Decisive steps by the Reformer--Luther's Appeal to a General
Council--Struggle at close quarters--The Bull burned by
Luther--Meaning of this bold act--Luther in the Academic
Chair--Luther against the Pope--New Work by Melancthon--How
Luther encourages his Friends--Progress of the
Contest--Melancthon's Opinion of the timid--Luther's Work on
the Bible--Doctrine of Grace--Luther's Recantation.
[Sidenote: LUTHER'S APPEAL TO A GENERAL COUNCIL.]
But duty obliged him to speak, in order to manifest the truth to the
world. Rome has struck, and he will make it known how he receives the
blow. The pope has put him under the ban of the Church, and he will
put the pope under the ban of Christendom. Up to this hour the pope's
word has been omnipotent. Luther will oppose word to word, and the
world will know which is the more powerful of the two. "I am
desirous," said he, "to set my conscience at rest, by making men aware
of the danger to which they are exposed."[296] At the same time he
prepares to renew his appeal to an universal council. An appeal from
the pope to a council was a crime, and hence the mode in which Luther
attempts to justify himself is a new act of hostility to papal
authority.
[296] "Ut meam conscientiam redimam." (Ibid., p. 522.) That I may
redeem my conscience.
On the morning of the 17th November, a notary and five witnesses, of
whom Cruciger was one, met at ten o'clock, in one of the halls of the
Augustin convent in which the doctor resided. There the public
officer, Sarctor of Eisleben, having seated himself to draw up the
minute of his protest, the Reformer, in presence of the witnesses,
says, with a solemn tone:
"Considering that a general Council of the Christian Church is above
the pope, especially in all that concerns the faith;
"Considering that the power of the pope is not above, but beneath
Scripture, and that he has no right to worry the sheep of Christ, and
throw them into the wolf's mouth:
"I, Martin Luther, Augustin, doctor of the Holy Scriptures at
Wittemberg, do, by this writing, appeal for myself, and for all who
shall adhere to me, from the most holy Pope Leo, to a future universal
Christian Council.
"I appeal from the said Pope Leo, _first_, as an unjust, rash,
tyrannical judge, who condemns me without hearing me, and without
explaining the grounds of his judgment; _secondly_, as a heretic, a
strayed, obdurate apostate, condemned by the Holy Scriptures, inasmuch
as he ordains me to deny that Christian faith is necessary in the use
of the sacraments;[297] _thirdly_, as an enemy, an antichrist, an
adversary, a tyrant of the Holy Scripture,[298] who dares to oppose
his own words to all the words of God; _fourthly_, as a despiser, a
calumniator, a blasphemer of the holy Christian Church and a free
Council, inasmuch as he pretends that a Council is nothing in itself.
[297] "Ab erroneo, indurato, per Scripturas sanctas damnato, hæretico
et apostata." (L. Op. Lat. ii, p. 50.) See also (L. Op. (L.) xvii, p.
332.) The German copy has a few paragraphs that are not in the Latin.
[298] "Oppressore, totius sacræ Scripturæ." (Ibid.)
[Sidenote: THE BULL BURNT BY LUTHER.]
"Wherefore, I most humbly supplicate the most serene, most
illustrious, excellent, generous, noble, brave, sage, and prudent
lords, Charles, the Roman emperor, the electors, princes, counts,
barons, knights, gentlemen, counsellors, towns, and commonalties,
throughout Germany, to adhere to my protestation, and join me in
resisting the antichristian conduct of the pope, for the glory of God,
the defence of the Church, and of Christian doctrine, and the
maintenance of free councils in Christendom. Let them do so, and
Christ our Lord will richly recompence them by his eternal grace. But
if there are any who despise my prayer, and continue to obey that
impious man, the pope, rather than God,[299] I, by these presents,
shake myself free of the responsibility. Having faithfully warned
their consciences, I leave them, as well as the pope, and all his
adherents, to the sovereign judgment of God."
