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ISAAC FOOT
11BRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
RIVERSIDE
J
^
THE LIFE
MAE TIN LUTHER.
THE LIFE
MARTIN LUTHER.
BY
HENEY WOESLEY, M.A.,
RECTOR OF EASTON, SUFFOLK, LATE MICIIEL SCHOLAR OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. IT.
LONDON:
BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET;
CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL, & CO. J DUBLIN : HODGES & SMITH ;
EDINBURGH : J. MENZIES.
MDCCCLVI.
IONDON :
WILLI iM STKVENS, PRINTER, 37, BELL TAB
TEMPLE BAK.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
FROM THE SPRING OF 1523 TO THE 24TH JUNE, 1526.
Opening of a new era— Social changes — General desertion of the
convents— Luther's poverty— Eeply to the Elector on the re-
cent Eecess— The fate of Sickingen and Hutten— Luther's In-
dulgence Letter — Efforts against the Bethaven of All Saints —
Persecution increases — The martyrs of Brussels— Luther's re-
marks on the four Articles of the Eecess— Development of the
Lutheran Church— Second part of the German Bible published
— Carlstadt's fanatical movements— Second Diet of Nuremberg
— Luther's judgment on the Eecess — First rising of the pea-
santry — Popish convention at Eatisbon — Imperial proclamation
— The Lutherans driven to counter-measures — Convention of
the cities — Luther's labours and writings— Determination of
questions about the Mosaic law — Educational exertions — Apo-
theosis of Benno — Luther writes to Erasmus— Conversion to
Lutheranism of Philip of Hesse— And of Albert of Prussia —
Eiots of Munzer and the fanatics— Carlstadt at Orlamunde—
Luther visits Jena and Orlamunde — Carlstadt banished by the
Elector — Beginning of the Sacramentarian Controversy — Fall
of the Bethaven of All Saints— Eesignation of the Augustine
Convent to the Elector— Death of Staupitz— The Peasant In-
surrection — Luther at Seeburg — Suddenly recalled to Witten-
berg — Death of the Elector Frederic — Luther writes against
sedition — The tragedy at Weinsberg — Luther's violence —
Munzer made prisoner and put to death — The peasant insur-
rection subdued — Effects of the insurrection — Firmness of the
Elector and Landgrave— Luther's letter on matrimony to the
Archbishop of Mentz — Luther marries Catharine von Bora —
His motives to such a step — Luther proposes a plan of univer-
sity reform — Implores a visitation of the Electorate— Suppli-
cates for Carlstadt — Disunion in tbe reforming camp — Luther
VI CONTENTS.
PAGE
writes his Bondage of the Will against Erasmus — His humble
letter to Henry VIII. — And to Duke George — His domestic
happiness — Popish confederation at Dessau for Northern Ger-
many — The Imperial letters — The Evangelical Princes meet at
Fridewald — The Diet adjourned to meet at Spires in May —
Evangelical Alliance at Magdeburg — Luther appoints general
prayers for peace — His order for public worship published — His
recreations — He stands sponsor to Carlstadt's child — Birth of
Johnny ........... 1
CHAPTER VI.
FROM THE 24TH JUNE, 1526, TO THE 3RD APRIL, 1530.
Dangers to the Reformation at this crisis — The Diet of Spires — The
Recess — Ferdinand obtains the thrones of Bohemia and Hun-
gary — Luther's justification of defensive warfare — His com-
mentaries on the Prophets — Cardinal Colonna plunders Rome —
Luther's letter to Mary of Bohemia — His pecuniary difficulties
— His opposition to rapine — His sickness— His reply to Emser's
calumnies — His amusements and good nature — Marriage of
John Frederic — Frundsberg marches into Italy — The sack of
Rome — Luther's severe illness — The plague— Birth of Elizabeth
Luther — The Visitation Articles — Carlstadt quits Saxony for
good — Luther's use of returning health — Apprehensions of the
Diet of Ratisbon — The Otto Pack plot — Luther and Duke
George at war — The Visitation — The Saxon Church modelled —
Spiritual and moral destitution under Romanism — Importance
of this epoch — Conversions to the evangelical cause— Luther
suffers from giddiness — Birth of his daughter Magdalene —
Second Diet of Spires — The Recess— The first Protestants —
The appeal — Views of the Landgrave — Melancthon's distress —
Luther's letter to the Elector — Deliberations of the Lutheran
princes — The Marburg Conference proposed — Luther's reluc-
tance — The journey to Marburg — The three days' disputation —
The sweating sickness — Luther offers the Zwinglians the hand
of charity — The Marburg articles — Luther's Letter to Kate —
His Battle Sermon — The Turk retreats — The three ambassadors
— The Emperor's movements— Conferences at Schwabach and
Schmalkald — Luther's advice to the Elector — Luther prevails—
The spread of the Gospel — Mathesius at Wittenberg — Luther's
publications — Dangerous sickness of John Luther — The Re-
formers at Torgau ......... loo
CONTENTS. \ M
CHAPTER VII.
FROM THE 3RD APRIL, 1530, TO THE 30TH MAY, 1536.
PAGE
The journey to Coburg — Luther at Coburg — The Diet of the Jackdaws
— Luther's writings — Letter to his son Johnny — The Protes-
tants at Augsburg and the Romanists at Innspruck — Gattinara's
death — The question of free preaching — Luther's visitors — The
Emperor enters Augsburg — The first interview in the Palatinate
— The interview the next morning — Luther's prayer fulness and
faith — The preachers on both sides silenced — The Diet is opened
— The Apology read — Luther's joy and gratitude — The Augs-
berg comedy — Trials of the Elector John — Luther's letters to
Bruck and Melancthon— His idea of the result to be gained
from the Diet — His differences from Melancthon — The Confuta-
tion read — The Landgrave's flight — The Commission of Four-
teen — The Pope the author of schism — The Commission of Six
— The last effort of the Papists— Luther's infirmities — John
Frederic at Coburg — The Elector leaves Augsburg — The Recess
— The results of the Diet — Luther returns home — Ferdinand
elected King of the Romans — Luther's dread of War, and warn-
ing to his deal* Germans — " Notes on the Edict of Augsburg "
—The wrath of Duke George— Birth of little Marian— The illness
and death of Luther's mother — Luther on the right of patronage
—He forbids Henry VIII.'s divorce — The fall of Zwingle — Ne-
gotiations at Schweinfurt— Luther with the Elector — The Sultan
retreats — Death of John the Constant — Luther and Duke George
— The second Saxon Visitation — The Pope's Council rejected by
the allies— The Duke of Wirtemburg restored to his Duchy —
Luther and the sceptics — The birth of Margaret Luther —
Luther and Duke George at feud again — Luther's letters to tbe
Archbishop of Mentz — The plague at Wittenberg— New era in
Romanism — The Papal Nuncio at Wittenberg — The Schmalkald
Alliance rejects the Council — Luther's salary increased — The
Wittenberg Concord— Luther on preaching — The great progress
of the Reformation .... .... 198
CHAPTER VIII.
FROM THE 30TH MAY, 1536, TO THE 18TH FEBRUARY, 15^6.
Paul III. convokes a council — The Schmalkald Articles — Luther at
Schmalkald — His severe illness — Luther journeys to Tambach
\ 111 CONTENTS.
PAGE
— He reaches Wittenberg 1 in improved health — Bugenhagen in
Denmark — Little Grickel the Antinomian — The verses of Lem-
nius — The Papist league — Luther's change of sentiment as to
the Emperor — Luther's predictions — Death of Duke George of
Saxony — Luther in Leipsic — The Brandenburg Reformation —
Concessions of the Archbishop of Mentz — Luther's work on
Councils and the Church — The estate of Zuhlsdorf — Kate's dan-
gerous illness— The Landgrave's double marriage — The con-
ference at Eisenach — Melancthon at death's door — The power of
Luther's prayers— The conference at Hagenau — The Ratisbon
Diet — Luther and Henry of Brunswick — The deputation to
Luther — Luther's decision — The Recess of the Diet — The ex-
pedition against Algiers — The Bishopric of Naumburg-Zeitz —
The Diet of Spires — The Protestants seize the Duchy of Bruns-
wick — Johnny Luther sent to school — Death of little Magdalene
— Luther writes against the Jews — Luther's disappointments
and hopes — The Diet of Nuremberg— The Imperial party — The
Diet of Spires — Charles beguiles the Protestants by flattery —
A council convoked at Trent — The " secret betrothals " — Lu-
ther's letter to the Electress Sibylla — Luther visits the Bishop
of Naumburg-Zeitz — Luther ill with " the Cardiac " — The
butchery begins — Luther's satires — The Diet of Worms — Ru-
mour of Luther's death — Luther quits Wittenberg in indigna-
tion — Peace between the Emperor and the Turk — Henrv of
Brunswick in the hands of the Landgrave — The Council of Trent
is opened— Deliberations of the Schmalkald allies at Frankfort
— Luther goes to Eisleben — His sudden illness — And death . 299
CHAPTER IX.
The great principles of Luther's system of doctrine — His personal
appearance — Contradictory faculties — Luther as a writer — And
preacher — Luther's character — His domestic life — His change
of sentiment on the sacraments — His failings — Luther com-
pared with Melancthon, Erasmus, Zwingle — His conduct in the
Landgrave's second marriage — His body conveyed to Witten-
berg — His funeral — Melancthon's oration — Luther's widow and
children .......... 378
THE LIFE
MAETIN LUTHEE.
CHAPTER V.
FROM THE SPRING OP 1523, TO THE 24TH JUNE, 1526.
The Recess of the first Diet of Nuremberg divides two dis- 1523.
tinct periods in the history of the Reformation — the period of
caution and backwardness, when ardent aspirations were kept
in check, and overt changes discountenanced, from that of
open separation and energetic warfare against papal preten-
sions. " For four years," Luther subsequently said, " I taught
faith and love, before I carried into execution the deductions
consequent from such teaching." But it was now necessary
that theory should be followed by practice, and obedience
should be grafted upon faith. He declared, that sufficient
indulgence had been shown to the weak ; that both kinds in
the Lord's Supper must henceforth be freely given and re-
ceived ; the Gospel must have free course ; and those who
opposed it could no longer be deemed weak but perverse.
He appears, in the transactions now to be recorded, as a
spiritual father in the midst of converts, who from all parts,
and of all ranks, look up to him for guidance. Like an apostle
in the primitive time, he writes letters to the various evangeli-
VOL. II. ' B
2 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. cal communities to confirm and strengthen their faith ; impor-
tuned on all hands, he yet finds leisure to arrange the mul-
tifarious points of dispute on which his judgment is con-
sulted ; he consolidates the acquisitions to the Gospel ; he
regulates the distribution of church property ; frames for-
mulas for the ordination of ministers and the celebration of
worship, and organises the entire system of the Lutheran
Church.
Social changes, as might be supposed, took the lead of
liturgical and ecclesiastical. On the 28th March, Luther ad-
dressed his " Admonition to the Teutonic Order to shun false
continence, and cling to the true continence of the married
state." He told the Teutonic knights that he trusted they
would set the other orders a great, excellent, and powerful
example, by being the first to violate the rule of celibacy,
whereby incontinence would be diminished, and the fruit of
the Gospel increase and ripen. Greater acceptability and use-
fulness would redound to the Teutonic Order; for, whilst
celibacy remained in force, every husband had to watch
over the honour of his wife and daughters. What confidence
could be placed in the unmarried, when even married men
had enough to do to stand firm in their plighted faith ! The
treatise then insisted on the scriptural obligation to matri-
mony from the primary declaration of God — " It is not good
for man to be alone." If councils sanctioned celibacy, God
must be allowed to be older than all councils ; and if custom
were appealed to, the example of Adam constituted the oldest
custom. Nearly about the same time Luther published some
strictures, in the same spirit, on a sermon which had been
preached on occasion of a nun's taking the veil. These de-
cided views on the subject of matrimony had called again
into the field an old antagonist, Faber, the Vicar of the
Bishop of Constance, in favour of celibacy, who indited a
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 3
great Latin book, which obtained the patronage of Duke 1523.
George. The task of replying to "the archfool Faber, that
notorious fornicator," Luther delegated to Jonas, with the
expression of his hope that his wife would love him warmly,
in proportion to the warmth and cogency of argument with
which he defended the married state. But in the month of
August he himself gave to the world an exposition of the 7th
chapter of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, which formed,
what the Papists conceived to be, their scriptural stronghold
in this matrimonial controversy.
The return to social life which had begun with the paro-
chial clergy, and thence, extended to the monks, was soon no
longer restricted to the male sex ; nuns, in their grated cells,
read the works of Luther, and conceived an abhorrence of their
cloistered seclusion. Tuesday in Easter week, the 7th April,
nine nuns from the convent of Nimptsch^ near Grimma, were
conveyed by Leonard Koppe, and two other citizens of Tor-
gau, who had aided their escape, to Wittenberg, and placed
under the protection of Luther. The Papists exclaimed that
" it was a thing unheard of, against all laws and canons, ren-
dered more audacious by Torgau being the usual residence of
the Elector ; and worst of all, it was the sacred week,
during the commemoration of Christ's passion, that the ra-
vishment" — so Cochlseus denominates the escape — " had been
perpetrated ! " The Lutherans on their side, and the Re-
former, declared that such a release could not have been
accomplished at a more appropriate season than that comme-
morative of the Saviour's breaking for ever the yoke of servile
bondage. In a justificatory letter addressed to Koppe, he
proclaimed the facts of the escape to the world, in justice to
the maidens, to Koppe, and to himself, and published the
names of the nuns, who were all of noble birth — Magdalen
Staupitzin, Elizabeth Kanitzin, Bronica and Margaret Zes-
b 2
4 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. chau, Laneta Golis, Ave Grotschin, Catherine Bora, Ave and
Margaret Schonfeld. The Word of God, he insisted, was not
read in the monasteries, and therefore how was it possible
that continence should flourish there ? Continence was not
so common as cloisters were ; on the contrary, it was a gift of
such peculiar, nay, of such extraordinary rarity, that prayers
could not be offered to obtain it, except with great caution,
without tempting God. The friends of the nuns were imme-
diately informed by Luther of their escape from the cloister,
and their present place of sojourn, in order that they might
send and fetch them home. Those whose friends should not
be willing to receive them, Luther resolved to settle in ho-
nourable marriage, with such pecuniary help as he could find,
and maintain them until their destiny should be determined.
He wrote to Spalatin to beg assistance from the Elector for
this purpose, and, anticipating Fredericks reluctance to contri-
bute openly to such an object, promised to " keep it nicely
snug, and tell no one, if he would but aid those apostate
virgins." *
The example of the nine noble nuns of Nimptsch was not
likely to be without its effect ; and in June of the same year,
sixteen nuns escaped from the convent of Widerstetten, in
the dominions of the Counts of Mansfeld. " What will hap-
pen next !" Luther exclaimed, in a letter relating the circum-
stances to Spalatin. ' ' You must begin at last, and take a wife !
I marvel at the counsels of God : I — who thought I knew
something of his way — am compelled to go back to my rudi-
ments." The Abbot of Hirsfeld, although a Romanist, won
golden opinions from Luther, by issuing an order that what-
ever monk or nun under his jurisdiction might desire to quit
* " O ich wills fein heimlicli halten und niemands sagen." — Letter
of April 22.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 5
the monastery, should be at liberty to do so. Most of the 1523.
liberated or escaped monks and nuns bent their steps to Wit-
tenberg, and sought the help of Luther, who quickly found
this new care, superadded to his other labours, besides the
encroachment on his scanty means, far from being an easy
burden. " I am immersed in business little worthy of me,"
he wrote to Wolfgang Stein, in a letter requesting him to in-
terest himself with the Elector for the bearer, a monk. "The
monks and nuns who have deserted their convents," he wrote
to CEcolampadius, " steal many hours of my time to serve
their necessity." And a little later he complains to Spalatin,
" It is most troublesome to me that such a crowd of runaway
monks flock to Wittenberg, and what is worse, immediately
marry, without aptitude for any sort of employment."
The Prior and himself, the only tenants of the old Augus-
tine monastery, were both so poor, that there is a letter of
Luther's of this period, soliciting from Spalatin the payment
of a bill for malt, which the Prior could not discharge. " The
money-bag has a great hole in it and will not be mended ;"
and " I," he added, c( have fooled away so much money on
the fugitive monks and nuns, that I cannot offer any contri-
bution." And indeed he was indebted to electoral liberality,
measured through the dilatory fingers of treasurers and
agents, for whatever luxuries he enjoyed in diet or dress.
His writings he never sold ; but, on the contrary, speaks on
one occasion of publishing a treatise, " though weary of
writing to feed Luke's printing press." And the Wittenberg
people, his " Capernaumites," as he styles them, were so
close-fisted, that he bitterly complained of not beiug able
even to borrow ten florins to help a poor citizen.
Such accumulated anxieties and toil — for all the while the
translation of the Bible was going forward, and Deuteronomy
was finished in May — overwrought the Reformer's bodily
O THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. powers : and in March or April his correspondence apprises
us that he is suffering from a fever — a fever caught in leaving
the bath — and wishing that God would grant him the release
of death. His feelings generally, at this time, are expressed
by him in these words : " I nauseate public life, and sigh with
all my heart for a desert.'" But the illness was not of long
continuance. A little later he made a brief journey from
Wittenberg to honour the nuptials of Wenceslaus Link by his
presence, and at the end of April he was at Borna, and
thence he proceeded to Weimar, and before the 17th had re-
turned home. Wherever he went some business demanded
his attention, or crowds assembled to hear him preach. Re-
engaged in his routine of academical duties, we find him com-
plaining of the unhappy influence of the multiplicity of busi-
ness on his spiritual state. The inroads made on his time
scarcely allowed him space for prayer; and he exhorted his
friends to pray earnestly for him, for he "was in danger, after
having begun in the Spirit, to be consumed by the flesh."
The Elector had made a communication to him of the
Article in the Recess of the Diet against anything new being
written or printed in the interval before the meeting of the
Council, with a request that Luther and his adherents would
comply with this decree. To this communication the Re-
former returned answer on the 29th May, that it was not
his wish to write, teach, or preach anything tending to
disunion or tumult, against which he had often written and
preached, but only what might conduce to the establishment
and honour of God's Word, and of the holy true faith, and
the love of one's neighbour. He had returned from his
Patmos to Wittenberg at his own hazard, without the Elec-
tor's knowledge. He should himself be well disposed to
abstain from all further writing, especially of an acrimonious
kind, but his adversaries continued to assail him ; in parti-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 7
cular, John Faber had written " a big Latin book" against him, 1523.
recently printed at Leipsic ; and Emser had published a book
in German, full of manifold blasphemy, not only of his
christian name, but of the holy Gospel. His Grace, and all
christian men, might estimate how unfair it was that his ad-
versaries' writings should be allowed, and his own writings in
answer should be forbidden. He trusted that his Grace would
graciously receive his reply, and if it pleased his Grace, suffer
it to go further. His dealings might be exposed to the whole
world, and he was not ashamed of his cause, or of God's
Word. But in a letter, two months later, to Spalatin, he
says, " I have not and shall not publish anything till it has
been examined and approved by others, that I may not
infringe the mandate."
In the midst of these varied cares and labours, tidings of
the death of Sickingen were received by Luther, and filled him
with grief and awe of the divine judgments. In the preced-
ing autumn Sickingen had been compelled to abandon his
attempts against Treves, and had retreated with his followers
within his own dominions, and shut himself in his fortress of
Landstein. Here he was besieged in turn by the fiery young
Landgrave of Hesse, accompanied by the Elector of Treves
and the Palatinate ; and a cannon was pointed by the hand of
the Landgrave himself with so much dexterity, that the whole
of a newly-built tower was reduced to a heap of ruins ; and,
whilst Sickingen, leaning on a battering-ram, was surveying
the work of demolition, a bolt from a culverin struck him,
and forced him with great violence against an obtruding
beam. The castle was surrendered; and the victorious
princes, entering its shattered walls, found Sickingen disabled,
and dying in the donjon. " What had I done, Frank,"
exclaimed the Elector of Treves, as he walked up to where
the humbled chieftain lay, "that you attacked me and my
8 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. poor subjects in my See?" "And what had I done/' in-
quired the Landgrave of Hesse, "that you plundered my
land ere I had attained man's estate ?" "I shall soon
answer/' the dying man replied, " before a higher tribunal j"
and not long afterwards expired, having refused to confess
to a priest, on the plea that he had already confessed to God
in his heart.
This catastrophe broke up the confederacy of the warlike
party of the Reformation, and dispersed the principal mem-
bers of it in various directions. Hutten fled to Switzerland;
tried, but in vain, to interest Erasmus at Basle in his behalf;
and as his last literary effort, vented a bitter writing against
that summer-friend, alike an apostate from faith and friend-
ship. Wandering from spot to spot, ill and dejected, carry-
ing with him only a pen, he had nothing for his subsistence
beyond the pittances which some literary friends bestowed.
Disease preying with increased violence upon him, having
tried by the advice of Zwingle the warm baths of Kussnacht,
but in vain, he sought the aid of a pastor, skilled in the
healing art, residing at Ufnau, on the Lake of Zurich. It
was the close of his wanderings; for in the island of the
lake he breathed his last. Such lamentable events sufficiently
proved the wisdom of Luther in rejecting the intervention
of the sword, "I have just heard," he remarked in a letter
to Spalatin, " the true and piteous tale of Sickingens disasters
and end: God is a just Judge, but unsearchable."
On the 10th June Luther published, in contrast to the
system of papal extortion, what he entitled, " Christ's Letter
of Indulgence." Christ says, " If ye forgive men their tres-
passes, your heavenly Father will forgive your trespasses."
No one can complain that his sins may not be forgiven him ;
no one need have a bad conscience. Christ does not say,
" For thy sins thou shalt fast so long, thou shalt pray so
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 9
often, thou shalt give so much, do this or that. Wilt thou give 1523.
satisfaction and payment for thy guilt and be absolved from
thy sins, listen to my counsel, nay my command j do no
more than this, let all alone, and turn thy heart where none
can hinder thee, and be gentle to them who injure thee.
Only forgive." Why is not this indulgence preached ? Is the
counsel and are the promises of Christ less than the dream of
a preacher? It is true such an indulgence will not build St.
Peter's Church ; and the devil cares not how soon it be built,
for wood and stone harm him not ; but gentle, pure hearts —
these cause him the heart-ache ! Not that I reject Romish
indulgence, but that I would have each thing rated at its true
worth ; and when thou canst have good gold for nothing, do
not prize copper as more precious than gold -, beware of mere
paint and glitter.
Various attacks at different times had been made by the
Reformer against the " Sanctification of Amaziah," " The
Bethaven of All Saints/' or " The Abomination of Tophet,"
as he termed the Elector's favourite endowment at Witten-
berg, and styled the canons themselves "the priests of
Jeroboam." A portion of the ecclesiastics connected with
this cathedral establishment were opposed to the idolatry of
the votive mass, and the other Romish rites which were still
maintained there after all the other churches of Witten-
berg had adopted the evangelical worship. And even as
early as October, 1521 — when Luther thundered against the
mass from the Wartburg — complaints had been made to the
Elector that there was a deficiency in the complement of
the priests for chanting masses. Luther continued to warn
both Spalatin and the canons themselves against the main-
tenance of this most objectionable feature in Popery. In
February, 1523, the Dean of the greater choir, who had been
devotedly attached to the old ritual, died ; and then Jonas,
10 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. the Provost, declaimed from the pulpit against the chanting
the vigils and the votive masses, quoting many letters of
Luther on the subject. On the 4th March, application was
made to the Elector to know his pleasure on the abroga-
tion or retention of the ceremonies and services which
occasioned so much offence ; to which it was answered, that
they must either be retained, or sufficient grounds shown for
their abrogation. Thus the old rites were continued. But
on the 11 th July Luther addressed a solemn letter to the
canons, calling on them to " obey God rather than man/' and
reminding them that it was no satisfactory answer that the
Elector prohibited any alteration or did not prohibit it. It
was an awful thing to bear the name of Christ, and not to be
Christians; for God, the jealous God, could well endure the
blasphemy and mockery of aliens ; but if his own people did
not hearken, he was terrible in judgment. Henceforth, if they
did not prove themselves Christians, he should pray against
them, as he had hitherto prayed for them. But this letter
producing no effect, he publicly inveighed against the Betha-
ven and its priests from the pulpit, on the 2nd August,
and threatened to break off all communion with the canons,
insisting that the civil sword which God had entrusted to the
Elector gave him no authority in divine things. The Elector
was now directly called upon to interfere ; and his delegates
had an interview with Luther, and reminded him of his ac-
quiescence in the decree of the Diet, by which any further
innovation in religion was prohibited, and stated the Elector's
objections to the marriage of two of the canons, Carlstadt and
Jonas, and urged that the vacant canonries had been filled up
without any expression of a wish to that effect on his part.
Luther answered that the prohibition of innovations must be
restricted to such as were contrary to God's Word, and that
he should ever preach and pray to God, and warn the people
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 11
against the mass. After this, Jonas addressed a long letter to 1523.
the Elector, insisting that the prejudices of the weak had been
considered long enough ; that, with his Grace's consent, the
abuses complained of at All Saints had been already abolished
in the parish church ; and their retention anywhere was a
scandal and detriment to the Reformation. He proposed that
at matins, in place of the Legends of Saints, a chapter of the
Old Testament should be read ; instead of hymns to saints,
hymns should be sung to God j at vespers, a chapter should
be read from the New Testament ; vigils and masses should be
abolished, and the Lord's Supper should be celebrated on
Sundays and festivals, if there were communicants. The Elec-
tor, however, remained fixed in his previous decision, and only
suggested that the dissatisfied canons might resign their
canonries. Thus far Luther's efforts on this point still failed
of their purpose.
But step by step, with the advance of the Reformation, the
adverse efforts of intolerance increased in severity and fury.
In Belgium the persecution was the hottest, where Aleander,
the papal emissary, found active coadjutors in the Inquisitor
Hochstraten, and Nicolas the Carmelite, and the Regent,
Margaret of Savoy. The Augustine convent at Antwerp had
become a stronghold of Lutheranism ; and here Jacob Spreng,
the prior, and a monk named Melchior Mirisch, were first
seized and thrown into prison. Under the terrors of
immediate death Spreng recanted, and thus obtained his
release; Melchior Mirisch acted, it appears, throughout
the whole affair collusively, and was not called upon
to recant at all. Spreng, however, after his release from
confinement retracted his retractation, and preached the
Gospel at Bruges, and being apprehended, was again incar-
cerated at Brussels, but, by the assistance of a Franciscan,
managed to effect his escape, and fled for refuge to Witten-
12 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. berg, and, subsequently, at the invitation of the Count of
Embden, taught the Gospel in Friesland. Meanwhile,
others of the Augustines had been imprisoned and sentenced
to death, and among them Henry von Zutphen; but some
women forced the prison doors, entered his cell, and released
him from his chains. He escaped to Bremen, and there
preached the Gospel. The women were punished with
banishment. Three of the remaining monks, Voes, Esch,
and Lambert — the last the newly-elected provost in the
place of Spreng — escaped immediate apprehension, and by
wandering in desert tracts eluded for some time the search
of their pursuers; but at length, their place of concealment
being discovered, they were arrested and brought before the
inquisitional tribunal. Henry Voes, although the youngest,
being possessed of most learning, was the spokesman. He
asserted that he preferred the Scriptures, which the works of
Luther had led him to study, to the decrees of popes and
all the writings of Doctors : and he stated that there was no
scriptural proof of the popes and prelates being entrusted with
any office beyond that of ministering the Word. He de-
clared that the mass was no sacrifice, and christian faith could
not be dissevered from christian charity. In reply to various
questions that were put to him, he acknowledged that the
writings of Luther had been the means of his arriving at a
knowledge of the Gospel ; and when he was asked " whether
Luther had the Spirit of God," he refused to give any
answer. Upbraided with being seduced by Luther, " Yes ! "
he said, " I was seduced by him as the apostles were seduced
by Jesus Christ." The sentence of death was pronounced
against him and his fellow culprits, and four days afterwards,
on the 1st July, it was executed upon Voes himself and
John Esch. With all the formality of ceremony they were
stripped of their priestly attire, and then fastened to the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 13
stake, and the pile of wood set on fire ; all of which they en- 1523.
duredj not only with patience, but with christian cheerfulness
and joy, continuing to sing hymns to God from the midst of
the flames, till the fury of the fire choked their speech.
Lambert had obtained a short respite by recantation; but,
resuming fortitude, he again professed the faith of Christ, and
a few days later died by the same fate as his brother monks.
Luther received the tidings of this martyrdom with the
triumphant joy of faith. He wrote, on the 26th July, to
the schoolmaster of Erfurth, " We have good tidings from
Flanders ; two monks have been publicly burnt there in the
market-place for the Word of God. Thanks be to God
through Christ." To Spalatin he forwarded a more detailed
account, written in the same strain. And in a letter intended
for the public eye he drew attention to the fury and cruelty
of the Papists, and their reproachful and blasphemous writ-
ings, as a strange way of rendering obedience to the decree
lately promulged from Nuremberg. " We," he added, " have
hitherto acted quietly ; but if they go on as they have begun,
we too shall bid farewell to the imperial edict — not to imitate
their example, and burn and bind or act with violence (for
this is unbecoming Christians), but to defend the glory of the
Word with tongue and pen, and chastise yet further the papist
abominations." He anticipated an increase of converts to
the Gospel from the flaming piles at Brussels, and trusted
that even the wavering and faithless conduct of such as had
been terrified into recantation, would heighten the violence of
the Papists, and thus bring down on them the speedier and
more dreadful vengeance of Heaven. A hymn which he
wrote in the ballad style in German, in celebration of the
Brussels martyrdom, breathed the resigned and triumphant
spirit of the martyr, and predicted that the ashes of the
Brussels martyrs would be scattered to all lands — no sea,
14 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. mountain or barrier would be able to sbut them out, and they
would in every place take a " mouth and tongue." In a brief
but glowing epistle to the Christians of Holland, Brabant,
and Flanders, he repeated his conviction that " the winter was
past, the voice of the turtle was heard, and the flowers were
appearing on the earth." " Oh ! how ignominiously were
those two souls condemned, but how gloriously in eternal joy
shall they come again with Christ to judge those by whom
they were unrighteously adjudged to death ! " " We, in these
parts," he said, "have not yet been deemed worthy to be
made such a precious offering to Christ, although many of
our members have not been, and still are not, without persecu-
tion." The preaching of the Gospel had previously produced
little or no impression at Brussels, but many traced their
conversion to the spectacle of the christian fortitude of Voes
and Esch.
The persecution had also gained strength in Germany.
Duke George proceeded against the Lutherans in Thuringia
and Misnia by fines, imprisonment, and banishment, until
he at last had recourse to capital punishment. His brother
Henry, who secretly wished well to the Reformation, was
compelled to banish from his Castle of Friburg three ladies of
his wife's retinue, who had been convicted of the enormity of
reading Luther's writings. " It is a godly cause for which you
suffer," Luther wrote to them, " and none save God himself
may decide or avenge it, and his words are, l He who
toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye/ "
To the Christians also of Riga and Bevel, of Worms and
Augsburg, he addressed epistles animated by the same spirit.
" The Word and the Cross must ever go together. Nothing
were sweeter in heaven and earth than the Word without the
Cross. But the pleasure would not last long, for nature
cannot bear long unmixed joy and pleasure. The vinegar and
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 15
the myrrh must sharpen the flavour of the wine." It was 1523.
commonly observed that all the efforts of persecution only
extended the faith which they aimed to destroy. Such une-
quivocal infractions of the Recess of the late Diet were justly
condemned by the reforming party ; and in the month of
August Luther addressed what must be regarded, under the
circumstances, as a mild and measured remonstrance to the
Electors and States of the Empire. He divided the decree of
the Diet on the subject of religion into four Articles, and
appended his own remarks to each. The first Article declared
that the Gospel should be preached according to the interpre-
tation of teachers received and approved by the Christian
Church. By these teachers the Romanists understood
Thomas, Scotus, and the Schoolmen : but he understood the
old divines, Augustine, Cyprian, Hilary, and such like. The
words were, " by the Christian," not ' ( by the Roman Church."
And that such was the true meaning of the Article, the
mandate for a free Council was itself evidence ; for if he and
his adherents were to hold their tongues, or only preach the
babble of the schools, what occasion for a free Council?
The second Article declared that the Bishops should appoint
persons acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, to observe
and warn such preachers as erred in their teaching; and if
they would not be amended, to impose fitting punishments.
Where were men acquainted with the Scriptures to be found,
when for hundreds of years, in the cloisters, the cathedrals,
and the high schools, the Scriptures had not been read?
The third Article prohibited the printing anything fresh in
the interval before the meeting of the Council, unless sub-
mitted to the examination of intelligent judges appointed by
the civil power. A decree of the same nature as this had been
passed the year before in his own University : and he would
readily obey it, excepting always that the Word of God must
16
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. not be bound. The fourth Article prohibited the marriage of
spiritual persons, and subjected offenders to deprivation of
their freedom, privileges, and benefices. This Article was too
hard — at least on parish priests ; for monks and nuns had no
benefices to lose, but only their freedom to regain. Unless
God worked a wonder, continence was in most cases an
impossibility to human nature, the law of which was,
" Increase and multiply." The princes and bishops had not
acted in an imperial, prince like, or bishop like way (to say
nothing of Christian like or God like) in seizing with tyran-
nical force offenders against this Article, and handling them
worse than if they had been murderers, robbers, or adulterers :
— they had disobeyed the laws both of God and of man, and
followed only their own wantonness and lust of blood in
putting them to torture and martyrdom before God and the
world. They had apprehended, without hearing, fined, ban-
ished, and inflicted every species of torture : and let them, to
their heartfelt shame, compare the words of the mandate with
their clamorous pretensions. To suffer wrong was painful,
but it was a disgrace to perpetrate it. For himself, the world
had had enough of him, and he enough of the world ; he
recked not for himself; but he would implore that they would
graciously hear him in behalf of the poor people ; and his
petition should be simple justice. Since those who did not
observe the first three Articles, and would not observe them,
were let go unpunished, he would beseech them to deal merci-
fully with those poor pitiable men who observed the first
three, but in the obstinacy of human nature paid less regard to
the fourth, appertaining only to man's law. Surely it was a
cause for wailing and pity, when poor weak and sinful men
were so roughly handled for an Article of man's ordaining,
whilst strong and great people openly broke the first three
Articles, nay, violated all the laws of God, (for their whore-
THE LIFE OF .MARTIN LUTHER. 17
doras were notorious, and they raged with every kind of vice,) 1523.
and yet proudly, freely, and confidently not merely went
unpunished, but lived in greater honour and power.
The persecution on which the Romanists had now greedily
entered, not only animated Luther in his career, but hastened
the development of his evangelic church economy. Leysnick
bore a prominent position in these changes. A desire was
felt to reduce " the ordering of (Jod's service " to the apo-
stolic model, and to create a common fund for spiritual and
charitable uses. To establish this fund, the goods and reve-
nues of the convents, chauntries, and cathedrals were
brought into a common chest. The project afforded very high
satisfaction to Luther, who addressed a letter to the commu-
nity of Leysnick in regard to the distribution of the common
church property thus collected, which he intended should
serve as a rule for other churches in the redivision of their
ecclesiastical wealth. He proposed that those who might
wish to remain in the cloisters, aged persons and others,
should be allowed a sufficient proportion for their maintenance ;
those who preferred quitting their convents should have a
certain proportion granted them for starting them in life, and
for their temporary support ; to those who had brought their
patrimony or some pecuniary endowment to the convent, he
suggested that the larger part or the whole should be returned.
What was left in the common chest was to constitute a fund
for the relief of the poor and distressed, whether of the noble
or burgher class, as had already been done with the revenues
of the Wittenberg convents. The wealth would thus be
reclaimed to a charitable and christian use, according to the
intention of the founders, who, although deceived in the mode
of promoting God's honour, yet had proposed that, as the aim
of their endowments : if the founders' families in the lapse of
years had sunk into poverty, a considerable portion of the
vol. it. c
18 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523 property derived from their ancestors was to be awarded to
ameliorate their condition. He proposed that bishoprics and
cathedral chapters, owning lands, states, and other goods,
" temporal lordships under spiritual titles," should be con-
verted into purely temporal tenures, or their revenues be
applied to the relief of the poor. The convents themselves,
he suggested, should be turned into school establishments for
boys and girls. Luther was himself at Leysnick on the 11th
of August, endeavouring to arrange the disputes which money
always involves, and addressed two letters to the Elector, one
from Leysnick, the other after his return to Wittenburg, to
request his confirmation of the distribution which had been
made.
The subject of the ordination of ministers had been pressed
upon his attention by some delegates from the Calixtine sec-
tion of the Bohemian Church, who, whilst differing from
Romanists in the matter of communion in both kinds, were
in the habit of sending to Home those intended for the
ministry to receive ordination. In his treatise on Ordination,
addressed to the Senate of Prague, Luther expressed the
strongest condemnation of this practice, and denied Romish
priests to be ministers of Christ at all, inasmuch as their
principal office was declared to be to " offer sacrifices in the
mass for the quick and dead," which was doing away with
the one all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ, and trampling the
Saviour under-foot. The Christian priest was not made by
the episcopal tonsure or anointing : he was not born of the
flesh, but of the Spirit. Christ being the great high priest,
all Christians, as his brethren, were priests also with him.
To preach the Word, the noblest and most important office of
the priest, to baptize, to consecrate the Eucharist, to grant
absolution, to offer their bodies a spiritual sacrifice — the only
sacrifice they could offer — to pray for others, to exercise judg-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 19
merit on points of doctrine, were privileges appertaining to all 1523.
true Christians in common. But still, though the right to the
public ministry was common to all, the functions must not be
undertaken by any one at his individual discretion, without a
call from the general body of the faithful, in order that, in har-
mony with St. Paul's precept, all things might be done
" decently and in order/' The Church had the power of
selecting from its own bosom, by common voice, one or more
fit persons, and by prayers and imposition of hands
appointing them to the work of the ministry. And what the
society of believers thus did by common consent, must be
undoubtedly held to be done by God himself. In conclusion,
he told the Bohemians that if this " primitive and apostolic
mode of ordination " was unacceptable to them, they might
use the priests ordained at Rome to ordain others ; for it was
not outward ordinances, but the living Word of God, which
constituted a Church of Christ, even if no more than ten, or
six of its members were in possession of that Word.
He had written a popular treatise in German on " the
Abomination of the Roman mass," and he followed this by
" a Formula of the mass, or communion, for the use of the
Wittenberg Church." All the superstitious parts were
rejected from the Offertory and the whole of the Canon, and
the words of Jesus Christ in institution of the Sacrament of
his body and blood were to be recited in a loud voice : the
bread and the cup were to be elevated after the established
rite ; but both kinds were to be administered : and a hope
was expressed that the mass, like the sermon, would ere long
appear in the simple garb of the vernacular tongue. With
regard to divine service generally, a chapter of the Old Testa-
ment and of the New were to be read, one in the morning,
the other in the evening, with an exposition from the minister
in German. A large discretionary power was allowed the
c 2
20 THE LITE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. minister in the selection of the chapters to be read and the
psalms to be used ; and it was specially enjoined that needless
wearying of the congregation should be avoided. The fes-
tivals to be observed were restricted to those connected with
remarkable incidents in the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ.
The remodelled church sendee was rendered more complete
by the publication in the same year of " a Formula for Bap-
tism/' and a tract on " the Institution of Divine Worship.'"
It was the earnest desire of Luther that the singing of
hymns in the German language should form an essential and
considerable part of public worship ; and, as few hymns of a
scriptural character existed, cotemporary poets were urged to
direct their talents to supply this deficiency : and with this
view, Luther himself began to compose about this date some
of the noble hymns in the series collected under his name.
Spalatin and Dolzig were his principal associates in the com-
position of his Hymn-book ; and John Walter, who presided
over the Elector's choir, set the music. The hymns were
admirably adapted to public worship, striking from the simple
grandeur of the ideas, and, as brief expositions of the essen-
tial doctrines of Scripture, formed an excellent medium of
popular instructiou. They were welcomed with enthusiasm.
But it must not be supposed that the alterations introduced
into the system of public worship at Wittenberg, were arbi-
trarily imposed on the congregations in other towns where
the doctrines of Scripture had been embraced. Luther care-
fully guarded against converting Christian liberty into a
formal and unbending ordinance; the doing so had been one
of his indictments against the Papacy and Carlstadt's party ;
and in his dedication of " the Formula of the Mass " to
Hausmann, the pastor of Zwickau, he left him the alternative
of copying the model presented to him, or of instituting a
system of worship for his own church from which Witten-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 21
berg might borrow with advantage. Although, therefore, 1523.
from the field of teaching the captain of the movement had
himself now advanced into the field of action, each step was
taken with the moderation of prudence and the forbearance of
charity. Indeed, at Olnitz the minister was proceeding pre-
cipitately in effecting changes, and was reproved by Luther.
" He is throwing off his old shoes," said he, " before he has
got on his new ones." In the blindness of reforming zeal,
force had been recommended to further the work of reform ;
and in his rooted abhorrence of such an instrument, Luther
warned the city authorities of Olnitz to suppress the first
risings of tumult by imprisonment and severe measures. The
concession he habitually made to human weakness as to the
reception that might be given to his suggestions on points of
practice, where alteration was the most peremptorily called
for, is strikingly shown in the caution which, in varying forms
of expression, closes many of his treatises at this period.
" I have done what I could. It is enough for me if one or
two follow me, or fain would follow me. The world must
after all continue the world, and Satan its prince."
He was again in correspondence with the Moravian Bre-
thren towards the close of 1523. He wrote to them by their
own delegates, who had again visited Wittenberg j and his
approval of their doctrinal sentiments excepted only their
denying the corporeal presence in the Eucharist. He also
wrote a tract to show that Christ was a Jew, in answer to a
very singular accusation laid against him by the Papists, and
even paraded at the Diet, that he had been guilty of affirming
Christ to be the seed of Abraham ! Such was the ignorance
of the Word of God among the Romanists ! His weariness
of life continued as great as the multiplicity of his occupa-
tions ; and the compass of his correspondence was widening
with his fame and the propagation of his tenets. A letter to
22 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1523. Charles of Savoy, who had a leaning towards the Reformation,
or Albert, the Grand Master of Prussia, engaged him at one
moment ; at another, a letter to a fencing-master of Halle,
or a Guide of Borna, or to a nun who had consulted him
about her marriage ; or he wrote a petition for some fugitive
monks who were starving, or for a forest-keeper who had
been disabled by a wild boar in the Elector's service. The
poverty of himself and the Prior in the deserted Augustine
cloisters was so extreme, that, being unable to liquidate their
own debts, or to obtain any payment from the debtors to the
convent, of whom Staupitz is named as one, they sued to the
Elector to take the convent and its affairs into his own hands,
and grant them only the maintenance which they had here-
tofore enjoyed.
But amongst all Luther's interminable engagements, the
translation of the Old Testament was sedulously carried on;
and it appears that he continued to be harassed by the illu-
sions of Satan. One night, it is related, he suddenly awoke,
and saw the Saviour standing by the wall of his cell with the
five wounds marked on his body : his first impulse was to rush
from his couch and throw himself at his feet ; but recollecting
the visions of the Zwickau sectaries, he pronounced the
name of Christ, and the apparition vanished. With such
energy did he prosecute the translation, that in the beginning
of December the second part was ready for the press, and
1524. before the end of February, 1524, the third part, which
included the difficult book of Job, had been committed to the
printers.
New troubles were springing up. For a time the ferment
excited in Carlstadt's breast by the Zwickau fanatics had been
allayed, and might seem to have expired : he had resumed
academical lecturing, and Luther himself pronounces his lec-
tures excellent. But this quiescent frame of mind had been
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 23
only apparent, or at least was very transient. Carlstadt left 1524.
Wittenberg and repaired to Jena, where lie established a
private printing press for the dissemination of his opinions on
the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and on other topics in
which he disagreed with the Wittenberg divines. The writ-
ings thus privately printed were not submitted to any censor-
ship or examination in contravention of the Recess of the Diet.
There is a letter from Luther of the 7th January to the
Chancellor Bruck, informing him of Carlstadt' s movements,
expressing his strong apprehension that " one so ready to
teach, whether with a call or without one, and only obstinate
in never holding his tongue, would bring obloquy on the
Elector and the University," and requiring that his treatises,
before they were printed, should be subjected to the recog-
nised inspection, according to the decree of the Diet and the
regulation of the Elector and the University. From Jena
Carlstadt shortly afterwards removed to Orlamunde, and
undertook the office of pastor of that town. It seems that
the principles of Thomas Munzer and the Zwickau sectaries
had infected the moral creed of Carlstadt ; for in a letter to
Bruck of the 13th January, Luther touches on the mooted
point of polygamy, which these fanatics defended as not con-
trary to the Word of God. "I confess," wrote Luther,
" that I cannot prevent any one from taking more wives than
one, if it be not repugnant to Scripture ; but Christians ought
to avoid much that is lawful, in order to give no ground to
scandal, and preserve that decency of life which St. Paul
everywhere insists upon. I suppose at Orlamunde they will
shortly be circumcised, and go with Moses the whole hog."
At this period the course of political events began to attract
the Reformer's attention ; for, on the day subsequent to the
date of this letter, the 14th January, the second Diet of
Nuremberg was opened, under circumstances not very auspi-
24 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1521. cious to the cause of the Reformation. The well-meaning
Adrian had breathed his last on the 14th September, 1523,
to the undisguised joy of the city and the priests; and the
Cardinals, entertaining the principle which Pallavicini openly
professes, that " a pope of little piety but great prudence is
preferable to a pope with much piety but less prudence,"
elected to the vacant chair the Cardinal de Medici, whose
claims to diplomatic ability were incontestable, whatever might
be thought of any pretensions to piety. The new Pontiff
assumed the name of Clement VII. In addition to this
event, which might reasonably be regarded by the Lutherans
as untoward, the Council of Regency, in which the reforming
section had gained a decided preponderance, was threatened
by a very powerful coalition, the various parties to which, on
dissimilar grounds, alike desired its extinction. The Council
had proposed a system of import duties, the proceeds to be
applied for the maintenance of the executive power ; in other
words, for its own maintenance : and, indeed, the most en-
lightened German historians are of opinion, that, if this project
had passed into law, the best results would have followed, and
the unity of Germany in all probability would have been
attained. It met, however, with violent opposition from the
cities, deputies from which had visited Charles in Spain in
the month of August of the preceding year, and, by exerting
their short-sighted efforts to overthrow the plan, had com-
menced the attack against the Council. Charles objected to
the petitioners, that the cities were infected with Lutheranism ;
but this they denied, and threw out in return a hint, which
was soon seen to answer its end, that the Council might, at
some future day, furnish efficient support to the ambition of
his brother Ferdinand. Charles needed money for his cam-
paigns, and the cities were willing to buy off the obnoxious
project by a liberal gratuity ; and thus a union was cemented
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 25
to serve an object to which the Emperor's arbitrary maxims 1524.
must in themselves have easily disposed him. Hannart, the
Imperial envoy to the Diet, started for Germany with an
explicit understanding of his master's will in the matter of
the Council of Regency. Unfortunately, too, the Princes
who had demolished Sickingen's stronghold, and broken the
power of the knights, having been led by their successes into
various illegal acts, had provoked the animadversions of the
Council, and, in their resentment of this check on their
licence, were eager to add their influence in aid of the
machinations of its opponents. The patron, and in fact the
originator, of this representative scheme was Frederic of
Saxony. A central executive power — a starting-point for
national unity and constitutional government — had been the
day-dream of his life ; but such patronage was not adapted to
conciliate the feelings of the Papists, particularly at the pre-
sent conjuncture of religious disturbances. The Duke of
Bavaria and the Elector of Treves, who had instituted a per-
secution in their principalities so rigid that blood was shed
with little compunction, besides personal motives, were far
from bearing good will to a body the acts of which had tended
to toleration, or even more directly to promote reform. It
was thus evident that the combination arrayed against the
Regency was excessively powerful, and, if the Council fell, it
remained to be seen what effect its overthrow would produce
on the fortunes of the evangelical faith.
The astute policy of Leo was revived under his nephew
Clement VII. The new Pontiff appointed as his nuncio to
the Diet, Campegio, the ablest of the college, and in a cour-
teous epistle besought Frederic to grant his nuncio a gentle
hearing, as became the scion of a house which had enjoyed
the advocacy of so many of his predecessors in St. Peter's
chair.
26 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. Such was the clouded aspect of public affairs, when, more
than a month before the Diet was opened, the Elector of
Saxony, although in a state of infirm health, made his entrance
into Nuremberg. But it was soon made manifest that the
Council of Regency, supported as it was by Ferdinand, the
house of Brandenburg, the knights, and the reforming party,
could not nevertheless bear up against the enmity of its power-
ful assailants. Previously to taking into consideration the
mode of maintaining it, it was resolved that its composition
should be altered ; and this was really tantamount to a sen-
tence of annihilation. Full of chagrin and sorrow, Frederic
of Saxony, in the middle of February, quitted Nuremberg,
unwilling any longer to be a witness of the stormy scenes
of debate ; and he never appeared again in a Diet of the
empire. Before the beginning of March Ferdinand had de-
sisted from any attempt to uphold a falling cause. It was
agreed that an entirely new Council of Regency should be
formed ; that the Imperial chamber should undergo a purifi-
cation; and one of its members was at once dismissed for
having eaten meat on a fast-day. So far the Romanists seemed
to be carrying everything their own way in the Diet.
But out of doors the evangelical cause had not lost, but
was gaining ground. Campegio entered Nuremberg soon
after Frederic had left it; and this gave occasion to the
rumour that it was to avoid seeing the Pope's representative
that the Saxon Elector had departed with so little ceremony.
Along his whole route so many impressive signs of the dis-
affection of Germany to the Papacy had presented themselves
to the nuncio, that, although an assembly of ecclesiastics was
awaiting his arrival with closed doors in St. SibakVs Church,
he judged it best, by the advice of the princes, to shun any
parade that might occasion open contempt, and rode in his
travelling attire direct to his hotel, " The Golden Cross." The
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 27
season of Easter came, and no palms were strewed on Palm- 1524.
Sunday; the ceremonial mummeries usual in Passion- week
were omitted ; the Word of God resounded in the churches,
from the lips of Osiander and other evangelical preachers,
and crowds of eager hearers thronged the sacred buildings j
the Sacrament was publicly administered in both kinds to
more than 4000 communicants, and even Queen Isabella of
Sweden, Ferdinand's sister, partook of it in this form at the
castle without any disguise. Several members of the Diet
might be marked in the crowd of listeners to the discourses
of the evangelical ministers, who declared that Antichrist had
entered Rome the year that Constantine left it.
These demonstrations of popular feeling roused the indig-
nation of Ferdinand, and, in conjunction with the nuncio, he
made them the subject of formal complaint against the
Nuremberg Senate, and demanded that the Edict of Worms
should be put in force. The all-important topic of religion
was thus brought into discussion ; and evidence was not long
wanting, that, if the Council of Regency had fallen, the con-
victions of numerous members of the Diet were not the less
decidedly in antagonism to Popery. It was inquired what
reply the nuncio had to make from the Pope to the catalogue
of grievances which had been forwarded to Rome. Campegio
was ready primed with the hypocritical answer, that he had
indeed seen a copy of the document in question, but that no
official communication had directed the late Pontiff's atten-
tion to it, and it was incredible that a writing in such a strain
could have proceeded from the German States. Such scenes
of angry debate as followed, it was commonly said, had
never been witnessed in any preceding Diet ; and out of
doors murder and mutilation showed the excited temper of
the populace. Ferdinand's life was threatened. At length,
on the 18th April, the Recess was published. It enacted,
28 THE LIFK OY MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. that the Edict of Worms should be carried into execution " as
far as was possible ; " * that a Council should be summoned
with all speed ; but, in the interval, a meeting of the States
should take place in the ensuing November, on St. Martin's
day, at Spires, to arrange preliminaries, to settle what books
might or might not be circulated, and to reconsider the
grievances charged against the Pope and the German clergy ;
and that, meanwhile, the Gospel and the "Word of God
should be preached according to the interpretation of writings
approved by the Church.
It is now very clear that these articles of the Recess were
highly favourable to the cause of religious reform; but at the
time they were decried by Luther as much as by Hannart,
Campegio, and the Papists. This is explained by the fact
that, the mandate framed from the Recess being drawn up by
the imperial Chancery, the clause for carrying into execution
the Edict of Worms was repeated again and again, whilst,
amongst the books to be examined, Luther's were specified
by name, and nothing was said about preaching the Gospel
and the Word of God. This mandate was sent to Luther by
the Count of Mansfeld, but not a copy of the Recess itself.
The Reformer published it, with marginal glosses, and a pro-
logue and epilogue, and at the same time gave the world the
Edict of Worms, pointing to the contradictory statements in
the two documents. The Princes must have been drunk, he
said, when they enacted such contradictions ! By the Edict
of Worms his books were all to be burnt ! By the mandate
from Nuremberg they were to be examined, that it might be
seen whether they were good or bad ! Hannart and Cam-
pegio took a far juster view of the real purport of the conclu-
sions of the Diet. The nuncio engaged to use his iufluence
* So vicl mojjlich.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 29
with the new Pontiff to procure the summoning of a Council ; 152 1
but he energetically opposed the preparatory lay convention
of Spires, so monstrous in eyes which regarded the ecclesiasti-
cal estate as alone qualified to judge of religious doctrines;
and, in their subsequent resistance to this early proof of the
great spread of the Lutheran ideas, he and his partisans dis-
membered the German nation, and invited all the horrors of
war. Clement, in his disgust, turned to Henry of England
and the King of Portugal, entreating them to break off com-
mercial dealings with Germany ; and plans were set on foot in
the Papal conclave to strip Frederic of the Saxon electorate.
Early in June, not two months from the signing of the
Recess of the Diet, the wretched internal condition of Ger-
many fully revealed itself by the rising of the peasantry, in
the first instance at Bamberg, against the ecclesiastical power.
Since the beginning of the century popular insurrection had
been frequent, the result of the pitiable serfdom in which the
poor were held, and the self-inflicted punishment of the dis-
organization of society. The present insurrection was more
formidable from the religious element mixed up with it. It
quickly spread amongst materials on all sides ready to nurse
the sparks into a flame. Before the end of June symptoms
of the mutinous spirit declared themselves at Alstadt; and
in July the seditious temper broke out into deeds of violence
at Thurgau, in the Bishopric of Constance, where the op-
pressed classes rose against the Abbot of Richenau. All this,
however, was but a few big drops before the storm which fell
in the ensuing year. No conviction or experience of the woes
which their precipitate violence was hastening upon Germany
could stay the papistical faction in their mad career of
bigotry, or moderate their fury against the vindicators of the
Gospel. A remarkable compact, cemented by mutual con-
cessions, had been formed between the Pope and the Dukes
30 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. of Bavaria, through the agency of John Eck. The Dukes, on
their part, had commanded all their subjects, under grievous
penalties, to adhere to the faith of their fathers, and declared
their resolution, if need were, to take up arms against heretics
as well as against the Turks ; and Clement, on his part, had
made over to the Bavarian princes one-fifth of the Church
revenues throughout their dominions. It is thus that Rome
is justly chargeable with having itself set the example of that
church spoliation which is so often made an exclusive charge
against Protestantism. The Pope would move heaven and
earth, and, much more, was willing to dismember Germany
and deluge its plains with blood, to prevent the meeting of
the assembly appointed to be held at Spires in November;
and he had now an ally amongst the German princes on
whose cordial co-operation he could confidently reckon. That
the majority at Spires would side with Luther might be anti-
cipated with some degree of certainty : reports were already
in preparation from various cities and universities on the sub-
jects to be discussed, and the greater part of them — those
from the Brandenburg territory in terms which Luther
characterised as " coinage of the right stamp" — supported the
evangelical views. Besides, therefore, the flagrancy of a lay
tribunal passing sentence in spiritual matters, it was of the
utmost consequence to the Papal faith that an assembly, the
direct results of whose deliberations were so much to be
dreaded, should never be allowed to hold its session. The
Archduke Ferdinand had been fixed in his adhesion to the
Popish side, by a grant made him of a third of all ecclesiastical
revenues for levying troops against the Turks. The way thus
smoothed, Campegio proposed, before he left Nuremberg, and
succeeded in gaining, the assent of the Popish princes to his
proposition, that a Congress should previously meet at Regens-
berg, to consider the proper remedy for the disastrous evils
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 31
which afflicted the Church. This Congress assembled in the 1524.
Town Hall of Regensberg towards the end of June. Ferdinand
was present, with the Dukes of Bavaria, the Archbishop of
Salzburg, and the Bishop of Trent : many other bishops had
sent their deputies : and the nuncio, summoning all his elo-
quence, drew a picture of the perils with which religious dis-
turbances threatened the civil power, and exhorted the princes
and delegates before him to dismiss all minor differences, and
unite in a league for the extirpation of heresy. The confer-
ence lasted for sixteen days ; and the results of the discussion
are generally known as the Ratisbon Reformation. Jerome,
Augustine, and Gregory were constituted the standard divines
by whom Scripture must be interpreted : a commission, com-
posed of lay members as well as clerical, was appointed to
exercise a supervision over the clergy; the preachers were
warned not to teach fables ; the priests were admonished to
lead a chaste life ; the number of holy days was diminished ;
and several petty exactions of the Church were restrained.
But these concessions to popular feeling and well-grounded
complaints were only a set-off against the rigorous articles
which proscribed the least leaning to heresy; throughout
the dominions of the Archduke, the fourth penny, and, in the
territories of the Duke of Bavaria, the fifth penny, were granted
those princes by their respective clergy, on the condition that
they would, " with a strong hand," exterminate the Lutheran
opinions. And on the 6th July a mandate in conformity
with the resolutions passed at this meeting was published.
The next point was to secure the co-operation of the Em-
peror, and prevail with him to prohibit the appointed con-
vention of Spires. The Pope used all his influence to that
effect : the services of Henry of England were enlisted in the
same cause; and as, on the 1st May, 1524, war had been
formally declared against France, and in the Italian campaign,
32 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. which was immediately commenced, the alliance of the Pope
was of some moment, little difficulty was found in procuring
from Charles all that the warmest partisans of Rome could
desire. On the 27th July the Imperial proclamation was
issued, in terms of much vehemence, denouncing Luther, after
the example of Adrian, as a second Mahomet, reprobating the
neglect which had prevented the Edict of Worms from being-
carried into execution, objecting to the demand for a future
council, and forbidding the appointed convention at Spires
under penalty of the guilt of high treason, and sentence of
ban and reban. Thus all disguise was thrown to the winds ;
and the Lutherans were clearly informed what they might
expect from the powerful league of bishops and princes,
headed by the Emperor himself, formed for their overthrow.
As the persecution had begun before this League had been
combined, so it subsequently raged with aggravated fury.
In Bavaria, Bernard Tichtel was compelled to revoke his
Lutheran tenets under the alternative of death. In the ter-
ritory of the Archbishop of Salzburg, two peasants, who had
released a Lutheran priest from his bonds, whilst his guards
who were conveying him to prison were carousing, were be-
headed outside the city walls without any formal trial. At
Vienna, on the Virgin's Nativity, great crowds were collected
in the churchyard of St. Stephen's, to witness the recantation
of Caspar Tauber, a Lutheran ; but Tauber, from the pulpit
in which he had been placed to make his retractation, pro-
fessed his faith in the Gospel, and with great heroism suf-
fered death by decapitation. In Waldshut, the efforts of the
persecuting party were only restrained by a body of Swiss
volunteers from Zurich entering the town, and threatening to
reply to force by force. From Pomerania the Gospel mis-
sionaries were expelled. In Holstein, at Meldorf, in Dit-
marsch, Henry Zutphen, who had escaped the fate of his An-
THE LIFE OF MAKTIN LUTHER. 33
gustine brethren of Antwerp, and had subsequently preached 1524.
the Gospel at Bremen, whence he had been invited to discharge
the same office at Meldorf, was dragged one night in the
month of January from his bed, hurried, amidst the yelling of
a Popish rabble, led on by monks, to the stake, and burnt
with every atrocity of torture. So furious was the zeal of
the League, that in various parts of the country Lutheran
preachers were nailed by their tongues to trees, and in that
deplorable condition abandoned to their fate.
Such cruelties naturally inflamed the rebellious temper of
the peasantry, and provoked a counter-demonstration and de-
fensive measures on the part of the Lutheran governments.
The cities, indignant that a few princes should arrogate the
power of passing laws, which belonged only to the Diet, held
a meeting at Spires on St. Margaret's Day, and resolved that
their preachers should proclaim, not the sentiments of the
Latin fathers, but the doctrines of the Gospel, of the pro-
phetical and apostolic Scriptures. It was determined that a
confession of faith should be prepared on the part of each
city, by their approved divines, to be presented to the con-
gress to assemble at Spires in November, when one common
confession should be framed by a comparison of individual
ones, to serve as a declaration of faith till the summoning of
the appointed Council. And when these cities found all their
plans disconcerted by the peremptory letter of the Emperor
from Burgos, their irritation knew no bounds. At the same
time, the indignity of giving the Emperor's sister, the affi-
anced bride of the son of John Frederic of Saxony, in marriage
to John III. of Portugal, wounded to the quick the pride of
the Ernestine branch of the house of Saxony ; and the letters
of Charles, which Ferdinand had been privately enjoined not
to transmit unless the temper of the princes would bear it,
but which he at once delivered in his indiscreet religious
VOL. II. D
34 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. ardour, raised such a storm of indignation amongst the nobles
and princes, who concurred with the Recesses of the two Nu-
remberg Diets, that even the deposition of the Emperor was
talked of as a not improbable event : and, from among the
Papist faction, William of Bavaria, notwithstanding the part
he had taken at Ratisbon, forgetting religion in politics, as-
pired to the imperial crown for himself.
The spirit of dissatisfaction was daily growing; and after
the assembly at Spires had been prohibited, the imperial
cities held a second meeting at Ulm, at which deputies from
the nobles joined the city delegates, and discussed with them
the question of war in defence of the Lutheran cause. Nor
did the meeting break up until a determination had been
mutually agreed upon, that the nobles and cities should " not
act separately in such momentous affairs, and such perilous
times." Everything pointed to that complete division of
German nationality which soon followed, which exists to
this day, and dates from the Ratisbon League.
Whilst these important events were transpiring, Luther
was engaged as arduously as in the preceding year in his
translation, his writings, and his routine of labours. With
his numerous other avocations, academical lecturing became
so onerous that he addressed an entreaty through Spalatin to
the Elector, that Melancthon, instead of lecturing in Greek,
might be directed to lecture in theology, and the same
stipend be allowed him ; but as Melancthon himself strongly
objected to this arrangement, urging that literature and
theology always nourished and decayed together, the trans-
fer was not made. The poverty of the Prior and Luther
continued extreme. "I wish to know," he wrote to Spa-
latin in April, " in the name of the Prior, whether the Elec-
tor has despatched to Bressen his mandate to pay the debt he
owes us. We have not received or heard anything as yet,
THE LIFE OF MARTTN LUTHER. 35
and our difficulties weigh heavier on us every day. I shall be 1524.
compelled at last to find a maintenance elsewhere." He had
written several times to Staupitz, whom, notwithstanding
his estrangement, he still styled " his Father in Christ," and
at the end of April he at length received one letter from his
earliest instructor in reply.
A nun named Florentina had been driven to make her
escape from a convent at Eisleben, by the harsh and cruel
treatment she had experienced, and the Reformer pub-
lished the history of her case, " that the world might
know what nunneries are," and prefaced it with a letter
to the Counts of Mansfeld. " Not only," he wrote, " in
the case of this Florentina, but in many more, we may easily
see how satanical a thing conventualism is, which uses per-
secution, force, and blows, to drive people to God, although
God will have no compulsory service, and says none shall be
his but by his own free consent. Christ says, 'No man
cometh unto me, except the Father which hath sent me
draw him.' Have we neither understanding nor ears? Is not
this clear enough, dear Lord God ? The Father must draw :
but instead of this, man would drive ! There are princes and
nobles who are enraged at my censures of the convents ; but
did they know all that I know, they would think that they
could not praise and honour me enough for what I have done."
Letters asking his advice reached him from priests who were
compelled to say mass, to whom he uniformly replied, that
it was their duty to quit their monastery if their conscience
could not be satisfied; if it could, in the name of God, he
said, ' ' remain where you are." A portion of the " Postils "
was committed to the press ; the preface to the Old Testa-
ment, recommending its study, as showing " what we owe to
God, as the Gospel shows Christ's grace to us," was inditing
at this time; and the Commentary on Deuteronomy had
d 2
36 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. been begun, but was proceeding slowly, from the vast amount
of his other employments. His correspondence alone, he
said, was more than enough to engross his full time.
Beyond the more customary questions of debate, it had
now been mooted to what extent a Christian was bound to
obey the law of Moses. Luther communicated on this sub-
ject with Spalatin, and decided that the judicial as well as the
ceremonial laws of the Jews were not obligatory upon Chris-
tians. " Neither Naaman, nor Job, nor Joseph, nor Daniel,
nor any other Jews, observed their own laws out of their own
country, but those of the nations amongst whom they were.
If the judicial is binding, why not the ceremonial law too,
and why should we not be circumcised?" One of the cen-
sures which he had applied to Romanism was, that it was a
vile aping, in its sacerdotalism and ceremonial punctilios, of Ju-
daism. But the moral law, he averred, was strictly binding on
Christians; for " it is the law of nature, written," as St. Paul
declares, c ' upon the heart." Together with Bugenhagen and
Melancthon, he signed a statement of his sentiments on this
point, to the effect that " the law must be preached, because
Christ says, ' The Holy Ghost shall convince the world of
sin ;' which could not be, without the proclamation of the law.
The law was for the disobedient, the temporal sword also was
appointed for their restraint and punishment ; but the works
of the law could not procure grace, which is God's free, un-
merited gift." The obligation of the whole of the Mosaic
law was even maintained at the Saxon Court by Wolfgang
Stein ; and Luther, in May, wrote to Frederic at his request
his verdict, to the effect that " temporal law is an outward
thing, like eating and drinking; and since faith and love
can well remain under the imperial laws, we are bound to
maintain the imperial laws."
Connected with this dispute was the question of interest
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 37
upon money, which Strauss, the pastor of Eisenach, and others, 1524.
strongly reprobated, as forbidden by the Old Testament, and
advised the non-payment of it, excepting on the application
or threat of force. Luther wrote to Strauss that he could not
concur with this opinion, and he recommended the payment
of interest without compulsion, on demand merely. " The
world abuses the Gospel, and is not ruled by the Gospel."
On moral as well as civil grounds the subject seemed of mo-
ment ; he therefore published a treatise on " merchandise and
usury," in German, in which he dealt faithfully with both
parties, denouncing the avarice of the merchants, and tracing
it in many instances to the Princes themselves as the source
and head, lamenting that, as Isaiah said, " The princes were
become partners with thieves," or, as the proverb went, " the
big thieves hang the little ones." He objected to a rate of
interest so high that it became usurious, and requested the
Elector's interference in prohibition of a rate exceeding four
or five per cent. But where only such moderate interest was
asked, he left the matter to the conscience of the creditor, not
of the debtor, until, at least, " God should put it in the heart
of the princes to effect an alteration with one consent."
But the most urgent question of the day, in his judgment,
was the education of youth. " I see," he wrote to Strauss,
" that the ruin of the Gospel is imminent from the neglect of
education. It is of all things the most necessary." He re-
marked with Melancthon that the increase of learning has ever
been accompanied by the increase of scriptural knowledge, and
the wider dissemination of the Gospel. He was earnest in his
endeavours that a portion of the convent and chauntry re-
venues might be appropriated to this purpose, so much
in unison with the founder's intentions ; and he further ad-
dressed letters to several of the parochial pastors — even to
Brismann in Prussia, and to the church of Riga — to urge
38 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. them to supply the educational wants of the period as a
matter of the first importance. To the Elector he wrote
that " he might see how schools were everywhere falling, to the
great detriment, not only of Germany, but of Christendom ;
and that it ought to be a prime object with every prince to
uphold letters/' Not satisfied with these efforts, he published
a treatise in German, addressed to all the senators of all the
states of Germany, pressing on them the necessity of erect-
ing seminaries for christian instruction, and providing espe-
cially for the education of " those children whose parents, like
the ostrich, neglected their young." " A boy," he said, " of fif-
teen or eighteen years of age might now know more than here-
tofore all universities and all monasteries. In those stalls of
asses and gymnasia of devils, many had studied twenty or forty
years without acquiring either Latin or German." He had
rather the conventual establishments should be sunk to the
bottom of the sea than ever revived ; but the convents
ought to be converted into christian schools. A notion
had arisen that Latin and Greek were a needless study for
Christians, and that the attainment of Hebrew and German
was sufficient, or even all languages might be dispensed
with. He combated this idea with all the force of his supe-
rior sagacity. " If the study of languages cease, we shall be
unable either to write or speak in Latin or in German. Lan-
guages are the scabbard in which the sword of the Spirit is
sheathed. Oh, Germans ! buy, whilst the market is at your
doors ; gather, whilst the sky is bright and the air serene ;
use the grace and the word of God whilst you may. The
word and grace of God is a shower that passes on and returns
not again. ,}
The Popish League on its side, at the same time that it
dealt largely in persecution, was resolved to try also the influ-
ence of pomp and ceremonial on the popular imagination.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 39
Benno, who had been Bishop of Misnia in the age of Gre- 1524.
gory VII., had been canonized by a bull of Adrian, dated
the 31st May, 1523. Duke George had exerted all his in-
fluence to obtain this honour for a district subject to his
jurisdiction, and the Bishop of Misnia had gone to Rome to
further the suit, with commendatory letters from Duke
George and most of the princes of the Papist party. The
bishop had the gratification of publishing the bull in Germany
on the 7th September. The merits of Benno consisted
in his having been a faithful partisan of Hildebrand in his
dissensions with Henry IV., when the surrounding prelates
had espoused the cause of the Emperor. The bull enumerated
his various miracles — that the keys of his church, which,
rather than surrender them to the Emperor, he had thrown
into the Elbe, had been found in a fish's belly and restored to
him ; that he had crossed the river dry-footed ; had turned
water into wine ; a fountain had gushed out where his foot
had trod ; he had celebrated mass in two places at one time ;
and, when the Marquis of Misnia struck him on the face, his
prediction that he should die at the expiration of a year had
come to pass. The apotheosis of this votary of the Papacy
was celebrated on the 16th May, 1524. His remains were
raised from their lowly sepulchre, and placed in a marble
monument : the Dukes George and Henry, and the Bishop of
Merseburg, with others of the nobility, were present ; and the
confluence of humble spectators — some urged by curiosity,
others by lingering superstitious motives — was so numerous as
to excite the boasts of the Romanists. Before, however, the day
of the grand ceremony had arrived, Luther inveighed against
the egregious folly and credulity of the whole proceeding, in
a tract entitled, "Against the old Idol and new Devil
of Misnia/' warning the people not to be witnesses of an im-
pious spectacle. " Whom/' he asked, " do they elevate into
40 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. a saint? A robber and a murderer, an enemy to Germany,
a foe of the Gospel, and an ally of Antichrist ! Gregory VII.
himself was a wicked and traitorous man ; he sowed dissen-
sion between father and son, and suffered the Emperor to die
under sentence of excommunication, goaded on to act as he
did by a craving for worldly power, pomp, and glory. Yet,
by a happy fatality, the Satan of Misnia has been made a
saint by Pope Adrian, who has murdered and exalted to
heaven two real saints at Brussels. Thus, at Constance,
Thomas Aquinas, the source and sink of heresy, was exalted
to saintship, and two really holy sons and martyrs of God,
Huss, and Jerome of Prague, perished in the flames." The
whole warmth of Luther's impetuous nature was drawn out
by this Popish jubilee ; and he dated many of his letters from
before or after the Feast of St. Benno.
About this time Melancthon, who had begged a short holi-
day from the court, paid a visit to his mother, who resided
near Frankfort, with Joachim Camerarius for one of his com-
panions. And from Frankfort Camerarius, with two more of
the party, pressed on to Basle, full of curiosity to see Erasmus,
and delivered into his hands a letter from Luther. Hutten's
expostulations had been answered by Erasmus in his "Sponge,"
and several expressions had fallen from the scholar in depreci-
ation of Lutheran sentiments, and of those who professed them ;
and between many of the Lutherans and Erasmus open war
had begun. The letter of Luther intimated regret that such
differences should have arisen, and in dignified terms of expos-
tulation declared his hope that harmony might yet be main-
tained ; but withal implied that nothing was to be feared from
the worst that Erasmus could do. "Although," Luther
wrote, " irritable as I am, 1 have been too often irritated to
write too bitterly; yet I have never done this excepting
against the perverse and obstinate. I have hitherto curbed
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 41
my style, however much you galled me ; and in letters to 1524.
friends that were read to you, I stated that I should do so,
until you openly assailed me. For, however much you may
differ from us, and impiously or feignedly condemn many
points of Christian doctrine, yet I cannot and will not charge
you with obstinacy. I could wish to be mediator between
you and those whose opposition you have provoked, and in-
duce them to let your old age sleep with peace in the Lord.
In my judgment, they are bound to do so, in consideration of
your moral weakness of character, and the magnitude of the
cause, which has long since outstripped your standard; so
that, were you to put forth your utmost strength, there
would be no ground to dread your sting or hardest bite. Yet
I confess it would be far worse to be once bitten by Erasmus,
than ground to powder by all the Papists. May the Lord
grant you a spirit worthy of your fame ! if not, may the Lord
enable you to be only a spectator of our tragedy ! Do not
join forces with our foes ; at least, do not write against me,
and I will not write against you." The Reformer knew that
the Papists, especially the Pope and Henry of England, had
been plying the scholar with their utmost entreaties and
largest promises to wield the pen against Luther ; and such an
assault from the prince of letters against the champion of the
Scriptures was by all means to be avoided, if possible. By the
same bearer Luther wrote to (Ecolampadms, " I have ad-
dressed a letter to Erasmus, praying for peace and concord.
Do you co-operate with me." But these labours for peace
failed. The reply of Erasmus to Luther was the harbinger
of the treatise which followed from his pen in the autumn,
and which he was then meditating. He tried to vindicate
himself from the accusation of timidity, and then asked,
" Why deplore a disputation for the sake of eliciting know-
ledge? Perhaps, Erasmus writing against you will profit
42 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1524 the Gospel more than some fools writing for you. These will
not suffer me to be a spectator of your tragedy, which I pray
may not have a tragical ending." In his more friendly cor-
respondence with Melancthon, Erasmus excused his conduct
on the ground of the bad morals of many of the Lutherans,
the division in their camp, and the bloody doctrines incul-
cated by some of their doctors. Melancthon gently but
firmly replied, that doctrines could not be tested by the con-
duct of some who professed them, and that there was not a
man in the world more unlike " the bloody doctors " he com-
plained of than Luther.
Luther's desire for peace was again demonstrated in a
letter to Capito towards the end of May. A former epistle, in
which he had freely reproved the pusillanimity of truckling
to the whims and notions of the Court of Mentz, although
never intended for publication, had been maliciously printed,
and had now appeared in a German version. There were also
rumours in circulation, joyfully caught up and whispered by
the Romanists, that Strasburg and Wittenberg were not at
one in all points of doctrine. " I am almost deterred from
writing letters at all," Luther wrote, "when I see such as
were meant to be private hurried to the press, and such free
and familiar expressions as are allowable amongst friends ex-
posed to the public eye. You were then another man, the
servant of the Court ; now you are Christ's freed man, the
servant of the Gospel. I am delighted with the marriage of
the priests, monks, and nuns at Strasburg ; with the appeal of
the husbands from the excommunication of the Bishop of
Satan, and with the appointments made to the parishes.
Sufficient indulgence has been shown to the weak : they now
harden day by day, and therefore the utmost freedom of
acting and speaking becomes necessary. I shall myself at
last lay aside the cowl, which I have worn so long in support
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 43
of the weak, and in mockery of the Pope. The dead must 1524.
be left to bury their dead : they are blind, and leaders of the
blind. Luther would hardly allow that differences existed
between Strasburg and Wittenberg, probably because their
doctrines on the Lord's Supper, in which they occupied a sort
of middle ground between Luther on the one side and Zwingle
and Carlstadt on the other, although they had no sympathy
with the Zwickau fanatical principles, had not yet been clearly
and decidedly stated. " May Christ so reign in you, that if
there be diversities of opinion between us, the bond and union
of the Spirit may be sincere and perfect. I am wont to dis-
semble and conceal as far as I can real differences of opinion
— (and by what a spirit are some possessed !) —how much
more this intolerable scandal and injury to christian concord
and spiritual peace. Were my occupations less onerous, I
would testify by a public writing to our candid agreement in
christian doctrine against whispering surmises."
It was as Philip Melancthon was returning from the visit
to his mother, already mentioned, that not far from Frankfort
he was met by a party of knights, and amongst them young
Philip the Landgrave of Hesse, bound for a cross-bow match
at Heidelberg. Thirteen princes were to be there, and Car-
dinal Campegio also was expected. The Prince rode up to
the scholar, and inquired whether he was Melancthon.
Melancthon was beginning to dismount in sign of respect ;
but the Prince begged him "not to do so, but to turn
his horse's head and go with him and spend the night at his
lodging; he was anxious to talk over several matters Avith
him, and he need be under no alarm for his safety."
Melancthon answered that " he was under no fear of the
Prince of Hesse, and indeed he was of too little consequence
to be under fear of any one." " And yet/' replied the Prince,
smiling, " were I to place you in the power of Campegio, he
44 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. would, I think, thank me for the service." Melancthon
earnestly begged to be permitted to continue his journey ; and
after they had remained conversing together for some little
while, the Prince exacted of him the promise to compose a
treatise for his perusal on the religious questions which were
engrossing the public attention. They then parted; the
Prince giving his new friend " a pass " through all the places
in his dominions. In the fulfilment of this promise, Melanc-
tlion composed his " Sum of the revived Christian Doctrines/'
which proved acceptable to the Landgrave, who not long
afterwards professed himself a convert to the evangelical faith,
and was jocularly known at Wittenberg by the name of
" Philip's disciple."
The accession of Albert, the Grand Master of Prussia, to
the ranks of the evangelical party, was a yet more valuable
acquisition. Prussia enjoyed the singular blessing of having
one out of her four bishops, George Polentz, Bishop of
Samland, sincerely attached to the Gospel of Christ, by
whose invitation evangelical preachers from Wittenberg
spread over Prussia, and taught the people the doctrines of the
Bible. That Luther entertained on this account, as well as
others, a hope of influencing the Teutonic Order for good, has
been already seen in the letter which nearly a year and a half
ago he had addressed to the knights on the subject of false
and true continence. At Nuremberg, the Grand Master had
been a frequent auditor of Osiander ; and the leaven of
scriptural truth working in his mind, he submitted, in a letter
of that period to Luther, five articles of Christian doctrine, on
which he desired the Reformer's explanation. Luther, in his
reply, dwelt at some length on the Papist pretence that the
Church is founded on Peter, which, on the contrary, he said,
" is founded on Christ, and is an invisible and spiritual thing;
for we declare in the creed, ' I believe in the Holy Catholic
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 45
Church ; ' but we none of us believe in what we can behold." 1524.
Albert left Nuremberg in company with Planitz, to whom he
had communicated the doubts and perplexities which harassed
him, and received from the Saxon counsellor the advice that
he should pay a visit to Luther himself at Wittenberg, and in
a personal conversation open his heart to him. Albert
did so, and proposed the question, "Was the vow of the
Teutonic Order lawful? " Without any reserve the Reformer
declared that he regarded it as entirely repugnant to the Word
of God, and with much warmth urged the Grand Master to
have done with false, and to espouse real chastity, by taking a
wife, and to convert his hermaphrodite principality into a
temporal sovereignty. There were, of course, many obstacles
to an immediate execution of this counsel; but the Grand
Master smiled, and withdrew. From that time there was an
understanding between Luther and Albert ; and the former
enjoined Brismann and the other evangelical teachers, who,
encouraged by the favour of Albert, traversed his dominions
preaching the Gospel, to prepare the minds of the people for
the contemplated change, and induce the Commendators of the
Order to solicit Albert to adopt a step to which he was him-
self well inclined. The menaced position of Prussia, unable
to match the power of Poland, and hopeless of assistance
against her old foe from the German States, rendered the
measure, in a political point of view, highly expedient, and the
next year the metamorphose was actually accomplished, with
only one dissentient voice among the knights, that of Eric of
Brunswick. Albert, from being Grand Master, became Duke
of Prussia, and consented to pay homage to the King of
Poland as his feudal superior. On the same occasion, George
Polentz resigned his castles, towns, villages, and all the tem-
poralities of his See to the newly constituted Duke ; pro-
claimed that the office of a Bishop is to preach the Word
46 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. of God, not to live like a secular prince, and only demanded
an honourable maintenance sufficient to the discharge of the
real episcopal functions. An amended ritual for church ser-
vices was introduced, and the Reformation was established in
Prussia, which was thus the first principality of any large
extent that publicly professed the Lutheran principles, and
conformed to her ecclesiastical institutions.
Many other princes joined the cause of the Reformation
about the same time : amongst them Albert's two brothers, the
Margrave Casimir of Brandenburg, and George, who was
residing in the Hungarian Court at Ofen. The Dukes of
Luneburg and the Dukes of Mecklenburg also espoused the
evangelical tenets; and the banished Duke of Wurtemberg
had Lutheran chaplains at Mumpelgard. Luther recounted
with joyful gratitude that "the Gospel had already taken
possession of Magdeburg and Bremen, and would soon mi-
grate to Brunswick, for Duke Henry had become another
man/' The Reformer visited Magdeburg himself, and
preached in St. John's Church to such a crowded audience
that many who could not obtain standing-room inside the
walls, stood outside upon the window ledges. Other princes,
moreover, who were as yet deterred by fear or some selfish
motive from openly professing the Lutheran faith, such as
Duke Barnim of Pomerania, and the Elector Palatine, yet
proclaimed the duty of religious toleration.
Encouraging as such successes were, they did not divert
Luther's attention from the gradual progress of a danger which
he had long foreseen. He kept a steady and watchful eye
upon Munzer and the fanatics. In June, reports reached the
Elector of Saxony from Alstadt, to which the prophets had
transferred their head-quarters from Zwickau, that the par-
tisans of Munzer had begun their riots, were forcing the
doors of churches, demolishing images, and committing other
THE LIFE OF MA11TIN LUTHER. 47
excesses. The magistrates of Alstadt sentenced them to 1524.
punishment, but not having sufficient authority to inflict it,
the delinquents were cited to appear at Weimar, where on
the 1st August Munzer himself was subjected to trial, and
denied many charges, but acknowledged some seditious
expressions attributed to him, and that he had told some
peasants of the neighbourhood and some miners from Mans-
field, who had complained of being prohibited from hearing
him preach, that they might lawfully form a league to secure
the liberty of hearing the Gospel.
It was resolved to banish him from the electoral dominions ;
but, anticipating his sentence, he effected his escape by night to
Mulhausen, in which town, by the influence of the populace,
against the will of the Senate, he was appointed preacher.
Luther immediately addressed a warning letter to the citizens
of Mulhausen : — " Beware of false prophets who come to you
in sheep's clothing. He has shown in many places, especially
in Zwickau and Alstadt, what kind of tree he must be,
yielding no other fruit than murder, tumult, and bloodshed.
If he says that God and his Spirit have sent him like the
Apostles, let him show, as they did, signs and wonders, or
forbid him to preach. I have never preached, and never will
preach, without an urgent call from men, and cannot boast,
as they do, that God has sent me, without any human medium,
by a voice from heaven. But, as Jeremiah says, ' I have not
sent these prophets, yet they run.' "
Carlstadt, moreover, had now left Jena, and had become
pastor of Orlamunde, a cure in connexion with Wittenberg
All Saints, but simply on the appointment of the people. It
appears from Luther's correspondence, that the disasters which
" such a muddled head" as Carlstadt, "giddy with vanity and
an itch for celebrity/' would be sure to bring on the reviving
cause of the Gospel, were never absent from his mind. At
48 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. Orlamunde the images had been removed, and the doctrine
inculcated that the eucharistical bread and wine were nothing
but simple bread and wine ; or, as Luther expresses it, " the
same as bread and wine bought in the market-place." The
method adopted in the first instance to recal the recreant Pro-
fessor to the sphere of duty, was a summons from the Uni-
versity that he would return to his proper post from the cure
which he had undertaken, without any call, with an intimation
that if he refused, a formal complaint would be lodged with
the Elector. Carlstadt obeyed the summons, so far at least as
one Sabbath in the month of May to enter Wittenberg ; and
in a letter of the 21st May to the Elector, Luther says,
" I trust matters at Orlamunde will be well attended to, since
Dr. Carlstadt has surrendered the cure." This, however, was
but for a time : the flock at Orlamunde regretted the Pro-
fessor, and he soon returned to them. And then the citizens
of Orlamunde addressed the Elector and the Chapter of All
Saints Cathedral, maintaining their right to appoint their own
minister; to which Frederic replied by ordering Carlstadt
back to Wittenberg to discharge his proper duties ; but this
mandate was not obeyed. With the exception of a visit to
Magdeburg in July, already alluded to, Luther had remained
stationary, throughout the year, at Wittenberg, engrossed
with his writings and ministerial functions ; but the urgency
of the case now drew him by the Elector's request to the
district where Carlstadt continued his fanatical teaching.
