While the hand of Providence successfully warded off all the dangers which threatened him, Luther was boldly advancing to a result of which he was not himself aware. His reputation was extending, the cause of truth was gaining strength, and the number of the students of Wittemberg, among whom were the most distinguished young men in Germany, rapidly increased. "Our town," wrote Luther, "can scarcely contain all who come to it;" and on another occasion, "The number of students increases out of measure, like a stream overflowing its banks."[34]
But Germany was no longer the only country in which the voice of the Reformer was heard. It had passed the frontiers of the empire, and begun to shake the foundations of the Roman power in the different states of Christendom. Frobenius, the famous printer of Bâle, had published the collected Works of Luther, which were rapidly disposed of. At Bâle even the bishop applauded Luther; and the Cardinal of Sion, after reading his work, exclaimed somewhat ironically, and punning on his name, "O, Luther, thou art a true Luther!" (a true purifier, Lauterer.)
Erasmus was at Louvain when Luther's works arrived in the Netherlands. The prior of the Augustins of Antwerp, who had studied at Wittemberg, and according to the testimony of Erasmus, held true primitive Christianity, and many other Belgians besides, read them with avidity. "But," says the scholar of Rotterdam, "those who sought only their own interest, and entertained the people with old wives' fables, gave full vent to their grovelling fanaticism." "It is not in my power," says Erasmus, in a letter to Luther, "to describe the emotions, the truly tragic scenes, which your writings have produced."[35]
Frobenius sent six hundred copies of the works into France and Spain. They were publicly sold at Paris, and, as far as appears, the doctors of Sorbonne then read them with approbation. "It was time," said several of them, "that those engaged in the study of the Holy Scriptures should speak thus freely." In England the Works were received with still greater eagerness. Spanish merchants at Antwerp caused them to be translated into their native tongue, and sent them into Spain. "Assuredly," says Pallavicini, "these merchants were of Moorish blood."[36]
FROBENIUS. ECK.
Calvi, a learned bookseller of Pavia, carried a great number of copies of the works into Italy, and circulated them in all the transalpine towns. This learned man was animated not by a love of gain but a desire to contribute to the revival of piety. The vigour with which Luther maintained the cause of godliness, filled him with joy. "All the learned of Italy," exclaimed he, "will concur with me, and we will see you celebrated in stanzas composed by our most distinguished poets."
Frobenius, in transmitting a copy of the publication to Luther, told him all these gladdening news, and added, "I have disposed of all the copies except ten, and never had so good a return." Other letters also informed Luther of the joy produced by his works. "I am glad," says he, "that the truth gives so much pleasure, although she speaks with little learning, and in a style so barbarous."[37]
Such was the commencement of the revival in the different countries of Europe. In all countries, if we except Switzerland, and even France where the gospel had previously been heard, the arrival of Luther's writings forms the first page in the history of the Reformation. A printer of Bâle diffused these first germs of the truth. At the moment when the Roman pontiff entertained hopes of suppressing the work in Germany, it began in France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, England, and Switzerland; and now, even should Rome hew down the original trunk, what would it avail? The seeds are already diffused over every soil.