§ 122. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE WITTENBERG REFORMATION.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century everything seemed to
combine in favour of those reforming endeavours which had been
held back during the Middle Ages. There was a lively perception of
the corruptions of the church, a deep and universal yearning after
reformation, the scientific apparatus necessary for its accomplishment,
a pope, Leo X., careless and indolent; a trafficker in indulgences,
Tetzel, stupidly bold and shameless; a noble, pious, and able prince,
Frederick the Wise (§ 123, 9), to act as protector of the new creed;
an emperor, Charles V. (§ 123, 5), powerful and hostile enough to
kindle the purifying fire of tribulation, but too much occupied with
political entanglements to be able to indulge in reckless and violent
oppression. There were also thousands of other persons, circumstances,
and relations helping, strengthening, and furthering the work. And now,
at the right hour, in the fittest place, and with the most suitable
surroundings, a religious genius, in the person of Luther, appeared
as the reformer, with the rarest combination of qualities of head and
heart, character and will, to engage upon that great work for which
Providence had so marvellously qualified him. This mighty undertaking
was begun by ninety-five simple theses, which he nailed to the door of
the church of Wittenberg, and the Leipzig Disputation marked the first
important crisis in its history.
§ 122.1. =Luther’s Years of Preparation.=--Martin Luther,
a miner’s son, was born on November 10th, A.D. 1483. His
childhood was passed under severe parental control and amid
pinching poverty, and he went to school at Mansfeld, whither
his parents had migrated; then at Magdeburg, where, among the
Brothers of the Common Life, he had mainly to secure his own
support as a singing boy upon the streets; and afterwards at
Eisenach, where Madame Ursula Cotta, moved by his beautiful
voice and earnest entreaty, took him into her house. In A.D. 1501
he entered on the study of jurisprudence at Erfurt (§ 120, 2),
took the degree of bachelor in A.D. 1502, and that of master in
A.D. 1505. During a fearful thunderstorm, which overtook him as
he travelled home, he was driven by terror to vow that he would
become a monk, impressed as he was by the sudden death of an
unnamed friend which had taken place shortly before. On the
17th July, A.D. 1505, he entered the Augustinian convent at
Erfurt. In deep concern about his soul’s salvation, he sought
by monkish asceticism, fasting, prayer, and penances to satisfy
his conscience, but the inward struggles only grew stronger. An
old monk proclaimed to the weary inquirer, almost fainting under
the anxiety of spirit and self-imposed tortures, the comforting
declaration of the creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.”
Still more powerful in directing him proved the conversation
of his noble superior, John Staupitz (§ 112, 6). He showed him
the way of true repentance and faith in the Saviour crucified
not for _painted_ sins. Following his advice, Luther diligently
studied the Bible, together with, of his own accord, Augustine’s
writings. In A.D. 1507 he was ordained priest, and in A.D. 1508
Staupitz promoted him to the University of Wittenberg, founded
in A.D. 1502, where he lectured on the “Dialectics” and “Physics”
of Aristotle; and in A.D. 1509 he was made _Baccalaureus
biblicus_. In the autumn of the same year he went again,
probably by Staupitz’ advice, to Erfurt, until, a year and a
half afterwards, he obtained a definite settlement at Wittenberg.
Highly important for his subsequent development was the journey
which, in A.D. 1511, he took to Rome in the interests of his
order. On the first view of the holy city, he sank upon his
knees, and with his hands raised to heaven cried out, “I greet
thee, holy Rome.” But he withdrew utterly disgusted with the
godless frivolity and immorality which he witnessed among the
clergy on every side, and dissatisfied with the externalism
of the penitential exercises which he had undertaken. During
his whole journey the Scripture sounded in his ear, “The just
shall live by his faith.” It was a voice of God in his soul,
which at last carried the blessed peace of God into his wounded
spirit. After his return, in A.D. 1512, Staupitz gave him
no rest until he took the degree of doctor of divinity; and
now he gave lectures in the university on Holy Scripture, and
afterwards preached in the city church of Wittenberg. He applied
himself more and more, by the help of Augustine, to the study
of Scripture and its fundamental doctrine of justification by
faith alone. About this time too he was powerfully influenced
by Tauler’s mysticism and the “Deutsche Theologie,” of which
he published an edition in A.D. 1516.
§ 122.2. =Luther’s Theses of A.D. 1517.=--The æsthetic and
luxurious pope Leo X. (§ 110, 14), avowedly for the building of
St. Peter’s, really to fill his own empty coffers, had proclaimed
a general indulgence. Germany was divided between three indulgence
commissions. The elector-cardinal Albert of Mainz, archbishop
of Magdeburg, and brother of Elector Joachim of Brandenburg,
undertook the direction of the commission for his archiepiscopal
province, for which he was to receive half the proceeds for the
payment of his debts. The most shameless of the traffickers in
indulgences employed by him was the Leipzig Dominican prior,
John Tetzel. This man had been sentenced at Innsbrück to be
drowned for adultery, but on the intercession of the Elector
of Saxony had his sentence commuted to imprisonment for life.
He now was taken from his prison in order to do this piece of
work for Albert. With great success he went from place to place,
and offered his wares for sale, proclaiming their virtues in the
public market with unparalleled audacity. He went to Jüterbock,
in the vicinity of Wittenberg, where he attracted crowds of
purchasers from all around. Luther discovered in the confessional
the corrupting influence of such procedure, and on the afternoon
of All Saints’ Day, =October 31st, A.D. 1517=, he nailed on
the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg ninety-five theses,
explaining the meaning of the indulgence. Although they were
directed not so much against the principle of indulgences as
against their misunderstanding and abuse, they comprehended
the real germ of the Reformation movement, negatively in the
conception of repentance which they set forth, and positively
in the distinct declaration that the grace of God in Christ can
alone avail for the forgiveness of sin. With incredible rapidity
the theses spread over all Germany, indeed over all Europe.
Luther accompanied them with a sermon on indulgence and grace.
The immense applause which its delivery called forth led the
supporters of the old views to gird on their armour. Tetzel
publicly burnt the theses at Jüterbock, and with the help of
Wimpina posted up and circulated at Frankfort and other places
counter-theses. The Wittenberg students purchased quantities
of these theses, and in retaliation burnt them, but Luther did
not approve their conduct. In April, A.D. 1518, Luther went
to Heidelberg, to take part there in a regular chapter of the
Augustinians, which was usually accompanied by public preaching
and disputations by members of the order. The disputation, which
on this occasion was assigned to Luther, gave him the welcome
opportunity of making known to wider circles these philosophical
and theological views which he had hitherto uttered only in
Wittenberg. The professors of the University of Heidelberg
repudiated and opposed them, but in almost every case mildly
and with tolerance. On the other hand, many of the young
theologians studying there enthusiastically accepted his
doctrines, and several of them, _e.g._ Martin Bucer of
Strassburg (§ 125, 1), John Brenz and Erhard Schnepf of Swabia
(§ 133, 3), as well as Theobald Billicanus, afterwards reformer
of Nördlingen, etc., there and then consecrated themselves to
their life work.
§ 122.3. =Prierias, Cajetan, and Miltitz,
A.D. 1518, 1519.=--Leo X. at first regarded the matter as an
insignificant monkish squabble, and praised Brother Martin as
a real genius. He gave no heed to Hoogstraten’s outcry of heresy,
nor did he encourage the Dominican Prierias in his attack on
Luther. The book of Prierias was a harmless affair. Luther gave
it a short and crushing reply. Prierias answered in a second
and third tract, which Luther simply republished with sarcastic
and overwhelming prefaces. The pope then enjoined silence upon
his luckless steward. In May, A.D. 1518, Luther wrote a humble
epistle to the pope, and added a series of _Resolutiones_ in
vindication of his theses. Staupitz is said to have revised
both. Meanwhile it had been determined in Rome to deal with
the Wittenberg business in earnest. The papal procurator made
a complaint against Luther. A court was commissioned, which
summoned him to appear in person at Rome to answer for himself.
But, on the representations of the University of Wittenberg
and the Elector Frederick the Wise, the pope charged Cardinal
Cajetan, his legate at the Diet of Augsburg, to take up the
consideration of the matter. Luther appeared, and made his
appeal to the Bible. The legate however wished him to argue
from the schoolmen, demanded an unconditional recantation,
and at last haughtily dismissed “the beast with deep eyes
and wonderful speculations in his head.” Luther made a formal
appeal _a sanctissimo Domino Leone male informato ad melius
informandum_, and quitted Augsburg in good spirits. The cardinal
now sought to rouse Frederick against the refractory monk, but
Luther’s buoyant and humble confidence won the noble elector’s
heart. Cajetan continued a vigorous opponent of the reformed
doctrine. But Luther’s superiority in Scripture knowledge
had so impressed the cardinal, that he now applied himself
closely to the study of the Bible in the original tongues;
and thus, while firmly attached to the Romish system, he was
led on many points, _e.g._ on Scripture and tradition, divorce,
injunctions about meats, the use of the vernacular in public
worship, the objectionableness of the allegorical interpretation,
etc., to adopt more liberal views, so that he was denounced
by some Roman Catholic controversialists as guilty of various
heresies.--Luther had no reason in any case to look for any
good from Rome. Hence he prepared beforehand an appeal for an
œcumenical council, which the publisher, against Luther’s will,
at once spread abroad. In Rome the cardinal’s pride was wounded
by the failure of his undertaking. A papal bull defined the
doctrine of indulgences, in order more exactly to guard against
misrepresentations, and an accomplished courtier, the papal
chamberlain, Carl von Miltitz, a Saxon, was sent to Saxony,
in A.D. 1519, as papal nuncio, to convey to the elector the
consecrated golden rose, and to secure a happy conclusion
to the controversy. The envoy began by addressing a sharp
admonition to Tetzel, and met Luther with hypocritical
graciousness. Luther acknowledged that he had acted rashly,
wrote a humble, submissive letter to the pope, and published
“_An Instruction on some Articles ascribed to him by his
Traducers_.” But after all the retractations which he made
at the diet he still firmly maintained justification by faith,
without merit of works. He promised the nuncio to abstain
from all further polemic, on condition that his opponents
also should be silent. But silent these would not be.
§ 122.4. =The Leipzig Disputation, A.D. 1519.=--John Eck
of Ingolstadt had engaged in controversy with a zealous
supporter and colleague of Luther, Andrew Bodenstein of
Carlstadt, professor and preacher at Wittenberg, and Luther
himself took part in the discussion between the two. This
disputation came off at Leipzig, and lasted from June 27th
to July 16th. But Eck’s vanity led him not only to seek the
greatest possible fame from his present disputation, but also
to drag in Luther by challenging his theses. Eck disputed for
eight days with Carlstadt about grace and free will, and with
abundant eloquence, boldness, and learning vindicated Romish
semi-Pelagianism. Then he disputed for fourteen days with Luther
about the primacy of the pope, about repentance, indulgences,
and purgatory, and pressed him hard about the Hussite heresy.
But Luther sturdily opposed him on the grounds of Scripture,
and confirmed himself in the conviction that even œcumenical
councils might err, and that not all Hussite doctrines are
heretical. Both parties claimed the victory. Luther continued
the discussion in various controversial treatises, and Eck,
too, was not silent. New combatants also, for and against,
from all sides appeared upon the scene. The liberal humanists
(§ 120, 2) had at first taken little notice of Luther’s
contention. But the Leipzig Disputation led them to change
their attitude. Luther seemed to them now a new Reuchlin,
Eck another specimen of Ortuinus Gratius. A biting satire of
Pirkheimer (§ 120, 3), “Der abgehobelte Eck,” appeared in the
beginning of A.D. 1520, exceeding in Aristophanic wit any of
the epistles of the Obscurantists. It was followed by several
satires by Ulrich von Hutten, who received new inspiration
from Luther’s appearance at Leipzig. Hutten and Sickingen,
with their whole party, undertook to protect Luther with body
and soul, with sword and pen. This was a covenant of some
advantage to the Reformation in its early years; but had it
not been again abrogated, it might have diverted the movement
into an altogether wrong direction. From this time forth Duke
George of Saxony, at whose castle and in whose presence the
disputation had been conducted, became the irreconcilable enemy
of Luther and his Reformation.