On the 14th August he was at Weimar, whence he de-
spatched the warning letter to the inhabitants of Mul-
hausen already spoken of. On the 21st he arrived at Jena,
and with a mind more fully awake than ever to the dangers
of fanaticism he wrote to the Elector and Duke John, en-
treating them to use the power entrusted them by God to
check the unruly spirit which, stimulated by fanatical preach-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 49
ing, was already displaying itself in violent acts, as they 1524.
would have to answer before God and the world. " Satan,
driven out for a year or two, has been going about through
dry places seeking rest, but finding none ; but now he has
established himself in your dominions, and built a nest at
Alstadt, and thinks to fight against us under our own shelter
and protection. Duke George, your neighbour, has been far
too good and soft towards him." He described the hatred of
the fanatics to God's Word, against which they exclaimed,
" Bible ! Bubel ! Babel ! " and exposed their seditious and
revolutionary projects of personal aggrandisement based on
the overthrow of the existing powers, in contradiction to the
Saviour's declaration, " My kingdom is not of this world."
" It must be a bad spirit which can show its fruit only by
breaking open churches and cloisters, and burning images of
saints, which creeps into a corner and shuns the light ! The
Jews had an express command from God to break down the
altars and symbols of idolatry ; we have no such command :
we must imitate not their acts but their faith. Indeed, if it
is right to break images, it is right to kill unbelievers, as the
Jews destroyed the Canaanites and Amorites. But what use
to do away with outward defilements if the unbelief of the
heart remains? And therefore in the New Testament the
true method of driving out the devil is revealed, viz., the
Word of God, which has only to convert the heart, and the
devil must fall, and all his practices and power. Such men
cannot be Christians who, besides the Word, would use the
hand, and not, on the contrary, rather endure any suffering,
let them boast as they may, that they are full of ten Holy
Ghosts." On Monday, the 22nd, he preached at Jena, at an
early hour in the morning, against insurrectionary tumults
and iconoclastic violence, and the denial of the real presence
in the Eucharist. After the sermon Luther was seated at
VOL. II. e
50 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. dinner with the pastor of Jena and several city functionaries,
when a scene is related to have occurred, the details of which
are only found in the records of the party adverse to Luther,
and which Luther has himself charged with gross exaggera-
tions and inaccuracies.
It is stated that as Luther sat at table, a paper was handed
to him from Carlstadt, who, having been present at the
sermon, in which his doctrines had been assailed, was now
waiting outside the door, and desirous of permission to enter.
" If," Luther replied, " Dr. Carlstadt wishes to come in, let
him come ; if not, I have no desire to see him." The
entrance of Carlstadt occasioned great excitement, and the
meal was suspended in the eagerness of witnessing the
combat which was expected to ensue. Carlstadt began by
saying, " You attacked me to-day, Doctor, as an author of
sedition and assassination : the charge is false." " I did not
name you," Luther answered ; " but, nevertheless, if the cap
fits you may put it on." " I am able to show," Carlstadt said,
after a short pause, " that you have stated contradictions on
the subject of the Eucharist, and that since the Apostles'
days the true doctrine of that Sacrament has never been
explained so fairly by any one as by myself." " Write, then —
prove your assertion." "■ I am willing to hold a public dis-
putation with you, either at Wittenberg or at Erfurth, if you
will grant me a safe-conduct." " Never fear that ! " " You
tie my hands and feet, and then you strike me," Carlstadt
exclaimed, in a deep voice, with unsuppressed warmth.
" Write against me ; but what you do, do openly." " I would
willingly do so, if I knew you to be in earnest." " Here,"
said Luther, " take this florin to convince you that I am in
earnest." " And I willingly accept the gage," Carlstadt
replied, taking the gold florin which Luther offered ; and then,
turning to those present, and holding up the coin, said, " You
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 51
are my witnesses that this is my pledge and authority to write 1524.
against Martin Luther." He bent the florin, and put it into
his purse, and extended his hand to Luther, who replied by
pledging him in some wine. They drank to one another.
" The more vigorously you assail me/' Luther said, " the
better you will please me." " It shall not be my fault,"
Carlstadt answered, " if I fail ; " and with these words,
shaking his hand again, Carlstadt withdrew.
A letter was brought Luther, whilst he was still at Jena,
from the inhabitants of Orlamunde, ' ' written with such a large
mixture of fanatical rudeness" that it seemed the composition
of Carlstadt himself. It stated that Luther had already, at
Wittenberg, reproved Carlstadt to his face, in a sermon, for
doing away with images, and threatened him with the dis-
pleasure of the Elector : " yet he might come if he would and
hear what their articles of faith were, and, if he found fault
with them, teach them better." In company with Stein,
preacher to the Court of Weimar, Luther next proceeded to
Kahla, the pastor of which village was an adherent of Carl-
stadt; and, on ascending the pulpit of the church, Luther
found it bestrewn with the fragments of a crucifix ; but re-
straining his resentment, and collecting the broken pieces into
a corner, he preached on the necessity of faith and a good con-
science, with submission to " the powers that be." From Kahla
he advanced to Neustadt-on-the-Orla, remained there the
night, and preached on the morrow, St. Bartholomew's Day, the
24th August, and then set out for Orlamunde. Here Luther
assembled the town council and the citizens, and informed
them that Carlstadt was not their pastor, for neither the Uni-
versity nor the Elector would sanction his appointment ; to
which they replied, that it was enough that they had chosen
him. Presently Carlstadt himself entered, and, walking up
to Luther, saluted him with, " Dear Doctor, if you please, I
e 2
52 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. will induct you." " You are my antagonist," Luther an-
swered, " I have pledged you with a florin." " I shall ever
be your antagonist/' Carlstadt rejoined, " as long as you are
an antagonist to God and his Word." Luther then insisted
that Carlstadt should quit the apartment, as he could not re-
cognise him as pastor of the town, or transact the business
about which he was come at the Elector's command, in his
presence. Carlstadt refused to withdraw, and urged that " it
was a free meeting, and, if right was not for, but against him,
why should his presence be feared ? " On this Luther, turn-
ing to his attendant, ordered him to put-to the horses at once,
for if Dr. Carlstadt remained he should depart. Carlstadt
then withdrew. Luther then, turning to the assembly, de-
manded proof from Scripture for the abolition of images.
One of those present quoted the words of the second com-
mandment. "That," Luther answered, "is directed against
the worship of images, which is idolatry; but if," said he,
" there be a crucifix in my room, it does not follow that I
must therefore worship it." A shoemaker of .the company
remarked, "that he had often touched his hat to an image
standing on his mantel-piece." " But that," Luther replied,
"is the abuse of images. Does it follow, because wine and
Avomen are abused, that wine must be poured down the gutter
and women be put to death?" Another member of the
assembly answered, " There is no command from God to
destroy wine and women." The argument continued until it
was interrupted by a scene of extreme turbulence, so that
Luther declined altogether to preach, and, reproaching the
townsmen for the uncourteous language of their letter, de-
parted from Orlamunde. "I was right glad," he said, "to
get away without being forcibly expelled with stones and dirt
thrown at me. As it was, the townspeople cried after me,
( Go, in the name of a thousand devils, and may you break
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 53
your neck before you get out of the town." With reference 1524.
both to the conversation at Orlainunde, and the scene at the
dinner-table in Jena, it is but fair to add Luther's own state-
ment to the fact already mentioned, that the accounts are en-
tirely from Carlstadt's party. " Their book pleases me much/'
he wrote, " for I see that men of bad faith and conscience
fear for themselves, and have therefore been beforehand with
their publication, and are eager to injure my reputation. It
contains mingled falsehoods and truths ; but as it is anonymous
it must be conquered by patience, and must be swallowed,
that I may not seem to seek glory or revenge, and, leaving
the principal matter, to write about myself. The day will
come when Christ will judge my cause." "I have been
amongst Carlstadt's Christians," he told his friends, " and
found out right well what sort of seed he has sown." By the
1st September Luther had returned to Wittenberg.
It appears from a letter of Luther, that Carlstadt soon after-
wards made some communication relative to a public disputa-
tion at Wittenberg, to which no objections were raised; but
he must have done so only to gain time, or at least, with the
fickleness of his enthusiastic character, he quickly changed
his purpose. On the 17th September the Elector banished
him from his dominions. The congregation at Orlamunde
was gathered to the sound of the bell to hear the valedictory
letters addressed, one to the men and the other to the women,
and subscribed "Andrew Bodenstein, expelled unheard and
unrefuted by Martin Luther." Carlstadt sought refuge first
at Strasburg, and there published some books, which were
greedily caught up by the Anabaptists. But his roving fana-
ticism could not long endure the restraint of confinement to
one spot. Everywhere he vilified Luther as the author of
his calamities, who was thus compelled to write to the inha-
bitants of Strasburg in his own vindication. " If an ass had
54 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1524. horns," he said, " in other words, were I Elector of Saxony,
Carlstadt should not be expelled." And this was no more
than he always professed in reference to the duty of religious
toleration; for even the teaching of Munzer and the most
infuriated fanatics he advised should be tolerated, as long as
it did not trench on the authority of the magistrate. But he
had formed the worst opinion of Carlstadt's spiritual condi-
tion. " He is given over," he told Spalatin, " to a reprobate
mind, so that I despair of him. He ever has been alien from
the glory of Christ, and perhaps ever will be so, all out of bis
insane lust of glory and praise. I fear the wretched man is
possessed by more than one devil : may God have mercy upon
his sin, whereby he is sinning unto death." Martin Rhein-
hard, the pastor of Jena, was also expelled from his cure by
the Elector's command; and the same sentence was pro-
nounced on the pastor of Kahla ; but the latter made a public
acknowledgment of his errors, and obtained the benefit of
Luther's intercession with the Elector in his behalf.
It was just about this period that the differences which
were springing up between the different sections of the
reforming party — as, for instance, between Switzerland and
Saxony, and again between Saxony and Strasburg, which
town rather inclined to the Zwinglian view of the Lord's
Supper — began to show themselves more prominently. Eras-
mus made these dissensions an argument against the Re-
formation ; and as Carlstadt's visit to Strasburg had aggra-
vated the tendency to disunion, and he had made a convert
of Otho Brunsf'eld, the editor of the works of Huss, Luther
addressed an epistle to the Christians of Strasburg, warning
them against Carlstadt's fanatical tenets on the Sacrament,
images, and baptism, and expressly denying that he had been
the instrument in his expulsion from Saxony. " Had Dr.
Carlstadt," he said, " or any one else, informed me five
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 55
years earlier that there is nothing but mere bread and wine 1524.
in the Sacrament, he would have done me a great service. I
have undergone many hard struggles, and would fain have
forced myself into believing a doctrine whereby I could have
struck a mighty blow at the Papacy. But the text of Scrip-
ture is too potent for me ; I am a captive to it, and cannot
get away." The great antidote, he said, to Carlstadt's fanati-
cism was, for each one to ask himself, " What is it makes a
Christian ? " But when a meeting or council of the churches
which had embraced the Reformation w r as proposed, with a
view to the settlement of the questions at issue between them,
especially the sacramental controversy, Luther overruled such
a proposal by a decided veto. " Even in the Council of the
Apostles," he insisted, " works and traditions, rather than
faith, were handled ; and in later councils faith has never
been treated of at all ; so that the name of council is almost
as odious to me as that of free will."
Notwithstanding, however, the discouragements of fanatical
teaching and of growing dissension, the Reformation was daily
advancing in its career. It may be regarded as a proof of
this, that on the 9th October, the twentieth Sunday after
Trinity, Luther laid aside his cowl and friar's garb, and
appeared in a preacher's gown, made out of stuff sent him as
a present by the Elector, with the message that " it might be
worked up into any fashion he pleased." Moreover, the
abomination of " the Bethaven of All Saints " now at last
fell. In July three canons had resigned from scruples of
conscience ; and, seizing the opportunity thus offered, Luther
had requested of the Elector that the salaries thus relin-
quished might be appropriated to the establishment of pro-
fessorships in the University. Jonas the Provost manfully
fought by Luther's side ; but the Dean and two of the canons
remaining rooted in their superstitious practices, calumniated
56 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
152 1. Jonas to the Elector, and his name in consequence being
mentioned in a letter of Spalatin with censure, Luther un-
dertook the defence of his friend with great warmth, and
severely recriminated on the avarice, the lukewarmness, and
the worldly policy of the Saxon Court. In November, Beskau
the Dean administered the Sacrament to a sick woman in one
kind only, and this act decided Luther to enter on a more
determined line of conduct. He accordingly addressed a
letter to the Chapter, entreating them to have done with their
"devilish ways and idolatry," to abandon the mass, abolish
vigils and everything repugnant to the Holy Gospel, and so
order the services that their consciences might answer to God,
and their name to the world, that they desired to fly and
shun society with Satan. " Give me in return to this demand
a plain, straightforward, and unequivocal answer, yea or nay,
before next Sunday." As no satisfactory answer was re-
turned, Luther assailed them next Sunday from the pulpit.
General opinion was very decided against them ; the windows
of the dean's house were broken in at night with stones, and
the rector of the University, with ten principal men of the
City Council, renounced all communion with them until they
should abolish their popish usages. The Elector was now
referred to by the Chapter, but he spoke with much doubt
and hesitation. At length, on the 24th December, the dean
and the canons who had aided his resistance finally gave
way, and from the Christmas Day following the popish mass,
the vigils and superstitious ceremonials had ceased in the
Cathedral of All Saints. It was somewhat about the same
time that Luther and the Prior — the latter from an intention
of entering the married state — jointly resigned the Augustine
Convent, with all appertaining to it, to the Elector of Saxony
as the last heir, and sent him the keys. Luther stated in his
letter of resignation that he should no longer tenant the con-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 57
vent when the Prior had deserted him, but should find some 1524.
spot where God would nourish him. A legal instrument of
resignation was soon afterwards drawn ; and on the part of
the Elector it was proposed that some provision for the re-
mainder of his life should be legally secured to the Reformer ;
but he himself would not hear of the insertion of any such
stipulation in the document. " If," said he, " I have not
flesh and wine, at least I can live on bread and water." But
until God's providence had called him to some other dwelling,
he continued to reside in the old convent.
These changes must be regarded as consummating the
establishment of the Reformation in the Saxon Electorate.
The overthrow of '.' the Bethaven of All Saints " was like
the surrender of the citadel after the town had capitulated.
And as if to mark more strikingly that a new era had
begun, and the transition-stage had been completely passed,
the venerable Staupitz, the link between Luther and the
earlier Reformers, who had transmitted to the monk of
Wittenberg what he had himself received from John Proles,
breathed his last on the 28th December. He had served to
guide Luther to the entrance of his high vocation; but, as if
his own office there terminated, had halted himself at the
threshold. His last days were spent at Salzburg, where he
had been promoted to be Abbot of St. Peter's Church by the
Archbishop, his intimate friend and a determined Papist.
Like Erasmus, and many others, he had pointed with his
staff for many years in his earlier life to the promised land,
and when he had reached its borders had recoiled from setting
foot within it.
The opening of the year 1525 found Luther busily employed 1525.
upon a work in refutation of the fanatical and sacramental
doctrines of Carlstadt, entitled " Against the Heavenly Pro-
phets." Amongst the common people there were numerous
58 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. converts to the doctrinal view of the Lord's Supper, which Carl-
stadt and the Swiss Divines had taken ; but, independently of
one another, by their separate study of the Scriptures. " The
Swiss," said Luther, *' thought the same before, but now that
they have found an authority, they state their opinion more
freely. I was myself strongly tempted to that error; but
whether I or all fall away, it is a certainty that my present
position is true." Already, whilst Luther was engaged in the
composition of this treatise, the popular disturbances had
commenced, and were by him at once set down to the account
of the fanatical teaching : " Carlstadt is exciting dire tumults
in Upper Germany." At this critical period a Polish Jew, a
doctor of medicine, was apprehended at Wittenberg, who had
come thither with the intention of poisoning Luther, for
which work he had been hired at the sum of 2000 gold pieces.
Luther had been suffering from an inflamed ulcer in the leg,
and it was anticipated that an opportunity would thus be
afforded to the Jewish practitioner* to test his skill. But
private affairs did not occupy much of the Reformer's atten-
tion. His eye was upon Carlstadt, who was reported to be
at Nordlingen ; and along the line of his travels it was but
too probable that fanatical and seditious harangues would stir
up a peasantry, ripe for rebellion, to join the insurrection
which had already raised its head in many places. Portents
of the coming commotion were carefully noted and timorously
reported. It was said, with the credulity of superstition, that
at Babenberg a boy was born with a lion's head; and that
figures of the cross were observed to flit in the air over the
* It appears, from Luther's letter of February 11, (De Wette, II.
p. 626,) that more than one Jew was apprehended under the charge
of intending to poison him : but he refused to let them be put to the
torture ; and, although " every sign agreed with the information he had
received," they were finally dismissed.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 59
towers and domes of Vienna. With his unvarying assiduity, 1525.
Luther laboured at his reply to Carlstadt, and on the 2nd
February wrote to Hausmann, " I have answered Carlstadt' s
Devil in two books." This effected, he returned with vigour
to the continuation of the " Postils," and his commentary on
the book of Deuteronomy, which last was finished in April,
and dedicated to the excellent Bishop of Samland.
The mutterings of discontent which had been heard in the
preceding year from the peasants who groaned under the
rigid and avaricious rule of bishops and prelates, gathered
louder and louder, and the storm, which sundry signs of more
certain indication than portents had prognosticated, now fell
in torrents of fury and blood. Tn Suabia, and all along the
Lake of Constance, at Waldshut and at Kempten, the revolt
first attained to a formidable height. Thomas Munzer had
travelled through Nuremberg to the borders of Switzerland,
and sown the hearts of the peasantry with his fanatical and
seditious doctrines. At the same time the banished Duke
of Wurtemberg collected his followers to attempt the recovery
of his hereditary dominions, and pushed his way nearly as far
as Stuttgard; and although his plans ultimately failed of
success, they were a most seasonable diversion for concen-
trating and augmenting the bands of the peasantry. The
leaders of the people put forth twelve Articles, comprising the
objects for the attainment of which they had risen in rebel-
lion. These were the free toleration of the evangelical
preaching ; the right to appoint their own pastors ; the doing
away with all small tithes, and distribution of the great tithes
amongst the clergy, the poor, and the state ; the liberty of
the chase, of fishing, and of hewing wood ; compensation for
damage inflicted by game ; and relief from oppressive burdens.
The claims of a religious kind were placed first, for the demand
for deliverance from feudal serfdom was founded on the plea
60 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. that Christ had redeemed all alike, noble and peasant, by his
blood. In the Black Forest, John Muller, of Balgenbach,
caused the twelve articles to be read in every village through
which he passed at the head of his adherents, and subjected
all those who dissented from them to the band of the peasant
confederation. And when the soldiers of the Suabian League,
under George Truchsess, having disposed of the forces of the
Duke of Wurtemberg, found leisure to direct their march
against the peasantry, it was with surprise they learnt that
the organization of the peasant bands was sufficiently com-
plete to render their coercion a difficult and doubtful work.
From Suabia the insurrection quickly spread to Franconia,
and here Carlstadt was present among the insurgents. He had
been compelled to leave Strasburg, and was wandering about
without any settled home, sometimes at Carlstadt-on-the-
Mayne, the seat of his mother's family, whence he had derived
his appellation, and then at Rothenburg-on-the-Tauber, where
the guilds and the patricians were at war, the former pressing on
a vigorous reform, which the latter resisted. He renewed his
proposal for a public disputation with Luther at Wittenberg,
who begged of the Elector, about the end of February, to grant
Carlstadt a safe- conduct to come to Wittenberg for that pur-
pose. He at the same time wrote to Spalatin on the subject;
and, subsequently, his letter to the Elector not having met
with any reply, he complained to the chaplain of the slight
shown him by the court. On the 20th March Luther received
intelligence that the safe-conduct would not be granted, and
with the honesty of his character he expressed his sense of
the propriety of this denial. Tales, much to the disparage-
ment of Carlstadt, had gained circulation at Wittenberg ; in
particular, that he had kept in his house a monk as his chap-
lain, who, in his dealings with the common people, had been
employed to play the part of a supposed spirit, and by mutter-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 61
ings from some concealed spot, had revealed mysteries to the 1525.
amazement of the auditory. " Oh ! the wretched misery of
man/' Luther exclaimed, " if Christ leaves us. I divined the
truth about Carlstadt. What a world in which satanical pos-
sessions are so common \" Carlstadt, however, was in a more
congenial locality than a hall for disputation at Wittenberg.
In a peasant coat and hat of white felt, he poured forth his
eloquent invectives against images and crucifixes to the popu-
lace of Franconia, with a wild vehemence which might be
taken either for inspiration or mental derangement, declaim-
ing against Luther, and recapitulating the wrongs he had
undergone. He would have established his head-quarters at
Schweinfurt ; but the Count of Henneburg wrote to the
Senate, and prohibited his admission to that town. It must
be allowed that the best answer to Carlstadt's furious abuses
of Luther is the sequel of his own story. And it is no light
proof of the confidence reposed in Luther by those who knew
him well, that, after wearying of his perambulations and
harangues in Franconia, and warned by tumult and bloodshed
that the time for words had passed, Carlstadt fled in disguise to
Wittenberg, and took refuge in the Augustine convent with
Luther himself, by whom his place of concealment was not
divulged.*
In Franconia there was no armed body like the soldiery of
the Suabian League to oppose the insurrection, and the
peasantry were carrying everything before them. It was
here that doctrines were propagated on political subjects more
levelling and radical than any that were publicly broached
elsewhere. Towards the end of April the flame of revolt
extended itself to Thurin°;ia. Mulhausen was the head-
* " Fuit homo miser apud me clanculo aervatus — Tractavi hominem
quantum potui humaniter atque juvi." — De Wette, III. p. 21.
62 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. quarters of the insurgency, for there Munzer had succeeded
in gaining over the Senate, as well as the populace, to his
fanatical opinions; but on all sides, at Erfurth, Eisenach,
Salza, Sangerhausen, and the neighbouring towns, the rioting
and pillage were commenced.
Schemes were formed for the reorganization of society,
based on the universal equality and natural brotherhood of
all men ; and it was anticipated that, far from being confined
to Germany, these " enlightened ideas" would penetrate Italy
and France, and lead to the regeneracy of human nature in
all parts of the world. Munzer, who had returned to Mul-
hausen as a heaven-inspired prophet, was civil ruler and
generalissimo. " From simple Doctor," said Luther, " he
has become King and Emperor." In other places the real
tendency of his religious creed was beginning to evince
itself in a reactionary spirit of abject infidelity. At Antwerp
there were those who maintained that the only Holy Ghost
is human intellect and natural reason; and at Nuremberg,
some citizens were put in prison for denying the truth of the
Scriptures and the doctrines of Christianity altogether; in
short, everything, except a rationalistic Deism.
All these occurrences proved with what foresight Luther
had warned the princes and nobles of the impending dangers,
and with what penetration he had fathomed the depths of the
fanatical tenets. The reports of tumults which reached him
awoke his deepest regrets, and roused not a little his lively
indignation. On the 3rd April he wrote, " The world has
hitherto been full of excarnate spirits ; now it is full of incar-
nate spirits : Satan is raging against his stronger, Christ."
But later in April more appalling tidings arrived. The
districts bordering on Saxony, and the territories of the
Counts of Mansfeld, were in open revolt. At this moment
Luther did not doubt for an instant the course which it was
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 63
incumbent upon him to pursue. On Easter Sunday, April 16, 1525.
he preached as usual; but, after returning to his cell, he
dressed himself in his travelling garb, to the astonishment of
his friends, and the same afternoon started for the territory of
the Counts of Mansfeld, taking Melancthon with him. He
was about to establish a school at Eisleben, to which work he
had been invited by Count Albert ; but this alone could not be
the cause of his sudden departure on the afternoon of Easter
Sunday. In reality, he was resolved to be present amongst
the discontented peasantry, and himself, a miner's son, to
address the miners of the Counts of Mansfeld's dominions,
on the sin of rebellion, and the Christian duty of civil
obedience. He preached at Seeburg, and with such effect,
that his exhortations prevailed on the miners there to remain
quiet. Thence he proceeded to Eisleben, Stollberg, Nord-
hausen, Erfurth, Weimar, and the districts infected with
Carlstadt's doctrines, Orlamunde, Kahla and Jena, disregard-
ing all personal danger; and he twice nearly lost his life,
preaching everywhere the obligation of submission to " the
powers that be," and generally with the happiest results.
On the 3rd May he was again at Weimar, on the 4th at
Seeburg, whence he wrote to Ruhel the councillor of the
Counts of Mansfeld, by whom he had been consulted on his
masters' account as to the proper mode of dealing with the
infuriated peasantry. " The peasants/' he wrote, " are robbers
and murderers : they have grasped the sword in wanton
bloodthirstiness, wishing to drive out princes and nobles,
and to establish a new order of things, for which they
have no command, might, right, or precept from God.
Mildness towards them is therefore most unseasonable."
But before this advice could have reached Count Albert, he
had already, with sixty horsemen, dispersed a large body of
peasant insurgents at Osterhausen, putting two hundred of
64 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
]525. them to the sword. But when he had reached this point in
his missionary tour Luther was recalled to Wittenberg by a
messenger suddenly despatched to him with melancholy tidings.
The communication which thus abruptly called Luther and
Melancthon home was the alarming illness and approaching
end of Frederic the Wise of Saxony, who was anxious before
leaving the world to receive from Luther's own lips the con-
solations of religion. The Reformer returned to Wittenberg
with all speed, but it was not permitted him to speak with
Frederic again on earth ; indeed, the messenger had scarcely
summoned Luther to the death-bed of his prince before death
itself had rendered the summons useless. All, however, had
been peace in the chamber of the dying Elector. On the 4th
May he had written by an amanuensis his last political man-
date, addressed to his brother. It had reference to the
demands of the peasantry, and directed Duke John to use all
forbearance and mildness towards them, and to remit the
duties on wine and beer. " Be not afraid," he added ; "our
Lord God will richly and graciously compensate us in other
ways." In the course of the evening Spalatin entered the
apartment, and was warmly welcomed by his old master with
the words, " It is right that you should come to see a sick
man." The interview lasted till eight o'clock, and exhibited
the serenity of the Elector's mind in a remarkable manner,
and the composure, under the influence of Divine grace, with
which he regarded the peculiar trials of the period. His low
chair was rolled to the table, and placing his hand in Spala-
tin's he spoke for the last time of the things of this world, of
the peasant insurrection, and the Reformation, and Martin
Luther. But all was clear and easy to his apprehension,
1 ' for the providence of God would be sure to bring everything
to a happy issue in the best way." Amongst other remarks
he repeated an observation of Luther's, expressing his cordial
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK. 65
assent to it, that " as a prince must be guilty of a great deal 1525.
of wrong unwittingly, he ought to be extremely diligent to do
a great deal of good wittingly." On the morning of the fol-
lowing day he confessed himself, and then received the Lord's
Supper in both kinds with such fervour of devotional spirit,
that those who were present were dissolved in tears. After
this his attendants and servants were called into the room,
and he addressed them in the following words : " My dear
children, I entreat you, for God's sake, if I have done any
injury to any of you, in word or deed, that you will graciously
forgive me, and that you will implore others for God's sake
to do the same." After bidding them all farewell, he turned
from worldly things to the consideration of his approach-
ing dissolution, and took into his hands the treatise of
Christian Consolation, which having been requested first of
Melancthon and then of Luther, in vain, on their refusal, had
been composed for his use by Spalatin, which was worn by
his hands, and which he was anxious to peruse once again.
Spalatin, however, entered the room, and seeing how unequal
he was to the self-imposed task, read it to him. The business
of the will now demanded attention, and when such arrange-
ments as he desired had been effected, he seemed to grow
suddenly much feebler, saying, with a sigh, in considerable
pain of body, " I can now do no more," and very shortly
afterwards, without any struggle, he peacefully breathed his
last about two o'clock in the afternoon. His physician, bend- May 5.
ing over him, was first conscious that the great change had
taken place, and exclaimed, " He was a child of peace, and he
has died in peace."
The character of Frederic is best displayed by events
already recorded. His liberality to the poor, which was so
bountiful that he once observed of a person whose character
was the theme of conversation, " He cannot be a good man,
VOL. II. F
66 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. for he is not kind to the poor folk" — and his fondness for chil-
dren, whom he delighted to gratify with the present of play-
things, showed his amiable disposition as much as the affec-
tion with which his subjects regarded him proved his public
worth. The Reformation of Luther had produced a gradual
but a decided change in all his religious views. This, as
Seckendorf remarks, was particularly observable in his treat-
ment of his two illegitimate sons, and in the moral strictness
of the latter part of his life. The zealous Papist who went
on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and sent far and wide
to gather relics for his cathedral church, latterly became
a constant student of the Scriptures, and was accustomed to
say that " the Word of God ought to be pure as an eye."*
No one had laboured more assiduously to establish consti-
tutional government in Germany, but this day-dream of
his life had turned out a failure : his own schemes, how-
ever, had not been more signally disappointed than the
purposes of God had been eminently fulfilled in him. His
character peculiarly adapted him to be the nursing father of
the Reformation ; and although his advances in the evangelical
faith were made with the caution and prudence of his charac-
ter, his summoning Luther to his death-bed, and his last act
of receiving the communion in both kinds, cannot leave a
doubt as to the religious principles in which he died. " Oh,
bitter death ! " Luther exclaimed, on receiving the mournful
intelligence, " not to the dying, but to those who are left
behind ; " and he addressed consolatory letters, both to the
new Elector and his son John Frederic, to remind them that
" affliction is the school wherein God trains his children, that
* On the margin of Frederic of Saxony's Bible was written with his
own hand — " Verbura Dei manet in aeternum " — The word of the Lord
abidethfor ever ; which his successors took as their motto, and bore on
their banners. — See Juncker's "Luther," pp. 66-71.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 67
their faith may not be iu tongue or in ear, but in the ground 1525.
of the heart. The departed Elector was in act, as in name,
a lover of peace."
On the 9th May the corpse was conveyed from Lochau to
All Saints Church, Wittenberg. A funeral service, stripped
of every superstitious usage, was employed on the occasion ;
and then Melancthon, standing by the body, delivered the
funeral oration in Latin ; after which Luther from the pulpit
addressed the immense crowd who filled every part of the
cathedral, in German, taking for his text 1 Thess. iv. 13-18.
The next day the same service was performed again, and the
body was lowered into its tomb in front of the altar ; the whole
concluded with another sermon from Luther on the same text.
Immediately on his return to Wittenberg, Luther continued
his endeavours to still the popular commotion, using his pen
as energetically as he had previously laboured in the same cause
with his tongue. He had before published "A faithful Admoni-
tion to all Christians to beware of Sedition and Rebellion," to
which he had been urged by an appeal made directly to him
from the peasantry to espouse their cause; but he now re-
viewed the entire case, as between the nobles and the peasants,
in a book divided into three chapters, and entitled, " An Ex-
hortation to Peace on the Twelve Articles of the Peasants of
Suabia." This, however, was rather the subject of the first
chapter, which thus gave its name to the whole. The second
chapter was employed in a refutation of the Twelve Articles
of the Peasants ; and the third contained an admonition to the
princes and the peasants of their respective errors and rela-
tive duties. To the claim of the people to appoint their own
pastors, he objects that it could not be allowed if the right of
patronage is vested in the magistrates. To the refusal to pay
the small tithes, he answers that the settlement of that ques-
tion is no business of the peasants but of the nobles ; and
f 2
68 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. against the argument that serfdom is contrary to Scripture,
he alleges the examples of Abraham and the patriarchs, and
the precept of Paul, " Servants, be obedient unto your own
masters." In the impartial spirit of a mediator, he concludes
his address by frankly reproving the princes for their pro-
hibition of God's Word, and the heavy burdens imposed on
their subjects, the peasants for their rebelling against their
masters. To either party, he says, the contest must be an
awful one ; for if the princes would defend their intolerance
and cruelty, they are acting against God ; and in drawing the
sword at all, the peasantry are guilty of a crime everywhere
loudly condemned in the Scriptures.
When he wrote this book, Luther had not received accounts
of the bloodthirsty cruelty in which the peasantry were revelling
in Franconia, where one deed had been enacted of such an
atrocious dye, that it stands out in individual prominency
amidst the records of the horrors even of this period. On
Easter Sunday, the 16th May, a band of peasants advanced
against the town of Weinsberg, which was held out against
them by the Count of Helffenstein, at the head of a body of
seventy knights. The garrison were confident in their re-
sources, but the populace, who in most towns sided with the pea-
santry, opened communications with the insurgent force, and
by secret means admitted them into the town. The Count of
Helffenstein was seized by the rebels, and a line of men being
drawn up with lances extended, he was thrust, to the sound of
music and shouts of exultation, on the spear-points, and
thus inhumanly put to death. His wife, with her little
son in her arms, sued upon her knees, with all the violence
of female grief, that her husband's life might be spared, but
her entreaties only aggravated the rage of the rabble.
The recital of this tale of horrors turned all the milk in
Luther's nature to gall, and he forthwith published another
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 69
book, written in a very different temper from the preceding, 1525,
and entitled, "Against the plundering, rioting, and murdering
Peasants, who, under pretence of the Holy Gospel, rebel
against their Superiors." It combated on scriptural grounds
the notion advanced by the peasants that " goods are common,"
and branded with just reproaches the iniquity of veiling the
most abominable crimes under a pretended regard for God's
Word and the love of the Gospel. " The peasants had broken
their oaths to their lords ; they had robbed, burnt, and de-
stroyed castles and monasteries ; for these and other inhuman
atrocities they were to be struck down without compassion
by all true men, as though they were mad dogs ; and such
only were to be spared as had been ensnared into guilt by the
craft of demagogues." The impetuosity of the Reformer's
nature, hurried on by detestation of cruelty, appeared in
every line of this treatise ; its severity gave umbrage to many
of his friends ; so much so, that Luther felt himself called
upon to defend its language, which he did in an apology to
Caspar Muller. " Those/' he said, " who refrained from
plain speaking, or palliated the enormities of the peasantry,
were their partners in iniquity." And he wrote to Amsdorf
that "he had rather all the peasants should be slain, because
they had grasped the sword without authority from God, than
the princes and magistrates, who, guilty as they were, yet
bore the sword of God."
Happy was it for Germany that, at this crisis, it possessed
amongst its princes one who brought into the field the same
determination, and wielded his sword with the same ardour,
with which Luther fulminated his addresses from his celL
The new convert to the Gospel, Philip of Hesse, who had
been the chief instrument in the overthrow of Sickingen, had
now united his forces to those of the Elector John, Duke
George of Saxony, and Henry of Brunswick. On the 15th
70 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. May they came upon the rebel camp at Frankenhausen,
where Munzer presided in person. A kind of barricade had
been formed round the encampment, with waggons and such
incumbrances as were likely to prove an obstacle to an attack.
The princes sent to the peasants to demand their surrender,
and on that condition promised them mercy ; but Munzer had
sufficient influence to have the herald who brought this over-
ture put to death. He taught them to expect a miraculous
deliverance, and pointing to a circle round the sun, which
resembled the device borne on their banners, declared it was
God's standard lifted up in heaven for their rescue. As
for the cannons which the princes had arranged against
the position, he averred that he would catch the balls in his
hands. He exhorted the multitude to await the shock of
their opponents unterrified, with the singing of hymns, whilst
"the sword of the Lord and of Gideon" fought for them.
But on the very first onset the people fled on all sides in the
utmost hurry and confusion; and amongst the foremost
Munzer himself, who took refuge, it was commonly reported,
to mark more pointedly the Divine retribution, in a convent,
but really in a private dwelling-house, whence he was dragged
out by the pertinacious search of his pursuers. The carnage
was terrible; all within reach of their weapons were cut down by
the soldiers. Munzer himself was committed to the custody of
Duke George and Ernest of Mansfeld — the latter of a different
family from Luther's friends, and a Papist — who subjected him
to an examination, but not of so rigid and strict a kind as Luther
could have wished, in his anxiety to free the Reformation from
the least imputation of connexion with the seditious spirit of
Munzer and his partisans. Munzer and an ex-monk Pfeiffer,
who had acted as his second in command, were both executed.
Pfeiffer remained to the last firm in his denial of Popish
doctrine ; but Munzer exhibited a mingled picture of brutality
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 71
and cowardice in his last moments. He laughed at the 1525.
bloodshed which he had caused; "the peasants," he said,
" would have it so :" he received the Sacrament in one kind,
and declared that he died in the Catholic faith. In this
massacre rather than encounter, about 5000 peasants were
slain, and ten days later Mulhausen surrendered to the May 25.
princes.
Philip of Hesse was now in a condition to move his forces
into Franconia, whither George Truchsess also, who had
partly subdued, and partly come to terms with the rebels
in Suabia, had pushed on the troops of the Suabian League.
With united forces they came to the relief of the Castle of
Wurzburg, which had still been able to keep the insurgents
at bay, after they had forced almost every other strongly
fortified place in the Duchy of Wurtemberg and Franconia
to a capitulation. Their combined forces compelled every
stronghold along their line of march to surrender: they
fell in with a band of peasants on the Miihlberg, who
had barricaded their post with waggons, and put them
to the rout with great slaughter; they next conquered an
insurgent troop who had moved from their position near
Wurzburg under a false report of victory ; and on the 7th
June the town of Wurzburg was in their hands. The re-
maining insurgency was easily put down, now that its chief
seats had been captured, and its best and largest bands routed
or slain; and before the beginning of July, the veteran
George Frundsberg having hastened from Italy, and added
his counsel to the arms of Truchsess, the outlying districts
had for the most part been tamed into submission, or pacified.
On both sides the enormities of this war were frightful.
In Franconia alone 300 castles and monasteries were burnt
to the ground; and it was computed that, in all, as many
as 100,000 peasants perished. The guilt of the insurrection
72 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. was of course laid at Luther's door by the Papists; Luther
himself attributed it to the harshness and exorbitant rapacity
of many of the nobles, especially the prelates, and to their
prohibition of the Word of God. That the Reformer's mode
of reasoning was the more correct is demonstrated by the
facts that, in the districts under ecclesiastical rule, where the
persecution of the Lutherans had been the most bitter, as in
IVanconia, for instance, where the ecclesiastical possessions
were very large, and in Wurtemberg, which was governed by
Austria, the seditious spirit was the most violent and san-
guinary; whilst the Saxon Electorate, although surrounded
in all its borders with a circle of fire, escaped unscathed.
The war resulted so far in benefit to the Reformation, that
many of the prelates came forth from the ordeal with their
power abridged, and their resources crippled. In many cases,
cities, towns, and districts had effected compacts by which
greater individual freedom was secured ; and in other cases,
even Popish nobles, the Dukes of Bavaria for example, had
taken advantage of circumstances to extend the temporal
authority at the expense of the ecclesiastical.
At first, however, it seemed as if the eruption of the popular
volcano had swallowed in its sanguinary abyss the cause of
spiritual freedom. In the Popish territories the persecution
was renewed with aggravated fury ; and when some fell vic-
tims to it, who had not in any way been implicated in sedi-
tious enterprises, ' ' Never mind," it was said, " they are
Lutherans, and that is crime enough." In "Wittenberg,
indeed, the progress of the Reformation continued unchecked,
and on the 14th May, George Rorarius, whose services had
been considerable in the translation of the Bible, was set
apart to the ministry, simply by the imposition of the hands
of the Presbytery, being the first who was ordained according to
the model prescribed by Luther in his treatise on ordination.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 73
But against the Reformer the loudest outcries resounded from 1525.
all sides, on account of his last vehement declamation against
the peasants, " My book," he wrote to a friend, " has greatly
offended the rustic faction, but if it did not offend them, it
could not please me. How they betray, what it was they sought
for in the Gospel !" The loss, too, of Frederic the Wise at such
a conjuncture was a change in the political world, the influence
of which could not be foreseen. His successor, the Elector
John, had defeated a body of the peasant insurgents on the
Bidberg, near Meiningen, and had signalized his victory by
clemency, in obedience to the dying injunctions of his brother.
He was inferior to Frederic in abilities. Overtures were at
once made to him, and also to the Landgrave of Hesse, by
Duke George, who was resolved to try his utmost to convert
the zeal they had shown against the rebellion into a channel
hostile to all religious innovations. And he certainly had a
specious ground of support to his arguments. "Look/' he
said, " at the carnage of the battle-fields, and there see what
Luther has done." At first, the two princes made little reply
to these solicitations. They had met at Wurzburg on the
20th March, principally to concert measures against the
insurgents ; but their conference had been communicated to
Luther and the Wittenberg Doctors, and it was with extreme
joy that John Frederic related to Dolzig, the Marshal of
Saxony, the strong words which had fallen from the Land-
grave in this interview. "I had rather lose body, wealth,
dominions and everything, than abandon the Word of God."
Philip of Hesse, prior to the overthrow of the peasants, had
even laboured to bring over his father-in-law, George of
Saxony, to his own religious views, but had been met by the
answer, " We shall know who is right a hundred years hence."
The marked antipathy which had been displayed in the
recent peasant insurrection against the rule of the ecclesiasti-
74 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. cal princes was inclining, at this time, the Cardinal Arch-
bishop of Mentz to follow the example of his cousin, Albert of
Prussia, and to convert his archiepiscopal into a temporal elec-
torate. This design was communicated to Luther by Ruhel,
the councillor of the Counts of Mansfeld and a member also
of the Council of Albert ; and, seizing at once the opportunity
thus opened, the Reformer, on the 2nd June, wrote a letter
to the Archbishop, which he gave him the liberty, if he
pleased, of making public, earnestly exhorting him to the step
which he had in contemplation. " God has declared," he wrote,
" ' It is not good that the man should be alone ; I will make him
an help meet for him : ' when on the last day we shall all stand
before His judgment throne, He will say to each one of us,
* Where is thy help meet ? ' I speak of an ordinary man, who
is not the subject of a miracle, and transformed into an
angel." And the next day Luther wrote also to Ruhel, " If
my marriage should prove a strengthening to his Electoral
Grace, tell him that I am ready to set him the example, for
1 purpose, before quitting this world, to place myself in the
estate of matrimony, according to God's requirement." But
notwithstanding Luther's zeal his exhortations had no effect
upon Albert of Mentz : the design passed from his mind as
the popular tumult subsided, and the next fact to be recorded
of him will be, that the Popish League succeeded in drawing
him completely into its net.
Luther's own marriage, from an early date in the spring,
had been a frequent topic of jesting in his correspondence,
until at last the jest grew into earnest. Somewhile before, an
exhortation had been addressed to him by Argula von Staufen,
the christian heroine of Ingoldstadt, herself a married woman,
to put the seal by his own example to his doctrine of matri-
mony; bat he had replied to her in these terms: "1 am a
creature in the hands of God, whom he can kill or make
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 75
alive, change or rechange, every hour of the day ; but iu my 1525.
present state of mind I shall not take a wife. I hope rather
that God will not suffer me to live much longer/' But on
the 25th April we find him writing to Spalatin in a somewhat
different strain. " Why do not you proceed to marriage ? I
have urged so many to the step that I am almost moved to
it myself." "It is singular," he wrote a little later, con-
tinuing his observations on the same subject, " that inditing
so much on matrimony, and being forced constantly into
female society, I have not become a woman myself, or at
least married one. And yet, with feelings so much averse
as mine are from wedlock, I shall perhaps be beforehand with
many of you who have been on the eve of marrying a long
while. I say this to urge you to push the matter beyond a
joke." Indeed, most of Luther's intimate friends were already
married men, or on the point of becoming so. He had him-
self bestowed the nuptial benediction on Wenceslaus Link ;
and Spalatin was deferring his own marriage from month to
month only out of regard to the Elector Frederic, who, feeling
himself gradually sinking, and having been long accustomed
to Spalatin, could not bear the thought of a new secretary in
his room. But soon afterwards the Prior himself of the
Augustines of Wittenberg entered the married state, and left
Luther alone in the desolate convent. Still the terms on
which he wrote of matrimony were in a tone of jesting. " I
have been given in marriage to three women already; but
two of them are now wedded to others, and the third I only
hold by the left arm." This third, however, was not Catherine
von Bora, who alone remained unmarried of the nine nuns
who had escaped from Nimptsch ; for she had been offered
first to Baumgartner, and, on impediments occurring to pre-
vent her union with him, to Dr. Glatz of Orlamunde. If
Luther himself felt any predilection for Kate it was chiefly
76 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. shown by his more frequently making her the subject of his
jests in Wittenberg society than others, and jokingly calling
her " his Kate." And there was nothing but this joking, by
no means an unusual thing with Luther, to prepare the public
mind for the information, which, writing to Ruhel from See-
burg, in the midst of the peasant riots, he abruptly gave him,
" I shall yet take my Kate to wife before I die."
The fact is, that Kate herself all on a sudden adopted a step
which determined Luther as suddenly to a resolution quite
contrary to his long and strongly expressed intentions. Kate
sought an interview with Amsdorf, on the subject of her own
contemplated marriage, and stated that t( she knew Luther
was intent on uniting her to Dr. Glatz of Orlamunde, but
that she would never consent to marry him ; she did not like
him. She was quite ready to marry Amsdorf or Luther him-
self, but she would have nothing to say to Dr. Glatz." These
words were reported to Luther by Jerome Schurf, accom-
panied by the entreaty on his own part, and that of his other
friends, that Luther would not be moved by the message, and
would by no means think of marrying at such a time. When,
however, he next saw Kate, he reprimanded her for the lan-
guage which she had used. She hung down her head and
blushed; and Luther, under the influence of her previous
words, or present looks, consented to relieve her from her
embarrassment and stand himself in the place of Dr. Glatz.
As for the objection interposed by the condition of the
times to any project of matrimony, motives of such a kind,
instead of dissuading, forcibly impelled him, from the peculiar
qualities of his own character, to enter the marriage bond
with, as little delay as possible. His conduct in the matter of
the peasant insurrection had subjected hitn to popular obloquy.
Most persons would have thought it very unwise to afford
fresh ground for calumny. The malice of persecution had
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 77
gained a fresh edge from the taunts against the Reformation 1525.
which the peasant riots had furnished. Duke George threat-
ened to tear him away from the midst of his Wittenberg
adherents, and wreak his just vengeance on him, as he had
done on Munzer. But Duke George, the malice of persecution,
and popular obloquy, were to Luther's apprehension so many
forms of Satan's wrath. He was, therefore, according to his
settled habit and principles, determined to spite openly and
deliberately the arch enemy. In his own language, " his
marriage would make all the angels smile and all the devils
weep." And as he, moreover, believed his death to be very
near at hand, he felt it to be the more incumbent on him to
lose no time in obeying the behest of Scripture and leaving
the world the benefit of his final example.
Accordingly, on the 11th June, Trinity Sunday,"* in the
evening, Luther was united in marriage to Catherine von
Bora, by the pastor Bugenhagen, in the house of Reichen-
bach, the town clerk, who had been constituted Kate's guar-
dian, and in the presence of two witnesses, Luke Cranach the
painter, and Dr. Apel the lawyer. On the 15th June, Luther
says, in a letter to Ruhel, " I have made the determination to
retain nothing of my papistical life ; and thus I have entered
the state of matrimony, at the urgent solicitation of my
father." The purport of the letter was to invite Ruhel to the
marriage feast, which was intended to be given on Tuesday
the 27th June, and at which the old couple from Mansfeld,
* Mathesius and Melancthon both agree in this date. Spalatin, on
the contrary, states that the marriage took place on the 13th June :
and on the espousal-ring, preserved at Berlin, a ruby set in gold, it is
stated that the latter date is marked. On this and another nuptial
ring, inscribed with D. M. L. and K. V. B., preserved at Helmstadt,
gold set with a ruby and a diamond, and so made as to become two
rings at pleasure, see Walch. XXIV. pp. 147, 148.
78 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. John and Margaret Luther, were to be present. As Ruhel
was wealthy, it was intimated that any present he might
choose to bring with him would be acceptable. Wenceslaus
Link was also invited to the wedding entertainment, but, as
he was poor himself, it was insisted that he should bring no
present. Spalatin was to come himself, and send some veni-
son. Amsdorf also was to be one of the wedding guests. It
is not surprising that the world was exceedingly startled by
the sudden announcement of this marriage. The Papists
vociferated the charge of incest against the Reformer. "A
monk himself, he had married a nun ! from such a union
Antichrist was to spring ! " " How many Antichrists," Eras-
mus exclaimed, " must there not be then in the world
already ! " But not only was the world up in arms : many
of Luther's chosen friends, amongst them Melancthon him-
self, deeply regretted the period which had been selected for
the marriage of the greatest of the Reformers. The world's
censure Luther cared not for : it was, on the contrary, a
proof to him that his purpose had been answered, and Satan,
speaking by the month of his organs, overflowed with wrath
at his bold defiance of his power; but he was dejected by
Philip's expressions of disapprobation. But Melancthon, when
he observed that his judgment weighed heavily on Luther's
spirits, with the true kindness of a friend changed his tone,
and, as the step was now irrevocable, consoled Luther under
the reproaches of many of his other friends, and vindicated
his conduct publicly to the world.*
* Melancthon's letter to Camerarius is the best commentary on the
whole transaction. (See Bret. II. p. 754.) "It may seem strange,"
he says, "that Luther should marry at such an unpropitious time,
when Germany has especial need of his great and noble mind. But I
think the case was as follows. You are aware that Luther is far from
being one of (hose who hate men and fly their society. You are ac-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 79
The Augustine convent became the residence of the newly- 1525.
married pair, which thus itself afforded an image of the
blessings of the Reformation on the conditions of social life :
the cloisters, which a few years before had sheltered in ease
and laziness a flourishing society of monks, echoed ere long
to the voices of a numerous family of happy children. Luther
was himself forty-two years of age, and Catherine twenty-six,
at the period of their union. The Reformer did not pretend
to any ardour of youthful attachment. " I am not on fire
with love," he said, " but I esteem my wife." He lived,
however, with his Kate in the utmost harmony, and in the
enjoyment of more conjugal bliss than falls to the ordinary
lot of married existence. He smiled at being told that he had
sunk into a private station, and from a hero had degraded
himself to a common-place character. " It is enough forme/'
he replied, " that I have obeyed God's command." The calum-
nies which the Papists circulated, without stint or conscience,
relative both to Luther and to Kate, on the opportunity thus
offered them, they lived to disprove by the whole tenour of
their conduct during the twenty years of their union.*
The first application which Luther preferred to the new
Elector was in behalf of the University of Wittenberg. The
League of Popish princes had been successful in recalling from
it, by the manifesto which they had issued, such students as
quainted with his daily habits, and so may conjecture the rest. It is
not to be wondered at that his generous and great soul was in some
way softened."
* The portraits of Kate in her Life by Hoffmann, in Juncker and
elsewhere, are all from originals by Luke Cranach, and agree in repre-
senting her with a round full face, a straight pointed nose, and large
eyes. Komanist writers generally describe her as very beautiful, and
Protestant as rather plain. Erasmus wrote, " Lutherus duxit uxorem
puellam mh*e venustam, ex clara familia Born?e, sed, ut narrant, indo-
tatam."
80 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. had repaired to it from their own dominions ; the professors
were very badly paid; and Melancthon himself was con-
tinually invited, with the promise of a larger stipend, to other
universities, and was only retained in his post by his own
strong sense of honour and duty. Others of the professors
were already dispersing in various quarters on labours of
evangelization : Caspar Cruciger had undertaken academi-
cal duties at Magdeburg ; Bugenhagen had been invited to
Dantzic. All these causes of anxiety conspired to render
Luther full of apprehension lest his university, whence the
Gospel had anew sounded forth to the world, should fall to
pieces by the neglect of its friends and the envy of its oppo-
nents. He therefore prepared a plan of university reform,
which he submitted to the new Elector, imploring him to
undertake in earnest the support and furtherance of the cause
of learning. The Zwickau fanaticism, and the fearful peasant
insurrection, had deepened the impression, both on his mind
and on Melancthon' s, of the prime importance and necessity
of education ; and he warned the Elector John that the realm
of ideas was so contiguous to that of politics, that princes
would be wholly unable to control their subjects without the
influence and support of men of learning. Some alarm was
felt lest the Elector John might imitate the conduct of his
brother Frederic in his declining years, and suffer the Uni-
versity of Wittenberg gradually to sink into decay; and
under this idea, on the 15th September, Luther addressed a
most urgent appeal to him in behalf of the University, which
immediately met with a response. He found, indeed, the
Elector John ready to co-operate with him to the fullest
extent in his educational scheme, and blessed God for a
prince as exactly fitted to foster the Reformation in its more
adult age as Frederic had been in its earlier stages. Two
electoral commissioners were despatched to Wittenberg in
THE LIFE OE MARTIN LUTHER. 81
October, to arrange the matter of University lectures, settle 1525.
the salaries of the professors, and institute such changes as
were desirable in the church ritual. The number of canon-
ries that were found to be filled up in the cathedral was
only eighteen out of eighty in all, and thus there was a large
fund at hand which could be devoted to the augmentation of
the salaries of professors. Luther, indeed, did not hesitate
to assert, that the care expended on the University at this
period saved it from total ruin. Since the end of March a
mass service arranged by Luther, partly in German, had
been used in the parish church ; and from the 29th October
it was determined that the mass should be solemnised in All
Saints Cathedral on Sundays in German ; on week days the
Latin formula was to be still adhered to. The two points of
university reform and church ceremonial having been arranged,
Luther did not allow the Elector's zeal to cool ; but, on the 31st
October, addressed a letter to him, praying that the subject of
the incomes of the parochial clergy, who, in many cases, were
in the extreme of poverty from the cessation of offerings and
the downfall of the system of the mass, might be carefully
considered, and a visitation of the whole Saxon Electorate for
this and other ecclesiastical objects be instituted. These
commissioners were to traverse the whole province, examine
into the conditions and characters of the clergy, obtain in-
formation on the ancient and present revenues of the
churches, and introduce such alterations in the services as
the Scriptures demanded. Somewhat later this commission
was appointed, and entered upon its most important functions.
But, indeed, so resolute was John himself in the cause he had
espoused, that at the end of August, before quitting Weimar,
he had warned the clergy to " teach the pure Word of God
only, without human additions." And when some of the elder
ecclesiastics inquired, " May we not say mass for the dead, or
VOL. II. G
82 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. consecrate water ? " " Everything," he replied, " must be
conformed to the Word of God." The civil government of
John was less strict than Frederic's had been, and the courtiers
took advantage of his mildness, and, in revenge for the over-
throw of the monasteries, which bowed the pride of many
noble houses, put such impediments as they could in the way
of the progress of the Reformation. They were even so hos-
tile to Luther personally, that he made it an excuse to Spa-
latin for not attending his marriage in December, that he
dared not travel, " for his Kate retained him with her tears."
But, notwithstanding the disposition of the Court, the new
Elector, as characterised by Luther, was " a most excellent
and christian prince." "Frederic," the Papists said, "did
at least keep the monk under some kind of check, but with
John he has everything his own way."
Luther was gratified by John's acceding to his request on
a very different subject, on which he certainly could not have
obtained the same favour from Frederic. It is not stated at
what time Carlstadt had quitted the safe asylum which he
had found with Luther during the riots of the peasantry;
but after he had done so, he could find " no rest for the sole
of his foot," but wandered about destitute of resources, and
uncertain of a night's lodging. In this wretched plight he
appealed again to Luther, and besought his supplication to
the Elector in his favour, that he might be permitted to
return and live within the bounds of Saxony. Luther ob-
tained from John all that Carlstadt asked, on the condition
that he would abstain from preaching and writing for the
rest of his life. Carlstadt accepted the condition, and took
up his residence first at Segren, and soon afterwards at Kem-
berg, and engaged in the cultivation of land, of which
Cochlseus states he quickly gave convincing proofs of his
utter ignorance. He abjured, in a letter addressed to the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 83
Elector, the religious opinions imputed to him, stating, that 1525.
what he had advanced relative to the Lord's Supper had been
with a view to eliciting information not to declare his own
belief, and he solemnly asseverated that he was quite innocent
of having ever intended to incite the peasants to revolt. This
retractation was published with a preface from Luther, who
was now fully satisfied of Carlstadt's innocence on his solemn
assurance, and requested the public to give the same implicit
credit as he had himself given to his protestations.
But Carlstadt's sacramental doctrines were rapidly spread-
ing, and the disunion thus caused in the reforming camp
occasioned Luther a great deal of uneasiness. The Papists
were laying hold upon such disunion as an argument with
the wavering and weak-minded against the Reformation.
Zwingle maintained that, whereas three bodies were spoken
of in Scripture as appertaining to Christ — the body in which
he suffered, his glorified body, and his mystical body, or the
Church — no one of these could be said to be present in the
Lord's Supper. He considered that the word "is," in the
proposition, " this is my body," was synonymous, with " this
signifies or denotes my body." GEcolampadius, agreeing
with Zwingle in his doctrine of the presence of Christ in the
Eucharist being only spiritual, explained the Saviour's words
by finding a metaphor in the word body. On the other hand,
Bugenhagen had defended Luther's view of the corporeal pre-
sence ; and Dr. Brentz, or some other theologian of distinc-
tion, had composed, on the part of fourteen preachers of Halle,
the " Syngramma" on the same side, which was translated
into German by Bugenhagen, and published with a preface
from Luther himself, who greatly admired it. The Strasburg
theologians occupied a middle position, and endeavoured to
prevent that separation in the reforming party which was so
much to be apprehended, by representing the divergency as
g 2
84 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. trifling and unimportant. But Luther himself would by no
means consent to such a view of the subject; he reprobated,
moreover, Zwingle's ideas on original sin, and declared that,
zealous as he was for peace, he would have no peace that was
not built upon truth, and that "either he or his opponents
must be the ministers of Satan — there could be no middle
ground."
For the present, however, he had enough upon his hands
in a controversy of a different kind. Erasmus had been gra-
dually separating himself more and more from the Lutheran
party, and had had some angry passages about his treatment
of Hutten, and various other proofs of timidity, which his
conduct had afforded, with Brunsfeld, the editor of the works
of Huss, Farel, and others of the more extreme section of the
Reformers. This, added to the entreaties of many crowned heads
that he would use his pen against Luther, had induced him
to compose a treatise on " the Freedom of the Will," in oppo-
sition to the evangelical tenet on the subject, which had been
so severely censured by Duke George, and by the Papist party
generally, as tending to confirm men in sin, and which natu-
rally enough grated very harshly on the notions of a ration-
alistic divine such as Erasmus. The controversy was much
the same as that which had before been waged between Eck
and Carlstadt in Pleissenburg Castle. Erasmus' work had
been published a year before, and a month after its publica-
tion, Luther had only read three or four pages of it. Indeed,
the controversy seemed very reluctantly entered into on both
sides. Erasmus professed that he had never written anything
so much against his free will, as his tract on Free Will ; and as
it was generally supposed the movement of his pen had been
facilitated by presents and promises, he was bantered by the
Reformers as a Balaam hired to curse Israel. Luther, on
his part, regretted to have to reply to " the so learned work of so
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 85
learned a man/' and declared, " I abhor the very name of free 1525.
will." He now spent some weeks, and, if Erasmus' statement
may be credited, his honey-moon, in composing his counter
treatise on " the Slavery of the Will." On no previous com-
position had he bestowed so much pains, and to none had he
imparted such a scholar-like finish, so that when Erasmus
perused it, he pronounced that it was too polished for Luther,
and must have been the joint labour of the Wittenberg Pro-
fessors. But Luther's own word is quite sufficient, and he has
declared that he was the sole author of it.* He started with
conceding to Erasmus the palm in eloquence and genius, but
his arguments he regarded as contemptible. They had been
already, he said, completely crushed by Melancthon's " Com-
mon Places," which seemed to him " not only worthy of
immortality, but of a place in the ecclesiastical canon."
Erasmus' matter, as contrasted with his diction, he compared
to peasepods or pieces of dung served up in vessels of gold
and silver. For himself, he acknowledged he was rude in
speech : he did not much value words : he had spent his time
in the study of things : and Erasmus' treatise was so void of
everything that could recommend it on this score to one who
enjoyed the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that from sheer
weariness of the subject he had long delayed answering it.
" Free will as to spiritual things," he continued, " is a mere
lie, and, like the poor woman in the Gospel, the more it is
patched up by physicians, the worse it fares." And he pro-
ceeded to intimate his conviction that Erasmus was really a
* There is, however, Melancthon's statement, also to the same effect.
He told Erasmus that the Scriptures were with Luther ; but he re-
gretted the bitterness of his tone, and that he had not treated the
prince of letters with the respect due to him. But that, on the other
hand, Erasmus had disfigured Luther very unfairly : and the Luther
who appeared in his violent writings and the real Luther were two
different persons. — See Bret. II. pp. 794 and 946.
86 THE LTFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. sceptic, who regarded Christianity as nothing higher than
philosophy, but laughed in his sleeve at all religion, like Lucian
or Epicurus. " But the Holy Ghost is no sceptic ; he writes on
the heart a great mighty certainty, that our very existence is
no greater certainty, nor that two and three make five, than
that God's Word is eternal truth." But Erasmus wrote, as if
the subject under discussion were " not such an awful thing
as the souPs salvation, but a business about eight or ten
guilders." Luther reiterated with copious scriptural proofs
what he had always taught, that the natural depravity of every
man is not only intense, but total ; that the first dawn of true
light in the soul is the entrance of grace, and salvation from
first to last is of God alone. If any spiritual freedom were
allowed to the will, then he felt that justification could not be
entirely of Christ through faith "the gift of God." And
thus he regarded, and Melancthon with him, this question on
the freedom or bondage of the will as underlying the whole
difference between the Christianity sanctioned by the world,
and the Christianity revealed in the Scriptures. " You have
struck at the throat of the beast," he told Erasmus. But the
sarcasms in which the work abounded wounded Erasmus'
pride severely ; so that, finding his remarks had cut deep,
Luther laboured subsequently to mollify the irritation by
amicable epistles.
It was ever his lot first to inflict the wound, and then to be
busy in applying the balsam to heal it. With a pen the most
bitter and caustic of any writer of the age, his heart was
without a tincture of malice or ill-will. On the 1st Sep-
tember, he addressed an epistle to no less a personage than
his old antagonist Henry VIII. of England, in a strain in
which honesty and humility were as conspicuous as his de-
votedness to the cause of Christ. An English version of the
New Testament was printing at Cologne by the toil and
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 87
endurance of Tyndale, who, it is averred by Foxe, had himself 1525.
an interview with Luther : and according to information
received from Christian II. of Denmark, some symptoms of a
leaning to the Reformation had appeared on the part of " Bluff
King Hal" himself. Without delay Luther addressed that
monarch, in order to erase from his mind any impressions of
a less propitious kind which his treatise might have infixed
and left rankling with its sting. He had published, he said,
his former book in a foolish and precipitate spirit, not by his
own spontaneous inclination, but at the instigation of those
who were ill-disposed towards his Majesty : and he had heard
that the treatise published under the name of the King of
England was really the production of the Cardinal of York
(Wolsey), " that pest of the realm." He therefore must im-
plore his Majesty not to harbour any resentment against one
like himself, the scum of men, and a worm who deserved to
be treated only Avith contempt. The cause of his using such
an abject style was that he had been apprised that his Majesty
was beginning to favour the Gospel. This was indeed a
Gospel, good news to him. He threw himself at his
Majesty's feet, and implored him by the love, the cross, and
the glory of Christ, according to the prayer of Jesus, to for-
give one who had trespassed against him. He would will-
ingly offer a recantation, and publicly do honour to his
Majesty by addressing to him a writing upon the Gospel if
he would grant him leave, whereby fruit would accrue to
God's glory. The doctrine of the Gospel was faith in Jesus
crucified and risen, and built on this charity towards one's
neighbour, obedience to the magistrates, and the crucifixion
and mortification of the body of sin. He trusted that Christ
would grant his Majesty of England grace to be enrolled
amongst the mighty princes who had embraced this doctrine.
The reply of Henry to this letter ungraciously harped on the
88 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. Reformer's recent marriage. " By heathen law the vestal he
had espoused deserved to be buried alive, and Luther himself to
be beaten to death with clubs." The time was not quite ripe
for England to thrust from her weary feet the shackles of
Popery, and take the lead, as a nation, amongst the vindi-
cators of God's Word. " I was deceived," Luther said, in
defence of his conduct on this occasion, " by Christian II. of
Denmark, who made me so brimful of hope in regard to the
King of England, that by writing submissively to him I
should advance the Gospel, that I was intoxicated and bewil-
dered with the prospect." If, however, his rashness is blame-
worthy, where, at least, could a man be found so little regard-
ful of his own reputation, in comparison with the cause for
which he desired to ' ' spend and be spent ? "
Undaunted by repulse, Luther addressed a conciliatory
letter on the 22nd December to his inveterate foe Duke
George of Saxony. It can hardly need to be stated that
there was never any retractation or compromise of doctrine in
the epistles of this nature which the Reformer was in the
habit of writing. So far was this from being the case in the
present instance, that a short time previously he had been
instrumental in accomplishing the release of nine nuns
from a convent in Duke George's territory. The brother
of Duke George, Duke Henry, had already been won to
the Reformation : but all the efforts of his son-in-law,
Philip of Hesse, to convert Duke George himself, had proved
entirely fruitless. On the contrary, he raged more than ever
against the truth ; he was the instigator of the Popish alli-
ance in the north of Germany ; and he had lately beheaded
two Lutherans at Leipsic. Perhaps it was this very dogged-
ness of purpose which inspired Luther with some hopes, even
yet, of his conversion : or, at all events, disposed him to
make one more trial whether he could not be checked in his
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 89
violent career by a gentle admonition. " It is declared," he J.525.
wrote to him, " ' the Lord killeth and maketh alive.' God
deals first sharply and harshly with men ; then like a friend
and father. The law comes first, the blessed Gospel follows.
I have given you a taste of hard and sharp writings, and then
presented friendly supplications. And I am resolved once more,
probably for the last time, submissively and gently to beseech
you. I am thinking that God may shortly call some of our
masters hence : Duke George or Luther, either must alike
go. Let me admonish you on the topic of your soul's salva-
tion. I fall with my heart at your Grace's feet, and in all
submission entreat you to cease from your undertaking of
persecuting my doctrines. Not that your persecution can do
me much harm : I can only lose a bag of worms which is
hastening to the grave every day. The persecution has, in
fact, benefited my cause ; and I have reason to thank my
foes. And were I not concerned for your soul, I should
implore you to go on persecuting ever more. But as I
know my doctrine to be true, I am constrained, at the peril
of my own salvation, to care, pray, and entreat for the soul
of your Grace. Look not at my mean person. God once
spoke by an ass. I pray your pardon whereinsoever I
may have offended you by word or writing ; and I freely for-
give your Grace all that you have done against me. I have
prayed for you fervently, and would not be compelled to pray
against your Grace. It is a very different thing to contend
with Munzer from contending with Luther. For the
prayers of me and mine are more powerful than Satan him-
self, otherwise i{ would have been done with Luther a long
while ago. I would have your Grace to answer me gra-
ciously and christianly, more with living act than with dead
letters." Duke George returned a prompt but bitter reply,
and accused the Reformer of having opened an asylum at
90 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. Wittenberg for all the refugee monks and nuns of Christen-
dom. But this did not dishearten Luther : his conscience was
satisfied ; and he said of both Henry VIII. and Duke George,
" I despise their god Satan and themselves. I have lost my
humility; but why should I not bear with Duke George
when I have to bear with my own Absaloms ? " From the
bowlings of the world without, he turned to the peace of his
own home. His Kate, as he said, was " either feigning, or
preparing really to fulfil, the denunciation in Genesis, ' In
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children/" He frequently
found amusement with Wolfgang, his servant, at the turning-
lathe : and was anticipating the pleasures of his garden in
the spring. To Link he wrote at the end of the year, " I
shall laugh at Satan and his members : send me some seeds
for the spring ; I shall attend to my garden, that is, to the
blessings of my Creator, and enjoy them in his praise."
A dispute had occurred between Duke George and John of
Saxony, which was, perhaps, among the reasons which had
prompted Luther to address the former. Schneeberg was
under the common jurisdiction of both cousins, and a preacher
there being accused of exciting the people to sedition, had
been removed at the desire of Duke George. Another
preacher, recommended by Luther, was installed in his place,
which gave the greatest offence to the Duke, and a corres-
pondence passed between him and the Elector John, in which
Duke George advised that Luther should be dealt with in the
same way as Munzer : and the Elector, after deliberating with
Philip of Hesse, replied that " he agreed with Luther only as
far as the Reformer agreed with the Word of God." This
was answered by actual threats on the part of Duke George.
A disagreement had also taken place between the cousins re-
garding the state of religion in the district of Sonnewald,
which was subject partly to the King of Bohemia and partly
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 91
to Duke George, where Minkwitz, a counsellor of the 1525.
Elector of Saxony, had established the Reformation.
But in fact George of Saxony seemed in a condition to
carry his threats into execution. A confederation for north-
ern, similar to that combined at Ratisbon for southern Ger-
many, had been formed under his auspices at Dessau, and the
Electors of Mentz and Brandenburg, and the Duke of
Brunswick had conspired to take up arms, if necessary, in
defence of the Papacy. Afterwards the alliance was renewed
at Halle, where Duke George and Henry of Brunswick met
in consultation at the residence of Albert of Mentz, and a
memorial was framed to the Emperor, which it was agreed
the Duke of Brunswick should in person convey to him to
implore the imperial intervention in repressing the Lutheran
" damnable doctrines " which were every day spreading. It
was at a most propitious juncture for the success of his mis-
sion that Henry of Brunswick arrived at Seville. The battle
of Pavia, which had left Francis I. a prisoner in the hands of
Charles, had been fought February 24, 1525 ; and a treaty
concluded with Francis, January 14, 1526, by which the
French monarch promised to defray half the cost of a war
either against the Turks or against the heretics, seemed to
leave Charles at liberty to direct his attention to the affairs of
Germany. The banks of the Guadal quiver were resounding
not only with the notes of triumph celebrating the rapid
successes of the imperial arms, but with the rejoicings of yet
more genial festivities preceding the union of the Emperor with
Isabella, sister of John III. of Portugal. At such a season
in the peculiar position of political affairs, the memorial of
the Pi'inces drew from Charles such assurances of sympathy
as might content the most ardent Papist. On the 23rd
March, 1526, eleven days after his marriage, Charles V.
addressed letters to the most influential Princes and States
92 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1525. who still adhered to Rome, expressive of his approbation of
their constancy : and he also notified, through the Duke of
Brunswick, to all the princes and nobles of the Papist party,
that he was shortly about to repair to Rome to concert mea-
sures with the Pope for the suppression of heresy, and after
that should himself pass on to Germany, and exert his utmost
power, in person, in behalf of the orthodox faith, and mean-
time if the Lutherans by guile, force, or the sedition of their
subjects, laboured to compel them to join in their impiety,
they were to unite their forces and stoutly resist them.
On the other hand, the princes of the evangelical party,
alarmed by the threats of their opponents, and warned by other
presages of danger, had formed a counter compact for their
common safety, and the maintenance of scriptural truth.
John Frederic, as the representative of his father the Elector
John, and Philip of Hesse, who ever since the conference at
Creutzburg had found their friendship becoming more and
more close, held a consultation on the 7th November, in
the Castle of Friedewald, in the Sullinger Forest, when it was
determined that their deputies should act in concert at the
coming Diet : and that the well-affected princes and citizens
should be invited to join their confederacy.
The Diet, which had been summoned to meet at Augsburg
by imperial letters dated May 24, but not received in Germany
till August 13, was at last opened on the 11th December, but
the only ecclesiastical prince who was present was the Elector
of Treves. The recent peasant war, and the dread of feudal
disturbances in the unsettled state of Germany, the absorption
of interest in the formation of religious leagues, all contributed
to make the members stay away, and to render the session of
the Diet little more than a state ceremonial. On the last day
but one of the year, the Diet was adjourned to meet at Spires
in the May following, when it was stated that the questions of
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 93
holy faith, justice and peace, should receive a full discussion ; 1525.
and meanwhile, the rescripts of the foregoing Nuremberg Diets
were re-enacted.
It was foreseen that the Diet to assemble at Spires must 1526.
have an important influence by its decision on the future of
Germany, and probably of the world, in regard to the great
religious controversy, which their enemies wished to crush
and tear from the hearts of men. The expected presence of
the Emperor seemed to render their peril more imminent and
palpable to the evangelical party ; and his known inclination
towards the side of the Pope, with whom he was in alliance,
inspired the Papist princes with sanguine expectations, and
drew from Duke George the inconsiderate boast that " he
might be Elector of Saxony any day he pleased." Had the
military enterprises of Charles been disastrous instead of vic-
torious, he might have trembled for his imperial throne,
instead of being in a position to strike terror into the
Lutherans : but the march of events — particularly if the crafty
temperament of the Emperor, which would naturally dis-
pose him to continue any intestine disagreement that might
conduce to his own supremacy, were left out of the account —
had been more adverse to the Reformation than could have
been predicted by the exactest calculation of probabilities.
In the intervening time the preparations of the Lutheran
princes for the coming struggle were matured. In the month
of February, the Elector and the Landgrave held a conference
at Gotha, when a defensive alliance in contemplation of their
mutual danger was agreed upon between them, which was
afterwards ratified at Torgau. They turned their eyes on
every side to find confederates. The Landgrave addressed
himself to the Electors of Treves and of the Palatinate, his
associates in the war with Sickengen, of both of whom some
hopes were entertained, more especially of the latter. But
94 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1526. they were deaf to his solicitations. The Elector of Treves
had accepted a pension from the Emperor, and the Elector
Palatine, whose secret wishes drew him to the Gospel, was
too weak and irresolute to risk the imperial displeasure. But,
notwithstanding this disappointment, the union of the evan-
gelical princes and nobles, who in politics had commonly fol-
lowed in the wake of Saxony, was concluded at Magdeburg
on the 12th June. The Elector John of Saxony and his
son John Frederic, Philip, Ernest, Otho, and Francis, Dukes
of Luneburg, Henry Duke of Mecklenburg, Wolfgang Prince
of Anhalt, and Gebhard and Albert, Counts of Mansfeld,
reciprocally engaged, " esteeming the Scriptures the greatest
treasure on earth, to preserve to their people the Word of
God, by aid of their substance, their lives, the resources of
their states, and the arms of their subjects, not trusting in
their armies but in the Almighty arm of the Lord." Two
days afterwards the city of Magdeburg joined the evangelical
alliance by an interchange of diplomas : and by a separate
treaty, dated from Konigsberg the 29th September, Albert,
the Duke of Prussia, entered into the same solemn covenant.
There was one, however, who kept still unfurled the ensign
of peace. " See," Luther wrote to Frederic Myconius,
about the beginning of April, " that the people strenuously
fight with faith and prayer to the Lord, that, overcome by the
Spirit, they may be compelled to observe peace in the flesh.
It is of the utmost moment to pray, for Satan is meditating
his wiles. We are in the midst of swords and the fury of
Satan." About the same time he wrote to Spalatin — " You
cannot credit what horrors Satan is plotting through the
agency of Duke George and the bishops. Unless God pre-
vent, the slaughter of the peasants will be but a prelude to
the ruin of Germany. I earnestly pray you to beseech with
all your might the Father of mercies to stay these plots, and
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 95
break the fury of Duke George, who is almost Satan himself, 1520.
and is so grieved that Luther should not be put to death, that
it is feared his grief may prove fatal to his life." It was
with undissembled displeasure that the Reformer perceived
preparations making for so fortifying Wittenberg that it could
resist a sudden attack. He had received intelligence of the
Popish conspiracy which had been concocted in the palace of
the Cardinal of Mentz, and informed Spalatin that, at the time
he was writing to him, a tract which he had indited against this
conspiracy was in the press. But the extent to which con-
federacies had been formed on both sides, must have been
unknown to him, as well as the more threatening compacts
which the Emperor had entered into with Clement VII.,
Henry of England, and the King of France, respectively, for
the effectual suppression of the Reformation.
The Bishops were beginning to raise their heads again.
The peasants had been quelled, and support seemed to be
tendered to the Papist cause by powerful princes who had
pledged their honour and resources to its defence. Luther
wrote a prologue and epilogue to a work consisting of a series
of representations of the dignitaries of the Romish Church,
with humorous allusions under the figures, to the pomp,
luxury, avarice, and licentiousness of the personages depicted.
At the beginning of the year the evangelical " Mass Book, and
Order for Public Worship," was published ;* but the Reformer
* The Preface speaks of the importance of a Catechism for children,
which he supplied a little later. " Christianity," he goes on to say,
" may all be put up in two bags — Faith and Love. Each bag has two
pockets. Into the first pocket of Faith children are to drop such texts
as, ' In sin did my mother conceive me,' and ' By one man came sin
into the world' — two Rhenish gold-pieces. The other pocket is for
Hungarian gold-pieces, such as, " Christ died for our sins,' and * Behold
the Lamb of G-od.' Into the first pocket of Love they are to drop
silver groschens, such as, ' Forasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least
96 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1526. did not desire the Latin formula to be entirely superseded,
which was not, he thought, without its utility in reference to
the instruction of youth : he even went still farther, and wished
that a Hebrew and Greek liturgy should be framed and some-
times used with the same object. Early in June he finished
his Psalter or version of the Psalms in German metre, and was
at that period busily engaged in a commentary on the pro-
phet Habakkuk. The sacramental dispute was continued
with a brisk exchange of controversial writings between the
partisans of Zwingle and Luther; but, although the latter
took a lively interest in this paper war, and regarded the
Swiss interpretation as an inspiration from Satan, he had not
leisure to add to the list of treatises with his own pen. He
addressed the Elector also in reference to the celebration of
the mass in the cathedral of Altenburg, which was still re-
tained, with other corrupt usages, against the urgent endea-
vours for its abolition made by Spalatin and the evangelical
preachers : but with much moderation he suggested a public
disputation, for the better instruction of the canons ; and
that for the present their ignorance should be tolerated. And
by a rescript of the Elector from Torgau, dated the 24th
June, such ministers as were incompetent for the office of
preaching were directed to read to their congregations the
Postils printed at Wittenberg. Luther's labour at this period
was continuous in finding schoolmasters and schoolmistresses,
and, above all, pastors, to meet the numerous applications that
reached him from all quarters.
Luther's private life was flowing with even and peaceful
tenour, and his garden was a principal source of amusement.
of these, ye did it unto me ; ' and into the other pocket Schrecken-
bergers, such as, ' If ye be persecuted for righteousness' sake, happy
are ye ! ' For, • If Christ became man to draw men to God, we must
become children to draw children to Christ.' " — Walch. X., p. 274.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 97
He had planted it, and erected a fountain to his entire satisfac- 1526.
tion, and invited Spalatin to be a witness of his happiness —
" Come and you shall be crowned with lilies and roses." A
vase had been presented to him, which excited the admiration
of a friend, to whom Luther, with his characteristic liberality,
at once gave it : the messenger was waiting to bear it away,
and the letter to accompany the present had been written,
when the vase could not be found : Kate, who had taken an
equal fancy to it, had found means of secreting it. From his
ample mansion the refugee was never excluded; and the
claims of hospitality and charity were never forgotten. In a
letter of this period he entreats the Elector to befriend some
Carmelite monks, who were aged and in great want, " one of
whom," he said, might " be their judge at the last day." In
another letter he implores the Elector's bounty in behalf of
his old schoolmaster, " whom he was bound ever to hold in
reverence." In the review of the salaries of the Professors,
Melancthon as well as Luther had been awarded 200 florins
(i. e., about £20) a year for lecturing in Greek and Divinity, a
sum which Philip scrupled to take, on the ground that, in his
feeble health, his lectures could not be worth it, and " the
post assigned him by God " was not to lecture in theology,
but in the classical languages : and Luther, by a direct appli-
cation to the Elector, took care that the scruples of his friend
should be satisfied, and the salary not lost to him. With
Carlstadt, the old intimacy had become so far renewed, that
Jonas, Philip, Luther, and Kate, stood sponsors to the ex-
Professor's son ; and after the baptism tasted his hospitality
at his residence, at Segren, beyond the Elbe. Thence,
shortly afterwards, Carlstadt removed to Berquiltz, near
Kemberg, not much more than a mile from Wittenberg ;
and Luther, whose forgiving disposition was easily changed
from thinking the worst to hoping the best, mentions him in
VOL. II. H
98 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1526. his correspondence of this period with kindness, and anticipates
his complete and settled amendment. In the next year Carl-
stadt petitioned the Elector to allow him to reside in Kem-
berg, as he could not endure the iniquity of the peasants in the
outlying hamlet.
The correspondence of the Reformer is no longer replete
with melancholy forebodings of death, and prayerful aspira-
tions for its relief. About Whitsuntide, as he informed his
friends, he expected to be made a father; and ere the child's
appearance, Gerbel of Strasburg, and Muller, Chancellor of
Mansfeld, were bespoken as godfathers, if the child should
be a boy, and likely to live. Amidst these domestic expec-
tations and household cares, the nature of Luther expanded
with all its genuine and warm-hearted German kindliness.
If a fit of spiritual despondency came over him Kate charmed
away the black mood by the solace of reading; if Duke
George scowled at him, or the " viper Erasmus" darted his
malicious tongue, he forgot both in Kate's smile. At length,
on the 7th June, just within the year from his marriage,
the event long expected took place, and a healthy boy,
" sound in every sense and limb/' was born to the rejoiced
father. He communicated the interesting intelligence to his
friend Uuhel the next day — " My dear Kate, of God's grace,
brought me a John Luther yesterday at two o'clock." John
was the grandfather's name, and had therefore been fixed
upon for his first-born son. In yet warmer terms he wrote
to Spalatin — " I have received from my most excellent and
dearest wife a little Luther, by God's wonderful mercy. Pray
for me, that Christ will preserve my child against Satan, who,
I know, will try all he can to harm me in him." There are
some complaints in Luther's letters, that at first the infant
did not obtain sufficient nourishment, and Kate had a de-
ficient supply of milk ; but, after a time, matters fell into
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 99
the right trim, and all went on prosperously. Profuse were 1526.
the congratulations and inquiries of friends, and Luther's
bulletins were singularly explicit. In answer to Spalatin's
good wishes, who was in expectation of a similar boon from
his partner, he wrote — " John my fawn, together with my
doe, return their warm thanks for your kind benediction ;
and may your doe present you with just such another fawn,
on whom I may ask God's blessing in turn. Amen."
h 2
100
CHAPTEE VI.
FROM THE 24TH JUNE, 1526, TO THE 3RD APRIL, 1530.
1526. The dangers which at this period of its career menaced the
reviving Gospel, according to the view taken by Luther, were
chiefly twofold. The Reformation had first seen the light,
like little Johnny Luther, in the Augustine Convent of Wit-
tenberg, and had been nursed amidst homely faces, books,
and poverty, until it had grown into reputation with the
world. But it had now been transferred to a new sphere, it
had passed to courts and palaces, it had become the subject
of the engagements and leagues of sovereigns, its defence had
been vowed by one of the most warlike of the German
princes : and it could not but be a matter of anxiety how it
would fare with the child of such lowly origin in the higher
air and soil to which it had been transplanted. Again, there
was an unhappy division in the ranks of those who had been
its earliest guardians : and whilst the Papists availed them-
selves of this disunion to throw discredit on the arguments
and claims both of the Lutherans and Zwinglians, the worldly
element, now in alliance with the Reformation, was seeking
to heal the breach, rather on account of the obstacle thus
opposed to secular interests, than from any true love of
Christian unity. There was, therefore, much to be feared
from a continuance of dissension, and yet more to be feared
from the worldly policy which aped Christian feelings and
motives for party and political ends. Alive to the hazards of
the period, and convinced that his own sacramental doctrine
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHKR. 101
was scriptural, Luther was sustained by faith in the divine 1526.
promises, and felt assured that Christ would be hidden only
for a time.
The Diet which had been appointed to be held at Spires in
May, was not opened until the 25th June. John of Saxony
entered Spires with a retinue of 700 horsemen; and his
style of living marked him out as the wealthiest and most in-
fluential Elector of the Empire. He had brought with him
as his chaplains, Spalatin and Agricola, who were sedulously
employed in proclaiming the Word of God, for the pulpits
of the city churches were barred against the evangelical
preachers; but this led to their desertion by the populace,
who assembled by thousands, every day, in the hotels of the
Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse, to hear the
Word of God and join in the Lutheran worship. It is men-
tioned, that on one Sunday as many as 8000 united in reli-
gious worship after the evangelical ritual. Tracts, too, from
Luther's pen were busily circulated in the city, and produced
their usual fruit in clearing the mind from prejudice, and in-
ducing the study of the Scriptures. Both the Elector John
and the Landgrave were sensible of the importance of their
position ; and whilst they discarded all attention to the Ro-
mish regulations about feasting and fasting, were strict in
requiring of their followers such demeanour as would not
bring dishonour upon the Gospel. And it was soon manifest
that the popular sympathy with the Reformation found a
powerful echo in the Diet itself. The Committees drew up
their several Reports : and the Report of the Committee of
Princes in particular, owing in some measure to the influence
of the Landgrave, who argued points of theological doctrine
with the Bishops, and easily confuted them, was singularly
favourable to religious freedom, and, amongst other things,
spoke of explaining Scripture by Scripture. But just at this
102 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1526. point, when everything was turning against Rome, Ferdinand
suddenly produced the instructions which he had received
from the Emperor, and which it had been left to his discre-
tion to publish or suppress ; and the harsh tenor of the im-
perial instructions excited mingled surprise and indignation.
