OUT OF THE MONASTERY INTO THE CONFLICT.
(about 1522.)
The storm broke loose; it convulsed the whole nation as with electric
fire: the words of the Augustine of Wittenburg rolled through the land
like peals of thunder, and every clap betokened an advance and a
victory. Even now, after three centuries and a half, this prodigious
movement has an irresistible fascination for the German people. Never,
from its first existence, had the nation revealed its innermost being
so touchingly and grandly. All the fine qualities of the German mind
and character burst forth at this time; enthusiasm, self-devotion, a
deep moral indignation, an intense pleasure in systematic thought, and
an inward seeking after the highest. Every individual took his share in
the strife. The travelling trader over the fire at night contended for
or against the indulgences, the countryman in the most remote villages
heard with astonishment of the new heretic whom his spiritual father
cursed in every sermon, and the women of the villages no longer gave
willingly to the mendicant monks. A sea of small literature overflowed
the country, a hundred printing-presses were in activity, spreading
abroad the numerous controversial writings, both learned and popular;
parties raged in every cathedral and parish church; everywhere men of
resolute character amongst the ecclesiastics declared themselves for
the new doctrines, whilst the weaker ones struggled with timid doubts;
the doors of the monasteries were opened, and the cells soon became
empty. Every month brought to the people something new and unheard of.
It was no longer a quarrel between priests, as Hutten had in the
beginning contemptuously called the dispute between the Wittenberger
and Tetzel; it had become a war of the nation against the Romish
supremacy and its supporters. Ever more powerfully rose the image of
Luther before his cotemporaries. Banished, cursed, persecuted by Pope
and Emperor, by princes and high ecclesiastics, he became in four short
years the idolized hero of the people. His journey to Worms was
described in the style of the Holy Scriptures, and the over-zealous
placed him on a footing with the martyrs of the New Testament.[24] The
learned also felt themselves irresistibly drawn into the struggle; even
Erasmus smiled approbation, and Hutten's soul fired up in the cause of
the new teacher, he no longer wrote in Latin, but broke forth in
German, more stormy and wild than the Wittenberger, with a fire that
consumed himself, the knight fought his last fight for the peasant's
son.
The man on whom for half a generation the highest feelings of his
nation were concentrated, now enters upon the scene. Yet before we
endeavour to understand his mind, it is well to point out, shortly, how
his peculiar character worked upon impartial cotemporaries. We first
take the witness of a moderate and truthful mind, who never personally
knew Luther, and who later, in a middle position between the
Wittenberger and the Swiss reformer, had reason to be dissatisfied with
Luther's stubbornness. Ambrosius Blaurer, born in Constance, of noble
family, was a brother of the old Benedictine monastery of Alpirsbach,
in the wildest part of the Black Forest; he was afterwards a writer of
sacred poetry, and at the time we are speaking of, thirty years old. He
had left the cloister in 1523, and fled to his family. At the
instigation of his Abbot, the Stadtholder of the principality of
Wuertemberg demanded that he should be sent back to the monastery by the
Burgomaster and council of Constance. Blaurer published a defence, from
which the following is taken. He became shortly after a preacher in
Constance, and on the restoration of Duke Ulrich, one of the reformers
of Wuertemberg, and died at a great age at Winterthur. What he praises
and blames in Luther may be considered as the general view of his
character taken at that time by earnest minds.
"I call God and my own conscience to witness that no wilfulness or
frivolous motive drove me out of the monastery, or excited me to
abandon it. Vulgar rumour reports, that monks and nuns have left their
convents on account of their aversion to its tranquil life, and that
they might live in carnal freedom, and give vent to their wilfulness
and worldly desires. But I was actuated by honourable and weighty
reasons, and great troubles and urgings of conscience, on account of
the word of God. I hope that all the circumstances of my departure will
show neither levity, wantonness, nor unseemly purpose? I laid aside
neither cowl nor capouch except for a few days after my departure for
my greater security, till I had reached my place of refuge. I neither
left to fight, nor to carry away a pretty wife, but I went forthwith as
quickly as I could to my much loved mother and relations, who are
undoubted Christians, and are held in such honour and esteem in the
city of Constance, that it is certain they would never counsel or help
me in any unworthy undertaking.
