History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume I Part 22

"If the form of the syllogism could be applied to divine things, we should know the article of the Holy Trinity, and should not believe it.

"In one word, Aristotle is to theology as darkness to light.

"Man is more hostile to the grace of G.o.d than he is to the law itself.

"He who is without the grace of G.o.d sins incessantly, even though he neither kills, nor steals, nor commits adultery.

"He sins, for he does not fulfil the law spiritually.

"Not to kill, and not to commit adultery, externally, and in regard to action, merely, is the righteousness of hypocrites.

"The law of G.o.d and the will of man are two adversaries, who, without the grace of G.o.d, can never agree.[287]

[287] "Lex et voluntas sunt adversarii duo, sine gratia Dei implacabiles." (Ibid. 57.) Law and will are two adversaries implacable without the grace of G.o.d.

"What the law wishes the will never wishes; only from fear it may make a show of wishing.

"The law is the hangman of the will, and is subject only to the Child who has been born unto us.[288] (Isaiah, ix, 6.)

[288] "Lex est exactor voluntatis, qui non superatur nisi per Parvulum qui natus est n.o.bis." (Ibid.)

"The law makes sin abound; for it irritates and repulses the will.

"But the grace of G.o.d makes righteousness abound, through Jesus Christ, who makes us love the law.

"Every work of the law appears good externally, but internally is sin.

"The will, when it turns toward the law without the grace of G.o.d, does so only for its own interest.

"Cursed are those who do the works of the law.

"Blessed are all those who do the works of the grace of G.o.d.

"The law, which is good, and in which we have life, is the law of the love of G.o.d, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, (Rom., v, 5.)

"Grace is not given in order that works may be done more frequently and more easily, but because without grace there cannot be any work of love.

"To love G.o.d is to hate oneself, and know nothing out of G.o.d."[289]

[289] Luth. Op. Lips. xvii, p. 143, et Op. Lat. i.

In this way Luther attributes to G.o.d all the good that man can do. The thing to be done is not to repair, or, so to speak, to patch up the will of man; an entirely new will must be given him. G.o.d alone could say this; for G.o.d alone could perform it. This is one of the greatest and most important truths that the will of man can acknowledge.

But Luther, while proclaiming the impotence of man, did not fall into the opposite extreme. He says in the eighth thesis, "It follows not that the will is naturally bad, that is to say, that its nature is of the essence of evil, as the Manichees taught."[290] Originally the nature of man was essentially good; but it turned aside from goodness, that is, G.o.d, and is inclined to evil. Still its origin remains holy and glorious, and is capable, by the power of G.o.d, of regaining its original. The object of Christianity is to restore it. The gospel, it is true, exhibits man in a state of degradation and impotence, but as placed between two glories and two grandeurs,--a past glory, from which he has been precipitated, and a future glory, to which he is called. This is the truth, and man knows it to be the truth; and how little soever he thinks of it, he easily discovers that all which is told him of his actual purity, power, and glory, is only a lie, designed to cradle his pride and rock it asleep.

[290] "Nec ideo sequitur quod sit naturaliter mala, id est natura mali, secundum Manichaeos." (Ibid.) Nor does it therefore follow that it is naturally evil, _i.e._, of the nature of evil, according to the Manichees.

Luther, in his theses, attacked not only the pretended goodness of man's will, but also the pretended light of his understanding in regard to divine things. In fact, scholasticism had exalted reason as well as the will. This theology, in the hands of some of its teachers, was, at bottom, only a species of rationalism. The propositions which we have enumerated indicate this; for they look as if directed against the rationalism of our own day. In the theses, which were the signal of the Reformation, Luther attacked the Church and the popular superst.i.tions which to the gospel had added indulgences, purgatory, and numberless abuses. In those which we have just given he attacked the school and the rationalism which had robbed the gospel of the doctrine of the sovereignty of G.o.d, his revelation and his grace. The Reformation attacked rationalism before it attacked superst.i.tion. It proclaimed the rights of G.o.d before lopping off the excrescences of man. It was positive before it was negative. This has not been sufficiently attended to, and yet, without attending to it, it is impossible duly to appreciate the character of this religious revolution.