The Lutherans now talked of quitting Spires without
delay; and the business of the Diet seemed likely to come
to a standstill. But quickly more cheering intelligence dis-
sipated this sudden gloom. It transpired that a common
Treaty of league had been entered into against the Emperor, in mutual
May 22. dread of his power, by Milan, Florence, Venice, Piedmont,
and France, and that Pope Clement VII. himself had ab-
solved Francis I. from the obligations he had incurred by the
Treaty of Madrid, and was the author and patron of this
" most holy confederation." Thus the relation of Charles
to the Papal See was unexpectedly and completely changed.
The new instructions issued by the Emperor to his brother
Ferdinand, under this influence of altered circumstances,
were diametrically counter to those previously despatched ;
they suggested the abolition of the penal clauses in the
Edict of Worms, and the submission of the Lutheran con-
troversy to the decision of a Council. The Pope, on the
other hand, had advanced so far in his enmity to Charles V.,
as to fix on his substitute to the imperial throne, and destine
William of Bavaria, whose ambition was unbounded, for the
supreme dignity. Ferdinand, using again the discretionary
power with which he was invested, suppressed his brother's
new instructions : having already incensed the Lutherans, he
dreaded in the present state of feeling the effect of alienating
the Papists also ; but the disunion which the rupture of
the Pope and Emperor had caused in the Papist ranks, and
the strong combination of the evangelical Princes, to which
the tone of public sentiment added great weight, naturally
THE LIFE OE MARTIN LUTHER. 103
led to a vote of the Diet on the question of religious tolera- 1526.
tion, to which Ferdinand himself, under the apprehension, as
Cochlaeus and Maimburg affirm, of tumult and sedition, felt
himself obliged to yield a temporary assent.
The Recess declared, that "until a general or national
assembly of the Church should be convened, each state
should live, govern, and bear itself, in such a way as it could
best answer to God and to the Emperor :" a decision, which
conferred its first legal settlement on the Reformation in
those States in which it had already been established, and
granted to other States the liberty of entering on similar
religious changes, as their inclination might prompt them.
History does not furnish many instances of a more signal
interposition of Providence in behalf of the Church of Christ :
for just at the moment when the Reformation was enveloped
with dangers, and there seemed no path of escape, a straight
road was opened before it, and Rome itself was made the
point of attack to the imperial resentment.
The Recess had scarcely been agreed upon when the Arch-
duke Ferdinand was hurried from councils to camps. His
brother-in-law, Lewis, the young King of Hungary and
Bohemia, flying before the arms of Sultan Soliman from the
fatal field of Mohacz, perished in a morass on the 29th Au-
gust. Ferdinand had an incontestable right to both thrones,
as far as treaties could be relied upon ; but Hungary was laid
claim to by John Zapolya, the "Woiwode of Transylvania, and
Bohemia had been swallowed, in anticipation, by the greedy
Dukes of Bavaria, and the resources of the French monarchy
were at the command of whatever competitors against the
claims of the House of Austria. Acting, however, with great
energy and prudence, Ferdinand secured his succession to both
kingdoms, and was very much indebted for his success to the
Anti-papist or Lutheran party. He was elected by the three
104 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK.
1526. Estates to the throne of Bohemia ; and although Zapolya
had actually been crowned King of Hungary, Ferdinand
succeeded in taking from him his strongholds, and driving
him beyond the borders, and was then himself crowned King
of Hungary in Stuhlweissenburg.
But the importance of these events was not appreciated at
the time : and from the extreme difficulty of communication,
and the mantle of mystery with which public affairs were
systematically shrouded, the progress of affairs at the Diet
was little known, and when the Decree was published, the
victory, which the evangelical party had gained, was very in-
sufficiently estimated. "I know nothing about the Diet/'
Luther wrote to a friend on the 11th August, "except that
the Bishops are labouring to restore their ancient sove-
reignty." "The Diet at Spires," he wrote to Link on the
28th, " is true to the old German fashion ; there is drinking
and gambling, but little else." There is no expression in the
Reformer's correspondence of gratitude for the triumph of
the evangelical cause at Spires, clearly as its value was recog-
nised in after years. Luther's mind was rather occupied with
dismal presentiments of approaching war. Wittenberg was
assuming the aspect of a garrisoned town : and he very much
disliked such a metamorphose. And when the question was
referred to him, whether, in his opinion, a defensive league in
behalf of the Reformation could be justified on grounds of
Scripture, he replied — " The Elector has no superior except
Csesar ; he may therefore resist his enemies, provided they
first attack him, and may use means for defending his sub-
jects ; but e they that take the sword, shall perish by the
sword.'" He exhorted the Elector John to break off all
alliance with the Landgrave, as soon as symptoms should
appear of his disposition for offensive warfare. But in a
treatise in answer to the question, "Can a soldier hope for
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 105
salvation?" he determined that to bear arms at the command 1526.
of the magistrate is not unlawful ; but " a soldier, if his cause
be just, may think of God and his soul without being dis-
mayed by his profession of arms/' and that " with a good
conscience he must make a better soldier."
His pen was actively employed on other subjects also,
but he granted the Papists, as Seckendorf observes, " a re-
spite this year." He followed up his commentary on Habak-
kuk, by a commentary on the prophet Jonah ; and then
commenced a commentary on Zechariah. At the same time
he was engaged in a commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes,
which he found an extremely arduous task, on account of the
difficult Hebrew idioms ; and when he had " overcome the
obstacles by the grace of God," and his exposition was ready
for publication, he withdrew it in deference to Brentz, whose
theological sagacity he greatly admired, and who had anti-
cipated him in a commentary upon the same book. The
Sacramental controversy next engaged his attention, ffico-
lampadius, whom he respected, and whose declension into the
sacramentarian heresy he lamented, had published an answer
to his preface to the Syngramma ; and Luther, regarding
this as a challenge, entered with zeal and joy on the work of
" professing to the world his faith," which, he said, he
" should have done long ago, had not leisure been wanting,
and Satan hindered him." " See what the Sacramentarian
arguments are ! " he wrote to Stiefel ; " Christ is at the right
hand of the Father, therefore he is not in the Sacrament :
the flesh profiteth nothing, therefore Christ is not in the
Sacrament ! How much safer to trust to the simple and
plain letter of Scripture, ' This is my body.'" He entitled
his tract — " Against the Enthusiasts, that the words of Christ
remain firm, 'This is my body.'" It was published in the
ensuing year.
106 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1526. The year was rich in pulpit discourses, in which he treated
likewise of the Sacramentarian topic; but he complained
that a coldness in spiritual things had crept over the Wit-
tenberg people; "they were lukewarm in the Gospel, and
seemed satiated/' But with less reason he complained of his
own supineness. " Pray for me/' he wrote to Hausmann,
" who am so torpid and cold : I know not how it is, whether
I am overborne by weariness, or oppressed by Satan, that I
do so little." Tidings now came in apace in anticipation of
events not far distant. It was reported that the Pope was a
prisoner in the hands of the imperial faction. The rumour
was premature ; but the Pontiff had written a severe brief to
the Emperor on the 23rd June, and had followed this up by
a milder brief the next day, in which he had implored Charles
to keep "the unbridled ambition of his partisans within some
bounds ;" and he had cited Cardinal Pompeo Colonna in par-
ticular to appear before him at Rome, under the most heavy
penalties, to answer for his impious conduct. The Cardinal
in reply entered Rome at the head of his troops on the
19th September, and forced Clement, who had fled to the
Castle of St. Angelo, to come to terms, and then retreated,-
carrying with him 300,000 ducats as booty. But Clement,
as soon as he was released from his immediate dangers, threw
his engagements to the winds, degraded Colonna, and ex-
communicated his whole family; and, after retaliating se-
verely on their lands, directed his forces against Naples,
which was at the same time menaced by the French fleet.
On the other hand, the excited temper of the Emperor was
exhibited, not only in his respective replies to the Pontiff's
two briefs, but in the letter dated the 6th October, which he
addressed to the Consistory of Cardinals, exhorting them to
admonish the Pope of his duty, and persuade him to con-
voke a Council; but, if he refused to do so, to convoke
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 107
a Council with all speed themselves. In the awful events 1526.
daily transacted, or rumoured, Luther was delighted to be-
hold signs that the end of the world was near at hand;
and he attributed the commotions and wars which were
shaking all Europe to the rage and fury of Satan, who
was conscious that he had but a short time. But notwith-
standing the variance of Pope and Emperor, persecution
had not relaxed its vigour, and the sword of Duke George
and other princes was continually dripping with fresh blood.
There is thus repeated allusion in Luther's commentaries on
Habakkuk and Jonah to the fate of persecutors, and the
true meaning of the Divine forbearance in suffering their
virulence to exhaust itself without check or restraint. " God/'
he wrote, in his characteristic style, " is a great cook : his
kitchen is vast : he fats for it great beasts, kings and poten-
tates ; he places them in rich pasturage, amid wealth, glory,
and pleasure ; he suffers them to exult and tyrannise over the
necks and bodies of his servants, as the daughter of Herodias
danced over the head of John the Baptist, and as the world
rejoiced when the Apostles mourned ; till at length all in an
instant destruction from God cometh."
It was a period when, in a peculiar degree, the combat be-
tween Christ and Satan was fought out, as in the primitive
days of Christianity, in the bosom of each family ; and father
and son, husband and wife were at variance, by their adhesion
to one or the other of two conflicting masters. Lewis, King
of Hungary and Bohemia, one of the persecutors of the
Gospel, had perished with the sudden stroke of destruction of
which Luther spoke; but his widowed queen, Mary, the
sister of the Emperor, had for some time been attached to the
Gospel, and had laboured to extend the knowledge of it in
her husband's dominions. The Turkish arms had driven her
for refuge within the walls of Vienna : and in the day of her
108 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1526. distress Luther presents to her his exposition of four con-
solatory Psalms— the 37th, 62nd, 94th, and 109th. "The
Holy Scripture," he told the afflicted Queen, " is a comfort-
ing Scripture, and teaches us patience, and to trust in the
true Father in heaven, and the true Bridegroom Jesus Christ,
who is our brother, our own flesh and blood, and to rejoice
with our true friends and companions, the dear angels, who
are round about us, and take care of us. It is hard to be so
early a widow, and to be robbed of a dear husband ; but the
Scriptures, especially the Psalms, will afford you much com-
fort, for they show the dear Father and the Son, in whom
certain and eternal life is hidden. Whoso sees and feels in
the Scriptures the Father's love towards us, can easily bear
any earthly sorrow : whoso feels it not, can never be truly
happy, though he swim in the abundance of worldly pleasure.
We should be more patient if we thought less of our light
crosses, and more of Christ's cross."
There is a letter of the Reformer at this period, which
allows an insight into his financial condition. His old friend
the ex-Prior of the Augustine Convent, had applied for a
loan of eight florins ; and in answer to this request, Luther
enters into a statement of his pecuniary circumstances. He
was in debt 100 florins ; three silver drinking cups, the pre-
sents of friends, were placed in pawn for the payment of a
moiety of this sum ; and another cup was in pledge for twelve
florins more of it, " due to Luke and Christian." In such an
embarrassed condition he was unable to do anything by loan
towards relieving the straits of another ; but he was willing
to do all that he could, and would use his influence to pacify
the Prior's debtors, if he wished him to do so, with the
utmost alacrity. " The Lord," he said, " is punishing me for
my imprudence, and then he will help me out of my diffi-
culties again." The imprudence thus chastened arose entirely
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 109
from a liberality which knew no bounds in relieving the 1526.
distresses of others. But poverty did not preclude great do-
mestic happiness. " Johnny/' Luther wrote to Spalatin, " is
cutting his teeth, and prattles pleasantly, in his way, to
everybody : Kate says, that he has taught her the joys of
matrimony, of which the Pope and his minions are un-
worthy."
The absence of the Elector John at the Diet had retarded
the execution of Luther's plan for the visitation of the
churches and parishes in his dominions by commissioners.
This obstacle was now removed; but a more serious one
remained in the opposition made to such a project by the
courtiers, who had, wherever they could, seized on the pro-
perty of the fallen convents with the greediness of harpies,
and were now most reluctant to have their depredations
checked, and themselves called to account. The tendency to
rapacity had been much increased by the mild and concilia-
tory rule of the Elector John, which had been so grossly
abused by many of his nobles as to cause Luther to exclaim
with vehemence, that " a tyrant alone was fitted to be the de-
pository of authority." " There are not a few," he declared,
" who with loud professions of zeal for the Gospel, are the
greatest enemies the Gospel has." But resolute in requiring
the execution of his plan, he wrote on the 22nd November, a
very strong letter to the Elector, requesting that a visitation
should be forthwith instituted of the parishes in his electorate
by four commissioners, of whom two should examine matters
of finance, and the other two investigate the characters of the
clergy, the condition of the schools, and the nature of the
doctrines in which the people were instructed. " He would
himself warrant," he told the Elector, "that if such affairs
were properly looked into, everything would thenceforward go
right with the peasantry, who had been left too often without a
110 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1526. clergyman or preacher, living like the sow." The nobility, he
warned his princes, were carving a goodly portion for them-
selves out of the convent wealth. But as this entreaty did
not accomplish all that Luther could wish, he took care to
bring the case in person before the immediate attention of
the Elector, when he happened to be, not long after, at Wit-
tenberg. He first addressed himself to John Frederic, who
expressed warm indignation at the rapine of the nobles ; and
then, overruling every objection which the domestic officers
of the Elector could interpose, he forced his way into John's
bedchamber, and laid before him, in a private interview of
some length, the fraudulent and griping selfishness of his
courtiers. Spalatin also, and the University, were stirred up
to intercede with the Elector for the same object : and under
the influence of these entreaties and remonstrances the com-
mission was appointed, and the visitation commenced the
following year.
Towards the close of this year the plague fell on Wit-
tenberg with more than ordinary severity; and continued
throughout the greater portion of the next year, increasing in
1527. virulence as the summer advanced. The opening of the new
year proved a season of sickness also to Luther himself. In
January he suffered much from hemorrhage ; and after that,
" a sudden collection of blood around the heart," as he de-
scribes the attack, produced such violent compressions as
almost extinguished life, when he was unexpectedly relieved
by drinking the water of the carduus benedictus.
The weakness consequent on this illness delayed for a time
his commentary on Zechariah ; but early in January his
treatise against the Enthusiasts appeared, which, he mentions
with lively joy, had the effect of " confirming many in the
true faith of the Lord's Supper." But all his spare time was
devoted to his German version of the Prophets ; and he was
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. Ill
now engrossed with the stud}' of Isaiah. A German transla- 1527.
tion of the Sacred Prophets had already heen published at
Worms, and in many respects was approved by Luther : but
the phraseology seemed to him less simple than the work
demanded in order to be generally useful, and he continued
his own version. His commentaries on the prophetical books
was a natural sequel to the work of translation. Cordially
enamoured of such peaceful theological researches, he was
rejoiced to forego controversy with the Romanists : and the
signs of the times seemed to him to dispense with the neces-
sity of returning to this old warfare. " Everywhere/' he
exclaimed, " the Pope is visited for his destruction : and
although persecution is raging on all sides, and many are
burnt, the end and hour of Antichrist approaches " But as
before, so now, he found his old opponents incapable of
observing silence. Emser, with equal mendacity and malice,
published copies of Luther's letters to Henry VIII. and
Duke George, with the answers respectively made to them,
and represented the gentle terms of the Reformer's addresses
as equivalent to a recantation of his doctrines. More was
added which malevolence had dictated. Luther felt himself
compelled to reply to a charge which might possibly obtain
credit, and which glanced at his consistency ; and vindicated
his character effectually from the allegation of a recantation,
but with great dignity of feeling he was silent as to the spon-
taneous calumnies of Emser. " I erred," he said, " and I
grieve for it, for I cast my pearls before swine. A fool I
have been, and a fool I remain, for looking for a John the
Baptist in kings' courts."
The recreations before spoken of continued to be resorted
to in his moments of leisure. Amsdorf and Link were the
instruments in supplying the means of these amusements.
Both were written to for garden seeds, and the Reformer,
112 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. somewhat later, gives a glowing description of his melons and
cucumbers, which promised to succeed to the utmost of his
expectation. The turning-lathe was a great source of grati-
fication j but he wanted one, he said, which would turn of
itself whilst Wolfgang was snoring or idling. The presents
he received were numerous : vases, money, eatables, radishes
from Erfurth, &c. A gift of a wooden clock, which he re-
ceived from an unknown admirer through the hand of Link,
exceedingly delighted him ; he studied its mechanism, in
which, within a few days after its receipt, he pronounced
himself perfect. The gift he considered opportune : " My
drunken Germans want to be taught what time of clay it is."
Domestic matters progressed as smoothly as Luther's genial
temper and Kate's conjugal devotedness could make them.
Before the close of the year an account of the antics of
" Johnny" concluded many letters on matters of business, or
religious bickerings. Perhaps his habitual good nature does
not display itself more forcibly in anything than the readiness
with which, notwithstanding the extraordinary weight of oc-
cupation devolving on him, he acted the part of go-between
for various clergymen who wished to publish religious trea-
tises, or Scriptural commentaries, and the proprietors of the
Wittenberg printing presses. Frequent were the complaints
if the printing went on languidly : but Luther never lost his
temper. The works to be published demanded the introduc-
tion of a celebrated name, and Luther did not refuse to write
an infinity of prefaces. For his own writings he never re-
ceived the value of a farthing in money, although they were
the chief support of the printers, and the ordinary remunera-
tion was a gold piece a sheet : but he took gratis copies of
such works issued from the Wittenberg presses as pleased
him ; and by this means was enabled to supply impoverished
but deserving students with works which they could never
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 113
have procured for themselves, and which materially aided 1527.
their industry.
In Germany itself no political event occurred this year of
any moment ; expectation was on the watch for the first au-
thentic tidings of something definite from Rome. So strong
was the conviction that the future course of affairs in Ger-
many would be determined by the fortune of the Imperial
arms in Italy, that scarcely a noble was present in the Diet
which met at Ratisbon in the spring ; and the deputies parted,
after voting a humble petition to the Emperor, to honour
Germany with his presence. On the 2nd June the young
Saxon prince John Frederic was wedded to the Princess Si-
bylla of Cleves ; but the influence of this union, for the pre-
sent, was only felt in its interposing another cause of delay to
the execution of the promised visitation of the Saxon parishes.
No war had ever been more popular with the Germans,
than that now levied by Charles against Clement VII. The
Emperor had directed his brother to march himself, with his
troops, into Italy ; but as Ferdinand's absence was objection-
able on many grounds, particularly in the present condition
of his own kingdoms, he commissioned the veteran George
Frundsberg, whose welcome to Luther at Worms had been
followed by a cordial acceptance of the evangelical doctrines,
to gather an army in the Imperial name, and lead it across the
Alps with all speed. The reputation of Frundsberg as the
hero of the fields of Bicocca and Pavia, was not more effective
in attracting recruits to his standard, than his well-known
hostility to the Papacy and admiration of Luther. In his
ardour he pawned his wife's jewels, and offered his own lands
for mortgage ; and it is related that he carried about in his
hand a rope twisted with gold and silver thread, and threat-
ened that he " would treat the Pontiff as the Eastern monarchs
treat their brothers." But Charles himself by no means
VOL. II. I
114 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. disdained the enthusiasm, which he was aware would be in-
spired in his German subjects by the knowledge of the desti-
nation of this levy of troops. " Say/ 5 he enjoined Ferdinand,
" against the Turks : every one will know what Turks are
meant." The boldest hearts in Germany throbbed with ex-
ultation at these evidences of an anti-papal spirit in the
Imperial councils. In November the army numbered 11,000
men; on the 17th of that month the command to commence
the march was given — " For the Alps and Italy; " and every
day the army under Frundsberg received new accessions of
recruits, many enlisting without pay, attracted simply by the
popular destination of the enterprise.
Over crags and the tops of precipices, down which the sol-
diers trembled to look, pursuing its course with the agility of
the wild goat, his landsknechts steadying the steps of their
veteran chief with a rail of spears, the army arrived on the
evening of the 17th at Aa; and two days later it reached the
foot of the Alps. The Duke of Urbino, commander of the
forces of the League, was on its right flank ; but he did not
venture to make an attack. A smart affair took place at
Mantua, in which Giovanni de' Medici, in whom the utmost
confidence was reposed by the Papal troops, was slain, and his
loss proved a material injury to the Pontiff : thence Frunds-
berg pushed on to the Po, which he crossed at Ostiglia, and
a junction was effected on the 12th January not far from
Firenzuola, with such troops as the Duke of Bourbon could
lead from Milan. The united army, on the 22nd February,
20,000 strong, received the welcome order to take the high
road to Rome.
It is possible that if Clement VII., shortly after this, had
offered the generals, from his large store of treasure, an ad-
equate sum to satisfy the soldiers' claims, his capital might
have remained unmolested. But his offers were marked by
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 115
the niggardly propensity of his character; the generals had 1527.
exhausted all the resources at their command for liquidating
the arrears of payment; and the only means of authority
that remained to them was their personal influence. Frunds-
berg, in a mild and rational address, tried to allay the risings
of disorder. But the resentment had attained too high a
pitch. In reply to his considerate language the cry " Gelt,
Gelt," resounded, and spears were even levelled at himself
and officers. Frundsberg could not bear this treatment from
his brave landsknechts, who were " his children, to whom he
had been true in success and in distress," and in the vehe-
mence of his overwrought feelings he sank down upon a dram
in an apoplectic fit. He was unable to regain his speech for
four days afterwards; and then the shock which he had re-
ceived was too great for his advanced age and worn-out frame.
He was conveyed to Ferrara, where he lingered for a year and
some months.
This catastrophe to their chief stilled the tumult, but did
not stifle the ardour, with which the soldiers burned to gain
possession of the Holy City : on the contrary, it seemed rather
to inflame it. Bourbon, who had now the sole command,
made some demonstrations against Florence; but that city
was too strongly fortified to be taken before the Duke of
Urbino could come to its relief; and on the 28th April,
after a seasonable supply of necessaries from the city of
Siena, which was in alliance with the Emperor, the combined
Spanish and German forces pressed on for Rome itself. On
the 5th May, through the mist of the evening, they descried
the walls and towers of the Papal city. There was no time
to be lost, as the Duke of Urbino was already in Tuscany.
Bourbon accordingly issued the command, that early the
next morning the army should be ready, in battle array, to
commence the assault; and at six o'clock of Monday the
i 2
116 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. Gth May, under cover of a dense fog, the soldiers advanced
to escalade the walls round the Vatican. At first, the scaling
parties were repelled; and on seeing this Bourbon himself
taking a ladder in his hand, applied it to the wall, and ad-
vanced his foot on the lowest round, when a bullet struck
him on the ribs and precipitated him mortally wounded into
the fosse beneath. A covering was hastily thrown over the
body, to conceal the loss from the soldiers ; but contrary to
what had been conjectured, the misfortune becoming known,
stimulated their courage to avenge their commander. The
parapets were now mounted on all sides, the Spaniards being
the first to effect a successful lodgment : and the band of
defenders being greatly outnumbered by their assailants, the
Avhole line of fortifications rapidly fell into the hands of the
Imperialists. After this success they rested for four hours.
Towards nightfall a door leading across the Tiber was ob-
served by one of the soldiers to be unguarded ; he entered it,
and others followed him, and, pressing on without opposition,
the German and Spanish troops crossed the bridges, which
were scarcely defended, and spread through all parts of the
interior of the city. An hour after sunset the Imperialists
had possession of every quarter of Rome. Clement had fled
to the Castle of St. Angelo only just in time to secure his
personal safety ; but his treasures, as well as the wealth of the
cardinals, and all the resources of a capital famed for its dis-r
soluteness and luxury, lay at the feet of the victors. Pillage
and brutality succeeded to the struggle of arms. There is no
tale of horror, either described or conceivable, which cannot
be matched by some of the deeds that were perpetrated by the
sanguinary Spaniards ; and they were even exceeded in fero-
city by the Neapolitans. The vault containing the remains
of Julius II. was torn open, and a ring taken from the finger
of the corpse : the churches were plundered : everywhere
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 117
search was made for gold : and no pity shown to age or sex, 1527.
Guelph or Ghibelin. Meanwhile the German soldiers turned
to the harmless recreation of raillery and satire. A proces-
sion of them, arrayed in cardinals' robes and mounted on
mules, wound their way through the principal streets of the
city, until they halted in front of the Castle of St. Angelo ;
where the representative of the Pontiff, a man of the name
of Grunwald, eminent for his lofty stature and majestic form,
flourishing a large drinking-cup, harangued the right reverend
assemblage on the vices and abominations of former Pontiffs ;
that he himself, unlike his predecessors, would ever be obe-
dient to the Emperor, and by will would make over the
See at his death to Martin Luther ; and ended by requiring,
in a loud voice, of those present, if they assented to what
he had said, to signify their concurrence by raising their
hands. The whole crowd of soldiers raised their hands, and
shouted with all their might, " Long life to Pope Luther."
A representative of the Reformer, in the solemn garb of the
ecclesiastic of Wittenberg, was then paraded on the shoulders
of the cardinals through the streets, and conveyed with the
wildest mirth and rejoicing, to St. Peter's Church and the
palace of the Pontiff.
When Charles heard the news of the sack of Rome, he dis-
sembled his joy at the success of his arms ; he even wrote to
the Catholic princes to protest, that what had occurred had
not proceeded from his orders ; he put himself and his court
into mourning, although a son, afterwards the bigoted Philip
II., had recently been born to him ; and he appointed that
prayers should be offered in all the churches, that the Pope
might recover his liberty. His secret acts were in direct con-
tradiction to these noisy protestations. On the 15th June
Pompeo Colonna arrived in Rome, and took the command of
the Imperial troops, whose excesses were now subjected to
118 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. some kind of restraint : and negotiations were opened with
Clement, which issued in the agreement, on his part, to pay
400,000 ducats to the army, to surrender his stronghold, and
to give hostages in pledge of peace on condition of regaining
his liberty, when these articles of submission had been fulfilled.
But before the time of his stipulated liberation arrived, he
managed to effect his escape in the disguise of a merchant.
The old amity was, not long afterwards, restored between
Pope and Emperor, and Clement was united to Charles more
firmly than ever, by the conviction that the retention of
Florence by his own family was dependent on his will; but
the Imperial letters to the Pope and Cardinals, impressions of
which were struck off by thousands, and were everywhere cir-
culated, and all the circumstances attending the sack of
Home, following just upon the first Diet of Spires, gave an
impetus to the Keformation such as perhaps could hardly have
resulted from any other concatenation of events. a Rome,"
Luther wrote, " has been miserably laid waste, Christ so truly
reigning, that the Emperor, wishing to persecute Luther, has
been compelled to prostrate not Luther but the Pope. All
things obey Christ, for the safety of his people and the de-
struction of his adversaries."
But the Reformer had small leisure to contemplate the turns
in the tide of politics ; his element was action, doing, or en-
during. He was now called upon to approve his faith in God
in his own sufferings, in the prospect of death. For some
time the melancholy to which he was subject — the cause of
which he declared was quite preternatural — had preyed upon
him, when, on the morning of the 6th July, he felt exceed-
ingly depressed, and " a stroke from Satan" weighed him to the
ground. In this condition he sent his servant Wolfgang to call
Bugenhagen, who promptly obeyed the summons, and found
him in company with Kate, but more composed than he had
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 119
anticipated. Luther took his friend apart into his study, and, 1527.
when they were alone, opened his sorrows at some length, and
requested to be allowed to make confession of his sins. This
he did ; and Bugenhagen pronounced the absolution ; after
which Luther asked him to offer up prayer in his behalf, and
Luther also prayed himself. He expressed to his friend his
resignation to the divine will, and spoke of the trials, little
suspected by his adversaries, which he endured from the buf-
fetings of Satan, and solicited that Bugenhagen would admi-
nister the sacrament to him the next day — Sunday. The
conversation was protracted till the hour of dinner had nearly
arrived, when Bugenhagen, hoping to dissipate the apprehen-
sions which clouded Luther's spirits, reminded him of an en-
gagement they had both made to dine with some noblemen,
and urged him to keep the appointment. Luther accord-
ingly went with him; and at dinner-time the flow of his
spirits seemed returned, and his humour and vivacity were the
life of the entertainment. After dinner, about twelve o'clock,
however, he retired, and walked with Dr. Jonas in his garden
for two hours, conversing on a variety of subjects, and labour-
ing by such means to obtain some relief from his depression.
He left Jonas after extracting the promise that he would be
his guest, together with his wife, at supper in the evening.
Returning to Kate, he laid himself down to get some repose,
and was resting on his bed, when the guests came in at five
o'clock. He rose to partake of supper with them, but com-
plained of a singular sensation in the left ear and down the left
back — a kind of roaring, like the rushing of the sea — which he
knew to be a precursor of an entire prostration of strength.
A fainting fit came upon him, and he was obliged to leave
the apartment and return to his bed, Jonas accompanying
him, whilst Kate stayed behind for a moment to give direc-
tions to the servant. In his bedroom he again fainted away,
120 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. and called to Jonas to give him water, or he must die. Jonas
threw some cold water on his face and neck. Believing his
hour to be come, Luther turned to his God in earnest prayer,
and repeated the sixth Psalm, expressing occasionally his re-
signation. "Thy will, O Lord, be done/' When Kate
entered, she was horror-struck at her husband's deathly
pallid countenance, and sent the maidservant to hasten the
physician, and meanwhile laboured to infuse animation by
rubbing his limbs and administering cordials. Bugenhagen
also was sent for, and arrived about six o'clock. He found
Luther, as he informs us,"* in bed, crying out, first in Latin
and then in German, to God and to Christ, commending, in
the near prospect of dissolution, the holy Gospel to the Most
High, and regretting that he had not been found worthy to
suffer in its behalf, but comforting himself with the reflection
that neither had the beloved Apostle been admitted to this pri-
vilege, although St. John had written a far more powerful book
against Popery than ever he had. Bugenhagen exhorted him
to join with them in supplication that he might yet be spared to
render consolation to others. Luther replied that death to
him would be gain ; but his continuance in the flesh might
be advantageous to others. " Gracious God," he added,
"thy will be done." Then, apprehensive that his enemies
would circulate the calumny after his decease, that in his last
moments he had retracted his doctrines, he called upon those
present to bear witness to his solemn asseveration that he
fully believed all that he had taught ; nay, knew that what he
had written and preached on faith, love, the Cross, and the
Sacraments, was the plain truth. He went on to speak of
the censures heaped on him by many, for his harsh and bitter
* See his account, followed by that of Jonas, Walch. XXI., pp. 159*
—175*.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 121
writings against the Papists and Fanatics ; but protested that 1527.
whatever he had written against them had been from love
to their souls, and for their real good : he had intended to
write more against them, " the dear God, however, had de-
termined otherwise respecting him." After praying with the
utmost fervour, he turned to Kate, assured her that let the
licentious world scoff as it might, she was his true and right-
ful wife, and exhorted her to put her trust in God, and make
his word her guide. Whilst warm blankets and cushions
were applied to his chest and feet, he inquired, " Where is
Johnny ? " The child was brought and smiled on his father,
on which Luther exclaimed that he commended him and his
mother to God. His possessions only amounted, he said, to
a few silver drinking-cups ; but he was persuaded God would
provide for his beloved Kate, and for dearest Johnny; and
he gave his Will into Kate's hands. It was as follows : — " I
thank thee, my all-dear God, from the heart, that thou hast
made me poor and a beggar upon earth : I have no house,
fields, money, or property to bequeath to my wife and child.
Thou hast given these to me, to thee therefore I restore them.
Thou rich, faithful God, feed, teach, preserve them, even as
thou hast fed, taught, and preserved me, thou Father of the
fatherless and Judge of the widow." With great presence of
mind Kate suppressed every exhibition of her alarm, and with
serene countenance answered that she trusted God would yet
restore him, not only for the sake of herself and child, but of
the many Christians who still needed his counsel. Soon after
this he fell into a profound sleep; a profuse perspiration
spread over his frame, and when he awoke the next morning
the malady was gone, leaving only extreme weakness behind
it. He was even so much relieved as to be able to rise from
his bed in the evening, and partake of supper with his friends.
Four days later he wrote to Spalatin : " My strength had
122 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. completely sunk ; I had no hope, but expected to die in the
arms of my wife and friends : but the Lord in mercy has
raised me up speedily. Pray the Lord never to forsake his
sinful servant."
The effects of this illness were for a long time felt by
Luther ; and, in consequence of the incapacitated state of his
head, he was compelled to keep " a long holiday from reading
and writing." His spirits were still depressed : but there is
a cheering entry in a letter dated the 13th July. "The
visitation has begun. Eight days ago Jerome Schurff and
Philip set out on that mission. May Christ direct them !
Amen!" In a letter to Melancthon, of the 2nd August, he
refers to his dreadful sickness. " He seemed to have lost
Christ," he said, " and was driven about with waves and
storms of despair, and blasphemy against God ; and was thus
laid in death and hell for more than a week." The final
attack of the malady had been so terrible, that he was still
trembling in every limb after the storm was past. In answer,
however, to the prayers of his saints, God had delivered him
from the nethermost hell. " The plague," he adds, " is truly
here, but we trust it will be mild."
Indeed, Wittenberg soon became a deserted city. The Uni-
versity and Professors took wing to Jena by the Elector's
command; the magistrates quitted the pestilential circle;
commerce, and all business transactions were interrupted;
even Dr. Jonas, in whom more firmness might have been ex-
pected, fled to Nordhausen with his family, leaving a son
plague-stricken, who subsequently died. Luther and Bugen-
hagen, with the deacons, were left alone to perform all that
zeal and piety could dictate for those who yet remained in
their homes. If any one could have justly advanced the plea
of recent sickness and debilitated health for retiring out of
reach of danger, it was Luther; but he proved himself the last
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 123
to listen to the counsel of timidity in preference to the voice of 1527.
duty. His little son and Kate, who was again advanced in
pregnancy, remained with him ; and even their danger did
not appal the father and husband, so rooted was his faith in
God. On the 10th August the Elector addressed an earnest
entreaty to Luther to provide for his own safety and that of
his household, by quitting Wittenberg; but he returned a
decided answer in the negative. Strong in the protection of
Heaven, he was amongst the sick and the dying, offering con-
solation, or administering the sacred elements. The plague at
length invaded his own dwelling : three young women in the
convent were struck with it, one of them with such severity,
that her life was long despaired of : but Luther and his imme-
diate family altogether escaped the contagion. All trade
being suspended, it was difficult to obtain the necessary sup-
plies of life ; and in this exigency the Reformer applied to
the Elector, from whom he received this kind answer: —
" Dear Doctor, take anything of mine you like." The only
composition of any account which proceeded from Luther's
pen during the whole of this sickly autumn, was a brief pro-
duction which he was requested to write by some of the
clergy of Breslau in elucidation of the question, " How far
it may be allowable for a Christian to fly from the plague."
He insisted that, to avoid danger was not only justifiable but a
duty, unless a higher duty demanded the boldly encountering
it. He corresponded regularly with Dr. Jonas, and repeated
again and again the assurance that the violence and spread of
the pestilence were greatly exaggerated. The depression of his
spirits was much augmented by the pusillanimity which he
witnessed on all sides, and he never doubted that the malice
of Satan was at the bottom of the rumours and the apprehen-
sions which were robbing of its students that University which
the arch-fiend had " most reason to hate of all upon the face
124 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. of the whole earth ;" and he complained with deep dejection
that even " where the devil could not reign by death, he yet
reigned by the fear of death."
In the midst of these trials, the replies of Zwingle and
GEcolampadius to his work against the Enthusiasts reached
his hands ; and somewhat later Erasmus's two books, entitled,
" Hyperaspistes : *' " Hyperasp," or " Hyper- viper/' Luther
called them. A letter from Zwingle, " in very fierce style,"
preceded his treatise. And from the letter Luther turned to
the tract; but up to the 10th November he had only read a
few pages. The other productions he did not even open at
present. It afforded him, however, pleasure that the sarcas-
tic bitterness of Erasmus was beginning to unclose the eyes
of many who had persisted in praising the scholar of Rot-
terdam, and amongst others of Dr. Jonas, to the spirit which
really animated him, and in this gratification Kate partici-
pated with lively sympathy.
A more welcome and encouraging sound than the din of
controversy were the prayers of patient resignation and ex-
ulting faith poured forth by martyrs, together with their life's
blood, in the cause of Christ. On the 16th August Leonhard
Caesar, who had been for some months imprisoned at Passau —
where, in a public dispute with Eck, he had persevered in
maintaining the doctrines of Scripture — being taken to
Scherdingen, the place of his birth, was burnt at the stake, cry-
ing with his last breath, " I am thine, Jesu, save me ! " " What
am I, wretched man ? " Luther exclaimed, on welcoming the
news ; " a wordy preacher compared with this mighty doer ! "
Cologne, too, had its martyrs by the inquisitorial zeal of
Egmond and Hochstraten ; and Luther composed a hymn in
memory of their constancy. George Winkler, who had been
summoned to answer before the Cardinal of Mentz for his
tenets, after dismissal from the Archbishop's tribunal, being
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 125
put on the horse of the court fool, and made to start on his 1527.
journey homewards without an attendant, was set upon by
ruffiaus in a wood, near Asehaffenburg, and murdered. This
dark tragedy had occurred at the end of May ; it drew from
Luther a brief consolatory epistle in the autumn to the
people of Halle, where Winkler had been preacher, in which
he prayed that " the murdered blood, like Abel's, might call
from the ground to God for vengeance ; or rather, like divine
seed shed by wicked hands, might start up into life, instead
of one murdered George a hundred preachers of the Gospel."
" The world," he said, " is a tavern of which Satan is the
landlord, and the sign over the doorway is Murder and Lying."
Meantime the plague was spreading consternation at Wit-
tenberg. In the fishermen's suburb the fatality was greatest ;
but in all, up to the 19th August, there were only eighteen
deaths, men, women, and children. Very few grown-up persons
fell victims to it, and so far only two are mentioned, the wife
of Tilo Dene, who expired almost in Luther's arms, and the
sister of Eberhard, the ex-prior. The spiritual dejection of
Luther — driven as it were more deeply into his soul by the
dispersion of the University, the translation of the Prophets
being at a stand-still, and the Word of God hindered in its
course — attended him as he roamed the abandoned city,
visited the sick, and cheered the timid. " Satan," he wrote
to Agricola, ' ' is raging against me with all his force : the
Lord has set me as a sign like another Job. My hope is,
that my agony has reference to others besides myself, although
there is no evil which my own sins have not deserved; my
life is, that I know I have taught Christ's Word purely and
sincerely, and this vexes Satan. I know the tyrants of this
world will not touch me; others will be slain, and burnt for
the testimony of Christ; but I shall undergo spiritual and
worse tortures from the prince of this world himself." (t May
126 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. the rumour of pestilence," he wrote to another, " meet Christ
the great physician, so that our friends may again assemble
to fulfil our important task." On the 19th October the in-
telligence communicated to Jonas was, that up to that date
no more than fifteen had died out of more than a hundred
cases of plague in the hospital, and that of forty-eight patients
whom Dr. Bohem had received under his care, in the plague,
only eight had died. "You see that prayers to Christ are
not void." The bulletin of the 1st November, sent to
Amsdorf, was less satisfactory. Lnther's house had been
turned into a hospital. Three young women, residing in
the convent, had been seized with the plague; one of them,
Margaret Mochinna, was labouring under a very violent
attack; Kate, too, was near her confinement, and Johnny
had eaten nothing for three days, from the pain of teething.
The wife of George, the Chaplain or Deacon, who was ex-
pecting her confinement, was just struck with the pestilence.
" Battles without and fears within," Luther said ; " but
Christ visits us." The mighty christian spirit, who was
the support of the tried at this conjuncture, was himself
sorely beset with spiritual temptations : " like Job or Peter,
tossed by Satan ;" but he added, " May Christ say to the
tempter, ' Touch not his life ;' and to me, ' I am thy salva-
tion/" In this state of things, however, he looked beyond
present trials, and burned to write again against the Sacra-
mentarians; but, immediately feeling his bodily weakness,
relinquished the project. His great comfort, as he reiterates
in his correspondence, was, "We have the Word of God, a
shield against Satan :" and with fervent gratitude for what
that word had already achieved, he dates a letter to Amsdorf,
" Wittenberg, All Saints Day, the Tenth Anniversary since
Indulgences were trampled underfoot."
Three days later the tidings conveyed to Jonas were, that
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 127
the wife of George the Chaplain, struck with the pestilence, 1527.
had been prematurely in labour: the child was dead; and
she had followed it — "in hearty faith departed to Christ."
This event had diffused a general panic, and Bugenhagen and
his wife had taken up their quarters with Luther and Kate,
in the convent, in order that the two pastors' families might
mutually aid and solace one another. Kate was still "firm
in faith;" but Johnny continued ill, and the cause of his
malady was dubious. Beyond the convent walls, however,
the intelligence was more cheering. In the fishermen's
suburb the plague had exhausted its force, and marriages
were recommencing ; but even this improvement, it was feared,
might be delusive, for eight days earlier the plague had seemed
spent, when it suddenly returned with a change of wind, and
twelve deaths occurred in one day. A few days later, how-
ever, the state of things was much improved, and Margaret
Mochinna was getting better ; but Luther was very anxious
on Kate's account, and Johnny was " so ill that he could only
ask for Dr. Jonas' prayers." " I trust," Luther said, pouring
out his heart to his friend, " that we shall yet be together
again, and finish the version of Ecclesiastes. I deem myself
the last of men. Would that Erasmus and the Sacramenta-
rians could for one quarter of an hour feel the misery of my
heart ! I could say for certain they would be sincerely con-
verted and made whole. How my enemies persecute him
whom God hath smitten ! But it cannot be but that one
whom the world and its Prince so hates is pleasing to Christ.
May Christ, whom I have purely taught and confessed, be
my rock and strength." "It is no common soldier of
his troop, but the captain of devils himself," he wrote to
Hausmann, " who has risen against me." " As for what the
world may be about, the Pope, the Emperor, and the Kings,
I care not," he said to Link ; " I am sighing for Christ and
128 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. his grace. Satan would have me never write again, but
descend with him to hell. May Christ trample him under-
foot, Amen." On the 29th November, Luther addressed a
letter to Jonas, informing him that the plague had nearly
disappeared, marriages were again solemnized, and business
was beginning to resume its ordinary routine. Margaret
Mochinna, it was hoped, would recover; but as yet her
hearing had not returned, and she could only speak with
great difficulty. The wife of John the Chaplain, Luther had
placed in Jonas' house, as that quarter of the town was free
from the pestilence ; and the fate of the wife of George, her
husband's associate, had impressed her mind with the deepest
alarm. But, if the plague should break out in that quarter,
he promised Jonas to remove her immediately from the asylum
which his empty house had afforded. The intelligence of the
10th December reported that only two cases of plague re-
mained in the hospital, and they had ceased to be serious :
Margaret Mochinna was recovering ; but, as it were in ransom
for the lives of the household, the pestilence had destroyed
five pigs of the convent : nothing had been heard of the plague
for two months in the fishermen's district ; the students
were even beginning to return, and Jerome Schurff was
expected by Christmas.
On the day of such joyful tidings a daughter, who received
the name of Elizabeth, was born to Luther, at 10 o'clock in
the morning, and both the infant and the mother seemed pro-
tected from above. " Glory and praise," he exclaimed, " be to
my Father in heaven, Amen." Johnny too was well again,
and in high good-humour. Four days later the plague was
pronounced to have disappeared totally : but Luther's spiritual
trials were of a more inveterate nature, and he continued to
disclose his anguish to his friends. " I have hurt Satan by many
books, and therefore he rages against me ; but let him rage
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 129
against Christ, who has really hurt him, through me, his 1527.
weakest vessel." "I seem to hang to Christ by a thread,
but Satan is drawing me to him with a cable." His health
was now so far re-established, that he could once more employ
it in completing his commentary on Zechariah, which his ter-
rible illness had interrupted when it was only half accom-
plished. He intended to have this commentary published
before the Leipsic fair; and then to exert all his powers
against the Sacramentarians in a second and final confutation.
He also "challenged" the Anabaptists in a brief epistle.
The arguments against the Sacramentarians and the Ana-
baptists were adapted to the understanding of the simpler
sort, who were particularly obnoxious to the plausibility of
their rationalistic tenets.
At the end of November, when the virulence of the plague
had spent itself, Luther left Wittenberg for a short time, and
repaired to Torgau, to the Electoral palace. The object of
this visit was to adjust some difference which had arisen
between Melancthon on one side, and Agricola on the other,
in regard to " The Visitation Articles," framed by the pen
of Philip, and comprising, together with the formula of public
worship, instructions to the ministers in regard to what they
should teach the people. Agricola objected to these "Articles,"
that Melancthon had contradicted in them one of Luther's
foremost principles, that Repentance must proceed from love
to God and not from fear ; and he complained also that the
law of Moses was prescribed to be rehearsed to the people,
although Christians were no longer under the Law. Melanc-
thon replied that Repentance included in it both fear and
love, fear of God's wrath on account of sin, ending in the
acceptance of Christ's salvation and the consequent love of
the Saviour; and, as to the Ten Commandments not being
obligatory on Christians, there was not one of them which
VOL. II. K
130 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1527. had not been re-established and enforced by the Saviour and
his Apostles, and therefore the Decalogue supplied a concise
and comprehensive summary of a Christian's duty. Luther
was well aware that personal conceit and jealousy of Philip
lay at the root of Agricola's strictures ; he had himself pre-
viously examined the Visitation Book and given it his ap-
proval; he listened accordingly, together with Bugenhagen,
with great patience to what was advanced on both sides, and
then gave an interpretation of his own meaning in his state-
ments as to Repentance and Faith, which satisfied both
parties : and having thus effected a peaceful settlement, for
the present at least, on the subjects of debate, he returned to
Wittenberg.
The plague which had desolated Wittenberg, and swept
through the Reformer's dwelling, without being permitted to
destroy life, had visited some other towns with greater fury ;
and at Dresden, Emser, the Papist champion, had fallen a
victim to it in November, after publishing in the preceding
August a version of the New Testament in opposition to
Luther's, stolen piecemeal in reality for the most part from
the latter. To this version Duke George had prefixed a preface,
replete with abuse of Luther and the Elector ; and the Re-
former was meditating a reply to it, when the death of Emser
stayed his hand. The loss of his Professor was much felt by
the Duke, who installed Cochlaeus, a worthy successor, in
the vacant chair. But, besides the contagion of pestilence,
the season had everywhere been sickly. Spalatin had been
seriously ill, and Duke George himself was ailing.
Among the fugitives, driven by the dread of the plague from
the neighbourhood of Wittenberg, was Carlstadt; but before
this he had distinctly and openly returned to his sacramenta-
rian errors, which, it would seem, he had never in reality re-
linquished, but had hypocritically dissembled; for in the
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 131
statement which he gave to Chancellor Brack of his doctrinal 1527.
sentiments, and the arguments by which he supported them,
mention occurs of the composition having occupied him
a whole year. Luther remarks, in his correspondence about
the end of October, "For some weeks Carlstadt has been
absent from his place; let him go to his own place, for
no kindness can reclaim him." But as yet the ex-professor
had no intention of quitting the Saxon territory : he returned
towards the close of November, when Luther, in a courteous
and even kind letter, made a fresh overture to him for recon-
ciliation, pointing his attention to the feeble ground of sylla-
bles and letters on which his reasoning was built. But this
elicited no direct reply from Carlstadt; and, on the 28th
November, Luther writes, "We have been nourishing him
thus far in our bosom in the hope that he would return to
the right way ; but the wretched man grows more hardened
day by day." The following year, however, Carlstadt made
his answer to Luther's letter, not in a direct way, but in an
epistle to his friends and allies, Crautwald and Swenkfeld,
written in a vein of excessive vanity, in which, in an air of
triumphant superiority, he ridiculed some of Luther's asser-
tions,* and thanked God that he had "given him such a
sharp pen." This conduct the Reformer regarded as mean
and unmanly, and, being much incensed by it, sent word
to Carlstadt that for the time to come he must renounce
all discussion or communication with him. Carlstadt, in
reply, entered a complaint with the Elector against Luther's
treatment of him in a letter to Chancellor Bruck, and
craved the protection of the Saxon Court; but as it ap-
peared that he had broken the promise on which a return
to Saxony had been granted him, not only by his letter
* " This Luther," he wrote, " says that we drink forgiveness of sins
out of the cup. Oho ! "
k 2
132 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK.
1527. to Swenkfeld, but by the secret publication of other con-
troversial writings, the Court was meditating measures of
a more stringent nature, and was deliberating on retaining
him in Saxony under a species of custody, to prevent the dis-
semination of his noxious principles. But whilst this was in
contemplation Carlstadt himself, towards the winter of 1528,
broke up camp for good, and secretly betook himself to
Schleswig Holstein, to raise, as Luther and Melancthon ap-
prehended, ' ' some new tragedy there." The authorities, how-
ever, were on their guard, and drove him beyond the boundaries.
The remainder of Carlstadt' s history may be best added in this
place. In the spring of 1529 he turned his wandering steps
to Friesland, and sent for his wife from Saxony, who mean-
while had found in Luther her chief friend and support, and
who now made application through him to the Court that her
husband might again be permitted to return to Saxony. This
application was rejected; and then Carlstadt directed his
fugitive steps to Switzerland, where, in a country of religious
sentiments congenial to his own, a cordial reception greeted
him : he first went to Zurich, and was made dean of the
Cathedral Church by Zwingle. After Zwingle's death he
removed to Basle, where he preached in St. Peter's Church,
and was installed in a professor's chair, and died there on
Christmas Day, 1541.
The plague having disappeared, and Luther's health being
re-established, he returned to his writings with the fullest
determination to make amends for lost time ; and, before the
close of 1527, his Commentary on Zechariah was published.
1528. Before the 5th February of the next year his " Epistle against
the Anabaptists, or Katabaptists," as he denominated them,
" written with a good deal of haste," made its appearance ;
and about the same time the Visitation Articles, composed,
as has been said, originally by Melancthon, but increased by
THE LIFE OF MAltTIN LUTHER. 133
additions from Luther's pen on matrimonial questions, and 1528.
the communion in both kinds, were in the press, but delayed
by scarcity of paper. In March, just in time for the Frank-
fort fair, his " Great Confession,"* in opposition to the Sacra-
mentarian tenets, was given to the public; and about the
same period his " Sermons on the Book of Genesis" were
published, which had been taken down from his lips by some
of his audience, and then submitted to him for revisal. One
of the principal objects of these discourses was to oppose the
fanatical spirit, which, notwithstanding Munzer's execution,
and the ruin of his partisans, was still labouring, as Luther
complained, to "turn Christians into Jews, and to put a
false interpretation upon the Old Testament/' and which,
unhappily, from the licentious principles which it encouraged,
continued to be on the increase among the lower orders.
Before the end of May the translation of Isaiah was progress-
ing favourably; before the end of October it was published.
* It consisted of three parts. 1. That the Sacrarnentarians have
never answered a letter of his arguments. 2. The statements of Scrip-
ture on the subject of the Lord's Supper. 3. A general confession of
his faith. — Under this last head he declared his belief in the Trinity ;
the Corruption of Human Nature ; the Redemption by Christ applied
to the heart by the Holy Ghost ; one Baptism, the virtue of which as
God's ordinance cannot be lost, although faith be wanting ; the sacra-
mental bread and wine, Christ's very body and blood to all commu-
nicants, because God's ordinance cannot be broken by want of faith in
the priest or people ; the Church the commonwealth of Christians, not
only under the Pope, but in all the world, the one bride and mystical
body of the one bridegroom, Jesus ; in that true Church Forgiveness
of sins ; Papal Pardons mere roguery ; Prayer for the Dead condition-
ally not sinful; Purgatory not spoken of in Scripture; Christ the
only Mediator; Repentance only the "use and power of Baptism;"
Images, surplices, altar-candles, &c, indifferent ; the Resurrection of
the just to live for ever with Christ, and of the unjust to die for ever
with Satan.
134 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. Rarely has the first vigour of returning health been sub-
jected to a severer ordeal of intellectual energy.
With full occupation the burden of spiritual trials became
lighter; and on the 25th February Luther wrote to Link,
" My Satan, by your prayers, is at length more supportable."
At the close of the year 1527 his patriotic solicitude had been
excited by the progress of the Turks, who, in conjunction
with the forces of John Zapolya the Woiwode, and backed by
the King of France, were threatening to overrun the south of
Germany. "The Turk is making vast preparations for a
return to Hungary, and will shed, I fear, much German
blood." But shortly afterwards an anxiety nearer home
was added to the dread of the Ottoman scimetar. A Diet
had been summoned to meet at Ratisbon in the spring :
it was understood that the Papist party were already straining
every nerve to attain their aims by a powerful combination :
King Ferdinand was proscribing heresy under every deno-
mination throughout his kingdoms, to the joy of the bishops ;
and a rupture with the Pontiff could not be expected a second
time to relieve the evangelical cause from its perils just when
they had reached their height. At such a conjuncture even
the arms of the Sultan seemed to some a seasonable diversion
rather than an object of terror : so that Luther indited a
treatise on the "War against the Turks," to show that he
at least had no share in such lack of national spirit and
counsels of expediency. " Satan," he said, "rages with such
fury that I think the day of the saints' redemption must
be nigh." On March 2nd he wrote to Hausmann, "The
threats of the mass-priests are very big in expectation of the
Diet at Ratisbon. Pray diligently with your church for the
princes of Germany, that God may give them his grace."
But the storm blew over for this year : the sitting of the
National Council was postponed, not by the Turkish invasion,
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 135
but by unexpected events, which to some judgments remain 1528.
to this day involved in mystery.
Otto Pack, sprung from a noble family in Misnia, and a'
doctor of laws, was one of the councillors of Duke George of
Saxony, and had sometimes discharged the functions of Chan-
cellor to the Court of Dresden. He had gone to Cassel in
1527 on business in connexion with the Count of Nassau,
and having gained the confidence of Philip of Hesse, had dis-
closed to him a momentous treaty, entered into by Duke
George and his Popish partisans, for no less an object than
the extermination of the evangelical doctrines, and the sub-
version of the states and princes who adhered to them. The
parties to the league were King Ferdinand, Albert of Mentz,
Joachim of Brandenburg, the Archbishop of Salzburg, the
Bishops of Bamberg and Wurzburg, the Dukes of Bavaria,
and Duke George himself. The league had been formed at
Breslaw, and the instrument of confederation bore date the
12th May, 1527. It declared that, unless the Elector John
delivered up Martin Luther, Saxony and Thuringia were to be
occupied by King Ferdinand, Franconia by the Bishops of
Bamberg and Wurzburg, and Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia
by Duke George ; but, after the ends of the confederacy had
been attained, a different partition of the occupied territories
was to take place between the combining parties for per-
manent possession. And it was set down in the instrument of
compact what amount of forces the several partisans should
contribute. The Landgrave's case was made the subject of
a special agreement : he was to be forced to submission ; but,
in consideration of his youth, and the relationship in which
he stood to Duke George, his dominions were to be restored to
him on his renouncing the Lutheran heresy. The obstacle op-
posed to such a league by the existing treaty of confraternity
between the Elector of Saxony and his near kinsman Duke
13G THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. George was considered and removed by reference to the
terms of "the Saxon Union," which especially excepted
those cases in which the Pope or Emperor might be con-
cerned. Pack assured Philip that if he would pay a visit to
Dresden, he would place the very instrument of federation in
his hands. And, on the Landgrave's complying with his
request, on the 18th February, he produced a copy of the
document, taken, as he said, from the ducal chancery, and
signed with the name of Duke George, but cut into strips and
inserted in another parchment, round which a silken thread
was tied, stamped with the ducal seal. Pack insisted that
the original instrument to the same purport existed, duly
signed and attested, but that the seal of Duke George was
broken, which showed that he had ceased to be a party to the
confederation; and he promised, on the payment of 4000
florins, to procure this autograph itself for the Landgrave's
inspection. Philip, according to his own assertion, paid down
this sum, and shortly afterwards quitted Dresden, his sus-
picions ripened into conviction, and his military ardour in-
flamed to an irrepressible degree.
He was not long in acquainting his allies with the formidable
conspiracy to their common detriment which had come to his
knowledge. He had a meeting with the Elector at Weimar,
and succeeded, by the promise of exhibiting the autograph
treaty, in persuading him that his fears of a Popish plot were
well grounded, so that the two princes entered into a formal
compact, on the 9th March, to " protect, with body, dignity,
possession, and every means in their power, the sacred deposit
of God's word for themselves and their subjects." They next
looked around for allies from amongst their evangelical neigh-
bours, and trusted, by means of the Duke of Prussia, to be able
to incite the King of Poland against King Ferdinand, to keep
the Franconian Bishops in check by the arms of George of
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 137
Brandenburg, to obtain auxiliaries from the Dukes of Lune- 1523.
burg, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg, and the city of Magde-
burg; and, for themselves, they agreed to equip a force of
6000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry. They likewise proposed
forming a league with the King of Denmark. But, at this
stage of the proceedings, sounder councils came to the aid of
one of the confederating parties : and the Elector was ad-
monished by the strong sense of Luther to beware of playing
an aggressive part. Various papers of advice were drawn up
by Luther, and signed by himself and Melancthon, in which
they warned the Elector against being carried away by the
Landgrave's heat and impetuosity, and implored him to bear
no part in the terrible drama of shedding blood, but to send
an embassage to the Emperor and to Ferdinand to apprise their
Majesties of the plots of the murderous princes, and by all
means to put a stop to the muster of their forces, "who would
be sure, once met, to make some work to their hands. "Even
the holy King Josiah," the Reformers said, c ' when he went out
against Pharaoh and fought against him, was slain. By this
world's law no one is punished till he has first been heard; so
Porcius Festus declared in St. Paul's case ; and God did not
condemn Adam before he had called him to answer for himself
— Adam, where art thou? There is strife enough uninvited,
and it cannot be well to paint the devil over the door, or ask
him to be godfather. Battle uever wins much, but always
loses much, and hazards all : meekness loses nothing, hazards
little, and wins all.""* And when Luther was at Weimar
* DeWette,III. pp. 314—323. " Considerations of Luther and Me-
lancthon," without a date. De AVette would assign May ; but the true
date of the first paper is clearly April or March. Cf. Seek. II. p. 95.
There is a letter of Melancthon to Bruck, dated May 17, thanking the
Elector for listening to their counsel, (Bret. II. p. 728,) in which he
states that to make war when God offered means of peace could never
be right, and that Luther agreed with him.
138 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. and Torgau a little later, with Melancthon — at which time he
was so oppressed by spiritual trials that he could not for-
bear, as Philip relates, opening his heart to him in private —
he personally assured the Elector, that, sorry as he and his
fellow professors would be to quit Wittenberg, the first clash
of arms would be the signal of their leaving it. Such repre-
sentations, ably seconded by Brack, addressed both to the
Elector and his son, had so much influence, that, on the
23rd April, John entered into another convention with
Philip in mitigation of the former, and sent first his son
John Frederic, and immediately afterwards one of his coun-
cillors, the Baron Wildenfels, to check the Landgrave's haste,
who was already at the head of an army, and meditating an
irruption into the ecclesiastical dominions. The Elector,
however, suffered part of his forces to assemble at the foot
of the Thuringian forest; and, perhaps, such conduct was
more prudent than holding back entirely, which might have
incensed the Landgrave into immediate operations.
On the 17th May Philip wrote to his father-in-law, and
ironically thanked him for the exceptional clause which his
kindness had inserted in the treaty in his favour; he sent
him a copy of that document ; assured him that, for his part,
he should " never return to the devil's worship ; " and finally
implored him that he would recede from the league, in which
case his son-in-law and all his resources would ever be at his
command for his defence and safety. Duke George imme-
diately replied that the treaty was an entire fabrication. But
the Landgrave had not waited for his father-in-law's answer,
or for the Elector's co-operation, but, on the 22nd May, pub-
lished a manifesto of the causes which had moved him to
take up arms : to which he annexed a copy of the treaty
which the bishops and princes had concocted " for the suppres-
sion of the living and blessed word of God, and the destruc-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 139
tion of its adherents : " a conspiracy the execution of which 1528.
he was resolved to anticipate by striking the first blow. He
pitched his camp on the borders of Hesse and Franconia,
near the monastery of Herren Breitungen, on the banks of
the Vierre.
But the secret of the plot was now out, for Duke George
had published the Landgrave's letter and his own reply ;
and from all quarters there appeared letters from those impli-
cated by Pack's accusation, in unequivocal denial of any par-
ticipation or knowledge of the alleged confederacy, and de-
nouncing the forger of the pretended document as a villain.
Messengers also passed between the Elector and Ferdinand,
and the latter unhesitatingly declared the whole an invention.
The Landgrave himself was now unable any longer to hold
out in his warlike determination. One difficulty, however,
still stood in the way of peace. Philip of Hesse persisted in
demanding pecuniary satisfaction, on account of the expen-
diture which his military preparations had involved ; and it
was to no purpose that Luther and Melancthon requested of
the Elector that considerations of such a nature might be no
obstacle to such a blessing as public quiet. Whatever expense
may have been incurred, they said, let it be regarded in the
light of a casualty from fire or tempest, or as if it were a loss
sustained in the late peasant rebellion. The Elector himself
was satisfied, and relinquished every demand ; but the Land-
grave was obstinate, that remuneration should be made him.
Very bitter letters were exchanged between him and his father-
in-law. At length a settlement was accomplished in regard
to the Elector of Mentz and the Bishops of Bamberg and
Wurzburg, by the assiduous mediation of the Electors of
Treves and the Palatinate, according to which Albert con-
sented to pay 40,000 florins, the Bishop of Wurzburg 40,000,
and the Bishop of Bamberg 20,000, rather than subject their
140 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. territories to the infliction of an armed invasion. The differ-
ences with the Suabian League were not arranged until the
very close of the year, when the good feeling and perseverance
of the Elector Palatine triumphed over this impediment to
concord. His efforts, also, were at last successful in effecting
a reconciliation between the son and father-in-law; and, in
the month of September, the angry correspondence ceased,
and they met again on amicable terms. Thus all possible
means were employed to preclude any bad consequences to
the cause of religious truth from this unfortunate affair ; but
the Landgrave's violent temper, and hasty adoption of un-
founded suspicions, supplied a ready handle for misrepre-
sentation to the enemies of reform ; and a letter from Charles
to the Elector of Saxony, dated from Toledo, the 19th
November, rated John, in harsh language, as the fomenter
of dissension, and, in arbitrary terms, designated as high
treason the levying an army without imperial warrant.
The Landgrave would not consent, from personal consider-
ations, to deliver Pack out of his own keeping to undergo a
trial : but he had him examined on the 20th June and for
several successive days at Cassel, in the presence of delegates
from Ferdinand, the Electors of Treves, Brandenburg, and
the Palatinate, and Duke George. The councillor of Duke
George was the accuser. Pack persisted in asserting that
the plot was a reality. His own letters from Hesse, recount-
ing that Philip had been deceived by the pretence of a con-
spiracy, were adduced against him ; and the copy he had
shown to the Landgrave was not forthcoming from the Dres-
den Chancery. He replied that he had destroyed it to avoid
suspicion, because he had been unable to re-insert it as
it was before in the parchment which had been rolled and
tied round it; and his letters had been indited with the
express object of throwing dust in the eyes of Duke George's
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 141
chancellor, that no hinderance might intervene to his gaining 1528.
possession of the autograph itself. The copy, he said, had
been made by Wurisyn, an amanuensis frequently employed
by the Duke ; but it turned out that this referee was a
person of no character, and had been banished from the
Court. The only support on which his defence could be
rested with any show of probability was the idea current in
all quarters, that some such bond had been entered into
by the Papist princes, and the fact that, some years before,
meetings had been convened in various places in which the
extirpation of the Lutheran heresy had formed the topic of
deliberation. Pack alleged anxiety to serve Duke George as
the motive of his conduct, and would not allow that he had
received any money from the Landgrave. Thus the exami-
nation terminated. Pack was for some time detained in cus-
tody by the Landgrave, and then banished from Hesse, and
was indebted for some time to Luther's influence for the pro-
tection of an asylum. Afterwards he wandered about in
various parts of Belgium for some years ; but the persecution
of Duke George still tracked his footsteps, and he was in
1536 apprehended by the Duke's agents, brought to trial, and
suffered death by decapitation. He denied having fabricated
the plot to the last ; some of his statements reflected discredit
on the Landgrave and the Elector, but the latter did not think
it necessary to make his defence, and refused to permit the
affair to be re-opened.
It must be attributed to the Christian principles and saga-
city of Luther that the Reformation was not shipwrecked on
the hidden shoal of the "Otto Pack league;" but the Reformer,
on the other hand, was far from assenting to those who could
see in the alleged confederacy nothing but a chimera, which
only the impetuous blood and excitable fancy of the Prince of
Hesse had conjured into existence. Pack, indeed, might have
142 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. manufactured the copy of the treaty which he showed to
Philip ; but he pronounced it to be his firm conviction that a
confederacy for the definite purpose of exterminating evan-
gelical truth did exist ; and that the popular rumours so widely
circulated were not groundless. How was it to be supposed
that those princes would shrink from a wholesale and effectual
accomplishment of their wishes, who were constantly mur-
dering by detail, and attempting to drown the Gospel in the
blood of its adherents ? " You see what commotions," Luther
wrote to Link, on the 14th June, " that league of impious
princes, which they deny, has excited. I interpret the cold
excuse of Duke George into a confession. But, whatever
denials, excuses, or fictions they may offer, I know for certain
that the league was not a mere nothing, or chimera, monster
sufficiently monstrous as it is. Every one knows that they
would extinguish the Gospel if they could. We do not believe
such godless men, although we joyfully give them peace. God
will confound that fool of fools who, like Moab, is bold beyond
his power." In several other letters he declared his judg-
ment of the matter with equal distinctness ; and spoke of
Duke George, in similar language, as " that ass of asses," or
" that clown." " All their acts, edicts, and endeavours show,"
he repeated, " that the league is not a fiction." " May the
plot fall on the head of the clown who plotted it ! There
are strange mysteries in that league : but let it be ; there
is nothing covered that shall not be revealed."
It is certainly no proof of consciousness of innocence on
the part of Duke George that, far from forgiving and forget-
ting the exiled Pack, he continued the pursuit till his emis-
saries hunted him down and then put him to death. Later
in the year the letter of Luther to Link came to the Duke's
knowledge. Indeed, Luther recited it from the pulpit to make
public his own opinion of a transaction which was the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 143
general topic with all classes. Full of indignation, Duke 1528.
George wrote to the Reformer to inquire whether he
acknowledged the letter in question as his own. The epistle
of Duke George was in a vein of great arrogance : and
Luther replied to it that he was not the Duke's prisoner;
his patience had been sufficiently tried by the preface to
Emser's version of the New Testament, and his Grace had
better seek the information he desired from those whom
he had a right to command ; but he added, more mildly,
"I pity your great afflictions, and would willingly, with
your leave, pray that they may be averted." The Duke's
secretary was despatched to Nuremberg to obtain, by fair
or foul means, the letter in question to Link, who acknow-
ledged to the Senate that it was really Luther's. But
though many manoeuvres were resorted to by the ducal emis-
sary, Link would not himself show him the letter: he
placed it in the hands of Scheurl, the town clerk, by whom
permission was granted to read it, and take a copy. This was
not contrary to Luther's wish, but he expressed his surprise
that Scheurl should be on such an intimate standing with
the Romanist faction : Melancthon imputed a good deal of
blame to Link himself, and wrote him a sharp admonition to
use caution and judgment, so much needed in dealing with the
private correspondence of such a writer as Luther. On the
return of the secretary with the copy, Duke George wrote a
statement of his grievances to the Elector, complaining with
deeply wounded pride of the light esteem in which Luther's
answer to his letter proved that he was held by him. The
fault, Luther replied, in his own vindication, is that Duke
George is "held in too high esteem by himself," which
made him forget to write to me " as Duke George."
The Elector laboured to appease his enraged cousin, and it
might at length be hoped that the matter would be
144 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHElt.
1528. suffered to sleep. But Duke George's irascibility was not
so easily quieted. A treatise published by Luther against
the Bishop of Meissen, on " Communion in both Kinds/'
made mention of " a treacherous plot of which it ought to
shame those who had had a hand in it." The Duke took
fire at the expression : there was the idea of the " Pack
plot " running in his head, and he supposed that that must
be meant. He therefore resolved to publish the cele-
brated letter to Link, with an apology annexed, in which the
authorship of the plot was ascribed to the Reformer himself,
and Pack was represented as playing an underpart to a
mightier hand : eight thousand impressions were struck off.
The intention of publishing the " Letter and Apology "
at the next fair became known to Luther, who accordingly
furnished himself with a counter missive, in a tract on " Pri-
vate Letters surreptitiously obtained," which he contrived
should be ready for publication at the same time. But as
Duke George seized every mode of venting his spleen on the
Elector of Saxony, and had scurrilously assailed him in the
" Apology," Luther addressed his patron with the request
that he would " with confidence expose him to a trial, for he
had far rather hazard his own neck than that his Grace's
person should on his account incur a hair-breadth of danger.
The Christ in him would be man enough against the malig-
nant devil, both in right and speech."
The Duke's Apology appeared on the 29th December, and
in the beginning of the next year Luther's tract on Stolen
Letters followed; but the Reformer's violence of language
displeased most of his friends excepting Amsdorf, and Me-
lancthon lamented that age instead of mitigating added to
his vehemence. He complained to Myconius, after reading
a copy of the tract sent him by John Frederic before it had
been seen in Wittenberg, " In two days the booksellers will
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 145
have dispersed thousands of copies amongst us j and even now 1528.
nothing else is talked about." The letter to Link had been ex-
hibited in a German version,* and the Reformer, besides expa-
tiating on the meanness of scrutinizing, searching out, and
copying private letters, charged the translation with incorrect-
ness, which he imputed to the Chancellor, but for which the
Duke himself was really answerable. Luther said much of the
origin of his opposition to Popery, a path on which he had
been forced undesignedly by the influence of events : he at-
tacked the edict of Worms as illegal, inasmuch as it was framed
and signed by the Emperor on his own authority without the
consent of the States; and he declared himself plenarily
acquitted by the Recess of the recent Diet of Spires. As to
the Pack business, he said that he held Duke George publicly
excused, but he must be allowed to entertain what suspicions
on the subject he pleased, for his thoughts were free. The
tract moved Duke George's temper to a far greater pitch of
fury than had possessed him before. He sent two of his
councillors to the Elector to represent his grievances. John,
on his side, acted as an impartial umpire ; he reproved Duke
George for his warmth, and charged Luther thenceforth
to publish nothing in reference to himself or the Duke unless
it had previously been sanctioned by the Court, and to sub-
mit all his theological treatises to the judgment of the
University, as his brother had ordained. But Duke George
was not satisfied with this : he insisted that Luther should
be punished. At length, on the 18th February, the Elector
wrote to him to request that their correspondence on the sub-
ject might cease, and the matter be dropped.
The absorbing importance of the Pack plot, whilst it pre-
vented, as has been said, the meeting of the Diet for this
* See Herzog Georgs Verantwortung. Walch. XVI., pp. 506-521.
VOL. II. L
146 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. year, did not interrupt the progress of the visitation. For
this purpose the Electoral dominions were divided into four
districts. Electoral Saxony and Misnia were appointed to
Luther, aided by a council of laymen ; and, whenever the
Reformer might be impeded by any other of his multifarious
engagements, Jonas and Bugenhagen were to act in his stead.
Osterland, in which were situated Altenberg and Zwickau, and
Voigtland, were distributed to Spalatin and two more clergy-
men, with several lay assistants, among whom were Wiidenfels
and Feilitsch. Thuringia was assigned to Melancthon, Jerome
Schurf, Planitz, and others, who had partially entered upon
their duties in the preceding autumn. And for the part of
Franconia under Saxon jurisdiction, two lay and four clerical
commissioners were nominated. In each of the four districts
the principle of blending civilians and clergymen in the com-
mission was maintained, according to Luther's advice, in
order that the purely spiritual matters, and such business as
was rather of a temporal and financial nature, might be kept
distinct, and devolve respectively on separate and duly quali-
fied officials. All the expenses were defrayed from the Elec-
toral treasury.
The commissioners were to allow a subsistence to such
ministers as, being very aged and unfit for any secular em-
ployment, persevered in attachment to Popery : such younger
ministers as held bad doctrine, they were to instruct in bet-
ter, and if their teaching had no effect, to punish and remove
them from their parishes ; such as taught well and lived ill,
they were also to remove; they were to preach against all
sedition, and exhort the people, in lieu of the offerings and
the money paid for masses under the Romanist system, to
make contributions towards the salaries of the ministers;
they were to take a strict account of the revenues of parishes
and monasteries, excepting the benefices in the patronage of
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 147
the Elector ; where the parish was too poor to support a 1528.
minister, they were to appoint the necessary stipend to be
drawn from the Electoral coffers; and, if possible, to set
apart one-third of the revenues of churches under private
patronage, in aid of the poverty of patrons, and for placing
out their daughters in marriage. The commissioners were
also to catechise the poor in the Christian faith ; and were to
compel such as retained their old Romish opinions, as well as
the disseminators of seditious principles, if admonitions ad-
dressed to them from time to time proved fruitless, to sell
their goods, and quit the country. The commissioners were
likewise to appoint superintendents from among the pastors
of the principal parishes, to serve the office of a standing
board, to which matrimonial questions, and matters of church
discipline could be referred, as well as to exercise a general
supervision over the clergy, and report delinquents to the
Elector.
The early part of the year had been devoted by Luther to
translating into German, with a few additions, Melancthon's
Latin text of the Visitation Articles, and prefixing a preface of
his own. The Articles in their vernacular dress appeared in the
summer ; and the autumn was devoted to the active duties of
a commissioner. The visitation was Luther's principal object
of attention throughout the year ; and he was several times
called from home to arrange with the Elector different points
of detail. On the 18th March, in a pelting storm, he jour-
neyed to Borna, breakfasted with Spalatin at Altenburg the
next morning, and afterwards stayed with the Elector at
Torgau from March 28 till April 7, when he returned to
Wittenberg. On the 1st May he was again called from home,
and, as has been already mentioned, was the Elector's guest
at Weimar. Just as his labour in revising, translating, and
superintending the printing of the Visitation Articles was gra-
l 2
148 THE LTFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. tified by success, a severe domestic trial — the death of his in-
fant daughter — broke for a time his spirits, but without sus-
pending his industry. On the 5th August he wrote to Haus-
mann — " My little Elizabethula is dead : it is strange how
weak and womanlike my heart is at the loss. I could never
have supposed a father's feelings to be so tender towards his
child." A month later the joyful notice appears: "The visitation
is all arranged : the Prince has informed me that the com-
missioners are to set out immediately." And so Philip and
many others did. But Luther was still detained. On the 25th
October he paid a flying visit to Lochau, to marry his friend
Michael Stiefel, who had, by his recommendation, been in-
stalled there as pastor, to the widow of his predecessor in the
cure : and Isaiah having been printed, at the end of October
he proceeded on his visitation with his four fellow commis-
sioners. He speaks of himself at this period as overwhelmed
with occupation. " I am visitor, lecturer, preacher, writer,
auditor, actor, courier, and what not I"
The most remarkable feature in this visitation, as far as it
exemplifies the character of Luther, is the extreme modera-
tion with which everything was conducted : through fear of
going too far, he scarcely went far enough ; an instance, to be
added to many others, in proof of the fact, that, violent and
headstrong as he was in controversy, in action he was all
peace and calmness. The revenues of the abbeys and cathe-
drals were left untouched, beyond being made to contribute
to the salaries of the parish ministers, and to the support of
schools. The appropriation of endowments was rarely dis-
turbed ; and it was chiefly in reference to the vacant benefices
that the commissioners interfered. In dealing with individuals,
Luther was charitable beyond the letter of the visitation book,
and, in opposition to the expulsion clause, pleaded with the
Elector in several instances, that it was far better to let the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 149
obstinate Romanists remain, than force them from the country 1528.
to do mischief where their opportunities would be greater. In
some convents the nuns were permitted to remain : and several
old Romish monks were not driven from their chimney cor-
ners, but allowed the retreat of their monasteries, with a suffi-
cient maintenance for the rest of their lives. The phrase
" commended to God" was applied to such cases, and denoted
that the desirable change was left to time. " We will leave its
hours to the day, and commend the cause to God," was Luther's
favourite verdict in a doubtful question ; and no less moderate
were the doctrinal views insisted upon. Faith was not to be
separated from Repentance. The ministers were to preach
Christianity rather than fling stones at Romanism from their
pulpits. At the same time that the spiritual impotence of
the will was to be enlarged upon, the moral freedom of the
will was also to be vindicated ; that a man can, if he choose,
abstain from murder, adultery, and robbery, according to St.
Paul's declaration — " The Gentiles do by nature the things
contained in the law." The people were to pray to God, not
to saints. The real presence in the Sacrament was to be in-
culcated, and it was to be administered, by all means, in both
kinds; yet exceptional cases might possibly be permitted.
Luther applied himself, with a deep sense of the importance
of the work, to catechising the poor. He heard them pray,
and questioned them as to their faith, with the greatest
gentleness and patience. It is related by Mathesius that on
one occasion he asked a peasant to repeat the Belief, who
began, " I believe in God Almighty" Here Luther
stopped him. " What do you mean by ' Almighty ? ' " "I
know not," the peasant replied. "True, my good man,"
said Luther ; " neither I nor any learned men do know that.
Only believe that God is thy dear and true Father, who
will and can, and knows, as the Allwise Lord, how to
150 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. help thee, thy wife and children, in time of need. That is
enough."
Another striking feature of Luther's character, as exempli-
fied at this time, but which might be expected, from the
strong sense of a mind used to influence and govern others,
is the preference shown by him in such a marked way to the
practical and useful over the merely theoretical. He might
have given the Saxon Church a democratic development,
after the example of the Hessian Church, as organised a
little earlier by Francis Lambert ; and his own ideas of
Christianity were not at all at variance with the most demo-
cratic framework of a church establishment, as his tract on
the Institution of Ministers sufficiently proves. But his pene-
tration at once saw that such an ecclesiastical system was
unsuited to the peculiar condition of society in Saxony. So
far from there being a large amount of well-directed religi-
ous feeling among the lower orders, he had continually to
lament its deficiency, and commonly spoke of the mass of his
countrymen as " my drunken Germans." He regarded the
strong hand of restraint and government as quite essential for
such " a wild rough race — half devil and half man." On the
other hand, the higher classes, and the nobles, and especially
the Electoral house of Saxony, not only listened to the Word
of God, but studied, and in many cases desired to act upon
it. Luther, therefore, dismissed all vexatious and unsatisfac-
tory questions as to the right of patronage and the power of
the Christian congregation ; and finding the ablest and best-
disposed supports of the Reformation in the higher ranks, mo-
delled his ecclesiastical establishment according to the guid-
ance of surrounding circumstances, and placed it in alliance
with, and in some measure in subordination to, the State.
In his judgment, the Church, viewed as a human institution,
the creation of the law, was simply a standing instrument
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 151
for the diffusion of true scriptural doctrine ; and therefore that 1528.
Church establishment which answered this object the most
effectually, whatever its ideal imperfections, must really be
the best. And his wisdom was conspicuously shown in the
comparative results of the Hessian and Saxon Church organi-
zations. In Hesse the most sweeping and radical changes had
taken place. So far as endowments might be concerned,
there was considerable advantage in this ; for the foundation
of the University of Marburg — one of the first names entered
at which was that of John Knox, the Scottish Reformer — as
well as of four large hospitals and two seminaries for the
education of female children of noble birth, was the happy
result of the decree of the Homberg synod. But the demo-
cratic basis on which ecclesiastical institutions were built in
Hesse, was found by experience so unsuited to the soil and
the times, that within four years from its establishment the
democratic church system was pulled down to make way for
the Saxon edifice as modelled by Luther.
The visitation demonstrated how completely the profession
of Lutheran doctrine had superseded Popery amongst all orders
and degrees in the dominions of the Saxon Elector. To take
the instance of the Altenberg district, which Seckendorf has
particularised : — Out of one hundred parishes only four of
the clergy were found to continue the celebration of the mass,
as many as twenty retained the concubiues allowed them by
the Pope, whom they were now compelled to marry, or to put
away, and only one of the nobles adhered to Popery. But
beyond this the results of the inquiry were less satisfactory :
for too generally the Lutheranism which had been substituted
for Romanism, was no more than profession; and, as such a
fact would show, there was a great need of efficient pastors.
" We find everywhere/' said Luther, " poverty and penury.
The Lord send labourers into his vineyard ! Amen." " The
152 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. face of the Church is everywhere most wretched," he wrote
to Spalatin ; " sometimes we have a collection for the poor
pastors, who have to till their two acres, which helps them a
little. The peasants have nothing, and know nothing ; they
neither pray, confess, nor communicate, as if they were ex-
empted from every religious duty. What an administration
that of the Papistical bishops ! " In about six weeks Luther
despatched his visitation duties in Electoral Saxony, and re-
turned home. He could not at once proceed with the visita-
tion of Misnia, but was obliged to accomplish it, by deputy,
in the May and June of the following year.
A new epoch in the annals of the Reformation commences
from this period. The investigation, which had been most
industriously prosecuted, made a disclosure of the moral and
spiritual nakedness of the land, and evidenced how bare the
Romish system had left the poorer sort of all culture, whether
of mind or soul. And this knowledge was of the utmost con-
sequence, as a preliminary step to improvement. The map
of spiritual destitution accurately delineated, showed where
money, or schools, or pastors were required. And so gross
was the ignorance thus brought to light that Luther, imme-
diately on his return home, set to work to prepare his well-
known Catechisms.* But it was not in Saxony only that the
opportunity was seized, to give a standing form and outward
organization to doctrinal truth. On all sides was seen the
spectacle of a revived Christian Church, which, throwing
traditional forms and hierarchal precedents back to the dust
* His Small Catechism comprised simple and brief explanations of
the Ten Commandments, the Belief, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacra-
ments, with Forms of Prayer for night and morning, and Grace before
and after meals, and a " House-table" (Haustafel) or collection of
Scriptural texts for the ordering of life in its different states and rela-
tions •. his Large Catechism treated the same subjects more thoroughly :
and both appeared early in the ensuing year.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 153
whence they had sprung, modelled itself immediately on the 1528.
scriptural standard, and looked for its past only to primitive
antiquity. Christianity refined from its dregs, or rather a new
life bursting into vigour from a mass of decomposition, now
found its representation in a regularly ordered Church establish-
ment. And thus the contest was no longer that of principles
unembodied in any visible form against an established and
powerful system, but that of a vigorous institution, young,
but really more primitive than its antagonist, taking for its
rock the only Word of God, and for its head Jesus Christ, in
alliance with civil power and under shelter of the law, against
an effete hierarchal body corporate, bending to the ground
from the weight of its crimes, in which the human element
had almost quite effaced the Divine. And as before the
Reformation of Luther had stimulated the Romanists to the
mock Ratisbon Reformation, and Luther's German version of
the New Testament had been copied or distorted by Emser,
so Luther's zeal in the Evangelical Church economy produced
its Romish counterpart, and a visitation was instituted in
Bavaria and in most of the Romanist States.
In other respects the year 1528 added strength to the
evangelical cause. Hamburg, and Brunswick, and Goslar,
were henceforth ranked amongst the Lutheran cities. And two
conversions in high life attested how deeply society was
penetrated, by the scriptural doctrine. The Duchess of
Miinsterberg, by the study of Luther's writings, conceived a
disrelish to the conventual life, and effected her escape from a
convent at Friburg, in the month of October, and with two
of her companions, took refuge under Luther's roof. She was
first cousin to Duke George. Earlier in the year (in March),
Elizabeth, the sister of the expelled King of Denmark, and
wife of Joachim, Elector of Brandenburg, was convicted by
her husband of studying Luther's works, and of receiving the
154 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1528. Lord's Supper in both kinds, and so hardly dealt with by him
as to be confined to her own apartment, and threatened
with imprisonment unless she relinquished the new religion.
In order to exercise her faith in peace, she secretly fled from
Berlin in a waggon used by the country people, and when
the wheel broke in a difficult road, she took off her head-
dress and threw it to the driver, to bind the wheel together.
She was met on the Saxon boundary by Christian II., her
brother, to whom the Elector, his uncle, had graciously allotted
an asylum at Torgau, and she was herself granted permission
to reside in the Castle of Lichtenberg. In her absence from
her husband and home she found a chief solace in Luther's
instruction; and at one period spent three months in the
Augustine convent, to enjoy the benefit of his spiritual guid-
ance, until in 1546 she returned to Berlin.
1529. Towards the end of January, Luther was again very ill and
suffering from a strange giddiness in the head, which ren-
dered him unfit for his usual studies and exertions. " I know
not," he said, " whether it proceeds from over-fatigue, or is a
temptation from Satan." It lasted up to the middle of Feb-
ruary, for up to the 13th of that month, when he enclosed the
German Litany to Hausmann, he complained that he was "still
labouring under giddiness of the head, besides buffetings from
the angel of Satan." The end of February he was left
almost alone at Wittenberg, and the giddiness had been suc-
ceeded by a severe cough, which at last compelled him, from
extreme hoarseness, to discontinue both lecturing and preach-
ing -, and the only friend whom he had with him to substitute
in these duties was Caspar Cruciger, who had returned in
1527 from Magdeburg. In his letters of this period he
speaks of himself as "a sinner exposed to many devils in
much infirmity," and complains bitterly that " the voice of
Theology is no longer heard from the chair." Melancthon
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 155
was gone to the Diet with the Elector ; Jonas was deputed in 1529.
