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BR 325 .N8 1906 
 
 Nuelsen, John Louis, 1867- 
 
 Luther, the leader 
 
W^tn flf tht liingrigm 
 
 Luther: The Leader 
 
 John Louis Nuelsen, 
 
 Professor of Exegesis in the Nast Theo- 
 logical Seminary, Berea, O. 
 
 CINCINNATI: JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 
 NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS 
 
COPYRIGHT, igo6, BV 
 JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 
 
€it (Pg Wi 
 
FOREWORD 
 >^ 
 
 In preparing this brief and popular life of Mar- 
 tin Luther I encountered two chief difficulties. The 
 
 « 
 
 first was to select and condense the material. It 
 would have been easier to write two large volumes 
 than a brief account. No doubt I have related a 
 number of events which some will think might have 
 been omitted, while others may be looking in vain 
 for incidents which, in their judgment, ought to 
 have been included. I have endeavored to present 
 the main features of the life and work of the great 
 leader in accordance with the general object of the 
 series, "Men of the Kingdom." 
 
 My second difficulty has been the language. 
 While it is not easy to render Luther's pointed and 
 trenchant German into idiomatic English, the diffi- 
 culty is so much the greater for one whose mother 
 tongue is the language of Luther. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 >^ 
 
 Booh I 
 
 THE MAKING OF THE LEADER 
 
 Chapter page 
 
 I. The Peasant's Son, - - - - ii 
 
 n. Student Days, - - - - i6 
 
 in. Under the Monk's Hood, - - - 25 
 
 IV. The Holy City, - - - - 35 
 
 V. Professor and Teacher, - - - 42 
 
 Book n 
 
 PULLING DOWN THE OLD 
 
 VI. The Challenge, - - - - 53 
 
 VII. Attempts to Silence the Monk, - - 64 
 
 VIII. The Breach Widens, - - - 75 
 
 ^-•IX. Luther's Appeal to the Nation, - S6 
 
 X. The Bull of Excommunication, - 98 
 
 XI. Facing the Emperor and His Princes, 117 
 
 XII. Luther Disappears, - - - 119 
 
Contents. 
 
 Booh III 
 
 BUILDING UP THE NEW 
 
 Chapter pack 
 
 XIII. The German Bible, - - - - 127 
 
 XIV. Checking Religious Fanaticism, - 140 
 ■^ XV. Against the Social Revolutionists, - 152 
 
 XVI. Marriage and Family Life, - - 164 
 
 XVII. Organizing the Lutheran Church, - 177 
 
 XVIII. Struggles for Recognition, - - 187 
 
 XIX. '<EiN FESTE Burg ist unser Gott," - 200 
 
 XX. The Educator, - - - - 209 
 
 XXI. Preacher and Writer, - - - 220 
 
 XXII. Political and Social Views, - 229 
 
 ^^ XXIII. The Theologian, - - - - 239 
 
 XXIV. Last Days and Death, - - 246 
 
BOOK I 
 
 THE MAKING OF THE LEADER 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 THE PEASANT'S SON. 
 
 Out of the dungeon in which John Huss was 
 imprisoned before he was burned at the stake in 
 the year 141 5 he wrote the words: "They may kill 
 a goose [the word Huss meaning in the Bohemian 
 language a goose] but a hundred years from now a 
 swan will arise which they will not be able to kill." 
 
 Those were prophetic words. Not a hundred 
 years elapsed when the man of destiny was born, 
 whose voice, mighty and penetrating, could not be 
 stifled by fire and smoke; whose words ran like 
 wildfire through Europe, and shook the very foun- 
 dations of the most stupendous ecclesiastico-political 
 system that the world had ever seen. 
 
 The ancestors of Martin Luther lived near the 
 little village of Mohra in the Thuringian Mountains. 
 They were sturdy, honest, hard-working peasants, 
 possessing the elements that make for strength of 
 character, power of will, firmness of purpose under 
 the pressure of adverse circumstances, although 
 lacking the more subtle traits of refined culture and 
 gentleness. "I am the son of a peasant," Luther 
 was often heard to say; "my father, my grand- 
 father, and all my ancestors were genuine peasants ; 
 afterwards my father turned to be a miner." 
 
 Hans and Margaretha Luther, Lutherr, Luder, 
 
12 Luther: The; Leiad^r. 
 
 or Liidher — the name is spelled differently — moved 
 to the little town of Eisleben, where, on November 
 lo, 1483, a son was born to them. He was baptized 
 on the following day, receiving the name of the 
 saint of that day, Martinus. A few months later 
 we find the family in ]\Iansfield, where the elder 
 Luther found work in the mines. 
 
 In that quaint old town, perched on the side of 
 a steep mountain, Martin Luther was reared in 
 poverty and amid hardships. "My father was a 
 poor miner and my mother carried the wood from 
 the forest on her back ; they both worked their flesh 
 off their bones in order to bring up their children." 
 Martin had three younger brothers and as many 
 sisters, and the care of their household was a heavy 
 burden for the parents. The pictures which we 
 possess of them show faces into which toil and ex- 
 posure and care had written deep furrows and many 
 wrinkles, and features which were made hard by 
 incessant work. 
 
 The home training was exceedingly stern, even 
 cruel. The rod reigned supreme. "On account of 
 a paltry nut," the mother punished the boy, "till the 
 blood flowed." It was the experience of his early 
 childhood that taught him in later years to advise 
 parents "to join kindness to sternness, and place the 
 apple next to the rod." "Children ought not to be 
 beaten too severely. My father once flogged me so 
 cruelly that I fled away from him, and came to bear 
 a grudge against him. It was a long time until he 
 again won my confidence." 
 
 When Martin was five years of age he was sent 
 to school. School life in those days was far from be- 
 
The; Making oi^ the Li^ader. 13 
 
 Ing a delig-htful episode. With many a blow of hand 
 and rod the schoohnaster hammered into the young 
 minds the Decalogue, the Lord's Prayer, the Apos- 
 tles' Creed, the elements of reading and writing, and 
 also the rudiments of Latin grammar. Martin tells 
 us that in the course of a single morning he was 
 beaten not less than fifteen times. 
 
 But we never hear a word of complaint, nor do 
 we read that he ever found fault with his parents. 
 "They meant it well from the depth of their hearts," 
 he says ; 'ibut they did not know how to distinguish 
 the dispositions to which punishment is to be 
 adapted." 
 
 It would be a great mistake to look upon 
 Luther's parents as cruel, heartless, void of all feel- 
 ings of love and sympathy for their children. They 
 were ready to take upon themselves all sorts of 
 hardships, and to make sacrifices for the benefit of 
 their family. But they could not break away from 
 the stern, legal spirit of the Dark Ages which was 
 ruling everywhere ; in the family and in the school. 
 It was their famous son who, in later years, preached 
 and lived the gospel of love and sunshine, of happi- 
 ness and mirth in the home life. His ideal was that 
 the mutual relations between parents and children 
 ought to be the reflection of the relation between 
 the Father in heaven and His children on earth. 
 
 Luther's training was intensely religious. His 
 parents were pious people, and they desired to bring 
 up their children in the fear of the Lord. It was 
 fear, indeed, that was implanted into the young 
 minds. The popular religion of those days was by 
 no means a source of joy and happiness. It was 
 
14 L,uthe:r: The; L^ade;r. 
 
 full of the remnants of ancient heathendom, which 
 the Church had not succeeded or had not cared to 
 drive out. Christianity was interwoven with crude 
 superstitions. Figures of devils and witches perpe- 
 trating terrible deeds, tormenting the bodies and 
 souls of children and grown persons, bewitching the 
 cattle, causing sickness and misfortune of every 
 kind, filled the minds of the common people. Many 
 a dreadful story of diabolical influences and deeds 
 was told by Luther's parents and their friends at 
 the fireside, and the children, shivering with fear 
 and with eyes wide open, listened to those tales and 
 believed them literally true, as did their elders. 
 
 And how distorted were the ideas about Christ ! 
 He was not the children's Friend, the revealer of 
 God's love and mercy ; He was looked upon as the 
 terrible avenger of disobedience and wrong. Says 
 Luther: "From early childhood I was accustomed 
 to turn pale and tremble whenever I heard the name 
 of Christ mentioned, for I was taught to look upon 
 Him as a stern and wrathful Judge. We were 
 taught that we ourselves had to atone for our sins, 
 and since we could not make sufficient amends or do 
 acceptable works, our teachers directed us to the 
 saints in heaven, and made us call upon Mary the 
 Mother of Christ and implore her to avert from us 
 Christ's wrath, and make Him inclined to be merci- 
 ful to us." He also prayed to St. Anna, the mother 
 of the Virgin, and to St. George, these being the 
 special patron saints of the city of Mansfeld. The 
 story of St. George's fight with the dragon made a 
 deep and lasting impression upon Martin's mind, 
 
The; Making o^ the; LiIader. 15 
 
 and filled him with the ambition likewise to fight the 
 foes of God and of the Church. 
 
 Thus grew up the youth who, in the future, was 
 to fight the Church and her visible head, and was 
 destined to be a leader of men. The severe disci- 
 pline at home and in school, in connection with the 
 wrong notions of God inculcated on his mind, cast 
 a gloom over the early years of Martin Luther's 
 life. It made him a timid boy. It wounded his soul. 
 It crushed his spirit for a while. But it also gave 
 him a keen sense of sin, it made his conscience 
 highly sensitive, and thus became part of the 
 preparation for his life's work. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 STUDENT DAYS. 
 
 A GREAT and noble ambition filled honest Hans 
 Luther. His oldest son, Martin, was to be a law- 
 yer. In his day-dreams he saw him robed in the 
 splendid gown of a high justice, perhaps the coun- 
 selor of princes and kings. For this end he and his 
 wife were willing patiently to toil along, to stint 
 themselves even of the necessities of life and save 
 then- hard-earned pennies. For it was a long way 
 which led to that goal ; it would take many a year 
 of schooling, and would cost many a florin. 
 
 When a boy of fourteen, Martin, together with 
 another lad from Mansfeld, was sent to Magde- 
 burg. There the Lollards kept a school, which was 
 well known, not only for thorough learning, but 
 also for sound and earnest piety. Like hundreds of 
 students at that time, the two boys had to beg their 
 way to Magdeburg, and while attending school they 
 relied upon the liberality of well-meaning citizens 
 to supply their needs. Instruction was free, but the 
 students were required to provide their own lodg- 
 ings and meals. The usual way was for a company 
 of poor lads to band themselves together and sing 
 in front of the houses of wealthy citizens. Some- 
 times they would be invited to a meal ; at other times 
 they would receive the remnants of a repast, or at 
 least some slices of bread. 
 
 i6 
 
The; Making of* the; Le;ade;r. 17 
 
 We do not know much of Luther's course of 
 study at Magdeburg. Evidently the type of piety 
 prevaiHng there made a deep impression upon his 
 soul. '*I have seen with my own eyes," he said 
 later, "a Prince of Anhalt, a pious man, but misled 
 by those popish murderers of souls, going about in 
 the streets, barefooted, clad in the hood of a beg- 
 ging friar, bent under the load of a heavy burden, 
 and begging for bread. He was emaciated by vigils 
 and fasting and other mortifications, so that there 
 was nothing left of him but skin and bones. Who- 
 ever beheld him was filled with veneration, and felt 
 ashamed of his own worldly aspirations." 
 
 After a year had gone by his father decided to 
 send Martin to Eisenach, probably because in that 
 city the boy was nearer home, and also because he 
 was in hopes that some relatives of Frau Mar- 
 garetha who lived there would take a kindly interest 
 in him. In this expectation he was mistaken. As 
 heretofore, Martin had to sing and beg for his daily 
 bread. Several times the embarrassments and dis- 
 couragements of his poverty disheartened him so 
 that he made up his mind to return to his home and 
 become a miner like his father. 
 
 But Providence had mapped out a different plan 
 of life for this boy. When he had acquired the dis- 
 cipline resulting from the long struggle with pov- 
 erty a great change took place. Frau Cotta, the 
 wife of a wealthy merchant in Eisenach, had often 
 noticed the sweet, strong notes of the little scholar's 
 voice as they rang out through the church or in 
 her own court-yard. She took a liking to him, and 
 offered him a place at her table and in her family. 
 
i8 Luthe;r: The; Lkade;r. 
 
 And so it happened that the stately old house fac- 
 ing the market-place in Eisenach became the home 
 of Martin Luther. It is still standing; the cen- 
 turies have left it unchanged, and every year it is 
 visited by hundreds of tourists. Blessed be the 
 memory of that noble woman, one among many 
 who followed her, who brought into the dreary life 
 of a poor, struggling youth the influences of gentle- 
 ness and refined culture, and thus helped to give to 
 the world a life enriched and enlarged by all that 
 makes for purity of home-training and breadth of 
 culture. 
 
 A new life opened to young Luther. Free from 
 care and anxiety as to his sustenance, he was now 
 able to devote his whole time to his studies, and 
 the rich talents of his nature sprang forth into 
 promising buds. More important yet for his future 
 work were the influences which surrounded him in 
 the Cotta home. A new element to which before 
 this time he was a stranger entered into his edu- 
 cation. He now learned to know the finer and 
 gentler traits of good breeding ; those subtle in- 
 fluences that elevate life above the mere struggle 
 for existence and give to it its peculiar charm. He 
 could indulge now in his love for music. It was 
 Fran Cotta herself who put the lute into his hands 
 and helped to develop that musical talent which 
 afterwards brought good cheer and consolation to 
 thousands of hearts, and stirred others to faithful 
 fighting in the cause of the Lord. 
 
 The three years spent in the Cotta home at Eisen- 
 ach were the happiest years of his youth. Sunny 
 days those were, of quiet study and of refined asso- 
 
The Making of thi; Leader. 19 
 
 ciations, of the enjoyment of music and other in- 
 nocent pleasures of healthy boyhood. 
 
 The time arrived when he was to enter upon his 
 university studies, and in the summer of 1501 the 
 name of "Martinus Ludher ex Mansfeldt" was en- 
 tered upon the matriculation book of the University 
 of Erfurt. His father's financial condition was ma- 
 terially improved, owing to his industry and thrift. 
 He was now in a position to support his son, thus 
 enabling the young student to prosecute his studies 
 without embarrassment, and even to purchase some 
 books of his own. 
 
 Erfurt was at that time the most renowned uni- 
 versity in Germany. Students from all parts of 
 Europe were attracted to this seat of learning, and 
 it was a common saying that, "Whoever wants to 
 study thoroughly must needs go to Erfurt." Be- 
 fore entering upon the professional studies, the stu- 
 dent had to go through extended courses in logic, 
 dialectics, rhetoric, all of them being comprised 
 under the general term of philosophy. These studies 
 were of a formal nature. Scholasticism had reared 
 its imposing edifice, in which the sum total of 
 human learning was systematized and made to serve 
 the theology of the Church. Science was the hand- 
 maid of theology, bound to the doctrines of the 
 Church. Her office was not to investigate in order 
 to discover the truth. Absolute truth was contained 
 in the doctrines of the Church, and the only work 
 that science and philosophy were expected to do, 
 was to expound the teaching of the Church, and, if 
 necessary, to defend it. Whatever the Church 
 teaches is absolutely true. The idea that philosophy 
 
20 Luther: The; Le:ade;r. 
 
 or science should ever lead to results differing from 
 the established doctrines was simply preposterous. 
 
 With chains of iron the Church had fettered 
 to her chariot, not only the temporal power of 
 princes and kings, but also the intellectual life at 
 the seats of learning. Every step in the career of 
 student and teacher was an additional tie to the 
 Church. Matriculation and graduation, the begin- 
 ning of the scholastic year and the end of it, were 
 celebrated by Church services. Every graduate had 
 solemnly to pledge "to teach nothing that was in 
 contradiction to the doctrines of the Church and her 
 approved teachers, and to report at once to the dean 
 whenever he heard that any member of the faculty 
 was sowing the seed of heretical opinions." 
 
 It looked as if man's intellectual faculties had no 
 more room to assert themselves in research or dis- 
 covery, and therefore they busied themselves with 
 fruitless discussions about forms and modes of 
 thought. Scholarship was not in contact with the 
 life of the people ; it was shut up in the cloisters 
 and university halls. The schools trained subtk 
 rhetoricians, who could split hairs but who had no 
 appreciation of the needs of the masses about them. 
 The scholars lived in a world of their own, unreal 
 and unproductive of any good. 
 
 The years devoted to those studies might be 
 looked upon as a dead loss, yet Luther ever after- 
 wards was thankful for the mental discipline they 
 gave him. His mind was clear and logical, with a 
 trend toward abstruse reasoning. Just as St. Paul 
 centuries before him, was versed in rabbinical learn- 
 ing; as John Wesley after him had cause to praise 
 
The; Making of the; Le;.\de;r. 21 
 
 God for the honest art of reasoning, for discovering 
 and refuting subtle fallacies, acquired in the course 
 of his university training, — so Luther vi^as trained in 
 the modes of thinking and arguing to which his 
 age was accustomed, and he became thoroughly 
 familiar with that system of philosophy and theol- 
 ogy which, in later years, he assailed. 
 
 No man can be a leader of men who does not 
 in the highest degree possess a knowledge of the 
 men of his time ; not only of their manner of liv- 
 ing and feeling, but also of their way of thinking 
 and arguing. He must at the same time be in ad- 
 vance of his age and in close touch with his age. 
 The dreamer may see visions of future betterments, 
 the true prophet not only sees a vision as from afar, 
 but he is also able, by virtue of his knowledge of 
 men, to lead them on to the realization of his vision. 
 We shall see later on how Luther gave the most im- 
 portant impulses to the development of modern 
 scholarship. The modern idea of education and 
 learning in its application to the life of the individ- 
 ual and of the community is a direct result of the 
 Reformation. But the Reformation was not merely 
 an attempt to restore old things ; it marks a turn- 
 ing point in the history of mankind, and shows the 
 "v\"ay to new things and conditions. Luther was a 
 Reformer, but he was more ; he was a leader. 
 
 There were signs of a coming change. The new 
 humanistic learning began slowly to wend its way 
 into the old university halls. The Renaissance, 
 which was in fact an intellectual reformation, was 
 widening its sphere of influence. It was a revolt 
 from the barren metaphysical subtleties of scholas- 
 
22 Lutiikr: The Le;ader. 
 
 ticism, a return to the fountains of intellectual 
 strength and aesthetic beauty as exemplified in the 
 literature and art of the Greek and Roman civiliza- 
 tion; a turning away from the monastic ideal of 
 ascetic other-worldliness to the classical ideal of 
 thorough enjoyment of everything that this life can 
 give in its most perfect and beautiful form, 
 
 A conflict between this new scholarship and the 
 traditional theory of life and learning was unavoid- 
 able. In Erfurt the friction was not yet apparent 
 at the time when Luther was a student. Jodotus 
 Truttvetter and the other venerable professors kept 
 on discoursing upon the fine points in metaphysical 
 distinctions, while outside of the lecture-rooms 
 many students drank in the charming drafts of 
 classic literature. Luther read Latin authors as- 
 siduously. He formed friendship with some young 
 men who afterwards became renowned leaders of 
 the Humanists, as, for instance, Crotus Rubianus, 
 John Lange, and others. But while these studies 
 enlarged his intellectual vision and made him feel 
 the more keenly the inexpressible dr3^ness and use- 
 lessness of the philosophical studies, as they were 
 carried on at that time, in comparison with the 
 throbbing life of the resurrected classical world, 
 he very soon found that the deepest needs of human 
 nature can not be satisfied by these studies. Art, 
 beauty, sensual or intellectual enjoyment even in its 
 most refined form, can never solve the great prob- 
 lems of the human soul. Martin Luther derived 
 his strength, not from culture, but from religion. 
 The Church cultivated religion, it is true ; but it was 
 a caricature of genuine religion, and it had no con- 
 
Th5 Making of. the; Leader. 23 
 
 nection with culture. The Renaissance cut loose 
 from rehgion, and cultivated culture pure and sim- 
 ple. Luther united true religion with an apprecia- 
 tion of true culture. Religion without culture tends 
 to fanaticism; culture without religion easily runs 
 into licentiousness. The right blending of both 
 leads to ideal manhood. 
 
 Luther's religious life remained unchanged dur- 
 ing his student days. "In all those years," said he. 
 "I did not hear one truly Christian lecture or ser- 
 mon from any one." Yet he was a conscientious 
 and pious student. Says a contemporary of his, 
 John Mathesius : "Although he was by nature a 
 buoyant and frolicsome young fellow, he began his 
 day's work every morning with prayer, taking as 
 his motto, 'He who prays aright has finished his 
 studies more than half.' He missed no lesson, asked 
 questions of his teachers, and sought the oppor- 
 tunity to converse with them; he reviewed often 
 with his fellows, and when there were no lectures 
 he was found in the library." 
 
 It was in the university library that his eyes fell 
 for the first time upon a whole Bible. He had never 
 in his life seen a Bible, and now was greatly as- 
 tonished that this Latin Bible contained many more 
 texts and portions of the Gospels and Epistles than 
 were contained in the prayer-books or were read 
 in the churches. Turning over the leaves he glanced 
 at the story of Hannah and Samuel. He had never 
 heard it before, and on reading it he was fascinated 
 by its simplicity and religious fervor. From the 
 depth of his heart he prayed to God to make him 
 as pious ana as useful as was Samuel of old. Hence- 
 
24 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 forth he was filled with an eager longing to own a 
 Bible himself, and he prayed that God in His great 
 mercy would grant him the favor to possess a copy 
 of that wonderful Book. 
 
 Meanwhile he finished the prescribed course of 
 study. In 1502 he received the degree of Bachelor 
 of Philosophy, and in 1505 the higher degree of 
 Master, taking second rank in a class of seventeen 
 candidates. He was now to enter upon his law 
 studies, and, in view of his gifts and his industry, 
 everybody felt confident that a splendid career lead- 
 ing to distinction and fortune was opening before 
 him. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 UNDER THE MONK'S HOOD. 
 
 A COMPANY of merry students was gathered on 
 a summer evening in the year 1505 in Martin 
 Luther's room at Erfurt. He had invited his friends 
 to a feast, and they were passing the time playing, 
 singing, and merrymaking. One of the joUiest was 
 young Luther himself. "Friends," said he when 
 they were about to part, "to-day you see me for the 
 last time ; I have decided to become a monk." Peals 
 of laughter greeted this announcement ; it was con- 
 sidered a good joke. And yet Luther was in deep 
 earnest. He had invited his friends to take leave of 
 them for good. Two days later, on July 17th, they 
 escorted him reluctantly, and vainly endeavoring to 
 dissuade him, to the convent of the Augustinian 
 Friars. The heavy cloister doors opened and closed 
 again. Martin Luther had said adieu to the world, 
 and was a monk. 
 
 What had caused this change? 
 
 What had caused Abraham of old to leave his 
 kin and his friends and to set out on a journey the 
 goal of which he did not know? What had im- 
 pelled Moses to turn his back upon a life of dis- 
 tinction and splendor and to join himself to a nation 
 of despised slaves ? What had driven Saul of Tar- 
 sus to forsake a career of brilliant achievements as 
 
 25 
 
26 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 a teacher of the law and to become a follower of 
 the hated Nazarene ? What has induced hundreds of 
 others, in all times and among all nations, to disap- 
 point the fondest hopes, to throw away the choicest 
 advantages of worldly weakh and power, to trample 
 upon their cherished plans of noble ambition, and 
 to enter upon a life of obscurity, of self-denial, of 
 humiliation, and self-abnegation? 
 
 A strange thing, this heart of ours ! Let it once 
 feel the touch of the Eternal, and the whole world 
 of things visible and material shrinks back into in- 
 significance. When will we learn that nothing 
 which this world can give is, after all, able to sat- 
 isfy the deepest longings of our nature, to quench 
 its thirst, to give it lasting peace? "Our heart is 
 created to Thee, O Lord !" exclaims St. Augustine, 
 "and it can not rest until it resteth in Thee." 
 
 Luther's decision was not the outcome of some 
 sudden impulse or some passing excitement. Sev- 
 eral recent experiences, no doubt, hastened it, but 
 the course of his whole inner life tended to this 
 crisis. 
 
 He was of a deeply religious disposition, and his 
 whole education at home and in school had been in- 
 tensely religious. "What must I do to be saved?" 
 was the question of paramount interest with him. 
 The Church had but one answer, namely : Do good 
 works, and thereby conciliate an angry God. "O 
 when will I become pious and render satisfaction, 
 so that I may have a merciful God ?" he cries out. 
 
 The great dread, haunting his life from early 
 youth, was the thought of the impending judginent. 
 A sickness in Erfurt brought him near death's 
 
The; Making oi? the Leader. 27 
 
 door; having recovered, he accidentally cut open 
 one of the arteries with his sword which he, like all 
 students, was carrying constantly, and he was in 
 danger of bleeding to death before medical aid could 
 be summoned. An intimate friend of his had died 
 very suddenly. All these incidents caused his 
 thoughts to turn upon the possibility of being called, 
 perhaps in a very short time, before the Judge of 
 all mankind. 
 
 But here was the conflict, Luther was anything 
 but a recluse. With all his deep and earnest piety he 
 was open to the enjoyments that come to man from 
 study, from music, from art, from congenial friend- 
 ship, from success. But all these things were con- 
 sidered "worldly" and, in fact, sinful. He was to 
 study law, not so much because he felt particularly 
 drawn to it, but because it was his father's desire 
 and command. But the practice of law would lead 
 him, more so than any other profession, into the 
 "world ;" his attention must needs be engrossed with 
 things secular, and the Church had drawn a sharp 
 Ime of demarcation between things secular and 
 things spiritual. 
 
 The Church knew of only one kind of a holy 
 life, — the ascetic life of a monk. ^ He who tries to 
 serve God in the world, surrounded with the cares 
 of business or of a family, is in great danger of los- 
 ing his soul; but even at best he can never attain 
 to the ideal of a holy life. He alone who sacrifices 
 everything connected with this world, who forsakes 
 it and is dead to it — he alone is on the road that 
 leads to perfection. 
 
28 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 The New Testament idea of a life of sacrifice 
 and service in the midst of the ''world," the privi- 
 lege of regarding the duties of this life as God- 
 given duties, was practically unknown. It was 
 Luther who in later years became the apostle of 
 the gospel of ''serving God by serving man," but at 
 that time he still shared the erroneous notions of his 
 age. 
 
 What was he to do? On the one side was life, 
 bright, happy, flooded in sunlight, full of charming 
 prospects ; nay, even more, there was the explicit 
 wish of his father ; and was it not his duty to com- 
 ply with the same ? On the other side was the clois- 
 ter, dark, dreary, full of mortifications. Choose he 
 must. There was no middle way. Who can picture 
 the struggles that were going on in the soul of the 
 young Master of Philosophy? Only occasional re- 
 marks of later years lead us to suspect how fierce 
 they were. In vain he sought peace in hard work, 
 in vain in congenial company. 
 
 Finally he yielded. He brought the sacrifice. 
 
 Returning from a visit to his home he was over- 
 come by a heavy thunder-storm. The strokes of 
 lightning and the peals of thunder seemed to his 
 terrified imagination the forebodings of the judg- 
 ment day. He threw himself on the ground and ex- 
 claimed : "Holy Anna, help me ! I will become a 
 monk !" 
 
 The vow was made. It had to be carried out. 
 It was hard, but the greater the sacrifice the more 
 meritorious the obedience. 
 
 When the heavy portals of the monastery 
 clanged behind him and the bars were fastened 
 
The Making of the; Leader. 29 
 
 again, Luther had no other idea but that he was sep- 
 arated from the world forever. _ 
 
 The great struggle was at an end. Was his aoul 
 satisfied^ Had he found what he was looking for, 
 namely, the peace that passes all understanding? 
 We shall see presently. 
 
 Hans Luther was nearly beside himself when 
 informed of his son's change of mind. All his hopes 
 were shattered. All the sacrifices which he and his 
 wife had cheerfully made for so many years were 
 useless A man of good common sense and ac- 
 customed to hard work, he had not much use for 
 the "ignorant and lazy friars." When Martin in- 
 sisted that he was following a Divine command the 
 answer was: "God forbid that you are misled by a 
 devilish deception ! Did you never read that a son 
 is to honor his father and mother?" 
 
 A few months later, when he lost two of his 
 sons from the pestilence then raging, and when the 
 rumor came that ^lartin had also died, his anger 
 subsided to some extent. But although he himself, 
 accompanied bv a number of relatives and friends, 
 came to hear his son read his first mass, and even 
 presented him with twenty florins, he was never 
 quite reconciled to the change of Martin's plans. 
 
 For several days after the 17th of July the 
 friends were anxiously watching the gates of the 
 monastery. To no purpose. The young novice did 
 not appear, nor was any one allowed to see him. 
 
 A whole year passed by. His novitiate was at 
 an end. "Frater Martinus" was to make the solemn 
 vow by which he became a monk for the rest of his 
 life. The convent was assembled in solemn convoca- 
 
30 Luthkr: The; Leader. 
 
 tion. The novice fell upon his knees, folded his hands 
 over the book containing the rules of St. Augustine, 
 and vowed: "I, Frater Martinus, confess and 
 pledge obedience to God Almighty and to the Holy 
 Virgin Mary, and to thee, Frater Winand, prior of 
 this monastery, and to the general of the Order of 
 St. Augustine, to live without property, in chastity, 
 and in obedience to the rules of St. Augustine as 
 long as I live." A consecrated hood was put on 
 him. He prostrated himself on the floor in the form 
 of a cross, while the assembly chanted the prayers 
 of consecration, and when he arose he was a monk 
 for his lifetime. 
 
 There were eight monasteries at Erfurt repre- 
 senting as many monastic orders. Luther chose 
 the Augustinians because they were known both for 
 the strictness of their rules and for the cultivation 
 of theological learning. Luther's motive in becom- 
 ing a monk was a purely religious one. He sought 
 peace for his soul. But while worldly studies might 
 prove to be a snare, theological scholarship was 
 surely not to be despised, and so he became a mem- 
 ber of the order that united both piety and learn- 
 ing. He had sold his law-books, but two Latin 
 classics, Vergil and Plautus, he took with him into 
 the monastery. 
 
 The rules as revised by John Staupitz, the vicar- 
 general of the order, made it the duty of every 
 monk to devote considerable time to study, more 
 particularly to the study of the Bible. Each mem- 
 ber of the convent was presented with a Bible for 
 his individual use. Luther devoted himself to 
 Biblical and theological studies with such diligence 
 
Thi; Making op the; Leader. 31 
 
 ana success that he soon became known as one of 
 the most learned Augustinians. 
 
 However, learned pursuits were not allowed to 
 take up too much of his time. Like every other 
 novice he had to learn and comply with the rules 
 which governed every hour day and night, touched 
 every insignificant detail of action, as walking, 
 kneeling, standing, looks, and words. At first he 
 had to perform even the most menial services. 
 
 "Sic mihi, sic tibi." "You have to do what I 
 had to do," was a common saying among the older 
 monks. "Saccum per naccum." "Take the beg- 
 gar's sack and go begging." It must have been 
 humiliating for the Master of Philosophy to walk 
 the streets of his university town and go to the; 
 neighboring villages begging for bread and cheese. 
 The convent was richly endowed; it did not stand 
 in need of begging. But begging was considered 
 an excellent means for promoting humility, and 
 therefore necessary for the friars. Some of the 
 brethren, excelling more in ignorance and laziness 
 than in true piety — for in spite of all regulations 
 there were ignorant and lazy monks, and not a few 
 of them — felt called upon to assist Brother Martinus 
 in various ways in acquiring this most precious vir- 
 tue, humility. 
 
 Willingly and cheerfully Luther subjected him- 
 self to every possible form of discipline and mortifi- 
 cation. He was a model of monkish piety. "If ever 
 a monk got to heaven by monkery, I would have 
 gotten there," are his own words. No one, in any 
 age, could surpass him in prayers by day and night, 
 
32 LuTHi;R: The: Leader. 
 
 in fasting, in vigils, self-discipline, and self-morti- 
 fication. 
 
 And yet — had he found what his soul was look- 
 ing for ? 
 
 There was no mistake. He was as far from 
 peace of conscience as ever. Like an unbearable 
 burden, crushing all hope under its huge weight, 
 lay upon him his sin. "Mea culpa; mea culpa!" — 
 My sin, my sin ! was the burden of his mind. His 
 life had been moral and pure ; there were no out- 
 ward sins that rose up against him. But he felt the 
 power of the sinful principle, as the most potent 
 power of his nature, pervading and vitiating his 
 whole being and keeping him away from God. 
 
 Could he not atone for his guilt by good works ? 
 He lived stricter than ever, wasting away his phys- 
 ical strength in his endeavors. "If I had continued, 
 I would have tortured myself to death." 
 
 The fact of his enforced solitude augmented his 
 morbid self-accusations. He had no one who could 
 understand him, to whom he could open his heart, 
 who could counsel and direct him. It was out of 
 his own sad experience that he advised those who 
 are in distress to turn to their Savior, and also to 
 seek the companionship of experienced Christians, 
 in order to escape from the evil thoughts that prey 
 upon those who are solitary. He read the Bible, 
 to be sure, but a veil was before his eyes. Christ 
 was still, to his mind, the merciless Judge. The 
 righteousness of God, which, according to St. Paul, 
 was revealed in the Gospel, he took to mean the 
 righteousness which metes out just punishment. 
 
 God never forsakes an upright man who gropes 
 
The; Making of the: Leadijr. 33 
 
 his way in the darkness. He sends him rays of light 
 that penetrate the mists of erroneous opinions with 
 which his education, contemporaneous thought, 
 false teaching of the Church, surrounded him, just 
 as the wanderer in the mountains is sometimes en- 
 veloped in dense, dark fogs. Finally the time conies 
 when the clouds burst, and he can walk in the full 
 light of the freedom of a son of God. 
 
 "Thou art a fool," reproved his confessor ; "God 
 is not angry with thee ; thou art angry with God." 
 
 "Brother," said to him a good old monk, look- 
 ing into the haggard face of the penitent, "you 
 must obey God and believe in the forgiveness of 
 sins." 
 
 From no one did he receive more help than from 
 the vicar-general of his order. Dr. John Staupitz. 
 He was the only one who could understand his men- 
 tal agonies. Superficial minds lack the ability of 
 fathoming the anguish of an awakened conscience. 
 Staupitz was a man who knew something of experi- 
 mental religion. He was an evangelical at heart, 
 although he never severed his connection with the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 No one else, perhaps, united all the qualities 
 which enabled him to be the spiritual guide and 
 counselor of this troubled mind. He was the de- 
 scendant of a noble family, clearheaded, a man of 
 broad culture, thorough scholarship, whose theol- 
 ogy, though darkened somewhat by the prevailing 
 scholasticism, was nurtured on the Bible. He was of a 
 kind, sympathetic nature, and possessed in a singular 
 degree the power to discern and appreciate the 
 needs of whosoever applied to him for aid. Luther 
 3 
 
34 IvUTher: The; Leade;r, 
 
 never forgot the world of gratitude he owed to this 
 man. "If Dr. Staupitz, or rather God through Dr. 
 Staupitz, had not helped me out of my trials, I 
 would have drowned in them and would have been 
 in hell long ago." 
 
 Listen to some of the evangelical truths which 
 Staupitz impressed upon Luther : 
 
 "You have an altogether wrong idea of Christ. 
 Christ does not terrify ; his office is to comfort." 
 
 "More than a thousand times I pledged that I 
 would lead a life of piety, and I never did it. 1 
 see now that I can not live up to my pledges, and 
 so I quit making pledges." 
 
 "The law of God says to us : Here is a high 
 mountain ; thou must cross it. Flesh and presump- 
 tion vow: I will cross it. Conscience interposes: 
 Thou canst not. Despair concludes: I will let it 
 go." 
 
 "Trials are good and necessary, my brother; 
 otherwise you would never amount to very much." 
 
 Those were the starting points for new currents 
 of thought. They shed light upon a number of 
 Scripture passages, especially in the Pauline Epis- 
 tles. For days and weeks Luther would ponder 
 words like these : "The Gospel is the power of God 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth. For 
 therein is revealed a righteousness of God from 
 faith unto faith : as it is written. But the righteous 
 shall live by faith." Deeper and deeper he pene- 
 trated into the meaning of St. Paul's great doctrine, 
 but just as he, from his solitary cloister cell, could 
 see only a little speck of God's blue sky, so he had 
 only faint glimpses of God's infinite love and ten- 
 der mercy. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE HOLY CITY. 
 
 To MAKE a pilgrimage to Rome; to confess in 
 the Holy City all his sins committed from his early 
 youth ; to visit the many sites, sacred to the memory 
 of saints and martyrs; to avail himself of the rich 
 indulgences offered there; to read mass in Rome,-- 
 had been a long cherished hope of the young monk. 
 Hardly had he dared to look for its realization. 
 
 But all of a sudden, probably in the year 1511, 
 he was sent by his superior, Dr. Staupitz, to Rome 
 to assist in the settlement of some difficulties which 
 had arisen in the management of the order. Ac- 
 companied by John von Mecheln, the prior of a 
 Dutch convent, Luther crossed the Alps, and, after 
 a weary journev afoot, the wanderers saw from 
 afar the spires of the Holy City rising over the 
 Campagna and gilded by the rays of the setting sun. 
 It was a great moment for pious Martin Luther. 
 "Hail, thou Holy City!" he cried out, and, over- 
 come by awe and reverence, he fell upon his knees. 
 The sight of Rome might indeed fill any thinking 
 mind with feelings of admiration, and overwhelm 
 any pious soul with profound veneration. Rome 
 was at that time the center, the very embodiment of 
 the greatest political and spiritual power the world 
 had ever seen. Empires, religions, civilizations had 
 
 35 
 
36 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 changed in the course of the centuries ; the power 
 of Rome remained. 
 
 The city on the seven hills was in a former age 
 the mistress of the pagan world. She had subdued 
 the nations, she ruled them with an iron hand. She 
 broke down the barriers between the peoples, and 
 welded them into a great empire. Roman legions, 
 Roman laws, Roman language, were dominant in 
 all climes. The treasures of Greek art and philoso- 
 phy, of Oriental wealth, of everything that human 
 m.inds had discovered and invented, that human 
 hands had wrought and achieved, were used by 
 Rome as material to build up the tremendous struc- 
 ture of the Roman empire. The Roman emperor 
 became in course of time the supreme ruler of the 
 world. Even more than that: he became the visi- 
 ble representative of the Divine powers ; he was 
 adored as a God, and reigned as a God. 
 
 The ancient Roman empire declined and fell. 
 The cities were sacked, the temples burned, the 
 deities dethroned, the priests driven away, the 
 armies vanquished, the laws abolished, the whole 
 tremendous structure of the Grasco-Roman civiliza- 
 tion, reared to a dazzling height, tottered and fell. 
 Barbarians roamed over the sites of ancient achieve- 
 ments and splendor. 
 
 But Rome remained. Pagan Rome became 
 Christian Rome. Again she set out to conquer the 
 world, with weapons more subtle, with tactics more 
 diplomatic, and again she succeeded. A new Chris- 
 tian civilization arose upon the ruins of the old 
 pagan world, and Rome was the dominating power. 
 Step by step the great ecclesiastical statesmen and 
 
The; Making of th^ Leader. 37 
 
 master-builders had advanced during the past cen- 
 turies towards the goal which they had constantly 
 before their eyes ; namely, to build up the visible 
 kingdom of God on earth. Diplomacy, as well as 
 arms, were resorted to as means to accomplish this 
 end ; but the most potent of all factors was religion. 
 
 Rome was the seat of the pope. The pope was 
 the vice-regent of Jesus Christ, the ruler of God's 
 kingdom on earth. God had given two swords for 
 the purpose of promoting and defending His cause. 
 The one represented the temporal power; it was 
 wielded by the emperor, the kings, and the other 
 temporal rulers. The other was the emblem of the 
 spiritual power; it was in the hands of the pope. 
 Temporal things are subservient to spiritual things ; 
 the temporal power must ever be at the disposal of 
 the spiritual power. The rulers of the nations are to 
 execute the biddings of the vice-regent of the high- 
 est ruler. At the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury there was no European government that dared 
 to defy these claims, arrogant as they certainly 
 were. 
 
 Moreover, the successor of St. Peter had the 
 absolute power to bind and loose on earth and in 
 heaven. All through the Middle Ages the terrors 
 oi the judgment and the bliss of the world to come 
 were intense realities to the minds of men. The 
 great object of life was to flee from the wrath to 
 come and to get to heaven. But salvation was pos- 
 sible only within the folds of the Church. "Extra 
 ecclesiam nulla salus" — that is, "Outside of the 
 Church there is no salvation" — was the accepted 
 creed, and the Church was under the undisputed 
 
38 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 control of her head, the pope. Every road led to 
 Rome, and the thousands of ecclesiastical organiza- 
 tions that covered the European countries with the 
 meshes of an immense net, looked to Rome for 
 guidance and direction, for counsel and command. 
 
 There had been a time when, under the sign of 
 the Golden Eagle, Roman legions, at the command 
 of the Roman emperor, held the world conquered ; 
 now, when Luther saw the Eternal City, an army still 
 vaster, more obedient, better disciplined, held the 
 world conquered under the sign of the cross at the 
 bidding of the Roman pope. The power which 
 Rome yielded over the consciences of men was su- 
 preme, 
 
 Well might the poor monk cry out, "Salve Roma 
 Sancta !" — Hail to thee. Holy Rome ! — for that city, 
 dimly visible at the distant horizon, was to him, as 
 to millions of others, the very embodiment of every- 
 thing that was holy and grand, yea, all that was 
 divine. 
 
 Luther's visit lasted four weeks, long enough to 
 see the wonders of the Eternal City, the ruins of 
 the Coliseum, the baths of Diocletian, the Pantheon, 
 and other remains of past glory. He visited also 
 the catacombs and other places made sacred by the 
 sufferings of the martyrs, and, above all, those 
 churches and shrines where "special grace" could be 
 obtained. "I was at Rome a crazy saint," is his 
 comment in later years, "running to all the churches 
 and monasteries, and believing all the stories that 
 they tell. I also read one or ten masses at Rome, 
 and I felt sorry that my father and mother were 
 still alive, for I was anxious to redeem them from 
 
The; Making of the; Le;ader. 39 
 
 purgatory by reading mass and doing other good 
 works and saying prayers." 
 
 It is well known how he climbed on his knees 
 the twenty-eight steps of the Scala Sancta — the 
 identical staircase, as was believed, which formerly 
 led up to the palace of Pilate in Jerusalem — in or- 
 der to receive the rich blessings promised by sev- 
 eral popes upon all who would perform this merito- 
 rious deed. But, somehow or other, Luther could 
 not become sensible of any blessing. Again and 
 again, intruding upon his devotion and disturbing 
 him in his supplications, there came to him the 
 words which St. Paul quoted from the prophecy of 
 Habakkuk, "The just shall live by faith." 
 