"Therefore I trust that my previous conduct and course of life will
relieve me from any suspicion of unseemly or wilful intentions; for
although I may not boast myself before God, yet I may before men glory
in the Lord, that I, whether in the cloister or the school, here, and
wherever I have been, have retained a good repute and esteem, with much
love and favour, on account of my uprightness. You yourselves have
heard the messengers from Wuertemberg acknowledge that there was no
complaint or evil report of my conduct or manner of life at the
monastery of Alpirsbach, but that I have behaved myself well and
piously; all they can say against me is, that I have concerned myself
too much with what they call the seductive and cursed teaching of
Martin Luther, whose writings I have read and adhered to, and preached
them, contrary to the command of the abbot, publicly to the laity in
the monastery; and when this was forbidden me, I yet continued
secretly, and as it were in a corner, to infuse them into the souls of
some of the young gentlemen there. With such praise from my fathers and
brethren I am well content, and can justify myself for this one
misdeed, as a Christian, from the word of God, and I hope that my
defence will serve to remove false and ungrounded suspicions, not only
from me, but also from others.
"When in the course of the last year, the works and opinions of Martin
Luther were spread abroad and became known, they came into my hands
before they had been condemned and forbidden by the ecclesiastical and
lay authorities; and like other newly printed works, I saw and read
them. In the beginning, these doctrines appeared to me somewhat strange
and objectionable, and contrary to the long-established theology and
clever teaching of the schools, in opposition also to the papal and
ecclesiastical rights, and to the old, and, as I then considered them,
praiseworthy customs and usages of our forefathers. But it was not less
evident to me that this man interspersed everywhere in his teaching
clear and distinct passages from the Holy Scriptures, according to
which all human teaching ought to be guided and judged, accepted or
rejected. I was much amazed, and stirred up to read these doctrines,
not once or twice, but frequently, with much industry and earnest
attention, and to weigh and compare them with the evangelical writings
to which they constantly appealed. The longer I did this, the more I
perceived with what great dignity the Holy Scriptures were treated by
this learned and enlightened man,--how purely and delicately he handled
them, how cleverly and well he everywhere brought them forward, how
skilfully he compared and weighed them one with the other, and how he
explained the dark and difficult texts, by bringing forward others that
were clearer and more comprehensible. I saw also that there was great
mastership in his treatment of the Scriptures, and that it afforded the
most substantial aid to a right understanding of them, so that every
intelligent layman who industriously studied his books, could
distinctly perceive that these doctrines were true and Christian, and
had the firmest foundation. On that account they impressed themselves
on my mind, and deeply touched my heart: it was to me as if a veil had
fallen from before my eyes; I felt they were in no wise to be
distrusted, like those of so many other school teachers that I had
formerly read, because their aim was neither dominion, fame, nor
worldly enjoyment, but to place before us, only the poor, despised, and
crucified Christ, and to teach us to live a pure, moderate, and sober
life, conformable in all things to the doctrine of Christ; and they
were therefore too hard and self-denying for the ambitious and many
beneficed priests and doctors, puffed up with pride and vain glory, who
sought in the Scriptures their own honour and fame, more than the
Spirit of God. Therefore would I rather give up all my worldly means
and life itself, than be deprived of them, not for the sake of Luther,
who, except as he appears in his writings, is unknown to me, and being
only a man, may, like other men, be in error; but for the sake of the
word of God, which he holds so clearly and distinctly, and explains so
victoriously and triumphantly from the fullness of his undaunted
spirit.
"The enemy endeavoured to embitter this honey to us by representing
that Luther was testy and irritable, aggressive and sarcastic; that he
attacked his opponents the great princes and ecclesiastical and lay
lords, with audacity; had recourse to abuse and slander, and forgot all
brotherly love and Christian moderation. He had, it is true, often
displeased me by this, and I would not desire any one to do the like;
but I could not on that account reject and cast aside his good
Christian teaching, nor even condemn him in these respects; and for
this reason, that I could not read his mind, nor the secret counsels of
God, as perhaps it might be the means of drawing people from his
teaching. And as it was not his own cause, but the divine word that he
defended, much allowance should be made for him, and all should be
attributed to zealous indignation for God. Even Christ, the source and
pattern of all meekness, severely rebuked before others the stubborn
and stony-hearted Pharisees, and called them false hypocrites, painted
sepulchres, sons of harlots, blind leaders of the blind, and also the
children of the devil, as may be seen in the gospels. (Matt. xii. 15,
23; John viii.) Perhaps Luther would gladly speak well of many if he
could do so with truth; he may not think it fitting to call those who
are in darkness, enlightened; nor rapacious wolves, good shepherds; nor
the unmerciful, merciful; for without doubt, had God not been more
merciful to him than they have been, he would not now be upon earth.