[299] Et papæ, impio homini, plus quam Deo obediant. (Ibid.)
Such is Luther's deed of divorce, such his answer to the papal bull.
There is great seriousness in this declaration. The accusations which
he brings against the pope are very grave, and are not made in a
spirit of levity. This protestation spread over Germany, and was sent
to the leading courts of Christendom.
[Sidenote: MEANING OF THIS BOLD ACT.]
Though the step which Luther had just taken seemed the very height of
daring, he had a still bolder step in reserve. The monk of Wittemberg
will do all that the pope dares to do. The son of the Medicis, and the
son of the miner of Mansfeld, have descended into the lists, and in
this mortal struggle, which shakes the world, not a blow is given by
the one which is not returned by the other. On the 10th December, a
notice appeared on the walls of Wittemberg, inviting the professors
and students to meet at nine o'clock in the morning, at the east gate,
near the holy cross. A great number of teachers and pupils assembled,
and Luther, walking at their head, led the procession to the appointed
spot. How many faggot piles has Rome kindled in the course of ages!
Luther desires to make a better application of the great Roman
principle. He only wishes to rid himself of some old papers, and the
fire, he thinks, is the fit instrument for that. A scaffold had been
prepared. One of the oldest masters of arts applied the torch. At the
moment when the flames rose, the redoubted Augustin, dressed in his
frock, was seen to approach the pile, holding in his hands the Canon
Law, the Decretals, the Clementines, the Extravagants of the popes,
some writings of Eck and Emser, and the papal bull. The Decretals
having first been consumed, Luther held up the bull, and saying,
"Since thou hast grieved the Lord's Anointed, let the eternal fire
grieve and consume thee," threw it into the flames. Never was war
declared with more energy and resolution. Luther quietly took the road
back to the town, and the crowd of doctors, professors, and students,
after a loud cheer, returned with him to Wittemberg. "The Decretals,"
said Luther, "resemble a body with a head as soft as that of a maiden,
limbs as full of violence as those of a lion, and a tail with as many
wiles as a serpent. In all the papal laws, there is not one word to
teach us who Jesus Christ is.[300] My enemies," continues he, "have
been able, by burning my books, to injure the truth in the minds of
the common people, and therefore I have burnt their books in my turn.
A serious struggle has now commenced. Hitherto I have only had child's
play with the pope. I began the work in the name of God; it will be
terminated without me and by his power. If they burn my books, in
which, to speak without vain-glory, there is more of the gospel than
in all the books of the pope, I am entitled, _a fortiori_, to burn
theirs, in which there is nothing good."
[300] L. Op. (W.) xxii, p. 1493-1496.
Had Luther commenced the Reformation in this way, such a proceeding
would doubtless have led to fatal results. Fanaticism would have been
able to lay hold of it, and throw the Church into a course of disorder
and violence. But the Reformer's grave exposition of Scripture had
formed a prelude to his work. The foundations had been wisely laid,
and now the mighty stroke which he had just given would not only
expose him to no hazard, but even accelerate the hour when Christendom
would be delivered from her chains.
Thus solemnly did Luther declare his separation from the pope and his
church. After his letter to Leo he might think this necessary. He
accepted the excommunication which Rome had pronounced. It made the
Christian world aware that there was now mortal war between him and
the pope. On reaching the shore, he burnt his ships, and left himself
no alternative but that of advancing to the combat.
Luther had returned to Wittemberg. Next day the academic hall was
fuller than usual. Men's minds were excited. A feeling of solemnity
prevailed throughout the audience, in expectation of an address from
the doctor. He commented on the Psalms, a task which he had commenced
in March of the previous year. Having finished his lecture, he paused
a few moments, and then said firmly, "Be on your guard against the
laws and statutes of the pope. I have burned the Decretals, but it is
only child's play. It is time, and more than time, to burn the pope. I
mean, he instantly resumed, the see of Rome, with all its doctrines
and abominations." Then, assuming a more solemn tone, he said, "If you
do not, with all your heart, combat the impious government of the
pope, you cannot be saved. Whoever takes pleasure in the religion and
worship of the papacy will be eternally lost in the life to
come."[301]
[301] "Muss ewig in jenem Leben verlohren seyn." L. Op. (L.) xvii, p.