 Even Rome did not give to his soul the peace 
 which he longed for. On the contrary, his sojourn 
 in the Holy City, brief though it was, sufficed to 
 convince him that Rome could never supply the 
 needs of his spiritual nature. The high ideals of 
 the sanctity of the worship, of the saintly life of the 
 pope and the other ecclesiastical dignitaries, which 
 filled his own soul with holy aspirations and stimu- 
 lated him to like endeavors, were rudely shattered. 
 What he saw and heard in holy Rome was the very 
 opposite from what he had expected. Instead of 
 piety he found levity ; instead of holiness he met las- 
 civiousness; instead of seeing pure spirituality he 
 beheld nothing but carnalmindedness, greed, and 
 self-seeking. Religion was but the cloak which cov- 
 ered up shame and vice. The white garments of 
 the Church, the bride of Christ, were polluted with 
 the stains of the most disgraceful and carnal man- 
 
40 Luthkr: The Leader. 
 
 ner of living. Wherever he turned he saw hypoc- 
 risy and sin. 
 
 When reading mass his v^rhole being was filled 
 with holy awe by the solemnity of the sacrament. 
 Slowly, deliberately he pronounced the words of 
 the Eucharist. But the Italian priests called im- 
 patiently, "Passa, passa!" that is, "Quick, quick! 
 send the Son back to our blessed Virgin." All they 
 cared for was to get through with the empty cere- 
 mony as rapidly as possible and receive their pay 
 for it. He heard priests laughingly tell how they 
 would say in Latin, instead of pronouncing the 
 words of consecration, "Bread thou art and bread 
 thou remainest ; wine thou art and wine thou re- 
 mainest." Everything that was to him an object of 
 holy adoration was made the butt of blasphemous 
 jests. 
 
 Could it be true what he heard of the private 
 life of cardinals and popes? He was shown what 
 purported to be a monument of the Papess Joanna, 
 who, as the story went, was overtaken by the pangs 
 of childbirth while takmg part in a solemn pro- 
 cession. He was told incredible stories of the vices 
 of Pope Alexander VI, who had died but a few 
 years before (in 1503), as well as of his son Caesar 
 and his daughter Lucretia, 
 
 And all these things were told without a blush, 
 without a tinge of sadness over the deplorable 
 condition of the Church. If the German monk 
 expressed his grief he was sneeringly called a 
 fool. Says he : "Nobody can form an idea 
 of the licentiousness, vice, shame that is in 
 vogue in Rome. Nobody would believe it un- 
 
The; Making oj' the; Leader. 41 
 
 less he could see it with his own eyes and hear it 
 with his own ears. Rome was once the holiest city, 
 now it is the vilest. It is true what has been said, 
 *If there be a hell, Rome must be built over it.' " 
 
 Yet in spite of all that he saw or heard, he still 
 loved the grand old Church with his whole heart. 
 He did not return from Rome an enemy of the 
 Church nor even intending to reform it. The fiery 
 denunciations of her practices date from a later 
 period, when he viewed them in the new light that 
 had dawned on him. But if ever a man left the 
 "Holy City" thrust dowri from the heights of zeal 
 and enthusiasm to the very depths of despair, 
 wounded and crushed in spirit, full of keen and bit- 
 ter disappointment, it was that plain, honest Ger- 
 man monk. 
 
 However, this experience was but another step 
 in his preparation. "I would not take a thousand 
 florins for missing that visit to Rome. I would con- 
 stantly fear that I wronged the pope. But now T 
 can speak of what I have seen myself." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 PROFESSOR AND PREACHER. 
 
 TherS were two flourishing universities in the 
 Saxon lands; one at Erfurt, the other only about 
 seventy miles away, in Leipzig. It might seem as 
 if there had been no need of a third one to be 
 founded. But Leipzig belonged to Prince Albrecht, 
 of Saxony, and Erfurt was in the hands of the 
 Archbishop of Mainz, and therefore Elector Fred- 
 erick, surnamed the Wise, deemed it necessary to 
 have a university of his own. In the year 1502 he. 
 founded the University of Wittenberg, only forty 
 miles from Leipzig. 
 
 The town chosen for the new school could not 
 boast of many advantages. It consisted of not moie 
 than four hundred low, straw-thatched houses ; the 
 number of its inhabitants did not exceed three thou- 
 sand, and they were mostly poor and unlettered. 
 The country round about was sandy and barren ; 
 the sanitary conditions of the city were deficient, 
 causing frequent visitations of the plague ; the place 
 was situated "at the borders of civilization." 
 
 In spite of these drawbacks the name of Witten- 
 berg was destined to become one of the most re- 
 nowned among the many seats of learning in 
 Europe. It was here that Martin Luther spent 
 42 
 
The Making of' th^ Leader. 43 
 
 most of his life and did most of his work. He made 
 the university not only the center of the Reforma- 
 tion, but, more than that, the starting-point of mod- 
 ern culture. 
 
 The income of the newly established school be- 
 ing very meager, the Elector called men to the pul- 
 pits of the two churches who could at the same time 
 fill professors' chairs, and he also expected that the 
 Augustinian convent located in Wittenberg would 
 furnish a number of teachers. In order to accom- 
 plish this the vicar-general, Dr. Staupitz, who co- 
 operated heartily with the Elector, was made dean 
 of the theological faculty. 
 
 As early as 1508 Luther was transferred from 
 Erfurt to Wittenberg, and appointed lecturer on 
 moral philosophy. But in the following year we 
 find him again at Erfurt, and it was not until his 
 return from Rome that he became professor in Wit- 
 tenberg. From 1 5 12 to his death in 1545, he re- 
 mained in this position. He always considered the 
 work of a university professor his main work; al! 
 other activities were in connection with his univer- 
 sity work. We shall soon see that Luther had an 
 altogether new idea of the legitimate work of a uni- 
 versity professor. He is not to spend his life in 
 special research work exclusively, separate from the 
 common, every-day world, with interests and aspira- 
 tions wholly foreign to the welfare of the commu- 
 nity in which he lives, but he is to be in close touch 
 with the religious, social, and political movements 
 of his time ; a man who brings to bear the results 
 of his studies on the great questions which agitate 
 his contemporaries ; a scholar who studies the prob- 
 
44 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 lems of the past in order to understand the problems 
 which confront his own age, and who has the cour- 
 age to lead his people to a higher plane. 
 
 At first Luther had no desire whatever to as- 
 sume the duties of a Doctor and Professor of Di- 
 vinity. It took a long time before Staupitz suc- 
 ceeded in persuading him to be obedient to the call. 
 "No good deed is done pursuant to man's own wis- 
 dom ; every step must be done blindfolded, as it 
 were. Thus I was drawn into the work of a teacher. 
 If I had then known what I know now, ten horses 
 could not have pulled me." 
 
 On the eighteenth day of October, 1512, after 
 a formal disputation held in the university chapel, 
 the Doctor's cap and ring, the signs of his degree, 
 were presented to him, and he was now a Doctor of 
 Divinity. The expenses were defrayed by the 
 Elector. 
 
 Luther was now a Professor of Theology. Were 
 his inward struggles ended? Had he found peace? 
 Was he, to use a popular expression, a converted 
 man ? If so, when and how was he converted ? 
 
 When was John Wesley converted? He had 
 been a priest of the Church of England for several 
 years, was a missionary to the heathen, and yet 
 when he returned from America he wrote, "I found 
 that I was never converted myself." This remark- 
 able statement he modified in his later years by add- 
 ing the words, "I am not so sure about that." Was 
 John Wesley converted in that memorable night of 
 May 28, 1738, when, in hearing some one read 
 Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, he 
 felt his heart strangely warmed? But several 
 
Th^ Making of thi; Leader. 45 
 
 months later he wrote, "I affirm that I am not a 
 Christian now." 
 
 The spiritual history of these two great men has 
 many points of similarity. Both were from youth 
 deeply religious ; both were brought up in strictly 
 sacramentarian, High-Church principles ; both led a 
 clean life, and were striving after personal holiness ; 
 both were haunted by an overwhelming sense of sin 
 and depravity; both were utterly sincere in their 
 searching self-examination and self-abasement, 
 sometimes morbidly so; both made a perfect sur- 
 render (jf their will — nothing can be a more perfect 
 sacrifice than that which Luther made when enter- 
 ing the cloister, or Wesley after reading Thomas a 
 Kempis and Jeremy Taylor; both read their Bibles 
 unremittingly, passionately, yet both groped in dark- 
 ness for many a year ; both did everything that lay 
 in their power to find peace with God — no effort 
 was too exacting no self-effacement too painful ; 
 both carried the shackles of erroneous theological 
 opinions, and it took years before they had shaken 
 them off entirely. 
 
 The inner life of both was nourished on the 
 Word of God, and it was the life-giving Word of 
 the living God, received in simple faith, which grad- 
 ually transformed their lives and their views. We 
 can notice decisive steps, critical moments in their 
 spiritual development ; but their conversion was not 
 a single dramatic act, but rather a process extend- 
 ing through a number of 3^ears. 
 
 The important question is not. When was he 
 converted or how? but rather. Is he living the life 
 of a child of God? Is he in fellowship with Christ? 
 
46 Luther: The; htADtR. 
 
 Luther's struggles for the peace of his soul came 
 certainly to an end during the first few years of his 
 stay at Wittenberg. 
 
 Gradually he was led by his Biblical studies to 
 see the full light of the Gospel truth. The books 
 which he read and studied over and over again till 
 they became part and parcel of his very being were 
 St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians 
 and the Book of Psalms. He began to see that the 
 righteousness of God is not merely an attribute of 
 the great Judge of mankind, but that God in His 
 compassion freely gives His righteousness to the 
 believer, and, together with this gift, He bestows 
 also full salvation and life eternal. Having taken 
 hold of this great truth, he was made free. "Now 
 I became happy, now the whole of the Bible, even 
 heaven itself, was open to me." 
 
 Listen to the words which in the month of April, 
 1516, he wrote to a fellow monk: "Now I would 
 like to know about the state of your soul. Have 
 you learned to despise your own righteousness and 
 to put your trust in the righteousness of Christ 
 alone? Many do not know the righteousness of 
 God which is given us abundantly and freely in 
 Christ ; but they endeavor to do good works and 
 depend on their own efforts, their own virtue, their 
 own merits. You were full of this great error when 
 you were here, and I was full of it. Even now I 
 must fight against it, and have not finished. There- 
 fore, my beloved brother, learn Christ and Plim cru- 
 cified. Learn to despair of thyself and to say to 
 Him : 'Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but 
 1 am Thy sin. Thou hast assumed what was mine 
 
Ths Making of th^ Leader. 47 
 
 and given me what was Thine. Thou hast assumed 
 what Thou wast not, and hast given me what I was 
 not.' If by our own exertions we could attain peace 
 of conscience, why, then, did Christ die?" 
 
 What the young professor had experienced in 
 his own soul he communicated to his students. His 
 lectures were not formal philosophical or dogmatx 
 dissertations. He poured out in them his very heart, 
 testifying to the power of experimental faith. Says 
 Melanchthon : "After a long and dark night there 
 arose here in the university, according to the judg- 
 ment of all religious and judicious persons, a new 
 light. Here he pointed out the difference between 
 the Law and the Gospel ; here he refuted the erro- 
 neous opinion which dominated the schools and the 
 pulpits ; namely, that we could merit the forgive- 
 ness of our sins by our own works, and could be- 
 come righteous in the eyes of God by the discipline 
 of the law. He called men to the Son of God. Like 
 John the Baptist he pointed them to the Lamb of 
 God that bore our sins, and he showed that this 
 favor is to be received by faith alone." 
 
 A new era commenced for theological studies in 
 general, and for Biblical studies in particular, when 
 Martin Luther entered upon his career as university 
 professor. The Bible, especially in the original lan- 
 guages, was a book then almost unknown. One of 
 Luther's colleagues, Dr. Karlstadt, had been a Doc- 
 tor of Divinity seven years before he ever read the 
 Bible. 
 
 Luther cut loose from scholastic philosophy and 
 lectured on the Bible exclusively. Up to his time 
 the Bible lectures, such as they were, constituted 
 
48 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 merely a preparatory work from which the young 
 teacher soon advanced to expounding the "sen- 
 tences" of the scholastic writers and to unraveling 
 the intricacies of their philosophic systems. To 
 Luther "theology alone examined the kernel of the 
 nut, the flour of the wheat, and the marrow of the 
 bones," and by theology he meant the theology of 
 the Bible. He always preferred to be called "Doc- 
 tor of the Holy Scriptures," instead of "Doctor of 
 Theology." Those Biblical books which were of 
 the greatest importance in his own personal life — 
 namely, the Psalms, Romans, and Galatians — were 
 most frequently expounded by him in his lecture- 
 room. 
 
 During the first few years his time was wholly 
 occupied by his exegetical studies, especially since 
 he had to apply himself to the study of the original 
 languages. He had taken up the study of Hebrew 
 before this, but had made little progress ; Greek he 
 did not even commence before he came to Witten- 
 berg. 
 
 Next to the Bible he studied the writings of St. 
 Augustine and of the Mystics. Among the latter he 
 valued very highly Tauler's sermons and an anony- 
 m.ous book which he edited and called "Theologia 
 Germanica." In Augustine he found a theological 
 system which gave him the key to his own expe- 
 rience. He had learned that his salvation was not 
 the reward for his own efforts, but was God's free 
 gift, and it was Augustine who showed, as no other 
 writer did, how futile are man's own efforts ; that, 
 in fact the natural man has no moral freedom, no 
 moral strength. 
 
The Making of the Leader. 49 
 
 In the Mystic writers he commended the idea of 
 the necessity of personal union with God in Christ, 
 but he avoided the snare of vague and vaporous 
 pantheism into which many of them had fallen. 
 
 There was no lack of work. He was promoted 
 to the position of a district vicar in his order, and 
 had charge of eleven monasteries. Since 15 14 he 
 preached regularly ; at first as the assistant of the 
 aged pastor of the Stadt-Kirche ; soon as the regu- 
 larly appointed pastor. He preached in German, of 
 course, but wrote all his sermons in Latin. The 
 sermons on the Ten Commandments and on the 
 Lord's Prayer were printed in German "for chil- 
 dren and for common people," and they sold so 
 fast that the first sheets had to be printed over again 
 before the last ones had been issued from the press. 
 From the very beginning Luther recognized the 
 value of printer's ink, and also the irnportance of 
 preaching and writing so plainly and popularly that 
 the masses of the people could easily understand 
 him. It stood him in good stead that he was a man 
 of the people. 
 
BOOK II 
 
 PULLING DOWN THE OLD 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 THE CHALLENGE. 
 
 IT was on the thirty-first day of October, 1517, 
 at noon, that Martin Luther, either in Person or by 
 some one else, posted his now famous Nmety-^ve 
 Theses on the portals of the Castle Church m Wit- 
 
 ^^"^Thts day and the next following, known in the 
 Church calendar as All-Saints' Day, were the ga a 
 days of Wittenberg. The anniversary of the Castle 
 Church was celebrated, and the 5,005 holy relics 
 which the Elector Frederick at great pams and ex- 
 pense had collected from all parts of the world were 
 exhibited. Thousands of Frederick's devout sub- 
 jects made the pilgrimage to the little city to view 
 those sacred objects and to attend the services. 
 
 Those who could understand Latin might read 
 on that day the following words written on a large 
 piece of paper and nailed to the church door : in 
 the desire and with the purpose of elucidating the 
 truth a disputation will be held on the underwritten 
 propositions at Wittenberg under the presidency of 
 the Reverend Father Martinus Luther, monk of the 
 order of St. Augustine, Master of Arts and of 
 Sacred Theology, and ordinary reader of the same 
 at that place. He therefore asks those who can not 
 be present and discuss the subjects with us orally, 
 
 S3 
 
54 Luthkr: The; Leader. 
 
 to do so by letter in their absence. In the name of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen." 
 
 Then follow ninety-five propositions, or Theses, 
 as the subjects for discussion. The words of some 
 of them are : 
 
 "i. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ in say- 
 iny, 'Repent ye,' intended that the whole life of be- 
 lievers should be penitence. 
 
 "32. Those who believe that, through letters of 
 pardon, they are made sure of their own salvation, 
 will be eternally damned, together with their 
 teachers. 
 
 "36. Every Christian who feels true compunc- 
 tion enjoys of right the remission of pain and guilt, 
 even without letters of pardon. 
 
 "37. Every true Christian, whether living or 
 dead, has a share in all the benefits of Christ and of 
 the Church, given him b^ God, even without letters 
 of pardon. 
 
 "62. The true treasure of the Church is the Holy 
 Gospel of the glory and grace of God." 
 
 There was nothing revolutionary, not even any- 
 thing extraordinary, in this act of Luther's. Public 
 disputations among the professors were common 
 occurrences in a university town ; in fact, they were 
 frequently in connection with Church or State cele- 
 brations. It was customary to post the Theses be- 
 forehand at some public place, or to print and circu- 
 late them. Luther's Theses, being written in Latin, 
 were intended for scholars ; the discussion was to be 
 a university affair. He was far from intending to 
 incite the common people against the Church or her 
 doctrines. 
 
Pui.i,iNG Down the; Old. 55 
 
 To us who live at the beginning of the twentieth 
 century those propositions which nearly four hun- 
 dred years ago the monk of Wittenberg wished to 
 discuss, do not seem to contain much that is remark- 
 able. They do not attack the doctrines of the 
 Church nor the system of Church government. 
 They do not object to the indulgences per se. They 
 firmly hold to the Catholic doctrines of purgatory, 
 of the treasure of the Church, of the power of the 
 keys. 
 
 In his Ninety-five Theses Luther simply pro- 
 pounds some questions with reference to the sale 
 of indulgences as it was carried on at that time; 
 he objects to gross abuses connected with the traffic, 
 and invites discussion concerning those points that 
 -were not explicitly taught by the Church and on 
 which theologians differed. 
 
 If anybody should have told the young pro- 
 fessor that the nailing of his Theses should be con- 
 sidered, in later times, one of the great turning 
 points in the history of the human race, the open- 
 ing of a new era in the religious, social, and polit- 
 ical development of mankind, Luther would have 
 considered him a madman. 
 
 No one was more surprised at the reception the 
 Theses met with, than was their author. The fact 
 is that his words created a sensation as no others 
 had done for centuries. Says Luther, "In a fort- 
 night they flew all over Germany," "and," adds 
 Myconius, his contemporary and earliest biog- 
 rapher, "in four weeks they had spread through 
 Christendom as though angels were the postmen." 
 They were translated into German and into other 
 
56 Luthkr: The; Le;ade;r. 
 
 European languages, were sold in Rome, and even 
 in far-away Jerusalem some pilgrims saw copies of 
 them. 
 
 "Ho, ho!" exclaimed an old ecclesiastic, "the 
 man has come who will do the thing." "Now the 
 time has come when darkness will be banished from 
 our schools and churches," were the triumphant 
 words of another. The old scholar, Reuchlin, 
 harassed and persecuted by the monks, thanked 
 God "that the monks have now found a man who 
 will give them full employment, so that they will 
 be glad to let me spend my old age in peace." 
 
 What induced Luther to propound those Theses, 
 and how do we account for their unexpected, tre- 
 mendous results? 
 
 In the world of commerce and of politics the 
 secret of success lies in the clear conception of the 
 ultimate end desired, in the mastery of all the de- 
 tails necessary to its accomplishment, and in the 
 ability always to choose the best course under 
 changed circumstances. But everything must be 
 planned, matured beforehand, and the end must be 
 kept constantly in view. The clear-headed, far-see- 
 ing, shrewd, calculating man who does not take the 
 first step before he clearly sees what will be the sec- 
 ond and the third and the tenth, is the successful 
 leader. 
 
 The great moral revolutions and the great re- 
 ligious uplif tings have been brought about in a dif- 
 ferent way. They were wrought by men who had 
 the courage of their convictions, who dared to take 
 the first step, because the need of the hour required 
 it, even though they did not see the complications 
 
PuivLiNG Down the; Old. 57 
 
 and the final outcome. The leaders are men of 
 strong convictions, of moral courage ; men who 
 know no fear ; men who are willing to sacrifice their 
 personal comforts, their plans for preferment, their 
 reputation, yea, their lives, for the cause they cham- 
 pion, who, in short, do not seek their own, but the 
 good of their fellow-men. Such a man was Mar- 
 tin Luther. 
 
 When he posted his Theses to the Castle Church 
 at Wittenberg he had no preconceived plans. He 
 saw a great moral and religious wrong, and he rose 
 to fight it. In his fight he desired to remain within 
 the bounds of the then existing laws. He did not 
 see the consequences. He did not care. He saw 
 his present duty, and he had the courage to do it. 
 
 The Roman Church had worked out a very elab- 
 orate doctrine of penance. Repentance as required 
 in God's Word consists, according to Roman 
 theology, of three parts : ( i ) Contrition of the 
 heart; (2) Confession to the priest; (3) Satisfac- 
 tion. When a man with contrite heart confesses his 
 sins to the Church, his spiritual mother, she has 
 the power to pronounce forgiveness and absolution, 
 and she does so through her priests. But only the 
 guilt and the eternal punishments are freely for- 
 given, not the temporal punishments. The latter are 
 to be borne by the sinner. They consist in pilgrim- 
 ages, prayers, fines, and other deeds of penance im- 
 posed by the Church ; and since they can not be dis- 
 charged fully in this life, the soul after death must 
 pass through the cleansing process of purgator}^ 
 
 The Church, however, is in a position to trans- 
 mute, even to remit altogether, those punishments. 
 
58 Luther: The Le;ader. 
 
 since she is in control of the treasure of the super- 
 meritorious works of Christ and of all the saints. 
 These remittals were called indulgences. By paying 
 a certain sum of money, indulgence for hundreds, 
 even thousands, of years of suffering in purgatory 
 could be obtained, not only for the living but for the 
 dead as well. 
 
 At the beginning of the sixteenth century the 
 sale of indulgences had developed greatly, and 
 proved to be a source of increasing income to the 
 Church. Pope Julius II and his successor, Leo X, 
 were not slow to embrace this welcome opportunity 
 to replenish their coffers. They were patrons of 
 the Humanists, lovers of the arts. They needed im- 
 mense sums of money to build and adorn the cathe- 
 dral of St. Peter, then in process of construction, 
 and also to keep up the splendor of their courts. So 
 they organized the sale of indulgences and placed it 
 on regular business principles. 
 
 A large part of Germany was assigned to Al- 
 brecht, Archbishop of Mainz. This prelate was a 
 remarkable figure even in the sixteenth century. At 
 the age of twenty-two he was the highest ecclesias- 
 tical dignitary of Germany, was elector, and one of 
 the most powerful princes. He was, like the pope, 
 an adherent of the new learning, a lover and pro- 
 tector of the fine arts, but withal a spendthrift 
 whose sumptuous court could, in grandeur and 
 splendor, vie with any papal or imperial court. His 
 pallium — that is to say, the papal appointment to 
 his position as archbishop — had cost him 30,000 
 florins, which amount he borrowed from the Fug- 
 gers, the rich bankers of Augsburg, and since his 
 
PuivUNG Down the; Old. 59 
 
 expenses by far exceeded his income he was heavily 
 indebted. 
 
 The pope and the archbishop went into partner- 
 ship. The foi"mer was to receive one-half of the 
 proceeds of the "holy negotium," Albrecht, or rather 
 his creditors, the other half. The bargain being 
 clinched, Albrecht secured the services of a Domin- 
 ican monk by the name of John Tetzel. He was 
 known as a popular speaker and a splendid collector, 
 having had a good deal of experience in this busi- 
 ness. There were current some ugly rumors affect- 
 ing his moral character, but that did not matter. 
 Tetzel knew his business, and to both the pope and 
 the archbishop the sale of indulgences was a busi- 
 ness matter pure and simple. 
 
 Now a most shameful traffic commenced. Tet- 
 zel was a master in the art, known to quacks in all 
 times and places, of advertising and impressing the 
 people. Weeks before he came to a city he re- 
 quested the resident pastors to preach on the benefits 
 of indulgences, and in order to facilitate matters he 
 supplied them with sketches and sermons on the 
 subject. When he arrived, the whole town was in 
 a state of expectancy. He came as the special mes- 
 senger of the Most Holy Father, bringing deliver- 
 ance and salvation. The church bells rang, the 
 clergy, the magistrates, the school-children met him 
 outside the city walls with songs and burning tapers 
 and flying colors. A large red cross, on which the 
 papal arms were emblazoned, was carried at the 
 head of the procession. Next came the papal bull 
 of indulgence, exhibited on a velvet cushion. Then 
 followed Tetzel and his companions on white horses, 
 
6o Luther: The IvEader. 
 
 clad in magnificent vestments. "The people could 
 not have received God Himself with greater hon- 
 ors," says an old writer. 
 
 The procession marched through the principal 
 streets and entered the largest church. The cross 
 was placed in front of the high altar, the money- 
 chest next to it. Then followed an enthusiastic ser- 
 mon extolling the benefits of the grace to be pur- 
 chased, and men, women, and children crowded up 
 to the altar, and laid down their precious coins in 
 exchange for the certificates of indulgence. 
 
 An agent of the Fuggers and a special envoy of 
 the pope had charge of the money-chest. They 
 counted the cash, and saw that no mistakes were 
 made. Neither partner was quite willing to trust 
 the other implicitly. 
 
 No street-vender or auctioneer could talk more 
 glibly about the value of his goods than did John 
 Tetzel. Forgiveness for any and every sin, either 
 actually committed or only contemplated, could be 
 purchased. The souls of the departed ones could 
 be redeemed immediately. He knew how to picture 
 in the most dreadful colors the torments of purga- 
 tory; he played upon the sympathy and the noble 
 sentiments as well as upon the meaner feelings of 
 his uncultured hearers. 
 
 " So bald das Geld im Kasten klingt, 
 Die Seel aus dem Fegfeuer in Himmel springt," 
 
 was one of Tetzel's favorite sayings. ("As soon as 
 the coin rattles in the chest, the soul ascends from 
 purgatory to heaven.") He boasted that he had 
 
Pulling Down the; Old. 6i 
 
 redeemed more souls by his indulgences than St. 
 Peter had by his preaching. 
 
 The subtle theological distinction between the 
 eternal guilt of sin and the temporal punishment 
 was not understood by the common people. The 
 demand of contrition of heart and of absolution by 
 the priest as necessary prerequisites to the commut- 
 ing of the temporal or purgatory punishment was 
 lost sight of completely. All that the people un- 
 derstood was, that if you paid the fixed price you 
 could do what your heart desired and go straight to 
 heaven. There was a regular scale of sins. Per- 
 jury cost nine ducats, adultery two, witchcraft two * 
 greater offenses were rated correspondingly higher. 
 
 The vender in spiritual goods approached Wit- 
 tenberg. It is true, Frederick did not allow him to 
 ply his trade in his own country; not because he 
 himself did not believe in the efficiency of indul- 
 gences, but simply for the reason that he hated to 
 see his subjects carry their money away from home 
 and pay the debts of his neighbor prince. But there 
 was no law prohibiting the people to walk from 
 twelve to fifteen miles and buy indulgences in Jiiter- 
 bogk or Zerbst, just across the border. 
 
 Pious and well-meaning persons became greatly 
 perturbed. Many of Luther's parishioners asked 
 his advice. Confirmed sinners, persons of ill-repute, 
 came to Luther v^hen he preached against sin and 
 vice, and complacently showing him their certifi- 
 cates of indulgence, demanded absolution. They 
 did not intend to reform ; they led a life of open sin 
 as heretofore ; but they had in their pockets the 
 tickets to heaven, paid for and validated. 
 
62 Luther: The) Lb;ader. 
 
 Luther was indignant. He knew from his per- 
 sonal experience that forgiveness of sins could not 
 be obtained by a blameless life, much less by the 
 mere payment of money without an inward change. 
 His study of the Greek New Testament, which he 
 had begun just recently, convinced him that "me- 
 tanoia," the Greek word for repentance, was some- 
 thing altogether different from the "pcenitentia" of 
 his Latin Bible and its definition as given by the 
 scholastic theologians. It meant a change of heart, 
 not the mere performance of outward works. 
 
 The theologians differed with reference to many 
 details of the doctrine of indulgence, — Luther him- 
 self had no clear conception of the Bible teaching, 
 but whatever the Bible or the Church might teach, 
 it certainly was not, could not be the teaching of 
 Tetzel and his associates. There was an urgent 
 need to stop the mischievous abuses and reach clear 
 and sound conclusions. Luther the preacher raised 
 his voice in the pulpit, and preached several strong 
 sermons against the nuisance. Luther the monk 
 and the professor knew of only one way to focus 
 the thought of the theologians on this point, and 
 that was an invitation to a public disputation. Hence 
 the Theses. 
 
 Crude as they may appear to us, they contain the 
 germs of genuine evangelical doctrines, which, if 
 left to expand, must finally outgrow and overthrow 
 the whole papal system. But what accounts more 
 for the sensation caused by them is the fact that 
 they protested against the financial schemes and the 
 high-handed robbery of the Italian pope and his 
 retinue. There was in Germany a strong undercur- 
 
PuLUNG Down the; Old. 63 
 
 rent of intense opposition against foreign influence. 
 Patriotic Germans were filled with rage when they 
 thought of the streams of gold flowing into the 
 pockets of the hated Italians, who looked down 
 upon the Germans as upon half barbarians at best. 
 Luther struck in his Theses a chord which vibrated 
 in the soul of every true German, whatever his re- 
 ligious sentiments might be. Although it was un- 
 intentional, he appealed strongly to the national 
 feeling of his countrymen. He dared to say openly 
 what many felt without even daring to think it. 
 
 "And since all bishops and doctors kept silence, 
 and no one dared to tie the bells to the cat's tail be- 
 cause the Dominican heresy-hunters had frightened 
 everybody with the threat of fire, they were glad 
 that finally some one came and tackled the matter," 
 reports Luther, with dry humor. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE THE MONK. 
 
 "O, SOM^ drunken German has written them ; as 
 soon as he is sober again he will speak differently," 
 was Pope Leo's remark when his attention was 
 called to the Theses of the Wittenberg monk. 
 
 The monk, in a short time, did speak differently ; 
 not, however, humbly begging pardon for his rash 
 utterances, as was expected, but speaking more 
 boldly, and denouncing unsparingly the unevangel- 
 ical doctrines and practices which the papacy had 
 been using as a chain to hold the nations in bondage. 
 
 At first the outlook was not very promising. 
 It is true the Theses created a tremendous sen- 
 sation, but they were not received favorably in 
 all quarters. On the contrary, they immediatel> 
 called forth virulent attacks. Many well-meaning 
 people trembled for their author. "You speak the 
 truth, good brother, but you will not accomplish 
 anything. You had better go to your cell and say, 
 'Lord have mercy upon me !' " said an old prior in 
 Hamburg, and these words expressed the opinion 
 of all who knew the spirit and the power of Rome. 
 
 Various and numerous were Luther's opponents. 
 Tetzel, whose cash receipts fell off perceptibly, was 
 infuriated, and thundered against him. He was 
 backed by the whole order of Dominicans, who bore 
 
 64 
 
PuLi^iNG Down thh; Oi.d. 65 
 
 an old grudge against the Augustinians, and, as it 
 were, jumped at the opportunity to denounce from 
 their pulpits the heresy of their Augustinian con- 
 frater. Older universities looked enviously upon 
 their new rival, and were not slow to insinuate that, 
 at Wittenberg, unorthodox and destructive doc- 
 trines were taught. Professor Wimpina, of Frank- 
 fort, and Professor Eck, of Ingolstadt, wrote 
 pamphlets. The University of Frankfort gave 
 the Doctor's degree to Tetzel, and three hun- 
 dred Dominican monks from all parts of Ger- 
 many assembled in honor of the distinguished mem- 
 ber of their order, and arranged a grand disputation, 
 over which Dr. Tetzel presided. It was an open 
 demonstration against Luther, the Augustinians, 
 and the University of Wittenberg. 
 
 Luther's old teachers, the venerable Dr. Jodo- 
 cus Truttvetter and Dr. Usinger, of Erfurt, who had 
 taken offense at his contempt for scholastic theol- 
 ogy, deplored the arrogance of the young man. The 
 adherents of the fossilized school of thought lost 
 no time in pointing out how dangerous it was to 
 leave the safe old paths. Luther's colleagues were 
 reluctant. The rector of the university and the 
 prior of the convent begged him not to bring their 
 school and order into disrepute. His bishop com- 
 m.anded him to remain silent for the sake of the 
 peace of the Church. 
 
 What would the Elector, the founder and head 
 of the university, do? And the pope? From more 
 than one pulpit it was intimated, and in more than 
 one lecture-room it was publicly announced, that 
 the insolent monk would soon be burned just as only 
 5 
 
66 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 about twenty years before Savonarola in Italy had 
 been punished for his audacity. 
 
 What did Luther do? 
 
 He did not seek notoriety. He shrank from it. 
 He simply wanted to do his duty. But when the 
 conflict came, he did hot flinch. He faced his ene- 
 mies, and, instead of being intimidated and cowed 
 into submission, he grew stronger and more fear- 
 less. "They will not stand it," said Luther's friend, 
 the lawyer Schurf. "Suppose they have to stand 
 it," retorted the courageous monk. 
 
 Suppose they have to stand it ! Not by force of 
 arms or political influence, but because truth is 
 mightier than error. "Whatever I do, I wish to do, 
 not according to man's pleasure, but according to 
 God's will. H the work be not begun in His name, 
 it will soon come to nought; if it is begun in His' 
 name, let Him have His own way." 
 
 He felt grieved thaj; his former teachers and 
 friends accused him of conceit, but "adherents of 
 the old will always suspect conceit in every one 
 who dares to propose something new. They can not 
 expect that I ask for their advice and wait for their 
 conclusions before I act," he wrote to a friend. 
 
 For the present he was mindful of the bishop's 
 injunction, and remained quiet. With the greatest 
 diligence and thoroughness he investigated anew 
 the whole question of indulgences and Church gov- 
 ernment, and prepared an elaborate explanation of 
 his Theses. 
 
 The spring of 1518 came, and matters began to 
 look a little more encouraging. The Elector showed 
 his good will by granting Luther his protection on 
 
PUI.LING Down the; Oi,d. 67 
 
 a journey to Heidelberg, where a general conven- 
 tion of the Augustinians was to be held. His order 
 indorsed him by inviting him to preside over a dis- 
 putation in which his theological views were clearly 
 set forth. The University of Wittenberg, after wav- 
 ering for a time, rallied around him, some of the 
 professors openly avowing his principles. When 
 Tetzel sent a box of his Counter-theses to Witten- 
 berg the students seized it, erected a stake, and 
 burned every last copy. 
 
 At last Rome was heard from. In the beginning 
 of August Luther received the summons to appear 
 in Rome within sixty days, and answer the charge 
 of heresy. 
 
 The "drunken German" had not become sober, 
 and it became necessary for the pope to take some 
 action. Urged by his advisers, Leo instructed the 
 general of the Augustinians "to pacify that fellow." 
 Monsigniore Prierias, a Dominican of righ rank, 
 "forsook the study of the divine teacher [meaning 
 Thomas of Aquino] for three days," as he says in 
 his Preface, to squelch the German barbarian. His 
 pamphlet was a miserably weak production. Luther 
 showed his contempt by publishing the pamphlet to- 
 gether with his answer, stating in the Preface that 
 it took him only two days to reply to the Italian. He 
 also had the audacity to publish a "Sermon on the 
 Church," in which he asserted that by excommuni- 
 cation a Christian can be separated from the visible 
 Church, not from the communion of the true 
 Church of God and of His saints; and finally he 
 issued his "Resolutions," a thorough explanation 
 and amplification of his Theses. They were couched 
 
6s Luthe;r: The: Luadeir. 
 
 in most modest language ; the words of the dedica- 
 tory epistle are as submissive as anything he had 
 ever penned before. He writes to the pope : 
 "Quicken, kill, call, recall, approve, reprove, as you 
 please ; I will acknowledge your voice as that of 
 Christ, presiding and speaking in you." These 
 words were by no means sarcastic ; they were an 
 honest expression of his conviction at that time. 
 
 But in spite of this, the pamphlet shows a de- 
 cided advance over his former views. The assidu- 
 ous study of the Greek New Testament during the 
 winter months had borne its fruit. His conceptions 
 were more mature. He is also fully aware that the 
 publication of this tract may lead to serious com- 
 plications, but his closing words prove that he is 
 ready to stand by his convictions. 
 
 To go to Rome meant certain death. Luther 
 knew this very well. He therefore petitioned the 
 Elector to request in his behalf that the trial be 
 held in Germany. An intimate friend and former 
 fellow-student of Luther, George Spalatin, who had 
 become the confidential secretary of Elector Fred- 
 erick, was, until the death of the Elector, the faith- 
 ful intermediator between the Reformer and the 
 Saxon court. By his faithfulness, stanch honesty, 
 prudence, and tact, Spalatin had a firm hold on 
 PVederick. It is due to a great extent to the serv- 
 ices of his secretary that the Elector kept his pro- 
 tecting hand over the Wittenberg professor, whom 
 he never in his life met in person. Another ele- 
 ment enters here into the course of Martin Luther's 
 life, to which he more than once owed at least tem- 
 porary safety, namely, the political situation of 
 Europe. 
 
Pulling Down the Old, 69 
 
 The pope had every reason to retain the good 
 will of the powerful Elector and his friends. The 
 German Diet was in session at Augsburg, and the 
 pope, through his legate. Cardinal Thomas Vio de 
 Gaeta, commonly called Cajetan, endeavored to en- 
 force the payment of a heavy tax levied upon all 
 Christian countries by the Lateran Council for an- 
 other Crusade against the Turks. Quite a number 
 of German princes objected to this demand. They 
 declared that, in their opinion, the most dangerous 
 Turks were, just then, to be found in Italy, and 
 that the money was really wanted for adorning 
 Rome with more magnificent buildings. 
 
 Again, the pope desired to have the last traces 
 of the Bohemian heresy eradicated, and he needed 
 the co-operation of the princes to accomplish this 
 end. And last, but not least, Emperor Maximilian 
 was an old man whose death might be expected al- 
 most any time. Rome was intensely interested in 
 the question who should be the next emperor, and 
 it was well understood that Frederick controlled 
 the majority of votes in the coming Electoral Coun- 
 cil. For all these reasons it would have been im- 
 prudent in the highest degree for Rome to ignore 
 the wishes of the Elector of Saxony. 
 
 Emperor Maximilian was a political schemer. 
 He had no appreciation of the religious questions in- 
 volved, but he considered Luther a valuable tool to 
 harass the pope and make him more pliant. "How is 
 your monk?" he inquired of Frederick's private 
 counselor. "Tell your master to take good care of 
 him ; perchance we may need him at some future 
 time." 
 
70 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 The outcome of the negotiations between the 
 Elector and the pope was that Luther, "inasmuch 
 as he by reason of his bodily infirmity is not able to 
 undertake the wearisome journey to Rome," was 
 granted a hearing before the papal legate at Augs- 
 burg. 
 
 From all sections of Germany there came warn- 
 ings to Luther not to go to Augsburg. He was in- 
 formed of plots to murder him on the way or to 
 poison him in Augsburg. Cajetan, it was averred, 
 had instructions to take and hold him captive if he 
 did not revoke. These rumors were not purely at 
 random. It was not known then, but it has come 
 to light since, that the legate was really in posses- 
 sion of secret instructions to arrest "the son of 
 wickedness" and his adherents and send them to 
 Rome under strong guard ; furthermore to threaten 
 with severe punishments "every one who should 
 dare to house or shield or in any way, either openly 
 or privately, protect or assist or counsel said Mar- 
 tin Luther." 
 
 The monk obeyed the command of the head of 
 the Church. He proceeded to Augsburg, It was 
 not a joyful journey. Before his eyes was the stake. 
 "Now I must die," he said repeatedly, and ex- 
 claimed, "O the disgrace that I heap upon my poor 
 parents !" In Niirnberg his friend Link loaned him 
 a more respectable hood, and accompanied him. 
 The nearer he came to the city where his fate was to 
 be decided, the firmer he grew. "I am firm," he 
 writes. "The Lord's will be done. Even in Augs- 
 burg, in the midst of his enemies, Christ reigns. 
 May Christ live and Martinus die!" 
 
Pulling Down the; Old. 71 
 
 When he reached his destination, in the month 
 of October, the Diet had adjourned. Most of the 
 princes, among them Frederick, had left ; the em- 
 peror was absent on a hunting trip. Luther was 
 urged not to appear before Cajetan unless he was 
 in possession of a promise of safe conduct from 
 the emperor. Several days elapsed before he re- 
 ceived it, and then, on October 12th, he met the 
 prelate. 
 
 Following the custom he prostrated himself; 
 then at the first sign of recognition he kneeled, re- 
 maining upon his knees until the cardinal bade him 
 to rise. Luther begged forgiveness if he had taught 
 01 done anything that was wrong. Cajetan was 
 kindness itself. He did not intend to dispute ; he 
 was far from punishing. There were only three 
 things which the pope demanded of his son the 
 monk. In the first place he should revoke his er- 
 rors ; secondly, he should promise never to teach 
 them again ; and thirdly, he was in the future to re- 
 frain from anything that might disturb the peace of 
 the Church. 
 
 Being asked to show him his errors, Cajetan 
 singled out two Theses. Luther went into a dis- 
 cussion, which the cardinal impatiently closed with 
 the words: "You must revoke to-day, whether you 
 want to or not, or I shall condemn all your Theses." 
 
 There were two more meetings. Luther handed 
 in his explanation in writing, but the last word of 
 the legate remained invariably, "Revoke." Finally, 
 losing all patience, he cried: "Go away! Revoke, 
 or do not come again before my eyes." To Staupitz 
 and Link, who had a private interview with him he 
 
72 Luther: The; LeadEr. 
 
 remarked: "I do not want to have another talk 
 with that beast. He has deep eyes and strange 
 speculations in his head." 
 
 During the next few days Luther wrote out an 
 appeal "from the poorly informed pope to the pope 
 better to be informed," which he filed with a notary 
 public and also nailed to the door of the cathedral of 
 Augsburg. He moreover addressed several letters 
 to the legate. No answer came to him. His friends 
 became alarmed, fearing secret plots on the part of 
 the wily Italian. In the dead of night a small gate 
 iri the city wall was opened, and the monk escaped. 
 On October 31st, exactly one year after the posting 
 of the Theses, he reached Wittenberg in safety. 
 
 Cajetan demanded from the Elector that Luther 
 should be sent to Rome a prisoner, or at least be 
 banished from his home country. Luther declared 
 himself willing to relieve his prince of all further 
 responsibility. He seems to have thought of going 
 to Paris. But Frederick refused to comply. He in- 
 sisted on a fair trial before impartial judges. 
 
 Everybody was looking now for the bull of ex- 
 communication. Luther himself prepared for the 
 worst by posting an appeal to a General Council. 
 But Rome hesitated. The agitation in Germany 
 was too widely spread to allow of summary pro- 
 ceedings. It was decided to make one more at- 
 tempt to silence "the German beast ;" this time in a 
 different way. 
 
