“Its interest increases. As we see the great Reformer in the thick of his work, and the heyday of his life, the absorbing attraction of his personality takes hold of us more and more strongly. His stupendous force, his amazing vitality, his superhuman interest in life, impress themselves upon us with redoubled effect. We find him the most multiform, the most paradoxical of men.... The present volume, which is admirably translated, deals rather with the moral, social, and personal side of Luther’s career than with his theology.”—The Athenæum (Vol. III).

“There is no room for any sort of question as to the welcome ready among English-speaking Roman Catholics for this admirably made translation of the first volume of the German monograph by Professor Grisar on the protagonist of the Reformation in Europe.... The book is so studiously scientific, so careful to base its teaching upon documents, and so determined to eschew controversies that are only theological, that it cannot but deeply interest Protestant readers.”—The Scotsman.

“Father Grisar has gained a high reputation in this country through the translation of his monumental work on the History of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages, and this first instalment of his ‘Life of Luther’ bears fresh witness to his unwearied industry, wide learning, and scrupulous anxiety to be impartial in his judgments as well as absolutely accurate in matters of fact.”—Glasgow Herald.

“This ‘Life of Luther’ is bound to become standard ... a model of every literary, critical, and scholarly virtue.”—The Month.

“Like its two predecessors, Volume III excels in the minute analysis not merely of Luther’s actions, but also of his writings; indeed, this feature is the outstanding merit of the author’s patient labours.”—The Irish Times.

“This third volume of Father Grisar’s monumental ‘Life’ is full of interest for the theologian. And not less for the psychologist; for here more than ever the author allows himself to probe into the mind and motives and understanding of Luther, so as to get at the significance of his development.”—The Tablet.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXI. PRINCELY MARRIAGESpages [3-79]
1. Luther and Henry VIII of England. Bigamy insteadof Divorce.
The case of Henry VIII; Robert Barnes is despatched toWittenberg; Luther proposes bigamy as a safer expedientthan divorce (1531); Melanchthon’s advice: Tutissimumest regi to take a second spouse. The conduct of PopeClement VII. The Protestant Princes of Germany endeavourto secure the good-will of the King of England; final collapseof the negotiations; Luther’s later allusions to Henry VIIIpages [3-13]
2. The Bigamy of Philip of Hesse.
The question put by Philip to Luther in 1526; Philip wellinformed as to Luther’s views. Bucer deputed by the Landgraveto secure the sanction of Wittenberg for his projectedbigamy; Bucer’s mission crowned with success; Philipweds Margaret von der Sale; Luther’s kindly offices rewardedby a cask of wine; the bigamy becomes known atthe Court of Dresden; the Landgrave is incensed by Bucer’sproposal that he should deny having committed bigamy.Luther endeavours to retire behind the plea that his permissionwas a “dispensation,” a piece of advice given “inconfession,” and, accordingly, not to be alleged in public.Some interesting letters of Luther to his sovereign and toHesse; his private utterances on the subject recorded in theTable-Talk. “Si queam mutare!” The Eisenach Conference;Luther counsels the Landgrave to tell a good, lustylie; the Landgrave’s annoyance. Melanchthon’s worries; anexpurgated letter of his on Landgrave Philip. Duke Henryof Brunswick enters the field against Luther and the Landgrave;Luther’s stinging reply: “Wider Hans Worst.”Johann Lening’s “Dialogue”; how it was regarded byLuther, Menius and the Swiss theologians. The Hessianbigamy is hushed up. The Bigamy judged by Protestantopinion; Luther’s consent to some extent extorted underpressurepages [13-79]
CHAPTER XXII. LUTHER AND LYINGpages [80-178]
1. A Battery of Assertions.
Luther’s conduct in the matter of the Bigamy an excusefor the present chapter. His dishonest assurances in hisletters to Leo X, to Bishop Scultetus his Ordinary, and tothe Emperor Charles V (1518-1520); his real feelings atthat time as shown in a letter to Spalatin; Luther’s laterparody of Tetzel’s teaching; his insinuation that it wasthe Emperor’s intention to violate the safe-conduct granted;he calls into question the authenticity of the Papal Bullagainst him, whilst all the time knowing it to be genuine;he advises ordinandi to promise celibacy with a mentalreservation; his distortion of St. Bernard’s “perdite vixi”;his allusion to the case of Conradin, “slain by Pope ClementIV,” and to the spurious letter of St. Ulrich on the babies’heads found in a convent pond at Rome. His allegation thathis “Artickel” had been subscribed to at Schmalkalden;his unfairness to Erasmus and Duke George; his statement,that, for a monk to leave his cell without his scapular, wasaccounted a mortal sin, and that, in Catholicism, peopleexpected to be saved simply by works; his advocacy of the“Gospel-proviso”; his advice to the Bishop of Samland tomake a show of hesitation in forsaking Catholicism pages [80-99]
