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Cornell University Library 
 BR325 .S88 1883 
 
 Homes and haunts of Luther. By John Stou 
 
 olln 
 
 3 1924 029 252 306 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029252306 
 
^/l/l^.{w^ Z^t^ 
 
Homes and Haunts 
 
 Luther. 
 
 JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 Tke Spanish Reformers: their Memories and Dwelling-places y* *^ Footprints of the 
 Italian Reformers" etc. 
 
 |[ttn ant) ^tbistlii (Slrittoir, intt|r |[amcron$ lllnstrstions. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 36 Paternoster Row ; 65 St. Paul's Churchyard, 
 
 AND 164 Piccadilly. 
 
;f.-^a/f 
 
 A new edition of the " Homes and Haunts of Luther" being called for 
 this year — which is the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of the 
 great German Reformer — I have ventured to add two chapters, and a few 
 paragraphs containing illustrations of his Biography, gathered during German 
 travels since the publication of my first edition. The volume also contains 
 several new engravings, including a fine portrait of Luther, lay Albert DUrer, 
 and two fac-similes. ^,^ 
 
 August, 1883. 
 
Contents. 
 
 I. Introduction 
 
 II. EiSLEBEN, IN Saxony 
 
 III. Eisenach 
 
 IV. Erfurt, the Capital of Old Thuringia . 
 V. Rome, the Papal City 
 
 VI. Heidelberg 
 
 vn. Basle ... .... 
 
 VIII. The Free City of Augsburg in 1518 and 1530 
 
 IX. Leipzig in the Year 1519 
 
 X. Diet of Worms 
 
 XI. The Wartburg 
 
 XII. SWABIA AND THE BAVARIAN HIGHLANDS 
 
 XIII. Luther's Journeys during the Peasants' War 
 
 XIV, Marburg, on the Lahn 
 
 XV. COBURG AND SoNNEBERG . . 
 
 XVI. The Town and League of Schmalkalden . 
 
 XVII. Halle, in Saxony 
 
 XVIII. Wittenberg ... 
 
 Page 
 I 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 40 
 
 61 
 68 
 76 
 81 
 
 95 
 109 
 136 
 160 
 164 
 178 
 194 
 218 
 231 
 238 
 
h 
 
 1ST OF Illustrations. 
 
 Portrait of Mariin Luther, by L. Cranach 
 
 Statue of Luther in Eisleben 
 
 Birth-place of Martin Luther . ^ . . 
 
 Luther's Father 
 
 Luther's Mother .... 
 
 Nicolaithurm, Eisenach 
 
 Frau Ursula Cotta shows Hospitahty to Young Luther 
 The Luther House, Eisenach .... 
 
 Eisenach ........ 
 
 Erfurt Cathedral, and Church of St. Severus 
 Luther's First Study of the Bible .... 
 
 Erfurt 
 
 Luther, by Albert Diirer ... 
 
 The Pantheon, Rome 
 
 Entrance to Catacombs ..... 
 
 Heidelberg 
 
 Luther's House, Neuenheim .... 
 
 Augsburg ........ 
 
 Leipzig Town Hall (Rathhaus) . . . • 
 
 Castle of Pleissenburg 
 
 Luther at Leipzig ...... 
 
 City of Worms 
 
 Luther House at Frankfort . . ■ • 
 
 Facsimile of the original of " Ein' feste Burg " 
 Luther's Monument at Worms .... 
 
 Page 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 viii 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 24 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 37 
 42 
 
 45 
 49 
 56 
 63 
 65 
 69 
 
 74 
 82 
 
 94 
 
 97 
 103 
 112 
 116 
 120 
 130 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Cathedral at Worms 134 
 
 Luthersdenkmal ..... . . 139 
 
 Luther carried off to the Wartburg . 141 
 
 Chapel in the Wartburg ... . . 148 
 
 Luther's Study in the Wartburg . . . . .151 
 
 The Wartburg 157 
 
 Luther Preaching to the Peasants . . . . . .167 
 
 View of Marburg . . . . . . . .179 
 
 Castle of Marburg 183 
 
 The Himmelsthor, Nuremberg Castle . . . . .195 
 
 Grave of Albert Diirer ....... 196 
 
 Luther's Lodging at Sonneberg ... . . 198 
 
 Facsimiles of Indulgences . . ... 202, 203 
 
 Courtyard of Coburg Castle .212 
 
 Castle of Coburg . . . . . . . . .214 
 
 House where Luther drew up the Articles . . .225 
 
 Market Place, Halle 233 
 
 The Augustinian Monastery, Wittenberg . . .241 
 
 Luther's Study at Wittenberg 243 
 
 Luther's Wife — Katharina von Eora as a Bride . . . 251 
 Luther's Eating Spoon, used when Travelling . . 253 
 
 Bridal Cup, given to Luther by the University of Wittenberg . 253 
 Luther's Betrothal Ring . . . . . . .254 
 
 Enlarged Sketch of Ornamentation on the Betrothal Ring . 254 
 Luther's Wedding Ring, with inscription, " What God hath 
 
 joined together," &c 
 
 Portrait of Frederick of Saxony, by Albert Diirer . 
 Town Hall and Stadt kirche, Wittenberg 
 House where Luther died, Eisleben 
 Portrait of the Emperor Charles V. 
 
 269 
 276 
 288 
 291 
 
STATUE OF LUTHER IN EISLEBEN. 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 • I. 
 Introduction. 
 
 the little town of Saxe-Wei- 
 mar, on the skirts of a park 
 round the ducal palace, there 
 stands a plain, straggling, un- 
 attractive edifice, with a round 
 tower at the west end. Once 
 a powder magazine, it now 
 servesfor alibrary; and, what is 
 very curious, the spiral stair- 
 case which connects one story 
 with another winds round the 
 trunk of an old tree, standing 
 in its original position — its 
 dead roots fastening it to the 
 soil, the green leaves formerly 
 bedecking this son of the forest having been exchanged long ago 
 for a large collection of leaves of another kind. Exploring the book 
 
 B 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 treasures and other curiosities of the Grand Duke, preserved in this 
 unique building, I was conducted by the pleasant and intelligent 
 librarian into a little room, where, in a cabinet, hung side by side a 
 morning robe, a leathern doublet, and a black gown. He pointed 
 to the first as having belonged to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ; 
 the second as worn by Gustavus Adolphus at the battle of Lutzen, 
 with a hole left in it by the fatal bullet ; and the third as the dress 
 of Martin Luther when a monk. Three other equally remarkable 
 relics in juxtaposition, perhaps, could nowhere else be found ; and 
 their contiguity, at first sight having a hap-hazard look, becomes, 
 upon reflection, harmonious' and instructive. For Goethe, Gus- 
 tavus, and Luther, though unlike in many respects, were connected 
 successively with the march of that spirit of liberty which has 
 pursued its way since the beginning of the sixteenth century — 
 taking a start from Germany, but blessing all Europe, and America 
 as well ; and the names just cited mark a triplet of stages in its 
 onward way. The last of the three — the man who wore the morning 
 robe kept in the little cabinet at Weimar — with his universal genius 
 carried the torch of criticism into the chambers of literature and 
 art, and submitted questions, not only of taste, but of reason, to the 
 freest inquiry ; and though we may neither adopt his conclusions 
 nor approve his method, we rejoice in that freedom of discussion 
 which he was enabled to exercise — freedom which, in the end, always 
 proves a formidable enemy to error and a staunch friend to truth. 
 Romanism has ever been the foe of freedom ; and had Romanism 
 been triumphant in Germany in the seventeenth century, instead of 
 being checked in its designs during the Thirty Years' War, when 
 Gustavus of the leathern doublet appeared as the champion of the 
 persecuted Protestants, the country which gave birth to Goethe, 
 and fostered his genius, would have been mentally enslaved, and 
 free criticism would have been impossible. And was not Gustavus 
 Adolphus the very creation of the movement inaugurated by 
 Martin Luther ? A Lutheran by religious profession, he sought to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 vindicate tlie cause of the great Reformer, and opened the battle 
 of Lutzen with the grand old Saxon hymn, " Ein' feste Burg ist 
 unser Gott." The Thirty Years' War, with its evil and its good, 
 rose out of the Lutheran Reformation ; and freedom in the 
 world, at the present moment, owes no small debt to the mental 
 genius and the moral power of the man who wore the black 
 gown hanging up in the library of Saxe-Weimar. 
 
 In the same place was shown, by my good friend the librarian, 
 a Greek Testament, with some of Luther's annotations in the 
 margin ; and the veneration and enthusiasm with which the 
 exhibitor referred to both relics were but specimens of that feeling 
 which still exists throughout the Vaterland in connection with 
 the memory of the Wittenberg monk. Not one of the Reformers 
 of our own country has so laid hold of the national mind and 
 heart. Even the honour done to Knox in Scotland is surpassed 
 by the honour done to Luther in Germany. Wherever you go 
 his name is a talisman ; its inspiration is breathed over literature 
 scarcely less than over religion. The Teutonic Catholic is proud 
 of him ; no town or village associated with the events of his life 
 but is ennobled by the circumstance, and in our time attracts to 
 its precincts more visitors than ever. 
 
 Not long after this visit to Saxe-Weimar, whilst pondering 
 Luther's story, and its marvellous influence on mankind, my recol- 
 lections of places connected with him took shape, and led to a 
 careful reperusal of the histories by D'Aubign^ and Waddington, 
 and of the memoirs by Michelet, Sears, and Kostlin. These I com- 
 pared with Melancthon, Mathesius, and Seckendorf, and then 
 gathered illustrations from Luther's " Table Talk " and letters. 
 
 The subject grew, and I determined to revisit some of Luther's 
 haunts, respecting which it appeared to me more information 
 might be gained, and to form an acquaintance with other places 
 where he had lived, but which I had never seen. 
 
 Noting place after place where the Reformer had left traces of 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 his footsteps, I was surprised not only at their number, but in some 
 cases at their remoteness from each other. There is no other man 
 of a similar order whose fame touches so many topographical points, 
 and sweeps over so wide a surface. The local reminiscences of 
 Shakespeare and Milton, even taken together, are few, and cluster 
 round a metropolis, a provincial town, and two or three country 
 villages. But how many cities, castles, and homes there are 
 scattered far and wide which may be said to have Martin Luther 
 for their presiding genius ! Guide-books call attention to some 
 spot where he went — some fortress and tenement which gave him 
 shelter — some church in which he preached — some locality which 
 his name has made famous ; but there are scenes and houses 
 unmentioned in guide-books over which there lingers the spell of 
 his memory. One lights on mementos of Charles V. in divers 
 directions ; but even they are fewer, less interesting, and less 
 honoured than those of the humble monk who gave the Emperor 
 so much anxiety, and who by his genius, his faith, his devotion, 
 and his energy inspired the Reformation of the Teutonic Church. 
 Certainly no King, no Kaiser, can vie with him as to the place 
 he occupies in the thoughts of his own people, and indeed of the 
 whole Christian world. 
 
II. 
 
 ISLEBEN, IN 
 
 P 
 
 AXONY. 
 
 N the eastern border of the Harz districts 
 lie the sister towns of Eisleben and Mans- 
 feld. The wooded rocks of the Anhalt 
 duchies, at a distance of some dozen miles 
 here subside into round undulations of arable 
 land, scarcely claiming the name of hills. 
 They bear no comparison with the pine-crowned 
 heights of Rosstrappe and the grassy dells of 
 Alexisbad ; yet the scenery in the neighbourhood is 
 pleasant, and between it and the city of Halle, on 
 the banks of the river Saale, may be seen the singular 
 phenomenon of two little lakes close together, the 
 one containing salt water and the other fresh. 
 
 As you approach Eisleben by the Nordhausen 
 Railway, the town is discovered in a deep hollow 
 the tips of the church spires and other lofty buildings oddly 
 peeping above the ground ; and not until after a long descent 
 over a miserably bad road do you enter the equally rugged 
 streets. There is a choice of hotels between the " Golden 
 Star," the "Golden King," and the "Golden Ship," the latter 
 of which, with an emblazoned high-decker over the door, I 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 chose, without any reason for repenting afterwards. The landlord, 
 a very intelligent as well as civil man, gave the information 
 desired respecting the town, and the particular object of my 
 pilgrimage. There are .14,000 inhabitants, and the extensive 
 mines of silver and copper, with pits of brown coal, afford 
 employment for no less than 7,000 or 8,000 hands, and 700 
 horses. Here are no manufactories, but there is plenty of trade, 
 and the place is marked by thrift and prosperity. Not very many 
 people visit it except for purposes of business, and of those who 
 come from reverence or curiosity respecting him whose name 
 is identified with Eisleben, the Germans, Danes, Swedes, and 
 Norwegians far outnumber the English and Americans. I told my 
 host that I was in search of localities associated with Martin 
 Luther, whereupon he informed me what I might see in the town ; 
 and upon inquiring whether any buildings existed at Mansfeld, 
 about six miles off, connected with the Reformer's school days — 
 for there he began his education — I learned that all vestiges of his 
 abode there, and the school in which he was taught, had been 
 swept away. I was shown two lithographic views of Mansfeld, — 
 one representing it as it is, a small town with a church in the 
 middle, and ruins of a castle on a hill on the right hand, skirted 
 with trees ; the other representing it as it was in 1533, when it had 
 three churches, and the castle was in its splendour, with high- 
 roofed buildings and bulbous spires, and walls pierced by numerous 
 windows. The feudal fortress had then given place to the lordly 
 mansion. The old tilt-yard and chapel are still preserved, sug- 
 gesting pictures of the abode of the Counts of Mansfeld in the 
 sixteenth century. They seem to have been very quarrelsome, 
 and the last visit of Luther to the scene of his boyhood was to 
 compose a feud amongst their Highnesses. 
 
 It so happened that a few days after I had been at Eisleben 
 I met with a venerable lady who traces her descent from these 
 ancient Counts, and who keeps up an intimacy with the present 
 
EISLEBEN, IN SAXONY. 
 
 remnant of the family. From her I received a tradition to the 
 effect that when Luther was at Mansfeld, only three days before 
 his death, he warned his noble friends against quarrelling and 
 intemperance, repeating these words, — 
 
 " Where the wine flows, 
 There the grass grows ; " 
 
 intending by this proverbial form of speech to point out the 
 desolating consequences of drunkenness ; " and the prophecy," said 
 my informant, "has been literally fulfilled, for not long ago, when 
 I was at Mansfeld, I saw the grass growing in the castle courts." 
 
 When Luther was still an infant his parents went to live at 
 Mansfeld, and having before been a peasant, the father became a 
 miner ; very poor at first, he by industry and management so rose 
 in his sphere of life, that his neighbours elected him a member of 
 the town council. He bought a house and two furnaces, and left 
 behind him above iJ'200 in money. His faith was equal to his 
 diligence, and in his last moments he said to his pastor, " Sir, that 
 must be a poor creature who has not the soul to believe in God 
 and His mercy." It is reported that on account of his skill in the 
 arts of mining he stood high in the estimation of Gunther, Count 
 of Mansfeld. 
 
 I had a ramble about the town of Eisleben before commencing 
 my examination of the Luther shrines. It was market day. An 
 open space, girdled by quaint buildings, was crowded with people 
 buying and selling vegetables, the bright colours of which are 
 always agreeable accessories in pictures of foreign life. But not 
 vegetables only ; pigeons, geese, fowls, pigs, all alive and 
 struggling, changed hands after earnest bargain-making ; hardware 
 and divers other articles also were disposed of to numerous 
 customers. There are a good many curious houses in Eisleben, 
 especially in what is called the Breiter Weg, one with a Renaissance 
 porch dated 1580, another built in the year 1574, presenting an 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 oriel window full of elaborate ornaments. The subject is the Fall. 
 There are painted figures in relief of Adam and Eve — of God 
 taking the woman from the side of the man — of the tree of know- 
 ledge, the serpent coiling round it — and of the guilty pair driven 
 out of Paradise by the avenging angel. The whole composition 
 shows how, at that time in Germany, a taste for religious signs 
 and emblems in domestic architecture still prevailed ; and over 
 fhe door is seen inscribed the noble passage from the Book of 
 Job, " I know that my "Redeemer liveth." 
 
 Just opposite the church of St. Andrew there stands a dwelling 
 with an ogive arch over the door ; the date inscribed is 1 500. 
 Luther as a lad might have seen the workmen employed on the 
 scaffolding as they built the walls. 
 
 The first object of interest in connection with the Reformer 
 is the house where he was born. It stands at the top of the street 
 which bears his name, and is soon reached on leaving the railway 
 station. The house was partly burnt years ago, and was restored 
 in 1 817, but the lower portion inside remains unaltered. It has a 
 modern entrance surmounted by a badly executed bust, enclosed 
 in a frame with the following inscription : — 
 
 "In this house Dr. Martin Luther was born, the loth of 
 November, 1483. God's word is Luther's lore ; which abides for 
 evermore." 
 
 The building is uninhabited and unfurnished, and at the back 
 of it is a school-house, where I found boys busy with their lessons. 
 The custodian is connected with the school, and he manifested no 
 little interest in the Reformer's story as he led me through the 
 house. I entered a kind of hall with a damp stone pavement, 
 where my attention was directed to some miserable daubs on the 
 walls. To the left is a room containing portraits of Luther and 
 Melancthon ; also an older picture of the former, said to have been 
 in the house before the fire. There is another painting, in which 
 he appears in the act of ordination, and there is a wood carving of 
 
BIRTH-PLACE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 
 iXhe third house on the right-hand side.') 
 
EISLEBEN, IN SAXONY. 
 
 him and his wife Catherine ; in the middle of the room stands a 
 table bearing the figure of a swan, and a small iron box. These 
 are pronounced veritable relics connected with the Reformer ; the 
 swan is said to have been the favourite ornament of his study. 
 When these objects had been duly pointed out, my cicerone, in 
 reply to the question, " Is this the room in which Luther was 
 born } " exclaimed emphatically, " Yes, and here in this very corner 
 stood the cradle." Then he proceeded to tell the old story of 
 John and Margaret Luther being on a visit at Eisleben at the 
 time of their son's birth. 
 
 The story is rejected by Dr. Merle d'Aubigne, and by Dr. 
 Sears in his memoir of Martin Luther ; but there is not sufficient 
 evidence to show that the father and mother were residing in the 
 town at the time of the birth of their distinguished boy. Passages 
 cited by the authors just named are not sufficient to support their 
 conclusion. On the other hand, Seckendorf, citing the authority 
 of the superintendent of Eisenach, upholds the tradition of the 
 parents' visit at the time of the boy's birth. It is remarkable that 
 uncertainty not only hangs over t/ieir residence at the time, but 
 also over the year of Ms birth, though no doubt attaches as to 
 the day of the month when it occurred. Michelet, in his life of 
 Luther, gives Melancthon as an authority for the story of the 
 parents attending the fair. His words are — " ' I have often,' says 
 Melancthon, quoted by Audin, ' asked Margaret at what hour of 
 what day it was her son Martin came into the world. She Recol- 
 lected the hour and the day perfectly, but had forgotten the year. 
 She stated that she was brought to bed on the loth of November, 
 at eleven o'clock in the evening, at Eisleben, whither she had 
 gone to buy provisions at the fair that was held every year in that 
 place; and the child was baptized the next day, after the 
 name of the saint whose festival they were celebrating at the 
 time, St. Martin.'" 
 
 If that quotation were accurate it would settle the question, but 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 on consulting Seckendorf, I find in his citation of the passage no 
 words corresponding with those in italics. The statement that 
 Luther's parents were on a visit to Eisleben at the time of holding 
 the fair must be given up, as no fair was held in November. 
 
 There is no reason to doubt the tradition that Luther was born 
 
 LUTHER S FATHER. 
 
 in the house I visited ; but of so large a residence his poor parents 
 could hardly have, been possessors. They might, indeed, have had 
 only a part of the dwelling, the rest being occupied by other 
 tenants. But this is an improbable surmise. Whereas it seems 
 likely enough that these honest people might have friends at 
 Eisenach, in a position superior to their own, and occupying a 
 
EISLEBEN, IN SAXONY. 
 
 33 
 
 much larger house than they themselves could afford ; or they 
 might have had temporary lodgings in the tenement.^ 
 
 There is an old staircase remaining, up which you are conducted 
 to a room where are preserved autograph letters of Luther and 
 Melancthon, two of Luther's rings, medals struck in commemoration 
 
 Luther's mother. 
 
 of his name and work, and a curious painting of Eisleben in the 
 year 1561, from which it appears how much of the town continues 
 just as it was then. 
 
 ^ It seems impossible to decide confidently whether John Luther and his wife were at 
 the time of their son's birth residents in Eisleben or visitors, but I incline to the latter 
 alternative. Certainly they )vere residents afterwards, at least for a short time. 
 
14 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Close to the house in which he was born is the church in which 
 he was baptized. It is dedicated to St. Peter, and though of no 
 architectural pretension has an arched roof well ribbed and 
 groined. Altogether the structure is in pretty good preservation. 
 Baptized on the day dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, the boy 
 took his name ; aijd the identical stone font used for the purpose 
 remains, the pedestal only having been renewed. 
 
 Schliisselburg states — according to the description of Koenig's 
 pictorial life of Luther — " he had heard from Luther's relations 
 that his father would often pray aloud and fervently, by the cradle 
 of his boy, that God would grant him His grace ; so that bearing 
 in mind his name {lauter, pure), he might labour for the propagation 
 of pure doctrine. This bears the mark of a story modified at 
 least by subsequent events, but agrees well with what we know of 
 Hans Luther's character." 
 
 Portraits of Hans or John Luther and his wife hang over the 
 church door on the side next to the tenement where the boy first 
 saw the light ; and one can fancy the miner with his thin cheeks, 
 and with eyes and nose like his son's, entering the sacred edifice 
 to dedicate to God the babe, of whose marvellous career he little 
 dreamed. Martin received his name the day after his birth ; the 
 mother would some short time afterwards have come to the sacred 
 edifice to give thanks for her deliverance, and while engaged in 
 that act might appear to bystanders very much like any market 
 or mining fraii, whom I had seen just before, passing by in the 
 primitive costume of the locality. Her maiden name had been 
 Margaret Lindemann ; and she was a " virtuous, chaste. God- 
 fearing girl," originally a servant at the baths in the town, of 
 Mohra, not far from Eisenach ; and in the same place lived 
 Hans, her future husband. 
 
 When they had removed to Mansfeld, and their child had 
 become a boy fit for school, it was there that he received his 
 education, in some building long since destroyed. It is probably to 
 
EISLEBEN, IN SAXONY. 15 
 
 this period that Luther refers in one of his touching reminiscences, 
 when he speaks of " my good old friend Nicholas Oemler, who more 
 than once carried me in his arms to school and back again when I 
 was a little boy, neither of us then knowing that one brother-in-law 
 was carrying another in his arms." Oemler married one of Martin's 
 sisters. 
 
 But Luther's education was still more efficiently carried on 
 amidst the hills and dales, the woods and streams of a pleasant 
 region lying on the edge of the Harz country, into which a boy 
 of his extraordinary enterprise would be sure to penetrate. At 
 fourteen years of age he went to Magdeburg to enjoy higher 
 advantages ; and it is said that he and a young companion, named 
 Hans Reinicke, trudged northward with knapsacks on their backs, 
 sticks in their hands, and great tears rolling down their cheeks, to 
 seek a new home and better schooling in the great German city, 
 where, in order to pay for board and lessons, they obtained money 
 by singing chorales under the burghers' windows. 
 
 St. Andrew's Church at Eisleben is situated in the middle of 
 the town, near the market-place. It is a Gothic building with 
 three towers, and is externally very uninteresting. There is, 
 however, a mural slab close to one of the doors, representing a 
 family at the ffjot of the cross, and bearing the date of 1540. 
 This takes us into the last decade of the Reformer's life, and 
 must have been fresh from the workman's chisel a little while 
 before the Reformer's death. The interior was adapted at that 
 time to Lutheran worship, and still remains so. It has a 
 large altar-piece, earlier than the Reformation, in carved wood, 
 painted and gilded, exhibiting Christ and the Virgin. Also it 
 possesses old portraits and new busts of Luther and Melancthon, 
 the latter having been presented to the church either by the late 
 King or by the present Emperor. But the chief object of interest 
 is an old pulpit ; it has a sounding-board, and is hung with an 
 embroidered cloth, worked by a Mansfeld Countess in Luther's day ; 
 
1 6 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 it also retains an hour-glass on the right hand, to mete out the 
 length of the sermon. In this pulpit Luther preached just before 
 his death. He took his text from Matt. xi. 25 — 30, and closed 
 with the words, "This and much more may be said from the 
 passage, but I am too weak ; here we will stop." The pulpit is 
 used only three times a year, on high festivals. Another just by 
 serves for common occasions. 
 
 Immediately opposite to this church is a house bearing this 
 inscription — "In this house Dr. Martin Luther died, the i8th of 
 February, 1546." Of course I knocked at the door and sought 
 admission. A little damsel presently appeared and proceeded to 
 show what was to be seen, and in the performance of her duty was 
 pleasantly loquacious. The entrance hall is large,^ and the oak 
 timbers of the roof are as old as the house. Beyond in the 
 kitchen and other domestic apartments I observed arched roofs, 
 giving the appearance of something beyond a common residence. 
 A winding staircase of stone, such as you may see in a belfry 
 or a convent, conducts to two rooms, hallowed by the Reformer's 
 last moments. One is a sitting-room, wainscotted all over, but 
 without any furniture. The wainscot has been restored, but the 
 little maid assured me the timbers and the rest of the woodwork 
 were substantially the same as in 1546. It shows good taste and 
 right feeling to leave the room empty, that the visitor may 
 have nothing to distract his thoughts whilst nmsing upon the 
 scene where Luther received his death-stroke, and paced up and 
 down the floor in extreme pain, uttering pious exclamations, 
 gathered up by admiring biographers. 
 
 Here he was with his three sons and Justus Jonas. Here, 
 his host, named Albrecht, and his good wife, waited on him. 
 
 ^ In the accounts of Luther's last days at Eisleben mention is made of the great hall 
 where the company transacted business and took their meals, as well as of his own 
 private apartment. The hall of the house described may have been originally still larger 
 than it is now. 
 
EISLEBEN, IN SAXONY. i? 
 
 Hence he went, before his seizure, to preach in St. Andrew's 
 Church, on the fourth, fifth, and sixth Sundays after Epiphany, and 
 to ordain two young ministers, to whom the picture in the room 
 where he was born undoubtedly refers. Here he examined and 
 revised the ecclesiastical regulations just drawn up for the county 
 of Mansfeld by Casper Guttell. Here he also carried on daily 
 conversation with visitors, both friends and strangers, and wrote 
 many letters, of which several are preserved. 
 Let us copy an extract or two.^ 
 
 From those addressed to his wife — " Dear Catherine, we are 
 terribly annoyed here in one way and another, and would willingly 
 return home, but I think we shall have to remain a week longer." 
 He here alludes to the family quarrels he had come to settle 
 amongst his noble friends, and then goes on to say, " Master Philip 
 Melancflion, you may tell from me, would do well to revise his 
 notes on the Gospel, for he does not seem, in writing them, to 
 have rightly understood why our Lord in the parable called riches 
 thorns. This is the school in which we really learn these things." 
 The riches of the Mansfeld Counts troubled their peace, and 
 pierced them with many sorrows. " The Scripture throughout 
 threatens these thorns with eternal flames ; this at once alarms, 
 and gives me patience, for I must exercise my strength in settling 
 this matter by God's help." 
 
 To his wife, troubled on his account, he writes again, — " Dear 
 Catherine, thou shouldst read St. John, and what the little cate- 
 chism says about the confidence we ought to have in God. Thou 
 afflictest thyself as if God were not almighty, and able to raise up 
 ten Dr.Martins if old Dr. Martin were to be drowned in the Saale." 
 The reference is to perils he had passed through in crossing 
 the river at Halle. 
 
 " There is One who takes care of me in His own way better than 
 
 1 The letters quoted in this volume are translated from Dr. Martin Luther's Briefe 
 edited by De Wette. Berlin, 1827. 
 
 C 
 
iS HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 thou and all the angels could ever do. He sits by the side of the 
 almighty Father. Therefore rest in peace. Amen. I had in- 
 tended this very day to depart in anger," so vexed was he with 
 the business which had brought him to Eisleben, "but the affliction 
 in which I see my native place involved still detains me. Would 
 you believe it? I have become a lawyer. I doubt, however, 
 whether I shall do much good in that line. It is better that 
 I should remain a theologian. It were a great blessing for 
 those people if I could succeed in humbling their pride. They 
 speak and act as if they were gods, but I fear they will become 
 devils if they persevere in their present course, like Lucifer, 
 who was too proud longer to remain in heaven." 
 
 Better news followed. " My sweet wife, Catherine Luther von 
 Bora, we hope to come home this week if it please God. God has 
 given us great grace in this business. The Lords have come to an 
 agreement upon all the points in dispute except two or three, and 
 amongst other great ends accomplished is the reconciliation of 
 Count Gebhard and Count Albert.. I am to dine with them to- 
 day, and will endeavour befoi'e we separate to make them brothers 
 again. The young men are gay, they, drive the ladies out in 
 sledges, and make the horse-bells ring merrily." The reference 
 suggests what the appearance of the hills and valleys about Eisleben 
 and Mansfeld must have been that winter. Snow on the ground, 
 ice on the stream, frost in the air, the bright sun shining down upon 
 the country side shrouded in white : — then we hear the clatter of 
 hoofs, the tinkling of bells, and the merry laugh of country lords 
 and ladies. " I send some trout," he genially adds, " trout that 
 Countess Albert has sent me. This lady is full of joy at seeing 
 peace restored to her family. There is a rumour current that the 
 Emperor is advancing to Westphalia, and that the French and the 
 Landgrave are enlisting lanzkncchts. Let them go on with their 
 news — true or false, it matters little which ; we will wait to see 
 what God will do." 
 
EISLEBEN, IN SAXON V. 19 
 
 These letters were written on the 6th, 7th, and 14th of the 
 month. 
 
 The incidents connected with Luther's death are carefully re- 
 corded by those who attended on him, and, together with his letters, 
 show his extraordinary activity up to the very close of life. " Shall 
 I be found idle when my Master comes .' " asked John Calvin, as 
 he was warned against overwork by those who witnessed his 
 failing strength ; and in like manner his German helper and pre- 
 decessor laboured earnestly in the Lord's vineyard down to the 
 hour when sunset put an end to a long day's toil. 
 
 Next to the sitting-room is a sleeping-room, where we are told 
 Dr. Martin died. Like the other room, it remains unfurnished ; and 
 here it was that he gave the emphatic " Yes, yes! " to the inquiry, 
 " Do you die trusting in Christ and in the doctrine which you 
 have preached ? " 
 
 More than three centuries have passed away since that great 
 spirit quitted the scenes and employments of earthly existence to 
 enter into the unveiled presence of his blessed Lord ; but the tran- 
 sition of that moment when time merged in eternity, and his noblest 
 aspirations and hopes attained accomplishment, seems to reveal 
 itself as one paces the apartment. What makes a visit to Eisleben 
 the more affecting is that the two ends of Luther's life come 
 together in this little mining town. We see him at once entering 
 and leaving a world of work and warfare. The baby sleeping in 
 the cradle at the corner of the room near St. Peter's Church, uncon- 
 scious of the wonderful life it had begun to live, how near it lies 
 to the weary, struggling, victorious man, full of care, sorrow, and 
 pain, not for himself but others, in the house under the shadow 
 of St. Andrew's ! — ikere the streamlet bubbling from the fountain, 
 /lere the river pouring into the sea. 
 
 As I walked through the streets the shade of our hero was 
 seen everywhere, and the buildings existing in his time, on which 
 his eyes must often have fallen, became so many mementos of 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 his life and times. One incident is vividly recalled, as related 
 in his "Table Talk." "When I was young it happened that I was 
 taking part in my priest's habit in a procession on Corpus Christi 
 Day at Eisleben. All at once the sight of the holy sacrament, 
 borne by Dr. Staupitz, so terrified me, that I perspired at every 
 pore, and thought I should die with fear. When the procession 
 was over I confessed to Dr. Staupitz, and related what had 
 happened to me. He replied, ' Thy thoughts are not according to 
 Christ — Christ does not terrify. He consoles! These words filled me 
 with joy, and were a great relief to my mind." Luther, in his early 
 days, as monk and priest, was superstitious and ignorant, but 
 never careless and indifferent ; and in this and many other in- 
 stances the intensity of his religious sensibilities becomes apparent. 
 Corpus Christi Day was in times before the Reformation, as it 
 is still in Roman Catholic countries, one of the most imposing 
 festivals of the year. No doubt it was marked at Eisleben by a 
 grand procession in the streets, with crosses, banners, candles, 
 and images ; priests in richly embroidered vestments, and acolytes 
 draped in white, marched along with slow and solemn step ; 
 whilst citizens lined the thoroughfare, and mothers and maidens 
 from tapestried windows looked down upon the grand display. 
 All this reappears as, with Luther's " Table Talk " in remem- 
 brance, you wander through the streets of this Saxon town. 
 
 There is one more object of interest at Eisleben. On the 
 north side of St. Andrew's Church, and exactly opposite to the 
 house in which Luther died, stands a large, heavy, unpicturesque 
 building, with a Latin inscription over the doorway, indicating its 
 connection with Luther, and stating that it was founded by the 
 Counts of Mansfeld in 1S46 ; and — after being burnt and rebuilt, 
 and then falling into decay, — was restored by Frederic William IV. 
 in 1846. 
 
 The fateful edifice is traced back to the sixteenth century, 
 and is found to be one of the gymnasiums which Luther was 
 
EISLEBEN, IN SAXONY. 
 
 SO anxious to have established for the benefit of his country- 
 men. His zeal for education was equalled only by his zeal for 
 the purification and prosperity of God's Church. The school, no 
 less than the pulpit and the printing-press, was an instrument 
 in his hands for the reformation of religion and the welfare 
 of human souls. Education had sunk into a deplorable state 
 when Luther was a boy. A little monkish Latin, a little arithmetic, 
 a little music, a little logic, and a little grammar, constituted the 
 common curriculum ; and the whole was conducted by eccle- 
 siastics, and by assistants called bacchantes — a set of strolling 
 youths candidates for clerical offices, who wandered from place 
 to place to sell for a piece of bread what modicum of knowledge 
 they had been able to obtain. Luther caustically remarked that 
 monks and canons divided pay with the poor schoolmaster, as 
 the beggar did who promised to share equally with the Church 
 the half of what he received, and then gave the outward half of 
 nuts and the inner half of dates for pious uses, consuming the 
 remainder himself Experience taught him that educational 
 reforms were as much needed in Germany as ecclesiastical ones ; 
 and in 1524 he addressed the Saxon common councils on behalf 
 of new academies. His efforts took effect in his native town, and 
 the flourishing gymnasium within the walls of the building just 
 noticed, supported out of the revenues of a monastery which 
 originally occupied the spot, is the fruit of his wise and far-seeing 
 counsels. 
 
 The school seemed to be in good working order, — the youths 
 looked bright and intelligent, the masters were steady at their 
 posts ; and when the hour of tasks and the sounds of song were 
 over, out rushed the strapping boys to gather round the English 
 stranger, who stood outside copying the inscription over the 
 entrance door. The position of the building, near the church 
 where Luther preached, near the house where Luther died, seemed 
 to me most appropriate and significant of his great life mission 
 
22 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 — to convert the old, and, better still, to train the young. The 
 Lutheran system of education includes higher and lower schools. 
 The gymnasium is for elder lads ; elsewhere in the town of 
 Eisleben I met with seminaries for younger children, boys and 
 girls ; very amusing it was to watch them, with satchels on their 
 shoulders, wending their way in the morning before breakfast to 
 begin their work ; and as they ran up the steps of the school- 
 house their merry tricks and ringing laugh indicated that the 
 duty awaiting them within, promised pleasure rather than pain. 
 
III. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ] SENAC H. 
 
 ISEKACH, where Luther went to school after 
 he left Mansfeld, I have visited more than 
 once ; and a right pleasant town it is — 
 quaint in its architecture ; dreamy, on a 
 summer's day, in its narrow, winding, 
 intersecting streets, full of comfortable- 
 looking German homes and odd little 
 German shops ; very spacious in its market-place ; 
 very inviting in its hotels and landlords — furnishing, 
 as they do, cosy apartments and wholesome fare ; 
 above all, pleasant for situation, the joy of the duchy 
 of Weimar, and the entrance gate to the great forest 
 of Thuringia, which for wooded hills and picturesque 
 towns and villages, in my opinion, stands unrivalled. 
 Of the charming scenery round about the town I shall have 
 more to say hereafter. At present I confine myself to the town. 
 
 Leaving the Leipzig line of railway, you enter Eisenach 
 through the oldest building in the neighbourhood, the Nicolaithurm,^ 
 a gateway having a Roman appearance, which might give rise to 
 divers researches and speculations on the part of an archaeological 
 topographer. But we are simply on the track of Martin Luther ; 
 so we pass under the shadow of the old arch with only one 
 remark, that through it the boy Martin passed when he was about 
 
26 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 fifteen years old. We think we see him running along at a brisk 
 pace, humming the tune of a German choral, dressed as a 
 peasant lad, with big dusty shoes, but with a face of no common 
 order — that nose and mouth indicating nobility and decision, and 
 those great eyes revealing far-seeing thoughts and flashing with 
 purest affection — the lofty brow being surmounted by a head of 
 thinnish, crispy hair, which the young urchin, cap in hand, exposes 
 to the freshening breeze. The boy is brave, yet withal just a little 
 shy, for his exuberant spirits have been damped by too severe 
 discipline. '■ Once," he says, " did my father beat me so sharply, 
 that I fled away from him, and was angry against him, till by 
 diligent endeavour he gained me back." " Once did my mother, 
 for a small nut, beat me till the blood flowed." There was more 
 behind, in the case of this remarkable boy, to account for any 
 depression which weighed down his buoyant soul. From his 
 childhood he was trained so as to turn pale with terror at the 
 name of Christ, for he was taught to think of Him as an angry 
 Judge, sitting on a rainbow, needing to have His wrath pacified 
 by the intercession of the Virgin Mary. 
 
 In Eisenach market-place stands St. George's Church, originally 
 a Gothic structure, but now so disfigured that it would be difficult 
 to pronounce to what style of architecture it belongs. The exte- 
 rior is ugly. The roof is full of dormer windows. Within are four 
 galleries, to provide for which the columns have been mangled in 
 a distressing manner. The roof is hidden by a plaster ceiling. 
 There is an elaborate pulpit, and on the walls are monuments 
 containing portraits in oil, one surmounted by a suit of armour. 
 Nothing indicates the appearance of the church in Luther's time, 
 beyond the barest outline. On two Sundays, in different years, 
 when I worshipped there, congregations of considerable size 
 assembled, but they were not large enough to fill all the pews 
 of the spacious edifice. 
 
 To this church, in the sixteenth century, was attached a 
 
EISENACH. 
 
 parochial school — one of three in the town — for the education 
 of boys, but this was distinguished from the rest by supeiuor 
 advantages for the acquisition of the Latin language. Luther's 
 mother was connected with a family near Eisenach, and by that 
 means he was introduced to this superior place of instruction, 
 where a master named Trebonius, eminent in his profession, im- 
 bued his boys with the rudiments of learning, and, not knowing 
 how prophetic his words were, was wont to say, with the pride of 
 a pedagogue, " Among these boys are burgomasters, chancellors, 
 doctors, and magistrates." No doubt within the walls of St. 
 George's Church the lad from Mansfeld often entered when mass 
 was to be said ; there he listened, and there he sang, ignorant that 
 he was destined to uproot the Roman Catholic system in his 
 native land, to introduce a plain but touching, psalmody through- 
 out its towns and villages, and to inaugurate such preaching as 
 flows from the lips of evangelical clergymen in gowns and bands, 
 so iinlike the gorgeously apparelled priests whom he reverenced 
 profoundly in his schoolboy days. 
 
 Martin had a good voice, and loved singing. It was the 
 fashion in those days for boys to wander about the country 
 entertaining, perhaps annoying, quiet people with their shrill and 
 oftentimes not tuneful voices. Before our young friend came to 
 Eisenach he was wont to exercise his vocal gifts in the usual way. 
 At Christmas-time he would with other lads go the round of 
 the village homesteads singing Bethlehem carols. One day they 
 came to the hut of a peasant, who shouted, " Where are you, 
 boys?" at the same time stepping out of his door with German 
 sausages in his hand. The choristers were so terrified that they . 
 scampered off; and Luther mentions the incident to illustrate the 
 terror which crushed the souls of poor little fellows when he was 
 young. 
 
 Martin was poor — very poor. Afterwards, indeed, as already 
 mentioned, his father attained to a superior position, and became a 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 magistrate of the town of Mansfeld ; hut in these earlier days he 
 was a hard-working miner, delving for ore ; his wife being such a 
 drudge as to carry fagots of wood on her shoulders. Martin often 
 talked of this when he had attained to eminence, as great men are 
 wont to talk of a humble origin, if God has raised them in the 
 world. There can be no more contemptible mark of littleness 
 than a vain endeavour to hide from the world early lowliness and 
 poverty ; the lower the ground, the nobler the leap which springs 
 above it. 
 
 "I have been," says Luther, "a beggar of crumbs, and have 
 taken my bread at the door, especially in Eisenach, my favourite 
 town. . . . Though I have been a beggar of bread, I have 
 prospered so far forth with the pen, that I would not exchange my 
 art for all the wealth of the Turkish empire. . . . Yet I should 
 not have attained thereunto, had I not gone to school and given 
 myself to the business of writing. Therefore," he adds, " doubt 
 not to put your boy to study ; and if he must needs beg' his 
 bread, you nevertheless give unto God a noble piece of timber, 
 whereof He will carve a great man." 
 
 Singing elsewhere prepared Luther to sing at Eisenach ; and 
 so closely is the town connected with his choral street-songs, that 
 in thinking of it at this moment I seem to hear it echo with the 
 voices of clustering youngsters on the steps of kind-hearted 
 burghers at Christmastide, as they peep through an open door 
 at the sparkling Christmas-tree, and accept the pfennige and 
 groschen clapped in their tiny palms. 
 
 One afternoon, as I was rambling at the back of St. George's 
 Church, a travelling companion, more zealous than myself, just 
 then in search for Lutheran relics, said, with no small satis- 
 faction, that she had discovered Luther's house. I must confess 
 that at the moment a shade of scepticism crossed my mind, and I 
 remarked, " Luther never could have had a house of his own at 
 Eisenach, for he was, whilst living here, but a poor singing-boy." 
 
FRAU URSULA COTTA SHOWS HOSPITALITY TO YOUNG LUTHER. 
 From the Painting of Prof . Lindenschinidt. 
 
EISENACH. 31 
 
 However, I soon saw how the matter stood ; and what was my 
 delight upon actually finding the very threshold where Luther had 
 poured his chorals into the ears of good Frau Ursula Cotta ! He 
 and his merry party, as the story goes, sang at the doors of three 
 houses in George Street without obtaining a single pfennig, and 
 then reached the door-steps of Conrad Cotta, where, recognised as 
 a boy whom Conrad's wife had noticed at church for his sweet voice 
 and devout behaviour, he was invited indoors by the warm-hearted 
 dame. She bestowed on him a gratuity, and soon began to treat 
 him as a son, nourishing and comforting him by her snug iireside ; 
 and so she unwittingly laid the foundation of her own world-wide 
 fame, — for wherever the gospel of the Reformation is preached, 
 that which this woman hath done shall be told for a memorial of 
 her. She is to be classed with the widow of Sarepta and with 
 the Shunammite wife ; and as I can never forget a lunch and siesta 
 enjoyed years ago in a little garden linked to the name of the 
 last-mentioned mother in Israel — a garden flashing with brilliant 
 pomegranate blossoms, on the side of the Plain of Jezreel opposite 
 to Carmel, — so neither shall I ever forget coming unexpectedly 
 upon the house of Ursula Cotta in the town of Eisenach. 
 
 In reference to the schoolboy having been the guest of a 
 benevolent lady, Dr. Waddington, in his " History of the Reforma- 
 tion on the Continent," ingeniously remarks that he " was in this 
 respect more fortunate than the most formidable among the future 
 adversaries of his doctrine, Ignatius Loyola, whom the same 
 necessity compelled to persist for a much longer time, and at a 
 much later period of life in the same practice." It is interesting to 
 remember that, in after life, Luther seized the opportunity of 
 repaying the kindness of his hostess, when Dame Ursula's son 
 went to study at the University of Wittenberg, a circumstance 
 skilfully interwoven into the " Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta 
 Family." 
 
 The house at Eisenach now referred to bears Luther's name ; 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 part of it has been turned into a shop, where is sold a little 
 pamphlet, containing a rude woodcut, with a curious history of 
 the building. It appears to have been occupied by an order 
 of German knights since Luther's time : memorials of which 
 circumstance remain in rude bas-reliefs and Biblical inscriptions. 
 
 Two or three years ago Luther's name had not been placed over 
 the door ; I was told no relics of him were preserved within. But 
 on my last visit I found it had become a show house, and a party 
 of us were conducted up a dark old staircase on the left-hand 
 side round the corner, to a room leading into another apartment, 
 through a door of lattice-work. The woman who showed the 
 house maintained that Luther slept in the inner room when a boy. 
 In answer to inquiries as to the authority for such a statement, she 
 averred that the Grand Duke supported it, and approved of the 
 room being shown, which he would not do, she naively remarked, 
 if the tradition were not correct. There is no resisting this. 
 
 In the printed account of the house Luther is connected with 
 it through the hospitality of Frau Cotta ; but in a guide-book to 
 Eisenach and the Wartburg the house is more positively associated 
 with the boy than with the lady, though how he could ever have 
 lived there, except as her guest, is incomprehensible. We may 
 then conclude that in some apartment of this rambling abode 
 Luther dwelt; and from other traditions we may suppose that 
 there he learned to play on the flute, and acquired that knowledge 
 of music which, added to his original genius, made him a dis- 
 tinguished master of sacred melody. 
 
 Just by this house, at the back of St. George's Church, is a 
 huge building, used as a brewery, said to have been originally the 
 school-house in which Luther was taught as a boy, under the 
 sway of Master Trebonius. 
 
 Nor is Eisenach associated with Luther's boyhood alone. 
 Here he paused on his journey to Worms in the year 1521. He 
 was taken ill before he left the town, and did not wholly recover 
 
THE LDTHER HOUSE, EISENACH. 
 
EISENACH. 35 
 
 until he reached the city of Frankfort, whence he wrote to 
 Spalatin on the 14th of April, saying how Satan had endeavoured 
 to hinder him by more diseases than one ; for, as he states, "all 
 the way from Eisenach I was ill, and am still so, more than I ever 
 was before." 
 
 Another and much more memorable visit to Eisenach was paid 
 by Luther after his appearance at the Diet of Worms, and just 
 before his residence in the Wartburg — each of which important 
 incidents will be noticed hereafter. The visits to Eisenach now 
 referred to occurred in the months of April and May, 1521 ; and 
 it was upon the second visit, as he was returning from Worms, 
 with a brighter halo of heroism round his brows than he had ever 
 worn before, that his old friends besought him to preach. In com- 
 pliance with their request, but in spite of a formal protest made by 
 the parish priest, he ascended the pulpit of St. George's Church — 
 the church where he had worshipped as a boy and attracted the 
 notice of that kind-hearted parishioner, Frau Cotta — and addressed 
 a crowded congregation, in which were many who, inclined to 
 look amicably on the preacher and prepossessed in favour of the 
 Reformation, were captivated by the force of his arguments and 
 impressed by the pungency of his appeals. At the close of the 
 sermon, the priest approached the Reformer, and begged pardon 
 for having made a protest against his preaching, and avowed 
 he had done so from fear of tyrants who were oppressing the 
 Church. 
 
 Eisenach is still further associated with Luther through its 
 being the residence of his staunch friend, Nicholas von Amsdorf, 
 who zealously maintained the Reformer's views with such an 
 amount of exaggeration, that he might be said to have been more 
 Lutheran than Luther himself Amsdorf lived in the Prediger 
 Gasse, on the way to the Wartburg, No. 331. Here he died in the 
 year 1565. His violence and indiscretion involved him in mani- 
 fold difficulties, and he sought refuge with the young Duke of 
 
36 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Saxe-Weimar, calling himself Exul Christi — an exile for Christ. 
 The elector, John Frederick, was his patron, and transferred 
 him, after leaving Magdeburg, to the place of his final abode. 
 He attended the elector in his dying hours, preached his funeral 
 sermon, retained the friendship of his sons, and, amongst the 
 later acts of his chequered life, superintended the Jena edition 
 of Luther's works. He survived him nearly twenty years, having, 
 by an interesting coincidence, been born in 1483 — the date of 
 the birth of his illustrious friend. 
 
 As the castle of the Wartburg, where Luther spent some of the 
 most important months of his after life, crowns a charming hill to 
 the south of the town, further associated memories of him meet us 
 in this place. But we defer for the present the Wartburg portion 
 of his story ; though here we cannot help remembering that, as 
 " Junker Georg," he would most likely steal into the streets of his 
 dear Eisenach — " meine Hebe Stadt," as he was wont to call it — 
 and think of God's wonderful providence in leading "the blind by 
 a way they knew not." 
 
 A later reminiscence of Eisenach must not be omitted. 
 " Rather more than half a century ago, in the year 1817 " (says 
 a daily journal), " a young Swiss student of theology set out from 
 his native town of Geneva to enter himself at the University of 
 Leipzig. He had no sooner crossed the German frontier than he 
 found that a great movement was preparing among the people. 
 On every side there was hurrying to and fro — enthusiasm, excite- 
 ment, and suspense. At Frankfort the stranger ascertained, upon 
 inquiry, that the forthcoming event was nothing less than the third 
 centenary jubilee of the Reformation, about to take place in the 
 great square of Eisenach, at the foot of the Wartburg Castle. In 
 the town itself all the youths of the German universities were to 
 meet some days before the actual celebration, in honour of the 
 memory of Luther ; and to Eiseiiach, accordingly, the Genevese 
 student directed his steps. Night and day he travelled to arrive 
 

 
 1^1 III i' 
 
 
EISENACH. 39 
 
 there in time, and at eight o'clock on the morning of the festival 
 he was set down in the centre of the scene which his heart was 
 bent upon witnessing. A crowd of students, dressed in costumes 
 the most fantastic, filled the place. ' My designation,' wrote the 
 young enthusiast many years later, ' as a Genevese student imme- 
 diately opened to me the gate of that old castle in which the 
 Reformation had been held captive in the person of its principal 
 leader. But, alas ! what called forth the enthusiasm of these young 
 men was far less the faith of Luther than the reveries of demagogues. 
 As for me, I beheld only the monk of Worms within the place of 
 his captivity, and the idea of the Reformer took a powerful hold 
 of my mind. I attended divine service in the church of Eisenach, 
 and afterwards celebrated at Leipzig the festival of the jubilee 
 itself. Wherever I went, memorials of the Reformation welcomed 
 me, the bells rang out merrily, troops of students were singing, 
 and the people were rejoicing. It was then I formed the design 
 of writing the history of that great renovation.' " 
 
 The young Genevese was Merle d'Aubign^, who passed away 
 to his rest, October 21, 1872 ; and the literary work which the 
 spectacle at Eisenach suggested was the " History of the Reforma- 
 tion," in which the author has done so much to embalm with 
 sweetest fragrance the name and deeds of Martin Luther. 
 
