I am now fifty-one years old. I am not enamored of life, but it is
worth while to continue a little longer with such a prospect of a
golden age. All looks brighter now. I myself, insignificant I, have
contributed something. I have at least stirred the bile of those who
would not have the world grow wiser, and only fools now snarl at me.
One of them said in a sermon lately, in a lamentable voice, that all
was now over with the Christian faith.
Old institutions can not be rooted up in an instant. Quiet argument
may do more than wholesale condemnation. Avoid all appearance of
sedition. Keep cool. Do not get angry. Do not hate anybody. Do not get
excited over the noise which you have made. May Christ give you His
spirit, for His own glory and the world's good.[41]
[Footnote 41: This paragraph is from a letter to Luther.]
The world is waking out of a long deep sleep. The old ignorance is
still defended with tooth and claw, but we have kings and nobles now
on our side.
For yourself, the intelligence of your country will preserve the
memories of your virtues, and scholars will tell how a king once
reigned there who in his own person revived the virtues of the ancient
heroes.[42]
[Footnote 42: From a letter to Henry VIII of England.]
The justest war can hardly approve itself to any reasonable person.
The people build cities, the princes destroy them, and even victory
brings more ill than good.
My work has been to restore a buried literature, and recall divines
from their hair-splittings to a knowledge of the New Testament.
Do not mistake me. Theology itself I reverence and always have
reverenced. I am speaking merely of the theologasters of our own time,
whose brains are the rottenest, intellects the dullest, doctrines the
thorniest, manners the brutalest, life the foulest, speech the
spitefulest, hearts the blackest, that I have ever encountered in the
world.
You say that I can not die better than among my brethren. I am not so
sure of that. Your religion is in your dress; your religious orders,
as you call them, have done the Church small service.
What a thing it is to cultivate literature! Better far to grow
cabbages. Bishops have thanked me for my work, the Pope has thanked
me; but these tyrants, the mendicant friars, never leave me alone with
their railing.[43]
[Footnote 43: From a letter to Cardinal Wolsey.]
I wish there could be an end of scholastic subtleties, and Christ be
taught plainly and simply. The reading of the Bible and the early
Fathers will have this effect.
Wrangling about the nature of the Second Person of the Trinity, as if
Christ were a malignant demon, ready to destroy you if you made a
mistake about His nature! Reduce the articles of faith to the fewest
and simplest. Let our divines show their faith by their works, and
convert Turks by the beauty of their lives.
May not a man be a Christian, who can not explain philosophically how
the nativity of the Son differs from the procession of the Holy
Spirit? The sum of religion is peace, which can only be when
definitions are as few as possible, and opinion is left free on many
subjects. Our present problems are said to be waiting for the next
Ecumenical Council. Better let them wait till the veil is removed, and
we see God face to face.
Luther's party have urged me to join them, and Luther's enemies have
done their best to drive me to it by their furious attacks on me in
their sermons. Neither have succeeded. Christ I know; Luther I know
not. I have said nothing, except that Luther ought to be answered and
not crusht. We must bear almost anything rather than throw the world
into confusion. The actual facts of things are not to be blurted out
at all times and places, and in all companies. I was the first to
oppose the publication of Luther's books. I recommended Luther himself
to publish nothing revolutionary. I feared always that revolution
would be the end, and I would have done more had I not been afraid
that I might be found fighting against the Spirit of God.
As to Luther himself, I perceived that the better a man was, the less
he was Luther's enemy. Can it be right to persecute a man of
unblemished life, in whose writings distinguished and excellent
persons have found so much to admire? The Pope has no worse enemies
than his foolish defenders. He can crush any man if he pleases, but
empires based only on terror do not last.
By burning Luther's books you may rid your book-shelves of him, but
you will not rid men's minds of him.
Curses and threats may beat the fire down for the moment, but it will
burst out worse than ever. The Bull has lost Luther no friends, and
gained none for the Pope.
All admit that the corruptions of the Church required a drastic
medicine. But drugs wrongly given make the sick man worse. I said this
to the King of Denmark lately. He laughed, and answered that small
dose would be of no use; that the whole system needed purging. For
myself, I am a man of peace and hate quarrels.
It is easy to call Luther "a fungus"; it is not easy to answer him.
They may chain the tongues of men; they can not touch their minds.
They call me a Lutheran. Had I but held out a little finger to Luther,
Germany would have seen what I could do. But I would rather die ten
times over than make a schism.
I do not object generally to the evangelical doctrines, but there is
much in Luther's teachings which I dislike. He runs everything which
he touches into extravagance. Do not fear that I shall oppose
evangelical truth. I left many faults in him unnoticed, lest I should
injure the gospel. I hope mankind will be the better for the acrid
medicines with which he has dosed them. Perhaps we needed a surgeon
who would use knife and cautery.[44]
[Footnote 44: From a letter to Melanchthon.]
Your Holiness[45] requires my advice, and you wish to see me. I would
go to you with pleasure if my health allowed. But the road over the
Alps is long. The lodgings on the way are dirty and inconvenient. The
smell from the stoves is intolerable. The wine is sour and disagrees
with me. As to writing against Luther, I have not learning enough. One
party says I agree with Luther because I do not oppose him. The other
finds fault with me because I do oppose him. I did what I could. I
advised him to be moderate, and I only made his friends my enemies.
They quote this and that to show we are alike. I could find a hundred
passages where St. Paul seems to teach the doctrines which they
condemn in Luther. I did not anticipate what a time was coming. I did,
I admit, help to bring it on; but I was always willing to submit what
I wrote to the Church. Those counsel you best who advise gentle
measures. Your Holiness wishes to set things right, and you say to me,
"Come to Rome. Write a book against Luther. Declare war against his
party." Come to Rome? Tell a crab to fly. The crab will say, "Give me
wings." I say, "Give me back my youth and strength." If I write
anything at Rome, it will be thought that I am bribed. If I write
temperately, I shall seem trifling. If I copy Luther's style, I shall
stir a hornets' nest.
[Footnote 45: From a letter to Adrian VI, who became Pope in 1522.]