But however this may be, I will not defend him in this place, but
laying aside his expressions of contempt and abuse, accept with
thankfulness the earnestness of his valiant Christian writings for our
amendment.
"As I openly persevered in what I had undertaken advisedly, and would
not desist at the bidding of any one, being bound as a Christian not to
do so, the displeasure of my superior at Alpirsbach, and certain others
of the monastery, greatly increased, and the sword of God's anger began
to cause division and discord between the brothers. I was peremptorily
ordered to abstain from my undertaking, and also not to speak of these
matters with others; but as I could not do this, being bound to yield
obedience to God's commands, rather than to those of man, I earnestly
begged of my Abbot and monastery, that they would graciously give me
leave of absence. I wished for a year or two to support myself at some
school or elsewhere, without being any expense to the monastery, and
perhaps in the mean while, by a godly examination of the cause of our
discord, it might be brought to a peaceable end.
"This being however refused by them, I resolved, after having taken
counsel with many wise, learned, and God-fearing men and friends, to
leave the monastery." So far Ambrosius Blaurer.
Whilst brother Ambrosius was yet looking anxiously from the windows of
his cell, over the pines of the Black Forest into the free expanse,
another was riding out of the gate of a princely castle near the
woodclad mountains of Thuringia. Behind him lay the dark
_Drachenschlucht_; before him the long ridge of the magic Hoerselberges,
wherein dwelt an enchantress, to whom the Pope, that wicked forgiver of
sins, had once driven back the repentant Tannhaeuser. But the dry stick
which the Pope had then thrust into the ground, brought forth green
foliage during the night; God himself confuted the Pope. The poor
penitent man no longer required the Bishop of Rome to enable him to
find mercy and grace from his heavenly Father; but the wicked Pope
himself would descend into the jaws of the old dragon.
The exterior of the man who was riding down from Wartburg to
Wittenberg, shall be described by a young student who was travelling
with a friend from Switzerland to Saxony. His narrative is well known,
yet we must not omit it here.
His name was John Kessler; he was born at St. Gallen, in 1502; his
parents were poor citizens; he attended the school of the monastery
there, studied theology at Basle, and went early in the spring of 1522
with a companion to Wittenberg, to continue his studies under the
Reformers. In the autumn of 1523, he returned to his native town, and
as the new doctrines had not yet taken root there, being very poor he
determined to learn a trade, and became a saddler. He soon collected a
small community round him, taught and preached, laboured in his
workshop, wrote books, and became at last schoolmaster, librarian and
member of a council of education. He had an unpretending, pure nature,
with a heart full of love and gentle warmth, but he took no active part
in the theological controversies of his time. His narrative begins as
follows:--
"When we were travelling to Wittenberg to study the Holy Scriptures, we
arrived at Jena in Thuringia, in, God knows how wild a storm; and after
many inquiries in the city for a lodging wherein we might pass the
night, we could not find any; everywhere lodging was denied us, for it
was Shrovetide,[25] when pilgrims and strangers were little cared for.
So we determined to leave the town, and endeavour to reach a village
where they would lodge us. In the mean while we met at the gate an
honest man, who spoke kindly to us, and inquired where we were going so
late, as there was neither house nor farm that we could reach before
night; besides which, it was a road that was difficult to find;
therefore he advised us to remain there.
"We answered: 'Dear father, we have tried all the inns to which we have
been directed, and having everywhere been refused a lodging, we are
obliged to proceed further.' Then he asked us whether we had made
inquiry at the Black Bear; and we replied: 'It has never been mentioned
to us; tell us, dear father, where we shall find it.' He then showed us
a little way out of the town, and when we came to the Black Bear,
behold, the landlord, instead of refusing us, as all the others had
done, came to meet us at the door, and not only received us, but kindly
begged of us to lodge there, and took us into a room.
"There we found a man sitting alone at a table, and before him lay a
book; he greeted us kindly, and bid us approach and sit by him at the
table; for we were seating ourselves quietly on a bench close to the
door, as our shoes (if one may be allowed to write it) were so covered
with mud and dirt, that we were ashamed to enter the room on account of
our dirty footmarks. He invited us to drink, which we could not refuse,
and as we found him so kind and cordial, we seated ourselves by him at
his table as he had asked us, and called for a quart of wine, that we
might return his civility by asking him to drink. We supposed him
however to be a knight, as he was dressed in hosen and jerkin, with a
red leather cap, and without armour, and sat, according to the custom
of his country, with a sword at his side, with one hand resting on the
pommel and the other clasping the hilt. His eyes were black and deep
set, flashing and sparkling like stars, so that one could hardly bear
to look at them.
