"Whether I will or not," says he, "I daily become more learned, spurred on as I am by so many celebrated masters. Two years ago I attacked indulgences, but with so much fear and indecision, that I am now ashamed of it. But, after all, the mode of attack is not to be wondered at, for I had nobody who would help me to roll the stone." He returns thanks to Prierio, Eck, Emser, and his other opponents, and continues—"I denied that the papacy was of God, but I granted that it had the authority of man. Now, after reading all the subtleties by which these sparks prop up their idol, I know that the papacy is only the kingdom of Babylon, and the tyranny of the great hunter Nimrod. I therefore beg all my friends, and all booksellers, to burn the books which I wrote on this subject, and to substitute for them the single proposition—'The papacy is a general chace, by command of the Roman pontiff, for the purpose of running down and destroying souls.'"[242]
Luther afterwards attacks the prevailing errors on the sacraments, on monastic vows, etc. The seven sacraments of the Church he reduces to three—viz., baptism, penitence, and the Lord's supper. He then proceeds to baptism, and when discussing it dwells especially on the excellence of faith, and makes a vigorous attack upon Rome. "God," says he, "has preserved this single sacrament to us clear of human traditions. God has said, 'Whoso believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved.' This divine promise must take precedence of all works however splendid, of all vows, all satisfactions, all indulgences, all that man has devised. On this promise, if we receive it in faith, all our salvation depends. If we believe, our heart is strengthened by the divine promise, and though all else should abandon the believer, this promise will not abandon him. With it he will resist the adversary who assaults his soul, and will meet death though pitiless, and even the judgment of God himself. In all trials his comfort will be to say, 'God is faithful to his promises, and these were pledged to me in baptism; if God be for me, who can be against me?' Oh, how rich the Christian, the baptized! Nothing can destroy him but his own refusal to believe."
PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION.
"It may be that, to my observations on the necessity of faith will be opposed the baptism of little children. But as the Word of God is powerful to change even the heart of the wicked, though neither less deaf, nor less impotent than a little child; so the prayer of the Church, to which all things are possible, changes the little child by means of the faith which God is pleased to pour into its soul, and so cleanses and renews it."[243]
After explaining the doctrine of baptism, Luther employs it as a weapon against the papacy. In fact, if the Christian finds complete salvation in the renewal which accompanies the baptism of faith, what need has he of the prescriptions of Rome?
"Wherefore," says Luther, "I declare that neither the pope, nor the bishop, nor any man whatever, is entitled to impose the smallest burden on a Christian—at least without his consent. Whatsoever is done otherwise is done tyrannically.[244] We are free of all men. The vow which we made in baptism is sufficient by itself alone, and is more than all we could ever accomplish.[245] Therefore, all other vows may be abolished. Let every one who enters the priesthood, or a religious order, consider well that the works of a monk or a priest, how difficult soever they may be, are, in the view of God, in no respect superior to those of a peasant labouring in the field, or a woman attending to the duties of her house.[246] God estimates all these things by the rule of faith. And it often happens that the simple labour of a man-servant, or a maid-servant, is more agreeable to God than the fastings and works of a monk, these being deficient in faith.... The Christian people is the people of God led away into captivity, to Babylon, and there robbed of their baptism."
Such were the weapons by which the religious revolution whose history we are tracing was accomplished. First, the necessity of faith was established, and then the reformers used it as a hammer to break superstition in pieces. They attacked error with that divine power which removes mountains. These, and many similar passages of Luther circulated in towns, convents, and the country, were the leaven which leavened the whole lump.
MILTITZ AT EISLEBEN.
The conclusion of this famous production on the captivity of Babylon is in the following terms:—
"I learn that a new papal excommunication has been prepared against me. If so, the present book may be regarded as part of my future recantation. In proof of my obedience, the rest will soon follow, and the whole will, with the help of Christ, form a collection, the like to which Rome never saw or heard before."