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 Commemorative Essays on the Reformation of 
 Dr. Martin Luther and Its Blessed Results. 
 
 In the year of the 
 
 of ti|f Epformatinn. 
 
 BY VARIOUS LUTHERAN WRITERS. 
 
 Edited by PROF. W. H. T. DAU. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 concordia publishing house. 
 
 191G. 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 A comparatively "iinknown priest and professor in a 
 small German town on the border of civilization sought 
 to ease his pastoral conscience by inviting the learned 
 doctors of his day to discuss with him a very sfaiple ques- 
 tion of Biblical teaching and Christian morals : Can par- 
 don for sins be sold and bought at so much per? There 
 was nothing unusual in his action : hundreds of others 
 had done the same thing before him, many more after 
 him. Nor was the question difficult. There has never 
 lived a person who has truly believed that a moral debt 
 can be liquidated in hard cash. But in every age there 
 have been persons credulous enough to become impressed 
 with a pretension of mysterious spiritual power ; and there 
 have been others of a shrewdly calculating disposition who 
 have thought it a fine convenience to be permitted to 
 settle their account, if not with God, at least with the 
 Church, on the contract plan of Give and Take, rather 
 than on the terms which the Eedeemer offers, when He 
 says : Repent and believe the Gospel ! Every age, too, 
 has produced enterprising men who would contrive in some 
 way to accommodate these interesting religious bargain- 
 hunters. 
 
 Four hundred years have passed since the event took 
 place. That is a sufficiently long time for the entire affair 
 to be forgotten. Few deeds of men amid the kaleidoscopic 
 scenes of this fleeting life outlive oblivion. lAither's pro- 
 test contained the seeds of immortality. The world lias 
 assured itself long ago that there was wrapped up in that 
 simple, but courageous challenge more than a cursory 
 glance at the event in its external aspect would warrant 
 
VI FOREWORD. 
 
 any one to assume. Xot onh' has the original act of the 
 Friar of Wittenberg been studied with unflagging interest 
 during four centuries, but also the bearings of that act on 
 the entire spiritual life of mankind have been uncovered. 
 Aside from its immediate effect on the accredited form of 
 the Christian religion of the day, there have resulted from 
 it, more or less indirectly, great changes in the intellectual 
 and social status of the race. Measuring the magnitude 
 of importance that is now attached to the event against 
 the insignificance of its original setting, one marvels that 
 out of so little there should have come so much. Surely, 
 this is not a mere man's doing: this is the finger of the 
 Almighty. The feat of slaying a panoplied giant with 
 a ridiculous pebble hurled from the sling of a shepherd 
 boy has been repeated. 
 
 Once more the world is preparing to review causes and 
 effects of this remarkable event. In the form of histories, 
 biographies, popular narratives, works of fiction, the Eefor- 
 mation in Germany has been told by hundreds of authors. 
 In thousands of monographs particular features of the 
 movement have been subjected to minute investigation. 
 Some years ago a brother, at our request, spent hours in 
 the British Museum of London turning the pages of that 
 part of the catalog of the famous institution that contains 
 the "Lutherana.'' Vastly greater still are treasures of this 
 kind hoarded by the libraries of Germany. It seems hardly 
 possible that anything new can be written on the subject. 
 
 The present volume of studies in the history of Luther 
 and liis work is put forth with no claim that it contributes 
 elements hitherto unknown to the world's knowledge. It 
 desires to be viewed, first, as a thank-offering to God and 
 an appreciation of God's instrument in the upbuilding of 
 His one, holy. Christian Church on earth. It is, there- 
 fore, a record of the personal faith of the contributors to 
 this volume and of hundreds of thousands of brethren who 
 
FOREWORD. VII 
 
 share that faith witli them. The individuality that is* 
 stamped upon these essays^ and the variety of views which 
 they afford of identical or related facts, has not destroyed 
 the unity of the whole, but will^, it is hoped, lead the 
 reader to the reflection that real unity is inward, not out- 
 ward; it is not sameness, dead monotony, repetition, but 
 the lively working together of the members of an intelli- 
 gent organism, who, while acting independently and in 
 conformity with their peculiar powers in their given tasks, 
 still are obeying a common principle and realizing a com- 
 mon aim. Secondly, the special studies here offered, by 
 focusing attention on a particular feature in the character 
 of Luther and his work or on a critical episode in his 
 activitv, exhibit the many-sidedness of the Eeformer and 
 the wealth of information that can be gathered b}^ effort 
 concentrated on a given point. It is always, the same 
 Luther that is portrayed, but he is shown in each case at 
 a different angle of vision. Turning to any chapter of 
 this book, the reader will get a fairly complete account of 
 a subject, the materials for which he could not gather him- 
 self except by laborious research in many volumes. In 
 arranging the various articles, historical sequence has l)een 
 followed in a general way, discussions of the more abstract 
 subjects having been placed in suitable connections. The 
 chronological table at the end helps to locate events in the 
 panorama of Luther's life. 
 
 Four hundred years ! As the eye sweeps down the vista 
 of centuries, and the dim past rises into view, the mind be- 
 comes fascinated by the mighty struggles, the astonishing 
 sacrifices, the noble faith of a heroic age. At first the 
 world seems out of joint and a new chaos impending. But 
 out of the confusion there rises a new order. Conquering 
 truth stands triumphant on the battle-field. Owing to the 
 folly and malice of men its coming was a challenge and 
 the signal of war. It will always be thus : the assertion 
 
VIII FOREWORD. 
 
 of truth spells strife in a world in which all men are liars. 
 The spirit of Luther is marching on, leading to new vic- 
 tories. But in reality the advent of evangelical truth four 
 hundred years ago has ushered in a great peace and pros- 
 perity. Coleridge probably knew too little of the Lutheran 
 Church to be able to estimate correctly her valuation of 
 Luther, but he is right otherwise when he says : "How 
 would Christendom have fared without a Luther? What 
 would Rome have done and dared but for the ocean of the 
 reformed that bounds her ? Luther lives yet — not so bene- 
 ficiallv in the Lutheran Church as out of it — an antas^o- 
 nistic spirit to Eome and a purifying and preserving spirit 
 to Christianity at large." So is Froude right : "Had there 
 been no Luther, the English, American, and German peoples 
 would be thinking differently, would be acting differently, 
 would be altogether different men and women from what 
 they are at this moment." 
 
 God bless the Church for which Luther labored, and 
 speed her cause in every part of the world: the cause of 
 the open Bible, of free grace, of saving faith ! May Christ 
 continue to be to her what Luther proclaimed Him : her 
 all-sufficient Teacher, her merciful Reconciler, her loving 
 Shepherd-King ! 
 
 Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. 
 On the Festival of the Reformation, 1916. 
 
 W. H. T. Dau. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Formation — Deformation — Reformation. ( Dr. Abbetmeyer ) 1 
 
 Luther's Family. (Rev. Both. )' 13 
 
 Luther's Successive Appeals. (Rev. Morhart.) 24 
 
 Luther at Worms. (Rev. Broecker.) 36 
 
 Luther and Erasmus. (Rev. 'M. Walker. ) 49 
 
 Luther and Justification. (Rev. Dallniann. ) 61 
 
 Luther at Marburg. (Prof. Biedermann. ) 74 
 
 Luther the Faithful Confessor of Christ. ( Prof. Bente. ) . . . . 88 
 The Three Principles of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura, 
 
 ' Sola Gratia, Sola Fides. (Prof. Engelder.) 97 
 
 The Open Bit^le. (Prof. Miller.) 110 
 
 Luther and the Peasant War. (Rev. Schoenfeld. ) 123 
 
 Luther's Marriage. (Rev. Czamanske. ) 138 
 
 Luther's Two Exiles: Wartburg and Coburg. (Rev. H. 
 
 Frincke. ) 146 
 
 Wittenberg in the Days of Luther. (Rev. Koepchen.) 159 
 
 Luther and His Friends. (Prof. Moll. ) 173 
 
 Luther as a Preacher. (Rev. Fritz.) 188 
 
 Luther's Influence on Popular Education. (Prof. Kohn.).... 194 
 The Economic Teachings and Influence of Luther. (Rev. 
 
 Pannkols^e. ) 206 
 
 Luther a Lover of Nature. (Rev. J. W. Theiss.) 215 
 
 Music and the Reformation. (Prof. Renter.) 227 
 
 Luther and the Classics. (Prof. E. G. Sihler.) 240 
 
 When England Almost Became Lutheran. (Prof.Th.Graebner. ) 254 
 
 Luther's End. (Rev. Haertel. ) . . 268 
 
 Tributes to Luther. (Rev. 0. C. Kreinheder.) 277 
 
 Luther and the Constitution of the United States. (Prof. 
 
 Romoser. ) 294 
 
 Lutheranism and Christianity. (Prof. Dau. ) 301 
 
 Chronological Table of the Age of Luther. (Prof. Dau.) .... 315 
 
Formation — Deformation — Reformation. 
 
 . Dr. C. Abbetmeyer, Concordia College, St. P:iul. Miiiii. 
 
 Although the Reformation of the sixteenth century has 
 left its impress on niiiny phases of modern life, it is of 
 supreme significance as a religious movement, turning from 
 the aherrations of popery to the eternal foundations, restoring 
 the true conception of the Church and the mode of obtaining 
 membership therein, and building up, on the model of the 
 Apostolic Church of Christ, the Church of the Reformation. 
 Eor a proper appreciation of this great movement no retro- 
 spect from its consequences alone suffices; we must also and 
 chiefly consider its antecedents, that is to say, the Formation 
 and the Deformation of the Church, whose character and 
 origins are depicted in Scripture, and whose deterioration 
 and abasement is recorded by history. 
 
 FORMATION. 
 
 According to Holy Writ, God created man good and holy, 
 and, even after the Fall, would have all men to be saved. 
 Most men reject the grace of God; some, however, believe 
 in Christ and have their sins forgiven. These, of whatever 
 time or clime, are "ilie com m anion of saints/' "a chosen 
 generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar 
 people," to show forth God's praises; a l-ingdom of souls in, 
 but not of, the world, believing in Christ, their King; 
 a spiritual edifice, erected, not of dead, but of living stones, 
 living children of God, who, living by Christ and in Christ, 
 and having the mind of Christ, are fitted together — brethren 
 all, though of various nations and stations — to form a holy 
 temple and habitation of God among men; one holy Chris- 
 tian Cluirch throughout all ages, against which the gates 
 c»f hell shall not prevail. God erects His Church by means 
 
 Four Hundrod Years. 1 
 
2 FORMATIOX DEFORMATIOX REFORMATION'. 
 
 of His Word, with which He endows His people to build 
 itself up by preaching in the name of Jesus repentance and 
 the forgiveness of sins, to grow stone by stone throughout 
 the ends of the earth, and to endure until the scaffolding shall 
 fall away, and the edifice, so long invisible to mortal eyes, 
 is completed and revealed in imposing grandeur and glory. 
 
 Wherever two or more believers are gathered together in 
 Christ's name, about His Word and Sacraments, the means 
 of the Church's growth and the signs of its presence, there 
 is God's people, there is a visible congregation, mixed, it 
 may be, with hypocrites, but in its outward complexion a con- 
 gregation of God's children. Under the form of visible 
 congregations the invisible Church within these performs 
 its duty of evangelizing the world, and enjoys the blessed 
 privilege of communion with God and the brethren. 
 
 In the apostolic days the temple walls grew apace, the 
 kingdom of God came with power ; and the Apostolic Church, 
 grounded as well as portrayed in the New Testament, will 
 for all time continue to be the model Church. 
 
 God established the early Church by means of His Word. 
 Wherever Peter, and Philip, and Paul, and Barnabas, and 
 Titus, and the other disciples went, their message was ever 
 forgiveness for sinners in the crucified and risen Christ. 
 "The Gospel," says Eusebius, "suddenly beamed on the earth 
 like a ray of the sun." And everywhere was manifested its 
 divine power. A breath of life moved over the vast field 
 of death. Gainsaying Jews and dissolute Gentiles — men 
 and women, rulers and slaves — in Jerusalem, in Samaria, 
 in Damascus, in Africa, in x\sia Minor, in Greece, in Home, 
 in the face of opposition and increasing persecutions, were 
 transformed into believing children of the living God. The 
 counsel and work was of God; no man could hinder or 
 overthrow it. 
 
 What was taught and believed in apostolic times we know 
 from the sacred writings of the apostles and the venerable 
 Apostles' Creed. The early Christians knew that forgiveness 
 of sin was by grace through faith in Christ, that faith was 
 the gift of God, that salvation was not for sinful man 
 
FORMATION DEFORMATION REFORM ATK ) \ . 3 
 
 a matter of merit and reward. They knew Christ to be their 
 only Priest and Mediator, and themselves to have free access 
 to the Son and the Father, They knew themselves to be 
 a company and society of forgiven, converted sinners and 
 therefore "the communion of saints," the spiritual temple 
 and body and bride of Christ. They knew that the Church 
 must have visible organizations for preaching the Word, 
 and that in these God knows His own. 
 
 The external organization and administration of the early 
 Church was such as befitted the "royal priesthood" of God's 
 children. In that community of brethren all were of equal 
 dignity. Each member had for himself access to the Word 
 and the heart of God, and to all conjointly had been given 
 one office, the ministry of the Word, the Office of the Keys, 
 a joint privilege and duty, to be performed, therefore, not 
 by individual initiative or promiscuously, but "decently and 
 in order," by the agreement of all. Accordingly, while the 
 apostles preached by the direct call of Christ, all other 
 preachers (termed "elders" and also "bishops," that is, over- 
 seers, as we learn from Paul's letter to Titus and from his 
 address to the Ephesian elders) derived their right to ad- 
 minister in public the office of the Church from the call 
 of the congregation, and they were thereby truly ministers 
 of Christ. By its own equal and free choice (probably, by 
 raising hands. Acts 14, 23) the congregations chose their 
 pastors, even as. Acts 6, "the whole multitude" chose deacons. 
 In matters of church-discipline, likewise, not an apostle or 
 bishop, but the congregation was the highest tribunal, in 
 accordance with Christ's words, "Tell it unto the church." 
 
 The apostles, as inspired teachers and also as elders 
 (1 Pet. 5, 1), instructed and advised; but aside from this 
 they were brethren among brethren. They taught, as Christ 
 had taught them, that in His kingdom greatness coitsisteil, 
 not in exercising dominion and authority, but in ministering 
 and being servants, and that He had said: "One is your 
 Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." Thus Peter 
 exhorts the elders ncjt to be "lords over God's heritage" 
 (1 Pet. 5, n) ; and Paul upbraids the Corinthians for tohn-- 
 
4 FORMATION DEFORMATION REFORMATION. 
 
 ating arrogance (2 Cor. 11, 20). Xor did they contradict 
 and counteract their teaching by domineering iDractise. At 
 the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) the apostles spoke, but 
 when action was taken, we read : "Then pleased it the apostles 
 and elders with the whole church," etc. Happy a church 
 with such teachers ! 
 
 The Word of Christ established the Church and ruled it, 
 and history bears witness to its purifying power in those 
 cleansed with the blood of Christ and sanctified by the Spirit 
 of His grace. Its high ideal of the Christian life becoming 
 to the saints and children of God prevented the impenitent 
 sinner from even outward union with the flock of Christ, 
 and taught the Christians to keep themselves unspotted 
 from the world, to respect the dignity and purity of woman- 
 hood, to regard even the slave as a brother in Christ, to honor 
 civil government, to succor the needy, and to do good to all 
 men, in short, to order their daily lives wholly and strictly 
 in accordance with their faith. Its regenerating influence, 
 as it had turned a Saul into a Paul, transformed many 
 a malefactor into a saint. Its consolations gave them calm- 
 ness and confidence and fearlessness in the face of the 
 bitterest animosity, to look away from the things of the 
 earth to the things of heaven. Its prophecy of their Lord's 
 second coming filled them with the joy of expectation. 
 
 Thus the early Church in doctrine and, to a high degree, 
 in life was a veritable garden of the Lord on earth. An 
 enthusiastic faith glowed in the hearts of the Christians. 
 The walls of the temple were growing, its early completion 
 was expected. Paul forewarned them, however, 2 Thess. 2, 
 that before Christ's second coming the Church must expe- 
 rience the great apostasy through "the man of sin," who 
 would exalt himself in the very temple of God as a god 
 to deceive men unto their destruction. 
 
 DEFORMATION. 
 
 In the apostles' own times "the mystery of iniquity" was 
 already at work, Satan scattering abroad the seeds of heresy 
 and vanity to render Christ, the Prophet, Priest, and King 
 
FORMATION DEFORMATION REFORMATION. 5 
 
 of His Church, the only Mediator, of none effect, and to usher 
 in the Antichrist. 
 
 During the early days of the conflict, the Church re- 
 mained, upon the whole, pure in doctrine and life. Presbyters 
 would not claim the ruling power belonging, as they well 
 knew, to all saints. But with Christianity in the ascendant 
 and the churches growing in numbers, wealth, influence, 
 and worldliness, the Church came to be regarded, no longer 
 as the invisible "communion of saints," but, by harking 
 back to the old Jewish notion, as an earthly kingdom, in 
 which the clergy (originally those chosen, elected) were an 
 order or caste of rulers, and the laity (the people, those out- 
 wardly connected with the Church) the ruled. Then in- 
 fluential presbyters called themselves bishops, and bishops, 
 styling themselves successors to the apostles, aspired to be 
 great princes of the Church. This episcopal aristocracy 
 claimed Christ's continual presence and His Spirit's guid- 
 ance. His keys to bind and to loose, His protection against 
 the gates of hell, as its own exclusive heritage and pre- 
 rogative. In the interest of the unity and purity of the 
 Church in the face of heresy and worldliness rather than 
 for the aggrandizement of the episcopate, Cyprian based the 
 episcopal authority on Christ's words to Peter (Matt. 16, 18), 
 emphasizing the equality of all bishops, though conceding 
 to Peter a certain primacy of honor. Here was the idea of 
 a Universal Bishop, of the Church as a sacerdotal monarchy. 
 The bishops of imperial Rome, the alleged successors to 
 Peter, "prince of apostles," seized upon the idea as promising 
 them even more than imperial glory and power. A voice 
 beside them seemed to whisper: "All this will I give you. 
 Ye shall be as gods !" In consequence, from century to 
 century they asserted more and more definitely, insistently, 
 impudently, threateningly, their right, as "vicars of Christ," 
 to be the visible heads of all Christendom ; and with con- 
 summate zeal and ability, apt pupils of pagan Rome, now 
 biding their time, now forcing issues, now using "earth in 
 defense of heaven," now "heaven itself to defend earth\y 
 possessions," consistently, relentlessly, they str<»vo to make 
 
6 FORMATION DEFORMATION REFORMATION. 
 
 the vision a reality, to convert the primacy of honor into 
 a supremacy of power. 
 
 Protests were of no avail ; the times favored Home. While 
 the Eastern bishoprics bowed to the Eastern Empire and 
 ere long, with the exception of Constantinople, were sub- 
 merged beneath the tidal wave of Islam, the papal see, the 
 Mother Church and only sedes apostolica of the West, in- 
 creasingly independent of civil control, attaching to itself 
 with the decline and fall of the Western Empire the imperial 
 glory of "eternal Rome," allying itself in the turmoil of 
 Teutonic migrations against the Arian menace with the 
 Franks, found in this Germanic people, from Chlovis to 
 Charlemagne, the rising tide that carried it to the supreme 
 power. The papal claims, born of human ambition and 
 Satanic delusion, based on misinterpretation of Scripture, 
 and bolstered up with interpolations and forgeries, were re- 
 pudiated wholly by the Eastern Church; in the West, how- 
 ever, Rome carried through its program with magnificent 
 success, until the pope held on earth, as he said, "the place 
 of God Almighty." 
 
 As "vicar of Christ" the pope was ^he head of a gigantic 
 hierarchical corporation, which he called the kingdom of God, 
 outside of which there is no salvation, for which he made and 
 unmade at will laws and articles of faith, and participation 
 in which he conditioned upon the administration of his 
 sacraments by his priests. The Scriptures, as being dark and 
 incomplete, he interpreted, supplemented, and perverted from 
 apocryphal legends, the teachings of tradition, or his own 
 fancy, saying in effect: "Search not the Scriptures; I am 
 the Lord, your God; I am the way and the truth and the 
 life." For his "infallible" ordinances he exacted uncon- 
 ditional obedience as the i)rice of salvation. His hand was 
 laid on men in their education, their reading, their amuse- 
 ments, their business. He touched them in this life and in 
 that to come, regulating the purgatorial sufferings and 
 opening or closing the door of heaven itself. He taxed all 
 Christendom with tithes and fees. All authority on earth 
 being derived from God, all temporal rulers were of necessity. 
 
FORMATION DEFORMATION — HKIOK.M ATION. J 
 
 as no less a man than Augustine had taught in liis Cily of 
 God, subordinate to the pope, and bound to do his bidding 
 or lose their thrones. Active dissenters, were not only ex- 
 communicated and driven out of reputable association with 
 their fellow-men, but handed over to severe punishments, 
 inflicted, at his instance, by civil authority. Thus a priest 
 of the Tiber and his celibate abettors with spiritual sanctions 
 and with fire and sword held men in bondage, professedly 
 to save their souls. This was the sliip of Peter, pope and 
 clergy within, the laity struggling with the waves and im- 
 ploring to be rescued. 
 
 What, then, was the salvation held out to men by popery i 
 In brief,, salvation without Christ, an achievement of men's 
 own efforts, crowned by priestly mediation. Man was not, 
 by means of the Law, shown his utter sinfulness, but led to 
 believe himself possessed of at least some power for good. 
 He was not, from the Gospel, shown that the merits of Christ 
 are sufficient for the expiation of all sins, and that God for 
 His sake forgiveth us all our sins. Instead, he was told 
 that, as faith was to be accounted as little more than an 
 outward confession of the Creed, works were necessary for 
 salvation, chiefly works, and mainly such as the Church pre- 
 scribed, as fidelity to the pope, auricular confession, mass, 
 celibacy, monkery, invocation of Mary and of saints, by 
 which a holy man might wax holier than required even to 
 the winning of supererogatory merit. Man was told that 
 the priest could forgive his sins, though obliged to aug- 
 ment Christ's merit by offering up Christ again and again 
 in sacrificial mass, and that he could impose penances, such 
 as fastings, pilgrimages, flagellations, and the like, or com- 
 mute these, for a consideration, into indulgences transferring 
 to the sinner's account righteousness from the inexhaustible 
 treasury of merits laid up by saints and managed by the 
 priests. To be the more solicitous in works, man was led 
 to tremble forever in doubt of the certainty of his salvation. 
 Truly, here was man estranged from the love of Christ, and 
 delivered up to a greedy priesthood to his own undoing. To 
 charm the senses, the pope tricked out his system with 
 
S FORMATION DEFORMATION REFORMATION. 
 
 gorgeous ceremonies and alluring melodies. But amid the 
 pomp and pageantry of crowns and gowns and croziers, pro- 
 cessions and genuflections, relics and rosaries, incense and 
 chrism and candles and crucifixes, tinkling of bells and 
 sprinkling of holy water, benedictions and consecrations, 
 paternosters and Ave Marias, — a ceremonial not utterly 
 remote from the prayer-wheel and other rites of the Dalai 
 Lama, — where was the knowledge of the living God, of the 
 loving, all-sufficient Savior from sin ? Under Christian forms 
 men were offered for salvation the pagan creed of human 
 works. Christ seemed to have died for the w'orld, and 
 established His Church in vain. The "mystery of iniquity" 
 sat enthroned in God's temple. Rome gave its obedient 
 children stones for bread. It fleeced the flock instead of 
 feeding it. The house of God had become a den of 
 thieves. 
 
 How was it in those evil days with the spiritual kingdom 
 and temple of God, "the communion of saints" ? Some few, 
 no doubt, found the truth of salvation despite the delusions 
 abroad. To speak the truth aloud meant papal anathema, 
 dungeon, stake, and sword. The great mass of the people 
 lacked true knowledge. Rome aligned whole nations into 
 its outward organization, with accommodation to native 
 prejudices, and the result was baptized heathenism. At best, 
 its discipline helped to police unruly communities, but it 
 failed to effect their spiritual regenera,tion. Had it but 
 preached the grace of God in Christ Jesus with its divine 
 power of touching and transforming the wildest hearts, the 
 Dark Ages in less than the thousand years of papal domina- 
 Ttion would have been radiant with faith and progress. Rome 
 left the nations in ignorance of divine truth; its indulgences 
 •were to the multitude a license to sin. Consequently the 
 corruption of morals in papal times was appalling, and the 
 abomination stood in the holy places. Rome was, indeed, the 
 ])urple harlot of the Apocalypse, that i)araded as the bride of 
 Christ, making drunk with her wine the princes of the earth, 
 so that they lent her their arm for the spiritual and bodily 
 
FOKilATIOX DEFORMATION KEFOUMATIOX. 9 
 
 destruction of the true bride; and the scarlet woman was 
 drunk with the bloo<l of the saints. The visible Church, — 
 from its tirst estate, alas, how fallen! 
 
 Men sighed and groaned and cursed under the yoke of 
 Rome, but could not break away from it, because, having 
 lost true knowledge of Christ, they believed the pope to be 
 the divinely appointed mediator between God and man. The 
 false doctrine that the pope was "the vicar of Christ" led to 
 the deformation of the Church, and was the barrier pre- 
 venting reformation. It served to palliate all abuses. If the 
 hierarchy gave offense by wicked lives, there was no recourse, 
 since, in spite of everything, from the priests alone men 
 must obtain salvation, or be lost. This doctrine sufficed to 
 shackle the temporal powers. The Empire, representing in 
 little more than theory God's political government, and the 
 rising national states, infringing on the imperial claim of 
 universality, — all were compelled, if need be by ban and 
 interdict, and by incitement of the populace to rebellion, 
 to tolerate the papal revenue collectors and submit to papal 
 political interference through the landholding prelacy de- 
 pendent on Rome. This doctrine preserved the papacy as 
 an institution, when in licentious Avignon it had become 
 a tool of French policy and a source of grievance to all 
 other nations, and when in the great schism it had become 
 a reproach and byword of contempt. This doctrine had 
 absorbed the Clugny reform movement and placed its ex- 
 ponent, Ilildebrand, on the pinnacle of power. To this 
 doctrine the Mystics bowed in all their spiritual ardor. This 
 doctrine was the excuse for fire and sword, for the slaughter 
 of Albigensian and Waldensian innocents. This doctrine 
 proved stronger than Wyclif and Hus and Jerome and 
 Savonarola. This doctrine, like a magic charm, held the 
 best of men under the iron scepter of the dragon throne, 
 making them even carry fagots for the burning of saints. 
 This doctrine forestalled every conciliar attempt at better- 
 ment "in head and members," because in the popular con- 
 viction the pope was by divine right the gatekeeper of heaven, 
 and therefore sacred and indispensable. Tlie bishops made 
 
1 FOKMATIOX DEFORMATION REFORMATION. 
 
 their peace with Peter, not to their own disadvantage. 
 Princes alternately fought or bought the pope. The evil 
 continued. Men sighed and groaned and cursed, but bore 
 their burden, because salvation came from Rome. 
 
 REFORMATION. 
 
 A reformation was soi:ely needed, but it seemed impossible. 
 Nevertheless, in the darkest night God had not forgotten 
 His people, and in His own good time He reformed the 
 Church, even as He had formed it, by the Spirit of His 
 mouth, by the Word of His grace and power. He selected 
 the time and the place, provided the man, and so ordered 
 the circumstances and shaped the trend of events as to afford 
 His work the conditions of success. The political embarrass- 
 ments of emperor and pope, the Turkish menace, Germany's 
 lack of national unity, the fermenting economic discontent 
 of the peasantry, the rising prosperity and independence of 
 the cities, the invention of printing, the revival of learning, 
 and the occupation of such men as Reuchlin and Erasmus 
 with the original texts of Scripture, the genius of Luther 
 and his compeers, all the seething forces of the day, — aids 
 all, not causes, of the Reformation, — God directed so to 
 work together as to provide for His Gospel an entrance into 
 the hearts of men, to dethrone the despot priest, and to re- 
 establish the liberty of His children in His kingdom. 
 
 It will be instructive to trace the main stages of develop- 
 ment by which God trained and prepared the chief instrument 
 of the Reformation, Martin Luther. Luther had been taught 
 to fear God, and he strove, as few have striven, to acquire 
 by the way the Church taught him the righteousness that 
 had the approval of God. But neither his own works nor the 
 services of priests or saints brought comfort to his soul. 
 Then God led him to find in His Word the truth that 
 righteousness is by grace, through faith in Christ the Right- 
 eous, not acquired by merit of works, but the free gift of 
 God. It was a discovery that brought him peace, one he 
 pondered over incessantly and hastened to impart to all as, 
 to his simple belief, the actual, though obscured, doctrine of 
 
FOBMATION DEFORMATION REFORMATION. \ 1 
 
 the papal Church. What could he do but appeal against 
 the unspeakable blasphemy of Tetzel's indulgences to tlie 
 rulers of the Church, whom, despite the sins and abuses he 
 had occasion to witness among the clergy, he regarded as 
 divinely appointed? But, behold, bishop and cardinal and 
 pope sided with Tetzel against God! Surely, they erred. 
 God gave him boldness to speak out. And pope and cardinal 
 and bishop bade him be silent, silent about what God Himself 
 had spoken and had wrought in him! Nay, they placed 
 upon him the excommunication of the heretic! And yet 
 God's Word was true, and yet the doctrine of grace in Christ 
 'was true, and yet God still regarded him as Kis child and 
 a member of His Church ; for — now he saw it clearly — ■ 
 the Church was not the, visible Roman hierarchy, but "the 
 communion of saints," the company of all true believers, 
 each one of whom was a child of God and a priest of God 
 with free access, since Christ's coming, to the Father's heart. 
 With horror he realized the abysmal villainy of popery posing 
 as intermediary between God and man to the exclusion of 
 Christ. The pope? A blasphemous usurper he, "the man 
 of sin," "the son of perdition," the Antichrist enthroned in 
 God's temide ! Luther feared God ; he no longer feared the 
 pope. God had made him free. 
 
 Here was not a social reformer or a political agitator, 
 not a philosopher exposing the fallacy of popery, not a cham- 
 pion of the original rights of reason. Here was a soul in 
 eager search of salvation, a man whom God had given the 
 knowledge and peace of Christ, and strength to say to popes 
 and to princes, to mobs and to thinkers : "We ought to obey 
 God rather than men." 
 
 Three leading truths Luther had learned by the grace 
 of God : 
 
 1) Christ is the Prophet of His Church, the only infallible 
 Teacher. His written Word, the Word of God, is the saving 
 truth, the only safe rule of faith and life. 
 
 2) Christ is the Priest of His Church, whose one sacrifice 
 atoned for all the sins of all men. Only God's free grace in 
 Christ, the only and perfect ^Fediator, is the way of salvation. 
 
12 FORMATION DEFORilATlOX REFORM ATIOX. 
 
 3) Christ is the King of His Church, its only Master and 
 Head, and all members of His spiritual body and kingdom 
 are brethren. 
 
 With the glorious titles and offices of Christ the pope had 
 invested himself as "vicar of Christ/' and corrupted the way 
 of salvation; by restoring the way of salvation the Refor- 
 mation emancipated mankind from popery to worship the 
 living God in spirit and in truth. 
 
 When the old Gospel message of the wonderful works of 
 God again was heard, heard in the vernacular, as Bible-text, 
 catechetical instruction, sermon, or hymn, the Spirit of God 
 came in among men, and multitudes experienced with joy 
 what Luther had experienced. With lightning swiftness, as 
 if borne on angels' wings, the Word spread from mouth to 
 mouth, from land to land through Christendom. It achieved 
 what no political or social discontent, no enlightenment of 
 reason could have accomplished. When men once recognized 
 in Christ their only Mediator and Redeemer, the fear of 
 Rome fell from their hearts, they threw off the galling yoke 
 of the tyrant and worshiped Jesus Christ, their God and 
 King. 
 
 The Reformation, while not territorially coextensive with 
 the old-time domain of Rome, was in substance thorough and 
 complete and final. It rejected all popish errors, and re- 
 established all of God's truth. It gave back to men the 
 Bible, the true knowledge of justification, and the spiritual 
 priesthood of all believers. It evolved no new teaching. It 
 was a return to the eternal foundations, a revival and restora- 
 tion of apostolic Christianity, a regeneration. It established 
 a church in which again, as in apostolic days, precious things 
 were spoken, and in which a blessed people freely communed 
 with its God; a church which, conservative in spirit, re- 
 tained of the stately ritual grown up in tlie course of ages 
 whatever was consonant with Scripture; a church which, 
 tenacious of the liberty of God's children, declared the con- 
 gregations to be the seats of authority, defined its inde- 
 pendence from the State, and in time of need accepted the 
 guidance of princes only as tliat <»f prominent members 
 
LUTHER'S FAMIIA'. 13 
 
 of the ehurcli, prouoiinred the form of church-government 
 a matter of Christian liberty, and forbade binding men's 
 consciences with human ordinances as of like force with 
 divine commands ; a church which by a proper use of the 
 office of the keys segregated offenders from the flock, which 
 taught its members to honor hearth and home above the 
 cloister of the celibate, to obey civil magistrates, and to 
 regard labor in ordinary callings as of greater glory than 
 monkerj^ and which in a thousand ways was an unmeasured 
 blessing to the social, political, and intellectual life of man- 
 kind. The Church of the Reformation was built, in essential 
 conformity with the Apostolic Church, on the onlj^ and final 
 oracles of God. Other foundation can no man lay. Beyond 
 this it is not safe to go. To reform the Reformation, to seek 
 further development of the Church along "modern" lines, 
 away from Scripture truth, means another deformation, 
 a relapse into the pagan, papal religion of works. 
 
 The quadricentennial of the Reformation exhorts us to 
 value our glorious birthright in the Church of the Reforma- 
 tion, which as a free Church in this our land of freedom 
 lifts aloft the torch of truth t© guide us through the diffi- 
 culties of life and through the valley of the dark shadows. 
 Be it ours to maintain God's Word and Luther's doctrine 
 ]iure, holding that fast which we have, that no man take our 
 crown. Foes there are without number, but God is with 
 Ilis own, and will protect and prosper Ilis Church, until the 
 temple is completed, and Antichrist is destroyed with the 
 brightness of our Lord's coming. 
 
 Luther's Family. 
 
 Arthub II. C. Both, Chicago, 111. 
 
 Among the low. wooded hills of Thuringia, in the very 
 heart of the German States, lies the little village of Moehra. 
 It probably received its name from the character of the soil 
 around it, which is to a great extent moorland, and but 
 poorly suited to agriculture. The villagers of ^lochra cer- 
 
14 Luther's family. 
 
 tainly earned their bread in the sweat of their brow, for the 
 soil but poorly repaid them for their industry. Mining also 
 was carried on here, as copper had been found ; but the yield 
 was not so great as at Mansfeld and other places. 
 
 As a village, Moehra was insignificant. It was affiliated 
 with the neighboring parish, and though it had a little 
 chapel, yet it was without a priest. The villagers were mostly 
 independent peasants, who owned their homes and farms, 
 while others worked in the mines. They were a hardy and 
 sturdy race, and lived frugal, but honest lives. Their customs 
 were plain and vigorous. They were ever ready to defend 
 their rights with their fists, yet, withal. Christians, as Chris- 
 tianity went in those days. Time and again the youngest 
 sons had taken over their fathers' homes and farms, while 
 the older brothers sought their fortunes in other places and 
 other occupations. 
 
 From time immemorial Moehra had been the home of 
 the Luthers, and here Hans Luther had grown to manhood, 
 and entered the state of matrimony with Margareta Ziegler. 
 However, as custom deprived him of the hope of some day 
 taking over the paternal homestead, Hans thought he would 
 seek his fortune in some other place, and so, together with 
 his young wife, he emigrated to Eisleben, in the county of 
 Mansfeld. Here he hoped to find a better opportunity of 
 making an honest living by working in the mines, which in 
 those days were flourishing in a way never known around 
 Moehra. 
 
 Here in the miners' quarters at Eisleben, on the 10th of 
 November, 1483, their first child was born to the young- 
 couple, and, agreeably to the custom of the time, baptized 
 in St. Peter's Church on the following day. Because it was 
 the day of St. Martin, the child was named after that saint. 
 Tradition still points out the house in which Martin Luther 
 was born, though only the walls of the original house still 
 stand. Tlie church was later enlarged and called Peter and 
 Paul's Church. It is said that the present baptismal font 
 retains portions of the old. But so many miners were at- 
 tracted to Eisleben that Plans Luther failed to realize his 
 
LUTHER'S FAMILY. 15 
 
 expectations, and when Martin was only six months old, he 
 moved to Mansfeld, six miles away. 
 
 Mansfeld lies on the banks of a stream, is enclosed by 
 hills, and above it stands the stately castle of the counts to 
 whom the place belonged. The scenery is more severe and 
 the air harsher than at Moehra, and in general the people 
 were rougher than the Thuringians. Hans Luther found 
 employment in the mines, and his wife did all she could to 
 help to support the family. "My father," the Reformer said, 
 *'was a poor miner; my mother carried in all the wood 
 upon her back ; they worked the flesh off their bones to bring 
 us up." Gradually, however, things improved, and we hear 
 that Hans Luther leased two smelting-furnaces from the 
 counts for a term of years, and even bought a good dwelling- 
 house in the principal street of the town. Though his out- 
 ward prosperity did thus improve, the maintenance and 
 education of his family was a constant cause of anxiety. 
 
 Hans Luther bore a good reputation among his towns- 
 men, and as early as 1491 was a member of the town magis- 
 tracy. He associated with the best families, was personally 
 known to the counts and was much esteemed by them. When 
 Martin Luther had acquired fame, his parents frequently 
 visited him in Wittenberg, and moved with simple dignity 
 ai#)ng his friends. Melanchthon describes Hans Luther as 
 a man who by the puritj' of his character and conduct won 
 for himself universal affection and esteem. "The mother," 
 he says, "was a worthy woman, distinguished for her modesty, 
 her fear of God, and constant communion with God in 
 prayer." 
 
 In their home the Luthors maintained their children in 
 strict discipline, but they meant heartily well by it. They 
 taught their children simple prayers and hymns, and as they 
 themselves had been taught, represented God and Jesus as 
 stern judges, whose wrath would only be appeased by securing 
 the intercession of the saints. The Cluirch and the pope 
 were held in reverent awe. 
 
 Not yet five years old, Martin was sent to the town school. 
 In bad weather his father or Xicolas Gender, an older school- 
 
16 LUTHER'S FAMILY. 
 
 mate, who later married Luther's sister, often carried him 
 over the steep and long way to the schoolhouse. With dili- 
 gence he learned the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and 
 the Lord's Prayer. He was also instructed in reading, 
 writing, and in the rudiments of Latin grammar. The 
 teachers, however, were extremely severe and rude, and 
 Luther complains in later life that the examinations were 
 like a trial for murder. Still there was no other schooling 
 to be had in his days, and his father had decided to give his 
 son all the education he could get. After finishing the 
 course of the school at Mansfeld at the tender age of 
 fourteen, we behold Martin leaving his paternal home with 
 Hans Reinecke, whose father was overseer of the mines 
 at Mansfeld, to take up his studies at Magdeburg. And so 
 we also leave the family of Hans and Margareta Luther 
 in Mansfeld, and follow the great Reformer into his own 
 family. 
 
 One day, in the fall of 1508, the good folks of Wittenberg 
 beheld a pale and emaciated monk of about twenty-five years 
 enter their city over the wooden bridge that crossed the Elbe. 
 He had come from Erfurt and asked to be directed to the 
 Augustinian Convent, where he was to find shelter and food 
 with the brothers of his order. His departure from Erfurt 
 had been so abrupt and unexpected that "Brother Augustine" 
 had not found time to take formal leave of his friends; and 
 his entrance at Wittenberg was just as sudden and informal. 
 But he had come at the command of his superior, Dr. Stau- 
 pitz, and by the will of the Elector of Saxony, to be one of 
 the professors at the University of Wittenberg, which had 
 been founded in 1502, and for which institution only the 
 very best talent was being sought. x\t once our good friar 
 engaged in his occupation, and, as was to be expected, de- 
 voted all his time and his enormous energies to his new task. 
 The wisdom of Dr. Staupitz in selecting Luther soon became 
 apparent, and before long the renown of the young professor 
 spread far beyond his university. 
 
 But though his fame grew, he remained the pious and 
 humble brother, and lived scrupulously and conscientiously 
 
LUTHER'S FAMILY. 17 
 
 according to the rules of his eonvent. Little did he need to 
 supply his daily wants. Often a few pieces of bread and 
 a little salt made up his daily ration. His i3ersonal comfort 
 he neglected altogether. Melanchthon says that for a whole 
 year he did not take time to make his bed or change his 
 bedding. The days passed too raj)idly, and often there was 
 not time enough for all the reading', writing, and studying 
 that he wished to do. 
 
 Thus seventeen years passed, and in them many great 
 events occurred. The Ninety-iive Theses had been nailed 
 to the door of the Castle Church. Luther had faced Church 
 and State at Worms, the New Testament had been translated 
 into the country's vernacular, and the German people were 
 drinking divine truth from its undefiled fountainhead, and 
 thousands of Christians had become divinely assured of their 
 salvation by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith. Luther 
 had been exconmiunicated and outlawed, and yet he lived, 
 and his influence grew from day to day. 
 
 A natural result of Luther's evangelical preaching was 
 that monasticism lost its imagined virtue with the people. 
 Matrimony again became a holy estate. Priests and monks 
 realized the Biblical truth that it is not good that man should 
 be alone. They had vainly sought to achieve the acme of 
 holiness in the unevangelical, papal institution of celibacy, 
 that man should be alone. Many, therefore, left their e(»n- 
 vents, and took wives, and began to live as God had ordained 
 it soon afer creation. 
 
 At last Luther also, rather suddenly and without con- 
 sulting many friends, decided to prove his teaching by his 
 own example. To please his old father, and to spite the 
 devil, he laid aside his monk's cowl, and repudiated his vow 
 of celibacy, and in the presence of Bugenhagen, Justus 
 Jonas, Dr. Apel, and Lucas Cranach reverently and in the 
 fear of God took Catherine Von Bora to be his wedded wife. 
 The marriage was solemnized by Bugenhagen, the city pastor,. 
 in the customary way, on June 13, 1525. Two weeks later 
 a public celebration took place, at which his parents also 
 were present. 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 2 
 
18 LUTHER'S FAMILY. 
 
 The former convent, which during the last years had been 
 occupied by only Luther and Brisger, the prior, now became 
 the home of the great Reformer and his family with their 
 many friends and guests, both illustrious men and poor 
 students, near relatives and parasites. Now no longer were 
 the vigils kept, nor the fasts practised, nor the hours prayed; 
 no longer did the gloom and austerity of the monastic mode 
 of living prevail. Through its halls and rooms now re- 
 sounded the joyful laughter and singing of children, the 
 pleasant conversation of Kate and Aunt Lena and the ladies. 
 The old cloister had become an evangelical parsonage. 
 Instead of chanting the various liturgies to the saints, the 
 Ave Marias, the matins and vespers, the household now 
 joined in family devotion, praying the Ten Commandments, 
 the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and Psalms. A new order, 
 indeed, had been introduced. 
 
 Though Luther's marriage to Catherine Von Bora was 
 not at all romantic, yet he certainly loved her with a pious 
 and pure affection, and Catherine willingly reciprocated his 
 love. Luther's letters to his wife plainly show this> as do 
 also remarks which he made about her to his friends. In 
 fine Christian harmony they lived together and for each 
 other. 
 
 From morning till evening Kate was busy with the affairs 
 of the house and garden. She purchased the necessary 
 supplies, provided for the ever present guests, ruled the 
 servants and maids, and cared for the physical wants of the 
 children. The house was truly Kate's domain, and very 
 seldom did Luther take any part in the management of its 
 affairs. In fact, he had neither the time nor the inclination 
 for these things. 
 
 The simplicity of living which he had practised in the 
 convent he kept up in his own home. As a rule, plain, but 
 wholesome food was served to the family. Only on special 
 occasions would finer food be seen on his table. In both 
 eating and drinking he was moderate. When away from 
 home and dining more elegantly, he would write to his 
 
lutheb's family. ][9 
 
 Kate and tell lier how well he liked his meals at home. At 
 times, when sorely pressed with work, he would lock himself 
 lip in his study, and even forget all about his meals. The 
 little physical exercise which he permitted himself, and which 
 he certainly needed, he sought in his garden or at the turner's 
 lathe together with his faitiiful old servant Wolfgang Sie- 
 berger. 
 
 Luther's family consisted of six children. The oldest 
 was Hans, who was born on June 7, 1526. He studied law 
 and became counselor at the court at Weimar. Elizabeth 
 died in early infancy. To a friend Luther wrote : "Elizabeth 
 bade us farewell to go to Christ, through death to life/' 
 To another he wrote: "She left me with a strangely ill, 
 almost effeminate heart," so deeply did the death of his 
 little babe touch this great man. On May 4, 1529, his little 
 darling Magdalene was born. She was a gentle and pious 
 child, and never caused her father to be angry with her. 
 Returning from a recreation trip in 1542, he found his 
 darling seriously ill. She longed to see her brother Hans, 
 who was attending school at Torgau. So Hans was brought 
 home. Piously resigned to the will of God, Luther saw her 
 strength fail her, and prayed to God : "I love her exceedingly 
 well; but, gracious God,, if it is Thy will to take her, I will 
 gladly know her to be with Thee." Shortly before she died 
 he asked her, "Magdalene, my little daughter, you would like 
 to remain here with your father, and you would also gladly 
 go to your heavenly Father?" She answered, *^*Yes, kindest 
 father, as God wills." While Luther knelt before her bed, 
 weeping bitterly and praying for her delivery, she breathed 
 her last. His next son was Martin. He studied theology, 
 but never held a position. He was sickly, and died at the 
 age of thirty-three. Paul, the youngest son, studied medicine, 
 and became a physician of good reputation. His youngest 
 child was IMargaret. Of Paul and Margaret there is posterity 
 living in our time. ^lartin never married, ;ind H;ni-^'-; only 
 daughter died childless. 
 
 Besides these children we tind in Luthei*'s home many 
 
20 lutheb's family. 
 
 of his nephews and nieces. As eleven of these had lost their 
 parents, he brought them up as his own children. 
 
 Luther's love of children and his appreciation of their 
 childish joys and ways is very beautifully shown in his letter 
 to Hans. As this is without a doubt a classic piece of 
 juvenile literature, we reproduce it here in whole as trans- 
 lated by Preserved Smith. 
 
 To Hans Luther at Wittenberg. 
 
 Castle Coburg, June 19, 1530. 
 
 Grace and peace in Christ, dear little son. I am glad 
 to hear that you are studying and saying your prayers. Con- 
 tinue to do so, my son, and when I come home, I will bring 
 you a pretty present. 
 
 I know a lovely, i^leasant garden, where many children 
 are; they wear golden jackets, and gather nice apples under 
 the trees, and pears, and cherries, and purple plums, and 
 yellow plums, and sing and run and jump, and are happy, 
 and have pretty little ponies with golden reins and silver 
 saddles. I asked the man who owned the garden whose 
 children they were. He said, "They are the children who 
 say their prayers, and study, and are good." Then said I, 
 "Dear man, I also have a son, w^iose name is Hans Luther: 
 may he come into the garden, and eat the sweet apples and 
 pears, and ride a fine pony, and play with these children ?'' 
 Then the man said, "If he says his prayers and is good, he 
 can come into the garden, and Phil and Justy, too; and when 
 they all come, they shall have whistles and drums and fifes, 
 and dance, and shoot little cross-bows." Then he showed me 
 a fine, large lawn in the garden for dancing, where hang 
 real golden whistles and fine silver cross-bows. But it was 
 yet early, and the children had not finished eating, and 
 I could not wait to see them dance, so I said to the man, 
 "My dear sir, I must go away and write at once to my dear 
 little Hans about all this, so that he will say his prayers, 
 and study, and be good, so that he may come into the 
 garden. And he has an auntie, Lena, whom he must bring 
 
LUTHER'S FAMILY. 21 
 
 with him," Then the man said, "All right, j^o JJ-nd tell him 
 about it." So, dear little Hans, study and say your prayers, 
 and tell Phil and Justy to say their prayers and study, too, 
 so you may all come into the garden together. God bless you. 
 Give Auntie Lena my love and a kiss from me. 
 
 Your loving father, 
 
 Martin Lutiikr. 
 
 Delightful were the social evenings, when Luther would 
 forget all the worries of his labors, and the children would 
 gather about their parents, together with the other members 
 of the family. These evenings were spent with singing and 
 cheerful talk. For one of the many happy Christmas 
 evenings that the family si)ent together with Melanchthon 
 and others Luther had composed our glorious Christmas song 
 "From Heav'n Above to Earth I Come." Some days before 
 he had been in deep meditation over this wonderful event, 
 when his wife Kate had asked him to mind the baby a little, 
 as it was impossible for her to attend to all her duties. Still 
 having his mind on the Gospel story, he began to rock the 
 cradle. The mechanical swing of the cradle went back and 
 forth, while in his mind he saw the events of Bethlehem's 
 field pass before it. The child rested quietly. It reminded 
 him of the Child in the manger and the song of the angels. 
 Unconsciously his musical nature was moved; he began to 
 hum to the time of the swinging cradle; he finally began to 
 sing, and his song was our well-known "From Heav'n Above 
 to Earth I Come." On Christmas Eve he sang it to the 
 children, and soon they, too, learned it, and all sang it 
 to the glory of the new-bom Babe, while Luther furnished 
 the accompaniment to it on his lute. 
 
 Luther's parents often visited their famous son, but never 
 lived with him. When they were very old, he wished to take 
 them into his own home, and to repay them for what they 
 had done for him during his childhood. However, they kept 
 up their own home in Mansfeld. His father died while 
 Luther was at the Castle Coburg, in 1530, and his mother 
 
22 ltjthee's family. 
 
 a year later. To each of them he sent a comforting letter 
 before they died. 
 
 Among the many guests who enjoyed Luther's hospitality 
 for a longer or shorter time were Johann Mathesius, Hierony- 
 mus Weller, Veit Dietrich, and G. Roerer. Mathesius was 
 the fii'st biographer of Luther. From the pulpit of his church 
 in Joachimsthal he related the life of Luther as he had in 
 part seen it lived, and as it had been told him by others who 
 were near to Luther. Veit Dietrich was responsible for the 
 written account of much of the "Table Talk," for he would 
 often, even at the table, write down Luther's remarks. He 
 also wrote down the sermons that Luther preached to his 
 family when illness kept him out of the pulpit in church. 
 Weller was tutor to little Hans. 
 
 It is strange to see how in our day Luther's glorious 
 books and treatises are overlooked more or less (nearly always 
 more by those not of the Lutheran faith), while his "Table 
 Talk" is quoted as the book which really shows Luther up 
 best. It is true, his conversation at table was free and un- 
 concerned. It touches many and various topics. It is very 
 interesting. It was rarely premeditated, and nearly always 
 occasioned by some remark or question of one of his guests. 
 It was not written by Luther, and never printed with his 
 consent, but, as stated above, by those who heard him talk 
 at table. He did, however, either during the meal or imme- 
 diately after it, expound the Eighth and Twenty-third Psalms 
 and also chapters 8 to 18 of Matthew, to assist Weller in 
 his theological lectures. These expositions were later cor- 
 rected by Luther and printed with his approval. 
 
 Luther's income never was large. As a monk he depended 
 for his living on the resources of the convent. He refused 
 to accept pay from his publishers, although they grew rich 
 from the rapid sales of his books. His services to the uni- 
 versity also were really gratis, as he did not collect the 
 customary fees from his students. Neither did his position 
 as city pastor bring him any fixed remuneration. The Elector 
 of Saxony had at first given him a yearly compensation of 
 
luthek's family. 23 
 
 300 gulden, equal to from four to six times as much in our 
 money. He also made him a present of the former convent, 
 so that he might use it as his own private home. Later on 
 Luther bought a little house near his home and three gardens, 
 and in 1540 the little country estate of Zuelsdorf for 610 
 gulden. The convent, which had not been completely built 
 up, he finished, and the city council sent him stone and 
 lime for this purpose. The King of Denmark gave him an 
 honorary salary of 50 gulden per annum during his last 
 years. Some noblemen regularly sent him supplies for the 
 table, and others gave him costly presents of goblets, chains, 
 and rings. Luther estimated the value of these presents at 
 1,000 gulden. But as it was impossible for him to pay the 
 entire purchase price for the Zuelsdorf property, he states in 
 1542 that he was indebted to the amount of 460 gulden. His 
 income had in time increased, but so had also his expenses 
 and his charities, and after his death Kate was obliged to 
 take roomers and boarders to make her living. So Luther, 
 while he probably had a chance to make a fortune, never 
 did it. He was content to have his daily bread, and would 
 not seek the wealth of this world. He was, first, last, and 
 all the time, the servant of God, preaching the righteousness 
 that avails before God. 
 
 Luther's family has ever been the ideal of the Evangelical 
 Lutheran pastor's home. Since the Reformation the pastor 
 has again become a man of family. He no longer lives in 
 the seclusion of a wrongfully called higher state. He lives 
 as other men. His family life is an example to his flock; 
 In his family the Word of God rules. Christian conduct is 
 observed, and Christian ideals followed both as to rearing 
 and educating of children. The family learns and lives its, 
 faith, as it was done in Luther's family. 
 
24 iUTHER'S SUCCESSIVE APPEALS. 
 
 Luther's Successive Appeals. 
 
 The Most Momentous Period of Luther's Life. 
 
 1517—1521. 
 
 (Reference, freely used: Martin Luther; His Life and Works, hy 
 
 Peter Bayne, Cassell & Co.) 
 
 Rev. C. C. Morhart, Cleveland, O. 
 
 "There was a reformation in Luther, as well as a Refor- 
 mation by Luther." When Luther published the theses, he 
 was sure that he stood on the Bible and the ancient faith of 
 the Church. He did not, however, see how much the Church 
 had departed from the Bible and Christian truth. That 
 knowledge came to him gradually during a period of conflict 
 which ended only with his excommunication from the Church 
 and the final emphatic refusal on his part to accept the 
 authority of the pope or the authority of church-councils 
 against the authority of the Scriptures. 
 
 Luther's conflict with human authority and his firm ad- 
 herence to Scripture is most clearly seen in his successive 
 appeals: 1. from indulgence-vender to the pope; 2. from 
 the pope ill-informed to the pope better informed; 3. from 
 the pope to the council; 4. from councils to Scriptures. 
 
 The celebrated Ninety-five Theses against the sale of 
 indulgences had been nailed to the door of the Castle Church 
 on the 31st day of October, 1517. That was the first great 
 scene in Luther's life. In those theses, liowever, Luther did 
 not doubt the pope's authority. In many of the theses be 
 speaks, with indirect appeal, as the candid friend of the pope. 
 "^'Christians are to be taught that the pope, if only he 
 were acquainted with the cruel extortions of the indulgence- 
 preachers, would rather that St. Peter's Church were burned 
 to ashes than that it should be built up with the skin, flesh, 
 and bones of his sheep." Some of the queries, however, were 
 quite pungent. "Why does not the pope release all souls 
 from purgatory out of sheer impulse of thrice holy love? 
 Is not this the most righteous of motives ?" And this question 
 still rings on. If the pope can release, why does he not 
 release all souls from purgatory without money and without 
 
JLUTHERS SUCCESSIVE APPEALS. 25 
 
 price? Thus the theses spoiled Tetzel's track', but neverthe- 
 less presumed that the pope's meaning was in accord with 
 orthodox Catholic authorities. 
 
 Conflict, however, could not be avoided. The champions 
 of the Church's forgiveness who were opposed to God's for- 
 giveness rushed into the fray. The fiercest enemy. Dr. Eck, 
 launched a book against Luther. All hope of peace within 
 the Catholic Church was destroyed by the folly of its 
 champions. 
 
 In self-defense, Luther prepared a treatise containing the 
 theses and a conmientary on them. This treatise was Luther's 
 deliberate and respectful appeal from indulgence-venders lo 
 the pope. He was firmly convinced that, in essentials, the 
 Church was on his side, and that he was entitled to friendly 
 consideration by the pope. Therefore he also addressed 
 a personal letter to the pope. The treatise itself was of 
 comparatively slight moment, but the personal appeal deserves 
 attention. 
 
 Luther begins the letter by observing that an evil report 
 has been carried of him to the ears of Leo. Tie then lays 
 before the pope a plain statement of what ho has done. He 
 had attacked the offensive and extravagant preaching of 
 indulgences because it turned the authority of the Church 
 into a scandal or a laughing-stock, and filled uniustructed 
 minds with the most pernicious and impious errors. He had 
 written privately to his superiors. Then the idea had oc- 
 curred to him of publishing theses and challenging the evil 
 in public debates. The manner in which the theses had 
 spread abroad had been, he says, to him a perfect miracle. 
 But what was now to be done? It was beyond his power to 
 withdraw the theses from circulation. The best course seemed 
 to be to put a supplementary comment ujjon the propositions, 
 which he now placed before "the most blessed father." Those 
 who had misunderstood him might now see how reverently 
 he respected the authority of the Church and the power of 
 the keys, how false had been the charges of heresy and 
 rebellion hurled against him by his adversaries. In con- 
 clusion, as an expression of the affection with which, from 
 
26 LUTHER'S SUCCESSIVE APPEALS. 
 
 childhood, he had regarded the father of Christendom, he 
 passionately declares his willingness to submit to the judg- 
 ment of Leo as the voice of Christ ruling in him. 
 
 This celebrated letter of appeal has been variously inter- 
 preted. But it is certain that Luther never kept his promise 
 to submit to the pope with implicit submission. Luther 
 himself, in subsequent years, looked back with bitter self- 
 reproach upon what he considered the besotted popery of the 
 letter. He had taken it for granted that since the most 
 majestic voices of the Church, such as St. Augustine and 
 St. Bernard, spoke on his side, the pope would be in his favor. 
 Instead of this, he found that the voice of Pope Leo was not 
 the voice of God. His relation to the pope was that of 
 a faithful officer to a traitorous commander. The pope had 
 even condemned him before the treatise and the letter were 
 issued. 
 
 When the thunderclap of the theses reached the ears of 
 Pope Leo, one of his attendants, Prierias, probably directed 
 by his master, at once wrote an answer to them. Luther 
 mentions the performance as early as the 7th of January, 
 1518, but kept quiet. News of this attack was followed by 
 the report that the pope had appointed Prierias and another 
 person a commission to try Luther. Luther thereupon de- 
 cided to deal with the reply. The champion of the pope had 
 laid down, as one of the grand foundations of his argument, 
 the following proposition: "Whosoever is not imbued with 
 the doctrine of the Roman Church and the Poman pontiff, as 
 the infallible rule of faith, from which even Holy Scripture 
 draws its strength and authority, is a heretic." According to 
 this, the Church of Rome and the pope take precedence of 
 Scripture. Luther challenged the right of any man, or body 
 of men, to exert authority over the Bible. Thus the Reforma- 
 tion introduced nothing new. Roman Catholics who claim 
 that Protestantism must be wrong because it introduced 
 something new cannot charge Luther's appeal to the original 
 inspiration with introducing a newer thing than the Bible. 
 The open Bible was the great principle restored to the world 
 by Luther. 
 
tUTHEB'S SUCCESSIVE APPEALS. 27 
 
 Justice required an impartial hearing and a fair trial. 
 Here was a commission whose head had attacked Luther 
 as a heretic, and which also cited him to appear at Rome 
 within sixty days to take his trial. This llagrancy caused 
 Luther to disregard both the court and the sununons. His 
 willingness to submit to the judgment of the pope could not 
 include submission to such a judge. With prompt decision 
 he took steps to secure that he be tried in Germany. This 
 was effected by Frederick, the Electoral Prince of Saxony. 
 The place was to be Augsburg; the judge. Cardinal Cajetan. 
 But Luther refused to wait upon the cardinal until a safe- 
 conduct was provided. 
 
 The discussions were destined to lead to a new appeal 
 from the pope ill-informed to the pope better informed. At 
 fii'st the cardinal was disposed to dismiss Luther with smiles 
 if only he would acknowledge the sanctity and authority of 
 the pope and the Church, apologize for words rashly spoken, 
 and permit himself to be muzzled. Luther, of course, was 
 unmoved. He told the cardinal that he would gladly recant 
 if his error were brought home to him. He maintained that 
 the Church and the best Catholic authorities were on his side, 
 and that it must be proved that they were against him. He 
 declined to take the pope's personal word in place of proof 
 from the Scripture. The cardinal, however, declined to 
 enter upon any attempt to convince Luther that he had been 
 in error, and simply insisted that Luther recant. But grad- 
 ually he was drawn into an exchange of arguments. Why 
 should not a mighty and learned cardinal grant a few words 
 of irresistible logic to confound a puny monk? He con- 
 descended to show that the pope could grant indulgences 
 because he had at his disposal a treasure of merit which could 
 be dealt out, whether to living or to dead. Luther, however, 
 was convinced that God alone could forgive sin, that the 
 Church, exercising the power of the keys, could only recog- 
 nize what God had done, and that a treasury of merit, distinct 
 from the power of the keys, was a mere fiction. The only 
 and infinite treasury is the treasury of Christ's merits. The 
 blood of Christ, and not the fictitious treasury of the pope. 
 
28 Luther's successive appeals. 
 
 cleanseth us from all sin. In reply to this, the cardinal hit 
 upon a short and easy method to silence Luther. "Pope 
 Clement," he cried out, "had expressly declared that the 
 merits of Christ were the treasure of indulgences." The 
 debate, therefore, was at an end; he absolutely declined to 
 have any more discussion on a matter which had been decided 
 by a pope. When Luther continued to press for further hear- 
 ing, the cardinal finally consented to grant Luther to reply in 
 writing. But \^'hen Luther presented his defense of the doc- 
 trine of pardon by the grace of God, not by letter of papal in- 
 dulgence, the cardinal fell back upon his position that Pope 
 Clement had settled the matter. As often as Luther at- 
 tempted to speak, the cardinal bellowed him down. What 
 was Luther to do? Suddenly elevating his voice, he cried 
 out with a vehemence that cowed his opponent enough to 
 make him listen that, if Pope Clement could be shown to 
 have meant the merits of Christ to be the treasure of indul- 
 g-ence, he, Luther, would recant. 
 
 The cardinal scarcely believed his ears. He soon broke 
 out into ecstasy. Here is the book, then; here are the very 
 words of Pope Clement ; now subside, thou preposterous little 
 hornet of a monk! Cajetan himself reads aloud, with exul- 
 tation, the very words in which Pope Clement affirms that 
 Christ by the merits of His Passion "acquired the treasure 
 of indulgence." But Luther cried out at once: H Christ by 
 the merits of His Passion acquired the treasure, then the 
 merits could not be the treasui*e. The price of a thing and 
 the thing itself were as distinct as any two things could be; 
 the two were no more the same than a cardinal's hat and 
 the price paid for it were the same; it was one thing to be 
 a treasure, and another to acquire a treasure. The pope's 
 treasure was not the treasure of Christ's merits; hence in- 
 dulgences and their sale were not of Christ, but fictitious. 
 The laugh was clearly upon the side of the little friar. At 
 this pass the cardinal, having lost everything, also lost his 
 temper, and told Luther to get out of his sight. And thus 
 ended the second memorable scene in the life of Luther. — 
 
 On that same 14th day of October, 1518, Luther, under 
 
LUTHEIK S SUCCESSIVE APPEALS. 29 
 
 the advice of shrewd lawyers, drew up a concise and energetic 
 appeal from the pope ill-informed to the pope to he letter 
 informed. What Luther complained of was the cardinal's 
 obstinate refusal to argue the question in dispute fairly on 
 its merits. Towards the pope Luther had striven to maintain 
 a sentiment of loj'al hope. 
 
 On his homeward journey Luther received the copy of 
 an order which tlie pope had sent to the cardinal, directing;' 
 him to arrest Luther, and convey him to Home as a heretic 
 unless he recanted. It is not certain that the cardinal re- 
 ceived the order before the meeting, but he certainly did not 
 dare to carry it out. The pope had blundered again, as he 
 had done when he at first had considered the theses a mere 
 squabble among monks, and also when he delegated Prierias 
 to mcxldle with the matter. Xor did better information 
 <'liange him. 
 
 The following events led to Luther's appeal from the poi)e 
 to the council. The worsted cardinal proceeded to unfold 
 all the resources of his anger. In a letter to the Elector 
 Frederick he demanded that Luther be delivered up for trans- 
 mission to Rome, or, at least, expelled from his country. 
 This letter was forwarded by the Elector to Luther. In reply, 
 Luther, having been asked to relinquish his errors, demanded 
 to be illuminated as to what those errors were. The cardinal 
 had mentioned that it was an error on the part of Luther 
 to hold that the recipient of a sacrament must be a believer 
 in the sacrament to be benehted by it. Luther stated that 
 he could not yield on this point. For if the priest by his 
 consecrating formula could make the sacrament an unfailing 
 channel of salvation, regardless of the spiritual state of those 
 who receive it, then salvation is of the i)riest, and the whole 
 system of the Roman C^atholic Church depends upon that. 
 But if it is the grace of God, accepted by faith, which saves, 
 by means of the sacrament or the Word, then Luther, to save 
 his life, could not give up his position. 
 
 It is not surprising that new and terrible thoughts were 
 crowding upon Luther. lie was amazed that such men as 
 Pope Leo and his followers should rule the Church. Already 
 
30 Luther's successive appeals. 
 
 he suspected the pope of being the Antichrist foretold by 
 the Scriptures. There were indications that the pope would 
 try to kill him. The appeals had been futile. Therefore 
 Luther resolved not to place himself in the pope's power. 
 To secure the legality of his position he drew up an appeal 
 to a council. The points involved were points which con- 
 cerned the whole Church ; the Church therefore should speak 
 through its representatives at a free and general council. — 
 But that, too, was not to be. 
 
 The friends of Luther now entreated him to refrain from 
 publishing accounts of his interviews with Cajetan, or his 
 appeal to a council, or any other document likely to cause 
 trouble with Rome. But Luther tells his friend Spalatin 
 frankly that if he remains in Wittenberg, he will insist upon 
 liberty of speech and writing. Thus Luther stood for the 
 great modern principles of free speech and a free press. 
 Luther also believed in the separation of Church and State, 
 and never relied on the power of his political friends. These 
 friends, however, helped him with magnanimous forbearance. 
 
 When the Elector Frederick received Luther's masterly 
 reply to Cajetan's letter in the form of a letter, the prince 
 himself wrote a memorable letter to Cajetan, to be forwarded 
 with Luther's reply. In it the Elector tells Cajetan that 
 Luther had been sent to Augsburg to receive a hearing, 
 according to Cajetan's own promise, and not a mere com- 
 mand to retract. Frederick cannot possibly take Luther's 
 heresy for granted, or treat him as a heretic unless he is 
 proved to be one. Others also were disposed to doubt whether 
 Luther's doctrine was indeed heretical. He therefore had 
 sent Cajetan's letter to Luther, and now enclosed the reply. 
 Frederick, supported by public opinion, was convinced that 
 he could not do wrong in letting the Bible be seen by its 
 own light. If the Elector had not taken this position, the 
 main current of modern history might have flowed in a dif- 
 ferent channel. 
 
 Cajetan having failed, the pope appointed Charles von 
 Miltitz, a German gentleman resident in Rome, to solve the 
 Luther problem. This new envoy proceeded to Germany, 
 
lutheb's successive appeals. 31 
 
 and had several unsuccessful interviews with Luther. His 
 conduct was irreproachable; but Luther never changed his 
 belief that the mission was hollow. The messages from Rome 
 were too murderously severe, the professions of Miltitz were 
 too friendly. The envoy, however, repudiated Tetzel, and 
 acknowledged that, in the matter of indulgences, Luther had 
 been in the right. The negotiations ended in an arrangement 
 that Luther should have his case decided by the bishop of 
 Salzburg, and that, in the mean time, he should suspend 
 his opposition if the attacks against him were also suspended. 
 
 There was, however, no suspension of controversy. It 
 was inevitable that there should be a reaction against the 
 onward impulse communicated by Luther. The first shock 
 between reform and reaction was the Leipzig disputation. 
 The combat was to be between Eck and Carlstadt, but since 
 Eck in writing aimed his thrusts at Luther and not against 
 Carlstadt, Luther determined to take part in the argumenta- 
 tion on the side of Carlstadt. His inquiry into the origin 
 and grounds of the pope's power had led him to conclude that 
 the Church of Rome had no divine right to superiority over 
 other churches. Although he had no objection to admit 
 a primacy of the pope under certain qualifications, he divined 
 that the pope who reigned in the Roman court was the true 
 Antichrist, Thus the question between Luther and Eck was 
 the question of the pope and the Church. The shrewdest 
 Romanists, however, convinced that their best policy was 
 silence, disapproved of the discussion. 
 
 The disputation at Leipzig began on the 27th of June, 
 1519, and, like the theses and the appearance before Cajetan, 
 constituted a memorable scene in the life of Luther. Eck 
 defended the portentous error, which had for a thousand 
 years kept the mind of Europe in thraldom, that the pope 
 was the successor of St. Peter, upon whom Christ Himself 
 had, in words recorded by St. Matthew, conferred the primacy 
 of the Church, the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The pope, 
 like Christ, must therefore be king over the kings of the 
 world. All who refuse to submit to him pass beyond the 
 pale of salvation. And this view, he averred, was supported 
 
32 Luther's successive appeals. 
 
 during many ages by a procession of illustrious fathers and 
 divines. Against this, Luther contended that Christ governs 
 now, and is the sole King of the Church, who has not dele- 
 gated Plis divine right to any man, any church, or any 
 aggregate of churches. But this does not exclude church- 
 government, or unity, or order and regulation, or natural 
 leadership. The principles of church-government exclude 
 lordship, and include the spiritual equality of Christians. 
 The Church of Rome might, however, by human right, in 
 virtue of a natural qualification, conduct the administration 
 of the whole in virtue of a natural qualification, as the church 
 at Jerusalem at first had held the lead because it possessed 
 the most eminent men and rendered the most excellent 
 service. A fixed papacy- was not Christ's conception of the 
 kingdom of heaven. And thus the Protestant Church to-day 
 recognizes no lordship in the Church, neither papal nor 
 Lutheran. Lordship in the Church is Romanism. 
 
 A new turn to the debate was given by Luther's view 
 that men are free to proclaim the Gospel according to the 
 light of conscience and of the Bible. This was a view that 
 had been held by some whom fervent papists looked upon as 
 heretics. Accordingly, Eck, as Cajetan had done, took a new 
 departure, and blandly inquired if this view did not bring 
 Luther into association with the heretics of Bohemia, Luther 
 felt the blow. He refused to be identified with the Bo- 
 hemians, but added that among the articles of Hus were 
 "many whose character was plainly and superlatively Chris- 
 tian." The assemblage held its breath. "That is insanity!" 
 exclaimed Duke George of Saxony. Hus had died by fire 
 as an enemy of God and man ; it was the Council of 
 Constance that had sent him to the stake. It seemed plain 
 that Luther must be a patron of heresy and anarchy. Eck, 
 having the advantage of being on the popular side, denounced 
 as damnable the teaching of Hus and Wyclif, that acceptance 
 of Roman supremacy was not necessary to salvation. It 
 became plain that the stormy discussion could lead to no 
 agreement. Luther had not yet learned by sad experience 
 how hard men are to convince, how difiicult to teach. 
 
LUTHER S SUCCESSIVK AI'I'KALS. 33 
 
 The Leipzig disputation was a landmark in the history 
 of the Reformation because it afforded Luther occasion for 
 the clear statement of his view of the Church. It can easily 
 be seen that Luther's scheme of the Church was that of the 
 New Testament. The disputation is also notable on account 
 of Lutliei*'s first public recognition of IIus as forerunner. In 
 speaking a clear, bold word for Hus, Luther struck at council 
 as w^ell as pope, virtually denying infallibility to both, virtu- 
 ally asserting that there is, from both, an appeal to the 
 court of conscience and the Wo7'd of God. The debate also 
 impelled Lutlier into more thoroughgoing opposition to the 
 pope. He began to see that it was not practicable for him 
 to w^ork within the Roman Church as an advocate of freedom 
 and the Bible, and that it was his duty to assail Babylon 
 from without. The right of private judgment, that great 
 principle established again by Luther, was ever firmly main- 
 tained by him even to a break with Rome. 
 
 Luther's new attitude toward Rome w^as revealed in the 
 publication of his Address to the Nobles and People of 
 Germany. This address, if weighed in the scales of reason, 
 would overbalance that of many a famous battle. At the 
 outset he breaks down three rampart walls of Rome. The 
 first is the claim of the pope and his priests to a superiority 
 of the body of Christians. The second is the claim of the 
 pope to interpret Scripture and rule in its name. The tliird 
 is the claim of the pope that all proceedings with a view to 
 reform are wrong unless they are initiated by him. Then 
 he states the work a general council should undertake. In 
 turn he then treats of papal pretenses, celibacy of the clergy, 
 mechanical prayers, and church-festivals, miracle-shrines, 
 papal dispensations. Antichrist, heretics, and death by fire, 
 university reform and Aristotle, economical matters, agri- 
 culture and trade, gorging and guzzling, the social evil, — 
 closing words. From this publication may be dated the com- 
 mencement of that sovereignty over the hearts and minds 
 of his countrymen which Luther has always held. Luther 
 became the educator of the masses and eventually the founder 
 Four Hundred Year';. ;j 
 
34 LUTHER'S SUCCESSIVE APPEALS. 
 
 of the present public school system, — another great modern 
 principle. 
 
 The opposition of the papal party now reached a climax. 
 Eck, Luther's antagonist at Leipzig, had, in his fury, gone 
 to Rome, and raised all the powers of the abyss. Finally, 
 the pope issued the world-famous bull of excommunication. 
 Luther quickly made up his mind concerning it, for he per- 
 ceived that it condemned Christ. He was, at last, "quite 
 certain that the pope is Antichrist, and that the modern seat 
 of Satan has been found." The bull condemned forty-one 
 propositions representing Luther's views. Luther was charged 
 with heresy for denying that the Church of Rome had been 
 appointed by Christ to take precedence of all other churches 
 till the end of time in virtue of His gift to Peter. It was 
 called heresy to say that a pope has ever been in error. One 
 of the heresies with which Luther was charged possesses 
 unusvial interest for the modern world. The thirty-third 
 heresy of Luther is that he said : "To burn heretics is against 
 the will of God." For twelve hundred years the Church and 
 the State had burned heretics. The proposal to repeal this 
 law was now placed on the roll of Luther's infamies. But 
 this repeal advocated by Luther is the charter of intellectual 
 and moral freedom for the world, and must ever be remem- 
 bered in Luther's praise. And Luther very fittingly answered 
 the bull, not by burning papists, but by burning the paper. 
 
 The area of conflict between Luther and Rome grew 
 constantly wider, and now whole nations were involved. But 
 Luther ever remained averse to the introduction of physical 
 force into the Lord's battle. He had appealed in vain to men ; 
 there was, however, no appeal to arms. Never for a moment 
 did he forget that the weapons of Christian force are spir- 
 itual. Nor could Luther own the authority of any earthly 
 power to dictate law to conscience contrary to the great prin- 
 ciples of freedom of conscience and the right of private 
 judgment. He set forth the Bible as the only authority in 
 matters of faith, and unswervingly refused to recognize any 
 other authority. Luther's position is clearly stated in a letter : 
 "By the Word has the world been conquered; by the Word 
 
jluther's successive appeals. 35 
 
 has the Church been preserved; by the Word will her breaches 
 be repaired. And Antichrist, as he began without hand, so 
 he will perish without hand, by the Word alone." He there- 
 fore demanded that his cause should be judged solely by 
 Scripture. "Scripture,'' he said, in effect, "is the law of 
 heresy for Christendom. Convince nie out of Scripture or 
 by irresistible reasons that my doctrines are heretical. Then, 
 and only then, I will recant them." Luther's constant and 
 absolute appeal was to the Scrij^tures. 
 
 The final test of Luther's Scriptural position in regard 
 to Rome came at the Diet of Worms, April IS, 1521. This 
 scene is a separate chapter. When Luther appeared at the 
 diet, he profoundly distrusted the professions of the papal 
 party on the subject of free grace. He was unalterably con- 
 vinced that, apart from all doctrinal considerations, the yoke 
 of the papacj^ ought to be broken from the neck of Clii'isten- 
 dom. He had absolutely no doubt that the claim of the 
 Roman see to declare the meaning of Scripture, and to 
 exercise dominion of the human spirit, was contrary to the 
 purpose of Christ, and of deadly influence upon mankind. 
 He knew also that the councils had erred. He could, there- 
 fore, not concede that there is upcJn earth any person, church, 
 tribunal, court, or conclave which can infallibly define truth. 
 Therefore Luther declined to recant unless he were refuted 
 by the testimony of Holy Writ, and his conscience placed in 
 harmony with the Word of God. He would not do aught 
 against conscience. 
 
 Thus Luther stood on the open Bible and freedom of 
 conscience — the greatest of all religious principles. And 
 thus closed the grandest scene in Luther's life. Thenceforth, 
 in the providence of God, the Bible was to rule supreme. 
 And thus the world to-day, four hundred years after the 
 beginning of the Reformation, still enjoys the blessings which 
 it gave: freedom of speech, a free press, education for the 
 masses, the separation of Church and Stnt.-. tli.- right of 
 private judgment, and an open Bible. 
 
36 LUTHER AT WOBMS. 
 
 Luther at Worms. 
 
 Rev. W. Broecker. Pittsburgh. Pa. 
 
 Since the days of the apostles the fate of the Church 
 never hung so dangerously in the balance as at the Diet of 
 Worms, and never a man in all those fifteen centuries, before 
 the Diet at Worms, swung the balance at the psychological 
 moment so decisively for the salvation of the Church as, 
 by the infinite grace of God, did Luther. 
 
 Great, indeed, were Athanasius and Augustine. Yet what 
 these and other early champions of the faith stood for were, 
 in the main, but single doctrines in the structure of the 
 Christian religion. Orthodox Christendom yet accepted with 
 one accord the verdict of the Scriptures, and acknowledged, 
 with Athanasius, Jesus Christ the true Son, begotten of the 
 Father from eternity, and rallied around the standard of 
 free grace raised by Augustine. 
 
 But when God sent Luther, what were the conditions in 
 the Church? What as to grace? Aye, grace there was, but 
 not God's free grace in Jesus Christ, — grace, not God-made, 
 by the blood of His Son, but man-made grace, made by that 
 "man of sin," drunken with the blood of the saints; grace 
 by fasting, by prayers to the saints, measured by the rosary; 
 grace by pilgrimages to holy places, — and what not ? Yes, 
 even grace to the amount that your purse could stand the 
 tax the hawkers demanded for indulgences. Grace it was 
 by the grace of the Roman pontiff. 
 
 However, not only had God's free grace been supplanted 
 by papal gi-ace, Christ Himself was dethroned, as far as His 
 Church on earth was concerned. In His place had risen 
 the usurper claiming to be the vicar of Christ. That "man 
 of sin" had truly come, whom, prophesying, St. Paul had fully 
 described 2 Thess. 2, 3. 4. As God on earth he ruled. The 
 nations w^ere shackled with Rome's endless chain of ecclesi- 
 astical laws and rules, impositions and taxes. The pope's 
 menials were ubiquitous. Like locusts his "spiritual" agents 
 fell upon a country, devouring it and leaving nothing behind 
 but filthy indulgences. The confessional was the chamber of 
 
LUTHER AT WORMS. 37 
 
 horrors, in which all, regardless of station or rank, were 
 subdued to the will of Kome. Hypocrisy and intrigue held 
 high carnival. Kings and princes were set up or removed 
 at will, murder and treason being no obstacle. And nowhere 
 did vice in its blackest and most nauseating forms welter 
 and wallow in such orgies as it did in the very courts of the 
 "holy city." This is but stating the simple, though soul- 
 distressing facts of history. 
 
 We ask, How could this terrible state of aii'airs couie 
 about? There is but one answer. The very foundation 
 upon wliicli alone Christ has founded His throne in the 
 Church, and upon which alone rests man's salvation, the 
 Word of God, had been assailed, set at naught, destroyed, 
 and supplanted. Since the sixth century the voice of God 
 had begun to grow fainter and fainter, till it was finally 
 completely hushed. God's temple now echoed with a tumul- 
 tuous din of voices from councils, church-fathers, and scho- 
 lastics. And above all this confusion of contradicting, strug- 
 gling, battling was heard the roar of Rome. Having throttled 
 the Word of God, the pope had succeeded in making his word 
 the supreme law in Christendom. Christ no longer si)oke 
 to His Church but through His vicar. True, the dogma of 
 the infallibility of the pope had as yet not been decreed, — 
 that was left for these latter days. But practically the pope's 
 word was accepted by the masses as the infallible Word of 
 Christ. That was the claim: As the pope spoke, so spoke 
 Christ. Hence, also the demand that all matters of Church 
 and State be subjected to his review, and be determined by 
 his decision. There was no higher tribunal for appeal. Woe 
 to the recalcitrant offender! Ban, interdict, death, was 
 Rome's vengeance. We need but remember Hus and Savona- 
 rola, the Waldenses and the Wyclifites. 
 
