I. The Reformation.[360]
§ 122. The Beginnings of the Wittenberg Reformation.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century everything seemed to combine in favour of those reforming endeavours which had been held back during the Middle Ages. There was a lively perception of the corruptions of the church, a deep and universal yearning after reformation, the scientific apparatus necessary for its accomplishment, a pope, Leo X., careless and indolent; a trafficker in indulgences, Tetzel, stupidly bold and shameless; a noble, pious, and able prince, Frederick the Wise (§ [123, 9]), to act as protector of the new creed; an emperor, Charles V. (§ [123, 5]), powerful and hostile enough to kindle the purifying fire of tribulation, but too much occupied with political entanglements to be able to indulge in reckless and violent oppression. There were also thousands of other persons, circumstances, and relations helping, strengthening, and furthering the work. And now, at the right hour, in the fittest place, and with the most suitable surroundings, a religious genius, in the person of Luther, appeared as the reformer, with the rarest combination of qualities of head and heart, character and will, to engage upon that great work for which Providence had so marvellously qualified him. This mighty undertaking was begun by ninety-five simple theses, which he nailed to the door of the church of Wittenberg, and the Leipzig Disputation marked the first important crisis in its history.
§ 122.1. Luther’s Years of Preparation.—Martin Luther, a miner’s son, was born on November 10th, A.D. 1483. His childhood was passed under severe parental control and amid pinching poverty, and he went to school at Mansfeld, whither his parents had migrated; then at Magdeburg, where, among the Brothers of the Common Life, he had mainly to secure his own support as a singing boy upon the streets; and afterwards at Eisenach, where Madame Ursula Cotta, moved by his beautiful voice and earnest entreaty, took him into her house. In A.D. 1501 he entered on the study of jurisprudence at Erfurt (§ [120, 2]), took the degree of bachelor in A.D. 1502, and that of master in A.D. 1505. During a fearful thunderstorm, which overtook him as he travelled home, he was driven by terror to vow that he would become a monk, impressed as he was by the sudden death of an unnamed friend which had taken place shortly before. On the 17th July, A.D. 1505, he entered the Augustinian convent at Erfurt. In deep concern about his soul’s salvation, he sought by monkish asceticism, fasting, prayer, and penances to satisfy his conscience, but the inward struggles only grew stronger. An old monk proclaimed to the weary inquirer, almost fainting under the anxiety of spirit and self-imposed tortures, the comforting declaration of the creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” Still more powerful in directing him proved the conversation of his noble superior, John Staupitz (§ [112, 6]). He showed him the way of true repentance and faith in the Saviour crucified not for painted sins. Following his advice, Luther diligently studied the Bible, together with, of his own accord, Augustine’s writings. In A.D. 1507 he was ordained priest, and in A.D. 1508 Staupitz promoted him to the University of Wittenberg, founded in A.D. 1502, where he lectured on the “Dialectics” and “Physics” of Aristotle; and in A.D. 1509 he was made Baccalaureus biblicus. In the autumn of the same year he went again, probably by Staupitz’ advice, to Erfurt, until, a year and a half afterwards, he obtained a definite settlement at Wittenberg. Highly important for his subsequent development was the journey which, in A.D. 1511, he took to Rome in the interests of his order. On the first view of the holy city, he sank upon his knees, and with his hands raised to heaven cried out, “I greet thee, holy Rome.” But he withdrew utterly disgusted with the godless frivolity and immorality which he witnessed among the clergy on every side, and dissatisfied with the externalism of the penitential exercises which he had undertaken. During his whole journey the Scripture sounded in his ear, “The just shall live by his faith.” It was a voice of God in his soul, which at last carried the blessed peace of God into his wounded spirit. After his return, in A.D. 1512, Staupitz gave him no rest until he took the degree of doctor of divinity; and now he gave lectures in the university on Holy Scripture, and afterwards preached in the city church of Wittenberg. He applied himself more and more, by the help of Augustine, to the study of Scripture and its fundamental doctrine of justification by faith alone. About this time too he was powerfully influenced by Tauler’s mysticism and the “Deutsche Theologie,” of which he published an edition in A.D. 1516.