"Shortly after, he asked where we were born, but answered himself: 'You
are Swiss; from what part of Switzerland do you come?' We replied,
'From St. Gallen.' He then said, 'If you are going, as I hear, to
Wittenberg, you will find there some good countrymen of yours, Dr.
Jerome Schurf and his brother Dr. Augustin.'
"We said, 'We have letters to them;' and we proceeded to inquire: 'Can
you inform us, sir, whether Martin Luther is now at Wittenberg; or if
not, where he is?'
"He answered, 'I know for certain that Luther is not now at Wittenberg,
but will return soon. Philip Melancthon is however there, who teaches
Greek, and others who teach Hebrew. In truth I would advise you to
study both, as they are needful for the right understanding of the Holy
Scriptures.' We replied, 'So help us God! as long as He grants us life,
we will not desist till we have seen and heard this man; for on his
account we have undertaken this journey, as we learn that he will
overthrow the priesthood, together with the mass, that being a service
founded on error. As we have been brought up by our parents, and
destined from our youth to be priests, we are anxious to hear what his
teaching is, and what authority he can bring forward for such
propositions.'
"After we had thus spoken, he inquired: 'Where have you studied
hitherto?'--Answer: 'At Basle.'--Then he said: 'How are things going on
at Basle? Is Erasmus of Rotterdam still there, and what is he doing?'
"We replied: 'We only know, sir, that all is going on well, and that
Erasmus is there; but what he is about is unknown to and concealed from
every one, as he keeps himself quite quiet and private.'
"This manner of talk appeared to us very strange in the knight; how
could he know everything relative to the two Schurfs, of Philip, and
Erasmus, and also be aware of the necessity of learning Greek and
Hebrew? He introduced occasionally Latin words, so that we bethought us
he must be more than a common knight.
"'Dear sons,' he said, 'what do they think in Switzerland about
Luther?'
"We answered: 'Sir, there, as everywhere, opinions vary. Many cannot
exalt him sufficiently, and thank God who has manifested his truth
through him, and exposed error; but many condemn him as a cursed
heretic, especially all the ecclesiastics.'
"He answered: 'I can well imagine it of the priests.'
"Thus holding converse, we became quite at home with him, so that my
companion took up the book that was lying before him and opened it. It
was the Hebrew Psalter; he put it down again quickly and the knight
drew it towards him. Then my companion said: 'I would give one of my
fingers to be able to understand this language.' He answered, 'You will
have no difficulty in comprehending it, providing you devote yourself
to it industriously; I also desire to know more of it, and study it
daily.'
"In the mean while evening drew on, and it became quite dark. The
landlord came to the table, and when he learned our longing desire to
know Martin Luther, he said, 'Dear comrades, if you had been here two
days ago, you would have succeeded, for he was here, and sat at this
table, and,' pointing with his finger, 'in that very place.' We were
much vexed and provoked that we had missed him, and laid the blame of
it on the muddy bad road which had delayed us; but we said, 'We
rejoice, however, that we are in the same house and sitting at the same
table at which he sat.'
"At this the landlord laughed and went away. After a little while the
landlord called to me to come to him outside the door of the room. I
was frightened, and thought that perhaps without intending it I had
done something that was unbecoming.
"Then he said to me, 'As I know that you wish to hear and see Luther;
it is he who sits by you.'
"I took this for a joke, and said, 'I see indeed, good sir, that you
wish to banter me by imposing upon me a false Luther.' He answered, 'It
is he most assuredly; but do not show that you think so, or that you
recognize him.' I assented, but did not believe him. I went again into
the room, and placed myself at the table; and was anxious to tell my
companion what the landlord had said. At last I turned to him and
whispered secretly, 'The landlord has told me that this is Luther.' He
would not believe it any more than I, and said, 'He perhaps told you
that it was Hutten, and you did not rightly understand him.' As the
dress and bearing reminded me more of Hutten than a monk like Luther, I
was persuaded that he had said it was Hutten, as the beginning of both
names sounded so much alike: what I further said, was as if spoken to
the knight, Herr Ulrich von Hutten.