IV. 
 
 Erfurt, 
 The Capital of Old T 
 
 HURINGIA. 
 
 fa IIE history of this place runs back to the 
 days of Charlemagne. Being on one of 
 the grand highways of Gerrnany — that 
 which connected Italy with the Baltic — it 
 early became a scene of traffic and barter, 
 and rose to the distinction of a town incor- 
 porated in the famous Hanseatic League 
 Pirates by sea and robbers by land in unsettled 
 times rendered some combination of interests 
 among mercantile cities, along important lines of 
 communication, essential to their safety and suc- 
 cess ; and Erfurt, protected and patronized by 
 this primitive bond of commercial union, drove 
 a thriving trade in the silks and the spices, the 
 wools and the wares, which in waggons and on 
 pack-horses passed through its ancient gates. 
 Signs of its importance remain in its extensive and imposing forti- 
 fications ; its numerous public buildings, seen from a distance, give ' 
 the traveller an idea of former if not present prosperity ; and its 
 manufactures of various sorts continue to keep up some little 
 amount of its mediaeval reputation. 
 
ERFURT, THE CAPITAL OF OLD THURINGIA. 43 
 
 It is many years ago since I first saw this interesting place ; 
 and I well remember the impression made by a ramble in its old- 
 fashioned, quaint-looking streets. Differing from Eisenach in 
 locality — for Eisenach stands at the foot of a fine mountain range 
 adorned with woods, and Erfurt is built on a wide-spread plain, 
 fruitful in hemp, flax, and oil seeds — it also differs from it in the 
 general appearance of its thoroughfares ; for whereas Eisenach is 
 only near a small river, the Gera runs through the midst of Erfurt, 
 and the stranger who crosses its little bridges will pause to glean 
 amusement from curious vistas formed by overhanging houses, 
 rickety landing-places, and dirty tan-yards on either side the run- 
 ning stream. The Dom, or cathedral, once belonging to a bishop, 
 a highly ornamented building, combining beauty of detail with 
 slenderness of construction, is the principal architectural lion, its 
 portals, altars, and painted glass being well worth the archaeologist's 
 study ; but I have a livelier recollection of the stately church of 
 St. Severus, with its three spires, mounted on a hill, looking " like 
 a direct lineal descendant from the old Roman basilican apse, 
 grown into Grecian tallness." 
 
 There are two squares here — characteristic of German towns ; 
 the fish market, with a statue of Roland ; the general market, with 
 an obelisk in memory of the elector, Frederick Charles Joseph. 
 
 It is easy, putting aside whatever of modern architecture one 
 meets with in Erfurt, to push back our thoughts to the sixteenth 
 century, when the now dull town was bustling with wealthy mer- 
 chants, and crowded with richly laden carts, and packed with 
 temporarily lodged stores, and enlivened by troops of foreigners in 
 varied national costume, and when it possessed another element of 
 social life, novir passed away ; for Erfurt then contained a university 
 with more than a thousand students, of which Luther said, " It 
 was so celebrated a seat of learning that others were as grammar 
 schools compared with it." 
 
 Hither came the miner's son, in the month of July, 1501, to 
 
44 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 avail himself of the educational advantages which Erfurt offered ; 
 and here, from the age of eighteen to the age of twenty-two, the 
 earnest youth might be seen sometimes with a sword at his side, 
 according to the fashion of the day, — devouring Virgil and Cicero, 
 digging into Aristotelian logic, engaging in debate with fellow- 
 students, walking about the streets amongst the merchants and 
 waresmen, or strolling out of the city gates into the pleasant neigh- 
 bourhood of well-wooded hills, meadows, and streams. One spring 
 day, as he took an excursion to the river Holme, through the 
 golden mead, he ran the ungainly fashionable sword into his foot, 
 which brought on consequences of a serious kind. In the prospect 
 of death he commended himself to the Virgin, and used to say 
 afterwards, "Had I then died, I should have died in the faith of 
 the Virgin." 
 
 One incident in his Erfurt life stands out beyond the rest, and 
 has been depicted by an eminent artist with singular force and 
 beauty. You see Luther studying the Bible. It appears that he 
 entered the University of Erfurt in 1501, when he was eighteen 
 years old ; and up to the age of twenty he had never seen an entire ^ 
 Bible, It must have been in the university library that he first laid 
 hold of one. He was surprised to find in it so much more than he 
 had ever read in the Gospels and Epistles prescribed for church use. 
 He remarks, " I was reading a place in Samuel when it was time 
 to go to lecture. I would fain have read the whole book through, 
 but there was not opportunity then." 
 
 Two years afterwards he became a monk in the Augustinian 
 monastery of the same town. " When I entered into the cloister," 
 he narrates, " I called for a Bible, and the brethren gave me one. 
 It was bound in red morocco. I made myself so familiar with it, 
 that I knew on what page and in what place every passage stood." 
 This is his own account — contained, according to Dr. Sears, in a 
 MS. preserved in the library at Saxe-Gotha.^ We have then his 
 
 ^ I have made unsuccessful attempts to verify this quotation ; the librarian at Saxe- 
 
LUTHER'S FIRST STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 
 From the Painting by E. .If. PVard, R,A. 
 
ERFURT, THE CAPITAL OF OLD THVRINGIA. 47 
 
 own authority for distinguishing between a copy of the Bible which 
 he saw at the age of twenty in the university library, and a copy 
 of the Bible which he procured in the Augustinian monastery, 
 when he was twenty-two. The latter book was the one he 
 studied, the " red morocco " cover ever after remaining in his 
 memory ; whilst, as we all are v/ont to do with regard to a famihar 
 volume, he could, in imagination, turn over the pages and tell 
 exactly where particular passages occurred. Luther's own account 
 of this matter is more precise, detailed, and clear than that given 
 by his friend and biographer, Mathesius. Mathesius describes it in 
 the following manner : " Upon a time when Luther was carefully 
 viewing the books one after another, to the end that he might 
 know them that were good, he fell upon a Latin Bible, which he 
 had never before seen in all his life. He marvelled greatly as he 
 noted that more text, or more Epistles and Gospels, were therein 
 contained than^were set forth and explained in the common postils 
 (or homilies) and sermons preached in the churches. In turning 
 over the leaves of the Old Testament he fell upon the history of 
 Samuel, and of his mother Hannah. This did he quickly read 
 through with hearty delight and joy ; and because this was all new 
 to him he began to wish from the bottom of his heart that our faithful 
 God would one day bestow upon him such a book for his own.'' 
 
 It is upon this passage in Mathesius, where the author describes 
 in general terms Luther's first acquaintance with the Bible, and 
 where he mixes up' two incidents which occurred at different times, 
 that Merle d'Aubigne founds his picturesque narrative.' 
 
 Unwarrantable inferences have been drawn from the world- 
 
 Gotha, — to whom my best thanks are due, — having in 'vain endeavoured to find the Ms. 
 But Dr. Sears must have seen the passage. He quotes it in his "Life of Luther," p. 66. 
 ^ " History of the Reformation." Religious Tract Society's Edit., p. 54. I may add 
 that Kdstlin as well as Sears distinguishes between Luther's reading the Bible in the 
 university library and studying it in the university. See "Martin Luther," by Dr. 
 Julius Kostlin, pp. 55, 65. 
 
48 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 known incident now noticed. Some have concluded that scarcely 
 any Bibles were at the time in pi^int, whereas no less than ninety- 
 one editions of the Vulgate are registered in Panzer between the 
 years 1440 and 1500; even a German translation then existed, 
 and was reprinted several times before the close of the fifteenth 
 century. 
 
 Whilst these facts should be borne in mind, they cast no 
 discredit upon Luther's statement, though they reflect upon cer- 
 tain conclusions reached by some modern writers. Copies of the 
 Bible at that period, when reckoned together, appear numerous ; 
 yet after all they would form but a scanty supply for all 
 Germany ; and it is not at all inconsistent with what we know 
 of the industry of German printers, to find that a lad, brought 
 up on the edge of the Harz district, and at the foot of the 
 Thuringian hills, should never have met with an entire copy of 
 the Scriptures until he lighted upon one lying on the shelf of a 
 university library. 
 
 Much of Luther's early religious history is bound up with the 
 Thuringian capital. In a retired road which runs out of Erfurt to 
 a place called Stotterheim, he was overtaken by a thunderstorm ; 
 the lightning struck at his feet and filled him with fear as he pro- 
 ceeded on his journey. Just before, he had lost a friend named 
 Alexis, who, it seems, had been assassinated.' 
 
 Perhaps the electric shock blended its effects with his previous 
 musings. At all events, stunned with terror at what he saw and 
 felt, he uttered a prayer, and made a vow, common in those days, 
 crying out, " Help, beloved St. Anne, and I will straightway 
 become a monk ! " 
 
 He fulfilled his promise. " I forsook," he says, " my parents 
 and kindred, and betook myself, contrary to their will, to the 
 cloister, and put on the cowl." One evening in July, 1505, he 
 
 ^ The supposition is, that he was killed by lightning at Luther's side, but this is a 
 mistake. 
 
ERFURT, THE CAPITAL OF OLD THURINGIA- Si 
 
 invited his university friends to a party in tlie house where he 
 lived, and startled them at the close of the festivity by the solemn 
 declaration, "To-day you see me: after this you will see me no 
 more." He chose the convent of the Augustinian Eremites, and 
 there spent the three following years of his life. 
 
 The convent was dissolved after the Reformation, and became 
 converted into an orphan-house, called Martinsstift, in honour of 
 the most illustrious inmate the building ever held. A fire broke 
 out within the walls some time since, and consumed a considerable 
 portion of the edifice, including a room most attractive to 
 Luther pilgrims. At the time of my first visit the building was in 
 its integrity — a quaint, rambling place, with queer old staircases 
 and long wooden galleries, which blend with reminiscences of 
 certain old London hostelries, such as the Tabard Inn in South- 
 wark. 
 
 A dingy little room, after a lapse of years, reappears with a 
 table and a chair which Luther was said to have used, the 
 Reformer's portrait hanging on the wall, and the Bible he was 
 reported to have studied occupying a place amongst the Protestant 
 relics. People were apt fondly to imagine that the Bible there 
 exhibited was that which young Martin found in the accidental 
 way so often described ; but this supposed what was impos- 
 sible, and an inspection of the book sufficed to show the baseless- 
 ness of the supposition. Around the cell, now destroyed, and the 
 monastery, of which some parts remain, the history of the Re- 
 former closely clusters, during that period when he was truly 
 converted, and became a new creature in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Here it was that he began his novitiate, listening to the prior's 
 words, " We receive you on probation for one year ; and may 
 God, who hath begun a work in you, carry it on unto perfection." 
 After which the brotherhood said Amen, and chanted the " Magna 
 Pater Augustine," Then came the changing a secular dress for the 
 garments of the order, and the young man knelt down as antiphonies 
 
52 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 were sung and the benediction was invoked : " May God, who hath 
 converted this young man from the world, and prepared for him a 
 mansion in heaven, grant that his daily walk may be as becometh 
 his calling, and that he may have cause to be thankful for this 
 day's doings." A fraternal kiss all round in the convent hall 
 finished the ceremony. 
 
 Here Luther took his vow in the second year. The bell was 
 rung, the monks assembled, and the prior, standing before the altar 
 steps, addressed him thus : " You have become acquainted with 
 the severe life of our order, and must now decide whether you will 
 return to the world." This was the reply : " I, brother Martin, do 
 make profession, and promise obedience unto Almighty God, unto 
 Mary,' always a virgin, and unto thee, my brother, the prior of 
 this cloister, to live in poverty and chastity after the rule of St. 
 Augustine until death." A burning taper was put into his hand, 
 prayer was offered by the brethren ; and the initiated, when 
 brought into the choir of the church, received once more the fra- 
 ternal kisses. All was done sincerely and honestly by the young 
 Saxon at the end of his novitiate, "When I was a monk," he 
 wrote, " I was outwardly much holier than now. I kept the vow I 
 had taken with the greatest zeal and diligence, by day and by 
 night, and yet I found no rest, for all the consolations which I drew 
 from my own righteousness and works were ineffectual." " Doubts 
 all the while cleaved to my conscience, and I thought within my- 
 self. Who knoweth whether this is pleasing and acceptable to God 
 or not ? " " Even when I was the most devout, I went as a doubter 
 to the altar, and as a doubter I came away again. If I had made 
 my confession, I was still in doubt ; if upon that I left off prayer, 
 I was again in doubt ; for we were wrapt in the conceit that we 
 could not pray and should not be heard unless we were wholly 
 pure and without sin, Hke the saints in heaven." 
 
 Here it was that Luther performed such menial offices as 
 opening and shutting the convent gates, winding up the clock, 
 
ERFURT, THE CAPITAL OF OLD THURINGIA. 53 
 
 sweeping the church, and cleaning the rooms ; and out of these 
 precincts he went into the streets of Erfurt, with a sack on his 
 back, begging from house to house. 
 
 It is amusing to remember what he says in his "Table 
 Talk " of the rivalry of different orders ; how they ridiculed one 
 another ; how a barefooted friar compared a preaching brother, as 
 it regarded his dress, to a swallow, black on the back and white on 
 the breast ; and how a preaching friar returned the compliment, by 
 comparing, as to begging habits, the barefooted mendicant to a 
 sparrow, which steals and devours. 
 
 Here it was that a brother burst into his cell one morning, 
 because Luther had not opened his door at the usual time, and 
 found him in a deep swoon. The music of the monk's flute 
 restored the sufferer to consciousness and peace, as David's harp 
 chased the evil spirit from Saul, the King of Israel. 
 
 Here it was — and this is most important — that Luther met with 
 John von Staupitz, the Vicar-general of the Augustinians in Thu- 
 ringia. Staupitz was far in advance of his age as regarded the 
 knowledge of Christian truth ; and in this new friend Luther found 
 a spiritual helper of the highest worth, " In vain," said the young 
 monk, "do I make promises to God ; sin is ever the stronger of the 
 two." " Oh, my friend," returned the more experienced officer of 
 the community, " I have vowed more than a thousand times to 
 the holy God to live piously, but never have I kept my vow. 
 Now I have no wish to swear thus any more, for I know that I 
 shall not keep it. If God refuse to be gracious to me for the love 
 of Christ, and to give me a happy exit when called to leave this 
 world, I could not, with all my vows and all my good works, stand 
 before Him. I must perish." "Why will you torment yourself 
 with high thoughts and speculations } Look to the wounds of 
 Jesus Christ ; to the blood which He hath shed for thee : it is 
 there that thou wilt discover the grace of God. Instead of making 
 thyself a martyr for thine offences, cast thyself into thy Redeemer's 
 
54 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 arms. Trust thyself to Him, to the righteousness of His life, 
 to the expiation of His death." 
 
 Here it was that Luther entered upon the office of the priest- 
 hood. He relates with horror the utterance of the charge, " Receive 
 power to offer sacrifice for the living and the dead ; " he felt it 
 a wonder, he vehemently said, that the earth did not open and 
 swallow up both ordainer and ordained ; and even at the time he 
 faltered in the service, and was on the point of rushing from the 
 altar in dismay. The idea of " standing before God without a 
 mediator " struck him with terror, and some one by his side had to 
 prevent his leaving the place. Yet he soon fell in with the ac- 
 customed mode of looking at the ceremony. " I was an unblushing 
 Pharisee ; when I had read mass and said my prayers I put my 
 trust and rested therein. I did not behold the sinner that lay 
 hidden under that cloak, not trusting in the righteousness of God, 
 but in my own ; not giving God thanks for the sacrament, but 
 thinking He must be thankful and well pleased that I offered up 
 His Son to Him ; indeed, reproaching and blaspheming Him." So 
 the matter appeared to Luther after he had abandoned Popery. 
 
 Here it was that further light dawned on his soul. 
 
 " When I began to meditate more diligently upon the words 
 ' righteous ' and ' righteousness of God,' which once made me fear 
 when I heard them, and when I considered the passage in the 
 second chapter of Habakkuk, ' The just shall live by his faith,' and 
 began to learn that- the righteousness which is acceptable to God 
 is revealed without the deeds of the law — from that time how 
 my feelings were changed ! I said to myself. If we are made 
 righteous by faith — if the righteousness which availeth before God 
 saves all who believe therein, — then such declarations ought not 
 to alarm a poor sinner and his timid conscience, but rather be a 
 consolation." Again he remarks, " I had the greatest longing 
 to understand rightly the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, but was 
 always stopped by the word 'righteousness,' in the first chapter 
 
LUTHER, BY ALBERT DURER. 
 
ERFURT, THE CAPITAL OF OLD THURINGIA. 57 
 
 and 17th verse, where Paul says, the righteousness of God is 
 revealed in the gospel. 
 
 " My confused conscience cast me into fits of anger, and I 
 sought day and night to make out Paul's meaning. At last I 
 came to apprehend it thus : Through the gospel is revealed the 
 righteousness which availeth with God ; a righteousness by which 
 God, in His mercy and compassion, justifieth us, as it is written, 
 'The just shall live by faith.' Straightway I felt as if I were born 
 anew ; it was as if I had found the door of paradise thrown wide 
 open. Now I saw the Scriptures in an entirely new light, ran 
 through their whole contents as far as memory would serve, and 
 comparing them together found that the righteousness was surely 
 that by which He makes us righteous, because everything agreed 
 thereto so well. . . . The expression, ' The righteousness of 
 God,' which I so much hated before, became dear and precious, 
 my favourite and most comforting word ; that passage of Paul was 
 to me the true door of paradise." 
 
 Thus a memorable process in his experience began and ended 
 with his Erfurt life. It commenced whilst he was taking a walk 
 in the Stotterheim road ; it reached its completion when he saw 
 the Scriptures in a new light, and could rejoice in the righteousness 
 which is of God by faith. The question has been often debated, 
 When was it that John Wesley, in the course of his long spiritual 
 conflict, might be said to be converted } And the same question 
 might be raised in relation to the apostle Paul, had not artists, as/ 
 well as divines, foreclosed it by giving the name of conversion to 
 the event which occurred on the road to Damascus. From the 
 Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Galatians we learn 
 that there were other initiatory stages in the history of Paul's 
 spiritual life, — first, the three days' darkness in Damascus ; and 
 secondly, the three years' seclusion in Arabia. During that period 
 the apostle was undergoing what he describes in the words, "It 
 pleased God to reveal His Son in me." If his conversion was 
 
58 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 completed by those revelations of light and touches of grace which 
 he received previously to his going up to Jerusalem, where his con- 
 version was apostolically recognised, — it was only begun by that 
 lightning-stroke of Divine power which arrested his steps before 
 the gates of the Syrian capital. Paul's conversion covered a con- 
 siderable space of time ; so did Martin Luther's ; so did Wesley's. 
 We do not think that spiritual renewal can be brought under con- 
 ditions of time and space, such as belong to physical events. It 
 mysteriously proceeds to completion ; and the date when the light 
 breaks and the date when the sun shines forth may stand wide 
 apart : throughout the truth and spirit of God are leading the 
 soul along a path of experimental redemption — perhaps in certain 
 moments leading the blind by a way they know not. 
 
 Erfurt is connected with Luther's history after his career as a 
 Reformer had begun. In the year 1520 he left Wittenberg, then 
 his home, to attend the Diet of Worms, and on his way touched at 
 the town where he had been made monk and priest. Approaching 
 the gates he was met by crowds of people shouting with joy, 
 headed by the rector of the university, members of the senate, 
 and distinguished burghers. Merle d'Aubigne imagines the Erfurt 
 deputation turning their horses' heads after the meeting, and the 
 cavalcade, with a concourse of pedestrians, accompanying the 
 Reformer's carriage up to the city wall — the poor monk, who 
 had often begged for the convent up and down the streets, being 
 now welcomed in the great square with demonstrations of honour 
 befitting the reception of a prince. He was received at the old 
 convent, and there, according to a pathetic tradition, he saw a 
 small wooden cross on the grave of a brother whom he had known, 
 and who had died peacefully in the Lord. " See, my father," he 
 said to Justus Jonas, " he reposes there, while I — " and then 
 fixed his gaze on heaven. He returned shortly after to the same 
 spot, and remained there until he was reminded that the monastery 
 bell had tolled the hour for rest. 
 
ERFURT, THE CAPITAL OF OLD THURLVGLA. 59 
 
 The Gospels for the day are, with some exceptions, the same in 
 the Roman Catholic, the Anglican, and the Lutheran Church. The 
 Gospel for the Sunday after Easter was then as it is now. Luther, 
 therefore, took for his text John xx. 19, 20 : " Then the same day 
 at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were 
 shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came 
 Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto 
 you. And when He had so said. He shewed unto them His hands and 
 His side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord," 
 The appropriateness of the passage to the circumstances at that 
 moment is striking. Amidst the rage of controversy and the peril 
 which threatened his liberty and his life, how full it was of comfort 
 to Martin Luther to hear the Master's words of peace — how full of 
 joy to see the Lord ! Doubtless he felt all this, for he daily fed on 
 the word of life. Yet his sermon that day ran on a different line. 
 Preaching then was not so textual as it is now. A text was taken, 
 but a preacher did not feel obliged to keep to it. It was a starting- 
 point, from which he often wandered far and wide. Luther's mind 
 was full of thought about the great business of his life — a reforma- 
 tion of the Church. So now he said, " There are two kinds of works 
 — works extrinsic to us ; those are good works — our own works, 
 which are little worth. One man builds a church ; another makes 
 a pilgrimage .to St. James's or St. Peter's ; a third fasts, prays, puts 
 on the hood, goes barefoot ; another does something different still. 
 All these works are nothing, and will perish ; for our own works 
 have no virtue in them. I am about to tell you what is the true work. 
 God hath raised again a man — the Lord Jesus Christ — in order that 
 He may crush death, destroy sin, and shut the gates of hell. Such 
 is the work of salvation. The devil believed that he had the Lord 
 in his power when he beheld Him between two thieves, suffering the 
 most shameful martyrdom, accursed both of God and man. . . 
 But the Divinity put forth its might, and annihilated death, sin, and 
 hell. . . Christ hath won the victory ! Here is the grand news ! 
 
6o HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 and we are saved by His work, not by our works. The Pope says 
 something very different. But I tell you the holy mother of God 
 herself has been saved, not by her virginity, nor by her maternity, 
 nor by her purity, nor by her works, but solely by means of faith, 
 and by the works of God." This is a fair sample of his common 
 strain of preaching. A crack in the wooden gallery whilst Luther 
 was proceeding with his discourse alarmed the congregation, and 
 they began to rush out. " Fear nothing," said he ; " there is no 
 danger : the devil would thus hinder the preaching of the gospel, 
 but he will not succeed." And now the preacher touched on his text. 
 " You speak much to us about faith ; you will perhaps say to me, 
 Teach us then how we may obtain it. Yes, indeed, I wish to teach 
 you that. Our Lord Jesus Christ has said, ' Peace be unto you ; ' 
 ' Behold My hands,' as much as if He had said, ' Behold, O man, it 
 is I, it is I alone who have taken away thy sins, and who have 
 redeemed thee ; and now thou hast peace,' saith the Lord. Let us 
 believe the gospel, let us believe St. Paul, not the briefs and decre- 
 tals of the Popes." " Since God has saved us,'' he observed before 
 he finished, " let us so order our works that He may take pleasure 
 therein. Art thou rich .'' let thy goods be serviceable to the poor. 
 Art thou poor .-' let thy services be of use to the rich. If thy labours 
 be useless to all but thyself, the services thou pretendest to render 
 to God are a mere lie." 
 
 " Not a word,'' remarks D'Aubigne, " about himself in Luther's 
 sermon ; not one allusion to the circumstances in which he stood ; 
 nothing about Worms, nor about Charles, nor about the nuncios : 
 he preaches Christ, and Christ alone. At a crisis when the world 
 had its eyes upon him, he is not in the least taken up about him- 
 self : and this is the mark of a true servant of God." ^ 
 
 • D'Aubigne's " History of the Reformation," p. 235. 
 
V. 
 
 THE 
 
 Papal C 
 
 ITY. 
 
 FTER Luther's removal from Erfurt to Wit- 
 tenberg, in 1 508, and his settlement there in 
 the monastery of the Augustinians, and in 
 connection with the university, he visited 
 Italy on important business pertaining to 
 his order. Disputes had arisen between the 
 Wittenberg Augustinians and the Pope's 
 vicar-general, and Luther travelled to Rome to secure 
 a reconciliation.^ 
 
 He travelled by way of Heidelberg, which he must 
 have visited for some special purpose, as it was out of 
 the direct route, and then proceeded through Suabia to 
 Bavaria, and onwards to Milan, where he was received 
 in " a marble convent," and found the brethren living 
 sumptuously as in a palace.^ At Pavia he was taken ill ; at 
 Bologna his illness appeared dangerous ; and he particularly notices 
 what caused his indisposition. "We slept at one time till six 
 
 ' The date of the journey has been variously given, 1510, 1511, and 1512. 
 
 2 " In Lombardy," he relates, "is a very rich Benedictine cloister, with a yearly 
 income of 36,000 florins. Of eating and feasting there is no lack, — 12,000 florins are 
 consumed in the support of guests, and as large a sum is expended on the building. The , 
 residue goes to the brotherhood." 
 
62 HOMES AND HA UNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 in the morning with our windows open, and when we awoke 
 we found our heads so affected by catarrh, and so heavy and 
 stupid, that we could travel that day only five miles." At Florence 
 he was delighted with the hospital he visited. 
 
 What is called the Eternal City is not so much one city as a 
 succession of cities. The city of the Republic, the city of the 
 Emperors, the city of the Middle Ages, the city of the Renaissance 
 period, and the city of the present day, are by no means the same, 
 and one familiar with Rome just now would scarcely recognise 
 the Rome of former ages. 
 
 Great changes were going on in the architecture of the place 
 when Luther visited it, and greater changes followed. 
 
 Upon his reaching the Porta del Popolo he fell on his knees, 
 raised his hands to heaven, and exclaimed, " Hail, holy Rome ! 
 made holy by the bodies of martyrs, and by the blood which has 
 been spilt here ! " — an exclamation sufficient to prove that, with 
 his evangelical convictions, he retained a profound reverence 
 for what he regarded as the mother city of Christendom. 
 
 He thus records his general impression : " Rome as it now 
 appears is but a dead carcase compared with its ancient 
 splendour. The houses rest on ground as high as the former 
 roofs, so deep are the ruins of the old city. It is five miles in 
 circumference. The vestiges of old Rome can scarcely be traced ; 
 but the Theatre and the Baths of Diocletian are still to be seen." 
 
 The reminiscences he preserved and recorded of his visit enable 
 us to follow him in his rambles.^ 
 
 " In the Pantheon, now converted into a church, are represen- 
 tations in painting of all the gods." " It has no windows, but 
 one high vault, with an opening at the top to admit light. It 
 possesses large marble columns scarcely compassable by two men 
 with their arms extended." 
 
 ' See " Luther," by Sears, pp. I12 ct seq. 
 
ROME, THE PAPAL CITY. 
 
 6S 
 
 He visited the Catacombs, " By the Church of St. Calixtus (or 
 St. Sebastian) there lie in one vault, as is said, more than 8,000 
 martyrs. Under the church, enclosed in sarcophagi, lie 176,000 
 holy bodies and forty-five martyred Popes." 
 
 ENTRANCE TO CATACOMBS. 
 
 " There is still to be seen in Rome a burial-place where there 
 are, as is said, 80,000 martyrs and forty-six bishops." The 
 catacombs were closed at the time Luther visited Rome — 
 therefore he had not a solemn gratification, which I remember to 
 
 F 
 
66 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 have enjoyed, in common with thousands of other travellers, while 
 exploring those mysterious recesses, where so many Christians 
 have been buried, and where so many virgin tombs still wait for 
 sleepers. Not from personal observation, but from current reports, 
 did Luther derive what he relates, and therefore he may not 
 himself be chargeable with the confusion and exaggeration of 
 his statements. 
 
 The new Cathedral of St. Peter was at the time in process of 
 erection, and he witnessed in it the exhibition of relics, including 
 the famous Veronica — a handkerchief with which it is pretended 
 the sweat was wiped from the face of the agonized Redeemer. 
 " It is nothing but a black square board, with a cloth hung before 
 it, and over that another, which is lifted up when the Veronica is 
 shown. The poor besotted pilgrim can see nothing but a cloth 
 Defore a black tablet." Thus he describes the relics years after- 
 wards, when his eyes had been opened to Romish deceptions ; 
 but at the period of his visit he credulously gazed on such 
 wonders, and felt more reverence than did most of his fellow- 
 pilgrims. 
 
 Every one is familiar with the story of Luther crawling up 
 Pilate's Staircase. The staircase is enclosed in a building near 
 the Church of St. John Lateran, which, while possessing sump- 
 tuous additions made since the time that Luther was there, still 
 retains some of its earlier interesting features, — the Byzantine 
 cloisters, the ancient episcopal throne with a circular back, the 
 mosaic of the apse, the wooden altar reserved for special occasions, 
 the only one of the kind in Rome, — to n^ention no other objects. 
 And then, as now, the traveller, standing under the portico of 
 St. John, would be charmed with the view of the Sabine and 
 Alban hills. 
 
 The staircase is said, in an absurd tradition, to have belonged 
 to Pilate's palace in Jerusalem, and to be the same up which 
 the Saviour ascended. It has attached to it two other staircases, 
 
ROME, THE PAPAL CITY. 67 
 
 by which pilgrims can descend after having mounted the sacred 
 steps upon their knees. 
 
 When many years ago I saw a number of persons, some with an 
 air of devotion, some with indifference or levity, crawling up the 
 steps, I recalled to mind, as most Protestants do, the performance 
 by Luther of this superstitious act, and the occurrence to his mind 
 of the words of the apostle, " The just shall live by faith," — a 
 talisman for disenchanting the soul from all ritualistic delusions. 
 I then thought, as many still do, that this passage flashed on 
 him then for the first moment, and wrought a sudden change in his 
 religious experience ; but the fact is, as we have seen, that he had 
 been previously struck ■ with the apostle's words ; he pondered 
 them afterwards with increasing light ; and his thoughts on the 
 occasion of his visit were only links binding the experience of 
 months and years into one chain of grace and salvation. 
 
 Luther did not leave Rome without being shocked at much 
 which he saw. The Pop^, he observes, moves as if making a 
 triumphal entry, with richly' caparisoned horses, and he bears 
 the sacrament on a white palfrey. Luther witnessed masses 
 irreverently performed, and what was more, saw worldliness, 
 extravagance, pomp, vice, and crime abounding in the Holy City. 
 " I myself," he declares, " have heard people say openly in the 
 streets of Rome, ' If there be a hell, Rome is built upon it' " 
 
 These recollections manifestly told on his after-life. 
 
VI. 
 
 J4eidelbef(q. 
 
 ' HERE is not a spot in Germany more 
 familiar to English travellers than Heidel- 
 berg, nor one more remarkable for pictu- 
 resque beauty. The river, the bridge, the 
 castle, the town, the overhanging woods, the 
 ig-^j_, charming Wolfsbrunnen, the commanding 
 ^■'^ Konigstuhl, once seen, can never be for- 
 gotten, or thought of afterwards without a desire to 
 revisit the charming spots. 
 
 The town and castle wear a certain air of anti- 
 quity ; and yet only a small portion of either dates 
 from an early period. In the five bombardments, the 
 three pillages, and the two burnings it has endured, 
 most of the old municipal and domestic buildings 
 disappeared. Here and there a house, with a richly 
 decorated front, remains to show what must have been 
 the aspect of the town in days of yore. And though the castle 
 is a pile of ruins, and all the red stones seem to have .shared a 
 common fate, an examination of the architecture, and the perusal 
 -of its history, evince how much of it was built within a compara- 
 
^ !S 
 
 
 * * I 
 
 5 ' 
 
HEIDELBERG. 71 
 
 tively modern period, and how small a portion can be traced 
 back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. The well- 
 known fagade in the terrace, with statues of the reigning house of 
 Bavaria, from Charlemagne and Otho of Wittelsbach, dates from 
 1607, in the time of Frederick IV ; and the exquisite Rittersaal, 
 of Italian architecture, was begun by Otho Henry, in 1556. The 
 grim structure near the Portcullis Gate belongs to 1400 ; the 
 gateway itself to 1355 ; and the oldest part of the castle was begun 
 by the Elector Rudolph in 1300. 
 
 Histories and traditions of many kinds and ages gather round 
 the halls and towers, especially the fates of Elizabeth and her 
 husband, the King of Bohemia ; but few persons think of Martin 
 Luther while loitering about the old Court Yard. Yet his 
 name comes into distinct connection with the place at a period 
 when the buildings which now excite so much interest and 
 admiration were not in existence, but the grand gateway, and 
 , Rudolph's fortress were prominent features, and the Castle must 
 have had a thoroughly feudal look, speaking more of strength and 
 defence than of beauty and ornament. The Chronicle of Heidel- 
 berg states that in 15 10 Luther visited, this city, when he was sent 
 by the Convent of the Augustinians to the city of Rome. He was 
 'accorhpanied by Staupitz, but what was the exact object of the 
 visit, and what happened to him whilst he was there, We do not 
 know. Respecting a later visit, we have much information. 
 
 Writing on March 21, 15 18, Luther tells his friend Lange, "I 
 am besought by everybody not to go to Heidelberg, lest I be 
 dispatched by fraud, if not by violence ; but I shall fulfil' my duty, 
 and travel on foot." He passed this time by way of Judenbach,' as 
 will afterwards appear, and then stopped at Coburg. He speaks 
 of the kindness of a parish priest to him at Weissenfels, and on the 
 19th of April says, "We arrived at Wiirzburg on the 17th, and 
 presented our letters to the illustrious Bishop. He desired' to 
 send an attendant with me all the way to Heildelberg. But only 
 
72 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 one thing did I ask of him, and that was a safe-conduct, which I 
 have received." This is remarkable, as the journey occurred after 
 the pubhcation of the Wittenberg theses. 
 
 Of certain theses, which he propounded at Heidelberg, twenty- 
 eight related to theology, and twelve to philosophy ; free will, 
 grace, original sin, predestination, are affirmed, and justification 
 by faith is asserted in the following terms : "He is not justi- 
 fied who does many works, but he who without works has much 
 faith in Christ. The Law says, ' Do this,' and it is never done. 
 Grace says, Believe in Him,' and all things are straightway 
 performed." 
 
 We have two accounts of the Heidelberg Conference. One by 
 a young man, a native of Alsace, at the time a student in the - 
 University of Heidelberg. He was twenty-eight years old, full of 
 promise and hope, a scholar and a theologian, destined to take a 
 conspicuous part in the Church's reformation. It was no other 
 than Martin Bucer, who, according to a fashion in that age, had 
 translated his German name into Greek, Kuhhorn, or Cow's 
 horn, became Bucer ; as Gerard became Erasmus ; Hauschein, or 
 House light, CEcolampadius ; and Schwarzerde, or Black earth, 
 Melancthon. 
 
 Bucer gives an account of the visitor to Heidelberg in the 
 following words : " A theologian, though not of our university, has 
 just been here, who treats with utter contempt all our Sophistical 
 and Aristotelian trifling, and addicts himself wholly to the Scrip- 
 ture. It was Martin [Luther], the famous flouter of indulgences, 
 who has here maintained, after the accustomed fashion, those 
 paradoxes which not only astonished all who heard them, but to 
 most seemed even heretical." " Remarkable both for the mildness 
 of his replies and the patience of his attention, he exhibited in the 
 solution of difficulties the acumen of Paul rather than of Scotus, 
 so concise were his answers, so much to the point, so readily 
 borrowed from the storehouse of the sacred oracles. He was the 
 
HEIDELBERG. Ti 
 
 admiration of all. On the day following I had a familiar and 
 friendly conversation with him at a supper, not adorned by dishes, 
 but by doctrines ; and he explained to me with perspicuity every- 
 thing that I asked him. He agrees in all respects with Erasmus, 
 but surpasses him in this, that what the latter insinuates only, he 
 openly and freely teaches." ' 
 
 Luther, writing to Spalatin, May i8, 1518, relates, "The 
 illustrious Prince Wolfgang, Count Palatine, and Master James 
 Simler, and Hase, Master of the Palace, received me with much 
 honour. The Count invited us — that is, Father Vicar Staupitz and 
 our Lange, now Provincial Vicar ; we had pleasant conversation 
 together, and greatly enjoyed ourselves, eating and drinking, 
 seeing the decorations of the palatinate fortress, the armoury, and 
 other objects in this truly regal castle. Master James could not 
 enough praise the letter of our Prince, saying, in the Neckar 
 dialect, 'You have, by God, splendid credentials.' Indeed 
 nothing was wanting which could be desired. 
 
 " The doctors freely allowed me to dispute, and differed so 
 modestly as to commend themselves by these means. And 
 although my theology appeared to them strange, they argued in 
 opposition fairly and pleasantly, except one, the fifth in order, a 
 young man who moved the audience to laughter, by saying, ' If 
 the country people heard you they would stone you to death.' 
 My theology was a bitter pill to the Erfurt divines, especially 
 to one [Dr. Jodocus] of Eisenach. I had a discussion, and at least 
 made him understand that he could neither prove his own 
 propositions nor confute mine. 
 
 " With Doctor Usingen I rode out in a carriage, and endea- 
 voured to convince him. I do not know whether I succeeded, but 
 I left him full of thought and wonder. The fact is, these men 
 are inveterate in their mistaken opinion. It is otherwise with the 
 
 ''■Martin Buceri ad B. Rhmanum Relatio ffistorica, &=c. Waddington's "History 
 of the Reformation," i. 119. 
 
74 
 
 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 young ; they are open to conviction, and my hope is that as Christ, 
 rejected by tlie Jews, turned to the Gentiles, so now His own true 
 Theology, which the old oppose, will transfer itself to the young." 
 
 The account Luther gives of his visit does not distinctly say 
 that he lodged in the castle ; his language may simply mean 
 that he went up to see the Prince for a brief entertainment, his 
 residence for a time being elsewhere. As he went to the town on 
 
 LUTHERS HOUSE, NEUENHEIM. 
 
 business of his order, that would be transacted at some Augustinian 
 convent ; and we might presume that there he would lodge. 
 
 We read in Murray's Hand-book, that " at the village of Neuen- 
 heim, which is on the right bank of the Neckar, nearly opposite to 
 the railway station, in a house that goes by the name of Monchhof, 
 according to an obscure tradition, Luther was lodged, when^ he 
 passed through Heidelberg in 1518." His only visit to the place 
 that year was the visit just described ; and it is possible that here 
 
HEIDELBERG. 75 
 
 some confused recollection appears of his being lodged outside 
 the town, during the progress of the business which he had come 
 to transact. Many years ago, on a summer evening, I drove 
 over to see the house, but noticed nothing remarkable in its 
 appearance. I must refer again to Heidelberg in the next 
 chapter. 
 
VII. 
 
 pAgLE. 
 
 N 1879 an interesting Conference was held 
 in Basle, when members of the Evangelical 
 >i Alliance from different parts of the world 
 — in connection with a survey of the present 
 state of Protestant Christendom, and the 
 duties arising out of it, — celebrated the 
 Reformation which occurred in that city 
 above three centuries and a half before. 
 Though Basle is now decidedly Swiss, it was at that 
 period more decidedly German, and was brought into 
 manifold relations, of a Protestant kind, with other 
 parts of Europe — even with England, as well as 
 Saxony. English Reformers found refuge there in 
 the days of Queen Mary, and in 1529, when CEco- 
 lampadius was in the ascendant, and " reiterated 
 cheers," as Merle d'Aubigne says, " greeted the work 
 of the Reformation," of course the eyes of the citizens would be 
 turned towards the brave Monk of Wittenberg, who fought his 
 battle with Rome after a different fashion from theirs, and who, on 
 the subject of the Eucharist, entertained views contrary to those 
 of the Swiss Divines. The very year just mentioned, 1529, saw 
 CEcolampadius and Zwingle at Marburg, on the Lahn, in stout 
 controversy with the advocate of consubstantiation ; he, as I shall 
 
BASLE. 77 
 
 shew,! insisting on the literal signification of the words, " This is 
 My body " ; they, especially Zwingle, contending it was impossible 
 that a material body could exist in different places at the same 
 moment. The relations between Luther and the Swiss were by no 
 means amicable, and it is sad to hear him say ing to the latter, in 
 the Castle of Philip the Magnanimous " You have a different spirit 
 from ours ; our conscience opposes our receiving you as brethren." 
 Nevertheless, the Swiss were ready^to do justice to the character 
 and work of the great champion of German Reform ; and his name 
 was on the lips and hearts of many of their descendants who 
 crowded the Hall of the Vereinshaus, and the aisles of St. Martin's 
 Church. 
 
 One day, as I was walking up a, narrow street of the quaint old 
 city, a friend asked me, " Have you been to see Luther's house ? " 
 The question startled me, as I did not remember having noticed, 
 in the numerous memoirs of Luther, any reference to his having 
 ever visited Basle. Though not receiving evidence of Luther's 
 presence in the place, I could not deny the possibility of his 
 coming at one time or other within the walls ; and, therefore, 
 accepted an invitation to go and look at what was mentioned under 
 the name of Luther's house. It stands, if I remember right, not 
 far from the Basle Museum, and is no^y employed as a bookseller's 
 shop. Indeed, Protestant publications are there supplied; and it 
 is regarded by some as a sort of centre for Evangelical literature ; 
 an association highly becoming the name which the small old 
 unpretentious building is now made to bear. I presume there 
 must be some local tradition upon which the idea rests ; but 
 whether trustworthy or otherwise I could not ascertain. Supposing 
 that there is authority for the belief I heard expressed, it remains 
 an important question. When did Luther visit Basle ? It appears 
 to me extremely improbable he could have been there after the 
 Marburg Conference, or even any short time before, when the 
 
 ^ Page 187. 
 
7,8 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 momentous controversy as to the Eucharist was agitating so 
 violently the minds of German and Swiss Reformers. Had Luther 
 appeared then amongst the brethren- round the red sandstone 
 cathedral which there crowns the Rhine, it must have .created an 
 excitement not to be forgotten, and would have been sure to find 
 a conspicuous place in history. If Luther went to Basle at all, it 
 must have been before he became widely known ; indeed, before 
 the Diet of Worms, and before the nailing of his theses on the 
 Wittenberg Church-door. He was at Heidelberg in 1518,^ and 
 tradition, as we have noticed, points to a house he lodged in at 
 Neuenheim, on the right bank of the Neckar. But it is very unlikely 
 he then proceeded so far as Switzerland, since he makes no mention 
 of such a journey in his correspondence. Hence we are driven 
 back to earlier Wittenberg days, when he was working hard in his 
 professorship ; and there, in 15 10, we find him as already described, 
 starting for Rome, as a deputation from his Augustinian convent 
 We are expressly told he then \.od^ Heidelberg in his way, certainly 
 a roundabout route for reaching the papal city. Then we learn he 
 went through Suabia into Bavaria. A near road in that direction 
 would be far enough away from Basle ; yet as circuitous routes then 
 were not uncommon, and as there might be convent business to 
 transact at Basle as well as Heidelberg, it is not impossible that, 
 before he was known to history, he might have paid a passing visit, 
 of which a remembrance lingers only in the local tradition I have 
 noticed. 
 
 Before leaving Heidelberg altogether, I may be permitted to say 
 that in the University library, looking at volumes of different 
 kinds, I felt special interest in examining some early Bibles. 
 It is a common and a great mistake to suppose that Luther was 
 the first person to translate the Scriptures into German ; and also 
 to suppose that he had never seen a Bible until he found a copy in 
 the Dominican convent. He tells a different story himself, as I 
 
 ^ See p. 71. 
 
BASLE. 79 
 
 have pointed out in my fourth chapter. A distinction must be 
 made between the Bible in the University Library, which surprised 
 him so much when he glanced at it, and the red morocco volume 
 in the monastery with which he made himself so familiar two years 
 afterwards. Ninety-one editions of the Vulgate are, as I have said, 
 registered in Panzer between the years 1440 and 1500; therefore, 
 Luther's ignorance, when he was twenty, only shows that the book 
 was little known in the University and the Convent of Erfurt ; 
 not that it had not been often printed in Germany during 
 the previous half century. It seems wonderful that a young 
 monk should never have heard of the vernacular version then in 
 existence; at any rate, the knowledge of the Word of God, as a whole, 
 must have been exceedingly rare in the old Thuringian capital. 
 Let us not, however, overlook the fact that the brethren knew where 
 to iind the '' red morocco " copy, when Luther called for a Bible. 
 
 The discovery of early-printed Latin Bibles has advanced since 
 Panzer's time, and it must be interesting to an English reader to 
 know that at the Caxton Exhibition of 1877 there were shown 
 above fifty distinct editions printed between that of Mentz, by 
 Gutenberg, about 1450 and 1455, and that of Venice, by Paganini, 
 1501, four years' before Luther entered on his novitiate. "Some 
 half-dozen huge folio Bibles in Latin and German, beside the 
 magnificent Psalters of 1457 and 1459, had appeared in type before 
 a single volume of the classics saw the ' new lamp of the new 
 learning.' All the earliest printed Bibles were in the Latin 
 vulgate, the first complete edition of the Septuagint not having 
 been issued from the press of Aldus till the year 15 18, and by 
 that time no less than fourteen German Bibles had issued from the 
 press. Twelve grand patriarchal editions of several different 
 translations appeared before the discovery of America." ^ The first 
 German Bible is attributed to the year 1466. A copy of it, 
 printed at Strasburg, and beautifully illuminated in gold and 
 ^ Catalogue of the Loan Collection exhibited at Kensington, 1877. 
 
8o HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 colours, was lent to the Kensington Exhibition by Her Majesty 
 the Queen. A twelfth German edition, in two volumes, with 
 woodcuts, dated 1490, was also exhibited. 
 
 I can never forget the delight with which, for the first time, I 
 turned over the pages of an illustrated German Bible at Heidelberg. 
 Grotesque woodcuts were sprinkled about from end to end. The 
 formation of Eve out of the side of Adam, Noah's Ark sailing on 
 the waters, with a multitude of other subjects, figured to one's great 
 amusement on the crisped leaves. Facts of this kind, and they 
 might be multiplied, are sufficient to dispel common misconceptions 
 which have gathered round the anecdote of Luther studying the 
 Bible in the Erfurt monastery. 
 
VIII. 
 
 The Free C 
 518 
 
 ITY OF 
 
 •IN 1 
 
 AND 1 
 
 TIUGSBUI^G 
 530. 
 
 EW German cities are to English travellers 
 better known than Augsburg. Many a 
 tourist on his way to Italy, or on diverging 
 from the beaten path to Switzerland, here 
 " turns aside to tarry for a night.'' And a 
 very pleasant place it is^ in which to while 
 ■ away a few holiday hours. The Maximilian 
 Strasse is a noble thoroughfare, long, and 
 for a considerable distance very wide, lined with old 
 houses quaintly gabled, jutting out into richly deco- 
 rated oriel windows, or painted over with huge 
 frescoes, representing Scripture facts or ecclesias- 
 tical legends. The Rathhaus is an Italian structure 
 of palatial style and grandeur, recalling days still 
 more prosperous than the present in commercial traffic and 
 monetary exchanges. The Tower of Perlach, with its five 
 hundred steps, is a belfry of the Renaissance type,. near the Rath- 
 haus, and raises anybody who likes to perform the arduous task 
 of climbing it, to the summit of that building. The hotel of the 
 " Three Moors," where most tourists stop, was once the mansion 
 of Anthony Fugger, the famous Augsburg merchant who enter- 
 tained Charles V. In a cedar-ceiled apartment — carrying one 
 back to the sixteenth century — the generous money-lender burnt 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 the royal bond, and made his guest a present of the loan. By a 
 winding stone stair leading from the room you can go and explore 
 mysterious nooks and corners, the whole house retaining still a 
 pungent flavour of antiquity. The three bronze fountains in the 
 
 AUGSBURG. 
 
 main highway — one close to the "Three Moors" — are curious 
 works of art, repaying longer examination than is generally spent 
 on them. The cathedral and other churches, by no means superior, 
 are sure to be visited ; and a portal, a window, and a piece of 
 
THE FREE CITY OF AUGSBURG. 83 
 
 sculpture here, and there excite some interest. In the lower part 
 of the dA-^ there are odd-looking places, which gratify those who 
 are in search of the picturesque and the archaeological ; and it is 
 agreeable to repeat in imagination a stroll I once had by the side 
 of little water streams running on the edge of gardens and at the 
 foot of summerhouses ; all cheerful to look at on a fine summer's, 
 day, and stimulating minds of the Izaak Walton cast to musings fit 
 for Sundays as well as working days. Our interest in Augsburg just 
 now belongs mainly to one spot, which we are enabled to identify. 
 
 Luther reached Augsburg on an autumn evening in the year 
 1518, just after a grand Diet of the empire had been held. He 
 had been sumniOned to meet Ciardinal Cajetan, a man devoted to 
 the service of Rome, and just then much concerned at what he heard 
 of the course pursued by the young Reformer; for by this time 
 Luther had become well known in that character. The spiritual 
 change' wrought in him at Erfurt had brought him more closely to 
 exarnine the principles and practices of the Romish communion. 
 The wretched sale of indulgences by Tetzel had aroused his 
 indignation, and filled him with honest longings for ecclesiastical 
 reform. At Wittenberg the development of this passion had been 
 going on ; and already he had affixed to the door of a church in 
 the city his theses upon indulgences. 
 
 No wonder ecclesiastical authorities began to call him to order. 
 SOj in obedience to a command from Cardinal' Cajetan, authorized 
 to examine and try the troublesome priest, Luther left Wittenberg 
 on foot, and reached Weimar on the 28th of September, when he 
 •preached in the palace church ; and tramping on to the place of 
 his destination, he was so exhausted and threadbare at last, that 
 a few miles from the gates of Augsburg he obtained a carriage and 
 borrowed a gown from a Nuremberg friend, in order to make a 
 better appearance before his ecclesiastical superior. Upon his arrival 
 in the city he went to lodge at the monastery of the Augustinians, 
 the order to which he belonged. 
 
84 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 On the nth of October Luther thus addressed Melancthon, 
 with whom he had already become intimate : " There is nothing 
 new or strange here, saving that the whole city is filled with the 
 rumour of my name, and everybody is eager to see the new 
 Erostratus who has kindled such a conflagration. ... I will 
 sooner perish, and, what is most grievous, for ever lose your de- 
 lightful converse, than recall what has been rightly said, and become 
 the occasion of extinguishing good learning. Italy is covered 
 with Egyptian darkness, together with those sottish and savage 
 enemies of letters and of study. They neither know Christ nor the 
 things of Christ, and yet they are our lords and masters in matters 
 of faith and of morals." 
 