 After this brief review we understand the true sig- 
 nificance of Luther's trial at Worms. For, in reality, in 
 Luther at Worms the Word of God was on trial; hence, 
 Luther's victory was the victory of the Word of God. Let 
 us see for ourselves. 
 
 The diet constituted the council of thr holy Roman 
 
38 LUTHER AT WORMS. 
 
 Empire. Charles V, the youthful king of Spain, had but 
 recently been elected emperor, chiefly through the influence 
 of the aged Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxon5\ For 
 reasons brought to bear on him, he convoked his first diet 
 at Worms, Germany, for January 28, 1521. At Worms there 
 were assembled the dignitaries not only of the State, but also 
 those of the Church: electors, princes, and estates, cardinals, 
 archbishops, and other ecclesiastical representatives. Leo X 
 was represented by a special legate, Aleander. The diet, 
 however, was anything but a harmonious body. From time 
 immemorial there had been a deep cleavage between the 
 secular and ecclesiastical forces, each striving for supremacy. 
 Yet each was a willing tool of the other when they believed 
 their own interests best served. Hence, distrust, hypocrisj^, 
 and intrigue stamf>ed every dealing between pope and em- 
 peror. Naturally, Church and State suffered alike, with this 
 distinction, however, that the true Church of Jesus Christ 
 had become the football of both, pope and emperor. 
 
 It was not different at Worms. We behold there pope and 
 emperor each constantly veering and steering for the best 
 wind to gain advantage over the other. Among the many 
 vexing questions demanding immediate attention from that 
 diet was the one raised by the monk of Wittenberg, Dr. Mar- 
 tin Luther. In reality it was no longer a question, but 
 a condition. A grave state of affairs throughout Germany, 
 yea, throughout Christian Europe, had resulted from the 
 single-handed doings of this Augustinian, professor at the 
 Wittenberg University and pastor of the Castle Church. 
 True, humanly speaking, Rome had nothing to fear from 
 the monk. Had he not until now been a most abjectly dutiful 
 son of the "Holy Father"? Was not the very fact of his 
 devout obedience to the Church the very reason of his quick 
 promotions in holy orders, even to the forcing upon him of 
 the degree of a Doctor of Divinity, and thus exacting from 
 him the oath to teach God's Word only, and to defend it 
 against all heresies? And even when posting those memo- 
 rable Ninety-flve Theses against Tetzel's shameful hawking 
 of indulgences, lie never dreamed that the i)ope could or 
 
LUTHER AT WORMS. 39 
 
 would countenance this disgraceful soul-trading business. 
 Rome treated the matter lightly. But Luther's leaven was 
 working, and Tetzel was forced to decamp. The pope sent 
 Cajetan to subdue the obstreperous monk, and to bring him 
 in irons to Rome. But, vanquished, the cardinal desisted. 
 Rome's ire was rising, for it began to suspicion the possi- 
 bilities of the strife. Rome's prestige was suffering. Luther 
 must be quieted. But how? The glib papal chamberlain, 
 Charles von Miltitz, was sent, — but for naught. Popedom'* 
 greatest-champion, Dr. Eck, threw his gage into the arena, — 
 but Eck gathered no laurels. Luther's subsequent book on 
 "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church" completely un- 
 masked the abominations of popery. Rome roared. It hurled 
 the ban against Luther. Luther defied the pope, publicly 
 burned the papal bull excommunicating him, and declared 
 the pope to be the very Antichrist. — Since that 31st of 
 October, 1517, momentous events had crowded each other. 
 European Christendom had become a seething caldron, with 
 Germany as a center. High and low, princes and eccle- 
 siastics, burghers and peasants, had caught the new spirit, 
 which foreshadowed the long looked-for reformation of the 
 head and members of the Church. They recognized in 
 Luther's battle their own battle, in Luther's fate either the 
 freedom from, or an increased papal i)rostitution of, the 
 Church. 
 
 What was it that caused this tremendous upheaval? 
 It was, forsooth, not the man Luther, poor Augustinian that 
 he was. It was that which he stood for — it was the IT'orc/ 
 of God. That Word it was of which Rome had robbed God's 
 people, but which God's grace put into Luther's hand when 
 his soul was verging on utter despair because of his sal- 
 vation; the Word in which his whole being became wrapped 
 up, and which, therefore, his students and his parishioners 
 must hear; the Word at the head of his Ninety-five Theses 
 against Tetzel, saying, "When our Lord and blaster Jesus 
 Christ saj's''; the Word for which, again, he demanded from 
 Cajetan and ^liltitz free course, without interference from 
 man-made laws; tlie Wi>rd witli wliich popes and councils. 
 
40 LUTHEB AT WOEMS. 
 
 as he showed to the chagrin of the learned Eck, ever had 
 been at variance, and which smashes the pope's claim of 
 a prinlate when it declares, "One is your Master, even Christ, 
 and all ye are brethren" (Matt. 23, 8) ; the Word with which 
 Luther was breaking with sledge-hammer blows the chains 
 shackling the Church, in treatises like "The Liberty of 
 a Christian" and "To the Christian Nobility"; the Word 
 whose full light he turned upon the infernal institution of 
 auricular confession and upon the diabolical idolatry of the 
 Mass, looming between them appearing the unmistakable 
 image of the accursed Antichrist, the pope of Rome; the 
 Word for whose vindication Luther, on December 10, 1520, 
 cast the papal bull into the fire and his own defy into 
 Rome's face. That Word of God it was in which was the 
 beginning, middle, and end of Luther's whole work; the 
 impregnable citadel, in which he had fortified liimself ; the 
 sole weapon he wielded, both in the offensive and in the 
 defensive. — 
 
 The diet was convened. What was to be done with 
 Luther? What about his movement for reformation? These 
 had now come to be the all-determining questions. The out- 
 look was not very propitious, indeed, and the final outcome 
 was: Rome's failure to know the time of its visitation. 
 As to Luther, he hailed with joy the great opportunity to 
 let his Lord and Master Jesus Christ be heard before so 
 representative a body. Thousands would hear, and return 
 home with the tidings of the new Gospel. However, many 
 an obstacle had first to be overcome before Luther could 
 personally appear, and plead his cause before the diet. Rome 
 was obstinately opposed to giving the "heretic" a public 
 hearing. Rome is semper' eadem, always the same, also in 
 this that she loves to work in the dark. Time and again, by 
 citing him to Rome, by commissioning Cajetan, then Miltitz, 
 by repeatedly importuning Frederick the Wise, and lastly, 
 by calling the emperor to her aid, she sought possession of 
 Luther's person, in order to deal with him as she had dealt 
 with so many other witnesses of the truth. Charles V, devout 
 (^atholic and pliable as he was, here showed the weakness of 
 
LUTHER AT WOKAIS. ^^ 
 
 his character. He constantly was vacillating between self- 
 assertion and fear of Eome. As for him, the pope would 
 have made short work of the monk. But God had also 
 among the great of this world ITis protector over His servant 
 Luther. This protector was the very Elector Frederick the 
 Wise of Saxony. He would permit no harm to come to his 
 Dr. Martin. For this reason his memory stands out in hold 
 relief beside that of Luther in every true history of the 
 Keformation. He forbade Luther to obey the summons to 
 appear at Kome. He, in company with other German estates, 
 staunchly demanded that Luther be heard personally, and 
 that, as a German subject, he be heard on German soil, in 
 public trial. ^Moreover, remembering the fate of John Hus 
 a century ago, Frederick and the German estates would not 
 have Luther face the dangers at Worms unless he be given 
 an imperial safe-conduct both ways, to Worms and back 
 home. And forced to acknowledge the justice of the demands, 
 Charles V granted all, much to the mortification of the pope. 
 
 Thus Luther was summoned to appear, within twenty-one 
 days, for trial at Worms, no later than April 16. Would 
 he go? Lideed he would; but not to recant; this he might 
 just as well do at Wittenberg. And go he did. On April 2d 
 he started in company with several friends, the imperial 
 herald in the fore, on what was more like the triumphal pro- 
 cession of a victor than the portentous journey of an already 
 condemned heretic. The papal representatives at Worms 
 took fright. More than ever they determined to hinder the 
 public trial. Once more they put all their power in motion 
 to keep the Reformer out of Worms, or to undo the safe- 
 guard. The friends of Luther feared for his safety. The 
 man of God, however, continued undaunted on his way; and 
 to his friends he wrote: "H there be as many devils in 
 Worms as tiles on the roofs, yet will I enter." And April 16, 
 at ten o'clock in the morning, he entered amid a great con- 
 course of people. 
 
 And now for the trial. It was set for the evening of 
 the next day, xVpril IT. \Vliat was Luther to be tried for? 
 Through friends hu liad an intimation that the trial was 
 
42 LUTHER AT WOEMS. 
 
 to narrow down to three points, to-wit, the papal abuses, 
 the authority of councils, and the primate of the pope, — 
 all of which he had so valiantly attacked. Luther also knew 
 full well that nothing but a recantation would satisfy his 
 enemies. The very citation to Worms had told him so. He 
 came prepared to make answer to the charges. — But how 
 was the trial to be conducted? Since they had been unable 
 to prevent Luther from personally appearing before the diet, 
 the papal cravens had agreed on a plan. Luther, already 
 banned and branded a heretic, must be given the least pos- 
 sible opportunity to sjDeak. "No open debate with him must 
 take place. !X^o other privilege must be accorded him but 
 to recant. With their wonted impudence they also con- 
 sidered it beneath their dignity to acquaint the accused with 
 the exact mode of procedure. And purposely*, to allow as 
 little time as possible for the trial, the hearing was set for 
 the evening. 
 
 The supreme hour in the life of Luther, indeed, for the 
 Reformation itself, was fast drawing near. Four o'clock 
 found him, surrounded by men from all walks in life, in the 
 antechamber of the assembly-room of the diet. Finally, after 
 two hours of waiting, at six o'clock, he was called into the 
 presence of the diet. For counsel his colleague Jerome 
 Schurf had been delegated by his elector. Without much 
 ado the official of the Archbishop of Treves, Eck, acting for 
 the emperor, put to him two questions : 1. Whether he ac- 
 knowledged these books (on a bench beside him) to be his 
 books; 2. whether he would retract their contents, or persist 
 in them. Immediately Counsel Schurf interposed, and, as 
 a precaution, demanded first the reading of the titles of the 
 books. Eck complied, and among others also gave the titles 
 of writings which had never been objected to. 
 
 Unprepared though he was for this procedure, Luther yet 
 answered, in both Latin and German: 1. As to the books 
 bearing his name, he acknowledged them to be his, and could 
 not deny any of them. 2. As to his declaring, however, 
 whether he was ready to defend or to recant everything, — 
 this being a question of the faith and of the salvation of 
 
lUTHER AT WORMS. 43 
 
 the souls, involving- the Word of God, the highest and greatest 
 treasure in heaven and earth, to be held in all honor, indeed, 
 by us, — it would be arrogant and dangerous for him to 
 declare anything rashly, as he might indiscreetly and without 
 due thought assert and state as true either less than the case 
 demanded, or more than would conform with tlie truth, both 
 subjecting him to the judgment of Christ : "Whosoever shall 
 deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father 
 which is in heaven." "Therefore, I most obediently and most 
 luimbly pray your Imperial Majesty for time for considera- 
 tion, in order that I may, without injury to the Word of God, 
 and without jeopardizing my soul's salvation, give a correct 
 answer to the questions laid before me." 
 
 Thus Luther. A consultation of the emperor and the 
 princes resulted in the granting of his petition, though Eck 
 must reprimand him for wanting more time. The next day 
 he was to make his declaration, not, however, in writing, 
 but by word of mouth. 
 
 On April 18th the excitement was intenser and suspense 
 at a higher pitch than ever during this whole period of w^orld- 
 unrest. What would Luther's answer be to emperor and 
 ]iope ? — As on the preceding day, Luther found himself 
 waiting from four to six o'clock before he M^as admitted into 
 the presence of the assembly. Eck again opened the trial, 
 upbraiding Luther with inexcusable dilatoriness in giving 
 full account, and then ])ut the question left unanswered the 
 day before, but in a somewhat modified form : "Wilt thou 
 defend all the books acknowledged by thee to be thine, or 
 at least recant in part?" The question was clear-cut, and 
 understood by all because put in both languages. And 
 Luther? Modestly, yet firmly, not overloud, but distinctly 
 understood by all, he, in a well-considered speech, again 
 acknowledged the books laid before him the day before as 
 his own, guarding himself, however, against any unauthor- 
 ized, surreptitious alterations, and admitting to no one but 
 himself the right to interpret his writings. As to recant- 
 ing, — the second question, — he begged them to consider 
 that his books were not all of <>ne kind. IFe divided them 
 
44 LUTHEB AT WORMS . 
 
 into three classes. In the first class of his books he had 
 taught the Christian faith and good works in so simple 
 and Christian a manner that even his adversaries must 
 acknowledge them as profitable and worthy. How dare 
 he recant these without condemning the truth accepted by 
 friend and foe? — As to the second class of his books, 
 he had therein attacked the papacy and the doctrine of 
 papists, who with false doctrine, vicious life, and offensive 
 example had devastated Christendom in body and soul, il^one 
 could deny that the laws and doctrines of the pope had 
 ensnared, burdened, and tortured the consciences of the faith- 
 ful, and by unbelievable tyranny had drained the German 
 nation, and was still devouring it; and all this in opposition 
 to their own decrees, which nullified the pope's laws and 
 doctrines found at variance with the Gospel. How could he 
 recant these books without opening the gates wide to a more 
 devastating flood of rascality, and subjecting himself to the 
 charge of having done so at the command of the emperor 
 and of the whole empire? "Good God, what a cloak of 
 rascality and tyranny would I then be !'' Luther exclaimed. — 
 In the third class of his books he had written against indi- 
 viduals who had shielded and defended the Roman tyranny, 
 and had falsified and suppressed the divine doctrine taught 
 by him. Here he candidly confessed to having been some- 
 what more vehement and severe than was befitting religion 
 and profession; but he was not a saint, nor arguing his 
 personal life, but about the doctrine of Christ. Hence, he 
 could neither retract these books, because thereby it would 
 come to pass that with his consent tyranny and godlessness 
 would again rule and prevail and rage against God's people 
 more violently and more terribly than ever before. He, being 
 a mere man and not God, however, could not defend his 
 books otherwise than did his Lord and Savior His doctrine, 
 who answered His tormentor: "If I have spoken evil, bear 
 witness of the evil." If the infallible Lord was willing to 
 hear witness against His doctrine, how much more ought he, 
 who so easily may err, be ready to do so, and invite whomso- 
 ever would to bear witness against his teachings. "Therciforo/' 
 
LCTHEH AT WOBMS. 45 
 
 he proceeded, "I beg through the mercy of God your Imperial 
 Majesty, etc., or wliosoever can do it, of high or low station, 
 to bear witness to convince me with prophetic and apostolic 
 scriptures that I have erred. Then, being convinced thereof, 
 I will be most willing and ready to recant every error, and 
 will be the iirst to cast my booklets into the fire." Thus, he 
 continued, having taken due consideration also of the great 
 disturbance attributed to him, it, nevertheless, gave him joy 
 to see the Word of God taking its course according to Christ's 
 saying: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; 
 I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set 
 a man at variance against his father," etc. (Matt. 10, 34. 35.) 
 And now he closecl with an earnest appeal to the emperor 
 and the diet not to reject or persecute the Word of God for 
 the sake of promoting peace in the empire. Awful, indeed, 
 would it be if the young emperor thus began his reign, 
 because that would determine also its whole course. For God 
 "taketh the wise in their own craftiness"; He "removeth the 
 mountains, and they know not." (Job 5, 13; 9, 5.) This, he 
 adds, is not meant as though they not already knew these 
 things, but because of his sense of his bounden duty to the 
 German nation, to his fatherland. 
 
 Thus spake Luther in German and in Latin. The papists 
 at first were stupefied. Because he had asked for time, some 
 had hoped he would recant. Now this defy! Agitated, the 
 imperial speaker reproved him for not having spoken to the 
 point. Besides, said he, nothing was to be questioned or 
 disputed that councils had already defined, concluded, and 
 condemned; it was demanded of him to give a simple, round, 
 and true answer whether he would say "Revoco" (I recant) 
 or not. 
 
 Luther replied: "Since your Imperial Majesty, Electoral 
 and Princely G~races demand a simple, artless, true answer, 
 I will give one which shall have neither horna nor teeth: 
 Unless I he overcome and convinced hy proofs of the Holy 
 Scriptures or hy manifestly clear grounds and reasons, — 
 for I helieve neither the pope nor the councils alone, hecau^se 
 it is an open and Jcnown fact that they have often erred and 
 
46 LUTHER AT WORMS. 
 
 opposed each other, — and I am convinced hy those passages 
 adduced and introduced hy me, and my conscience is hound 
 in God's Word, I can or will recant nothing, since it is neither 
 safe nor advisahle to do aught against conscience. Here 
 I stand: I cannot do otherwise. God help me! Amen.'' 
 
 The die was cast! The answer upon which hung the 
 whole work of the Reformation was given. It was: Not 
 the pope, not even church councils, but God's Word alone 
 must bind the individual conscience, must alone decide all 
 questions of faith and life in the Church. In vain Eck 
 raved for the authority and inerrancy of councils; Luther 
 offered proof of error. In vain for a whole week the powerful 
 in Church and State, in private and public conferences, en- 
 deavored to overwhelm the Reformer with their arguments, 
 with cunning, and with open threats. In vain they sought 
 his promise to submit to a council which was to be called. 
 Luther's one answer to all arguments and to all propositions 
 was: "Rather will I lose life and limb than surrender God's 
 true and clear Word." As to the outcome of the whole move- 
 ment, he told the Archbishop of Treves to look to Gamaliel's 
 answer : "If this counsel or work be of men, it will come 
 to naught; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it." 
 (Acts 5, 38. 39.) 
 
 To the emperor, who in high wrath declared himself about 
 to carry out the pope's bull, and conunanded him to betake 
 himself under the imperial safe-conduct homeward within 
 twenty-one days, refraining from preaching or writing on 
 his journey, Luther sent humble thanks for the safe-conduct, 
 and assured him that in all his undertakings he had sought 
 nothing but a reformation according to the Word of God; 
 excepting this, he was willing to sacrifice life and all for 
 his country. 
 
 Thus he left Worms Friday, April 26. The trial was 
 over; Luther stood condemned before the diet. In reality 
 it was the Word of God which had been condemned. That 
 they did not spill Luther's blood was not because they did 
 not fully and earnestly desire to do so. 
 
LUTHER AT WOBMS. 4. 7 
 
 What was the immediate impression of the trial? ]\rany 
 were won over to Luther and his cause. The ^emperor, how- 
 ever, dech^red: "He shall not make a heretic of me." The 
 papists were incensed because Luther liad been permitted the 
 liberty of so comprehensive an answer. Tliey importuned 
 the emperor to break the safe-conduct, and to execute the 
 heretic on the spot. But the emperor would have none of 
 that; German truthfulness and iidelitj' forbade. However, 
 on May 20 he outlawed the Augustinian. 
 
 Among Luther's friends there was great rejoicing. No 
 one was more jubilant than Luther's elector, Frederick the 
 Wise. He exclaimed: "Ah, how fine did Brother Martin 
 show liimself! What an excellent speech both in German 
 and in Latin did he deliver before the emperor and all the 
 estates ! He was too bold for me." When the tidings of 
 Luther's bold stand at Worms spread, prayers and hymns of 
 thanks and praise went up to the Lord, who had given His 
 servant courage and boldness to stand unwavering in the 
 hottest of the battle against the hosts of darkness, to gain 
 the victory for the Word of God. To the friends of the new 
 cause the hammer-strokes fastening the Ninety-five Theses 
 at Wittenberg had been like the touching of the single key- 
 notes in the simple, sweet melody of the old Gospel; but the 
 melody had developed into a fugue, and now, at Worms, the 
 powerful finale was opening up the grand organ of God's 
 Word, drowning out the discords pope and council had intro- 
 duced into the divine harmony of God's Temple. 
 
 And to-day? Next to God's almighty grace, it is due to 
 Luther's firm stand in the Diet at Worms that we even yet 
 triumph with him, "The Word they still shall let remain!" 
 For that was, indeed, the crucial test for the man and his 
 work. We shudder at the very thought that Luther might 
 have wavered, that fear for his person or a sense of his 
 personal unfitness to guide the ship in the tremendous revo- 
 lution which must surely follow, if his principles prevailed, 
 or the alluring promises of the Romanists, might have induced 
 him to change his course and to sacrifice the principle of the 
 
48 LUTHER AT WORMS. 
 
 Word. Luther himself foresaw and courageously sounded 
 the warning against the then inevitable dire consequences. 
 Rome's hatred, born of the failure of the attempted reforma- 
 tion, would only have, if possible, intensified the already well- 
 nigh insuperable papal tyranny over the consciences, over 
 the Church, over the nations. 
 
 God, in His great mercy, willed otherwise. His Word 
 was again to come into its own. Luther was His instrument 
 in bringing it back. Luther at Worms signifies the open 
 Bible to the world. The work of the Reformation had passed 
 its crisis. Like an avalanche it rushed onward crushing 
 whatever Pope or Emperor would cast in its way. Rome's 
 dam restraining the Water of Life was broken, and the 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ, once again released, poured forth to 
 work the miracle of salvation for hundreds, for millions. 
 Twelve years after the days at Worms, Luther, reviewing 
 the progress of the Word, was constrained to declare that 
 such great things had been done by the power of God as no 
 man could have either imagined or expected. 
 
 And to-day? The open Bible, or '^So speaks our Lord 
 Jesus Christ," — that is the last decision in matters of con- 
 science acknowledged in Christendom the world over. Church 
 and State alike are reaping the fruits of Luther's Eeforma- 
 tion through the Word. None more so, however, than we, 
 who are of the true Church named for the Reformer. We, 
 therefore, of the true Evangelical Lutheran Church before 
 others justly commemorate this quadricentennial of the 
 Reformation. With fervent thanks to God for Luther, 
 His instrument, we erect to the memory of the champion 
 of the Word at Worms a monument, not of marble, not of 
 brass, but of hearts bearing this inscription: 
 
 God's Word and Luther's doctrine pure 
 Shall to eternity endure. 
 
LUTHER AND ERASMUS. 4<J 
 
 Luther and Erasmus. 
 
 Martin Walker, A. M. 
 
 It is a fact little known that less than two months before 
 nailing his celebrated Ninety-five Theses to the door of 
 the Castle Church at Wittenberg, Luther had framed ninety- 
 seven theses against the scholastic theology, in which he 
 disj)uted the wisdom of retaining the works of Aristotle as 
 text-books. And it throws an interesting light on Luther's 
 mind in 1517, that whilst he did not consider the indulgence- 
 theses of October 31st worth publishing, he had published 
 the earlier theses and had sent copies to his former pro- 
 fessors at Erfurt as well as to some humanistically inclined 
 friends. But even in these earlier theses Luther's theology 
 is already quite well defined. He dislikes Aristotle because 
 his code of ethics is "the worst enemy of grace" (Thesis 41). 
 He champions Augustine versus Pelagius and declarer 
 (Thesis 4) : "It is the truth that man has become a corrupt 
 tree, and can will and do only that which is evil." — "It 
 is false that free will can accomplish anything in either 
 direction (good or bad) ; moreover, the will is not free, 
 but bound." (Thesis 5.) — "The best and unfailing prepara- 
 tion and the only qualification for grace is the eternal election 
 and foreknowledge of God." (Thesis 29.) — "On the part of 
 man nothing precedes grace but inability, yea, rebellion 
 against grace." (Thesis 30.) 
 
 It shows us Luther in his true spiritual greatness when 
 we find him disdaining the championship of the Humanists, 
 these knights of the pen, — which proverbially is mightier 
 than the sword, — even as he refused the proffered support 
 of Sickingen and other knights of the sword. For this aloof- 
 ness of Luther from those who would be friends was not the 
 result of some cold, calculating policy. It was the inevitable 
 expression of his innermost convictions. Whilst the literary 
 men would claim him as of their own spirit in their demand 
 for "free thought," for freedom of conscience, of speech and 
 writing, they were not with him in bowing to the supreme 
 authority of Holy Scriptures. Whilst the knights fought 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 4 
 
50 LUTHER AXD ERASMUS. 
 
 for liberty, they were little interested in the liberty where- 
 with Christ has made us free. Luther saw all this. In 
 neither party did he find that faith which is the victory that 
 overcometh the world. Rather, then, would he fight his 
 battles alone. His conscience was bound in God's Word; 
 faith in Christ was his impelling motive; trust in God was 
 his reliance. God was his refuge and strength. 
 
 An English historian has very correctly observed that 
 Luther's "very imperviousness to the intellectual, liberalizing 
 tendencies of Hmnanism made him all the more fit to be 
 a trusted leader." (Lindsay.) How differently Luther's 
 course would have shaped itself had he been under the 
 influence of Erasmus and the Humanists, or had he com- 
 promised with them, can * be clearly seen in the life and 
 reformatory method of Zwingli. The Swiss reformer had 
 been under the influence of Humanism from his boyhood. 
 In the formative period of his life he was strongly influenced 
 by Erasmus. From him he borrowed his rationalistic theory 
 of the Lord's Supper. This theory, moreover, was merely 
 typical of his attitude in general to the Lloly Scriptures and 
 to all articles of faith; this whole attitude was Erasmian. 
 Luther well recognized this in the Marburg Colloquy of 1529 
 when he spoke those memorable words to Zwingli and his 
 confreres: "You have a different spirit." And that different 
 spirit obtains to this day in the Churches that have followed 
 the lead of Zwingli (the so-called Reformed group of sects) 
 as compared with the Lutheran Church. It is not too much 
 to say that, had Luther been influenced by Erasmus and 
 other Humanists, or had he, for the sake of peaceful co- 
 operation, made concessions to them, the Lutheran Reforma- 
 tion of the Church would never have come to pass. 
 
 The relation of Luther to Erasmus, and the controversy 
 between the two, calls for extended notice. 
 
 Desiderius Erasmus w^as born in Rotterdam, probably in 
 1467. He was thus about sixteen years older than Luther. 
 Forced into a monastery when a lad, he managed to leave 
 it at the age of twenty, retaining a loathing of the monastic 
 life. He studied at Cologne and Paris, and later traveled 
 
LUTHER AND ERASMUS. 51 
 
 considerably, residing for varying periods at Paris, at Lou- 
 vain, in England, in Italy, at Basel and at Freiburg im 
 Breisgau. He was truly cosmopolitan. In England he met 
 and made friends of the Christian Humanists John Colet 
 and Thomas More. But he and Luther never met, knowing- 
 each other only through correspondence and from each other's 
 writings. Erasmus never held any official position. He was 
 simply a man of letters, and, as the trade of literature was 
 not a paying one, he was dependent on pensions from King 
 Henry YIII of England and other princes. He was the uni- 
 versally acknowledged prince among the Humanists, the 
 Voltaire of his day. 
 
 Together with other scholars of his time he bemoaned 
 the evil condition of the Church. He decried not only the 
 profligate life of the clergy, but equally so the popular con- 
 fidence in mere outward religious acts and ceremonies. But 
 his conception of a reformation was rather a renovation of 
 morals than a purification from unscriptural teaching. 
 Nevertheless, when he sent forth his first edition of the New 
 Testament, he wrote in the introduction that he wished that 
 women as well as men might read the Gospels and the Epistles 
 of Paul ; that the peasant in the field, the artisan in the 
 shop, and the traveler on the highway should employ their 
 time by reading from the Bible. He had a firm belief in 
 the power of knowledge and enlightenment. He hoped for 
 a peaceful reformation; he hated what he called "tumult." 
 He could not bear the thought of a religious war. He lacked 
 every quality that makes the hero. He feared to commit 
 himself on any great question. Any expression of opinion 
 was usually so qualified that, if need arose, he might change 
 or even deny it. Letters written at the same time, but to 
 different parties, express contradictory opinions, and usually 
 contain cautionary remarks, such as : "With your usual 
 prudence you will show this to no one." His biographers 
 confess that it is hopeless to look for truth in his voluminous 
 correspondence. "No man knew better how to use 'if and 
 'but' so as to shelter himself from responsibility." 
 
 These traits of character are very illuminating when we 
 
52 LUTHER AXD ERASMUS. 
 
 consider his relation to Luther. Up to 1520, his attitude 
 might be described as one of passive friendliness; though 
 to his credit it must be noted that in 1520 he put forth con- 
 siderable effort with the powers of Church and State to 
 secure a fair hearing for Luther. But after the Diet at 
 Worms he became more and more estranged. He dreaded the 
 suspicion of being a "heretic" like Luther, and in many 
 letters he protested that he had been too busy even to read 
 the writings of Luther. When a neutral position seemed no 
 longer possible, and he finally decided to take up his pen 
 against Luther, he first secured permission from the pope 
 to study the writings of the condemned heretic. And several 
 years after his controversy with Luther he wrote to Pirk- 
 heimer : "How much the authority of the Church avails with 
 others I know not, but it is so important to me that I could 
 agree with Arians or Pelagians if the Church should approve 
 what they taught. Not that the words of Christ are not 
 sufficient for me, but it is no wonder that I follow as inter- 
 preter the Church, upon the authority of which I believe in 
 the canonical Scriptures. Others, perhaps, have more talent 
 or more strength than I, but I rest nowhere so safely as in 
 the certain judgment of the Church. Of reasons and argu- 
 mentations there is no end." 
 
 With this knowledge of his vacillating character and his 
 supreme respect for the Church we approach his De Lihero 
 Arhitrio. 
 
 A succession of events almost forced Erasmus to take up 
 his pen against Luther. His patron. King Henry YIII, had 
 written an attack upon Luther, on which the Reformer had 
 given the king a most stinging reply (1522), showing no 
 respect for his position. The king doubtlessly urged Eras- 
 mus to help liim get revenge. Meanwhile, in 1523, the fiery 
 Hutten attacked Erasmus for his indecision (an attack whicli 
 Luther very much deprecated), on which Erasmus replied, 
 blaming Luther for disturbing the peace. In a letter to 
 Zwingli, to whom he dedicated this reply, Erasmus summed 
 up Luther's "errors" to be chiefly these: 1) Designation of 
 "good works" as in themselves sinful ; 2) denial of free will ; 
 
LUTHER AND ERASMUS. 53 
 
 3) justification by faith alone. The second of those Erasmus 
 chose for the subject of his tract against Luther, partly, at 
 least, because on it he could write so as to please Kome, and 
 yet not be compelled to recall what he had already written 
 against the papacy. Moreover, it was a subject that appealed 
 to his speculative mind, and one on which he honestly dif- 
 fered from the Wittenberg Professor. 
 
 Luther received advance information of the forthcoming 
 Diatribe on the Free Will; and in April, 1524, wrote a kindly 
 letter to Erasmus at Basel, beseeching him for the good of 
 the cause not to create further divisions and offenses. 
 
 To this letter Erasmus replied courteously, declaring that, 
 since Luther felt called to give an account of his faith, he 
 must accord the same privilege to others no less zealous for 
 the Gospel. Months before this, however, Erasmus had sub- 
 mitted a draft of his tract to King Henry, and so in the 
 course of 1524 the Diatribe on Free Will was published. 
 
 In the introduction he was at pains to preserve his stand- 
 ing with the Church. He has no confidence in the clarity of 
 Scriptures; they need an interpreter. As for himself, he 
 is ever ready to abide by the interpretation of the Church. 
 For individuals, like Luther, to appeal independently to 
 the Scriptures upsets all certainty. "]\foreover," he writes, 
 "I take so little pleasure in positive assertions that I would 
 readily join the skeptics, were it not for the inviolable au- 
 thority of Holy Writ and the decrees of the Church, to which 
 I readily subject my reason, whether I am able or not to 
 comprehend her directions." iVccordingly, we look in vain 
 for any original treatment of the question or for any positive 
 convictions. "As respects my opinion, I confess that the 
 early writers teach much regarding free will, on which I as 
 yet have no positive conviction, except that / hold that free 
 will is possessed of some power." (§ 2.) And so he quotes 
 various opinions; but such terms as "It is probable," "It is 
 likely," "Whether it be so I know not," creep in again and 
 again. To believe in a providential overruling of our lives 
 he thinks enough, "without delving into such questions as . . . 
 whether our will is nctive in matters pertaining to our salva- 
 
54 LUTHER AXD ERASMUS. 
 
 tion, or whether it be merely passive over against God's 
 efficient grace." (§ 2.) He cites not a few Scripture- 
 passages; but his exegesis is not always sound; he mis- 
 applies passages, and his illustrations are not to the point. 
 Incidentally he (probably unintentionally) misinterprets 
 some of Luther's statements. 
 
 In the fifth century an errorist named Pelagius had 
 taught that God did not demand what He knew man could 
 not perform; that man could do the will of God without the 
 aid of grace, though less easily than when assisted by grace; 
 that man, by the proper exercise of his free will, might 
 acquire faith and prepare himself for grace. Pelagius found 
 quite a following, and his error permeated the theology of 
 the Middle Ages in the milder form of Semi-Pelagianism. 
 However, since the Church, under the leadership of the great 
 teacher Augustine, had formally rejected Pelagianism as 
 a heresy, Erasmus did not want to be understood as being 
 guilty of Pelagianism. As a matter of fact he was, though 
 in its modified form. (Luther, however, in his reply declared 
 him worse than Pelagius.) "Pelagius," he admits, "ascribed 
 too much to free will," but adds : "Luther first mutilated free 
 will by chopping off his right arm. Not content therewith, 
 he struck him down and cleared him away entirely." (§ 41.) 
 
 Erasmus touched upon the real crux of the matter in this 
 passage: "They" (Luther and his like) "exaggerate original 
 sin beyond all measure, declaring that by it the most splendid 
 powers of our human nature are so corrupted that of our- 
 selves we can do no more than to be ignorant of God and 
 hate Him." Erasmus had no deep sense of sin, as did Luther, 
 and hence could not appreciate the absolute need of divine 
 grace. Though he declared that all glory for the salvation 
 of sinners should belong to Clirist, in other statements he 
 credited not a little to the virtue of man. This sentence, 
 near the close (§ 42), practically sums up the position taken 
 in the Diatribe: "I am pleased with the opinion of those 
 who ascribe something to free will, but most to grace." 
 
 Luther waited a whole year before replying to the Dia- 
 tribe. It was an especially trying year for him, with the 
 
LUTHER A>D ERASMUS. 55 
 
 Peasant's Revolt, his marriage, and other weighty matters 
 to occupy him. However, Luther gave as the real reason for 
 the delay his aversion to making reply to so unworthy a tract. 
 It was onlj^ because he feared that his silence would be mis- 
 interpreted that he could bring himself to write a counter- 
 tract. But once undertaken, he did the work with customary 
 zeal and thoroughness, in this case also paying special 
 attention to his Latin and to the form of the composition. 
 
 In December, 1525, Luther published his book under the 
 title: On the Unfree Will, which Jonas immediately trans- 
 lated into German, with the title : That Free Will Is Nothing. 
 
 In the preface Luther expresses his disappointment that 
 Erasmus, to whom he concedes superiority in intellectual 
 and rhetorical ability and in the knowledge of the languages, 
 should not have made out a better case for himself. He 
 asserts that Erasmus had brought forward nothing ]iew; 
 that his arguments had been demolished in advance by 
 ^felanchthon in his recently published Doctrinal Theology 
 (Loci Communes). He chides the Humanist for being 
 "slippery" in his use of words and very shifty in his argu- 
 mentation. Thereupon Luther maintains the clarity and 
 infallibility of Holy Scriptures, asserting that from them 
 a Christian can and should gain full certitude for his faith. 
 The Holy Ghost is no skeptic. Without positive truth there 
 can be no Christianity. As regards free will, this is not 
 a question on which a Christian might well be left in 
 ignorance. We must know what ability wo have over against 
 God, and what not ; else will we not properly venerate, praise,, 
 and serve Him. In the following words Luther defines the 
 term "free will" : — 
 
 "Now, if we are not ready altogether to drop this term, — 
 which would be by far the safer and more Christian thing 
 to do, — we should at least teach that the term is used in 
 good faith only when a free will is conceded to man not 
 with respect to things that are above liim, but only with 
 respect to things below him ; that is, man should know 
 that in his temporal possessions he has the power to use, to 
 do or leave undone, according to his own free will ; although 
 
56 LUTHER AND ERASMUS. 
 
 even this is controlled by God's free will, as it pleases Him. 
 But over against God, or in matters pertaining to salvation 
 or damnation, man has no free will, but is bound, subjected 
 as a servant to the free will of God or to the will of the 
 devil." 
 
 Thereupon Luther proceeds to take up for discussion each 
 point of the Diatribe. He makes reply to each opinion sub- 
 mitted by Erasmus, copiously quoting Scripture to maintain 
 his own position. Everywhere Luther speaks with positive 
 conviction. As a result of the fall into sin, man's whole 
 nature is depraved ; the will is not free, but bound, a slave to 
 Satan; no man can of himself, of his own will, accomplish, 
 or even desire, aught that is good in God's sight. Every 
 impulse toward that which is good must emanate from God. 
 When man turns from sin to righteousness; when he accepts 
 the salvation in Christ; when he believes and begins to do 
 "good works": all this is the result of God's calling and 
 drawing, which itself is consequent upon God's eternal decree 
 of grace in predestination. All this is, of course, offensive 
 to human pride and far above human reason (Ps. 73, 22 : 
 "So foolish was I and ignorant; I was as a beast before 
 Thee") ; but all this is the clear teaching of God's Word, and 
 must therefore be simply believed. All this is also very 
 comforting to the believer, who thus knows his salvation de- 
 pendent not upon his own fickle will, but upon the un- 
 changing will and grace of God. 
 
 "Take the example," he says, "in Rom. 10, 20, adduced 
 from Isaiah: 'I was found of them that sought Me not; 
 T was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me.' 
 This he says of the heathen, that unto them it had been 
 given to hear and to know Christ, although previously they 
 •could not have had so much as a thought of Christ, much 
 less seek Him or with the powers of free will to prepare 
 themselves for Him. This example makes it sufficiently clear 
 that grace comes altogether without merit; that no thought 
 of grace, much less an effort or a desire for grace, precedes it. 
 Even so it was in the case of Paul. While he was yet 
 ;i Sank what did he do with this (vaunted) highest power of 
 
LUTKFR .VXD ERASMUS. 
 
 O t 
 
 free will? Surely he had the best and noblest intentions, 
 when judged by human reason. Now, mark well, through 
 what kind of effort did he obtain grace? Not only does he 
 not seek grace, but he obtains grace while yet resisting. 
 With respect to the Jews, on the other liand, he declares: 
 'The Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have 
 attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of 
 faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteinis- 
 ness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.' (Rom. 0, 
 30. 31.) What can any champion of free will mutter against 
 this? Without merit, by the grace of God, the Gentiles 
 attain to righteousness while yet filled with ungodliness and 
 all manner of vice, whereas the Jews fail to attain unto 
 righteousness whilst striving after the same with most earnest 
 endeavor. Is not this equivalent to saying that the effort 
 of free will is vain, and that, while attempting the good, 
 the will itself is losing ground and growing worse? Nor could 
 any one maintain that the Jews had not put forth the very 
 best powers of their will. Paul himself bears them record, 
 Rom. 10, 2. 'that they have a zeal of God, but not according 
 to knowledge.' Therefore nothing is lacking with the Jews 
 which might be attributed to free will ; and yet nothing 
 [good] results, but rather the opposite. With the Gentiles 
 nothing is present that is attributed to free will, and yet 
 the righteousness of God follows. What have we in this 
 most manifest example of these two peoples [Jews and Gen- 
 tiles] and in this most clear testimony of Paul other than 
 the evidence that grace is bestowed freely upon the un- 
 deserving and the most unworthy, and is not obtained by any 
 strivings, efforts, or works, however small or great, even of 
 the best and most honorable of mankind, even though they 
 should seek and follow after righteousness with burning zeal V 
 
 In the following section Luther marshals powerful argu- 
 ments from St. John : — 
 
 Now let us take up John, who likewise, in many words 
 and powerfully, strikes down free will. At the very outset 
 he ascribes to free will so great blindness that it cannot even 
 see the liaht of truth: how much les^, then, could it strive 
 
58 LUTHER AND ERASMUS. 
 
 after the truth. For he says (John 1, 5) : "The light shineth 
 in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not"; and 
 shortly after (vv. 10. 11) : "He was in the world, . . . and 
 the world knew Him not; He came into His own, and His 
 own received Him not." 
 
 What do you suppose he means with "world" ? Would 
 you exclude from this term any but such as have been re- 
 generated by the Holy Ghost? This apostle [John] regularly 
 uses the word "world" with a peculiar significance, meaning 
 thereby the whole human race. Whatever, then, he says 
 regarding the world must apply to the free will, since that 
 is the most excellent part of man. Now, then, according to 
 this apostle the world does not know the light of truth 
 (John 1, 10) ; the world hates Christ and His followers 
 (John 15, 19) ; the world knows not nor sees the Holy 
 Ghost (John 14, 17) ; the whole world lieth in wickedness 
 (1 John 5, 19) ; all that is in the world is the lust of the 
 flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; love not 
 the world (1 John 2, 15. 16) ; ye are of the world (says He) 
 (John 8, 25) ; "the world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth 
 because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil" 
 (John 7, 7). 
 
 All these and similar passages are declarations regarding 
 free will as the chief agency of a world lying in the power 
 of the devil. For John also speaks of the world by way of 
 contrast [to the Holy Ghost] ; hence with "world" is meant 
 that part which has not been brought to the Spirit, as He 
 says to the Apostles: "I have chosen you out of the world 
 and ordained you," etc. (John 15, 19. 16.) Now, then, if 
 there were any in the world who with a free will were striving 
 after goodness, — as would be the case if free will had any 
 power, — then out of respect for such John would properly 
 have tempered his speech, so that he would not in his general 
 terms involve these also in the many evils which he charges 
 against the world. But since he fails to make any such 
 restrictions, it is evident that he in every passage regarding 
 the "world" also accuses the free will; for whatever the 
 
LUTHER AND ERASMUS. 59 
 
 world may do it does by the power of free will, that is, by 
 reason and will, which are its chief excellencies. 
 
 Now follows John 1, 12. 13: "But as many as received 
 Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, 
 even to them that believe on His name; which were born, 
 not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of tHe will of 
 man, but of God." By this clean-cut division lie rejects from 
 the kingdom of Christ the blood, the will of the flesh, and 
 the will of man. ... In this rejection the will of man, or 
 the free will, is necessarily included, since it is neither born 
 of God, nor is it faith. Now, if free will availed aught, it 
 would not have behooved John to reject the will of man, nor 
 to draw men away from the same, and point them solely to 
 faith and regeneration, lest the word of Isaiah (5, 20) be 
 made to apply to him: "Woe unto them that call evil good 
 and good evil I" However, since he equally rejects blood, the 
 will of the flesh and the will of man, it is certain that the 
 will of man can do no more toward producing children of 
 God than can [human] blood or physical generation. But 
 no one doubts that physical birth does not produce children 
 of God, as St. Paul says (Rom. 9, 8) : "They which are the 
 children of the flesh, these are not the children of God"; 
 which he proves by the example of Ishmael and Isaac. 
 
 In deducing an argument against free will from John 
 1, 16: "Of His fulness have we all received and grace for 
 grace," Luther replies specifically to Erasmus's position that 
 man by the effort of his will can, in a measure at least, pre- 
 pare himself for the grace of God. And here Luther drives 
 home to the consciousness of the champions of free will that 
 they are deniers of Christ when they maintain free will. 
 For if I by my effort obtain the grace of God, what need have 
 I of the grace of Christ in order to receive grace for myself? 
 Grace will not suffer beside itself any, even the smallest, 
 particle or power of free will. 
 
 Take, further, this word of Christ (John 6, 44) : "No man 
 can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me 
 draw Him," — what does it leave for free will ? For He 
 says it is necessary that a man hear and learn of the Father 
 
60 LUTHER AND ERASMUS. 
 
 Himself, and then also (v. 45) that all must be taught of 
 God. Surelj^ He here teaches not only that the works and 
 efforts of free will are useless, but even that the word of 
 the Gospel (of which He here treats) will be heard in vain 
 unless the Father Himself inwardly speak, teach, and draw. 
 iSTo one can, no one (He says) can come, that is, in that 
 strength in which man could attemi)t anything for Christ; 
 such strength as regards matters of salvation is declared to 
 be nothing. 
 
 Luther closed his lengthy reply to Erasmus with these 
 w^ords : "The Lord, to whom belongs our cause, enlighten 
 thee, and make thee a vessel to His honor and glory !" 
 
 How sincerely this pious wish was meant appears from 
 letters written to Spalatin and Lange 'way back in 1516 and 
 1517, in which, after expressing his regrets (eight years before 
 the Diatrihe) that Erasmus was not sound with regard to 
 the doctrines of original sin, free will, righteousness, and 
 grace, he added the hope that the Lord would enlighten him, 
 so that his authority and usefulness might increase. But the 
 doctrinal controversy of 1525 definitely alienated the Prince 
 of Humanists from the great Reformer, It marked more 
 clearly the sharp line between rationalists and Bible-theo- 
 logians. Erasmus got little satisfaction out of his Diatribe 
 and of his later efforts in the Hi/peras pistes (which Luther 
 deemed unworthy of a reply). Even the papacy had no 
 reward for him. Having lived a mediating life, he died in 
 virtual isolation (1536). And after death he was classed 
 by Rome as a heretic, and ranged with those whose cause he 
 had refiised to espouse; for Paul IT placed all his books, 
 including those against Luther, on the Index. Thus the life 
 and work of Desiderius Erasmus is an illustration of the 
 truth of the Savior's statement : "He that is not with Me is 
 against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth 
 abroad." 
 
 Luther, on the other hand, had the satisfaction of finding 
 that his book on the unfree will strengthened the simple 
 trust of his adherents in the overruling providence of God 
 and the all-sufficiency of His electing aiid sustaining grace in 
 
LUTHER A-NU JUSTIFICATION. 61 
 
 Clii-ist. His Biblical doctrine of the unfree will was in- 
 corporated in the Augsburg Confession (Art. XVIII) and, 
 briefly, in the Snialcald Articles; after his death more fully 
 in the Formula of Concord (Art. II). Luther himself, in 
 his later years, classed his book on the unfree will as among- 
 the few of his works which he wished might not perish. For 
 the simple Christian he comjiressed the great truths of this 
 doctrine of the unfree will, of the election and conversion 
 of a sinner purely by the grace of God, into these clear 
 statements of his Small Catechism: 
 
 "The kingdom of God comes to us . . . when our heavenly 
 Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we 
 believe His holy Word and lead a godly life, here in time 
 and hereafter in eternity,", — 
 and: 
 
 "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength 
 believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the 
 Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with 
 His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even 
 as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole 
 Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ 
 in the one true faith." 
 
 Luther and Justification. 
 
 Rev. W. Dallmaxn. Milwaukee, Wis. 
 
 I, The Importance. 
 
 "I believe neither the pope nor the councils alone, for it 
 is plain they have often erred and contradicted one another. 
 I am overcome by the Scriptures quoted by me, and my con- 
 science is bound in God's Word. I cannot, neither am 
 I willing to, take back anything; for to act against conscience 
 is neither safe nor upright. Here I stand; I cannot do 
 otherwise ; God help me I Amen.'' 
 
 So spoke Luther at Worms, in 1521. He had already 
 been excommunicated l»y tlie pope, and now he was to be 
 outlawed bv the kaiser; vet he took his soul and liis life in 
 
62 LUTHER AND JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 his hand and defied Church and State — Luther against the 
 world ! 
 
 According to Carlyle and Froude this is one of the finest 
 scenes in history or fiction. This speech is one of the 
 greatest ever spoken by the lips of man. 
 
 Why would Luther heroically die rather than take back 
 his teaching, which may be summed up in Justification by 
 Faith? Because he held it "the article of the standing and 
 the falling Church." 
 
 He said : "In this article we can make no concession or 
 compromise, though heaven and earth and all else sink into 
 ruins. . . . And on this article depends all we teach and 
 do against the pope,, the devil, and the world." (Smalcald 
 Articles; Mueller, p. 300.) Again: "If but this one article 
 in its purity holds the field, the Christian Church also will 
 remain pure, peaceful, and without sects; but if this does 
 not remain pure, it is impossible to resist any error or 
 sectarian spirit." (Mueller, p. 611.) 
 
 The Romanists agreed with Luther that justification was 
 the ground for the real Armageddon, the decisive battle 
 between Christ and Antichrist. Luther and his opponents 
 did not fight in the dark, but in broad daylight, with their 
 visors open, and each saw the vital spot where the deadly 
 thrust might pierce the heart. 
 
 The fathers of Trent said: "All the errors of Martin 
 were resolved into that point — justification — from whence 
 he hath denied efficacy in the Sacraments, authority of 
 priests, purgatory, sacrifice of the Mass, and all other reme- 
 dies for remission of sins. Therefore, by a contrary way, he 
 that will establish the body of the Catholic doctrine must 
 overthrow the heresy of justification by faith only." (Paolo 
 Sarpi, Bist. Council Trent, p. 190, in M'Evaine's Righteous- 
 ness hy Faith, p. XXI Y.) 
 
 Against what did Luther protest? 
 
 "There is in the Church a treasure of the satisfactions 
 of Christ and the saints which is applicable to those who, 
 after the remission of the guilt in the Sacrament of Penance, 
 are still liable to the payment of temporal punishment." 
 
LUTHER AND JUSTIFICATION. G3 
 
 (Cardinal Bellarmine, quoted by John Henry Newman in 
 his Prophetic Office of the Church, p. 136.) 
 
 This treasure the pope sold to the people. 
 
 "What he thought he was buying was forgiveness of his 
 past sins, and, at the same time, liberty to commit more. . . . 
 And the magic documents were sold indiscriminately to all 
 comers." No student of the history of Luther's times who 
 pursues his studies without blinkers can doubt that these 
 words (of Dr. Beard) accurately describe that colossal scandal 
 which Erasmus designated "the crime of false pardons." 
 There can be no doubt whatever — the evidence is too abun- 
 dant and too overwhelming — that the vast majority of the 
 preachers of indulgences soon became to be of the type of 
 the "gentil pardoner" who lives for us in Chaucer's pages. 
 For min entente is nat but for to winne, 
 And no-thing for correction to sinne. 
 
 To the crowds who flocked to the indulgence fairs their 
 message practically was, as Herr Kawerau bluntly puts it, 
 that St. Peter for hard cash would open and guarantee 
 heaven. 
 
 So says William Samuel Lilly, of Cambridge University, 
 Secretary of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, in his 
 Renaissance Types, pp. 254. 255. 
 
 Against the pope's sale of the forgiveness of sins for 
 hard cash Luther protested by his justification by faith. 
 
 IL The Doctrine. 
 
 Justification is the imputation of the expiation. That 
 is the key-stone holding the other doctrines in place ; without 
 it they would fall into meaningless ruins. The other doc- 
 trines form the warp and woof of justification, and that 
 cannot be destroyed without destroying the rest. Justifi- 
 cation presupposes and implies all the important Christian 
 doctrines, so that it is not a doctrine of Christianity, — it 
 is Christianity. 
 
 1. What does justification presuppose? 
 
 a. Justification presupposes the whole work of Christ for 
 our salvation. 
 
64 LUTHER AXD JUSTIFICATION'. 
 
 We were disobedient sinners, and the wrath of God cometh 
 upon the children of disobedience. (Eph. 2, 3; 5, 6; Rom. 
 1, 18; 2, 8.) 
 
 "Oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee 
 from the wrath to come?" (Matt. 3, 7.) 
 
 Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thess. 1, 10 ; 
 5, 9; Koin. 5, 9.) 
 
 How? He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
 of the world. (John 1, 29.) 
 
 How ? ^ Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. (1 Cor. 
 5, 7.) Christ's soul was a guilt-offering for sin. (Is. 53, 10.) 
 Christ gave Himself for an offering and a sacrifice to God, 
 to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Eph. 5, 2 ; 
 Heb. 2, 17.) Christ died for our sins, the Just for the 
 unjust, to bring us to God. (1 Cor. 15, 3; 1 Pet. 3, 18.) 
 
 (^. ^.^ b. This work of Christ involves the whole person of Christ. 
 
 He was born, He suffered, He died; and so He is the man 
 Christ Jesus. (1 Tim. 2, 5; Luke 24, 39.) 
 
 But no man can redeem his brother, nor give to God 
 a ransom for him; for the redemption of their soul is 
 precious, and it ceaseth forever. (Ps. 49, 7. 8.) 
 
 Christ is man, true man, but not mere man. He is the 
 God-man, and so the blood of Christ is the blood of the Son 
 of God, God hath purchased His Church with His own blood, 
 and so it is the precious blood of Christ that cleanseth us 
 from all sins. (1 Pet. 1, 18. 19; Acts 20, 28.) 
 
 Because He is man. His work is available for man; 
 because He is God, His work is satisfactory to God. 
 
 .; — r—-' c. The work of Christ involves the Holy Trinity. Christ 
 made atonement for our sins; He achieved the reconciliation; 
 He paid the ransom, the price of our redemption. But it w^as 
 the Father who so loved the world that He gave His only- 
 begotten Son. (John 3, 16.) It pleased the Father by Christ 
 to reconcile all things unto Himself. (Col. 1, 20; Rom. 5, 8.) 
 While the Father conceived the reconciliation, and the 
 Son achieved the reconciliation, we received the reconcilia- 
 tion (Rom. 5, 11) through the word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 
 
LUTHER AND JUSTIFICATION. 65 
 
 5, 19), which the Holy Spirit applied to us — "Ye are justi- 
 fied in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our 
 God." (1 Cor. G, 11.) No man can say that Jesus is the 
 Lord but by the Holy Ghost. (1 Cor. 12, 3.) With this faith 
 we possess the LToly Spirit, who bears witness with our 
 spirit that we are the children of God (Rom. 8, 16; Gal. 4, G), 
 and who is the seal and earnest of our salvation. (2 Cor. 
 
 1, 21. 22; Eph. 1, 14; Rom. 8, 23.) 
 
 The expiation is made to the Father; the expiation is 
 made hy the Son; the expiation is imputed by the Holy 
 Spirit — a threefold, yet uniform activity of the Trinity. 
 This relation of the Holy Trinity is real, continuing, and 
 eternal. 
 
 2. What does justification imply f 
 a. Justification implies the sinfulness of man. 
 Why did Christ have to make an expiation? Naturally, 
 because man could not make it himself. We have come 
 short of the glory of God, we have failed to attain to the 
 righteousness of God. (Rom. 3, 9. 19. 23.) The natural man 
 receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; they are 
 foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. (1 Cor. 
 
 2, 14.) We are dead in trespasses and sins. (Eph. 2, 1 ; 
 Col. 2, 13.) 
 
 And sin is not simply a lack, a defect, an imperfection, 
 something negative; no, man is positively and actively 
 a transgressor. The carnal mind is enmity against God 
 (Rom. 8, 7), and from this covert enemy mind come overt 
 enemy acts of aggression and rebellion in thought, word, 
 and deed. And so man knows himself laden with guilt and 
 therefore a child of wrath. (Eph. 2, 3.) 
 
 As to this very guilt the guilty is declared not guilty. 
 Justification is just this, that God does not impute their 
 trespasses unto sinners, but does impute the righteousness 
 of Christ. (2 Cor. 5, 19—21; Rom. 4, 6—8.) The guilty is 
 transferred into the state of grace. The child of wrath is 
 accepted in the Beloved. 
 
 Four Hundred Years. .5 
 
66 LUTHER AND JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 So justification implies man's total depravity, which is 
 taught in Scripture and found in the Christian's experience. 
 
 When we now probe human nature, we shall discover 
 the fountain of iniquity in original sin, which has corrupted 
 and vitiated our whole human nature. And the more we 
 grow in grace and holiness, the more we realize the corruption 
 of our native condition. The clearer the light from heaven 
 beats upon our heart, the deeper the blackness of night comes 
 out by the violent contrast between God's holiness and man's 
 sinfulness. 
 
 From the nadir of our fallen state we view the zenith of 
 our original estate. The fallen state of man's present enmity 
 against God implies his former state of friendship with God, 
 when man walked with God in the cool of the evening. 
 Then man was in the image of God, which consisted in 
 holiness, righteQ;usness, and the true knowledge of God. 
 
 Christ has slain the enmity; He is our peace; and in 
 the strength of my justification I grow in holiness, and thus 
 put on more and more of the image of God, return nearer 
 to the original state from which I had fallen. 
 
 This total depravity also implies the bondage of the will. 
 It is not denied that man is a free agent in civil and political 
 matters; it is denied that he is a free agent in spiritual 
 matters. And this is not a barren speculation of philosophy, 
 but a very practical truth taught in Scripture and found 
 in the Christian's experience. 
 
 Dead in sin, we have been quickened by God. Blind in 
 sin, we have been enlightened by God, who hath shined into 
 our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory 
 of God in the face of Christ Jesus. It is God that worketh 
 in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Both 
 Scriptures and experience lead a Christian to confess: 
 "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength 
 believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the 
 Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel," etc. 
 
 Even the best of Christians still feels the terrific power 
 of sin, — what must have been that power before he became 
 a Christian! (Eom. 7, 14 — 25.) So justification implies the 
 
LUTHER AND JUSTIFICATION. 67 
 
 bondage of the will, and denies all Pelagianism and Semi- 
 Pelagianism. We are saved by the operation of God, not by 
 the cooperation of man; by God's monergism, not by man's 
 synergism. 
 
 b. Justification implies faith. 
 
 1. The Source of Faith. 
 
 The Gospel is the promise of God's grace in Christ Jesus. 
 
 How can I receive a promise? Of course, only by faith. 
 Faith trusts the promise, clings to the promise, rests on the 
 promise. 
 
 As a ring is precious on account of the diamond it holds, 
 so faith has justifying power on account of the Christ it 
 embraces. (Rom. 4, 25; 1 Cor. 15.) What gives joy to the 
 assurance of faith is the view of the exalted Christ making 
 intercession for us. (Rom. 8, 32 — 39.) 
 
 While the Gospel is the object of faith (Mark 1, 15), it 
 is, at the same time, the principle of faith. The gracious 
 promise itself produces the trustful faith in itself. The 
 Gospel's fair face and winsome ways win the will of the 
 sinner, and beget a whole-hearted confidence and a fearless 
 and unconditional surrender. The Gospel speaks with the 
 accents of downright truth and transparent honesty, and thus 
 woos and wins the enemy. 
 
 As the potter's hands form the clay, so the Gospel is the 
 formal principle — it gives form and shape to the faith. The 
 Christian faith is no more and no less and none other than 
 the Gospel makes it. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing 
 by the Word of God." (Rom. 10, 17; Eph. 1, 9. 10. 13; 
 1 Thess. 2, 13.) 
 
 This Gospel is not a mere teaching about God, it is the 
 power of God unto salvation; it is a living and life-giving 
 and life-changing power. This Gospel is the means used by 
 the Holy Spirit, and so it is the Gospel of our salvation. 
 (Eph. 1, 13.) Of His own will begat He us with the Word 
 of Truth. (Jas. 1, 18; 1 Pet. 1, 23; John 3, 5. 6 ; 1 Thess. 
 2, 13.) 
 
 In common with the Gospel, the Sacraments are real 
 
68 LUTHER AND JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 means of grace, through which the Holy Spirit is conferred. 
 Yet are they not charms that work in a magical manner. 
 Holy Baptism is for the remission of sins. Yet it is not the 
 water that does the work, but the word of God, which is in 
 and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God 
 in the water. The Holy Communion is for the remission 
 of sins. Yet it is not the eating and drinking that does the 
 work, for he is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith 
 in these words, "Given and shed for you for the remission 
 of sins." For the words, "For you," require all hearts to 
 believe. 
 
 If the Gospel is the divine object and also the divine 
 cause of faith, then this Gospel has a unique dignity and 
 authority, which nothing else can rival. Bound by the 
 authority of God's Word, we are bound by nothing else. 
 If the Son has made us free, we will not again be entangled 
 with the yoke of bondage. (John 8, 36; Gal. 5, 1.) 
 
 This liberty is not an unbridled license or a chaotic 
 anarchy, it is a liberty in Christ : one is your Master, even 
 Christ, and all ye are brethren. (Matt. 23, 8.) Our liberty 
 is regulated by Christ, otherwise we bow to no authority. 
 
 In this Protestant freedom we are free from the yoke 
 of the Boman tradition, which the papists place on a level 
 with the Bible as an independent source of knowledge and 
 as of equal binding force and authority. We are, further- 
 more, free from the authority of nationalism, which holds 
 human reason the source and norm of spiritual knowledge. 
 We are, finally, free from the authority of Mysticism, which 
 places an inner light alongside of Scripture or even above 
 Scripture. 
 
 2. The Effect of Faith. 
 
 If God loved us to save us, we love God for having saved 
 us, — we love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4, 19.) 
 
 The love of God was not an idle sentiment, it sacrificed 
 His only-begotten Son for us; and our love of God is not 
 sentimental moonshine, the love of Christ constraineth us. 
 (2 Cor. 5, 14.) Christ is our righteousness, also He is our 
 sanctification. (1 Cor. 1, 30.) Justifying faith is the potent 
 
LUTHER AND JUSTIFICATION. 69 
 
 principle of holiness. If any man is in Christ, he is a new 
 creature. (2 Cor. 5, 14; Rom. 5, 5.) Faith worketh by- 
 love. (Gal. 5, G. 22 — 25.) Examine yourselves whether ye 
 be in the faith. (2 Cor. 13, 5; Gal. 6, 4.) It is the Apostle 
 of Faith who has sung the divinest Hymn of Love, in 
 1 Cor. 13. 
 
 Since our good works flow from the fountain of our love 
 of God, since they are the fruits of our faith, they cannot 
 be the ground of our justification; they do not precede justi- 
 fying faith, but follow after the same. Our good works are 
 not merits to be rewarded, not service to be paid for, but 
 they are the tokens of thanks for mercies received. 
 
 This truth majestically brushes aside the whole jungle of 
 papal good works of monks and nuns, and celibacy, and 
 fastings, and flagellations, and vows, and pilgrimages, and 
 rosaries, and penances, and satisfactions, and sacrifices, and 
 the countless host of saints, male and female, and their 
 glory and intercession, and we see no man but Jesus only. 
 
 From what has been said there comes into view the 
 relation between the Law and the Gospel. Though both 
 are revelations of God, their functions differ fundamentally. 
 The Law reveals God's holiness, and by contrast man's sin- 
 fulness and condemnation. The Gospel reveals God's grace 
 and man's salvation through the atonement of Jesus Christ. 
 By the Law is the laiowledge of sin; by the Gospel is the 
 forgivenes of sin. 
 
 The Law is a guide-post, pointing out the road of holiness; 
 but it can supply no life and strength to walk the path of 
 holiness. The Gospel gives the spiritual life and spiritual 
 strength to travel the road to heaven. 
 
 The atoning work of Christ offered in the Gospel and 
 received by faith unites me to Christ, the Head, and makes 
 me a living member of His body, the Church. And so the 
 Church is the communion of saints. The saints have com- 
 munion with Christ, and through Christ with one another. 
 The Church is not Christ's vicar on earth, whom I must 
 obey in order to become a member of the outward organization 
 and thus a member of Christ, but the Church is Christ's 
 
70 LUTHER AXD JUSTIFICATIOX. 
 
 servant, which ministers the Gospel to nie, and unites me 
 to Christ, and thus makes me a member of the Church. 
 Christ and faith in Christ is the basis of my church-member- 
 ship. The Church does not make me a member of Christ, 
 but Christ makes me a member of the Church. 
 
 Where is this Church, and by what marks can I know it ? 
 The Gospel creates faith; faith makes the Christian; the 
 Christians make the Church. The Church, then, is where 
 the Gospel and the Sacraments are in use, and by the U5e 
 of the Gospel and the Sacraments I recognize the Church 
 with unerring certainty; and there is where I belong. The 
 people using the Gospel and the Sacraments form the con- 
 gregation, or the visible Church. 
 
 In this visible congregation the Word of God rules with 
 divine authority. Human rules may be made and altered 
 from time to time, that everything may be done decently and 
 in order, but human rules may not be enforced as necessary 
 to salvation. 
 
 From justification by faith it is an easy step to the uni- 
 versal priesthood of all believers. The Old Testament dis- 
 tinction between priest and people, clergymen and laymen, 
 is at an end. Christ, our High Priest, has made all Chris- 
 tians priests unto God. All Christians are God's clergy, 
 and so there is no special clerical order in the Church. The 
 ministry is an office, not an order, much less a threefold 
 order of bishops, priests, and deacons. 
 
 It follows that the Office of the Keys is not given to the 
 hierarchy, which does not exist, but to all Christians, who 
 make up the Church. These Christians ask some one to 
 perform the functions of the ministry for them, in their 
 stead, for God's sake. And so the Church is a government 
 of the people, by the people, and for the people, and all 
 Christians are the people. 
 
 And so we are the people to have the Bible and to spread 
 the Bible; we are the people to read the Bible and school 
 every boy and girl to read the Bible; we are the people to 
 interpret the Bible, and thus separate Church and State, 
 and permit neither priest nor politician to dictate our re- 
 
LUTHER AND JUSTIFICATION. 71 
 
 ligion or our i)olitics, and tlius maintain our civil and 
 religious liberty. 
 
 Was Luther's teaching **novel," "original with him"? 
 Principal Forsyth says: "Luther, I reiterate, rediscovered 
 Paul and the New Testament. He gave back to Christianity 
 the Gospel, and he restored Christianity to religion. . . . 
 The issue which is raised concerns the essential nature of 
 Christianity." {Borne, Reform, and Reaction.) Lyman 
 Abbott declares : "Lutheranism was a revival of Paulinism." 
 {Life of Paul, p. 327.) Penan says Paul has "been for three 
 hundred years, thanks to Protestantism, the Christian doctor 
 par excellence." D. S. Muzzey says "the theologians succeed 
 in identifying St. Paul with Lutheranism." 
 
 III. The Effect. 
 
 1. On the Individual. 
 
 John Llenry Newman, the famous Anglican and later 
 Roman cardinal, says it was Luther's "wish to extirpate all 
 notions of human merit ; next, to give peace and satisfaction 
 to the troubled conscience." 
 
 Oertainly a noble wish. Did Luther succeed? Let New- 
 man say: "Luther's view of the Gospel covenant met both 
 the alleged evils against which it was provided. For if 
 Christ has obeyed the Law instead of us, it follows that 
 every believer has at once a perfect righteousness, yet not 
 his own. That it is not his own precludes all boasting; that 
 it is perfect precludes all anxiety. The conscience is unladen, 
 without becoming puffed up." {Led. on Justif., p. 26.) 
 
 Well put, Mr. Newman, and quite true. St. Paul said so 
 long ago : "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . and rejoice in hope of 
 the glory of God." (Rom. 5, 1. 2.) 
 
 2. On the Church. 
 
 Mr. Newman says: "Luther found in the Church great 
 corruptions countenanced by its highest authorities; he 
 felt them." 
 
 History tells us how quite unspeakable were these cor- 
 
72 LUTHER AXD JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 ruptions in teaching and living. The whole world tried, and 
 tried again, and yet again, at the councils of Pisa, and Con- 
 stance, and Basel, and the Lateran, to reform the Church, 
 and failed signally and dismally. Cardinal Bellarmine says : 
 "Religion was almost dead." Yon Doellinger says: "The 
 last hope of a reformation of the Church was carried to the 
 grave." 
 
 Where all the world, the great in Church and State, had 
 failed for centuries, Luther succeeded almost instantly. 
 How? Mr. Newman says: "He adopted a doctrine original, 
 specious, fascinating, persuasive, powerful against Rome, 
 and wonderfully adapted, as if prophetically, to the genius 
 of the times which were to follow. He found Christians in 
 bondage to their works and observances ; he released them by 
 his doctrine of faith." (p. 386.) 
 
 Mr. Newman was bitterly hostile to Luther's "justifica- 
 tion," and left the Anglican Church for the Roman, and 
 became a cardinal. 
 
 3. On the World in General. 
 
 "Luther was one of the greatest personalities in the history 
 of the human race; he possessed a remarkable and fasci- 
 nating individuality, and a mind so masterful as to dominate 
 those about him and to impress its stamp upon the subsequent 
 political and religious history of the world." (Monsignor 
 Jos. H. McMahon in Catholic Library Ass'n Lect. Course 
 1913—4 in Delmonico's, N. Y. City.) 
 
 "Luther has been the restorer of liberty in modern times." 
 (Michelet, French Catholic writer.) 
 
 "That heroic and pregnant No ! bore within it the liberties 
 of the world." (Francois Auguste Marie Mignet.) 
 
 "Its beneficial influence has been felt in every branch of 
 learning, in every department of science, and in every insti- 
 tution of civil liberty." (Thomas Home, Bampton Lec- 
 tures, 1828.) 
 
 "Luther has done more to change the history of the 
 world than any other man since St. Paul." (Dr. Francis 
 Clark, in Christian Endeavor World.) 
 
LUTHER AND JUSTIFICATION. 73 
 
 4. On America in Particular. 
 
 "The principle of justification by faith alone brought 
 with it the freedom of individual thought and conscience 
 against authority." (Bancroft, I, p. 178.) 
 
 "Free and representative government is the logical con- 
 sequence of Protestant Christianity." (Laveleye's Prot. and 
 Oath.; Introduction by Gladstone.) 
 
 "The republic of America is a corollary of the Reforma- 
 tion." (Charles Frangois Dominique de Villers.) 
 
 "The inalienable rights of an American citizen are nothing 
 but the Protestant idea of the general priesthood of all 
 believers applied to the civil sphere, or developed into the 
 corresponding idea of the general kingship of free men," 
 (Philip Schaff, Creeds, p. 219.) 
 
 "The Reformation of Luther . . . introduced the principle 
 of civil liberty . . . into the wilderness of IsTorth America." 
 (Daniel Webster at Bunker Hill, June 17, 18-13.) 
 
 "The free millions of the United States may well rise up 
 and do Luther honor by cherishing his example, pondering 
 his history, and maintaining his creed." (Bishop Thorold, of 
 Rochester, England; Phila. Press, Nov. 10, 1883.) 
 
 "Every man in Western Europe and in America is leading 
 a different life to-day from what he would have been; had 
 Martin Luther not lived." (Dr. Preserved Smith; also 
 Froude, also Charles Dudley Warner.) 
 
 "Our civil liberty is the result of the open Bible, which 
 Luther gave us." (Henry Ward Beecher.) 
 
 "Look around and see . . . Luther's . . . latest fruits in the 
 greatness of this free republic." (Wm. M. Taylor, LL. D., 
 Broadway Tabernacle, N. Y. City.) 
 
 "Martin Luther . . . the instrument of God in giving . . . 
 all that we Americans now enjoy, and all that we rejoice in 
 being." (The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, il/a5s\ Hist. 8oc.) 
 
 "To Martin Luther, above all men, we Anglo-Americans 
 are indebted for national independence and mental freedom." 
 (Frederic Hedge, of Harvard.) 
 
 "America has been the greatest beneficiary of that noble 
 
74 LTJTHER AT MARBUEG. 
 
 teaching" (Luther's). (Pres. Eliot, of Harvard, May 9, 1913, 
 N. Y. City.) 
 
 "Our Constitution still reads: 'Congress shall make no 
 law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting 
 the free exercise thereof.' For this we must thank the Refor- 
 mation." (The Eev. Prof. Francis Pieper, D. D., Pres. Con- 
 cordia Theol. Sem., St. Louis.) 
 
 Luther at Marburg. 
 
 Prof. R. D. Biedeemann, Concordia Seminary, Springfield, 111. 
 
 "Deus vos impleat odio papae" (God fill you with hatred 
 towards the pope), said Martin Luther to his friends in re- 
 ferring to the perniciousness of Roman doctrines and to 
 the abomination of the hierarchic practises. Protestants in 
 general approve of this famous admonition of Luther in 
 regard to the papacy. Praise for Luther's parting words to 
 Zwingli at Marburg, "Yours is a different spirit from ours," 
 is not so general. Indeed, Luther's attitude towards the 
 Zwinglians at the conclusion of the conference at Marburg 
 has met with unanimous condemnation on the part of all 
 Protestants of the unionistic type. 
 
 Says James Taft Hatfield in The Dial (1911, p. 528) : 
 "His [Luther's] crude superstition is very unlovely; so is 
 his narrow intolerance of religious variation; more par- 
 ticularly his pig-headed ugliness towards the good Zwingli." 
 
 Bunsen represents the occurrences at Marburg as being 
 "the deepest tragedy of Luther's life and of the history of 
 Protestantism" — by fault of Luther. (Acme Library of 
 Standard Biography, 1880, p. 39.) 
 
 Arthur E. McGiffert has this to say: "The most notable 
 example of Luther's intolerance was his attitude toward the 
 famous Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingli. ... In reading the 
 reports of the Marburg Colloquy, we are inevitably reminded 
 of the great Leipsic debate of eleven years before. As Eck 
 then insisted upon blind and unquestioning submission to 
 the authority of the Church, Luther now insisted upon the 
 
LUTHER AT MARBURG. 75 
 
 same kind of submission to the authority of the Bible." 
 (Articles in Century, 1911; also published in book form, 
 Martin Luther, the Man and His Work, The Century Co., 
 1911.) 
 
 True, at Marburg- Luther once more "insisted upon blind 
 and unquestioning submission to the Bible." At Marburg 
 Lutlier once more applied the formal i)rinciple of the Refor- 
 mation — Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone. At Marburg 
 Zwingli and his adherents once more revealed that "spirit 
 so different" from Luther's, that rationalistic treatment of 
 God's Holy Writ, the minimizing of doctrinal differences for 
 the purpose of external union. 
 
 For years that ''different spirit" of Zwingli and other 
 " Sacramentarians" had been in evidence. For years Luther 
 and his colleagues had fought this ^'different spirit/' 
 
 Huldricus Zwinglius, of Zurich, Switzerland, like others 
 of his age, was indebted to the writings of ]\rartin Lutlier 
 for the knowledge that the pope was not the vicar of Christ 
 to the Church nor its lawgiver. But Zwinglius, "Reformator 
 et Pastor Ecclesiae Tigurinae," as he signed himself, had 
 not, like Luther, passed through great inward struggles, was 
 not centered in the comforting doctrine of justification by 
 grace, did not seek every means to enrich sinners with the 
 Gospel-treasure of forgiveness of sins and the certainty 
 thereof. More of a legislator than a pastor, Zwingli aimed 
 at the improvement of community life, the reconstruction 
 of public morals. Political reformation was predominant 
 in the mind of Zwinglius. To him the Church was not the 
 spiritual body, nourished by the spiritual means of the 
 Word and the Sacraments, but a social institution, entrusted 
 with the responsibility of suggesting laws for the moral 
 elevation of the citizenship. Zwingli mixed State and 
 Church as much as any Romanist might do, substituting 
 Protestantism, of course, for Romanism in the process of 
 amalgamation. Zwingli also worshiped the beautiful in 
 letters and art, adored mind in man, was a thorough ration- 
 alist, and had no use for an objective Word of God to which 
 subjective opinions must be subordinated. Where there was 
 
76 LUTHER AT MARBURG. 
 
 a collision between a Bible-passage and human reasoning, 
 a textual explanation must be found which does not outrage, 
 but rather satisfy the human mind. 
 
 Following the ''Vernunftprinzip" (principle of reason) 
 instead of the "Schrift-pvinzip'' (principle of the Bible), it 
 was only natural that Zwingli drifted away from Luther and 
 soon became his opponent, especially in the doctrine of the 
 Eucharist, the Lord's Supper. In this respect Zwingli fol- 
 lowed Bodenstein, with some variation of interpretation. 
 
 Andreas Bodenstein, of Carlstadt, in Franconia, generally 
 called Carlstadtius, at one time a colaborer of Luther at 
 the University of Wittenberg, had since 1521 done incal- 
 culable harm to the work of the Reformation through his 
 riotous, fanatic teaching. His operations became even more 
 destructive to the Evangelical Church when he came to the 
 front with his false interpretation of the words of the 
 Sacrament. 
 
 According to Carlstadt, Christ, when uttering the word 
 rovxo, this, pointed to His visible body, implying: You see 
 My body before you, which I give for you ; in commemoration 
 thereof partake of bread and wine. Thus Carlstadt, with one 
 stroke, removed from the words of the Sacrament, first, the 
 wonderful truth that Christ gives to the partaker of the 
 consecrated bread and wine His body and blood; secondly, 
 the consoling message that sins are forgiven to the com- 
 municant; thirdly, the comforting assurance that the body 
 and blood of Christ received with the bread and wine are 
 a token, a seal of the words of forgiveness. 
 
 Although he took sides with Carlstadt against Luther, 
 Zwingli did not emasculate the text in the same fashion. 
 To Zwingli, the linguist, it was quite plain that rovro, this, 
 must refer to the bread and the wine distributed by Christ 
 to the individual communicants. But, said Zwingli, the 
 word sari, is, in the institution means signifies (hedeutet). 
 Take, eat; this bread signifies My body, which is given for 
 you. Take, drink; this wine signifies My blood, which is 
 shed for you. This treatment of the plain, sublime words 
 of our Master was first published in Zwingli's C ortimentarius 
 
LUTHER AT MARBURG. 77 
 
 de vera et falsa relici'wne, 1525. The effect of Zwingli's 
 interpretation of Christ's words was the same as in Carl- 
 stadt's maltreatment of the same — a denatured Sacrament, 
 robbed of its special import and profit to the penitent com- 
 municant. 
 
 As to Luther's simple acceptance of the first and direct 
 meaning- of Christ's words, Zwingli wrote : "Est opinio non 
 solum rustica, sed etiam impia et frivola," an opinion which 
 is not only rustic (baeurisch, farmer-like), but also imi)ious 
 and frivolous. (Ketter to Matth. Alber, pastor at Reutliugeu.) 
 
 Of one mind with both Carlstadt and Zwingli was the 
 latter's dear friend and companion in vSwitzerland, Johannes 
 Oecolampadins (Johann ITausschein). For his religious 
 knowledge Oecolampadins was also indebted to Luther. What 
 is more, as late as 1521 he had fought at Luther's side for 
 the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the 
 Sacrament. Afterwards he shared Zwingli's position. But 
 to reach that ground he must blaze a path of his own in the 
 treatment of Christ's institutional words. "Why deprive the 
 word ioTi, is, of its literal meaning when you get the same 
 results by a figurative explanation of the words oibf^ia, body, 
 and aiua, blood ? "Body" means ''sign of My body" \ "blood" 
 means ''sign, emblem, of My blood." 
 
 This ingenious, but audacious circumvention of the plain, 
 unquestionable promise of Christ to give the very body and 
 blood which were sacrificed for us was publicly pronounced 
 by Oecolampadius in his book, De genuina verhorum Domini: 
 Hoc est corpus meum, expositione, 1525. 
 
 The year 1525 produced another colleague of Carlstadt, 
 Zwingli, and Oecolampadius by the name of Caspar Schwenk- 
 feld von Ossigk. A mystic, depending not on the words of 
 Scripture, — to do so he termed "Buchstabendienst," slavery 
 to the letter, — Schwenkfeld claimed to know by special 
 revelation that rovro, this, was the predicate of the disputed 
 sentence ; the words must be reversed, as it were : My body is 
 this, namely, the true bread for the soul; ^ly blood is this, 
 namely, the true potion for the soul, 
 
 Valentin Krautwald, of Silesia, indorsed this Schwenk- 
 
78 LUTHER AT MARBURG. 
 
 feldian treatment of the institutional words. One Petrus 
 Florus, of Cologne, succeeded in finding still another way 
 of juggling the sacred words of Christ. 
 
 Luther cast them all "into one and the same pot." He 
 perceived in each and every one of the Sacramentarians the 
 "identical puffed-up, carnal mind which twists about and 
 struggles in the attempt to avoid obeying the Word of God. 
 (St. Louis ed. XVIII, 1541.) As to himself, the very dis- 
 union of his opponents in the exegesis of the text confirmed 
 him in his Christian spirit of clinging to the text as the 
 only way of knowing the truth (John 8, 31. 32). "I am hedged 
 in, I cannot escape: the text, all too powerful, is there, and 
 does not suffer itself to be torn from one's mind." (Erl. 
 53, 274.) 
 
 In 1524, Luther wrote his "Letter to the Christians at 
 Strassburg," where Bucer and Capito leaned towards Carl- 
 stadt. This was followed in 1525 by the treatise "Against the 
 Heavenly Prophets concerning Emblems and the Sacrament." 
 
 Being still "busy with Erasmus," Luther left Zwingli, 
 Oecolampadius, and Schwenkfeld to his colaborers in the 
 work of the Lord. (Letter to Nic. Hausmann at Zwickau. 
 St. L. ed., XXI a, 792.) Thus Johann Bugenhagen — Luther 
 generally calls him Pomeranus — writes against Zwingli in 
 defense of a literal acceptance of Christ's words in the 
 Sacrament. Oecolampadius rushes to the aid of his friend 
 Zwingli. The Swabian clergymen, Johann Brenz and Erhard 
 Schnepf, answer in the name of fourteen other pastors by 
 the "Syngramma Suevicum," ably defending Luther's doc- 
 trine on the Eucharist. Oecolampadius, in 1526, meets the 
 "Syngramma" by an "Antisyngramma." — Another list of 
 Lutheran theologians (Bilibald Pirklieimer, Theobald Ger- 
 lacher, Urbanus Rhegius, and others) enter the army of 
 brave defenders of the right doctrine. — A new feature enters 
 into the conflict. Capito and Bucer, of Strassburg, attempt 
 the role of peacemakers by minimizing the doctrinal dif- 
 ference, asking Lutherans and Zwinglians to fraternize re- 
 gardless of remaining discrepancies. 
 
