Life of Luther

by Julius Köstlin

The whole arrogance of the Papacy, the temporal pride with which the Pope clothed himself, the idolatry with which he was treated, were to Luther a scandal and unchristian. Lord of the universe, the Pope styled himself, and paraded about with a triple crown in all temporal splendour, and with an endless train of followers and baggage, whilst claiming to be the vicegerent of the Lord who wandered about in poverty, and gave Himself up to the Cross, and declared that His kingdom was not of this world. Clearly and fully Luther shows the various ways, embracing the whole life of the Church, in which Romish tyranny had enslaved the Churches of other countries, especially of Germany, and had turned them to account and plundered them: by means of fees and taxes of all kinds, by drawing away the trial of ecclesiastical cases to Rome, by accumulating benefices in the hands of Papal favourites of the worst description, by the unprincipled and usurious sale of dispensations, by the oath which made the bishops mere vassals of the Pope, and effectually prevented all reform. In this greed for money in particular, and in the crafty methods of collecting it, Luther saw the genuine Antichrist, who, as Daniel had foretold, was to gather the treasures of the earth (Daniel xi. 8, 39, 43).

To confront this oppression and these acts of usurpation, Luther would not have men wait for a Council. As for these impositions and taxes, he says that every prince, noble, and town should straightway repudiate and forbid them. This lawless pillaging of ecclesiastical benefices and fiefs by Rome should be resisted at once by the nobility. Anyone coming from the Papal court to Germany with such claims, must be ordered to desist, or to jump into the nearest piece of water with his seals and letters and the ban of excommunication. Luther insists especially on demanding, as Hutten had already demanded, that the individual Churches, and particularly those of Germany, should order and conduct their own affairs independently of Rome. The bishops were not to obtain their confirmation at Rome, but, as already decreed by the Nicene Council, from a couple of neighbouring bishops or an archbishop. The German bishops were to be under their own primate, who might hold a general consistory with chancellors and counsellors, to receive appeals from the whole of Germany. The Pope, in other respects, was still to be left a position of supremacy in the collective Christian Church, and the adjudication of matters of importance on which the primates could not agree. One other matter Luther dwells on, as affecting the entire constitution of the Church. It is not the mere administrative and judicial functions that constitute the true meaning of office, whether in a priest, a bishop, or a Pope, but a constant service to God's Word. Luther therefore is anxious that the Pope should not be burdened with small matters. He calls to mind how once the Apostles would not leave the Word of God, and serve tables, but wished to give themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word (Acts vi. 2, 4). But he would have a clean sweep made of the so-called ecclesiastical law, contained in the law-books of the Church. The Scriptures were sufficient. Besides, the Pope himself did not keep that law, but pretended to carry all law in the shrine of his own heart.

Consistently with all that he has said about the relative positions of the temporal and spiritual powers, Luther goes on to protest, on behalf especially of the German Empire, against the 'overbearing and criminal behaviour' of the Pope, who arrogates to himself power over the Emperor, and allows the latter to kiss his foot and hold his stirrup. Granted that he is superior to the Emperor in spiritual office, in preaching, in administering the Word of grace; in other matters he is his inferior.

But the most important demand advanced by Luther, while pushing further his inquiries into the moral and social regulations and condition of the Church, is the abolition of the celibacy of the clergy. If Popes and bishops wish to impose upon themselves the burden of an unmarried life, he has nothing to say to that. He speaks only of the clergy in general, whom God has appointed, who are needed by every Christian community for the service of preaching and the sacraments, and who must live and keep house amongst their fellow-Christians. Not an angel from Heaven, much less a Pope, dare bind this man to what God has never bound him, and thereby precipitate him into danger and, sin. A limit at least must be imposed on monastic life. Luther would like to see the convents and cloisters turned into Christian schools, where men might learn the Scriptures and discipline, and be trained to govern others and to preach. He would further give full liberty to quit such institutions at pleasure. He reverts to the question of clerical celibacy, in lamenting the gross immoralities of the priesthood, and complaining that marriage was so frequently avoided on account simply of the responsibilities it entailed, and the restraints it imposed on loose living.

