Extremes met, with most disastrous effect-so Catholic writers tell us-in
Luther's views of the political rights of men. At one time he was so
outspoken in his condemnation of the oppression which the common people
were suffering from the clergy, the nobility, and their aristocratic
governors that he incited them to discontent with their humble lot in
life, to unrest, and to open rebellion against their magistrates. At
another time he became the spokesman for the most pronounced absolutism
and despotism. He turned suddenly against the very people whose cause
he had so signally championed, and who hailed him as their prophet and
leader. When the poor, downtrodden people needed him most, Luther
cowardly deserted them, and by frenzied utterances excited the nobility
to slay the common people without mercy in the most ruthless fashion,
and even promised the lords whom he had denounced as tyrants heaven for
enacting the barbaric cruelties to which he was urging them. This is the
Catholic portrayal of Luther during the Peasants' War.
The relation of the peasant uprising to Luther's preaching is grossly
misrepresented when the impression is created that Luther had before
this sad upheaval worked hand in glove with the malcontent rustics for
the overthrow of the government. Disturbances of this kind had been
periodical occurrences in Europe for many hundreds of years. The heavy
taxes and tithes, and the forced labor which the lords exacted from
their tenants, who were little better than serfs, the galling
restrictions in regard to hunting, fishing, gathering wood in the
forests which they had imposed on them, the foreign Roman law under
which they tried cases in court, and, in general, their haughty and
contemptuous bearing toward the common people had for many generations
created strained relations between the upper and the lower classes. The
estrangement which developed into open defiance existed among the
peasants before Luther had begun to preach. Nor can Luther's teaching be
said to have fanned the slumbering embers of discontent into a huge
flame. The liberty of a Christian man which he had proclaimed was not
such liberty as the peasants demanded and wrested to themselves when the
revolt had reached its height. Luther had consistently taught that
obedience to the government is a Christian duty. He had, as we have
shown in the preceding chapter, warned with telling force against riot,
tumult, and sedition. He had deprecated any allying of the cause of the
Gospel and of spiritual freedom with the carnal strivings of disaffected
men for mere temporal and secular advantages. He had reminded Christians
that it was their duty to suffer wrong rather than do wrong.
On the other hand, Luther had pleaded the cause of the poor before the
lords, and had earnestly warned the nobility not to continue their
tyranny, but conciliate their subjects by yielding to their just
demands. He had fearlessly pointed out to the lords what was galling in
their conduct to the common, people-their pride and luxurious living,
their disregard of the commonest rights of man, their despotic dealings
with their humble subjects, their rude behavior and exasperating conduct
toward the men, women, and children whom they made toil and slave for
them.
Maintaining, thus, an honest equipoise between the two contrary forces,
and dealing out even-handed justice to both, Luther was conscious of
serving the true interests of either side and laboring for the common
welfare of all. With his implicit faith in the power of God's Word he
was hoping for a gradual improvement of the situation. The conflict
would be adjusted in a quiet and orderly manner by the truth obtaining
greater and greater sway over the minds of men. Luther had had no
inkling of an impending clash between the peasants and the nobility when
the revolt broke out with the fury of a cyclone. Luther was shocked. He
promptly hurried to the scene of the disturbances by request of the
Count of Mansfeld. It speaks volumes for the integrity of Luther that
both sides were willing to permit him to arbitrate their differences.
The invitation came originally from the peasants and was addressed to
Luther, Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, and the Elector Frederick jointly, but
it was not acted on until Count Albert invited Luther to come to
Eisleben. The _Exhortation to Peace on the Twelve Articles of the
Peasants_ which Luther issued, after having investigated the situation,
rebukes the lords with considerably more sternness than the commoners,
but makes fair suggestions for the composition of the differences.
