CONTENTS

Bibliographypages [xv-xxv]
Introductionpages [xxvii-xxxix]
CHAPTER I. COURSE OF STUDIES AND FIRST YEARS IN THE MONASTERYpages [3-60]
1. Luther’s Novitiate and Early Life.
The new postulant at the gate of the Erfurt priory.Luther’s youth; his parents; early education; stay atEisenach. Enters the University of Erfurt. Humanistfriends. His novitiate. Troubles of conscience quieted byStaupitz, the Vicar of the Saxon Congregation of AugustinianHermits. Luther’s professorspages [3-12]
2. Fidelity to His New Calling; His Temptations.
Luther’s theological course. Lectures and lecturers;Bible-study; first Mass. His father on his vocation; hisfather’s character. Luther’s inward troubles; falls into afit in choir; Melanchthon on Luther’s attacks of fear. St.Bernard on certainty of salvation. Luther’s “own way”with his difficulties. He is sent to Wittenberg and back toErfurt. Learned occupations. Luther’s assurance manifestin his earliest notes, the glosses on Peter Lombard; hisglosses on Augustine; his fame; his virulent temper; hisacquaintance with Hus. Oldecop, Dungersheim and Emseron his moral character in early days. Humanistic influences.Luther is chosen by the Observantines to represent themin Romepages [12-29]
3. The Journey to Rome.
Dissensions within the Congregation. Staupitz opposedby seven Observantine priories, on whose behalf Lutherproceeds to Rome. The visit’s evil effect on the monk. Hisopinion of the Curia and the moral state of Rome. Anepisode at the Scala Santa. Luther’s belief in the Primacynot shaken by what he saw. On the Holy Mass; his petitionto be secularised; perils of an Italian journey. Luther returnsto Wittenberg and forsakes the cause of the Observantinespages [29-38]
4. The Little World of Wittenberg and the Great Worldin Church and State.
Luther takes the doctorate; his first lectures; his surroundingsat the University of Wittenberg; the professors;Humanism; schemes for reform; Mutian, Spalatin, Reuchlin,the “Letters of Obscure Men,” Erasmus. Luther’s roadnot that of his Humanist friends. Currents of thought inthe age of discovery and awakened learning; decay ofChurch life; attempts at reform; abasement of clergy;abuses rampant everywhere; sad state of the Curia. Signsof the coming storm. Luther’s way prepared by the courseof events. A curious academic disputepages [38-60]
CHAPTER II. HARBINGERS OF CHANGEpages [61-103]
1. Sources Old and New.
Peculiar difficulties of the problem. Process of Luther’sinward estrangement from the Church. The sources, particularlythose recently brought to light. The marginal notesin Luther’s books now at Zwickau. His letters; earliestscriptural notes, i.e. the glosses and scholia; lectures onScripture; sermons, 1515-1516; earliest printed works;his Disputations. Two stages of his development, the first till1517, the second till the end of 1518pages [61-67]
2. Luther’s Commentary on the Psalms (1513-15). Disputewith the Observantines and the “Self-Righteous.”
His passionate opposition to the Observantines in hisOrder, and to “righteousness by works,” a presage of thecoming change. He vents his ire on the “Little Saints” ofthe Order in his discourse at Gotha. On righteousness bygrace and righteousness by works; on the force of concupiscenceand original sin. No essential divergence fromthe Church’s belief and tradition to be found in the Commentaryon the Psalms; reminiscences of Augustine;mystical trend; defects of Luther’s early workpages [67-78]
3. Excerpts from the Oldest Sermons. His Adversaries.
The sermons and their testimony to Luther’s scorn for theObservantines. Echoes of the controversy proceedingwithin the Order. The Leitzkau discourse and its mysticismpages [78-84]
4. Preliminary Remarks on Young Luther’s Relations toScholasticism and Mysticism.
His early prejudice against Scholasticism, its psychologicalreason; his poor opinion of Aristotle and the Schoolmen.Martin Pollich’s misgivings. Luther’s leaning to mysticism,its cause. Esteem for Tauler and the “Theologia Deutsch.”His letter to G. Leifferpages [84-88]
5. Excerpts from the Earliest Letters.
Signs of a change in Luther’s letter to G. Spenlein; self-despairand trust in Christ. To Johann Lang on a workwrongly ascribed to St. Augustine and on his difficulties withhis colleagues at Wittenberg. To Spalatin on Erasmus; hisdislike of everything savouring of Pelagianismpages [88-93]
6. The Theological Goal.
The first shaping of Luther’s heretical views, in the Commentaryon Romans. Imputation of Christ’s righteousness;uncertainty of justification; original sin remains afterbaptism, being identical with concupiscence; impossibilityof fulfilling the law without justification; absence of allhuman freedom for good; sinful character of natural virtue;all “venial” sins really mortal; no such thing as merit;predestinationpages [93-103]
CHAPTER III. THE STARTING-POINTpages [104-129]
