History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume I Part 36

Luther had still the greatest respect for the head of the Church. He supposed that there was justice in Leo X, and a sincere love of truth.

He resolved, therefore, to apply to him also; and eight days after, on Trinity Sunday, 30th May, 1518, addressed him in a letter, of which we give the following extracts:--

"To the Most Blessed Father, LEO X, Sovereign Bishop, "Friar Martin Luther, Augustin, wishes eternal salvation!

"I learn, most Holy Father, that evil reports are current with regard to me, and that my name is brought into bad odour with your Holiness.

I am called heretic, apostate, traitor, and a thousand other opprobrious epithets; what I see astonishes, what I hear amazes me.

But the only foundation of my tranquillity remains, and that is a pure and peaceful conscience. Be pleased to listen to me, most Holy Father, to me, who am only an ignorant child."

Luther relates the origin of the whole affair, and continues thus:--

"In all taverns, nothing was heard but complaints of the avarice of priests, and attacks on the power of the keys and the sovereign pontiff. This all Germany can testify. On hearing these things, my zeal for the glory of Christ was moved, (so I thought,) or if they will explain it otherwise, my young and boiling blood was inflamed.

"I warned several of the princes of the Church, but some mocked me, and others turned a deaf ear. All seemed paralysed by the terror of your name. Then I published the discussion,

"And this, most Holy Father! this is the fire which is said to have set the whole world in flames!

"Now, what must I do? I cannot retract, and I see that this publication is subjecting me to inconceivable hatred in all quarters.

I love not to stand forth in the midst of the world; for I am without knowledge, without talent, and far too feeble for such great things, especially in this ill.u.s.trious age, in which Cicero himself, were he alive, would be obliged to hide in some obscure corner.[485]

[485] He adds: "Sed cogit necessitas me anserem strepere inter olores." (Luth. Ep. i, p. 121.) But necessity forces me, a goose, to hiss among the swans.

"But in order to appease my adversaries, and respond to numerous solicitations, I here publish my thoughts. I publish them, Holy Father, that I may place myself in safety under the shadow of your wings. All who are willing will thus be able to understand with what simplicity of heart I have asked the ecclesiastical authority to instruct me, and what respect I have shown for the power of the keys.[486] If I had not managed the affair in a becoming manner, it is impossible that the most serene lord Frederick, Duke and Elector of Saxony, who shines among the friends of apostolical and Christian truth, would ever have tolerated in his university of Wittemberg a man so dangerous as I am represented to be.

[486] "Quam pure simpliciterque ecclesiasticam potestatem et reverentiam clavium quaesierim et coluerim." (Ibid.)

"Wherefore, most Holy Father, I throw myself at the feet of your Holiness, and submit to you with all I have, and all I am. Destroy my cause, or embrace it; decide for me, or decide against me; take my life, or restore it to me, just as you please. I will recognise your voice as the voice of Jesus Christ, who presides and speaks by you. If I have deserved death I refuse not to die.[487] The earth belongs unto the Lord, and all that it contains. Let him be praised to all eternity. Amen. May he sustain you for ever and ever. Amen.

"On the day of the Holy Trinity, in the year 1518.

"FRIAR MARTIN LUTHER, _Augustin_."

[487] "Quare beatissime Pater, prostratum me pedibus tuae Beat.i.tudinis offero, c.u.m omnibus quae sum et habeo; vivifica, occide voca, revoca, approba, reproba, ut placuerit. Vocem tuam, vocem Christi in te praesidentis et loquentis agnoscam; si mortem merui, mori non recusabo." (Luth. Ep. i, p. 121.)

What humility and truth in this fear, or rather in this confession of Luther, that his young and boiling blood had perhaps been too quickly inflamed! We here recognise the man of sincerity, who, not presuming on himself, fears the influence of pa.s.sion even in those of his actions which are most conformable to the word of G.o.d. There is a wide difference between this language and that of a proud fanatic. We see in Luther an earnest desire to gain over Leo to the cause of truth, to prevent all disruption, and make this reformation, the necessity of which he proclaims, come from the very pinnacle of the Church.

a.s.suredly, he is not the person who ought to be charged with destroying in the West that unity, the loss of which was afterwards so much regretted. He sacrificed every thing in order to maintain it; every thing but truth. It was not he, but his adversaries, who, by refusing to acknowledge the fulness and sufficiency of the salvation wrought out by Jesus Christ, are chargeable with having rent the Saviour's robe at the foot of the cross.

After writing this letter, Luther, the very same day, addressed his friend Staupitz, vicar-general of his order. It was through him he wished his "Solutions" and his epistle to reach Leo.

"I pray you," says he to him, "kindly to accept the miserable things[488] which I send you, and transmit them to the excellent pope, Leo X. Not that I would thereby drag you into the perils to which I am exposed. I wish to take all the danger to myself. Jesus Christ will see whether what I have said comes from him or comes from me--Jesus Christ, without whose will neither the tongue of the pope can move, nor the hearts of kings resolve.

