Luther the Mighty Warrior.
[Illustration: Luther Before Cajetan.]
1. LUTHER BEFORE CAJETAN IN AUGSBURG. Pope Leo X at first treated the
affair with contempt, thinking that the quarrel would soon die out. He
once said, "Brother Martin has a fine head, and the whole dispute is
nothing else than an envious quarrel of the monks." At another time he
said, "A drunken German has written these theses; when he sobers up he
will think differently of the matter." But when he noticed that his
authority was endangered, because many pious souls became attached to
the true doctrine, he summoned Luther to appear within sixty days in
Rome, and give an account of his heresy. If Luther had obeyed, he would
hardly have escaped death or the dungeon, for everyone knew that Rome
was like the lion's cave into which many prints of feet entered, but
from which none returned. But under the merciful guidance of God Elector
Frederick the Wise so arranged matters that Luther's case was tried in
Germany. For this purpose the Pope sent Cardinal Cajetan to Augsburg,
and in spite of all warnings Luther also boldly repaired to that city.
In Weimar a monk said to him. "O my dear Doctor, I fear that you will
not be able to maintain your case before them, and they will burn you at
the stake." Luther answered, "They may do it with nettles; but fire is
too hot!" When Luther finally arrived in Augsburg, weary and worn, he
would have called upon the cardinal immediately, but to this his friends
were opposed; they endeavored to obtain for him, first of all,
safe-conduct from the emperor. But three days passed before he received
it. In the meantime the servants of the cardinal came and said, "The
cardinal offers you every favor. What do you fear? He is a very kind
father." But another whispered in his ear, "Don't believe it, he never
keeps his promise." The third day an emissary, by the name of Urban,
came to Luther and asked him why he did not come to the cardinal who was
waiting for him so graciously. Luther told him that he was following the
advice of upright men who were all of the opinion that he should not go
there without the imperial safe-conduct. Evidently vexed at this reply,
Urban asked, "Do you think that the elector will go to war on your
account?" Luther answered, "I do not ask that at all." Urban: "Where do
you intend to stay then?" Luther: "Beneath the heavens!" Urban: "What
would you do if you had the Pope and the cardinals in your power?"
Luther: "I would show them every mark of respect!" When the safe-conduct
finally arrived Luther at once repaired to the cardinal, who abruptly
demanded that he recant his errors. But Luther declared, "I cannot
recant, I cannot depart from the Scriptures." After lengthy negotiations
Cajetan sprang up in anger and said, "Go, and let me not see you again,
unless you recant!" To Luther's friends the cardinal said, "I do not
wish to dispute with that beast any more, for he has deep eyes and
strange ideas in his head." Luther, however, wrote to Wittenberg: "The
cardinal is a poor theologian or Christian, and as apt at divinity as an
ass is at music." On the 31st of October Luther returned safely to
Wittenberg.
2. LUTHER BEFORE MILTITZ. Rome would now have preferred to excommunicate
Luther, but for good reasons it did not wish to offend the elector, who
was determined not to allow his professor to be condemned without proper
trial and refutation. The Pope therefore sent his chamberlain Karl von
Miltitz to the elector to present to him a consecrated golden rose. By
this means the elector was to be made willing to assist Miltitz in his
undertaking. But when the latter arrived in Germany he noticed at once
that he would have to deal kindly with Luther if he wished to retain the
good will of the people. At the meeting which occurred 1519 in
Altenburg, Miltitz, therefore, treated Luther with the greatest
consideration: "Dear Martin, I thought you were an old doctor who sat
behind the stove full of crotchety notions. But I see that you are a
young and vigorous man. Besides, you have a large following, for on my
journey I made inquiries to discover what the people thought of you, and
I noticed so much that where there is one on the Pope's side there are
three on yours against the Pope. If I had an army of 25,000 men I would
not undertake to carry you out of Germany!" With tears he begged Luther
to help in restoring peace. Luther consented to drop the controversy if
his opponents would do the same. After supping together they parted on
the best of terms, Miltitz even embracing and kissing Luther. Later on
Luther saw through the deceit of the Roman and called his kiss a Judas
kiss and his tears crocodile tears; for it was only his fear of Luther's
following that prevented him from executing his original plan of
carrying Luther to Rome in chains.