Before Luther takes up the "Twelve Articles of the Peasants" for
detailed discussion, he informs them that he considers their whole
procedure wrong, even if all their demands were just, because they have
resorted to force to secure their right. A beautiful sentiment for an
anarchist to utter, is it not? In Article I the peasants demanded
freedom to elect their own pastors, who were to preach the Gospel
without any human additions. That this request should be embodied in the
peasants' plea for their political rights, and that it should be made
the foremost demand, is highly suggestive as to the principal cause of
their unrest. To this article Luther gave his unreserved endorsement.
Article II sought to regulate the income of priests-again a very
suggestive request: preachers were to receive for their sustenance no
more than the tithes, the remainder of the church-income was to be set
aside so as to render it unnecessary to tax the poor in war-times. On
this point Luther held that the tithes belong to the government, and to
turn them over to any one else would be simple robbery. Article III
demanded the abolition of serfdom, however, as a test whether the
Christianity of the lords was genuine. The peasants implied that their
political liberty had been secured by Christ, and that the lords were
withholding it from them. This argument Luther rejected as a carnal
perversion of the Gospel. Articles IV-X submitted these demands: The
poor man is to be accorded the right to fish and hunt; all wooded lands
usurped by bishops or noblemen without making payment therefor are to
revert to the community, and in case payment had been made, a settlement
is to be effected by mutual agreement; burdensome exactions, services,
taxes, and fines are to be rescinded; court trials are to be free from
partiality and jealousy; meadows and lands which of right belong to the
community are to be returned by their present owners. On these points
Luther suggests that the opinions of good lawyers be obtained. Article
XI deals with the right of heriot, or the death-tax imposed upon the
widow or heir of a tenant. This was approved. In the last article the
peasants express their readiness to withdraw any or all of these
requests that are shown to be contrary to Scripture, and ask permission
to substitute others for them.
Luther was in a fair way of bringing about an amicable settlement of the
differences. Philip of Hesse had at the same time come to a full
agreement with the peasants in his domains, and peace seemed near, when
the real genius of the whole peasant movement, Muenzer, interfered.
Luther had suspected for some time that this unscrupulous agitator was
spreading the teaching of unbridled license under pretense of preaching
liberty, and that the mystical piety which he was reported as
practising, his leaning towards the reform movement, and his references
to Luther and the "new Gospel," were nothing but the angel's garment
which a very wicked devil had borrowed for purposes of deception. When
Muenzer at the head of hordes of men who through his inflammatory
speeches had been turned into unreasoning brutes was spreading ruin and
desolation along his path, wiping out in a few days the products of the
patient labors of generations, subverting the fundamental principles of
honesty, justice, and morality on which the organized public life of the
community and the private life of the individual must rest, and rapidly
changing even the well-meaning and reasonable among the peasants into
frenzied madmen, Luther recognized that conciliatory measures and
arbitration would not avail with these mobs. His duty as a teacher of
God's Word and as a loyal subject of his government demanded prompt and
stern action from him. However, back of the terrible mien with which
Luther now faced the wild peasants there is a heart of love; in the
appalling language which he now uses against men whose cause he had
befriended there is discernible a note of pity for the poor deluded
wretches who thought they were rearing a paradise when they were
building bedlam. Above all, the great heart of Luther is torn with
anguish over the shame that is now being heaped on the blessed Gospel of
his dear Lord. Luther did not desert the peasants, but they deserted
him; they were the traitors, not he.
There is a diabolical streak in the character of Thomas Muenzer. He
parades as the People's Man, and the German people in the sixteenth
century never had a worse enemy. His fluent speech and great oratory
seemed honey to the peasants, but they were the veriest poison. He
spoke the language of a saint, and lived the life of a profligate and a
reprobate. It is hard to believe that his error was merely the honest
fanaticism of a blind bigot; there is a malign element in it that
betrays conscious wickedness. This raving demon should be studied more
by Catholics when they investigate the Peasants' Revolt. They have their
eyes on Luther; his every word and action are placed under the
microscope. But the real culprit is treated as the hero in a tragedy. He
was a blind enthusiast; he mistook his aims; he selected wrong means and
methods for achieving his aim. He did wickedly, and we may have to curse
him some for decency's sake, but be deserves pity, too, for he was the
misguided pupil of that arch-heretic Luther. That is Catholic equity in
estimating Luther's share in the peasant uprising. We only note in
conclusion that Thomas Muenzer died in the arms of the alone-saving
Church, a penitent prodigal that had returned to the bosom of "Holy
Mother." Luther did not die thus, and that makes a great deal of
difference.