 The Elector Frederick was given the much cov- 
 eted "Golden Rose," the highest honor which the 
 pope could bestow ; Archbishop Albrecht was 
 created a cardinal, and a distinguished Saxon noble- 
 
Pulling Down the; Old. 73 
 
 man, Karl voi? Miltitz, who had lived in Rome for 
 many years — a man of the world, highly cultured, 
 liberal, and withal of charming manners — was sent 
 as papal envoy. On his journey he noticed, to his 
 dismay, that the commotion was much more serious 
 than was surmised in Rome. "Of every five per- 
 sons, hardly two are on the pope's side," he reported. 
 
 In January, 15 19, he met Luther at Altenburg. 
 "Well, you are much younger than I thought you 
 were," exclaimed Miltitz, surprised. "I was under 
 the impression that you were a venerable old man." 
 He agreed that a German bishop should try the case, 
 he admitted that Tetzel had given just cause for 
 offense, but affirmed that the offensive features of 
 the sale of indulgences had been suspended, and 
 that Tetzel himself was silenced. This was true. 
 The notorious vender of indulgences lived in igno- 
 minious retirement in Leipzig. His ecclesiastical 
 superiors had cast him ofif when the storm began, 
 blaming him for everything that they themselves 
 had sanctioned, or at least winked at. 
 
 The outcome of the conference with Miltitz was 
 the agreement that both Luther and his opponents 
 were to refrain from further discussions. The mat- 
 ter should be allowed quietly to "bleed to death." 
 Luther was to write a letter to the pope, protesting 
 that he did not intend to do or say anything against 
 the Church, but that his only object was to lay bare 
 abuses which he considered harmful to the best in- 
 terests of the Church. He was to ask pardon if he 
 had used expressions too harsh or bitter. And 
 finally Luther agreed to write a "sheet" for the peo- 
 ple, admonishing them to be faithful to the Church 
 
74 Luthkr: The; Leader. 
 
 and to consider his writings, not* as polemical 
 against the Church, but as defending and honoring 
 her. 
 
 Miltitz was overjoyed at what seemed to be an 
 amicable settlement of the difficulty. He kissed 
 Luther, and sent a glorious report to Rome. Where 
 the cardinal had failed, he had succeeded. Pope 
 Leo wrote a conciliatory letter to Luther, in which 
 he called him his "beloved son," while only a short 
 time before he had styled him a "child of perdi- 
 tion," "a. son of the devil." He expressed his satis- 
 faction that Luther had revoked his errors, and in- 
 vited him to come to Rome in order to recant pub- 
 licly before the Holy Father himself. 
 
 The letter was sent in care of Miltitz; but the 
 diplomatic envoy deemed it wise not to deliver it, 
 not even to make Luther acquainted with its con- 
 tents. He knew the reason why. 
 
 Was the monk silenced? Was the whole mat- 
 ter really ended? 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE BREACH WIDENS. 
 
 During those trying months, full of excitement 
 and necessitating incessant studies, Luther did not 
 relax in his work for the university. The fame of 
 Wittenberg now attracted hundreds of students 
 from all parts of Germany. In 1505 there were 
 only 127 students in attendance ; in 1517 the number 
 had risen to 233, and in 1520 not less than 579 stu- 
 dents were matriculated. Dr. Luther, of course, 
 was the greatest drawing card. His lecture-room 
 was always crowded. But there were other strong 
 men in this little university town "at the border of 
 civilization." There was, for instance, Nicolaus 
 von Amsdorf, cautious, conservative, an excellent 
 scholar and faithful to his younger colleague. Then 
 there was Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, en- 
 thusiastic, impetuous, but injudicious and easily un- 
 balanced. In 1 518, Philip Melanchthon became a 
 member of the faculty, a youth hardly twenty-one 
 years of age, timid, not prepossessing in appear- 
 ance, of frail constitution, but a veritable prodigy in 
 learning. His uncle, the learned Reuchlin, had 
 recommended him to the Elector, and as soon as he 
 had delivered his inaugural lecture the university 
 rang with his praises. 
 
 Melanchthon's name stands out most conspicu- 
 
 75 
 
76 Luther: The; Le;ade;r. 
 
 ousl}', next to that of Luther, in the whole history 
 of the Reformation. Luther was the great Re- 
 former and leader, IMelanchthon the "teacher of 
 Germany." The two men formed a strong and last- 
 ing friendship. Different though they were in al- 
 most every way, they supplemented each other most 
 admirably. 
 
 Luther realized the difference in their disposi- 
 tions. He writes : "I prefer the books of Magister 
 Philippus to my own. I am rough, boisterous, 
 stormy, and altogether warlike. I am born to fight 
 against innumerable monsters and devils. I must 
 remove stumps and stones, cut away thistles and 
 thorns, and clear the wild forests. But Magister 
 Philippus comes along softly and gently, sowing 
 and watering with joy according to the gifts which 
 God has abundantly bestowed upon him." 
 
 The older man's appreciation of his younger 
 friend and colleague was never disturbed by the 
 slightest feeling of envy. He fully and frankly 
 acknowledged Melanchthon's superiority in manv 
 points, and thanked God for giving him a co- 
 worker and friend who so perfectly supplied his 
 own deficiencies. 
 
 Besides his polemical writings, Luther published 
 in the year 15 19 his Commentary on Galatians and 
 an exposition of the first five I'salms. Seeing the 
 need of having a printing establishment in Witten- 
 berg, he persuaded a printer from Leipzig, Melchior 
 Lotter, to establish in Wittenberg a "printing-press 
 in three languages." Aside from his university 
 work he contimied to preach regularly. 
 
 Luther had promised that he would remain si- 
 
PuLUNG Down Tiir; Oi,d. 77 
 
 lent on the questions which had created the commo- 
 tion, on the condition that his opponents would re- 
 frain from attacking him, and he meant to keep his 
 word. The blame, if such it is, for carrying on the 
 open discussion rests on his opponent, Professor 
 Eck, of Ingolstadt, and on his own friend and col- 
 league, Karlstadt. 
 
 The latter had issued Theses against Eck's 
 pamphlet before Luther had gone to Augsburg. 
 Eck retorted, and challenged the Wittenberg pro- 
 fessor to a public disputation. After some prelim- 
 inaries, Leipzig was agreed upon as the place where 
 the disputation was to be held. When Eck's 
 Theses, which were to be the basis for the disputa- 
 tion, appeared in print, it was evident that, although 
 claiming to dispute with Karlstadt, he in reality at- 
 tacked Luther. Luther protested in an open letter, 
 and published Theses in refutation of Eck. He 
 wrote to the Elector explaining to him that the at- 
 tack of the professor from the University of Ingol- 
 stadt was directed, not merely against him person- 
 ally, but rather against the University of Witten- 
 berg. "The honor of the university is at stake. It 
 is not fair to muzzle me and allow every one else to 
 speak freely." Eck confessed that he challenged 
 Karlstadt, but that he really meant Luther, and now 
 extended him a formal invitation to take part in the 
 disputation. 
 
 It was perfectly clear to Luther, from the na- 
 ture of the Theses set up for discussion, that his 
 previous attacks- upon Roman abuses had been but 
 child's play ; now the serious part was to begin. 
 Following the method of Cajetan, Eck tried to draw 
 
78 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 the doctrines of the Church and the papacy into 
 the discussion. His last and most important Thesis, 
 directed against a previous assertion of Luther, 
 read : "We deny the assertion that the Roman 
 Church was not superior to the other Churches be- 
 fore the time of Pope Sylvester; but we acknowl- 
 edge him who holds the see and the faith of St. 
 Peter as the perpetual successor of St. Peter and the 
 general vicar of Christ." Luther's Counter-thesis 
 was: "That the Roman Church is superior to all 
 others is proved from the most silly decrees of the 
 Roman pontiffs who have been born within the last 
 four hundred years ; against this assertion is the ap- 
 proved history of fifteen hundred years, the text of 
 the Holy Scripture, the decree of the Council of 
 Nice, the most holy of all Councils." 
 
 The direct results of the disputation were unsat- 
 isfactory. The great and lasting gain was the clear- 
 ing away of uncertainties and the giving up of un- 
 tenable positions. The preparatory studies which 
 carried Luther deep into the history of the papacy 
 and the papal decretals led him at last to a com- 
 plete breaking away from papal supremacy. The 
 breach between him and the Church became wide 
 and deep, and the disputation at Leipzig served to 
 mark this new position unmistakably. 
 
 He was now, in consequence of his studies, con- 
 vinced that only by means of the grossest prevarica- 
 tions and most palpable frauds the popes had suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining their supremacy, that the su- 
 preme authority of the Bishop of Rome over all 
 other bishops could not be proven by Scripture, nor 
 by the Church Fathers, nor by the Council of Nice ; 
 
PuLUNG Down thf, Oi<d. 79 
 
 that it was not established until about four hundred 
 years before his own time. 
 
 In a letter to his friend Lange, a few weeks 
 later, he remarks that he has no hopes of convincing 
 Eck, but the disputation would give him an oppor- 
 tunity "to disclose the fallacies of the foolish and 
 wicked bulls of which Christians have been need- 
 lessly afraid. They are full of lies, although they 
 are issued in the name of the Roman Church." 
 
 The disputation itself was held with all the 
 pompous dignity accompanying a great university 
 function. 
 
 Dr. Eck, shrewd and knowing how to create a 
 favorable impression, arrived some days before the 
 beginning. He took up quarters with the burgo- 
 master, read mass in church, took a prominent part 
 in a procession, called on the professors, and took 
 pains to make himself seen and heard. His oppo- 
 nents arrived on the day before the date agreed 
 upon. Karlstadt occupied the first carriage. He 
 was in form, and considered himself in fact the 
 principal, since his name was the only one men- 
 tioned in Prince George's letter of safe conduct, 
 Luther being included among the "companions and 
 assistants." Two hundred students from Witten- 
 berg, clad in their picturesque costumes, armed with 
 spears and halberds, escorted their professors. The 
 streets of Leipzig were filled with curious citizens 
 and visitors. 
 
 On June 27th the formal opening of the great 
 event was celebrated by long and elaborate services 
 hi the largest church of the city, and by an address 
 of welcome by the rector of the university. The 
 
8o Luther: The; Leadivr, 
 
 faculty of the University of Leipzig, the ducal court, 
 the invited guests and other visitors, fell in line and 
 marched in procession towards the Pleissenburg, 
 Duke George's Leipzig castle, where an honorary 
 guard of citizens in full uniform and arms received 
 them with beating drums and flying colors. 
 
 The duke had set apart his large reception hall 
 for the disputation. Two desks had been placed op- 
 posite each other for the use of the contestants. 
 One end of the hall was reserved for the duke and 
 his court ; the other was filled with benches for the 
 guests. Another long address on the art of disput- 
 ing was delivered by one of the Leipzig professors, 
 the conditions of the disputation were signed, a 
 hymn was sung, and then the meeting adjourned 
 for dinner. 
 
 For a whole week Drs. Eck and Karlstadt dis- 
 puted on the freedom of the will. It was a weary- 
 some waste of words. Karlstadt was embarrassed 
 from the beginning. His manner was uncouth, his 
 voice husky. Not trusting his memory, he read 
 citation after citation from the bulky volumes which 
 his assistants carried to his desk. Eck appeared 
 perfectly at ease. He was prepossessing and well 
 versed in the art of playing to the gallery. He had 
 a ready command of language, a well-stored mem- 
 ory, and a quick wit. Without the help of notes, 
 and without any apparent effort, he quoted from 
 the Church Fathers, the bulls, and the decretals. 
 Very often his quotations were purely invented, 
 made up for the moment, or their sense was twisted ; 
 but they served their purpose. Unreliable and 
 superficial though he was, the awkward Wittenberg 
 
PuLUNG Down the: Old. 8i 
 
 professor proved no match for him. Thus the days 
 dragged on; the audience grew restless or went to 
 sleep. Several of the learned Doctors, who were in 
 duty bound to attend all the sessions, were in the 
 habit of sleeping peacefully, and had to be awakened 
 at the hour of adjournment. 
 
 At last, on Monday, July 4th, Luther ascended 
 the desk. During his stay he had been shown scant 
 courtesies. While Eck was invited and feasted, 
 Luther was left to himself. Once or twice the duke 
 asked him to dine in the castle, to save appearances. 
 When the Duke of Pomerania, who was an inter- 
 ested visitor, requested Luther to preach, he found 
 every church in Leipzig closed to him except the 
 castle chapel, and, this being too small, he had to 
 preach in the disputation hall, an unconsecrated 
 place. Dr. Eck preached in every church by special 
 invitation. One day, when Luther entered a church, 
 the Dominican monks, who were reading mass, hur- 
 riedly took the holy vessels away lest they be de- 
 filed by the presence of the heretic. 
 
 But on that Monday the disputation hall which 
 had looked quite empty for the last few days was 
 crowded to its utmost capacity. 
 
 We have a full description of Luther by Peter 
 Mosellanus, one of the most renowned Latinists of 
 the day. "He is of middle stature," so Mosellanus 
 writes; "his body thin and so wasted by care and 
 study that nearly all his bones may be counted. He 
 is in the prime of life. His voice is clear and melo- 
 dious. His learning and his knowledge of the 
 Scriptures are so extraordinary that he has nearly 
 everything at his finger's ends. Greek and Hebrew 
 6 
 
82 Luther: The; Lkadijr. 
 
 he understands sufficiently well to give his judgment 
 on interpretations. I"or conversation he has a rich 
 store of subjects at his command; a vast forest of 
 thoughts and words is at his disposal. He is polite 
 and clever. There is nothing stoical, nothing super- 
 cilious about him, and he understands how to adapt 
 himself to different persons and surroundings. He 
 is always lively, cheerful, and at his ease, and has a 
 pleasant countenance, however hard his enemies 
 may threaten him, so that one can not but believe 
 that Heaven is with him in his great undertaking." 
 
 Not everybody thought so favorably of Luther. 
 When he was seen stepping up to the desk with a 
 bouquet of flowers in his hands, which he frequently 
 held up to his face, some imagined that diabolical 
 powers were hidden in the odor of the flowers, and 
 a silver ring worn by him on one of his fingers was 
 thought to be the temporary abode of his Satanic 
 Majesty himself. 
 
 For five full days Eck and Luther discussed the 
 important question of the thirteenth Thesis ; viz., 
 the supremacy of the pope and the Roman Church. 
 Luther admitted that it was necessary for the 
 Church to have a head, but claimed that this head 
 was Christ. He recognized the pope as the head of 
 the visible Church, but denied that he was such b) 
 virtue of Divine appointment. The pope attained 
 his position as supreme head in the course of the 
 human history of the Church, but the Church can 
 exist independent of the pope or his cardinals. 
 
 Eck was not slow to draw the logical inferences 
 of this assertion. If it be correct, th'en adherence 
 to the Roman Church was not necessary to salva- 
 
PuiviviNG Down the Oi,d. 83 
 
 tion. "Quite true," admitted Luther. But this doc- 
 trine was "Bohemian poison." The Council of Con- 
 stance, which had condemned John Huss, had posi- 
 tively affirmed the Divine origin of the papacy. 
 
 "I beg" the pardon of the venerable Father," said 
 Eck, with blandest courtesy; "I beg pardon, if I 
 seem severe towards the Bohemians as enemies of 
 the Church, and if in the present disputation I am 
 reminded of them ; but the declarations of the ven- 
 erable Father — namely, that the primacy of the 
 Roman Church is established by human law — in 
 my insignificant judgment, favors very much their 
 errors." 
 
 And now Luther said what proved to be the 
 most decisive and far-reaching words of the whole 
 disputation : "It is certain that among the articles 
 of John Huss there are some genuinely Christian 
 and evangelical ; as, for instance, the article that 
 there is but one universal Church. It does not mat- 
 ter whether Huss or Wiclif has taught this truth. 
 It can not be condemned. No Christian can be com- 
 pelled to hold any doctrine which is not contained 
 in Holy Scriptures." 
 
 "The plague on it !" exclaimed Duke George, in- 
 dignantly. The whole audience was thunderstruck ; 
 Luther's opponents laughed in their sleeves; his 
 friends looked alarmed. 
 
 To appreciate the boldness of Luther's assertion 
 then and there, we must keep in mind that the Uni- 
 versity of Leipzig was founded for the express pur- 
 pose to counteract the Bohemian heresies ; that the 
 Bohemians had once and again carried war and 
 destruction into the Saxon lands; that in the au- 
 
84 Luthkr: Thr Livadkr. 
 
 dience there were not a few whose fathers had 
 fallen in the wars against the Hussites, whose child- 
 hood homes had been sacked and burned. To have 
 defended Saxony against the Bohemians was the 
 glory of the Saxon nobility. Those noblemen did, 
 of course, not know what John Huss had actually 
 taught, but to all of them he was the very arch- 
 enemy of the Church and of Christianity. And this 
 monk had the impudence to affirm in their presence 
 that some of his doctrines were good and evangel- 
 ical! 
 
 Eck saw his advantage at once. 
 
 "But now, Reverend Father, the cursed Hussites 
 will say. If the Council has erred in condemning 
 some points, it may have erred in others likewise. 
 Its authority is not valid. Who shall decide wliat 
 is heresy if not a Council?" 
 
 Luther's final answer was short and clear. Only 
 the Bible is infallible. Councils may err, and have 
 erred. 
 
 "Reverend Father," was Eck's courteous but 
 cold and triumphant reply, "if you hold that a law- 
 ful Council representing the Holy Catholic Church 
 can err, I must consider you a heathen and a pub- 
 lican." 
 
 This was the climax of the disputation. The 
 remainder was comparatively of little interest. The 
 squabble which followed as to who was the victor, 
 is of no importance to us. The great gain for 
 Luther was that he had completely broken away 
 from Rome by refusing to acknowledge any human 
 authority whatever. This marks the beginning of 
 a new period in his theological development. 
 
Pulling Down the; Old. 85 
 
 From the monk who sold the indulgences he had 
 appealed to the scholars and the bishops ; from the 
 bishops and the cardinal to the pope himself ; from 
 the pope to a General Council ; and now he appeals 
 from the Council to the Bible. He recognizes as 
 court of final appeal no ecclesiastical authority, no 
 human voice, nothing but the Word of God. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 LUTHER'S APPEAL TO THE NATION. 
 
 During the month of June in the year 1520 two 
 very important documents were being written. Be- 
 yond the Alps, in the Holy City, Roman politicians 
 and theologians were forging the weapon which 
 was to cut to the quick and annihilate the rebellious 
 monk; they were framing the bull of excommuni- 
 cation; and in his cell in the Wittenberg cloister 
 that same monk, with his heart aflame, his zeal 
 aglow, his indignation at fever-heat, was preparing 
 the fuse and applied the spark that set a whole na- 
 tion afire : Martin Luther was composing his 
 famous "Address to the German Nobility." 
 
 With this treatise he entered upon the wider 
 field of social and national reform. He compelled 
 the proud scholars and the haughty knights who, 
 like Ulrich von Hutten, looked upon the whole af- 
 fair as "a quarrel between hotheaded monks who 
 are shouting and screaming at each other," and 
 wished that "they would devour each other," to 
 listen to his stirring appeal. He became the mouth- 
 piece, the prophet of all those who were sighing 
 under the yoke of foreign tyranny and yearning for 
 national and social liberty. 
 
 Luther did not shift his position. His motives 
 were from the beginning purely religious, and they 
 
 86 
 
PuivUNG Down the; Oi-d. 87 
 
 remained the same to the end of his Hfe. His strug- 
 gle with Rome grew out of his personal experience. 
 But the deeper he penetrated the questions involved, 
 the clearer he perceived that Rome ruled, not only 
 over the beliefs of the Church and over the con- 
 sciences of the believers, but that she also had an 
 iron grip on the whole political and social life of 
 the nation. Rome was not merely a Church, Rome 
 was a world power. When the Wittenberg monk 
 published his Ninety-five Theses they were greeted 
 by many as a cry for freedom. 
 
 Luther appealed to the patriotism of the German 
 nobility, not because he was afraid that mere re- 
 ligious opposition was lacking in strength, but be- 
 cause he saw very clearly that true religion and 
 true patriotism are inseparably connected. He who 
 wants to be right with God, must likewise be right 
 with the best and highest duties of his nation. A 
 man's religion must permeate his social and polit- 
 ical aspirations, and must constrain him to do his 
 utmost for the betterment and uplifting of his peo- 
 ple. The religious life in its origin is individualistic, 
 in its efl:ects it touches the social relations of man. 
 Mere national or philanthropic movements which 
 lack the inspiration of religious motives may be 
 efifervescent, but they are transitory. Coupled with 
 soul-stirring religious convictions they are product- 
 ive of lasting results. 
 
 Broadly speaking, there were three currents of 
 opposition against Rome. 
 
 The Hussite or Taborite movement had long be- 
 fore spent its force as a religious reformation, but 
 its social ideas and aspirations were still spreading 
 
88 Luthe;r: The Leader. 
 
 among the common people. The closing decades cf 
 the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
 turies witnessed a number of social revolts which 
 occurred in various parts of Europe, and most of 
 which can be traced back to Bohemian influences. 
 There were among the peasants bitter complaints of 
 their misery and degradation, on which every day 
 the light of the sun was shining, and which every 
 night was covered by the darkness, but of which no 
 end could be seen. The Hussites and all who were 
 influenced by them were heretics religiously and 
 revolutionists socially ; Rome persecuted them, and 
 they in turn secretly opposed Rome. 
 
 Among the opponents of Rome, to a certain de- 
 gree at least, must be counted also the Humanists. 
 Some of them were wealthy patricians, as, for in- 
 stance, Willibald Pirkheimer, Lazarus Spengler, 
 and others ; some were poor scholars living in hum- 
 ble circumstances, often erratic, even immoral, but 
 all of them fighting Roman superstition and bigotry 
 with the weapons of satire and cold though polite 
 contempt, borrowed from the great classic satirists 
 of the later Latin period. 
 
 Luther was not impressed with their methods 
 nor with their spirit. They disclosed the many de- 
 fects without mercy, they poured out the vials of 
 scorn and satire, but they offered no remedies. "He 
 is very capable of exposing error, but he knows 
 not how to teach truth," said Luther of one of them. 
 The tenor of their writings was light. They really 
 wrote mainly for their own amusement and in order 
 to vex the ecclesiastics, but they lacked moral ear- 
 nestness. They were not imbued with the spirit of 
 
Pulling Down the; Old. 89 
 
 compassion for the deluded people and the desire 
 to lift them np. Luther was personally acquainted 
 with some of the leaders of this class of writers. 
 He had freely associated with them in his Erfurt 
 days. But when the "Epistol^e Obscurorum Viro- 
 rum" appeared, the greatest satire of the age, in 
 which the follies, ignorance, stupidity, and deprav- 
 ity of the monks were held up to ridicule, he was 
 grieved. He himself could ma^ use of satire as 
 few of his contemporaries, but he always had an 
 ulterior end in view. He never used satire simply 
 in order to make people laugh. 
 
 The older Humanists, like Reuchlin and Eras- 
 mus, served above all the cause of learning. In 
 the school of bitter experience they had learned to 
 be cautious. They anxiously calculated the results 
 which each step might have upon their standing 
 and reputation. They were glad if the Church left 
 them undisturbed. The greater the agitation be- 
 came which Luther's writings created, the more 
 anxious they were to keep aloof from him lest their 
 cause might be identified with his and be swept away 
 in the storm which threatened to break forth. Said 
 Erasmus with reference to the Reformer: "Those 
 who bring the sea into new beds, often attempt a 
 work that disappoints their expectations ; for the 
 terrible element, once let in, does not go where they 
 would wish it, but whithersoever it pleases, and is 
 apt to cause utter devastation." Thus while not 
 directly opposing Luther, they did not lend him 
 their unqualified assistance. They represented that 
 class of timid scholars who live for their learned 
 
90 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 studies ; Luther was the man of action, of resohi- 
 tion and of courage. 
 
 The younger Humanists welcomed the bold 
 monk as a co-worker. The more serious wing of 
 their army, represented by Melanchthon, was in- 
 fluenced by Luther's moral and religious earnest- 
 ness; even the more frivolous could not but per- 
 ceive the force of his position. 
 
 It was among the knights that this longing for 
 freedom from Rome found its strongest expression. 
 There were numerous causes for dissatisfaction. 
 The knights noticed with misgivings the growing 
 wealth of convents and ecclesiastical orders. The 
 property held by the Church being exempt from 
 taxes, their own possessions became overburdened. 
 Moreover, the rapid development of commerce was 
 detrimental to their interests ; the changes in the 
 mode of warfare had lessened the importance of 
 their own order ; they were indignant over the 
 schemes by which Rome endeavored to accomplish 
 the election of King Francis of France as German 
 emperor; they saw that the political tendencies of 
 Roman hierarchy were anything but favorable to 
 the development of Germany. These men felt most 
 keenly the humiliating position the German nation 
 was forced to occupy. Selfish and patriotic motives, 
 apprehension of the precariousness of their private 
 estates and positions, and dissatisfaction with the 
 political situation, combined to make them restless, 
 and they attributed all their troubles to the foreign 
 rulers of the Church. 
 
 They were not interested in theological ques- 
 tions, but were ever ready to strike a blow with their 
 
PuLUNG Down the Old. 91 
 
 arms. Under the leadership of the valiant Franz 
 von Sickingen and the versatile scholar and knight, 
 Ulrich von Hutten, they formed a political party 
 of no mean importance. Even princes and high 
 ecclesiastical dignitaries favored any movement that 
 tended toward independence from Rome. It ap- 
 pears that no less a personage than Albrecht of 
 Mainz was, at first, not adverse to Hutten and 
 Luther. He kept the former at his court, and did 
 not molest the latter, hoping, perhaps, for the estab- 
 lishment of an independent national Church, of 
 which he expected to be the head. 
 
 Those various currents finally met. Social re- 
 formers, Humanists, and knights were influenced by 
 Luther's religious fervor ; Luther was moved by 
 the patriotism, especially of the knights. The monk 
 discovered a new world outside of the cloister walls. 
 The line of demarcation which the Church had 
 drawn between things spiritual and things temporal 
 was growing faint, and finally disappeared alto- 
 gether. 
 
 The leaders of the nobility ofifered Luther their 
 protection. Sickingen invited him to his castle as a 
 place of safety. They were ready at a moment's 
 notice to take up arms. Luther was pleased, but he 
 remained cool. "I do not despise their protection, 
 but I shall rely on Christ and on Him alone. . . . 
 I would not have the Gospel defended by violence 
 and murder," he writes. 
 
 In August, 1520, the "Address to the German 
 Nobility" appeared. It was an unsparing arraign- 
 m.ent of the Roman abuses and a ringing appeal to 
 the nobility of the German nation to take in hand 
 
92 Luthdr: The LiCade^r. 
 
 the Reformation of Christianity since the clergy 
 had become unmindful of its duty. 
 
 "The time for silence is passed, the time for 
 speaking has come," he commences. "The popes 
 have built three strong walls which are obstacles to 
 any true Reformation. In the first place, if you 
 mention temporal power, they claim that temporal 
 power has no authority over them, since spiritual 
 power is higher than temporal power ; secondly, if 
 you refer to the Scriptures, they answer that no one 
 can by right interpret the Scriptures save the pope ; 
 and in the third instance, if you mention a General 
 Council, they feign that the pope has the sole right 
 to call a General Council. Now, may God help us 
 and give us one of the trumpets with which the 
 walls of Jericho were overthrown, so that we can 
 blow down these walls of straw and paper." 
 
 In the first part of this treatise, which the his- 
 torian Ranke calls "a few sheets of world historical 
 contents preparing and prophesying future devel- 
 opments," he lays the theological foundation by 
 elaborating the fundamental thought of the univer- 
 sal priesthood of believers. Then he enters upon a 
 discussion of the most flagrant national defects and 
 their cures. He maintains that the secular govern- 
 ment not only is independent of the ecclesiastical, 
 but has jurisdiction also over the ecclesiastical 
 members of the community. The idea of a separa- 
 tion of Church and State is altogether foreign to 
 Luther, as we shall see later on ; but he strongly re- 
 futes the superiority of the ecclesiastical power, 
 and demands a German national government inde- 
 pendent of a foreign power. 
 
PuT.TjNG Down the; Oi,d. 93 
 
 Here are some of his notable passages : 
 "There is no difference among Christians save 
 of office alone. We all are Christians by a higher 
 consecration than pope or bishop can give. The 
 bishop's consecration is just as if, in the name of 
 the whole congregation, he took one member out of 
 the community, each member of which has equal 
 power, and commanded him to exercise this power 
 for the rest ; in the same way as if ten brothers, co- 
 heirs as king's sons, were to choose one from among 
 them to rule over their inheritance ; they would aU 
 of them still remain kings and have equal power al- 
 tliough one is ordered to govern. If a little com- 
 pany of Christian laymen were taken prisoners and 
 carried away to a desert, and had not among them 
 a priest consecrated by a bishop, and were there to 
 agree to elect one of them, married or unmarried, 
 and were to order him to baptize, to celebrate the 
 mass, to absolve, and to preach, this man would be 
 as truly a priest as if all the bishops and all the 
 popes had consecrated him. A priest, therefore, 
 should be nothing in Christendom but an official; 
 as long as he holds his office he has precedence over 
 others ; if he be deprived of it, he is a peasant and 
 citizen like the rest. A cobbler, a smith, a peasant, 
 every man has the office and function of his calling, 
 and yet all alike are consecrated priests and bishops, 
 and every man in his work must be useful and bene- 
 ficial to the rest." 
 
 "To say that the temporal authority, being in- 
 ferior to the clergy, dare not punish them, is as 
 though one were to say, the hand may not help 
 when the eye is suffering. Inasmuch as the tern- 
 
94 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 poral power has been ordained of God for the pun- 
 ishment of the bad and the protection of the good, 
 we must let it do its duty throughout the whole 
 Christian body without respect of persons, whether 
 it strike popes, bishops, priests, or nuns. If a priest 
 is killed, the country is laid under an interdict. 
 Why not, also, if a peasant is killed ?" 
 
 "They must acknowledge that there are pious 
 Christians among us, that have the true faith, spirit, 
 understanding, and mind of Christ; why, then, 
 should we reject their word and understanding, and 
 follow a pope who has neither understanding nor 
 spirit? Balaam's ass was wiser than the prophet. 
 If God spake by an ass against a prophet, why 
 should He not speak by a pious man against the 
 pope ?" 
 
 In a few days four thousand copies of the 
 pamphlet were sold, something unheard of in those 
 times. It was printed again in Wittenberg, and 
 also in Strassburg and Leipzig. 
 
 Within a few weeks it was followed by his 
 treatise on the "Babylonian Captivity of the 
 Church." Being intended for theologians it was 
 written in Latin, but was immediately translated 
 and also widely circulated. This pamphlet was the 
 severest blow which Luther had yet dealt against 
 all pretensions of the Roman Church. It stands 
 without parallel in the whole history, and is really 
 the boldest step which the Reformer had taken up 
 to this time. In cold blood he made up his mind 
 not only to assail flagrant wrongs and open abuses, 
 but to overthrow the very foundations of a world 
 power. 
 
PuLiJNG Down the Old. 95 
 
 He opens in an ironical tone, confessing his ob- 
 ligation to his opponents for compelling him to study 
 the history of the papacy more thoroughly and to 
 see the present needs of the Church more clearly. 
 While formerly he considered indulgences permis- 
 sible, he is now convinced that they are a worthless 
 invention of the Romanists. While he had granted 
 at least human origin and privileges to the papacy, 
 he now has reached the conclusion that the reign of 
 the pope is nothing but "the kingdom of Babylon 
 and the dominion of Nimrod the mighty hunter." 
 The popes have perverted the sacraments instituted 
 by Christ, and, by establishing new sacraments 
 which are not founded upon the Bible, they hold 
 the Church captive. Christ's intention in giving the 
 sacraments to the Church was to grant to his chil- 
 dren tokens of their freedom ; "they were intended 
 to be the seals to our titles as free children of God : 
 the pope uses them to keep us in bondage from 
 birth to death. The seven sacraments are the seven 
 rings in the chain which yoke us to the Roman 
 priesthood." 
 
 This is the leading thought of the little book 
 which might be called the proclamation of a new 
 order of things. The whole mediaeval life was based 
 upon the idea that the Church, with her means of 
 grace, was the only power that could bring men to 
 heaven, and on this foundation the immense struc- 
 ture of ecclesiasticism, in fact the whole social or- 
 der, had been reared. Luther knocks out one stone 
 after the other from this foundation, the whole edi- 
 fice crumbles down, and the foundation on which 
 modern evangelical Christianity rests is proclaimed 
 
g6 IvUThe;r : Thk TvI;ade;r. 
 
 by him ; viz., every one can be saved by becoming 
 united in faith to the hving Christ. This is the 
 individuahstic keynote of modern Christianity. 
 
 The confessor of the emperor witnesses to the 
 marvelous impression the book made by teUing that 
 while reading it, he felt as if some one lashed him 
 from head to foot. Of course it did not remain un- 
 challenged. A Dominican friar in Rome wrote a 
 virulent refutation, the University of Paris passed 
 judgment on it, and King Henry VIII of England 
 published a book against it which earned him the 
 title of "Defender of the Faith." 
 
 When timid friends argued that the logical con- 
 sequences of his opinions would overthrow the tra- 
 ditions of many centuries, Luther's answer was : 
 "What do I care for that which has been custom- 
 ary ? The Word of God must take the precedence." 
 
 One more pamphlet must be mentioned in this 
 connection. It is not polemical or political ; on the 
 contrary, it is a purely devotional book, touching 
 exclusively questions relating to the inner spiritual 
 life. It is, however, closely connected with the two 
 preceding treatises, the three constituting the great 
 and comprehensive platform of the Reformation of 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 The "Freedom of the Christian" defines with 
 great clearness and exquisite tenderness the posi- 
 tion of the child of God as a most free lord over all 
 things' and subject to no one, but at the same time 
 as a ministering servant and subject to every one. 
 He is free from all legal obligations through faith, 
 but a debtor to all mankind throug-h love. Througfh 
 
Pui,i.iNG Down the; Oi.d. 97 
 
 faith he reaches upward to God, through love down- 
 ward to his neighbor. 
 
 Says the renowned Luther biographer, Dr. Kost- 
 hn : ''These three treatises taken together are the 
 chief reformatory writings of Luther. In the first 
 one Luther calls Christendom in general to the bat- 
 tle against the outward abuses and pretensions of 
 the pope and of the class that boasted of being the 
 only one possessing a spiritual and priestly charac- 
 ter; in the second he exposes and also breaks the 
 spiritual bond whereby this class, through the so- 
 called means of grace, kept souls in bondage ; while 
 in the third he reaches the most profound and im- 
 portant question pertaining to the relation of the 
 Christian soul to its God and Redeemer, and the 
 way and nature of salvation. Here he lays ex- 
 plicitly and firmly the strong foundations on which 
 the Christian may build his life and character, and 
 which no spiritual tyranny can rob him of." 
 
 It was a long way which Alartin Luther had 
 traveled in those three short years. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 THE BULL OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 
 
 On June 15, 1520, in the midst of frivolous and 
 dissolute festivities, His Holiness, Pope Leo X, 
 found time to sign the bull which, in course of time, 
 caused the greatest schism that the Church had seen 
 since the Arian secession. The bull was the joint 
 product of Eck, Prierias, Cajetan, and a number 
 of other Roman theologians and politicians, and it 
 took these learned and shrewd diplomats three 
 months before they were able to read the first draft 
 in the papal consistory, and two more months to 
 polish and finish the important document. 
 
 Having basked for a while in the glory of his 
 pretended victory over Luther in the Leipzig dis- 
 putation, Professor Eck had gone to Rome, where 
 he was introduced to the pope by four cardinals. 
 Humbly and devoutly he kissed the pope's feet, 
 when, to the great astonishment of all present, the 
 holy father asked him to rise, and kissed him, Eck 
 made good use of his opportunities. In a short time 
 he could report that his journey to Rome was provi- 
 dential since the pope knew too little of Luther's 
 dreadful heresies, and was glad to be more enlight- 
 ened. Dr. Eck, of course, felt himself called to en- 
 lighten the pope. The result was the fatal bull con- 
 demning the Wittenberg monk and bidding him 
 
 98 
 
PuLLiNf. Down the; Old. 99 
 
 once more to revoke within sixt}' days lest he shouk^ 
 be irrevocably excommunicated from the Church 
 and from the kingdom of grace and glory. Another 
 result, less known but none the less well pleasing to 
 Eck, was his appointment to a rich benefice in In- 
 golstadt. 
 
 The bull itself was a strange mixture of sancti- 
 monious cant and dignified misrepresentations. It 
 commences: "Arise, O Lord, and judge Thy cause! 
 Be mindful of the reproaches with which the fool- 
 ish reproach Thee daily. Incline Thine ears to our 
 prayers, since foxes have arisen seeking to spoil the 
 vineyard, — whose care, government, and adminis- 
 tration Thou didst intrust to Peter as its head and 
 Thy vicar, and to his successors; the boar out of 
 the woods is seeking to waste it, and a peculiar 
 wild beast does devour it." 
 
 "Arise, O Peter, attend to the cause of the holy 
 Roman Church, the mother of all Churches and 
 mistress of the faith. Arise thou, too, O Pau! I 
 . . . Finally let the entire congregation of saints 
 and the rest of the Church universal arise. . . . 
 Some whose minds are blinded by the father of 
 lies, wise in their ov/n eyes, interpret the Holy 
 Scriptures otherwise than the Holy Spirit re- 
 quireth." 
 
 Then follow forty-two sentences taken at ran- 
 dom from Luther's writings, torn out of their legiti- 
 mate connection and twisted in sense, which are 
 condemned because "no one of sound mind is ig- 
 norant how poisonous, how pernicious, how seduc- 
 tive to godly and simple minds, and finally how con- 
 trary to all love and reverence for the holy Roman 
 
loo Luther: Thr Lkadkr. 
 
 Church — the foundation and source of all virtue, 
 without which every one is proved to be an infidel — 
 these errors are." It is prohibited "in any way to 
 read, quote, preach, commend, print, publish, or de- 
 fend the writings of Luther," since they "spread 
 this pestilence and cancerous disease ;" on the con- 
 trary, the pope commands that a diligent search be 
 made for said writings, and that they be publicly 
 and solemnly burned in the presence of the clergy 
 and the people. 
 
 It is touching to read how tenderly the chief 
 shepherd cares for the wayward sheep: "As to 
 Martinus himself, good God ! what office of paternal 
 affection have we neglected or left undone or 
 omitted, in order to recall him from such errors? 
 But he has disobeyed persistently." Now the holy 
 father is compelled, if Martinus does not recant, to 
 cut him and his adherents off as withered branches, 
 not abiding in Christ. All faithful Christians are 
 required, under penalty of excommunication, to ar- 
 rest him and send him to Rome ; an interdict will be 
 pronounced on any place harboring Luther ; the bull 
 must be made public in all churches, and the wrath 
 of God Almighty and of the blessed apostles will be 
 sure to fall upon all who dare to be unmindful of 
 this decree. 
 
 To crown Eck's success he was appointed papal 
 nuncio to promulgate the bull in Germany. On 
 September 21st, he posted the bull in Meissen, a 
 few days later in Merseburg and in Brandenburg. 
 He sent copies to the various universities and to the 
 princes. But nearly everywhere he met with a cold 
 reception. The University of Erfurt declined to 
 
PuLUNG Down the Old. ioi 
 
 publish the bull ; the printed copies were seized by 
 the students and thrown into the river, in order to 
 find out "whether the bubble (bulla) could float." 
 In Leipzig, the scene of his cheap triumphs of the 
 previous year, the students annoyed him so much 
 that he did not dare to leave his safe quarters. In 
 Torgau, as well as in other cities, the copies which 
 were posted to the church doors were bespattered 
 with mud and torn down. The University of Wit- 
 tenberg refused to accept the bull as genuine. 
 Elector Frederick, although protesting that he did 
 not countenance any heretical tendencies, still in- 
 sisted that his professor should not be condemned 
 without having been tried before impartial judges. 
 He had requested Erasmus to give his opinion on 
 the matter, and received the following trenchant re- 
 ply : "Luther has sinned in two respects : he touched 
 the crown of the pope and the stomachs of the 
 monks." 
 
 Every effort was made by the Romanists to carry 
 into effect the provisions of the bull. The papal 
 legate and his friends who attended the German 
 Diet did their utmost to influence the emperor and 
 the princes against the heretic, and they succeeded 
 in having Luther's writings publicly burned in 
 Mainz, Cologne, Lowen, and other cities on the 
 Rhine. It was evident that this could not be done 
 without the approval of the emperor. About one- 
 hundred and fifty students, mostly dependent on 
 Church stipends, were induced to leave Wittenberg, 
 and the rumor was spread that the university would 
 fall under the papal interdict and be closed. Elector 
 Frederick was alarmed. Whoever touched his uni- 
 
I02 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 versity, touched the apple of his eye. He forthwith 
 sent Spalatin to Wittenberg to investigate the mat- 
 ter, but was satisfied when the report came that over 
 four hundred students attended the daily lectures 
 of Dr. Luther, while nearly six hundred were to be 
 found in Melanchthon's lecture hall. 
 
 Luther remained undaunted. He wrote to his 
 friend Spalatin : "At last the Roman bull, brought 
 by Eck, has arrived. I shall act as if it were a 
 forged bull, although I believe that it is genuine. 
 How I do wish that Emperor Charles were a man 
 and would go for those Satans in the name of 
 Christ ! I have no fears as to my own person ; 
 God's will be done." In order to appreciate Lu- 
 ther's coolness and courage we must remember that 
 Pirkheimer, "the first citizen of Germany," as he 
 has been called, Spengler. and the other influential 
 Humanists mentioned by name in the bull, were, in 
 spite of the dissatisfaction with Rome, so frightened 
 by the threat of excommunication that they speedily 
 recanted and obtained absolution. Ulrich von Hut- 
 ten, the valiant knight who had emblazoned upon 
 his coat of arms the bold legend, "I have dared it," 
 when it was rumored that the pope demanded his 
 extradition, wrote in pitiful despair: "I should be 
 torn away from here ! O wretched man that I am ! 
 I should be compelled to leave these skies, these 
 flocks, these altars ! Help, countrymen ! Assist me ! 
 Do n't suffer that I, who attempted to liberate you, 
 should be imi^risoned !" 
 
 Such was the power the pope wielded over the 
 minds even of brave and cultured men. Among 
 those who lost courage and deserted Luther at this 
 
PuLiviNG Down the Old. 103 
 
 critical time was also his old friend and counselor, 
 his "Father in the Gospel," Dr. vStaupitz. He re- 
 signed his position as vicar-general of the order of 
 the Augustinians, and retired to the court of the 
 Archbishop of Salzburg, one of Luther's bitterest 
 enemies, where he was forced to subscribe to the con- 
 demnation of the doctrines of his former pupil and 
 friend, and where he spent the rest of his days in 
 seclusion, an unhappy monk, bearing down into his 
 grave a seared conscience. 
 
