BOOK SIXTH.
THE BULL OF ROME.
1520.
CHAP. I.
Character of Maximilian—The Competitors for the Empire—Charles—Francis I—Inclination of the Germans—The Crown offered to Frederick—Charles is Elected.
A new character was going to appear upon the stage. God saw meet to place the monk of Wittemberg in presence of the most powerful monarch who had appeared in Christendom since Charlemagne. He chose a prince, in the fervid vigour of youth, to whom every thing presaged a reign of long duration—a prince whose sceptre extended over a considerable portion both of the old and the new world; so that, according to a celebrated expression, the sun never set on his vast dominions—and opposed him to this humble Reformation, which began with the anguish and sighs of a poor monk, in the obscure cell of a convent at Erfurt. The history of this monarch and his reign seems to have been destined to give a great lesson to the world. It was to show the nothingness of all "the power of man," when it presumes to contend with "the weakness of God." Had a prince, friendly to Luther, been called to the empire, the success of the Reformation would have been attributed to his protection. Had even an emperor opposed to the new doctrine, but feeble, occupied the throne, the triumphant success of the work would have been accounted for by the feebleness of the monarch. But it was the proud conqueror of Pavia who behoved to humble his pride before the power of the Divine Word, that all the world might see how he, who had found it easy to drag Francis I a captive to Madrid, was compelled to lower his sword before the son of a poor miner.
COMPETITORS FOR THE IMPERIAL CROWN.
The Emperor Maximilian was dead, and the electors had met at Frankfort to give him a successor. In the circumstances in which Europe was placed, this election was of vast importance, and was regarded with deep interest by all Christendom. Maximilian had not been a great prince; but his memory was dear to the people, who took a pleasure in remembering his presence of mind and good-humoured affability. Luther often talked of him to his friends, and one day related the following anecdote.
A beggar had kept running after him asking charity, and addressing him as his brother; "for," said he, "we are both descended from the same father, Adam. I am poor," continued he, "but you are rich, and it is your duty to assist me." At these words the emperor turned round and said to him—"Hold, there's a penny: go to your other brothers, and if each gives you as much, you will soon be richer than I am."[171]
The person about to be called to the empire was not a good-natured Maximilian. Times were to undergo a change; ambitious potentates were competing for the imperial throne of the West; the reins of the empire were to be seized by an energetic hand; profound peace was to be succeeded by long and bloody wars.
FRANCIS I. HENRY VIII. FREDERICK.
At the assembly of Frankfort, three kings aspired to the crown of the Cæsars. A youthful prince, grandson of the last emperor, born at the opening of the century, and consequently nineteen years of age, first presented himself. He was named Charles, and was born at Ghent. His paternal grandmother, Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold, had left him Flanders and the rich States of Burgundy. His mother, Joan, daughter of Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castile, and wife of Philip, son of the Emperor Maximilian, had transmitted to him the united kingdoms of Spain, Naples, and Sicily, to which Christopher Columbus had added a new world, while the recent death of his grandfather put him in possession of the hereditary States of Austria. This young prince, who was endowed with great talents. To a turn for military exercises (in which the dukes of Burgundy had long been distinguished)—to the finesse and penetration of the Italians—to the reverence for existing institutions which still characterises the house of Austria, and promised the papacy a firm defender, he joined a thorough knowledge of public affairs, acquired under the direction of Chièvres, having from fifteen years of age taken part in all the deliberations of his cabinet.[172] These diversified qualities were, in a manner, shrouded under Spanish reserve and taciturnity. In personal appearance he was tall in stature, and had somewhat of a melancholy air. "He is pious and tranquil," said Luther, "and I believe does not speak as much in a year as I do in a day."[173] Had the character of Charles been formed under the influence of freedom and Christianity, he would perhaps have been one of the most admirable princes on record; but politics engrossed his life, and stifled his great and good qualities.
Not contented with all the sceptres which he grasped in his hand, young Charles aspired to the imperial dignity. "It is like a sunbeam, which throws lustre on the house which it illumines," said several, "but put forth the hand to lay hold of it and you will find nothing." Charles, on the contrary, saw in it the pinnacle of all earthly grandeur, and a means of acquiring a magic influence over the spirit of the nations.
Francis I was the second of the competitors. The young paladins of the court of this chivalric king were incessantly representing to him that he was entitled, like Charlemagne, to be the emperor of all the West, and reviving the exploits of the ancient knights, to attack the crescent which was menacing the empire, discomfit the infidels, and recover the holy sepulchre.
"It is necessary," said the ambassadors of Francis to the electors, "it is necessary to prove to the Dukes of Austria, that the imperial crown is not hereditary. Besides, in existing circumstances, Germany has need not of a young man of nineteen, but of a prince who, to an experienced judgment, joins talents which have already been recognised. Francis will unite the arms of France and Lombardy to those of Germany, and make war on the Mussulmans. Sovereign of the duchy of Milan, he is already a member of the imperial body." These arguments, the French ambassadors supported by four hundred thousand crowns, which they distributed in purchasing votes and in festivities, by which they endeavoured to gain over their guests.
The third competitor was Henry VIII, who, jealous of the influence which the choice of the electors might give to Francis or Charles, also entered the lists, but soon left his powerful rivals sole disputants for the crown.
The electors were not disposed to favour either. Their subjects thought they would have in Francis a foreign master, and a master who might deprive the electors themselves of their independence, as he had lately deprived the nobles of his own dominions. As to Charles, it was an ancient rule with the electors not to choose a prince who was already playing an important part in the empire. The pope shared in these fears. He wished neither the king of Naples, who was his neighbour, nor the king of France, whose enterprising spirit filled him with alarm; "Choose rather some one from amongst yourselves," was his message to the electors. The elector of Trèves proposed Frederick of Saxony, and the imperial crown was laid at the feet of Luther's friend.
CHARLES V ELECTED EMPEROR.
This choice would have obtained the approbation of all Germany. Frederick's wisdom, and affection for his people, were well known. During the revolt of Erfurt, he had been urged to take the town by assault, and refused, in order to spare blood. "But it will not cost five men." "A single man would be too many," replied the prince.[174] The triumph of the Reformation seemed on the eve of being secured by the election of its protector. Ought not Frederick to have regarded the offer of the electors as a call from God himself? Who could have presided better over the destinies of the empire than a prince of so much wisdom? Who could have been stronger to oppose the Turks than an emperor strong in faith? The refusal of the Elector of Saxony, so much lauded by historians, was perhaps a fault. For the contests which afterwards tore Germany to pieces he is perhaps partly to blame. But it is difficult to say whether Frederick deserves censure for his want of faith or honour for his humility. He thought that even the safety of the empire made it his duty to refuse the crown.[175] "To save Germany," said this modest and disinterested prince, "an emperor more powerful than I is requisite."
The legate of Rome seeing that the choice would fall upon Charles, intimated that the pope withdrew his objections; and on the 28th of June, the grandson of Maximilian was elected. "God," said Frederick afterwards, "gave him to us in mercy and in anger."[176] The Spanish envoys sent a present of thirty thousand gold florins to the Elector of Saxony, as a mark of their master's gratitude; but the prince refused it, and charged his ministers not to accept of any present. At the same time he secured the German liberties by an engagement, to which the envoys of Charles took an oath in his name. The circumstances in which the latter prince encircled his head with the imperial crown seemed still better fitted than the oath to secure the Germanic liberties, and the success of the Reformation. The young prince was jealous of the laurels which his rival, Francis I, had gained at Marignan. The struggle was to be continued in Italy, and in the meantime the Reformation would doubtless be made secure. Charles left Spain in May, 1520, and was crowned on the 22nd of October, at Aix-la-Chapelle.
CHAP. II.
Luther writes to the Emperor—Luther's dangers—Instructions of Frederick to the court of Rome—Luther's sentiments—Melancthon's fears—The German nobles favourable to the Reformation—Schaumburg—Seckingen—Ulric de Hütten—Luther's Confidence—Luther's Greater Freedom—Faith the source of Works—What Faith gives—Luther judging his own writings.
LUTHER'S LETTER TO THE EMPEROR.
Luther had foreseen that the cause of the Reformation would soon be brought before the new emperor; and, when Charles was still at Madrid, addressed a letter to him, in which he said, "If the cause which I defend is worthy of being presented before the heavenly Majesty, it cannot be unworthy of engaging the attention of a prince of this world. O, Charles! prince of the kings of the earth, I cast myself as a suppliant at the feet of your most serene majesty, and beseech you to deign to take under the shadow of your wings, not me, but the very cause of eternal truth, for the defence of which God has entrusted you with the sword."[177] The young king of Spain threw aside this odd letter from a German monk, and returned no answer.
While Luther was turning in vain toward Madrid, the storm seemed gathering around him. Fanaticism was rekindled in Germany. Hochstraten, indefatigable in his efforts at persecution, had extracted certain theses from Luther's writings, and obtained their condemnation by the universities of Cologne and Louvain. That of Erfurt, which had always had a grudge at Luther, for having given Wittemberg the preference, was on the eve of following their example. But the doctor, having been informed of it, wrote Lange, in terms so energetic that the theologians of Erfurt took fright, and said nothing. Still, however, there was enough to inflame the minds of men in the condemnation pronounced by Cologne and Louvain. More than this; the priests of Misnia who had espoused Emser's quarrel said openly (such is Melancthon's statement) that there would be no sin in killing Luther.[178] "The time is come," said Luther, "when men think they will do Jesus Christ service by putting us to death." The murderous language of the priests did not fail of its effect.
FREDERICK'S INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS ENVOY.
"One day," says a biographer, "when Luther was in front of the Augustin convent, a stranger, with a pistol hid under his arm, accosted him, and said, Why do you walk about thus quite alone?" "I am in the hands of God," replied Luther; "He is my strength and my shield." "Thereupon," adds the biographer, "the stranger grew pale, and fled trembling."[179] About the same time Serra Longa, the orator of the conference of Augsburg, wrote to the Elector, "Let not Luther find any asylum in the states of your highness, but, repulsed by all, let him be stoned to death in the face of heaven. This would please me more than a gift of ten thousand crowns."[180]
But the sound of the gathering storm was heard, especially in the direction of Rome. Valentine Teutleben, a noble of Thuringia, vicar of the Archbishop of Mentz, and a zealous partisan of the papacy, was the representative of the Elector of Saxony at Rome. Teutleben, ashamed of the protection which his master gave to the heretical monk, could not bear to see his mission paralysed by this imprudent conduct; and imagined that, by alarming the Elector, he would induce him to abandon the rebel theologian. Writing to his master, he said, "I am not listened to, because of the protection which you give to Luther." But the Romans were mistaken if they thought they could frighten sage Frederick. He knew that the will of God and the movements of the people were more irresistible than the decrees of the papal chancery. He ordered his envoy to hint to the pope that, far from defending Luther, he had always left him to defend himself, that he had moreover told him to quit Saxony and the university, that the doctor had declared his readiness to obey, and would not now be in the electoral states had not the legate, Charles de Miltitz, begged the prince to keep him near himself, from a fear that in other countries he would act with still less restraint than in Saxony.[181] Frederick did still more; he tried to enlighten Rome. "Germany," continues he, in his letter, "now possesses a great number of learned men distinguished for scholarship and science; the laity themselves begin to cultivate their understanding, and to love the Holy Scriptures. Hence, there is great reason to fear that, if the equitable proposals of Doctor Luther are not accepted, peace will never be re-established. The doctrine of Luther has struck its roots deep in many hearts. If, instead of refuting it by passages from the Bible, an attempt is made to crush him by the thunders of ecclesiastical power, great scandal will be given, and pernicious and dreadful outbreaks will ensue."[182]
LUTHER'S FEELINGS. MELANCTHON'S FEARS.
The Elector, having full confidence in Luther, caused Teutleben's letter to be communicated to him, and also another letter from cardinal St. George. The Reformer was moved on reading them. He at once saw all the dangers by which he was surrounded, and for an instant his heart sank. But it was in such moments as these that his faith displayed its full power. Often, when feeble and ready to fall into despondency, he rallied again, and seemed greater amid the raging of the storm. He would fain have been delivered from all these trials; but, aware of the price that must have been paid for repose, he spurned it with indignation. "Be silent!" said he, "I am disposed to be so, if I am allowed—that is to say, if others are silent. If any one envies my situation he is welcome to it. If any one is desirous to destroy my writings, let him burn them. I am ready to remain quiet, provided gospel truth is not compelled to be quiet also.[183] I ask not a cardinal's hat; I ask neither gold, nor aught that Rome esteems. There is nothing which I will not concede, provided Christians are not excluded from the way of salvation.[184] All their threatenings do not terrify—all their promises cannot seduce me."
Animated by these sentiments, Luther soon resumed his warlike temperament, preferring the Christian combat to the calmness of solitude. One night was sufficient to revive his desire of overthrowing Rome. "My part is taken," wrote he next day. "I despise the fury of Rome, and I despise her favour. No more reconciliation, nor more communication with her for ever.[185] Let her condemn and burn my writings! I, in my turn, will condemn and publicly burn the pontifical law, that nest of all heresies. The moderation which I have shown up to this hour has been useless, and I have done with it!"
His friends were far from feeling equally tranquil. Great alarm prevailed at Wittemberg. "We are waiting in extreme anxiety," said Melancthon. "I would sooner die than be separated from Luther.[186] Unless God come to our assistance we perish." Writing a month later, in his anxiety, he says, "Our Luther still lives, and God grant he long may; for the Roman sycophants are using every mean to destroy him. Pray for the life of him who is sole vindicator of sound theology."[187]
SCHAUMBURG. SECKINGEN. ULRIC VON HUTTEN
These prayers were not in vain. The warnings which the Elector had given Rome, through his envoy, were not without foundation. The word of Luther had been every where heard, in cottages, and convents, at the firesides of the citizens, in the castles of nobles, in academies, and in the palaces of kings. He had said to Duke John of Saxony, "Let my life only have contributed to the salvation of a single individual, and I will willingly consent that all my books perish."[188] Not a single individual, but a great multitude, had found light in the writings of the humble doctor; and hence, in all quarters, there were men ready to protect him. The sword which was to attack him was on the anvil of the Vatican; but there were heroes in Germany who would interpose their bodies as his buckler. At the moment when the bishops were waxing wroth, when princes were silent, when the people were awaiting the result, and when the thunder was already grumbling on the seven hills, God raised up the German nobility, and placed them as a rampart around his servant.
At this time Sylvester of Schaumburg, one of the most powerful nobles of Franconia, sent his son to Wittemberg with a letter for the Reformer, in which he said, "Your life is exposed to danger. If the support of electors, princes, or magistrates fails you, I beg you to beware of going into Bohemia, where, of old, very learned men had much to suffer; come rather to me; God willing, I shall soon have collected more than a hundred gentlemen, and with their help, will be able to keep you free from harm."[189]
LUTHER'S CONFIDENCE.
Francis of Seckingen, the hero of his age, whose intrepid courage we have already seen,[190] loved the Reformer, because he found that he was worthy of love, and also because he was hated by the monks.[191] "My person, my property, and services, all that I possess," wrote he to him, "is at your disposal. Your wish is to maintain Christian truth, and in that I am ready to assist you."[192] Harmuth of Cronberg, spoke in similar terms. Ulric von Hütten, the poet and valiant knight of the sixteenth century, ceased not to speak in commendation of Luther. But how great the contrast between these two men! Hütten wrote to the Reformer—"We must have swords, bows, javelins, and bullets, to destroy the fury of the devil." Luther, on receiving these letters, exclaimed—"I have no wish that men should have recourse to arms and carnage in order to defend the gospel. It was by the Word the world was overcome, by the Word the Church has been saved, and by the Word will she be re-established." "I despise not his offers," said he on receiving the above letter from Schaumburg, "but still I wish to lean on none but Christ."[193] So spake not the pontiffs of Rome when they waded in the blood of the Vaudois and Albigenses. Hütten was sensible of the difference between his cause and Luther's, and accordingly wrote with noble frankness: "I am occupied with the things of man, but you, rising to a far greater height, give yourself wholly to those of God."[194] After thus writing, he set out to try, if possible, to gain over Ferdinand and Charles V to the truth.[195]
Thus, on the one hand, Luther's enemies assail him, and on the other, his friends rise up to defend him. "My bark," says he, "floats here and there at the pleasure of the winds, ... hope and fear reign by turns, but what matters it?"[196] Still his mind was not uninfluenced by the marks of sympathy which he received. "The Lord reigns," said he, "and so visibly as to be almost palpable."[197] Luther saw that he was no longer alone; his words had proved faithful, and the thought inspired him with new courage. Now that he has other defenders prepared to brave the fury of Rome, he will no longer be kept back by the fear of compromising the Elector. He becomes more free, and, if possible, more decided. This is an important period in the development of Luther's mind. Writing at this time to the Elector's chaplain, he says, "Rome must be made aware, that though she should succeed, by her menaces, in exiling me from Wittemberg, she will only damage her cause. Those who are ready to defend me against the thunders of the papacy are to be found not in Bohemia, but in the heart of Germany. If I have not yet done to my enemies all that I am preparing for them, they must ascribe it neither to my moderation nor to their tyranny, but to my fear of compromising the name of the Elector, and the prosperity of the university of Wittemberg. Now, that I have no longer any such fears, I will rush with new impetuosity on Rome and her courtiers."[198]
FRUITS OF FAITH. FAITH AND WORKS.
Still Luther's hope was not placed on the great. He had often been urged to dedicate a book to Duke John, the Elector's brother, but had never done it. "I fear," he had said, "that the suggestion comes from himself. The Holy Scriptures must be subservient only to the glory of God's name."[199] Luther afterwards laid aside his suspicions, and dedicated his discourse on good works to Duke John, a discourse in which he gives a forcible exposition of the doctrine of justification by faith, a mighty doctrine, whose power he rates far higher than the sword of Hütten, the army of Seckingen, or the protection of dukes and electors.
"The first, the noblest, the sublimest of all works," says he, "is faith in Jesus Christ.[200] From this work all other works should proceed; they are all the vassals of faith, and from it alone derive their efficacy.