 Other letters written from Augsburg are full of lifelike touches. 
 We can see him in the Maximilian Strasse — as he is now approach- 
 ing middle age — with a face which has lost a little of its plumpness, 
 and eyes which retain their early fire, and wearing the gown lent 
 him by his Nuremberg friend ; the people gape after him as he 
 marches with a step that shows he can stand and walk alone, even 
 in the presence of. cardinals and kings. 
 
 Cardinal Cajetan lodged in a building repeatedly called in the 
 story of this Augsburg trial " the palace." The palace, or schloss, 
 still remains, close to the cathedral. There the Bishops in former 
 days resided ; and where but there could a Cardinal, travelling in 
 pomp, and for an important ecclesiastical purpose, put up on a 
 visit to the grand old city .'' The palace is now a good deal altered, 
 and promises little, from its external appearance, to gratify 
 searches after localities connected with circumstances which- 
 occurred above three hundred years ago. It was not until a third 
 visit to Augsburg that I thought of exploring this edifice ; and 
 then I did so in consequence of the suggestion of a persevering 
 friend, who had been repaid for enterprising curiosity by a sight 
 of the interior. I had some trouble in ascending out-of-the-way 
 staircases, and wandering through far-reaching corridors, before 
 
THE FREE CITY OF AUGSBURG. 
 
 anybody could be found to answer a question, when I lighted upon 
 an intelligent gentleman, who conducted me to the north-west 
 corner of the building near a tower, and pointed out state apart- 
 ments connected with Charles v,'s visit, to be noticed presently. 
 
 Most likely in the same part of the building, the representative 
 of the papal court, a Cardinal Prince of Rome, would be accommo- 
 dated and entertained. The rooms are modernized now ; one has 
 gilded ceiling and walls, with portraits of Emperors in the panels. A 
 grand staircase leads up to it, and it is easy to imagine the sort of 
 appearance the place presented in 1518. Here, then, we may 
 localize the story of Luther's interviews with Cajetan. 
 
 " Come," said a fussy official, " the Cardinal is waiting for you. 
 I am going myself to take you to him. You must be taught how 
 to comport yourself in his presence. Gn entering the hall where 
 you are to find him, you must throw yourself prostrate, with your 
 face on the ground. When he has told you to rise you will place 
 yourself on your knees, and you must wait till he bids you, before 
 you stand upright." 
 
 These directions were given in the monastery of the Augustinians, 
 the site of which I have not been able to identify ; but Augsburg 
 had other monasteries^ — one belonging to the Carmelites, under a 
 prior named John Frosch, who invited his black-frocked friend to 
 come and tarry with the white-gowned brethren. 
 
 The chapel of the Carmelite convent now bears the name of 
 St. Anna's Church, and is situated in the Anna Strasse. It is of Gothic 
 architecture, and has an altar at each end. That at the west has 
 an organ close to it, with two wings attached, said to be painted 
 by Holbein the younger, a native of the town. At the same end, 
 on the south side, is the burial-place of the Fugger family, con- 
 taining a tomb in the form of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 
 at Jerusalem. The church contains portraits of Luther and Frederick 
 the Wise. The former is attributed to Cranach. 
 
 In the room connected with Charles V. at the " Three Moors " 
 
86 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 there hangs an old map of Augsburg, dated 1626. It exhibits the 
 old walls, gates, streets, and public edifices ; and on it I discovefed 
 he church of St. Anna, with monastic buildings and garden 
 attached. With this map in my mind, I questioned the old woman 
 who played the part of cicerone, and who was a great oddity, bu 
 very good-tempered. My friends and myself had a good deal of 
 difficulty to make her understand the points of the compass, and 
 to give an idea of the bearings of the church ; and parrot-like, 
 as most of her race are found to be, she pertinaciously adhered 
 to her own routine of explanation, and seemed greatly discomfited 
 at any cross-questioning, with a view of obtaining information 
 on points out of her usual line. However, when we passed from 
 the church into the remains of the monastic buildings, she seemed 
 to brighten up and to warm at the mention of Luther. 
 
 Having shown us a sepulchral chapel to the memory of the 
 Oesterreicher family, she took us into the cloisters, which are in 
 excellent preservation, and contain numerous mural monuments, 
 sepulchral slabs, and finely embossed brasses. Then pointing 
 to a little window over the cloister wall, looking down into the en- 
 closed garden, she told us that was the room where Luther lodged 
 when at Augsburg. Thus tradition and the map concurred to 
 satisfy us that we were veritably on the Reformer's track ; and 
 there remained no reason for doubting that Luther had paced 
 these very cloisters, and worshipped within this very church. 
 
 In the course of Luther's interviews with Cajetan, the Reformer 
 had the benefit of advice and intercession tendered by Staupitz, the 
 Vicar-general of the Augustinians^ who retained a strong personal 
 affection for his friend of former years. Staupitz was asked by 
 Cajetan to try and persuade Luther to recaht. Staupitz told 
 Cajetan that the attempt would be useless, for Luther was too 
 strong for him in Scripture arguments. However, he did try ; but 
 when Martin returned to his Bible defences, Staupitz found himself 
 without any means of hopeful attack, and at last encouraged 
 
THE FREE CITY OF AUGSBURG. 87 
 
 rather than accused his friend ; for, said he, " remember, dear 
 brother, that thou hast taken this matter up in the name of Jesus." 
 
 Accompanied by the Carmelite prior, Dr. Link, and an Augus- 
 tinian monk, Luther proceeded to the palace, and was there re- 
 ceived by the Cardinal in the accustomed form. Surrounded by 
 his Italian attendants, in a room such as I have indicated, or in one 
 near it, Cajetan said to Luther there were two propositions which 
 he had advanced, that he ought to retract. First, that the treasure 
 of indulgences is not composed of the merits and sufferings of our 
 Lord Christ ; and secondly, that faith is essential to- the efficacy 
 of the holy sacrament. 
 
 Such retraction was the end sought in repeated conversations ; 
 such retraction Luther would not make, but declared in one of the 
 interviews — and it is the pith of all his utterances at Augsburg — 
 " that no man can be justified before God unless; by faith ; so that 
 man must believe with an entire assurance that he has obtained 
 grace. To doubt this grace is to reject it. The faith of the 
 righteous man is his righteousness and his life." His soul, Luther 
 avowed, sought only for truth ; nor was he so proud and so 
 covetous of vain-glory as to be ashamed of retracting what he 
 knew to be false. It would be his joy to see the triumph of God's 
 truth, only he would not do anything contrary to the voice of his 
 conscience. 
 
 Of course, all the talk at Augsburg between the nuncio and 
 the monk proved in vain, and it cannot be better summed up than 
 in the words of the latter : " The legate hath treated with me, or 
 rather against me, now for the space of four days, having finely 
 promised our illustrious Prince that he would act a kind and 
 fatherly part, but, in truth, doing everything by inflexible power 
 alone. He was loth to have me debate the matters in dispute with 
 him publicly; nor was he willing to discuss them with me privately. 
 His replies were all of this one tenor, — ' Recant ; acknowledge 
 your error ; the Pope will have it so, and not otherwise, whether 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 you will or not' . . . At length, overcome by the entreaties of 
 many, he consented that I should give my reasons in writing, which 
 I have done this day in the presence of the Elector's minister, 
 Felitzsch. The paper was rejected with disdain, and my revocation 
 loudly demanded. : . . I essayed a dozen times to say a word, 
 and he chopped in upon me as many times with thundering 
 tones. ... As he cried ' Recant ! ' I left him ; when he added, 
 ' Go ! and return not to me till thou art willing to recant.' " 
 
 Luther, after his iinal audience, wrote the Cardinal a letter, in 
 which he apologized for rude expressions he had used relative to 
 the reigning pontiff, and professed himself ready to apologize for 
 them from the pulpit. Moreover he promised not to say a word 
 as to the matter of the indulgences, if this affair could be arranged. 
 He concluded by praying, with all humility, that the whole 
 business might be referred to " our most holy lord the Pope," that 
 the Church might decide the question, so that he himself might 
 honestly retract or sincerely believe. 
 
 This letter has been used to his disadvantage. He has been 
 charged with tergiversation, hypocrisy, and the like. Merle 
 d'Aubignd, his Dutch annotator, and others, have warmly 
 defended him, praising him for frankness in acknowledging that he 
 spoke unadvisedly with his lips.^ But Luther's words in his letter 
 go beyond a gentleman's apology for unguarded language. He 
 left the whole matter, which up to that hour, he says, had been 
 doubtful, " to our most holy lord Leo X., in order that the Church 
 may decide, pronounce, and ordain, so that one may retract with 
 a good conscience or believe with sincerity." This was incon- 
 sistent with Luther's habitual appeals to Scripture, and with the 
 whole drift of his conversation with Cajetan. Is it not wiser and 
 more just, to admit that Luther was an impetuous man, and 
 
 ^ D' Aubigne's " History of the Reformation." See the whole of book iv., on Luther 
 before the legate, also Sears, 202 et seq. 
 
THE FREE CITY OF AUGSBURG. 
 
 experienced changeful currents of feelings ; that at times he was 
 disposed, if possible, to heal the breach with Rome ; and that now, 
 without any consciousness of doing what was deceptive, or of 
 saying what was untrue, he used language which went a great deal 
 further than he himself was prepared to go ? Good men are often 
 inconsistent, and it is no use attempting to gloss over inconsis- 
 tencies when they plainly appear. The same line of remark is 
 applicable to the very submissive letter which Luther wrote to the 
 Pope the Sth of March, 1519. 
 
 Luther reached Augsburg on the 7th of October; by the. 19th 
 it was time for him to be off. His friends saw as plainly as 
 himself that the Italians were not to be trusted. The fate of John 
 Huss diminished the value of imperial safe-conducts, and therefore 
 that which Luther had in his pocket by no means insured him 
 against the prison and the stake. So, on Wednesday morning, the 
 20th, he rose before daybreak, and by stealth set off on his 
 journey. He mounted a pony left for him by Staupitz, and 
 started without bridle, boots, spurs, or any weapon of defence, 
 under the guidance of a trusty officer, through a wicket gate in the 
 city wall opened for him by order of a friendly magistrate. 
 
 Some old walls remain, and conspicuously a gate called the 
 Frauen Thor, with its portcullis, the upper part of the building being 
 of the sixteenth or seventeenth century; but I discovered nothing in 
 the direction of Nuremberg, or in any other direction, which could 
 afford an idea of what the fortifications were in the time of Luther. 
 On the old map the fortifications are distinctly portrayed, from 
 which it appears they were elaborate and curious, with a broad 
 ditch surrounding the city, and crossed by drawbridges. Over one 
 of these, probably, Luther crept to mount the pony furnished by 
 his friend, after which he would scour the road to Nuremberg by 
 Donauworth and Nordlingen, before the place attained historic 
 fame, no Marlborough then having ploughed the fields with artillery, 
 and sown the furrows with balls and bullets. 
 
90 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 " Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler : 
 the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name 
 of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Thus Luther sung in 
 his heart as he rode along from Augsburg to Nuremberg ; and 
 when he reached his home, on the 31st of October, he wrote to 
 Spalatin, telling him, " To-day have I come, by the grace of God, 
 safely to Wittenberg, not knowing, however, how I shall abide 
 here, for I am in a state of uncertainty between hope and fear. 
 Yet," he adds, " I am full of joy and peace, so much so as to 
 marvel that this my trial, should appear a great matter to many 
 notable men." 
 
 Twelve years afterwards another extraordinary scene connected 
 with the Reformation occurred at Augsburg, when, as D'Aubignd 
 says, "Luther was present, though invisible." In the summer of 
 1530 a Diet was held. The Emperor Charles v., then thirty years 
 of age, travelled from Innsbruck to Munich, and onwards to 
 Augsburg, to meet there the representatives of the empire. On 
 the 15 th of June the gate of the city on the Munich side witnessed 
 a splendid procession. There were the Electors and their house- 
 holds, with gorgeously apparelled followers in splendid uniforms. 
 Over bright cuirasses and scarlet doublets floated many-coloured 
 plumes. Some of the horsemen's liveries were liver-coloured, 
 some grey, some red. Pages were clad in yellow and crimson ; 
 robes were of velvet and of silk. Heralds, trumpeters, drummers, 
 and groorhs swelled the moving throng. The Elector of Saxony, 
 a friend of Luther, and a champion of the Reformation, carried 
 the imperial sword before Charles, whose garments glittered with 
 precious stones, as, crowned with a little Spanish hat, he rode on 
 a white horse, under a canopy of red, white, and green damask, 
 borne by six senators of Augsburg. The cavalcade passed 
 through the gate between the hours of eight and nine of a long 
 summer's day, met by the Burgomaster and Councillors of the city, 
 and saluted by rounds of artillery from the ramparts, by peals 
 
THE FREE CITY OF AUGSBURG. 91 
 
 from the church bells, and by the blast of trumpets, the rattling 
 of drums, and the shouts of the people. The Emperor imme- 
 diately proceeded to the Cathedral, where he fell on his knees 
 before the altar, and was afterwards conducted to his lodgings 
 in the palace. There he was entertained in regal splendour, and 
 there was presented to him the famous Augsburg Confession. 
 
 We were told that in the large room at the corner of the quad- 
 rangle near the tower, at the west corner, the presentation of the 
 Confession took place. The room was much larger than it is now ; 
 and a conductor on one of my visits intimated that it had formed 
 part of a chapel. At all events, according to the records of the 
 transaction, it was in the chapel of the Augsburg palace that the 
 memorable transaction occurred. The chapel could not hold more 
 than two hundred people ; but before three o'clock, the time 
 appointed for the ceremony, the quadrangle was crowded by 
 multitudes hoping to see or hear something of what went on, 
 Charles sat in a chair of state, with the great men of the empire 
 on either side ; and when he commanded a Latin copy of the 
 Confession to be read, John, the Elector of Saxony, uttered the 
 words so often quoted, "We are Germans, on German soil, and 
 I hope your majesty will allow us to speak in our own tongue." 
 Bayer, one of the Chancellors of the Elector, then read the docu- 
 ment in a tone so loud and clear, that it was heard outside by 
 those who stood in the court near the open windows. 
 
 The Confession includes articles respecting the Holy Trinity, 
 the fall of man, human depravity, and the incarnation of Christ, 
 couched in orthodox phraseology. Indeed, it is expressly stated 
 that the Protestant did not differ from the Catholic Church in 
 articles of faith : and, though the Protestant doctrine of justifi- 
 cation is insisted upon in the fullest manner, Melancthon, who 
 drew up the Confession, and those who united in presenting it, 
 did not regard that doctrine as contrary to the faith of the 
 Catholic Church taught by the Fathers ; and it is a well-known 
 
92 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 ~ _ ^ i . 
 
 fact that there were at the crisis of the Reformation in the Roman 
 CathoHc communion, men such as Contarini, who approached in 
 theological opinion on this subject very near to Martin Luther. 
 Any Antinomian perversion of the doctrines of grace was carefully 
 guarded against in the Augsburg manifesto ; and it is declared 
 that the Protestants were deserving of praise for showing the only 
 effectual way in which holiness could be attained, namely, through 
 faith in Christ. 
 
 A surprising tone of moderation in reference to some points in 
 dispute characterises this document. The administration of the 
 sacrament in both kinds, the marriage of priests, and the abolition 
 of masses for the sins of the living and the dead, are demanded ; 
 and the worship of saints, " a distinction of meats and other 
 traditions," monastic vows, and the power of pontiffs over secular 
 princes, are condemned ; but, in terms rather equivocal, it is 
 affirmed that the practice of confession was not abolished by the 
 reformed, only the people were instructed that an enumeration 
 of their offences was unnecessary, and, indeed, impossible. No 
 protest is made against the spiritual power of the Pope; and the 
 whole composition manifests that caution and that unwillingness 
 to give offence which formed so marked a feature in the character 
 of Philip Melancthon. 
 
 Into the history of the results of this Confession it is foreign 
 to enter. All which needs to be said is, that the Emperor, when 
 he had heard the paper read, requested the Protestant princes not 
 to make it public. 
 
 Luther was not present ; but he came as near to the scene of 
 action as he could, tarrying the whole summer at Coburg, on the 
 edge of the dominions under Protestant rule. " How I wish," he 
 said to Melancthon, " I could be allowed to come to you ! I burn 
 with desire to come, unbidden and uninvited." How he spent his 
 time at Coburg will soon appear. 
 
IX. 
 
 Leipzig in the Yeai\_ i^jQ 
 
 > HERE is not much in Leipzig to interest the 
 traveller, unless he happens to eftter it 
 during fair-time. Then, according to all 
 accounts, the temporary booths erected in 
 the streets and squares recall the Feast of 
 Tabernacles at Jerusalem; and the costumes 
 of sojourners, and the languages in which 
 they speak, are as varied as they could have been 
 on the day of Pentecost. But a differerit purpose 
 from that which brought people to the metropolis 
 of Palestine gathers together larger multitudes 
 three times a year at Leipzig, for they come, in 
 some instances for pleasure, but in greater numbers 
 for merchandize ; these fairs are marts for all sorts 
 of wares, especially books. This old German town 
 forms an emporium of printers and booksellers, as 
 is testified by the existence 'of the Deutsche Buchhandler Borse, a 
 place of exchange established for the use of the sons of Minerva. 
 
 At common times the most agreeable part of Leipzig is found 
 in the public gardens round the walls, studded plentifully with 
 hotels and cafes. Penetrating the interior of the city, I haye more 
 
96 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 than once plunged into a network of gloomy streets, with tall 
 unpicturesque buildings on either side, and, hoping to find some- 
 thing more attractive, have at length by chance stumbled unex- 
 pectedly on the great market-place, where the houses are so' 
 numerous that they are crushed out of due dimensions by being 
 closely packed together; the Rathhaus standing amongst them, 
 with considerable pretensions to magnitude and dignity. The 
 Konigshaus is not without architectural interest ; but the chief 
 lion, after all, is Auerbach's cellar — a vault under the house next 
 door to the Konigshaus, where, according to a famous tradition. 
 Dr. Faustus performed his feats, still represented in rude daubs 
 remaining on the walls. Goethe has chosen the place for a scene 
 in his tragedy of " Faust ; " here it is that he makes the students of 
 the Leipzig University drink wines mysteriously supplied out of 
 the gimlet-holes in the table, through the incantations of Mephis- 
 topheles. Goethe's shadow falls on most visitors as they descend 
 the steps to this drinking-room ; but there is another and a nobler 
 which haunts the place ; for, in the house occupied by the man 
 who gives his name to the cellar, Martin Luther was entertained 
 when engaged in the memorable Leipzig disputation. "Those 
 who were friendly to us," remarks the Reformer, "came to us 
 privately, but Auerbach, a man of excellent genius, and the 
 younger- Pistoris, invited me to their houses." Dr. Sears, in his 
 sketch of the spiritual history of Luther, notices how interesting 
 it is to find " that Luther was a guest with that very Auerbach 
 whose cellar has become so celebrated in connection with the name 
 of Dr. Faust ; " and this identification of a well-known resort in 
 Leipzig market-place, with the hospitalities of Auerbach to the 
 champion of the Reformation, invests the old building with fresh 
 charms. 
 
 Next to Auerbach's cellar in point of associations is the castle 
 of Pleissenburg, at the south-east angle of the city walls ; a citadel 
 which withstood the attacks of Tilly during the Thirty Years' 
 
E?JWij \f\ 
 
 H 
 
LEIPZIG IN THE YEAR 15 19 99 
 
 War, and held out for weeks after the city had succumbed to its 
 unmerciful foe. I remember standing on the observatory at the 
 top of the Pleissenburg tower some years ago, and by the aid of a 
 guide tracing out in the broad flat landscape all round the chief 
 points of interest connected with the Volkersclilacht, or Battle of 
 the Nations, fought in the month of October, 1813, one of the 
 largest, longest, and bloodiest actions in the annals of war, and 
 fought with the most momentous results, for it decided the fate of 
 Europe — checking the ambitious career of Napoleon, and lifting 
 up Germany out of the dust. Murray's Guide Book dwells on 
 it at length ; but, in the thirteenth edition, says nothing of asso- 
 ciations gathering round that same castle, and weaving into the 
 story of the citadel the name which is the pole-star of our present 
 travels. It was in this very Pleissenburg that the Leipzig dispu- 
 tation was held. 
 
 When Luther, as described in a former paper, was at Augsburg, 
 — where, by-the-bye, his acquaintance with Auerbach began — he 
 came into friendly contact with Dr. Eck, or Eckius, — a man of 
 learning and logical acuteness, a master of scholastic wrangling — 
 strongly attached to the Popedom, but not out of all sympathy 
 with Martin in the earlier portion of his career. An eminent 
 scholastic, Andrew Rudolph Bodenstein,surnamed Carlstadt, a name 
 by which he is best known in history, agreed with Luther on certain 
 points and published a number of theses, or propositions, some of 
 them favourable to the Reformer's views. The propositions were 
 not approved by Eck, and, in some respects, they appear not to 
 have been approved by Luther, for he agreed at Augsburg that a 
 debate should be held by Eck and Carlstadt to settle the differ- 
 ences between them. But Eck, in bcacing himself up for a con- 
 flict with Carlstadt, began to threaten Luther as well — conduct 
 which the latter resented with all the vehemence of his fiery nature, 
 calling him an " animalculum of fame," full of stupid sycophancy. 
 The dispute which was to be held by Eckius with Carlstadt branched 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 out into a further dispute with Luther ; and at length these three 
 theologians publicly discussed the questions which had set them 
 at variance. 
 
 The question as to the place of discussion was of considerable 
 importance. Wittenberg and Leipzig had by this time — ^the year 
 1 5 19 — become the strongholds of two contending powers, the Re- 
 formation and Rome. Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, looked 
 with pride on the extending fame of Wittenberg, and agjeed 
 with Luther in ecclesiastical tendencies ; and had the disputation 
 been appointed to be held there, the champions of reform would 
 have been supported by a sympathetic population as well as 
 a sympathetic prince. On the other hand, Duke George of Saxony, 
 with Dresden as his capital, looked on Leipzig, with its university, 
 as the ecclesiastical centre of his dominions ; and as he threw 
 the weight of his influence into the papal scale — though he was not 
 free from some touches of liberal feeling — he was favourable to 
 the impending debate being held there, where Eckius particularly 
 desired it should take place for the honour both of the university 
 and the Duke. The point was carried in favour of Leipzig. 
 
 There, accordingly, preparations were made for a grand debate 
 in the summer of 15 19. Discussions held at public meetings in the 
 present day give no sort of idea of the discussions of the sixteenth 
 century ; and however important and imposing they may have been 
 in England at that period, Germany bore away the palm of mag- 
 nificence and effect in such proceedings. They have been often 
 compared to tournaments, and not without reason : certainly this 
 polemical encounter at Leipzig was conducted under circumstances 
 of splendour which forcibly remind us of the grand array upon 
 a mediaeval tilting-ground ; and the theses and rules of debate 
 were more elaborate and perplexing than the laws of chivalry, 
 ruhng the attack and defence allowed in the lists to knights 
 of old. 
 
 The narrative of the opening of the business certainly reads 
 
LEIPZIG IN THE YEAR 1519. loi 
 
 like the story of so many men in armour, with squires and heralds, 
 passing the barriers. 
 
 First came Eck into Leipzig on the 21st June, the feast of 
 Corpus Christi, attended by Poliander, "A youth whom he 
 brought with him from Ingolstadt, to write an account of the 
 disputation. All manner of honours were paid to the scholastic 
 Doctor. Arrayed in the robes of the priesthood, and followed by 
 a numerous procession, he traversed the streets of the city on the 
 day of the festival. All pressed to have a glimpse of him : " the 
 theological faculty of the university treated him with distinction ; 
 the city council provided for him a feast.^ 
 
 On the 24th of June, the Feast of St. John, came Carlstadt, riding 
 in a carriage, followed by other chariots containing Duke Barnim 
 of Pomerania, at that time a Wittenberg student and the chosen 
 rector of the university, accompanied by Martin Luther, Philip 
 Melancthon, Nicholas Amsdorf — whose house at Eisenach has been 
 mentioned — and John Lange, Vicar of the Augustinians. Several 
 Doctors of Law — some Masters of Arts — two Licentiates in 
 Theology, and other ecclesiastics, with two hundred students on 
 foot, carrying spears and halberds, closed the procession. One of 
 the wheels of Carlstadt's carriage broke down as he passed St. 
 Paul's Church, and that rather self-important personage had to 
 seek his lodgings on foot : the vehicle containing Luther passed 
 safely onward to its destination. 
 
 Duke George of Saxony had the great hall of the Pleissenburg 
 fitted up for the accommodation of the disputants and their friends. 
 Two pulpits were erected facing each other ; one exhibiting the 
 portrait of St. Martin, the other the portrait of St. George ; like a 
 couple of shields bearing the devices of the champions to whom they 
 belonged. There were benches for spectators hung with tapestry 
 and tables for the use of notaries who had to report the discussion. 
 
 "• D'Aubigne, " History of the Reformation," book v., c. ii. Sears, 243. 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 The 27th of June was fixed for the first meeting. On the morning 
 of that day both parties assembled at the university and proceeded 
 to hear mass at St. Thomas' Church. Then all marched to the 
 Pleissenburg, Duke George and the Duke of Pomerania taking the 
 lead ; next came Counts, Abbots, and Knights ; last followed the 
 Doctors and their friends, a band of music occupying the rear. In 
 the hall the beautiful hymn " Veni Sancte Spiritus " was sung ; 
 Luther's noble voice, we may be sure, rising above the voices of 
 many. Luther, as described by an eye-witness, was of middle size, 
 and had become so lean that you might almost count his bones. 
 He was in the prime of life, and had a clear and sonorous voice. 
 He had the Word of God at his fingers' ends. In conversation he 
 was candid and affable, "had nothing but strict thoughts," and 
 could accommodate himself to society — being pleasant and full of 
 hearty good-humour. 
 
 Carlstadt was not so tall as Luther ; he was of a dusky com- 
 plexion, and had a disagreeable utterance. He, notwithstanding 
 possessed, though in a less degree, some of the qualities which 
 distinguished his friend. 
 
 Eck was tall and broad-shouldered, and had a strong German 
 voice, " fit for the stage — fit for a public crier." His accentua- 
 tion was thick, rather than distinct. His mouth, eyes, and 
 countenance gave the impression of his being a soldier or a 
 butcher, rather than a divine. This description proceeds from no 
 friendly pen ; and Eck is further painted as slow of compre- 
 hension and defective in judgment, and as a man of incon- 
 ceivable impudence ; but he is credited with an excellent memory, 
 which enabled him to heap passage on passage from the Fathers, 
 with a perseverance which must have been perplexing to his 
 opponents. 
 
 We cannot follow the debate throughout its manifold windings. 
 Eck and Carlstadt began and carried on a controversy upon free 
 will, which lasted a whole week. 
 
LUTHER AT LEIPZIG. 
 
 From the Painting by Schnorr* 
 
LEIPZIG IN THE YEAR 1519. 105 
 
 On the 4th of July a discussion ensued between Luther and 
 Eck ; not, it may be said, according to previous arrange- 
 ment, but Luther could not and would not hold his peace, and 
 from the beginning prepared himself for the discussion. His 
 interest in the controversy was intense, and his desire to speak 
 irrepressible, the more so, in consequence of the unexpected turn 
 which in some respects the discussion took. He had indeed promised 
 to be silent, but only on condition that Eck should not attack 
 any of his published propositions. In the end, he considered that 
 Eck had attacked him whilst dealing with Carlstadt, and therefore 
 felt himself released from his promise. It appears impossible that 
 Luther could be a mute spectator, when we find him in the month 
 of May writing to Spalatin in the following terms : " This matter, 
 if it be of God, shall not have an end, except that as the disciples 
 and friends of Christ forsook Him, so all my friends forsake me ; 
 and the truths which saves with its own right hand, not mine, 
 nor that of any other man, shall be left to itself alone." " If I 
 perish, nothing will perish with me." " I am unhappy because I 
 fear I am not worthy to suffer and to be put to death for such a 
 cause. That felicity will be reserved for better men, not for such 
 a vile sinner as I am." " Death will certainly come at some time." 
 Verily he carried his life in his hand, and could say with Paul, to 
 reforming compeers, " I protest by your rejoicing which I have in 
 Christ Jesus, I die daily." 
 
 When Luther met Eck in debate they occupied two pulpits, 
 Luther carrying a nosegay in his hand. They continued until the 
 8th of the month, debating upon the supremacy of the Pope, 
 purgatory, indulgences, and absolution. When Eck had pro- 
 pounded his theses as to the Church and its visible head, Luther 
 replied, " The Head of the Church militant is Jesus Christ Himself, 
 and not a man. This I hold in virtue of God's own testimony. 
 
 ^ The day of the month is not given. The letter may be found in Luther's Briefe, 
 i. 260. 
 
io6 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Christ, saith the Scriptures, must reign till He hath put all enemies 
 under His feet. Let us not listen then to those who would con- 
 fine Christ to the Church triumphant in heaven. His reign is a 
 reign of faith. We see not our Head, yet we have Him." With 
 such incisive words Luther, at one stroke, cut through sophistries 
 touching the Pope's headship or viceregency. 
 
 One important issue of the disputation was that Luther was 
 led by it into clearer views of the Headship of Christ, and the 
 unscriptural and irrational character of papal pretensions. He 
 had, notwithstanding the expressions he had occasionally used, 
 been unwilling to go any great length in opposition to the supre- 
 macy of the Pope. But men are trained by the discipline of 
 circumstances, and are ultimately brought to conclusions latent in 
 premises which they took up without seeing at first what they 
 contained. So Luther was trained ; so he was led on step by 
 step ; his eyes were opened as he contended with Eckius, and he 
 began to see further into the truth of Christ's Lordship over the 
 Church than he had formerly discerned. Another result was the 
 impression made on George of Anhalt — a Leipzig student, twelve 
 years old, who sat on one of the tapestried benches, listening 
 to the Wittenberg professor, and who in his riper years came 
 forward boldly on the side of the Reformation ; other students 
 also, received into their minds seeds of truth which never perished. 
 
 Two further incidents deserve attention. Three or four daj's 
 after the disputation had been begun, Luther was requested by 
 the Duke of Pomerania to preach in the castle chapel ; but the 
 place was too confined ; the overflowing congregation adjourned to 
 the hall of the Pleissenburg. Luther preached on the topic of the 
 day — the grace of God and the power of Peter ; and popularised 
 the arguments against Rome which in scholastic guise he had main- 
 tained in debate with Eckius— much, of course, to the annoyance 
 of that divine, who forthwith delivered four sermons in reply to 
 Luther. The parish pulpits, opened to his antagonist, were closed 
 
LEIPZIG IN THE YEAR 1519. 107 
 
 against him ; no opportunity of presenting a rejoinder was given ; 
 and Luther complained not only of the unfriendliness of the 
 Leipzig clergy, but of the Leipzig burgesses also. 
 
 Melancthon, as we have seen, accompanied Luther to this 
 contest ; he aided him, too, by his learning and wisdom ; but they 
 were different men, a fact of which Luther was conscious. " I was 
 born," he says, " to engage in earnest struggles on the field of 
 battle with priests and with demons. Hence my writings are full 
 of war and storm. It is necessary that I uproot the stocks and 
 trunks, clear away the thorns and brushwood, fill up the swamps 
 and sloughs. I am the rough woodman whose office it is to open 
 up the highways and to smooth the roads. But the master of 
 arts, Philip, advances with the utmost calmness and gentleness ; 
 he tills the ground and plants it out ; he joyfully sows and 
 waters according to the gifts that God has so liberally bestowed 
 on him." 
 
 Luther was more at home amidst the storm of a public debate 
 than his gentle friend. That friend did not approve of the way 
 in which the controversy was carried on. He did not imagine 
 much good would come out of it. " One can't but wonder," he 
 remarked, " when thinking of the violence that has been shown 
 in treating of aU these things. How was any good to be drawn 
 from them ? The Spirit of God loves retirement and silence — it 
 is there that He enters into the hearts of men. The Bride of 
 Christ does not remain in the streets and crossings, but she 
 conducts her Bridegroom into her mother's house." Most true, 
 there must be controversy ; the Church needs her Luthers no 
 less than her Melancthons ; but there can be no doubt that 
 quiet, patient reflection on God's Word, in the spirit of prayer, is 
 the best key to unlock the secrets of the gospel. A translator 
 of D'Aubigne's " History of the Reformation " appropriately 
 cites in this connection two verses from a beautiful hymn by 
 Cowper : — 
 
io8 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 " The calm retreat, the silent shade, 
 With prayer and praise agree, 
 And seem by Thy sweet bounty made 
 For those who follow Thee. 
 
 " There if Thy Spirit touch the soul, 
 And grace her mean abode, 
 Oh, with what peace, and joy, and love. 
 She communes with her God ! " 
 
 We meet with Luther again at Leipzig in May, 1539, just 
 after the death of Duke George. His brother Henry, a Pro- 
 testant, claimed the dukedom, and exercised authority. His first 
 act was to promote Protestantism by inviting Luther to preach 
 in his dominions, " the man of all others most detested by his 
 predecessor."' 
 
 The Reformer preached in St. Nicholas Church. " There was 
 such a crowd that all the spaces about the pillars and railings and 
 passages were full, and many stood out of doors and heard him 
 through the windows."' Contemporary records, with some exag- 
 geration, declare that most of the citizens, in a single day, 
 were converted to the Protestant faith.^ Luther had predicted 
 what appeared at the time a strange event : " I shall one day 
 preach God's word in Leipzig." 
 
 ^ Sears, " Luther," p. 406. 
 
 2 See Waddington's " History of the Reformation," vol, iii., p. 291. 
 
X. 
 
 p 
 
 lET OF 
 
 WOR/VIS. 
 
 
 /TfY 
 
 ANY a year has passed and gone since, 
 returning home from Switzerland by 
 the Rhine, in a steamer which then, 
 plied between Strasburg and Mayence, 
 I first saw the twin towers of Worms 
 Cathedral at a distance. There they, 
 stand, about a mile from the river, on 
 the fertile level which stretches away from the low 
 banks, rich in romantic associations ; for all round 
 Worms lies the Wonnegau, or land of joy, a spot 
 which inspired the lays of the Minnesanger. It is in 
 part the scene of the stories of the Nibelungenlied ; 
 and opposite the landing-place, by the Rheinischer, 
 Hof, is the island of Rosengarten, which, accord- 
 ing to the legend, was " some seven miles in circuit, 
 fenced only by a silk thread/' But not of mediaeval myths was I 
 thinking when the old reddish-looking twin towers first met my 
 view ; but of him with whom the place has now, for three centuries 
 and a half, been associated ; and then arose an earnest desire to 
 visit the homes and haunts of Martin Luther, a desire which at 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 intervals, during a quarter of a century or so, has been richly gratified. 
 Circumstances, at the time, did not permit my exploring the old 
 German city, which seemed to beckon me on so temptingly ; but a 
 few years afterwards I was enabled to gratify my curiosity respecting 
 it ; then and since, with a rare enjoyment, have I rambled through 
 the streets, and outside the walls, thinking of the memorable visit 
 paid to Worms by the great Reformer in the spring of 1521. 
 
 It was late on an August evening that I and a dear friend 
 entered within the gates, and were conveyed from the railway 
 station to an old-fashioned inn, — not indeed so venerable as to 
 wear the honours of between three and four centuries, — but yet 
 sufficiently antique to be in keeping with the object of our 
 pilgrimage. After the fatigues of a long day's journey, sleep was 
 most welcome, and we were rather too soon disturbed in the 
 morning by the bells of a neighbouring church ; yet bells carry a 
 tone which comes from memory's land ; the spirits of the belfry 
 always pour out music of the past rather than of the future, and 
 their fingers ever point behind, not before — so the bells at Worms, 
 that pleasant sunn)"- morning, chimed in with the purpose of our 
 visit, and struck a keynote in harmony with the employment of 
 the day. 
 
 Of course our attention was directed to the sights renowned in 
 guide-books — the markets ; the Place St. Andr6, the Rathhaus, and 
 certain churches, especially the Domkirche, or Cathedral, a grand 
 Romanesque building, the twin towers of which have just been 
 mentioned. Chapels and sculptures, and a charming pointed 
 portal of the fifteenth century mirrored themselves in my mind 
 more or I'ess distinctly ; yet I confess that what was uppermost 
 when we were actually in the place, remains uppermost in imagina- 
 tion still ; and mediaeval forms of architecture chiefly serve now, 
 as they did then, to throw a fitting background into pictures of the 
 man who came there to vindicate the rights of conscience — to do 
 battle with deadly errors, and, on the side of God's own Word, to 
 
DIET OF WORMS. 113 
 
 fling down before princes and potentates, bishops and priests, 
 the gauntlet of the Reformation. 
 
 At an early hour we took a walk to Pfiffligheim, not very far 
 fronn the town, along a road bordered by trees laden with fruit, 
 and dividing, without any hedgerows, the public thoroughfare 
 from the far-spreading and well-cultivated fields of the German 
 farmers, then waving with promises of a rich summer crop. There 
 are hours in life when, by a happy combination of weather, scenery, 
 circumstances, society, health, and buoyant spirits, an Elysian kind 
 of lot befalls even common mortals ; cares are thrown off, troubles 
 are forgotten, the air breathes peace, the sun pours down glad- 
 ness, the birds chirp merry strains, and the voice of friendship is 
 heard above them in tones of sympathy which enhances the beauty 
 of every wild flower, of every green tree, of every bit of woodland, 
 every stretch of cornfield, and every fleck of cloud floating up in 
 the azure sky. So it was that morning, as we walked on the 
 road towards Oppenheim. 
 
 Luther passed Oppenheim on his way to the Diet. His letters 
 enable us to follow him through his journey from Wittenberg to 
 Worms. He paused at Leipzig, Naumberg, Weimar, Erfurt, 
 Gotha, and Frankfort, travelling, at least part of the way, in a 
 waggon with leather curtains. At Frankfort there stands at one 
 corner' of the Dom Platz an old house bearing his name, with the 
 inscription : "In silentio et spe erit fortitude vestra." There 
 probably he tarried on this occasion, certainly at the time he found 
 that in quietness and confidence was the secret of his strength. 
 " All the way from Eisenach," he says in a letter, already noticed, 
 written at Frankfort, April 14, " I have been ill, and am so now 
 to a degree I have not known before. I understand that the 
 Emperor Charles has issued his mandate for the purpose of 
 terrifying me, but Christ liveth, and I will enter Worms in spite 
 of all the gates of hell, and all the powers of the air." 
 
 Some years after I took that walk I visited Oppenheim, and 
 
 I 
 
114 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 tarried there during an autumnal afternoon and evening, being enter- 
 tained at a goodly castle which was surrounded by flower gardens, 
 and commanded a magnificent view of the Rhine. I revelled in the 
 charms of the landscape ; and the pleasure was enhanced by the 
 hospitality of German friends familiar with the neighbourhood, one 
 of them an occupant of the delightful spot. I knew that Luther 
 had tarried at Oppenheim on his way to Worms, but I did not 
 know that his resting-place could be identified. What then was 
 my gratification when a lady at the Castle, a friend of many years, 
 undertook to be my cicerone, and to show me the house where 
 Luther lodged. I was conducted down the hill into a street, the 
 principal one in the town, where stood a good-sized hostelry of the 
 true German type, with rows of windows running across the front. 
 The Ritter, I think, is the sign. " There," said my informant, 
 " Luther rested on his road to Worms ; and it is a local tradition, 
 that in that room," pointing to an upper window, " he slept, and 
 being left-handed, so people here say, he opened the casement in 
 his own fashion, and that fashion is often followed here in memory 
 of him." This, of course, is one of the welcome waifs and strays 
 one likes to pick up, without vouching for the truth of the story, and 
 as the inside of the inn presented nothing remarkable, I hastened 
 to see whatever else of interest there might be in Oppenheim. 
 
 Two objects I well remember : first, the ruins of the Castle of 
 Landskron, once an Imperial Castle ; and secondly, the Church of 
 St. Catherine, of which an interesting History was offered by the 
 person who conducted us over the building. Part is in ruins, part is 
 in tolerable repair. The towers are of the twelfth century ; the 
 nave, of much later date, with painted glass — almost perfect — is ex- 
 ceedingly elegant. There is a rose window full of elaborate tracery, 
 and there are tombstones four hundred years old. Amongst armorial 
 bearings which remain in this beautiful edifice, are those of the 
 family of Sickengen, who belonged to the neighbourhood, and were 
 connected with the Church. Here we get on the Luther track 
 
DIET OF WORMS. 115 
 
 again. Franz of Sickengen was one of those knights errant who 
 terrified the people of Worms and Frankfort ; but he befriended 
 the Reformers, and figures in the history of early Protestantism, 
 He sympathised with it, if not on its spiritual, yet on its temporal 
 and political side. He disliked the priesthood, and preferred the 
 secular to the ecclesiastical power. In his rude castle of Ebern- 
 burg, not far from Oppenheim — nor from Kreuznach on the Vale of 
 theNahr Railway — he entertained Melancthon,Bucer,and CEcolam- 
 padius. There also the famous Ulric von Hutten wrote some of his 
 works. When Luther was at Oppenheim, at the Ritter hostelry as 
 I suppose, a troop of horsemen came dashing into the town, led by 
 Martin Bucer, then on a visit to Sickengen. " These cavaliers," 
 said the Reformer, " belong to Franz of Sickengen. He has sent me 
 to conduct you to his castle." Franz was then looked up to as a 
 protector. " You two together," says a correspondent of Ulric von 
 Hutten, after mentioning Franz, " will be the thunder and lightning 
 to crush the monster of Rome." Merle d'Aubigne^ represents an 
 artful plan, as laid by Luther's adversaries to entrap him on his 
 approach to Worms, and he considers that Bucer was a simple- 
 minded instrument, misled and employed by them to accomplish 
 their mischievous purpose. The authorities cited by the graphic 
 historian do not appear to me sufficient to substantiate his view. 
 Luther was travelling under an Imperial safe-conduct to the city 
 of the Diet, and friends questioned the wisdom of relying on that 
 document, seeing that a safe-conduct in the case of Huss had been 
 broken. Enemies also were found who said the Emperor Charles 
 was not bound to keep his word with heretics. Hence the warning 
 sent to Luther may be more probably regarded as originating with 
 friends, not foes. 
 
 It was at Oppenheim that Luther received from Spalatin a mes- 
 sage, telling him not to think of entering Worms. It would be so 
 very dangerous. The grandees of Germany were there assembling 
 ^ " Historj' of the Reformation." 
 
ii6 
 
 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 in conclave. Ecclesiastical as well as political affairs awaited settle- 
 
 LUTHER HOUSE AT FRANKFORT. 
 
 ment. Luther's books and theses and manifold defiances of Rome 
 were troubling the empire from end to end, creating sympathy in 
 
DIET OF WORMS. 117 
 
 the minds of some, arousing indignation and revenge in the minds 
 of others. Charles V. was himself at Worms, and had written to the 
 Elector to bring I.uther with him to answer for himself before the 
 world and the Church. Come he must. " Come I will," said Martin. 
 " I will be carried there sick, sooner than not come at all. Without 
 doubt I am called of God, if called by the Emperor. He lives who 
 preserved the three men in the fiery furnace. He will preserve me." 
 It was not the policy of Rome that he should come. Rome having 
 already excommunicated him, only wished the excommunication 
 to be carried out, and the troublesome monk to be silenced. 
 
 "The papists," says Luthei", "do not wish that I may come, 
 but simply that I may be condemned and destroyed." But 
 the Emperor was disposed, especially through the influence and 
 persuasion of the Elector of Saxony, to whom he was under 
 obligation, to have Luther brought before him and the representa- 
 tives of his German dominions. Intrigues, manoeuvres, and schemes 
 were the order of the day, and made his appearance before the Diet, 
 though at the Emperor's command, very perilous. There were 
 plenty of laymen and priests who would have liked to get the 
 troublesome Augustinian into their hands ; and who could tell 
 what would happen to him if he ventured into Worms, as John 
 Huss ventured into Constance ? So Spalatin sent to the traveller, 
 on his reaching Oppenheim, saying, " Come no farther." The 
 whole world has heard his answer over a thousand times, and some- 
 how never seems tired of hearing it ; for it is one of those trumpet- 
 tongued utterances which wake up in the souls of all who are worth 
 anything a sympathetic response. Nobody who admires what is 
 brave and good, but is ready across the ages to cheer the champion 
 — as across the ages there come the words, " If there were as 
 many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the house-tops, I would 
 go thither." So on he went. 
 
 At Pfiffligheim, on the road to Oppenheim, there stands a tall 
 thin-looking elm, called the Lutherbaum, or Luther's tree. Ac- 
 
n8 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 cording to one account he here saw a peasant planting elms. " Give 
 me one of them," he said, " and I will place it in the earth. God 
 grant my doctrine may flourish like the branch of this tree." That 
 tree flourished long, according to all accounts, but was cut down in 
 1811. The present one is believed to occupythe place of it. Murray's 
 Handbook speaks as if he used his well-known words of defiance 
 at this very spot. That was not literally the case ; but the spirit of 
 the utterance must have been in him as he drove up to the spot, and 
 braced himself for the last short stage to the city, which many 
 of his friends thought would be a lion's den. God might save him 
 as he did Daniel, but the prudent said it would be tempting 
 Providence. How the old story came out with the most vivid 
 colouring — how plainly could we see him, in an open Saxon 
 waggon, on solid wooden wheels, with the monk whom he calls 
 his brother, and Nicholas Amsdorf, and Von Suaven, a Pome- 
 ranian nobleman ; the imperial herald on horseback, with the im- 
 perial escutcheon before, and Justas Jonas and his servant behind ! 
 It was at ten o'clock, an eye-witness states, that the procession 
 approached the city. It was about that time that we stood 
 under the elm-tree, and imagined the scene passing before us. 
 As we returned to Worms along the dusty road, — when there were 
 fewer buildings outside the town than there are now, and the 
 brown towers of the cathedral rose over the city amidst a bright 
 blue sky — and met the farmers' carts, and thought of Luther, we 
 could see the house-roofs of the city peering above the horizon — 
 streets of tiles, like crowds of foes. What an illustration of his 
 words ! " Never mind," he virtually said, " I will fear no evil; Thy 
 rod and Thy staff they comfort me." Sometimes men wonder at 
 their courage, thinking of it afterwards. Luther did. " I was 
 then a fearless man ; I dreaded nothing. God can inspire a man 
 with so much daring. I do not know that I should be so confident 
 now." It is believed by some that it was on his way to Worms 
 that he composed his famous hymn, Ein feste Burg ist unser 
 
FACSIMILE OF THE ORIGINAL OF"EIN' FESTE BURG: 
 From the " Litther Codex," lately discoz<erea, datingfrom the year 1530. 
 
 
 
 A safe stronghold our God is still, 
 A trusty shield and weapon ; ' 
 
 He'll help us clear from all the ill 
 That hath us now o'ertaken. 
 The ancient Prince of hell 
 Hath risen with purpose fell ; 
 Strong mail of craft and power 
 He weareth in this hour, 
 
 On earth is not his fellow. 
 
 With force of arms we nothing can. 
 Full soon were we down-ridden ; 
 
 But for us fights the proper Man, 
 Whom God Himself hath bidden. 
 Ask ye, Who is this same? 
 Christ Jesus is His name, 
 The Lord Zebaoth's Son, 
 He and no other one 
 
 Shall conquer in the battle. 
 
 And were this world all devils o'er, 
 
 And watching to devour us, 
 We lay it not to heart so sore, 
 
 Not they can o'erpower us. 
 
 And let the prince of ill 
 
 Look grieved as e'er he will. 
 
 He harms us not a whit. 
 
 For why? His doom is writ, 
 A word shall quickly slay him. 
 
 God's word, for all their craft and force, 
 One moment will not linger, 
 
 But, spite of hell, shall have its course, 
 'Tis written by His finger. 
 And though they lake our life, 
 Goods, honour, children, wife, 
 Yet is their profit small ; 
 These things shall vanish all. 
 
 The city of God remaineth. 
 
 Translated by Carlyle. 
 
DIET OF WORMS. 
 
 Gott. Thomas Carlyle says, " Luther wrote this song in a time 
 of blackest threatenings, which, however, could in no wise become 
 a time of despair." In those tones, rugged, broken as they are, 
 do we not recognise the accent of that summoned man (sum- 
 moned not by Charles v., but by God Almighty also), who 
 answered his friend's warning in this wise, " Were there as many 
 devils in Worms as there are roof tiles, I would on " ? Michelet, 
 an inferior authority, calls the hymn the Marseillaise of the Refor- 
 mation, and states, with a characteristic aim at effect, that Luther 
 arose in the chariot, and began to sing, as the bell towers of Worms 
 came in sight, the words and the music having been improvised 
 two days before at Oppenheim. But according to a writer who 
 describes the castle of Coburg, in an interesting folio of drawings by 
 the late Mr. Morison (executed at the suggestion of the lamented 
 Prince Consort), the hymn was composed years afterwards in the 
 castle of Coburg. Perhaps the two accounts can be reconciled. 
 May not the germ of the noble psalm have been first conceived 
 on the road to Worms, then gradually wrought into a more 
 perfect form of words and music, and finally written in the old 
 fortress as we have it now .■' The hymn embodies Luther's spirit, 
 both when present at the Diet of Worms, and when at a distance 
 watching the Diet of Augsburg. 
 
 He entered the city about noon, "just as people sat down to 
 dinner. When the watchman on the church tower blew his trumpet 
 everybody crowded into the streets to see the monk. He sat in the 
 open waggon, which the Council of Wittenberg had lent him for the 
 journey, in the cowl of his order."^ More than two thousand people 
 escorted him to his lodgings. The inn at which Luther alighted 
 is by some authors called the Deutscher Hof. There quarters 
 had been provided for him by the Elector, there also were lodged 
 the imperial marshals and two noblemen of the Elector's court. 
 
 I inquired after this hostelry on my last visit to Worms, and 
 1 Eanke's " History of the Reformation,'' vol. i.,p. 533. 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 was informed by the landlord of the Alter Kaiser, that there exists 
 no inn of the name just mentioned, and that the house where Luther 
 lodged had been pulled down. This did not satisfy me, and on 
 further inquiry I learned from an intelligent Scotch gardener that 
 the house stood on the Hardt Gasse, to the south-west of the 
 cathedral. After some trouble, I discovered in .that street an open 
 spot where a building had recently stood, which I learned had 
 been used as a casino, and was a Maltese house bearing the name 
 of the White Cross. This site, a person living in the street affirmed 
 to be, according to tradition, that on which stood the house occupied 
 by Luther during the Diet : but I had no means of ascertaining 
 what its appearance was. 
 
 Whatever the accommodation aiTorded might be, it is stated 
 that for some hours after his arrival he was allowed to retire and 
 rest himself ; but the spring evening had scarcely begun to close 
 in, when people of all sorts, including nobles, knights, priests, and 
 common citizens, pressed into the hotel to see him — some from 
 curiosity, some from kindliness. The Landgrave Philip of Hesse 
 squeezed his hand as he bid him good night, saying, if his cause 
 was good, God would be with him. It was the commencement of 
 a lasting friendship. 
 
