Luther’s attempts to interest the pope in reform had proved futile. He
was likewise unsuccessful in having a general council convened to
consider his propositions. Now, in the first of three great treatises,
he called upon the secular rulers to concern themselves with the state
of the church.
Appearing in August, 1520, the “Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of
the German Nation” flatly attacked corruption among the clergy and
prodded the laity into doing something about it. Since all Christians
are priests before God, Luther held it was incumbent upon them and
particularly upon Christian rulers to feel responsible for the conduct
of the church within their domains. As Christians they should abhor vice
and wickedness regardless of whether it flourished on the main street or
in the monastery.
No one, said the open letter, has been able to reform the Romanists
because they have erected three walls of defense, “_First_, when pressed
by the temporal power, they have made decrees and said that the temporal
power has no jurisdiction over them. _Second_, when the attempt is made
to reprove them out of the Scriptures, they raise the objection that the
interpretation of the Scriptures belongs to no one except the pope.
_Third_, if threatened with a council, they answer with the fable that
no one can call a council but the pope.”
[Illustration: (uncaptioned)]
Luther demolished the first wall by showing that everyone is equal
before God. Those holding the title of priest or bishop are not superior
to other Christians nor do they differ except in vocation, by which also
a cobbler differs from a blacksmith. The title of “priest” is conferred
by laymen who themselves are priests in the sight of God. Thus the
holder of a church title is not beyond the reach of temporal government.
He breached the second wall by pointing out that every enlightened
Christian—layman or priest—has the right to seek God’s message for him
in the Scriptures. The third wall tumbled through Luther’s insistence
that every man, as a priest, shares responsibility for right management
in the church.