"If a man's own heart assures him, that what he is doing is agreeable to God, the work is good should it be merely the lifting up of a straw, but in the absence of this assurance the work is not good, though it should be the raising of the dead. A pagan, a Jew, a Turk, a sinner, can do all other works, but to trust firmly in the Lord, and feel assured of pleasing him, are works of which none are capable but the Christian strengthened by grace.
"A Christian, who has faith in God, acts, at all times, with freedom and gladness, whereas, the man who is not at one with God is full of cares, and is detained in thraldom; he anxiously asks how many works he ought to do, he runs up and down interrogating this man and that man, and, nowhere finding any peace, does everything with dissatisfaction and fear.
"Hence, I have always extolled faith. But it is otherwise in the world: there the essential point is to have many works, works great and high, and of all dimensions, while it is a matter of indifference whether or not faith animates them. Thus men build their peace, not on the good pleasure of God, but on their own merits, that is to say, on the sand.... (Matt. vii, 27.)
"To preach faith is, it is said, to prevent good works; but though a single man should have in himself the powers of all men, or even of all creatures,[201] the mere obligation of living by faith would be a task too great for him ever to accomplish. If I say to a sick person, be in health and you will have the use of your members—will it be said that I forbid him to use his members? Must not health precede labour? The same holds true in the preaching of faith; it must be before works, in order that works themselves may exist.
"Where then, you will ask, is this faith found, and how is it received? This, indeed, is the most important of all questions. Faith comes solely from Jesus Christ, who is promised, and given gratuitously.
LUTHER JUDGING HIS WRITINGS.
"O, man! represent Christ to thyself, and consider how in him God manifests his mercy to thee without being anticipated by any merit on thy part.[202] In this image of his grace receive the faith and assurance that all thy sins are forgiven thee. Works cannot produce it. It flows from the blood, the wounds, and the death of Christ, whence it wells up in the heart. Christ is the rock out of which come milk and honey. (Deut. xxxii.)
Not being able to give an account of all Luther's works, we have quoted some short fragments of this discourse on good works, on account of the opinion which the Reformer himself had of it. "It is in my judgment," said he, "the best work that I have published." He immediately subjoins this profound observation. "But I know that when any thing I write pleases myself, the infection of this bad leaven prevents it from pleasing others."[203] Melancthon, in sending a copy of this discourse to a friend, thus expressed himself, "Of all Greek and Latin authors none has come nearer the spirit of St. Paul than Luther."[204]
CHAP. III.
The Papacy Attacked—Appeal to the Nobility—The Three Walls—All Christians are Priests—The Magistrate's duty to Correct the Clergy—Abuses of Rome—Ruin of Italy—Dangers of Germany—The Pope—The Legates—The Monks—The Marriage of Priests—Celibacy—Festivals—The Bohemians—Charity—The Universities—The Empire—The Emperor must retake Rome—A Book not Published—Luther's Modesty—Success of the Address.
THE THREE WALLS.
But the substitution of a system of meritorious works for the idea of grace and amnesty was not the only evil existing in the Church. A domineering power had risen up among the humble pastors of Christ's flock. Luther must attack this usurped authority. A vague and distant rumour of Eck's intrigues and success at Rome awakened a warlike spirit in the Reformer, who, amid all his turmoil, had calmly studied the origin, progress, and usurpations of the papacy. His discoveries having filled him with surprise, he no longer hesitated to communicate them and strike the blow which was destined, like the rod of Moses of old, to awaken a whole nation out of a lethargy, the result of long bondage. Even before Rome had time to publish her formidable bull, he published his declaration of war. "The time of silence," exclaims he, "is past; the time for speaking has arrived. The mysteries of Antichrist must at length be unveiled." On the 24th June, 1520, he published his famous 'Appeal to his Imperial Majesty, and the Christian Nobility of Germany, on the Reformation of Christianity.'[205] This work was the signal of the attack which was at once to complete the rupture and decide the victory.
"It is not from presumption," says he, at the outset of this Treatise, "that I, who am only one of the people, undertake to address your lordships. The misery and oppression endured at this moment by all the States of Christendom, and more especially by Germany, wring from me a cry of distress. I must call for aid; I must see whether God will not give his Spirit to some one of our countrymen, and stretch out a hand to our unhappy nation. God has given us a young and generous prince, (the Emperor Charles V,)[206] and thus filled our hearts with high hopes. But we too must, on our own part, do all we can.
"Now, the first thing necessary is, not to confide in our own great strength, or our own high wisdom. When any work otherwise good is begun in self-confidence, God casts it down, and destroys it. Frederick I, Frederick II, and many other emperors besides, before whom the world trembled, have been trampled upon by the popes, because they trusted more to their own strength than to God. They could not but fall. In this war we have to combat the powers of hell, and our mode of conducting it must be to expect nothing from the strength of human weapons—to trust humbly in the Lord, and look still more to the distress of Christendom than to the crimes of the wicked. It may be that, by a different procedure, the work would begin under more favourable appearances, but suddenly in the heat of the contest confusion would arise, bad men would cause fearful disaster, and the world would be deluged with blood. The greater the power, the greater the danger, when things are not done in the fear of the Lord."
After this exordium, Luther continues:—
"The Romans, to guard against every species of reformation, have surrounded themselves with three walls. When attacked by the temporal power, they denied its jurisdiction over them, and maintained the superiority of the spiritual power. When tested by Scripture, they replied, that none could interpret it but the pope. When threatened with a council, they again replied, that none but the pope could convene it.
POWER OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE.
"They have thus carried off from us the three rods destined to chastise them, and abandoned themselves to all sorts of wickedness. But now may God be our help, and give us one of the trumpets which threw down the walls of Jericho. Let us blow down the walls of paper and straw which the Romans have built around them, and lift up the rods which punish the wicked, by bringing the wiles of the devil to the light of day."
Luther next commences the attack, and shakes to the foundation that papal monarchy which had for ages united the nations of the West into one body under the sceptre of the Roman bishop. There is no sacerdotal caste in Christianity. This truth, of which the Church was so early robbed, he vigorously expounds in the following terms:—
"It has been said that the pope, the bishops, the priests, and all those who people convents, form the spiritual or ecclesiastical estate; and that princes, nobles, citizens, and peasants, form the secular or lay estate. This is a specious tale. But let no man be alarmed. All Christians belong to the spiritual estate, and the only difference between them is in the functions which they fulfil. We have all but one baptism, but one faith, and these constitute the spiritual man. Unction, tonsure, ordination, consecration, given by the pope or by a bishop, may make a hypocrite, but can never make a spiritual man. We are all consecrated priests by baptism, as St. Peter says, 'You are a royal priesthood;' although all do not actually perform the offices of kings and priests, because no one can assume what is common to all, without the common consent. But if this consecration of God did not belong to us, the unction of the pope could not make a single priest. If ten brothers, the sons of one king, and possessing equal claims to his inheritance, should choose one of their number to administer for them, they would all be kings, and yet only one of them would be the administrator of their common power. So it is in the Church. Were several pious laymen banished to a desert, and were they, from not having among them a priest consecrated by a bishop, to agree in selecting one of their number, whether married or not, he would be as truly a priest, as if all the bishops of the world had consecrated him. In this way were Augustine, Ambrose, and Cyprian elected.
"Hence it follows that laymen and priests, princes and bishops, or, as we have said, ecclesiastics and laics, have nothing to distinguish them but their functions. They have all the same condition, but they have not all the same work to perform.
PAPAL USURPATION. RUIN OF ITALY.
"This being so, why should not the magistrate correct the clergy? The secular power was appointed by God for the punishment of the wicked and the protection of the good, and must be left free to act throughout Christendom without respect of persons, be they pope, bishops, priests, monks, or nuns. St. Paul says to all Christians, 'Let every soul,' (and consequently the pope also,) 'be subject to the higher powers; for they bear not the sword in vain.'"[207]
Luther, after throwing down the other two walls in the same way, takes a review of all the abuses of Rome. With an eloquence of a truly popular description he exposes evils which had, for ages, been notorious. Never had a nobler remonstrance been heard. The assembly which Luther addresses is the Church, the power whose abuses he attacks is that papacy which had for ages been the oppressor of all nations, and the Reformation for which he calls aloud is destined to exercise its powerful influence on Christendom, all over the world, and so long as man shall exist upon it.
He begins with the pope. "It is monstrous," says he, "to see him who calls himself the vicar of Jesus Christ displaying a magnificence, unequalled by that of any emperor. Is this the way in which he proves his resemblance to lowly Jesus, or humble Peter? He is, it is said, the lord of the world. But Christ, whose vicar he boasts to be, has said, 'My kingdom is not of this world.' Can the power of a vicegerent exceed that of his prince?..."
Luther proceeds to depict the consequences of the papal domination. "Do you know of what use the cardinals are? I will tell you. Italy and Germany have many convents, foundations, and benefices, richly endowed. How could their revenues be brought to Rome?... Cardinals were created; then, on them, cloisters and prelacies were bestowed, and at this hour ... Italy is almost a desert—the convents are destroyed—the bishopricks devoured—the towns in decay—the inhabitants corrupted—worship dying out, and preaching abolished.... Why? Because all the revenues of the churches go to Rome. Never would the Turk himself have so ruined Italy."
Luther next turns to his countrymen.
DANGER OF GERMANY. REMEDIES PROPOSED BY LUTHER.
"And now that they have thus sucked the blood of their own country, they come into Germany. They begin gently, but let us be on our guard. Germany will soon become like Italy. We have already some cardinals. Their thought is—before the rustic Germans comprehend our design they will have neither bishoprick, nor convent, nor benefice, nor penny, nor farthing. Antichrist must possess the treasures of the earth. Thirty or forty cardinals will be elected in a single day; to one will be given Bamberg, to another the duchy of Wurtzburg, and rich benefices will be annexed until the churches and cities are laid desolate. And then the pope will say, 'I am the vicar of Christ, and the pastor of his flocks. Let the Germans be resigned.'"
Luther's indignation rises.
"How do we Germans submit to such robbery and concussion on the part of the pope? If France has successfully resisted, why do we allow ourselves to be thus sported with and insulted? Ah! if they deprived us of nothing but our goods. But they ravage churches, plunder the sheep of Christ, abolish the worship and suppress the word of God."
Luther then exposes the devices of Rome to obtain money and secure the revenues of Germany. Annats, palliums, commendams, administrations, expected favours, incorporations, reservations, etc., all pass in review. Then he says, "Let us endeavour to put a stop to this desolation and misery. If we would march against the Turks—let us begin with the worst species of them. If we hang pickpockets, and behead robbers, let us not allow Roman avarice to escape—avarice, which is the greatest of all thieves and robbers, and that too in the name of St. Peter and Jesus Christ. Who can endure it? Who can be silent? Is not all that the pope possesses stolen? He neither purchased it nor inherited it from St. Peter, nor acquired it by the sweat of his own brow. Where then did he get it?"
Luther proposes remedies for all these evils, and energetically arouses the German nobility to put an end to Roman depredation. He next comes to the reform of the pope himself. "Is it not ridiculous," says he, "that the pope should pretend to be the lawful heir of the empire? Who gave it to him? Was it Jesus Christ, when he said, 'The kings of the earth exercise lordship over them, but it shall not be so with you'? (Luke, xxii, 25, 26). How can he govern an empire, and at the same time preach, pray, study, and take care of the poor? Jesus Christ forbade his disciples to carry with them gold or clothes, because the office of the ministry cannot be performed without freedom from every other care; yet the pope would govern the empire, and at the same time remain pope."...
THE POPE. CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY.
Luther continues to strip the sovereign pontiff of his spoils. "Let the pope renounce every species of title to the kingdom of Naples and Sicily. He has no more right to it than I have. His possession of Bologna, Imola, Ravenna, Romagna, Marche d'Ancona, etc., is unjust and contrary to the commands of Jesus Christ. 'No man,' says St. Paul, 'who goeth a warfare entangleth himself with the affairs of this life,' (2 Tim. ii, 2). And the pope, who pretends to take the lead in the war of the gospel, entangles himself more with the affairs of this life than any emperor or king. He must be disencumbered of all this toil. The emperor should put a bible and a prayer book into the hands of the pope, that the pope may leave kings to govern, and devote himself to preaching and prayer."[208]
Luther is as averse to the pope's ecclesiastical power in Germany as to his temporal power in Italy. "The first thing necessary is to banish from all the countries of Germany, the legates of the pope, and the pretended blessings which they sell us at the weight of gold, and which are sheer imposture. They take our money—and why? For legalising ill gotten gain, for loosing oaths, and teaching us to break faith, to sin, and go direct to hell.... Hearest thou, O, pope! not pope most holy, but pope most sinful.... May God, from his place in heaven, cast down thy throne into the infernal abyss!"
The Christian tribune pursues his course. After citing the pope to his bar, he cites all the abuses in the train of the papacy, and endeavours to sweep away from the Church all the rubbish by which it is encumbered. He begins with the monks.
"And now I come to a lazy band which promises much, but performs little. Be not angry, dear Sirs, my intention is good; what I have to say is a truth at once sweet and bitter; viz., that it is no longer necessary to build cloisters for mendicant monks. Good God! we have only too many of them, and would they were all suppressed.... To wander vagabond over the country never has done, and never will do good."
The marriage of ecclesiastics comes next in course. It is the first occasion on which Luther speaks of it.
FEAST DAYS. SUPPRESSION OF HERESY.
"Into what a state have the clergy fallen, and how many priests are burdened with women and children and remorse, while no one comes to their assistance? Let the pope and the bishops run their course, and let those who will, go to perdition; all very well! but I am resolved to unburden my conscience and open my mouth freely, however pope, bishops, and others may be offended!... I say, then, that according to the institution of Jesus Christ and the apostles, every town ought to have a pastor or bishop, and that this pastor may have a wife, as St. Paul writes to Timothy, "Let the bishop be the husband of one wife," (1 Tim. iii. 2,) and as is still practised in the Greek Church. But the devil has persuaded the pope, as St. Paul tells Timothy (1 Tim. iv, 1-3), to forbid the clergy to marry. And hence, evils so numerous, that it is impossible to give them in detail. What is to be done? How are we to save the many pastors who are blameworthy only in this, that they live with a female, to whom they wish with all their heart to be lawfully united? Ah! let them save their conscience! let them take this woman in lawful wedlock, and live decently with her, not troubling themselves whether it pleases or displeases the pope. The salvation of your soul is of greater moment than arbitrary and tyrannical laws, laws not imposed by the Lord."
In this way the Reformation sought to restore purity of morals within the Church. The Reformer continues:—
"Let feast-days be abolished, and let Sunday only be kept, or if it is deemed proper to keep the great Christian festivals, let them be celebrated in the morning, and let the remainder of the day be a working-day as usual. For by the ordinary mode of spending them in drinking and gaming and committing all sorts of sins, or in mere idleness, God is offended on festivals much more than on other days."
He afterwards attacks the dedications of Churches, (which he describes as mere taverns,) and after them fasts and fraternities. He desires not only to suppress abuses, but also to put an end to schisms. "It is time," says he, "to take the case of the Bohemians into serious consideration, that hatred and envy may cease, and union be again established." He proposes excellent methods of conciliation, and adds—"In this way must heretics be refuted by Scripture, as the ancient fathers did, and not subdued by fire. On a contrary system, executioners would be the most learned of all doctors. Oh! would to God that each party among us would shake hands with each other in fraternal humility, rather than harden ourselves in the idea of our power and right! Charity is more necessary than the Roman papacy. I have now done what was in my power. If the pope or his people oppose it, they will have to give an account. The pope should be ready to renounce the popedom, and all his wealth, and all his honours, if he could thereby save a single soul. But he would see the universe go to destruction sooner than yield a hair-breadth of his usurped power.[209] I am clear of these things."
Luther next comes to universities and schools.
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. ROME SHOULD BE RETAKEN.
"I much fear the universities will become wide gates to hell, if due care is not taken to explain the Holy Scriptures, and engrave it on the hearts of the students. My advice to every person is, not to place his child where the Scripture does not reign paramount. Every institution in which the studies carried on lead to a relaxed consideration of the Word of God must prove corrupting;[210] a weighty sentiment, which governments, literary men, and parents in all ages would do well to ponder."
Towards the end of his address he returns to the empire and the emperor.
"The popes," says he, "unable to lead the ancient masters of the Roman empire at will, resolved on wresting their title and their empire from them and giving it to us Germans. This they accomplished, and we have become bondmen to the pope. For the pope has possessed himself of Rome, and bound the emperor by oath never to reside in it; and the consequence is, that the emperor is the emperor of Rome without having Rome. We have the name; the pope has the country and its cities. We have the title and the insignia of empire; the pope its treasury, power, privileges, and freedom. The pope eats the fruit, and we amuse ourselves with the husk. In this way our simplicity has always been abused by the pride and tyranny of the Romans.
"But now, may God who has given us such an empire, be our aid! Let us act conformably to our name, our title, our insignia; let us save our freedom, and give the Romans to know that, through their hands it was committed to us by God. They boast of having given us an empire. Very well! let us take what belongs to us. Let the pope surrender Rome, and every part of the empire that he possesses. Let him put an end to his taxes and extortions. Let him restore our liberty, our power, our wealth, our honour, our soul, and our body. Let the empire be all that an empire ought to be; and let the sword of princes no longer be compelled to lower itself before the hypocritical pretensions of a pope."
In these words there is not only energy and eloquence, but also sound argument. Never did orator so speak to the nobility of the empire, and to the emperor himself. Far from being surprised that so many German states revolted from Rome we should rather wonder that all Germany did not proceed to the banks of the Tiber, and there resume that imperial power, the insignia of which the popes had imprudently placed on the head of their chief.
Luther thus concludes his intrepid address.
BOOK NOT PUBLISHED.
"I presume, however, that I have struck too high a note, proposed many things that will appear impossible, and been somewhat too severe on the many errors which I have attacked. But what can I do? Better that the world be offended with me than God!... The utmost which it can take from me is life. I have often offered to make peace with my opponents, but, through their instrumentality God has always obliged me to speak out against them. I have still a chant upon Rome in reserve, and if they have an itching ear, I will sing it to them at full pitch. Rome! do ye understand me?"... It is probable that Luther here refers to a treatise on the papacy which he was preparing for publication, but which never was published. Rector Burkhard, writing at this time to Spengler, says, "There is, moreover, a short tract, De Execranda Venere Romanorum, but it is kept in reserve." The title of the work seems to intimate something which would have given great offence, and it is pleasing to think that Luther had moderation not to publish it.