 We may conclude how troubled was his sleep in the inn from 
 the well-known interjections he was heard to utter, before he 
 appeared amongst his friends next mornieg. Mathesius has pre- 
 served them in his " Life of Luther." " O Almighty and everlasting 
 God, how strong is the world ! How little do men put their trust in 
 Thee ! .... If I turn my eyes to the world, all is over with me : 
 for the die is cast, and my condemnation is pronounced. O God ! 
 O God ! O Thou my God 1 Stand by me against the world's 
 reason and wisdom. For Thou must do it — Thou alone. It is 
 
 not my cause, but Thine own I could fain live out my days 
 
 in quietness, without struggle and perplexity. But Thine is the 
 cause, O Lord, and it is righteous and eternal. Therefore stand 
 
DIET OF WORMS. 123 
 
 by me, Thou righteous and eternal God ! I put not my trust in 
 any man. . . Dost Thou not hear me, O my God ? Art Thou 
 dead ? No ! Thou canst not die. Thou only hidest Thy face. 
 Oh tell me, hast Thou not chosen me for this work "i I know that 
 Thou hast. . . Be Thou upon my side, O God, for the honour of 
 Thy dear Son Jesus Christ. . . Though my body, which is the work 
 of Thy hands, should perish, yea, be torn to pieces, . . . my soul 
 is Thine, and belongs to Thee, and shall abide with Thee for ever 
 and ever. Amen." 
 
 Even men who are little accustomed to pray will pour out their 
 hearts before God in a time of trouble ; how much more men like 
 Luther, to whom prayer has become a second nature ! His peti- 
 tions were pitched in a key of agonizing earnestness, like that 
 indicated by the great Lord of prayer when He said : " The king- 
 dom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." 
 The very day the Reformer thus prayed, he received a letter at 
 Worms, from the eccentric Ulric von Hutten, who began with the 
 words : " The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ! the name of 
 the God of Jacob defend thee ! Send thee help from the sanctuary, 
 and strengthen thee out of Zion ! Grant thee according to thine 
 own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel ! " It was like an answer from 
 heaven. Such passages of Scripture were the staff and stay of 
 Martin Luther in the hour of conflict. He had been wrestling with 
 the Angel of the Covenant, and that day at Worms felt how the 
 Great Unseen was blessing him there. 
 
 At four o'clock a herald came to the inn, to summon him to 
 appear before the Emperor. The crowd was immense ; the public 
 thoroughfares were blocked up ; windows were filled with faces ; 
 men and boys scrambled up to the house-tops. It was necessary 
 to conduct the object of this curiosity by a back way through 
 private passages, to the place where the Diet had assembled. 
 Where was that place .' The prevalent tradition amongst the 
 townspeople points to the Bishop's palace, destroyed by the P'rench 
 
124 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 in the year 1689, and, after being rebuilt, destroyed again by the 
 French in 1794. 
 
 On the north side of the Dom is a red stone wall belonging to the 
 old Bishop's Hof, and the external wall of the Dom opposite indi- 
 cates, between them, the existence once of a building there now 
 pulled down. In an ancient map of Worms, I noticed a covered 
 corridor connecting the palace with the cathedral, just at that point. 
 The site of the episcopal residence is now a beautiful garden, where 
 I met with the intelligent Scotch gardener, who not only directed 
 attention to his charming plants and shrubs, but also to objects 
 of interest connected with the vanished buildings, at the same time 
 adopting the tradition just now cited. He also showed a model of 
 the palace as it appeared after its reconstruction in 17 19, presenting 
 a long fagade, with a bay in the middle and with wings, an arcade 
 running round, and dormer windows jutting out on the roof. The 
 second palace is said to have resembled the first, and of this last 
 building a vault or cellar still remains. Contrary to the town 
 tradition, D'Aubigne in his " History of the Reformation," and Sears 
 in his "Life of Luther," speak of the Town or Guild Hall as the 
 place where the Diet was held ; and Michelet, in his " Life of the 
 Reformer," represents Luther as stating the Town Hall to have 
 been the place of assembly.^ But an examination of the original 
 account, given in Luther's works, settles the question the other 
 way. Luther in the notice of his first audience does not specify 
 any place at all,^ and in the account of his second audience he 
 only uses the general expression of " Saal," or "Hall."* But 
 Spalatin, in his description of the first audience, distinctly mentions 
 " the Bischofs Hof" as the scene of the memorable transaction. 
 Spalatin was not likely to be mistaken.* 
 
 1 Life of Luther by Michelet, translated by Hazlitt, Bohn's Edition, p. 82. No 
 reliance can be placed on his quotations in critical instance3,or to his references at any time. 
 ^ Luther's Works, Walch's Edition, vol. xv., col. 2231. 
 ' Ibid., col. 2233. 
 ^ Luther's Works, Walch's Edition, vol. xv., col. 2232. Spalatin has, "auf die Pfalz 
 
DIET OF WORMS. 125 
 
 When the Diet opened in the palace, access to the hall was 
 thronged. With difficulty Luther got towards the door, when he 
 felt a tap on his shoulder, and heard a friendly voice — an old 
 soldier's, George of Freundsberg — exclaiming, " Little monk, thou 
 art marching to a battle such as neither I nor any other general 
 ever fought If thou art sure of having right on thy side, press on 
 in the name of God, and fear nothing. God will not forsake 
 you." There were present the Emperor, six Electors, an Arch- 
 duke, twenty-seven Dukes, two Landgraves, five Margraves, and 
 numerous Counts, Archbishops, and Bishops. The galleries, 
 doors, and windows of the hall were crowded. Amongst the 
 noblest there were some who spoke to the bold monk of Saxony 
 in tones of encouragement. One said, " Fear not them which kill 
 the body, but are not able to kill the soul." "When," said another, 
 " ye shall be brought before kings, the Spirit of your Father will 
 speak in you." 
 
 His first appearance amounted to little more than a matter of 
 form. He was asked whether the books published in his name 
 were his ; he answered in the affirmative. He was also asked 
 v/hether he would retract what he had written ; he replied that he 
 must beg truce of his imperial Majesty before he answered so 
 important a question, The Emperor allowed him one day for con- 
 sideration. Luther returned to his hotel, and sat down and wrote 
 to Cuspianus, imperial councillor, " I have stood before the 
 Emperor and his brother, and have been asked whether I would 
 retract what I have written. I have acknowledged the books to be 
 mine, and have promised to answer to-morrow respecting retracta- 
 tion. Verily I will not retract one jot, Christ being my helper." 
 
 Oder des Bischofs Hof." "Pfalz,'' when used of a building, is very much the same as our 
 "palace." Since writing the above I find Kostlin states that the hall in the palace was 
 the place for holding Diets, and hence it came to be called the Rath-haus, or Council 
 Hall. This no doubt has caused confusion as to the locality of the Diet. 
 
126 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 In the course of that day there was an uproar in Worms. 
 Spaniards quarrelled with the citizens. Copies of Luther's book 
 on the Babylonish captivity were found torn to pieces, whereupon 
 the people who sympathized in the Reformation avenged this 
 insult and attacked the offenders. 
 
 At four o'clock next day, Luther was brought before the Diet 
 again, amidst crowds as before ; and as the afternoon grew dark, 
 torches were brought into the hall, heightening the solemn aspect 
 of the assembly by the lights and shadows thrown over the build- 
 ing. There he stood and spoke to this effect : — that he had com- 
 posed books on different subjects, some of which even his adver- 
 saries approved ; that he had also written against the Papacy, in 
 which he was supported by the complaints of God-fearing men, 
 and to retract what he had freely stated on the subject would 
 be to . increase evils widely complained of ; that he had also 
 published works against private persons, perhaps with too much 
 acrimony ; but he could revoke none of his positions, unless they 
 were proved to be untrue : in that case he would commit his 
 writings to the flames. 
 
 Luther spoke in German ; but, upon being requested to do so, 
 repeated his speech in Latin. Then, after further pressure on the 
 point of retractation, he uttered the never-to-be-forgotten sentence, 
 ' Unless I be convicted of error by the Scriptures, or by powerful 
 reasons, neither can I nor will I dare to retract anything, for my 
 conscience is bound to God's word, and it is neither safe nor right 
 to go against conscience. Hier stehe ich : ich kann nicht anders : 
 Gott helfe mir. Amen. (Here I stand: I can do no otherwise: 
 God help me.) 
 
 Luther was as bold as Paul before Agrippa, and was filled with 
 the same consciousness of Divine truth as the apostle was, when 
 he defied men and angels to preach any other gospel than that 
 which God had taught him. There were those who were slow to 
 take Luther's answer. He was reminded of the course adopted 
 
DIET OF WORMS. 127 
 
 towards obstinate heretics. Still he said, " God help me ! I can 
 retract nothing." Called back, he was asked to qualify his 
 declaration. " No," said he, " I have no other answer than that 
 have given." 
 
 Leaving the hall, people shouted, " Is he going to prison .' " 
 ■' No," he answered, " to my hotel." There Luther was accosted by 
 a footman of the Duke of Brunswick, who brought him a tankard 
 of German beer, such as Luther liked. " As Duke Erick has this 
 day remembered me," said he, after a good draught of the 
 beverage, '' so may our Lord Jesus Christ remember him in the 
 hour of his last conflict." The story goes that the Duke on his 
 death-bed remembered this, when a page read to him out of the 
 Gospel, " Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in 
 My name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he 
 shall not lose his reward." 
 
 " The Rhine ought to receive his ashes, as it received a century 
 ago the ashes of John Huss," said certain zealots who attended the 
 Diet of Worms ; and even Charles said afterwards that it was one 
 of the greatest blunders of his life to let Luther off as he did ; -but 
 the idea of violating the imperial safe-conduct, as in the case of 
 Huss, the great scandal of the fifteenth century, horrified some of 
 the princes of Germany, and they would not hear of its being 
 repeated in the sixteenth. 
 
 From day to day distinguished men crossed the threshold of 
 Luther's inn at Worms to see and talk with him. The sympathy 
 on one hand seems more wonderful than the animosity on the other. 
 The Archbishop of Treves sent for him at the archiepiscopal lodg- 
 ings ; the Chancellor of Baden strove to win over the Saxon 
 Reformer. "Commit yourself to the Emperor's judgment, and 
 don't be afraid." " My conscience hangs on God's word," returned 
 Luther. " Then, if I rightly understand," rejoined the Chancellor, 
 "you do not acknowledge any authority but Scripture?" "Pre- 
 cisely so." 
 
128 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Afterwards we find Luther in good humour supping with the 
 Archbishop at his lodgings. A story is told on the authority of an 
 eye-witness (but Luther does not mention it) that a wine-glass fell 
 to pieces in his hand. "There must have been poison in it,'' 
 thought his friends. " It never was meant for me," said Luther 
 himself; " the glass went to shivers from having been plunged in 
 cold water when washed." And so he turned aside the suspicion, 
 for which, under the circumstances, there really was no ground. 
 
 An imperial message at last reached the hotel, commanding 
 Luther to depart, but giving a safe-conduct for twenty days. 
 At ten o'clock he left with his' friends. Twenty gentlemen on 
 horseback surrounded the vehicle in which he rode, till he had 
 passed out of the gates into the open country. 
 
 His presence was troublesome to his enemies, and when the 
 twenty days' safe-conduct should expire, there was no saying what 
 might be done with him. He had been outlawed by the Diet. 
 The bill for that purpose was drawn up May 25 th, and signed the 
 next day ; but it was dated as far back as the 8th to conceal 
 the fact of its being prepared after several members of the Diet 
 had left.' 
 
 The papal nuncio, Aleander, writing from Worms, discloses the 
 disturbed state of public opinion, at the time divided in one respect, 
 united in another ; as he remarks, " The whole of Germany is in an 
 uproar, nine persons out of ten are for Luther, and even the tenth 
 does not trouble himself about the edict which condemns him ; 
 but all wish for the destruction of the Roman Church, everybody 
 cries for a council ! a council ! ! " ^ 
 
 Luther left Worms on Friday, April 26th, and the same day 
 Caspar Contarini, the Venetian ambassador, says in one of his 
 letters : — 
 
 ■■■ We learn this rom Pallavicino, in his History of the Council of Trent. 
 ^ " Etude Historique sur le Concile de Trente." Premier jjartie, 1545-62. Paris, 
 1874. 
 
■'Jl «fl 
 
DIET OF WORMS. iji 
 
 "During the night of the day on vyhich the Emperor dismissed 
 Luther, a writing was placarded on the doors of the cathedral, 
 whereby four hundred nobles and persons innumerable of inferior 
 grade threatened the opponents of Luther; and defied them to 
 battle, making especial mention of the Bishop of Mayence, whom 
 they vituperated greatly. 
 
 " Lulher's books are sold publicly in Worms, although the Pope 
 and the Emperor, who is on the spot, have prohibited them." ' 
 
 . In thfe summer of 1869 was inaugurated the elaborate monu- 
 ment which now adorns the west side of Worms, not far from 
 a remaining portion of the city wall, under which ran the fosse or 
 ditch in Luther's time. It commemorates the Reformation, exhi- 
 biting a number of celebrities connected with that event. At the 
 four corners stand Frederick the Wise, Philip the Magnanimous, 
 Philip Melancthon, and John Reuchlin ; and between these figures 
 on three sides are emblems of Augsburg with a palm-branch, Magde- 
 burg mourning over her desolate hearths, and Spires offering her 
 famous protest. Luther surmounts the , pedestal in the middle 
 rising in this emblematical memorial of the Reformation, as he 
 did in actual fact, above all his contemporaries, whether ecclesias- 
 tical, literary, or royal. 
 
 The British and Foreign Bible Society availed itself of the in- 
 auguration, and was permitted by the authorities to erect a stall for 
 the sale of Scriptures, when a continual stream of buyers set in, 
 and there occurred the following incidents, described by the late 
 Rev. Mr. Davies, agent of the Society in Germany. 
 
 " One peasant said, pointing to a Bible, ' After all, this is the 
 genuine monument of Martin Luther.' Others, ' I promised my 
 family a memento of the festival ; this is the best memento, a 
 beautiful copy of Martin Luther's translation of the Holy Bible.' 
 It was singular to see how the enthusiasm became contagious, 
 extending even to the Catholics and Jews. Two women, mother 
 1 State papers, Venetian i-orrespoijdence. 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 and daughter, approached, and looked long at a copy of Luther's 
 Bible, talking earnestly the while. Then they went away. They 
 returned again and looked at the volume." " Our colporteurs," 
 adds Mr. Davies, " were much too busy to heed them, I therefore 
 advanced, and they at once addressed me and said, 'We are 
 Catholics, but we think it a shame not to read Luther's Bible ; 
 for, after all, it is the Book of God, and it was Martin Luther 
 who again gave it to the people.' I encouraged them by all 
 means to carry out their purpose, and they at once advanced to 
 the table and paid for the book. 
 
 " One interesting feature of our table was a large folio Bible of 
 the year 1541, printed in Wittenberg. 
 
 " I had it placed on the table because I thought it would interest 
 the theological public. It lay open, and on it a pearl Bible, a pocket 
 edition. The contrast in size showed in a striking light the differ- 
 ence between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries in regard to 
 the printing of the Scriptures. In sending the Bible to Worms I 
 thought of nothing more. But for the peasantry it turned out to 
 have almost a religious significance. One woman, for example, 
 approached the table, and asked what the Bible meant. She was 
 told that Bible was printed in Wittenberg while Martin Luther 
 was still alive, and was carried through the press by the great 
 man himself She left, and returned, bringing with her her two 
 daughters. She asked to be allowed to put her hand on the 
 venerable book. It was permitted her. She stretched out her 
 hand and reverently put it on the Bible, and burst into tears. In 
 like manner, her daughters imitated her, and all left, weeping from 
 excitement. I once dined at the house of a Geneva banker with 
 a very celebrated English preacher. The conversation turned on 
 Luther, ' I cannot,' said the guest of the day, ' reverence Luther 
 as I ought ; he had no heart.' The remark elicited strong 
 expressions of dissent, and I ventured to say that one of the most 
 indisputable proofs that Luther had a great heart was to be found 
 
CATHEDRAL AT WORMS. 
 
DIET OF WORMS. I3S 
 
 in the fact that he lives as no man before or after him in the heart 
 of the German people. A more telling illustration of this truth 
 could not be imagined than the tears of these three German women 
 on seeing and touching this old folio Bible." 
 
 Before quitting Worms one word is due to the cathedral. 
 Except fragments of the city walls, it alone remains of all the 
 buildings which existed at the period of the Diet. The external 
 appearance of the structure must have been the same then as it is 
 now. It is of red sandstone, Romanesque in style; the eastern 
 aisle going back to the twelfth century, while pointed arches of a 
 later date distinguish the nave. The portal on the south side, richly 
 adorned with sculpture of the fifteenth century, calls forth the 
 admiration of every one, however unskilled in such works of art ; 
 and in the chapel of St. Nicholas are relics in stone brought from 
 a destroyed cloister, representing the Annunciation, the Nativity, 
 the genealogical tree of the Virgin, the Descent from the Cross, 
 and the Resurrection. The figures are curious, some of them very 
 good ; traces of early German paintings on the walls and piers add 
 to the interest of this portion of the edifice ; and there are good 
 specimens of embossed gravestones in the baptistery and chapel 
 near the south portal. The restoration of the nave and choir 
 has been criticised unfavourably, but without reason ; and the 
 whole interior, in length 470 feet, lighted through stained glass 
 windows, struck me as very impressive, from its magnitude, harmony, 
 and simplicity. Services according to the Roman Catholic ritual 
 would probably be conducted in this spacious church during the 
 meetings of the Diet ; the Emperor and the court, with the Bishops 
 and other ecclesiastical magnates, would attend some of the solem- 
 nities, and the Professor of Theology from Wittenberg would most 
 likely also be present ; hence his shadow crossed the pavement as 
 I paced the aisles of the venerable fane. 
 
XL 
 
 The Wartbui^g, 
 
 'HE castle of this name stands on an emi- 
 nence, girdled by woods, a little to the south 
 of the town of Eisenach. The building 
 is by no means magnificent, nor, on the 
 whole, is it picturesque ; but it exhibits 
 Romanesque arcades, which run back to 
 the twelfth century, and these, with other 
 portions of the edifice, invest it with interest. A 
 large amount of money, taste, and skill has been 
 expended upon it of late : about twenty years ago 
 it was a mere ruin, it is now in such a restored 
 condition that the interior presents corridors, halls, 
 and banqueting-rooms, radiant with frescoed walls, 
 richly coloured ceilings, and polished floors. A 
 curious armoury preserves suits as old as the four- 
 teenth or thirteenth century — some worn by the 
 early lords of the castle and domain. The place is redolent of 
 mediaeval taste, chivalry, and romance, so far as the spirit of such 
 things can be revived in the nineteenth century. I do not know 
 many spots where a few hours can be so delightfully spent on a 
 bright summer's day. 
 
TH£^ WARTB URG. 137 
 
 There are two ascents to it — one a broad footpath leading 
 directly up to the quaint, low-browed gateway; the other a long 
 winding carriage road, terminating at the same point ; both 
 unfolding: to the visitor, as he ascends, a wide-spread landscape, 
 diversified by grassy valleys, thick overhanging woods, fields, 
 gardens, and orchards, intermixed with pretty villas and lodging- 
 houses ; the town, with its church towers, nestles at the foot of the 
 castle hill ; the mountain forest of Thuringia stretches away in 
 different directions farther than eye can reach ; the whole is 
 inexpressibly soothing to a tourist jaded by toil. 
 
 The castle is famous for its association with the legendary 
 stories of Elizabeth of Hungary, who, as the bride and wife of 
 Lewis, the Landgrave of Thuringia, lived in the castle, and left 
 it — to die at the age of twenty-four. It is certain that this 
 lady was eminently pious and charitable, according to the ideas 
 of the age in which she lived — the thirteenth century ; and her 
 eminence in this respect, combined with her rank, made an im- 
 pression on posterity which led to the development of her 
 cherished memory in all manner of fictitious forms. The legends 
 of those days were fictions founded on facts, pious and 
 charitable acts being clothed in fanciful forms of supernatural 
 drapery. The taste for fiction in the present day may serve 'to 
 account for the mental craving of the same kind, five or six 
 hundred years ago. We have been taught to discriminate between 
 the historical and the imaginative, and to require verisimilitude in 
 the latter branch of literature ; let us thank God for superiority 
 over our fathers, who had been taught no such discrimination : but 
 surely, whilst we condemn the superstitions and magical elements 
 which were blended with other and better mateisials in old 
 legendary lore, we ought to make some allowance for generations 
 not at all skilled in historical criticism. The real story of 
 Elizabeth is overgrown with poetical myths and fables ; but one 
 traces in them a life filled to overflowing "with unseen, untold joys 
 
138 HOMES AND HA UNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 and sorrows, with pangs and struggles such as then haunted the 
 unreasoning minds of women, distracted between their earthly 
 duties and affections and their heavenward aspirations, as if this 
 world were not God's world and His care, no less than that 
 other world." Count Montalembert, Charles Kingsley, and Mrs. 
 Jameson have made modern readers familiar with the stories 
 of St. Elizabeth — that which is identified with the pathway 
 from Eisenach to the castle just described I give in the words 
 of the last author : 
 
 " Elizabeth, in the absence of her husband," says Mrs. Jameson, 
 " daily visited the poor who dwelt in the suburbs of Eisenach, and 
 in the huts of the neighbouring valleys. One day, during a severe 
 winter, she left her castle with a single attendant, carrying in the 
 skirts of her robe a supply of bread, meat, and eggs, for a certain 
 poor family ; and as she was descending the frozen and slippery 
 path, her husband, returning from the chase, met her bending 
 under the weight of her charitable burden. ' What dost thou here, 
 my Elizabeth?' he said. 'Let us see what thou art carrying 
 away!' and she, confused, and blushing to be so discovered, pressed 
 her mantle to her bosom ; but he insisted, and opening her robe, 
 he beheld only red and white roses, more beautiful and fragrant 
 than any that grow on this earth even at summer-tide, and it was 
 now the depth of winter. Then he was about to embrace his wife, 
 but, looking in her face, he was overawed by a supernatural glory 
 which seemed to emanate from every feature, and he dared not 
 touch her : he bade her go on her way, and fulfil her mission ; 
 but taking from her lap one of the roses of paradise, he put it 
 in his bosom, and continued to ascend the mountain slowly, with 
 his head declined, and pondering these things in his heart." 
 
 Pictorial art has made much of these roses — every traveller 
 reads of them in his guide-book ; and the memory of them is 
 preserved in the blushing flowers which abound in the gardens of 
 the neighbourhood. 
 
THE WARTBURG. 
 
 139 
 
 But on the heights of the Wartburg the fame of Elizabeth is 
 eclipsed by the fame of Martin Luther, whose eventful story, for 
 nearly a twelvemonth, is interwoven with the castle annals. After 
 quitting Worms, as we have seen, he visited and preached at 
 Eisenach, after which he started, in company with his friend 
 Amsdorf, for a visit to some relations living in a village called 
 
 "W;', "i^^; 
 
 »':^" 
 
 ,<,-.**» > 
 
 
 LUTHERSDENKMAL. 
 
 Mohra. Whilst he was so engaged, there occurred the friendly 
 capture which made the Wartburg his home for many months. 
 
 A few miles to the south of Eisenach lies Altenstein, a 
 charming spot, which may be reached by two roads, commanding 
 views of the Thuringian forest, winding up hill and down dale, 
 the part near Altenstein abounding in oak, lime, beech, and 
 
I40' HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 mountain ash; while rural objects, such as groups of charcdal- 
 burners and flocks of geese, amuse the traveller as he drives or 
 walks over this lovely district. Altenstein is an old-fashioned 
 schloss or chateau, with dark roof, white walls, and green window- 
 shutters, situated on the side of a hill, commanding an extensive 
 prospect, and surrounded with cheerful gardens. 
 
 The house is less ancient than Luther's time, but traditions 
 connected with the spot carry us back to times far earlier than 
 his ; for it is reported that on a rock in the gardens, surmounted 
 by a cross, Boniface preached to the pagan Saxons. A mile or 
 two from the house there is a little fountain, near a wood, and close 
 to a stone obelisk — commemorating the capture in that romantic 
 situation of the Reformer on his way from the home of his 
 relatives. 
 
 Luther expected something of the kind, and was therefore by 
 no means alarmed. In a sandy hollow, at the bend of the road 
 south-east of Altenstein, the Knight von Hund, who resided there, 
 and Berlepsch, governor of the Wartburg, waylaid the traveller, 
 and seized him in his conveyance, then left the road, and 
 conducted him to a beech tree growing near the spring, close to 
 which the monument stands. The beech is called Lnthersbuche, 
 and the spring Luthersbrtinn. 
 
 An account of this friendly capture is given by Luther himself, 
 in a letter from the Wartburg, addressed to Spalatin, and dated 
 May 14, 1521 : 
 
 " I went across the forest to visit my kindred, who inhabit that 
 district. Leaving them, and proceeding toward Waltershausen, 
 just after passing the castle of Altenstein I was captured. 
 Amsdorf of necessity knew that some one would save me, but was 
 ignorant of the place of custody. My brother [as he calls' his 
 companion, the same who accompanied him to Worms], seeing the 
 knights, leaped in time from the carriage, and without taking' 
 leave, proceeded on foot to Waltershausen, which he reached in 
 
THE WARTBURG. 143 
 
 the evening. So here I am, having put off my own attire, and 
 assumed that of a knight, with long hair and long beard, so that 
 you would scarcely know me. Indeed, for some time I have 
 hardly known myself. Now in the enjoyment of Christian liberty, 
 I am free from the laws of the tyrant, though I would (were it the 
 will of God I should suffer for His word) that the Dresden swine 
 [Duke George] should put me to death for preaching. The will of 
 the Lord be done. Farewell, and pray for me." 
 
 " What has become of Luther \ " was an inquiry throughout 
 Germany and Europe after his disappearance. Various conjectures 
 were afloat ; and it is amusing to find in the correspondence of 
 the Venetian ambassador traces of a report very near the truth 
 adopted in influential circles, but soon afterwards completely 
 given up. 
 
 " Last evening, at about six p.m.," says Caspar Contarini, 
 writing from Worms on the 12th of May, "the Cardinal of 
 Mayence sent for the apostolic Francis, and told him that on the 
 day of the Invention of the Cross (the 3rd of May) Friar Martin 
 Luther had been captured by one Hector, a Bohemian, the enemy 
 of the Duke of Saxony, who had followed Luther to Worms, and 
 on the road after his departure. The mode of capture is narrated 
 as follows :• Luther, on the day of the Invention of the Cross 
 having preached at a village in the province of Saxony, dismissed 
 the herald who had accompanied him, and in the afternoon, having 
 got into a waggon with one or two persons for the purpose of 
 visiting some of his relations in that neighbourhood, being 
 attacked, in itinere, by this Hector, the Bohemian, who made 
 Luther change his apparel, carried him off, whither it is not 
 known." ^ 
 
 On the 1 8th, the same writer says, "In the opinion of intelligent 
 persons, the reported capture of Martin Luther by Hector, the 
 Bohemian, was a fiction, and Luther is safe and sound in Saxony, 
 1 Brown's Calendar of Venetian State Papers, vol. iii., p. 121. 
 
144 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 and as popular as ever." Again, June 13, Antonio Surian remarks 
 '' The capture of Martin Luther has not proved true." ^ What 
 these persons, in comnnon with others, failed to discover was, that 
 the capture was a friendly arrangement, and that the place of 
 retreat was the Wartburg, 
 
 Sears, in his " Life of Luther,'' gives a record of the incidents 
 extracted from the parish records of Schweina, a village which lies 
 at the foot of the hill occupied by the Schloss of Altenstein. I 
 wished to ascertain the accuracy of his statement ; accordingly, 
 my friends and I drove down to the village and inquired for the 
 pastor's house. • It is close to the church, and the approach of a 
 carriage attracted the attention of the schoolmaster and his boys, 
 who flocked to the windows to see visitors, rather rare in so un- 
 frequented a place. The pastor was most polite : on my making 
 inquiries about the parish register, he procured it, and spreading 
 out the document, pointed to the passage, a translation of which 
 is printed in the book by Dr. Sears: " Saturday, May 4, 1521, 
 between four and five o'clock in the afternoon. Dr. M. Luther 
 passed through the place on his way from Worms, and was taken 
 captive about a mile beyond Altenstein, near Luther's fountain, 
 on the road to Waltershausen, and carried to Wartburg." 
 
 Upon my questioning the clergyman as to the author of the 
 record, he stated that from 1614 to 1635, the minister Johannes 
 Hattenbach, a fatherly sort of man, — who has left behind him a 
 patriarchal fame, and who took ah interest in historical researches, 
 — having gathered from old neighbours traditions of the parish, 
 carefully preserved this fragment relating to tlie Saxon Reformer. 
 
 The Wartburg, whither Luther was conducted after his capture, 
 .has a romantic history. It was built by Ludwig the Leaper 
 between 1067 and 1069, during a severe famine, who, to marry 
 the beautiful Adelaide, wife of the Count Palatine Frederick III., 
 caussd him to be murdered whilst hunting. For this base act he 
 1 Brown's Calendar of Venetian State Papers, vol. iii., p. 121. 
 
THE WARTBURG. 145 
 
 was thrown into prison, but escaped by a bold leap from his 
 window, whence the name by which he is known in the legendary 
 history of his race. Then "came Ludwig the Iron, around whom 
 strange stories cluster ; then Ludwig the gentle ; afterwards 
 another Ludwig, with "a winning tongue, sweet address, and noble 
 manners." The chief story of peace connected with the weather- 
 beaten feudal walls is that there was a great deal of musical skill 
 here in the year 1207 when Minnesangers assembled in the large 
 Sangersaal, and filled it with their songs and melodies. 
 
 The castle has been restored within the last twenty years, and 
 between visits I paid in 1856 and 1874 very great changes had 
 taken place in the edifice. Now the restoration of the galleries, 
 halls, and chambers is complete, and all is done which skilled 
 art and liberal wealth are able to accomplish. The beauty of 
 the situation, the picturesqueness of the castle, the historical 
 associations, and the arrangements made for the entertainment of 
 visitors, have rendered the Wartburg one of the most attractive 
 spots in Germany. When one of the official guides was asked 
 by the correspondent of the "Daily News" (1874) how many 
 people visited it yearly, " Sixty thousand," he answered, " and the 
 place had been rented for some years past, first at seven hundred 
 thalers ; for the year about closing, two thousand ; and in future 
 four thousand thalers. The old lady who has been running the 
 establishment has become rich, and intends to retire now altogether 
 from business. Since the charge per head for viewing the Wartburg 
 is five silver groschen, and sixty thousand persons visit the place 
 annually, the gross income of the proprietress must be ten thousand 
 thalers yearly, beside the profits of the hotel and restauration." 
 
 It is beyond my province to describe the contents of this 
 interesting edifice ; our business is simply with what relates to 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 From May, 1521, to March, 1522, he remained in kind and 
 hospitable durance, under the protection of his fast friend, the 
 
 L 
 
146 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Elector Frederick of Saxony. The table of the prisoner was 
 supplied with Rhenish wine and plenty of game ; his acquaintances 
 were allowed to visit him ; they came at night, and in the morning 
 assembled in the castle hall to hear from his lips the doctrines of 
 the Reformation. There was a great air of mystery, for obvious 
 reasons, at first thrown around his concealment, and therefore he 
 did not write to any one for some days : when he recommenced 
 correspondence he dated his letters from " The Regions of the 
 Air," " The Regions of the Birds," " My Hermitage," " The Isle of 
 Patmos." That fountain of poetry which lay hid in Luther's 
 robust and vigorous nature bubbles up beautifully in such expres- 
 sions ; and refreshing must have been the views caught by him the 
 morning after he first slept in the Wartburg, and opened his win- 
 dow on the breadths of hill and woodland spreading out before his 
 eyes in the fresh green robes and the pure white blossoms of early 
 May. What he thought of the legends of Elizabeth, clustering as 
 flowers about the courtyard, corridors, and chambers of the castle, 
 we do not know. He must have been familiar with them in his 
 boyhood. At all events, with an eye open to the loveliness of 
 nature, he had, with all his hatred of superstition, an eye for 
 the moral in old church myths, since in his " Table Talk " he 
 speaks of St. Christopher and the child Jesus, remarking, " 'Tis 
 a fine Christian poem ; and so is the legend of St. George. 
 George, in the Greek, means a builder that builds edifices justly and 
 with regularity, and who resists and drives away the enemies that 
 would assault and damage them." Though Luther's Greek is here 
 at fault — for Georgios signifies a husbandman, not a builder — he 
 indicates an appreciation of the significance of a mythical story ; 
 therefore it is not unlikely that he turned to good practical account 
 traditions about the saintly Landgravine, such as passed the lips 
 of the castle household and the peasantry scattered around its 
 rocky base. 
 
 There are two parts of the Wartburg closely identified with the 
 
THE WARTBURG. 149 
 
 Reformer's residence there. The first is the chapel, constructed in 
 the main building. It has a vaulted roof with heavy Romanesque 
 columns, its sombre appearance being relieved by the painting and 
 gilding it underwent in the recent restoration. Some wall paintings 
 were at the time brought to light, from which the old whitewash 
 has been removed, and the Virgin Mary, the Apostles Peter and 
 Paul, and certain emblematical figures reappear in their original 
 colours. The stained windows are brilliant, and the emblematical 
 pillar sculpturing is very curious. Here the Reformer conducted 
 religious worship. The altar at which he ministered and the 
 pulpit from which he preached still remain ; but beyond these 
 and the general outline of the chapel, its aspect at present must be 
 considerably different from what it was in his time, for alterations 
 were made in this portion of the castle by the Grand Duke Ernst 
 in 1625. 
 
 The second and far more important part connected with 
 Luther is the Ritterhaus, in which he was lodged. It stands on 
 the right-hand side of the courtyard as you pass through the 
 gateway, and it continues unaltered. The little flight of steps — 
 the narrow door — the old device of Samson slaying the lion — the 
 stone table in the hall, remain as they were the midnight of the 
 4th of May, 1 52 1, when the armed men hurried their willing 
 captive over the drawbridge and through the low archway of the 
 fortress. This hall is on the ground floor ; ascending a staircase, 
 we reach the room which Luther occupied as his chamber and 
 study. It is rather a small room, now wainscotted for the most 
 part, with a portion of the original wall in plaster. Near this part 
 stands a Dutch stove, dug out of the castle rubbish, and a bed- 
 stead in which Luther is said to have slept in the castle of 
 Gleichen. The table at which he wrote has been carried away in 
 chips, but in its place is found another at which we are told he sat 
 as a boy in his father's house. Over it is his portrait by Cranach 
 the elder, with portraits of his parents by Cranach the younger. 
 
ISO HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 A framed autograph letter by Luther hangs on the wall ; under 
 it are his father's mining lamp and the money-box which the 
 Eisenach schoolboy carried about on his begging excursions. A 
 joint of a whale's backbone, used as his footstool, lies on the floor, 
 and a piece of the beech at Altenstein where he was captured is 
 also preserved. Chests, with Bibles of Luther's translation, and 
 other books, complete the furniture of this interesting room, where, 
 in the guise of a squire, with his hair and beard grown very long, 
 and attended by " two noble youths," he spent so many months. 
 
 On the plastered portion of the wall is shown the spot where 
 he threw the inkstand at the devil. 
 
 A sceptical generation, repulsed by any allusion to what is 
 supernatural, discredits the story, as if its truth depended on an 
 actual Satanic appearance. 
 
 Luther constantly talked and wrote about the devil. " I hold," 
 he says, at a later date, after the rebellion of Mtinzer, the con- 
 troversy with Carlstadt, and the disputes with the Zwinglians, 
 "that I alone have stood in twenty tempests and commotions of 
 the devil. First, there were the Papists ; yea, I think all the 
 world should clearly know how many hurricanes, bulls, and books 
 the devil through them has thrown at me ; how he has torn me 
 to pieces, and brought me to nought. I, indeed, have sometimes 
 a little stirred up the Papists, and yet effected nothing by it, 
 except that they have increased their wrath and fury to this day 
 without ceasing. Just as I was almost dying from fear of this 
 raging of the devil, he breaks through another hole, even Miinzer 
 and his insurrection, in order to blow out my candle altogether. 
 As Christ stops up this opening, the devil drives in some panes of 
 my window, by means of Carlstadt, and so roars and howls that 
 I thought he would carry away light, wax, and wick together. 
 But God preserved the taper from being quenched. Then came 
 the Sacramentalists, and the Anabaptists, and drove in both 
 doors and windows, endeavouring to extinguish the light entirely. 
 
■-3 
 
 a 
 o 
 
THE WARTBURG. 153 
 
 They did their best, but they did not accomplish their wish." ' 
 The " Table Talk " abounds in references to Satan and his 
 temptations. 
 
 When we think of the order of Luther's mind ; of his vivid 
 imagination, of his strained nervous system when engaged in study, 
 of the objective form into which he cast his thoughts, and of his 
 habitual reference to the spirit of darkness as busy in the world 
 every moment, it is by no means unlikely that in some fit of 
 abstraction, when wrestling with a difficulty in his work, he should 
 give what Coleridge calls outness to his own ideas, and, in a fit of 
 spiritual frenzy, take up his inkstand and fling it at what — for the 
 instant — appeared to him a palpable foe. Men of genius create 
 forms which haunt them as realities, and I have little doubt that 
 the far-famed tale of the Wartburg had a foundation in fact ; 
 and assuredly it is a mythical representation of his great life 
 work, namely, by means of books flinging ink at Satan, and some- 
 thing more. Other circumstances connected with his abode at the 
 Wartburg might have something to do with such an hallucination. 
 He sufl'ered from ill-health through sedentary employment, and 
 the suspension, at times, of active habits. He passed sleepless 
 nights, experienced bodily anguish, and uttered cries like " those 
 of a woman in her travail," — these are his words. It may have 
 been whilst under the eff'ects of such maladies he had dark visions 
 of " the prince of the power of the air ; " and, in addition, the castle 
 at the time was disturbed by strange noises ; as if a hundred 
 hogsheads had been tumbled from the top to the bottom of the 
 staircase. So much was the Reformer troubled with these dis- 
 turbances — which Michelet attributes partly to tricks played by 
 members of the household — that he was glad to change his sleeping- 
 chamber. These circumstances would lead to the idea of the place 
 being haunted ; and such an idea, not uncommonly entertained 
 by the wisest of that age, might influence Luther in his visions. 
 ^ This was written not long before his death. 
 
154 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 At all events, Luther, in that room, did throw plenty of ink 
 at the devil ; for there he wrote against auricular confession, the 
 abuse of the mass, and clerical and monastic vows ; there, also, he 
 composed expositions of certain psalms, finished his Declaration 
 of the Magnificat, began to write his Church Homilies, and worked 
 hard upon his translation of the New Testament. 
 
 Here he began his great work as a translator, but here he 
 did not finish it ; and therefore what I have to say upon this 
 important subject shall be deferred to the chapter on Wittenberg, 
 where the whole translation was published in 1534. 
 
 The period of Luther's residence in the Wartburg is peculiarly 
 rich in illustrative correspondence, and from many pages of his 
 letters may be culled passages bearing on his habits and 
 experience. As Coleridge says in " The Friend," there can scarcely 
 be conceived a more delightful volume than might be made from 
 De Wette's edition of Luther's Letters, " if they were translated in 
 the simple, sinewy, idiomatic, hearty mother tongue of the original." , 
 The first letter dated from the Wartburg was written on the 12th 
 of May. " What are you doing ?" he asks Philip Melancthon ; " are 
 you not praying that my retirement may promote the glory of 
 God? I fear I shall be thought a deserter from the battle-field, 
 but I could not resist those who counselled me in this course. 
 Here I sit all day thinking of God's Church ; the Roman Anti- 
 christ is a horrible proof of God's anger. I abhor my hardness of 
 heart that I am not melted into tears. God have mercy on us. Be 
 thou instant as a minister of the word ; thou knowest thy calling 
 and gifts. Thus far I have stood in the front of the battle. Next 
 they will seek thy life." 
 
 On the loth of June he describes himself at the same time as 
 most idle and most busy, adding, " I learn and write Hebrew and 
 Greek without intermission," thus indicating the preparation he 
 was making for his momentous life task. It is curious to find that 
 then, and even later, the place of his abode was little known, and 
 
THE WARTBURG. 155 
 
 that the clouds of mystery in which the Elector had shrouded him 
 only gradually dispersed. On the iSth of July he informs Spalatin 
 that Duke George had only just heard the rumour that he was at 
 the Wartburg. 
 
 It is not generally noticed that towards the close of the year 
 he left his place of concealment and returned for a short visit to 
 Wittenberg ; yet such is the fact, as appears from a letter written 
 in November to Spalatin, at the house of Amsdorf, in which he 
 speaks of his renewing sweet intercourse with old friends. 
 
 From accounts of his life at the Wartburg we learn how fond 
 he was of rambling beyond the castle gate, and picking wild berries ; 
 how he went out hunting as "Junker Georg," and found a hare 
 caught in a trap, which he wrapped in his garment and meant to 
 save, but the dogs got hold of it and killed it, as the devil and the 
 Pope do the souls of men ; how he rode in disguise to Gotha, Erfurt, 
 Reinhardsbrunn, and Marksuhl, and how, at one of these places, 
 he was recognised by the inhabitants, and had to make off as 
 quickly as possible. 
 
 As I think of beautiful drives in the Thiiringerwald, in the 
 direction of these towns, — now climbing pine-clad hills, now wind- 
 ing down into grassy dells, and now passing rocks of red and 
 purple hue, I can imagine him in some pathless quarter of the 
 forest, at the tail of the hounds, rushing in at the death of a buck 
 or a boar, amidst the cries of the Herzog's huntsmen. As I think 
 of beautiful walks along the Marienthal and the Annathal — two 
 fascinating valleys, especially the last, where you stroll for a long 
 distance through a narrow defile of moss-covered rocks, so close 
 together on the two sides that one person can scarcely pass another, 
 — overhead leafy arches, and underfoot a wooden pathway covering 
 a brook, where waters may be heard gurgling beneath, I picture 
 Luther plunging into depths of verdure, and finding in trees and 
 wild flowers, hares and birds, images of spiritual truths, and sources 
 of playful thought. 
 
iS6 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 I am aware that the present path through the Annathal was 
 not made until 1833 ; I only mean that such parts of this charming 
 neighbourhood as were accessible in the sixteenth century, Martin 
 Luther would be likely to explore. 
 
 A great change went on in his views during these months of 
 confinement. He saw more and more into the depths of Popery, 
 and the evils of monasticism. Indeed, it may be said that it was 
 in the Wartburg that he altogether ceased to be a monk, and 
 prepared conscientiously for his own pure-minded marriage, and 
 for laying fresh corner-stones on which to build up the domestic 
 life of Germany. 
 
 But the studies and discipline of the old castle were interrupted 
 by news from Wittenberg. He considered the cause of the 
 Reformation to be imperilled by what was going on there, and he 
 began to ^exclaim, " Oh that I were at Wittenberg ! " Thought 
 and action were closely connected in the Reformer's nature, and 
 he determined, at all hazards, to return to the scene of his former 
 labours. The death of Leo X. in the month of December, 1521, 
 and the election of Adrian VI., who adopted a different line of 
 policy from his ["predecessor, made a considerable difference in 
 Luther's position, and left him little or no reason to be anxious 
 about his personal security. In 1 5 22 he started from his retreat ; and 
 on his way home stopped at Jena, where occurred what is related 
 in the following characteristic anecdote, which we owe to Kessler 
 of St. Gall, one of the persons included in the scene described : 
 
 " At^the gate of the city we met a respectable- looking man, who 
 accosted us in a friendly manner, and asked whither we were going 
 so late, . . . and whether we had inquired for entertainment at 
 the 'Black Bear.' . . . He pointed it out to us at a little 
 distance from the city. . . . The innkeeper met us at the door, 
 and led us into a room. Here we found a man, sitting alone at 
 a table, with a small book before him, who greeted us kindly, and 
 invited us to take a seat beside him. . . . We took him to 
 

 THE WARTBURG. 
 
THE WARTBURG. 159 
 
 be a knight, as he wore, according to the custom of the country, 
 a red cap, small-clothes, and a doublet, and had a sword at his 
 side, on which he leaned, resting on the hilt. He asked whence 
 we were ; but immediately added, ' You are Swiss : from what 
 part of Switzerland ? ' We replied, 'St. Gall.' He then inquired, 
 ' If, as I suppose, you are on your way to Wittenberg, you will 
 find there good countrymen of yours, namely, Jerome Schurff and 
 his brother Augustine.' 'To which we replied, ' We have letters to 
 them.' We now asked if he could give us any information about 
 Martin Luther ; whether he was at Wittenberg, or elsewhere. He 
 answered, ' I have certain knowledge that he is not at Wittenberg 
 now, but he will be soon. Philip Melancthon, however, is there as 
 teacher of Greek, with others who teach Hebrew.' 
 
 " ' Sir,' said he, " what do men in Switzerland think of 
 Luther .'' ' We replied, ' Variously, as everywhere else. Some 
 cannot sufficiently bless and praise God for having, through this 
 man, made known His truth and exposed error ; others condemn 
 him as an intolerable heretic !' ' Especially the clergy,' interrupted 
 he. By this conversation we were made to feel ourselves quite at 
 home with the stranger, and one of us took the book which lay 
 before him, and found it was a Hebrew Psalter. This increased our 
 curiosity to know who he was. As the day declined, and it grew 
 dark, our host, aware of our longing, came to the table and said, 
 ' Friends, had you been here two days ago, you could have had 
 your desire, for Luther sat here at this table.' We were provoked 
 that we were too late, and began to abuse the bad roads which had 
 detained us on our journey. After a little while the host called 
 me to the door, and said, ' Since you manifest so earnest a desire 
 to see Luther, you should know that it is he who sat by you.' " 
 
 The travellers afterwards visited Wittenberg, and were kindly 
 received by the Reformer.' 
 
 ' I have condensed the story related by Kessler, and elaboratad by Merle d'Aubigne, 
 book ix., c. viii. 
 
XII. 
 
 )WABIA AN 
 
 D THE -Bi 
 
 fi 
 
 AYARIAN tllGHLANDS. 
 
 ERE I to travel much," says Luther, " I 
 would go nowhere of a readier will, than 
 into Swabia and Bavaria." Through 
 these countries he passed on his way 
 from Wittenberg to Rome — in 1510 
 according to the Heidelberg Chronicle, 
 in 1 5 1 1 according to Melancthon. 
 Swabia is a very indefinite landmark to guide us in 
 quest of the Reformer's footprints. The name denoted 
 one of the states included within what Mr. Freeman, 
 in his " Historical Geography of Europe," calls the 
 kingdom of Germany, broken up before the close of 
 the Middle Ages. " No part of Germany was more 
 cut up into small states than the old land of the Hohenstaufen. 
 A crowd of principalities, secular and ecclesiastical, among 
 them the lesser principalities of the Hohenzollern House of free 
 cities, and of outlying possessions of the House of Austria made 
 up the main part of the [Swabian] circle. Strasburg, Augsburg, 
 Constanz, St. Gallen, Chur, Zurich, are among the great bishoprics 
 and the other ecclesiastical foundations of the old Swabia." The 
 name had changed its meaning somewhat in Luther's time, and did 
 
SWABIA AND THE BAVARIAN HIGHLANDS. i6i 
 
 not include so wide a territory as it had done before ; probably he 
 intended by it a region extending from Augsburg, on the north- 
 east, to somewhere about the lake of Constance, to the south-west. 
 He travelled through Heidelberg, as we have seen ; and then 
 proceeding south-east, entered Swabia, but what was his exact 
 route, and what places he stopped at we do not know. Tradition 
 says he went to Munich, but that lies outside the Swabian circle as 
 just defined. At any rate, he penetrated into Bavaria, after crossing 
 Swabia, and he mentions distinctly Fiissen in Bavaria, as one of 
 the places he went through on his way to Italy. 
 
 Fiissen is worthy of special notice. It is a characteristic 
 Bavarian country town, and is romantically situated at the foot of 
 the Highlands, which form the boundaries of Switzerland and the 
 Tyrol. It is a gateway into some of the most charming Alpine 
 scenery of Europe. 
 
 Two summers ago' I approached it from Kempten, on the Ulra 
 and Lindau Railway. A carriage-drive takes you in a few hours 
 to Nesselwang, along a road which leads to a mountain range 
 aniiidst which are embedded numerous bewitching valleys, lakes 
 and villages. Nesselwang is a typical sort of place, with a good 
 long picturesque street ; houses and shutters are painted in 
 different colours, the eaves project over the thoroughfare, where 
 people pack up their winter wood, and women sit out of doors on 
 benches, to gossip and to work. The church has in it several 
 frescoes ; also skeletons of two saints attired in tinsel and 
 jewellery ; and the ends of the aisle benches have on them burnt-in 
 marks and greasy blotched mementoes of candles fixed there on 
 festival occasions. In the portico of the edifice is a rude model of 
 Gethsemane, below which, placed in niches, are eleven skulls. All 
 this takes us back to Luther's time, and gives an idea of objects 
 with which his journey towards Italy made him familiar. Indeed 
 he had seen plenty of churches in his own country decked after 
 this fashion. 
 
 1 1881. 
 M 
 
1 62 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Fiissen is a town of between one and two thousand inhabitants, 
 and is jammed into a narrow defile, through which the waters of 
 the Lech rush from its source on the hills, down towards the 
 Bavarian plains. The gorge takes the name of Fiissen, so it is 
 said, from its ancient appellation of Fauces Julia. The Bishops of 
 Augsburg had a castle on the rocky heights above the town, and 
 the street with the castle over it presents a picturesque view to the 
 traveller as he drives down to the little inn of the Post. An abbey 
 of St. Magnus was connected with Fussen, but the existing church 
 of the sequestrated foundation had not been built when Luther 
 visited the spot. 
 
 Five miles from Fussen stands the castle of Hohenschwangen, 
 where Luther was entertained, it is said, during the Augsburg Diet 
 of 1530. Whether it was just then, or at some other time, it seems 
 probable from the idea which lingers over the spot, that the 
 Reformer really was sheltered within the hospitable walls of this old 
 fortress, — which passed from the Guelph family to the Emperor 
 Frederic Barbarossa. Conradin of Swabia has also left his name 
 on the time-stained edifice, — now restored by the King of Bavaria, 
 who loves the neighbourhood, and sometimes visits it ; when my 
 family and I were there, he was engaged building a new castle 
 opposite the old one. The old castle occupies a wooded eminence, 
 and in the halls and apartments are seen Munich pictures, stained 
 glass, statuary, armour, and other adornments. Visitors over 
 and over again meet with something or other relative to the 
 legendary Schwan-ritter, or Knight of the Swan, from whose 
 adventures the place takes its name. The figure of a swan is 
 everywhere, and the terrace, enlivened by three fountains, looks 
 down on the lake of the Swan. As we passed from one part 
 to another, now in Bertha's chamber, then in the hero's hall, 
 plenty of artistic objects arrested attention, till the whole culmi- 
 nated in Luther's room, where we were assured that the 
 Reformer tarried when the Diet of Augsburg was being held. 
 