§ 122.5. =Philip Melanchthon.=--At the Leipzig Disputation there
also appeared a man fated to become of supreme importance in the
carrying out of the Reformation. Born on February 16th, A.D. 1497,
at Bretten in the Palatinate, Philip Melanchthon entered the
University of Heidelberg in his thirteenth year, and at the
age of sixteen published a Greek grammar. He took the degree
of master at seventeen, and at twenty-one, in A.D. 1518, on the
recommendation of his grand-uncle Reuchlin, he was made Professor
of Greek in Wittenberg. His fame soon spread over all Europe, and
attracted to him thousands of hearers from all parts. Luther and
Erasmus vied with one another in lauding his talents, his fine
culture and learning, and his contemporaries have given him the
honourable title of _Præceptor Germaniæ_. He was an Erasmus of
nobler form and higher power, a thorough contrast to Luther. His
whole being breathed modesty, mildness, and grace. With childlike
simplicity he received the recognised truths of the gospel. He
bowed humbly before the powerful, practical spirit of Luther, who
also, on his part, acknowledged with profound thankfulness the
priceless treasure God had sent to him and to his work in this
fellow labourer. Melanchthon wrote to his friend Œcolampadius
at Basel an account of the Leipzig Disputation, which by chance
fell into Eck’s hands. This occasioned a literary controversy,
in which Eck’s vain over-estimation of himself appears in
very striking contrast to the noble modesty of Melanchthon.
He took part in the Reformation first in February, A.D. 1521,
by a pseudonymous apology for Luther.[361]
§ 122.6. =George Spalatin.=--In consequence of his influential
position at the court of the elector, which he obtained on
Mutian’s (§ 120, 2) recommendation, after completing his
philosophical, legal, and theological studies at Erfurt,
George Burkhardt, born in A.D. 1484 at Spalt, in the diocese
of Eichstadt, and hence called Spalatinus, played an important
part in the German Reformation. Frederick the Wise, who had,
in A.D. 1509, entrusted him with the education of his nephew
John Frederick, appointed him, in A.D. 1514, his court chaplain,
librarian, and private secretary, in which capacity he accompanied
the elector to all the diets, and was almost exclusively the
channel for communicating to him tidings about Luther. John the
Constant, in A.D. 1525, made him superintendent of Altenburg,
and took him with him to the diets of Spires, in A.D. 1526, 1529,
and of Augsburg in A.D. 1530. John Frederick the Magnanimous, his
former pupil, employed him in A.D. 1537 on important negotiations
at the conference of the princes at Schmalkald [Schmalcald]
(§ 134, 1). From A.D. 1527 Spalatin was specially busy with
the visitation and organization of the Saxon church (§ 127, 1),
conducted, in the interests of the Reformation, an extensive
correspondence, and composed several works on the history of his
times and the history of the Reformation.
§ 123. LUTHER’S PERIOD OF CONFLICT, A.D. 1520, 1521.
The Leipzig Disputation had carried Luther to a more advanced
standpoint. He came to see that he could not remain standing half way,
that the carrying out of the Reformation principle, justification by
faith, was incompatible with the hierarchical system of the papacy
and its dogmatic foundation. But amid all the violence and subjective
one-sidedness which he showed at the beginning of this period of
conflict, he had sufficient control of himself to make clear the
spiritual character of his reforming endeavours, and firmly to reject
the carnal weapons which Ulrich von Hutten and his revolutionary
companions wished him to take up, thankful as he was for their warm
sympathy. His standpoint as a reformer is shown in the writings which
he published during this period. The Romish bull of excommunication
provoked him to strong words and extreme measures, and with heroic
boldness he entered Worms to present to the emperor and diet an
account of his doings. The papal ban was followed by the imperial
decree of outlawry. But the Wartburg exile saved him from the hands
of his enemies and--of his friends.
§ 123.1. =Luther’s Three Chief Reformation Writings,
A.D. 1520.=--In the powerful treatise, “To His Imperial Majesty
and the Christian Nobility of the German Nation on the Improvement
of the Christian Condition,” which appeared in the beginning of
August, A.D. 1520, Luther bombards first of all the three walls
behind which the Romanists entrenched themselves, the superiority
of the spiritual to the civil power, the sole right of the pope
to interpret Scripture and to summon œcumenical councils. Then he
commends to the laity, as consecrated by baptism to a spiritual
priesthood, especially civil rulers ordained of God, the task
of carrying out the reformation which God’s word requires, but
the pope and clergy hinder; and then finally he makes a powerful
appeal for carrying out this work in a practical way. He exposes
the false pretensions of the papal curia, demands renunciation of
annats and papal confirmation of newly elected bishops, complete
abandonment of the interdict and the abuse of excommunication,
the prohibition of pilgrimages and the begging of the monks, a
limitation of holy days, reform of the universities, permission
to the clergy to marry, reunion with the Bohemian Picards
(§ 119, 8), etc.--The second work, “On the Babylonish Captivity
of the Church,” is a dogmatic treatise, and is directed mainly
against the misuse of the sacraments and the reckoning of them
as seven, which have been made in the hands of the pope an
instrument of tyranny over the church. Only three are recognised
as founded on Scripture: baptism, penance, and the Lord’s Supper,
with the remark that, strictly speaking, even penance, as wanting
an outward sign, cannot be styled a sacrament. The doctrine of
transubstantiation, the withholding of the cup from the laity,
and the idea of a sacrifice in the mass are decidedly rejected.
The third treatise, “On the Freedom of a Christian Man,” enters
the ethical domain. It represents the life of the Christian,
rooted in justifying faith, as complete oneness with Christ.
His relation therefore to the world around is set forth in two
propositions: A Christian man is a free lord over all things,
and subject to no one; and a Christian man is a ministering
servant of all things, and subject to every one. On the one
hand, he has the perfect freedom of a king and priest set over
all outward things; but, on the other hand, he yields complete
submission in love to his neighbour, which, as consideration of
the weak, his very freedom demands.[362]
§ 123.2. =The Papal Bull of Excommunication, A.D. 1520.=--In
order to reap the fruits of his pretended victory at Leipzig,
Eck had gone to Rome, and was sent back triumphant as papal
nuncio with the bull _Exsurge Domini_ of June 16th. It charged
Luther with forty-one heresies, recommended the burning of his
works, and threatened to put him and his followers, if they
did not retract in sixty days, under the ban. Miltitz renewed
his attempts at conciliation, which, however, led to no result,
although Luther, to show at least his good will, attended
the conference, and, as a basis for a mutual understanding,
published his treatise, “On the Freedom of a Christian Man,”
in Oct., A.D. 1520. He accompanied this with a letter to the
pope, in which he treated him with personal respect, as a
sheep among wolves and as a Daniel sitting among lions; but
there was in it no word of repentance or of any desire to
retract. It could easily have been foreseen that these two
documents would prove thoroughly distasteful to the Romish
court. Meanwhile Eck had issued the bull. Luther published
a scathing polemic against it, and renewed his appeal, made
two years before, to an œcumenical council. In Saxony Eck
gained only scorn and reproach with his bull; but in Lyons,
Mainz, Cologne, etc., Luther’s works were actually burnt.
It was then that Luther took the boldest step in his whole
career. With a numerous retinue of doctors and students, whom
he had invited by a notice posted up on the blackboard, on the
10th Dec., A.D. 1520, at the Elster gate of Wittenberg, he cast
into the blazing pile the bull and the papal decretals with the
words, “Because thou hast troubled the saints of the Lord, let
eternal fire consume thee.” It was the utter renunciation of the
pope and his church, and with it he cut away every possibility
of a return.
§ 123.3. =Erasmus, A.D. 1520.=--Erasmus (§ 120, 6) had been
hitherto on good terms with Luther. They entertained for one
another a genuine regard. Diverse as their positive tendencies
were, they were at one in contending against scholasticism and
monkery. Erasmus was not sorry to see such heavy blows dealt
to the detested monks, and constantly refused to write against
Luther; he had also, he confessed, no wish to learn from his
own experience the sharpness of Luther’s teeth. When the papal
bull appeared, without hesitation he disapproved it, and indeed
refused to believe in its genuineness. He, as the oracle of his
age, was applied to by many for his opinion of the matter. His
judgment was that not the papal decision in itself but its style
and form should be disapproved. He desired a tribunal of learned,
pious men and three princes (the emperor and the kings of England
and Hungary), to whose verdict Luther would have to submit. When
Frederick the Wise consulted him, he expressed the opinion that
Luther had made two mistakes, in touching the crown of the pope
and the belly of the monks; he regretted in Luther’s proceedings
a want of moderation and discretion. Not without profit did the
elector hear the oracle thus discourse.--Continuation § 125, 3.
§ 123.4. =Luther’s Controversy with Emser,
A.D. 1519-1521.=--Emser, secretary and orator in the service
of Duke George, after the Leipzig Disputation, which he had
attended, sought by letter-writing to alienate the Bohemians
(§ 139, 19) from Luther, representing him as having there spoken
bitterly against them. This roused Luther to make a passionate
reply. After several pamphlets of a violent character had been
issued by both combatants, Emser issued his charge in a full and
comprehensive treatise, to which Luther replied in his work, “The
Answer of Martin Luther to the Unchristian, Ultra-ecclesiastical,
and Over-ingenious Book of Emser at Leipzig.” They had also a
sharp passage at arms with one another, in A.D. 1524, over the
canonization of Bishop Benno of Meissen, in which Emser, by his
duke’s order, took a zealous part (§ 129, 1). But all the later
writings in this controversy Luther left unanswered. Emser, with
great bitterness, assailed Luther’s translation of the Bible, in
which he professed to have found 1,400 heretical falsifications
and more than 1,000 lexical blunders. Luther was candid enough to
acknowledge that several of his animadversions were not unfounded.
On Emser’s own translation, which appeared shortly before his
death in A.D. 1527, see § 149, 14.
§ 123.5. =The Emperor Charles V.=--The Emperor Maximilian
had died on 12th Jan., A.D. 1519. The Elector of Saxony, as
administrator of the empire, managed to determine the election,
which took place on 28th June, A.D. 1519, against the French
candidate, Francis I., who was supported by the pope, in favour
of the young king of Spain, Charles I., grandson of Maximilian.
Detained at home by Spanish affairs, it was 23rd Oct., A.D. 1520,
before he was crowned at Aachen. All hopes were now directed
toward the young emperor. It was expected that he would put
himself at the head of the religious and national movement in
Germany. But Charles, uninspired by German sentiment, and even
ignorant of the German language, had other interests, which he
was not inclined to subordinate to German politics. The German
crown was with him only an integral part of his power. Its
interests must accommodate themselves to the common interests
of the whole dominions, upon which the sun never set. The German
movement he regarded as one, indeed, of high importance, but he
regarded it not so much from its religious as from its political
side. It afforded him the means for keeping the pope in check
and obliging him to sue for his favour. Two things required he
of the pope as the price of suppressing the German movement:
renunciation of the French alliance, and repeal of the papal
brief by which a transformation had been recommended of the
Spanish Inquisition, the main buttress of absolute monarchy
in Spain. The pope granted both demands, and the hopes of the
Germans in their new emperor, that he would finally free their
nation from the galling yoke of Rome, were thus utterly blasted.