Luther's stead to carry on the visitation; and Bugenhagen
had passed from Hamburg into Holstein. Deprived for a
while of the society in which he delighted, and incapacitated
for his customary duties, Luther was resolved that the
time should not be altogether lost to himself or the
world; and he translated in this interval of sickness the
Book of Wisdom. It was subjected to Melancthon's
emendations on his return, and then printed. A mis-
fortune had befallen the finished treatise against the
Turk. In the hurry of preparation for the visitation tour,
or in Luther's absence on that mission, several of the
sheets had been mislaid, and could not be discovered by
the most anxious search. The whole conception of the work
was so much marred by this deficiency, that Luther prepared
another treatise, which was published in the course of the
spring. At length, on the 3rd May, the hoarseness was so
far removed that he was able to resume his lectures on
Isaiah, and shortly afterwards again to occupy the pulpit.
A bright ray of joy was granted him on the 4th, by the
birth of a daughter, whom he named Magdalene — a gift in
lieu of the one recalled; and it enhanced his delight that
Kate was " as well and happy as if she had suffered nothing.
To Christ be praise and glory."
During this period of sickness and solitude, the same two
subjects as before continued to harass his mind : the Turks
and the Diet. And it excited his undisguised astonishment
that the King of France, the Pope, the Venetians, and Floren-
tines should be abettors of the arms of the False Prophet.
" You may see from this," he wrote to Jonas, " what the world
thinks of God. The Turk will be a Reformer, I fear, sent in
divine wrath." But all that was passing on the theatre of
politics, as well as signs on the earth and in the sky, earthquakes
156 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. and meteors, confirmed him in the persuasion that the end of
all things was rapidly approaching. " The day of Christ is at
the door ; it cannot be postponed ; the cry will soon resound,
' The Bridegroom cometh/ " In reference to the Diet, there
were not wanting alarming tokens of the disposition of many
of the Princes ; and it could not be concealed that the Pack
mystery had exerted an influence highly prejudicial to the
cause of the Reformation. Notwithstanding the progress
which the Turkish arms were making, King Ferdinand was
resolved to be present at Spires, fresh from his proscriptions
of the Lutherans in Hungary and Bohemia. The Elector of
Brandenburg, too, had lately signalized his zeal by decoying
some of the evangelical preachers into a trap which he had
laid for them, and making them his prisoners. And it was
boastfully rumoured by the popish faction that John of
Saxony had not only been interdicted from entering the city
of Spires, but had even been deprived of his electoral dignity.
The second Diet of Spires, which had been summoned to
meet in February, did not enter upon its deliberations until
the 15th March. The very manner in which the papistical
Princes made their public entrance into the city marked their
confidence in the success of their policy, and the pride which
elated them. On the 5th, King Ferdinand entered the city
with 300 armed knights ; the Dukes of Bavaria came attended
by an equally large retinue ; and the Electors of Mentz and
Treves were both accompanied by troops of horsemen. But
on the 13th (the eve of Palm Sunday) the Elector of Saxony
appeared in the streets of Spires, quietly riding with
Melancthon at his side. The Landgrave of Hesse, however,
would have put too much force on his nature, had he followed
this example; and on the 18th he made his entry at the head
of 200 horsemen. The Diet was opened by a speech from
the Elector Palatine, as lieutenant of the empire, after which
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 157
a letter from the Emperor, dated August 1st, from Valladolid, 1529.
was read aloud in profound silence. It abolished altogether
the Recess of the previous Diet of Spires, and imputed the
alarming progress of the Turks to the growth of the
Lutheran heresy. The bitter tone of the Imperial mandate
prepared the minds of most of the members for a decision
adverse to the Reformation, and immediately determined the
courtiers as to the side which they should take in the
subsequent debates. And the strong current of feeling,
among the aspirants to favour with the King, was quickly
shown by the timid and time-serving Elector Palatine
prohibiting his followers from attending the evangelical
worship in the hotels of the Elector of Saxony and the
Landgrave. "The Elector Palatine," said the Count of
Mansfeld, "will not know a Saxon." "We are the off-
scouring of all things," Melancthon wrote to Camerarius.
And John Faber and the Romanist preachers proclaimed from
the pulpits that the Turks were better than the Lutherans ; for
the Turks observed fast- days, but the Lutherans despised them.
But popular opinion was as staunch as ever in favour of
the Reformation ; and on Palm Sunday, whilst the
Romanist Princes were playing at dice, or drinking, no less
than 8000 persons assembled twice in the day, in the Elector
of Saxony's lodging, to worship God and to hear his word.
It was at once proposed to the Diet, in obedience to the
Imperial mandate, to abolish the Edict of 1526. The Elector
of Saxony and his friends stoutly resisted such a proposition ;
but their objections were overruled by the votes of the majo-
rity. There was no time for lengthened discussion ; the
Turks were in possession of the greater part of Hungary, and
their continued progress warned Ferdinand of the imperative
necessity of his presence in the field of battle. Early in
April, therefore, the terms of the Recess were arranged.
158 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. They ordained, that wherever the Edict of Worms had
hitherto been obeyed, it should still be obeyed ; and wherever
innovations in religion had taken place, and the old ritual
could not be restored without disturbances, such innovations
might be retained till the meeting of a general or national
council ; but no further innovations must be made. The
Sacramentarians were to be punished with banishment, the
Anabaptists with death. The sacrament of the mass was to
be solemnized without let or hinderance ; the Gospel was to
be explained according to the interpretations of Fathers
received by the Church ; the public peace was not to be vio-
lated, and no one was to molest another or interfere with his
subjects on the ground of religion.
Such an edict, if it were allowed, not only reduced the
Reformation to a stand-still, but virtually re-established
Romanism. The Evangelicals were fully aware of this, and
were determined, if possible, to prevent the proposition from
passing into law; but at least, if it should pass into law,
never to accord their consent to it. The Saxon envoy Mink-
witz, on the 12th April, ably argued the cause of the Luther-
ans, contending that, in cases of conscience, the force of a
majority was null, and the minority would never consent to
the sentence of their own condemnation. But his represent-
ations were of no effect. The Elector desired Luther's
opinion on the prominent question of the power of a majority,
and this was given, in opposition to any acknowledgment of
such a power being vested in a majority of the Diet as was
now claimed ; and he insisted on the contempt into which the
Clergy had everywhere sunk, the total downfall which
threatened the empire, and the destruction of all religion
which must have ensued, if the revival of Scriptural doctrine
had not renewed the Church and regenerated the nation by
teaching faith in Christ, and obedience to the magistrate.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 159
" If the old state of things had been suffered to reach its } 529.
natural termination, the world must have fallen to pieces,
and Christianity have been turned into Atheism." But it
was of no use to urge unimpeachable truths to a confident
and triumphant majority. On the 19th April, King Fer-
dinand thanked his coadjutors for "their faithful and assi-
duous services," and, repudiating the arguments of the Evan-
gelicals, insisted that the will of the greater part of the
Electors and Princes, according to ancient usage, must be
deemed conclusive. The Lutherans requested a brief delay,
but Ferdinand replied that the commands of the Emperor
were explicit, and he abruptly left the house with the com-
missioners.
The behaviour of Ferdinand was judged by the Lutheran
party a contempt of their dignity and persons — an insult
added to an injury; and, on constitutional as well as on reli-
gious grounds, they felt the necessity of making a firm stand.
If it were conceded that the majority of the Diet had
the power of directing the internal affairs of each separate
principality, as was now demanded, it was clear that a new
order of things had commenced in Germany; a collective
central authority had usurped the rights of every local admi-
nistration, and in that usurping court the weightiest affairs
were henceforth to be regulated by counting hands. But the
emergency which had now arisen had been foreseen, and
was provided for. The Evangelical Princes returned to the
chamber where the States remained sitting, and caused a
protest which they had previously prepared to be read aloud
in their name, and requested that it might be incorporated in
the Recess. The protest, with a few additions, was delivered
to the King the following day, but Ferdinand refused to accept
it, and sent it back to them. The Diet, however, with more
courtesy and better sense, made an attempt at reconcilia-
160 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. tion,* and deputed Henry of Brunswick and Philip of Baden to
act as mediators. But the attempt failed ; for the Bishops, who
had now gained what they wanted, and King Ferdinand, who
was much irritated at what had occurred, were indisposed to
accede to any arrangement short of the decision arrived at by
the majority. The majority of votes in their favour was an
argument with them that answered every objection. Thus
the Evangelical Princes were driven to the publication of their
protest as the only alternative that remained : as King Ferdi-
nand refused to have it inserted in the Recess, they in their
turn declined to comply with his unreasonable request that
they would refrain from publishing it altogether. And by
circulating such a document, they in fact appealed from one
majority to another, from that of the Diet to that of the
German people.
On Sunday, April 25, the first Protestants met in the house
of Peter Muterstadt, the Deacon, near St. John's Church,
in St. John's Lane, in the little room on the ground-floor,
with their notaries, the Chancellors of the Princes and States,
to give the instrument of Appeal the form and force of a legal
document. Immediately afterwards it was made public.
The Appeal was to the Emperor, to a free Christian or
National Council, or to whatsoever competent judge, in behalf
of themselves and their subjects, and all who now or hereafter
should adhere to the holy Word of God. In this Appeal they
stated that they were only doing what they owed to their
conscience and to God, and intended no injury or contempt to
* Melancthon wrote to Camerarius (Bret. II., p. 1060) — " Our adver-
saries are now courting us to remain : they say they will moderate the
bitterness of the edict. I know not what will come of it all." He
blamed the Lutherans for not being more accommodating in the matter
of the tax for the Turkish war ; and dedicated his exposition of Daniel
to King Ferdinand, using every effort to pacify him.
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 161
any one. It was lawful for any one to appeal for another 1529.
who had been condemned to death ; how much more, then,
must this be lawful for themselves — the members of the one
spiritual body of Jesus Christ, and sons of one heavenly
Father, in behalf of themselves and their neighbours, in a
cause affecting everlasting salvation or condemnation. In
such a cause majority of votes had no place. By the decrees
of the Diets of Nuremberg, a Council had been unanimously
demanded, and before it should meet they could not be
required to recede from the convictions of their conscience.
They had never consented to the Edict of Worms, and never
could consent to it; much less would they restore in their
territories the mass, refuted by their preachers from the Word
of God, for neither did the adverse party allow the holy
communion in both kinds in their dominions. The Edict
of Worms had been abrogated or suspended by the
decree of the Diet of 1526. They were much aggrieved
by the charge of innovation, which could not rightly
apply to those who conformed to Scripture, and it was not
to be endured that no one henceforth should be permitted to
embrace the evangelical doctrine. The Word of God was
not by them interpreted according to the Doctors of the
Church, for it was a question what was meant by the Church :
but Scripture was explained by Scripture. This Appeal was
signed by John Elector of Saxony, George Margrave of
Brandenberg, Ernest and Francis Dukes of Luneberg, Philip
Landgrave of Hesse, Wolfgang Prince of Anhalt, and by four-
teen imperial cities — Strasburg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Constance,
Lindau, Memmingen, Kempten, Nordlingen, Heilbronn,
Beutlingen, Isny, St. Gall, Wissenburg, and Windsheim.
The Protestants included in their number all the cities who
upheld Zwiuglian doctrine. They stood pledged to mutual
defence in resisting any attempt at compulsion on the part of
M
162 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. the majority, in things appertaining to faith ; but at the same
time expressed the hope that no such interference would be
tried. "Protestant," says Pallavicini, "signifies traitor to
the Pope or to the Emperor." It may more truly be said
that it denotes one who takes Scripture, and Scripture only,
as the one guide in faith and conduct and, in heartfelt sub-
mission to that Divine rule, discards all human traditions and
human authority that conflict with it. " It is a No, which
is the rebound of a Yes" — that Yes the Yea and Amen of God
himself. Negative in form, it is in substance as positive a
term as any to be found in language.
Before the Appeal was published, indeed the day after the
attempts at mediation proved fruitless, a secret agreement
had been concluded by Saxony and Hesse with the cities of
Nuremberg, Ulm, and Strasburg. The agreement was to the
effect that they would defend themselves, and one another, if
any attack on religious grounds should be made upon any of
them, whoever the aggressor might be, whether the Suabian
League or the Emperor himself, and delegates were to be sent
by them in June to Rothach in Franconia, to mature the
plans of this warlike alliance. After the Appeal had received
its legal form, and had been published, the thoughts of the
Protestants, as was natural, were more powerfully directed to
the importance of a defensive alliance ; and the scheme was
communicated to the Theologians. It was then for the first
time distinctly felt, what an obstacle the difference of religious
principles between the Lutherans and the Zvvinglians, which
in the imminent jeopardy to the Word of God, had been for
the moment quite overlooked, must interpose against any
general Protestant alliance of this kind: and Melancthon,
now awake to what he had before little thought of, began
severely to reproach himself for having made joint cause
with the Sacramentarians, and to consider the unfavour-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 163
able issue of the national councils as a retributive punish- 1529.
raent. But he did not offer any opposition to the pro-
posed alliance whilst at Spires. It was determined that an
Embassy should be sent to the Emperor, and with this view
a meeting was to be held at Nuremberg. The alliance was
to be arranged at Rothach. Thus the Protestants parted;
and, on the 6th May, Melancthon reached Wittenberg again *
The Appeal was published by the Landgrave on the 5th, by
the Elector of Saxony on the 13th May, in their respective
dominions.
The prospect which now opened before the mind's eye of a
military prince like the Landgrave of Hesse, can be denomi-
nated scarcely by a less word than magnificent. He had
before been too eager to grasp the sword; it now seemed
forced into his hand. And allies from all quarters were
ready to start up and unite in the contest against the Papis-
tical faction which had prevailed in the Diet. Philip had
dived deeply into the recesses of diplomatic negotiations, and
had alike sounded the intentions of courts and of town-
councils. He was, like his friend the exiled Duke of Wur-
temburg, and the Marquis of Baden, on intimate terms with
the Swiss Protestants and the great Reformer, Zwingle. It
* They heard with joy at Wittenberg of the preservation of Simon
Gryneeus. He had come to Spires to see Melancthon, and had im-
plored John Faber of Constance to cease persecuting the Gospel. A
man of venerable appearance stood at the door of the priest's house
with whom Melancthon lodged, and inquired for Grynseus. He was
not within. " I am come," the messenger said, " to warn him to fly
this place : his foes have laid snares for him." When Grynseus re-
turned, Melancthon persuaded him to immediate flight, and accom-
panied him to the Rhine. Soon afterwards a band of soldiers appeared
before the priest's house to apprehend Gryna?us. — Camerar., p. 113.
Melancthon wrote to Camerarius that he regarded the interposition as
miraculous. " Omnino est ille divino auxilio ereptus quasi e faucibus
eorum, qui sitiunt sanguinem innocentum." — Bret. II., p. 1062.
M 2
164 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. is singular to observe the different language in which Luther
and Zwingle spoke of the Landgrave: with the Saxon he was
"a young and hot-headed prince/' with the Swiss Reformer
he was " magnanimous, steadfast, and wise." But Zurich
was in negotiation not only with Philip, but with the King
of France ; and it could not be a matter of doubt with what
avidity the impetuous Francis would seize the opportunity of
stirring up strife against his rival the Emperor in Germany
itself, and therefore how welcome to him a bond with a
congenial spirit such as the Landgrave could not fail to be.
Venice, and some also of the German cities, would easily be
drawn into the anti-imperial alliance. Then there were the
kings of Denmark and of Sweden, and Albert of Prussia, all
sworn Lutherans. King Ferdinand had enough to do already
in opposing Sultan Soliman. With such a powerful coalition
arrayed against them on every side, the Papistical German
princes might be undoubtedly reduced to the most compliant
submission, and be made to pay dearly for their haughty
carriage and intolerant decisions at the recent Diet. A far
less sanguine character than Philip the Magnanimous might
easily have been entranced with such a prospect as now pre-
sented itself; and it cannot excite astonishment that he sub-
sequently toiled with all his energies to reconcile the diver-
gencies of the Evangelical and Reformed Churches.
With far other feelings, dejected and desponding, Melanc-
thon returned to Wittenberg. His conscience upbraided
him with having been an accomplice in an unholy league with
those who had divested the Eucharist of its awful mystery,
and who held many other unscriptural dogmas. He was
half dead with the sense of his error; his studies and the
claims of private friendship were neglected, and death seemed
preferable to the tortures of self-recrimination. His de-
spondency was soon afterwards deepened by a domestic afflic-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 165
tion, the death of his younger son George. It may readily 1529.
be conjectured what Luther thought of an alliance with the
Swiss, and with what condoling sympathy he welcomed the
repentance, or rather the self-recollection, of Melaucthon.
Of the importance of the protest he had no conception : he
only recognised in the account of what had passed at the
Diet, that " the spiritual tyrants and buffeters of the Saviour "
had been withheld by a Divine hand from satiating their fury
against the Gospel. And he was now resolved to warn the
Elector of the guilt of concluding the proposed alliance with
heretics, chargeable with setting aside the plain words of
Scripture, and trampling under foot the Sacrament of the
altar. But this was not all. He had allowed the right of an
Elector of the Empire to form a defensive alliance against a
brother elector or potentate, only ranking on the same level
with himself; but it was a very different thing for a subor-
dinate prince to engage in a compact even for self-defence
against the imperial authority itself. Loyalty was with him
a plain Christian duty. Obedience to the powers that be,
under whatever circumstances, he regarded as enjoined in
every page of the Scriptures. But from his correspondence
it seems probable that the antipathy to the Sacramentarian
error was even yet stronger in his mind than his conviction
of the doctrine of passive obedience.
"Master Philip," Luther wrote to the Elector, on the
22nd May, "has brought me intelligence from the Diet
which has moved me not a little, that a new league is in
hand between your Grace, and the Landgrave, and several
States. It is only a year ago that God in his wonderful
mercy delivered us from the perils of a terrible plot. As I
hope that God will henceforth watch over and give your
Grace spirit and counsel to abstain for the time to come
from such like compacts, so I cannot satisfy the appeals and
166 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. violence of my conscience, without approving to your Grace,
with what knowledge and experience I have, that no one can be
too industrious in anticipating the devil and his temptations.
Christ our Lord will grant our prayer that your Grace may
beware, and however the Landgrave may advance in his
league-making, avoid all partnership and oonnexion with
such designs. For the folly that will proceed therefrom, we
cannot think of it all. In the first place, such leaguing does
not proceed from God, nor from confidence in God, but from
human wisdom, and from seeking human help wherein to
trust, which has no sure ground, and never yields good fruit.
Secondly, it is awful to reflect, that in such a league we com-
prise those who strive against God and the Sacrament,
whereby we bring all their iniquity and profaneness upon our
own heads, and make ourselves partakers in their guilt.
Rather than this, so help us God, your Grace had far better
abandon the Landgrave, as I hear the Margrave George has
declared and done. For our Lord Christ, who has hitherto
wonderfully helped us without the Landgrave, yea, against
the Landgrave, can help and counsel us still. Thirdly, in the
Old Testament God has ever condemned such a leaguing
of human help : as in Isaiah, vii., viii., and xxx. ; and he
proclaims, ' Your strength is to sit still. 5 We must be the
children of faith in God, in sure confidence in Him. ' Cast
all your care upon him. Who art thou that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die ? } M
Afterwards he forwarded a paper of considerations to the
Elector, in which he answered the arguments of those who
upheld the league, and stoutly maintained that to deny any
siugle Christian doctrine is to deny the Christian faith alto-
gether. " The whole virtue of a compact consists," he said,
" in faith and a good conscience : but how can there be such a
groundwork in conjunction with those who hold unworthy
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 167
views of the Sacrament?" He recommended that in sending 1529.
an embassy to the Emperor the Evangelicals should act
quite distinctly from the Sacramentarians. He wished the
merits of the Elector towards the Church to be dwelt upon at
length in the representations of the ambassadors, particularly
that he had caused Jesus Christ, and faith in Him, to be
taught most purely, and as they had not been taught for 1000
years; had abolished mass-marketings, indulgence- traffick-
ings, excommunications, and a host of evils condemned by the
Diet of Worms ; had resisted the violation of churches and
images ; had opposed Munzer, and preserved the public peace ;
and had done his utmost to suppress the heresies of the Sacra-
mentarians, and of the Anabaptists, as well as the vile doc-
trines of Erasmus and others on the Holy Trinity. For the
time, however, another influence was in the ascendant :
Luther's admonitions were disregarded, and on the 27th May
a meeting was held at Nuremberg, at which it was resolved to
send three ambassadors to Charles, in the combined cause of
Lutherans and Zwinglians ; and their instructions were not
exactly in the submissive tone advised by Luther, but dwelt,
as the protest had done, on past decrees of Diets, and the
constitutional maxims of the empire, which Charles had in-
fringed in abolishing the decree of 1526, and petitioned ear-
nestly for the promised Council. But it was not long that
the Elector John trod in the worldly footprints of the Land-
grave : Luther's scriptural exhortations after a little while
again prevailed ; and the career of the Reformation at a cri-
tical period was once more determined, and probably recalled
from imminent ruin, by the firmness with which he resisted
every argument of expediency, and acted on simple faith in
God.
The meeting took place, as had been agreed, at Rothach on
the 1st June, but the result proved how much the arguments
168 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. of Lutlier had weighed upon the Elector's conscience in the
interval. John directed his delegate Minkwitz to hear all
that was said, but to be no party to any definitive agree-
ment ; and thus the meeting broke up with no fruit be-
yond the repetition of formal expressions of sympathy and
vague assurances of support. This was anything but satisfac-
tory to the Landgrave. Various letters passed between him
and the Elector, and Philip strove to persuade John that the
point of the Lord's Supper was not an essential article of
religion, like faith and some other doctrines ; and that
u theologians would for ever be disputing." But as time
advanced, the influence of Luther's sentiments on the Elec-
tor's judgment continued to be on the increase. There was
a meeting at Zerbst on the 7th August, at which deputies
of most of the Protestant princes were present, but again no
arrangement could be agreed upon. The Elector of Saxony,
George, the Margrave of Brandenburg and the city of Nu-
remberg, were especially firm and decided in adhering to
Luther's sacramental doctrines and his pacific policy : and
the two former afterwards entered into a mutual stipulation
that they would never assent to forming a compact with such
as differed from the evangelical tenets on the subject of the
Lord's Supper and Holy Baptism. But it had been settled
that a general Protestant conference should take place in the
middle of October, at Schwaback, and the Landgrave did not
remit anything of his usual ardour in labouring so to settle
doctrinal diversities, that before that congress the path to a
defensive combination might be made smooth.
The plan conceived by Philip was that the rival theologians,
who he found, from the recesses of their modest dwellings
ruled the counsels of princes, and with the pen determined
the action of the sword, should hold a meeting under his
protection and in his presence : and he trusted that by
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 169
calmly talking over the arguments in support of their adverse 1529.
views the differences might be adjusted, or at least all ill-
feeling quieted. Indeed, this plan had occurred to his mind
before the Diet broke up, and he mentioned it to Me-
lancthon. Luther did not refuse to accede to this proposal,
but from the very first he, and Melancthon with him, so
wrote and acted as to show that they expected little or no
good from any disputation or conference with adversaries who
had published such bitter writings in maintenance of their
heretical opinions. On the 23rd June he replied to the
Landgrave's invitation that he would go to Marburg, and
give the meeting to (Ecolampadius and his partisans, for his
opponents should never be able to say that they loved peace
and unity better than he did : but he had no hope whatever
from argument ; he had well studied his own ground, so had
his opponents theirs : he feared Satan might find his own
advantage in the disputation : he certainly should not himself
yield, and if his opponents proved as obstinate, the Land-
grave's expense and trouble would all be lost, although his
diligence to heal divisions was highly praiseworthy. But if,
as his Grace hinted, disunion should be followed by shedding
of blood, which the depraved heart naturally thirsted for, he
and his would be guiltless of any such result. What shedding
of blood led to had been witnessed in the instances of Sickin-
gen, Carlstadt, and Munzer : from all whose enterprises he had
kept himself clear, and from all similar enterprises he would
ever keep himself clear, with the help of God.
In a paper of considerations of about the same date — the
composition either of Luther or Melancthon * — it was pro-
* It has no signature attached. De "Wette (III. p. 475) ascribes it to
Luther; Bretschneider (II. p. 1066) to Melancthon. It was first pub-
lished by Miiller, in his "History of the Augsburg Confession," from
the Weimar Archives.
170 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. posed that some honest Papists should attend the disputation
as a third and impartial party, both to preclude the possibility
of any rumour that the Reforming party were hatching some
conspiracy, and to serve as a check on the proneness of the
Sacramentarians to palm off on the public a false and inte-
rested statement of the arguments adduced. Such a proposal
is itself a sufficient proof of the extreme reluctance with
which the Wittenberg divines yielded to the importunity of
the Landgrave. Even the gentle Melancthon reiterates, in
his correspondence, that he had ' ' rather die " than be con-
taminated by alliance with the Swiss : " they separated the
divinity of Christ from his manhood : they spoke of sin as
only in the outward act, like the Pelagians and Papists ; and
they made faith a mere historical belief." Zwingle was per-
sonally odious to the Lutheran chiefs; he is described by
them as " rude, violent, and insolent ;" and it was thought
that the success of his doctrines in the famous conference at
Bern, when it was decided to abrogate the mass, and from
which he had been brought home in triumph by his country-
men, the boys shouting in the streets, "Down with a God
of bread — a baker God," had contributed to inflame his na-
tive pride and roughness. Luther repeated in a stronger
tone all that he had ever said against disputations ; he spoke
of the Leipsic disputation as having produced more evil than
good : he referred to the disputations in past ages of the
Arians and orthodox as having never been attended with any
benefit : and he complained of the unruly spirit of the Land-
grave, and the bad designs he was harbouring. " I know well
what Satan is about in this business : God grant I prove not a
true prophet." He even requested of his friends that prayers
might be offered in the churches for public peace, for " Satan
was meditating a great bane to Germany, and an intolerable
scandal to the Gospel, by tempting the Reforming party to
take up arms."
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 171
It was the Elector's care that the great Doctor should 1529.
appear at the conference apparelled in a manner worthy of his
patron, and he therefore sent him a present of a handsome suit
of clothes, and cloth for a gown. In a noble letter Luther
returned his thanks. "His Grace must not believe those
who said that he was in want. He had received more from
his Grace than in his conscience he could well bear ; for as a
preacher he ought not, and fain would not have a superfluity.
He would not willingly be found amongst those in this life to
whom Christ says, ' Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have
received your consolation/ Besides, he would not be bur-
densome to his Grace, as knowing what demands he had on
his charity, and how much he required to keep up his state :
and ( too much bursts the bag/ Although it would not be-
seem him to wear the liver-coloured cloth, yet he would wear
the black coat out of honour to his Grace, though far too
costly ; and were it not his Grace's present, he never could
wear such a coat at all. His Grace must wait until he en-
treated a gift, that he might not be shy to intercede for others
far worthier than himself."
The conference was fixed for St. Michael's Day. Luther,
accompanied by Melancthon, Cruciger, and Jonas, left Wit-
tenberg the 23rd October, and took the road by Erfurth,
Gotha, and Eisenach ; but as soon as he reached the frontiers
of Hesse, be refused to proceed any farther until a safe-con-
duct from the Landgrave had been sent him. When this had
been received, he advanced to Alsfeld, and rested there for the
night, and on Thursday, the 30th September, before mid-day,
made his entrance into Marburg. The Swiss had arrived the
day previously; and very different were the feelings with
which they had undertaken the journey, and prepared to en-
gage in the discussion. Zwingle, apprehensive of impediments
and delays, and urged by a fourth messenger from that " most
172 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHEK.
1529. pious hero and Christian prince the Landgrave," quitted
Zurich secretly the beginning of September, leaving a letter to
be delivered to the Small and Great Council, explaining his
departure, and telling his wife that he was going to Basle on
business : on the 5th he was at Basle, in CEcolampadius'
house ; and on the 6th the two theologians, with Rudolph
Fry, senator of Basle, and Ulric Funk, senator of Zurich, de-
scended the Rhine in company with some merchants, and in
thirteen hours reached Strasburg, where they remained some
days, and towards the end of the month, with Hedio and
Bucer, and a Strasburg senator of note, James Sturm, under
an escort of soldiers or horsemen accomplished their route to
Marburg. The Lutheran party, besides Eberhard, the pre-
fect of Eisenach, and some others who had joined them at
that town, were increased by the subsequent arrival, after
the controversy had commenced, of Osiander of Nuremberg,
Brentz of Halle, and Stephen Agricola of Augsburg. It
had at first been intended to assign the disputants of the
two contending sides lodgings in the town : but this scheme
was abandoned ; and they were all most courteously received
by the Landgrave in his castle, an ancient fortress standing
on the brow of a hill, surrounded with woods, and com-
manding a noble view of the valley of the Lahn. The theo-
logians sat at the same table with the prince, and were
entertained with royal magnificence. On the 30th, Luther
conversed familiarly for some time with CEcolampadius in
the castle yard ; but when Bucer drew near to him, he ex-
claimed, shaking his hand at him, " You are a good-for-
nothing knave."
The next day, Friday, October 1, it was arranged that
there should be a separate conference in private, two by two,
of the heads of the opponent sentiments — Luther apart
with CEcolampadius, and Melancthon with Zwingle — the im-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 173
petuous matched against the gentle. After divine service the 1529.
pairs of disputants withdrew into the apartments allotted
them, and carried on the discussion until they were inter-
rupted by the summons to dinner. Zwingle complains that
Melancthon was "so slippery, and such a Proteus, that he
was obliged to take a pen and conduct the controversy on
paper, in order to fix him." But this preliminary interview
proved that on all subjects, save the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper, the disputants were agreed. The Swiss allowed the
radical and total depravity of the heart; that the Sacraments
are channels for communicating grace; that by baptism, the
infant has original sin forgiven him; that the Holy Spirit
acts not independently of, but through the written word ; and
that justification is to be distinguished from those good works
which are its fruits and effects. After dinner Melancthon and
Zwingle resumed their discussion for three hours longer, and
and entered more fully on the debated point of the Lord's
Supper ; but Luther did not return to his conference with
(Ecolampadius. The theologian of Basle had whispered into
Zwingle's ear, on joining him to proceed to the dinner table,
that " he had a second time lighted on Eck." Luther only
mentions in his correspondence the mutual suavity of manner
observed in the interview.
The following day, Saturday, October 2, the more public
conference was to take place. An apartment in the interior
of the castle, near the Prince's bedchamber, had been chosen
for the discussion, for much care was used to prevent the in-
trusion of the idly curious or ill-disposed. Carlstadt had re-
quested permission to be present, but Luther at once negatived
such a proposition ; and many who had come from Switzerland
or the Rhine, full of anxiety to be witnesses of the controversy,
knocked in vain at the castle gate, and implored to be let in.
Early in the morning the Landgrave entered the hall and
174 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. took his seat, with his courtiers, and counsellors of the
first mark, professors of his university, and the nobles and
deputies who had been granted admission; about twenty-
four spectators in all, according to the Zwinglian account, as
many as fifty or sixty according to the Lutheran. The Prince
was very plainly attired, and thus appeared eager to ignore
his rank on the occasion, and to do homage to theology.
Of an intelligent mind, and well versed in the Scriptures, he
listened with fixed attention to the arguments advanced by
either side. A desk, covered with a velvet cloth, divided
Luther and Melancthon from Zwingle and CEcolampadius,
and the other theologians were seated behind the chiefs of
their respective parties. But, before the controversy began,
Luther stepped forward, and with a piece of chalk wrote on
the velvet cloth, in large letters in Latin, the text of Scrip-
ture on which he depended — " This is my body/' It was a
token that, as long as that text was found in Scripture, he
would not abandon the doctrine of the corporeal presence.
The conference was opened by Feige, the Chancellor of
Hesse, admonishing the disputants of the object for which
they were met, viz. the establishment of concord. Upon this
Luther declared, that he must protest against the opinions
entertained by his opponents on the Lord's Supper, and ever
should protest against them, for the words of Christ were
simple and conclusive, " This is my body." CEcolampadius
replied, that the words of Christ thus quoted were figurative,
and to be explained by similar texts, such as, I am the true
vine, I am the door of the sheep, John is Elias, &c. Luther
acknowledged a figure in the passages adduced, for the
simplest understanding must at once perceive them to be
figurative ; but he denied that there was anything parallel
to them in the declaration, " This is my body." CEcolampa-
dius then had recourse to Christ's own statement of the
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 175
manner in which eating his flesh and drinking his blood 1529.
were to be understood, as contained in John vi., where,
in answer to the inquiry, " How can this man give us his
flesh to eat ? " he says, " It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the
flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life." Luther insisted that that
passage of Scripture did not refer to the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper, but to feeding on Christ spiritually : but even
if it did refer to the Sacrament, by Christ's words in that
place must be understood not his flesh, but our flesh ; in other
words, that the body of Christ is to be received not with a
carnal but with a spiritual heart. For what blasphemy to dare
to say, " The flesh of Christ profiteth nothing ! " Christ him-
self saith, " His flesh bringeth life." CEcolampadius continued
to press him on this point, — " But if there be the spiritual
manducation, what can the oral avail ?" " That," said Luther,
" is a mere rationalistic question ; it ought to be enough that
the word of God says so; what that word states we are
bound to believe without a doubt, or a cavil, or objection.
The world must obey God's precepts ; we must all kiss his
word. Worms, listen ! It is your God who speaks ! " Here
Zwingle came to the aid of his friend ; and the controversy
quickly assumed a sharper and more excited tone. "The
devil," Luther repeated, " shall not drive me from simple de-
pendence on Christ's words, ' This is my body.' " You keep
on singing the same song ! " Zwingle exclaimed. This
Luther resented as rough and arrogant language ; and when
Zwingle continued, " Pardon me, my dear sir ; the Saviour's
explanation of the meaning of his words is decisive : Christ
tells you at once " — " Your language," Luther retorted,
" savours of the camp and of bloodshed," glancing at the
ulterior designs which he supposed to be veiled by the eager-
ness for unanimity, and yet more obviously alluding to the
176 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. preparations for battle which had been made by Zurich and
Bern against the Forest Cantons in the summer, and all but
brought to the test of actual conflict. It was a relief to the
Landgrave, and all who had harmony and concord at heart,
that, at this heated turn in the discussion, when the argument
had degenerated into personal allusion, the combatants were
parted by dinner being announced.
After dinner the discussion was renewed, and the fore-
Sunday, noon and afternoon of the next day * were devoted to
Oct. 3. , . . . - .
the controversy, but without any impression being made
on either party by the representations of the other. Luther
stood throughout on the defensive, repeatedly quoting the
text which he regarded as decisive, and the account of
the institution of the Lord's Supper as given by St. Paul
in 1 Cor. xi. His adversaries assailed him with other
arguments. " You will not allow a metaphor, yet you ad-
mit a synecdoche," urged (Ecolampadius, " in the words,
'This is my body. 5 " "There is a great difference," Luther
replied, " between metaphor and synecdoche ; synecdoche
does not involve a sign as metaphor does; but every one un-
derstands what is meant by drinking a bottle, that it is the
beer in the bottle. The body of Christ is in the bread as the
sword in the scabbard, or the Holy Ghost in the dove." " The
term sacrament," (Ecolampadius continued, "is synonymous
with a sign or token, which is as good as an acknowledgment
that metaphor is employed." Luther answered, that he could
not accede to such an inference; "the body and blood of
course are signs in one sense ; they are signs of our redemption,
and of the promises of God, which hang upon them." Zwingle
tried another argument. A body, he said, cannot be without
* Lingke states (D. M. L.'s. Reisegeschichte, p. 180), that Luther
pi-eached a sermon at Marburg this Sunday, on Christian Justification,
or Forgiveness of Sins.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 177
place : the body of Christ is like our own, for he took the 15 v 2 ( .>
form of a servant ; it is now only a glorified body, such as we
shall share; and that body is in heaven, for it is written " He
ascended into heaven ; " it therefore cannot be at the same
time in the bread. " I will have nothing," Luther exclaimed,
" to do with your mathematics ; God is above mathema-
tics; I never stated that the body of Christ is in the bread as
in a place." But when it was attempted to lead him to a
more precise statement of what his doctrine really was, he
drew back in abhorrence. To affect precision in such a case
was, in his judgment, the height of irreverence and impiety ;
and to talk, as Zwingle did, of Christ's body being " finite,"
was to degrade the Godhead to the level of our ignorant un-
derstandings, and to separate the two indivisible natures of
Christ. " The whole Christ, God and man, was in the Sacra-
ment." Zwingle proceeded to charge him with bringing back
Popery by the doctrine which he held on the Lord's Supper.
He replied that he did not in any way recognise the papistical
opus operatum ; but believed the sacrament to be effectual
only because of Christ's institution " by the word," like the
divine word itself, not losing its virtue by unbelief either in
the priest or people, but to the unfaithful " a savour of death
unto death," and to the faithful " a savour of life unto life." At
last he tore the velvet cloth from the table, and held up before
all the assembly the large letters, " This is my body," as an
unassailable warrant for persisting in the plain literal inter-
pretation of Scripture against every cavil. It was evident to
both parties that the disputation could not be protracted with
any advantage ; it was therefore closed, after the Swiss had
read aloud several quotations from fathers of the church in
support of their views, " not to add tradition to the founda-
tion of Scripture," but to vindicate their doctrine from the
charge of novelty. And the Evangelicals in reply collected
VOL. II. N
178 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. various passages from the fathers in defence of their senti-
ments, and gave the document into the hands of the Land-
grave. Throughout the sojourn of the theologians in his castle,
the Landgrave was assiduously bent on effecting a recon-
ciliation ; he had frequent interviews in private with Zwingle ;
he also sent for each of the disputants, and remained closeted
with them for some time, exhorting, urging, and imploring,
that, out of regard to the Christian common weal, the scandal
of discord should be removed.
What was to be done ? All hopes of unanimity had proved
abortive. Nor was a long delay possible ; for the sweating
sickness, which had previously spread its ravages and terrors
through other parts of Germany, in a most sickly season,
when there was a blight on the corn and vintage crops, so
that the wine could neither be drank, nor yet converted into
vinegar, had already made its appearance at Marburg. Before
departing from Wittenberg, Luther had been mourning over
the devil's machinations, that " he struck some with disease,
and yet more with panic/' Aurogallus, Bruck, and Christian
Beyer had all to be roused to more manly resolution, or
they would have sweated themselves to death from the
sheer force of fancy ; and now, at Marburg, on the last day
of the disputation, fifteen persons were seized with the Eng-
lish malady, of whom one or two died. A speedy with-
drawal to a more healthy locality was absolutely necessary.
But injury instead of benefit must result to the Refor-
mation if, by an unfriendly parting, the Protestants wit-
nessed to the whole world that the division in their ranks,
which could not be closed, was reciprocally judged of such
importance as to make the Saxons and Swiss avowed aliens
from one another on religious grounds. Accordingly a gene-
ral meeting took place. It was now to be decided whether,
if there could not be perfect doctrinal union, there might
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEH. 179
not be union in essentials, with allowed diversity in other 1529.
points. Luther held that there might be a difference of
opinion among Christians on images, crucifixes, priestly vest-
ments, and such externals of religion ; but declared that no
article of faith could ever be a matter of indifference. Zwingle,
on the other hand, decided that images, the cowl, and exter-
nals were by no means indifferent; but Christians might be
permitted to entertain dissimilar sentiments on the Lord's
Supper. The Swiss were the less powerful side, partly on
account of the animosity of most of the nobles and princes
to their tenets, and partly because Lutheranism was a faith
already recognised by German Diets. Zwingle and OEcolam-
padius therefore implored that the two divisions of Pro-
testants, disagreeing only on one article of doctrine, should
unite in concord, and the Reformed be owned by the Evange-
licals as Christian brothers. Philip of Hesse added his voice
to theirs in urging this concession ; and the Hessian divines,
Lambert, Snepf, and others, called upon Luther to renounce
every feeling which barred the way against this desirable con-
cord. But Luther, against every entreaty, stood firm. He
could not acknowledge those as brothers who thought lightly
of the sacrament of the altar, and conceived that to prefer
such a request argued a want of confidence in their own
opinion, or an inadequate value of truth. Zwingle was so
much affected by this coldness, that he could not disguise
his emotions, but burst into tears. Luther came forward
and said, "We cannot accept you as brothers, but we are
willing to hold out to you the hand of charity." With the
warm-heartedness of their nature the Swiss rushed forward
to clasp the extended hand, and the theologians of the ad-
verse sides, Luther and Zwingle first, and the rest after them,
shook hands in token that they regarded one another with
gentle and kindly feeling. This was no light point gained.
n 2
180 THE LIFE OF MAKTIN LUTHER.
1529. It was resolved that henceforth no angry or bitter writings
should be exchanged. And the Swiss, like the Saxon monas-
teries, whose inmates still clung to Romanism, were " com-
mended to God," and "dismissed in peace." "Let us all
pray fervently/' said Luther, "and by God's grace our friend-
ship will be changed to brotherhood."
But before the theologians separated, it was important that
a document should be drawn up to testify to the world the
cordiality of feeling which prevailed between the Evangelical
and the Reformed branches of the Protestant Church, and
their agreement on every point of faith excepting one. The
Landgrave started this proposal : and every eye turned to
Luther as the fittest person to execute the task. Luther
acquiesced in the general wish, and retired to his chamber
to prepare the document. He had two dangers to shun : he
would not be needlessly severe upon the Swiss; but, above
all, he must not infringe on the sacred truths of God's Word.
He drew up a record of faith, with a strict regard to accuracy,
in fourteen articles, known as the Marburg Articles, and re-
served the contested subject of the Lord's Supper for the last.
The Articles declared the entire unanimity of the Protestant
belief: — 1. On the Trinity. 2. The incarnation of the Son
of God. 3. His meritorious death, resurrection, ascension,
and second advent. 4. The universality of original sin.
5. Remission of all sin, both original and actual, through the
merits of Jesus Christ alone by faith. G. Faith not earned
by works or service, or of our own strength, but the gift of
God wrought in the heart by the Spirit. 7. Such faith our
justification by the imputation of Christ's merits without any
works of ours; and hence all monastic vows to be condemned.
8. Faith ordinarily through the word of God preached or read,
how and in whom God will. 9. Baptism not a bare sign or
token among Christians; but a sign and work of God, wherein
THE LITE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 181
our faith is required, and whereby we are regenerated. 1529.
10. Faith the parent of good works ; viz., charity, prayer and
patience under persecution. 11. Confession to, or asking
advice of, a pastor not obligatory; but very useful for the
sake of absolution and consolation. The only true absolution
from the Gospel. 12. Magistracies and worldly laws, judg-
ments and appointments, lawful and Christian ordinances,
in opposition to the teaching of some Papists and Anabap-
tists. 13. Traditions and ordinances of the Church, if not
repugnant to God's word, free to be used or rejected; but
the prohibition of matrimony " a doctrine of devils." The
14th Article was as follows: — "We all believe and hold,
concerning the Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it
must be administered agreeably to its institution in both
kinds ; that the mass is not a work whereby one can procure
grace for another, dead or living ; that the sacrament of the
altar is a sacrament of the true body and blood of Jesus
Christ ; and that the spiritual feeding on the body and blood
is peculiarly necessary to every Christian. In like manner
we agree as to the use of the sacrament, that, like the word,
it has been transmitted and ordained by God, to excite weak
consciences to faith and love, through the Holy Ghost. And
although we are not at present agreed whether the true body
and blood be present corporeally in the bread and wine of the
Lord's Supper, yet the one party shall declare to the other
their Christian love, as far as each individual conscience shall
bear, and both shall diligently beseech Almighty God to esta-
blish us by his Spirit in the truth. Amen/' When Luther,
entering the Hall in which the divines were assembled, offered
these Articles for perusal, anxiety was seated on every coun-
tenance. They were twice read aloud, and Swiss and Saxons
learnt with eager joy how nearly they were agreed even in
the judgment of Luther. The signatures were affixed to the
182 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. two copies, the Swiss signing one first, the Saxons the other.
The Hessian divines and the Landgrave did not append their
signatures, in order to maintain the character which they had
supported throughout, of impartial witnesses.
On the evening of the 4th October, when the articles had
been signed and the document was ready for the press,
Luther sat down to write two letters, one to his wife,
the other to his friend Gerbel of Strasburg, with a brief
account of what had passed at the conference. To his wife
he wrote as follows — " Grace and peace in Christ. Dear
lord Kate, — Know that our friendly conference at Marburg
is at an end, and we are quite one on all points, except that
the opponent party will have that it is mere bread in the
Sacrament, and Christ is only spiritually present. To-day
the Landgrave has been endeavouring that we should be
one, or if that could not be, at least should own one another
as brethren and members of Christ. He has laboured for this
with all his might. But we will not accept them as brethren
and members; we wish them well, and hold them as friends.
. Tell Master Bugenhagen, that Zwingle's best argument
has been, that a body cannot be without a place ; and (Ecolam-
padius', that the Sacrament is a sign of Christ's body. I
think God has blinded them, that they have nothing better to
bring forward. I have much to do, and the messenger is in
haste. Say good night to all, and pray for us. We are all
sound and hearty, and live like the princes. Kiss little
Lena and Johnny for me. Your willing servant, Martin
Luther." The letter to Gerbel stated that " the Swiss had
receded from their tenets on many points, and remained
obstinate only on the Sacrament of the altar. They had
been told that unless they came to their senses on this point
also, they might be counted as friends, but could not be
deemed brethren and members of Christ. More had been
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 183
effected than could have been hoped, for controversy in writing 1529.
and disputing was to cease, and thus not the least part of the
scandal would be removed. Would that the Lord Jesus
might at length remove the only remaining scruple."
Early in the morning of Tuesday, the 5th October, the
Landgrave quitted Marburg, and Luther and his party took
their departure in the afternoon. The Reformer hastened to
Scklaitz, agreeably to an invitation from the Elector, who was
there waiting his arrival with the Margrave of Brandenburg
to discuss the project of the alliance. On the 12th he was at
Jena ; but the only town in which he preached in his return
journey was Gotha, where he yielded to the wishes of his
friend Frederic Myconius, and ascended the pulpit. He was
very ill during part of the journey, "plagued by the angel
of Satan;" and did not reach Wittenberg till the middle of
October.
His mind was now kept on the rack with anticipation of
the fury with which the Turk, as the scourge of God, was
about to avenge " the blasphemies of the opponents of the
Gospel, and the intolerable ingratitude everywhere displayed
by the populace." On the 19th, he wrote from Wittenberg
to Amsdorf. " Yesterday evening I was dreadfully vexed in
mind. The angel of Satan, or whoever is the demon of death,
harasses me beyond measure, the fury of the Turks perchance,
which is at the door, co-operating with him. May Christ
pity us. Amen. Exhort your Church to repentance and
prayer. It is high time ; the necessity presses." He deli-
vered it as his opinion that all Germans ought to unite against
the Sultan for the common defence : it was no question about
leagues or offensive war ; the Turk was at their hearth homes ;
and Protestants should aid Papists, as one neighbour would
help another if his house were in flames, or give food to
an enemv who was starving. The translation of the book of
]84 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. Daniel was just ready for the press; and it was resolved to
give it to the world with an explanatory treatise, the joint
product of Melancthon and Jonas, in which passing events
and the terrible invasion of the Ottoman forces were cited as
the fulfilment of prophetic foresight* " The scourge of God,"
Luther exclaimed, "is about to wreak his just wrath on us, on
account of our sins : it will be no child's play, but God's
final indignation : the world will have an end, and Christ will
come to take vengeance on his foes and deliver his people."
Animated with his subject, Luther sounded forth his trumpet
notes to his countrymen to muster their armies and do
battle against the Turks and the Turks' devil ; the Church,
in sackcloth and ashes, was to sink upon her knees before
God in repentance, tears, and prayer, if peradventure He
would show pity and be gracious, and leave a blessing
behind him.
On the 26th October, welcome news reached Wittenberg.
After a siege of twenty-one days, the Ottoman host, on the
16th October, had suddenly retired from the walls of Vienna;
the clouds of light cavalry rapidly receded, from the straits
of scarcity and the snow which lay round their camp, to the
plenty of a warmer clime. But this memorable deliverance
was hailed by the Germans with feelings far short of the
gratitude which it ought to have inspired, and the tidings
were received by some with indifference. " We Germans are
always snoring," Luther exclaimed, in patriotic indignation ;
* In his Battle Sermon against the Turk Luther dwelt on the same
subject. The Antichristian power spoken of in Dan. xii. 39, &c., was
the Pope ; that in Dan. vii. 8, &c., the Turk. The Ten Horns of the
last or Roman kingdom were Spain, France, Italy, Africa, Egypt,
Syria, Asia, Greece, Germany, &c. The Little Horn coming up among
them, or Mahomet, plucked up three of them by the roots, viz., Egypt,
Asia, and Greece. — Walch. XX., pp. 2691, &c.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 185
" and there are many traitors amongst us." " Pray," he 1529.
wrote to Myconius, " against the Turk and the gates of hell ;
that, as the angel could not destroy one little city for the
sake of one just soul in it, so we may be spared for the sake
of the few righteous that are in Germany." He recognised,
in the wide devastation which the Sultan's army left behind
it, the print of God's wrath on account of the persecuting
malignity of the Popish princes, their interdiction of God's
Word, and the sinfulness and supineness of the people even
where the Word was allowed to be preached. He gathered
from the prophecies of Daniel that the incursion would be
renewed, and although Germany would not fall to the posses-
sion of the False Prophet, yet his scourge would still be in-
flicted on guilty Christendom till the end of time. The deli-
verance he ascribed to the power of prayer, and " the great
miracle of God ; " and he exulted in the conviction that the
day of God's judgment was at hand, when he would " destroy
Gog the Turk, and Magog the Pope, the political and eccle-
siastical enemies of Christ." It soon appeared, however, that
one danger had vanished only to make way for another ; and
writing a few days afterwards, he remarks, " We have two
Csesars, one of the east and one of the west, and both our
foes."
Shortly after the evacuation of Vienna, intelligence was
conveyed from the west, fraught with more special and immi-
nent danger to the lives and doctrines of the Protestants than
could be apprehended from the fellest havoc of the Turks. The
Protestant ambassadors found the Emperor at Placentia, and
submitted their suit to him on the 12th September, but were
not vouchsafed an answer till the expiration of a month.
They petitioned that the decree of the first Diet of Spires
might be observed in the matter of religion, and they pre-
sented Pope Adrian's confession of ecclesiastical abuses, and
186 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK.
1529. the Centum Gravamina of the Nuremberg Diet of 1522.
The tardy imperial reply maintained that the will of the
majority, which had sanctioned the decree of the last Diet,
was binding on all ; and added " the gracious warning," that if
the Elector of Saxony and his associates did not please to
obey it, " his Majesty, to uphold obedience in his sacred
kingdom, would impose serious punishment on them ; but
this, it was hoped, would be unnecessary, especially at a time
when the Turk, the hereditary foe of the Christian name and
faith, had seized upon Hungary, meditating with his wonted
fury to extend his reign farther." Upon this answer being
returned through the imperial secretary, the ambassadors
placed in his hands the Appeal of the princes and states. The
secretary at first declined, but at length consented to receive it :
but at midday he returned with the message that his imperial
Majesty was highly incensed by the Appeal, and commanded
the ambassadors not to move a foot from their lodging, nor
communicate by letter or by messenger with their friends in
Germany. One of the three ambassadors, Michael Caden,
was intentionally absent when the secretary returned with this
order, and, " before writing should be forbidden to himself as
well as to the others," related all that had passed in a letter
to the Senate of Nuremberg the same day. The next day the
ambassadors had another Appeal drawn up and signed against
the answer which the Emperor had transmitted to them, to
"a free common Christian Council." Charles pursued his
route to Bologna, where he was to be solemnly crowned by
the Pope, and gave orders that the ambassadors should follow
him ; but, on the last day of October, on arriving at Parma,
Ehinger and Frauentraut were dismissed.* Caden was still
detained, on the plea that he had offered to the Emperor a
* See the whole account, Walch. XVI., pp. 542—621.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 187
Lutheran book, in which doctrines were inculcated sub- 1529.
versive of the civil authority. The authority which the
book really impugned was that of the bishops in civil matters.
The fortunate retreat of the Turkish forces did not deter
Charles from prosecuting his plan of proceeding to Germany :
on the confrary, it offered an opportunity, such as might
never recur, of directing all his attention to the one object of
quelling religious differences, for the accomplishment of which
the treaties concluded at Barcelona with the Pope in June,
and at Cambray with Francis in August, were likewise most
propitious.
This state of affairs — the suit of the ambassadors rejected
and themselves put in custody; Charles on his way to Ger-
many, where he might be expected the following spring;
his dislike to the anti-Papist doctrines, which the retreat of
the Turks and his peace with Francis and with the Pope all
seemed to conspire to enable him to gratify — all portended ex-
treme peril to the Protestants, and caused Philip of Hesse to
redouble his exertions for effecting the armed coalition. The
meeting held at Schwabach October 15, postponed the consi-
deration of the Protestant league to a larger meeting, to be
held at Smalkald : and the threatening intelligence which the
letter of Caden had conveyed, caused the Smalkald convention
to be summoned for the 29th November, earlier than had been
anticipated. But meanwhile, the Elector of Saxony requested
of Luther his opinion on the true course of action in the
present menacing attitude of the Emperor and the Papist
princes and prelates. If there was any man in Germany who
had reason to dread for himself individually the advent of
Charles to his imperial dominions, and the execution by his
authority of projects which the partisans of Rome had long
cherished, it was Luther. Duke George had boasted he would
tear Luther from the midst of his sectarian uuiversitv : he had
188 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. wanted power adequate to the enterprise : but the Emperor
was armed with the sword of the Empire, and a ready pre-
text, the Edict of Worms, for suffering its weight to descend
on one convicted and condemned. It was now to be seen
whether, under circumstances of such terror to his cause and
person, Luther would adhere steadfastly to the maxims he had
before laid down, or allow his principles to swerve with his
interest. And there was much that might give a plausible
colouring to a change of counsel. The conference at Mar-
burg, if it had not effected all that could have been wished,
had at least terminated so amicably, that Philip of Hesse
might well hope to make it a stepping-stone to the accom-
plishment of his designs.
Such was the aggravation of circumstances under which
Luther was again called upon to deliver his sentiments on the
proposed defensive alliance ; and his answer, dated the 18th
November, was to this effect: — "We cannot in our con-
science approve or counsel such a compact ; but had rather
die ten times over, than that the Gospel should be a cause of
blood or hurt, by any act of ours. Let us rather patiently
suffer, and, as the Prophet says, be counted as sheep for the
slaughter ; and instead of avenging or defending ourselves,
leave room for God's wrath. Our Lord Christ is mighty
enough, and can well find means and ways to rescue us from
danger, and bring the thoughts of the ungodly princes to
nothing. The Emperor's undertaking is a loud threat of the
devil, but it will be powerless, and at last will turn to the ruin
of our adversaries. As the Psalm says, ' It will fall on his
ow r n pate.' Christ is only trying us whether we are willing
to obey his Word or no, and whether we hold it for certain
truth or not. The cross of Christ must be borne. The cause
is not ours, but God's. And we shall still find, as we have
hitherto found, that with prayers and entreaties to God we
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 189
shall avail more than they, with all their haughtiness. Only 1529.
let us keep our hands clean of blood and guilt ; and if the
Emperor demand that I or the rest be surrendered to him, we
will with God's help appear in our own cause, and not expose
your Grace to peril on our account, as I formerly often informed
ray gracious Lord, your Grace's God-fearing brother. Your
Grace shall not defend my faith, or another's ; you cannot do
it : but you must defend your own faith, and believe or not
believe at your own risk, if our Supreme Ruler the Emperor
demand it at our hands. Meanwhile he has much water to
cross, and God will easily devise counsel whereby matters will
not go quite as they think. Christ our Lord and our trust
strengthen your Grace richly/'
It now remained to be seen whether the influence of
Luther with the Elector was sufficiently strong to overbear
the continued solicitations of the Landgrave, backed by the
urgency of the crisis and the obvious prudential arguments
for self-defence. And it Avas not long before the Elector
became decidedly of Luther's views; and saw the scriptural
line of policy exactly as he saw it. Not only, however, the
Elector, but the Margrave of Brandenburg also and the city
of Nuremberg, stoutly maintained the obligation of warring
with no carnal weapon, but only with the sword of the Spirit.
The meeting at Smalkald was largely attended by the parties
to the protest. The Elector of Saxony and his son, the
Dukes of Luneburg, the Landgrave, the legate of the Mar-
grave George, and deputies from Strasburg, Ulm, Nurem-
berg, Heilbronn, Reutlingen, Constance, Memmingen,
Kempten, and Lindau, together with the ambassadors who
had lately experienced the imperial rigour, debated on the
eve of momentous events the awful question of peace
or war. There was a sharp dispute between the strictly
Lutheran party and the Landgrave, whether or no it was
190 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. lawful to resist the Emperor, the former insisting on the
negative. The same section, animated with the very spirit of
their Reformer, persisted that before any alliance could be
agreed to, it should be distinctly understood that there was no
diversity of sentiment on any article of faith ; and they
carried this point against the Zwinglian party and the Land-
grave, who strove to act as mediator. Seventeen articles
which had before been brought forward at Schwabach were
again adduced : they are known as the Schwabach or Smal-
kald articles ; and it was required that the princes and depu-
ties should declare their assent by affixing their signatures.
These articles are nearly the same with the Marburg, except-
ing that they declare under the tenth head, without any am-
biguity, that the very body and blood of Christ are really
present in the Sacrament, and condemn the notion that the
bread is simply ordinary bread.* This was enough to break
up the meeting, for the cities of Strasburg and Ulm could
not accede to the Lutheran dogma on the Sacrament. It
was arranged, however, that another convention should be
held at Nuremberg in the beginning of the ensuing year,
but the invitation to this conference was limited to such
as could concur with the seventeen articles. Accordingly,
the whole scheme of the alliance was split upon this rock
of doctrinal disagreement ; for the convention at Nuremberg,
which met on the 6th January, was thinly attended, and
the deputies parted with the understanding, that at present
no settlement could be effected, the arrival of the Emperor
must be awaited, and meanwhile each should deliberate at
home on the plan of defence which seemed most expedient,
and, within the space of a month, forward his advice to the
Elector. Thus by his own policy, founded on religious con-
* See them, Walch. XVI., pp. 681, &c.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 191
viction, Luther was abandoned to the Emperor and the Pope, 1529.
and refused the protection of man for himself or the cause of
the Gospel.
The Reformation was about to undergo a new trial. It
had long since conquered Rome in popular opinion : but its
triumph had been subsequently much impaired by internal
differences. If Luther had understood better the true spirit
of Christian unity, the unanimous phalanx of Protestants
could have set despotism, whether civil or ecclesiastical, at
defiance ; but in such an event an appeal to arms, from a
sense of human strength, might have earlier sullied the cause
of enlightenment and the regeneration of the Christian world
with the foul blots of blood. Throughout its annals the lead-
ership of the movement had been contested between two
principles — one represented first by Sickingen and afterwards
by Philip of Hesse, the other by Martin Luther ; neither, it is
true, thoroughly enlightened : but victory most providentially
rested with the side which, with however much of lingering
bigotry and prejudice, bore on its banner, not Man's Might,
but God's Word. Such Christian faith, so deeply rooted in
the heart, was now about to be brought into collision, unde-
fended by man's arm, and renouncing such defence, with the
leagued despotism of State and Church, prepared to second
its pretensions with cannon, sword, and every available weapon
of force or fraud. Charles himself intended to continue his
route to Germany, and honour the Diet which had been
appointed to meet at Augsburg with his presence ; and mean-
while he was spending his hours at Bologna in the society
of Clement, residing in the same palace with him, talking
over political affairs, above all, planning the extinction of
heresy.
The mention of the Diet of Augsburg suggests by asso-
ciation the Diet of Worms, which had met nine years before.
192 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1529. Those nine years have no parallel save in the apostolic age.
At Worms, one man, charged with opposing Scripture to
tradition, had been arraigned and condemned : at Augsburg,
the one condemned man having in the interval grown into
the nation, Germany, in his place, was about to answer the
record of indictment. In so short a period, ideas, principles,
and institutions had been revolutionized. Not only in Ger-
many had the doctrines of Scripture spread with a rapidity
as marvellous, and a force as irresistible, as the light of day
itself; but in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Prussia, the evan-
gelical teaching had been everywhere disseminated, and was
perpetuated in well-organized establishments. Switzerland
only complained that Germany was not sufficiently anti-papal.
England was wavering; and as early as 1527, an evangelical
society had established itself at Corpus Christi College,
Oxford. In Italy, at Faenza and among the old literary
associations; in Spain, among the Franciscan fraternity, the
scriptural revival had commenced with vigour. In France,
at Meaux, at Metz, and in Dauphiny, the Gospel had been
warmly embraced ; persecution had now driven its heralds to
Basle : but Margaret of Navarre still cherished the Reformed
tenets at her brother's court. In many countries and pro-
vinces, where the sword was the unanswerable champion for
Rome, the people sighed in secret for the liberty of proclaim-
ing their adhesion to the Word of God, and hearing it pub-
licly preached : and now and then, one bolder or more deeply
influenced than the rest, spoke out his convictions, and paid
the forfeit of his life. It seemed at this crisis as though all
Europe would have turned from the papal chair to the Word
of God, if the ruling powers would have granted freedom
of religious belief. And with such triumphs already Avon,
Luther might indeed well disclaim any aid except the power
of that Word, which had alone accomplished, in spite of per-
TUE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 193
secution, " with the unresistible might of weakness/' all that 1529.
he heard and witnessed.
Before concluding the chapter, and passing to a new epoch,
it is incumbent to visit again the domestic circle in the Au-
gustine convent, and tread the streets of the Saxon town,
which had attained a celebrity so disproportioned to its size
and antecedent fame. Wittenberg, the focus of illumination,
the centre of those religious ideas which were agitating
society, from the Emperor to the serf, was itself a quiet,
studious retreat, with not much to attract the outward eye.
It was in the autumn of the year 1529, that Mathesius, the
contemporary biographer of Luther, became a student of
" the renowned university/' " the praise of which, and of its
good people," he says, that " he trusts, if God will, to divulge
at the last day, and to all eternity." The next Sunday after
his admission to the University, at vespers, he heard " the
great man, Dr. Luther, preach/' from the Acts of the Apos-
tles, ii. 38 — the words of St. Peter enjoining repentance and
baptism: — What a sermon from the lips of "the man of
God ! " — " for which all the days of his pilgrimage on earth,
and throughout eternity, he should have to give God thanks."
At that period Melancthon lectured on Cicero's " De Ora-
toribus," and his oration "Pro Archia/' before noon on the
Epistle to the Romans ; every Wednesday on Aristotle's
Ethics : Bugenhagen on the Epistle to the Corinthians :
Jonas on the Psalms : Aurogallus on Hebrew Grammar :
Weimar on Greek : Tulich on Cicero's " Offices :" Bach on
Virgil : Volmar on the theory of the Planets : Mulich on
Astronomy : Cruciger on Terence, for the younger students.
Perfect concord prevailed between the students and towns-
people. The private schools were vigorously conducted ; and
Mathesius had for his host Wolf John von Rochlitz, and
enjoyed the elevating associations connected with the memory
VOL. II. o
194 THE LIFE OF MARTJN LUTHER.
1529. of " the dear martyr Leonhard Csesar," who had sat at the
same table before him, the history of whose patient imprison-
ment and courageous martyrdom had been published by
Luther.
1530. The new year found Dr. Luther energetic as ever in his
studies and writings. A second edition of the Battle sermon
had been issued ; a treatise on " the rights of matrimony"
was under composition ; a book on the rites and religion of
the Turks, a reprint of a work seventy years old, was in the
press : the German New Testament had undergone another
revision, and a careful explanatory preface was prefixed to the
Apocalypse ; and, after the publication of this fresh edition,
the translation of the Prophets was to be resumed. Indeed,
before the end of February the translation of Daniel, dedi-
cated to John Frederic, was in the press, and Jeremiah was
in hand. To these unremitting toils of the closet must be
added addresses from the pulpit. But the proficiency of " the
Capernaites of Wittenberg" was by no means in proportion
to the pains and assiduity bestowed on their instruction.
Mathesius relates, that about this time Luther was so much
offended with the practical ungodliness of his townspeople,
that he preached a vehement call to repentance, and warned
them that thenceforth he should no more speak to them in
the name of the Lord. And this assurance, says his bio-
grapher, he kept for some time, " till his violent zeal cooled
a little, or rather, till God's Word burnt in his heart as
fire, and he could no longer forbear/'
The sickness of his aged father, of which he received intel-
ligence from his brother James, in February, drew from him
a letter which places his filial devotion in a striking light.
He could not wait at Mansfeld, he stated, on his father in
this illness, because the journey would be attended with
much personal danger from the enmity of many lords, and
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 195
even peasants, whom he had provoked by his behaviour in 1530.
the late insurrection ; he therefore entreated his father and
mother, were it possible, to come to him ; and he sent his
servant Cyriacus to make the necessary preparations, or re-
port to him how matters stood. Kate, and all at the convent,
besought them to come, with tears. For himself, he desired
to be " in bodily attendance on them, and, according to the
fourth commandment, to show his gratitude to God and
them, with childlike truth and service." He goes on to
express his joy that his father had been released from the
wretched darkness and error of Popery, and his hope that
God's work by Divine grace was begun in him. All the scorn
and contumely he had endured on his son's account were
so many true tokens of resemblance to the Lord Jesus. The
whole world, he continues, is a valley of woe, and the longer
we live in it the more of sin and wickedness, misfortune and
misery, do we see and suffer, which never cease till the sex-
ton's shovel scoops us another chamber, where we repose
peacefully in Christ's rest, till he comes and wakes us up
with jubilee. And the separation, till all would meet again
in Christ's kingdom, would be a very brief interval, much
shorter, to God's reckoning, than the time spent in the jour-
ney from Mansfeld to Wittenberg. " Kate, Johnny, little
Lena and aunt Lena, and the whole house, greet you and
pray for you. Greet my dear mother and all my friends.
God's grace and strength be with and abide with you for
ever. Amen."
The approaching Diet now engrossed the public mind.
Resistance to the Turks would occupy a large space in the
deliberations; and the ample grants the Pope would make
the Emperor, were the subject of angry rancour; but such
concessions, every one knew, meant more than met the ear,
and it was concluded that the chief article of deliberation
o 2
196 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. would be the settlement of religious variances. In the begin-
ning of March , Luther received a communication from the
Elector, putting the question to him in the most direct
form — "Whether armed resistance to the Emperor were jus-
tifiable ? " Luther consulted with Jonas, Bugenhagen, and
Melancthon, and replied — " No one, who would be a Christian,
could oppose his ruler, but must endure patiently, right or
wrong. If the Emperor should break all the commands of
God, nay, should be a heathen, he would still be the Em-
peror. For the Elector of Saxony to arm his subjects against
the Emperor, would be as if a burgomaster of Torgau should
arm his boroughmen against the Elector of Saxony." The
lawyers differed from Luther in the decision of this nice
point of casuistry, the determination of which the history of the
world has so often forced on the mind ; and, taking rather a
constitutional than a theological view of the question, denied
that the relation of the Elector of Saxony to the Emperor
was similar to that of a burgomaster of a town in Saxony to
the Saxon Prince. But it was evident from experience whose
verdict would weigh the most with the Elector John. On
the 14th, Luther received from the Court the gracious request
that himself, Bugenhagen, Jonas, and Melancthon would
concert measures in reference to the Diet, which was close at
hand, and then come to Torgau. Jonas was absent on a
visitation tour, but Luther immediately wrote to him to urge
his return ; and the Elector having despatched another letter
to request that the deliberations might be conducted at
Torgau, the Reformers went thither at the end of March, and
reviewed there the Schwabach Articles, which hence are some-
times called the Torgau Articles, and gave them their sanc-
tion, as well adapted to serve as the basis of a more extended
and systematic statement of the evangelical tenets. It had
now ceased to be a question whether the Elector and his
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEK. 197
Lutheran allies should boldly meet the Emperor at Augsburg, 1530.
and face the fury of the storm, or dare the worst their enemies
could do against them at a distance : Luther's admonitions to
obedience and courage had conquered ; and, before his de-
parture with the Elector, he implored that the Church would
diligently pray for a blessing on the national consultations.
" Only let us pray, and the gates of hell will never prevail/ 5
198
CHAPTEE VII.
FROM THE 3RD APRIL, 1530, TO THE 30TH MAY, 1536.
1530. On Sunday the 3rd April (Judica) the Elector of Saxony,
with the nobles and theologians who were to accompany him
to the Augsburg Diet, assembled in the Castle Church to
join in devout prayers to God, and hear from the great Re-
former an exhortation to that courage and constancy which
their situation and the crisis so peremptorily demanded of the
first Protestant champions. Luther took for his text Matt. x.
32, " Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also
confess before my Father which is in heaven ;" and rarely has
the spirit of a sermon been evidenced with such power by the
subsequent conduct of those who heard it. In the afternoon,
the Elector John, with his son John Frederic, Francis Duke
of Luneburg, Wolfgang Prince of Anhalt, and Albert Count
of Mansfeld, with other noblemen and gentlemen, to the
number of seventy, which was increased by attendants to a
cavalcade of 160 horsemen, quitted Torgau, and took the
road to Grimma. Luther, Jonas, Melancthon, Spalatin, and
Agricola, were the theologians who had been chosen to
accompany the Elector, and by their instructions, and their
example, aid the steadfastness of his testimony to Christ.
The notes of Luther's hymn of unshaken confidence in God,
that well-known paraphrase of his favourite forty-sixth Psalm,
frequently resounded along the troop of horsemen, as well as
animated the hearts of the evangelical worshippers throughout
their churches during this season of anxiety. On Monday
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 199
morning the Elector and his retinue proceeded to Altenburg, 1530.
and on the following Wednesday advanced to Eisenbcrg, and
on the eve of Palm Sunday reached Weimar ; and on Palm
Sunday the whole company received the communion in both
kinds, and listened to more than one address from Luther.
On Tuesday, the 12th, they again set forward, and rested
that night at Saalfeld, where Luther again preached. On
Maundy Thursday they reposed at the Castle of Grafenthal ;
on Good Friday at Neustadtel, at the entrance of the Thu-
ringian Forest; throughout each day of the sacred week
Luther continuing his discourses from the pulpit. On Easter
Eve they halted before the Elector's fortress of Coburg.
The Elector remained at Coburg until the afternoon of
Saturday, the 23rd April, and then proceeded on his journey,
passing through Bamberg, Nuremberg, and Donauwerth ;
and on Monday, the 2nd May, to the surprise and admira-
tion of the Protestants of Augsburg, made his entrance into
that city before the arrival of any of the Papist princes.
Luther had been left at Coburg, as had been intended from
the first ; for the Edict of Worms was regarded by the Em-
peror as still legally in force, and it would have been not
more impolitic than unjustifiable, on moral grounds, to rouse
the resentment of the Romanists by any act of temerity and
defiance. The Castle of Coburg, Luther's second Wartburg,
stands on a high hill above the town, in a pleasant situation
overlooking the river Itz. It was placed entirely at Luther's
command, the keys of every room were given into his hands,
and the inmates, fourteen in number, of whom twelve kept
guard by night and two acted as watchmen by day, and as
couriers, paid him all the respect that could be rendered to a
master. Cyriacus, his own servant, waited on him ; and his
friend Veit Dietrich was at once his companion and amanu-
ensis. But it was not thought desirable that Luther should
200 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. spend much time in study ; his constitution, naturally of the
strongest mould, had lately shown symptoms that the im-
mense toil and endurance of his whole lifetime were begin-
ning to tell on it, and Dietrich was enjoined to restrain his
ardour for writing, and amuse him with conversation and
such other means as offered themselves. Meanwhile Melanc-
thon was busily engaged with the celebrated " Confession/'
which had been partly begun at Coburg with Luther's aid,
and was now prosecuted at Augsburg with great vigour ; and
a brisk correspondence was maintained between the Re-
formers.
Shortly after he was left alone, Luther wrote to Melanc-
thon, " We have at last come to our Sinai, dearest Philip ;
but we shall make a Sion of this Sinai, and rear three taber-
nacles : one to the Psalms, one to the Prophets, and one to
iEsop; the last only temporary." Strange juxtaposition;
highly emblematical of Luther's almost contradictory tastes
and faculties ! These studies, however, could not be under-
taken immediately, for the requisite books and papers had not
arrived from Wittenberg, and indeed did not come to hand
until the end of the month ; and therefore Luther spent the
first shafts of his zeal in an Admonition to the Ecclesiastics
assembled at the Diet of Nuremberg. Thoughts, he said,
like landsnechts, came rushing fierce and dense upon him,
as he sat at his work, and he found difficulty in restraining
the impetuosity of his ideas, and tempering his caustic style.
From the Papists he turned to the Turks, the other arm of
Satan ; and translated the two chapters of Ezekiel containing
the prophecy of Gog and Magog, and prefixed an expository
preface. But the emotions which these subjects kindled
were too vehement for mind or body to bear long ; he sought
refuge in his flute : this required mending ; and applying
himself to this task seemed to divert his anxiety. Then the
THE LITE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 201
scenery around the castle was full of interest : a sloping 1530.
lawn in front of his window, environed with woods, was the
chosen resort of rooks and jackdaws, which were " screaming
in his ears all day and all night" — "all the fowl of that
feather in the world seemed congregated there ;" and he found
relief from the internal tragedy by framing their antics into
a comedy.
" I have no need to go to the Diet of Augsburg/' he wrote
to his messmates at Wittenberg, and to Spalatin at Augsburg,
" I have a diet immediately in front of my own window.
Here I see magnanimous kings, dukes, and nobles, consult
over the affairs of their realm, and with unremitting clang
proclaim their decrees and dogmas through the air. They
do not meet in caves or dens of courts called palaces ; but
the spacious heaven is their roof, verdant grass and foliage
their pavement, and their walls are wide as the ends of the
earth. They are not arrayed in gold and silk, but all wear
a vestment of black, have eyes of a gray hue, and speak in
the same music, save the diversity of youth and age. Horses
and harness they spurn at, and move on the rapid wheels of
wings. As far as I understand the herald of their decrees,
they have unanimously resolved to wage this whole year a
war on barley, wheat, oats, and every kind of grain; and
great deeds will be done. Here we sit, spectators of this
diet ; and, to our great joy and comfort, observe and hear
how the princes, lords, and estates of the empire are all sing-
ing so merrily and living so heartily. But it gives us espe-
cial pleasure to remark with what knightlike air they swing
their tails, stroke their bills, tilt at one another, and strike
and parry ; so that we believe they will win great honour
over the wheat and barley." Looking, however, more atten-
tively at the spectacle in front of the castle, he was better
pleased with a more close and special application of the
202 THE LIEE OF MARTIN LUTHEK.
1530. comedy. " It seems to me that these rooks and jackdaws
are after all nothing else but the sophists and Papists, with
their preachings and writings, who will fain present them-
selves in a heap, and make us listen to their lovely voices and
beautiful sermons." In his letter of the 28th April, he
notes, " To-day, for the first time, we have heard the night-
ingale ; the weather is bitterly cold/' He dated his cor-
respondence from " Gruboc " inverting the letters of Coburg,
or else from " the Region of the Birds/' or " the Diet of
the Jackdaws."
The end of April the books arrived from Wittenberg, and
he returned to his translation of the Prophets, resuming his
version of Jeremiah, and applied with such energy to the
the work, that he indulged the hope of completing the ver-
sion of the Prophets before Whitsunday. The translation of
some of iEsop's fables, for the edification of youth, was to
engage his attention afterwards. But he quickly found that
he had reckoned on the abilities of the mind, without taking
into the calculation the wear and tear of the body ; for a
very few days of severe intellectual toil laid " the outward
man, unable to bear the force and vigour of the inner and
new man," quite prostrate. His head resounded with noises,
claps like thunder dinned through it; and the work was
compelled to be laid aside, and for some weeks his eyes could
not endure the sight of a letter. " My caput," he wrote to
Melancthon, " is turned to a chapter (capitulum) , it will soon
become a paragraph, and then dwindle to a period." And
he availed himself of the opportunity to warn Philip, by his
example, to " take care of his own precious little body, and
not commit homicide." "God," said he, "is served by
rest, by nothing more than rest, and therefore he has willed
that the Sabbath should be so rigidly kept." In this state
of weakness and prostration of body, spiritual temptation
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 203
supervened; "an embassage from Satan" waited on hhn, 1530.
and he sighed and groaned for the day when the power of
the tempter should be destroyed. When he was able to
resume his studies, he used great caution and moderation,
but was able to complete the version of Jeremiah before the
end of June. Ezekiel was then taken in hand, but it proved
a very onerous task, and was laid aside for a time ; but was
subsequently resumed and finished. Before the middle of
August, the Minor Prophets,- " leisurely and by way of
recreation," had all been translated, with the exception of
Haggai and Malachi. But translation was not the only
fruit of Luther's Coburg retirement. He wrote an admirable
discourse on the necessity of schools for children ; an exposi-
tion of the 113th Psalm (Confitemini), "an alms-giving to
the poor printers;" expositions of the 117th, and of the 2nd
Psalms, the latter addressed to the Archbishop of Mentz, and
also of other passages of Scripture. In the latter part of July
he composed a tract on the Papist lies about Purgatory, which
he followed up by a tract on the Papist lies about the Keys ;
and in September he wrote an Epistle on the Interpretation
of Scripture, and on the Intercession of Saints.
The letter-carriers from Wittenberg passed by, for the
most part, Luther's beacon tower on their way to Augsburg,
and thus the Reformer generally learnt the news from home
before the theologians who were in attendance upon the Diet.
Luther had heavy tidings to break to Jonas — the death of a
son born since their departure from Wittenberg, and weak
from the birth — the second domestic affliction which had
lighted upon the same family in a brief space of time. On
the 19th May, Luther wrote a letter of consolation to his sick
father, and lamented that he could console him no better,
" being, like the region round him, parched and arid."
" Remember," he said, " the blessings you still enjoy, for a
20-1 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEH.
1530. virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, and do not wish
like a glutton to have every delight of life, and so resemble
in no respect the brethren of Christ, who must through much
tribulation seize the kingdom of God by violence." Luther
had to deal out his consolations on all sides. The Elector
had sent him a message to request he would take the poor
accommodation he found at the castle in good part, and not
think his sojourn there very tedious. He replied that " he
lived like the Lords," and the weeks which he had spent at
Coburg had flown so rapidly that they had scarcely appeared
three days. But, having heard from the theologians that
John was much depressed in spirits because the Emperor
still delayed his entrance into Augsburg, whereby the
rumours of his ungracious feelings towards himself seemed
confirmed, and the expenditure of his table, which was very
great, was necessarily enhanced, the Reformer directed the
eye of his Prince to a more cheering and encouraging picture
than immediate circumstances afforded. " Your trials," he
said, " are tokens that God is gracious towards you. Think
how good he is to you. Your Grace's land has the best
teachers and preachers in the whole world, who proclaim the
pure Gospel, and preserve the blessings of peace. A tender
youth of boys and girls is there growing up, nurtured with
the Catechism and Scriptures, who can pray, believe, and
speak of God and Christ, as no cathedral, cloister, or school
has hitherto been, or is now able. Such a youth is a fair
Paradise, the like whereof is not to be seen upon earth else-
where. And God builds it in your Grace's bosom. It is as
though he said to you, ' Here, dear Duke John, I commit to
thee my most precious treasure, my gladsome Paradise : thou
shalt be father over it ; I place it under thy shelter and rule,
and do thee such honour as to make thee warden of my
garden.' All these children must eat your Grace's bread,
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 205
which is as if God himself was your Grace's guest and pen- 1530.
sioner. On the other hand, the Papist Princes give not a
draught of cold water to God of all their goods — nay, to the
thirsty Christ upon the cross they hold out vinegar, myrrh,
and gall. The young children will bring a blessing on your
head, who with their innocent tongues cry so heartily to
heaven, and so truly commend your Grace to the tender-
hearted God as their dear father."
Turning his thoughts homeward, whence he received good
tidings of his son Johnny, from Weller his tutor, he indited
a letter to the child to encourage him in learning. " Grace,
and love in Christ, my dear little son. I see with delight
that you learn well, and love to pray. Go on so, my little
son, and when I return home, I will bring you a pretty
fairing. 1 know a beautiful, delightful garden, where many
children go in, and have on golden jackets, and gather beau-
tiful apples under the apple-trees, and pears, and cherries,
and plums ; sing, and jump, and are merry : they have
beautiful ponies with golden bits and silver saddles. I asked
the man to whom the garden belongs, Whose children are
these ? He said, ' They are children who love to pray, and
learn well, and are good.' So I said, ' Dear man, I have a
son, called Johnny Luther, may not he come into this garden
and eat such beautiful apples and pears, and ride such pretty
ponies, and play with these children ? ' Then he said, ' If he
loves to pray, and learn, and is good, he may come into the
garden, and Lippus and Jost too; and if they all come
together, they shall have pipes, drums, lutes and every kind
of stringed instrument, and dance, and shoot with little
cross-bows.' So he showed me a lovely meadow in the
garden, prepared for dancing, where were many golden pipes,
drums, and beautiful silver cross-bows. But it was too
early for the children to come ; so I could not wait to see
206 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEIl.
1530. the dancing, but said to the man, f Dear sir, I shall soon
come again, and I shall write all this to my dear little son,
Johnny, that he may love to pray, and learn well, and be
good, so that he may come into this garden. But he has
an aunt, Lena, who must come with him.' So the man said,
' Yes it shall be so ; and go and write to him.' Therefore,
dear little son Johnny, learn, and pray cheerfully, and tell
Lippus and Jost to do so too, and so you shall all come
together into the garden. Herewith, I commend you to
Almighty God, and greet aunt Lena, and give her a kiss
from me. Your dear father, Martin Luther." It was about
the time of writing this letter that the Reformer received
intelligence of the death of his aged father, whose removal to
Wittenberg in his failing state of health had not been pos-
sible, and he was overwhelmed with the keenest sorrow at the
tidings. "Whatever I am, or have," he said, "I owe under
God to him, who made and fashioned me such as I am, by the
sweat of his brow ; and though I am much comforted that he
has sweetly fallen asleep in Christ, the recollection of his
society has so shaken my soul, that I scarcely ever had such
a contempt of death. But the righteous is taken away from
the evil to come. We so often die, ere we die once ! I am
now the old Luther of my family."
The Landgrave of Hesse, who only attended the Diet at
all in compliance with the advice and example of the Elector
John, had entered Augsburg on the 12th May, accompanied
by 120 horsemen. On the 15th, the deputies of Nuremberg,
with Osiander, made their entrance, and took up their quar-
ters nearly opposite to the Landgrave's lodging. But consi-
derable apprehensions were entertained in regard to Philip's
constancy by the strict Lutherans : he was continually assailed
with letters on the sacramentarian controversy by the Swiss;
his chancellor Feige (Ficinus) avowed his sympathy with
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEll. 207
Zwingle; and Snepf, who remained attached to Luther, was 1530.
doubtful Loth as to his prince's maintenance of the pure
evangelical faith, and of the maxims of peace. By order of
the Elector and Landgrave, Protestant preachers immediately
proceeded to hold their discourses in the principal churches ;
those selected by the Elector preached first in the Dominican
church, afterwards at St. Catharine's, and were all strict
Lutherans ; those appointed by Philip were of the Reformed
or Evangelical church indiscriminately, and preached at first
in the Cathedral, afterwards at St. Ulric's. The Lutheran
preachers, Osiander and Agricola, were extremely popular;
and the citizens of Augsburg, in unprecedented numbers,
flocked to the temples of God. Meanwhile the Emperor con-
tinued to delay his advent : he had moved in the sacred week
from Mantua, and in the beginning of May had advanced as
far as Innspruck, but there he remained stationary. One of
the first princes, who tendered him his homage at Innspruck,
was his brother-in-law, Christian, the ex-king of Denmark,
and one of the earliest pieces of intelligence from the imperial
court was, that this banished monarch, who had become a
Lutheran to appease his subjects, had now returned to Popery
to please the Emperor. This seemed a prognostication of the
personal interest of Charles in the religious conflict. Pre-
sently the Elector of Brandenburg, the Duke of Bavaria, and
Duke George of Saxony, arrived in Augsburg ; but finding
that the Emperor was still at Innspruck, hastened on from the
contaminating vicinity of the Elector of Saxony and the
Landgrave, to breathe orthodox air in the imperial court,
which was honoured by the presence of the Legate Campegio.
Thus the Protestants at Augsburg and the Romanists at
Innspruck lay, like two hostile armies in adverse camps, pre-
paring for battle, making their reconnoissances and maturing
their own plan of operations. At Augsburg the " Apology,"
208 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. or rather "Confession/' which Melancthon had been appointed
to draw up, had assumed shape and polish under his unflag-
ging diligence, which scarcely knew intermission by day or
night; and on the 11th May it was forwarded for Luther's
examination to Coburg, with a letter from the Elector, and
also a letter from Melancthon, in which he intimated that he
had been mindful in its preparation of the calumnies which
Eck and Cochkeus were reiterating against the evangelicals.