"If my cause is just," continues he, "it must be condemned on the earth, and justified only by Christ in heaven. Therefore, let pope, bishops, priests, monks, doctors, come forward, display all their zeal, and give full vent to their fury. Assuredly they are just the people who ought to persecute the truth, as in all ages they have persecuted it."
Where did this monk obtain this clear knowledge of public affairs, which even the states of the empire often find it so difficult to unravel? Whence did this German derive this courage which enables him to hold up his head among his countrymen who had been enslaved for so many ages, and deal such severe blows to the papacy? By what mysterious energy is he animated? Does it not seem that he must have heard the words which God addressed to one of ancient times; "Lo! I have strengthened thy face against their faces, I have made thy forehead like a diamond, and harder than flint; be not then afraid because of them"?
ADDRESS TO THE GERMAN NOBILITY.
This exhortation, being addressed to the German nobility, was soon in the hands of all those for whom it was intended. It spread over Germany with inconceivable rapidity. Luther's friends trembled, while Staupitz, and those who wished to follow gentle methods, thought the blow too severe. "In our days," replied Luther, "whatever is treated calmly falls into oblivion, and nobody cares for it."[211] At the same time, he displayed extraordinary simplicity and humility. He was unconscious of his own powers. "I know not," writes he, "what to say of myself; perhaps I am the precursor of Philip (Melancthon). Like Elias, I am preparing the way for him, in spirit and in power, that he may one day trouble Israel, and the house of Ahab."[212] But there was no occasion to wait for any other than he who had appeared. The house of Ahab was already shaken. The Address to the German Nobility was published on the 26th of June, 1520, and, in a short time, 4000 copies were sold, a number at that period unprecedented. The astonishment was universal, and the whole people were in commotion. The vigour, spirit, perspicuity, and noble boldness by which it was pervaded, made it truly a work for the people, who felt that one who spoke in such terms truly loved them. The confused views which many wise men entertained were enlightened. All became aware of the usurpations of Rome. At Wittemberg, no man had any doubt whatever, that the pope was Antichrist. Even the Elector's court, with all its timidity and circumspection, did not disapprove of the Reformer, but only awaited the issue. The nobility and the people did not even wait. The nation was awakened, and, at the voice of Luther, adopted his cause, and rallied around his standard. Nothing could have been more advantageous to the Reformer than this publication. In palaces, in castles, in the dwellings of the citizens, and even in cottages, all are now prepared, and made proof, as it were, against the sentence of condemnation which is about to fall upon the prophet of the people. All Germany is on fire, and the bull, come when it may, never will extinguish the conflagration.
CHAP. IV.
Preparations at Rome—Motives to resist the Papacy—Eck at Rome—Eck gains the Day—The Pope is the World—God produces the Separation—A Swiss Priest pleads for Luther—The Roman Consistory—Preamble of the Bull—Condemnation of Luther.
At Rome every thing necessary for the condemnation of the defender of the liberty of the Church was prepared. Men had long lived there in arrogant security. The monks of Rome had long accused Leo X of devoting himself to luxury and pleasure, and of spending his whole time in hunting, theatricals, and music,[213] while the Church was crumbling to pieces. At last, through the clamour of Dr. Eck, who had come from Leipsic to invoke the power of the Vatican, the pope, the cardinals, the monks, all Rome awoke and bestirred themselves to save the papacy.
ECK'S SUCCESS AT ROME.
Rome, in fact, was obliged to adopt the severest measures. The gauntlet had been thrown down, and the combat was destined to be mortal. Luther attacked not the abuses of the Roman pontificate, but the pontificate itself. At his bidding, the pope was humbly to descend from his throne, and again become a simple pastor, or bishop, on the banks of the Tiber. All the dignitaries of the Roman hierarchy were required to renounce their riches and worldly glory, and again become elders or deacons of the churches of Italy. All the splendour and power which had for ages dazzled the West behoved to vanish away and give place to the humble and simple worship of the primitive Christians. These things God could have done, and will one day do, but they were not to be expected from men. Even should a pope have been disinterested enough, and bold enough to attempt the overthrow of the ancient and sumptuous edifice of the Romish Church, thousands of priests and bishops would have rushed forward to its support. The pope had received power under the express condition of maintaining whatever was entrusted to him. Rome deemed herself appointed of God to govern the Church; and no wonder, therefore, that she was prepared with this view to adopt the most decisive measures. And yet, at the outset, she did show hesitation. Several cardinals and the pope himself, were averse to severe proceedings. Leo had too much sagacity not to be aware that a decision, the enforcement of which depended on the very dubious inclinations of the civil power, might seriously compromise the authority of the Church. He saw, moreover, that the violent methods already resorted to had only increased the evil. "Is it impossible to gain this Saxon monk?" asked the politicians of Rome. "Would all the power of the Church, and all the wiles of Italy, be ineffectual for this purpose? Negotiation must still be attempted."
PAPACY AND THE REFORMATION.
Eck accordingly encountered formidable obstacles. He neglected nothing to prevent what he termed impious concessions. Going up and down Rome, he gave vent to his rage, and cried for vengeance. The fanatical faction of the monks having immediately leagued with him he felt strong in this alliance, and proceeded with new courage to importune the pope and the cardinals. According to him all attempts at conciliation were useless. "The idea of it," said he, "is only the vain dream of those who slumber at a distance from the scene." But he knew the danger; for he had wrestled with the audacious monk. The thing necessary was to amputate the gangrened limb, and so prevent the disease from attacking the whole body. The blustering disputant of Leipsic solves objections one after another, and endeavours, but finds it difficult to persuade the pope.[214] He wishes to save Rome in spite of herself. Sparing no exertion, he spent whole hours in deliberation in the cabinet of the pontiff,[215] and made application both to the court and the cloisters, to the people and the Church. "Eck is calling to the depth of depths against me," said Luther, "and setting on fire the forests of Lebanon."[216] At length he succeeded. The fanatics in the councils of the papacy vanquished the politicians. Leo gave way, and Luther's condemnation was resolved. Eck began again to breathe, and his pride felt gratified by the thought that his own efforts had procured the ruin of his heretical rival, and thereby saved the church. "It was well," said he, "that I came to Rome at this time, for little was known of Luther's errors. It will one day be seen how much I have done in this cause."[217]
No one exerted himself so much in seconding Dr. Eck as the master of the sacred palace, Sylvester Mazzolini De Prierio, who had just published a work, in which he maintained, that not only to the pope alone appertained the infallible decision of all debateable points, but also that papal ascendancy was the fifth monarchy of Daniel, and the only true monarchy; that the pope was the prince of all ecclesiastical, and the father of all secular princes, the chief of the world, and even in substance the world itself.[218] In another writing he affirmed, that the pope is as much superior to the emperor as gold is to lead;[219] that the pope can appoint and depose emperors and electors, establish and annul positive rights; and that the emperor, with all the laws and all the nations of Christendom, cannot decide the smallest matter contrary to the pope's will. Such was the voice which came forth from the palace of the sovereign pontiff, such the monstrous fiction which, in union with scholastic dogmas, aimed at suppressing reviving truth. Had this fiction not been unmasked, as it has been, and that even by learned members of the Catholic Church, there would have been neither true history nor true religion. The papacy is not merely a lie in regard to the Bible, it is also a lie in regard to the annals of nations. And hence the Reformation, by destroying its fascinating power, has emancipated not only the Church, but also kings and nations. The Reformation has been described as a political work, and in this secondary sense it truly was so.
NO MUTILATION OF TRUTH. ZWINGLE PLEADS FOR LUTHER.
Thus God sent a spirit of delusion on the doctors of Rome. The separation between truth and error must now be accomplished, and it is to error that the task is assigned. Had a compromise been entered into, it must have been at the expense of truth; for to mutilate truth in the slightest degree is to pave the way for her complete annihilation. Like the insect, which is said to die on the loss of one of its antennæ, she must be complete in all her parts, in order to display the energy which enables her to gain great and advantageous victories, and propagate herself through coming ages. To mingle any portion of error with truth is to throw a grain of poison into a large dish of food. The grain suffices to change its whole nature, and death ensues slowly, it may be; but yet surely. Those who defend the doctrine of Christ against the attacks of its adversaries keep as jealous an eye on its farthest outposts as on the citadel itself, for the moment the enemy gains any footing at all he is on the highway to conquest. The Roman pontiff determined at the period of which we now treat to rend the Church; and the fragment which remained in his hand, how splendid soever it may be, in vain endeavours under pompous ornaments to hide the deleterious principle by which it is attacked. It is only where the word of God is, that there is life. Luther, however great his courage was, would probably have been silent had Rome been so and made some faint show of concession. But God did not leave the Reformation to depend on a weak human heart. Luther was under the guidance of a clearer intellect than his own. The pope was the instrument in the hand of Providence to sever every tie between the past and the future, and launch the Reformer on a new, unknown, and to him uncertain career, and the difficult avenues to which he would, if left to himself, have been unable to find. The papal bull was a writing of divorce sent from Rome to the pure Church of Jesus Christ, as personified in him who was then her humble but faithful representative. And the Church accepted the writing on the understanding that she was thenceforth to depend on none but her heavenly Head.
LUTHER'S CONDEMNATION.
While at Rome, Luther's condemnation was urged forward with so much violence, a humble priest, dwelling in one of the humble towns of Helvetia, and who had never had any correspondence with the Reformer, was deeply moved when he thought of the blow which was aimed at him; while even the friends of the Wittemberg doctor trembled in silence, this mountaineer of Switzerland resolved to employ every means to stay the formidable bull. His name was Ulrick Zwingle. William des Faucons, who was secretary to the papal Legate in Switzerland, and managed the affairs of Rome during the Legate's absence, was his friend, and a few days before had said to him, "while I live you may calculate on obtaining from me everything that a true friend can be expected to give." The Helvetian priest, trusting to this declaration, repaired to the Roman embassy. This, at least, may be inferred from one of his letters. For himself, he had no fear of the dangers to which evangelical faith exposed him, knowing that a disciple of Jesus Christ must always be ready to sacrifice his life; "All I ask of Christ for myself," said he to a friend to whom he was unbosoming his solicitude on Luther's account, "all I ask is to be able to bear like a man whatever evils await me. I am a vessel of clay in his hands. Let him break or let him strengthen me as seemeth to him good."[220] But the Swiss evangelist had fears for the Christian Church, should this formidable blow reach the Reformer, and he endeavoured to persuade the representative of Rome to enlighten the pope, and employ all the means in his power to prevent him from launching an excommunication at Luther.[221] "The dignity of the holy see itself," said he to him, "is here at stake, for if matters are brought to such a point, Germany, in the height of her enthusiasm for the gospel, and for its preacher, will despise the pope and his anathemas."[222] The efforts of Zwingle were in vain. It appears, indeed, that when he was making them, the blow had been already struck. Such was the first occasion on which the paths of the Saxon doctor and the Swiss priest met. The latter we will again meet with in the course of this history, and will see him gradually expanding and growing until he obtain a high standing in the Church of the Lord.
THE PAPAL BULL.
After Luther's condemnation was at last resolved upon, new difficulties arose in the Consistory. The theologians wished to proceed at once to fulmination, whereas the lawyers were for beginning with a citation, asking their theological colleagues, "Was not Adam first cited? 'Adam, where art thou?' said the Lord. It was the same with Cain, the question asked at him was, 'where is thy brother, Abel?'" These strange arguments, drawn from Scripture, the canonists strengthened by appealing to the principles of the law of nature. "The certainty of a crime," said they, "cannot deprive the criminal of his right of defence."[223] It is pleasing to find a sense of justice still existing in a Roman consistory. But these scruples did not suit the theologians, who, hurried on by passion, thought only of proceeding to business with despatch. It was at length agreed that the doctrine of Luther should be immediately condemned, and that a period of sixty days should be granted to him and his adherents; after which, provided they did not retract, they should all be, ipso facto, excommunicated. De Vio, who had returned from Germany in ill health, was carried to the meeting, that he might not lose this little triumph, which carried with it some degree of consolation. Having been defeated at Augsburg, he longed to be able at Rome to condemn the invincible monk, before whom his knowledge, finesse, and authority had proved unavailing. Luther not being there to reply, De Vio felt himself strong. A last conference, which Eck attended, was held in presence of the pope himself, in his villa at Malliano. On the 15th of June the sacred college resolved on condemnation, and approved of the famous bull.
"Arise, O Lord!" said the Roman pontiff, speaking at this solemn moment as vicar of God and head of the Church, "arise and be judge in thy own cause. Remember the insults daily offered to thee by infatuated men. Arise, O Peter, remember thy holy Roman Church, the mother of all churches, and mistress of the faith! Arise, O Paul, for here is a new Porphyry, who is attacking thy doctrines and the holy popes our predecessors! Arise, in fine, assembly of all the saints, holy Church of God, and intercede with the Almighty!"[224]
The pope afterwards quotes as pernicious, scandalous, and poisonous, forty-one propositions in which Luther had expounded the holy doctrine of the gospel. Among these propositions we find the following:—
"To deny that sin remains in an infant after baptism, is to trample St. Paul and our Lord Jesus Christ under foot."
"A new life is the best and noblest penance."
"To burn heretics is contrary to the will of the Holy Spirit, etc."
MELANCTHON.
"The moment this Bull is published," continued the pope, "it will be the duty of the bishops to make careful search for the writings of Martin Luther, which contain these errors, and to burn them publicly and solemnly in presence of the clergy and laity. In regard to Martin himself, good God! what have we not done! Imitating the goodness of the Almighty, we are ready, even yet, to receive him into the bosom of the Church, and we give him sixty days to transmit his retractation to us in a writing sealed by two prelates; or, what will be more agreeable to us, to come to Rome in person, that no doubt may be entertained as to his submission. Meanwhile, and from this moment, he must cease to preach, teach, or write, and must deliver his works to the flames. If, in the space of sixty days, he do not retract, we, by these presents, condemn him and his adherents as public and absolute heretics." The pope afterwards pronounces a multiplicity of excommunications, maledictions, and interdicts against Luther and all his adherents, with injunctions to seize their persons and send them to Rome.[225] It is easy to conjecture what the fate of these noble confessors of the gospel would have been in the dungeons of the papacy.
A thunder storm was thus gathering over the head of Luther. Some had been able to persuade themselves, after Reuchlin's affair, that the Court at Rome would not again make common cause with the Dominicans and the Inquisitors. These, however, were again in the ascendant, and the old alliance was solemnly renewed. The Bull was published, and for ages the mouth of Rome had never pronounced a sentence of condemnation without following it up with a death blow. This murderous message was about to issue from the seven hills, and attack the Saxon monk in his cloister. The moment was well chosen. There were good grounds for supposing that the new emperor, who, for many reasons, was anxious to obtain the friendship of the pope, would hasten to merit it by the sacrifice of an obscure monk. Leo X, the cardinals, and all Rome, were exulting in the belief that their enemy was already in their power.
CHAP. V.
Wittemberg—Melancthon—His Marriage—Catharine—Domestic Life—Beneficence—Good Humour—Christ and Antiquity—Labour—Love of Letters—His Mother—Outbreak among the Students.
MELANCTHON'S MARRIAGE.
While the inhabitants of the eternal city were thus agitated more tranquil events were occurring at Wittemberg, where Melancthon was shedding a soft but brilliant light. From 1500 to 2000 hearers, who had flocked from Germany, England, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Hungary, and Greece, often assembled around him. He was twenty-four years of age, and had not taken orders. Every house in Wittemberg was open to this learned and amiable young professor. Foreign universities, in particular Ingolstadt, were desirous to gain him, and his Wittemberg friends wished to get him married, and thereby retain him among them. Luther, though he concurred in wishing that his dear Philip should have a female companion, declared openly that he would give no counsel in the matter. The task was undertaken by others. The young doctor was a frequent visitor of Burgomaster Krapp. The burgomaster was of an ancient family, and had a daughter named Catharine, remarkable for the mildness of her dispositions, and her great sensibility. Melancthon was urged to ask her in marriage; but the young scholar was buried among his books, and could talk of nothing else. His Greek authors and his New Testament were all his delight. He combated the arguments of his friends; but at length his consent was obtained, and all the arrangements having been made by others, Catharine became his wife. He received her with great coolness,[226] and said, with a sigh, "God has willed it; so I must renounce my studies and my delights, to follow the wishes of my friends."[227] Still he appreciated the good qualities of Catharine. "The disposition and education of the girl," said he, "are such as I might have asked God to give her, δεξιᾷ ὁ θεὸς τεκμαίροιτο.[228] She certainly deserved a better husband." The matter was settled in August. The espousals took place on the 25th of September, and the marriage was celebrated in the end of November. Old John Luther and his wife came with their daughters to Wittemberg on the occasion.[229] Many learned and distinguished persons were also present.
PORTRAIT OF MELANCTHON.
The young bride was as warm in her affection as the young professor was cold. Ever full of anxiety for her husband, Catharine took the alarm the moment she saw him threatened with even the semblance of danger. If Melancthon proposed to take any step which might compromise him, she urged and entreated him to abandon it. "On one of these occasions," wrote Melancthon, "I was obliged to yield to her weakness.... It is our lot." How much unfaithfulness in the Church has had a similar origin. To the influence of Catharine ought, perhaps, to be attributed the timidity and fears with which her husband has often been reproached. Catharine was as fond a mother as a wife. She gave liberally to the poor. "O God, leave me not in my old age, when my hair shall begin to turn grey!" Such was the frequent prayer of this pious and timorous soul. Melancthon was soon won by the affection of his wife. When he had tasted the pleasures of domestic society he felt how sweet they were, for he was of a nature to feel them. His happiest moments were beside his Catharine and her children. A French traveller having one day found the "preceptor of Germany" rocking his infant with one hand, and with a book in the other, started back in surprise; but Melancthon, without being discomposed, so warmly explained to him the value of children in the sight of God, that the stranger left the house, (to use his own words,) "wiser than he had entered it."
MELANCTHON'S VISIT TO HIS MOTHER.
