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

_Archbishop._--"Ah, I fear they are the very ones which will be asked."

_Luther._--"Then sooner sacrifice my body and my life--better allow my legs and arms to be cut off than abandon the clear and genuine word of G.o.d."[572]

[572] Ehe Stumpf und Stiel fahren la.s.sen .... (L. Op. (L.) xvii, p.

584.)

The archbishop at length understood Luther. "You may withdraw," said he to him, always with the same gentleness. "Your Lordship," resumed Luther, "will be so good as to see that his Majesty cause the safe-conduct necessary for my return to be expedited." "I will see to it," replied the good archbishop, and they parted.

So ended these negotiations. The whole empire had a.s.sailed this man with the most urgent entreaties and the most fearful menaces,[573] and this man had never flinched. His refusal to bend under the iron arm of the pope emanc.i.p.ated the Church, and commenced a new era. The intervention of Providence was evident, and the whole presents one of those grand historical scenes in which the majestic form of the Divinity appears conspicuously displayed.

[573] Totum imperium ad se conversum spectabat. (Pallavicini, i, p.

120.)

Luther withdrew in company with Spalatin who had arrived at the archbishop's during the course of the visit. John von Minkwitz, one of the Elector of Saxony's counsellors, had fallen sick at Worms. The two friends repaired to his lodging, and Luther administered the tenderest consolation to the sick man. "Adieu," said he to him on leaving, "to-morrow I shall quit Worms."

Luther was not mistaken. He had not been three hours returned to the hotel of the Knights of Rhodes when chancellor Eck and the chancellor of the emperor, with a notary, made their appearance.

[Sidenote: LUTHER'S DEPARTURE FOR WORMS.]

The chancellor said to him, "Martin Luther, his imperial Majesty, the Electors, Princes, and States of the empire, having exhorted you to submission again and again, and in various manners, but always in vain, the emperor, in his quality of advocate and defender of the Catholic faith, sees himself obliged to take other steps. He therefore orders you to return to your home in the s.p.a.ce of twenty-one days, and prohibits you from disturbing the public peace by the way, either by preaching or writing."

Luther was well aware that this message was the first step in his condemnation. "It has happened as Jehovah pleased," said he meekly.

"Blessed be the name of Jehovah!" Then he added, "Before all things, very humbly and from the bottom of my heart, I thank his Majesty, the Electors, Princes, and other States of the empire, for having listened to me with so much kindness. I have desired, and do desire one thing only--a reformation of the Church agreeably to Holy Scripture. I am ready to do every thing and suffer every thing in humble submission to the will of the emperor. Life and death, honour and disgrace, are all alike to me: I make only one reservation--the preaching of the gospel; for, says St. Paul, '_The word of G.o.d cannot be bound_.'" The deputies withdrew.

On the morning of Friday (26th April) the Reformer's friends and several n.o.bles met at his lodgings.[574] They were gratified at seeing the Christian constancy which he had opposed to Charles and the empire, and to recognise in him the features of the ancient portrait:

"Justum ac tenacem propositi virum, Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Non vultus instantis tyranni, Mente quat.i.t solida...."[575]

[574] Salutatis patronis et amicis qui eum frequentissimi convenerunt.... (L. Op. Lat. ii, p. 168.) Having saluted his patrons and friends, who called upon him in great numbers.

[575] Horat. Od. lib. iii, 3.

They wished once more, perhaps for ever, to bid adieu to this intrepid monk. Luther took a frugal meal. Now he must take leave of his friends, and flee far from them under a sky surcharged with storms. He wished to pa.s.s this solemn moment in the presence of G.o.d. He lifted up his soul and blessed those who were around him.[576] Ten in the morning having struck, Luther quitted the hotel with the friends who had accompanied him to Worms. Twenty gentlemen on horseback surrounded his carriage. A great crowd accompanied him beyond the walls. The imperial herald, Sturm, rejoined him some time after at Oppenheim, and the following day they reached Frankfort.

[576] Seine Freunde gesegnet. (Mathesius, p. 27.)

[Sidenote: JOURNEY FROM WORMS. LUTHER TO CRANACH.]

CHAP. XI.