333.
"If we reject it," added he, "we may expect all kinds of dangers and
even the loss of life. But it is far better to run such risks in the
world than to be silent! As long as I live I will warn my brethren of
the sore and plague of Babylon, lest several who are with us fall back
with the others into the abyss of hell."
[Sidenote: LUTHER AGAINST THE POPE.]
It is scarcely possible to imagine the effect produced upon the
audience by language, the energy of which still makes us wonder.
"None of us," adds the candid student to whom we owe the fact, "at
least, if he be not a block without intelligence, ('as,' adds he in a
parenthesis, 'all the papists are,')--none of us doubts that it
contains the simple truth. It is evident to all the faithful, that Dr.
Luther is an angel of the living God, called to feed the long
bewildered sheep of Christ with the divine Word."[302]
[302] Lutherum esse Dei viventis angelum qui palabundas Christi oves
pascat. (L. Op. Lat. ii, p. 123.)
This discourse, and the act which crowned it, mark an important epoch
in the Reformation. The Leipsic discussion had detached Luther
inwardly from the pope. But the moment when he burned the bull was
that in which he declared, in the most expressive manner, his entire
separation from the bishop of Rome and his church, and his attachment
to the Church universal, as founded by the apostles of Jesus Christ.
After three centuries the fire which he kindled at the East gate is
still burning.
"The pope," said he, "has three crowns, and they are these: the
_first_ is against God, for he condemns religion,--the _second_
against the emperor, for he condemns the secular power,--and the
_third_ against society, for he condemns marriage."[303] When he was
reproached with inveighing too violently against the papacy, he
replied, "Ah! I wish every thing I testify against him were a clap of
thunder, and every one of my words were a thunderbolt."[304]
[303] L. Op. (W.) xxii, p. 1313.
[304] Und ein jeglich Wort eine Donneraxt wäre. (Ibid. p. 1350.)
This firmness of Luther was communicated to his friends and
countrymen. A whole nation rallied round him. The university of
Wittemberg in particular always became more attached to the hero to
whom it owed its importance and renown. Carlstadt raised his voice
against "the raging lion of Florence," who tore divine and human laws
to pieces, and trampled under foot the principles of eternal truth. At
this time Melancthon also addressed the States of the empire in a
writing characterised by his usual elegance and wisdom. It was a reply
to a treatise attributed to Emser, but published under the name of
Rhadinus, a Roman theologian. Luther himself spoke not more forcibly,
and yet there is a grace in Melancthon's words which gives them access
to the heart.
[Sidenote: NEW WORK BY MELANCTHON.]
After showing, by passages of Scripture, that the pope is not superior
to other bishops; "What prevents us," says he to the States of the
empire, "from depriving the pope of the privilege which we have given
him?[305] It matters little to Luther that our riches, i.e. the
treasures of Europe, are sent to Rome. But what causes his grief and
ours is, that the laws of the pontiffs, and the reign of the pope, not
only endanger the souls of men but utterly destroy them. Every man
can judge for himself, whether or not it suits him to give his money
for the maintenance of Roman luxury, but to judge of the things of
religion, and of sacred mysteries, is beyond the reach of the vulgar.
Here, then, Luther implores your faith and zeal, and all pious men
implore with him, some with loud voice and others with groans and
sighs. Remember, princes of the Christian people, that you are
Christians, and rescue the sad wrecks of Christianity from the tyranny
of Antichrist. You are deceived by those who pretend that you have no
authority over priests. The same spirit which animated Jehu against
the priests of Baal urges you, in imitation of that ancient example,
to abolish the Roman superstition--a superstition far more horrible
than the idolatry of Baal."[306] So spoke mild Melancthon to the
princes of Germany.