The marriage of Melancthon gave a domestic hearth to the Reformation. There was, thenceforth, in Wittemberg, a family whose house was open to all those whom the principle of a new life now animated. The concourse of strangers was immense.[230] Melancthon was waited on for a thousand different affairs, and his rule was never to deny himself to any body.[231] The young professor was particularly skilful in concealing his own good deeds. If he had no more money he secretly carried his silver plate to some merchant, never hesitating to part with it, provided he had the means of assisting those who were in distress. "Hence," says his friend, Camerarius, "it would have been impossible for him to provide for his own wants and those of his family had not a divine and hidden blessing from time to time furnished him with the means." He carried his good nature to an extreme. He had some antique medals of gold and silver, which were extremely curious. One day when showing them to a stranger who was visiting him, Melancthon said, "Take any one of them you wish." "I wish them all," replied the stranger." "I confess," says Philip, "I was at first offended at the selfishness of the request; however I gave them to him."[232] Melancthon's writings had a savour of antiquity. This, however, did not prevent them from exhaling the sweet savour of Christ, while it gave them an inexpressible charm. There is not one of his letters to his friends which does not contain some very apt allusion to Homer, Plato, Cicero, and Pliny, while Christ is always brought forward as his master and his God. Spalatin had asked him for an explanation of our Saviour's words—"Without me ye can do nothing," (John, xv, 5). Melancthon refers him to Luther—"Cur agam gestum spectante Roscio? as Cicero expresses it;[233] and then continues, "This passage means that we must be absorbed by Christ, so that it is no longer we that act, but Christ that liveth in us. As in his person the Divine has been incorporated with the human nature, so must man be incorporated with Jesus Christ by faith."
The distinguished scholar's habit was to go to bed shortly after supper, and get up to his studies at two or three in the morning.[234] During these early hours his best works were composed. His manuscripts usually lay on his table exposed to the view of all who came and went, so that several were stolen. When he had a party of his friends, he asked one or other of them, before they sat down to table, to read some short composition in prose or verse. During his journeys he was always accompanied by some young persons with whom he conversed in a manner at once instructive and amusing. If the conversation flagged, each of them had to repeat in his turn some passage taken from the ancient poets. He often had recourse to irony, but always tempered it with great gentleness. "He stings and cuts," said he of himself, "but still without doing any harm."
The acquisition of knowledge was his ruling passion. The aim of his life was to diffuse literature and instruction. Let us not forget, that with him the first place in literature was given to the Holy Scriptures, and only a secondary place to the ancient classics. "My sole object," said he, "is the defence of literature; we must, by our example, inspire youth with an admiration of literature, and make them love it for itself, and not for the pecuniary profit which it may be made to yield. The downfall of literature involves the destruction of all that is good—of religion and morals—of things human and divine.[235]... The better a man is, the more ardently does he exert himself in favour of learning, for he knows that the most pernicious of all pests is ignorance."
LUTHER'S DISCOURSE.
Some time after his marriage, Melancthon went to Bretten, in the Palatinate, accompanied by Camerarius and other friends, to pay a visit to his affectionate mother. On coming in sight of his native town, he dismounted from his horse, threw himself on his knees, and thanked God for permitting him to see it again. Margaret, on embracing her son, almost fainted with joy. She would have had him reside at Bretten, and earnestly entreated him to continue in the faith of his fathers. On this head, Melancthon excused himself, but with great tenderness, that he might not give offence to the conscientious feelings of his mother; he had great difficulty in parting with her, and whenever a traveller brought him news of his native town, he rejoiced, to use his own expression, as if he had renewed the joys of his childhood. Such was the character of one of the greatest instruments employed in the religious revolution of the sixteenth century.
The domestic calmness and studious activity of Wittemberg was, however, disturbed by a commotion, the consequence of a rupture which took place between the students and the citizens. The Rector betrayed great weakness. One may suppose how deeply Melancthon was grieved when he saw these disciples of literature committing such excesses. Luther felt indignant, and had no idea of trying to gain them over by a false condescension. The disgrace which these disorders brought upon the university stung him to the heart.[236] Having mounted the pulpit, he inveighed in strong terms against these commotions, calling upon both parties to submit to the authorities.[237] His discourse produced great irritation; "Satan," says he, "unable to attack us from without, is trying to do us mischief from within. Him I fear not, but I fear lest the wrath of God be kindled against us for not having duly received his word. During the three last years I have been thrice exposed to great danger. In 1518, at Augsburg; in 1519, at Leipsic; and now, in 1520, at Wittemberg. It is neither by wisdom nor by arms that the renovation of the Church will be accomplished, but by humble prayers, and by an intrepid faith which puts Jesus Christ on our side.[238] O, my friend! unite your prayers to mine, that the evil spirit may not be able, by means of this small spark, to kindle a vast conflagration."
CHAP. VI.
The Gospel In Italy—Discourse on the Mass—The Babylonish Captivity of the Church—Baptism—Abolition of Vows—Progress of the Reformation.
THE GOSPEL IN ITALY. LUTHER'S DISCOURSE ON THE MASS.
But fiercer combats awaited Luther. Rome was brandishing the sword with which she had resolved to attack the gospel. Her threatened sentence, however, so far from dispiriting the Reformer increased his courage. The blows of this arrogant power gave him little concern. He will himself give more formidable blows, and thereby neutralize those of his adversaries. While Transalpine consistories are fulminating their anathemas against him, he will, with the sword of the gospel, pierce to the very heart of the Italian states. Luther having been informed, by letters from Venice, of the favourable reception which had been given to his opinions, felt an ardent desire to carry the gospel over the Alps. Evangelists must be found to transport it. "I wish," said he, "that we had living books, I mean preachers,[239] and that we could multiply them, and afford them protection in all quarters, in order that they might convey the knowledge of holy things to the people. The prince could not do a work more worthy of him. Were the inhabitants of Italy to receive the truth our cause would be unassailable." It does not appear that this project of Luther was realised. It is true that, at a later period, evangelists, even Calvin himself, sojourned for a while in Italy, but at this time the design was not followed out. He had applied to one of the great ones of the earth. Had he made his appeal to men low in station, but full of zeal for the kingdom of God, the result might have been very different. The idea at this period was, that every thing behoved to be done by governments. The association of private individuals, by which so much is now accomplished in Christendom, was almost unknown.
If Luther did not succeed in his plans of spreading the truth in a distant country, he was only the more zealous in proclaiming it himself. At this time his discourse, 'On the Holy Mass,'[240] was delivered at Wittemberg. In it he inveighed against the numerous sects of the Romish Church, and justly reproached it with its want of unity. "The multiplicity of spiritual laws," said he, "has filled the world with sects and divisions. Priests, monks, and laics, have shown more hatred of each other than subsists between Christians and Turks. What do I say? Priests are mortal enemies of priests, and monks of monks. Each is attached to his particular sect, and despises all others. There is an end of Christian love and unity." He then attacks the idea that the mass is a sacrifice, and has any efficacy in itself. "The best thing in every sacrament, and consequently in the Supper, is the word and promises of God. Without faith in this word, and these promises, the sacrament is dead; a body without a soul, a flagon without wine, a purse without money, a type without an antitype, the letter without the spirit, a casket without its diamond, a scabbard without its sword."
THE "BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY OF THE CHURCH." VOWS.
Luther's voice, however, was not confined to Wittemberg; and if he failed to procure missionaries to carry his instructions to distant lands, God provided him with a missionary of a new description. The art of printing supplied the place of evangelists. The press was destined to make a breach in the Roman fortress. Luther had prepared a mine, the explosion of which shook the Roman edifice to its very foundations. This was his famous treatise on the Babylonish Captivity of the Church, which appeared 6th October, 1520.[241] Never had man displayed such courage in such critical circumstances.
In this writing he first enumerates, with a kind of ironical pride, all the advantages for which he is indebted to his enemies.
"Whether I will or not," says he, "I daily become more learned, spurred on as I am by so many celebrated masters. Two years ago I attacked indulgences, but with so much fear and indecision, that I am now ashamed of it. But, after all, the mode of attack is not to be wondered at, for I had nobody who would help me to roll the stone." He returns thanks to Prierio, Eck, Emser, and his other opponents, and continues—"I denied that the papacy was of God, but I granted that it had the authority of man. Now, after reading all the subtleties by which these sparks prop up their idol, I know that the papacy is only the kingdom of Babylon, and the tyranny of the great hunter Nimrod. I therefore beg all my friends, and all booksellers, to burn the books which I wrote on this subject, and to substitute for them the single proposition—'The papacy is a general chace, by command of the Roman pontiff, for the purpose of running down and destroying souls.'"[242]
Luther afterwards attacks the prevailing errors on the sacraments, on monastic vows, etc. The seven sacraments of the Church he reduces to three—viz., baptism, penitence, and the Lord's supper. He then proceeds to baptism, and when discussing it dwells especially on the excellence of faith, and makes a vigorous attack upon Rome. "God," says he, "has preserved this single sacrament to us clear of human traditions. God has said, 'Whoso believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved.' This divine promise must take precedence of all works however splendid, of all vows, all satisfactions, all indulgences, all that man has devised. On this promise, if we receive it in faith, all our salvation depends. If we believe, our heart is strengthened by the divine promise, and though all else should abandon the believer, this promise will not abandon him. With it he will resist the adversary who assaults his soul, and will meet death though pitiless, and even the judgment of God himself. In all trials his comfort will be to say, 'God is faithful to his promises, and these were pledged to me in baptism; if God be for me, who can be against me?' Oh, how rich the Christian, the baptized! Nothing can destroy him but his own refusal to believe."
PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION.
"It may be that, to my observations on the necessity of faith will be opposed the baptism of little children. But as the Word of God is powerful to change even the heart of the wicked, though neither less deaf, nor less impotent than a little child; so the prayer of the Church, to which all things are possible, changes the little child by means of the faith which God is pleased to pour into its soul, and so cleanses and renews it."[243]
After explaining the doctrine of baptism, Luther employs it as a weapon against the papacy. In fact, if the Christian finds complete salvation in the renewal which accompanies the baptism of faith, what need has he of the prescriptions of Rome?
"Wherefore," says Luther, "I declare that neither the pope, nor the bishop, nor any man whatever, is entitled to impose the smallest burden on a Christian—at least without his consent. Whatsoever is done otherwise is done tyrannically.[244] We are free of all men. The vow which we made in baptism is sufficient by itself alone, and is more than all we could ever accomplish.[245] Therefore, all other vows may be abolished. Let every one who enters the priesthood, or a religious order, consider well that the works of a monk or a priest, how difficult soever they may be, are, in the view of God, in no respect superior to those of a peasant labouring in the field, or a woman attending to the duties of her house.[246] God estimates all these things by the rule of faith. And it often happens that the simple labour of a man-servant, or a maid-servant, is more agreeable to God than the fastings and works of a monk, these being deficient in faith.... The Christian people is the people of God led away into captivity, to Babylon, and there robbed of their baptism."
Such were the weapons by which the religious revolution whose history we are tracing was accomplished. First, the necessity of faith was established, and then the reformers used it as a hammer to break superstition in pieces. They attacked error with that divine power which removes mountains. These, and many similar passages of Luther circulated in towns, convents, and the country, were the leaven which leavened the whole lump.
MILTITZ AT EISLEBEN.
The conclusion of this famous production on the captivity of Babylon is in the following terms:—
"I learn that a new papal excommunication has been prepared against me. If so, the present book may be regarded as part of my future recantation. In proof of my obedience, the rest will soon follow, and the whole will, with the help of Christ, form a collection, the like to which Rome never saw or heard before."
CHAP. VII.
New Negotiations—Miltitz and the Augustins of Eisleben—Deputation to Luther—Miltitz and the Elector—Conference at Lichtemberg—Luther's Letter to the Pope—Book Presented to the Pope—Union of the Believer with Christ—Freedom and Bondage.
After this publication, all hope of reconciliation between the pope and Luther must have vanished. Persons of the least possible discernment must have been struck with the incompatibility of the Reformer's belief with the doctrine of the Church; and yet, at this very moment, new negotiations were about to commence. In the end of August, 1520, five weeks before the publication of the 'Captivity of Babylon,' the general Chapter of the Augustins had assembled at Eisleben. At this meeting, the venerable Staupitz resigned his office of vicar-general of his order, and Winceslas Link, he who accompanied Luther to Augsburg, was invested with it. Suddenly, in the middle of the Chapter, arrived the indefatigable Miltitz, burning with eagerness to reconcile Luther and the pope.[247] His avarice, and, above all, his jealousy and hatred, were interested. Eck and his swaggering had galled him; he knew that the doctor of Ingolstadt had spoken disparagingly of him at Rome, and there was nothing he would not have sacrificed in order to defeat the designs of this troublesome rival by means of a speedily concluded peace. The interest of religion gave him no concern. One day, by his own account, he was dining with the bishop of Leipsic. After the guests had drunk very freely, a new work of Luther's was brought in. On being opened and read, the bishop flew into a passion, and the official swore, but Miltitz laughed with all his heart.[248] The Reformation was treated by Miltitz as a man of the world, and by Eck as a theologian.
DEPUTATION TO LUTHER.
Aroused by the arrival of Dr. Eck, Miltitz addressed the Chapter of the Augustins, in a discourse which he delivered with a very marked Italian accent,[249] thinking thus to overawe his countrymen. "The whole Augustin order is compromised by this affair," said he. "Show me some method of silencing Luther."[250] "We have nothing to do with the doctor," replied the Fathers, "and we know not what counsel to give you." They founded doubtless on what Staupitz had done at Augsburg, when he loosed Luther from his vows of obedience to the order. Miltitz insisted, "Let a deputation from this venerable Chapter wait upon Luther, and solicit him to write a letter to the pope, assuring him that he has never plotted in any respect against his person.[251] That will be sufficient to terminate the affair." The Chapter gave their consent, and assigned the task of conferring with Luther, no doubt at the nuncio's request, to the ex-vicar-general, Staupitz, and his successor Link. The deputation forthwith set out for Wittemberg with a letter from Miltitz to the doctor filled with expressions of the highest respect. "There is no time to be lost," said he, "the thunder already hovering over the head of the Reformer, will soon burst, and then all is over."
Neither Luther nor the deputies, who concurred in his opinions,[252] hoped any thing from a letter to the pope. That however was a reason for not refusing to write it, as it would only be a mere matter of form, and might serve to bring out Luther's rights. "This Italian of Saxony (Miltitz)," thought Luther, "in making this demand has doubtless his own particular interest in view. Very well, be it so, I will write, as I can with truth, that I have never objected to the pope personally. I will even endeavour to guard against severity in attacking the see of Rome. Still it shall have its sprinkling of salt."[253]
MILTITZ AND LUTHER AT LICHTEMBERG.
Luther having shortly after been informed of the arrival of the bull in Germany, declared to Spalatin, on the 3rd of October, that he would not write the pope, and, on the 6th of the same month, published his book on the 'Captivity of Babylon.' Miltitz did not even yet despair of success. His eagerness to humble Eck made him believe an impossibility. On the 2nd of October, he had written the Elector, in high spirits. "Every thing will go well, but, for the love of God, delay no longer to order payment of the pension which I have had from you and your brother for some years. I must have money in order to make new friends at Rome. Write the pope, and do homage to the young cardinals, the relatives of his holiness, with gold and silver pieces, from the mint of your electoral highness, and add some for me also, for I was robbed of those which you gave me."[254]
Even after Luther was acquainted with the bull, the intriguing Miltitz was not discouraged, and requested a conference with Luther at Lichtemberg. The Elector ordered Luther to repair thither.[255] But his friends, and especially the affectionate Melancthon, opposed it.[256] "What, thought they, at the moment when a bull has appeared ordering Luther to be seized and carried off to Rome, to accept a conference with the pope's nuncio in a retired spot! Is it not evident that, because Dr. Eck from having too openly proclaimed his hatred is not able to approach the Reformer, the wily chamberlain has been employed to ensnare Luther in his nets?"
These fears could not deter the doctor of Wittemberg. The prince has commanded, and he will obey. "I am setting out for Lichtemberg," wrote he, to the chaplain on the 11th of October, "pray for me." His friends would not quit him. The same day, towards evening, Luther entered Lichtemberg on horse-back, amid thirty horsemen, one of whom was Melancthon. The papal nuncio arrived almost at the same time with only four attendants.[257] Was this modest escort a stratagem to throw Luther and his friends off their guard?
Miltitz urged Luther with the most pressing solicitations, assuring him that the blame would be thrown upon Eck and his foolish boastings,[258] and that every thing would terminate to the satisfaction of both parties. "Very well," replied Luther, "I offer henceforth to keep silence, provided my opponents keep it also. For the sake of peace I will do every thing that it is possible for me to do."[259]
Miltitz was delighted; and accompanying Luther as far as Wittemberg, the Reformer and the papal nuncio walked arm in arm into this town which Dr. Eck was now approaching, holding menacingly in his hand the formidable bull which was to overthrow the Reformation. "We will bring the matter to a happy conclusion," wrote Miltitz forthwith to the Elector; "Thank the pope for his rose, and at the same time send forty or fifty florins to Cardinal Quatuor Sanctorum."[260]
LUTHER'S LETTER TO THE POPE.
Luther felt bound to keep his promise of writing the pope. Before bidding Rome an eternal adieu, he wished once more to tell her important and salutary truths. Some perhaps will regard his letter only as a piece of irony—a bitter and insulting satire—but this were to mistake the sentiments by which he was actuated. He sincerely believed that Rome was to blame for all the evils of Christendom; and in this view his words are not insults, but solemn warnings. The more he loved Leo, and the more he loved the Church of Christ, the more he desired to unfold the full magnitude of the disease. The energy of his expressions is proportioned to the energy of his feelings. The crisis has arrived, and he seems like a prophet walking round the city for the last time, upbraiding it for all its abominations, denouncing the judgments of the Almighty, and crying aloud, "Still some days of respite." The letter is as follows:—
"To the Most Holy Father in God, Leo X, Pope at Rome, Salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
"From amid the fearful war which I have been waging for three years with disorderly men, I cannot help looking to you, O Leo, Most Holy Father in God. And although the folly of your impious flatterers has compelled me to appeal from your judgment to a future council, my heart is not turned away from your Holiness, and I have not ceased to pray God earnestly and with profound sighs, to grant prosperity to yourself and your pontificate.[261]
"It is true I have attacked some antichristian doctrines, and have inflicted a deep wound on my adversaries because of their impiety. Of this I repent not, as I have here Christ for an example. Of what use is salt if it have lost its savour, or the edge of a sword if it will not cut?[262] Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord negligently. Most excellent Leo, far from having conceived any bad thoughts with regard to you, my wish is that you may enjoy the most precious blessings throughout eternity. One thing only I have done: I have maintained the word of truth. I am ready to yield to all in every thing; but, as to this word, I will not, I cannot, abandon it.[263] He who thinks differently on this subject is in error.