 In accordance with his first plan, Luther wrote 
 a tract on "The New Bull and Lies of Eck," which 
 was soon followed by a formal "Appeal to a Gen- 
 eral Council," and by another pamphlet published 
 both in Latin and German, "Against the Execrable 
 Bull of Antichrist." He calls the pope's edict "a 
 cursed, impudent, and devilish bull," and holds that 
 its author, whoever he may be, was inspired by 
 Antichrist himself. "Thee, Leo X, and you, ye car- 
 dinals of Rome I address, and to your face I freely 
 say : If this bull has gone forth in your name and 
 with your knowledge, and you acknowledge it, I 
 exhort and admonish you in the Lord to repent and 
 to make an end of these diabolical blasphemies, and 
 that, too, speedily. Unless this be done, know that 
 I, with all who worship Christ, will regard your see 
 possessed of Satan and as the accursed abode of 
 Antichrist, whom we not only can not obey, but 
 must detest and execrate as the chief enemy of 
 Christ." Complying with the wish of the Elector, 
 he also wrote an elaborate explanation of the forty- 
 two sentences named in the bull, which he published 
 
J64 Luther: Thu Li^ade;r. 
 
 under the title, "The Foundation and Reason of all 
 the Articles Lately Condemned by the Roman Bull." 
 
 His position was by no means enviable. Go 
 back he could not. It would have been against his 
 conscience, and, besides, it would have meant cer- 
 tain death. A more timid man would, perhaps, 
 have tried some way of reconciliation, and would 
 have failed. Luther decided that his safety lay in 
 an act of unprecedented defiance. The pope de- 
 manded that the writings of the monk should be 
 burned ; the monk made up his mind to answer by 
 publicly and solemnly burning the writings of the 
 pope. 
 
 On Monday, December loth, early in the morn- 
 ing, the students and the public at large saw the fol- 
 lowing notice posted on the doors of the Stadt- 
 Kirche : "All friends of evangelical truth are in- 
 vited to assemble about nine o'clock at the Church 
 of the Holy Cross without the city walls. At that 
 place, according to ancient apostolical usage, the 
 godless books of the Papal Constitutions and the 
 Scholastic Theology will be burned, inasmuch as 
 the presumption of the enemies of the Gospel has 
 advanced to such a degree that they have cast the 
 godly, evangelical books of Dr. Luther into the fire. 
 Let all earnest students, therefore, appear at this 
 sacred and religious spectacle ; for it is now the time 
 when Antichrist must be exposed." 
 
 Not far from the "Elster Gate" is the spot where 
 the belongings of those who had died of the plague 
 used to be burned. A large pyre had been erected 
 there. Most of the professors, nearly all the stu- 
 dents, and a crowd of citizens assembled at the 
 
Pulling Down the; Old. 105 
 
 stated time. A slim figure, clad in a monk's hood, 
 with haggard features, deep-set eyes, which were 
 fairly burning, stepped from the crowd. It was 
 Martin Luther. He placed the Papal Constitutions 
 on top of the pyre, one of the teachers applied the 
 torch, and when the flames were leaping heaven- 
 ward, the monk stepped up once more and exclaim- 
 ing, "Because thou dost trouble the Holy One of 
 the Lord — Mark i, 24 [meaning Christ, of course, 
 not himself] — may eternal fire consume thee," he 
 threw the bull of excommunication into the fire. 
 
 It was to him a most solemn, a sacred act. 
 Quietly he left the place, accompanied by his col- 
 leagues, and repaired to his cell. 
 
 It could not be expected, of course, that the stu- 
 dents would let this splendid chance to have som.e 
 fun slip by without making the best of it. They 
 fetched a peasant's wagon, nailed a bull of several 
 yards' length to a long pole, sang dirges and songs 
 mocking the pope, carried banners with sarcastic in- 
 scriptions, drove from house to house to collect the 
 books of Luther's opponents, and replenished the 
 smoldering flames again and again. The whole 
 town was in an uproar. Meanwhile Luther sat 
 quietly in his cell and wrote a tract, "Why the Books 
 of the Pope and of His Disciples were Burned by 
 Dr. Martin Luther." 
 
 Luther's oak, just outside the Elster Gate in the 
 city of Wittenberg, is still visited every year by hun- 
 dreds of tourists. It is a sturdy old tree, surrounded 
 b> an iron railing. A little tablet bears the inscrip- 
 tion, "Dr. Martin Luther burned at this place on 
 December 10, 1520, the papal bull." And well may 
 
io6 Luthkr: The; Le;ade;r. 
 
 this historic place be pointed out to succeeding' gen- 
 erations and the deed be commemorated, because, 
 as Dr. Schaff rightly says : "The burning of the 
 pope's bull was the boldest and most eventful act of 
 Luther. Viewed in itself it might have been only 
 an act of fanaticism and folly, and proved a 'brutum 
 fuhnen.' But it was preceded and followed by 
 heroic acts of faith in pulling down an old church 
 and building up a new one. It defied the greatest 
 power on earth, before which emperors and kings 
 and princes, and all the nations of Europe, bowed 
 in reverence and awe. It was the fiery signal of 
 absolute and final separation from Rome, and de- 
 stroyed the effects of future papal bulls upon one- 
 half of Western Christendom. It emancipated 
 Luther and the entire Protestant world from that 
 authority which, from a wholesome school of dis- 
 cipline for young nations, had become a fearful and 
 intolerable tyranny over the intellects and con- 
 sciences of men." 
 
 On January 3, 1521, the final bull of excommuni- 
 cation was issued by which Luther and his adher- 
 ents, ''the Lutherans," were cut off from the Church 
 and given to eternal perdition, and in which the em- 
 peror and all princes were enjoined to execute all 
 the temporal punishments which the Church canons 
 decree against heretics. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 FACING THE EMPEROR AND HIS 
 PRINCES. 
 
 Germany had a new emperor. While Martin 
 Luther was in Leipzig, disputing with Dr. Eck, the 
 German electors had elected, on June 28, 15 19, 
 Charles, King of Spain, as Emperor of the Holy 
 Roman Empire of the German Nation, to use the 
 official designation. 
 
 The last wish of Emperor Maximilian was ful- 
 filled. The imperial crown went to his grandson, 
 in spite of the intrigues of the pope and the bribes 
 of King Francis of France, whose agents spent 
 money lavishly to effect the election of their sov- 
 ereign. 
 
 Strange, that two foreign monarchs should be 
 the candidates for the highest dignity that Germany 
 could bestow. It is true the crown was offered to 
 the highly respected Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 
 but this prince, showing that he indeed deserved the 
 surname "The Wise," declined the honor. He real- 
 ized the difficulty of assuming the exalted position 
 without possessing the power and wealth necessary 
 to enforce his policy. It was Frederick whose voice 
 was of greatest weight with the German princes; 
 it was he whose decision, above everything else, 
 107 
 
io8 Luther: The; Le;ade;r. 
 
 had given the coveted crown to Charles, and the 
 young emperor was not unmindful of this fact. 
 
 Charles V, King of Spain, of the Netherlands, 
 of Sicily, heir to all the possessions of the House of 
 Habsburg, whose residences were Toledo and Na- 
 ples, Brussels and Vienna, was, at the time of his 
 election to the imperial throne, a young man of 
 twenty years, without any special signs of greatness 
 of character or promises of achievement. The son 
 of a demented mother, he was wavering between a 
 tendency to melancholia, which finally drove him 
 to abdicate his throne and end his days in a secluded 
 cloister, and between gratifying his unbridled sen- 
 sual lusts and appetites, which undermined his con- 
 stitution and made him an old man at a time when 
 he ought to have been in the full strength of man- 
 hood. Educated in the strictest traditions of som- 
 ber, legal, superstitious Catholic faith, and sur- 
 rounded by bigoted Catholics, he did not under- 
 stand the great religious questions that were agitat- 
 ing the minds of his German subjects. At heart a 
 Spaniard, he cared more for his Spanish possessions 
 than for the welfare of the German empire, and had 
 no sympathy whatever with the longing for national 
 freedom. He was German emperor, but did not 
 know the German language ; he was the head of the 
 German nation, but in his sympathies and aspira- 
 tions he remained a foreigner all the days of his 
 hfe. 
 
 And this was tlie man whom the knights cheered 
 as the coming liberator of Germany; to whom the 
 religious reformers looked up as to the "young and 
 noble blood" who was to free them from the Roman 
 
Pulling Down the; Old. 109 
 
 yoke; everybody who was hoping and working for 
 liberty — reHgious, social, political liberty — set their 
 hopes on him, and they were all sorely disappointed. 
 
 His policy was dictated exclusively by the exi- 
 gencies of the coming conflict with France. Francis 
 I and Charles V were not only rivals for the im- 
 perial crown, they were the great rivals for the con- 
 trol of Europe. Both saw in the imperial throne 
 merely a help to further their ulterior ends ; both 
 needed the assistance of the pope, and both knew 
 perfectly well the pope would support the one from 
 whom he could expect most returns. Up to that 
 time he had openly favored Francis ; the question 
 now was, whether Charles could win him over to his 
 side without sacrificing too much. 
 
 The conflicting interests of the Habsburg 
 dynasty represented by Charles, of the House of 
 Valois represented by Francis, of the papacy repre- 
 sented by Leo, and finally of dozens of selfish, nar- 
 row-minded, dissenting, quarreling princes and free 
 cities, were the stakes in this game of high diplo- 
 macy. In a most critical moment of the game this 
 monk Luther appeared, and had to be taken into 
 consideration. To Charles V he was nothing but a 
 pawn on the chess-board, used at will to check a 
 dreaded move of the antagonist, or sacrificed to 
 gain a coveted advantage. 
 
 The greatest religious and social movement 
 which had occurred since the founding of the Chris- 
 tian Church was looked upon by the mighty ones 
 of this world as something insignificant in compari- 
 son with the questions of boundaries and revenues, 
 of titles &n4 military honors, A few centuries have 
 
no Lutiikr: Thf; Lkadkr. 
 
 passed, and all those petty issues are dead and 
 buried, but the soul-stirring questions raised by- 
 Martin Luther still influence and permeate the daily 
 lives of increasing millions among the leading na- 
 tions of the globe. 
 
 Space forbids to enter into the intricate move- 
 ments of the diplomatic game played while Charles 
 was slowly traveling up the Rhine, to be crowned 
 in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) in the fall of 1520, and 
 during the first few weeks of his first Diet, which 
 opened in the old city of Worms on the upper 
 Rhine in the month of January, 1521. The pope 
 had sent as his nuncio one of the shrewdest, most 
 active, and most unscrupulous of ecclesiastical poli- 
 ticians, Girolamo Aleandro, or Aleander, who suc- 
 ceeded by means of liberal bribes in building up a 
 regular political machine, extending into the cham- 
 bers of the emperor and into the offices of his secre- 
 taries. His reports to Rome are very interesting 
 reading. They give a picture of the proceedings in 
 their minutest details, and show his keen judgment 
 of men and things, but also betray his character. 
 Thus he writes upon one occasion : "I dissimulated 
 quite cleverly, and told some courteous lies, which, 
 in the interest of the holy faith and of my commis- 
 sion, I could not help doing." 
 
 When the papal request that the bull of excom- 
 munication should be executed in Germany was 
 read to the Diet, Aleander supported it in an ad- 
 dress of three hours' length. He made it plain that 
 there were some sentences in Luther's last few pub- 
 lications "sufficient, on account of them, for the 
 burning of several thousand heretics." To call the 
 
Pui^UNG Down the; Oi,n. iii 
 
 reprobate monk before the Diet was, in his opinion, 
 entirely unnecessary, since the Church through her 
 head had passed judgment; and, besides, the heretic 
 did not even recognize the authority of a General 
 Council. Notwithstanding his clever diplomacy and 
 the favors shown by Rome to Glapion, the Francis- 
 can confessor of the emperor, after hesitating a long 
 time it was decided to summon Luther to appear 
 before the Diet. 
 
 It was on March 26th when an imperial herald, 
 clad in his brilliant uniform and accompanied by a 
 servant, rode through the city gate of Wittenberg 
 and delivered the summons to "the Honorable, the 
 Dear and the Devout Martinus Luther" to appear 
 within twenty-one days, under promise of safe con- 
 duct, before His Majesty, in order to give informa- 
 tion concerning the books and doctrines which he 
 had promulgated. Aleander in Worms was fum- 
 ing when he heard that the condemned heretic was 
 addressed in such respectful terms. 
 
 Would Luther go ? He was not ignorant of the 
 fate of John Huss, who was summoned to Con- 
 stance, likewise under promise of safe conduct, and 
 was burned at the stake by Emperor Sigismund. 
 He had not forgotten the death of Savonarola. He 
 knew that his own writings were burned by com- 
 mand of the emperor in the Netherlands. Would 
 Charles keep his word, when Luther once was in 
 his power? 
 
 A few months before, when Elector Frederick 
 had asked "his monk" whether or not he were will- 
 ing to come to Worms if summoned, he had given 
 the following answer; "If I am called, I shall go: 
 
112 Luther: The: Leader. 
 
 and if I were too sick to go, I shall have them carry 
 me. It were wrong to doubt that God. calls me 
 when the emperor calls." 
 
 He was still of the same opinion. Go he would. 
 To Alelarichthon he remarked : "If I do not return, 
 and my enemies murder me, I conjure 3'ou, dear 
 brother, to persevere in teaching the truth. If you 
 remain, I can well be spared." 
 
 Accompanied by another monk, in accordance 
 with the rule of the order, and by his colleague Ams- 
 dorf, and by a young nobleman, Peter Swaven, who 
 studied in Wittenberg, he set out in a plain wagon, 
 furnished by the city magistrate. His trip was, in 
 fact, a triumphal procession. A Roman priest re- 
 ports : "When Luther entered a city, the people 
 ran to meet him. Everybody wanted to see that 
 wonderful man who was so bold as to oppose him- 
 self against the pope and the whole world." 
 
 At Erfurt, the scene of his early studies and 
 struggles, he was received like a prince, the Human- 
 ist leaders of the university using the occasion of 
 his visit for a public demonstration against the hated 
 monks and the clerics in general. He preached to a 
 crowded house. In the midst of his discourse the 
 densely packed galleries cracked. Immediately a 
 panic ensued. But Luther's powerful voice was 
 heard above the noise: "Be quiet, good people, it 
 is only the devil. He is playing one of his tricks, 
 that is all. I know thy malice, thou Satan !" 
 
 He was, however, frequently reminded of the 
 dangers which lurked in his path. In more than one 
 place the party noticed the imperial edict posted up, 
 yvhioh commanded his books to be delivered tQ th§ 
 
PUI.UNG Down the Old. 113 
 
 magistrates; he also received warnings from his 
 faithful friend Spalatin, but answered: "You may 
 expect anything from me but fear or recantation. 
 I shall not flee, still less recant. Christ lives, and 
 we shall come to Worms in spite of all the gates of 
 hell and powers of the air." 
 
 Notwithstanding his perilous situation and his 
 feeble health, he was of good cheer. More than one 
 of his opponents afterward took occasion to indulge 
 in sanctimonious reflection upon the frivolity of the 
 arch-heretic "who played merry tunes on the lute 
 in his lodging-places on the journey." 
 
 The nearer he came, the more were attempts 
 made by the Romanists either to prevent his coming 
 or, at least, to delay him beyond the twenty-one days 
 of his safe conduct. Glapion went to Hutten and 
 Sickingen, and prevailed upon them to invite Luther 
 to the latter's castle Ebernburg, near Worms. The 
 Elector expressed his apprehensions. Luther's 
 name was too often coupled with the names of Sa- 
 vonarola, of Huss, of Wiclif. But Luther was not 
 to be intimidated. "I shall go to Worms, even if 
 there were there as many devils as tiles on the 
 roofs," was his decisive reply. 
 
 It was on the i6th day of April, at the time of 
 the day when the good citizens of Worms and their 
 many visitors partook of the principal meal, that 
 the guard at the city gate blew his horn, the signal 
 that a troop of horsemen was approaching. Every- 
 body surmised that it was Martin Luther and his 
 escort, and everybody left the tables and rushed to 
 the windows or to the streets. Soon all available 
 places, even the roofs, were packed. Now they 
 8 
 
114 Luther: The: Leader. 
 
 came. First the imperial herald, then a company 
 of mounted noblemen, and next the wagon with the 
 monk and his companions. On either side rode a 
 Saxon knight on his charger, and fifty or more 
 horsemen brought up the rear. 
 
 Aleander was furious. His efforts to keep the 
 "son of Belial" away from the Diet having been 
 thwarted, he urged that the "condemned heretic" 
 should be brought to Worms in all secrecy, and 
 should be held under close watch, nobody being al- 
 lowed to see him. And now he had to witness this 
 spectacle, and had to report to his master that when 
 the heretic left his vehicle in the court of the 
 Knights of St. John, he was embraced and his gar- 
 ment was touched three times, as if it were a most 
 precious relic. "This Luther looked about him with 
 his diabolical eyes and said, 'God will be with me.' 
 The whole world was running together to see him." 
 
 It was natural that the Romanists wished to have 
 the trial dispatched as quickly as possible. Ii^fact, 
 it was not to be a trial at all. Rome had spoken ; no 
 trial was necessary. It was only in order to pacify 
 the unruly Germans that Luther was to be given an- 
 other opportunity to recant. If he did not revoke, 
 he was to be condemned. Every detail was arranged, 
 every question prepared. Luther was not to have the 
 privilege of speaking ; he was only to answer, "Yes," 
 or "No ;" in short, everything was cut and dried. 
 
 On the day after his arrival, at four o'clock in 
 the afternoon, he was to appear before the Diet. 
 At the appointed time the lord marshal and the 
 imperial herald called to escort him. Every street 
 being packed with curious throngs they hurried him 
 
Pui^LiNG Down the Oi.d. 115 
 
 through back gates, gardens, and alleys to the 
 Bishop's Court. 
 
 A few moments later he was standing before the 
 emperor and his princes, before the cardinals and 
 archbishops, before the cream of the German na- 
 tion. "Seated on a chair of state, which was cov- 
 ered with gold brocade and overhung by a canopy 
 of the same material, sat the emperor; on the one 
 side were seated all the electors, on the other the 
 cardinals," reports an eye-witness. The spacious 
 hall was filled to the last place. Every eye was 
 fixed upon the haggard monk with the pale, sunken 
 cheeks and the deep-set, flaming eyes. 
 
 On a table in front of him lay a number of books. 
 
 "Have you written these books, and will you re- 
 cant their contents?" demanded the clerk, who, by 
 the way, had definite instructions from Aleander, 
 and was paid handsomely for complying with the 
 same. 
 
 "Let the titles be read," quickly replied Luther's 
 attorney and friend, Dr. Scliurf. 
 
 "Then the titles were read, and they all were 
 my books," related Luther himself. As to the ques- 
 tion of recantation, this was of so great importance. 
 involving*his eternal destiny, that he was not ready 
 to give a definite answer, and would ask for a 
 respite to consider it more thoroughly. 
 
 This reply was unexpected. The Romanists 
 were provoked. They were very anxious to have 
 judgment pronounced at once. Luther's friends 
 were perplexed, some thinking that he was intimi- 
 dated, perhaps wavering. Some report says that 
 his voice was low and hardly audible. Yet he sim- 
 
ii6 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 ply followed the instructions given him by the coun- 
 selors of his prince. Contrary to the wish of the 
 Romanists, they desired to delay the final decision 
 as long as possible. Finally a respite of one day 
 was granted. 
 
 "My poor monk, my poor monk!" said the 
 famous leader of the German Landsknechte, Colonel 
 George von Frundsberg, to him when on the fol- 
 lowing day he was conducted again to the Bishop's 
 Court. "Thou art going to make such a stand as 
 neither I nor any of my companions in arms ever 
 have made in our hottest battles. If thou art sure 
 of the justice of thy cause, then forward in God's 
 name and be of good cheer; God will not forsake 
 thee." 
 
 Again the peasant's son stood before the most 
 august assembly in the world on that memorable 
 day, the i8th of April, 1521. It was growing dark; 
 the torches were being lit ; the hall was still more 
 crowded than on the previous day. 
 
 "Will you defend all your books, or will you re- 
 voke some things ?" he heard the clerk say. 
 
 Now the supreme moment of Martin Luther's 
 life had come. In a firm, clear voice, with great 
 boldness of spirit, he spoke first in Latin ; tften, upon 
 request, also in German, although he was greatly 
 exhausted by the heat and by his own emotion. 
 
 Prefacing his address with an apology for an)' 
 blunder he might make, since he was not accus- 
 tomed to courtly usages, he again affirmed that the 
 books on the table were written by him. They were 
 to be classified in three groups. The first treated 
 of Christian life and faith, and his opponents, even 
 
Pulling Down thi: Old. 117 
 
 the papal bull, admitted that they contain many 
 good and useful thoughts. To revoke these would 
 mean to condemn the truth. The second group 
 treated of grievances against the popes, who were 
 guilty of many acts of tyranny and wickedness. To 
 levoke these would mean to open the doors and 
 windows to the most mischievous tyranny. The 
 third group comprised pamphlets against individual 
 opponents. He confessed that, at times, he had 
 expressed himself more severely than was good, but 
 as to the matter at issue he could not recant. How- 
 ever, being only a man, not God, and therefore lia- 
 ble to err, he would beg by the grace of God of 
 anybody who could do so, to show him his errors 
 by proofs from the Bible. "If convicted, I am will- 
 ing and ready to revoke any error and shall be the 
 first one to throw my books into the fire." 
 
 This carefully worded reply was really an invi- 
 tation to a discussion. But a disputation with the 
 condemned heretic must be avoided by all means. 
 The papal nuncio and the emperor had agreed on 
 that point. So Luther was told that his errors were 
 nothing new, and consequently needed no discus- 
 sion. They were the old errors of Wiclif and Huss, 
 and were condemned long ago by the Council of 
 Constance. 
 
 "Will you revoke these errors? We desire a 
 plain answer without horns or without a cover." 
 
 This challenge called forth Luther's famous 
 answer: "Since His Imperial Majesty wants a 
 plain answer, I shall give him a plain answer with- 
 out horns or teeth. Unless I am refuted and con- 
 victed by testimonies of the Scriptures or by clear 
 
ii8 Lu'rHE;R: The Leader. 
 
 arguments — since I believe neither the popes nor 
 the Councils alone, it being evident that they have 
 often erred and contradicted one another — I am 
 conquered by the passages of the Holy Scriptures I 
 have quoted, and my conscience is bound in the 
 Word of God. I can not and w^ill not recant any- 
 thing, since it is unsafe and dangerous to act 
 against one's conscience." 
 
 Some more words were spoken ; but the em- 
 peror had risen and thus closed the session. The 
 audience commenced to disperse, and thus it hap- 
 pened that the last words of the Reformer were 
 lost in the noise and confusion. They are reported 
 as follows : "Here I stand. I can not do otherwise. 
 God help me. Amen." 
 
 These remarkable words are inscribed on the 
 magnificent monument of Luther which is standing 
 to-day in the city of Worms. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LUTHER DISAPPEARS. 
 
 "I AM through! I am through!" Luther ex- 
 claimed, joyfully, when he reached his quarters 
 again. "If I had a thousand heads I would rather 
 have them all cut oflf than to revoke," he remarked 
 the same evening. 
 
 The city was greatly stirred up. Handbills and 
 posters were scattered clandestinely, threatening 
 open revolt. Luther's address was printed at ones, 
 and scattered broadcast. In the chambers of the 
 emperor a slip of paper was found containing the 
 words, "Woe unto the land whose king is a child !" 
 Luther was constantly in demand. "Many princes, 
 counts, barons, knights, noblemen, priests, monks, 
 laymen, not to mention the common people, came 
 to see him. They simply beleaguered his house and 
 could not see enough of him," writes a contem- 
 porary. 
 
 Most of the German princes and noblemen were, 
 as we have seen before, in full sympathy with his 
 attacks upon the Roman abuses and encroachments 
 upon national liberties, and in order to emphasize 
 these the more, and not to encumber them with 
 what they considered secondary matters, they de- 
 sired Luther to drop his heretical opinions touching 
 questions of faith and dogma. Says the Venetian 
 119 
 
I20 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 ambassador: "If this man had been wise enough 
 to confine himself to his first accusations and had 
 not gone astray in the field of theology, he would 
 have been, I can not say favored, I must say wor- 
 shiped, by everybody in Germany." 
 
 The emperor was prevailed upon to extend 
 Luther's safe conduct for a few days, and from 
 morning till late at night during the days from the 
 19th to the 25th of April the Reformer was in con- 
 sultation with a commission and with individuals 
 representing the German estates. They argued and 
 pleaded with him; they pictured the immense ad- 
 vantages that could be gained to the whole nation 
 if he would only be willing to compromise, and 
 again they pointed out to him the embarrassing 
 position into which his friends were placed should 
 he remain obstinate. A bloody war would follow, 
 which might devastate all Germany. 
 
 Luther realized that these pleadings were not 
 inspired by Rome, but were meant in good faith. 
 Moreover, they were made by men whom he hon- 
 ored. Should he yield? 
 
 Those few days of private negotiations were a 
 greater strain on him than his public appearance 
 before the Diet. He had done his full duty be- 
 fore God and men, and had done it well. And now 
 these same friends who praised him, who were in- 
 terested in the welfare of the nation, who knew 
 much more about questions of practical statesman- 
 ship than the monk knew, — these men were urging 
 him to drop speculative and dogmatic questions and 
 unite with them in achieving tangible results in the 
 field of national reforms. Was he, after all, right 
 
Pulling Down the: Old. 121 
 
 in tenaciously adhering to the doctrinal points, and 
 thus jeoparding a national movement bidding fair 
 to succeed? Again and again he must have pon- 
 dered these questions in his own mind. But he 
 could see no way out. He was neither a political 
 nor a religious reformer ; he was a witness of what 
 he had experienced in his own life by the power of 
 the Word of God. To shift his point of view and 
 let himself be influenced by political considerations, 
 be they ever so commendable, would have been to 
 betray the voice of God in his soul. He could not 
 yield. 
 
 His conscience proved to be a safer guide than 
 the advice and the diplomatic schemes of the poli- 
 ticians. Says Professor Hausrath: "He penetrated 
 deeper than those well-meaning politicians. The 
 errors in doctrine were, to his mind, inseparably 
 connected with the abuses in practice, just as the 
 bad root with the foul fruit. If he did not attack 
 the former, he could not resist the latter. From 
 the doctrine of purgatory resulted the abuse of in- 
 dulgences ; from the sacrament of priestly ordina- 
 tion followed the servitude of the laity; the erro- 
 neous doctrine of justification led to the whole sys- 
 tem of outward works and rites which choked all 
 living faith and spiritual life. Just because he saw 
 clearer than did his political patrons, he could not 
 acquiesce to their wishes, and consequently all ef- 
 forts to effect a compromise were doomed to fail- 
 ure at the outset." 
 
 Luther remained firm as a rock. "Unless I am 
 convinced by Scripture or clear arguments, I can 
 not yield; let come what God sees fit." On April 
 
122 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 25th the emperor granted him a letter of safe con- 
 duct back to Wittenberg, and on the next morninef 
 he left. 
 
 "The villain has left," reported Aleander, and 
 added, "We shall do our best." He certainly did 
 his best. So deftly did he lay his wires that he 
 himself was requested by Charles to write the edict 
 pronouncing the ban of the empire over Luther and 
 all his sympathizers. It was the most spiteful, ma- 
 licious, the bitterest and fiercest edict ever issued by 
 an emperor of Germany. It betrays in every sen- 
 tence the fiendish joy of revenge and the intense 
 satisfaction of having totally crushed the enemy. 
 Luther and all his sympathizers were outlawed. 
 Wherever he was found he was to be arrested. 
 Whoever dared to assist him in any way, did so at 
 his own risk. His adherents were to be driven from 
 their homes, and all their belongings could be ap- 
 propriated by whoever desired to possess them. 
 
 On May 25th, after most princes had left 
 Worms, Aleander presented the document to the 
 emperor immediately after mass in the cathedral. 
 It was signed on the spot. 
 
 A shameful fraud was perpetrated by the Span- 
 ish king who wore the imperial crown and by the 
 envoy of His Holiness. The edict which in the 
 name of the German emperor and of the German 
 princes declared Luther an outlaw, was not author- 
 ized by the Diet ; it was never submitted to the Diet ; 
 but, in order to make it appear so, it was dated 
 back to May 8th. On the next day the emperor 
 went on board of his ship, sailed down the Rhine, 
 and was soon outside of the German empire. 
 
Pulling Down thic Old. 123 
 
 The pope and the emperor were now good 
 friends. Leo acceded to the wishes of Charles. 
 The ratification by the emperor of the papal bull of 
 excommunication was the price paid for the favor 
 of the pope. 
 
 But where was Luther? Nobody seemed tn 
 know. One thing was sure, he had not returned 
 to Wittenberg. It was reported that the party had 
 been waylaid, and that Luther was kidnaped. Soon 
 the air was full of rumors. Some declared the pa- 
 pists had murdered him, others that some enemy 
 of the Elector held him captive ; others had heard 
 that his corpse was found in an abandoned mine. 
 Some said he had escaped to the King of Denmark, 
 others that he was in safety with Hutten and Sick- 
 ingen. Aleander, however, shrewd as he was, 
 wrote to Rome : "My personal opinion is that 
 Luther is kept in a safe place, either in Wittenberg 
 or in some castle belonging to one of the Elector's 
 faithful knights." 
 
 He was not far from right; but how could he 
 prove it? Frederick was ready to swear an oath 
 that he did not know where Luther was, and, of 
 course, he spoke the truth. He did not know pre- 
 cisely to which castle his knights had taken Luther, 
 nor did he want to know. But he had given orders 
 to bring the monk secretly to some safe place of 
 hiding and keep him there for the present. 
 
 In a narrow ravine near Altenstein in the Thur- 
 ingian Mountains, where the road winds up the hill 
 through a dense forest of birch-trees, is standing 
 to-day, surrounded by a railing, the trunk of an old, 
 weatherbeaten and lightning-struck birch, called 
 
124 Luther: The: Leader. 
 
 "die Lutherbuche." Near by Is a plain monument 
 commemorative of what took place at this spot on 
 a dark evening in April, 1521. 
 
 A wagon, in which some monks were seated, 
 slowly drove up the hill. Suddenly, armed horse- 
 men appeared. The wagon was held up in regular 
 fashion, the driver cufifed and beaten. One of the 
 monks jumped out and escaped into the woods, fol- 
 lowed by the curses of the waylayers; the other 
 was quickly lifted upon a horse, and the whole troop 
 rapidly galloped away. 
 
 A few days later it was known in the little city 
 of Eisenach that the castle, towering above the city, 
 lodged a noble guest. He had arrived late one 
 night in company with the lord of the castle. His 
 name was Junker Jorg (Sir George). Nobody 
 could ascertain whence he came, or how long he 
 was going to stay, or what was the object of his 
 visit. He was dressed like a knight. Smoothly 
 shaven at first, he, after a few weeks, wore a full 
 beard. Most of the time he spent in his own room ; 
 sometimes he would take long walks or go riding or 
 hunting, always accompanied by a page. But he 
 did not seem to be very fond of the usual pastimes 
 of noblemen. 
 
 The real name of this mysterious knight wa.; 
 Martin Luther. 
 
BOOK III 
 
 BUILDING UP THE NEW 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE GERMAN BIBLE. 
 
 The;re; are few places in Germany dearer to the 
 hearts of the German people than the Wartburg. 
 Located on a lofty eminence in the northern part of 
 the Thuringian Mountains it commands a fine view 
 over hills and vales, dense birch-forests, sparkling 
 streams, picturesque villages. The fine old castle 
 was carefully rebuilt in its original style of archi- 
 tecture, and presents a magnificent appearance 
 when seen either from the city of Eisenach at its 
 feet or from any of the numerous points of view 
 round about. 
 
 Innumerable legends cluster about the Wart- 
 burg and connect it with almost all the great epochs 
 of German life and civilization. Here the famous 
 Sangerkrieg took place. Walther von der Vogel- 
 weide. Wolfram von Eschenbach, Heinrich von 
 Ofterdingen, and others renowned in song and 
 story, assembled in its spacious halls. Here the 
 saintly Elizabeth, the wife of the rough landgrave, 
 spent her life in doing good. Nearly every spot in 
 the neighborhood of the Burg is connected with 
 some deed of historic interest or some charming 
 legend. 
 
 But, above all, the Wartburg owes its fame to 
 Martin Luther's stay there. In the little room 
 127 
 
128 Luther: Th^ Leader. 
 
 reached from the outer court, with its plain old fur- 
 niture, a table, an arm-chair, a bedstead, an oaken 
 chest, all of them carved and massive. Junker Jorg- 
 pored day after day over his books, w^rote letters, 
 pamphlets, sermons, and gave to his people a gift of 
 I priceless value — the German Bible. 
 
 No greater change can be imagined than that 
 which Luther experienced in his quiet seclusion "in 
 the region of the birds," after the turmoil and the 
 excitement of the previous weeks in Worms. His 
 restless spirit was chafing under the enforced leis- 
 ure. The changed mode of life, the lack of exercise, 
 the sumptuous fare with which he was supplied, 
 caused him physical trouble. The question whether 
 his work was really owned by God recurred con- 
 stantly. He was thrown into doubts and tempta- 
 tions, and, considering his bodily and mental weari- 
 ness, we can understand the fierce struggles which 
 he had to encounter, and which often totally de- 
 jected him. More than once he seemed to hear, or 
 even see, the great adversary in person, and in the 
 I "Lutherstube" the guide points out the spot on the 
 wall where, according to tradition, he threw the 
 inkbottle at the devil. 
 
 He certainly made good use of his time. "I am 
 at leisure, yet very busy studying Greek and He- 
 brew and writing incessantly," he wrote to Witten- 
 berg. Books of devotion, controversial writings, 
 tracts for the times, sermons, letters flowed from 
 his ready pen. But of greatest importance was the 
 translation of the New Testament which he com- 
 menced in November, 1521. 
 
 The need of a German Bible became more ap- 
 
Building Up the New. 129 
 
 parent to him as events in Wittenberg and in other 
 cities took their course. He valued the Scriptures 
 above everything else as the record of God's revela- 
 tion to mankind, and as the guide-book for the faith 
 and life both of the individual Christian and of the 
 Church. He had fought the tyranny which the 
 Church exercised over the consciences of the be- 
 lievers ; he wanted to free them and make them in- 
 dependent of human authority, grounded only on 
 the Bible as illumined by the operation of the Holy 
 Spirit and by sane grammatical interpretation. But 
 this shifting of the seat of authority necessitated 
 the study, even the mastery, of the record of God's 
 revelation by the individual believer. Christians 
 must be rooted and grounded in God's Word, else 
 their growth will be impeded by traditional notions, 
 or they may be carried away by heedless radicals. 
 Thus he writes from the Wartburg to his congrega- 
 tion at Wittenberg: "No clearer Book has been 
 written in this wide world than the Bible. Com- 
 pared with all other books it is like the sun over all 
 other lights. Do n't let them lead you out of and 
 away from it, much as they may try to do so. 
 For if you step out, you are lost; they take you 
 wherever they wish. If you remain within, you 
 will be victorious." 
 
 Luther was by no means the first one to conceive 
 the plan of translating the Bible into the German 
 language. The oldest monument extant of German 
 Christian literature is the Gothic Bible of Bishop 
 Ulfilas, who died in the year 383. From the ninth 
 century we possess the "Heliand," a grand epic, 
 describing the life of the Savior, and also the "Gos- 
 9 
 
130 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 pel-Book" of the monk Otfried, which is a life of 
 Christ in verses. When the art of printing was in- 
 troduced, a number of German Bibles were printed ; 
 at the time when Luther commenced his work there 
 existed at least fourteen translations in High Ger- 
 man and four in Low German dialects. 
 
 But they all were based upon the Vulgate, the 
 Latin version authorized by the Church ; they were 
 inaccurate ; their German was clumsy, stiff ; none 
 of them was widely circulated or possessed the ele- 
 ments that would bespeak for it general acceptance. 
 
 It was Martin Luther who created a book for 
 the people ; a book which the Germans everywhere 
 accepted, which they read, which they loved, which 
 molded not only their religious and moral convic- 
 tions, but which influenced their mode of thought 
 and manner of expression. Luther gave to his peo- 
 ple, not merely a German version of the Bible, but a 
 German Bible. No book has ever done for any na- 
 tion what Luther's Bible did for the Germans. Its 
 influence upon the nation was even greater than 
 that of the English Bible upon the English people. 
 It became the first real German "Volksbuch," the 
 most powerful agency for the creation and unifica- 
 tion of the German language and ultimately of the 
 German nation. 
 
 Erasmus Albers, a contemporary of Luther said : 
 "Our Lord God has illumined the German language 
 through Dr. Martin Luther. He has not only shown 
 us the true religion, but also given us our language. 
 He is the German Cicero." Jacob Grimm, the 
 highest authority on Germanic languages, says in 
 the Preface to his German grammar, "Luther's 
 
Buii<DiNG Up the: New. 131 
 
 German is the kernel and foundation of the new 
 High German." Luther's Bible is still the great 
 religious and moral classic of the Germans. 
 
 Martin Luther possessed all the necessary quali- 
 fications for his great undertaking. Although his 
 knowledge of the original languages was limited, 
 he knew them sufficiently well to penetrate into the 
 depth and very essence of the meaning of the text. 
 He was perfectly familiar with the Bible as a whole ; 
 he was, as it were, living in the thoughts of the 
 Bible. This was of paramount importance ; for, as 
 he himself says, a good translation "requires a 
 truly devout, faithful, diligent Christian, — a learned, 
 experienced, practical heart." 
 
 In the next place he had a perfect mastery of 
 the language of the German people. His humble 
 birth, his constant mingling with the common peo- 
 ple, stood him in good stead. No one among his 
 contemporaries could use the German language 
 m.ore lucidly, more forcibly, and in a more pleasing 
 manner to suit all classes of society. Natural gifts 
 and incessant practical studies united to make him 
 a truly linguistic genius. Add to these traits an in- 
 tense love for his people, to whom he desired to 
 give his very best, with a diligence and care almost 
 incredible, and we have the secret of his success as 
 a translator. 
 
 It was a difficult task which Luther set him- 
 self to accomplish. Linguistic studies were in their 
 infancy ; there were no dictionaries, no concord- 
 ances, no grammars, except the imperfect attempts 
 of Reuchlin and of Erasmus. And even to these 
 scant helps Luther had no access on the Wartburg, 
 
132 Luthe:r: The; Le;ade;r. 
 
 nor was he in a position to consult his learned 
 friends. He had absolutely nothing but the Greek 
 text of Erasmus, printed in Basel in 15 19, and the 
 Vulgate. But he resolutely went to work, and when, 
 in March, 1522, he was ready to leave his "Patmos," 
 the New Testament was finished. 
 
 There was in the sixteenth century no language 
 known as the German language. There were a 
 number of widely divergent German dialects. A 
 comparison of Fritz Renter's Low German stories 
 with Johann Peter Hebel's Alemanic poems will 
 show how very much those dialects differ from one 
 another even as late as the nineteenth century. 
 Luther did not adopt any of the various dialects in 
 vogue at that time. Pie chose the language used in 
 the Saxon government offices, and also imitated by 
 the imperial government and by several princes. 
 In a certain way this was, even at that time, a con- 
 necting link between the Northern and Southern 
 dialects. But a glance at the edicts of the emperors 
 or the resolutions of the Diets shov.s how clumsy 
 and stiff the language was. Luther divested it of 
 its stiffness, awkward complicateness, and ver- 
 bosity. 
 
 After his return to Wittenberg he spent several 
 months with Melanchthon and others in a thorough 
 revision of the work. Each sheet was handed to 
 the printer as soon as finished, and in September, 
 1523, the whole New Testament was issued from 
 the press. It had the simple title, "Das Newe Tes- 
 tament Deutzsch : Vittenberg ;" without the names 
 of either translator or printer. Luther did not wish 
 that anybody should be prejudiced for or against 
 
Building Up the New. i33 
 
 the book by his name, which was by this time well- 
 nigh worshiped by some, execrated by others. 
 
 The sale of the book exceeded all expectations. 
 The first edition of five thousand copies was sold 
 in less than three months, in spite of the high price 
 of nearly six dollars, according to the present mar- 
 ket value of money. In some countries the sale 
 was forbidden; the book was called by Roman 
 theologians more harmful than the magical books 
 of the Ephesians, mentioned in the Book of Acts 
 (xix 19). Dr. Emser, one of Luther's opponents, 
 claimed to have found no less than 1,400 errors in 
 the translation; but when he was requested to make 
 a version of his own, he could not do better than 
 to use Luther's rendering, simply conforming it to 
 the text of the Vulgate. Luther rightfully said: 
 "The papists steal my German, of which they knew 
 little before. They do not thank me, however, but 
 rather use it against me." 
 
 Of the impression made upon the common peo- 
 ple we have the unbiased testimony of Cochlaus, a 
 contemporary champion of Romanism. He writes: 
 "Luther's New Testament was so much multiplied 
 and spread by printers that even tailors and shoe- 
 makers—nay, even women and ignorant persons, 
 who could read but little— studied it with the great- 
 est avidity as the fountain of truth. Some com- 
 mitted it to memory and carried it about in their 
 bosoms. Within a few months such people deemed 
 themselves so learned that they were not ashamed 
 to dispute about the faith and the Gospel, not only 
 with Catholic laymen, but even with priests and 
 monks and Doctors of Divinity." How it influenced 
 
134 Luthe;r: Thj; Leader. 
 
 the more cultured classes can best be seen by the 
 poems of Hans Sachs and the pictures of Albrecht 
 Diirer. 
 
 The New Testament had not left the press when 
 Luther commenced translating the Old Testament. 
 But now the greatest difficulties began. He called 
 to his assistance the best scholars of his time : Mt- 
 lanchthon, of course ; also Matthew Aurogallus, 
 who was Professor of Hebrew in Wittenberg ; John 
 Forster, a pupil of Reuchlin ; George Rorer ; Bern- 
 hard Ziegler, afterwards Professor of Hebrew in 
 Ansbach, of whom Luther wrote: "I greatly dis- 
 like to see him leave, since he is the most learned, 
 most diligent, most pious, and most painstaking He- 
 brew scholar whom I know." 
 
 "Ach Gott !" he exclaimed, "how hard and la- 
 borious it is to compel the Hebrew writers to speak 
 German! How they do resist and refuse to leave 
 their Hebrew and imitate the barbaric German 
 tongue ! Just as if one tried to force the nightingale 
 to leave her fine tune and imitate the cuckoo, whose 
 tone she abhors." 
 
 To a friend he writes : "I openly confess that I 
 took too much upon myself when I decided to trans- 
 late the Old Testament. The Hebrew language is 
 so unfamiliar that even the Jews do not know much 
 about it. I thought that I knew a little something, 
 and now I find that I do not even understand m.y 
 own native tongue." 
 