Luther would abolish all commands to fast, on the ground that these ordinances of man are opposed to the freedom of the Bible. He would do away also with the multitude of festivals and holidays, as leading only to idleness, carousing, and gambling. He would check the foolish pilgrimages to Rome, on which so much money was wasted, whilst wife and child, and poor Christian neighbours were left at home to starve, and which drew people into so much trouble and temptation. As regards the management of the poor, Luther's requirements were somewhat stringent. All begging among Christians was to be forbidden; each town was to provide for its own poor, and not admit strange beggars. As the universities at that time, no less than the schools, were in connection with the Church, Luther offers some suggestions for their reform. He singles out the writings of the ancients which were read in the philosophical faculty, and others, which might be done away with as useless or even pernicious. With regard to the mass of civil law, he agreed with the complaint often heard among Germans, that it had become a wilderness: each state should be governed, as far as possible, 'by its own brief laws.' For children, girls as well as boys, he would like to see a school in every town. It grieved him to see how, in the very heart of Christendom, the young folk were neglected and allowed to perish for lack of timely sustenance with the bread of the gospel.

He reverts again to the question about the Bohemians, with a view to silencing at length the vile calumniations of his enemies. And in so doing he remarks of Huss, that even if he had been a heretic, 'heretics must be conquered with the pen and not with fire. If to conquer them with fire were an art, the executioners would be the most learned doctors on the earth.'

Lastly he refers briefly to the prevalent evils of worldly and social life; to wit, the luxury in dress and food, the habits of excess common among Germans, the practice of usury and taking interest. He would like to put a bridle into the mouth of the great commercial firms, especially the rich house of Fugger; for the amassing of such enormous wealth, during the life of one man, could never be done by right and godly means. It seemed to him 'far more godly to promote agriculture and lessen commerce.' Luther speaks in this as a man of the people, who were already suspicious about this accumulation of money, from a right feeling really of the moral and economical dangers thence accruing to the nation, even if ignorant of the necessary relations of supply and demand. As to this, Luther adds: 'I leave that to the worldly-wise; I, as a theologian, can only say, Abstain from all appearance of evil.' (1 Thessalonians v. 22.)

So wide a field of subjects did this little book embrace. We have only here mentioned the chief points. Luther himself acknowledges at the conclusion: 'I am well aware that I have pitched my note high, that I have proposed many things which will be looked upon as impossible, and have attacked many points too sharply. I am bound to add, that if I could, I would not only talk but act; I would rather the world were angry with me than God.' But Rome always remained the chief object of his attacks. 'Well then,' he says of her, 'I know of another little song of Rome; if her ear itches for it, I will sing it to her and pitch the notes at their highest.' He concludes, 'God give us all a Christian understanding, and to the Christian nobility of the German nation, especially, a true spiritual courage to do their best for the poor Church. Amen.'

Whilst Luther was working on this treatise, new disquieting rumours and remonstrances addressed from Rome to the Elector reached him through Spalatin. But with them came also that promise of protection from Schauenburg. Luther answered Spalatin, 'The die is cast, I despise alike the wrath and the favour of Rome; I will have no reconciliation with her, no fellowship.' Friends who heard of his new work grew alarmed; Staupitz, even at the eleventh hour, tried to dissuade him from it. But before August was far advanced, four thousand copies were already printed and published. A new edition was immediately called for. Luther now added another section repudiating the arrogant pretension of the Pope, that through his means the Roman Empire had been brought to Germany.

Well might Luther's friend Lange call this treatise a war-trumpet. The Reformer, who at first merely wished to point out and open to men the right way of salvation, and to fight for it with the sword of his word, now stepped forward boldly and with determination, demanding the abolition of all unlawful and unchristian ordinances of the Romish Church, and calling upon the temporal power to assist him, if need be, with material force. The groundwork of this resolve had been laid, as we have seen, in the progress of his moral and religious convictions; in the inalienable rights which belong to Christianity in general, and the mission with which God entrusts also the temporal power or state; in the independence granted by Him to this power on its own domain, and the duties He has imposed upon all Christian authorities, even in regard to all moral and religious needs and dangers. But he denied altogether, and we may well believe him, that he had any wish to create disorder or disturbance; his intention was merely to prepare the way for a free Council. Not indeed that he shrank from the thought of battle and tumult, should the powers whom he invoked meet with resistance from the adherents of Rome or Antichrist. As for himself, though forced to make such a stormy appearance, he had no idea of himself being destined to become the Reformer, but was content rather to prepare the way for a greater man, and his thoughts herein turned to Melancthon. Thus he wrote to Lange these remarkable words: 'It may be that I am the forerunner of Philip, and like Elias, prepare the way for him in spirit and in strength, destroying the people of Ahab' (1 Kings xviii). Melancthon, on the other hand, wrote to Lange just then about Luther, saying that he did not venture to check the spirit of Martin in this matter, to which Providence seemed to have appointed him.