§ 122.2. Luther’s Theses of A.D. 1517.—The æsthetic and luxurious pope Leo X. (§ [110, 14]), avowedly for the building of St. Peter’s, really to fill his own empty coffers, had proclaimed a general indulgence. Germany was divided between three indulgence commissions. The elector-cardinal Albert of Mainz, archbishop of Magdeburg, and brother of Elector Joachim of Brandenburg, undertook the direction of the commission for his archiepiscopal province, for which he was to receive half the proceeds for the payment of his debts. The most shameless of the traffickers in indulgences employed by him was the Leipzig Dominican prior, John Tetzel. This man had been sentenced at Innsbrück to be drowned for adultery, but on the intercession of the Elector of Saxony had his sentence commuted to imprisonment for life. He now was taken from his prison in order to do this piece of work for Albert. With great success he went from place to place, and offered his wares for sale, proclaiming their virtues in the public market with unparalleled audacity. He went to Jüterbock, in the vicinity of Wittenberg, where he attracted crowds of purchasers from all around. Luther discovered in the confessional the corrupting influence of such procedure, and on the afternoon of All Saints’ Day, October 31st, A.D. 1517, he nailed on the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg ninety-five theses, explaining the meaning of the indulgence. Although they were directed not so much against the principle of indulgences as against their misunderstanding and abuse, they comprehended the real germ of the Reformation movement, negatively in the conception of repentance which they set forth, and positively in the distinct declaration that the grace of God in Christ can alone avail for the forgiveness of sin. With incredible rapidity the theses spread over all Germany, indeed over all Europe. Luther accompanied them with a sermon on indulgence and grace. The immense applause which its delivery called forth led the supporters of the old views to gird on their armour. Tetzel publicly burnt the theses at Jüterbock, and with the help of Wimpina posted up and circulated at Frankfort and other places counter-theses. The Wittenberg students purchased quantities of these theses, and in retaliation burnt them, but Luther did not approve their conduct. In April, A.D. 1518, Luther went to Heidelberg, to take part there in a regular chapter of the Augustinians, which was usually accompanied by public preaching and disputations by members of the order. The disputation, which on this occasion was assigned to Luther, gave him the welcome opportunity of making known to wider circles these philosophical and theological views which he had hitherto uttered only in Wittenberg. The professors of the University of Heidelberg repudiated and opposed them, but in almost every case mildly and with tolerance. On the other hand, many of the young theologians studying there enthusiastically accepted his doctrines, and several of them, e.g. Martin Bucer of Strassburg (§ [125, 1]), John Brenz and Erhard Schnepf of Swabia (§ [133, 3]), as well as Theobald Billicanus, afterwards reformer of Nördlingen, etc., there and then consecrated themselves to their life work.
§ 122.3. Prierias, Cajetan, and Miltitz, A.D. 1518, 1519.—Leo X. at first regarded the matter as an insignificant monkish squabble, and praised Brother Martin as a real genius. He gave no heed to Hoogstraten’s outcry of heresy, nor did he encourage the Dominican Prierias in his attack on Luther. The book of Prierias was a harmless affair. Luther gave it a short and crushing reply. Prierias answered in a second and third tract, which Luther simply republished with sarcastic and overwhelming prefaces. The pope then enjoined silence upon his luckless steward. In May, A.D. 1518, Luther wrote a humble epistle to the pope, and added a series of Resolutiones in vindication of his theses. Staupitz is said to have revised both. Meanwhile it had been determined in Rome to deal with the Wittenberg business in earnest. The papal procurator made a complaint against Luther. A court was commissioned, which summoned him to appear in person at Rome to answer for himself. But, on the representations of the University of Wittenberg and the Elector Frederick the Wise, the pope charged Cardinal Cajetan, his legate at the Diet of Augsburg, to take up the consideration of the matter. Luther appeared, and made his appeal to the Bible. The legate however wished him to argue from the schoolmen, demanded an unconditional recantation, and at last haughtily dismissed “the beast with deep eyes and wonderful speculations in his head.” Luther made a formal appeal a sanctissimo Domino Leone male informato ad melius informandum, and quitted Augsburg in good spirits. The cardinal now sought to rouse Frederick against the refractory monk, but Luther’s buoyant and humble confidence won the noble elector’s heart. Cajetan continued a vigorous opponent of the reformed doctrine. But Luther’s superiority in Scripture knowledge had so impressed the cardinal, that he now applied himself closely to the study of the Bible in the original tongues; and thus, while firmly attached to the Romish system, he was led on many points, e.g. on Scripture and tradition, divorce, injunctions about meats, the use of the vernacular in public worship, the objectionableness of the allegorical interpretation, etc., to adopt more liberal views, so that he was denounced by some Roman Catholic controversialists as guilty of various heresies.—Luther had no reason in any case to look for any good from Rome. Hence he prepared beforehand an appeal for an œcumenical council, which the publisher, against Luther’s will, at once spread abroad. In Rome the cardinal’s pride was wounded by the failure of his undertaking. A papal bull defined the doctrine of indulgences, in order more exactly to guard against misrepresentations, and an accomplished courtier, the papal chamberlain, Carl von Miltitz, a Saxon, was sent to Saxony, in A.D. 1519, as papal nuncio, to convey to the elector the consecrated golden rose, and to secure a happy conclusion to the controversy. The envoy began by addressing a sharp admonition to Tetzel, and met Luther with hypocritical graciousness. Luther acknowledged that he had acted rashly, wrote a humble, submissive letter to the pope, and published “An Instruction on some Articles ascribed to him by his Traducers.” But after all the retractations which he made at the diet he still firmly maintained justification by faith, without merit of works. He promised the nuncio to abstain from all further polemic, on condition that his opponents also should be silent. But silent these would not be.
