen. Under these +circumstances Luther agreed that Bugenhagen should be allowed to +go, although the Wittenberg congregation and university could +hardly spare him. His friend was wanted at Wittenberg, said Luther, +all the more because he himself could not be of any use much longer; +for what with his failing years and his bad health, so weary was he +of life that this accursed world would soon have seen and suffered +the last of him. + +Nevertheless, he again undertook at once, so far as his health +permitted, the official duties of the town pastor, who this time was +absent from Wittenberg for a year and a half, until April 1532; +Luther, accordingly, not only preached the weekly sermons on +Wednesdays and Saturdays, on the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. +John, but attended continuously to the care of souls and the +ordinary business of his office. He would reproach himself with the +fact that under his administration the poor-box of the church was +neglected, and that he was often too tired and too lazy to do +anything. The pains in his head, the giddiness, and the affections +of his heart now recurred, and grew worse in March and June 1531, +while the next year they developed symptoms of the utmost gravity +and alarm. + +All this time he worked with indefatigable industry to finish his +translation of the Prophets; in the autumn of 1531 he told Spalatin +that he devoted two hours daily to the task of correction. He +brought out a new and revised edition of the Psalms, and published +some of them with a practical exposition. + +In addition to these literary labours, which ever remained his first +delight, Luther's chief task was to advise his Elector upon the +salient questions, transactions, and dangers of Church politics, +which, with the Recess of the Diet and the period thereby allotted +for their consideration, had become matters of real urgency. And, in +fact, it was to his valuable and conscientious advice that the +Protestants in general throughout the Empire looked for guidance. + +On November 19 the Recess of the Diet, passed in defiance of the +Protestants, was published at Augsburg. They accepted the time +allowed them for consideration, but the Emperor and the Empire +insisted on maintaining the old ordinances of the Church, and the +Protestants were now required to surrender the ecclesiastical and +monastic property in their hands. The latter observed, moreover, +that the Recess contained no actual promise of peace on the part of +the Emperor, but that the States only were commanded to keep peace. +In fact, the Emperor had already promised the Pope on October 4 to +employ all his force to suppress the Protestants. He immediately +subjected the Supreme Court of the Empire--the so-called Imperial +Chamber--to a visitation, and instructed it to enforce strictly the +contents of the Recess in ecclesiastical and religious matters. Thus +the campaign against the Protestants was to begin with the +institution of processes at law, with reference particularly to the +question of Church property. Furthermore, to secure the authority +and continue the policy of the Emperor during his absence, his +brother Ferdinand was to be elected King of the Romans. John of +Saxony, the only Protestant among the Electors, opposed the +election. He appealed to the fact that the nomination was a direct +violation of a decision of imperial law, the Golden Bull, which +declared that the proposal for such an election, during the lifetime +of the Emperor, must first be unanimously resolved on by the +Electors. The Emperor had a Papal brief in his hands which empowered +him to exclude John, as a heretic, from electing, but he did not +find it prudent to make use of it. The election actually took place +on January 5, 1531. + +The Protestants now sought for protection in a firm, well-organised +union among themselves. They assembled for this purpose at +Schmalkald at Christmas 1530. + +The more imminent, however, the danger to be encountered, the more +necessary it became to determine the question whether it was lawful +to resist the Emperor. The jurists who advised in favour of +resistance, adduced certain arguments, without, however, stating any +very clear or forcible reasons of law. They quoted principles of +civil law, to show that a judge, whose sentence is appealed against +to a higher court, has no right to execute it by force, and that if +he does so, resistance may lawfully be offered him; and they +proceeded to apply this analogy to the appeal of the Protestants to +a future Council, and the action taken against them, while their +appeal was still pending, by the Emperor. They were nearer the mark +when they argued that, according to the constitution of the Empire +and the imperial laws themselves, the sovereignty of the Emperor was +in no sense unlimited or incapable of being resisted; but then the +difficulty here was, that the right of individual States to oppose +decrees, passed at a regular Diet by the Emperor and the majority of +the members present, was not yet proved. There was a general want of +clearness and precision connected with the theories then being +developed of the relations of the different States and the +interpretation of their rights. Upon this matter, then, Luther was +called on again, with the other Wittenberg theologians, to give an +opinion. The jurists also, especially the chancellor Brück, were +associated with them in their deliberations. + +On the question about Ferdinand's election as King of Rome, Luther +strongly advised his Elector to give way. The danger which, in the +event of his refusal, menaced both himself and the whole of Germany +appeared to Luther far too serious to justify it. The occasion would +be used to deprive him of the Electorship, and perhaps give it to +Duke George; and Germany would be rent asunder and plunged into war +and misery. This, said Luther, was his advice; adding, however, that +as he held such a humble position in the world, he did not +understand to give much advice in such important matters, nay, he +was 'too much like a child in these worldly affairs.' + +But a change had now come in his views about the right of +resistance; a change which, though in reality but an advance upon +his earlier principles, led to an opposite result. He taught that +civil authorities and their ordinances were distinctly of God, and +by these ordinances he understood, according to the Apostle's words, +the different laws of different States, so far as they had anywhere +acquired stability. With regard to Germany, as we have seen, his +good monarchical principles did not as yet prevent his holding the +opinion that the collective body of the princes of the Empire could +dethrone an unworthy Emperor. The determining question with him now +was what the law of the Empire or the edict of the Emperor himself +would decide, in the event of resistance being offered by individual +States of the Empire, which found themselves and their subjects +injured in their rights and impeded in the fulfilment of their +duties. The answer to this, however, he conceived to be a matter no +longer for theologians, but for men versed in the law, and for +politicians. Theologians could only tell him that though, indeed, a +Christian, simply as a Christian, must willingly suffer wrong, yet +the secular authorities, and therefore every German prince having +authority, were bound to uphold their office given them by God, and +protect their subjects from wrong. As to what were the established +ordinances and laws of each individual State, that was a matter for +jurists to decide, and for the princes to seek their counsel. +Accordingly, the Wittenberg theologians declared as their opinion +that if those versed in the law could prove that in certain cases, +according to the law of the Empire, the supreme authority could be +resisted, and that the present case was one of that description, not +even theologians could controvert them from Scripture. In condemning +previously all resistance, they said, they 'had not known that the +sovereign power itself was subject to the law.' The net result was +that the allies really considered themselves justified in offering +resistance to the Emperor, and prepared to do so. The responsibility, +as Luther warned them, must rest with the princes and politicians, +inasmuch as it was their duty to see that they had right on their +side. 'That is a question,' he said, 'which we neither know nor +assert: I leave them to act.' + +Luther gave open vent to his indignation at the Recess of the Diet +and the violent attacks of the Catholics in two publications, early +in 1531, one entitled 'Gloss on the supposed Edict of the Emperor,' +and the other, 'Warning to his beloved Germans.' In the former he +reviewed the contents of the Edict and the calumnies it heaped upon +the Evangelical doctrines, not intending, as he said, to attack his +Imperial Majesty, but only the traitors and villains, be they +princes or bishops, who sought to work their own wicked will, and +chief of all the arch-rogue, the so-called Vicegerent of God, and +his legates. The other treatise contemplates the 'very worst evil' +of all that then threatened them, namely, a war resulting from the +coercive measures of the Emperor and the resistance of the +Protestants. As a spiritual pastor and preacher he wished to counsel +not war, but peace, as all the world must testify he had always been +the most diligent in doing. But he now openly declared that if, +which God forbid, it came to war, he would not have those who +defended themselves against the bloodthirsty Papists censured as +rebellious, but would have it called an act of necessary defence, +and justify it by referring to the law and the lawyers. + +These publications occasioned fresh dealings with Duke George, who +again complained to the Elector about them, and also about certain +letters falsely ascribed to Luther, and then published a reply, +under an assumed name, to his first pamphlet. Luther answered this +'libel' with a tract entitled 'Against the Assassin at Dresden,' not +intended, as many have supposed, to impute murderous designs to the +Duke, but referring to the calumnies and anonymous attacks in his +book. The tone employed by Luther in this tract reminds us of his +saying that 'a rough wedge is wanted for a rough log.' It brought +down upon him a fresh admonition from his prince, in reply to which +he simply begged that George might for the future leave him in +peace. + +The imminence of the common danger favoured the attempts of the +South German States to effect an agreement with the German +Protestants, and the efforts of Butzer in that direction. Luther +himself acknowledged in a letter to Butzer, how very necessary a +union with them was, and what a scandal was caused to the gospel by +their rupture hitherto, nay, that if only they were united, the +Papacy, the Turks, the whole world, and the very gates of hell would +never be able to work the gospel harm. Nevertheless, his conscience +forbade him to overlook the existing differences of doctrine; nor +could he imagine why his former opponents, if they now acknowledged +the Real Presence of the Body at the Sacrament, could not plainly +admit that presence for the mouth and body of all partakers, whether +worthy or unworthy. He deemed it sufficient at present, that each +party should desist from writing against the other, and wait until +'perhaps God, if they ceased from strife, should vouchsafe further +grace.' The new explanations, however, were enough to make the +Schmalkaldic allies abandon their scruples to admitting the South +Germans, and they were accordingly received into the league. + +Thus then, at the end of March 1531, a mutual defensive alliance for +six years of the members of the Schmalkaldic League was concluded +between the Elector John, the Landgrave Philip, three Dukes of +Brunswick Lüneburg, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, Counts Albert and +Gebhard of Mansfeld, the North German towns of Magdeburg, Bremen, +and Lübeck, and the South German towns of Strasburg, Constance, +Memmingen, and Lindau, and also Ulm, Reutlingen, Bibrach, and Isny. +Even Luther no longer raised any objections. + +By this alliance the Protestants presented a firm and powerful front +among the constituent portions of the German Empire. Their +adversaries were not so agreed in their interests. Between the Dukes +of Bavaria, and between the Emperor and Ferdinand, political +jealousy prevailed to an extent sufficient to induce the former to +combine with the heretics against the newly-elected King. Outside +Germany, Denmark reached the hand of fellowship to the Schmalkaldic +League; for the exiled King of Denmark, Christian II., who had +previously turned to the Saxon Elector and been friendly to Luther, +now sought, after returning in all humility to the orthodox Church, +to regain his lost sovereignty with the help of his brother-in-law, +the Emperor. The King of France also was equally ready to make +common cause with the Protestant German princes against the growing +power of Charles V. + +As for Luther, we find no notice on his part of the schemes and +negotiations connected with these political events, much less any +active participation in them. There was just then a rupture pending +between Henry VIII. of England and the Emperor, and the former was +preparing to secede from the Church of Rome. Henry was anxious for a +divorce from his wife Katharine of Arragon, an aunt of the Emperor, +on the ground of her previous marriage with his deceased brother, +which, as he alleged, made his own marriage with her illegal; and +since the Pope, in spite of long negotiations, refused, out of +regard for the Emperor, to accede to his request, Henry had an +opinion prepared by a number of European universities and men of +learning, on the legality and validity of his marriage, which in +fact for the most part declared against it. A secret commissioner of +the former 'Protector of the Faith' was then sent to the +Wittenbergers, and to Luther, whom he had so grossly insulted. +Luther, however, pronounced (Sept. 5, 1531) against the divorce, on +the ground that the marriage, though not contrary to the law of God +as set forth in Scripture, was prohibited by the human law of the +Church. The political side of the question he disregarded +altogether. He expressed himself to Spalatin, in a certain tone of +sadness, about the Pope's evil disposition towards the Emperor, the +intrigues he seemed to be promoting against him in France, and the +animosity of Henry VIII. towards him on account of his decision on +the marriage; and added, 'Such is the way of this wicked world; may +God take our Emperor under His protection!' + +With Charles V. and Ferdinand the question of peace or war was, of +necessity, largely governed by the menacing attitude of the Turks; +in fact it determined their policy in the matter. Luther kept this +danger steadily in view; after the publication of the Recess he +promised the wrath of God upon those madmen who would enter upon a +war while they had the Turks before their very eyes. Ferdinand in +vain sought to conclude a treaty of peace with the Sultan, who +demanded him to surrender all the fortresses he still possessed in a +part of Hungary, and reserved the right of making further conquests. +He was even induced, in March 1581, to advise his brother to effect +a peaceful arrangement with the Protestants, in order to ensure +their assistance in arms. Attempts at reconciliation were +accordingly made through the intervention of the Electors of the +Palatinate and Mayence. The term allowed by the Diet (April 15) +passed by unnoticed. The Emperor also directed the 'suspension of +the proceedings, which he had been authorised by the Recess of +Augsburg to set on foot in religious matters, till the approaching +Diet.' + +The negotiations were languidly protracted through the summer, +without effecting any definite result. An opinion, drawn up jointly +by Luther, Melancthon, and Bugenhagen, advised against an absolute +rejection of the proposed restoration of episcopal power; the only +thing necessary to insist upon being that the clergy and +congregations should be allowed by the bishops the pure preaching of +the gospel which had hitherto been refused them. + +About this time Luther had the grief of losing his mother. She died +on June 30, after receiving from her son a consolatory letter in her +last illness. Of his own physical suffering in this month we have +already spoken. On the 26th, he wrote to Link that Satan had sent +all his messengers to buffet him (2 Cor. xii. 7), so that he could +only rarely write or do anything: the devil would probably soon kill +him outright. And yet not his will would be done, but the will of +Him who had already overthrown Satan and all his kingdom. + +Soon afterwards, the desire of the Catholics for coercive measures +was stimulated afresh by the news of a defeat which the Reformed +cities in Switzerland had sustained at the hands of the five +Catholic Cantons, notwithstanding that the balance of force inclined +there far more than in Germany to the side of the Evangelicals. The +struggle which Luther was perpetually endeavouring to avert from +Germany, culminated in Switzerland in a bloody outbreak, mainly at +Zwingli's instigation. Zwingli himself fell on October 11 in the +battle of Cappel, a victim of the patriotic schemes by which he had +laboured to achieve for his country a grand reform of politics, +morality, and the Church, but for which he had failed to enlist any +intelligent or unanimous co-operation on the part of his companions +in faith. Ferdinand triumphed over this first great victory for the +Catholic cause. He was now ready to renounce humbly his claim upon +Hungary, so that, by making peace with the Sultan, he might leave +his own and the Emperor's hands free in Germany. Luther saw in the +fate of Zwingli another judgment of God against the spirit of +Münzer, and in the whole course of the war a solemn warning for the +members of the Schmalkaldic League not to boast of any human +alliance, and to do their utmost to preserve peace. + +But the events in Switzerland gave no handle against those who had +not joined the Zwinglians, nor were even the latter weakened thereby +in power and organisation. The South Germans had now to cling all +the more firmly to their alliance with the Lutheran princes and +cities; the Zwinglian movement suffered shortly afterwards (Dec. 1) +a severe loss in the death of Oecolampadius. Finally the Sultan was +not satisfied with Ferdinand's repeated offers, but prepared for a +new campaign against Austria in the spring of 1532, and towards the +end of April he set out for it. + +This checked the feverous desire of Germans for war against their +fellow-countrymen, and brought to a practical result the +negotiations for a treaty which had been conducted early in 1582 at +Schweinfurt, and later on at Nüremberg. They amounted to this: that +all idea of an agreement on the religious and ecclesiastical +questions in dispute was abandoned until the hoped-for Council +should take place, and that, as had long been Luther's opinion, they +should rest content with a political peace or _modus vivendi_, +which should recognise both parties in the position they then +occupied. The main dispute was on the further question, how far this +recognition should extend;--whether only to the Schmalkaldic allies, +the immediate parties to the present agreement, or to such other +States of the Empire as might go over to the new doctrine from the +old Church--which still remained the established Church of the +Emperor and the Empire in general--and, perhaps further, to +Protestant subjects of Catholic princes of the Empire. There was +also still the question as to the validity of Ferdinand's election +as King of Rome. Luther was again and again asked for his opinion on +this subject. + +He was just then suffering from an unusually severe attack, which +incessantly reminded him of his approaching end. In addition, he was +deeply concerned about the health of his beloved Elector. Early in +the morning of January 22 he was seized again, as his friend +Dietrich, who lived with him, informs us, with another violent +attack in his head and heart. His friends who had come to him began +to speak of the effect his death would have on the Papists, when he +exclaimed, 'But I shall not die yet, I am certain. God will never +strengthen the Papal abominations by letting me die now that Zwingli +and Oecolampadius are just gone. Satan would no doubt like to have +it so: he dogs my heels every moment; but not his will will be done, +but the Lord's.' The physician thought that apoplexy was imminent, +and that if so, Luther could hardly recover. The attack however +seems to have quickly passed away, but Luther's head remained racked +with pain. A few weeks later, towards the end of February, he had to +visit the Elector at Torgau, who was lying there in great suffering, +and had been compelled to have the great toe of his left foot +amputated. Luther writes thence about himself to Dietrich, saying +that he was thinking about the preface to his translation of the +Prophets, but suffered so severely from giddiness and the torments +of Satan, that he well-nigh despaired of living and returning to +Wittenberg. 'My head,' he says, 'will do no more: so remember that, +if I die, your talents and eloquence will be wanted for the +preface.' For a whole month, as he remarked at the beginning of +April, he was prevented from reading, writing, and lecturing. He +informed Spalatin, in a letter of May 20, which Bugenhagen wrote for +him, that at present, God willing, he must take a holiday. And on +June 13 he told Amsdorf that his head was gradually recovering +through the intercessions of his friends, but that he despaired of +regaining his natural powers. + +Notwithstanding this condition and frame of mind, Luther continued +to send cordial, calm, and encouraging words of peace, concerning +the negotiations then pending, both to the Elector John and his son +John Frederick. + +Concerning Ferdinand's election Luther declared to these two princes +on February 12, and again afterwards, that it must not be allowed to +embarrass or prevent a treaty of peace. If it violated a trifling +article of the Golden Bull, that was no sin against the Holy Ghost, +and God could show the Protestants, for a mote like this in the eyes +of their enemies, whole beams in their own. It must needs be an +intolerable burden to the Elector's conscience if war were to arise +in consequence,--a war which might 'well end in rending the Empire +asunder and letting in the Turks, to the ruin of the Gospel and +everything else.' + +An opinion, drawn up on May 16 by Luther and Bugenhagen, was equally +decided in counselling submission on the question as to the +extension of the truce, if peace itself depended upon it. For if the +Emperor, he said, was now pleased to grant security to the now +existing Protestant States, he did so as a favour and a personal +privilege. They could not coerce him into showing the same favour to +others. Others must make the venture by the grace of God, and hope +to gain security in like manner. Everyone must accept the gospel at +his own peril. + +Luther began already to hear the reproach that to adopt such a +course would be to renounce brotherly love, for Christians should +seek the salvation and welfare of others besides themselves. He was +reproached again with disowning by his conduct the Protestant ideal +of religious freedom and the equal rights of Confessions. Very +differently will he be judged by those who realise the legal and +constitutional relations then existing in Germany, and the +ecclesiastico-political views shared in common by Protestants and +Catholics, and who then ask what was to be gained by a course +contrary to that which he advised in the way of peace and positive +law. That the sovereigns of Catholic States should secure toleration +to the Evangelical worship in their own territories was opposed to +those general principles by virtue of which the Protestant rulers +took proceedings against their Catholic subjects. According to those +principles, nothing was left for subjects who resisted the +established religion of the country but to claim free and unmolested +departure. Luther observed with justice, 'What thou wilt not have +done to thee, do not thou to others.' With regard to the further +question as to the princes who should hereafter join the +Protestants, it certainly sounds naive to hear Luther speak of a +present mere act of favour on the part of the Emperor. But he was +strictly right in his idea, that a concession, involving the +separation of some of the States of the Empire from the one Church +system hitherto established indivisibly throughout the Empire, and +their organisation of a separate Church, had no foundation whatever +in imperial law as existing before and up to the Reformation, and +could in so far be regarded simply as a free concession of the +Emperor and Empire to individual members of the general body; who, +therefore, had no right to compel the extension of this concession +to others, and thereby hazard the peace of the Empire. Something had +already been gained by the fact that at least no limitation was +expressed. A door was thus left open for extension at a future time; +and for those who wished to profit by this fact, the danger, if only +peace could be assured, was at any rate diminished. If we may see +any merit in the fact that the German nation at that time was spared +a bloody war, unbounded in its destructive results, and that a +peaceful solution was secured for a number of years, that merit is +due in the first place to the great Reformer. He acted throughout +like a true patriot and child of his Fatherland, no less than like a +true Christian teacher and adviser of conscience. + +The negotiations above described involved the further question about +a Council, pending which a peaceful agreement was now effected. In +the article providing for the convocation of a 'free Christian +Council,' the Protestants demanded the addition of the words, 'in +which questions should be determined according to the pure Word of +God.' On this point, however, Luther was unwilling to prolong the +dispute. He remarked with practical wisdom that the addition would +be of no service; their opponents would in any case wish to have the +credit of having spoken according to the pure Word of God. + +In June bad news came again from Nüremberg, tending to the belief +that the Papists had thwarted the work of peace. Luther again +exclaimed, as he had done after the Diet of Augsburg, 'Well, well! +your blood be upon your own heads; we have done enough.' + +Towards the end of the month, when the Elector again invited his +opinion, he repeated, with even more urgency than before, his +warnings to those Protestants also who were 'far too clever and +confident, and who, as their language seemed to show, wished to have +a peace not open to dispute.' He begged the Elector, in all humility, +to 'write in earnest a good, stern letter to our brethren,' that they +might see how much the Emperor had graciously conceded to them which +could be accepted with a good conscience, and not refuse such a +gracious peace for the sake of some paltry, far-fetched point of +detail. God would surely heal and provide for such trifling defects. + +On July 23 the peace was actually concluded at Nüremberg, and signed +by the Emperor on August 2. Both parties were mutually to practise +Christian toleration until the Council was held; one of these +parties being expressly designated as the Schmalkaldic allies. The +value of this treaty for the maintenance of Protestantism in Germany +was shown by the indignation displayed by the Papal legates from the +first at the Emperor's concessions. + +The Elector John was permitted to survive the conclusion of the +peace, which he had been foremost among the princes in promoting. +Shortly after, on August 15, he was seized with apoplexy when out +hunting, and on the following day he breathed his last. Luther and +Melancthon, who were summoned to him at Schweinitz, found him +unconscious. Luther said his beloved prince, on awakening, would be +conscious of everlasting life; just as when he came from hunting on +the Lochau heath, he would not know what had happened to him; as +said the prophet (Isaiah lvii. 1, 2), 'The righteous is taken away +from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in +their beds.' Luther preached at his funeral at Wittenberg, as he had +done seven years before at his brother's, and Spalatin tells us how +he wept like a child. + +John had, throughout his reign, laboured conscientiously to follow +the Word of God, as taught by Luther, and to encounter all dangers +and difficulties by the strength of faith. He has rightly earned the +surname of 'the Steadfast.' Luther especially praises his conduct at +the Diet of Augsburg in this respect; he frequently said to his +councillors on that occasion, 'Tell my men of learning that they are +to do what is right, to the praise and glory of God, without regard +to me, or to my country and people.' Luther distinguished piety and +benevolence as the two most prominent features of his character, as +wisdom and understanding had been those of the Elector Frederick's. +'Had the two princes,' he said, 'been one, that man would have been +a marvel.' + + + + +PART VI. + +_FROM THE RELIGIOUS PEACE OF NÜREMBERG TO THE DEATH OF LUTHER_. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +LUTHER UNDER JOHN FREDERICK. 1632-34. + + +Political peace had been the blessing which Luther hoped to see +obtained for his countrymen and his Church, during the anxious time +of the Augsburg Diet. Such a peace had now been gained by the +development of political relations, in which he himself had only so +far co-operated as to exhort the Protestant States to practise all +the moderation in their power. He saw in this result the +dispensation of a higher power, for which he could never be thankful +enough to God. For the remainder of his life he was permitted to +enjoy this peace, and, so far as he could, to assist in its +preservation. In the enjoyment of it he continued to build on the +foundations prepared for him under the protecting patronage of +Frederick the Wise, and on which the first stone of the new Church +edifice had been laid under the Elector John. + +A longer time was given him for this work than he had anticipated. +We have had occasion frequently to refer not only to his thoughts of +approaching death, but also to the severe attacks of illness which +actually threatened to prove fatal. Although these attacks did not +recur with such dangerous severity in the later years of his life, +still a sense of weakness and premature old age invariably remained +behind them. Exhaustion, caused by his work and the struggles he had +undergone, debarred him from exertion for which he had all the will. +He constantly complained of weakness in the head and giddiness, +which totally unfitted him for work, especially in the morning. He +would break out to his friends with the exclamation, 'I waste my +life so uselessly, that I have come to bear a marvellous hatred +towards myself. I don't know how it is that the time passes away so +quickly, and I do so little. I shall not die of years, but of sheer +want of strength.' In begging one of his friends at a distance to +visit him once more, he reminds him that, in his present state of +health, he must not forget that it might be for the last time. No +wonder then if his natural excitability was often morbidly +increased. He always looked forward with joy to his leaving this +'wicked world,' but as long as he had to work in it, he exerted all +his powers no less for his own immediate task than for the general +affairs of the Church, which incessantly demanded his attention. + +The mutual trust and friendship subsisting between the Reformer and +his sovereign continued unbroken with John's son and successor, John +Frederick. This Elector, born in 1503, had, while yet a youth, +embraced Luther's teaching with enthusiasm, and leaned upon him as +his spiritual father. Luther, on his side, treated him with a +confidential, easy intimacy, but never forgot to address him as 'Most +illustrious Prince' and 'Most gracious Lord.' When the young man +assumed the Electorship, and appeared at Wittenberg a few days after +his father's death, he at once invited Luther to preach at the castle +and to dine at his table. Luther expressed indeed to friends his fear +that the many councillors who surrounded the young Elector might try +to exert evil influences upon him, and that he might have to pay dearly +for his experience. It might be, he said, that so many dogs barking +round him would make him deaf to anyone else. For instance, they might +take a grudge against the clergy and cry out, if admonished by them, +what can a mere clerk know about it? But his relations with his prince +remained undisturbed. He saw with joy how the latter was beginning to +gather up the reins which his gentle-minded father had allowed to grow +too slack, and he hoped that if God would grant a few years of peace, +John Frederick would take in hand real and important reforms in his +government, and not merely command them but see them executed. + +The Elector's wife, Sybil, a princess of Juliers, shared her +husband's friendship for Luther. The Elector had married her in +1526, after taking Luther into his confidence, and being warned by +him against needlessly delaying the blessing which God had willed to +grant him. On what a footing of cordial intimacy she stood with both +Luther and his wife, is shown by a letter she wrote to him in +January 1529, while her husband was away on a journey. She says that +she will not conceal from him, as her 'good friend and lover of the +comforting Word of God,' that she finds the time very tedious now +that her most beloved lord and husband is away, and that therefore +she would gladly have a word of comfort from Luther, and be a little +cheerful with him; but that this is impossible at Weimar, so far off +as it is, and so she commends all, and Luther and his dear wife, to +the loving God, and will put her trust in Him. She begs him in +conclusion: 'You will greet your dear wife very kindly from us, and +wish her many thousand good-nights, and if it is God's will, we +shall be very glad to be with her some day, and with you also, as +well as with her: this you may believe of us at all times.' In the +last years of his life Luther had to thank her for similar greetings +and inquiries after his own health and that of his family. + +In the tenth year of the new Elector's reign Luther was able +publicly and confidently to bear witness against the calumnies +brought against his government. 