LUTHER TO CHARLES V.
After writing this somewhat enigmatical letter, Luther, as time was pressing, set out immediately for Friedberg, which is six leagues from Frankfort. The next day Luther again communed with himself. He was desirous to write once more to Charles V, being unwilling to confound him with guilty rebels. In his letter to the emperor he clearly expounded the nature of the obedience which is due to man, and that which is due to God, and the limit where the former must stop and give place to the latter. In reading Luther, we involuntarily call to mind the saying of the greatest autocrat of modern times: "My role ends where that of conscience begins."[580] "God, who is the searcher of hearts, is my witness," says Luther, "that I am ready with all diligence to obey your majesty, whether in honour or disgrace, whether by life or by death, and with absolutely no exception but the word of God, from which man derives life. In all the affairs of the present life my fidelity will be immutable, for as to these loss or gain cannot at all affect salvation. But in regard to eternal blessings, it is not the will of God that man should submit to man. Subjection in the spiritual world constitutes worship, and should be paid only to the Creator."[581]
Luther also addressed a letter, but in German, to the States of the empire. It was nearly the same in substance as that to the emperor. It contained an account of all that had taken place at Worms. This letter was repeatedly printed and circulated all over Germany; "Every where," says Cochlœus, "it excited the popular indignation against the emperor and the dignified clergy."[582]
Early next day, Luther wrote a note to Spalatin, enclosing in it the two letters which he had written the evening before, and sent back the herald Sturm, who had been won to the gospel. Having embraced him he set out in all haste for Grunberg.
On Tuesday, when about two leagues from Hirschfeld, he met the chancellor of the abbot-prince of this town, who had come out to receive him. Shortly after a troop of horsemen appeared with the abbot at their head. The latter leapt from his horse, and Luther having alighted from his carriage, the prince and the Reformer embraced, and then entered Hirschfeld. The senate received them at the gates.[583] The princes of the Church ran to meet a monk anathematised by the pope, and the most distinguished among the laity, bowed the head before an individual whom the emperor had put under the ban.
LUTHER AT EISENACH.
"At five in the morning we will be at the church," said the prince, on rising in the evening from table, at which the Reformer was a guest. He even wished Luther to occupy his own bed. Next day, Luther preached, the abbot-prince accompanying him with his suite.
In the evening, Luther arrived at Eisenach, the abode of his infancy. All his friends in the town gathered round him, and begged him to preach. The next day they conducted him to the church. The curate made his appearance, attended by a notary and witnesses. He came forward in great tremor, divided between the fear of losing his place, and that of opposing the powerful man before him. At last he said, in a tone of embarrassment, "I protest against the liberty which you are going to take." Luther mounted the pulpit, and that voice which, twenty-three years before, sung in the streets of this town for bread, caused the arches of the ancient church to ring with accents which had begun to shake the world. After the sermon, the curate, in confusion, stept softly forward to Luther. The notary had drawn up his instrument, the witnesses had signed it, and everything was in regular order to put the curate's place in safety. "Pardon me," said he humbly to the doctor; "I have done it from fear of the tyrants who oppress the Church."[584]
There was, in fact, some ground to fear them. At Worms, the aspect of affairs had changed. Aleander seemed to reign supreme. "Luther has nothing before him but exile," wrote Frederick to his brother, Duke John. "Nothing can save him. If God permits me to return, I will have things almost incredible to tell you. Not only Annas and Caiaphas, but also Pilate and Herod, have leagued against him." Frederick, having little wish to remain longer, left Worms. The Elector-Palatine did the same, as did also the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne. Princes of less elevated rank imitated them. Deeming it impossible to avert the blow which was about to be struck, they preferred, perhaps erroneously, to abandon the place. The Spaniards, Italians, and the most Ultra-Montane of the German princes, alone remained.
The field was free, and Aleander triumphed. He laid before Charles the draft of an edict, which he intended should serve as the model of that which the Diet was to issue against the monk. The nuncio's labour pleased the irritated emperor. He assembled the remains of the Diet in his chamber, and caused Aleander's edict to be read to them. All who were present, (so says Pallavicini,) approved it.