 But the work progressed in spite of all the diffi- 
 culties which had to be overcome. The Old Tes- 
 tament appeared in several parts. In 1523 the Pen- 
 tateuch was printed, in 1524 the historical books 
 
Building Up the Ne;w. i35 
 
 followed. The translation of the prophetic and 
 poetical books was the hardest part of the whole 
 work. Especially the Book of Job tried his patience 
 to the utmost. "In four days Master Philippus, 
 Aurogallus, and I could sometimes hard y finish 
 three lines," he complains, and adds jokingly : Old 
 Job seems to endure our attempts at translation even 
 less graciously than the consolations of his friends 
 
 He spared no pains to make the version both 
 accurate and popular. He wrote to a number of 
 learned Humanists inquiring concerning the names 
 of coins; he requested his friend Spalatin to study 
 the jewels in the possession of the Elector, and to 
 give him their exact names; he inquired of me- 
 chanics the correct designations of their tools; he 
 even had a butcher kill a lamb and explain to him 
 the proper terms for the various parts used in the 
 sacrificial code of the ancient Hebrews. 
 
 Though accurate, his translation does not claim 
 to be literal. "I wanted to speak German, not Latin 
 nor Greek, when I began to translate. You can 
 not expect to learn German by merely looking at 
 the Latin letters; you must inquire of the mother 
 in the house, of the children on the streets, of the 
 common man in the market place. You have to 
 watch their speech, how they express themselves, 
 and then you may go ahead and translate. Ihen 
 they will understand you, and it is plain to them 
 that you address them in real German." Accord- 
 ingly he substituted the current German designa- 
 tions for the Hebrew coins and measures and 
 weights, and speaks of Heller and Groschen, of 
 EUe, Mass, and Schefifel. 
 
136 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 Was this a detriment? The man who, next to 
 Luther, is the greatest genius Germany ever pro- 
 duced, the most potent factor in molding the Ger- 
 man language of the nineteenth and twentieth cen- 
 turies, Goethe, thinks not. Says he: "The fact is 
 that this excellent man [Luther] has rendered in 
 the vernacular, just as of one mold, a work written 
 in a variety of styles, containing poetry,' historical 
 records, commands, admonitions, and has promoted 
 the cause of religion more than if he had tried to 
 imitate the peculiarities of the original in every de- 
 tail." And Goethe confesses that he is dependent 
 on Luther to find the right expression for the deep- 
 est emotions of the human soul. 
 
 Luther was not satisfied with the first word that 
 occurred to him. "It sometimes happened that I 
 looked and inquired a fortnight, even three to four 
 weeks for a good word, without being able to find 
 what I wanted." The following sentence touching 
 the rendering of the angel's greeting to the Virgin 
 Mary may illustrate his painstaking care: "Liter- 
 ally the words of the angel would have to be given, 
 'Mary full of graces.' But where do you hear a 
 German use this expression? As soon as you say 
 'full' he will think of a barrel full of beer, or of a 
 bag full of money. Therefore I translated, 'Du 
 Holdselige.' If I had dared to use the very best 
 German, I should have said, 'Gott grusse dich, du 
 Hebe Maria !' — God greet thee, dear Mary. This is 
 exactly what the angel meant to say, and this he 
 would have said had he spoken in German. Every- 
 body who speaks German knows how hearty and 
 how fine these words sound, 'du Hebe Maria.' " 
 
Buii^DiNG Up the New. 137 
 
 At last the task was accomplished. In 1534 the 
 whole Bible, including some of the apocryphal 
 books, was printed. 
 
 The great work was finished, but its author 
 never, as long as he lived, ceased revising and im- 
 proving it. His first biographer, John Matthesius, 
 gives a vivid description how Luther assembled the 
 best scholars of his own university, and frequently 
 invited guests from abroad. This/'Sanhedrin" met 
 once a week in his home. Each one had thoroughly 
 studied the particular passage under discussion, and 
 had consulted the Church Fathers and commenta- 
 tors ; often one or the other of the company had 
 asked the opinion of learned Jews or searched the 
 comments of the rabbis. The Hebrew text, the 
 Aramaic, the Greek, the Latin versions were com- 
 pared, and the meaning of the passage was fully 
 discussed before the rendering was finally settled 
 upon. 
 
 New and revised editions appeared in 1541 and 
 1543, and the final staindard edition in I545- 
 
 Hans Lufft, Luther's printer, sold between the 
 years 1534 and 1575 over one hundred thousand 
 copies, an immense sale for those times. Besides, 
 there were fifty-two reprints in other cities, there 
 being no copyright. "He and other printers made 
 fortunes, while Luther never asked nor received a 
 copper for the greatest work of his life." 
 
 The same reasons which led to a revision of the 
 English Bible induced the German scholars to re- 
 vise Luther's work. In the city of Eisenach, under 
 the shadow of the Wartburg, the representatives of 
 the German State Churches resolved, in the year 
 
138 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 1862, to intrust the work of revision to a commis- 
 sion of the best scholars of Germany. The result 
 of their labors was published in 1883, and, after 
 being on trial for a period of ten years, the final 
 text was authorized in 1892 by the "Eisenach 
 Church Conference." Slowly but surely this re- 
 vised version is being adopted. It is good as far 
 as it goes, but it is safe to say that Luther himself 
 would not have been satisfied with it. He would 
 have made more sweeping changes, and adapted it 
 more to the language of the twentieth century. 
 
 Luther's Bible was the basis for most European 
 versions. Even in the English Bible its influence 
 can be traced. William Tyndale lived in Witten- 
 berg from 1523 to 1526, and finished the transla- 
 tion of his English New Testament in Luther's uni- 
 versity town. He knew the Reformer personally, 
 and used as his most important helps the Vulgate 
 and Luther's translation. Miles Coverdale, Tyn- 
 dale's successor, published the whole English Bible 
 in 1535 in Antwerp, and his work is based largely 
 upon Tyndale and Luther. 
 
 One more item links the English-speaking world 
 to Luther's great work. In the very first edition 
 of his New Testament he had printed short pre- 
 faces to the several books. Of these the most com- 
 prehensive and important is the Preface to the Epis- 
 tle to the Romans, written on the Wartburg. This 
 Preface was translated into English and read quite 
 extensively. It is well known that more than two 
 hundred years later, on that memorable night of 
 the 24th of May, 1738, in a society meeting in Al- 
 dersgate Street in London, while some one was 
 
BUII.DING Up the New. i39 
 
 reading Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the 
 Romans at a quarter before nine, John Wesley felt 
 his heart strangely warmed, and felt that he did 
 trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation. And it 
 is of this scene, familiar to all who have read the 
 history of Methodism, that Mr. Lecky, the historian 
 of the eighteenth century, says, "It is scarcely an 
 exaggeration to say that the scene which took place 
 at that humble meeting at Aldersgate Street forms 
 an epoch in English history." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 CHECKING RELIGIOUS FANATICISM. 
 
 The large hall of the Black Bear Tavern in the 
 city of Jena was filled with a motley crowd of 
 guests on the afternoon of a rainy March day in 
 the year 1522. A heavy thunderstorm had driven 
 citizens and travelers from the streets, and many 
 took refuge in the inn. Among the latest arrivals 
 were two students from Switzerland who were on 
 their way to the University of Wittenberg. Mod- 
 estly they took chairs near the door, since their 
 clothes were soaking wet from the heavy rain and 
 their boots covered with mud. A knight, seated at 
 one of the tables, noticed them, called them to his 
 table, and treated them very cordially. To their as- 
 tonishment he inquired about various schools and 
 professors, and was evidently well acquainted with 
 the leading scholars. They were still more amazed 
 when they discovered that the book which he held in 
 his hands was the Hebrew text of the Psalms. 
 
 Who could he be? They surmised that it was 
 Knight von Sickingen ; the host had a suspicion that 
 it was Luther ; but the mysterious stranger, who 
 had requested the students to convey his greetings to 
 Dr. Schurf in Wittenberg, upon being asked what 
 name they should mention, smilingly replied, "Tell 
 him he who is coming sends greetings." 
 140 
 
BuiivDiNG Up the Ne;w. 141 
 
 A few days after, the two students called on Dr. ' 
 Schurf in Wittenberg, and to their surprise the)' 
 saw in his house the same knight. It was Dr. Mar- 
 tin Luther, 
 
 He had made a flying trip to his town some 
 months before, but now he concluded that his per- 
 manent presence was necessary. Melanchthon had 
 urged him to return ; the City Council was desirous 
 to have him back ; affairs in the university and the 
 city had taken such a turn that he felt duty bound 
 to be personally present; and, consequently, in the 
 face of dangers, Luther, excommtmicated and un- 
 der the ban of the emperor as he was, the well- 
 meant warnings of the Elector to the contrary not- 
 withstanding, left his quiet retreat and openly re- 
 sumed his work as professor and preacher in Wit- 
 tenberg. 
 
 From the maelstrom of world-politics in Worms 
 he was suddenly transferred to the solitude of the 
 Wartburg, and, again, from the quiet occupation of 
 translating the New Testament he jumped, just as 
 suddenly, into the turmoil and agitation of mob rule 
 and religious fanaticism. 
 
 New ideas make minds free, but immature 
 minds are apt to mistake liberty for license. Every 
 step upward brings the mountain-climber nearer 
 the summit, but it also makes the precipice, yawn- 
 ing at his side, deeper and more dangerous. Woe 
 unto him if dizziness robs his eye of clearness, his 
 foot of steadiness ! Great changes in the moral or 
 social conditions of peoples are always accompanied 
 by unhealthy disturbances. The path to health 
 seems to lead through the convulsions of acute 
 
142 LuThkr: The; LeadB^r. 
 
 fever. Not only the noble traits are called into ac- 
 tion, but bad instincts are likewise stirred up. There 
 appear on the surface the more excitable, unsteady 
 elements, also the baser and more violent. Those 
 v/ho are dissatisfied for any reason with the exist- 
 ing order of things, think the time has come to vent 
 their feelings of discontent, even revenge ; chronic 
 and professional agitators are bred with astounding 
 rapidity ; minds are easily unbalanced ; recklessness 
 and foolish impetuosity are mistaken for zeal ; old 
 things are attacked needlessly and maliciously. 
 "Down with the old !" is the war cry, while the new 
 ideas have not sufficiently matured. Destructive 
 forces are rampant, while the constructive factors 
 are not yet at work. 
 
 When existing conditions of life have become 
 antiquated ; when political misgovernment, social 
 wrongs, moral and religious defects are keenly felt 
 and freely discussed ; when times are pregnant with 
 coming changes, — then rank enthusiasm easily 
 usurps the place of sane discernment ; then it is easy 
 to be an agitator, but tremendously difficult to be 
 a sane leader. 
 
 It never was very difficult to arouse the popu- 
 lace. The "psychological crowd" will follow the 
 leader with irresistible force. Even under favor- 
 able conditions there is much truth in the warning 
 cry of Erasmus, quoted in a previous chapter ; but 
 if the leader is a mere agitator, or if he loses his 
 head, untold disaster is sure to follow. If he is 
 weak, the crowd in its mad rush will overpower 
 him, trample him down, and be plunged into de- 
 struction. 
 
Building Up the N^w. 143 
 
 Luther had fought the pope and the whole 
 Roman hierarchy ; he had faced the emperor and 
 the prhices ; but he had also aroused the masses. 
 Now the crisis was upon him. He had to check 
 the seemingly resistless forces which he himself had 
 set free ; he had to give the supreme proof of leader- 
 ship by facing the masses and restraining them from 
 perverting a reformation into a revolution. 
 
 Martin Luther possessed the moral courage to 
 undertake it. He also had the common sense and 
 the strength which are necessary to accomplish it. 
 
 During Luther's absence, Wittenberg had be- 
 come a hotbed for all sorts of disturbances and 
 radical movements. Outbreaks occurred in Er- 
 furt and other cities. In the former place sixty 
 houses belonging to the clergy were stormed and 
 burned down within a few days ; the inmates were 
 compelled to flee for their lives. Trouble was 
 brewing in Zwickau, the second city of the Elector- 
 ate, situated near the Bohemian frontier. There 
 arose prophets and dreamers among the cloth- 
 weavers, who constituted the most numerous class 
 of the inhabitants. They set aside the Bible and 
 held themselves inspired by God ; they proclaimed 
 the coming of the kingdom of God in which all 
 things were to be held in common, and they felt 
 called by God to prepare the way by throwing down 
 all opposition. 
 
 From Erfurt, from Zwickau, from Bohemia, and 
 from other places, all sorts of religious cranks and 
 fanatics flocked to Wittenberg, confident of their 
 ability to assist the Reformers. Melanchthon did 
 not know what to do ; Karlstadt lost his head. His 
 
144 Luther: The: L,e;ade;r. 
 
 ambition to take the first place in the reformatory 
 movement asserted itself. Here was his chance, 
 and he made the best of it. He precipitated radical 
 changes. Mass was abolished; the altars were re- 
 moved from the churches ; the pictures were taken 
 away and burned ; the mass-robes of the priests were 
 torn to pieces ; communion was administered in 
 both forms ; it was even considered sinful to par- 
 take of the sacrament, when the cup was withheld 
 from the people ; confession preparatory to com- 
 munion was done away with ; monks were urged 
 to abandon the monasteries ; priests were impor- 
 tuned to get married ; Karlstadt went so far as to 
 teach that nobody could be a pastor unless he had 
 a wife and children. He himself set a good example 
 by taking a wife and celebrating his marriage with 
 all possible publicity, inviting the whole town, even 
 the Elector. 
 
 In a short time thirteen Augustinian monks left 
 the convent. Some former monks and priests, 
 among them men of unsavory reputation, married. 
 On the streets of Wittenberg one could see men and 
 women eat meat on Fridays ; they thought this was 
 an open confession of their faith. To a good many 
 gospel liberty consisted in showing contempt for 
 the existing forms of worship and in doing away, 
 in the most radical and offensive manner, with 
 everything that was heretofore held sacred. An 
 Augustinian monk by name of Zwilling taught from 
 the pulpit that no one wearing a monk's hood could 
 be saved. He wanted all monks expelled and all 
 convents demolished. 
 
 The zeal of the radicals was still more inflamed 
 
BuiivDiNG Up the N^w. 145 
 
 by a number of Zwickau prophets, who came to Wit- 
 tenberg. These self-styled prophets could neither 
 read nor write, but they were full of the Holy 
 Spirit and boasted of special revelations. There 
 was really no more need of going to school or of 
 teaching, since men arose who knew everything by 
 immediate revelation. Professor Karlstadt advised 
 his students to leave the lecture halls and become 
 farmers, because farming was the only occupation 
 which enjoyed the approval of the Holy Book. He 
 himself bought a farm near Wittenberg, donned 
 peasant's clothes, and assumed the name of 
 "Brother Andrew." He did not, however, forget 
 to draw regularly his salary as university professor. 
 One of the school-teachers publicly warned the par- 
 ents to keep the children away from school since 
 God in His wisdom saw fit to save the world, not by 
 man's wisdom. His advice was followed, and the 
 empty schoolhouse was turned into a bread house 
 for the poor. Professor Karlstadt quit studying. 
 He was now frequently seen going to some ignorant 
 tradesman or mechanic with his Bible under his 
 arm, to inquire from him the meaning of some diffi- 
 cult passage ; for it pleased God to reveal himself to 
 the simple-minded. 
 
 Luther was kept informed of the developments 
 in Wittenberg. He wrote a strong letter to Me- 
 lanchthon, denouncing the prophets and disapprov- 
 ing the radical changes. He also wrote a tract, 
 "Admonition to All Christians to Abstain from Riot 
 and Sedition," but it was soon clear to him that 
 nothing short of his personal presence could cope 
 with the perilous situation. 
 
 V 
 
146 IvUThi;r: Th^ Le;ader. 
 
 He notified the Elector of his intention, but was 
 bidden to remain in his concealment. In a ver} 
 kind letter Frederick showed him the embarrassing 
 position into which his return would place himself; 
 the emperor and some of the princes would demand 
 from him the execution of the ban, and he would not 
 be able to protect him any longer. 
 
 This was very true. Luther was excommuni- 
 cated ; he was an outlaw. His only safety rested in 
 his remaining in hiding. The only man willing and 
 able to protect him was the Elector. What would 
 happen if Frederick should withdraw his sheltering 
 hand? 
 
 Luther had only one answer. "I am needed," 
 he said, and remembering that, in order to reach 
 Wittenberg he had to traverse the territory of his 
 fiercest opponent, Duke George of Saxony, he 
 added : "I shall go, even though it should rain 
 Duke Georges for nine days in succession, each one 
 of them fiercer than the original duke in Dresden." 
 
 "I am needed," he wrote to the Elector the night 
 before he reached Wittenberg, in a letter which 
 Professor De Wette calls "an admirable monument 
 of lofty faith and noble courage." "I write this to 
 apprise you that I am on my way to Wittenberg, 
 protected by One who is higher than the Elector. 
 I do not ask for the protection of the Elector; I 
 even think that I can protect him better than he can 
 protect me. Did I think that I had to put my trust 
 in the Elector I should not come at all. The sword 
 is powerless here. God alone must act without 
 man's interference. He who has most faith will be 
 the most powerful protector." 
 
Building Up the; Ne;w. 147 
 
 On March 6, 1522, he was back in Wittenberg. 
 On the next day he stood in his pulpit. The gar- 
 ments of the knight were discarded ; he wore again 
 his accustomed hood. 
 
 For eight days in succession Martin Luther 
 mounted his pulpit and preached his famous "Eight 
 Sermons." Without exaggeration it may be said 
 that Luther was at his best in delivering these ser- 
 mons. Never before nor after did he show more 
 strength mingled with moderation and forbearance, 
 more decision and firmness mingled with tender 
 love. These sermons have been called "models of 
 effective popular eloquence." "Not one unkind 
 word, not one unpleasant allusion escaped his lips. 
 In plain, clear, strong, Scriptural language he re- 
 futed the errors without naming the errorists." 
 
 Christian liberty and Christian charity are the 
 two leading thoughts of the sermons. Christians 
 are free, not only from the tyranny of the papal 
 Church, which would force the conscience into wor- 
 shiping in certain strictly defined forms, but they 
 must also be free from religious radicalism, which 
 would force them to discard all forms. Certain 
 matters must be left free, compulsion is unevangel- 
 ical. We Christians need not merely faith and lib- 
 erty, "we need charity, without which even faith 
 availeth nothing," the preacher continued. "I see 
 that you all know how to speak of faith and love. 
 This is nothing remarkable. If it is even possible to 
 teach an ass how to sing, should you not be able to 
 learn that much, that you can repeat words and doc- 
 trines? But the kingdom of God is not in word, 
 but in power and in deed. You need patience. You 
 
148 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 can not do just what you think is right for you, but 
 you must know how to waive your right and see 
 what is good and expedient considering your 
 brother." 
 
 "I should not have carried things as far as you 
 have, had I been here. The thing itself is good, 
 but your zeal was too impetuous. There are 
 brothers and sisters on the other side, and they must 
 be won over to us. Let your faith be firm, but your 
 love be governed by the needs of your neighbor." 
 
 "Granted that some innovations are according 
 to Scripture, they must be accomplished with due 
 regard to law and order. If you had prayed ear- 
 nestly to God and had brought your influence to 
 bear upon the proper authorities, then you could 
 rest assured that God's will is being done. It is 
 out of place to overthrow even bad things in a dis- 
 orderly manner." 
 
 "Summa summarum," the preacher ended : "I 
 will preach, speak, write, but I will force no one ; 
 for faith must be voluntary. Take me as an exam- 
 ple. I stood up against the pope, indulgences, and 
 all papists, but without violence or uproar. I only 
 preached, urged, and declared God's Word, noth- 
 ing else. And yet, while I was asleep, or drinking 
 Wittenberg beer with my Philip Melanchthon and 
 Amsdorf, the Word inflicted greater injury on 
 popery than prince or emperor ever did. I did noth- 
 ing; the Word did everything. Had I appealed, to 
 force, all Germany might have been deluged with 
 blood ; yea, I might have kindled a conflict at 
 Worms, so that the emperor would not have been 
 safe. But what would have been the result? Ruin 
 
Building Up the; NiJvv. 149 
 
 and desolation of body and soul. I therefore kept 
 quiet and gave the Word free course through the 
 world. The Word is almighty and takes captive 
 the hearts." 
 
 The immediate effects of these sermons was 
 one of Luther's great triumphs. Order and peace 
 were re-established. The prophets, convinced that 
 Luther's piety was of an inferior order, left for 
 more promising fields after the Reformer, in a pri- 
 vate interview, had given them a piece of his mind. 
 Karlstadt went to the little town of Orlamiinde. 
 His best days were a thing of the past. After lead- 
 ing a roaming life for some years he died of the 
 plague. The other radicals asked for pardon and 
 went about their business. Regular lectures were 
 resumed in the university, and the students had to 
 learn their lessons instead of attempting to solve 
 the social and religious problems. 
 
 A number of Church ceremonies which Luther 
 did not deem misleading or harmful, and to which 
 the people were accustomed, were restored ; only 
 those parts of the service which were not compati- 
 ble with evangelical truth were definitely abolished. 
 Luther claimed that true liberty shows itself in tol- 
 erating non-essentials in order to spare the weak 
 brother. Said he: "If alone, I can wield a naked 
 sword as I please, but in a crowd I must beware 
 lest by my carelessness I injure others." These 
 concessions to the weaker consciences were to be 
 gradually removed. People were to be educated 
 to the use of their liberty, but they were not to be 
 compelled. It was in perfect harmony with these 
 liberal sentiments that he wrote to Spalatin to take 
 
I50 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 care that the Elector did not defile his hands with 
 the blood of the Zwickau enthusiasts. 
 
 Naturally Luther was criticised severely on ac- 
 count of his moderation. Many called him a reac- 
 tionary. Said one of them: "I do not care for 
 those painted evangelists in Wittenberg; they only 
 lead the people by the nose. We want prophets 
 who do things." 
 
 There were certainly many problems to be 
 solved and many innovations to be made which re- 
 quired utmost prudence on the part of the Re- 
 former. The Elector, for instance, although 
 Luther's friend and protector, was deeply attached 
 to some of the ancient usages. The pride of his 
 heart was the collection of sacred relics in the 
 Castle Church in Wittenberg. In the year 1509 it 
 numbered 5,005 pieces; in 1520 it had increased to 
 17,850 pieces. Every year on All-Saints' Day the 
 people -poured .into the old church to view these 
 relics. Thousands of private masses — 9,901 in all 
 — had to be read every year ; they were paid for by 
 pious persons, attracted by the precious relics. 
 Luther could not keep silent. He more than once 
 offended his aged prince by preaching against the 
 worship of relics and against private masses, and 
 begging of Frederick to reform this "Bethaven." 
 
 How was it possible, we may ask, that Luther 
 remained undisturbed in the broad daylight of pub- 
 licity? The answer is to be found in the political 
 situation. At first the imperial government urged 
 the Elector to execute the ban ; the new pope, Had- 
 rian VL who succeeded Leo in January, 1522, sent 
 letters and legates to Frederick and to the Diet of 
 
Buii<DiNG Up the Nkw. 151 
 
 Nurnberg. Frederick, as usual, took no decisive 
 steps. Upon his request, Luther wrote a letter to him, 
 stating that he had returned to Wittenberg against 
 his sovereign's wish for the purpose of quelling the 
 seditions and disorders. In view of his marked suc- 
 cess, and considering the many signs of rising dis- 
 satisfaction and threatening revolution, the imperial 
 government did not dare to molest him lest he might 
 be driven over to the knights, who were preparing 
 war against the Church and the princes, or to the 
 peasants, who rose in arms against all existing 
 order. 
 
 The situation was changed. The events which 
 had occurred in the little town of Wittenberg con- 
 vinced even the dull politicians, in whose hands the 
 government of Germany rested, that there was but 
 one man strong enough to check the dreaded revo- 
 lutionary movements; and this man was Martin 
 Luther. 
 
/ 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AGAINST THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION- 
 ISTS. 
 
 / The first decades of the sixteenth century were 
 turbulent times. It was a period of transitions and 
 of changing conditions. Social and political condi- 
 tions which had lasted for centuries appeared like 
 garments that had become too small. The growing 
 youth feels how they pinch and sees how ill they 
 fit; he is impatient to get rid of them, but his new 
 suit is not quite finished ; he does n't know how it 
 will look ; in fact, he does n't know whether he will 
 have one at all. 
 
 The religious movement we call the German 
 Reformation was by no means an isolated phenom- 
 enon. It was the most significant of a number of 
 movements for greater freedom, and since it 
 touched the most important phase of human life, the 
 religious nature, it gave color and strength to the 
 contemporaneous movements. 
 
 The old feudal system of the Middle Ages was 
 slowly giving way to a new social structure reared 
 on the basis of commerce and free citizenship. The 
 discoveries and conquests of new continents had 
 given an unprecedented rise to commerce as car- 
 ried on by the citizens of the free cities. The citi- 
 zens, heretofore of little significance in comparison 
 152 
 
BUII.DING Up the: New. i53 
 
 with the knights, rose into prominence. Owing to 
 the changed mode of warfare it became evident that 
 their weahh was of greater importance to the kings 
 and princes than the strong castles and the heavy 
 cuirasses of the knights. 
 
 The accumulation of wealth in the cities had as 
 its concomitant a more luxurious mode of living. 
 Unknown luxuries were imported and displayed by 
 the wives and daughters of the wealthy burghers. 
 The discovery of gold in America lessened the pur- 
 chase value of money. While all these changes 
 were taking place, the knights, whose position be- 
 came more precarious every year, had no additional 
 means of income to compete with the merchants, 
 unless it was to appropriate the possessions of the 
 Church organizations or to levy higher taxes on 
 their peasants. 
 
 There was also a widespread and growing dis- 
 satisfaction among the peasants and laborers. They 
 were looking for an opportunity to shake off the 
 oppressive yoke of feudalism and of bond-servitude.^ 
 Their position became nearly unbearable. The 
 change from an agricultural to a monetary basis ^ 
 marks the beginning of our modern trusts. Com- 
 panies were formed which bought up the necessities 
 of life and raised the prices. The cost of living in- 
 creased, wages did not increase. The citizens be- 
 came overbearing towards the peasants, the knights 
 grew more oppressive. Stories of untold riches, 
 of whole mountains of gold which were discovered 
 in the new countries beyond the seas, were circu- 
 lated. "Walking delegates" stirred up the flames 
 of discontent by dwelling upon the sufferings and 
 
154 Luthe;r: The; LeIadkr. 
 
 the wrongs of the poor. No one knew where these 
 agitators came from ; they appeared, scattered the 
 seeds of sedition, left incendiary pamphlets, and 
 were gone again. Leagues were formed and revo- 
 lutions broke out here and there. They were im- 
 mediately put down by force of arms, but the fire 
 kept smoldering under the ashes. All that was 
 necessary was to apply the torch to this mass of 
 combustible material, and the whole civilized world 
 was aflame. 
 
 The movements tending to a social revolution 
 were entirely independent of Luther's work. A 
 revolution would have broken out even if Martin 
 Luther had never lived. But the impulses which 
 he gave brought many latent powers into activity 
 and hastened the consummation of the impending 
 and unavoidable upheaval. 
 
 It was evident at the Diet of Worms that the 
 party of the knights considered Luther a valuable 
 ally. They were ready to introduce a religious 
 plank into their platform, "Away from Rome! 
 Down with the ecclesiastical princes!" was their 
 political motto, and as it happened that their ene- 
 mies were the foes of Luther and the Gospel, the 
 knights added to their battle-cry the words, "For 
 a free Gospel." When Franz von Sickingen ac- 
 tually commenced war against the princes, he gave 
 to his army the motto, "Blessed death for the Gos- 
 pel, or glorious victory !" and his horsemen wore 
 emblazoned upon their coat-sleeves the words, "O 
 Lord, Thy will be done !" They used Luther's 
 name, and connected their cause with his. 
 
 In his "Address to the German Nobility" Luther 
 
Building Up the Nj^vv. 155 
 
 appealed to the princes and knights to Hberate the 
 nation from the foreign yoke. He was fully in har- 
 mony v/ith the plan of compelling the ecclesiastical 
 dignitaries to surrender their dominions, but held 
 that this should be done by resolution of the Diet, 
 in accordance with law and order. He discounte- 
 nanced any and every revolutionary measure, and, 
 therefore, refused to enter into an alliance with 
 the political party of the knights. 
 
 The crushing defeat which Franz von Sickingen 
 and his party suffered, naturally heightened 
 Luther's precarious position for the time being. 
 "The enemy of the emperor is defeated, next comes 
 the enemy of the pope," was the cry raised by some 
 princes. But they were prevented from executing 
 the edict of Worms by the storms of the Peasants' 
 War, which broke out with all the fury of element- 
 ary forces. 
 
 The knights were not the only ones who linked 
 their cause with the cause of religion. The peas- 
 ants did the same. Just as at the end of the eight- 
 eenth century the French Revolutionists, tired of 
 bearing their misery any longer, persuaded them- 
 selves that they put into reality the beautiful motto, 
 "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite," which was advanced 
 and explained by the philosophers, so at the be- 
 ginning of the sixteenth century the German Revo- 
 lutionists were inspired by the thought that they 
 were to carry out into practical life Luther's great 
 doctrine of the liberty of the Christian. 
 
 The common people had hitherto obeyed im- 
 plicitly the laws of the Church as well as the laws 
 of the secular rulers, without questioning the au- 
 
156 Luthe;r: Thb; Mader. 
 
 thority of the lawgivers or the vaUdity of the laws. 
 They saw that Luther and his adherents made them- 
 selves free from the authority of the Church and 
 declared her laws as not binding. How about the 
 secular laws? 
 
 If men are made free by Christ, purchased by 
 His blood, why should they be the bond-servants 
 of men? H God's Word is to be the highest au- 
 thority in religious matters, why not in social and 
 civic matters likewise? If the Church was rotten 
 and needed reform, why not the State? If the 
 claims of the pope and the clergy were to be re- 
 jected because they contradicted the Scriptures, 
 why should the unjust demands of the secular 
 princes be heeded ? If the common man is a priest 
 and has the right to reform matters pertaining to 
 worship and Church administration and privileges 
 of the clergy, why should he not have equal right 
 to reform matters pertaining to secular adminis- 
 tration, to taxes, wages, and privileges of the land- 
 owners ? 
 
 Social revolutionism and religious fanaticism 
 formed a dangerous alliance. Luther's powerful 
 personality had checked the tide of religious fanat- 
 icism in Wittenberg. But the fanatics were still 
 alive, and their dreams and revelations found ready 
 acceptance in other places. The religious radicals 
 hoped that the swords and halberds of the peasants 
 would speedily bring victory to their cause, the lat- 
 ter fondly imagined that the religionists would 
 prove their demands as founded upon the Bible. 
 And there were many who considered religious and 
 civil liberty as necessary concomitants; others, es- 
 
Building Up thu Ne;w. 157 
 
 pecially former monks and priests, became easily 
 unbalanced, and added to their religious radicalism 
 the fury of social fanaticism. Many of them were 
 mystics who dreamed about the signs and numbers 
 of the Apocalypse, and spoke in glowing terms and 
 in apocalyptic imagery of the approaching kingdom 
 of God in which all misery and oppression was to 
 cease. The time had come, according to their 
 minds, when this kingdom was to be established, if 
 need be, by force of arms, and the tyrants who stand 
 in the way of the realization of God's plans must be 
 strangled like mad dogs. 
 
 Among the most dangerous of this type of lead- 
 ers was Thomas Munzer, who organized the cloth - 
 weavers of Zwickau for the purpose of establishing 
 the kingdom. He combined genuine sympathy with 
 the misery of the submerged classes with unbounded 
 fanaticism and hatred against Church, State, and 
 society. Being a popular orator his passionate elo- 
 quence aroused the people wherever he appeared. 
 "At it ! at it, while the fire is hot ! Keep your 
 swords warm with blood !" he called to the miners 
 in Luther's boyhood home. 
 
 In South Germany leagues and unions were 
 formed, and twelve articles were drawn up, setting 
 forth the demands of the peasantry. This document 
 was a peculiar mixture of religious and political 
 issues; it is an illustration of the ideas and ideals 
 by which many minds were actuated. The arti- 
 cles were based on the Mosaic law and other Scrip- 
 ture passages, and demanded that no civil laws 
 should be recognized as binding unless they could 
 be proven from the Scriptures. The immediate ef- 
 
158 Luthe;r: Th^ Lkader. 
 
 fects of these articles were tremendous. They were 
 regarded as the newly discovered law of God. 
 
 All eyes turned toward Luther. Would he give 
 his support to the cause of civil liberty based upon 
 religious liberty? It seemed as if he could not do 
 anything else, especially since the opponents of the 
 peasants were his foes and the enemies of the Gos- 
 pel. 
 
 This was a critical juncture. The peasants' up- 
 rising was, as has been repeatedly stated by his- 
 torians, the greatest social movement in the history 
 of Germany ; the Reformation, inaugurated by 
 Luther, was the greatest religious movement since 
 the days of the apostles. Luther was the man who 
 had it in his hands to unite the two powerful forces. 
 
 What did he do? 
 
 He certainly was not lacking in patriotism. His 
 "Address to the German Nobility" and other tracts 
 prove this conclusively. Moreover, he knew that 
 religious progress could not be isolated ; its influence 
 must be felt in the civic life of the nation. He cer- 
 tainly had a warm heart for the common people. 
 He deeply sympathized and worked for the better- 
 ment of their condition. 
 
 But there were several weighty reasons which 
 led him to keep aloof, nay, to oppose, the cause of 
 the peasants. He was unalterably adverse to the 
 use of force. Violent, revolutionary measures 
 must, in his opinion, never be resorted to. The 
 government is to him a divine institution; if those 
 in authority misuse their power, God will punish 
 them ; but no Christian has a right to seek redress 
 with his sword or halberd. Luther had such tre- 
 
Building Up Thij Ne;w. 159 
 
 mendous faith in the transforming power of the :,, 
 Word of God that he was firmly convinced that 
 the changes in the outward conditions would ensue 
 in due time as the necessary results of the inner 
 change in the souls of the individuals. The inner, 
 spiritual change, the salvation of one's soul, was cj 
 the matter of paramount interest. For any com- 
 pany of men to seek betterment of outward condi- 
 tions, without having experienced in their souls the 
 saving power of God, appeared to him useless, and 
 in case violence was resorted to, it was reprehensi- -^ 
 ble in the highest degree. 
 
 These considerations were the principles under- 
 lying his tract, "Exhortation to Peace Respecting 
 the Twelve Articles." In the first part of this treat- 
 ise he reproves in passionate language the princes / 
 and the nobility for the misuse of their power. They 
 are to be blamed for the present sedition, since they 
 obstinately fight against the Gospel and oppress the 
 common people till they can no longer bear it. "You 
 must give room to God's Word. If you do not 
 yield out of your own free will, you will be com- 
 pelled by defeats and distress. Even if those peas- 
 ants should fail to humble and chastise you, others 
 will not. God will punish you. The people can not 
 and will not suffer your tyranny and wantonness 
 much longer. God will tolerate it no longer. The 
 world is no more what it formerly was, when you 
 used to drive and chase the people like beasts of 
 the field." To say that his teaching is the cause of JWf 
 the revolt is to blaspheme. Everybody must tes- 
 tify that he taught in all quietness, opposed rebel- 
 lion, admonished the subjects to obey their rulers. 
 
i6o Luther: Thi^ Leade;r. 
 
 even those who were tyrannical. If God, in order 
 to punish them, permits the devil through false 
 prophets to incite the mob, it is surely not his fault. 
 
 It certainly can not be said that Luther defended 
 the princes or had no eyes for the many wrongs 
 they perpetrated. His language is as plain as lan- 
 guage can be, and utterly fearless. 
 
 But he also turns to the peasants. He warns 
 '1^ them not to call their league a "Christian" union. 
 
 God has nothing to do with their undertaking. 
 Wrongs perpetrated by those in authority are no 
 excuse for rebellion. If the rulers refuse to do 
 right, God will find a way to punish them, but 
 Christians must always defend law and order 
 against mob-rule, self-help, and anarchy. The revo- 
 lutionists can not call upon God, since they rely ex- 
 clusively on their own fists. The Christian way is 
 to conquer evil by suffering and crying to God for 
 help. 
 
 Before this tract was printed, the storm had 
 broken forth ; first in South Germany, then rapidly 
 spreading toward the north. The primitive and 
 animal fury, nourished by centuries of suffering, 
 pent up so long a time, finally burst the valves and 
 raged in full force. Deeds of unspeakable cruelty 
 were committed. Those troops of infuriated peas- 
 ants were worse than savage beasts. The leaders, 
 such as they were, had lost all control over them. 
 And yet they still thought they were executing the 
 will of God; one of the troops called itself "the 
 Army of God." 
 
 When the peasants and miners of Saxony be- 
 gan to rise, thereby embittering the last days of the 
 
Building Up the Ne;w. i6i 
 
 good Elector, who was dying in Torgau, Luther 
 went to a number of villages, preaching and warn- 
 ing them to desist and not be misled by the tricks of 
 demagogues. He writes that he was in the midst 
 of rebellious crowds, and traveled among them, 
 often being in danger of his life. "But the more I 
 exhorted the plundering peasants, the more obsti- 
 nate, the prouder, the madder they became." 
 
 Luther heard of unspeakable atrocities. He saw 
 the smoke of burning castles and villages. The 
 drunken and ferocious mob neared Wittenberg. His 
 indignation was thoroughly aroused ; he sat down 
 and wrote what was no doubt the fiercest and most 
 passionate treatise he ever penned, "Against the 
 Murderous, Rioting Bands of Peasants." The peas- 
 ants have deserved death on account of three sins. 
 In the first place they have broken the oath of al- 
 legiance and have compelled others to do likewise. 
 Next they are robbers and murderers ; and, thirdly, 
 they try to justify their knavery by the Bible. 
 "Therefore flee from the peasants, whoever can, as 
 from the devil himself; therefore, good lords, lib- 
 erate, save, have compassion with the poor people, 
 but do not hesitate to cut, knock down, and kill. 
 This is a service of love, to save your neighbor from 
 the bonds of the devil and of hell." 
 
 Retribution came quickly. The nobility rallied 
 and defeated the poorly trained crowds of peasants. 
 Now the tables were turned, and the noblemen grat- 
 ified their revenge and rancor in a most beastly 
 manner. With what measure the peasants meted, it 
 was measured to them again, and they received good 
 measure, pressed down, shaken together and over- 
 II 
 
i62 Luthe;r: The; Leader. 
 
 flowing. It is estimated that about one hundred 
 thousand peasants lost their hves in this war, many 
 of them after having been subjected to excruciating 
 tortures. 
 
 Aside from the terrible cruelties inflicted upon 
 the misled and helpless peasants, which stunned 
 all Germany for the time being, it was clear that 
 the cause of liberty had received a deadly blow. 
 
 It was not till after the defeat of the peasants 
 that Luther's bloodthirsty pamphlet became gener- 
 ally known. His enemies were zealous in circulat- 
 ing it, and it caused a great outcry against him. 
 Popular favor quickly changed into its opposite. 
 But a short time ago the monk of Wittenberg was 
 the idol of the common people, and now it seemed 
 as if he had lost all his friends. And it seemed as 
 if the Reformation could now effectually be crushed. 
 
 Luther was held responsible for all the misery 
 of the fatal war, for the ruined castles, the devas- 
 tated fields, the ravaged villages, and all the untold 
 sufferings. Even Erasmus wrote, "Here you see 
 the fruits of your spirit." The princes accused him 
 of having incited the peasants ; the latter reproached 
 him for having forsaken them in their distress. 
 
 The Romanists thought the time had now come 
 for carrying out the Edict of Worms which placed 
 Luther and his adherents under the ban of the em- 
 pire. Everywhere the evangelicals were persecuted. 
 In the little country of Wiirttemberg alone over 
 forty preachers were hanged or burned at the stake. 
 Dr. Emser and the other literary opponents of 
 Luther wTote sarcastic tracts on "The Unmasked 
 Beast, Luther;" the Humanists turned away from 
 
BuiivDiNG Up the: New. 163 
 
 him. Their quiet studies were disturbed too much ; 
 they were quite unable to improve their Latin style, 
 write polite poetry, and philosophize when there 
 was a revolution going on. And Elector Frederick 
 the Wise, Luther's lifelong friend and protector, 
 was dead. 
 
 The reactionary movement set in in good ear- 
 nest and threatened to bury Martin Luther and his 
 work. 
 
 The Peasants' War, like a blighting frost, chilled 
 the hopes for a general reformatory movement 
 among all classes of German society. It was not 
 like a thunderstorm, purifying the atmosphere and 
 bringing relief, but like a cyclone, leaving nothing 
 but ruin and desolation in its path. "The aspect 
 of Germany has never been more pitiful than it is 
 now," complained Luther. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE. 
 
 Ir* there had been daily newspapers as early as 
 1525 the reporters in the city of Wittenberg would, 
 on the eve of June 13, 1525, have found material 
 for some highly sensational news. The papers of 
 the following morning might have reported with 
 glaring headlines the marriage of a runaway Ber- 
 nardine nun to a former Augustinian monk. The 
 monk was none other than Martin Luther, There 
 were no newspapers at that time, nevertheless the 
 news of the marriage spread rapidly, and caused 
 everywhere no little sensation. 
 
 A great many of his friends were shocked and 
 grieved. His intimate friend, the lawyer Schurf, 
 exclaimed, "If this monk takes a wife, the whole 
 v\'orId, even the devil, will laugh, and his whole 
 work will come to nought." Melanchthon, who did 
 not attend the marriage ceremony, poured out his 
 heart in a long letter in the Greek language, com- 
 plaining bitterly that "this man of God was roped 
 in by some shrewd nun." The enemies of the Re- 
 former were jubilant. Now, at last, the true char- 
 acter of the monk had come to light. His whole 
 opposition against the Church sprang from impure. 
 personal motives. His controlling passion was lust ; 
 he was carnal, fell in love, and wanted to have a 
 wife. That was the whole secret of it. 
 164 
 
Building Up the; New. 165 
 
 This explanation of Luther's action has been 
 adopted by Catholic writers generally, and is ad- 
 vanced even in our own days. 
 
 We must admit that the time which L-uther 
 chose for taking a wife furnished his opponents 
 with arguments against him. 
 
 His prince and protector had died but a few 
 v/eeks before. On May 5, 1525, Elector Frederick 
 the Wise went to his rest after having received the 
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper in both forms and 
 having declined extreme unction. He was the first 
 German prince who, in his dying hour, was willing 
 to rely upon faith in Christ alone, not upon the 
 mediatory offices of the Church. Though he never 
 had a personal meeting with Luther, he was the 
 prudent protector of the bold monk, helping his 
 cause more by his wise counsel and deliberate re- 
 straint than by rash measures. 
 
 Then, there were the disastrous results of the 
 defeat of the peasants ; the reaction against the Ref- 
 ormation. Luther's name was at that time cursed 
 by thousands. All Germany was stricken and de- 
 pressed. And Luther forgot everything else, and 
 had tirfie for courtship and merry-making! We 
 can well imagine the righteous indignation of his 
 Pharisaical opponents. 
 