§ 122.4. The Leipzig Disputation, A.D. 1519.—John Eck of Ingolstadt had engaged in controversy with a zealous supporter and colleague of Luther, Andrew Bodenstein of Carlstadt, professor and preacher at Wittenberg, and Luther himself took part in the discussion between the two. This disputation came off at Leipzig, and lasted from June 27th to July 16th. But Eck’s vanity led him not only to seek the greatest possible fame from his present disputation, but also to drag in Luther by challenging his theses. Eck disputed for eight days with Carlstadt about grace and free will, and with abundant eloquence, boldness, and learning vindicated Romish semi-Pelagianism. Then he disputed for fourteen days with Luther about the primacy of the pope, about repentance, indulgences, and purgatory, and pressed him hard about the Hussite heresy. But Luther sturdily opposed him on the grounds of Scripture, and confirmed himself in the conviction that even œcumenical councils might err, and that not all Hussite doctrines are heretical. Both parties claimed the victory. Luther continued the discussion in various controversial treatises, and Eck, too, was not silent. New combatants also, for and against, from all sides appeared upon the scene. The liberal humanists (§ [120, 2]) had at first taken little notice of Luther’s contention. But the Leipzig Disputation led them to change their attitude. Luther seemed to them now a new Reuchlin, Eck another specimen of Ortuinus Gratius. A biting satire of Pirkheimer (§ [120, 3]), “Der abgehobelte Eck,” appeared in the beginning of A.D. 1520, exceeding in Aristophanic wit any of the epistles of the Obscurantists. It was followed by several satires by Ulrich von Hutten, who received new inspiration from Luther’s appearance at Leipzig. Hutten and Sickingen, with their whole party, undertook to protect Luther with body and soul, with sword and pen. This was a covenant of some advantage to the Reformation in its early years; but had it not been again abrogated, it might have diverted the movement into an altogether wrong direction. From this time forth Duke George of Saxony, at whose castle and in whose presence the disputation had been conducted, became the irreconcilable enemy of Luther and his Reformation.
§ 122.5. Philip Melanchthon.—At the Leipzig Disputation there also appeared a man fated to become of supreme importance in the carrying out of the Reformation. Born on February 16th, A.D. 1497, at Bretten in the Palatinate, Philip Melanchthon entered the University of Heidelberg in his thirteenth year, and at the age of sixteen published a Greek grammar. He took the degree of master at seventeen, and at twenty-one, in A.D. 1518, on the recommendation of his grand-uncle Reuchlin, he was made Professor of Greek in Wittenberg. His fame soon spread over all Europe, and attracted to him thousands of hearers from all parts. Luther and Erasmus vied with one another in lauding his talents, his fine culture and learning, and his contemporaries have given him the honourable title of Præceptor Germaniæ. He was an Erasmus of nobler form and higher power, a thorough contrast to Luther. His whole being breathed modesty, mildness, and grace. With childlike simplicity he received the recognised truths of the gospel. He bowed humbly before the powerful, practical spirit of Luther, who also, on his part, acknowledged with profound thankfulness the priceless treasure God had sent to him and to his work in this fellow labourer. Melanchthon wrote to his friend Œcolampadius at Basel an account of the Leipzig Disputation, which by chance fell into Eck’s hands. This occasioned a literary controversy, in which Eck’s vain over-estimation of himself appears in very striking contrast to the noble modesty of Melanchthon.He took part in the Reformation first in February, A.D. 1521, by a pseudonymous apology for Luther.[361]
§ 122.6. George Spalatin.—In consequence of his influential position at the court of the elector, which he obtained on Mutian’s (§ [120, 2]) recommendation, after completing his philosophical, legal, and theological studies at Erfurt, George Burkhardt, born in A.D. 1484 at Spalt, in the diocese of Eichstadt, and hence called Spalatinus, played an important part in the German Reformation. Frederick the Wise, who had, in A.D. 1509, entrusted him with the education of his nephew John Frederick, appointed him, in A.D. 1514, his court chaplain, librarian, and private secretary, in which capacity he accompanied the elector to all the diets, and was almost exclusively the channel for communicating to him tidings about Luther. John the Constant, in A.D. 1525, made him superintendent of Altenburg, and took him with him to the diets of Spires, in A.D. 1526, 1529, and of Augsburg in A.D. 1530. John Frederick the Magnanimous, his former pupil, employed him in A.D. 1537 on important negotiations at the conference of the princes at Schmalkald [Schmalcald] (§ [134, 1]). From A.D. 1527 Spalatin was specially busy with the visitation and organization of the Saxon church (§ [127, 1]), conducted, in the interests of the Reformation, an extensive correspondence, and composed several works on the history of his times and the history of the Reformation.