 At last the mighty Luther again takes up the battle 
 
LUTIIEE AT MARBURG. 79 
 
 against the whole field of Sacramentarians. In 1526, appeared 
 his "Sermon on the Body and Blood of Christ against the 
 Fanatics." This was followed in April, 1527, by the tre- 
 mendously powerful treatise "That These Words: 'This Is 
 My Body,' Still Stand Unshaken." After a violent illness, 
 during which his life was despaired of, Luther resumed labor 
 on his book, "Dr. INfartin Luther's Confession concerning 
 Christ's Supper," and published it in the early part of 1528. 
 This book is remarkable for its clearness, depth, and force. 
 
 Thus did tlie controversy rage up to 1529, the year of 
 the Marburg Conference. 
 
 It is a historical misrepresentation, however, to treat this 
 conference as the culmination of a desire on the part of the 
 theologians to bury their differences. The initiative was 
 taken by the Landgrave Philip of Hesse. He wished to 
 bring about doctrinal union among the Protestants, in order 
 that they might amalgamate and form a solid, politico- 
 military body against the aggressive Romanists. For not 
 only did Emperor Charles V unite his power with the 
 influence of the pope to carry out the Edict of Worms and 
 crush Lutheranism, the papal nuncio Campeggi had also 
 effected a league between Archduke Ferdinand, the Duke of 
 Bavaria, the Archbishop of Salzburg, and a majority of 
 bishops in the southeastern part of Germany. The avowed 
 purpose of this Catholic federation was the protection of 
 "the old faith" and the strict enforcement of the Edict of 
 Worms. In their realm no books of Luther should be printed, 
 no student from their territory should be allowed to attend 
 the University of Wittenberg. The convention at Ratisbon 
 had the fullest cooperation of Emperor Charles V in its 
 hostile measures toward Lutheranism. In those days 
 Charles V, obedient servant of the pope, sent repeated 
 messages from Spain to all princes and bishops of Germany, 
 demanding that the Lutheran heresy be crushed. 
 
 It was then that Landgrave Philip of Hesse, Elector John 
 of Saxony, and ^fargrave George of Brandenburg felt con- 
 strained to form a Protestant League to defend the Evan- 
 gelical faith by arms. Luther, for various reasons, did not 
 
so LUTHER AT MARBURG. 
 
 indorse this course, partly, because carnal weapons should 
 not be used to protect the spiritual kingdom of Christ; 
 partly, because arms should not be carried against the 
 emperor, their lawful ruler; finally, because those that were 
 to be united into one armj^ were not of one faith. 
 
 How to eliminate the doctrinal differences among the 
 Protestants became a burning question, not so much from 
 a religious as from a politico-military point of view. There- 
 fore Landgrave Philip of Hesse sent invitations to the most 
 prominent Lutheran and Reformed theologians to meet him 
 at Marhurg. 
 
 The invitations were accepted with alacrity by Zwingli, 
 Oecolampadius, Bucer, and Caspar Hedio; with reluctance 
 by the Lutheran theologians. Neither Luther nor Melanch- 
 thon, Osiander nor Brenz, were favorably impressed with 
 the motives of Philip. Nor did they have any new testimony 
 to offer to the Sacramentarians beyond what had been written 
 in public for ten years. The Lutheran theologians also appre- 
 hended in advance the malignant judgment which would arise 
 among their adversaries if the conference — as it was bound 
 to do — ended in discord. Through the "impetuous impor- 
 tuning" of the landgrave, Luther and Melanchthon "finally 
 were compelled to promise" that they would attend the con- 
 ference. (Comp. Luther's letter to Johann Brismann at Riga. 
 St. L. ed. XXI a, 1339.) Their letter of acceptance to the 
 margrave concludes : "May the Father of all mercy and unity 
 grant His Holy Spirit in order that we do not meet in vain, 
 but rather with benefit, and in no wise with evil results." 
 (St. L. ed. XXI a, 1326. Comp. XXI a, 1935. 1937 ff.) 
 
 After they had accepted the invitation, however, both 
 Luther and Melanchthon did their utmost to win the Zwing- 
 lians, and thus to prevent the very failure which they 
 predicted. 
 
 By Friday, October 1, 1529, the chief representatives of 
 both parties had reached Marburg, and were received by 
 the landgrave with great kindness. At fii'st he had placed 
 his guests in comfortable quarters of the city. He then 
 changed his mind and made them all his personal, intimate 
 
LUTHER AT MAHBURG. 81 
 
 guests at his castle. These were Zwingli, Oecolampadius, 
 Bucer, ITedio, and the hiymen Jacob Sturm, Ulrich Funk, 
 and Rudolf Frey, all influential citizens of their respective 
 communities; then Luther, Melanchthon, Johann Brcnz, 
 Justus Jonas, Andreas Osiander, Stephan Agricola, Caspar 
 Cruciger, Friedrich Myconius, Justus INfenius, and the lay- 
 man Eberhard von der Tann. The conference attracted many 
 visitors to Marburg from Cologne, Strassburg, Basel, and 
 other places. Very few besides those already mentioned were 
 able to gain access to the interior chamber, which adjoined 
 the office of the landgrave. Luther and Melanchthon, Zwingli 
 and Oecolampadius, were seated at a table, in front of which 
 sat the landgrave and his attendants. 
 
 No agreement having been reached in a private discussion 
 held on the previous day, the debate was now resumed before 
 the small assembly and the landgrave. As to the tenor of the 
 debate, a witness wrote later on : "One might have considered 
 Luther and Zwingli brethren instead of opponents. Once 
 only did Luther show some excitement, when Zwingli pro- 
 vokingly remarked that the passage in John 6 : 'The flesh 
 profiteth nothing,' must 'break Luther's neck.' As to argu- 
 ments, the debate was at no time carried beyond what had 
 been laid down in the public writings of both parts." 
 
 For almost two days Oecolampadius emphasized his old 
 argument: that Christ has a true body, which is in heaven; 
 no true body could be at many places at the same time. 
 He also spent much time with the sixth chapter of John, 
 concerning the spiritual eating and drinking of the Lord's 
 body and blood, attempting to identify the same with the 
 eating and drinking in the Sacrament. 
 
 The Zwinglians tortured John 6, 63 : "The flesh profitetli 
 nothing," as an argument against the real presence of 
 Christ's body and blood in the Sacrament. It amounted 
 to blasphemy when they referred these words of Christ to 
 the flesh of Jesus; for the context plainly shows that mans 
 flesh is meant, which profits nothing in spiritual matters. 
 
 Luther made it very plain that there was no connection, 
 much less a contradiction, between Jolm <», r;:> and the words 
 
 Four Ilundrod Years. 6 
 
82 LUTHER AT MARBURG. 
 
 of the Sacrament. And pointing to the text, "This is My 
 body," which he had written on the table before him, Luther 
 exiDlained: "Leave it to the almighty God-man Christ how 
 He effects His presence with the sacramental bread and wine 
 at so many places and at the same time. What He promises 
 He can and will do, for He is truthful. There are some 
 human attributes wherein Christ did not make Himself like 
 unto man ; for instance, Christ had no wife. There are other 
 attributes wherein He far surpasses all men, powers which 
 no man can have in common Avith Christ, for instance, that 
 His exalted true human nature takes part in the omni- 
 presence of the divine nature." 
 
 On Sunday, May 3, Luther preached the early morning 
 sermon. He did not make a single reference to the pending- 
 controversy, but preached about forgiveness of sins, justi- 
 fication by faith (the '^'^ilfa/eriaZprinzip" of the Reformation). 
 To ignore all discord at that hour showed great tact and 
 gentleness on the part of Luther. Making justification by 
 faith his theme, he also clearly revealed what article of the 
 Christian faith was paramount in his heart and in his 
 theology. 
 
 The debate was resumed after service, and carried into 
 the afternoon, yea, into eventide. As all hopes of agreement 
 vanished, Zwingli ashed with tears that they should never- 
 theless he accepted as hrethren in the faith. It was then 
 that Luther refused the proffered hand of fellowship, sup- 
 porting his action by the sentence, now famous: "Yours is 
 a differ ent spirit from ours." And Melanchthon heartily 
 agreed with Luther in such refusal of a union without unity. 
 He wrote to John Agricola: "They pleaded intensely that 
 they should be called brethren by us. Behold the incon- 
 sistency ! They condemn us, and yet desire to be considered 
 our brethren. To this we did not care to consent." (St. L. ed. 
 XVII, 1956.) 
 
 Still some agreement was reached. It may be surmised 
 from a letter of Luther to the same Agricola: "But we did 
 extend to them the hand of peace and love, that acrimonious 
 articles and words should be omitted, and that every one 
 
LUTHEE AT MARBTJRG. 83 
 
 should teach his opinion without hostile attacks, not, however, 
 without proof and disproof (nieht ohne Verteidig'ung und 
 Wider] egung). Thus we parted." 
 
 Before they parted, Luther formulated articles to show 
 how far, after all, they had come to an agreement in other 
 respects, and just where the difference remained in the doc- 
 trine of the Eucharist. The landgrave had been the most 
 earnest listener at all sessions. He is said to have remarked 
 in public, "Now will I rather believe the plain words of 
 Christ than the clever thoughts of men." (St. L. ed. XVII, 
 1950.) It was the landgrave who prevailed upon Luther to 
 formulate those final articles. There were fifteen in all (not 
 only fourteen; comp. St. L. ed. XVII, 1943), and they were 
 signed by Martin Luther, Philippus Melanchthon, Justus 
 Jonas, Andreas Osiander, Johannes Brentius, Stephanus 
 Agricola, Johannes Oecolampadius, Ulricus Zwinglius, Mar- 
 tin Bucerus, Caspar Hedio. 
 
 At this time hoth Luther and Melanchthon were more 
 hopeful regarding the Swiss theologians than at any pre- 
 vious time. 
 
 Luther wrote to John Agricola: "In short, they are un- 
 trained people and inexperienced in debate. Though aware 
 that their sayings proved nothing, they would nevertheless 
 not give in as to this one article; and this (as we are con- 
 vinced) more from fear and shame than from malice. In 
 all other points they yielded, as you will see from the placard 
 sent forth." (St. L. ed. XVII, 1955.) 
 
 To Wenceslaus Link in Nuremberg Luther wrote : "In 
 short, these people do not appear to be malicious; they have 
 fallen into this notion by error and accident, and would 
 gladly be extricated therefrom, if it could be done." (XVII, 
 1958.) 
 
 Melanchthon to John Agricola: "I am perfectly con- 
 vinced that if the matter had not yet gone so far (wenn die 
 Sache noch nicht eingebrockt waere), they would not enact 
 such a great tragedy." (XVII, 1956.) 
 
 From the pulpit at Wittenberg Luther gave information 
 to the congregation about the ^Farburg Conference: "We 
 
84 LUTHEE AT MARBURG. 
 
 have suffered no harm on the way; therein God has heard 
 your prayers, for which you should thank Him. Furthermore, 
 our opponents have shown themselves very friendly and polite, 
 more so than we anticipated. They admit that one receives 
 faith and consolation in the Sacrament, but that the very 
 body and blood should truly be there they cannot believe 
 as yet. And this much we felt that they would have given 
 in if the matter rested entirely with themselves. Since they, 
 however, had a definite order from their people, they could 
 not back down. They do not deny that the true body and 
 blood of Christ are present, which, therefore, sounds as 
 though they were with us. They admit that those attending 
 the Supper truly partake of the body and blood of Christ, 
 but spiritually only, so as to have Christ in the heart. Bodily 
 eating they will not admit; that we have left to thair 
 conscience. Therefore the matter is very hopeful. I do not 
 say that there exists a fraternal union, but a benevolent 
 friendly harmony, so they will seek from us in a friendly 
 manner what they lack, and we, on the other hand, be of 
 service to them. If you will all pray diligently, the friendly 
 harmony may ripen into a fraternal union." (Junius, Com. 
 Seek., Vol. 2, p. 244.) 
 
 All these quotations certainly breathe an ad^niraMe spirit 
 of mildness, patietice, and charity on Luther's part. The 
 critics of Luther at Marburg — several of whom we have 
 quoted at the outset — have not sought, much less considered, 
 all the material which has a bearing on the subject. 
 
 At the same time these quotations show that Luther made 
 no compromise with error on any terms. Therein his spirit 
 stands in clear contrast to that of Zwingli and his adherents, 
 especially the wabbling "peacemakers from Strassburg, 
 Capito and Bucer." In refusing church-fellowship to the 
 Sacramentarians, Luther's heart was perfectly at ease, and 
 his mind cheerful, much as he abhorred discord in the 
 visible Church. He said: "But our text is certain that it 
 shall and must stand as the words read ; for God Himself 
 has thus placed it, and nobody durst take away or add 
 a single letter. Fourthly, you know that they [the Sacra- 
 
LUTHER AT MARBURG. 85 
 
 nieiitarians] disagree, and they make conflicting- texts out 
 of the words. As a result, they are not only uncertain, — 
 which alone would be enough of the devil, — Init are against 
 each othej'j and must accuse each other of lying. But our 
 text is not only certain, it is one, and plain, and harmonious 
 among all of us. Fifthly, granted that our text and inter- 
 pretation be as uncertain and dark as their text and inter- 
 pretation (which, of course, it is not), you nevertheless have 
 the glorious, defiant (trotzig) advantage that you can with 
 good conscience stand on our text and speak thus : If I shall 
 and must have a dark text and interpretation, I will rather 
 have the one spoken by the lips of God Himself than the one 
 which proceeds from the mouth of man. And if I should be 
 deceived, I would rather be deceived by God (if such were 
 possible) than by men; for if God deceives me, He will 
 render an account and repay me. But men cannot repay me 
 (Wiedererstattung tun), after they have defrauded me and 
 have led me into hell. Such defiance the Sacramentarians 
 cannot have, for they could not say: I will rather stand on 
 the double text of Zwingli and Oecolampadius than on the 
 single text of Christ. Hence you can cheerfully say to 
 Christ, both on your deathbed and on Judgment Day: My 
 dear Lord Jesus Christ, a quarrel arose about Thy words in 
 the Sacrament: some would have them understood dif- 
 ferently from what they say. However, since those men 
 offer me nothing certain, but only confuse and perplex me, 
 and since they neither attempt nor succeed in proving their 
 text, I remained upon Thy text, as the words read. If there 
 is anything dark in them, then Thou wantedst them to be 
 so dark; for Thou hast neither given any other enligliten- 
 ment concerning them, nor commanded any to be given." 
 (Erl. ed. 30, 302.) 
 
 All Reformed church-bodies look back to Zwingli as their 
 founder. His wrong doctrine is characteristic of all Prot- 
 estant bodies outside of the Lutheran Church. Of the same 
 spirit with Zwingli and Oecolampadius, and especially with 
 the "peacemakers from Strassburg," are all churchmen, no 
 matter under what name they may sally forth, who favor 
 
86 LUTHER AT MARBURG. 
 
 church union and cooperation in the Lord's work without 
 unity of faith. 
 
 What Zwingli and Oecolampadius and the peacemakers 
 from Strassburg desired was practised, for instance, just 
 one hundred years ago, at the third centenary celebration 
 of the Reformation. King Frederick William III united 
 the Reformed and the Lutherans at Potsdam into one con- 
 gregation, naming it the ''Evangelical Christian Church." 
 He received the Lord's Supper under an ambiguous formula, 
 designed to please the Reformed and the Lutheran communi- 
 cants. Aye, he appealed to all Protestant churches in the 
 land that they follow his example. Such unification of 
 the Lutheran and the Reformed Churches, brought about by 
 simply ignoring the differential doctrines of both, did not 
 find favor with all subjects of Frederick William III. As 
 yet there were many iDastors and laymen that were imbued 
 with the spirit of Luther. They were made to suffer for 
 their c©nviction. The events of those days stand as monu- 
 ments to the "spirit different from ours." 
 
 The most prominent "peacemakers from Strassburg" in 
 our country are probably the pastors of the Evangelical 
 Synod of North America. The confessional paragraph in 
 the constitution of that synod is notorious as an exhibition 
 of religious indifference. Paragraph 2 approves of the inter- 
 pretation of Holy Writ as laid down in the symbolical books 
 of the Lutheran Church a72d of the Reformed Church, as 
 far as they agree with each other. Wherein they do not 
 agree, the synod intends to hold to the Scripture-passages 
 pertaining to such differential doctrines, making use, how- 
 ever, of the liberty of conscience prevailing in the Evan- 
 gelical Church. At all the altars of the churches belonging 
 to this synod the Reformed and the Lutheran communicants 
 are equally welcome. Let the pastors of such churches ponder 
 the words of Luther, whom they praise so frequently : "I am 
 unspeakably shocked to hear that both parts should seek and 
 obtain the same Sacrament in the same church, at the same 
 altar; and one part is to believe that he receives bread and 
 wine only, the other part, that he partakes of the true body 
 
LUTHER AT MARBURG. 87 
 
 and blood of Clirist. And I often doubt whether one dare 
 believe that a preacher or pastor (Seelsorger) could be so 
 hardened (verstockt) and so malicious to bo silent about this, 
 and let each part go on, all of them imagining that they are 
 receiving the same Sacrament, each according to his faith. 
 But if there is such a one, he must be possessed of a heart 
 which is harder than stone, steel, or diamond; yea, he must 
 be an apostle of wrath. Far better than these are the Turks 
 and Jews, who deny our Sacrament, and freely admit it; 
 for by these we certainly remain undeceived, and thus do 
 not fall into idolatry. But these fellows must be the right 
 high archdevils that give me only bread and wine, but cau^e 
 me to believe that I am receiving the body and blood of 
 Christ, thus lamentably deceiving me. . . . Therefore, who- 
 soever has such a preacher, or suspects his preacher to be 
 such a man, is hereby warned against him as against the 
 very devil himself." (St. L. ed. XVII, 201G.) 
 
 The spirit of the Zwinglians and of the Strassburg peace- 
 makers — frivolous treatment of Scripture-passages ; twist- 
 ing of the text to meet the demands of human reasoning; 
 tendency to unite by ignoring doctrinal differences,- or finding 
 formulas pleasing both parts — this "spirit so different" 
 from that of Luther and his colaborers, is seeking entrance 
 into each and every Lutheran synod or congregation, no 
 matter how firmly they may have formerly held to the tenets 
 of our dear Church. 
 
 Let us beware ! 
 
 References: — Luther's Works: Erl. ed., Concordia Publish- 
 ing House, St. Louis, ed., and Weimar ed. Seckendorf, Historia 
 Lutheranismi. Christian Friedr. Junii Compendium SecJcendorfia- 
 num. Julius Koestlin, Martin Luther. John Lord. Beacon Lifjhts 
 of Eisfori/. Wace and Buchheim, Luther's Primarj/ WorJxS. Jolin 
 Rae. Marti)i Luther: Student, Monk, Reformer. McGiffert, Mar- 
 tin Luther: Tfie Man and His Work. Preserved Smith, The Life 
 and Letters of Martin Luther. Jolin Tulloch, Leaders of the Ref- 
 ormation. Richard Newton, Heroes of the Reformation. Dr. W. 
 Rein, Lehen Martin Luthers. Guericke, Kirchengeschichte. ^hi- 
 thesius, J.ufhcrs Lehen. 
 
88 LUTHER THE FAITHFUL CONFESSOR OF CHRIST. 
 
 Luther the Faithful Confessor of Christ. 
 
 Prof. F. Bexte, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 All men may be divided as follows : such as know nothing 
 of Christ, hence cannot confess Him; such as know of 
 Christ, but reject and deny Him; and such as truly believe 
 in Christ, and therefore alone are able and also willing to 
 confess Him before men. And just such confession they 
 should look upon as their sacred calling, their supreme duty, 
 and their most noble privilege. Tor to confess Christ is 
 but a solemn way of preaching the sweet Gospel of Christ. 
 "Whosoever," says Christ, "shall confess Me before men, him 
 will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven." 
 (Matt. 10, 32.) Accordingly, it is the clear and unmistakable 
 will of God that Christians must not be satisfied with know- 
 ing Christ in their minds, believing on Him in their hearts, 
 and acknowledging Him before God in their secret prayers, 
 but should also confess Him and His Gospel with their 
 mouths and lives before men in the world surrounding them. 
 This holds good not only with respect to the apostles and 
 disciples of the early Church, but to Christians of every 
 age and place and time. And the Lord urges this noble 
 Christian privilege in phrases both solemnly serious and 
 kindly promising. Why ? Because Jesus knows what courage 
 it requires for Christians to face the world especially in 
 times of persecution. True Christian courage, even among 
 Christians, — what a rare article it is ! But the Holy Spirit 
 enables and prompts us to do joyously that which our carnal 
 nature abhors. Indeed, wherever and whenever needed, won- 
 derful heroes are given by God to His Church, undaunted 
 witnesses and bold confessors of Christ. Among the bravest 
 and most courageous w^ere the apostles, especially Peter and 
 Paul, the martyrs of pagan Kome and of papal Rome, and 
 many other heroic witnesses, down to the present day. The 
 man, however, who courageously confessed Christ as few 
 before and no one after him is none other than Dr. Martin 
 Luther, whose sacred memory we celebrate with praises and 
 thanksgivings to God, who made Luther what he was, blessed 
 
LUTHER THE FAITHFUL CONFESSOR OF ClIHIST. S9 
 
 him, and made liini a blessing to millions. When asked what 
 Luther was and did to celebrate his memory, no better answer 
 can be given than the one suggested by the words of Jesus, 
 quoted above: Luther confessed his Savior before men; he 
 was a faithful and most courageous witness of Christ. And 
 this is not a mere assertion of mine, but plainly borne out 
 by the facts of the Reformation history. 
 
 1. Where did Luther confess Christ? — Wherever he stood 
 and spoke, in private and in public, before high and low, 
 before friend and foe, before individuals and great multi- 
 tudes. Luther confessed his Savior in his own home before 
 his wife and children, his servants and visitors, and especially 
 in his daily talk before the numerous guests at his table. 
 Luther confessed Christ in his theological chair at Witten- 
 berg, lecturing for more than thirty years before thousands 
 of students from all parts of Europe. Luther confessed 
 Christ in numerous pulpits of Saxony and other places, 
 especially in the two churches of Wittenberg. Luther con- 
 fessed Christ before the common people, before students, 
 professors, and learned doctors, before burgomasters, princes, 
 electors, and kings. Luther confessed Christ in innumerable 
 letters, in countless sermons, in numberless lectures. Luther 
 confessed Christ in his Latin books before the doctors of 
 the European universities, in his German writings, especially 
 in his translation of the Bible, before the German nation, 
 and practically before all Europe (France, Spain, Italy, 
 Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England) in trans- 
 lations of his books, and through scholars trained in Witten- 
 berg University. Indeed, Luther, as no man after him, was 
 a wonderful witness for Christ. 
 
 2, When did Luther confess Christ? — From the day the 
 great Gospel-truth, "The just shall live by faith," dawned 
 on him, till his last prayer at Eisleben, "Thou hast redeeraeed 
 me, O faithful God," Luther never for a moment ceased to 
 glorify his Savior. However, many a red-letter day rises 
 skyward as a mountain peak of bold confession in the won- 
 derful life of Luther. When he, on the 31st of October, 
 1517, nailed the Xinety-five Theses on the door of the Castle 
 
90 LUTHER THE FAITHFUL CONFESSOR OF CHRIST. 
 
 Cliurcli in Wittenberg, that was a powerful confession, 
 which reverberated in all Europe. And when, in 1517 and 
 again in 1518, Luther, before the legates of the pope, sol- 
 emnly refused to recant and deny the truths which he had 
 proclaimed, that, too, was a bold confession of Christ. Again, 
 in 1519, in his disputation with Dr. Eck, Luther confessed 
 Christ and His truth when he, with startling openness and 
 boldness, declared, "I neither believe the pope, nor the church- 
 councils, nor the Eathers, but the inspired Word of God 
 alone." Another bold confession of Christ it was when 
 Luther, in 1521, on his way to Worms, entreated by the people 
 to return to Wittenberg, declared that he would go and 
 confess his Master in spite of devils as numerous in Worms 
 as the tiles on its roofs. And when, on the memorable 
 18th day of April, Luther, at the diet of Worms, stood and 
 spoke before the Emperor, the nobles and dignitaries of the 
 realm, and closed his solemn refusal to recant and deny 
 Christ with the words, "Here I stand, I cannot otherwise; 
 God help me. Amen," the great Reformer had reached the 
 Alpine peak of Christian confession before men. And many 
 other momentous days of noble confession, e. g., in 1529, 
 at Marburg; in 1530, at Augsburg; in 1537, at Smalcald, — 
 days too numerous to describe, — grace the life of Luther, 
 who was, indeed, a great confessor and a most courageous 
 witness of Christ. 
 
 3. And what did Luther confess of Christ? — He con- 
 fessed that Christ is the only and perfect Savior of the 
 human race. The Romanists urged men to save themselves, 
 to reconcile God, win His favor and earn His pardon by 
 their own efforts, rosaries, works, and penances; they glori- 
 fied man and denied Christ and His salvation. Luther, how- 
 ever, denouncing all this as heathenish, and preaching the 
 Gospel of pure grace, the Gospel of reconciliation with God 
 already accomplished, of pardon already earned and fully 
 granted, of the justification of the whole world already pro- 
 claimed, and hence the Gospel of complete salvation, not by 
 works of our own, but by grace and faith only, — Luther, 
 preaching thus, confessed Christ to be our perfect and only 
 
LUTHER THE FAITHFUL CONFESSOR OF CHRIST. 91 
 
 Savior. The Romanists, persuading tlie people to trust in 
 the sacrificial mass of priests, in the intercession of saints, 
 and in papal indulgences, glorified man, the priest and his 
 work, and denied Christ and His sacrifice. Luther, however, 
 condemning all this as sacrilegious, and urging men to con- 
 fide in the perfect obedience and in the holy, innocent sacri- 
 fice of Mount Calvary, victoriously proclaimed Christ to be 
 our only High Priest, and His death as the only atoning 
 sacrifice. The Romanists, compelling the people, in blind 
 faith, to follow the pope and obey the hierarchy, raged and 
 rebelled against, and rejected, Christ, and in His stead estab- 
 lished and adored the great Antichrist. Luther, however, 
 condemning all this as antichristian idolatry, and persuading 
 men to listen to, believe in, and follow, the divine voice of 
 the Gospel and the inspired Word of God in the Bible alone, 
 triumphantly confessed Christ to be our only Plead and 
 Master, our only Prophet and King. Indeed, the Romanists, 
 even as millions of false Christians to-day, flaunted the name 
 of Christ and His cross, but disgraced, dishonored, rejected, 
 condemned, and crucified the Christ of the Gospel. Luther, 
 however, glorified the true Christ, not Christ the new Law- 
 giver, not Christ the Judge, not Christ the wise Jewish 
 Rabbi, not Christ the great Social Reformer, not Christ the 
 wonderful Healer, not Christ the great Miracle Man, not 
 Christ the Pacificist, not Christ the Millennialist. not Christ 
 the Ethical Culturist, — but the real Christ, the Christ of the 
 Bible, of the Gospel; the Christ who died because of our 
 transgressions, and rose again for our justification; the 
 Christ who made God our dear Father, and caused Him to 
 pour out His love, grace, and pardon on a godless world of 
 lost, condemned, and helpless sinners. Luther was a faith- 
 ful witness of Christ; before a world of foes he confessed 
 Him to be our perfect and only Savior, our only Proi)het, 
 Priest, and King. 
 
 4. What other truths did Luther confess? — Space per- 
 mits us to mention a few only. Luther protested against the 
 Roman claim that the pope is the head of the Church, and 
 he confessed the truth, "One is your Master, even Christ; 
 
92 LUTHER THE FAITHFUL CONFESSOR OF CHRIST. 
 
 and all ye are brethren" (Matt. 23, 8). Luther protested 
 against the yoke of bondage and against the commandments 
 of men with which the Roman hierarchy loaded down the 
 laity, and he proclaimed the spiritual freedom of Christians, 
 and urged them "to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ 
 hath made us free, and not to be entangled again with the 
 yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5, 1). Luther, protesting against the 
 godless vow of celibacy, proclaimed wedlock to be a divine 
 ordinance, and in 1525 confirmed his testimony by his own 
 marriage, in his day an act of singular boldness and true 
 Christian heroism. Luther protested against the idolatry 
 of serving and adoring Mary, the saints, and their relics, 
 and he stood by the word of Christ, "Thou shalt worship the 
 Lord, thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve" (Matt. 4, 10). 
 Luther protested against the Roman Mass as a sacrifice for 
 the living and the dead, and confessed the fundamental 
 Christian truth that Christ by one offering has perfected 
 forever them that are sanctified (Heb. 10, 14). Luther pro- 
 tested against the awful Roman doctrine of the purgatory, 
 and he confessed the sweet Christian truth, "Blessed are the 
 dead which die in the Lord from henceforth" (Rev. 14, 13). 
 Luther protested against the Roman doctrine and awful 
 practise of persecuting and burning heretics, and he con- 
 fessed the truth which did away with horrors unspeakable, 
 viz., that the only weapon of the Church is conviction by 
 the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Luther protested 
 against the arrogant claim that kings, princes, and all govern- 
 ments are subject to, receive their power from, and owe 
 obedience to, the pope, and he confessed the great principle 
 of the absolute division and separation of State and Church, 
 and that in matters temporal, and not conflicting with con- 
 science, the pope and priest as well as all other citizens are 
 subject to Caesar. In a similar manner Luther championed 
 truth and fought error wherever he met it. He was a faithful 
 witness of Christ. 
 
 5. Hoiv did Luther confess these truths? — Genuine con- 
 fession is the unison of heart and mouth and life ; and Luther 
 confessed Christ in this way. Ilis confession came from the 
 
LUTHER THE FAITHFUL COXFESSOR OF CHRIST. 93 
 
 deepest depths of his heart, as the spirit of his prayers and 
 writings testify. In veritable streams of words, spoken and 
 written, Luther confessed Christ with his tongue and pen. 
 And what Luther confessed in words he also acted, bringing 
 his whole life into agreement with the sentiments of his heart 
 and speech. Indeed, Romanists, unable to refute his doc- 
 trines, have for centuries resorted to vilifying Luther and 
 besmirching his good name. But, although Luther's life 
 was for decades an open book, dailj^ read, as never the life 
 of a man before or after him, by everybody in Wittenberg, 
 foe as well as friend, yet the traducers of Luther have not 
 been able to produce as much as a single competent and 
 trustworthy witness against him. Luther lived what he 
 preached. The whole Luther, his heart, his word, his life, 
 was a chord ringing harmoniously in the confession of 
 Christ. And this confession was rendered with the effi- 
 ciency of a chosen vessel of God, with wonderful ability 
 in everj'-thing required for such a task in a world of ene- 
 mies, with consummate skill in the use especially of the 
 German language, and with rare wisdom of suiting his words 
 and actions to the ever shifting situation. And withal, 
 Luther revealed a bold disregard of his own safety, and 
 a self-sacrifice which made him a martyr a hundred times 
 over. Luther was accustomed to saying that he would have 
 his body torn into a thousand pieces rather than deny Christ 
 and Llis Gospel, rather than acknowledge the pope and his 
 infamous dogmas. And this was not a mere bluff. From 
 1517 to 1546, for more than 10,000 days, Luther attended to 
 his daily vocation in Wittenberg with ever increasing bold- 
 ness in his testimony, and with absolute disregard of the 
 papal and imperial ban, and the fury of his numerous 
 enemies. Till his very last breath Luther never for a moment 
 lacked the supreme courage which he showed at Worms in 
 1521, and which even the unbelieving world never ceases to 
 admire. How, then, did Luther confess Christ ? We answer: 
 Courageously, perseveringly, efficiently, consistently. Ali, 
 yes, Luther did confess his Master! 
 
 6. What moved Luther thus to confess his Sariorf — 
 
94 LUTHEE THE FAITHFUL COXFESSOR OF CHRIST. 
 
 Luther answered that question himself at Worms, when he 
 declared, "I cannot otherwise; I cannot help it; I must 
 confess !" That is what the fire would say when asked why 
 it burns; the sun, why he shines. It was Luther's nature, 
 his Christian nature, to confess his Savior. Luther in his 
 own heart had experienced the terrors of the Law and the 
 quickeuing sweetness of Christ and His Gospel; hence he 
 cried, "I cannot otherwise; I must confess my dear Savior; 
 my heart is full of Him!" And being a Christian, Luther 
 also had a quickened conscience. When his enemies cried, 
 "You are a heretic, — recant ; you are a rebel, — submit 
 yourself ; you are damned and cursed by the pope, — 
 repent," Luther did but — could but — answer, "I cannot 
 otherwise; I must confess. I would stand condemned by 
 my own conscience, condemned by my God, ah, yes, con- 
 demned and rejected and denied by Christ, if I should refuse 
 to confess Him whom I know to be my Savior, and refuse 
 to proclaim the Gospel which I know to be the only truth. 
 Warned by my conscience, I cannot otherwise; I must give 
 testimony to Christ and His truth." And deep in the heart 
 of Luther there was that burning fire of love for his fellow- 
 men, especially for his own dear Germans. "For my Ger- 
 mans," said Luther, "I was born; them will I serve." 
 Beholding the abject slavery of his fellow-men, and realizing 
 how the Roman hierarchy had taken possession of their prop- 
 erty, their family, their body, their soul, their heart, their 
 mind, and their very conscience, Luther, moved by com- 
 passion, cried out, "I cannot otherwise, love constrains me; 
 I must confess; I must deliver them from bondage. The 
 Gospel and the liberty which made me free and happy I must 
 give to my fellow-men." To save and deliver, to bless and 
 enrich, his fellow-men, such was the motive that moved and 
 impelled Luther to sacrifice himself in the confession of 
 Christ and in the proclamation of His Gospel. Luther con- 
 fessed his Savior. 
 
 7. And how was Luther confessed and achnowledged hy 
 Christ? — Being a faithful confessor, Luther had, according 
 to the words quoted above, been promised by Christ: "I will 
 
LUTHER THE FAITHFUL CONFESSOR OF CHRIST. 95 
 
 confess you before My Father which is in heaven." And 
 Jesus fulfilled this promise by giving Luther a blessed death, 
 by crowning him with the crown of life, and by leading him 
 to his eternal reward at the hands of His heavenly Father. 
 Jesus kept Ilis promise; and He did more. He confessed 
 Luther also before men, even during his life, and down to 
 the present day. Christ blessed Luther, and made him 
 a blessing to many. He crowned his testimony with a won- 
 derful success, such as was granted to no other man since 
 the days of the apostles. The effects of Luther's confession 
 were felt far beyond the boundaries of Germany, in Denmark, 
 Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, England, Scotland, France, 
 Spain, Italy; and to-day they are apparent in all Europe 
 and beyond, especially in America. Jesus confessed Luther 
 before men! And when Antichrist made determined efforts 
 to root out Lutheranism in the Smalcald War of 1547; 
 when in all Catholic countries the terrible inquisitions sought 
 their victims by the thousands; when Lutherans were pub- 
 licly burned at auto-da-fes; when wholesale slaughters of 
 Protestants were inaugurated in Holland, France, and Eng- 
 land; and when, in a final mad effort, the Jesuits kindled 
 the Thirty Years' War in order to annihilate Protestantism, 
 — then Jesus, rising from the throne of majesty, stretched 
 forth His protecting hand over the work of Luther, with 
 the marvelous result that to-day 160 millions of Protestants 
 the world over, directly or indirectly, trace their origin to 
 Luther and his Reformation. Jesus did confess Luther! 
 Indeed, the innumerable Reformation festivals celebrated 
 every year all over the globe, what are they but public con- 
 fessions and approvals granted by our Savior to Luther and 
 his work? In this year of jubilee the world is witnessing 
 a celebration of the four-hundredth anniversary of Luther's 
 first pul)lic confession of Christ in 1517, as was never wit- 
 nessed before! No, Jesus did not fail to confess His faithful 
 servant, neither before men nor before His heavenly Father. 
 Indeed, we, too, are glad and proud to be among the hosts 
 whom God has blessed through Luther. Yea, as members 
 of the Missouri Synod and the Synodical Conference, we are 
 
96 LUTHER THE FAITHFUL COXFESSOR OF CHRIST. 
 
 among the most blessed of all the children of the Reforma- 
 tion, for we are entrusted with the Gospel as preached in 
 its original purity by Luther. And richly blessing this 
 testimony of the Gospel among us, God has thereby, also in 
 our own midst, crowned Luther and his work. The Synodical 
 Conference is a twig in the crown of glory which Christ 
 has placed upon the head of His faithful servant and bold 
 confessor, Dr. M. Luther. 
 
 8. Fmallyj how should all this affect us? — Well, we are 
 Lutherans and should follow Luther's example. From the 
 Word of God we are convinced that the Gospel which Luther 
 confessed is the eternal truth of God. And if it be true 
 that one iota of the Bible shall not pass away, then Luther's 
 doctrine pure, drawn, as it is, from the Bible, cannot perish. 
 Hence it must be our privilege and duty to continue in these 
 truths, to guard them from corruption, and to confess them, 
 even as Luther did, and from the same motives. Continuing 
 in, and confessing, these truths, we must also protest against 
 all errors, such also as may originate within our own Lu- 
 theran churches. Continuing in these truths, we must oppose 
 the false doctrines emanating from the numerous Protestant 
 sects. Confessing our Christian creed, we must with all our 
 heart condemn modern rationalism and liberalism, which for 
 decades have been blasting the very foundations of our faith 
 and torpedoing in mid-ocean the Ship of Christ, the Church 
 of God. Above all, we dare not ignore the "old wicked Foe," 
 that implacable, unscrupulous enemy of the pure Gospel of 
 Christ and its confessors, — all the more so, because it is 
 evidently the plan of Rome to regain in the ISTew World 
 what she has lost in the Old. "Romanize America, God 
 wills it!" such is the war-cry of the Catholic hierarchy in 
 America. And with great cunning and power, and in sheep's 
 clothing, they endeavor to accomplish their sinister object. 
 Rome has not changed! The Reformation has but hardened 
 her heart against the truth, increased her cunning, and made 
 her more guarded in her methods and modes of procedure. 
 The Council of Trent reaffirmed all of Rome's arrogant 
 claims and pernicious teachings, and anathematized the 
 
THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE KKKOK.M ATION. 97 
 
 Gospel with all its Protestant confessors. Down to the 
 present day the sole authority of the Bible is rejected, and' 
 Bible-societies are cursed by Rome. In 1854, Pius IX, de- 
 , daring the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, gave 
 a renewed impetus to the idolatrous worship of JMary and 
 the saints. And the same pontiff, in 1870, declaring the 
 papal infallibility, capped the climax of Koman x\ntichris- 
 tianity. Against all this we must continue to protest and 
 confess the truth as Luther set the example. And the 
 patriotic love which we owe to our country must constrain 
 us to oppose all efforts of the Roman hierarchy at destroying 
 our American liberties, abolishing the separation of State 
 and Church, and politically establishing their sectarian 
 churches and schools. 
 
 Such is the debt of gratitude which we owe for the Refor- 
 mation. God blessed Luther that he, confessing Christ, 
 might become a blessing to us. And God blessed us tlirough 
 Luther that we, in turn, confessing Christ, might be a blessing 
 to others. And if, in faithfully confessing our Savior before 
 men, we follow in the steps of Luther, Christ, wlio did not 
 fail Luther, will assuredly not fail us in keeping the gracious 
 promise: "Whosoever confesseth Me before men, him will 
 I confess also before My Father which is in heaven." So 
 be it ! God grant it ! 
 
 The Three Principles of the Reformation: 
 Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fides. 
 
 Prof. Theo. Engelder, Concordia Soininaiy, S^jrin^ficld. ]ll. 
 
 The Reformation was not Luther's work, but God's work. 
 None knew that better than Luther himself. "God's Word 
 has been my sole study and concern, the sole subject of my 
 preaching and writing. Other than this I have done nothing 
 in the matter. This same Word has, while I slept or made 
 merry, accomplished this great tiling." 
 
 It was God's work, but God performed Ilis work through 
 Luther. None knew that better thnn the i)ni)ists themselves, 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 7 
 
98 THE THREE PKIXCIPLES OF THE EEFORMATION. 
 
 if they only would admit it. Boussuet, bishop of Meaux, 
 admits it. "Luther is the trumpet, or rather he is the 
 thunder, he is the lightning, which has aroused the world 
 from its lethargy; it was not so much Luther that spoke as 
 God, whose lightnings burst from his lips." 
 
 The divine truths which, voiced by Luther, awakened 
 men from death (for only a Romanist will speak of a mere 
 lethargy in this connection) were, first: Sola Scriptura. 
 That was the reassuring answer given to the insistent cry 
 of men: Who shall tell us the truth, God's truth, in the 
 matter concerning our soul's salvation? The very first words 
 of Luther spoken before the world at large proclaimed this 
 principle. It found utterance in the opening words of the 
 Ninety-Five Theses, "When our Lord and Master Jesus 
 Christ said — ", and in their conclusion, "I am not so sense- 
 less as to be willing that the Word of God should be made 
 to give place to fables, devised by human reason." Those 
 were strange words for that day and generation. Men had 
 been wont to say: When aur lord and master at Rome says. 
 Hus, indeed, had lifted his voice in protest a hundred years 
 before, and Wyclif, too, before him; but the body of one and 
 the bones of the other had to burn for it, and the deadly hold 
 of Antichrist on the life of the Church had only tightened. 
 But now Luther was raised up to declare, and to establish, 
 too, for all times, that the question of indulgences and every 
 other matter concerning our salvation was to be decided on 
 no other basis than that of the saying of our Lord and 
 Master Jesus Christ. Scripture is the only source of the 
 saving doctrine. No man has authority to speak for God 
 in these matters. What God says in the Scriptures, that 
 and that alone is the truth. And the full truth. Nothing 
 must be added to it, nothing taken from it. Not by the pope 
 nor by any other creature. Poor human nature is bound to 
 set up an authority of its own, and if it cannot be the pope, 
 it shall be something else just as human. And so Erasmus 
 and Zwingli began to inquire of reason for God's truth, 
 and Muenzer and Schwenkfeld thought to dream spiritual 
 dreams; and to this day men busy themselves in setting 
 
THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION. 99 
 
 up new authorities, or rather in labeling the old rejected 
 authority with new labels, such as "the best thought of the 
 day," "Christian thought and experience," "the Christian 
 himself." But Luther would hear of no fables, devised by 
 human reason. "Erasmus does not know the first principle, 
 the basis and rule: Holy Scripture; God's Word must 
 remain empress. You must follow straight after Scripture 
 and receive it and utter not one syllable against it, for it 
 is God's mouth." But if you exclude our profound reason- 
 ings and our sweet dreams, the Church will be deprived of 
 some needful truth? The Smalcald Articles give answer 
 at once and to the point: "God will not deal with us except 
 through Ilis external Word and Sacrament, and whatever 
 proudly introduces itself as the Spirit instead of the Word 
 and Sacrament is the very devil." There shall be no mis- 
 understanding on this point: "Nothing else than the Word 
 of God, not even an angel, shall establish articles of faith." 
 That uncompromising sola — "nothing else than" — is 
 there for a purpose. Rome was ready with a compromise. 
 She was willing to acknowledge the authority of Scripture 
 and did not hesitate to extol the sanctity of the Bible. But 
 it must be Scripture as interpreted by the Church, or the 
 councils, or tradition, or the teachings of the fathers, meaning 
 in every case the pope. So also Zwingli and the other 
 dreamers of dreams: We declare the Scriptures to be the 
 Word of God, a heavenly Word, a glorious Word, yea, the 
 supreme authority. Our philosophy and our visions shall 
 not and do not supplant, but only interpret Scripture. They 
 serve to bring out its hidden glory. But Luther would have 
 none of it. He knew that, if it were not Scripture solely, 
 it would not be Scripture at all. If reason is not content 
 to let Scripture stand as it is, its only purpose in amending 
 is to strike out. Passing Scripture-truth through the chan- 
 nel of human reason is to divest it of its divine trutli — 
 else it will not pass through. The condition of theology 
 in the schools of Rome demonstrated that. And so nothing 
 else than the Word of God, not even what you are inclined 
 
100 * THE THREE PKIXCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 to look upon as a messenger from the very throne of God, 
 shall establish articles of faith. 
 
 This meant, of course, that all articles so established 
 must be received with unquestioning faith and upheld in 
 the face of the opposition of an outraged world. Luther 
 so understood it. They might rage; he would not retract 
 one syllable. They hurled massive tomes of popish theology, 
 reinforced with all the authority of the schoolmen, at him; 
 he waved them aside, as not coming under the sola Scriptura. 
 They sought to frighten him by identifying his principle 
 with the condemned principle of Hus; as soon as he learned 
 where Hus stood in this matter, he was glad to identify 
 himself in this matter with the blessed martyr. A^ Worms 
 they sought to impress him with all the awful authority of 
 the Roman Empire — terrestrial and infernal Rome — ; 
 Luther had sworn allegiance to the Scriptures as the empress, 
 and repeated the oath : "Unless I am convinced by the 
 testimony of the Word of God or by clear and cogent reasons, 
 as I cannot submit my faith to the pope nor to the councils, 
 which have manifestly often erred and contradicted them- 
 selves, and as I am bound in conscience by the passages 
 I have quoted, I cannot and will not retract anything." 
 And all Zwingli's pleading for the authority of reason could 
 not move this rock : "The text stands there too powerful." 
 Sola Scriptura with Luther meant: "I place over against 
 all sentences of the fathers and the artful words of all 
 angels, men, and devils the Scripture and Gospel. Here 
 I make my stand, here I utter my proud defiance. To me 
 God's Word is above all, and the majesty of God is on 
 my side." 
 
 Why did Luther insist on the sola Scriptura? Not 
 because the matter was interesting to him as a mere academic 
 question; he had no time for the discussion of mere aca- 
 demic questions. Nor was it because of some obstinate fiber 
 in his character; where God's Word was not concerned, 
 Luther was of all men most broad-minded. Why, if it 
 pleased the Church, she might make an order that all clergy- 
 men should wear not one, but three surplices, and Luther 
 
THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION. 101 
 
 felt himself broad enough to don all three. Nor was it 
 merely a question of morality. It is, indeed, the height of 
 wickedness to permit human authority to usurp the place 
 of the divine authority, and it is a crime against humanity 
 to cause men to receive the opinion of any fellow-man as 
 binding upon his conscience — in any matter, and most of 
 all in the sacred province of faith. But these considerations 
 come in later, inevitably and necessarily, but later. Tlie 
 chief and all-important consideration was that, in seeking 
 the way of salvation, it is fatal to follow a human guide. 
 For all men are liars — liars when they construct, liars 
 when they reconstruct, the doctrine. Here is no room for 
 man-made dogmas. God's truth alone will answer — "nothing 
 but the Scriptures." And so Luther declared to the end, 
 declared it in his last sermon preached in Wittenberg: 
 "I shall swerve not one finger's breadth from the mouth of 
 Him who said: "Hear ye Him." 
 
 Hearing Him and Him alone, Luther learned a glorious 
 truth. Two words — and all Scripture was written for their 
 sake — ; two words — and all spiritual life, and so also the 
 life of the Reformation, sprung from them — : sola gratia. 
 They tell the despairing sinner that God, in His infinite 
 mercy, has laid all the sins of the world on Jesus; that he 
 is not required to bring about his salvation by his own works; 
 that his sins are forgiven him freely, by grace. — Rome 
 had established a different doctrine: Man is justified, wholly 
 or in part, by his own merit. How firmly this damnable 
 doctrine was established ! Even the preaching of Hus and 
 Wyclif was yet somewhat tainted with it. It pleases the 
 natural man to be told that he can be his own savior. He 
 was even willing, in the interest of human merit, to commit 
 the vile abomination of having the pope sell him letters of 
 pardon, because, forsooth, they were drawn on the surplus 
 holiness deposited by the saints of Rome in Rome's keepin'^-. 
 And they who were not willing to accept this worthless paper 
 were still ready to commit an abomination equally as vile : 
 to offer God in heaven their own spurious holiness in pay- 
 ment for eternal salvation. Over against this natural ]irin- 
 
102 THE THREE PEIXCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 ciple Luther declared: "The true treasure of the Church is 
 the holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God." (Thesis 62.) 
 It formed the burden of all his teaching, as it is the heart 
 of Scripture: "Grace brings about this great thing that 
 we are accounted wholly and fully just before God." 
 
 Luther and his fellow-laborers knew the supreme im- 
 portance of this article, and no power in earth and hell couM 
 move them to yield it. '^Let us, therefore, hold it for certain 
 and firmly established that the soul can do without every- 
 thing except the Word of God, the Gospel concerning His 
 Son, incarnate, suffering, risen, and glorified." Lender the 
 principle of justification through self-righteousness Luther 
 had been groping in darkness, sinking into despair; bnt 
 when the principle of justification by faith lodged :'n his 
 soul, "then the whole Scripture was opened to me and also 
 heaven itself. Lnmediately I felt as if born anew, as if 
 I had found the open gate of paradise." How could thev 
 yield this glorious truth? Unless we obtain, says the Apology, 
 remission of sin through Christ, there can be no remission, 
 for if salvation be by the Law, the wdiole Law must be kept; 
 but pious souls know they cannot keep the law; and there 
 is nothing left but despair. So when all pious souls implored 
 them to stand fast, they gave answer in the Smalcald Arti- 
 cles: "Whatever may happen, though heaven and earth 
 should fall, nothing in this article can be yielded or rescinded. 
 (Acts 4, 2; Is. 53, 3.) We must, therefore, be entirely 
 certain of this and not doubt it, otherwise all will be lost, 
 and the devil and our opponents will prevail and obtain 
 the victory." 
 
 Nothing in this article can be yielded. Here was Rome 
 offering another compromise. She was ready to make copious 
 use of the word grace, but the sola must be yielded, and 
 a place, be it ever so small, granted to human merit. But 
 Luther stood out for the sola. If our justification depends 
 on one single good work, our case is hopeless, for that one 
 good work will ever be lacking, and the honest soul knows 
 it to its despair. Nor would Luther suffer the man of sin 
 to belie the glorious riches of the grace of God by denying 
 
THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION. 103 
 
 that God is willing to do it all. "Grace will not be halved 
 nor quartered, but receives us wholly and completely into 
 favor." Luther knew, as Augustine knew before him, that 
 grace is not grace in any way, if it be not freely {gratis) 
 given in every way, and he knew that the pope knew it, too. 
 To compromise on the pope's terms meant, here as always, 
 a complete surrender to him. He stood for justification 
 through works alone. He knew that if one good work were 
 granted to corrupt nature, all good works would have to be 
 granted; again, that if men were permitted to think of 
 works in connection with grace, they would think of works 
 alone and of grace not at all. He did, indeed, diligently use 
 the word grace and even consented to describe the merit of 
 Christ as superabundant, but not only did he make the 
 efficacy of this superabundance dependent on human worthi- 
 ness, thus subtracting one half from grace, and so leaving 
 nothing of grace, he also deliberately divested the word grace 
 of its Scriptural meaning, and gave it the meaning of human 
 holiness. Xo doubt, on these terms he was ready to make 
 diligent use of the word grace. It did not take Melanchthon 
 long to see through the trickery, and he indignantly ex- 
 claimed : "The fool" (meaning Eck, Rome's emissary) "docs 
 not understand the word* grace." And in order to make him 
 iniderstand, sola was put in. It had to be either the prin- 
 ciple of Rome: Justification through human merit alone, 
 or the principle of Scripture: Justification by grace alone. 
 And that means : Salvation by grace alone, salvation in 
 every respect, from beginning to end. When a man once 
 sincerely accepts the article of justification hy grace alone, 
 what happens? "This one article rules my heart, namely, 
 faith in Christ, out of which by day and night all my 
 theological thoughts flow, by wdiich they move, to which they 
 return." Xow he sees grace everywhere. For "now the 
 whole Scripture was opened to me." And Scripture, you 
 know, does not halve nor quarter grace. If grace is any- 
 where, it is everywhere, ^fen are willing to speak of justifi- 
 cation by grace alone, but they restrict grace to that one 
 point. But if a man is not absolutely' in need of grace in 
 
104 THE THREE PRIXCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 conversion, he does not absolutely need it in justification. 
 Therefore Luther rejected and condemned "as erroneous all 
 doctrines which extol our free will, as they are directly 
 opposed to the aid and grace of our Savior Jesus Christ.'' 
 And the Formula of Concord adds the indorsement: "The 
 Holy Scriptures ascribe man's conversion, faith in Christ, 
 regeneration, renovation, and all that pertains to the actual 
 connnencement and accomplishment of them, not to the 
 human powers of the natural free will, either as to the whole 
 or the half or the least or most insignificant part, but in 
 solidum, that is, w^holly and entirely, to the divine operation." 
 You cannot deny grace at one point, and trust in it at 
 another; and he who waits to be converted without grace, 
 will never reach justification by grace. All theological 
 thoughts of the Reformation had but one source : sola gratia. 
 We love the word and pronounce it at every step of our 
 salvation. 
 
 Sola gratia and sola Scriptura go together. Witness the 
 pope and Erasmus and the rest — because they held the sola 
 gratia in abomination, they detested the sola Scriptura. And 
 because justification by grace is not found in any human 
 authority, God gave us the Scriptures. If we yield the sola 
 Scriptura, we lose the sola gratia. And the more we love 
 the article of justification by grace, the more we despise — 
 in this matter — all human authority. 
 
 In order to uphold the sola gratia, it became necessary 
 to emphasize another truth: sola fides. To us it is very clear 
 that a free promise requires only acceptance, that is, faith, 
 and excludes payments, that is, works, — considered as pay- 
 ment. Justification by grace means, and can only mean, 
 justification through faith. But the perversion of Rome 
 made it necessary to emphasize it, and Luther always did it. 
 "To preach Christ is to justify the soul and to save it, if 
 it believe the preaching. — For the Word of God cannot be 
 received and honored by any works, but by faith alone. 
 Hence it is clear that as the soul needs the Word alone for 
 faith and justification, so it is justified by faith alone, and 
 not by any works." 
 
THE THREE PRIXCIPLES OF THE REFOKMATIOX. 105 
 
 There is that Lutheran sola again. There was nothing 
 to be gotten from this man Luther. And how they hated 
 his spiritual insight and resultant "obstinacy" ! We h^ar 
 the plaint of the pope's man, Cajetan: "I have no desire 
 to dispute further with this beast, for he has penetrating 
 eyes, and wonderful thoughts revolve in his head." — Here 
 Antichrist was making his hist stand. If he could establish 
 the position that man is justified not alone by faith, but 
 also by works, he would win, for it would then no longer 
 be grace in every respect and so not grace at all. And Luther 
 had penetrating eyes, and knew there could be no joyful 
 acceptance of the promise, no spiritual life, no Reforma- 
 tion, without these four letters: sola. When he, therefore, 
 preached on justification, he would read the text iii this wise: 
 "We conclude that a man is justified by faith alone, without 
 the deeds of the Law." Rome moved heaven and earth to 
 have that anti-Roman "alone" stricken out, and even spoke 
 of forgery, but Luther patiently explained to them that tl^.e 
 word always was there, plain to the Christian eye, and that 
 merely because of their blindness it had to be written large. 
 To strike it out would mean the elimination of faith. For, 
 as above, give man one little work to look at, and he will 
 see nothing else; pride will take the place of faith, and 
 shortly despair will take the place of pride. Also Luther's 
 penetrating eyes saw at once that Rome's object was to make 
 it not faith a7id works, but. works alone. For that purpose 
 the word faith was given a new meaning, and they tried 
 to impose on Melanchthon with their new word. But Luther 
 told him: "You write that you have forced Eck to admit 
 that we are justified by faith. I wish you had forced him 
 not to lie." In the Roman dictionary faith now means some- 
 thing which receives its value from works. It justifies because 
 it leads men to keep the Ten Commandments. There faith 
 and works are synonyms. Melanchthon, of course, could 
 not force Eck not to lie, but the thing to do in such a case 
 he did do: he fully exposed, in the Apology, the lie, the 
 "sophistry fabricated by these ungodly men." And so it 
 remained sola fide, and so the sola gratia was established, and 
 so the Reformation pursued its divine way. 
 
106 THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE EEFOBMATION. 
 
 Faith alone, but faith indeed. It became the business 
 of the Kef ormation to teach men to believe, that is, to appro- 
 priate, every man to himself, the promise of the Gospel with 
 joyful confidence. In the old shameful days men had been 
 led to think they had faith M^hen they gave an unthinking- 
 assent to whatever it pleased the priest to tell them, and the 
 priest did not even have to tell them exactly what it was, and 
 men were warned against being certain of their salvation 
 as against wicked presumptuousness. If once living faith 
 took the place of this ignorant, doubting, dead "faith," the 
 rule of Rome was doomed. So Cajetan had orders, right in 
 the beginning, to induce Luther to retract the statement 
 that a person desiring to receive the Sacrament of the Altar 
 must have faith of his own. But what Rome hated above 
 i.all__tliiiigs Luther prized above all things. He knew that 
 the Word of promise calls for iindoubting faith, and he knew 
 that only in faith there is life and joy and holiness, and, 
 what is more, he knew that, where this promise is preached, 
 "faith is always and ever called forth and nourished." 
 
 So when after the days of Augsburg an imperial edict 
 forbade under pain of death the preaching of justification 
 by faith alone, as subversive of all decency, Luther published 
 an edict of his own, which provided: "Whereas Satan will 
 not refrain nor desist from blaspheming this chief article, 
 therefore I, Dr. Martinus Luther, our Lord Jesus Christ's 
 unworthy evangelist, do say and pronounce that this article 
 shall stand and abide in spite of the Roman Emperor, the 
 Tartar Emperor, the Persian Emperor, the pope, all cardinals, 
 bishops, priests, monks, nuns, kings, princes, all the world 
 together with all evil spirits." He established further in this 
 Lutheran edict that this faith which alone justifies alone 
 produces that godly life which Rome had succeeded in com- 
 pletely destroying in her domain. And then he bids defiance 
 to them all: "That is our doctrine, and so teaches the Holy 
 Ghost and the whole Christian Church, and therein we shall 
 abide in the name of God. Amen." 
 
 There is no question that this article: salvation by grace 
 through faith as taught by the Scriptures, is the essence of 
 
THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION. 107 
 
 Luther's teaching. We have Rome's testimony to that effect. 
 Why else did she order all of his books to be burned? 
 
 And these six words — sola Scriptura, sola gratia, sola 
 fides — gave new life to the dying Church. There can be 
 no question about that either. Some few would like to 
 question it. They say the Reformation was the result of 
 the natural development of the nations. The Reformation, 
 so strongly denying the existence of any spiritual insight 
 and strength in man, and yet the outgrowth of this same 
 spiritual insight, — how can one so shamelessly repudiate 
 one's parent ? ! No. Whatever development was going on 
 was ever made to serve the purposes of the master-mind at 
 Rome. Emperors opposed him ; he deposed them, or, what 
 answered the same purpose, allied ■ himself with them and 
 made the secular power his handmaiden. The general coun- 
 cils met and deeply deliberated; he had them assert as 
 strongly as possible his principle of salvation by works, 
 meanwhile suffering them to play awhile with big words, — 
 "supreme authority of the councils," — knowing full well 
 that poor mankind will rather submit to one great man than 
 to many small men. But humanism — learning, — classic 
 learning at that, — fine thoughts, and the ideals of antiquity ? 
 Why, Leo X himself was an ideal humanist — and an ideal 
 pope. But, surely, when reason, cold, pitiless reason, took up 
 the fight, and men began to think, and to think very seriously, 
 they would break the disgraceful fetters? Well, the school- 
 men of old were as great thinkers as any, and they could 
 think of nothing but human merit; and the rationalists of 
 a later day, the reasoners par excellence, reasoned out nothing 
 but Pelagianism. Sinful man can think only in terms of 
 self-righteousness, and all the progress he makes consists 
 in inventing new terms, which are equivalent to the old ones, 
 and serve a reactionary purpose. Human forces did not 
 bring about the Reformation. There Satan was at the helm. 
 
 No, God did it, — God's Word, — • this truth : salvation 
 by grace, through faith as taught by the Scriptures. 
 
 It needed a preacher, indeed, and it made a preacher 
 unto itself. Luther did not form the principles of the 
 
108 THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Reformation, but these principles formed Luther. There 
 he was, clinging to the deadly principle of self -righteousness, 
 cringing before the authority of the false Church, till the 
 heavenly truth of salvation by grace, through faith as taught 
 by the Scriptures made its way into his heart, and con- 
 quered him, and opened the gates of Paradise unto him. 
 Thus he learned the one needful truth, and' this same truth 
 made of him a fit preacher of it. A zealous preacher; his 
 heart burned with fierce indignation against those who were 
 leading his brothers to despair, with a consuming desire to 
 give them the sweet tidings of salvation. A safe preacher; 
 not the old error nor "thirty new ones," which lay in wait 
 for him, could gain entrance into his heart — "the text stood 
 there too powerful." A fearless and confident preacher; 
 his friends need not bother about him; let "the Father be 
 gracious to our Lord Jesus. If His affairs are taken care 
 of, my case is also won." A wise preacher; he knew what 
 means to employ to do his work: "God accomplishes more 
 with His Word than you and I and all the world could 
 accomplish with our forces combined. We must first gain 
 the hearts of the people, which is done by preaching the 
 Gospel." 
 
 And so the issue was joined: Luther against the world. 
 It was an unequal contest: the world against the Word of 
 God. It was not the "poor monk" who needed to quake, but 
 the man at Rome, against whom the forces of heaven were 
 marching. For a brief space he was pleased to speak dis- 
 dainfully of the "monkish wrangling" going on in barbarous 
 Germany, and, indeed, what did he know of grace and faith 
 and Scriptural authority! Lo, this "monkish wrangling," 
 this divine wrangling, which insisted on sola Scriptura, sola 
 gratia, sola fides, set Christendom free, and pronounced the 
 eternal judgment on all who were bound to remain under the 
 banner: Sola Roma. • 
 
 Nothing could restrain the Reformation. ]^ow again, as 
 in the apostolic times, "the Word of God grew and multi- 
 plied." Luther had foretold it: "By the Word the world 
 has been conquered, by the Word the world has been saved, 
 
THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION. 109 
 
 by the Word she will be restored." "Good men," says the 
 Apology, "are calling for truth and proper instruction from 
 the Word of God; and to them death is less bitter than the 
 bitterness of doubt in any point of doctrine." And here was 
 Scriptural authority. And again: "Without this article 
 the poor conscience can have no true, abiding, and certain 
 consolation." And here was what the wearied souls needed. 
 At once faith sprang up and eagerly appro])riated the blessing. 
 And God's Word grew and created men wlio thought divine 
 thoughts, thoughts of joy and thanksgiving. Thoughts such 
 as this divine thought: "A Christian man is the most free 
 lord of all and subject to none," — a godly declaration of 
 independence: no man shall rule the conscience of God's 
 child! And this divine thought: "A Christian man is the 
 most dutiful servant of all and subject to every one," — 
 a declaration for social service which consisted not of noble 
 words, but existed in noble deeds. And the Word of God 
 caused men eagerly to spread this same Word. In shops and 
 palaces they loved to speak of it ; the household gathered about 
 the open Bible; the Gospel -preaching filled the churches; 
 schools sprang up to nurture the gentle youth in the faith of 
 their Savior. And the Word of God multiplied. At Worms 
 a solitary confessor, at Augsburg already a goodly band, and 
 soon there were in every land those who feared God and gave 
 Him glory. 
 
 And these principles live to-day. There are still those, in 
 goodly numbers, who put their sole trust in the Gospel of 
 grace as taught by Scripture. That is to say, this article has 
 stood in spite of the Roman Emperor with his Thirty Years' 
 War, the Spanish king with his Inquisition, the French king 
 with his dragonades, the pope with his best thought, the 
 Jesuits, and the modern man with his most advanced pres- 
 entation of the old principle of human wisdom and human 
 merit. The edict has gone forth from high heaven: Das 
 Wort sie sollen la-ssen stahn. 
 
110 THE OPEN BIBLE. 
 
 The Open Bible. 
 
 Prof. Alb. H. Miller, Concordia Teachers' College, Oak Park, 111. 
 
 "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have 
 eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me." So 
 speaks Christ, John 5, 39. 
 
 We are to search the Word of God, to study- it diligently, 
 to observe and to read with careful discrimination. God 
 does not wish the Scriptures to be read irreverently, heed- 
 lessly, carelessly. Eternal life is too serious a subject for 
 frivolity or careless, idle fancy. Could any language be 
 more plain than the command of Christ? Can any one who 
 makes any pretense of being a true Christian, who accepts 
 the Bible as a lamp to guide his feet, and who believes that 
 the Bible is the Word of God, doubt the efficacy of a "search 
 of the Scriptures"? Must he not be wilfully blind who will 
 not see the truth? Must he not be wilfully deaf who will 
 not heed nor listen to the exhortations of his Maker, who 
 says: "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy 
 mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that 
 thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written 
 therein" (Joshua 1, 18) ? 
 
 How great is our debt to the Reformation that it has 
 enabled us to comply with God's command to "search the 
 Scriptures" ! How dreary is the lot of him who has no 
 access to the Bible, to whom the Bible is sealed! And yet 
 drearier is the lot of him who can read, and who might have 
 access to the Holy Book, yet from whom the Holy Book is 
 withheld, and who, therefore, cannot accept its testimony 
 of Him who is eternal life! And who are they, even now, 
 that endeavor to close this Book, which God has commanded 
 us "to search"? Who are they that defy the Lord God 
 Almighty, and set their word above His? Have pope, cardi- 
 nals, and bishops forgotten the Lord's injunction, "For I, the 
 Lord, thy God, am a jealous God," when they proclaim that 
 the doctrine, "Search ye the Scriptures," is a blasphemous, 
 destructive, and damned heresy, and therefore prohibit the 
 reading of the Bible, and threaten all who disobey their 
 injunctions with eternal damnation ? Home of the twentieth 
 
THE OPEN BIBLE. Ill 
 
 century is the Rome of the sixteenth century, and even to 
 the present day teaches that the Church is an infallible 
 expounder of the doctrines contained in the Bible, and that 
 no one may understand and expound it "in contradiction 
 to the sense which the mother Church has accepted and 
 accepts," as is clearly asserted by the Council of Trent. 
 
 Were it not for the Reformation, through which God 
 opened His Book for him who will see, this Book would have 
 remained closed to countless thousands. So immeasurably 
 great is the blessing that it is above human understanding 
 to comprehend it. For to us this open Bible is eternal life. 
 
 In pre-Reformation times the Bible was closed and sealed 
 not only to him who might have opened it, had he so desired, 
 but to nearly all mankind. By the grace of God, Luther's 
 great work in translating the Bible, in securing its distri- 
 bution, and in expounding it, thus revealing God's will to 
 save all, has borne thousandfold fruit. Why, however, must 
 we ascribe the great work of the unsealing and of the opening 
 of the Bible to Luther? Were there not Bibles before his 
 time, and is not too much stress laid on his work, and too 
 much credit given to him? True, the Bible existed before 
 the sixteenth century, but it was accessible to but compara- 
 tively few. Mathesius (1566) in speaking of the Bible 
 previous to Luther's time says : "During my youth I saw 
 a German Bible that was not German; it had evidently 
 been translated from the Latin, but it was dark and gloomy, 
 for at that time the educated men did not regard the Bible 
 highly. IFy father had a German postil which contained 
 the Gospels for the various Sundays, and in which some 
 parts of the Old Testament were postilized and expounded." 
 (Mathesius; 13th sermon.) Dr. John Reuchlin ("Buch wider 
 Pfefferkorn") is authority for the fact that before Luther's 
 translation appeared, there were no less than seventeen dif- 
 ferent German translations of the Bible in existence. Thei^e 
 Bibles, however, were too strongly marked with dialectic 
 peculiarities, and too much tinctured with Romish opinion 
 and exposition to be accepted by any except those who were 
 strongly biased in favor of the Romish doctrines. They 
 
112 THE OPEX BIBLE. 
 
 also lacked scholarly precision, contained gross errors, and 
 could, moreover, be obtained only at a high price. Before 
 the invention of printing, the Bibles were transcribed by 
 hand, and it took a rapid penman about ten months to write 
 one copy. Such copies, as late as the fourteenth century, 
 cost about $200 in our money, and it was not uncommon 
 to pay a considerable sum to be allowed to read it for one 
 hour a day. 
 
 It is very evident that these various translations had not 
 circulated very widely, and had not diffused among the people 
 any familiar acquaintance with the contents of the sacred 
 volume. Indeed, before the Reformation, the Bible existed 
 not as a book for the laity, but for the hierarchy. The 
 hierarchy wished to perpetuate its power, and conceived the 
 idea of withholding the Book from the common people, so 
 that these might not read it, and thus discover the fraud and 
 deceit often practised upon them. The difficulties attendant 
 upon a search of the Scriptures were thus greatly augmented. 
 And while the common people were thus almost entirely 
 excluded from becoming familiar with the teachings of the 
 Bible, even as it then existed, with all the errors, the learned 
 and educated also found difficulties when they attempted 
 to interpret the original Greek and Hebrew texts. Few of 
 Luther's contemporaries were sufficiently conversant with 
 these languages to be able to read the texts intelligiblj^ and 
 this was also true of the Latin "Vulgate," which was, per- 
 haps, the most generally known Bible of this time. The 
 "Vulgate" (itself a Latin word meaning "to make common 
 or public") was not only difficult to read and to understand, 
 but was grossly inaccurate, containing over fourteen hundred 
 misleading errors. 
 
 Luther's mind was constantly occupied with a desire to 
 remove the difficulty of access to the Holy Book. Ever since 
 he had found the Bible chained to a wall while pursuing his 
 studies at the University at Erfurt, he earnestly wished to 
 make the truths he had discovered universally known. He 
 felt it to be necessary to give to the high and the low of 
 the Teutonic race access to the authority on which he based 
 
THE OPEN BIBLE. 113 
 
 his doctrines. He wished to open up to them the sources 
 from which he drew his inspiration. PTe wished to open to 
 them the holy writings so that they might judge for them- 
 selves whether they could be justified by faith alone, or 
 whether the Eomish doctrine of indulgences, etc., was to be 
 their hope of salvation. 
 
 He wished further to give to his people a Bible generally 
 intelligible and scrupulously faithful to the original text. 
 He wished intensely and earnestly to make himself compre- 
 hended, and he felt that he could best do this by using the 
 dialect which was the familiar, every-day speech of the 
 largest part of the people of his native land. Hence, he felt 
 that, if his Bible were to become really an open book to 
 the masses, the phraseology to be adopted must come out 
 of the living vocabulary which he heard employed around 
 him in the street, the market, the field, and the workshop, 
 and a diction must be formed out of the elements common 
 to the speech of the whole Germanic race. Luther felt that 
 only in this way could he write a translation which would 
 be thoroughly idiomatic, and one which could even be under- 
 stood by the children. How well he succeeded is now a mat- 
 ter of history. 
 
 Already during the year 1517, the memorable year of the 
 Wittenberg Theses, Luther had busied himself in translating 
 a part of the Holy Book. This translation embraced only 
 the seven penitential Psalms (the 6th, the 32d, the 38th, 
 the 51st, the 102d, the 130th, and the 143d). Between 1518 
 and the appearance of the New Testament in 1522, Luther 
 translated eleven different parts of the Bible. He would 
 probably have continued in this desultory manner had not 
 something occurred which completely changed his mode of 
 life and his ordinary work. This was his seizure while on 
 the way from Worms to Wittenberg and his subsequent 
 removal to the Wartburg. Here at the Wartburg he remained 
 from ]\ray 4th, 1521, to :Nrarch 6th, 1522. The time he spent 
 here in calm meditation was very propitious to the maturing 
 of his plans for the promotion of the Reformation, and 
 Four 1 1 11 nd rod Years. 8 
 
114 THE OPEX BIBLE. 
 
 among them, perhaps one of the most important of all, the 
 opening of the Holy Scriptures to the German people. 
 
 Whilst at the Wartburg he visited Wittenberg, December, 
 1521, and in Wittenberg he was urged by his friends to under- 
 take a new translation of the Bible, and among these friends 
 Melanchthon was the most insistent. After his return to 
 the Wartburg, he immediately went to work. With few 
 commentaries and without even consulting previous trans- 
 lations of the Bible, until the first rough draft was finished, 
 Luther worked so rapidly that in three months he had com- 
 pleted the entire New Testament. Although the work was 
 done with almost incredible rapidity, the language was so 
 clear, so concise, so accurate and idiomatic, that even to 
 this present day this work is an object of wonder to literary 
 critics. In his New Testament he gave the German language 
 a permanent literary form. His translation was not merely 
 a rendering of the original text into another tongue, but his 
 interpretation is so clear that it not only touches the under- 
 standing, but also the heart. This was largely due to a life- 
 time's preparation for the work. Every one who knows the 
 history of Luther's activities knows how intensively he studied 
 the Holy Scriptures, and how much consolation he found in 
 them. He was thoroughly impregnated with the teachings of 
 Christ, and so imbued with a zeal to secure his own salvation 
 that he was ready at any time to stand or fall with the 
 doctrines which he set forth, and which were based on 
 Biblical truths. When standing before emperor, cardinals, 
 bishops, princes, and nobles at the diet of Worms, he had 
 written on the reading desk before him: "It is written!" 
 No cajolery, no promise of reward, no threat could induce 
 .him to deny the truths of the Bible. And finally, when 
 giving a straightforward answer to the strictures of the 
 Romish authorities at Worms, saying, "L^nless I be refuted 
 by Scriptural testimonies or by clear argument . . ., I am 
 convinced by the passages of Scripture, and my conscience 
 is bound in the Word of God. ... I cannot do otherwise. 
 Here I stand. God help me!" he permitted no doubt to 
 remain as to the firmness of his faith and his convictions. 
 
THE OPEN BIBLE. 115 
 
 His was a giant intellect, and once having grasped the truth, 
 and known it to be the truth, he was immovable. 
 
 After a thorough revision of the text, Luther put liis 
 New Testament to press, and hastened the work of printing 
 so greatly that the first edition of about 3,000 copies appeared 
 during the latter part of September, 1522. So quickly was 
 this edition exhausted that- already in December of the same 
 year a second edition was made necessary, and subsequent 
 editions followed rapidly. Luther had opened the Book 
 of Knowledge, and now all could read "that we are justified 
 by faith alone." Persons in all ranks of life read with so 
 great avidity that Cochlaeus, one of Luther's bitterest oppo- 
 nents, recorded testimony "that even shoemakers and women 
 became so absorbed in its study, that they were able to carry 
 on discussions with Doctors of Theology." 
 
 But the interests of the Catholic hierarchy were foreign 
 to the open Bible, and measures were at once taken to sup- 
 press the book. In Bavaria, Austria, and in Brandenburg 
 the strictest means were employed to exclude it. Duke 
 George forbade its sale in Saxony, and bought up all copies 
 which were discovered in his territory. Yet Luther's work 
 could not be prevented from circulating, and very soon copies 
 were found in all parts of Germany. The work was of God, 
 and could not perish. Even Luther's enemies recognized 
 the worth of his translation, for when the Catholic hierarchy 
 commissioned Jerome Emser, a Catholic theologian, to pre- 
 pare an approved Catholic translation to combat Luther's 
 work, this learned gentleman simply copied Luther's New 
 Testament, making only such changes as brought the 
 Catholic translation into better conformity with the Latin 
 Vulgate. In so doing, Emser showed his critical literary 
 ability, as he evidently had discovered that Luther had done 
 the work so well that it could not be improved upon. 
 
 But it was Luther's intense desire to open the Old Testa- 
 ment also to the German people, and already before the 
 printed 'copies of the New Testament began to be circulated, 
 he and his friends had begun the work of translating the 
 Old Testament. He himself acknowledged that he was not 
 
116 THE OPEN BIBLE. 
 
 sufficiently trained in Hebrew to be competent to carry out 
 the translation alone. He had, however, the rare good sense 
 of surrounding himself with some of the most learned men 
 of his time: Aurogallus, Professor of Hebrew at Witten- 
 berg, Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Roerer, Justus Jonas, 
 Dr. Cruciger, Foerster, and Ziegier. These men persever- 
 ingly overcame all difficulties. Luther was the most perse- 
 vering of all, although sometimes he was seemingly somewhat 
 discouraged. Once, when struggling to construe a compli- 
 cated construction, he exclaimed: "O the great difficulty of 
 making the Hebrew authors speak barbarian German !" So 
 painstaking were he and his colleagues to be accurate, and to 
 give correct and idiomatic equivalents for the various tech- 
 nical terms, that no effort was deemed too great to be made. 
 He himself once said: "With- Philip [Melanchthon] and 
 Aurogallus I sometimes pondered full fourteen days upon the 
 meaning of a word or line before the proper idiomatic 
 phraseology was discovered." So that he might secure the cor- 
 rect terms for the Jewish sacrifices, he requested a butcher to 
 come to him to give the proper and correct names for the 
 various parts of a sheep. Through Spalatin's intervention the 
 court jewels were borrowed, so that a better conception of the 
 precious stones described in the Book of Revelation might 
 be formed. Thus, with infinite patience, Luther and his 
 friends perseveringly overcame all difficulties; and after 
 the sense of a disputed phrase or clause was fixed in mutual 
 discussion, Luther was finally called upon to render the 
 part in the idiomatic construction, for which work he was 
 peculiarly fitted. 
 
 The work progressed rapidly, and already three months 
 after the New Testament had been published, the Pentateuch 
 appeared, early in 1523. Two separate parts followed in 
 1524 — the first part the historical books, and the second part 
 the Book of Job, the Psalms, and the writings (or books) 
 of Solomon. The last of the canonical books did not appear 
 until 1532; and finally, the Apocrypha were translated, in 
 1534, when for the first time an edition containing a complete 
 translation was published by Plans Lufft. 
 
THE OPEN BIBLE. 117 
 
 Luther, however, was not content to have the Bible trans- 
 lated and made accessible to all who could and would read; 
 he was deeply concerned as to the manner in which the 
 common people could procure the book, and use it. In addi- 
 tion to furthering the printing of the Bible, he also suggested 
 that it be read publicly in churches and in schools, and in 
 his paper upon "Public Worship" (Richter I, p. 10 sqq. ; 
 Erlangen 22, p. 105 sqq.) he prepared regulations for reading 
 the Bible at the various services. His recommendations for 
 the use of the Bible were generally accepted, and in a short 
 time the reading of the Scriptures was universal in all parts 
 of the country. 
 
 Although Luther had not intended his translation for 
 people other than his Germans, unintentionally he exerted 
 a tremendous influence upon the opening of the Bible to 
 people of other tongues, and especially to the English. After 
 his translation of the New Testament, a stream of Lutheran 
 literature began to flow into the English seaports, and among 
 the earliest and most ardent admirers of the Wittenberg 
 Doctor was William Tyndale. This preacher conceived the 
 plan of translating the New Testament into English. 
 Although at this time Lutheranism was making considerable 
 headway in England, Tyndale soon discovered that he would 
 not be permitted to carry on his work of translation any- 
 where in his native country. He, therefore, left England 
 in May of 1524, and went to Hamburg. Where he spent 
 the time until the spring of 1525, when his Xew Testament 
 was ready for the press, is a matter of dispute. However, 
 the unanimous evidence of his contemporaries supports the 
 view that he was with Luther at Wittenberg, and that he 
 worked there at his translation. In 1525 he came to Cologne 
 to have his book printed by Peter Quentel. But while the 
 work of printing was under way, the city council interfered, 
 and Tjmdale was glad to escape with the rescued sheets of 
 his incomplete edition to Worms, where Peter Schoeffer not 
 only printed a quarto edition, but also one in octavo of 
 3,000 copies. Between 1525 and 1528 no less than six edi- 
 
118 THE OPEN BIBLE. 
 
 tions of Tyndale's New Testament, about 18,000 copies, were 
 printed and shipped to the various English ports. 
 
 The relation of Tyndale's quarto edition to Luther's New 
 Testament is very close. The order of the books, the arrange- 
 ment of the text, the glosses on the outer margin, the 
 references to parallel passages on the inner margin, the 
 prologs, and many renderings in the text establish this 
 relation beyond a doubt. 
 
 "To any one," says Demaus, Tyndale's biographer, "who 
 has enjoyed the opportunity of placing side by side the folio 
 of Luther's German Testament printed in September, 1522, 
 and Tyndale's quarto printed in September, 1525, the whole 
 matter is clear at a glance. Tjmdale's New Testament is 
 Luther's in miniature; the general appearance of the images 
 is the same; the arrangement of the text is the same; and 
 the appropriation of the margins, the inner one for parallel 
 passages, and the outer for the glosses, is also the same. 
 Of the whole number of ninety marginal glosses which occur 
 in the fragment of Tyndale's quarto that has come down to 
 us, fifty-two have been more or less literally taken from 
 Luther." (Demaus, "Biography of William Tyndale," pp. 129. 
 130.) And in commenting further upon the coincidence of 
 the translations, Demaus says : "Nothing could show more 
 strikingly than Tyndale's ^Prolog to the Epistle to the 
 Komans' the great ascendancy which the great Reformer had 
 now [1526] obtained over the mind of Tyndale. The 
 ^Introduction to the Romans' is, in truth, hardly an original 
 work, but is much more correctly described as a translation 
 or paraphrase of Luther's preface to the same epistle. 
 Luther's work, originally in German, had been translated 
 into Latin by Justus Jonas in 1523 ; and it is evident that 
 Tyndale used both the German and Latin copies." (Demaus, 
 I. c, p. 145.) 
 