SIVABIA AND THE BAVARIAN HIGHLANDS. 163 
 
 The tradition has certainly indented itself deeply on the castle 
 of Hohenschwangen. 
 
 Luther speaks of the country people in Swabia and Bavaria as 
 " kind-hearted and hospitable, and forward to treat strangers 
 and pilgrims charitably, and give them full their money's worth." 
 When he said this, it was in reference to his journey through the 
 region Romewards; and it indicates that he found the rustic 
 hostleries comfortable and cheap. They are so still, and I have 
 pleasant remembrances of entertainment under long roofs, half 
 barn and half habitation, where the Bavarian farmer, without pro- 
 fessing to be an innkeeper will receive the tourist as a guest, giving 
 him a hearty welcome and fair entertainment. I recollect, too, 
 that at nightfall the farm servants came into the kitchen to chant a 
 litany before going to bed. I wonder whether family worship was 
 so maintained when Luther was in Bavaria ! 
 
XIII. 
 
 THER'S 
 
 Tourneys 
 
 EASANTS' 
 
 pui^ 
 
 NG THE 
 
 War. 
 
 ' HE principal travellers in the sixteenth 
 century were princes, soldiers, merchants, 
 and ecclesiastics ; amongst the latter, few, 
 as to. the extent and the number of 
 journeys, equalled Luther. None others 
 left such a mark on the places visited. 
 '^ Out of travels in Saxony and the neigh- 
 
 bourhood an interesting group may be arranged 
 round incidents of an untoward character, which 
 occurred in connection with early Protestantism. 
 Two deep streams of social excitement appeared, 
 greatly troubling the Reformers, and affording to 
 their enemies a malicious satisfaction. 
 
 One was religious. Everybody must see that an 
 outbreak such as overthrew the Mediaeval Church 
 necessarily involved wild sentiment and fanatical 
 Accordingly, we do not go far with the story of Luther- 
 anism before our attention is arrested by lawless proceedings. 
 Though Carlstadt, who took a conspicuous part at Leipzig, has 
 suffered from the misrepresentations of adversaries, there can be 
 no doubt that he adopted very rash and mischievous opinions, and 
 
 conduct. 
 
JOURNEYS DURING THE PEASANTS' IVAR. 165 
 
 rushed into revolutionary excesses, which could not but cover him 
 with disgrace. But Thomas Miinzer affords a much more revolting 
 example of wild and revolutionary conduct ; beginning his career 
 simply as an advocate of visionary spiritualism, and as a pretender 
 to supernatural gifts, he ended by taking the lead in a rebellious 
 war, for which he paid the penalty of his life. 
 
 The excitement with which these men are identified, created in 
 Luther the most distressing anxiety. With both these persons he 
 came into contact ; and their movements occasioned a memorable 
 journey in the year 1522, which it is worth while to follow. 
 
 Zwickau is a picturesque town on the banks of the Zwickauer- 
 Mulde, in the kingdom of Saxony, and is connected with the 
 Leipzig and Hof Railway by a branch line. The district around 
 is rich in coal beds, and not very far off are extensive cobalt mines 
 and smalt works, together with fields of porcelain earth, so that the 
 town abounds in manufactures, and carries on a prosperous trade. 
 It contains five churches, one of which, St. Mary's, is a fine Gothic 
 edifice, with a grandly carved altar-piece of life-sized figures, 
 executed in 1479. Another elaborate work of art in the sacristy, 
 representing the Holy Sepulchre, and a baptismal chapel adorned 
 by a picture of one of the Cranachs, take us back to the days of 
 the Reformation. Luther seems to have been familiar with the 
 place, and to have been fond of ascending the tall tower, " on 
 account of the pleasing view it commands ; " but what brings the 
 town under our notice now is the visit which he paid to it in the 
 month of April, 1522. It was at that time in a state of great 
 excitement. Nicholas Storch had selected twelve followers, whom 
 he called apostles, one of whom was Thomas Miinzer. Being 
 gifted with a rude and fiery eloquence, the latter roused attention to 
 the doctrines which he and his associates had espoused, and made 
 a number of converts. These Zwickau prophets, as they were 
 designated, aroused the indignation of Luther ; and in a letter 
 addressed to Spalatin, the 12th of April, he refers to them in his 
 
1 66 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 characteristic style as " instruments of Satan, full of a proud and 
 vehement spirit, and deaf to the voice of reason." On the 2ist 
 he appears to have had an interview with Carlstadt, in which he 
 deprecated the thought of controversy, and exhorted him to 
 quietude and peace ; but before the end of the month we fihd 
 him on the road to Zwickau, travelling in a car and dressed as a 
 layman, to escape the notice of the Saxon authorities, for "had he 
 fallen into the hands of the angry duke, it might probably have 
 been all over with him." ' 
 
 He preached in the town, and people flocked from neighbour- 
 ing places to the number of fourteen thousand. St. Mary's Church 
 could not receive the multitudes — and to have preached from the 
 tall tower he was so fond of, certainly would not have been con- 
 venient, — therefore he ascended the balcony of the Rathhaus, and 
 there addressed the crowd in the square — a crowd reckoned at 
 twenty-five thousand. As he spoke with warmth an old woman 
 was seen with a haggard eye, " stretching out her lean arms, and 
 looking as if with her bony hand she would keep back the crowd 
 as it was pressing to the feet of Jesus Christ. Her wild screams 
 interrupted the preacher." Seckendorf declares it was the devil, 
 who, assuming the form of an old woman, wanted to excite a 
 tumult. " But it was in vain ; the preacher's words silenced the evil 
 spirit ; enthusiasm took possession of the thousands of listeners ; 
 people shook hands in token of mutual concord ; and ere long the 
 monks, confounded and unable to compose the storm, saw them- 
 selves obliged to leave Zwickau." At all events, Luther was equal 
 to the occasion, and made a wonderful impression on his audience. 
 
 On his way to Zwickau he stopped at a place called Boma 
 and at Altenburg — the latter a well-known station on the Leipzig 
 Railway, where there is a schloss on the escarped rock, a residence 
 of the Emperor Charlemagne, still rich in ancient armour. Alten- 
 burg seems to have interested Luther a good deal, and for its 
 
 ^ D'Aubigne, vol. ii., p. 250. 
 
JOURNEYS DURING THE PEASANTS' WAR. 169 
 
 religious welfare he felt deeply solicitous, as appears not only from 
 his preaching, but from letters he wrote to the burgomaster and 
 pastor of the town, on his return home. The people of the duchy 
 are Wends by descent — a Sclavonic race, preserving an odd female 
 costume, which consists of a Highland petticoat with a wicker-work 
 corset, the head-gear being "a conical cap of portentous dimen- 
 sions." As this probably was the dress worn by a good many of 
 Luther's hearers, his congregation must have exhibited an odd 
 sight as they gathered together. 
 
 Another stream of religious fanaticism broke forth in the 
 autumn of the same year at Erfurt. The Reformation laid hold 
 on the clergy of Luther's former residence, and to a large extent 
 on the students of Luther's university. The canons of the place 
 having expelled one of their body for adopting the Lutheran 
 faith, the students became incensed, and made a violent attack 
 on the old forms of worship and on the houses of those who perse- 
 vered in it. Mlinzer and Carlstadt could not tolerate the use of 
 images, the celebration of mass, the invocation of saints, and other 
 parts of the Roman Catholic ritual, and therefore encouraged 
 iconoclasm and similar acts of violence. This spirit of destruction 
 moved some of the Erfurt Reformers ; and it seemed likely to pro- 
 duce excesses beyond what had been at first committed. Hence 
 Luther determined to visit Erfurt, and use his influence to stay 
 the rising storm. 
 
 This journey he took in the month of October, and on his way 
 he tarried and preached at Weimar^probably in the Schloss 
 Kirche, or Church of St. James, where his friend Lucas Cranach 
 was afterwards buried. His entrance into Erfurt would have been 
 an ovation if he would have permitted it ; for he was exceedingly 
 popular there, and crowds waited at the gates to give him welcome. 
 But he slid quietly in, though he could not avoid being lionized in 
 the evening, at one of the parsonages. He preached three times 
 on the two following days, and the;i went back to Weimar, where 
 
lyo HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 he remained some little time, addressing eager audiences again and 
 again. Luther's oratory was in great request — like that of popular 
 preachers in the present day ; and letters and deputations of all 
 sorts came to his house at Wittenberg, from places obscure as well 
 as from places distinguished. Just before starting on the Weimar 
 and Erfurt expedition, he said at the end of a letter to Spalatin, 
 " I am off to Leyswick," wherever that might be, " having been oft 
 invited and urged to go." 
 
 We must now notice the political excitement which at this 
 time rushed through Germany. It is a great mistake to suppose 
 that what are commonly called the Peasant Wars originated with 
 the Reformation. They arose out of the feudal system. Oppressive 
 laws crushed the lower classes ; irresponsible power lodged in the 
 lords of the soil produced intense suffering ; consequently those 
 who were the victims of manifold wrongs at last turned against 
 their masters and endeavoured to shake off the galling yoke of iron. 
 Of those who trampled upon their inferiors, the spiritual lords, 
 according to all accounts, were the worst. Bishops and abbots 
 figure with a pre-eminently cruel aspect in the chronicles of the 
 period. We read of a revolt against the Abbot of Kemplen in 
 1491, and of a rebellion in the Bishopric of Spires in 1503. There 
 were risings at different periods against Dukes and Counts, who 
 thought more of their own interests than the welfare of their 
 subjects. 
 
 But the years 1524 and 1525 witnessed the more revolutionary 
 outbreaks on the part of the German peasantry ; and it is remark- 
 able how purely secular were the causes assigned for opposition to 
 the established authorities. In one case the peasants complained 
 "that they were obliged to hunt for snails, wind yarn, gather 
 strawberries, cherries, and sloes, and do other such like things ; 
 they had to work for their lords and ladies in fine weather, and for, 
 themselves in the rain. Huntsmen and hounds ran about without 
 considering the damage they did." One smiles at the trivial 
 
JOURNEYS DURING THE PEASANTS' WAR. 171 
 
 nature of such details, yet they indicate how the peasants were 
 treated as serfs, whilst they clearly prove that civil and political, 
 not religious, grievances lay at the root of the disaffection in rural 
 districts. The religious element, however, soon mingled with what 
 was secular. 
 
 " The political excitement," says Ranke, "was not produced 
 by the preaching, but the religious enthusiasts caught the political 
 fever." Even Thomas Mlinzer did not begin as a political agitator, 
 but, after playing the part of a frenzied fanatic, was drawn into the 
 vortex of rebellion and carried away by the torrent. Carlstadt 
 throughout was more of a religious enthusiast than anything else. 
 Entangled in these complications, Suabian, Franconian, Thu- 
 ringian, and Saxon peasants appear as rebels in the latter half of 
 1524. The tide of revolution surged up to Luther's door, and he 
 could not rest. In August he left Wittenberg to see what he could 
 do to stem the angry waters. He appears at Weimar on the 14th, 
 where he wrote a letter to the Senate of Miihlhausen wrarning them 
 against Miinzer. Next we find a letter dated the 21st, addressed 
 to the Princes Frederick and John on the same absorbing subject ; 
 and an exhortation by Luther is preserved, addressed ,to all 
 Christians, warning them against the sin of rebellion, and entreat- 
 ing them to confine themselves to moral means for the overthrow 
 of Popery and other evils. 
 
 At Jena on the 22nd he is found preaching with great vehemence, 
 directing his denunciations against " two sorts of fanaticism, that of 
 the seditious enthusiasts who were now beginning to disturb the 
 peace of Germany, and that of the image-breakers." Carlstadt was 
 present, and felt highly incensed at the preacher's tone. Calling on 
 him at his inn, the " Black Bear," he held a conference with Luther 
 in the presence of witnesses. Carlstadt indignantly denied that he 
 had any share in the rebellion, and Luther admitted his denial ; yet 
 immediately they entered upon an altercation as to the doctrine 
 of the Lord's Supper, Luther throwing down on the table a dollar 
 
172 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 as the pledge of battle, and Carlstadt accepting it. Presently 
 we learn that they shook hands and drank each other's health. 
 Again collisions were renewed ; but Luther, as was the wont of his 
 generous nature, after loading him with reproaches, engaged in 
 kindly offices on his behalf 
 
 Carlstadt had established a printing-press at Jena, where, at 
 that time, there was no university, and he lived not far off, at 
 Orlamiinde, on the River Saale, where he was very popular. 
 
 Luther, in spite of warnings to the contrary, proceeded to that 
 place, and met with a reception unlike what he enjoyed in most 
 towns which had adopted the doctrines of the Reformation. 
 According to all historians, he had a narrow escape. He says 
 himself, " I had good reason to rejoice that I fortunately slipped 
 away from among them with my life, and was not overwhelmed 
 with stones and dirt. Some of them, as I was retiring, uttered 
 the most horrid imprecations against me, and prayed God that I 
 might break my neck before I got away from the town.'" 
 
 In the winter of 1524-5 a manifesto of grievances suffered by 
 the peasants made its appearance, couched in moderate terms, 
 and breathing a reasonable spirit. It commenced by referring to 
 the charge of disobedience and rebellion brought against them : 
 and then after repelling the charge proceeded to state complaints 
 and to supplicate redress. It is curious that the only article of a 
 religious character is the first, in which they demanded the right of 
 choosing their own pastors. They next declared their willingness 
 to pay the great tithes, but they resisted the payment of small 
 ones. This was followed by a protest against being treated as 
 serfs ; by a petition for the privilege of gathering wood in the 
 forests, and the diminution of feudal service and payments ; and 
 by complaints of high rents, of the partial administration of justice, 
 and of the enclosure of commons. In conclusion, they appealed to 
 
 1 Quoted by Waddington, " Hist, of Reformation." See also Ranke's " History of 
 the Reformation," vol. ii., p. 88. 
 
JOURNEYS DURING THE PEASANTS' IVAR. 172, 
 
 Scripture. If the temper manifested in this document had been 
 general,^ and if it had been met in a concihatory manner, matters 
 might have been amicably arranged ; but the majority of the 
 discontented must have cherished feelings very different from those 
 so temperately expressed, and, oh the other hand, it is certain the 
 German lords were more disposed to crush than to soothe their 
 irritated dependants. 
 
 The violent spirits carried the day. Revolt spread like wildfire, 
 and Thomas Miinzer from a preacher became a warrior, unfurled 
 the flag of defiance at Miihlhausen, and resolved, at all hazards, to 
 carry his cause into the field. In other neighbourhoods, many of 
 the peasants took up arms, and civil war flashed as lightning in 
 every direction. 
 
 Luther watched the storm ; and in a letter to Amsdorf, the 
 nth of April, after referring to Carlstadt's proceedings, remarked : 
 " Miinzer is King and Emperor at Miihlhausen, and not merely 
 Doctor." Miihlhausen lies to the north of Eisenach and Erfurt, on 
 the road to the Harz country, with a noble Gothic church of the 
 fourteenth century. It is a walled town, pleasantly situated on 
 the banks of the River Unstrut ; now it is a part of the Prussian 
 dominions, but at the time of the Reformation it was a free city 
 of the empire. Being occupied by Miinzer and his misguided 
 supporters, it became the centre of the revolt, the citadel of the 
 rustic rebellion. Into the heart of this disturbed district, a region 
 he had been familiar with from his youth, Luther determined to 
 penetrate, and therefore set out on another of the journeys now 
 under review. 
 
 He started from Wittenberg on Easter Sunday, April the i6th, 
 immediately after his sermon, much to the surprise of Melancthon, 
 and travelled at once to Seeburg {Lake Town), a small village 
 lying between the Mansfeld Lakes,^ not far from Halle, and in 
 the midst of a mining district where the insurgent spirit was rife. 
 
 1 See page 5. 
 
J74 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 From Seeburg he proceeded to Stolberg, the birthplace of Miinzer, 
 on the borders of the Harz country, with a castle romantically 
 situated on the neighbouring heights. Stolberg is not far 
 from Nordhausen, a curious old place, planted near the Golden 
 Mead, in the midst of a rich corn country, boasting still of an 
 enormous figure in stone, symbolical of town rights, and also 
 of a picture in the church of the funeral at Nain, in which the 
 artist, Lucas Cranach, has introduced Luther and Melancthon as 
 mourners. 
 
 From Nordhausen to Erfurt there runs a railway which brings 
 the traveller from the former to the latter place in three hours. 
 Very much longer would be the time required to cross the distance 
 in Luther's day. After performing that journey he proceeded 
 from Erfurt to Weimar and Orlamiinde. Orlamiinde is fifteen 
 miles from Weimar, and near to Jena, as we have seen. Luther 
 visited Orlamiinde and Jena on this occasion, and also another 
 town, which Seckendorf calls Calac. This, no doubt, is a Latin- 
 ized name for Kahla, which is situated in the valley of the Saale, 
 on the high road between Orlamiinde and Jena. Stierler's Atlas 
 shows the distance from Jena as about three English miles. Blackie, 
 in his " Imperial Gazetteer," describes it as containing 2,463 
 inhabitants, surrounded by walls, having three gates, and three 
 suburbs, two churches, and an hospital, also manufactories, tan- 
 yards and dyeing works. On the opposite side of the river is 
 the old castle of Leuchtenburg ; and on a hill overhanging the 
 public road the ruined castle of Orlamiinde. Through this little 
 cluster of towns Luther worked his way when the peasants 
 agitated the public mind. In the churches he preached, in the 
 houses he talked, and by all possible means sought to subdue the 
 commotion. 
 
 Such is the itinerary of the Reformer on this expedition, as 
 indicated by Seckendorf ; ' and though we have no details 
 ^ " Com. de Luther, tome ii." p. 9. 
 
JOURNEYS DURING THE PEASANTS] WAR. 175 
 
 preserved, we are enabled to form some idea of its inconveniences, 
 from a record, by a far different' traveller, Lorenzo Orio, the 
 Venetian ambassador, who was at the same time passing through 
 another district disturbed by the war. He writes, on the 2nd of 
 May, that since his last letter from Augsburg, he has been "in 
 great trouble and peril, ■ in a besieged city, and compelled to 
 perform very rough journeys over mountains and by unusual 
 passes, dodging in a thousand ways, to avoid the rabid and 
 sanguinary peasants, who have placed all Germany in tumult 
 and confusion." " The reason is," he remarks, " that all are in 
 arms; in the villages and territories there remain but lads and 
 women ; and the cities have been abandoned by the greater part 
 of the artizans to follow the armies. For not only have the 
 peasants risen against their masters, the lords and grandees, but 
 the townspeople have rebelled against the clergy, and compelled 
 them to be content with so much of their revenues as may suffice 
 for food and raiment, leaving the rest at the disposal of the city 
 for expenditure on the common need for the general and public 
 benefit. Should this excitement continue the whole world will 
 be thrown into confusion." ' 
 
 On the 3rd of May Luther was at Weimar, as we find from 
 his correspondence, for on that day he wrote to Frederick Myconius 
 at Gotha, quoting the beautiful words, so comforting amidst con- 
 fusion and sorrow, " In the world ye shall have tribulation ; but be 
 of good cheer, I have overcome the world." On the 4th we find 
 him at Seeburg again, whither he must have travelled with haste. 
 Seckendorf, after enumerating the places visited, says Luther had 
 intended to travel farther, but was prevented by the death of the 
 Elector Frederick. The Elector died in May. On the 5th of May, 
 according to the date given in Luther's Letters, the Reformer was 
 
 ^ May 2, 1525, Lorenzo Orio, Venetian ambassador, on his way to England. 
 Brown's "Calendar of Venetian State Papers,'' vol. iii., p. 430. 
 
176 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 at home in Wittenberg. Probably the illness of the Elector 
 hastened his journey ; and on his return he edited and issued his 
 famous reply to the peasants' manifesto. 
 
 First addressing himself to the princes and nobles, he told 
 them that the peasantry had drawn up twelve articles, containing 
 demands so obviously equitable, that the mere circumstance of 
 their being made, " dishonoured their superiors before God and 
 man, and realised the 107th Psalm, which poureth contempt on 
 princes." He then addressed the peasants, exhorting them to 
 moderation and justice, warning them against demagogues, and 
 distinguishing between the good and the bad who had taken part 
 in the movement. He held up himself to them as an example, 
 declaring he had never drawn the sword — never attempted to 
 revolt, but had always inculcated passive obedience ; a course of 
 conduct which had not only preserved his life, but had advanced 
 religion. He then examined in detail the twelve articles, and took 
 exception to the way in which some of them were expressed. 
 
 Though not until after Luther had completed his journey did 
 
 he issue this publication,' it appears he had not at the time become 
 
 aware of the atrocities committed by Miinzer and his adherents ; 
 
 and this accounts for the mildness of the Reformer's rebuke of the 
 
 peasants. Indeed, it indicates that at the moment of writing he 
 
 only apprehended the possibility of war ; it is clear he could not 
 
 have felt it was waging round him ; hence I infer it must have been 
 
 composed some time before it was printed. However that may 
 
 be, the publication came too late to produce any effect, and it is 
 
 uncertain what good it could have accomplished had it appeared 
 
 earlier ; this, however, is probable, that in the address we have 
 
 the arguments and sentiments of Luther at the time of his 
 
 journey to Seeburg and the other places just mentioned ; and 
 
 therefore it may be taken as a mirror, reflecting the substance of 
 
 1 I have seen an original printed copy. It has no date ; but Seclcendoif enables 
 us to determine that point approximately. "Com. de Luther," tome ii. pp. 9 and 7. 
 
JOURNEYS DURING THE PEASANTS' WAR. 177 
 
 his sermons in one church pulpit after another throughout the 
 troubled district. 
 
 Munzer's proclamation, dated Miihlhausen, 1525," — which most 
 likely fell into Luther's hands after he had sent forth his reply to 
 the peasants — breathed threatenings and slaughter to a terrific 
 degree, crying, " On, on ! while the fire is burning, and the sword 
 is reeking ; let not the one be quenched or the other sheathed." 
 
 The madness of Miinzer and his party brought matters to a 
 crisis ; and on the 15th of May the decisive battle of Pranken- 
 hausen was fought, and Miinzer was taken prisoner and executed. 
 By the middle of June the insurgent flames were extinguished 
 in streams of blood. The conquerors were in many cases as 
 merciless as the vanquished had been defiant. It is sad to notice 
 that Luther, in a tract written after his reply to the peasants, pours 
 forth his indignation against the rebels with unbridled violence, 
 and in a public defence, as well as in private letters, expresses 
 himself in a manner utterly inconsistent with the spirit of the 
 gospel. 
 
 Yet though in this, and some other epochs of his life, he 
 manifested an unjustifiable temper, it ought to be noticed that 
 he never appears as a political agitator. We do not find him 
 interfering with State affairs, plunging into local questions of a 
 simply secular kind, or seeking to revolutionize the forms of 
 temporal government. He took up the controversy in the peasants' 
 war entirely in its moral and religious aspects. He contended for 
 freedom from Popish tyranny, but he was a staunch friend of social 
 order. He reproved the peasants as pursuing a course which was 
 anti-Christian, and irreconcilable with justice, benevolence, and 
 common humanity. His mission was of a spiritual order, and he 
 always acted under the conviction that he was a minister of God, 
 the righteous Judge. 
 
XIV. 
 
 Mai^buhg, on the Lahn. 
 
 VISIT to Marburg, in search of Luther's 
 haunts, brings us once more across the path 
 of EHzabeth of Hungary — there it is her 
 short h'fe-story terminates, and there she 
 sleeps in the church which bears her name. 
 Those who have travelled on the line be- 
 tween Cassel and Frankfort will remember 
 
 
 catching sight of three spires, on slightly-rising 
 ground, near the Marburg Station, with the town and 
 castle rising beyond it. Such as have stopped and 
 explored the place can never forget the specimen 
 of pointed Gothic to which those spires belong. It 
 pertains to the period of transition from the German 
 Romanesque (1235 to 1283), and was the fruit of a 
 vow made by Elizabeth, as Landgravine of Hesse. It contains 
 the shrine which enclosed her body, a structure of curious work- 
 manship, now stripped of the costly gems it once displayed. The 
 shrine was as popular with pilgrims in Germany as Becket's was 
 in England : for in this case, as in that, the steps above which it 
 stood are worn away by the knees of worshippers. 
 
 The statuette of Elizabeth in the choir is an exquisite production. 
 

 % 
 
 
 
MARBURG, ON THE LAHN. i8i 
 
 Her crowned forehead has a bandage over the brows, and she 
 holds in her hand a model of the church : a grotesque figure kneels 
 at her feet — a beggar, we presume ; art generally representing her 
 as attended by some one in that character. The figures are 
 painted ; and, it may be added, the stained glass in the choir is 
 very beautiful. 
 
 The town of Marburg wrought a spell on my own imagination 
 and that of my daughter the evening we arrived ; and, attracted by 
 the moonlight throwing out in dark relief the castle of the Land- 
 graves, I left our hotel, and climbed a steep street, bordered by 
 twisted acacia trees, till I reached the centre of the town ; the 
 domestic architecture, as far. as the shadows permitted examination, 
 giving promise, all the way, of an archaeolpgical treat the next 
 morning. The next morning this promise was fulfilled ; for a 
 more thoroughly old-fashioned town — -one more free from modern 
 innovations — one carrying the mind more completely back to the 
 Middle Ages, I do not know ; nor am I aware of any part of 
 Germany where the antique costume of the district is more 
 faithfully preserved. 
 
 Whilst the Reformation was spreading in Germany, it was also 
 spreading in Switzerland : as Luther in the one case, so Zwingli 
 in the other, led the van ; and it is noticeable that both champions 
 were born during the same winter (a.d. 1483-4). Each pursued 
 an independent course ; each having been brought to see the errors 
 of Popery from his own point of view ; each possessing a marked 
 idiosyncrasy of mind, and having been led through a particular path 
 of Providence, appropriate to his character and destiny. In many 
 respects they agreed ; but in one they differed, and this was the 
 occasion of the memorable discussion between them at Marburg. 
 The Landgrave of Hesse, Philip the Magnanimous, who had 
 earnestly taken up the cause of the Reformation, and commenced 
 his friendship with Luther at the Diet of Worms, felt anxious to 
 bring together the two leaders of the reforming movement, with a 
 
1 82 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 hope that, by mutual explanations, they might come to an agree- 
 ment, and stop the mouths of Roman Catholics who taunted them 
 with their differences. But beyond religious considerations there 
 were motives of another kind which influenced the Landgrave 
 in this proceeding ; he was anxious for an alliance with the 
 Swiss, and amongst other cities with Strasburg, which had adopted 
 the Zwinglian view of the Lord's Supper, — the object of such an 
 alliance being an organized opposition to the Emperor ; — and he 
 saw how importaijt it was to settle, if possible, the ecclesiastical 
 differences between the two parties, in order effectually to cement 
 their political union. 
 
 His own town of Marburg having been fixed upon by Philip as 
 the place of meeting, hither came Zwingli and his companions on 
 the 29th of September. They had travelled from Zurich by way 
 of Basle and Strasburg, and had tarried at Strasburg with Canon 
 Matthias Zett, whose wife fondly recorded the circumstance in 
 words illustrative of the simple habits of German people. in; those 
 days : " I was fourteen days maid and cook when the dear, homely 
 men — CEcolampadius and Zwingli — were here at Strasburg, in 
 the year 1529, in the journey, along with our folks, to Marburg, to 
 meet Dr. Luther." They travelled through forests, across moun- 
 tains, and along valleys, and reached their destination, escorted by 
 forty Hessian cavaliers. They put up at the first house eastward 
 of the Bears' Well. 
 
 Luther, accompanied by Melancthon, Justus Jonas, and other 
 Saxon reformers, made their way by Halle, Saxe-Gotha, and 
 Eisenach, to Marburg, and halted at the hotel of the Bear — 
 Barefoot-friar Street. As soon as the two parties arrived, the 
 Landgrave invited them up to the castle and entertained them 
 during their stay. 
 
 The place of their discussion was the object of our pilgrimage ; 
 and on the morning after we reached Marburg we again ascended 
 the hilly street, and climbed up to the castle. The winding walk 
 
A .m> 
 
 , \, I /-'r^MtiU 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 I ,1 
 
 
 
 irrs"^ -]!?.;:;;''"•, v--'^'*;) |®^f |f^^ ii-«f(-J;2i^j^-a3i|P 
 
MARBURG, ON THE LAHN. 185 
 
 is very pleasant, and leads through gardens up to the castle gate. 
 Passing under an archway, you come upon a spacious esplanade, 
 commanding an extensive prospect of the valley watered by the 
 Lahn. Leaning over a parapet, you look out upon a broad and 
 pleasant landscape of field and flood, with a part of the town 
 nestling at the foot of the eminence on the brow of which the 
 castle rests. The buildings are now used as a penitentiary ; but 
 in the days when the Landgrave lived there, the place was an 
 abode of regal splendour, and presented manifold signs of state 
 and magnificence which are absent now. 
 
 Philip entertained his clerical guests, we are told, in a manner 
 truly royal. "Ah," said Justus Jonas, as he surveyed the palace, 
 "it is not in honour of the Muses, but in honour of God, and of 
 His Christ, that we are so munificently treated in these forests of 
 Hesse." After dinner the first day, Luther chatted with CEcolam- 
 padius and Bucer, treating the former with affection, and playfully 
 reproaching the latter for having adopted the side of Zwingli on 
 the subject of the Lord's Supper, the great point in the approaching 
 debate. In one of the rooms of the castle Zwingli and Melanc- 
 thon held a preparatory conference : Luther and CEcolampadius 
 did the same in another. This was after the whole party had 
 worshipped together, probably in the antique chapel, which is one 
 of the show rooms of the building. 
 
 The hall in which the discussion took place was the Knights' 
 Hall, a large apartment still accessible to visitors. It was being 
 restored when we were there in 1872, and workmen were employed 
 in decorating the walls after a manner rather defective in taste. It 
 has a vaulted roof, Gothic arches, and massive columns, and is 
 capable of containing a large number of persons. About twenty- 
 four auditors were present at the commencement of the debate, 
 but their number afterwards amounted to between fifty and sixty. 
 The Landgrave took a seat, surrounded by his court, but in so plain 
 a dress as not to be distinguishable from other people- At a table 
 
1 86 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 were the four chief theologians — Luther and Zwingli, Melancthon 
 and CEcolampadius. Behind them were friends of both parties, 
 including " the pious Snepf, the courageous Bucer, the candid 
 Hedio, the valiant Brentz, the amiable Jonas, the fiery Craton, and 
 Maenus, whose soul was stronger than his body " — to adopt 
 language used respecting them at the time by a poet named 
 Cordus.^ The Landgrave's Chancellor arose, and began the 
 proceedings with a speech in which he exhorted the members that 
 they should act as had been done on like occasions, when learned 
 men came together who had previously written sharply of each 
 other. He would have them banish from their minds ill-humour 
 and bitterness of feeling. Whoever should do this, he said, would, 
 at the same time, discharge his duty and obtain glory and com- 
 mendation. Others who disregarded unity would afford evidence 
 against themselves, that the Holy Spirit did not rule their hearts. 
 
 At the opening of the debate, Luther took a piece of chalk, and 
 on the velvet table-cover wrote in large letters, " Hoc est corpus 
 meum," the text which he adopted as a motto, and urged as a 
 main argument for his opinion relative to the Sacrament. With a 
 vivid imagination, a mystical turn of thought, a training in realistic 
 schools of metaphysics, and a strong predilection for high views of 
 Sacraments akin to those he had learned in the Church of Rome, 
 he contended for a change of the elements of bread and wine ; not 
 a change of substance, whilst the outward qualities of bread and 
 wine remain as before, which is the Romanist dogma, but a change 
 taking place beneath outward qualities, so that with the substance 
 of bread and wine there is also present the substance of our Lord's 
 body and blood. " I protest," said Luther, " that I differ from my 
 adversaries with regard to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, and 
 that I shall always differ from them. Christ has said, ' This is My 
 body".' Let them show me that a body is not a body. I reject 
 reason, common sense, carnal arguments, and mathematical proofs." 
 ^ D'Aubigne, " Hist, of the Reformation," bookxiii. c. vii. 
 
MARBURG, ON THE LAHN. 187 
 
 CEcolampadius asserted that there were figures of speech in Scrip- 
 ture, such as the ''rock was Christ," " I am the vine," and so on ; 
 and that our Lord's words at the Last Supper were to be figura- 
 tively explained. 
 
 Luther, adhering to a rigid literalism, exclaimed, "We must 
 pay attention to Him who speaks, not to what is said : " meaning, 
 by that, to forbid all critical inquiry into the signification of terms 
 — certainly . an astounding proposition. Then, with a beautiful 
 reverence for Divine authority, he added, "God speaks: men — 
 worms — listen ! God commands : let the world obey. Let us fall 
 down together, and, humbly kiss the Word." But immediately 
 afterwards, in defiance of taste and reason, he maintained, " If 
 God should order me to eat dung, I would do it, with the assurance 
 that it would be salutary." "'This is My body.' They are the 
 words of God. If the Lord were to set before me wild apples, and 
 command me to eat them, I should eat them, knowing they would 
 be wholesome for me : and I dare not ask, why? " 
 
 At first the debate was conducted by Luther and CEcolampadius 
 — the latter of whom remarked on the gross and degrading sense 
 put by his antagonists on Divine expressions, and exalted the 
 spiritual above the carnal view of the Sacrament ; but soon 
 Zwingli took up the argument, and quoted passages of Scripture 
 in which a sign is described by the thing signified, and maintained 
 that, considering our Lord's declaration, " The flesh profiteth 
 nothing," we must explain the words touching the Eucharist in a 
 similar manner. It was all in vain. Luther could not be moved 
 from his literal stand-point. Placing his finger on the chalked words 
 he kept repeating, " ' This is My body.' The devil himself shall 
 not drive me from that. To seek to understand it is to fall away 
 from the faith." Both disputants began to wax intensely warm. 
 Zwingli insisted on the body of Christ being in heaven, and on the 
 impossibility of the same material substance existing in different 
 places at the same time ; to which Luther strangely replied, " He 
 
HOMES AND HA UNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 did not care for mathematics." " There is no question of mathe- 
 matics here," said Zwingli ; " but of St. Paul, who writes to the 
 PhiHppians, fiopfjiv SovXov \aj3wv." Luther interrupted, " Read it 
 in Latin or in German, not in Greek." " Pardon me," resumed the 
 Swiss ; " for twelve years past I have made use of the Greek 
 Testament only." Still, the Saxon's finger continued pointing to 
 the chalked words, ^' Hoc est corpus meum," when Zwingli started 
 up, sprang towards Luther, and, striking the table vehemently, 
 exclaimed, " You maintain then, Doctor, that Christ's body is 
 locally in the Eucharist ; for you say that Christ's body is lite- 
 rally the're. There is an adverb of place. Christ's body exists 
 in a place — if in heaven it is not in the bread." " I repeat," the 
 other sturdily persevered, " that I have nothing to do with mathe- 
 matical proofs. As soon as the words of consecration are pro- 
 nounced over the bread, the body is there, however wicked be 
 the priest who pronounces them." " You are thus re-establishing 
 popery," urged Zwingli. " This is not done through the priest's 
 merits, but because of Christ's ordinance," was Luther's reply. 
 "I will not, when Christ's body is in question, hear you speak of 
 a particular place. I absolutely will not." 
 
 Afterwards they appealed to the Fathers ; and the Swiss cited 
 Augustine as on their side. But Luther had only one argument, 
 or rather one assertion. Seizing the velvet table-cloth, with the 
 words on it, "^^ Hoc est corpus meum," he thrust it in the face of 
 the Swiss theologians, crying, " See, see ! this is our text ; you 
 have not yet driven us from it, as you had boasted ; and we care 
 for no other proofs." "If this be the case," concluded CEcolam- 
 padius, " we had better leave off the discussion." 
 
 To prolong the dispute was useless. Blame rested on both 
 sides. Zwingli, before they met, at Marburg, had written sharply 
 to Luther, accusing him of obstinacy — an accusation which, how- 
 ever just and true, was unwise, because it could only serve to 
 exasperate a man of his temperament. Zwingli was a keen, logical 
 
MARBURG, ON THE LAHN. 
 
 disputant, of a decidedly scientific turn, witla little imagination, 
 and disposed to take what Luther would deem rationalistic views : 
 Luther, with his realistic imagination and habits of transcendental 
 thought, glorying in what is mysterious, from the deep conviction 
 that God is a mystery and the universe is a mystery, defied the 
 searching analysis of his opponent ; and the two men, therefore, 
 stood wide as the poles asunder. Certainly Zwingli had the 
 best of the argument, and in his most excited moments remained 
 less fiery than his redoubtable antagonist : Luther, it would be 
 dishonest to deny, not only lost temper, but showed himself 
 exceedingly obstinate ; declining to argue, he only persisted in 
 dogmatic assertions, which sorely tried the patience of the Hel- 
 vetians. Yet, whilst condemning Luther, we must strive to 
 understand him, and must remember that at the time his object 
 was to save the Reformation from the charge of countenancing 
 low notions of the sacraments — notions which, in his estimation, 
 were chargeable with a rationalistic tendency.] 
 
 Nor let us forget that even apostles failed at times to keep 
 their temper. There was a sharp contention between Paul and 
 Barnabas ; and Peter, as rash as he was loving, probably did not 
 very calmly listen to his brother, when he " withstood him to the 
 face because he was to be blamed." Our individual duty with 
 regard to the control of our temper, and the culture of a spirit 
 open to conviction, is one thing ; our manner of forming an 
 historical judgment of good men, and their failings, is quite another. 
 In thinking over the story of Luther at Marburg, we at times feel 
 very angry ; and then again we turn to such considerations as are 
 now indicated, and attempt to form a dispassionate judgment. 
 
 Philip the Magnanimous had brought his friends to Marburg 
 with the hope of getting them to agree to some common confession. 
 He saw, at last, that it was impossible they should do so on the 
 subject of the Lord's Supper. Still, was it not possible to unite 
 to some extent ? The Landgrave panted for union : so did the 
 
I go HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Swiss. " There is no one upon earth," were the words of Zwingli, 
 addressing the Wittenberg divines, " with whom I more desire to 
 be united than with you." OEcolampadius and Bucer said the 
 same. "Acknowledge them as brothers," continued Philip of 
 Hesse. Now it was that Luther appeared at the greatest disad- 
 vantage. " You have a different spirit from ours," he affirmed ; 
 " our conscience opposes our receiving you as brethren." Did he 
 mean that he would be friendly towards them as fellow-men, but 
 he would not acknowledge them as brothers and members of 
 Christ's Church ? Did he intend to say he had nothing to give 
 them except the universal charity all can claim ? Then he showed 
 that he did not possess at the time either an apprehension of the 
 doctrine of Christian union, or any portion of its benign and 
 beautiful spirit. Or did he mean only, that he could not hold 
 Church communion with them on account of their divergence on 
 this subject .'' In either case his conduct must be regarded as a blot 
 on his history. He did, however, so far relent as to draw up certain 
 articles, expressive of a common belief in the main doctrines of 
 the Gospel ; yet, in reference to the matter in dispute, all he would 
 say wa.s, that both parties should cherish more of Christian charity 
 for one another, as far as conscience permitted. He added, " We 
 will all earnestly implore the Lord to condescend by His Spirit to 
 confirm us in the sound doctrine." Such words are capable of a 
 good interpretation — one in accordance with the spirit of Catholic 
 unity, and so the Swiss seem to have accepted them ; but there is 
 reason to fear that Luther meant no more than probably he had 
 before expressed, namely, that he would treat his opponents with 
 friendliness and charity, though he did not accord to them the 
 relationship of ecclesiastical brethren. That this was what he 
 meant appears from a letter he wrote to Agricola, on the 12th of 
 October, in which — after speaking of the prince's hospitality, 
 and declaring he was perfectly satisfied that he had vanquished his 
 opponents, whom he describes as unskilful in disputation^ — he 
 
MARBURG, ON THE LAHN. 191 
 
 says : "They desired that we should recognise them as brethren 
 {/ratres) ; this the prince urges on us to do. But it was not 
 possible. Notwithstanding, we gave them the hand of peace and 
 charity {pacts et caritatis) that they might cease from violence of 
 expression, and that each might teach his own opinions without 
 invective, though not without argument." 
 
 About the same time, writing to his wife, he tells her the I.and- 
 grave wished both parties to recognise each other as brethren in 
 Christ ; but he adds, " we want not this, though we are a'dvocates 
 for peace and good will." 
 
 Zwingli showed a better spirit ; and his prayer at the begin- 
 ning of the strife deserves transcription : " Fill us, O Creator, God 
 and Father of all, with Thy gracious .Spirit, and drive from the 
 minds of both sides all the clouds of misunderstanding and pas- 
 sion, as Thou didst of old force the raging waves of the deluge 
 into the deep by Thy powerful winds, and causedst fruits and 
 plants to the full to spring up and to ripen again on the surface of 
 the all-nourishing earth. . . Arise, O Christ, Thou glorious Sun 
 of Righteousness, and shine on us with Thy mild rays. Alas ! 
 while we strive we forget but too often to wrestle after holiness, 
 which Thou requirest from us all. . . . Preserve us, therefore, O 
 Lord, from such strife, that we may not misuse our powers in them, 
 but turn them with all earnestness to the work of sanctification." 1 
 
 Altogether, on Luther's side, this controversy presents a 
 melancholy, aspect. ;.. but his relative position to the past should be 
 remembered.' There is a great difference between a man going up 
 hill and a man going down ; a great difference between the twilight 
 of sunrise and the twilight of sunset. Luther had left the depths 
 of error, and v/as rising to the heights of truth — the sunshine of 
 God's word was rising, not setting, on his soul. Moreover we. see 
 
 'From the introduction to Zwingli's " Arnica Exegesis," quoted in Christoffel's "Life 
 of Zwingli," translated by Cochran, p. 369. For the story of the Marburg conference, 
 compare Christoffel with D'Aubigne. 
 
192 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 that, wise, good, and great as he might be, he was not infaUible ; 
 and we must no more bow down to a Reformer at Wittenberg than 
 to a Pope at Rome. 
 
 During my visit to the town of Marburg, the shade of another 
 Reformer, not German, but Enghsh, ever and anon crossed my 
 path, from the circumstance of his having, in all probability, been 
 a resident in the place at the beginning of the year 1530, In the 
 British Museum is a perfect copy of an English translation of the 
 Pentateuch, bearing, at the end of Genesis, this colophon: "Em- 
 prented at Marlborow in the land of Hesse, by me Hans Luft, the 
 yere of oure Lorde MCCCCCXXX, the xvii. dayes of Januarii." This 
 translation is the work of William Tyndale ; and, in the judgment 
 of his latest and best biographer, the lamented Mr. Demaus, was 
 wholly printed in the town of Marburg ; consequently it may be 
 believed that Tyndale was there at the time correcting the press. 
 I thought of him when passing an ancient hostelry or an old-look- 
 ing bookseller's shop, and wondered whether Tyndale had crossed 
 the threshold ; I scarcely imagined he could have had anything 
 to do with the famous discussion in the Knights' Hall. However, 
 Mr. Demaus, after a careful examination of this obscure portion of 
 Tyndale's history, goes so far as to suppose that Tyndale was " one 
 of the favoured fifty" who were admitted into the halls of the old 
 castle, to be present at the gladiatorial contest in which Luther and 
 Melancthon measured swords with Zwingli and CEcolampadius. 
 
 The supposition is not reconcilable with the statement of Foxe, 
 that in the latter part of 1529 Tyndale was at Hamburg. That 
 statement, however, on other grounds, is open to suspicion ; and 
 therefore the pleasant association suggested by Mr. Demaus is not 
 incredible. Be the matter as it may, the English Reformer, no 
 doubt, within the walls of the Hessian town, devoted himself 
 to an object akin to Luther's — the Reformation of the Church 
 through a translation of the word of God. 
 
 Before leaving the Landgrave's castle a word must be added 
 
MARBURG, ON THE LAHN. 193 
 
 respecting the Landgrave himself. There can be no doubt that he 
 took a deep interest in the Reformation, and sought to promote 
 it in his dominions ; but it is also certain that he was a man of 
 extremely licentious habits. In 1539 he applied to Luther and 
 other divines to know whether the law of God would justify his 
 taking a second wife whilst the first was living. They replied 
 that polygamy, though allowed under the Old Testament, was not 
 the law of the New ; that for the Landgrave to be guilty of bigamy 
 would injure Protestantism ; and that he ought to abandon his 
 licentious practices and lead a virtuous life; "but," they added, "if 
 your Highness determines to marry another wife, we conjure you 
 to do so privately, that it may be known only to her, yourself, and 
 a few friends, and be kept a profound secret under the seal of con- 
 fession." ' The Landgrave's character, bad as it was, casts no blot 
 on the cause he espoused — for a cause intrinsically good cannot be 
 changed by the conduct of its supporters — ^but the conduct of this 
 man leaves a stain, and a very dark one, upon his own fame. Nor 
 can the temporizing manner of treating his case adopted by the 
 Reformers be vindicated or excused. They did not, it is true, 
 formally give Philip a licence to live with two women, but by their 
 advice they sanctioned his doing so, if he did not tell anybody : 
 and it is melancholy to discover that at the secret marriage 
 which afterwards took place, Bucer and Melancthon were present. 
 Their conduct proceeded partly from commiseration for one 
 placed in unfavourable domestic circumstances ; partly from a 
 desire to keep him on the side of the Reformation for its sake and . 
 his own ; and partly, perhaps chiefly, from that casuistical habit of 
 looking at moral questions, which they had in early days learned 
 from the Church of Rome. That Church cannot consistently 
 condemn' what it still does so much to foster. 
 
 1 The answer is dated December 10, 1539. It is in Latin, but with it, in De Wette's 
 edition of Luther's works, is a copy in German, perhaps the original. This bears no 
 other signatures than those of Luther, Melancthon and Bucer. 
 
 O 
 
XV. 
 CoBURG AND SoNNEBERG. 
 
 N the way from Augsburg in 1 874, I tarried 
 with my daughters for a couple of nights at 
 Nuremberg, to renew my acquaintance with 
 that queen of cities ; to gaze once more 
 on the St. Lorenz Kirche, matchless as a 
 combination of symmetrical architecture, 
 exquisite sculpture, and richly coloured 
 glass ; to pause in front of the quaintly carved porch of 
 the Frauen Kirche ; and to linger, perhaps for the last 
 time, in the nave of St. Sebald, over the peerless shrine 
 of the patron saint. It was fresh from the cunning 
 hands of Peter Vischer, when Luther passed through 
 Nuremberg on his journey homewards in the autumn 
 of 1518; and with his taste for art, the Reformer 
 would be like enough to visit this wonderful work, 
 and examine its elaborate details. At that time the cause of the 
 Reformation had begun to evoke the sympathies of the citizens, 
 and Nuremberg soon became a centre of Protestant influence. It 
 is known as the home of Pirkheimer, the patrician and scholar ; of 
 Link and O slander, famous preachers of the gospel ; of Dietrich, 
 who prepared the Nuremberg liturgy, and figured largely in the busi- 
 ness of reform ; of Camerarius, the classical scholar and professor ; 
 
CO BURG AND SONNEBERG. 
 
 195 
 
 of Eoban Hess, the elegant poet ; and Albert Diirer, the world- 
 known artist. When the latter died, Luther acknowledged an elegy 
 on the sad occasion by saying to the poet, — " As to Diirer, it is a 
 pious act to mourn over the loss of so excellent a man. But it is 
 yours to pronounce him happy, that Christ hath taken him away so 
 well prepared, and by so peaceful an end, from times so turbulent ; 
 
 *>4 
 
 THE HIMMELSTHOR, NUREMBERG CASTLE. 
 
 and to be perhaps more turbulent still, lest he who was worthy of 
 the happiest times should live to see the most wretched. Let him 
 rest in peace, then, with his fathers." It adds to the interest of a 
 walk to the gravestone in St. John's Cemetery of the immortal 
 painter and engraver, to remember these words, which entwine in 
 loving Christian bonds two names which shed such different rays 
 of lustre on the age in which they lived. 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Upon reaching Coburg we immediately arranged a trip to Sonne- 
 berg, which we wished to see before we went up to the castle where 
 Luther stayed during the Augsburg Diet of 1530. Sonneberg has 
 just acquired a connection with Luther through the removal to the 
 neighbourhood of a wooden building used as an inn, formerly 
 belonging to a place called Judenbach. The removal was owing 
 to the liberality of a gentleman at Sonneberg, who determined to 
 save the relic, when on the point of being pulled down and knocked 
 
 GRAVE OF ALBERT DURF.R. 
 
 to pieces. He had it transported to the spot where it now appears, 
 restored to its pristine condition. The reopening of the inn was 
 the occasion of a festival at the beginning of August, 1874, which 
 attracted much attention in Germany and England. Unfortunately 
 I could not reach Sonneberg until a fortnight afterwards. 
 
 The journey by rail from Coburg to Sonneberg, occupying less 
 than an hour, is through a district of plain and valley, swelling up 
 into gentle hills,' the landscape being covered with open fields, 
 relieved now and then by a thriving village or a wide stretch of 
 pine wood. When we reached the end of- our- journey we inquired 
 
COBURG AND SONNEBERG. 199 
 
 after the Luther house, and were pointed to a dark brown spot 
 on the slope of a green hill lying on the other side of the town. 
 
 Sonneberg is a nest of toy-makers, living in clean, comfortable 
 houses, with tokens of their craft at every turn and corner. A sign 
 on a building to the effect that it was " a manufactory of crying 
 babies " was one of the first objects which attracted our attention. 
 Wooden horses were poking their heads out of open windows, 
 through which you could see a woman with a paint-brush ready to 
 make the steed she held in her hand red or black, grey or spotted ; 
 another was whisking liliputian tails, whilst a man adorned a 
 rocking-horse with the gayest trappings. There are several 
 winding streets in the town, a good many shops of a humble 
 description, and on the outskirts some very cosy residences with 
 gardens. Passing by a newly built church we reached the 
 Luther house, near which lingered a solitary relic of the recent 
 doings, — an inscription within a wreath of faded leaves, affection- 
 ately welcoming " all dear comers to the Luther feast." 
 
 The house stands on a grassy slope not far from an extensive 
 fir plantation. The town is seen nestling close by, and villages, 
 cottages, and groups of trees are scattered around amidst smiling 
 fields. The house is a specimen of the roadway inn of three or 
 four centuries ago, a sort of log hut, with tall slanting roof, little 
 windows, and a sign hanging over the door. The new one exhibits 
 the words " Zum Dr. Martin Luther" with the picture of a host 
 offering good cheer to the traveller. Inside there are three rooms 
 on the ground floor : on the left hand, one containing a German 
 stove, two tables, and benches with shelves over them bearing jugs, 
 drinking-cups, and glasses : behind, and opening into it, is a very 
 small bedroom, and on the right hand a third apartment, which 
 remains unfurnished. The restoration has been executed with 
 taste and judgment. 
 