[488] His Solutions.

"To those who threaten me I have no answer to give, unless it be the remark of Reuchlin, 'The poor man has nothing to fear, for he has nothing to lose.'[489] I have neither money nor goods, and I ask none.

If I once possessed some honour and some reputation, let him that has begun to strip me of them finish his work. I have nothing left but this miserable body, enfeebled by so many trials; let them kill it by force or fraud, to the glory of G.o.d. In this way they will, perhaps, shorten my life an hour or two. Enough for me to have a precious Redeemer, a powerful Priest, Jesus Christ the Lord! I will praise him while I have a breath of life; and if none will praise him with me, how can I help it?"

[489] "Qui pauper est nihil timet, nihil potest perdere." (Ibid., p.

118.)

These words enable us to read Luther's heart.

While he was thus looking with confidence towards Rome, Rome had thoughts of vengeance towards him. On the 3rd of April, Cardinal Raphael De Rovere had written to the Elector Frederick in the pope's name, stating that suspicions were entertained of his faith, and that he ought to beware of protecting Luther.

"Cardinal Raphael," says Luther, "would have had great pleasure in seeing me burned by Duke Frederick."[490] Thus Rome began to whet her arms against Luther, and the first blow which she aimed at him was through the mind of his protector. If she succeeded in destroying the shelter under which the monk of Wittemberg was reposing, he would become an easy prey.

[490] Luth. Op. (W.) xv, p. 339.

The German princes attached much importance to their reputation as Christian princes. The slightest suspicion of heresy filled them with alarm, and the court of Rome had shrewdly availed itself of this feeling. Frederick, moreover, had always been attached to the religion of his fathers, and Raphael's letter made a very strong impression on his mind. But it was a principle with the Elector not to act hastily in any thing. He knew that truth was not always on the side of the strongest. The transactions of the empire with Rome had taught him to distrust the selfish views of that court; and he was aware that in order to be a Christian prince, it was not necessary to be the pope's slave.

"He was not," says Melancthon, "one of those profane spirits who wish to stifle all changes in their first beginnings.[491] Frederick resigned himself to G.o.d. He carefully read the writings which were published, and what he judged true he allowed no one to destroy."[492]

He had power to do so. Supreme in his own States, he was respected in the empire at least as highly as the emperor himself.

[491] "Nec profana judicia sequens quae tenera initia omnium mutationum celerrime opprimi jubent." (Melanc. Vita Luth.)

[492] "Deo cessit, et ea quae vera esse judicavit, deleri non voluit."

(Ibid.)

It is probable that Luther learned something of this letter of Cardinal Raphael, which was sent to the Elector on the 7th of July.

Perhaps it was the prospect of excommunication which this Roman missive seemed to presage, that led him to mount the pulpit of Wittemberg on the 15th of the same month, and on this subject deliver a discourse which made a profound impression. He distinguished between internal and external excommunication; the former excluding from communion with G.o.d, and the latter excluding only from the ceremonies of the Church. "n.o.body," says he, "can reconcile a lapsed soul with G.o.d save G.o.d himself. n.o.body can separate man from communion with G.o.d unless it be man himself by his own sins! Happy he who dies unjustly excommunicated! While for righteousness' sake he endures a heavy infliction on the part of man, he receives the crown of eternal felicity from the hand of G.o.d."

Some highly applauded this bold language, while others were more irritated by it. But Luther was no longer alone; and although his faith needed no other support than that of G.o.d, a phalanx of defence against his enemies was formed around him. The Germans had heard the voice of the Reformer. His discourses and his writings sent forth flashes which awoke and illumined his contemporaries. The energy of his faith fell in torrents of fire on slumbering hearts. The life which G.o.d had infused into this extraordinary soul was imparted to the dead body of the Church; and Christendom, which had for so many ages been motionless, was animated with a religious enthusiasm. The devotedness of the people to the superst.i.tions of Rome diminished every day, and the number of hands which offered money for the purchase of pardon became fewer and fewer,[493] while at the same time Luther's fame continued to increase. People turned towards him, and hailed him with love and respect as the intrepid defender of truth and liberty.[494] No doubt the full depth of the doctrines which he announced was not perceived. It was enough for the greater number to know that the new doctor withstood the pope, and that the empire of priests and monks was shaken by his powerful word. To them the attack of Luther was like one of those fires which are kindled on mountain tops, as the signal for a whole nation to rise and burst its chains.

Before the Reformer suspected what he had done, all the generous hearted among his countrymen had already acknowledged him for their leader. To many, however, the appearance of Luther was something more.