 Westcott in his "History of the English Bible" says of 
 Luther's influence upon Tyndale's translation: "The extent 
 to which Tyndale silently incorporated free or even verbal 
 translations of passages from Luther's works in his own has 
 
THE OPEN BIBLE. 119 
 
 escaped the notice of his editors. To define it accurately 
 would be a work of very great labor. . . . Tyndale's 'Prolog' 
 to his quarto Testament, his first known writing, almost at 
 the beginning introduces a large fragment from Luther's 
 preface to the New Testament. There is, indeed, a ring in 
 the opening words which might have led any one familiar 
 with Luther's style to suspect their real source." (Westcott, 
 "History of the English Bible," p. 146.) 
 
 In support of his contention the same author gives both 
 Luther's and Tyndale's versions in parallel columns. 
 
 TyXDALE : I ATTHER : 
 
 "Euagelio is a greke worde, "Evangelion ist eyn grie- 
 aiul sigiiyfyth good, merv, glad cliisfli wort vnd lieyst auff 
 and ioyfull tydiiige.tliat maketli dcutseli gnte botscliafft, gate 
 a mannes hert glad, and maketli luolier, gutte new zeyttung, gut 
 hj-ni synge, daunce and leepe geschrey, davon man singet, sa- 
 fer ioye. As when Davyd had get und frolich ist. Gleich als 
 kylled Golyath the geaut cam do Dauid den grossen Goliath 
 glad tydinge vnto the iewes, vberwand, kam ein gut geschrey 
 that their fearfull and cruell vnd trostlich new zeytug vnter 
 enemy was slayne, and they das ludisch volck, das yhrer 
 delj'vered oute of all daunger; grewlicher feynd erschlagen, 
 for gladness were of, they sange, vnd se erloset, zn freud vnd 
 daunced, and were ioyfull." frid gestellet woien, dauon sie 
 (Westcott, I. c, p. 146.) sungen vnd sprungen vnd fro- 
 lich waren." 
 
 "The coincidences between Tyndale's Exposition of the 
 .Sermon on the Mount and that of Luther, though fewer, are 
 even more worthy of notice. Luther's Expository Sermons 
 were delivered in 1530, and printed in 1532, but they were 
 not translated into Latin till 1533. On the other hand, Tyn- 
 dale's Exposition was printed in 1532. He must then have 
 used the German Edition of Luther, or, perhaps, even notes 
 taken by some friend or by himself. The coincidences, which 
 are comparatively rare, are still verbal and at the same time 
 tacit. The following example will be sufficient to indicate 
 their character." (Westcott, ihid., p. 148.) 
 
120 the opex bible. 
 
 Tyndale : Luther : 
 
 (Matt. 5, 4.) (Matth. 5, 4.) 
 
 Rigliteousnes is not taken for Gereclitigkeit mus an diesem 
 
 the principalle rigliteousnes of ort niclit heissen, die Christ- 
 
 a christen ma, thorow which liche heubt gerechtigkeit, da- 
 
 the parson is good and accepted durch die person frum vnd an- 
 
 before God. For these VIII genem wird fur Gott. Denn ich 
 
 poyntes are but doctr_}Tie of the babe vor gesagt, das diese acht 
 
 frutes and workes of a chris- stuck nichts anders sind, denn 
 
 ten ma before which the faythe eine lere von den friichten vnd 
 
 must be there ... ad as a tre guten wercken eines Christen, 
 
 out of which all soche frutes vor welchen der glaube zuvor 
 
 ad workes must sprynge. mus da sein, als der ba\\Tn vnd 
 
 Wlierfore vnderstande here heubstuck . . . daraus solclie 
 
 the outwarde rigliteousnes be- stuck alle waclisen vnd folgen 
 
 fore the worlde and true and mussen. Darunib verstehe hie 
 
 faythfull dealynge eche with die eusserlich Gerechtigkeit fur 
 
 other. . . . der welt, so wir \iiter vns gegen 
 
 ander hallten. . . . 
 
 If we further compare Luther's and Tyndale's translations, 
 we find striking similarities also in the texts of the various 
 books, so that the unbiased observer is prone to acknowledge 
 Tyndale's debt to Luther. 
 
 Tyndale's translation formed the basis of all subsequent 
 translations of the English Bible. Marsh, in commenting 
 on the work of Tyndale, says : "Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Cran- 
 mer's, the Bishops', the Genevan, and the Standard Version 
 coincide so nearly with each other, both in sense and in 
 phraseology, that we may hear whole chapters of any of them 
 read without noticing that they deviate from the text to 
 which we have always been accustomed. When, then, M-e 
 study our Testaments, we are in most cases perusing the 
 identical words penned by the martyr Tyndale, nearly three 
 hundred years ago." (Marsh, "Lecture on the English Lan- 
 guage," p. 625.) 
 
 And Froude, the historian, says: "Of Tyndale's trans- 
 lation itself, though since that time [1525] it has been many 
 times revised and altered, we may say that it is substantially 
 the Bible with which we are familiar. The peculiar genius — 
 
THE OPEN BIBLE. 121 
 
 if such a word may be permitted — which breathes through 
 it, the mingled tenderness and majesty, the Saxon simplicity, 
 the preternatural grandeur, unequaled, un approached, in the 
 attempted improvement of modern scholars, — all are here, 
 and bear the impress of the mind of one man, William Tyn- 
 dale." ("History," Vol. Ill, p. 84.) Demaus, speaking upon 
 the same point, says: "The most satisfactory demonstration 
 that can be given of the superlative merit of Tyndale's work 
 is the fact that the English New Testament, as we now have 
 it, is, in its substance, the unchanged language of Tyndale's 
 first version. The English Bible has been subjected to re- 
 peated revisions ; the scholarship of generations, better pro- 
 vided than Tyndale was with critical apparatus, has been 
 brought to bear u])on it; writers by no means overfriendly 
 to the original translator have had it in their power to dis- 
 parage and to displace his work: yet, in spite of all these 
 influences, that Book, to which all Englishmen turn as the 
 source, and the guide, and the stay of their spiritual life is 
 substantially the translation of Tyndale." (p. 131.) 
 
 It may thus be seen from the foregoing that the blessings 
 of the Reformation spread in wide circles, and much blessing 
 was bestowed upon England and English-speaking peoples 
 through Tyndale's opening of the Bible. While Luther's 
 influence was not so much directly felt in England through 
 his own translation, indirectly his influence was strongly 
 exerted upon the millions of readers of the English Bible 
 through Tyndale's contact with the great Reformer. Tyn- 
 dale, himself a man of great scholarly attainments, realized 
 that Luther's was a master mind, and, therefore, was more 
 than willing to accept Luther's assistance. And as Tyndale's 
 translation forms the basis of all subsequent translations, 
 we who realize the great blessings of the Reformation which 
 the open Bible brought feel that Tyndale's contact with 
 Luther gave to the English version much of that perspicuity, 
 that correctness, and that orderly arrangement which we 
 esteem so highly in the German translation. And though 
 millions of English readers may never be willing to admit 
 the hand and touch of Luther in the English Bible, it is 
 
122 THE OPE^' BIBLE. 
 
 but jfitting that, in the enumeration of the great deeds of 
 the great Reformer, and of the great blessings coming down 
 to us through the open Bible, both the German as well as 
 the English, we draw the attention of the whole world to 
 these indisputable historical facts, and proclaim far and 
 wide how much is due to this great man. 
 
 And what did this open Bible do for the people? It 
 showed them the way to salvation; it disclosed to them 
 the false doctrines of the Romish religion; it taught them 
 to reason and to weigh the decrees of pope and council, — 
 it was to them light and salvation. What had been dark was 
 illumined, and the Antichrist and his legions could not so 
 easily deceive the common man. Lie could not be pro- 
 claimed, for the Truth was at hand. 
 
 In conclusion we cannot refrain from calling attention 
 to the many and varied expositions which Luther wrote upon 
 the books of the Bible to make clear to the most common of 
 his people, as well as to the most learned men of his time, 
 the exact meaning of the various texts. His denotative 
 powers are clearly seen in his expositions of the Books of 
 Moses, of the Psalms, and of various other parts of the 
 Bible. How diligently does he strive to make clear to his 
 Germans the exact meaning of God's Law as expressed in 
 the Ten Commandments ! So well has he done the work 
 that even the many great theologians who followed him were 
 glad to accept his interpretations. He who possesses a com- 
 plete set of Luther's works, possesses a well of knowledge 
 which seems inexhaustible. He himself was a most exacting- 
 disciple of God's command "to search the Scriptures," and 
 his work in making the Bible open to the millions who 
 followed him, thus giving them an incentive to read, to 
 study, to search for salvation's sake, to learn that the Scrip- 
 tures testify of Him who is "eternal life," is one of the 
 great blessings of the Reformation. 
 
LUTHER AND THE PEASANT WAR. 123 
 
 Luther and the Peasant War. 
 
 Rev. W. Schoenfeld, New York, X. Y. ' 
 
 The Peasant War of 1525 was a politico-social revolt of 
 national importance. As such it forms a subject of deep 
 interest to the student of Germany's history, the more so 
 because it was both the most powerful of many similar up- 
 risings during- the two preceding centuries and the last truly 
 national movement till 1813. For the student of Luther, pe- 
 culiar interest attaches to this greatest peasant war because of 
 the charges made against the great Iloforiner with reference 
 thereto. The Eomanists insist that Luther and the Reforma- 
 tion were the prime cause of this truly terrible upheaval. 
 Likewise the very men who through their fundamentally 
 different conception of Christian freedom became the chief 
 fomentors of the war, together with Socialists and Com- 
 munists of a later day, have accused Luther of deserting 
 the cause of the common people, and of a cowardly failure 
 to stand by the principles he himself had enunciated in their 
 alleged logical and necessary application to the social and 
 political life. 
 
 The most compijehensive condemnation of Luther and the 
 Reformation bearing on this point is made by Leo XIII. 
 In his encyclical "Diuturnum," p. 25, he says : "Indeed, that 
 so-called Reformation, whose leaders and abettors radically 
 assailed the power of Church and State by new doctrines, 
 was followed by sudden tumults and most audacious rebel- 
 lions, chiefly in Germany, and that with so much fire and 
 murder of domestic war that hardlj^ a place free from turmoil 
 and bloodshed was to be found. . . . From this heresy, in 
 the last century, a falsely so-called philosophy took its origin, 
 and what is known as modern law, and government by the 
 people, that boundless license which alone is considered 
 liberty by the masses. From these it has come to kindred 
 pests, to Communism, Socialism, Nihilism, abominations 
 ill-boding and well-nigh death-dealing to civil human 
 society." 
 
 Right here let it be noted that the Romanists persistently 
 
124 LUTHER AND THE PEASANT WAR. 
 
 refuse to take cognizance of the fundamental difference 
 between Luther's teaching on the Gospel of Christ, the 
 sphere and relation of Church and State, and that of the 
 Puritans and Enthusiasts, who parted company with him 
 and fought him and his teaching no less bitterly than did 
 the papists. Assuredly the interest as to Luther's true 
 relation to the Peasant War is only increased by the observa- 
 tion that he is condemned alike by the Romanists and the 
 Protestant sectarians, and by the Communists and Socialists 
 and others of like ilk, declared by Leo XIII the product of 
 the Reformation. 
 
 Many violent insurrections, in which not only peasants 
 w^ere involved, preceded the war of 1525. For over a hundred 
 years there had been a demand by all the estates for a reform 
 of the Church in its head and members. For more than four 
 centuries a conflict had been waging between the popes and 
 the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, due to the ever 
 increasing usurpation by the popes of the rights and powers 
 originally held by the emperors. Again, there was almost 
 constant conflict between the princes and the emperor, the 
 princes endeavoring to secure for themselves an ever larger 
 degree of independent sovereignty. Again, the minor nobles 
 fought against the increase of the power of the princes ; the 
 cities sought extension of their power and wealth in oppo- 
 sition to the knights and at the expense of the peasants ; and 
 the latter resisted as best they could the constant encroach- 
 ments on their rights, liberties, and possessions by both 
 the lords of the Church and of the State. Many and far- 
 reaching changes affecting disastrously the economic and 
 social status of the peasants had been wrought by manifold 
 influences. 
 
 Though Romanist historians, like Johannes Janssen, in 
 his "History of the German People," have sought to prove 
 that the conditions of the common man and especially of the 
 vast majority of the agrarian population had experienced 
 much improvement during the period before the Reformation, 
 to which the Reformation gave a setback, yet must they 
 admit that there was much cause for complaint, as by all 
 
LUTHER AND THE PEASANT WAB. 125 
 
 the estates against the corruption, greed, and tyranny of 
 Rome, so by the peasants against unwarrantable oppression 
 and excessive exactions by both the ecclesiastical and secular 
 princes. Everybody, through the Church, sought an easy 
 and luxurious living, and this at the expense of the common 
 people, who were almost wholly debarred from ecclesiastical 
 offices. 
 
 There is no denying the fact that the Reformation, as it 
 progressed, caused an ever deeper ferment which entered 
 into every phase of life. The freedom of the Christian, as 
 proclaimed by Luther in oi:>position to Rome's tyranny over 
 the soul and conscience of man, was not fully or rightly 
 grasped, and for that very reason misapplied, and this by 
 some of the men who were most zealous in preaching the 
 new theology, as conceived by them. Little may we marvel, 
 then, that many of the laity should have come to base purely 
 social and political reformatory claims on the Gospel of 
 Christ. 
 
 The common mind is always inclined to go to extremes 
 whenever by a mighty change old things are made to pass. 
 Moreover, at such times ideas formerly absorbed, but which 
 had been long dormant, are apt to revive. And if one would 
 rightly gage the causes that produced the Peasant War, it 
 is necessary that he should acquaint himself with all the 
 social and political conditions and changes, and still more 
 with the religious reform movements, which antedated 
 Luther and the war. 
 
 Many were the sects that arose within the confines of the 
 Holy Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire before the 
 Reformation. Practically all of these bore the same funda- 
 mental character. None of them ever got rid of what con- 
 stitutes Rome's essential difference from Lutheranism, its 
 basic conception of Christ's Gospel, that is to say, they never 
 conceived religion to be anything else than an order of life, 
 by which man is to work out his own salvation. What they 
 therefore aimed at w\is merely an improvement of the order 
 of life, a truer interpretation and a more consistent appli- 
 cation of what they so significantly called the evangelical 
 
126 LUTHER AXD THE PEASANT WAR. 
 
 law or the law of Christ to all the phases of life in Church 
 and State. Necessarily their every conception of freedom 
 was limited to the external phases of life, called merely for 
 a new social order, and meant nothing more than freedom 
 of movement for the redeemed child of God within what was 
 understood to be God's law and order. It was not freedom 
 from the Law and sin's guilt and penalty, the freedom of the 
 conscience before God by His grace through Christ's vica- 
 rious obedience and suffering. 
 
 Another important fact which may not be overlooked is 
 that nearly all these sectarians and reformers, or heretics, 
 as Rome called them, were affected by, and entangled in. 
 Mysticism and Apocalypticism. The mystic seeks satis- 
 faction for his soul by immediate connnunion with God. 
 The end and aim of all religion for him is to seek perfection 
 of happiness by losing his soul completely in God, thus 
 becoming, as it were, dead to all influences outside of God. 
 To attain this glorious state is the one object to which he 
 holds it his duty to direct all his energies. Carried to its 
 logical end, mysticism leads to a complete identification of 
 one's own spirit with that of God, to the rejection not only 
 of all ecclesiastical authority and mediation, but of all 
 mediation of God's grace by the Holy Ghost through any 
 external means whatsoever. Though the Holy Scriptures 
 are at first employed to furnish the proof for the actuality 
 of personal communication with God, these are soon brushed 
 aside as no longer needed, because of the alleged direct com- 
 munication with the Spirit of God. 
 
 No man appears to have exerted a mightier influence 
 upon the sectarians of the Middle Ages than Joachim of 
 Floris, and this by reason of his apocalyptical speculations. 
 Significant, too, is the fact that this curious Calabrian prior, 
 who died in the year 1201, published his writings at the 
 urgent request of several popes. Notwithstanding this fact, 
 his writings were employed as one of their chief weapons 
 by the antagonists of papacy. A historical philosopher, he 
 divided the history of the world into three periods. The 
 first he defined as the period of servitude under the Law, 
 
LUTHER A^'D THE PEASANT WAR. 127 
 
 the second as that of childhood under the tutelage of the 
 priesthood, the third was to be that of perfect liberty. In 
 this period the perfect revelation was to come, and perfect 
 life to be attained, and that was to be the life of the monks, 
 no private possessions, no difference of caste or estate, no 
 cares of labor. To reach these conclusions and secure for 
 them divine basis and authority he used the Bible, inter- 
 preting it allegorically. This method enabled him to put 
 his own preconceived notions into the Bible, and at the same 
 tin^e paved the way for the abandonment of the Bible for 
 a more advanced and direct revelation, such as was to 
 come in his third period. The beginning of this period he 
 saw in the origin of monasticism, the zenith he placed in 
 the middle of the thirteenth century. Following the exami)le 
 of Joachim, others, by allegorical interpretation of the Bible, 
 endeavored to make its statements and prophecies fit present- 
 day conditions and show the way for the fulfilment of their 
 heart's desires. Nor did they stop here, but adopting the 
 idea of Joachim's third period, they proceeded to claim for 
 themselves the prophetic gift, direct inspiration and reve- 
 lation, and this in the interest of the very freedom foretold 
 by Joachim to come in his third period. These vagaries not 
 only gave birth to many sects, but continued to live and 
 vegetate among the people, even after the sects, as organized 
 bodies, were suppressed and disappeared. Throughout the 
 Middle Ages we see them reappear here, there, and every- 
 where. 
 
 With these facts before our eyes, we may readily under- 
 stand such phenomena as the preaching and doings of the 
 Zwickau prophets and men of the type of Thomas Muenzer, 
 who beyond a doubt was the prime fomentor of the Peasant 
 War. Significant, too, is the fact that Muenzer's home and 
 the province of his earliest activities is known to have been 
 a nest of the thoughts and theories of one such sect, the 
 Flagellants. 
 
 TvCt us now briefly review the Peasant War. The first 
 disturbances occurred in the Ilapsburg countries along the 
 upper Rhine in connection with an attempt by Duke Ulrich 
 
128 LUTHER AND THE PEASANT WAR. 
 
 of Wuerttemberg, who had been exiled since 1519, to recover 
 his land. Anabaptists, in part emissaries of Thomas Muenzer, 
 appear to have been the prime agents in creating the com- 
 motion. In the latter half of 1524 Muenzer himself loomed 
 up in those regions, in Klettgau and Hegau, Switzerland and 
 Alsace. Besides him a large number of itinerant preachers 
 created ever more unrest. In the first quarter of the year 
 1525 the famous "Twelve Articles of the Peasants" were 
 composed in Upper Swabia. Their circulation through all 
 Germany began with the beginning of March. For the 
 justification of the demands made Scripture passages were 
 adduced. Briefly stated, these were the demands made : — 
 
 1. Freedom to elect their own pastors, who are to preach 
 the Gospel without any human additions. 
 
 2. The preachers to receive for their sustenance no more 
 than the tithes; the residue of the church-income to be 
 set aside that no taxes need in case of war be imposed 
 on the poor. 
 
 3. The lords as true and genuine Christians to release the 
 peasants from serfdom, who for their part promise to live 
 according to the Word of God and to give obedience to the 
 government in all proper and Christian matters. 
 
 4. The poor man to have the right to take for himself 
 the fish of the lake, the beasts and birds of the forest. 
 
 5. All wooded lands of which the secular or clerical lords 
 had taken possession without payment therefor to revert to 
 the communities. With respect to properties paid for, 
 a peaceable settlement is to be made by mutual agreement. 
 
 6 — 8. The peasants to be relieved from burdensome ex- 
 actions, services, taxes, and fines. 
 
 9. Judgments and penalties to be just, free from jealousy 
 and partiality. 
 
 10. Meadows and lands of right belonging to the com- 
 munities to be returned to them. 
 
 11. The widows and orphans no longer to be subjected to 
 the death-tax. 
 
 12. If any of these articles should be proved contrary to 
 
LUTHER AND THE PEASANT WAR. 129 
 
 the Word of God, these are to lie canceled, but the right 
 is reserved to set up others having the warrant of Holy Writ. 
 Compared with similar articles of earlier days, these 
 reveal a truly remarkable moderation, no doubt due to the 
 beneficent influence of the Reformation. True to their pro- 
 fession, the peasants at first showed themselves willing to 
 confer with the lords to bring' about an amicable settlement 
 of their differences. And. even after the fierce tumult had 
 gotten under way and spread in many directions, a con- 
 ference was held at Heilbronn, beginning with the 9th of 
 May, in which representatives of various cities and men 
 of considerable prominence met with a committee of peasants 
 to draw up a program of imperial reform, and a most re- 
 markable document it was which they compiled. It con- 
 tained the following fourteen articles : — 
 
 1. All clerics, high and low, shall be reformed and receive 
 proper sustenance, their properties to be diverted to the 
 common welfare. 
 
 2. All secular lords shall be reformed, in order that the 
 poor may not be oppressed by them beyond Christian free- 
 dom; equal and quick administration of justice for the 
 highest and the lowest. Princes and nobles shall protect 
 the poor, and in consideration of an honest income conduct 
 themselves in brotherly fashion. 
 
 3. All cities and communities shall be reformed in com- 
 pliance M'ith Christian freedom according to divine and 
 natural law; no ancient or modern human invention to be 
 permitted. All ground-rents to be redeemable. 
 
 4. Xo doctor of Roman law may be admitted to any court 
 or a prince's council; only three doctors of imperial law 
 to be permitted at each university, whose counsel may be 
 sought when required. 
 
 5. No cleric, high or low, may be a member of the imperial 
 council, or employed as the counsel of other princes and 
 communes; none shall hold secular office. 
 
 6. All civil law heretofore in force within the empire to 
 be abrogated; only divine and natural law to prevail, so 
 that the poor man may have like access to justice with the 
 
 Four Hundrod Years. 9 
 
130 LUTHER AXD THE PEASANT WAE. 
 
 highest and richest. (Specific provisions were added as to 
 the number, character, and composition of the courts, allow- 
 ing representation to all the estates and the right of appeal 
 from one court to another.) 
 
 7. All tolls to cease, except those for bridges and roads. 
 
 8. All streets to be free, all excise abolished. 
 
 9. Xo taxes outside of the imperial tax to be raised once 
 every ten years. (Matt. 22.) 
 
 10. Only one kind of coin for the whole German nation. 
 
 11. Universal uniformity of measures and weights. 
 
 12. Curtailment of usury as practised by the large bank- 
 ing concerns, who possess themselves of all the money, and 
 fleece, as they will, the rich and poor. 
 
 13. The freedom of the nobles from every ecclesiastical 
 feudality. 
 
 11. The abolition of all alliances of princes, lords, and 
 cities; protection and defense by the emperor only to prevail 
 throughout the whole realm. 
 
 This can hardly be called other than a sane program, 
 but nearly four hundred years were to roll by before its 
 main features were adopted. Unhappily radical forces gained 
 the ascendancy with the peasants, and so it was that the 
 revolt was not stopped, but like a mighty flood rolled onward, 
 eastward into the Austrian Alps, westward into Alsace, 
 thence down the Rhine into the Palatinate, northward into 
 Wuerttemberg, Uranconia and Thuringia. The lords of 
 Southwest Germany formed the Swabian League, which 
 for a time, but a short time only, prevented the outbreak of 
 hostilities. By the end of March the flames of revolution 
 broke forth everywhere. Castles and cloisters were despoiled 
 and incinerated. Against the cities, too, the peasants 
 marched, but largely for the purpose of winning them over 
 to their side and making them points of support, bases of 
 operation. Nor were the efforts of the peasants in this di- 
 rection futile. At one time nearly all the cities of Franconia 
 made common cause with them. Early in April the forces 
 of the Swabian League, commanded by Georg Truchsess, 
 of Waldenburg, met the peasants at Leipheim and scored 
 
LUTHER AXD THE PEASANT WAR, 131 
 
 their first victory. Five hundred peasants were brutally 
 executed. This only served to increase the wrath of the 
 peasants, and when, on the IGth of April, twelve days later, 
 they successfully stormed Weinsberg, they retaliated by 
 mercilessly murdering the Count of Ilelfenstein and his 
 associates, despite the plea made by the count's wife, with 
 a babe on her arms, to spare his life. The infuriated mobs 
 became guilty of ever more vicious excesses and revolting- 
 brutalities. However, the victories gained by the peasants 
 were short-lived. April 17th the revolt was brought to 
 a close in upper Swabia by the Weingartner Treaty. Truch- 
 sess with his forces then moved into Wuerttemberg and 
 defeated the peasants at Boeblingen on May 12th. Then he 
 marched his army into Franconia, where on May 28th his 
 troops were joined by those of the Elector of the Palatinate 
 and of Trier. On the 2nd of June a victory over the rebels 
 was scored at Koenigshofen on the Tauber, and on June 4th 
 at Wuerzburg. June 8th Wuerzburg surrendered, June 28th 
 Rothenburg. IFuenzer and his comrades had already met 
 their fate at Frankenhausen on May 15th. Only in the 
 Alpine countries did the insurrection last into the summer 
 of 1526. Brutal was the punishment inflicted on the defeated 
 peasants. The estimates as to the number of peasants killed 
 in this war vary between 50,000 and 100,000. On the whole, 
 the status of the peasants remained much the same as before 
 the war. Where the war had waged hottest, some betterment 
 was granted. Only in the ITapsburg countries were greater 
 hardships imposed. 
 
 Muenzer it wag, who, coming into the camp of the peasants 
 at Muehlhausen, caused the breaking off of negotiations with 
 the princes, whose forces were posted at Frankenhausen, and 
 who had sought to reach by negotiation a peaceable adjust- 
 ment. He promised the peasants victory and declared himself 
 armed with the sword of Gideon. In a paroxysm of wildest 
 frenzy he assured the poor deluded peasants miraculous aid, 
 and bade them look to the heavens, wliere he pretended to 
 discover either in a rainbow or a halo around the sun a God- 
 given pledge of victory. But the help from above did not 
 
132 LUTHER AXD THE PEASANT AVAR. 
 
 appear. The artillery of the princes wrought quick and 
 irresistible destruction, and turned the battle into a mas- 
 sacre. More than half of the rebels were slain. Muenzer 
 made his escape, crept into a house and into bed. Foxlike 
 he feigned sickness, but this did not prevent his being con- 
 demned to death. And now that his wild dreams were 
 exploded, he renounced his new religion, took the Sacrament 
 in one kind, and died a Roman Catholic ! 
 
 We have now reached the point where we shall examine 
 into Luther's relation to this deplorable debacle, the Peasant 
 War. Is it true that he through his teaching brought on this 
 terrible war? or that, when put to the test through the 
 outbreak of this war, he showed the white feather, went back 
 on his own teaching, the principles evolved from the Gospel 
 of Christ, deserted the cause of the common people and 
 became the obsequious servitor of the princes? 
 
 True it is that Muenzer and the other fanatics who stirred 
 up this rebellion made common cause trith Luther in his 
 fight against Rome, and proclaimed themselves preachers of 
 Christ's Gospel and prophets of the Lord God Most High. 
 True it also is that they accused Luther and his loyal asso- 
 ciates of cowardice, of being afraid to put their words into 
 action, of being intent upon an easy life, and unwilling to 
 follow what they proclaimed the law of Christ. Again it is 
 true that the peasants proclaimed Luther, Melanchthon, and 
 others their patrons, and no doubt honestly and sincerely 
 believed their demands based upon the Gospel of Christ and 
 that Christian freedom which Luther had brought to light, 
 and finally declared themselves willing to have Luther sit 
 in judgment on their articles. But what proof is there in 
 all this to fix on Luther any guilt with respect to the peasant 
 revolt ? 
 
 •Never a man has yet dared to say that Luther ever called 
 upon the peasants to right the wrongs suffered by them by 
 an appeal to arms. Nor has the man yet appeared who has 
 undertaken to prove that Luther taught the freedom wrought 
 by Christ for all mankind to be anything but a spiritual 
 freedom, a freedom of the soul and conscience, neither to be 
 
LUTHEB AND THE PEASANT WAB. 133 
 
 gained nor to be retained except by the Holy Spirit, operating 
 through the divinely appointed means of grace, preeminently 
 the Gospel of Christ. But such was not the conception of 
 Christ's Gospel held and in-omulgatcd by Muenzer and his 
 confreres, the men who incited the rising of the peasants. 
 Impossible it is for any one to judge rightly Luther's relation 
 to these men and the Peasant War, unless he have come to 
 thoroughly understand tlie doctrine of the Christian freedom 
 or of the justification of the sinner by faith alone, as held 
 and promulgated by Luther. 
 
 Long before the Peasant War did Luther clearly perceive 
 a radical difference to exist between his own basic conception 
 of the Gospel of Christ and that of these men. They were 
 the cause of his leaving the Wartburg, and returning to 
 Wittenberg despite the most earnest petition and protestation 
 of the Elector Frederick. The reformation they craved was 
 not primarily and fundamentally a reformation of the sin- 
 ner's soul, a restoration of man to divine kinship, but the 
 establishment merely of a new order of life. They had not 
 passed through any such experience as Luther had, and 
 the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free meant 
 for them not the deliverance from the Law, and the guilt 
 and penalty of sin, but deliverance merely from external 
 conditions preventing the unhampered movement of man 
 in accordance with the law of Christ. The Gospel of Christ 
 was to them really nothing but a new law, calling for 
 the social and political equality of all men. To put the 
 Gospel of Christ into practise, therefore, meant, to their 
 mind, nothing more than the removal of whatever was con- 
 tradictory or a hindrance to such equality. And this they 
 deemed it right to effect, if necessary, by force. 
 
 Furthermore, these men, like the mystics and apocalyptics 
 of an earlier day, interpreted the Bible allegorically, and thus 
 injected into it their own preconceived material notions. 
 Like their spiritual ancestors, they also proceeded to lift 
 themselves up above the Scriptures, and, brushing the Bible 
 aside, proclaimed themselves prophets enjoying direct inspi- 
 ration and new revelations from God. Thus it came about 
 
134 LUTHER AXD THE PEASANT WAK. 
 
 that Carlstadt, infected and carried away by this enthusiasm 
 of the Zwickau prophets, not only connived at the refor- 
 mation by force which they attempted at Wittenberg, but 
 advocated the closing of all theological schools, and himself 
 went to the bakers, weavers, and shoemakers, inquiring of 
 them what the Holy Ghost had taught and revealed unto 
 them. Why, said he, should the Holy Ghost not do now 
 what He had done of old ? Why should He not to-day reveal 
 divine truth and give right and deeper spiritual under- 
 standing to the weaver and the peasant than to the learned 
 man and theological professor, just as He had by direct 
 inspiration given such knowledge to Christ's apostles? 
 
 Over against these men Luther from the very beginning 
 distinguished sharply between the spiritual freedom wrought 
 for all the world by Christ and every form of social and 
 political liberty and reform, and contended with all his 
 energy against any confusion of the two. Thus, too, he took 
 an uncompromising stand against the employment of any 
 force for the advancement of Christian freedom or any 
 Church reform, maintaining that is was only through the 
 Holy Ghost that man could be converted to faith in Christ, 
 and thus made to possess the freedom of Christ, and only 
 as divine conviction was effected in man by the Holy Ghost 
 through the Word of God could any genuine reform be 
 effected in the Church. Let the Holy Spirit enlighten the 
 masses, and all abuses, institutions and practises in conflict 
 with the Gospel of Christ would be done away with by 
 unanimous consent, in fact, drop off as dead leaves drop 
 from a living tree. Again, he stoutly insisted that to the 
 Word of God all are bound, the Word alone, and that in 
 its natural sense. 
 
 Though in his "Address to the Christian iSTobility" Luther 
 assailed all Roman oppression and abuse, he did it as a theo- 
 logian. As such he had a right to do it, and this because the 
 abuses attacked by him were, without exception, due to a cor- 
 ruption of the conceptions of grace. Church, priesthood, and 
 Church-polity. In all these he beheld a grave violation of 
 the clear command of God, which gives to civil government 
 
LUTIIEK AXD THE PEASANT WAR. 135 
 
 only the power of the sword. It was tliis Rome denied, 
 demanding for all the clergy exemption from the jurisdiction 
 of the State, and usurping its power. How scrupulously 
 Luther guarded against all confusion of spiritual freedom 
 witli any external social and political freedom appears most 
 clearly from his essay on "Secular Government" and the 
 obedience we owe it. (1523.) In this essay he demands that 
 the Christian suffer patiently anj^ abuse the government may 
 make of its power, though neither approving thereof nor 
 becoming a party thereto. And already in the admonition 
 sent to Wittenberg from the Wartburg in 1521 he says : 
 "I hold, and ever will hold, to the party which suifers 
 violence, no matter how wrong it may be, and will oppose 
 the party that causes tumult, however righteous its cause, 
 and this because no tumult will pass off without the shedding 
 of innocent blood and other harm." The reason for taking 
 this position he defines to be that in this case the devil, 
 by stirring up "temporal tumult," would seek to prevent the 
 "spiritual tumult," and thus harm the evangelical cause. 
 "But," he continues, "God willing, he shall not succeed. 
 They that read and understand my teaching aright do not 
 create tumult; they have not learned it from me." 
 
 Clearly as he perceived the fundamental difference 
 between his own conception of Christ's Gospel and that of 
 ]\ruenzer and others of like type, so Luther also, from the 
 very outset, clearly perceived that Muenzer's activities must 
 lead to a revolution, and thereby cause the greatest possible 
 harm to the cause of the pure Gospel, which he knew himself 
 called by God to preach anew to mankind. That it was which 
 he called "the Altstedt spirit." Muenzer, indeed, first called 
 upon the princes to use their sword to prevent insurrection, 
 and he certainly would have been well satisfied had he suc- 
 ceeded in forcibly establishing the law of Christ through the 
 sword of the princes. But failing in this, he unhesitatingly 
 appealed-to the sword of the peasants. 
 
 Neither Luther nor his teaching may with any justice 
 be charged with having provoked the revolt of the peasants. 
 It was no fault of his that the peasants in their articles 
 
136 LUTHER A^'D THE PEASANT WAR. 
 
 mixed religious and social matters, proclaimed him their 
 patron and made appeal to his teachings, falsely understood 
 by them, and this largely, if not entirely, because of the 
 teachings of men who, while they fought as he did against 
 Rome, yet differed fundamentally with him in the con- 
 ception of the gospel of Christian freedom, and on that 
 score fought him with no less bitterness than did the 
 Romanists. 
 
 The "Twelve Articles of the Peasants'' Luther did not, 
 on the whole, condemn as too radical. All questions arising 
 from articles 4 — 11, he urged, should be left to the jurists. 
 These he considered debatable, and did not reprove the 
 peasants for them. He protested against dragging the Chris- 
 tian name into these matters, and declared that, with respect 
 to these, the peasants should simply have appealed to divine 
 and natural law. In the first three articles he found cause 
 for severe rebuke. Though the peasants are right in de- 
 manding freedom to elect their own pastors, he denies to 
 them the right of demanding the disposition of the benefice-, 
 since these belong to the government. Thus, too, he declares 
 the demand of the peasants with respect to the tithes to be 
 sheer theft and robbery. His strongest protest is, however, 
 entered against the endeavor to compel the government. By 
 force, to accede to their demands. Taking his stand upon the 
 teaching of the Bible on civil government, he saw the 
 greatest crime in rising up against the government, and 
 fought against having the conception of the divine estab- 
 lishment and duty of civil government obscured by any con- 
 flicting religious or moral considerations. Herein he took 
 a position fundamentally different both from that of Rome 
 and that traditionally received from Wyclif by the sec- 
 tarians, according to which government had only a lease 
 on the power entrusted to it, which terminated in and with 
 the abuse of that power. It was for this reason Luther held 
 that also social and political reforms must not be attempted 
 by violence and rebellion, but by fearlessly holding up to the 
 divinely constituted powers their duty according to divine 
 and natural law. The Christian especially must prove his 
 
LUTHEE AND THE PEASANT WAR. 137 
 
 Christianity by being subject to the powers that.be, suffering 
 patiently any wrong, rather than by violent resistance doing 
 wrong, confident that the Lord, the Ruler over all, will hear 
 his prayers, right all wrong in due season, and make all 
 things serve for the good of His faithful children. 
 
 But the sorest point for Luther was that the peasants 
 urged in behalf of their socio-political demands and their 
 forcible enactment a conception of the Gospel wholly antago- 
 nistic to its true contents and import. This, he rightly 
 perceived, involved nothing less than the subversion of the 
 very essence of Christianity, and for that reason the de- 
 struction of that entire reformation for which he, by God's 
 grace, had been permitted to labor. In their third article 
 the peasants, had based their demand for release from serf- 
 dom on the freedom Christ had secured for all alike, the 
 lowest and the highest, by the redemption through His blood. 
 To this plea Luther replied that Christian freedorn has 
 nothing to do with a man's social or political position in 
 this world. Being a serf or slave as little prevents one 
 from enjoying the spiritual freedom through faith in Christ 
 as if one were an invalid or a prisoner. The peasants by 
 this article would turn Christ's spiritual kingdom into 
 a worldly, external kingdom, a thing which can never be 
 endured. Worldly kingdoms cannot exist without disparity 
 in persons, some being free, some bound, some lords, some 
 subjects. But all alike have access to God's grace and Spirit 
 and to the Christian freedom. Luther did not disapprove 
 of the peasants endeavoring to protect themselves against 
 any injustice and wrong contrary to nature. But if to Chris- 
 tian law they appeal, they must be told that this enjoins 
 patient endurance of injustice. Xo desire has he to uphold 
 the government in any palpable and unbearable injustice, 
 but he does insist that both parties to this quarrel have 
 nothing to do with Christianity. Should violent insurrection 
 be inaugurated, then, in his conviction, the government 
 must, in the performance of its Christian duty, use all the 
 l)ower at its command to suppress such insurrection. True 
 to this conviction, he unhesitatingly called upon the govern- 
 
138 LUTHER'S MAERIAGE. 
 
 ment to perform its duty, when the peasants, despite their 
 professed willingness to submit to his judgment, failed to 
 give ear to his admonition and protest. Moreover, over 
 against every charge of cowardice it must be recorded that, 
 at the risk of being himself murdered, he went into various 
 disturbed localities, seeking to quiet the rebellious spirits. 
 Also it must be recorded that where the preachers held to 
 Luther's teaching of the Gospel quiet was maintained or 
 quickly restored. Finally it must be said to Luther's ever- 
 lasting honor that he never disowned responsibility in calling 
 on the government to wield its sword for the suppression of 
 the rebels. Frankly did he acknowledge that it was he who, 
 through his exhortation to the princes, brought about the 
 extinction of Muenzer and the rebellion incited by him. 
 
 Right in his conception of the very essence of Chris- 
 tianity, Luther was right in his stand over against Muenzer 
 and all his confreres. With the deluded peasants we must 
 deeply sympathize, especially because their lot might have 
 been much improved, and that within a short time, if they 
 had followed Luther instead of the self-made "heavenly 
 prophets." But as for the preachers of mere social and 
 political reform, to whom Christ's Gospel was only a new 
 law, and a law to be enforced by force, we must say : Thanks 
 be to God that their movement received, in and with the 
 crushing of the Peasant War, its death-blow, and that Luther, 
 over against them, proved himself a veritable Gibraltar of 
 the true Christian faith and the true Christian freedom! 
 
 Luther's Marriage. 
 
 Rev. W. M. Czamanske, Sheboygan, Wis. 
 
 If Luther meant to be a true reformer of a corrupt 
 Church, which invariably- pictured marriage as an unholy, 
 and even as an unclean state, it was almost necessary for him, 
 who proclaimed the sanctity of matrimony according to the 
 Scriptures, to back up his words by his own example. 
 
 While he was in the Wartburg, Luther wrote a tract in 
 
LUTHER'S MARRIAGE. 139 
 
 which he proved from the Bible that the Church of Rome 
 is wrong, when she says, "It is unlawful for the clergy to 
 marry." "Marriage is God's appointment," he said, "and 
 therefore no man has a right to forbid it to any one." In 
 consequence of this tract, there began an exodus from the 
 convents, and many nuns, monks, and priests entered the 
 state of matrimony. 
 
 Not far from Leipzig, on the road to Dresden, is the small 
 city of Grinima, and, close by, the hamlet of Nimbschen, 
 where, in a building now a farmhouse, there was a nunnery. 
 In some way or other, a ray of the light that had dawned in 
 Wittenberg pierced these encloistered walls. Luther's writ- 
 ings convinced some of these nuns, who came from families 
 of noble birth now reduced to poverty, that it was impossible 
 for them to "serve God acceptably" in a nunnery. Their 
 desire for freedom induced them to write to their parents, 
 saying, "Our continuance in the cloister is incompatible 
 with the salvation of our souls." With all humility they 
 begged their parents to help them gain their liberty, prom- 
 ising that they would gladly share the burdens and trials 
 resulting from such an act. In much anxiety they waited 
 fo.r the reply; it came, and saddened them yet more, because 
 their parents refused to receive them. In the hour of their 
 deep distress they turned to Luther for advice and help. We 
 have no record of a personal letter having been addressed 
 to Luther, but we do know that Luther heard about their 
 predicament and intervened in their behalf. 
 
 In Torgau lived two respectable citizens and friends of 
 Luther, Leonhard Koppe and Wolf Tommitzsch. To them 
 Luther entrusted the difficult task of freeing the nuns. On 
 Easter eve, twelve young women made an opening in the 
 clay wall of the cloister, and reached the covered M-agons 
 that were waiting for them. Of the number, three were 
 received into their own homes. The remaining nine, unable 
 to return home, since they came from the territory of that 
 implacable foe of the Eeformation, Duke George, were 
 brought three days later, in covered herring barrels, as 
 the chronicle of Torgau has it, to Luther at Wittenberg. 
 
140 LUTHER'S MAERIAGE. 
 
 Lutlier recognized the fact that the Lord had thrown them 
 ^upon him, and the charge was one which he could not 
 refuse. But he, to whom they looked for the necessaries of 
 life, being penniless, could not provide for them. All that 
 he could do was to go around to the respectable families 
 of Wittenberg, and ask that these helpless maidens be tempo- 
 rarily given shelter, until they could be placed in permanent 
 homes. 
 
 Then, to protect the good name of his wards, as well 
 as his own, Luther wrote a long letter to Leonhard Koppe, 
 commending him for having come to the relief of innocence 
 in distress. In this letter, which was published, Luther 
 writes: "You have done a new w^ork that will be celebrated 
 throughout the whole land. Many will stigmatize it as most 
 disgraceful, but godly people will proclaim it as most praise- 
 worthy. . . . Some will say that, since this was secretly 
 planned, I am a robber. But I answer : Yea, a blessed 
 robber, just as Christ was a robber, when, by His death, He 
 led captivity captive." Then he publishes a list of the names 
 "of these poor children" whom he had delivered from their 
 prison: Magdalene Staupitz, Veronica Leschau, the sisters 
 Lanita and Ave von Goltz, Katharina von Bora, Elizabeth 
 von Kanitz, Katharina Zeschau, and the sisters, Ave and 
 Margaretha von Schoenfeld. 
 
 In writing to Spalatin, Luther calls the nine fugitive 
 nuns "a sorry lot." ... "I pity them much, but most of all 
 the others who are djdng everywhere in such numbers in 
 their cursed and impure celibacy. You ask what I shall do 
 with them. Some of. the families have already promised 
 me to take them; for some I shall get husbands if I can." 
 The three who remained longest at Wittenberg were Ave 
 von Schoenfeld, her sister Margaretha, and Katharina von 
 Bora. According to a remark which Luther made many 
 years later, Ave von Schoenfeld was his favorite among the 
 nine, and had he been in a situation to marry, she would 
 have been his choice. But she and her sister having found 
 husbands, Katharina, whose father was now dead, was left 
 alone. She had been taken into the house of the rich and 
 
Luther's marriage. 141 
 
 honorable Reichenbach, who at times held the office of burgo- 
 master at Wittenberg. Here the girl lived about two years, 
 during which time she learned housekeeping, and won for 
 herself a highly creditable reputation in Wittenberg society. 
 She was on intimate terms with the family of Lucas Cranach, 
 the portrait painter, and meeting there the King of Denmark, 
 received from him a ring as a token of his esteem. 
 
 So little did Luther think of marrying Katharina von 
 Bora that he recommended her as a wife to two of his 
 friends ; one. of them did not wish to follow his advibe, and 
 Katharina herself refused the other, namely Dr. Glatz, pastor 
 at Orlamuende. Her. w'omanly instinct read his character 
 better than Luther had, since, some years later, Dr. Glatz 
 had to be deposed from the ministry. The idea of marrying 
 a man who was so repugnant to her induced Katharina to 
 go to Amsdorf, Luther's closest friend, and complain to him 
 that Luther was trying to force her to marry against her 
 will a man whom she would never think of in that relation. 
 The case, she continued, would be very different, should 
 either Luther or Amsdorf be proposed to her. It was the 
 negative, not the positive side of her plea that Katharina 
 was urging in her frank and' open-hearted w^ay. Had it 
 been otherwise, Amsdorf would have been more hasty in 
 conferring with Luther on the subject. But, for six months, 
 Luther seems not to have heard of this remarkable statement. 
 
 Meanwhile, Spalatin received a letter from a noble lady, 
 Argula von Staufen, wife of the Ritter von Grumbach, both 
 of whom were faithful friends of the Reformation. This 
 letter, in which Argula von Staufen expressed her surprise 
 that Luther did not marry, was forwarded to Luther. Tn 
 replying to Spalatin, Luther said : "I am not surprised 
 that folks gossip thus about me, as they g^ossip about many 
 other things. But please thank the lady in my name, and 
 tell her that I am in the hands of the Lord, as a creature 
 whose heart He can change and rechange, destroy or revive, 
 at any hour or moment; but as my heart has hitherto been, 
 and is now, it will never come to pass that I shall take 
 a wife. Not that I am insensible to the charms of marf-ied 
 
142 LUTHER'S MARRIAGE. 
 
 life. I am neither wood nor stone; but my mind is averse 
 to wedlock, because I daily expect death and the punishment 
 of a heretic." This letter was dated November 30, 1524. 
 
 In March, 1525, Luther wrote a very pathetic letter to 
 xlmsdorf, begging him, as he valued his friendship, to come 
 at once to Wittenberg. It seems that Luther was no longer 
 able to bear the loneliness of his bachelor life. For an entire 
 year, Luther confesses that, when w^earied with his day's 
 work, he tumbled at night into an unmade bed, mildewed 
 with perspiration. Such habits were not only unnatural, 
 but harmful to the health both of mind and body. The 
 divine precept: "It is not good that man should be alone," 
 must have often occurred to him in his loneliness and squalor. 
 
 In spite of the fact that Luther preached, on the Second 
 Sunday after Epiphany, on how one should seek a wife, and 
 in what way the marriage estate should be entered, there is 
 no trace that he had any special interest in procuring a wife 
 for himself, until Amsdorf came to visit him in answer to 
 Luther's urgent request. During his stay in Wittenberg, 
 Amsdorf must have related to Luther what Katharina von 
 Bora had said about her willingness to listen to a proposal, 
 if it came from Luther or from himself. Since Amsdorf 
 had no inclination to marry either then or later, he most 
 likely encouraged Luther to take Katharina as his helpmeet, 
 and thus follow the advice he had given to others. 
 
 On April 16, Luther started on his trip to Mansfeld to 
 preach against the peasants' rising. His already half-formed 
 purpose of taking the frank nun at her word was increased 
 by his father, whom he saw at this time, and whose earnest 
 wish and continual importunity determined the decision. 
 
 His first announcement of his intentions is in a letter of 
 May 4th, to the Chancellor of Duke Albert of Mansfeld, where 
 he says, "Before I die, I hope to marry my Katie in spite of 
 the devil." Luther's mind was evidently changing in regard 
 to the opinion he formerly entertained toward l^^atharina. She 
 had appeared to him as being proud and haughty. He now 
 looked upon her in a more favorable light. She was not 
 beautiful, as her existing portraits abundantly show, but 
 
lutiier's marriage, 143 
 
 her chastity and piety more than made up for the lack of 
 a pretty face. 
 
 Lutlier did not enter into matrimony unadvisedly or 
 lightly, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in 
 the fear of God. When he thought of taking his Katie, he 
 prayed earnestly to God, as he himself says, that God might 
 grant him a godly wife, with whom, by the grace of the 
 Holy Spirit, he might lead a godly life. But after Luther 
 had asked the Lord to guide him in the choice of a pious 
 helpmeet, and there seemed to be no valid reason for post- 
 poning his marriage any longer, he acted with startling 
 rapidity. Notwithstanding her confession to Amsdorf, 
 Katharina herself was surprised when Luther took her at 
 her word, and announced that she could have the alternative 
 she had suggested. No friends were consulted ; no announce- 
 ments w^ere made; no opportunity for the spread of gossip 
 was given. A protracted engagement was the last thing he 
 desired. Years later he remarked, "It is very dangerous to 
 put off your wedding, for Satan gladly interferes and makes 
 great trouble through evil talkers, slanderers, and friends 
 of both parties. If I had not married quickly and secretly, 
 and taken few into my confidence, every one would have done 
 what he could to hinder me; for all my best friends cried, 
 ^Not this one, but another.' " 
 
 Wittenberg was startled one morning by the information 
 that, on the preceding evening (June 13th), its most promi- 
 nent citizen had been married to this homeless refugee. As 
 the news spread from house to house, the story ran that Luther 
 had gone to the home of Philip Reichenbach, with his two 
 colleagues, Bugenhagen and Justus Jonas, and with one 
 of the professors in the law department of the university, 
 Dr. Apel, and the painter Lucas Cranach and his wife, and 
 that, before these witnesses, Bugenhagen, the pastor of the 
 city church, pronounced Luther and Katharina man and wife. 
 
 Two weeks later, June 27th, the public ceremony was 
 solemnized with a church-service, followed in the evening 
 by a wedding-feast, to which Luther's friends were invited. 
 He wrote to them, saying that they were to "seal and ratify" 
 
144 LUTHER'S MARRIAGE. 
 
 his marriage, and "help to pronounce the benediction." The 
 most prominent and most highly gratified guests were 
 Luther's dear father and mother. Besides the Wittenberg 
 professors, and the entire party who had been witnesses of 
 the house ceremony, Amsdorf, von Dolzig, the elector's 
 marshal, Ruehl, and two other officers from the court of the 
 Count of Mansfeld were present. Nor was Leonhard Koppe, 
 to whom Katharina had owed her freedom, forgotten. 
 
 Luther's marriage created a sensation. It amazed both 
 friend and foe. Dr. Jerome Schurf, who had stood so ably 
 by Luther at Worms, had prophesied that, in case the 
 marriage would occur, all the world and the devils would 
 laugh, and Luther's work would come to naught. Not so 
 thought Luther, who predicted that all the angels would 
 laugh, while all devils would weep and rage. Even Melanch- 
 thon lost his self-possession; for, in a letter to Camerarius 
 on June 16th, he says: "You may perhaps be surprised that 
 at this unhappy time, when all good gentlemen are suffering, 
 Luther does not sympathize with them, but, as it seems, 
 prefers a life of pleasure, and to lower his dignity, though 
 Germany has now the greatest need of his wisdom and 
 strength." He expects a wave of indignation which will 
 do much damage to the evangelical cause. At the same time, 
 he pronounces the marriage an entirely honorable one, and 
 is confident that Luther will be able to survive the storm. 
 Many other friends regretted that Luther had chosen Katie 
 rather than some woman of wealth and position. The time, 
 too, seemed inopportune. The Elector of Saxony had died 
 only a month before. The Peasants' War was not yet ended, 
 and the whole country was in an uproar. In these circum- 
 stances many felt as though the great Reformer's mind 
 should have been full of things other than marriage. An old 
 legend was current during the time of the Reformation that 
 the Antichrist should be born of the union between a monk 
 and a nun. When Luther's marriage became known to his 
 enemies, they boastingly said : "Now we may expect the 
 coming of the Antichrist"; whereas the going of the Anti- 
 christ was proceeding at an alarming rate of speed, so 
 
lutiier's marriage. 145 
 
 alarming- that the pope and his minions saw the handwriting 
 on the wall, and tried to divert the attention of the world 
 from their own wickedness by spreading slanderous tales 
 about Luther and his bride. Ah, the renegade monk and 
 the runaway nun ! What a sinister light that union, con- 
 trary to all ecclesiastical and civil law, threw^ upon the whole 
 Reformation movement ! Now it was clear what Luther 
 had in mind from the beginning! 
 
 But Luther, as usual, was unmoved by the criticisms of 
 his friends and the attacks of his foes. He never felt so con- 
 fident he was right as when his enemies denounced him. 
 Lie was glad that he had exposed the glaring contradiction, 
 propounded by popery, that marriage is a sacrament, and 
 yet not holy enough for priests and nuns to enter. He was 
 glad that he had by his own example restored to its former 
 place of honor the institution of matrimony. Lie was glad 
 that he had the courage of his convictions to defy the 
 opinions of men, and to take another step in his reformatory 
 work which, for its boldness, may well be compared with 
 his burning of the papal bull and his heroic stand at Worms. 
 The people of his day were sadly in need of such an 
 example of domestic life as Luther was able to give. "His 
 marriage to Catharine von Bora, was, on the whole, as far 
 as we can infer from his own confession and public appear- 
 ances, a happy one," as the Catholic Encyclopedia admits. 
 The following sayings of Luther give us a charming picture 
 of his happy home life: "I would not change my Katie for 
 France and Venice, becau^^e God has given her to me, and 
 other women have worse faults, and she is true to me and 
 a good mother to my children. If a husband always kept such 
 things in mind, he would easily conquer the temptation to 
 discord which Satan sows between married people." "The 
 greatest happiness is to have a w^ife to whom you can trust 
 your business. . . . Katie, you have a husband who loves 
 you; many an empress is not so well off." "T am rich, God 
 has given me my nun and three children : wliat can^ I if 
 I am in debt, Katie pays the bills." 
 
 Katharina was ' a woman of sound sense, shrewd and 
 Four Hundred Years. 10 
 
146 luthee's two exiles: wartburg axd cobueg. 
 
 energetic — the morning star of Wittenberg, as her husband 
 called her with reference to her early rising. She super- 
 intended a large and growing household with considerable 
 business ability. She faithfully cared for her husband on 
 the numerous occasions when he was ill, took a lively interest 
 in his reformatory work, and helped to sweeten the cares 
 and sorrows of the most beloved and the most hated 
 man in Christendom. Born January 29, 1499, and married 
 when she was twenty-six years old, she died December 20, 
 1552, after having lived in holy wedlock for twenty years, 
 and experienced seven bare years of widowhood during the 
 calamities of the Smalcald War. In his last will and tes- 
 tament, Luther refers to her as "a godly, faithful, upright 
 wife, who has always shown herself worthy of all love and 
 esteem,'' a tribute of which any woman might be proud. 
 
 Luther's Two Exiles: Wartburg and 
 Coburg. 
 
 Rev. H. Frincke, Monroe, Mich. 
 
 High upon a lofty mountain peak in the Thuringian 
 forest, overlooking Eisenach and a broad expanse of the sur- 
 rounding country, lies the Wartburg, a fortified castle, at 
 the time of Luther the property of Frederick the Wise, the 
 Elector of Saxony, Luther's sovereign. This historic old 
 castle had at one time been the abode of that beautiful martyr, 
 St. Elizabeth, and the favorite gathering-place of Walter 
 von der Vogelweide, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and other 
 German poetical celebrities. It was now destined to become 
 the temporary residence of a greater martyr and a greater 
 German poet. Eor to this retreat Luther was brought secretly 
 and forcibly by five armed riders who intercepted him on 
 his return to Wittenberg from the Diet of Worms. 
 
 This seizure had been arranged by the Elector himself, 
 with the connivance of Luther and his friends, for the 
 purpose of removing Luther for a time from the scene of 
 his activities and out of the reach of his enemies. For be 
 
Luther's two exiles: wartburg and coburg. 147 
 
 it remembered that Luther had been excommunicated by 
 a special bull of the pope, and that Emperor Charles V of 
 Germany, as an answer to Luther's courageous confession 
 at the diet, had outlawed him. It was dangerous to take 
 sides with Luther, the heretic and outlaw, yet Frederick the 
 Wise was his firm friend and pow^erful protector, and the 
 removal of Luther to the Wartburg was but one of the many 
 marks of friendship and favor shown Luther by this noble 
 sovereign. And in order to be able to affirm with a clear 
 conscience his complete ignorance, in the event of his 
 being asked for Luther's whereabouts, the elector refused 
 to be made a party to the secret of Luther's residence at the 
 Wartburg. Thus this wise prince avoided an open break 
 with the emperor and with the Church while protecting 
 Luther and furthering the cause of the Gospel. 
 
 At the Wartburg Luther was known as Squire George, 
 a state's prisoner. He let his beard grow, and also permitted 
 the hair to grow over his pate. He carried a sword at his 
 side and a gold chain around his neck as a token of noble 
 lineage. A page attended him at the castle, and when he 
 ventured forth he was accompanied by a groom, who acted 
 both as a protector and as a guide. He also learned to bear 
 himself as a knight by carrying his weapons correctly, and 
 stroking his beard in a knightly way. 
 
 Yet he could not put off the scholar. When on his rides 
 in the neighborhood of the castle he entered a house, he would 
 invariably reach for the books that happened to lie about, 
 so that his companion felt himself obliged to warn him that 
 such a procedure was not "knightly," because "riding and 
 writing" did not very well harmonize. Still worse, Luther 
 usually carried a small book with him. 
 
 Whenever he met some monks or priests, he would start 
 a theological discussion and, among other things, ask them 
 about Luther, thereby inducing his companion to hasten their 
 departure, in order to avoid detection. 
 
 He also kept up a secret intercourse with some Franciscan 
 monks with whom he had become acquainted while attending 
 school at Eisenach, and he even made a few secret visits to 
 Eisenach. 
 
148 LUTHER'S TWO EXILES: WARTBUKG AXD COBLTIG. 
 
 Besides making these little visits he would pick straw- 
 berries or indulge in hunting, this "truly worthy occupation 
 of idle men," as he termed it. On his hunts he would give 
 himself up to theological meditations. "The hares that were 
 hunted" were to him emblems of "the believing souls chased 
 by the hounds, the devil and his godless bishops and theo- 
 logians." 
 
 In spite of these physical exertions Luther's health was 
 not the best. His host, the commandant of the castle, Hans 
 von Berlepsch, w^ith whom he was on the best of terms, and 
 who was intelligent enough to carry on a conversation with 
 Luther on religious topics, provided him with the best viands, 
 which, however, did not agree with Luther, who had been 
 accustomed to frugal monks' fare. In consequence he was 
 troubled with constipation and impaired digestion. Pills 
 sent him upon request by Spalatin, the court preacher of 
 the Elector, soon cured him of these little ailments. 
 
 Worse than these were the spiritual vexations which 
 afflicted him. He ascribed these partly to Satan, partly to 
 his flesh, and insisted that it was more difficult to wrestle 
 against these powers of darkness than against that devil 
 incarnate, evil man. He traced these vexations back to the 
 loneliness of his abode, as well as to the neglect of his 
 friends' intercession. We may well believe that the spooky 
 and uncanny surroundings up in that lofty chamber, espe- 
 cially during stormy weather, were conducive to such afflic- 
 tions. Yet the tale that he threw his inkstand at the devil 
 is a myth. 
 
 The "idleness" enforced upon him by his retreat gave 
 him an opportunity for increased activity along literary lines. 
 
 He studied the Bible in both the Hebrew and Greek 
 originals. Lie wrote an exposition of the 68th Psalm to 
 be used for the celebration of Easter, Ascension Hay, and 
 Pentecost. He finished his exposition of the "Magnificat" 
 for Prince John Frederick of Saxony, and continued his 
 work on the Latin exposition of the Psalms, taking up the 
 thread at the 22d Psalm. A discourse "On Confession, 
 Whether the Pope Has the Power to Enjoin It" he dedicated 
 
LUTHER'S TWO EXILES: WARTBURG AND COBURG. 149 
 
 to his friend Franz von Sickingcn, though it was intended 
 for the common people. He also published a sermon on 
 the Gospel for the l-lth Sunday after Trinity, containing 
 the account of the healing of the ten lepers. For his con- 
 gregation at Wittenberg- he wrote an exposition of the 37th 
 Psalm. Besides these instructive and edifying writings he 
 composed various works of a polemical nature, among others 
 some "Annotations on the Bull of the Pope, entitled Bulla 
 coena Domini/' in which the pope condemns all old and new 
 heresies. Adding Luther's name to the list of heretics after 
 the names of IIus and Wyclif, the pope had caused this bull 
 to be read on Maundy Thursday in all churches. So far as 
 we know, this custom still prevails in the Catholic Church. 
 Luther translated this bull into the German language, and 
 published it with his notes as a New Year's gift to the pope. 
 •He also addressed a sharp letter to Archbishop Albrecht of 
 Mayence, who had again introduced the sale of indulgences 
 in his diocese. 
 
 But above all his enforced "leisure" was productive of 
 two works, through which he has performed a service of 
 inestimable value to the Church. We refer to his German 
 Church Postil and to his translation of the New Testament. 
 
 The Church Postil, which he began to publish while at 
 the Wartburg, contains sermons on the Epistle- and Gospel- 
 lessons for each Sunday, These sermons were not delivered 
 as printed. They were intended primarily for pastors (former 
 priests) , who had no experience in the preaching of the 
 Gospel. In an emergency they could read one of these 
 sermons to their congregation. However, the laymen very 
 soon got hold of the book and read it diligently to the great 
 joy of Luther, who considered this book the best he had ever 
 written. Yet he intended it merely as a "scaffold to the real 
 building, the Word of God." 
 
 To make this Word of God accessible to all, he translated 
 the New Testament into the German language. And this 
 is his greatest achievement during his stay at the Wartburg. 
 There were indeed German translations of the New Testa- 
 ment at hand. However, they were based on the Latin trans- 
 
150 LUTHER'S TWO EXILES: WAETBUKG AND COBUEG. 
 
 lation of the Bible, the so-called Vulgate. Besides, the 
 language left much to be desired. Luther translated from 
 the original Greek, and he made the apostles talk German 
 "like the mother at home, the children in the street, and the 
 business man." In order to accomplish this, it was necessary 
 for him to create a new language, the literary German of 
 to-day. Through his translation of the Bible Luther became 
 the originator of the German language. By unanimous 
 consent of classic German writers, such as J. Grimm, 
 H. Heine, D. Strauss, W. Wackernagel, G. Freytag, and 
 others, Luther is the first and greatest new High-German 
 classic. He outranks the greatest heroes of German literature 
 because he is more popular and versatile. 
 
 In three months the great work was finished. In Sep- 
 tember, 1522, Melchior Lotter, of Wittenberg, printed the 
 first edition on three presses. Lucas Cranach embellished it 
 with excellent wood-cuts. The title read: "The New Testa- 
 ment, German. Wittenberg." The first edition consisted 
 of 5,000 copies. Price, about $6 in United States money. 
 
 It is needless to state that during his stay at the Wart- 
 burg Luther kept up a diligent correspondence with his 
 friends at Wittenberg, notably with Spalatin, Melanchthon, 
 Amsdorf, and Bugenhagen. He dated his letters from his 
 "Patmos" or his "desert" or the "region of the air" or the 
 "region of the birds." 
 
 Through his friends he heard of various excesses com- 
 mitted by some would-be reformers, such as Carlstadt, 
 Didymus, and Agricola. Priests who read mass had been 
 chased out of the churches. The Lord's Supper was being 
 administered under both kinds to any one who desired it, 
 without preceding confession. Pictures in the church and 
 cloister had been torn down and the side-altars removed. 
 Schooling and the sciences were being condemned as un- 
 necessary, and the direct influence of the Holy Spirit upon 
 the unlearned was taught. The so-called Zwickau Prophets, 
 Thomas Muenzer, Nikolaus Storch, and others, denied the 
 necessity of reading the Bible, and rejected the ministry 
 and infant baptism. 
 
Luther's two exiles: wabtburg and coburg. 151 
 
 The rumors of these disturbances induced Luther to go 
 secretly to Wittenberg for the purpose of advising and 
 exhorting his friends, who were in despair. After three days 
 he returned just as secretly to the Wartburg. But when 
 matters grew worse, he could no longer contain himself. 
 He left the Wartburg for good, and suddenly appeared at 
 Wittenberg, where he soon restored order, and resumed his 
 important work as the Reformer of the Church. His stay 
 at the Wartburg covered a period of ten months, from 
 May 4, 1521, to March 3, 1522. 
 
 Luther's detention at the Wartburg established three 
 important truths. It taught him that the work of the Refor- 
 mation was God's work and not his own nor that of any 
 one man. In a letter written to his sovereign in justification 
 of his leaving the Wartburg and returning to Wittenberg 
 against the wishes of the Elector he gives expression to 
 this thought in the following sentences: "Your Electoral 
 Grace must know, or ought to take cognizance of the fact, 
 that I have received my Gospel not through men, but solely 
 from heaven." Again: "This matter cannot be helped or 
 promoted with the sword. God alone must promote it, with- 
 out any human assistance or concern." Thus Luther was 
 encouraged to remain in true humility, and not have his head 
 turned by his great victory at Worms. — It taught his friends 
 and colaborers at Wittenberg that without Luther they were 
 at sea and completely helpless. This knowledge prevented 
 the spirit of jealousy from creeping into their hearts. 
 History seldom presents the spectacle of so many learned 
 and famous men working together in such perfect harmony 
 as Luther and his colaborers. — It taught the Church and 
 the world at large that Luther was the divinely appointed 
 Reformer of the Church, who was under God's special care 
 and protection. The hour for the liberation of the Church 
 had struck, and all the power of popes and princes was 
 unable to prevent God's designs. 
 
 Nine years later, from April 23 to October 5, 1530, we 
 find Luther at the Coburg, another fortified castle belonging 
 to his sovereign, Elector John of Saxony, who had succeeded 
 
152 Luther's two exiles: wartburg and cobltig. 
 
 his brother Frederick the Wise, deceased, in the electorate 
 of Saxony. This prince favored the work of the Reformation 
 in the sarpe spirit of'faithfuhiess and self-sacrifice as his 
 noble brother. While, however, Luther and Frederick the 
 Wise had never personally met, the intercourse between 
 Elector John and Luther was frequent and intimate. Of 
 all men these pious Electors of Saxony were, under God, the 
 mainstay of Luther and his work. They were the instruments 
 in the hands of God for the protection of his servant Luther 
 and for the promotion of the cause of the pure Gospel. They 
 conceived this to be their share of the great work in which 
 Luther was engaged, and they cheerfully and devoutly lent 
 themselves to it. 
 
 What was the occasion of Luther's sojourn at the Coburg ? 
 Emperor Charles Y had issued a call for a diet to be held 
 at Augsburg, in Bavaria,, in April, 1530. The purpose was 
 to "bring about a reconciliation of the dissenting parties in 
 the Church, to heal the breach, to leave past errors to the 
 Savior, to hear and to consider each one's opinion in charity 
 and good will, to lead all to one Christian truth, and to do 
 away with everything that had been erroneously said and 
 done by both parties." 
 
 The principal matter, then, to be settled by the diet was 
 the status of the Protestants. And Luther being the mouth- 
 piece and founder of the Protestant Church, its greatest 
 exponent and most valiant defender, it was but natural that 
 he should attend the diet and present the cause of the 
 Protestants. But, alas ! Luther was still under the anathema 
 of the pope, and outlawed by the emperor. It was impossible 
 to take him to the diet. His presence there would hnv^ 
 been an affront to the emperor and to all the Catholic 
 princes, not to mention the danger to his life and liberty 
 if he had dared thus to defy the emperor. It was, therefore, 
 the part of wisdom and discretion to keep Luther away from 
 Augsburg, and yet near enough to be able to consult him 
 personally, if necessary. Coburg, a city in the vicinity, with 
 its castle fort, was just such a safe retreat for Luther as 
 was needed. It was near, and it was under the juris- 
 
LUTHER'S TWO EXILES: WARTHFRG AND CORURG. 153 
 
 dictidn of tlie Saxon sovereign. And the castle afforded liini 
 a pleasant residence during the sessions of the diet. 
 
 But what a change in nine years ! What a contrast 
 between Wartburg and Coburg, between Worms and Augs- 
 ))urg! Then he stood alone, with but one single prince as 
 his sponsor and protector. Now the cause that he espoused 
 had gained a foothold in all Germany, and its numerous 
 representatives and defenders were among the mightiest and 
 noblest. "God help me!" had been the cry of Luther at 
 •Worms. And God had heard his fervent prayers, and had 
 helped him beyond all expectations. 
 
 Although Luther could not personally attend the sessions 
 of the diet, he "was the guiding genius of the forces at the 
 diet that stood for purity of doctrine and holiness of life. 
 Like a modern general who sits in perfect security behind 
 the firing-line, deceiving messages by telephone and telegraph, 
 through couriers and aeroplanes, and thus gaining a clear 
 insight into conditions on the field of battle, which enables 
 him to dispose of his troops and batteries in such a w^ay 
 that victory is assured, so Luther from the Coburg marshaled 
 his :^rces and smote the enemy. How helpless were his 
 friends without- him, how w^eak, how faint-hearted and de- 
 jected! The sorriest of them all was Melanchthon, d good 
 man and a learned one, well deserving of the title Magister 
 Germaniae, but vacillating, weak-kneed, wholly incapable of 
 "trying the spirits whether they were of God," always ready 
 and eager to compromise with the enemy, and to sacrifice 
 important truths in order to appease the wrath of tlie 
 opponents. It was true what Luther once wrote him : "What 
 troubles you is your philosophy, not your theology." It was 
 Luther who through his letters from the Coburg strengthened, 
 advised, encouraged, reprimanded, warned, and thus, under 
 God, led his friends to victory. For was not the reading 
 of the Augsburg Confession a splendid victory? 
 
 As an illustration of the sort of letters written by Luther 
 to Melanchthon during this time we append the following: 
 "I have received your Apology [the Augsburg Confession], 
 and wonder why you ask what and how much we shall con- 
 
154 Luther's two exiles: wartbukg and cobubg. 
 
 cede to the papists. Were the question this that the Elector 
 is threatened with danger, I would grant that we might ask 
 how far for his sake we might yield. As far as I am con- 
 cerned, you have conceded more than enough in this Apology, 
 and if they do not accept it, I cannot see where I could con- 
 cede more, unless they adduce clearer arguments and passages 
 of Holy Writ than I have so far seen. This matter occupies 
 me day and night. I think, meditate, search, and run through 
 the w^hole Scriptures, and my confidence in this our doctrine 
 grows apace, and I wax more firm in my determination that, 
 God willing, I shall allow nothing to be taken away from me, 
 no matter how it turns out. — It did not at all please me to 
 see you write that you had followed my leadership in this 
 matter. In this cause I neither desire to be your leader nor 
 even to be called such. I shall not tolerate that word, even 
 though it may be explained more innocently. If this cause 
 is not jointly and completely yours, I shall not permit it to 
 be called mine, and yet have it saddled upon you. If it is 
 my cause alone, I shall manage it myself. 
 
 "In my last letter I hope I have comforted you not to 
 death, but to new life. What else can I do? You worry 
 because you cannot grasp the result and end of the cause 
 with your hands. But if you could understand it, I would 
 have nothing to do with it, much less would I be its leader. 
 God has put it in a place which does not occur in your 
 rhetoric and science, whose name is — Faith. All things 
 that we cannot see nor feel are placed upon this (Heb. 11, 1). 
 Whoever tries, as you do, to make these invisible things 
 visible and tangible will receive trouble and tears as the 
 reward of his labor. Thus it is with you. All our encourage- 
 ment is lost on you. The Lord has said that He would dwell 
 in the thick darkness (1 Kings 8, 11), and hath made dark- 
 ness His secret place (Ps. 18, 12). Whosoever pleases may 
 arrange it differently. Had Moses insisted on understanding 
 how he would escape from the army of Pharaoh, Israel would 
 still be in Egypt. May God increase your faith and ours! 
 If we have Him, what can Satan and the whole world dp 
 to us? If we have no faith ourselves, why should we not 
 
LUTHER'S TWO EXILES: WARTBURG AND COBURG. 155 
 
 at least comfort ourselves with the faith of others? For 
 most assuredly there are such as believe, even if we do not 
 believe, — unless there be no Church on earth and Christ 
 cease to be with us before the end of the world (Matt. 28, 20). 
 For, prithee, if He is not with us, where in the world is He? 
 If we are not the Church, or at least a part of the Church, 
 where, then, is the Church? Or are the dukes of Bavaria, 
 Ferdinand, the pope, the Turk, and their ilk the Church? 
 If we have not the Word of God, who, then, has it ? If God 
 be for us, who can be against us? (Rom. 8, 31.) To be sure, 
 we are sinners and ingrates, but that is no reason why He 
 should be a liar. And even though we err in manifold ways, 
 yet we cannot err in this sacred cause. But you do not listen 
 to this, consequently Satan oppresses you and makes you ill. 
 May Christ heal you ! To this end I pray fervently and 
 unceasingly. Amen." 
 
 Luther knew, of course, that his cause was God's cause, 
 and that God alone could save and promote the work of 
 the Reformation. He therefore turned to God in prayer. 
 Veit Dietrich, his amanuensis, records the fact that Luther 
 prayed three hours daily, setting aside for prayer those hours 
 ■that were the most suitable for study. He heard him pray 
 several times, and was overwhelmed with the power of liis 
 prayers. The results of his prayers were seen in Augsburg. 
 What Luther had asked in the secrecy of his closet God 
 rewarded him openly. 
 
 Prayer was the comfort in his sorrow. While in Coburg, 
 he received the news of his father's death. Immediately he 
 took his Book of Psalms, went into his study, and spent the 
 day in praying and weeping. The next day the traces of 
 his tears were still visible on his face. 
 
 Luther occupied the whole castle of Coburg. All the keys 
 were in his possession. A guard, consisting of thirty men, 
 protected the castle and its inmates. In complete security 
 and in the midst of the most pleasant surroundings he passed 
 his time in prayer, meditation, and literary work. He was 
 especially prolific in letter-writing. He wrote as many as 
 six letters in one day. He humorously called the castle 
 
156 LUTHER'S TWO EXILES: WARTBURG AXD COBURG. 
 
 "Grubok," the reverse of Koburg. Then again he called the 
 Coburg his Mount Sinai, but promised to turn it into Mount 
 Zion, and to build three huts, one for the psalms, one for 
 the prophets, and one for Aesopus. 
 
 Luther was a brilliant letter- writer. We have read with 
 delight his letter to Melanchthon printed above. He also 
 wrote home. His wife sent him a picture of his little 
 daughter Magdalena. It gladdened his heart, though it was 
 very dark. A letter written to his "dear sonny Haenschen" 
 is a literary gem. Another letter, written to Chancellor 
 Brueck, to whose fortitude and optimism the Lutheran 
 Church owed much, holds rank with the best ever written. 
 Here it is : "I have written several times to my most gracious 
 sovereign and to our friends, so that I almost think I have 
 done too much writing, especially to my most gracious 
 sovereign, as though I doubted that God's help and comfort 
 were more and stronger with his Electoral Grace than with 
 me. Plowever, I have done so on account of our friends, 
 some of whom are sorrowful and worried, as though God 
 had forgotten us; while He cannot forget us, except He 
 first forget Himself, — unless our cause is not His cause 
 and our doctrine not His Word. Otherwise, if we are certain 
 and do not doubt that it is His cause and Word, then our 
 prayers are certainly heard, and help is granted and re^dy, 
 so that we may be helped. There can be no doubt about that. 
 For He says : 'Can a woman forget her sucking child, that 
 she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? 
 Yea, they may forget, yet w^ll I not forget thee. • Behold, 
 I have graven thee upon the palms of My hand' (Is. 49, 15). 
 
 "Recently I saw two miracles. The first is this : Looking 
 out of the window, I beheld the stars in the sky and the 
 whole beautiful dome of God, and yet no pillar upon which 
 the Master had set such dome. Still the sky did not fall 
 down, and the dome, too, is firm. Now there are some that 
 seek such pillars, and would like to touch and grasp them. 
 Not being able to do so, they struggle and tremble as though 
 the sky w^ould surely collapse, and that from no other reason 
 than because they do not grasp nor see the pillars. If they 
 could grasp them, the sky would be firm. 
 
LUTIIEK's two EXILES: WARTBURG AND COBURG. 157 
 
 "The other is this : I saw great, thick clouds sail above us 
 with such a load that they might have been compared to 
 a great ocean; yet I saw no bottom upon which they rested 
 nor a vat that held them; still they did not fall upon us, but 
 greeted us with a sour face and flew away. After they had 
 passed, there shone forth both the floor and the roof that 
 held them, the rainbow. That was indeed a weak, thin, little 
 floor and roof, disappearing in the clouds, and more of 
 a shadow shining through stained glass than a powerful 
 bottom, so that one must needs despair on account of the 
 bottom as well as on account of the weight of the water. 
 Yet it was a fact that a shadow apparently so feeble bore 
 the weight, of the water and protected us. Still there are 
 such as consider, estimate, and fear the thickness of the 
 clouds and the heavy weight of the water more than those 
 thin, narrow, and light shadows, because they would like to 
 feel the power of such a shadow; if they cannot do that, 
 they fear the cloud will create a deluge. 
 
 "Thus must I jest with your Honor in a friendly way, 
 and yet I do not write jestingly; for it gave me especial joy 
 when I heard how your Honor above all others maintains 
 good courage and cheerfulness in this our trouble. This work 
 that God has given us in His mercy He will bless through 
 His Holy Spirit, and promote it, and provide ways and 
 means to help us whenever and wherever it pleases Him, 
 and not forget nor neglect us. They have not yet half suc- 
 ceeded, these men of blood, nor are they all at home again, 
 or wherever they would like to be. Our rainbow is weak, 
 their clouds are powerful ; but the final' outcome will be in 
 our favor. Your Honor will please pardon my prattle, and 
 comfort ]\Iagister Philip and all the others. May Christ 
 comfort and sustain our most gracious sovereign !" 
 
 Such words could not fail to inspire Luther's friends with 
 confidence and trust in God for a successful termination 
 of their cause. 
 
 Luther was a great lover of nature. The assem1)ly of 
 crows, jackdaws, and other birds in a grove under his window 
 gave him occasion to write a letter to his boarders at home. 
 
158 Luther's two exiles: wartbukg and cobl'bg. 
 
 in which, in a humorous vein, he describes the diet of the 
 birds. "They do not care for great palaces and halls. Their 
 hall is arched with the beautiful broad sky, their floor is 
 naught but a field wainscoted with nice green branches, and 
 their walls are as wide as the world." He could not find 
 out, he said, what they had resolved to do. As far as he had 
 understood their interpreter, however, they were about to 
 engage in a great warfare against wheat, barley, oats, malt, 
 and all kinds of grain and corn, "and many a one will per- 
 form great deeds and be made a knight." 
 
 Those birds remind him of the sophists and papists with 
 their preaching and writing, who are ever before him with 
 their lovely voices and sermons, and he sees how useful they 
 are in consuming everything on earth and croaking in return 
 by way of pastime. 
 
 Passing on to other literary work performed by him while 
 at Castle Coburg, we mention the exposition of the first 
 25 Psalms, which he dictated to Veit Dietrich, and the trans- 
 lation of the Bible, which had advanced to the prophets. 
 
 One of his most important writings bore the title: "Ex- 
 hortation to the Clergy Assembled at the Diet of Augsburg." 
 This discourse is really his Augsburg Confession. He ad- 
 monishes the bishops to abolish all errors in doctrine, and not 
 to hinder the spreading of the Gospel. The keynote sounded 
 in this powerful address may be heard in the following 
 sentence: "If I live, I shall be your pestilence; if I die, 
 I will be your death." 
 
 Melanchthon had finished a draft of the Augsburg Con- 
 fession, which the Elector sent to Luther for his opinion. 
 He read it carefully, and summed up his verdict in the 
 following words: "I have read Magister Philip's Apology. 
 I like it very much, and have nothing to amend or to change 
 in it. Nor would such a thing be proper, since I cannot 
 tread so lightly and softly. Christ, our Lord, grant that it 
 may produce much good, as we hope and pray. Amen." 
 
 This so-called Apology was subsequently read on June 25th 
 at the Diet of Augsburg before the emperor, the sovereigns 
 of the various states and the churchmen assembled, and since 
 
WITTENBERG IN THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 159 
 
 then is known as the Augsburg Confession, the most precious 
 jewel among the confessions of our dear Lutheran Church. 
 
 Other writings composed at Coburg were: "Circular 
 Letter an Translating and the Intercession of the Saints"; 
 "Sermon on Sending the Children to School"; "A Kecanta- 
 tion of Purgatory" ; "Of the Keys" ; "Admonition Regarding 
 the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord." 
 
 Xor was the household at Coburg Castle forgotten or 
 neglected. Luther preached regularly to them. On Michael- 
 mas his subject was, "The Angels." On October 2, he 
 preached on the raising of the young man at Nain. 
 