 Luther's marriage was an act as bold and as far- 
 reaching in its ultimate results as anything he had 
 done before. His disconcerted friends he cheers up 
 with the words, "The angels will rejoice, and the 
 devil shall weep." The motives which impelled him 
 were the highest and purest. He simply considered 
 it his duty to take a wife in order to show the high 
 
i66 Luther: The; Leade;r. 
 
 and holy state of matrimony in the face of all who 
 spoke sneeringly of it, and in order to discard the 
 last monkish pretense of the superior holiness of 
 the unmarried state. His marriage was meant to 
 be a testimony against the popular doctrine of the 
 inferiority and worthlessness of woman. By it he 
 restored the dignity and honor of womanhood. To 
 the Roman Church woman was the sole cause of the 
 fall of man. The serpent was always pictured with 
 a woman's head. To associate with women was 
 dangerous, to marry a woman was proof of a low 
 state of morality. At any rate she was too degen- 
 erate to become the wedded wife of a priest in the 
 Church of God. A life of perfect holiness was con- 
 sidered utterly unattainable in wedlock. 
 
 In order to counteract these doctrines and the 
 moral evils resulting therefrom, Luther had advised 
 a number of priests to enter into matrimony ; but 
 in course of time he felt that he must not only 
 preach but practice. A few years before, when 
 Karlstadt and Justus Jonas had married, he wrote to 
 Spalatin, "They won't force a wife on me," but he 
 soon changed his mind. To the Elector Albrecht 
 of Mainz he wrote a letter encouraging him to 
 marry and change his bishopric into a temporal 
 principality, and in this letter he declares : "If my 
 own marriage should be an encouragement to your 
 grace, I would be ready to set an example, since I 
 intend to be in the married state before I depart this 
 life, deeming this the state which God enjoins upon 
 men." 
 
 Having once decided a matter, it was not his 
 way to delay its execution. His choice fell upon 
 
BuiivDiNG Up the: N^w. 167 
 
 Katharina von Bora, a young lady of an old and 
 highly honored but impoverished family. At the 
 age of ten years she had been taken to the convent 
 at Nimptsch, but in 1523, when twenty-four years 
 old, she escaped together with eight other nuns, 
 and came to Wittenberg. Luther was kept busy in 
 finding suitable places for these and other nuns who 
 escaped and took refuge in Wittenberg. He tried 
 to secure for them places as teachers or to marry 
 them to some honest fellow. He had a husband in 
 view for Miss von Bora, but when Pastor Amsdorf 
 informed her of it, she haughtily replied that she 
 had no objections to marry either Amsdorf or Dr. 
 Luther, but she did not wish the one proposed, 
 
 Luther, it seems, took the hint. Without con- 
 sulting anybody he married her on June 13, 1525, 
 in the presence of only a few of his most intimate 
 friends, and on June 27th the public celebration was 
 held. "If I had not married her quickly and 
 quietly," he remarked later, "only a few friends 
 knowing it, they all would have prevented it ; for 
 even my best friends cried, 'Not this one but some 
 one else.' " 
 
 The newly married couple remained in the Au- 
 gustinian convent. All the other monks had left it 
 long before, Luther and the aged prior were the 
 only ones who had been living there for some years. 
 The convent was by no means a comfortable, much 
 less a cozy home. It was built as a cloister for men, 
 consisting of rows of small cells. But "Frau 
 Kathe" succeeded in gradually converting the dis- 
 mal convent into a cheerful home. The new Elector, 
 John, made a present of the whole property to 
 
i68 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 Luther, and exempted it from all taxes. The uni- 
 versity and the city of Wittenberg also showed their 
 respect by giving substantial gifts. 
 
 There was not much romance in Luther's court- 
 ship, but his married life proved to be a very happy 
 one. As the years passed by, the love of husband 
 and wife grew stronger and deeper. He was fond 
 of teasing her; in his letters he calls her all kinds 
 of pet names. She had a mind of her own, and did 
 not hesitate to carry out her ideas. Both were 
 strong characters, and were accustomed to assert 
 themselves, but their married life was permeated by 
 the maxim which Luther enunciated in one of his 
 Table Talks: "Man and wife must, above every- 
 thing else, live together in love and harmony, so 
 that the one shall endeavor to please the other heart- 
 ily and faithfully." 
 
 Six children were born to them. Two of them 
 died in infancy ; the three sons became good, useful 
 men, without, however, rising above mediocrity; 
 the daughter married a prominent Saxon officer, 
 but died shortly afterward. Luther's last male de- 
 scendant died in the year 1759. 
 
 Luther spent much time with his family. He 
 fully realized the duty of the parent towards the 
 children. He remarks occasionally, "Rightfully we 
 say that God has blessed us by the gift of a child, 
 but how few of us will appreciate and vmderstand 
 this blessing!" 
 
 He was a close observer, was never tired of 
 watching the children, of studying their characters 
 and learning from them. Again and again he 
 writes of their doings, and speaks of them in his 
 
Building Up the Ne;w. 169 
 
 Table Talks. They teach him many spiritual truths, 
 more particularly simplicity, purity, and confidence, 
 and furnish a never-ceasing source of illustrations. 
 To give them a good religious education was his 
 prime object. "It does not matter whether we 
 make our children heirs of great wealth ; we should 
 rather strive to make them wise, so that they can 
 make good use of whatever they may inherit. We 
 parents are great fools for leaving to our children 
 many worldly goods but neglecting to train them 
 in the fear of God, in self-discipline and honesty." 
 
 His method of education was guided by two 
 maxims. Said he, "Christ, wishing to educate men, 
 became a man, and if we wish to educate children 
 we must become like children." And in the second 
 place, thinking back no doubt of his own dreary 
 childhood days, he demands that "the apple must 
 lie next to the rod." 
 
 Luther did, indeed, become like a child among 
 his children. He answered their childish questions 
 appropriately, telling them stories, writing beautiful, 
 childlike letters, when away from home, and never 
 returning from a trip without bringing some small 
 gifts. But he could also be severe when it was 
 necessary. "I would rather have a dead son than 
 cne who has gone wrong," he said, and again, "How 
 it spoils children if we let them have their own will 
 and fail to punish them !" He believed in corporal 
 punishment though not exclusively. Upon a cer- 
 tain occasion he punished his oldest son Hans by 
 forbidding him to come into his father's presence 
 until he had asked forgiveness. 
 
 The influence of the home life was, in his opin- 
 
I70 Luther: The: Leader. 
 
 ion, of the greatest importance to the welfare of 
 the country. We do well to-day to heed the follow- 
 ing counsel: "If children are not trained to obe- 
 dience in their own homes, it will never be brought 
 about that a whole city, country, or kingdom will be 
 governed well. Family government is the most 
 fundamental government, whence all other forms of 
 government originate. Where there is no good 
 root, there can grow neither a good tree nor good 
 fruits." 
 
 The high place which he accorded to the family 
 life naturally led him to regard the home as the 
 legitimate sphere of activity for woman. "Her 
 calling is to be man's helpmate, to raise children, 
 and to manage the house. If she would stay single 
 and pursue some other line of work she could not, 
 by doing so, be purer nor do more good than in 
 the family." The work done by a faithful mother 
 in her family, insignificant though it may seem, is 
 of incalculable value. Her patience, painstaking 
 endurance, and love can be surpassed only by God's 
 love to mankind. Shortsighted and foolish is a 
 wife who neglects her household duties to engage 
 upon other work. His advice is : "Treat your hus- 
 band in such a manner that he will be glad when, in 
 returning, he sees the roof of his house ; and, hus- 
 band, live with your wife so that she does not like 
 to see you go away, and is happy when you come 
 home again." Another of his sayings, showing his 
 practical common sense is : "The man is to be pitied 
 whose wife does not know anything about the 
 kitchen; this is the first misfortune from which 
 many others follow." 
 
Building Up the New. 171 
 
 Luther is far from underestimating woman's 
 natural abilities, but he recognizes the difference in 
 the constitution and endowments of the two sexes. 
 He certainly emancipated woman from the de- 
 graded position she occupied in the Catholic Church, 
 but he did not wish to emancipate her from the laws 
 of nature and of God. 
 
 Woman, as well as man, is a priest before God, 
 and it is her privilege likewise to offer up her tal- 
 ents, gifts, and powers as a sacrifice to God in the 
 service of mankind. Besides the proper work in 
 the realm of the family, there are two fields in par- 
 ticular open to women. They are the best teachers 
 of the young, especially of girls, and Luther urged 
 all Churches to employ good, pious women to in- 
 struct the girls under twelve years of age ; and then 
 women are peculiarly gifted to do the work which 
 our modern deaconesses are doing. "Women who 
 love the Lord, as a rule, have a special gift to com- 
 fort the afflicted and to soothe the pains of the 
 sick." In exceptional cases, as for instance when 
 there are only women present, he sees no objection 
 to preaching by woman. 
 
 Woman's faithfulness is constantly praised by 
 him. "Whenever and wherever women have re- 
 ceived the truth of the Gospel, they are much 
 stronger and more intense in their faith and hold it 
 faster than men do." 
 
 The possibility of women earning their own 
 bread and being independent of the support of the 
 stronger sex did not occur to him. It was pre- 
 cluded by the social conditions of his time. 
 
 "Given to hospitality" might have been a fitting 
 
172 Luthi^r: Th^ Li^ad^r. 
 
 motto for the Luther home. Martin Luther's fam- 
 ily consisted not only of his wife and their own 
 children. There was also his wife's aunt, known 
 as Muhme Lene, who had likewise escaped from a 
 convent ; then there were three nieces and four sons 
 of his brothers ; and, after the ravages of the plague 
 in 1527, he took several orphans and widows in his 
 home. Besides, there were the tutors of his chil- 
 dren and some of their pupils. One of the tutors' 
 brought day after day six pupils to take their meals 
 at Frau Kathe's table. 
 
 Luther's home was for years a refuge for exiled 
 priests, escaped monks, and evangelical preachers 
 who were driven from their own homes. There was 
 always a number of foreign students, professors, 
 and preachers, drawn to Wittenberg by the desire 
 to see the famous Reformer, as guests in the "Black 
 Convent." Sometimes persons of high rank visited 
 him. Some of the guests staid only a few days, 
 others remained for weeks, and not many paid 
 board-bills. ]\Iore than once it was due only to 
 Frau Kathe's positive objection that more transient 
 or permanent guests were received than there was 
 room to accommodate. When Prince George of 
 Anhalt expressed his desire to visit Luther's home 
 he was advised not to do so, since "Dr. Luther's 
 house is inhabited by a motley crowd of young peo- 
 ple, students, girls, widows, old men and women. 
 There is, therefore, constantly great disturbance and 
 no rest at all, and many feel sorry for the good man 
 and venerable father." 
 
 In all parts of the Fatherland, yea, of Europe, 
 Luther's house was known as a place of refuge for 
 
Bounding Up the; Ne;w. 173 
 
 those who were exiled, a hospital for the sick, a 
 home for orphans, a place of solace for the afflicted. 
 
 His family was large and noisy enough to make 
 any man nervous. But nervousness was not yet dis- 
 covered at that time. In the midst of all the tur- 
 moil Luther fulfilled his manifold and exacting 
 duties, wrote letters, pamphlets, books, prepared his 
 sermons and daily lectures. 
 
 It is a mystery how Frau Kathe could manage 
 her large household and feed so many persons with 
 the limited income of her husband. His salary 
 reached the enormous sum of two hundred florins a 
 year ; he did not charge tuition for his lectures, nor 
 did he ever take a penny for an}' of his many books. 
 It is clear that he could not live on his regular in- 
 come. His Elector and other princely benefactors, 
 among them the king of Denmark, supplied him 
 regularly with table necessities, and on special occa- 
 sions Luther felt free to ask for what he needed. 
 
 Very wisely he left the whole management to his 
 good wife. She was a jewel in diligence, clear- 
 headedness, economy, and shrewdness. His own 
 liberality knew no bounds. "God is rich. He can 
 afford it," he used to say. How he looked at riches 
 can best be seen from the following words : "He 
 who possesses earthly goods should be lord over 
 them. Whoever serves is a slave ; he does not 
 possess the money, the money possesses him. He 
 can not use it and help others as he would like to 
 do ; he dare not even touch it. But if he be master, 
 the money serves him. If he sees one who has no 
 coat, he commands : ]\Iarch, Mr. Florin ; do you 
 see that poor man without a coat ? You must serve 
 
174 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 him ! Another is sick, and lacks the very necessities 
 of Hfe. Come out, Mr. Thaler! is the command; 
 you must go and help this needy man. Those who 
 use their money in this wise are lords ; those who 
 are constantly saving and adding to the pile are 
 merely slaves," 
 
 Frau Kathe was by no means stingy. But she 
 had an eye also for the needs of her own family. It 
 happened more than once that her husband wanted 
 to give away a precious piece of silverware, which 
 some prince or nobleman had presented to the pro- 
 fessor ; but it had disappeared mysteriously ; nobody 
 had an idea where it was ! Under her direction the 
 large convent garden was cultivated, a few acres 
 of farmland were rented, and in course of time 
 "Herr Kathe," as Luther jokingly called his wife, 
 managed a whole farm, owned cows and hogs and 
 fish and fowl. 
 
 The term "family" was used by Luther in a still 
 larger sense. It included all the servants. They 
 were to look upon their masters as taking the places 
 of the parents, and the latter assumed sacred duties 
 when taking some one into the house, even if only a 
 humble servant. "The head of a family is in his 
 own house a pastor and a bishop over his servants. 
 He ought to call his whole family, children and 
 servants, together at least once a week, and examine 
 them in the truths of the Catechism." 
 
 Luther was not gluttonous as his enemies decried 
 him, but he enjoyed good appetite and relished a 
 good meal. He was always temperate but no ab- 
 stainer. Total abstinence from the use of beer or 
 wine as beverages was not a question at issue in his 
 
BUII.DING Up the New. 175 
 
 days. "If the Lord saw fit to create fine, large pikes 
 and good Rhine wine, why should I not be allowed 
 to eat and drink?" But, most of all, he enjoyed 
 congenial company at table. His "Table Talks" 
 were written down by some of the guests, and fill 
 several volumes of his collected works. Quite fre- 
 quently he and his guests were so intensely inter- 
 ested in conversation that it needed Frau Kathe's 
 warning, "Why do you talk so much and forget to 
 eat?" 
 
 His recreation he found in the family circle and 
 among his friends, in playing with his children, in 
 gardening, in bowling, but above all in music. Next 
 to theology he placed music. "No other art can do 
 for man what theology and music will accomplish, 
 namely, to give rest and happiness to soul and 
 mind." Music is the best medicine against sadness. 
 Writing to a despondent friend he gives the follow- 
 ing advice: "If the devil comes and tempts you 
 with cares or evil thoughts, resist him courageously 
 and say, 'Away, devil! I must now sing and play 
 unto the Lord.' Play your lute and sing until the 
 evil thoughts have left you." 
 
 Not all the days were bright. Quite often did 
 sickness in the family cast dark clouds over the old 
 convent. Luther himself had several painful and 
 serious attacks of his old trouble, calculus. More 
 than once the cholera visited Wittenberg. Two of 
 his children he had to bury, and it was very hard 
 for the affectionate parents; but even during the 
 dark hours they remained in great peace of mind. 
 
 Luther's family life is the source of the new life 
 and influence emanating from the evangelical par- 
 
176 IvUThe^r: The Leader. 
 
 sonage. He put in place of the priest's house, with 
 the smutty gossip encirding it, the healthful, up- 
 lifting influence of a pure Christian household. The 
 story of the moral and social progress of the last 
 few centuries can not be written without giving due 
 credit to the work done by the sons and daughters 
 of evangelical pastors, who received their early 
 training and whose character was molded in the 
 clean and pure atmosphere of their childhood homes. 
 It was one of Luther's greatest deeds that he dared 
 to marry and raise a family. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 ORGANIZING THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. 
 
 It is beyond dispute that Luther did not plan to 
 organize a new Church. The Catholic Church had 
 a perfect organization ; all that Luther wished and 
 worked for, at first, was a reformation of the ex- 
 isting Church and the severance of the German" 
 Church from the assumed authority of the pope in 
 Rome. Quite against his will he became the founder 
 of a new Church. 
 
 While not endowed with extraordinary gifts for 
 organizing, yet by the sheer power of his person- 
 ality he was looked upon as the one man who alone 
 could control and bring order in the chaotic condi- 
 tions which were the immediate results of the turn- 
 ing away from the old Church. He was equal to 
 the occasion. His common sense, his knowledge of 
 human nature, his devotion to what was ideal and 
 desirable, coupled with the practical carrying out 
 of what was possible under existing circumstances ; 
 his tremendous will-power; his unrestrained devo- 
 tion to the cause, free from all self-seeking, were 
 some of the qualities which went to make him the 
 founder of the creed, the forms of worship, the gov- 
 ernment of one of the greatest denominations of the 
 Protestant Church. 
 
 It is true Luther's Church was not a free Church 
 
 12 177 
 
178 IvUThe;r: The: Leader. 
 
 in a free State ; it was a State Church. But Luther 
 did not live in a free State, neither did he Hve in a 
 time when Hberty of conscience was enjoyed. Re- 
 Hgious hberty, separation of Church and State were, 
 in the sixteenth century, known as httle as were 
 radium or wireless telegraphy in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. We can never understand any man of the past 
 or appreciate his life's work if we measure him by 
 the standards of our own times and conditions. It 
 shows a lack of proper historic sense to find fault 
 with a man because he did things which we nowa- 
 days, under changed environments, should do dif- 
 ferently. But it evinces likewise a lack of practical 
 insight into the conditions of progress, slavishly to 
 adhere to the work of a leader of the past, however 
 beneficial it may have been, when conditions have 
 changed entirely. 
 
 Luther's fundamental doctrines of the universa'. 
 priesthood of the believer and of the freedom of the 
 Christian contained the seeds of the magnificent 
 tree of "a free Church in a free State," but the soil 
 was not yet prepared to permit its growth. 
 
 According to his ideas the several congregations, 
 consisting of true believers, were to have the right 
 of choosing their own pastors and of managing 
 their own affairs ; but the disorders in Wittenberg 
 during his absence and the anarchy of the peasants 
 convinced him that the people in general were too 
 immature, and must first be educated to the judi- 
 cious use of their freedom. It was one of the most 
 fatal results of the religious and social revolts of 
 the years 1521 to 1525 that Luther became thor- 
 oughly disgusted with democracy in Church and 
 
Building Up the; New. 179 
 
 State. The people could not as yet be trusted ; they 
 must be held under strict surveillance. Thus while 
 the logical result of Luther's teaching was greater 
 freedom, he himself became the advocate of the 
 autocratic government of the princes. 
 
 He also saw that if anything was to be done in 
 the line of reforms it must be accomplished by the 
 several princes in their own dominions, the imperial 
 government being unwilling or inefficient to lend 
 its hand. Moreover, according to Luther, it is the 
 duty of the princes to use their authority in relig- 
 ious matters as well as in all other matters pertain- 
 ing to the welfare of their subjects. He distin- 
 guishes between the Church as the invisible, mystic 
 body of Christ and the Church as a visible institu- 
 tion. The latter is an organization for the purpose 
 of promoting religion and morals among the peo- 
 ple. As such it is an integral part of every Christian 
 government. The care of the religious and moral 
 interests of the people is as much the duty of the 
 State as any other matter of public welfare. 
 
 Thus the prince was, by virtue of his position, to 
 assume the place of a "Notbischof." He was to be 
 the general superintendent or bishop in his domin- 
 ion. This seemed to be, and probably was, the only 
 way at that time to make room for the preaching 
 of the Gospel, to insure the support, the protection, 
 the rights and privileges necessary for the estab- 
 lishment of the evangelical faith. And this is the 
 origin of the German State Churches. State 
 Churchism was nothing but a makeshift required by 
 the exigencies of the times. x\s a permanent insti- 
 
i8o Luthi;r: The; L]?;ade;r. 
 
 tution it is not in harmony with Luther's funda- 
 mental doctrines. 
 
 The first question which arose in a generation 
 raised in the behef that external forms of worship 
 were divinely appointed and inviolable was with 
 reference to the order of evangelical worship. 
 
 The center of the Catholic worship was the mass. 
 This was the holy of holies. The priest, by virtue 
 of his office did what no layman ever could do ; 
 namely, he changed the elements of the Eucharist 
 into the very blood and body of Christ; he offered 
 up again the body of Christ as a sacrifice. Luther 
 retained the name of "mass," but he used this term 
 to designate the principal Sunday service conclud- 
 ing with the communion. The preaching of the 
 Gospel was made the center of the "mass," the 
 Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation was utterly 
 rejected. Everything else was made subservient to 
 preaching, and thus the whole service was intended 
 for the instruction and edification of the congrega- 
 tion. As a matter of course, the use of the Latin 
 language was abolished and the vernacular was in- 
 troduced. 
 
 Acting upon the principle that everything in the 
 ancient ritual not contrary to the Word of God may 
 be retained, he drew up an elaborate ritual for use 
 in the evangelical Churches. In this respect Luther 
 differed widely from Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, and 
 other Reformers. Repulsed by Catholic formalism, 
 they went into the extreme of repudiating all litur- 
 gical forms and making public service as simple as 
 possible. Luther laid the proper emphasis upon the 
 inner, spiritual life, but he did not reject a rich 
 
Building Up the New. 
 
 I8I 
 
 liturgy as long as those externals were not consid- 
 ered essential or made compulsory. Those who 
 worship in the spirit do not need elaborate forms, 
 Luther explained ; but the great mass of the people 
 is accustomed to forms, and by their symbolic lan- 
 guage they can be made a distinct help for promot- 
 ing devotion and leading to fellowship with God. 
 At a time when external forms were objects of bitter 
 contention he either passes them by in silence or 
 warns not to abolish them by force nor to make 
 them compulsory. Touching the question of gowns, 
 for instance, he writes, "God is not more pleased 
 with a clergyman who wears a gown, nor less 
 pleased with one who wears no gown when admin- 
 istering the sacrament." 
 
 Besides the stated Sunday services, Luther en- 
 couraged the earnest Christians to meet in smaller 
 groups for the purpose of reading together book 
 after book of the Bible, the pastor giving running 
 expositions of the passages read. We also find in 
 his advices the beginning of Church discipline and 
 of closer fellowship of the more serious-minded. 
 Luther desires that the Gospel be preached to ail 
 the people without regard to the state of their spir- 
 itual life; but he is just as anxious to form select 
 societies of those who are serious in their striving 
 after righteousness. This excellent idea was lost 
 sight of, owing to the close connection of Church 
 and State; it was later revived in the meetings of 
 the Pietists and the United Brethren in Germany 
 and in the "Religious Societies" in England, and 
 reached its culmination in the system of the Wes- 
 leyan class-meetings. 
 
i82 Luther: Thh; Leader. 
 
 As a natural result of the doctrine of universal 
 priesthood, episcopal ordination of priests was de- 
 clared unnecessary. The candidates for the minis- 
 try were examined by Luther, afterward by a prop- 
 erly appointed commission, and were ordained be- 
 fore the assembled congregation by the laying on 
 of hands by some elders. There was so great a de- 
 mand in all parts of Germany for evangelical 
 preachers that it was impossible to confine ordina- 
 tion to those who had received a thorough theolog- 
 ical education. Teachers, sextons, mechanics, plaiti 
 citizens, feeling called by God to preach the Gos- 
 pel, were ordained and sent out. Luther did not 
 even consider ordination as absolutely necessary in 
 order to preach; he repeatedly urged Melanchthon 
 to preach in Wittenberg, although he was not or- 
 dained nor called by any ecclesiastical authority. The 
 Lutheran Churches fell far below this broad view of 
 their founder, and developed a conception of the 
 office and privileges of the ordained ministry, which 
 comes perilously near the Catholic conception. It 
 was not until the time of the Methodist revival that 
 the validity and high efficiency of the lay ministry 
 was recognized again, and it is but recently that the 
 Lutheran Churches in the Fatherland are returning 
 to the point of view of Luther, and, owing to a 
 great extent to "English-American influences," em- 
 ploy the help of lay-workers in the various branches 
 of Church work. 
 
 In 1542 the first evangelical bishop was ordained 
 by Luther. It was his old friend and colleague, 
 Nicolaus Amsdorf. Referring to this ordination, 
 the Reformer wrote sarcastically : "The poor here- 
 
BUII.DING Up the Ni;w. 183 
 
 tics committed a new crime; viz., they ordained a 
 bishop without any ointment, also without butter, 
 lard, bacon, tar, incense, coal; nothing but prayer 
 and a sermon." In a pamphlet entitled, "Example 
 to Ordain a Genuine Christian Bishop," he ex- 
 plained that the bishops in the ancient Church were 
 ordained in the same manner. Later the designation 
 "bishop" was changed to the official title "superin- 
 tendent" or "general superintendent." 
 
 The problem of the financial support of the 
 Churches and ministers was solved in a very simple 
 way. The secular ruler, being the highest bishop in 
 his dominion, had the right, it was claimed, sum- 
 marily to dismiss clergymen who did not preach the 
 Gospel, and to use the church buildings and the in- 
 come of the Churches for the maintenance of evan- 
 gelical preaching. It was argued that the existing 
 Church had deviated from its original course and, 
 consequently, foregone the right to claim the rev- 
 enues. But a great many difficulties ensued. Many 
 Churches were supported by bequests or foundations 
 made for private masses and other ceremonies 
 which now were held incompatible with evangelical 
 preaching, and were abolished. Was it lawful to 
 use these moneys for other purposes? In many 
 cases the heirs of the original donors claimed the 
 funds, or, at least, protested against the use of the 
 funds for any purposes not specified in the will of 
 the giver. 
 
 Furthermore, an increasing number of monas- 
 teries became almost deserted, as most of the monks 
 left. What was to become of their landed posses- 
 sions and their endowments? Knights and free 
 
i84 Luthe;r: The Leader. 
 
 cities were ready to appropriate as much as they 
 could of Church lands and privileges to their own 
 use. Many poor noblemen, and even some princes, 
 considered this a splendid chance to pay off their 
 debts and to increase their scant income. It needed 
 the strong arm of the government to prevent a gen- 
 eral grab of Church lands and to retain them for 
 the maintenance of evangelical Churches and 
 schools, and it was Luther who urged speedy action. 
 
 Luther had visited a number of parishes as early 
 as 1524, in order to learn what kind of preachers 
 were administering to the spiritual needs of the con- 
 gregations, and after the close of the Peasants' 
 War a more thorough examination was made by a 
 commission consisting of theologians and lawyers. 
 They found that the spiritual destitution was greater 
 by far than had been anticipated. There were pas- 
 tors who had administered the Church rites either in 
 Catholic or evangelical forms, just as the people 
 preferred ; one clergyman was found who could 
 scarcely repeat the Lord's Prayer or the Apostles' 
 Creed, but was renowned in the whole neighborhood 
 as a successful exerciser of bad spirits. Some pas- 
 tors earned their livings by rather questionable 
 means, in some cases combining the calling of the 
 ministry with the business of a tavern-keeper, even 
 using the church building as wine-cellar. 
 
 Many former monks dropped the hood, but not 
 the character of a monk, as Luther complains. They 
 had quit observing the stated times of prayer re- 
 quired by the Church, but did not improve their 
 time by study. "Good heavens !" he exclaims, "how 
 much misery have I witnessed ! The common peo- 
 ple, especially in the country, know nothing of the 
 
Building Up th^ Ne:w. 185 
 
 Christian truth, and, I am sorry to say, many pas- 
 tors are utterly incompetent to teach or to preach. 
 They all are Christians in name, they are baptized 
 and partake of the communion, but they know 
 neither the Lord's Prayer nor the Ten Command- 
 ments. They are living just like cattle and senseless 
 hogs. Since the precious Gospel has come to them, 
 they have learned wonderfully how to abuse Chris- 
 tian liberty." 
 
 Frequent visitations by experienced pastors who 
 were sound in doctrine were instituted. The whole 
 country was divided into six districts, and four vis- 
 itors were assigned to each one. Melanchthon, Spal- 
 atin — the latter of whom gave up his position as 
 confidential secretary to the Elector and became pas- 
 tor in Altenburg — were especially active in this mat- 
 ter. Melanchthon prepared elaborate and thorough 
 "Instructions for the Visitors," and Luther wrote 
 a Preface to them. He laid stress on the necessity 
 of genuine repentance; objected to mere polemics 
 against Rome, and exhorted to preach the law as 
 the revealed will of God, just as much as the Gospel. 
 
 In order to show the preachers how to preach, 
 Luther wrote his famous Catechisms and published 
 his "Postille," a collection of sermons to be read in 
 churches. These books contain the substance of 
 Lutheran theology. They may be said to form 'the 
 theological groundwork of the Lutheran Church, the 
 later Confessions stating in elaborate, theological 
 terms what the Catechisms say in the language of 
 the plain man. They will have to be considered 
 more fully in a later chapter. 
 
 The Landgrave of Hesse organized the evangel- 
 
i86 Lu4^he;r: Tpie; lyElADER. 
 
 ical Church in his dominion, other princes and some 
 free cities followed, and steadily the work extended. 
 
 We do not for a moment forget that in some 
 cases mere political opposition to Rome was the 
 prime motive for introducing reformatory measures. 
 In other places the work was greatly hampered by 
 ignorance, indifference, insincerity, and other fail- 
 ings, which nobody "^was quicker to censure than 
 Luther himself ; and yet, after making allowance 
 for all those influences, we see a mighty flame of re- 
 vival fire spreading through all parts and sections of 
 Germany. 
 
 It was not a revival in the popular modern sense 
 of the word. There were no systematic efiforts for 
 the winning of souls, no special revival preaching, 
 no invitations to awakened sinners ; in short, none 
 of the accessories of a modern revival. The simple 
 preaching of the Gospel of salvation by faith, the 
 dissemination of the evangelical writings of Luther, 
 especially the distribution of the Bible in the ver- 
 nacular, the testimonies of plain men and women, 
 were the principal agencies used by the Spirit of 
 God to awaken and quicken the spiritual life. The 
 Lutheran Church is the outgrowth, not of a revival 
 of the emotional type, but of a reaction against form- 
 alism and ecclesiasticism, based on a sane and 
 thorough study of the Bible. Its chief characteris- 
 tics are less emotional, but more intellectual. Its 
 organization into a distinct State Church is due to 
 the peculiar political conditions and to Luther's con- 
 viction that it is an important duty of the govern- 
 ment, not only to protect the proclamation of the 
 Gospel, but to devise ways and means to institute 
 and permanently maintain it. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 STRUGGLES FOR RECOGNITION. 
 
 How WAS it possible that a man, excommuni- 
 cated by the pope and under the ban of the emperor, 
 continued to maintain a position of commanding in- 
 fluence ? Did the building up of a Church in direct 
 opposition to the Roman Church take place without 
 interference from either pope or emperor, especially 
 in view of the fact that the danger of an internal 
 revolution had passed, that knights and peasants 
 were subdued, and peace reigned again within the 
 borders of Germany? The question is perfectly 
 natural ; its answer lies in the fact that the emperor, 
 as well as the pope, was kept busy with greater po- 
 litical schemes, and the former needed the good will 
 and the assistance of the German princes. So it 
 happened that for years the Edict of Worms re- 
 mained a dead letter. 
 
 In 1526, however, the emperor defeated his most 
 dangerous enemy, the King of France, in the de- 
 cisive battle of Pavia, and now saw his way clear to 
 re-establish religious union in Germany by coercing 
 the dissenting princes to conform to the Catholic 
 Church. He called for this purpose a Diet to be 
 held in the city of Speyer. But just before the open- 
 ing of the Diet, Pope Clement VH absolved the 
 French king from his oath to keep peace, and 
 187 
 
i88 Luther: The; Leade;r. 
 
 formed an alliance with him against Charles. To 
 increase the difficulties of the emperor it was re- 
 ported that the Turks were repelling the armies of 
 the King of Hungary, and were advancing steadily 
 up the river Danube toward Vienna. Again Charles 
 saw that he could not afford to alienate the evangel- 
 ical princes, and deferred the settlement of the re- 
 ligious question to a more opportune time. 
 
 The Diet of Speyer resolved that each prince 
 should "so live, rule, and conduct himself as he 
 could truly answer before God and His Imperial 
 Majesty." In other words, each prince was left 
 free to regulate the religious affairs in his own do- 
 minion according to his own good pleasure. This 
 ended the dream of a National Church, and opened 
 the way for the development of independent State 
 Churches. It made possible the gradual organiza- 
 tion of the Lutheran Churches as indicated in the 
 previous chapter. Everybody knew that this de- 
 cision was not final. Recognizing the need of being 
 prepared for the coming struggle, both the Catholic 
 and the evangelical princes were drawn closer to- 
 gether and thus the forming of a Catholic and of an 
 evangelical party was only a question of time. 
 
 The pope's alliance with Francis proved fatal. 
 In the month of May, 1527, the city of Rome was 
 stormed and sacked by the troops of the emperor. 
 Luther wrote triumphantly: "Rome is miserably 
 devastated. Christ reigns. The emperor, while 
 persecuting Luther to please the pope, is compelled, 
 by vanquishing the pope, to please Luther. Every- 
 thing must serve Christ in favor of his own and 
 against his enemies." 
 
BuiivDiNG Up the New. 189 
 
 We can appreciate the feelings of Luther. The 
 victory of Charles, however, did not improve the 
 prospects of the Reformation. Hardly had he con- 
 cluded a favorable peace with his enemies when he 
 turned again to the religious affairs of Germany. 
 He called the second Diet of Speyer, and gave no- 
 tice that he would "save no pains in order to oppose 
 the pestilence of Lutheranism, and to bring back the 
 erring members into the folds of the Church." 
 
 It was with dire forebodings that the evangelical 
 princes and estates went to the old city on the Rhine. 
 They realized that they were in a helpless minority. 
 The Diet enjoined upon all estates strictly to execute 
 the Edict of Worms ; the evangelical estates were 
 prohibited from continuing to introduce reforms 
 or hindering any of their subjects to worship ac- 
 cording to the rites of the Catholic Church, while 
 the Catholic estates were in no way restrained from 
 persecuting and condemning to exile their evangel- 
 ical subjects. The evangelical party handed in a 
 formal protest : "In matters pertaining to God's 
 honor and our souls' salvation every one must stand 
 and give an account of himself before God." Hence- 
 forth they were called by the name of Protestants, 
 
 It was evident that the Catholics were quietly 
 preparing to crush the evangelicals ; rumors of a 
 league to that effect were current, and a iorged copy 
 of an alliance was sold to Philip, Landgrave of 
 Hesse, who immediately took up arms. The forgery 
 was proven, the war averted, but the suspicion re- 
 mained. 
 
 Philip of Hesse was by far the most able states- 
 man among the evangelicals. He saw the necessity 
 
190 Luthe;r: The Le;ade;r. 
 
 of a close union of all the enemies of the pope and 
 of the House of Habsburg, and bent all his energies 
 to bring about this alliance. While the Catholics 
 formed a compact body, the evangelicals were split 
 in various groups. Doctrinal dissensions prevented 
 unity, political considerations made it absolutely 
 necessary. Philip, looking at the matter from the 
 point of view of a politician, trusted that, by a con- 
 ference of the dissenting theologians, an under- 
 standing could easily be reached. So he invited the 
 Wittenberg Reformers and also the leaders of the 
 Reform movement in Switzerland, which was al- 
 together independent from the German Reforma- 
 tion, to a colloquy to be held in Marburg. 
 
 During the first few days of the month of Octo- 
 ber, In 1529, the landgrave's commodious castle, 
 overlooking the little city of Marburg, was filled 
 with the distinguished leaders of the new faith. 
 Luther, Melanchthon, Justus Jonas, Caspar Cruci- 
 ger from Wittenberg, Zwingli, Collin, GEcolampa- 
 dms from Switzerland, Butzer, Sturm, Hedio from 
 Strassburg, Osiander from Niirnberg, Agricola 
 from Augsburg, and others, were present to discuss 
 the burning questions. 
 
 The interest centered in Luther and Zwingli. 
 They were the leaders of the two opposing factions. 
 If these men could be brought to agree among them- 
 selves, it meant to Philip not only religious harmony, 
 it meant a united political party extending from 
 the coast of the Baltic Sea to the Alps of Switzer- 
 land. But the landgrave underestimated the radical 
 difference in the characters of the two men, the 
 strength of dogmatic convictions, the tenacity and 
 stubbornness of Luther. 
 
Building Up the Ne;w. 191 
 
 It is difficult for us to understand how a seem- 
 ingly trivial question of purely scholastic and meta- 
 physical dogmatics could form an insurmountable 
 difficulty to union, when harmony seemed to be 
 necessary in order to avoid crushing defeat. But 
 it did. 
 
 What, then, was the point at issue? Luther 
 taught that with, under, and in the elements of the 
 Eucharist Christ was literally present, and was 
 bodily received by the communicant. To use the 
 theological terms, Luther, while rejecting the Cath- 
 olic doctrine of transubstantiation, firmly held the 
 doctrine of consubstantiation. Zwingli saw in the 
 Eucharist only a confession of the Church to the 
 risen Christ and a memorial of his death. Luther 
 taught : This is my body, literatim and verbatim ; 
 Zwingli said: This means my body, symbolically, 
 as a remembrance. Luther wrote with chalk on 
 the table before him the words, "Hoc est corpus 
 meum," and to those words he clung. He declared 
 roundly and unqualifiedly that he knew the truth 
 was on his side, and, though willing to hear the 
 opposite opinions and refute them, he would not 
 budge an inch from the letter of God's Word. For 
 three days the disputation continued, then it was 
 clear, even to the landgrave, that a prolongation 
 would simply be a waste of time. Upon his re- 
 quest, fourteen articles were drawn up, on which 
 all agreed; the fifteenth stated the difference in 
 opinion. 
 
 When parting, Zwingli assured Luther that he 
 always had been desirous of his friendship, and 
 wished it now. He held out his hand to him. 
 
.192 Luther: The; Le:ade;r. 
 
 Luther refusing to grasp the outstretched hand, 
 curtly rephed: "You have a different spirit. Ask 
 God that He may convert you." Hearing this 
 answer CEcolampadius lost patience, and said, "You 
 had better ask Him also, for you need it just as 
 much as we do." 
 
 Thus they parted. The breach in the ranks of 
 the evangelicals was wider than ever. And it was 
 widened still more by the acrimonious controversy 
 which followed. 
 
 Many things might be said in explanation of 
 Luther's action. Luther and Zwingli were rad- 
 ically different in character, education, environ- 
 ment. Zwingli was the son of a free people, ac- 
 customed to a democratic form of government. He 
 was a Humanist, a statesman. Luther was raised 
 under an absolute monarchy ; from his youth he 
 bore the yoke of strictest discipline. He was a 
 theologian, a monk. ' Luther's work was the out- 
 come of his individual struggles, Zwingli's was the 
 result of the study of the Bible as the fountain 
 spring of social righteousness. Luther started from 
 the need of the individual, Zwingli from the need of 
 society. Luther fought legal bondage and work- 
 righteousness, and taught the freedom of the Chris- 
 tian ; Zwingli fought idolatry and moral corruption, 
 and proclaimed social and political independence. 
 Says Professor Hausrath : "The son of the miner 
 went down into the depths of his own soul to find 
 God ; the man born in the Alps climbed upon the 
 peaks to study the doings of men, to organize their 
 institutions and to govern them." 
 
 To the statesman and reformer Zwingli, dog- 
 
Building Up the Ne;w. 193 
 
 matical subtilties were of less importance; to the 
 mystic monk, whose mind had been trained for 
 years in the subtHties of scholastic theology, who 
 had been brooding in the seclusion of his cell, who, 
 by firmly holding fast to what he experienced and 
 what he found in the Bible, had won his battles 
 against Rome, this metaphysical point seemed of 
 utmost importance. He, from the beginning, made 
 the fatal mistake of classifying Zwingli with Karl- 
 stadt and the other enthusiasts; and so intensely 
 dogmatical was he that he could see no possibility 
 of agreement. "Either you or we are the servants 
 of Satan." His firm conviction was that the devil 
 himself was at the bottom of Zwingli's opinions. 
 
 His relation to the Swiss Reformer is a sad page^ 
 in the life of the great man. It is still more to be 
 regretted, because the obstinate intellectualism and 
 scholasticism which he displayed became an heir- 
 loom of Lutheran theologians of all later times, and 
 made them, as a rule, as narrow, intolerant, bigoted, 
 self-asserting, uncharitable as ever scholastic monks 
 have been. 
 
 In the meanwhile Charles, having been crowned 
 '^t last by the pope in Bologna, crossed the Alps to 
 preside personally over the coming Diet to be held 
 at Augsburg. The evangelicals were disheartened, 
 but their hopes rose when they heard of the new 
 victories of the Turks, of their steady advance, and 
 of the boast of Suleiman soon to hear a Moslem 
 sing his prayer from the tower of St. Stephen's 
 cathedral in Vienna. 
 
 Elector John called Luther and the other Re- 
 formers to formulate Articles of Faith which might 
 
194 LrUTHDR: The Leader. 
 
 be presented to the Diet. These articles formed 
 the first draft of the constitution of the Lutheran 
 Church. Accompanied by his counselors and his 
 theologians, the Elector proceeded to Augsburg. 
 Luther, still being under the ban of the emperor, 
 was left at Koburg Castle, not very far from Augs- 
 burg. 
 
 Nearly six months he spent in solitude, in sur- 
 roundings similar to those on the Wartburg. But 
 what a difference between now and nine years ago ! 
 At Worms, whence he was taken to the Wartburg 
 as to a place of refuge, he was a solitary man, sum- 
 moned to revoke in the presence of the emperor and 
 his princes ; nine years later a Confession of Faith 
 and a constitution of a Church were being prepared 
 to be read before the same emperor and his princes, 
 which expressed the faith of a growing number of 
 princes and cities. 
 
 The work of writing the "Apologia," as the 
 document was called at first — afterward its name 
 was changed more appropriately to **Confessio" — 
 was intrusted to Melanchthon. While expressing 
 correctly the evangelical principles, Melanchthon 
 endeavored to efface as much as possible the radical 
 distinctions from Catholicism, and, unkindly enough, 
 he emphasized the difference between the Lutherans 
 and the "Sacramentarians" or Zwinglians ; they 
 were not recognized as brothers in the faith. The 
 draft was sent to Luther, who returned it with the 
 remark that he could not add nor change anything; 
 "neither would it do, since I can not step as softly 
 and gently." But before their final adoption the 
 articles were changed again and again, the politi- 
 
Building Up the; Ne;\v. 195 
 
 cians desiring to make the document acceptable to 
 all parties. 
 
 At last, on June 25, 1530, the Confessio Augus- 
 tana was read in an open session of the Diet. The 
 hall was crowded. Many stood outside near the 
 open door and windows. Two full hours the read- 
 ing lasted. It was so plain that even those who were 
 standing outside were able to understand every 
 word. Every one listened attentively ; only the em- 
 peror, who did not understand the German lan- 
 guage, very soon fell asleep, and slept soundly to 
 the end of the reading. 
 
