Life of Luther Part 24

On the Tuesday all the deputies a.s.sembled at his house, together with his Wittenberg friends, and Menius and Myconius. Butzer having spoken on the deputies' behalf, Luther conferred with them separately, and after they had declared their unanimous concurrence with Butzer, he withdrew with his friends into another room for a private consultation. On his return, he declared, on behalf of himself and his friends, that, after having heard from all present their answers and statement of belief, they were agreed with them, and welcomed them as beloved brethren in the Lord. As to the objection they had about the G.o.dless partakers, if they confessed that the unworthy received with the other communicants the Body of Christ, they would not quarrel on that point. Luther, so Myconius tells us, spoke these words with great spirit and animation, as was apparent from his eyes and his whole countenance. Capito and Butzer could not refrain from tears. All stood with folded hands and gave thanks to G.o.d.

On the following days other points were discussed, such as the significance of infant baptism, and the practice of confession and absolution, as to which an understanding was necessary, and was arrived at without any difficulty. The South Germans had also to be rea.s.sured about some individual forms of worship, unimportant in themselves, and which they found to have been retained from Catholic usage in the Saxon churches.

On the Thursday the proceedings were interrupted by the festival of the Ascension. Luther preached the evening sermon of that day on the text, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' Myconius relates of this sermon, 'I have often heard Luther before, but it seemed to me then as if not he alone were speaking, but heaven was thundering in the name of Christ.'

On Sat.u.r.day Butzer and Capito delivered themselves of their commissions on behalf of the Swiss. Luther declared after reading the Confession which they brought, that certain expressions in it were objectionable, but added a wish that the Strasburgers would treat with them further the subject, and the latter led him to hope that the communities in Switzerland, weary of dispute, desired unity.

The spirit of brotherly union received a touching and beautiful expression on the Sunday in the common celebration of the Sacrament, and in sermons preached by Alber of Reutlingen in the early morning, and by Butzer in the middle of the day.

The next morning, May 29, the meeting concluded with the signing of the articles which Melancthon had been commissioned to draw up. They recognised the receiving of Christ's Body at the Sacrament by those who 'ate unworthily,' without saying anything about the faithless.

The deputies who signed their names declared their common acceptance of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology. This formula, however, was only to be published after it had received the a.s.sent of the communities whom it concerned, together with their pastors and civil authorities. 'We must be careful,' said Luther, 'not to raise the song of victory prematurely, nor give others an occasion for complaining that the matter was settled without their knowledge and in a corner.' Luther himself began on the same Monday to write letters, inviting a.s.sent from different quarters to their proceedings. Among his own a.s.sociates, at any rate, his intimate friend Amsdorf at Magdeburg had not been so conciliatory as himself: Luther waited eight days before informing him of the result of the conference.

Thus, then, unity of confession was established for the German Protestants, apart from the Swiss, for none of the Churches which had been represented at the meeting refused their a.s.sent. Luther now advanced a step towards the Swiss by writing to the burgomaster Meyer at Basle, who was particularly anxious for union, and who returned him a very friendly and hopeful answer. Butzer sought to work with them further in the same direction. But they could not reconcile themselves to the Wittenberg articles. They--that is to say, the magistrates and clergy of Zurich, Berne, Basle, and some other towns--were content to express their joy at Luther's present friendly state of mind, together with a hope of future unity, and besought Butzer to inform Luther further about their own Confession and their objections to his own. Butzer was anxious to do this at a convention which the Schmalkaldic allies appointed to meet at Schmalkald, in view of the Council having been announced to be held in February 1537.

CHAPTER III.

NEGOTIATIONS RESPECTING A COUNCIL AND UNION AMONG THE PROTESTANTS (continuation):--MEETING AT SCHMALKALD, 1537.--PEACE WITH THE SWISS.--LUTHER'S FEIENDSHIP WITH THE BOHEMIAN BRETHREN.

A few days after the Protestants had effected an agreement at Wittenberg the announcement was issued from Rome of a Council, to be held at Mantua in the following year. The Pope already indicated with sufficient clearness the action he intended to take at it. He declared in plain terms that the Council was to extirpate the Lutheran pestilence, and did not even wish that the corrupt Lutheran books should be laid before it, but only extracts from them, and these with a Catholic refutation. Luther, therefore, had now to turn his energies at once in this direction.