 This was his last sermon at Coburg Castle. On October 5, 
 he left for Wittenberg, arriving there about October 16. 
 Was he satisfied? He had every reason to be thankful for 
 what, by the gracious help of God, had been accomplished. 
 The cause of the Reformation had gained prominence, sta- 
 bility, and recognition. Neither Emperor Charles V nor 
 the pope and their henchmen could frustrate it. The time 
 had come when the power of popery began to crumble slowly, 
 but surely, while the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in all its sweet- 
 ness and purity, gained the ascendancy, spreading comfort, 
 faith, hope, knowledge, and freedom everywhere, until to-day 
 it is the ruling power of the world. The reading of the 
 Augsburg Confession paved the way for the Nuremberg Peace 
 Treaty, which was signed on August 2, 1532, two years later, 
 by the emperor, who, among other things, granted free 
 exercise of worship to the Lutherans. 
 
 Wittenberg in the Days of Luther. 
 
 Rev. W. Koepchex, Xew York, N. Y. 
 
 The history of this ancient and famous city, where 
 Dr. Martin Luther spent the greater part of his life, and 
 where Rome's huge engine of fraud and oppression, con- 
 structed by grasping monks and perfidious priests, came 
 to a sudden stop, dates back to the year 1180. Wittenberg 
 was at that time a frontier fortress, erected for the protection 
 
160 WITTENBERG IX THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 
 
 of the German settlers against the depredations of the sur- 
 rounding remnants of the former Slavonic inhabitants. It 
 received its name from the white sand hill upon which 
 it stood. 
 
 When, in 1486, Frederick III of Saxony became a member 
 of the Electoral College, — the body of princes formerly 
 entitled to choose the Emperor, — he made Wittenberg the 
 capital of his northern territory, and began to beautify the 
 town with a number of imposing buildings, including a castle, 
 a church, a monastery, and a university. 
 
 Luther's first visit to this city was in 1508. He came 
 to lecture at the newly founded university, and at the same 
 time to enroll as a student of its theological department. 
 Though his stay was only temporary, he freely expressed 
 his surprise that a university should have been established 
 in such an unpromising place, which was, in his opinion, 
 on the very borders of civilization. The surrounding country 
 was flat, its soil was poor and in strong contrast to the 
 beautiful hills and fertile dales of Eisenach and the golden 
 meadows of Erfurt. 
 
 In the fall of the year 1511, Luther took up his per- 
 manent residence in Wittenberg, and it is from this time 
 that our description of the city dates. 
 
 Wittenberg, in the days of Luther, was a fortified town, 
 surrounded by a wall of earth and brick and a very wide and 
 deep moat. The wall had a thickness of sixty feet, and 
 was pierced by three gates. The Castle Gate was at the 
 western end, the Elster Gate — leading to the suburb 
 Elster — was at the eastern end, and the Elbe Gate was at 
 the southern end of the town. This Elbe Gate was about 
 fifteen minutes' walk from the bridge, which, at this point, 
 spanned the river and connected Wittenberg with the 
 country on the south banks of the Elbe. This bridge, erected 
 by Elector Frederick in 1486, was 1,050 feet long and 33 feet 
 wide. It was partly burned by the Swedes in 1637. Teams 
 and cattle crossing this bridge paid a small toll. For pedes- 
 trians this tax amounted to three pfennigs per year, payable 
 in three instalments. Merchants, clergy, and noblemen, how- 
 
WITTENBERG IN THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 161 
 
 ever, were exempt from these charges. Toll was also col- 
 lected at Wittenberg- from the various boats doing business 
 on the broad and winding river Elbe. Fishing in the river 
 was free to all, but the fish caught had first to be offered for 
 sale to the bailiff of the castle. 
 
 Wittenberg was not a small town as towns were classed 
 at that time. It had within its walls some three thousand 
 inhabitants, ^^fainz at that time numbered no more than 
 six thousand, Dresden but five thousand, and Meissen only 
 two thousand souls. According to the tax list of 1513, 
 Wittenberg had 382 taxable buildings within the city limits. 
 One hundred and seventy-two of these were houses occupied 
 by "brew-heirs" (hrauerhen) , citizens who were permitted 
 to brew beer in their homes; one hundred and eighty-four 
 were small houses (huden), whose occupants (hudellinge) 
 were not allowed the privilege of brewing beer; and twenty- 
 six homes were outside the wall, but within the limits of 
 the city. Besides paying a brew-tax of twenty groschen per 
 year, each brewer had military duties, and was compelled 
 to own a complete outfit of armor and weapons. Of the 
 hudellinge and suburbanites only one out of four was ex- 
 pected to own such an outfit. For its defense the town had 
 in reserve one hundred sets of armor, cannons, guns, wagons 
 with implements of war, provisions, and tents. 
 
 The citizens were mostly farmers, artisans, and trades- 
 men, and their homes were small buildings of wood and clay, 
 thatched with straw. The streets were narrow and un- 
 improved, and the many cows, pigs, geese, and chickens kept 
 by the inhabitants only helped to make matters worse. The 
 streets had names, e. g., Kollegien-, Schlosz-, Buergermeister-, 
 Juristenstrasse, but the houses were not numbered. ISTo 
 streets were lighted; people who were out after sundown 
 carried lanterns. Two brooks. The Lazy and The Quick, and 
 a number of public and private wells supplied the town with 
 the necessary water. These wells and brooks wore uncovered, 
 and were, without doulu, instrumental in sproadinu' the 
 periodical visitations of the plague. For mutual protection 
 against fire every citizen was compelled to provide himself 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 1 1 
 
162 WITTENBERG IN THE DAYS OF LUTHEE. 
 
 with a pail, made of leather, an ax, and a ladder, and to 
 keep a barrel filled with water next to his house. Augsburg- 
 was the first German city to use a fire-engine. That was in 
 1518. Wittenberg saw no such fire-fighting apparatus during 
 Luther's time, probably because there was only one fire worth 
 mentioning during all those long years. There were no 
 floods from the overflowing Elbe during Luther's time, such 
 as occurred in 1432, and again in 1594, and in 1598, when 
 the water was driven from four to six feet against the 
 Elster Gate. 
 
 The city of Wittenberg enjoyed many privileges. It had 
 its own court, coined its own money, collected the fees for 
 the stands of the public markets held three times each year, 
 and was nearly entirely independent from the jurisdiction 
 of the castle bailiff. It owned several villages and their 
 incomes, and had the exclusive control of the wine-trade 
 within the city walls. 
 
 The pride of Wittenberg, however, and a source of great 
 revenue for its citizens, was its university, the Collegium 
 Fridericianum, opened October 18, 1502, with 416 enrolled 
 students. This school of learning, which, under the guidance 
 of the Lord, became the spiritual heart of Germany, owed 
 its inception to Emperor Maximilian I. At the Diet of 
 Worms in 1495, he suggested to the princes that they found 
 universities within their provinces to provide higher edu- 
 cation for their subjects. This suggestion met with the 
 enthusiastic approval of the cultured and liberal elector, 
 Frederick of Saxony. Among the reasons given why Witten- 
 berg was selected as the site for the proposed high school 
 was the hint of the emperor that the people of Wittenberg 
 and vicinity were in sore need of an education such as would 
 be supplied by the proposed high school. And this was 
 indeed the case. There was an appalling ignorance among 
 the citizens of this border-town. Very few could write 
 their names, and they would sign necessary documents by 
 making their sign manual. One solitary school, rather small 
 in size and primitive in its equipment, supplied the required 
 instruction for the boys. Its teacher, George Mohr, was of 
 
WITTENBERG IX THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 163 
 
 a very erratic temperament. When the radical and impetuous 
 Carlstadt had his first brainstorm, in 1522, and began to de- 
 nounce education, ]Mohr closed his school, and advised the 
 people not to send their children. The building, located on the 
 south side of the cemetery at the parish church (Stadtkirche), 
 was thereui)()ii u-^ed as a bakery. It was reopened in 1523 
 with a new teacher, but another twenty years passed before 
 the city erected a larger and more up-to-date building. The 
 girls received instruction at the parsonage by one of the 
 l)ari8h ])ricsts. 
 
 Although the university owed its charter to the emperor, 
 and not to the pope, it was a truly denominational college 
 of the sixteenth century. Its professors were obliged to take 
 the common oath, that they would teach nothing contrary 
 to the established doctrines of the Church, and Frederick 
 had, therefore, no difficulty in obtaining from the Cardinal- 
 Legate to Germany, Raymundus, consent and blessing for 
 his institution. The careful elector, however, applied directly 
 to the pope, and received, on June 20, 1507, from Julius II 
 a special bull, sanctioning Raymundus's act, and granting 
 to the University of Wittenberg all the privileges and ad- 
 vantages enjoyed by the most ancient schools of Europe. 
 This gaining of the pope's confirmation of the charter of 
 Wittenberg University was a very wise and shrewd after- 
 thought of the cautious elector, for as late as 1533 it hap- 
 pened that in Vienna they refused recognition to a Witten- 
 berg Doctor because that university had been founded without 
 the pope's authority. 
 
 As long* as the university was in a formative state, from 
 1502 — 1507, and its revenues too limited for the support of 
 a better-equipped cori)s of instructors, the chapter-house of 
 the Castle Church and the Augustinian cloister at the Elster 
 Gate supplied most of the teachers. The department of 
 Theology had four professorships. Three of these were filled 
 by members of the above-named chapter-house and the fourth 
 by John von Staupitz from the cloister. Staupitz was a man 
 of high scholarly attainments, and since 1503 vicar-general 
 of the Augustinian order in Saxony. As one of Frederick's 
 
164 WITTENBERG IX THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 
 
 chief advisers in the founding of the university and as dean 
 of the theological faculty he not only called eminent scholars 
 to important chairs, but provided for the training of future 
 professors by appointing the most promising young scholars 
 among the Augustinians under his jurisdiction as instructors. 
 In Xovember, 1508, seven such monks were sent by him to 
 Wittenberg, where, although engaged in university' work, 
 they were to reside at the Augustinian monastery, and devote 
 a large portion of their time to studJ^ 
 
 In the department of Law, which comprised five pro- 
 fessorships, we find besides the noted Italian jurist, Peter 
 of Ravenna, four teachers from the chapter-house. Among 
 these was the punctilious and cautious ecclesiastical lawyer, 
 Jerome Schurf, who was Luther's adviser at the Diet of 
 Worms, and since 1509 Henning Goeden, the monarch among 
 the jurists of his time. 
 
 The department of Medicine had three professorships. 
 Its first dean was the elector's physician, Martin PoUich, 
 who had performed an important part in founding this 
 university. The elector made him the first rector of the 
 institution. 
 
 The department of Philosophy was comprised of the fol- 
 lowing ten professorships : Oratory, Poetry, Greek, Hebrew 
 and other Oriental languages, Logic and Metaphysics, 
 Physics, lower and higher Mathematics, Practical Philosophy 
 and History. Among this faculty we find the most stimu- 
 lating of Luther's Erfurt professors, the scholastic philoso- 
 pher Jodocus Trutvetter, and the remaining five of the 
 twelve prelates of the chapter-house. 
 
 The different departments had their patron saints, whose 
 days were celebrated with masses in the Castle Church. In 
 honor of the Virgin Mary, the true patroness of the studies, 
 Saturday was free from the duty of attending lectures. 
 Wittenberg University was the first European institution 
 to teach the three ancient languages: Hebrew, Greek, and 
 Latin, The first professor of Greek was Melanchthon, who 
 arrived in Wittenberg in 1518. A professor of Hebrew was 
 secured from Louvain in 1519, but proved unsatisfactory. 
 
WITTENBERG IX THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 1G5 
 
 and liis place was then taken by Aurogallus, who became 
 a most valuable help to Luther in the translation of the Old 
 Testament. 
 
 The buildings necessary to carry on the university work 
 were erected by the elector. They contained lecture-halls 
 and lodging-rooms for the students. The basement of tlie 
 large building on College Street (Kollegienstrasse) was given 
 up for sports and purposes of recreation, such as playing 
 billiards, chess, etc. The price asked for board and lodging 
 was very reasonable, and students were assured that they 
 could get along with eight gulden per year. One gulden at 
 that time was equal to 21 groschen; 1 groschen equaled 
 9 pfennige; 1 pfennig equaled 2 heller. As the number of 
 students increased, many found lodging with the families 
 of the professors and other citizens. 
 
 From the year 1502 until 1507, the total expense of the 
 university was paid by the elector. But the project proved 
 too expensive for the resources of this most liberal prince. 
 After its return from Herzberg, whither it had removed 
 during the plague in 1506, Frederick placed the Castle Church 
 and all its revenues at the disposal of his university, thereby 
 assuring it a regular income of money, meat, hay, grain, 
 poultry, and eggs. 
 
 May 1, 1507, the cultured and refined jurist, Christopher 
 Scheurl, was elected rector of the university. His ener- 
 getic administration contributed much toward increasing 
 the number of students, which had dwindled from 416 in 
 1502 to 112 in 1507. He was a strict disciplinarian, and 
 insisted on faithful study. The number of instructors and 
 lecturers in 1507 rose to thirty-eight. 
 
 The elector ruled the university by a Board of Super- 
 visors (Quatuor Studii Generalis Reformatores), consisting 
 of four members of the faculties. They were responsible 
 to the elector. The deans of the different faculties were 
 responsible to this board for the promptness and efficiency 
 of the teachers in their departments. 
 
 The citizens of Wittenberg took great pride in this 
 institution of learning, so unexpectedly placed into their 
 
\QQ WITTEXBEEG IX THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 
 
 town, and showed their loyalty by sending to the opening 
 term, October 18, 1502, more than forty students from their 
 town, the monks not included. No doubt, they made a con- 
 certed effort and sent some who vrere not prepared to enter 
 such a school of advanced learning; but they sent them and 
 helped swell the list of immatriculations. Even in 1507, 
 when Scheurl was rector, the university had upon its list 
 five Wittenberg boys under fourteen years of age. The first 
 rector, Martin Pollich, owner of the "Apdtheke," i. e., the 
 drug and general merchandise store of the town, was a citizen 
 of Wittenberg. He was succeeded by tvro other citizens: 
 Bartholomew^ Kranapoll, who was rector during the second 
 semester, and his brother John, who held this office during 
 the third semester. The rector of the university was elected 
 every six months,, on the first of May and on the eighteenth 
 of October. A number of Wittenberg professors married 
 the daughters of Wittenberg families, e. g., Melanchthon, 
 Augustine Schurif, and Sebald Muensterer, the latter of 
 whom married a sister of Jerome Ivrappe, a tailor, and 
 from 1524 to 1526 burgomaster of the town. 
 
 With but one exception, in July, 1520, there were no 
 misunderstandings between citizens and students during 
 Luther's time. Boys will be boys, even if they understand 
 Greek to a certain depth and Hebrew to a certain speed. 
 Individual citizens were at times annoyed by petty tricks 
 and boisterous behavior of some of the students, but in 
 general there existed an all-around good feeling. The small 
 town offered too little diversion for the boys to disport them- 
 selves as at other institutions in larger cities, and the uni- 
 versity insisted upon good behavior and earnest work. 
 Hazing was, nevertheless, carried on, and the students, 
 according to a custom of that time, carried weapons. This 
 proved fatal in 1512, when Eector Erbar was assassinated by 
 a drunken student, Balthasar. This unfortunate young man 
 was captured, and publicly executed on the market-place 
 in Wittenberg. 
 
 Luther's residence in Wittenberg was the Augustinian 
 cloister, near the Elster Gate. The Augustinians are said 
 
WITTEXr.ERG IX THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 167 
 
 to have had a convent in Wittenberg since 1365. Their 
 buildings, however, had become so time-worn that Frederick, 
 who expected to obtain many of his professors from the 
 inmates of this cloister, resolved to renew them, and be:^an 
 with rebuilding th(^ dormitory, which was finished by 1504. 
 This "Black Cloister," as it was called by the inhabitants 
 of Wittenberg, was a handsome three-story and attic brick 
 building, with ample room to accommodate as many as forty 
 monks at one time. It was on the main thoroughfare, named 
 College Street, from which it was separated by a lawn, the 
 former cemetery of the monks. This lawn was enclosed by 
 a brick wall, and contained a number of trees, among these 
 the famous ])ear-tree, under which Luther pleaded with 
 Staupitz to be excused from the promotion to the degree of 
 Doctor of Theology and its responsibilities. The chapel of 
 the monastery was torn down in 1542, and its material used 
 for the strengthening of the city walls. 
 
 When the former monks had all renounced monasticism 
 and left, the elector made Luther a present of the building, 
 including the court in front and the gardens in the rear. 
 This gift was legally confirmed by Frederick's brother and 
 successor, John, in 1526. Luther undertook extensive altera- 
 tions to adapt the building to his convenience, including the 
 equipment of a bathroom with tubs. Wittenberg, in Luther's 
 time, had many public and private baths, for the people 
 preferred warm to cold baths. Swimming in the near-b.y 
 Elbe was discouraged and forbidden. 
 
 Luther's house was the center of very active social life, 
 and at times very unrestful. Colleagues and neighbors were 
 frequently with him. Out-of-town guests were numerous, 
 and his hospitality to all comers was generous and abundant. 
 Luther's household expenses were very great. Llis almost 
 reckless hospitality would have bankrupted him, had it not 
 been for the enormous energy and ceaseless activity of his 
 wife. She was an early riser, and, like other women of her 
 time, cultivated her fields, raised vegetables, kept cattle, 
 swine, and fowl, brewed beer, and had her own fish-pond. 
 For these things Luther had neither time, aptitude, nor 
 inclination. 
 
168 WITTENBERG IN THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 
 
 When the Black Cloister was erected, the old hospital, 
 which formerly occupied this site, was torn down. In 1516, 
 the city erected a new hospital, just outside the Elster Gate. 
 It was near this hospital that Luther, on December 10, 1520, 
 broke permanently with the Eoman Church, and gave dra- 
 matic expression to his renunciation of the pope's authority 
 by publicly burning the Canon Law, and the bull of excom- 
 munication issued against him. 
 
 Outside the Elster Gate was the cemetery, more than two 
 hundred years old at the time when Luther's daughter Eliza- 
 beth was there put to rest. 
 
 Besides the Augustinians, the Franciscans had a monas- 
 tery and a chapel in AVittenberg. Though very old and rather 
 dilapidated, it served such professors at the university as 
 belonged to this order as a home. When the monks had all 
 left, Luther asked the Elector John, in 1527, to use the 
 buildings as a hospice for the poor and suffering. In 1544, 
 the elector turned the convent church into a granary, but 
 the cloister remained a home for the poor. This convent 
 stood in the Juristenstrasse. It was destroyed by fire during 
 the Seven Years' War, and was never rebuilt. 
 
 Luther's colleague Melanchthon also owned his own house 
 on College Street, which is preserved in its original form. 
 It was assessed at one hundred gulden. His taxes amounted 
 to seven groschen and six pfennige. Luther's tailor, Kunz 
 Xrug, paid the same amount of taxes. Melanchthon and 
 Luther received an unusually large salary for university 
 professors of the day, but their unbounded and often abused 
 hospitality kept them in pinching circumstances the greater 
 part of their lives. Their families were on most intimate 
 terms, and Melanchthon not only immensely enhanced the 
 fame of the university, but also proved himself a most effi- 
 cient aid to Luther and his great work. Melanchthon did 
 more than any other man to reform the educational system 
 of the country. 
 
 By urgent request of the town council of Wittenberg, 
 Luther became an assistant in the parish church in 1514. 
 Nicolaus Eabri de Grueneberg was parish priest from 1508 
 
WITTENBERG IN THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 169 
 
 to 1515. He was followed by Simon Heinsius, who remained 
 until 1523, and then came John Bugenhagen, whose services 
 became most valuable in the sphere of church organization. 
 
 This parish or city church stood in the middle of the 
 town, and is still a conspicuous landmark. It was dedicated 
 to the Virgin Mary, and its oldest portions date back to 
 the year 1300. The edifice, surmounted by double towers, 
 is large and massive, but without any architectural pre- 
 tensions. It was incorporated with the Castle Church in 
 1507. The interior is commodious and well adapted to 
 Lutheran worship, which was instituted there in 1522. Its 
 large bell weighs more than five tons and was cast in 1499. 
 ISTear the altar is the memorial tablet of Rector Erbar, who 
 was murdered by a student. 
 
 As preacher of St. Mary's Church Luther soon became 
 the most powerful influence for righteousness in the city. 
 He knew something of the shams and falsities that pre- 
 vailed, and fearlessly assailed them in his lectures and 
 sermons. The moral condition of the city also left much to 
 be desired. The citizens had not yet adjusted themselves 
 to the new situation arising from the presence of hundreds 
 of young and often unruly men in the formerly so quiet 
 little place, and found themselves helpless before the growing 
 demoralization. Luther soon became familiar with existing 
 conditions, and called upon the university and city authori- 
 ties to take the matter actively in hand. He preached 
 against astrology, witchcraft, saint-worship, religious pil- 
 grimages, omens, signs, and charms, the ])ou]ar beliefs of 
 his time and town, and thereby brought about a great im- 
 provement. What at first was only a temporary expedient 
 became a fixed arrangement, when, in 1515, he received from 
 the town council a regular call to supply appointments in 
 the church to all who were otherwise unprovided for. His 
 sermons were preached in the German language. For this 
 parish work he received no compensation, but the city council 
 often sent presents of food and clothing to the busy pro- 
 fessor's home. 
 
 Next to St. Mary's Church stood the parsonage. The 
 
170 WITTE^'BERG IX THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 
 
 building, however, was so poor that Bugenhagen, who became 
 pastor of the Stadtkirche in 1523, bought a house of his 
 own in the Neustrasse, and probably lived there the greater 
 part of his life. The parsonage was repaired in 1605, and 
 renewed in 1731, and is now called Bugenhagen-House after 
 this first Lutheran pastor of the city church. 
 
 Christian Doerink, the goldsmith of the town and father- 
 in-law of Luther's colleague, the noted jurist Schneidewein, 
 was treasurer of the parish church, and paid Bugenhagen's 
 salary semiannually. The salary was two hundred gulden 
 per year in money, presents from the city council, and 
 refreshments from the Ratskeller under the City Hall. It 
 was this Christian Doerink who supplied the new wagon and 
 the three horses that brought Luther to Worms and back to 
 Eisenach, receiving payment for wagon and horses for seven 
 wrecks from the city treasurer at Wittenberg. At the shop 
 of this goldsmith Luther, Melanchthon, and other professors 
 pawned their silver and gold cups when in urgent need of 
 ready money. 
 
 Adjoining the city church was the parish cemetery, and 
 in it the chapel of Corpus Christi, founded about 1377 and 
 richly endowed. 
 
 A short distance from the city church is the Market 
 Square with its many booths, public scale, and the City Hall. 
 This City LEall had also become so time-worn that it was 
 replaced during Luther's time by a new one. The new build- 
 ing was begun in 1523 and completed in 1540. The city 
 council consisted of three distinct groups of councilors, each 
 group changing about every three years. Thus there were 
 three burgomasters (Magistri Civhim; Magistri Consulum), 
 three judges (Judices Civitatis), and three divisions of 
 councilmen of six in each group. Among the many j^rivi- 
 leges enjoyed by these councilmen was their annual feast 
 at the expense of the city, and the permission to have 
 a larger number of guests at a wedding. A burgomaster was 
 permitted to invite seven tables of guests, councilmen were 
 allowed six tables, whilst the connnon people had to cele- 
 
WITTENBERG IN THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 171 
 
 brate with less than five tables of guests, and were not per- 
 mitted to serve more than three meals at any one occasion. 
 
 Wittenberg had several very important guilds: associa- 
 tions of bakers, butchers, tailors, shoemakers, and tanners. 
 They took a very important and active part in the political, 
 religious, and social life of the city. Each guild had its own 
 saint and an altar in the parish church, upon which candles 
 were lighted, and where prayers were read for the souls of 
 their departed members. They had their own plots in the 
 cemeteries and their own priests. Every member was com- 
 pelled to attend the funeral services of their departed asso- 
 ciates, either in person or represented by their wives. Failure 
 to be present or represented meant a fine of six pfennigs. 
 The dues in these guilds amounted to the income of three 
 days per year per member. These guilds proved a great 
 obstacle to the Reformation. 
 
 Before leaving the ]\rarket Square, it might be stated 
 that all executions took place in this busiest center of the 
 city; that the prison was a i)lace to keep out of, not a place 
 to live in; and that the law in vogue was "Der Sachsen- 
 spiegel," which was publicly read once a year. 
 
 The largest and best-furnished private dwelling in Wit- 
 tenberg at Luther's time was the Cranach House, commonly 
 called the "Apotheke." Lucas, the painter, came to Witten- 
 berg to fill the position of court-painter. From his brush 
 we have many portraits of some of the leading notables of 
 the day, among these Luther and his parents. He had many 
 assistants, for the princes often needed a large number of 
 small paintings of themselves to distribute among friends. 
 Besides being an artist, he was also a prosi)erous business 
 man. In 1520, he bought from Pollich's (1513) successor. 
 Dr. ^fartinus Josagk, the "Apotheke," the only drug store 
 in Wittenberg for more than three hundred years. With 
 this "Apotheke" went the privilege to sell spices, merchandise, 
 and also sweet wine, if such could not be obtained at the 
 Ratskeller under the City ITall. Cranach, as he was com- 
 monly called, was also part-owner in a printing establishment, 
 and became the richest citizen in Wittenberg, paying taxes 
 
172 WITTENBERG IX THE DAYS OF LUTHER. 
 
 upon property valued at more than four thousand gulden. 
 Slowly, but surely, he became Luther's friend and ardent 
 disciple. With him and his family Luther enjoyed the closest 
 friendship as long as he lived, and the stately home of the 
 prosperous artist was one of his favorite resorts. 
 
 Adjoining the Cranach House was an old inn, the "Black 
 Eear," where Luther dined when he was recalled by the 
 city council from the Wartburg. Luther, owning no money 
 at that time, had the fare charged. The bill, amounting to 
 forty-two groschen, was paid by the city council in 1525. 
 
 Besides Cranach, Wittenberg had other printers. To 
 reach the public ear, Luther made effective use of brief 
 pamphlets, becoming, in a short time, the most active and 
 influential pamphleteer in Germany. Desiring to have his 
 books and pamphlets sold as cheaply as possible, Luther 
 refused to take money for his manuscripts, though more 
 than one publisher made a fortune out of them. Among the 
 various printers in Wittenberg we may mention Johann 
 Grueneberg, a neighbor of the Reformer, who printed his 
 ^'Romans" in 1515 ; Melchior Lother, who came from Basel 
 and brought Greek letters; and Hans Lufft, several times 
 burgomaster. He printed the first complete German Bible 
 in 1534. 
 
 Another center of the religious life of Wittenberg was 
 the Castle Church. This building, which made Wittenberg 
 world-renowned, was erected in 1449, and became a point 
 from which the neighboring village churches were supplied 
 with priests, a work that had necessitated the founding of 
 a chapter-house for the accommodation of the clergy. This 
 church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and All Saints, 
 and was a favorite place of pilgrimage. Large indulgence 
 was to be gained from the sight of its holj^ treasures and 
 from contributions to its support. It had nineteen altars. 
 Its door served as the "blackboard" for the university an- 
 nouncements. Henning Goeden was priest at this church. 
 He was succeeded in 1521 by Justus Jonas, who remained 
 until 1541, and was then followed by Caspar Cruciger. 
 Adjoining the church was the castle, erected by Frederick 
 
LUTHER AND HIS FRIENDS. 173 
 
 during the years 1493 to 1499. It was a beautiful building, 
 constructed from the material taken from the old fortress 
 and the ruined castle of Zahna. Fretlerick was a wise, 
 judicious, and capable ruler and a pious and God-feflring 
 prince. He thought very highly of Luther, and showed him 
 many marks of favor, but, near as was his palace to the 
 monastery, he never met Luther. At first there was no reason 
 for summoning the meek monk to the castle, and after Luther 
 had gained world-wide prominence, the elector's native pru- 
 dence kept him from identifying himself too intimately with 
 the Keformer's affairs. The discreet and peace-loving Elector 
 Frederick usually resided in Altenburg, Torgau, or at Castle 
 Lochau. 
 
 At the castle in Wittenberg the famous meeting of Luther 
 and the papal legate Cardinal Vergerius took place. Ver- 
 gerius had come to "that sink of heresy" in November, 1535, 
 and invited the banned and outlawed Luther to breakfast 
 with him. 
 
 The light which came from Wittenberg diffused itself 
 through the whole world. Luther's work in this insignificant 
 town was the commencement of a new era in the history of 
 the human mind, and its beneficial influence has been felt 
 in every branch of learning, in every department of science, 
 and in every institution of civil society. 
 
 Luther and His Friends. 
 
 Prof. W. :\Iol,l. Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Tnd. 
 
 Every great world-movement centers about one person 
 who, as it were, gathers in himself the aspirations, hopes, 
 and yearnings of his time, and, heroically struggling for- 
 ward, brings about the realization of these hopes and as])ira- 
 tions. While he is, in a sense, a part of the great tiflal 
 wave which bears him and his age along, he rises above the 
 flood, guides it, directs it, and endows the whole movement 
 with the stamp of his individuality. Other men are drawn 
 toward him, are carried away by his spirit, and become part 
 
174 LUTHER AXD HIS FRIEXDS, 
 
 of the movement. They, in turn, become active agents 
 moving others; but they are not original, independent 
 forces; they have their power only in virtue of their associa- 
 tion with the master mind. "They," to use a figure of 
 Taine's, "constitute the chorus, the master mind is the 
 leading man. They sing the same piece together, and at 
 times the chorist is equal to the solo artist, but only at times.'' 
 
 Thus in the great revolutionary movement that made 
 an end of the Middle Ages and its whole cultural system, 
 the great master mind, the genius, the originator, is Luther; 
 his friends and coworkers were merely followers, satellites, 
 in a spiritual sense, the children of his loins. 
 
 'Tis true, many, perhaps most of his ideas had been 
 expressed by others before him. Many a pious soul had seen 
 the abuses in the medieval Church. Great men had risen 
 against the tyranny of Rome, and had accomplished great 
 things. But they all had remained within the bounds of 
 the cultural and religious system of the Middle Ages and 
 its characteristic mode of thought. Luther, however, at 
 the decisive points broke through the iron ring of tradition 
 and prejudice which had bounded the mental horizon of 
 men in the Middle Ages, and he thereby ushered in the 
 Modern Era. 
 
 Xow, Luther did not do this unaided. He attracted 
 a great number of highly gifted men to his cause, who 
 rendered valiant service and invaluable aid. But these men 
 were not originators, were not geniuses, were not master 
 minds, but mere day-laborers in the great cause. They did 
 Luther's work, under Luther's guidance. Filled with Luther's 
 spirit, they carried out Luther's ideas. And whatever has 
 had lasting value in their work was done in Luther's spirit; 
 whatever was not done in Luther's spirit proved, in the end, 
 to be without value, aye, detrimental to the cause. 
 
 Such men were Philip Schwarzerd, John Brenz, John 
 Bugenhagen, Justus Jonas, and George Burkhardt, or Spa- 
 latinus. 
 
 By far the foremost and greatest among these is Philip 
 Schwarzerd, whose German name was Grecized Melanchthon. 
 
LUTHER AND HIS FRIENDS. 175 
 
 He was born in the snuiU Swabian town of Bretten. His 
 father was a man of wealth, and his mother was a niece of 
 the famous Humanist lleuchlin, who took a liking to the 
 ambitious lad, and supervised his education. Young Philip, 
 therefore, received an excellent education. His first teacher 
 was a private tutor, reconmiended by lleuchlin. After a few 
 years of training under this most able, though, according 
 to modern educational ideas, almost brutally severe master, 
 lie attended the Latin school at Pforzheim, where he was 
 taught the most advanced humanistic learning of his time. 
 At the early age of fifteen he received the degree of Artium 
 Baccalaureus at the University of Heidelberg. Coming up 
 for the master's degree, however, in the following year, his 
 application was denied "because of his youth and boyish 
 appearance." He thereupon left Heidelberg and matricu- 
 lated at Tuebingen, where, on the twenty-fifth day of 
 Januarj% 1514, he received the degree of Master of Arts. 
 During the next few years his fame as a classical scholar 
 spread throughout Germany, and in 1518, on the recom- 
 mendation of Reuchlin, he was called as professor of Greek 
 to the newly founded University of Wittenberg. 
 
 From that day to the end of his life he was closely 
 associated with the great work of the Reformation of the 
 Church, which Luther had begun on that memorable thirty- 
 first of October of the previous year. 
 
 Luther at once formed a correct estimate of Melanch- 
 thon's ability. He wrote to Spalatin (De Wette, Luthers 
 Brief e, 1, 134. 135) : "As regards our Philip Melanchthon, 
 everything shall be done as you suggest. On the fourth day 
 after his arrival he delivered a most learned and chaste 
 oration to the delight and admiration of all. It is now not 
 necessary for you to commend him. We quickly retracted 
 the opinion we had formed of him when we first saw him. 
 Now we laud and admire the reality in him, and thank the 
 most illustrious Prince and your kindness. Be at pains to 
 commend him most heartily to the Prince. I desire no other 
 Greek teacher so long as we have him." 
 
 And Luther was not disappointed in Melanchthon. Philip 
 
176 LUTHER AXD HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 was all that Lutlier expected of him, and more. Luther him- 
 self had f omid the Truth by studying the Bible in the original 
 tongues, and he had lectured on several books of the Old 
 as well as of the New Testament ; but he was not professedly 
 a technical Greek scholar, though his knowledge of Greek 
 was by no means small. In Melanchthon, however, the 
 university now had a Grecian of the Grecians. And all of 
 his knowledge of Greek Melanchthon employed in the service 
 of theology. By applying his knowledge of Greek to the 
 sacred text and interpreting it to the theological students, 
 he carried out Luther's idea that all sound knowledge of 
 Scripture and of all sound theology must be based upon 
 a thorough study of the sacred text in the original tongue. 
 He thereby soon made himself indispensable to Luther, who 
 valued him highly both as a friend and as a scholar of 
 great ability and learning. Luther said of him: "Philip 
 has only the humble title of Master, but he excels all the 
 Doctors. There is no one living adorned with such gifts. 
 He must be held in honor. Whoever despises this man, him 
 God will despise." (Corpus Re f 07- mat or um 10, 302.) And 
 in his Preface to Melanchthon's Commentary on the Epistle 
 to the Colossians he wrote: "I am rough, boisterous, stormy, 
 and altogether warlike. I am born to fight innumerable 
 monsters and devils. I must remove stumps and stones, cut 
 away thistles and thorns, and clear the wild forests; but 
 Master Philip comes along softly and gently, sowing and 
 watering with joy, according to the gift which God has 
 abundantly bestowed upon him." 
 
 In these words and in many others Luther expressed his 
 high opinion of Melanchthon's scholarship and his just 
 appreciation of Melanchthon's peculiar gifts and abilities. 
 He realized that the shy, timid, retiring scholar was, to 
 a certain extent, a necessary complement to himself and his 
 robust, aggressive nature. 
 
 Melanchthon, in turn, held Luther, who had shown him 
 the way of truth and life, in reverence as a spiritual father, 
 lie, at the beginning at least, realized that Luther was the 
 head, he but a hand; that Luther was the leader, he but 
 
LUTHER AND HIS FRIENDS, 177 
 
 a humble follower; that lAither was the teacher, he but 
 a pupil. In this spirit he labored together with Luther, 
 and through his labors furthered Luther's great work more 
 than all other followers of Luther put togetlier. Ever since 
 the Leipzig Disputation of 1519, which might be called 
 a turning-point of his life, he actively participated in the 
 work of the Reformation. At Leipzig his faith in the 
 authority of the existing Church was completely shaken, 
 and his studies tlienceforth took a more decidedly theological 
 direction. 
 
 And the service he rendered the cause was great indeed. 
 Being violently attacked by Eck for having ventured to 
 express an opinion on the disputants, he replied in an open 
 letter, in which he defended the positions of Carlstadt and 
 Luther, particularly the opinions expressed by Luther for 
 the first time in the course of the Leipzig Disputation; to 
 wit, his opinions concerning the primacy of the Roman see, 
 and the view that the Fathers of the Church had erred, and 
 must not be employed in judging Scripture. This letter 
 showed Melanchthon to be fully conversant with the questions 
 at issue, and to be a master of keen, trenchant logic. And 
 ever since then his pen never rested in the cause of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 lie wrote the first systematic presentation of Lutheran 
 doctrine in his Loci Cotnmunes; he was the author of the 
 Augsburg Confession and of the Apology thereof; he took 
 part in all tlie great colloquies of the day, both with the 
 Zwinglians and with the papists, and at Worms and Regens- 
 burg he conducted the disputations with the Romanists 
 almost single-handed. 
 
 He has received most praise, however, for the way in 
 which he carried out Luther's ideas on popular and higher 
 education as laid down in his famous Appeal to the Aldermen 
 of All the German Cities in Behalf of Christian Schools. 
 He did this with such wisdom and good judgment that he 
 has justly been called the Teacher of Germany (Praeceptor 
 Germaniae). The development and iutolligont application 
 of Luther's principles gave to Protestant Germany the intel- 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 12 
 
178 LUTHER AXD HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 lectual and spiritual preeminence which has been hers for 
 the last four hundred years, and to which has been added, 
 within the last century, preeminence in every other field of 
 human endeavor — political, economic, military, and moral. 
 
 The new thing in Melanchthon's scheme of higher edu- 
 cation w^as the utilization of humanistic learning for the 
 purposes of Lutheran thought and education. Classical 
 learning was fused with Lutheranism, so to speak, and 
 gave to the gymnasia and universities of Germany their 
 distinctive character. And the courses of study prescribed 
 by Melanchthon for the higher schools remained unaltered 
 in the main until the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
 when the progress of learning and the changed conditions 
 of modern life made changes in the curricula imperative. 
 
 It has become customary of late in certain quarters to 
 exalt Melanchthon at the expense of Luther. Said a recent 
 biographer of Melanchthon: "Without Melanchthon the 
 nailing of the Ninety-five Theses had ended in a monkish 
 squabble, to be followed, perhaps, by a new school of theology 
 in the old Church." Such a view of the relative importance 
 of the work and genius of the two men seems to us utterly 
 at variance with a correct appreciation of the facts in the 
 case, as well as with the judgment of Melanchthon himself 
 as shown by his conduct. Melanchthon's was a highly gifted 
 nature, endowed with a good memory, the power of clear, 
 systematic presentation and great dialectic skill, to which 
 was added great humanistic learning; but Melanchthon was 
 not a mind possessed of sufiicient robustness to work his way 
 through the inherited traditional view of the Middle Ages, 
 nor would his soul have been courageous enough to maintain 
 the truth against the power of the Roman curia. Luther, 
 however, was a man of a different mold. His was the 
 colossal intellect that had won inward freedom from the 
 system that held the mightiest intellects of the Middle Ages 
 in hopeless thraldom, and his, also, was the undaunted 
 courage that said at Worms : "Here I stand. I cannot do 
 otherwise. God help me! Amen." Nay, if need be, such 
 a mind could well dispense with a mind like Melanchthon's. 
 
LUTHER AXD HIS FRIENDS. 179 
 
 There are two points in which Luther's inferiority to 
 Melanchthon and his dejDendence upon him are especially 
 stressed — philology and systematic presentation of doctrine. 
 Let us look at these contentions somewhat more narrowly. 
 
 Luther possessed genuine i)hilological ability of the highest 
 order in the modern sense of the term. He was a genius, 
 a master of the craft, as is shown by his sureness of critical 
 judgment in declaring, "for linguistic and internal reasons, 
 as spurious five treatises which had been handed down under 
 the name of Augustine. Later investigation has completely 
 confirmed his judgment. Equally apt and surprising are 
 his famous remarks about the style, provenance, and historical 
 value of the Biblical books. Though he, in this respect, 
 followed, in the main, the verdict of the great scholars of 
 the ancient Church, Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome, he 
 added a mass of striking observations and acute suppositions 
 of his own. What is most important, he at once, without 
 lengthy parley, draws from the critical results the correct 
 conclusions." (Boehmer.) With this compare Melanchthon's 
 philological ability. Pie was a highly gifted man, trained 
 to his business, with a mind stored with varied and extensive 
 learning of marvelous accuracy, but not a master of the craft. 
 
 Again, much has been made of Melanchthon's systema- 
 tizing. Says the biographer quoted above: "Melanchthon 
 laid the foundation of the dogmatic system of Protestant 
 theology, and wrote the first confession of the Protestant 
 Church. Their [i. e., Luther's and Melanchthon's] combined 
 labors brought into existence the Evangelical Lutheran 
 Church." The statement is perfectly correct. Only we 
 should like to see more stress laid on Luther and le^s on 
 Melanchthon. 'Tis true, saj's Boehmer, it was not Luther, 
 but Melanchthon "who first undertook the obvious task of 
 briefly summarizing the basic ideas of the Evangelical mes- 
 sage. Considering that it is the first attempt of its kind, 
 this survey is unquestionably a splendid achievement. Never- 
 theless the systematists find in it much, indeed very much, 
 tliat is faulty. To Luther, however, it seemed wholly ade- 
 quate; indeed, it was in liis eyes an unsurpassable, classic. 
 
ISO LUTHER AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 canonic achievement, transcending all his own works in 
 value and usefulness for the public. This is proof sufficient 
 that his demands in this respect were not very exacting. . . . 
 Undoubtedly this [Luther's] enormous facility in the pro- 
 duction of ideas is most intimately related to his lack of 
 system. The energetic endeavor to construct a close'y knit 
 organized whole naturally puts a decided check on the 
 inclination to give room to new ideas and hence also on 
 the ability to produce new ideas; in fact, it gradually kills 
 this faculty, while, in the opposite case, the mind remains 
 fresh for new concepts, and always can give itself up without 
 restraint to the impulse of forming new ideas. We con- 
 sequently do not claim too much when we assert that the 
 Reformer's lack of system is a necessary outgrowth of his 
 tremendous intellectual fertility, and to that extent also 
 a necessary prerequisite of his world-historical activity. . . . 
 
 "The genuine systematists are mostly not creative 
 thinkers, and vice versa, creative minds, as a rule, lack the 
 capacity for organization. . . . They nlone bring forth some- 
 thing new, release new forces, and found new institutions 
 of historical life, while the systematists have only the more 
 modest task of organizing and concentrating the new ideas." 
 
 Melanchthon, then, was merely a systematizer, a codifier, 
 if you wi]l, of the great Biblical truths which Luther's 
 massive, undaunted intellect, thanks to the gviidance of the 
 Holy Spirit, had rediscovered and again given to the world. 
 It was Luther who had broken through the whole medieval 
 view of life, had seen the truth of God, had proclaimed it, 
 and victoriously maintained it against the combined attack 
 of pope, emperor, and devil. Melanchthon was merely the 
 underling who, according to the measure of his ability kept 
 the master's storehouse in order. 
 
 At this point there rises the question of Melanchthon's 
 faithfulness in the work he was doing. This is a vexed 
 question, and only a long, careful study of the original 
 sources, of Melanchthon's works, and of reliable contemporary 
 testimony can enable one to pronounce an opinion. 
 
 This much is established, that Melanchthon did not agree 
 
LUTHER AXD HIS FRIENDS. 181 
 
 with Luther on many points of doctrine; yet he formulated 
 theses of Luther's doctrine for others to accept. He publicly 
 subscribed to tenets he did not hold. This is true particularly 
 of the doctrine of the Sacraments, on which his views were 
 of such a nature that Calvin called him a dissembler for 
 his failure publicly to state his dissent from Luther's views. 
 
 Again, even in the earliest edition of his Loci, as well as 
 in the Augsburg- Confession, he intentionally omitted a defi- 
 nite statement on Free Will, for the simple reason, as it 
 seems, that he secretly shared Erasmus's views and not 
 Luther's. He has won a great deal of praise for these omis- 
 sions at the hands of such as would bear Luther's name 
 without teaching his doctrine. He has been praised by 
 syncretists generally, and especially by the synergists in 
 the Lutheran Church, who believe that Luther's view of 
 a will not free in spiritual matters relieves man of moral 
 responsibility, and kills all initiative. But we, as Lutherans, 
 cannot but deplore ^lelanchthon's lack of candor, as well as 
 his inability to see Divine Truth, while as men of thought we 
 rejoice to find that Luther's and not Erasmus's views on the 
 will are in accord with results of modern psychological in- 
 vestigations of this deep subject. 
 
 That Luther never objected to Melanchthon's omission 
 in the Loci Communes can be easily accounted for by the 
 fact that Luther considered this doctrine too difficult for 
 general discussion ; that he looked upon it as one of the deep 
 things in our faith — a doctrine not to be puzzled over or 
 to be discussed lightly, but to be reverently stated in the 
 simple terms of Scripture, and to be accepted in simple faith. 
 The matter, however, assumes a different complexion in 
 a later edition of the Loci, where Melanchthon wrote: "Cum 
 promissio sit universalis, nee sint in Deo contrariae volun- 
 tates, necesse est in nobis esse aliquam discriminis causam, 
 cur Saul abjiciatur, David rccipiatur." (Since the promise 
 is universal, and there are no conflicting wills in God, there 
 must needs be some cause of discrimination in us.) "An 
 argument," says Prof. A. L. Graebner (Theol. Quart. I, 229), 
 "in which ^Melanchthon is at the same time a synergist 
 
182 LUTHER AND HIS FRIEXDS. 
 
 [position of the Ohio Synod] with his in nohis and a ration- 
 alist with his necesse est." Here Melanchthon in so many 
 words is teaching a doctrine at variance with the funda- 
 mentals of Luther's teaching — and of Bible-teaching. 
 
 If we bear in mind Melanchthon's timidity, his lack of 
 personal courage, and his desire to preserve the peace with 
 the Romanists, we can understand many things in his con- 
 duct, even the somewhat ignoble spirit that prompted him 
 to minimize, in the Augsburg Confession, the differences 
 with Rome, and to magnify those with the Zwingiians, with 
 whom he indeed held many views in common that he did 
 not share with Luther. Bearing his personal timidity in 
 mind, we can perhaps accept the plea of his apologists, that 
 he differed from Luther's doctrine only in matters he himself 
 deemed non-essential, and that, in his concessions to Rome 
 in the interimistic conflicts, he honestly believed that he 
 had saved the essentials of Lutheran truth by yielding 
 adiaphora. Still, in view of the fact that he chafed under 
 the restraint imposed upon him by Luther's personality, 
 and that he wrote to others that he felt like a slave in his 
 relations to Luther, we cannot but deplore the fact that 
 Melanchthon lacked the manliness and candor openly to face 
 Luther and arrive at an understanding with him. Lf 
 Melanchthon was not actually dishonest in his position both 
 before and after Luther's death, he was, to say the least, 
 extremely weak, and the universal mistrust with which 
 Flacius, Amsdorf, and others looked upon him was caused 
 by his lack of candor and consistency. 
 
 . And, lastly, Melanchthon's letter to Camerarius, when he 
 was first apprised of Luther's marriage, shows him in an 
 extremely unfavorable light. We shall not give the letter 
 in full, but merely refer to it. In this letter Melanchthon 
 shows himself weak, suspicious, not above baseless, cruel 
 slanders against the man whom he publicly professes to 
 revere as a spiritual father. Likewise his letter to Carlowitz, 
 in which he accuses Luther of "often giving way to his 
 temperameiit, in which there is not a little of contentious- 
 ness," is not explained by the explanation he tried to give 
 
LUTHER AND HIS FRIENDS. 183 
 
 later in his letter to Dietrich von Maltz {UnscTiuldige Nach- 
 rlchten, 1707, p. 85), but remains an evidence of his lack 
 of manliness and spiritual greatness. In real soul quality 
 he seems to have been as small as his body. 
 
 The attempt of admirers and apologists of Melanehthon, 
 therefore, to make him one of the great heroes of the Refor- 
 mation must fail to awaken a responsive chord in our hearts. 
 Nevertheless, while we deplore his lack of courage, candor, 
 and straightforwardness, his weakness in dealing with the 
 representatives of the popish system, and his deviation, in his 
 systematic statement of doctrine, from revealed truth on 
 the question of the doctrine of the human will and divine 
 grace, let us not forget the great service he has rendered the 
 cause of the Reformation. Let us cover his weaknesses with 
 the cloak of charity, and let us gratefully acknowledge that, 
 despite his shortcomings, he, too, was a chosen instrument in 
 the hand of God to further the great work of the Lutheran 
 Reformation. 
 
 A discussion of Luther's other intimate friends and co- 
 workers is a great deal less difficult than a discussion of 
 Melanehthon because there is in their characters nothing of 
 the wavering, of the inconsistency, and of the lack of candor 
 that is so annoying to the student of the life of Melanehthon. 
 John Brenz, John Bugenhagen, Justus Jonas, and Spalatin 
 were Luther's confidants and advisers at all times and at all 
 seasons. There was not at any time the least indication 
 of a misunderstanding between Luther and any one of them. 
 Open, frank, candid, straightforward, and of independent 
 minds withal, their relations with Luther were always rela- 
 tions of mutual trust and confidence, Xot one of them ever 
 felt that his relation with Luther was becoming irksome, 
 that he had to yield to Luther in the spirit of a slave, or that 
 he had to make a sacrifice of his own convictions in order 
 to please Luther. Though they were men of great theological 
 learning, their talents were preeminently practical, and their 
 greatest importance lies in the service they rendered as 
 organizers, administrators, and men of affairs. 
 
 Brenz was first drawn to Luther at the disputation held 
 
184 LUTHER AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 at the general chaptea' of the Augustinian order at Heidel- 
 berg, in the year 1518. Without entering upon the subject 
 of his Ninety-five Theses, published in the previous year, 
 Luther conducted this disputation in a manner that won for 
 him the hearts of all present. Among these were John Brenz, 
 Erhard Schnepf, and Martin Bucer, all of whom soon took 
 prominent parts in the Protestant movement. Brenz soon 
 came to Wittenberg, where he gained Luther's confidence, 
 and became his lifelong friend. Because of his rare gifts, 
 he was chosen, at the early age of twenty-three years, to 
 introduce the Reformation in the imperial free city of 
 Schwaebischhall, where he remained to the end of his useful 
 life. He remained in perfect accord with Luther throughout, 
 organizing, abolishing abuses, introducing Biblical doctrine 
 and practise with rare tact and judgment, without sacrificing 
 one jot or tittle of divine truth, jet without giving offense to 
 the simplest folk. 
 
 ISTor did he lack theological learning and dialectic skill. 
 In 1529, he wrote a catechism which alone of the many 
 catechisms written at that time has been able to hold its 
 own by the side of Luther's catechism. When Zwingli and 
 Oecolampadius tried to introduce their doctrines in Swabia, 
 Brenz effectually foiled their attempts, principally by means 
 of the famous Syngramma, which was signed by fourteen 
 Swabian pastors, but was written by Brenz. Whenever an 
 important colloquy was held, either with the Romanists or 
 with the Zwinglians, Brenz was invariably consulted, and 
 was usually asked to be present. 
 
 John Bugenhagen, surnamed Pomeranus, was even more 
 closely associated with Luther than was Brenz, for he re- 
 mained at Wittenberg to the end of his life. 
 
 He came to Wittenberg shortly after the Diet of Worms, 
 well trained in theology and humanistic learning, and at 
 once began to teach at the university. He became a close 
 personal friend of Luther's, and remained united with him 
 in the closest friendship until Luther's death. As early 
 as 1522, Luther secured for him the appointment as pastor 
 of the town church, much against the wishes of the chapter, 
 
LUTHER AXD HIS FRIENDS. 185 
 
 most of whose members were still attached to the old order 
 of things. As pastor of the town church he advanced the 
 cause of the new doctrine in every conceivable manner. In 
 1524, he abolished private masses, and voted that they should 
 be abolished in Jhe richly endowed Church of All Saints, 
 of which Justus Jonas was provost. Though he received 
 flattering- calls to Hamburg and to Danzig, he remained at 
 Wittenberg, where, he saw, he could render greater service 
 to the hol^^ cause. 
 
 He took part in all the controversies of the day, and 
 proved an invaluable adviser to Luther at all important 
 conferences and colloquies, and his name appears as one 
 of the signatories of almost all the various articles of agree- 
 ment that were drawn up between Luther and the various 
 Protestant leaders whose teachings had differed from those 
 of Luther. 
 
 The most signal service, however, that he rendered to the 
 Lutheran movement was his work as organizer and ad- 
 ministrator of church-affairs in cities and countries that 
 were anxious to introduce the Reformation. Li 1528, he 
 introduced the Reformation in the duchy of Braunschweig. 
 From Ih-aunschweig he went to Hamburg on a similar mis- 
 sion, returning in 1529. In 1531, he rendered the same 
 service to the great commercial center and free imperial 
 city of Luebeck. And in 1537, after the death of King 
 Frederick, he introduced the Reformation in Denmark, where 
 he remained for two years, organizing the ecclesiastical 
 establishment and the educational system of the kingdom. 
 He also crowned the new king. Christian III. 
 
 Personally, he seems to have been more to Luther than 
 any other man of his day. The open, unreserved exchange 
 of opinions with Bugenhagen was a great boon to Luther, 
 and did a great deal to keep up Luther's spirits and health. 
 Luther performed the marriage ceremony at Bugenhagen's 
 wedding, and Bugenhagen, in turn, officiated at Luther's 
 wedding. When the plague was raging at Wittenberg, Luther 
 and Bugenhagen remained in the stricken city, and braved 
 the terril)le foe; and when, on a later occasion, Luther was 
 
186 LUTHER a>:d his friends. 
 
 about to leave Wittenberg in disgust, it was Bugenhagen 
 who prevailed upon him to remain. 
 
 The third in this circle of friends was Justus Jonas, the 
 Erfurt Humanist, who, having become an ardent admirer of 
 Luther despite Erasmus's warnings, had, in 1519, exchanged 
 the study of law for that of theology. When Luther, on his 
 journey to Worms, passed through Erfurt, he was met at 
 Weimar by Justus Jonas and conducted in triumphal entry 
 into the city of Erfurt, and when he entered the city of 
 Worms, his carriage was followed by Jonas on horseback. 
 
 Before long, Jonas was appointed provost of the Church 
 of All Saints at Wittenberg and professor of Canonical Law 
 in the University. The professorship of Law, however, he 
 soon exchanged for a professorship of theology, after he 
 had taken his doctor's degree in theology. From 1523 to 
 1533, he was dean of the university. 
 
 Like Brenz and Bugenhagen, and quite unlike Melanch- 
 thon, he was a warm-hearted, courageous man, a true friend, 
 and, as such, a genuine help and assistance to the great 
 Reformer. 
 
 He gave evidence of his courage when, in 1522, he 
 insisted that the sacred relics which John Frederick had 
 collected at enormous expense, and stored in the Church 
 of All Saints, should no longer be exhibited, and again, in 
 the same year, when he expressed himself as in favor of 
 introducing the communion in both kinds. 
 
 Moreover, he was a man of great learning and ability. 
 He translated Luther's famous diatribe against Erasmus, 
 De Se7'vo Arbitrio, into German, and, on other occasions, 
 translated some of Luther's German works into Latin. He 
 was present at many of the colloquies with the Zwinglians 
 and the Komanists, and, at Augsburg, exerted a salutary 
 restraining influence upon Melanchthon, who, having lost 
 all self-possession, was about to yield still more than he 
 had already yielded in the Augsburg Confession. 
 
 Luther always entertained a particular affection for hiin, 
 and took him with him on his journey to Eisleben in 1546. 
 And when Luther was dying, Justus Jonas asked him, "Rev- 
 
LUTHER AND HIS FRIENDS. 187 
 
 erende pater, will you remain steadfast in Christ and the ' 
 doctrine which you have preached?" Whereupon Luther 
 replied with a loud "Aye." 
 
 Georg Burkhardt, or Spalatinus, as he is generally called, 
 having taken this name from Spalt in Franconia, his native 
 town, occupies a position somewhat apart in this famous 
 group. 
 
 lie had studied at Erfurt, had become a priest in 1507, 
 and, in 1514, liad been 'appointed court chaplain and privy 
 councilor to the Elector Frederick the Wise. In this official 
 capacity he had abundant opportunity to aid Luther's cause, 
 and he availed himself of every opportunity that offered. 
 We may safely say that, more than anything else, it was 
 Spalatin's influence, exerted at the proper moments, that 
 guided the elector's conduct with reference to Luther and 
 his cause. He it was that fought Luther's battles at the 
 electoral court, and prompted the elector to protect Luther 
 against his enemies, and to brave the terrors of papal ex- 
 communication and imperial ban. It is more than doubtful 
 whether Frederick would have espoused the cause of the 
 Reformation as emphatically as he did, had it not been for 
 Spalatin's influence. ]\[any an evil advice was counteracted, 
 many a sinister design frustrated thanks to the fact that 
 he had the elector's ear. 
 
 Moreover, he was the intermediary, the channel of com- 
 munication, so to speak, between Luther and the elector. He, 
 therefore, carried on an active correspondence with Luther. 
 This correspondence, most of which has been preserved, 
 affords an insight into the inner development of the course 
 of the events of that great period. Luther was wont to 
 present all his requests and petitions to the elector through 
 Spalatin, and to discuss with him all his undertakings. He 
 would submit to him every new polemical tract, and take 
 counsel with him whenever a new attack was made by the 
 enemy. 
 
 Spalatin, it may be stated here, played a part in the 
 Reformation that is usually underestimated. 'Tis true, he 
 was not in the forefront of the battle; he was not a great 
 
188 LUTHER AS A PREACHER. 
 
 leader, not a great scholar, not a great systematizer, not 
 a great organizer and administrator. Yet much depended 
 upon him, for the elector was guided by Spalatin's judgment 
 in all things connected with Luther and the university. 
 Truly, it is not saying too much to maintain that Spalatin 
 was the Lord's chosen instrument for the protection and 
 preservation of the life of the Father of the Kef ormation. 
 
 Luther as a Preacher. 
 
 E.EV. John H. C. Fritz, St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 "Preach the Gospel!" This command of Christ unto 
 His Church sufficiently emphasizes the fact that it has 
 "pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them 
 that believe." 
 
 Preaching had a prominent place in the life of Luther 
 and in the work of the Reformation. 
 
 Several centuries prior to the Reformation preaching as 
 a recognized institution was non-existent. At length preach- 
 ing orders arose, but their preaching was not of the kind 
 which could save sinners. Some read sermons that came 
 ready-made to hand; some preached sermons of a scholastic 
 type; some related stories about saints and told legends; 
 some even amused their hearers with ridiculous anecdotes. 
 Some of the sermons, perhaps of the better type, were in 
 Latin and unintelligible to the great mass of hearers. Small 
 wonder that the churches were deserted, and that such men 
 as Savonarola, Wyclif, and Waldus, supplying a real need, 
 attracted large numbers of hearers. 
 
 The result of preaching depends upon the message which 
 it has. Luther's preaching had one overmastering thought, 
 and that thought was Christ. There are three things which 
 made Luther a great preacher, perhaps the greatest since 
 the days of the apostles: First, Luther preached the Bihle; 
 secondly, he preached it in simple and clear language; 
 thirdly, he addressed it to the wants of 7nen, took aim at 
 the heart, shot forth spiritual arrows which did not miss 
 
LUTHER AS A PREACHER. 189 
 
 their mark. These things characterize the great preachers 
 of all times. 
 
 Luther preached much. Sometimes he preached four 
 sermons on a Sunday and two or three during the week. 
 He was much in demand as a preacher. The people heard 
 him gladly. He was, in the good sense of the word, a popular 
 preacher, a preacher of the people. 
 
 Luther had rare gift>;, which served him in good stead 
 as a preacher : a thorough knowledge of the Bible, a good 
 acquaintance with the writings of the church-fathers and 
 the classics, a mind well informed as to the facts of history, 
 and filled with stores of knowledge on many subjects, a keen 
 perception of human nature, an abundance of i)ersonal 
 experiences, a perfect understanding of the conditions of 
 his time, a happy faculty to address himself to all classes 
 of men, a masterly use of the German language, and, com- 
 bined with all this, a heroic faith, an undaunted courage, 
 a good judgment, an untiring energy, a fervent zeal, an 
 enduring patience, an alert mind, a keen insight, a remark- 
 able memory, and a sympathetic charity. 
 
 Luther's own ideas as to preaching nuist be gleaned 
 from his many writings. "The great subject of preaching," 
 says Luther, "is the glory of God in Jesus Christ. We 
 j)reach always Him, the true God and man, who died for our 
 sins and rose again for our justification. This may seem 
 a limited and monotonous subject, likely to be soon exhausted, 
 but we are never at the end of it." "There is no more 
 terrible affliction, misery, and misfortune upon earth than 
 a preacher who does not preach the Word of God, of whom 
 there are, I am sorry to say, many in this world." "Preachers 
 should be angels, God's messengers, whose conversation is in 
 heaven, who always diligently study the Word of God, in 
 order that they do not preach the doctrine of man." "If 
 any one has a Bible-text given, and he be not able to make 
 a sermon, he ought not to be a preacher." "Not that is 
 a Christian sermon which preaches the historical Christ. . . . 
 You should teach and testify that the Gospcd of Christ is 
 given unto us who believe for righteousness and salvation." 
 
190 LUTHER AS A PREACHER. 
 
 ^'First the Law should be preached, then the promises of 
 Christ." "One cannot speak of that which he does not we'.l 
 know and understand." "He is a foolish preacher who thinlvs 
 that he must say all that comes to his mind. A preacher 
 should stick to the main point of his text." "Preaching to 
 the people, we should let white be white and black be black, 
 and speak to them in simple, clear language, so that they 
 can understand us. What pains did Christ, our Lord, take 
 to teach in simple language!" "To preach clearly and-simply 
 is a great art." "It is a common mistake made by preachers 
 to preach so that the common people derive little benefit." 
 "A preacher must speak with boldness" (kein Blatt vors 
 Maul nehmen). He should address the wants of the people, 
 "giving, as a wise steward, unto each his portion of meat 
 in due season." "It is foolishness to use many words and 
 say nothing." "It speaks well for a preacher to hear the 
 people say when he has finished his sermon that they fain 
 would have heard him preach longer." Luther was theoreti- 
 cally not a friend of long sermons, but he often transgressed 
 his own rule. He could, it appears, hold the attention 
 of the people, and was, no doubt, guided by that fact. 
 A preacher, says Luther, must be able to teach the truth, 
 should speak slowly, have a good head and a good voice, be 
 diligent, put his very life into his work, and expect that 
 all men will criticise him. 
 
 A large number of Luther's sermons have been handed 
 down to us. Luther was not in the habit of writing his 
 sermons. The large amount of work he had probably pre- 
 vented him from doing so. He would meditate upon the 
 main thoughts of his sermon and then i)reach. Luther's 
 sermons were, more or less carefully, revised for the press 
 by friends. 
 
 As a rule, Luther based his sermons on a certain text 
 of Scripture. Most of his sermons are on the Gospel- and 
 Epistle-lessons of the well-known pericopic system. He 
 seldom used free texts, but in week-day services he would 
 preach on whole books of the Bible. He did not intend his 
 
LUTHER AS A PREACHER. 19 X 
 
 example in this respect to be followed by all. Prevailing 
 conditions, he thought, required it. 
 
 Luther paid very little attention to the outward form 
 of the sermon. The divine message which he had to deliver 
 was the one absorbing thought that received his consideration. 
 He preached because he had something to tell. He did not, 
 as a ru]e, begin his sermons with long introductions. Fre- 
 quently he would state his subject at once. A sermon on 
 the epistle of the Fourth Sunday in Advent he begins by 
 simply saying : "This is a brief epistle, but it contains a very 
 important and profound doctrine of the Christian faith. 
 The apostle speaks, first of all, of our conduct toward God; 
 and, secondly, toward our neighbor." Then he proceeds at 
 once with the sermon proper. His themes expressed clearly 
 and concisely the main thought of the text, but they were 
 not of a stereotyped form. The sermon was strictly textual. 
 Verj' often Luther would expound verse after verse. He 
 was an expository preacher. His leading thoughts were 
 always faith and charity, justification and sanctification, 
 giving to each its proper place and its due importance. 
 He did not preach sanctification at the expense of justifi- 
 cation, a sin of which many sectarian preachers are guilty; 
 but he did not fail duly to emphasize the necessity of the 
 Christian life. His sermons were immensely practical, as 
 all preaching, in ordea* to serve its purpose, should be. They 
 were heart-to-heart talks. Luther's language is beautiful. 
 It is clear, simple, and, therefore, forceful. He explained 
 words and phrases. He often quoted proverbial sayings, the 
 very nature of which is to express a truth clearly in a few 
 words. He spoke in parables taken from every-day life. 
 He told the truth plainly. He preached the Law with all 
 severity, sparing no one. He preached the Gospel with 
 utmost suavity, and comforted and encouraged the terror- 
 stricken sinner. "When he denounced false doctrine and all 
 manner of sin, his language to us at times appears to have 
 been rude, but it was altogether in keeping with his time. 
 When Luther had expounded his text, he stopped speaking. 
 
 Luther did not think liighly of himself as a preacher. 
 
192 LUTHER AS A PEEACIIER. 
 
 He said, "I have often been disgusted with myself (habe 
 niich oft angespien) when I came from the pulpit." He 
 complains that he sometimes did not follow his notes, but 
 says that just at such a time the people would highly praise 
 his sermon. He was ever mindful of the great responsibility 
 resting upon the man in the pulpit. "Believe me," he said, 
 "a sermon is not the work of man. Be not too hold, but 
 be a preacher who fears God. I am an old and experienced 
 preacher, nevertheless to the present day I feel uneasy when 
 I must preach." 
 
 It is well that Luther had a humble opinion of himself 
 as a preacher, for we think the more highly of him. Beware 
 of the preacher who sings his own praises ! 
 
 Luther's method of sermonizing has been called the 
 "heroic method." More properly it might be called Luther's 
 method. Luther's sermons, as all his writings, bear the 
 stamp of originality. His very originality contributed much 
 to his popularity. 
 
 Luther cannot be imitated. Neither should he be. Let 
 every preacher be himself. There is very much, though, 
 which we can learn from Luther. Those very things which 
 made Luther great as a preacher are the things wdiich make 
 any preacher great. Every preacher should seek to be great ; 
 not, indeed, for the sake of greatness, — that would be sinful 
 vanity, and would itself stand in the way of real great- 
 ness, — but for the sake of the cause of Christ, which the 
 preacher espouses ; and that he should consider a sacred duty. 
 
 The privileges, responsibilities, and opportunities w^hich 
 the Lord has given unto His Church demand that the very 
 best men be in the Christian pulpit. As it is, the land is 
 filled with an abundance of poor preachers. The great need 
 of the hour is that there be more preachers who, like to 
 Luther, seek solely the salvation of sinners, and thus the 
 glory of God, and who to this end, trusting in the many 
 gracious promises of God, will preach the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ to the multitudes within the Church and to the still 
 greater multitudes without the Church; in short, preachers 
 
LUTHER AS A PREACHER. 193 
 
 are needed that are fully devoted to their God and to that 
 work which God has called them to do in His name. 
 
 Luther says that David in the 119th Psalm gives unto 
 him who would he a theologian a threefold rule, which he 
 chooses to express with three words: Oratio, meditatio, 
 tentatio (prayer, study, and personal experience). The 
 preacher who neglects diligently to ask God to hless his 
 work, who does not diligently study his Bible, and all that 
 will be helpful to him in his calling, and who has but little 
 experienced the power of the Word in his own heart and 
 life, will not make a successful preacher nor pastor. Tie 
 had better take up some other work. 
 
 What is lacking in much of the preaching of our day 
 are the very things which made Luther's preaching both 
 interesting and profitable. As to these very things Luther's 
 sermons should be carefully studied. The result of such 
 studj" will be found in the greater success with which preach- 
 ing will be blessed to the glory of God. Foremost, of course, 
 must stand Luther's scripturalness of preaching, but second 
 to it his directness. Luther's method of preaching ought to 
 be revived. Many sermons are artificial and mechanical. 
 The preacher, when meditating upon and writing his sermons, 
 should not have his homiletical rules (good and needful as 
 these may be in themselves) uppermost in his mind, but the 
 needs of the people. Sermons should not be preached because 
 the time for preaching has come, but because the preacher 
 has a divine message to deliver. The preacher should not 
 seek to please people with his sermons, but to henefit them. 
 He should not aim at "fine writing" when making his 
 sermons, but at preaching the Gospel in the very simplest 
 language. There is not only a Gospel-famine in the land, 
 but also much Gospel-preaching "over the heads of the 
 people." "When I preach," said Luther, "I regard neither 
 the doctors nor magistrates, . . . but I have an eye to tlio 
 multitude of young people, children, and servants." 
 
 While it is sadly true that the multitudes prefer to go 
 to the playhouses and not to the churches, it is also sadly 
 true that much of the poor church attendance of our day is 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 1;5 
 
194 LUTHER'S IXFLUEXCE OX POPULAR EDUCATION. 
 
 due to poor preaching. "Audiences are held by useful and 
 clear sermons," says the Apology of the Augsburg Con- 
 fession. If the preacher will not put much into his sermon, 
 he need not be surprised that the people will not come to 
 get anything out of it. 
 
 The work of the Reformation will best be commemorated 
 if all preachers, to begin with, will better learn from Luther 
 not only what to preach, but also how to preach; for Luther 
 preached the doctrine of Christ, and he preached it after 
 the manner of Christ. 
 
 Luther's Influence on Popular Education. 
 
 Prof. W. C. Kohn, Concordia Teachers' College, River Forest, 111. 
 
 A brief survey of the history of education of all nations 
 will force us to yield assent to the statement so commonly 
 made that Luther is the father of popular education. 
 
 The education of the Jews provided for Jewish children 
 only. The Oriental education was based on the promulga- 
 tion of the caste system, or fostered class distinction by 
 affording superior advantages to the children of the privi- 
 leged few, and neglecting the enlightenment of the lower 
 classes, regarding them as incapable of considerable intel- 
 lectual development. The Grecian and Roman education 
 was founded on the despotism of the State, and was based 
 on the theory that education consisted foremost in training- 
 citizens, who were under allegiance to the State, who could 
 have no other interest than that interwoven with the interest 
 of the State. 
 
 Christianity marked a new era in education, giving an 
 entirely new foundation, and setting a new goal for it. The 
 aim of Christian education is the welfare of all men, of 
 each and every individual of whatever race or color, sweep- 
 kig away all castes, and abolishing Oriental class distinction, 
 thereby not only seeking the earthly welfare and bodily 
 comfort of humanity, but also the spiritual welfare of the 
 individual and the preparation of his soul for eternal bliss. 
 
LUTHER'S INFLUENCE OX POPULAR EDUCATION. 195 
 
 Thus a firm basis for popular education was provided for by 
 Christ Himself. Ifany centuries, however, elapsed before 
 this impulse accomplished its culmination. 
 
 Education before the Reformation Period. 
 
 The period covering the time between the sixth century 
 and the Reformation has very appropriately been called the 
 Dark Ages. Historians, however, do not intend to condemn 
 everything in these ages pertaining to education. Seeley 
 says : "These fifteen centuries embrace those generally known 
 in history as the Dark Ages, during which progress was 
 indeed slow. But when we remember the obstacles which 
 were to be met, . . . we marvel at the great results attained." 
 Roman Catholic writers, however, have often attempted to 
 reconstruct the history of these centuries to such an extent 
 as to gloss over the guilt of the Catholic Church by diminish- 
 ing the corruption of the papal hierarchy, by magnifying 
 the obstacles which were to be met, and by aggrandizing the 
 little achievements of the Church or its orders. 
 
 However, frankly admitting that one cannot condemn 
 everything in those centuries, every unprejudiced student of 
 history will, nevertheless, most readily be convinced that 
 the causes of the darkness and of the ignorance in the edu- 
 cational field of the Dark Ages were the decline of the 
 Church and its departure from the fundamental principles 
 of education laid down by our Savior Jesus Christ. If the 
 Church had abided by the teachings of the Bible, the whole 
 Bible, it would never have permitted papacy to rise, and 
 the aim of its educational system would not have been to 
 give the hierarchy power to wield its scepter for the stulti- 
 fication of the masses such as had developed at the dawn 
 of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Recapitulating the history of the Middle Ages, Campayre 
 writes: "The Middle Ages, in itself, whatever effort may be 
 put forth at this day to rehabilitate it, and to discover in it 
 the golden age of modern societies, remains an ill-starred 
 epoch. A few virtues, negative for the most part, virtues of 
 obedience and consecration, cannot atone for the real faults 
 of those rude and barbarous centuries. . . . Popular edu- 
 
196 Luther's i^'fluence on popular education. 
 
 cation was almost null and restricted to the teaching of the 
 catechism in Latin. Finally, a church absolute and sovereign, 
 which determined for all, great and small, the limits of 
 thought, of belief, and of action, such was, from our own 
 point of view, the condition of the Middle Ages." 
 
 The neglect of the common people was a notable and 
 lamentable defect in the educational system of the Middle 
 Ages as no great eifort was made to elevate and enlighten 
 them by education. The Roman Catholic Church and its 
 hierarchy, who were in control of educational affairs in those 
 centuries, have always been antagonistic to the education of 
 the masses, considering intelligent lay-members a source of 
 danger for the supremacy of the pope. Painter, in reviewing 
 the institutions operated for educational purposes in those 
 centuries, says: "The ecclesiastical schools were designed 
 chiefly for candidates for the priesthood; the parochial 
 schools fitted the young for church-membership ; the burgher 
 schools were intended for the commercial and artisan classes 
 of the cities; knightly education gave training to chivalry. 
 Thus the laboring classes were left to toil on in ignorance 
 and want ; they remained in a dependent and servile con- 
 dition, their lives unillumined by intellectual pleasures. If 
 here and there, as claimed by Roman Catholic writers, 
 popular schools were established, they were too few in number 
 and too weak in influence to deserve more than a passing- 
 mention." 
 
 It cannot be denied, however, that schools existed in the 
 fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but in general their con- 
 dition was very dismal, and the knowledge they imparted 
 was insignificant. The monks of Franciscan and Dominican 
 orders, who, as a rule, were the professors at the universi- 
 ties, were not seeking the welfare of the people, but en- 
 deavored to establish their sovereignty and to accumulate 
 riches in order to live a life of luxury. The priests in 
 the cities were too indolent to teach the children, but would 
 hire drill-masters, men, as a rule, who were incapable of 
 gaining their livelihood in any other way, men without 
 knowledge or educational training, and therefore, incompe- 
 
Luther's influence ox popular education. 197 
 
 tent to conduct a well-regulated school. They would make 
 the children commit to memory the Ten Commandments, 
 the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and several hymns by constant 
 repetition and rehearsing-. The education of the youth in 
 the country was wholly neglected; the children were en- 
 tirely ignorant of even tlie most necessary points of the 
 Christian doctrines. The only thing they were conversant 
 with were the ceremonies prescribed for public worship. 
 Such is the result when the Church neglects popular Chris- 
 tian education. 
 
 Luther's Impression of the State of Affairs ix the 
 Schools of His Time. 
 
 These were the conditions found by Luther in 1528 during 
 his visitation of the churches and schools of Saxony, and they 
 caused him to cry out in the preface to the Small Catechism 
 which he was constrained to write: "Alas, what manifold 
 misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the 
 villages, know nqthing at all of Christian doctrine; and 
 many pastors are quite unfit and incompetent to teach. Yet 
 all are called Christians, have been baptized, and enjoy the 
 use of the Sacraments although they know neither the Lord's 
 Prayer, nor the Creed, nor the Ten Commandments, and 
 live like the poor brutes and irrational swine. O ye bishops ! 
 How will ye ever render account to Christ for having so 
 shamefully neglected the people!" 
 
 When Luther perceived this state of affairs, it was clear 
 to him that a godless home and a worthless class of edu- 
 cators were the cause of the downfall of Church and State, 
 and that a solid foundation for both could be laid only by 
 an efficient popular Christian education of the children in 
 home and school. 
 
 Luther Urges Home-Trainixg. 
 With resistless energy Luther therefore impressed upon 
 parents their obligation to bring up their children in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord. He insisted upon 
 home-training. His writings show that he had a clear con- 
 ception of the duties of parents towards their children. He 
 
198 Luther's influence on popular education. 
 
 admonishes them to honor holy wedlock as a divine insti- 
 tution and to look upon their children as precious gifts 
 of God, as lovely fruits of marriage, strengthening the bond 
 of love. He tells them that God has entrusted the children 
 He has given them to their parental care, and urges them on, 
 by adducing all possible reasons, to do their duty for the 
 benefit of the individual, for the Church, and for the 
 commonwealth. He also reminds them of the dreadful 
 Judgment Day, when a strict account of their work would 
 be demanded, and their wilful negligence would be punished. 
 "Children," he writes, "are the most lovely fruits and power- 
 ful bonds of marriage, and confirm and preserve the bond 
 of love." "Married people should remember that they can 
 perform no better and no more useful work for the glory 
 of God, for the benefit of both Church, and State, aye, for 
 themselves and their children, than by properly bringing up 
 their children." "It is to be sadly deplored that we all 
 live as though God had given us children merely for our 
 pleasure or amusement, and servants that we should employ 
 them like a cow or an ass, for work only, or as though all 
 we were to do with those who are subject to our authority 
 were to satisfy our wantonness, and that it need not concern 
 ^s what they learn or how they live; and no one is willing 
 to see that this is the command of the Supreme Majesty, 
 who will most strictly call us to account and punish us 
 for it." 
 
 He also shows what great evil results if parents neglect 
 to train their children: "Think what deadly injury you are 
 doing if you are negligent in this matter, if you fail to 
 bring up your child to a life of usefulness and piety, and 
 how you thus bring down upon yourself God's wrath and 
 eternal damnation, even though you be otherwise ever so 
 pious and holy. And because this is disregarded, God so 
 fearfully punishes the world that there is no discipline, 
 government, or peace, of which we all complain, while we 
 do not see that it is our fault; for we have spoiled and dis- 
 obedient children and subjects because we do not train -them 
 as we should." 
 
LUTHER'S INFLUENCE ON POPULAR EDUCATION. 199 
 
 But eousidering how unlit most of the parents were to 
 teach their children even the elements of Christian doctrine, 
 as well as of secular knowledge, and thinking of their 
 homes with their surroundings, realizing, too, that they were 
 not even aware of their responsibility in this matter, or 
 that slothful i)arents would wilfully neglect their children 
 and let them grow up without proper instruction, or spoil 
 them by undue indulgence, Luther felt that it was nec- 
 essary to establish common schools, which the magistrates 
 should provide, and urged the reorganization and reformation 
 of those already existing. In so doing, he not only pointed 
 out the glaring defects of the schools of his time, deploring 
 their inefficiency, but also clearly showed a way of laying 
 a solid foundation of an effective educational system, which 
 should begin with the common school for boys and girls of 
 all classes of the population, and culminate in a systema- 
 tizing of the plan and methods of the college and university. 
 His system of education comprised: 1. The primary schools; 
 2. the secondary schools; 3. the universities. For all he 
 introduced graded instruction, and improved the course of 
 study, as well as the methods, which are to this day standards 
 for educational science. 
 
 Luther Demands School-Training. 
 
 Upon parents and ministers, as well as upon the officials 
 of the State, he vigorously impressed their obligation to 
 provide for the education of the young, and to avail them- 
 selves of the opportunity to send them to school. In his two 
 most prominent pedagogical writings, his "Letter to the 
 Mayors and Aldermen of All Cities of Germany in Behalf 
 of Christian Schools" and his "Sermon on the Duty of 
 Sending Children to School," and also in his "Tischreden,"" 
 he not only maps out the plan of studies and application 
 of the most important methods of teaching, but demands 
 an education in schools, a thorough school-training, not only 
 of the children of the rich, or the upper classes, but of 
 every child. 
 
 To the objection of those who insisted upon teaching and 
 Training their children at home only or at inadequate schools 
 
200 Luther's ixfluexce on popular educatiox. 
 
 he answered : "But each one, you say, may educate and train 
 his own sons and daughters. To which I reply: We see 
 indeed the sad results of such teaching and training. Even 
 when carried to the highest point, and if attended with suc- 
 cess, it exhibits nothing more than that the pupils, in some 
 measure, acquire a forced external propriety of manners; 
 in other respects they remain dunces, knowing nothing, and 
 not able to give advice or aid. But were they instructed 
 in schools or elsewhere by thoroughly trained male and 
 female teachers, who are competent to teach the languages, 
 other arts, and history, then the pupils would become con- 
 versant with the world's history, and acquire a knowledge 
 of the world, and see how each city, kingdom, j)rince, man 
 and woman fared, and thus be able to comprehend, as in 
 a mirror, the character, life, counsels, undertakings, suc- 
 cesses, and failures of mankind from the beginning of days. 
 Equipped with this knowledge, they could regulate their 
 views and order their course of life in the fear of God. . . . 
 But the training that is given at home is expected to make 
 us wise through our own experience. Before that can take 
 place, we shall die a hundred times." And such education 
 as he demanded for the youth should not be given to boys 
 only, but also to girls. "Would to God," Luther exclaims, 
 "that each town had also a girls' school, in which girls 
 might be taught the Gospel!" 
 
 It is evident that Luther intended to establish the school 
 as the principal agency for the diffusion of knowledge, and 
 therefore he directed the eyes of the mayors and the nobility, 
 as well as the attention of all parents, to this public insti- 
 tution. 
 