§ 123.6. =The Diet at Worms, A.D. 1521.=--Immediately after the
arrival of the bull the emperor gave it the full force of law in
the Netherlands, where he was then staying. He did not at once
venture to make the same proclamation for Germany, specially from
regard to Frederick the Wise, Luther’s own prince, who insisted
that he should not be condemned unheard. Personal negotiations
between Frederick and the emperor and his councillors at Cologne,
in November, A.D. 1520, ended with a demand that the elector
should bring Luther to the diet, summoned to meet at Worms,
on 28th January, A.D. 1521; but at the desire of Aleander, the
papal nuncio, who energetically protested against the proposal
that civil judges should treat of matters of faith with an
already condemned heretic, the emperor, in December, withdrew
this summons. In the beginning of February there came a papal
brief, in which he was urgently entreated to give effect to
the bull throughout Germany. Aleander even sketched an imperial
mandate for its execution, but was not able to prevent the
emperor from laying it before his councillors for their opinion
and approval. This was done in the middle of February. And
now there arose a quite unexpected storm of opposition. The
councillors demanded that Luther should be brought under an
imperial safe conduct to Worms, there to answer for himself.
His attacks on Romish abuses they would not and could not regard
as crimes, for they themselves, with Duke George at their head,
had presented to the pope a complaint containing 101 counts. On
the other hand, they declared that if Luther would not retract
his doctrinal vagaries, they would be prepared to carry out
the edict. They persisted in this attitude when another scheme
was proposed to them, which insisted on the burning of Luther’s
writings. In the beginning of March a third proposal was made,
which asked only for the temporary sequestration of his works.
And to this they agreed. The emperor, though against his own
will, submitted to their demand, and cited the reformer of
Wittenberg to answer for himself at Worms. On 6th March he
signed a summons, accompanied with a safe conduct, both intended,
as Aleander said in writing to Rome, rather to frighten him
from coming than with any desire for his presence. But the
result was not as they desired. The courier appointed to deliver
this citation was not sent, but instead of him, on the 12th, an
imperial herald, who delivered to Luther a respectful invitation
beginning with the address, “Noble, dear, and worshipful sir.”
This herald was to bring him honourably and safely to Worms,
and to conduct him back again in safety. All this was done behind
the back of Aleander, who first came to know about it on the 15th,
and certainly was not wrong in attributing the emperor’s change
of mind to a suspicion of French political intrigues, in which
Leo X., notwithstanding his negotiations for an alliance with
the emperor, was understood to have had a share. Two weeks later,
however, such suspicions were seen to be unfounded. Too late the
sending of the herald was regretted, and an effort was made to
conciliate the nuncio by the publication of the sequestrating
mandate, which had been hitherto suppressed.
§ 123.7. =Luther= was meanwhile not idle at Wittenberg, while
waiting with heroic calm the issue of the Worms negotiations.
He preached twice daily, delivered lectures at the university,
taught and exhorted by books, letters, and conversations,
fought with his opponents, especially Emser, etc. While Luther
was engaged with these multifarious tasks the imperial herald
arrived. He now set everything aside, and on 2nd April boldly
and confidently obeyed the summons. The fears of his Wittenberg
friends and the counsels to turn back which reached him on
his way were rejected with a heroic consciousness that he
was in the path of duty. He had written on 14th March to
Spalatin, _Intrabimus Wormatiam invitis omnibus portis inferni
et potentatibus aëris_; and again from Oppenheim he wrote him,
that he would go to Worms even if there were as many devils
there as tiles upon the roofs. Still another attempt was
made upon him at Oppenheim. The emperor’s confessor, Glapio,
a Franciscan, who was by no means a blind worshipper of the
Roman curia, thought it possible that a good understanding
might be reached. He was of opinion that if Luther would
only withdraw the worst of his books, especially that on
the Babylonish Captivity, and acknowledge the decisions of
the Council of Constance, all might be agreeably settled. With
this in his mind he applied to the Elector of Saxony, and when
he received no encouragement there, to Franz von Sickingen, who
invited Luther, on his arrival at Ebernburg, near Worms, to an
interview with Glapio; but Luther declined the invitation.--His
journey all through was like a triumphal march. On 16th April,
amid a great concourse of people, he entered Worms, along with
his friends Justus Jonas and Nic. Amsdorf, as well as his legal
adviser Jerome Schurf. He was called to appear on the following
day. He admitted that the books spread out before him were his,
and when called on to retract desired one day’s adjournment.
On the 18th the trial proper began. Luther distinguished three
classes of his writings, systematic treatises, controversial
tracts against the papacy and papal doctrine, and controversial
tracts against private individuals, and did not know that he
had said anything in them that he could retract. He was asked
to give a direct answer. He then gave one “without horns or
teeth,” saying that he could and would retract nothing unless
proved false from Scripture, or on other good and clear grounds,
and concluded with the words, “Here stand I; I can no otherwise!
God help me, Amen.” Among the German knights and princes he had
won many hearts, but had made no favourable impression on the
emperor, who, when Luther denounced the absolute authority of
councils, stopped proceedings and dismissed the heretical monk.
On the following day, without consulting the opinion of the
councillors, he passed sentence of unconditional condemnation.
But the councillors would not have the matter settled in this
fashion, and the emperor was obliged, on 24th April, to reopen
negotiations before a select commission, under the presidency of
the Archbishop of Treves. Of no avail was a private conference
of the archbishop and Luther on the 25th, in which the prelate
accompanied his exhortation to retract with the promise of
a rich priorate in his neighbourhood under his own and the
emperor’s protection and favour. Luther supported his refusal
by confident reference to the words of Gamaliel, Acts v. 38.
On 26th April he left Worms unhindered; for the emperor had
decidedly refused to yield to the vile proposal that the safe
conduct of a heretic should be violated.--In consequence of
Luther’s persistent refusal to retract anything, the majority
of the diet pronounced themselves ready to agree to the
emperor’s judgment against him. The latter now assigned to
Aleander the drawing up of a new mandate, which should in the
severest terms proclaim the ban of the empire against Luther
and all his friends. After it had been approved in an imperial
cabinet council, and was ready for printing in its final form
in Latin and German, with the date 8th May, it was laid before
the emperor for signature, which, however, he put off doing
from day to day, and finally, in spite of all the nuncio’s
remonstrances, he decided that it must be produced before the
diet. When it appeared that this must be done, the two nuncios
were all impatient to have it passed soon. But it was only on
the 25th May, after the close of the diet, and after several
princes, especially the Electors of Saxony and the Palatinate,
had gone, that Charles let them present the edict, to which
all present agreed. On the 26th May, after Divine service
in church, he solemnly signed the Latin and German forms,
which were published with blast of trumpets on the following
day, and on Wednesday the sequestrated books of Luther were
burnt.--Undoubtedly political motives occasioned this long
delay in signing the documents. Perhaps he suspected the pope
of some new act of political treachery; probably also he wished
to postpone the publication of the edict until the imperial
councillors had promised to contribute to his proposed journey
to Rome, and perhaps until the nobles dissenting from the
proceedings against Luther had departed.
§ 123.8. =The Wartburg Exile, A.D. 1521, 1522.=--Some days
after Luther had dismissed the imperial herald, his carriage
was stopped in a wood near Eisenach by two disguised knights
with some retainers. He was himself carried off with show of
violence, and brought to the Wartburg, where he was to remain
in knight’s dress under the name of Junker Georg without himself
knowing anything more of the matter. It was indeed a contrivance
of the wise elector, though probably he took no active share
in the matter, so that he could declare at Worms that he knew
nothing of the Saxon monk. The most contradictory reports were
spread. Sometimes the Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (§ 122, 2)
was thought of as the perpetrator of the act, sometimes Franz
von Sickingen (§ 124, 2), sometimes a Franconian nobleman who
was on intimate terms with Frederick. And as the news rapidly
spread that Luther’s body, pierced with a sword, had been found
in an old silver mine, the tumult in Worms became so great that
Aleander had good cause to fear for his life.--From the Wartburg
Luther maintained a lively correspondence with his friends, and
even to the general public he proved, by edifying and stirring
tracts, that he still lived, and was not inclined to be silenced
or repressed. He completed the exposition of the _Magnificat_,
wrought upon the Latin exposition of the Psalms, issued the
first series of his “Church Postils,” wrote an “Instruction
to Penitents,” a book “On Confession, whether the Pope have
the Power to Enjoin it,” another “Against the Abuses of the
Mass,” also “On Priestly and Monkish Vows,” etc. When Cardinal
Albert, in September, A.D. 1521, proclaimed a pilgrimage with
unlimited indulgence to the relic shrine at Halle (§ 115, 9),
Luther wrote a scathing tract, “Against the New Idol at Halle.”
And when Spalatin assured him that the elector would not suffer
its being issued, he declined to withhold it, but sent him
the little book, with imperative orders to give it over to
Melanchthon for publication. While Spalatin still delayed
its issue, Luther left his castle, pushed his way toward
Wittenberg through the very heart of Duke George’s territories,
and suddenly appeared among his friends in the dress of a knight,
with long beard and hair. When he heard that the mere report
of what he was proposing to do had led those in Halle to stop
the traffic in indulgences, he decided not to proceed with the
publication, but instead he addressed a letter to Albert, in
which the archbishop had to read many a strong word about “the
knavery of indulgences,” “the Pharaoh-like hardened condition
of ecclesiastical tyrants,” etc. The prelate sent a most humble,
apologetic, and gracious reply to the bold reformer. Luther then
returned to his protective exile, as he had left it, unmolested.
But the longer it continued the more insupportable did this
electoral guardianship become. He would rather “burn on glowing
coals than spend thus a half idle life.” But it was just this
enforced exile that saved Luther and the Reformation from utter
overthrow. Apart from the dangers of the ban of the empire,
which would have perhaps obliged him to throw himself into
the arms of Hutten and his companions, and thus have turned
the Reformation into a revolution this confinement in the
Wartburg was in various ways a blessing to Luther and his
work. It was of importance that men should learn to distinguish
between Luther’s work and Luther’s person, and of yet greater
importance was the discipline of this exile upon Luther himself.
He was in danger of being drawn out of the path of positive
reformation into that of violent revolutionism. The leisure
of the Wartburg gave him time for calm reflection on himself
and his work, and the extravagances of the Wittenberg fanatics
and the wild excuses of the prophets of Zwickau (§ 124, 1)
could be estimated with a freedom from prejudice that would
have been impossible to one living and moving in the midst of
them. Besides, he had not reached that maturity of theological
knowledge needed for the conduct of his great undertaking, and
was in many ways fettered by a one-sided subjectivism. In his
seclusion he could turn from merely destructive criticism to
construction, and by undisturbed study of Scripture became
able to enlarge, purify, and confirm his religious knowledge.
But most important of all was the plan which he formed in the
Wartburg, and so far as the New Testament is concerned carried
out there, of translating the whole of the Scriptures.[363]
§ 123.9. =The Attitude of Frederick the Wise to the
Reformation.=--Frederick the Wise, A.D. 1486-1525, has usually
been styled “the Promoter of the Reformation.” Kolde, however,
has sought to represent him as favouring Luther because of
his interest in the University of Wittenberg founded by him,
the success of which was largely owing to Luther, and because
of his patriotic desire to have German questions settled at
home rather than in Rome. This author supposes that after the
Diet of Worms Frederick took no particular interest in the
Reformation, beyond watching to see how things would turn out.