He agreed, nevertheless, with Melancthon that the invitation should be accepted, although the Elector John Frederick was opposed to such a Council from the very first. It would be better, Luther thought, to protest at the Council itself against any unlawful or unjust proceeding. He hoped to be able to speak before the a.s.sembly at least like a Christian and a man.

The Elector thereupon commissioned him to compile and set forth the propositions or articles of faith, which, according to his conviction, it would be necessary to insist on at the Council, and directed him to call in for this purpose other theologians to his a.s.sistance. Luther accordingly drew up a statement. A few days after Christmas he laid it before his Wittenberg colleagues, and likewise before Amsdorf of Magdeburg, Spalatin of Altenburg, and Agricola of Eisleben. The last named was endeavouring to exchange his post at the high school at Eisleben, under the Count of Mansfeld, with whom he had fallen out, for a professor's chair at Wittenberg, which had been promised him by the Elector; and now, on receiving his invitation to the conference, he left Eisleben for good without permission, taking his wife and child with him. Luther welcomed him as an old friend and invited him to his house as a guest. Luther's statement was unanimously approved, and sent to the Elector on January 3.

Even in this summary of belief, intended as it was for common acceptance and for submission to a Council, Luther emphasised, with all the fulness and keenness peculiar to himself throughout the struggle, his antagonism to Roman Catholic dogma and Churchdom.

Fondly as he clung at that time to reconciliation among the Protestants, he saw no possibility of peace with Rome.

As the first and main article he declared plainly that faith alone in Jesus could justify a man; on that point they dared not yield, though heaven and earth should fall. The ma.s.s he denounced as the greatest and most horrible abomination, inasmuch as it was 'downright destructive of the first article,' and as the chiefest of Papal idolatries; moreover, this dragon's tail had begotten many other kinds of vermin and abominations of idolatry. With regard to the Papacy itself, the Augsburg Confession had been content to condemn it by silence, not having taken any notice of it in its articles on the essence and nature of the Christian Church. Luther now would have it acknowledged, 'that the Pope was not by divine right (_jure divino_) or by warrant of G.o.d's Word the head of all Christendom,' that position belonging to One alone, by name Jesus Christ; and, furthermore, 'that the Pope was the true Antichrist, who sets himself up and exalts himself above and against Christ.' As for the Council, he expected that the Evangelicals there present would have to stand before the Pope himself and the devil, who would listen to nothing, but consider simply how to condemn and kill them. They should, therefore, not kiss the feet of their enemy, but say to him, 'The Lord rebuke thee, Satan!' (Zach. iii. 2).

The allies accordingly were anxious to consult together and determine at Schmalkald what conduct to pursue at the Council. An imperial envoy and a Papal nuncio wished also to attend their meeting. The princes and representatives of the towns brought their theologians with them to the number of about forty in all. The Elector John Frederick brought Luther, Melancthon, Bugenhagen, and Spalatin.

On January 29 the Wittenberg theologians were summoned by their prince to Torgau. From thence they travelled slowly by Grimma and Altenburg, where they were entertained with splendour at the prince's castles, then by Weimar, where, on Sunday, February 4, Luther preached a sermon, and so on to the place of meeting. Luther had left his family and house in the care of his guest Agricola. On February 7 they arrived at Schmalkald.

The theologians at first were left unemployed. The members of the convention only gradually a.s.sembled. The envoy of the Emperor came on the 14th. Luther made up his mind for a stay there of four weeks.

He preached on the 9th in the town church before the prince himself.

The church he found, as he wrote to Jonas, so large and lofty, that his voice sounded to him like that of a mouse. During the first few days he enjoyed the leisure and rejoiced in the healthy air and situation of the place.

He was already suffering, however, from the stone, which had once before attacked him. A medical friend ascribed it partly to the dampness of the inns and the sheets he slept in. However, the attack pa.s.sed off easily this time, and on the 14th he was able to tell Jonas that he was better. But he grew very tired of the idle time at Schmalkald. He said jokingly about the good entertainment there, that he and his friends were living with the Landgrave Philip and the Duke of Wurtemberg like beggars, who had the best bakers, ate bread and drank wine with the Nurembergers, and received their meat and fish from the Elector's court. They had the best trout in the world, but they were cooked in a sauce with the other fish; and so on.