'There is now,' he said 'thank God, +a chaste and honourable manner of life, truthful lips, and a +generous hand stretched out to help the Church, the schools, and the +poor; an earnest, constant, faithful heart to honour the Word of +God, to punish the bad, to protect the good, and to maintain peace +and order. So pure also and praiseworthy is his married life, that +it can well serve as a beautiful example for all, princes, nobles, +and everyone--a Christian home as peaceful as a convent, which men +are so wont to praise. God's Word is now heard daily, and sermons +are well attended, and prayer and praise are given to God, to say +nothing of how much the Elector himself reads and writes every day.' +Only one thing Luther could not and would not justify, namely, that +at times the Elector, especially when he had company, drank too much +at table. Unhappily the vice of intemperance prevailed then not only +at court but throughout Germany. Still John Frederick could stand a +big drink better than many others, and, with the exception of this +failing, even his enemies must allow him to have been endued with +great gifts from God, and all manner of virtues becoming a +praiseworthy prince and a chaste husband. Luther's personal +relations with the Elector never made him scruple to express to him +freely, in his letters, words of censure as well as of praise. + +In his academical lectures Luther devoted his chief labours for +several terms after 1531 to St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. He +had already commenced this task before and during the contest about +indulgences, his object having been to expound to and impress upon +his hearers and readers the great truth of justification by faith, +set forth in that Epistle with such conciseness and power. This +doctrine he always regarded as a fundamental verity and the +groundwork of religion. In all its fulness and clearness, and with +all his old freshness, vigour, and intensity of fervour, he now +exhaustively discussed this doctrine. His lectures, published, with +a preface of his, by the Wittenberg chaplain Rörer in 1535, contain +the most complete and classical exposition of his Pauline doctrine +of salvation. In the introduction to these lectures he declared that +it was no new thing that he was offering to men, for by the grace of +God the whole teaching of St. Paul was now made known; but the +greatest danger was, lest the devil should again filch away that +doctrine of faith and smuggle in once more his own doctrine of human +works and dogmas. It could never be sufficiently impressed on man, +that if the doctrine of faith perished, all knowledge of the truth +would perish with it, but that if it flourished, all good things +would also flourish, namely, true religion, and the true worship and +glory of God. In his preface he says: 'One article--the only solid +rock--rules in my heart, namely, faith in Christ: out of which, +through which, and to which all my theological opinions ebb and flow +day and night.' To his friends he says of the Epistle to the +Galatians: 'That is my Epistle, which I have espoused: it is my +Katie von Bora.' + +His sermons to his congregation were now much hindered by the state +of his health. It was his practice, however, after the spring of +1532, to preach every Sunday at home to his family, his servants, +and his friends. + +But his greatest theological work, which he intended for the service +of all his countrymen, was the continuation and final conclusion of +his translation of the Bible. After publishing in 1532 his +translation of the Prophets, which had cost him immense pains and +industry, the Apocrypha alone remained to be done;--the books which, +in bringing out his edition of the Bible, he designated as inferior +in value to the Holy Scriptures, but useful and good to read. Well +might he sigh at times over the work. In November 1532, being then +wholly engrossed with the book of Sirach, he wrote to his friend +Amsdorf saying that he hoped to escape from this treadmill in three +weeks, but no one can discover any trace of weariness or vexation in +the German idiom in which he clothed the proverbs and apophthegms of +this book. Notwithstanding the length of time which his task +occupied, and his constant interruptions, it has turned out a work +of one mould and casting, and shows from the first page to the last +how completely the translator was absorbed in his theme, and yet how +closely his life and thoughts were interwoven with those of his +fellow countrymen, for whom he wrote and whose language he spoke. In +1534 the whole of his German Bible was at length in print, and the +next year a new edition was called for. Of the New Testament, with +which Luther had commenced the work, as many as sixteen original +editions, and more than fifty different reimpressions, had appeared +up to 1533. + +With regard to the wants of the Church, Luther looked to the energy +of the new Elector for a vigorous prosecution of the work of +visitation. A reorganisation of the Church had been effected by +these means, but many more evils had been exposed than cured, nor +had the visitations been yet extended to all the parishes. The +Elector John had already called on Luther, together with Jonas and +Melancthon, for their opinion as to the propriety of resuming them, +and only four days before his death he gave instructions on the +subject to his chancellor Brück. John Frederick, in the first year +of his rule, did actually put the new visitation into operation, in +concert with his Landtag. The main object sought at present was to +bring about better discipline among the members of the various +congregations, and to put down the sins of drunkenness, unchastity, +frivolous swearing, and witchcraft. Luther and even Melancthon were +no longer required to give their services as visitors: Luther's +place on the commission for Electoral Saxony was filled by +Bugenhagen. His own views and prospects in regard to the condition +of the people remained gloomy. He complains that the Gospel bore so +little fruit against the powers of the flesh and the world; he did +not expect any great and general change through measures of +ecclesiastical law, but trusted rather to the faithful preaching of +the Divine Word, leaving the issue to God. It was particularly the +nobles and peasants whom he had to rebuke for open or secret +resistance against this Word. He exclaims in a letter to Spalatin, +written in 1533: '0 how shamefully ungrateful are our times! +Everywhere nobles and peasants are conspiring in our country against +the Gospel, and meanwhile enjoy the freedom of it as insolently as +they can; God will judge in the matter!' He had to complain besides +of indifference and immorality in his immediate neighbourhood, among +his Wittenbergers. Thus he addressed, on Midsummer Day 1534, after +his sermon, a severe rebuke to drunkards who rioted in taverns +during the time of Divine service, and he exhorted the magistrates +to do their duty by proceeding against them, so as not to incur the +punishment of the Elector or of God. + +The territories of Anhalt, immediately adjoining the dominions of +the Saxon Elector, now openly joined the Evangelical Confession, of +which their prince, Wolfgang of Kothen, had long been a faithful +adherent; and Luther contracted in this quarter new and close +friendships, like that which subsisted between himself and his own +Elector. Anhalt Dessau was under the government of three nephews of +Wolfgang, namely, John, Joachim, and George. They had lost their +father in early life. One of them had for his guardian the strictly +Catholic Elector of Brandenburg, the second, Duke George of Saxony, +and the third, the Cardinal Archbishop Albert. George, born in 1507, +was made in 1518 canon at Merseburg, and afterwards prebendary of +Magdeburg cathedral. The Cardinal had taken peculiar interest in him +ever since his boyhood, on account of his excellent abilities, and +he did honour to his office by his fidelity, zeal, and purity of +life. The new teaching caused him severe internal struggles. His +theological studies showed him how rotten were the foundations of +the Romish system, but, on the other hand, the new doctrine awakened +suspicions on his part lest, with its advocacy of gospel liberty and +justification by faith, it might tempt to sedition and immorality. +But it finally won his heart, when he learned to know it in its pure +form through the Augsburg Confession and the Apology of Melancthon, +while the Catholic Refutation drawn up for the Diet of Augsburg +excited his disgust. His two brothers, whose devoutness of character +their enemies could no more dispute than his own, became converts +also to Protestantism. In 1532 they appointed Luther's friend +Nicholas Hausmann their court-preacher, and invited Luther and +Melancthon to stay with them at Worlitz. George, in virtue of his +office as archdeacon and prebendary of Magdeburg, himself undertook +the visitation, and had the candidates for the office of preacher +examined at Wittenberg. Luther eulogised the two brothers as +'upright princes, of a princely and Christian disposition,' adding +that they had been brought up by worthy and Godfearing parents. He +kept up a close and intimate friendship with them, both personally +and by letter. A disposition to melancholy on the part of Joachim +gave Luther an opportunity of corresponding with him. While cheering +him with spiritual consolation, he recommended him to seek for +mental refreshment in conversation, singing, music, and cracking +jokes. Thus he wrote to him in 1534 as follows: 'A merry heart and +good courage, in honour and discipline, are the best medicine for a +young man--aye, for all men. I, who have spent my life in sorrow and +weariness, now seek for pleasure and take it wherever I can.... +Pleasure in sin is the devil, but pleasure shared with good people +in the fear of God, in discipline and honour, is well-pleasing to +God. May your princely Highness be always cheerful and blessed, both +inwardly in Christ, and outwardly in His gifts and good things. He +wills it so, and for that reason He gives us His good things to make +use of, that we may be happy and praise Him for ever.' + +During these years, the negotiations concerning the general affairs +of the Church, the restoration of harmony in the Christian Church of +the West, and the internal union of the Protestants, still +proceeded, though languidly and with little spirit. + +With the promise, and pending the assembly, of a Council, the +Religious Peace had been at length concluded. Before the close of +1532 the Emperor actually succeeded in inducing Pope Clement, at a +personal interview with him at Bologna, to announce his intention to +convoke a Council forthwith. He urged him to do so by frightening +him with the prospect of a German national synod, such as even the +orthodox States of the Empire might resolve on, in the event of the +Pope obstinately opposing a Council, and in that case, of a possible +combination of the entire German nation against the Papal see. He +knew, indeed, well enough, that the Holy Father, in making this +promise, had no intention whatever of keeping it. The Pope now sent +a nuncio to the German princes, to make preparations for giving +effect to his promise; the Emperor sent with him an ambassador of +his own, as well for his control as his support. + +When the nuncio and ambassador reached John Frederick at Weimar, the +Elector consulted with Luther, Bugenhagen, Jonas, and Melancthon +about the object of their coming, and for that purpose, on June 15, +1533, he came in person to Wittenberg, and had an opinion drawn up in +writing. The Papal invitation to the Council stated that, agreeably +with the demands of the Germans, it should be a free Christian Council, +and also that it should be held in accordance with ancient usage as +from the beginning. Luther declared that this was merely a 'muttering +in the dark,' half angel-like, half devil-like. For if by the words +'from the beginning' were meant the primitive Christian assemblies, +such as those of the Apostles (Acts xv.), then the Council now intended +was bound to act according to the Word of God, freely, and without +regard to any future Councils; a Council on the other hand, held +according to previous usage, as, for example, that of Constance, was +a Council contrary to the Word of God, and held in mere human blindness +and wantonness. The Pope, in describing the Council proposed by himself +as a free one, was making sport of the Emperor, the request of the +Evangelicals, and the decrees of the Diet. How could the Pope possibly +tolerate a free Christian Council when he must be quite aware how +disadvantageous such a Council would be to himself? Luther's advice +was briefly summed up in this: to restrict themselves to the bare +formalities of speech required, and to wait for further events. 'I +think it is best,' he said, 'not to busy ourselves at present with +anything more than what is necessary and moderate, and that can give +no handle to the Pope or the Emperor to accuse us of intemperate +conduct. Whether there be a Council or not, the time will come for +action and advice.' And it soon became clear enough, that Clement at any +rate would not convene a Council. He now entered into an understanding +with King Francis, who was again meditating an attack against the +power of Charles V., listened to his proposal that the Council might +be abandoned, and in March 1534 announced to the German princes +that, agreeably to the King's wish, he had resolved to adjourn its +convocation. + +How firmly Luther persisted--Council or no Council--in his +uncompromising opposition to the Romish system, was now shown by +several of his new writings, more especially by his treatise 'On +private Masses and the Consecration of Priests.' Concerning private +masses, and the sacrifice of Christ's Body supposed to be there +offered, he now declared that, where the ordinance of Christ was so +utterly perverted, Christ's Body was assuredly not present at all, +but simple bread and simple wine was worshipped by the priest in +vain idolatry, and offered for others to worship in like manner. He +knew how they would 'come rolling up to him with the words, "Church, +Church; custom, custom," just as they had answered him once before +in his attack on indulgences; but neither the Church nor custom had +been able to preserve indulgences from their fate.' In the Church, +even under the Popedom, he recognised a holy place, for in it was +baptism, the reading of the Gospel, prayer, the Apostles' Creed, &c. +But he repeats now, what he had said in his most pungent writings +during the earlier struggles of the Reformation, namely, that +devilish abominations had entered into this place, and so penetrated +it with their presence, that only the light of the Holy Spirit would +enable one to distinguish between the place itself and these +abominations. He contrasts the mass-holding priests and their +stinking oil of consecration with the universal Christian priesthood +and the evangelical office of preacher. To the principle of this +priesthood he still firmly adhered, faithless though he saw the +large mass of the congregations to the priestly character with which +baptism had invested them, and strictly as he had to guide his +action, in the appointment and outward constitution of that office, +by existing circumstances and historical requirements. Thus he +repeats what he had said before, 'We are all born simple priests and +pastors in baptism; and out of such born priests, certain are chosen +or called to certain offices, and it is their duty to perform the +various functions of those offices for us all.' This universal +priesthood he would assert and utilise in the celebration of Divine +service and in the true Christian mass; and he appeals for that +purpose to the true worship of God by an Evangelical congregation. +'There,' he says, 'our priest or minister stands before the altar, +having been duly and publicly called to his priestly office; he +repeats publicly and distinctly Christ's words of institution; he +takes the Bread and Wine, and distributes it according to Christ's +words; and we all kneel beside and around him, men and women, young +and old, master and servant, mistress and maid, all holy priests +together, sanctified by the Blood of Christ. And in such our +priestly dignity are we there, and (as pictured in Revelations iv.) +we have our crowns of gold on our heads, harps in our hands, and +golden censers; and we do not let our priest proclaim for himself +the ordinance of Christ, but he is the mouthpiece of us all, and we +all say it with him from our hearts, and with sincere faith in the +Lamb of God, Who feeds us with His Body and Blood.' + +In 1533 Erasmus published a work wherein he endeavoured to effect in +his own way the restoration of unity in the Church, by exhorting men +to abolish practical abuses and show submission in doctrinal +disputes, professing for his own part unvarying subjection to the +Church. In opposition to him, Luther hit the right point in a +preface he wrote to the reply of the Marburg theologian Corvinus. +Erasmus, he said, only strengthened the Papists, who cared nothing +about a safe truth for their consciences, but only kept on crying +out 'Church, Church, Church.' For he too kept on simply repeating +that he wished to follow the Church, whilst leaving everything +doubtful and undetermined until the Church had settled it. 'What,' +asks Luther, 'is to be done with those good souls, who, bound in +conscience by the word of Divine truth, cannot believe doctrines +evidently contrary to Scripture? Shall we tell them that the Pope +must be obeyed so that peace and unity may be preserved?' When, +therefore, Erasmus sought to obtain unity of faith by mutual +concession and compromise, Luther answered by declaring such unity +to be impossible, for the simple reason that the Catholics, by their +very boasting of the authority of the Church, absolutely refused on +their part to make any concession at all. But so far as 'unity of +charity' was concerned, he held that on that point the Evangelicals +needed no admonishment, for they were ready to do and suffer all +things, provided nothing was imposed upon them contrary to the +faith. They had never thirsted for the blood of their enemies, +though the latter would gladly persecute them with fire and sword. +As for Erasmus himself, Luther, as already stated, simply regarded +him as a sceptic, who with his attitude of subjection to the Church, +sought only for peace and safety for himself and his studies and +intellectual enjoyments. Acting on this view, Luther, in a letter to +Amsdorf, written in 1534, and intended for publication, heaped +reproaches on Erasmus which undoubtedly he uttered in honest zeal, +but in which his zeal did not allow him to form an impartial +estimate of his opponent or his writings. He saw the bad spirit of +Erasmus reflected in other men, who, like him, had seen the true +character of the Romish Church, but, like him also, rejoined her +communion. Instances of this were found in his old friend Crotus, +who had now entered the service of Cardinal Albert, and as his +'plate-licker,' as Luther called him, abused the Reformation; and in +the theologian George Witzel, a pupil of Erasmus and student at +Wittenberg, who formerly had been suspected even of sympathising +with the peasants in their rebellion, and of rejecting the doctrine +of the Trinity, but who now wished for a Reformation after Erasmus' +ideas, and was one of the foremost literary opponents of the +Lutheran Reformation. Luther, however, deemed it superfluous, after +all that he had said against the master, to turn also against his +subordinates, and the mere mouthpieces of his teaching. + +In addition to Luther's polemics against Catholicism in general, +must be mentioned a fresh quarrel with Duke George. The latter, in +1532, had expelled from Saxony some evangelically disposed +inhabitants of Leipzig and Oschatz, decreed that everyone should +appear once a year at church for confession, and ordered some +seventy or eighty families of Leipzig, who had refused to do so, to +quit his dominions. Luther sent letters, which were afterwards +published, of comfort to the exiled, and of exhortation and advice +to those who were threatened. Duke George thereupon complained to +the Elector that Luther was exciting his subjects to sedition. +Luther, in reply, spoke out again with double vehemence in a public +vindication, whilst George made Cochlaeus write against him. Further +quarrelling was ended by the two princes agreeing, in November 1533, +to settle certain matters in dispute, and their theologians also +were commanded to keep at peace. With regard to the future, however, +Luther had spoken words of significance and weight to his persecuted +brethren at Leipzig, when he reminded them what great and unexpected +things God had done since the Diet of Worms, and how many +bloodthirsty persecutors He had since then snatched away. 'Let us +wait a little while,' he said, 'and see what God will bring to pass. +Who knows what God will do after the Diet of Augsburg, even before +ten years have gone by?' + +Firmly, however, as Luther refused to listen to any surrender in +matters of faith, or to any subjection to a Catholic Council of the +old sort, he desired no less to adhere loyally to the 'political +concord.' His whole heart and sympathies, as a fellow-Christian and +a good German, went out with the German troops in their march +against the Turks, who he hoped might be well routed by the Emperor. +He never reflected how perilous the consequences of a decisive +victory by Charles V. over his foreign enemies would be for the +Protestants of Germany, and how divided, therefore, these must feel, +at least in their hopes and wishes, during the progress of the war. +He only saw in him again the 'dear good Emperor.' He wished him like +success against his evil-minded French enemy. The Pope especially he +reproached for his persistent ill-will to the Emperor. The Popes, he +said, had always been hostile to the Emperors, and had betrayed the +best of them and wantonly thwarted their desires. + +Early in 1534 Philip of Hesse set in earnest about his scheme, so +momentous for Protestantism, of forcibly expelling King Ferdinand +from Würtemberg, and restoring it to the exiled Duke Ulrich. The +latter, whom the Swabian League in 1519, upon a decision of the +Emperor and Empire, had deprived of his territory, and transferred +it to the House of Austria, was staying with the Landgrave in 1529, +with whom he attended the conference at Marburg, and shared his +views on Church matters. Since then the Swabian League was +dissolved, and Philip seized this favourable opportunity to +interfere on behalf of his friend. The King of France promised his +aid, and in Germany, especially among the Catholic Bavarians, a +strong desire prevailed to weaken the power of Austria. Luther's +public judgment being of such weight, and his counsels so +influential with the Elector Frederick, Philip informed him, through +pastor Ottinger of Cassel, of his preparations for war, lest he +might otherwise be wrongly given to understand that he was +meditating a step against the Emperor. His intention, he declared, +was merely to 'restore and reinstate Duke Ulrich to his rights in +all fairness,' in the sight of God and of his Imperial Majesty. He +'belonged to no faction or sect:'--this, wrote Ottinger, he was +'instructed by his princely Highness not to conceal from Luther.' +The latter, however, at a conference with his Elector and the +Landgrave at Weimar, protested against a breach of the public peace, +as tending to bring disgrace upon the gospel; and the Elector, in +consequence, kept aloof from the enterprise. Philip, however, +persisted, and carried it through with rapidity and success. +Ferdinand, being helpless in the absence of the Emperor, consented, +in the treaty of Cadan, to the restoration of Ulrich, who +immediately set about a reformation of the Church in Würtemberg. +Luther recognised in this result the evident hand of God, in that, +contrary to all expectation, nothing was destroyed and peace was +happily restored. God would bring the work to an end. + +Meanwhile the Schmalkaldic allies clung tenaciously to their league, +and were intent on still further strengthening their position and +preparing themselves for all emergencies. No scruples as to whether, +if the Emperor should break the peace, they could venture to turn +their arms against him, any longer disturbed them. The terms +extorted from King Ferdinand by the Landgrave's victorious campaign, +were also in their favour. Ferdinand, in the treaty of Cadan, +promised to secure them against the suits which the Imperial +Chamber, notwithstanding the Religious Peace, still continued to +institute against them, in return for which John Frederick and his +allies consented to recognise his election as King of the Romans. + +And in the interests and for the objects represented by the league, +namely, to oppose a sufficiently strong and compact power to Roman +Catholicism and its menaces, those further attempts were now made to +promote internal union among the Protestants, to which Butzer had so +unremittingly devoted his labours, and which the Landgrave Philip +among the princes considered of the utmost value. + +Luther, although he admitted having formed a more favourable opinion +of Zwingli as a man, since their personal interview at Marburg, in +no way altered his opinion of Zwinglianism or of the general +tendency of his doctrines. Thus in a letter of warning sent by him +in December 1532 to the burgomaster and town-council of Münster, he +classed Zwingli with Münzer and other heads of the Anabaptists, as a +band of fanatics whom God had judged, and pointed out that whoever +once followed Zwingli, Münzer, or the Anabaptists, would very easily +be seduced into rebellion and attacks on civil government. At the +beginning of the next year he published a 'Letter to those at +Frankfort-on-the-Main,' in order to counteract the Zwinglian +doctrines and agitations there prevailing. He also warned the people +of Augsburg against their preachers, inasmuch as they pretended to +accept the Lutheran doctrine of the Sacrament, but in reality did +nothing of the kind. He abstained from entering into any further +controversy against the substance of doctrines opposed to his own. +He was concerned not so much about the victory of his own doctrine, +which he left with confidence in God's hands, but lest, under the +guise of agreement with him, error should creep in and deceit be +practised in a matter so sacred and important. He always felt +suspicious of Butzer on this point. + +He now saw the evil and terrible fruits of that spirit which had +possessed Münzer and the Anabaptists,--such fruits as he had always +expected from it. In Münster, where his warning had passed +unregarded, the Anabaptists had been masters since February 1584. As +the pretended possessors of Christianity in its intellectual and +spiritual purity, they established there a kingdom of the saints, +with a mad, sensual fanaticism, a coarse worship of the flesh, and a +wild thirst for blood. This kingdom was demolished the next year by +the combined forces of the Emperor and the bishop, but a further +consequence of their defeat was the exclusion of Protestantism from +the city, which submitted again to episcopal authority. About the +Zwinglian 'Sacramentarianism' Luther wrote at that time, 'God will +mercifully do away with this scandal, so that it may not, like that +of Münster, have to be done away with by force.' + +Butzer, however, did not allow himself to be deterred or wearied. +His wish was that the agreement in doctrine which had already been +arrived at between Luther and the South Germans admitted to the +Swabian League, should be publicly and emphatically acknowledged and +expressed. He laboured and hoped to convince even the people of +Zurich and the other Swiss that they attached--as, in fact, they +did--too harsh a meaning to Luther's doctrines, and so to induce +them to reconcile them as nearly as they could with their own. But +they could not be persuaded further than to admit that Christ's Body +was really present in the Sacrament, as food for the souls of those +who partook in faith. They were as suspicious, from their +standpoint, of his attempts at mediation, as Luther was from his. +Butzer represented to the Landgrave that the South German towns, his +allies, were united in doctrine, and that the only objection raised +by the Swiss was to the notion that Christ and His Body became +actual 'food for the stomach,'--a notion which Luther also refused +wholly to entertain. For when the latter said that Christ's Body was +eaten with the mouth, he explained at the same time that the mouth +indeed only touched the bread and did not reach this Body, and that +his doctrine was simply a declaration of a sacramental unity, in so +far as the mouth eats the bread which is united with the body in the +Sacrament. The matter, said Butzer, was a mere dispute about words, +and was only so difficult to settle because they had 'abused and +sent each other to the devil too much.' + +[Illustration: PIG. 43.--BUTZER. (From the old original woodcut of +Reusner.)] + +The Landgrave Philip wrote to Luther, and Luther now repeated with +warmth his own desire for a 'well-established union,' which would +enable the Protestants to oppose a common front to the immoderate +arrogance of the Papists. He only warned him again lest the matter +should remain 'rotten and unstable in its foundations.' The +Landgrave then arranged, with Luther's approval, a conference +between Melancthon and Butzer at Cassel for December 27, 1534. +Luther sent to them a 'Consideration, whether unity is possible or +not.' He repeated in this tract, with studied precision and +emphasis, those tenets of his doctrine to which Butzer had referred. +The matter, he said, ought not to remain uncertain or ambiguous. But +when Butzer now agreed with Luther's own opinion, and sent to him at +Wittenberg an explanation that Christ's Body was truly present, but +not as food for the stomach, Luther, in January 1535, declared as +his judgment, that, since the South German preachers were willing to +teach in accordance with the Augsburg Confession, he, for his part, +neither could nor would refuse such concord; and since they +distinctly confessed that Christ's Body was really and substantially +presented and eaten, he could not, if their hearts agreed with their +words, find fault with these words. He would only prefer, as there +was still too much mistrust among his own brethren, that the act of +concord should not be concluded quite so suddenly, but that time +should be allowed for a general quieting down. 'Thus,' he said, 'our +people will be able to moderate their suspicion or ill-will, and +finally let it drop; and if thus the troubled waters are calmed on +both sides, a real and permanent union can be ultimately brought +about.' Of the Swiss no notice was taken in these negotiations. + +Meanwhile Butzer and Philip had to rest content with this; and was +it not an important step forwards? This work of union, together with +the Council which was to help in uniting the whole Church, took a +prominent place during the next few years of Luther's life and +labours. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +NEGOTIATIONS RESPECTING A COUNCIL AND UNION AMONG THE PROTESTANTS.--THE +LEGATE VERGERIUS 1535.--THE WITTENBERG CONCORD 1536. + + +Pope Paul III., who succeeded Clement VII. in October 1534, seemed +at once determined to bring about in reality the promised Council. +And in fact he was quite earnest in the matter. He was not so +indifferent as his predecessor to the real interests of the Church +and the need of certain reforms, and he hoped, like a clever +politician, to turn the Council, which could now no longer be +evaded, to the advantage of the Papacy. With this object, and with a +view in particular of arranging the place where the Council should +be held, which he proposed should be Mantua, he sent a nuncio, the +Cardinal Vergerius, to Germany. + +In August 1535 Luther was desired by his Elector to submit an +opinion on the proposals of the Pope. He thought it sufficient to +repeat the answer he had given two years before, namely, that the +prince had then fully expressed his zeal for the restoration of +Church unity by means of a Council, but at the same time had +required that its decisions should be strictly according to God's +Word, and declared that he could not give any definite consent +without his allies. Luther still declined, moreover, to believe that +the project of a Council was sincere. + +The university of Wittenberg had been removed during the summer to +Jena, on account of a fresh outbreak of the plague, or at all events +an alarm of it, and there they remained till the following February. +Luther, however, would not listen to the idea of leaving Wittenberg. +This time he could stay there in all rest and cheerfulness with +Bugenhagen, and make merry with the idle fears of others. To the +Elector, who was full of anxiety about him, Luther wrote on July 9, +saying that only one or two cases of the disease had appeared; the +air was not yet poisoned. The dog-days being at hand, and the young +people frightened, they might as well be allowed to walk about, to +calm their thoughts, until it was seen what would happen. He noticed, +however, that some had 'caught ulcers in their pockets, others colic +in their books, and others gout in their papers;' some, too, had no +doubt eaten their mother's letters, and hence got heart-ache and +homesickness. The Christian authorities, he said, must provide some +strong medicine against such a disease, lest mortality might arise +in consequence,--a medicine that would defy Satan, the enemy of all +arts and discipline. He was astonished to find how much more was +known of the great plague at Wittenberg in other parts than in the +town itself, where in truth it did not exist, and how much bigger +and fatter lies grew the farther they travelled. He assured his +friend Jonas, who had gone away with the university, that, thanks +to God, he was living there in solitude, in perfect health and +comfort; only there was a dearth of beer in the town, though he had +enough in his own cellar. Nor did Luther afterwards give way to +fear when compelled to acknowledge several fatal cases of the +plague, and when his own coachman once seemed to be stricken with +it. He himself was a sufferer, throughout the winter, from a cough +and other catarrhic affections. 