To all this Köstlin has replied that Frederick’s whole attitude
during the Diet of Worms betrayed a warm and hearty interest
in evangelical truth; that his correspondence with Tucher of
Nuremberg, A.D. 1518-1523, supports this view; that in one
of these letters he addresses his correspondent with evident
satisfaction as a good Lutheran; that in another he incloses
a copy of Luther’s _Assertio omnium articulorum_; that at a
later period he forwards him a copy of Luther’s New Testament,
and expresses the hope that he will gain spiritual blessing
from its perusal. He himself found it his greatest comfort
in the hour of death, partook of the communion in both kinds
after the reformed manner, which takes away all ground for
the suspicion that he yielded only to the importunities of
his brother John and his chaplain Spalatin. And even though
Frederick, as late as A.D. 1522, continued to increase the
rich collection of relics which he had previously made for
his castle church, this only proves that not all at once but
only bit by bit he was able to break away from his earlier
religious tendencies and predilections.
§ 124. DETERIORATION AND PURIFICATION OF THE WITTENBERG
REFORMATION, A.D. 1522-1525.
During Luther’s absence, the Reformation at Wittenberg advanced
only too rapidly, and at last ran out into the wildest extravagances.
But Luther hastened thither, regulated the movement, and guided it
back into wise evangelical ways. This fanaticism arose in Wittenberg,
but soon spread into other parts. The Reformation was at the same time
threatened with danger from another quarter. The religious movement
came into contact with the struggle of the German knights against the
princes and that of the German peasants against the nobles, and was
in danger of being identified with these revolutionary proceedings
and sharing their fate. But Luther stood firm as a wall against all
temptations, and thus these dangers were avoided.
§ 124.1. =The Wittenberg Fanaticism, A.D. 1521, 1522.=--In
A.D. 1521 an Augustinian, Gabriel Didymus or Zwilling, preached
a violent tirade against vows and private masses. In consequence
of this sermon, thirteen of the brethren of his order at once
withdrew. Two priests in the neighbourhood married. Carlstadt
wrote against celibacy and followed their example. At the
Wittenberg convent, secessions from the order were allowed
at pleasure, and mendicancy, as well as the sacrifice of the
mass, was abolished. But matters did not stop there. Didymus,
and still more Carlstadt, spread a fanatical spirit among the
people and the students, who were encouraged in the wildest
acts of violence. The public services were disturbed in order
to stop the idolatry of the mass, images were thrown out of
the churches, altars were torn down, and a desire evinced
to put an end to theological science as well as to clerical
orders. A fanatical spirit began now also to spread at Zwickau.
At the head of this movement stood the tailor Nicolas Storch
and a literate Marcus Stübner, who boasted of Divine revelations;
while Thomas Münzer, with fervid eloquence, proclaimed the new
gospel from the pulpit. Restrained by energetic measures taken
against them, the Zwickau prophets wandered abroad. Münzer went
to Bohemia, Storch and Stübner to Wittenberg. There they told
of their revelations and inveighed against infant baptism as
a work of Satan. The excitement in Wittenberg became greater
day by day. The enemies of the Reformation rejoiced; Melanchthon
could give no counsel, and the elector was confounded. Then
could Luther no longer contain himself. Against the elector’s
express command he left the Wartburg on 3rd March, A.D. 1522,
wrote him a noble letter, availed himself of his knight’s
incognito on the way, and appeared publicly at Wittenberg.
For a week he preached daily against fanaticism, and got
complete control of the wild revolutionary elements. The
prophets of Zwickau left Wittenberg. Carlstadt remained, but
for a couple of years held his peace. Luther and Melanchthon
now laboured to secure a positive basis for the Reformation.
Melanchthon had already made a beginning in A.D. 1521 by the
publication of his _Loci communes rerum theologicarum_. Luther
now, in A.D. 1522, against the decided wish of his friend,
published his _Annotationes in epist. t. Pauli ad Rom. et
Cor._ In Sept. of the same year appeared Luther’s translation
of the N.T. Besides these he also issued several treatises
in defence of the Reformation.
§ 124.2. =Franz von Sickingen, A.D. 1522, 1523.=--A private
feud led Franz von Sickingen to attack the Elector and Archbishop
of Treves in A.D. 1522, but soon other interests were involved,
and he was joined by the whole party of the knights. Sickingen’s
opponent was a prelate and a pronounced enemy of the Reformation,
and he was also a prince and a peer of the empire. In both
characters he was opposed by Sickingen, who called for support
in the name of religion and freedom. The knights, discontented
with the imperial government and bureaucracy, with princes and
prelates, crowded to his standard. Sickingen would also have
gladly secured the monk of Wittenberg as an ally, but Luther
was not to be won. Sickingen’s enterprise failed. The Elector
of the Palatinate and the young Landgrave of Hesse hasted to
the help of their beleaguered neighbours. The knights were
overthrown one after another; Sickingen died of mortal wounds
in May, A.D. 1523, immediately after the taking of the shattered
Ebernburg. The power of the knights was utterly broken. The
Reformation thus lost indeed brave and noble protectors, but
it was itself saved.
§ 124.3. =Andrew Bodenstein of Carlstadt, A.D. 1524,
1525.=--Even after the suppression of the Wittenberg
fanaticism, Carlstadt continued to entertain his revolutionary
views, and it was only with difficulty that he restrained himself
for a few years. In A.D. 1524 he left Wittenberg and went to
Orlamünde. With bitter invectives against Luther’s popism, he
there resumed his iconoclasm, and brought forward his doctrine
of the Lord’s Supper, in which the real presence of the body
and blood of Christ was absolutely denied (§ 131, 1). In order
to prevent disturbance, Luther, by the order of the elector,
went to Jena, and there in Carlstadt’s presence preached most
emphatically against image breakers and sacramentarians. This
roused Carlstadt’s indignation. When Luther visited Orlamünde,
he was received with stone throwing and curses. Carlstadt was
now banished from his territories by the elector. He then went
to Strassburg, where he sought to win over the two evangelical
pastors, Bucer and Capito. Luther issued a letter of warning,
“To the Christians of Strassburg.” Carlstadt went to Basel,
and published violent tracts against Luther’s “unspiritual
and irrational theology.” Luther replied in A.D. 1525,
earnestly, thoroughly, and firmly in his treatise, “Against
the Heavenly Prophets, or Images and the Sacraments.” Carlstadt
had secured the support of the Swiss reformers, who continued
the controversy with Luther. He involved himself in the Peasants’
War, and afterwards, by Luther’s intercession with the elector,
obtained leave to return to Saxony. He retracted his errors,
but soon again renewed his old disorderly practices; and, after
a singularly eventful career, died as professor and preacher
at Basel during the plague of A.D. 1541.
§ 124.4. =Thomas Münzer, A.D. 1523, 1524.=--The prophets
when expelled from Wittenberg did not remain idle, but set
themselves to produce all sort of disorders in church and state.
At the head of these disturbers stood Thomas Münzer. After his
expulsion from Zwickau, he had gone to Bohemia, and was there
received as an apostle of the Taborite doctrine (§ 119, 7).
In A.D. 1523 he returned to Saxony, and settled at Allstadt
[Allstädt] in Thuringia, and when driven out by the elector
he went to Mühlhausen. In both places he soon obtained a large
following. The Wittenberg Reformation was condemned no less
than the papacy. Not the word of Scripture but the Spirit was
to be the principle of the Reformation; not only everything
ecclesiastical but also everything civil was to be spiritualized
and reorganized. The doctrine of the evangelical freedom of
the Christian was grossly misconceived, the sacraments despised,
infant baptism denounced, and sole weight laid on the baptism
of the Spirit. Princes should be driven from their thrones,
the enemies of the gospel destroyed by the sword, and all
goods be held in common. When Luther wrote a letter of warning
on these subjects to the church at Mühlhausen, Münzer issued
an abusive rejoinder, in which he speaks contemptuously of
Luther’s “honey-sweet Christ,” and “cunningly devised gospel.”
From Mühlhausen, Münzer went forth on a proselytising crusade
in A.D. 1524, to Nuremberg, and then to Basel, but found little
response in either city. His revolutionary extravagances were
more successful among the peasants of Southern Germany.
§ 124.5. =The Peasant War, A.D. 1524, 1525.=--The peasants of
the empire had long groaned under their heavy burdens. Twice
already, in A.D. 1502, 1514, had they risen in revolt, with
little advantage to themselves. When Luther’s ideas of the
freedom of a Christian man reached them, they hastily drew
conclusions in accordance with their own desires. Münzer’s
fanatical preaching led to the adoption of still more decidedly
communistic theories. In August, A.D. 1524, in the Black Forest,
a rebellion broke out, which was, however, quickly suppressed.
In the beginning of A.D. 1525 troubles burst forth afresh.
The peasants stated their demands in twelve articles, which
they insisted upon princes, nobles, and prelates accepting.
All Franconia and Swabia were soon under their power, and
even many cities made common cause with them. Münzer, however,
was not satisfied with this success. The twelve articles were
too moderate for him, and still more distasteful to him were
the terms that had been made with the nobles and clergy. He
returned to Thuringia and settled again at Mühlhausen. From
thence he spread his fanaticism through the whole land and
organized a general revolt. With merciless cruelty thousands
were massacred, all cloisters, castles, and palaces were
ruthlessly destroyed. Boldly as Luther had attacked the
existing ecclesiastical tyranny, he resolutely left civil
matters alone. He preached that the gospel makes the soul
free, but not the body or property. He had profound sympathy
for the sorely oppressed peasants, and so long as their
demands did not go beyond the twelve articles, he hoped to
be able to regulate the movement by the power of the word.
The revolutionists had themselves in their twelfth article
offered to abandon any of their claims that might be found
to have no countenance from the word of God. When Münzer’s
disorders began in Thuringia, Luther visited the cities most
threatened and exhorted them to quiet and obedience. But the
death of the elector on 5th May called him back to Wittenberg.
From thence he now published his “Exhortations to Peace on the
Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants,” in which he speaks
pointedly to the consciences of the nobles no less than of the
peasants. But when the agitation continued to spread, and one
enormity after another was perpetrated, he gave vent to his
wrath in no measured terms in his book, “Against the Robbing
and Murdering Peasants.” He there, with burning words, called
upon the princes vigorously to stamp out the fanatical rebellion.
Philip of Hesse was the first to take the field. He was joined
by the new Elector of Saxony, Frederick’s brother, =John the
Constant=, A.D. 1525-1532, as well as by George of Saxony and
Henry of Brunswick. On 15th May, A.D. 1525, the rebels were
annihilated after a severe struggle at Frankenhausen. Münzer
was taken prisoner and beheaded. Even in Southern Germany the
princes were soon in all parts masters of the situation. In
this war 100,000 men had lost their lives and the most fertile
districts had been turned into barren wastes.
§ 125. FRIENDS AND FOES OF LUTHER’S DOCTRINE,
A.D. 1522-1526.
Luther’s fellow labourers in the work of the gospel increased
from day to day, and so too the number of the cities in Northern and
Southern Germany in which pure doctrine was preached. But Wittenberg
was the heart and centre of the whole movement, the muster-ground for
all who were persecuted and exiled for the sake of the gospel, the
gathering point and nursery of new preachers. Among the theological
opponents of Luther’s doctrine appears a crowned head, Henry VIII.
of England, and also “the king of literature,” Erasmus of Rotterdam,
entered the lists against him. But neither the one nor the other, to
say nothing of the rude invectives of Thomas Murner, was able to shake
the bold reformer and check the rapid spread of his opinions.
