diplomacy. A compromise was entered into, that while professing to grant
to the Bohemians freedom of conscience, really betrayed them into the
power of Rome. The Bohemians had specified four points as the condition of
peace with Rome: The free preaching of the Bible; the right of the whole
church to both the bread and the wine in the communion, and the use of the
mother tongue in divine worship; the exclusion of the clergy from all
secular offices and authority; and in cases of crime, the jurisdiction of
the civil courts over clergy and laity alike. The papal authorities at
last “agreed that the four articles of the Hussites should be accepted,
but that the right of explaining them, that is, of determining their
precise import, should belong to the council—in other words, to the pope
and the emperor.”(155) On this basis a treaty was entered into, and Rome
gained by dissimulation and fraud what she had failed to gain by conflict;
for, placing her own interpretation upon the Hussite articles, as upon the
Bible, she could pervert their meaning to suit her own purposes.
A large class in Bohemia, seeing that it betrayed their liberties, could
not consent to the compact. Dissensions and divisions arose, leading to
strife and bloodshed among themselves. In this strife the noble Procopius
fell, and the liberties of Bohemia perished.
Sigismund, the betrayer of Huss and Jerome, now became king of Bohemia,
and regardless of his oath to support the rights of the Bohemians, he
proceeded to establish popery. But he had gained little by his
subservience to Rome. For twenty years his life had been filled with
labors and perils. His armies had been wasted and his treasuries drained
by a long and fruitless struggle; and now, after reigning one year, he
died, leaving his kingdom on the brink of civil war, and bequeathing to
posterity a name branded with infamy.
Tumults, strife, and bloodshed were protracted. Again foreign armies
invaded Bohemia, and internal dissension continued to distract the nation.
Those who remained faithful to the gospel were subjected to a bloody
persecution.
As their former brethren, entering into compact with Rome, imbibed her
errors, those who adhered to the ancient faith had formed themselves into
a distinct church, taking the name of “United Brethren.” This act drew
upon them maledictions from all classes. Yet their firmness was unshaken.
Forced to find refuge in the woods and caves, they still assembled to read
God’s word and unite in His worship.
Through messengers secretly sent out into different countries, they
learned that here and there were “isolated confessors of the truth, a few
in this city and a few in that, the object, like themselves, of
persecution; and that amid the mountains of the Alps was an ancient
church, resting on the foundations of Scripture, and protesting against
the idolatrous corruptions of Rome.”(156) This intelligence was received
with great joy, and a correspondence was opened with the Waldensian
Christians.
Steadfast to the gospel, the Bohemians waited through the night of their
persecution; in the darkest hour still turning their eyes toward the
horizon like men who watch for the morning. “Their lot was cast in evil
days, but ... they remembered the words first uttered by Huss, and
repeated by Jerome, that a century must revolve before the day should
break. These were to the Taborites [Hussites] what the words of Joseph
were to the tribes in the house of bondage: ‘I die, and God will surely
visit you, and bring you out.’ ”(157) “The closing period of the fifteenth
century witnessed the slow but sure increase of the churches of the
Brethren. Although far from being unmolested, they yet enjoyed comparative
rest. At the commencement of the sixteenth century, their churches
numbered two hundred in Bohemia and Moravia.”(158) “So goodly was the
remnant which, escaping the destructive fury of fire and sword, was
permitted to see the dawning of that day which Huss had foretold.”
7. LUTHER’S SEPARATION FROM ROME.
[Illustration: Chapter header.]
Foremost among those who were called to lead the church from the darkness
of popery into the light of a purer faith, stood Martin Luther. Zealous,
ardent, and devoted, knowing no fear but the fear of God, and
acknowledging no foundation for religious faith but the Holy Scriptures,
Luther was the man for his time; through him, God accomplished a great
work for the reformation of the church and the enlightenment of the world.