 Judenbach, where the house formerly stood, is about an hour 
 and a quarter's drive from Sonneberg, on the top of a hill 2,000 feet 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 above the level of the sea. The straggling village is inhabited by 
 people who cut wood for the Sonneberg toy-makers, and make 
 inferior goods for their market. It occupies a point on the great 
 high road which in the Middle Ages carried the trade and traffic of 
 the south through the Forest of Thuringia to the central Erfurt mart, 
 and to the courtly town of Saxe Weimar. Martin Luther travelled 
 along that road in 1518, tarrying at the inn on his way from Wit- 
 tenberg to Heidelberg ; and he makes reference to the village of 
 Judenbach in a letter written the iSth of April on his arrival at 
 Coburg. He met, as he tells his friend Spalatin, under the humble 
 roof the Electoral Councillor Pfeffinger, who paid 10 groschen 
 for the entertainment of the Reformer and his companions. From 
 the same letter we learn that Luther performed his journey on 
 foot, "very much wearied." On his return from this journey he 
 fared better, for he relates, in a letter dated May 18, that he 
 travelled home in a carriage from Nuremberg to Wlirzburg, and 
 thence to Erfurt with the brethren of that place. 
 
 A still more important visit was paid by the Reformer to the 
 Judenbach inn on the 14th of April, 1530, as he was on his way 
 to Coburg, to tarry at the castle during the Augsburg Diet. The 
 visit is described in a record of the events connected with the inn, 
 published and circulated at the Luther Festival, under the title of 
 Chronica von Judenbach. 
 
 " Elector John the Steadfast came here with Dr. Martin Luther 
 on his way to the Diet at Augsburg. In his train were the Elec- 
 toral Prince Johann Friedrich, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, Duke 
 Franz of Liineberg, Counts Albrecht and Jobst, of Mansfeld ; Count 
 Ernst of Gleichen ; five Electoral Councillors ; Chancellors Brueck 
 and BaYer ; besides Dr. Luther, Melancthon, Justus Jonas, and 
 Spalatin, and seventy nobles, with one hundred and sixty mounted 
 body-men (all furnished with firearms, and clad in dress of leather). 
 The party reached Coburg on the 15th of April, where Dr. Luther 
 remained in the fortress. On the 5th of October of the same year 
 
COBURG AND SONNEBERG. 
 
 the Elector and his train returned, bringing with them Luther 
 from Coburg." 
 
 Having understood that, besides the Judenbach Chronicle, a 
 number of other small publications and fly-sheets were issued in 
 connection with the festival, I was anxious to obtain a collection of 
 them, and therefore applied at two or three bookshops. Nowhere 
 could I get what I wanted. But at the railway station, when one 
 of our number represented our disappointment to the station- 
 master, he placed a packet of them in my hands to look at on our 
 way back to Coburg. An offer made to purchase the collection 
 was declined, but when he understood what I wanted them for, he 
 politely presented the whole for my acceptance. The recent festival, 
 he said, had been a great success. A train of twenty railway 
 carriages had brought visitors from a distance ; neighbouring 
 towns' and villages had poured out their inhabitants, and at least 
 ten thousand people altogether had assembled. He noticed with ^ 
 pride, that correspondents of the "Times" and the "Daily News" 
 had been attracted to the spot to describe the incidents of this 
 commemorative gathering. And I am glad of an opportunity to 
 record my obligations to a gentleman belonging to a class, who 
 by their friendly offers do so much in a quiet way to promote 
 real brotherhood between the people of one nation and another. 
 
 The packet contained twenty-six publications of different kinds, 
 some printed in old type, and on paper made expressly for 
 the purpose, so as to present accurate specimens of old books and 
 handbills. Among them is the Chronica von Judenbach already 
 mentioned, giving a summary of notable incidents connected with 
 the place from the year 1457 to the year 1870, under which last 
 date, it is stated that fifteen young men of the village were engaged 
 in the. war with France. " One was missing, two were wounded, 
 and the rest returned safe and sound." I find also verses and 
 hymns for the festival^ especially a facsimile of the famous " Ein' 
 feste Burg ist unser Gctt," set to music in Luther's own handwriting. 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Amongst copies of indulgences, one ornamented with the papal 
 keys and triple crown reads as follows : 
 
 " In the authority of all the saints, and in compassion towards thee, I absolve thee 
 from all sins and misdeeds, and remit all punishment for ten days. 
 
 "Johannes Tietzel." 
 
 Another and more valuable is entitled, " Indulgence : in nomine 
 Papse : for the entire life : " ' 
 
 " I, by virtue of the apostolic power entrusted to me, do absolve thee from all eeclesi- 
 astical censures, judgments, and punishments which thou must have merited ; besides 
 this, from all excesses, sins, and crimes thou mayest have committed, however great and 
 shameful they may have been, and for whatever cause, even in those cases reserved for 
 our most Holy Father the Pope. I obliterate every taint of unvirtues, all signs of infamy, 
 which thou mayest have received. I release thee from all punishments which thou 
 wouldst have endured in purgatory. I permit thee again to participate in the sacraments 
 of the Church. I incorporate thee again in the community of the sanctified, and replace 
 thee in the state of innocence and purity in which thou wert at the hour of thy baptism. 
 So that in the moment of thy death, the door through which the sinner enters the place 
 of torture and punishment will be closed, and that will be open to thee which leads into 
 the paradise of joys. If thou shouldst not soon die, so shall this grace remain unshakable 
 until the end of thy life. In the name of the Holy Father. Amen. 
 
 "JoHANN Tietzel, Apostol. Commissaiius." 
 
 Not having witnessed the festival itself, I insert an interesting 
 
 account of it given by a correspondent who noted what he saw 
 
 from hour to hour. 
 
 ' I have adopted the translation in the " Daily News." 
 
^.^"■"-'^'f^ In nomine oajiac, 
 
 \jiif,l{rafC ber miv cmverU'emten ftpoflfelift);*-*! 
 V/IaA}i, fpveije^ Sit^jU* von aWevu C^e\^ilu\^e»,Gv».^uvttt.,llt. 
 
 Mi«. we^ dftd) wUlcw c«r auA, (el, oiid; ftiV ^le unfcmv 
 
 ^ dtl; U*ftJ,fje9Ud;<.,t J)tttKfUealnfiicl,li9HntaUc 
 ^fl(l;citici' €i;flo|V5l«<.it cuts', dip <JnM«i Cvl^alteiibft. 
 b^K nzA^ll-. dd) etUtOe ^iV ^iV^frafcit, Oie du tnt ^^. 
 ^I'uev Jjfflffcft; c'i-dul^ctt iml|K.n.. dd; jeftattc di'r wtf. 
 
 ^ v)<^ eiitveAoihe 6iA) wither ^tr (Sewtut^Xwft den* 
 J^e» lul;c»v wii^ ppfjc did) lit dielliif^^ut^ uni 3\t\nheit 
 
 ^Hfd; u)ei^e«' mtut-'m detx.&rtberduaXviv unh&tret. 
 fett ehtgcl^t, Vf j-jiljUfjcw Uleiht'unbjeties fiA aiiff(;u^ 
 wel<l;«;s> {HHt'-Pamdie^ ier'Sye.ubt fii^vi. &o\lUft 
 ^* iMt|>t hulb freyhen^ fo Hcitt diV|V (»nabif mtevpfi'it. 
 terlld} US' jM beitiem ■^hens'cnbe . 
 
 (!)m' Olotiien dec l;pi(i()anViltrf^f 2lif(«it. 
 
COBURG AND SONNEBERG. 205 
 
 " The festival proper began at two in the afternoon, by the 
 representation on the hillside of an annual village fair and fite, 
 such as we may see in German villages to this day, but with the 
 difference that the booths and wares and costumes of the sellers 
 were characteristic of the Reformation era. It was a busy, thriving 
 time, and the delineators took their parts with great spirit and 
 humour. You could purchase at one stall coarse blue, green, and 
 yellow stuff to clothe your spearmen and escort, and helmets to 
 protect them in such rows as they were liable to get into with Tetzel 
 and his assistants. At another you could purchase leathern articles 
 straps and saddles, and ' Luther soles,' with the inscription, 
 ' Whoever possesses such soles does not need to buy any indul- 
 gences.' Then another with scythes and siclcles, and another still 
 with boots, such as the people of Luther's time must have worn, 
 shoes of leather and shoes of wood, the latter being of the same 
 pattern, as those worn by peasants in some parts of Germany to 
 this day. The proprietor of this stall was the best character, I 
 think, of the fair, a veritable Hans Sach, quaint in looks and in 
 costume, and in his sayings, and jolly and humorous in his dealings 
 with his modern customers. Then there were booths for the sale 
 of antique toys, kept by pretty rosy-cheeked Thuringian maidens, 
 picturesquely clad in all the colours of the rainbow, and the high 
 ' white cotton nightcap ' head-dresses of long ago. An interesting 
 booth was the ' menagerie,' with great paintings of elephants and 
 lions and- tigers in front, and two immense negro heads with tongues 
 out-lolling, placed at each corner, and over the doorway five or six 
 youthful musicians in. the most outrageously chosen costumes, 
 discoursing wild music, from the Lutheran, era, I suppose, to attract 
 the peasants thirsting for natural historical knowledge. Paying six 
 kreuzers, L entered and found a most interesting collection of owls, 
 descendants of similar birds that possibly screeched about the time 
 Tetzel was wandering through Germany on his interesting tour. 
 Then the veritable brother of 'Dr. Eiseribart:, who cureth ills of 
 
2o6 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 every sort,' had planted a booth for the sale of his miraculous 
 elixirs, kept in immense jars and tiny phials. Dr. Eisenbart was a 
 wild-looking individual, clad in red hose and a green jerkin with 
 red arms, and on his head a red and white striped nondescript 
 horn-of-plenty cap, who eulogized his wares with great volubility, 
 relating to us terrible stories of the wondrous cures he had 
 performed on sick persons, alive and dead. 
 
 " Such may have been a village fair in the days of Luther. At 
 such a time, when the people from the neighbouring villages and 
 mountains would naturally flock to Judenbach to see all the won- 
 drous sights therein gathered, it was also very natural that either 
 Monsieur Tetzel or some of his assistants should honour the place 
 and the people with a visit, needful as the latter were for the means 
 of gaining eternal bliss. And a scene very characteristic was de- 
 lineated yesterday afternoon. Immediately in front of the Luther 
 House a rude pulpit had been erected, in which the representative 
 of the veritable Tetzel gesticulated violently, and urged the people, 
 with loud voice and coarse jests, to purchase his letters of indul- 
 gence and introduction to the heavenly regions. On one side of 
 the pulpit an immense red cross had been planted, and on the other 
 a papal standard, while in front a coarse-featured peasant held up 
 the papal bull which authorized Tetzel's labours. Immediately in 
 front of the pulpit, lower down the hill, were seated at a long 
 wooden table two of Tetzel's monk secretaries, one dealing out the 
 indulgences to the many monk assistants, who disposed of them 
 among the people, while another, clad in the garb of the Domini- 
 cans, was seated behind a huge chest in which he deposited 
 the money brought in by the assistants. The money-chest was 
 ornamented with small gilded pictures, representing poor souls 
 tormented by Satan in purgatory, and bore the well-known 
 inscription in German, — 
 
 ' The moment the money in the box doth ring, 
 The soul out of purgatory to heaven doth spring. ' 
 
 Some half- score of monks of various orders darted hither and 
 
COBURG AND SONNEBERC. 207 
 
 thither among the people, seUlng their wares with great rapidity. 
 
 First Tetzel would utter a discourse to attract the crowds away 
 
 from the other shows of the fair, from Dr. Eisenbart and the 
 
 menagerie of owls ; and then, after his rude banter and coarse 
 
 jests, his emissaries would distribute themselves over the ground, 
 
 offering their indulgences of various degrees, shouting but one 
 
 word, ' Buy I buy ! buy ! ' Tetzel's address could be purchased in 
 
 printed form under the title, — 
 
 " 'This is the address of the Doctor Johann Tietzel, who, with the knowledge and 
 will of the Pope and the Holy Curia at Rome, doth visit the annual mart at Judenbach.' 
 
 " ' Come here 1 come here ! he cried out, 'ye great and small, 
 rich and poor, thick and thin ; ye will all go to the devil unless you 
 receive grace at my hands.' He went on to charge the people with 
 all the crimes of the Decalogue, — 
 
 " ' Cursing, quarrelling, blaspheming, lying, backbiting, slandering, deceiving, 
 debt-making, gluttony, and drunkenness ; ' 
 
 and urged them to get grace for all their sins by purchasing his 
 
 indulgences. 
 
 " ' If any one hath committed murder ' (he says) ' it will cost twenty guldens ; if he 
 hath stolen, it will cost but twenty groschen ; if he hath set fire to his mother-in-law he 
 can get free from guilt for five groschen ; — then will he be as pure as a diamond, as a 
 new-born child.' 
 He concluded his fiery address something in the following style : 
 
 " ' Oh, see, my favours are so cheap ; 
 Now grasp into your purses deep ; 
 And he who goes the deepest down 
 Shall wear in heaven the brightest crown. 
 Quando sonat fecunia, 
 The moment money i' th' box doth ring, 
 In ccehim salit anima. 
 
 The soul straightway to heaven doth spring. 
 Indulgences — oh buy ! oh buy ! 
 Then you can get to heaven so high, 
 Where all the little angels dear 
 Do sing with voices fine and clear ; 
 No torturing fires do there annoy — 
 There you may sit in lasting joy,' " etc., etc. 
 
2o8 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 In another division of the dispatch the correspondent adds, — 
 " It is now about half-past three in the afternoon, and Tetzeland 
 his monks have been labouring hard for fully two hours. Tetzel 
 himself (represented by Theodore Neumann, a bookbinder of 
 Sonneberg), a man of swarthy features and clad in the garb of the 
 Dominicans, is almost hoarse with shouting, and his assistants still 
 go at their work in a silent, bull-dog fashion. Suddenly a noise is 
 heard away down at the foot of the hill, at the entrance to the 
 village ; we hear shouting and the voices of children singing, and 
 a herald and mounted lancebearers come in sight, and we know that 
 Dr. Martin Luther is about to enter the little village of Judenbach. 
 More men of the mounted escort belonging to Elector John, and 
 then a simple peasant waggon, decorated with branches of trees, 
 drawn by huge, wondrously quaint-caparisoned horses, and driven 
 by huge-booted drivers. In it are seated four men in black clerical 
 gowns and caps, and we know at a glance that the face of the one 
 in front belongs to sturdy, honest, God-fearing, Satan-defying 
 Martin Luther. There is no mistaking the likeness. The other 
 occupants of the waggon are Melancthon, Justus Jonas, and others. 
 The inounted escort rides ahead, through the throng of the fair, up 
 to the Luther House; the waggon is halted, and the great Reformer 
 and his friends alight, and gaze upon the scenes before them with 
 anger and astonishment. Hardly before we have time to grasp the 
 scene, a contest ensues between Luther's escort, assisted by the 
 people, and Tetzel and his monks. Tetzel sees his danger, and, 
 hard pressed, he seizes the large red cross, and bidding his secre- 
 taries secure the treasury and the other paraphernalia of his mission, 
 starts to flee through the crowd. They are followed by some of 
 the escort. The people hoot and yell with delight. Suddenly 
 Tetzel is for a moment brought to bay. The escort have secured 
 the treasury, and the Dominican turns round fiercely upon his pur- 
 suers, and swinging the huge red cross about him, and supported 
 by his monks with their staffs, and some peasants with stout sticks, 
 
CO BURG AND SONNEBERG. 209 
 
 makes a good defence. Thus the conflict continues until the foot 
 of the hill is reached ; Tetzel and his monks disappear among the 
 houses of the village, and the escort bring back their treasure in 
 triumph, cheered by the assembled people. The escort then return 
 to their comrades, who are bivouacking further up the hill. They 
 present a picturesque scene : the men in bright particoloured 
 costumes, the horses gaily decked out, and all artistically grouped. 
 The Lanzkiiechts burnish their spears, and the mounted men of the 
 escort caress and feed their steeds. 
 
 "Another picture. In the corner of the paled enclosure in front 
 of the. Luther House the great Reformer has watched the flight of 
 the monks ; and the faces of the vast crowds are now turned up to 
 him, expecting that he will address them. And in clear, forcible 
 words, in strong contrast with the ribaldry of Tetzel, the Reformer's 
 voice is heard by even the most distant of the audience, and his 
 words are most attentively listened to. [This address is an inter- 
 esting document, and was prepared for the occasion by an eminent 
 Lutheran theologian.] Some parts of it are especially telling : — 
 
 " ' Beloved people and evangelical brethren,' he commences, 'again I see before me the 
 good people of Thuringia, free like its forests, and joyous in its God and in its faith. Ye 
 have purified your hearts, and have put away all that is contrary to the true faith in God. 
 What those people ' (referring to the retreating monks) ' preach and teach is not of the 
 kingdom of heaven, but of the kingdom of the devil. Long enough has the Pope taught 
 the doctrine — Go to Rome, get indulgences, confess, and do penance, exercise yourselves 
 in the service of the saints, and mortify the flesh. And monks, nuns, and priests have 
 boasted that they were the servants of God and the brides of Christ ; but they all lack 
 the proper way, and the Evangelium is unknown to them. Whoever preaches to you must 
 be a true preacher, who sha,ll fulfil his office faithfully ; he must boldly utter the truth to 
 all, whether they be poor or rich, small or powerful, friend or foe. And he shall speak 
 freely and openly. For whoever would be a light shall not creep into the corner, but 
 stand out boldly upon the market-place, and be undaunted. 
 
 " Very effective is the passage in which he speaks of his life in 
 Thuringia : 
 
 " ' Sodol stand here openly before you — here on the borders of my beloved Thuringia, 
 on whose mountains, with their fresh green firs and their murmuring beeches, on whose 
 
 P 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 manly, hospitable people the heart doth verily rejoice. Here is the heart open and the 
 mind clear. Yea, am I not a child of this people of Thuringia, grown up in its mountain 
 freshness, educated in its ancient city of Eisenach, and steeled in theological sufferings 
 and struggles in its monastic town of Erfurt ? Did not old Wartburg there in the west, 
 give me protection from the lurking foe ? Do I not see before me there, in the south, the 
 high fortress of Coburg, that seems to beckon to me, offering me a sure place of safety 
 whenever my adversaries shall persecute me anew? Have I not friends and co-fighters 
 in plenty here in the lands of Thuringia ? and is not the Thuringian people truly devoted 
 to me in pure zeal and pious faith, convinced that it is the true light which driveth away 
 and scareth off the black deeds of the Antichrist ? And just here, close to the borders 
 wherein the little Pope in Bamberg still carries on his monkish doings, and sends out his 
 myrmidons and ensnarers to persuade the people with their brotherhoods, prayers, rosaries, 
 pilgrimages, and indulgence papers, is a most important and necessary stronghold of the 
 faith. Therefore be steadfast, and be of firm will to place body and possessions in the 
 scale for the upholding of the Evangelium.' 
 
 " Thus he went on urging the people to abide strong in the new 
 faith, concluding with the words, — 
 
 '"I know this people as myself, and know that it will victoriously oppose all Papacy 
 and Romanism. And if the day come when it is necessary for all to stand united against 
 anti-christian foes and adversaries who skulk about in the empire and destroy the grow- 
 ing seed, then stand firm as one man, and remain true to your God and your faith. 
 Farewell, beloved and evangelical countrymen, be joyous in faith, and put your trust in 
 God now and for evermore. And when I am no longer with you, and children and 
 children's children look back upon our days, which will bring forth a new era, then be 
 assured that our work will still live on and on ; we must at last succeed ! Yea, e'en 
 were the foe e'er so many, God will maintain the field. Amen.' 
 
 " Then the Reformer turned to listen to the songs of the 
 village school children who had gathered around him, and when 
 they commenced the well-known strains of the grand old choral, 
 Luther himself joined in with sturdy lungs, and then the people 
 around him, until the ten thousand guests assembled on the hill- 
 side helped to swell the mighty soul-stirring chorus, 'Em' feste 
 Burg ist tmser Gott,' and the mountains around us joined in too, 
 as is their wont in this part of the world, and echoed back the 
 solemn strains that Luther composed centuries ago in that high 
 fortress of strength that we can see with the naked eye from where 
 we thousands stand. Seldom has Thuringia heard the grand old 
 
COURTYARD OF COBURG CASTLE. 
 
CO BURG AND SONNEBERG. 213 
 
 choral so magnificently rendered. It was a fitting and solemn 
 closing to a festival which, with all its earnest motives, furnished 
 so much material for amusement." ^ 
 
 We returned to Coburg in the evening, and took a moonlight 
 ramble through the town and round the outskirts. The agreeable 
 impression then received was deepened the next day. The market- 
 place, surrounded by buildings of quaint architecture, contains in 
 the middle a bronze statue of the late Prince Consort of England, 
 executed after a design by my friend Mr. Theed, a sculptor of 
 whom England may be proud : the ceremony of its being unveiled 
 by our gracious Queen was an incident which lives in the memory 
 of the inhabitants of the town. 
 
 The palace called Ehrenburg is famous for the Riesensaal, or 
 Giant Hall, with rows of immense caryatides on either side, for 
 a valuable collection of engravings, and for choice specimens of 
 marqueterie, in the manufacture of which the artizans of Coburg 
 are said to excel. The arsenal contains curious armour and 
 proud trophies, and the architecture of the streets will gratify 
 the traveller who has an eye for what is picturesque and quaint. 
 But the castle is the main attraction. It stands on a lofty hill, 
 the ascent of which is a heavy pull. Near the top is an extensive 
 view, embracing open country of the same character as seen 
 from Sonneberg. Indeed, Sonneberg lies right before you to the 
 north-east. 
 
 The castle is surrounded by a moat, now dry and turned into a 
 garden, and the gateway exhibits an ancient portcullis. The ducal 
 arms are carved in stone on a corner battlement ; and entering a 
 small courtyard, with a canopied well in the centre, you are in 
 front of a picturesque range of buildings, with a gallery running 
 across, under a line of windows cut in a wall of cross-patterned 
 timber-work. Virginian creepers, in graceful festoons, cling round 
 the porch and gallery, and the whole place has a charming sylvan 
 1 " Daily News," August 5th and 6th. 
 
214 
 
 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 air. Having ascended the steps to a rustic gallery, you are amused 
 by a fresco representing a bridal procession in the olden times. 
 
 The guide conducts his visitors into a large rambling place full 
 of old coaches — one a Brautwagen of 1527, framed of wood and 
 huge hoops, a vehicle such as Martin Luther might have occupied 
 on his journey from Coburg to Erfurt. Then come a succession 
 of apartments in an upper story, to which you ascend by an old 
 
 CASILE OP COBURG. 
 
 staircase adorned with paintings and 
 are specimens of antique furniture- 
 such as interest the connoisseur in 
 , Reformation has many mementos 
 Luther and Catherine von Bora, 
 Protestant celebrities, some being 
 produce a rich effect. The castle 
 
 armour. In these apartments 
 -china, pottery, and glass, — 
 works of old world art. The 
 on the walls in portraits of 
 of Melancthon, and other 
 painted on gold so as to 
 contains besides, a splendid 
 
CO BURG AND SONNEBURG. 215 
 
 armory, filled with suits of steel and iron, and exhibiting, by 
 means of a skilful arrangement of figures, a very good representation 
 of a tournament on horseback. 
 
 Luther was conducted to this castle in April, 1530, as appears 
 from the Judenbach Chronicle, by the Elector John the Steadfast, to 
 whom the castle at that time belonged, and who wished to have 
 him both within his own reach and out of harm's way during the 
 Augsburg Diet. Luther had one companion, his friend Dietrich, 
 a native of Nuremberg, a rising theologian, who had accompanied 
 Luther to Marburg, and who, after living fourteen years at Witten- 
 berg in close connection with him, returned to Nuremberg, and 
 took a leading part in promoting the Reformation there. 
 
 The Reformer, as he rambled through the empty rooms and the 
 forsaken courts, suffered much from depression, and that trouble- 
 some noise in his head of which he often complained. For a time 
 without books and papers, he seems to have compensated for a 
 little transient leisure by applying himself to the translation of 
 the prophecies, the composition of sermons and treatises, and the 
 study of theological subjects for decision at Augsburg, under 
 Melancthon's management. 
 
 The entrance into Luther's rooms is from the hall at the foot 
 of the staircase. They are situated on the left-hand side of the 
 entrance to the castle. The Reformer's sitting-room is square, 
 small, and wainscoted, with two little windows in recesses, furnished 
 with seats on both sides. There is a case against the wall con- 
 taining a collection of Bibles and of Luther's works ; and in the 
 middle of the apartment is a table, with a chair such as the 
 Reformer might have used. Figures, busts, a Luther jug, and the 
 inevitable German stove, complete the furniture. 
 
 It is stated in the letterpress descriptions appended to the 
 charming views of the ducal palaces of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 
 by Douglas Morison, that here Luther wrote his immortal song, 
 ' Eine feste burg ist unser Gott" a statement which needs to be 
 
2i6 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 modified by remembering what is said on a former page,' I 
 have no doubt that the writer has the authority of local tradition 
 for what he records ; and it may be taken in proof that the hymn 
 which embodies the sentiment of Luther's life here received its 
 finishing touches. 
 
 It is added in the volume on the ducal palaces that he inscribed 
 the walls of his room " with several sentences expressive of his 
 trials and his constancy : " among these are cited " I shall not die, 
 but live, and declare the works of the Lord ; " " The way of the 
 wicked shall perish ; " " It tarries long, but wait." 
 
 Luther's sleeping chamber adjoins his sitting-room, it has one 
 window and a little window-seat. Only a fragment of the 
 Reformer's bedstead remains. 
 
 Here Luther wrote a number of letters, one on the 22nd of April, 
 in which he tells Melancthon that the Sinai of Coburg was a Zion, 
 and that he would build there three tabernacles — one for the Psalms, 
 one for the prophets, and one for the fables of .^Esop ; remarking 
 that the whole fortress with all the keys had been entrusted to 
 him ; that there were more than thirty persons within the walls, of 
 whom twelve were night guards and two were watchmen on different 
 towers. Another on the same day to Justus Jonas, contained the 
 well-known fable of the birds : — There was directly before his 
 window in the castle a grove, where another diet was being held, 
 composed of rooks, that made an immense hubbub night and day. 
 The nobles and great ones — he had not seen their emperor — were 
 frisking about, not gaily attired, but all in black clothes, with grey 
 eyes, singing the same song in a palace hall, which had the blue 
 sky for a ceiling, the ground for a floor, green branches for 
 panelling, and the ends of the earth for walls. They had no horses 
 and waggons, but meditated a crusade against wheat, barley, and 
 all kinds of corn. He considered them Papists, to whose preaching 
 
 ^ See page 118. 
 
CO BURG AND SONNEBERG. 217 
 
 he was forced to listen, as they devoured the produce of the earth 
 and cackled for it beforehand. 
 
 In the month of May he wrote a touching letter of condolence 
 to Justus Jonas on the death of his child. The next month 
 Luther's father died, " sweetly falling asleep, strong in the faith of 
 Christ." The son wrote, that he now succeeded to the seniorship 
 of the family, that it became him to mourn for one who had toiled 
 for his support, and that he rejoiced to know his parent had lived 
 in days when he could see the light of divine truth. On the i8th 
 of June he complained of his chronic trouble, a thundering noise 
 in his head ; but' he was hard at work completing his translation 
 of Ezekiel, and beginning the translation of the other prophets. 
 At the end of the month he was still at work upon the Bible, as 
 well as upon a criticism of Melancthon's Augsburg Confession. 
 Other letters follow, in one of which he said he hoped and feared 
 a whole forest of epistles from his friends, more numerous and 
 obstreperous than the birds by the castle window. 
 
 Murray's guide book states that the pulpit from which Luther 
 preached in the curious old chapel is shown. Such is not now the 
 case. The chapel is dismantled, with a view to its restoration, and 
 at present contains nothing curious ; the only interest attaching to 
 it is, in the fact, that here he delivered some of his sermons, the 
 drift and spirit of which may be conjectured from the following 
 passage in a letter, dated June 20, " I have here become a new 
 pupil of the Decalogue, and am making myself a boy again, and 
 learning it by heart. I begin to consider the Decalogue as the 
 logic of the Gospel, and the Gospel as the rhetoric of the Deca- 
 logue : and Christ as having all that is in Moses, but Moses as 
 not having all that is in Christ." 
 
XVI. 
 
 Jhe J 
 
 O'WN AND 
 
 League 
 
 OF 
 
 bcHjVlALKALDEN. 
 
 
 'VERYBODY who has dipped into the history 
 of the German Reformation has met with 
 the name of Schmalkalden ; but few per- 
 haps can tell exactly where it is. We 
 must confess that for a good while it was 
 to us a ief'ra incognita, beyond some vague 
 idea of its being an old town in the heart 
 of Thuringia. In connection with Martin Luther it 
 crops up distinctly ; and any one inquisitive about 
 his life must feel curiosity as to the exact situa- 
 tion and the present appearance of this odd-named 
 locality. 
 
 Whilst tarrying at Eisenach, I found that Schmal- 
 kalden was not more than between twenty and thirty 
 English miles distant, and easily accessible by rail- 
 Therefore I determined to pay a visit to the place, and on a 
 bright August morning started on an expedition. Schmalkalden 
 lies to the south of Eisenach, and to the east of Wernhausen, a 
 station on the Coburg line, whence there runs a branch to the town 
 geographically obscure, but historically famous. The ride is ex- 
 ceedingly pleasant, through a country which exhibits bewitching 
 intricacies of hill and dale, of abounding woods and of trickling 
 
 way. 
 
THE TOWN AND LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALDEN. 2ig 
 
 waters. Villages are seen nestling in quiet nooks, bulbous church 
 spires peer above the trees, and breadths of corn and tobacco land 
 outspread themselves far and wide, with the Thuringian high lands 
 in the distance. Now comes a ravine full of oaks and pines leading 
 up to the castle walls, then cliffs of light red sandstone follow, 
 draped with ferns, trailing plants, and wild flowers. Nor does the 
 region strike one as at all out of the way of the world, for plenty 
 of people await the arrival of the train at the stations, and in one 
 case the platform was crowded with passengers. 
 
 Arrived at my destination, I found in all directions agreeable 
 views, meadows, gardens, and green hills, with a straggling town 
 in front, and a white palatial-looking mansion, the Electoral Castle 
 of Wilhelmsburg, on the right-hand side. 
 
 On entering the town I noticed an old-fashioned house, bearing 
 this inscription over the doorway, — 
 
 ' ' Whoever passes through this door 
 Should keep in mind for evermore, 
 That holy Jesus Christ is given 
 To be the only door to heaven. " 
 
 The religious spirit breathed through this German doggerel 
 is in accordance with some allegorical figures on another house, 
 answering to the words pietas and fides. Further on attention 
 is arrested by a lion upholding a shield, brilliantly painted and 
 gilded, and marked by the date 1583. Quaintness and antiquity 
 are stamped on all the dwellings, and the further you advance the 
 more striking becomes the aspect of the place. Often in German 
 towns most of the domestic architecture is ancient, yet modern 
 innovation is manifest in many directions. But in Schmalkalden 
 the visitor walks up and down street after street without meeting 
 with a single tenement looking less than two or three centuries 
 old. It is the kind of place that would have thrown Scott or 
 Prout into raptures, suggesting old-world descriptions to the one 
 and affording picturesque sketches to the other. 
 
220 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Timber houses are universal, with great dark wooden beams 
 thrown out in bold relief by white plaster in the intermediate 
 walls ; coats of arms are exhibited over doors, bright flowers in 
 pots and baskets adorn the windows, pretty little gardens are 
 numerous. Trees and shrubs overhang the walls, the Virginian 
 creeper abounds, streams of water flow down the sides of the 
 streets, crossed by tiny stone bridges, and enlivened by numbers of 
 ducks. Fowls pick round the doorways and are allowed free 
 ingress and egress. Waggons drawn by oxen lumber over the 
 rough pavement, and women- in provincial costume — white sleeves, 
 dark petticoats, an ugly cloak, and an ugly skull-cap — carrj'' on 
 their backs long tubs and heavy baskets. A friendly spirit 
 pervades the region, and the stranger is saluted with civil nods 
 from heads peeping out of doorways and windows. 
 
 Schmalkalden is a great smithy. Iron ore is supplied from 
 numerous mines in the neighbourhood. The people are chiefly 
 employed in working metals. You hear everywhere strokes of 
 the hammer and raspings of the file. Window" after window 
 exhibits articles in tin, brass, and iron ; yet the town wears no 
 black begrimed appearance. On the contrary, it is well kept 
 and clean; on a summer's day it is bright and cheerful. Indeed, 
 looking simply at its street architecture, and the old-fashioned air 
 which every object assumes, it is in itself worthy of a visit. If 
 you wish to put back for a day the clock of time, and to spend 
 a few hours in the sixteenth century, go to Schmalkalden. 
 
 The two chief hotels are Gasthof zur Adler, a very old 
 straggling edifice with a courtyard and large hall which might 
 have served for a baronial castle ; and Gasthof zur Krone just 
 opposite, where we begin to light upon Lutheran associations. 
 " Dem andenken," says an inscription on the wall, " Dr. Martin 
 Luther, gevichmet Stadt Schmalkalden, am 31 October, 18 17." 
 This memorial of the Reformer, placed there in the year 18 17, 
 the tercentenary of the commencement of his grand career, leads 
 
THE TOWN AND LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALDEN 221 
 
 to inquiries respecting the house on which the words are inscribed 
 and it is soon discovered that this. is no other than the building 
 in which the famous Schmallcalden League was concerted and 
 commenced in the year 1531. 
 
 The perils of the Protestant cause had appeared very plainly 
 at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. The Emperor Charles V. had 
 refused to accept the apology then and there presented by the 
 Reformers. The rising church of Luther and Melancthon was 
 threatened with extermination. Legal processes were prepared 
 against the states which had confiscated Roman Catholic property. 
 The princes and representatives of the most powerful cities on 
 the side of the Reformation, with the Elector of Saxony and the 
 Landgrave of Hesse at their head, felt the time was come for 
 them to stand on their defence ; accordingly they assembled in 
 Schmalkalden, being a central town within the dominions of the 
 latter potentate. In great religious movements political elements 
 are sure to commingle, and in this instance distinguished persons, 
 dissatisfied with the imperial Government on different grounds, 
 combined with the Protestant princes against the Emperor. The 
 King of Bavaria, a thorough Roman Catholic, did so because he 
 was displeased at the appointment of Ferdinand, Charles's brother, 
 as King of the Romans. Thus princely electors assembled in this 
 Thuringian town, March 29, 1531. Hither they rode in the early 
 spring, under leafless trees and budding hedges, cased in armour, 
 with banners and squires, and troops of attendants, dappling the 
 road with an array of brilliant colours, amidst which gleamed in 
 early sunshine the crested casque and noble lance of knightly 
 soldiers-, and the humble steel caps and weapons of men-at-arms. 
 They poured into the place as the streets were lined with 
 townspeople, and women and children gazed out of the windows 
 upon the long array, which meant a good deal more than it 
 was in the power of spectators to understand. 
 
 The grandees alighted at the door of what is now the " Guest 
 
222 HOMES AND HA UNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 house of the Crown," and under its roof they carried on their 
 weighty deliberations. Upon my inquiring whether any particular 
 room could be identified as the scene of the transaction, the 
 landlord conducted me up an old-fashioned staircase to a large 
 apartment, still retaining an antique look, which he stated was 
 once occupied by the great men who planned the league. And 
 just as I was leaving the spot he stepped into a smaller room 
 close by, full of lumber, out of which he brought a walking-stick, 
 said to have belonged to Martin Luther. So potent was the effect 
 of the league in the mind of the Emperor, just at the time 
 when his dominions were threatened by the Turks, and the 
 Sultan Solyman was pushing towards the Danube, that he 
 showed himself disposed to make concessions ; and in the month 
 of July, 1532, concluded in the city of Nuremberg, religious peace 
 with the Protestant powers, parties on both sides agreeing to 
 suspend hostilities until a general council could be held. 
 
 But the Schmalkalden League was only for a while suspended 
 by this arrangement. 
 
 We find it afterwards in active operation, greatly invigorated 
 by fresh accessions of strength. In 1535 there was another meet- 
 ing in the same place, attended by English as well as German 
 representatives. Dr. Barnes was then envoy of Henry Vlll. 
 together with Edward Fox, Bishop of Hereford, and Archdeacon 
 Heath. They came with a floating idea of some great alliance, in 
 which Germany and England might strengthen one another's hands 
 in the good fight of faith. Subsequently overtures were made to 
 Henry to accept the headship of a reforming confederacy, based 
 on the Augsburg confession, which of course came to nothing 
 However, to an Englishman visiting Schmalkalden it is interesting 
 to think of the ecclesiastics from his own country having once 
 walked these streets, and having sat in that big old room in the 
 Crown Hotel, debating questions of life and death. 
 
 The league at last led to a war, and under the years 1546 and 
 
THE TOWN AND LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALDEN. 223 
 
 1 547 the pages of German history are reddened and blackened by 
 the blood and smoke of a battle in the forest of Lochan, near 
 Muhlberg, where the poor Landgrave of Hesse had to surrender 
 at discretion, and the Reformation, on its political side, received a 
 terrible blow. 
 
 I walked about in quest of a house more interesting than the 
 Crown Hotel, called the Samiersche Haus,-whexe Luther and others 
 in 1537 drew up certain theological articles, which became identified 
 with the political league. Wandering up a street opposite to 
 the hotel I reached a bookseller's shop, with photographs and 
 engravings in the windoAV, and having made some purchases, 
 proceeded to inquire for the Sannersche Haus. " Here is the very 
 place," exclaimed the worthy tradesman; and finding I was em- 
 ployed on a Lutheran pilgrimage, he courteously invited me to 
 enter his dwelling. We ascended a rather grand old oak staircase, 
 which conducted to a spacious landing-place, the walls of which 
 were decorated with emblems in plaster of the four seasons of the 
 year, probably belonging to the sixteenth century. There opened 
 upon it a handsome drawing-room, with a richly plastered ceiling 
 of the same age. This my informant declared to be the room in 
 which Luther lodged during his stay at Schmalkalden, where 
 he held his consultations with Melancthon and others, and where 
 he drew up the world-known articles. This, as I afterwards saw, is 
 notified by an inscription outside the dwelling, in connection with 
 the figure of Luther's swan. 
 
 The room contains modern furniture and has a cosy appear- 
 ance, and I felt much interested in a small early printed volume 
 in the possession of the bookseller, which he showed with no 
 little pride, containing Luther's autograph. A smaller adjoining 
 apartment, somewhat altered from what it was originally, is called 
 Luther's bedchamber, where, at the time I entered it, there lay 
 a sleeping infant in its little cot, not far from its mother's side. 
 These rooms must detain us for a moment, as it is worth while to 
 
C24 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 remember the opinion of Luther respecting the league, the nature 
 of the articles he drew up, and certain personal incidents which 
 occurred during his visit. 
 
 Luther had strong scruples with regard to the warlike character 
 of the combination. He did not approve 'of an appeal to arms in 
 support of religion, but preferred to trust to moral influences ; 
 though he did not oppose legislative enactments in its behalf, or 
 refuse to accept for its propagation aid out of State resources. 
 Through the counsels and persuasions of learned jurists, however, 
 he became reconciled to the idea of a compact among the princes 
 for carrying out their ecclesiastical designs, since he was assured this 
 was perfectly constitutional, inasmuch as the Emperor was bound 
 by the principles on which his government was based, not to 
 infringe on the laws of the State or the liberties of the Germanic 
 Church. Still he was averse to unsheathing the sword against 
 the Emperor, for whose office he felt the deepest reverence, and 
 whose authority, as far as possible, he desired to uphold. He 
 rallied under the banner of the Emperor against the Pope, he 
 pitted the Crown against the Tiara. Moreover there was another 
 difficulty in the way of Luther's entering heartily into the league. 
 The Landgrave of Hesse and others wished to see the Swiss 
 Protestants united with the German ; but to such union Luther, 
 from that opposition to the Zwinglian doctrines which had broken 
 out so violently at the Marburg Conference, was most decidedly 
 averse ; perhaps the aversion abated as time rolled on, but there is 
 no reason to believe that it was ever overcome. 
 
 Articles, intended to form the basis of the league in future, 
 were drawn up by the theologians of the Reformation. Earnest 
 debates and much writing went on in the upper room now occu- 
 pied by the German bookseller. We can see them at their work, 
 the fiery Luther, the mild Melancthon, the practical Bugenhagen, 
 the learned but less illustrious Spalatin and Myconius. 
 
 Luther drafted in vigorous German a series of articles, which 
 

 lesT-^ ft 
 
 
 
 ^l.. U 
 
 
 
 
 ' ^ — i / 
 
 ■- Ml I 
 E 1? 
 
 ; ^f > 
 
THE TOWN AND LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALDEN. 227 
 
 cover twenty-eight folio pages, introduced by an explanatory 
 preface, and followed by an appendix on the papal supremacy, 
 written afterwards by Melancthon. The first part contains con- 
 cise articles upon the fundamental truths respecting the Trinity 
 and the death of Christ, as expressed in the creed of the Church. 
 The second part marks out four characteristic points of Protest- 
 antism — the doctrine of justification by faith, the rejection of 
 the mass, the condemnation of monasteries, and the denial of 
 papal supremacy. The third part relates to matters of inferior 
 importance, respecting which learned and prudent men of different 
 communions might agree. A MS. of this remarkable document 
 is preserved in the library of Heidelberg, and was published at 
 Berlin in 1817. The tone of expression adopted in speaking of 
 the mass, which is denounced as the greatest and most horrid 
 abomination, the chief and most audacious of all the Popish 
 idolatries, differs from the gentle accents in which the same 
 subject is referred to in the Confession of Augsburg. The spirit 
 of Luther is as visible in the one symbol, as that of Melancthon 
 in the other. We think we see signs in Melancthon's countenance 
 of being chafed a little, as he stands by his friend's elbow, and 
 listens to the trumpet tones in which he reads out some of his 
 anti-Popish home truths ; and it is matter of fact that when it 
 came to signing the document, Melancthon did not add his name 
 without some reservation. Certainly, if the Confession of Augsburg 
 spoke peace, that of Schmalkalden breathed war. 
 
 As stated already, the League was first formed in 153 1. It was 
 renewed in 1535 ; but the theological articles subsequently adopted 
 by the leaguers, and intended to anticipate and deny any new 
 Popish symbol which might be produced, were not drawn up until 
 the year 1537. 
 
 It was upon the 7th of February that Luther and his com- 
 panions, after passing in their wintry journey through Grimma, 
 Altenburg, and Saxe-Weimar, reached Schmalkalden. There 
 
228 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Luther was well taken care of — as he says, eating bread with 
 the Landgrave, and drinking wine with the Nurembergers ; but he 
 complained, within a week after his arrival, that the business he 
 came for proceeded too slowly. It is clear, however, that already 
 he had drawn up the articles, and had debated upon them with his 
 companions. No doubt they had previously been conceived and 
 considered, and we may suppose but little remained to be done. 
 However that might be, the second week Luther became very ill. 
 How he was drugged at the time he broadly declares in his 
 " Table Talk," by saying, " When I was ill at Schmalkalden, the 
 doctors made me take medicine as though I had been a great 
 bull." He suffered severely'from an attack of the stone; it inflicted 
 upon him excruciating torments, and made him think he should 
 die in the town. Indeed, death seemed so near that one of the 
 princes gave him the promise, " If, contrary to our hopes, it be the 
 will of God to take you from us, be not concerned about your wife 
 and children, for they shall be treated as if they were my own." 
 Within the bedroom described — where lay the sleeping child — in all 
 probability the Reformer endured the agony which his biographers 
 relate ; there he expected to exchange time for eternity. But at the 
 end of a fortnight his friends resolved to remove him, and he was 
 conveyed first to a place called Tambach, and then to Saxe-Gotha, 
 where he experienced relief after the removal, it is said, of no less 
 than six stones, one the size of a bean. Thence he proceeded to 
 Erfurt, his old home ; then to Weimar, where he was ever wel- 
 come ; then to Altenburg, to be the guest of Spalatin ; and at 
 last to Wittenberg, which he reached in a state of extreme 
 weakness. 
 
 One other place of interest in Schmalkalden is associated with 
 Luther. It is the large Gothic church which stands in the 
 market-place, near the " Crown," and which has in the choir some 
 remarkably good pointed windows of about the fourteenth century. 
 As I was looking at the edifice, and inquiring how I could enter. 
 
THE TOWN AND LEAGUE OF SCHMALKALDEN. 329 
 
 an old man, who proved to be the sexton, popped his head out 
 of an opposite window, and hastily came downstairs to comply 
 with my wishes. 
 
 The interior, like other German Protestant churches, is con- 
 siderably disfigured by modern alterations, and there are, as usual, 
 portraits of the two great saints of the Reformation, Martin and 
 Philip. A curious carved wooden triptich remains fixed behind 
 the Lutheran altar, covered with black cloth, on which stands a 
 cross, and on each side a tall candlestick. The pulpit is old, but 
 apparently not. so old as the first half of the sixteenth century. 
 However, the sexton would have it that it had been occupied by 
 the Reformer. It is certain that he preached in this church at 
 the time the League was held, and that within these walls the 
 great men who were in Schmalkalden joined with the multitude of 
 the towns-people, as they crowded the edifice to listen to his 
 inspiring eloquence.' 
 
 Climbing up a stone staircase near one of the entrances I 
 reached a room, the treasures of which were readily displayed. 
 On shelves against the wall was a goodly array of volumes of 
 divinity, including fathers and reformers ; some in vellum and 
 hog-skin bindings, almost as fresh as when they came out of the 
 binder's hands. The sexton laid open a splendid Latin Bible, a 
 gem of early printing — specimen of an art so perfect in its origin, 
 that Hallam truly compares it to Minerva, springing full-armed 
 out of the head of Jupiter. It has brilliant illuminations, in 
 keeping with its beautiful typography. An old map of Jerusalem 
 affixed to the wall sets geography at defiance, and completely 
 bewilders anyone who might seek to identify some of the well- 
 known localities of the holy city. As I was looking at it, the 
 zealous exhibitor of church curiosities unlocked an enormous 
 
 1 He says, on the 9th of February, that the day before, he addressed the princes in 
 the parish church, which was so large and lofty, that in it his voice was like the voice of 
 a mouse. 
 
230 HOMES AND HA UNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 iron-bound chest, which might have stood there when Luther 
 preached in the church, and forthwith brought out, and set on 
 the table, four large silver tankards, four large silver cups, two 
 great candlesticks, and two boxes filled with wafers, such as are 
 still used in Lutheran churches for the holy communion. " There," 
 said he, pointing to two cups smaller than the others, and 
 decked with precious stones, " Luther used them in celebrating 
 the eucharist." 
 
 When I had completed my examination of the relics and of 
 the church, my attention was arrested by pleasant voices united in 
 singing hymns, the sound of which issued from the windows of a 
 large building, under the shadow of the Stadt Kirche. It was 
 the schoolhouse, which so frequently appears in Germany close by 
 the house of God, in accordance with Lutheran laws and tradi- 
 tions. That summer morning, Avhen nature was so quiet and the 
 town so still, and the architecture looked so quaint and carried one 
 back so far into the past, there was a poetical witchery in those 
 murmuring tones of schoolboy songsters. But presently came 
 the outrush of the youngsters, and the clattering of their feet on 
 the stone steps, and the prattle and laughter of their merry lips, 
 which, if it dispelled all moody sentimentalism, woke one up to 
 the cheerful realities of German life, and to the consciousness that 
 the hour was come for the mid-day meal. 
 
XVII. 
 
 fiALLE, IN Saxony. 
 
 ALLE contains one of the great railway 
 
 junctions in the north of Germany. It 
 
 is a place of immense traffic, owing to 
 
 its central position, and possesses several 
 
 important manufactories ; but its chief 
 
 commercial boast rests on the salt springs 
 
 of the neighbourhood, which some time 
 
 since produced nearly 500,000 bushels a year. The 
 
 name of the town is supposed to be derived from 
 
 a Greek word signifying salt. 
 
 The history of Halle runs back to an early 
 date. The Morit^ Kirche, in the lower part of the 
 town, near the saltworks, has a choir belonging to 
 the fourteenth century, and it began to be built 
 in the middle of the twelfth. But the chief 
 historical interest of Halle arises from its university, from its 
 orphan-house, and from incidents connected with the Lutheran 
 •Reformation. The university in its present form was founded 
 as late as 181 5, when the University of Wittenberg became 
 incorporated with it ; ■ but it existed before in a separate 
 capacity, having originated in 1694, under the auspices of 
 
232 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 Frederick I. of Prussia, to be dissolved under the dictatorship of 
 the first Napoleon. The Pietist influences which created this 
 seminary have fashioned its character throughout its varying 
 fortunes. It has generally been identified with the study of 
 evangelical theology, and until of late retained amongst its 
 ornaments the distinguished Professor Tholuck. The Pietist 
 influence manifest in the institution of the university is further 
 manifest in the history^ of the well-known orphan-house, com- 
 menced by A. H. Franke in 1698. That eminent divine, fired by 
 an unwonted charity towards the poor and destitute, established 
 schools for the education of children of both sexes, and trusted 
 their support to Divine Providence, much after the manner 
 renewed at Bristol by Mr. Miiller in his orphan establishment. 
 Historical associations connected with the Reformation cluster 
 around the churches, and around what remains of the palace of the 
 Archbishop of Magdeburg. In that palace, it may be noticed, 
 the humiliating act of submission was performed by Philip, 
 Landgrave of Hesse, at the feet of Charles V., after the defeat, in 
 1 547, of the Protestant army at Miihlberg. 
 
 In the university, the orphan-house, and the story of Philip 
 linked to the old archiepiscopal residence, are traces of the potent 
 influence of Martin Luther ; and it is in keeping with the place he 
 occupied in relation to the great town of Germany, and to Halle 
 especially, that high up against the triforium of the Markt Kirche, 
 has been fixed a terra-cotta medallion, with the inscription, 
 " Sanctus Doctor M. Lutherus, propheta Germanics" 
 
 I visited Halle simply with the expectation of seeing a town 
 which Luther must often have seen, and found it by no means 
 attractive until I came upon the market-place. 
 
 The market-place certainly is worth seeing — a large square, 
 lined with antiquated houses and shops — presenting an agreeable 
 picture to the eyes of an archa;ologist. The gaunt red tower 
 stands isolated, and near it is the Markt Kirche — where appears 
 
MARkET-PLACE, HALLE. 
 