1. Former Inaccurate Views.
The starting-point not simply the desire to reform theChurch; nor mere antipathy to the Dominicans. Hus’sinfluence merely secondary. Luther’s own account of hissearch for a “merciful God” not to be trusted any more thanhis later descriptions of his life as a monkpages [104-110]
2. Whether Evil Concupiscence is Irresistible?
Luther’s belief in its irresistibility not to be alleged as aproof of his moral perversity. Traces of the belief earlynoticeable in him; he demands that people should neverthelessstrive against concupiscence with the weapons of thespirit; concupiscence ineradicable, identical with originalsin, and actually sinful. Luther not a determinist from thebeginning. His pseudo-mysticism scarcely reconcilablewith his supposed moral perversitypages [110-117]
3. The Real Starting-point and the Co-operating Factors.
Luther’s new opinions grounded on his antipathy to goodworks; hence his belief in the incapacity of man for good.Other factors; his character, his self-confidence and combativeness;his anger with the formalism prevalent in his day;his fear of eternal reprobation; his inadequate knowledge ofthe real doctrine of the Church; his hasty promotionpages [117-129]
CHAPTER IV. “I AM OF OCCAM’S PARTY”pages [130-165]
1. A Closer Examination of Luther’s Theological Training.
Not trained in the best school of Scholasticism. HisOccamist education. Positive and negative influence ofOccamism on Lutherpages [130-133]
2. Negative Influence of the Occamist School on Luther.
Luther’s criticism of Occam; he abandons certain viewsof the Occamists and flies to the opposite extreme; offendedby their neglect of Scripture and by the subtlety of theirphilosophy; hence he comes to oppose Aristotelianism andthe Scholastics generally. Occamistic exaggeration of man’spowers leads him ex opposito to underrate the same. Negativeinfluence of Occamism on Luther’s teaching regardingoriginal sin. Gabriel Biel on original sin; the keeping of thecommandments; the love of God; whether man can meritgrace; Gregory of Rimini; the principle: “Facienti quodest in se Deus non denegat gratiam”; the deficiencies of theOccamists laid at the door of Scholasticism. Three answersto the question how Luther failed to perceive that he was forsakingthe Church’s doctrine. His denial of natural righteousness,and his ignorance of the true scholastic teaching on thepoint; misunderstands his own masters. His interpretationof the words, “Without me ye can do nothing.” His rejectionof actual gracepages [133-154]
3. Positive Influence of Occamism.
Occamist “acceptation” and Lutheran “imputation.”Luther assails the habit of supernatural grace and replaces thedoctrine of an essential order of things by the arbitrarypactum Dei. Divorce of faith and reason. Feeling andreligious experience. Predestination; transubstantiation.Luther’s anti-Thomism, his combativeness and loquacity.Other alleged influences, viz. Gallicanism, ultra-realism,Wiclifism, and Neo-Platonismpages [155-165]
CHAPTER V. THE ROCKS OF FALSE MYSTICISMpages [166-183]
1. Tauler and Luther.
Tauler’s orthodox doctrine distorted by Luther to serve hispurpose. Passivity in the hands of God explained as theabsence of all effort. Luther’s application of Tauler’steaching to his own states of anxiety. His knowledge ofTauler; annotations to Tauler’s sermons; the Germanmystics; a “return to nothingness” the supreme aim of theChristianpages [166-174]
2. Effect of Mysticism on Luther.
Advantages of its study outweighed by disadvantage.Why Luther failed to become a true mystic. Specimens of hismystic utterances. His edition of the “Theologia Deutsch”;attitude to pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Bernard andGerson; an excerpt from his “Operationes in psalmos” pages [175-183]
CHAPTER VI. THE CHANGE OF 1515 IN THE LIGHT OFTHE COMMENTARY ON ROMANS (1515-16)pages [184-261]
1. The New Publications.
Denifle the first to utilise the Commentary on Romans.Ficker’s recent edition of the original. General remarks on theCommentary. Aim of St. Paul according to Lutherpages [184-187]
2. Gloomy Views Regarding God and Predestination.
Luther’s “more profound theology” and unconditionalpredestination to hell; God’s will that the wicked be damned.God to be approached in fear and despair, not with worksand in the hope of reward. The mystic on resignation to hell.Man’s will and his salvation entirely in God’s hands. Objections:Is it not God’s will that all be saved? Why imposecommandments which the will is not free to perform? Unperceivedinconsistenciespages [187-197]
3. The Fight against “Holiness-by-Works” and the Observantinesin the Commentary on Romans.
Luther’s aversion to works and observances. His rudedescription of the “Observants” and “Justiciaries.” Thevery word “righteousness” a cause of vexationpages [197-202]