'But my greatest illness,' he wrote +to a friend, 'is, that the sun has so long shone upon me,--a plague +which, as you know well, is very common, and many die of it.' + +The Papal nuncio now arrived at Wittenberg, and desired to speak to +Luther in person. After an interview at Halle with the Archbishop +Albert, he had taken the road through Wittenberg on his way to visit +the Elector of Brandenburg at Berlin. On the afternoon of November +6, a Saturday, he entered Wittenberg in state, with twenty-one +horses and an ass, intending to take up his quarters there for the +night, and was received with all due honour at the Elector's castle +by the governor Metzsch. Luther was invited, at the nuncio's +request, to sup with him that evening, but as the former declined +the invitation, he was asked with Bugenhagen to take breakfast with +him the next morning. It was the first time, since his summons by +Caietan at Augsburg in 1518, that Luther had to speak with a Papal +legate--Luther, who had long since been condemned by the Pope as an +abominable child of corruption, and who in turn had declared the +Pope to be Antichrist. So important must Vergerius have thought it, +to attempt to influence, if even only partially, the powerful +adviser of the Protestant princes, and thereby to prevent him from +check-mating his plans in regard to a Council. And in this respect +Vergerius must have had considerable confidence in himself. + +The next morning Luther ordered his barber to come at an unusually +early hour. Upon the latter expressing his surprise, Luther said +jokingly, 'I have to go to the Papal nuncio; if only I look young +when he sees me, he may think "Fie, the devil, if Luther has played +us such tricks before he is an old man, what won't he do when he is +one?"' Then, in his best clothes and with a gold chain round his +neck, he drove to the castle with the town-priest Bugenhagen +(Pomeranus). 'Here go,' he said, as he stepped into the carriage, +'the Pope of Germany and Cardinal Pomeranus, the instruments of +God!' + +Before the legate he 'acted,' as he expressed it, 'the complete +Luther.' He employed towards him only the most indispensable forms +of civility, and made use of the most ill-humoured language. Thus he +asked him whether he was looked upon in Italy as a drunken German. +When they came to speak about the settlement of the Church questions +in dispute by a Council, Vergerius reminded him that one individual +fallible man had no right to consider himself wiser than the +Councils, the ancient Fathers, and other theologians of Christendom. +To this Luther replied that the Papists were not really in earnest +about a Council, and, if it were held, they would only care to treat +about such trifles as monks' cowls, priests' tonsures, rules of +diet, and so forth; whereupon the legate turned to one of his +attendants, who was sitting by, with the words 'he has hit the right +nail on the head.' Luther went on to assert that they, the +Evangelicals, had no need of a Council, being already fully assured +about their own doctrine, though other poor souls might need one, +who were led astray by the tyranny of the Popedom. Nevertheless he +promised to attend the proposed Council, even though he should be +burned by it. It was the same to him, he said, whether it was held +at Mantua, Padua, or Florence, or anywhere else. 'Would you come to +Bologna?' said Vergerius. Luther asked, thereupon, to whom Bologna +belonged, and on being told 'to the Pope,' 'Gracious heavens,' he +exclaimed, 'has the Pope seized that town too?--Very well, I will +come to you even there.' Vergerius politely hinted that the Pope +himself, would not refuse to come to Wittenberg. 'Let him come,' +said Luther; 'we shall be very glad to see him.' 'But,' said +Vergerius, 'would you have him come with arms or without?' 'As he +pleases,' replied Luther; 'we shall be ready to receive him in +either way.' When the legate, after their meal, was mounting his +horse to depart, he said to Luther, 'Be sure to hold yourself in +readiness for the Council.' 'Yes, sir,' was the reply, 'with this my +very neck and head.' + +Vergerius afterwards related that he had found Luther to be coarse +in conversation, and his Latin bad, and had answered him as far as +possible in monosyllables. The excuse he urged for his interview was +that Luther and Bugenhagen were the only men of learning at +Wittenberg, with whom he could converse in Latin. He evidently felt +himself unpleasantly deceived in the expectations and projects he +had formed before the meeting. Ten years later, when his conflict +with Evangelical doctrine had taught him thoroughly its real meaning +and value, this high dignitary himself became a convert to it. + +In the meantime, while the eyes of all were fixed upon the +approaching Council, the state of affairs in Germany was eminently +favourable to the Evangelicals. + +The Emperor, during the summer of 1535, was detained abroad by his +operations against the corsair Chaireddin Barbarossa in Tunis, and +Luther rejoiced over the victory with which God blessed his arms. +The King of France was threatening with fresh claims on Italian +territory. The jealousy between Austria and Bavaria still continued. +With regard to the Church, King Ferdinand learned to value +Lutheranism at any rate as a barrier against the progress of the +more dangerous doctrines of Zwingli. John Frederick journeyed in +November 1535 to Vienna, to receive from him at length, in the name +of the Emperor, the investiture of the Electorship, and met with a +friendly reception. + +Under these circumstances the Schmalkaldic League resolved, at a +convention at Schmalkald in December 1535, to invite other States of +the Empire, which were not yet recognised in the Religious Peace as +members of the Augsburg Confession, to join them. The Dukes Barnim +and Philip of Pomerania had now accepted this Confession. Philip +also married a sister of John Frederick. Luther performed the +marriage service on the evening of February 27 at Torgau, and +Bugenhagen pronounced, the next morning, the customary benediction +on the young couple, Luther being prevented from doing so by a fresh +attack of giddiness. The following spring a convention of the allies +at Frankfort-on-the-Main received the Duke of Würtemberg, the Dukes +of Pomerania, the princes of Anhalt, and several towns into their +league. + +Outside Germany, the Kings of France and England sought fellowship +with the allies. Ecclesiastical and religious questions, of course, +had first to be considered; and Luther with others was called on for +his advice. + +King Francis, so many of whose Evangelical subjects were complaining +of oppression and persecution, was anxious, as he was now meditating +a new campaign in Italy, to secure an alliance with the German +Protestants against the Emperor, and accordingly pretended with +great solicitude that he had in view important reforms in the +Church, and would be glad of their assistance. They were invited to +send Melancthon and Luther to him for that purpose. With these he +negotiated also in person. Melancthon felt himself much attracted by +the prospect thus opened to him of rendering important and useful +service. The Elector, however, refused him permission to go, and +rebuked him for having already entangled himself so far in the +affair. Melancthon's expectations were certainly very vain: the King +only cared for his political interests, and in no case would he +grant to any of his subjects the right to entertain or act upon +religious convictions which ran counter to his own theory of the +Church. Moreover, John Frederick's relations with King Ferdinand had +by this time become so peaceful, that the Elector was anxious not to +disturb them by an alliance with the enemy of the Emperor. +Melancthon, however, was much excited by his refusal and reproof; he +suspected that others had maliciously intrigued against him with his +prince. Luther, at first moved by Melancthon's wish and the +entreaties of French Evangelicals, had earnestly begged the Elector +to permit Melancthon 'in the name of God to go to France.' 'Who +knows,' he said, 'what God may wish to do?' He was afterwards +startled on his friend's account by the severe letter of the +Elector, but was obliged to acknowledge that the latter was right in +his distrust of the affair. + +An alliance with England would have promised greater security, +inasmuch as with Henry VIII. there was no longer any fear of his +return to the Papacy, and with regard to the proceedings about his +marriage, a reconciliation with the Emperor was scarcely to be +expected. Envoys from him appeared in 1535 in Saxony and at the +meeting at Schmalkald. Henry also wished for Melancthon, in order to +discuss with him matters of orthodoxy and Church government, and +Luther again begged permission of the Elector for him to go. But it +was clearly seen from the negotiations conducted with the English +envoys in Germany, how slender were the hopes of effecting any +agreement with Henry VIII. on the chief points, such as the doctrine +of Justification or of the mass, since the English monarch insisted +every whit as strictly upon that Catholic orthodoxy, to which he +still adhered, as he did upon his opposition to Papal power. Luther +had already in January grown sick to loathing of the futile +negotiations with England: 'professing themselves to be wise, they +became fools' (Rom. i. 22). He advised therefore, in his opinion +submitted to the Elector, that they should have patience with +respect to England and the proper reforms in that quarter, but +guarded himself against deviating on that account from the +fundamental doctrines of belief, or conceding more to the King of +England than they would to the Emperor and the Pope. As to +contracting a political alliance with Henry, he left that question, +as a temporal matter, for the prince and his advisers to decide; but +it seemed to him dangerous, where no real sympathy prevailed. How +hazardous it was to have anything to do with Henry VIII. was shown +immediately after by his conduct towards his second wife Anna +Boleyn, whom he had executed on May 19, 1536. Luther called this act +a monstrous tragedy. + +Among the German Protestants, however, the negotiations respecting +the Sacramental doctrine were happily brought to maturity in a duly +formulated 'Concord.' Peace also was secured with the Swiss, and +therewith the possibility of an eventual alliance. + +Now that Luther had once felt confidence in these attempts at union, +he took the work in hand himself and proceeded steadily with it. In +the autumn of 1535 he sent letters to a number of South German +towns, addressed to preachers and magistrates--to Augsburg, +Strasburg, Ulm, and Esslingen. He proposed a meeting or conference, +at which they might learn to know each other better, and see what +was to be borne with, what complied with, and what winked at. He +wished nothing more ardently than to be permitted to end his life, +now near its close, in peace, charity, and unity of spirit with his +brethren in the faith. They also should 'continue thus, helping, +praying, and striving that such unity might be firm and lasting, and +that the devil's jaws might be stopped, who had gloried hugely in +their want of unity, crying out "Ha! ha! I have won."' These letters +plainly show how glad was Luther now to see the good cause so +advanced, and to be able to further it yet more. Both in them and in +his correspondence with the Elector about the proposed meeting, he +advised not to enlist too many associates, that there might be no +restless, obstinate heads among them, to spoil the affair. He knew +of such among his own adherents--men who went too far for him in the +zeal of dogma. + +The conference was appointed to be held at Eisenach in the following +spring, on May 14, the fourth Sunday after Easter. Luther's state of +health would not permit him to undertake a journey to any distant +place or in the winter. Just at this time, moreover, in March 1536, +he had been tormented for weeks by a new malady, an intolerable pain +in the left hip. Later on, he told one of his friends that he had +with Christ risen from the dead at Easter (April 16), for he had +been so ill at that time, that he firmly believed that his time had +come to depart and be with Christ, for which he longed. + +The South Germans readily accepted the invitation. The Strasburgers +passed it on to the Swiss, and specially desired that Bullinger from +Zurich might take part in the conference. The Swiss, however, who +had received no direct invitation from Wittenberg, declined the +proposal; they wished to adhere simply to their own articles of +faith, which they had just formulated anew in the so-called 'First +Helvetian Confession,' and which had expressly acknowledged at least +a spiritual nutriment to be offered in the Sacramental symbols. They +could not see anything to be gained by personal discussion. But they +requested that their Confession might be kindly shown to Luther, and +Bullinger sent him special greetings from himself and the +Evangelical Churches of Switzerland. The preachers who were sent as +deputies to Eisenach from the various South German towns, journeyed +by way of Frankfort-on-the-Main, where just then the Schmalkaldic +allies were assembled. On May 10 they went on, eleven in number, to +Eisenach; they represented the communities of Strasburg, Augsburg, +Memmingen, Ulm, Esslingen, Reutlingen, Furfeld, and Frankfort. + +At the last moment the whole success, nay even the very plan of the +conference, was imperilled. Melancthon had already been anxious and +despondent, fearing a fresh and violent outburst of the controversy +as a consequence of the impending discussion. Luther had just been +freshly excited against the Zwinglians by a writing found among the +papers Zwingli left behind him, and which Bullinger had published +with high eulogiums upon the author, and also by a correspondence +that had just appeared between Zwingli and Oecolampadius. Butzer, +however, and his friends still wished to maintain their intimacy +with these Zwinglians, and this correspondence was prefaced by an +introduction 'from his own pen. Furthermore, letters had reached +Luther, representing that the people in the South German towns were +not really taught the true Bodily Presence in the Sacrament. In +addition to this, severe after-effects of his old illness again +attacked him, rendering him unfit to travel to Eisenach. +Accordingly, on May 12 he wrote to the deputies begging them to +journey as far as Grimma, where he would either appear in person, +or, if too weak, could at all events more easily communicate by +writing to them and his friends. + +The deputies, however, came straight to him at Wittenberg. In +Thuringia they were joined by the pastors Menius of Eisenach and +Myconius of Gotha, two of Luther's friends who with him were +honestly desirous of unity. The constant personal intercourse kept +up during the journey served greatly to promote a mutual +understanding. + +Thus on Sunday, May 21, they arrived at length at Wittenberg. + +The next day, the two Strasburgers, Capito and Butzer, held a +preliminary interview with Luther, whose physical weakness made any +lengthy negotiations very difficult. He expressed to them candidly +and emphatically his desire, repeated again and again, that they +should declare themselves at one with him. He would rather, however, +leave matters as they had been, than enter into a union which might +be only feigned or artificial, and must make bad worse. With regard +to the Zwinglian publications, Butzer answered that he and his +friends were in no way responsible for them, and that the preface, +which consisted of a letter from himself, had been printed without +his knowledge and consent. With regard to the doctrine of the +Sacrament, the only question now left to decide was whether the +unworthy and godless communicants verily partook of the Lord's Body. +Luther maintained that they did: it was to him the necessary +consequence of a Bodily Presence, such as took place simply by +virtue of the institution and sure promise of Christ, by which faith +must abide in full trust and belief. Butzer expressed his decided +assent to the doctrine of objective Presence and presentation; but +the actual reception of the Lord's Body, as offered from above, he +could only concede to those communicants who, at least through some +faith, placed themselves in an inward spiritual relation to that +Body and accepted the institution of Christ, not to those who were +simply there with their bodies and bodily mouths. To enable one to +speak of a partaking of the Body, he was satisfied with that faith +which was not exactly the right faith of the heart, and was +connected with moral unworthiness, so that such guests ate to their +own condemnation. He thus acknowledged that the unworthy, but not +the man wholly devoid of faith, could partake of the Body and Blood +of Christ. Luther, therefore, could feel assured that Butzer agreed +with him in rejecting every view which held that, in the Sacrament, +the Body of Christ was present only in the subjective representation +and the imagination, or that faith there rose up out of itself, so +to speak, to the Lord, instead of merely grasping at what was +offered, and thereby being quickened and made strong. But it is +unmistakable, that Luther and Butzer conceived in different ways +both the manner of the Presence and the manner of partaking,--each +of these, indeed, in a mysterious sense and one very difficult to be +defined. Luther could scarcely have failed to observe the +difference, which still remained between them, and the defect from +which, according to his own convictions, the doctrine of the South +Germans still suffered. The question was, whether he could look +beyond this, and whether in the doctrine for which he had fought so +keenly, he should be able and willing to distinguish between what +was essential on the one hand, and what was non-essential or less +essential on the other. + +On the Tuesday all the deputies assembled at his house, together +with his Wittenberg friends, and Menius and Myconius. Butzer having +spoken on the deputies' behalf, Luther conferred with them +separately, and after they had declared their unanimous concurrence +with Butzer, he withdrew with his friends into another room for a +private consultation. On his return, he declared, on behalf of +himself and his friends, that, after having heard from all present +their answers and statement of belief, they were agreed with them, +and welcomed them as beloved brethren in the Lord. As to the +objection they had about the godless partakers, if they confessed +that the unworthy received with the other communicants the Body of +Christ, they would not quarrel on that point. Luther, so Myconius +tells us, spoke these words with great spirit and animation, as was +apparent from his eyes and his whole countenance. Capito and Butzer +could not refrain from tears. All stood with folded hands and gave +thanks to God. + +On the following days other points were discussed, such as the +significance of infant baptism, and the practice of confession and +absolution, as to which an understanding was necessary, and was +arrived at without any difficulty. The South Germans had also to be +reassured about some individual forms of worship, unimportant in +themselves, and which they found to have been retained from Catholic +usage in the Saxon churches. + +On the Thursday the proceedings were interrupted by the festival of +the Ascension. Luther preached the evening sermon of that day on the +text, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every +creature.' Myconius relates of this sermon, 'I have often heard +Luther before, but it seemed to me then as if not he alone were +speaking, but heaven was thundering in the name of Christ.' + +On Saturday Butzer and Capito delivered themselves of their +commissions on behalf of the Swiss. Luther declared after reading +the Confession which they brought, that certain expressions in it +were objectionable, but added a wish that the Strasburgers would +treat with them further the subject, and the latter led him to hope +that the communities in Switzerland, weary of dispute, desired +unity. + +The spirit of brotherly union received a touching and beautiful +expression on the Sunday in the common celebration of the Sacrament, +and in sermons preached by Alber of Reutlingen in the early morning, +and by Butzer in the middle of the day. + +The next morning, May 29, the meeting concluded with the signing of +the articles which Melancthon had been commissioned to draw up. They +recognised the receiving of Christ's Body at the Sacrament by those +who 'ate unworthily,' without saying anything about the faithless. +The deputies who signed their names declared their common acceptance +of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology. This formula, however, +was only to be published after it had received the assent of the +communities whom it concerned, together with their pastors and civil +authorities. 'We must be careful,' said Luther, 'not to raise the +song of victory prematurely, nor give others an occasion for +complaining that the matter was settled without their knowledge and +in a corner.' Luther himself began on the same Monday to write +letters, inviting assent from different quarters to their +proceedings. Among his own associates, at any rate, his intimate +friend Amsdorf at Magdeburg had not been so conciliatory as himself: +Luther waited eight days before informing him of the result of the +conference. + +Thus, then, unity of confession was established for the German +Protestants, apart from the Swiss, for none of the Churches which +had been represented at the meeting refused their assent. Luther now +advanced a step towards the Swiss by writing to the burgomaster +Meyer at Basle, who was particularly anxious for union, and who +returned him a very friendly and hopeful answer. Butzer sought to +work with them further in the same direction. But they could not +reconcile themselves to the Wittenberg articles. They--that is to +say, the magistrates and clergy of Zurich, Berne, Basle, and some +other towns--were content to express their joy at Luther's present +friendly state of mind, together with a hope of future unity, and +besought Butzer to inform Luther further about their own Confession +and their objections to his own. Butzer was anxious to do this at a +convention which the Schmalkaldic allies appointed to meet at +Schmalkald, in view of the Council having been announced to be held +in February 1537. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +NEGOTIATIONS RESPECTING A COUNCIL AND UNION AMONG THE PROTESTANTS +(continuation):--MEETING AT SCHMALKALD, 1537.--PEACE WITH THE +SWISS.--LUTHER'S FEIENDSHIP WITH THE BOHEMIAN BRETHREN. + + +A few days after the Protestants had effected an agreement at +Wittenberg the announcement was issued from Rome of a Council, to be +held at Mantua in the following year. The Pope already indicated +with sufficient clearness the action he intended to take at it. He +declared in plain terms that the Council was to extirpate the +Lutheran pestilence, and did not even wish that the corrupt Lutheran +books should be laid before it, but only extracts from them, and +these with a Catholic refutation. Luther, therefore, had now to turn +his energies at once in this direction. + +He agreed, nevertheless, with Melancthon that the invitation should +be accepted, although the Elector John Frederick was opposed to such +a Council from the very first. It would be better, Luther thought, +to protest at the Council itself against any unlawful or unjust +proceeding. He hoped to be able to speak before the assembly at +least like a Christian and a man. + +The Elector thereupon commissioned him to compile and set forth the +propositions or articles of faith, which, according to his +conviction, it would be necessary to insist on at the Council, and +directed him to call in for this purpose other theologians to his +assistance. Luther accordingly drew up a statement. A few days after +Christmas he laid it before his Wittenberg colleagues, and likewise +before Amsdorf of Magdeburg, Spalatin of Altenburg, and Agricola of +Eisleben. The last named was endeavouring to exchange his post at +the high school at Eisleben, under the Count of Mansfeld, with whom +he had fallen out, for a professor's chair at Wittenberg, which had +been promised him by the Elector; and now, on receiving his +invitation to the conference, he left Eisleben for good without +permission, taking his wife and child with him. Luther welcomed him +as an old friend and invited him to his house as a guest. Luther's +statement was unanimously approved, and sent to the Elector on +January 3. + +Even in this summary of belief, intended as it was for common +acceptance and for submission to a Council, Luther emphasised, with +all the fulness and keenness peculiar to himself throughout the +struggle, his antagonism to Roman Catholic dogma and Churchdom. +Fondly as he clung at that time to reconciliation among the +Protestants, he saw no possibility of peace with Rome. + +As the first and main article he declared plainly that faith alone +in Jesus could justify a man; on that point they dared not yield, +though heaven and earth should fall. The mass he denounced as the +greatest and most horrible abomination, inasmuch as it was +'downright destructive of the first article,' and as the chiefest of +Papal idolatries; moreover, this dragon's tail had begotten many +other kinds of vermin and abominations of idolatry. With regard to +the Papacy itself, the Augsburg Confession had been content to +condemn it by silence, not having taken any notice of it in its +articles on the essence and nature of the Christian Church. Luther +now would have it acknowledged, 'that the Pope was not by divine +right (_jure divino_) or by warrant of God's Word the head of +all Christendom,' that position belonging to One alone, by name +Jesus Christ; and, furthermore, 'that the Pope was the true +Antichrist, who sets himself up and exalts himself above and against +Christ.' As for the Council, he expected that the Evangelicals there +present would have to stand before the Pope himself and the devil, +who would listen to nothing, but consider simply how to condemn and +kill them. They should, therefore, not kiss the feet of their enemy, +but say to him, 'The Lord rebuke thee, Satan!' (Zach. iii. 2). + +The allies accordingly were anxious to consult together and +determine at Schmalkald what conduct to pursue at the Council. An +imperial envoy and a Papal nuncio wished also to attend their +meeting. The princes and representatives of the towns brought their +theologians with them to the number of about forty in all. The +Elector John Frederick brought Luther, Melancthon, Bugenhagen, and +Spalatin. + +On January 29 the Wittenberg theologians were summoned by their +prince to Torgau. From thence they travelled slowly by Grimma and +Altenburg, where they were entertained with splendour at the +prince's castles, then by Weimar, where, on Sunday, February 4, +Luther preached a sermon, and so on to the place of meeting. Luther +had left his family and house in the care of his guest Agricola. On +February 7 they arrived at Schmalkald. + +The theologians at first were left unemployed. The members of the +convention only gradually assembled. The envoy of the Emperor came +on the 14th. Luther made up his mind for a stay there of four weeks. +He preached on the 9th in the town church before the prince himself. +The church he found, as he wrote to Jonas, so large and lofty, that +his voice sounded to him like that of a mouse. During the first few +days he enjoyed the leisure and rejoiced in the healthy air and +situation of the place. + +He was already suffering, however, from the stone, which had once +before attacked him. A medical friend ascribed it partly to the +dampness of the inns and the sheets he slept in. However, the attack +passed off easily this time, and on the 14th he was able to tell +Jonas that he was better. But he grew very tired of the idle time at +Schmalkald. He said jokingly about the good entertainment there, +that he and his friends were living with the Landgrave Philip and +the Duke of Würtemberg like beggars, who had the best bakers, ate +bread and drank wine with the Nürembergers, and received their meat +and fish from the Elector's court. They had the best trout in the +world, but they were cooked in a sauce with the other fish; and so +on. + +The Elector soon applied to him for an opinion as to taking part in +the Council, which Luther again recommended should not be bluntly +refused. A refusal, he said, would exactly please the Pope, who +wished for nothing so much as obstacles to the Council; it was for +this reason that, in speaking of the extirpation of heresy, he held +up the Evangelicals as a 'bugbear,' in order to frighten them from +the project. Good people might likewise object, on the ground that +the troubles with the Turks and the Emperor's engagement in the war +with France, were made use of by the Evangelicals to refuse the +Council, whilst in reality the knaves at Borne were reckoning on the +Turkish and French wars to prevent the Council from coming to pass. + +Luther now received through Butzer the communications from +Switzerland, together with a letter from Meyer, the burgomaster of +Basle. To the latter he sent on the 17th of the month a cheerful and +friendly reply. He did not wish to induce him to make any further +explanations and promises, but his whole mind was bent upon mutual +forgiveness, and bearing with one another in patience and +gentleness. In this spirit he earnestly entreated Meyer to work with +him. 'Will you faithfully exhort your people,' he said, 'that they +may all help to quiet, soften, and promote the matter to the best of +their power, that they may not scare the birds at roost.' He +promised also, for his part, 'to do his utmost in the same +direction.' + +This same day, however, Luther's malady returned; he concluded his +letter with the words, 'I cannot write now all I would, for I have +been a useless man all day, owing to this painful stone.' The next +day, Sunday, when he preached a powerful sermon before a large +congregation, the malady became much worse, and a week followed of +violent pain, during which his body swelled, he was constantly sick, +and his weakness generally increased. Several doctors, including one +called in from Erfurt, did their utmost to relieve him. 'They gave +me physic,' he said afterwards, 'as if I were a great ox.' +Mechanical contrivances were employed, but without effect.' I was +obliged,' he said, 'to obey them, that it might not look as if I +neglected my body.' + +His condition appeared desperate. With death before his eyes, he +thought of his arch-enemy the Pope, who might triumph over this, but +over whom he felt certain of victory even in death. 