Be this as it may, the truths which Luther thus expressed with so much energy were quite new. To maintain these theses at Wittemberg had been an easy matter. There his influence was paramount, and it would have been said that he had chosen a field of battle where he knew no combatant could appear. In offering battle in another university he gave them a greater publicity; and it was by publicity that the Reformation was effected. He turned his eyes towards Erfurt, where the theologians had shown themselves so exasperated against him.

He, accordingly, sent his theses to John Lange, prior of Erfurt, and wrote him as follows: "My anxiety for the decision which you will give as to these theses is great, extreme, too great, perhaps, and keeps me on the rack. I much suspect that your theologians will consider as paradoxical and _kakodoxical_,[291] what I must henceforth regard as most orthodox. Tell me how it is, and as soon as you possibly can.

Have the goodness to make known to the Faculty of Theology, and to all, that I am ready to come and publicly maintain these propositions either in the university or the monastery." It does not seem that Luther's challenge was accepted. The monks of Erfurt contented themselves with intimating that his theses had incurred their high displeasure.

[291] "Imo cacodoxa videri suspicor." (Luth. Ep. 60.) Nay, I suspect they will be thought cacodox, (false doctrine.)

But he was desirous to send them to some other part of Germany; and with that view bethought him of a man who plays an important part in the history of the Reformation, and with whom the reader must be made acquainted.

A distinguished professor, named John Meyer, was then teaching in the university of Ingolstadt, in Bavaria. He was a native of Eck, a village in Swabia, and was commonly called Doctor Eck. He was a friend of Luther, who respected his talents and acquirements. Full of intellect, he had read much, and was possessed of a very retentive memory. To erudition he added eloquence. His voice and gesture bespoke the vivacity of his genius. In regard to talent, Eck was in the south of Germany what Luther was in the north. They were the two most distinguished theologians of the period, though of very different views. Ingolstadt was almost the rival of Wittemberg. The reputation of these two doctors attracted crowds of eager students from all quarters to the universities in which they taught; their personal qualities not less than their abilities endearing them to their pupils. The character of Doctor Eck has been a.s.sailed, but an anecdote in his history will show that at this period, at least, his heart was not closed against generous impressions.

Among the students whom his fame had attracted to Ingolstadt was a young man, named Urban Regius, from the banks of an Alpine lake. He had first studied at the university of Fribourg in Brisgau. On his arrival at Ingolstadt, to which he had been attracted by the fame of Doctor Eck, Urban engaged in his course of philosophy, and gained the favour of his master. Requiring to provide for his maintenance, he was under the necessity of taking charge of some young n.o.blemen, and had not only to superintend their studies and their conduct, but also to purchase on his own account whatever books and clothes they required.

The youths dressed in style, and kept a good table. Regius becoming embarra.s.sed prayed the parents to recall their sons. "Never fear," was the answer. His debts increased, his creditors became pressing, and he was at his wit's end. The emperor was raising an army against the Turks, and a recruiting party having arrived at Ingolstadt, Urban in despair enlisted. Clothed in military attire, he appeared in the ranks at the time when the review took place, previous to their departure.

Doctor Eck coming up at that instant with several of his colleagues, was greatly surprised to discover his student among the recruits.

"Urban Regius!" said he, fixing his keen eye on him. "Here," replied the recruit. "What, pray, is the cause of this?" The young man told his story. "I take the matter upon myself," replied Eck, and setting his halberd aside, bought him off from the recruiting party. The parents, threatened by the Doctor with the displeasure of the prince, sent the necessary funds to defray the expences of their children, and Urban Regius was saved to become at a later period one of the pillars of the Reformation.