Catholics father upon Luther not only the Peasants' Revolt, but every
revolutionary movement which since then has occurred in Europe. The
political unrest which has at various times agitated the masses in
France, England, and Germany, the changes in the government which were
brought about in such times, are all attributed to the revolutionary
tendencies in Luther's writings. So is the disrespect shown by citizens
of the modern State to persons in authority, the bold and scathing
criticism indulged in by subjects against their government. There is
hardly a political disturbance anywhere but what ingenious Catholics
will manage to connect with Luther. Read Luther, and you will inevitably
become an anarchist.
But Luther is also credited with the very opposite of anarchism. When
the Peasants' Revolt had been put down by the lords, they began to
strengthen their despotic power over the people, and a worse tyranny
resulted than had existed before. It is pointed out that absolutism, the
claim of kings that they are ruling by divine right and are not
responsible to the people, has taken firm root in all Protestant
countries, and that even the Protestant churches in these countries are
mere fixtures of the State. This, too, we are asked to believe, is a
result of Luther's teaching. Luther is not only the spiritual
ring-leader of mobs, but also the sycophant of despots. It is
particularly offensive to Catholics to see Luther hailed as the champion
of political liberty. Let us try and make up our minds about Luther's
views of the secular government from Luther's own words. Dr. Waring, in
his _Political Theories of Luther,_ has made a very serviceable
collection of statements of Luther on this matter.
"In his tract on Secular Authority (10, 374 ff.) Luther maintains that
the State exists by God's will and institution; for the Apostle Paul
writes: 'Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is
no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever
therefore resisteth the power resiseth [tr. note: sic] the ordinance of
God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation' (Rom.
13, 1. 2). The Apostle Peter exhorts: 'Submit yourselves to every
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king, as
supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the
punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well' (1
Pet. 2, 13. 14). The right of the sword has existed since the beginning
of the world. When Cain killed his brother Abel, he was so fearful of
being put to death himself that God laid a special prohibition thereupon
that no one should kill him, which fear he would not have had, had he
not seen and heard from Adam that murderers should be put to death.
Further, after the Flood, God repeated and confirmed it in explicit
language, when He declared: 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall
his blood be shed' (Gen. 9, 6). This law was ratified later by the law
of Moses: 'But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay
him with guile, thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die'
(Ex. 21, 14); and yet again: 'Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for
wound, stripe for stripe' (Ex. 21, 23-25). Christ confirmed it also when
He said to Peter in the garden: 'All they that take the sword shall
perish with the sword' (Matt. 26, 52). The words of Christ: 'But I say
unto you, That ye resist not evil' (Matt. 5, 38. 39), 'Love your
enemies, . . . do good to them that hate you' (Matt. 5, 44), and similar
passages, having great weight, might seem to indicate that Christians
under the Gospel should not have a worldly sword; but the human race is
to be divided into two classes, one belonging to the kingdom of God and
the other to the kingdom of the world. To the first class belong all
true believers in Christ and under Christ, for Christ is King and Lord
in the kingdom of God (Ps. 2, 6, and throughout the Scriptures). These
people need no worldly sword or law, for they have the Holy Ghost in
their hearts who suffer wrong gladly and themselves do wrong to no one.
There is no need of quarrel or contention, of court or punishment. St.
Paul says: 'The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless
and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners' (1 Tim. 1, 9), for the
righteous man of himself does everything that the law demands, and more;
but the unrighteous do nothing right, and they therefore need the law to
teach, constrain, and compel them to do right. A good tree requires no
instruction or law that it may bring forth good fruit, but its nature
causes it to bear fruit after its kind. Thus are all Christians so
fashioned through the Spirit and faith that they do right naturally,
more than man could teach them with all laws. All those who are not
Christians in this particular sense belong to the kingdom of the world.