'Behold,' he +cried to God, 'I die an enemy of Thy enemies, cursed and banned by +Thy foe, the Pope. May he, too, die under Thy ban, and both of us +stand at Thy judgment bar on that day.' The Elector, deeply moved, +stood by his bed, and expressed his anxiety lest God might take away +with Luther His beloved Word. Luther comforted him by saying that +there were many faithful men who, by God's help, would become a wall +of strength; nevertheless, he could not conceal from the prince his +apprehension that, after he was gone, discord would arise even among +his colleagues at Wittenberg. The Elector promised him to care for +his wife and children as his own. Luther's natural love for them, as +he afterwards remarked, made the prospect of parting very hard for +him to bear. To his sorrowing friends he still was able to be +humorous. When Melancthon, on seeing him, began to cry bitterly, he +reminded him of a saying of their friend, the hereditary marshal, +Hans Löser, that to drink good beer was no art, but to drink sour +beer, and then continued, in the words of Job, 'What, shall we +receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?' And +again: 'The wicked Jews,' he said, 'stoned Stephen; my stone, the +villain! is stoning me.' But not for an instant did he lose his +trust in God and resignation to His will. When afraid of going mad +with the pain, he comforted himself with the thought that Christ was +his wisdom, and that God's wisdom remained immutable. Seeing, as he +did, the devil at work in his torture, he felt confident that even +if the devil tore him to pieces Christ would revenge His servant, +and God would tear the devil to pieces in return. Only one thing he +would fain have prayed his God to grant--that he might die in the +country of his Elector; but he was willing and ready to depart +whenever God might summon him. Upon being seized with a fit of +vomiting he sighed, 'Alas, dear Father, take the little soul into +Thy hand; I will be grateful to Thee for it. Go hence, thou dear +little soul, go, in God's name!' + +At length an attempt was actually made to remove him to Gotha, the +necessary medical appliances being not procurable at Schmalkald. On +the 26th of the month the Erfurt physician, Sturz, drove him +thither, together with Bugenhagen, Spalatin, and Myconius, in one of +the Elector's carriages. Another carriage followed them, with +instruments and a pan of charcoal, for warming cloths. On driving +off, Luther said to his friends about him,' The Lord fill you with +His blessing, and with hatred of the Pope.' + +The first day they could not venture farther than Tambach, a few +miles distant, the road over the mountains being very rough. The +jolting of the carriage caused him intolerable torture. But it +effected what the doctors could not. The following night the pain +was terminated, and the feeling of relief and recovery made him full +of joy and thankfulness. A messenger was sent at once, at two +o'clock in the morning, with the news to Schmalkald, and Luther +himself wrote a letter to his 'dearly-loved' Melancthon. To his wife +he wrote saying, 'I have been a dead man, and had commended you and +the little ones to God and to our good Lord Jesus.... I grieved very +much for your sakes.' But God, he went on to say, had worked a +miracle with him; he felt like one newly-born; she must thank God, +therefore, and let the little ones thank their heavenly Father, +without whom they would assuredly have lost their earthly one. + +But on the 28th already, after his safe arrival at Gotha, he +suffered so severe a relapse that during that night he thought, from +his extreme weakness, that his end was near. He then gave to +Bugenhagen some last directions, which the latter afterwards +committed to writing, as the 'Confession and Last Testament of the +Venerable Father.' Herein Luther expressed his cheerful conviction +that he had done rightly in attacking the Papacy with the Word of +God. He begged his 'dearest Philip' (Melancthon) and other +colleagues to forgive anything in which he might have offended them. +To his faithful Kate he sent words of thanks and comfort, saying +that now for the twelve years of happiness which they had spent +together, she must accept this sorrow. Once more he sent greetings +to the preachers and burghers of Wittenberg. He begged his Elector +and the Landgrave not to be disturbed by the charges made against +them by the Papists of having robbed the property of the Church, and +recommended them to trust to God in their labours on behalf of the +gospel. + +The next morning, however, he was again better and stronger. Butzer, +who in regard to unity of confession and his relations with the +Swiss had not been able to have any further conversation with Luther +at Schmalkald, had at once, on receiving the good news from Tambach, +gone straight to Luther at Gotha, accompanied by the preacher +Wolfhart from Augsburg. Luther, notwithstanding his suffering, now +discussed with them this matter, so important in his eyes. As an +honest man, to whom nothing was so distasteful as 'dissimulation,' +he earnestly warned them against all 'crooked ways.' The Swiss, in +case he died, should be referred to his letter to Meyer; should God +allow him to live and become strong, he would send them a written +statement himself. + +While, however, he was still at Gotha, the crisis of his illness +passed, and he was relieved entirely of the cause of his suffering. +The journey was continued cautiously and slowly, and a good halt was +made at Weimar. From Wittenberg there came to nurse him a niece, who +lived in his house: probably Lene Kaufmann, the daughter of his +sister. To his wife he wrote from Tambach, telling her that she need +not accept the Elector's offer to drive her to him, it being now +unnecessary. On March 14 he arrived again at his home. His recovery +had made good progress, though, as he wrote to Spalatin, even eight +days afterwards his legs could hardly support him. + +Meanwhile the conference of the allies at Schmalkald resulted in +their deciding to decline the Papal invitation to the Council. They +informed the Emperor, in reply, that the Council which the Pope had +in view was something very different to the one so long demanded by +the German Diets; what they wanted was a free Council, and one on +German, not Italian territory. + +With regard to Luther's articles, which he had drawn up in view of a +Council, they saw no occasion to occupy themselves with their +consideration. To their official Confession of Augsburg, which had +formed among other things the groundwork and charter of the +Religious Peace, and to the Apology, drawn up by Melancthon in reply +to the Catholic 'Refutation,' they desired, however, now to add a +protest against the authority and the Divine right of the Papacy. +Melancthon prepared it in the true spirit of Luther, though in a +calmer and more moderate tone than was usual with his friend. The +majority of the theologians present at Schmalkald testified their +assent to Luther's articles by subscribing their names. Luther had +his statement printed the following year. The Emperor, on account of +the war with the Turks and the renewal of hostilities with France, +had no time to think of compelling the allies to take part in a +Council, and was quite content that no Council should be held at +all. Whether the Pope himself, as Luther supposed, counted secretly +on this result, and was glad to see it happen, may remain a matter +of uncertainty. + +At Schmalkald the seal was now set upon the Concord, which had been +concluded the previous year at Wittenberg, and then submitted for +ratification to the different German princes and towns, the formula +there adopted being now signed by all the theologians present, and +the agreement of the princes to abide by it being duly announced. +Towards the Swiss, who declined to waive their objections to the +Wittenberg articles, Luther maintained firmly the standpoint +indicated in his letter to Meyer. Thus, in the following December he +wrote himself to those evangelical centres in Switzerland from which +Butzer had brought him the communication to Gotha; while the next +year, in May 1538, he sent a friendly reply to a message from +Bullinger, and again in June he wrote once more to the Swiss, on +receiving an answer from them to his first letter. His constant wish +and entreaty was that they should at least be friendly to, and +expect the best of one another, until the troubled waters were +calmed. He fully acknowledged that the Swiss were a very pious +people, who earnestly wished to do what was right and proper. He +rejoiced at this, and hoped that God, even if only a hedge +obstructed, would help in time to remove all errors. But he could +not ignore or disregard that on which no agreement had yet been +arrived at; and he was right in supposing, and said so openly to the +Swiss, that upon their side, as well as upon his own, there were +many who looked upon unity not only with displeasure but even with +suspicion. He himself had constantly to explain misinterpretations +of his doctrine, and he did so with composure. He had never, he +said, taught that Christ, in order to be present at the Sacrament, +comes down from heaven; but he left to Divine omnipotence the manner +in which His Body is verily given to the guests at His table. But he +must guard himself, on the other hand, against the notion that, with +the attitude he now adopted, he had renounced his former doctrine. +And with this doctrine he held firmly to the conception of a +Presence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament different to and apart +from that Presence for purely spiritual nourishment on which the +Swiss now insisted. When Bullinger expressed his surprise that he +should still talk of a difference in doctrine, he gave up offering +any more explanations on the subject; and the Swiss, for their part, +after his second letter, made no further attempt to effect a more +perfect agreement. Luther's desire was to keep on terms of peace and +friendship with them, notwithstanding the difference still +notoriously existing between both parties. On this very account he +was loth to rake up the difference again by further explanations. By +acting thus he believed he should best promote an ultimate +understanding and unity, which was still the object of his hopes. + +So far, therefore, during the years immediately following the death +of Zwingli, success had attended the efforts to heal the fatal +division which separated from Luther and the great Lutheran +community those of evangelical sympathies in Switzerland and the +South Germans, who were more or less subject to their influence, and +which had excited the minds on both sides with such violence and +passion. So far Luther himself had laboured to promote this result +with uprightness and zeal; he had conquered much suspicion once +directed against himself, he had sought means of peace; he had +restrained the disturbing zeal of his own friends and followers, +such as Amsdorf or Osiander at Nüremberg. + +We must not omit finally to mention, as an important event of these +years and a testimony to Luther's disposition and sentiments, the +friendly relations now formed between himself and the so-called +Bohemian and Moravian Brethren. We have already had occasion to +notice, after the Leipzig disputation in 1519, and again, in +particular, after Luther's return from the Wartburg, an approach, +which promised much but was only transitory, between Luther and the +large and powerful brotherhood of the Bohemian Utraquists, who, as +admirers of Huss and advocates for giving the cup to the laity, had +freed themselves from the dominion of Rome. Quietly and modestly, +but with a far more penetrating endeavour to restore the purity of +Christian life, the small communities of the Moravian Brethren had +multiplied by the side of the Hussites, and had patiently endured +oppression and persecution. Luther afterwards declared of them, how +he had found to his astonishment--a thing unheard of under the +Papacy--that, discarding the doctrines of men, they meditated day +and night, to the best of their ability, on the laws of God, and +were well versed in the Scriptures. It was principally, however, as +Luther himself seems to indicate, the commands of Scripture, in the +strict and faithful fulfilment of which they sought for true +Christianity--with special reference to the commands of Jesus, as +expressed by Him in particular in the Sermon on the Mount, and to +those precepts which they found in their patterns, the oldest +Apostolic communities--that engrossed their attention. With strict +discipline, in conformity with these commands, they sought to order +and sanctify their congregational life. But of Luther's doctrine of +salvation, announced by him mainly on the testimony of St. Paul, or +of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, they had as yet no +knowledge. They taught of the righteousness to which Christians +should attain, as did Augustine and the pious, practical theologians +of the middle ages. Hence they were wanting also in freedom in their +conception of moral life, and of those worldly duties and blessings +to which, according to Luther, the Christian spirit rose by the +power of faith. They shunned rather all worldly business in a manner +that caused Luther to ascribe to them a certain monastic character. +Their priests lived, like Catholics, in celibacy. Another +peculiarity of their teaching was, that in striving after a more +spiritual conception of life, and under the influence of the +writings of the great Englishman Wicliffe, which were largely +disseminated among them, they repudiated the Catholic doctrine of +Transubstantiation, nor would even allow such a Presence of Christ's +Body as was insisted on by Luther. They maintained simply a +sacramental, spiritual, effectual presence of Christ, and +distinguished from it a substantial Presence, which His Body, they +declared, had in heaven alone. + +With these, too, as with the Utraquists, Luther became more closely +acquainted soon after his return from the Wartburg. The evangelical +preacher, Paul Speratus, who was then temporarily working in +Moravia, wrote to him about these zealous friends of the gospel, +among whom, however, he found much that was objectionable, +especially their doctrine of the Sacrament. They themselves sent +Luther messages, letters, and writings. Luther, who, in addition to +the Catholic theory, had also to combat doubts as to the Real +Presence of Christ's Body at the Sacrament, turned in 1523, in a +treatise 'On the Adoration of the Sacrament, &c.,' to oppose the +declarations of the Brethren on this subject, and then proceeded to +draw their attention to other points on which he was unable to agree +with them, in the mildest form and with warm acknowledgments of +their good qualities, such as, in particular, their strict +requirements of Christian moral conduct, which in his own circle he +could not possibly expect to see as yet fulfilled. They and Lucas, +their elder, however, took umbrage at his remarks; Lucas published a +reply, whereupon Luther quietly left them to go their own way. + +While Butzer now was prosecuting with success his attempts at union, +the Brethren renewed their overtures to Luther. They offered him +fresh explanations about the doctrines in dispute, and these +explanations he was content to treat as consistent with the truth +which he himself maintained, though they differed even from his own +actual statements, not only in form but in substance. For example, +they distinguished between the Presence of Christ's Body in the +Sacrament and His existence in heaven, by describing only the latter +as a Bodily existence. Practically, the theory of the Brethren, +which, however, was by no means clearly defined, agreed most with +that represented afterwards by Calvin. But Luther saw in it nothing +more that was essential, such as would necessitate further +controversy, or deter him from friendly intercourse with these +pious-minded people. At their desire he published two of their +statements of belief in 1533 and 1538 with prefaces from his own +pen. In these prefaces he dwelt particularly on the striking +differences, as regards Church usages and regulations, between their +congregations and his own. But these differences, he said, ought in +no way to prevent their fellowship; a difference of usages had +always existed among Christian Churches, and with the difference of +times and circumstances, was unavoidable. Nor did he withhold a +certain sanction and approbation of the dignity with which the +Brethren continued to invest the state of celibacy, while refusing, +however, to give that sanction the force of a law. + +Among the Brethren their gifted and energetic elder John Augusta +laboured to promote an alliance with Luther and the German +Reformation. He repeatedly appeared (and again in 1540) in person at +Wittenberg. + +Thus on all sides, wherever the Evangelical word prevailed, Luther +saw the bonds of union being firmly tied. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OTHER LABOURS AND TRANSACTIONS, 1535-39.--ARCHBISHOP ALBERT AND +SCHÖNITZ.--AGRICOLA. + + +Amidst these important and general affairs of the Church, bringing +daily fresh labours and fresh anxieties for Luther--labours, +however, which, in spite of his bodily sufferings, he undertook with +his old accustomed energy--his strength, as in previous years we +have observed with reference to his preaching, now no longer +sufficed as before for the regular work of his calling. In his +official duties at the university the Elector himself, anxiously +concerned as he was for its progress, would have spared him as much +as possible. For these he arranged, in 1536, an ample stipend. In +his announcement of this step he solemnly declared: 'The merciful +God has plenteously and graciously vouchsafed to let His holy, +redeeming Word, through the teaching of the reverend and most +learned, our beloved and good Martin Luther, doctor of Holy +Scripture, be made known to all men in these latter days of the +world with true Christian understanding, for their comfort and +salvation, for which we give Him praise and thanks for ever; and has +made known also, in addition to other arts, the Latin, Greek, and +Hebrew languages, through the conspicuous and rare ability and +industry of the learned Philip Melancthon, for the furtherance of +the right and Christian comprehension of Holy Scripture.' To each of +these two men he now gave a hundred gulden as an addition to his +salary as professor, which in Luther's case had hitherto amounted to +two hundred gulden. At the same time he released Luther from the +obligation of lecturing, and, indeed, from all his other duties at +the university. + +Luther began, however, this year a new and important course of +lectures--the exposition of the Book of Genesis, which, according to +his wont, he illustrated with a copious and valuable commentary on +the chief points of Christian doctrine and Christian life. They +progressed, however, but slowly and with many interruptions; +sometimes a whole year was occupied with only a few chapters. The +work was not completed until 1545. They were the last lectures he +delivered. + +In the office of preacher, which he continued to fill voluntarily +and without emolument, he undertook again, after he had returned +from Schmalkald, and had gained fresh strength and, at least, a +temporary recovery from his recent illness, labours at once beyond +and more arduous than his ordinary duties. He resumed, in short, the +duties of Bugenhagen, who was given leave of absence till 1539 to +visit Denmark, for the purpose of organising there, under the new +king Christian III., the new Evangelical Church. He preached +regularly on week-days, in addition to his Sunday sermons; +continuing his discourses, as Bugenhagen had done, though with many +interruptions, on the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John. The +chancellor Brück wrote to the Elector from Wittenberg on August 27: +'Doctor Martin preaches in the parish church thrice a week; and such +mightily good sermons are they, that it seems to me, as everyone is +saying, there has never been such powerful preaching here before. He +points out in particular the errors of the Popedom, and multitudes +come to hear him. He closes his sermons with a prayer against the +Pope, his Cardinals and Bishops, and for our Emperor, that God may +give him victory and deliver him from the Popedom.' + +Among his literary labours he again took in hand in 1539 his German +translation of the Bible--the most important work, in its way, of +all his life--and persevered with intense and unremitting industry, +in order to revise it thoroughly for a new edition, which was +published at the end of two years. For this work he assembled around +him a circle of learned colleagues, whose assistance he succeeded in +obtaining and whom he regularly consulted. These were Melancthon, +Jonas, Bugenhagen, Cruciger, Matthew Aurogallus, professor of +Hebrew, and afterwards the chaplain Rörer, who attended to the +corrections. From outside also some joined them, such as Ziegler, +the Leipzig theologian, a man learned in Hebrew. Luther's younger +friend Mathesius, who had been Luther's guest in 1540, relates of +these meetings how 'Doctor Luther came to them with his old Bible in +Latin and his new one in German, and besides these he had always the +Hebrew text with him. Philip (Melancthon) brought with him the Greek +text, Dr. Kreuziger (Cruciger) besides the Hebrew, the Chaldaic +Bible (the translation or paraphrase in use among the ancient Jews); +the professors had with them their Rabbis (the Rabbinical writings +of the Old Testament). Each one had previously armed himself with a +knowledge of the text, and compared the Greek and Latin with the +Jewish version. The president then propounded a text, and let the +opinions go round;--speeches of wondrous truth and beauty are said +to have been made at these sittings.' + +In other respects Luther's literary activity was chiefly devoted to +the great questions remaining to be dealt with at a Council. In +1539, the year after his publication of the Schmalkaldic Articles, +appeared a larger treatise from his pen 'On Councils and Churches,' +one of the most exhaustive of his writings, and important to us as +showing how firmly and confidently his idea of the Christian Church, +as a community of the faithful, was maintained amidst all the +practical difficulties which events prepared. He complains of the +substitution of the blind, unmeaning word 'Church'--and that even in +the Catechism for the young--for the Greek word in the New Testament +'Ecclesia,' as the name of the community or assembly of Christian +people. Much misery, he said, had crept in under that word Church, +from its being understood as consisting of the Pope and the bishops, +priests, and monks. The Christian Church was simply the mass of +pious Christian people, who believed in Christ and were endowed with +the Holy Spirit, Who daily sanctified them by the forgiveness of +sins, and by absolving and purifying them therefrom. + +Of Luther's love for his German mother-language, and of the services +he rendered it, so conspicuously shown by these his writings, and +especially by his persevering industry in his translation of the +Bible, we are further reminded by a request he made in a letter of +March 1535, to his friend Wenzeslaus Link at Nüremberg. He suddenly +in that letter breaks off from the Latin--which was still the +customary language of correspondence between theologians--and +continues in German, with the words, 'I will speak German, my dear +Herr Wenzel,' and then begs his friend to make his servant collect +for him all the German pictures, rhymes, books, and ballads that had +recently been published at Nüremberg, as he wished to familiarise +himself more with the genuine language of the people. Luther himself +made a goodly collection of German proverbs. His original manuscript +which contained them was inherited by a German family, but +unfortunately it was bought about twenty years ago in England. There +was published also at Wittenberg, in 1537, a small anonymous book on +German names, written (unquestionably by Luther) in Latin, and +therefore intended for students. It contains, it is true, many +strange mistakes, but it is, nevertheless, a proof of the interest +he took in such studies, and is interesting as a maiden effort in +this field of national learning. + +In the regular government and legal administration of his Saxon +Church, Luther did not occupy any post of office. When in 1539 a +Consistory was established at Wittenberg for the Electoral district, +and afterwards, indeed, for the regulation of marriage and +discipline, he did not become a member; he was certainly never +called upon or qualified to take part in the exercise of such a +jurisdiction. And yet this also was done with his concurrence, and +in cases of difficulty he was resorted to for his advice. All Church +questions of public interest continued, with this exception, to +occupy his independent and influential discussion. And even the +moral evils on the domain of civil, municipal and social life, to +which Luther at the beginning of the Reformation appeared desirous +of extending his preaching of reform, so far, at least, as that +preaching represented a general call and exhortation, but which he +afterwards seemed to discard altogether as something foreign to his +mission, never wholly faded from his purview, or ceased to enlist +his active interest. He wrote again in 1539 against usury, much as +he had written at an earlier period, remarking to his friends that +his book would prick the consciences of petty usurers, but that the +big swindlers would only laugh at him in their sleeves. And in +publishing his Schmalkaldic Articles he briefly refers again in his +preface to the 'countless matters of importance' which a genuine +Christian Council would have to mend in the temporal condition of +mankind--such as the disunion of princes and states, the usury and +avarice, which had spread like a deluge and had become the law, and +the sins of unchastity, gluttony, gambling, vanity in dress, +disobedience on the part of subjects, servants, and workmen of all +trades; as also the removal of peasants, &c. Nor at the same time +was he less prompt to interfere on behalf of individuals who were +suffering from want and injustice, either by his humble intercession +with their lords, or with the sharp sword of his denunciation. + +It was Luther's indignation and zeal on such an occasion that caused +now his irremediable rupture with the Archbishop, Cardinal Albert, +and induced him to attack that magnate as recklessly as he did; for +the Cardinal had hitherto been always disposed to treat him with a +certain respect; and Luther, on his side, had refrained at least +from any open exhibition of hostility. The immediate cause of this +rupture was a judicial murder, perpetrated against one John Schönitz +(or Schanz) of Halle, on the river Saale. This man had for years had +the charge, as the confidential servant of the Archbishop, of the +public and even the private funds which his master required for his +stately palaces, his luxury, and his sensual enjoyments, refined or +coarse, legitimate or illegitimate; and had actually lent him large +sums. The Estates of the Archbishopric complained of the demands +made on them for money, and rightly suspected that the funds +supplied were improperly and dishonestly misappropriated. Schönitz +grew alarmed on account of the clandestine 'practices' which he was +carrying on for his master. The latter, however, assured him of his +protection. But when the Estates refused to grant any more subsidies +until a proper account was laid before them, he basely sacrificed +his servant in order to extricate himself from his embarrassment. +For deceptions alleged to have been practised against himself, he +had Schönitz arrested, and confined, in September 1534, in the +Castle of Giebichenstein. In vain Schönitz demanded a public trial +by impartial judges; in vain did the Imperial Court of Justice give +judgment in his favour. A second judgment of the court was answered +by Albert's directing the prisoner, who was a citizen of Halle and +sprung from an old local family, to be tried on June 21, 1535, at +Giebichenstein, by a peasant tribunal hastily summoned from the +surrounding villages, for the trial merely, as the rumour ran in +Halle, of a horse-stealer. The unhappy prisoner was allowed no +regular defence, and no counsel. An admission of guilt was extorted +from him by the rack, and he was summarily sentenced to death. Time +was only allowed him to say to the bystanders that he confessed +himself a sinner in the sight of God, but that he had not deserved +this fate. He was quickly strung up on the gallows, where his corpse +remained hanging till the wind blew it down in February 1537. Albert +took possession of his property. And this was done by the supreme +prince of the Roman Church in Germany, who played the part of a +modern Mæcenas with regard to art and science. + +Whilst now the justices of the town of Halle were protesting against +this treatment of their fellow-townsman to the Archbishop, who +turned a deaf ear to their remonstrance, and Antony, the brother of +the murdered man, exerted himself in vain to vindicate his honour +and the rights of their family, Luther was drawn into the affair by +the fact that one of his guests, Ludwig Rabe, was threatened with +punishment by Albert, for expressions he let fall soon after the +deed was committed. Luther thereupon wrote several times to Albert +himself, and told him openly he was a murderer, and, for his +squandering of Church property, deserved a gallows ten times higher +than the Castle of Giebichenstein. He was restrained, however, from +taking further steps by the Elector of Brandenburg and other of +Albert's influential relatives, who appealed to John Frederick on +his behalf, whilst Albert sought to make a cheap compensation to the +family of the murdered man, or at least pretended to do so. + +When, however, a young Humanist poetaster at Wittenberg, named +Lemnius--properly Lemchen--actually glorified the Archbishop in +verse, or, as Luther put it, 'made a saint of the devil,' and at the +same time vilified some men and women at Wittenberg, Luther read +aloud from the pulpit, in 1538, a short indictment, couched in the +plainest possible terms, against the shameless libeller, as also +against the Archbishop whom he glorified; and this indictment soon +appeared in print. And now he no longer refrained from taking up the +cause of Schönitz in a pamphlet of some length. When the Duke of +Prussia endeavoured once more in a friendly way to dissuade him from +his purpose, for the honour of the house of Brandenburg, he replied, +'Wicked sons have sprung from the noble race of David, and princes +ought not to disgrace themselves by unprincely vices.' In the +pamphlet to his opening he declared that a stone was lying upon his +heart which was called 'Deliver them that are drawn unto death, and +those that are ready to be slain' (Prov. xxiv. 11). He denounced the +contempt and denial of justice of which the Archbishop was guilty, +and at the same time boldly exposed the real objects of those +private expenses which the Archbishop, together with his servant, +had incurred, and of which the latter was naturally unable to give +an account--least of all, those that ministered to his carnal +appetites, such as his establishment at Morizburg in Halle. He +himself, says Luther, does not judge the Cardinal; he is simply the +bearer of the sentence pronounced by the great Judge in heaven. To +those who might perhaps have taken exception to his words he says, +'I sit here at Wittenberg, and ask my most gracious lord the Elector +for no further favour or protection than what is given to all +alike.' Albert found it more prudent to keep silent. + +But what disturbed and grieved Luther more than anything else during +this, the closing chapter of his life, was the bitter experience he +had yet to make in his own religious community, nay, amidst his most +intimate companions and friends. + +The way of life--in other words, the way of saving faith--was now +rediscovered and clearly brought to light; and, as Luther said, a +truly moral life should be the consequence. And great pains were +taken to stamp this new truth clearly and distinctly on doctrine, +and to guard against new errors and perversions. Differences, +however, now arose among those who had hitherto worked so loyally +together for the establishment of the faith--a beginning of those +doctrinal disputes which after Luther's death became so disastrous +to his Church. Again and again Luther bitterly complained of the +moral wrongs and scandals which proved that the faith, however +widely its confession had spread through Germany, was far from +living in its purity and strength in the hearts of men, and bearing +the expected fruit. Only his own conviction, his own faith was never +shaken by this result. It must needs be, as Christ Himself had said, +that offences must come; and, in the words of St. Paul (1 Cor. xi. +19), 'there must be also heresies,' and false teachers and deceivers +must arise. + +[Illustration: Fig. 44.--AGRICOLA. (From a miniature portrait by +Cranach, in the University Album at Wittenberg, 1531.)] + +We have seen above how cordially Luther welcomed Agricola back at +Wittenberg after throwing up his appointment at Eisleben. He +obtained for him from the Elector in 1537 an ample salary, to enable +him to fill the long-coveted office of teacher at the university, +and be a preacher as well. It soon became known that Agricola +persisted in maintaining that doctrine of repentance in defence of +which he had attacked Melancthon at the first visitation of churches +in the Saxon Electorate. He had been accused of this at Eisleben, +and Count Albert of Mansfeld, whose service he had quitted with +rudeness and discontent, denounced him as a restless and dangerous +fellow. And now at Wittenberg also Agricola had some sermons +printed, and some theses circulated, embodying a statement of his +peculiar doctrine. Luther considered it his duty to refute these, +and he did so from the pulpit, but without naming their author. + +The proclamation of God's law, so Agricola now taught, was no +necessary part of Christianity, as such, nor of the way of salvation +prepared and revealed by Christ. The Gospel of the Son of God, our +Saviour, this alone should be proclaimed, and operate in touching +the hearts of men and exposing the true character of their sins as +sinfulness against the Son of God. In this way he sought to give +full effect to the fundamental evangelical doctrine, that the grace +of God alone had power to save through the joyful message of Christ. +The personal vanity, however, which was the chief weakness of this +gifted, intellectual, and fairly eloquent man, and which was now +increased by the dissatisfaction it had caused at Eisleben, +displayed itself further in the assertion of his eccentricities of +dogma. Moreover, he was far from clear in his first principles, and +while maintaining his tenets he was unwilling to stake too much on +his own account, and yet refused actually to abandon them. + +He came at first to an understanding with Luther by offering an +explanation which the latter deemed satisfactory, but he then +proceeded to revert to his peculiar tenets in a new publication. +Luther now launched a sharp reply against these antinomian theses, +as well as against others, which went much further, and whose origin +is unknown. He found wanting in Agricola that earnest moral +appreciation of the law, and of the moral demands made of us by God, +whereby the heart of the sinner, as he himself had experienced, must +first be bruised and broken, and thus opened to receive the word of +grace, before that word can truly renew, revive, and sanctify it. +But together with Agricola's tenets he then placed the others, +betraying an equally frivolous estimate of the real nature of those +demands and of the duties they entailed, as evidence of one tendency +and one character, since Agricola, indeed, taught like them, that +the good willed by God in His Commandments was fulfilled in +Christians by the simple fact of their belief in Christ, and as the +fruit of His word of grace. Thus it came about that this tendency +which Luther found represented in Agricola, stood out before him in +all its compass and with its extremest and most alarming +consequences, and called forth the boldest exercise of his zeal. It +grieved him sorely, nevertheless, to have to enter into this dispute +with his old friend. 'God knows,' he said, 'what trials this +business has prepared for me; I shall have died of sheer anxiety +before I have brought my theses against him (Agricola) to the +light.' + +At the instance, however, of the Elector, who valued Agricola, +another reconciliation was brought about. Agricola humbled himself; +he even authorised his great opponent to draw up a retractation in +his name, and Luther did this in a manner very damaging to Agricola, +in a letter to his former colleague and opponent at Eisleben, Caspar +Güttel. Agricola thereupon received a place in the newly-formed +consistory. But even now he could not refrain from fresh utterances +which betrayed his old opinions. Luther's confidence in him was thus +destroyed for ever: he spoke with indignation, pain, and scorn of +'Grikel (Agricola), the false man.' The latter at length complained +to the Elector against Luther for having unjustly aspersed him. The +Elector testified to him his displeasure; Luther gave a sharp answer +to the charge, and his prince made further inquiries into the matter +of complaint. Agricola finally snatched at a means of escape offered +by his summons to Berlin, whither he had been called as a preacher +of distinction by the Elector Joachim II., who was a convert to the +Reformation. In August 1540 he left Wittenberg. He sent thither from +Berlin another and fully satisfactory retractation in order to +retain his official appointment. But Luther's friendship with him +was broken for ever. + +In another quarter also Melancthon had been charged with deviating +in certain statements from the path of right doctrine. + +We know already how his anxiety about the dangers caused by the +separation from the great Catholic Church seemed to tempt him to +indulge in questionable concessions, and how it was Luther himself, +with a disposition so different to Melancthon's, who nevertheless +held firmly to his trust in his friend and fellow-labourer, +particularly during the Diet of Augsburg. And, indeed, subsequent +events brought this tendency to concession more fully into notice. + +Certain peculiarities now asserted themselves in Melancthon's +independent opinions, with regard both to theology and practical +life, which distinguished his mode of teaching from that of Luther. +He who, again and again, in the Augsburg Confession and the Apology, +as also in the system of evangelical theology which in his 'Loci +Communes' he was the first to elaborate, had expounded with full and +active conviction the fundamental evangelical truth of a justifying +and saving Faith, was anxious also--more so, even, than many strict +confessors of that doctrine--to have the whole field of moral +improvement and the fruits of morality which were necessary to +preserve that faith, estimated at their proper value. And further, +with respect to God's will and the operation of His grace, whereby +alone the sinner could obtain inward conversion and faith, he wished +to make this depend entirely on man's own will and choice, so that +the blame might not appear to lie with God if the call to salvation +remained fruitless, and a temptation thereby be offered to many to +indulge in carelessness or despondency. In addition to this, he +differed unmistakably from Luther in his doctrine of the Sacrament. +For, though it was he who at Augsburg in 1530 had flatly rejected +the Zwinglians, still his historical researches impressed him with +the belief, that, in reality, as indeed the Zwinglians maintained, +not Augustine himself, among the ancients, had taught the Real +Bodily Presence after the manner of Luther, or even of Roman +Catholicism; and his own theological opinion induced him at least to +satisfy himself with more or less obscure propositions about the +communion of the Saviour Who died for us with the guests at His +table, without any fixed or clear declarations about the +substantiality of the Body. This appears, for instance, in his 'Loci +Communes,' although in the formula of the Wittenberg Concord of 1536 +he went farther, together with Luther. + +On the first point above-mentioned, a priest named Cordatus, a +strict adherent of Luther, had raised a protest against him in 1536. +But the opponent whom Melancthon chiefly feared in this respect was +the theologian Amsdorf, who was not only an old familiar friend of +Luther, but the especial guardian, both then and still more after +Luther's death, of Lutheran orthodoxy. But Luther himself was +anxious to avoid, even in this matter, any rupture or discord with +Melancthon. He took great pains to reconcile the difference, and +knew also how to keep silence, though without deviating from his own +strict standpoint, or being able to overlook the peculiarity of his +friend's teaching, conspicuously apparent as it was in the new +edition of his book. + +We are reminded by this, moreover, how Luther, during his illness at +Schmalkald in 1537, made no secret of his fear of a division +breaking out at Wittenberg after his death. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LUTHER AND THE PROGRESS AND INTERNAL TROUBLES OF PROTESTANTISM. +1538--1541. + + +In the great affairs of the Church, amid the threats of his enemies +and in all his dealings with them, Luther continued from day to day +to trust quietly in God, as the Guider of events, Who suffers none +to forestall His designs, and puts to shame and rebuke the +inventions of man. His hope of external peace had hitherto been +fulfilled beyond all expectation. And it had been permitted him to +see the Reformation gain strength and make further progress in the +German Empire. Indeed, it seemed possible that a union might be +effected with those Catholics who had been impressed with the +evangelical doctrine of salvation. These were results accomplished +by the inward power of God's Word, as hitherto preached to the +people, under a Divine and marvellously favourable dispensation of +outer relations and events--fruits as unexpected as they were +gratifying to Luther. Great plans or projects of his own, however, +were still far from his thoughts; nor even did the details of this +historical development demand such activity on his part as he had +shown in the earlier years of the movement. And yet there was no +lack of discord, difficulty, and trouble within the pale of the new +Church and amongst its members; prospects of further, and possibly +much more serious dangers to be encountered; thoughts of sadness and +disquietude to vex the soul of the Reformer, now aged, suffering, +and weary. The goal of his hopes had ever been, and still remained, +not indeed a victory to be gradually achieved for his cause, perhaps +even in his own lifetime, by the course of ecclesiastical and +political changes and events, but the end which the Lord Himself, +according to His promises, would make of the whole wicked world, and +the Hereafter whither he was ever waiting to be summoned. + +Since the Schmalkaldic allies had rejected the Emperor with his +invitation to a Council, the Romish zealots might well hope that +Charles at length would prepare to use force against them. He was +not yet able to bring his quarrel with King Francis to a final +termination; but, nevertheless, he concluded a truce with him in +1538 for ten years, while at the same time his vice-chancellor Held +contrived to effect a union of Roman Catholic princes in Germany in +opposition to the Schmalkaldic League. This union was joined, in +addition to Austria, Bavaria, and George of Saxony, by Duke Henry of +Brunswick, the bitter enemy of the Landgrave Philip. Already in the +spring of that year people at Wittenberg talked of operations on a +large scale ostensibly directed against the Turks, but in reality +against the Protestants. Or at least it was feared that the imperial +army, in the event of its defeating the Turks, might, as Luther +expressed it, turn their spears against the Evangelical party. In +this respect Luther had no fears; he did not believe in a victory +over the Turks, and, even in that case, his opinion was that the +imperial troops would no more submit to be made the instruments of +such a policy than they had done some years before, after their +victory at Vienna. Most earnestly he exhorted the Elector, for his +part at least, to do his duty again in the war against the Turks, +for the sake of his Fatherland and the poor oppressed people. On the +other hand, the right of the Protestant States to resist the +Emperor, if it came to a war of religion, was one which he now +asserted without scruple or hesitation. The Emperor, he said, in +such a war would not be Emperor at all, but merely a soldier of the +Pope. He appealed to the fact that once among the people of Israel +pious and godly men had risen up against their sovereign; and the +German princes had additional rights over their Emperor, by virtue +of their constitution. Finally, he reasoned from the law of nature +itself, that a father was bound to protect his wife and children +from open murder; and he likened the Emperor, who usurped a power +notoriously illegal, to a murderer. For the rest, he declared, in a +publication exhorting the Evangelical clergy to pray for peace, that +as to whether the Papists chose to carry out their designs or not he +was perfectly indifferent, in case God did not will to work a +miracle. His only fear was lest a war might arise, if they did so, +which would never end, and would be the total ruin of Germany. + +But the Emperor was less zealous and more cautious than his +vice-chancellor. He sent another representative to Germany, with +instructions to prevent an outbreak of hostilities. This envoy, in +the course of some negotiations conducted at Frankfort in April +1539, agreed to an understanding by which the ecclesiastical +law-suits hitherto instituted in the Imperial Chamber against the +Protestants were suspended, and a number of chosen theologians of +piety and laymen were to 'arrange a praiseworthy union of +Christians' at an assembly of the German Estates. + +On April 17, in the midst of these transactions, Duke George of +Saxony died after a short illness. His country passed to his brother +Henry, who in his own smaller territory of Freiburg had for some +years, much to the grief of George, established the Evangelical form +of worship, and given shelter to the heretics banished by his +brother. The latter had left no male issue to succeed him. He had +lost two sons in boyhood; and his son John, who held the same +opinions as himself, had died two years ago, when quite a young man, +without leaving any children. His last remaining son Frederick was +of weak intellect, but had nevertheless been married after his +brother's death, and died a few weeks later. He was soon followed by +his unhappy father and sovereign. Luther said of him that he had +gone to everlasting fire, though he would have wished him life and +conversion. To us his end appears the more tragic because we cannot +but acknowledge the honest zeal with which, from his own point of +view, he endeavoured to serve God, and would willingly even have +effected a reform in the Church; whilst, in spite of all his +severity against heretics, he never suffered himself to be hurried +into deeds of coarse violence and cruelty. There are extant prayers +and religious discourses, composed and written down by himself. He +read the Bible, and expressed a wish, when Luther's translation +appeared, that 'the monk would put the whole Bible into German, and +then go about his business.' + +Thus the old and constantly revived quarrel between Luther and the +Duke came at length to an end. The Reformation was immediately +introduced throughout the duchy by the appointment of Evangelical +clergy, by changes in public worship, and by a visitation of +churches after the example of the one in Electoral Saxony. When +Henry was solemnly acknowledged sovereign at Leipzig, he invited +Luther and Jonas to be present. On the afternoon of Whitsunday, May +24, 1539, Luther preached a sermon in the court chapel of that +Castle of Pleissenburg, where he had once disputed before George +with Eck, and on the following afternoon he preached in one of the +churches of the town, not venturing to do so in the morning on +account of his weak state of health. He now proclaimed aloud, in his +sermon on the Gospel for Whitsunday, that the Church of Christ was +not there, where men were madly crying 'Church! Church!' without the +Word of God, nor was it with the Pope, the cardinals, and the +bishops; but there, and there only, where Christ was loved and His +Word was kept, and where accordingly He dwelt in the souls of men. +He refrained from any special reference to the state of things +hitherto existing at Leipzig and in the duchy, or to the change +brought about by God. But we call to mind the words he had spoken in +1532, 'Who knows what God will do before ten years are over?' Very +soon, indeed, the magnates of the Saxon court and the nobility, +though accepting the reformed faith of their new sovereign, gave +occasion to Luther for bitter complaints of their rapacity, their +indifference to religion, and their improper and tyrannical +usurpations on the territory of the Church. + +In addition to the Saxon duchy, the Electorate of Brandenburg was +also about to go over to Protestantism. The Elector Joachim I. +adhered so strictly to the ancient Church, that his wife Elizabeth, +who was evangelically inclined, had fled to Saxony, where she became +an intimate friend of Luther's household. But on his death in 1535, +his younger son John, together with his territory, the 'Neumark,' +joined at once the Schmalkaldic allies. And now, after longer +consideration, his elder brother also, Joachim II.--a man of quieter +disposition and more attached to ancient ways--took the decisive +step, after an agreement with his Estates and the territorial +bishop, Jagow. On November 1, 1539, he received from the latter +publicly the Sacrament in both kinds. + +Under these circumstances the Emperor resolved to give effect to the +essential part of the Frankfort agreement. He summoned a meeting at +Spire 'for the purpose of so arranging matters that the wearisome +dissension in religion might be reconciled in a Christian manner.' +In consequence of a pestilence which appeared at Spire, the assembly +was removed to Hagenau. Here it was actually held in June 1540. + +Meanwhile, the most vigorous champion of Protestantism, the +Landgrave Philip, took a step which was calculated to damage the +position of the Evangelical Church and to embarrass its adherents +more than anything which their enemies could possibly attempt. +Philip, in his youth (1523) had taken to wife a daughter of Duke +George of Saxony, but soon repented of his ill-considered resolve, +on the ground that she was of an unamiable disposition and was +afflicted with bodily infirmities, and accordingly proceeded to look +elsewhere for a mistress, after the fashion only too common at that +time with emperors and princes, but scarcely commented upon in their +case. The earnest remonstrances made to him on religious grounds +against this step had the effect of causing him certain prickings of +conscience; he had not ventured on that account, as he now +complained, to present himself at the Lord's table, with one single +exception, since the Peasants' War. But his conscience was not +strong enough to make him give up his evil ways. At last the Bible, +which he read industriously, seemed to him to provide a means of +outlet from his difficulty. He sheltered himself, as the Anabaptist +fanatics had done before him, behind the Old Testament precedent of +Abraham and other godly men, to whom it had been permitted to have +more than one wife, and pleaded, moreover, that the New Testament +contained no prohibition of polygamy. With all the energy and +stubbornness of his nature, he fastened on these notions and clung +to them, when, at the house of his sister, the Duchess Elizabeth, at +Rochlitz, he chanced to meet and fall in love with a lady named +Margaret von der Saal. She refused to be his except by marriage. Her +mother even demanded of him that Luther, Butzer, and Melancthon, or +at least two of them, together with an envoy of the Elector and the +Duke of Saxony, should be present as witnesses at the marriage. +Philip himself found the consent of these divines and of his most +distinguished ally, John Frederick, indispensable. He succeeded +first of all in gaining over the versatile Butzer, and sent him in +December 1539, on this errand, to Wittenberg. + +He appealed to the strait that he was in, no longer able with a good +conscience to go to war or to punish crime, and also to the +testimony of Scripture, adding, very truly, that the Emperor and the +world were quite willing to permit both him and anyone else to live +in open immorality. Thus, he said, they were forbidding what God +allowed, and winking at what He prohibited. In other respects, +indeed, a double marriage was not a thing unheard of even by the +Christendom of those days. It was said, for instance, of the +Christian Emperor of Rome, Valentinian II., to whose case Philip +himself appealed, that he had been permitted to contract a marriage +of that kind. To the Pope was ascribed the power to grant the +necessary dispensation. + +On December 10 Butzer brought back to the Landgrave from Wittenberg +an opinion of Luther and Melancthon. They told him in decided terms +that it was in accordance with creation itself, and recognised as +such by Jesus, 'that a man was not to have more than one wife;' and +they, the preachers of God's Word, were commanded to regulate +marriage and all human things 'in accordance with their original and +Divine institution, and to adhere thereto as closely as possible, +while at the same time avoiding to their utmost all cause of pain or +annoyance.' They urgently exhorted him not to regard incontinence, +as did the world, in the light of a trifling offence, and +represented to him plainly that if he refused to resist his evil +inclinations, he would not mend matters by taking a second wife. But +with all this exhortation and warning, they confessed themselves +bound to admit that 'what was allowed in respect of marriage by the +law of Moses was not actually forbidden in the gospel;' thereby +maintaining, in point of fact, that an original ordinance in the +Church must be adhered to as the rule, but nevertheless admitting +the possibility of a dispensation under very strong and exceptional +circumstances. They did not say that such a dispensation was +applicable to the case of Philip; they only wished him earnestly to +reconsider the matter with his own conscience. In the event, +however, of his keeping to his resolve, they would not refuse him +the benefit of a dispensation, and only required that the matter +should be kept private, on account of the scandal and possible abuse +it would occasion if generally known. + +Luther himself abandoned afterwards the conclusions he drew from the +Old Testament in this respect, and, as a consequence, rejected the +admissibility of a double marriage for Christians. Friends of the +evangelical and Lutheran belief can only lament the decision he +pronounced in this matter. With that belief itself it has nothing +whatever to do. Instead of drawing his conclusions from the moral +aspect of marriage, as amply attested by the spirit of the New +Testament, though not indeed exactly expressed, Luther on this +occasion clung to the letter, and failed, of course, to find any +written declaration on the point. At the same time he mistook, in +common with all the theologians of his time, the difference, in +point of matured morality and knowledge, between the New Covenant +and the standpoint of the Old, which was that also of his best +adherents. + +The simple Christian common sense of the Elector John Frederick, and +his practical view of the position, preserved him this time from the +error into which the theologians had fallen. He lamented that they +should have given an answer, and would have nothing to do with the +business. + +Philip, however, rejoiced at the decision, and obtained, moreover, +his wife's consent to take a second one. + +In the following March the Protestants held another conference at +Schmalkald, with a view of coming to an agreement as to their +conduct in the attempts at unity in the Church. The Elector summoned +Melancthon thither, but excused Luther, at his own request. Philip +then invited the former, under some pretext or other, to the +neighbouring Castle of Rothenburg on the Fulda. Arrived there, he +was obliged to be a witness with Butzer, on March 4, 1540, to the +marriage of the Landgrave with Margaret. Philip thanked Luther some +weeks after for the 'remedy' allowed him, without which he should +have become 'quite desperate.' He had kept the name of his second +wife a secret from the Wittenbergers; he now told Luther that she +was a virtuous maiden, a relative of Luther's own wife, and that he +rejoiced to have honourably become his kinsman. + +Very soon, however, the news of this unheard of event got wind. The +Evangelicals were not less scandalised than their enemies, who in +other respects were glad to see the mischief. The first to demand an +explanation was the Ducal Court of Saxony, the Duke being so nearly +related to Philip's first wife, and on the eve of a quarrel with +Philip about a claim of inheritance. The Landgrave's whole position +was in jeopardy; for bigamy, by the law of the Empire, was a serious +offence. Luther heard now with indignation that the 'necessity' to +which Philip had thought himself justified in yielding had been +exaggerated. The latter, on the other hand, finding concealment no +longer possible, wished to announce his marriage publicly, and +defend it. He went so far as to imagine that even if the allies +should renounce him he might still procure the favour and +consideration of the Emperor. Unpleasant and very painful +discussions arose between him, John Frederick, and Duke Henry of +Saxony. + +Meanwhile, the day was now approaching for the conference at +Hagenau. Melancthon was sent there too by the Elector. But on +reaching Weimar on June 13, where the prince was then staying, he +suddenly fell ill, and it seemed as if his end was close at hand. He +was oppressed with trouble and anxiety about the wrongdoing of the +Landgrave. The Elector himself wrote reproachfully to Philip, saying +that 'Philip Melancthon was disturbed with miserable thoughts about +him,' and he now lay between life and death. Luther was sent for by +the Elector from Wittenberg. He found the sick man lying in a state +of unconsciousness and seemingly quite dead to the world. Shocked at +the sight, he exclaimed, 'God help us! how has Satan marred this +vessel of Thy grace!' Then the faithful, manly friend fell to +praying God for his precious companion, casting, as he said, all his +heart's request before Him, and reminding Him of all the promises +contained in His own Word. He exhorted and bade Melancthon to be of +good courage, for that God willed not the death of a sinner, and he +would yet live to serve Him. He assured him he would rather now +depart himself. On Melancthon's gradually showing more signs of +life, he had some food prepared for him, and on his refusing it +said, 'You really must eat, or I will excommunicate you.' By degrees +the patient revived in body and soul. Luther was able to inform +another friend, 'We found him dead, and by an evident miracle he +lives.' + +Luther, after this, was taken to Eisenach by his prince, to advise +him on the news which he expected to receive there from Hagenau. At +Eisenach he and the chancellor Brück had an earnest consultation +with envoys from Hesse. Against these, both Luther and Brück +insisted that the proceedings which had taken place between Philip +and the theologians in respect to his marriage should be kept as +secret as a confession, and that Philip must be content to have his +second marriage regarded, in the eyes of the world and according to +the law, as concubinage. He must make up his mind, therefore, to +parry, as best he could, the questions which were being noised +abroad about him, with vague statements or equivocations. He would +then incur no further personal danger. But any attempt to brazen it +out would inevitably land him in confusion and embarrassment, and +only increase and continue the damage done to the Evangelical cause +by this affair. + +The Diet at Hagenau made no further demand on Luther's activity. It +was there resolved to take in hand again, at another meeting to be +held at Worms late in the autumn, and after further preparation, the +religious and ecclesiastical questions at issue. Peaceably-disposed +and competent men were to be appointed on both sides for this +purpose. Thus Luther was now at liberty to leave Eisenach towards +the end of July, and return home, dissatisfied, as he wrote to his +wife, with the Diet at Hagenau, where labour and expense had been +wasted, but happy in the thought that Melancthon had been restored +from death to life. + +At Worms the proceedings, in which Melancthon and Eck took a +prominent part, were further adjourned to a Diet which the Emperor +purposed to hold in person at Ratisbon early in 1541. Here, on April +27, a debate was opened on religion. + +Luther entertained very slender expectations from all these +conferences, considering the long-ascertained opinions of his +opponents. He pointed to the innocent blood which had long stained +the hands of the Emperor Charles and King Ferdinand. Still, during +the Diet at Worms, the thought arose in his mind that, if only the +Emperor were rightly disposed, a German Council might actually +result from that assembly. He saw his enemies busy with their secret +schemes of mischief, and feared lest many of his comrades in the +faith, such as the Landgrave Philip, might treat too lightly the +matter, which was no mere comedy among men, but a tragedy in which +God and Satan were the actors. He rejoiced again, however, that the +falsehood and cunning of his enemies must be brought to nought by +their own folly, and that God Himself would consummate the great +catastrophe of the drama. And in regard to the fear we have just +mentioned, he declared that he, at any rate, would not suffer +himself to be dragged into anything against his own conviction. +'Rather,' said he, 'would I take the matter again on my own +shoulders, and stand alone, as at the beginning. We know that it is +the cause of God, and He will carry it through to the end; whoever +will not go with it, must remain behind.' + +Between the Diets of Worms and Ratisbon he entered in 1541, with all +his old severity, and with a violence even beyond his wont, into a +bitter correspondence which had just then begun between Duke Henry +of Brunswick--Wolfenbüttel, a zealous Catholic, and morally of ill +repute with friend and foe, on the one side, and John Frederick and +the Landgrave Philip, the heads of the Schmalkaldic League, on the +other. He published against Duke Henry a pamphlet 'Against Hans +Worst.' The Duke had taunted him with having allowed himself to call +his own sovereign Hans Wurst. Luther assured him, in reply, that he +had never given this name to a single man, whether friend or foe; +but now applied it to the Duke, because he found it meant a stupid +blockhead who wished to be thought clever and all the time spoke and +acted like a simpleton. But he was not content with calling him a +blockhead; he represented him as a profligate man, who, while +libelling the princes and pretending to be the champion of God's +ordinances, himself practised open adultery, committed acts of +violence and insolent tyranny, and incited men to incendiarism in +his opponents' territories. He would let the Duke scream himself +hoarse or dead with his calumnies against John Frederick and the +Evangelicals, and simply answer him by saying, 'Devil, thou liest! +Hans Worst, how thou liest! O, Henry Wolfenbüttel, what a shameless +liar thou art! Thou spittest forth much, and namest nothing; thou +libellest, and provest nothing.' At the same time this pamphlet of +Luther was a literary vindication of the Reformation and +Protestantism; here, said he, and not in the popedom, was the true, +ancient, and original Christian Church. Luther himself, on reading +over his pamphlet after it was printed, thought its tone against +Henry was too mild; a headache, he said, must have suppressed his +indignation. + +Just at this time he had to encounter a fresh and violent attack of +illness. He described it, in a letter to Melancthon, who was then at +Ratisbon, as a 'cold in the head;' it was accompanied not only with +alarming giddiness, from which he was now a frequent sufferer, but +also with deafness and intolerable pains, forcing tears from his +eyes, something unusual with him, and making him call on God to put +an end to his pain or to his life. A copious discharge of matter +from his ear, which occurred in Passion Week, gave him relief; but +for a long while he continued very weak and suffering. To his +prince, who sent his private physician to attend him, he wrote on +April 25, thanking him, and adding, 'I should have been well content +if the dear Lord Jesus had taken me in His mercy from hence, as I am +now of little more use on earth.' He attributed his recovery to the +intercessions which Bugenhagen had made for him in the Church. + +Whilst he was still feeling his head thus full of pain and unfit for +work, he was called upon to give his opinion on the preparations for +the religious conference at Ratisbon, and afterwards upon its +results. + +Bright prospects seemed now to be opening for the victory of the +Gospel. Men of understanding and really desirous of peace had for +once been commissioned, by the Catholics as well as by the +Protestants, to conduct the debate. The chief actors were no longer +an Eck, though he, too, was one of the collocutors, but the pious, +gentle, and refined theologian Julius von Pflug, and the electoral +counsellor of Cologne, Gropper, who vied with him in an earnest +desire for reform and unity. Contarini also was there, as the Papal +legate--a man influenced by purely religious motives, and a convert +to the deeper Evangelical doctrine of salvation. Melancthon and +Butzer were also there. The questions of most importance from the +Evangelical point of view were first dealt with--namely, those which +related, not to the external system and authority of the Church, but +to man's need of, and the way to obtain, salvation, to sin, grace, +and justification. And it was now unanimously confessed that the +faithful soul is sustained solely by the righteousness given by +Christ; and for His sake alone, and not for any worthiness or works +of its own, is justified and accepted by God. + +Never before, and never since, have Protestant and Catholic +theologians approached each other so nearly, nay, been so unanimous, +on these fundamental doctrines, as on that memorable day. And the +Catholics, in this, distinctly left the ground of mediæval +scholasticism, and went over to that of the Evangelicals. How +distinctly this was done will be apparent to any one who compares +the propositions accepted at the Conference of Ratisbon with the +Catholic reply to the Augsburg Confession of 1530. + +Nevertheless, we do not find that Luther felt particularly elated by +the news from Ratisbon. The formula which embodied their agreement +seemed to him a 'roundabout and patched affair.' In connection with +faith, as the only means of justification, too much, he thought, was +said of the works which must spring from it; in connection with the +justification given to the faithful through Christ, too much was +said of the righteousness which each Christian must strive to +attain. He, too, had always taught and demanded both works and +righteousness. But the present arrangement of clauses seemed to him +calculated to lessen and obscure again the primary importance of +Christ and of Faith, as the sole means of salvation. And we see what +objection was uppermost in his mind, in his allusion to Eck, who +also was obliged to subscribe the formula. Eck, said Luther, would +never confess to having once taught differently to now, and would +know well enough how to adopt the new tenets to his old way of +thinking. They were putting a patch of new cloth upon an old +garment, and the rent would be made worse. (Matt. ix. 16.) + +Luther was spared, however, a decision as to the acceptance or +non-acceptance of an agreement. For among the Catholic Estates of +the Empire he found, so far as he had followed the debate of the +Diet, too strong an opposition to hope for real union. Moreover, +the collocutors themselves were unable to agree when they came to +further questions, as, for example, the Mass and Transubstantiation; +they still shipwrecked, therefore, on those points which were of the +most vital importance for the external glorification of the +priesthood and the Church, and the surrender of which would have +meant the sacrifice of a dogma already ratified by a Conciliar +decree. + +On June 11 an embassy from Ratisbon appeared before Luther in the +name of those Protestant states which were most zealous for unity. +Prince John of Anhalt was at their head. Luther was requested to +declare his concurrence with what had been done, and assist them in +giving permanent effect to the articles agreed to at the Conference, +and arranging some peaceful and tolerant compromise with regard to +those points on which agreement had been impossible. Luther was +quite prepared to acquiesce in such toleration, provided only the +Emperor would permit the preaching of the articles referring to the +doctrine of salvation, leaving it open to the Protestants to +continue their warfare of the Word on the points still remaining in +dispute. The Emperor, however, would only sanction those articles on +the understanding that a Council should finally decide upon them, +and that, in the meantime, all controversial writings on matters of +religion should cease. By the Catholic Estates at the Diet they were +strenuously opposed. Luther's own opinion remained substantially the +same as before--namely, that any trust or hopes were vain, unless +their enemies gave God the honour due to Him, and openly confessed +that they had changed their teaching. The Emperor must see and +acknowledge that within the last twenty years his Edict had been the +murder of many pious people. + +The Conference accordingly remained fruitless. The Diet, however, +did not close without achieving an important result for the +Protestants; for the Emperor granted them, at their request, the +Religious Peace of Nüremberg. + +The main reason that induced Charles so far to toleration and +leniency was the trouble with the Turks. With regard to these, +Luther now addressed himself once more to his countrymen with words +of earnestness and weight. He published an 'Exhortation to prayer +against the Turks,' teaching and warning his readers to regard them +as a scourge of God, and make war against them as God commanded. +From this time also dates his hymn + + Lord, shield us with Thy Word, our Hope, + And smite the Moslem and the Pope. + +When a tax was levied for the war with the Turks, Luther himself +begged the Elector not to exempt him with his scanty goods. He would +gladly, he said, if not too old and too infirm, 'be one of the army +himself.' In 1542 he brought out for his countrymen a refutation of +the Koran, written in earlier days, that they might learn what a +shameful faith was Mahomed's, and not suffer themselves to be +perverted, in case by God's decree they should see the Turks +victorious, or even fall into their hands. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +PROGRESS AND INTEENAL TROUBLES OF PROTESTANTISM. 1541-44. + + +The Reformation, against which the Emperor had so repeatedly to +promise his interference, and with which he was compelled to seek +for a peaceful understanding, continued meanwhile to gain ground in +various parts of Germany. + +[Illustration: Fig. 45.