 Luther wanted the school not only to teach the Word of 
 God and to mold the individual character, but it should also 
 shape the social conditions. Conformably to this, he pre- 
 sented two reasons therefor, whenever he urged the establish- 
 ment and maintenance of schools. One of these was, that 
 the welfare of the State and the social conditions for the 
 future should be shaped through the medium of instruction, 
 and the other was the perpetuation and advancement of the 
 
LUTIIER's IXFLUEXCE ox POrULAR EDrCATlOX, 201 
 
 Cliiu'cli. T'^nlike the Roman Catholic clergy, Luther did not 
 seek his own interest, nor solely the interest of the Church, 
 but regarding secular goverinnent as a divine institution 
 and the Church as the bride-elect of Christ, he sought the 
 welfare of each in its own station. Referring to this, he 
 says : "Thus, also, in a secular office you can serve your 
 sovereign or country better by training children than by 
 building castles and cities. . . . For what good can these do 
 without learned, wise, and pious people? . . . When schools 
 [Christian schools such as they should be] prosper, the 
 Church remains righteous and her doctrine pure. . . . Young 
 pupils and students are the seed and source of the Church. 
 When we are dead and gone, whence would come our suc- 
 cessors^ if not from the school ? For the sake of the Church 
 we nnist have and maintain schools." 
 
 Luther Demands Religious Schools. 
 
 Luther knew, however, that if the school-training was 
 to achieve the desired results, and be an important factor in 
 advancing civil righteousness and perpetuating the Church, 
 a thorough religious training was an absolute necessity. He 
 was aware of the fact that, even if the boundaries of science 
 would be extended in every direction, and if knowledge would 
 be universally diffused throughout the world, the advance- 
 ment of public and private morality would not be achieved 
 unless a thorough religious instruction were made the foun- 
 dation of all secular branches. He was convinced that science 
 without a religious basis would only increase vice and crime, 
 and that dishonesty and corruption would prevail. 
 
 Luther, therefore, desired the establishment of schools in 
 which all training was based upon the W^ord of God. He 
 knew that, by urging this, he was seeking the welfare of 
 the State as well as of the Church. Religion, true religion, 
 founded upon the Scripture alone, is not only of supreme 
 benefit to every individual, it is also the means of welding 
 together society (a community), a safeguard of morals, and 
 the most powerful incentive to perform one's duty. It is 
 the foundation of Church and State. It was an established 
 
202 Luther's ixfluexce ox PoruLAR education. 
 
 fact with Luther that learning and eloquence, arts and 
 sciences, were of little value without religious training. 
 
 This he expressed on various occasions: "See to it in 
 the first place," he says, "that your children are instructed 
 in spiritual things. Give them first to God, and then let 
 them learn their secular duties." "Children should be in- 
 structed in everything pertaining to God. They should be 
 taught to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and constantly to 
 bear in mind how He has suffered for us, what He has done, 
 and what He has promised to do." "Above all, in schools of 
 whatever description, the chief and most common lesson, 
 should he the Scripture. . . . Where the Holy Scriptures do 
 not rule, I advise no one to send his child. Everything must 
 perish where God's Word is not studied unceasingly." "The 
 soul can do without everything except the Word of God. 
 "Without this it suffers want; but when it has God's Word, 
 it needs nothing more." 
 
 To make religious training possible and effective, Luther 
 translated the Bible, and to furnish a course of religious 
 instruction for children, he wrote the Small Catechism, in 
 the preface to which he laid down pedagogical principles. 
 For this reason he advocated a thorough training for the 
 office of teaching. "Whosoever is to teach others, especially 
 from Holy Scriptures, and wishes rightly to understand this 
 book, must first have observed, and learned to know, the 
 world. . . . You should not only consider the words in your 
 heart, but examine them diligently as you find them in the 
 text, in order that you may understand what the Holy Ghost 
 means to te^ch in the Holy Book." As pastors should be 
 the overseers of the school, he pointed out the necessity of 
 having a knowledge of pedagogy and of having gained some 
 experience in teaching. "I would have no one chosen for 
 .a preacher," he says, "who has not previously been a school- 
 teacher." 
 
 The Duty of Sending Children to School, 
 
 In his pedagogical letters Luther brought argument upon 
 argument to induce parents to send their children to the 
 established schools. He reminded them of the wretchedness 
 
LUTHER'S INFLUENCE ON POPULAR EDUCATION. 203 
 
 of their former condition, when they groped in darkness, 
 while now the grace of God illumined their paths, which they 
 should not receive in vain and thus neglect "the accepted 
 time.'' He pointed out to them the command of the Lord 
 urging and enjoining parents to instruct their children. He 
 said to them : "It is indeed a sin and shame that we must 
 be aroused and incited to the duty of educating our children 
 and considering their highest interests, whereas nature itself 
 should move us thereto, and the example of the heathen 
 affords us varied instruction. . . . And what would it 
 avail if we possessed and performed all else, and became 
 perfect saints, if we neglect that for which we chiefly live, 
 namely, to care for the young? In my judgment there is 
 no other offense that in the sight of God so heavily burdens 
 the world, and deserves such heavy chastisement, as the 
 neglect to educate children." (Painter, Luther-an Education.) 
 
 Luther vividly conceived the disapproval of some impious 
 and slothful parents, who cared little for the welfare of their 
 children nor for that of the State, and he foresaw their 
 opposition to school-training. Of these he said that, for 
 the welfare of tlie community, they ought to be compelled 
 to educate their children. As the separation of Church and 
 State had not been effected, he, under the prevailing cir- 
 cumstances, sent a letter to the mayors of cities, telling them 
 "that the welfare of the city did not consist alone in great 
 treasures, firm walls, and abundant munitions of war, but 
 the greatest power of a nation consisted in able citizens, 
 whose intellectual power could secure, preserve, and utilize 
 Qvery treasure and advantage. Therefore they should estab- 
 lish schools, and compel the citizens to maintain them, as 
 they would force them to render contributions and services 
 toward bridges." Furthermore, they should compel them to 
 educate their children : "I maintain that the civil authori- 
 ties are under obligation to compel the people to send their 
 children to school." 
 
 Luther also thought of the poor, who, lacking the means 
 to pay tuition fees, could not give a promising boy a tliorough 
 education. In order to open the way to a thorough education 
 
204 Luther's influence ox popular educatiox. 
 
 for such poor, but promising boys, he urged the people to 
 liberally contribute towards the maintenance of schools, and 
 the rich to make substantial bequests for that purpose. He 
 wrote: "Therefore let him who can watch; and wherever 
 the government sees a promising boy, let him be sent to 
 school. If the father is poor, let the child be aided with 
 the property of the Church. The rich should make bequests 
 to such objects, as some have done, who have founded 
 scholarships." 
 
 Luther Esteems the Office of Teaching. 
 
 To imiDress upon everybody how much he valued popular 
 education in common schools, Luther set forth the great 
 importance of the office of teaching, and showed how highly 
 he esteemed a pious schoolteacher. Li his Tischreden he 
 wrote: "A schoolmaster is as important to a city as is 
 a pastor. We can do without mayors, princes, and noblemen, 
 but not without schools; for these must rule the world. . . . 
 Therefore schools are indispensable. And if I M'ere not 
 a preacher, there is no other calling on earth that I would 
 rather have. But we must consider, not how the world 
 esteems and rewards this office, but how God looks upon it." 
 "To be brief, a diligent and pious schoolmaster, who faith- 
 fully trains and educates boys, can never be sufficiently rec- 
 ompensed, and no money will pay him, as even the heathen 
 Aristotle says. Yet the calling is shamefully despised among 
 us, as if it were nothing, and at the same time we pretend 
 to be Christians ! If I had to resign preaching and my other 
 duties, there is no office I would rather have than that of 
 a schoolteacher. For I know that next to the ministry it 
 is the most useful, greatest, and best; and I am not sure 
 which of the two is to be preferred." "Therefore let it be 
 considered one of the highest virtues on earth faithfully to 
 train the children of others, which duty but very few parents 
 attend to themselves." 
 
 Luther's ideas of popular education went forth like 
 a flash of lightning into the darkness of education, the 
 sorry bequest of the Middle Ages, and kindled a fire in the 
 minds of the thinking populace of Germany that spread over 
 
Luther's influence ox popular education. 205 
 
 the entire world. His words were like thunderbolts arousing 
 every one who heard them and pondered over them. In all 
 parts of the country schools were established and maintained, 
 and in order to systematize the course of teaching in the 
 various schools Luther was called upon to draw up school- 
 schedules and to ex])lain the methods of teaching, which he 
 cheerfully did. 
 
 The pedagogical principles and methods laid down by 
 Luther form the fundamental principles of education up 
 to this day. Ditte says in his Geschichfe der Erziehnncj, etc., 
 regarding Luther's plans and methods: "Tf we survey the 
 pedagogy of Luther in every particular, and imagine it put 
 into practise in all its details, what a splendid picture the 
 schools and education of the sixteenth century would present ! 
 We should have courses of study, text-hooks, teachers, 
 methods, principles, and modes of discipline, schools and 
 school regulations, that could serve as models for our 
 own age." 
 
 Recapitulating the pedagogical principles of Luther in 
 Jiis two most important writings on this subject and the 
 influence of Luther on popular education, the following 
 l)articulars are evident: From the Word of God, which 
 teaches that God wants all men to be saved and to come to 
 the knowledge of the truth, Luther drew the conclusion that 
 every man, woman, and child, irrespective of class or color, 
 was entitled to a Christian education. Parents should there- 
 fore regard their children as precious gifts of God, and 
 preserve them, teach them, train them for this life, and 
 provide for their eternal welfare. 
 
 L^^nder the prevailing conditions of non-separation of 
 Church and State Luther urged the officials of both Church 
 and State to provide for the education of the masses, and, to 
 this end, establish and maintain Christian schools, as being- 
 necessary for the welfare of the State and for the perpetua- 
 tion and propagation of the Church of Christ. ^lost em- 
 phatically he pointed out that religious training must be 
 the foundation of all education and instruction, and that 
 religion was the source of all Christian virtue^ and civic 
 
206 ECONOMIC TEACHINGS AND INFLUENCE OF LUTHER. 
 
 righteousness. He therefore reorganized the existing common 
 schools, the colleges and universities, introduced a graded 
 school system, and improved the plans and methods of 
 instruction to such an extent that they form the foundation 
 of the principles of education up to modern times. He also 
 touched upon the principles of a vocational school system, 
 holding that every child should become conversant with the 
 practical duties of life; the boys should learn a trade and 
 the girls housework. He praised the office of teaching, saying 
 that every teacher is worthy of high respect. He urged the 
 necessity of a thorough training of every teacher, and since 
 by virtue of his office every pastor is the overseer of the 
 school, he, too, must be given the necessary training in peda- 
 gogics, and get some experience in teaching. 
 
 Giving other educators all the credit due them, an un- 
 biased observer and student of the history of education is, 
 nevertheless, impressed with the indisputable fact that Luther 
 is the father of popular education, its principles and its 
 methods, and that his influence has shaped the system of edu- 
 cation throughout the civilized world up to this day. 
 
 Do we really realize what an inheritance we have re- 
 ceived from Luther and the Lutheran Reformation? 
 
 The Economic Teachings and Influence 
 of Luther. 
 
 Rev. 0. H. Pannkoke, Brooklyn, X. Y. 
 
 Gustave Schmollez, one of the greatest German econo- 
 mists, claims that without the work of Luther the steam 
 engine and the resultant change in the economic life of the 
 world would have been impossible. It is difficult to bring 
 conclusive evidence for this contention. Development in 
 history is not simple, but complex. As many brooks make 
 the river, so many different impulses, sometimes widely 
 apart in kind, place, and time, finally converge in a great 
 change. The relation between person and environment in 
 economical life is also the cause of grave dispute. Political 
 
ECONOMIC TEACHINGS AND INFLUENCE OF LUTHER. 207 
 
 and intellectual changes can frequently be traced back to 
 their author. The economic life and activities of peoples 
 seem to grow, often carrying man along on their crest rather 
 than submitting to human direction. That is seen strikingly 
 in the progress of inventions. Watt did not invent the steam 
 engine to change industry. For a century English mining 
 industry had set the task of finding some mechanical means 
 to pump the water out of the lower levels. As the climax 
 of much experimenting came Watt's reciprocating engine, 
 crude at first, perfected as the exigencies of industry de- 
 manded it. But though it is difficult, in fact, impossible, 
 to trace out in detail the change in economic thought and 
 development of the economic situation flowing out of the 
 Reformation, the broad, incisive influence of the Reformation 
 on this side of life can, indeed, amply be proved. 
 
 To some people Luther, the prophet of religious reform, 
 has become also the final arbiter and authority in the round 
 of secular interests that go to make the sum total of modern 
 life. He is quoted on questions of government, of secular 
 education, of social reform, very much in the manner in which 
 in the IMiddle Ages the Bible and Aristotle were called upon 
 to decide the contour of the globe or the history of the Franks. 
 It is only natural that his dominating genius should win 
 this unlooked-for recognition. However, it is unjust to him. 
 History does not stand still. Generation learns from genera- 
 tion, and each one is feverishly bent to push on further than 
 the preceding. Any schoolboy to-day knows more of eco- 
 nomics than Adam Smith and more of politics than Grotius 
 or Burlemaqui. But the schoolboy's knowledge does not 
 lessen the genius of those men who first clearly conceived 
 the principles that to-day have become common property. 
 The greatest man is limited by the restrictions of his time, 
 and by them must he be measured. 
 
 So Luther's thoughts on economics frequently seem 
 crude to us to-day, who have enjoyed the experience of four 
 hundred years of unparalleled commercial expansion and 
 industrial development. They are not systematized into 
 
208 ECONOMIC TEACHINGS AND INFLUENCE OF LUTHER. 
 
 a unity, but lie scattered throughout his writings. It is well 
 to group them to gain a clear survey. 
 
 The first great question in economics is the question of 
 production and consumption. Luther's scheme of production 
 is agricultural. On the work of the husbandman rests pe- 
 culiar blessing. His is the oldest activity of man and still 
 the best. It is not difficult to understand this interest of 
 Luther. His parents were originally peasants. He himself 
 had grown up on the soil. Then agriculture was in Luther's 
 day without question the most important pursuit. Cities 
 were small and few. Perhaps, ninety per cent, of all people 
 dwelled on the land, and even the inhabitants of the cities 
 engaged, in a measure, in agricultural pursuits, as many 
 city charters humorously show forbidding above a certain 
 age pigs to be turned loose in the streets, and similar re- 
 strictions. 
 
 But though Luther emphasized agriculture, he avoided 
 a mistake common in his day, i. e., to counsel a return to 
 the land, leaving all other pursuits. That was in the pro- 
 gram of many of the radicals of those days as it has been 
 the panacea of so many Utopian reformers before and since. 
 According to Luther, the artisans, the merchants, the master 
 craftsmen, all serve their useful purpose in the world, though 
 many of their number through selfishness abuse the good 
 will of their fellow-beings. 
 
 In a progressive scheme of production a division of labor 
 is essential. It first gives opportunity to develop the in- 
 dustrial activities of a people to their highest point of 
 efficiency by assigning to each member of the community 
 his specific task in which he must become proficient. Adam 
 Smith's classic example of the English needle industry is 
 commonly cited in text-books. Luther spoke no less clearly 
 on the matter than did Adam Smith, though he used the 
 simple, homely language of the common man to point his 
 lesson. He draws his illustrations also from the needle 
 industry, not from the makers, but from the users of the 
 needle, the tailors, and states that in France, where one 
 man is assigned to the coat, another to the vest, another 
 
ECONOMIC TEACHINGS AND INFLUENCE OF LUTHER. 209 
 
 to the trousers, they can do their work much quicker and 
 better than when one man is obliged to make the whole suit. 
 
 Aside from the resources of nature and the skill and 
 organization of man, production rests on capital and credit. 
 Capital in modern days has opened the bowels of the earth, 
 drawing- forth her treasures for the use of man. Capital has 
 reared the modern industrial city with its dense population, 
 its busy factories multiplying the productiveness of man 
 a millionfold, its wonderful inventions. Capital has en- 
 larged the narrow village outlook of man until to-day the 
 ends of the world are brought together as the markets of 
 the industrial nations. What does Luther say of capital and 
 credit? The discussion of the productiveness of money con- 
 tinued throughout the medieval canon law. Money was held 
 to be unproductive, and, therefore, to take interest was con- 
 sidered sinful. It was with Roman churchmen a thoroughly 
 academic theory far removed from the actual conditions of 
 life. But it was the rule of the all-powerful Church, and 
 therefore held sway. Luther, however, basing himself on 
 Luke 6, 35, maintains that loans ought to be granted freely, 
 without the charge of interest; for if interest is taken, the 
 welfare of the neighbor is not sought. In like spirit he is 
 opposed to granting credit, and holds the best state to be 
 creditless. If credit is granted, no certain time ought to be 
 set for repayment, out of consideration for the creditor. 
 Later in life Luther did, indeed, concede that 5 or 6 per cent, 
 interest might not be absolutely wrong. 
 
 At this point Luther has been severely attacked. And one 
 familiar in any way with the growth of modern industrial 
 society is not likely to underestimate the importance of 
 capital and credit in bringing about the wonderful age of 
 iron and steel. But is it historically justified to judge Luther 
 in the sixteenth century by the facts dominant in the 
 twentieth? Hardly. Loans in Luther's day were mostlv 
 for use and not for investment. Through them the hard 
 lot of the impoverished peasants was made still harder. 
 Through them the struggling artisans wore drawn into 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 14 
 
210 ECONOMIC TEACHINGS AND INFLUENCE OF LUTHER. 
 
 a quagmire of hopeless indebtedness. Luther lived, indeed, 
 in the beginning of the commercial exx^ansion and the 
 stupendous increase of money and capital. But as is always 
 the case in such revolutions, the evils are paramount at first. 
 Prices rise exorbitantly as money becomes cheap. The poor 
 bear the burden as wages and returns for their activities 
 progress only haltingly, and the ready remedy for an emptj^ 
 purse is the usurious loan, which only makes their lot the 
 worse. To inveigh against such loans was, indeed, the 
 soundest social and economic policy. To see the importance 
 of investment capital and credit in our day requires, indeed, 
 much technical study and experience. In Luther's day it 
 was just beginning to be understood. 
 
 Production is carried on for consumption. The theory 
 of consumption materially affects the possibility of pro- 
 duction. At this point Luther radically departed from the 
 medieval ideal, and the importance of his departure cannot 
 be overstated. The Middle Age conception was negative 
 over against the world. It was ascetic. To forego the wealth, 
 beauty, and comfort of the world in self-imposed poverty 
 and self-inflicted pain was the theme written by the Church 
 on every interest of life. Luther substituted for it an 
 interest in the things which God had created. If God made 
 them, He made them for a good purpose, and man ought to 
 use them according to the will of God. Luther speaks out 
 against the luxury in eating and drinking and clothes, which 
 seems to have been a common evil of the time. Back of 
 these warnings lies, however, at all times, that broad, well- 
 balanced, healthy joy in the things which the heavenly 
 Father made for the proper -use of His children. Instead of 
 world-flight as contained in the ascetic view, there is con- 
 tained here world-conquest. That precisely has been an un- 
 derlying idea of liunian activity since the Peformation, It 
 was carried out by the age of discoveries, by the progress 
 of science, by the multiplication of inventions, by the 
 development of the economic resources of the globe. Back 
 of all of them stands Luther's healthy, sound view to use 
 all the good things of God's creation. 
 
ECOrsOMIC TEACHINGS AND INFLUENCE OF LUTHER. 211 
 
 Moreover, the positive theory of life stops not with the 
 use and consumption of things. It is more potent even in 
 the field of progressive production. If man no more is urged 
 to flee the world and honest labor in a life of fruitless con- 
 templations, what shall he do? Luther's answer is pointed. 
 He shall serve his God by honestly doing his duty in what- 
 ever calling- God has placed him. He shall work in the great 
 family of workers on earth for the sake of the common 
 welfare and the common progress. Be his work ever so 
 humble, God's blessing rests on it if it is faithfully done. 
 There is dynamic in this simple proposition, the dynamic 
 which has inspired man in four short centuries to advance 
 farther industrially than in all the centuries which preceded. 
 
 We turn now to a discussion of the next important di- 
 vision of economics, a discussion of money and exchange, 
 and with that, value and price. Ilutten was sponsor for 
 a novel remedy to alleviate the social suffering of the day. 
 He proposed to do away with all money. With him sided 
 the radicals at Muenster. Luther was not in sympathy with 
 this proposal. He granted the useful purpose which money 
 serves in facilitating exchange. He had, of course, no 
 developed theory on the question of standard or coinage, 
 questions which did not meet with consideration in those 
 days. But Luther knew the evils of bad money quite clearly. 
 The right to coin in those days was a so-called regal or royal 
 prerogative, granted at times to princes, cities, in few 
 instances to merchants. For them it was a welcome oppor- 
 tunity of gain to debase the coinage. Thomas Gresham 
 commonly receives credit for formulating the theory that 
 bad or debased money invariably drives out good. Luther 
 understands the theory quite well, though he lived a quarter 
 of a century before the great English financier. 
 
 Luther does not see the purpose and value of trade, 
 domestic and foreign, as we see it to-day. He stands, in that 
 respect, completely on the ground of the schoolmen. Thoy 
 conceived of trade that one or the other party invariably 
 was the loser. It sounds plausible enough, and is still the 
 working principle of the traveling hucksters in Kussia and 
 
212 ECONOMIC TEACHINGS AND INFLUENCE OF LUTHEE. 
 
 Turkey. In a developed commercial community it is quite 
 clear, however, that both parties are the gainers, and that 
 only on that basis can social life continue. Luther was 
 always more or less suspicious of merchants and merchant 
 transactions, and warns them time and again of the danger 
 and temptations of their calling. Especially is he opposed 
 to foreign trade, which was largely in the hands of Portugal 
 in his day. He wants a law against foreign imports, and 
 believes the money which travels out for spices, silks, and 
 other things might much better stay in Germany. How 
 common that sentiment was in those days is seen from the 
 drastic action of the Diet of Nuremberg, 1522, which 
 actually forbade German merchants from going to Portugal 
 
 Closely akin is the question of value and price. It was 
 a sore spot in that day. Prices had soared beyond all reach 
 in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Spices especially 
 had, in instances, increased 2,000 per cent, in price. On 
 every hand arose complaints and demands for drastic action. 
 In response to that popular excitement the Diet of Nurem- 
 berg took up the matter, and appointed a commission very 
 much in the way in which our Government appoints com- 
 missions to look into the rise of prices. The blame was 
 thrown on monopolies and merchants, and Luther joined in 
 the common condemnation. Some blame attaches to ther, 
 no doubt; the greater, perhaps, to the high-handed methods 
 and practises of the monopolists. A deeper and graver cause 
 for the rapid rise in prices w^as the rapid increase in precious 
 metals than the development of the Bohemian and Saxon 
 silver mines and the influx of foreign gold. Money became 
 cheap and prices rose. The only remedy for the situation 
 was gradual readjustment through competition. Luther, in 
 common with other men of his time, desired the government" 
 to fix prices according to equity. He realizes the difficulty 
 of determining "the equity," especially with the continued 
 fluctuations in the value of one article in comparison with 
 all others. But he nevertheless favors a definite state- 
 fixed price. 
 
 The last division in economics from the social stand- 
 
ECONOMIC TEACHINGS AND INFLUENCE OF LUTHEE. 213 
 
 point is the most important. To have the national income 
 distributed justly among the groups that helped to create 
 that income has been the motive for more than one bloody 
 rising in history. It played a prominent role also in the 
 popular upheaval of Eeformation days. As for the worknien, 
 Luther counsels maximum wage laws, condemning the selfish- 
 ness of the workers in seeking ever higher wages. Modern 
 statistical investigation has brought out the fact that the 
 better strategic position of the employer invariably enables 
 him to take care of himself, and that the employee needs 
 the protection of the State to enable him to barter success- 
 fully for a fair wage. However, this truism did not become 
 accepted except through the rise of the common man to 
 a position of comparative political and economic independ- 
 ence which came only within the last century. The Refor- 
 mation contributed largely to bring it about. 
 
 Nor is Luther a one-sided defendant of the possessing 
 classes. His implacable hatred of the laziness of the clerics 
 of the old church arose in religious interest, but its influence 
 was economic. It helped to restrict a parasitic class enjoy- 
 ing a large income and doing no labor. It was thus a very 
 direct step toward a more equitable distribution. The 
 French Revolution was caused by the unfair division of 
 wealth, the clergy holding a major share. A casual glance 
 through the grievances of the German nation before the 
 Reformation shows how large an issue the selfsame question 
 was then. 
 
 In the same way does he speak against the luxury and 
 excesses of the nobility and the wealthy merchants, and he 
 holds up to them the crying needs of the poor. He wants 
 the wealth distributed according to need. With different 
 classes the standard of living is different. One needs more 
 than the other. But their needs ought all to be supplied. 
 
 To attain these reforms Luther favors a great extension 
 of state activities. Before the Reformation the Church in 
 its external and internal courts had dealt with many of the~e 
 questions such as usury, just prices, and others. In Luther's 
 conception of things the Church had nothing to do with 
 
214 ECONOMIC TEACHINGS AND INFLUENCE OF LUTHER. 
 
 them, as they were purely secular. In its place stepped the 
 State. It ought to control prices. In order to do that the 
 better, it can itself buy up large quantities of food, and 
 store them to throw them on the market when prices are 
 high. The example of Joseph's corn monopoly in Egypt 
 wins his unqualified approval, and he believes the same 
 policy quite feasible in his day, as, indeed, it was, for in 
 many cases cities did store grain to put it on the market 
 in times of scarcity. In like manner the State shall control 
 wages and labor, determining them justly for all parties 
 concerned. Lastly, consumption shall fall under the control 
 of the State. It shall curtail excessive eating and drinking, 
 the squandering of money on household and clothing, forbid 
 the import of too many luxuries, and in every way see that 
 its citizens lead a frugal, well-regulat?d life. The money 
 derived from the secularization of monastic properties Luther 
 wants the State to use for building up bridges, roads, public 
 buildings, and the education of the young. 
 
 In the reform programs of Reformation days, and before, 
 communism played a very important role. Luther never 
 was greatly impressed w^ith the idea. He did not agree with 
 the claim that it is Christian. He pointed out that the 
 early Jerusalem communism was not obligatory, and there- 
 fore could not be adduced as a binding rule. He points out 
 that Christ had private property. As a practical question 
 Luther considers communism the mortal enemy of honest 
 labor. 
 
 It remains to point to some larger considerations involved 
 in the question, and sum up. The discovery and colonization 
 of foreign lands was a vers^ prominent cause in that great 
 economic activity following the Reformation. Hand in 
 hand with it went the increase of precious metals, which was 
 so necessary to finance the large undertakings characteristic 
 of modern industry. Earlier than' these was the use of the 
 national spirit, and the gradual growth of national organiza- 
 tion and laws to foster the industries of the various coun- 
 tries. These three factors were active before the Reforma- 
 tion, and in a measure contributed to the success of the 
 Reformation movement. 
 
LUTHER A I.OVKR OF XATIHK. 215 
 
 The definite organic break with the old system did not 
 come, however, until Luther burned the i^apal laws before 
 the Elster Gate in 1520. The ohl Church was not an intel- 
 lectual or theological system. It was mu organized State 
 superimposed upon the civil State, chiiming precedence, and 
 arrogating final control over every interest that may enter 
 the human breast. Its spirit was reactionary and other- 
 worldly, its ideals thoroughly impractical. If progress in 
 harnessing this world to useful purpose should come, it could 
 come only upon its ruin. There lies the great contribution 
 of Luther to the economic advance of the world. It is not 
 lessened by the fact that other currents, strong currents, 
 were converging toward that point. It is not lessened by 
 the mnny traces of medievalism in his economic thought 
 which make him a true son of his time. It is not lessene 1 
 by the host of others who thought and planned and worked 
 with him to the same end. He was the leader, the eldest 
 son of a tempestuously great period. He stepped out of 
 a world of fanciful dreams and romantic exploits into a world 
 of useful purpose. And as the world ever gives greater honor 
 to the pioneer who bears the danger and hardships of un- 
 explored lands than to the settler who succeeds him, so the 
 greater honor belongs not to these later generations who 
 carried on their shoulders the industrial advance of the 
 world. It belongs to him who blazed the trail: Martin 
 Luther. 
 
 Luther a Lover of Nature. 
 
 Rev. J. \V. Theiss, Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 It would have been a psychological phenomenon had 
 a mind as broad as Luther's and gifted with such unusual 
 versatility, shown no interest in the pages of God's wonderful 
 book of nature, had the starry vault of heaven, the velvet 
 of the lily, and the glow of the rose never spoken to him 
 the silent, but eloquent language of the almighty God. 
 
 But we need not guess at Luther's love of nature, for 
 
216 I.UTHER A LOVER OF NATURE. 
 
 it is sufficiently recorded by contemporary writers, and is 
 evident, above all, from the v^a-itings of the Refornier. 
 
 Luther knew nature. We must not judge of his knowledge 
 of nature by merely thinking of the scenery which he saw 
 on his journey to Italy, his travels through Southern Ger- 
 many, his visit to beautiful Heidelberg, and his forced 
 stay in the lofty Wartburg and the castle of Coburg, but we 
 must take into account his keenness of observation and the 
 nature of his hibors in studying and translating the Bible, 
 which is brimful of nature-references. 
 
 JSTow as to the countries he saw, — beautiful Italy, the 
 lofty Alps, the romantic Thuringia, in whose woods and fields 
 he roved after school with his well-beloved brother Jacob, — 
 it is true, he saw them mostly at a time when his mind was 
 filled with grave theological thoughts, when he endured in- 
 ward conflicts and outward strife, and was in no mood to 
 fully contemplate and enjoy nature. He had the same ex- 
 perience as our American pioneers, who almost overlooked 
 the surrounding beauties of nature because their minds 
 were bent on keeping the wolf from their doors, and their 
 eyes were searching for the lurking Indians instead of the 
 flowers in the woods. 
 
 Still, the writings of Luther show that even this stormy 
 period of his life did not completely exclude his "communion 
 with the visible forms" of nature. His comparatively more 
 quiet years, however, when he lived his married life in the 
 cloister by the city-moat of Wittenberg and tilled his own 
 garden, or betook himself to his "little oasis," or to the 
 little farm at Zuelsdorf, made up for this loss, and many 
 a moment was then given to observing the wonders of nature, 
 and to praising the power of God in every blade of grass. 
 
 As to his task of translating the Bible, with all the 
 mention of so many birds, beasts, insects, flowers, and trees, 
 it could not but rouse his attention to nature round about 
 him, and lead him to compare Oriental plants and animals 
 with those of Germany. 
 
 In fact, to find a correct translation for some Hebrew 
 words designating flowers, etc., often gave Luther considerable 
 
LUTHER A LOVER OF NATURE. 217 
 
 trouble. On one occasion his knowledge of tlie hyacinth is 
 too limited. He is puzzled because the Bible speaks of its 
 color as being blue, whilst Luther is acquainted with none 
 but the yellow kind. On another occasion he blankly con- 
 fesses his ignorance of a certain root mentioned in the 
 Hebrew text. Now all these many occasions for weighin,'^' 
 terms and finding accurate translations were certainly con- 
 ducive to close observation and nature-stud^'. 
 
 Just to illustrate how often he mentions nature, and 
 how remarkably well he knew it, take, for example, what he 
 says of birds. The swallow he describes as to its color, its 
 noisy twitter, its uselessness, and its aggressiveness; "for," 
 says he, "it molests the cows." Of the sparrows he says that 
 they are a very pest to the peasants, robbing, stealing, de- 
 vouring anything they can lay hold of: oats, barley, wheat, 
 rye, apples, pears, cherries, and so on; birds that rapidly 
 multiply, and whose entire song consists of "Scrip, scirp." 
 The cuckoo he describes as a dirty bird, which sucks the eggs 
 of other birds, lays his own into their nests, and expects them 
 to hatch them. The call of the cuckoo is merely his own 
 name, whilst his habitat is generally found where the 
 lark is. Of the peacock he reports that it is a very jealous 
 bird, and he classes it with doves, pheasants, siskins, finches, 
 wrens, thistle-birds, robins, and thrushes among the "proud 
 birds." Of crows and blackbirds he gives it as his opinion 
 that they enjoy their own cawing. He shows how birds 
 during winter lie apparently dead in nests, stone-rifts, crev- 
 ices, and hollow places along river banks, till spring calls 
 them to new life. He tells of the ostrich how hard-hearted 
 it is, not attending to hatching or tending of its offspring, 
 and how it hides its head in the sand. He knows how owls 
 and bats shun the light, and how the magpie, by persistent 
 effort, is taught to talk. He speaks of the filthy nest of the 
 hoopoe and of the cleanness of the dove. He describes 
 pigeons "with white shining wings like silver, but beauti- 
 fully green and golden on the back, where the wings meet, 
 birds without meanness." He mentions the keen eyes of 
 the falcon and the circling of the hawk, who tries to take 
 
218 LUTHER A LOVER OF NATURE. 
 
 the chicks that hide under their mother's wings. He has 
 watched the buzzard looking for carrion, and has seen the 
 pigeon, sparrow, chicken, and yellow-breast pick up the seed 
 of the sower from the furrows. He is acquainted with the 
 sweet song of the birds and also with the senseless chatter 
 of the parrot. He knows well the fowler's art, who snares 
 the birds with nets, grain, and decoy-birds. 
 
 Space forbids the enumeration of the multitude of things 
 in nature mentioned in Luther's writings. He has watched 
 the clumsiness of cows and the helpless movements of hogs, 
 eager to feed, which finally fall into the trough. He has 
 noticed how spiders catch flies, and how they extract poison 
 from the very rose which yields honey to the bee. He knows 
 the gentleness and helplessness of sheep, and minutely de- 
 scribes their ways. 
 
 And as he studies animals, so likewise plants. He knows 
 the labor of the peasant and the task of the wine-grower, the 
 preparation of the soil, the pruning and suckering of vines. 
 He expresses his surprise how the bare country around Wit- 
 tenberg produces good wine, and how flowers which cling 
 to the naked rock yield honey to the bee. In short, the 
 observant reader of Luther's w^orks cannot but notice how 
 well the Reformer is acquainted with nature. 
 
 Just one example to show how closely he observes. Of 
 hens he writes : "There is no other bird, indeed, scarcely any 
 other animal, which so warmly and seriously takes care of 
 its young ones, or chicks, as does the hen. Behold how she 
 lives and acts for her chicks, how she even changes her voice 
 and the way of calling them when she leads them. See how 
 she behaves and spreads her wings, when you come near 
 her chicks, yea, how she flies at you. No other animal has 
 such warmth of heart as the hen." 
 
 But Luther's eyes have not only seen these smaller things 
 in nature, (luite often he also speaks of the most majestic 
 handiworks of the Creator: the sun, the moon, and the 
 stars, the mountains and the clouds, the eclipses, the thunder- 
 storms, the tides, and the earthquakes. 
 
 But how did Luther regard nature? Was his mind 
 
LUTHER A LOVER OF NATURE. 219 
 
 poisoned with the hypotheses of a spurious science which 
 tries to deprive the Creator of His glory, and put a halo 
 around mud ? By no means. Luther regards nature not as 
 an independent force, but as a creature obeying God, always 
 and everywhere under His rule and guidance. He does not, 
 like some of our foolish-wise naturalists, hold the "laws of 
 nature" to be unchangeable regulations to which God Him- 
 self must submit, but merely rules of His own sovereign 
 devising, according to which He ordinarily guides the uni- 
 verse, but which He at once with sovereign power casts aside 
 when they do not suit His purposes. 
 
 Speaking of the solid mountains and the mighty sea, 
 Luther exclaims: "God possesses the art of drying up the 
 ocean, as though a bridge were thrown across it, and to make 
 the soft water as hard as a wall, whilst, on the other hand, 
 the mountains become as soft as a lake or river." 
 
 That nature is God's creation, a manifestation of His 
 power, wisdom, and goodness, a precious gift even now, after 
 it has been sadly marred by sin, is the underlying thought 
 of Luther's love of nature. This love is no idolatry, no mis- 
 guided worship of blind forces, but a healthy, noble, reverent 
 way of looking at God's creation. He truly "looks through 
 nature up to nature's God," and this clear vision in the 
 light of the Word of God makes his utterances regarding 
 nature sane and safe. 
 
 Luther's writings so abound with splendid passages show- 
 ing how he sees God's handiwork in all nature that it is 
 difficult for that reason to make merely a selection. . See 
 how reverently he speaks of this matter in the following 
 words: "In short, in all, even the smallest of creatures, yea, 
 in their members also, the omnipotence of God is plainly 
 seen, and great miracles are laid before us. For what man, 
 be he ever so powerful, wise, or holy, can bring forth a fig- 
 tree out of a fig, or make one fig out of another, or from 
 one cherry-stone make another or create a cherry-tree? Or 
 how can he even know how God creates, preserves, and multi- 
 plies everything?" 
 
 Again he says : "One cannot grasp God, and yet one feels 
 
220 I.UTHER A LOVER OF XATURE. 
 
 His presence, for everywhere He shows Himself and makes 
 Himself known, and He proves Himself a benevolent Creator, 
 who blesses us with all good gifts, to which sun and moon, 
 heaven and earth, and all the fruits of the soil bear witness." 
 
 Because Luther so clearly beholds God in nature, he is 
 convinced that it is the duty of every creature to praise the 
 Lord. The Christian's principal aim and purpose, he says, 
 should be to praise God, to magnify Him "as the sole Creator 
 and the Lord of all that is in heaven and earth; not only 
 because He has created us, but because He has made every- 
 thing for our service and benefit. Sun and moon must give 
 us light by day and night; the heavens must give us rain, 
 clouds, shade, and dew; the earth must yield us various 
 plants and animals ; the water must provide us with fish 
 and countless necessities; the air must give us fowls and 
 our breath; the fire must warm us, and serve us in many 
 other ways. And who can enumerate all gifts of God? One 
 cannot better state them, nor otherwise, than in these brief 
 words : "The works of the Lord are great." Luther is sure 
 that the works and benefits of God cannot be counted "though 
 one would count from now on to all eternity," and cannot be 
 named "though all leaves and blades of grass were tongues." 
 
 At the same time he knows well that nature now, in 
 consequence of the fall of man, is greatly corrupted and 
 not as beautiful as when it came from the hands of the 
 Creator. Of the sun, of whose glory he so often speaks in 
 glowing terms, he makes this remarkable statement : "The 
 sun is not at all as pretty, bright and clear now as it was 
 when it was created, but through man's fault is about half 
 dark, rusty, and soiled." He is convinced that on Judgment 
 Day God will cleanse and burnish the sun "that it will be 
 brighter and clearer than in the beginning." 
 
 Despite all the ravages which sin has made on nature, 
 Luther is sure that it still speaks to us of God, that it is 
 worthy of daily contemplation, and that the book of nature 
 contains many lessons for us all. He admonishes us to learn 
 the articles of resurrection when we see the sower casting 
 seed into the ground, which becomes grain in due time. He 
 
JLUTHER A LOVER OF NATURE. 221 
 
 writes: "With this farming- which I am now doing, with 
 my sowing and pUmting, God would teach me the work 
 which He will some time perform upon me." 
 
 The testimony which nature gives to the existence and 
 benevolence of God, according to Luther, loudly cries out 
 against unbelief. lie writes: "In such a weighty matter 
 little testimony or small witnesses would not be sufficient; 
 here the beautiful, high, lofty heavens with the noble sun 
 and moon and all the stars must take the stand. Here also 
 the earth with all her plants, with all birds and beasts, and 
 the great wide sea with all its fish, and everything that stirs 
 therein, must appear for their God, and give testimony 
 against the ungodly to uphold His divine glory and justice, 
 and to confirm His judgments." 
 
 Luther shows that human reason and wisdom can yet of 
 itself get so far that it argues, "although feebly," that there 
 must be one, eternal, divine being which has created all 
 things, governs and preserves them, because there are such 
 excellent creatures in heaven and earth, so wonderful, orderly, 
 and firmly established, moved and governed by His hand. 
 Reason must, says he, admit that they did not get there 
 by accident, and that they cannot move of their own 
 accord, but that there must needs be a Creator and Lord 
 by whom all things are made and governed as St. Paul shows 
 Rom. 1, 20. He is therefore quite sure that all who live 
 and breathe, and fail to perceive their God, are without 
 excuse for their agnosticism. He tersely says : "There is 
 no cow. no calf, no sheep, when it bawls and bellows, thit 
 does not bawl over all the godless as over God's enemies, 
 who are not worthy to enjoy them to their benefit, yea, to 
 eat a single morsel of bread, or to take a drink of water." 
 He exclaims: "O God, what a fearful and terrible judgment 
 will befall the world because it does not see these miracles ! 
 Xote at this point what the world really is, what a devilish- 
 thing it is ! It is hardened and deluded, and does not see 
 God's miracles." 
 
 Luther is angered at the ungodly world, which denies the 
 Creator. The fall of man, he points f)ut, is re-ponsible f<ir 
 
222 I.UTHER A LOVER OF NATURE. 
 
 man's deplorable blindness. He gives vent to his feelings 
 in these pathetic words : "The world, after the fall of Adam, 
 knows neither God nor the creatures, lives in all things 
 contrary to the glory of God, praises, honors, and glorifies 
 Him not. O what fine, beautiful, cheering thoughts man 
 would have had if he had not fallen! How he would have 
 beheld God in all creatures ! Even in the smallest and most 
 ordinary flowers he w^ould have contemplated God's omnip- 
 otence, wisdom, and benevolence." Adam and all his chil- 
 dren, Luther says, might have rejoiced over the creation, but 
 "on account of the miserable, ruinous fall of man there is 
 no such rejoicing; on the contrary, the Creator is blasphemed 
 and dishonored." 
 
 Luther believes that the right and reverent contemplation 
 of nature is decreasing more and more as sin increases and 
 the end of the world draws near. He thinks that people 
 before the Flood enjoyed nature better than is done now. 
 Speaking of the Antediluvian people, he remarks : "They 
 diligently contemplated God's creatures, both in heaven and 
 on earth, and took great pleasure in them. Then there was 
 m(!)re delight in a fresh, cool spring of w^ater than there is 
 now in the choicest of wines." 
 
 Nature is crippled by sin, and man, who was fully to enjoy 
 it, has fallen into sin; but nature shall be renewed and 
 glorified. Luther, in strong faith and ardent hope, writes : 
 "How beautiful our Lord and God has created this perish- 
 able temporal kingdom, to w^it, heaven and earth, and all 
 that it contains! How much more beautiful will He make 
 that incorruptible, eternal kingdom !" And this glorious 
 new creation will never be subjected to misuse by world or 
 devil. The groaning of nature will be at an end. 
 
 ^Meanwhile we Christians will patiently wait and enjoy 
 nature in its present form as well as we may; indeed, Luther 
 says that the Christian alone can rightly enjoy nature. 
 
 Luther is certainly a model to us in this sane Christian 
 enjoyment, which consists in loving nature as God's gift 
 to man, but puts the love of God and the worship of the 
 Creator far, far above it. He says: "All other things are 
 
LUTHER A LOVER OF NATURE. 223 
 
 but chaff when compared with Christ, the Son of God. For 
 lie has created the heavens, the earth, and all creatures, 
 whereof one might fitly sing and rejoice." Again he says: 
 "Now, if I keep this in mind that God's Son was made 
 man, and if I believe in Him, then all creatures appear 
 n liinidredfold more beautiful than they now do. You 
 will truly understand what the sun, moon, stars, trees, apples, 
 and pears are if you understand that He is Lord, and that 
 everything is concerned with Him." 
 
 The "origin of the species," which is such a stumbling- 
 block to the ungodly scientist, is to Luther not a mystery 
 that he tries to solve by some silly hypothesis, but as clear 
 as daylight: it is an arrangement of the Creator; and the 
 continuance of the species is to Luther's mind an evidence 
 that there is an overruling Providence. He writes: "A cow 
 always brings forth a cow, a horse, a horse, etc. ISTo cow 
 gives birth to a horse, nor a horse to a cow. Therefore it 
 must incontrovertibly follow that there is something which 
 governs all things. We can easily apprehend God from the 
 sure and unchangeable movement, course, and circling of 
 the stars of heaven." 
 
 Luther calls it a satanic delusion when people think they 
 must search out with their benighted reason those things 
 which God has clearly revealed. In speaking of the mystery 
 of the resurrection of the body, he says: "Thus does Satan 
 blind people that they cannot rightly see any work of God; 
 again, that they do pay attention to the Word, but would 
 comprehend everything with their finite minds." This is 
 both sinful and foolish, says Luther, because it is absolutely 
 impossible. He says: "Should you thoroughly examine into 
 a single grain of seed in the field, the shock, as it were, of 
 admiration would take your life's breath away. God's works 
 are so infinitely superior to ours." All these remarks of 
 Luther tend to show us that he does not at all agree with 
 the modern infidel scientist, but sees nature as a simple, 
 reverent child of God. 
 
 Hearing all these expressions of Luther's nature-loving, 
 pious heart, the question is easily answered whether or not 
 
224 I.UTHER A LOVER OF NATURE. 
 
 Lutlier loved nature, and it remains only to notice in what 
 manner he gave expression to it. 
 
 Lnther was first and always a theologian, and does not 
 give expression to his love of nature in every instance where 
 a superficial student of the Bible would expect it, e. g., in 
 his commentary on the 19th Psalm. Here the reader might 
 expect to find some glowing eulogy of nature. He will be 
 disappointed, because Luther, as a trusty theologian, shows 
 that these words of God do not treat of nature, but of the 
 far grander glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whose 
 splendor outshines all the sunrises man ever beheld. 
 
 Luther's love of nature is throughout in due subjection 
 to his theology, and his knowledge of nature is fitly employed 
 to illustrate the power of the Almighty. How great his love 
 of nature was is readily seen from this remark: "I believe 
 that in the life to come we shall have nothing else to do than 
 to ponder over and admire our Creator and His creatures." 
 Here in life Luther often lacked the time to fully indulge 
 in his love of nature. The busj^, overburdened theologian, 
 who constantly studied, who preached thousands of sermons, 
 translated the entire Bible, wrote great numbers of books, 
 and in letters and otherwise counseled hundreds of people, 
 could rarely go out into the realm of nature merely to rest, 
 or to enjoy and to drink in its beauty, and we hear of but 
 one instance where he went into the forest just to enjoy it. 
 
 But Luther's love of nature, nevertheless, shows itself in 
 many ways. Besides hundreds of direct references to nature, 
 we often meet with splendid comparisons drawn from nature 
 in his writings. The Bible, e. g., he fitly compares to rain, 
 which moistens and refreshes the earth; to a fountain, from 
 which we draw living water; to a tree, which has branches, 
 limbs, and twigs full of luscious fruit. He tells us that 
 he had "knocked against every tree of this forest, and had 
 plucked and shaken from it a few apples and pears." 
 
 In another passage he says of the preaching of the Gospel, 
 as well as of the disappointments connected with it, that it 
 is "like the trees in springtime, when every branch is full 
 of blossoms, and people wonder how they would be able to 
 
liUTHER A LOVER OF NATURE. 225 
 
 store all the expected fruit, till a rain comes upon them, and 
 the wind knocks off nine-tenths of the blossoms, and the 
 remaining tenth is partly worm-eaten." 
 
 One excellent comparison he draws in these words : "When 
 the sun rises and darkens [outshines] the moon, that moon 
 and stars lose their brightness, yea, are seen no longer during 
 the day, because the light of the sun is too great in compari- 
 son. Moon and stars would gladly give us their light, but 
 the sun with his glare and brightness is too strong for them. 
 Thus it is also in this matter: the prophets are the stars 
 and the moon, but Christ is the Sun, and wherever He 
 appears, preaches, and shines. His Word is of such importance 
 that the others seem as nothing in comparison and are not 
 seen aside of Him, although the moon and the stars also 
 shine very brightly. Thus Moses, the Law, and the prophets 
 are indeed learned and fine preachers, but compared with 
 the preaching of Christ they amount to nothing." These 
 and a hundred other fine comparisons from nature show 
 how lovingly Luther's mind dwelt upon God's creation. 
 
 In three renowned letters, one of them written to 
 Dr. Brueck, another to his family, while he watched the 
 proceedings at Augsburg from his seclusion on the Coburg, 
 and the third to his beloved son Haenschen, he resorts 
 altogether to nature. 
 
 In the letter to Dr. Brueck he speaks of stars and the 
 vault of heaven and the clouds as being upheld by the hand 
 of the Almighty, showing Dr. Brueck that God would like- 
 wise uphold the cause of the Reformation without human aid. 
 
 In the letter to his family written at Coburg, he face- 
 tiously likens the great conclave at Augsburg to a gathering 
 of blackbirds, which he noticed from his window in the 
 castle, and he goes into a lengthy description of their doings. 
 
 In the letter to his Haenschen he seeks to give his little 
 hoy joy, and draws for him the very finest picture of child- 
 like happiness he can possibly find, and it results in a nature- 
 essay — a garden "with beautiful apples, pears, cherries, and 
 plums," and "a mossy place in the middle of the garden for 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 15 
 
226 LUTHEE A LOVEE OF NATUEE. 
 
 the children to skip about." Do not these letters argue that 
 Luther was at heart an ardent lover of nature? 
 
 If proof were wanting, the culture of his own garden at 
 Wittenberg and Zuelsdorf, where he sowed and planted for 
 his recreation, would certainly show his love of nature. Once 
 he asks his friend Link at Nuremberg to send various kinds 
 of seed, and reports how his cucumbers and melons thrive 
 "in spite of Duke George of Saxony and King Henry of 
 England," as he playfully adds. Again he asks Link to 
 send him a few pomegranates. To Spalatin he writes: 
 "I have made a garden and have dug a well. Come, and 
 you shall be crowned with roses and lilies." So here is true 
 love of nature. 
 
 This is further evidenced by his choice of a pleasure- 
 ground, as we might call it. Wittenberg itself was not 
 a beautiful or romantic town, and the surroundings were not 
 inviting. Myconius says of Wittenberg that it had "small, 
 old, ugly, low, wooden houses, and resembled a village rather 
 than a city." Luther himself writes: "Wittenberg lies at 
 the very outskirts of civilization; if it had gone a little 
 beyond, they would have been in the midst of Barbary." 
 He joked about the sandhills, and wondered how God was 
 able to bring forth out of the rock corn and good wine. 
 Yet his love of nature helped him even here to find a charming 
 oasis in the midst of the desert, a place now called Luther's 
 Well. A hill near the Elbe River, a mile or more from the 
 Elster Gate, where a spring of the purest water bubbled, so 
 pleased Luther that he eventually built him a small house 
 there, and resorted occasionally to it for his studies, or to 
 spend an hour with his friends. 
 
 Luther's love of nature never flagged. His last sermon, 
 held at Eisleben a few days before his death, is still rich in 
 nature-love, and shows him to be a splendid observer and 
 admirer of God's handiwork. 
 
 To summarize, then, the attitude of Dr. Martin Luther 
 towards nature: Luther is not a naturalist like Audubon, 
 Thoreau, or Muir, not a devotee of nature and dreamer like 
 Wordsworth, Bryant, or Eichendorff, but a sane Christian 
 
MUSIC AXD THE REFORM ATIOX. 227 
 
 lover of nature, who is, first of all, a theologian, and who 
 looks upon the book of nature as written by the hand of 
 Almighty God to teach us His power, wisdom, and goodness. 
 Luther is a true lover of nature; for him nothing in nature 
 is too small to admire, and to him the heavens and the earth, 
 the stars and the sea, the forests and the flowers of the field, 
 the birds and the waving blades of grass alike sing the praises 
 of Almightj'' God. 
 
 Music and the Reformation. 
 
 Prof. Paul Keuter, Teachers' Seminary, beward, Nebr. 
 
 The children of God have from time immemorial ex- 
 pressed their religious emotions through the tonal art. It 
 was the language in which the Israelites addressed Jehovah, 
 playing cymbals, psalteries, and harps, and lifting up their 
 voice in joyous thanksgiving. It was employed bj'- the early 
 Christians, the apostles themselves exhorting them to sing- 
 psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs in praise of their Re- 
 deemer. It is used to-day always and everywhere in the 
 service of Him who has given us this medium that we may 
 thereby glorify His name. 
 
 And whenever an upward movement was in progress in 
 the Church of God, it was accompanied by a fresh outburst 
 of poetry and song among the common people, proclaiming 
 in jubilant tones the dawn of reviving faith. During the 
 great persecutions, the blood of which became the seed of 
 the Church, nothing could restrain the faithful followers of 
 Christ, who suffered ignominy and death rather than renounce 
 their Savior, to chant their songs in the catacombs and 
 subterranean vaults, "the roofs reechoing," according to 
 St. Ambrose, "with the cries of ^Alleluia,' which in sound 
 were like the waves of the surging sea." And at the time 
 of the Reformation, when the Gospel again was preached in 
 its purity and fulness, the people took recourse to music 
 to express the joy and gladness that filled their hearts. They 
 had long been silent, and liad hung their harps on the wil- 
 lows. Held in the Babylon of popery for many centuries, 
 
228 MUSIC AND THE EEFOEMATION. 
 
 they could not but mourn and sigh for deliverance. But 
 when the deliverance came, and they found their freedom 
 in Christ Jesus, they broke forth in a song which was like 
 the shout of a warrior who, after mortal combat, has tri- 
 umphed over his foe. 
 
 And the instrument God chose as the head and front of 
 the movement to restore to the people a musical service in 
 keeping with the spirit of Scripture, was none other than 
 the great Reformer himself, who had liberated them from 
 the oppressive yoke of Antichrist. A remarkable man was 
 Z\Iartin Luther, remarkable alike as a Christian, as a scholar, 
 as a theologian, as the leader of the Reformation, as a poet, 
 as an art-connoisseur, as a musician. Was there ever a man 
 more universally gifted, and was there ever a man more 
 singularly fitted to carry on in its various phases the Refor- 
 mation in the New Testament Church? Before entering 
 into the nature of his work, a brief reference to his musical 
 education and inclinations will be appropriate. 
 
 Being passionately fond of music, the miner's son early 
 became a member of the school-choir, called Currende, and 
 as such was instructed in elementary counterpoint, the duty 
 of the Ourrendani being to assist at divine services. The 
 story is well known how one day, when Luther caroled his 
 panevi propter Deum in the streets of Eisenach, his hearty 
 singing and gentle manners made a deep impression on 
 Ursula Cotta, the pious wife of the burgomaster, who took 
 him in and gave him a seat at her well-filled board. Through- 
 out his long life the love of music remained with him. 
 Whether he was in a melancholy or in a happy mood, he 
 would often gather around him his family and friends, and 
 sing with them, and perform on the lute and flute. He had 
 a clear, strong tenor voice, and played like a virtuoso on 
 the lute, so that on his journeys he would often attract the 
 attention of the passers-by. Those who were not moved by 
 a delightful masterpiece he called "coarse clogs," "only fit 
 to listen to the bowlings of animals," His letters to profes- 
 sional musicians show how he exalted "the noble art" above 
 all other arts, placing it next to theology, and recognizing 
 
MUSIC AND THE REFORMATION. 229 
 
 its power as an inspiring and truth-conveying aid in the work 
 of the Reformation. That he was more than a practical 
 musician, and possessed considerable theoretical knowledge, 
 we know from the fact that he was able to detect offenses 
 against strict canonic part-writing, and that he would, as 
 Ratzeberger relates, rectify such passages "according to his 
 own intelligence." Only a musician well versed in art can 
 enter minutely into the nature of a composition as does 
 Luther with reference to an intricate motet by Josquin de 
 Pres, one of the most celebrated composers of his time. 
 
 Surely, Luther possessed the requisite musicianship to 
 enable him to undertake the leadership in reforming ec- 
 clesiastic music, and great things did he accomplish for the 
 music of the Church and for tonal art in general; indeed, 
 his influence was so far-reaching that he is recognized as 
 a musical factor by leading authorities. Every encyclopedia 
 records his achievements; Grove's Dictionary of Music de- 
 votes two entire pages to "Luther, the Musician." 
 
 Turning now to a discussion of the nature of his work, we 
 find that it consisted chiefly in the revision of the liturgy 
 and the introduction of congregational singing. In revising 
 the order of worship, Luther displayed the same sound judg- 
 ment that characterized his other reforms, removing only 
 what was not consistent with the changes in doctrine. In 
 this he differed radically with some of the sectarians, who 
 in their attitude towards the fine arts went far beyond the 
 Scriptures. Being filled with antipathy to all existing 
 usages, tliey purposed to arrest the growth of art. A fierce 
 spirit of iconoclasm swept over a portion of the Reformed 
 Church. Every vestige of prescribed form was renounced, 
 monuments and stained glass windows destroyed, organs 
 demolished, choirs banished from their places of worship, 
 and the service reduced to the baldest simplicity. In the 
 century following the Reformation the Puritans took similar 
 steps under Cromwell. To such fanatics Luther replied : 
 "I do not think that all arts should be trampled under foot 
 by the Gospel and vanish before it, as some deluded clericals 
 [Zwingli, Carlstadt, etc.] pretend. I long to see all arts, 
 
230 MUSIC AND THE REFORMATION, 
 
 especially music, in the service of Him who created them." 
 Fortunately, the great body of Protestants accepted their 
 leader's wise counsel, and retained the art of music as the 
 handmaid of religion. In all his reforms Luther held his 
 mission to be that of a purifier, not a destroyer. The change 
 was, however, sufficiently great to revolutionize completely 
 the church music system. "That the Word of God might be 
 administered in the congregation with vigor and in purity, 
 that they might become familiar with it, appropriate it, and 
 through it be led to approach God with prayer, supplication, 
 and thanksgiving, — such remained the sole aim of Luther 
 in the arrangements which he made at Wittenberg, and 
 desired to introduce in other places. ... As the great 
 existing abuses in the public service of the church he indicates 
 that the Word of God is not proclaimed, while, upon the 
 other hand, unchristian fables and lies have been introduced 
 into the ecclesiastical lections, hymns, and sermons, and such 
 services are conducted as a w^ork which is expected to merit 
 the favor of God. He now made thorough work in the ex- 
 clusion of these innovations." (Koestlin, Life of Luther.) 
 The initial steps were the provisional Formulae Missae 
 (1523) and the new order for the Deutsche Messe, sung at 
 Wittenberg on Christmas Day, 1525. Kapellmeister Conrad 
 Rupf and Cantor Johann Walther were closely associated 
 with him in this work. They had been called to Wittenberg 
 by command of the Elector of Saxony that Luther might 
 consult them as to the shape the mass should take, and the 
 music to be set to it. Walther, who remained Luther's friend 
 and "musical Melanchthon," relates: "He kept me three 
 long weeks at Wittenberg to write choral notes to the 
 Gospels and Epistles, until the first German mass should 
 be sung in the parish church. I was present at the per- 
 formance, and by direction of the Doctor took a copy of 
 the mass to T organ for presentation to his Grace, the 
 Elector." Walther further states that Luther himself in- 
 vented choral tunes on the flute, and underlaid them to the 
 Gospels and Epistles, singing them to the criticizing co- 
 adjutors, who noted them down. 
 
MUSIC AND THE REFORMATION. 231 
 
 The "German Mass" has the usual order -and. embraces, 
 1) a people's hymn or a German psalm, 2) Kyrie Eleison 
 and Gloria in Excelsis (Allein Gott in der Hoeh' sei Ehr'), 
 3) collect, 4) the Epistle for the day, 5) congregational hymn, 
 6) the Gospel for the day, sung by the minister, 7) the 
 Nicene Creed, recited by the whole congregation, or the 
 German parap]n*ase of the Creed, "Wir glauben all' an einen 
 Gott," sung by the people, 8) the sermon, 9) the Lord's 
 Prayer and exhortation preliminary to the Sacrament, 10) the 
 words of institution, sung by the minister, 11) singing of 
 the German Sanctus, 12) Agnus Dei, or in German, "O Lamm 
 Gottes unschuldig," followed by the distribution of the Lord's 
 Supper, 13) collect of thanksgiving, 14) benediction. It will 
 be observed that Luther retained in the mass the word signi- 
 fying the whole public service, and some of the prayers of 
 the Catholic liturgy; but he removed all objectionable 
 features that had been introduced during the rule of papacy, 
 such as the canon, which characterized the mass as a priestly 
 act, the invocation of the saints, the commemoration of the 
 dead, and all the pomp and paraphernalia of a gaudy worship. 
 The adoration of the saints and the virgin-mother w^as sub- 
 stituted by the worship of Christ, the only Mediator, and 
 the preaching of the Word was made the central feature of 
 the service, about which all revolves. Thus the reformation 
 of doctrines led to a reconstruction of worship on the basis 
 of Scripture, "bringing the worshipers into direct com- 
 munication with God in Christ through the Word of God 
 and through prayer, without the obstruction of human media- 
 tors." (E. Dickinson, Music in the History of the Western. 
 Church.) It will be understood that it was far from Luther's 
 intention to impose any particular form of worship on the 
 Evangelical party, yet the Deutsche Messe has been virtually 
 used in the Lutheran Church until this day, the various 
 bodies differing only in minor particulars. 
 
 We must not fail to emphasize the fact that Luther intro- 
 duced into worship in place of Latin the language of the 
 people, and congregational singing as a substitute for the 
 chanting of the priests. Except the prominence given to the 
 
232 MUSIC AXD THE REFORMATION. 
 
 preaching of the Gospel, no detail of his liturgical reform 
 was as important as the labor he bestowed upon the intro- 
 duction of congregational singing; none, surely, was greater 
 in its influence. With limitless zeal Luther applied himself 
 to the problem of producing a new hymnody for the people. 
 True it is, hymns existed before the Reformation, even in 
 the vernacular (see Wackernagel's collection) ; but they were 
 tolerated only on special occasions, the laity not being per- 
 mitted to sing them in the liturgical services. The whole 
 theory of the musical system being oligarchical, singing had 
 become a function of the clergy. Thus the Catholic Church 
 was a spoiler of the rights of the people, who were condemned 
 to be passive spectators of the ceremonial pageant, silent 
 listeners to the priestly chant, which they could not under- 
 stand. Moreover, excepting several fine specimens by 
 Ambrose, Prudentius, and others, the pre-Ref ormation hymns 
 were grossly offensive and blasphemous, given chiefly to the 
 worship of the saints and the Virgin Mary, some going so 
 far as to teach the preexistence of Mary with God at the 
 creation, that all things are created in her and for her. 
 It was, therefore, not merely out of love of song, but also 
 from necessity that the leader of the Reformation became 
 the father of German hymnology. While he was engaged in 
 translating the Psalms, "the spirit of the Psalmist came over 
 him" and the first hymns of the Reformation were produced. 
 Luther is the author of thirty-six hymns. Some of them 
 were translated from the Latin, as, "Herr Gott, dich loben 
 wir"; others were paraphrases of Psalms and other portions 
 of Scripture, as, "Aus tiefer Not schrei' ich zu dir" and 
 "Jesaiah, dem Propheten, das geschah"; again others were 
 strictly original, as, "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort." 
 Luther incited his coworkers to write and adapt hymns, and 
 soon a host of hymn-writers sprang up, who were all more 
 or less influenced by Luther, among them being Justus Jonas, 
 Paul Ebert, Nicolaus Herman, and Margrave Albrecht of 
 Brandenburg. 
 
 No other jjoems of their class ever aroused so much in- 
 terest among the people. Soon after the first hymn-book of 
 
MUSIC AXD THE REFORMATION. 233 
 
 Protestant Germany was published by Walther in 1524, four 
 different printing-presses were sending forth edition upon 
 edition until, at the time of Luther's death, no less than 
 forty-seven collections had appeared. Who can tell what 
 a blessing these hymns have been to Christendom^ Scat- 
 tered far and wide, they became, next to the German Bible 
 xind the German sermon, the most powerful agency in dis- 
 seminating the new evangel, and furthering the cause of 
 the Ixeformation, "a powerful witness to the great truths 
 which were the corner-stone of the doctrines of the reformed 
 Church. They constantly emphasize the principle that sal- 
 vation comes not through works or any human mediation, 
 but only through the merits of Christ and faith in His aton- 
 ing blood. The whole machinery of Mariolatry, hagiolatry, 
 priestly absolution, and personal merit, which had so long 
 stood between the individual soul and Christ, was broken 
 down. Christ is no longer a stern, hardly appeasable Judge, 
 but a loving Savior, yearning over mankind, stretching out 
 hands of invitation, asking not a slavish submission to formal 
 observances, but a free, spontaneous offering of the heart. 
 This was the message that thrilled Germany." (Edw. Dickin- 
 son, Music in the History of the Western Church.) Countless 
 stories are told showing how quickly the hymns of Luther 
 passed into common use, and sang the Reformation into 
 the hearts of the people. Young and old sang them in public 
 and in private, in church and on the market-place; they 
 wore, so to speak, in every one's mouth. Thus in Magdeburg, 
 in 1524, an old man was sitting in the market-place, singing 
 them to the people, and selling the broad sheets, when the 
 burgomaster, on his way from church, saw the crowd, and had 
 the "evil fellow" cast into prison for his "heretical" singing. 
 But as many as two hundred burghers went straight up to 
 the citj"" hall to intercede for him. Such a deputation could 
 not be resisted; no, nor yet the two little boys who, at the 
 close of a popish sermon in one of the churches at Luebeck, 
 just as the preacher was going to commence his prayers 
 for the dead, rose to strike up one of Luther's noblest Refor- 
 mation hymns, in which presently the whole congregation 
 
234 MUSIC AND THE REFORMATION. 
 
 joined, — a practise afterwards repeated in that good old 
 town whenever an antievangelical sermon was preached, till 
 at last the city council felt it needful to open the pulpit to- 
 the Gospel ministry. A plan, this, more effectual and far 
 more pleasant than that of the celebrated Janet Geddes for 
 abolishing the mass, not by hurling footstools at the heads of 
 unlucky priests, but by singing them down in Gospel praises. 
 To come to even higher effects: it is credibly testified by 
 one who lived close to that time that many hundreds were 
 converted to the true faith by means of that second earliest 
 hymn of Luther "Dear Christians, One and All Rejoice" 
 (Nun f rent euch, lieben Christen g'mein). A Carmelite 
 opponent of the Reformer relates how the cause of Luther 
 had been marvelously advanced through these hymns, which,, 
 as he says, were sung, not merely in churches and schools, 
 but in houses and workshops, in markets, streets, and fields. 
 Nay, strangest of all, such was their popularity that they were 
 even introduced in the Roman Catholic churches, and some 
 of them actually appear in a popish hjann-book printed at 
 Cologne in 1610, "by order of the Prince-Bishop of Spires." 
 Thus the hymns proved a force with which emperors, bishops, 
 and all the powers of darkness grappled in vain. "By his 
 songs he has conquered us," exclaimed Cardinal Cajetan, and 
 an indignant Jesuit declared that "Luther's songs have 
 damned more souls than all his books and speeches." There 
 was truth in the assertion that Luther had made more con- 
 verts by his hymns than by his preaching. 
 
 Before speaking of other elements of the musical service, 
 we must mention that hymn which, among all hymns of the 
 Reformation, reigns supreme, and has become the watch- 
 word of Protestantism. Although Luther drew his inspira- 
 tion for "Ein' feste Burg" from the 46th Psalm, yet nothing 
 could be more original in phraseology, nothing more char- 
 acteristic of the spirit of the Reformation. It is by common 
 consent the grandest of all hymn-tunes. Born of deep tribu- 
 lation, in the disastrous year of 1527, it utters tones of de- 
 fiance and of the all-conquering power of the Christian faith. 
 It is a song "with which armies have been nerved for victory. 
 
MUSIC AND THE REFOKMATIOX. 235 
 
 with which myriads of Christian worshipers still fan their 
 devotion as they R-ather around the altars of their Lord, and 
 which is to this day the noblest existing- battle-song of tho 
 children of righteousness and liberty in their conflicts with 
 the powers of darkness and death. Its words and notes — 
 both the creations of the great soul that led the Reforma- 
 tion — thrill on the heart like bugle-blasts from heaven.'^ 
 (Seiss, Ecdesia Lutheraria.) ISTo other hymn has ever been 
 as popular. Sung the length and breadth of the German 
 empire, and reproduced many times in other languages, it 
 served as wings to carry the truth far and wide. No other 
 sacred tune has ever been admired as much by eminent 
 men of every shade and opinion, by princes and potentates, 
 authors and composers. Each employed it in several can- 
 tatas, Mendelssohn in his Reformation Symphony, Meyerbeer 
 in his opera The Huguenots, Wagner in his celebrated Kaiser- 
 marsch, not to speak of Raff, Goddard, and other lesser lights 
 who have made the melody the subject of study. Frederick 
 the Great called it — in all seriousness — "God Almighty's 
 Grenadier March." And Carlyle remarks: "There is some- 
 thing in it like the sound of Alpine avalanches or the first 
 murmur of earthquakes, in the very vastness of which dis- 
 sonance a higher unison is revealed to us. ... It is evident 
 that to this man all popes, cardinals, emperors, devils, all 
 hosts and nations were but weak, weak as the forest with all 
 its strong trees might be to the smallest spark of electric 
 fire." Heine's tribute is so brilliant that the reader will 
 pardon us for quoting a critic who was not wont to show 
 reverence for things sacred. "Not less remarkable," says 
 the German poet, "not less significant than his prose works 
 were Luther's poems, those stirring songs which, as it were, 
 escaped from him in the very midst of his combats and his 
 necessities like a flower making its way from between rough 
 stones, or a moonbeam gleaming amid dark clouds. Luther 
 loved music; indeed, he wrote a treatise on the art. Accord- 
 ingly, his versification is highly harmonious, so that he may 
 be called the Swan of Eisleben. Not that he is by any means 
 gentle or swanlike in his songs. ... In these he is fervent. 
 
236 MUSIC AND THE REFOKMATIOX. 
 
 fierce. The hymn which he composed on his way to Worms,* 
 and which he and his companions chanted as they entered 
 that city, is a regular war-cry. The old cathedral trembled 
 when it heard these novel sounds. The very rooks flew from 
 their nests in the towers. That hymn, the Marseillaise of 
 the Reformation, has preserved to this day its potent spell 
 over German hearts." "To this day," we can truthfully say, 
 applying these words to our own times, for Heine's prediction 
 that it would again be heard in Europe in like manner as of 
 old has been fulfilled. No other hymn is sung so often in 
 the present war, sung by the soldiers on their way to the 
 front and in the trenches, sung by the people in the churches, 
 and when they have their gatherings in the public squares. 
 And notwithstanding the fact that it is being misused by 
 many who think of their earthly fatherland when they sing, 
 "Das Reich muss uns doch bleiben," who will dare to deny that 
 the hymn of hymns stiU has the power to sing the bold and 
 joyful spirit of justifying faith into the hearts of men? 
 
 The enormous popularity of the Lutheran hymns is in 
 no small degree due to the compelling force of their lovely 
 and hearty melodies. These were taken from Latin hymns 
 and from sacred and secular folk-songs, the latter being 
 earnest in tone, unlike most of the popular music of our day. 
 Others were composed by those who arranged and adapted 
 hymns. It has been the custom to deny Luther all share 
 in the composition of chorals, but we have the testimony 
 of Walther and of Sleidan, the nearly contemporary of the 
 Reformer, and until stronger arguments are brought forward 
 than those advanced by Baeumker and Kade, whose "dis- 
 coveries" crumble to dust in the light of unbiased and 
 judicious criticism, we shall acknowledge Luther as the 
 composer of some of the finest choral melodies, "Ein' feste 
 Burg," "Yater unser im Himmelreich," and others. 
 
 Originally the chorals possessed great variety of rhythm, 
 
 '" Heine is here speaking of "Ein' fcste Burg." He is mis- 
 taken as to the date of its composition. Luther wrote it in 1527, 
 three vears before the Diet of Augsburg. 
 
MUSIC AND THE REFORMATION. 237 
 
 triple measure and syncopations being common; but they 
 are now usually sung- in notes of equal length, which gives 
 the song a dull, lifeless character. This change was com- 
 pleted during the period of rationalism in the eighteenth 
 century. The efforts of German churchmen to restore the 
 original style have proved fruitless. It is but natural that 
 the primitive form has been adopted by those Lutheran 
 church-bodies in this country that have returned to sound 
 sixteenth-century Lutheranism. 
 
 While congregational singing had become central, and 
 necessarily received more careful attention than any other 
 part of the musical service, yet artistic choir music was not 
 neglected at the time of the Reformation; on the contrary, 
 it commanded the admiration of Luther, who advocated the 
 use of it, contending that it served to beautify the service. 
 A number of writers of motet music appeared throughout 
 Germany, prominent among them being Ludwig Senfl, a con- 
 temporary of the Reformer, Hans Leo Hassler (1564 — 1612), 
 and Johann Eccard (1553 — 1611). Among the Reformed 
 Churches the Church of England adopted Luther's conserva- 
 tive principle with regard to the position of the choir in 
 public worship. 
 
 The organ was not commonly used in Luther's days to 
 support congregational singing. This was then the office 
 of the choir. But later (1600), when its unique utility for 
 accompanying was recognized, the queen of instruments 
 superseded the choir, and "from that time on dates the 
 development of a new school of organ-playing, based on the 
 free choral variations." (E. Dickinson, The Study of the 
 History of Music.) 
 
 But if music has done much for tlie Reformation, the 
 Reformation, in return, has done much for music. Spitta, 
 Xaumann, and other eminent historians agree that through 
 his songs Luther gave to tonal art an impulse that was 
 extraordinary. They led to an entire change in text, ex- 
 pression, and melody. Treated in four-part harmony, they 
 implied a liberation of harmony, and gave birth to a new 
 class of music — fugues, cantatas, oratorios, and other 
 
238 MUSIC AXD THE REFORM ATIOX. 
 
 modern forms. Thus the music of the Keformation sug- 
 gested a new art of harmony, to which the music of to-day 
 owes the greater part of its boundless wealth. If they had 
 not been inspired by the grandeur and beauty of Lutheran 
 church music, Bach, Mendelssohn, and Brahms could not 
 have written their great choral and organ works, in w^iich 
 they glorify the doctrines of Scripture. Several attestations 
 by notable English and American writers on music are de- 
 serving of mention. We read in the Encyclopedia Britannica: 
 "The placing of the choral song of the church within the lips 
 of the people had great religious and moral influence; it 
 has had also its great effect upon art, shown in the production 
 of the North German musicians ever since the first days of 
 the Reformation, which abound in exercises of scholarship 
 and imagination wrought upon the tunes of established ac- 
 ceptance." John K. Paine, whilom Professor of Music at 
 Harvard University, writes: "The foundation of the future 
 greatness of German music was laid during the Reforma- 
 tion. . . . We have reaped the fruits of the Reformation 
 not only in our modern religious and social freedom, but 
 also in some of the highest forms of musical art." {The 
 History of Music to the Death of Schubert.) Says Waldo S. 
 Pratt in his History of Music: "Much of the wealth and 
 depth of modern music may surely be traced in a large 
 measure to the mental and spiritual stimulus accompanying 
 the rise of Protestantism." 
 
 What, then, devolves upon us, who have become heirs 
 to the Reformation? It is our duty to acknowledge grate- 
 fully its manifold blessings, and to show our gratitude by 
 cherishing dearly the treasures God has so graciously be- 
 stowed upon us through Luther, foremost and above all the 
 preaching of the pure Gospel, but also, and in no small 
 measure, the musical part of our service with its congre- 
 gational hymn. Our liturgy is neither bare nor pompous, 
 but simple, solemn, and Scriptural, gaining favorable recog- 
 nition among Reformed Churches, which feel a need for 
 liturgic service. And as to our chorals, they are commonly 
 conceded to be unexcelled models of their type, and "are 
 
MUSIC AND THE REFORMATION. 239 
 
 finding their way into the better English and American 
 hymn-books of all denominations." (Lutkiii, Music in the 
 Church.) Even in the Church of England, the liturgy of 
 which is modeled after that of our Church (see Dr. Jacobs, 
 Lutheran Movement in England), and which has better music 
 than the other Keformed bodies, the superiority of the Lu- 
 theran hymns is recognized. In Christian Life in Song an 
 Anglican writer candidly avers: "We have not one compo- 
 sition corresponding with the earliest burst of German song. 
 This primary formation with its massive strength and its 
 mountain ranges, upheaved by the great inward fire of the 
 Reformation, is with the Churches of England altogether 
 wanting. And the deficiency is significant." Shall we, then, 
 reject the heritage that others are learning to prize highly? 
 Ear from it. In matters of faith 'we make no concessions 
 to the fads and fancies of the hour. This must be our 
 position also with regard to the music of our Church. It is 
 obvious that the melodies of the professional revivalist, 
 which have crept into the hymn-books of many non-Lutheran 
 denominations, are not deserving of use in worship. The 
 constant use of the three major harmonies in their simplest 
 positions precludes a proper interpretation of the text by 
 harmonic devices, and makes the tunes sound cheap and 
 monotonous. Let us never use such unworthy substitutes, 
 which have no devotional value. "Ecclesiastical ragtime" 
 may be a fitting ornament for the meeting of Billy Sunday, 
 but it is surely not suitable in a service which is characterized 
 by solemnity and dignity, and in which everything is done 
 unto edifying. The same is true regarding choir and organ 
 music. It cannot be denied that the selections made are not 
 always in good taste, modern popular strains often receiving 
 generous support, whereas the classics of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries are neglected. 
 
 We conclude by quoting the composer of the Messiah, 
 who, when he spoke of the beautiful choruses he had written, 
 exclaimed: "But what is all this compared to the grandest 
 of all makers of harmony — above, above !" 
 
 God grant that we niny pvor employ to His honor the 
 
240 LUTHER AND THE CLASSICS. 
 
 precious gift of music, until we shall, through the infinite 
 merits of our Savior, enter life everlasting, there to appear 
 before "the grandest of all masters of harmony," and join 
 the angelic choir in rapturous song, there to sing the hymns 
 of joy unspeakable, and to hear the voice come out of the 
 throne, saying: "Praise our God, all ye His servants, and 
 ye that fear Him, both small and great. . . . Blessing, and 
 glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, 
 and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen." 
 
 Luther and the Classics. 
 
 Prof. E. G. Sihler, Ph. D., New York University, University 
 
 Heights, X. Y. 
 
 In preparing this study, I have dra^\^l somewhat heavily on 
 Luther's TaltJe Talk, using the critical edition of Weimar, of 
 recent times, Hermann Boehlau's Nachfolger. In this publication 
 three volumes are devoted to that noted material, the records 
 by Veit Dietrich, Lauterbach, Cordatus, Schlaginhauf (Turbicida), 
 and others being separately produced. How far the mixture of 
 Latin and German represents Luther's actual and original utter- 
 ance, I am unable to decide. As a rule, of course, my citations 
 are presented in English. 
 
 In our endeavor to gain a true perspective of Luther and 
 the classics, we must at once set aside the current conceptions 
 and habits of our own day. Our first object must be to 
 comprehend somewhat the great cultural movement known as 
 Humanism, which in that very generation had begun to 
 cross the Alps, and which had been for some time before 
 largely in the keeping and nurture of Italian scholars, and 
 had centered in Florence. Petrarch, Boccaccio, Valla, 
 Poggio, Filelfo, Bruni, Politian, Enea Silvio Piccolomini 
 (Pope Pius II), Guarino, Marsilio Ficino, Pico de Mirandola, 
 and others had been protagonists in this renaissance of the 
 classics.!) Through Reuchlin, Agricola, Muth (Mutianus), 
 
 1) See the works of Voigt. Burckhardt, Gregorovins, Symonds, 
 Geiger, and others. The eminent historian Villari maintains a 
 wise and critical reserve in dealing with these times. (Cf. E. G. 
 Sihler, Testimonium Animae, 1908, chap. 2.) 
 
LUTHER AND THE CLASSICS. 241 
 
 and others Greek (taught in Italy by Gaza and Argyropulos; 
 Byzantine exiles we may call them) was brought to Northern 
 Europe during Luther's boyhood and early youth. Its study 
 spread but slowly. About the year 1500, however, Desiderius 
 Erasmus, of Rotterdam, then thirty-three or thirty-five years 
 old, had attained a certain preeminence, which soon was 
 acknowledged throughout Europe and even in Italy itself. 
 Let us endeavor to see what the essence of that distinction 
 really was. Primarily it was his rare command of Latin, 
 both with voice and pen. Latin had been the language of 
 schools and universities, outside of the Byzantine empire, 
 virtually throughout medieval times. The central point, then, 
 in the Benaissance was not to introduce Latin, but to replace 
 the Latin of Scholasticism by that of Cicero, Seneca, Horace, 
 and Vergil. We are so habituated in our own day to associate 
 finished speech and a national literature with all the chief 
 states of the world that we can hardly conceive the con- 
 dition and status of European culture as it was in 1500. 
 The only literary language everywhere current and recognized 
 was Latin. "Good Letters (honae literae) were Latin Letters. 
 The belief seriously held by the leaders was that they would 
 simply go on where Cicero, Vergil, Terence, Seneca had 
 left off. This was the basic view in Paris, Oxford, London, 
 Cambridge, no less than at the newer foundations, like those 
 of Leipzig, Erfurt, and, soon, of Wittenberg. In Cologne 
 alone, and at Louvain (Louven), where Dominicans and 
 Franciscans outdid even the Sorbonne of Paris as champions 
 of inherited Scholasticism, did this Humanism not make 
 much headway. Erasmus, after sojourning much and moving 
 about between Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, Italy, England 
 again, Louvain, finally settled at Basle, where Froben pub- 
 lished his original works, as well as his stupendous series 
 of patristic and classic editions. After the hard and fast 
 definitions of Peter the Lombard, of Thomas Aquinas, Duns 
 Scotus, and their successors, it was felt a glorious emancipa- 
 tion to appropriate the thought, the sentiment, and wisdom 
 of the ancients, and to vie with them in their own fields 
 both of ideas and expression. The Adagia of Erasmus (first 
 Four Hundred Years. 16 
 
242 LUTHER AXD THE CLASSICS. 
 
 published at Paris, 1500) perhaps most completely permit us 
 to-day to appreciate the Humanism of that time. Formally 
 they were to furnish material from the classics to illustrate 
 and embellish discourse in that purer and restored Latinity. 
 All, or almost all, strove for this end. 
 