HALLE, IN SAXONY. 235 
 
 the Reformer's medallion, — a fine Gothic edifice of the sixteenth 
 century, flanked by four towers, two of which are united by a bridge, 
 and together form the habitation of the keeper of the church. 
 Within is an altar-piece by Hiibner. There are also pictures by 
 Lucas Cranach, Luther's friend. 
 
 As I was standing with my companion and looking up to the 
 church towers, our attention was directed to a little shop window, 
 displaying books and photographs. We stepped in and selected 
 some capital views of Halle ; and upon informing the bookseller 
 of our interest in the Saxon reformer, he proceeded to say, that 
 very near stood a house, in which our hero lodged when passing 
 through the town. Having mastered the information conveyed, 
 we repaired to the Scheemer Strasse, and pacing down a narrow 
 dirty street, lighted on a shop, now modernized, with the following 
 inscription on the wall : — 
 
 " Here in the hostelry of the Golden Lock (Schlosschen) 
 lodged Dr. Martin Luther in the beginning of August, 1545." 
 
 Over the doorway next the shop is an ogive arch, with a pin- 
 nacle ornament on each side of it, and two heads underneath, and 
 what looks like a lock in the middle. According to one of the 
 meanings of the word schlosschen, a lock was the sign of the 
 hostelry. 
 
 Here, then, we had found a house in which Luther had lodged 
 the last autumn of his life, the fall of the year 1545, a little more 
 than five months before he left the world. It appears that he 
 became tired of Wittenberg towards the end of his days, being 
 dissatisfied with the state of things in the university as well as 
 in the town ; and I thought while looking at the old doorway 
 under the ogive arch, that probably he had come hither that 
 August to find some relief from his troubles. 
 
 On returning home I turned over the fifth volume of De Wette's 
 " Brief e " of Luther, hoping to find there a letter belonging to the 
 mofith of August, and dated Halle. Such a letter there is not 
 
236 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 but under date 19th August, 1545, there is a letter from Witten- 
 berg to his friend Amsdorf, with this passage at the commence- 
 ment, — " Grace and peace in the Lord. At last I came home, 
 reverend father in Christ, on the i8th of August, suffering from 
 the disease of the stone. Nor am I to-day altogether free from 
 pain. Although not so much distressed as yesterday, nevertheless 
 I labour under an intolerable thirst. But enough of this." And 
 then he proceeds to notice something which he had heard at 
 Leipzig. From this letter it is plain that he had returned to 
 Wittenberg after the middle of August, and that he had recently 
 visited Leipzig. His biographers state that he left Wittenberg 
 in May, and that he visited Merseburg and Zeitz, as well as 
 Leipzig. There is a letter written to his wife in the month of 
 July, dated Leipzig, in which he speaks of the wickedness of 
 Wittenberg, and declares his intention to leave it. Indeed, be 
 gives directions for the sale of his property in the town. 
 
 Leipzig and Halle are very near each other. It quite comports 
 with the letters to believe the tradition inscribed over the doorway 
 in the Scheemer Strasse, that Luther made some stay in Halle in 
 the early part of August ; and it confers a touching interest on the 
 dwelling to think of it as having been the scene of one of those 
 fits of the stone, from which he suffered so severely in the San- 
 nersche Haus at Schmalkalden. I applied for permission to enter 
 and see any room which tradition might have connected with the 
 Reformer, but learned that there was nothing in the interior 
 identified with his memory, and that the apartments had been 
 adapted to domestic convenience. 
 
 A characteristic letter written by him, at a later date, from 
 Halle, is well known ; and it is not unlikely that this guest-house 
 of the Golden Lock having been Luther's resting-place on a former 
 visit, would be so at another time. Possibly, then, the letter I am 
 about to introduce was written within those very walls. 
 
 He had left Wittenberg and his beloved Kate, and was on his 
 
HALLE, LN SAXONY. 237 
 
 way to Eisleben with his sons, to settle a quarrel in the Mansfeld 
 family. Pausing at Halle he wrote in this facetious style : 
 
 " Grace and peace in the Lord. Beloved Katie, to-day at 
 half-past eight o'clock we have come to Halle, but have not reached 
 Eisleben. For a great Anabaptist, with water-floods and ice- 
 blocks has covered the land and threatened us with a rebaptism. 
 We could not get back on account of the river Mulda. Therefore 
 we remain quiet at Halle, between the two streams. Not that we 
 want to drink water, for we get good Torgau beer and Rhine wine, 
 and with it refresh and comfort ourselves. Should the river Saale 
 rage again, we, our servants, and the ferryman would not tempt 
 God, by going on the river any more, for the devil is furious, and 
 dwells in the water. It is better to keep out . of his way than to 
 complain ; nor need we become the jest of the Pope and his 
 people. I should not have believed that the Saale could have 
 made such a brewing, breaking over the causeway with such a 
 rattling noise. But no more of this ; pray for us and be godly. 
 I hold that if thou hadst been here, what thou wouldst have 
 advised is just the thing which we have done. Herewith I commit 
 thee to God. Amen. At Halle, on the Conversion of St. Paul, 
 anno 1546." 
 
 Luther never visited the hotel of the Lock after that — never 
 saw Halle again. He went to Eisleben to die. The next time 
 he passed through the town of the salt springs was in his coffin. 
 
XVIII. 
 
 w 
 
 ITTENBERG. 
 
 ITTENBERG takes its name from the white 
 sand-hills rising in its neighbourhood, 
 amidst a plain cut by the river Elbe ; 
 on its northern bank stands this cradle 
 of the Reformation — this Protestant 
 Mecca. There is a striking contrast 
 between the Elbe, as it sweeps through 
 the charming scenes of Saxon Switzerland, and as it 
 flows through this flat district to the north, the pic- 
 turesque rocks and the abounding foliage of the upper 
 region of the river making the willows and oak shrubs 
 which fringe the lower part appear the more unin- 
 teresting and dreary. The town contains about i i,ooo 
 inhabitants, and is a long straggling place, one wide 
 street running ;from end to end, paralleled and intersected by 
 others, where may be seen a few interesting specimens of domestic 
 architecture, and some public edifices of rather an imposing kind. 
 
 I reached the town with my daughter in the summer of 1872, 
 on the anniversary of the battle of Sedan ; and along the road was 
 reminded ever and anon, by waving flags and military displays, 
 of the great German victory of 1870. On leaving the railway 
 
WITTENBERG. 239 
 
 station and walking down the long street we found the people 
 absorbed in the celebration of the event which had so increased 
 the power and glory of the Fatherland — an event clearly running 
 on the same line of divine Providence as the disposition of affairs 
 in the sixteenth century, when the monstrous pretensions of the 
 Roman Papacy received a fatal blow ; for the policy of Prince 
 Bismarck is a political corollary drawn after the lapse of three 
 centuries, from the ecclesiastical reforms of Martin Luther. 
 
 Martin Luther came to Wittenberg in the autumn of 1508. 
 The town then contained three hundred and fifty-six houses, and 
 about two thousand inhabitants ; none of the houses very stately, 
 none of the inhabitants very rich. Military occupations and sensual 
 pleasures are said to have been at that time characteristics of 
 the place, intermingled with fondness for the exhibition of religious 
 plays. Payments for fire-arms, for races, for oxen given as 
 prizes, for paintings and masks, for scaffolding, and |^for dresses in 
 connection with the Passion-week plays, figure prominently in the 
 municipal accounts during some years before Luther's arrival. 
 Afterwards beer must have been most abundant in Wittenberg, 
 for it numbered no less than one hundred j and seventy-two 
 breweries ! and it was a saying that in the burghers' houses " the 
 cuckoo could be heard on winter evenings," so frequent were the 
 notes issuing from the necks of well-filled ale-bottles. 
 
 The university had come into existence only six years before 
 Luther's arrival. English universities are of slow growth and of 
 permanent duration. Oxford and Cambridge struggled with 
 difficulties ere they attained established power ; and the story of 
 Durham and London seems, in this respect, somewhat like that of 
 their much older and stronger sisters: but German universities 
 rapidly rise and suddenly change. Erfurt and Wittenberg' both 
 disappeared about the same time ; the former being wholly sup- 
 pressed in 1816, the latter being incorporated with Halle the year 
 before. Wittenberg shot up at once into importance : one hun- 
 
240 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 dred and seventy-nine students entered in 1508. Altogether then 
 there might be about four or five hundred ; in a few years the 
 number increased to two thousand. It was less under ecclesias- 
 tical control than Louvain, Cologne, and Leipzig, being protected 
 neither by Pope nor bishop, but by the Elector, — a circumstance 
 which proved favourable to Luther's proceedings. The students 
 must have been an unruly set, and by no means reverential as to 
 episcopal dignity ; for a rector was assassinated by one who had 
 been expelled ; Melancthon narrowly escaped with his life from 
 the hands of a pupil ; and the Bishop of Brandenburg was so 
 insulted in the person of his officers, that he laid the town under 
 interdict, and made the people pay a fine of two thousand guldens. 
 
 The situation of Wittenberg was not attractive. The flat plain 
 around the town presented a c:ontrast to the scenery Luther had 
 left ; the banks of the Elbe being very different from the Golden 
 Mead near Erfurt, and the grassy slopes around his beloved 
 Eisenach. His distaste for the place frequently appeared, and 
 he expressed his wonder that any one should have thought of 
 founding a university in such a situation. 
 
 But here he was destined to spend the greater portion of his 
 life. Hence Wittenberg, beyond every other place, presents points 
 of contact with his history, and will therefore the longer detain our 
 attention. 
 
 I. Luther at Home in Wittenberg. 
 
 In a building near the Elster Gate, at the eastern extremity of 
 the town, he took up his abode first as a monk, then as a pro- 
 fessor. Originally an Augustinian monastery, it was afterwards 
 devoted to college purposes. As the Reformation proceeded, one 
 after another of the monks abandoned their cells ; and at length the 
 prior gave up the building into the hands of the Elector, who 
 converted it entirely into a university establishment. 
 
WITTENBERG. 
 
 241 
 
 A portion of it connected with Martin Luther remains still, 
 and of course attracts the attention of every visitor to Wittenberg. 
 As the railway station lies not far from the Elster Gate, you soon 
 see the venerable edifice, the gable end peering out as you pass 
 into the town ; but we had to walk nearly to the extreme end of 
 it on the side opposite, before we could discover the person who 
 had the key to Luther's rooms. 
 
 THE AUGUSTINIAN MONASTERY, WITTENBERG. 
 
 Entering the courtyard under a gateway, we found ourselves 
 in front of a long range of building, with no architectural preten- 
 sions, but recently renovated, and presenting a heavy-walled, old, 
 monastic-looking house, dotted with several windows, and capped 
 by a high roof. The woman who acted as cicerone took us up a 
 staircase ; and on the first floor we were ushered into a good-sized 
 room, of dark panelling, and windows looking out into the court- 
 yard. A large German stove, covered with singular devices, stood 
 on the side opposite to the window ; and that, we were informed, 
 was Luther's stove, made and decorated according to his own 
 
 R 
 
242 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 design. Near the window stood a chair and table at which he 
 wrote ; and over a door leading into a second apartment belonging 
 to the Reformer may be seen the autograph in chalk of the 
 Russian emperor, Peter the Great. A jug is shdwn from which 
 Luther drank his beer, and a curious cast of his face taken after his 
 death. Besides these there are two portraits of him painted by 
 Cranach, and amongst the Protestant relics is his professorial chair. 
 
 Let us tarry in this room before we visit other spots. 
 
 Motley, in his " United Netherlands," has sketched a vivid 
 picture of Philip II. at his writing-table : his grey head whiten- 
 ing fast at sixty years of age, his frame slight, his digestion 
 weak, his manners more glacial and sepulchral than ever ; working 
 as hard as a slave, scrawling his " apostilles," stretching innu- 
 merable threads across the surface of Christendom — covering 
 it with a net converged in that silent cell, — the whole meant to 
 sweep Protestantism out of the Netherlands, and to restore Popish 
 influence over England. In contrast with this, think of the Saxon 
 monk in his Wittenberg chamber, also seated at a writing-table, 
 in the vigour of his manhood, with burly frame, strong digestion, 
 and genial soul ; his outbursts of humour lighting up that broad 
 honest face of his with sunny daylight. He studies hard the Bible 
 and St. Augustine, and muses much upon views of truth opening 
 on his soul, and then writes comment after comment, lecture after 
 lecture, sermon after sermon, letter after letter — all bearing on a 
 design the opposite of the Spanish monarch ; for he seeks to 
 liberate, not enthral ; to push on the progress of the ages, not to 
 crush them back. And with what different results do the two 
 workers ply their tools ! How Philip's webs are scattered to the 
 winds ! How Luther's work endures to this day, and inspires 
 other workers who follow in the same track ! 
 
 Seated in that old chair, bending over that old table, Luther pre- 
 pared for lecturing to his students. He did not like going over old 
 Aristotelian ground ; notwithstanding he obeyed the call of duty. 
 

 
 H 
 
 
 ^t.*^^ 
 
 
 
WITTENBERG. 245 
 
 " But now, at God's command," he writes, on the 17th of March, 
 1509, "or by His permission, I am here in Wittenberg. If you 
 desire to know my condition, I would say it is, by God's favour, 
 very good ; saving that I must force myself to study philosophy, 
 which from the beginning I have wished to relinquish for theology 
 — that theology which seeks after the inside of the nut, the 
 kernel of the wheat beneath the husk, the marrow within the 
 bone. But God is God, and man often — nay, always — erreth in 
 his judgment. This is our God, and He shall guide us in His 
 lovingkindness for ever." 
 
 One cannot help thinking, in connection with these rooms, of 
 the oft-told anecdote how, when employed in studying the 22nd 
 Psalm, Luther shut himself up with a little bread and salt for three 
 days and three nights, gave no answer to those who knocked at 
 the door, and on its being forcibly opened appeared sitting at his 
 writing-table as one in a dream. In reference to the power of 
 abstinence he thus manifested Melancthon remarks, " I have 
 observed him for four following days, when he was in perfect 
 health, neither to eat nor drink anything." 
 
 The translation of the Scriptures, commenced at the Wartburg, 
 was completed and perfected at Wittenberg. From the beginning 
 of the work he had devoted much time to the study of the original 
 languages. In that study he persevered from year to year after 
 returning from exile, and was no doubt assisted by the eminent 
 scholars connected with the university. In S. Winkworth's edition 
 of Koenig's illustrated " Life of Luther " there is an engraving 
 of the Reformer seated on a chair, pen in hand, consulting his 
 friend, who, leaning on his shoulder with an open book in one 
 hand, is seen engaged in some explanations ; and this picture is 
 as true as it is pleasant. 
 
 The New Testament was finished in 1522. The complete 
 Bible did not appear until 1534. After that it underwent re- 
 vision. Turning again to Koenig's volume, we see another picture. 
 
246 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 representing Luther, surrounded by a number of the German 
 Reformers, consulting together on the subject. Luther stands 
 between Melancthon and Bugenhagen. On the left Jonas is look- 
 ing up towards Luther, while on the right Kreuziger is seen in 
 conversation with the Rabbis. The picture embodies the following 
 abridged statement from Mathesius : 
 
 "When the whole Bible had been published in German, Dr. 
 Luther takes it up again from the beginning with much earnest- 
 ness, diligence, and prayer, and convokes, as it were, a Sanhedrim 
 of the best men that could be found, who come together every 
 week at his house — Dr. Bugenhagen, Dr. Jonas, Dr. Kreuziger, 
 Master Melancthon, M. Aurogallus, with G. Rorer, the corrector, 
 and often some foreign doctors and scholars. Now when our 
 Doctor had looked through the Bible already published, and 
 besides inquired among the Jews and foreign linguists, and picked ■ 
 up good words by asking old Germans, he came into the assembly 
 with his old Latin and new German Bible, and always brought a 
 Hebrew text also. Melancthon brought the Greek text, Dr. 
 Kreuziger the Hebrew and Chaldee, and the professors had their 
 Rabbis with them. Each had prepared himself beforehand for the 
 passage on which they were to deliberate, and looked at the 
 commentators thereon. After due exhortation each stated his 
 opinion, which he proved to the best of his ability by the grammar 
 or context, or testimony of the learned, till at length in the year 
 1542 this work was, by God's grace, accomplished." Bugenhagen 
 afterwards kept up an annual celebration of the completion of the 
 task, by inviting a select party of learned friends to what was com- 
 monly called the Festival of the Translation of the Scriptures. ' 
 
 Luther's version has won the highest praise. " Idiomatic, vital 
 in every part, clothed in the racy language of common life, it 
 created, apart from its religious influence, an epoch in the literarj* 
 development of the German nation." To this accurate estimate. 
 
 1 Adam, "Vit. Germ. Theologorum," p. 318, in "Vita Joan Bugenhagii. " 
 
WITTENBERG. 247 
 
 formed by a Protestant American critic, I would add the glowing 
 eulogium of a Catholic German scholar, one who himself seeks to 
 reform the Church to which he belongs. Speaking of Luther's 
 writings in general, as well as his translation, Dr. Bollinger ob- 
 serves, " It was Luther's overpowering greatness of mind and mar- 
 vellous many-sidedness which made him to be the man of his time 
 and of his people ; and it is correct to say that there never has 
 been a German who has so intuitively understood his people, and 
 in turn has been by the nation so perfectly comprehended, 
 I might say absorbed by it, as this Augustinian monk at 
 Wittenberg. 
 
 " Heart and mind of the Germans were in his hand like the lyre 
 in the hand of the musician. Moreover he has given to his people 
 more than any other man in Christian ages has ever given to a 
 people — language, manual for popular instruction, Bible, hymns 
 of worship ; and everything which his opponents, in their turn, had 
 to offer or to place in comparison with these, showed itself tame, 
 powerless, and colourless by the side of his sweeping eloquence. 
 They stammered, he spoke with the tongue of an orator ; it is he 
 only who has stamped the imperishable seal of his own soul alike 
 upon the German language, and upon the German mind ; and even 
 those Germans who abhorred him as the powerful heretic and 
 seducer of the nation, cannot escape ; they must discourse with 
 his words, they must think with his thoughts."^- 
 
 It is highly probable that in the room described Luther received 
 another eminent translator of the Scriptures, William Tyndale. 
 Friends and enemies contemporary with the latter have mentioned 
 a visit by him to Wittenberg as a well-known circumstance, cor- 
 roborated in some degree by Mathesius, who, as we have seen, 
 speaks of assistance afforded by " foreign doctors and scholars." 
 And now the statement as to Tyndale, questioned by many, seems 
 to be fully established by Mr. Demaus and Mr. Arber. History 
 
 ^ DoUinger, " Vortrage," etc., Munich, 1872. Fisher on the Reformation, pp. 112, 163. 
 
248 HOMES AMD HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 preserves no record of the conversation between the German and 
 EngHsh Reformers ; but many will linger, in fancy, over their meet- 
 ing as far more interesting than the interview so much talked about 
 of Henry VIII. and Francis I. on the Field of the Cloth of Gold. 
 Tyndale, though a competent scholar, and really an original 
 translator from the Hebrew and Greek, made much use of Luther's 
 version. On comparing the folio of Luther's Testament printed in 
 1522 with the quarto of Tyndale printed 1525, the resemblance is 
 striking. The general appearance of the page is the same, the 
 arrangement of the texts is the same, and the appropriation of 
 the margins is also the same. And still further, what is of far more 
 importance, although it is now for the first time indicated, the 
 marginal notes, those " pestilent glosses," against which the indig- 
 nation of the clergy was especially excited, have been to a large 
 extent translated by Tyndale from those of Luther.^ 
 
 In this Augustinian convent Luther, by God's help, gradually 
 made himself what he ultimately became ; and step by step we can 
 here trace his progress along the path of his arduous enterprise. 
 
 Hither he returned from Rome with recollections which he 
 turned into weapons of war when fighting against papal tyranny 
 and corruption. Here he prepared for Leipzig and Worms. Up 
 this winding staircase he came on his return from the Wartburg to 
 sit down again in the familiar chair. Business connected with 
 Augsburg Diets and other matters had to be arranged in this 
 university home ; and often the burden which the strong man had 
 to carry proved more than he could bear. 
 
 Just by, outside the Elster Gate, there grows a young oak, 
 planted on the spot where Luther burnt the Pope's Bull in 
 December, 1520. The gable end of the monastic building may be 
 seen rising above the town walls, and from one of the upper 
 windows the smoke of the famous conflagration might have been 
 
 1 " William Tyndale, a Biography,'' p. 129. Arber's " First printed New Testa- 
 ment," p. 67. 
 
WITTENBERG. 249 
 
 watched curling up to heaven. In this conventual abode Luther 
 determined to do the daring deed, and walked through the gateway 
 opposite the chamber to the spot where he cast into the flames a 
 pile of documents regarded with superstitious reverence by many 
 who saw them crackling in the flames. At that hour he crossed 
 the Rubicon of the Reformation, pulled down the bridge which cut 
 off retreat, burnt every boat for escape, and rendered reconciliation 
 with Rome impossible. It required no small effort to perform 
 such an act ; and he must have come back to his chamber won- 
 dering whereunto all this would grow. Here he recorded the 
 simple fact in the following lines : 
 
 "A.D. 1520, loth of December, at the hour of nine, were burnt 
 at Wittenberg, by the Elster Gate, near the Holy Cross, all the 
 books of the Pope, the rescripts, the decretals of Clement VI., the 
 extravagants, the new Bull of Leo X., the Summa Angelica, the 
 Chrysposus of Eck, and other works of his and of Emser, in order 
 that incendiary papists may see that it requires no great power to 
 burn books they cannot answer. This is a new thing." It was so 
 as it regards Bulls, not as it regards Protestant books ; there was, 
 therefore, a grim, satirical retaliation in reducing to ashes these 
 authoritative documents. 
 
 In another place he says, " If any one ask why I act thus, I will 
 answer him that it is an old custom to burn bad books. The 
 apostles burnt books to the value of 5,000 deniers." 
 
 Luther, like Paul, might have enumerated amongst his re- 
 sponsibilities, " that which cometh upon me daily, the care of the 
 churches." We find him saying, " I am every day so overwhelmed 
 with letters, that my table, benches, footstools, desks, windows, 
 cases, boards, and everything are full of letters, inquiries, causes, 
 complaints, petitions, etc. On me falleth the whole weight of the 
 Church and State, as neither the ecclesiastics nor magistrates per- 
 form their duties." Again, with a touch of humour, he remarks, 
 " I need have two secretaries to keep up my correspondence ; pity 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 my unhappy fortune. I am conventual preacher, table reader, 
 director of studies. I am vicar, or in words, eleven priors in one, 
 conservator of Litzkau, pleader and assessor at Torgau, Paulinic 
 reader and commentator on the psalms ; — add to all these the 
 assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil." 
 
 We may add that his labours as author and editor were some- 
 thing prodigious. " It has been calculated," says Hardwick, in his 
 " Manual on the Reformation," " that in one year as many as one 
 hundred and eighty-three books were published in his name." To 
 that year belong the first Lutheran hymns, which produced an 
 immense effect. It is wonderful the amount of work he accom- 
 plished in the course of his life, and it is curious to notice how he 
 thus practically demonstrated the power and efficacy of the human 
 will at the time when he was engaged in laborious attempts to 
 prove theoretically its impotence and bondage. 
 
 In the summer of 1525 Luther entered the married life. He 
 wedded Catherine von Bora, a nun, who, like himself, had re- 
 nounced communion with Rome ; and in her society he found a 
 comfort and solace amidst his labours and trials. Kate made 
 Martin a good wife, Martin made Kate a good husband ; and their 
 pure Christian domestic life practically confuted the superstitious 
 sophisms of Romish celibacy. Weddings in Germany are 
 followed by festivals, when the bride is conducted to her new 
 home ; and from the account we have of the feast after Luther's 
 wedding we get an amusing insight into the difficulties besetting 
 his change of life.^ 
 
 1- Some say she was not attractive in appearance, and certain portraits to be seen in 
 Germany might confirm that notion ; but other portraits, when carefully examined, 
 suggest a different idea, and make me think she must have been a pleasant-looking 
 person. I have just discovered a passage in the "Venetian Correspondence,' which 
 supports the favourable view. Francesco Contarini, writing on the 2nd of November, 
 1535, describes his visit to Wittenberg, and an interview he had with Agricola, 
 Spalatin, and others. He observes that Luther "remained at home with his wife, who 
 was a nun, and, according to their account, a very handsome and virtuous young 
 woman." — " State Papers." 
 
LUTHER'S WII-E : KATHARINA VON BORA. AS A BRIDE. 
 
WITTENBERG. 
 
 253 
 
 " The apartment known as Luther's dwelling in the Augustinian 
 cloister," remarks Dr. Sears, " was undoubtedly the scene of this 
 solemnity. Seven of the invitations sent to different individuals 
 have been preserved, and give us a view of the peculiar and some- 
 what awkward position of Luther, as well as a picture of the times. 
 
 piatgPnoViff^fyioSI 
 
 LUTHER'S EATING-SPOON, USED WHEN 
 
 TRAVELLING, AFTERWARDS GIVEN 
 
 BY HIM TO CASPAR AQUILA. 
 
 BRIDAL CUP GIVEN TO LUTHER BY THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF WITTENBERG. 
 
 " The first is that written to Chancellor Ruhel, Luther's brother- 
 in-law, and two other Mansfeld court ofiScers, and reads as 
 follows : ' According to the wish of my dear father, I have taken 
 me a wife ; and on account of evil speakers, and that no hindrance 
 might be placed in the way, I have hastened the act. It is my 
 wish that the festive occasion of bringing my bride home take 
 place a week from next Tuesday, and that I may enjoy your 
 
HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 presence and receive your blessing. Since these are times of 
 commotion [the insurrection of the peasants] and danger, I cannot 
 urge your attendance : but if you have a desire to come, and can 
 do so, and bring with you my dear father and mother, you can 
 easily understand that it would give me great joy ; and whatever 
 
 Luther's betrothal ring. 
 
 [presents] you may receive from good friends for my poverty 
 will be very welcome.' Another invitation, sent to Dolzig, the 
 Elector's Marshal, is written with characteristic humour. ' No 
 doubt,' he says, 'the strange rumour hath reached you that I have 
 
 ENLARGED SKETCH OF ORNAMENTATION OX THE BETROTHAL RING. 
 (ante-reformation STYLE.) 
 
 become a husband. Though this is a very singular affair, which I 
 myself can scarcely believe, nevertheless the witnesses are so 
 numerous that I am bound in honour to believe it ; and I have 
 concluded to have a collation next Tuesday for my father and 
 
WITTENBERG. 
 
 255 
 
 mother, and other good friends, to seal the same and make it sure. 
 I therefore beg you, if it is not too much trouble, to provide 
 venison for me, and be present yourself to help affix the seal with 
 becoming joy.' At this time the city presented to Luther several 
 casks of beer ; and the university gave a large silver tankard, 
 plated with gold on the outside and inside, weighing five pounds 
 and a quarter. It was purchased, in the year 1800, from the heirs, 
 by the University of Greifswald, for one hundred rix-dollars." ' 
 
 '^tosc^^ '^^^^ 
 
 LUTHER'S WEDDING-RING, WITH INSCRIPTION, " WHAT GOD HATH 
 JOINED TOGETHER," ETC. 
 
 There is a double window-seat in the room of the old convent. 
 It is raised above the floor, and there is just space enough for two 
 people to rest opposite one another, and to look out through the 
 diamond panes upon the court below. Here, we are told. Dr. 
 Luther and his spouse would sit tete-a-tete, and catch the warm 
 rays of the sun, and inhale the fragrance of flowers on the 
 window-sill, and watch the evening shadows gathering over tower 
 and turret, and the stars sparkling in the sky overhead, and the 
 moon walking in her brightness. For all these natural charms the 
 Reformer had a heart as sensitive as any man ; and if Kate was 
 more prosaic, her love for good Dr. Martin would make up for any 
 want of intellectual sympathy, and would enable her to find music 
 in all his utterances. 
 
 Here, of course, as children were born and nursed, and as they 
 grew up, family joys beat in the hearts of father and mother. Every 
 ^ ' ■ Luther,'' by Sears, p. 329. 
 
256 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 reader is familiar with Luther's Christmas-tree, and imagination 
 easily reproduces it, with its tiny lights, and pretty decorations, 
 and simple presents ; Luther singing a carol, accompanied by his 
 own lute ; the children playing on the floor ; Kate sitting demurely 
 in one corner, and the servant-maid in the other ; whilst Philip 
 Melancthon, as a visitor, leans over a chair and listens to his friend. 
 
 This room, so rich in memories, was darkened by troubles in 
 the summer and autumn of the year 1527, when the plague entered 
 Wittenberg and alarmed the inhabitants. The students of the 
 university fled to Jena ; only Luther and Pomeranus, attended by 
 chaplains, remained at their post. The Reformer resisted the 
 exhortations and entreaties of the Elector to depart, and in letters 
 to Spalatin maintained that the danger of contagion was exag- 
 gerated by the popular panic. However, before the year's end, we 
 learn from his letters that sickness had entered his dwelling. He 
 writes, Nov. 10, 1527, "My little favourite John does not salute 
 thee, because he is too ill, but he asks your prayer on his behalf. 
 For the last twelve days he has taken nothing but liquids. Now 
 he begins to eat a little. It is wonderful to see how the child 
 keeps up his spirits : he would be as merry as ever if it were not 
 for his extreme debility. Margaret Mochine's gathering was 
 lanced yesterday, and she is beginning to be better already. I 
 have put her into our winter bedroom ; we are in our great front 
 room, Jenny in the chamber with the stove, and Augustine's wife 
 in her own apartment." 
 
 Laying down this letter, which so plainly identifies the rooms at 
 Wittenberg, and peoples them with their respective occupants, we 
 take up another, dated the 31st of December the same year : "My 
 little son was all but dead, but he has recovered again. . . . 
 It has pleased God to give me a daughter. . . . We are all 
 well except myself; though sound in body and shut out from the 
 world, I suffer within from the devil and his angels." 
 
 Seven months later, August 5, 1528, comes the touching record 
 
WITTENBERG. 257 
 
 " My little daughter Elizabeth is dead. It is wonderful how sick 
 at heart this loss has left me. I feel like a woman, I am so 
 affected by this calamity. I could not have believed that parental 
 affection could have been so drawn out towards a child." 
 
 Amidst these troubles he thought he was dying himself, and 
 declared death would be welcome, though he was ready to live, 
 he said, for the sake of spreading the gogpel and comforting the 
 faint-hearted. 
 
 Several years afterwards — in 1542— his daughter Magdalene 
 died at the age of thirteen. Kneeling by her bedside, the father 
 prayed, " I love her dearly, but as it is Thy will, gracious God, to 
 take her hence, I will gladly surrender her that she may be 
 with Thee." " Magdalene, my child," he exclaimed, as he' bent 
 over her in her last moments, " you would be glad to remain here 
 with your father : are you willing to depart and go to that other 
 Father?" 
 
 "Yes," she replied, "just as God wills." Hiding his tears, he 
 said, " If the flesh be so strong, how will it be with the spirit .-' Well, 
 whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." 
 
 She died folded in his arms. When she had been placed in 
 her coffin, he exclaimed, " How well it is with you ! Ah, dear 
 Lene, you will rise again and shine like a star — yea, as the sun." 
 
 But this same room, on which again a:nd again fell the shadow 
 of death, also brightened with the purest sunlight of domestic joy. 
 Did not an example of this occur when the now famous letter 
 came from Coburg to his eldest son, then four years old ? It was 
 written the 19th of June, 1.530 : 
 
 " Grace and peace in Christ, my darling little son. I am glad 
 that you study and pray diligently. Go on, my Jonny ; and when 
 I come home I will bring some beautiful things for you. I know 
 of a pleasant garden, where many children go, and wear little 
 golden coats, and gather from the trees fine apples and pears, and 
 cherries and plums ; they sing and play, and are happy ; they 
 
2 58 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 have pretty little horses, with golden bits and silver saddles. I 
 asked the master of the garden whose children these were. He 
 said, ' They are children who love to pray and learn, and are good.' 
 I then said, ' Dear sir, I too have a son, named Jonny Luther. 
 May he not also come into the garden, that he too may eat 
 these beautiful apples and pears, and ride on these fine horses, 
 and play with the children .' ' The man said, ' If he loves to 
 pray and learn, and is good, he shall come into the garden, and 
 Philip and Justus too ; ' and when they are all come together, they 
 shall have fifes and drums and lutes, and all kinds of music, and 
 dance, and shoot with little crossbows. And he showed me a fine 
 grass plat in the garden for dancing : and there were hanging over 
 it golden fifes and drums, and fine silver crossbows. But it was 
 early, and the children had not yet eaten ; so as I could not wait 
 for their dancing, I said to the man, ' My dear sir, I will hasten 
 away and write all about this to my dear little Jonny, that he 
 may pray and study and be good, so that he may come into this 
 garden. He has an Aunt Lene, and she must come too.' The 
 man said, ' That is right ; go and tell him so.' Therefore, my dear 
 little Jonny, learn and pray well ; and tell Philip and Justus to 
 learn and pray, so that you may all come together into the garden. 
 And now I commend you to God. Greet Aunt Lene, and give 
 her a kiss for me. — Your dear father, Martin Luther." 
 
 Sunny influences were often shed over the university home, 
 and we see him " seated at table amidst his grave-visaged friends 
 and disciples, his children playing beside him or walking with 
 him in his garden on the margin of the little pond in the grounds 
 of that sombre monastery, once sacred to celibacy, and now 
 become the abode of the married Luther and his family. We 
 hear him meditating aloud, and finding in all that he looked upon, 
 the flowers, the fruits, the birds flying over his head or singing in 
 the trees, topics for grave and pious thoughts." ^ 
 
 1 f'hilip was Melancthon's son ; Justus, the son of Justus Jonas. ^ Michelet- 
 
WITTENBERG. 259 
 
 Luther's two rooms in the convent betoken nothing like 
 grandeur. Though the intimate friend of nobles and princes, 
 sometimes even entertaining them at his table, he must have lived 
 in great simplicity. Indeed, it is notorious that' at one period he 
 was very poor, and found it hard work to make ends meet. He 
 applied himself to the arts of wood-turning, clock-making, and 
 gardening, with a view to the increase of his small income. He 
 complained that he got into debt. When asked for eight iiorins, 
 he replied with another question, " Where on earth am I to get 
 them } " He was very charitable and very hospitable, and 
 expended, he says, five hundred gulden in the kitchen, to say 
 nothing of clothing, ornaments, and almsgiving, when his income 
 did not reach above two hundred. He pawned three goblets, 
 presents from friends, for fifty florins, and sold one for twelve. He 
 received next to nothing for his publications, and was glad of 
 provisions sent by friends. It was plain that he was no skilful 
 economist, no good manager ; but I do not gather from what he 
 says in some of his letters that he was always in straitened 
 circumstances. There can be no question about his being through 
 the chief part of his life a poor man ; but towards the end his 
 condition improved, as presents of land were made to him by the 
 Elector John of Saxony ; and his property when he died 
 amounted to about nine thousand gulden. 
 
 Luther's love of music is known ; and in this Wittenberg 
 chamber he loved to sing, and play, and compose music ; but one 
 is sorry to find that Dr. Sears, who has carefully examined the 
 Reformer's history, believes there is no evidence of his being, as 
 is generally supposed, the author of the tune known as the Old 
 Hundredth. But a friend of Luther tells how he spent many a 
 happy hour in singing with him ; how he had seen the dear man 
 so happy and joyful that he could neither be tired nor satisfied : 
 how he conversed on musical subjects; how he composed tunes 
 for the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and kept him three 
 
26o HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 weeks together at Wittenberg, writing notes for service in the 
 parish, church. Luther married music to theology, and thought 
 rehgion never more beautiful than when in company with the 
 daughters of song. 
 
 Luther had great conversational power, and was to reformed 
 divines, with whom he mingled, as much of a colloquial oracle as 
 was ever Dr. Johnson to the wits and literati of London. But in- 
 stead of one Boswell, the German Reformer had several, and each, 
 intent on his vocation, jotted down his words with the utmost 
 reverence and affection. "They were," says Hazlitt, "with him at 
 his uprising and his down-lying ; they looked over his shoulder as 
 he read or wrote his letters : did he utter an exclamation of pain 
 or of pleasure, of joy or of sorrow, down it went ; did he aspirate 
 a thought above breath, it was caught by the intent ear of one or 
 other of the listeners, and committed to paper." Luther knew 
 this, and it much amused him. Once he saw a disciple hard at 
 work with pencil and paper ; when, slily filling his wooden spoon 
 with gruel, he threw it into the face of the reporter, bidding him 
 " put that down." Luther could have been no phlegmatic German, 
 according to the common notion formed of his countrymen by 
 English people; for his conversation sparkled with humour and 
 overflowed with emotion, while it revealed depths of spiritual 
 wisdom and practical sagacity, of religious experience and of 
 theological thought. 
 
 It must have been a rare privilege to sit with him in his Witten- 
 berg chamber and hear him talk ; and next to the advantage of 
 having listened to his voice is the benefit of perusing the pages of 
 his " Tischreden." A translation of it was printed a few years 
 ago in Bohn's Standard Library, under the title of " Table Talk ; " 
 and the history of the book is very curious. Nearly all the copies 
 of the original work were destroyed by order of Gregory XIII. ; but 
 in 1626, a gentleman, in digging a foundation for a new house, 
 discovered a book carefully wrapped in coarse linen cloth and 
 
LUTHER WITH HIS FRIENDS. 261 
 
 covered with beeswax, which proved to be the lost production. 
 This gentleman sent it to a Captain Bell, who translated and 
 published it, being stimulated to do so'by a strange dream. When 
 it was finished Archbishop Laud borrowed, read, and praised it, 
 and the English House of Commons sanctioned its publication. 
 All this we learn from Bell himself in his preface to the translation ; 
 and how remarkable it is to find Anglo-Catholic and Puritan 
 doing honour to the record of the Reformer's conversation ! 
 
 II. Luther with his Friends. 
 
 There never was a man more thoroughly independent than 
 Luther. It is difficult for us in this age of free utterance, when 
 it requires but little force of individuality to express any opinions 
 whatever, to appreciate the power of standing alone, and of 
 defying opposition such as was manifested by this sturdy Saxon. 
 He stood up alone, or almost alone, on different occasions to 
 protest against what was accepted by the whole, or almost the 
 whole, of Europe. He reminds ws, oi Athanasius contra mundum. 
 But men of that order are apt to be anti-social. Isolated in 
 their position, self-contained, as a necessary qualification for their 
 work, and self-absorbed as a common consequence of their cir- 
 cumstances, they care little for the love of others, and do not 
 crave for sympathies which are denied to them. Luther's nature 
 was of a different cast ; he was as much distinguished by the 
 cultivation of friendship as by the assertion of independence. 
 There never was a man who desired more to live in the love of 
 others, or who more fondly cherished the love of others in his own 
 life. The life of Martin Luther is so entwined with the life of 
 Martin Luther's friends, that you cannot separate them. Staupitz, 
 Pomeranus, Spalatin, Agricola, Justus Jonas, Melancthon, 
 Cranach, the Electors of Saxony, and other names, occur in his 
 memoirs and correspondence, so as to show how genial was his 
 
262 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 disposition — how highly he prized the affections of his fellow-men, 
 how deeply he felt their desertion or neglect, how warmly he 
 responded to the expressions of their attachment, and how he was 
 helped by their sympathy, and the confidence he had in their 
 intercessions with the Father of all. 
 
 Wittenberg was the scene of his closest intimacies — of some of 
 the striking anecdotes of his social life — of most of the conversa- 
 tions recorded in his well-known "Table Talk." 
 
 I propose to visit three spots to find Luther in company with 
 his friends, — -the professor's house, the artist's studio, and the 
 Elector's castle. 
 
 I. The friendship between Martin Luther and Philip Melanc- 
 thon stands out most conspicuously in the story of his life, and is 
 one of those beautiful instances of mutual confidence and affec- 
 tion such as in the case of Basil and Gregory, Hammond and 
 Sanderson, not to mention more, which meet us pleasantly amidst 
 dark surroundings of theological and ecclesiastical strife. 
 
 When my daughter and I were at Wittenberg, walking from 
 the Augustine convent, where Luther lived, to the church at the 
 opposite end of the town, where he lies buried, we passed the 
 house pointed out as the residence of Melancthon. We applied 
 for admission, which was readily granted, and were shown up a 
 staircase which led to an apartment where it is said Melancthon 
 studied, and conversed, and died. A table, if I remember rightly, 
 and other relics of the great Protestant scholar, were pointed out ; 
 and on the wall hung his likeness, taken after death, the counter- 
 part of a picture we afterwards noticed in the Dresden Gallery. 
 Under the likeness is the following inscription, in Latin : " From 
 this mortal life to the eternal God, and the society of the saints, he 
 holily and placidly departed, in the sixty-third year of his age." 
 His last words were, " No one shall pluck My sheep out of My 
 hands." The room, now unfurnished and bare, was once filled with 
 books and papers, as the occupant wrote his lectures, comments, 
 
LUTHER WITH HIS FRIENDS. 263 
 
 documents foi- public use, and letters to his numerous friends. 
 We could see him as represented in portraits, with marked 
 features, expressive eyes, prominent nose, thin lips, capacious fore- 
 head, rough hair, and rough beard ; with a loose fur-trimmed coat, 
 almost touching his ankles ; with a strange amount of neck-gear, 
 which seems as if he wore a metal frill indescribably twisted down 
 his bosom ; with large, heavy, misshapen boots ; and with a hat in 
 one hand and a little book in the other. His wife, too, appeared, 
 for he was married and had a family ; and we fancied the worthy 
 couple giving a genuine, hearty welcome to neighbour Martin, as 
 he strode up the staircase and entered the room, and bestowed a 
 double kiss, in German fashion, on the university professor. Here 
 they would confer together touching important matters involved 
 in the progress of the Reformation ; and we could imagine them, 
 in company with several friends, John a Planitz, Jerome Schurff, 
 Frederick Myconius, Justus Menius, Justus Jonas, Pomeranus, 
 and Spalatin, not to mention others. They consulted upon 
 the state of the churches ; for these distinguished personages 
 were appointed commissioners to fix suitable pastors in the 
 different provinces of Saxony, and generally to superintend 
 ecclesiastical affairs. 
 
 There is an interesting anecdote illustrative of the power of 
 prayer, which may be appropriately associated with this very 
 apartment. 
 
 " Melancthon, with Luther and other divines, met together for 
 the purpose of consulting respecting the proper measures to be 
 adopted in a certain exigency ; and after having spent some time 
 in prayer to Heaven, whence only they could expect adequate 
 assistance, Melancthon was suddenly called out of the room, from 
 which he retired under great depression of spirits. He saw during 
 his absence some of the elders, of the Reformed churches, with 
 their parishioners and families. Several children were also brought 
 hanging at the breast, while others a little older were engaged 
 
264 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 in prayer. This reminded him of the prophetic language, ' Out of 
 the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength, 
 because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and 
 the avenger.' Animated by this interesting scene, he returned to 
 his friends with a disencumbered mind and a cheerful countenance. 
 Luther, astonished at this sudden change, said, 'What now! What 
 has happened to you, Philip, that you are become so cheerful .' ' 
 ' Oh, sirs,' replied Melancthon, ' Let us not be discouraged, for 
 I have seen our noble protectors, and such as I will venture to 
 say will prove invincible against every foe.' ' And pray,' returned 
 Luther, thrilling with surprise and pleasure, ' who and where are 
 these powerful heroes .' ' ' Oh,' said Melancthon, ' they are the 
 wives of our parishioners, and their little children, whose prayers 
 I have just witnessed — prayers which, I am satisfied, our God will 
 hear : for, as our Heavenly Father and the Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ has never despised or rejected our supplications, we 
 have reason to trust that He will not in the present alarming 
 crisis.' " ' 
 
 It is worth while to add another instance of Luther's power in 
 prayer, which, occurred, not at Wittenberg, but at Weimar, where 
 Melancthon, on his way to Hagenow, was lying ill. "When Luther 
 arrived, he found Melancthon apparently dying. His eyes were 
 dim, his understanding almost gone, his tongue faltering, his hear- 
 ing imperfect, his countenance fallen, incapable of distinguishing 
 any one, and indisposed to all nourishment. At such a sight 
 Luther was in the most terrible consternation, and, turning to 
 those who had accompanied him in his journey, exclaimed, ' Alas 
 that the devil should have thus unstrung so fine an instrument ! ' 
 Then, in a supplicating posture, he devoutly prayed, ' We implore 
 Thee, O Lord our God, we cast all our burdens on Thee, and 
 will cry till Thou hearest us, pleading all the promises which 
 can be found in the Holy Scriptures respecting Thy hearing 
 
 1 " Life of Melancthon," by Cox, p. 356. 
 
LUTHER WITH HIS FRIENDS. 265 
 
 prayer, so that Thou must indeed hear us, to preserve at all 
 future periods our entire confidence in Thine own promises.' 
 After this he seized hold of Melancthon's hand, and, well knowing 
 the extreme anxiety of his mind, and the troubled state of his 
 conscience, said, 'Be of good courage, Philip; you shall not die : 
 although God has always a sufficient reason for removing us hence, 
 He willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should 
 be converted and live. It is His delight to impart life, not to 
 inflict death. God has received into His favour the greatest 
 sinners that ever existed in the world, namely, Adam and Eve ; 
 much more will He not cast thee off, my dear Philip ; or permit 
 thee to perish in grief and guilt. Do not, therefore, give way 
 to this miserable dejection, and destroy thyself; but trust in 
 the Lord, who can remove it, and impart new life.' While he 
 thus spake Melancthon began visibly to revive, as though his 
 spirit came again, and was shortly restored to his usual health." ' 
 
 Luther and Melancthon being so intimate, and both having 
 families, it is natural to think of this Wittenberg room as having 
 witnessed gatherings of the two households ; Anne, Melancthon's 
 eldest daughter, handsome and accomplished, of a literary turn — 
 " the elegant daughter of Philip," as Luther politely calls her, — 
 appearing as the flower of the flock. There would probably be 
 Christmas-trees here, as at the neighbouring convent, and lute- 
 playing, and' childish sports, and clear, ringing laughter ; nor can 
 we help seeing amidst the group a certain servant of Philip 
 Melancthon — one John, a staid, honest, faithful attendant, who 
 figures in his master's biography as a sort of treasurer of the 
 household, who skilfully managed the domestic expenses ; an 
 essential piece of service, for Philip seems no more than Martin 
 to have excelled in the control of the exchequer. At the 
 same time this faithful Eliezer-like retainer acted as tutor to the 
 
 1 Seckendorf's Hist. lib. iii., p. 314. Cox relates it in his " Life of Melancthon, 
 p. 421. 
 
266 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 younger children ; and thus gathering round himself so much 
 of usefulness, and inspiring so much gratitude, when he came to 
 die, after a service of thirty-four years, he was interred in the grave 
 with honour, the members of the university being invited to his 
 funeral, Melancthon delivering an oration and writing an epitaph. 
 
 At the back of Melancthon's house there is a garden, not kept 
 in much order, but interesting from the preservation of a bower or 
 alcove, with a stone table in it, said to have belonged to the 
 Reformer. Here the two friends would sit at noon, or at eventide, 
 under the shadow of the trees, engaged in consultation, no doubt 
 with tankards of German beer foaming on the stone slab. 
 
 Differences between Luther and Melancthon respecting the 
 eucharist and other theological subjects somewhat interrupted their 
 confidential intimacy. Melancthon well knew Luther's temper 
 and tendencies, and he remarked, " Often have I dreaded the old 
 age of a nature so passionate." But the old flame of friendship 
 revived in Luther before death terminated his earthly career, and 
 he wrote affectionate epistles to Melancthon. What Melancthon 
 thought of him when he was gone will be seen hereafter. 
 
 2. From the professor's house we pass to the artist's studio. 
 The dwelling of Lucas Cranach, in Wittenberg, is one of the 
 shrines whither travellers bent on seeing all that can be seen are 
 likely to be conducted by the local cicerones. There were two 
 artists of the name of Cranach — father and son, — both intimately 
 connected with Martin Luther ; and therefore the house in which 
 they lived would be among his chosen haunts. 
 
 Lucas Cranach the elder was born in 1472, and died at 
 Wittenberg in 1553. He was court painter to the three electoral 
 princes — Frederick the Wise, John the Steadfast, and Frederick 
 the Magnanimous ; and in 1538 he became Burgomaster of the 
 town. The marriage of Luther with Catherine von Bora is said 
 to have been brought about mainly through the elder Cranach's 
 assistance ; and here we have at once a tie of love between the 
 
LUTHER WITH HIS FRIENDS. 267 
 
 two families, which would often bring the Reformer with his wife 
 and children over the artist's threshold. Luther had a taste for 
 art, and so had Melancthon ; and Cranach's pictures symbolical 
 of the Reformation are spoken of by critics as " being worked out 
 with the aid " of these two friends. Albert Diirer was appreciated 
 by the three ; but in Cranach the deep earnestness and grandeur 
 of Diirer is " replaced by a simple and child-like serenity, and by a 
 soft grace bordering almost on bashfulness." In Cranach's hands 
 the imaginative element in art "produced some of its most fanciful 
 and attractive results." Art had been abused and perverted in 
 the Roman Catholic Church to superstitious ends of the worst 
 type ; but neither Luther nor Melancthon, on that account, wished 
 to banish it from sacred service. They rather sought to bring it 
 into connection with religious uses, such as might help forward the 
 cause of the Reformation. Accordingly, we find pictures painted 
 by Cranach, and still preserved in the Stadt Kirche, representing 
 the rites of the Lutheran Church. There is the Last Supper, with 
 the disciples seated round a circular table. There is Baptism, 
 administered by Melancthon. There is Confession— for the 
 practice of it, with certain modifications, at the time was allowed 
 by Luther — with a portrait of Bugenhagen. There is a pulpit, 
 with Luther preaching in front of a listening group of men and 
 women and children. These pictures would be painted or prepared 
 for in Cranach's studio ; and as Luther figures so prominently in 
 one of them, he would, in all probability, sit for his portrait to his 
 friend, and he and Melancthon would give hints, suggestions, and 
 criticisms as the work went on. 
 
 Lucas Cranach the younger, who followed his father in the 
 burgomastership, and lived till the year 1586, based his style of 
 painting on the study of his father and the study of Albert Diirer, 
 and would not be likely in his after days to forget what in his 
 youth he had heard from Luther in the old studio. In a chapel 
 at the west end of the Stadt Kirche there is preserved a curious 
 
268 ■ HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 picture by this artist, representing the two ecclesiastical communi- 
 ties in Germany, in their relative position to each other. A vine- 
 yard appears, one half of which is being ruthlessly destroyed ; 
 priests are seen at work digging up plants and pulling things to 
 pieces, whilst the other half is being carefully cultivated ; the 
 Reformers are seen as diligent husbandmen, planting, watering, 
 and in all manner of ways improving the domain. We do not 
 know the exact date of this work, whether or not it was executed 
 in Luther's lifetime ; but certainly it is a parable in canvas and 
 paint, the design of which he would fully approve, and chuckle 
 over with a hearty laugh. 
 