Luther's Departure--Journey from Worms--Luther to Cranach--Luther to Charles V--Luther with the Abbot of Hirschfeld--The Curate of Eisenach--Several Princes leave the Diet--Charles signs Luther's Condemnation--The Edict of Worms--Luther with his parents--Luther attacked and carried off--The ways of G.o.d--Wartburg--Luther a Prisoner.

Luther having thus escaped from these walls of Worms, which threatened to become his tomb, his whole heart gave glory to G.o.d. "The devil himself," said he, "guarded the citadel of the pope. But Christ has made a large breach in it; and Satan has been forced to confess that the Lord is mightier than he."[577]

[577] Aber Christus macht ein Loch derein. (L. Op. (L.) xvii, p. 589.)

"The day of the Diet of Worms," says the pious Mathesius, the disciple and friend of Luther, "is one of the greatest and most glorious days given to the world before its final close."[578] The battle fought at Worms re-echoed far and wide, and while the sound travelled over Christendom, from the regions of the North to the mountains of Switzerland, and the cities of England, France, and Italy, many ardently took up the mighty weapon of the Word of G.o.d.

[578] Diss ist der herrlichen grossen Tag einer vorm Ende der Welt (p.

28.)

Luther, having arrived at Frankfort, on the evening of Sat.u.r.day, (27th April,) took advantage next day of a moment of leisure, the first he had had for a long time, to write a note, in a style at once playful and energetic, to his friend, Lucas Cranach, the celebrated painter, at Wittemberg. "Your servant, dear compeer Lucas," said he to him, "I thought his majesty would a.s.semble at Worms some fifty doctors to confute the monk off hand. But not at all. Are these books yours? Yes.

Will you retract them? No. Ah well! get you gone! Such was the whole story. O blind Germans, how like children we act in allowing ourselves to be played upon and duped by Rome!... The Jews must for once have their chant, Yo! Yo! Yo! But our pa.s.sover also will come, and then we will sing Hallelujah![579]... There must be silence and suffering for a short time. Jesus Christ says, '_A little while and ye shall not see me, and again a little while and ye shall see me_.' (John, xvi, 16.) I hope it will be so with me. I commend you altogether to the Eternal.

May He through Christ protect us against the attacks of the wolves and dragons of Rome. Amen."

[579] "Es mussen die Juden einmal singen, Io, Io, Io!..." (L. Ep. i, p. 589.) These cries of joy by the Jews at the time of the crucifixion represent the songs of triumph by the partisans of the papacy on occasion of the catastrophe which is going to befall Luther; but the Reformer discovers in the distance hallelujahs of deliverance.

[Sidenote: LUTHER TO CHARLES V.]

After writing this somewhat enigmatical letter, Luther, as time was pressing, set out immediately for Friedberg, which is six leagues from Frankfort. The next day Luther again communed with himself. He was desirous to write once more to Charles V, being unwilling to confound him with guilty rebels. In his letter to the emperor he clearly expounded the nature of the obedience which is due to man, and that which is due to G.o.d, and the limit where the former must stop and give place to the latter. In reading Luther, we involuntarily call to mind the saying of the greatest autocrat of modern times: "My role ends where that of conscience begins."[580] "G.o.d, who is the searcher of hearts, is my witness," says Luther, "that I am ready with all diligence to obey your majesty, whether in honour or disgrace, whether by life or by death, and with absolutely no exception but the word of G.o.d, from which man derives life. In all the affairs of the present life my fidelity will be immutable, for as to these loss or gain cannot at all affect salvation. But in regard to eternal blessings, it is not the will of G.o.d that man should submit to man. Subjection in the spiritual world const.i.tutes worship, and should be paid only to the Creator."[581]

[580] Napoleon to the Protestant deputation after his accession to the empire.

[581] Nam ea fides et submissio proprie est vera ilia latria et adoratio Dei ... (L. Ep. i, p. 592.) For that faith and submission is, properly speaking, true worship and adoration of G.o.d.

Luther also addressed a letter, but in German, to the States of the empire. It was nearly the same in substance as that to the emperor. It contained an account of all that had taken place at Worms. This letter was repeatedly printed and circulated all over Germany; "Every where,"

says Cochlus, "it excited the popular indignation against the emperor and the dignified clergy."[582]

[582] Per chalcographos multiplicata et in populos dispersa est ea epistola ... Caesari autem et clericis odium populare, etc.