4. Attack on Predisposition to Good and on Free Will.
Human nature entirely spoiled by original sin. Beingunable to fulfil the command “Non concupisces,” we are eversinning mortally. Uncertainty of salvation; the will notfree for good. Interpretation of Rom. viii. 2 f. AgainstScholasticism. In penance and confession no removal(ablatio) of sinpages [202-209]
5. Luther rudely sets aside the Older Doctrine of Virtueand Sin.
The habit of sanctifying grace; “cursed be the word‘formatum charitate’”; sin coexistent with grace in thegood man; Augustine on concupiscence. “Nothing is of itsown nature good or bad”; the Occamist acceptation-theoryagainst the “Aristotelian” definition of virtue and thescholastic doctrine that virtues and vices are qualities of thesoulpages [209-213]
6. Preparation for Justification.
Christ’s grace does all, and yet man disposes himself forjustification. Man’s self-culture. Inconsistencies explainedby reminiscences of his early Catholic trainingpages [213-214]
7. Appropriation of the Righteousness of Christ byHumility—Neither “Faith Only” nor Assurance ofSalvation.
Imputation applied to justification. Another’s righteousnessis imputed to us and becomes ours; sin remains, but isno longer accounted; our inability to know whether Christ’srighteousness has been imputed to us. Advantage of fear.“He who renounces his own self and willingly faces deathand damnation” is truly humble, and in such humility issafety. Faith not yet substituted for humility. Passivityagain emphasizedpages [214-222]
8. Subjectivism and Church Authority. Storm and Stress.
The back place already taken in Luther’s mind by theChurch and her teaching-office; his preference for a theologyof his own invention. Our duty of not judging Luther by thelater Tridentine decrees. His Catholic sentiments on thehierarchy; denounces abuses whilst respecting the rights ofthe Roman Church; desiderates a reduction of festivals; reprovesBishops for insisting on their rights instead ofrejoicing to see them infringed. On listening to the innervoicepages [223-230]
9. The Mystic in the Commentary on Romans.
Luther’s misapprehension of Tauler and other mysticsclearly proved in the Commentary. Quietism. The “Sparkin the Soul.” The “Theology of the Cross.” The “Nightof the Soul.” Readiness for hell the joy of the truly wise;Christ and Paul the Apostle, two instances of such readinesspages [230-240]
10. The Commentary on Romans as a Work of Religion andLearning.
Its witness to the unsettled state of the writer’s mind.Texts and commentaries utilised; neglect of Aquinas’sCommentary; the author’s style; obscenity and paradox;a tilt at the philosophers; the character of the work ratherspoilt by unnecessary polemics. Appeal to Augustine.Misuse of theological terms. “The word of God is everyword which proceeds from the mouth of a good man.” Contradictiona criterion of truth. All the prophets againstobservances. Unconscious self-contradiction on the subjectof freedom. Whether any progress is apparent in the courseof the Commentary. Comparison of Luther’s public utteranceswith those in the Commentary. Some excerpts fromthe Commentary on Hebrewspages [241-261]
CHAPTER VII. SOME PARTICULARS WITH REGARDTO THE OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES AND INWARD LIFE OF LUTHER AT THE TIME OFTHE CRISISpages [262-302]
1. Luther as Superior of Eleven Augustinian Houses.
His election as Rural Vicar, 1516; his discourse on theLittle Saints delivered at the Chapter; influence of hisadministration; extracts from his correspondence; hisquick despatch of businesspages [262-268]
2. The Monk of Liberal Views and Independent Action.
His ideal of humility. On vows. Prejudice against observances.Blames formalism prevalent in the Church generallyand in the monasteries. Paltz and Tauler on this subject.Overwork leads Luther to neglect his spiritual duties; Massand Divine Office; his final abandonment of the Breviary.His outward appearance; his quarrelsomenesspages [268-280]
3. Luther’s Ultra-Spiritualism and Calls for Reform.Is Self-improvement Possible? Penance.
His pessimism; the whole world sunk in corruption.Opinion of theologians. Justifiable criticism. On theclergy; proposes placing the administration of all temporalitiesin the hands of the Princes. On Indulgences. Hisfamiliarity with the Elector of Saxony. On the dreadfulstate of Rome. The prevalence of Pelagianism; three deadlyvices; on his own temptations; how people fall and rise again;on diabolical terrors; on making the best of things andreconciling ourselves to remaining in sin; his inability tounderstand the nature of contrition; denial that perfectcontrition exists; his mysticism averse to the motive offear or of heavenly recompense; misrepresentation of theChurch’s doctrine concerning attrition. Ascribes his view ofpenance to Staupitz; the part of Staupitz in the downfallof the Congregation. Möhler and Neander on Luther’sresemblance to Marcion the Gnostic. Paradoxical characterof the monkpages [280-302]
CHAPTER VIII. THE COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLETO THE GALATIANS. FIRST DISPUTATIONS AND FIRST TRIUMPHSpages [303-326]
1. ”The Commencement of the Gospel Business.” Expositionof the Epistle to the Galatians (1516-17).