The Elector soon applied to him for an opinion as to taking part in the Council, which Luther again recommended should not be bluntly refused. A refusal, he said, would exactly please the Pope, who wished for nothing so much as obstacles to the Council; it was for this reason that, in speaking of the extirpation of heresy, he held up the Evangelicals as a 'bugbear,' in order to frighten them from the project. Good people might likewise object, on the ground that the troubles with the Turks and the Emperor's engagement in the war with France, were made use of by the Evangelicals to refuse the Council, whilst in reality the knaves at Borne were reckoning on the Turkish and French wars to prevent the Council from coming to pa.s.s.

Luther now received through Butzer the communications from Switzerland, together with a letter from Meyer, the burgomaster of Basle. To the latter he sent on the 17th of the month a cheerful and friendly reply. He did not wish to induce him to make any further explanations and promises, but his whole mind was bent upon mutual forgiveness, and bearing with one another in patience and gentleness. In this spirit he earnestly entreated Meyer to work with him. 'Will you faithfully exhort your people,' he said, 'that they may all help to quiet, soften, and promote the matter to the best of their power, that they may not scare the birds at roost.' He promised also, for his part, 'to do his utmost in the same direction.'

This same day, however, Luther's malady returned; he concluded his letter with the words, 'I cannot write now all I would, for I have been a useless man all day, owing to this painful stone.' The next day, Sunday, when he preached a powerful sermon before a large congregation, the malady became much worse, and a week followed of violent pain, during which his body swelled, he was constantly sick, and his weakness generally increased. Several doctors, including one called in from Erfurt, did their utmost to relieve him. 'They gave me physic,' he said afterwards, 'as if I were a great ox.'

Mechanical contrivances were employed, but without effect.' I was obliged,' he said, 'to obey them, that it might not look as if I neglected my body.'

His condition appeared desperate. With death before his eyes, he thought of his arch-enemy the Pope, who might triumph over this, but over whom he felt certain of victory even in death. 'Behold,' he cried to G.o.d, 'I die an enemy of Thy enemies, cursed and banned by Thy foe, the Pope. May he, too, die under Thy ban, and both of us stand at Thy judgment bar on that day.' The Elector, deeply moved, stood by his bed, and expressed his anxiety lest G.o.d might take away with Luther His beloved Word. Luther comforted him by saying that there were many faithful men who, by G.o.d's help, would become a wall of strength; nevertheless, he could not conceal from the prince his apprehension that, after he was gone, discord would arise even among his colleagues at Wittenberg. The Elector promised him to care for his wife and children as his own. Luther's natural love for them, as he afterwards remarked, made the prospect of parting very hard for him to bear. To his sorrowing friends he still was able to be humorous. When Melancthon, on seeing him, began to cry bitterly, he reminded him of a saying of their friend, the hereditary marshal, Hans Loser, that to drink good beer was no art, but to drink sour beer, and then continued, in the words of Job, 'What, shall we receive good at the hand of G.o.d, and shall we not receive evil?' And again: 'The wicked Jews,' he said, 'stoned Stephen; my stone, the villain! is stoning me.' But not for an instant did he lose his trust in G.o.d and resignation to His will. When afraid of going mad with the pain, he comforted himself with the thought that Christ was his wisdom, and that G.o.d's wisdom remained immutable. Seeing, as he did, the devil at work in his torture, he felt confident that even if the devil tore him to pieces Christ would revenge His servant, and G.o.d would tear the devil to pieces in return. Only one thing he would fain have prayed his G.o.d to grant--that he might die in the country of his Elector; but he was willing and ready to depart whenever G.o.d might summon him. Upon being seized with a fit of vomiting he sighed, 'Alas, dear Father, take the little soul into Thy hand; I will be grateful to Thee for it. Go hence, thou dear little soul, go, in G.o.d's name!'

At length an attempt was actually made to remove him to Gotha, the necessary medical appliances being not procurable at Schmalkald. On the 26th of the month the Erfurt physician, Sturz, drove him thither, together with Bugenhagen, Spalatin, and Myconius, in one of the Elector's carriages. Another carriage followed them, with instruments and a pan of charcoal, for warming cloths. On driving off, Luther said to his friends about him,' The Lord fill you with His blessing, and with hatred of the Pope.'

