After the bold utterance of unshaken conviction at the Diet of Worms
Luther disappeared from the scene of his activities. In the darkness
of night he was taken by the friendly "foe" to the secure hiding-place
where the imperial proscription could not affect him. Thus he entered
the Wartburg on May 4, 1521. But the "crowded canvas of the sixteenth
century," bereft of its central figure, threatened to become mere
portrayal of turbulence and confusion. In Wittenberg and other places
the new life of the soul had burst its ancient fetters and was about
to lose its spiritual value in a destructive lateral movement. The
inability of the hesitating elector and the helpless Melanchthon to
stem the tide, caused Luther, in utter disregard of personal safety,
to return to his beloved city on March 6, 1522, and on Sunday, March
9th, and the seven days following to preach the _Eight Sermons_
herewith given, guiding the turbulent waves of popular uprising into
the channels marked by faith and love.
During his absence others had heeded the clarion call to lead the
Church out of its "Babylonian Captivity," and had put into practice
the measures which would carry out the principles he had uttered. The
mass was abolished[1], monks left the monasteries, some priests took
wives, and communion under both kinds was instituted. With these
measures Luther was in sympathy, which is evident from his letters to
Melanchthon[2] and to Wenceslaus Link, Staupitz's successor as the
Augustinian vicar[3], and the treatises _De votis monasticis_ and _De
abroganda missa privata_[4]. But these treatises also show that Luther
was not fully informed of the disturbances accompanying the new
measures. In so critical a time the absence of a great leader was soon
manifest. Melanchthon, ardent in the beginning, could not hold back
the radical procedure of Carlstadt and Zwilling.
Carlstadt, moderate at first in his conduct, nevertheless had sown the
seeds, in his teaching, which resulted in the bountiful harvest of
disorder Without Luther's clearness of vision and aptness of speech,
he likewise failed to discern the pitfalls which Luther so carefully
avoided. "In my opinion, he who partakes only of the bread, sins."[5]
"In all things of divine appointment, the divine law must be taught
and observed, even if it cause offence."[6] "The Gregorian chant keeps
the spirit away from God. . . . Organs belong to theatrical
exhibitions and princes' palaces."[7] "That we have images in churches
is wrong and contrary to the first commandment. To have carved and
painted idols standing on the altar is even more harmful and
devilish."[8] For his Scripture proof in other places, too,
particularly concerning vows, Carlstadt drew largely from the Old
Testament. On Christmas Day, 1521, he preached a sermon in which he
opposed going to confession before receiving communion. Attired in his
street garb he then proceeded to celebrate an "evangelical" mass by
giving communion in both kinds to the people, placing the elements
directly into their hands. Many of the communicants had not previously
confessed, nor observed the prescribed rule of fasting. From a denial
of any distinction between clergy and laity, Carlstadt finally
progressed to a condemnation of all scholarship and learning as
unnecessary to an understanding of the Divine Word, since it is given
directly from above[9].
Without the theological acumen of Carlstadt, and with less restraint,
the Augustinian monk Gabriel Zwilling labored in season and out of
season for the new order of things. In December the Zwickau prophets,
Niclas Storch, Thomas Drechsel, weavers by trade, and Marcus Stubner,
a former university student, appeared in Wittenberg claiming direct
divine inspiration, and preached the overturn of present conditions.
Earlier in the month (December 3d) some students and citizens had
caused a disturbance in the parish church and driven off the priests
who were saying mass. Soon after a number of citizens crowded into the
council chamber and demanded of the three councillors who presided
over Wittenberg the abolition of the mass by law, the restitution of
the cup, and the release of those in custody for causing the tumult of
December 3d. On Christmas Eve both the parish and the castle churches
witnessed scenes of wild disorder. On January 11th the monks, led by
Zwilling, destroyed all the altars except one in the convent church,
and cast out the images. The city council, in the endeavor to restore
order, on January 24, 1522, in full accord with a commission of the
university, adopted a "Worthy Ordinance for the princely City of
Wittenberg,"[10] in which the popular demands were met and a date was
fixed on which the images should be removed from the parish
church--the only one of the four churches of Wittenberg subject to the
council's control. But the excited populace did not await the day.