Like the first heralds of the gospel, Luther sprung from the ranks of
poverty. His early years were spent in the humble home of a German
peasant. By daily toil as a miner, his father earned the means for his
education. He intended him for a lawyer; but God purposed to make him a
builder in the great temple that was rising so slowly through the
centuries. Hardship, privation, and severe discipline were the school in
which Infinite Wisdom prepared Luther for the important mission of his
life.
Luther’s father was a man of strong and active mind and great force of
character, honest, resolute, and straight-forward. He was true to his
convictions of duty, let the consequences be what they might. His sterling
good sense led him to regard the monastic system with distrust. He was
highly displeased when Luther, without his consent, entered a monastery;
and it was two years before the father was reconciled to his son, and even
then his opinions remained the same.
Luther’s parents bestowed great care upon the education and training of
their children. They endeavored to instruct them in the knowledge of God
and the practice of Christian virtues. The father’s prayer often ascended
in the hearing of his son, that the child might remember the name of the
Lord, and one day aid in the advancement of His truth. Every advantage for
moral or intellectual culture which their life of toil permitted them to
enjoy, was eagerly improved by these parents. Their efforts were earnest
and persevering to prepare their children for a life of piety and
usefulness. With their firmness and strength of character they sometimes
exercised too great severity; but the Reformer himself, though conscious
that in some respects they had erred, found in their discipline more to
approve than to condemn.
At school, where he was sent at an early age, Luther was treated with
harshness and even violence. So great was the poverty of his parents, that
upon going from home to school in another town he was for a time obliged
to obtain his food by singing from door to door, and he often suffered
from hunger. The gloomy, superstitious ideas of religion then prevailing
filled him with fear. He would lie down at night with a sorrowful heart,
looking forward with trembling to the dark future, and in constant terror
at the thought of God as a stern, unrelenting judge, a cruel tyrant,
rather than a kind heavenly Father.
Yet under so many and so great discouragements, Luther pressed resolutely
forward toward the high standard of moral and intellectual excellence
which attracted his soul. He thirsted for knowledge, and the earnest and
practical character of his mind led him to desire the solid and useful
rather than the showy and superficial.
When, at the age of eighteen, he entered the University of Erfurt, his
situation was more favorable and his prospects were brighter than in his
earlier years. His parents having by thrift and industry acquired a
competence, they were able to render him all needed assistance. And the
influence of judicious friends had somewhat lessened the gloomy effects of
his former training. He applied himself to the study of the best authors,
diligently treasuring their most weighty thoughts, and making the wisdom
of the wise his own. Even under the harsh discipline of his former
instructors, he had early given promise of distinction; and with favorable
influences his mind rapidly developed. A retentive memory, a lively
imagination, strong reasoning powers, and untiring application, soon
placed him in the foremost rank among his associates. Intellectual
discipline ripened his understanding, and aroused an activity of mind and
a keenness of perception that were preparing him for the conflicts of his
life.
The fear of the Lord dwelt in the heart of Luther, enabling him to
maintain his steadfastness of purpose, and leading him to deep humility
before God. He had an abiding sense of his dependence upon divine aid, and
he did not fail to begin each day with prayer, while his heart was
continually breathing a petition for guidance and support. “To pray well,”
he often said, “is the better half of study.”(159)
While one day examining the books in the library of the university, Luther
discovered a Latin Bible. Such a book he had never before seen. He was
ignorant even of its existence. He had heard portions of the Gospels and
Epistles, which were read to the people at public worship, and he supposed
that these were the entire Bible. Now, for the first time, he looked upon
the whole of God’s word. With mingled awe and wonder he turned the sacred
pages; with quickened pulse and throbbing heart he read for himself the
words of life, pausing now and then to exclaim, “O that God would give me
such a book for myself!”(160) Angels of heaven were by his side, and rays
of light from the throne of God revealed the treasures of truth to his
understanding. He had ever feared to offend God, but now the deep
conviction of his condition as a sinner took hold upon him as never
before.