--JONAS. (From a portrait by Cranach, in his +Album at Berlin, 1543.)] + +Luther hailed with especial joy its victory in the town of Halle, +which had formerly been a favourite seat of the Cardinal Albert and +the chief scene of his wanton extravagances, and where now one of +Luther's most intimate and most learned friends from Wittenberg, +Justus Jonas, was installed as reformer and Evangelical pastor. Here +the final impetus was given to the movement, among the mass of the +population, of whom the large majority had long espoused the cause +of Luther, by those money difficulties which played such a serious +and grievous part in the life of Albert. When, in the spring of +1541, the town was called on to pay taxes to the amount of 22,000 +gulden, to defray the Cardinal's debts, the citizens made the +payment conditional on their Council appointing an Evangelical +preacher. Jonas was accordingly invited to the town, and received at +once, on his arrival, a regular appointment through the magistracy +and a committee of the congregation. In Passion Week, when Luther +was recovering from his illness and Albert had to attend the Diet at +Ratisbon, Jonas for the first time took his place in the principal +church in the town, then recently rebuilt, in the pulpit which the +Archbishop had had erected with elaborate carvings in stone. Soon +after the two other churches in the town received Evangelical +preachers. The general regulation of Church matters was entrusted to +Jonas, and remained under his control. Luther, however, supported +his friend with his advice, and continued on terms of trusted +intimacy with him till his death. He did not conceal his joy that +the 'wicked old rogue,' Albert, should have had to live to see this, +and praised God for upholding His judgment upon earth. The +collection of countless and wonderful relics with which the +Cardinal, twenty years before, had sought to carry on the traffic in +indulgences, so hateful to Luther, he now wished to exhibit in like +manner at Mayence, his town of residence. Thereupon Luther, in 1542, +published anonymously, but with the evident intention of being +recognised as its author, a 'New Paper from the Rhine,' which +announced to German Christendom a series of new, unheard-of relics, +collected by his Highness the Elector, such as a piece of the left +horn of Moses, three tongues of flame from his burning bush, &c., +and lastly a whole drachm of his own true heart and half an ounce of +his own truthful tongue, which his Highness had added as a legacy by +his last will and testament. The Pope, said Luther, had promised to +anyone who should give a gulden in honour of the relics, a remission +for ten years of whatever sins he pleased. Contempt of this kind was +all that Luther found the exhibition deserved. Albert remained +silent. + +About the same time the Elector John Frederick undertook a novel, +important, though a dangerous, and to Luther an objectionable step, +in connection with a bishopric then vacant. The Bishop of Naumburg +had died. The Chapter of the Cathedral, with whom lay the election +of his successor, were accustomed to guide their choice by the wish +of the Elector, as their territorial sovereign. They now elected, +without waiting to hear from John Frederick, who had seceded from +Catholicism, the distinguished Julius von Pflug. The Elector, on the +contrary, was anxious, as his privilege was hurt by this neglect, to +nominate a bishop of his own choice, and, moreover, a member of the +Augsburg Confession. His Chancellor, Brück, protested earnestly +against this step, and Luther could not refrain from endorsing his +remonstrance. If the common herd of Papists, he said, had been +content to look on and see what had been done to priests and monks, +they and the Emperor would not care to see the same things done with +the Episcopate. The Elector thought this pusillanimous; he wished to +be bolder and more spirited than Luther. It was a pity only that his +pious zeal lacked the more circumspect judgment of his advisers, and +that the interests of his own authority were also concerned. He +declined even to accept the advice of the Wittenberg theologians, +who suggested that, at all events, the bishopric should be given to +the eminent prince of the Empire, George of Anhalt, but chose +Nicholas von Amsdorf--a man of better promise, not, indeed, solely +from his theological principles, but as being likely to be more +dependent on his territorial sovereign, though perhaps, as an +unmarried man and a member of the nobility, less repugnant than any +other Protestant theologian to the Catholics. On January 18, 1542, +the Elector brought him in solemn state to Naumburg before the +chapter there assembled. + +Luther was glad, nevertheless, to see an Evangelical bishop. He took +care to introduce him in Evangelical manner. According to the +Catholic doctrine, as is well known, the Episcopate is transmitted +from the Apostles by the act of consecration, with the laying on of +hands and anointing, which can only be done by one bishop to +another, and only a bishop can then consecrate priests or the +clergy. The Reformers would easily have been able to continue this +so-called Apostolical succession through the Prussian bishops who +went over to them. But, as they never acknowledged the necessity of +this with regard to the inferior clergy, neither did they with +regard to the new bishop. Luther himself consecrated Amsdorf on +January 20, together with two Evangelical superintendents of the +neighbourhood, and the principal pastor and superintendent of the +Evangelical congregation at Naumburg, with prayer and the laying on +of hands, in the presence of the various orders and a multitude of +people from the town and district assembled in the Cathedral. The +congregation were first informed that an honest, upright bishop had +now been nominated for them by their sovereign and his estates in +concert with the clergy, and they were called upon to express their +own approval by an Amen, which was thereupon given loudly in +response. In this manner at least it was sought to comply with a +rule especially enjoined by Cyprian: namely, that a bishop should be +elected in an assembly of neighbouring bishops and with the consent +of his own congregation. Luther gave an account of the ceremony in a +tract, entitled 'Example of the way to consecrate a true Christian +bishop.' + +[Illustration: FIG. 4e.-AMSDORF. (From an old woodcut.)] + +Brück's apprehensions meantime were only too well founded. The +complaints raised against this consecration weighed heavily with +even the more moderate opponents of the Reformation, and especially +with the Emperor. It was at the same time very evident that, as we +have elsewhere observed, the Elector, good Churchman as he was by +disposition, frequently displayed too little energy in regard to the +general relations and interests of his Church. Thus the arrangements +required for the bishopric remained neglected, and the new bishop +was furnished with a most inadequate maintenance. Luther complained +that the Electoral Court undertook great things, and then left them +sticking in the mire. Moreover, among many of the temporal lords, +even on the Protestant side, there were signs of spiteful jealousy +and suspicion against the honours and advantages enjoyed by their +theologians. Luther himself proceeded therefore with the utmost +possible caution. He even declined once a present of venison from +his friend Amsdorf, in order not to give occasion for calumny by the +'Centaurs at Court;' though, as he said, they themselves had +devoured everything, without any prickings of conscience. 'Let +them,' he wrote to Amsdorf, 'guzzle in God's name or in any other.' + +Scarcely had the Elector's instalment of the bishop (1542) awakened +these bitter feelings of resentment, when a war threatened to break +out between the Elector and his cousin and fellow-Protestant, Duke +Maurice of Saxony, the successor of his late father Henry--a war +which would have imperilled more than anything else the position of +the Protestants in the Empire, and which stirred and disquieted +Luther to his inmost soul. + +Between the ducal, or Albertine, and the Electoral, or Ernestine +lines of the princely house of Saxony, various rights were in +dispute, and among them, in particular, those of supreme +jurisdiction over the little town of Wurzen, belonging to the +bishopric of Meissen. When now the Bishop of Meissen refused to let +the subsidy, levied at Wurzen for the war against the Turks, be +forwarded to the Elector, the latter, in March 1542, quickly sent +thither his troops. Maurice at once called out his own troops +against him. Both continued to arm, and prepared to fight. Luther +thereupon, in a letter of April 7, intended for publication, +appealed to them and their Estates in terms of heartfelt Christian +fervour and perfect frankness. He reminded them of the Scriptural +admonition to keep peace; of the close relationship of the two +princes as the sons of two sisters; of their noble birth; of their +subjects, the burghers and peasants, who were so closely +intermingled by marriage that the war would be no war, but a mere +family brawl; furthermore, of the petty ground of their fierce +contention, just as if two drunken rustics were fighting in a tavern +about a glass of beer, or two idiots about a bit of bread; of the +shame and scandal for the Gospel; and of the triumph of their +enemies and the devil, who would rejoice to see this little spark +kindle into a conflagration. If either of the two, instead of using +force, would declare himself content with what was just and right, +whether it were his own Elector or the Duke, Luther for his part +would assist him with his prayers, and he might then trust himself +with confidence against aggression, and leave spear and musket to +the children of discontent. He told the others that they had +incurred the ban and the vengeance of God; nay, he advised all who +had to fight under such an unpeaceful prince to run from the field +as fast as they could. + +The Landgrave Philip, who had hitherto, on account of his second +marriage, continued somewhat on strained terms with John Frederick, +brought about at this critical moment a peaceful understanding +between him and Maurice. The young duke, however, burned with an +ambition which longed to satisfy itself, even at the expense of his +cousin and other Protestant princes, and his power, moreover, was +far superior to the Elector's. Luther augured evil for the future. + +The Reformation was now accepted in the territory also of Duke Henry +of Brunswick. The Landgrave Philip and John Frederick had taken the +field together against him, on account of his having attacked the +Evangelical town of Goslar and sought defiantly to execute against +it a sentence, in connection with ecclesiastical matters, which had +threatened it from the Imperial Chamber, but was suspended by the +Emperor. This war against 'Henry the Incendiary' Luther considered +just and necessary, the question being one of protecting the +oppressed. Wolfenbüttel, whose fortress the Duke boasted to be +impregnable, speedily succumbed on August 13, 1542, to the fate of +war and the boldness of Philip. Luther saw with triumph how the +fortress which, it was reputed, could stand a six years' siege, had +fallen in three days by the help of God. He hoped only that the +conquerors would be humble and give the glory of the exploit to God. +They then occupied the land, the prince of which fled, and proceeded +to establish the Evangelical Church, in accordance with the general +wish of the population. + +Maurice of Saxony, who still strenuously adhered to the Evangelical +confession and to his rights as protector of the Church, not only +continued the reformation commenced in the Duchy by his father, but +succeeded in extending it peacefully to the bishopric of Merseburg. +The chapter there decided, in 1544, on his nomination, to elect to +the vacant see his young brother Augustus, who, not being himself an +ecclesiastic, delegated at once his episcopal functions to George of +Anhalt, Luther's pious-minded friend. Luther in the summer of the +following year consecrated him, in the same manner as Amsdorf, +together with several superintendents, and with Bugenhagen, +Cruciger, and Jonas. + +Events far greater and more important were occurring in the +archbishopric of Cologne. Here an Archbishop at once and Elector, +the aged, worthy Hermann of Wied, had resolved, from his own free +conviction, to undertake a reformation on the basis of the Gospel. +In 1543 he invited Melancthon for this purpose from Wittenberg. +Melancthon's fellow-labourer was Butzer, who had the reputation of +always allowing himself to be carried too far by his zeal for +general unity in the Church, and at the same time, in regard to the +doctrine of the Sacrament, even as accepted by the Wittenberg +Concord, of preferring a more vague conception of his own. Luther, +however, promoted the undertaking with thanks to God, himself +furthered Melancthon's going, assured him of his entire confidence, +and learned from him with joy of the Archbishop's uprightness, +penetration, and constancy. In like manner, the Bishop of Münster +also began to attempt a reformation, in conformity with the wishes +of his Estates. + +The Emperor at length, who since 1542 had been again at war with +France, and who needed therefore all the assistance that his German +Estates could give him, displayed at a new Diet at Spires, in 1544, +more gracious consideration to the Protestants than he had ever done +before. In the Imperial Recess he promised not only to endeavour to +bring about a general Council, to be assembled in Germany, but +undertook, since the meeting of such a Council was still uncertain, +to convoke another Diet, which should itself deal with the religion +in dispute. In the meantime, he and the various Estates of the +Empire would consider and prepare a scheme for Christian unity and a +general Christian reformation. The Archbishop Albert, now wholly +embittered against the Reformation, had issued a warning, after the +Diet of 1541, against any agreement to hold a Council on German +soil, as the Protestant poison would here have too powerful an +influence; in a national German Council he foresaw the threatening +danger of a schism. The resolutions passed at Spires brought down +severe reproaches from the Pope against the Emperor. What particularly +scandalised his Christian Holiness was that laymen--aye, laymen, who +supported the condemned heretics--were to sit as judges in matters +concerning the Church and the priesthood. + +Protestantism, both in its extent and power, had now reached a point +of progress in the German Empire which seemed to offer a possibility +of its becoming the religion of the great majority of the nation, +and even of this majority being united. Charles V., nevertheless, +kept his eyes steadily fixed on his original goal--nay, he probably +felt himself nearer to it than ever. By his concessions he obtained +an army, which enabled him in the September of that year to conclude +a durable peace with King Francis, stipulating, as before, but +secretly, for mutual co-operation for the restoration of Catholic +unity in the Church. The next thing to be done was to persuade the +Pope at length to convene a Council, which should serve this object +in the sense intended by the Emperor, and then to enforce by its +authority the final subjection of the Protestants. + +This possibility of a final triumph of Protestantism might have been +counted on with hope, if only that breath of the Spirit which had +once been stirred by the Reformer and had already responded to his +efforts had remained in full force and vigour in the hearts of the +German people; and if the new Spirit, thus awakened, had really +penetrated the masses, or, at least, the influential classes and +high personages who espoused the new faith, and had purified and +strengthened them to fight, to work, and to suffer. But Luther +complained from the very first, and more and more as time went on, +how sadly this Spirit was wanting to assist him in proclaiming the +Gospel and combating the anti-Christian system of Rome. Thus he +again complained, when hearing of what had happened at Cologne, at +Münster, and at Brunswick, that 'much evil and little good happens +to us;' he adapted to his own Church community the proverb, 'The +nearer Rome, the worse, the Christian,' as well as the words of the +prophets, lamenting the iniquity of Jerusalem, the holy city. In his +zeal he reproached the Evangelical congregations even more severely +than his Catholic and Popish opponents would ever have ventured to +reproach them, inasmuch as their own moral position, to say the +least, was not a whit better. But against the former, his own +brethren, Luther had to complain of base ingratitude to God for the +signal benefits He had vouchsafed them. Thus the peasantry, in +particular, he taxed again and again with their old selfish and +obstinate indifference and stupidity; the burghers with their luxury +and service of Mammon; and his fellow-countrymen in general with +their gluttony and their coarse and carnal appetites. It pained him +most to see these sins prevail among his nearest fellow-townsmen and +followers, his Wittenbergers; and he lashed out with all his force +against the students whom, as a class, he saw addicted to unchastity +and to 'swinish vices,' as he called them. The authorities, in his +opinion, were far too unmindful of their high appointment by God, of +which he had taken such pains to assure them. When Church discipline +came to be really introduced and made more stringent, he foresaw +quite well that it would only touch the peasants, and not reach the +upper classes. Among the great nobles at Court, especially at +Dresden, but also at that of the Elector, he found 'violent Centaurs +and greedy Harpies,' who preyed upon the Reformation and disgraced +it, and in whose midst it was difficult--nay, impossible--even for +an honest, right-minded ruler to govern as a true Christian. He had +already, and especially in these latter years, been in conflict with +lawyers, including some of well-recognised conscientiousness, such +as his colleague and friend Schurf, about many questions in which +they declared themselves unable to deviate from theories of the +canon or even the Roman law, which he considered unchristian and +immoral. He declared it, for example, to be an insult to the law of +God that they should insist so strongly on the obligation of vows of +marriage, made by young people in secret and against their parents' +will. So far from anticipating the triumph of the Evangelical +religion, while such was the condition of Germans and German +Protestants, he predicted with anxiety heavy punishment for his +country, and declared that God would assuredly cause the confessors +of the Gospel to be purged and sifted by calamity. + +Just at that time, when a decisive moment was approaching for the +great ecclesiastical contest in Germany, Luther felt himself +constrained to rend asunder once more the bond of peace and mutual +toleration which had been established with such trouble between +himself and the Swiss Evangelicals. In doing so, he had seen no +reason either to change or conceal his old opinion about Zwingli. +The Swiss, on the other hand, offended by Luther's utterances, took, +in a manner, their honoured teacher and reformer under their +protection; from which Luther concluded that they still clung to all +his errors. A lurking distrust of Luther had never been wholly +dispelled among them. Luther heard, moreover, of corrupting +influences still exercised by the Sacramentarians outside +Switzerland. A letter reached him to that effect from some of his +adherents at Venice, whose complaints of the mischievous results of +the Sacramental controversy among their fellow-worshippers ascribed +that controversy to the continued influence of Zwinglianism. In +August 1543 he wrote to the Zurich printer Froschauer, who had +presented him with a translation of the Bible made by the preacher +of that town, saying briefly and frankly that he could have no +fellowship with them, and that he had no desire to share the blame +of their pernicious doctrine; he was sorry 'that they should have +laboured in vain, and should after all be lost.' Even in a scheme of +reformation which Butzer, with Melancthon, had prepared for Cologne, +he now discovered some suspicious articles about the Sacrament, to +which a criticism of Amsdorf had drawn his notice; they passed over, +it appeared, Luther's declaration, already agreed on, about the +substantial presence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament, or merely +'mumbled it,' as was Luther's expression. Nay, he heard it said that +even Wittenberg and himself would not adhere to his doctrine on this +point. Occasion, indeed, was given for this remark by the +circumstance that the ancient usage of the Elevation of the Host, +which, though connected with the Catholic idea of sacrifice, had +nevertheless been hitherto retained, though interpreted in another +sense, was now at length abolished at Wittenberg. After much anger +and discontent, Luther broke out, in September 1544, with the tract, +'Short Confession of the Holy Sacrament.' He had nothing to do with +any new refutation of false teachers--these, he said, had already +been frequently convicted by him as open blasphemers--but simply to +testify once more against the 'fanatics and enemies of the +Sacrament, Carlstadt, Zwingli, Oecolampadius, Schwenkfeld, and their +disciples,' and once and for all to renounce all fellowship with +these lost souls. + +Alarming reports were spread about attacks being also meditated by +Luther against Butzer and Melancthon. Melancthon himself trembled; +he seriously feared he should be compelled to retire into exile. But +not a word did Luther say against Butzer, beyond calling him, as he +did now, a chatterbox. Against Melancthon we find nowhere, not even +in Luther's letters to his intimate friends, a single harsh or +menacing expression from his lips. He maintained his confidence in +him, even in respect to the later proceedings in the Church. When +urged to publish a collection of his Latin writings, he long refused +to do so, as he says in the preface to his edition of 1545, because +there were already such excellent works on Christian doctrine, such +as, in particular, the 'Loci Communes' of Melancthon, which its +author had recently revised. It must be regretted that Melancthon, +at moments like these, which must have caused him pain, did not open +his heart with more freedom and courage to the friend whose heart +still beat with such warm and unchanging affection for himself. + +Luther never, till the day of his death, bestowed much care or +calculation on the immediate consequences of his acts and of the +work to which he felt himself called and urged by God, and which +certainly brought out in strong relief the individuality of his +nature. While committing, as he did, the cause to God alone, he kept +steadily in view the ultimate goal to which God was surely guiding +it--nay, that goal was immediately before his eyes. His confident +belief in the near approach of the last day, when the Lord would +solve all these earthly doubts and difficulties, and manifest +Himself in the perfect glory and bliss of His kingdom, remained in +him unaltered from the beginning of his struggle to the end of his +labours. We recognise in this belief the intensity of his own +longings, wrestlings, and strivings for this end, as also the +sincerity of his own conviction, little as the days of which we are +now speaking, so busy with events of every kind, corresponded with +the time ordained by God. Luther stretched out his view and +aspirations beyond this world, all the time that he was teaching +Christians again how to honour the world in the moral duties +assigned to them, and to enjoy its blessings and benefits with +thankfulness to God. 'No man knoweth the day or the hour'--of this +he constantly reminded them, and warned them against idle +speculations. But his hopes, nevertheless, he still rested on the +nearness of the end. These hopes he expressed with peculiar +assurance in a small Latin tract, written during these later years +of his life, in which he treats of Biblical chronology, and further +of the epochal years in the history of the world. In referring, for +example, to the wide-spread theory, originating with the Jews, of a +great Week of six thousand years, to be followed by the final and +everlasting Day of Rest, he sought with much ingenuity of reasoning +to prove that of those six thousand years probably only half would +be accomplished. Since now, according to his chronology, the year +1,540 was the 5,500th year of the world, the end was bound to be at +hand--nay, was already overdue--when his little book appeared in +1541. Yet, whatever were his views on this point, he never, like so +many others, allowed himself to be drawn by such hopes and desires +into illusions dangerous in practice. + +This year passed by without any further or greater literary labour +on his part. + +In addition to this continued polemic against the popedom and false +teachers, we must not omit to mention some characteristic +controversial writings, provoked from him by his indignation at the +attacks on Christianity by Jews, nay, by their seduction of many +Christians. As early as 1538, a strange rumour of a 'Jewish rabble' +in Moravia--a country rich in sectaries--having induced Christians +to accept the Mosaic law, had called forth from him a public 'Letter +against the Sabbathers.' He launched out with vehemence against them +in 1543 in some further tracts, inveighing mainly against the dirty +insults and savage blasphemies which the brazen-faced Jews dared to +employ towards Christ and Christians, and also against the usurers, +in whose toils the Christians were ensnared. He declared even that +their synagogues, the scene of their blasphemies and calumnies, +should be burnt, and they themselves compelled to take to honest +handicraft, or be hunted from the country. + +In the grand and beautiful labour of his life, the German +translation of the Bible, he was busily occupied until his death. +After the second chief edition had appeared, in 1541, he endeavoured +to improve, at least in some points, those which followed in 1543 +and 1545. He meditated also revising and further improving the most +important of his sermons, which have been left to posterity. After +having undertaken this task in 1540 with a number of them, he caused +three years later the 'Summer-Postills,' which Roth had previously +edited and brought out, to be published in a new form by his +colleague Cruciger. This work was now completed by the addition of +his sermons on the Epistles. + +We have already seen how earnestly, even before the great end should +come, Luther longed for his eternal rest, and for release from the +struggles and labours of his earthly life, and the burden of his +bodily suffering. He spoke of his death with calmness but with deep +earnestness, and, indeed, with a touch of humour which pained those +who heard him speak, or read his writings. Thus, when in March 1544 +the Elector's wife, Sybil, asked him 'anxiously and diligently' +about his own health and that of his wife and children, he answered: +'Thank God, we are well, and better than we deserve of God. But no +wonder, if I am sometimes shaky in the head. Old age is creeping on +me, which in itself is cold and unsightly, and I am ill and weak. +The pitcher goes to the well until it breaks. I have lived long +enough; God grant me a happy end, that this useless body may reach +His people beneath the earth, and go to feed the worms. Consider +that I have seen the best that I shall ever see on earth. For it +looks as if evil times were coming. God help his own. Amen.' + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +LUTHER'S LATER LIFE: DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL DETAILS. + + +Frequently as Luther complained of his old age and ever-increasing +weakness, lassitude, and uselessness, his writings and letters give +evidence not only of an indomitable power and unquenchable ardour, +but also, and often enough, of those cheerful, merry moods, which +rose superior to all his sufferings, disappointments, and anger. He +himself declared that his many enemies, especially the sectaries, +who were always attacking him, always made him young again. The true +source of his strength he found in his Lord and Saviour, Whose +strength is made perfect in weakness, and to Whom he clung with a +firm and tranquil faith. To this, indeed, we must add one +particularly favourable influence, in regard to his life and +calling, which had been awakened since his marriage. In speaking of +his family, his wife, and his children, he is always full of thanks +to God; his heart swells with emotion, and he breathes amid his +heated labours and struggles a fresh and bracing air. Just as, +during the Diet of Augsburg, he had pointed out encouragingly to the +Elector the happy Paradise which God had allowed to bloom for him in +his little boys and girls, so he himself was permitted to experience +and enjoy this Paradise at home. In his domestic no less than in his +public life he saw a vocation marked out for him by God; not, +indeed, as if he, the Reformer, had here any peculiar path of life, +or exceptional duties to perform, but so that in that holy estate +ordained for all men, however despised by arrogant monks and +priests, and dishonoured by the sensual, he felt himself called on +to serve God, as was the duty of all men and all Christians alike, +and to enjoy the blessings which God had given him. + +[Illustration: Fig. 47.--LUTHER. (From a portrait by Cranach, in his +Album, at Berlin.)] + +Five children were now growing up. The eldest, John, or Hanschen +(Jack), was followed, during the troublous days of 1527, by his +first little daughter, Elizabeth. Eight months after, as he told a +friend, she already said good-bye to him, to go to Christ, through +death to life; and he was forced to marvel how sick at heart, nay, +almost womanish, he felt at her departure. In May 1529 he was +comforted to some extent by the birth of a little Magdalene or +Lenchen (Lena). Then followed the boys: Martin in 1531, and Paul +in 1533. The former was born only a few days--if not the very +day--before the feast of St. Martin, and the birthday of his father; +hence he received the same name. His son Paul he named in memory of +the great Apostle, to whom he owed so much. At his baptism he +expressed the hope that 'perhaps the Lord God might train up in him +a new enemy of the Pope or the Turks.' The youngest child was a +little daughter, Margaret, who was born in 1534. + +His family included also an aunt of his wife, Magdalene von Bora. +She had been formerly a nun in the same cloister as her niece, where +she had filled the post of head-nurse. She lived among Luther's +children like a beloved grandmother. It was she whom Luther meant by +the 'Aunt Lena,' of whom he wrote to his little Hans in 1530 saying, +'Give her a kiss from me;' and when in 1537 he was able to travel +homewards from Schmalkald, where he had been in such imminent peril +of death, he wrote to his wife: 'Let the dear little children, +together with Aunt Lena, thank their true Father in Heaven.' She +died, probably, shortly afterwards. Luther comforted her with the +words: 'You will not die, but sleep away as in a cradle, and when +the morning dawns, you will rise and live for ever.' + +[Illustration: Fig. 48.--WITTENBERG. (From an old engraving.)] + +At this time Luther had two orphan nieces living with him, Lene and +Else Kaufmann of Mansfeld, sisters of Cyriac, whom we found with him +at Coburg, and also a young relative, of whom we know nothing +further than that her name was Anna. Lene was betrothed in 1538 to +the worthy treasurer of the University of Wittenberg, Ambrosius +Berndt, and Luther gave the wedding. He used also from time to time +to have some young student nephews at his house. + +[Illustration: Fig. 49.--THE "_LUTHER-HOUSE_" (previously the +Convent), before its recent restoration.] + +When his boys grew up and the time came for them to learn, he had a +resident tutor for them. For his own assistance he engaged a young +man as amanuensis; thus we find Veit Dietrich with him at Coburg in +this capacity. We hear afterwards of a young pupil--indeed, of two +or more--who lived with Dietrich at Luther's house. This seems, +however, to have somewhat overtaxed his wife; in the autumn of 1534 +Dietrich left his house on that account. + +[Illustration: Fig. 50.