§ 125.1. =Spread of Evangelical Views.=--The most powerful
heralds of the Reformation were the monkish orders. Cloister
life had become so utterly corrupt that the more virtuous of
the brethren could no longer endure it. Anxious to breathe a
healthier atmosphere, evangelists inspired by a purer doctrine
arose in all parts of Germany, first and most of all among
the Augustinian order (§ 112, 6), which almost to a man went
over to the Reformation and had the glory of providing its
first martyr (§ 128, 1). The order regarded Luther’s honour
as its own. Next to them came the Franciscans, prominent during
the Middle Ages as a fanatical opposition (§ 98, 4; 108, 5;
112, 2), of whom many had the courage to free themselves of
their shackles. From their cloisters proceeded, _e.g._, the
two famous popular preachers, Eberlin of Günzburg and Henry
of Kettenbach in Ulm, the Hamburg reformer Stephen Kempen,
the fervent Lambert reformer of Hesse, Luther’s friend
Myconius of Gotha, and many more. Other orders too supplied
their contingent, even the Dominicans, to whom Martin Bucer,
the Strassburg reformer, belonged. Blaurer of Württemberg
was a Benedictine, Rhegius a Carmelite, Bugenhagen a
Premonstratensian, etc. At least one of the German bishops,
George Polenz of Samland, openly joined the movement, preached
the gospel in Königsberg, and inspired the priests of his diocese
with the same views. Other bishops, such as those of Augsburg,
Basel, Bamberg, Merseburg, sympathised with the movement or at
least put no hindrance in its way. But the secular clergy gave
crowds of witnesses. In all the larger and even in some of the
smaller towns of Germany Luther’s doctrines were preached from
the pulpits with the approval of the magistrates, and where these
were refused the preachers took to the market-places and fields.
Where ministers were wanting, artisans and knights, wives and
maidens, carried on the work.--One of the first cities which
opened its gates freely to the gospel was Strassburg. Nowhere
were Luther’s writings more zealously read, discussed, printed,
and circulated than in that city. Shortly before Geiler of
Kaisersberg (§ 115, 11) had prepared the soil for receiving
the first seed of the Reformation. From A.D. 1518 Matthew Zell
had wrought as pastor at St. Laurence in Münster. When the
chapter forbade him the use of the stone pulpit erected for
Geiler, the joiners’ guild soon made him a wooden pulpit, which
was carried in solemn procession to Münster, and set up beside
the one that had been closed against him. Zell was soon assisted
by Capito, Bucer, Hedio, and others.
§ 125.2. =“The Sum of Holy Scripture” and its Author.=--This
work, called also _Deutsche Theologie_, appeared anonymously
at Leyden in A.D. 1523, and was confiscated in March, A.D. 1524.
In various Dutch editions and in French, Italian, and English
translations, it was soon widely spread over Europe; but
so vigorously was it suppressed, that by the middle of the
century it had disappeared and was forgotten. In A.D. 1877
the Waldensian Comba discovered and published an old Italian
version, and Benrath translated into German in A.D. 1880 an
old Dutch edition of A.D. 1526, and succeeded in unravelling
for the most part its interesting history. He found that it
was composed in Latin, and on the entreaty of the author’s
friends rendered into Dutch. This led to the discovery, in
the possession of Prof. Toorenenberger of Amsterdam, of the
Latin original, which had appeared anonymously at Strassburg
in A.D. 1527 with the title, _Æconomica christiana_. Benrath
has also discovered the author to be Hendrik van Bommel, who
was in the first half of A.D. 1520 priest and rector of a
sisterhood at Utrecht, expelled in A.D. 1536 from Cleves,
from A.D. 1542 to 1560 evangelical teacher and preacher at
Wesel, dying in A.D. 1570 as pastor at Duisburg. The “Sum” is
evidently influenced by those works of Luther which appeared
up to A.D. 1523, its thoroughly popular, edifying, and positive
contents are based upon a careful study of Scripture, and it is
throughout inspired by the one grand idea, that the salvation
of sinful men rests solely on the grace of God in Christ
appropriated by faith.
§ 125.3. =Henry VIII. and Erasmus.=--Henry VIII. of England,
as a second son, had been originally destined for the church.
Hence he retained a certain predilection for theological
studies and was anxious to be regarded as a learned theologian.
In A.D. 1522 he appeared as the champion of the Romish doctrine
of the seven sacraments in opposition to Luther’s book on the
“Babylonish Captivity of the Church,” treating the peasant’s
son with lordly contempt. Luther paid him in the same coin, and
treated his royal opponent with less consideration than he had
shown to Emser and Eck. The king obtained what he desired, the
papal honorary title of _Defensor fidei_, but Luther’s crushing
reply kept him from attempting to continue the controversy.
He complained to the elector, who consoled him by reference
to a general council (comp. § 129, 1). The pretty tolerable
relations between Erasmus and Luther now suffered a severe
shock. Erasmus, indebted to the English king for many favours,
was roused to great bitterness by Luther’s unmeasured severity.
He had hitherto refused all calls to write against Luther. Many
pulpits charged him with having a secret understanding with the
heretic; others thought he was afraid of him. All this tended
to drive Erasmus into open hostility to the reformer. He now
diligently studied Luther’s writings, for which he obtained
the pope’s permission, and seized upon a doctrine which would
not oblige him to appear as defender of Romish abuses, though
to gauge and estimate it in its full meaning he was quite
incompetent. Luther’s life experiences, joined with the study
of Paul’s epistles and Augustine’s writings, had wrought in
him the conviction that man is by nature incapable of doing
any good, that his will is unfree, and that he is saved without
any well doing of his own by God’s free grace in Christ. With
Luther, as with Augustine, this conviction found expression
in the doctrine of absolute predestination. Melanchthon had
also formulated the doctrine in the first edition of his _Loci
communes_. This fundamental doctrine of Luther was now laid hold
upon by Erasmus in A.D. 1524 in his treatise, Διατριβή _de libra
arbitrio_, pronounced dangerous and unbiblical, while his own
semi-Pelagianism was set over against it. After the lapse of
a year, Luther replied in his treatise, _De servo arbitrio_,
with all the power and confidence of personal, experimental
conviction. Erasmus answered in his _Hyperaspistes diatribes
adv. Lutheri servum arbitrium_ of A.D. 1526, in which he gave
free vent to his passion, but did not advance the argument
in the least. Luther therefore saw no need to continue the
discussion.[364]
§ 125.4. =Thomas Murner.=--The Franciscan, Thomas Murner of
Strassburg, had published in A.D. 1509 his “Fools’ Exorcism”
and other pieces, which gave him a high place among German
satirists. He spared no class, not even the clergy and
the monks, took Reuchlin’s part against the men of Cologne
(§ 120, 4), but passionately opposed Luther’s movement. His
most successful satire against Luther is entitled, “On the
Great Lutheran Fool as Exorcised by Dr. Murner, A.D. 1522.”
It does not touch upon the spiritual aspect of the Reformation,
but lashes with biting wit the revolutionary, fanatical, and
rhetorical extravagances which were often closely associated
with it. Luther did not venture into the lists with the savagely
sarcastic monk, but the humanists poured upon him a flood of
scurrilous replies.
§ 125.5. A notable Catholic witness on behalf of the
Reformation is the “=Onus ecclesiæ=,” an anonymous tract of
A.D. 1524, written by Bishop Berthold Pirstinger of Chiemsee.
In apocalyptic phraseology it describes the corruption of
the church and calls for reformation. The author however
denounces Luther as a sectary and revolutionist, though he
distinctly accepts his views of indulgences. He would reform
the church from within. Four years after, the same divine
wrote a “_Tewtsche Theologey_,” in which, with the exception
of the doctrine of indulgence, the whole Romish system is
vindicated and the corruptions of the church are ignored.
§ 126. DEVELOPMENT OF THE REFORMATION IN THE EMPIRE,
A.D. 1522-1526.
In consequence of the terms of his election, Charles V. had, at
the Diet of Worms, to agree to the erection of a standing imperial
government at Nuremberg, which in his absence would have the supreme
direction of imperial affairs. Within this commission, though presided
over by Archduke Ferdinand, the emperor’s brother, a majority was
soon found which openly favoured the new religion. Thus protected
by the highest imperial judicature, the Reformation was able for
a long time to spread unhindered and so made rapid progress (§ 125, 1).
The Nuremberg court succumbed indeed to the united efforts of its
political opponents, among whom were many nobles of an evangelical
spirit, but all the more energetically did these press the interests
of the Reformation. And their endeavours were so successful, that
it was determined that matters should be settled without reference
to pope and council at a general German national assembly. But the
papal legate Campegius formed at Regensberg [Regensburg], in A.D. 1524,
a league of the Catholic nobles for enforcing the edict of Worms,
against which the evangelical nobles established a defensive league
at Torgau, in A.D. 1526. The general national assembly was vetoed by
the emperor, but the decision of the Diet of Spires of A.D. 1526 gave
to all nobles the right of determining the religious matters of their
provinces after their own views.
§ 126.1. =The Diet at Nuremberg, A.D. 1522, 1523.=--The
imperial court held its first diet in the end of A.D. 1522.
Leo X. had died in Dec., A.D. 1521, and Hadrian VI. (§ 149, 1),
strictly conservative in doctrine and worship, a reformer of
discipline and hierarchical abuses, had succeeded with the
determination “to restore the deformed bride of Christ to her
pristine purity,” but vigorously to suppress the Lutheran heresy.
His legate presented to the diet a letter confessing abuses and
promising reforms, but insisting on the execution of the edict
of Worms. The diet declared that in consequence of the admitted
corruptions of the church, the present execution of the Worms
edict was not to be thought of. Until a general council in a
German city, with guaranteed freedom of discussion, had been
called, discussion should be avoided, and the word of God, with
true Christian and evangelical explanation, should be taught.
§ 126.2. =The Diet at Nuremberg, A.D. 1524.=--A new diet was
held at Nuremberg on 14th Jan., A.D. 1524. It dealt first of
all with the question of the existence of the imperial court.
The reformatory tendencies of the government showed that what
was vital to this court was so also to the Reformation. This
party had important supporters in the arch-catholic Ferdinand,
who hoped thus to strengthen himself in his endeavour to obtain
the Roman crown, in the Elector of Mainz, the prime mover in
the traffic in indulgences, who had personal antipathies to
the foes of the court, in the elector of Saxony, its proper
creator, and in the princes of Brandenburg. But there were
powerful opponents: the Swabian league, the princes of Treves,
the Palatinate and Hesse, who had been successful in opposition
to Sickingen, and the imperial cities, which, though at one
with the court in favouring the Reformation, were embittered
against it because of its financial projects. The papal legate
Campegius also joined the opposition. Hadrian VI. had died in
A.D. 1523, and was succeeded by =Clement VII.=, A.D. 1523-1534.
A skilful politician with no religious convictions, he determined
to strengthen in every possible way the temporal power of
the papal see. His legate was a man after his own mind. The
opposition prevailed, and even Ferdinand after a struggle gave
in. The newly organized governing body was only a shadow of
the old, without power, influence, or independence. Thus a
second (§ 124, 2) powerful support was lost to the Reformation,
and the legate again pressed for the execution of the edict
of Worms. But the evangelicals mustering all their forces,
especially in the cities, secured a majority. They were indeed
obliged to admit the legality of the edict; they even promised
to carry it out, but with the saving clause “as far as possible.”
A council in the sense of the former diet was demanded, and
it was resolved to call a general national assembly at Spires,
to be wholly devoted to religious and ecclesiastical questions.
In the meantime the word of God in its simplicity was to be
preached.
§ 126.3. =The Convention at Regensburg, A.D. 1524.=--While the
evangelical nobles, by their theologians and diplomatists, were
eagerly preparing for Spires, an assembly of the supporters
of the old views met at Regensburg, June and July, A.D. 1524.