Taking the matter into its own hands it invaded the church, tore
images and pictures from the walls and burned them up.
The council and the university turned to Luther. Immediately after his
three-day secret visit to Wittenberg in December, on which he had
sensed the unrest in Wittenberg and elsewhere, he issued his _Faithful
Exhortation for all Christians to shun Riot and Rebellion_[11], in
which he emphasizes the principles reiterated in the _Eight Sermons_,
the sufficiency of the Word and the duty of dealing gently with the
weak. But the time for writing had passed. "Satan had broken into his
sheepfold" and had caused such havoc that he could not meet it "by
writing."[12] In spite of the elector's instruction to remain--the
same whose ineffectual measures had failed to avert the storm--Luther
on March 1st bade farewell to the Wartburg. On his way to Wittenberg,
in Borna on March 5th, he wrote the famous letter to the elector[13]
in which he declared that he desired no protection from the elector.
"I come to Wittenberg under much higher protection." He arrived in
Wittenberg on Thursday, March 6th, and on the following Sunday, March
6th, the first Sunday in Lent, he again ascended the pulpit in the
parish church. In an interesting report of an eye and ear
witness--Johann Kessler--we are told that he first gave an explanation
of the Gospel for the day on the temptation of Christ (Matt. 4:1 ff.),
after which "he dropped the text and took up the present affair."[14]
This earlier portion of the sermon has not come down to us. It may be
that Luther likewise first preached on the Gospel for the day on the
following Sunday, and for that reason it is called "a brief summary"
(see Sermon No. 8) in the early printed editions, when, in reality, it
is longer than that of Saturday (No. 7).
The sermons, delivered in a _vox suavis et sonora_[15], produced
immediate results. In a letter by Schurf, dated March 15th, even
before the last of the sermons had been delivered, it is stated that
"Gabriel [Zwilling] has confessed that he was wrong." Carlstadt was
silenced, the city council made acknowledgment to Luther by
substantial gifts and Wittenberg bowed to law and order.
Luther did not publish these sermons himself. He elaborated the
principles here uttered in the treatise, published a few weeks later,
_The Reception of both Kinds in the Sacrament_[16]. A fragment,
covering the thoughts of sermons 1 to 4, and formerly described as a
pastoral letter to the Wittenberg congregation, is now held to be a
piece of written preparation by Luther for these sermons[17].
The notes of a hearer of these sermons furnished the basis for the
printed editions. The Wednesday sermon (No. 4--On the Images) was
published separately at Augsburg and other places; the eight sermons
were published in Augsburg and Mainz. Seven editions of the former and
six of the latter are known.
Johann Aurifaber, the publisher of Luther's Table-talk, also edited
and published these sermons at Eisleben in 1564. His free
amplification of the older text, in an attempt to modernize it, is not
an improvement. His considerable additions to Luther's Scripture
citations are from Luther's own translation of a later date. Yet for
two centuries this edition remained the standard. The _Walch Edition_
was the first again to pay attention to the original text, however
placing the Aurifaber text first. (_Walch Ed._, XX.) The _Erlangen
Edition_ (XXYHI) observes the same order. O. von Gerlach, _Luthers
Werke_, _Auswahl seiner Hauptschriten_ (Berlin, 1841), gives only the
older text (V); Buchwald, in the Berlin Edition (I), gives only the
Aurifaber text. The Weimar Edition (Xc) places the old text on the
upper half of the page, with the Aurifaber recension immediately
below. The translation which follows is based on the older text as
found in the _Weimar Edition_, with which the other editions have been
compared.
For further discussion, see, in addition to the literature mentioned,
the biographies of Luther and the Church Histories. Also
Barge's articles in the _Realencyklopadie_, X, 73 ff. and XXIII, 738
ff.; also Kolde's, IV, 639 ff. and XIII, 556 ff.
Barge, _Fruhprotestantisches Gemeindechristentum in Wittenberg und
Orlamiinde_, Leipzig, 1909.
Cristiani, _Du Lutheranisme au Protestantisme_, Paris, 1911.
Boehmer, _Luther im Lichte der neueren Forschung_, third ed., Leipzig,
1914.
Vedder, _The Reformation in Germany_. New York, 1914.