(Cochlus, p. 386.)

Early next day, Luther wrote a note to Spalatin, enclosing in it the two letters which he had written the evening before, and sent back the herald Sturm, who had been won to the gospel. Having embraced him he set out in all haste for Grunberg.

On Tuesday, when about two leagues from Hirschfeld, he met the chancellor of the abbot-prince of this town, who had come out to receive him. Shortly after a troop of hors.e.m.e.n appeared with the abbot at their head. The latter leapt from his horse, and Luther having alighted from his carriage, the prince and the Reformer embraced, and then entered Hirschfeld. The senate received them at the gates.[583]

The princes of the Church ran to meet a monk anathematised by the pope, and the most distinguished among the laity, bowed the head before an individual whom the emperor had put under the ban.

[583] Senatus intra portas nos excepit (L. Ep. ii, p. 6.)

[Sidenote: LUTHER AT EISENACH.]

"At five in the morning we will be at the church," said the prince, on rising in the evening from table, at which the Reformer was a guest. He even wished Luther to occupy his own bed. Next day, Luther preached, the abbot-prince accompanying him with his suite.

In the evening, Luther arrived at Eisenach, the abode of his infancy.

All his friends in the town gathered round him, and begged him to preach. The next day they conducted him to the church. The curate made his appearance, attended by a notary and witnesses. He came forward in great tremor, divided between the fear of losing his place, and that of opposing the powerful man before him. At last he said, in a tone of embarra.s.sment, "I protest against the liberty which you are going to take." Luther mounted the pulpit, and that voice which, twenty-three years before, sung in the streets of this town for bread, caused the arches of the ancient church to ring with accents which had begun to shake the world. After the sermon, the curate, in confusion, stept softly forward to Luther. The notary had drawn up his instrument, the witnesses had signed it, and everything was in regular order to put the curate's place in safety. "Pardon me," said he humbly to the doctor; "I have done it from fear of the tyrants who oppress the Church."[584]

[584] Humiliter tamen excusante ... ob metum tyronnorum suorum. (L.

Ep. ii, p. 6.)

There was, in fact, some ground to fear them. At Worms, the aspect of affairs had changed. Aleander seemed to reign supreme. "Luther has nothing before him but exile," wrote Frederick to his brother, Duke John. "Nothing can save him. If G.o.d permits me to return, I will have things almost incredible to tell you. Not only Annas and Caiaphas, but also Pilate and Herod, have leagued against him." Frederick, having little wish to remain longer, left Worms. The Elector-Palatine did the same, as did also the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne. Princes of less elevated rank imitated them. Deeming it impossible to avert the blow which was about to be struck, they preferred, perhaps erroneously, to abandon the place. The Spaniards, Italians, and the most Ultra-Montane of the German princes, alone remained.

The field was free, and Aleander triumphed. He laid before Charles the draft of an edict, which he intended should serve as the model of that which the Diet was to issue against the monk. The nuncio's labour pleased the irritated emperor. He a.s.sembled the remains of the Diet in his chamber, and caused Aleander's edict to be read to them. All who were present, (so says Pallavicini,) approved it.

[Sidenote: CHARLES SIGNS LUTHER'S CONDEMNATION.]

The next day--the day of a great festival--the emperor was in the church, surrounded by the n.o.bility of his court. The religious solemnity was finished, and a mult.i.tude of people filled the church, when Aleander, clad in all the insignia of his rank, approached Charles V.[585] He held in his hand two copies of the edict against Luther, the one in Latin, and the other in German, and, kneeling down before his majesty, implored him to append his signature and the seal of the empire. It was at the moment when the host had just been offered, when incense filled the temple, when music was still ringing under its arches, and, as it were, in the presence of the Divinity, that the destruction of the enemy of Rome was to be completed. The emperor, a.s.suming the most gracious manner,[586] took the pen and signed. Aleander went off in triumph, put the decree immediately to press, and sent it over all Christendom.[587] This fruit of the labour of Rome had cost the papacy some pains. Pallavicini himself informs us that this edict, though dated the 8th May, was signed later, but was antedated, to make it be supposed that it was executed during the time when all the members of the Diet were actually a.s.sembled.