The first day they could not venture farther than Tambach, a few miles distant, the road over the mountains being very rough. The jolting of the carriage caused him intolerable torture. But it effected what the doctors could not. The following night the pain was terminated, and the feeling of relief and recovery made him full of joy and thankfulness. A messenger was sent at once, at two o'clock in the morning, with the news to Schmalkald, and Luther himself wrote a letter to his 'dearly-loved' Melancthon. To his wife he wrote saying, 'I have been a dead man, and had commended you and the little ones to G.o.d and to our good Lord Jesus.... I grieved very much for your sakes.' But G.o.d, he went on to say, had worked a miracle with him; he felt like one newly-born; she must thank G.o.d, therefore, and let the little ones thank their heavenly Father, without whom they would a.s.suredly have lost their earthly one.

But on the 28th already, after his safe arrival at Gotha, he suffered so severe a relapse that during that night he thought, from his extreme weakness, that his end was near. He then gave to Bugenhagen some last directions, which the latter afterwards committed to writing, as the 'Confession and Last Testament of the Venerable Father.' Herein Luther expressed his cheerful conviction that he had done rightly in attacking the Papacy with the Word of G.o.d. He begged his 'dearest Philip' (Melancthon) and other colleagues to forgive anything in which he might have offended them.

To his faithful Kate he sent words of thanks and comfort, saying that now for the twelve years of happiness which they had spent together, she must accept this sorrow. Once more he sent greetings to the preachers and burghers of Wittenberg. He begged his Elector and the Landgrave not to be disturbed by the charges made against them by the Papists of having robbed the property of the Church, and recommended them to trust to G.o.d in their labours on behalf of the gospel.

The next morning, however, he was again better and stronger. Butzer, who in regard to unity of confession and his relations with the Swiss had not been able to have any further conversation with Luther at Schmalkald, had at once, on receiving the good news from Tambach, gone straight to Luther at Gotha, accompanied by the preacher Wolfhart from Augsburg. Luther, notwithstanding his suffering, now discussed with them this matter, so important in his eyes. As an honest man, to whom nothing was so distasteful as 'dissimulation,'

he earnestly warned them against all 'crooked ways.' The Swiss, in case he died, should be referred to his letter to Meyer; should G.o.d allow him to live and become strong, he would send them a written statement himself.

While, however, he was still at Gotha, the crisis of his illness pa.s.sed, and he was relieved entirely of the cause of his suffering.

The journey was continued cautiously and slowly, and a good halt was made at Weimar. From Wittenberg there came to nurse him a niece, who lived in his house: probably Lene Kaufmann, the daughter of his sister. To his wife he wrote from Tambach, telling her that she need not accept the Elector's offer to drive her to him, it being now unnecessary. On March 14 he arrived again at his home. His recovery had made good progress, though, as he wrote to Spalatin, even eight days afterwards his legs could hardly support him.

Meanwhile the conference of the allies at Schmalkald resulted in their deciding to decline the Papal invitation to the Council. They informed the Emperor, in reply, that the Council which the Pope had in view was something very different to the one so long demanded by the German Diets; what they wanted was a free Council, and one on German, not Italian territory.

With regard to Luther's articles, which he had drawn up in view of a Council, they saw no occasion to occupy themselves with their consideration. To their official Confession of Augsburg, which had formed among other things the groundwork and charter of the Religious Peace, and to the Apology, drawn up by Melancthon in reply to the Catholic 'Refutation,' they desired, however, now to add a protest against the authority and the Divine right of the Papacy.

Melancthon prepared it in the true spirit of Luther, though in a calmer and more moderate tone than was usual with his friend. The majority of the theologians present at Schmalkald testified their a.s.sent to Luther's articles by subscribing their names. Luther had his statement printed the following year. The Emperor, on account of the war with the Turks and the renewal of hostilities with France, had no time to think of compelling the allies to take part in a Council, and was quite content that no Council should be held at all. Whether the Pope himself, as Luther supposed, counted secretly on this result, and was glad to see it happen, may remain a matter of uncertainty.

At Schmalkald the seal was now set upon the Concord, which had been concluded the previous year at Wittenberg, and then submitted for ratification to the different German princes and towns, the formula there adopted being now signed by all the theologians present, and the agreement of the princes to abide by it being duly announced.

