Against us it has been said that we were too disposed to make of Luther a “prayerless” man. One critic, in proof of Luther’s prayerfulness, points out that, in his Wartburg letters, Luther uses the word “Amen” no less than thirteen times in the text, apart from its use at the end of the letters. Now, in all the Epistles of St. Paul—which cover far more paper than these Wartburg letters—the word “Amen” occurs in the text only eleven times. But, notoriously, Luther was accustomed to use this word in rather unusual connections, as he does for instance when speaking of the wife of the “theologus coniugatus” Johann Agricola (“Dominus det, ut uteri onus feliciter exponat. Amen.” “Briefwechsel,” 3, p. 151).
Moreover, Luther’s prayers were very peculiar. We hear nothing of his having used his enforced stay at the Wartburg to ask of God whether the path he had chosen was the right one, and for the grace to carry out, not his own will, but that of God. In the interests of his new doctrine, he is, however, “paratus ire quo Dominus volet, sive ad vos sive alio.” (“Briefwechsel,” 3, p. 193.) He asks a friend to pray “ut non deficiat fides mea in Domino,” i.e. that his views may not change (ib., p. 214); “commenda, quæso, tuis orationibus Deo causam nostram.” (Ib., p. 324.) Elsewhere he writes:
“Benedictus Deus, qui nobis eam non solum dedit colluctationem adversus spiritualia nequitiæ, insuper revelavit nobis, non esse carnem aut sanguinem, a quibus oppugnamur in ista causa.… Satan furit in sapientibus et iustis suis.…”
above all, in Emser, whom he calls a “vas diaboli proprie obsessum.” (Ib., 3, p. 197.)
10. Luther’s state during his stay at the Coburg
In addition to the troubles mentioned in vol. ii., p. 390, which tended to depress Luther at the Coburg there were yet others. He felt keenly the separation from his family and from those with whom he had been accustomed to work. His father’s death was also a cause of sadness to him. Finally the difficulties of corresponding with his friends at Augsburg were responsible for his being often in a state of uncertainty as to what was going on at the Diet.
11. Luther’s moral character
Exception has been taken to our interpretation (vol. ii., p. 161, n. 1) of a certain utterance of Luther’s. In the “Comment. on Galat.,” 1, p. 107 sq., he says:
“zelavi pro papisticis legibus … conatus sum eas præstare plus inedia, vigiliis, etc., … Bono zelo et ad gloriam Dei feci … [Yet] in monachatu Christum quotidie crucifixi et falsa mea fiducia, quæ tum perpetuo adhærebat mihi, blasphemavi. Externe non eram sicut ceteri homines, raptores, iniusti, adulteri, sed servabam castitatem, obedientiam et paupertatem, denique totus eram deditus ieiuniis, vigiliis, etc. Interim tamen sub ista sanctitate et fiducia iustitiæ propriæ alebam … odium et blasphemiam Dei.”
But, in these words written in his old age, he is not witnessing to his virtuous life in former days, but, on the contrary, he is striving to show that, for all its outward propriety, it was the merest blasphemy. Moreover, the words “servabam … obedientiam,” etc., cannot be taken too literally, as Luther himself elsewhere admits that he was careless about the Office, though this was a matter on which the Rule was very severe. A more appropriate self-justification would be the utterance recorded in Veit Dietrich’s MS. of the Table-Talk (Bl. 83) which begins: “Monachus ego non sensi multam libidinem.”