An earnest desire to be free from sin and to find peace with God, led him
at last to enter a cloister, and devote himself to a monastic life. Here
he was required to perform the lowest drudgery, and to beg from house to
house. He was at an age when respect and appreciation are most eagerly
craved, and these menial offices were deeply mortifying to his natural
feelings; but he patiently endured this humiliation, believing that it was
necessary because of his sins.
Every moment that could be spared from his daily duties he employed in
study, robbing himself of sleep, and grudging even the time spent at his
scanty meals. Above everything else he delighted in the study of God’s
word. He had found a Bible chained to the convent wall, and to this he
often repaired. As his convictions of sin deepened, he sought by his own
works to obtain pardon and peace. He led a most rigorous life, endeavoring
by fasting, vigils, and scourgings to subdue the evils of his nature, from
which the monastic life had brought no release. He shrank from no
sacrifice by which he might attain to that purity of heart which would
enable him to stand approved before God. “I was indeed a pious monk,” he
afterward said, “and followed the rules of my order more strictly than I
can express. If ever monk could obtain heaven by his monkish works, I
should certainly have been entitled to it.... If it had continued much
longer, I should have carried my mortifications even to death.”(161) As
the result of this painful discipline, he lost strength, and suffered from
fainting spasms, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. But
with all his efforts, his burdened soul found no relief. He was at last
driven to the verge of despair.
When it appeared to Luther that all was lost, God raised up a friend and
helper for him. The pious Staupitz opened the word of God to Luther’s
mind, and bade him look away from himself, cease the contemplation of
infinite punishment for the violation of God’s law, and look to Jesus, his
sin-pardoning Saviour. “Instead of torturing yourself on account of your
sins, throw yourself into the Redeemer’s arms. Trust in Him, in the
righteousness of His life, in the atonement of His death.... Listen to the
Son of God. He became man to give you the assurance of divine favor,”
“Love Him who first loved you.”(162) Thus spoke this messenger of mercy.
His words made a deep impression upon Luther’s mind. After many a struggle
with long-cherished errors, he was enabled to grasp the truth, and peace
came to his troubled soul.
Luther was ordained a priest, and was called from the cloister to a
professorship in the University of Wittenberg. Here he applied himself to
the study of the Scriptures in the original tongues. He began to lecture
upon the Bible; and the book of Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles were
opened to the understanding of crowds of delighted listeners. Staupitz,
his friend and superior, urged him to ascend the pulpit, and preach the
word of God. Luther hesitated, feeling himself unworthy to speak to the
people in Christ’s stead. It was only after a long struggle that he
yielded to the solicitations of his friends. Already he was mighty in the
Scriptures, and the grace of God rested upon him. His eloquence captivated
his hearers, the clearness and power with which he presented the truth
convinced their understanding, and his fervor touched their hearts.
Luther was still a true son of the papal church, and had no thought that
he would ever be anything else. In the providence of God he was led to
visit Rome. He pursued his journey on foot, lodging at the monasteries on
the way. At a convent in Italy he was filled with wonder at the wealth,
magnificence, and luxury that he witnessed. Endowed with a princely
revenue, the monks dwelt in splendid apartments, attired themselves in the
richest and most costly robes, and feasted at a sumptuous table. With
painful misgivings Luther contrasted this scene with the self-denial and
hardship of his own life. His mind was becoming perplexed.