--LUTHER'S ROOM.] + +Luther, like other professors, used to take several students for +payment to his table. Among these there were men of riper years who +were eager, nevertheless, to share in the studies at Wittenberg, +and, above all things, to make his acquaintance. Besides this, his +house was open to a number of guests, theologians and others, of +high or low degree, who called on him in passing through the town. + +The dwelling-place of this large and growing household was a portion +of the former Convent. The Elector John Frederick had assigned it to +Luther for his own. The house, which had not been completed when the +Reformation began, was still unfinished when Luther went there, and +it needed many improvements. The present richer architectural +features of the building date from a very recent restoration. It +stood against the town wall, and was protected by the Elbe. His own +small study looked out in this direction, and formed a gable above +the water of the moat; though, as he complained in 1530, it was +threatened with alterations for military purposes, and perhaps +during his lifetime fell a prey to them. Only one of the larger +rooms of the house, situated in front, has been preserved in the +recollection of posterity, and is now called Luther's room. It was +probably the chief sitting-room of the family. + +The young couple possessed at first a very slender maintenance. +Neither of them had any private means. When, in 1527, Luther was +lying apparently on his deathbed, he had nothing to leave his wife +but the cups which had been given him as presents, and it happened +that he was obliged to pawn even these to find money for their +immediate wants. + +By degrees, however, his income and property increased. His salary +as professor at the University (he received no honorarium for his +lectures) was raised on his marriage by the Elector John from 100 to +200 gulden, and John Frederick added 100 gulden more--the value of a +gulden at that time being equal to about 16 marks of the present +German money. He received, also, regular payments in kind. Now and +then he had a special present from the Elector, such as a fine piece +of cloth, a cask of wine, or some venison, with greetings from his +Highness. In 1536 John Frederick sent him two casks of wine, saying +that it was that year's growth of his vineyards, and that Luther +would find how good it was when he tasted it. Luther's share of his +father's property was 250 gulden, which he was to be paid later in +small instalments by his brother James, who was heir to the real +estate. In 1539 Bugenhagen brought him from Denmark an offering of +100 gulden, and two years afterwards the Danish king gave him and +his children an allowance of 50 gulden a year. Luther never troubled +himself much about his expenses, and gave with generous liberality +what he earned. His wife kept things together for the household, +managed it with business-like energy and talent, and tried to add to +their income. + +They enlarged their garden by buying some more strips adjoining it, +as well as a field. In 1540 Luther purchased for 610 gulden from a +brother of his wife, who was in needy circumstances, the small farm +of Zülsdorf or Zulsdorf, between Leipzig and Borna--it must not be +confounded with another village of the same name. The market at +Wittenberg being usually very poorly furnished, his wife sought to +supply their domestic wants by her own economy. She planted the +garden with all sorts of trees, among these even mulberry-trees and +fig-trees, and she cultivated also hops; and there was a small +fish-pond. This little property she loved to manage and superintend +in person. At Wittenberg she brewed, as was then the custom, their +own beer, the Convent being privileged in that respect. We hear of +her keeping a number of pigs, and arranging for their sale. Luther +incidentally makes mention of a coachman among his other servants. +Finally, in 1541, Luther purchased a small house near his residence +at the Convent, fearing that he would have to give up the latter +entirely for the work of fortification, and thus be prevented from +leaving it to his wife. He was only obliged in ten years to pay off +a portion of the purchase money. + +In this happy married life and home the great Reformer found his +peace and refreshment; in it he found his vocation as a man, a +husband, and a father. Speaking from his own experience he said: +'Next to God's Word, the world has no more precious treasure than +holy matrimony. God's best gift is a pious, cheerful, God-fearing, +home-keeping wife, with whom you may live peacefully, to whom you +can entrust your goods, and body, and life.' He speaks of the +married state, moreover, as a life which, if rightly led, is full to +overflowing of good works. He knows, on the other hand, of many +'stubborn and strange couples, who neither care for their children, +nor love each other from their hearts.' Such people, he said, were +not human beings; they made their homes a hell. + +In his language about this life and his own conduct in it, there is +no trace of sentimentality, exaggerated emotion, or artificial +idealism. It is a strong, sturdy, and, as many have thought, a +somewhat rough genuineness of nature, but at the same time full of +tenderness, purity, and fervour; and with it is combined that +heartfelt and loyal devotion to his Heavenly Creator and Lord, and +to His Will and His commands, which marked the character of Luther +to the last. + +With regard to his children, Luther had resolved from the moment of +their birth to consecrate them to God, and wean them from a wicked, +corrupt, and accursed world. In several of his letters he entreats +his friends with great earnestness to stand godfather to one of his +children, and to help the poor little heathen to become a Christian, +and pass from the death of sin to a holy and blessed regeneration. +In making this request of a young Bohemian nobleman, then staying in +his house, on behalf of his son Martin, he grew so earnest that, to +the surprise of all present, his voice trembled; this, he said, was +caused by the Holy Spirit of God, for the cause he was pleading was +God's, and it demanded reverence. And yet, in the simple, natural, +innocent, and happy ways of children he recognised the precious +handiwork of God and His protecting Hand. He loved to watch the +games and pleasures of his little ones; all they did was so +spontaneous and so natural. Children, he said, believe so simply and +undoubtedly that God is in Heaven and is their God and their dear +Father, and that there is everlasting life. On hearing one day one +of his children prattling about this life and of the great joy in +Heaven with eating, and dancing, and so forth, he said, 'Their life +is the most blessed and the best; they have none but pure thoughts +and happy imaginations.' At the sight of his little children seated +round the table, he called to mind the exhortation of Jesus, that we +must 'become as little children;' and added, 'Ah! dear God! Thou +hast done clumsily in exalting children--such poor little +simpletons--so high. Is it just and right that Thou shouldst reject +the wise, and receive the foolish? But God our Lord has purer +thoughts than we have; He must, therefore, refine us, as said the +fanatics; He must hew great boughs and chips from us, before He +makes such children and little simpletons of us.' + +In what a childlike spirit Luther understood to talk to his children +is shown by his letter from Coburg to his little Hans, then fourteen +years old. He himself taught them to pray, to sing, and to repeat +the Catechism. Of his little daughter Margaret he could tell one of +her godfathers how she had learnt to sing hymns when only four years +old. His hymn 'From the highest Heaven I come,' the freshest, most +joyful, most childlike song that has ever been heard from children's +lips at Christmas, he composed as a father who celebrated that +joyous festival with his own children. It appeared first in the year +1535. He might well, after the manner of old Festival plays, have +let an angel step in among them, who in the opening verses should +bring them the good tidings in the Gospel, to which they should +answer with 'Therefore let us all be joyful.' The words 'Therefore I +am always joyful, Free to dance and free to sing,' call to mind an +old custom of accompanying the Christmas Hymn with a dance. + +Luther warned against all outbursts of passion and undue severity +towards children, and carefully guarded himself against such errors, +remembering the bitter experiences of his own childhood in that +respect. But he could be angry and strict enough when occasion +required; he used to say he would rather have a dead son than a bad +one. + +There was no really good school at Wittenberg for his boys, and +Luther himself could not devote as much time to them as they +required. He took a resident tutor for them, a young theologian. His +boy John nevertheless gave some trouble with his teaching and +bringing up. His father, contrary to his own wishes, seems to have +been too weak, and his mother's fondness for her first-born seems to +have somewhat spoilt him. Luther gave the boy over afterwards to his +friend Mark Crodel, the Rector of the school at Torgau, whom he held +in high respect as a grammarian, and as a pedagogue of grave and +strict morals. + +[Illustration: Fig. 51.--LUTHER'S DAUGHTER 'LENE.' (From Cranach's +portrait.)] + +His favourite child was little Lena, a pious, gentle, affectionate +little girl, and devoted to him with her whole heart. A charming +picture of her remains, by Cranach, a friend of the family. But she +died in the bloom of early youth, on September 20, 1542, after a +long and severe illness. The grief he had felt at the loss of his +daughter Elizabeth was now renewed and intensified. When she was +lying on her sick-bed, he said, 'I love her very much indeed; but, +dear God, if it is Thy will to take her hence, I would gladly she +were with Thee.' To Magdalene herself he said, 'Lena, dear, my +little daughter, thou wouldst love to remain here with thy father; +art thou willing to go to that other Father?' 'Yes, dear father,' +she answered; 'just as God wills.' And when she was dying, he fell +on his knees beside her bed, wept bitterly, and prayed for her +redemption, and she fell asleep in his arms. As she lay in her +coffin, he looked at her and exclaimed, 'Ah! my darling Lena, thou +wilt rise again and shine like a star--yea, as the sun;' and added, +'I am happy in the spirit, but in the flesh I am very sorrowful. The +flesh will not be subdued: parting troubles one above measure; it is +a wonderful thing to think that she is assuredly in peace, and that +all is well with her, and yet to be so sad.' To the mourners he +said, 'I have sent a saint to Heaven: could mine be such a death as +hers, I would welcome such a death this moment.' He expressed the +same sorrow, and the same exultation in his letters to his friends. +To Jonas he wrote: 'You will have heard that my dearest daughter +Magdalene is born again in the everlasting kingdom of Christ. +Although I and my wife ought only to thank God with joy for her +happy departure, whereby she has escaped the power of the world, the +flesh, the Turks and the devil, yet so strong is natural love that +we cannot bear it without sobs and sighs from the heart, without a +bitter sense of death in ourselves. So deeply printed on our hearts +are her ways, her words, her gestures, whether alive or dying, that +even Christ's death cannot drive away this agony.' His little Hans, +whom his sick sister longed to see once more, he had sent for from +Torgau a fortnight before she died: he wrote for that purpose to +Crodel, saying 'I would not have my conscience reproach me +afterwards for having neglected anything.' But when several weeks +later, about Christmas-time, under the influence of grief and the +tender words which his mother had spoken to him, a desire came over +the boy to leave Torgau and live at home, his father exhorted him to +conquer his sorrow like a man, not to increase by his own the grief +of his mother, and to obey God, who had appointed him, through his +parents' direction, to live at Torgau. + +The care of the children and of the whole household fell to the +share of Frau Luther, and her husband could trust her with it in +perfect confidence. She was a woman of strong, ruling, practical +nature, who enjoyed hard work and plenty of it. She served her +husband at all times, after her own manner, with faithful and +affectionate devotion. He must often have felt grateful, amidst his +physical and mental sufferings, and the violent storms and +temptations that vexed his soul, that a helpmate of such a sound +constitution, such strong nerves, and such a clever, sensible mind +should have fallen to his share. + +Luther lived with her in thankful love and harmony; nor have even the +calumnies of malicious enemies been able to cast a shadow of doubt +upon the perfect concord of his married life. In his 'Table Talk' he +says of her: 'I am, thank God, very well, for I have a pious, faithful +wife, on whom a man may safely rest his heart.' And again he said once +to her, 'Katie, you have a pious husband, who loves you; you are an +empress.' In words now grave, now humorous, he told her of his tender +love for her; and how trustful and open-hearted were their relations +to each other we gather from the way in which he mocks and occasionally +teases her for her little weaknesses. In later life and in his last +letters he calls her his 'heartily beloved housewife' and his 'darling,' +and he often signs himself 'your love' and 'your old love,' and again +'your dear lord.' Still he said frankly and quietly that his original +suspicion that Catharine was proud was well-founded. In some of his +letters he speaks of her as his 'lord Katie' and his 'gracious wife,' +and of himself as her 'willing servant.' Once he declared that if he +had to marry again, he would carve an obedient wife out of stone, as he +despaired of finding obedience in wives. He spoke also of the +talkativeness of his Katie. Referring to her loving but over-anxious +care for him on his last journey, he called her a holy, careful +woman. From her thrift and energy she gained from him the nicknames +of Lady Zulsdorf, and Lady of the Pigmarket; thus one of his last +letters is addressed to 'my heartily beloved housewife, Catharine, +Lady Luther, Lady Doctor, Lady Zulsdorf, Lady of the Pigmarket, and +whatever else she may be.' + +The 'careful' Catharine was not permitted to check the kind +liberality of her husband. His friend Mathesius tells us, of their +early married life, 'A poor man made him a pitiful tale of distress, +and having no cash with him, Luther came to his wife--she being then +confined--for the god-parents' money, and brought it to the poor +man, saying, 'God is rich, He will supply what is wanted.' +Afterwards, however, he grew more careful, seeing how often he was +imposed upon. 'Rogues,' he said, 'have sharpened my wits.' An +example of how particular, nay anxious, he was never even to let it +seem that he sought for presents or other profit for himself, was +given in his letter to Amsdorf, declining a gift of venison. He +wrote once to the Elector John, who had sent him an offering: 'I +have unfortunately more, especially from your Highness, than I can +conscientiously keep. As a preacher, it is not fitting for me to +enjoy a superfluity, nor do I covet it; ... therefore I beseech your +Highness to wait until I ask of you.' In 1539, when Bugenhagen +brought to him the hundred gulden from the King of Denmark, he +wished to give him half of it, for the service Bugenhagen had +rendered him during his absence. For his office of preacher in the +town church he never received any payment; the town from time to +time made him a present of wine from the council-cellar, and lime +and stones for building his house. For his writings he received +nothing from the publishers. Against over-anxious cares and +troubles, and setting her heart too much on worldly possessions, he +earnestly cautioned his wife, and insisted that amid the numerous +household matters she should not neglect to read the Bible. Once in +1535 he promised her fifty gulden if she would read the Bible +through, whereupon, as he told a friend, it became a 'very serious +matter to her.' + +Luther frequently assisted his wife in her household. He was very +fond of gardening and agriculture, and we have seen how he sent +commissions to friends for stocking his garden at Wittenberg. On one +occasion, when going to fish with his wife in their little pond, he +noticed with joy how she took more pleasure in her few fish than +many a nobleman did in his great lakes with many hundred draughts of +fishes. In 1539 he had to order a chest at Torgau for his 'lord +Katie,' for their store of house-linen. Of the handsome and +elaborate way in which Catharine thought of ornamenting the exterior +of their house--the home of her illustrious husband--a fine specimen +remains in the door of the Luther-haus at Wittenberg. Luther wrote, +by her wish, to a friend at Pirna in 1539, pastor Lauterbach, about +a 'carved house-door,' for the width of which she sent the +measurement. The door, carved in sandstone, and bearing the date +1540, has on one side Luther's bust and on the other his crest, and +below are two small seats, built there according to the custom of +the times. + +[Illustration: Fig. 52.--Door of Luther's House at Wittenberg.] + +In view of his approaching death, Luther wished, in 1542, to provide +for his devoted wife by a will. He left her for her lifetime and +absolute property the little farm of Zulsdorf, the small house at +Wittenberg (already mentioned), and his goblets and other treasures, +such as rings, chains, &c, which he valued at about 1,000 gulden. In +doing so, he thanked her for having been to him a 'pious, true wife +at all times, full of loving, tender care towards him, and for +having borne to him and trained, by God's blessing, five children +surviving.' And he wished to provide therewith that she 'must not +receive from the children, but the children from her; that they must +honour and obey her, as God hath commanded.' He further bade her pay +off the debt which was still owing (probably for the house), +amounting to about 450 gulden, because, with the exception of his +few treasures, he had no money to leave her. In making this +provision he no doubt considered that, according to the law, the +inheritance of a married woman who had formerly been a nun might be +disputed, together with the legitimacy of her marriage. Luther did +not wish to bind himself in his will to legal forms. He besought the +Elector graciously to protect his bequest, and concluded his will +with these proud words: + +'Finally, seeing I do not use legal forms, for which I have my own +reasons, I desire all men to take these words as mine--a man known +openly in heaven, on earth, and in hell also, who has enough +reputation or authority to be trusted and believed better than any +notary. To me, a poor, unworthy, miserable sinner, God, the Father +of all mercy, has entrusted the Gospel of His dear Son, and has made +me true and faithful therein, and has so preserved and found me +hitherto, that through me many in this world have received the +Gospel, and hold me as a teacher of the truth, despite of the Pope's +ban, of emperor, king, princes, priests, and all the wrath of the +devil. Let them believe me also in this small matter, especially as +this is my hand, not altogether unknown. In hope that it will be +enough for men to say and prove that this is the earnest, deliberate +meaning of Dr. Martin Luther, God's notary and witness in his +Gospel, confirmed by his own hand and seal.' + +The will is dated the day of the Epiphany, January 6, 1542, and was +witnessed by Melancthon, Cruciger, and Bugenhagen, whose +attestations and signatures appear below. After Luther's death, John +Frederick immediately ratified it. + +As regards his servants, Luther was particularly careful that they +should have nothing to complain of against him, for the devil, he +said, had a sharp eye upon him, to be able to cast a slur upon his +teaching. To those who served him faithfully, he was ever gentle, +grateful, and even indulgent. There was a certain Wolfgang, or Wolf +Sieberger, whom he had taken as early as 1517 into his service at +the convent--an honest but weak man, who knew of no other means of +livelihood. Him Luther retained in his service throughout his life, +and tried to make some provision for his future. He once sought, as +we have seen, to practise turning with him, but of this nothing +further is related. He loved, too, to joke with him in his own +hearty manner. When, in 1534, Wolf built a fowling-floor or place +for catching birds, he reprimanded him for it in a written +indictment, making the 'good, honourable' birds themselves lodge a +complaint against him. They pray Luther to prevent his servant, or +at least to insist upon Wolf (who was a sleepy fellow), strewing +grain for them in the evening, and then not rising before eight +o'clock in the morning; else, they would pray to God to make him +catch in the day-time frogs and snails in their stead, and let fleas +and other insects crawl over him at night; for why should not Wolf +rather employ his wrath and vindictiveness against the sparrows, +daws, mice, and such like? When a servant named Rischmann parted +from him, in 1532, after several years of hard work, Luther sent +word to his wife from Torgau, where he was then staying with the +Elector, to dismiss him 'honourably,' and with a suitable present. +'Think,' he wrote, 'how often we have given to bad men, when all has +been lost; so be liberal, and do not let such a good, fellow +want..... Do not fail; for a goblet is there. Think from whom you +got it. God will give us another, I know.' + +His guests valued highly his company and conversation, especially +those men who came from far and near to visit him. Several of them +have recorded sayings from his lips on these occasions. Luther's +'Table Talk,' which we possess now in print, is founded for the most +part on records given by Viet Dietrich and Lauterbach just +mentioned, who before his call to Pirna in 1539, when deacon at +Wittenberg, was one of Luther's closest friends and his daily guest. +These memorials, however, have been elaborated and recast many +times, by a strange hand, in an arbitrary and unfortunate manner. A +publication of the original text, from which recently a diary of +Lauterbach, of the year 1538, has already appeared, may now be +looked for. Last, but not least, we have to mention John Mathesius, +who, after having been a student at Wittenberg in 1529, and then +rector of the school at Joachimsthal, returned to study at +Wittenberg from 1540 to 1542, and obtained the honour which he +sought for, of being a guest at Luther's table. Deeply impressed as +he was by his intercourse with the Reformer, he described his +impressions to his congregation at Joachimsthal, when afterwards +their pastor, in addresses from the pulpit, which were printed, and +gave them a sketch of Luther's life, with numerous anecdotes about +him. He thus became Luther's first biographer, and, from his +personal intimacy with his friend, and his own true-heartedness, +fervour, and genuineness of nature, he must ever remain endeared to +the followers and admirers of the great Reformer. + +[Illustration: Fig.53.--Mathesius. (From an old woodcut.)] + +Mathesius tells us, indeed, how Luther used often to sit at table +wrapt in deep and anxious thought, and would sometimes keep a +cloister-like silence throughout the meal. At times even he would +work between the courses, or at meals or immediately after, dictate +sermons to friends who had to preach, but who wanted practice in the +art. But when once conversation was opened, it flowed with ease and +freedom, and, as Mathesius says, even merrily. The friends used to +call Luther's speeches their 'table-spice.' His topics varied +according to circumstances and the occasion--things spiritual and +temporal; questions of faith and conduct; the works of God and the +deeds of man; events past and present; hints and short practical +suggestions for ecclesiastical life and office; and apophthegms of +worldly wisdom; all enriched with proverbs of every kind and German +rhymes, which Luther had a great aptitude in composing. Jocular +moods were mingled with deep gravity and even indignation. But in +all he said, as in all he did, he was guided constantly by the +loftiest principles, by the highest considerations of morality and +religious truth, and that in the simple and straightforward manner +which was his nature, utterly free from affectation or artificial +effort. + +In these his discourses, it is true, as in his writings and letters, +nay, sometimes in his addresses from the pulpit, expressions and +remarks fell occasionally from his lips which sound to modern ears +extremely coarse. His was a frank, rugged nature, with nothing +slippery, nothing secretly impure about it. His friends and guests +spoke of the 'chaste lips' of Luther: 'He was,' says Mathesius, 'a +foe to unchastity and loose talk. As long as I have been with him I +have never heard a shameful word fall from his lips.' It was a great +contrast to the coarse indecencies which he denounced with such +fierce indignation in the monks, his former brethren, as also to the +more subtle indelicacies which were practised in those days by so +many elegant Humanists of modern culture, both ecclesiastics and +laymen. + +Luther's conversation was also remarkable for its freedom from any +spiteful or frivolous gossip, of which even at Wittenberg there was +then no lack. Of such scandal-mongers, who sought to pry out evil in +their neighbours, Luther used frequently to say, 'They are regular +pigs, who care nothing about the roses and violets in the garden, +but only stick their snouts into the dirt.' + +After dinner there was usually music with the guests and children; +sacred and secular songs were sung, together with German and +sometimes old Latin hymns. + +Luther also had a bowling-alley made for his young friends, where +they would disport themselves with running and jumping. He liked to +throw the first ball himself, and was heartily laughed at when he +missed the mark. He would turn then to the young folk, and remind +them in his pleasant way that many a one who thought he would do +better, and knock down all the pins at once, would very likely miss +them all, as they would often have to find in future their life and +calling. + +In his own personal relations towards God, Luther followed +persistently the road which he saw revealed by Christ, and which he +pointed out to others. He never lost the consciousness of his own +unworthiness, and therefore unholiness. In this consciousness he +sought refuge, with simple and childlike faith, in God's love and +mercy, which thus assured him of forgiveness and salvation, of +victory over the world and the devil, and of the freedom wherewith a +child of God may use the things of this world. He clung fondly to +simple, childlike forms of faith, and to common rites and +ordinances. Every morning he used to repeat with his children the +Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and a psalm. 'I do +this,' he says in one of his sermons, 'in order to keep up the +habit, and not let the mildew grow upon me.' He took part faithfully +in the church services; he who was wont to pray so unceasingly and +fervently in his own chamber declared that praying in company with +others soothed him far more than private prayer at home. + +Lofty, nay proud as was the self-assurance he expressed in his +mission, and though possessed, as Mathesius says, of all the heart +and courage of a true man, yet he was personally of a very plain and +unasserting manner: Mathesius calls him the most humble of men, +always willing to follow good advice from others. Like a brother he +dealt with the lowliest of his brethren, while mixing at the same +time with the highest in the land with the most perfect and +unconscious simplicity. Troubled souls, who complained to him how +hard they found it to possess the faith he preached, he comforted +with the assurance that it was no easier matter for himself, and +that he had to pray God daily to increase his faith. His saying, 'A +great doctor must always remain a pupil,' was meant especially for +himself. The modesty which made him willing, even in the early days +of his reforming labours, to yield the first place to his younger +friend Melancthon, he displayed to the end, as we have seen in +reference to Melancthon's principal work, the 'Loci Communes.' +Whenever he was asked for a really good book for theological studies +and the pure exposition of the gospel, he named the Bible first and +then Melancthon's book. During the Diet at Augsburg we heard how +highly he esteemed the words even of a Brenz, in comparison with his +own. Touching Melancthon, we must add an earlier public utterance of +Luther's, dating from 1529: 'I must root out,' he said, 'the trunks +and stems.... I am the rough woodman who has to make a path, but +Philip goes quietly and peacefully along it, builds and plants, sows +and waters at his pleasure.' He said nothing of how much others +depended on his own power and independence of mind, not only as +regarded the task of making the path, but in the whole business of +planting and working, and how Melancthon only stamped the gold which +Luther had dug up and melted in the furnace. The later years of his +life were embittered by the conviction, gradually forced upon him, +that his former strength and energy had deserted him. His remarks on +this subject seem often exaggerated, but they were certainly meant +in all seriousness: he felt as he did, because the urgent need of +completing his task remained so vividly impressed upon his mind. He +wished and hoped that God would suffer him--the now useless +instrument of His Word--to stand at least behind the doors of His +kingdom. He wrote to Myconius, when the latter was dangerously ill, +saying that his friend must really survive him: 'I beg this; I will +it, and let my will be done, for it seeks not my own pleasure, but +the glory of God.' + +With childlike joy he recognised God's gifts in nature, in garden +and field, plants and cattle. This joy finds constant expression in +his 'Table Talk,' and even in his sermons. It was chiefly awakened +by the beauties of spring. With sorrow he declares it to be the +well-earned penalty of his past sins that in his old age he should +not be able, as he might do and had need of doing, on account of the +burdens of business, to enjoy the gardens, the bud and bloom of tree +and flower, and the song of the birds. 'We should be so happy in +such a Paradise, if only there were no sin and death.' But he looks +beyond this to another and a heavenly world, where all would be +still more beautiful, and where an everlasting spring would reign +and abide. + +Among all the gifts which God has bestowed upon us for our use and +enjoyment, music was to him the most precious; he even assigned to +it the highest honour next to theology. He himself had considerable +talent for the art, and not only played the lute, and sang +melodiously with his seemingly weak but penetrating voice, but was +able even to compose. He valued music particularly as the means of +driving away the devil and his temptations, as well as for its +softening and refining influence. 'The heart,' he said, 'grows +satisfied, refreshed, and strengthened by music.' He noticed, as a +wonder wrought by God, how the air was able to give forth, by a +slight movement of the tongue and throat, guided by the mind, such +sweet and powerful sounds; and what an infinite variety there was of +voice and language among the many thousand birds, and still more so +among men. Luther's best and most valued means of natural +refreshment, and the recreation of his mind and body, remained +always his intercourse and friendship with others--with wife and +children, with his friends and neighbours. Such was his own +experience, and so he would advise the sorrowful who sought his +counsel in like manner to come out of their solitude. He saw in this +intercourse also an ordinance of Divine wisdom and love. A friendly +talk and a good merry song he often declared to be the best weapon +against evil and sorrowful thoughts. + +About his own bodily care and enjoyment, even with all his +conviction of Christian liberty and his hostility to monkish +scruples and sanctity, he cared very little. He was content with +simple fare, and he would forget to eat and drink for days amid the +press of work. His friends wondered how such a portly frame could be +consistent with such a very meagre diet, and not one of his hostile +contemporaries has ever been able to allege against him that he had +belied by his own conduct the zeal with which he inveighed against +the immoderate eating and drinking of his fellow-Germans; but he +preserved his Christian liberty in this matter. In the evenings he +would say to his pupils at the supper-table, 'You young fellows, you +must drink the Elector's health and mine, the old man's, in a +bumper. We must look for our pillows and bolsters in the tankard.' +And in his lively and merry entertainments with his friends the 'cup +that cheers' was always there. He could even call for a toast when +he heard bad news, for next to a fervent Lord's Prayer and a good +heart, there was no better antidote, he used to say, to care. + +His physical sufferings were chiefly confined to the pains in his +head, which never wholly left him, and which increased from time to +time, with fresh attacks of giddiness and fainting. The morning was +always his worst time. His old enemy, moreover--the stone--returned +in 1548 with alarming severity. Some time since an abscess had +appeared on his left leg, which seemed at the time to have healed. +Finding that a fresh breaking out of it seemed to relieve his head, +his friend Ratzeberger, the Elector's physician, induced him to have +a seton applied, and the issue thus kept open. His hair became +white. He had long been speaking of himself as a prematurely old +man, and quite worn out. + +In spite of his sufferings he retained his peculiar bearing with +head thrown back and upturned face. His features, especially the +mouth, now showed more plainly even than in earlier life the calm +strength acquired by struggles and suffering. The pathos which later +portraits have often given to his countenance is not apparent in the +earlier ones, but rather an expression of melancholy. The deep glow +and energy of his spirit, which even Cranach's pencil has failed +wholly to represent, seems to have found chief expression in his +dark eyes. These evidently struck the old rector of Wittenberg, +Pollich, and the legate Caietan at Augsburg; it was with these that, +on his arrival at Worms, the legate Aleander saw him look around him +'like a demon'; it was these that 'sparkled like stars' on the young +Swiss Kessler, so that he could 'hardly endure their gaze.' After +his death, another acquaintance of his called them 'falcon's eyes'; +and Melancthon saw in the brown pupils, encircled by a yellow ring, +the keen, courageous eye of a lion. + +This fire in Luther never died. Under the pressure of suffering and +weakness, it only burst forth when stirred by opposition into new +and fiercer flames. It became, indeed, more easily provoked in later +life, and produced in him an irritation and restless impatience with +the world and all its doings. His full and clear gaze was fixed on +the Hereafter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LUTHER'S LAST YEAR AND DEATH. + + +The Emperor Charles, after concluding the peace of Crespy with King +Francis, turned his policy entirely to ecclesiastical affairs. The +Pope could no longer resist his urgent demand for a Council, and +accordingly a bull, of November 1544, summoned one to assemble at +Trent in the following March. With regard to the Turks, the Emperor +sought to liberate his hands by means of a peaceful settlement and +concessions. He entered into negotiations with them in 1545, in +which he was supported by an ambassador from France. These led +ultimately to the result that the Turks left him in possession, on +payment of a tribute, of those frontier fortresses which he still +occupied, and which they had previously demanded from him, and +agreed to a truce for a year and a half. 