Ignoring the previous arrangement, they proceeded to treat
of the religious and ecclesiastical questions which had
been reserved for the Spires Diet. This was the result of
the machinations of Campegius. The Archduke Ferdinand, the
Bavarian dukes, the Archbishop of Salzburg, and most of the
South German bishops, joined the legate at Regensburg in
insisting upon the edict of Worms. Luther’s writings were
anew forbidden, their subjects were strictly enjoined not to
attend the University of Wittenberg; several external abuses
were condemned, ecclesiastical burdens on the people lightened,
the number of festivals reduced, the four Latin Fathers, Ambrose,
Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory, set up as the standard of
faith and doctrine, while it was commanded that the services
should be conducted unchanged after the manner of these Fathers.
Thus was produced that rent in the unity of the empire which
never again was healed.--The imperial and the papal policies
were so bound up with one another, that the proceedings of the
Nuremberg diets, with their national tendencies, were distasteful
to the emperor; and so in the end of July there came an imperial
rescript, making attendance at the national assembly a _crimen
læsæ majestatis_, punishable with ban and double-ban. The nobles
obeyed, and the assembly was not held. With it Germany’s hopes
of a peaceful development were shattered.
§ 126.4. =The Evangelical Nobles, A.D. 1524.=--Several nobles
hitherto indifferent became now supporters of the Reformation.
Philip of Hesse, moved by an interview with Melanchthon, gave
himself enthusiastically to the cause of evangelical truth.
Also the Margrave Casimir, George of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Duke
Ernest of Lüneburg, the Elector Louis of the Palatinate, and
Frederick I. of Denmark, as Duke of Schleswig and Holstein, did
more or less in their several countries for the furtherance of
the Reformation cause. The grand-master of the Teutonic order,
Albert of Prussia, returned from the Diet of Nuremberg, where
he had heard Osiander preach, doubtful of the scripturalness
of the rule of his order. He therefore visited Wittenberg to
consult Luther, who advised him to renounce the rule, to marry,
and obtain heirs to his Prussian dukedom (§ 127, 3). The cities
took up a most decided position. At two great city diets at
Spires and Ulm in A.D. 1524, it was resolved to allow the
preaching of a pure gospel and to assist in preventing the
execution of the edict of Worms in their jurisdiction.
§ 126.5. =The Torgau League, A.D. 1526.=--Friends and foes of
the Reformation had joined in putting down the peasant revolt.
Their religious divergences however immediately after broke
out afresh. George consulted at Dessau in July, A.D. 1525, with
several Catholic princes as to means for preventing a renewal
of the outbreak, and they unanimously decided that the condemned
Lutheran sect must be rooted out as the source of all confusion.
Soon afterwards two Leipzig citizens, who were found to have
Lutheran books in their possession, were put to death. But
Elector John of Saxony had a conference at Saalfeld with Casimir
of Brandenburg, at which it was agreed at all hazards to stand
by the word of God; and at Friedewald in November Hesse and the
elector pledged themselves to stand true to the gospel. A diet
at Augsburg in December, for want of a quorum, had reached no
conclusion. A new diet was therefore summoned to meet at Spires,
and all the princes were cited to appear personally. Duke George
meanwhile gathered the Catholic princes at Halle and Leipzig,
and they resolved to send Henry of Brunswick to Spain to the
emperor. Shortly before his arrival, the emperor had concluded
a peace at Madrid with the king of France, who had been taken
prisoner in the battle of Pavia. Francis I., feeling he could
not help himself, had agreed to all the terms, including
an undertaking to join in suppressing the heretics. Charles
therefore fully believed that he had a free hand, and determined
to root out heresy in Germany. Henry of Brandenburg brought
to the German princes an extremely firm reply, in which this
view was expressed. But before its arrival the elector and the
landgrave had met at Gotha, and had subsequently at Torgau, the
residence of the elector, renewed the league to stand together
with all their might in defence of the gospel. Philip undertook
to gain over the nobles of the uplands. But the fear of the
empire hindered his success. The elector was more fortunate
among the lowland nobles. On 9th June the princes of Saxony,
Lüneberg [Lüneburg], Grubenhagen, Anhalt, and Mansfeld met at
Magdeburg, and subscribed the Torgau League. Also the city of
Magdeburg, emancipated since A.D. 1524 from the jurisdiction
of its archbishop, Albert of Mainz, and accepting the Lutheran
confession, now joined the league.
§ 126.6. =The Diet of Spires, A.D. 1526.=--The diet met on
25th June, A.D. 1526. The evangelical princes were confident;
on their armour was the motto, _Verbum Dei manet in æternum_.
In spite of all the prelates’ opposition, three commissions were
approved to consider abuses. When the debates were about to begin,
the imperial commissioners tabled an instruction which forbade
them to make any change upon the old doctrines and usages, and
finally insisted upon the execution of the edict of Worms. The
evangelicals however took comfort from the date affixed to the
document. They knew that since its issue the relation of pope
and emperor had become strained. Francis I. had been relieved
by the pope from the obligation of his oath, and the pope
had joined with Francis in a league at Cognac, to which also
Henry VIII. of England adhered. All Western Europe had combined
to break the supremacy gained by the Burgundian-Spanish dynasty
at Pavia, and the duped emperor found himself in straits. Would
he now be inclined to stand by his instruction? The commissioners,
apparently at Ferdinand’s wish, had kept back the document till
the affairs of the Catholics became desperate. The evangelical
nobles felt encouraged to send an embassy to the emperor,
but before it started the emperor realized their wishes. In
a letter to his brother he communicated a scheme for abolishing
the penalties of the edict of Worms and referring religious
questions to a council. At the same time he called for help
against his Italian enemies. Seeing then that in present
circumstances it did not seem advisable to revoke, still less
to carry out the edict, the only plan was to give to each prince
discretionary power in his own territory. This was the birthday
of the territorial constitution on a formally legitimate basis.
§ 127. ORGANIZATION OF THE EVANGELICAL PROVINCIAL CHURCHES,
A.D. 1526-1529.
The nobles had now not only the right but also had it enjoined on
them as a duty to establish church arrangements in their territories
as they thought best. The three following years therefore marked the
period of the founding and organizing of the evangelical provincial
churches. The electorate of Saxony came first with a good example.
After this pattern the churches of Hesse, Franconia, Lüneburg, East
Friesland, Schleswig and Holstein, Silesia, Prussia, and a whole group
of Low German states modelled their constitution and worship.
§ 127.1. =The Organization of the Church of the Saxon
Electorate, A.D. 1527-1529.=--Luther wrote in A.D. 1528 an
instruction to visitors of pastors in the electorate, which
showed what and how ministers were to preach, indicated the
reforms to be made in worship, protested against abuse of the
doctrine of justification by urging the necessity of preaching
the law, etc. The whole territory was divided under four
commissions, comprising lay and clerical members. Ignorant
and incompetent religious teachers were to be removed, but
to be provided for. Teachers were to be settled over churches
and schools, and superintendents over them were to inspect
their work periodically, and to these last the performance
of marriages was assigned. Vacant benefices were to be applied
to the improvement of churches and schools; and those not vacant
were to be taxed for maintenance of hospitals, support of the
poor, founding of new schools, etc. The dangers occasioned by
the often incredible ignorance of the people and their teachers
led to Luther’s composing his two catechisms in A.D. 1529.
§ 127.2. =The Organization of the Hessian Churches,
A.D. 1526-1528.=--Philip of Hesse had assembled the peers
temporal and spiritual of his dominions in Oct., A.D. 1526,
at Homberg, to discuss the question of church reform. A
reactionary attempt failed through the fervid eloquence
of the Franciscan Lambert of Avignon, a notable man, who,
awakened in his cloister at Avignon by Luther’s writings,
but not thoroughly satisfied, set out for Wittenberg, engaged
on the way at Zürich in public disputation against Zwingli’s
reforms, but left converted by his opponent, and then passed
through Luther’s school at Wittenberg. There he married
in A.D. 1523, and after a long unofficial and laborious
stay at Strassburg, found at last, in A.D. 1526, a permanent
residence in Hesse. He died in A.D. 1530.--Lambert’s personality
dominated the Homberg synod. He sketched an organization of the
church according to his ideal as a communion of saints with a
democratic basis, and a strict discipline administered by the
community itself. But the impracticability of the scheme soon
became evident, and in A.D. 1528 the Hessian church adopted the
principles of the Saxon church visitation. Out of vacant church
revenues the University of Marburg was founded in A.D. 1527 as
a second training school in reformed theology. Lambert was one
of its first teachers.
§ 127.3. =Organization of other German Provincial Churches,
A.D. 1528-1530.=--George of =Franconian-Brandenburg=, after his
brother Casimir’s death, organized his church at the assembly of
Anspach after the Saxon model. =Nuremberg=, under the guidance
of its able secretary of council, Lazarus Spengler, united
in carrying out a joint organization. In =Brunswick-Lüneburg=,
Duke Ernest, powerfully impressed by the preaching of Rhegius
at Augsburg, introduced the evangelical church organization
into his dominions. In =East Friesland=, where the reigning
prince did not interest himself in the matter, the development
of the church was attended to by the young nobleman Ulrich of
Dornum. In =Schleswig= and =Holstein= the prelates offered no
opposition to reorganization, and the civil authorities carried
out the work. In =Silesia= the princes were favourable, Breslau
had been long on the side of the Reformation, and even the
grand-duke who, as king of Bohemia, was suzerain of Silesia,
felt obliged to allow Silesian nobles the privileges provided
by the Diet of Spires. In =Prussia= (§ 126, 4), Albert of
Brandenburg, hereditary duke of these parts, with the hearty
assistance of his two bishops, provided for his subjects an
evangelical constitution.
§ 127.4. =The Reformation in the Cities of Northern Germany,
A.D. 1524-1531.=--In these cities the Reformation spread rapidly
after their emancipation from episcopal control. It was organized
in =Magdeburg= as early as A.D. 1524 by Nic. Amsdorf, sent for
the purpose by Luther (§ 126, 5). In =Brunswick= the church was
organized in A.D. 1528 by Bugenhagen of Wittenberg. In =Bremen=
in A.D. 1525 all churches except the cathedral were in the
hands of the Lutherans; in A.D. 1527 the cloisters were turned
into schools and hospitals, and then the cathedral was taken
from the Catholics. At =Lübeck=, nobles, councillors, and
clergy had oppressed and driven away the evangelical pastors;
but the councillors in their financial straits became indebted
to sixty-four citizens, who stipulated that the pastors must
be restored, the Catholics expelled, the cloisters turned into
hospitals and schools, and finally Bugenhagen was called in to
prepare for their church a Lutheran constitution.
§ 128. MARTYRS FOR EVANGELICAL TRUTH, A.D. 1521-1529.
On the publication of the edict of Worms several Catholic
princes, most conspicuously Duke George of Saxony, began the
persecution. Luther’s followers were at first imprisoned, scourged,
and banished, and in A.D. 1521 a bookseller who sold Luther’s books
was beheaded. The persecution was most severe in the Netherlands,
a heritage of the emperor independent of the empire. Also in Austria,
Bavaria, and Swabia many evangelical confessors were put to death by
the sword and at the stake. The peasant revolt of A.D. 1525 increased
the violence of the persecution. On the pretence of punishing rebels,
those who took part in the Regensburg Convention (§ 126, 3) were
expelled the country, thousands of them with no other fault than
their attachment to the gospel. The conclusion of the Diet of Spires
in A.D. 1526 (§ 126, 6) added new fuel to the flames. While the
evangelical nobles, taking advantage of that decision, proceeded
vigorously to the planting and organizing of the reformed church,
the enemies of the Reformation exercised the power given them in
cruel persecutions of their evangelical subjects. The vagaries
of Pack (§ 132, 1) led to a revival and intensification of the
spirit of persecution. In Austria, during A.D. 1527, 1528, a church
visitation had been arranged very much in the style of that of Saxony,
but with the object of tracking out and punishing heretics. In Bavaria
the highways were watched, to prevent pilgrims going to preaching over
the borders. Those caught were at first fined, but later on they were
drowned or burned.