At last he beheld in the distance the seven-hilled city. With deep emotion
he prostrated himself upon the earth, exclaiming, “Holy Rome, I salute
thee!”(163) He entered the city, visited the churches, listened to the
marvelous tales repeated by priests and monks, and performed all the
ceremonies required. Everywhere he looked upon scenes that filled him with
astonishment and horror. He saw that iniquity existed among all classes of
the clergy. He heard indecent jokes from prelates, and was filled with
horror at their awful profanity, even during mass. As he mingled with the
monks and citizens, he met dissipation, debauchery. Turn where he would,
in the place of sanctity he found profanation. “No one can imagine,” he
wrote, “what sins and infamous actions are committed in Rome; they must be
seen and heard to be believed. Thus they are in the habit of saying, ‘If
there is a hell, Rome is built over it: it is an abyss whence issues every
kind of sin.’ ”(164)
By a recent decretal, an indulgence had been promised by the pope to all
who should ascend upon their knees “Pilate’s staircase,” said to have been
descended by our Saviour on leaving the Roman judgment hall, and to have
been miraculously conveyed from Jerusalem to Rome. Luther was one day
devoutly climbing these steps, when suddenly a voice like thunder seemed
to say to him, “The just shall live by faith.”(165) He sprung to his feet,
and hastened from the place in shame and horror. That text never lost its
power upon his soul. From that time he saw more clearly than ever before
the fallacy of trusting to human works for salvation, and the necessity of
constant faith in the merits of Christ. His eyes had been opened, and were
never again to be closed, to the delusions of the papacy. When he turned
his face from Rome, he had turned away also in heart, and from that time
the separation grew wider, until he severed all connection with the papal
church.
After his return from Rome, Luther received at the University of
Wittenberg the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Now he was at liberty to
devote himself, as never before, to the Scriptures that he loved. He had
taken a solemn vow to study carefully and to preach with fidelity the word
of God, not the sayings and doctrines of the popes, all the days of his
life. He was no longer the mere monk or professor, but the authorized
herald of the Bible. He had been called as a shepherd to feed the flock of
God, that were hungering and thirsting for the truth. He firmly declared
that Christians should receive no other doctrines than those which rest on
the authority of the Sacred Scriptures. These words struck at the very
foundation of papal supremacy. They contained the vital principle of the
Reformation.
Luther saw the danger of exalting human theories above the word of God. He
fearlessly attacked the speculative infidelity of the schoolmen, and
opposed the philosophy and theology which had so long held a controlling
influence upon the people. He denounced such studies as not only worthless
but pernicious, and sought to turn the minds of his hearers from the
sophistries of philosophers and theologians to the eternal truths set
forth by prophets and apostles.
Precious was the message which he bore to the eager crowds that hung upon
his words. Never before had such teachings fallen upon their ears. The
glad tidings of a Saviour’s love, the assurance of pardon and peace
through His atoning blood, rejoiced their hearts, and inspired within them
an immortal hope. At Wittenberg a light was kindled whose rays should
extend to the uttermost parts of the earth, and which was to increase in
brightness to the close of time.
But light and darkness cannot harmonize. Between truth and error there is
an irrepressible conflict. To uphold and defend the one is to attack and
overthrow the other. Our Saviour Himself declared, “I came not to send
peace, but a sword,”(166) Said Luther, a few years after the opening of
the Reformation: “God does not guide me, He pushes me forward, He carries
me away. I am not master of myself. I desire to live in repose; but I am
thrown into the midst of tumults and revolutions.”(167) He was now about
to be urged into the contest.
The Roman Church had made merchandise of the grace of God. The tables of
the money-changers(168) were set up beside her altars, and the air
resounded with the shouts of buyers and sellers. Under the plea of raising
funds for the erection of St. Peter’s church at Rome, indulgences for sin
were publicly offered for sale by the authority of the pope. By the price
of crime a temple was to be built up for God’s worship,—the corner-stone
laid with the wages of iniquity! But the very means adopted for Rome’s
aggrandizement provoked the deadliest blow to her power and greatness. It
was this that aroused the most determined and successful of the enemies of
popery, and led to the battle which shook the papal throne, and jostled
the triple crown upon the pontiff’s head.