Towards the Swiss, who declined to waive their objections to the Wittenberg articles, Luther maintained firmly the standpoint indicated in his letter to Meyer. Thus, in the following December he wrote himself to those evangelical centres in Switzerland from which Butzer had brought him the communication to Gotha; while the next year, in May 1538, he sent a friendly reply to a message from Bullinger, and again in June he wrote once more to the Swiss, on receiving an answer from them to his first letter. His constant wish and entreaty was that they should at least be friendly to, and expect the best of one another, until the troubled waters were calmed. He fully acknowledged that the Swiss were a very pious people, who earnestly wished to do what was right and proper. He rejoiced at this, and hoped that G.o.d, even if only a hedge obstructed, would help in time to remove all errors. But he could not ignore or disregard that on which no agreement had yet been arrived at; and he was right in supposing, and said so openly to the Swiss, that upon their side, as well as upon his own, there were many who looked upon unity not only with displeasure but even with suspicion. He himself had constantly to explain misinterpretations of his doctrine, and he did so with composure. He had never, he said, taught that Christ, in order to be present at the Sacrament, comes down from heaven; but he left to Divine omnipotence the manner in which His Body is verily given to the guests at His table. But he must guard himself, on the other hand, against the notion that, with the att.i.tude he now adopted, he had renounced his former doctrine.

And with this doctrine he held firmly to the conception of a Presence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament different to and apart from that Presence for purely spiritual nourishment on which the Swiss now insisted. When Bullinger expressed his surprise that he should still talk of a difference in doctrine, he gave up offering any more explanations on the subject; and the Swiss, for their part, after his second letter, made no further attempt to effect a more perfect agreement. Luther's desire was to keep on terms of peace and friendship with them, notwithstanding the difference still notoriously existing between both parties. On this very account he was loth to rake up the difference again by further explanations. By acting thus he believed he should best promote an ultimate understanding and unity, which was still the object of his hopes.

So far, therefore, during the years immediately following the death of Zwingli, success had attended the efforts to heal the fatal division which separated from Luther and the great Lutheran community those of evangelical sympathies in Switzerland and the South Germans, who were more or less subject to their influence, and which had excited the minds on both sides with such violence and pa.s.sion. So far Luther himself had laboured to promote this result with uprightness and zeal; he had conquered much suspicion once directed against himself, he had sought means of peace; he had restrained the disturbing zeal of his own friends and followers, such as Amsdorf or Osiander at Nuremberg.

We must not omit finally to mention, as an important event of these years and a testimony to Luther's disposition and sentiments, the friendly relations now formed between himself and the so-called Bohemian and Moravian Brethren. We have already had occasion to notice, after the Leipzig disputation in 1519, and again, in particular, after Luther's return from the Wartburg, an approach, which promised much but was only transitory, between Luther and the large and powerful brotherhood of the Bohemian Utraquists, who, as admirers of Huss and advocates for giving the cup to the laity, had freed themselves from the dominion of Rome. Quietly and modestly, but with a far more penetrating endeavour to restore the purity of Christian life, the small communities of the Moravian Brethren had multiplied by the side of the Hussites, and had patiently endured oppression and persecution. Luther afterwards declared of them, how he had found to his astonishment--a thing unheard of under the Papacy--that, discarding the doctrines of men, they meditated day and night, to the best of their ability, on the laws of G.o.d, and were well versed in the Scriptures. It was princ.i.p.ally, however, as Luther himself seems to indicate, the commands of Scripture, in the strict and faithful fulfilment of which they sought for true Christianity--with special reference to the commands of Jesus, as expressed by Him in particular in the Sermon on the Mount, and to those precepts which they found in their patterns, the oldest Apostolic communities--that engrossed their attention. With strict discipline, in conformity with these commands, they sought to order and sanctify their congregational life. But of Luther's doctrine of salvation, announced by him mainly on the testimony of St. Paul, or of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, they had as yet no knowledge. They taught of the righteousness to which Christians should attain, as did Augustine and the pious, practical theologians of the middle ages. Hence they were wanting also in freedom in their conception of moral life, and of those worldly duties and blessings to which, according to Luther, the Christian spirit rose by the power of faith. They shunned rather all worldly business in a manner that caused Luther to ascribe to them a certain monastic character.

Their priests lived, like Catholics, in celibacy. Another peculiarity of their teaching was, that in striving after a more spiritual conception of life, and under the influence of the writings of the great Englishman Wicliffe, which were largely disseminated among them, they repudiated the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation, nor would even allow such a Presence of Christ's Body as was insisted on by Luther. They maintained simply a sacramental, spiritual, effectual presence of Christ, and distinguished from it a substantial Presence, which His Body, they declared, had in heaven alone.