=The first martyrs for evangelical truth= were two young
Augustinian monks of Antwerp, Henry Voes and John Esch, who
died at the stake in A.D. 1523, and their heroism was celebrated
by Luther in a beautiful hymn. They were succeeded by the
prior of the cloister, Lampert Thorn, who was strangled in
prison. The Swabian League, which was renewed after the rising
of the Diet of Spires, with the avowed purpose of rooting
out the Anabaptists, directed its cruel measures against
all evangelicals. The Bishop of Constance in A.D. 1527 had
John Hüglin burnt as an opposer of the holy mother church.
The Elector of Mainz cited the court preacher, George Winkler,
of Halle, for dispensing the sacrament in both kinds at
Ascheffenburg [Aschaffenburg]. Winkler defended himself, and
was acquitted, but was murdered on the way. Luther then wrote
his tract, “Comfort to the Christians of Halle on the Death
of their Pastor.” In North Germany there was no bloodshedding,
but Duke George had those who confessed their faith scourged
by the gaoler and driven from the country. The Elector Joachim
of Brandenburg with his nobles resolved in A.D. 1527 to give
vigorous support to the old religion. But the gospel took deep
root in his land, and his own wife Elizabeth read Luther’s
writings, and had the sacrament administered after the Lutheran
form. But the secret was revealed, and the elector stormed and
threatened. She then escaped, dressed as a peasant woman, to
her cousin the Elector of Saxony.
§ 129. LUTHER’S PRIVATE AND PUBLIC LIFE, A.D. 1523-1529.
Only in December, A.D. 1524, did Luther leave the cloister, the
last of its inhabitants but the prior, and on 13th June, A.D. 1525,
married Catherine Bora, of the convent of Nimptschen, of whom he
afterwards boasted that he prized her more highly than the kingdom
of France and the governorship of Venice. Though often depressed
with sickness, almost crushed under the weight of business, and
harassed even to the end by the threats of his enemies against his
life, he maintained a bright, joyous temper, enjoyed himself during
leisure hours among his friends with simple entertainments of song,
music, intellectual conversation, and harmless, though often sharp
and pungent, interchange of wit. Thus he proved a genuine comfort
and help in all kinds of trouble. By constant writing, by personal
intercourse with students and foreigners who crowded into Wittenberg,
by an extensive correspondence, he won and maintained a mighty
influence in spreading and establishing the Reformation. By Scripture
translation and Scripture exposition, by sermons and doctrinal
treatises, he impressed upon the people his own evangelical views.
A peculiarly powerful factor in the Reformation was that treasury
of sacred song (§ 142, 3) which Luther gave his people, partly in
translations of old, partly in the composition of new hymns, which
he set to bright and pleasing melodies. He was also most diligent in
promoting education in churches and schools, in securing the erection
of new elementary and secondary schools, and laid special stress on
the importance of linguistic studies in a church that prized the pure
word of God.
§ 129.1. =Luther’s Literary Works.=--In A.D. 1524 appeared the
first collection of spiritual songs and psalms, eight in number,
with a preface by Luther. His reforms of worship were extremely
moderate. In A.D. 1523 he published little tracts on baptism
and the Lord’s Supper, repudiating the idea of a sacrifice in
the mass, and insisting on communion in both kinds. In A.D. 1527
he wrote his “German Mass and Order of Public Worship” (§ 127, 1)
which was introduced generally throughout the elector’s dominions.
He wrote an address to burgomasters and councillors about the
improvement of education in the cities. Besides his polemic
against Erasmus and Carlstadt, against Münzer and the rebellious
peasants, as well as against the Sacramentarians (§ 131), he
engaged at this time in controversy with Cochlæus. A papal
bull for the canonization of Bishop Benno of Meissen (§ 93, 9)
called forth in A.D. 1524 Luther’s tract, “Against the new God
and the old Devil being set up at Meissen.” He was persuaded by
Christian II. of Denmark to write, in A.D. 1526, a very humble
letter to Henry VIII. of England (§ 125, 3), which was answered
in an extremely venomous and bitter style. When his enemies
triumphantly declared that he had retracted, Luther answered,
in A.D. 1527, with his book, “Against the Abusive Writing of
the King of England,” in which he resumed the bold and confident
tone of his earlier polemic. A humble, conciliatory epistle
sent in A.D. 1526 to Duke George was no more successful. He
now unweariedly continued his Bible translation. The first
edition of the whole Bible was published by Hans Lufft in
Wittenberg, in A.D. 1534. A collection of sayings of Luther
collected by Lauterbach, a deacon of Wittenberg, in A.D. 1538,
formed the basis of later and fuller editions of “Luther’s
Table Talk.” A chronologically arranged collection was made
ten years later, and was published in A.D. 1872 from a MS. in
the Royal Library at Dresden. Aurifaber in his collection did
not follow the chronological order, but grouped the utterances
according to their subjects, but with many arbitrary alterations
and modifications. The saying falsely attributed to Luther, “Who
loves not wine, women, and song?” etc., is assigned by Luther
himself to his Erfurt landlady, but has been recently traced to
an Italian source.
§ 129.2. The famous Catholic Church historian Döllinger, who in
his history of the Reformation had with ultramontane bitterness
defamed Luther and his work, twenty years later could not forbear
celebrating Luther in a public lecture as “the most powerful
patriot and the most popular character that Germany possessed.”
In A.D. 1871 he wrote as follows: “It was Luther’s supreme
intellectual ability and wonderful versatility that made him
the man of his age and of his nation. There has never been a
German who so thoroughly understood his fellow countrymen and
was understood by them as this Augustinian monk of Wittenberg.
The whole intellectual and spiritual making of the Germans
was in his hands as clay in the hands of the potter. He has
given more to his nation than any one man has ever done:
language, popular education, Bible, sacred song; and all that
his opponents could say against him and alongside of him seemed
insipid, weak, and colourless compared with his overmastering
eloquence. They stammered, he spoke. It was he who put a stamp
upon the German language as well as upon the German character.
And even those Germans who heartily abhor him as the great
heretic and betrayer of religion cannot help speaking his words
and thinking his thoughts.”
§ 130. THE REFORMATION IN GERMAN SWITZERLAND, A.D. 1519-1531.
While Luther’s Reformation spread in Germany, a similar movement
sprang up in the neighbouring provinces of German Switzerland. Its
earliest beginnings date back as far as A.D. 1516. The personal
characteristics of its first promoter, and the political democratic
movement in which it had its rise, gave it a complexion entirely
different from that of the Lutheran Reformation. The most conspicuous
divergence occurred in the doctrine of the supper (§ 131), and since
the Swiss views on this point were generally accepted in the cities
of the uplands, the controversy passed over into the German Reformed
Church and hindered common action, notwithstanding common interests
and common dangers.
§ 130.1. =Ulrich Zwingli.=--Zwingli, born at Wildhaus in
Toggenburg on January 1st, A.D. 1484, a scholar of the famous
humanist Thomas Wyttenbach at Basel, was, after ten years’
service as pastor at Glarus, made pastor of Maria-Einsiedeln
in A.D. 1516. The crowding of pilgrims to the famous shrine
of Mary at that place led him to preach against superstitious
notions of meritorious performances. But far more decisive
in determining his attitude toward the Reformation was his
appointment on January 1st, A.D. 1519, as Lent priest at Zürich,
where he first became acquainted with Luther’s works, and took
sides with him against the Romish court party. Zwingli soon
took up a distinctive position of his own. He would be not
only a religious, but also a political reformer. For several
years he had vigorously opposed the sending of Swiss youths as
mercenaries into the armies of foreign princes. His political
opponents, the oligarchs, whose incomes depended on this traffic,
opposed also his religious reforms, so that his support was
wholly from the democracy. Another important distinction between
the Swiss and German movements was this, that Zwingli had grown
into a reformer not through deep conviction of sin and spiritual
conflicts, but through classical and biblical study. The writings
of Pico of Mirandola (§ 120, 1), too, were not without influence
upon him. To him, therefore, justification by faith was not
in the same degree as to Luther the guiding star of his life
and action. He began the work of the Reformation not so much
with purifying the doctrine, as with improving the worship,
the constitution, the ecclesiastical and moral life. His
theological standpoint is set forth in these works: _Comment.
de vera et falsa relig._, A.D. 1525; _Fidei ratio ad Car.
Imp._, A.D. 1530; _Christian. fidei brevis at clara expos._, ed.
Bullinger, A.D. 1536; _De providentia Dei_; and _Apologeticus_.
Of the two principles of the anti-Romish Reformation (§ 121)
the Wittenberg reformer placed the material, the Zürich reformer
the formal, in the foreground. The former only rejected what was
not reconcilable with Scripture; the latter repudiated all that
was not expressly enjoined in Scripture. The former was cautious
and moderate in dealing with forms of worship and mere externals;
the latter was extreme, immoderate, and violent. Luther retained
pictures, altars, the ornaments of churches, and the priestly
character of the service, purifying it simply from unevangelical
corruptions; Zwingli denounced all these things as idolatry,
and burnt even organ pipes and clock bells. Luther recognised
no action of the Holy Spirit apart from the word and sacrament;
Zwingli separated it from these, and identified it with mere
subjective feeling. The sacraments were with him mere memorial
signs; justification solely by the merits of Christ as a
joyous assurance of salvation had for him a negative rather
than a positive significance, _i.e._ opposition to the Romish
doctrine of merits; original sin was for him only hereditary
moral sickness, a _naturalis defectus_, which is not itself
sin, and virtuous heathens, like Hercules, Theseus, Socrates,
and Cato were admitted as such into the society of the blessed,
without apparently sharing in the redemption of Christ. His
speculations, which led on one side almost to pantheism,
favoured a theory of predestination, according to which the
moral will has no freedom over against Providence.[365]
§ 130.2. =The Reformation in Zürich, A.D. 1519-1525.=--In
A.D. 1518 a trafficker in indulgences, the Franciscan Bernard
Samson, of Milan, carried on his disreputable business in
Switzerland. At Zwingli’s desire Zürich’s gates were closed
against him. In A.D. 1520 the council gave permission to priests
and preachers in the city and canton to preach only from the
O. and N.T. All this happened under the eyes of the two papal
nuncios staying in Zürich; but they did not interfere, because
the curia was extremely anxious to get auxiliaries for the
papal army for an attack on Milan. Zwingli was promised a rich
living if he would no more preach against the pope. He refused
the bait, and went on his way as a reformer. The continued
indulgence of the curia allowed the Reformation to take even
firmer root. Zwingli published, in A.D. 1522, his first work,
“Of Election, and Freedom in Use of Food,” and the Zürichers
ate flesh and eggs during Lent of A.D. 1522. He also claimed
liberty to marry for the clergy. At this time Lambert came from
Avignon to Zürich (§ 127, 2). He preached against the new views,
disputed in July with Zwingli, and confessed himself defeated
and convinced. Zwingli’s opponents had placed great hopes in
Lambert’s eloquence and dialectic skill. All the greater was
the effect of the unexpected result of the disputation. The
council, now impressed, commanded that the word of God should
be preached without human additions. But when the adherents of
the Romish party protested, it arranged a public disputation on
29th Jan., A.D. 1523, on sixty-seven theses or _conclusiones_
drawn up by Zwingli: “All who say, The gospel is nothing without
the guarantee of the Church, blaspheme God;--Christ is the one
way to salvation;--Our righteousness and our works are good
so far as they are Christ’s, neither right nor good so far as
they are our own,” etc. A former friend of Zwingli, John Faber,
but quite changed since he had made a visit to Rome, and now
vicar-general of the Bishop of Constance, undertook to support
the old doctrines and customs against Zwingli. Being restricted
to Scripture proof he was forced to yield. The cloisters were
forsaken, violent polemics were published against the canon
of the mass and the worship of saints and images. The council
resolved to decide the question of the mass and images by a
second disputation in October, A.D. 1523. Leo Judä, Lent priest
at St. Peter’s in Zürich, contended against image worship,
Zwingli against the mass. Scarcely any opposition was offered
to either of them. At Pentecost, A.D. 1524, the council had
all images withdrawn from the churches, the frescoes cut down,
and the walls whitewashed. Organ playing and bell ringing
were forbidden as superstitious. A new simple biblical formula
of baptism was introduced, and the abolition of the mass, in
A.D. 1525, completed the work. At Easter of this year Zwingli
celebrated a lovefeast, at which bread was carried in wooden
trenchers, and wine drunk from wooden cups. Thus he thought the
genuine Christian apostolic rite was restored. In A.D. 1522 he
had married a widow of forty-three years of age, but he publicly
acknowledged it only in A.D. 1524. He penitently confesses that
his pre-Reformation celibate life, like that of most priests
of his age, had not been blameless; but the moral purity of his
later life is beyond suspicion.