Inasmuch as there are few who are true Christians in faith and life, God
established, in addition to the kingdom of God, another rule-that of
temporal power and civil government, and gave it the sword to compel the
wicked to be orderly. It is for this worldly estate that law is given.
Christ rules without law, alone through the Spirit, but worldly
government protects the peace with the sword. Likewise, true Christians,
although not in need of it for themselves, nevertheless render cheerful
obedience to this government, through love for the others who need it. A
Christian himself may wield the sword when called upon to maintain peace
among men and to punish wrong. This authority, which is God's handmaid,
as St. Paul says, is as necessary and good as other worldly callings.
God therefore instituted two regimens, or governments-the spiritual,
which, through the Holy Ghost under Christ, makes Christians and pious
people, and the worldly or temporal, which warns the non-Christians and
the wicked that they must maintain external peace. We must clearly
distinguish between these two powers and let them remain-the one that
makes pious, the other that makes for external peace and protects
against wickedness. Neither one is sufficient in the world without the
other; for without the spiritual estate of Christ no one can be good
before God through the worldly estate. Where civil government alone
rules, there would be hypocrisy, though its laws were like God's
commandments themselves; for without the Holy Spirit in the heart none
can be pious, whatever good works he may perform. Where the spiritual
estate rules over land and people, there will be unbridled wickedness
and opportunity for all kinds of villainy, for the common world cannot
accept or understand it.-But it may be said, If, then, Christians do not
need the temporal power or law, why does St. Paul say to all Christians:
'Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers' (Rom. 13, 1)? In
reply to this, it is to be said again that Christians among themselves
and by and for themselves require no law or sword, for to them they are
not necessary or useful. But because a true Christian on earth lives for
and serves not himself, but his neighbor, so he also, from the nature of
his spirit, does that which he himself does not need, but which is
useful and necessary to his neighbor. The sword is a great and necessary
utility to the whole world for the maintenance of peace, the punishment
of wrong, and the restraint of the wicked. So the Christian pays tribute
and tax, honors civil authority, serves, assists, and does everything he
can do to maintain that authority with honor and fear." (p. 73 ff.)
In his _Appeal to the German Nobility_ (10, 266 ff.) Luther says:
"Forasmuch as the temporal power has been ordained by God for the
punishment of the bad and the protection of the good, therefore we must
let it do its duty throughout the whole Christian body, without respect
of persons, whether it strike Popes, bishops, priests, monks, nuns, or
whoever it may be. If it were sufficient reason for fettering the
temporal power that it is inferior among the offices of Christianity to
the offices of priest or confessor, to the spiritual estate,-if this
were so, then we ought to restrain tailors, cobblers, masons,
carpenters, cooks, cellarmen, peasants, and all secular workmen from
providing the Pope or bishops, priests and monks, with shoes, clothes,
houses, or victuals, or from paying them tithes. But if these laymen are
allowed to do their work without restraint, what do the Romanist scribes
mean by their laws? They mean that they withdraw themselves from the
operation of temporal Christian power, simply in order that they may be
free to do evil, and thus fulfil what St. Peter said: 'There shall be
false teachers among you, . . . and through covetousness shall they with
feigned words make merchandise of you' (2 Pet. 2, 1. 3). Therefore the
temporal Christian power must exercise its office without let or
hindrance, without considering whom it may strike, whether Pope or
bishop, or priest. Whoever is guilty, let him suffer for it.-Whatever
the ecclesiastical law has said in opposition to this is merely the
invention of Romanist arrogance. For this is what St. Paul says to all
Christians: 'Let every soul' (I presume, including the Popes) 'be
subject unto the higher powers. . . . Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same, . . . for he beareth not the sword in
vain; for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon
him that doeth evil' (Rom. 13, 1-4). Also St. Peter: 'Submit yourselves
to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; . . . for so is the will
of God' (1 Pet. 2, 13. 15). He has also foretold that men would come who
would despise government (2 Pet. 2), as has come to pass through
ecclesiastical law.-Although the work of the temporal power relates to
the body, it yet belongs to the spiritual estate. Therefore it must do
its duty without let or hindrance upon all members of the whole body, to
punish or urge, as guilt may deserve, or need may require, without
respect of Pope, bishops, or priests, let them threaten or excommunicate
as they will. That is why a guilty priest is deprived of his priesthood
before being given over to the secular arm; whereas this would not be
right if the secular powers had not authority over him already by divine
ordinance.-It is, indeed, past bearing that the spiritual law should
esteem so highly the liberty, life, and property of the clergy, as if
laymen were not as good spiritual Christians, or not equally members of
the Church. Why should your body, life, goods, and honor be free, and
not mine, seeing that we are equal as Christians, and have received
alike baptism, faith, spirit, and all things? If a priest is killed, the
country is laid under an interdict; why not also if a peasant is killed?