LUTHER'S LETTER TO THE POPE.
"It is true that I have attacked the Court of Rome; but neither yourself nor any man living can deny that there is greater corruption in it than was in Sodom and Gomorrah, and that the impiety which prevails makes cure hopeless. Yes; I have been horrified on seeing how, under your name, the poor followers of Christ were deceived. I have opposed this, and will oppose it still, not that I imagine it possible, in spite of the opposition of flatterers, to accomplish any thing in this Babylon, which is confusion itself; but I owe it to my brethren to endeavour, if possible, to remove some of them from these dreadful evils.
"You know it; Rome has for many years been inundating the world with whatever could destroy both soul and body. The Church of Rome, formerly the first in holiness, has become a den of robbers, a place of prostitution, a kingdom of death and hell;[264] so that Antichrist himself, were he to appear, would be unable to increase the amount of wickedness. All this is as clear as day.
"And yet, O Leo, you yourself are like a lamb in the midst of wolves—a Daniel in the lions' den. But single-handed, what can you oppose to these monsters? There may be three or four cardinals who to knowledge add virtue. But what are these against so many? You should perish by poison even before you could try any remedy. It is all over with the Court at Rome—the wrath of God has overtaken and will consume it.[265] It hates counsel—it fears reform—it will not moderate the fury of its ungodliness; and hence it may be justly said of it as of its mother—We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed; forsake her.[266] It belonged to you and your cardinals to apply the remedy; but the patient laughs at the doctor, and the horse refuses to feel the bit....
"Cherishing the deepest affection for you, most excellent Leo, I have always regretted that, formed as you are for a better age, you were raised to the pontificate in these times. Rome is not worthy of you, and those who resemble you; the only chief whom she deserves to have is Satan himself, and hence, the truth is, that in this Babylon he is more king than you are. Would to God, that, laying aside this glory which your enemies so much extol, you would exchange it for a modest pastoral office, or live on your paternal inheritance. Rome's glory is of a kind fit only for Iscariots.... O, my dear Leo, of what use are you in this Roman court, unless it be to allow the most execrable men to use your name and your authority in ruining fortunes, destroying souls, multiplying crimes, oppressing faith, truth, and the whole Church of God? O Leo, Leo, you are the most unfortunate of men, and you sit upon the most dangerous of thrones. I tell you the truth because I wish your good.
LUTHER'S LETTER TO THE POPE.
"Is it not true, that, under the vast expanse of heaven there is nothing more corrupt, more hateful, than the Roman Court? In vice and corruption it infinitely exceeds the Turks. Once the gate of heaven, it has become the mouth of hell—a wide mouth which the wrath of God keeps open, so that, on seeing so many unhappy beings thrown headlong into it, I was obliged to lift my voice, as in a tempest, in order that, at least, some might be saved from the fearful abyss.[267] Such, O Leo, my father, was the reason why I inveighed against this death-giving see. Far from attacking your person, I thought I was labouring for your safety, when I valiantly assaulted this prison, or rather this hell in which you are confined. To do all sorts of evil to the Court of Rome were to discharge your own duty; to cover it with shame is to honour Christ; in one word, to be a Christian is to be anything but a Roman.
"Meanwhile, seeing that in succouring the see of Rome, I was losing my labour and my pains, I sent her a letter of divorce. I said to her, 'Adieu, Rome! He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still;'[268] and devoted myself to the tranquil and solitary study of the sacred volume. Then Satan opened his eyes and awoke his servant, John Eck, a great enemy of Jesus Christ, in order that he might oblige me again to descend into the arena. Eck's wish was to establish the primacy not of Peter but of himself, and, for that purpose, to lead vanquished Luther in triumph. The blame of all the obloquy which has been cast on the see of Rome rests with him."
Luther narrates his intercourse with De Vio, Miltitz, and Eck, and then continues.
"Now, then, I come to you, O Most Holy Father, and, prostrated at your feet, pray you, if possible, to put a curb on the enemies of the truth. But I cannot retract my doctrine. I cannot permit rules of interpretation to be imposed on the Holy Scriptures. The Word of God, the source whence all freedom springs, must be left free.[269]
"O, Leo, my father! listen not to those flattering Sirens who tell you that you are not a mere man, but a demi-god, and can ordain what you please. You are the servant of servants, and the seat which you occupy is of all others the most dangerous, and the most unhappy. Give credit not to those who exalt, but to those who humble you. Perhaps I am too bold in giving advice to so high a majesty, whose duty it is to instruct all men. But I see the dangers which surround you at Rome, I see you driven hither and thither, tossed as it were upon the billows of a raging sea. Charity urges me, and I cannot resist sending forth a warning cry.
ON THE LIBERTY OF THE CHRISTIAN.
"Not to appear empty handed before your Holiness, I present you with a little book, which has appeared under your name, and which will make you aware of the subjects to which I will be able to devote myself, if your flatterers permit me. It is a small matter as regards the size of the volume, but a great one in regard to its contents, for it comprehends a summary of the Christian life. I am poor, and have nothing else to offer; besides, you have no want of any thing but spiritual gifts. I commend myself to your Holiness. May the Lord keep you for ever and ever, amen."
The little book with which Luther did homage to the pope was his 'Treatise on the liberty of the Christian;' in which he demonstrates without any polemical discussion, how the Christian, without infringing on the liberty which faith has given him, may submit to every external ordinance in a spirit of freedom and love. Two truths form the basis of the whole discourse, viz., The Christian is free—all things are his: The Christian is a servant subject to all in every thing. By faith he is free, by love he is subject.
At first he explains the power of faith to make the Christian free. "Faith unites the soul with Christ, as a bride with the bridegroom. Every thing that Christ has becomes the property of the believer, every thing that the believer has becomes the property of Christ. Christ possesses all blessings, even eternal salvation, and these are thenceforth the property of the believer. The believer possesses all vices and all sins, and these become, thenceforth, the property of Christ. A happy exchange now takes place. Christ who is God and man, Christ who has never sinned, and whose holiness is invincible, Christ, the Omnipotent and Eternal, appropriating to himself by his wedding ring—that is to say, by faith, all the sins of the believer; these sins are swallowed up in him and annihilated; for no sin can exist in presence of his infinite righteousness. Thus, by means of faith, the soul is delivered from all sins, and invested with the eternal righteousness of Jesus Christ the bridegroom. O happy union! Jesus Christ the rich, the noble, the holy bridegroom, takes in marriage this poor, guilty, contemned bride, delivers her from all evil, and decks her in the richest robes.[270]... Christ, a King, and Priest, shares this honour and glory with all Christians. The Christian is a king, and consequently possesses all things. He is a priest, and consequently possesses God. And it is faith, not works, which procures him this honour. The Christian is free from all things, and above all things—faith giving him every thing in abundance."
THE BULL IN GERMANY.
In the second part of the treatise Luther presents the truth in its other point of view. "Although the Christian has thus been made free, he voluntarily becomes a servant that he may act towards his brethren as God has acted towards him through Jesus Christ. I desire," said he, "freely, joyfully, and gratuitously, to serve a Father who hath thus shed upon me all the riches of his goodness. I wish to become every thing to my neighbour, as Christ has become every thing to me."... "From faith," continues Luther, "flows love to God, and from love a life full of liberty, charity, and joy. O how noble and elevated a life the life of the Christian is! But, alas, none know it and none preach it. By faith the Christian rises even to God: by love he descends to man; still, however, remaining always in God. This is true liberty, a liberty as far above every other species of liberty as the heavens are above the earth."
Such was the treatise which accompanied Luther's letter to Leo X.
CHAP. VIII.
The Bull in Germany—Eck's Reception—The Bull at Wittemberg—Interposition of Zuinglius.
ECK ARRIVES TO PUBLISH THE BULL.
While the Reformer was thus addressing the Roman pontiff for the last time, the bull which anathematised him was already in the hands of the Germanic Church, and at Luther's own door. It would seem that no doubt was entertained at Rome as to the success of the measure which had thus been adopted against the Reformation. The pope had charged two high functionaries of his court, Carracioli and Aleander, to be the bearers of it to the Archbishop of Mentz who was requested to see to its execution. But Eck himself appeared in Saxony as the herald and executor of the great pontifical work. No man knew better than the doctor of Ingolstadt how formidable the blows were which Luther had struck. Alive to the danger he had stretched forth his hand to sustain the tottering edifice of Rome. In his own estimation he was the Atlas, destined to support the ancient Roman world on his robust shoulders, when on the point of falling to pieces. Proud of the success of his journey to Rome; proud of the charge which he had received from the sovereign pontiff; proud to appear in Germany with the new title of protonotary and pontifical nuncio; proud of the bull which he held in his hand, and which contained the condemnation of his indomitable rival, he regarded his present mission as a triumph more splendid than all the victories which he had gained in Hungary, Bavaria, Lombardy, and Saxony, and from which he had previously derived so much renown. But this pride was soon to be humbled. The pope, in entrusting the publication of the bull to Eck, had committed a blunder which was destined to neutralise its effect. The proud distinction conferred on a man who did not hold high rank in the Church gave offence to sensitive and jealous spirits. The bishops, accustomed to receive the bulls directly from the pope, were offended at the publication of this one in their dioceses by an upstart nuncio. The nation who had hooted the pretended conqueror of Leipsic at the moment of his flight into Italy, were equally astonished and indignant when they saw him repass the Alps, decked in the insignia of pontifical nuncio, and with the power of crushing whomsoever he chose. The sentence brought by his implacable adversary, Luther regarded as an act of personal revenge. "He regarded it," says Pallavicini, "as the perfidious poniard of a mortal enemy, and not as the legitimate act of a Roman lictor."[271] It was generally viewed as less the bull of the sovereign pontiff, than of Dr. Eck. In this way, the blow was obstructed and weakened before-hand by the very person at whose instigation it was struck.
THE BULL IN GERMANY.
The chancellor of Ingolstadt had hastened back to Saxony, which, as having been the scene of battle, he was desirous should also be the scene of his victory. Having arrived he published the bull at Meissen, Merseburg, and Brandenburg towards the end of September. But in the first of these towns it was posted up in a place where nobody could read it; and the bishops of those three sees were in no haste to publish it. Even Duke George, Eck's great patron, prohibited the Council of Leipsic from making it public, before receiving orders from the Bishop of Merseburg, and these orders did not arrive till the following year. "These are only difficulties of form," said John Eck to himself at first, for every thing else seemed to smile upon him. Duke George sent him a golden cup and some ducats. Even Miltitz, who had hastened to Leipsic, on learning that his rival had arrived, invited him to dinner. The two legates were boon companions; and Miltitz thought he could not have a better opportunity of sounding Eck than over their wine. "After he had drunk pretty freely, he began," says the pope's chamberlain, "to boast in grand style—he displayed his bull, and told how he meant to bring that droll fellow Martin to his senses."[272] But the Ingolstadt doctor soon had occasion to observe that the wind was veering. The course of a year had produced a great change in Leipsic.[273] On St. Michael's day some students posted up placards, in ten different places, containing a severe attack on the new nuncio, who, in amazement, took refuge in the cloister of St. Paul, where Tetzel had previously found his asylum, and declining every visit, induced the rector to call his youthful opponents to account. By this poor Eck gained little. The students composed a song upon him, and sang it in the streets. Eck must have heard it in his prison. On this all his courage failed him, and the redoubtable champion trembled in every limb. Every day brought him threatening letters. One hundred and fifty students, who had arrived from Wittemberg, spoke out boldly against the papal envoy. For once the poor apostolical nuncio could hold out no longer. "I would not have them kill him," said Luther, "though I wish his designs to fail."[274] Eck, quitting his retreat at night, clandestinely escaped from Leipsic to go and hide himself at Coburg. Miltitz, who gives the account, triumphed more than the Reformer. His triumph, however, was not of long duration. All the chamberlain's projects of conciliation failed, and he came at last to a miserable end. One day, when drunk, he fell into the Rhine at Mentz, and was drowned.
Eck gradually recovered courage. Repairing to Erfurt, whose theologians had on more than one occasion betrayed their jealousy of Luther, he insisted on having his bull published in this town, but the students seized the copies, tore them to pieces, and threw them into the river, saying, "since it is a bull, let it swim."[275] "Now," said Luther, on being informed of this, "the pope's paper is a true bull." Eck durst not make his appearance at Wittemberg; but he sent the bull to the rector with a threat, that if it was not conformed to, he would destroy the university. At the same time he wrote Duke John, Frederick's brother, and co-regent, "Do not take what I do in bad part, I am acting in behalf of the faith, and it costs me many cares, great labour, and much money."[276]
ULRICK ZUINGLIUS.
The bishop of Brandenburg, supposing him inclined, was not entitled to act at Wittemberg in his capacity of ordinary, the university being protected by its privileges. Luther and Carlstadt, who were condemned by the bull, were asked to take part in the meetings which were held to deliberate on its contents. The rector declared that, as he had not received a letter from the pope along with the bull, he declined to publish it. The university had already acquired greater authority in the surrounding countries than the sovereign pontiff himself. Its declaration served as a model to the government of the Elector; and thus the spirit which was in Luther triumphed over the bull of Rome.
LUTHER'S SELF-EXAMINATION.
While the German mind was thus strongly agitated by this affair, a grave voice was heard in another quarter of Europe. An individual, foreseeing the immense rent which the papal bull was about to make in the Church, came forward to give a solemn warning, and to defend the Reformer. It was that of the Swiss priest, of whom we have already spoken, viz., Ulrich Zuinglius, who, though not united to Luther by any friendly tie, published a treatise full of wisdom and dignity, the first of his numerous writings.[277] A kind of fraternal affection seemed to draw him towards the doctor of Wittemberg. "The piety of the pontiff," said he, "requires that he shall joyfully sacrifice whatever is dearest to him for the glory of Christ his King, and for the public peace of the Church. Nothing is more injurious to his dignity than to defend it by pensions or terror. Even before the writings of Luther were read, he had been calumniated to the people as a heretic, a schismatic, and as Antichrist himself. Not one gave him warning, none refuted him. He called for a discussion; but all he could get was a sentence of condemnation. The bull which is published displeases even those who honour the majesty of the pope. For it is everywhere regarded as an expression of the impotent hatred of some monks, and not of the mildness of a pontiff, who ought to be the vicar of a Saviour full of love. All acknowledge that the true doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ has greatly degenerated, and that a public and thorough reformation of laws and manners is required.[278] Consider all men of learning and virtue—the more sincere they are, the stronger is their attachment to evangelical truth, and the less their dissatisfaction with Luther's writings.[279] There is not one who does not acknowledge that he has derived benefit from these books, though he may have met with passages which he was unable to approve. Let men of sound doctrine and acknowledged probity be selected. Let three princes above all suspicion—the emperor Charles, the King of England, and the king of Hungary—name the judges. Let these judges read Luther's writings. Let them hear his defence, and then let their decision, whatever it be, be confirmed. Νιμησατω ἡ του Χριστου παιδεια και εληθεια."[280]
This proposal, which came from the country of the Swiss, led to no result. It was necessary that the great divorce should take place. It was necessary that Christendom should be rent in twain. Her very wounds were destined to be the cure of her diseases.
CHAP. IX.
Luther Examines himself in the presence of God—Luther's opinion of the Bull—A neutral Family—Luther on the Bull, and against the Bull of Antichrist—The Pope prohibits Faith—Effects of the Bull—The faggot pile of Louvain.
A NEUTRAL FAMILY.
But what signified all this resistance by students, rectors, and priests. If the mighty arm of Charles V is joined to the mighty arm of the pope, will they not crush these scholars and grammarians? Will any one be able to resist the combined power of the pontiff of Christendom and of the emperor of the West? The blow has been struck. Luther is excommunicated, and the gospel seems lost. At this solemn moment the Reformer does not disguise to himself the magnitude of the danger to which he is exposed; but he looks upward, and prepares to receive, as from the hand of the Lord himself, a blow which seems destined to annihilate him. He retires within himself, and meditates at the footstool of the throne of God. "What the result is to be," says he, "I know not, and I am not anxious to know; certain as I am that He who sits in heaven has from all eternity foreseen the beginning, the progress, and the end of this affair. Wherever the blow is to strike, I am without fear. The leaf of a tree falls not without our Father's will. How much less shall we fall. It is a small matter to die for the Word, since this Word which became incarnate and that for us has itself first died. If we die with it, we shall rise again with it; and, passing along the same road by which it passed, will arrive where it has arrived, and remain with it throughout eternity."[281] Sometimes, however, Luther could not restrain the contempt which he felt for the manœuvres of his enemies. On these occasions he displays his characteristic combination of sublimity and sarcasm. "I know nothing of Eck," says he, "except that he arrived with a long beard, a long bull, and a long purse.... But I will laugh at his bull."[282]
On the third of October he was made acquainted with the papal letter. "At length," says he, "this Roman bull has arrived. I despise it, and defy it as impious, false, and in all respects worthy of Eck. It is Christ himself who is condemned. It gives no reasons; it merely cites me, not to be heard, but simply to sing a palinode. I will treat it as spurious, though I have no doubt it is genuine. O, if Charles V were a man, and would, for the love of Christ, attack these demons![283] I rejoice in having to endure some hardships for the best of causes. I already feel more liberty in my heart; for at length I know that the pope is Antichrist, and that his see is that of Satan himself."