2. Opinions of Contemporaries in Either Camp.
Bucer, Münzer, J. Agricola, Erasmus, Duke George, etc.,on Luther’s disregard for truthpages [99-102]
3. The Psychological Problem. Self-Suggestion andScriptural Grounds of Excuse.
The palpable untruth of certain statements which Luthernever tires of repeating. How to explain his putting forwardas true what was so manifestly false: The large placeoccupied by the jocular element; his tendency to extravaganceof language; he comes, by dint of repetition, topersuade himself of the truth of his charges. The newtheology of mendacity: Luther’s earlier views consistentwith the Church’s; study of the Old Testament leads himto the theory that only such untruths as injure our neighbourare real lies; influence of his teaching on the theologiansof his circle: Melanchthon, Bucer, Bugenhagen,Capito, etc.pages [102-116]
4. Some Leading Slanders on the Mediæval ChurchHistorically Considered.
Luther’s distortions of the actual state of things before hiscoming; admissions of modern scholars. The oldenCatholics’ supposed “holiness-by-works”; on the relationsbetween creature and Creator; the Lamb of God; theEucharistic sacrifice; “personal religion”; Luther’s pleathat he revived respect for the secular calling; the oldenteaching concerning perfectionpages [116-131]
5. Was Luther the Liberator of Womankind from“Mediæval Degradation”?
Luther’s claim to be the saviour of woman and matrimony;what he says of the Pope’s treatment of marriage;marriage “a state of sin”; witnesses to the contrary:Devotional and Liturgical books; Luther’s own attachmentin his younger days to St. Anne. Various statements ofLuther’s to the advantage or otherwise of woman and themarried life; his alteration of outlook during the controversyon the vow of Chastity; the natural impulse, and thehonour of marriage; expressions ill-befitting one whoaspired to deliver womankind; practical consequences of thenew view of woman: Matrimonial impediments and divorce;Duke George on the saying “If the wife refuse then let themaid come.” Respect for the female sex in Luther’s conversations.The new matrimonial conditions and theslandered opponents; the actual state of things in LateMediæval times as vouched for in the records. Two concludingpictures towards the history of woman: A preacher’smatrimonial trials; the letters of Hasenberg and von derHeyden and the “New-Zeittung” and “Newe Fabel”which they called forthpages [131-178]
CHAPTER XXIII. FRESH CONTROVERSIES WITHERASMUS (1534, 1536) AND DUKE GEORGE († 1539)pages [179-193]
1. Luther and Erasmus again.
Their relations since 1525; the “Hyperaspistes”; Luther’sattack in 1534 and Erasmus’s “Purgatio”; Luther on theend of Erasmuspages [179-186]
2. Luther on George of Saxony and George on Luther.
Luther exhorts the Duke to turn Protestant; the Duke’sanswer; how George had to suffer at Luther’s hands; histrue character utterly at variance with Luther’s picture; theDuke repays Luther in his own coinpages [187-193]
CHAPTER XXIV. MORAL CONDITIONS ACCOMPANYINGTHE REFORMATION. PRINCELY PATRONSpages [194-227]
1. Reports from various Lutheran Districts.
The Duchy of Saxony; the Electorate of Brandenburg;the Duchy of Prussia; Würtemberg; Duke Ulrich andLuther; Blaurer and Schnepf; the sad state of thingsrevealed; the Landgraviate of Hesse; results of LandgravePhilip’s bad examplepages [194-202]
2. At the Centre of the New Faith.
The Electorate of Saxony; the morals of Elector JohannFrederick; the character of his predecessors; Luther’srelations with them; the records of the Visitations; Luthercompares himself to Lot dwelling in Sodompages [202-210]
3. Luther’s Attempts to Explain the Decline in Morals.
His candid admissions; his varied explanations of thestate of things: The malice of Satan; the apparent increaseof evil due to the bright light of the Evangel; his seeminglack of success the best proof of the truth of his mission;Luther on Wittenberg and its doingspages [210-218]