 A mere glance at the Adagia 2) shows that Erasmus had 
 made his excerpts from a very wide range of authors Indeed. 
 We are impressed by the range of Greek writers, many of whom 
 Erasmus had to read in Ms. codices because they had not yet 
 been printed. Greek citations are always followed by a Latin 
 version. On the Greek side Erasmus used Homer, Hesiod, Theog- 
 nis, Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristoph- 
 anes, Lucian, Hesychius, Pollux, Plutarch, Diogenes Laertius, and 
 many others. He seems to have delved occasionally even into the 
 Scholia of Homer. — The crude and mechanical juxtaposition of 
 some utterance of Christ or of some passage of St. Paul close to 
 some classicist verity is characteristic. The whole was intended 
 as an "adiumentum politioris literaturae candidatis." 
 
 Luther's school-work at Magdeburg and Eisenach was 
 largely concerned with the grammar of Donatus, and probably 
 with some Latin fables composed after Aesop. He never 
 mentions Phaedrus, but always Aesop. 3) 
 
 There is a reniiniscence,^) uttered by him in 1537: On 
 Fridays the so-called "slips of the wolves" were produced, 
 on which certain monitors, called wolves (lupi), had noted 
 which of the pupils had talked German in class during the 
 week. Such scholars received the rod. On Thursday Donatus 
 was reviewed, i. e., they had to cite the exact place in Donatus 
 where the form given by the schoolmaster was defined. — 
 Luther keenly disliked Ferdinand of Austria. "Oh, he gets 
 no 'felix 5) in Donatus." 6) 
 
 2) New York University Library possesses an edition by Fro- 
 ben (Basle, 1546) in folio, which I have used. 
 
 3) L. Roth, Die mittelalterlichen Sammlungen lateinischer 
 Tierfaheln. Philologus I, 523 sqq. 
 
 4) Table Talk, Weimar ed., No. 3566 A. I discovered myself 
 in this study that some curious details as to the eagle were really 
 derived by Luther from Pliny, N. Hist. 10, 17, directly. Of. Wei- 
 mar ed., No. 2157. 
 
 5) a "good mark." G) No. 3753, fin. 
 
LUTHER AND THE CLASSICS. 243 
 
 Of the Aesopian fables Luther entertained a very high 
 opinion. What attracted him there was the didactic clear- 
 ness in their moralizing purpose, palpable even to a very 
 simple intelligence. In his mature period he took delight 
 in quoting some, as once (in 15r>0)"j of the wolf and the 
 lamb, the wolf and the crane. Right and Might, i. e., the 
 lion's share in the joint hunting, the bear and the trav- 
 elers, etc. 
 
 At the University of Erfurt Luther studied from 1501 
 onward, entering in his eighteenth year. In 1502, he received 
 the elementary degree, his baccalaureate; in 1505, in his 
 twenty-second year, he was made Magister Artium, these 
 "arts" being the three of the Trivium (Grammar, Rhetoric, 
 Dialectic) and the four of the Quadrivium (Arithmetic, 
 Geometry, Astronomy, Music). After these general, we may 
 say cultured pursuits, there followed some definite profes- 
 sional study. Law, Theology, or Medicine. Luther had 
 already bought a Corpvs luris to begin his courses in Juris- 
 prudence, when by that sudden resolution, so portentous for 
 him and all the world, he entered the Augustinian monastery, 
 July 17, 1505, before he had completed his twenty-second 
 year. Later (1532) he spoke with respect 8) of the ancient 
 Roman jurists, while he regarded the lawyers and the law- 
 practise of his own day with deep distrust as a purely mer- 
 cenary pursuit. 
 
 The most severe of his studies from 1502 to 1505 dealt 
 with Aristotle and, as inextricably bound up with these 
 pursuits, some measure of scholastic lore. Looking at the 
 whole matter in a historical way, we cannot fairly separate 
 Aristotle from the classics, we cannot separate him from 
 Scholasticism, which Luther himself eventually destroyed by 
 the Scriptural principle. There is a \evj positive inter- 
 dependence here. Alhertiis Magnus at Cologne, and still more 
 his famous disciple, Thomas of Aquino (1225 — 1274), both 
 
 7 ) No. 3400. 
 
 8) Xo. 1518. Elsewhere. Xo. 2470 A: ""Ergo gentile.s per legem 
 suain Caesarem defendunt contra jiapain Christiaiiorum, Seaevola, 
 Ulpianus etc., qui ante Codiceni fuerunt.'' 
 
244 LUTHER AND THE CLASSICS. 
 
 of the Dominican order, incorporated certain elements of 
 Aristotelian metaphysics and all his dialectic works, ^) a con- 
 siderable portion of his De Anima and other doctrines, in 
 their own presentation of Christian verity or philosophical 
 theology (it matters little which of these appellations we 
 choose). 
 
 In his own harvest-time Luther could become positively 
 aroused when he recalled how much in his academic youth 
 men knew of Aristotle and how little of the Bible. Aristotle, 
 through the dogmatic system of Thomas and the Thomists, 
 had become, in a way, a usurper; a relation or function of 
 which, of course, the historical Aristotle was entirely in- 
 nocent. 
 
 But let us go forward to some of the references I have 
 gathered. "Dialectic ^^) is a contrivance applied to other 
 branches of learning. I learned it thoroughly (perdidici) 
 in my early manhood." "I had to learn the lore of the 
 Sophists 11) just as Daniel learned Chaldean, and Joseph, 
 EgjT^tian." 
 
 We come upon the Ten Categories (decern praedlcamenta) 
 of Aristotle in a note of Luther on Matt. 3, 15 sqq. : Suh- 
 stance, Quantity, Quality, Relation, Active, Passive, When, 
 Where, Situation (Veit Dietrich forgot Condition, e'/siv). 
 
 Elsewhere (1531)12): "Aristotle's Physical Theory, Meta- 
 physics, and De Anitna, which are the best books, these, 
 I know, I understand perfectly. His Metaphysics deal with 
 Being, his doctrine of Nature with Becoming : in these two 
 is contained all the achievement of Aristotle. Xow Aristotle 
 holds that God contemplates nothing beyond Himself. But 
 this, removing Him from all concern for human misery. 
 
 9) The Categories^ the Analyiica Priora and Posteriora. De In- 
 terpret atione, the Topica, collectively designated as the Organon. 
 
 10) No. 143 (in 1531/32) ; Veit Dietrich's record. 
 
 11) Cf. F. W. Kampschulte, Die Universitaet Erfurt. Trier, 
 1858. Fr. Paulsen, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts anf den 
 deutschen Schulen und Universitaet en vom Ausgang des Mittel- 
 alters his zur Gegenicart. Leipzig, 1885, pp. 48 sqq. 
 
 12) Veit Dietrich's notes, No. 135. 
 
LUTHER AND THE CLASSICS. 245 
 
 sin, and sorrow, would, in effect, be a denial of His providence, 
 nay, of His essence or being." 
 
 Another Aristotelian concept which we often meet with in 
 Luther is the difference between the potential (to dwufisi 6v) 
 and the actual (ivegyeia). "When we were discussing 13) 
 whether God was really in each tiniest creature, grass, tree, 
 etc., he answered: 'Yes, because God is excluded from no 
 place, and hemmed in in none. He is everywhere and no- 
 where. But the question arises whether He is everywhere 
 potentially only or suhstantlally ,' etc." Elsewhere (1532)14): 
 "Between the ethics of Aristotle and of Ecclesiastes there is 
 this difference, that Aristotle measures morality by reason's 
 prescribing the best course, but Ecclesiastes by the heeding 
 of the commandments of God." Again (1532) 15) : "When 
 I was a young theologian and had to make nine corollaries 
 out of a single question, I received [as my task] these two 
 words: 'God created.' Then Thomas [Aquinas] gave me 
 probably one hundred questions on top of all this. Further- 
 more, this is the way Thomas proceeds: First he receives 
 propositions from Paul, Peter, John, Isaiah, etc.; then he 
 concludes : 'But Aristotle says so and so,' and it is in ac- 
 cordance with Aristotle that he interprets the Scriptures." 
 
 Should infants be baptized that present some physical 
 monstrosity? Luther thought not.l^^) "I consider the soul 
 of such a one merely as vegetative life." "Our Righteous- 
 ness l'^) is in the category of Relation." The four principles 
 of Aristotle also were taken over by Luther,i8) ^-Iz.^ the 
 causa materialise formalis, efficiens, and finalis. Thus (in 
 No. 2402 A), in urging that there is no merit in sinful man 
 (1532) : "God is the causa efficiens of merit." At one time, 
 jesting about the failure of Mrs. Luther's home-brewing 
 
 13) No. 240. 14) No. 108. 15) No. 280. 
 
 16) No. 323. Anima vegetativa or nutritiva is Aristotle's 
 cpvxixov or dgFTTxixov. 
 
 17) No. 1710. 
 
 18) Aristotle, P/i?/sica 2, 7 : at at Tim xsizaQsg, {] /•/>;, xo eidog, 
 TO xivrjoav, x6 ov svsxa. (Cf. Luther's Works, Table Talk, Wei- 
 mar ed., No. 3124, on Faith.) 
 
246 LUTHER AXD THE CLASSICS. 
 
 (1532, jS^o. 2757 A) : "I beg to Goodness for the beer's causa 
 materialis, formalis, eificiens, and finalis, or, if it is still to 
 go through its brewing, that at least the tenth effort might 
 be a success." Another Aristotelian distinction which had 
 become current was that of the contemplative i^) (or aca- 
 demic) and the active or practical life. (No. 3117.) 
 
 Another time Luther discussed political types and tj^pical 
 mutations, as, the change from democracy to ochlocracy, the 
 characteristic features of oligarchy, and of genuine aris- 
 tocracy.2*5) He rejected Aristotle's definition of the soul. — 
 When he came to read Cicero's writings more freely (it seems 
 this was in his evangelical period), he preferred them to 
 Aristotle. I need not say that the Renaissance took both 
 authors more seriously than we now do, endowing them, as 
 a rule, with a doctrinal authority, which we now, after 
 centuries of historical and critical study, quite properly 
 withhold from them. But at that time "philosophy" meant 
 classical philosophy. For Cicero, Luther then (in 1538) 
 entertained an almost affectionate 21) regard. 
 
 In a reminiscence of his Erfurt period, a reminiscence 
 recorded in August, 1532, he said : 22) "While I was a papist, 
 I was ashamed to name Christ; I thought: Jesus is a wom- 
 anish name. But Aristotle and Bonaventura, these were 
 great in my estimation." 
 
 It is clear that the forms of Aristotelian dialectic re- 
 mained deeply ingrained in his mental habits. In No. 499 
 
 19) Vita "speculative." This is Aristotle's 'decoQi^iixog ^log, 
 Ethica Nicom. I, 3. 
 
 20) Cordatus, who recorded it, wrote: "In 5 Ethicornm." It 
 should be Ethica Nicom. 8, 12. 
 
 21) No. 3904: "Es ist ein teurer Mann gewest, qui niulta legit 
 et iudicavit et deinde etiam dicere potuit ; hat sein Ding mit 
 Ernst geschrieben, non ita lusit et graecissavit ut Aristoteles et 
 Plato." 
 
 22) No. 174G. Bonaventura, John of Fidenza (1221—1274), 
 one of the scholastic leaders of the Middle Ages, was the protag- 
 onist among the Franciscans, and is known in the Roman Cath- 
 olic tradition as "Doctor Seraphicus." 
 
LUTHER A:SD THE CLASSICS. 247 
 
 (spring of 1533) he presents three syllogisms concerning 
 Faith, to whicfi he appends rejoinders of his own. 
 
 He placed JMelanchthon very high, indeed, in this faculty 
 of logical procedure and orderliness.23) 
 
 "In my day," he said (No. 2191, in 1531), "there was no 
 training in dialectic in the schools at all. The only thing 
 they taught, and this in mean language, were Universals 
 and Categories, and though they had awful contentions about 
 these, still they understood not how to make any practical 
 application of the same." 
 
 But we must move forward. — Rhetoric in that age was 
 altogether based on Quintilian. Whenever, in preaching or 
 other discourses, Luther referred to the main point or chief 
 question or topic, he used the term status.'^^) Amplification, 
 and the non-dogmatical bringing home of a truth he often 
 designates as "Rhetoric." On the Festival of the Annuncia- 
 tion of Mary one should preach nothing but Rhetoric, i. e., 
 pure Joy, no theoretical disputation. (No. 494.) "Dialectic 
 teaches, Rhetoric appeals to the emotions." (No. 2199 A.) 
 Other terms of ancient rhetoric used by him are catachresis, 
 using a term improperly (Nos. 2095, 2204) ; tapinosis, humble 
 treatment, (No. 1671) ; mycterismus, sarcasm, ridicule (cf. 
 Quintil. 8, 6, 59; in No. 2662); pathos, emotion (No. 2696: 
 that the prophets outdo all the emotional effects of Demos- 
 thenes and Cicero; February, 1533); thesis and hypothesis 
 (No. 3032 A). As a monk, he said, 25) he had an itch for 
 allegory: "omnia allegorisabam" (No. 335). "Satan has 
 more eloquent rhetoric than even Cicero" (No. 3092). The 
 eloquence of women as compared with that of Cicero 
 (No. 1054). 
 
 As to the following citations in general, one cannot 
 positively state how far they meant general reading. On the 
 
 23) Philippus fecit, quod nullus fecit in mille annis in dia- 
 lectica. Dialectica hab' ich gewiisst, aber Philippus hat mich's 
 lernen applizieren ad rem. 
 
 24) E. g., No. 1685, on status (ordoig). Cf. Quintilian, Inst, 
 Orat. Ill, 6. Cf. Nos. 744. 2459 b. 
 
 25) Perhaps then under the influence of Bonaventura. 
 
248 LUTHER AXD THE CLASSICS. 
 
 one hand, Erasmus's Adagia were fui-nished with admirable 
 indices, so that one could readily find some illustrative 
 apopthegm, epigram, or sentence. On the other hand, we 
 know that Luther had a certain familiarity with certain 
 authors, such as Vergil. And furthermore we must not for- 
 get that there were no national or vernacular classics. 
 A humanist in the sense of that time Luther never was. 
 Without knowing it, he became, in a way, the first of German 
 classics, alongside of whose German Bible and world-stirring 
 and enduring German tracts and treatises the most graceful 
 Latinity of Erasmus and of Melanchthon himself impresses 
 us as exotic, or as wax-flowers preserved under a frame of 
 glass. 
 
 Nothing in Latin was difficult to a Latinist such as 
 Luther was. As late as 1537, he bought a copy of Lucan, of 
 whom he said very aptly: "I cannot make out whether he is 
 a poet or a historian" (No. 3637). As we are on this general 
 theme, and before we take up the secular authors in some 
 detail of sequence, we must not leave unrecorded here the 
 fact that it was Jerome's Latin Bible through which Luther 
 became the restorer of the Gospel of Christ and the emanci- 
 pator of many nations. Always, we have reason to believe, 
 the Latin Bible was quoted by him from memory, sometimes 
 with slight variation of Jerome's exact version. I found this 
 so on referring to the text of Jerome many scores of times, 
 as exhibited in an approved edition: Rome, 1861. This fact 
 alone, and the current habit and necessity of Latin quotation, 
 so determined, together with the mass of academic and tech- 
 nical language in Latin terms, — all this makes it more than 
 likely that his ordinary conversation was not merely bilingual, 
 but that in all matters of a theoretical or controversial 
 nature Latin predominated over the German. 
 
 As to classical culture in general, Luther held that it 
 was good, too, for a theologian; that a man so trained was 
 more efficient than a man without this training. "One knife 
 cuts better than another; therefore, also, a man who knows 
 the languages, and has some attainments in the liberal arts, 
 can speak and teach better and more distinctly." (1533; 
 
LUTHER AND TILE CLASSICS. 249 
 
 No. 439.) He was, as I said, no humanist. — Melanchthon,^^) 
 in certain aspects of his faculties and ideals, was a veritable 
 junior Erasmus, i. e., as a classical scholar, a brilliant hu- 
 manist indeed; while for Luther the tremendous spiritual 
 import of the Bible dwarfed the secular letters, whether these 
 were considered as to formal grace or as to their theraes.2''j 
 As for reading, he held (January, 1533) that "a student who 
 would not waste his efforts ought to choose some good author, 
 and such a one he should 1-ead and reread, to have him 
 changed into his own flesh and blood" (No. 2894 A). "Bap- 
 tista Mantuanus [an Italian imitator of Latin verse] was 
 the first poet I read; later on I read the II era ides of Ovid; 
 afterward I stumbled on Yergil" (incidi in Virgilium, 
 No. 256). "Besides these [/. e., at Erfurt] I read nothing 
 in the poets." He said he was taken up with scholastic 
 theology [i. e., Aristotle]. With Vergil, indeed, he seems to 
 have acquired an easy familiarity, so that a turn of speech 
 derived from that Roman national poet would come to hand 
 quite readily. He discusses the etymology of many ])roper 
 nouns, among them that of Dido (No. 2G2). He utters an 
 invective against Erasmus by adapting lines from Vergil's 
 Bucolics (No. 446) : 
 
 Qui Satanam non odit, amet tua carmina, Erasme, 
 
 Atque idem iungat Furias et m'ulgeat Orcum. 
 
 (Who does not hate the devil, let him love your verse, Erasmus, 
 
 And likewise yoke the Furies, and milk the Sire of Darkness.) 
 
 The ancient empires all had their time and their end, 
 even proud Rome, in spite of the famous prophecy in Vergil : 
 Imperium sine fine dedi. 
 
 Descanting on idealization, Judith being under discussion, 
 Luther said (No. 697) : "Just as Vergil, therefore, drew his 
 Aeneas with enlargements (ampUficationihus) , greater than 
 his actual stature, so also the author of the book of Judith 
 drew her as a woman endowed with loyalty and all the 
 virtues." 
 
 26) Cf. many of his elegant Latin orations and introductory 
 lectures in Corpus Reformatonim, Vol. XI. 
 
 27) Cf. Xo. 1600. 
 
250 LUTHER AND THE CLASSICS. 
 
 The grand simplicity of St. John was displeasing to 
 Erasmus ; he will think : "His style is not like that of Homer 
 or Vergil or my own" (No. 699). 
 
 There were at Wittenberg two noted jurists and men of 
 affairs: one of these, Dr. Schurff, Luther compared with 
 Ovid, the other. Dr. Brueck (Pontamus), with Vergil 
 (No. 1421), implying, perhaps, that the first named had more 
 grace and the other more dignity. 
 
 He praises the lot of the agriculturist, citing "Vergilius 
 in Bucolicis" (from memory, it is really from the Georgica 
 2, 485) : 
 
 O fortimatos nimium, si tua bona norint, 
 
 Agri colas ! 
 
 (Oh, all too happy, if only they knew their blessings, the 
 farmers!) 
 
 Several times (unless the recording guests made a slip) 
 he cites as from Horace what really was a reminiscence from 
 Vergil, as in No. 3137: 
 
 Nescia mens liominmn sortis ignara futiiri. 
 
 The words are actually from Vergil (Aen. 10, 501) : 
 Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae. 
 
 ("Mens, mind, not knowing fate and future lot.") Aptly 
 he cites (No. 3149 A) : 
 
 Tendimus in Latium. (Our goal is Latium.) 
 
 Speaking of sermons : To preach long is no art, but to preach 
 correctly and efficiently, "hoc opus, hie labor est" ("this is 
 an achievement, this is toil"; Vergil, Aen. 6, 129). Warmly 
 he appreciates the dramatic power exhibited by Vergil in 
 Aen. IV (the Dido-book). He compares Ovid with Vergil: 
 the former is great in "sententiae" (epigrammatic, pithy 
 truths). Referring to a certain Catianus, who for a huge 
 sum of money had undertaken to play the traitor in the 
 interest of the Turks, in 1538 (No. 3753) — "and he said, 
 with a sigh: 
 
 Auri sacra fames, quid non mortalia pectora cogis?" 
 
 From memory again ; really : 
 
 . . . quid non mortalia pectora cogrs, 
 Auri sacra fames? 
 
LUTHER AND THE CLASSICS. 251 
 
 ("What clriveth not the hearts of men to do, accursed greed 
 of gold?" Vergil, Aen. 3, 57.) A term in Vergil (Aen. 7, 741) 
 for German javelins (No. 3752). 
 
 He seems to have read in Cicero's De Oratore, for he 
 quotes from memory Cicero's dictum: "There is no better 
 waj^ to impress others than when you have first made an 
 impression on yourself" (No. 1319). 28) 
 
 For the reductio per impossihile (No. 3499) he quotes an 
 incident from Cicero's defense of Milo. Then he goes on 
 to cite the case of the two sons found sleeping in the 
 chamber of their own father done to death in that very 
 night. The youths were charged with patricide, but ac- 
 quitted. It was an incident used by Cicero Pro Roscio 
 Amerino (64). Ovid he particularly liked for the sententiae 
 found in his works. "While we dislike what is with us, we 
 love what is away. Of this also says Ovid : 29) 
 
 Quod licet, ingratmii est; quod non licet, acrius uiit. 
 
 {Amores II, 19, 3: "What is permitted we like not; what 
 is not permitted troubles us more passionately.") And 
 a similar sentiment 30) from Ovid, De Art. Am. (1, 349): 
 "Fertilior seges est alienis semper in agris" ("More bounteous 
 ever is the crop on other people's fields"), or again 31) from 
 Ovid {Am. 3, 4, 17): 
 
 Nitimur in vetitum, semper cupimusque negata. 
 
 ("We strive against forbidden things, and set our heart on 
 that which is denied.") Elsewhere he says (No. 3616) : 
 "Ovid ist ein feiner Poet gewesen, qui excedit omnes alios 
 sententiis; er kann die schoensten sententias in einem Vers- 
 chen bringen : 'Nox et amor vinumque nihil moderabile 
 suadent.' {Am. 1, 6, 59.) 
 
 Die Nacht, die Liebe, dazu der Wein 
 Zu nichts Gutes Ratgeber se^Ti. 
 
 28) Probably what lie recalled of Cicero, De Oratore (2, 189): 
 "Xisi omnes ii motus, quos orator adhibere volet iudici, in ipso 
 oratore impressi esse atque inusti videbuntur." 
 
 29) Nos. 814 and 1542. 30) No. 34G3, d. 
 
 31) No. 3468; a favorite citation of the present writer's father. 
 
252 LUTHER AND THE CLASSICS. 
 
 With Terence Luther was particularly well acquainted. 
 Terence, he said (Menander really), knew the life of men, 
 and how people fared, while the monks lived in an artificial 
 seclusion, like pug-dogs resting on upholstered couches 
 (No. 285). 
 
 On one occasion (March 2, 1533) he spoke with warm 
 appreciation of the Andria of Terence and the various char- 
 acters and their delineation: Pamphilus, the young lover, 
 the slaves, the father (Simo), etc. Still his concern does not 
 touch anything higher than this elementary social and human 
 range (No. 467). "Comedies" (he meant primarily Terence) 
 "ought to be produced by boys, first, that they may have 
 training in the Latin tongue; furthermore, mankind is 
 educated by characters of fiction, and each one is reminded 
 of his own duty, in addition to this the wiles of evil women 
 are laid bare. . . . And if the comedies were not to be 
 produced by a Christian on account of certain unclean ele- 
 ments, then not even the Bible ought to be read. But he 
 who takes offense at such things takes offense when no one 
 offers it," (No. 3346.) 
 
 Greek Luther does not seem to have touched at Erfurt. 
 His Aristotelian studies were all accomplished through Latin 
 translations. It was primarily his study of the Greek Testa- 
 ment which made him take up Greek with serious purpose. 
 Melanchthon, as we know, was one of the most finished 
 Grecians of Europe. In questions of technical scholarship 
 in this field Luther always assumed a demeanor of extreme 
 modesty, e. g. (No. 1040, 1530—1535): "I know neither 
 Greek nor Hebrew, but still I will hold my own with 
 a E[ebraist or Hellenist. The languages in themselves do 
 not constitute a theologian." "The New Testament, though 
 it is written in Greek, still is full of Hebraisms and Hebrew 
 turns of speech." His references to Greek, then, are, in the 
 main, to the Greek Testament. In time he adopted single 
 Greek terms, introducing them perhaps in academic work, 
 and so even in his Table Talk, such as L-tisixeia, comity, 
 gentleness (Nos. 320, 1474, 1900), bearing with peculiar 
 manners of some people {xQOJToqpoQog, No. 815), evdoxiav, Luke 
 
LUTHER AND THE CLASSICS. 253 
 
 2, 14 (No. 3654 b). "There are found a goodly number of 
 married folk who have no affection for each other" [uorogyot, 
 coniuges, 2350 B). "Those words of Peter are not onlj^ 
 diday.Tixd, also proplietica." (1 Pet. 5, 3; No. 3863.) 
 
 Often Luther compared Erasmus with Lucian. — I have 
 found one of Menander's monostichs (single lines),- which 
 Lauterbach (No. 3611) cites as copied by Luther himself. 
 It is No. 168 in the collection of Meineke (1841). 
 
 Eig iorl dovkog oixiag, 6 dsojtorrjg. "One slave the house- 
 hold has, its master is the man." Which Luther's muse 
 elaborated in the subjoined true-grained fashion. 
 
 Der Herr muss selber sein der Kneclit, 
 
 Wil er's im Hause finden recht. 
 
 Die fraw muss selber sein die maglit, 
 
 Wil sie schafTen im hause racht. 
 
 Dass gesinde nimmer mehr bedenckt, 
 
 Wass nutz und schaden im hause brengt; 
 
 Es ist ihnen nichts gelegen dran, 
 
 Weil sie es nicht fur eigen han. 
 
 Sie seynd die gest und fremde im hauss. 
 
 Wess eygen ist, der gehe nicht heraus. 
 
 Of course, Luther was not Melanchthon. We cannot well 
 take leave of Wittenberg as it then was without directing 
 a parting glance in this connection at that eminent classicist, 
 whose Greek attainments, no doubt, were to supplement the 
 equipment of the spiritual leader of Wittenberg. Vol. XI 
 of the Corpus Reformatoriim contains many of the Latin 
 orations delivered by him as professor of the Humanities in 
 Wittenberg. Thus his inaugural in that university, Au- 
 gust 29, 1518, when he was but twenty-one years old, a lecture 
 cast in Latin of exquisite purity and idiomatic elegance. 
 Its theme was : "De Corrigendis Adolescentium Studiis." He 
 recommends with enthusiastic fervor "bonas literas et rena- 
 scentes musas." In part his address is a polemic against the 
 scholastics. Their domination, we clearly see, was jeopardized 
 by Humanism. He deplores the awful Latin in which Aris- 
 totle had been studied. He refers to Thomas (of Aquino), 
 to Duns Scotus, to Seraphicus (Bonaventura). For the last 
 
254 WHEX ENGLAXD ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAX. 
 
 three hundred years Scholasticism had absorbed and monopo- 
 lized all academic work. It had granted no proper place to 
 Greek, to mathematics. Aristotle should indeed be studied, 
 but in his original Greek garb, historically and philologically 
 purged of scholastic matter. Similarly Quintilian was to be 
 studied and the cyclopaedic work of the elder Pliny, Plato's 
 Laws, Aristotle's Ethics, Homer, Vergil, Horace, Ancient 
 History. Christ Himself was to be studied from the sources. 
 The Bible, in fact, without "frigidae glossulae" was to be 
 studied in the original tongues. Human traditions were to 
 give place to evangelical truth. If only the students were to 
 devote the remnants of their time (suhsicivas aliquot koras) 
 to Greek. He, Melanchthon, would exert himself with per- 
 sonal zeal and toil that their labors should prove successful. 
 The two first courses Melanchthon announced were these : 
 one on Homer, one on St. Paul's Epistle to Titus. 
 
 The great thing, we may conclude, was to supplant 
 Scholasticism with what we now call source-worh, whether 
 in the Bible itself or in secular learning and letters. 
 
 When England Almost Became Lutheran. 
 
 Prof. Th. Graebner, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 A Lutheran editor fifty years ago interpreted as follows 
 the sentiment which then prevailed in our country over 
 against Lutheranism : "Lutheranism is a strange and exotic 
 plant in the English tongue. It may prosper well enough 
 in the German or Scandinavian languages, but as for English, 
 there is no possible hope for your success in trying to effect 
 a settlement for your system here. Your Lutheranism is 
 altogether too much of a novelty among us, without a history 
 and home in the English tongue." 
 
 While this impression of Lutheranism has not quite dis- 
 appeared from contemporary Reformed literature, the time 
 is now past that we must feel under any obligations to argue 
 the propriety of establishing our Church in a country pre- 
 
WHEN ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 255 
 
 dominantly English in speech. Statistics show that our 
 Church not only has held its own in the United States, but 
 has grown at a more rapid pace than any other denomination, 
 not excluding the Roman Catholic. It is, moreover, firmly 
 established in the English tongue. Yet there are those even 
 among us who are unaware of the curious fact that, far 
 from being an element foreign to English history, Lu- 
 theranism at the time of the Reformation was a great power 
 in the English language, and that it existed in England 
 during almost a hundred years as an acknowledged force. 
 Indeed, it was from Luther and colaborers that the clear 
 Gospel-light first shone into the medieval darkness which 
 enveloped Great Britain in that momentous third decade of 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 The indebtedness of England to Luther and his fellow- 
 Reformers, as distinguished from the Swiss Reformers, Cal- 
 vin and Zwingli, is not a matter which has only been recog- 
 nized in recent years. In the seventeenth century Nicolas 
 Lithenius, Swedish pastor of a Lutheran congregation in 
 London, wrote a book in which he demonstrates "that the 
 English Reformation was not inaugurated by disciples of 
 Zwingli and Calvin, but by those of Luther, so that Luther, 
 the great instrument of God in reforming the British Church, 
 opened the way to England and Scotland to extricate them- 
 selves from papal servitude." 
 
 These words are in consonance with the historical records. 
 It cannot be doubted that for a long time the adherents 
 of evangelical truth in England were no other than Lu- 
 therans, who were not only indebted for the possession of 
 the Gospel-light to Luther and his friends, but who, more- 
 over, deliberately rejected the doctrines of Zwingli, and held 
 fast to that of the Lutheran Church. The Lutheran doctrine, 
 far from being the last which made its appearance in the 
 English tongue, was the first to replace the superstitions of 
 popery, and its confessors in England were among the very 
 first and noblest martyrs that glorified God in the age of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 Since the fourteenth century, when Wyclif, a teacher in 
 
256 WHEX ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 
 
 Oxford University, had testified against a number of Roman 
 abuses, and gave the people a translation of the Bible, there 
 had always been adherents of a purer faith diffused through 
 the British Isles. They did not form a compact organization, 
 nor did they always make a profession of their belief in 
 opposition to the ruling darkness. Yet their influence ap- 
 peared sufficiently menacing to the Roman Church that 
 Richard II and Henry IV, under priestly influence, insti- 
 tuted bloody persecutions against the Lollards, as the ad- 
 herents of Wyclif were commonly called. As soon as the 
 mighty writings of Luther began to thunder against the 
 Romish corruptions, not only the rumor of the events en- 
 acted on the Continent reached England, and cheered many 
 a groaning heart, but these writings themselves were brought 
 over, in many cases translated into English, and always 
 read with the greatest eagerness. Bishop Burnet says in 
 his famous History of the Reforniation: "As these things 
 [the Reformation] did spread much in Germany, Switzer- 
 land, and the Netherlands, so their books came over into 
 England, where there was much matter already prepared 
 to be wrought on . . . by the opinions of the Lollards, between 
 which and the doctrines of the Reformers there was great 
 affinity. Many of them were translated into the English 
 tongue, and were much read and applauded. This quickened 
 the proceedings against the Lollards, and the inquiry against 
 them became so severe that great numbers were brought into 
 the toils of the bishops. If a man had spoken but a light 
 word against the Roman Church, he was seized by the 
 bishop's officers; and if they taught the children the Lord's 
 Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed in 
 the common tongue, that was crime enough to bring them to 
 the stake" (to be burned alive), "as it did six men and 
 a woman at Coventry April 4, 1519. Longland, bishop of 
 Lincoln, caused several others to be burned." 
 
 In spite of these desperate measures the writings of 
 Luther, and such parts of the Bible as had been newly 
 rendered into English, were read with avidity. There was 
 a universal rush to the fountain of living waters, the moment 
 
WHEN ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 257 
 
 it was unsealed. Every one that could, purchased the Book, 
 and if he was unable to read himself, he got his neighbor to 
 read it to him. Numbers might be seen flocking to the lower 
 end of the church, and forming a little congregation round 
 the "Scripture-reader." Many persons far advanced in life 
 actually learned to read for the purpose of searching the 
 Oracles of God. Such was the general excitement that at 
 last the tavern and the alehouse often became the scenes of 
 religious discussion. The king found it necessarj^ to dis- 
 courage, by a proclamation, these public debates. 
 
 Xor did the movement affect only the lower classes. In 
 1519, Erasmus wrote to Luther that "he [Luther] had friends 
 in England who thought very highly of his writings, and 
 those even men of high rank." The Gospel produced a great 
 agitation at Cambridge University. Here it was that Thomas 
 Bilney, who has been called the father of the English Refor- 
 mation, proclaimed the truth which he had found in the 
 New Testament and the writings of Luther. Plis influence 
 was very extensive through the labors of those who learned 
 the truth from him. Especially the conversion of George 
 Stafford, a man of deep learning and holy life, as well as that 
 of his friends, Thomas Arthur, Thistle, Fooke, Loude, 
 Warner, and others, — all college men, — spread alarm 
 among the adherents of the Romish superstition. But above 
 them all rose Hugh Latimer, who had formerly conducted 
 violent debates with the adherents of the true doctrine, and 
 who had been, to use his own words, "as obstinate a papist 
 as any in England." Through Bilney's service he became 
 a diligent seeker after the truth, and soon worked jointly 
 with his friend in the conversion of the multitudes. Latimer 
 was later made bishop, and was, like his friends Cranmer and 
 Fox, a decided Lutheran until near the close of his life. 
 There was at Cambridge a house called the White House, 
 so situated as to permit the timid members of the various 
 colleges to enter at the rear without being noticed. Here 
 these persons used to assemble who desired to read the Bible 
 and the works of the Gorman Reformers. The priests called 
 this house "Germany,"' and whenever a group of university 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 17 
 
258 WHEX ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 
 
 men were seen walking in that direction, the cry was heard, 
 "There are the Germans going to Germany!" "We are not 
 Germans," was the reply, "neither are we Romans!" At last 
 as many as seven colleges were pervaded with the leaven of 
 the truth: Pembroke, St. John's, Queen's, King's, Cajus, 
 Bennet's, and Peterhouse. The Gospel was also proclaimed 
 in the church of St. Augustine, in St. Mary's, in the chapel 
 of the university, and in sundry other places. Thus a great 
 awakening resulted through the service of Bilney, and that 
 it took place in the Lutheran spirit is evinced by the cir- 
 cumstance that the converted persons read and spread the 
 writings of Luther, and were publicly known and designated 
 as the followers and disciples of Luther. When Bilney, at 
 the outbreak of a violent persecution, was ordered to London, 
 he received an injunction not to preach Luther's doctrines. 
 "I will not preach Luther's doctrines, if there are any peculiar 
 to him," he said, "but I can and must preach the doctrine 
 of Jesus Christ, although Luther should preach it, too." 
 
 A similar movement was noted at the other great uni- 
 versity, Oxford. Li the year 1526, says Mr. Wood in his 
 History of the Oxford Academy, "the followers of Luther held 
 private meetings at Oxford, and confessed the truth with 
 such constancy that they preferred to be imprisoned all their 
 lifetime, or even be reduced to ashes together with their 
 books, rather than revoke the received doctrine." In 1527, 
 mention is again made of a society of Lutherans in con- 
 nection wdth Corpus Christi College at Oxford. 
 
 Burnet points out the fact that until the year 1531 "there 
 was no dispute [in England] about the presence of Christ 
 in the Sacrament; for the writings of Zwingli came later 
 into England; and hitherto they had only seen Luther's 
 works, and those written hy his followers." And yet the 
 Reformation had gained so much ground at that time that 
 the Romish party was filled with alarm and despair. Thomas 
 More, the famous champion of Romish abuses in England, 
 wrote about this time to another great advocate of the 
 Roman system, Cochlaeus: "Germany now daily bringeth 
 forth monsters more deadly than Africa was wont to do; 
 
WHEN ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 259 
 
 but alas, she is not alone. Numbers of Englishmen who 
 would not a few years ago even hear of Luther's name 
 mentioned are now publishing his praises. England now is 
 like the 'sea which swells and heaves before a great storm, 
 without any wind stirring it." 
 
 Where the blind papist could not see the wind stirring 
 England, others recognized the Spirit of the Lord blowing 
 into the valley filled with bones, and waking them to the 
 Gospel light and life. In 1526, Tyndale completed his version 
 of the New Testament. This splendid translation is the basis 
 of our English Bible to-day, about 90 per cent, of Tyndale's 
 version being maintained in the so-called Authorized Version 
 of 1611, which is the standard of English speech the world 
 over. It is now almost certain that Tyndale labored on this 
 translation for a time under the direct guidance of Luther. 
 Certainly he made use of Luther's New Testament. His 
 introduction to the Epistle to the Romans is almost literally 
 translated from Luther. Cochlaeus writes: "Two English 
 apostates [Tyndale and Frith] who had been somewhile 
 at Wittenberg, were in hopes that all the people of England 
 would shortly become Lutherans, with or without the king's 
 consent, through the instrumentality of Luther's New Testa- 
 ment, which they translated into English." King Henry 
 likewise ascribes Tyndale's version to "Luther's devices," 
 and the Bishop of London declared that "maintainers of 
 Luther's sect" had "prepared the translation." At all events, 
 Luther and his friends were fully advised of this translation 
 of the New Testament, for in the diary of Spa latin this 
 passage occurs: "Bushe told us that six thousand copies of 
 the New Testament in the English language had been 
 printed at Worms, and that this translation had been made 
 by an Englishman, sojourning there with two other natives 
 of Britain, w4io was skilled in seven languages, Hebrew, 
 Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, and Dutch." 
 
 Not the persecution of its enemies, but the entanglement 
 of its friends with British politics brought the Lutheran 
 movement in England to a stop, so far as its leadersliip 
 in English Protestantism was concerned. True, the most 
 
260 WHEN ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 
 
 powerful figure in English life of that period, Bishop Cran- 
 mer, was at heart and by association with Lutheran reformers 
 on the Continent more a Lutheran than anything else. His 
 personal relations to the German Reformers, however, were 
 not so much the outcome of spiritual as of political associa- 
 tions. Cranmer was at this most critical juncture of English 
 history chief adviser to King Henry VIII, a self-willed, 
 passionate, and tyrannical monarch, who appears to have 
 placed everything in a subordinate position to the advance- 
 ment of his power, pleasure, and profit. Also, King Henry 
 was a bigoted papist. From the time he first heard of Luther, 
 his indignation broke forth. No sooner did the decree of 
 the Diet of Worms, pronouncing the imperial ban upon 
 Luther, reach England, than he gave orders that the pope's 
 bull against the Reformer's writings should be carried into 
 execution. On the 12th of May, 1521, Thomas Wolsey, 
 Chancellor of England and Cardinal, repaired in solemn pro- 
 cession to St. Paul's Church. The priesthood and many 
 members of the nobility accompanied him, the ambassadors 
 of the pope joined the cavalcade, and the several parties that 
 composed it were carrying the writings of the poor monk of 
 Wittenberg. On reaching the church, Wolsey deposited his 
 cardinal's hat upon the altar, and the Bishop of Rochester 
 preached a sermon against Luther's heresy. After this the 
 attendants brought forward the writings of Luther, which 
 were then publicly burned. Such was the first public an- 
 nouncement of the Reformation to the people of England. 
 King Henry did not rest satisfied with this triumph. He 
 conceived that the moment had arrived for an exhibition 
 of his learning. He gave to the world his "Defense of the 
 Seven Sacraments, against Martin Luther, by the most In- 
 vincible King of England and of France, Lord of Ireland, 
 Henry, the Eighth of that name." In his treatment of the 
 Reformer, Henry was not sparing of hard epithets, styling 
 his adversary successively an infernal wolf, a venomous 
 serpent, and a limb of ■ the devil. The public of the day 
 set no bounds to the praises of this book. "The most learned 
 work that ever the sun saw," is the expression of one. "It 
 
WHEN ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 261 
 
 can only be compared to the works of Saint Augustine," 
 said others. The pope declared that the king's book could 
 not be composed but by the aid of the Holy Spirit, and con- 
 ferred upon Henry the title of "Defender of the Faith" — 
 still borne by the sovereigns of England! 
 
 Luther read Henry's book with a smile, mingled with 
 impatience and indignation. The misstatements and insults 
 it contained, above all the air of pity and contempt for the 
 Reformer which the author affected, irritated Luther to the 
 highest degree. A furious lion, he turned upon his pursuers, 
 and set himself determinedly to crush his enemies. His 
 friends tried in vain to appease him. "I won't be gentle to 
 the king of England," said he, and, in truth, he wasn't. In 
 his reply, Luther reproaches Henry with having supported 
 his statements merely by decrees and doctrines of men, and 
 then proceeds in detail to refute the king's book, exposing 
 his arguments, one after the other, with remarkable clear- 
 ness, energy, and knowledge of the Scriptures and of church 
 history, but also with a boldness, contempt, and violence 
 which need not surprise us. "It must still come to pass," 
 he exclaims in conclusion, "that popes, bishops, priests, monks, 
 princes, devils, death, sin, — and all that is not Jesus Christ 
 or in Jesus Christ, — must fall and perish before the power 
 of the Gospel which I, Martin Luther, have preached." 
 
 Thus spake an unfriended monk to one of the greatest 
 monarchs of his age. In reply. King Henry wrote to the 
 Dukes of Saxonj^, beseeching them "by all that is most sacred 
 promptly to extinguish the cursed sect of Luther. If this 
 heretical doctrine lasts, shed blood without hesitation, in 
 order that this abominable sect may disappear from under 
 the heavens." As for his own kingdom, Henry was deter- 
 mined to destroy every vestige of the hated heresy. During 
 the following ten years he issued a number of very drastic 
 decrees against every form of departure from the Roman 
 faith. Owners of Lutheran books were required to give them 
 up to be burned. Among the books specified in the royal 
 orders as contrary to the true religion were Tyndale's New 
 Testament, Luther's Revelation of Antichrist, his explanation 
 
262 WHEN ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 
 
 of the Lord's Prayer, his commentary on Galatians, etc. The 
 adherents of the Reformer were called "Luther's and Tjai- 
 dale's sect." In spite of these prohibitions a vast number of 
 the proscribed books w^ere imported into England, among 
 them many Tyndale Bibles, printed in Germany and the 
 Netherlands because of this persecution. Thomas Bilney, 
 the father of English Lutheranism, was burned at the stake 
 1530. Tyndale's companion, John Frith, an Oxford scholar, 
 suffered martyrdom at Smithfield, London, 1533, and three 
 years later Tyndale was burned at Louvain. A number of 
 other noble confessors suffered martyrdom in England at 
 this time. Among the monsters which raged against the 
 truth, the names of Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas More 
 have become execrable above others. Bishop Stockesly of 
 London boasted on his deathbed that he had delivered fifty 
 heretics to the executioner. Simply the reading of Tyndale's 
 Bible was sufficient cause for imprisonment, and refusal to 
 recant the doctrines of Luther was deemed a crime worthy 
 of death. The fanatical Bishop of Lincoln even caused an 
 old man to be burned who was guilty only of reading the 
 Bible on private walks through woods and meadows. 
 
 Henry VIII, as we have noted, was under the complete 
 control of the priesthood, and had written his book against 
 Luther in a fit of sincere horror of the German Reformer's 
 teachings. As late as 1525 he made a treaty with France 
 for the suppression of the Turk and "of the Lutheran sect, 
 hardly less dangerous than the Turk." ECowever, his friend- 
 ship for the pope experienced a gradual cooling-off. The 
 causes that led to his complete estrangement from the Roman 
 Church were complex. He contemplated the temporal ad- 
 vantages which might accrue to him if he should cut loose 
 the Church of England from the rule of Rome, and make 
 himself head and master. He thus came to seek the friend- 
 ship of the German princes, secretly at first, although he 
 had not yet renounced his Romish belief, nor suffered any 
 of the worst Roman abuses to be abolished in his country. 
 But it was especially his second matrimonial venture, his 
 divorce from Catherine of Aragon and marriage with Anne 
 
WHEN E^'GLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTIIERAX. 263 
 
 Boleyn, which brought about his final break with the pope. 
 Enamored with Anne Boleyn, then a lady at his court, he 
 demanded from Pope Clement VII an annulment of his 
 inarriage with Catherine. The pope, however, was not willing 
 to incur the enmity of Charles V, the mighty emperor of 
 Germany, who was a nephew of Catherine. When the pope 
 began to pursue a policy of procrastination, in the hope that 
 the royal lover's ardor fc)r Anne Boleyn would be worn out 
 by waiting, Henry suddenly dismissed his chancellor, Wolsey, 
 whom he suspected of managing the affair with greater loyalty 
 to the pope than to his master. Wolsey died broken-hearted. 
 It was at this time that Thomas Cranmer, a young theologian, 
 who had warmly supported King Henry's contention that his 
 marriage to Catherine should be annulled, was made the 
 trusted advisor of the king. Cranmer was sent to the Conti- 
 nent with the royal commission to gain approbation of various 
 universities of the Continent for this marriage, and also to 
 negotiate for the political support of the Protestant princes. 
 The Lutheran princes, however, insisted that agreement in 
 doctrine must be established before they would enter an 
 alliance with him. Burnet remarks on this point: "It can- 
 not be denied that the Protestants proved their sincerity in 
 this matter, such as hecame men of conscience, who were 
 actuated hy true principles, and not hy maxims of policy. 
 For if these,'' that is, considerations of political advantage, 
 "had governed them, they would have shown themselves more 
 compliant with so great a prince, who was then alienated 
 from the pope and on very ill terms with the emperor." 
 Cranmer then invited expression of opinion from the Witten- 
 berg theologians. Luther openly proclaimed it as his opin- 
 ion that the separation would be a greater enormity than 
 the marriage of Henry and Catherine had been (Catherine 
 was his brother's widow). Such appears to have been the 
 prevalent view in Germany. It was during this residence 
 in Germany that Cranmer became acquainted with the cele- 
 brated Osiander, then pastor at Nuremberg, and having 
 formed an attachment to the niece of his friend, was united 
 to her' early in the following year. It is not generally known 
 
264 WHEN ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 
 
 that the greatest figure in the history of the Reformation 
 of England, Thomas Cranmer, married a Lutheran girl. 
 
 But the royal will was not to be thwarted by the scruples 
 of theologians. The alliance with Catherine was declared 
 null and void, and the nuptials with Anne Boleyn were 
 celebrated. Cranmer was made Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and Henry assumed the title of Protector and Head of the 
 Church of England. When he refused to obey a summons of 
 the pope to appear in Rome, the great papal curse was 
 launched against him. This was the end of spiritual rela- 
 tions between Henry and the pope and the beginning of the 
 Anglican Reformation. Henry declared himself the head 
 •of the Anglican Church. He would be king and pope in one. 
 Yet he was by no means won over to the doctrinal position 
 of the Reformers. The thought that it might be said that 
 he had become an adherent to the faith which he had con- 
 demned as hell-broth and Satanic virus in his book against 
 Luther was unbearable to him. His plan included no Refor- 
 mation of church doctrine. The greater abuses, indeed, were 
 to be ameliorated, above all, the authority of the pope was to 
 be broken, but the doctrinal position of the Anglican Church 
 was not to be affected by this change in spiritual overlords. 
 Once more it was thought that the opportunity was come 
 to strike a political bargain with the Lutheran princes of 
 Germany. And again the Lutheran nobility stood firm. In 
 1532, Cranmer delivered letters from the king to the Elector 
 John and Duke Philip of Lueneberg. At Nuremberg he had 
 a private interview with the crown prince of Saxony in the 
 presence of Spalatin. On a subsequent occasion he is even 
 said to have promised the assistance of King Henry in case 
 the Lutheran princes should become inveigled into war with 
 the emperor. But those splendid men could not be bought 
 by the promise even of such emoluments of power to their 
 cause. Prince John Frederick replied in his own handwriting 
 that "agreement as to the Articles of Eaith must first be 
 reached between the King and the Evangelicals {i. e., Lu- 
 therans) : they and their allies would not turn aside from 
 the Augsburg Confession." (Related by Seckendorf.) 
 
WHEX ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 265 
 
 In the year 1535, Dr. Robert Barnes was sent by King 
 Henry to Wittenberg to prepare the way for new negotia- 
 tions. There was some hope then, it seemed, that Melanch- 
 thon would be invited to England to introduce evangelical 
 reforms. Luther wrote at this time: "Who knows what God 
 intends to do? His wisdom is greater than ours." The 
 Elector of Saxony wrote that he was willing to enter into 
 negotiations looking to an alliance for mutual defense, but 
 added: "Never shall we cast away the right and pure 
 doctrine of the Gospel which we . . . confessed before the 
 emperor in the Augsburg convention." And having exhorted 
 the king to carry through a reform of popish abuses, he again 
 says : "For our own part, we shall, through the help of God, 
 never cast away the doctrine which we confess." 
 
 Indeed, matters had at this time taken a turn in Englknd 
 which led many to hope that king and people might be gained 
 over for the evangelical truth. The movement against the 
 various superstitious practises of popery was becoming more 
 pronounced, and the hopes of German Protestants were 
 greatly animated. An attempt was made to gain a better 
 understanding with the English divines. Myconius, a Lu- 
 theran clergyman, and Burckhardt, vice-chancellor to the 
 Elector of Saxony, brought a letter from Melanchthon to 
 the king, expressing the joy which had been kindled in the 
 hearts of all good men by His Majesty's alacrity in the 
 work of Reformation. These Germans were, unhappily, 
 doomed to bitter disappointment. The Romish party in 
 English politics prevented a discussion of the Mass and of 
 celibacy. In spite of Cranmer's efforts no opportunity was 
 given the German ambassadors to state their views of those 
 principles on which alone a real Reformation of the Church 
 could be brought about. Only those points of doctrine which 
 the Church of England had already adopted from the Augs- 
 burg Confession were reaffirmed, and this only after much 
 wearisome discussion (by writing) back and forth. It appears 
 that the German ambassadors received scurvy treatment in 
 other ways. Cranmer complains that "they be very ill lodged, 
 for besides a multitude of rats daily and nightly running 
 
266 WHEN ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 
 
 in their chambers, the kitchen standeth directly a^'ainst their 
 parlour, and by reason thereof the house savoreth so ill that 
 it offendeth all men that come into it." We are not surprised 
 to read that the Lutheran visitors were all in haste to take 
 their leave. This was in 1536, 
 
 The German Reformers were finally disillusionized by the 
 laws which Henry YIII promulgated in 1539 for the sup- 
 pression of the evangelical faith in his dominion. These 
 laws, known as the Bloody Statutes, were enacted in spite 
 of the vigorous opposition of Cranmer, whose eloquence and 
 learning on this occasion extorted admiration even from his 
 enemies. The king himself was struck by the force of 
 Cranmer's arguments, but he had gone so far that there was 
 now no drawing back. The king felt that his honor as 
 "Defender of the Catholic Faith" and his very throne were 
 endangered, if the country should become divided in its 
 religious opinion. The Six Articles were designed to pre- 
 serve the unity of faith in England. They maintained the 
 Roman doctrine of the change of the elements into the body 
 and blood of Christ in the Sacrament, forbade the marriage 
 of the clergy, and insisted on auricular confession to the 
 priest. The penalties inflicted upon transgressors of these 
 regulations were horrible. They condemned to death hy fire 
 all who should speak, preach, and write against the Roman 
 doctrine in these three points! 
 
 Nothing could exceed the exasperation and disappointment 
 produced among the German Reformers by the publication 
 of this sanguinary and tyrannical law. The truth was cour- 
 teously, but very plainly told by Melanchthon in an epistle 
 addressed to Henry himself. The indignation of Luther 
 was expressed in less measured language. "I am rejoiced," 
 he said in a letter to the Elector of Saxony, "that the king- 
 has at last thrown off the mask. He demanded to be chosen 
 as head and defender of the Gospel in Germany. Away with 
 such a head ! His power and his wealth have so inflated him 
 that he would be adored as a divinity. Ilis craft is such as 
 might well qualify him for the popedom itself." 
 
 At this point we may suitably terminate our study of 
 
WHEN ENGLAND ALMOST BECAME LUTHERAN. 267 
 
 that strange and little known period of Reformation history^ 
 when England almost became Lutheran. Not that the Lu- 
 theran intluence came to an end when the negotiations with 
 the Lutheran princes fell through. Nor did the persecution 
 which followed the publication of the Six Articles crush 
 out the Evangelical Lutheran principle, or remove it as an 
 active force from English life. As late as 1548, Cranmer 
 translated a catechism written by Justus Jonas, the friend 
 of Luther; and the Anglican Confession, the Two-and-forty 
 (later Thirty-nine) Articles adopted in 1551, in part literally 
 reproduces the Augsburg Confession. But the Zwinglian 
 strain now gained the ascendancy. Li his translation of 
 Jonas's catechism Cranmer altered the text in a manner to 
 conform to the Reformed doctrine of the Lord's Supper. 
 And the Thirty-nine Articles contain the Reformed view" 
 concerning the Sacraments. The leaders of Anglicanism at 
 that time were either Calvinists and Zwinglians, or were 
 middle-of-the-road men and ecclesiastical diplomats, like 
 Bucer. Thus it was that England did not become Lutheran. 
 As an organized force in English history, Lutheranism was 
 killed by politics. A lewd and tyrannical king held the reins 
 of power. Roman Catholic bigotry at one time made him 
 an enemy of the Reformation, expediency ranged him among 
 her friends for a season, but when the loyalty of Lutheran 
 jirinccs could not be bought, he turned against his evangelical 
 subjects in the cruel rage characteristic of unbalanced tyrants. 
 When the politico-ecclesiastical tinkerers under Edward VI 
 got through their work, they had compounded a confession 
 which is neither Lutheran nor Calvinistic, but Anglican. 
 The clear stream of Lutheranism was swallowed up in the 
 muddy, Anglican waters. Yet it should not be forgotten 
 that, in the words of old Lithenius, it was "Luther, the 
 great instrument of God in reforming the British Church, 
 who opened the way to England and Scotland to extricate 
 themselves from papal servitude." And the imperishable 
 legacy of Lutheranism to the English-speaking world is the 
 English Bible. 
 
26S Luther's end. 
 
 Luther's End. 
 
 Rev. E. Haertel, Chicago, 111. 
 
 It is hard for us to realize that a man whose literary 
 products fill twenty-five large volumes; who constantly 
 lectured to large classes at the University; whose corre- 
 spondence on a vast variety of subjects was enormous; 
 who with the aid of several friends rendered the Bible into 
 the vernacular; who preached several sermons a week; who 
 could find time to compose a number of powerful hynuis and 
 set some of them to music ; who could in his home and social 
 life maintain a most cheerful spirit, — it is hard for us to 
 realize that such a man could be otherwise than physically 
 strong and of rugged health. The familiar portrait of 
 Luther representing him as he appeared toward the end of 
 his career tends to strengthen the impression that he was 
 a robust man and of great strength. As a matter of fact, 
 however, Luther was far from being the well man he is 
 popularly supposed to have been. Very early in life he was 
 attacked by the calculus, from which painful disorder he 
 suffered severely. In December, 1537, he writes : "I am little 
 more than a benumbed and frozen carcass." At another 
 time he said: "This toothache and earache I am always 
 suffering from are worse than the plague. When I was at 
 Coburg, in 1530, I was tormented with a noise and buzzing 
 in my ears, just as though there were some wind tearing 
 through my head. The devil had something to do with it." 
 
 A man was complaining to him one day of the itch ; said 
 Luther: "I should be very glad to change with you, and to 
 give you ten florins into the bargain. You don't know what 
 a horrible thing this vertigo of mine is. Here, all to-day, 
 I have not been able to read a letter through, nor even two 
 or three lines of the Psalter consecutively. I do not get 
 beyond three or four words, when, buzz, buzz! the noise 
 begins again, and often I am near falling off my chair with 
 the pain. But the itch, that's nothing; nay, it is rather 
 a beneficial complaint." 
 
 One day, when he had been preaching at Smalcald, he 
 
Luther's end. 269 
 
 had, after dinner, a severe attack of his malady, whereupon 
 he knelt down and prayed fervently: "O my God, my Lord 
 Jesus ! Thou knowest with what zeal I have preached Thy 
 Word; if it be to the glory of Thy name, come to my succor; 
 if not, close my eyes." 
 
 "My head is so weak, so unsteady, that I can neither read 
 nor write, especially when fasting." (February 9, 1543.) 
 
 "I am feeble and weary of life. I would fain bid adieu 
 to the world, which is now given over to the Evil One. God 
 grant me a favorable hour for my departure and a prosperous 
 journey. Amen." (March 14, 1543.) 
 
 To Amsdorf he said, on the 18th of August in the same 
 year: "I write this to you after supper, for when fasting, 
 I cannot, without great danger, even look at a book or a paper. 
 I don't understand this wretched malady at all; whether it 
 is one of Satan's blows at me or the effects of nature's decay .'^ 
 
 "I take it that my malady is made up, first, of the 
 ordinary weakness of advanced age; secondly, of the results 
 of my long labors and habitual tension of thought; thirdly, 
 above all, of the blows of Satan; if this be so, there is no 
 medicine in the world that will cure me." (November 7, 
 1543.) 
 
 In this same year his old enemy returned with alarming 
 severit5\ An abscess also appeared on his left leg. Finding 
 that a fresh breaking out of it seemed to relieve his head, 
 his friend, Ratzeberger, the Elector's physician, applied 
 a seton to keep the issue open. 
 
 Little wonder, then, that the thought of an early death 
 was ever present with him. Thus on the occasion of the 
 death of a pious man he said : "This man fell gently asleep ; 
 he did not know that he died, and does not yet know that 
 he is dead; for he fell asleep in the Word and knowledge 
 of Christ. Dear Lord Jesus, grant unto me soon such a quiet 
 and blessed death, and take me also out of this misery and 
 vale of tears to Thyself." In a letter addressed to Melanch- 
 thon, dated April 18, 1541, after relating his sufferings, he 
 says: "May it please Christ to remove my soul into the 
 
270 LUTHER'S EXD. 
 
 peace of the Lord. By the grace of God, I am ready and 
 -desirous to go. I have lived out and finished the course 
 assigned to me by God. Oh, may my soul, wearied with 
 so long a journey on earth, now ascend into heaven I" 
 
 ''I have no time to write to you at any length, my dear 
 Probst, for though I am overwhelmed with age and weari- 
 ness, old, cold, and half blind" (Luther had been for some 
 time afflicted with a disease in one of his eyes), "as the 
 saying is, yet I am not permitted as yet to take my repose." 
 
 During the last two or three years of his life his enemies 
 from time to time spread abroad rumors of his death, adding 
 embellishing accounts with most tragic and fantastic details. 
 To put an end to this annoyance, Luther in 1545 printed in 
 German and Italian a pamphlet entitled, "Lies of the 
 Italians Touching the Alleged Death of Martin Luther." 
 
 His last days were occupied in the difficult and delicate 
 task of bringing about a reconciliation between the Counts of 
 Mansfeld, in whose domain he had been born. "A week, 
 more or less," he writes to Count Albert, who had asked him 
 to come to Eisleben as arbitrator, "will not prevent me from 
 coming, though, truly, I am much occupied with other affairs. 
 But I feel that I shall lie down on my death-bed with joy 
 when I have seen my dear lords reconciled and once more 
 friends." 
 
 Dissensions had arisen between the counts concerning 
 certain revenues from the mines and other rights. Luther 
 had already entreated them in God's name amicably to adjust 
 the matters; but their quarrels only seemed to increase in 
 bitterness. They had now agreed so far as to invite his 
 mediation, and Luther, though sick and overburdened with 
 work, did not feel that he could decline to serve his masters 
 and early home with his prayer and counsel. 
 
 In October, 1545, he, accordingly, went there with 
 Melanchthon, but the visit proved fruitless as the counts 
 "were suddenly called away to war. At Christmas time he 
 again journeyed to Mansfeld accompanied by Melanchthon. 
 The proceedings had hardly begun when Melanchthon was 
 
LUTHER'S END. 271 
 
 taken seriously ill, and his anxiety for his friend would not 
 permit him to remain. At Wittenberg- he preached for the 
 last tinle on January IT, 1546. On the 23d of January he 
 started on his third journey, this time to Eisleben, which 
 had been appointed for the conference. lie took with him 
 his three sons, to whom he wanted to show his old home, their 
 tutor, his. own servant, and Aurifaber. He had hoped to 
 reach his destination already on the following day, but the 
 breaking of the ice, followed by a heavy flood in the river 
 Saale, obliged him to sojourn in Ilalle at the house of his 
 friend Dr. Jonas until the 28th. To his wife he wrote: 
 "Dear Katie: We arrived at eight o'clock this morning in 
 Halle, but could not proceed to Eisleben; for an x\nabaptist 
 met us with waves of water and great blocks of ice, which 
 covered the land and threatened to baptize us. 'Nov could 
 we retrace our steps on account of the river Mulda, but were 
 obliged to remain at Halle between two streams. Xot,as if 
 we were anxious to drink of these waters, for we substitute 
 good beer of Torgau and good Rhine wine for the water, and 
 refresh and comfort ourselves therewith until the Saale shall 
 have done raging." 
 
 To his friends he said, "Dear friends, we are mighty good 
 comrades ; we eat and drink together, but the time will come 
 when we must die. I am now going to Eisleben to reconcile 
 the Counts of Mansfeld, whose temper of mind I know. 
 AVhen Christ undertook to reconcile His heavenly Father 
 and the world, He had to die for them. God grant that it 
 may be the same with me," 
 
 It was probably then that he brought Jonas as a present 
 the beautiful white goblet which is still preserved at Nurem- 
 berg. The Latin couplet on it is to this effect: 
 
 Luther this glass, himself a glass, doth on his friend bestow, 
 That each himself a brittle glass may by this token know. 
 
 On the 2Sth the travelers, who were joined by Jonas, 
 ventured the still perilous crossing of the Saale, and reached 
 Eisleben in the evening, where the Counts of Mansfeld, with 
 several other notables, were waiting for Luther. Shortly 
 
272 LUTHER'S END. 
 
 before reaching the city, Luther went some distance on foot, 
 became overheated, and when he resumed his seat in the 
 wagon, such a chill blast struck him from the rear" that he 
 was attacked by severe pains in the chest and great dizziness. 
 At Eisleben he quickly recovered, and preached on the 
 following Sunday. To Melanchthon he wrote: "Now I feel 
 quite well again, but for how long I know not, for you cannot 
 trust old age." His sons he permitted to visit relatives in 
 Mansfeld. 
 
 Luther was comfortably quartered at the Drachstedt, 
 a house belonging to the city, and inhabited by the town- 
 clerk, Albert. The arbitration proceedings were commenced 
 at once in the house where he was staying, but very slow 
 progress was made on account of the mutual distrust of the 
 contesting parties. Luther was much discouraged, and even 
 suggested that the Elector be requested to command his 
 return on urgent business, as he was under the impression 
 that they would not permit him to depart without having 
 accomplished the object of their meeting. He was also much 
 incensed at the quibbling of the lawyers, and because they 
 backed up each party to stand on his imagined rights. 
 
 During this time Luther's health seemed to be in fairly 
 good condition. His appetite and sleep were good. He 
 preached four times, ordained two pastors, and partook twice 
 of the Sacrament. His last sermon was preached on 
 February 14th and concluded with the words: "This and 
 much more could be said of this Gospel, but I am too weak; 
 we shall have to pause here. May God grant His grace that 
 we accept His precious Word with thanksgiving, grow and 
 increase in the knowledge and faith of His Son, our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and remain steadfast in the confession of His 
 Word unto our end. Amen." 
 
 In the mean time his Katie was being consumed by worry 
 in Wittenberg, and he sought to relieve her anxiety by 
 writing her five letters in fourteen days. They were full 
 of affection, comfort, and humor. In one of them he jestingly 
 chides her for her lack of faith in the words: "Dear Katie: 
 Read St. John and the Small Catechism. . . . You want to 
 
Luther's end. 273 
 
 do the caring- instead of God, just as though He were not 
 almighty and could not create ten Doctor Martins if the 
 old one drowned in the Saale, or died by the fireplace, or 
 in Wolf's bird-trap. Spare me with your cares, for I know 
 One who can care for me better than you or all the angels. 
 He lies in a manger and hangs upon a virgin's breast; but 
 He, nevertheless, sits on the right hand of God the Father 
 Almighty. Therefore abide in peace. Amen." And three 
 daj's later he thanks "the holy, anxious mistress," the "sacro- 
 sanct Mrs. Doctor," for her great concern which will not 
 permit her to sleep; "for since you have been caring for us, 
 the fire wanted to consume us in our quarters, almost in front 
 of the door of my chamber, and yesterday, no doubt but by 
 virtue of your care, a stone almost fell on my head and 
 crushed it as in a mousetrap"; and then he continues, 
 "I worry that if you do not stop worrying, the earth may at 
 last swallow us up, and all the elements pursue us. Do you 
 thus learn the Catechism and the Creed? You must pray 
 and let God do the caring, as we read, 'Cast thy burden upon 
 the Lord, and He will sustain thee.' Ps. 55." 
 
 Of the voluptuous life of the princes he wrote to his wife : 
 "You may tell Philip to correct his postil, for he did not 
 understand why the Lord in the Gospel calls riches thorns. 
 Here is the school to learn that. But it fills me with dread 
 to think that in the Scriptures the thorns are threatened 
 with fire." 
 
 On the 10th of February he wrote: "We are, God be 
 praised, quite well. Dr. Jonas wanted a sore leg, and acci- 
 dentally bumped it against a chest. So great is envy among 
 men that he would not even let me be the only one to have 
 a sore leg." 
 
 This sore leg evidently caused Luther not a little anxiety. 
 The ointment with which the ulcer was to be kept open had 
 been forgotten, and at Eisleben the wound was almost 
 healed up. Intending to spare his wife all worry, he asks 
 Melanchthon to send a special messenger with the ointment. 
 He writes, "You know how dangerous that is." And after- 
 Four Hundred Years. 18 
 
274 Luther's exd. 
 
 ward Dr. Ratzeberger actually ascribed Luther's unexpected 
 death to the neglect of the seton. 
 
 On the 14th of February Luther reported to his wife 
 the encouraging progress of the proceedings, and announced 
 his early return. The lords had come to an agreement on 
 all points of the dispute except two or three, and the two 
 counts, Gebhard and Albrecht, had been reconciled. "Our 
 young nobles are all gaiety now; they drive the ladies out 
 in sleighs and make the horses' bells jingle a pretty tune." 
 He was quite cheerful now, but spoke much of death, re- 
 marking that he would soon go to Wittenberg to lay himself 
 into a coffin, and "give the worms a fat doctor to devour." 
 
 On the 16th an agreement was actually reached. On the 
 morning of the 17th Luther was so ill that the counts en- 
 treated him not to quit his apartment to participate in the 
 closing session, in which the stipulations were finally agreed 
 upon, and later submitted to him for his signature. He spent 
 the forenoon in conversation with Jonas, Coelius, and his 
 God. "Here at Eisleben I was baptized," he once remarked, 
 "suppose I should now stay here?" 
 
 Before supper he complained of oppression of the chest, 
 and had himself rubbed with warm cloths. The evening 
 meal he shared with the others in the dining-hall, one floor 
 below his rooms. He was apparently well again. He ate 
 as usual, and his conversation was the usual free mixture 
 of seriousness and humor. He spoke of death and recognition 
 after death, affirming that, as Adam recognized Eve on awak- 
 ing from sleep, so we would recognize one another after death. 
 No one suspected what was before them. 
 
 He then arose to retire, followed by his two younger sons, 
 Martin and Paul, who had returned from Mansfeld, and 
 Coelius. According to his custom he remained for a long- 
 time at the window engaged in silent prayer. Coelius soon 
 came down again, and Aurifaber went to the room. 
 
 Suddenly Luther was attacked by extreme pains in his 
 chest. Aurifaber hastened to the wife of Count Albrecht, 
 who was said to have a remedy for this. Jonas and Coelius, 
 who had speedily returned, endeavored to increase the circula- 
 
Luther's exd. 975 
 
 tion by rubbing him with warm cloths. After the count had 
 given him the remedy, the attack seemed to be over. He laid 
 himself down on a leathern sofa and slept peacefully until 
 ten o'clock. 
 
 On awakingj he said to those present, "What, are you still 
 there? Will you not, dear friends, also retire?" On their 
 replying that they would remain with him, he arose to go 
 to his bed in an adjoining room. When he crossed the 
 threshold, he said in Latin: "Into Thy hands I commend 
 my spirit; Thou hast redeemed me, Thou faithful God." 
 After he had slumbered peacefully for about two hours, the 
 attack was renewed. "O Lord God," he exclaimed, "I am 
 in such pains! Ah, dear Dr. Jonas, I think I shall remain 
 here at Eisleben where I was born and baptized." Again he 
 arose and went unaided to the sofa. The oppression in- 
 creased. When continued rubbing with warmed cloths and 
 other remedial measures finally brought on perspiration, hope 
 was expressed by those present, but Luther said : "It is a cold 
 sweat of death; I shall give up my spirit, for the sickness 
 is increasing." Then he prayed: "O my heavenly Father, 
 Thou God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thou God 
 of all comfort, I thank Thee that Thou hast revealed unto 
 me Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, on whom I believe, whom 
 I have preached and confessed, whom I have loved and 
 lauded, whom the wicked pope and all the ungodly abuse, 
 persecute, and blaspheme. I pray Thee, my Lord Jesus 
 Christ, let my poor soul be committed into Thy keeping. 
 O heavenly Father, I know assuredly that, although I must 
 give up this body and be removed from this life, I shall 
 still abide with Thee eternally, and that no one can pluck 
 me out of Thy hand." He also comforted himself with his 
 favorite text, John 3, 16, and with the words of the 6Sth 
 Psalm: "lie that is our God is the God of salvation." 
 Thrice he was heard to repeat the words, "Father, into Thy 
 hands I commend my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me. Thou 
 faithful God." Hereupon he was silent. While his wrists 
 were being bathed. Dr. Jonas and Coelius asked him, "Rev- 
 erend father, are you willing to die faithful to Christ and 
 
276 Luther's end. 
 
 the doctrine you have preached ?' ' and he answered distinctly, 
 "Yes.'" He then turned over on his right side and slept. 
 In less than a quarter of an hour he gently and peacefully, 
 without the slightest struggle or convulsion, yielded up his 
 spirit. The Lord had called him home between two and 
 three o'clock in the morning of Thursday, February 18, 1546. 
 
 Jonas at once notified the Elector. Mrs. Katie received 
 the sad news on the 19th, and Melanchthon first announced 
 the death to the students in his lecture on Romans. After 
 this a posted bulletin informed the university and the city 
 of the departure of the great Reformer. 
 
 The Counts of Mansfeld desired to keep the body in their 
 country, Luther's native land, but the Elector decided that 
 it should be brought to Wittenberg. After two portraits had 
 been made of his face, the body was wrapped in a long white 
 garment and placed in a coffin. It was then carried into 
 St. Andrew's Church, where Dr. Jonas preached an excellent 
 sermon from 1 Thess. 4, 13 — 18, and Coelius preached from 
 Is. 57, 1. At twelve the body was carried out of the city, 
 escorted by about 50 horsemen, under the command of the 
 two Counts of Mansfeld, and a large number of people. 
 Everywhere the procession was received by new mourners 
 and the tolling of bells. In Halle it was placed in the 
 church for the night. On the 22d, at nine o'clock in the 
 morning, Wittenberg was reached. At the Elster Gate the 
 remains were met by an immense throng, and escorted to 
 the Castle Church in solemn procession. It was preceded by 
 the nobles representing the Elector, two Counts of Mansfeld, 
 and about 65 horsemen. Behind the coffin rode the widow 
 in a little carriage with some other gentlewomen and her 
 daughter Margaret. She was followed by Luther's three 
 sons, John, Martin, and Paul, his brother, and other relatives. 
 Back of them marched the rector of the university, Chan- 
 cellor Brueck, and the entire faculty and students, the town- 
 council, and the citizens. 
 
 In the Castle Church Bugenhagen first preached from 
 1 Thess. 4, 13, and in conclusion quoted Luther's prophecy 
 and memorial inscription : "Living was I thy plague, and 
 
TRinUTES TO LUTHER. 
 
 277 
 
 dying will I be thy death, O pope !" Then Melanchthon de- 
 livered in Latin, on behalf of the university, a most eloquent 
 tribute to his friend. 
 
 Close to the pulpit from which Luther luid so often 
 preached the coffin was lowered into the vault. The grave 
 having been filled up and properly secured, a brass plate 
 was affixed upon it with this inscri])tion : 
 
 Martini LuTERrs-XHEOLO|^^ 
 
 Tributes to Luther. 
 
 Rev. 0. C. Ivbeinheder, St. Paul, Minn. 
 
 The name and character of Martin Luther have not 
 escaped the tongue and pen of vile slander and malicious 
 calumny. Next to Jesus Christ, Johann Albrecht Bengei 
 has said, no one has been more calumniated than Dr. IMartin 
 Luther, the apostles not excepted. Though mankind at large 
 is to-day enjoying the beneficent fruits of Luther's life and 
 labors, there still are tliose who hate and abhor his name, 
 and think of him as the archheretic of the Christian Church. 
 "Rome has never forgotten nor forgiven Luther. She sought 
 his life while living, and she curses him in his grave. Profited 
 bv his labors bevond what she ever could liave Ix'cn without 
 
2 / 8 TKIBUTES TO LUTHER. 
 
 him, she strains and chokes with anathemas upon his name 
 and everything that savors of him. . . . Even while the 
 free peoples of the earth are making grateful acknowledg- 
 ments of the priceless boon that has come to them through 
 his life and labors, press and platform hiss with stale vitupera- 
 tions from the old enemy. And a puling Churchism outside 
 of Rome takes an ill-pleasure in following after her to gather 
 and retail this vomit of malignity." 1) And yet, "no man 
 has been so much honored, no man — save the apostles — 
 deserves so much to be held in grateful remembrance as 
 Martin Luther, remarkable alike as a man, as a Christian, 
 as a husband and father, as a theologian, as a Bible trans- 
 lator, catechist, and hymnist, as the bold champion of the 
 freedom of conscience, as the founder of the Lutheran 
 Church, and as the chief leader of that Reformation which 
 carried Christendom back to first principles, and urged it 
 forward to new conquests." 2) The chosen instrument of 
 God for the reformation of the Church, Luther's name "has 
 become a household word, a name that shines with greater 
 luster than the name of Milton, of Shakespeare, or of Newton, 
 because associated with more glorious triumiDhs ; a name that 
 has left behind it a legacy that no other has rivaled — the 
 legacy of an unshackled Christianity, an unclasped Bible, 
 a preached Gospel." ^) "The ovation to the memory of Martin 
 Luther, on the four-hundredth anniversary of his birth, sur- 
 passed in extent and enthusiasm everything that has in any 
 age, been rendered to the memory of mortal man. All de- 
 nominations, all classes, all institutions, throughout every 
 country in the world into which the blessings of the Refor- 
 mation have penetrated, united spontaneously in celebrating 
 his personal merits and his illustrious services to religion and 
 progress, and raised him to a pedestal of fame which stands 
 ■without a rival, and which can never perish. It was the 
 grateful tribute of the modern world to him who is, humanly 
 
 1) Dr. J. A. Seiss, Luther and the Reformation^ p. 131. 
 
 2) Philip Schaff', in Tjuther as a Reformer. 
 
 3) Cumming's Lectures on the Apocalypse, p. 122. 
 
TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 279 
 
 speaking, acknowledged as its creator." •^) At the approaching 
 celebration of the four-hundredth anniversary of the Refor- 
 mation much, no doubt, will be said in praise of the man 
 who was the mighty agent of the Lord of hosts in this 
 epochal movement; but surely no one can blame us for these 
 words of praise, which are spoken not to deify the man, but to 
 honor and gratefully to adore the goodness and mercy of 
 Him who blessed the world through Martin Luther. 
 
 The "titanic" and many-sided greatness, the "majestic 
 genius," the noble qualities of mind and heart of "the modern 
 world's foremost prophet" ^) have evoked from an admiring 
 world the most glowing tributes all through the centuries 
 that succeeded his heroic struggle for truth and righteous- 
 ness, tributes that are indeed an "offering of flowers and 
 fruit on the altar of the greatest memory which the heart 
 of 'modern Christianity enshrines," ^j Nor have "alone his 
 followers, the Lutherans, lavished on him the highest 
 praise." ") "Romanists have emulated Protestants in his 
 praise; Rationalists have seemed to venerate him whilst 
 they were laboring to undo his work." 8) No higher tribute 
 was ever paid Luther by any of his followers than was that 
 of the devoted and conscientious Romanist, Frederick von 
 Schlegel, who said : "As to the intellectual power and great- 
 ness of Luther, ... I think there are few even of his own 
 disciples who appreciate him highly enough." 9) 
 
 With respect to Luther's singular and overtowering great- 
 ness as a man among men, the loftiest tributes have been 
 paid him. Melanchthon, who surely knew him well, and 
 who had every opportunity to estimate the excellent and 
 eminent qualities of mind and heart with which he was 
 
 4) Prof. Wolf. 
 
 5) Dr. McGiffert, Century, September, 191L 
 
 6) Krauth, Conservative Reformation, p. 22. 
 
 7) Oeuvres de Bossuet (Histoire des Variations) , Vol. IV, p. 9. 
 
 8) Krauth, Conservative Reformation, p. 45. 
 
 9) Lectures on the History of Literature; New York, 1841, 
 350. 
 
280 TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 
 
 endowed, said: "Luther is too great, too wonderful for me 
 to depict in words." "There was probably never created 
 a more powerful human being, a more gigantic, full-pro- 
 portioned man, in the highest sense of the term. All that 
 belongs to human nature, all that goes to constitute a man, 
 had a strongly-marked development in him. He was a model 
 man, one that might be shown to other beings in other parts 
 of the universe as a specimen of collective manhood in its 
 maturest growth." 10) «jje was a complete man, I would say, 
 an absolute man, one in whom matter and spirit were not 
 divided. To call him a spiritualist, therefore, would be as 
 great an error as to call him a sensualist. . . . He had 
 something original, incomprehensible, miraculous, such as 
 we find in all providential men, — something invincible, 
 spirit-possessed." ii) "His moral courage, his undaunted 
 firmness, his strong conviction, and the great revolution 
 which he effected in society, place him in the first rank of 
 historical characters. The form of the monk of Wittenberg, 
 emerging from the receding gloom of the Middle Ages, 
 appears towering above the sovereigns and warriors, states- 
 men and divines of the sixteenth century, who were his con- 
 lemporaries, his antagonists, or his disciples." i^) "jf -^ye 
 Tecall, among other great names in German history, the 
 Tlefonners Melanchthon and Zwingli, the Saxon electors, 
 Frederick the Wise and John the Constant, Gustavus 
 Adolphus and Frederick the Great; or, among intellectual 
 celebrities, Klopstock and Lessing, -Hamann and Herder, 
 Goethe and Schiller; or turn to the great religious reformers 
 of the last centuries, Spener, Francke, Zinzendorf, Bengel, 
 and Lavater, they all exhibit many features of relationship 
 with Luther, and in some qualities may even surpass him, 
 but none stands out a Luther. One is deficient in the poetic 
 impulse or the fulness and versatility of his nature ; another 
 
 10) Dr. Calvin E. Stowe, quoted in Seiss's Luther and the 
 Reformation, p. 123. 
 
 11) Heine. 
 
 12) Cyclopaedia of British Society, Vol. XIII, p. 207. 
 
TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 281 
 
 wants liis depth of relij»ious feeling, his firmness of purpose, 
 and strength of character; others, again, want his eloquence 
 or influence over his contemporaries. J^uther would not 
 have been Luther witliout these three leading features: his 
 strong faith, his spiritual eloquence, and firmness of character 
 and fjurpose. He united — and this is the most extra- 
 ordinary fact connected with him — to large endowments of 
 mind and heart, and the great gift of imparting these in- 
 tellectual treasures, the invincible power of original and 
 creative thought, both in resisting and influencing the outer 
 world." ^'^j Nor did he only outrank in greatness his con- 
 temporaries. "Between the first century, when Christianity 
 appeared in its youth, and the sixteenth, when it obtained 
 the maturity of its riper age, not one of our race has appeared 
 in whom the ever creative spirit of God, the spirit of light 
 and of law, has found nobler endowment, or wrought with 
 richer sequence." ^^) Ranked by many as the greatest man 
 in history after the Apostle Paul, regarded as the man "who 
 accomplished more for his race than any man in history after 
 the incomparable St. Paul," ^•'j eminently endowed by the 
 God he served so faithfully and so well, he indeed stands 
 before the world, as Melanchthon called him, "a miracle 
 among men." Filled with admiration for him, the brilliant 
 Carlyle, in seeking to extol his greatness, eloquently said: 
 "I will call this Luther a true great man; great in intellect, 
 in courage, affection, and integrity; one of the most lovable 
 and precious men. Great, not as a hewn obelisk, but as an 
 Alpine mountain, — so simple, honest, spontaneous, not set- 
 ting up to be great at all; there for quite another purpose 
 than being great. Ah yes, unsubdued granite, piercing far 
 and wide into the heavens ; yet in the clefts of its fountains, 
 green, beautiful valleys with flowers ! A right spiritual hero 
 and ])rophet; once more, a true son of Nature and Fact, for 
 
 13) Gelzer, in tlio pictured Life of Luther by Konig and 
 Gelzer. 
 
 14) Stang, in closing his biography of Liitlior. 
 
 15) Schaflf. 
 
282 TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 
 
 whom these centuries, and many that are to come yet, will 
 be thanlvful to heaven." I'-'i Then 
 
 ... let the pope and priest their victor scorn, 
 Each fault reveal, each imperfection scan, 
 And by their fell anatomy of hate 
 His life dissect with satire's keenest edge, — 
 But still may Luther, with his mighty heart, 
 Defy their malice. . . . 
 
 . . . Far beyond them soars the soul 
 They slander; from his tomb there still comes forth 
 A magic which appals them by its power; 
 And the brave monk who made the popedom rock 
 Champions a world to show his equal yet. 17) 
 
 More than two hundred biographies have been written of him 
 in Latin, German, Trench, English, Danish, Swedish, Italian,. 
 Spanish, Russian, Polish, and Lithuanian.18) "A glance at 
 the catalog of almost any great library, that of the British 
 Museum for instance, will show that more has been written 
 about Luther than about any man, save one, who ever 
 lived." 19) 
 
 The Reformation of the Church, under God, was the 
 work of Martin Luther, "whom God made choice of before 
 others to be of highest eminence and power in reforming the 
 Church," 20) and "never scarcely did the hand of God form 
 a fitter instrument to do a greater work." 21) "The Refor- 
 mation sprang living from his own heart, where God Himself 
 had placed it." 22) "In the providence of God all the prin- 
 ciples of reform were condensed 'and capitalized in the 
 person of Luther, and then flamed forth upon Europe." 23) 
 
 16) Heroes and Hero Worship, p. 127. 
 
 17) Montgomery's Luther. 
 
 18) Boehmer, Luther in the Light of Recent Research, p. 7. 
 
 19) Dr. Preserved Smith. 20) John Milton. 
 
 21) F. A. Cox, D. D., LL. D. (London), in The Life of Philip 
 M elanchthon. 
 
 22) D'Aubigne's Voice of the Church. 
 
 23) Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis, in All the Year Round. 
 
TEIBUTES TO LUTHER. 283 
 
 "A sense of duty, acting on an nnconquered heart, sent him 
 forth single-handed to encounter hosts of obdurate foes; 
 and, by the bent of his uplifted arm, he shook the authority 
 of the high pontificate which kept the potentates of the 
 earth in thraldom, and brought down the peering altitude 
 of that olden tyranny whose head was raised to heaven, and 
 whose base was fixed in the deepest prejudice. Ilis lone heart 
 nourished the germ of the greatest revolution that world 
 ever saw. Many heads caught his enthusiastic ardor; and 
 his voice was echoed from the most distant corners of Europe. 
 He entered the field as a champion of the rights of humanity, 
 his might overcame every difficulty, and he stood forward as 
 the victorious conqueror of ignorance and imposture. . . . 
 Luther did more for the success of a mighty cause than any 
 had before achieved in the history of the world. From his 
 deep, silent, and meditative spirit an impulse was given to 
 the mechanism of human society which it never till then 
 received." ^4) "The words of Luther set the world ablaze 
 with a new era." 25) The opinions propagated by him "led 
 to that happy reformation in religion which rescued one 
 part of Europe from the papal yoke, mitigated its rigor in 
 another, and produced a revolution in the sentiments of 
 mankind greater, as well as the most beneficial, than has 
 happened since the publication of Christianity." ^6) "Luther's 
 teaching of justification by faith," which was the central 
 doctrine of the Reformation, "changed the face of the whole 
 world." 27) He "freed religion, and by that he freed all 
 things." 28) "There is no province of human intelligence 
 and action which was not refreshed and fertilized by the 
 universal effort," Luther's Ileformation,29) so that "all human 
 progress must remember Martin Luther." 30) "The Reforma- 
 
 24) Dr. Chalmers, in a sermon preached in London. 
 
 25) Prof. Cbas. Briggs, Union Seminary. 
 
 26) Robertson's Charles V. 
 
 27) Berger, Kulturaufgaben der Reformation. 
 
 28) Adolph Harnack. 
 
 29) Taine, English Literature, Bk. II, chap. 1. 
 
 30) Phillips Brooks. 
 
284 TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 
 
 tion . . . exercised its beneficial influence not only throughout 
 Germany, but over the whole civilized world, and it is in 
 this sense that the Reformation is universally considered 
 as the beginning of a New Era in the history of the world. 
 The Reformation is the source, directly or indirectly, by 
 action or by reaction, of everything great and noble which 
 has taken place from about the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century. Through the Reformation alone men of all creeds 
 have become free and enlightened. And this is tiie reason 
 why not only the theologian, but also the political and literary 
 historian hails the work of the Reformation as one of the 
 greatest blessings ever bestowed on mankind." 3^) All this 
 is owing, as it has been said, "to the intense personal 
 conviction and contagious faith of one man — Martin 
 Luther." ^-) Indeed, "the Reformation is Luther," 33) and 
 "after Luther nothing new was added to the Reformation." 34) 
 "Christendom is Luther's monument, for Christendom is 
 now predominantly Protestant. It has accepted his inter- 
 pretation of Christianity. He was greater than poets or 
 emperors, as religion is higher than literature or government. 
 His monument ... it is all about us ; it is in us." 35) 
 
 Xow, "the principles of the Reformation for which Luther 
 lived and was ready to die at any moment are the propelling 
 forces of modern church history" and, it may be added, of 
 modern political history as well. "They have stood the test 
 of more than three hundred years, against persecution from 
 without and corruption from within, and are still as vital 
 as ever." 36) The principles for which the great Reformer 
 contended so courageously, so valiantly, and victoriously were 
 these: the supremacy of the Bible, the supremacy of faith, 
 the supremacy of the people; also designated, respectively, 
 as the formal, the material, and the social principles of 
 Protestantism. 
 
 31) Dr. Buchheim, professor in King's College, London. 
 
 32) The Very Rev. Principal John Tulloek, Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury, April, 1884, p. 660. 
 
 33) Mr. Morley. 34) J. A. Bengel. 
 35) Xew York Independent. 36) Philip Schaff. 
 
TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 285 
 
 The first of these principles accepts the canonical Scrip- 
 tures of the Old and Xew Testaments as the only infallible 
 source and rule of Christian faith and duty. "It stands 
 opposed, on the one hand, to the principle of traditionalism, 
 which so overloads the Word of God with human traditions 
 as to hide it from the people and to make it of none effect" ; 
 on the other, to the principle of rationalism, which subjects 
 the statements of the inerrant Word of the Infinite to the 
 erring- judgment of man's finite reason. W^ith Luther the 
 supremacy of the Bible was fundamental. Xot the pope, not 
 the fathers, not the church councils, but "the Bible was to 
 him the sole infallible authority, where every Christian for 
 himself could find the truth and the road to salvation, if 
 he faithfully and piously looked for it." 3^) His constant 
 appeal in his gigantic struggle with the forces of error and 
 falsehood was to the Word, and to the Word alone. "He 
 followed the prophets and apostles in preference to the 
 fathers and the schoolmen. When Jesus Christ became his 
 master, he rejected the pope. He discarded the manifold 
 sense, because he had found the divine sense. He rejected 
 the decisions of the councils because he bowed before the 
 decisions of God. He went back of the fathers to the Father 
 of all fathers.'" 38) Xud thus, "with the Bible in his hand, 
 head, and heart, he went forth to fight his battles against the 
 pope and the devil, being assured that 'one little word' of 
 the Almighty can slay them. On this immovable rock . . . 
 the humble monk took his stand at the Diet of Worms, units 
 versus mundum, strong in the sense of his own weakness, 
 independent in the sense of his dependence, free in his 
 obediece to God and the voice of conscience," 3^) and, standing* 
 on the Word of God, on that occasion which has been called 
 "the greatest scene in modern European history, the point, 
 indeed, from which the whole subsequent history of civiliza- 
 tion takes its rise," he made that "good confession," "sur- 
 
 37) James Antliony Froiule. 
 
 38) Prof. Chas. A. Briggs. in Lit f Iter (is Profefisor of Theology, 
 
 39) Philip Schaff, in Luther us a Reformer. 
 
286 TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 
 
 passed in moral grandeur but by one in the whole history 
 of the race." God was his trust. His Word, his stay. And 
 that every man might thus, as he, base his faith on the Word 
 of God, and that alone, he placed the Bible into the hands 
 of the people in a translation which, "one of the most 
 Herculanean achievements of the great Reformer," '^^) on 
 account of its fidelity to the original, its felicity of words, 
 the dignity, force, and vivacity of expression, and the 
 rhythmic melody of its style, has "excited an admiration 
 to which witness has been borne from the beginning by 
 friend and foe." "The remarkable version of Holy Scrip- 
 tures made by Luther has superseded all others in the German 
 language, and is the universal, standard German Bible, It 
 is aclaiowledged everywhere, by all parties, as one of the 
 very best translations ever made; and it led the way for, 
 and exerted a marked influence on, all the translations of 
 the Word of God in other modern tongues. Heine says it 
 created the German language. . . . Hedge, in his Prose 
 Wi'iters of Germany^ says: 'The modern high German must 
 be considered as having first attained its full development 
 and perfect finish in Luther's version of the Bible.' By 
 means of that Book it obtained a currency which nothing 
 else could have given it. It became fixed. It became uni- 
 versal. It became the organ of a literature, which, more 
 than any other since the Greek, has become a literature of 
 ideas. It became the vehicle of modern philosophy, the 
 cradle of those thoughts which, at this moment, act most 
 intensely on the human mind." 41) "All true philologists 
 regard this as the standard and model of classical expression 
 in the German language. ... It is worthy of notice that 
 in no other modern language have so many Biblical words 
 and phrases come into the use of common life as in ours." -^2) 
 And an©ther Roman Catholic author said that "Luther's 
 
 40) Seiss, in Ecclesia Lutherana, p. 73. 
 
 41) Seiss, in Ecclesia Lutherana, p. 74. 
 
 42) Frederick von Schlegel, in Lectures on the History of 
 Literature; New York, pp. 348 — 350. 
 
TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 287 
 
 translation of the Bible is a noble monument of literature, 
 a vast enterprise, which seemed to require more than the 
 life of man, but which Luther accomplished in a few 
 years. . . . His translation sometimes renders the primitive 
 phrase with touching simplicity, invests itself with sublimity 
 and magnificence, and receives all the modifications which 
 he wishes to impart to it. . . . Both Catholics and Prot- 
 estants regarded it an honor done to their ancient idiom." ^3) 
 
 Let grateful reverence long that work admire 
 
 0,'er which a seraph's wings might sliake with joy. 
 
 By Luther, with colossal power, achieved. 
 
 There was the Word Almighty, from the grave 
 
 Of buried language, into breathing life 
 
 Summoned in saintly glory to arise. 
 
 And speak to souls what souls coultl understand. 
 
 The words of truth 
 Eternal gave their hoary secrets up, 
 While God's own language into Luther's passed, 
 
 . . . till, behold, the voice 
 Of Jesus out of classic fetters came, 
 And, like its Author, to the poor man preached. 44) 
 
 The second of the great principles of the Reformation 
 was the supremacy of faith, i. e., the Scriptural doctrine of 
 justification by faith in distinction from Rome's doctrine 
 of justification by works. Around this doctrine especially 
 the great conflict with Rome revolved. "If the Word of 
 God, as the sole fountain of authority for the Christian 
 conscience, as over against the authority of popes and 
 councils, was the chief means of the Reformation, the 
 doctrine of that Word most potent in the movement was 
 justification by faith." "The underlying principle of those 
 propositions (which Luther nailed to the doors of the Castle 
 Church) was grace, a divine grace to save the world, the 
 principle of Paul and St. Augustine; therefore not new, 
 but forgotten ; a mighty comfort to miserable people, mocked 
 
 43) Audin's Li^e of Luther, eliap. XXIV 
 
 44) Montgomery's Luther, p. 173. 
 
288 TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 
 
 and cheated and robbed by a venal and gluttonous clergy." ^-5) 
 "Deeply had this doctrine been written on Luther's heart. 
 Like a charm it stole upon his agitated and agonized con- 
 science in the cloister of Erfurt. Like a voice from heaven 
 it flashed upon him while attempting, by way of penance, 
 to climb upon his knees up Pilate's staircase at Rome, and 
 filled his soul, as it has the soul of many a sinner, with 
 the glad consciousness of acceptance in Jesus. ... In all 
 his subsequent labors for God and the Church Luther never 
 ceased to proclaim this doctrine, as the vital essence and 
 sum of the Reformation he preached, yea, as the article by 
 which the Church must stand or fall. . . . Indeed, like Paul, 
 he seemed to know nothing but justification by faith in 
 the Son of God, crucified for sin. It was wrought in Him. 
 It permeated his whole being. It was welded to his spirit. 
 It was the center to which all his thoughts, feelings, and 
 hopes gravitated. It was the spring from which all his 
 heroic impulses came. It was the secret of his strength, both 
 before God and man. As soon might immortal mind be 
 annihilated as the great truth displaced from his inmost 
 soul. . . . 'This one article,' says Luther, 'reigneth in my 
 heart,' and this one article reigns through all the work that 
 he accomplished, and through all the Church which he 
 restored." ^*') "Xo marvel," says Cardinal Newman, "that 
 he has given us the clearest, fullest, joyfulest exposition of 
 saving faith extant in Christian literature." "No one since 
 the time of the apostles has ever taught more clearly and 
 faithfully the article of justification." -i') "He was appointed 
 in the counsels of Providence, by no means- exclusive of 
 the other reformers, but in a manner more extraordinary and 
 much superior, to teach mankind, after upwards of a thousand 
 years' obscurity, this great evangelical tenet, compared with 
 which how little appear all other objects of controversy! 
 He proved by numberless arguments from the Scriptures, 
 
 45) John Lord, in Beacon Lights of History. 
 
 46) Seiss, in Ecclesia Lutherana, pp. 62 — 66. 
 
 47 ) Bncer. 
 
TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 289 
 
 and particularly by the marked opposition between law and 
 faith, law and grace, that in justification before God all 
 sorts of human works are excluded, moral as well as cere- 
 monial. He restored to the Christian world the true forensic 
 or judicial sense of the word justification, and rescued that 
 term from the erroneous sense in which, for many ages, it 
 had been misunderstood, as though it meant infused habits 
 of virtue, whence it had been usual to confound justification 
 witli sanctification. By this doctrine, rightlj'- stated, with 
 all its adjuncts and dependencies, a new light breaks in on 
 the mind, and Christianity appears singularly distinct, not 
 only from Romanism, but also from all other religions. 
 Neither the superstitions of the papist, nor the sensibility 
 of the humane, nor the splendid alms of the ostentatious, nor 
 the most powerful efforts of unassisted nature, avail in the 
 smallest degree to the purchase of pardon and peace. The 
 glory of this purchase belongs to Christ alone; and he who 
 in real humility approves of, acquiesces in, and rests on, 
 Him is the true Christian." 48) 
 
 'Twas grace in principle which Luther taught: 
 Here is the lever which the worhl uplifts, — 
 "A Savior just for man unjust has died!" 
 Here is a .truth, whose trumpet voice might preach 
 The pope's religion into airy naught; 
 A truth which is at once the text of texts, 
 Making all Scriptures music to our souls. 49) 
 
 The third great principle of the Reformation, the logical 
 consequence of the other two, was the supremacy of the 
 people, i. e.j "the general priesthood of believers in opposition 
 to an exclusive hierarchy or priest-caste, which claims to 
 be the indispensable mediator between God and man; thus 
 setting aside the eternal priesthood of Christ, and assigning 
 to the laity the degrading position of passive obedience. . . . 
 This principle implies the right and duty of every believer 
 to read the Word of God in his vernacular tongue, to go 
 
 48) Scott, in his Luther and the Lutheran Reformation. 
 
 49) Montgomerj^'s Luther. 
 
 Four Hundred Years. 19 
 
290 TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 
 
 directly to the throne of grace, and to take an active part 
 in all the affairs of the Church according to his peculiar 
 gift and calling. . . . The principle of the general priest- 
 hood of the Christian people is the true source of religious 
 and civil freedom" ; ^) for "liberty of conscience, once se- 
 cured, secures all the rest." -^i) "The principle of justification 
 by faith alone brought with it the freedom of individual 
 thought and conscience against authority," ^2) and, no less 
 than our religious liberty, our "civil liberty is the result 
 of the open Bible which Luther gave us." *3) "The principles 
 of liberty of conscience and of universal priesthood, which 
 make men inwardly free, lead also involuntarily to outward 
 liberty." '^^) Therefore, "it is not incorrect to say," says 
 Michelet, one of the greatest French Catholic writers of 
 recent times, in the Introduction to his Life of Luther, "that 
 Luther has been the restorer of liberty in modern times. 
 If he did not create, he at least courageously affixed his 
 signature to, that great resolution which rendered the right 
 of examination lawful in Europe. And if we exercise, in 
 all its plentitude at this day, this first and highest privilege 
 of human intelligence, it is to him we are most indebted 
 for it; nor can we think, speak, or write without being more 
 C(Tnscious at every step of the immense benefit of this intel- 
 lectual enfranchisement. To whom do I owe the power of 
 publishing what I am now writing but to this liberator of 
 modern thought?" "The real author of modern liberty of 
 thought and action," 55) "Luther is the father of modern civil- 
 ization. He emancipated the human mind from ecclesiastical 
 slavery. He proclaimed that freedom of thought without 
 which it is easy to see that, despite the great modern inven- 
 tions, the spirit of the Dark Ages must have been indefinitely 
 prolonged, and the course of modern civilization must have 
 
 50) Dr. Philip Schaff. 
 
 51) Lord Acton, Roman Catholic. 
 
 52) Bancroft, I, p. 178. 53) Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 54) Geffcken, Church and ^iate. 
 
 55) James Freeman Clark. 
 
TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 291 
 
 been essentially ditierent." •^'•.) "Had there been no Luther, the 
 English, American, and German peoples would be acting 
 differently, would be altogether different men and women 
 from what they are at this moment." ^") "He moved Europe 
 by ideas which emancipated the millions, and set in motion 
 a progress which is the glory of our age," ^^) and he is, there- 
 fore, "the author of the civil liberty that is enjoyed to- 
 day." s*') "The establishment of the Republic of America 
 is a corollary of the Reformation," ^'^) and, therefore, back of 
 all Pilgrim Fathers, our pioneer settlers, our heroes and 
 martyrs, statesmen and reformers, stands the broad figure of 
 the man of Erfurt and Wittenberg, Worms and Speyer." ^-'^) 
 "The inalienable rights of an American citizen are nothing 
 but the Protestant idea of the general priesthood of all 
 believers applied to the civil sphere, or dev^eloped into the 
 corresponding idea of the general kingship of free men." ^-) 
 "Xo country has more reason than this Republic to recall 
 with joy the blessings Lmther assisted to secure for the world, 
 in emancipating thought and conscience, and impressing 
 the stamp of Christianity upon modern civilization." 'J'^l The 
 Protestants of the United States may well believe that 
 without the Reformation they would have been rather like 
 South Americans before the revolutions, than what they now 
 are, the wonder, the admiration, and the example of the 
 world." '^^) "The free millions of the United States may, 
 therefore, well rise up and do him honor, by cherishing 
 
 5G) Geo. W. Curtis. 
 
 57) James Anthony Fronde, Luther, a 8ho7~t Biography, p. 4. 
 
 58) John Lord's Beacon Lights, Loyola, p. 305. 
 
 59) Associate Jnstiee Strong. 
 
 60) Charles Francois Dominique de X'illeis. Professor of Plii- 
 losophy, University of Goettingen. 
 
 61 ) Christian Intelligencer. 
 
 62) Philip SchaflF, Creed^s, p. 219. 
 
 63) The Hon. John Jay at the Luther Celebration, Academy 
 of Music. Xew York, Xovenihcr lo. ISS.S. 
 
 64) Tlionu's Sniitli Griinkc. 
 
292 TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 
 
 his example, pondering his history, and maintaining his 
 creed." ^^) • 
 
 "The greatness of some men only makes us feel that, 
 though they did well, others in their places might have done 
 just as they did. Luther had that exceptional greatness 
 which convinces the world that he alone could have done 
 the work. He was not a mere mountaintop, catching a little 
 earlier the beams which, by their own course, would soon have 
 found the valleys; but rather, by the divine ordination under 
 which he rose, like the sun itself, without which the light 
 on mountain and valley would have been but a starlight or 
 a moonlight. He was not a secondary orb, reflecting the 
 light of another orb, as was Melanchtllon and even Calvin; 
 still less the moon of a planet, as Bucer or Brentius; but 
 the center of undulations which filled a system with glory. 
 Yet, though he rose wondrously to a divine ideal, he did not 
 cease to be a man of men. He won the trophies of power 
 and the garlands of affection. Potejitates feared him, and 
 little children played with him. He has monuments in 
 marble and bronze, medals in silver and gold; but his noblest 
 monument is the best love of the best hearts, and the 
 brightest, purest impressiofi of his image has been left in 
 the souls of regenerated nations. He w^as the best teacher of 
 freedom and loyalty. PTe has made the righteous throne 
 stronger and the innocent cottage happier. He knew how 
 to laugh and how^ to weep; therefore, millions laughed with 
 him, and millions wept for him. He was tried by deep 
 sorrow and brilliant fortune; he begged the poor scholar's 
 bread, and from emperor and estates of the realm received 
 an embassy, with a prince at his head, to ask him to untie 
 the knot which defied the power of the soldier and the 
 sagacity of the statesman ; it was he who added to the Litany 
 the words: 'In all time of our tribulation, in all time of 
 our prosperity, help us, good Lord'; but whether lured by 
 the subtlest flattery or assailed by the powers of hell, tempted 
 
 65) Bishop Thorold of Rochester, England, in Philadelphia 
 Press of November 10, 1883. 
 
TRIBUTES TO LUTHER. 293 
 
 with the miter, or threatened with the stake, he came off 
 more than conqueror in all. He made a world rich forever - 
 more, and, stripping himself in perpetual charities, died in 
 poverty. He knew how to command, for he had learned how 
 to obey. Had he been less courageous, he would have at- 
 tempted nothing; had he been less cautious, he would have 
 ruined all : the torrent was resistless, but the banlvs were 
 deep. He tore up the mightiest evils by the root, but shielded 
 with his own life the tenderest bud of good; he combined 
 the aggressiveness of a just radicalism with the moral re- 
 sistance — which seemed to the fanatic the passive weak- 
 ness — of a true conservatism. Faith-inspired, he was faith- 
 inspiring. Great in act as he was, great in thought, proving 
 himself fire with fire, 'inferior eyes grew great by his ex- 
 ample, and put on the dauntless spirit of resolution.' The 
 world knows his faults. He could not hide what he was. 
 His transparent candor gave his enemies the material of 
 their misrepresentation; but they cannot blame his infirmi- 
 ties without bearing witness to the nobleness which made 
 him careless of the appearances in a world of defamers. For 
 himself he had as little of the virtue of caution as he had, 
 toward others, of the vice of dissimulation. Living under 
 thousands of jealous and hating eyes, in the broadest light 
 of day, the testimony of his enemies but fixes the result : 
 that his faults were those of a nature of the most consummate 
 grandeur and fulness, faults more precious than the virtues 
 of the common great. Four potentates ruled the mind of 
 Europe in the Reformation, the Emperor, Erasmus, the 
 Pope, and Luther. The Pope wanes, Erasmus is little, the 
 Emperor is nothing, but Luther abides as a power for all 
 time. His image casts itself upon the current of all ages, 
 as the mountain mirrors itself in the river that winds at 
 its foot, — the mighty fixing itself immutably upon the 
 changing." ^6) 
 
 00) Krniitli. ConscrraUrc Reformaiion, pp. 86. 87 
 
294 LUTHER AND THE COXSTITUTIOX OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Luther and the Constitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 Prof. Geo. A. Romoser. Concordia College, Bronxville, N. Y. 
 
 "We, the people of the United States, in order to form 
 a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic 
 tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the 
 general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to our- 
 selves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Consti- 
 tution of the United States of America." The noble words 
 of this Preamble sound the keynote of the Constitution of 
 the United States. The peoples who live under the egis of 
 this instrument of government are to be secured in the 
 undisturbed possession of certain "inalienable rights," among 
 which are "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And 
 by no means the least precious of these prerogatives of citizen- 
 ship under this fundamental law of government is liberty 
 of conscience and freedom of w^orship. 
 
 Awed at the success attained and at the responsibility 
 involved, the first President of our country said in his in- 
 augural speech to Congress in 1789 : "It would be peculiarly 
 improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent sup- 
 plications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, 
 who presides in the councils of nations, and whose provi- 
 dential aids can supply every human defect, that His bene- 
 diction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the 
 people of the United States a government instituted by 
 themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every 
 instrument employed in its' administration to execute, with 
 success, the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering 
 this homage to the Great Author of every public and private 
 good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not 
 less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large 
 less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge 
 and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of 
 men more than the people of the United States. Every step 
 by which they have advanced to the character of an in- 
 
LUTHER A^D THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 295 
 
 dependent nation seems to have been distinguished by some 
 token of providential agency." It may well be that George 
 Washington spoke far more wisely than he knew. The full 
 truth is, that God's providence in the Reformation of the 
 sixteenth century set forth the principles of liberty the 
 fruition of which men are enjoying to-daj^ under the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. Charles Dudley Warner is 
 right when he says that the United States are to-day what 
 they are largely because o:& the life of Martin Luther. 
 
 Before the sixteenth century the two great obstacles 
 that lay in the way of political and civil liberty were a wrong 
 view concerning the State and its functions and the arrogant 
 l)retensions of the pope. According to the prevailing view 
 of government, the individual citizen counted little or 
 nothing, while all emphasis was laid on the power and pre- 
 rogatives of the State. Whatever attempts were made during 
 the Middle Ages to change the conditions that were fostered 
 by this idea of government, failed to reach the root of the 
 evil and to eliminate the pernicious idea, from the practical 
 affairs of government, that the State was not for the people, 
 but the people for the State. There was needed a reforma- 
 tion, or rather, a revolution, by which the mind of the common 
 man M'ould be freed from the obsession of prevailing con- 
 ditions, and imbued with the worth and dignity and responsi- 
 bility of the individual. Not until this soil and environment 
 had been created could the seed of true liberty take root, and 
 blossom forth into a tree of precious fruitage. 
 
 As for the proud pretensions of papal power during the 
 time of its supremacy, why clutter these pages with the debris 
 of the exploded claims put forth by him who, in a long line 
 of individuals, vaunted himself as the successor of Peter, the 
 Apostle of Jesus, and as the custodian of the two swords of 
 secular and spiritual power? As late as 1516, in the year 
 before Luther nailed the Ninety-five Theses on the door of 
 the Wittenberg Castle Church, Poi)e Leo X reasserted the 
 claim to universal sovereignty in the bull Pastor Aeternus. 
 His predecessors, of whatever name, whether Alexander or 
 Boniface or Gregory, could claim no more, and certainly did 
 
296 LUTHER* AND THE COXSTITUTIOX OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 claim nothing less than absolute supremacy in matters of 
 Church and in matters of State. 
 
 Thus the shackles were doubly riveted, and the power by 
 which men's minds were held in the spiritual bondage of 
 dependence on the word of teaching and on the prerogative 
 of forgiveness entrusted alone to the reputed Vicar of Christ, 
 was energized by the power to inflict, on king and subject 
 alike, the pains and penalties of bodily torment. No prince 
 was too exalted on his throne, no peasant was too lowly in 
 the obscurity of his hovel to feel the vengeance of the Church 
 that wielded the naked sword of power over the governments 
 and lives of men. In this atmosphere of tyranny and stag- 
 nation the tree of liberty could not thrive; and the tender 
 shoots that it did, at times, put forth were soon blasted by 
 the fiery breath of anathema and persecution. The Truth 
 was not without its witnesses 'also in those days; but the 
 voice of him crying in the wilderness could not prevail 
 against the hurricane of wrath that burst on the devoted 
 head of any one who dared to protest against the tyranny 
 that dominated the lives of men. In the unchanged course 
 of events the dream of liberty could never have been realized 
 as it has been realized in the Constitution of the United 
 States. But the course of events was changed, and the 
 mightiest factor, under the Providence of God, in breaking 
 the power of absolutism and tyranny, was the monk and 
 Doctor of Divinity, Martin Luther. 
 
 Luther was, in the full sense of the word, a reformer in 
 the domain of religion. He protested against the false 
 doctrine and pagan practises that had been foisted on the 
 Church. Lie appealed from pope and from councils and 
 from tradition to the written Word of the living God. He 
 was intent on driving the money-changers from the Temple, 
 and on purging the altar of strange fires, in order that there 
 might be a place for the pure preaching of the Word of God 
 and for the administration of the uncorrupted Sacraments. 
 The Bible must be placed into the hands of the common 
 man. It must be translated into the language that the 
 people could understand, so that each one might read and 
 
LUTHER AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 297 
 
 « 
 
 search and determine for himself what is the will of God. 
 Therefore, he must learn to read and to think, and to pass 
 judgment for himself. No Ibnger dare he content himself 
 with taking his doctrine and beliefs ready-made from the 
 hand of the priest; he must give answer, and he must know 
 from the authority of the inspired Kecord of Revelation 
 what is error and what is truth. The responsibility for what 
 man believed and what he did became personal. The common 
 man was no longer merely one of a multitude, a pawn on 
 the chess-board of life. There was awakened in him the 
 consciousness of responsibility and of privilege; and with 
 it all came the yearning for the liberty that goes with 
 responsibility. The effects were inevitable, and made them- 
 selves felt in the sphere of the State and of secular life. 
 
 Says a recent writer on this subject, Dr. George/ M. 
 Stephenson : "Martin Luther planted himself squarely upon 
 the platform upon which Christians in all ages have stood — 
 the Bible. The Bible is the book of humanity, and because 
 the Bible is the book of humanity, it is the book of democracy. 
 It follows from this that the Bible is the charter of liberty — 
 the Magna Charta of the world. Wherever the Bible is 
 an open book, there we find religious and political liberty in 
 greater or less degree. The apostles of liberty in all lands 
 have recognized that the Bible is the most effective of all 
 instruments to batter down the fortresses of ignorance and 
 despotism. Recognizing this only too well, the commanders 
 of the forces of despotism have sought to keep it out of the 
 hands of the people." 
 
 In his "Appeal to the German Nobility" Luther found 
 it necessary to make known, somewhat in detail, his teaching 
 on the State and on temporal power. Emphatically doe-^ 
 he insist that there is a responsibility both of rulers and of 
 citizens; that civil liberty is a right; that civil government, 
 is to be viewed as a trust to be executed in the best interests 
 of the governed, and that liberty of conscience, freedom of 
 speech, and the privilege of the press are rights of every 
 individual. The frequently recurring statements concerning 
 the divine origin of the State have been misunderstood by 
 
298 LUTHER AND THE COXSTITUTIOX OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 many writers to have reference to the origin of particular 
 states, particular forms of government, or particular rulers. 
 However, the truth is that Luther does not designate any 
 particular form of civil government as being of divine origin. 
 
 In the matter of religious liberty the statements of the 
 Reformer are so clear and strong that only perverseness can 
 misunderstand. At a time when the fate of Hus was not 
 yet forgotten, and when men still remembered how an 
 emperor had broken his solemn pledge of honor in order 
 to surrender a heretic to the demands of Rome, Luther stood 
 forth and proclaimed in clarion tones that force must not 
 be used in matters of faith and religion, and that Church 
 and State must remain separate and distinct. In the espousal 
 of these principles Luther did not waver. Whatever seeming- 
 modification in practise there may have been is to be 
 explained merely as a makeshift, made necessary, as he 
 thought, by the exigencies of the times. But the basic 
 principle of the separation of Church and State is expressed 
 too clearly and vehemently in all his writings to allow of 
 any doubt concerning this fundamental doctrine. 
 
 Reviewing Luther's teaching on religious liberty, the 
 English statesman and historian James Bryce writes in his 
 Holy Roman Empire: "The Reformation became a revolt 
 against the principle of authority in all its forms ; it erected 
 the standard of civil as well as of religious liberty, since 
 both of them are needed in a different measure for the de- 
 velopment of the individual spirit. . . . The empire had 
 never been conspicuously the antagonist of popular freedom, 
 and was, even under Charles the Fifth, far less formidable 
 to the commonalty than were the territorial princes of 
 Germany. But submission, and submission on the ground 
 of indefensible transmitted right, upon the ground of 
 Catholic traditions and the duty of the Christian magistrate 
 to suffer heresy and schism as little as the parallel sins of 
 treason and rebellion, had been its constant claim and watch- 
 word. Since the days of Julius Ceasar it has passed through 
 many phases, and in so far as it was a Germanic monarchy, 
 it had recognized the rights of the vassals, and had admitted 
 
LUTHER AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 299 
 
 the delegates of tlie cities to a place i^i tlic national as- 
 sembly. But these i)rineiples of the medieval monarchy, 
 half feudal, half drawn from Teutonic antiquity, principles 
 themselves now decaying, had little to do with the religious 
 conceptions and the Koman traditions on whieli the theory 
 of the empire rested. , . . And hence the indirect tendency 
 of the Reformation to narrow the province of government 
 and exalt the privileges of the subject was as plainly adverse 
 to what one may call the imperial ick^a as the Protestant 
 claim of the right of i)rivate judgment was to the pretensions 
 of the papacy and the priesthood. The remark must not be 
 omitted in passing how much less than might have been 
 expected the religious movement did at first actually eifect 
 in the way of promoting either political progress or freedom 
 of conscience. The habits of centuries were not to be un- 
 learned in a few years, and it was natural that ideas strug- 
 gling into existence and activity should work erringly and 
 imperfectly for a time." 
 
 A German historian, Ileeren, in his Historical Treatises, 
 says of the Reformation : "That by its influence on Germany, 
 on the Netherlands, on England, and, for a considerable 
 period, on France, it became the origin of political freedom 
 in Europe, can be a matter of doubt only to those who, 
 'having eyes, see not.' " And Geffcken, in Church and State, 
 writes : "It remains an everlasting title to glory of the 
 Reformation that political liberty first became possible 
 through its principles, in a manner very different, indeed, 
 from that of antiquity, when the civil importance of a small 
 minority rested upon the dark background of the slavery 
 of the masses. The principles of liberty of conscience and 
 of universal priesthood, which make man inwardly free, 
 lead also involuntarily to outward liberty. A people who 
 no longer feel themselves in the position of an obedient and 
 submissive laity, at the service of a ])rivileged clergy, will 
 refuse to continue any longer in a state of passive obedience 
 to the government without any rights of their own." Tersely 
 does the French and Roman Catholic historian Michelet 
 express his opinion in his Life of Martin Luther in these 
 
300 LUTHER AXD THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 words : "It is not iiicorrect to say that Luther is the restorer 
 of liberty in modern times." 
 
 The principles of government and of liberty which the 
 great Reformer promulgated so clearly have found their 
 highest expression in the Constitution of the United States. 
 We look in vain elsewhere for the same emphatic and clean- 
 cut avowal of these principles. Certainly, the French Revolu- 
 tion did not espouse these principles. The French Revolution 
 was not a revolt against absolutism, nor was it a defense of 
 the rights of the individual. It made merely a transfer of 
 absolutism from one depository to another; and instead of 
 defending the rights of the individual, it asserted the 
 authority of the mass. All the power formerly possessed 
 by the king was taken over by the people, undiminished in 
 amount, and untempered in quality. The only substantial 
 change consisted in the substitution of the absolute power 
 of the people for the absolute power of the prince; and 
 this power vaunted itself even in the sphere of the spiritual. 
 But the Constitution of the United States stands unequiv- 
 ocally against absolutism in every form, for the rights of 
 the individual, and for the separation of Church and State. 
 
 If, then, the legend on the Liberty Bell, "to proclaim 
 liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," 
 has been realized; if the two principles of liberty, the 
 enfranchisement of the individual and the separation of 
 Church and State, form the keystone of the Constitution 
 of the United States, then we must turn to the Monk of 
 Wittenberg to find the mighty agent through whom God 
 brought anew these blessings of liberty to the sons of men. 
 Loyal American citizens have every reason to join in a civic 
 celebration of the four-hundredth anniversary of the Refor- 
 mation wrought through Martin Luther. 
 
f 
 
 LUTHERANISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 301 
 
 Lutheranism and Christianity. 
 
 Prof. W. II. T. Dau, Concordia iSeminary, St. J.ouis, Mo. 
 
 In a recent conversation the propriety of addressing Lu- 
 therans as "Lutheran Christians" was touched upon. How 
 would this form of address have to be understood? Does 
 the. term "Lutheran" qualify the term "Christian," and- in 
 what respect? Is "Christian" the genus and "Lutheran" 
 the species? If so, what is the specific difference between 
 the two? Is there anything in th^ faith of a Lutheran 
 that is not Christian? 
 
 Imperceptibly such questions carry one back to the very 
 origin of the Eeformation. They invite a scrutiny of Luther's 
 aim as a Keformer. An examination of Luther's object in 
 opposing Rome is the more necessary, because, as regards 
 this question, whether Luther reformed the Church or formed 
 a church, whether he reestablished the Creed or established 
 a creed, thtre is no agreement — and there never will be — 
 among those who hail Luther as their spiritual leader. "Even 
 from the Protestant standpoint there are various,' if not 
 mutually contradictory, conceptions of the nature of the 
 Reformation. Whilst some perceive in it merely a return 
 to Biblical Christianity, to the simi)le and pure doctrine of 
 the Gospel, divested of all which they regard as a later 
 addition, as the 'ordinance of men,' and as a disfigurement 
 of the primitive apostolic type of religion (the holders of 
 this view deny that there is any such thing as historical 
 development, or a further unfolding of what has once been 
 positively given), others behold in the Reformation of the 
 sixteenth century only the first impulse to a movement which, 
 supported by the acquired privilege of free investigation, is 
 pressing resistlessly forward, thrusting aside everything, of 
 divine or human origin, which lays claim to authority, and, 
 consequently, regarding the systems of belief drawn up by 
 the Reformers as barriers to further progress, the utter 
 destruction of which is reserved for modern times. Whilst 
 it is the chief concern of the one class to establish the con- 
 nection of the Reformation, as to its principles, with biblico- 
 
302 LL'THERAXISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 apostolic Christianity, — whilst they hold that the task of 
 Protestantism consi'sts in the maintenance of this very con- 
 nection, the other class believe that the work of the Reforma- 
 tion will be accomplished only when even this connection 
 shall be dissolved, — when mankind, in its onward march, 
 shall be conducted heyoncl the standpoint of that faith which 
 the Reformers held fast as something that had not yet been 
 superseded, and for which, as every page of their history 
 shows, they were ready to forfeit their possessions and their 
 lives. In a word, th^se two tendencies bear toward each 
 other the relation of affirmation and negation : the repre- 
 sentatives of the one tendency behold in the Reformation 
 the restoration to primitive perfection of that which had 
 become degenerated and distorted; the representatives of the 
 other tendency hail the Reformation as the dawn of an 
 entirely new period, a time which is rupturing all the bonds 
 v^T'hich connect it with the past, and pressing onward toward 
 a goal scarcely dreamed of by the Reformers." i) This state- 
 ment of the Swiss historian is not quite fair to the one side 
 because of the insinuated charge of mental stagnation; but, 
 aside from this, it fairly summarizes tendencies with which 
 every modern reader has become familiar. We expect to see 
 the contrast which Hagenbach has sketched exhibited again 
 during the Quadri centenary of the Reformation. It is, 
 therefore, worth while to ascertain how Luther himself 
 viewed the relation which his reformatory work bears to 
 the Church of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Naming a church after a man smacks of sectarianism. 
 ■''Every one of you saith, ""I am of Paul ; and I of Apollos ; 
 and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was 
 Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name 
 of Paul?" (1 Cor. 1, 12. 13.) The Bible reader who re- 
 members this arraignment of factionalism in the early 
 Church is at once inclined to declare that a grave impro- 
 priety was committed when a certain Church was named 
 
 1) Hagenbacli, History of the Reformation in Germany and 
 Switzerland Chiefly. I, 2 f. 
 
LUTIIEKAMSM AND CHRISTIANITY. 303 
 
 Lutheran. To such a person it must be very reassuring' to 
 be told that this is exactly what Luther himself thought. 
 
 As the designation of a religious society the term "Lu- 
 theran" has been traced to one of Luther's iiercest opponents, 
 the Romanist Dr. Eck. He employed it when i)romulgating 
 the bull Exsurge, Domine of June 15, 1520, by which Pope 
 Leo X declared Luther excommunicated from the Church.-) 
 His successor, Adrian VI, speaks of "the Lutheran sect" 
 and "the Lutherans" in his instructions to the Legate Fran- 
 cesco Chieregati at the Diet of Xuernberg, which met toward 
 the close of the year 1522."^) 
 
 Luther was quick to perceive the danger that must arise 
 to his followers from having the movement which he had 
 inaugurated stamped with his name. As he viewed it, the 
 danger was twofold: on the one hand, a false foundation 
 for men's faith might be created by their espousing Luther's 
 teaching hecduse it ivas Luther's, and by coei^/cing others 
 to do the same; on the other hand, men might jeopardize 
 their peace of conscience by forswearing allegiance to Luther 
 in order to escape persecution, when in reality they would, 
 by casting aside Luther, reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 Luther set himself resolutely to combat this danger. Dis- 
 quieting rumors of excesses that were being perpetrated by 
 radical followers of the evangelical teaching had reached 
 Luther at the Wartburg. Tp obtain a clear insight into the 
 actual state of affairs, he made a secret visit at Wittenberg 
 in the beginning of December, 1521. Returning to his exile, 
 he wrote his Faithful Admonition to All Christians to Avoid 
 Tumult and Rehellion. It was published January 19, 1522. 
 In this treatise he says : "I must admonish some who bring 
 reproach upon the holy Gospel and cause many to fall away 
 from it. For there are people who, after reading a page 
 
 2) Krauth, Conservative Reformation, p. 117. On Eck's ac- 
 tivity in publishing this vile document see Gieseler. Ercles. Hist. 
 IV. 51 ff. J. A. McHugh (Cath. Encijcl. 9, 408 ) claims that Eck 
 used tlie term "Lutlieians" eveji dnriiig the (lel)ate at Leipzig 
 in 1519. 
 
 3) Luther's Works. St. L. Ed. 1.5, 212.") IV. 
 
304 LLTHEEAXISM AND CHKISTIANITY. 
 
 or two, or hearing a sermon, proceed heltfir-skelter to rusb 
 at others, and denounce them for not being evangelical^ 
 although the people whom they attack are often plain, simple 
 folk, who would gladly learn the truth if some one would 
 teach it_ them/ I have not taught any one to act thus, and 
 St. Paul has voiced his strong disapproval of such a pro- 
 ceeding. The aim of such people is to appear as men who 
 know something new, and to be regarded as good Lutherans. 
 But they are recklessly misapplying the holy Gospel. By 
 such doings you will never drive the Gospel into people's 
 hearts; you will rather scare them away, and you will have 
 a grievous thing to answer for, because you have driven them 
 from the truth. Stop, you fool, listen and let me tell you: 
 In the first place, I beg not to have my name mentioned, 
 and to call people, not Lutheran, but Christian. What is 
 Luther ? The doctrine i^ not mine, nor have I been crucified 
 for any on^. St. Paul (1 Cor. 3, 4. 5) woiild not suffer 
 Christians to be called after Paul or Peter, but only after 
 Christ. Why should I — miserable piece of corruption that 
 I am — have this honor that the children of Christ should 
 be called after my abominable name? No, no, my dear 
 friends; let us abolish party -names, and be called Christians 
 after Christ, whose doctrine we have. The papists deserve 
 to have a party-name, for they are not content with the doc- 
 trine and name of Christ; they want to be popish also. Well, 
 let them be called popish, for the pope is their master. 
 I am* not, and I do not want to be, anybody's master. I share 
 with the Church the one common doctrine of Christ, who 
 alone is our Master (Matt. 23, S)."-!) 
 
 The letter which Luther wrote to the impetuous knight 
 Ulrich von Hutten about this time has been lost. If it were 
 extant, it would only corroborate the statement quoted from 
 the Admonition. Luther refers to it in a letter to his friend 
 Spalatin, who was still tarrying at Worms, on January IG, 
 1522. "What Hutten has in mind you can see" (from the 
 enclosed writings of the knight). "I would not like to see 
 men fight for the Gospel with force, and bloodshed. I have 
 
 4) St. L. Ed. 10, 370 f. 
 
LUTHERAN ISM A>'I) CHRISTIANITY. 305 
 
 answered the person (clem Menschen) accordingly. By the 
 Word the world has been overcome, the Church has been 
 preserved; by the Word it will also be restored. And as 
 to Antichrist, he began his rule without physical force, and 
 will also be destroyed without physical force, by the Word." ^) 
 
 Two months later (about the middle of March, 1522), 
 when he hiid returned to Wittenberg, Luther published the 
 comforting letter which he had written to one of the most 
 lovable characters in the early days of the Reformation, the 
 noble ITartmuth von Kronberg. With others this noble- 
 man had incurred tlie fierce hatred of the Romanists because 
 he was publiclj' championing Luther's cause. Luther writes 
 hiiii: "We have to thank God with our whole heart because 
 He still gives evidence that He will not suffer His holy 
 Word to be removed, for He has given to you and many 
 others a love for His Word and a spirit that avoids offense. 
 For this proves that these people do not believe on account 
 of a man, but on account of the Word itself. Many there 
 are who believe on my account ; but those alone are sincere 
 who adhere to the Word, even though they were to be told 
 that I myself had denied and fallen away from the Word — 
 which God forbid ! These are the people that remain un- 
 concerned, no matter what evil, horrible, abominable things 
 they hear about me or my followers. For they do not believe 
 in Luther, but in Christ Himself. The Word has laid hold 
 of them, and they have laid hold of the Word. They dis- 
 regard Luther; let him be a knave or a saint, — God is 
 able to speak through Balaam as well as through Isaiah, 
 through Caiaphas as well as through St. Peter, yea, through 
 an ass. These are my people. For I myself do not know 
 Luther, and do not wish to know him. Xor do I preach 
 Luther, but Christ. The devil take Luther, if he can; but 
 let him leave Christ in peace; then we also shall abide." *J) 
 
 About the middle of April, 1522, Luther published his 
 treatise: Dr. Martin Luther's Opinion that the Sacrament 
 Should Be Taken in Both Forma, and Other Innovations. 
 
 5) St. L. Ed. ir>. •2.-)0(;. 6) St. L. Ed. 1."). KITO. 
 
 Fom- Hundred Yoars. 20 
 
30.6 LUTIIERA>'ISM AXD CHRISTIAXITY. 
 
 He concludes the first part of this treatise with the words: 
 "As Paul says, Gal. 1, 8 : 'Though we or an angel from 
 heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which 
 we have preached unto you, let him be accursed,' so say 
 I, too, in the present case: In this and all other matters 
 you must so firmly and surely build on the Word of God 
 that you would not depart from it, even if I should turn 
 fool — which God forbid ! — and should recant and deny my 
 doctrine. In that event you must say: Though Luther 
 himself or an angel from heaven should teach another doc- 
 trine, let it be accursed. For you must not be the disciple 
 of Luther, but of Christ. It is not sufficient to say: Luther, 
 Peter, or Paul has said so, but you must feel Christ in your 
 ow^n heart, and you must be conscious without faltering 
 that you have the Word of God, even though the whole world 
 should fight against it. Until you feel thus, you surely have 
 not yet tasted the Word of God. Your ears still cling to the 
 mouth of a man or to his pen; you have not yet embraced 
 the Word with your inmost heart, and have not grasped the 
 meaning of Matt. 23, 10: 'One is your Master, even Christ.' 
 The Master teaches in the hearts of His disciples, however, 
 through the external word of His preachers, who convey it 
 to the ear; but it is Christ who drives the Word home. 
 Hence, consider that you are facing persecution and death. 
 In those trials I cannot be with you nor you with me. Every 
 one must fight for himself, and overcome the devil, death, 
 and the world. If in that emergency you were to look about 
 to see where I am, or I where you are, and were to surrender 
 your faith because you were told that I or some one else 
 had taught a different doctrine, you would perish; for you 
 would have allowed the Word to slip out of your heart; you 
 would not be found clinging to the Word, but to me or 
 others. There would be no help for you." But toward the 
 close of the second part he says (and this refers to the 
 other danger which we noted before) : "I observe that 
 a good admonition must be administered to those whom 
 Satan now begins to persecute. There are some among 
 them who would escape danger, when being attacked, by 
 
LUTHERANISM AXD CHRISTIANITY. 307 
 
 saying, 1 am not siding with Luther nor with anybody, but 
 with the holy Gospel, or with the Church, or with the Roman 
 Church,') By such tactics they secure their personal peace, 
 and yet in their heart they regard my doctrine as evangelical 
 and adhere to it. Verily, such a profession does not help 
 them; it is the same as if they had denied Christ. Hence 
 I pray these people to have a care. True, you must not, 
 on your life and soul, say: I am Lutheran, or papist; for 
 neither Luther nor the pope has died for you, nor is he your 
 master, but Christ alone, and to Him you must profess 
 allegiance. But if you hold that Luther's teaching is evan- 
 gelical, and the pope's teaching unevangelical, you must not 
 utterly cast Luther aside, or you will also cast his teaching- 
 aside, which you regard as the teaching of Christ. This is 
 what you must say : I do not care whether Luther is a knave 
 or a saint; his teaching, however, is not his, but Christ's 
 own. For you observe that the tyrants are not merely seeking 
 to kill Luther, but to destroy his teaching. It is because 
 of the teaching that they lay hands on you, and ask you 
 whether you are Lutheran. Verily, in such a case you must 
 not talk in words that sway like a reed, but must plainly 
 confess Christ, no matter whether it is Luther, Claus, or 
 George that has preached Him. Let go of the person, but 
 confess the teaching. Thus St, Paul, too, writes to Timothy 
 (2 Tim. 1, 8) : 'Be not thou ashamed of the testimony of 
 our Lord nor of me, his prisoner.' If it had been sufficient 
 for Timothy to confess the Gospel, Paul would not have 
 commanded him not to be ashamed of him, viz., not of Paul's 
 person, but of Paul as a prisoner for the sake of the Gospel. 
 If Timothy had said: I do not side with Paul nor with 
 Peter, but with Christ, and had known at the same time that 
 Paul and Peter were teaching Christ, he would have denied 
 
 7) It was, no doubt, for reasons of personal advantage that 
 Zwingli in Switzerland about this time manifested irritation 
 when the Catholic party identified him with Luther. His state- 
 ment: "Neque ego Lutheri causae hie patrocinor, sed evangelii," 
 i. e.: "1 am not cliampioning Luther's cause, but tlio Gospel's," 
 cannot enhance the world's esteem for him. 
 
308 LUTHERANISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Christ Himself. For Christ says regarding those who preach 
 Him (Matt. 10, 40) : 'He that receiveth you receiveth Me/ 
 and (Luke 10, 16) : 'He that despiseth you despiseth Me.' 
 Why? Because treatment accorded Christ's messengers who 
 bring to men His Word is regarded as treatment accorded 
 to Christ Himself and His Word." «) 
 
 The friends of the Reformation at Miltenberg on the 
 Main were the first to suffer violence at the hands of the 
 Catholics. In 1524, Luther addressed a consolatory letter 
 to them, to which he appended an exposition of the 120th 
 Psalm. In this letter he says: "Although I do not like 
 to see the doctrine and people called Lutheran, and must 
 suffer to see God's Word sullied with my name, still they 
 must permit Luther, the Lutheran teaching and people, to 
 remain, while they, together with their teaching, perish and 
 are put to shame." ^) 
 
 In 1528, some of Luther's friends in the dominions of 
 Duke George of Saxony, Luther's confirmed enemy, tried 
 to reach an agreement regarding their religion with the 
 Duke. One of the articles referred to Luther's doctrine: 
 they proposed to say, that they intended to abide by the 
 Gospel. Luther held that this would not sufiice the Duke 
 as an answer, and suggested that they might say: Inasmuch 
 as the question regarding Luther's teaching referred to many 
 things, they could not return a definite answer; for Luther 
 was teaching many things which even Duke George approved, 
 as, e. g., his defense of the Sacrament against the enthusiasts, 
 his statements about soldiers, secular government, etc. "More- 
 over, Luther himself purposes not to be Lutheran, except 
 as far as he purely teaches the Holy Scriptures." 10) 
 
 A year later Luther was compelled to issue against Duke 
 George his treatise Concerning Secret and Stolen Letters, 
 to which he appended a brief exposition of the 7th Psalm. 
 The seventh verse in this Psalm Luther makes to apply 
 directly to his work as a teacher in the Church. ITe says : 
 "Why, my hearty wish and prayer, my diligent teaching and 
 
 8) St. L. Ed. 20, 73 f. 90 f. 9) St. L. Ed. 5, 1283. 
 
 10) St. L. Ed. 21a, 1093. 
 
LUTHERANISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 309 
 
 writing, aims at nothing else than to see the poor masses 
 of Thy people, who have been so miserably torn by sects 
 and confused by dreams of men, scattered and straying like 
 a flock of sheep, converted to Thee again, that by Thy Spirit 
 they may know Thee in the true faith as their only Shepherd 
 and Master and Bishop of their souls. (Ezek. 34, 23; 1 Pet. 
 2, 25.) And for their sake I still pray that Thou wouldest 
 exalt and preserve Thyself and Thy Word through our 
 ministry, in order that they may abide with Thee in the one 
 faith. For I have not sought to have them cling to me, or 
 that I should rise to honor and high station, but I have 
 directed them to Thee, and made them cling to Thee, in order 
 that Thou mightest be greatly exalted, and glorious and 
 praiseworthy among them." 11) 
 
 On Saturday after St. John's Daj-, July 1, 1531, Luther 
 preached on the words of Christ in John 7, 16 : "The doctrine 
 is not mine," and said: "That is what I also say: The 
 Gospel is not mine, thus distinguishing my teaching from 
 that of all other preachers who do not hold my doctrine. 
 Accordingly, I can say : This is my doctrine, — Luther's 
 doctrine; and again: It is not my doctrine; it is not in 
 my hand, but is the gift of God. Good Lord, I have not spun 
 it out of my own head; it did not grow in my garden; it 
 did not flow from my spring; it was not born of me. It is 
 God's gift, not an invention of man. Thus both statements 
 are correct: The doctrine is mine, and yet, not mine. For 
 it is of God, the heavenly Father, and yet it is I that preach 
 and maintain this doctrine." ^2) 
 
 In this manner Luther consistently, throughout his writ- 
 ings, maintains the identity of his teaching with that of 
 Christ, of the Bible, of the true apostolic Church. To be 
 Lutheran a doctrine must be Christian, and anything Chris- 
 tian is Lutheran. The Swedish king spoke Luther's mind 
 when he said: "Let us not call our Church Lutheran, let 
 us call it Christian and Apostolic." 1^) And it is well that 
 attention has been called to the fact that "the Lutheran 
 
 11) St. L. Ed. 19, 542. 12) St. L. Ed. 8. 27, 
 
 13) Kraiith, Conserv. Reform., p. 118. 
 
310 LUTHERAXISM AXD CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Church has never by any general official act taken the name 
 Lutheran. Art, history, and popular usage have practically 
 determined its title. Said the Marquis of Brandenburg when 
 ridiculed as a Lutheran: 'If I be asked whether with heart 
 and lip I confess that faith which God has restored to us by 
 Luther as His instrument, I have no scruple, nor have I a dis- 
 position to shrink from the name Lutheran. Thus under- 
 stood, I am, and shall to my dying hour remain, a Lutheran.' 
 This is the only sense in which any Lutheran tolerates the 
 name." 1^) The very confessional writings of our Church 
 avoid this denominational name which enemies have fastened 
 upon our Church, and when the last of the creedal utterances 
 of our Church, the Form of Concord, in words that vibrate 
 with earnestness, waives every human authority as a deter- 
 minant for men's faith, and traces Luther's teaching only 
 to the pure fountain of Israel, the Word of God, the world 
 must acknowledge that the Lutherans have done all in 
 their power to clear their common denominational name 
 from the charge of sectarianism. Adapting the saying of 
 William Chillingworth to his own Church, the Lutheran 
 truthfully asserts : "The Bible, the whole Bible, nothing but 
 the Bible, is the religion of Lutheranism." For even Prot- 
 estantism, in whose behalf the English confessor uttered his 
 winged word, when understood in its historical and original 
 meaning, is bound up in Lutheranism, and Archbishop Bram- 
 hall properly reminded his countrymen — and others — that 
 "the name Protestant is one to which others have no right but 
 by communion with the Lutherans." 15) 
 
 Gottes Wort und Luthers Lehr' 
 Vergehet nun und nimmermehr — 
 
 in this memorial verse Lutheran catechumens are taught to 
 express their cpnviction of the identity and the permanency 
 of Lutheran teaching and Bible-teaching. "Luthers Lehr','^ 
 not in so far as it is God's Word, but hecaiise it is God's 
 Word, is ever-enduring. The world will ever need it, as it 
 
 14) H. E. Jacobs, in Universal Cyclopedia, 7, 358. 
 
 15) Conserv. Reform., p. 117. 
 
LUTHERANISM A>CU CIIKISTIAMTY. 311 
 
 needs the pure Word and tlie pure Gosi)el of the Redeemer, 
 and God will permit the extinction of Lutheranism as little 
 as that of His Word and Christ's evangel. The human or 
 historic title may perish, — though we doubt even that, — 
 but Lutheranism as a principle of religion is imperishable. 
 Xhe various essays in this book, in distinct ways and with 
 different degrees of pointedness, all serve to exhibit the 
 harmony of "Gottes Wort" and "Luthers Lehr' " ; but we 
 would invite special attention to the discussion of the three 
 great principles in Luther's and the Bible's teaching: Sola 
 Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola FideM') 
 
 Whether there is anything in a name, depends very much 
 on the appropriateness of the name. As regards the name 
 "Lutheran," the compelling logic, the eminent fitness of the 
 name, which induced the followers of the evangelical teaching 
 emanating from Wittenberg not only to bow with such grace 
 as they could muster to the inevitable, to this seeming sect 
 name, but to accept it with as great a joy, and cherish it 
 as just as exquisite a badge of honor as the early disciples 
 accepted the name Christians, — the noble record which the 
 name has made for itself in four centuries, the blessed 
 influences which have gone out from the Church that has 
 maintained the name in its true historic and only legitimate 
 meaning, — these things have been forcefully and eloquently 
 set forth by two of America's Lutheran teachers, and there 
 is no need of repeating their argument. i") But we cannot 
 
 16) See Prof. Engelder's article, p. 97. 
 
 17) See Dr. Walther's series of articles "On the Name Lu- 
 theran," witli wliich lie started his famous periodical, Der Luthc- 
 raner, Vol. 1, 2 ff. 5 h\ fT., etc., also his Foreword to Vol. 6 of 
 Der lAitherancr. on the charge of exclusivism raised against the 
 Lutheran Church; and Dr. Krauth. in Couserv. Reform., p. 121 f., 
 where he reviews, somewhat as Walther had done, various names 
 which possibly might be applied to our Church, and concludes: 
 "Every one of them, as the distinctive name of a comnumion. is 
 open to the charge of claiming too much, expressing too little, 
 or of tlirusting an accident into the place of an essential j)iin- 
 ciple. The necessity of distinctive names arises from the indis- 
 putable divisions of Christendom, and in the posture of all the 
 
312 LUTHERAXISM AXD CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 forego the pleasure of noting a few of the utterances of 
 Walther on the relation of Lutheranisni to Christianity. 
 He says: "By professing allegiance to the Evangelical Lu- 
 theran Church, we mean to profess allegiance to none other 
 than the [afore-described] one, holy, catholic. Christian 
 Church of all times, which alone has and holds the truth, 
 and comprises the sum total of all the children of God." 
 ^'The Lutheran Church is not the visible totality of all who 
 are called Lutheran, but the great, unchangeable Church, to 
 which all those who are rightly called Lutherans profess 
 allegiance by their teaching. To this Church millions of 
 souls have belonged before Luther's name was uttered in 
 this world, and who were not called Lutheran. Accordingly, 
 a particular congregation, or a national Church, in which 
 Lutheran doctrine is preached and received, is only a, but 
 not the^ Lutheran Church; for this Church is scattered 
 throughout the world." "We extend our hand to any person 
 who without guile submits to the entire written Word of 
 God, cherishes in his heart and professes before men the 
 
 facts the name of Luther defines the character of a particular 
 Church as no other could. It has been borne specifically by but 
 one Church; and that Church, relieved as she is of all the re- 
 sponsibility of assuming it, need not be ashamed of it. iSTo name 
 of a mere man is more dear to Christendom and to humanity. 
 It is a continual remembrancer of the living faith, the untiring 
 energy, the love of Christ and of men, on the part of one who 
 did such eminent service to the Church, that men cannot think 
 of her without thinking of him." — Schmauck and Benze, in The 
 Confessional Principle and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church, 
 p. 6 : "The great error of Schaff in his Creeds of Christendom and 
 of many liberal Lutherans is the assumption that Lutheranisni 
 is a form of Protestantism colored by the personal opinions of 
 two reformers, Luther and Melanchthon. Lutheranisni is the 
 old faith of the Church, catholic and evangelical, protestant only 
 as to Koman errors, founded on the teaching of Scripture, with- 
 out the admixture of human reason. Luther and Melanchthon, 
 as the authors of 'personal opinions,' have no more to do with 
 Lutheranism than the crack of the Liberty Bell has to do M'itb 
 our national libertv itself." 
 
LUTHER A.MSM AND CHRISTIANITY. 313 
 
 true faith in our dear Lord Jesus Christ; we regard such 
 a person as our fellow-believer, our brother in Christ, 
 a member of our Church, a Lutheran, no matter among what 
 sect he may be concealed and kept a prisoner." "As long 
 as there has been an orthodox Church on earth, so long 
 there has been a Lutheran Church. It sounds strange, but 
 it is true, the Lutheran Church is as old as the world; for 
 it has no other doctrine than that which the patriarchs, 
 prophets, and apostles received from God, and proclaimed. 
 The name Lutheran, indeed, did not come into existence 
 until three hundred years ago, but not the matter which 
 that name signifies. Accordingly, the question, Where was 
 the Lutheran Church before Luther? is easily answered, 
 thus : The Lutheran Church was wherever there still were 
 Christians who with all their heart believed in Jesus Christ 
 and His Holy Word, and would not surrender this alone- 
 saving faith of theirs in favor of human ordinances, or who 
 made this Church their final refuge in the hour of death." 
 "Luther by no means founded a new Church, much less 
 was that his intention. On the contrary, he raised his 
 protest against the papists because they had in innumerable 
 doctrines departed from the old, true, apostolic Church. His 
 writings were nothing else than a call to Christendom not 
 to forsake the old Church. . . . All doctrines which Luther, 
 by his study of the Word of God, recognized as the doctrines 
 of the true Church he retained, proclaimed them to the 
 world, and defended them till his death." 18) 
 
 It is possible that there will be people who manifest un- 
 bounded astonishment at assertions such as these. They 
 will only reveal that they have not grasped the true import 
 of wliat happened four hundred years ago. They would 
 assign us a seat on the sectarian bench: we decline, decidedly. 
 If Luther organized a sect, we will have nothing to do with 
 him; we belong to Jesus Christ. 
 
 Ah, but then we are "the alone-saving Church," and the 
 Roman Church has revived in the Lutheran! Yes, we must 
 be j)repared for this shallow inference from statements which 
 
 18) Der Lutheraner, 1, 97. 99. (Comp. 6, 18) 5. G f. 97. 
 
314 LUTHERAXISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 assert merely the ecumenical character of Lutheran teaching, 
 and merge Lutheranism utterly in Christianity, so much so, 
 that we see Luther no more, but "Jesus only." 
 
 We must be prepared likewise to meet the objection that; 
 the claim of scripturalness and catholicity is asserted by 
 every sect. Anybody can assert. The patient expounder of 
 Lutheranism will succeed in showing to the satisfaction of 
 every unbiased mind that the Lutheran Reformation is 
 nothing but the restoration of Christianity in its original, 
 pure form. 
 
 From this it follows that, when we speak of a mission of 
 the Lutheran Church, we do not mean, and we cannot mean, 
 anything else than a reassertion of Biblical teaching in all 
 its parts. "To the Law and to the testimony!" — that is 
 the slogan for this mission. There is a reason why other 
 Churches professing to stand on the Protestant foundation 
 are speaking of a further development of the principles of 
 the Reformation: they have had bequeathed to them a task 
 unfinished, or faultily executed by their founders. The 
 Lutheran Church, viewing the Reformation as the movement 
 by which men were brought back to the arms of Jesus, 
 enfolded in the Scriptures of God, and enabled to have 
 a free access by faith to the heart of the God of grace, rests 
 satisfied with those achievements. Its task in the future 
 can only be to apply to every arising need, amid the ever- 
 changing circumstances of men's earthly existence, the 
 eternal truths which the angel flying through the midst of 
 heaven with the everlasting Gospel proclaimed to every 
 nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. (Rev. 14, 6. 7.) 
 The faithful testimony of the Lutheran Church can render 
 invaluable aid to every other Church in making it see the 
 deficiencies of its teaching. Oh! may this testimony be 
 largely rendered, and in no spirit of haughty superiority, 
 but of serving love. After writing the words above quoted 
 to Hartmuth von Kronberg, Luther pleads that the poor 
 Roman Catholics be kindly treated and with much for- 
 bearance weaned from their shocking errors. The warning 
 applies to the whole activity of the Church, and it may not 
 
CHKOXOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE AGE OF LUTHER. 315 
 
 be amiss that we remind ourselves during the coming days 
 of the anniversary that the virulence of passion can never 
 add to, but may subtract from, the majesty of simple truth, 
 spoken without fear or favor. As a witness for Christ and 
 leading men to abide in His Word, the Lutheran Church 
 will fulfil her enlightening and liberating world-mission. 
 She does not stake her success on the spread of a human 
 name or on the organization of one universal, visible Church, 
 but on the dissemination of the truth as it is in Christ. 
 She is content if, with Luther and his early followers, men 
 accept the teaching of the apostles and prophets, and give 
 full recognition to the personality and work of Christ, who is 
 the chief corner-stone on which men's faith must be built up. 
 With malice toward none, with love toward all, with 
 peace in their hearts and truth on their lips, let the sons 
 and daughters of the Lutheran Church address themselves 
 to the tasks of the new age. Let them reclaim from error 
 those who are still fettered by it, aid all who struggle to 
 assert and maintain the pure pristine teaching of God's 
 people; above all, let them hold that fast which they have, 
 that no man may take their crown. And let them trustfully 
 confide to the God of truth, righteousness, and love the 
 fortunes of their Church as they were taught to do in 
 their childhood days : 
 
 God's Word, which IMartin Luther taught, 
 Shall nevermore be brought to naught. 
 
 Chronological Table of the Age of Luther. 
 
 1439—1493 Frederick III (IV) Emperor of Germany. 
 
 1440 ( ?) Gutenberg invents printing-press. 
 
 1450 Vatican Library founded by Pope Nicholas V. 
 
 14.)3 ^lalioinot II takes Constantinople. 
 
 1455 Gutenberg prints his first Bible. • 
 
 1471—1484 Sixtus IV Pope. 
 
 1477 First watches made at Nuernberg. 
 
 1483 Ricliard of York smothers the princes; is proclaimed 
 king of England. 
 November 10. Martin Luther horn at Eislehen. 
 
316 CHRO^'OLOGICAL TABLE OF THE AGE OF LUTHER. 
 
 1484 William Tyndale born. 
 January 1, Ulrich Zwingli born. 
 
 1484—1492 Innocent VIII Pope. 
 1484 — 1497 Luther at Mansfeld. 
 
 1485 August 25. Saxony, by the Treaty of Leipzig, divided 
 
 into two parts : Electoral, or Ernestine, and Ducal, 
 
 or Albertine Saxonv. 
 1485—1500 Albert Duke of Saxony. 
 1487 — 1525 Frederick the Wise Elector of Saxony. 
 
 1488 Henry VII founds English navy. 
 
 1489 John Wessel dies. 
 1492—1503 Alexander VI Pope. 
 
 1492 Fall of Granada; end of Moorish reign in Europe. 
 October 12. Columbus discovers America. 
 1494 — 1547 Francis I King of France. 
 1494 — 1547 Henry VIII King of England; ascends throne 1509. 
 
 1497 Melanchthon born. 
 
 Cabot reaches coast of Newfoundland. 
 1497 — 1498 Luther at the school of the Nullhrueder at Magdeburg. 
 
 1498 Savonarola burned at the stake. 
 Columbus reaches mouth of Orinoco. 
 India reached by sea from Portugal. 
 
 1498 — 1501 Luther at 8t. George's School at Eisenach; received 
 hy Frail Cotta. 
 
 1499 Switzerland establishes its independence. 
 1500 — 1539 George the Bearded Duke of Saxony. 
 
 1501 Luther begins studies at University of Erfurt. 
 
 1502 Luther takes degree of Bachelor of Ai^ts. 
 Columbus surveys coast of Colombia. 
 University of Wittenberg founded. 
 
 1503—1513 Julius II Pope. 
 
 1505 Luther takes degree of Master of Arts. 
 
 July 12. Luther enters Augustinian monastery at 
 Erfurt. 
 150G Building of St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome begun. 
 Columbus dies broken-hearted. 
 
 1507 Spring. Luther ordained priest; first mass May 2. 
 1508 — 1567 Philip the Magnanimous, Landgrave of Hesse (born 
 
 1504; declared of age 1517). 
 
 1508 November. Luther called to professorship at ^Yitten- 
 
 berg ; teaches Ethics of Aristotle. 
 
 1509 March 9. Luther takes degree of Baccalaureus ad 
 
 Biblia. 
 July 10. Calvin born. 
 
 1510 Autumn. Luther teaches Lombard's Sentences at 
 
 Erfurt. 
 
 1511 Summer. Luther returns to Wittenberg to lecture 
 
 on the Bible. 
 October — 1512, February. Luther's journey to Rome, 
 
 where he spends month of December. 
 Council of Pisa. 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE AGE OF LUTHER. 317 
 
 1512 October 18. Luther takes degree of Doctor of The- 
 
 ology. 
 Ponce de Leon in search of Fountain of Perpetual 
 Youth. 
 1512 — 1517 Fifth Lateran Council. 
 
 1513 \'asco de Balboa discovers Pacific Ocean. 
 1513—1521 Leo X Pope. (Dies December 1, 1521.) 
 
 1514 Reuchlin's Controversy with Dominicans. 
 Cortez begins conquest of Mexico. 
 
 1515 May. Luther elected district vicar of his order. 
 
 1516 "Epistolae Obscuroruni Virorum" publislied. 
 Erasmus publishes Greek New Testament. 
 Zwingli goes to ]Maria-Einsiedeln. 
 
 1517 October 31. Luther posts Ninety -Five Theses on In- 
 
 dulgences on Castle Church at Wittenberg. 
 
 1518 Melanchthon becomes professor at Wittenberg. 
 Luther at Heidelberg. 
 
 October 12 — 14. Luther's interview with Cajetan at 
 Augsburg. 
 
 1519 January 1. Zwingli preaches initial sermon at Zurich. 
 January 4 — 5. Luther's interview with Miltitz at 
 
 Altenburg. 
 July 4 — 14. Luther's debate icith Eck at Leipzig. 
 1519 — 1555 Charles V Emperor of Germany (elected June, 1519; 
 crowned October 23, 1520; retires to monastery 
 of St. Just 1557). 
 
 1520 Massacre of Stockholm instituted by Christian II, 
 
 King of Denmark. 
 
 June 15. Leo X signs bull '"Exsurge Domine," ex- 
 communicating Luther if he fails to recant within 
 sixty days. 
 
 August. Luther publishes ''Address to the Christian 
 Nobility of the German Nation on the Improve- 
 ment of the Christian Estate." 
 
 October. Luther publishes the treatise ''On the Baby- 
 lonian Captivity of the Church." 
 
 November. Luther publishes tract "On the Freedom 
 of a Christian }[an." 
 
 December 10. Luther burns the Pope's bull and the 
 Canon Laiv. 
 
 1521 March 16. Magellan discovers Philippine Islands. 
 April 17 — 18. Luther appears before Diet at Worms. 
 (Edict of Worms signed May 2G, dated ]May 8.) 
 Mexico City taken by Cortez. 
 
 May 4 — 1522, March 1. Lutho-'s exile at the Wart- 
 burg ; translation of Bible begun. 
 Melanchthon's "Loci" published. 
 Beginning of the reformation at Riga. 
 
 1522 March. Luther preaches eight sermons against the 
 
 Zwickau prophets at Wittenberg. 
 Reuchlin dies. 
 Magellan completes circumnavigation of the globe. 
 
318 CHROXOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE AGE OF LUTHER. 
 
 1522—1523 Hadrian VI Pope. 
 
 1523 April 4 — 5. Catherine von Bora (born at Lippendorf 
 
 January 29, 1499) leaves Nimbschen Cistercian 
 Cloister, which she entered 1508, and where she 
 took the veil October 8, 1515. 
 
 ]May 7. Sickingen overthrown and revolt of knights 
 quelled at Landstuhl. 
 
 Thomas Muenzer at Allstaedt. 
 
 Spanish Inquisition begins reign of terror in Nether- 
 lands; H. Voes and J. Esch first martyrs of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 LutJiet'^s controversy icith Henry VIII. 
 1523—1534 Clement VII Pope. 
 
 1524 Staupitz dies. 
 Karlstadt at Orlamuende. 
 Erasmus attacks Luther. 
 
 Diet of Nuernberg. Treaty of Regensburg. 
 Luther publishes appeal "To the Magistrates of All 
 Cities of Germany in behalf of Christian Schools." 
 Luther publishes tract "On Trade and Usury." 
 1524 — 1525 May. Peasants' War; suppressed at Frankenhausen. 
 Luther icrites "Against the Thievish and Murderous 
 Hordes of Peasants." 
 
 1525 February 24. Charles V defeats Francis I at battle 
 
 of Pavia. 
 June 23. Luther marries Catherine von Bora. 
 Anabaptist uprising in Switzerland. 
 Beginning of controversy regarding Lord's Supper. 
 Luther publishes treatise "On the Bondage of the 
 
 Will" against Erasmus. 
 1525 — 1532 John the Steadfast Elector of Saxony. 
 
 1526 May 4. Formation of League of Torgau between Philip 
 
 of Hesse and John of Saxony. 
 June — July. Diet and Recess of Spires. 
 Luther publishes "German Mass." 
 June 7. Hans Luther born. 
 
 Debate at Baden between Zwunglians and Catholics. 
 Tyndale publishes English New Testament. 
 
 1527 Diets of Odense and Westeraes; Gustavus Vasa suc- 
 
 ceeds in having Lutheranism adopted. 
 May 6. Spanish army sacks Rome and imprisons 
 
 Pope. 
 July. Luther severely ill. 
 (?) "Ein' feste Burg." 
 December 10. Elizabeth Luther born. 
 
 1528 First Disputation at Berne. 
 August 3. Elizabeth Luther dies. 
 
 1529 Visitation of churches in Saxony; Luther's Cate- 
 
 chisms. 
 Diet of Spires; Recess April 12; Protest of Lutheran 
 
 Princes April 25. 
 Vienna besieged bv Turks. 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE AGE OF LUTHER. 319 
 
 May 4, Magdalene Luther horn. 
 
 October 2. Luther's Conference with Zwingli at Mar- 
 burg. First Peace of Kappel between Zwinglians 
 and Romanists. 
 
 1530 Diet of Aiigsbiirj^: arrival of Emperor June 15, pres- 
 
 entation of Augsburg Confession June 25, Recess 
 of Augsburg published in Imperial Edict Novem- 
 ber 19. 
 
 April 23 — October 4. Luther's exile at Feste Kohurg 
 (luring Diet of Augsburg. 
 
 ]May 29. Luther's father dies. 
 
 Tyndale publishes liis English Pentateuch. 
 
 1531 Formation of Smalcald League. 
 June 30. Luther s mother dies. 
 
 October 11. Zwingli slain in battle at Kappel. 
 November 9. Martin Luther. Jr., born. 
 1532 — 1547 John Frederick the Magnanimous Elector of Saxony 
 (lived as Duke of Saxony till 1554). 
 
 1532 February 4. Black Cloister at Wittenberg deeded to 
 
 Luther. 
 Diet of Ratisbon. 
 
 Peace of Nuernberg between Catholics and Protestants. 
 Henry VIII renounces allegiance to the Pope. 
 
 1533 January 28. Paul Luther born. 
 Pizarro conquers Peru. 
 
 1534 Luther completes translation of the Bible. 
 December 17. Margaret Luther born. 
 Reformation of Wuerttemberg ; Duke Ulrich re- 
 stored by Philip of Hesse. 
 
 1534 — 1535 Anabaptist uprising at Muenster. 
 1534—1549 Paul III Pope. 
 
 1535 Calvin publishes his "Institutio Religionis Chris- 
 
 tianao." 
 
 Henry \lll has Sir Thomas More beheaded for deny- 
 ing his supremacy' in the spiritual affairs of his 
 subjects. 
 
 November 7. Luther confers with papal legate Ver- 
 gerio at Wittenberg. 
 
 1536 Calvin in Geneva. 
 Erasmus dies. 
 
 ]\Iay 29. Luther signs Wittenberg Concordia. 
 World's first newspaper, "The Gazetta," published at 
 
 Venice. 
 Diet of Copenliagen. 
 October 6. Tyndale burned at Vilvoorden. ("Lord, 
 
 open the King of England's eyes!") 
 
 1537 February. Luther prepares Smalcald Articles, goes 
 
 to attend Congress at Smalcald, ichere he is very 
 ill with the stone, and males his first will Feb- 
 ruary 27. 
 Controrcrsi/ trith Antinoinians. 
 
320 CHROXOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE AGE OF LUTHER. 
 
 1538 League of Nuernberg formed. 
 Calvin expelled from Geneva. 
 
 1539 February — ^April. Congress at Frankfort; negotia- 
 
 tions Avith Emperor; Treaty of Frankfort signed 
 
 April 19. 
 ^lay. Luther at Leipzig ; inaugurates reformation in 
 
 Albertine Saxony. 
 Reformation introduced in Brandenburg by Joachim II. 
 Diet of Odense. 
 December 10. Luther signs ''confessional counsel" in 
 
 the matter of Philip of Hesse's second marriage. 
 1539 — 1541 Henry the Pious Duke of Saxony. 
 
 1540 January — February. Catherine Luther very ill. 
 June, Religious Conference at Spires and Hagenau. 
 July. Luther at Conference at Eisenach. 
 
 Society of Jesus ("Jesuits") formed. 
 
 1541 January. Religious conference at ^Yorms. 
 Karlstadt dies. 
 
 Regensburg Interim. 
 Calvin returns to Geneva. 
 
 1541 April — July. Diet and religious conference at Ratis- 
 
 bon. 
 Reformation at Halle begun. 
 
 Fernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River. 
 1541 — 1546 Maurice Duke of Saxony (becomes Elector of Saxony 
 
 1546, dies 1553). 
 
 1542 January 6. Luther makes his second will. 
 
 ^Yar of Smalcald League with Duke Henry of Bruns- 
 wick, who is expelled and his country opened to 
 the Reformation. 
 
 Beginning of Roman Inquisition; Francis Xavier in 
 India. 
 
 September 20. Magdalene Luther dies. 
 
 1543 Diet of Nuernberg. 
 
 1544 Diet of Spires. 
 Peace of Crespy. 
 
 1545—1547 (1563) Council of Trent. 
 
 1545 Diet of Worms. 
 
 1546 February 18. Luther dies at Eislehen; buried at the 
 
 foot of his jiulpit in the Schlosskirche at Witten- 
 berg, February 22. 
 
 Religious Conference at Regensburg. 
 
 Diet of Ratisbon. 
 
 Beginning of Smalcaldic War. 
 
 1547 April 24. Defeated in battle at Muehlberg, Elector 
 
 John Frederick loses his electorate and half of his 
 country. 
 1552 December 20. Catherine Luther dies. 
 
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