3. LUTHER AND DR. ECK IN LEIPZIG. Dr. Eck, a violent opponent of Luther,
became involved in a dispute with Dr. Carlstadt on several questions of
Christian doctrine into which Luther was also drawn. In 1519 these three
men gathered at Leipzig for a public disputation. At first Eck disputed
with Carlstadt on "Free Will," and then with Luther on the supremacy of
the Pope. Luther proved that the church indeed needed a supreme head,
but that Christ is this head, and not the Pope, and that the power which
the Pope arrogates to himself conflicts with the Scriptures and the
history of the first three centuries. As Eck could not maintain his
position he accused Luther of Hussite heresy. When Luther replied, "My
dear Doctor, not all of Huss' teachings are heretical," Eck flew into a
passion, and Duke George cried out, "The plague take it!" Then they
debated the question of purgatory, of indulgences, of penances, and the
allied doctrines. On the 16th of June they closed the debate, and Luther
returned joyfully to Wittenberg. Eck, who had flattered himself that he
would triumph over Luther, had to leave in disgrace.
[Illustration: Luther Burning the Pope's Bull.]
4. THE BULL OF EXCOMMUNICATION. Soon hereafter Eck journeyed to Rome and
persuaded the Pope to threaten Luther with excommunication. And indeed!
in 1520 the papal bull appeared which began: "Arise, O Lord, judge Thy
cause, for a boar has broken into Thy vineyard, a wild beast is
destroying it." Luther's doctrine was condemned, and his books were to
be burned that his memory might perish among Christians. He himself was
commanded to recant within sixty days, on pain of excommunication as a
heretic. As a dried limb is cut from the trunk of the tree they
threatened to cut Luther from the body of Christ. Triumphantly Dr. Eck
carried the bull about in Germany. In Erfurt the students tore it to
pieces and threw it into the water, saying, "It is a _bulla_ (bubble),
so let it swim upon the water." Luther wrote a pamphlet: "Against the
Bull of the Antichrist," and had it distributed broadcast among the
people. In it he said: "If the Pope does not retract and condemn this
bull, and punish Dr. Eck besides, then no one is to doubt that the Pope
is God's enemy, Christ's persecutor, Christendom's destroyer, and the
true Antichrist." He wrote to a friend: "I am much more courageous now,
since I know that the Pope has become manifest as the Antichrist and
the chair of Satan."
And now when Luther even learned that in accordance with this bull his
writings had been burned in Louvaine, Cologne, and also in Mayence, his
purpose was fixed. On the 10th of December he had the following
announcement published on the blackboard in Wittenberg: "Let him who is
filled with zeal for evangelical truth appear at nine o'clock before the
Church of the Holy Cross without the walls of the city. There the
ungodly books of the papal statutes will be burned, because the enemies
of the Gospel have dared to burn the evangelical books of Dr. Martin
Luther." When the students read this notice they gathered in crowds in
the streets and marched out through the Elster Gate, followed by many
citizens. At nine o'clock Luther appeared in company with many
professors and scholars, who were carrying books and pamphlets. A pile
of fagots was erected. Luther with his own hand laid upon it the papal
books, and one of the masters set fire to the pile. When the flames
leaped up Luther's firm hand threw in the papal bull, and he cried,
"Since thou hast offended the Holy One of God, may everlasting fire
consume thee!" On the next day he said to his audience: "If with your
whole heart you do not renounce the kingdom of the Pope you cannot be
saved." In a pamphlet he pointed out the reasons which induced him to
take this step, and at the same time he called attention to the impious
statutes contained in the popish jurisprudence. Some of these read: "The
Pope and his associates are not bound to obey God's commandments. Even
if the Pope were so wicked as to lead innumerable men to hell, yet no
one would have the right to reprove him."--On the third of January,
1521, another bull appeared in which the Pope excommunicated Luther and
his adherents, whom he called "Lutherans," and issued the interdict
against, every place where they resided.