Melanchthon and Mathesius on the birth of the “Evangel.”Luther’s first disciples, Carlstadt, Amsdorf, etc. His appealsto St. Augustine. The Commentary on Galatians begins in1516. Luther’s progress in the light of this and the longerCommentary published laterpages [303-310]
2. Disputations on Man’s Powers and against Scholasticism(1516-17).
Bernhardi’s Disputation in 1516 presided over by Luther;“Man sins in spite of every effort.” Luther to Lang on thescandal of the “Gabrielists.” Günther’s Disputation in 1517;specimens of the theses defended; Luther circulates themwidelypages [310-314]
3. Disputation at Heidelberg on Faith and Grace. OtherPublic Utterances.
The Heidelberg Chapter. Leonard Beyer defends Luther’stheses in the presence of Bucer and other future adherents ofthe cause. The theses and their demonstration; Grace notto be obtained by works; the motive of fear; free will a merename. A Wittenberg Disputation in 1518, “For the Quietingof Anxious Consciences.” The three great Disputationsdescribed by Luther as “Initium negocii evangelici.” Lutherto Trutfetter on his aimspages [315-321]
4. Attitude to the Church.
Luther continues to acknowledge the doctrinal office of theChurch. The principle of private interpretation of Scripturenot yet enunciated. Explanation of Luther’s inconsistencyin conduct; on obedience to the Church; traces all heresiesback to pride; his correct description of Indulgences in1516, his regret at their abusepages [321-326]
CHAPTER IX. THE INDULGENCE-THESES OF 1517AND THEIR AFTER-EFFECTSpages [327-373]
1. Tetzel’s Preaching of the Indulgence; the 95 Theses.
The St. Peter’s Indulgence and its preaching; Luther’sinformation regarding it; his sermon before the Elector.The 95 theses nailed to the door of the Castle Church; theircontents; the excitement caused; Augustinians refrainfrom any measure against the author; the HeidelbergChapter; the “Resolutions”; Dominicans take up thechallenge. Fables regarding Luther and Tetzel; Tetzel’sprivate life; charges brought against him by Luther andMiltitz; the real Tetzel; Luther’s statement that he didnot know “what an Indulgence was.” Luther’s letter toTetzel on his death-bedpages [327-347]
2. The Collection for St. Peter’s in History and Legend.
The Indulgence granted on behalf of the building fund;new sources of information; Albert of Brandenburg obtainsthe See of Mayence; his payments to Rome; the Indulgencegranted him for his indemnification; arrangements made forits preaching; the pecuniary result a failurepages [347-355]
3. The Trial at Augsburg (1518).
The summons. Luther before Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg;Letters written from Augsburg; refuses to recant;his flight; his appeal to a General Council. Popular works onthe Penitential Psalms, the Our Father, and the Ten Commandmentspages [355-362]
4. The Disputation at Leipzig, 1519. Miltitz. QuestionableReports.
Circumstances of the Disputation. Luther’s dissatisfaction with the result. Unfortunateattempts of Miltitz to smooth things down. Luther’s justification ofhis polemics. Stories of his doings and sayings at Dresden; hissermon before the Court; Emser’s reports of certain utterancespages [362-373]
CHAPTER X. LUTHER’S PROGRESS IN THE NEW TEACHINGpages [374-404]
1. The Second Stage of His Development: Assurance ofSalvation.
In the first stage assurance of salvation through faithalone was yet unknown to him. The Catholic doctrine onthis subject. How Luther reached his doctrine by the pathof despair; the several steps of his progress from 1516onwards; the Resolutions; the “pangs of Hell”; theinterview with Cajetan; first clear trace of the doctrine in hisworks written in 1519pages [374-388]
2. The Discovery in the Monastery Tower, 1518-19.
The information contained in Luther’s later Præfatio tobe trusted in the main; other testimonies; his state at thetime one of great anxiety; his terror of God’s justice. TheGate of Paradise suddenly opened by the text: “The justman liveth by faith”; where this revelation was vouchsafed:In the “cloaca” on the tower; the revelation referred byLuther to the Holy Ghost; its importance and connectionwith Luther’s mysticismpages [388-400]
3. Legends. Storm-Signals.
Luther’s faulty recollection in later life responsible forthe rise of legends regarding his discovery. His statementthat he was the first to interpret Romans i. 17 as speakingof the justice by which God makes us just. His “discovery”confirms him in his attitude towards Rome; the Pope a moredangerous foe of the German nation than the Turk. Thelegend that the German knights and Humanists wereresponsible for Luther’s opposition to Romepages [400-404]