Luther returned it with his approval, and without a single
alteration, and spoke of it in his letter to the Elector in the
following terms : — " I have read over Master Philip's Apology :
it pleases me right well, and I know not how to better or alter
anything in it, and will not hazard the attempt ; for I cannot
myself tread so softly and gently. Christ our Lord help, that
it bear much and great fruit ; as we hope and pray. Amen."
After receiving back his work, Melancthon still toiled on with
his revisions and emendations. At Innsprnck, on the other
hand, Duke George and the extreme Papists were bent on
persuading the Emperor that the Elector of Saxony was me-
ditating snares against the imperial person, and spoke of the
multitude of armed retainers whom they had seen round his
hotel, in their passage through Augsburg. The upshot of
these complaints was, that the town-council of Augsburg were
commanded to remove the chains and bolts which had been
fixed to some of the street walls, and to disband the troops
which they had enlisted, with a view to maintaining order.
But in the Emperor's cabinet, as well as among the Pro-
testants, there were two parties; and Charles' chancellor,
Cardinal Gattinara, who sincerely entertained the moderate
sentiments which Glapio had professed at Worms, served as
a counterpoise to the extreme faction, and looked forward to
a Council as the only means of abolishing abuses in the
Church, and restoring the purity of the faith. His health,
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 209
however, had for some time been drooping, and his death, 1530.
which took place on the 4th June, gave preponderance to the
violent Papists, and was lamented as a real affliction by
Melancthon.
The first subject of direct collision between the Papists and
Protestants was the question of free preaching. Before the
Emperor took any overt step in this matter, rumour antici-
pated his intention of putting an end to the Protestant dis-
courses, which attracted large audiences, and served to keep
the zeal of the party at a high temperature. The Elector
John, therefore, required of his theologians their opinions as
to the propriety of yielding to the Emperor, and desisting
from preaching, if he should demand it. They all delivered
it as their judgment, that the Emperor ought to be implicitly
obeyed. In his written judgment Melancthon distinguishes
between public and private preaching, and argues that the
former might certainly cease if the latter were allowed ; but
he goes on to affirm, that if the Emperor should prohibit the
latter also, that point too must be surrendered to him. "We
are," he said, " under necessity, like those cast into chains."
" We are in the Emperor's city," he wrote to Luther, " and,
as it were, his Majesty's guests." Strange to say, the verdict
of Luther coincided with Melancthon' s, and he declared " The
Emperor is master ; the State and all are his ; and to oppose
his will would be as if any one should contend against the
Elector in his town of Torgau." But he suggested that fit
and prudent representations should be offered to induce his
Imperial Majesty not to condemn the preaching unheard,
with the assurance that nothing whatever tending to tumult
or fanaticism was inculcated. But if this would not help,
then " might must go for right," and the Evangelicals, having
done their duty, must leave results to God. The Elector,
however, remained still firm — in Melancthon's language, " an
VOL. II. p
210 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. obstinate old man ;" and Brack, with his usual sagacity, per-
ceiving the importance of the subject in dispute, and the effect
which yielding on the first point attacked must have in in-
flating the confidence of the Romanists, advised him by all
means to resist the Emperor's demand, " for it was a question
of preferring the command of God, or that of man." The
Elector accordingly sent Dolzig to present his reply in the
negative to the order which the Counts of Nassau and Nuenar
had delivered to him from Charles, and at the same time to
some accusations insinuated against him in their words with
something like a threat ; and although a second embassage
repeated the command that the preaching must be discon-
tinued, John was not to be moved. It was then debated
among the Lutherans what reply should be made, if the
Emperor demanded, according to expectation, that the fast-
days of the Romish Church should be observed; and Luther
and Melancthon again counselled obedience. This, however,
was a question of a different nature.
The Emperor still lingered on at Innspruck. Ambassadors,
who had implored him to come to Augsburg, received a
courteous answer, but could not quicken his movements. It
became noised abroad that Charles had no intention of visit-
ing Augsburg at all ; that his purpose was to waste the sub-
stance of the Protestant princes by keeping them and their
large retinues in lengthened expectation of his arrival, at a
time when the pric. vfi all commodities was most exorbitant.
Luther, in his castle, received these floating reports, but was
not dismayed by any of them. He only complained that
although letter-carriers frequently passed, his friends at Augs-
burg had failed to write to him for three weeks ; and when at
last letters from Melancthon arrived, he would not for some
time open them. But he resolved to be in good spirits.
" God," said he, " is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 211
He is the God not of sorrow, but of joy. If birds will fly 153 °-
over your head, at least let them not nestle in your hair. If
cares flock in, be sure that they flock out again." The tones
of his voice or the notes of his flute echoed along the massive
walls of the fortress, and put " that proud, melancholy spirit
Satan," with all his rout, to flight. Finding an old piece of
music in the castle, he patched it up, and made additions, and
exulted in the jest of palming it off as an exquisite composition,
on a friend who fancied himself a connoisseur in the art.
The abodes of the rooks and jackdaws were visited by him in
person ; to his amusement, they were in consternation at his
approach ; he clapped his hands, and threw up his cap, and
enjoyed their terrors : it seemed to him that they were " the
harpies of the Papists trembling at the word of God." He
complained, however, bitterly of being himself disturbed in
his retirement, like the poor rooks, by intruders. Afgula
Von Stauffen paid him a visit on the 2nd June ; and at a
later period Urban Regius, who as a youth had been the pro-
tege of the great lawyer Zasius, and as a man under the very
wing and patronage of Eck, at Ingolstadt, had warmly em-
braced the Lutheran opinions when they were first promul-
gated. Urban Regius has left it on record : — " The most
pleasant day I spent in my whole life I passed with Luther, at
Coburg. He is a greater theologian than any previous age
has produced ; and I am astonished at the folly of those who
can put Carlstadt in competition with him, who does not come
up to his shadow. Luther's books show his genius ; but if
you see him face to face, and hear him speak of godly matters
with apostolic spirit, then will you say, it is true Luther is
too great for any sciolist to be able to comprehend him."
Another of the numerous visitors to his retreat was his old
playmate John Reineck, with whom, thirty-seven years before,
he had travelled on foot to the choral school at Magdeburg.
r 2
212 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. But the greater part of his visitors were only an interruption
and annoyance ; so that he formed the plan of counterfeiting
a flight, to put curiosity on the wrong scent, and of then re-
turning unobserved to his lair. Yet he was sometimes to be
seen in the town, where he was pleased with the society of
John Sternberg, and of the pastor of the place, who often
gave him absolution and administered to him the holy com-
munion, as well as of others of the good people of Coburg.
On one occasion he was invited to a wedding entertain-
ment in Coburg ; he declined to attend personally, but
sent his nuptial gift — a figure of a child made out of tin,
filled with salt, with a ducat attached, bearing the words,
" In marriage are three things — pain and toil, joy and
delight, care and woe." His love of humour — which per-
haps necessity, as at the Wartburg, brought into more
active exercise than was even his wont — pervaded all his spe-
culations in his private hours on the threatening aspect of
public affairs. He represents in his correspondence, the Ve-
netians, the Florentines, Mr. Par-ma-foi, or the King of France,
and Mr. In-nomine-Domini, or the Pope, as making a most
holy league, and contributing largely from their coffers to
help forward their design, so that it became a very costly
affair ; but that, he said, belongs to the chapter of Non-cre-
dimus. Mr. Par-ma-foi could never forget the defeat at Pavia :
Mr. In-nomine-Domini was, first, a born Italian, bad enough;
next a Florentine, yet worse ; thirdly, born of harlotry, that
is, the Devil himself; and moreover had never relieved his
memory of the sack of Home. The Venetians were Vene-
tians, sufficient in itself; but they had also grounds for revenge
on the blood of Maximilian ; and thus the dreadful league all
went to pieces ; and this belonged to the chapter Firmiter-
credimus. But occasionally the gloomy forebodings of others
cast a passing shadow on his own mind. His " lord Kate "
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 213
wrote him word that the Elbe had overflown its banks in a 1530.
season of continued drought, and prodigies and portents were
related from all sides.
Augsburg was now filling fast with the members of the
Diet. On Tuesday, the 17th May, the Archbishop of
Cologne had made his entrance, and on the following day the
Archbishop of Mentz ; and a few days later the Elector of
Saxony's firm ally, the Margrave George of Brandenburg,
passed through the streets with 200 horsemen, all clad in
green ; and a waggon followed with his learned men and
preachers. On the 27th May, Duke George of Saxony re-
turned to Augsburg from Innspruck ; and it was whispered
that he was not altogether satisfied with all that he had seen
and heard at the Imperial Court. These tidings put spurs to
curiosity : and at last on the 1 9th June, Luther learnt from a
traveller, who passed through Coburg fresh from the spec-
tacle, that the Emperor had made his public entrance into
Augsburg four days earlier. Charles quitted Innspruck on
the Gth June, and arrived at Munich, the streets of which
were gay with tapestry for the occasion, on the 10th ; and early
in the morning of the 15th imperial commissioners appeared
in Augsburg, and apprised the princes that the Emperor
would make his entrance into the city on that clay, and that
it was his pleasure that they should meet him a little beyond
the city gates. Accordingly, at three o'clock in the afternoon
the princes and deputies proceeded from the city as far as the
little bridge spanning the precipitous current of the river Lech,
and there on some rising ground awaited the arrival of the
Emperor. The aspect of the road gave full indications that
something extraordinary was going forward ; horses and bag-
gage trains, waggons and passengers on foot, officers of the
Emperor's household, and strangers hastening to enjoy a novel
spectacle, from an early hour in the morning, and some days
214 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. previously, had been rolling amidst clouds of dust, to the sound
of whip and horn, or slowly wending their steps into Augs-
burg. The princes, however, for some tedious hours looked in
vain for signs that the Emperor himself was at hand. At
last, towards eight o'clock, a large mass of dust moving on
towards them, and presently the notes of music and the
sound of voices, intimated his near approach. The princes,
as soon as he could be recognised, dismounted their horses,
and on their side, the Emperor and King Ferdinand leapt from
their saddles, and greetings were interchanged with every
demonstration of regard and cordiality. The Archbishop of
Mentz addressed the Emperor in the name of the princes, and
Frederick Count Palatine, in the absence of his brother, the
Elector Louis, replied in behalf of Charles. Three only of
the company had continued on horseback, the Legate Cam-
pegio, with the Archbishop of Salzburg, and the Bishop of
Trent, and when the addresses were closed, the apostolic
Legate pronounced his benediction on the Emperor and
princes, which the Romanists received on bent knees, whilst
the Protestants, with studied indifference, remained standing.
Charles, who rode a Spanish horse of the purest white, was
now helped to his seat by the younger princes : the procession
formed, and slowly advanced. The households of the electors
in order, with the households of the dukes of Bavaria, who
had forced their way before the Margrave George and his
retinue, preceded the Emperor : and immediately before him
rode the Elector of Saxony, bearing a naked sword as grand
marshal of the Empire, with Joachim of Brandenburg on one
side, and a representative of the Elector Palatine on the other.
A rich damask canopy, red, white, and green, was borne over
the Emperor's head by six of the principal citizens of Augs-
burg ; the Elector of Mentz was on Charles' right hand, and
the Elector of Cologne on his left : the Papists had desired a
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTIIEK. 215
different arrangement ; but King Ferdinand and the Legate 1530.
were obliged to be content with bringing up the rear. The
procession was preceded and closed by troops of soldiers both
on horse and foot. The cannon roared from the ramparts, the
bells pealed from the cathedral and churches, and kettle drum
and trumpet mingled their welcome with the applause of the
populace, who admired the stately form and dexterity in
horsemanship of their youthful emperor, and his handsome
countenance, in which amiability and gravity seemed equally
blended. The procession moved on to the cathedral, at the
doors of which the Bishop and the clergy were waiting in
their white robes. During the chanting of the Te Deum,
Charles was observed to be conversing in a low tone with the
Archbishop of Mentz, and nodded once familiarly to Duke
George; but when the Te Ergo Qusesumns liegan, rising from
his seat and rejecting an embroidered gold cushion which was
offered him, he knelt down on the bare stones, raising his
hands to heaven. The whole crowd throughout the cathe-
dral now fell upon their knees, with the exception of the
Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave ; and the Margrave
George, although he had at first followed in the general
movement, observing that his associates remained standing,
rose from the ground and imitated their firmness. After the
service the procession formed anew, and Charles was con-
ducted to the Palatinate, the palace of the Bishop of Augs-
burg, which had been prepared for his reception.
Here he dismissed the other princes, for it was past ten
o'clock : but made a sign to the Elector of Saxony, the
Landgrave, the Duke of Luneburg, and the Margrave George,
to attend him into his private apartment. There, using
Ferdinand as his mouthpiece, who communicated with the
princes in German, and with the Emperor in French, Charles
demanded of them to impose silence on their preachers, and
216 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. to join in the procession of the body of Christ on the follow-
ing day ; but was met with a respectful but firm refusal to
both these requests. The Landgrave urged, that their
preachers proclaimed nothing "either new or bad, but simply
the doctrines of Augustin, Hilary, and other early fathers of
the Church." And when the Emperor still laboured to con-
quer their repugnance, the Margrave George, with great ani-
mation, exclaimed, " Rather than let the Word of God be
taken from me, and deny my God, I would kneel down and
have my head struck off." And suiting the action to the
words, he struck his neck with his hand. The Emperor him-
self was moved, and replied with vivacity, "Not the head off,
not the head off" (nicht kopf ab), — the only words which he
was heard to utter in German. When, at the close of the
interview, Ferdinand declared that " his Imperial Majesty
could not brook their disobedience/' the Landgrave answered
that "his Majesty's conscience was not lord and master over
their consciences." The princes were then dismissed, with
the often repeated threat that they would call down upon
them the Emperor's severest displeasure if they persisted in
their obstinacy : and they were directed to reflect more
maturely upon his Majesty's requests, and to report their
answer in person early the next morning. After the
princes had departed, Charles was so violently agitated by
the resistance which had been shown to his authority, that he
could obtain no rest ; he paced up and down his apartment,
and in the middle of the night despatched a messenger to the
Elector of Saxony, desiring his immediate attendance. The
Elector John, however, made his advanced age and the state
of his health a plea for disregarding the summons, and replied
that his Imperial Majesty should have the answer of the
evangelical princes at the time which he had appointed.
At seven o'clock the following morning, the princes met in
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 217
private, and having unanimously agreed upon the reply to be 1530.
made to the Emperor, proceeded together to the Palatinate ;
but John Frederic attended in place of his father, the Elector,
who alleged the infirmities of age in excuse of his absence.
The Margrave George was their spokesman, and stated that
they held it to be most objectionable that the bread only,
without the cup, was carried in the procession of the host ;
but that, further than this, there was no scriptural authority
whatever for exposing to view, or carrying about in proces-
sion, the sacramental elements. And on the other head of
preaching, an equally direct negative was returned ; and allu-
sion was made to the lateness of the hour at which the Em-
peror had preferred his demands. After delivering the
common answer, the Margrave George said a few words for
himself personally. He briefly touched upon the services
rendered by his father and himself to the House of Austria,
and implored the Emperor not to credit the calumnies circu-
lated against him by his enemies : " but/' he continued, "the
divine command is immutable, and at the risk of whatever
suffering, even at the cost of my head, I must obey God
rather than man." The Emperor, after awhile, changed his
ground, and, laying aside the argument of authority, requested
them to comply with his wishes, as a tribute of personal de-
ference to himself; but here, too, the princes remained firm ; •
and the audience having been protracted almost up to the
very time when the procession was to commence, they were
dismissed with the understanding that they would let the
Emperor have a written statement of their views relative to
the question of free preaching. The procession began about
ten o'clock, the streets being lined with soldiers to keep off
the crowd. The host was carried by the Archbishop of
Mentz, with uncovered head, beneath a superb canopy. The
Emperor himself immediately followed, his head bare, and a
218
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTIIEK.
1530. burning torch in his hand. But much as there was in such a
spectacle to attract the curious, it was computed by lookers on,
that not more than a hundred citizens of Augsburg were
present. Charles himself returned to the Palatinate disap-
pointed and incensed ; not only the evangelical princes, but
the inhabitants of his imperial city, recoiled from a supersti-
tious ceremony, in which he himself bore the most prominent
part. With a hurried and indignant step he paced his apart-
ment, a prey to conflicting thoughts : and did violence to his
own feelings in refraining from at once forwarding safe con-
ducts to the Protestant Princes, with the command that they
should depart from Augsburg without delay.
Luther, in his castle, received the tidings of the firmness
and constancy of the princes with lively gratitude to God ; and
from the repeated accounts transmitted to him that the
Emperor himself, and his secretary Alphonso Valdeso, were
the best disposed of all the court towards the evangelical
cause, felt the hope revive that Charles might yet be won over
to the Gospel. "The Papists/' said he, "rage and are ter-
rible ; but our Prince, endued with marvellous courage,
confesses Christ boldly ; so does the Margrave George : on
the other hand, the Emperor's clemency is so incredible, that
he must be provided with a good angel from God." The
Coburg fortress had now been converted into a temple, for
Luther felt that the battle was begun. Three hours at the
least of every day, and those not such as could be most readily
spared, but the most appropriate for study, were consecrated by
him to prayer ; and thus, while the conflict against Amalek
was going on in the valley, says Mathesius, Moses himself re-
mained on the hill, with his hands uplifted to Jehovah. Over
his bed, and around the walls of the castle, Luther had
written with his own hand some of his favourite texts, the con-
stant sight of which gave fresh strength and steadfastness to
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTIIEK. 219
his faith, such as — "This just man cried, and the Lord heard 1530.
him " — " God is nigh unto all them that call upon him " —
" Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee "
— " I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the
Lord." The words, " I will both lay me down in peace, and
sleep, for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety," afforded
him such especial comfort, that in a letter to the celebrated
Bavarian musician, Louis Senfel, he requested him to set them
to music for him, and obtained from him this favour, and also
chants to several other scriptural texts. Luther composed at
this time a paper of Consolatory Reflections, drawn from the
Holy Scriptures, in which he expresses his grateful joy that
" the cause is not in our hands, but in God's ;" — that " He
who is in us, is greater than he that is in the world ;" and
that, " if we go to the ground, Christ himself must go with
us '" that the trials of Christians under Maximian and Dio-
cletian, and in the time of John Huss, in Germany itself, were
far greater, and more full of peril, than the present trials j and
that, with heartfelt sighing and Christian prayer, Christian
people in many lands were imploring the succour of Almighty
God. " You are furnishing arms to Satan against yourself/'
he wrote to Melancthon, whose timidity had already taken the
alarm, and was every day gaining ground. " "What can the
devil do more than strangle us ? Christ died once for sin ; he
now lives and reigns for justice and truth. What can harm
the truth, if Christ is reigning ? I find my own hopes better
than I had hoped. If we are not worthy to be God's instru-
ments in this work, He will provide himself with others.
Cast all your care upon Him."
As had been promised, on the morning of the 17th, the
reasons of the evangelical princes for declining assent to the
Imperial command in regard to their preachers, were placed
in the Emperor's hands. They were to the effect, that the
220 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. evangelical preachers proclaimed the true gospel, in accord-
ance with the decree of the Nuremberg Diet, as it had been
understood by the ancient fathers of the Church ; that they
could not in their conscience forego this spiritual nourish-
ment; that the discourses forbade all sedition and tumult,
and were followed by prayers for the happy issue of the Diet.
From the hour of noon the Emperor, Electors, and Prelates
deliberated on this topic. And the next day it was proposed
to the Lutheran Princes to settle the question by a compro-
mise, viz. : that the preachers of both parties should for a
time desist from their office, and none preach but such as had
been nominated by the Emperor, who should carefully abstain
from touching on anything that could give offence to either side.
The evangelical divines declared in favour of this compromise :
" It is as good as a promise," they said, " that the Emperor
will hear our cause ; we are called to confess our faith, not to
preach — we are not the parish ministers of Augsburg." And
the princes informed the Emperor of their acquiescence in
the proposal, and the same evening the inhabitants and so-
journers in Augsburg were apprised by proclamation of the
Imperial decision. Expectation was on the qui vive to see
" what sort of chimera or tragelaphus " the Emperor's nomi-
nees would prove; the congregations,* French, Spaniards,
Italians, iEthiops, and Stratiots, intermingling with the Ger-
mans, stood in the churches the next morning with erect ear,
but they heard neither Evangelical nor Papist, but " a tex-
tualist or scribe," who read off Scripture without adding a
word of comment.
Another question now arose. On Monday, the 20th June,
the solemn mass of the Holy Ghost was to be performed in
* " Ibi videas hie Gallos, illic Hispanos, hie iEthiopes, illic etiam
iEthiopissas, hie Italos, illic etiam Turcos, aut quos vocant Stratiotas,"
&c. — Brentz Letter to Isenmann.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 221
the cathedral. Would the Elector of Saxony, the Papists 1530.
inquired, in his capacity of grand marshal, bear the sword
before the Emperor at this high ceremonial ? The theolo-
gians, Luther among them, were consulted on the subject ;
and they agreed that the Elector might attend in the cathe-
dral, provided he took no part in the service, in his simple
capacity of grand marshal, just as Naaman the Syrian was
permitted to hold his arm for his master to lean upon, when
he worshipped in the house of his god Rimmon. Before the
offertory, from a high stool in front of the high altar,
Pimpinelli, Archbishop of Rossan, delivered a Latin oration of
an hour's length, urging the assembled princes to unanimity
against the Turk, and calling on St. Peter and St. Paul to
use their keys and sword to exterminate heresy ; and on the
conclusion of the service, the Emperor and princes rode to the
Town Hall, and the Diet was opened. It was the subject of
querulous remark among the Protestants, that King Ferdinand
took his seat on a very high throne opposite to the Emperor,
arrayed in a gold robe, and wearing the crown of Hungary.
Frederic Count Palatine, in a long speech, declared the
Emperor's sentiments, both in reference to the Turkish war
and the religious dissensions; after which the proposition
was read by Alexander Schweitz, the imperial secretary,
which, in its first article, spoke of the Turk ; in the second,
of the gravamina of the temporal rulers against the eccle-
siastical, and of the ecclesiastical against the temporal ; and
in the third, of the necessity of removing religious divisions.
The States, by the mouth of Joachim of Brandenburg,
returned thanks to the Emperor, and requested permis-
sion to take copies of the proposition, with a view to deli-
berating on its contents. Three hours, accordingly, were
allowed for the secretaries of the several princes and states to
copy the proposition, which was read aloud by the secretary
222 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. of the Cardinal of Mentz. It was agreed on both sides that
the religious question, as underlying every other, should
be first taken into consideration by the Diet; and on the
22nd the Emperor requested of the Elector of Saxony and his
allies to be favoured, in the space of two days, with the sura
of the opinions entertained by them in the matter of religion,
the ecclesiastical abuses they complained of, and the remedies
which they proposed to apply. On the 23rd the Protestants
assembled in a private meeting, the deputies of Nuremberg
and Reutlingen being present among the evangelical princes,
and the Apology was read aloud, and unanimously approved
of. The next day Campegio, the papal legate, about three
o'clock in the afternoon exhibited his letters of credential,
and then from the throne, which at the opening of the Diet
had been occupied by King Ferdinand, delivered a speech of
more than half an hour's length, exhorting the Emperor,
Electors, and Princes, as members of the TLoraan Church, not
to fall off from their allegiance to her, but to maintain stead-
fastly the faith of their ancestors. After the speech he left the
Town Hall, and rode back to his lodging. Then deputies from
Carynthia, Styria, and other provinces which had suffered
grievously from the Ottoman inroads, appeared before the
imperial throne, and implored succour for their countrymen.
When these had retired, the Elector of Saxony, the Margrave
George, the two Dukes of Luneburg, and the Landgrave of
Hesse, rose from their seats, and took their station in front of
the throne, and by the mouth of Bruck petitioned with all
submission, "that, inasmuch as all the new sects, heresies,
and errors," which had arisen in the sacred German empire,
were imputed to them as the occasion and source, his Majesty
would be pleased to hear the articles of faith which were held
by them, and were preached in their dominions. Charles
requested, in reply, that the document might be given into
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 223
his own hands, in order that he might read it over with his 1530.
council, and grant them a gracious answer. Brack persisted
in the entreaty that his Majesty would be pleased to hear it
publicly read. The Emperor consulted with his brother, and
the Electors and Princes, and by the mouth of Count Nuenar
replied that the document must not be read publicly in the
Diet, but he consented to hear it read in the Palatinate, in
the presence of the Electors and Princes ; and he appointed
the next day for the reading.
The next day, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the Emperor, Saturday,
King Ferdinand, the Electors and Princes were assembled in ^ une ^°-
the chapel of the Palatinate, which was capable of holding
about 200 persons, to hear the declaration of the articles of the
evangelical faith. John, Elector of Saxony ; George, Margrave
of Brandenburg ; Ernest, Duke of Luneburg ; Philip, Land-
grave of Hesse ; John Frederick, Duke of Saxony ; Francis,
Duke of Luneburg ; Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt, and the
deputies of Nuremberg and Reutlingen, advanced in front of
Charles' throne, the old chancellor Brack holding in his hand
the Latin version of the Apology, and the other chancellor,
Christian Beyer, the German version. " Read it," the Em-
peror said, " in Latin." John the Constant coming forward,
said, " We stand on German ground, and we trust your
Majesty will permit us to use the German tongue." Charles
signified his assent, and Beyer read the " Augsburg Confes-
sion " in German, in a voice so firm and distinct that his
words could be intelligibly heard as far as the lower gate of
the court-yard. The reading exceeded two hours in length ;
and when it was finished, Chancellor Brack delivered both the
copies to the imperial secretary. The Emperor roused him-
self from the nap in which he had indulged during the read-
ing, and took into his own hand the Latin version, and
courteously dismissing the evangelical princes, assured them
224 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. that he and his council would give the matter due deliberation ;
but he insisted that the Apology should not be made public.
The Protestants returned to their lodgings full of thank-
fulness to God that so far their cause had been triumphant.
Accounts of all that had passed were transmitted to Coburg,
and Luther replied with the most cordial assurances of his
joy. " It delights me," he wrote, " to have lived to the pre-
sent hour, when our Lord Christ has been proclaimed pub-
licly by an army of confessors. The evangelical preaching
was prohibited, and the scriptural confession has preached
Christ with more power than any ten preachers. We see, as
Paul said, that God's Word cannot be bound. Forbidden in
the pulpit, it is proclaimed in the palace. If all else should
be silent, the stones would cry out." Luther's delight over-
flowed in expressions of gratitude towards the Emperor per-
sonally, of whose courteous bearing he was informed by Me-
lancthon: "He is an excellent youth, worthy of the love of God
and men." And it was very soon evident that the Confession
was yielding happy fruit, both in confirming the Lutherans,
and drawing over many of the Romanist party to the side of
truth. The Count of Nassau, who had before shown symp-
toms of indecision, now declared himself a convert to the
evangelical faith. The Archbishop of Cologne, it was also
known, gave his approval to the Lutheran tenets. The Bishop
of Augsburg spoke of the Apology as "the truth, the pure
truth :" and a Spanish monk, confessor to the Court, main-
tained that the doctrine of "justification by faith alone " had
always been the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Even the
legate Campegio, who took care to be absent from the read-
ing, but had the document submitted to him for examination
by the Emperor, pronounced that " the differences were
chiefly verbal ; the great point was to prevent further discus-
sion." " All that they say," observed the Archbishop of Salz-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 225
burg, who had been peculiarly bitter in his reproaches against 1530.
Melancthon and the other Reformers, " is right enough.
The mass ought to be reformed : liberty as to feast days and
fast days ought to be conceded, and the yoke of human ordi-
nances to be removed : but that a miserable monk should be
the Reformer — that is intolerable." And it was a subject of
congratulation among the Lutherans, at the same time, that
their confession had been kept free from any Zwinglian tinc-
ture, that Philip of Hesse, who had acknowledged to Urban
Regius that he inclined to Zwingle's view of the Sacrament
of the Lord's Supper, and who had been engaged while at
Augsburg in a correspondence with Melancthon and Brentz
on his old subject of a general Protestant alliance, had
nevertheless finally taken his post by the side of the Elector
and the Margrave George, and, though he still said " he was
not quite satisfied about the Sacrament," would scarcely
recede from a faith to which his signature was now annexed.
It was, of course, absolutely necessary that an answer
should be written to the Apology. Most of the Romanist
Princes had brought their learned men with them to the Diet.
" Some," Jonas said, " have brought their ignoramuses ;
for Cochlseus, Usingen, Wimpina, and Mensingen are here."
Faber and Eck, however, were really possessed of learning,
although their ability scarcely rose to second-rate ; and it
was felt by the Romanists themselves that it was beyond the
power of their learned men to produce anything that could in
the least match the clearness and terseness of the Apology.
Erasmus, indeed, had been invited to Augsburg, both by the
Papists and by Melancthon, but he saw the wisdom of
staying away, and pleaded his feeble health as a sufficient
reason for keeping quietly at Basle. " Ten councils," he re-
plied to Melancthon, " could not unravel the deep plot of
your tragedy, much less could I. If any one starts a propo-
VOL. II. Q
226 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. sition that has common sense on its side, it is at once set down
as Lutheranism." To the Romanist invitations he replied
with his stereotyped abuses of the Lutherans. However,
something must be done ; and the Romanist Doctors, twenty-
four in number, were formed into a committee, with Eck at
their head, to take the Apology into consideration, and draw
up a confutation. Their first attempt was not successful : it
spread to the length of 280 pages ; but was vapid in propor-
tion to its bulk, breathed blood and cruelty, and was sent
back by the princes to the committee to be retrenched and
improved. Meanwhile, Charles was refreshing himself after
the fatigues of opening the Diet, with sports and recreations.
On the morning of Monday, the 27th June, he received in
front of the town-hall the homage of his good citizens of Augs-
burg : and afterwards he and Ferdinand, and several of the
lords spiritual and temporal, rode out for a day's hunt in the
neighbourhood, and in the evening " the two Queens of
Hungary and Bohemia, Mary and Anna/' joined the royal
hunting party, and the night was spent at the Castle of Wel-
lenburg. Moreover, the Augsburg citizens employed their
best efforts to afford diversion to his Imperial Majesty with
the pageantry and mysteries in fashion in that age. On one
occasion, when the Emperor and his Court were seated at
table, a man in the garb of a doctor entered, bearing in his
arms a number of straight and crooked sticks, which he laid
on the hearth ; and withdrawing as soon as this was done,
showed upon his back Reuchlin, inscribed in large letters.
Then another entered, also in the habit of a doctor, -who
walked to the hearth, and busied himself for some time in
adjusting the straight and crooked sticks, but all to no pur-
pose, and retired with a sardonic laugh on his countenance.
Erasmus was the name on his back. Next entered a friar,
wearing the Augustinian frock and cowl, with a chafing-dish
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 227
full of live coals ; he raked the sticks together, threw the 1530.
coals among them, and blowing the flame, quickly raised a
blazing fire. An Emperor next rushed in, who in his impa-
tience to extinguish the flame, thrust his sword into the fire,
and thereby made it burn the faster. The Pope followed,
with Peter's keys suspended from his girdle, and the triple
crown on his head, and seizing a bottle of water with one
hand, and of oil with the other, and hurrying to the hearth,
threw the oil on the fire instead of the water, and made
the flame burn so fiercely that he was obliged to retreat with
all speed from its fury. Charles made inquiries whose in-
genuity had devised the comedy, but the author could not be
discovered.
But the conduct of the Emperor towards the Protestants
had now undergone a manifest change. At first he was so con-
descending that Melancthon was full of complaints to Luther
of the ill requital made by the evangelical princes to so much
complacency, and requested a letter from Coburg to John
Frederic in inculcation of gentle and more humble deport-
ment. But not only was the imperial visage clouded : every
kind of rumour and mode of threat, studied neglect, and
direct opposition, were brought into play to shake the stead-
fastness of the Elector John. The Emperor never spoke to,
or noticed him : his wishes and interests were always disre-
garded : and Charles would not even accede to his request to
grant him infeudation, or confirm the marriage articles be-
tween his son and Sibylla of Cleves. And so much did all
this work upon the Elector, that in his dreams he used to
conceive himself buried under a high mountain, at the top of
which stood his cousin Duke George : but after he had been
harassed by this dream several consecutive nights, at last he
dreamed that he saw Duke George roll from the summit of the
mountain, and lie dashed to pieces at his feet. None, how-
q 2
228 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. ever, of the evangelical party felt the difficulties of their situ-
ation so sensitively as the timid Melancthon. " The monks,"
he wrote to Luther, " are every day inflaming the Emperor's
hate against us ; the hishops detest us cruelly ; our friends
forsake us ; we are here alone and desolate, tossed by innu-
merable perils." "Very few are on our side," wrote Spalatin,
" all are Papists or Sacramentarians." It was just that crisis
in which Luther's faith was peculiarly called upon to impart
some of its own confidence to the drooping hearts of his
friends. "1 was lately looking out of my window," he
wrote to Brack, " when I beheld two wonders : there were
the stars of heaven, and all God's bright firmament ; but I
could discern no walls on which the Master had based such a
firmament : yet the heaven does not fall in, and the firma-
ment stands quite fast. Now, there are some who are seek-
ing and groping about to find where the walls are. The
other wonder was, that I beheld a great dense cloud float over
us — such a mass ! as though it were a mighty sea ; but I could
not descry any pavement on which it rested, or coffer in which
it was inclosed : yet it did not fall on our heads, but greeting
us with a black frown passed on. When it had passed, a
rainbow appeared, but a weak, dim, subtle bow, which soon
vanished into the clouds. Now, there are some who think
more of the dense cloud and the mass of waters, than of the
slender and dim rainbow, and are in terror lest the clouds
should pour down an eternal deluge." " Be confident,"
Luther wrote to the Elector John, " Christ is with you, and
will in turn own you as his father, as you have confessed
him before this wicked generation ; " and he recommended
him to study the 37th Psalm, as an excellent antidote against
the wiles of Satan. The Elector John heartily reciprocated
such counsel : he had too much of Luther's own faith to
recoil from danger : Bruck and the theologians were also
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 229
convinced that Luther was right in his unwavering trust in 1530.
God ; Melancthon alone continued to be agitated with every
kind of doubt and apprehension. " "What is the meaning,"
Luther wrote to him, " of fearing, trembling, caring, and
sorrowing? Will He not be with us in this world's trifles,
who has given us his own Son ? In private troubles I am
weak, and you are strong : if, at least, I can call private the
conflicts I have with Satan ; but in public trials I am what
you are in private. The cause is just and true; it is Christ's
cause. Miserable saintling as I am ! I may well turn pale
and tremble for myself; but I can never fear for the cause."
"Our cause is deposited in a common place not to be found in
your book, Philip ; that common place is faith." " I pray,
have prayed, and shall pray for thee, Philip," he wrote in
another letter, " and I have felt" the Amen in my heart."
" Our Lord Christ," he wrote to Jonas, " is King of kings,
and Lord of lords. If he disown the title at Augsburg, he
must disown it in heaven and earth. Amen."
" The constancy of ' our dearest father,' Veit Dietrich wrote
to Melancthon, " his cheerfulness, faith, and hope are won-
derful : it is because he studies God's Word so diligently. I
have once heard him praying, communing with God as a
father and friend, and reminding him of his own promises
from the Psalms, which he was certain would be made good.
' I know, O God, thou art our dear God and Father : there-
fore am I certain that thou wilt destroy the persecutors of thy
Church. If thou dost not destroy them, thou art in like
danger with us. It is thy own cause. The enemies of the
cross of Christ assault us : it appertains to thee and the
honour of thy name to protect thy confessors at Augsburg.
Thou hast promised ; thou wilt do it ; for thou hast done it
from the beginning. Let thine help shine forth in this ex-
tremity.' " Luther's prayer was the struggling of a wrestler
230 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. in the grips of conflict : sighs and tears escaped him ; he
groaned and cried aloud, and often rose from his knees over-
come by the vehemence of his supplications : and for some
time afterwards " his head was very weak " from the fervour
of his soul.
There was a wide divergency between his views and those
of Melancthon as to the results to be desired from the deli-
berations of the Diet. Melancthon hoped for concord, and
even union, with the Papists, and with this object had re-
stricted the evangelical ultimatum to three points : the Com-
munion in both kinds, liberty to priests and monks to marry,
and the Reformation of the Mass. He had conferences with
Valdeso, the Spanish secretary to the Emperor, and with
Campegio ; and if sometimes he was cast down with the perils
of the situation and the weight of his own responsibilities, at
other times he wrote encouraging accounts of the affability of
the secretary and cardinal, and the fair promises which they
held out. Luther, with far more insight into human nature,
smiled at Philip's credulity, and answered, "I would not
believe any Italian in a single My." The Elector of Bran-
denburg, the Duke of Bavaria, and " the Clown/' Melancthon
represented as full of rage and sanguinary counsels ; but the
Emperor's sister was labouring to pacify her brother, the
Archbishop of Mentz was favourable to peace, and the Le-
gate was extremely courteous. Philip was miserably mis-
taken as to the last ; for it is now ascertained that Cam-
pegio was one of those who most zealously admonished the
Emperor to " root out the noxious plant of heresy with fire
and sword." On the 9th July the evangelical Princes were
summoned into the imperial presence ; and it was demanded,
first, whether they had touched on all the controverted points
in their Apology, and were ready to abide in all respects by
that document; and secondly, whether they were willing to
THE LIFE OF MAKTIN LUTHER. 231
accept the Emperor as judge. The answer to the first ques- 1530.
tion was returned two days later, that " the Apology had
confined itself to essentials, — such errors and abuses as had
proved a burden to the conscience." In reference to the
second the Elector of Saxony consulted Luther, who replied,
" that no verdict against Scripture could be admitted : to
believe a doctrine on any ground saving that of Holy Writ
would be the same as to be a Christian without Christ, a lord
without land, rich without money, or learned without know-
ledge." Luther was beginning to be more and more discon-
tented with the long continuance of the Diet, and with Melanc-
thon's fits of melancholy, and alternate hopes and fears. " As
for concord," said he, " I have never prayed God for it ; it is
an impossibility : ' What concord hath Christ with Belial ? ' "
All he desired was religious toleration, or, as he termed it,
political peace. " May God scatter the nations that delight
in war." And by exhibiting the confession of their faith, he
regarded the evangelical princes as having discharged their
duty to the full. " You have now," he wrote, " done enough :
you have confessed Christ in the Assembly of Masks ; would
that I had myself shared such an honour. I absolve you in
the name of the Lord from the Diet. Home ! Home ! "
Melancthon, at one time depressed, at another elated, was
recounting to Luther the various publications, new or re-
printed, with which the Romanist doctors were filling Augs-
burg, and which they were offering to the Emperor to inflame
his resentment against the Lutherans. Then, on some fresh
pretext, the Protestant princes were summoned before Charles,
and threats and promises alternately tried to shake their
firmness. The Augsburg citizens had succumbed to the
influences of various kinds brought to bear on them ; and
their preacher, Urban Regius, offended by the little value
they set on the Gospel, had engaged to accompany the Duke
232 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. of Luneburg, to superintend the Churches in his Duchy, as
soon as he should leave the Diet. On the other hand, the
Confession had been forwarded to Rome, and the Papal reply
had not yet arrived ; and in the meantime Campegio still
smiled, and Valdeso was as friendly as ever. Supposing
concord should be attainable, Melancthon's mind was put to
the rack to determine what conclusions could be assented to
by the evangelicals, on the subject of traditions ; and he was
of opinion, that for the sake of good order it might be con-
ceded that none but an ordained priest should administer the
sacrament ; that the order of prayers in the Mass should
be retained, &c. ; that fast days and feast days might be
allowed, as a bodily discipline ; that as the Encaenia was in-
stituted by the Maccabees to testify gratitude to God, so
ordinances appointed with the same object by bishops might
be acquiesced in — bishops being " of authority by human
right." Luther stated that " the first point was to be agreed
on the principles of the Christian faith ; when that agreement
had been accomplished, it would be time enough to look
further; and for his own part he could endure any outward
restriction that his conscience would permit, but to load his
conscience his Christ would not suffer it." * Then the subject
of the mass was more attentively considered, and the
Romanists endeavoured to give a specious colouring to the
most objectionable of their practices, by representing the
private mass as merely an eucharistical worship. Melancthon
was debating the question on learned grounds; but Luther,
with his practical good sense, at once tore the flimsiness of
such an argument to tatters. " It is not enough," he wrote,
" that the intention of any practice be presumed good ; the
# See Bedenken. De Wette, IV., p. 95. Ccelestin regards the
paper as a reply to questions proposed by the queens Anne and Mary ;
but there seems no ground for such a supposition.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 233
only question is, ' Is there the Word of God for it ? ' A man 1530.
may be a monk, as an eucharistical worship, or anything
whatever may be justified by such a pretence. The only
place for a thief is the gallows."
In July Bucer and Capito came to Augsburg with the con-
fession of the four cities, Strasburg, Constance, Lindau, and
Memmingen, which was presented to the Emperor. A separate
confession of faith was also delivered in by the city of Ulm ;
and Zwingle forwarded his own private confession of faith to
the Diet, which, in the judgment of the Lutherans, revived
his old heresies on human depravity, and the use of the sacra-
ments. It was not until the 3rd August that the Confutation
was at last read, in the chapel of the Palatinate, in the German
version. It was read as the authoritative decision of the
religious questions; and before the reading, the Emperor
declared that he should firmly abide by the sentiments con-
tained in it, and that if any of the princes persevered in con-
trary tenets, as defender of the faith he would no longer
brook such schism : and with these words he composed him-
self for a sound nap. After the reading, the votes of the
Diet were called for, and a considerable majority signified
their approval of the Confutation. The Emperor then turn-
ing to the Protestant princes demanded that they too should
concur in the decision of the majority, and give in their
adhesion to the doctrines comprised in the document which
they had just heard read. The Lutherans, in reply, requested
that a copy of the Confutation might be given into their
hands. The Romanists demurred to this request ; it seemed
to them decisive that the majority had declared their verdict,
and that, therefore, further argument or difference of opinion
was not to be allowed. But, on being hard pressed to grant
a copy, they at length consented, on the condition that it
should not be seen by any one except the evangelical princes,
234 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. deputies, and theologians, then present, themselves, and after
perusal should be returned to the Emperor. The Protestants
declined to accept a copy under such restrictions ; and the
Emperor stated that he required time for deliberation, before
he coidd accord them the favour they sought on any other terms.
Two days later Charles again summoned the Protestants into
his presence, and renewed his command that they would accept
the Confutation ; as to the copy, the reluctance he felt to grant
it arose, he said, from apprehension that it would be published
or transcribed. This led to altercations, which were pro-
tracted until eight o'clock in the evening, when the Electors
of Mentz and Brandenburg, and Henry of Brunswick,
approaching the Protestant princes implored them to relin-
quish the dispute, and to avoid irritating the Emperor any
further, for they had hopes of offering them such proposals
as would have the effect of terminating all variances. A
private conference followed; but the mode of terminating
variances, which the Romanists resorted to, was rather to
menace than to conciliate ; so that Philip of Hesse, whose
hot temper had long been chafing at the conduct pursued by
the Emperor and his court towards the Protestants, having
previously applied to Charles for leave of departure without
success, effected his escape on the night of the 6th August
with great wariness, by a secret postern, from Augsburg, and
departed home, leaving his excuses in a letter to the Elector
John, viz., the ill state of his wife's health, and the facility
with which the remaining business could be conducted by
his chancellor. That very same night the Emperor posted
guards of soldiers at all the city gates, anticipating, it would
appear, the Landgrave's intentions, who had requested an
audience, and received the reply that his Majesty could not
sue him until the Sunday following. Philip, however, had
made his escape in the dusk before the gates were shut,
THE LIFE OF MARTJX LUTHER. 235
with only five or six attendants, and having assumed a dis- 1530.
guise to avoid being recognized.
Early on Sunday morning the Protestant princes were Aug. 7.
called into the Chapter House, where they found George
Truchsess, Duke George of Saxony, Henry of Brunswick, the
Bishops of Augsburg, Salzburg, and Spires, and many more,
who addressed them on the necessity of religious union, in
failure of which, " bloodshed and destruction of land and
people, oppression of subjects, dangers and injuries of all
kinds " would inevitably light upon the unhappy German
nation. The Protestant Princes, on their side, expressed their
willingness to lend their heartiest efforts towards an accom-
modation consistently with the dictates of their consciences.
But at midday the evangelical Princes were summoned to
appear before the Emperor himself, who had now heard of the
flight of the Landgrave, and was the more vexed and irritated
that the measures he had taken to prevent such a movement
had been forestalled. The Princes alleged in their behalf,
that the Landgrave's departure had been without their know-
ledge, and did not meet with their approbation, but that it
must have been occasioned by weighty reasons : and for
themselves, that they were ready to co-operate with all their
power for "a just, profitable, and good termination of the
Diet." But they complained of sentinels being posted at the
city gates ; and begged that in consideration of the heavy cost
which the long continuation of the Diet had involved, his
Imperial Majesty would expedite matters as far as he could.
The Emperor replied, that the guards had been placed at the
gates to repress disorders in the city, a Spanish soldier having
lately been killed in an uproar ; and he dismissed the Princes
with more than ordinary courtesy. The Protestants found
that the decided conduct of the Landgrave had made the
llomauists less hauyiitv and more tractable.
238 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. On Saturday the 13th August, it was decided that seven
delegates should be appointed by either side, two princes, two
lawyers, and three theologians, to whom the task should be
committed of recombining Lutherans and Papists into one
church. The delegates appointed on the Papist side were
Henry of Brunswick, and the Bishop of Augsburg, the Chan-
cellors of Baden and Cologne, Eck, Msnsingen, and Coch-
lrcus; on the Protestant, the Margrave George, and John
Frederic, Bruck and Heller, Melancthon, Brentz, and Snepf.
The demands of the Evangelicals were simply stated : that
Rome should allow them to preach the same doctrines as
they had hitherto preached ; should concede the communion
in both kinds, the reformation of the Mass, and the marriage
of priests and monks ; and they, on their part, were prepared
to yield jurisdiction to the bishops, and submit to traditions
and ceremonies as far as their consciences would permit. On
Tuesday the 16th matters were proceeding very smoothly, and
a reconciliation was effected ou ten articles of the Lutheran
Confession : but on the 18th Henry of Brunswick quitted
Augsburg, being sent by Charles to watch the proceedings of
the Landgrave, whose warlike tendencies were, not un-
naturally, a subject of apprehension ; and Duke George of
Saxony was substituted as delegate in his place. The Pro-
testants did not like the change ; although Brentz states, that
in some points the Duke very decidedly snubbed Dr. Eck.
Melancthon on one side and Eck on the other were the prin-
cipal speakers, and Spalatin was the secretary. But on the 22nd
the Conference ended ; for although, on many points, agree-
ment had been attained, there remained a difference of opinion
on fourteen articles. The Romanists would not allow that
justification is by faith alone; that our good works do not
earn grace ; that it is not necessary to make special enumera-
tion of sins in confession ; that to repentance faith is neces-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 23?
sary as well as contrition, and satisfaction on our part is not 1530.
requisite ; that the Sacraments are ineffectual without faith ;
that for church-union all that is essential is doctrinal harmony;
that human ordinances and vows, if supposed to earn grace,
are diametrically opposed to the Gospel; that men's ordi-
nances are only to be kept in a spirit of love, to avoid
divisions ; that there is but one Mediator ; that it is unscrip-
tural to forbid communion in both kinds, and the marriage
of priests and monks ; and that the Mass is not a good work
to earn grace but must be received in faith, and through faith,
not ex opere operato, grace is increased in it.
No one was more deeply grieved than Melancthon that the
conference should have proved fruitless : he was haunted by
the apprehension of war and bloodshed as inevitable, if the
breach were not closed ; and letters from Erasmus, which
spoke of the Diet as "the prelude of a fearful drama," con-
firmed him in this idea. He generally suffered much from
wakefulness in the few hours of the night which he allotted
to rest, but during this period he could obtain scarce any
sleep at all; and his anxiety and want of repose had brought
on a dreadful cough, which shook his slender frame convul-
sively, as though it would tear it in pieces. His terror of war
had even led him to acquiesce in the government of the Pope
over evangelical Christians, which he compared to the domi-
nion of Pharaoh over the Israelites in Egypt; a stretch of
concessional amiability which excited the surprise of Bruck,
who inquired " How then can we aver that the Pope is Anti-
christ ? " There cannot, indeed, be a doubt that the true
cause of the attempts at reconciliation proving abortive must
be laid at the door, rather of the Papists than of the Pro-
testants : letters had arrived from Rome declaring the Pon-
tiff's positive refusal even to vouchsafe that minimum of
concessions which the Lutherans had demanded, not out of
238 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. regard to abstract truth, but in simple deference to their
own consciences, in their anxiety to heal divisions and pre-
serve peace : and hence the conference terminated as it did.
Thus the Pope is himself the author of that schism which
has rent western Christendom in two ; first, by his Bull ex-
communicating Luther, and, secondly, by his refusal, in the
conference at Augsburg, to come to any terms with Melanc-
thon and the evangelical Church at all compatible with the
doctrines of Scripture. But it is no less certain that the
Pope's decision in this respect was really overruled by God to
the safety of the Reformation : and Roselli and the Pro-
testants of Italy, and the numerous Protestants of Germany,
who had implored that the truth should not be sacrificed
from want of trust in God, " who would not fail them in
temporal things if they continued to cleave to Him in spi-
ritual," were as much rejoiced at this issue, as Melancthon
was dismayed by it.
The Papists were now resolved to see whether the Luther-
ans would not succumb entirely. The delegates were reduced
to three in number on either side ; Bruck, Heller, and Me-
lancthon, against Dr. Eck, and the Chancellors of Cologne
and Baden : and on the 24th August negotiations were
resumed. But, meanwhile, many of the Protestants had
vehemently denounced the timid concessions of Melancthon,
which were frittering away the Gospel ; the deputies of
Nuremberg repudiated Episcopal jurisdiction : Philip of Hesse
wrote to his representatives not to recede a hair-breadth from
the truth, and that the bishops were in doctrine and life such as
Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate ; and his theologian Snepf asserted
that " bishops ought to be shunned like wolves." Even John
Frederic took part against Melancthon ; who on his side
complained in private, that a fatal blindness was cast upon
Germany, and few had a love of peace. The Papists spread
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 239
their snares artfully ; tliey represented that they were quite 1530.
willing to concede the cup to the laity, provided the Luther-
ans would allow that the contrary practice was not against the
institution of Christ ; and Eck suggested that an agreement
should be arrived at upon as many articles as possible, and
the rest be referred to a Council. But on the 30th August the
Commission ceased their sittings : the Romanists would not
surrender satisfaction as a part of repentance, or the meri-
toriousness of good works ; above all, the mass presented dif-
ficulties that were insurmountable. However, the Papists
did not even thus resign every hope. Henry of Brunswick,
and a prelate and councillor of the Emperor, supped with the
Elector of Saxony the very evening that the efforts of the
Commission of Six had failed, and threw out many hints, in
the course of conversation, about fresh attempts at reconcili-
ation. The Protestants, however, had had enough of negoti-
ation. Luther and Philip of Hesse were for once of the same
mind, and both reiterated their conviction that the Papists
were " only duping them with lies and deceit."
The Elector of Saxony and the Margrave George now re-
quested permission of the Emperor to leave Augsburg, and
Charles was forced to play his last card. Several Diets had
held out the promise of a Council : Charles himself had
treated on the subject with the Pope at Bologna, he had re-
discussed it in letters from Augsburg, and although he knew
that Clement VII. was decidedly opposed to summoning a
Council on personal grounds, both as a bastard and as having
reached St. Peter's chair by simoniacal means, which made
it possible that a Council might deal with him as the Council
of Constance had dealt with John XXIIL, yet Charles felt
that the Pope was very much at his mercy. Accordingly
the Protestant Princes, on the 7th September, many threats
having been played off upon them in the interval, were sum-
240 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. moncd into the Imperial presence, and the promise was made
them that his Majesty would demand of his Holiness to con-
vene a Council, if in the mean time they would return to the
bosom of the Church. They requested time to deliberate, and
the following day returned their answer, which was to the
effect that they " had never seceded from the Church," that
they were no new sect, but the Papists were the innovators,
and that a Council had been already decreed by the last Diet
of Spires. Late in the evening the Protestants were again
summoned to the Palatinate, and were warned by Count
Truchsess to reconsider their answer. The Emperor had
diligently read their Confession, and found that it differed
materially from the Catholic doctrine. They were to reflect
how few they were, and to give their consent to further
negotiations, or the Emperor " would know what course to
adopt." At the expiration of two days, the Protestant Princes
gave their answer in a most respectful tone, to the effect that
from the paramount obligation of God's Word it was impos- "
sible that they could make any farther concession ; that all
they implored was political peace until the meeting of the
Council, about which they were well disposed to treat. The
Romanists were boiling with rage; and Charles himself in
his indignation proposed to force the Lutherans to return to
the old religion, and either restore the ecclesiastical property,
or deliver it into his keeping as sequestrator, till the deter-
mination of the Council should be given. Riot and conster-
nation reigned in the streets of Augsburg, and swords were
drawn in the tumult. The Elector of Saxony now renewed
the demand for permission to quit the city, and on the 12th
September his son, John Frederic, abruptly took his de-
parture.
But even so, the Papists were most reluctant to see the prey
escape from their grasp. They approached Melancthon, and
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 211
proposed that trial should be made of a private discussion, 1530.
to avoid even yet the impending horrors of war. Jerome
Wehe, Chancellor of Baden, and Count Truchsess, met
Bruck and Melancthon at six in the morning in the church
of St. Maurice. The old topics were rehandled, and some
ill-fangled concord was suggested until the settlement of
doctrinal and ceremonial differences by the Council. But the
Protestants were no longer in the mood to make concessions,
and Melancthon himself had so far isolated himself from bis
party that his name was used as a sign of contempt or distrust.
It was said that an advocate, hired by Clement VII. himself,
could not have pleaded the Papist cause with more zeal ; he
was compared to Ahithophel or Erasmus : his friend Camer-
arius heard nothing at Nuremberg, " the eye and ear of Ger-
many," as Luther termed it, but abuses of his dear Philip,
and his character seemed to his co-religionists very feebly
retrieved by the Apology for the Confession which he drew
up a few days later, and which exhibited in every line charac-
teristic traits of his singular ability.
Luther, on the other hand, had revived in popular estima-
tion the glories of his early stand for the Gospel at Worms.
His private correspondence circulated on all sides : copies
were sent by Brentz to the citizens of Halle, that they might
see " what an incomparable man Luther was ! " Some of Lis
correspondence even fell into the hands of the Papists, by
whom it was immediately sent to the press, and a laugh was
raised at the terms in which Philip's timidity was spoken of.
His tracts were sold in front of the hotel of the Saxon Elector :
his Admonition to the Ecclesiastics was read to the members
of the Diet by the Bishop of Augsburg : and whilst the Pa-
pists were ransacking his books to find "contradictions" and
" heresies," he sent them a list of doctrines which he was
"ready to maintain against the whole synagogue of Satan."
VOL. II. R
242 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. " Remember/' he wrote to the Elector on the 26th August,
" that the very principle of our faith is, that what God's Word
has determined can never be a matter of indifference. Com-
munion, therefore, in one or both kinds, cannot be indifferent.
Can the Romanists themselves hold anything indifferent for
which they burn, banish, persecute, and anathematize ? If
we allow private masses we must give up the whole Gospel ;
for if we concede one human fiction, why not another, or why
not all ? It is not in our power to adopt ceremonies, gar-
ments, gestures, fasts, feasts, which, without God's Word,
are made a part of God's service." " You have begun," he
wrote the same day to Spalatin, " a wonderful work to make
the Pope and Luther agree ; the Pope had rather not, and
Luther deprecates it. If, against the will of both, you suc-
ceed in your purpose, I will undertake to reconcile Christ
and Belial." " You write me word," he said to Melancthon,
" that Eck allows that we are justified by faith. Can you go
one step farther, and persuade Eck not to be a liar ? In the
Church of God, and in the worship of God, we will not ordain
or permit anything save what can be defended by the Word
of God ; and beyond measure do I abhor that sacrilegious
word ' indifferent.' They call themselves ' the Church;' the
Word of God is more than the Church. I know that in
your concessions you always make express reservation of the
Gospel ; but beware of their treachery. Their intention is
to accept your concessions in a sense very large, more large,
most large; to interpret their own in a sense very rigid,
more rigid, most rigid. All their offers are deceit and lies.
The only possible mode of concord is for the Pope to resign
his papacy." " Believe me," he wrote to Jonas, " if I am
any part of Christ, that Campegio is a great and pre-emi-
nent devil. I am greatly moved by your concessions, by
which you suffer demons to sport and mock at our cross.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 243
The devil would be a lion if he could; if not, he will be a 1530.
serpent." In a letter of the 28th August to Spalatin, he
stated that he should have something to say to any pretended
harmony with Rome. " If you yield anything against the
Gospel, and put the eagle in a sack, doubt it not, Luther will
come, will come, and release the eagle gloriously. As sure
as Christ lives, so shall it be." But it was his consolation,
that <f if the theologians were snoring to their own shame,
Christ was awake to his own glory."
He was consulted by an inquirer, probably the widowed
Queen Mary of Bohemia, what a Christian's duty would be,
in the event of the cup being refused in the sacrament, or
communion in both kinds being proscribed by the magis-
trates. " If/' Luther replied, " there is a firm conviction
that the sacrament ought to be partaken of in both kinds,
it is far better to abstain from receiving it, and to feed
on Christ spiritually, confirming the conscience by his Word,
and meditating on his passion, than to disobey the Word of
God. Nor can the most severe mandate of the magistrate,
the dread of punishment, or the plea of obedience to the
civil power as divinely enjoined, justify disobedience to the
revealed Word. The creature must always be postponed to
the Creator."
The whole time that the Diet continued, Luther was la-
bouring under bodily infirmity as much, or more, than Me-
lancthon : he suffered a great deal from constant singing in
the head ;* so that he said, " the winds that beat on the tower
* John Mannlius relates that " by three torches flashing before his
eyes in the night, Luther was convinced that one of his swooning fits
was near. He therefore called his servant, and made him drop almond
oil into his ear, and oil of nutmeg, and rub his feet with warm cloths ;
after which he desired him to read the Epistle to the Galatians to
him, and during the reading he fell asleep. These preventives suc-
R 2
244 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. were all in his head." Then he complains of violent tooth-
ache ; and he had an attack of the gravel, which he attri-
buted to the Coburg wine ; but his first seizure with this
disease, from which he afterwards suffered so much, had been
in the summer of 1526. His words, however, were never
more cheerful. He had procured for his " Emperor Kate "
some oranges, her favourite fruit, from Nuremberg; and he
wrote, on the 15th August, that on that day the singing
in his head had left him, and notwithstanding the wetness of
the summer, he was enjoying some ripe grapes. His various
infirmities, which pointed out to him old age as near at hand,
and made him fix on the spot in which he should wish his
remains to rest—" in the chapel under the cross" — rendered
the tedium of his confinement more irksome, and he renewed
his solicitations to his friends to hasten home. " Would that
you would return, even under the bann of Pope and Emperor,
for there is one greater than Pope and Emperor." He had
approved of the flight of the Landgrave; and with much joy,
on the 15th September, in a letter to Melancthon, he com-
municated the intelligence of John Frederic's arrival at Co-
burg, " a sudden guest," the day before. The Prince " had
offered to take him home in his train, but he had re-
fused, wishing to see Philip and his other friends, and wipe
off their sweat on their exit from the bath." " The Prince,"
Luther relates, "gave me a gold ring; but it was never
intended that I should wear gold ; for soon after I had put
it on my finger it fell off, being too large. I exclaimed,
'I am a worm, and no man/ It ought to have been given
to Faber or Eck : lead or a rope would suit me better."
" Be like Lot in Sodom," he goes on to urge Melancthon,
" and leave God to work now. You have all of you done
ceeded ; and Luther said, ' Come, let us, in contempt of Satan, sing
the De Profundis with four voices.' " — Keil. III., p. 6.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTIIEli. 245
enough. You have confessed Christ, offered peace, obeyed 1530.
the Emperor, borne injuries, been saturated with blas-
phemies, returned good for evil ; in fine, God's saintly work
you have handled as beeometh saints. I will canonize you
as faithful members of Christ : what glory can you want
greater than that ? " But after this letter the final ne-
gotiation with Wehe and Truchsess was reported to Luther
by Link and others, with severe reproaches on Melancthon's
pusillanimity. Luther forwarded these letters — "thunders
and lightnings," as he called them — at once to Melancthon,
and stated in what way he had replied to them. But to
Jonas he wrote without any restraint : " I will brook no
concessions, although an angel from heaven should com-
mand them. Our adversaries have no idea of yielding them-
selves : We are to yield the canon, the mass, one kind, celi-
bacy, and a jurisdiction unheard of before, and to confess
that they did right in murdering us. To surrender a single
point is to deny the whole Gospel. It is well to keep peace
in view, but the Author and Arbiter of peace and war is
more than peace. I pray you leave off negotiating, and
return."
Some days before this letter reached Augsburg, the
Elector's resolution to return home had been formed; but he
had been prevented from doing so on the 17th September,
by Henry of Brunswick entering his apartment in the night,
and requesting him to wait upon the Emperor in the morn-
ing, between seven and eight o'clock ; when Charles implored
him to remain two, four, or six days longer. But four days
later, every arrangement had been made again for the jour-
ney home, and the baggage and cooks had been sent on
before, when an express message from Charles requested a few
days' further postponement. On the 22nd, late in the evening,
after candles had been lighted, the Emperor convened the
246 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. evangelical princes in the Palatinate, and had the project of
the Recess read to them; it was a muffled sound of the
Recess which fulminated its terrors afterwards, which even in
this suppressed form breathed war and tyranny. In addition
to the deputies of Nuremberg and Reutlingen, the deputies of
four other cities, Kempten, Heilbronn, Windsheim, and
Weissenburg now appeared in the Protestant ranks, having
added their signatures to the Augsburg Confession. Up to
the very last, however, space was left open for fresh nego-
tiation, for a paper was privately slipped into the hands of
the Protestants, conveying the assurance that if a prolong-
ation of the term, on the expiry of which the Recess was
to take effect, which had been fixed for the 15th April next,
should be desired, the Emperor would not prove inexorable.
After the reading of the project Bruck stepped forward, and
having stated, in reply to the assertion that the Confession
had been refuted from Scripture, that the Confession was
" grounded in the Word of God, the godly truth, which they
should stand to at the last judgment," offered the Apology
for the Confession. The Count Palatine took it into his
hands, but the Emperor refused to receive it, and returned it
to Bruck. The next morning the Protestants held a private
meeting in the hotel of the Margrave George; when the
project of the Recess was again read, and it was unanimously
agreed that it was impossible to accede to it. It now only
remained to notify their rejection of the project, pay a fare-
well visit of respect to the Emperor, and hasten away from
Augsburg. Accordingly, with the exception of the Elector
John, who refreshed himself at his hotel previous to his
journey, and followed the rest a little afterwards to the
Palatinate, the evangelical princes and deputies assembled by
eight o'clock in the morning for the final audience ; and after
being kept an hour in suspense, they were admitted to the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 2 17
Imperial presence and declared that they could not give their 1530.
consent, to the Recess. Joachim of Brandenburg made reply :
" The Emperor, too, has a conscience ; and since you refuse
to submit to the will of the majority, his Majesty will unite
his forces to those of the States of the Empire, and utterly
root out this new error and sect •" and with a good deal of
menace he proceeded to charge the princes with originating
the peasant insurrection, " in which 100,000 men were slain/'
They denied that they had given any occasion to the peasant
rebellion ; and answered that " they put their trust and hope
in the matter only in God, and looked to the Emperor to be
their all-gracious lord." Meanwhile, the Elector John had
entered the room, and they all advanced in a body to take
their farewell of the Emperor. " Uncle, uncle," Charles ex-
claimed, with visible emotion, as he gave his hand to the
Elector, " I had not expected this from you." John, on his
part, was unable to refrain from tears : he was personally
attached to his Sovereign ; but feelings with him had long
been made subordinate to principle. Late in the afternoon
of the same day, the Elector and his retinue quitted Augs-
burg : a joyful release from a scene of protracted and se-
vere trial, which Luther in his congratulations compared to
" getting loose from hell." " We are in God's hands," he
said to the Elector, " and so are they : I have committed
the cause to my Lord God. He has begun it, that I know ;
He will bring it to pass, that I believe."
A new Recess was framed, which was at length read in
the Diet the 19th November, in more bitter terms than the
preceding project. It re-established Popery in the full ; con-
demned the errors of Lutherans, Zwinglians, and Anabaptists ;
made restitution to the Church of all her property ; declared
Catholic subjects of heretical governments to be under the
protection of the Empire ; and promised that a council should
248 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. be convened within six months, to commence its sittings
within a year. The carrying out this Recess was to devolve
upon the Imperial Chamber, which was re-organised : and
before this tribunal, such princes or cities as should be guilty
of disobedience to the edict, were to be indicted by the
Imperial fiscal. Five days afterwards Charles and his Court
quitted Augsburg, and descended the Rhine to Cologne,
where he intended to have his brother Ferdinand elected
King of the Romans — a provision of the utmost importance
in order to consolidate and perpetuate the power of his house,
which his own frequent and lengthened absence from Ger-
many gave a ready pretext for demanding. With such an
object in view, Charles might well regret that he had es-
tranged from him the Elector of Saxony : but, on the other
hand, the asperity of the Recess, and the devotion with which
he professed to surrender himself, " body and soul/' to the
defence of the Catholic Church, had served to secure in other
influential quarters a more ready compliance with his des-
potic schemes.
The Romanists and Protestants were now at leisure calmly
to survey the course of events down to the final issue of the
Augsburg Diet, and to weigh in the scales of cool reflection
the advantages reciprocally obtained. On the one hand, the
voice of authority had proclaimed its sentence : the Pope, the
Emperor, and the majority of the princes had inscribed their
condemnation of " the Elector and five princes and six cities"
in letters of blood. But notwithstanding this union of po-
tentates,* and their authoritative sentence of condemnation,
* It was part of the bargain between Pope and Emperor that
Clement's son Alexander should marry Charles' natural daughter
Margaret. Alexander was received at Augsburg with great pomp.
Luther commented on the news — "Does not the Pope set priests a
public example of taking wives, or rather strumpets ?" — De Wette, IV.
p. 191.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 249
the solid advantages of the struggle almost exclusively re- 1530.
roained with the Protestants. The working of the national
mind was more decidedly than ever in their favour; and
signs of this were continually rising to the surface in the
conversion of nobles and priuces to the faith of Scripture.
In argument, the Protestant party had gained an indisput-
able and signal triumph. Both the Confession, and the
Apology for the Confession, in matter and in style, were
masterpieces of reasoning and eloquence ; while the Confuta-
tion, as Melancthon said, was " so utterly puerile," that its
authors feared nothing so much as its publication — " such
a bat," Luther said, that its strength and vitality consisted
in not seeing the light. There was a swarm of anecdotes in
ridicule of the Romanist logic. The words of God to Eli,
that He would " raise him up a faithful priest," to whom
" every one that was left in his house should come and crouch
for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and say, Put me,
I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat
a piece of bread," had been quoted in the Confutation to
prove that communion in one kind is scriptural. The Jews
having their " loins girded " when they ate the Passover was
cited as a reason for priests abstaining from matrimony.
And when they were at great straits in the conference for a
biblical justification of the invocation of saints, Eck sug-
gested, as applicable to the subject, the text in which Jacob,
speaking of Manasseh and Ephraim, says, " Let my name be
named on them, and the names of my fathers •" but, some
more relevant passage being demanded, Cochlseus exclaimed,
" How can you expect to have saint worship proved to you
from the Old Testament, when the saints were yet in the loins
of their fathers ?" " There," said John Frederic, turning to
Eck, " you have got the answer to your text." Admissions,
too, of the necessity of a reformation of the Church from the
250 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. highest authorities were in universal circulation. The Em-
peror had declared, " If the clergy had done their duty, there
would have been no work for Luther." " What do you want
to do with us ?" the Archbishop of Salzburg had said to
Melancthon ; " we ecclesiastics always were a good-for-
nothing set." And, in fact, the very violence and sanguinary
tone of the Recess sounded too much like exaggeration, to
produce the effect intended by it. Sixteen cities, and amongst
them Augsburg, which had before displayed such submissive
docility to the Emperor's will, refused their assent to its
rigorous enactments. And before quitting Augsburg, the
Electors of Mentz and of Treves both declared that " they
would have nothing to do with taking up arms ; " and the
former was bold enough to put the question in its prudential
form to Charles himself — " Our subjects are all Lutherans :
is it to be expected that they will fight for us against their
own faith ?" Risings, too, amongst the peasantry in Fran-
conia, even whilst the Diet was sitting, gave a practical de-
monstration of what might be expected from an attempt to
put down Lutheranism by the sword : and it was whispered
that even the Emperor spoke of the words used by the Elector
of Brandenburg, in the final interview with the Protestant
princes, as " sharp, and more than he was bidden to say."
It was, moreover, a happy prognostic that the fury and
hatred of their opponents were beginning to impress the
German Protestants with the importance, and even necessity
of internal concord. Bucer and Capito corresponded with
Melancthon, Brentz, and Bruck ; and Bruck on the one side
stated Luther's doctrine to be, that " Christ is present in the
bread and wine, not locally, but in the same way in which he
is present in his Church, and in all creatures :" and Bucer on
the other side affirmed, that Christ is present in the Sacra-
ment by " the contemplation of faith," that " the pure heart
THE LIFE OF MARTTN LUTHER. 251
by faith is raised to heaven, where, as the old fathers, and as 1530.
Luther himself taught in the Postils, his best book, Jesus
Christ, man and God, is seated at the Father's right hand :"
and Bucer spoke with some satisfaction of the more recent
works of Luther and Brentz on the Sacrament. The Tetra-
politan Confession was read by Luther with approval, and it
stated on the Sacrament, that " the bread and wine were the
true body and true blood of Christ, for the food and drink of
the soul." And a little later Bucer proceeded to Coburg,
and succeeded in mitigating the prejudices which Luther,
who generally styled him " the fox," entertained against him
personally, and in making some nearer approach to doctrinal
agreement. " Bucer had a familiar colloquy with me," Lu-
ther wrote to his friend Brismann, communicating the results
of the Diet, " while I was at Coburg ; and, if he is not de-
ceiving us — and I told him in plain terms not to act the
hypocrite — I have no little hope of reconciliation with Stras-
burg. We must all pray against Satan."
With a glad heart and a bright countenance, John the
Constant rode from the scene of his courageous confession of
the Gospel. He had departed from Augsburg too late in the
afternoon to travel beyond a neighbouring castle that night.
On the 27th he entered Nuremberg, and Melancthon had the
exquisite pleasure of supping with Camerarius, and venting
by word of mouth his displeasure against the deputies of that
city, and the councillors of Hesse and Luneburg. On the
3rd October the cavalcade reached Coburg. On the 5th or
6th the prophet of Germany descended from his tower, and,
in company with his Prince began the long-wished-for jour-
ney home. On the 8th the party reached Altenburg ; where
the theologians were accommodated in Spalatin's house ; and
Luther preached that evening, and the following Sunday
morning, before the Elector, as he had indeed done on all
252 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. the previous days of the journey. Sunday evening the
Elector proceeded to Grimma; and on the 10th was once
more securely lodged in his palace of Torgau, where Luther
remained until after the following Sunday, when he preached
in the chapel of the palace. Before the 18th, Luther had
received the greetings of Kate in the Augustine Convent, and
her hearty congratulations that the Papists had been disap-
pointed in their design to " send the monks and nuns clean
back to their cells." But she did not find Luther improved in
health. During his six months' residence at Coburg, " Satan
had sorely buffeted him in his wilderness •" and he com-
plained of a considerable decline of strength, and a sense of
advancing age; and the ringing in the head was still at times
troublesome, particularly in the early hours of the morning.
Instead, however, of relaxing his industry, on Bugenhagen's
being summoned in November to establish the Reformation
in Lubeck, Luther at once undertook his duties in the Church,
and the care of the parish.
The Elector's attention was now directed to two points espe-
cially: the demand of the Emperor to have his brother Ferdi-
nand elected King of the Romans, and the obvious necessity of
some united plan on the part of the Evangelicals in resistance
to the proceedings soon to be instituted against them before
the Imperial Chamber. As usual, Luther was consulted on
both subjects. But in reference to the election of Ferdinand,
he delivered it as his decided opinion that the Elector of
Saxony should not oppose his veto to it. He regarded this as
the true course, because it was the path of peace and obedience ;
he reminded the Elector, moreover, that it would be very
unwise to augment the Emperor's displeasure, which had
displayed itself so strongly, in refusing him investiture ; and
as to Ferdinand's notorious antipathy to the Gospel, and per-
secuting blood-thirstiness, Luther observed, "Our Lord God
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 253
will still remain master and controller of events." In his own 1530.
language the Emperor had proved himself to be " the mere
tool of the biggest rogue in Christendom," (the Pope ;)
Ferdinand had never shared Luther's sympathies : but not-
withstanding all this, " the only true course was to stand
by God, and not run into uncertain peril without need."
Brack, however, and the lawyers, took the opposite side.
They saw through the Emperor's designs, and warned the
Elector to resist the nomination of a King of the Romans
in Charles' lifetime as an unconstitutional act. Again, in
regard to the question of a defensive alliance, Luther and
the lawyers drew their verdict from different sources, and
viewed the subject from opposite points. Luther regarded
the German Empire as directly descended from the Empire
under which Christ himself and his Apostles lived, to which
they were obedient, and enjoined others to render obedience
also. The lawyers insisted that the prerogatives of the
Emperor as much as the privileges of the Electors were
derived from law, that the whole political system was purely
a matter of compact, and that the Emperor was no more to
be permitted to infringe this compact than an Elector or
noble. Into legislative and constitutional researches Luther
was unwilling to descend : the utmost that he would allow
was, that supposing Brack's view of the case to be just, then
a citizen, at the command of his own immediate Sovereign,
as a citizen, would be justified in bearing arms to resist an
unlawful demand of the Emperor. He had before endea-
voured to reconcile prelatical episcopacy with Scripture by a
similar distinction : the bishop and prince were, he said,
incompatible ; but the same man might bear two characters,
that of bishop and that of prince, to be carefully kept apart :
and so now he maintained that, as a Christian, no one must
form leagues or take up arms against the Emperor ; as a
254 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. citizen, a man might take up arms at the behest of the
magistrate.
It seemed to the Protestants that no time was to be lost.
Ferdinand and the Pope were in correspondence, and troops
were levying in Italy. Accordingly, on the 22nd December,
the evangelical princes held a memorable meeting at Schmal-
kald, in which it was agreed that ' ' the cause of one should
be the cause of all," and that a joint appeal from the Augs-
burg Recess should be drawn up, and the Augsburg Confes-
sion should be translated into the other languages of Europe,
for circulation in all lands, and more particularly amongst
the princes and delegates at that time assembled at Cambray.
The Landgrave cordially concurred with the Elector in the
necessity of " putting a bit in Ferdinand's mouth," by resist-
ing his elevation to be King of the Romans ; and the other
princes and deputies were ready enough to follow in the
wake of Saxony and Hesse, with the exception of the Mar-
grave George, who was now with Charles at Cologne, and of
the deputies of Nuremberg, who adhered steadfastly to the
pacific policy marked out by Luther. It was likewise agreed
that if the verdicts of law should be enforced by arms, as
the Recess declared, and any one of the confederate princes
or cities should be assailed, the rest would contribute their
aid, and ward off the attack. But here, again, the deputies
of the Margrave dissented ; and out of the deputies of fifteen
evangelical cities that were present, only the deputies of two,
Magdeburg and Bremen, went heart and hand with Saxony
and Hesse, and signed the defensive alliance. The hills
around the little town, to which this alliance has given an
immortal name, were capped with snow, whilst the Protest-
ant princes and deputies were keeping their Christmas there ;
the season of the year, as well as the urgency of the occasion,
demanded speed, and on the 31st December the deliberations
were closed.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 255
Meanwhile, the electoral prince John Frederic was at 1530.
Cologne, opposing the Saxon protest to the election of Ferdi-
nand. The opposition of Saxony had been foreseen; and
at first the idea had been to deprive the Elector John of
the right of voting, as under the bann of the Augsburg
Diet : but the other electors, and especially the Elector Pala-
tine, had rejected such a measure as a dangerous precedent
tending to the dishonour of their order. A papal brief,
therefore, had been provided, as an effectual answer to John
the Constant's Appeal to the Golden Bull. But the Elector,
on his part, was not so rash as to conceive for a moment that
his veto would prevent the will of the Emperor from being
carried into effect : he relied, and, as events proved, with
sufficient reason, on the moral weight of his protest. The
Dukes of Bavaria were instigated by personal motives to
make common political cause with Saxony. And, although
Ferdinand was elected King of the Romans at Cologne on the
5th January, and crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 11th, he 1531.
soon found that his new dignity was no better than titular :
public opinion went with the Protestants, both on religious
and constitutional grounds ; Ferdinand was not allowed his
new title by Saxony, Bavaria, or the majority of the cities ;
and before long he complained to the Emperor that he had no
more authority in the empire than any other prince.
At this crisis, with angry feelings on all sides, leagues, and
rumours of leagues, and his own Prince in deliberate resist-
ance to Csesar, Luther felt his responsibility, and raised
high a voice of warning to his " dear Germans/' " We are
reviled," he said, " as Lutherans ; but we have without
ceasing prayed and implored for nothing else but peace
and quiet : and lately at the Diet we desired peace to the
utmost, and in the most humble form entreated it. If,
then, war or tumult arise, let no man say, ' Lo ! here is
256 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1531. the fruit of the Lutheran doctrine :' on the contrary, let
him exclaim, f Behold ! the fruit of the Papist doctrine : the
Papists could neither have peace themselves, nor let others
have it.' They may, if they please, kill me; but what will
that avail their Pope and monks ? for I in the name of God
shall go to heaven, and they in the name of all the devils
will sink to hell. If they must have war, yet they will meet
with no good fortune in it, for their consciences are loaded
with gross lies, bitter blasphemies, with innocent blood,
wilful murder, and every atrocity, above all with hard impeni-
tent hearts, and sins against the Holy Ghost." So if the
thirsty bloodhounds must have war, he for his part should
keep still and be silent, and not mix himself up with it ; but,
as he had done in the peasant rebellion, let things take their
own course. Their joy was his confidence — their wrath his
laughter; for all they could take from him was a sackful of
sickly flesh; but what he could take from them — that they
should learn in their hearts. How every German must turn red
with shame to think of the Diet of Augsburg ! What must
the Turk and his whole kingdom say to it ? What Tartar
and Muscovite? Who under the whole heaven could assert
ought honest in behalf of the Germans, when he heard that
they had suffered the accursed Pope and his masks to mock
them, treat them as fools and children, as clods and blocks,
by their handling of his blasphemous, sodomitish, and scan-
dalous doctrine and living — scandalous, yea, over and above
scandalous, in open Diet, against all right and truth. What
German but must blush to have been born a German, and to
bear the name ? The Confession had been acknowledged, even
by the Papists, to be the plain truth in accordance with
Scripture ; but as to the Reply to it, they must hang the
head, and own by their gestures, it was a weak frivolous thing,
so paltry that a woman, a child, a layman, a country boor was
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 257
quite man enough — God be praised ! — to stand up against it 1531.
with good ground of Scripture and truth. If their Reply were
not a paltry thing, why should it be mewed up that it should
not see the light ? As Christ said, " Every one that doeth evil
hateth the light." Then came a commission, which took for
the basis of examination not the Reply, but the Confession.
Here they gave up the one kind in the communion : yet be-
fore they had shed blood in behalf of it. This in plain German
was truly to blow hot and cold from the same mouth. Had
the Lutherans made any such concession, the whole world
would have heard the news — " Dear people, see, these
Lutherans are recanting;" but like Reply, like Commission.
The Reply was a midnight bat ; the Commission a mere cheat
and fraud. And since he was called " the German Prophet/'
as became a true teacher he would warn his dear Germans of
their shame and danger, and give them Christian counsel
how they must act, if the Emperor, instigated by his devil
the Papists, should summon them to arms against the evan-
gelical princes and states. Not that he thought the Emperor
would follow such poison-blowers, but he would satisfy his
conscience. In such a case they must not hearken to the
Emperor; and whoever should hearken, must know that he
would be disobeying the dear God, and bringing ruin on him-
self, body and soul, eternally. For the Emperor, if he called
to arms, would break not only God's law, but the law of his
own empire, his oath, his obligation, his own seal and letters.
And if they should take up arms in obedience to the Emperor,
they would be acting against God's truth, and would be re-
storing the sins and abuses of Popery, and be subverting
the blessings which had already sprung from the Reforma-
tion. In conclusion, he dwelt upon the great doctrine of
justification by faith alone, which, he said, would "prevail
against all the gates of hell."
VOL. II. s
258 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1531. He promptly followed up this address by " Notes on the
Edict of Augsburg/' asserting that the Edict was not the
genuine product of the Imperial will, but language forged by
the Pope and the monks. He reviewed its numerous doc-
trinal errors, and affirmed that, " if the Church failed to obey
God's word, she was no longer the Church, the bride of
Christ, but became the harlot of Satan." As to the Papist
pretence that the Church could not err, " the whole Church
had reason to cry every clay — ' Forgive us our debts.' Yet a
return to Scripture was branded as innovation, when in truth
all Popery was an innovation. Where were the two canons,
cassock and cup, tonsure and cowl, mumbling and howling,
selling the Mass for sixpence to buy the soul in purgatory, &c.
to be found in the Scriptures ? Eagles and lynxes were reputed
acute of sight, but they must be stone-blind in comparison
with the doctors who could descry such things in Holy Writ.
In declaring that the will is not bound, the Augsburg Idols
had handled a topic they did not understand : in human mat-
ters, indeed, the will was not bound ; but in divine matters the
will was by nature bound and lifeless. The will was by
nature a captive to Satan, death, and sin." He concluded by
reverting to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, on
which, he said, the entire controversy really hinged. " I see
that this doctrine in particular, the Devil is ever blaspheming
through his swinish doctors, and cannot leave alone. There-
fore I, Dr. Martin Luther, unworthy evangelist of our Lord
Jesus Christ, hereby declare that this article — that faith with-
out any work justifies before God, the Roman Emperor, the
Turkish Emperor, the Tartar Emperor, the Persian Emperor,
the Pope, all cardinals, bishops, priests, monks, nuns, kings,
princes, lords, the whole world, and all devils, shall leave firm
and unshaken, and in reward of their blasphemy shall have
the fire of hell upon their heads. I, Dr. Luther, declare this
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 259
by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost ; and this is the true 1531.
gospel. Amen."
These two compositions, and two others, falsely ascribed to
Luther, raised the bile of Duke George, and he again applied
to the Elector to prohibit the violence of the Reformer's
writings. These complaints were transmitted to Luther, and in
a letter to the Elector received the following reply : — " I never
intended that the edge of my writings should be dull, and only
grieve that it is no sharper. Have the deeds of our opponents
been dull and gentle? Is the Edict of Augsburg gentle?
They have shed our blood like water ; is that their gentleness ?
But if they dislike keen writings, why does not King Ferdi-
nand restrain Faber, and the Dukes of Bavaria Eck, and Duke
George himself Cochlseus ? Their writings have not spared
your electoral Grace ; and Duke George has written of me in
a strain that would disgrace Cochlseus or Emser. If on their
side a hundred thousand were writing, nay, every leaf and
blade of grass could take tongue, and vilify me most foully
and falsely, all would appear to them just and right. They
may do anything, and I nothing ; they are to babble as they
like, and I must be silent. Every act of ours is wrong, though
we could raise the dead ; all they do is good, although they
have deluged whole provinces with innocent blood ! These
gentle people must be touched with a finger of cotton, and be
told — f Well done, my masters ! what sweet, nice people you
are V 1 did not write drunk, or in my sleep ; but I know that
a hard knot requires a sharp wedge." Luther did not much
mend the matter by publishing immediately afterwards another
tract "Against the Assassin of Dresden." But shortly after-
wards, when the Elector and Duke George were reconciled,
Luther came forward and professed that he should be most
reluctant to be a cause of dissension ; he would be satisfied
that Duke George's back bore " memorable knots and lumps"
s 2
260 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1531. from the encounters between them, and thenceforward he
would spare him ; but this immunity was not to extend to
the Papists generally.