 It was a great day for the Lutherans. "I am 
 exceedingly glad to have lived to this hour, in which 
 Christ was preached in so glorious a Confession," 
 Luther wrote from his "Patmos." The Confession 
 of the evangelical faith, clearly and definitely ex- 
 pressed, was read before the highest tribunal in the 
 empire. And it was well received. The Catholic 
 Duke of Bavaria remarked, "1 see the Lutherans 
 sit right in the Scriptures and the papists stand out- 
 side." Even the confessor of the emperor was so 
 impressed with the depth and spirituality of this 
 creed, that he said, "You have a theology that can 
 be understood only by much prayer." 
 
 As a matter of course the Roman theologians at 
 once composed a "Confutatio." All the old ene- 
 mies of Luther — Drs. Eck, Wimpina, Cochlaus, and 
 others — were present, and between themselves they 
 concocted a document the chief characteristics of 
 which were weak arguments and strong abuses. 
 
 Again Melanchthon undertook the thankless 
 work of writing a diplomatic answer which rrjight 
 
196 IvUTher: The LeIader 
 
 serve as a common basis, by yielding as much as 
 possible to the opponents and accepting as much as 
 possible from them, and covering up the remaining 
 differences. Some feared that Melanchthon would 
 "sell out to the Romanists;" many wished for 
 Luther ; "He would be better than all who are here." 
 Luther kept in close touch with Augsburg by fre- 
 quent messengers. He tried to put iron into Me- 
 lanchthon's blood and strengthen him. "I hear that 
 you undertook the queer job of uniting the pope and 
 Luther," wrote the impatient Reformer to his 
 friend ; "but the pope, I presume, is not willing, and 
 Luther objects emphatically. If you could succeed 
 in this, I would take it upon myself to conciliate 
 Christ and Belial." 
 
 Melanchthon 's answer was presented to the em.- 
 peror, but not accepted by him ; the evangelicals 
 declined to accept the "Confutation," and, tired of 
 the fruitless efforts, some of them returned home. 
 The final decision of the Diet was the renewed com- 
 mand to carry out the Edict of Worms. The recal- 
 citrant estates were given time until April, 1531, 
 to conform. On his way back, Melanchthon re- 
 wrote his "Refutation," and published it in Witten- 
 berg under the title "Augsburg Apology." It is a 
 brilliant explanation of the Augsburg Confession. 
 Composed away from the council chambers of the 
 politicians, under the influence of Luther, its whole 
 tenor is firm and positive. 
 
 After all, Luther was right in his estimation of 
 the Diet and its results. He watched the crows and 
 other birds from his high tower on the Koburg, and 
 compared their twittering to the discussions of the 
 
Building Up the New. 197 
 
 Diet. To him both were of equal importance or 
 rather insignificance. "I take Httle account of the 
 fierce and menacing adversaries," he wrote to Me- 
 lanchthon. The more the years passed by, the less 
 faith he had in political plans and conferences. He 
 had, however, unlimited faith in God, that in His 
 own way He would protect the Gospel. To his 
 thoughts on the Diet and its final resolution he gave 
 vent in an unmistakable manner in two sarcastic 
 pamphlets. 
 
 It is one thing to pass a resolution; it is quite 
 a different thing to carry it out. The evangelical 
 estates, fearing war in the immediate future, formed 
 the League of Schmalkalden ; but again the Turks 
 came to the rescue, of course without their know- 
 ing it. Pressed by their victories, the emperor, in 
 July, 1532, granted the "Peace of Nurnberg." A 
 General Council was to be called, and till then both 
 parties should keep peace. 
 
 Again efforts were made to unite the Lutherans 
 and the Zwinglians, and this time they were more 
 successful. Zwingli had died in the battle of Kap- 
 pel in 1 53 1, and Luther was a little more pliable. 
 A formula was finally agreed upon, which satisfied 
 Luther, and to which the Swiss theologians could 
 also subscribe, and in the spring of 1536 the "Wit- 
 tenberg Concordie" was signed. Luther was much 
 milder than some years before at Marburg. He was 
 convinced that his opponents acted in good faith, 
 and that they, after all, agreed on the essential 
 point that in some mysterious way Christ was pres- 
 ent in the elements of the Eucharist, at least for 
 the believer. "Let us now bury the past, and place 
 
198 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 a heavy stone upon it," said Luther while shaking 
 hands with Butzer and his companions. 
 
 Pope Paul in, after long delay, called a Council 
 to Mantua in Italy. Luther advised all evangelicals 
 to attend the Council, in order to give the Roman- 
 ists no cause for complaint; but he did not think 
 that the Council would ever meet and settle the diffi- 
 culties. 'And it never did meet. 
 
 The pope sent one of his shrewdest legates, Car- 
 dinal Vergerius, to Germany, and although his in- 
 structions did not require it of him, he voluntarily 
 sought an interview with Luther in Wittenberg. 
 Arriving in the city of the "heretical beast," the 
 cardinal sent a courteous invitation to the arch- 
 heretic to dine with him. Luther __sent for his bar- 
 ber, was shaved, put on his best garment and a 
 heavy gold chain. "I must do all this," he remarked, 
 laughingly, "so that I may appear young. The 
 legate will then think : The devil ! if Luther is still 
 so young and has done so much mischief, what is 
 he going to do yet?" 
 
 "But you will offend them," some one inter- 
 jected. "That is exactly what I want to do. They 
 have offended me enough. This is the way to treat 
 serpents and foxes." 
 
 "During the whole meal I played the genuine 
 Luther," the Reformer afterward reported. What 
 he meant by this we may surmise from the reading 
 of the legate's report to Rome. Vergerius was 
 nearly beside himself with indignation over the "in- 
 solence of the Lutheran beast, who, with his wild 
 eyes, is no doubt possessed by the devil." 
 
 The Council being appointed, the Elector in- 
 
Building Up thk New. 199 
 
 vited Luther to draw up a series of articles which 
 must be asserted, and from which no departure 
 should be made under any circumstances. He wrote 
 the first draft of the so-called Schmalkald Articles. 
 
 The Council of Mantua did not materialize. 
 In its place the Council of Trent was held, and 
 there the Catholic Creed was set forth in contradis- 
 tinction to the Lutheran Confessions. 
 
 It was not until a hundred years after the death 
 of Luther that religious peace was permanently es- 
 tablished. Devastating wars had to be waged and 
 bloody battles had to be fought before this result 
 was achieved. It was not till a generation after his 
 death that the work of constructing the Lutheran 
 Confessions was completed by the adoption of the 
 "Form of Concord.'' But the foundations were laid 
 firmly and strongly by Martin Luther. The whole 
 succeeding history of the Lutheran Churches was 
 the rearing up of an edifice according to the plans 
 laid down in the Catechisms, the Augsburg Confes- 
 sion and Apology, written by Melanchthon, but on 
 the basis of Luther's Schwabach and Torgau Ar- 
 ticles, and in the Schmalkald Articles. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 "EIN FESTE BURG 1ST UNSER GOTT." 
 
 The; history of the hymns of the Church is the 
 key to the history of the spiritual Hfe of the Church. 
 Not to the history of her dissensions and divisions, 
 nor of the building up of ecclesiastical organizations 
 and forms of government. The hymns take us to 
 the hidden sources whence spring the mighty rivers 
 of faith and love and holy living. They are the 
 interpreters of the inner spiritual life of the Holy 
 Catholic Church of the living God. They express, 
 in v^ords full of rhythm and beauty and inspiration, 
 those sweet and precious experiences which all the 
 children of the one Heavenly Father are privileged 
 to make, whatever their denominational relations 
 happen to be, or however widely they may differ in 
 the intellectual formulations of their beliefs. 
 
 The genuine Church hymn is not so much indi- 
 vidual, but rather social in nature. It expresses not 
 the individual experiences or sentiments as distinct 
 from those of other individuals, but rather those 
 vital experiences which are common to all believers, 
 and therefore it can be understood and appreciated 
 by Christians of all times and of all conditions of 
 life. The peculiar quality of tone is given to each 
 one by the individuality of its author, by his times 
 and his environments; but they all join in one ma- 
 
Building Up the Ntw. 201 
 
 jestic chorus of praise and prayer, and their strains 
 are carried upward in perfect symphony, thus ful- 
 fining the Master's prayer, "That they may be one." 
 
 The German nation has been called a nation of 
 thinkers and poets. Luther was a thinker ; not one 
 of those philosophers, to be sure, who live remote 
 from the afifairs of every-day life. He was intensely 
 practical, a man of affairs, a leader of men. He 
 had achieved unparalleled success, had become the 
 best known man in Europe before he was forty 
 years of age. It is interesting to note that, after he 
 had reached his fortieth year, he developed an un- 
 usual poetical talent. In fact, he became one of the 
 great poets of the nation of poets, and his contribu- 
 tions to hymnology have found their way into the 
 hymnals of all branches of the Church universal. 
 
 Martin Luther was a nature thoroughly poetical. 
 He possessed all the qualifications of a Christian 
 poet — a mind easily and deeply stirred by noble 
 thoughts ; an eye open for everything that is beauti- 
 ful; a devout heart, seeing God everywhere and 
 feeling His presence constantly ; a religious expe- 
 rience which vitalized his whole being; a deep and 
 lasting inward peace ; an exuberant joy fulness which 
 could not be disturbed by sorrows and conflicts ; 
 glowing enthusiasm for everything that is heroic ; a 
 musical soul ; a perfect mastery of language ; a thor- 
 ough knowledge of its effects upon men's minds. 
 But his poetic genius was like a spring of water hid- 
 den in the rock. There was needed a rod to smite 
 the rock. 
 
 While a student at Erfurt he was known among 
 his fellow-students as "the philosopher." Although 
 
202 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 he was always a lover of music, yet during his stu- 
 dent days and while in the cloister cell, he was too 
 much engaged with the serious question of his soul's 
 salvation, of sin and guilt and future judgment, to 
 find time to write poetry. Nor did he feel the im- 
 pulse to pour out his doubts and his despair in 
 verses. In the beginning of his battle against Rome 
 he had no time to sing. His utterances were more 
 like the roaring of the thunder and the striking of 
 lightning. But now the time had come. 
 
 The execution by the Catholics of two young 
 Augustinian monks, Heinrich \'os and Johann von 
 Eschen, who were publicly burned at the stake in 
 the market-place at Antwerp in the month of July, 
 1523, stirred Luther tremendously. Joy inexpressi- 
 ble filled his heart that God had given grace and 
 strength to the first martyrs of the Reformation to 
 die for the faith of the Gospel, and feelings of 
 righteous wrath surged up from the very depths of 
 his soul. 
 
 Joy and wrath were the rods that smote the rock ; 
 perhaps wrath even more than joy. He sat down 
 and wrote a popular religious ballad describing the 
 triumphant death of the young confessors : 
 
 " Ein neues Ivied wir heben an 
 Das wait Gott unser Herre, 
 Zu singen, was Gott hat getan 
 Zu seinem Lob und Ehre." 
 
 It was immediately printed in pamphlet form and 
 scattered broadcast. 
 
 His greatest distinction as poet he achieved, 
 however, as a writer of Church hymns. He had 
 
Building Up the; Ne;w. 203 
 
 given to his people the Bible, the Catechism, an 
 order of worship, but they had no hymns which 
 could be sung by the congregation. The old Church 
 hymns were read or chanted by the priest alone, and 
 were not adapted to congregational singing. Here 
 was a need. Luther saw it, and set out to supply it. 
 
 Consequently he wrote to Spalatin and others 
 asking them to compose sacred hymns, especially to 
 transcribe the Old Testament Psalms in German 
 verse. He cautions them in the very first letter to 
 avoid learned expressions and such as were used 
 in court circles, and to speak as plainly as possible. 
 His request is accompanied by the modest statement 
 that he himself would be willing to follow the ex- 
 ample of the prophets and the Church Fathers, and 
 write German psalms for the people — that is to say, 
 sacred hymns — in order that the Word of God 
 might be brought to the people by means of song; 
 but he feared that he was not endowed with the gift 
 as much as was necessary for this undertaking. 
 
 But his efforts to induce others to meet the need' 
 were not successful, and Luther discovered that he 
 himself was equal to the occasion. 
 
 For years he had studied the Psalms more than 
 any other portion of the Bible. He had put his best 
 efforts to the task of clothing those ancient hymns 
 in an appropriate and dignified German garb. He 
 succeeded as no one else did, either before his time 
 or after. Now he expanded the thoughts of the 
 psalmist, born again and brought to life in his own 
 experience, and expressed them in pure and beauti- 
 ful German poetry. The result was his immortal 
 hymns. 
 
204 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 Luther's poetry was not the product of his leis- 
 ure hoars ; it was no pastime, no recreation ; it was 
 part of his serious and hard work in the service of 
 his people. Looking at his hymns in this light, and 
 taking into consideration Luther's whole character, 
 we can understand the underlying significance of 
 the fact to which Wilhelm Scherer, the eminent 
 German literary critic, calls attention; viz., that 
 there is in Luther's hymns a distinctively manly 
 tone as it w^as never before heard in German lyric 
 poetry. 
 
 The year 1524 may be called the birth year of 
 the evangelical Church hymn. In that year ap- 
 peared Luther's first hymnal. It contained only 
 eight hymns, and four of them were of Luther's own 
 composition. He published two more hymnals in 
 the course of the same year, the last one, the "Gei§t- 
 liches Gesangbuch," containing thirty-two hymns, 
 of which twenty-four were written by Luther him- 
 self. In that one year he wrote those twenty-four 
 hymns, while in the succeeding twenty-two years of 
 his life he added only twelve more to the list. 
 
 The earfiest hymn is the one commencing: 
 
 "Nun freut eucli lieben Christen Gemein." 
 
 It is a clear presentation of the way of salvation, 
 really an account of his own struggles and his transi- 
 tion from darkness into light. It is claimed by 
 Lutheran writers that by this one hymn hundreds 
 of Catholics were led to an experimental faith in 
 Christ, many of them bitter enemies of the "heretic' 
 who, before, could not even endure the name of 
 
Buii^DiNG Up the; Ne;w. 205 
 
 Luther. Psalm cxxx is the basis for the beautiful 
 hymn : 
 
 " Aus liefer Not Schrei ich zu Dir ; " 
 
 Psalm xii for : 
 
 "Ach Gott voni Himmel sieh darein." 
 
 Psalms Ixvii, cxxiv, xviii, cxxviii were likewise ren- 
 dered in German poetry. But best known among 
 all his hymns is his grand 
 
 "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott." 
 
 The occasion of its origin is somewhat doubtful. 
 Some think of the time during the Diet of Worms ; 
 but the hymn is nowhere found before the year 
 1529. Many are inclined to the view that he wrote 
 it at Koburg Castle at the time of the Diet of Augs- 
 burg ; but it is found in print a year before that time. 
 It probably originated during the troublesome and 
 anxious weeks before or during the Diet of Speyer, 
 when Luther was afflicted with sickness and mental 
 dejection, when the Catholic princes formed an al- 
 liance, and the chances for the evangelical party 
 were more than doubtful. Amidst all the discour- 
 agements, disappointments, and anxieties, Luther 
 looks up to the mighty God who is the refuge of 
 his people. He feeds upon Psalm xlvi, 
 
 "God is our refuge and strength, 
 A very present help in trouble," 
 
 md he pours out his confidence and trust in the 
 
2o6 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 words which we quote in the excellent translation 
 of Frederick H. Hedge : 
 
 " A mighty fortress is our God, 
 
 A bulwark never failing : 
 Our helper He, amid the flood 
 
 Of mortal ills prevailing. 
 For still our ancient foe 
 Doth seek to work us woe : 
 His craft and power are great, 
 And, armed with cruel hate, 
 
 On earth is not his equal. 
 
 Did we in our own strength confide, 
 Our stri\nng would be losing; 
 
 Were not the right man on our side, 
 The man of God's own choosing. 
 
 Dost ask who that may be? 
 
 Christ Jesus, it is He ; 
 
 Lord Sabaoth is His name. 
 
 From age to age the same. 
 And He must win the battle. 
 
 And though this world, with devils filled. 
 
 Should threaten to undo us, 
 We will not fear, for God hath willed. 
 
 His truth to triumph through us. 
 The prince of darkness grim — 
 We tremble not for him ; 
 His rage we can endure, 
 For lo ! his doom is sure. 
 
 One little word shall fell him. 
 
 That word above all earthly powers — 
 
 No thanks to them — abideth; 
 The Spirit and the gifts are ours 
 
 Through Him who with us sideth. 
 Let goods and kindred go, 
 This mortal life also. 
 The body they may kill : 
 God's truth abideth still, 
 
 JJis kingdom is forevey," 
 
Building Up thic NivW. 207 
 
 This hymn was the war-cry and the triumphal 
 song of the Reformation. Everything that made 
 Protestantism great and courageous finds expression 
 in these magnificent verses. 
 
 Besides Psalms, Luther translated and adapted 
 Latin songs of the medieval Church, one hymn of 
 John Huss, and also "converted" well-known Ger- 
 man songs, as, for instance, the famous Christmas 
 
 song : 
 
 " Vom Himmel hoch, da komm icli her." 
 
 He took great pains in selecting appropriate 
 tunes for his hymns. With the assistance of com- 
 petent musicians he chose the best of the existing 
 tunes, both secular and sacred, and arranged them 
 to suit his purposes. His selections and adaptations 
 were excellent. Again he proved himself the mas- 
 ter in understanding the needs and likes of the peo- 
 ple. Without catering to depraved tastes and giv- 
 ing his people rag-time melodies, he set his hymns 
 to tunes which were popular but also dignified and 
 elevating. 
 
 Little w^onder that his hymns were soon known 
 by heart and sung everywhere. Some of them were 
 printed on slips of paper and had an immense cir- 
 culation. Of the first hymnals no copies are ex- 
 tant. They were not stored up in libraries, but were 
 used in the homes, and were actually used up by the 
 people. They became one of the most successful 
 means of spreading evangelical truth, and Luther's 
 opponents complained that the people simply sang 
 themselves into the new faith. 
 
 In the city of Brunswick a Romish priest 
 preached a fierce sermon against the arch-heretic, 
 
2o8 L,uthe;r: The; Leader. 
 
 He had hardly finished when a plain man in the 
 audience started Luther's hymn, "Ach Gott vom 
 Himmel sieh darein." It was immediately taken 
 up and sung by the whole crowd, much to the dis- 
 comfiture of the preacher. 
 
 Even in Catholic Churches some of the hymns 
 were sung. The people wanted to hear them. 
 Prince Henry of Wolfenbiittel, than whom none 
 was more bitter against Luther, insisted that his 
 hymns should be sung regularly in his court chapel. 
 One day the priest objected, and, when asked to 
 name the hymns which were to be excluded, com- 
 menced with : "Es soil uns Gott genadig sein" — 
 May God be gracious unto us. "What !" interrupted 
 the prince, "do you want us to quit praying that 
 God may be gracious unto us ? Should we perhaps 
 sing, May the devil be gracious unto us?" 
 
 Luther again had led the way. Many followed in 
 his steps. The great revival caused an outburst of 
 sacred song. Paul Speratus, Justus Jonas, Agric- 
 ola, Nicolaus Decius, and others, gave to the 
 Church hymns which still are quickening her faith. 
 
 The Gospel message, with its accompanying joy 
 and peace, was the mother of the sacred hymn, the 
 open Bible the immediate source of the hymnal. 
 The chills of winter had passed; spring had come 
 with all its warmth and light and life, with its 
 budding trees and blooming flowers ; the nightingale 
 lifted up her voice, and was soon joined by a chorus 
 of birds singing the praises of their Maker. 
 "Luther's Bible read in the homes, Luther's Cate- 
 chisms studied in the school, Luther's hymns sung 
 in the church and on the street, were the three great 
 factors in the making of evangelical Germany." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 THE EDUCATOR. 
 
 It is Melanchthon who is known as the "Prse- 
 ceptor Germanise," and rightly so. He was himself 
 a master teacher, and he trained excellent teachers 
 for the higher schools and universities of Germany 
 which he had organized. But it is Martin Luther 
 who is the real founder of modern education. 
 
 ■Mediseval education was purely religious and 
 dogmatic. The teachers were clergymen. The 
 great aim of higher education was to train theolo- 
 gians ; the chief end of general education, as far as 
 it went, was to prepare people for heaven by mak- 
 ing them obedient to the Church, The theology of 
 the Church as formulated in her creeds was iden- 
 tified with absolute truth, at least it was authorita- 
 tive. The function of the teacher was to inculcate 
 the doctrines of the Church ; the work of the scholar 
 consisted in expounding and defending the dogma. 
 
 Modern education is secular and scientific. In 
 our schools we prepare the pupils for the present 
 life, for ministering to the needs of society. We 
 do so, not by handing down formulated truths, but 
 by training the intellect to discover truth by close 
 observation and penetrating research. Modern 
 civilization is the product of scientific research. 
 Search for truth is not possible when the truth has 
 14 209 
 
2IO Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 been finally and authoritatively formulated. By at- 
 tacking the claim of the mediaeval Church to possess 
 the whole truth in her creeds, Luther opened the 
 way to rational, critical observation, to truly scien- 
 tific research, and to independent thought. 
 
 The niediseval Church considered the whole 
 wide field of secular activities as essentially evil. 
 Nature, with all her riches and wonders, was op- 
 posed to God. The arts, if not subservient to the 
 Church, were inspired by the devil ; hvmian intel- 
 lect, when not in slavish submission to the dogma, 
 was dangerous. Luther liberated mankind from 
 this unworthy servitude, and taught us again to 
 look upon all creation as God's handiwork. He 
 showed us that we, as free children of God, are 
 masters of our Father's works. Says Goethe: "We 
 do not fully appreciate how much we owe to Luther 
 and the Reformation. We were made free from 
 the shackles of intellectual restraint, and we have 
 again the courage to stand with both feet upon 
 God's earth, and to recognize human nature as 
 something created and endowed by God." 
 
 The Renaissance was a reaction against dog- 
 matic narrowness, fanaticism, and tyranny. The 
 Humanists were the champions of secular learning 
 and of pure, independent scholarship. But they dis- 
 carded religion altogether, and, unwilling openly to 
 defy the Church, they either led a life of despicable 
 hypocrisy, like Pope Leo and Cardinal Albrecht, 
 and many other dignitaries who were devoted 
 Humanists and at the same time enjoyed the emol- 
 uments of their Church positions, or they were 
 wearing their strength away in unsatisfactory com- 
 
Buii^DiNG Up the; N^w. 211 
 
 promises with the ecclesiastical authorities, as Eras- 
 mus of Rotterdam, Reuchlin, and others, were com- 
 pelled to do. Besides, their endeavors were not di- 
 rected to advance popular education as a means for 
 the uplifting of the common people. As to the 
 Greeks of old, learning was to them an sesthetical 
 luxury, to be reserved for the few favored ones. 
 
 It was Luther who stood for the close correla- 
 tion of religion and learning. He dealt the death- 
 blow to Church authority in all secular matters, but 
 he did not divorce religion from secular learning. 
 Religion and morals are inseparably connected, and 
 must be woven into the whole fabric of popular and 
 higher education in order to train pious and useful 
 citizens. The sum and substance of Luther's ethical 
 teaching was, that he serves God best who does his 
 full duty in whatever position he has been placed by 
 God. But in order to do his full dut)'^, a man must 
 develop the powers which God has given to him. 
 All learning, separate from application to the best 
 interests of mankind, appears to him nothing but 
 waste of time ; but as a means of serving the com- 
 munity and thereby serving God, it is of highest im- 
 portance. 
 
 Thus Luther becomes the champion of popular 
 education. In his "Address to the German Nobil- 
 ity" he emphasizes the importance of schools for all 
 classes of people, and later he wrote two treatises 
 dealing especially with the question of common 
 schools; namely, in the year 1524 the "Address to 
 the Councilmen of all Cities in Germany, to Estab- 
 lish and Maintain Christian Schools," and in 1530, 
 while in Koburg, "Why Children Should go to 
 
212 Luther: Thr LbadRr. 
 
 School/' In these pamphlets he lays the founda- 
 tion of modern popular education. The historian, 
 Leopold von Ranke, is perfectly right in saying that 
 they "have done as much for the development of 
 secular instruction as his 'Address to the German 
 Nobility' has done for the secular State in general." 
 
 There are to be, according to his plan, three 
 grades of schools. The lower schools are to be 
 open to all the children, to boys as well as to girls. 
 Girls must also have the benefit of elementary in- 
 struction, which is to be imparted to them preferably 
 by women teachers. Boys who graduate creditably, 
 and are bright and promising, should enter the 
 higher schools or gymnasia, and those who desire to 
 enter upon a profession are to receive their profes 
 sional training at the universities after graduating 
 from a gymnasium. Here we have our plan of 
 grammar schools, high schools and colleges, and 
 professional schools. 
 
 The schools are to be established and main- 
 tained by the cities, "since the princes, who by 
 rights ought to do it, spend their time in senseless 
 diversions and gluttony." The community must 
 provide for public instruction, since the schools are 
 not only for preachers or for the benefit of the 
 Church, but are necessary to the people, and since 
 the task of instructing the children can not be left 
 to the parents because many of them do not see the 
 necessity, others are careless, others dishonest, and 
 most of them are incompetent to teach. 
 
 "Every year we spend much money on roads 
 and walls and fortifications and on other public im- 
 provements, in order to secure peace and prosperity 
 
BUII.DING Up the; New. 213 
 
 for the city. Ought we not to spend at least as 
 much on the education of our children?" 
 
 "The growth of cities does not consist merely 
 in building fine houses, in strengthening the for- 
 tifications, in gathering wealth ; their real growth, 
 peace, and strength lies in the bringing up of 
 many fine, skilled, sensible, honest, well-educated 
 citizens. They alone can not only amass riches, but 
 use them profitably for the community." 
 
 Those who have the means may pay for the 
 schooling of their children. "People ought to give 
 at least half as much now for the education of their 
 children as they formerly contributed for the sup- 
 port of the begging friars and the bishops ;" but "if 
 there be among the orphans or among the children 
 of the pO(^ bright boys, they ought to be sent to 
 school at the expense of the community." Lack of 
 means ought never to be a hindrance when a boy 
 has natural gifts. Luther always has a word of en- 
 couragement for the poor students. "Do n't despise 
 the poor students, who sing in front of your houses," 
 he admonishes the citizens. "I myself was one of 
 them. Let your son study even if he have to beg 
 for his bread. You give to the Lord a fine piece of 
 wood ; He can carve a useful man out of it." 
 
 It was the more necessary to lay stress upon the 
 value of a liberal education, inasmuch as the preva- 
 lent opinion was, that education was of importance 
 only for ecclesiastics, and especially since the rapid 
 increase of commerce turned the attention of the 
 citizens almost exclusively to practical business af- 
 fairs. The higher studies were neglected in favor 
 of acquiring skill to make money. We almost imag- 
 
214 Luther: The Leiadhr. 
 
 ine we hear a modern college professor when we lis- 
 ten to Luther's words : "Do not pay attention to the 
 spirit of gain and greed that despises the liberal 
 arts and says to you, *If a boy knows how to read 
 and write German, and knows his multiplication 
 table, he knows enough. He shall be a business 
 man.' They will soon come to their senses and fain 
 / dig a scholar out of the earth, if they only could, 
 I How can the merchant get along without the 
 \ preacher or the lawyer ? If there were no preachers, 
 I there would soon be no Word of God, and people 
 I would turn heathen ; and if there were no lawyers, 
 \there would be no justice and no peace, nothing but 
 Vobbery, murder, wrong, main force." 
 
 Luther never tired of magnifying the vocation 
 and work of the teacher. "An efficient, pious 
 schoolteacher can not be honored enough nor 
 receive too much compensation. It is a shame 
 how we undervalue the work of the teacher. 
 If I could give up preaching, or were compelled to 
 quit, I would not wish to be anything else than a 
 schoolteacher ; for I know this vocation is the best 
 and the most useful next to the ministry ; and some- 
 times I do n't know which of the two is the more 
 important. For it is difficult to train old dogs or to 
 reform old sinners, and this is what the preacher 
 tries to do, and so often in vain ; but young trees 
 can be bent, even if some of them should break." 
 
 In the course of study Luther desires to include 
 everything that is useful and beautiful. "I am not 
 of the opinion that the Gospel puts down and abol- 
 ishes all arts, as some who are over-spiritual pre- 
 tend. I wish to see all the arts, particularly music, 
 
Buii^DiNG Up the; New. 215 
 
 in the service of Him who created them and gave 
 them to us," He therefore requires that teachers 
 should be able to sing. The young people ought 
 to be trained in music, especially in singing, "so that 
 they may love songs, not carnal songs, but some- 
 thing good and useful." 
 
 Next to the elementary studies he places in im- 
 portance the study of history, on account of its moral 
 influence and practical bearing. Children "learn 
 from history what to do and what to avoid in this 
 life. They become prudent and clever, and are able 
 to give sound advice to others, and even to rule over 
 others." 
 
 Mental occupation is not to alienate the children 
 from manual labor. "My idea is that the boys 
 should go to school one or two hours every day; 
 the rest of the time they may do work at home, or 
 learn a trade. Girls can well be spared from home 
 for one hour a day in order to go to school. They 
 have ample time to do all their housework in the 
 meantime." Those who are especially gifted and 
 bid fair to become teachers or preachers or follow 
 some other profession must spend more time in 
 study, and finally devote their whole time to it. 
 From this plan of Luther's it is really but one step 
 to the instruction in manual work for boys, and in 
 cooking, sewing, and other household duties for 
 girls ; but it took a long time before this step was 
 taken, and even now the majority of schools, per- 
 haps, are lagging behind in this respect. 
 
 Luther did not believe in the theory of "all work 
 and no play." The teachers must strive to make 
 the school hours pleasant for the children, so that 
 
2i6 Luthe;r: The Leader. 
 
 they may learn "with pleasure and, as it were, while 
 playing." "Children are bound to run and jump 
 and do things which are a delight to them. We 
 must not always restrain them. It is not good con- 
 stantly to repress them." 
 
 As a means of disseminating useful knowledgs 
 among young and old he strongly recommends the 
 establishment of public libraries. 
 
 His common sense led him to ridicule the idea of 
 some impractical scholars who wanted to introduce 
 the study of Greek and Hebrew into the grammar 
 schools, but he asserted most emphatically the neces- 
 sity of the study of the ancient languages for all 
 students of theology. "The ancient languages are 
 the sheath in which the sword of the Spirit is hid- 
 den; they are the casket in which the jewel is lying; 
 they are the vessel in which the drink is contained ; 
 they are the cupboard in which this meat is placed ; 
 they are the baskets in which the bread and fish 
 crumbs are carried. ... A plain preacher with 
 his German Bible in his hands is able to understand 
 Christ, to preach Him, and to live a holy life; but 
 without the languages he can not expound the 
 Scriptures nor defend them against errors." 
 
 Since Luther delegated to the State the duty of 
 caring for religious instruction, it is perfectly nat- 
 ural that he should insist on religious instruction in 
 the schools. State Church system and compulsory 
 religious instruction in the public schools are nat- 
 ural and necessary concomitants. One day in each 
 week was to be given to religion. The children 
 were to commit selected portions of the Bible, and 
 the teacher was to instruct them in Bible history 
 
Building Up the N^w 217 
 
 and in the truths of Christian rehgion. Rehgious 
 instruction remains to the present time an essential 
 part of the courses in all State schools in European 
 countries. 
 
 The most important text-book was Luther's 
 Catechism, He wrote two. The 'Xarger Cate- 
 chism" was really a guide-book for preachers. It 
 is a popular compendium of the whole body of 
 evangelical divinity. The "Smaller Catechism" was 
 the text-book for schools and private instruction. 
 In a limited number of questions and answers 
 Luther stated succinctly and in systematic arrange- 
 ment the most essential parts of the Christian re- 
 ligion. It was the result of many years of study. 
 Luther had a large blackboard in his own room, 
 where he wrote out the questions and answers as 
 briefly and clearly as possible. Testing them again 
 and again in his own family, he continued to con- 
 dense and improve them, and thus prepared the 
 little book, "which can be bought for six pennies 
 but which could not be paid for by six thousand 
 worlds," as Justus Jonas tells us. Another con- 
 temporary of the Reformer estimates that, during 
 the first thirty years after its publication, at least 
 one hundred thousand copies were sold, and he gives 
 his opinion of the value of the book in the following 
 words : "If Luther in his whole life had done noth- 
 ing else than bring his two Catechisms into the 
 homes, schools, and pulpits, the whole world could 
 not repay him sufficiently for the good which he 
 thereby accomplished." 
 
 We may consider these praises extravagant ; but, 
 as a matter of fact, Luther's Catechisms have done 
 
2i8 LuThhr: Thk Leader. 
 
 more than anything else to train and retain the 
 young people of Lutheran descent in the faith and 
 in the Church of their fathers. They are translated 
 into all languages in which Lutheran preachers pro- 
 claim the Gospel. They are used as text-books to- 
 day as they were used three hundred years ago. 
 More than one hundred thousand copies in seven 
 different languages are in use at the present day in 
 the Lutheran Churches in the United States. 
 
 A good many objections may be raised against 
 catechetical instruction. It is dry, barren, does not 
 promote spiritual life, substitutes dogma for the 
 study of the Bible at first hand. Admitting the 
 truth of all this, yet we may truly say that Luther's 
 conception systematically and constantly to train 
 children m the truths of religion is right. The 
 methods may change in accordance with the im- 
 proved methods of child training, the principle re- 
 mains. Catechetical instruction without spiritual 
 life may develop dead formalism ; but it is equally 
 true that dramatic conversions without Christian 
 nurture generate an unsteady, emotional type of 
 Christian life, which fails to develop into a full- 
 orbed Christian character. Sound and thorough in- 
 struction combined with personal consecration to 
 God forms the foundation of a consistent Christian 
 character. Both are needed. 
 
 Present indications are that the American 
 Churches are waking up to the fact that it is poor 
 policy to rely too much on spasmodic, emotional re- 
 vivals to bring the young people to an experimental 
 knowledge of Christ ; they will in the future pay 
 more attention to systematic instruction, not in dead 
 
Building Up the Nkw. 219 
 
 dogmas, but in vital verities. And present indica- 
 tions point also to the fact that the American people 
 will realize more than heretofore that purely secular 
 education may produce strong and well-trained in- 
 tellects, but that the highest interests of our nation 
 demand men of sterling character, of pure honesty, 
 of unmitigated unselfishness. Education in religion 
 and morals blended with intellectual training can 
 alone produce such men. 
 
 This is the way which was pointed out by 
 Luther. The sooner we decide to follow him, the 
 better it will be for the American people. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 PREACHER AND WRITER. 
 
 While Luther preached very often in Witten- 
 berg as well as in other cities, and sometimes to 
 large audiences, he reached still more people by 
 means of printer's ink than by the spoken word. 
 He was the first preacher to use the printing-press 
 extensively for the purpose of promulgating his 
 opinions. Both the quantity of his writings and 
 the immense circulation would be remarkable even 
 in our time, much more so three hundred years 
 ago when the art of printing was still in its infancy. 
 
 The first edition of his collected works, com- 
 menced in 1539 and finished twelve years after his 
 death in 1558, numbers twelve large volumes in the 
 German language and seven volumes in Latin. But 
 these nineteen folio volumes contain onl}' the small- 
 est portion of his literary work. The two modern 
 editions, the so-called Erlangen Edition, published 
 from 1862-1885, fills sixty-seven large octavo vol- 
 umes of German and thirty-eight volumes of Latin 
 writings. Even this edition is far from being com- 
 plete. During the last few years a number of un- 
 published letters and sermons, most of the latter 
 taken down by students, have come to light in 
 various archives and libraries of German cities. The 
 latest edition, which is to contain all the works of 
 the great Reformer in their chronological order, 
 220 
 
Building Up the Nmv. 221 
 
 is being edited by an official commission of German 
 scholars under the auspices of the government. 
 This so-called Weimar Edition is progressing 
 slowly, and numbers at present thirty-two volumes. 
 Luther's works comprise sermons, letters, contro- 
 versial writings, tracts for the times, commentaries, 
 books of devotion, theological discussions, thus pre- 
 senting a great variety and range of subjects. 
 
 Bearing in mind that he fulfilled regularly the 
 duties incumbent upon his position as a university 
 professor, we may well marvel at the number of 
 sermons which he preached. For years he filled 
 every Sunday the pulpit in the Wittenberg Stadt- 
 Kirche, besides conducting regular Sunday services 
 with the monks and in later years with his family, 
 his "Hausgemeinde," as he called it, which included 
 all the guests and servants. Very frequently he 
 was called out of town to preach on special occa- 
 sions, and not many trips did he make without be- 
 ing called upon to expound the Word of God. 
 
 In most places the people were eager to hear 
 him. When reaching Orlamiinde during the 
 troubles occasioned by Karlstadt, the whole popu- 
 lace was in the fields harvesting, but they left their 
 work and assembled in the church. At Zwickau, 
 where he went shortly after returning from the 
 Wartburg in order to counteract the influence of 
 the fanatical prophets, an immense concourse of 
 people flocked to hear him. He preached from a 
 windov/ in the city hall to over twenty-five thousand 
 people who crowded the market-place, and a little 
 later he addressed an audience that filled the castle 
 court. 
 
222 Luthivk: The: Leader. 
 
 In Wittenberg he, as a rule, preached expository 
 sermons on whole Biblical books, his favorite books 
 being Genesis and the first Epistle of St. Peter. 
 While fully persuaded that the chief aim of preach- 
 ing was to acquaint the congregation with the truths 
 of the Bible, and more especially to set forth Christ 
 in his various offices, he did not consider it un- 
 seemly to treat vital problems of the day in his ser- 
 mons. Most famous in this respect are his "Eight 
 Sermons," preached after the return from the Wart- 
 burg, in which he reviewed the whole religious and 
 political situation. A number of his political and 
 social pamphlets are really the substance of ser- 
 mons which he preached on those questions. 
 
 Most of the sermons which appeared in print 
 were taken down by interested hearers. He seldom 
 took the time to revise the manuscripts ; frequently 
 they were printed without his consent. There being 
 at that time no copyright, his sermons, as well as his 
 other publications, were often reprinted in other 
 cities, notably in Niirnberg, Basel, Strassburg. 
 While the sermons were published mostly in pam- 
 phlet form, there appeared also some collections of 
 sermons. Of special importance are his "Haus- 
 Postille," consisting of sermons preached on Sunday 
 mornings to his own family and taken down by his 
 friend George Rorer, and his "Kirchen-Postille." 
 This latter is the only collection which he himself 
 edited. He commenced it as early as 15 19, worked 
 at it during his stay on the Wartburg, and published 
 it later in Wittenberg. Next to the Bible and the 
 Catechisms it was the most popular of all his books, 
 and Luther considered it his best. "Even the pa- 
 
Building Up the; Nsw. 223 
 
 pists like it," he casuall}- remarked. It contains ser- 
 mons on the Gospels and Epistles of the Church 
 Year, designed to be read in churches by pastors 
 who were too ignorant to compose their own ser- 
 mons. Luther thought it better for all concerned 
 that a weak preacher should read to his congrega- 
 tion a good sermon written by some one else than 
 to pass off on them his own poor production. 
 
 Together with Melanchthon, Luther became the 
 founder of a new school of preaching. Formerly 
 the sermon occupied a subordinate place only in the 
 Church service ; Luther placed it in the very center 
 of public worship. Formerly it consisted of dry 
 dogmatics and scholastic speculations, or it was a 
 recital of all sorts of funny stories, gleaned from 
 the lives of the saints and recited for the amusement 
 of the hearers. It is hardly conceivable what vulgar 
 and coarse jokes were told from the pulpit, es- 
 pecially before and after the Lenten season, for the 
 purpose of provoking what was called Easter laugh- 
 ter. The pulpit was degraded into a school of buf- 
 foonery. Luther gave to the sermon its place of dig- 
 nity ; he made the pulpit the throne of sacred elo- 
 quence, even more so than in the days of Chrys- 
 ostom. 
 
 A good sermon, he writes, "must be delivered 
 slowly and without screaming or startling gestures. 
 . . . Above all, a sermon must not be long. A 
 preacher must cultivate the art of saying much in 
 few words. If you can not preach an hour, preach 
 half an hour or fifteen minutes. A good preacher 
 will stop when people are anxious to hear more of 
 him and think the best is still coming. But if they 
 
224 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 are disgusted and unwilling to listen any longer, 
 wishing that he might soon come to a close, it is 
 a bad thing. If the people say, 'I could have listened 
 to him much longer,' it is good ; if they say, *0 
 pshaw! he just jabbered, and couldn't find the end,' 
 it is very bad." 
 
 He also emphasized the need of confining one's 
 self to the subject in hand. "He is a foolish preacher 
 who thinks he must say everything he knows." The 
 sermon ought always to be adapted to the occasion. 
 He tells of a good old divine, who, in a hospital 
 where his audience consisted of poor old women, 
 preached on the married state, its divine sanction, 
 and its blessings. 
 
 Quite frequently we find him admonishing his 
 students to use plain and simple language. These 
 warnings were the more in place since the theolog- 
 ical students received most of their training by 
 means of the Latin language ; they read almost ex- 
 clusively Latin books ; they heard Latin lectures 
 and spoke Latin. Latin was the universal language 
 of the scholars. We can well see how this would 
 influence the style of the preachers, the more so 
 since the German language was as yet uncouth, not 
 at all polished. "In the pulpit speak just as you 
 would at home," is his advice ; "use your mother 
 tongue, plain and simple, so that everybody can un- 
 derstand you." Of his "Church-Postille" he says 
 himself, "The Gospel is prepared plainly and care- 
 fully, just as a mother prepares the food for her 
 baby." 
 
 "When I preach in the Stadt-Kirche I stoop 
 down," he remarked in one of his Table Talks. "I 
 
Building Up the New. 225 
 
 do not look up to the Doctors and the Masters of 
 Arts, of whom there are about forty in my audience, 
 but I look down upon the crowd of young people, 
 children, and servants, of whom there are several 
 hundreds, sometimes thousands. To them I preach. 
 To them I adapt myself. They need it. If the Doc- 
 tors do n't care to hear that style of preaching, the 
 door is open for them to leave." 
 
 Luther always did use great plainness of speech. 
 Nobody will deny that fact. Those who heard him 
 or read his publications never were left in doubt 
 as to what he meant. But he also, especially in his 
 controversial writings, used language which is 
 coarse beyond measure. He lived in a coarse age, 
 an age that had no sense for what is decent and 
 what is undecent in public utterance. To call a man 
 "a beast," "an ass," "a hog;" to advise him "to go 
 back to his pig-pen," and to use other expressions 
 which to-day no gentleman would dream of employ- 
 ing, was not considered out of place at all. Con- 
 troversies consisted to a great extent in slinging at 
 the adversary the foulest and vilest abuses. L,uther 
 was no exception to the rule. In this respect he 
 was a child of his time. His vocabulary of vituper- 
 ative expressions of the most forceful kind was as 
 full as that of Geiler, Rabelais, Murner, and other 
 writers of high repute. His opponents heaped 
 calumny and personal abuse upon him, and he paid 
 them back in good measure. Upon the pope, Duke 
 George of Saxony, King Henry VIII of England, 
 Duke Henry of Wolfenbiittel, he poured out the 
 vials of his wrath; of course, not without being 
 provoked by them, His Majesty the King of Eng? 
 15 
 
226 Luthe;r: The; Lkadejr. 
 
 land called Luther, among other flattering things, 
 "an ugly, bleating, lost sheep, that had found refuge 
 in the devil's belly." Luther answered in execrable 
 language, and apologized for it by saying, ''If the 
 King of England is at liberty to spit out his im- 
 pudent lies, I am free to thrust them back again 
 into his throat." 
 