'This is the way,' +exclaimed Luther, 'in which war is now waged against those who have +been denounced so many years as enemies to the name of Christ, and +against whom the Romish Satan has amassed such heaps of gold by +indulgences and other innumerable means of plunder.' + +Meanwhile the Elector John had commissioned his theologians to +prepare the scheme of reformation which was to be submitted +according to the decree of the Diet at Spires. On January 14,1545, +they sent him a draft compiled by Melancthon. Luther headed with his +own the list of signatures. It was a last great message of peace +from his hand. The draft set forth clearly and distinctly the +principles of the Evangelical Church; but expressed a hope that the +bishops of the Catholic Church would fulfil the duties of their +office, and promised them obedience if they accepted and furthered +the preaching of the gospel in its purity. This was too moderate for +the Elector. His chancellor Brück, however, assured him that Luther +and the others were agreed with Melancthon, though the document bore +no evidence of 'Doctor Martin's restless spirit.' + +Nor did Luther even here insist on that strong expression of opinion +with regard to the Lord's Supper which he himself gave to the +doctrine of Christ's Bodily Presence in the Sacrament. They only +spoke briefly of the 'receiving the true Body and Blood of Christ,' +and of the object and benefit of this reception for the soul and for +faith. + +But Luther now unburdened his heart with redoubled energy and +passion against the Pope and the Popedom, of which no mention had +been made in the draft. In January 1545 he learned of that Papal +letter in which the Holy Father had protested to his son the +Emperor, with pathetic indignation, against the decrees of the Diet +at Spires. Luther at first took it seriously for a forgery--a mere +pasquinade--until he was assured by the Elector of the genuineness +of this and another and similar letter, and thus provoked to take +public steps against it. He thought that, if the brief was genuine, +the Pope would sooner worship the Turks--nay, the devil himself--than +ever dream of consenting to a reform in accordance with God's Word. +Accordingly, he composed his pamphlet 'Against the Popedom at Rome, +instituted by the Devil.' In this his 'restless spirit' spoke out +once more with all its strength; he poured out the vials of his wrath +in the plainest and most violent language--more violent than in any +of his earlier writings--against the Antichrist of Rome. The very +first word gives the Pope the title of 'the most hellish Father.' +Luther is not surprised that to him and his Curia the words 'free +Christian German Council' are sheer poison, death, and hell. But he +asks him, what is the use of a Council at all if the Pope arrogates +to himself beforehand, as his decrees fulminate, the right of altering +and tearing up its decisions. Far better to spare the expense and +trouble of such a farce, and say, 'We will believe and worship your +hellship without any Councils.' The piece of arch-knavery practised +by the Pope in himself announcing a Council against Emperor and Empire +was, in fact, nothing new. The Popes from the very first had practised +all kinds of devilish wickedness, treachery, and murder against the +German Emperors. Luther recalls to mind how a Pope had caused the +noble Conradin to be executed with the sword. Paul III., in his +admonition to his 'son' the Emperor Charles, referred in pious strain +to the example of Eli, the high-priest, who had been punished for not +rebuking his sons for their sins. Luther now points him to his own, +the Pope's natural son, whom the Pope was so anxious to enrich; he +asks if Father Paul then had nothing to punish in him. It was well +known what tricks Paul himself, with his insatiable maw, was playing +together with his son with the property of the Church. Further, he +puts before the Pope his cardinals and followers, who forsooth needed +no admonition for their detestable iniquities. But his dear son +Charles, it seemed, had wished to procure for the German Fatherland +a happy peace and unity in religion, and to have a Christian Council, +and, finding he had been made a fool of by the Pope for four-and-twenty +years, sat last to convene a national Council. This was his sin in the +eyes of the Pope, who would like to see all Germany drowned in her own +blood: the Pope could not forgive the Emperor for thwarting his +horrible design. Luther dwells at length on such reflections in his +introduction, and then says 'I must now stop, for my head is too +weak, and I have not yet come to what I meant to say in this +treatise.' This was the three points, as follow: Whether, indeed, it +was true that the Pope was the head of Christendom; that none could +judge and depose him; and that he had brought the Holy Roman Empire +to the Germans, as he boasted so arrogantly he had done. On these +points he then proceeds to enlarge once more with a wealth of +searching proof. On the last point we hear him speak once more as a +true German. He wished that the Emperor had left the Pope his +anointing and coronation, for what made him truly Emperor was not +these ceremonies, but the election of the princes. The Pope had +never yielded a hairsbreadth to the Empire, but, on the contrary, +had plundered it immoderately by his lying and deceit and idolatry. +The book concludes thus: 'This devilish Popery is the supreme evil +on earth, and the one that touches us most closely; it is one in +which all the devils combine together. God help us! Amen.' + +Cranach published a series of sketches or caricatures, controversial +and satirical, against the Popedom, some of which are cynically +coarse, one of them representing to his countrymen the murder of +Conradin, the Pope himself beheading him, and another a German +Emperor with the Pope standing on his neck. Luther added short +verses to these pictures. But he disapproved of one of Cranach's +caricatures, as insulting to woman. + +We have seen already what degree of importance Luther attached to a +Council appointed by the Pope. The Protestants could not, of course, +consent to submit to the one at Trent. On the other hand, their demand +that the Council must be a 'free' and a 'Christian' one in their sense +of the terms was an impossibility for the Emperor and the Catholics; +for it meant not only their independence of the Pope--which he could +never assent to--but also a free reversion to the single rule and +standard of Holy Scripture, with a possible rejection of tradition +and the decrees of previous Councils. The Emperor thereupon granted +something for appearance sake to the Protestant States by arranging +another conference on religion to be held at Ratisbon in January +1546. He told the Pope, in June 1545, that he could not engage to +make war on the Protestants for at least another year. The Council +was opened in December 1545, without the Protestants taking any part +in it. + +While all this was going on, the newly-opened rupture between Luther +and the Swiss remained unhealed. In the spring of 1545 Bullinger +published a clever reply to his 'Short Confession.' It could, +however, effect no reconciliation, for, mild as was its language in +comparison with the violence of Luther's, it made too much merit of +this mildness, while, as Calvin, for example, accused the author, it +imputed more to Luther than common fairness justified, took him to +task for his manner of speaking, and contributed nothing to an +understanding in point of dogma. From the impression produced by +this letter upon Luther, fears were entertained again for +Melancthon, who had continued to maintain a friendly correspondence +with Bullinger; and Melancthon himself felt very anxious about the +result. But not one harsh or suspicious or unkind word was uttered +by Luther. He only wished to answer the Zurichers briefly and to the +point, for he had written, he said, quite enough on the subject +against Zwingli and Oecolampadius, and did not want to spoil the +last years of his life with arrogant and idle chatter. He only +inserted afterwards in a series of theses, with which he replied in +the late summer of that year to a fresh condemnation pronounced +against him by the theologians of Louvain, an article against the +Zwinglians, declaring that they and all those who disgraced the +Sacrament by denying the actual bodily reception of the true Body of +Christ were undoubtedly heretics and schismatics from the Christian +Church. This doctrinal antagonism was sufficient even now, when the +test of actual war was imminent, to keep the Swiss excluded from the +League of Schmalkald. + +Luther still continued, in the face of menaces, to trust in God, his +Helper hitherto, and he found in the latest signs of the times still +more convincing proof of the End, which seemed to be at hand. In the +miserable oppression of the Germano-Roman Empire by the Turks he saw +a sign of its approaching downfall, as also in the impotence +displayed by the Imperial Government even in small matters of +administration. There was no longer any justice, any government; it +was an Empire without an Empire; and he rejoiced to believe that +with the end of this Empire the last day--the day of salvation--was +approaching. + +But more painful and harassing to him than even the threats of the +Romanists and the attacks upon his teaching, which his own words, he +was convinced, had long since refuted, was the condition of +Wittenberg and the university. It was a favourite reproach against +him of the Catholics that his doctrine yielded no fruits of strict +morality. Notwithstanding all the rebukes which he had uttered for +years, we hear of the old vices still rampant at Wittenberg--the +vices of gluttony, of increasing intemperance and luxury, especially +at baptisms and weddings; of pride in dress and the low-cut bodices +of ladies; of rioting in the streets; of the low women who corrupted +the students; of extortion, deceit, and usury in trade; and of the +indifference and inability of the authorities and the police to put +down open immorality and misdemeanours. Things of which there were +growing complaints at that time in the German towns and universities +became intolerable to the aged Reformer, who had no longer the power +to bring his whole influence to bear upon his own fellow-townsmen. + +In the summer of 1545 he was tortured again by his old enemy the stone. +On Midsummer day his tormentor--as he wrote to a friend--would have +done for him had God not willed it otherwise. 'I would rather die,' he +adds, 'than be at the mercy of such a tyrant.' + +A few weeks later he sought refreshment for mind and body in a +journey. He first travelled with his colleague Cruciger by way of +Leipzig to Zeitz, where Cruciger had to settle a dispute between two +clergymen. On the road he was cordially received by several +acquaintances, and that did him good. At Zeitz he took part in the +proceedings. He was anxious to proceed farther, to Merseburg, for +his friend there, George of Anhalt, had seized the opportunity to +send him a pressing invitation, in order to receive from him his +consecration. But the painful experiences he had made at Wittenberg +pursued him on his travels, and were aggravated by much that he +heard about his own town. On July 28 he wrote from Zeitz to his +wife, saying, 'I should be so glad not to return to Wittenberg; my +heart is grown cold, so that I don't care about being there any +longer.... So I will roam about and rather beg my bread than vex my +poor remaining days with the disorderly doings at Wittenberg, with +my hard and precious labour all lost.' He actually wished that they +should sell the house and garden at Wittenberg, and go and live at +Zulsdorf. The Elector, he said, would surely leave him his salary +at least for one year more, near as he was to the close of his +fast-waning life, and he would spend the money in improving his +little farm. He begged his wife, if she would, to let Bugenhagen +and Melancthon know this. + +The excitement, however, as might be hoped, was only temporary. To +quiet his emotion, the university at once sent Bugenhagen and +Melancthon to him, the Wittenberg magistrate sent the burgomaster, +and the Elector his private physician Ratzeberger. The Elector also +reminded him in a friendly manner that he ought to have apprised him +beforehand of his intention to take this journey, to enable him to +provide an escort and defray his expenses. The Wittenberg +theologians, sent as deputies to Merseburg, had now arrived there, +and met Luther on August 2, at the solemn consecration of George. +Luther stayed with his host for a couple of days, during which he +preached in the neighbouring town of Halle, and was here presented +by the town-council with a cup of gold. This journey improved his +health. After having paid a visit to the Elector, at his desire, at +Torgau, he returned on the l6th of the month to Wittenberg, where an +attempt was now being made to put down, by an ordinance of police, +the immorality he had denounced. + +He now resumed his lectures, in which he was still busily engaged +with the Book of Genesis, and which he brought at length to an end +on November 17. He also preached at Wittenberg several times in the +afternoons, it being unadvisable for him to do so any longer in the +mornings on account of his health. He further occupied himself in +writing a sequel to his first book against the Papacy, and at the +same time meditated a letter against the Sacramentarians. + +The autumn of this year brought with it a matter from Mansfeld, +having nothing indeed to do with religion or doctrine, but which +called him away from Wittenberg. The Counts of Mansfeld had long +been quarrelling among themselves about certain rights and revenues, +especially in connection with Church patronage. Luther had already +entreated them earnestly in God's name to come to a peaceful +agreement. They now at length agreed so far as to invite his +mediation, and obtained permission from the Elector, who, however, +would rather have seen Luther spared this trouble. Luther all his +life had cherished a warm and grateful affection for this his early +home; whilst labouring for his great Fatherland of Germany, he +called Mansfeld his own special fatherland. Wearied as he was, he +resolved to serve his home once more. + +At the beginning of October, accordingly, he journeyed thither with +Melancthon and Jonas, but his visit proved in vain, since the +Counts, before he could do anything for them, were called away to +war. He held himself in readiness, however, to make a second +attempt. + +In the meantime Luther quickly composed another pamphlet, with +reference to the Duke of Brunswick, who three years before had been +driven from his country by the Landgrave Philip and the Saxon +princes, and had now suddenly invaded it again, but was defeated and +taken prisoner by the combined forces of the allied princes, +assisted also by the Counts of Mansfeld. At the instigation of the +chancellor Brück, and with the consent of his Elector, Luther +addressed a public letter to the princes and the Landgrave, and had +it printed. In it he warned them not to allow--as Philip for various +reasons seemed inclined to do--so dangerous a prisoner to go free, +and thereby to tempt God. Behind the Duke he saw the Pope and the +Papists, without whom he would never have been able to carry on his +campaign. They should at any rate wait and see until the thoughts of +hearts should be further revealed. None the less did he warn the +victors against self-exaltation and arrogance. + +Once more he celebrated his birthday in the circle of his friends, +Melancthon, Bugenhagen, Cruciger, and some others. Just before that +day a rich present of wine and fish had arrived from the Elector. +Luther was very merry with his friends, but could not restrain sad +thoughts of an apostasy from the gospel which might follow with many +after his death. + +At the conclusion of his lecture on November 17 he said: 'This is +the beloved Genesis; God grant that after me it may be better done. +I can do no more--I am weak. Pray God that He may grant me a good +and happy end.' He began no new lectures. + +At Christmas time, then, and in the depth of cold, Luther journeyed +to Mansfeld with Melancthon. He wished, as he wrote to Count Albert, +to risk the time and effort, notwithstanding the pressing work he +had on hand, in order to lay himself in peace in his coffin in the +place where he had previously reconciled his beloved masters. But +his wish was not to be fulfilled. Anxiety for Melancthon, who was +ill, urged him home, though he promised to return. On his homeward +journey, in spite of the continued severity of the cold, he preached +at Halle, concluding his sermon with the words, 'Well, since it is +very cold, I will now end. You have other good and faithful +preachers.' + +He had carefully brought his Melancthon home. When now the new +conference on religion was to be held at Ratisbon, and a Wittenberg +theologian was to be sent to it, he begged the Elector not to employ +his friend again for the 'useless and idle colloquy,' especially as +there was not a man among his opponents who was worth anything. +'What would they do,' he wrote, 'if Philip were dead or ill, as +indeed he is--so ill that I rejoice to have brought him home from +Mansfeld. It is his duty henceforth to spare himself; he is better +employed in his bed than at the Conference. The young doctors must +come to the fore and take up the word after us.' Of his opponents +and their designs, he said 'They take us for asses, who don't +understand their vulgar and foolish attacks.' + +He described his own condition, in a letter of January 17, in these +words: 'Old, spent, worn, weary, cold, and with but one eye to see +with.' He must have lost therefore the sight of one of his eyes, but +we know nothing definite beyond this. He adds, however, that for his +age his health was fairly good. + +Melancthon was spared a journey to Ratisbon, as also a third visit +to Mansfeld. Luther ventured the latter, however, in January. He +took with him his three sons, together with their tutor, and his own +servant, that they might become acquainted with his beloved native +home. When, shortly before, some students at his table heard of a +strange and ominous fall of a large clock at midnight, he said, 'Do +not fear; this means that I shall soon die. I am weary of the world, +so let us rather part like well-filled guests at a common inn.' + +[Illustration: Fig. 54.--LUTHER IN 1546. (From a woodcut of +Cranach.)] + +On the 23rd of the month he left Wittenberg, where on the previous +Sunday, the 17th, he had preached for the last time. + +He reached Halle on the 25th, and stayed with Jonas. It was probably +then that he brought Jonas as a present the beautiful white Venetian +glass, which is still preserved at Nüremberg. The Latin couplet is +to this effect: + + Luther this glass, himself a glass, doth on his friend bestow, + That each himself a brittle glass may by this token know. + +[Illustration: Fig. 55.--JONAS' GLASS. The date when the portraits +of Luther and Jonas, together with the Latin verses and their +translation, were executed, is uncertain, (_a_) Luther. +(_bb_) Translation of Luther's verses. (_cc_) 'Dat vitrum vitro Jonæ +vitrum ipse Lutherus: Ut vitro fragili similem se noscat uterque.' +(_d_) Jonas.] + +The breaking up of the ice, followed by heavy floods, detained him +at Halle for three days. The very day after his arrival he preached +again. He wrote to his wife telling her he was cheering himself with +good Torgau beer and Rhine-wine, till the Saale had done raging. To +his friends, however, in company he said, 'Dear friends, we are +mighty good comrades, we eat and drink together; but we must all die +one day. I am now going to Eisleben to help my masters, the Counts +of Mansfeld, to come to terms. Now I know how the people are +disposed; when Christ wished to reconcile His heavenly Father with +mankind, He undertook to die for them. God grant that it may be so +with me!' + +On the 28th the travellers, who were joined by Jonas, crossed the +dangerous rapids formed by the narrow part of the river Saale below +the Castle of Giebichenstein, near the town, and thus on the same +day reached Eisleben, where the Counts of Mansfeld, with several +other nobles, were waiting for Luther. An escort of more than a +hundred horsemen in heavy armour accompanied him from the frontier +between the territories of Halle and Mansfeld. Just before entering +the town, however, he was seized with alarming giddiness and +faintness, together with a sharp constriction of the heart, and much +difficulty of breathing. He himself ascribed this to a chill, having +shortly before walked some distance and then re-entered his carriage +in a perspiration. At the village of Rissdorf, near Eisleben, so he +wrote to his wife on February 1, such a bitter wind pierced his cap +at the back of his head, that he felt as if his brain were freezing. +It was in this letter that he spoke of her laughingly as Lady +Zulsdorf, &c. 'But now,' he added, 'thank God, I am pretty well +again, except for the heartache caused by the beautiful women.' Only +three days after this attack he preached at Eisleben. + +Luther was comfortably quartered at the Drachstedt, a house which +had been bought by the town-council, and was inhabited by the +town-clerk Albert. + +The business was commenced at once, in the very house where he was +staying. But it was a work of much trouble and difficulty for +Luther. He sought one way after another to effect a reconciliation. +On February 6 he begged the Elector through Melancthon to send him a +summons back to Wittenberg, in order to put pressure on the Counts +to settle their dispute; and a few days after he wrote to his wife, +saying that he should like to grease his carriage-wheels and be off +in sheer anger, but concern for his native town prevented him. He +was shocked at the avarice, so ruinous to the soul, which either +party displayed. He was angry also with the lawyers, for backing up +each party to stand so stubbornly on his imagined rights. He who now +ought to have been a lawyer himself, came among them as a hobgoblin, +who checked their pride by the grace of God. + +The multitude of Jews whom Luther met at Eisleben and thereabouts +were also an annoyance and vexation to him. He disliked to see the +Counts give room so far to men who blasphemed Jesus and Mary, who +called the Christians changelings, and sucked them dry, nay, would +gladly kill them all, if they could. He warned even his +congregation, as a child of their country, not to fall into their +meshes. + +Amidst all this business, he found time to preach four sermons. He +partook twice of the sacrament, and confessed and ordained two +clergymen. + +To his wife, who worried herself constantly about him and his +health, he wrote from Eisleben five times in fourteen days. His +language to her, even when he has unpleasant news to tell, is always +full of affection, heartiness, and comfort. The humorous way in +which he addressed her we have noticed before. He told her how well +he fares with eating and drinking. He referred her to her God, in +Whose stead she wished to care for him, to the Bible and the small +Catechism, of which she had once declared that all it contained had +been said by her. He had also dangers to tell her of, which had +assailed him even while thus under her care. A fire chanced to break +out in a chimney near his room; and on February 9, so he writes to +her, notwithstanding all her care, a stone as long as a pillow and +as thick as two hands, had nearly toppled down upon his head and +crushed him. So he now takes care to say, 'While you cease not to +care for us, the earth at length might swallow us up, and all the +elements destroy us.' +[Footnote: A facsimile of the longest of these letters, bearing date +February 7, appears at the end of the volume. It runs as follows: +'Mercy and peace in the Lord. Pray read, dear Katie, the Gospel of +St. John and the' [_marginally_ 'little'] 'Catechism, of +which you once declared that you yourself had said all that it +contained. For you wish to disquiet yourself about your God, just as +if He were not Almighty, and able to create ten Martin Luthers for +one old one drowned perhaps in the Saale, or fallen dead by the +fireplace, or on Wolf's fowling-floor. Leave me in peace with your +cares; I have a better protector than you and all the angels. He--my +Protector--lies in the manger, and hangs upon a Virgin's breast. But +He sits also at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. Best, +therefore--in peace. Amen. + +'I think that hell and all the world must now be free of all the +devils who have come together here to Eisleben, for my sake it +seems. So hard and knotty is this business. There are fifty Jews +here too' [_marginally_ 'in one house'], 'as I wrote to you +before. It is now said that at Rissdorff, hard by Eisleben, where I +fell ill before my arrival, more than four hundred Jews were walking +and riding about. Count Albert, who owns all the country round +Eisleben, has seized them upon his property, and will have nothing +to do with them. No one has done them any harm as yet. The widowed +Countess of Mansfeld (the Countess Dorothea, widow of Count Ernest, +born Countess of Solms), is thought to be the protectress of the +Jews. I don't know whether it is true, but I have given my opinion +in quarters where I hope it will be attended to. It is a case of +Beg, Beg, Beg, and helping them. For I had it in my mind to-day to +grease my carriage wheels _in irâ meâ_. But I felt the misery +of it too much; my native home held me back. I have been made a +lawyer, but they will not gain by it. They had better have let me +remain a theologian. If I live and come among them, I might become a +hobgoblin, who would comb down their pride by the grace of God. They +behave as if they were God Himself, but must take care to shake off +these notions in good time before their godhead becomes a devilhead, +as happened to Lucifer, who could not remain in heaven for pride. +Well, God's will be done. Let Master Philip see this letter, for I +had no time to write to him; and you may comfort yourself with the +thought how much I love you, as you know. And Philip will understand +it all. + +'We live here very well, and the town-council gives me for each meal +half a pint of "Reinfall"' [_marginally_, 'which is very +good']. 'Sometimes I drink it with my friends. The wine of the +country here is also good, and Naumburg beer is very good, though I +fancy its pitch fills my chest with phlegm. The devil has spoilt all +the beer in the world with his pitch, and the wine with his +brimstone. But here the wine is pure, such as the country gives. + +'And know that all letters you have written have arrived, and to-day +those have come which you wrote last Friday, together with Master +Philip's letters, so you need not be angry. + +Sunday after St. Dorothea's Day (7 February) 1546. + +'Your loving + +'MARTIN LUTHER, D.'] + +[Illustration: Fig. 66.--ADDRESS OF LUTHER'S LETTER OF FEBRUARY 7. +(' To my beloved housewife, Catharine Lady Luther, Lady Doctor, Lady +of the Pigmarket at Wittenberg; my gracious wife, bound hand and +foot in loving service.')] + +Luther kept up also at Eisleben his correspondence with Melancthon. +He wrote to him three letters, the last testimony of his friendship. +A letter to his 'kind, dear housewife,' and one to Melancthon, his +'most worthy brother in Christ,' both of February 14, are without +doubt the last he ever wrote. His sick body was well nursed and +tended at Eisleben. He went to bed early every night, after he had +stood before his window, according to his old habit, in fervent +prayer. The stone no longer troubled him, but he was very weary and +worn. His last sermon, on Sunday, February 14, he broke off with the +words: 'This and much more is to be said about the Gospel; but I am +too weak, we will leave off here.' Most unfortunately for him, he +had omitted to bring with him to Eisleben the applications used for +keeping his issue open, and now it was nearly closed. He knew that +the physicians considered this extremely dangerous. + +At length his efforts to mediate between his masters the Counts were +crowned with success beyond all expectation. On February 14 a +reconciliation was effected upon the chief points, and the various +members of the Counts' families rejoiced, while the young lords and +ladies made merry all together. 'Therefore,' wrote Luther to Kathe, +'it must be seen that God is _Exauditor precum_.' He sent her +some trout as a thankoffering from Countess Albert. He wrote to her: +'We hope to return home this week, if God will.' + +On the 16th and 17th of that month the reconciliation upon all the +points of dispute was formally concluded. The revenues of churches +and schools were fixed upon, and the latter to this day owe a rich +endowment to the arrangements there made. On the 16th Luther says in +his 'Table Talk': 'I will now no longer tarry, but set myself to go +to Wittenberg and there lay myself in a coffin and give the worms a +fat doctor to feed upon.' + +On the morning of the 17th, however, the Counts found themselves +compelled, by Luther's state of health, to entreat him not to exert +himself any longer with their affairs; and so he only added his +signature where required. To Jonas and the Counts' court-preacher +Cölius, who were staying, with him, he said he thought he should +remain at Eisleben, where he was born. Before supper he complained +of oppression of the chest, and had himself rubbed with warm cloths. +This relieved him, and he left his little room, going down the +staircase into the public room to join the party at supper. 'There is +no pleasure,' he said, 'in being alone.' At supper he was merry with +the rest, and talked with his usual energy on various subjects--now +jocular or serious, now intellectual and pious. But no sooner had he +returned to his chamber and finished his usual evening prayer than he +again became anxious and troubled. After being rubbed again with warm +cloths and having taken a medicine which Count Albert himself had +brought him, he laid himself down about nine o'clock on a leathern +sofa and slept gently for an hour and a half. On awakening, he arose, +and with the words (spoken in Latin) 'Into Thy hands I commend my +spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, Thou God of truth,' went to his +bed in the adjoining room, where he again slept, breathing quietly, +till one o'clock. He then awoke, called his servant, and begged him +to heat the room, though it was quite warm already, and then exclaimed +to Jonas, 'O Lord God, how ill I am! Ah! I feel I shall remain here +at Eisleben, where I was born and baptized.' In this state of pain +he arose, walked without assistance into the room which he had +left a few hours before, again commending his soul to God; and +then, after pacing once up and down the room, lay down once more +on the sofa, complaining again of the oppression on his chest. His +two sons, Martin and Paul, remained with him all night. They had +spent most of the time at Mansfeld with their relations there, but +had now returned to their father (Hans was still absent), and his +servant and Jonas. Cölius also hastened to him, and the young +theologian John Aurifaber, a friend of the two Counts who used to +associate with Luther together with Jonas and Cölius. The town-clerk +was there, too, with his wife, also two physicians, and Count Albert +and his wife, who busied herself zealously with nursing the sick man; +and later on came a Count of Schwarzburg with his wife, who were +staying on a visit with the Count of Mansfeld. The rubbing and +application of warm clothes and the medicines were now of no avail +to ease Luther's anguish. He broke out into a sweat. His friends began +to feel more happy about him, hoping that this would relieve him; but +he replied, 'It is the cold sweat of death; I shall yield up my +spirit.' Then he began to give thanks aloud to God, Who had revealed +to him His Son, Whom he had confessed and loved, and Whom the godless +and the Pope blasphemed and insulted. He cried aloud to God and to the +Lord Jesus: 'Take my poor soul into Thy hands! Although I must leave +this body, I know that I shall be ever with Thee.' He then spoke words +of the Bible, three times uttering the text of St. John iii: 'God so +loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever +believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' +After Cölius had given him one more spoonful of medicine, he said +again, 'I am going, and shall render up my spirit,' and three times +rapidly in succession he said in Latin, 'Father, into Thy hands I +commend my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.' +From that time he remained quite still, and closed his eyes, without +making any answer when spoken to by those around him, who were busy +with restoratives. Jonas and Cölius, however, after his pulse had +been rubbed with strengthening waters, said aloud in his ear: +'Reverend father (_Reverende pater), wilt thou stand by Christ and +the doctrine thou hast preached?' He uttered an audible 'Yes.' He +then turned upon his right side and fell asleep. He lay thus for +nearly a quarter of an hour, when his feet and nose grew cold; he +fetched one deep, even breath, and was gone. It was between two and +three o'clock in the morning of February 18--a Thursday. + +The body was laid in a white garment, first upon a bed, and then in +a hastily-made leaden coffin. Many hundreds, high and low, came to +see it. The next morning the face was painted by an Eisleben artist, +and the morning after that by Lucas Fortenagel of Helle. +Fortenagel's portrait is no doubt a foundation of all those which we +find in several places under Cranach's name, and which no doubt +really came from Cranach's studio. + +[Illustration: Fig. 57.--LUTHER AFTER DEATH. (From a picture +ascribed to Cranach.)] + +The Elector John Frederick at once insisted that the mortal remains +of Luther should rest at Wittenberg. The Counts of Mansfeld wished +at least to pay them the last honours. After they had been brought, +on the afternoon of the 19th, into the Church of St. Andrew, where a +sermon was preached by Jonas that day, and another by Cölius on the +following morning, a solemn procession started at noon on the 20th, +with the coffin, for its destination. In front rode a troop of about +fifty light-armed cavalry, with sons of both the Counts, to +accompany the body to its last resting-place. All the Counts and +Countesses, with their guests, followed as far as the gates of +Eisleben, and among them was a Prince of Anhalt, the magistrates, +the school-children, and the whole population of the surrounding +country. + +[Illustration: Fig. 58.--CAST OF LUTHER AFTER DEATH. (At Halle.)] + +In all the villages on the road the bells tolled, and old and young +flocked to join the procession. At Halle the coffin was received +with great solemnity, and placed for the night of the 20th in the +principal church of the town. There a cast was taken in wax, which is +preserved in the library of the church; the original features, however, +having been altered by putting in the eyes and improving the shape of +the mouth. To complete our picture of Luther's outward appearance, we +have in this cast the remarkably strong brow, which in Cranach's +portraits of Luther often recedes out of all proportion in his upturned +face. The two representations of Luther when dead are of great value, +deeply as it must be lamented that no more skilful hands than those of +the painter of Halle and the wax-modeller have had the privilege of +working upon them. + +On the 21st the corpse was taken to Kemberg, after being received at +the frontier of the Electorate by deputies from the Elector. On the +morning of the 22nd it reached Wittenberg, where it was at once +taken to the Castle Church in solemn procession through the whole +length of the town. It was a long, sad procession. First went the +nobles representing the Elector, then the horsemen from Mansfeld and +their young Counts, and immediately after the coffin the widow in a +little carriage with some other gentlewomen. Then followed Luther's +sons and his brother James, with other relatives from Mansfeld; then +the University, the members of the Town Council, and all the +citizens of Wittenberg. In the church Bugenhagen preached a sermon, +and Melancthon, who, on the arrival of the sad news, had expressed +his grief in a charge to the students, gave a Latin oration as +representative of the University. Then, near the spot where the +great Reformer had once nailed up his theses, the body was lowered +into the grave. + +Throughout the whole Evangelical Church arose a cry of lamentation. +Luther was mourned as a prophet of Germany--as an Elijah who had +overthrown the worship of idols and set up again the pure Word of +God. Like Elisha to Elijah, so Melancthon called out after him, +'Alas! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!' On the other +hand, fanatical Papists were not ashamed to insult his very deathbed +with slanders and falsehoods; even a year before he died a silly, +sensational story of his death was spread about by them. + +Luther throughout his life and labours had never troubled himself +much about the praise or the abuse of men. After the example of his +great teacher St. Paul, he went his way in honour and dishonour, +through evil report and good report, along the road which he knew to +be pointed out from above. The portrait of his life, plain and +unadorned as it is presented to the present age, will at any rate +testify to the worth of this great man, and thus do something +towards that eternal end for which he was ready to sacrifice his +life and, in the eyes of the world, his honour and his fame. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Luther, by Julius Koestlin + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF LUTHER *** + +This file should be named 7970-8.txt or 7970-8.zip + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Anne Folland, +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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