"In the mean while there arrived two merchants, who intended to remain
there all night: after they had taken off their travelling dresses and
spurs, one of them laid down near him an unbound book. Then Martinus
asked what kind of book it was; and he answered, 'It is Dr. Luther's
exposition of some of the gospels and epistles, just printed and
published; have you not yet seen it?' Martinus said, 'I shall soon get
it.' The host now desired us to arrange ourselves at table, as it was
time to eat; we begged of him to have consideration for us and give us
something separate, but he replied, 'Dear comrades, place yourselves by
these gentlemen at table, I will charge you moderately.' When Martinus
heard this, he said, 'Come here, I will settle for you with the
landlord.'
"During the meal, Martinus spoke many kind and godly words, so that the
merchants as well as ourselves were mute before him; attending more to
his words than to the viands before us. Amongst other things, he
lamented with a sigh that the princes and lords just then assembled at
the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg, on account of the troubles of the
German nation, and for the sake of the pending proceedings concerning
God's word, were only inclined to waste their time in costly
tournaments, sledge drives, vanity, and dissipation, when fear of God
and Christian prayer would be of more avail. 'But such are our
_Christian_ princes.' He further said, 'There was hope that evangelical
truth would bear more fruit among the children and descendants who were
not poisoned by papal errors, and might yet be grounded in pure truth
and the word of God, than among the parents in whom error was so deeply
rooted that it could hardly be eradicated.
"Then the merchants gave their opinions freely, and one of them said,
'I am a simple layman, and understand little of these disputes, but I
must speak of things as I find them; Luther must either be an angel
from heaven, or a devil out of hell. I would gladly, however, give ten
gulden to confess to him, for I believe he could and would give me good
instruction.' Then the landlord came to us, and said secretly,
'Martinus has paid for your supper:' that gave us much pleasure, not
for the sake of the money and food, but for the hospitality shown us by
this man. After supper the merchants rose and went to the stable to
look after their horses; in the mean while Martinus remained alone with
us in the room; we thanked him for the honour he had done us, as well
as for the gift, and as we did so we showed him that we took him for
Ulrich von Hutten; but he said, 'I am not Hutten.'
"Then the landlord coming in, Martinus said, 'I have become a nobleman
to-night, for these Swiss have taken me for Ulrich von Hutten.' The
landlord replied, 'You are not him, but Martinus Luther.' Then Martinus
laughing as if it were a joke, said, 'These take me for Hutten, you for
Luther, soon I shall become a Markolfus.'[26] After this talk he took a
long glass of beer, and said, according to the custom of the country,
'Drink with me a friendly glass with God's blessing;' and when I was
going to take the glass from him, he changed it, and offered instead a
glass with wine, saying, 'The beer is foreign to you, and you are
unaccustomed to it, drink the wine.' Meanwhile he rose and threw his
tabard over his shoulders, and took leave. He held out his hand to us,
and said, 'If you go to Wittenberg, greet Dr. Jerome Schurf for me.' We
replied, 'We will do that with pleasure, but how must we designate you,
that he may understand your greeting?' He answered, 'Say nothing
further than that he who is coming sends you greeting; he will
immediately understand these words.' So he departed from us and went to
rest.
"Afterwards the merchants returned into the room, and called to the
landlord to bring them something to drink; in the mean while they had
much talk about the guest, and wondered who he could be. The landlord
declared it was Luther, and the merchants were soon convinced of it,
and regretted that they had spoken so unbecomingly before him, and
said, 'They would rise at an early hour in the morning, that they might
see him before he started; and would beg of him not to be angry with
them, as they had not known who he was.' This they did, and found him
in the morning in the stable; but Martinus answered them, 'You said
last night at supper that you would give ten gulden to confess yourself
to Luther; when you do so, you will see and learn if I am Martinus
Luther.' He did not make himself further known, but mounted his horse
and rode off to Wittenberg.
"On the following Saturday, the day before the first Sunday in Lent, we
presented ourselves at Dr. Jerome Schurf's house to deliver our
letters. When we entered the room, behold we found there the knight
Martinus just as we had seen him at Jena, and with him were Philippus
Melancthon, Justus Jodocus Jonas, Nicholas Amsdorf, and Dr. Augustin
Schurf, who were telling him what had happened during his absence from
Wittenberg: he greeted us, and laughing, pointed with his finger, and
said, 'This is the Philip Melancthon of whom I told you.'"
There is nothing more remarkable in the truthlike narrative of Kessler,
than the cheerful tranquillity of the great man whilst riding through
Thuringia under ban and interdict, his heart filled with anxious care,
on account of the great danger with which his doctrines were threatened
by the fanaticism of his own partisans.