 3. From the house of Cranach we proceed to the castle, now 
 the citadel, where dwelt the Electors of Saxony down to the 
 year 1542. The three we have mentioned in connection with 
 the elder Cranach all come into connection with this place, as 
 they were all lords of the castle, and would there hold their 
 courts, and keep high festival, with whatever of feudal state and 
 splendour continued when the grand boundary line had been drawn 
 between the age of medisevalism and the age of Reformation. 
 
 Frederick the Wise, founder of the University of Wittenberg — 
 well styled " the hearthstone of the Reformation" — stood forth as 
 Luther's protector at the Diet of Worms, and advised him not to 
 leave the Wartburg ; when Luther replied, in that dauntless style 
 which he scrupled not to use towards princes as well as plebeians, 
 " Since I now perceive that your electoral grace is very weak in 
 faith, I can by no means regard your electoral highness as the man 
 who is able to shield or save me." John the Steadfast, or Constant, 
 succeeded his brother Frederick the Wise in 1525, joined Philip of 
 Hesse in supporting the Reformation, united in the Protest at 
 Spires, proclaimed the Confession at Augsburg, and died in 1532. 
 "The straight line," he used to say, "is the shortest road;" and 
 such a man was likely to win Luther's heart. John Frederick the 
 Magnanimous succeeded his father, John the Steadfast, and 
 

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 >*5^>''W>='.^>fr' 
 
 FREDERICK OF SAXONY. BY ALBERT DURER. 
 
LUTHER WITH HIS FRIENDS 271 
 
 established the Reformed doctrines within his territory in the 
 year 1533. This Elector, a staunch Protestant, came under the 
 ban of the empire in 1547, and was just afterwards defeated and 
 made prisoner at Miihlberg, and at the same time condemned to 
 death ; a sentence commuted to deprivation of the electorate. He 
 closed a troubled career in 1554. These three Saxon rulers were 
 all friends of Luther, and welcomed him to the castle when they 
 took up their residence in the town. One sees the shadow of the 
 Reformer everywhere in the streets, especially near the old castle, 
 of which the towers still remain. He enters before us, under the 
 beetling brows of an archway, leading up to an inner palatial 
 abode, glittering with the forms of men-at-arms and manifold 
 other appurtenances of a German sovereign's court. 
 
 One visit which he paid — not, however^ to converse with a 
 friendly Elector, but to meet an emissary of the Pope — is made 
 vivid in the pages of Sears' biography of the Reformer, where he 
 is seen issuing from the university gate, and driving along' the 
 main street, accompanied by Bugenhagen, bound for the royal 
 residence at the opposite end of the town. 
 
 "The papal legate Vergerio came, in this instance, to Witten- 
 berg, to hold an interview with Luther himself, and the morning 
 after his arrival invited Luther and Bugenhagen to breakfast. 
 Early in the morning Luther sent for a barber- to prepare him for 
 the occasion, who, when he had come, said, ' How is it that you 
 wish to be shaved so early ? ' 'I am to go,' replied Luther, ' to 
 
 ^ Sears' " Luther,'' p. 402. This amusing description is drawn from the account of 
 Vergerio's visit given in " Lutheri Opei'a,'" torn, vi., p. 492. There is another account 
 of the interview in Father Paul's "History of the Council of Trent," translated by Brent, 
 p. 75, where Vergerio is represented as adopting a very conciliatory course, while Luther 
 appears characteristically firm. A third account is given by Pallavicino, based ota 
 Vergerio's correspondence, which exhibits him as by no means friendly to the Reformer. 
 , Yet this account, like the other two, indicates Luther's decision, and his mistrust of any 
 council which might be held. IThe interview, according to the Lutheran account, 
 occurred bn'the'7th"Nov.,' 1535. 
 
272 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 the legate of his Holiness the Pope, and I must adorn myself so as 
 to appear young ; and the legate will then say to himself, " Is 
 Luther so young, and yet hath done so much mischief? What, 
 then, will he yet do ? " ' When his head was dressed, he put on his 
 best clothes, and laid his jewel, set in gold, around his neck. The 
 barber said to him, ' Doctor, that will be offensive to them.' ' For 
 that reason I do it,' said Luther. ' They have conducted themselves 
 offensively enough toward us ; and we must manage in this way 
 with those serpents and foxes.' ' Go, then, doctor,' said the barber, 
 ' in God's name, and the Lord be with you, that you may convert 
 them.' ' That,' said the doctor, ' I shall not do ; but it may be 
 that I shall read them a good lesson, and let them go.' He then 
 mounted the carriage with Bugenhagen, and drove off to the castle 
 to the legate. On the way he smiled and said to his companion, 
 ' Here go the German Pope and Cardinal Bugenhagen ; these are 
 God's instruments and artillery.' 
 
 " On arriving at the place he was announced, and immediately 
 admitted and kindly received, and he greeted the legate in turn, 
 but not with the high-sounding titles which were formerly used on 
 such occasions They soon began to speak of a council, and 
 Luther said, ' You are not in earnest about holding a council ; it 
 is only a trick; and if you were to hold one, it would concern 
 itself only about cowls, shorn heads, meats, drinks, and such-like 
 foolish things, and others still more useless, which we know at the 
 outset to be nothing. But of faith, and justification, and other 
 useful and weighty matters, such as how believers may be united 
 in spirit and in faith, you do not wish to confer, nor would it be 
 for your interest. . . . But if you desire to have a council, very 
 well : have one, and I will come, though I should know you would 
 burn me at the stake.' ' Where .? ' answered the legate ; ' in what 
 city will you have the council ?' ' Where you please,' was the 
 answer. ' At Mantua, or Padua, or Florence, or wheresoever you 
 please.' ' Will you come to Bologna ' >. said the legate. ' To 
 
LUTHER WITH HIS FRIENDS. 273 
 
 whom does that place belong ? ' inquired Luther. ' To the Pope.' 
 ' Gracious Lord ! hath the Pope got his'clutches on this city too } 
 Well, I will come,' said Luther. The legate added, ' The Pope 
 would not refuse to come to, you at Wittenberg.' 'Well, then,' 
 said Luther, ' let him come ; we should like to see him.' ' How 
 would you like to see him,' replied the legate, — ' with an apmy or 
 without ? ' ' Just as best pleaseth him,' said Luther ; ' we will be 
 ready for either.' Then the legate asked, 'Do you consecrate 
 priests ? ' ' To be sure,' said Luther ; ' for the Pope will not con- 
 secrate or ordain any for us. Here you see a bishop ' (pointing to 
 Bugenhagen) 'whom we have consecrated.' After the interview 
 was over, and when the legate was seated upon his horse, he said 
 to Luther, ' See that you are prepared for the council.' Luther 
 repHed, ' I will come, sir, with this neck of mine.' " 
 
 I must be allowed to add the name of another reformer, not 
 a German, or a Swiss, but a Spaniard, who came on two occasions 
 to reside in Wittenberg for a considerable time, and who must 
 have had an intimate acquaintance with Melancthon, and probably 
 with Luther also. His name was Franzisco de Enzinas — Enzinas 
 signifying the ever-green oak. According to the fashion of the 
 time, he translated his name into Greek, and called himself 
 Dryander, as Schwarzerd, meaning black earth, called himself 
 Melancthon. Enzinas was born at Burgos, but entered the uni- 
 versity of Louvain in 1539, at that time under the domain of 
 Charles V., King of Spain, as well as Emperor of Germany. 
 Enzinas adopted reformed opinions, and became such an admirer 
 of Melancthon that he said, " To enjoy the instruction of this man, 
 I would travel to the very end of the civilised world." Accordingly 
 he travelled to Wittenberg, and there entered himself, in October, 
 1 541, as a student in the university, and became a resident in 
 Melancthon's house. Melancthon was then in the zenith of his 
 fame as the learned secretary of the Protestant Reformation, and 
 Luther was leader and head of the Church in Saxony. The first 
 
 T 
 
274 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 had written on theology, the second had translated the Word of 
 God into German. Melancthon was admirably fitted to instruct 
 the Spanish visitor in the principles of Protestant Divinity, and 
 Luther would animate and guide him in another way. The heart 
 of Enzinas was set on making a Spanish version of the Scriptures, 
 and where could he meet with a better example and counsellor than 
 the man who, as translator of the Bible, had fixed the language of 
 his countrymen for ages to come ? He profited by his Wittenberg 
 residence, and returned to Louvain with a MS. of the New Testament 
 in Spanish, which he submitted to the professors there. Securing an 
 interview with the Emperor, he presented a printed copy of the 
 work, soliciting his Majesty's patronage ; but though favourably 
 received by him at first, the Spanish Protestant was afterwards appre- 
 hended and imprisoned as a Lutheran and a friend of Melancthon.^ 
 Thus we see in this instance what a mighty influence these 
 two Germans possessed — how they gave a character to those 
 who followed them, and what a heavy reproach and tremendous 
 peril that character sometimes proved. To be the companion 
 of Luther and Melancthon was to be a heretic, and, amongst 
 Spaniards, to be liable to martyrdom by fire. Such a fate Enzinas 
 narrowly escaped. In the middle of March, 1545, he was at 
 Wittenberg once more, .a guest in Melancthon's house, and 
 probably enjoying further the friendship of Luther. " Our Spanish 
 Franzisco is back, saved by Providence," says the former. He 
 remained with his University friends till August, and then went to 
 Leipzig. At the beginning of 1546 he returned to Wittenberg, 
 about the time that Luther departed for Eisleben, there to die. 
 The connection between this stranger from the south of the 
 Pyrenees and the German theologians illustrates their far-spreading 
 influence over Europe at that momentous era. No English, or 
 French, or Swiss divines could in this respect be compared with 
 
 1 1 have given a full account of the ^interview between the Emperor and Enzinas 
 in my book on the " Spanish Reformers." 
 
;:!i:--?^'- 
 
 •* ■!»■■ \ 
 
 fi'ylTiTT*' "^ 1 
 
 
 
 TOWN HALL AND STADT KIRCHE, WITTENBERG. 
 
LUTHER'S WORK AND RESTING-PLACE. 277 
 
 them. In meditating upon the story of the Reformation in Spain 
 and Italy, so far as it went in those countries, I am struck with the 
 effect upon them, both of German books and German names. 
 Translated, or in the original, the books made their way over the 
 Pyrenees and over the Alps ; and amongst the Spanish upper class 
 there must have been many who could read German, if they could 
 read at all, seeing that Charles V. held both Spain and Germany 
 under his sovereign sway, and that his courtiers were composed 
 of men taken from both lands. Certainly no voice rang through 
 Europe in the sixteenth century like that of Martin Luther. 
 
 III. Luther's Work and Resting-place. 
 
 Wittenberg contains two churches connected with the history 
 of the great Saxon Reformer — the Stadt Kirche and the Schloss 
 Kirche. 
 
 The Stadt Kirche stands in the middle of the town ; and its 
 double tower, surmounted by two smaller ones, resembling a 
 couple of pepper-boxes, i's welcomed by every one travelling in 
 the neighbourhood as a conspicuous landmark ; and by a visitor 
 threading the thoroughfares of our Protestant Mecca, it becomes a 
 sign pointing out the spot where the prophet of the Reformation 
 fulfilled some of his most memorable ministries. The edifice is 
 large and massive, externally plain, and without any architectural 
 pretensions. The interior — commodious, and in Luther's time 
 adapted to Protestant worship, as it still remains — affords little of 
 interest beyond its associations. 
 
 Luther had no pastoral charge, his regular official duties being 
 confined to the university. But he was an orator by nature, and 
 a preacher by force of conviction ; and therefore was drawn 
 towards the pulpit as a sphere of activity. Not a mere rhetori- 
 cian, he felt in his heart the thoughts which rushed through his 
 mind. It was natural for him to utter in unstudied words the 
 
278 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 sentiments which moved his soul, even as a bird on the branch 
 pours out its melodies by an instinctive impulse. He could not 
 be silent : his constitution and habits did not fit him so much for 
 commonplace details of ministerial work as for the special and 
 eminently exceptional mission of a reformer of ancient abuses, 
 and of a revivalist amidst more than ordinary formalism. Provi- 
 dence raised him up to overthrow accumulated superstitions ; to 
 rouse the population of Germany with the echoes of a voice from 
 heaven ; to awake the dead in trespasses and sins to a life of 
 faith in the Redeemer ; and to build up a reformed church, such 
 as proved a blessed power in the land, and a glory and a joy for 
 renovated Christendom to the ends of the earth. Luther was 
 great as a university professor ; great as an ecclesiastical adminis- 
 trator ; great as a translator, commentator, and author ; but 
 greatest of all, for contemporary effects, as a preacher of God's 
 Word. 
 
 His labours in this way covered a wide and varied field, and 
 many an old German church may be pointed out as having rung 
 with the sound of his voice ; but some of the most remarkable 
 memories of his oratory cluster round the pulpit of the Stadt 
 Kirche — not the pulpit which stands there now, but one which 
 occupied its place. Bugenhagen was pastor of this church in 
 Luther's time ; and in the years 1528 and 1529, when the pastor 
 was performing missionary work in Brunswick and Hamburg, 
 Luther preached, Sunday after Sunday, in his room. In 1530 
 and 1532, when Bugenhagen was similarly employed at Lubeck, 
 Luther discharged homiletic duties three times a week— on 
 Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Again, between 1537 
 and 1540, when Bugenhagen was at work in Denmark, Luther 
 upplied his place at Wittenberg. The sermons preached at this 
 period, as Dr. Sears has observed, were not committed to paper 
 by the preacher, but were written down by reporters ; and these, 
 after the lapse of three centuries, have been in part committed 
 
LUTHER'S WORK AND RESTING-PLACE. 279 
 
 to the press. I may add that what are called his " Domestic 
 Postils " were delivered at home to his own household, when he 
 was so ill as to be unable to go to church. They connect them- 
 selves with the old room at the Augustinian monastery ; and we 
 can imagine the preacher, enfeebled by sickness, yet with eyes 
 full of light and fervour, with a voice rising out of husky tones 
 into sonorous utterances, and with an animated manner which 
 reminded his hearers of earlier days, pouring out the gospel into 
 the hearts of an auditory composed of wife, children, servants, 
 neighbours, and friends. The scene reminds us of another — like 
 it in spirit and manner — when Adolphe Monod, in Paris, just 
 before his death, supported by pillows, gathered round the foot 
 ,of his bed a domestic congregation, to which he addressed his 
 loving adieux. I may further remark that Luther's " Church 
 Postils " were prepared at the Wartburg for the use of the clergy, 
 somewhat after the manner of the homilies of the English Church ; 
 so that from his castle height amidst the woods of Thuringia, 
 there sounded out the word of the Lord, which floated from town 
 to town, from village to village, from church to church, making 
 glad the hearts of men, women, and children. 
 
 The Stadt Kirche is especially associated with a remarkable 
 period in Luther's life. Whilst he was at the Wartburg, as we 
 have seen, disturbances broke out at Wittenberg. Carlstadt, 
 who figured at Leipzig, rushed into violent excesses during the 
 Reformer's absence. After stimulating the people by fanatical 
 discourses, he entered, at the head of a mob, into All Saints' 
 Church at Wittenberg, and there began hewing down statues and 
 pictures, with an iconoclastic fury perhaps rarely equalled, cer- 
 tainly never exceeded. As in other instances of popular tumult, 
 the magistrates were panic-stricken, and the work of demolition 
 went on in one church after another.^ Nicholas Storch, in the 
 
 1 In the Calendar of State Papers in the Record Office belonging to the period I 
 observe the following : — " The head of the Church (Carlstadt) impugned the indulgence, 
 
28o HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 dress of a Latizknecht, or free-lance trooper, and another man 
 attired in a civic robe, were conspicuous leaders of the rabble ; 
 and after the news of these terrible proceedings had reached 
 Luther in his retreat, he was at last induced to return to Wit- 
 tenberg to appease the storm. 
 
 On reaching home the 7th of March, 1522, he writes to the 
 Elector, " Satan has entered my fold, and committed ravages 
 which my presence alone can repair. No letter can answer my 
 purpose. I must interfere personally, and use nay own eyes and 
 my own mouth. 
 
 " My conscience will allow no longer delay ; rather than act 
 contrary to it I would incur the anger of your grace and of the 
 whole world. The people of Wittenberg are my sheep, whom God 
 has entrusted to my care. They are my children in Christ. I am 
 ready to die for them. There can be no doubt whether I should 
 come or not." 
 
 Luther, at the Wartburg, had allowed his beard to grow, and 
 had laid aside his staff for a riding-whip. His monastic dress he 
 exchanged for a steel cuirass, a plumed casque, and the spurred 
 boots of a man-at-arms. Thus accoutred, he travelled homewards ; 
 and in a cloud of dust, " amidst a crowd of varlets," made his entry 
 into Wittenberg, as represented in one of Cranach's pictures. 
 
 On the Sunday after his arrival, March 8, 1522, he appeared in 
 the pulpit, and commenced a course of eight sermons on Charity, 
 Christian Freedom (its use and abuses). Image-worship, Fasting, 
 the Holy Communion, and Confession. 
 
 " Dear friends," he said (to adopt the translation by S. Wink- 
 worth), " the kingdom of God standeth not in speech or in words, 
 but in power and in deed. For God will not have mere hearers 
 
 and proved by Holy Writ that the custom of vespers for the dead, and the indulgence 
 likewise, were abuses and false. He threw down the money-box, and scattered its 
 contents." — Dec. 31, anonymous. 
 
LUTHER'S WORK AND RESTING-PLACE. 281 
 
 and repeaters of the Word, but followers and doers of it, who 
 exercise themselves in that faith which worketh by love. For 
 faith without love is nothing worth : yea, it is not faith, but only 
 a semblance thereof. Just as a countenance seen in a mirror is 
 not a real countenance, but only a semblance thereof." No clearer 
 testimony could be borne to the necessity of personal holiness ; 
 and therefore, whatever rash things Luther might at times utter 
 with a view of glorifying the grace of God, he cannot be fairly 
 charged with adopting Antinomian principles. He proceeded to 
 urge prudence and caution upon his hearers in carrying out the 
 work of Reformation, assuring them that with violence and uproar 
 they would never do a Divine work. Not without effect did he 
 appeal to the leaders of the outbreak. One of them when listening 
 to him exclaimed, " It is as though I heard the voice of an angel, 
 not of a man." Never, perhaps, was Virgil's description more 
 signally verified, if we may take a liberty with the last line : 
 
 " As when in tumults rise the ignoble crowd, 
 
 Mad are their motions, and their tongues are loud; 
 And stones and brands in rattling volleys fly, 
 And all the rustic arms that fury can supply; 
 If then some grave and pious man appear. 
 They hush their noise, and lend a listening ear; 
 He soothes with sober words their angry mood, 
 And turns their evil passions into good." 
 
 Although there was an irresistible impulse moving Martin 
 Luther to preach, at times the duty was a burden. One can 
 understand this. The old Hebrew prophets felt it. So did St, 
 Paul. The confession of it occurs in the writings and sayings of 
 many a great preacher. Tauler, an object of admiration and a 
 model of study for Luther, though a man of extraordinary 
 eloquence, and making a mark in the history of mediaeval 
 preaching broader than that of any other divine, imposed on 
 himself a season of silence, because of a mistaken consciousness 
 of incompetency for the work to which he was called. It is the 
 
282 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 self-sufficient pedant, or the ignorant fanatic, who rushes into 
 the pulpit without warrant or preparation. The true God-called 
 preacher will tremble at the sight of the desk where he is to 
 deliver his message, crying out, with apostolic humility, " Who 
 is sufficient for these things ? " 
 
 Accordingly, we find Luther saying, " Oh, how I trembled 
 when I was ascending the pulpit for the first time ! I would fain 
 have excused myself, but they made me preach." " Here, under 
 this very pear tree " — a pear tree in the monastery garden — " I 
 have, over and over again, argued with Dr. Staupitz as to whether 
 it was my vocation to preach. He said it was. I had fifteen 
 reasons against it, and fifteen more when they were done. ' Doc- 
 tor,' I used to say, 'you want to kill me. I shall not live" three 
 months if you compel me to go on.' " 
 
 Fear in the pulpit at the presence of certain men in the 
 congregation is no uncommon thing, and Luther felt it at Wit- 
 tenberg. " I don't at all like Philip to be present when I preach 
 or lecture ; but I make the best I can of it. I put the cross before 
 me, and say to myself, Philip, Jonas, and the rest of them have 
 nothing to do with the question in hand ; and I try to persuade 
 myself that I am as competent to fill the pulpit as they." 
 Sometimes Luther, though a master of logic, was unmethodical 
 in handhng a subject, and became diffuse and unconnected, to 
 the discomfort of his more learned listeners. Justus Jonas could 
 not follow his friend's ramblings, and told him so, when Luther 
 replied, he could not always follow them himself, regretting that 
 he did not make his sermons shorter, and confessing that he was 
 sometimes too wordy. 
 
 No man better knew himself; and few but will recognise the 
 portrait which he draws of his own ministry, though they may not 
 appreciate the force of the comparison which he institutes. 
 Addressing Brentius, one of the Reformers, in a letter written 
 August 26th, 1530, he observes, "My style is impracticable, harsh. 
 
LUTHER'S WORK AND RESTING-PLACE. 283 
 
 rough ; I pour forth a deluge, a chaos of words. My manner is 
 turbulent, impetuous, fierce, like that of a gladiator contending with 
 infinite monsters in uninterrupted succession. If one may compare 
 small things with great, I should say there is given me somewhat 
 of the fourfold spirit of Elias, who moved as the wind, and burnt 
 like fire, and overthrew mountains, and burst rocks asunder. To 
 you, on the contrary, is granted the gentle breeze which refreshes 
 whatever it touches. One thing, however, consoles me, that the 
 Divine Father of the human race needs for the instruction of 
 His family both the one servant and the other — the rugged for the 
 rugged, the harsh for the harsh. It is needful that God should 
 not only irrigate in the rain, but also shake in the thunder, and 
 purify in the lightning to render the earth more fertile." 
 
 But the freshness of Luther's imagination, the power of his 
 feelings, his strong masculine sense, his affiuence of speech, and 
 his nationality of character, do not fully account for the effect of 
 his ministry. He experienced the influence of the truth he pro- 
 claimed. Saved by the gospel, he preached it as the means by 
 which others were to be saved. And with the spirit and style 
 of the Holy Scriptures his mind and heart were so saturated, that 
 his sermons were often translations and expansions of what he had 
 read before ascending the pulpit. He had, as he said, " shaken 
 every tree in this forest, and never without gathering some fruit." 
 
 All the men of the age, friends and foes, pronounced him the 
 prince of preachers. " It was the preaching of Luther that en- 
 deared him to Frederick the Wise, even when he saw his own 
 superstitions unsparingly exposed. It was his preaching that made 
 him as absolute a ruler over the people at Wittenberg as Chrysostom 
 was at Antioch and Constantinople, or Calvin at Geneva " — and, 
 we may add, Knox at Edinburgh. " It was his preaching that so 
 often stilled the tumult in the many towns and cities he visited 
 during the first five years after his return from the Wartburg." 
 Near the Stadt Kirche, and close to the Rathhaus, is a Gothic 
 
284 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 canopy of cast iron, covering a bronze statue of the Reformer, 
 executed by Schadow, and erected in the year 1822. On one side 
 is written, in German, " If it be the work of God, it will endure ; 
 if of man, it will perish : " and on the other side, " A strong tower 
 is our God." This structure occupies the site of a chapel, which 
 was not removed until the walls became too decayed to stand any 
 longer. It contained a pulpit made of planks, about a yard high, 
 claiming an equal antiquity with the rude edifice in which it was 
 placed. Here, according to tradition, the Reformer sometimes 
 preached ; and therefore at this spot another point of interest 
 occurs to attract the notice of intelligent pilgrims to his homes 
 and haunts. 
 
 But we must hasten on to the Schloss Kirche, or Castle Church 
 at the end of the town opposite to that in which the Elster Gate 
 and the Augustinian monastery are situated. It is much smaller 
 than the church just left ; but, on approaching it, the entrance 
 arrests attention from the circumstance of its being connected with 
 one of the boldest acts of Luther's life. The doors of the church 
 at Milan were said to have been closed by St. Ambrose against the 
 entrance of the Emperor Theodosius — significant of the courage of 
 a renowned ecclesiastic in the maintenance of discipline. They 
 occur to our recollection at the threshold of the Schloss Kirche, 
 where the doors are significant of the courage of our Saxon 
 Reformer in attacking the dogmas on which had long rested the 
 reign of ecclesiastical despotism. Against them Luther affixed his 
 ninety-five theses, now world-known — a challenge given to Papal 
 Christendom — a gauntlet thrown down before the Romanized 
 world.' It was in the autumn of 15 17, on the eve of the Feast of 
 All Saints, that Luther, agitated by the sale of indulgences, took 
 certain counter-propositions, which he had elaborated with all the 
 logical skill of the age, so as to cover the whole ground of the 
 
 1 The theses were printed and widely circulated. I noticed one copy in the interesting 
 Museum at Nuremberg. 
 
LUTHER S WORK AND RESTING-PLACE. 285 
 
 controversy as he then apprehended it, and fastened the papers to 
 the panel of the church gate. There it appeared before the pubHc 
 gaze. There it was read. There it was pondered. The proposi- 
 tion which serves as a key to the rest runs thus : " Every Christian 
 who feels a true sorrow, a sincere repentance for his sins, has a 
 plenary remission for his fault, even without an indulgence." 
 Again : '■' The true and precious treasure of the Church is the holy 
 gospel of the glory and grace of God." On that church threshold 
 the public proceedings of the Reformation may be said to have 
 begun. There sounded the trumpet-note which rolled over 
 Germany from end to end. 
 
 As at Milan the old doors shut against Theodosius have 
 vanished, so with the old doors to which Luther's theses were 
 affixed. No fragment of the panelling even remains. The whole 
 was burnt by the French ; the present gates are of bronze, from a 
 design by Quast. 
 
 Most visitors to Wittenberg complain of the difficulty of 
 gaining access to the Augustinian monastery and the Schloss 
 Kirche, from the circumstance of the same person being custodian 
 of the keys to both buildings. When we had surmounted the 
 difficulty, and entered the church, we found ourselves in the 
 presence of a worthy old German couple, who manifested a deep 
 interest in the edifice and its memorials, and vied with each other 
 in the office of cicerone. That interest was equalled only by the 
 zeal of the old man in exhibiting photographs, facsimiles, and seal 
 impressions — which form a staple of merchandise on this sacred 
 spot — and the zeal of the old woman in providing for the comfort 
 of her husband and lord. The hour of the mid-day meal having 
 arrived, she showed an exemplary desire that the object of her 
 affections should find refreshment amidst his toils ; and therefore, 
 having sent him to his home to dine in quiet, she undertook his 
 duties ; and, conducting us round the building, pointed out the 
 several objects of interest which it contains. Here are the tombs 
 
286 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 of Frederick the Wise and John the Steadfast, both friends of 
 the Reformer. The monument of Frederick is, as the guide-book 
 says, "a fine work of art, by Peter Vischer, 1527 : his bronze statue 
 is full of life, and of a noble character." The Gothic work of the 
 niche is very beautiful. 
 
 But the two main objects are the graves of Martin Luther and 
 Philip Melancthon. They are covered by tablets of bronze inserted 
 in the stone pavement, and preserved by modern trap-doors open- 
 ing over them. Two such graves are worth coming a long way to 
 see ; and he who cares to take the journey for that purpose will 
 scarcely fail to be moved in spirit, as he gazes on the last home of 
 two who, in spite of transient jars, were lovely and pleasant in their 
 lives, and in the tomb, rather than in death, not divided. 
 
 Standing over Luther's tomb, you recall the story of his death 
 at Eisleben. He had arrived there on the 28th of January, 1546, 
 and although very unwell, he took part in the conferences which 
 ensued up to the 17th of February. He also preached four times, 
 and revised the ecclesiastical regulations for the territory of 
 Mansfeld. On the 17th he was so ill that the Counts entreated 
 him not to quit his house. At supper, on the same day, he spoke 
 a great deal about his approaching death ; and some one having 
 asked him whether we should recognise one another in the next 
 world, he said he thought we should. " I feel very weak," he ex- 
 claimed, " and my pains are worse than ever. If I could manage 
 to sleep for half an hour, I think it would do me good." He did 
 fall asleep, and remained in gentle slumber for an hour and a half 
 On awaking about eleven he asked, " What ! are you still there ? 
 Will you not go and rest yourselves ? " On their replying that 
 they would remain, he began to cry with fervour, " ' Into Thy hands 
 I commend my spirit : Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of 
 truth.' Pray, all of you, dear friends, for the gospel of our Lord ; 
 pray that its reign may extend, for the Council of Trent and the 
 Pope menace it round about." He then slumbered about an hour. 
 
LUTHER'S WORK AND RESTING-PLACE. 289 
 
 When he awoke, he remarked, " I feel very ill. I think I shall 
 remain here at Eisleben, here — where I was born." He walked 
 about the room, and then lay down, and had a number of clothes 
 and cushions placed over him to produce perspiration ; but they 
 had not the desired effect. " O my Father ! " he went on to pray, 
 " Thou, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ ; Thou, the source of 
 all consolation, I thank Thee for having revealed unto me Thy 
 well-beloved Son, in whom I believe ; whom I have preached 
 and acknowledged, and made known ; whom I have loved and 
 celebrated, and whom the Pope and the impious persecute. I 
 commend my soul to Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ ! I am about 
 to quit this terrestrial body, I am about to be removed from this 
 life ; but I know that I shall abide eternally with Thee. ' Into 
 Thy hands I commend my spirit : Thou hast redeemed me, O 
 Lord God of truth.' " His eyes closed, and he fell back in a swoon. 
 When he revived, Jonas said to him, " Reverend father, do you die 
 firm in the faith you have taught ? " He opened his eyes, looked 
 fixedly, and replied, "Yes." Soon after, those nearest saw him 
 grow paler and paler ; he became cold ; his breathing seemed more 
 and more faint : at length, heaving one deep sigh, Martin Luther 
 expired. 
 
 The corpse was brought to Wittenberg with much honour. In 
 the procession, first came four deacons, then the officers of the 
 Elector, on horseback ; next the Counts of Mansfeld, with their 
 attendants. The corpse followed in a leaden coffin covered with 
 black velvet, on a funeral car. The widow (who was not witJi him 
 when he died), in an open chariot, accompanied her husband's 
 remains as chief mourner. The three sons, a brother, with his 
 wife, and friends, two and two, including Phihp Melancthon and 
 Justus Jonas, brought up the rear. 
 
 The coffin being carried into the Schloss Kirche and placed 
 on a bier in front of the altar, a funeral oration was pronounced 
 by his friend Philip Melancthon. He remarked, " Often have 
 
 U 
 
290 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 I myself gone to him unawares, and found him dissolved in tears 
 and prayers for the Church of Christ. He devoted a certain 
 portion of almost every day to the reading of the Psalms of 
 David, with which he mingled his own supplications amidst sighs 
 and tears ; and he has frequently declared hov/ indignant he 
 felt against those who hastened over devotional exercises through 
 sloth or the presence of other occupations. When a variety of 
 great and important deliberations respecting public dangers have 
 been pending, we have witnessed his prodigious vigour of mind, 
 his fearless and unshaken courage. Faith was his sheet-anchor, 
 and, by the help of God, he was resolved never to be driven 
 from it." 
 
 A brass plate was fixed upon the grave, and still remains, 
 bearing this inscription : — " Martini Lutheri, S. Theologise Doctoris 
 Corpus H. L. S. E. qui anno Christi MDXLVI. Xll. Cal. Martii 
 Eyslebii in patria S. M. O. C. V. Ann. LXiil." 
 
 Charles V. entered Wittenberg after having besieged it, and 
 expressed a wish to see the famous tomb. Reading the inscription 
 with folded arms, he was asked by an attendant whether he would 
 not have the grave opened and the ashes of the arch-heretic scat- 
 tered to the winds. The Emperor's cheek grew red as he replied, 
 " I war not with the dead. Let this place be respected." 
 
 There we leave our hero. We have traced him through many 
 homes and haunts : we at last track his steps down to the eternal 
 shores. " I die," said one of his countrymen, Jean Paul Richter, 
 " without ever having seen the ocean, but the ocean of eternity I 
 shall not fail to see." It is remarkable that in none of Luther's 
 wanderings have we met with him by the sea-side. In towns 
 and villages, amidst hills and valleys, in the depths of forests, 
 on the banks of rivers, we find him walking, musing, working, but 
 never on the margin of the mighty deep. On the waters of a 
 main, broader and deeper than any of this world's, we have just 
 beheld him embark, to find a haven and home in the land of the 
 
THE EltfPEROR CHARLES V. 
 After Titian, from a print in the British Museum. 
 
LUTHER'S WORK AND RESTING-PLACE. 293 
 
 blest. After the storms of life the words have been verified, as 
 in that of many, many more, " Then are they glad, because they 
 are at rest ; and so He bringeth them unto the haven where 
 they would, be." ^ 
 
 There is scarcely time left for a visit to the Rathhaus of Witten- 
 berg, a large building with long rows of windows opening from a 
 plain wall, the deep roof being relieved by four large dormers, each 
 with an ornamental facing, crowned by a fluttering vane. The 
 steps of the main entrance were, when we visited the spot, crowded 
 with the town authorities, celebrating the victory of Sedan. Flags 
 were flying ; bands of music were playing ; trade was interrupted, 
 and flocks of people had assembled in front of the town-hall to 
 witness the proceedings in honour of such a proud occasion. 
 
 Besides pictures and other curiosities, including a portrait of 
 Gustavus Adolphus, and a sword he left as a memorial of his visit 
 to the Luther shrine, the Rathhaus contains the top of the 
 Reformer's sacramental cup, and the rosary which he carried when 
 he was a monk. It would be easy to draw up a long catalogue of 
 relics, showing the veneration in which his name is held. There 
 is an enormous difference between pretended and genuine remains, 
 and between religious reverence paid to the former and natural 
 interest taken in the latter. The mouldering bones of mediaeval 
 saints, exhibited in reliquaries within the sacristies of Roman 
 Catholic churches, carry with them no proofs of genuineness, and 
 in numerous cases must be of a spurious character; but such 
 objects as are shown at Wittenberg and elsewhere in connection 
 with Luther are such as, for the most part, carry along with them 
 not only accredited traditions, but signs of credibility in their form 
 and appearance. Were they brought out to receive religious 
 honours, to have imprinted on them the kisses of devotees, such a 
 practice would be opposed to the design and spirit of his whole 
 
 1 I was much struck with this passage from the Psalms on a stone in the church- 
 yard of Stratford-on-Avon — on the side next the grave of Shakspere. 
 
294 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 career ; but to preserve them as memorials, and to view them with 
 interest is in accordance with feelings which it is impossible to 
 suppress, and it would be absurd to condemn. 
 
 And here it may not be inappropriate to add that, besides 
 personal relics, there exist numerous pictures, engravings, and 
 medals of the Reformer. The pictures and engravings, hung on 
 so many walls, or exhibited in so many windows, though varying 
 considerably — some of them exhibiting a face worn away by ascetic 
 practices, others a plump, cheerful German countenance, — generally 
 agree in the essential form and features of the man. A photograph 
 from a curious painting on wood, never published, which I met 
 with at Strasburg, in one of my Luther pilgrimages, seemed at 
 first to deviate from the common type, but on closer inspection 
 one could recognise in the rather coarse portraiture his well-known 
 image. Medals of him have been struck in abundance, and exhibit 
 him in an immense variety of forms and associations. Now he 
 appears as a tonsured priest, then in his cap and gown as a 
 Wittenberg professor. In one case the reverse of his effigy 
 presents an open Bible on the altar ; in another, it exhibits an 
 angel ilying in the midst of heaven surrounded by the legend 
 " Babylon the great is fallen, fallen ! " The rose appears as 
 his emblem ; but more significantly and frequently the swan, — 
 his favourite sign, as the reader will have already noticed, — in 
 allusion to the story that John Huss said out of the goose, which 
 his own name signified, would come a swan ; this was applied 
 to Luther. There is an instance in which he is seen standing with 
 a book in one hand, a candle in the other, and under his feet 
 the papal insignia, with a serpent v/earing a triple crown. The 
 swan is at Luther's side — and the surrounding words are, " Mag- 
 mis erat vita — major serrnone — docendo maximus." His return 
 from the Wartburg is celebrated by a representation of him 
 bearded and wearing a cuirass on his breast ; we also find on a 
 medal of the Margrave of Brandenberg, the motto inscribed over 
 
LUTHER'S WORK AND RESTING-PLACE. 295 
 
 the door of Luther's birthplace, " Gottes wort imd Luther's Lehr, 
 wird vergehen nimmermehr" 1564. Luther and Huss, Luther and 
 Melancthon, Luther and Catherine Bora, are combined together 
 in some instances ; and in a medal struck in 1 546 he has his 
 eyes shut, sleeping in death. Years afterwards, these mementos 
 from the die of the engraver were renewed. They occur under 
 the dates of 161 7, 1630, 1670.' 
 
 I alluded just now to Luther's seal, of which impressions 
 are sold at Wittenberg. It is a curious relic, full of symbolical 
 significance. The seal is impressed upon red wax, and under 
 it is a description of what Luther designed to represent by the 
 figure it contains. The fi.gure is that of a rose with a human 
 heart inserted in the middle of the full-blown flower. The descrip- 
 tion refers to different colours, which of course could not be 
 preserved in the embossed sealing-wax, but what they were 
 appears from Luther's own account. It is given in a letter he 
 wrote to Lazarus Spengler, and a translation from the German 
 original runs as follows : — 
 
 " As you wish to know if my seal is successful, I will tell you the 
 thoughts I wish to be embodied in it, as indicative of my theology. 
 First of all there is a black cross in a heart presenting its natural 
 colour, by which I intend to remind myself that we are saved by 
 faith in the crucified One. If we believe with the heart we are 
 justified. Through it runs a black cross, because the cross mortifies 
 and gives pain. At the same time it leaves the heart in its 
 original colour. It does not destroy natural affection. It does not 
 kill, but keep alive ; for the just lives by his faith — faith in the 
 crucified One. But this heart must be put in the middle of a white 
 rose, to show that faith gives peace, consolation, joy. The rose 
 is white, not red, because white is the colour of spirits and 
 
 1 These details are taken from a curious book, entitled, " Vita D. Martini Lutheri, 
 (s'c, nummis CXLVet Iconibus, aliquot rarissimis, confirmata et illustrata, Ss'c, studio 
 M. Christiani Juncker. mdcxcix." 
 
296 HOMES AND HA UNTS OF LUTHER. 
 
 angels. This rose is amidst a field of heavenly blue, for spiritual 
 joy and faith are the beginning of future bliss, which is already 
 embraced by hope, though not fully manifested. Round the blue 
 field is a golden ring, to show that bliss in Heaven lasts for ever, 
 having no end, and is glorious above all things, even as gold is the 
 most precious of metals." 
 
 Luther used to say about his seal, that the heart of the Christian 
 rests on roses, whilst it stands underneath the cross. 
 
 " The Christian heart a rose-strewn pathway treads, 
 When o'er his way the cross a radiance sheds." 
 
 All this is characteristic of the man. We see in it his vivid 
 imagination, the mystic element which pervaded his evangelical 
 thoughts, and, especially, the bright and beautiful piety which 
 shone over his whole life. 
 
 The memory of Luther is engraven upon the town of Witten- 
 berg more indelibly than any other. Even the reputation of Philip 
 Melancthon pales in connection with the lustre of his colleague's 
 fame. The fortunes of war, which have thrown shadows over the 
 town — such as the Austrian bombardment in 1760, when one- third 
 of the buildings were destroyed, and the Prussian siege in 1814, 
 when the place was taken by storm — are events scarcely remem- 
 bered by readers of history as they walk through the streets. 
 But everybody, on approaching the gates, thinks of the Saxon 
 monk who there lived and there lies buried. Washington Irving 
 concludes his essay on " Shakspere and Stratford-on-Avon " by 
 remarking that it would have cheered " the spirit of the youthful 
 bard that his name should become the glory of his native place, 
 that his ashes should be religiously guarded as its most precious 
 treasure, and that its lessening spire, on which his eyes were fixed 
 in tearful contemplation, should one day become the beacon 
 towering amidst the gentle landscape, to guide the literary 
 pilgrim of every nation to his tomb." It is no depreciation of 
 
LUTHER'S WORK AND RESTING-PLACE. 297 
 
 Shakspere's genius to say, that above his aspirations after fame, 
 whatever they might be, rose the aims and desires of Luther — a 
 man absorbed in zeal for the salvation of souls, and for the glory 
 of his Saviour ; but it would have filled him with wonder — per- 
 haps given him pleasure — could he have foreseen the place he 
 was to occupy in the history of the world, and how the double 
 tower of the Stadt Kirche, in which he preached, would become 
 a beacon to guide tens of thousands from both hemispheres to 
 the Augustinian monastery, where he lived, and to the Schloss 
 Kirche, where he lies entombed. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aleander, page 128 
 
 Alexis, 48 
 
 Altenburg, 166, 228 
 
 Altenstein, 139 
 
 Amsdorf, Nicholas, 35 
 
 Auerbach, 96 
 
 Augsburg, 81 ; arrival of Luther at, 83 ; 
 
 palace, 84 ; St. Anna Church, 85 ; 
 
 Luther's departure, 89 ; Frauen The, 
 
 89 ; Diet, 90 ; Confession, 91 
 Augustinian monastery at Erfurt, 44 ; at 
 
 Wittenberg, 240 
 
 Basle, description, 76 ; time of Luther's 
 
 visit, 77 
 Bible, 47 ; various editions, 48, 248 ; Latin, 
 
 229 ; Luther's translation, 245 
 Bologna, Luther's illness, 61 
 Brunswick, Erick, Duke of, 127 
 Bugenhagen, 271 
 Bucer, Martin, 72 
 Bulls, Papal, burnt by Luther, 249 
 
 Cajetan, Cardinal, 83, 88 
 
 Carlstadt, 99; arrival at Leipzig, loi ; 
 
 conference with Luther, 171 
 Catacombs at Rome, 65 
 Catherine von Bora, Letters to her from 
 
 Luther, 17, 191, 237 ; marriage, 250 
 Coburg, 71 ; castle, 213 
 Confession of Augsburg, 91 ; of Schmal- 
 
 kalden, 218 
 Contarini, Caspar, Letters of, 128, 143 
 Corpus Christi Day, 20 
 
 Cotta, Conrad, 31 
 Cotta, Frau Utsula, 31 
 Cranach, Lucas, the elder, 266 
 Cranach, Lucas, the younger, 267 
 
 D'Aubign^, Merle, 36 
 
 D'Enzinas, Franzisco, 273 ; translation of 
 
 New Testament, 274 
 Diet of Augsburg, 90 ; of Worms, 113 
 Dbllinger quoted, 247 
 Diirer, Albert, 195 
 
 Eck, Dr., 99; arrival at Leipzig, 101 
 
 Ehrenburg, 213 
 
 Eisleben, description, 5 ; birthplace of 
 Luther, 8 ; church of St. Peter, 14 ; 
 church of St. Andrew, 15 ; gymnasium, 
 20 
 
 Eisenach, description, 25 ; Nicolaithurm, 
 25 ; St. George's Church, 26 ; Luther's 
 sermon, 35 ; parochial school, 26 ; house 
 of Ursula Cotta, 31 ; school-house, 32 ; 
 Luther's visits, 32, 35 ; centenary jubilee, 
 36 
 
 Elizabeth of Hungary, 137; grave, 178 
 
 Erfurt, history, 40 ; description, 43 ; Augus- 
 tinian monastery, 44; Martinsstift, 51 ; 
 Luther's reception, 58 ; Luther's sermon, 
 59 ; fanaticism, 169 ; Luther revisits, 169 
 
 Florence, Luther's visit, 62 
 Francke, A. H., 232 
 Frankfort, 35 ; Luther's house, 116 
 Franz of Sickengen, 115 
 Frederick the Wise, 26S 
 
30O 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Friars, rivalry amongst, 53 
 
 George of Freundsberg, 125 
 
 Halle, history, 231 ; Luther's lodgings, 235 
 
 Harz scenery, 5 
 
 Heidelberg, Luther visits, 61 ; description, 
 
 68 ; Wolfsbnmnen, 68 ; K'onigstuhl, 68 ; 
 
 castle, 68 ; conference, 72 ; university : 
 
 early Bibles, 78 
 Hund, Knight von, 140 
 Hutten, Ulric von, Letter, 123 
 
 Indulgences, 202 
 
 Jena, 171 ; narrow escape of Luther, 172, 
 
 174 
 John Frederick the Magnanimous, 268 
 John the Steadfast, 268 
 Jonas, Justus, 185 
 Judenbach, Luther's visit, 200 
 "Junker Georg," 36, 155 
 
 Kessler, of St. Gall, 156 
 Konigstuhl, 68 
 
 Leipzig, 95 ; Auerbach's cellar, 96 ; castle 
 
 of Pleissenburg, 96 ; debate, 100; Luther's 
 
 sermon, 106 ; Nicholas Church, 108 
 Leuchtenberg, Castle of, 106 
 Loyola, Ignatius, 31 
 Lutherbaum, 117 
 Luther, Elizabeth, 257 
 Luther, Hans, 7 ; portrait, 14 ; discipline, 
 
 26 ; poverty, 27 ; death, 257 
 Luther, Magdalene, death, 257 
 Luther, Margaret, portrait, 14 
 Luther, Martin : — • 
 
 Anecdotes of, 7, 156, 249, 262, 263, 265, 
 271 
 
 Bible, 32 ; discovery of one, 47 ; trans- 
 lation, 245 
 
 Birthplace, 8 
 
 Burial, 289 
 
 Burns the Pope's Bull, 248 
 
 Capture, 140 
 
 Contest with the devil, 150 
 
 Conversational power, 260 
 
 Death, 19, 286 
 
 Description by Bucer, 72 ; at Leipzig, 102 
 
 Education, 14 
 
 Education, zeal for, 21 
 
 Farewell to his friends, 5 r 
 
 House where he died, i6 
 
 Hymn, 120, 121, 215 
 
 Illness, 35 ; on his journey to Rome, 62 ; 
 at Schmalkalden, 228 
 
 Interview with Vergerio, 271 
 
 Itinerary, 174 
 
 Last sermon, 16 
 
 Letters to his wife, 17, 191, 237 ; to 
 Spalatin, 73, 90, 105, 140, 256 ; to 
 Melancthon, 84, 92, 154, 216; to 
 Cuspianus, 125 ; to Frederick Myco- 
 nius, 175 ; to Justus Jonas, 217 ; to 
 Amsdorf, 235 ; to Chancellor Riihel, 
 253 ; to his son, 256; to the Elector, 
 280 
 
 Marriage, 250 
 
 Monk, becomes a, 44 
 
 Monument at Worms, 131 
 
 Music, love of, 259 
 
 Novitiate, 51 
 
 Portraits, 8, 15, 51, 85, 149, 262 
 
 Prayer at Worms, 122; for Melancthon, 
 264 
 
 Priesthood, enters the, 54 
 
 Relics, 8, 13, 51, 150, 230, 293 
 
 Theses, 72 
 
 Trial, by Cardinal Cajetan, 85 
 
 Work, 277 
 Luther's seal, description, 295 
 
 Mansfeld, Counts of, 6 ; quarrels between 
 18 ; peace restored by Luther, 18 
 
 Mansfeld lakes, 5 ; Luther's removal to 
 the town, 14 
 
 Marburg, 177 ; meeting of Luther and 
 Zwingli, 182 ; Knights' Hall, 185 
 
 Martinsstift, 51 
 
 Mathesius quoted, 47, 122, 246 
 
INDEX. 
 
 30 X 
 
 Melancthon, Anne, 265 
 
 Melancthon, portraits, 8, 15 ; relics, 13 ; 
 
 bust, 15 ; friendship for Luther, 265 ; 
 
 grave, 286 
 Milan, 61 
 Miihlhausen, 173 
 Munich, 61 
 Miinzer, Thomas, 165, 177 
 
 Neuenheim, 74 
 
 Nesselwang, 161 ; castle of Hohensch- 
 
 wangen, 161 
 Nicolaithurm, 25 
 Nordhausen, 174 
 Nuremberg, 194 
 
 CEcolampadius, 185 
 Oemler, Nicholas, 15 
 Oppenheim, 113 
 Orio, Lorenzo, Letter of, ) 75 
 Orlamiinde, 174 
 
 Pantheon, 62 
 
 Pavia, Luther's illness, 61 
 
 Peasant Wars, 170 
 
 Pfiffligheim, 113, 117 
 
 Phihp the Magnanimous, 181, 192 
 
 PhiUp II., 242 
 
 Pilate's Staircase, 66 
 
 Pleissenburg, Castle of, 96 ; debate, 100 
 
 Peasants, Grievances, 172 
 
 Reformation, Centenary jubilee at Eise- 
 nach, 36 
 
 Reinicke, Hans, 15 
 
 Rome, Cause of Luther's journey, 61 ; 
 description, 62 ; Luther's impression s 
 of, 62 ; Pantheon, 62 ; Catacombs, 65 ; 
 St. Peter's, 66; Pilate's .Staircase, 66; 
 St. John Lateran, 56 
 
 Rosengarten, Island of, 109 
 
 Sannersche Haus, Schmalkalden, 223 
 
 Saxe-Weimar, Library, i 
 
 Schmalkalden, 218 ; Luther's lodgings, 
 
 223 ; confession, 224 ; church, 228 
 Schmalkalden, League of, 221 
 Schweina, Extract from parish records, 144 
 Seeburg, 173, 175 
 Sonneberg, description, 18; Luther's house, 
 
 200 ; festival, 205 
 Staupitz, 20 ; conversation with Luther, 5 3 
 Stolberg, 174 
 Storch, Nicholas, 165 
 Stotterheim, 48 
 Swabia, description, 160 ; its people, 163 
 
 Tauler, 281 
 Thflringerwald, 155 
 Trebonius, 27 
 
 Tyndale, William, 192 ; interview with 
 Luther, 247 
 
 Veigerio, 271 
 Volkerschlacht, 99 
 
 Wartburg, Castle of, 36; description, 136; 
 history, 144; chapel, 149; Ritterhau-, 
 149 
 
 Weimar, 175 
 
 Weissenfels, 71 
 
 Wittenberg, 61 ; deicription, 238 ; uni- 
 versity, 239, Augustinian monastery, 
 240 ; Luther's study, 242 ; Stadt Kirche, 
 277 ; Schloss Kirche, 277 ; Luther's 
 Sermon, 279 
 
 Wolfsbtv.nncn^ 68 
 
 Wonnegau, 109 
 
 ■Worms,description,i09; Diet, 113; Luther's 
 approach, 113; Bishop's Hof, 124; 
 Luther at Diet, 125 ; Luther's monument, 
 131 ; Bible stand, 131 ; cathedral, 135 
 
 Wiirzburg, 71 
 
 Zwickau, 165 ; Luther's sermon, 166 
 Zwingli, 181 ; prayer, igi 
 
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