Luther published this year a new edition of the Psalter,
which he intended should be the last, and some sermons and
expositions of some of the Psalms. He continued to suffer
severely from the old malady in the head, and was in a state
of continued weakness, which obliged him more than once to
seek change of air and recreation. On the 5th May, by the
Elector's command, he preached before Duke Henry of
Saxony, at Torgau. A month later he was at Lochau with
his children, whose health he wished to benefit as well as his
own by the trip, having previously informed Stiefel, the pastor
of the place, that " he should be with him about church
time." The next month he was again at Torgau on business ;
and towards the close of the year he paid a visit, for the sake of
his health, to John Loser, hereditary marshal of Saxony, in his
castle of Pretsch, on the Elbe, and accompanied his host with
a hunting party to the chase. Whilst horsemen and hounds
were busy with the sport, Luther's meditations were directed
to the 147th Psalm, and he composed an exposition of it,
which he committed to writing on his return, and published
with a dedication to John Loser. His weak state of health
made him feel the weight of his labours and duties as more
than ever onerous. "To do all that is required of me,
the time," he said, " ought to be three-fold longer than
it is." " I am only able to give a seventh part of myself,"
he says, in writing to a friend, " to this letter." His
prefaces to his own Expositions, and to the publications of
others, become unusually brief: the details of his domestic
life are omitted from his correspondence ; and in communi-
cating the birth of his second son on the 7th November, his
words are simply, "God has given me from my Kate another
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 261
son, Martin." His longing for death breaks out repeatedly 1531.
— " Overwhelmed with toil I have been, am, and ever shall be,
until that happy release \" Yet with all the harassing fatigue
of mind and body which he endured, two hours of every day
were devoted to perfecting his version of the Prophets.
He received intelligence in May, from his brother James,
of the dangerous illness of his mother, and immediately wrote
to console her : — He would willingly be present bodily with
his heart-loved mother, but as that could not be, he would be
present by letter. She knew from God's grace that her sick-
ness was his fatherly and gracious rod ; she knew, too, the
essential of salvation to repose her trust on in every need —
Jesus Christ, the corner-stone, the Saviour of all poor sinners.
His words must be her comfort — " Be not afraid, I have over-
come." " He has overcome Satan, sin, and death. You may
therefore, with confidence say to death, f Knowest thou not,
O Death, that thou art conquered, and art dead ? Knowest
thou not Him who has said, I have overcome ? O Death ! thy
victory, sting, and power, are swallowed up in Christ's victory ;
and though thou mayest gnash thy teeth, thou canst not harm
me !' What thanks are due, dear mother, that God has not
left you in Papist darkness, to build on your own works, the
monk's holiness, and run to Mary and the Saints, away
from Christ, as from a judge and tyrant ; but that you know
Him as the only comfort, our Saviour. That God has called
you to this salvation, you have the seal and letters in the
Gospel, Baptism, and the Sacrament. So rejoice in the
words, ' Be not afraid ; I have overcome.' " This proved
the death -illness of Margaret Luther, who thus survived her
husband only a year ; and, deprived of both parents, Luther
was increasingly sensible of his advancing years.
Twice in the year Luther wrote to the Margrave George,
who appeared, from deference to the Emperor, to be rather
262 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1531. wavering in the profession of the truth, and had declined
into conformity with Popery in the article of one kind in the
Sacrament. A constant subject of annoyance was the treat-
ment which the pastors received from the people, the insuffi-
cient maintenance allowed them, and the fewness of pastors
in proportion to the wants of the population. The year was
one of pestilence, as well as of scarcity and high prices, and
such trials seemed to sour the German temper. The town
council of Zwickau, acting on the democratic principle of the
right of the congregation to elect their own minister, expelled
the minister of St. Catherine's, contrary to the wish of Haus-
mann, and placed another in his office. Luther addressed to
the town council a thundering letter, and requested Haus-
mann, whom, as principal pastor of the town, he styled Bishop
of Zwickau, to deal candidly with the council, represent to
them plainly the wickedness of their disorderly behaviour,
and in default of their returning to a sense of duty, to leave
the place, shaking off the dust of his feet for a testimony
against them. The town council, in their turn, addressed
various letters to Luther, who, however, returned them their
epistles partly unread and partly unopened, with the observa-
tion that " they were not worth the waste of either words or
time." Hausmann complied implicitly with Luther's direc-
tions, and expostulated in strong terms with the council ; and,
on their refusing to amend their ways, quitted Zwickau, and
after a time sojourned with the Reformer in the Augustine
convent, to which he had at first been very averse, on account
of Luther's poverty, until the continued entreaties to " come
and share his plenty, till the Elector could provide for him
elsewhere — God would be all-sufficient," overcame his re-
pugnance.* The dispute as to the right of patronage was
* Hausmann was recommended by Luther to the Princes of Anhalt,
as " a true heart and good man, who would teach God's word quietly
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 263
referred to the Elector; and it was arranged, with Luther's 1531.
reluctant consent, that in this one instance the caprice of the
town council should be gratified, but that thenceforward no
infringement of the right of patronage should be attempted.
The whole transaction made Luther more eager in pressing
for another visitation, which proceeded on its duties rather
more than a year later.
In the autumn of 1531, Robert Barnes arrived at Witten-
berg, sent from England by Henry VIII. to consult the
Lutheran doctors on the subject of his contemplated divorce
from Catherine of Arragon. The reference of this important
case to Wittenberg, as well as Rome, affords an opportunity
of contrasting Clement VII. and Martin Luther. The dilatory
time-serving conduct of Clement is generally known. Luther,
without a thought of expediency, and the obvious interest
that would accrue to the Reformation, from humouring a des-
potic monarch such as Henry in his favourite whim, gave his
opinion unambiguously in opposition to the proposed divorce.
The Jewish law, he stated, was obligatory on Christians, only
so far as it was identical with the law of nature. But even
supposing it to be valid, he denied that Leviticus xviii. was
more binding than Deuteronomy xxv. His sentence was,
that the King of England had erred in marrying his brother's
widow, but that he would be guilty of a much more heinous
crime if he put her away, and so rendered both her and her
daughter incestuous. Of the progress of the Gospel in Eng-
land, and Henry's conniving at the zeal of the evangelical
missionaries, Luther received accounts from Barnes, which
filled him with joy and gratitude to God.
and chastely, and loved it." For some while he was preacher at Des-
sau, and of great service in establishing the Reformation there. After-
wards he was raised to the office of superintendent in Freyberg ; but
in his first sermon was struck with the death-stroke, to Luther's ex-
treme regret. Hausmann became pastor of Zwickau in 1521 .
264 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1531. A little later news arrived, which dimmed the eyes and
sorrowed the hearts of many of the German Protestants, but
was not at all unexpected intelligence to Luther. On the 11th
October, Zwingle had fallen at Cappel. In the dreadful con-
flict against the warriors of the Five Cantons, he had been at
his post in his capacity of chaplain ; and, when the battle was
over, he was found quite dead under a pear-tree, " lying on
his back with clasped hands and eyes upturned to heaven."
After a short interval CEcolampadius, wasted with sickness
and anxiety, followed him to the tomb. " Such is the end of
that glory/' Luther exclaimed, " which they sought by blas-
phemies against Christ's Supper. The leagues with the
Landgrave and foreign princes are all ended now. It is
written, ' Whose glory shall be turned into shame.' " ' ' We
see the judgment of God," lie wrote to Link, " now for the
second time — first in Munzer, then in Zwingle. I was a true
prophet when I said, c God would not endure those raving
blasphemies.' "
All talk of war had for some time been subsiding. " King
Ferdinand," said Luther, " has more reason to dread an attack
from the Landgrave, than the Landgrave from King Ferdi-
nand." The evangelical confederates had met in June, atFrank-
fort, when it was resolved that the defence before the Imperial
Chamber should be made in the name of all the Protestants
conjointly; and Duke Barnim, of Pomerania, who had deter-
mined to establish the Reformation in his dominions, his brother
George being now dead, requested admission into the alliance.
At the same time the Dukes of Gueldres and Cleves, who were
highly incensed with the Emperor, on account of private
wrongs, were in correspondence with the Landgrave. The
Turk might be expected again in the neighbourhood of Vienna
in the ensuing year; the King of England and the King of
France were both in negotiation with the Schmalkald confe-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 265
derates, and the Pope, although his compact with the Emperor 1531.
had been cemented by the union of their children, was, after
all, very suspicious of the overweening greatness of an old
rival. Moreover, Ferdinand could never be King of the
Romans except in title, until the Saxon protest was with-
drawn; and on that subject, so important to Charles, Bavaria
had combined with Saxony. In this state of things the
Electors of Treves and the Palatinate offered their mediation
to the Protestants, with a view to procuring peace ; and their
mediation being accepted on the condition that proceedings
before the Imperial Chamber should be suspended, delegates
from the Emperor, who was now in the Low Countries, ap-
peared in Saxony in the month of August. Everything showed
how correctly Luther had estimated the pacific influence of so
many discordant elements in the atmosphere of politics.
Without going the same lengths as Melancthon, Luther
was prepared to go a great way to avoid what he always re-
garded as the heinous sin of schism. " The Bishops," he
declared, "are wolves, foes, and tyrants; but the Jews, as
Josephus writes, received their chief priests even from Herod
and the Romans. The Bohemian brethren, to the present
day, have their bishops consecrated at Rome ; the holy
prophets were obedient to the kings of Israel, who persecuted
them ; the father of John the Baptist received his ministry
from Annas and Caiaphas. The bishops are wolves and
tyrants, but, as they sit in the Apostles' seat, we may accept
their jurisdiction, provided they suffer our doctrine to remain,
and do not force us to do ought against God/' Matrimonial
causes, which had occasioned him great trouble, he was quite
ready to resign into the bishops' hands. He was most eager
for a specific truce, and with as little delay as possible.
" The delay of one day," he wrote to the Elector, expressing
strongly his approval of the mediation of the Electors of
266 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1531. Treves and the Palatinate, " often brings after it the delay of
a year."
Meantime it was resolved, by delegates of Saxony and
Hesse, who met at Nordhausen, that the Elector and Land-
grave should not attend the Diet, which had been transferred
from Spires to Ratisbon, and summoned to meet in the latter
town in the following spring. It was also determined that
aid against the Turks should be refused; that the protest
against Ferdinand's election, and the correspondence with
the Dukes of Bavaria, should be continued, and negotiations
should be opened with the Waywode. And at a meeting of
the Schmalkald confederates, held at Frankfort on the 19th
December, John Frederic and the Landgrave were conjointly
appointed the leaders of the alliance.
But the Electors of Mentz and the Palatinate were still ac-
tive in the work of peace, and early in the spring negotiations
were recommenced at Schweinfurt. The main obstacles to
an accommodation were, on one side, the claims that Fer-
dinand should be recognised as King of the Romans, and that
the Church property should be restored ; on the other, that
• all future adherents to the Augsburg Confession should be
included in the terms of peace, and that the processes before
the Imperial Chamber should be at an end. Luther's opinion
was required on the various questions. He ridiculed the
demand for the restitution of Church property : " Let the
Papists," he said, " first restore the innocent blood which they
have shed." But he entreated the Elector to acknowledge
Ferdinand as King of the Romans. "It is true," he wrote to
1532. him in February, 1533, " that Ferdinand was elected against
the Golden Bull ; but you have sufficiently marked your
sense of that violation of law. In this world many wrong
acts will ever be done, which oftentimes, when done, we must
allow, to prevent greater wrong. God is holding out Lis
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 267
gracious hand to you; let him not hold it out in vain." It 1532.
would be an awful thing, he said, to go to war " for a little
article of the Golden Bull." He denied that the cities would
ever fight in earnest for the princes; and hinted that the
" Dukes of Bavaria had made a sop for Saxony to sup up,
whilst they intended to look on :" above all, he objected funda-
mentally to the Schmalkald alliance : " It was a relying on
human help in neglect of the arm of the Almighty."
Whilst these negotiations were pending, the Elector John
was seized with violent inflammation in the right foot ; mor-
tification was apprehended, and the physicians thought it
necessary that the great toe should be amputated. For
twenty weeks the good Elector was unable to stand upon his
foot, and endured great pain with remarkable patience ; and
was consoled by letters from Luther, and twice visited by
him, and greatly cheered by his prayers and conversation.
At the end of February, Luther was staying with the Elector
at Torgau, and wrote thence to his wife : " My heart-loved
Kate, I trust to be again with you to-morrow, or the day
after. Pray God to bring me home brisk and well. I sleep
over well, sometimes six or seven hours together. It is the
fault of the beer ; but I am now more sober, as at Witten-
berg. Give Johnny a dressing for me : and tell him, Mag-
dalen, and Cousin Lena to pray for the dear Elector and for
me. I cannot, although it is the fair, find anything here to
buy for the children. Tell me what I shall do about it." A
little later the Elector was much better, and able to write
Luther a letter with his own hand. But Luther spoke of
himself as still suffering in his head ; ' ' the devil tilted through
it, so that he could neither read nor write." In May he
visited the Elector again ; and about the same time he was
relieved from some of his laborious duties, by the return of
Bugenhagen from Lubeck. His letters cease to be subscribed
268 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1532. " Martin Luther, sick in my head ; " and in June he informs
Amsdorf : " By your prayers I am at length released from
my malady." In July, he paid another visit to John Loser,
the hereditary marshal, and stood god-father to his son.
The negotiations had failed of their object; principally
because the Protestants insisted on the peace embracing all
those who thereafter might join the evangelical ranks. Lu-
ther objected to their claiming such a stipulation. "Every
one," he said, " is bound to believe and acknowledge the
Gospel at his own peril : it is enough that we do not for-
bid, but offer the Gospel to all. The Emperor of his grace
permits us the free celebration of our faith and worship,
and cannot by right be compelled to extend the same
favour to those who as yet are not of our creed." How-
ever, John Erederic and Chancellor Brack took the oppo-
site view of the question, and carried their point. But on
the 17th April the Diet was opened; and nine days after-
wards Sultan Soliman, having mustered his hosts, set out
for the scenes of his former ravages. In June he crossed the
Hungarian frontier at the head of 250,000 men. A little
longer, and his myriads would cover with their tents the plains
around Vienna. Luther was full of patriotic indignation :
" What a portentous age ! the Pope and the King of the Erench
are unwilling to succour the Emperor against Mahomet. What
has become of the money gathered by the Pope, for ages,
against the Turk ?" Sultan Soliman, however, thought more
of Luther than of the Pope or the King of Erance : as each
day's march drew him nearer to his prey, he continued to
ask the question, " Has the Czar Charles made peace with
Martin Luther ?" Charles on his side felt how powerless
he was to make any head against the hereditary foe of
Germany, without the contingents of the Protestant Princes.
The cities which were the manufacturers and capitalists of
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 269
the day, with more of worldly wisdom than of the simple 1532.
faith of their Reformer, would not forward the cannon and
ammunition, or supply the specie. Had the Sultan been
disposed to treat, the evil might have been staved off in
that way; but Soliman would listen to no overtures. In
this dilemma, Charles fell back on the only alternative that
was left him, and resolved to come to terms with the evan-
gelical princes, and persevered in this resolution against
the will of the majority of the Romanist States. Luther
on his side reiterated his injunctions to the Evangelicals to
accept peace. " Opportunity/' he warned John Frederic,
" has a forehead full of hairs, but its head behind is bald."
Peace was signed at Nuremberg. In the Recess, which July 23.
was published the 27th July, no mention was made of it ;
but Charles proclaimed it by an edict published a week later.
The Lutherans, on their side, relinquished the demand of pro-
spective toleration; and Charles, on his side, gave a private as-
surance that the legal proceedings before the Imperial Chamber
should cease. And, under the shade of the peace of Nuremberg,
the Reformation took a new start, and spread its branches
with increased vigour far and near, as it had before done
under the shelter of the first Diet of Spires. But the Emperor
had received such vexatious proofs of the impracticable
doggedness of the German temper, that he governed by his
own authority through his brother, without summoning
another Diet until eight years afterwards.
With internal peace the ardour against the common foe
revived on all sides ; and most of the cities emulated, accord-
ing to their ability, the zeal of Nuremberg, which doubled
her contingents in men, money, and flour. And in a short
time, Charles, just recovered from a tedious illness, was
before the walls of Vienna at the head of an army of 75,000
men, who shared his own eagerness to do battle for the Cross.
270 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1532. Luther addressed to the Margrave Joachim of Branden-
burg, the imperial lieutenant, a spirited letter, commending his
"Christian heart and enterprise/' and engaging that he "would
himself fight with his ' our Father ' under the banner of the
dear Charles, against Satan and his members." But before
the armies could meet, Soliman had received a repulse from
the ruined walls of Guntz, which convinced him that the God
of battle was no longer on his side. When the Turks were
sure of victory, a horseman in complete armour descended in
the air, brandishing his sword, and forbidding the Moslem to
approach Jurischitz and his devoted band. The Sultan with-
drew his troops, and, sending about 20,000 light armed sol-
diers into Austria, who were eventually almost all cut to
pieces, pressed on himself with the bulk of his army into
Styria, and appeared before Gratz. But news of the suc-
cesses of Doria, the imperial admiral, reached him soon
afterwards, and confirmed his despondency, and he beat a
hasty and inglorious retreat. The Emperor was now anxious
to employ his magnificent army in recovering Hungary from
John Zapolya: but the Princes regarded the object for which
they had enlisted their followers as achieved by the Sultan's
retreat, and declined any share in an attempt to regain a
throne for Ferdinand, and aggrandise the house of Austria.
But before this glorious result to the efforts of united
Germany, within a month of the signing of the peace of
Nuremberg, John the Constant had been suddenly removed
from the turmoil of negotiations, wars, and jealousies. He
had repaired, on the 12th August, with his two daughters
and the Electress of Brandenburg, to his castle of Schweinitz,
thinking that the sport of hunting might prove of service to
his health; and on the morning of the 14th, when he went
out for the chase, his temper, always serene, was observed to
be more than usually cheerful. But about four o'clock the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 271
next morning he was seized with pains in the head, followed 1532.
by an apoplectic stroke, which deprived him of the power of
speech. A messenger was immediately despatched to sum-
mon Luther : and the Reformer, with Melancthon and
Augustin Schurf, the physician, left Wittenberg about five
o'clock on the morning of the 16th, and arrived at Schweinitz
five hours later. "When Luther and his companions entered
his apartment, the Elector made an effort to raise himself on
both his hands, but fell back exhausted, and within a little
time afterwards expired. " It has happened to him," Luther
said, " as to children, who are born, live, and die without
forethought ; and when he shall awake at the last day, he will
think he has just returned from the chase in his forest of
Lochau."
His remains were interred at Wittenberg ; and two sermons Aug. 18.
were preached on the occasion by Luther, who took for his
text the passage from which he had preached at the funeral
of the Elector Frederic. He described the Elector John as
" a right good friendly man, without any falsehood, in whom
he could never discern the least pride, anger, or envy ; ever
ready to forgive, nay, too mild." He spoke of his " bitter
death at Augsburg," his manful confession " of the death and
resurrection of Christ, at the peril of loss of land, body and
life." Compared with that, " the death of the reason and five
senses was a child's death." He had not, indeed, been exempt
from errors in government : " but every prince," he con-
tinues, f ' has ten devils about him, when a private man has
only one." Simple, childlike, unpretending, pure from his
youth, and full of earnestness of moral purpose, in Luther's
words, " without guile and without bile," the Elector John,
in act and motive, may vie with the most unsullied characters
on the page of history. He was not gifted with the abilities
of his brother Frederic; but Frederic only preserved the
272 THE LTFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1532. adherents of the Gospel from those who sought their ruin ;
John embraced the Gospel from its first revival, and gave
up all for it. At Augsburg, when his theologians proposed
to present the Confession in their own names, to save him
from the perils which hemmed him round, he indignantly
refused, exclaiming, " I too would confess my Christ." " Wis-
dom died," Luther declared, " with Frederic the Wise, and
honesty with John the Constant : the nobles will reign
now."*
It is probably to be attributed to the loss of a Prince after
his own heart that Luther endured another attack of the
ringing in his head in September. Somewhat later in the
autumn he was very anxious about Kate, who was again
advanced in pregnancy, and suffering from fever. On the
10th November, however, matters wore a more cheerful as-
pect, and Luther, Kate, and a party of guests sat down to
a repast on a boar, a present from one of the Princes of
Anhalt, to celebrate the anniversary of St. Martin, and the
1533. natal days of the two Martin Luthers. The first month
of the new year made the Reformer again a father by
the birth of his fourth living child, and third son. The
infant was born late in the night of Tuesday the 28th
January, St. Paul's day : and at one o'clock the following
morning a letter was written by the Reformer to John Loser,
the hereditary marshal, to ask him to " lift the new born
infant from the baptismal water." The baptism was to take
place in the evening, that the child might " remain a heathen
as short a time as possible j" and the name to be given was
Paul. Luther implored his Lord God to make of his infant
son " a new foe to the Pope and the Turk."
* The Prince Consort of England is lineally descended from John
the Constant, the progenitor of the Saxon houses of Weimar and
Gotha.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 273
Luther was now again involved in a contest with Duke 1533.
George. In the preceding year eighty families had been
driven out of Leipsic, because they communicated in both
kinds, and had taken refuge under the Elector's safeguard at
Holzhausen : a consolatory letter had been addressed to them
by Luther ; and, some time afterwards, an exhortation to
patience and fortitude. In this latter epistle the Reformer
spoke of Duke George as " an Apostle of the Devil." Many
copies were made, which passed from hand to hand ; and one
travelled in a goldsmith's pack from Nuremberg to Leipsic,
and was detected by the town council. Duke George im-
mediately inquired of Luther whether he was the author?
and the Reformer replied with no little asperity. The Duke
then complained to John Frederic of an infraction of the
treaty entered into between them, and that Luther was stimu-
lating the lower orders to rebellion. The Reformer stated in
his defence that "he had never encouraged sedition; if it
could be proved he had, he would revoke on Balaam's ass,
and on all the asses aud cows in the world. Duke George,
as a prince, was entitled to the obedience of his subjects; but
in the sight of God he was f an Apostle of the Devil,' and no
better than Pilate, Herod, or Judas Iscariot." Not satis-
fied with this, Luther addressed another consolatory epistle to
the banished Leipsickers, in which he taxed, with his usual
keenness, the cruelty and bloodthirstiness of Duke George,
contrasting him with the gentle Emperor, and uttered what
has always been reckoned among his prophecies — " What
has not occurred within twelve years from the Diet of
"Worms ! what will not have occurred within ten years from
the Diet of Augsburg ! The fury of Duke George will not
last for ever ; it will have an end, sooner than he thinks, or
any one may imagine." He had ceased, he said, to pray for
Duke George ; his persecutions had been repaid more than
VOL. II. T
274 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1533. tenfold on his own head ; he was hurrying visibly to the pit
of hell. The old smouldering embers of strife were now
effectually stirred into a blaze. Cochlseus replied for Duke
George. Luther received from the printers some sheets of
the work, as it was going through their hands, and contrived
that his answer should be exposed for sale with Cochlseus'
" Reply/' at the Leipsic fair in the autumn. As the tract
bore Duke George's arms, Luther, who despised Cochlseus,
whom he nicknamed "Dr. Snivel-spoon," or "Dr. Gawk,"
entitled his answer, " Against Duke George's Last Book."
It discussed the accusation that he was " a runaway monk, a
perjured man." " Yes !" said Luther, " such a runaway, as a
Mameluke who should turn Christian, or a sorcerer who
should renounce his compact with the Devil for repentance
in Christ." " For twenty years," he continues, " I have
been employed with prayers and watchings in the study of
the sacred writings : I have lectured and written on the
Scriptures for twelve years amidst daily trials and persecu-
tions, with incredible toil, and yet I find myself still only a
novice, learning the rudiments of Divine knowledge." But
before the end of the year the Elector and Duke were recon-
ciled at Grimma, and Luther wrote in December — "The
princes are again friends ; for this, and the preceding peace
with the Emperor, praise be to God. Amen."
A treatise on the Private Mass and the Ordination of Priests
was also published by Luther at this time, by way of chal-
lenge to the Papists. He observed in it, that at Augsburg
the Papists had implored the Emperor to beg of the Pope to
issue no more Indulgence letters : he had once offered to be
silent on that question, but they would not let him : if it
should go with the rest of Popery, as it had gone with
Indulgences, whose would the fault be ? " We cannot acknow-
ledge," he said, " the Papacy as the Church, or even a part
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 275
of it, but only as its corruption and desolation ; Antichrist 1533.
invading the Church, the word and order of God, and raising
himself above God. "We cannot locally separate ourselves
from Antichrist, for Christ teaches that until the end of the
age he shall sit in the holy place : but spiritually let us
separate ourselves, avoid his corruptions, renounce his abomi-
nations, and maintain the pure faith." " The bishops of the
early times," he said, "were only presbyters, the principal
pastors of towns, as Augustin was Bishop of Hippo, a town
not larger than Leipsic or Torgau ; yet he was greater than
any pope or cardinal, and consecrated many bishops and
pastors. The Christian Church is where the Gospel is
purely preached."
In the second visitation of the Saxon churches, which com-
menced in the spring, Luther took no part beyond recom-
mending to the commissioners a superannuated clergyman for
a pension ; another clergyman for pecuniary compensation, on
account of the destruction of his parsonage by fire; and a
schoolmistress for maintenance, who had been removed from
her school. By direction of the visitors, the Larger Catechism
was to be taught on Sundays, the Smaller on the other days
of the week ; fines were imposed on the idle or profane, such
as bought indecent books, or sang obscene or blasphemous
songs. But it was again proved how much the efficiency of
the Church system was impaired by the covetous disinclina-
tion of the laity to contribute to the support of their clergy.
On the whole the visitation had good results, and the example
of Saxony was followed in other parts of Germany.
The Emperor in the beginning of the year was with
Clement again at Bologna, and persuaded him to send a
nuncio, in company with his own ambassador, to carry his
proposals to the six Electors and the six circles relative to a
council. The Pope proposed that " the council should be
t 2
276 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1533. a free Christian council, as from the beginning, according
to the custom of the Church." Whilst the ambassadors
were at Wittenberg, John Frederic removed thither, and at-
tended Luther's preaching every day. Luther regarded the
proposed council as a mere delusion. "A council as from
the beginning/' he said, " must decide upon Scriptural war-
rant ; a council according to custom would be Constance,
Basle, Pisa, over again; or, worse than all, the last Lateran.
Here was half angel half devil." " Moreover, the Pope was
a party to the cause, and could not therefore be judge : the
question was, Scripture or the Pope." But, on maturer
reflection, Luther and his colleagues judged it better not
positively to decline the council, but to state objections, and
then, whether the council should be or should not be, " with
the day counsel too would come." The Schmalkald con-
federates held a meeting on the 24th June, and on the last
day of June the proposed council was rejected by them, and
three conditions were stated as essentially requisite to any
council which they could accept — 1. That it should be con-
vened in Germany ; 2. That the Pope should not be judge ;
3. That the decision should be according to Scripture. It
was also debated among the Protestants, whether they, on
their part, should summon a council. But Luther's voice was
raised against it : — "It would only," he said, " declare their
disunion. God's Word was enough ; compared with his Word,
what were councils ? a drop against the sun ! Christ had
the whole Holy Ghost without any devil."
Clement had been overawed by Charles to make overtures
relative to a council, but his contradictory offers had impe-
rilled nothing, and he was able to congratulate himself that
he had satisfied the Emperor without compromising his own
interests. In March, Charles embarked for Spain, and his
departure was felt by his Holiness much as a second re-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEU. 277
lease from captivity. Accordingly, in the autumn Clement 1533.
set out for Marseilles, taking with him his niece Catherine
de* Medici, the bride elect of the heir to the French throne.
What may have been the exact nature of the consulta-
tions between Clement and Francis, at Marseilles, has never
transpired ; but there is scarcely a doubt that they concerted
schemes to the detriment of their common rival the Emperor;
that Francis communicated to Clement the negotiations which
he had entered into with the Landgrave, and that the project
of exciting the Schmalkald confederates against Charles, and
thus giving him enough to do in Germany, received the appro-
bation of his Holiness.
Nor was the Prince of Hesse the man to suffer the oppor-
tunity to slip for maintaining the cause of independent
sovereignty in Germany, striking a blow at Ferdinand, and
adding strength and extent to the Reformation. The old
Duke of Wurtemburg had been deprived of his duchy by the
Suabian League, and the investiture of his hereditary rights
and dominions had been bestowed on King Ferdinand at the
Diet of Augsburg. Long had Philip revolved the project of
restoring an ancient house to its rightful sovereignty; but
never before had every circumstance seemed propitious to such
an enterprise. The Nuremberg peace was no hindrance to
his plans, because the Protestants had long been complaining
that the Emperor had not been true to his word, and the
judicial processes before the Imperial Chamber had not ceased.
The Dukes of Bavaria made common cause with Wurtemburg ;
the Suabian League was tottering ; Brandenburg, Cologne,
and the Palatinate, were so far on an understanding with the
Landgrave, that their neutrality was promised. Treves even
afforded succours ; and the only remaining desideratum,
money, was obtained from Francis I., with whom the Land-
grave had an interview in January, at Bar-le-duc. Philip 1534.
278 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1534. completed his preparations with his usual promptitude, and
with 15,000 foot and 4000 horse, early in the spring ap-
proached the forces of King Ferdinand, which, being inferior
in numbers, awaited his attack at Laufen, on the banks of the
Neckar. The first conflict took place on the 12th May, and
the Landgrave had the advantage ; in consequence of which,
Ferdinand's troops the next morning made an attempt to
gain a better guarded position. Philip observing the move-
ment, dashing on with his cavalry, charged them in flank, and
was enabled to keep them at bay until his artillery had time to
come up ; and this effective arm soon put the Austrians to a
complete rout. The success was sufficiently rapid and complete
to astonish even the sanguine Landgrave : one after another
the castles throughout the Duchy surrendered to him, and in
less than a month Duke Ulric and his son Christopher were
masters of their hereditary dominions. The German princes
and nobles, for the most part, sympathized with the resto-
ration of a sovereign house ; and the Pope silenced every
murmur of disapprobation with the inquiry, " Where, then, is
the Emperor?" Duke George of Saxony alone appreciated
the importance of the blow which had been struck, and di-
rected his rage against the recreant Pontiff, accusing him of
being the abettor of strife and confusion, in order to prevent
the summoning of a council. By this revolution a new ter-
ritory was added to the Evangelical side : the Suabian League
shortly afterwards fell to pieces ; the cities, which had be-
longed to it, subscribed the Augsburg Confession, and trans-
ferred their allegiance from the defunct Romanist League of
the south, to the Protestant Confederacy of the north. But
the most surprising effect of the Landgrave's triumph is, that
on the 29th June peace was signed at the village of Cadan,
near Annaberg, in Bohemia, between Ferdinand and the
Protestants. On the one side Ferdinand was acknowledged
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 279
as King of the Romans, and on the other side it was agreed 1534.
that the Duke of Wurtemburg should hold his territories in
fief of Austria, with a seat and voice in the Diet ; that the
judicial processes should cease ; that investiture should be
granted to John Frederic, and his marriage articles should be
ratified. Religious differences were to be no ground for war.
And thus the peace of Cadan was the supplement to that of
Nuremberg.
The Landgrave had found no more strenuous opponent to
his undertaking than Luther ; and John Frederic and Melanc-
thon had echoed Luther's censures. " Your enterprise will
disturb the public peace," the Reformer warned the Land-
grave, " and will affix a stain on the Gospel." Luther and
Melancthon had recently been full of congratulation that dif-
ferences which had arisen between the town of Erfurth and
John Frederic had been adjusted, and that amity had been
restored with Duke George. When they heard of the " Mace-
donian," as they called the Landgrave, grasping the sword,
they deemed that a new fountain of innumerable troubles
had been unsealed. But as soon as Luther found his fore-
bodings not realized, and that war had issued in peace and
the advancement of the Reformation, without exonerating
the Landgrave, he gratefully recognized the hand of God.
" God's hand is to be traced in the whole matter ; and, con-
trary to the expectation of all of us, our fear is turned to
peace. He who has begun will carry through. Amen."
But Luther was himself engaged in a contest of another
kind. In 1533 an Exposition of the 84th Psalm had been
published by Erasmus, with the object of reconciling Romanists
and Protestants. Luther discerned in the Exposition many
symptoms of a sceptical tendency, a low value for doctrinal
truth, and a time-serving deference to custom and human
authority. Erasmus had been answered by a Zwinglian
280 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1534. divine and by a Lutheran ; and to the work of the latter
Luther had written a preface, in which he spoke strongly of
Erasmus' mistake in confounding the union of charity with
the union of truth. But Amsdorf persuaded Luther that he
was further in duty bound himself to assail Erasmus in a
specific treatise, as the true source and fountain-head of error,
under whose authority Faber and Cochlseus, and the minor
tribe of Papist writers, sheltered their own impotence. It
was, moreover, to Erasmus that Luther imputed the rapid in-
crease of sceptical opinions in Germany. At Munster, Ana-
baptism had raised its stronghold, and the tenets of Munzer
and the Zwickau fanatics were carried out to their full poli-
tical and moral consequences, under the government of a
tailor from Leyden, John Bockelson, more commonly called
John of Leyden, who had been proclaimed king. Community
of women and goods of all kinds had been established, and
a filthiness degrading human nature below the brute was
defended by the pretence of immediate inspiration. Happily,
in June of the following year, the efforts of the Bishop of
Munster were seconded by the Landgrave and the Elector of
Saxony ; the city was surrendered ; and the ringleaders of
fanaticism were made a terrible example for the warning and
instruction of others. In other parts of Germany, the doc-
trines of the incarnation of the Son of God, of the Trinity,
and all the distinctive articles of the Christian faith, were
called into question, or exposed to ridicule. In all this Luther
perceived so many proofs of the depraved influence which the
scholar of Basle was exercising on public taste and religious
ideas. " Erasmus/' he said, " was the palmer-worm, who
had crept into the paradise of the Church, and had filled every
leaf with his maggots." Accordingly, in the spring of 1534
he assailed this prop and pillar of scepticism, in a tract pub-
lished under the form of a letter to Amsdorf. " It was the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 281
levity/' he said, <c with which Erasmus treated the most sacred 1531.
subjects which had induced him before to give him a sharp
prick, in the hope of rousing him from his snoring, and
awakening him to sober reflection. But all had been in vain,
aud he had only provoked the viper to produce the viper-asp.
He had now learnt that Erasmus 5 defect was not simply levity,
but far worse, malice and an entire ignorance of Christianity.
To Erasmus, the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the
depravity of man, the redemption of man, the resurrection of
the body, and all the peculiar doctrines of the Christian faith,
were matter for jest. His catechism for children contained
the question — f Why in the Apostles' Creed is the Father
called God ; the Son, not God but Lord ; the Spirit neither
God nor Lord, but only Holy?' This was to children ! Why,
here was Satan himself! as of old, disputing God's word, and
insinuating the doubt — ' Thou shalt not surely die !' " * He
then reviewed other writings of Erasmus, pointing out their
sceptical tendency; and concluded by saying that Erasmus
himself was unworthy of an answer : he had enough to do in
teaching others, above all in translating the Scriptures, a
work which itself required his full energies, to forsake important
duties to catch at clouds and emptiness. But he would leave
his testimony concerning Erasmus. Erasmus replied to this
letter with his habitual acerbity. And Melancthon lamented
" the petulance of old age " in both his great contemporaries.
The following memorandum appears among Luther's corre-
spondence — " Erasmus, the foe of all religion, and the pre-
eminent adversary of Christ, is the exact pattern and copy of
Lucian and Epicurus. I, Martin Luther, with my own hand
enjoin thee, my dearest son John, and through thee all my
children, and all the children of Christ's holy church, to lay
this deep in your heart. It is no light thing."*
* "I have sometimes thought of writing a Dialogue of the Dead, in
282 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1534. The infirmities of age were creeping fast upon the Reformer,
so that his sermons for the year were given to the world by
Caspar Cruciger, as editor; and besides these, his lectures on
Isaiah, taken down from his mouth in previous years by some
of his audience, and Expositions of the 44th and 100th Psalms,
were the only additions to his works. In the spring he was
again attacked with the ringing in the head, and Kate suf-
fered much from fever, to which she was very liable from the
damp and exposed situation of Wittenberg, the north and
east winds blowing with penetrating keenness over " the sand
and marshes." In the autumn Luther had a severe cough,
with a great huskiness, which, like the ringing in the head,
had now become a periodical visitor.
In the month of June Luther paid a visit to Prince
Joachim, of Anhalt, at Dessau, who was labouring under
lowness of spirits and debilitated health. The Reformer
recommended him, in order to drive away melancholy, to
resort to pastimes, hunting, &c, always to maintain a cheerful
air and countenance, so as to shame the Devil, and, above all
things, frequently to resort to music. Luther promised the
Prince a second visit as soon as he had supplied the printers,
whose importunities were most clamorous, and to "bring
Bugenhagen with him, and remain eight days." And this
promise he kept about the end of July : a little afterwards he
was the Elector's guest at Torgau, whence he wrote to Kate
that " the Court beverages did not suit him ; he thought of
the good wine and beer he had at home, and of his good wife,
or rather, he ought to say, lord." Of John Frederic himself
he spoke in the highest terms of eulogy, but the spirit of his
courtiers was as antagonistic as ever to the Gospel.
which Lucian, Erasmus, and Voltaire should mutually acknowledge
the danger of exposing an old superstition to the contempt of the blind
and fanatic multitude." — Gibbon, Miscell. Works, I. p. 269.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 283
On Thursday, the 17th December, at twelve o'clock, his 1531.
" lord Kate " was safely delivered of a daughter ; aud the
same day and hour Luther wrote to Prince Joachim, of An-
halt — "The Almighty God has given me this hour, by my
dear Kate, a little daughter. I told your Grace before that I
should ask of you to undertake the Christian office of god-
father ; and I pray you, for Christ's sake, not to think this
humility a burden to help the poor heathen from her sinful
birth of death, to a new, holy, and saving second birth by the
sacred laver of baptism. But as the weather is cold, and little
suited to your Grace's state of health, I would gladly spare
your Grace's own person, and suggest to you to depute in
your place some one from Dessau or hence. Philip and
Franciscus are absent. However, your Grace will well know
how to accomplish your pleasure. God will reward it ; and
wherewith I can with all submissiveness serve you, I am in
duty bound. I would fain have the babe baptized to-morrow.
Christ be with your Grace unto salvation. Amen." Not-
withstanding his increasing number of children, pecuniary
straits or worldly difficulties of any kind were no trial to
Luther. Three days after the birth of his daughter Mar-
garet, he writes to his old friend Eberhard Brisger, the ex-
prior, who had offered him the purchase of a house which
he owned in Wittenberg, and was anxious to part with for
the benefit of his family, for a very moderate sum. Luther
writes that he could not raise half the price, or give so
much as 200 florins for it ; he would have him sell it to
Bruno, who was in negotiation for it, and not be hard on
him, but let him have it for 440 florins. " Why torment
yourself," he adds, ' ' about providing for your children ? I am
poorer than you, and so far ought to be providing for mine ;
but I know all my care would be fruitless. I commend them,
therefore, to Him who up to this day has granted abundance,
284 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
X534. an( j jf j am J eserv i n g vvill still grant it." A few months
later lie speaks of his intention to purchase a small dwelling
for his old servant Wolfgang, who was past service, and had
lost the use of his left arm, and Luther could not bear to
think of his becoming an inmate of an hospital, or living on
alms. And from the incidental mention subsequently in his
correspondence of " the debts he had contracted, and his
obligation to maintain many domestics," there can be little
doubt but his generous intention was carried into effect.*
From scepticism Luther turned in a very acrid mood to
Romanism. Preaching on the festival of All Saints, he is
reported to have warned his congregation to " pray no more
for the bloodhounds, the Elector of Mentz and Duke George
of Saxony, but rather to pray that God would hurl them into
hell. They might still pray for the Elector of Brandenburg."
Luther had every provocation to such language, that could
be given by virulence of persecution redoubling in activity in
consequence of the rapid progress of the Gospel ; but a com-
plaint was immediately lodged against him, with the Elector,
by Duke John, the son of Duke George. The Reformer
acknowledged that he had applied the term " bloodhound" to
the Archbishop of Mentz, against whom he intended soon to
publish a tract : but ' ' he had no recollection of having included
Duke George in his denunciation. He had dined, however,
after the sermon, with the Electress of Brandenburg, and had
repeated at her table what he had declared in the pulpit, and
he might perhaps then have added the name of Duke George.
But Duke George was not to be softened by mildness,
or to be satisfied by any answer ; the Elector Frederic had
* Luther's humorous " Petition of the Birds against his Servant,
Wolfgang Siebergern," that they might not be dislodged from his
newly-acquired property, or be neglected, is a more conclusive proof.
— Walch. XIV., p. 1358.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 285
said of him, ' my cousin is a rude, gross man, and with such 1534.
heads the first indignation is ever the best/ " John Frederic
in reply, gently requested that Luther would be more guarded
in his expressions from the pulpit for the future. The Re-
former brought a very grievous subject of complaint against the
Archbishop of Mentz in the next year, that he had put Hans 1535.
Schanz to death by hangiug, without any legal condemnation
or trial. The affair was much talked of at Wittenberg, and
in the Augustine Convent at Luther's table, with whom
Louis Rabe, a subject of the Archbishop, happened to be on a
visit. The Archbishop at once suspected that Rabe had
turned informer, and threatened him with punishment, which
caused Luther to take up the pen very warmly in his
defence. " Louis Rabe," he said, "sat over his platter as
meek and modest as a maid : he did not run up and down
the streets, but remained quietly in his own chamber. Rabe
had indeed spoken more good of his hellish Cardinal than he
for his part should ever credit, and he hoped the Archbishop
would not be for hurrying him to the gallows quite so fast as
he had hurried poor Schanz. If all were straightway to be
hanged who spoke evil of the Cardinal, soon there would not
be hemp enough in Germany. But, as thought was free, the
Archbishop must not be surprised to find his acts freely can-
vassed in spots where he could not erect his gibbet." And
before closing the letter Luther alluded to the atrocious
murder, by the Cardinal, of George Winkler. In the March
of the following year another letter followed in a more solemn
tone. " Be assured," he wrote to the Cardinal Archbishop,
" that Abel lives in God, and cries louder than Cain, the
murderer, may think. I inclose to your Grace fresh intelli-
gence, that the blood of John Schanz is not so silent in
Germany as in your Grace's palace, amidst the buzzing flattery
of your courtiers. Your Grace's conscience must sing a fine
286 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1535. descant in such tenor, and against your will, must cry, Amen.
You will say Schanz was a thief: I think not. But who was
it stole the goods of St. Maurice ? If every thief is to hang,
then the Cardinal of Mentz ought to hang ten times, on a
gallows raised to the height of three gibbets. You plunder
churches and pilfer cloisters, as though they were a Car-
dinal's peculium at Rome, and then squander your thefts on
gluttony and profligacy. As to harlots, I know, that from the
poor miserable Elsa at Magdeburg you took, as she said on
her death-bed, what you could not restore to her. Not to
say what wrong and robbery it is to persecute the burghers
of Halle without right or cause. I tell you what I will do :
I will take the last words of Hans Schanz as Shrove-tide
music for your Grace. So let your Grace's feet itch for the
dance, and I will be your piper. If Cain can say, ' Am I my
brother's keeper?' so can God say, 'Cursed art thou from the
earth.' " But the threatened Treatise against the Archbishop
was delayed until nearly four years later.
In the summer of 1535 the plague again fell upon the town
of Wittenberg : and John Frederic wrote to Luther to request
him to lose no time in repairing with his wife and family to
a place of safety. But the Reformer, though " old in strength,
but not in years/' was as little disposed to retreat before
" the devil and his pestilence," or rather his " clamour of a
pestilence," as he had before been in 1527. His reply to the
Elector ran in his peculiar vein of humour. " My weather-
gauge is the prefect of Saxony, John Metsch, who has such
a keen nose for a pestilence, that, were it five ells under
ground, he would scent it out. He is still at Wittenberg,
and as long as he remains here, there is no fear of a pesti-
lence. But since the dog-days are at hand, to allay appre-
hensions I have made my rounds through the town, to search
out about the pestilence, and the following are the results
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 287
of my investigations : — There is a good deal of sickness. 1535.
Some have got bad sores in their purses; others have the
colic in their books ; some the scurvy in their pen ; others the
gout in their paper : and many complain of mould in their
ink ; others have the heartache to see their fatherland. The
fear is, that if our heads and elders do not labour with all
their surgical and medical skill to cure and stay these dis-
orders, the whole land will die out, and there will be neither
preacher, pastor, nor schoolmaster." Luther makes a similar
statement in a letter to Dame Jorgerin, acknowledging the
gift of 500 florins for the relief of poor students; that, "un-
less his inquiries had made him acquainted with the facts, he
never could have supposed that there were at Wittenberg
such a multitude of impoverished students, toiling on, despite
penury, in their eagerness to study the Scriptures, and ac-
quire the languages in which they are written."
However, there was another plague at Wittenberg, besides
the intellectual and spiritual one, which Luther could alone
detect, and, in the middle of August, the university, as before,
was removed to Jena. Melancthon followed with his scholars.
Jonas fled from the contagion. Luther remained at his post in
the deserted town. His health was very infirm ; but, in the
absence of his friends, he put his own admonitions in practice,
maintained a cheerful face, and scared away the devil with
music, mirth, and good cheer. In September, the degree of
Doctor was to be conferred, and the Professors intended to
return for a day or two for the occasion. Luther prepared
the theses for disputation, and provided a handsome enter-
tainment. Jonas was to send a supply of game and fowl,
and a dollar was sent to him for this purpose; and Kate
brewed her best ale, to the joy of her husband, whose stock
of his favourite beverage had for some time before been run
dry. The 19th October was the twenty-third anniversary of
288 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1535. Luther's own promotion to the academical rank of Doctor, and
he was invited by Kate to a repast, which she had prepared in
commemoration of the day. He wrote with great glee to his
friends of the intended feast : " I hope/' he adds, " that I
shall not survive another anniversary, but shall enter heaven
this year. Amen." The plague had now revealed itself un-
mistakeably ; in one house husband and wife had both fallen
victims to it, and Matthesius relates that Luther at once took
the orphan children into the Augustine convent, and smiled
when he was told that he was tempting God. About this
time he writes to his friends — " My charioteer has been
struck from her seat ;" the plague was suspected to be at the
root of Kate's malady, but it turned out to be no more than
the fever to which she was subject.
Luther's lectures on the Epistle to the Galatians, taken
down from his lips by some of his audience, were published
this year ; but though his mental vigour continued unim-
paired, his application was no longer what it had been ; he
had ceased to read Latin, and confined his attention to
Hebrew, and the German books and poems of the day, which
he carefully studied from love of the national literature, and
also with a view to perfecting his translation of the Scriptures.
His interest in the diffusion of Christianity led him to trace
the triumphs of the Emperor over the Saracens in Africa with
zealous interest, and he expressed his hope that the arms of
Charles would not pause in their career of victory until Con-
stantinople had been wrested from the Mussulman, and re-
united with the western Empire. On the other hand, the
decease of Clement VII., which had taken place on the 25th
September in the foregoing year, is unnoticed in Luther's
correspondence. Yet the elevation of Cardinal Farnese,
under the title of Paul III., to St. Peter's chair, marked an
entire change of policy and a new era in Romanism. The
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 289
new Pontiff created, at his elevation, a number of cardinals, 1535.
all of them more or less disposed to a reform of abuses, and a
reconciliation with the Protestants ; and the principal person
among the newly elected, was Contareni the Venetian, a firm
maintainer of Luther's sentiments on justification by faith
alone, and the spiritual bondage of the will. It was not long
before Paul III. adopted measures to arrange the long-agitated
question of a council; and the Elector communicated to
Luther the information which had reached him on the subject.
Luther, however, retained his incredulity. He replied, " I
am like unbelieving Thomas ; I can never credit the Pope's
sincerity, unless I put my hand in the side and feel the nail
prints. A council really free and Christian, I should welcome
with joy, but such a council the Pope can never summon. To
do so would be to renounce his Papacy."
However, on Saturday the 6th November, Verger, the
nuncio of his Holiness, with twenty-one horses and an ass,
arrived at Wittenberg, and was honourably received by the
Prefect of Saxony, and lodged in the castle. The nuncio's
instructions were to offer a council without any conditions;
but it was hinted that he might, if circumstances should war-
rant it, suggest Mantua as the fittest place for meeting
within the Imperial dominions : but his main efforts were to
be directed to removing every suspicion of the insincerity of
the Pontiff's professions on this long debated question. There
was, however, one condition carefully concealed, but in itself
tantamount to all the rest, which the Pope could never
relinquish : viz., that the decisions of former councils, par-
ticularly of more recent ones, must be deemed sacred. The
very evening of the nuncio's arrival, Luther was invited to
sup with him ; but he declined the invitation for that even-
ing, and agreed to breakfast at the castle the next morning.
Sunday morning, accordingly, he sent for his barber, and
VOL. II. u
290 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1535. informed him with a smile, that he had been summoned
to wait upon the nuncio of the most Holy Father, and
he was very anxious to appear in his best looks, and to
seem as youthful as possible, that his adversaries might
say, "Luther has yet a long time to live." After his
hair had been arranged, the Reformer equipped himself
in his best attire, and put a gold chain, a present from the
Elector, round his neck. Master Henry, the barber, objected,
that such costly array would give offence. " It is for that I
wear it," Luther replied ; " they have offended us more than
enough : this is the way to deal with serpents and foxes."
Ascending the carriage, which had been sent from the castle
to fetch him, and having Bugenhagen seated by his side, he
exclaimed, " Behold the German Pope, and Cardinal Bugen-
hagen; this, too, is the work of God !" His reception was
most courteous from the nuncio, whom in return he greeted
with great politeness, but with none of the ceremonial respect
generally paid to a papal emissary. Luther insisted that
" the Pope was not in earnest in desiring a council. He
was in joke; but even if a council should meet, the matter
for deliberation would be of the most frivolous kind ; they
would talk about tonsures and copes and such like fools'-play,
and omit the essentials of Christianity, justification by faith
alone, and the unity of spirit and of faith." " And yet," he
continued, " of these points of doctrine we are assured by the
Spirit of God, and need no council to enhance our cer-
tainty : but it is important that the true doctrine should
reach even to the Papists ; so come, if you will, call a council,
and by God's grace I will appear at it, at the peril of being
burnt."
Nuncio. — " Where would you wish the council to meet?"
Luther. — "Anywhere; at Mantua, Padua, Florence, or
where you like."
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 291
Nuncio. — " What ! would you assent to Bologna V 1535.
Luther. — " In whose territory is Bologna ?"
Nuncio. — " It belongs to his Holiness the Pope."
Luther. — " Indeed ! Good Heavens ! What ! has the Pope
succeeded in getting Bologna too within his grasp ? Well, I
will go even to Bologna."
Nuncio. — " But what should you say if the Pope himself
were to come to Wittenberg ?"
Luther. — " We should all give him a hearty welcome."
Nuncio. — " Would you have him come with an army, or
without an army ? "
Luther. — " Just as he might prefer. Come as he would,
we should welcome him."
The conversation now turned to the consecration of minis-
ters, and Luther pointed to Bugenhagen as the Bishop of
Wittenberg, consecrated by the Wittenberg Presbytery. A
private interview followed this more public one, and the
Reformer maintained his doctrine against a good deal of
flattery, and implied promises of promotion, even to the papal
chair itself, declaring " that it was more likely that the
nuncio and the Pontiff would embrace the evangelical faith,
than that he himself should ever forsake it." And these words
proved in part prophetical, for Verger subsequently became a
Lutheran. But the nuncio was in haste to be gone ; he had
suddenly arrived, and he as suddenly departed. " He flies,"
Luther said ; " he does not ride." The nuncio, as he
mounted his horse, smiled on the Reformer, as he said to
him, " Be sure and be ready for the council." " Do not
fear," Luther answered, " I shall bring my neck." Luther
wrote to Jonas, " I played Luther during the whole break-
fast, and answered the nuncio in terms most Verger-like."
The nuncio wrote to Rome, of his interview with the
Reformer, in strong terms of contempt for his rudeness and
u 2
292 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1535. insolence. From Wittenberg the nuncio urged his way
with all haste to the Margrave of Brandenburg, and thence
prosecuted his route to Prague, and on the last day of
November had an audience of the Elector of Saxony, who
had reached that city on his return journey from Vienna,
where, in accordance with the stipulations of the Cadan
peace, he had received investiture at the hands of Ferdi-
nand. Verger, with every protestation of sincerity, made
John Frederic the offer of a " free, pious, universal, and pure
council : the mode of the proceedings/' he said, " would be
dictated by the Holy Ghost when the council met ;" and he
stated his conviction that " the Protestants had done right in
refusing the former proposals for a council." John Frederic
deferred his final answer until it could be given conjointly
with his Schmalkald allies. This alliance, which now num-
bered fourteen princes, two counts, and twenty-two cities,
met shortly afterwards at Schmalkald, and took into con-
sideration the nuncio's written propositions, offering a
council without any express condition, excepting the place
of meeting, which, it was suggested, should be Mantua,
the fury of the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians being made
an objection against holding it in Germany. On the 21st
December, the Protestant answer was given in rejection of
the offer. " How was it," the Schmalkald league inquired,
" that enmity and persecution still dogged the heels of the
evangelical preachers ? No council could be free unless it
were held on German ground, the form of proceedings duly
arranged, and the Pope emphatically excluded from being
either judge or referee. A council was not intended to be
merely a pontifical or sacerdotal tribunal ; it appertained to
the Emperor, to Kings, Princes, and Rulers, to amend the
false worship and doctrines of Popery."
1536. Luther was in very feeble health at this period. In Janu-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 293
ary a severe attack of cold and hoarseness incapacitated him 1536.
for his public duties, and interfered even with his correspond-
ence. But early in the year the University was recalled
from Jena ; this was a source of great joy, and soon afterwards
its endowments were increased by the appropriation of the
funds of All Saints Cathedral to educational uses. The
annual stipends both of Luther and of Melancthon were thus
raised from 200 to 300 florins, and the former, in considera-
tion of his past services, and many and increasing infirmities,
was exempted from the burden of lecturing, and from all
other academical functions. But Luther was so far restored
to health at the end of February, that he was able to
be the Elector's guest at Lochau, and on Quinquagesima
Sunday, the 27th, to preach before him and his court, and the
same evening perform the ceremony of uniting in marriage
Philip, Duke of Pomerania, and Maria, the Elector's sister.
It is related that by some accident one of the spousal rings
slipped from his fingers, and rolled along the chapel floor.
Luther exclaimed with emotion, " Satan ! Satan ! but thou
shalt not attain thy wish," and then turning to the princely
couple he pronounced with great emphasis the benediction,
" Increase and multiply." It was customary that a blessing
should be prayed for on the wedded pair the morning after
the marriage, but Luther was prevented from the discharge
of this duty ; in the interval he had been suddenly seized with
a swooning fit, and Bugenhagen acted as his substitute.
The Reformer had often said, that if union on the subject
of the Lord's Supper could be accomplished between German
Protestants, he should then be able with joy to say, "Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." Endeavours
for this important union had never for a moment slumbered.
In 153^, a conference between the Divines of the two parties
had been held at Cassel, and had been attended by Melanc-
294 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1536. thon. In the October of 1535, Luther had himself addressed
separate letters to the preachers of Strasburg, Augsburg,
Ulm, and Eslingen, inviting them to a conference, and he had
communicated with John Frederic on the same subject. The
cities, with the jealousy of democratic bodies, had objected to
the Princes being mixed up with the affair at all ; but Luther
replied, that the approval of the Princes must have the effect
of giving to the projected union greater stability : if, however,
the Princes should be unwilling to bear their share in the mat-
ter, that should not stand in the way of achieving such a bless-
ing as concord. Luther proposed in the first instance, Eisenach
as the place of meeting; but as the time approached, he
found himself ' ' still faint and worn with his last illness," and
requested, in a letter to Capito, that the theologians of the
cities would not refuse to come as far as Grimma, three miles
beyond Leipsic. But even so, he feared that the state of his
health would prevent his attendance ; but in that case, said
he, " I shall be able to send and receive letters every day."
In fact, his strength proved too feeble even for a journey to
Grimma ; and the theologians paid him the tribute of respect
to extend their travels to Wittenberg itself, which some of
them were curious to see, where, on the 22nd May, the
conference was opened. Several of the Lutheran preachers
had joined the Oberland theologians at the different towns
they passed through, and by this means the controverted
points were familiarly talked over in the friendly discussions
of fellow travellers, the explanations of Myconius and Menius
cleared away difficulties, and before arriving at Wittenberg,
the way to harmony had been made plain. Melancthon
could hardly believe the good news which Myconius and his
other friends told him, and took them to Luther ; and the
Sunday, evening of their arrival the theologians supped at the Augus-
May 21. ^ ne conveu t^ a nd the conversation was protracted till mid-
THE LIFE OF MAKTIN LUTHER. 295
night. The next day Capito and Bucer, at seven o'clock in 1536.
the morning, paid a visit to Luther, and gave into his hands y
a statement of their doctrines. At three o'clock in the
afternoon Bucer and Capito returned : the principal mem-
bers of the Lutheran party were also present. Luther was
resolved that nothing should be done except on free convic-
tion; he stated that he would not touch on other points of
Christian doctrine until concord had been attained on the
Lord's Supper ; that the question was not about words ; the
true doctrine was, that " the bread is the body of Christ,
given and received in hand and mouth, as well by the god-
less as the godly." He condemned the epistles of Zwingle
and (Ecolampadius, recently published, and warned Bucer
and his adherents to ' ' act sincerely as in the sight of God,
without guile." He required them to renounce their former
error ; and as they had been for some time advancing step
by step towards the truth, so as to believe, first, that the
elements were spiritually the body and blood of Christ, then,
that they were Christ's true and natural body to his faithful
followers, so now to acknowledge plenarily that " the godless
as well as the godly takes in his heart and with his mouth, the
true body and blood of Christ." On the 23rd the discussion
was resumed; and Luther demanded, first of Bucer, and
then of each of the other theologians of Bucer's party, a
declaration of his faith on the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper. Bucer stated, and the rest concurred in his state-
ment, that " the true body and the true blood of Christ are
in the Lord's Supper ;" and that " the Sacrament depends
not on the worthiness or unworthiness of the partaker, but
on the word of God." Luther and the divines of his
side withdrew to a private apartment, and it was determined
" as out of one mouth " to propose further the explicit ques-
tion, whether " as the name of God, used by an infidel, is
296 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1536. yet God's name, and the Lord Jesus, kissed by Judas the
traitor, is yet the Lord Jesus, so they held the body and
blood of Christ, received by an unbeliever, to be still the
body and blood of Christ." They returned, and Luther,
with solemnity and earnestness graven on every feature of
his countenance, put this question. The reply was given in
the affirmative : and then Luther, addressing Bucer and
his friends with " My lords and brethren," stated that they
" owned and took them for dear brothers in Christ." Luther
and Bucer shook hands, and after them all the theologians
of both sides clasped one another's hands, and " with God-
fearing supplications " thanked God for unity in the faith.
Bucer and Capito wept for joy. The next morning agree-
ment was attained on Baptism, as " the laver of regenera-
tion," on absolution, school discipline, &c. On the 25th the
Formula of Concord drawn up by Melancthon was read
aloud; and it was decided that not only those present, but
also the absent, should be invited to append their signatures ;
and in the evening Luther preached from Mark xvi. 15, " Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
,c I had often," Myconius says, "heard Luther preach before,
but this time it seemed as if it was not Luther who spoke,
but God himself thundered his word from heaven.""*
The time from the close of the conference to the departure
of Bucer and his friends, was a gala season at Wittenberg.
The churches resounded with the Word of God. The
Oberland theologians and the Wittenberg doctors preached
in turn. In the evening of the day that Bucer preached, he
supped with Luther. It is related that in the presence of
the assembled guests, Luther congratulated him on his
* See, for the whole transaction, the accounts of Myconius and of
Bernard, pastor of Frankfort, Walch. xvii. p. 2533 — 599 ; Bucer's
Letter, Id. p. 2565, De Wctte, iv. p. 691—4; Bret, iv, p. 75—599.
THE LI1E OF MARTIN LUTHER. 297
sermon — " He had made an admirable discourse ; yet/' he 1536.
added, " I am the better preacher of the two." The com-
pany seemed surprised by the frank avowal. Bucer at
once assented, that " of course Luther was much the better
preacher of the two." " Do not mistake me/' Luther re-
plied ; " I am but a worm, and have never in my life delivered
such a discourse as I heard from you to-day. But whenever
I preach, I make a point of observing what kind of audience
I have to address, and suit whatever I may say to their feel-
ings and understanding. Now you, Bucer, soar too high ;
and, however acceptable your eloquence may be to the
learned, it is far beyond the comprehension of the multitude.
A preacher should resemble the mother, who, when her infant
cries, bares her breast, and gives it the natural milk."
And thus the chapter in the history of Luther's life, which
had begun in the dark clouds and portentous thunders of the
Augsburg Diet, closed in the serene air and pulpit exhorta-
tions of the Wittenberg concord. The north and the south of
Germany were now united in doctrinal harmony ; and all the
secular princes of northern Germany, with the exception only
of Duke George and the Duke of Brunswick, had become
Lutheran. Joachim of Brandenburg had died in July, 1535,
and the new Elector was well inclined to the Reformation,
and a little later professed himself a Protestant. The Mar-
grave of Baden had embraced the evangelical faith. The
Hanse towns were all Lutheran. In Denmark, a Lutheran,
the Count of Holstein, had gained the throne against the
Romanist faction. Wurtemburg had been added to the
evangelical states ; and by its geographical position, as well
as by the moderation of Duke Ulric, seemed to form a link
between the German and Swiss Protestants. England, by
an Act of Parliament passed in 1534, had rejected the yoke
of Rome; and in the following year the royal supremacy "in
298 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1530. matters ecclesiastical as well as civil " had been established.
The King of France and the King of England were both in
negotiation with the Schmalkald allies; and the French court
had entreated a visit from Melancthon in his character of
theologian. Even in the citadel of Popery the promotion of
such a man as Contareni to the cardinalate, proved the same
movement to be going forward, which had long engaged
contemplative minds in the alcoves of Venice. " At the Diet
of Augsburg," said Luther, "our princes seem devoured and
destroyed ; they were really only the more vivified and invi-
gorated. Everything that is to be strong must begin in
weakness, as Christ says, 'My strength in your weakness/
Thus the roots of those trees which are to yield timber for
houses, machines, and ships, are at first only slender threads.
The kings of God, who shall one day judge angels, are sprung,
as Job says, from a drop of milk. It is thus God works. ' Be
not afraid, I have overcome/ ' I live, and you shall live/
On the other hand, man's works begin in strength to end in
folly."
299
CHAPTER VIII.
FROM THE 30TH MAY, 1536, TO THE 18TH FEBRUARY, 1546.
The refusal of the Protestants to the overtures made them 1536.
by Paul III., did not divert the Pontiff from his policy of
summoning a council, which was absolutely necessary to
dissipate the general idea of the insincerity of the Vatican,
and was perseveringly demanded by the Emperor. Charles,
on his return from his victorious African expedition, had
written in very severe terms to the Protestants : his letter
had been considered by the Schmalkald allies in the spring
of 1536, and a deputation sent to deliver their answer.
But now war with France was recommenced, and it was no
longer expedient or practicable to carry things with a high
hand, and rouse the enmity of his German subjects. Charles
therefore passed from Naples to Rome, had an interview of
seven hours' duration with the Pope, but resisted all his
solicitations to make peace with Francis, in order to turn his
arms with effect against the German heretics : he could not
resign Milan. The conversation was next directed to the
subject of the council : Mantua was retained as the place of
meeting against the Protestant objections; but the clause,
" according to the usage of former councils," was struck out.
The Emperor was desirous that the diploma convoking the
council should be got ready and published immediately,
whilst he remained at Rome : Paul replied that it could not
be prepared with such haste. On the 2nd June, however,
the council was convoked to meet at Mantua on the 23rd
300 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1536. May in the ensuing year, " for the destruction of heresy, the
peace of Christendom, and the conversion of the infidels."*
And from his camp in Savoy in July, Charles addressed fresh
letters to the Protestants, in a much milder strain than he
had used previously. The Romanist Princes were elated by
the long-promised council being at last convoked. Duke
George was writing " a big book about the Bishops/' and was
full of hopes that their irregularities would now be checked,
and decorous manners and morality of life would again adorn
the mitre. "A hard task this," Luther said, "to make
Satan assent to God." The Reformer commented upon the
council, as follows : " In this Bull of Paul, or rather of the
cardinals, not the cardinal virtues, but the cardinals, capitals,
heads of Satan, we are condemned already." " The Man-
tuan council will not have very many learned men, although
it will greatly outnumber us in the mules, horses, and asses,
carrying the greatest asses on their backs. "
1537. rj^g Schmalkald allies met very early in the spring at
Schmalkald, to deliberate on the matter of the council now
actually summoned. The Wittenberg theologians were to be
present, and the principal divines from other parts of Ger-
many were also to be in attendance. It was debated whether
the papal nuncio should be allowed to appear before the
alliance. Luther gave his answer in the affirmative, and this
point was conceded against the judgment of John Frederic.
On the question, which was again mooted, of resistance to the
Emperor, Luther signed his verdict, that " if the Emperor, in
a question not appertaining to the civil jurisdiction, such as
the acceptance of a council, should appeal to force, in such a
* In another Bull, dated the 23rd September, Paul III. committed
the Reformation of the State of Eome, " the head of Christendom,
whence all other Christians are wont to learn good morals and godly
ways," to five cardinals and three bishops. — Walch. xvi. p. 2322.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 301
case resistance even to the Emperor would be allowable." 1537.
He was also requested by the Elector to draw up some theolo-
gical articles, to serve as landmarks how far the Protestants
might yield, and within what lines no concession must be
made. Luther described the Mass in these articles as " abomi-
nable idolatry/' and stated that the invocation of saints was
idolatrous, and that all that came out of, or depended upon
the Mass, was to be abhorred, and he gave characteristic
prominence to the merits of Christ, and justification by faith
alone. These articles were copied out by Spalatin and sub-
scribed by Luther and thirty-five theologians, and on the
3rd January were inclosed by Luther to the Elector, who
pronounced them to be " Christian, pure, and plain."
A little time before, Luther had been suffering from the
gravel and stone ; but after a long prostration of strength,
his health was so far restored that he was able to undertake
the journey to Schmalkald in the beginning of February,
although the weather was very cold. On the 2nd February,
Luther and his fellow-travellers reached Altenburg, and were
entertained and lodged by Spalatin, whom the Reformer
addressed in some Latin verses on the occasion. On Sexa-
gesima Sunday, the 4th, Luther preached at Weimar, and
complained, the attendants of the papal nuncio being among
his audience, that the Kings and Bishops were greater foes
to the Gospel than the Turks : and on the Monday following,
the Elector took the road to Arnstadt, and Luther the road
to Gotha, and on the 7th made his last day's journey to
Schmalkald. He wrote thence on the 9th, that the Land-
grave and the Duke of Wurtemburg had entered the town
the previous day, and he was about to preach before the
Princes in the parish church, which was so large that his
voice would sound like "the squeak of a mouse." It is
recorded that he preached three times at Schmalkald, but the
302 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1537. last time in the Quaestor's residence, as he could not he heard
in the Church.* He continued to suffer grievously from the
stone ; but on the 14th he writes to Jonas that " St. Valen-
tine had cured him that night : not the St. Valentine, the idol
of Epileptics, but the true and only Valentine, who makes all
well who trust in Him." " He and his friends," he said,
" had eaten bread with the Landgrave and the Duke of Wur-
temburg, and found their bakers first-rate ; and they had drunk
wine with the deputies of Nuremberg." This Schmalkald
convention, or, to use Luther's term, " council," was more
numerously attended than any previous meeting of the Protes-
tants : besides the Princes, the deputies of upwards of twenty-
six cities were present, and the theologians numbered thirty-
five. But in reference to the deliberations, Luther warned
the Princes not to regard the summoning a council in a
serious light at all, for it was not seriously meant ; the Bull
was a lie. True, there was business enough to employ a
council ; the Pope and his cardinals were the most rapacious
of Church plunderers ; the Cardinal of Mentz alone held three
bishoprics in his grasp ; but, when such were the mal-prac-
tices of Ecclesiastics, who could credit that they were sincere
in desiring a council ? " Be assured," he said, " of three
things: — 1. The Pope and Luther are not to be reconciled;
2. The Mantuan council is a subterfuge; 3. The Cardinal
of Mentz is a knave."
On the 25th February, Peter Worst, Bishop of Aix, the
nuncio, appeared in Schmalkald, and presented two epistles
from the Pope to John Frederic, which the Elector refused to
receive, and the nuncio on his part would not take back
again, but left on the table. A somewhat bitter altercation
* Another of the preachers was Urban Regius, who preached at
great length, and Luther meeting him as he came from the pulpit, said
smiling, " Hoc neque Urbanum neque Eegium est/'
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 303
followed, which has afforded Pallavicini an opportunity to 1537.
style the Schmalkald convention " an assembly of beasts," to
which Seckendorf retorts, that it would have deserved the
name, if credit had been given to that little fox or ape sent
from Rome. The nuncio, in his arguments with the Elector,
accused the Protestants of schism, and cited St. Paul's reproof
of the Corinthians : " Now this I say, Every one of you saith,
I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of
Christ." " It is the Church of Rome," the Protestants
replied, which says, " I am of Cephas." Some of the Pro-
testants were for acceding to the council conditionally, that is,
if the Pope were not judge; but the majority foresaw that the
least concession would be turned to good account by the
Papists, and therefore determined to reject the council
entirely. The answer of the alliance was given on the 2nd
March, and complained that in the Bull no mention was
made of the reform of ecclesiastical abuses, which had been
acknowledged by Pope Adrian; that the Evangelicals were
branded as heretics, and so their cause was pre-judged; that
the Pope arrogated the office of judge, whereas his true cha-
racter was that of culprit ; and that the place of meeting was
beyond the limits of Germany. The Book of Renunciation
was published on the 5th March, and was translated into
various languages, and forwarded to most of the Princes of
Europe.
As regards other debated points, Vice-Chancellor Held,
the Imperial ambassador, required of the Protestants either
to afford aid against the Turks, or to succour the Emperor in
his war with France. They refused compliance, unless peace
was assured them at home, the judicial processes before the
Imperial Chamber suspended, and liberty granted them to
receive all their co-religionists into the alliance. The am-
bassador replied with so much harshness as to determine the
304 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1537. Princes on making the best provision they could for their own
security. They renewed negotiations with France, and ad-
mitted Duke Henry of Saxony, brother of Duke George, into
the confederation. Among the Protestants themselves there
was some debate on doctrinal points, but without much
heat of controversy ; and the Swiss Protestants tendered
proposals by Bucer, with a view to concord with their Ger-
man brethren on the subject of the Lord's Supper. The
convention closed with the publication of an edict respecting
the sufficient maintenance of ministers, and the endowment
of schools and hospitals, to which the sequestrated Church
property, rescued from spoliation according to a petition pre-
ferred by the theologians, was to be devoted. So firm was the
cohesion between the members of the alliance, that it decided
the nuncio and the Romanist princes to form a similar com-
bination ; and Maimburg dates the origin of the Popish league
of the south to this period, although it was not actually set
on foot until the following year.
But before the convention broke up, Luther had been
obliged to return to Wittenberg. Melancthon had just written
to f Doctoress Catherine " of her husband's improved health,
Feb. 18. and Luther had himself preached on the Sunday morning what
Melancthon terms a " very clear sermon," when, on the even-
ing of the same day, he was seized with a violent attack of the
stone, and endured such agonies as he had never suffered
before. The Elector sent to Erfurth for the physician George
Sturtz, and all the Princes were unremitting in their attentions
to the Reformer. The Duke of Wurtemburg prescribed for
him juniper-berries boiled in wine and water. The Landgrave
of Hesse, at the very time that the nuncio was waiting to have
an interview with him, quitted his lodging, under the nuncio's
eyes, to make inquiries for Luther. The Elector of Saxony
left nothing untried that was likely to add to the Reformer's
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 305
comfort, or to serve as the means of his recovery. " If it is 1537.
God's will that you should die/' he said to Luther, "your
wife shall be my wife, and your children my children : but for
his name and word's sake, I trust God will be gracious to us,
dear father, and grant us your life." Luther replied, that
God's will was the " all-best." " O, thou true God, my Lord
Jesus Christ," he ejaculated, "thy name has so often helped
me, help me now, my dear God. Thou knowest I have taught
thy word with truth and diligence. If it be for the glory of
thy name, make me better; if not, close my eyes. My Lord
Christ, how glorious to die by the sword for thy word ! Now
I die a foe to thy foes, and under the Pope's ban. I thank
thee that I die in the knowledge of thy truth." The Elector
turned away his face to hide his tears. On the 26th Feb-
ruary, however, Luther was so far better that John Frederic
sent him away on his return home in his own carriage, in
company with Sturtz the physician and his intimate friends
Bugenhagen and Spalatin. The disease had been aggravated
by solicitude for the cause of the Reformation ; and as he
was leaving Schmalkald the Reformer looked back on the
building in which the confederates held their sittings, and
exclaimed, " Our Lord God fill you with hatred of the Pope."
They journeyed along a hilly track towards Tambach, and
reached that village before nightfall. The jolting of travelling,
the fresh air and change of scene, were not without their
service on Luther's frame; at Tambach he relished a simple
supper and drank some red wine, and in the course of the
night he experienced considerable relief, and wrote to his
"heart- dearest Philip," "This Tambach is a Phanuel wherein
God has appeared to me. From this example let us learn
to pray, and to dare to expect aid from heaven. May God
trample Satan with his leagued monsters of Rome beneath
his feet ! Amen. Given the third hour of the night." The
VOL. II. x
306 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1537. next morning Luther wrote to Kate, " I was as one dead, and
commended myself *and my children to God and my good
lord, as if I should never behold them a^ain. I felt sore pity
for you, and had no hope of recovery; but prayers have been
offered to God so fervently for me, mixed with many tears,
that God has shown me mercy, and I feel as one born anew.
Therefore praise God, and let the dear children and cousin
Lena thank the true Father. It is only of his mercy that
you have not lost me. The good Prince did all he could, and
tried his very utmost, but all would not do ; even your skill
would have done nothing. But God, through the prayers of
his people, has wrought wonders upon me this night. I write
this because the good Prince has ordered the Prefect to send
you to meet me, which is now unnecessary : God has so
richly holpen me, that I trust soon to come to you full
of joy. We shall sleep at Gotha to-night." The tidings
of Luther's improvement in health were received by the
Protestants with public rejoicings, and by command of the
Princes, thanksgivings were offered to God in the church of
Schmalkald, and it was ordered that the prayers before
appointed should be continued that his life might be spared
to the glory of God and the comfort of his Church.
By the Elector's wish the road through Erfurth was avoided
on account of the ill-feeling entertained by the Archbishop of
Mentz to Luther, and the road through Gotha was taken ;
Gotha was reached on Thursday, the 29th February ; and
here Bucer and Lycosthenes, who had been deputed by the
Oberland churches to the Schmalkald convention, overtook the
Reformer, and placed in his hands the letters from the Swiss
earnestly entreating unity on the subject of the Lord's Supper.
But Luther replied that unity was impossible until identity of
doctrine and belief should be attained. " I am a man/' he
said, " who know not how to semble or dissemble." At
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 307
Gotha the malady returned with so much force, that the 1537.
Reformer again prepared himself for immediate death ; and
having made his will in the journey from Schuialkald, gave it
into Bugenhagen's hand with his last prayer, in which he
thanked God that he had given him strength to " assail the
Papacy, the enemy of God, of Christ, and the Gospel. It
must be the consolation of his dear Kate," he said, "that
they had lived together for twelve years in so much happiness.
She had been an excellent wife — nay, more than a wife, a
servant to him." And he commended her and his children to
those present. " Tell the Princes," he continued, " to trust
God as regards his Gospel, and confidently execute what the
Holy Spirit may suggest. I do not prescribe them any par-
ticular line of policy. I have earnestly committed them in
prayer to the Lord ; and although they are wanting in some
points of Christian virtue, I trust that God will never let
them relapse into papist blasphemy." After a few words
about his opponents, whose calumnies he had intended to
answer if his life had been spared, he resigned himself to the
expected stroke, saying, " I now commend my soul into the
hands of my Father, and of my Lord Jesus Christ, whom I
have preached and confessed on earth. Amen." But in this
extremity deliverance was again vouchsafed, and he was able
to return to Wittenberg soon afterwards, although in the
most feeble condition, and by slow degrees regained his usual
health and strength.
In the year 1536, a memorable conversation had passed be-
tween Luther and Melancthon on the subject of justification
and good works : Melancthon questioning whether justifica-
tion is not by the creation of the new man in the heart, not
simply by faith, but by all the gifts and virtues of the Spirit ;
and such, he thought, was the meaning of Augustin. Luther,
on the contrary, affirmed that we are just before God solely
x 2
308
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1537. by the gratuitous imputation of Christ's righteousness by faith.
" We are not justified by works before faith/' Luther said,
" nor by works after faith ; but we are accounted just through
faith the gift of God, and the justified man is a new cha-
racter, and the new character does new acts. The sun is
not the sun because it shines, but because it is the sun it
must shine; the Christian, because he is a Christian, must
live to God's glory." In his sick chamber at Schmalkald,
Luther had lamented to John Frederic the deviation of
Melancthon and others from the strict evangelical creed,
and his words did not fall on deaf ears. In the follow-
ing May, when Luther's health was nearly re-established,
the Elector of Saxony was at Wittenberg, and by the mouth
of Brack addressed the assembled professors to the following
effect : — " I have heard with pain that Melancthon and Cru-
ciger use different language from Luther on the subject of
justification and good works, and I find in a new edition of
the Augsburg Confession, that a change of terms has been
made without the consent of all those who subscribed that
Confession, which is utterly unjustifiable. If such things
take place when you, Luther, and I are alive, what may we
not expect after our decease ?" and, in conclusion, he exhorted
Luther to persist in upholding the pure scriptural faith in the
university.
During the latter part of the year Luther again became
Bugenhagen's substitute in the church and parish. Bugen-
hagen had been summoned to Denmark, and was chosen to
place the Danish crown on the head of the Count of Holstein,
and declare him king, under the title of Christian III., and
the coronation was followed by very important ecclesiastical
changes — the displacement of the bishops, and the establish-
ment of the Lutheran worship and church government
throughout Denmark. The chief idea in Luther's mind con-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 309
tinued to be the council, and lie amused himself in his lighter 1537.
moments with composing his " Question from the holy order
of Card-players to the Council at Mantua/' and with bur-
lesquing the Romanist fiction of the donation of Constantine,
and the legend or lie of St. John Chrysostom. His " Preface
to the Council held at Gangra in Paphlagonia/' and his Preface
and Epilogue to the " Letters of John Huss, written from his
prison at Constance/' were more serious works for the edifica-
tion of the fathers of the Mantuan Council. The next
year he enjoyed, in his own language, " a sabbath from the ^38.
stone/' and was not vexed so much as usually by the buffet-
ings of Satan.
The most remarkable of his compositions at this period
are his comments on the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of
St. John's Gospel, and also on the first eighteen chapters of
St. Matthew. "Philip and I," Luther wrote to Jonas, in
April, " are wearied out with business and disputes whilst you
are absent. According to my time of life, I should deserve
my discharge and the liberty of spending old age in watching
the marvels of God in the increase of trees, flowers, herbs, and
birds; but my former sins do not permit me to taste such
pleasure." At this time there was an outburst in Wittenberg
of Antinomian teaching, led by one of Luther's friends and
disciples. It will be remembered that John Agricola, of
Eisleben, had impugned Melancthon's view of the law of
Moses as given in his Visitation Book, and subsequently he
had shown himself a rival to Luther himself, by choosing the
same topics to treat of from the pulpit as those recently
handled by Luther, as though to outdo the great Reformer.
Small in stature, big with importance, his walk, his voice,
his every gesture an index of his immoderate vanity, little
Grickel, as Luther called him, was the very person to rush
into a similar eccentric career to that pursued by Carlstadt.
310 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1538. Luther had himself before requested that Agricola would
lecture in the University, and in 1536 this request had been
complied with ; but immediately on discovering what princi-
ples he maintained, the Reformer addressed a letter to him
directing that his lectures should be discontinued, unless
the University should authorize his proceeding with them.
Luther, moreover, at once set to work to counteract the
poisonous errors which "little Grickel" had been disseminating.
He publicly maintained doctrines diametrically opposed to
Antinomianism in several successive disputations ; and in the
beginning of the next year he published a writing in the
epistolary form " Against the Antinomians." " Popery itself,"
he declared, ' ' was a less evil than a heresy which separated
justification from sanctification." Luther's courage and
exertions increased with every addition to his trials. " I am
a worn-out old man," said he, " spent with toil ; but I get
young again every day, that is, new sects spring up, to resist
which I have need of a new youth. But this is a decisive
proof that we are the elect of Heaven, and have the true
Word of God, that we are assailed by so many sects springing
up from amongst ourselves, to say nothing of the Papists and
my private conflicts with Satan, and the contempt of God's
Word amongst us." Somewhat later, Agricola was brought
to trial for his heterodox opinions, by the Elector of Saxony ;
but before the verdict had been pronounced, Agricola made
his escape to Berlin, whither he had been invited by the
Elector of Brandenburg. Efforts were made by that Prince
to reconcile Agricola and the Wittenberg theologians, and
it ended in a recantation by the former of his dangerous
tenets, which Luther accepted "with much distrust of its
sincerity."
Luther was also much annoyed at this time by the appear-
ance of some scurrilous verses from the pen of Simon Lemnius,
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 311
a member of a small knot of poets of no very decent fame, to 1538.
which Sabinus, the son-in-law of Melancthon, likewise be-
longed. The verses in question were more complimentary to
the Elector of Mentz, and the leaders of the Romanist party,
than to the Elector of Saxony or Dr. Luther. Melancthon
himself was rector of the University during the summer in
which these verses made their appearance, and the fault of
their publication was therefore imputed by many to him ; but
Philip ingenuously acknowledged that he had trusted the
statements of his son-in-law as to the innocence of the verses,
without having himself read them. But when the affair
created a hubbub, Lemnius made his escape from Wittenberg
by the aid, as it was supposed, of Sabinus, which involved
Melancthon in fresh suspicion ; and, after his flight, Lemnius
published a new edition of his lampoons, in which no measure
was observed in his abuse of the members of the evangelical
phalanx. Luther took up the matter with great warmth, and
placarded a counter- writing entitled "A Programme against
the infamous Verses of Simon Lemnius," in which, from the
" scandalous poetaster, " he passed to the Elector of Mentz
himself, and painted his character in his most severely truth-
ful style. " To praise Bishop Albert was to make a Saint
out of the devil : the Dirt-bishop was a false perjured man."
The whole house of Brandenburg was roused by this publica-
tion. The Duke of Prussia expostulated with Luther : the
Elector of Brandenburg complained to John Frederic : even
the Landgrave of Hesse reprobated Luther's vehemence. " It
is not meet," John Erederic replied to the Landgrave, ' ' either
to forget Luther's merits, or the demerits of the Elector of
Mentz." The Reformer, in his defence, quoted the saying of
a prince of the house of Brandenburg, that he would not
acknowledge the Archbishop as a kinsman. The affair was
closed by Lemnius being formally expelled from the University,
312 THE LTFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1538. and a mild admonition from the Elector to Luther to use
more caution in his censures for the future.
The Mantuan Council had been first prorogued on the ground
that the Duke of Mantua would not allow the Pope any legal
jurisdiction in his city, and then had been transferred to
Vicenza, where, at last, in the summer of 1538, three cardinals
made their appearance. Luther's incredulity of the Pope's sin-
cerity continued as strong as ever. It could not, however, be
disguised that the proclamation of a council by Paul III., and
the rejection of it by the Protestants, had changed the relation
in which the latter stood to the Emperor. The Nuremberg
peace had only been provisional, till a council should be sum-
moned. The peace of Cadan had not even been assented to
by Charles himself, but was simply an agreement between the
Schmalkald allies and Ferdinand. At the same time, there-
fore, that the Protestants had repudiated the proposed council,
they had defied the power not only of Rome, but of the
Emperor; and allowing that the whole business of the council
should begin and end in duplicity, still the crisis was an im-
portant one for the Reformation. Under these circumstances
a meeting of the Schmalkald allies was held at Brunswick
towards the end of March, to deliberate on topics of common
interest, and to take into consideration the demands of the
Emperor for assistance against the Turks, who were still
hovering on the Austrian frontiers, and in the preceding year
had inflicted a decisive defeat on Ferdinand. Luther deputed
Dr. Jonas as his representative to this convention ; but he
had given his own opinion very decidedly to the Elector that
the Emperor's demand ought to be complied with. " His
Grace," he said, " must consider the poor multitude exposed
to the fury of the Turks, and it could not be expected the
Papist arms alone would have any good fortune, unless his
succours should go with them, as Jehoshaphat went with the
THE LIKE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 313
army of Ahab : his conscience would smite hini to leave his 1538.
brethren to suffer ; they ought rather, like good comrades —
man and wife, father and children — to bear the sweet and
the sour together, and God would know how to find his own
even in death." But such advice was far from being accept-
able to the Schmalkald allies ; they looked around and saw
danger on every side, and determined to send .fresh embassies
to the kings of England and France, to enlist their support
and co-operation in withstanding the designs of the Emperor
and Pontiff.
At the same time the Papists were not idle. They met
first at Nuremberg, and then at Spires ; and under the fos-
tering wing of the Vice-Chancellor Held, framed a holy league
which was signed at Nuremberg the 10th June. Henry Duke
of Brunswick was appointed leader of this league in Lower,
and the Dukes of Bavaria in Upper Germany; its objects
specifically embraced mutual assistance to prevent the evan-
gelical doctrines from entering the dominions of any of its
members ; although intended to be kept a profound secret, it
soon transpired, and added to the alarm of the Protestants.