Doctor Eck occurred to Luther as the proper person to publish his theses on Pelagianism and scholastic rationalism in the south of the empire. He did not, however, send them to the professor of Ingolstadt directly, but employed a mutual friend, the excellent Christopher Scheurl, secretary to the town of Nuremberg, praying him to send them to Eck at Ingolstadt, which is at no great distance from Nuremberg. "I send you," says he, "my paradoxical, and even kakistodoxical (?a??st?d??a?) propositions, as many think them.

Communicate them to our dear friend, the very learned and talented Eck, that I may learn and know what he thinks of them."[292] These were the terms in which Luther then spoke of Doctor Eck; such was the friendship then subsisting between them. It was not Luther who broke it off.

[292] "Eccio nestro, eruditissimo et ingeniosissimo viro exhibete, ut audiam et videam quid vocet illas." (Luth. Ep. i, p. 63.) Show them to our most learned and ingenious Eck, that I may hear and see what he calls them.

Ingolstadt, however, was not the field on which the battle was to be fought. The doctrines on which these theses turned were perhaps of greater importance than those which, two months after, set the Church in a blaze; and yet, notwithstanding of Luther's challenges, they pa.s.sed unnoticed. At most, they were read within the circle of the school, and produced no sensation beyond it. The reason was, because they were only university propositions and theological doctrines, whereas the subsequent theses related to an evil which had grown up in the midst of the people, and was then causing devastation in all parts of Germany. So long as Luther was contented with reviving forgotten doctrines, all was silence; but when he attacked abuses which were universally felt, every one turned to listen.

Nevertheless, all that Luther proposed in either case was to produce one of those theological discussions which were then so common in universities. To this circle his views were confined. He was humble, and his humility amounted even to distrust and anxiety. "Considering my ignorance," said he, "all I deserve is to be hid in a corner, without being known by any one under the sun."[293] But a mighty hand drew him out of this corner in which he wished to remain unknown to the world. A circ.u.mstance, independent of Luther's will, threw him into the field of battle, and the war commenced. This providential circ.u.mstance we are now called upon to relate.

[293] Luth. Op. (W.) xviii, 1944.

BOOK THIRD.

CHAP. I.

THE INDULGENCES AND THESES.

1517, 1518.

Cortege--Tezel--Tezel's Discourse--Confession--Four Graces--Sale--Public Penance--A Letter of Indulgence--Exceptions--Feasting and Debauchery.

At this period the people of Germany were all in motion. The Church had opened a vast market on the earth. From the crowd of customers, and the noise and pleasantry of the sellers, one would have thought it a fair, only a fair held by monks. The merchandise which they were showing off, and selling a bargain, was, as they said, the salvation of souls.

The merchants travelled the country in a fine carriage, accompanied by three mounted attendants, journeying in grand style, and living at great expence. One would have said it was some high Mightiness with his suite and officers, and not a vulgar dealer or mendicant monk.

When the cortege approached a town, a messenger was despatched to the magistrate to say, "The grace of G.o.d and of St. Peter is at your gates." Immediately the whole place was in motion. Clergy, priests, nuns, the council, school-masters and their scholars, the incorporations with their colours, men and women, old and young, went out to meet the merchant with lighted tapers in their hand, amid the sound of music and the ringing of bells, "insomuch," says a historian, "that G.o.d himself could not have been received with greater honour."

After the formalities were over the whole body proceeded to the church. The Bull of Grace by the pontiff was carried in front, on a velvet cushion or cloth of gold. Next came the chief of the indulgence merchants, carrying a large wooden cross, painted red. The whole procession moved forward, amid hymns, prayers, and the smoke of incense. The merchant monk and his attendants were received at the church by the pealing organ and thrilling music. The cross was placed in front of the altar, and over it the pope's arms were suspended. All the time it remained there the clergy of the place, the penitentiaries and sub-commissaries, came each day after vespers or before the _salute_, to do obeisance to it with white wands in their hands.[294]