4. A Malady of the Age: Doubts and Melancholy.
The habitual depression in which zealous promoters of theEvangel lived; Melanchthon, Spalatin, Jonas, Camerarius,etc.; the increase in the number of suicides; expectationof the end of all; the sad case of Johann Schlaginhaufen pages [218-227]
CHAPTER XXV. IN THE NARROWER CIRCLE OF THEPROFESSION AND FAMILY. LUTHER’S BETTERFEATURESpages [228-283]
1. The University Professor, the Preacher, the Pastor.
Relations with the Wittenberg students; esteem in whichLuther was held by them; he warns them against consortingwith evil women. The Preacher and Catechist; the forceand practical bearing of Luther’s sermons; his instructionsto others how best to preach; his discourses at home; thenotes of his sermons; what he says of Our Lady whenpreaching on the Magnificat; his staunch fidelity to the greatdoctrines of Christianity and his attachment to Holy Scripture;the fine qualities of his German as evinced in histranslations and elsewhere. The spiritual guide; hisconcern for discipline; his circular letters; his strictures oncertain legends; his efforts to re-introduce a new form ofconfession and to further the cause of Church-musicpages [228-257]
2. Emotional Character and Intellectual Gifts.
The place of feeling in Luther’s life; an interview withCochlæus; his powerful fancy and still more powerful will;his huge capacity for workpages [257-261]
3. Intercourse with Friends. The Interior of the formerAugustinian Monastery.
The better side of the Table-Talk; his friends and pupilson his kindly ways; his disinterestedness, love of simplicity,his generosity, his courage when plague threatened; hisoccasional belittling of his own powers; his prayer and histrust in God; his lack of any real organising talent. Luther’sfamily life; his allusions to his wife; his care for his childrenpages [261-283]
CHAPTER XXVI. LUTHER’S MODE OF CONTROVERSYA COUNTERPART OF HIS SOULpages [284-350]
1. Luther’s Anger. His Attitude towards the Jews, theLawyers and the Princes.
Sir Thomas More on Luther’s language. Three writingslaunched against the Jews; the place of the pig and donkeyin Luther’s stable of metaphor. Luther’s animus against theLawyers due to their attachment to the matrimonial legislationas then established. His attack on the Princes in his“Von welltlicher Uberkeytt”; his ire against Albert,Elector of Mayence; his list of the archbishop’s relics; howthe Duke of Brunswick faredpages [284-295]
2. Luther’s Excuse: “We MUST Curse the Pope and hisKingdom.”
The Pope is the “Beast” and the “Dragon”; Luther’slanguage in the Table-Talk, and in the Disputation in 1539;on the Papal Bearwolf (Werewolf); the Papal Antichrist;Luther’s wrath against all who dared to stand up for the Pope;how the Pope deserves to be addressedpages [295-305]
3. The Psychology of Luther’s Abusive Language.
His ungovernable temper; reality of certain misusesagainst which he thundered; his vexation with those who,like Carlstadt and Zwingli, seemed to be robbing him of thecredit which was his due; his tendency to be carried awayby the power of his own tongue; his need for the stimulusand outlet provided by vituperation; his ill-humour at thesmallness of the moral results obtained; abuse serves torepress his own troubles of conscience. Connection ofLuther’s abusiveness with his mystic persuasion of his specialcall; all his anger really directed against the devil; it is noinsult “to call a turnip a turnip.” The unpleasant seasoningof Luther’s abuse; some samples; was language of socoarse a character at all usual at that time? Indignation ofthe Swisspages [306-326]
4. Luther on his own Greatness and Superiority toCriticism. The Art of “Rhetoric.”
His occasional professions of humility; a number oftypical sayings of Luther referring to his peculiar standingand his achievements: The predictions fulfilled in him; thepoverty of the exegesis of the Fathers; his reforms more far-reachingthan those of any Councils; his being alone nobetter argument against him than against the Old-TestamentProphets, who also stood up against the whole world.Harnack’s dilemma: Was Luther a megalomaniac, or werehis achievements commensurate with his claims? His habitof giving free rein to his “rhetoric”; its tendency toextravagance, unseemliness, and, occasionally, to rankblasphemy; “papist and donkey is one and the same,sic volo, sic iubeo”; his rhetoric a true mirror of his inwardstate; his changeableness; his high opinion of himself tosome extent fostered by the adulation of his friendspages [327-350]
CHAPTER XXVII. VOICES FROM THE CAMP OF THEDEFENDERS OF THE CHURCHpages [351-386]