Another and a yet greater danger seemed to threaten the Pro-
testants from the reconciliation which took place about the
same time between the Emperor and the French monarch.
Paul III., besides his pretensions to reforming the Papacy —
although, as Luther said, "he made war on warts and
neglected ulcers," — was ambitious of the scarce inferior merit
of being the peace-maker of Christendom. He negotiated
with both Francis and Charles ; made arrangements for a
meeting between them in his own presence at Nice; and early
in the summer, notwithstanding his advanced age, repaired
thither himself, and laboured to persuade the rival monarchs
to accord one another the meeting. His persuasions were
without effect, but he discussed the matters in dispute first
314 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1538. with one and then with the other — carried to and fro propo-
sitions, objections, and solutions, and by dint of unwearying
zeal succeeded, before the end of June, in effecting a reconci-
liation. Shortly afterwards the ship in which Charles was
sailing for Spain was driven on the coast of France, and
Francis, seizing the opportunity of displaying his fearless
gallantry, without an instant's hesitation paid a visit to the
Emperor on board his ship, who, in return, was entertained
by Francis, at Aigues-mortes ; and, by a continued reciprocity
of courtesies, the pacification of Nice seemed to acquire the
stability of personal friendship, Towards the end of the year
Charles took advantage of the generous and kind feelings of
the French king, and made a direct journey through his terri-
tories to the Low Countries, where the city of Ghent was in
revolt. His entire route resembled a triumphal procession ;
his entertainment in Paris was in the most lavish style of the
magnificence of that age, and he on his part was profuse in
his professions of cordiality, and promised the king's second
son the investiture of the duchy of Milan. When, however,
Ghent had been humbled, and the Low Countries secured,
Charles turned round on his too credulous rival, and denied
that he had made a promise which it so ill-suited his suc-
cessful ambition to fulfil. The old rancour of Francis was
now inflamed to a higher pitch than ever : his wounded pride
chafed at the thought of his simplicity and generosity being
publicly made the dupe to craft and falsehood.
1539. At the beginning of the next year, a meeting of the Sehmal-
kald allies was held at Frankfort, and the Elector Palatine and
the Elector of Brandenburg acted as mediators between the
Protestants and the Imperial ambassador. The clouds that
had hovered round the fortunes of the Reformation were
again blown away for a time : Charles was no longer in a con-
dition to rouse the turbulence of his German subjects. After
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 315
a discussion of two months it was at length arranged that the 1539.
Nuremberg peace should be extended for fifteen months
longer, within which period chosen theologians from either
side should meet at Nuremberg to adjust religious differences;
and the proceedings before the Imperial Chamber, which had
hitherto continued without intermission, Avere to be sus-
pended; and a diet was to assemble at Worms, to consider the
best means of opposing the Turks, against whom the Pro-
testants engaged to send their contingents. If the Emperor
failed to ratify these Articles within six months, the Nurem-
berg peace was to remain in force in its literal sense, but
during the six months no new members were to be enrolled
in the Schmalkald Confederation. Paul III. was indignant
at these Frankfort Articles : besides the reluctance with which
he witnessed any approach to a reconciliation between the
Emperor and the Protestants, a conference of learned men to
settle questions of religion was tacitly to ignore the Papacy ;
and no mention whatever had been made of the Council.
The Pope, therefore, used all his influence with Charles to
prevent the ratification of the Articles, and required him to
proclaim a Diet to avoid the proposed theological discussion.
Charles, however, had his own ends in view; and his policy
was to temporize, and to keep both the Pope and Protestants,
as far as could be, in good humour. From this period, how-
ever, there is a marked change in the manner in which
Luther speaks of the Emperor. When war seemed probable,
the old question of the lawfulness of resisting the Emperor
had been revived. Luther would not exactly say in down-
right terms that resistance was lawful, but he distinguished
between the Emperor acting as Emperor, and the Emperor
acting as the soldier and freebooter of the Pope. " If," he
said, " the Emperor mixes himself up with the warfare of
the Turks and the Pope, he must himself look to the conse-
316 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1539. quences." He continued : " The Emperor is not absolute ;
he governs Germany in conjunction with the Princes, and if
he attempt to depose the Electors and govern alone, such an
infringement of the law is not to be borne." Of Charles
himself he spoke as follows : " He is imbued with the faith
of the Pope, the Cardinals, Italians, Spaniards, and Saracens;
he is a perfidious and treacherous man, and no German."
Luther had never said so much before.
Meantime, two days before the arrangement of the Frank-
fort truce, George Duke of Saxony had expired in his sixty-
eighth year, and his death, particularly at such a time, was felt
as a severe blow by the Romanist faction. His last years had
been clouded by domestic sorrow. In 1534 his wife had died
and his daughter. His son Duke John had disappointed the
hopes which the Landgrave, to whose sister he was married,
had at one time conceived of him, and was not only treading
in his father's steps as a bigoted Papist, but promised even to
surpass him in virulent hatred of the Gospel. " Give this
message to Luther from me," he said to Luke Cranach, the
painter, " that if he has found my father iron, he shall find
me steel." On receiving this message Luther loudly laughed,
and replied, " Tell Duke John to engross his mind with one
thought, how his soul may be saved ; for I am well assured
he will never survive his father." The current superstition
declared, as Luther was wont to say of himself, "My predic-
tions do not often turn out false," and the words of the
Reformer fell on the ears of Duke John as his death knell.
Shortly afterwards his health sank under a long-continued
habit of intoxication, and he died in his thirty-ninth year.
Duke John was childless, but another son, Frederic, remained
to Duke George ; whom, notwithstanding his being of imbe-
cile mind, he married to the daughter of Ernest Count of
Jan. 27. Mansfeld, and in January, 1539, solemnised the nuptials at
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 317
Dresden with " bacchanalian rejoicings." But in less than 1539.
a month the wedding of the young Duke was succeeded by
his death. Duke George fondly clung to the hope that his
widow might prove pregnant ; when that was found to be
delusive, his health, which had for some time been declining,
rapidly sank under the accumulation of trials, and, feeling
his own end to be near, he turned to the project of stipulat-
ing with his brother to bequeath him his dominions, on the
condition that he should return to the Romish faith. Coun-
cillors were despatched to Duke Henry with this proposal.
" Here is Satan," Duke Henry remarked, " proffering me all
the kingdoms of the earth, if I will fall down and worship
him." The dying Duke now resolved to devise his dominions
to the Emperor and King Ferdinand. A will to this effect
was prepared and brought to him for his signature, but the April 17.
stroke of death had come beforehand, and he could only
faintly articulate the word "chancellor" as that officer appeared
with the document in his hand. When he was evidently
dying, a priest had exhorted him to call on St. James.
" Call rather," said John Lindenau and Frederic GElsnitz,
two noblemen who stood by his bedside, " on Jesus Christ the
only Saviour." The Duke raised his eyes to heaven : " Help,
thou true Saviour Jesus Christ : pity me : save me by thy
bitter sufferings and thy death."
Luther had predicted "Duke George does not cease to
persecute the Word of God, he gets worse and worse ; but I
shall live to see his whole branch rooted out, and after that
shall preach the Gospel at Leipsic." The evening of the
Duke's death Duke Henry entered Dresden. The people
came out to meet him bearing torch lights, and thronged
round his carriage with so much eagerness that the servants
could not approach to help him to alight. Never had there
been such rejoicing in Dresden. Luther himself preached the
318 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1539. first evangelical sermon at Leipsic on Whitsunday eve, in the
May 24. presence of Duke Henry and his cousin John Frederic, in
the very castle of Pleissenberg in which twenty years before
he had disputed on the eve of the Reformation with Dr.
Eck. He was in very feeble health, and told his crowded
audience that he was weak in his head, and therefore could
not trust himself to say much, but should keep to the text of
the Gospel, which would be read on the morrow. The fol-
lowing Whit Sunday Luther was too ill to preach in the
morning ; so Dr. Jonas became his substitute : but he
preached in the afternoon in St. Thomas' Church to an im-
mense audience ; even the window-ledges being thronged with
listeners. And the next day the Duke and the Elector from
Leipsic proceeded to Grim ma, taking Luther with them in
their carriage. The advice which the Reformer gave Duke
Henry was to interdict the private mass in the monasteries,
but to tolerate the existing monks until they should either
voluntarily leave their convents or die out : he earnestly ex-
horted him to institute a visitation throughout his territories,
and as Duke Henry himself was old and weak, he made appli-
cation to Catherine his duchess to urge him on in this work.
The Bishops of Merseburg and Meissen claimed the right of
instituting a visitation as exclusively belonging to the Epis-
copal office ; but Luther's influence prevailed. In July and
August a visitation was made through the Duke's dominions
in Misnia and Thuringia; the Augsburg Confession and
Apology were made the standards of doctrine, and the evan-
gelical Church system was everywhere established. The po-
pulace were found to be favourable to the Gospel, but many
of the nobles opposed it, and after all the efforts of Luther,
" five hundred poisonous Papists," as he complained, were
left in their parsonages. His time and attention were en-
grossed in finding fit persons for the vacant cures, and he
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 319
pressed for a second visitation to provide more effectually for 1539.
the pure preaching of the Word of God.
These events told with great effect beyond the circle of the
Duke of Saxony's dominions. The net-work of the holy
league was broken when it was only just woven, so that
Henry of Brunswick exclaimed — "1 had rather God in
heaven should have died than Duke George." King Fer-
dinand demanded that Lutheranism should not be estab-
lished by the new Duke against his brother's known wish :
the Emperor hinted at making good any defects in the will
which had been framed, though not signed, by his own
arbitrary power. At such a season the support of the
Schmalkald league proved of momentous service; and the
fact that Duke Henry could be furnished with an effective
army at the smallest possible notice, kept Ferdinand in check,
and turned the Emperor's threat into idle jest. Even Luther's
words were warlike : " If," said he, " they blow too hard at
the fire, the sparks will fly in their faces." He was not with-
out apprehensions of an outburst of intestine war. "The
grapes and figs," he said, " which grow on that goodly tree,
Papal holiness, are lies, deceit, and murder." And he addressed
a circular letter to the clergy, requesting them to offer up
prayers against the Turk, and that the Almighty would ward
off from the land the horrors of a religious war.
Another important event rapidly followed the establishment
of the Reformation in the Duchy of Saxony. Joachim II.,
the youthful Elector of Brandenburg, had been trained in the
most rigidly Roman creed. His first wife had been the daugh-
ter of Duke George of Saxony, and after her death he had
espoused a princess of Poland. But on one occasion he had
seized the opportunity, when he happened to be at Witten-
berg, to hear Luther preach. He expressed his admiration
with enthusiasm ; and his mother's conversion and the harsh
320 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1539. treatment to which it had exposed her, added their weight to
the bias thus given him towards the Reformation. On his
father's decease he seemed to vacillate in his religious opinions
for some time, notwithstanding the majority of his subjects
were already Lutherans. But on the last day of October, he
publicly received the Sacrament in both kinds, with his court
and many of his nobility, in the Castle church at Berlin ; and
the next day the citizens of Berlin, in great crowds, followed
his example, and received the Sacrament after the Evangelical
mode, in the church of St. Nicholas. This public avowal was
the signal for ecclesiastical changes throughout the Electorate.
A visitation was set on foot, and a f* Church Ordering" was
prepared and submitted to Luther for his judgment, who,
however, was unable to give it his decided approval. In all
points of doctrine there was a thorough agreement with the
Evangelical teaching; but in ceremonies and rites, as little
deviation as possible was made from the Romish customs.
Thus the Brandenburg Reformation showed a lingering ten-
dency to Rome, as the Reformation of Wurtemberg and Hesse
showed a leaning to Switzerland ; and with similar caution
the Elector Joachim himself kept aloof from the Schmalkald
Alliance, and took up a middle position between the Princes
of the Evangelical and the Romanist parties.
About this time, also, the irresistible tide of opinion over-
came the bigotry of the Archbishop of Mentz, and in requital
for some pecuniary indulgences, he granted to the inha-
bitants of his Magdeburg and Halberstadt dioceses the
liberty of worshipping God according to their conscience. All
these changes in Germany, showed the increase of Protestant
influence just at a crisis when a religious war seemed immi-
nent. Nor was there on the part of the Romanist princes
any of that alertness which would have encouraged the Em-
peror and Ferdinand to engage in a struggle with a closely
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 321
united confederacy. At the Diet of Worms, which was held 1539.
in June, the opposition to levying troops against the Turks
was even led by the Romanist party. Moreover, the council,
which had been transferred to Vicenza, was now indefinitely
prorogued. And although Henry of England, whom Luther
accused of wishing to c ' make a religion of his own, for his own
ends, like Antiochus," could not be induced, by an embassage
despatched to him by the German Protestants, to concur in
the Evangelical doctrines, so as to become Protector of the
Alliance, — and indeed by the disgrace and fall of Cromwel,
and through the charms of Catherine Howard, the progress of
the Reformation was much impeded in England — yet it was, on
the whole, with greatly augmented confidence, that the Evan-
gelical States met at Arnstadt towards the end of November,
and determined on sending an embassy to Charles to implore
the ratification of the Frankfort truce, and the appointment
of the conference of learned men, for the settlement of
religious differences.
Luther enjoyed this year, considering his age and infirmi-
ties, more than his customary health, and produced a work on
" Councils and the Church," which exhausted its subject, and
may be ranked amongst his most valuable writings. " The
sign of a true Church," he stated, " was, above all, the posses-
sion of the pure word of God, on which the right use of the
Sacraments, the. power of the keys, the ordination of mini-
sters, the efficacy of prayer, all depended. As Nicolas Lyra
had affirmed, the Church did not consist of prelates, but of
real believers. If the decrees of councils were really binding,
then, he said, according to the decree of the first Apostolic
Council, nothing ought to be eaten with the blood, nor which
had been strangled. But the contrary custom was universal
among Christians ; and the seven years of penance enjoined
by the Council of Nice, and the prohibition of becoming a
VOL. II. Y
322 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1539. soldier after baptism, had equally fallen into disuse. And, in-
stead of the Pope having power to convoke a council, the true
office of a council would be to put down the tyranny which
the Pope had usurped." In many respects the year was one
of great trial : in the spring a scarcity, which was severely
felt at Wittenberg, prevailed throughout Germany ; a terri-
ble frost, which continued as late as the beginning of May,
bound up the rivers, and kept the water-mills at a stand-still,
whilst the nobility and landowners, to aggravate prices yet
further, held back the corn. So deep and wide-spread was the
distress, that the famine-prices drove the poorer students of
Wittenberg from the University. Luther came forward in this
exigency, sharply reproved the avaricious corn-holders, and
made application to John Frederic to throw open hi3 stores
for the relief of his famishing subjects, and to check the cu-
pidity of his nobles by legislative enactments. " Dear Doc-
tor," the Elector replied, " divide whatever is mine with
me." In the autumn the plague followed in the footprints
of famine, which, although not so general as in some previous
years, proved most fatal wherever it fell. Dr. Jonas fled
before its approach. Luther, as ever, walked amidst the
ravages of disease, invisibly shielded against harm. But an
accident, which must have been attended with fatal con-
sequences, had nearly befallen himself and Kate. He had
built a new cellar, and having paid it a visit of inspection
with Kate, had just come up the steps, when the brickwork
fell in behind him. This new cellar seems to have been part
of a series of improvements carrying on in the old convent ;
and this is one, amongst other signs, of Luther's more flourish-
ing pecuniary circumstances. About this time, the estate, or
farm, of Zuhlsdorf, near Borna, came into his possession, pro-
bably by purchase, and was intended as a retreat for Kate in
her approaching days of widowhood ; and she forthwith en-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 323
tered on her duties as mistress, and took the greatest interest 1539.
in superintending her new property. His own decease was
anticipated by Luther with increasing eagerness, in propor-
tion as the time seemed to draw nearer. It is related, that,
during a visit which he paid in June to the aged Margravine
of Brandenburg at Lichtenberg, the conversation at supper
fell on longevity. " Dear Doctor," said the Margravine, " I
hope and trust that you will live long ; you may live forty
years yet, if it be God's will." "Alas!" Luther replied,
' ' might I have my wish, it would be a short happy hour, and
to be gone."
The Deputation, sent by the Protestants to the Emperor, 15 ^q
had an interview with Charles at Ghent on the 24th February,
and although courteously received and dismissed, failed to
obtain the ratification of the Frankfort truce. They brought
back the Imperial answer to the allies, who met again at
Schmalkakl, together with their theologians. But Luther was
excused from attendance by the Elector, on account of his age
and infirmities. And this exemption proved a great boon to him
under the dangerous illness of Kate from fever at this period.
When all others despaired of her life, Luther persisted in de-
manding her from God, and by the power of his prayers she was
snatched from the jaws of death. Luther speaks of her recovery
as a resurrection and a miracle. On the 5th March, he wrote
that she was just able to creep about at last upon her hands.
"My lord Kate," he wrote to Melancthon, "salutes you
reverently, and sends her thanks that you left me at home."
Luther himself was not free from the old complaint of the
violent ringing in the head, and suffered increasingly from
weakness. He showed other signs of the advance of age : he
was fond of dilating on past scenes; and gave his friends at his
table, Mathesius says, a full and most interesting account of
the famous Diet of Worms. He still continued to lecture, as
y 2
324 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1540. his strength would allow, on the book of Genesis ; and this
year is memorable for another revision of the German Bible,
which was completed in the course of two years with con-
siderable improvements, and made the third revised copy of
Luther's version.* With incredible joy Luther heard in the
autumn of the martyrdom of his old friend Robert Barnes,
or Anthony the Englishman, as he was called at Wittenberg,
who had been the chief agent of Thomas Cromwel in his cor-
respondence with the Germans, and after Cromwel's execu-
tion was burnt at Smithfield for heresy, together with Jerome
and Gerrard, by the arbitrary " King Heinz." " Thanks,
praise, and honour to God," Luther exclaimed, " that in our
time we have seen and heard of Christians led to martyrdom,
that is, made saints in heaven, from among those who have
eaten and drunk with us. To think that Christ our Lord
should be so nigh to us, in our house, and at our board, —
should eat, drink, speak, and live with us, by his dear martyrs
and precious saints !"
The exclamation had fallen from Melancthon's lips as he
quitted Wittenberg for Schmalkald, "We have lived amid
conferences, and we shall die amid them." His mind was
extremely depressed by an event, reluctantly acquiesced in by
Luther and himself, but fraught with latent evil to the Refor-
mation — the second marriage of Philip of Hesse whilst his
first wife, who had borne him several children, was still living.
The conduct of Luther and his colleagues in this notorious
case of bigamy has ever been regarded as the greatest blot
* Three copies on parchment, on each of which 340 skins were
expended, were printed for the Princes of Anhalt : a magnificent
copy on median paper was presented to John Frederic. Luther was
obliged to complain to the Elector of the injustice of a publisher at
Leipsic, who, now that the Reformation was established there, turned
from issuing Romanist tracts to the more lucrative employment of
printing the German Bible.
THE LIFE OF .MARTIN LUTHER. 325
upon their characters. Philip of Hesse had sent Bucer to 1540.
them, with a written petition demanding permission to marry
a second wife in the lifetime of the first, and with directions
to make a private viva voce statement of the urgent reasons
which impelled him to such an irregular step. These reasons
were made known to Luther and Melancthon under the seal
of the confessional, and they have not transpired, except that
the Landgrave charged the Landgravine, a daughter of Duke
George, with drunkenness, from which, and from other causes,
her person had become so offensive to him that he had long
been leading an impure life, from which, out of concern for
his soul's salvation, he was most anxious to be delivered.
The epistle, addressed by the theologians to the Landgrave
in reply to his petition, began with warning him that the
Divine appointment of marriage from the beginning restricted
the union to one wife : " they twain shall be one flesh ;" a
restriction which had been expressly reinforced by the Saviour
himself. Cogent arguments were added why the Landgrave
should assent to this universal law. Then came the admis-
sion, according to the views consistently maintained and pro-
fessed by Luther and Melancthon in their other writings,
that peculiar circumstances might warrant a special dispen-
sation. It was matter of joy that the Prince of Hesse was
grieved at his past life of impurity and adultery, which the
most terrible judgments of Heaven never failed to visit. And
after such a preamble, the permission sought was granted, on
condition that the double marriage should be kept a profound
secret, to prevent scandal, as well as to preclude such an
exceptional case being strained into a precedent. The be-
haviour of the theologians is the more exposed to censure,
because John Frederic, with unflinching straightforwardness,
condemned the proceedings of Philip of Hesse without the
least reservation.
326 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1540. From the conference at Schinalkald Melancthon, with his
mind full of fears and solicitude, passed to Rotenburg,
and there attended the private nuptials of Philip of Hesse
March 3. with Margaret Von Sala. Rumours of this transaction soon
became rife, notwithstanding Luther's precautions and admo-
nitions to all those concerned in the matter to use the strictest
secresy . Margaret had been maid of honour to the Landgrave's
sister, the widow of Duke John, at Rochlitz, where Philip
had seen her, and had become deeply enamoured at the very first
sight. The Landgrave's sister was indignant at the marriage.
His first wife, Christina, had given her sanction to this second
union, but her kinsmen were exasperated by it. Duke Henry
of Saxony, her uncle, and the Elector of Brandenburg her
brother-in-law, both took up her cause with ardour. But this
was far from being the worst, for Henry of Brunswick and the
Papists saw their own advantage in this flagrant transaction,
and were resolved to extract from it some service to Popery.
And it was impossible to predict what influence the affair might
have in a country like Germany, split up into a number of
jealous principalities. The Landgrave himself was not without
apprehensions of serious consequences ; and, with a view to
securing aid should any attack be made upon his dominions,
prevailed upon the Protestants to hold a deliberation at
Eisenach, in which he was successful in obtaining a conditional
promise of assistance from his allies.
Melancthon was on his way to the scene of these delibera-
tions when, brooding over this unhappy affair, his fears and
scruples brought on a sickness just as he had reached Weimar,
which laid him nigh to death's door. Intelligence of his state
was conveyed to Wittenberg, and Luther, in the Elector's
July 2. carriage, hastened to Weimar. He found Philip, on his
arrival, apparently all but dead; understanding, speech, and
hearing had left him, his countenance was hollow and sunk,
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 327
his eves closed, and he seemed in a death-like sleep. Luther 1540.
expressed his astonishment to the companions of his journey,
" How shamefully has the devil handled this creature \" and
then, according to his custom, turning to the window, he
prayed with all his might. He reminded God of his promises
from the Holy Scriptures, and implored him now to fulfil them,
or he could never trust in them again. Rising from prayer
he took Melancthon's hand, and called to him in a cheerful
tone, " Take heart, Philip : you shall not die. God has reason
enough to kill you, but f He willeth not the death of the
sinner, but rather that he should repent and be saved. 5 He
desires life, not death. The greatest sinners that ever lived on
earth — Adam and Eve — were accepted of God in his grace;
far less will he give you up, Philip, and let you perish in your
sins and faintheartedness. Give no room to despondency : be
not your own murderer; but throw yourself on your Lord,
who killeth and maketh alive/ 5 At these words Melancthon
evinced a sudden restoration, as though from death to life;
he drew his breath with energy; and after a while turning
his face to Luther, implored him "not to stay him; he was
on a good journey; and nothing better could befall him. 5 '
Luther replied, "Not so, Philip, you must serve our Lord
God yet longer. 55 And when Melancthon had gradually
become more cheerful, Luther, with his own hands, brought
him something to eat, and overruled his repugnance with the
threat, f ' Hark, Philip, you shall eat, or I excommunicate
you. 55 The beginning of the next year Luther's intimate
friend Myconius seemed rapidly sinking in a consumption,
and wrote the Reformer word that he "was sick, not for
death, but for life; 55 but Luther prayed fervently that
"Myconius might not pass through the veil to rest, whilst
he was left out-of-doors amid the devils, 55 and wrote to his
friend that he felt certain his prayers would be heard, and
328 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1540. by God's mercy his days would be lengthened, so that he
would be his survivor. Myconius was raised up again from
the brink of the grave, and eventually outlived Luther seven
weeks.
July 10. From Weimar, Luther travelled on to Eisenach, where his
presence was of essential service in determining the Elector's
policy as to the Landgrave's unhappy affair. Luther lodged
with Justus Menius, and had Amsdorf as a fellow guest, a
meeting which raised his spirits to a high pitch, as is evinced by
his letters to Kate. " We are here," he wrote to her on the
16th July, " brisk and sound. We eat like the Bohemians, yet
not over much ; we drink like the Germans, yet not too hard :
we are, however, merry. Master Philip is well again, God be
praised ! Hereby I commend you to God. Amen. And let
the children pray. There is such heat and drought here day
and night as is intolerable. O come, dear last day ! amen."
Ten days later, he wrote to Kate, " See that I find a good
drink of beer on my return. If God will, on Tuesday morn-
ing we shall be at Wittenberg. We have brought Master
Philip out of hell with joy, and, by God's grace, shall bring him
home. The devil is full of wrath, and does scandalous deeds.
More than a thousand acres of wood in the Thuringian forest,
belonging to my good lord, are now burning. The forest by
Werda has also taken fire; and so in many other places : the
flames cannot be put out. This will make wood dear. Pray
against the pestilent Satan, who would harm us not only in
body and soul, but also in goods and substance. Christ our
Lord ! come from heaven and blow up such a fire against him
as shall never be quenched !" This letter bore the address,
"Eor the hands of the rich dame of Zuhlsdorf, Doctoress
Catherine Lutherin, bodily dwelling at Wittenberg, spiri-
tually at Zuhlsdorf, my beloved. In her absence, to be opened
by Dr. Bugenhagen, parson." A letter from Luther to
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 329
Menius, on his return, thanked him very warmly for his hospi- 1540.
table entertainment, and mentioned particularly the amuse-
ment he had found in teaching his son Timothy to seize
nuts ; the antics of the little urchin alone had afforded him
delight enough.
The answer of the Schmalkald Allies to the Imperial reply
had failed to obtain from the Emperor a ratification of the
Frankfort truce, but prevailed upon him to appoint a confer-
ence of learned divines, to meet at Spires ; but as the plague
was ravaging that city, Hagenau, by the command of Ferdi-
nand, was substituted as the place of meeting. This con-
ference was opened in the middle of June. The subjects of dis-
pute had been divided by Luther under three heads : the first
comprising doctrinal questions; the second, such points of
discipline and ceremonial as were not indifferent ; the third,
such points of discipline and ceremonial as were indifferent.
But Luther had no confidence in any attempt at reconcilia-
tion, and complained, " We have dallied long enough with
Satan and his papists." Melancthon could not be present ;
and neither the Elector of Saxony nor the Landgrave deemed
it worth while to proceed to Hagenau ; and as Ferdinand
himself was anxious to make a fresh attempt on Hungary
which by the death of John the Waywode had fallen to a
child, he readily seized on the absence of the Protestant
princes as a pretext for adjourning proceedings to another
conference, to be held at Worms in the autumn. The con-
ference at Worms was opened in November ; and Granvella,
who had now displaced Held, was the Imperial representative.
Fears were entertained that the Elector Palatine and the
Elector of Brandenburg, who were in the Protestant body
much what Contareni's party were in the Romanist, might
be disposed to make undue concessions; and accordingly
Luther and the Saxon theologians being convened before the
330 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1540. Elector, came to the resolution that whatever other Evangelical
States might admit, they would never concede the primacy of
the Pope. The discussions were carried on first by eleven
theologians on either side, and then by one against one — the
stalwart Eck against the fragile Melancthon, the second contest,
the Lutherans said, of Goliath with David. This conference
at Worms was preliminary to the proposed final settlement
of religious differences in the Diet which had been sura-
1541. moned to meet at Ratisbon in the following January ; and
when the discussions had been protracted till the middle
of January, an adjournment was made by Imperial rescript
to the coming Diet, without a single step in advance having
been gained.
The Elector of Saxony was earnestly requested by the Em-
peror to be present in person at the Ratisbon Diet ; but he
was advised by Luther to remain at home, as being "the
Prince whom, of all on earth, the devil would be most glad
to catch in his toils •" and among those at Ratisbon would be
the Archbishop of Mentz and Henry of Brunswick, who, of
all the rulers of the earth, approached the nearest to Satan.
The Elector complied with this advice, and remained in
Saxony. Luther's mind was full of anxiety for Melancthon,
whom he warned to beware what he ate and drank, for
rumours of the deadly effect of the Papist poison-bowl were
in every mouth ; and such catastrophes, as well as the incen-
diary fires which had become common, were attributed to
emissaries of the Elector of Mentz or the Duke of Brunswick.
" If Christ and Satan can really be made to agree," Luther
complained, " it might surely be done much nearer home, and
just as well at Torgau as at Ratisbon." On the other hand, the
Landgrave anticipated much from the Diet ; and Bucer, whom
the Prince of Hesse held in leading-strings, spoke of " neutral
ground." Luther was indignant, — the more so because he had
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 331
now discovered that the representations of the Landgrave in 1541.
his demand for a double marriage had been, for the most part,
false. " The Landgrave," said he, " has deceived us foully ;
but he shall never deceive me again." But the Elector of
Brandenburg went far beyond the Landgrave, and in his
journey to Batisbon passed through Wittenberg, and showed
Luther a book, which formed the basis of the subsequent
deliberations, and was probably the production of Witzel,
framed on the principle of reconciling doctrines by giving to
them one half a papistical and the other half a Lutheran ex-
planation. Luther returned the book, with the observation,
" It is the Misnian Reformation of Duke George." Whilst
thus one wing of the Protestant army seemed to be approach-
ing one wing of the Papist army, John Frederic was dejected
by the prospect presented by the deliberations, and composed
a letter to Melancthon, forbidding him to recede not only
from the sense, but even from the wording of the Augsburg
Confession : and when in the article of Justification some
slight deviation was made, he wrote in a style of such
severity, that Luther implored him to moderate his tone, or
he would " kill Philip." Yet Luther himself had never been
more decided. " The Elector of Brandenburg and Bucer,"
he said, "invert the order of the petitions in the Lord's
Prayer. They pray for bread and peace before they pray
that God's name may be hallowed, His kingdom come, and
His will be done. The cause is treated as though it were
the cause of the Emperor, or of Ferdinand, or the Turk :
on the contrary, it is God's cause. On the one side stand
God and the hosts of heaven, on the other Satan and all his
angels. And rather than that worldly policy should be
suffered to interfere, I should prefer to be placed alone again,
as I was at Worms."
The Diet was opened on the 5th April, and shortly after-
332 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1541. wards Julius Pflug, John Eck, and John Gropper on the
Romanist side, and Melancthon, Bucer, and John Pistor on
the Protestant, were appointed to the task of reconciling
religious differences, and the Elector of Brandenburg's book
was placed in their hands. The path of adjustment was much
smoothed by the absence of Eck, soon after the contest began,
by a severe attack of fever. Before June agreement had
been attained on four Articles, one of which was the doctrine
of Justification. The Conference agreed that " man is justi-
fied in the sight of God by a living and efficacious faith."
With this explanation the Elector of Saxony was dissatisfied ;
and Luther at once saw the drift of the Papists. " The defi-
nition/' he said, " is quite true ; but it is inaccurate, for it
confounds passive and active justification. It is one question
how we are justified, and another question how we shall act
when we are so justified : a schoolboy can understand the
difference." But Luther did not deem the inaccuracy of
sufficient moment to warrant serious animadversion, the
more so as the Emperor had declared that the admission of
the collocutors should not be binding on their respective
parties.
By a continuous correspondence with Melancthon, Luther
was kept well informed of the progress of the discussion. He
was also further himself drawn into the polemical arena.
Henry of Brunswick, " that murderous incendiary," had pub-
lished a severe libel against the Elector of Saxony, and, amidst
more bitter accusations, charged him with making Luther
his idol, or second God, although the Reformer laughed at
his patron in his sleeve, and in allusion to his portly figure
was wont to call him his Jack-sausage [Hans Wursf) . Luther,
in reply, addressed the real Hans Wurst, the Duke of Bruns-
wick himself, in a satirical piece, in which, however, he took
care to intersperse much profitable instruction about "the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 333
New Church built to the devil," or Popery, and the " Old 1541.
Church to which the Evangelicals had returned," and an-
swered his personal calumnies in one brief sentence — " Satan,
thou liest ! " " The book of Heinz was a right copy and
formula, extracted from the devil's chancery." He defended
John Frederic as a pattern to the German nobility, and
spoke of his fine person, well covered with flesh, as " God's
gift :"" the Duke of Brunswick, on the other hand, was a
murderer, like Judas; a blasphemer, who imagined God to
be asleep. This publication had scarcely appeared, when
the Reformer was seized with a most violent attack of
the giddiness and ringing in the head, clots of matter and
blood exuded from his ears, and he underwent acute pain.
The Elector sent him his own physician; and after some
weeks he again rallied. It is another striking proof of the
regard entertained for Luther by his prince, that about this
period a letter was addressed to Johnny Luther by the
Elector's sons, John Frederic and John William; to which
the Reformer himself sent an immediate reply, and, to enhance
the compliment, in Latin ; and Johnny's answer, which re-
quired more time, was to follow.
After something like doctrinal agreement on the main points
had been attained at Ratisbon, the discussion proceeded to
the Lord's Supper, the marriage of the clergy, and the Pope's
primacy ; but on these no approach could be made to
harmony. But one day towards the end of May, the Elector
Palatine entered the apartment of the Emperor, who was re-
posing on a couch, under an attack of the gout, and informed
his Majesty that he was not without hopes that unity might
yet be restored. Charles, raising himself on the couch, laid his
hand on the Elector's breast as he replied, " Indeed ! then you
are a bearer of good news." The Elector Palatine then ex-
plained his scheme, which was to send an express embassy to
334 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1541. Luther himself, to request his co-operation, and the use of his
paramount influence with the Evangelical party for the in-
valuable attainment of concord. Prince John of Anhalt,
whose son had been baptized by the Reformer at Dessau just
before the departure of the Prince for Ratisbon, was ap-
pointed the bearer of this urgent entreaty, and two theolo-
gians were assigned him as comrades. Letters were de-
spatched to the Elector of Saxony, which reached Wittenberg
on the 7th June, and on the 10th John Frederic removed
thither, both to entertain the ambassadors, and to bear his
share in the deliberations. The ambassadors had a specious
ground to hope for success. Luther had been the first to re-
proclaim the evangelical faith : his preaching had caused
divisions, to his deep regret, which it was now in his power to
heal, without any injury, it would seem, to doctrinal verities.
Romanists and Protestants were one on essential questions ;
and Luther had always maintained that if true doctrine were
inculcated, ceremonies and Church discipline would naturally
fall into the right train. All Germany was, as it were,
standing at the door of the Augustine Convent, to implore
the boon of religious union. But Luther was not to be im-
posed upon by appearances. His answer dwelt first on his
zeal for unity, which was fully shared by the Protestant
Princes, for they had patiently endured persecution, incendiary
fires, and every kind of indignity. But unity was a mere pre-
tence, unless the Romanists were ready to yield to God and
to truth : as it was, they were dealing fraudulently. If in
reality they agreed with the Protestants in doctrine, they
must also agree with them on the Lord's Supper and the
other Articles, on which disunion remained ; for such articles
were only deductions from essential doctrine. The conclusion
of the Conference on Justification — the only article which he
had seen — he could not entirely approve of. That truth of
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 335
doctrine must ever lead to truth in usage, only applied to those 1541.
who sincerely desired to obey God, but were as yet weak in
faith ; it did not apply to those who had heard the Word of
God for a long series of years, and had been labouring to
quench its voice in rivers of blood. By the terms of the
Conference the acts of the Collocutors were referred to the
States : this was agreeable to the Evangelical party, and he
could not separate himself from their united verdict. The
book which had been the basis of proceedings was afterwards
sent to him ; he found it to be the same as had before been
shown to him by the Elector of Brandenburg, and replied
that "it was the old device; as the proverb said, ' the snow
that fell last year/ "
The Elector of Brandenburg, however, still clung to the
hope of reconciliation ; but the two religious parties could
not be drawn an inch nearer to one another. Melancthon
was complained of for the first time as obstinate. Eck, from his
sick-bed, wrote in disapprobation of the acts of his colleagues.
Contareni, as the mouthpiece of the Papal Consistory, was
obliged to express his dissatisfaction with concession. The
Recess of the Diet was published on the 29th July, and stated
that the Reformation of the Church was a matter of absolute
necessity, but must now be referred to a general or national
Council, or another meeting of the Diet. The adherents to
the Augsburg Confession were to keep within the limits of
the Articles agreed upon : no more monasteries were to be
destroyed : the monastic revenues were to be duly paid :
the Protestants were to refrain from drawing others to their
persuasion. But as this edict seemed to bear hard on the
Evangelical princes, the Emperor took care to appease their
resentment by a paper, privately communicated the same day,
in explanation of the various clauses. The Evangelicals were
to keep within the terni3 of the Articles according to their
336
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1541. interpretation by the Augsburg Confession : monasteries
must not be destroyed, but might be reformed : the revenues
of monasteries in Protestant lands, deriving endowments from
Catholic provinces, were to be duly paid : the Protestants
might receive those who spontaneously embraced the Evange-
lical faith ; and the Romanist prelates were reminded of their
gross dereliction of duty, and warned to amend their ways.
On the whole, the Ratisbon Diet was a most auspicious event
for the Reformation : it was more than a renewal of the
Nuremberg peace, or a ratification of the Frankfort truce, for
the Emperor rescinded the Augsburg decree, commanding
the Imperial Chamber to take the new edict for its rule ; and
he allowed Protestants to be eligible to seats in the Chamber.
" The Papists," Luther said, " have earned the appellation of
the New Protestants." The idea of settling religious ques-
tions by a conference of learned men, or the decision of a
Diet, was itself almost tantamount to an abnegation of Popery :
and the words of Charles were everywhere quoted, that " if
the Lutherans desisted from their efforts for an ecclesiastical
reform, he, at least, should not desist from his." With joy
did Luther welcome home Melancthon, "like Lot escaped
from Sodom." And the book which had been the ground-
work of the deliberations, and which served as the text-book
for the famous Interim enacted seven years later, was pub-
lished, with a preface from the pen of Philip, who, by the
staunchness of his adhesion to the truth at Ratisbon, had
done much to repair his character for constancy in public
estimation.
Luther removed his eyes from Ratisbon to fix them upon
the great events transacting elsewhere. In Hungary Ferdi-
nand had received a bloody defeat from Sultan Soliman, who
now seized on that kingdom, keeping the Austrian provinces
under a constant dread of invasion. " But how can I pray,"
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHElt. 337
Luther exclaimed, " for Ferdinand, when his hands are 1541.
stained with the blood of the Saints of God? I can only
implore the Lord to save whom He should save." The
Emperor, meanwhile, having passed through Italy, and laboured
to impress on the Pontiff, in a conference at Lucca, the
necessity of summoning a council, had engaged in a luckless
enterprise against Algiers. Just as he had disembarked his
forces, a violent storm had sunk many of his ships, and shat-
tered the rest, which were compelled to seek refuge near
Cape Metafuz. Thither he himself marched with his miser-
able army, without supplies, in an enemy's country; his
soldiers dropping down dead every mile of the way from
overwhelming fatigue, or the missiles of the Arabs. And
when he again embarked with the remnant of his host, a
dreadful tempest again scattered the ships, and Charles him-
self, without his fleet, put into a port of Spain. " It is the
vengeance of Heaven [" Luther said: "the guilt of innocent
blood, the horrors perpetrated at Ghent, are not forgotten.
I have conceived a hatred against the Emperor." The Re-
former was beginning to see more and more plainly that with
Charles religion was merely a question of policy. On the
side of France, also, a new cloud of war was gathering : some
ambassadors despatched by Francis to the Sultan had been
apprehended in Italy and put to death ; and the impetuous
spirit of the French monarch, fretting at the recollection of
recent perfidy, burnt with aggravated resentment to avenge
this fresh insult.
An additional source of disquiet was opened at this period in
Germany. The Bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz had died early in
the spring ; and the vacant see was filled up by the canons,
by the election of Julius Pflug, one of their number, and
also one of the Ratisbon collocutors. By ancient custom the
approval of the Elector of Saxony was required to render
VOL. II. z
338 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1541. valid the choice of the canons ; and John Frederic persisted
in refusing his sanction : he complained of Pflug as a time-
server, and said that no one could have been selected more
obnoxious to him, and he pointed out those among the
canons, the election of any one of whom he was willing to
confirm. Pflug was all this while at Katisbon ; and the Pope
postponed the period of decision for six months. After the
conference was ended, Pflug declared his acceptance of the
bishopric, and the Emperor took up his cause, and wrote to
the Elector to request his sanction ; and Pflug prepared to
press his suit in person with John Frederic. The Elector,
however, remained inflexible, and garrisoned the fortress of
Zeitz. As the canons were firmly resolved to keep to their
first election in opposition to the electoral overtures, and the
time for them to make another choice had elapsed, the
Elector came to the determination to consult his own taste in
the appointment of a bishop, and deliberated with his theolo-
gians who was the fittest person for the office. Luther pro-
posed Prince George of Anhalt, urging that bishoprics ought
to be conferred on persons of noble birth, to encourage learn-
ing amongst the nobility. But as it was the Elector's inten-
tion to strip the bishopric of a large portion of its revenues,
and appropriate them to the salaries of ministers and other
ecclesiastical uses, this appointment was not made. Amsdorf
was then thought of, as at once of noble extraction, although
his family had become reduced in circumstances, andunmarried,
which w r ould enable him to support the episcopal dignity at
1512. less expense. On the 18th January Luther accompanied the
bishop delegate to Naumburg, and preached the next day in
the Cathedral, and with other presbyters laid his hands on
Amsdorf s head and consecrated him bishop, " without," Lu-
ther said, ' ' any chrism, and without butter, grease, fat, lard,
and whatever may be more holy with the Papists than those."
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 339
A few days afterwards they proceeded to Zeitz, and Luther 1542.
again preached. The proceedings of consecration were given
to the world, with a defence of the Elector's conduct through-
out the affair, in a writing by Luther entitled, "An Ex-
ample how to consecrate a true Bishop."
Amsdorf was greatly perplexed by some features in his
new dignity : he disliked the ceremonial of respect paid to
him as the Prince-Bishop, and had some scruples as to its
consistency with Scripture : and the counsel of Luther was in
constant requisition. " It is all a mask, and nothing serious/'
Luther wrote to him ; " God cares not for such things : they
are not the kingdom of God. The Church must have a
visible form, a husk, or outward garb, as it were. Yet
none of these is the Church, which is neither Jew nor Greek,
neither male nor female, but simply Christ. And he will not
care whether the character you have to sustain be private,
public, plebeian, or princely, provided, whatever it be, you
serve him in it." " How happy for you," he wrote at another
time, " that you find pomp and splendour a prison : to the
Papists they are a paradise. Yet bear them, as Christ bore
his pomp on the day of palms, poor, mortified, and crucified
in heart." In recommending a painter to Amsdorf, who
deserved encouragement, Luther reminded him that the style
and decorations of his dwelling ought to be in keeping with
his station. " But I have resolved," he added, " never myself
to receive another present from you. The creatures of the
court would be too glad to get an excuse for traducing me,
and making it appear that in concurring in your elevation, I
had an eye to my own lucre. Be not offended at this deter-
mination. It is not from Amsdorf that I refuse a present,
but from the Bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz."
The Diet, which had been appointed to meet at Spires in
January, was opened on the 9th February. The object of
340 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1542. Ferdinand, who presided, was to obtain large contingents in
men and money for the Turkish war, and as the need Avas
most pressing, every indulgence, as at Ratisbon, was conceded
to the Protestants. The Ratisbon truce was extended for five
years, to date from the period of the succours being for-
warded against the Turk : the Imperial Chamber was to be
reformed, and a deputation of Romanists and Protestants in
equal proportions was appointed to carry the Reform into
execution. Joachim of Brandenburg, as a moderate man, was
chosen commander-in-chief against the Turks. And so suc-
cessful were these expedients that the Protestants furnished
the required contingents, and entered into the war with the
utmost alacrity. As for Luther, almost as thoroughly
national as he was profoundly Christian, he directed the force
of his pen to enlighten the apprehension and rouse the ardour
of his countrymen. He studied the Refutation of the Koran
written by Richard the Dominican in 1300, and translated it
into German, with a preface and epilogue ; and he also pub-
lished a Battle Sermon, which was to serve as a formula of in-
struction for the chaplains attached to the army, and contained
a form of prayer against the Turk. And such was his zeal
that he parted with some of his private property, some garden
ground and a court-yard, in order that he might be able to
give his contribution, like the widow's mite, to the cause of
God against the false prophet. But the national spirit of Lu-
ther was not present in the conduct of the war. The Emperor
was involved in a renewed contest with France. Ferdinand
was remiss ; he gathered money from his kingdom of Bohemia,
but not men ; the Protestant contingents were somewhat
unfairly dealt with ; and it began to be whispered that it
was the Papist policy to let them perish by the Ottoman
scimitar.
It was soon proved that all the indulgence which had been
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 341
shown the Protestants originated in selfish motives. The 1542.
contingents had been promised or sent against the Turks, but
the Imperial Chamber was not reformed ; it continued to issue
its judgment against the Evangelicals, and Henry of Bruns-
wick still made his raids upon the lands of his Protestant
neighbours, and threatened and insulted the city of Goslar.
So persevering were these menaces, that the Elector of Saxony
and the Landgrave assembled their forces to crush a Prince
whose malice was so inveterate. Within little more than two
months they had reduced the whole of the Duchy of Bruns-
wick to submission, and compelled the Duke, just as they were
on the eve of attacking his fortress of Wolfenbuttel, to fly to
Ferdinand, to whom in his distress he made his appeal, as well
as to the Diet which had met at Nuremberg. Ferdinand forth-
with sent a deputation to the Elector and Landgrave, requiring
them to desist from war, and the States also sent ambassadors
to demand forbearance ; but they replied that they had fur-
nished the stipulated auxiliaries against the Turks with good
faith ; that in attacking Henry of Brunswick they had only
discharged the duty they owed their allies ; and when peace
had been obtaiued they would march with as large a part of
their forces as possible into Hungary. From the first the
enterprise against the Duke of Brunswick received the
approval of Luther. " I commend to you and to the
Church," he wrote to Amsdorf the 13th July, "the war
against the incendiary Henry ; it is simply necessary for the
defence of the oppressed." He hailed with gratitude the
triumph of the Protestant arms. "The victory is plainly
divine; Wolfenbuttel, which was thought impregnable, has
been taken within three days. God has been the whole doer
in the matter : the events of these times are not human, and
I feel assured they are couriers of the blessed day of our
redemption. Amen."
312 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1542. Just when affairs were in this state of turmoil, war with
the Turks and war in Hungary, the Emperor at war with
France, and intestine strife continually arising between the
German Princes, Paul III. descried his opportunity, and by
a bull, signed the 22nd May, and published the 29th June,
convened a general council to meet the ensuing 1st November
at Trent. And towards the end of November three cardinals
actually appeared at Trent as the Pope's commissioners for
opening the council ; a few Italian bishops likewise made
their appearance, but when these dignitaries had waited there
a few weeks, and no fresh arrivals of ecclesiastics took place —
for travelling, it was alleged, in such troublous times, was
unsafe — the council was prorogued, to the infinite amusement
of the Protestants. On the other hand, the conviction, which
was now general, that Rome would never put her hand to the
work of reform in earnest, the proceedings of recent Diets, the
warlike occupations of the Emperor, the successful enterprise
against Henry of Brunswick, had considerably added to the
strength of the Protestant side. At Halle the Reformation
had been previously commenced under the superintendence
of Justus Jonas : and this year the Reformation was estab-
lished in Ratisbon, in Hildesheim, in the dominions of Otto
Henry Count Palatine, known as the " younger Palatinate in
Bavaria," and the next year, under the direction of Bucer
and Melancthon, in the Electorate of the Archbishop of
Cologne. And there were indications that it would not be
long ere the Elector Palatine would follow the example of his
kinsman in Bavaria.
A year so replete with matter of public interest was not
uneventful in the Reformer's private history. At its com-
mencement he made the will bequeathing all he had to Kate,
which after his death was confirmed by the Elector, and car-
ried into effect. His health continued better than was usual
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEH. 343
with him, and his pen, therefore, was vigorously employed. 1512.
Towards the end of August, Johnny, who had hitherto been
instructed by a tutor at home, was sent for the first time to a
school at Torgau, conducted by Mark Crodel, to whom Luther
wrote on the occasion as follows : " Grace and peace. — As was
agreed between us, I send you my son John, that you may
instruct him in grammar and music, and at the same time
watch over and correct his morals ; for I have the utmost
confidence in you in the Lord, I will liberally repay your
care, and must ask you to inform me what progress he makes
from time to time, and how far his capacity may allow of his
education being carried. I have sent Florian with him,
chiefly because I see that boys of his nature require the society
of many others, which is a better training school than home
discipline. You must treat Florian with more severity ; and
if you can put him to board with some citizen, do so ; if not,
send him back to me. May God prosper the undertaking.
If you succeed with my son, and I live, you shall have my
other two sons also. For I am convinced that we shall not
have hereafter many preceptors of such diligence as yourself,
especially in grammar and in severity of moral vigilance.
I must seize the opportunity, for time speeds, and diligent
schoolmasters speed yet faster. My son will return hither
for the higher studies. Farewell in the Lord ; and tell John
Walter that I pray for his salvation, and commend my
son to his instructions in music. I desire first of all that
my sons should prove theologians, but I would have them
also to be grammarians and musicians. Again farewell, and
salute Gabriel and his family. For the third time farewell,
and for ever." A little later, on the 6th September, the
following private letter was addressed to the schoolmaster :
" Grace and peace. — My dear Crodel, — Conceal from my son
what I now write to you. My daughter Magdalene is dan-
344 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1542. gerously ill, and ready to depart to the true Father in heaven,
unless God will otherwise. She longs so earnestly to see her
brother, that I have felt compelled to send a carriage to fetch
him. Their love for one another has been most tender.
Perhaps his presence may revive her ; at least, my conscience
will not charge me with neglect. Bid him, therefore, with-
out communicating the cause, to speed hither in the carriage.
He shall promptly return when she shall either sleep in the
Lord, or be recovered." Fourteen days later, little Magda-
lene fell asleep in Christ in her father's arms. Luther, a
little before her death, said to her, " Little Magdalene, my
little daughter, you are quite willing to remain here with
your father, or to go to yonder Father?" pointing upwards ;
to which she answered, "Yes, dear father, as God will."
When she was dying, he read to her that passage of Isaiah,
" Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall
they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust : for thy
dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the
dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and
shut thy doors about thee : hide thyself as it were for a
little moment, until the indignation be overpast."* "Yes,
my daughter," he added, " enter thou into thy chamber in
peace ; I shall soon come to thee : for God will never suffer
me to see the miseries that are coming upon Germany."
Luther wept bitterly at his daughter's death, but suppressed
his grief in public, so that no trace of tears was to be seen
upon his face at the funeral, when he was engrossed with
meditating on the text, " None of us liveth to himself, and
none of us dieth to himself." With many sobs Kate dis-
missed Johnny to return to school, but he did not resume
his studies contentedly. His mother promised that if he
* Isaiah xxvi. 19, 20.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 345
were ill, he should be sent for home ; and as he entreated to 1542.
be allowed to return, Luther was obliged to interfere. " I
can easily believe, my dear Crodel," he wrote to the school-
master the day after Christmas, " that my son was melted at
his mother's words in his grief for his sister's death, but do
you be earnest in your exhortations. When here he boasted
of you and your wife, that he was as well or better treated by
you than at home. Bid him overcome all womanly weakness,
and accustom himself to bear ills, and not indulge a childish
softness. He was sent from home for the very purpose of
learning and hardening against trials. He must not return
unless he is really ill, in which case do you let me know."
" I have never been more enraged with Death," he wrote to
his friends, in touching on his recent affliction, " but I have
satiated my wrath by threatening him from Scripture. Mag-
deleue's end was most peaceful, and we have reason to do
nothing else than give God thanks that she is now beyond
the power of the flesh, the world, the Turk, and Satan.
Would that we too might have such a death and such a life !
Amen."
Early in the new year Luther published a treatise " Of 1543.
the Jews and their Lies," in which he touched on the deep
depravity of the nation or sect ; and observed that better
moral lessons were to be met with in iEsop, Cato, or Terence,
than in all the writings of the Talmudists. He used to say
that ' ' he felt pity for the whole lost house of Israel for the
love he bore to one Jew, his Saviour •" but now he stated
that he quite despaired of their conversion, " the Jewish
heart was a stock-stone-iron-devil heart," and therefore not
for the sake of the Jews, but of Christians, he took pains to
demonstrate that the period fixed by the Jewish prophets for
the Messiah's advent had long been expired, and that an ac-
cumulation of evidence pointed to Jesus as that Divine Being.
346 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1543. He followed up the treatise by another, " On the Schem
Hamphoras of the Jews," in which he corrected Jewish errors,
reconciled the genealogies of Jesus given by Matthew and
Luke, and again reflected on the trickery and falsehood of the
Jews, charging them with attempting, by their false grammar
and arbitrary punctuation, to obscure the prophecies relative
to the Messiah. This second treatise gave occasion to a
"Commentary on the last Words of David," in which he again
vindicated the principles on which he had proceeded in his
translation of the Old Testament, and descended to some
philological details. With these writings his literary efforts
for 1543 were exhausted, excepting epistolary correspondence
and prefaces'* to the compositions of others. His Commentary
on the book of Genesis, the labour of years, taken down from
his lips as he delivered it, was editing by Viet Dietrich,
Cruciger, and Rorarius. A new edition of his Church Postils
was superintended by Cruciger. And a Latin edition of his
works was publishing, in which the Elector took great in-
terest, and as the printers proceeded but slowly, warned them
to make more speed, or they should be deprived of their pri-
vileges. He was eager to have the edition completed in the
Reformer's lifetime.
Throughout the year Luther was a prey to the old malady
in the head, which he now regarded as a chronic ailment.
" I have overworked/' he said, " and overlived, and am good
* One of these was to the speeches of the young Princes, John
Frederic and John William, delivered before the University on the
29th April, in the presence of their father and his Court. From
commending the two Princes, so ripe in learning for their early age, one
fourteen and the other thirteen years of age, Luther passed on to the
dangers which beset their path through life, from " Satan's tools, fal-
lacious courtiers, perfidious friends, treacherous ministers, and rapa-
cious nobles." " Princes," he said, " are Satan's sweetest dainties."
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 347
for nothing ; God send me a happy hour." He had promised 1543.
the Bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz to pay him a visit; but he
wrote to him in the summer, that for six months he had daily
been expecting his release ; and his state of health continued
feeble throughout the autumn. The physicians tried every
means in their power to relieve the oppression in the head —
first a cautery in the leg, and then a vein was opened in the
left leg. Luther resigned himself to their skill, but smiled at
its failure. " It is old age," he exclaimed, " and all the phy-
sicians in the world could do me no good; but, that I may
not seem my own enemy, treat me as you please." Bodily
disease and feebleness were aggravated by a melancholy fore-
boding of the ills hanging over " his dear Germany, that
wallowing sow." The churches had good pastors, but there was
no love of God amongst the people, and but a stint measure of
morality at the courts even of the Protestant princes. Every-
where avarice, corruption, and iniquity abounded. He regretted
that, excellent as the Elector of Saxony was himself, he per-
mitted his courtiers to influence his acts, and was not half alive
to the deceitfulness of Satan. Immorality, in a most formida-
ble aspect, threatened to invade the University of Wittenberg ;
but within those precincts Luther could put his own authority
into exercise, and he published a manifesto to the students,
exhorting them to self-restraint, and to endure hardness; but
intimated that if remonstrance failed, recourse should be had
to the power of the law. The Turk, the Jew, the Pope,
and the Sacramentarian filled up the back-ground in the
dismal picture of human depravity. " I pray," he said,
" continually against the Turk ; but I know not against what
Turk God may be pleased to turn my prayers. The Turlc
within the walls is infinitely worse than the Turk without."
But his faith was sufficiently strong to convert even his
sorrows into a ground of hope. " All the glory of the Turk
348 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1543. and Papist I account but devils' dung ; Christ will soon ap-
pear with redemption. Amen."
The Diet, which had again been summoned to meet at
Nuremberg before the close of 1542, did not commence its
sittings until the first week of February, 1543, when Luther
addressed a letter to the evangelical clergy to request their
prayers against the Turks. But the notion that either Ferdi-
nand or the Emperor was sincere in his professions of zeal,
had now become extremely doubtful ; and the vehemence of
intestine strife swallowed up the apprehension of more remote
danger. The Romanists were greatly incensed by the seizure
of the Brunswick Duchy ; the Protestants were indignant
that the promises repeatedly pledged to them in reference to
the Imperial Chamber had been as repeatedly broken, and
that the Emperor was intent on his schemes of personal ambi-
tion, prosecuting the conquest of Gueldres from the Duke
of Juliers. The deliberations accordingly had no satis-
factory issue. The Recess of Ferdinand and the Romanist
party spoke of garrisoning the fortresses on the Turkish fron-
tiers, and of contributions to be levied for that purpose, of the
Reform of the Imperial Chamber, to date from the 3rd July;
and such as refused to send the required auxiliaries were sub-
jected to fiscal jurisdiction. The Protestants, on their side, held
their separate consultations, and published a counter Recess,
in which they repudiated the decree of the adverse members
of the Diet ; engaged to hold by one another in opposing the
processes and proscriptions of the Imperial Chamber ; refused
to send forces to Hungary, or to resign the Duchy of Bruns-
wick, seeing that the Duke was convicted of a host of crimes ;
and resolved on sending a deputation to the Emperor to state
their grievances and enforce their demands. And two months
after the Diet had broken up, the allies met at Schmalkald,
when provision was made for the reception of the King of
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 349
Sweden, and the Bishop of Munster, Osnaburg, and Mindcn, 1513.
into the Alliance ; and immediately on the close of the meet-
ing, a month later, an embassy was despatched to the Emperor,
who was moving from Italy at the head of his army through
Suabia towards the Low Countries, to dispute the possession
of Gueldres with the Duke of Juliers. The ambassadors were
favoured with an audience late in the evening of the 3rd
August, by the Emperor, who received them standing, and
extended his hand to each of them, but sat whilst they de-
tailed their complaints. Two days later Charles returned his
answer, requiring the Protestants to furnish auxiliaries against
the Turks, deferring the reform of the Imperial Chamber
until full inquiry had proved the validity of the charges, and
postponing the consideration of all the other questions until
the approaching Diet to be held at Spires, in which he him-
self intended to be present. The Protestants were somewhat
softened by this reply, so that, influenced by the desire to
avoid offending Charles, they did not keep back their contri-
butions in money to the Turkish war, but were still resolved
to withhold their forces. The visitation of the Imperial
Chamber, to which they were invited by the Emperor, com-
menced in October, and the Protestants sent their delegates
as though they believed the Imperial professions to be sincere ;
but they found their allegations met by quibbles and cavils,
and after some time they desisted in extreme disgust from pro-
secuting the attempt. The Emperor had his own reasons for
retaining the Chamber as it was, and the extreme Romanist
section had found it too useful a tool for their own purposes
to be willing parties to a change in its constitution. In fact,
the conduct of the Emperor had been dexterous in the highest
degree. His astute policy had wavered between the Romanists
and the Protestants ; but by this vacillation he had succeeded
in establishing a middle party, which still held, in some im-
350 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1543. portant respects, the ancient faith, but adopted the popular
aspirations for an ecclesiastical reformation : he had placed
himself at the head of this party, and he owed to it the great
authority which now invested him. The rising men among
the princes were almost all of this imperial, conservative,
reforming section ; in particular, the young Elector of Bran-
denburg and Duke Maurice of Saxony were among its most
eminent members. The aged Duke Henry of Saxony had
died some time previously ; and one of the first acts of Duke
Maurice, on succeeding to the Saxon Duchy, notwithstand-
ing that he was married to the Landgrave's daughter, was
to withdraw from the Schmalkald confederacy, at the same
time that he still professed the evangelical faith. A little
while afterwards he openly quarrelled with the Elector
of Saxony for the right which he claimed of free passage
through the town of Wurzen. Both the Elector and Duke
mustered their forces for battle, but a reconciliation between
the cousins was affected at Grimma. "You resemble,"
Luther told the irritated kinsmen, " two drunken country
boors fighting in a pothouse over a piece of broken glass, or
two fools cuffing one another for a morsel of bread. Let each
of you retire to his own chamber, and pray in earnest an
'Our Father/ that, if God will, the Holy Ghost may change
his heart." Shortly afterwards Duke Maurice started for
the Turkish Avar, in which his life was narrowly saved by the
devoted self-sacrifice of an attendant. And the ascendancy
which the Emperor had gained, became the more obvious
when the Duke of Juliers was beheld to kneel at his feet
and crave pardon for his offence, and resign the contested
prize in the Low Countries to be annexed to the Imperial
dominions. The Emperor's gold had been more effective in
turning the tide of war in his favour, than his soldiers' steel.
Under such an aspect of public affairs it may be readily
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 351
imagined with what pathos of indignation John Frederic 1543.
mourned over the downfall of constitutional Germany ; and
in what notes of still deeper despondency, taking his survey
from higher grounds, Luther echoed his Prince's lamentations.
"Everything is venal; I hear of nothing but rapine and
violence and the oppression of the people by the nobles. The
earth is filled with iniquity; Ferdinand becomes more Satanic
and furious every day, and is worse than Charles. When at
last it shall come to a war between the Emperor and the
Protestants, without a doubt our centaurs, like those of
Juliers, will sell their Prince also. How heartily do I thank
God that my clearest daughter Magdalene is delivered from
Ur of the Chaldees. Come, Lord Jesus, come."*
Early in the next year Charles made his entrance into 1544.
Spires, to preside in person in the Diet, and had never been
more assiduous in paying court to the Protestant Princes than
at this time, when their downfall had been determined in his
mind ; but he saw the necessity of peace with the Turks and
with the French, before any steps could be taken in further-
ance of his domestic plans ; and he knew that the road to
peace only lay through victory. On the 18th February the
Elector of Saxony arrived at Spires, and was received by
imperial command, and escorted into the city with all due
ceremony, and found the Emperor in every respect ready to
accede to his wishes. His marriage articles were ratified, and
Ferdinand's daughter Eleanor was promised in marriage to
his eldest son, if in the interval religious differences could be
* John Eck died on the 10th February, 1543. Viet Dietrich, in a
letter to Luther, states that Eck, being seized with fever, attempted to
cure it, after his old fashion, with copious cups. Drunkenness termi-
nated in epilepsy, and epilepsy in apoplexy. The Eucharist was cele-
brated by the bedside amidst Eek's incoherent exclamations, " Oh !
had we but the 4000 guilders, we could right well settle the business."
352 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1544. arranged. The Landgrave was beguiled by the bait of the
commandership-in-chief of the Imperial forces; and it was
contrived that the cause of the Duke of Brunswick should be
heard without judgment being pronounced; and the Elector
and Landgrave were persuaded to commit the Duchy to their
good friend the Emperor as sequestrator, until sentence in the
case could be finally given. On the 12th June the Recess of
the Diet was published. Large aids were granted to the
Emperor in men and money against the French, and a poll-
tax was to be levied against the Turks; the Imperial Chamber
was to remain as it was for three years longer, when the
judges were to be appointed from both religious denomina-
tions ; and meanwhile the Augsburg edict and the proscription
of Goslar and Minden were suspended ; and a new Diet was
appointed for December, at which the Emperor and Princes
should present formularies for the adjustment of religious
differences, until such time as a general council should meet
in Germany, or in default of that, a decision should be
arrived at by the German nation in Diet. The Recess was
so worded as to be susceptible of various interpretations, so
as to satisfy both parties; and Charles comforted the Evan-
gelicals, as at Ratisbon, with private assurances of his favour
and goodwill. The Papists were as much deceived by all these
manoeuvres as the Protestants themselves, and were highly
incensed by the result of the deliberations. The foundations
of his schemes thus stealthily but securely laid in Germany,
Charles hastened to take the command of his army against
the French, and his presence revived the courage of his troops,
who had been disheartened by the intelligence of the battle
of Cerisoles. Having first subjugated Luxemburg, he ad-
vanced from the Low Countries through Champagne towards
the heart of France, and laid siege to St. Disier. And at the
Sept. 19. same time Henry of England laid siege to and took Boulogne.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 353
St. Disier at length capitulated, but the time spent in the 1544.
siege proved the salvation of France ; and the Emperor find-
ing himself in a district of vineyards, without the means of
getting sustenance for his army, was glad enough to come
to terms with Francis, ■ and peace was signed at Crespy in
Valois, on conditions not unfavourable to the French. The
Pontiff, who had been so indignant at the Recess of the Diet
of Spires, that he sent a letter to the Emperor, not only to
complain of indulgence shown to heretics, but in yet more
resentful language of the invasion of his own supreme ecclesi-
astical prerogatives, was elated by the restoration of amity
between their most Catholic and most Christian Majesties ;
and, as he could not fail to recognize the necessity of reclaim-
ing for himself the functions which a lay tribunal had arro-
gated, he published a Bull (Lsetare Jerusalem), convoking in
terms of rhapsody an oecumencial council to meet at Trent in
the beginning of March in the ensuing year.
Throughout this year Luther's health showed a consider-
able improvement. On the 26th January he wrote to Ams-
dorf, " I am restored in my whole body excepting my head,
which continues weak ; but I preach, read, stand, and walk,
and as soon as the winter is past I shall visit you." At this
time the subject of "secret betrothals" engaged the Re-
former's attention : a case was tried in which the decision of
law was incompatible with justice, for such clandestine
agreements were pronounced valid if entered into condition-
ally, subject to the consent of parents. Luther took up the
matter with his usual ardour. The insertion of an addition —
the consent of parents — did not in any way remove, he stated,
the inherent vice of all such compacts as clandestine : and he
apprehended that parents would withdraw their sons from the
University, under the dread of their forming ill-advised
VOL. II. A A
354 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1544. unions. He went so far as to inveigh against the practice
from the pulpit, as a remnant of Popery, an invention of Satan
set np by the instrumentality of the Pope, the great soul-
murderer, and solemnly committed the clandestine betrothals,
like the monkish vow, to hell. The lawyers resented this
conduct ; but, nothing daunted, Luther defended the part he
had acted, and implored the Elector to do away with the
legal validity of all secret matrimonial compacts.
After a winter so long and severe that Luther interpreted it
into a happy omen that the day of Christ was near, he re-
newed his promise to the Bishop of Naumburg in the spring,
of paying him a visit. His style of addressing his friend, for
some time after his promotion to the See, had still been, " My
dear Amsdorf;" but now it was changed to "Reverend
Bishop in the Lord," or " Reverend Father in Christ," to ex-
emplify in his own deportment the respect due to the epis-
copal character. The visit, however, continued to be de-
ferred ; first there were reported to be roving bandits in the
neighbourhood ; then " the ploughs," or kinsmen of Julius
Pflug, through whose territory part of the journey lay, fell
under suspicion of entertaining no goodwill to his person ; and
finally, a letter of the Elector to Luther, from the Diet, re-
quested him so to time his visit that he might be able on his
return to meet him at Zeitz. During the Elector's absence a
letter also was received by Luther from the Electress Sibylla,
in inquiry for his health, and for tidings of his wife and
children. He replied as follows : " Grace and peace in the
Lord, illustrious, high-born princess, gracious lady. I have
received your letter, and thank you submissively for so dili-
gently inquiring after my health, and how it goes with my
wife and children, and wishing me all good. God be praised,
it goes right well with us — far better than we deserve. 1
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 355
have for a long while been out of sorts in my head, but that 1544.
is no wonder ; the fault is old age, of itself cold and comfort-
less, sick and weak. The pitcher is often carried to the well,
but it breaks at last. I have lived long enough : God give me
a happy hour, that my foul, useless bag of worms may drop
beneath the ground to its own people. I am certain that I
have seen the best that I shall see on earth. The world
grows worse and worse : God help his own ! Amen. I can
well believe your Grace has found it a tedious time since your
gracious lord has been absent ; but since it must needs be, and
is for the good and profit of Christendom and of German)',
we must bear his absence with patience, according to the will
of God. What a comfort is the Word of God to support us
in life, and assure us of happiness beyond ! What a joy, too,
is prayer, which, as your Grace writes, we know is heard of
God in his own good time. Two such jewels of ineffable
price, devil, Turk, Pope, and Papist do not possess; nay, in
such respects they are poorer than any beggar upon earth.
We must thank God, the Father of all mercies, in Christ
Jesus his dear Son, our Lord, that he has given us such
saving treasures, such precious jewels, of which so 'many of
the highest heads on earth know nothing. Well may we
compassionate them. God enlighten them, to see, know, and
believe as we do ! Amen. My Kate offers her poor ' Our
Father' for your Highness, with all submission, and heartily
thanks your Grace that you so graciously think of her.
Herewith I commend you to the dear God. Amen."
At last, on the 13th August, Luther set out on his long
intended journey to Zeitz. Amsdorf had provided an escort
which conducted Luther by Eilenburg, Borna, and Zuhlsdorf,
until he safely reached the Bishop's palace. After he had
been at Zeitz a little while, Luther repaired to Altenburg on
a a 2
356 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1544. a short visit to Spalatin,* who stood in much need of his
friendly consolation, and then returned back again to Zeitz.
Amsdorf again sent an escort, with directions to accompany
Luther the whole way on his return to Wittenberg ; every
expense on the road was defrayed, and a silver cup and spoon
were found deposited amongst the Reformer's baggage.
Aug. 27. " You have treated me/' Luther wrote to the Bishop, ff like
St. James's host of whom we read, and have made me, against
my will — a thief of your property. Perhaps you thought of
Joseph and Benjamin. But how unseemly it is that I, a poor
theologian, born in very humble station, should drink out of
gold and silver ! It will be a scandal to the enemies of the
Word, and there are enough of them ; but the whole fault is
yours." Rather more than a month afterwards, Luther paid
a visit to the Elector at Torgau, who required his presence to
consecrate a recently erected church. All the formalities of
consecration invented by the Papists were rejected, and
Luther simply offered up prayer, and delivered a discourse
adapted to the occasion, which he and the Elector determined
to be the true Christian mode of dedicating an edifice to
God's worship. The autumn was again a sickly season at
Wittenberg, and Luther's children all suffered from illness;
and when the rest had recovered, little Margaret still main-
tained a doubtful struggle between life and death. " I should
not murmur," Luther said, " if it pleased God to remove her
from this satanical age and world. I desire the same for
myself and all mine : there is no longer any heroic virtue in
princes; everywhere are hatred, strife, avarice, and iniquity.
* During this visit Luther pledged Spalatin in a glass of wine with
the extempore Latin distich : —
" Isthoc ex vitro vitreus bibit ipse Lutherus,
Hospes supremum turn, Spalatine tuus."
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 357
My only joy is to look forward to the day of the Redeemer." 1544.
Margaret, however, recovered; and Luther, writing of
himself a little later, spoke of his own amended health as a
resurrection from the dead : he had (t preached twice without
any difficulty, which seemed a miracle."
The principal production of Luther's pen this year was a
" Brief Confession of the Holy Sacrament," occasioned by a
rumour consequent on discontinuing the elevation of the host
in the Wittenberg churches, that he was inclining to Zwin-
glianism, which he denied with extreme energy. So rooted
was this conviction, that in the Cologne Reformation Arti-
cles, prepared by Bucer and Melancthon, and delivered to
Luther for examination, he regretted the absence of sufficient
distinctness on this subject, and designated the whole as
" wishy-washy stuff," by which he gave such keen offence to
Melancthon, that Philip was in doubt whether he should not
leave Wittenberg. Luther was setting his house in order in
regard to the literary monuments of his Christian faith.
Having in the previous year vindicated his version of the
Scriptures, and now declared his testimony on the Eucharist,
he next gave his final judgment on Popery, in a treatise en-
titled " The Papacy founded by Satan," which appeared early
in the following spring ; and he also preached sermons and 1545.
held disputations on the Trinity, and the Godhead of Jesus
Christ, to check the growth of infidelity. The beginning of
the new year, Luther having been much exposed to the
weather on a very cold day, was seized with a violent pain in
the breast, attended with great oppression at the heart, and
at two o'clock in the morning was obliged to send for medical
aid. "I am in dreadful pain," Luther said, as the phy-
sician entered the room. " Is it the stone ?" " No ; it is
something much worse than the stone." The physician's
verdict was that the malady was " the cardiac," and he gave
358 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1545. orders that Luther's breast and back should be rubbed with
hot cloths, after which he was to have a hot mess, and forbade
him to take his usual beverage of must, and sent him some
Rhenish wine from his own cellar. From this attack Luther
recovered after some little time ; but it proved the forerunner
of a similar illness, which rather more than a year later
carried him to the grave.
His indignation was extreme at the alliance of the French
monarch, and, as rumour did not blush to declare, of his
Holiness the Pope also, with the Sultan ; an alliance which
covered Francis with disgrace in the eyes of Christendom, and
enabled Charles the better to pursue his deep-laid and long-
meditated schemes. "What!" said Luther, "the Vicar of
Christ in alliance with Mahomet ! and the French King has
granted Barbarossa a harbour for his fleet, with permission to
build a mosque : and Francis and Paul together have agreed
to allow him 300,000 crowns a month in requital of his
services. See to what an object the indulgences, profits,
annates, and rapine of all kinds — the Pope's plunder of
Christendom for ages, forsooth against the Turk — are now
devoted ! O ! most holy Father ! O ! most Christian
King !" The letter of Paul III. to Charles was admirably
calculated to foster the delusion which pervaded all minds ;
and it was busily noised about that Charles had resolved to
come forward himself in the character of a Reformer, and to
remodel ecclesiastical institutions by the standard of the
Nicene age. But soon the dream was sadly marred. The
peace of Crespy proved the turning-point in Charles's career of
duplicity. Having gratified the Protestants as far as he safely
could up to that period, he felt himself, by the restoration of
amity with France, in a condition gradually, but still with
his usual art, to withdraw the mask. The faggots began to
blaze in the Low Countries, although, with a dissimulation too
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 359
weak to impose on any one, Charles declared that the ground 1545.
of punishment was not religion, but the infringement of an
edict published many years before against the Lutherans. At
the same moment Francis commenced a fearful butchery of
the poor Waldenses ; and Ferdinand, who had at least been
consistent, turned with revived zest to his persecuting efforts
in Austria and Bohemia. All this, in conjunction with the
Trent Council, showed a conspiracy of the crowned heads of
Europe for the overthrow of the Reformation.
Notwithstanding all his bodily suffering and the frowning
of the political storm, Luther maintained an animated and
cheerful spirit. The darkest night, he thought, would usher
in the glorious morning of Christ's appearance. " Walk to
your garden," he replied to a pastor who had written to him
in a tone full of despondency, " and look at the violets which
are just beginning to peep out. The flower is purple, the
colour of affliction ; but the purple environs a bright golden
eye, which means never-failing faith," Just at this time his
" Papacy founded by Satan" was published, whilst the Diet
was sitting at Worms. The pictorial talent of Luke Cranach
had been called into play, and the frontispiece exhibited the
High Priest of Christendom seated on the sacred chair, in the
pontifical garb, his hands raised and joined, and asses' ears
perking above his head : devils flew round him on all sides :
some were putting on his head the triple crown, surmounted
with dung ; others were gently lowering him by ropes into the
bottomless pit, the flames of which were tossing below ; and
others, with officious zeal, were raising his feet to lighten his
descent. Luther further stated in some theses, which appeared
about this time, that Popery was an offence against the three
hierarchies ordained of God — the ecclesiastical, the political,
and the domestic — for it crushed the Gospel, tyrannised over
the civil power, and forbade matrimony. It was that German
360 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1545. beast, half bear, half wolf (barwolf), which it was the duty
of all, gathering in a company, to chase to death : if it got
into a cave or an inclosure, and the prefect of the place
should attempt to rescue or defend it, the pursuit must not
stop, and those who should hinder the pursuers were beyond
the safeguard of the laws. And another caricature repre-
sented the Pope sitting astride a sow, with a big paunch and
teats sweeping the ground. The Pope was digging into the
sides of the sow with spurs : with the two fore fingers of his
right hand raised in pontifical fashion, his Holiness blessed
the wayfarers : his left hand held a piece of dung fresh and
smoking, at which the sow was sniffing, and exerting her body
to gain possession of the prize. The sow was Germany ; and
the piece of dung which the Pontiff was willing to bestow on
his greedy beast, provided he were allowed to retain his seat,
was the Council. But his caustic force did not content
Luther, and he wrote to his friends that his ire had been
too feeble, and it was his earnest wish once again to assail
Popery, and, like Samson, to make the Philistines feel his
dying strength. And this hope was in some measure realized
by the publication of his seventy-six theses, in reply to
thirty-two propositions against his doctrines, which had ema-
nated from the sophists (magistrolli) of Louvain. Such were
his expiring efforts against the Popedom. The Sacramen-
tarians had replied to his " Short Confession," but he re-
turned no answer to their treatise : he did not even read it ;
it was enough that he was informed of the irrelevant abuse
heaped upon him. With such evidence that he was no Sacra-
mentarian, he said that he could leave the world with
happiness.
The Diet of Worms afforded fresh intimations of the subtle
path of ill-dissembled enmity to the Protestants, which the
Emperor was treading. Charles was laid up at Brussels with
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 361
the gout when the Diet was opened, and was not able to make 1545.
his entry into Worms until the 15th of May. The Papal
nuncio, Cardinal Farnese, passed from Trent, where he found
only a few bishops assembled, into Germany, and had an in-
terview with the Emperor ; but after a few days he quitted
Worms very unexpectedly, having accomplished his errand by
convincing himself of Charles's real aversion to the Protes-
tants, and probably made arrangements with him as to the
money and forces which the religious war would require. He
found that Charles did not wish the Council to begin
its deliberations at present; matters were not sufficiently
advanced, and some terms must still be kept with the
Protestants a little longer. And accordingly Paul III. post-
poned the opening of the Council until October, and it
was not actually opened until the 13th December. The
deliberations of the Diet, as between Charles and " the
Orders of the Augsburg Confession,'' began and ended in
reciprocal demands which neither party was willing to ad-
mit. The Protestants claimed that intestine peace should
be secured without the condition of their accepting the
Council : the Emperor required them to acknowledge it, which
they persisted in refusing to do, because the place of meeting
was not in Germany, in contravention of former edicts, and
the Pope claimed to be President. Frederic, who had suc-
ceeded to the Palatine Electorate by the death of his brother
Louis in the previous year, and was at this period esta-
blishing the Reformation in his dominions, acted as me-
diator between the parties, but with no effect : he had
little weight with the Protestants, and his change of religion
rendered him unacceptable to Charles. But in fact, the
Emperor's line of policy had been already deliberately chosen,
and he never swerved from a decision formed on mature
thought. In the matter of the religious discussions between
362 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1545. the Archbishop of Cologne and his subjects on the one side,
and the Cathedral Chapter on the other, the Emperor took
the cause of the Canons under his protection, and summoned
the Archbishop to appear and answer for his conduct before
him ; whilst, by a mutual understanding, the Pope pronounced
his excommunication. But, with his habitual insincerity,
Charles still assumed the semblance of wavering before he
definitely committed matters to the arbitrement of the sword :
and with specious moderation he postponed the further con-
sideration of religious questions to another Diet, to assemble
at Ratisbon. preparatory to which the reconciliation of dif-
ferences was again to be attempted by chosen theologians from
the two parties.
Meantime, Luther was entirely disabled, by the return in
full force of his old complaints ; first, pains in the head, so
excruciating that one of his eyes became affected and nearly
lost the power of sight ; then, towards the end of June, an
attack of the stone — so long continued with greater or less
intensity — that he was subjected to exquisite tortures, and the
report current in Italy and elsewhere that he was dead gained
credence with many. Strange events were stated to have fol-
lowed his decease. It was asserted in print, that at the point
of death he had received the Sacrament, and with his dying
breath had required that his dead body should be placed on the
altar to be worshipped as God. The request had not been
complied with ; but after his remains had been laid in the
tomb, a violent tempest had obscured the sky and seemed to
threaten universal destruction : the wafer which Luther had
received with his dying lips was seen suspended in the air,
and with the greatest reverence was received and deposited in
a sacred place, when an immediate calm was restored. The
ensuing night strange commotions were heard in his tomb,
which was opened the next morning ; but the flesh, bones,
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 363
body, and shroud were gone ; only a sulphureous stench 1545.
exuded from the spot, which struck many with sickness, and
proved the means of converting great numbers from heresy.*
Luther caused this statement to be printed again, with a
postscript to the effect that "he had read, on the 21st of
March, the rabid fiction with extreme joy. It was sweet to
his inmost soul to be such an object of abhorrence to the
devil, and his spawn, the Pope and the Papists. He prayed
for the conversion of the Papists. But if prayers for them
should be unavailing, would to God that they might fill up
the measure of their iniquities."
Dr. Ratzenberg, the Elector's physician, was sent to attend
Luther, and was able to relieve the head in a considerable
degree by means of a cautery in the leg : and after some
days, Luther was again able to walk to church and even to
preach. But he continued very weak ; and ill health and
old age made him more susceptible of trials. He had medi-
tated quitting Wittenberg for the quite retreat of Zuhlsdorf
some time before ; but had beeu prevailed upon, by the
fervent entreaties of Bugenhagen and others, to relinquish
such an intention. But about the middle of July, in 1545,
he left Wittenberg very suddenly, and first paid a visit, with
Johnny, to Ernest Schonfeld, at Lobnitz; then to Scherl, at
Leipsic, whence he passed to Merseburg, to Prince George of
* After Luther's actual death, a Protestant story, in imitation of this
Tvomanist one, stated that his coffin laid on the bier was at first so
heavy that the bearers could scarcely move it, and then suddenly
became so light, that they set down the bier and opened the coffin to
see what had happened. The body was gone ; and three great rats
jumped out of the coffin. One of them ran to the monasteries, and
guawed away the bolts and locks ; the second ran to Rome, to the
Pope's Chancery, and nibbled off the seals of the Indulgence letters ;
the third ran to Hell, and put out the fire of Purgatory (pissete das
Fegefeuer aus)." — Keil. IV. p. 279.
364 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1545. Anhalt, and finally took up his quarters with Amsdorf, at
Zeitz. The neglect of God's Word, and the many signs of
worldly-mindedness amongst the people of Wittenberg, par-
ticularly the style of female dress, had so provoked him,
that he had formed the resolution never to return to Witten-
berg, but to settle down for his few remaining days at Zuhls-
dorf : and he wrote to Kate from Leipsic the end of July,
as follows : " Beloved Kate, John will tell you how our
journey has gone, and if he should not remain with me, Dr.
Caspar Cruciger and Ferdinand will tell you. Ernest
Schonfeld entertained us hospitably at Lobnitz, but Henry
Scherl far more hospitably at Leipsic. I should rejoice never
to have to return to Wittenberg. My heart is chilled, so
that I cannot be there with pleasure. I should wish you to
sell the garden and the close, the house and court, and I will
give back the great house to my good lord : it were best for
you to settle at Zuhlsdorf, whilst I am still alive and could
help you to better the little property with my stipend, which
I hope my good lord will suffer to follow me, at least for one
year of my last days. After my death, the four elements will
not easily endure you at Wittenberg : it were therefore much
better to see in my lifetime what must be done when I
am gone. To judge by appearances, Wittenberg, with its
government, is about to dance, not St. Vitus's dance, nor
St. John's dance, but the Beggars' dance, or Beelzebub's
dance ; so they have begun, women and maidens, to uncover
themselves behind and before ; and there is no one to punish
or restrain, and God's Word is mocked. Come away out of
this Sodom. I have heard in the country more than I learn
at Wittenberg, and am weary of the town and will not return,
so help me God. After to-morrow I shall go to Merseburg,
for Prince George has sore entreated me to visit him. I
shall ramble about, and had rather eat the bread of a beggar
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHEIt. 365
than torture and disquiet my poor old last days with their 1545.
disorderly ways at Wittenberg. Let Dr. Bugenhagen and
Master Philip learn as much : and let Dr. Bugenhagen pro-
nounce my blessing upon Wittenberg. I can no longer re-
strain my wrath and disgust. Herewith I commend you to
God. Amen/' The people of Wittenberg were deeply
agitated at the determination of the Reformer to quit their
town. Melancthon declared that he must leave Wittenberg
also, unless Luther returned. In this state of things the
University represented the strong current of general feeling
on the subject to the Elector, who sent a very gracious letter,
regretting that Luther had not informed him of his plans, in
which case he would have sent an escort to attend him ; for,
although God's angel was always with him, the dangers of
travelling ought to be guarded against; and further, he
requested that he would pay him a visit at Torgau, to make
arrangements in reference to the approaching Conference at
Ratisbon. Luther went to Torgau, and was prevailed upon
by John Frederic, although sorely against his inclination, to
return to Wittenberg, which he did the third week in August.
Peace was now made between the Emperor and the Sultan.
" The Pope, the Emperor, the Gaul, and Ferdinand," Luther
relates, " have sent a most splendid embassy, laden with pre-
cious silks to the Turk, to sue for peace. But the best part
of the story is, that, not to offend Turkish eyes, they have
changed the attire of their country for the long Turkish
tunic. The embassy, it is said, sailed from Venice the 21st
June. Are these Christians? No — they are infernal masks
of the devil. O, joyful signs of the close of all things I"
This peace with the Turks was the removal of the last poli-
tical impediment to the accomplishment of Charles's ulterior
designs : and little now remained to be done save to muster
his troops and provide for their maintenance.