With these, too, as with the Utraquists, Luther became more closely acquainted soon after his return from the Wartburg. The evangelical preacher, Paul Speratus, who was then temporarily working in Moravia, wrote to him about these zealous friends of the gospel, among whom, however, he found much that was objectionable, especially their doctrine of the Sacrament. They themselves sent Luther messages, letters, and writings. Luther, who, in addition to the Catholic theory, had also to combat doubts as to the Real Presence of Christ's Body at the Sacrament, turned in 1523, in a treatise 'On the Adoration of the Sacrament, &c.,' to oppose the declarations of the Brethren on this subject, and then proceeded to draw their attention to other points on which he was unable to agree with them, in the mildest form and with warm acknowledgments of their good qualities, such as, in particular, their strict requirements of Christian moral conduct, which in his own circle he could not possibly expect to see as yet fulfilled. They and Lucas, their elder, however, took umbrage at his remarks; Lucas published a reply, whereupon Luther quietly left them to go their own way.

While Butzer now was prosecuting with success his attempts at union, the Brethren renewed their overtures to Luther. They offered him fresh explanations about the doctrines in dispute, and these explanations he was content to treat as consistent with the truth which he himself maintained, though they differed even from his own actual statements, not only in form but in substance. For example, they distinguished between the Presence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament and His existence in heaven, by describing only the latter as a Bodily existence. Practically, the theory of the Brethren, which, however, was by no means clearly defined, agreed most with that represented afterwards by Calvin. But Luther saw in it nothing more that was essential, such as would necessitate further controversy, or deter him from friendly intercourse with these pious-minded people. At their desire he published two of their statements of belief in 1533 and 1538 with prefaces from his own pen. In these prefaces he dwelt particularly on the striking differences, as regards Church usages and regulations, between their congregations and his own. But these differences, he said, ought in no way to prevent their fellowship; a difference of usages had always existed among Christian Churches, and with the difference of times and circ.u.mstances, was unavoidable. Nor did he withhold a certain sanction and approbation of the dignity with which the Brethren continued to invest the state of celibacy, while refusing, however, to give that sanction the force of a law.

Among the Brethren their gifted and energetic elder John Augusta laboured to promote an alliance with Luther and the German Reformation. He repeatedly appeared (and again in 1540) in person at Wittenberg.

Thus on all sides, wherever the Evangelical word prevailed, Luther saw the bonds of union being firmly tied.

CHAPTER IV.

OTHER LABOURS AND TRANSACTIONS, 1535-39.--ARCHBISHOP ALBERT AND SCHoNITZ.--AGRICOLA.

Amidst these important and general affairs of the Church, bringing daily fresh labours and fresh anxieties for Luther--labours, however, which, in spite of his bodily sufferings, he undertook with his old accustomed energy--his strength, as in previous years we have observed with reference to his preaching, now no longer sufficed as before for the regular work of his calling. In his official duties at the university the Elector himself, anxiously concerned as he was for its progress, would have spared him as much as possible. For these he arranged, in 1536, an ample stipend. In his announcement of this step he solemnly declared: 'The merciful G.o.d has plenteously and graciously vouchsafed to let His holy, redeeming Word, through the teaching of the reverend and most learned, our beloved and good Martin Luther, doctor of Holy Scripture, be made known to all men in these latter days of the world with true Christian understanding, for their comfort and salvation, for which we give Him praise and thanks for ever; and has made known also, in addition to other arts, the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, through the conspicuous and rare ability and industry of the learned Philip Melancthon, for the furtherance of the right and Christian comprehension of Holy Scripture.' To each of these two men he now gave a hundred gulden as an addition to his salary as professor, which in Luther's case had hitherto amounted to two hundred gulden. At the same time he released Luther from the obligation of lecturing, and, indeed, from all his other duties at the university.

Luther began, however, this year a new and important course of lectures--the exposition of the Book of Genesis, which, according to his wont, he ill.u.s.trated with a copious and valuable commentary on the chief points of Christian doctrine and Christian life. They progressed, however, but slowly and with many interruptions; sometimes a whole year was occupied with only a few chapters. The work was not completed until 1545. They were the last lectures he delivered.