The word of G.o.d, which he wielded with so much power, pierced their minds like a sharp two-edged sword; and their hearts were inflamed with an ardent desire to obtain the a.s.surance of pardon and eternal life. Since primitive times the Church had not known such hungering and thirsting after righteousness. If the preaching of Peter the Hermit and Bernard so aroused the population of the middle ages as to make them take up a perishable cross, the preaching of Luther disposed those of his time to embrace the true cross, the truth which saves.

The framework which then lay with all its weight on the Church had smothered everything; the form had destroyed the life. But the powerful word given to Luther caused a quickening breath to circulate over the soil of Christendom. At the first glance the writings of Luther were equally captivating to believers and unbelievers,--to unbelievers, because the positive doctrines afterwards to be established were not yet fully developed in them; and to believers, because they contained the germ of that living faith which they so powerfully express. Hence the influence of these writings was immense; they spread almost instantaneously over Germany and the world. The prevailing impression of men every where was, that they were a.s.sisting, not at the establishment of a sect, but at a new birth of the Church and of society. Those who were born of the Spirit of G.o.d ranged themselves around him who was its organ. Christendom was divided into two camps,--the one leagued with the spirit against the form, and the other with the form against the spirit. It is true that on the side of the form were all the appearances of strength and grandeur, and on the side of the spirit those of feebleness and insignificance. But the form, devoid of the spirit, is a lifeless body, which the first breath may upset. Its appearance of power only provokes hostility and accelerates its downfall. In this way the simple truth had placed Luther at the head of a mighty army.

[493] "Rarescebant ma.n.u.s largentium." (Cochlus, 7.) The hands of contributors grew few.

[494] "Luthero autem contra augebatur auctoritas, favor, fides existimatio, fama; quod tam liber acerque videbatur veritatis a.s.sertor." (Ibid.) On the contrary, Luther's authority, influence, credit, reputation, and fame, increased, because he seemed so free and bold an a.s.sertor of the truth.

CHAP. II.

Diet at Augsburg--The Emperor to the Pope--The Elector to Rovere--Luther cited to Rome--Luther's Peace--Intercession of the University--Papal Brief--Luther's Indignation--The Pope to the Elector.

This army was needed; for the great began to move. Both the empire and the Church were uniting their efforts to rid themselves of this troublesome monk. Had the imperial throne been occupied by a brave and energetic prince, he might have profited by these religious agitations, and, throwing himself on G.o.d and the nation, given new force to the former opposition to the papacy. But Maximilian was too old, and was determined, moreover, to sacrifice every thing to what he regarded as the end of his existence,--the aggrandis.e.m.e.nt of his house, and through it the exaltation of his grandson.

The Emperor Maximilian at this time held a diet at Augsburg, Six Electors attended in person, and all the Germanic States were represented at it, while the kings of France, Hungary, and Poland, sent their amba.s.sadors. All these princes and envoys appeared in great splendour. The war against the Turks was one of the subjects for which the diet had a.s.sembled. The legate of Leo X strongly urged the prosecution of it; but the States, instructed by the bad use which had formerly been made of their contributions, and sagely counselled by the Elector Frederick, contented themselves with declaring that they would take the matter into consideration, and at the same time, produced new grievances against Rome. A Latin discourse, published during the Diet, boldly called the attention of the German princes to the true danger. "You wish," said the author, "to put the Turk to flight. This is well; but I am much afraid that you are mistaken as to his person. It is not in Asia, but in Italy, that you ought to seek him."[495]

[495] Schrock, K. Gesch. n. d. R. i, p. 156.

Another affair of no less importance was to occupy the Diet.

Maximilian was desirous that his grandson Charles, already king of Spain and Naples, should be proclaimed king of the Romans, and his successors in the imperial dignity. The pope knew his interest too well to wish the imperial throne to be occupied by a prince whose power in Italy might prove formidable to him. The Emperor thought he had already gained the greater part of the electors and states, but he found a strenuous opponent in Frederick. In vain did he solicit him, and in vain did the ministers and best friends of the Elector join their entreaties to those of the Emperor. Frederick was immovable, and proved the truth of what has been said of him, that when once satisfied of the justice of a resolution, he had firmness of soul never to abandon it. The Emperor's design failed.

From this time the Emperor sought to gain the good will of the pope, in order to render him favourable to his plans; and as a special proof of his devotedness, on the 5th August, wrote him the following letter:--"Most Holy Father, we learned some days ago that a friar of the Augustin order, named Martin Luther, has begun to maintain divers propositions as to the commerce in indulgences. Our displeasure is the greater because the said friar finds many protectors, among whom are powerful personages.[496] If your Holiness and the very reverend fathers of the Church, (the Cardinals,) do not forthwith employ their authority to put an end to these scandals, not only will these pernicious doctors seduce the simple, but they will involve great princes in their ruin. We will take care that whatever your Holiness may decide on this matter, for the glory of Almighty G.o.d, shall be observed by all in our empire."

[496] "Defensores et patrones etiam potentes quos dictus frater consecutus est." (Raynald, ad an. 1518.)