366 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1545. But the war between France and England still continued,
and the French monarch had commissioned the exiled Duke
of Brunswick to levy forces for him against Henry VIII.,
and had supplied him with money for the purpose. The
Duke of Brunswick, without much difficulty, raised the re-
quired troops ; but his thoughts were upon his own fortunes ;
and, with the army destined for a very different use, and paid
by France, he made an invasion of his own duchy, took the
fortress of Steinbruck, pillaged the country far and wide,
burning the villages, and laid siege to Wolfenbuttel. How-
ever, the forces of the Schmalkald league, headed by the
Landgrave, soon took the field against him ; Duke Maurice
gave his assistance to the Elector and Prince of Hesse ; and,
after some negotiations, which proved entirely fruitless from
the reckless disregard to truth which characterised the Duke
Oct. 21. of Brunswick, the dispositions of his forces by the Landgrave
for battle promised an easy victory, when the Duke and his
son surrendered themselves to his mercy. This event filled
Luther with gratitude ; and he wrote to the Elector and the
Prince of Hesse, that the hand of Providence was to be
marked in their bloodless triumph ; and now they had Me-
zentius in their hands, they were by no means to let him go
unless he repented of his blasphemies.*
1546. Early in the ensuing year the appointed conference of
theologians was opened at Batisbon. George Major repre-
sented the Wittenberg school; for Luther had begged that
Melancthon might be spared the vexatiousness of another
conference, on the ground that his health was feeble, that
the whole affair was an imperial stratagem, and even if it
should prove more than a farce, the Papists could not pro-
* Albert, the Cardinal Archbishop of Mentz, died on the 24th Sep-
fcember, 1545.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 367
duce a man of any account, at least none for whom Major 1546.
was not more than a match. The proceedings had not
been long continued when a mandate from the Emperor
abruptly broke up the discussions. The Emperor insisted that
the minutes of what passed at the conference should not be
communicated to any one save himself, with which the Pro-
testants refused to comply ; and he also constituted Julius
Pflug one of the presidents of the conference, whom he
styled Bishop of Naumburg, and thus took his cause under
his patronage against the Elector of Saxony, as he had be-
fore done that of the Cologne canons, against their Arch-
bishop.
As regards the Council, its first session had taken place on
the 13th December, the third Sunday in Advent, and the
second session was postponed until the 7th January. The
intervening time was engrossed with arranging matters of
ceremony, the mode of voting, which it was determined
should be, not by nations, but individually, and other pre-
liminaries. Cotemporaneously the Schmalkald Allies were
holding a meeting at Frankfort, and deliberating on the Trent
Council, the protection to be afforded the Archbishop of
Cologne, and on making suit to the Emperor at the approach-
ing Diet at Ratisbon, that he would grant religious peace
and the reformation of the Imperial Chamber. Their eyes
were just beginning to be half opened to the long tissue of
dissimulation and artifice, of which they had proved the too
ready dupes.
Before the close of the preceding year, Luther had pro-
mised the Counts of Mansfeld to go to Eisleben, and en-
deavour to arrange some differences which had broken out
between them in regard to their respective jurisdictions.
This promise was the more considerate, because the season of
the year was little opportune for travelling in the case of an
368 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
1546. infirm and sickly person, and Luther already in the autumn
had paid a visit to Eisleben on invitation, without the desired
effect of restoring harmony. The family of the Counts of
Mansfeld consisted of two branches, derived from two brothers.
Ernest and Hoyer were the sons of Albert ; Ernest was dead,
but had left two sons, the Counts Philip and John George ;
the sons of Ernest, Albert's brother, were Counts Albert and
Gebhard. The Albertine branch remained steadfast to Ro-
manism ; the Ernestine had embraced the evangelical faith,
and were personally as well as religiously much attached to
Luther. But it had been already proved to both families,
that private motives had no influence upon the Reformer's
judgment. The revenues of the family were principally drawn
from extensive mines of silver and copper, worked by their
subjects, with the appropriation of one-tenth of the produce
to the Counts of Mansfeld as lords of the soil. The mines
proved sources of enormous wealth, and the Counts became
of opinion, especially Albert, that the proportion allotted to
themselves was too small, in the great prosperity of the dis-
trict, and put in force a claim for a larger dividend. Luther
undertook the cause of the miners, and had himself remon-
strated earnestly with Count Albert on his harshness and ex-
orbitancy. Other quarrels, such as are sure to spring from
the full-blown bag of avarice, quickly followed, and set the
heads of the house of Mansfeld at variance with one another
on various questions of very difficult adjustment. Hence an
entreaty, in which all members of the family united, was for-
warded to Luther that he would act as mediator, and was
answered by him in a letter to Count Albert, dated the 8th
December : " He would be at Mansfeld soon after the end of
the Leipsic market, and leave it to both parties to name a
day : he would devote eight days to the business, although he
had much to do ; but he should lay him down with peace in
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 369
his coffin if he had first seen his dear landlords friendly and 1546.
of one mind."
In a letter of the 17th January, to his friend James Probst
of Bremen, Luther describes himself as " old, decrepit, inert,
wearied, cold, and deprived of sight in one eye." Six days
afterwards, on the 23rd, he left Wittenberg, on his journey
to Eisleben, accompanied by his three sons, and his servant
Ambrose, and arrived at Halle at eight o'clock the same
evening. The 25th, Monday, he wrote to Kate from Halle —
" We have not been able to pursue our road to Eisleben, for
there met us a great Anabaptist, with billows of water, and
huge blocks of ice who deluged the land, and threatened us
with anabaptism. We could not return on account of the
Mulda; so we resolved to lie quiet at Halle between the
waters. We were not athirst however for the water, but
drank good Torgau beer, and good Rhenish wine, wherewith
we refreshed ourselves, and solaced our delay if the Saala
shoidd again overflow with rage. It would have been tempt-
ing God to have trusted ourselves to the water, for the devil
is wrath with us, and dwells in the water : it is better to
prevent than complain, and there is no need we should be
fools' sport to the Pope and his spawn. I could never have
thought the Saala could have turned such a sot and broken
over carriage road and everything. I have no more to say,
than that you must pray for us and be cheerful. If you had
been here, you would have advised what we have done, and
for once we should have taken your advice. Herewith I com-
mend you to God. Amen." The next day Luther preached
on the conversion of St. Paul, and for three days Luther was
detained at Halle in Dr. Jonas's house, and was at last
obliged to effect his passage in a boat, not without some dan-
ger. On the 28th, in company with Justus Jonas, Coelius,
pastor of Eisleben, and John Goldsmith, and his three sons,
VOL. II. B B
370 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1546. lie entered Eisleben. " He was received by the Counts of
Mansfeld, and an escort of more than a hundred horsemen,
and entered the town/' writes Maimburg, "more like a
prince than a prophet, amidst the salute of cannon, and the
ringing of the bells in all the churches."
On the road to Eisleben Luther suffered from a return of
those violent pains in the chest, with oppression of the breath,
which had first attacked him more than a year before ; and
when, dizzy with pain and extreme weakness, he reached the
lodging prepared for him in Dr. Drachstadt's house, fears
were entertained for his life, and he himself charged Satan
with endeavouring as usual to thwart his plans, when they
seemed the nearest their accomplishment. But warmth was
restored by continued friction with hot cloths. " On the
journey I walked beyond my strength," he wrote to Me-
lancthon the 1st February, "and when I got into the carriage
again the perspiration chilled on me, and cold seized the
sinews of the left arm." The same day he wrote to his
"heart-loved house-wife, Catherine Lutherin Doctoress Zuls-
dorferess Sow-marketress, and whatever more she may be.
Grace and peace in Christ, and my old poor love, in the first
place. Dear Kate — I was very weak on the road hard before
Eisleben. That was my own fault. If you had been here,
you would have said it was the fault of the Jews or their
God. Before we reached Eisleben we passed through a
village full of Jews : and perhaps they blew an evil blast
upon me. And in Eisleben, at this moment, there are more
than fifty Jews. However, it is true that, when I was close
to their village, there came such a cold wind behind in the
carriage upon my head through the baret, as if it would turn
my head to ice. This may have had something to do with
my giddiness ; but I am now in good case, excepting that the
pretty women set so hard at me that I have no care to requite
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 371
all their attentions. I drink Neunburg beer, which you have 1546.
praised to me from Mansfeld, and like it well. Your little
sons left Mansfeld the day before yesterday; John of Jena so
humbly prayed them to visit him."
The weather had become much milder, and Luther's
health seemed improved by the change in the atmosphere ;
but the business which had been the object of his journey
progressed at a very leisurely pace. " I entreat you," he
wrote to Melancthon, " to prevail with the Elector, through
Dr. Bruck, to recall me : perhaps, in this way I may hasten
the work of concord. In every syllable they fancy poison to
be hidden. This is, indeed, logomachy or logomany ; but
we owe it to the lawyers, who have taught the world cavillings
and quibblings, until their tongue is more confused than any
Babylon. There no one could understand the other ; here
none wishes to understand the other. You sycophants !
you sophists! pests of mankind!" A letter to Kate, the
same day, directed her to tell Master Philip to correct his
" Postil," as he had failed to comprehend why in the Gospel
the Lord called riches thorns. " Here is the school," he
continued, " where the reason may be readily learnt. But it
pains me that always in Holy Scripture the thorns are threat-
ened with the fire ; wherefore, I show the more patience, if by
God's help I might effect some good. Your little sons are still
at Mansfeld." The next day, after this letter had been sent,
an epistle was received from Kate, full of anxiety about her
husband's health, the perils of travelling, and the various
casualties which she feared might befall him. Luther replied
immediately: "Do read, thou dear Kate — St. John and the
Short Catechism — of which you once said, ' All in the book is
spoken about me.' You must, forsooth, take care for your
God, as though God were not Almighty, and could not make
b b 2
372 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1546. ten Dr. Martins if the one old one should be drowned in the
Saal. Leave me in peace. I have a better one to care for
me than you or all the angels, even Him who laid in the
manger and hung on the virgin's breast, but is seated like-
wise at the right hand of God. Therefore be in peace. Amen."
Kate's solicitude continued unabated, and Luther again
laboured to inspire confidence ; " Most saintly Lady Doc-
toress, we thank you very kindly for your great care, which
you say will not suffer you to sleep ; for ever since you have
cared so anxiously about us, we have narrowly escaped de-
struction ; a fire broke out in our lodging, close to my study
door ; and yesterday, without doubt, by virtue of your care,
a stone had all but fallen on my head, and crushed me like a
mouse. If you do not cease to care, at least the earth will
swallow me up, and all the elements turn my persecutors.
Do you study your Catechism and Belief. Do you pray and
leave God to care ; cast all your care upon him, for he careth
for you. God be praised, I am brisk and well, save that
this business is very troublesome." Besides attention to the
arrangement of differences, to which an hour or so of each
alternate day was devoted, Luther examined and gave his
approval to a scheme of Church Ueform, once received abso-
lution publicly, and the Lord's Supper twice, and ordained
two priests, and preached four times, not forgetting the Jews,
the Pope, and the Council, amidst large assemblies of the
miners and country people. His last sermon was preached
on the 15th February, (St. Matthew's day), and his text was
Matthew xi. 25 — 30. The subject was the contrast between
the wisdom of the children of this world, and of the children
of the next. And he concluded with the words : " I am too
weak to say more. The dear God give grace, that we may
receive his precious word with thanksgiving, grow and in-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 373
crease in the knowledge and faith of his son, our Lord Jesus 154,0.
Christ, and in the confession of his holy word, steadfastly
abide unto the end. Amen."
On the 14th February he received the letter which he had
desired from the Elector, remanding him home, and he wrote
the same day to Melancthon to apprise him of his intended
speedy return, and requested that a messenger might be sent
to meet him on the way, with some of the corrosive ointment
for his leg, which he had unfortunately forgotten to take with
him, and now felt the need of, for the wound in his leg had
healed, which was dangerous. The mandate from the
Elector had. the effect, which Luther had anticipated, of
expediting the settlement of differences, and an arrangement
was effected between the Counts of Mansfeld in regard to
clerical patronage, and the maintenance of schools, which was
an important point gained. Luther was in high spirits with
this measure of success, and wrote to Kate, the same day,
the last letter which appears in his correspondence : " Grace
and peace in the Lord, dear Kate. We hope to return home
this week, if God will. God has shown us great goodness ;
for the lords, by their councillors, have made it up, as far as
two or three articles, amongst which is, that the two brothers,
Count Gebhard and Albert shall be brothers again, which I
shall take in hand to-day, and shall invite them to dine with
me, that they may speak with one another; for hitherto they
have not been on speaking terms, and have embittered the
quarrel by writings. The young lords are very merry, and
go out sledging together, and the little ladies too, and bring
one another presents and good things, and also Count
Albert's son. We may perceive that God hears prayer. I
send you some trout, which the Countess Albert has presented
to me; she is from her heart rejoiced to have concord. Your
little sons are still at Mansfeld. James Luther will take
374 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1546. good care of them. We eat and drink like the lords, and
are so well attended to, that we might well forget you at
Wittenberg. I am not troubled with the stone."
On the morning of Wednesday the 17th, Luther com-
plained of not feeling well, and was advised by Wolfgang,
Prince of Anhalt, and the Count of Schwartzburg, the
councillors of the Counts of Mansfeld, not to attempt any
business during the day, but to remain quiet in his parlour.
He walked up and down the room half dressed, and sometimes
looked out of the window, and prayed with a fervour which
excited the attention of those in the room with him. His
habitual cheerfulness was in full vigour, but occasionally he
said to Justus Jonas and Michael Coelius, the pastor of
Eisleben, who had been in constant attendance upon him —
" I was born and baptized at Eisleben, and I shall die here."
Before dinner he was seized with oppression of the chest, and
the remedy which was now customary with him, and had been
resorted to almost every day during his stay at Eisleben
(friction with hot cloths), was tried and afforded some relief.
When dinner time came he exclaimed, " There is no joy in
being alone," and removed from his parlour into the large
dining apartment, and sat down with the rest of the com-
pany and ate with a good appetite, conversing freely and
jesting in his usual vein of humour. The conversation fell
on the shortness of life, and he observed — " When an infant
of one year old dies, probably one or two thousand through-
out the world die at the same time and age ; but were I, an
old man of sixty-three years, to die, not more than sixty or a
hundred of the same age would quit this life with me. Men
do not now live to such great old age as formerly; God
builds a new world every twenty years, and fills his kingdom
with children." As the conversation proceeded, the inquiry
was put, whether relatives would recognise one another in the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 375
future world. "To be sure/' Luther answered; " when 1546.
Adam awoke from his sleep, he did not question Eve, whom
he had never seen, whence or who art thou? but at once de-
clared, ' This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.' How
did he know that she had not sprung to life from a stone ?
Because he was full of the Holy Ghost, and had the true
knowledge of God. When we are restored to this knowledge
and the Divine image in the next life, we shall recognise our
parents and one another by face." After dinner he again
complained of pain in the chest, and had hot cloths ap-
plied to the chest and back, but would not permit medical
aid to be summoned ; and when Count Albert expressed his
concern, he assured him that he already felt better. He laid
down on a couch and slept very composedly in the parlour
for two hours and a half, and desired those present to go to
bed, and awoke about ten o'clock, and requested that his
bed in his sleeping apartment might be warmed. Before he
was conducted to his sleeping room, he gave his hand to each
of those present, and wished them good-night in the form of
words which he had used on retiring to rest for three weeks
previously — " Pray to God to bless the cause of his Church,
for the Council of Trent is the Pope in very deed;" and on
crossing the doorway he repeated the text, " Into thy hands,
O Lord, I commend my spirit." He laid down on his bed to
sleep, and his two younger sons, Martin and Paul, (John was
absent at the time,) his servant Ambrose, Jonas and Coelius
remained in the apartment, watching him. About one o'clock
he called Ambrose, and ordered him to warm the parlour.
When Dr. Jonas asked him how he felt, he exclaimed, " O
Lord God, how ill I am ! Yes, dear Dr. Jonas, I was born
and baptized at Eisleben, and shall remain here." " Reverend
father," Jonas replied, " our heavenly Father will succour you
for Christ's sake, whom you have preached." Luther walked
376 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
1546. up and down the room two or three times, but the pain con-
tinued, and he called for hot cloths. A summons was now
sent for medical help ; his host and hostess were called up,
and Count Albert and the Countess were apprised of Luther's
state. All came with great speed, the Countess bringing an
ample supply of aquavitse and every kind of costly medicine
that she could think of. Luther was lying upon the couch in
great pain when they entered the apartment. The Countess
administered to him aquavitre and chafed his forehead and
hands with aromatic water. Luther continued in extreme
pain, and cried aloud, " O Lord God, what pain I suffer !
I shall remain at Eisleben." " Call on Jesus Christ, reverend
father/' said Jonas and Ccelius, " our Lord and Priest and
only Mediator, whom you have preached. You are in a pro-
fuse perspiration. God grant that you may get better."
"It is the cold sweat of death," Luther replied. "I shall
yield up my spirit, for my illness grows worse." He then
prayed aloud in these words — " O heavenly Father, God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou God of all com-
fort, I thank thee that thou hast revealed to me thy dear Son
Jesus Christ, whom I have preached, confessed, loved, and
adored : my Saviour and dearest Redeemer, whom the im-
pious Pope and the ungodly persecute, revile and blaspheme
— I pray thee, my Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Presently
he added, " O heavenly Father, although I must quit this
body, and be torn from this life, yet I certainly know that I
shall remain with thee throughout eternity, and no one shall
pluck me out of thy hand." These words were followed by
his reciting texts of Scripture, which he repeated, according to
his custom, in Latin — "God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life." " He that is our God
is the God of salvation ; and unto God the Lord belong the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 377
issues from death." Here one of the physicians gave him a 1546.
costly medicine, which had been reserved as a last expedient.
He received it, and immediately afterwards said, " I am dying,
and shall soon render up my spirit ;" and then thrice repeated
— " Into thine hands I commend my spirit, for thou hast re-
deemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth." A sudden change
appeared to pass over him — he became silent and closed his
eyes. The Countess continued to bathe his temples, and the
physicians were assiduous in their efforts to restore animation
by hot cloths and rubbing. But his end was evidently fast
approaching, and Justus Jonas in a clear voice inquired,
" Reverend father, do you die in the constant confession of
Christ, and the doctrine which you have preached ?" Audibly
and distinctly he answered, "Yes/' He afterwards turned
on his right side and slept for about a quarter of an hour,
which gave his friends a feeble hope that he might yet revive.
The physicians moved the candles towards him and examined
his countenance minutely ; they observed that his face was
becoming more and more pallid, and they felt his feet, and
they were already quite cold. Shortly afterwards, a little
before three o'clock, he drew a deep but gentle sigh, and,
without moving a foot, or any apparent symptom of pain,
peaceably resigned his spirit to God.
378
CHAPTEE IX.
In comparing man with man, and estimating the relative
greatness of those who are handed down from age to age as
great men, it is necessary to keep in view that the true mea-
sure of individual force and greatness of character, is only to
be accurately ascertained by considering the nature of the
work appointed the individual in the economy of divine Pro-
vidence, and his peculiar adaptation for the part assigned.
Estimated by this universal rule, it must be confessed that
Luther holds a position second to none of all those who have
filled the largest space in the eye of the world, and only yields
to the inspired teachers and first apostles of the Christian
revelation.
Ere this " poor Reformer, with the Gospel in his hand, and
in the inspired spirit of poverty, restored the Christian reli-
gion," that semblance of Christianity to which the primitive
faith had at length been melted down and transmuted by
human ingenuity in a long course of ages, was a mere priest-
craft. Forms and shadows had been prized and multiplied,
until the life and substance, of which they were at first
regarded as the safe-guards, were completely lost sight of
by the large mass of professing Christians. The officials of
religion had persuaded the multitude that religion was their
peculiar and exclusive domain ; and had thus led the people to
look up to them implicitly for guidance, and rely on their
faith and piety as substitutes for their own : and the effect
gradually wrought on those who thus denominated them-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER, 379
selves the clergy, God's special inheritance, was the converting
holy things into a lucrative privilege, and trading on the con-
sciences and fears of the laity. Under such a system the
distinctive doctrines of Christianity faded away one by one
from the popular apprehension : not that they were authori-
tatively cancelled by that religious council board which
styled itself the Church, but that they were practically obli-
terated by ceremonies and trifles, to which superstition at-
tached a value, and from which the Church derived a revenue.
Nearly the same stages had been passed through in the
Christian, at this period, as in the Jewish Church at the era of
the Saviour ; and the result was similar — the commandments
of God were set at nought by human traditions. Payment of
money to those who offered up Christ for the quick and dead
every day, could purchase the atonement of any sin ; or some
bodily exercises, muttering prayers, fastings, pilgrimages, or
self-torture, or the absolution of the priest, or the Pope's
indulgence letter, could expiate the heinousness of the worst
crime. Repentance simply meant penance : it was no longer
an inward change, but an outward discipline, and was under
the regulation of the clergy ; to offend against an ecclesias-
tical ordinance or precept was a more flagrant transgression
than the breach of a law of God's moral code. Thus the
true nature of sin was forgotten, as well as the only real
atonement for sin obscured. To become a priest was to
choose God, to enter on a life of holiness : to take the vow of
celibacy, and fly from the world, and bury the head in the re-
treat of a convent, was to espouse Christ, to be admitted to
" the state of perfection," and walk in a meritorious pathway
which assuredly led to heaven. The people approached God
by his priests, as their intercessors ; or besought other inter-
cessors, Mary and the saints, to plead for tbem in heaven.
Books had been written, and documents forged, Avhich in the
380 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
lapse of time had grown of venerable authority, to rivet these
chains of the clergy more firmly on the minds of the laity :
but as, with all its aberrations from truth, the Church still
revered the writings of the early Fathers, and dared not deny
the Scriptures to be the Word of God, it really carried in its
own bosom the seeds of the destruction of this idolatrous
system of priestcraft and ritual, and the germ of a revived
order of things. And hence the clasp and lock were put upon
the Bible, and sentinels of the Church guarded the entrance,
that none should approach the fearful deposit without due
warrant from the hierarchy.
Luther proceeded from the very strictest of the order of
friars, who almost entirely monopolized the ecclesiastical
virtue of the times, administered parochial duties as vicars,
and episcopal as suffragans, and without whom, Machiavel
observes, that in the widespread degeneracy of Christendom,
Christianity must have become totally extinct. Concern for
his soul, and terror of God, drove Luther to become a member
of the Augustinian fraternity : and monkery was really used
by him for the purpose for which such a life had first been
selected — as a means of earning heaven by a meritorious life of
self-denial. But he felt with agonising and increasing power
the difficulties, and at length started back from the impos-
sibility of the task which he had imposed upon himself;
he had set out on the journey to heaven by the strict
and secluded pathway of conventualism with all the energy
of his soul ; but he stumbled at the first outset ; though he
celebrated mass every clay, prayed, fasted, and did penance,
and wore out his body with self- discipline, he had no
peace. His conscience upbraided him with the constant
breach of those ordinances, to transgress which was called sin
by the monks ; and although he afterwards learnt that these
were only sins of man's creating — peccata ficta et picla — as
THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER. 381
he termed them, yet like the Jew, ' ' shut up by the Law unto
the Gospel," he found his feet so entangled, and his progress
so fettered, by this network of human inventions, that it was
with joy, greatly enhanced by his conviction of failure even in
the attempt to observe imaginary duties, that he at last burst
from such bondage into the liberty of him whom the Son of
God makes free. The shades of the monastery were fa-
vourable for converse with his own heart : and he found that
seclusion from the outer world and its forms of external evil,
seemed only to deepen the power and vitality of evil in his
own heart, and he became painfully and overpoweringly
conscious of an inherent ineradicable depravity. All this
spiritual discipline, accompanied by the deeper and deeper
study of God's Word, the most important truths of which
were pointed out to him by the Vicar-General of his order,
a mystic, like many others of that age, impressed on his soul,
in characters not to be effaced, the " exceeding sinfulness of
sin," and the existence of such sin in a most intense degree,
without any regard to its manifestation in outward act, in the
recesses of his own heart. This was exactly the spiritual
experience and heaven-born conviction fundamentally neces-
sary in the man who was to overthrow a Pelagian system,
such as Romanism, and republish the humbling truths of the
doctrine of Christ. And thus in all his writings, conviction
of sin is one of the most obvious and striking features : the
conviction became more and more profound, as his Christian
experience advanced, till at last he subscribed himself, instead
of " Luther," " Christi lutum ;" but it is remarkably exhibited
in his earliest writings. He thus wrote in his first Commen-
tary on the Epistle to the Galatians — " Be it that I have not
committed, in act, homicide, adultery, theft, and other sins of
such a kind, against the second table of God's commands : yet
I have committed them in heart. Wherefore I am a trans-
382 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
gressor of all the commandments of God, and so great is the
multitude of my sins, that an ox-hide could not encompass
them. Nay, they are not to be numbered ; I have sinned
more times than the sea has sands." " All our own works,"
he said at a later period, " be they ever so precious, are no-
thing better than death and poison."
But this conviction of sinfulness, as appertaining not only
to the life, but defiling the seat of the thoughts and motives,
the heart, did not come alone : had it doue so, it would have
only produced despair. The "sentence of death in himself"
was rapidly succeeded by the assurance of life in Christ : and
though despair often tried to gain the mastery, faith in the
one sacrifice for sin, through the strength of the Holy Ghost,
proved " more than conqueror over subdued and unsubdued
iniquity." He wrote on this subject in the Commentary just
quoted as follows : — " Hypocrites, ignorant of Christ, al-
though they feel remorse for sin, yet think that they shall
easily atone for it by their own works and merits. And they
would have those words — ( Who gave himself for our sins/ to
be words spoken in humility, so as to mean for sins not serious
and true, but nominal and fictitious sins. Human reason
would like to bring to God a feigned, a pretended sinner, one
who had no terror on account of sin, and no sense of sin : it
would fain bring the whole, who has no need of the physician,
and then, without any sense of guilt, believe that ' Christ was
delivered for our sins/ The entire world is of this mind;
especially those in the world who wish to be more religious
and holy than others, as they dream, that is, the monks and
all work-mongers. These with the lip confess that they are
sinners; they confess that they commit sins every day, but
not so vast and multitudinous, but by their own works they
can do them away. Nay, more than this, they want to bring
their holiness and merits to the tribunal of Christ, and
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 383
demand for them from their Judge the payment of eternal
life. Meanwhile, as a humfole fraternity, not to be quite
sinless, they imagine a few sins, that they may beg pardon
for these, and with great devotion, pray with the publican,
' God be merciful to me a sinner.' . . . This, therefore,
is the special science and wisdom of the Christian, to take
these words as serious and most true, that Christ was de-
livered to death, not for our holiness and sanctity, but for our
sins, which are real, vast, many, nay, infinite, and unsub-
dued. Do not imagine them small, such as your works can
do away. Do not despair at their number, when you truly
feel them in life, or in the hour of death ; but believe that
Christ for no feigned and pretended, but for real sins ; for
sins not small, but the very greatest ; not for one or two sins,
but for all sins ; not for subdued sins (for no man, no angel,
can subdue the very least sin), but for sins unsubdued, was
delivered to death." When Luther, from this awful consci-
ousness of his own ineradicable iniquity, had emerged to the
daylight of eternal life by the knowledge of Christ, the whole
Scripture became intelligible to him. Repentance, he now
saw, meant the thorough change worked by the Holy Ghost
in the heart, which, instead of looking to self, turns to Christ
for every thing. Through types and emblems, rites and ordi-
nances, he beheld Christ, " of whom the Bible spoke, and
of whom it spoke alone :" and year after year, as it ripened
his spiritual experience, confirmed his trust in the Sun of
righteousness, the centre of the entire Christian system.
" In my heart/' he said, many years afterwards, " reigns, and
alone shall reign, this one article, viz., faith in my dear Lord
Christ, who of all my spiritual thoughts day and night is the
beginning, the middle, and the end." " I sometimes, in
order to apprehend the great truth of justification by faith
384 THE LlFJi OE MARTIN LUTHER.
alone the better," he wrote to Brentz in a postscript to a letter
of Melancthon to him on that subject, " put the case to myself
thus, that there is in my heart no quality or virtue that can be
called faith or love (as the sophists speak thereof and dream) ;
but I put all simply on Christ, and say, He is my formal
righteousness, my certain, stable, complete righteousness,
wherein is no want or fail ; all I should be before God, that
Christ my Lord is to me."
This was indeed restoring the Sun to the theological firma-
ment, from which by a long eclipse it seemed to be blotted
out. Works of charity and piety, which the Papists had mag-
nified and extolled until their vicious theology had marked
its traces in the most awful irreligion and wide-spread im-
morality, were once more placed in their proper relation to
their only true source and principle, faith in the Divine
word that Christ is the only Saviour. " Faith," Luther said,
" is the sun of all those rays of good works." He exceed-
ingly disliked such expressions as " The Christian is bound to
do good works;" such a phrase, he objected, savours of
legality, and is as absurd as to say, " The sun ought to shine ;"
" A good tree ought to yield fruit." " Believers," he insisted,
" are a new creation, a new tree ; the workman must precede
his work : faith is always operative inevitably." And he saw
with equal clearness that justification by faith, the work of
promise, or the gift of the Holy Spirit, being in every case
perfect, cannot admit of degrees. " We are all equally
righteous or just in our one Christ ; we are all equally be-
loved and acceptable in point of character ; yet star differs
from star in brightness, although God loves the star of Saturn
as much as the sun or the moon." He traced with scriptural
clearness the genealogical tree, as it may be called, of the
Christian life : simple Faith in Christ the trunk or stem, the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 385
parent of Love; and again, Love the parent of Obedience.
" There are many false Christians/' he wrote,* " who boast
of Christ, like the faithless Cain, and yet remain without any
fruit of faith. Therefore the Apostle speaks here not of the
means of deliverance from sins and death into life, but of the
test whereby a man may be assured of this ; not of the cause,
but of the effect . . . For faith is not such a thing as can
lie alcne and dead : but where it lives in the heart, it shows
its power. The heart, in which is shed abroad trust and
sure confidence in God's grace and love, is moved to be good,
friendly, gentle, patient towards every neighbour, is void of
all hate, and willingly serves every one, should need be,
with body and life. Such fruit proves and testifies that
verily such a man is passed from death unto life. The faith
that acknowledges God's grace and goodness in deliverance
out of death into life, enkindles the heart to love in return
and do all good, even to enemies, as God has done to him."
"When I have the righteousness of Christ within me,"
Luther says again in a noble passage in his Commentary
on the Epistle to the Galatians, " I descend from heaven, like
a shower fertilizing the earth : that is, I go forth into another
region, and do good works, whatsoever I can. If I am a minis-
ter of the word, I preach, comfort the weak, administer the
sacraments : if a father of a family, I rule my house and
family, and rear up my children in piety and honesty : if a
magistrate, I execute my divine commission : if a servant, I
faithfully care for my master's property : in fine, whoever
certainly knows Christ to be his Righteousness, he not only
from the heart and with joy does good works in his vocation,
but out of love subjects himself likewise to the magistrate,
even to impious laws, and to all the burdens and dangers of
* Postil to Epistle, Second Sunday after Trinity. — 1 John iii. 13 —
IS ; Walch. XII. p. 885.
VOL. II. C C
386 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
the present life, if need bej because lie knows that such is
God's will, and that this obedience is well pleasing to God."
Luther called this "the doctrine of faith and love ;" "Faith
makes us lords, but Love makes us servants." And he
always taught that the bondslave's obedience, on the prin-
ciple of service exacted, is not to be compared with the
obedience of freedom, the cheerful devotion of the son in his
father's house. " It is entitled great nobility, honour, and
glory on earth, to be the child of a mighty renowned king or
emperor; yet how much higher could any one truly boast
himself a son of the highest angel? But what is it all com-
pared with being called, nay, being named and chosen by God
himself his child, and heir of the high divine Majesty !"
" Without love/' he would say, " we are nothing, although
we could work miracles."
This " golden science, to know Christ," Luther had learnt
in the monastery ; but his deep acquaintance with divine
things might have left behind it no other record than some lines
graven on the walls of his cell, as in the case of many others,
or some tradition at Erfurth, or among his order, unless God
in his wonderful Providence, having fashioned him as his
chosen instrument in the shade of the cloister, when the pre-
paration was complete, had set his work in the world before
him. Against " human works, the merits of saints and their
intercession, and the sacrifice of the mass," the foul dregs to
which the Christianity of Romanism had sunk, he preached
" Christ crucified," long before he had begun to question the
pretensions of Rome, or had ceased to venerate the Pontiff
even with fanaticism . When at last the awakening to the real
character of the Papacy came, and by firmly grasping one
central truth, first one corruption, then another, at length
the entire fabric of Romanism lay in ruins at his feet, show-
ing with what earthly materials it had been built up, he rose to
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 387
his second grand discovery. The Church, he found, did not
consist of prelates, or of the clergy only : nay, the Pope him-
self, and most of the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries, were
" no part of Christ at all ; " but, as Huss had said, the Church
was " the universe of predestined souls ; " it was the
society of true believers, " not only under the Pope, but
in all the world." With tremendous power Luther shi-
vered to pieces, in his " Babylonish Captivity/' that sacerdo-
talism, with which, as with a mill-stone tied round it, the
Papacy had been sinking the so-called Church to the depths
of hell. All the things of Christ, he said, appertained to
every believer in common : the priesthood was a common
right and privilege of all those anointed kings and priests by
the Holy Ghost : to administer the Sacraments and to preach
the Word were not restricted to any class in the Church : the
character indelibilis was a merely human pretence, without the
least scriptural foundation : and the minister or pastor simply
differed from the ordinary Christian in enjoying the ministe-
rial gift from God, i. e. the talent of preaching, recognised by
the laying on of hands. The practical influence of this teach-
ing was important in the highest degree. Papal sacerdotal-
ism, had made all worldly callings profane, and distinguished
religion from irreligion by reference to outward acts and
names, instead of the inward motive and principle. Luther
proclaimed that Christianity must pervade every state of life,
and enter into every employment and act : " The Word of
God must not only reign in the Church, but in the ministra-
tion of civil government, and in the domestic household."
To dedicate an image of gold to God, to collect saintly relics,
or to be buried in the garb of a Franciscan or Dominican, by
way of passport to heaven, such things were Romanist follies :
but to bring up children in God's fear, to live to God's glory
in whatever worldly calling, to do the most humble act of
c c .2
388 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
kindness from a spirit of love, these common-place duties were
truly Christian. Yet the secular and the spiritual were still
to be kept distinct, for "the two ministries had been sun-
dered by Christ himself." Luther spoke of the delight
with which the Elector Frederic had welcomed such a prac-
tical exposition of scriptural piety, how he had "his book
copied out, bound separately, and sore loved it," rejoicing
that, although a layman, he might yet be a Christian prince.
"The monks inquire," Luther wrote in his Postil to the
Gospel for the First Sunday after the Epiphany, " what sort
of life did St. Francis lead? What garments did he wear?
We will do and wear the same. But no one, they say, knows
what Christ did. Yes, I reply, we are told what Christ did;
for it is written, c He went down with his parents to Nazareth,
and was subject unto them.' In such words the Evangelist com-
prises the whole youth of our dear Lord Christ. That he was
subject to his parents means nothing else than that he walked
in the paths of the fourth commandment. When his mother
said, ' Son, run here or there ; bring me a can of water, fetch
me beer, wood, straw, &c./ he ran and fetched them.
He did not run into a cloister and become a monk ; he went
down with them to Nazareth ; he remained among the people,
and was patiently obedient to father and mother. . .
Every one thinks he can do better and more costly works
than the holy little child, Jesus. But this is to forget that
household duties and obedience to father and mother have been
hallowed by the Holy One, the Son of God, who himself fetched
wood and cut it, drew water, and did other such like household
duties. Such works are a thousand-fold better and holier works
than the works of all the monks in their cloisters for all time."
Thus to bring the Scriptures to bear on every relative station
of life, and its every most menial duty, was Luther's unceas-
ing care and labour. For this he founded seminaries, insti-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 389
tuted visitations, compiled catechisms, catechised the poor, old
and young, composed prayers for their use for morning and
night, a Grace for meal -times, a form of instruction for the
array chaplains, and wrote his noble hymns ; for this he
spoke of God's Word in the Church, in the Lecture Hall, at
the Elector's table, at dinner with the tradesman, over his
tankard of ale with Amsdorf, and to Kate, Johnny, and little
Lena by his own fireside. That Christianity might be co-
extensive with the whole of secular life, the Word of God was
everywhere to be paramount. The Church was "all true
believers," and was immovable, the pillar and ground of the
truth, as based on Christ, and holding out his word : it could
not err, because God's word could not err. The bride of
Christ, the Church " heard the Bridegroom's word at bed
and at board, and listened to no other's word :" to hearken
to the word of any other was to be " a harlot, an adulteress,
the apostate of Satan."
He had at first appealed from the Pope to an Oecumenical
Council, and he continued to declare that a Council would
rightly be convened for deposing the Pope ; but he soon dis-
covered that Councils were no less fallible than Pontiffs, and
that the standard of truth is the Bible, and the Bible alone.
Faith in the Divine Word " made the Christian," and parted
off the Church from the world. On God's Word of promise,
the Sacraments, the ordinances of prayer and preaching,
and all our well-being and safety, temporal and eternal,
depended. The Word was the believer's shield and weapon.
The devil did not fear the sword, but trembled at the
Word. The only true means of regenerating man, and re-
forming society, lay hid in the Word, the vehicle through
which the Spirit of God acted on the heart. " The Scrip-
tures," he would say, " are a great and wide forest,
wherein stand many trees of every sort, whereof one may
390 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
pluck various kinds of fruit. The Bible contains true conso-
lation, knowledge, counsel, exhortation, warning, promises,
and threatenings. Nor is there a single tree in that forest
from which I have not knocked off something, and broken off
or shaken down a couple of apples or plums." He ever boasted
that it was by the wisdom derived from the Bible that he had
confuted and overthrown all his adversaries, and conquered
Satan's temptations, Of book-learning in general, he spoke
very slightingly, in comparison with the one precious volume,
" God's greatest treasure on earth." Other books were only
valuable in proportion to their tendency to elucidate the book
of God, or to lead to the study of it. To the Bible, and to
experience, as the two chief sources of instruction, he imputed
the development of his mental faculties, and the eminence
among his fellow men to which he attained. And he implored
Kate to search the Scriptures diligently and regularly, to
read them over and over again, especially the Psalms. When
she replied, that she thought she had heard the Bible enough,
and read a great deal of it every day, " Ah !" Luther an-
swered, " it is this weariness of God's Word, and fancying we
understand it, when we know no more about it than a goose,
which is the great evil of the times, and produces a large
number of new and idle publications, so that the book of God
is like again to be thrown into a corner." For himself, he
averred, that although a Doctor of the Holy Scriptures, he
was not yet out of his rudiments, and did not understand per-
fectly aright his Creed, the Ten Commandments, and his
" Our Father." The stream of Scripture, he was fond of re-
peating, was so deep, and yet so shallow, that a lamb might
often wade through it safely, when an elephant would be
carried away by the tide. The child-like heart learnt the
most from God's Word : and therefore he delighted to instruct
Johnny and Magdalene in the Catechism, and professed that
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 391
teaching them never failed to extend and deepen his own
acquaintance with the Scriptures. The simplest text com-
prised so much, that he found more in it than he had seen
before, on every fresh perusal. To handle the Word was the
pastor's noblest function, his " Sabbath of Sabbaths." And
the humblest preacher of the Word was generally the most
successful : for " the devil overlooked low things, his eyes
ran after high things ; so God put a poor preacher of the
Word beneath his feet, and Satan was tripped up."
For this glorious task, to which he felt and knew that God
had called him, of drawing forth the light of Scripture from
its concealment, and replacing it in the temple, the palace,
the college, the school, and the dwelling-house, he possessed
extraordinary endowments of body and mind. In stature,
he was not much above the ordinary height, but his limbs
were firmly set : he had " an open, right valiant counte-
nance :" a broad, German nose, slightly aquiline : a forehead
rather wide than lofty, with beetling brows : large lips and
mouth : eyes full of lustre, which were compared to the
eagle's or the lion's : short curling dark hair, and a distin-
guishing wart on the right cheek. In the early part of his
career his figure was emaciated to the last degree, subse-
quently it filled out, and in his latter years inclined to corpu-
lence. His constitution was naturally of the strongest cast ;
one of the common mould must soon have sunk under his
unparalleled energy ; and he was never better than with
plenty of toil and study, and a moderate diet, such as his
accustomed food of a herring and pease. " In Luther," says
Varillas, "an Italian head was joined to a German body."
In bodily temperament, and in mental qualities, it was the
union of gifts rarely found together, that gave him the grasp
and compass of power suited to his work. His temperament
was at once sanguine and melancholic. He was full of life
392 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
and fire, and yet patient and imperturbable. So too in
mental faculties : he was endowed with original genius of
the highest order : the profoundest mind united to the
strongest common sense, and a vivid imagination joined to
clear judgment. The deepest of thinkers, he was the simplest
of writers. A man of study, he was also a man of the world.
Well read in books, he was even yet better read in the human
heart — profound yet child-like, sublime yet simple, earnest
and enthusiastic, and yet full of comic humour. The chief
agent in a most thorough revolution, he yet clung with almost
a blind devotion to the past, retained to the last his Latin
Bible, and the Romish division of the commandments, and
would let nothing go from his hand till, by the plainest
evidence, it was wrested from him. A miner's son, yet aris-
tocratic in every sentiment; from staying with the Prince
of Anhalt, or the Elector of Saxony, he would pass to an
honest tradesman, or a good-natured publican, and be greeted
with the warm familiarity of old friendship. From writing
to one of the crowned heads of Europe, he would resume
the pen to answer some obscure correspondent, a nun or
shopkeeper, a forester or fencing-master. The oracle of
Wittenberg and of Germany, he was never more in his
element than amongst children. He was equally adapted to
detect the literary forgeries of the Romish Church, to over-
come Dr. Eck in theological disputation, to out-satirize
Erasmus, or to preach a sermon to an assembly of illi-
terate boors. But with such great variety of faculties and
character, the chain of consistency was never broken ; he was
always Luther, without a tinge of affectation or pretension ;
the man who could not semble or dissemble : the life of an
entertainment ; and then, plunged in melancholy by the
weight of inward trials, or retiring to his study to work day
and night at some treatise, which the public interests de-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 393
manded, without tasting food or drink, until the completed
manuscript should be sent to the printers.
It is little to be wondered at that his writings cannot be
regarded as finished compositions; they exhibit, with scarce
an exception, clear signs of the haste with which they were
thrown off, but evince all the fulness of Luther's mind — his
extraordinary faculty of exhausting a subject, his humour and
wit, his fondness for homely proverbs, with his strong sense
and clear depth of understanding. The grandeur is more
frequently in the thought itself than in the words, but often the
majesty of the conception seems to force into its own service
all the magnificence of diction. His writings have been
called "half battles," and in vigour and energy they have
never been surpassed. The muscles of the wrestler seem to
stand out with each effort of strength ; and when jest succeeds
to fervour, the mask of language Avould seem to be withdrawn,
and the laugh on Luther's own countenance to be reflected on
the page, Melancthon said of Luther's writings, that " they
left their sting behind them :" Erasmus said, that " barbarous
as they were, they had thunders and lightnings which shook
the heart :" Luther himself was dissatisfied with all of them,
except his Catechism, and the treatise on the Bondage of the
Will. Never have any other writings produced effects so
powerful and universal, notwithstanding the rapidity with
which tract followed tract, and commentary commentary.
Ranke states, that the issue from the press of Luther's pub-
lications amounted in 1518 to 20, 1519 to 50, 1520 to 183,
1521 to 40, 1522 to 130, 1523 to 183— some of these, of
course, reprints, but some of them at the same time works of
large bulk. The feeblest of them no author save Luther could
have struck off; for although a writing of Melancthon might
be mistaken by a casual reader for the work of Brentz, or a
treatise of Calvin might perhaps be imputed to Beza, the most
394 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
casual of readers would not fail to be struck by the originality
which characterises the least important offspring of Luther's
intellect. As a preacher, Luther is pronounced even by
Romanist writers to have been " incomparable." He re-
garded the perfection of a sermon as consisting in its unity ;
it is, he said, out of one flower how to make a meadow. And
whoever reads his Postils, must be surprised at his singular
faculty of expanding one idea — presenting it under every
variety of form and illustration, and looking at his subject
from every possible point of view. To be effective, he insisted
that a sermon ought always to be brief; and in preparing his
discourses he studied the subject generally : he did not make
notes or pursue the topic into details, but, having grasped the
leading principle, poured out of his own fulness to his audi-
ence, filling up the interstices with such matter as the occa-
sion or the character of his hearers suggested at the time. " If
you preach to the common man," he would say, " on the doc-
trinal articles of religion, he falls asleep ; you must preach
the law — place the fire of hell before his eyes, and tell him
stories." Luther was ever on the watch to keep the interest
of his auditory from flagging. Sometimes he would narrate
to them passages from his own Christian experience, or he
produced a memorable example from public or private life to
enforce a precept ; or gave to some fable of the Romish Church
a scriptual application ; or he spoke of death-bed scenes ; or
with ardour, which at once won over the popular ear and
heart, recited one of those matchless hymns, perhaps just com-
posed by him, which, passing from mouth to mouth, and land
to land, were the war-songs of the Reformation, and moved the
heart of Germany as the heart of one man. Some of the
allusions in Luther's sermons can only be justified by the fact
that in that age the pulpit, besides its proper functions, also
discharged those now appropriated by the press. But scrip-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 395
tural exposition was, after all, the ground on which his natural
and spiritual gifts showed to the most advantage. Here he
was at home ; the subject had engrossed his ardent mind for
years. " The parson," he would repeat, ' ' who cannot make
a sermon on a single word of Scripture, is no preacher at all.
I read the first commandment — ' I am the Lord thy God' —
and am arrested by the first word — ' I.' Its meaning over-
powers me." But the first of preachers and Biblical exposi-
tors was the gentlest critic of the discourses of others.
Mathesius relates that Luther, being in a country village,
attended divine service in the church according to his custom,
and heard a very uninteresting sermon. The congregation,
as they were returning home, remarked aloud on the defects
of the discourse they had just listened to. Luther turned and
addressed them — "There are," he said, "greater and lesser
lights in the firmament ; in God's house are vessels of iron
and wood, as well as of silver and gold, but all serve our Lord
Christ." But he was more censorious on deficiency of another
kind. Whilst he left the adjustment of ceremonies, in a great
measure, to individual churches, declaring " We are not the
slaves of ceremonies, but their lords," he always required a
congruity of adaptation in the parts of the service ; and when
he once heard an old Latin hymn sung to a new German
tune, the jar upon his associations and taste was so harsh,
that he pronounced severe animadversion.
That may with truth be said of Luther, which can be as-
serted of very few religious teachers, that his moral and
religious character were his doctrines exemplified. His dis-
tinctive characteristic was faith. His Lord God, who had
" conferred on him such gifts as he had not granted to many
thousands," could "make ten Dr. Martins out of one stone
with a word." The cause was not his, but God's, and it must
prosper, because it was God's cause. His preaching was little
396 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
heeded, but he was the ambassador of God, and dared not re-
frain. The Reformation had given great occasion to avarice
and selfishness; rapine preyed on the property of the Church,
and he " daily saw poor pastors, with their wives and children,
whose hunger looked out of their eyes — who had scarce bread
and water, naked of clothing, with nothing of their own ;
farmer and burgher would not give to them, and the nobles
took away from them ;" yet for all that, God's Word must
be proclaimed, and could not be void. No one ever pos-
sessed such a vivid appreciation of unseen realities. Satan,
who " blows the pestilence," who devastates the world
with misery, who, " when God builds a church, never fails
to build his chapel hard by," was continually tracking his
steps, thwarting his efforts for good, tempting and harassing
him, and had made him in body a very Lazarus. His torment
in his head, which " debarred him from reading three verses
of the Psalms together without pausing," was entirely super-
natural. It was Satan who plagued men in their sleep with
dreams and visions ; threw into the heart fiery darts of wicked
thoughts; interrupted mirth; changed children; raised hob-
goblins. In a case of suicide, the murderer was really
Satan. Satan had caused the sudden deaths of Emser and
of fficolampadius. And just before Carlstadt's death, a
tall black man had sat in his place in the Cathedral of
Basle, invisible to those near, but plain to those at a dis-
tance. " That was real death." Thus God on one side,
Satan on the other, were the real actors in the great
drama ever progressing on the stage of the world ; all
others were but masks. The Papists, " Heinz and Meinz,"
and their abettors, were but masks or idols; Satan in
reality moved the puppets, and made them his mouth-
pieces. So on the other side, the man, the horse, the battle-
axe, were but outward semblances concealing the hand of the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 397
Most High. The wicked man was but the unruly horse
that would fain run his own career ; God was the rider, who,
through the very fury of man, accomplished his own pur-
poses, making the wrath of the wicked to praise him. He
committed himself and all his to God's guidance with the
most perfect confidence. " God," he said, ' ' rather than his
people should want, would cause the heavens to pour down
bread and the rock to gush with water, and the leaves of the
trees to become coats and mantles. I verily believe that more
persons live than there ever grows food for, and that to the
godly the Lord multiplies the corn in the sack, and the meal
in the bin, and the loaf on the board, and the morsel in the
mouth." He was delighted to repeat " the blessing of the
Lord, it maketh rich," and to insist that mercy and charity
are the true road to wealth. He would often recount how
Thuringia was once a corn-rich country, but had been struck
with the curse of barrenness on account of the covetousness
of the farmers ; how the Netherlands would sink under the
indignation of God, because the rate of interest there was
usurious. He had tales in abundance of supernatural inter-
positions, which, in the mouths of most men, would have been
simply superstitious, in Luther's mouth were the overflowings
of his pervading faith.
This deep principle of faith was the secret of his contempt
of disease, of his serenity under the most t ying circum-
stances, and of the care with which he shunned wealth, as
though the bag of money were a bag of most deadly poison.
His liberality was measured by his faith in the divine goodness.
He went so far as to spurn the idea of making provision for his
wife and children — " His dear God would be sure to provide
for them much better than he could." Once, it is related, an
impoverished Wittenberg student stood at the door of Luther's
parlour, and implored assistance towards a journey which he
398 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
was compelled to undertake. Kate replied that they were
very poor themselves, and had nothing whatever to give ;
Luther, however, happened to be near, and, walking to the
table, took a silver goblet that was standing on it, and gave
it to the student, saying, " Sell this to a goldsmith, and use
whatever it may fetch for your journey." It was a proverbial
phrase with him — " We must never refuse a call to charity,
as long as there is a goblet in the house." On another
occasion, when a hundred florins were given him, he divided
the sum between Philip and Bugenhagen, compelling them
to accept his present, for their need was greater than his.
At another time two hundred gold pieces were sent him from
the mines, and he distributed the whole among the poor
students. " The wicked," he would say, " eye their money-
chest with self-gratulation and pride, as though they had
God Almighty shut up in their coffers. Ah ! the Lord flees
from a full purse, and his blessing rests on the faithful heart."
To complete Luther's character — truthfulness and the sim-
plicity of a child were with him wisdom ; he loathed and
abhorred duplicity and craft from the bottom of his soul, and
his honest deportment was marked by that genial fun and
humour which has been called not so much " an accompani-
ment, as a peculiar manifestation of the spirit of truth." It
has been allowed by all his opponents who have known any-
thing of his history, from Erasmus down to the present times,
that his conduct personally was unimpeachable — he was pure
beyond the taint of suspicion ; ever the unfaltering " man of
God," bold and courageous to a fault ; patient and uncom-
plaining; and although he fought conflicts enough with all
the fire and vehemence of his nature, he warred only with
the pen; in act he was ever a peacemaker; his first threat to
an adversary was, " I shall write against you ;" his second,
" I shall cease to pray for you ;" his third and final denunci-
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 399
ation, " I shall pray against you :" he was passionate, but a
word of rebuke would bring him round : Melancthon testifies
that he was not dogmatical in familiar conversation, but ever
ready to give and take : he was the most self-sacrificing of
philanthropists, at the same time that he held the Word of
God to be the only remedy for the depravity and misery
of human nature. His infirmities, many and great as they
were, were virtues grown into exesses.
He lived in the Augustine convent, as one of the old patri-
archs might have sat at his tent door receiving all who claimed
admission. The convent was an open house — the asylum of
the distressed, and the hospital for the sick. Distinguished
men from all parts of Europe came to visit the great monk.
The social meal was the supper. Luther would come to
table weary with the exhausting labours of many hours, ge-
nerally with a book in his hand, which, for some while,
perhaps, he continued to peruse. The Professors of the
University, old friends from remote parts — Wenceslaus Link
from Nuremberg, or James Probst from Bremen — strangers
on a visit of curiosity, or on an embassy from some court,
would gather round the hospitable board. At length Luther
would lift his eyes from off his book, and inquire the news ;
that was the signal that he was disposed for conversation, and
until that moment a deferential silence had been observed.
The conversation soon became general, the respect entertained
for the host being evidenced by the appellation by which he
was addressed, even by Melancthon and Jonas, of " Reverend
Father." As the conversation advanced, Luther's countenance
would become more and more animated : his eyes would wear
those inner rays of lustre, which, to Link and others of his
fanatical admirers, seemed the divine light of prophecy ; the
energetic expression of his face would soften into one of broad
humour and mirth, and the pith and originality of his remarks
would rivet the attention of his guests. Or the scene, perhaps,
400 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
would be different; eminent scholars, from distant lands,
might be present ; and Luther would be inquiring, with the
most intent interest and solemn gravity, their judgment on
the true translation of a word or phrase in the Hebrew Bible,
probably the very book he had brought to table with him, and
offering his own comments in exchange. The converse ended,
Aurifaber, or some other of the company, who had listened
with open ears, would hasten to commit to paper what Luther
had said, and thus add a new page to the accumulating matter
of what will ever be ranked as one of the most interesting
books in the German tongue — " Luther's Table Talk." The
evening would wind up with a Latin chant, or a German
hymn, a chorus of voices, Luther's fine tenor distinguishable
amongst them, making the rafters of the old refectory echo
with the rapture of harmony and the fervour of devotion.
After this, if no pressing work was in hand, Luther would at
once retire to rest, not forgetting (Antinomian as he has been
called !) among his devotions, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer,
and the Ten Commandments, imploring God to give him
grace to keep his law, not only in the letter but in the
spirit. He then laid him down in his bed, and employed
his last waking thoughts in meditating on some passage of
Scripture.
His domestic life, like his character, was the growth of his
religious doctrines. He was tenderly attached to Kate, and
always spoke of her as the very partner suited to him. "If
he should lose her, and a queen should be offered to him, he
would refuse her." And although he called her " his Lord
Kate," or "Emperor Kate" — jesting at the love of rule com-
mon to the sex — he praised her submissiveness and obedience.
Household matters he left entirely to her management, for he
regarded these as the wife's special province. "Man," he
said, " is created with broad shoulders and narrow hips, for
activity in the world ; woman with narrow shoulders and
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 401
broad hips, for staying at home in her proper domestic
sphere^ guiding the house, arid bringing up children '' And
the internal arrangement of the Augustine convent gave Kate
quite enough to do. To a friend who had inquired of
Luther what present would be most acceptable to him, he
replied, "that he was in want of a candelabrum;" but
he added, "You know what sort of a house mine is; let it
be a candelabrum that will stand being knocked up and down
stairs; and it will answer .the purpose better, if it can
clean itself." The garden was under Luther's own super-
vision : he delighted in flowers, which he liked to see as he
was studying, on the table near him ; and he especially ad-
mired the rose. " The man who could make one such flower
would deserve an empire :" and the burst and bloom of
vegetation always reminded him of redemption and the resur-
rection. He was an indulgent, but a strict and vigilant
father : for the parent, he declared, that neglected to train his
children in God's ways, and to restrain them from evil, was
" worse than Turk or Tartar/' He spoke of the book of
Proverbs as the best book on (Economics in the world ; and
"its whole substance is summed up in this: ' Fear God.'"
He greatly valued the classical languages, uniformly regret-
ting his own deficient education, which had debarred him
from the study of the Greek poets and historians ; and of all
studies, poetry, he said, was his favourite. Mirth, jests,
good cheer, pastimes, and music, he regarded as capital ex-
pedients for driving away the "proud melancholy Satan."
Hence the frequent references in his correspondence to what
he ate and drank : in such allusions he was scoffing at
Satan. Mathesius relates, that before going to bed he
would sometimes call for a glass of must, with an apology
to the bystanders, " Old men, like the Elector and myself,
have to find pillow and bolster in the can." But Mathesius
VOL. II. D D
402 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
agrees with Melancthon in representing him as singularly
abstemious and temperate. And although Luther could
not see the sin of dances or acting plays, insisting that
to be unworldly is to get the world Out of one's self, yet in
everything the prevailing passion rose to the surface. As
when out for the chase, he pursued theology : so his musical
compositions, his famous Hymn, and the Old Hundredth, are
lasting echoes of his solemn and elevated strain of piety.
Like the defects of his character, the defects of his doctrinal
system were chiefly produced by the excess of his zeal in
combating error. On the Sacraments his opinions decidedly
retrograded. In regard to the sacrament of Baptism, in the
beginning of his career as a Reformer, Luther was debating
whether the faith of the parents was not accepted by God,
in substitution for that of the children taken to the baptismal
font; or whether the faith of the Church, which offered
them, as it were, with her own hands to Christ, was not
set to the infants' account. And in regard to the Lord's
Supper he has himself declared, that at that period he
should have welcomed the interpretation of Carlstadt and
Zwingle with joy. But the outburst of fanaticism at Wit-
tenberg, when Luther was in the Wartburg, not only checked
these tendencies to more enlightened sacramental views,
but forced him, with great impetus, in the opposite direc-
tion. As the wild reveries of the enthusiasts laboured to
overthrow the objective character of Christianity, and to
substitute an inward varying standard for an unflinching
external rule of faith and life, he was resolved, in order to
raise a barrier against a subjectiveness which could not rest
until it had reached the dead level of infidelity, to place the
Sacraments on a basis as firm and unyielding as that of the
Word of God itself. Thus, in regard to the Lord's Supper, at
the same time that he rejected transubstantiation as not only
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 403
of recent introduction, but as utterly unscriptural and idola-
trous, lie affirmed that both to the godly and to the ungodly
the bread and wine are the natural body and blood of
Christ, received both with heart and mouth, but with directly
opposite effects — by the godly to salvation, by the ungodly to
condemnation. In reference to Baptism, he determined that
if that sacrament were administered in joke, yet, supposing
that to the sprinkling of water the words of Scripture were
added — " I baptize thee in the name of the Father,'* &c, it
was valid baptism. And not only so, but even in the case of an
adult who had not faith, he maintained that the divine sacra-
ment could not be void. Baptism was an objective reality,
like father and mother, or the civil ruler.* In the case of
infants, he expressly condemned the theory that faith in the
parents is required to render the sacrament effectual to the
children, and likewise the teaching of the Waldenses, that the
infant is baptized by reason of a prospective faith to be attained
on arriving at years of discretion ; and he pronounced that to
every infant baptism is unconditionally the new birth or re-
generation. To the anabaptist objection, that " faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," and, there-
fore, children not having reason to understand the Word,
could not have faith, he replied with his deep scriptural
wisdom, "What has reason to do with faith? It is the
greatest stumbling-block in the world to faith. The big
head cannot get through the strait gate. A Christian at
all times has the Spirit of God in his heart; yet, when he
sleeps, reason is dormant, but faith is never dormant. And
why limit God's operations, as though the only hearing of his
Word were by the outward ear ? If the infant is not regene-
rated in baptism,, let us leave off to baptize infants altogether,
* See his Catechism.— Walch X. p. 162.
D D 2
404 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
the sooner the better, for it is a mimicry and mockery of
a holy sacrament."* It is true that in his " Babylonian
Captivity/' and other earlier writings, he used such terms
as : — " Take thy stand on thy Baptism : not on thine own
works, thine own sorrow, thine own repentance, but on God's
promise :" but, in that treatise he denned a sacrament to be
a covenant, whereto there is God's word of promise on the
one part, and faith relying on that word on the other part,
and he was constantly dwelling on the text, " He that
believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved." His later theory
of Baptism, however, did not militate against the doctrine of
conversion. If the baptismal vow were broken by a life of
relapse into wilful sin, he insisted on the necessity of true
and thorough conversion of heart ; but he said, with great
truth, that in such a case the re-administration of Baptism
was unneeded and unscriptural, because the sacrament made
void by sin on man's part, yet remained unalterably firm on
God's part. The true Christian was baptized every day,
hour, and moment by the Holy Ghost ; such was the virtue
of the " one baptism." The sacraments represented in picture,
or in act, what the Scripture declared in word, and were not
only signs, but were assurances and pledges of God's will,
on which the soul could build with confidence. Yet, however
much the peculiarities of Luther's later views on this subject
may be regarded as unsound and erroneous, he effectually
relieved the holy of holies of the sacraments from the profa-
nation of the papistical opus operatum, by rejecting every
notion of any efficacy in the administrator, or in any incan-
tation of consecration, and unreservedly accepting the expla-
nation of Augustin — " The word added to the outward sign
* Church-Postil to the Gospel for the Third Sunday after Epiphany,
one of his earlier writings, in which he still speaks of the faith of the
sponsors, and of the Church. — Walch XI. pp. 666—681.
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 405
makes the sacrament (accedit verbum ad elernentum et fit
sacramentum)." But he had lost sight of that other land-
mark of Augustin, which his earlier writings had kept steadily
in view : " The sacrament is where there is faith (ubi fides,
ibi sacramentum.)"
Thus it must be confessed that Luther's later view of the
sacrament of Baptism subjected his system of divinity to the
charge of obvious inconsistency. Not only did he teach the
doctrines of the total Bondage of the Will, of Predestination
to Life, and of the Final Perseverance of every true Christian,
in conjunction with the strongest asseverations of the Uni-
versality of Redemption, and of the necessity of individual
watchfulness, of victory over sin, and gradual growth in
grace, which are but the two sides of one grand truth, which
cannot be conceived of by our present weak understandings
in its simple unity. But he also taught the doctrine of
Final Perseverance, in conjunction with the doctrines that
every baptized infant is regenerated, and yet that many
baptized souls perish eternally ; a complexity which must
seem irreconcilable, not only in terms but in substance,
unless it be supposed that he made some such distinction
between baptismal regeneration and confirmed regeneration,
as was made somewhat later between grace and effectual
grace. Whilst asserting that the sacrament of Baptism
constitutes a man a Christian, he was continually seeking
some more exact test of union with Christ than any sacrament
affords; he was not only regretting that excommunication
could not be revived, but he was anxious to mark off true
Christians from merely nominal and professing Christians, by
having different orders of assemblies in the church, so as to
get at the inner and true church, disintegrated from the
visible mixed church; and in his later, as in his earlier
writings, the church was still, not baptized Christians, but " the
406 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
universe of predestined souls." " This is a wonderful great
acknowledgment/' he wrote in his Postil to the Epistle for the
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity, " for a human heart born
in sin to be convinced and certain that God, in the depth of
his majesty and divine heart, has finally and irrevocably deter-
mined, and will have every one receive and believe the same,
that He will not reckon to us our sins, but pardon them, and
be gracious to us, and give us eternal life for His dear Son's
sake." And in the same Postil he says, " Persecution, sword,
fire, water, wild beasts, &c., are the true school in which we
must learn to acknowledge God's will, so as to be able to say
with confidence, f No, my dear foe, World, Devil, Flesh,
thou mayest do me woe, insult, plague, torture me, take from
me body and life j but my Lord Christ, that is, God's grace
and mercy, that shalt thou never take from me.' Thus faith
is taught and strengthened, that this is God's unchangeable
will, which He has determined and can never revoke, although
He should seem to deal quite otherwise, as He did towards
Christ himself: and through such exercise and experience
faith becomes so strengthened, that to go to death is joy and
delight. Whence comes such courage and confidence, even
to little maidens of thirteen and fourteen years old, such as
Agnes and Agatha, &c, that they stand so bold before the
Romish judge, and sport when they are led to death, as
though they were going to a dance, but that the glorious
rooted faith and sure confidence has filled their heart, that
God is not wroth with them, but His gracious and merciful
will is purely for their highest and eternal health and salva-
tion !" " God," he wrote in another place, " only endures
with the filth and wickedness of this life for his elects' sake,
until their number is complete. Christ's day yet tarries, be-
cause they are not all yet born that belong to heaven. But
when the time is accomplished, and the number is complete,
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 407
then shall all this suddenly be removed, World, Government,
Jurist, Magistrate, States, yea, the whole of it ; nothing more
shall be permitted to remain of this world's righteousness;
but all of it, together with the belly, and the belly with it,
shall be brought to nought. For it is all damned, and or-
dained to perdition : but for the sake of the Christians, to
whom eternal life is promised, it must have its course, until
the period comes, and the last saint is born into the world.
But till they all are born, even to the very last soul, the
world shall still stand and be upheld for their sakes ; for God
heeds not and cares not for the whole world, save for the
sake of his own true Christians." *
But however incongruous the threads of his system may be,
Luther, at least, cannot with any justice be arraigned as a
reviler of the sacraments, when he upheld them even to in-
consistency, any more than as an Antinomian, when he was the
staunchest opponent that the Antinomians encountered, as he
has been not only arraigned but condemned by calumniators
whose malice, however, is neutralised by their ignorance. It
were to be wished that the personal charges" of violence and
bitterness of language could be as satisfactorily answered; or
the imputation that his love of humour did not always restrict
itself within the limits of secular subjects. It must be re-
membered, however, that Luther's faith was a principle so
rooted, and so abounding, that he was led practically into a
partial mistake as to its proper object, so that he completely
identified his own views and convictions with the authorita-
tive declarations of Scripture. With the weakness of the best
and strongest natures, to which, moreover, the encomiums
and exaggerated estimation formed of him by some of his
friends strongly tempted him, he fancied himself not indeed
* Postil to the Epistle for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity.
WaJch, XII. p. 1259.
408 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
absolutely infallible, but au infallible interpreter of Scripture
on all points of doctrine. It is the delusion by which close
students of the Bible have been beguiled in all ages, and has
been shared by divines, who certainly would not be worthy to
unloose the latchet of Luther's shoe. Hence he justified his
use of the most vehement and vituperative language by the
example of the Prophets, and even of Jesus Christ himself.
Hence he pronounced his anathema on every one who dif-
fered from him on the smallest point of Christian doctrine.
Hence, in denouncing his religious opponents, he parodied
the language of the Psalmist — " Blessed is the man that hath
not walked in the counsel of the Zwinglians," &c. Hence he
forbade all futui*e Councils, in a parody of the Papal Bull
convoking a Council, which professed to emanate from the
Court of Heaven, and was " signed Archangel Raphael,
Secretary." Hence, in his famous letter from the Wartburg
to Melancthon, he exaggerated the most glorious doctrine of
the Christian faith, with a drollery which found large amuse-
ment from the contrast between such exaggeration and
Philip's well-known character. But such an admission of
grievous failure must be much qualified by the consideration
of Luther's peculiar work and peculiar character adapting
him to his work. Mathesius remarks, that " the hurricane
was required to sweep away the snow of many ages." Unless
tragedy and comedy had been combined in Luther as in
Shakspeare, that compass of power would have been wanting
which made him an over-match for Erasmus, as well as for
Eck or Carlstadt. And it must after all be matter less for
surprise than regret, that like most wits, Luther was not
always proof against the temptation of his own faculties;
or, with the common infirmity of theologians, his zeal for
truth made him blind to the objectionable weapon which he
employed in its defence. To this it must be added, that the
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 409
scholastic disputations then in use, in which Luther had been
trained, and which he employed as means of disseminating his
scriptural principles, whatever tendency they may have had
to sharpen the observation, had no tendency to produce a
correct and discriminating taste, nicely distinguishing the
sacred and the profane, the serious and the humourous. His
characteristic coarseness, which, however, added force to his
jests and sarcasms, is also much palliated by reflections of
a similar kind. In his age the mask of outside refinement
was not often assumed, ev.ui at courts ; and he himself owed
very little to culture. He was born a peasant, and was edu-
cated chiefly in a monastery. And to a considerable extent
his very coarseness was the result of his truthfulness. He
spoke of men and women just as he found them : exposed
the sore as the only way to heal it ; and did not blush to use
plainness of speech, because he was not conscious of any
cause for shame or false delicacy,* Critics writing calmly
in the nineteenth century, are apt very unfairly to forget in
what age Luther lived, and the imperative demands and
harassing trials of his peculiar situation, which drew out all
the force of his powerful and various faculties, and left him
no time to weigh his words in a "jeweller's scales."
A comparison with any of the leading men of the age, tells
greatly to Luther's advantage. " We must not, for the sake
of truth, break the public peace ;" — " There are those, I trust,
who will defend my posthumous reputation;" — said the Prince
of letters. " To desire this world's praise," said the Doctor
of Wittenberg, " is to crack a rotten nut, and get a mouthful
* Milton has defended Luther from the charge of coarseness. He
observes, " The Targuinists were of cleaner language than he that
made the tongue :" and he says, " There may be a sanctified bitter-
ness against the enemies of truth." — See Milton's Apology for Smec-
tymnuus.
410 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
of dust." " The doctrine, which pleases men cannot be true :
the world is an inn ; Satan the landlord ; drop in when you
will, the landlord is at home." Erasmus, shaking with
every breath of wind, writing begging letters to his numerous
patrons, asserting that God had not given to every one the
courage to be a martyr, and he had himself no inclination to
die for truth, is indeed a portrait of timorous feebleness, by
the side of the Christian hero of Worms and of Augsburg,
whose frequent complaint was that his grievous sins had de-
prived him of the joy of martyrdom. Nor would Erasmus
enjoy such fame as he does in connection with the Reforma-
tion, unless, according to the remark of Melancthon, Luther
had come immediately after him, and obviated the revolu-
tionary tendency of his writings, by placing the altar and the
throne on their true foundations. Melancthon himself,
though a far more exact scholar than Luther, or than Eras-
mus, was the retired student, not the man of action and
resolve for stirring times. To Luther, every parlour in Wit-
tenberg was familiar ; the regret is entered in his corres-
pondence, from the period of his arriving there fresh from
Erfurth, how much of his time is lost by his multitudinous
invitations. Melancthon, on the contrary, thought the con-
versation of the town society " very common-place ;" and
when Luther, Cruciger, and Jonas, were absent, he sat, as
he says of himself, " like a lame cobbler at home," and
wrote some Greek verses, or communicated to Camerarius or
Eoban Hess, a conjectural emendation of a passage in Theo-
critus or Hesiod. Melancthon believed in astrology; there
is a letter of his in which he requests that the horoscope of
King Ferdinand may be sent to him; and he held the
punishment of heretics to be a religious duty. Luther, on
the contrary, took every opportunity to overcome the popular
superstitions, and upheld the Christian principle of religious
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 411
toleration in an age of barbarity. And perhaps nothing places
Luther's character in a more amiable light than his deep
affection for Philip, resembling that of a father for a son,
which continued unabated even when Melancthon advocated
Episcopacy, spoke ambiguously on the subject of Justifica-
tion, and even finally inclined towards the Swiss view of the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Again, as compared with
Zwingle, Luther is the religious and political conservative, in
opposition to the destructive and republican. Zwingle wished
to clear the entire area of the Church, not to leave a stone
standing, to make way for a completely new edifice, modelled
on his own views of Scripture. With Luther, on the other
hand, hatred of Rome was only the result of a love of Chris-
tianity : whatever could be left standing, he would have un-
touched. " Where is this or that practice enjoined in Scrip-
ture ? " the Swiss inquired : " Where is it forbidden in
Scripture ? " Luther retorted. " The Gospel must be aided
by the sword," said Zwingle. " God saith, ' Be still, and
know that I am God,'" Luther answered. And it is an in-
structive chapter in the book of Providence, that the cham-
pion of the sword fell on the field of battle ; the champion
of the Word, after a few hours' illness, attended with com-
paratively little suffering, was translated in perfect peace.
There are, however, some persons who imagine that one
blemish on a fame, otherwise the purest and most unsullied,
has a damning virtue that turns everything to its own black-
ness. And such a blemish on the reputation of Luther,
they conceive that they have detected in the sanction given
by him to the double marriage of the Landgrave of Hesse.
Many, with the Jesuitical Bossuet, affirm that Luther
conceded this liberty to the Landgrave against his own
convictions, in order to prevent the defection of Philip of
Hesse from the evaugelical ranks : others, with the very ill-
412 THE LIFE OP MARTIN LUTHER.
informed Sir William Hamilton, have broached the calumny
that the Reformers were, on principle, abettors of the prac-
tice of polygamy. These accusations cannot, at least, be true
together ; and a minute investigation of the subject has
proved that they are both false. It would, indeed, be a
poisoned arrow in the Papist quiver, if it could be shown
that the adulation and truckling subserviency to those in
power, whiclrform part in the llomish artillery of pious frauds,
are vices shared by popes, monks, and prelates, in common with
such a man as Luther; and that the Reformer, whose whole
bearing towards the Electors of Saxony is an admirable exem-
plification of the precept, to render to Csesar what is Caesar's
and to God what is God's, and who in every other instance
opposed the Landgrave's exceptionable designs, and had cer-
tainly no partiality for the " Macedonian," had nevertheless,
on one occasion, so far forgotten himself and the truth, as to
fear offending Philip of Hesse more than the reproach of his
own conscience. In common sense, such an extraordinary
solution ought not to be resorted to, unless it is inevitable ;
and it falls entirely to the ground, when the letter of dis-
pensation to Philip is compared with Luther's writings of
various dates, some of them composed many years previously,
which demonstrate that he did not forge any new doctrine to
suit the Landgrave's case, but acted in the most conscien-
tious manner, by applying to circumstances, which he believed
to be exceptional, an indulgence which he had uniformly
held to be permissible exceptionally. The practice of the
Patriarchs, and of the Jewish Kings, seemed to him proofs
of this. As to abetting polygamy, it was for the express
object of preventing a precedent being drawn, as he foresaw
it readily would be, from an exceptional dispensation, that
Luther conceded only "a secret right," insisting that the
whole transaction must remain covered with the mantle of
TITE LTFR OF MARTIN LUTHER. 413
oblivion, arid admonished the Landgrave, "If the princes call
upon you to put away Margaret Sala, tell them you will do
so, when they put away their concubine3." And when
Bucer, in his servility to the Landgrave, published a de-
fence of polygamy under the fictitious name of " Neobulus
Tulichius," Luther's indignation was kindled to a tempest ;
and he set himself to write an answer, which was suppressed
by the Landgrave's solicitations to the Elector, but the un-
finished work is extant among Luther's writings, and contains
the following passage : — " Whoso desires my judgment upon
this book let him hear it. Thus says Dr. Martin about the
book of Neobulus, ' Whoso follows this knave and book, and
takes more than one wife, and will have that it is a right, the
devil bless his bath in the depths of hell. Amen.' This
know I well, God be praised ! to maintain, even though it
should snow pure Neobuluses, Nebulos, Tulrichs, along with
pure devils for a whole year long. No one shall make me
a right thereout, that will I well forefend. Much less shall
any one make this into a right, that a man may separate
himself from his own wife rightfully, (if she has not first
separated herself from him by adultery,) which this book
would also fain teach." He goes on to say, " There is a
great difference between right and dispensation, tolerance and
permission : right is no dispensation ; dispensation is no right ;
and he who gets anything by dispensation, does not get it by
right." Nor was there ever the least scruple in Luther's
mind as to the path he had followed in this affair: — "I can
answer," he said, " for what I have done to God, but I cannot
answer for it to the world." A grievous error of judgment
still remains to Luther's account in this deplorable transaction:*
* See, for a minute investigation of Luther's whole conduct in the
affair, the inimitable " Vindication of Luther against his recent English
Assailants," by the late Archdeacon Hare, pp. 225 — 274.
414 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
but like his view of the sacraments, his regarding the Lord's
day as little more than an ecclesiastical institution, and his
other various defective appreciations of truth, it is an error
into which he was led by the corrupt teaching and the per-
verted practice of the Romish Church. He said of himself
that he could not quite forget all that he had been taught as
a monk.
But after all that may be said against Luther on such
a score, must not the moral and religious character of that
man stand high indeed, who, although involved in a whirlpool
of business and troubles his whole life long, is not open to
any weightier imputation ? And must not the grace of
God's Spirit have indeed been mighty in him, who, born in
the depth of Papist darkness, reared all his early life in its
thick and yet thicker shadow of death, groped his way gradu-
ally out of it, and attained to such a measure as he did of the
pure light of truth ?
Immediately upon Luther's death, an express was sent to
the Elector of Saxony with intelligence of the mournful
event, and a request from the Counts of Mansfeld that his
remains might be permitted to rest at Eisleben, the place of his
birth and decease. The evening of the same day, the Elector's
reply was received, expressing his deep grief, and requiring
that the body be conveyed to Wittenberg to be deposited in
the Church of All Saints. " Would," he could not refrain from
adding, " that the Counts of Mansfeld had not entangled in
their private affairs a man worn out with age and toil \" The
news of Luther's death soon spread : Melancthon received
the intelligence with the words, " The chariot of Israel, and
the horsemen thereof!" and the same exclamation was heard
from all sides. By the Elector's order the body was placed
in a leaden coffin, and on the evening of the 1 8th the lying-
in-state took place, when many hundreds of men and women,
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 415
and many of the nobility, were admitted into Dr. Drachstedt's
house to take a last gaze on the clay of the German prophet :
and two painters copied with their best art the features of the
deceased; one an inhabitant of Eisleben, very shortly after
death, another from Halle, when the remains had been in the
coffin a night. The next day the corpse was carried to St.
Andrew's Church, Eisleben, amidst a large attendance of no-
blemen and citizens, besides a vast assemblage of the poorer
orders, who hurried to the spot from all parts ; and a funeral
sermon was delivered by Dr. Jonas from 1 Thess. iv. 13 — 18.
When the sermon was over, and the crowd had dispersed,
ten citizens remained behind in the church to keep watch over
the corpse during the night. The next morning, Saturday, a Feb. 20.
sermon was preached by the pastor of Eisleben, Michael
Coelius, from Isaiah lvii. 1, 2. Ccelius related how gently
and happily Luther had fallen asleep in Christ. In the after-
noon the Prince of Anhalt, the Reformer's old friend and
pupil, all the Counts of Mansfeld, with their wives, sons and
daughters, the Count of Schwartzburg, and many citizens,
with honourable matrons, formed in procession, and with
great pomp and lamentation the corpse was conveyed from
the church to the city gate ; and thence under a chosen
escort, the bells tolling in all the villages through which it
passed, the same evening to Halle. Here an immense throng
of country people from the neighbourhood, with the preachers,
the town council, and the schools of Halle had assembled at
the gate ; and about five o'clock the procession was seen ap-
proaching. It moved forward to funeral hymns and the
tolling of bells, towards the Church of the Virgin, but
encountered such obstacles from the vast concourse of spec-
tators that it was often stationary, and occupied more than
two hours in its progress to the church. It was too late for
a sermon, and after the choir had sung one of Luther's
41 G THE LIVE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
hymns (Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir), Avith voices which,
contemporaries say, seemed to wail rather than sing, the
multitude separated, and a guard of citizens was left in charge
of the corpse. The next morning, Sunday, at six o'clock, the
funeral procession with the same solemnity moved through
the city to the gate towards Bitterfeld, which it reached
about noon, having been met on the confines by the prefect of
Wittenberg and other deputies of the Elector of Saxony ;
and that evening remained at Kemberg. The next day
John and John Hoyer, Counts of Mansfeld, with their
forty-five armed horsemen, to whom the duty of conducting
the Reformer's remains to their last resting-place had been
assigned, entered Wittenberg by the Elster-gate. Twenty-five
years before, Luther had burnt the Pope's Bull near that very
gate. And now the rector, and professors, and students of
the University, the Town Council, citizens, and a vast crowd
of people were waiting there to receive his mortal remains
with all the honour that they could pay to the memory of a
universal benefactor. As the procession drew near it was
joined by Kate Luther, with her daughter and three sons.
The procession to All faints' Church was as follows : — The
Prefect of Wittenberg, and the deputation from the Elector,
with the Counts of Mansfeld and the horsemen preceded the
carriage on which the coffin was borne, covered with a pall
of black velvet. Kate Luther immediately followed the
corpse in a very humble carriage, with her daughter and
several matrons ; then John, Martin, and Paul, with their uncle
James Luther, and George and Syriac Kauffmann, the Re-
former's nephews. Next came the rector, and University,
including princes, counts, bai'ons, the Chancellor Bruck,
Melancthon, Jonas, Bugenhagen, and Cruciger ; then the city
functionaries ; and after these the whole body of students :
and finally, a mixed group of men, women, and children, who,
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 417
by their demeanour, showed that they wished to be ranked
among the mourners. Such a vast multitude had never before
met in Wittenberg. The spot in All Saints' Church which
the Elector had chosen for Luther's grave was on the right
side of the pulpit ; and when the coffin had been carried into
the church, and placed before the pulpit, the service was
begun with funeral chants : after which Bugenhagen ad-
dressed the thousands who were assembled, taking as his
text, 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14; but so much was he affected and
interrupted by his tears, that although Luther used to say
his discourses were very good, but far too long, his sermon
was unusually short, and he almost forgot his text entirely.
After the sermon Melancthon delivered the funeral oration,
speaking of Luther as one of that glorious company of Patri-
archs, Prophets and Apostles, who had been God's special
witnesses on earth, and comparing himself and his hearers
to children witnessing the obsequies of a most excellent
and faithful parent. "But let us all, he continued, join in
this prayer : ' We thank thee, Almighty God, together with
thy co-eternal Son and Holy Spirit, that thou hast gathered
for thyself an inheritance from mankind, and hast been
pleased to revive thy Church by the instrumentality of Martin
Luther. Great dangers threaten it ; foreign enemies, do-
mestic wars, and bitter controversies, which, now that Luther
is gone, will increase to greater boldness. O God ! avert these
perils ; preserve and rule thy Church ; and grant us never to
forget that as long as we retain, hear, learn, and love the pure
doctrine of thy Gospel, we shall ever be thy Church." At
the close of the oration, the coffin was lowered into the grave
by Masters of the University. And fourteen years later the
remains of Melancthon were laid side by side with those of
his old colleague in the cause of Christ.
A stone was placed over Luther's grave, simply recording
VOL. II. E E
418 THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER.
his name, the place of his decease, and the age at which he
died. It was intended by the Elector, that the inscription
on this slab should be in brass, and a very costly work was
prepared, which, however, in the troubles that followed, was
never put over the grave : but in the last century it might be
seen at Jena. A copper tablet was also let into the south
wall of All Saints' Church, bearing Luther's chosen cogni-
zance, the Rose and Cross, with a long Latin inscription, enu-
merating his services in the cause of religion. And a picture
was placed in All Saints' Church representing Luther preach-
ing, Melancthon baptizing, and Bugenhagen pronouncing
absolution on the penitent, and rejecting the impenitent.
Luther's resting-place was respected, when John Frederic
became a captive to the Emperor at Mulhausen, and Witten-
berg was occupied by the soldiers of Duke Maurice : only
his portrait bore the marks of the malice of an individual
soldier, probably a Spaniard, who pierced the neck and breast
with his stiletto.
A few words in conclusion about Kate Luther and her
children. To make provision for the Reformer's widow, the
Elector contributed 2000 florins, and the Counts of Mansfeld
the same sum : and, after a time, the property at Wittenberg,
which had been bequeathed to her entirely, was sold : and she
removed to Torgau, where she resided in comfortable inde-
pendence until her death, December 20, 1552. John Luther
was not found to possess much capacity for learning : he did
not, therefore, prosecute his studies, but was appointed to a
sinecure post in the court of John Frederic, and when that
prince was deprived of his electorate, he obtained a similar
appointment in the court of his father's old friend, the Duke
of Prussia. John married the only daughter of Caspar
Cruciger, and had by her a daughter, who died childless.
Martin became a theologian, but from weak health, led a
THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 419
private life at Wittenberg, and although he married, died
childless. Paul, the youngest son, was distinguished as a
professor of medicine at Jena, and was physician to several
princely and electoral houses : he was eminent for his piety,
and the staunchness with which he maintained his father's
sentiments on justification by Christ alone, and the grace of
the Sacraments. He married Anna Warbeck, the daughter
of the Saxon Chancellor, and had issue by her, four sons,
of whom only one, John Ernest, Canon of Zeitz, the father of
John Martin Luther, Seckendorf's friend, lived to grow up,
and two daughters. Margaret married George von Cunheim,
a personage of note and high authority in Prussia; and
from her and her brother Paul there are numerous descend-
ants at the present day, of the greatest of the Reformers.
THE END.
EEEATUM.
Vol. I. page 316, Note.
For " The account of the colloquy with Satan did not appear in any earlier
edition of the work than that of 1533," &c.
Read " The account of the colloquy with Satan appears in Luther's treatise on
the Private Mass and Ordination of Priests, published in 1533," &c.
DATE DUE
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