It was not in Saxony merely that the thunders of Rome had produced alarm. A quiet family of Swabia, a neutral family, saw its peace suddenly broken up. Bilibald Pirckheimer, of Nuremberg, one of the most distinguished men of his age, having early lost his beloved wife Crescentia, was united in the closest affection with his two young sisters, Charitas, abbess of St. Clair, and Clara, a nun of the same convent. These two pious females served God in solitude, and divided their time between study, the care of the poor, and preparation for eternity. Bilibald, who was a statesman, relaxed from public affairs by maintaining a correspondence with them. They were learned, read Latin, and studied the Fathers; but their favourite volume was the Holy Scriptures. They had never had any other teacher than their brother. The letters of Charitas are written in a delicate and amiable spirit. Tenderly attached to Bilibald she took alarm at the least danger which threatened him. Pirckheimer, to dissipate the fears of this timid spirit, wrote a dialogue between Charitas and Veritas, (Charity and Truth), in which Veritas tries to strengthen Charitas.[284] Nothing can be more touching, or better fitted to solace a tender and agonised heart.
LUTHER ON THE BULL
What must have been the terror of Charitas when the rumour spread that in the papal bull Bilibald's name was posted up beside that of Luther, on the doors of cathedrals? In fact, Eck, pushed on by blind fury, had associated with Luther six of the most distinguished men of Germany, viz., Carlstadt, Feldkirchen, and Egranus, (who gave themselves very little concern about it,) and Adelman, Pirckheimer, and his friend Spengler, whose public functions made them particularly alive to the insult. There was great agitation in the Convent of St. Clair. How shall the disgrace of Bilibald be borne? Nothing affects relatives more deeply than such trials. In vain did the city of Nuremberg, the Bishop of Bamberg, and even the dukes of Bavaria interfere in behalf of Spengler and Pirckheimer; these noble-minded men were obliged to humble themselves before Dr. Eck, who made them feel all the importance of a Roman protonotary, and obliged them to write a letter to the pope, declaring that they adhered to the doctrines of Luther only in so far as they were conformable to Christian faith. At the same time Adelman, with whom Eck had once had a scuffle on rising up from table after a discussion on the great question which then occupied all minds, was required to appear before the bishop of Augsburg and purge himself on oath of all participation in the Lutheran heresy. Still, however, anger and revenge had proved bad counsellors to Eck. The names of Bilibald and his friends damaged the bull. The character of these eminent men and their extensive connections increased the general irritation.
Luther at first pretended to doubt the authenticity of the bull. "I learn," says he in the first work which he published after it, "that Eck has brought from Rome a new bull, which resembles him so much, is so stuffed with falsehood and error, that it might well be named Doctor Eck. He gives out that it is the work of the pope, whereas it is only a work of lies." After explaining his reasons for doubting its genuineness, Luther thus concludes, "I must with my own eyes see the lead, the seal, the tape, the conclusion, the signature of the bull—every part of it, in short, or I will not estimate all this clamour at the weight of a straw."[285]
But no man doubted, not even Luther himself, that the bull was the pope's. Germany waited to see what the Reformer would do. Would he stand firm? All eyes were fixed on Wittemberg. Luther did not keep his contemporaries long in suspense. On the 4th of November, 1520, he replied with a discharge of thunder, by publishing his treatise 'Against the Bull of Antichrist.'
"What errors, what impostures," said he, "have crept in among the poor people under the cloak of the Church, and the pretended infallibility of the pope! how many souls have thus been lost! how much blood shed! what murders committed! what kingdoms ruined!"
EFFECTS OF THE BULL.
Further on he ironically says, "I know very well how to distinguish between art and malice, and set very little value on a malice which has no art. To burn books is so easy a matter that even children can do it; how much more the Holy Father and his doctors.[286] It would become them to show greater ability than is requisite merely to burn books.... Besides, let them destroy my works! I desire nothing more; for all I wished was to guide men to the Bible, that they might thereafter lay aside all my writings.[287] Good God! if we had the knowledge of Scripture, what need would there be for my writings?... I am free by the grace of God, and bulls neither solace nor frighten me. My strength and consolation are where neither men nor devils can assail them."
Luther's tenth proposition, condemned by the pope, was in the following terms: "No man's sins are pardoned, if, when the priest absolves him, he does not believe that they are pardoned." The pope in condemning it denied that faith was necessary in the Sacrament. "They maintain," exclaims Luther, "that we ought not to believe that our sins are pardoned when we are absolved by the priest. What then are we to do? Listen now, O! Christians, to a new arrival from Rome. Condemnation is pronounced against this article of faith which we profess when we say 'I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, and the forgiveness of sins.' Did I know that the pope had really given this bull at Rome," (he did not doubt it,) "and that it was not the invention of the arch-liar, Eck, I would cry aloud to all Christians that they ought to hold the pope as the true Antichrist spoken of in Scripture. And if he would not desist from proscribing the faith of the Church, ... then let the temporal sword resist him even sooner than the Turk!... For the Turks allow belief, but the pope forbids it."
While Luther was speaking thus forcibly, his perils were increasing. The scheme of his enemies was to drive him out of Wittemberg. If Luther and Wittemberg are separated, both will be destroyed. A single stroke would thus disencumber Rome of both the heretical doctor and the heretical university. Duke George, the bishop of Merseburg, and the theologians of Leipsic were labouring underhand at this work.[288] Luther on being apprised of it said, "I leave this affair in the hands of God."[289] These proceedings were not without result: Adrian, professor of Hebrew at Wittemberg, suddenly turned against the doctor. It required great firmness in the faith to withstand the shock given by the Roman bull. There are characters which follow the truth only a certain distance, and such was Adrian. Frightened at the condemnation he quitted Wittemberg, and repaired to Leipsic to be near Dr. Eck.
THE DOCTORS OF LOUVAIN AND REGENT MARGARET.
The bull began to be executed. The voice of the pontiff of Christendom was not an empty sound. Long had fire and sword taught subjection to it. Faggot piles were prepared at his bidding, and everything indicated that a dreadful catastrophe was to put an end to the audacious revolt of the Augustin monk. In October, 1520, all the copies of Luther's works in the shops of the booksellers at Ingolstadt were seized, and put under seal. The Archbishop-Elector of Mentz, moderate as he was, had to banish Ulric of Hütten from his court, and imprison his printer. The papal nuncios having laid siege to the young Emperor, Charles declared that he would protect the ancient religion;[290] and in some of his hereditary possessions scaffolds were erected, on which the writings of the heretic were reduced to ashes. Princes of the Church and magistrates were present at these auto-da-fe. Alcander was quite elated with his success. "The pope," said he, in imitation of Prierio, "may dethrone kings! He may, if he chooses, say to the emperor, Thou art only a tanner! He knows well how to bring one or two miserable grammarians to their senses. We will dispose, moreover, of Duke Frederick also." To hear the proud nuncio, one would have said that the pile of Mentz which consumed Luther's books was "le commencement de la fin" (the beginning of the end.) These flames, it was said at Rome, will carry terror into every quarter. Such, in truth, was the effect on many superstitious and timid spirits; but even in the hereditary states of Charles, where alone it was ventured to execute the bull, the people, and even the grandees, often answered these pontifical demonstrations with derision, or expressions of indignation. "Luther," said the doctors of Louvain, on presenting themselves before Margaret, Regent of the Netherlands, "Luther is subverting the Christian faith." "Who is this Luther?" asked the Princess. "An ignorant monk." "Well, then," replied she, "do you, who are learned, and in such numbers, write against him. The world will credit a multitude of learned men sooner than an isolated, ignorant monk." The doctors of Louvain preferred an easier method. They caused a vast pile to be erected at their own expense. The place of execution was covered with spectators, and students and burghers were seen hastening through the crowd, their arms filled with large volumes, which they threw into the flames. Their zeal edified the monks and doctors; but the trick was afterwards discovered. Instead of the writings of Luther, they had thrown into the fire the Sermones discipuli, Tartaret, and other scholastic and popish books.[291]
DECISIVE STEPS BY THE REFORMER.
The Count of Nassau, Viceroy of Holland, when the Dominicans were soliciting the favour of burning the doctor's books, said to them, "Go and preach the gospel as purely as Luther, and you will have nobody to complain of." At a festival, attended by the leading princes of the empire, the Reformer having become the subject of conversation, the Baron of Ravenstein said, aloud, "In the space of four centuries, only one Christian man has dared to lift his head, and the pope is wishing to put him to death."[292]
Luther, conscious of the power of his cause, remained tranquil amid the tumult which the bull had excited.[293] "Did you not urge me so keenly," said he to Spalatin, "I would be silent, well knowing that, by the power and counsel of God, this work must be accomplished."[294] The timid man was anxious for speech, the strong man wished to be silent. It was because Luther discerned a power not visible to the eyes of his friend. "Be of good courage," continues the Reformer; "Christ began these things, and Christ will accomplish them, though I should be put to flight or put to death. Jesus Christ is present here, and more powerful is He who is in us, than he who is in the world."[295]
CHAP. X.
Decisive steps by the Reformer—Luther's Appeal to a General Council—Struggle at close quarters—The Bull burned by Luther—Meaning of this bold act—Luther in the Academic Chair—Luther against the Pope—New Work by Melancthon—How Luther encourages his Friends—Progress of the Contest—Melancthon's Opinion of the timid—Luther's Work on the Bible—Doctrine of Grace—Luther's Recantation.
LUTHER'S APPEAL TO A GENERAL COUNCIL.
But duty obliged him to speak, in order to manifest the truth to the world. Rome has struck, and he will make it known how he receives the blow. The pope has put him under the ban of the Church, and he will put the pope under the ban of Christendom. Up to this hour the pope's word has been omnipotent. Luther will oppose word to word, and the world will know which is the more powerful of the two. "I am desirous," said he, "to set my conscience at rest, by making men aware of the danger to which they are exposed."[296] At the same time he prepares to renew his appeal to an universal council. An appeal from the pope to a council was a crime, and hence the mode in which Luther attempts to justify himself is a new act of hostility to papal authority.
On the morning of the 17th November, a notary and five witnesses, of whom Cruciger was one, met at ten o'clock, in one of the halls of the Augustin convent in which the doctor resided. There the public officer, Sarctor of Eisleben, having seated himself to draw up the minute of his protest, the Reformer, in presence of the witnesses, says, with a solemn tone:
"Considering that a general Council of the Christian Church is above the pope, especially in all that concerns the faith;
"Considering that the power of the pope is not above, but beneath Scripture, and that he has no right to worry the sheep of Christ, and throw them into the wolf's mouth:
"I, Martin Luther, Augustin, doctor of the Holy Scriptures at Wittemberg, do, by this writing, appeal for myself, and for all who shall adhere to me, from the most holy Pope Leo, to a future universal Christian Council.
"I appeal from the said Pope Leo, first, as an unjust, rash, tyrannical judge, who condemns me without hearing me, and without explaining the grounds of his judgment; secondly, as a heretic, a strayed, obdurate apostate, condemned by the Holy Scriptures, inasmuch as he ordains me to deny that Christian faith is necessary in the use of the sacraments;[297] thirdly, as an enemy, an antichrist, an adversary, a tyrant of the Holy Scripture,[298] who dares to oppose his own words to all the words of God; fourthly, as a despiser, a calumniator, a blasphemer of the holy Christian Church and a free Council, inasmuch as he pretends that a Council is nothing in itself.
THE BULL BURNT BY LUTHER.
"Wherefore, I most humbly supplicate the most serene, most illustrious, excellent, generous, noble, brave, sage, and prudent lords, Charles, the Roman emperor, the electors, princes, counts, barons, knights, gentlemen, counsellors, towns, and commonalties, throughout Germany, to adhere to my protestation, and join me in resisting the antichristian conduct of the pope, for the glory of God, the defence of the Church, and of Christian doctrine, and the maintenance of free councils in Christendom. Let them do so, and Christ our Lord will richly recompence them by his eternal grace. But if there are any who despise my prayer, and continue to obey that impious man, the pope, rather than God,[299] I, by these presents, shake myself free of the responsibility. Having faithfully warned their consciences, I leave them, as well as the pope, and all his adherents, to the sovereign judgment of God."
Such is Luther's deed of divorce, such his answer to the papal bull. There is great seriousness in this declaration. The accusations which he brings against the pope are very grave, and are not made in a spirit of levity. This protestation spread over Germany, and was sent to the leading courts of Christendom.
MEANING OF THIS BOLD ACT.
Though the step which Luther had just taken seemed the very height of daring, he had a still bolder step in reserve. The monk of Wittemberg will do all that the pope dares to do. The son of the Medicis, and the son of the miner of Mansfeld, have descended into the lists, and in this mortal struggle, which shakes the world, not a blow is given by the one which is not returned by the other. On the 10th December, a notice appeared on the walls of Wittemberg, inviting the professors and students to meet at nine o'clock in the morning, at the east gate, near the holy cross. A great number of teachers and pupils assembled, and Luther, walking at their head, led the procession to the appointed spot. How many faggot piles has Rome kindled in the course of ages! Luther desires to make a better application of the great Roman principle. He only wishes to rid himself of some old papers, and the fire, he thinks, is the fit instrument for that. A scaffold had been prepared. One of the oldest masters of arts applied the torch. At the moment when the flames rose, the redoubted Augustin, dressed in his frock, was seen to approach the pile, holding in his hands the Canon Law, the Decretals, the Clementines, the Extravagants of the popes, some writings of Eck and Emser, and the papal bull. The Decretals having first been consumed, Luther held up the bull, and saying, "Since thou hast grieved the Lord's Anointed, let the eternal fire grieve and consume thee," threw it into the flames. Never was war declared with more energy and resolution. Luther quietly took the road back to the town, and the crowd of doctors, professors, and students, after a loud cheer, returned with him to Wittemberg. "The Decretals," said Luther, "resemble a body with a head as soft as that of a maiden, limbs as full of violence as those of a lion, and a tail with as many wiles as a serpent. In all the papal laws, there is not one word to teach us who Jesus Christ is.[300] My enemies," continues he, "have been able, by burning my books, to injure the truth in the minds of the common people, and therefore I have burnt their books in my turn. A serious struggle has now commenced. Hitherto I have only had child's play with the pope. I began the work in the name of God; it will be terminated without me and by his power. If they burn my books, in which, to speak without vain-glory, there is more of the gospel than in all the books of the pope, I am entitled, a fortiori, to burn theirs, in which there is nothing good."
Had Luther commenced the Reformation in this way, such a proceeding would doubtless have led to fatal results. Fanaticism would have been able to lay hold of it, and throw the Church into a course of disorder and violence. But the Reformer's grave exposition of Scripture had formed a prelude to his work. The foundations had been wisely laid, and now the mighty stroke which he had just given would not only expose him to no hazard, but even accelerate the hour when Christendom would be delivered from her chains.
Thus solemnly did Luther declare his separation from the pope and his church. After his letter to Leo he might think this necessary. He accepted the excommunication which Rome had pronounced. It made the Christian world aware that there was now mortal war between him and the pope. On reaching the shore, he burnt his ships, and left himself no alternative but that of advancing to the combat.
Luther had returned to Wittemberg. Next day the academic hall was fuller than usual. Men's minds were excited. A feeling of solemnity prevailed throughout the audience, in expectation of an address from the doctor. He commented on the Psalms, a task which he had commenced in March of the previous year. Having finished his lecture, he paused a few moments, and then said firmly, "Be on your guard against the laws and statutes of the pope. I have burned the Decretals, but it is only child's play. It is time, and more than time, to burn the pope. I mean, he instantly resumed, the see of Rome, with all its doctrines and abominations." Then, assuming a more solemn tone, he said, "If you do not, with all your heart, combat the impious government of the pope, you cannot be saved. Whoever takes pleasure in the religion and worship of the papacy will be eternally lost in the life to come."[301]
"If we reject it," added he, "we may expect all kinds of dangers and even the loss of life. But it is far better to run such risks in the world than to be silent! As long as I live I will warn my brethren of the sore and plague of Babylon, lest several who are with us fall back with the others into the abyss of hell."
LUTHER AGAINST THE POPE.
It is scarcely possible to imagine the effect produced upon the audience by language, the energy of which still makes us wonder. "None of us," adds the candid student to whom we owe the fact, "at least, if he be not a block without intelligence, ('as,' adds he in a parenthesis, 'all the papists are,')—none of us doubts that it contains the simple truth. It is evident to all the faithful, that Dr. Luther is an angel of the living God, called to feed the long bewildered sheep of Christ with the divine Word."[302]
This discourse, and the act which crowned it, mark an important epoch in the Reformation. The Leipsic discussion had detached Luther inwardly from the pope. But the moment when he burned the bull was that in which he declared, in the most expressive manner, his entire separation from the bishop of Rome and his church, and his attachment to the Church universal, as founded by the apostles of Jesus Christ. After three centuries the fire which he kindled at the East gate is still burning.
"The pope," said he, "has three crowns, and they are these: the first is against God, for he condemns religion,—the second against the emperor, for he condemns the secular power,—and the third against society, for he condemns marriage."[303] When he was reproached with inveighing too violently against the papacy, he replied, "Ah! I wish every thing I testify against him were a clap of thunder, and every one of my words were a thunderbolt."[304]
This firmness of Luther was communicated to his friends and countrymen. A whole nation rallied round him. The university of Wittemberg in particular always became more attached to the hero to whom it owed its importance and renown. Carlstadt raised his voice against "the raging lion of Florence," who tore divine and human laws to pieces, and trampled under foot the principles of eternal truth. At this time Melancthon also addressed the States of the empire in a writing characterised by his usual elegance and wisdom. It was a reply to a treatise attributed to Emser, but published under the name of Rhadinus, a Roman theologian. Luther himself spoke not more forcibly, and yet there is a grace in Melancthon's words which gives them access to the heart.
NEW WORK BY MELANCTHON.
After showing, by passages of Scripture, that the pope is not superior to other bishops; "What prevents us," says he to the States of the empire, "from depriving the pope of the privilege which we have given him?[305] It matters little to Luther that our riches, i.e. the treasures of Europe, are sent to Rome. But what causes his grief and ours is, that the laws of the pontiffs, and the reign of the pope, not only endanger the souls of men but utterly destroy them. Every man can judge for himself, whether or not it suits him to give his money for the maintenance of Roman luxury, but to judge of the things of religion, and of sacred mysteries, is beyond the reach of the vulgar. Here, then, Luther implores your faith and zeal, and all pious men implore with him, some with loud voice and others with groans and sighs. Remember, princes of the Christian people, that you are Christians, and rescue the sad wrecks of Christianity from the tyranny of Antichrist. You are deceived by those who pretend that you have no authority over priests. The same spirit which animated Jehu against the priests of Baal urges you, in imitation of that ancient example, to abolish the Roman superstition—a superstition far more horrible than the idolatry of Baal."[306] So spoke mild Melancthon to the princes of Germany.