Whence comes this great difference among equal Christians? Simply from
human laws and inventions." (p. 96 ff.) This citation deserves to be
specially pondered in view of the Catholic charge that Luther was a
defender of absolutism, the divine right of kings. If Rome's attitude to
kingcraft be studied, it will be found that Rome has been the supporter
of the most tyrannous rulers. It is well, too, to remember Rome's claim
of a "divine right" of priests. Special laws of exemption and immunity,
laws creating special privileges for priests, are not unknown in the
annals of the world's history. Whoever can, ought to read the entire
_Appeal to the German Nobility;_ it will tell him many things that
explain the Peasants' Revolt.
In his _Severe Booklet against the Peasants_ (16, 71 ff.) Luther
explains the reasons for the harsh language which he uses against the
marauders. "He says that the maxims dealing with mercy belong to the
kingdom of God and among Christians, not to the kingdom of the world,
which is the instrument of godly wrath upon the wicked. The instrument
in the hand of the State is not a garland of roses or a flower of love,
but a naked sword. As I declared at the time, he says, so declare I yet:
Let every one who can, as he may be able, cut, stab, choke, and strike
the stiff-necked, obdurate, blind, infatuated peasants; that mercy may
be shown towards those who are destroyed, driven away, and misled by the
peasants; that peace and security may be had. It is better to
mercilessly cut off one member rather than lose the entire body through
fire or plague. Furthermore, the insurgents are notoriously faithless,
perjured, disobedient, riotous thieves, robbers, murderers, and
blasphemers, so that there is not one of them but has well deserved
death ten times over without mercy. If my advice had been followed in
the very beginning, and a few lives had been taken, before the
insurrection assumed such large proportions, thousands of lives would
have been saved. The experience should make all parties involved wise."
-"If it be said," he continues, "that I myself teach lawlessness, when I
urge all who can to cut down the rioters, my booklet was not written
against common evil-doers, but against seditious rioters. There is a
marked distinction between such a one and a murderer or robber and other
ordinary criminals; for a murderer or similar criminal lets the head and
civil authority itself stand, and attacks merely its members or its
property. He, indeed, fears the government. Now, while the head remains,
no individual should attack the murderer, because the head [civil
authority] call punish him, but should wait for the judgment and
sentence of that authority to which God has given the sword and office.
But the rioter attacks the head itself, so that his offense bears no
comparison with that of the murderer." (p. 147.)
Under the restriction under which this book was written as regards
space, we cannot enter as we would like to upon an exhaustive
discussion of Luther's political views. Luther was in this respect the
most enlightened European citizen of his age. He has voiced sound
principles on the rights of the State and its limitations and the
objects for which the State exists and does not exist, on the separation
of Church and State, on the removal of bad rulers from authority, and
especially on liberty. The power of the State he values because it
secures to each individual citizen the highest degree of liberty
possible in this life. Those who represent Luther as a defender of
anarchy or tyranny either do not know what they are talking about, or
they do it for a purpose, and deserve the contempt of all intelligent
men.