 His "plainness of speech" was often a source of 
 embarrassment to the evangelical politicians. The 
 ambassador of the Elector wrote upon one occasion 
 to his master that, according to his opinion, "no 
 harm could be done to the faith nor to the saving 
 of souls if Dr. Marfeinus would see fit to refrain 
 from using insulting and sarcastic language against 
 the emperor and the government." Several times 
 it occurred that his manuscripts were held back by 
 the court, and that he was requested, by the Elector, 
 "not to publish anything about any prince or noble 
 personage without permission." But Luther was 
 not the kind of man to ask permission. "Not half 
 of what has been done would have been accom- 
 plished, if I had followed the advice of the politi- 
 cians," he wrote to Melanchthon. And again he 
 complains : "Whatever these people [the Catholic 
 princes] do, is all right, even if they drown the 
 country and all its inhabitants in innocent blood; 
 and such people you want me to handle with gloves 
 and to court and flatter them, and say, 'My gracious 
 Lord ; how wise and pious you are !' " 
 
 There was a good deal of untamed wildness in 
 Luther's make-up, and the attacks of his enemies 
 called forth the whole force of his "Furor Teutoni- 
 cus." To be sure, his style of controversy would 
 
Building Up the; New. 227 
 
 not be tolerated to-day. But in view of the many 
 attacks made upon his character by CathoHc writ- 
 ers in the past and at present, we may ask the ques- 
 tion, Were his coarse expressions too strong con- 
 sidering that they were hurled against a system 
 which silenced milder voices by fire and sword ? We 
 may find fault with him, but before judging him too 
 severely it is well to ask whether he would have 
 succeeded in arousing his narrow-minded, lethargic, 
 dull, coarse countrymen, if he had addressed them 
 in the polished language of the Humanists or of 
 Goethe ? 
 
 And he certainly did arouse them. No author 
 was more successful. None understood better the 
 soul of his people and knew how to touch it. Even 
 his enemies could not help imitating his style if they 
 wanted to have a hearing. Duke George, having 
 read his pamphlet on the question whether soldiers 
 could be Christians, and not knowing who its au- 
 thor was, was highly pleased with it, and remarked, 
 "Here is a book which is much better than anything 
 which Luther ever wrote." Upon being informed 
 that no one else than Luther had written it, he said 
 in disgust, "What a pity that such a cursed monk 
 should write a splendid book like this !" 
 
 In spite of his immoderate language, Luther 
 was kind toward his opponents, ever ready to for- 
 give them and to help them when in need. He har- 
 bored no personal rancor. When Tetzel was on his 
 death-bed in Leipzig, Luther sent him a beautiful 
 letter. When Karlstadt was compelled to flee for 
 his life, not knowing where to take refuge, he ap- 
 plied to Luther. And Luther, whom Karlstadt had 
 
228 Luther: The Lead£;r. 
 
 wronged and insulted and attacked, kept him in 
 hiding in his own house, and even urged the Elector 
 to pardon him and grant him permission to settle 
 again in the Electorate. 
 
 No trace of coarseness can be detected in 
 Luther's devotional and expository writings. He 
 had a peculiar gift to comfort the afflicted, and some 
 of his best devotional tracts were written to persons 
 who were friendly to the Gospel, to comfort them 
 in their sorrows. 
 
 His strong sense of humor, his satirical vein, 
 and also his deeply religious and poetical soul, 
 formed a rare combination of literary qualities, and 
 enabled him to produce the most diversified writ- 
 ings. But all of them, widely different as they were 
 — his hymns as well as his satirical epigrams ; his 
 soul-stirring addresses, like his lampoons ; his 
 theological treatises and his renderings of the He- 
 brew seers and singers — were all in the service of 
 the one great idea ; viz., the religious and moral 
 regeneration of the German people. 
 
 And while writing and preaching with this all- 
 absorbing aim in view, Martin Luther gave to his 
 people another gift of priceless value, — a language. 
 Says Jacob Grimm in his monumental German 
 Grammar: "The language of Luther, owing to its 
 noble purity and its powerful influence, has become 
 the foundation of modern High German. The 
 changes which were made up to the present time 
 are insignificant, and are for the most part not an 
 improvement but a deterioration of its force and 
 lucidity." 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 POLITICAL AND SOCIAL VIEWS. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no field of human activity 
 where the individual is more influenced by the gen- 
 eral currents of thought, by what Luther's country- 
 men call "Zeitgeist," than the sphere of political and 
 social problems. Hereditary tendencies, environ- 
 ment, religious convictions, family or business rela- 
 tions, personal likes and dislikes, all enter into mold- 
 ing one's views and mapping out the course of ac- 
 tion. 
 
 There is moreover no other sphere of activity 
 where the divergence between theory and practice, 
 between the ideal and the real, between what is de- 
 sirable and what is possible under existing circum.- 
 stances, appears as painfully evident as it does here. 
 
 The idealist knows what ought to be done, or at 
 least he thinks he does. The man of affairs knows 
 how much can actually be accomplished. Very 
 often these two fail to understand each other. The 
 idealist accuses the man of affairs of lowering the 
 standards. He refuses to accept any compromises. 
 "Aut Caesar aut nihil" — Either his ideal or nothing. 
 The man of affairs is apt to look upon the idealist 
 as a crank, a well-meaning but useless, if not dan- 
 gerous, dreamer, who is unwilling to lend a hand in 
 achieving what is an improvement over previous 
 229 
 
230 LuTHRR : The Leade;r. 
 
 conditions. Sometimes both tendencies are com- 
 bined in one man. He has lofty ideals, but he is 
 ready to compromise in order to advance one step at 
 a time, when he sees that he can not reach the goal 
 in one jump. He keeps, however, the goal con- 
 stantly in view, and presses on toward it. These 
 men, after all, accomplish the most tangible results ; 
 but they are the men who are most easily misunder- 
 stood, and may sometimes be accused of inconsist- 
 ency. 
 
 Martin Luther belonged to this class of men. 
 The necessary consequences of his fundamental doc- 
 trine of the universal priesthood of the believer is 
 a free Church, yet he linked the Church to the 
 State. His doctrine of the freedom of the Chris- 
 tian will result in a free State, yet he was the ad- 
 vocate of the absolute power of the rulers. He 
 used the strongest language against the rulers as 
 a class. And yet Luther denounced revolutionary 
 measures or use of force against those same rulers. 
 
 Luther could have incited the evangelical princes 
 and the knights to a war against the emperor for 
 religious liberty ; he could have been the leader of 
 the hosts of the peasants in their battle for civic 
 rights. He did not choose to do so. Some say he 
 missed the greatest opportunity of his life. We 
 rather think he did wisely in refusing to be carried 
 away by a popular uprising, widespread though it 
 was, which was premature, carried on by unre- 
 strained passion, but was not the outgrowth of ma- 
 ture conviction and based on ability for self-gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 It is utterly useless in historical matters to spec- 
 
Building Up the New. 231 
 
 ulate on the question what might have happened if 
 certain events had not taken place or had occurred 
 differently. We can not know what Luther would 
 have done if religious fanaticism and social revo- 
 lutionism had not developed so rapidly and pro- 
 duced the disastrous resuhs which Luther saw with 
 his own eyes. There is little doubt that he would 
 have taken a different course. But we do know that, 
 ever since the fateful year of the Wittenberg dis- 
 turbances and since the Peasants' War, Luther had 
 no use for democratic forms of government. "The 
 ass wants the whip, and the mob wants to be gov- 
 erned by compulsion," he was wont to say. The 
 outbreaks convinced him that, to place power into 
 the hands of the common people, meant religious 
 and social anarchy. He never afterward showed 
 the same fervent enthusiasm which permeated his 
 former utterances, for instance, in his "Address to 
 the German Nobility." 
 
 He was still more confirmed in his views by the 
 excesses of the Anabaptist radicals and fanatics 
 who, in the year 1534, established the kingdom of 
 heaven in the city of Miinster, a commonwealth the 
 chief characteristics of which were religious bigotry, 
 sensual debauchery, despotism, and utter contempt 
 for law and order. 
 
 There is certainly a vast difference between 
 Luther's way of looking at the mutual relations be- 
 tween government and people and the modern point 
 of view. He was firmly convinced that whatever 
 form of government happened to exist was in ex- 
 istence by Divine authority. It was, accordingly, 
 never lawful for a Christian to rebel against a Di- 
 
232 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 vinely appointed institution. Christian life consists 
 in believing, loving, suffering, not in disorder!}^ 
 clamoring for betterment of outward conditions of 
 life. Absolute monarchism by the grace of God, 
 and democratic government by the people, of the 
 people, for the people, represent two different types, 
 not only of civilization, but of "Weltanschauung." 
 Luther stood with both feet in the former, although 
 he pointed the way to the latter. 
 
 Furthermore, to Luther the spiritual blessings of 
 the Gospel were of paramount importance. His 
 whole work hinged, as we have seen, on the change 
 in the relation of the individual to his God. To 
 have his sins forgiven, to be right with God, was 
 the fundamental question. Everything else was of 
 minor concern. It was certainly the duty of every 
 Christian to serve his neighbor as best he could, 
 and also to do the best for his country. But the 
 more political disappointments he had to meet, the 
 less he emphasized this point, though he never re- 
 ceded from it. He never in his whole career iden- 
 tified the Christian religion with any social or polit- 
 ical platform. 
 
 In our times we frequently meet with the op- 
 posite idea. The purely spiritual blessings of the 
 Gospel are brushed aside, and the social and tem- 
 poral benefits of Christian civilization are consid- 
 ered matters of prime importance. Christianity is 
 to many minds, in the first place, the most potent 
 factor in the progress of civilization in the better- 
 ment of the outward conditions of life. 
 
 Luther's religion was first a spiritual force. He 
 was a representative of other-worldliness, not, how- 
 
Building Up the Nijw. 633 
 
 ever, without a very marked admixture of sane this- 
 sidedness. To many, religion is something per- 
 taining essentially to this world, with only a slight 
 and misty sprinkling of other-worldliness. 
 
 Again, we must insist that Luther be placed in 
 the light of his time, in order not to underrate his 
 real contributions to the advance march of hu- 
 manity. 
 
 He was the first who freed the secular govern- 
 ment from being nothing but the tool of the Church. 
 During all the centuries of the Middle Ages the 
 Church had used the State to further her own inter- 
 ests. But Luther had also to resist the mischievous 
 tendencies of those who held that children of God 
 ought not to pollute themselves by stepping down 
 into a mire of politics, as well as the Biblical literal- 
 ism of others. Quite a number looked upon the 
 Old Testament as containing the authoritative civil 
 code for society and State, and they endeavored to 
 establish a Christian commonwealth on the basis of 
 the Mosaic legislation. 
 
 Luther had common sense enough to take a 
 lively interest in political and social questions, and 
 often took occasion to express his views in sermons 
 and pamphlets, and he was sane enough to distin- 
 guish between the transitory order of the Mosaic 
 law and the permanent principles of the Gospel. He 
 enunciated clearly thai the political and ceremonial 
 requirements of the Mosaic code are not binding 
 for Christians. 
 
 His theory of religious liberty was far in ad- 
 vance of his age. Says he : "The government shall 
 not prevent people from believing and teaching what 
 
 L/ 
 
\j 
 
 
 234 IvUThe;r: The IvUadkr. 
 
 appears right to their own minds, be it the truth of 
 the Gospel or an error. It is sufficient if the gov- 
 ernment repress strife and rebelhon." In his ser- 
 mon on the subject, "Temporal Alagistrates, and 
 How Far They have to be Obeyed," he elucidates 
 
 I that the office of the government, as founded upon 
 the Scriptures, is threefold: (i) To establish and 
 preserve peace; (2) To punish the wicked; (3) To 
 protect the innocent. Government can not coerce 
 the faith or the religion of the subjects. Compul- 
 sion leads only to hypocrisy. "Heresy is something 
 pertaining to the spiritual world. You can not cut 
 it with iron, nor burn it with fire, nor drown it in 
 water. You can not drive the devil out of the heart 
 by destroying with sword or fire the vessels in which 
 he lives. This is like fighting lightning with a blade 
 of straw." 
 
 Correct as these sentiments are, Luther himself 
 did not always carry them into practice. He did 
 not, especially in his later years, grant to others 
 what he demanded for himself; namely, this free- 
 dom of conscience. Neither have the Lutheran 
 State Churches exercised tolerance. Where the 
 Lutheran State Church is in power to-day, she still 
 calls upon the civil magistrates to hinder by fines 
 and penalties the free exercise of religious worship, 
 and to curtail the privileges of those citizens who 
 adhere to evangelical denominations which she is 
 pleased to call "sects." 
 
 Luther was a close observer of all the move- 
 ments of his time, and so he coiild not help notic- 
 ing the changing social conditions. We have called 
 attention to the fact that the beginning of the six- 
 
Building Up the New. 235 
 
 teenth century was a period of traufition. German}- 
 changed from an agricultural into a commercial 
 countr}'. The discover}- of the New World changed 
 the social structure of the Old World. Up to the 
 sixteenth century tilling the soil and handling the 
 products thereof constituted virtually the only 
 means of income. Now commercial companies were 
 formed. Money could be invested and produce 
 more money quite independent of the harvests of the 
 home fields. Slowly money became the basis of the 
 social structure. Its power increased; riches ac- 
 cumulated ; the free cities grew and prospered. The 
 old order was passing away, and there evolved the 
 beginnings of our modern social conditions. In a 
 former chapter we have noticed how these changes 
 produced general unrest and dissatisfaction, and 
 how finally, in connection with the religious move- 
 ment, the social revolution broke forth. The revolt 
 was crushed, but the causes effecting the changes 
 remained at work. 
 
 Luther never saw the real cause of the change. 
 He remained to the end of his life a representative 
 of the old order of things. He was convinced that 
 tilling the soil was really the only legitimate and 
 God-ordained means of gaining a livelihood ; in the 
 next place came a useful trade. Commerce was evil 
 in itself, and its roots were greed and the passion 
 to get rich. He could not see the justice of lending 
 money and taking interest without doing any work 
 for it. He thought that each man had to work with 
 his own hands ; to take money in any other way was 
 outright robbery. He was therefore positively op- i 
 posed to the taking of interest. Whoever lends 
 
 1/ 
 
236 IvUTHJiK: The; Le;ade;r. 
 
 money ought also to assume the risk, and take inter- 
 est only when his debtor earned enough over and 
 above a fair compensation for his trouble. If, not- 
 withstanding his honest and persistent efforts, he 
 met with reverses, then the creditor ought to bear 
 the loss. Luther's pamphlet on "Commerce and 
 Usury," in which he elaborates his ideas, is called 
 by Professor Schmoller "the most interesting treat- 
 ise on social and economic questions written dur- 
 ing the whole period of the Reformation." 
 
 He is very strong in his denunciations of the 
 practice of charging high prices for the necessities 
 of life, simply in order to make money. The idea 
 underlying the formation of trusts is to him in- 
 human and unchristian. IMerchants are entitled tc 
 a fair compensation for their risk and for their 
 trouble, but they have no moral right to charge ex- 
 orbitant prices in order to get rich quickly. He 
 suggests that a court be instituted and intrusted with 
 authority to regulate and fix prices. This, he thinks, 
 would be fair and just to producer and consumer 
 alike. 
 
 Interstate commerce is especially objectionable 
 in his eyes. It only breeds extravagance. "Ger- 
 many can produce everything that we need. Why 
 send money to foreign nations for the purpose of 
 purchasing goods which are not necessary at all? 
 God has cursed us Germans, so that we throw our 
 money, our silver, and our gold into the hands of 
 foreign nations, to make them rich, and remain beg- 
 gars ourselves. England would have less gold if 
 we would not buy clothes of her ; the King of Por- 
 tugal would have less money if we left him his 
 
Building Up thic N^w. 237 
 
 spices. Just figure up how much money is sent to 
 foreign countries without any just cause, and you 
 will be surprised that there is a penny left in our 
 German lands." 
 
 His views on the use of money are sound, f 
 "Riches are not bad in themselves, nor is poverty 
 anything good in itself. Everything depends upon 
 the man who uses it. God does not require of us to 
 be without money, as some fools among the philoso- 
 phers and some crazy saints among the Christians 
 have taught. He permits some to become rich, but 
 he does not want them to set their hearts and their 
 love on their money. . . . The fatal mistake is 
 made when people consider themselves the owners 
 while they are but stewards. . . . You may 
 earn as much as you can in an honest way and in 
 the fear of God, not in order to gratify your avarice, 
 but in order to use it for others." 
 
 He also sees the dangers of riches. "It is very 
 difficult for a rich man to learn poverty in spirit. 
 . . . Alan can endure many things, but not good 
 days. If he has too much of a good thing, like an 
 ass, he goes on the ice and breaks his leg, simply 
 because he is faring too well." 
 
 Luther was no social reformer. He had no pro- l^^ 
 gram or thought-out plans for solving the social 
 problems which confronted his age. But personally 
 he lost no opportunity to assist poor mechanics and 
 peasants. He did his best to obtain work for them 
 and went to considerable trouble on their account. 
 Among his letters we find quite a number addressed 
 to princes and noblemen, in which he solicits aid 
 and a chance for work for worthy persons. He had 
 
238 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 no far-reaching plans, but he had a heart full of 
 love and sympathy, and had practical help for those 
 with whom he came in contact. And the principles 
 of honesty, fairness, and readiness to help and serve 
 others are, after all, the essential elements of social 
 progress, however the outward conditions may 
 change in adaptation to the changes in civilization. 
 In his lectures on "Christianity and Socialism," 
 Dr. Washington Gladden asks the question: "Is the 
 economic fact or the spiritual fact fundamental in 
 human society? Are we competitors or are we 
 brothers? This is the central question. Upon the 
 answer to this question the peace and welfare of 
 the nation, of the whole world, must largely de- 
 pend." No one can read Luther's utterances with- 
 out perceiving at once that he enunciated the prin- 
 ciple of social reconstruction ; namely, that we are 
 not competitors but brothers, and that it is our high- 
 est privilege to serve God by serving one another. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 THE THEOLOGIAN. 
 
 "I AM one of those among whom St. Augustine 
 classed himself, who advanced gradually by writ- 
 ing and teaching; not of those who at a single 
 bound spring to perfection out of nothing." 
 
 In these words Luther himself characterizes the 
 development of his theology. He was pre-eminentlv 
 a theologian, but not a builder of systems. His 
 theology is not the outgrowth of a speculative mind, 
 nor is it the result of a plan, thought out minutely 
 and worked out symmetrically ; it is the answer to 
 the vital qu'^stions of a soul crushed by the con- 
 sciousness of sin and anxious for salvation, an 
 answer drawn from the Scriptures and verified by 
 personal experience. It can not be separated from 
 the Bible, nor can it be understood when cut loose 
 from the outward events and the inner experiences 
 of Luther's life. 
 
 In the course of his long life he expressed his 
 views on a great variety of theological subjects, but 
 he never wrote a comprehensive "Systematic 
 Theology," as Melanchthon did in his "Loci Com- 
 munes," or Calvin in his "Institutions." Not all of 
 his opinions are of equal value. Not everything 
 that he said is in perfect harmony with everything 
 else that he at some other time, under changed con- 
 ditions, said. 
 
 239 
 
240 lyUTHiiR: The; Le;adi5r. 
 
 Lutheran theologians of later times cast his 
 views into a hard-and-fast system. They succeeded. 
 But they killed the spirit and the life ; nothing but 
 the dead letter remained and the wrangle over the 
 import of the letter. 
 
 We can not quite free Luther from all guilt in 
 this matter. Many strong minds see a truth in a 
 light so bright and clear, that they are inclined to 
 believe their own way of looking at it is the only 
 way possible. And the more important the truth is 
 to their own minds, the more jealous they are in 
 guarding it against all deteriorations or admixtures 
 or derivations. Again, strong characters who be- 
 came strong by struggles, who had to fight their way 
 inch by inch, are very apt to consider as an enemy 
 every one who does not share their views to the last 
 iota. They are independent. They paid dearly for 
 their independence, but they are slow to grant in- 
 dependence to others. They are in danger, while 
 waging war against the intolerant dogmatism of 
 others, of becoming intolerant dogmatists them- 
 selves. 
 
 Luther shared this weakness of human nature 
 with other good and great men who preceded and 
 followed him. The element of intellectualism, neces- 
 sarily present in every formulated theology, became 
 preponderant, especially with his advancing years. 
 His own interpretation of Scripture was identified 
 with absolute truth. Certain doctrines, which by 
 their very nature can never be verified experiment- 
 ally, were held up as tests of orthodoxy. The way 
 was opened for a frozen, barren, heartless, soulless 
 period of Church history ; viz., the reign of Lutheran 
 orthodoxy. 
 
BuiivDiNG Up thi; New. 241 
 
 We can not help regretting this most unfortu- 
 nate development, but it must not dim our vision 
 of the truly great and lasting work which Luther 
 the theologian accomplished. 
 
 In glancing at these vital points we may refer to 
 what the histories of Christian Doctrine call the 
 material and the formal principles of the Reforma- 
 tion, the first being the doctrine of justification by 
 faith, the other the authority of the Bible. 
 
 In other words, Luther placed as the foundation- 
 stone of all theology the work of salvation as 
 wrought by Christ and as appropriated by faith. 
 His theology, is experimental, soteriological, and 
 Christo-centric. It gives an answer to the riddle of 
 the individual life, and this answer is Christ the 
 Savior. "There is but one article and rule in all 
 theology. This rule is true faith and trust in Christ. 
 Into this article all the rest coalesce, and without it 
 the others do not exist. ... In my heart there 
 dominates but this one article ; viz., faith in my 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who is the sole beginning, mid- 
 dle, and end of all my spiritual and divine thoughts 
 that I have day or night." 
 
 Why is this central position accorded to Christ? 
 Because in Him, and in Him alone, man's spiritual 
 needs are satisfied. Maiij sin, Christ's vicarious 
 atonement, and the efficacy of faith in obtaining all 
 the benefits of the 'atonement, are the three great )< 
 truths that give form and shape to the whole super- 
 structure of Luther's theolog}-. 
 
 He had a deep and keen sense of sin. Alan is 
 sinful and fallen, not only on account of his own 
 transgressions, but he is the corrupt tree sprung 
 16 
 
( 
 
 242 Luther: The; L,e;ader. 
 
 forth from a corrupt seed, and without the Holy 
 Spirit he "can do nothing but sin and proceed from 
 sin to sin." On this point Luther crossed swords 
 with Erasmus of Rotterdam, the head of the Hu- 
 manists. In this point the radical difference be- 
 tween the Renaissance and the Reformation takes 
 its inception. 
 
 The corollary of Luther's doctrine of sin is his 
 teaching- of saving grace through the vicarious 
 atonement. Christ, the sinless Son of God, died 
 in the place of man. He was made a curse for man, 
 bore man's punishment and guilt ; his righteousness 
 is imputed to the believer. By faith alone man is 
 justified. This justifying faith brings the believer 
 into a mystical union with Christ. "By faith you 
 become bound and united with Christ, so that out 
 of Him and you there arises, as it were, one person. 
 You can evermore hang on Christ, and say with joy 
 and comfort, 'I am Christ, not personally ; but 
 Christ's righteousness, victory, life, and everything 
 which He has, is my own ;' so that Christ can say, 'I 
 am this poor sinner ; that is, all his sins and his death 
 are My sin and My death, since he hangs on Me by 
 faith.' Therefore St. Paul says, 'We are members 
 of His body, of His flesh, and His bones,' " 
 
 The two necessary consequences of justifying 
 faith are assurance of salvation and a consistent 
 ' Christian life. Luther's teaching of evangelical sal- 
 \ vation by faith alone without works was then, as it 
 always has been, misunderstood and made an occa- 
 sion of attacks from his enemies as well as an ex- 
 cuse for license on the part of insincere or fanatical 
 adherents. This was the more so since Luther re- 
 
Building Up the New. 243 
 
 pudiated strongly any obligation of the Christian to 
 the law. The believer is "a. new creature, a new tree. 
 Therefore all those modes of speech which are cus- 
 tomary in law, as 'a believer should, or is bound to 
 do good work,' do not belong here. As it is not 
 proper to say, 'the sun should shine, but it does this 
 of itself, unbidden,' so a good tree of itself brings 
 forth good fruits. Three and seven are ten; they 
 are not first bound to be ten. To say of the sun that 
 it ought to shine, of a believer that he must do good 
 works, is ridiculous." 
 
 The source of Luther's theology is the Bible. 
 As high as he placed the Word of God, he did not 
 adhere to any theory of verbal or plenary inspira- 
 tion. The Bible was to him the Word of God be- 
 cause it contained the message of Christ. "Herein 
 agree all the genuine holy books, that they all preach 
 Christ. . , . That which does not teach Christ 
 is not Apostolic, though St. Peter or St. Paul teaches 
 it. That which preaches Christ is Apostolic, though 
 Judas, Annas, Pilate, or Herod teaches it." He was 
 indifferent to questions of authorship, of historical 
 accuracy in the Biblical records, and to minor dif- 
 ferences. "What matter if Moses did not write it?" 
 he said of the Book of Genesis. He freely expressed 
 his doubts as to the canonicity of the Book of Reve- 
 lation, of the Epistle of Jude, Second Peter, and 
 Hebrews. Accordingly he considered of special im- 
 portance the books from which he had learned the 
 great lessons of his life. "The Gospel of St. John 
 and his First Epistle, the Epistles of St. Paul, es- 
 pecially those to the Romans, Galatians, and Ephe- 
 sians, and the First Epistle of St. Peter, are the 
 
 ^ 
 
244 Luther: The; Leader. 
 
 books that instruct us concerning Christ and teach 
 us all that is necessary and salutary for us to know, 
 even though you should never see or hear another 
 book. In comparison with these, therefore, the Epis- 
 tle of St. James is actually nothing but an epistle of 
 straw, for it has in it nothing whatever of the Gos- 
 pel." 
 
 In his views of the sacraments he could not com- 
 pletely divest himself of the old Catholic and scho- 
 lastic views. While rejecting five of the seven sac- 
 raments of the Church, he attached to the two which 
 he retained an importance wholly beyond what is 
 warranted by a sane interpretation of the Scriptures. 
 /The elements of the sacraments were to him actual 
 (transmitters of Divine grace; not only visible signs 
 and tokens of God's condescending love. His doc- 
 trine was not clear. It gave rise to many quarrels 
 and to the later doctrine of baptismal regeneration 
 irrespective of any conditions to be fulfilled by the 
 human recipient. This doctrine necessarily exerted 
 a baneful influence over the spiritual life of the 
 Church. 
 
 Of great practical importance was Luther's doc- 
 trine of the universal priesthood of believers. The^ 
 two truths — namely, salvation by faith, and priest- 
 hood of the believer — overthrew the foundations of ^ 
 the Catholic Church. They liberated the individual 
 conscience from the dominion of the priest ; they 
 raised good works from the low plane, as means of 
 earning God's favor in spite of deficient moral life, 
 to the higher plane of natural fruits of a life which 
 is in fellowship with the Master ; they erased the 
 line of demarcation between things spiritual and 
 
BuiivDiNG Up thu Ne;w. 245 
 
 things temporal, and made life a unit, one great 
 service to God and mankind. 
 
 IvUther's theology has exerted a great and last- 
 ing influence, and is still dominating a large portion 
 of evangelical Christianity. The vital truths whichN 
 can be experimentally verified will continue to in- 
 fluence the teaching and practice of all evangelical / 
 Churches. Those remnants of mediaeval scholasti- 
 cism which partially vitiated his theology will be 
 eliminated in accordance with the growing appre- ^^ 
 ciation of the scientific value of Christian experi- ' 
 ence. Thus Luther's theology may serve as a guide- \ 
 post in finding a way out of the present-day diffi-( 
 culties. There is no other great religious leader 
 since the days of Martin Luther who emphasized the 
 vital points of his theology as much, and at the 
 same time brushed aside his scholastic opinions as 
 did John Wesley, and it is interesting to note that, 
 of late, German theologians are inclined to con- 
 sider the founder of Methodism as "the greatest ^ 
 Lutheran whom England ever produced." 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 
 
 The closing years of Luther's life are somewhat 
 disappointing. His great work was practically 
 done when he left Koburg Castle in the year 1530. 
 The remaining sixteen years of his life were filled 
 with a variety of labors, partially also with contro- 
 versies, but they really add only little to the work 
 of the previous fourteen years. 
 
 He had the great joy of seeing the spread of the 
 Reformation. A number of German States — as, for 
 instance, Brandenburg, the Palatinate, and others — 
 adopted the evangelical doctrines ; city after city 
 followed ; the Archbishop of Cologne declared that 
 his study of the Bible had led him to see the truth 
 of the evangelical doctrines. Henry of Saxony, the 
 successor of Luther's bitter enemy, Duke George, 
 and his wife favored reformatory movements, and 
 even invited Luther to preach in Leipzig. The ma- 
 jority of the Electors were Protestants and the aged 
 Reformer had reason to hope that the next Emperor 
 of Germany might be a Protestant. The second 
 generation of evangelicals was growing up. Those 
 who had been trained from their early childhood in 
 Luther's Catechism and in his German Bible, who 
 heard his hymns sung since the time of their tender 
 infancy, were now men and women, ready to take 
 246 
 
Building Up the NSw. 247 
 
 up the work and carry it on. The obvious success 
 of the Reformation gladdened the heart of the 
 leader, although it increased his work, because 
 everywhere his advice was solicited in matters of 
 Church organization, worship, and creed ; difficult 
 questions were referred to him ; he was in a measure 
 "the evangelical pope of Germany." 
 
 But there were also a good many signs of the 
 rapid approach of age. In fact, before he reached 
 his fiftieth year Luther was an old man. His bodily 
 infirmities increased. He suffered agonies with , 
 kidney troubles ; was afflicted with severe and pro- , 
 longed attacks of headache ; asthma and insomnia . 
 sapped his strength ; one of his eyes grew weak and . 
 dim. Adding to these troubles the many petty and 
 annoying controversies, which proved a constant 
 strain on his nerves, we can understand that he 
 became more irritable, at times even passionate. 
 
 He found himself at variance with the whole 
 law faculty of his own university, and in con- 
 sequence thereof he severed the bonds of friend- 
 ship with his life-long friend, the lawyer 
 Schurf. There was danger of an estrange- 
 ment even from his intimate associate and 
 friend Melanchthon. The latter became more 
 timid and more pessimistic as the years advanced. 
 His persistent efforts to find dogmatic formulas ac- 
 ceptable to all parties caused much dissatisfaction 
 among the more radical Lutherans. In compliance 
 with the orders of his Elector, he continued to at- 
 tend theological conferences and to take part in the 
 discussions, but with his heart and his love he lived 
 far away in sunny ancient Greece. He was tired 
 
248 Luthkr: The; Leader, 
 
 of the "rabies theologorum," the fury of the theolo- 
 gians. "I sometimes had to endure almost unbear- 
 able slavery," he complained, "when Luther was 
 carried away by his temper, because he was of a 
 quarrelsome disposition, more so than was neces- 
 sary for his dignity and the common welfare." 
 
 Luther's old friends, who had been his associates 
 in the work and his companions at the table, moved 
 away or died one by one. He felt lonesome. 
 
 Notwithstanding the spread of the Reformation, 
 the real progress of the cause of Christ was far 
 from satisfying him. He became disgusted with 
 the city and the University of Wittenberg, and com- 
 plained much of the deportment of the students, 
 whom he considered too wild and noisy. Perhaps 
 it did not occur to him that two thousand students 
 coming from all parts of Europe were harder to 
 manage, especially in a little town, than were two 
 hundred some thirty years before. Calling Wit- 
 tenberg a "Sodom," he made up his mind to leave 
 the city and move to some quiet place in the coun- 
 try. "Away from such a Sodom ! I would sooner 
 wander about and beg my bread than vex my last 
 days with the irregular proceedings at Wittenberg." 
 He actually left the city, and only after urgent en- 
 treaties did he yield and return. 
 
 Insomnia and frequently recurring attacks of 
 despondency made life a burden to him. Yet, in 
 spite of all, he continued to do the work of three 
 ordinary men. His irritability cropped out in his 
 controversial writings, and especially in the two pam- 
 phlets which he wrote against the Jews ; viz., "Of the 
 Jews and Their Lies," and "Of Shem Hamphoras," 
 
Building Up the; New. 249 
 
 both of them written in 1542. He beheved all the 
 stories told about their poisoning the wells and steal- 
 ing children in order to use their blood. We find 
 him even encouraging acts of violence against them. 
 
 The most fatal event of Luther's last years was 
 his assent to the dual marriage of Landgrave Philip 
 of Hesse. In spite of his energetic support of the 
 evangelical cause, Philip led a dissolute life. His 
 married life was unhappy in the extreme. His wife, 
 whom he had married when yet in his teens, a 
 daughter of Duke George of Saxony, was sickly 
 and given to drink. Having lived with other women 
 for years, Philip was fully aware of the inconsist- 
 ency of his position. He confessed that, although 
 he fought for the pure Gospel, he would go to hell, 
 in case a bullet should strike him. He finally re- 
 solved to marry the woman with whom he was en- 
 amored, without becoming divorced from his legal 
 wife, and asked the advice of the Wittenberg 
 theologians. They tried to dissuade him, called his 
 attention to the scandal that would follow, but 
 finally, although reluctantly, expressed their opin- 
 ion that he might be granted a dispensation to do 
 so if his wife consented and if the marriage were 
 kept an absolute secret. The marriage was per- 
 formed in the presence of Melanchthon. Very soon 
 it was whispered about, then proclaimed from the 
 housetops, and a storm of righteous indignation was 
 raised by the Catholics. 
 
 No doubt Luther was mistaken in his decision, 
 but it can not be said that he consented to the mar- 
 riage on account of political reasons, fearing per- 
 haps the desertion by the landgrave of the evangel- 
 
250 Luthe;r: The; Leader. 
 
 ical party. Luther's notions of the matrimonial 
 relations and of womanhood sometimes fell short of 
 the high ideal which he at other times set forth. 
 We can not extenuate him fully, yet we must not 
 forget that life in all courts, secular as well as spir- 
 itual, was at that time on an incredibly low plane 
 of morality. Cardinal Albrecht kept a regular 
 harem. When residing at Halle he had one of his 
 female friends carried into the castle hidden in a 
 relic chest, in order to avoid unpleasant gossip ; but 
 the woman had to sneeze and was discovered. Duke 
 Henry of Braunschweig, who showed unlimited in- 
 dignation at the landgrave's marriage, lived with 
 mistresses, and at one time, in order to be unmo- 
 lested, pretending that his mistress was dead, had a 
 life-sized wax doll buried in state, had regular 
 masses read, and meanwhile the woman was living 
 in seclusion in one of his castles. Luther might be 
 led to think that a dual marriage was preferable to a 
 life of scandalous dissoluteness and shame. 
 
 But notwithstanding this unfortunate error in 
 judgment and the signs of becoming aged and de- 
 crepit, Luther's hold on God, his personal com- 
 munion with God, remained unshaken. He con- 
 tinued in the same spirit which Veit Diederich, his 
 companion at Koburg Castle, describes : "I can 
 not but admire how singularly full of faith and 
 hope this man is in these bitter and serious times. 
 But he is so, and is getting still more so every day 
 on account, no doubt, of his most diligent study of 
 the Word of God. No day passes without his spend- 
 ing at least three hours in prayer, and those hours 
 that would be best for study." Luther was always 
 
Building Up the New. 251 
 
 a man of prayer, and never more so than during his 
 last few years. 
 
 One of the most remarkable instances of his 
 availing prayer is told in connection with Melanch- 
 thon's serious illness at Weimar when he was to 
 take part in an important conference. Hastening 
 to the bedside of his friend he found him at the 
 brink of eternity. His speech and consciousness 
 were gone, his eyes nearly set, the physicians had 
 given up all hope. Luther cried out, "O God, how 
 has the devil injured this Thy instrument!" Then 
 he went to the window and prayed with the fervor > 
 of conquering faith. Then he rose, and, taking 
 Melanchthon by the hand, said : "Be of good cheer, ■ 
 Philip, thou shalt not die." 
 
 "Do not detain me," whispered Melanchthon; 
 "for God's sake, do not detain me. I am on my 
 way to my eternal rest. Let me depart; nothing 
 better can befall me." 
 
 "No, indeed," called Luther, "you must serve -^ 
 God a little longer," and he called for something to 
 eat, and literally forced the sick man to take nour- 
 ishment. When Melanchthon gained sufficient 
 strength to open his eyes, he saw on the wall oppo- 
 site his bed in large letters the words from the i i8th 
 Psalm, "I shall not die but live, and declare the • 
 works of Jehovah." 
 
 Not many years after this incident the time came 
 that Luther should be translated. On November 
 10, 1545, he celebrated for the last time the anni- 
 versary of his birth in the midst of his family and 
 his friends. A week later he finished the exposition 
 of the Book of Genesis in his lecture-room with i 
 
252 Luther: The Leader. 
 
 the following; words : "I can do no more. I am 
 weak. God grant me a blessed end." Writing to a 
 friend, he remarked : "I am tired of the world and 
 the world is tired of me. I am as ready to depart 
 as a traveler is to leave his lodging-place." 
 
 The Counts of Mansfeld desired him to act as 
 arbiter in some quarrels which they had among 
 themselves. Three times he went on his errand of 
 peace, though feeble in body. On the last trip, in 
 January, 1546, he was accompanied by his sons. A 
 conference of the dissenting parties was arranged 
 for at Eisleben. Luther's health was failing rap- 
 idly. His wife and the friends at home were very 
 apprehensive, but, sick though he was, he kept up 
 his spirits. He wrote a number of letters full of 
 comfort and good cheer. 
 
 "Only read, dear Kathe, St. John and the Small 
 Catechism, of which you once said to me that every- 
 thing in the book was said of you. For you want to 
 care for your God precisely as though He were not 
 Almighty and could not create ten Dr. Martins if 
 the old one were to be drowned in the Saale, or 
 burned in the oven, or be caught in Wolf's bird- 
 trap. Dismiss your cares, for I have One who cares 
 for me better than you or angels can. . . . 
 Only pray, and let God do all the caring; for it is 
 written, 'Casting all your care upon Him.' " 
 
 The arbitration proceedings drew to an end. 
 Luther thought of returning home. But his strength 
 was gone. Often he spoke of his near departure. 
 On February i6th he wrote in the Latin language 
 the last words we possess from his pen. They are 
 worth being recorded : 
 
Buii^DiNG Ur THI5 N^w. 253 
 
 "No one can understand Vergil in his 'Bucolics,' 
 unless he has been a shepherd for at least five years. 
 No one can understand Vergil in his Georgics, un- 
 less he has been a tiller of the soil for at least five 
 years. No one can fully understand Cicero in his 
 Epistles unless he has moved about in a large com- 
 monwealth for twenty-five years. No one can fancy 
 to have thoroughly mastered the Holy Scriptures 
 unless he has for a hundred years lived in the 
 Church together with the prophets Elijah and 
 Elisha, with John the Baptist, with Christ and His 
 apostles. Do not tempt this divine ^Eneid, but bow 
 down low and full of adoration. We are beggars. 
 This is true. February i6th, A. D. 1546." 
 
 The next day he was seized with alarming pain 
 in his chest. He found no rest, neither in reclining 
 or walking. His friends assembled, physicians were 
 summoned, the Count of Mansfeld and his countess 
 hastened to minister to him. 
 
 Luther was heard to pray: "O Lord Jesus 
 Christ, I commend my poor soul to Thee. O Heav- 
 enly Father, I know that, although I shall be taken 
 away from this life, I shall live forever with Thee. 
 God so loved the world that He gave His only be- 
 gotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life. Father, into 
 Thy hands I commend my spirit." 
 
 Then everything was quiet. Pastor Jonas bent 
 over the dying man and called into his ear : "Rev- 
 erend Father, do you die in the faith of your Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and in the doctrine which you preached 
 in His name?" A clear and distinct "Yes" was 
 
254 Luthrr: The; Leadeir. 
 
 heard in answer. Then he went to sleep, and was 
 no more, for God had taken him. 
 
 In the city of Eisleben, where he was born, he 
 died on February i8, 1546. 
 
 The news of Luther's death spread Hke wildfire. 
 A special messenger, carrying a full account of the 
 last days and the dying hours written by Dr. Jonas, 
 was dispatched at once to Wittenberg. Melanch- 
 thon was in his class-room, lecturing on the Epistle 
 to the Romans, when the news arrived. "O God," 
 he exclaimed, "gone is the chariot of Israel and the 
 horsemen thereof!" 
 
 It was a sad procession that started from Eisle- 
 ben for Wittenberg. In all the cities and villages 
 through which it passed the bells were tolling, and 
 the people crowded the streets, paying their last 
 tribute to the great man whose lips were now closed 
 forever. 
 
 Late at night the cortege reached Halle. The 
 clergy, the City Council, men, women, and children, 
 met the procession outside the city walls, and ac- 
 companied it to the church. Luther's hymn, "Aus 
 tiefer Not Schrei ich zu Dir," was sung, but the 
 words could hardly be understood ; every one was 
 sobbing. On February 22d, Wittenberg was 
 reached. While the bells tolled, the hearse which 
 carried the remains of the eminent servant of God, 
 and the people, followed by his widow, his four chil- 
 dren, and an immense concourse of people, w^as 
 driven to the Schloss-Kirche. The casket was borne 
 through the doors on which twenty-nine years be- 
 fore the young monk had nailed his Theses, Pastor 
 Buggenhagen preached a sermon which was often 
 
Building Up the; N^w. 255 
 
 interrupted b}- his own tears as well as by the sob- 
 bing of the audience. Melanchthon followed with 
 a Latin address, and then the casket was lowered 
 into the crypt near the pulpit. 
 
 Martin Luther while living had proved stronger 
 than the emperor and the pope. ''By his word and 
 his pen alone," says Professor Hausrath, "he had 
 wrung Germany from the mighty emperor in whose 
 empire 'the sun never set.' The professor, whost, 
 salary was never more than four hundred florins a 
 year, had bought out the owner of the whole treas- 
 ure of all the indulgences. Victor over emperor 
 and pope, he died." 
 
 Yet he was not dead. Frederick Myconius 
 wrote to the Elector these prophetic words : "This 
 Dr. Martin Luther is not dead at all ; he will not 
 die, he can not die. Now he will be alive more than 
 ever before." 
 

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