[305] "Quid obstat quominus papæ quod dedimus jus adimamus!" (Corp.
Reform. L. i, p. 337.)
[306] Ut extinguaris illam multo tetriorem Baalis idololatriâ Romanam
superstitionem. (Corp. Ref. i, p. 337.)
Some cries of alarm were heard among the friends of the Reformation.
Timid spirits inclined to excessive moderation--Staupitz in
particular, expressed the keenest anguish. "Till now," said Luther to
him, "the whole affair has been mere sport. You yourself have said,
'did God not do these things it is impossible they could by done.' The
tumult becomes more and more tumultuous! and I do not think it will be
quelled before the last day."[307] Such was Luther's mode of
encouraging the timid. The tumult has existed for three centuries and
is not quelled!
[307] Tumultus egregiè tumultuatur, ut nisi extremo die sedari mihi
posse non videatur. (L. Ep. i, p. 541.)
"The papacy," continued he, "is not now what it was yesterday and the
day before. Let it excommunicate and burn my writings; ... let it kill
me! it cannot arrest what is going forward. Something wonderful is at
the door.[308] I burnt the bull in great trembling, but now I
experience more joy from it than from any action of my life."[309]
[308] Omnino aliquid portenti præ foribus est. (Ibid. p. 642.) Strange
presage of the future!
[309] ... primum trepidus et orans, sed nunc lætior quam ullo totius
vitæ meæ facto. (Ibid.) ... at first trembling and praying, but now
more joyful than at any action of my whole life.
We stop involuntarily and delight to read in the great soul of Luther
all that the future is preparing. "O! my father," says he to Staupitz
in concluding, "pray for the word of God and for me. I am heaved on
the billows, and as it were whirled upon them."[310]
[310] Ego fluctibus his rapior et volvor. (Ibid.)
[Sidenote: PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE.]
War is thus declared on all sides. The combatants have thrown away
their scabbards. The Word of God has resumed its rights, and deposes
him who had gone the length of usurping God's place. Society is shaken
throughout. No period is without egotistical men, who would willingly
leave human society in error and corruption, but wise men, even the
timid among them, think differently. "We know well," says the mild
and moderate Melancthon, "that statesmen have a horror at every thing
like innovation; and it must be confessed, that in the sad confusion
called human life, discord, even that which arises from the best of
causes, is always accompanied with evil. Still it is necessary that in
the Church the Word of God take precedence of every thing human.[311]
God denounces eternal wrath against those who strive to extinguish the
truth; and therefore, it was a duty incumbent on Luther--a Christian
duty which he could not evade--to rebuke the pernicious errors which
disorderly men were circulating with inconceivable effrontery. If
discord engenders many evils, (to my great grief I see it does, adds
sage Philip,) it is the fault of those who at the beginning circulated
errors, and of those who, filled with diabolic hatred, are seeking at
present to maintain them."
[311] Sed tamen in Ecclesiâ necesse est anteferri mandatum Dei omnibus
rebus humanis. (Melancth. Vit. Lutheri.)
All, however, were not of the same opinion. Luther was loaded with
reproaches; the storm burst upon him from all sides. "He is quite
alone," said some--"He teaches novelties," said others.
"Who knows," replied Luther, in accordance with the virtue given him
from on high,--"who knows if God has not chosen me, and called
me,[312] and if they ought not to fear that in despising me they may
be despising God himself?... Moses was alone on coming but of
Egypt--Elijah alone in the time of King Ahab--Isaiah alone in
Jerusalem--Ezekiel alone at Babylon.... God never chose for a prophet
either the high priest or any other great personage. He usually chose
persons who were low and despised,--on one occasion he even chose a
shepherd, (Amos). At all times the saints have had to rebuke the
great--kings, princes, priests, the learned--at the risk of their
lives. And under the New Dispensation has it not been the same?