Some cries of alarm were heard among the friends of the Reformation. Timid spirits inclined to excessive moderation—Staupitz in particular, expressed the keenest anguish. "Till now," said Luther to him, "the whole affair has been mere sport. You yourself have said, 'did God not do these things it is impossible they could by done.' The tumult becomes more and more tumultuous! and I do not think it will be quelled before the last day."[307] Such was Luther's mode of encouraging the timid. The tumult has existed for three centuries and is not quelled!
"The papacy," continued he, "is not now what it was yesterday and the day before. Let it excommunicate and burn my writings; ... let it kill me! it cannot arrest what is going forward. Something wonderful is at the door.[308] I burnt the bull in great trembling, but now I experience more joy from it than from any action of my life."[309]
We stop involuntarily and delight to read in the great soul of Luther all that the future is preparing. "O! my father," says he to Staupitz in concluding, "pray for the word of God and for me. I am heaved on the billows, and as it were whirled upon them."[310]
PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE.
War is thus declared on all sides. The combatants have thrown away their scabbards. The Word of God has resumed its rights, and deposes him who had gone the length of usurping God's place. Society is shaken throughout. No period is without egotistical men, who would willingly leave human society in error and corruption, but wise men, even the timid among them, think differently. "We know well," says the mild and moderate Melancthon, "that statesmen have a horror at every thing like innovation; and it must be confessed, that in the sad confusion called human life, discord, even that which arises from the best of causes, is always accompanied with evil. Still it is necessary that in the Church the Word of God take precedence of every thing human.[311] God denounces eternal wrath against those who strive to extinguish the truth; and therefore, it was a duty incumbent on Luther—a Christian duty which he could not evade—to rebuke the pernicious errors which disorderly men were circulating with inconceivable effrontery. If discord engenders many evils, (to my great grief I see it does, adds sage Philip,) it is the fault of those who at the beginning circulated errors, and of those who, filled with diabolic hatred, are seeking at present to maintain them."
All, however, were not of the same opinion. Luther was loaded with reproaches; the storm burst upon him from all sides. "He is quite alone," said some—"He teaches novelties," said others.
"Who knows," replied Luther, in accordance with the virtue given him from on high,—"who knows if God has not chosen me, and called me,[312] and if they ought not to fear that in despising me they may be despising God himself?... Moses was alone on coming but of Egypt—Elijah alone in the time of King Ahab—Isaiah alone in Jerusalem—Ezekiel alone at Babylon.... God never chose for a prophet either the high priest or any other great personage. He usually chose persons who were low and despised,—on one occasion he even chose a shepherd, (Amos). At all times the saints have had to rebuke the great—kings, princes, priests, the learned—at the risk of their lives. And under the New Dispensation has it not been the same? Ambrose in his day was alone; after him Jerome was alone; later still Augustine was alone.... I do not say that I am a prophet,[313] but I say they ought to fear just because I am alone and they are many. One thing I am sure of—the Word of God is with me and is not with them.
"It is said also," continues he, "that I advance novelties, and that it is impossible to believe that all other doctors have for so long a period been mistaken.
THE BIBLE PARAMOUNT.
"No, I do not preach novelties. But I say that all Christian doctrines have disappeared, even among those who ought to have preserved them; I mean bishops and the learned. I doubt not, however, that the truth has remained in some hearts, should it even have been in infants in the cradle.[314] Poor peasants, mere babes, now understand Jesus Christ better than the pope, the bishops, and the doctors.
"I am accused of rejecting the holy doctors of the Church. I reject them not: but since all those doctors try to prove their writings by Holy Scripture, it must be clearer and more certain than they are. Who thinks of proving an obscure discourse by one still more obscure? Thus, then, necessity constrains us to recur to the Bible, as all the doctors do, and to ask it to decide upon their writings; for the Bible is lord and master.
"But it is said men in power persecute him. And is it not clear from Scripture that persecutors are usually in the wrong, and the persecuted in the right; that the majority are always in favour of falsehood, and the minority in favour of truth? The truth has, at all times, caused clamour."[315]
Luther afterwards reviews the propositions condemned in the bull as heretical, and demonstrates their truth, by proofs drawn from Holy Scripture. With what force, in particular, does he now maintain the doctrine of grace!
"What," says he, "will nature be able, before and without grace, to hate sin, avoid it, and repent of it; while that, even since grace is come, this nature loves sin, seeks it, desires it, and ceases not to combat grace, and to be irritated against it; a fact for which all the saints continually do groan!... It is as if it were said that a large tree, which I am unable to bend by exerting my utmost strength, bends of itself on my letting it go; or that a torrent, which walls and dykes cannot arrest, is arrested the instant I leave it to itself.... No, it is not by considering sin and its consequences that we attain to repentance, but by contemplating Jesus Christ, his wounds, and boundless love.[316] The knowledge of sin must result from repentance, and not repentance from the knowledge of sin. Knowledge is the fruit, repentance is the tree. With us the fruit grows upon the tree, but it would seem that, in the states of the holy father, the tree grows upon the fruit."
The courageous doctor, though he protests, also retracts some of his propositions. Surprise will cease when his mode of doing it is known. After quoting the four propositions on indulgences, condemned by the bull,[317] he simply adds,
CORONATION OF CHARLES V.
"In honour of the holy and learned bull I retract all that I have ever taught touching indulgences. If my books have been justly burned, it must certainly be because I conceded something to the pope in the doctrine of indulgences; wherefore, I myself condemn them to the fire."
He also retracts in regard to John Huss. "I say now, not that some articles, but all the articles of John Huss, are Christian throughout. The pope, in condemning Huss, condemned the gospel. I have done five times more than he, and yet I much fear have not done enough. Huss merely says, that a wicked pope is not a member of Christendom; but I, were St. Peter himself sitting to-day at Rome, would deny that he was pope by the appointment of God."
CHAP. XI.
Coronation of Charles—The Nuncio Aleander—Will Luther's Books be burnt?—Aleander and the Emperor—The Nuncios and the Elector—The Son of Duke John pleads for Luther—Luther's calmness—The Elector protects Luther—Reply of the Nuncios—Erasmus at Cologne—Erasmus with the Elector—Declaration of Erasmus—Advice of Erasmus—System of Charles V.
The powerful words of the Reformer penetrated all minds, and contributed to their emancipation. The sparks of light which each word threw out were communicated to the whole nation. But a great question remained to be solved. Would the prince, in whose states Luther dwelt, favour the execution of the bull, or would he oppose it? The reply seemed doubtful. At that time the Elector and all the princes of the empire were at Aix-la-Chapelle where the crown of Charlemagne was placed upon the head of the youngest but most powerful monarch of Christendom. Unprecedented pomp and magnificence were displayed in the ceremony. Charles V, Frederick, the princes, ministers, and ambassadors, immediately after repaired to Cologne. Aix-la-Chapelle, where the plague was raging, seemed to empty itself into this ancient town on the banks of the Rhine.
THE NUNCIO ALEANDER.
Among the crowd of strangers who pressed into the city were the two papal nuncios, Marino Carracioli and Jerome Aleander. Carracioli, who had previously executed a mission to Maximilian, was appointed to congratulate the new emperor, and confer with him on matters of state. But Rome had become aware that, in order to succeed in extinguishing the Reformation, it was necessary to send into Germany a nuncio specially entrusted with the task, and with a character, address, and activity fitted to accomplish it. Aleander had been selected.[318] This man, who was afterwards decorated with the cardinals' purple, seems to have been of rather an ancient family, and not of Jewish parentage as has been said. The guilty Borgia called him to Rome to be secretary to his son, the Cesar, before whose murderous sword all Rome trembled.[319] "Like master like servant," says a historian, who thus compares Aleander to Alexander VI. This judgment seems too severe. After the death of Borgia, Aleander devoted himself to study with new ardour. His skill in Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic, gave him the reputation of being the most learned man of his age. He threw his whole soul into whatever he undertook. The zeal with which he studied languages was not a whit stronger than that which he displayed in persecuting the Reformation. Leo X took him into his service. Protestant historians speak of his epicurean habits—Roman historians of the integrity of his life.[320] He seems to have been fond of luxury, show, and amusement. "Aleander," says his old friend Erasmus, "lived in Venice, in high office, but in low epicureanism." He is admitted to have been violent in temper, prompt in action, full of ardour, indefatigable, imperious, and devoted to the pope. Eck is the blustering, intrepid champion of the school,—Aleander the proud ambassador of the arrogant court of the pontiffs. He seemed formed to be a nuncio.
Rome had made every preparation to destroy the monk of Wittemberg. The duty of assisting at the coronation of the emperor, as representative of the pope, was to Aleander only a secondary mission, fitted to facilitate his task by the respect which it secured to him. The essential part of his commission was to dispose Charles to crush the growing Reformation.[321] In putting the bull into the hands of the emperor, the nuncio had thus addressed him:—"The pope, who has succeeded with so many great princes, will have little difficulty in bringing three grammarians to order." By these he meant Luther, Melancthon, and Erasmus. Erasmus was present at this audience.
WILL LUTHER'S WORKS BE BURNT?
No sooner had Aleander arrived at Cologne, than he proceeded in concert with Carracioli, to put everything in train for burning Luther's heretical writings throughout the empire, but more especially under the eyes of the princes of Germany who were then assembled. Charles V had already consented to its being done in his hereditary states. The minds of men were greatly agitated. "Such measures," it was said to the ministers of Charles, and to the nuncios themselves, "far from curing the evil, will only make it worse. Do you imagine that the doctrine of Luther exists only in the books which you throw into the flames? It is written where you cannot reach it—on the hearts of the population.[322] If you will employ force, it must be that of innumerable swords, drawn to massacre an immense multitude.[323] Some billets of wood, collected for the purpose of consuming some bits of paper, will do nothing; such weapons become not the dignity either of the emperor or the pontiff." The nuncio defended his faggot piles. "These flames," said he, "are a sentence of condemnation written in gigantic letters, and understood alike by those who are near, and those who are at a distance, by the learned and the ignorant, by those even who cannot read."
But, in reality the nuncio's efforts were directed not against papers and books, but Luther himself. "These flames," resumed he, "are not sufficient to purify the infected air of Germany.[324] If they deter the simple, they do not correct the wicked. The thing wanted is an edict from the emperor against Luther's head."[325]
Aleander did not find the emperor so complying on the subject of the Reformer's person as on that of his books.
"Having just ascended the throne," said he to Aleander, "I cannot, without the advice of my counsellors, and the consent of the princes, strike such a blow at an immense faction, surrounded by such powerful defenders. Let us first know what our father, the Elector of Saxony, thinks of the affair; after that, we shall see what answer to give to the pope."[326] On the Elector, therefore, the nuncios proceeded to try their wiles, and the power of their eloquence.
On the first Sunday of November, after Frederick had attended mass in the convent of the Cordeliers, Carracioli and Aleander requested an audience. He received them in the presence of the Bishop of Trent, and several of his counsellors. Carracioli first presented the papal brief. Milder than Aleander, he thought it best to gain the Elector by flattery, and began to laud him and his ancestors. "In you," said he, "we hope for the salvation of the Roman Church and the Roman empire."
THE NUNCIOS AND THE ELECTOR.
But the impetuous Aleander, wishing to come to the point, came briskly forward, and interrupted his colleague, who modestly gave way to him.[327] "It is to me," said he, "and Eck, that Martin's affair has been entrusted. See the immense perils to which this man exposes the Christian commonwealth. If a remedy is not speedily applied, the empire is destroyed. What ruined the Greeks if it was not their abandonment of the pope? You cannot remain united to Luther without separating from Jesus Christ.[328] In the name of his Holiness, I ask of you two things: first, to burn the writings of Luther; secondly, to punish him according to his demerits, or at least to give him up a prisoner to the pope.[329] The emperor, and all the princes of the empire have declared their readiness to accede to our demands; you alone still hesitate...."
Frederick replied, by the intervention of the Bishop of Trent, "This affair is too grave to be decided on the spur of the moment. We will acquaint you with our resolution."
Frederick's position was difficult. What course will he adopt? On the one side are the emperor, the princes of the empire, and the chief pontiff of Christendom, from whose authority the Elector has as yet no thought of withdrawing; on the other, a monk, a feeble monk; for his person is all that is asked. The reign of the emperor has just commenced, and will discord be thrown into the empire by Frederick, the oldest and the wisest of all the princes of Germany? Besides, can he renounce that piety which led him as far as the sepulchre of Christ?...
Other voices were then heard. John Frederick, son of Duke John, and nephew of Frederick, the pupil of Spalatin, a young prince, seventeen years of age, who afterwards wore the electoral crown, and whose reign was marked by great misfortunes, had been inspired with a heartfelt love of the truth, and was strongly attached to Luther.[330] When he saw him struck with the anathemas of Rome, he embraced his cause with the warmth of a young Christian and a young prince. He wrote to the doctor, he wrote also to his uncle, soliciting him to protect Luther against his enemies. At the same time, Spalatin, though indeed he was often very desponding, Pontanus, and the other counsellors who were with the Elector at Cologne, represented to him that he could not abandon the Reformer.[331]
THE ELECTOR PROTECTS LUTHER.
Amid the general agitation, only one man remained tranquil—that man was Luther. While others were trying to save him by the influence of the great, the monk, in his cloister at Wittemberg, thought that the great stood more in need of being saved by him. Writing to Spalatin, he says, "If the gospel was of a nature to be propagated or maintained by the power of the world, God would not have entrusted it to fishermen.[332] To defend the gospel appertains not to the princes and pontiffs of this world. They have enough to do to shelter themselves from the judgments of the Lord and his Anointed. If I speak, I do it in order that they may obtain the knowledge of the divine word, and be saved by it."
Luther's expectation was not to be deceived. The faith which a convent of Wittemberg contained exercised its influence in the palaces of Cologne. The heart of Frederick, shaken perhaps for an instant, became gradually stronger. He was indignant that the pope, notwithstanding of urgent entreaties to investigate the matter in Germany, had condemned it at Rome, on the demand of the Reformer's personal enemy; and that in his absence that enemy should have dared to publish in Saxony a bull which threatened the existence of the university and the peace of his people. Besides, the Elector was convinced that Luther had been wronged. He shuddered at the thought of delivering an innocent man into the cruel hands of his enemies. Justice, rather than the pope, such was the rule he adopted. He resolved not to yield to Rome. On the 4th November, when the Roman nuncios were in his presence with the Bishop of Trent, his counsellors announced to them, on the part of the Elector, that he was much grieved to see how Doctor Eck had taken the opportunity of his absence to involve in condemnation several persons not adverted to in the bull; that it might be that, since his departure, an immense number of the learned and the ignorant, the clergy and the laity, had united in adhering to the cause and the appeal of Luther;[333] that neither his Imperial Majesty, nor any person, had shown him that the writings of Luther had been refuted, and that the only thing now necessary was to throw them into the fire, that he moreover demanded a safe conduct for Doctor Luther, to enable him to appear before learned, pious, and important judges.
ERASMUS AT COLOGNE.
After this declaration, Aleander, Carracioli, and their suite, retired to deliberate.[334] It was the first time the Elector had publicly declared his intentions with regard to the Reformer. The nuncios had anticipated a very different result. "Now," thought they, "that the Elector, by persisting in playing his part of impartiality, would expose himself to dangers, the full extent of which cannot be foreseen, he will not hesitate to sacrifice the monk." So Rome had reasoned. But her schemes were destined to fail before a power to which she had not adverted—the love of justice and truth.
When again before the Elector's counsellors, "I would fain know," said the imperious Aleander, "what the Elector would think were one of his subjects to choose the King of France or some other foreign prince for judge?" Seeing at length that the Saxon counsellors were not to be shaken, he said, "We will execute the bull; we will prosecute and burn the writings of Luther. As to his person," added he, affecting a disdainful indifference, "the pope has no anxiety to dip his hand in the blood of the wretch."
News of the reply which the Elector had given to the nuncios having reached Wittemberg, Luther's friends were overjoyed. Melancthon and Amsdorff, in particular, cherished the most flattering hopes. "The German nobility," said Melancthon, "will shape their course by the example of a prince whom they follow in every thing as their Nestor. If Homer called his hero 'the wall of the Greeks,' why should not Frederick be called 'the wall of the Germans?'"[335]
ERASMUS WITH THE ELECTOR.
Erasmus, the oracle of courts, the torch of the schools, the light of the world, was then at Cologne, having been invited thither by several princes who wished to consult him. At the period of the Reformation, Erasmus was at the head of the true middle (juste milieu) party, at least he thought he was, but erroneously; for when truth and error are in presence of each other, the right side is not the middle. He was the chief of that philosophical and university party, which had for ages aspired to correct Rome, without being able to do so; he was the representative of human wisdom; but this wisdom was too weak to repress the arrogance of the papacy. The wisdom of God was necessary—that wisdom which the world often calls folly, but at the bidding of which mountains are crushed. Erasmus was unwilling either to throw himself into the arms of Luther, or to seat himself at the feet of the pope. He hesitated, and often vibrated between these two powers, sometimes attracted towards Luther, and then suddenly repelled towards the pope. He had declared for Luther in a letter to the Archbishop of Mentz, in which he had said, "The last spark of Christian piety seems ready to be extinguished. It is this that has moved Luther's heart; he cares neither for money nor honour."[336] The publication of this letter by the imprudent Ulric von Hütten, subjected Erasmus to so much annoyance that he resolved to act with more prudence in future. Besides, he was accused of being in concert with Luther whose unguarded speeches moreover offended him. "Almost all good people,"[337] said he, "are for Luther, but I see that we are on the high way to a revolt. I would not have my name coupled with his. It hurts me and does him no good."[338] "Be it so," replied Luther, "since it pains you, I promise never to mention your name, nor that of any of your friends." Such was the man to whom both the enemies and the friends of the Reformer applied.
OPINION OF ERASMUS.