The official appointed to conduct the sale of indulgences in
Germany—Tetzel by name—had been convicted of the basest offenses against
society and against the law of God; but having escaped the punishment due
to his crimes, he was employed to further the mercenary and unscrupulous
projects of the pope. With great effrontery he repeated the most glaring
falsehoods, and related marvelous tales to deceive an ignorant, credulous,
and superstitious people. Had they possessed the word of God, they would
not have been thus deceived. It was to keep them under the control of the
papacy, in order to swell the power and wealth of her ambitious leaders,
that the Bible had been withheld from them.(169)
As Tetzel entered a town, a messenger went before him, announcing, “The
grace of God and of the holy father is at your gates.”(170) And the people
welcomed the blasphemous pretender as if he were God Himself come down
from heaven to them. The infamous traffic was set up in the church, and
Tetzel, ascending the pulpit, extolled indulgences as the most precious
gift of God. He declared that by virtue of his certificates of pardon, all
the sins which the purchaser should afterward desire to commit would be
forgiven him, and that “not even repentance is necessary.”(171) More than
this, he assured his hearers that the indulgences had power to save not
only the living but the dead; that the very moment the money should clink
against the bottom of his chest, the soul in whose behalf it had been paid
would escape from purgatory and make its way to heaven.(172)
When Simon Magus offered to purchase of the apostles the power to work
miracles, Peter answered him, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou
hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.”(173) But
Tetzel’s offer was grasped by eager thousands. Gold and silver flowed into
his treasury. A salvation that could be bought with money was more easily
obtained than that which requires repentance, faith, and diligent effort
to resist and overcome sin.(174)
The doctrine of indulgences had been opposed by men of learning and piety
in the Roman Church, and there were many who had no faith in pretensions
so contrary to both reason and revelation. No prelate dared lift his voice
against this iniquitous traffic; but the minds of men were becoming
disturbed and uneasy, and many eagerly inquired if God would not work
through some instrumentality for the purification of His church.
Luther, though still a papist of the straitest sort, was filled with
horror at the blasphemous assumptions of the indulgence mongers. Many of
his own congregation had purchased certificates of pardon, and they soon
began to come to their pastor, confessing their various sins, and
expecting absolution, not because they were penitent and wished to reform,
but on the ground of the indulgence. Luther refused them absolution, and
warned them that unless they should repent and reform their lives, they
must perish in their sins. In great perplexity they repaired to Tetzel
with the complaint that their confessor had refused his certificates; and
some boldly demanded that their money be returned to them. The friar was
filled with rage. He uttered the most terrible curses, caused fires to be
lighted in the public squares, and declared that he “had received an order
from the pope to burn all heretics who presumed to oppose his most holy
indulgences.”(175)
Luther now entered boldly upon his work as a champion of the truth. His
voice was heard from the pulpit in earnest, solemn warning. He set before
the people the offensive character of sin, and taught them that it is
impossible for man, by his own works, to lessen its guilt or evade its
punishment. Nothing but repentance toward God and faith in Christ can save
the sinner. The grace of Christ cannot be purchased; it is a free gift. He
counseled the people not to buy indulgences, but to look in faith to a
crucified Redeemer. He related his own painful experience in vainly
seeking by humiliation and penance to secure salvation, and assured his
hearers that it was by looking away from himself and believing in Christ
that he found peace and joy.
As Tetzel continued his traffic and his impious pretensions, Luther
determined upon a more effectual protest against these crying abuses. An
occasion soon offered. The castle church of Wittenberg possessed many
relics, which on certain holy days were exhibited to the people, and full
remission of sins was granted to all who then visited the church and made
confession. Accordingly on these days the people in great numbers resorted
thither. One of the most important of these occasions, the festival of
“All Saints,” was approaching. On the preceding day, Luther, joining the
crowds that were already making their way to the church, posted on its
door a paper containing ninety-five propositions against the doctrine of
indulgences. He declared his willingness to defend these theses next day
at the university, against all who should see fit to attack them.
His propositions attracted universal attention. They were read and
re-read, and repeated in every direction. Great excitement was created in
the university and in the whole city. By these theses it was shown that
the power to grant the pardon of sin, and to remit its penalty, had never
been committed to the pope or to any other man. The whole scheme was a
farce,—an artifice to extort money by playing upon the superstitions of
the people,—a device of Satan to destroy the souls of all who should trust
to its lying pretensions. It was also clearly shown that the gospel of
Christ is the most valuable treasure of the church, and that the grace of
God, therein revealed, is freely bestowed upon all who seek it by
repentance and faith.