Ambrose in his day was alone; after him Jerome was alone; later still
Augustine was alone.... I do not say that I am a prophet,[313] but I
say they ought to fear just because I am alone and they are many. One
thing I am sure of--the Word of God is with me and is not with them.
[312] Wer weiss ob mich Gott dazu berufen und erwaehlt hat.
Fundamental principle of the articles condemned by the papal bull. (L.
Op. (L.) xvii, p. 338.)
[313] "Ich sage nicht dass Ich ein Prophet sey." (L. Op. (L.) xvii. p.
338.)
"It is said also," continues he, "that I advance novelties, and that
it is impossible to believe that all other doctors have for so long a
period been mistaken.
[Sidenote: THE BIBLE PARAMOUNT.]
"No, I do not preach novelties. But I say that all Christian doctrines
have disappeared, even among those who ought to have preserved them; I
mean bishops and the learned. I doubt not, however, that the truth
has remained in some hearts, should it even have been in infants in
the cradle.[314] Poor peasants, mere babes, now understand Jesus
Christ better than the pope, the bishops, and the doctors.
[314] "Und sollten's eitel Kinder in der Wiege seyn." (Ibid, p. 339.)
"I am accused of rejecting the holy doctors of the Church. I reject
them not: but since all those doctors try to prove their writings by
Holy Scripture, it must be clearer and more certain than they are. Who
thinks of proving an obscure discourse by one still more obscure?
Thus, then, necessity constrains us to recur to the Bible, as all the
doctors do, and to ask it to decide upon their writings; for the Bible
is lord and master.
"But it is said men in power persecute him. And is it not clear from
Scripture that persecutors are usually in the wrong, and the
persecuted in the right; that the majority are always in favour of
falsehood, and the minority in favour of truth? The truth has, at all
times, caused clamour."[315]
[315] Wahrheit hat alle, seit rumört (Ibid., p. 140.)
Luther afterwards reviews the propositions condemned in the bull as
heretical, and demonstrates their truth, by proofs drawn from Holy
Scripture. With what force, in particular, does he now maintain the
doctrine of grace!
"What," says he, "will nature be able, before and without grace, to
hate sin, avoid it, and repent of it; while that, even since grace is
come, this nature loves sin, seeks it, desires it, and ceases not to
combat grace, and to be irritated against it; a fact for which all the
saints continually do groan!... It is as if it were said that a large
tree, which I am unable to bend by exerting my utmost strength, bends
of itself on my letting it go; or that a torrent, which walls and
dykes cannot arrest, is arrested the instant I leave it to itself....
No, it is not by considering sin and its consequences that we attain
to repentance, but by contemplating Jesus Christ, his wounds, and
boundless love.[316] The knowledge of sin must result from repentance,
and not repentance from the knowledge of sin. Knowledge is the fruit,
repentance is the tree. With us the fruit grows upon the tree, but it
would seem that, in the states of the holy father, the tree grows upon
the fruit."
[316] Man soll zuvor Christum in seine Wunden sehen, und aus
denselben, seine Liebe gegen uns. (Ibid., p. 351.)
The courageous doctor, though he protests, also retracts some of his
propositions. Surprise will cease when his mode of doing it is known.
After quoting the four propositions on indulgences, condemned by the
bull,[317] he simply adds,
[Sidenote: CORONATION OF CHARLES V.]
"In honour of the holy and learned bull I retract all that I have
ever taught touching indulgences. If my books have been justly burned,
it must certainly be because I conceded something to the pope in the
doctrine of indulgences; wherefore, I myself condemn them to the
fire."
[317] 19 to 22. (Ibid., p. 363.)
He also retracts in regard to John Huss. "I say now, not that _some_
articles, but _all_ the articles of John Huss, are Christian
throughout. The pope, in condemning Huss, condemned the gospel. I have
done five times more than he, and yet I much fear have not done
enough. Huss merely says, that a wicked pope is not a member of
Christendom; but I, were St. Peter himself sitting to-day at Rome,
would deny that he was pope by the appointment of God."