§ 130.3. =Reformation in Basel, A.D. 1520-1525.=--In Basel, at
an early period, Capito and Hedio wrought as biblical preachers.
But so soon as they had laid a good foundation they accepted a
call to Mainz, in A.D. 1520, which they soon again quitted for
Strassburg, where they carried on the work of the Reformation
along with Bucer. Their work at Basel was zealously and
successfully continued by Röublin. He preached against the mass,
purgatory, and saint worship, often to 4,000 hearers. On the
day of Corpus Christi he produced a Bible instead of the usual
relics, which he scornfully called dead bones. He was banished,
and afterwards joined the Anabaptists. A new epoch began in
Basel in A.D. 1523. =Œcolampadius= or John Hausschein, born
at Weinsberg in A.D. 1482, Zwingli’s Melanchthon, was preacher
in Basel in A.D. 1516, and was on intimate terms there with
Erasmus. He accepted a call in A.D. 1518 to the cathedral of
Augsburg, but a year after withdrew into an Augsburg convent
of St. Bridget. There he studied Luther’s writings, and, in
A.D. 1522, found shelter from persecution in Sickingen’s castle,
where he officiated for some months as chaplain. He then returned
to Basel, became preacher at St. Martin’s, and was soon made,
along with Conrad Pellican (§ 120, 4, footnote), professor in
the university. Around these two a group of younger men soon
gathered, who energetically supported the evangelical movement.
They dispensed baptism in the German language, administered the
communion in both kinds, and were indefatigable in preaching.
In A.D. 1524 the council allowed monks and nuns, if they so
wished, to leave their cloisters. Of special importance for
the progress of the Reformation in Basel was the arrival in
A.D. 1524 of William Farel from Dauphiné (§ 138, 1). He had
been obliged to fly from France, and was kindly received by
Œcolampadius, with whom he stayed for some months. In February
he had a public disputation with the opponents of the Reformation.
University and bishop had interdicted it, but all the more
decided was the council that it should come off. Its result
was a great impulse to the Reformation, though Farel in this
same year, probably at the suggestion of Erasmus, whom he
had described as a new Balaam, was banished by the council
(§ 138, 1).[366]
§ 130.4. =The Reformation in the other Cantons,
A.D. 1520-1525.=--In =Bern=, from A.D. 1518 Haller, Kolb, and
Mayer carried on the work of the Reformation as political and
religious reformers after the style of Zwingli. Nic. Manuel,
poet, satirist, and painter, supported their preaching by his
satirical writings against pope, priests, and superstition
generally. Also in his Dance of Death, which he painted on
the walls of a cloister at Bern, he covered the clergy with
ridicule. In A.D. 1523 the council allowed departures from the
convents, and several monks and nuns withdrew and married. The
opposition called in the Dominican John Haim, as their spokesman,
in A.D. 1524. Between him and the Franciscan Mayer there arose
a passionate discussion, and the council exiled both. But Haller
continued his work, and the Reformation took firmer root from
day to day.--In =Muhlhausen [Mühlhausen]=, where Ulr. von Hutten
spent his last days, the council issued a mandate in A.D. 1524
which gave free course to the Reformation. At =Biel=, too,
it was allowed unrestricted freedom. In East Switzerland,
=St. Gall= was specially prominent under its burgomaster Joachim
v. Watt, who zealously advanced the interests of the Reformation
by word, writing, and action. John Karsler, who had studied
theology in Wittenberg in A.D. 1522, and was then obliged,
in order to avoid reading the mass, to learn and practise the
trade of a saddler, preached the gospel here in the Trades’
Hall in his saddler’s apron in A.D. 1524, and took the office
of reformed pastor and Latin preceptor in A.D. 1537. He died in
A.D. 1574 as President of St. Gall. In =Schaffhausen= Erasmus
Ritter, called upon to oppose in discussion the reformed pastor
Hofmeister, owned himself defeated, and joined the reform party.
In the canton =Vaud= Thos. Platter, the original and learned
sailor, afterwards rector of the high school at Burg, laid the
foundations of the Reformation. In =Appenzel= and =Glarus= the
work gradually advanced. But in the Swiss midlands the nobles
raised opposition in behalf of their revenues, and the people
of Berg, whose whole religion lay in pilgrimages, images, and
saints, constantly opposed the introduction of the new views.
Lucerne and Freiburg were the main bulwarks of the papacy in
Switzerland.
§ 130.5. =Anabaptist Outbreak, A.D. 1525.=--In Switzerland,
though the reformers there had taken very advanced ground,
a number of ultra-reformers arose, who thought they did not
go far enough. Their leaders were Hätzer (§ 148, 1), Grebel,
Manz, Röublin, Hubmeier, and Stör. They began disturbances
at Zolticon near Zürich. Hubmeier held a council at Waldshut,
Easter Eve, A.D. 1525, and was rebaptized by Röublin. During
Easter week 110 received baptism, and subsequently more than
300 besides. The Basel Canton, where Münzer had been living,
broke out in open revolt against the city. St. Gall alone
had 800 Anabaptists. Zürich at Zwingli’s request at once took
decided measures. Many were banished, some were mercilessly
drowned. Bern, Basel, and St. Gall followed this example.[367]
§ 130.6. =Disputation at Baden, A.D. 1526.=--The reactionary
party could not decline the challenge to a disputation, but
in the face of all protests it was determined to be held in
the Catholic district of Baden. The champions and representatives
of the cantons and bishops appeared there in May, A.D. 1526,
Faber and Eck leading the papists and Haller of Bern and
Œcolampadius of Basel representing the party of reform. Zwingli
was forbidden by the Zürich council to attend, but he was kept
daily informed by Thos. Platter. Eck’s theses were combatted one
after another. It lasted eight days. Eck outcried Œcolampadius’
weak voice, but the latter was immensely superior in intellectual
power. At last Thomas Murner (§ 125, 4) appeared with forty
abusive articles against Zwingli. Œcolampadius and ten of
his friends persisted in rejecting Eck’s theses; all the
rest accepted them. The Assembly of the States pronounced
the reformers heretics, and ordered the cantons to have them
banished.
§ 130.7. =Disputation at Bern, A.D. 1528.=--The result of
the Bern disputation was ill received by the democrats of
Bern and Basel. A final disputation was arranged for at
=Bern=, which was attended by 350 of the clergy and many
noblemen. Zwingli, Œcolampadius, Haller, Capito, Bucer,
and Farel were there. It continued from 7th to 27th January,
A.D. 1528. The Catholics were sadly wanting in able disputants,
and they sustained an utter defeat. Worship and constitution
were radically reformed. Cloisters were secularized; preachers
gave their official oath to the civil magistrates. There were
serious riots over the removal of the images. The valuable
organ in the minster of St. Vincent was broken up by the
ruthless iconoclasts. A political reformation was carried
out along with the religious, and all stipendiaries received
their warning.
§ 130.8. =Complete Victory of the Reformation at Basel, St. Gall,
and Schaffhausen, A.D. 1529.=--The Burgomaster von Watt brought
to =St. Gall= the news of the victorious issue of the disputation
at Bern. This gave the finishing blow to the Catholic party.
Thus in A.D. 1528, certainly not without some iconoclastic
excesses, the Reformation triumphed.--In =Basel=, the council
was divided, and so it took but half measures. On Good Friday,
A.D. 1528, some citizens broke the images in St. Martin’s
Church. They were apprehended. But a rising of citizens obliged
the council to set them free, and several churches from which
the images had been withdrawn were given over to the reformers.
In December, A.D. 1528, the trades presented a petition asking
for the final abolition of idolatry. The Catholic party and
the reformed took to arms, and a civil war seemed imminent.
The council, however, succeeded in quelling the disturbance
by announcing a disputation where the majority of the citizens
should decide by their votes. But the Catholic minority
protested so energetically that the council had again recourse
to half measures. The dissatisfaction of the reformed led
to an explosion of violent image breaking in Lent, A.D. 1529.
Huge bonfires of images and altars were set a blaze. The strict
Catholic members of the council fled, the rest quelled the
revolt by an unconditional surrender. Even Erasmus gave way
(§ 120, 6). Œcolampadius had married in A.D. 1528. He died
in A.D. 1531. In =Schaffhausen= up to A.D. 1529 matters were
undecided, but the proceedings at Basel and Bern gave victory
to the reformed party. The drama here ended with a double
marriage. The abbot of All Saints married a nun, and Erasmus
Ritter married the abbot’s sister. Images were removed without
tumult and the mass abolished.
§ 130.9. =The first Treaty of Cappel, A.D. 1529.=--In the five
forest cantons the Catholics had the upper hand, and there every
attempted political as well as religious reform was relentlessly
put down. Zürich and Bern could stand this no longer. Unterwalden
now revolted, and found considerable support in the other four
cantons, and the position of the cities became serious. The
forest cantons now turned to Austria, the old enemy of Swiss
freedom, and concluded at Innsbrück in A.D. 1529 a formal league
with King Ferdinand for mutual assistance in matters touching
the faith. Trusting to this league, they increased their cruel
persecutions of the reformed, and burnt alive a Zürich preacher,
Keyser, whom they had seized on the public highway on neutral
territory. Then the Zürichers rose up in revolt. With their
decided preponderance they might certainly have crushed the
five cantons, and then all Switzerland would have surrounded
Zwingli in the support of reform. But Bern was jealous of
Zürich’s growing importance, and even many Zürichers for fear
of war urged negotiations for peace with the old members of the
league. Thus came about the First Treaty of Cappel in A.D. 1529.
The five cantons gave up the Austrian league document to be
destroyed, undertook to defray the costs of the war, and agreed
that the majority in each canton should determine the faith of
that canton. As to freedom of belief it was only said that no
party should make the faith of the other penal. This was less
than Zwingli wished, yet it was a considerable gain. Thurgau,
Baden, Schaffhausen, Solothurn, Neuenburg, Toggenburg, etc.,
on the basis of this treaty, abolished mass, images, and altars.