Jonas once dubbed Luther a Demosthenes of rhetoric.[1392] Luther in his turn praised Jonas not merely for his translations, but also for his sermons; he had all the gifts of a good orator, “save that he cleared his throat too often.”[1393] Yet he also accuses him of conceit for declaring that “he knew all that was contained in Holy Scripture” and also for his annoyance and surprise at the doubts raised concerning the above assertion.[1394]
On the other hand, the bitter hostility displayed by Jonas towards all Luther’s enemies, pleased the latter. Jonas, taking up the thread of the conversation, remarked on one occasion to the younger guests at Luther’s table: “Remember this definition: A Papist is a liar and a murderer, or the devil himself. They are not to be trusted in the least, for they thirst after our blood.”[1395]
His opinion of Jacob Schenk coincided with that of Luther: His “head is full of confused notions”; he was as “poison” amongst the Wittenberg theologians, so that Bugenhagen did well in refusing him his daughter in marriage.[1396] Of Agricola he remarked playfully, when the latter had uttered the word “oportet” (it must be): “The ‘must’ must be removed; the salt has got into it and we refuse to take it.” Whereupon Luther replied: “He must swallow the ‘must’ but I shall put such salt into it that he will want to spit it out again.”[1397] No one, so well as Jonas, knew how to cheer up Luther, hence Katey sometimes invited him to table secretly.[1398] It is true that his chatter sometimes proved tiresome to the other guests, for one of them, viz. Cordatus, laments that he interrupted Luther’s best sayings with his endless talk.[1399] The truth is, of course, that the pupils were anxious to drink in words from Luther’s own lips. Luther for his part encouraged his friend when the latter was oppressed by illness or interior anxieties. Jonas suffered from calculus, and, during one of his attacks, Luther said to him: “Your illness keeps you watchful and troubled, it is of more use to you than ten silver mines. God knows how to direct the lives of His own people and we must obey Him, each one according to our calling. Beloved God, how is Thy Church distracted both within and without!”[1400] When Jonas on one occasion, being already unwell, was greatly troubled with scruples of conscience and doubts about the faith (“tentatus gravissime”), Luther sent him, all written out, the consoling words with which he himself was wont to find comfort in similar circumstances: “Have I not been found worthy to be called to the service of the Word and been commanded, under pain of Thine everlasting displeasure, to believe what has been revealed to me and in no way to doubt it?... Act manfully and strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in God.”[1401]
In the matter of faith Jonas was easily contented, and, for this, Luther praised him; since a man could not comprehend the Articles, it was sufficient for him to begin with a mere assent (“ut incipiamus tantum assentiri”). This theology actually appealed to Luther so much that he exclaimed: “Yes, dear Dr. Jonas, if a man could believe it as it stands, his heart would burst for joy! That is sure. Hence we shall never attain to its comprehension.”[1402] On Ascension Day, 1540, Luther’s pupils wrote down these words which fell from his lips: “I am fond of Jonas, but if he were to ascend up to heaven and be taken from us, what should I then think?... Strange, I cannot understand it and cannot believe it, and yet all the Apostles believed.... Oh, if only a man could believe it!”[1403]
Jonas found the faith amongst the country people around Wittenberg so feeble and barren of fruit, that, on one occasion, he complained of it with great anger. Luther sought to pacify him: God’s chastisement will fall upon those peasants in due time; God is strong enough to deal with them. He added, however, admitting that Jonas was right: “Is it not a disgrace that in the whole Wittenberg district only one peasant can be found in all the villages who seriously exhorts his household in the Word of God and the Catechism? The others are all going to the devil!”[1404]
Justus Jonas, whose real name was Jodocus (Jobst) Koch, was a native of Nordhausen in the province of Saxony. He, like Bugenhagen, could not boast of a theological education as he had devoted himself to jurisprudence, and, as an enthusiastic Erasmian, to Humanism. In 1514 or 1515 he became priest at Erfurt, and in 1518 Doctor of Civil and Canon Law, at the same time securing a comfortable canonry. He attached himself to Luther during the latter’s journey to Worms, and in July, 1521, migrated to Wittenberg, where he lectured at the University on Canon Law and also on theology, after having been duly promoted to the dignity of Doctor in the theological Faculty; at the same time he was provost of the Schlosskirche.
In 1522 he married a Wittenberg girl, and, in the following year, vindicated this step against Johann Faber in “Adv. J. Fabrum, scortationis patronum, pro coniugio sacerdotali,” just as Bugenhagen after his marriage had found occasion to defend in print priestly matrimony. In 1523 he lectured on Romans. Of his publications his translations of Luther’s works were particularly prized.
His practical mind, his schooling in the law, and his business abilities, no less than the friendship of Luther bestowed upon a man so ready with the pen, procured for him his nomination as dean of the theological Faculty; this position he retained from 1523 till 1533. Jonas, the “theologian by choice,” as Luther termed him in contradistinction to Amsdorf, the “theologian by nature,” took part in all the important events connected with Lutheranism, in the Conference at Marburg, the Diet of Augsburg and the Visitations in the Saxon Electorate from 1528 onwards, also in the introduction of the innovations into the Duchy of Saxony in 1539. In 1541 he introduced the new church-system in the town of Halle, which till then had been the residence of the Cardinal-Elector, Albert of Mayence. From the time of the War of Schmalkalden and the misfortunes which ensued, his interior troubles grew into a mental malady. Melanchthon speaks of his “animus ægrotus.” His was a form of the “morbus melancholicus”[1405] which we meet with so often at that time amongst disappointed and broken-down men within the Protestant fold, and which was unquestionably due to religious troubles. According to the report of one Protestant, Cyriacus Schnauss (1556), and of a certain anonymous writer, his death († October 9, 1555),[1406] was happier than his life. To the darker side of his character belongs the malicious and personal nature of his polemics, as experienced, for instance, by Johann Faber and Wicel, whom he attacked with the weapon of calumny, and his “constant, often petty, concern in the increase of his income.”[1407]