1. Luther’s “Demoniacal” Storming. A Man “Possessed.”
Hostile contemporaries ascribe Luther’s ravings to thedevil, others actually hold him to be beset by the devil;references to his eyes; the idle tale of his having beenbegotten of the devilpages [351-359]
2. Voices of Converts.
Their opinion of Luther and Luther’s opinion of them;Egranus, Zasius, Wicel and Amerbachpages [360-365]
3. Lamentations over the Wounds of the Church andover Her Persecutions.
The Preface of Cochlæus to his “Commentaria de actis.etc., M. L.”; the sermons of Wild, the Mayence Franciscan, andthe complaints laid before the Diet, at Ratisbon (1541) andWorms (1545)pages [365-369]
4. The Literary Opposition.
Was Luther really dragged into controversy by the tacticsof his opponents? A retrospect: The character of thewritings of Tetzel and Prierias; Emser; Eck and his“Obelisks”; his “Enchiridion”; Cochlæus’s “SepticepsLutherus”; other champions of the Churchpages [370-386]
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE NEW DOGMAS IN AN HISTORICALAND PSYCHOLOGICAL LIGHTpages [387-527]
1. The Bible Text and the Spirit as the “True Tests ofDoctrine.”
Liberty for the examination of Scripture and Luther’sautonomy; Luther gradually reaches the standpoint thatthe Bible is the only judge in matters of faith; those onlymust be listened to who teach “purum verbum Dei.”Experience given by the Spirit; divergent utterancesregarding the perspicuity of Holy Writ; the Bible a “heresy-book.”Luther not in favour of verbal inspiration; mistakesof the sacred writers; which books are canonical, and why?The discord which followed on Luther’s principle of relyingon private judgment and the “influxus spiritus”; hereverts to the “outward Word” in his controversy withZwingli and corroborates it by tradition. What authority,apart from the Church’s, can lay doubts to rest? Theobject of faith: Many articles, or only one? Protestantson Luther’s self-contradictions; the end of Luther’s“formal principle”pages [387-420]
2. Luther as a Bible Expositor.
Some characteristic of Luther’s exegesis; his respect forthe literal sense; all his reading of the Bible coloured by histheory of Justification; his exegesis in the light of his earlydevelopmentpages [420-431]
3. The Sola Fides. Justification and Assurance of Salvation.
Connection between the “material principle” (justification)and the “formal principle” (Scripture as the onlyrule) of Luther’s theology, and between the “materialprinciple” and the theory of the worthlessness of works andof God’s being the sole real agent; the theory at variancewith the teaching of St. Augustine. The need of strugglingto feel entirely certain of our personal justification; Luther’sown failure to come up to his standard; present-day Protestantson Luther’s main Article “on which the Church standsor falls”pages [431-449]
4. Good Works in Theory and Practice.
The Church’s teaching; origin of Luther’s new ideas to besought in his early dislike for the “Little Saints” and theirdoings; the perils of his theory; on the fear of God as amotive for action. Augustine summoned as a witness onLuther’s behalf; the witness discarded by Melanchthon andthe Pomeranians; Augustine’s real view; the new doctrinejudged by 16th-century Protestants; Luther’s utterancesin favour of good works; what charity meant in the MiddleAges; Luther on the hospitals of Florencepages [449-481]
5. Other Innovations in Religious Doctrine.
Luther no systematic theologian. The regula fidei;Harnack on Luther’s inconsequence; Paulsen on “PopeLuther.” Luther’s teaching on the sacraments; on infant-baptismand the faith it requires; liberal Protestantsappeal to his principles against the “magical” theory ofBaptism; penance an extension of baptism. Luther’steaching on the Supper; Communion merely a means offortifying faith; Impanation versus Transubstantiation;theory of the omnipresence of Christ’s body; Luther’s stead-fastnessin his belief in the Real Presence. Attitude towardsthe invocation of the Saints, particularly of the BlessedVirgin. His views on Purgatorypages [482-506]
6. Luther’s Attack on the Sacrifice of the Mass.
The place of this sacrifice in the Church previous toLuther’s time; Luther’s first attacks; the Mass suppressedat Wittenberg; his “Von dem Grewel der Stillmesse”;Eck’s reply; Luther undertakes to prove that the priests’attachment to the Mass is based merely on pecuniarygrounds; connection between his attack on the Mass and histheory as a whole. His work on the “Winkle-Mass”; hisdispute with the devil; his defence of his work on the“Winkle-Mass”; Cochlæus replies; Luther’s references tothe Mass in his familiar talks, and in his Schmalkalden“Artickel”; a profession of faith in the Real Presencepages [506-527]