The Elector, aware that the opinion of a man so much respected as Erasmus would carry great weight, invited the illustrious Dutchman to come to him. Erasmus complied. This was on the 5th of December. The friends of Luther saw this step not without secret apprehension. The Elector was sitting before the fire, with Spalatin beside him, when Erasmus was introduced. "What think you of Luther?" immediately asked Frederick. The prudent Erasmus, surprised at the direct question, at first tried to evade it. He twisted his mouth, bit his lips, and said nothing. Then the Elector, opening his eyes (says Spalatin,) as he was wont to do when speaking to persons from whom he wished a precise answer, looked piercingly at Erasmus,[339] who, not knowing how to disembarrass himself, at last said, half in jest, "Luther has committed two great faults; he has attacked the pope's crown and the monks' belly." The Elector smiled, but gave Erasmus to understand that he was in earnest. Then Erasmus, laying aside his reserve, said, "The source of all this dispute is the hatred of the monks against letters, and the fear they have of seeing an end put to their tyranny.[340] What have they put in operation against Luther? Clamour, cabal, hatred, libels. The more virtuous, and the more attached to the doctrines of the gospel a man is, the less is he opposed to Luther.[341] The harshness of the bull has excited the indignation of all good men, and nobody has been able to discover in it the meekness of a vicar of Jesus Christ.[342] Out of so many universities two only have attacked Luther, and even these have only condemned, not convicted him. Let not people deceive themselves; the danger is greater than some suppose. Things difficult and arduous are at hand.[343]... To begin the reign of Charles with an act so hateful as the imprisonment of Luther would be of sad augury. The world is thirsting for evangelical truth.[344] Let us beware of culpably resisting it. Let the affair be examined by grave men of sound judgment; this would be more accordant with the dignity of the pope himself."
Thus spoke Erasmus to the Elector. The reader will perhaps be astonished at his frankness; but Erasmus knew to whom he was speaking. Spalatin was delighted, and going out with Erasmus, accompanied him as far as the house of the Count of Nuenar, provost of Cologne, where the illustrious scholar was residing. Erasmus, in a fit of frankness, went into his room, took up the pen and wrote down the substance of what he had said to the Elector, and gave it to Spalatin. But fear of Aleander soon took possession of the timid Erasmus, the courage which he had felt in the presence of the Elector and his chaplain vanished, and he begged Spalatin to send back his too bold writing lest it should fall into the hands of the terrible nuncio. It was too late.
The Elector, feeling strong in the opinion of Erasmus, spoke in more decided terms to the emperor. Erasmus himself strove in nocturnal conferences,[345] like Nicodemus of old, to persuade the counsellors of Charles that it was necessary to remit the whole affair to impartial judges. Perhaps he had some hope of being named arbiter in this cause which threatened to divide the Christian world. His vanity would have been flattered by the office. But, at the same time, not to lose himself at Rome, he wrote the most submissive letters to Leo, who replied in kind terms, and thereby put poor Aleander to the torture.[346] From love to the pope, he could have sharply rebuked the pope. Erasmus communicated the pontiff's letters because they added to his credit. The nuncio made a complaint at Rome: "Pretend," was the answer, "that you do not observe the naughtiness of that man. Prudence requires it: it is necessary to leave the door open for repentance."[347]
POLICY OF CHARLES V.
Charles V himself embraced a vacillating system, which consisted in flattering both the pope and the Elector, and in seeming to incline alternately towards the one or the other according to the wants of the moment. One of his ministers, whom he had sent to Rome on certain Spanish matters, had arrived at the very time when Eck was loudly prosecuting Luther's condemnation. The wily ambassador instantly saw the advantages which his master might derive from the Saxon monk, and on the 12th May, 1520, wrote the emperor, who was still in Spain: "Your Majesty should go into Germany, and there show some favour to one Martin Luther, who is at the Court of Saxony, and, by his discourses, is giving much uneasiness to the Court of Rome."[348] Such, at the outset, was the light in which Charles viewed the matter. His object was not to know on which side truth or error lay, or to ascertain what the great interest of Germany demanded. What does policy require, and by what means can the pope be induced to support the emperor? This was the whole question, and at Rome was well known to be so. The ministers of Charles gave Aleander a hint of the plan which their master meant to follow. "The emperor," said they, "will act towards the pope as the pope acts towards the emperor: for he cares not to increase the power of his rivals, and in particular of the king of France."[349] At these words the imperious nuncio gave vent to his indignation: "What!" replied he, "even should the pope abandon the emperor must the emperor abandon religion? If Charles means thus to take his revenge ... let him tremble! This unprincipled course will turn against himself." The imperial diplomatists were not moved by the menaces of the nuncio.
CHAP. XII.
Luther on Confession—True absolution—Antichrist—Rally around Luther—Satires—Ulric von Hütten—Lucas Cranach—The Carnival at Wittemberg—Staupitz intimidated—Luther's Labours—Luther's Humility—Progress of the Reformation.
LUTHER ON CONFESSION AND TRUE ABSOLUTION.
If the legates of Rome failed with the mighty of the world, the inferior agents of the papacy succeeded in producing disturbance among the weak. The militia of Rome had heard the command of their chief. Fanatical priests employed the bull in alarming consciences, and honest but ill informed ecclesiastics regarded it as a sacred duty to act conformably to the instructions of the pope. Luther had begun his struggle against Rome in the confessional,[350] and in the confessional Rome gave battle to the adherents of the Reformer. The bull, though openly contemned by the nation, became powerful in these solitary tribunals. "Have you read the writings of Luther," demanded the confessors, "do you possess them? do you regard them as sound or as heretical?" If the penitent hesitated to pronounce the anathema, the priest refused him absolution. Several consciences were troubled. The people were strongly agitated. This skilful manœuvre promised to restore to the papal yoke whole districts already gained to the gospel. Rome congratulated herself on having, in the thirteenth century, erected a tribunal destined to bring the free consciences of Christians under subjection to the priests.[351] While it continues in force her reign is not ended.
Luther became aware of these circumstances. Single handed what will he do to defeat the manœuvre? The Word—the Word uttered loudly and boldly: such is his weapon. The Word will search out these alarmed consciences, these frightened souls, and strengthen them. A powerful impulse was required, and Luther's voice was heard addressing penitents with heroic boldness, and a noble disregard of all secondary considerations. "When you are asked," says he, "whether or not you approve my books, answer, 'You are a confessor, and not an inquisitor or a gaoler. My duty is to confess what my conscience dictates; yours not to probe and discover the secrets of my heart. Give me absolution, and thereafter dispute with Luther, the pope, and whomsoever you please; but do not connect the sacrament of peace with strife and combat.' If the confessor will not yield, then," continues Luther, "I would rather dispense with his absolution. Give yourself no uneasiness; if man will not absolve you God will absolve you. Rejoice in that you are absolved by God himself, and present yourself without fear at the sacrament of the altar. The priest will have to account at the final judgment for the absolution which he shall have refused you. They may indeed refuse us the sacrament, but they cannot deprive us of the strength and grace which God has attached to it.—God has placed salvation neither in their will nor in their power but in our faith. Leave their sacrament, altar, priest, church: the Word of God condemned in the bull is more than all these things. The soul can dispense with the sacrament, but cannot live without the Word. Christ, the true Bishop, will himself undertake to nourish you spiritually."[352]
ANTICHRIST. RALLY AROUND LUTHER.
Thus, Luther's voice found its way into families, and alarmed consciences, imparting to them courage and faith. But it was not enough for him merely to defend himself; he felt it his duty to attack and return blow for blow. Ambrose Catherin, a Roman theologian, had written against him.[353]"I will stir up the bile of the Italian beast," said Luther; and he kept his word. In his reply, he proved by the revelations of Daniel and St. John, by the epistles of St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. Jude, that the reign of Antichrist, predicted and described in the Bible, was the papacy. "I know for certain," says he, in conclusion, "that our Lord Jesus Christ lives and reigns. Strong in this assurance, I would not fear several thousands of popes. May God at length visit you according to his infinite power, and cause the day of the glorious advent of his Son to shine, that day in which he will destroy the wicked. And let all the people say, Amen!"[354]
And all the people did say, Amen! A holy fear took possession of men's souls. They saw Antichrist seated on the pontifical throne. This new idea, an idea which derived great force from the prophetical description, being thrown by Luther into the midst of his age, gave Rome a dreadful shock. Faith in the divine Word was substituted for that, which, till then the Church alone had obtained, and the power of the pope, which had long been adored by the people, became the object of their hatred and terror.
Germany replied to the papal bull by surrounding Luther with acclamation. The plague was in Wittemberg, and yet arrivals of new students daily took place, while from four to six hundred pupils regularly took their seats in the academic halls at the feet of Luther and Melancthon. The church of the convent and the town church were too small for the crowds eager to hear the words of the Reformer. The prior of the Augustins was in terror lest these churches should give way under the pressure of the audience.[355] But the movement was not confined within the walls of Wittemberg: it extended over Germany. Letters full of consolation and faith, from princes, noble and learned men, reached Luther from all quarters. He showed the chaplain more than thirty of them.[356]
One day the Margrave of Brandenburg, with several other princes, arrived at Wittemberg to visit Luther. "They wished to see the man,"[357] said the Margrave. In fact all wished to see the man, whose word alarmed the pope, and caused the pontiff of the West to totter on his throne.
SATIRES. ULRICH VON HUTTEN.
The enthusiasm of Luther's friends increased from day to day. "Unparalleled folly of Emser!"—exclaimed Melancthon—"to presume to measure weapons with our Hercules, overlooking the finger of God in the actions of Luther,[358] as the king of Egypt overlooked it in the hand of Moses." The mild Melancthon found strong expressions to excite those who seemed to him to retrograde or remain stationary. "Luther has stood up for the truth," wrote he to John Hess, "and yet you keep silence. He still breathes, he still prospers, though Leo is indignant and roars with rage. Remember, it is impossible for Roman impiety to approve of the gospel.[359] How should this unhappy age be without its Judases, Caiaphases, Pilates, and Herods? Arm yourself then with the power of the Word of God against such adversaries."
All the writings of Luther, his Lord's Prayer, and especially a new edition of the German theology, were eagerly devoured. Reading societies were formed, for the purpose of procuring his works, for the use of the members. Friends made new impressions of them, and circulated them by means of hawkers. They were also recommended from pulpits. A German church was demanded, one in which no dignity should in future be conferred on anyone who was not able to preach to the people in German, and the German bishops of which should every where oppose the papal power.
Moreover, cutting satires directed against the leading Ultra-Montanists were circulated throughout the provinces of the empire. The opposition united all its forces around this new doctrine, which give it precisely what it wanted, by justifying it in regard to religion. The greater part of the lawyers, weary of the quirks of the Ecclesiastical tribunals, attached themselves to the Reformation, but its cause was keenly embraced above all by the Humanists. Ulric von Hütten was indefatigable. He wrote letters to Luther, to the legates, and the leading men of Germany. "I tell you, and tell you again, O Marinus!" said he to the legate, Carracioli, in one of his publications, "the mists with which you blinded us are cleared away—the gospel is preached—the truth proclaimed—the absurdities of Rome treated with contempt—your ordinances languish and die—liberty begins."[360]
LUCAS CRANACH. THE POPE IN EFFIGY.
Not contenting himself with prose, Hütten had recourse to verse also. He published his Cry on the Burning by Luther.[361] Appealing to Jesus Christ, he prayed him to consume, with the brightness of his countenance, those who dared to deny his power. He began, moreover, to write in German. "Hitherto," said he, "I have written in Latin, a language which all could not comprehend, but now I address myself to my country." His German rhymes laid open and enabled the people to read the shameful and voluminous record of the sins of the Roman Court. But Hütten was unwilling to confine himself to mere words; he was impatient to bring his sword into the struggle, for he thought that by the swords and halberds of the many valiant warriors, of which Germany was proud, the vengeance of God was to be accomplished. Luther opposed his infatuated projects. "I would not," said he, "that men should fight for the gospel by violence and carnage. I have written so to Hütten.[362]
The celebrated painter, Lucas Cranach, published, under the title of the Passions of Christ and Antichrist, engravings which represented, on the one hand, the splendour and magnificence of the pope, and on the other, the humility and sufferings of the Redeemer. Luther wrote the inscriptions. These engravings, executed with great spirit, produced an astonishing effect. The people withdrew from a church which appeared so opposed to the spirit of its Founder. "This work," said Luther, "is excellent for the laity."[363]
Several, in opposing the Papacy, had recourse to arms which ill accorded with the holiness of the Christian life. Emser, in replying to Luther's tract, entitled, 'To the Goat Emser,' had published one entitled, 'To the Bull of Wittemberg.' The name was not ill chosen. But at Magdeburg, Emser's book was hung on the gallows, with this inscription, "The book is worthy of the place;" and a rod was placed beside it, to indicate the punishment which the author deserved.[364] At Doeblin, there was written under the Papal bull, in derision of its impotent thunders, "The nest is here, but the birds are flown."[365]
STAUPITZ INTIMIDATED.
At Wittemberg, the students, taking advantage of the carnival, clothed one of their number in a dress resembling that of the pope, and paraded him through the streets "pompously, but rather too ludicrously," says Luther.[366] On arriving at the public square they went down to the banks of the river, and some of them, feigning a sudden attack, seemed to wish to throw the pope into the water; but the pope, having no liking for such a bath, took to his heels. His cardinals, bishops, and familiars, followed his example, dispersing over all the quarters of the town, while the students continued to pursue them. There was not a corner of Wittemberg where some Roman dignitary did not flee before the shouts and laughter of the inhabitants, who were all in motion.[367] "The enemy of Christ," says Luther, "who sports both with kings and with Christ himself, well deserves to be thus sported with." In this we think him in error. Truth is too beautiful, and ought never to be made to walk through the mire. She ought to fight without such auxiliaries as songs, caricatures, and carnival frolics. It may be that without these popular demonstrations, her success would be less apparent, but it would be more pure, and consequently more durable. Be this as it may, the imprudent and passionate conduct of the Court of Rome had excited universal antipathy, and the bull by which the Papacy thought to stifle every thing was itself the cause of general revolt.
Still the Reformer's whole course was not one of exultation and triumph. Behind the car in which he was drawn by his zealous countrymen, transported with admiration, there was not wanting the slave appointed to remind him of his frailty. Some of his friends seemed disposed to call a halt. Staupitz, whom he called his father, seemed shaken. The pope had accused him, and Staupitz had declared his readiness to submit to the judgment of his Holiness. "I fear," said Luther to him, "that in accepting the pope for judge, you will seem to throw off me and the doctrines which I have maintained. If Christ loves you, he will constrain you to retract your letter. Christ is condemned, spoiled, blasphemed; it is time not to fear, but to cry aloud.[368] Wherefore, while you exhort me to humility, I exhort you to pride; for you have too much humility, just as I have too much of its opposite. I shall be called proud and avaricious, an adulterer, a murderer, an anti-pope, a man guilty of all crimes. It matters not, so long as they cannot accuse me of having kept an impious silence at the moment when the Lord was grieved, and said 'I looked on my right hand, and beheld but there was no man that would know me.' (Ps. cxlii, 4.) The word of Jesus Christ is not a word of peace, but a sword. If you will not follow Jesus Christ, I will walk alone, advance alone, and gain the day."[369]
LABOURS OF LUTHER.
Thus Luther, like the commander of an army, kept an eye on the whole field of battle, and while he urged fresh troops forward into the thickest of the fight, marked those who appeared faint-hearted and recalled them to their post. His exhortations were everywhere heard. His letters rapidly succeeded each other. Three presses were constantly employed in multiplying his writings.[370] His words had free course among the people, strengthened consciences which the confessionals had alarmed, raised up those ready to faint in convents, and maintained the rights of truth in the palaces of princes.
"Amid the tempests which assail me," wrote he to the Elector, "I always hoped I would one day find peace. But I now see it was only a man's thought. Day after day the wave is rising, and I already stand in the midst of the ocean. The tempest breaks loose with fearful roar.[371] With one hand I grasp the sword, and with the other build up the walls of Sion.[372] Her ancient links are snapt asunder, broken by the hand which darted the thunders of excommunication against her." "Excommunicated by the bull," says he, "I am loosed from the authority of the pope and monastic laws. With joy I embrace the deliverance. But I lay aside neither the habit of the order nor the convent."[373] And yet, amidst all this agitation, he never loses sight of the dangers by which his own soul is beset during the strife. He feels the necessity of keeping a watch upon himself. "You do well to pray for me," wrote he to Pellican, who was living at Bâle. "I cannot devote enough of time to holy exercises. My life is a cross. You do well to exhort me to modesty. I feel the want of it; but I am not my own master: I know not what spirit rules me. I wish ill to nobody;[374] but my enemies press me with such fury that I am not sufficiently on my guard against the seductions of Satan. Pray then for me."
CONQUESTS BY THE WORD OF GOD.
Thus both the Reformer and the Reformation hastened on in the direction in which God called them. The movement extended. Men who might have been expected to be most faithful to the hierarchy began to be shaken. "Even those," says Eck, ingenuously enough, "who hold of the pope the best benefices and the richest canonries remain mute as fishes. Several among them even extol Luther as a man filled with the Spirit of God, and call the defenders of the pope sophists and flatterers."[375] The Church, apparently great in power, supported by the treasures, the powers and the armies of the world, but in reality emaciated and enfeebled, without love to God, without Christian life, without enthusiasm for the truth, found herself in presence of men, simple, but bold, men who, knowing that God is with those who combat for His Word, had no doubt of victory? Every age has experienced how powerful an idea is in penetrating the masses, in arousing nations, and, if need be, hurrying thousands to the field of battle and to death; but if such is the influence of a human idea, what must be the power of an idea sent down from heaven when God opens the door of the human heart. The world has not often seen such a power in operation. It did see it, however, in the first days of Christianity and in those of the Reformation; and it will see it in days yet to come. Men who disdained the world's wealth, and grandeur, and were contented to lead a life of pain and poverty, began to move in behalf of the holiest thing upon the earth—the doctrine of faith and of grace. In this heaving of society, all the religious elements were brought into operation, and the fire of enthusiasm hurried men boldly forward into a new life an epoch of renovation which had just opened so majestically, and towards which Providence was hastening the nations.